19-Nov-2011 by dawog.

In case you haven’t noticed, hard disk drives (HDDs) have become much more expensive lately due to extreme flooding near Bangkok, Thailand, where both Western Digital and Toshiba were struck hard.  Seagate apparently wasn’t touched by the floods, but unfortunately many of the components it needs for HDD manufacturing were hit hard by the flooding.

Windows Secrets has a great article titled  “What you can do about soaring hard-drive prices“ by Woody Leonhard that provides much more info than found elsewhere.

Another article from ComputerWorld titled “Hard drive shortage expected to hurt consumers most.”

Latah’s…

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22-Aug-2011 by dawog.

Just in case PROTECT IP passes, along with its planned Domain Name Services (DNS) filtering (a.k.a. censorship) of “alleged” infringing websites, prepare yourself by reviewing these guides published by ZeroPaid.  Over the past month, ZeroPaid has published eight guides for circumventing/defeating US DNS censorship.  Links to each of the guides is posted below.

ZeroPaid Guides:  How to Circumvent and/or Defeat US DNS Censorship:

1. Obtaining Server IPs via command prompt
2. Using DNS Web Tools
3. Using Your Hosts File
4. Using MAFIAAFire
5. Using Tor
6. Using Foxy Proxy
7. Changing Your DNS Server
8. Using a VPN

If you’re still not privy as to what the “PROTECT IP” act is about and how it will break the Internet as we know it today, see my previous posts on June 1, 2011 and June 6, 2011.  Both contain links to numerous reference information, articles and technical white papers.  If you haven’t contacted your lawmakers to urge killing this nasty piece of legislation, visit “Demand Progress” where you can send a personalized email to your representatives.

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21-Aug-2011 by dawog.

Security Now podcast:
Leo Laporte of TWiT & Steve Gibson of Gibson Research Corporation (home of SpinRite) have started another “How the Internet Works” podcast at Security Now.  Scroll down to Episode 309 (14 Jul 11) to download the podcast or transcript.  Here’s direct links to the first two episodes:

• Episode 309, How the Internet Works, Part 1  (mp3)  (pdf)
• Episode 313, How The Internet Works: ICMP & UDP (mp3) (pdf)

Steve and Leo Laporte did another “How the Internet Works” on Security Now over five years ago.  Scroll down to Episode 25 (02 Feb 2006) for the first episode in this series (mp3) (pdf).

Windows Secrets Newsletter:
This information-packed newsletter has been around for over 4 years.  For a small donation you can also enjoy the paid version which provides even more useful info.  Here’s a short sampling of some of their free articles:

• Windows XP: Looking back, looking forward
• How to download and save streaming videos
• Win7′s no-reformat, nondestructive reinstall
• 10 great ‘Do these first’ tweaks for Windows 7

Ask Bob Rankin:
The “Ask Bob Rankin” site provides a lot of useful information concerning PCs, peripherals  utility software, and much more.  Here’s a sampling of some of his articles:

• Five Annoying Things about Windows 7
• Why Is My Internet Connection Slow?
• Gmail Spam Filter Settings
• What is Microsoft System Sweeper?

The last article (Microsoft System Sweeper) references a tool, currently in beta, called Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper.  It promises to help start an infected PC and perform an offline scan to help identify and remove rootkits and other advanced malware.

Gotta’ go.  Oh… a friend was passing through Clarkston, WA & saw a bumper sticker with Obama’s picture and the text “Does this ass make by truck look big?”  Gave me a chuckle, plus I can think of LOTS of other pictures to use (including my own).  Latah’s

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08-Nov-2010 by dawog.

Firesheep is an add-on for the Firefox web browser that makes it extremely easy for you (or anyone else) to hijack current web sessions over open Wi-fi.  It’s been available for a couple weeks now from here and has been downloaded over half a million times.

For a full analysis of what Firesheep is and how to protect yourself from being hijacked, listen to Steve Gibson’s “Security Now” podcast (28 Oct 10) on the topic.  If listening to podcasts isn’t your cup of tea, Steve transcribes them to various formats (html, pdf, text).  Here’s the html transcription of the Firesheep Security Now podcast.

I strongly suggest you also listen to Steve’s latest Security Now podcast (04 Nov 10).  It’s a “Listener Feedback” session but it provides more up-to-date info concerning Firesheep.  The html transcript of this podcast is located here.

The “Security Now” podcast is now in it’s sixth year of production.  It airs weekly every Wednesday on Twit TV  with Leo Laporte.  You can even watch the live video should you desire.  All 273 episodes are archived on Steve Gibson’s “Security Now” web site along with searchable transcripts.  It’s a fantastic educational resource!

UPDATE:  Woody Leonard wrote a great article for Windows Secrets last week titled  “Cloak your connection to foil Firesheep snoopers.”  I improperly referred to what Firesheep allows as “hijacking.”  The proper term for what Firesheep so easily performs is the other well known problem of “sidejacking.”

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02-Nov-2010 by dawog.

I think perhaps we ought to be paying attention to what may be happening with internet service north of our border, as it could very well happen here in the US of A.  Bell Canada is apparently not only converting their customers to “metered internet usage”, but forcing their competing ISPs (who buy bandwidth from Bell Canada) to also do the same with their customers — thus conveniently eliminating any competition.  In addition to “metered internet usage” Bell Canada is also apparently throttling the traffic of so-called ‘network abusers.’

- A metered internet - on the way in Canada? (p2pnet)

-  Bell Canada: Traffic Throttling Mark II (p2pnet)

Unfortunately, things aren’t all that great  here (south of Canada, that is).  Scientific American published an article last month titled “Why Broadband Service in the U.S. Is So Awful”.  It pretty much places the blame on the FCC boo-boo in 2002 where they reclassified broadband internet service as an “information service” rather than a “telecommunications service,”  thus stifling competition.

Oh well… not to worry!  (yeah right….)

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19-Oct-2010 by admin.

Two great articles from Ars Technica this week, one on Monday highlighting the ’suckiness’ of Windows followed by one today covering Apple’s ’suckiness.’  Both articles were written by Peter Bright and in my opinion, are “spot on.”

The 21st century guide to platform trolling: Windows edition

The 21st century guide to platform trolling: Apple edition

I highly encourage you to yonder over to Ars Technica & take a peek at these articles.  It’s really a treat to see dual articles (by the same author, no less) speak accurately about two competing OS’s.  Atho’ I’m a Windows-only user, I have no issues with what Mr. Bright had to say about Windows (yeah… it sucks)  — and I agree TOTALLY with EVERY SINGLE THING he pointed out concerning Apple.

And lastly… both articles are a quick read, full of graphic examples and quite humorous!

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26-Sep-2010 by dawog.

I’ve recommended Windows Sysinternals programs more than once in my blog.  Four of the Sysinternal  programs that I use daily and could not live without are:

- Process Explorer
- Autoruns
- TCPView
- Process Monitor

Windows Sysinternals released a video primer this month covering Process Explorer, Process Monitor and more on their web site.  Don’t be concerned about the notice that you need to install Microsoft Silverlight.  Below the video placeholder are links to download the video in various formats (wmv, mp4, and even the Powerpoint slides).  If you are a user of Sysinternals utilities or just want to learn about them, I highly recommend you view this video.

To check out all the utilities offered by Windows Sysinternals, go to their site.  The really great feature of all of their utilities is that none of them require installation.  Just unzip the file(s) & run!

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26-Sep-2010 by dawog.

The “Hosts” file has existed in most, if not all, operating systems since the beginning days of the Internet — back when there was no distributed host name database or “Domain Name Server” (DNS).  Each network node maintained its own map of the network nodes as needed and assigned them names that users could (hopefully) remember.  This worked when the internet (or ARPANET as it was known back then) was fairly small… but not any more.  Most all the OS’s in use today still have the HOSTS file.  In most Windows boxes, it normally has only one entry (127.0.0.1  localhost).

The purpose of the “Hosts” files is really simple — it maps IP addresses to host names.  Windows (and other OS’s) check this file BEFORE querying any DNS servers.  This allows it to not only OVERRIDE addresses in the DNS, but to BLOCK addresses, too.

Please check out the site “Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File.”  This site provides a new Hosts file monthly that is tailored to block ads, banners, 3rd party cookies and more.  The MVPS HOSTS file now includes most major parasites, hijackers and unwanted Adware/Spyware programs.  To download, look for the yellow file folder & right-click on “hosts.zip” & select Save Target As.  The file was last updated on Sept 22, 2010.  The site provides all the necessary info you need for copying the Hosts file to the necessary location on your system.

I’ve been using the MVPS HOSTS file on all my systems for over three years and cannot imagine accessing the Internet without it.  I STRONGLY recommend using it!

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07-Sep-2010 by dawog.

OS News posts some really informative articles periodically concerning Windows.  Two of the latest are:

“How to Secure Windows“

“How to Revitalize Mature Computers”

There’s lots of valuable information in both of these articles by Howard Fosdick.

Enjoy!

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02-Sep-2010 by dawog.

Not that anyone noticed (or cared, for that matter), Windows 95 turned 15 yrs old on Aug 24.  Actually, I found one site that noticed — OS News.

Now… I wasn’t particularly a Windows 95 fan, but I did like Windows 98 Second Edition & stayed with it well past the release of Windows XP.  I didn’t upgrade to XP until after Service Pack 2 was released.

Although my website is anything BUT popular, I thought the following compilation of operating system versions (OS) used by people visiting my site throughout this year was interesting:

You’ll note that there are still 167 folks using Windows 98, and 22 folks using Windows 95 and Windows NT.  In the full tabular data set posted below that supports the above graph, there are 9 people still using Windows 3.1.

Amazing, eh?

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14-Aug-2010 by dawog.

Wow!  Can you believe it?  Western Digital is offering their own “WD Edition” of Acronis True Image for free download that features:

- Drive Cloning
- Drive Migration
- Drive Deployment
- Drive Image Backup
- Drive Image Recovery
– and more…

In addition, it is designed to create optimally aligned partitions on WD Advanced Format Drives (see my original post).  I visited the Acronis & Paragon web sites, and neither mention or acknowledge that they have updated their current software versions to handle Advanced Format Drives.  That means if you use either of these programs to clone a HDD to a WD Advanced Format HDD, you’ll still need to run Western Digital’s alignment utilities on the cloned HDD when you’re through  — even with Vista or Windows 7.  BUT… if you use Western Digital’s version of Acronis True Image to clone your HDD to an Advanced Format Drive, you’ll be set & won’t have to run the alignment utility.

Western Digital’s version of Acronis True Image will (hopefully) provide a complete solution to HDD cloning; migration; backup; and recovery.  I say “hopefully”, as I haven’t tried it yet.  I downloaded the 100MB file, but I already have Acronis True Image Home v11 software installed on my desktop (and it knows diddly-squat about “Advance Format Drives”).

I would assume that Western Digital’s version of Acronis True Image only works with Western Digital HDDs, but this is still fantastic!  IMHO, hard drive manufacturers should have been providing software such as this from the beginning.  We — the customers — buy their hard drives to store all of our precious data on them.  Why must we purchase 3rd party software to clone, migrate, backup & recover data from their HDDs????

Anyway’s… KUDOs to Western Digital!!!

You can download the User Manual for “Acronis True Image WD Edition” here.

Now… if they would just add a disk partitioning tool or partition manager, I’d truly be a happy man!

• Side Note:  I originally wrote “happy as a clam” (vs. “a happy man”),  but I got to thinkin’ — what does “happy as a clam” even mean???   What does adding a disk partitioning tool to WD software have to do with “happy clams?”  I’ve been using that phrase (verbally) for most of my adult life, without a clue as to what it even means.  It was only when I typed it out here that it hit me… WTF does that even mean???  The only thing “happy” about a clam that I can think of has to do with ‘bearded clams.’  Well.. I googled the phase & found out that it really refers to “happy as a clam in high water,” which is when they are safe from predators.  Golly gee whiz!  After all these years I’ve learned yet something else!!!

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13-Aug-2010 by dawog.

For those of you out there running Windows XP & dealing with Western Digital’s new “Advanced Format” HDDs, I just noticed that WD has updated their Advanced Format Alignment Utilities since I last blogged about this.  The “Acronis WD Align” utility was updated to version 1.0.0.314 on 4/26/10; the “Paragon WD Align” utility was updated to version 2.11615.6 on 7/21/10.

I visited the Acronis & Paragon web sites, and neither mentions anything concerning Western Digital’s “Advanced Format” HDDs.  If they haven’t updated their software, then you’ll still need WD’s Alignment Software if you use either of these programs when cloning a HDD to a WD Advanced Format Drive — even under Vista or Windows 7.

In addition, WD now offers “Acronis True Image WD Edition” software for (hopefully) a complete solution to HDD cloning; migration; backup; and recovery.  See my next blog post on this topic for more information.

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23-May-2010 by dawog.

If you don’t yet have one of these, I’d highly recommend one (or more).  I’ve been using them for over 12 years, and just bought my 4th & 5th units.  In the past I’ve mainly used them to guard against power surges, spikes, sags, brownouts and other power abnormalities.  But they also make great backup power supplies for DSL/Cable modems, routers, cordless phones, laptops and/or netbooks, cell phones, etc.

The first three I purchased have been used on my desktop systems, not necessarily for their “uninterrupted” power, but primarily because of their superior surge protection.  When connected to a UPS, I’ve never lost any electronic eqmt due to power surges, lightning, etc.

I purchased my two most recent UPS’s for devices other than my PCs (although they’ll make great backups for my 7 yr old UPS’s).  One is for my DSL modem/wireless router, network switches and VTech cordless phones.  The other is for recharging my laptop when the power is out.  If I had a new wide-screen HDTV & home theater setup, I’d put all of that equipment on a UPS, too.

Power outages at our house over the past 14 years have gone from monthly to just a few times a year.  Even so, it’s a royal pain in the arse when all your phones are cordless… can’t even call the power company to tell them the power is out (we don’t have cell phone coverage at our home, and I can’t imagine where I last saw one of our old “Ma Bell” hardwired phones).  Even more disruptive is being cut-off from the Internet!  With my DSL modem & wireless router attached to a UPS, I can still surf the Internet with my laptop/netbook for hours, or as long as the laptop/netbook batteries last.  (That’s why I purchased an extra UPS just for powering/recharging my laptop & netbook.)  A UPS is also great for charging your iPhone, iTouch, cell phone, mp3 player, etc., etc., etc.

What UPS to buy?  It looks like the “main” brands are APC, Tripp Lite, CyberPower & Eaton.  APC is the most expensive, but that’s what brand all five of my units are.  The only reason I bought APC is that’s what Sam’s Club sells (at a reasonable discount).  The last two APC units I bought were Model # BN1250G (1250VA/750Watt) for $145 each.  If I had it to do over again, I think I’d go with either the Eaton Powerware 5110 1500VA/900Watt or CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD (1500VA/900Watt).  Both are available on-line for about the same price (or less) than I paid for the APC 1250VA units.  Amazon.com has one of the bigger selection of UPS’s at reasonable prices, but be sure to check out pricegrabber.com for the lowest price.  Just make sure you shop around, as prices vary as much as 100% for the same units.

What size should you get?  I’d recommend getting the largest capacity you can afford (i.e., 1500 VA / 900 Watts).  More capacity means more time on the battery per given load.  As a minimum, I’d get double your estimated load.  For example, if your PC & monitor consume 300 Watts, I’d get at least a 600 Watt unit.  As long as you purchase double the estimated load, you should get 10-15 minutes of battery time should the power go out.  Again… the higher the capacity of the UPS, the more time of usage you’ll get on the battery with your current load.  When your only load is a DSL/Cable modem and wireless router, you should get hours of use with a higher capacity unit.

With respect to connectivity, each of the above brands connect to your PC & have software that save & close any open files and safely shutdown your PC during a power outage.

Although the batteries used in a UPS are usually warranted for only 2 or 3 years, I’ve only had to replace one set and that was after 7 years of continuous use with numerous power outages.

If you don’t have a portable/standby power generator in your home inventory, an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) is convenient to have on hand.  Its uses are only limited by your imagination & the power capacity of the unit.  But don’t forget — the PRIMARY purpose of a UPS is to protect your electronic equipment!  I strongly recommend that you use one with all electronic equipment that you value.

Posted in Computer | 1 Comment »

20-Apr-2010 by dawog.

Meant to post this a couple weeks ago — an interesting blog post at “Freedom to Tinker” comparing the iPad to Disneyland .

(Remember… this isn’t an iPad slam… just an interesting comparison… and one that I happen to think is apt)

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16-Mar-2010 by dawog.

Ars Technica did a nice article yesterday on what happens to your life online when you die, dealing mainly with your social networking presence (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Blogger, Buzz, Gmail, etc.).  It was an extremely interesting article!

Well… can’t say I’ve given much thought to this, altho’ I certainly should since I’m a certified member of the Old Fart’s club.  Seeing as I’m not much into social networking, I’m more concerned about all my online banking, credit card, email & shopping (e-commerce) accounts.

One point of view a person could have is:  “Who cares?  I’m dead!”  Another point of view though, if you’re leaving behind a ’significant other’,  is why make a difficult situation even worse?  (unless, of course, your ’significant other’ is the reason you’re dead :-), in which case “Who Cares?” or worse applies, e.g., “Bite Me!”)

If your ’significant other’ is a computer numbnuts & doesn’t use a PC, then I suppose the “Who Cares?” applies.  But if he or she DOES & CAN use a computer, then it “may” be convenient to leave them access to all your accounts (banking, email, e-commerce, etc., etc.).

One of the programs I mentioned previously in “My List of Favorite PC Programs & Utilities” post is the free, open source password manager called KeePass Password Safe.   Here’s just some of the info that I store in KeePass:

1. All bank accounts (acct #’s, passwords, security questions, URLs, tele #, etc.)
2. All credit cards (credit card #, PIN, CVC # and/or security code, username/password, tele #, etc.)
3. All email accounts (usernames, passwords, acct settings, tele #, etc.)
4. All e-commerce site usernames, passwords, URLs, etc.
5. Administrator passwords for all PCs, laptops, BIOS’, Router, DSL Modem, etc.
6. Program or file passwords (i.e., Quicken, TrueCrypt files, other password-protected files, etc.)
7. Software license info, CD keys, registration #’s, etc.

KeePass has fields for several of the key items (username, password, URL) followed by a free flow “Notes” section where you can put whatever information you desire (including silly notes like “How could you do this to me?”)

I’ve made sure that my ’significant other’ has the password to KeePass and knows how to use it.

So……  now…… when I croak…… can I rest peacefully?  Knowing that I’ve provided important & necessary information to my ’significant other’?

Naaaaaaaa.  Who cares?  I’m dead already!

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10-Mar-2010 by dawog.

Finally… a new article that mentions Western Digital’s new 4KB hard drive sector (vs. previous 512 Byte sector) & it’s impact on Windows XP users that I discussed previously.

And… back to  the “lighter” side… here’s a funny article from “The Register.”  Wow… a guy that drives his ex-wive to meet her boyfriend (among other things)!  Only… in… America…  (good grief!)

Enjoy…

UPDATE:  Ars Technica did an even more detailed article on this (“Why new hard disks might not be much fun for XP users”)

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03-Mar-2010 by dawog.

I’ve seldom been an Apple user, but I always held both the company & Steve Jobs with utmost respect… until this past week.  I now consider Apple with the likes of every other greedy company gone awry.

Why, you might ask?

First is their filing of patent infringement lawsuits against HTC & Android phones (article 1; article 2; article 3).  Aw… gee… is Apple afraid they won’t be able to survive with some competition?

Next is the pressure Apple is applying to the music labels concerning Amazon MP3’s “Daily Deal” promotions.  Aw… gee… isn’t Apple satisfied with their previous & still current monopoly of online music?  Screw ‘em!!!

No, I’m not naive.  I know many, many (TOO MANY) companies are filing patent infringement lawsuits on a daily or weekly basis.  Foolish me — I just thought Apple was ‘above’ this idiotic behavior.  I guess not.

I feel the same way about patents as I do about copyright — they should both be scrapped!  If more people would read up on the history, including a couple of the latest books — “Against Intellectual Monopoly” (by Michele Boldrin & David K. Levine) and “The Gridlock Economy” (by Michael Heller) — they’d realize that all patents & copyrights do (among other things) is eliminate competition and stifle both innovation & creativity.  With the exception of possibly a couple extreme cases, patents (& copyrights) are NOT needed.  (And, oh, BTW - expanding patent law to cover software & business processes was a BIG MISTAKE!  Yet another means to stifle innovation.)

Will they ever go away or be modified?  Not unless the public gets involved.  There’s already way too many lawyers making way too much money on way too many patent & copyright disputes.  And, uh, oh yeah… who runs our government?  Lawyers, anyone???  Patent & copyright law is big business, so any modifications to this mess are going to be difficult and ugly.

Just my two cents worth…   (actually.. it’s probably only worth half-a-cent, if that much)

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24-Feb-2010 by dawog.

Not sure if this is kosher, but I’m going to do it anyway.  You’ve got to check out the Techdirt Blog & read Mike Masnick’s review of the recently leaked ACTA Internet chapter.  You can find it here.

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04-Feb-2010 by dawog.

Here is a list of programs & utilities (some free, some not) that I have installed on all my systems (desktop & laptop); use on a daily or weekly basis; and most highly recommend.  These ARE NOT listed in any priority order.

1. Process Explorer (free, from Sysinternals. A ‘must have’ to see what processes are running on your system, and much, much more)
2. Autoruns (free, from Sysinternals.  A ‘must have’ to see what programs are configured to run during system boot-up & much more)
3. Xplorer2 (free lite version, $29.95 pro version. Powerful replacement for Windows File Explorer.  I use the Pro version, and can never go back to Windows File Explorer)
4. Vopt (Best, fastest & most capable disk defragger I’ve ever used!  Even tho’ it costs $40, I like it so much I bought 2 licenses!  It has features not found on any other defrag program I’ve tried.  Try it out for 30 days & see if you don’t agree)
5. Avira AntiVir Personal (Free.  I’ve been using this for the past several years & love it.  It’s highly rated, has a small footprint & utilizes few system resources)
6. Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware (Free.  One of the best - if not the best - malware remover available)
7. SUPERAntiSpyware Free Edition (Make sure you download the free version)
8. Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall (Free - I’ve been using this program for over 5 years.  It does exactly what a firewall is supposed to do, with a small footprint & without becoming “bloat-ware” that most all others have become.  I also use an older version of the free Comodo Firewall on a couple of my systems, but I noticed that it’s grown from a 7MB download to 45MB.  I don’t think I’d still recommend Comodo now, due to it’s apparent bloat).
9. SyncEXP (Free, powerful file synchronization program. One of the best file/folder synchronizers I’ve ever used — great for synchronizing files/folders between PCs, laptops, and external HDDs.  Better get this one soon, because it’s transitioned to shareware (SyncEXPERT) & may soon disappear.  With this program, I could probably retire FolderMatch listed next.)
10. FolderMatch ($35, Great folder comparison & synchronization software.  I’ve been using this software for over 6 years, altho’ SyncEXP can ‘almost’ replace it. I use it to synchronize data between all my systems (desktop & laptop) and backup to External HDDs.  It’s somewhat more powerful & definitely more friendly than SyncEXP, which is why I still use it & recently paid to upgrade)
11. Foxit Reader (Free PDF viewer.  I haven’t used Adobe Acrobat Reader since it became so bloated several years ago… Version 6?  Anyways… this is a GREAT replacement!)
12. CCleaner (Free.  I’ve been using this program for several years… despite some folks thinking you might destroy your system.  I usually defrag my drives weekly, and even though Vopt has a fine cleanup utility, I always run CCleaner before defragging my HDDs)
13. Firefox (Free. Latest version v3.6.  Need I say more?  Be sure do download the “NoScript” extension.  It may be irritating at first, but believe me - it will protect you!!!)
14. Notepad++ (Free source code editor & Notepad replacement.  Be sure to download & install the Spell Check program & dictionary)
15. KeePass Password Safe (Free, open source password manager.  I’ve been using eWallet for many years & am slowly but surely transitioning to KeePass, primarily because it does not require installation & can run off of a USB stick, and it can import eWallet files.  Plus… it’s free, whereas eWallet costs $19.95)
16. VLC Media Player (Free.  Absolutely the BEST open source video/multimedia player available, and comes with all codecs needed)
17. Disk Cloning/Backup Software.  I clone the system HDD of each of my systems on to a replacement HDD every 3-6 months.  In between, I use Acronis True Image Home ($49.99) to make full & incremental system disk backups on an external HDD.  There are now some free alternatives, but I have yet to try them.  They are:  Easeus Todo Backup; Easeus Partition Master; Easeus Disk Copy & DriveImage XML — to name a few.  As I stated, I haven’t tried these, but I believe Easeus has a good reputation & I’m going to try it out next.
18. PDFCreator (Free.  I’ve been using this open source program for years, ever since it first appeared.  It creates a PDF file from any Windows program that can print.  It’s fantastic for saving web pages/articles.)
19. TrueCrypt (Free.  IMHO, the best open source encryption software available.  I use it to create virtual encrypted disks of my sensitive data files/folders, that are then mounted as a real disk when I need to access them.  It can also be used to encrypt entire partitions, USB flash drives, or your entire HDD (including your system drive.)
20. ImgBurn (Free, lightweight, powerful CD/DVD/HD DVD/Blu-ray burning application.  Although beginners might find it a bit difficult to master, it’s capabilities are awesome & I’ve yet to create a “coaster” with this app)
21. Image Viewers/Editors.  These are all free & I have several of them installed, but I prefer Faststone Image Viewer for everyday viewing, minor editing, cropping, resizing & converting to other image formats.  The others I use are IrfanView (keeps getting more powerful each & every update); XnView; and GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). Some folks call Gimp the”poor man’s Photoshop.”  It’s extremely powerful, but intimidating for noobies.  Version 2.8 is slated for release around Dec 2010, and is sporting a new, more user-friendly interface.  For most of my hardcore photo editing, I use Jasc Paint Shop Pro v9 & it’s follow-on, Corel’s Paint Shop Pro X2.  I have to admit, I’ve been disappointed with Paint Shop Pro since Corel purchased it (not to mention it’s higher price tag) & usually stick with Jasc’s last version.  I know Google’s Picasa is highly rated, and probably the best bet for noobies.  I tried it out, but couldn’t tolerate it’s need to scour all my HDDs for images & build it’s own image catalog.  I manage all my images myself; I know exactly where they all are; and I don’t want software searching for every image, everywhere, on all my HDDs, just to build it’s OWN catalog.  I haven’t tried Picasa since. One more free product is Lightbox Image Editor.  I’ve never tried it myself, but it’s received positive reviews.

These just happen to be the first 21 items that come to mind.  There’s many more, such as music players (Winamp); FTP client (I like FileZilla); newsreaders; office suites; accounting software; tax prep software (I prefer TaxACT — it’s better & much cheaper than all the others, especially TurboTax); audio editors/recorders (Audacity); CD rippers (I prefer CDex & have been using it for many years); DVD rippers (DVDFab); etc., etc., etc.  It’s hard to quit, but I’ll end it here for now.

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30-Jan-2010 by dawog.

Maybe I’m the only guy that didn’t hear about this, but when I did my post on “Make Your Own External Hard Drive” below, I stumbled upon Western Digital’s new “Advance Format” hard disk drives (HDDs).  In the Advanced Format HDD, Western Digital has replaced the previous 512 byte hard drive sector with a 4 kilobyte (4096B) hard drive sector.  The first drives out there now are the WD Green Caviar series (1TB, 1.5TB & 2TB).  All should have “EARS” in the drive model number (i.e., WD10EARS).

Now… why do you care?  There are some compatibility issues with Windows OS’s prior to Vista & Windows 7 (duh… like Windows XP).  In fact, it has issues on Vista & Win 7 if you use currently available disk partitioning/cloning software to copy to an Advanced Format HDD.  The disk imaging software companies (i.e., Acronis, Paragon, etc.) have yet to update their products to conform to the new 4K sector (but hopefully they soon will).

Fortunately, Western Digital provides alignment software that you can download from their website.  It is strongly recommended that you run this software after partitioning/formatting with Windows XP, or after using any disk partitioning/cloning software on Vista/Win 7.  In addition, the new Advanced Format HDDs have a jumper setting (pins 7-8) which you can use on XP when initially partitioning & formatting a new WD Advanced Format HDD (if you use the jumper setting, you DO NOT use the WD Alignment Utility).  Here’s the configuration details from Western Digital’s website:

So… what happens if you don’t follow the above procedures?  Well, supposedly you will not lose or corrupt any data, but you may drastically slow down the transfer speed of your new HDD.  Also, if you use the jumper pins 7-8 setting before partitioning/formatting the HDD, DO NOT run the Alignment Utility afterwards and DO NOT later remove the jumper (unless you’re completely starting over with the HDD… new partition, etc.).

Here’s links to information concerning the Western Digital’s Advanced Format HDDs:

• Western Digital — Advanced Format Hard Drive Download Utility
• AnandTech article “Western Digital’s Advanced Format: The 4K Sector Transition Begins”
• PC Perspective article “Western Digital introduces ‘Advanced Format’

UPDATE:  Ars Technica did an even more detailed article on this (“Why new hard disks might not be much fun for XP users”)

Western Digital currently offers two alignment utilities, one from Acronis & the other from Paragon.  The Acronis alignment utility is provided as a bootable ISO that you need to burn to a CD, whereas the Paragon utility is a Windows installer file.  Western Digital states the the Acronis utility may be as much as 3 times faster than the Paragon utility (I know which one I’ll be using!).

This is just one more reason you should build your own External HDD, as the WD Align Utility may not work on all USB Ext HDDs that are Advanced Format, requiring you to remove the HDD from the external enclosure, install it in your PC, and then run the WD Align Utility on it.  Well… it’s not always easy to crack open retail external hard drive cases to remove their HDD; but it’s trivial for an external HDD that you built yourself.

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