Interested in seeing what ports are open on your machine? Use NMAP to scan your machine or other machines on your network and figure out if there are any holes in your firewall or malicious software setting up camp. Particularly if you are moving a machine from a secure firewall to a less secure (required by a particular application for example), you could run NMAP and try to … [Read more...]
Simple tip: Keyboard shortcuts
A quick way to improve working with your computer is to use keyboard shortcuts. They save clicks and can speed up the process by eliminating switching between keyboard and mouse. There are some that I use on a daily basis: Tab (cycle through fields) Shift+Tab (cycle backwards through fields) Shift + Arrow key = Highlight text/objects in that direction Windows key = Open … [Read more...]
Simple tip: Wildcards *
When searching for files, don't forget about the handiness of the wildcard. To search for all Word Documents on your C:, just go to Windows Search and search for all Files and Folders with: *.doc The search results should list all Word Documents. You can do this with any extension *.xls, *.exe, *.txt. You can also put the wildcard on the other side. Say you were looking for … [Read more...]
Secunia PSI – finding programs with security flaws
Install the Personal Software Inspector to keep on top of security flaws with programs on your computer. This application, free for personal use, can analyze your system with a quick scan and see if there are any 'insecure,' 'end of life,' or 'patched' programs. With an easy interface, you can find out which applications on your machine are considered up to date and which are … [Read more...]
VLC – VideoLan media player
VLC is one of the first steps I recommend when somebody tells me they have an issue with video playback. Just install the small file and try opening the video in VLC. VLC by and large removes the need for external codecs through natively supporting many different file types and encodings. Supporting DivX, XviD, avi, mkv, DVDs, and many others, VLC is a powerful tool without … [Read more...]