Raymond.CC Blog

Category: Computer

  • Easily Take Ownership and Grant Full Control Permission with WinOwnership

    Few days ago I got a request in forum on how to change the refresh interval for the Weather gadget in Windows 7 sidebar. I was awake at 5AM that day and didn’t know what to do, so I thought I should investigate to see if that is possible. After using and testing the Windows Gadget, I found that the gadget is controlled by javascripts such as weather.js file in js folder. After editing the javascript file with Notepad++, I tried to save the changes and I received a Save failed error window popup with the message “Please check whether if this file is opened in another program” when trying to save the changes I made on weather.js file. When I tried using the Windows Notepad, it simply shows Access is denied error. I used Unlocker to check if the weather.js file is locked to any running process but it shows no locking handle found. Finally I checked the security settings for the file from the Properties window and found that none of the users except TrustedInstaller have modify, write or full control permissions on it.


    The solution to allow editing of this file is to take ownership of the file and set a proper permission for my account. This can be done by right clicking on the file, select Properties, got Security tab, click the Advanced button, go to Owner tab, click the Edit button, select the user and click the OK button. Then go back to the Security tab of the Properties window, click the Edit button, select the user and check Allow for the Full Control checkbox.

    That’s 13 clicks just to allow me to edit that protected file. A simpler way is to use WinOwnership where I can just drag the file to the program’s window and click a button which will give me full access to the file. If you’re not comfortable with the drag and drop, you can double click on the program to browse for the file or folder that you want to patch. WinOwnership remains on top of all windows to allow the drag and drop easier without bringing it back to the front.

    WinOwnership

    Other than giving yourself full access to the file, you can also use WinOwnership to undo the change by clicking the Undo button. The video below shows how WinOwnership works if you’re still not sure what it does.

    There’s something odd about WinOwnership which is it only seems to work if the UAC is disabled. I wasn’t able to drag any item to the WinOwnership window when UAC is enabled and running the program as administrator.

    WinOwnership is free, portable and works with all versions of Windows starting from XP to Windows 8 including 64-bit. Requires Microsoft .NET Framework 4 to run. Thanks leofelix for sharing this with us in forum!

    Download WinOwnership

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  • FREE 4 Years Norman Virus Control Full License Key Code for EVERYONE
  • TinEye Finds Who is Using Your Image Without Permission
  • Weaknesses in Windows 7 User Account Control
  • Upgrade your Windows User Account Control with Smart UAC Replacement

  • FixWin an Alternative to Windows Repair AIO

    There are a lot of computer technicians and engineers but the efficient ones are rare. The less experienced tech people will take more time to solve computer problems and you should be thankful if they don’t create a new problem while trying to solve them. As for the experienced ones, they most probably have already encountered the problem before and solving it takes less than 5 minutes since they know the solution. Being an efficient techie may not be as easy as before because the current Windows 7 or upcoming Windows 8 operating system is way more sophisticated than the old Windows 98 or XP due to the amount of files and features that are increasing in every new Windows version.

    If you find it hard to keep up, it is good to keep a copy of 3rd party tools that can help to fix common Windows problems. One of such tool that I’ve mentioned before is the Windows Repair (All In One) that contains 21 repair options. Another useful alternative is FixWin suggested by Lee and Jeff.


    FixWin is a free and portable Windows fixing tool created by Ramesh Kumar for The Windows Club where it contains 50 automated fixes to problems that you may experience in Window Vista and Windows 7. It contains fixes to problems as easy as re-creating an Internet Explorer shortcut at desktop to fixing Explorer.exe won’t start at boot in Windows by clicking the Fix button.

    FixWin

    The welcome screen is similar to Windows Repair where it first advice you to run the System File Checker (sfc) utility to restore corrupted system files and then create a system restore point before making any changes with FixWin. However it lacks of advice to check and remove any virus infections because any active virus running in background can instantly revert the fixes done by FixWin.

    The fixes are categorized into 5 categories which is Windows Explorer, Internet & Connectivity, Windows Media, System Tools and Additional Fixes so that you could locate the fix easier. I think it would be much easier if these Windows fixing tools contains a filter or keyword search so I don’t have to spend unnecessary time going through every option to see if there is an available fix to the problem which I’m experiencing.

    Always remember and follow the general rule which is “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Meaning don’t attempt to click the Fix button if you are not experiencing the problem on the Windows computer. For your information, the last time FixWin updated was nearly 2 years ago but it should still work without problems. FixWin is definitely a keeper.

    Download FixWin

  • View Email Message Directly from Windows Live Mail and Thunderbird Database with Mail Viewer

    I use an email client software to download all emails so that I can view it offline and reply later when I am free. When the emails are downloaded to the computer, they are saved locally on the hard drive. As I get more emails, the database size is increased and possibly slowing down the email software. When this happens, I am only left with two choices which is either to delete some of the really old emails that I don’t think is important anymore or use a new database without any emails and start afresh. I have more than 10,000 emails on my email client software and it would probably take days or even weeks to go through all of the messages so using a new database would be a better solution.

    First I save or move the old database to another location and when I want need to search for some old emails, I can use Mail Viewer to directly view messages from the email database.


    Mail Viewer is a free and portable tool that can load email database created by Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail and Mozilla Thunderbird and then shows the messages just like an email client, except that this is an on-demand tool that is only used to read email messages without changing anything on the database. Running Mail Viewer will ask you to choose the email database that you want to open. You can either click on the folder icon to browse the email database or click the Browse current store button to load email database that is current on your computer.

    Mail Viewer Open Wizard

    After selecting a valid email database, you then get to choose identity or folder that you want to view. To view the email message, simply double click on the line and a new tab will open displaying the subject, sender, recipient, CC, BCC, size, timestamp, plain and HTML view, and even attachments. There is also a source tab where you can view the email headers.

    Mail Viewer

    Mail Viewer has a powerful filter and search capability so that you can look for the email that you want to find. First select the filter from the drop down list to choose where you want to search and then type the keyword at the search box. A tip to jump to the next tab is by using the shortcut key Ctrl+Tab. In fact Mail Viewer can even open multiple email databases at the same time. Another interesting feature is Mail Viewer can automatically collect email addresses from the database by clicking the Messages > Collect e-mail addresses. All the email addresses and names will be captured and displayed at the bottom of the window.

    Mail Viewer supports 9 languages (Cestina, German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese – Brazilian and Simplified Chinese). Mail Viewer is free to use for both private and commercial users and runs from Windows 95 to Windows 7.

    Download Mail Viewer

  • Easily Connect to Pre-defined VPN Connections with PortableVPN

    One of the main advantages of connecting to a VPN account is you can be sure that you’re safe from packet sniffers when you’re connected to a public hotspot because your traffic will be encrypted, hence the sniffers can only see gibberish data. Windows 7 by default supports PPTP and L2TP VPN and it is convenient to connect to a VPN by specifying the VPN server address, username and password without installing any third party software. However, when you’re using a public computer and want to connect to your VPN server, you are risking your VPN login credentials being stolen by a keylogger, and the other problem is remembering the VPN server IP address, and the randomly generated username and password.

    One example is CactusVPN generates a random username and password when you create an account. Although the password can be changed, but the random username such as wcwijixu makes it hard to remember. This is when PortableVPN comes into play by allowing you to easily connect to pre-defined VPN connections with a single click.


    With PortableVPN, there is no longer a need to manually configure VPN connections on Windows computer and also saving the credentials which will risk being stolen. All you need to do is run PortableVPN, select the pre-defined VPN server that you want to connect and click the Connect button. Of course you will have to first add all the details of the VPN servers and save it before you can conveniently connect.

    Portable VPN

    Upon running PortableVPN the first time, a few folders and files will be auto generated and saved at the same location of the PortableVPN executable file. The first General tab allows you to add your VPN server details. You can type anything on the Connection name as an identifier followed by the VPN Host which is the VPN server’s IP address, username and password. You can check the save passwords checkbox and then click the Save icon to save the VPN details that you’ve just entered. By default PortableVPN automatically detects the VPN type which is either PPTP or L2TP but you can manually set it at the Options tab.

    Do take note that you will need to check the “Use external gateway” checkbox at the Options tab if you want to redirect all traffic to your VPN or else you will still be using the direct connection even if PortableVPN is connected to your VPN. PortableVPN a real time saver if you would always want to connect to your VPN servers even when you’re not using your computer.

    PortableVPN does not support OpenVPN protocol and it is a shareware that cost €14.95 EUR. The demo version that can be downloaded on the official PortableVPN website only has 1 limitation which is the VPN connection is auto terminated after 180 seconds (3 minutes). However during testing I found that there were a few occasions that the VPN connection is not dropped even after being connected for more than 3 minutes… PortableVPN is compatible with Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008/Windows7.

    PortableVPN Status

    Download PortableVPN

  • SymMover Moves Software or Games to Another Hard Disk Without Reinstalling

    Windows XP comes with an incomplete NTFS junction point that allows you to only create symbolic link to a directory but not for files. When it comes to Windows Vista and 7, the updated NTFS symbolic link works on folders, files and even on remote network path. This feature is especially useful when you want to move a program’s folder to another hard drive without going through the hassle of reinstalling the program so that it points to the new path. If you didn’t know, you cannot just cut and paste the software folder from Program Files to another drive or folder because you may break the software by doing that. Reason is some software remembers the original location where it is installed and refers to that particular location to pull out data or information. So when that location no longer contains the data or information, the software will fail to work properly.

    This is when SymMover comes to play by helping you to move the files to the new location and automatically creating a symbolic link to make Windows thinks the folder is located in the same place as before, even though it’s not. Although this can be manually done in Windows Vista and 7 without using SymMover but it simplifies the whole process.


    After installing SymMover, by default SymMover will attempt to search for an alternative drive and add it as a default destination folder. You can also manually add the destination folder from the program’s Settings.

    SymMover Settings

    To move a folder, click the plus button and the Add window will appear. You can either selected the detected installed programs on your computer, or manually add the folders that you want to move. Finally select the destination folder and click the Add Folder button. You will now see that the program/folder has been added to Folders in Source. To start moving, make sure that it is checked and button with arrow pointing to the right. Click Yes to confirm the action and SymMover will start moving the files and create a symbolic link. Now if you check the source folder, you will notice that there is a shortcut arrow icon being added to the folder. To move the folder back, simply check folders in destination and click the icon with an arrow pointing to the left. At the bottom of the main window, you will see the status of your disks. Gain and loss of disk space is displayed in real-time when you select the different folders you want to move.

    SymMover

    As use as SymMover is, it doesn’t work on all cases. First it doesn’t work on Windows XP, only on Vista and 7 and the hard disk partition must be using the NTFS file system. Administrator access is required so that SymMover can move around files on your hard drive. Finally, SymMover doesn’t work on software that runs on system process or service such as an antivirus. Since the process involves in moving files, it is advisable that you first backup any important data that you’re trying to move.

    SymMover is free and works only on Windows Vista and 7. The installer file is only 600KB in size and doesn’t contain any traces of adware after manually unpacking it. However be careful when you are about to download because you will be forwarded to CNET’s Download.com where the CNET Installer is enabled for SymMover. Click on the small Direct Download Link instead of big Download Now button.

    Download SymMover

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  • A FREE Hard Disk utility to Benchmark and Test your hard drive
  • Copy Windows XP Installation CAB Files to Local Hard Disk SourcePath
  • Safely Remove Windows XP Update Backup Files to Free Up Hard Disk Space
  • What’s My Computer Doing? Shows Programs Accessing Hard Disk or CPU

  • Easily Cleanup Right Click Context Menu with MenuMaid

    The right click context menu in Windows offers a great and convenient way to easily run Windows commands such as cut, copy, delete, create shortcut, rename, send to, and also for third party software to open a file with a particular program, scanning a file with an antivirus, burning the whole folder with your favorite disc burning software, etc. All it takes is two clicks which is right click, select the option and then left click rather than launching the program and then browse for the file. However, some programs comes with a badly programmed installer that leaves the right click context menu intact without removing it even after a proper uninstallation. You may probably also have a lot of software installed which makes the right click context menu really long and messy.

    The good news is you can remove the items that you don’t normally use from the right click context menu but the bad news is you either need to access the settings on every program to disable the context menu or you can simply use a third party software such as ShellExView. ShellExView is able to list all right click context menu items but if you find it a bit overwhelming, you can try MenuMaid.


    MenuMaid offers a fast and easy way to clean up your Window Explorer and Internet Explorer right-click context menu by unchecking the items that you don’t want to show up. You can also easily restore it back by checking the items from the list. The effect takes place immediately without even the need to click on Apply or OK button.

    MenuMaid

    MenuMaid is free and works on Windows XP/Vista/7. ManuMaid is actually portable and you can use 7-Zip to extract the installer file to get the program MenuMaid.exe and save it to your USB flash drive or onto another computer skipping the installation. Thanks to hal9000 for suggesting this tool on the forum.

    Download MenuMaid

  • Multithreading Free Web Proxy Checker Software

    There are a lot of giveaways nowadays but unfortunately there is no 100% way that can prevent it from being leaked. Recently I’ve purchased a PC PRO magazine from a bookstore and this edition offers a full AVG Anti-Virus 2012 license valid for 1 year. At page 62, the article about the cover disc provides a link to get the registration code but visiting the link gives me a georestriction warning with the message “Sorry, due to licensing restrictions, this offer is not available in your country/territory. Try again tomorrow”. I know that PC PRO is an imported magazine from UK which is why the offer is not available for us Malaysians but I pity the people who bought this magazine thinking that they can get a free AVG license but ended up not being able to get one.

    Bypassing georestriction is quite easy by using a public proxy and there are quite a lot of websites that offers free proxy list but the biggest problem is looking for one that is still online, not too slow and doesn’t require authentication. There are some online proxy checker but I personally do not like to use them as they are quite slow and doesn’t support multi-threading. For a faster result, you can give Web Proxy Checker software a try.


    Web Proxy Checker is a free and fast proxy checking software which checks SOCKS4/SOCKS5/HTTP/HTTPS proxies with and without authentication using multithreads. The good thing about multi-threading is the program can check a number of proxies simultaneously depending on the amount of threads you set on the program, completing the scan faster.

    Free Web Proxy Checker

    Most of the default settings are good enough. To check proxies using Free Web Proxy Checker software, you can either paste the proxies, proxy list, or even URLs to the box and then click the Start button. The program will attempt to visit Google Mail’s webpage with the proxy to determine if the proxy is good or bad and save them to an individual text file in C:\Program Files\Opt-In Software\. One of the website where I normally get my free proxy is http://tools.rosinstrument.com/ because the list of well known public proxy contains a lot of working proxies. Simply copy the proxies and then paste it to free Web Proxy Checker software.

    You may have noticed that some of the options are disabled and only available in the Pro version. The Pro version of Web Proxy Checker is a shareware that cost $50 which contains more advanced features such as extracting proxies from web pages, checking for SMTP and delivery, uploading good proxies to FTP, rDNS and elite anonymity check and scanning IP ranges for open proxy so that you get the fresh proxy instead of a publicly listed ones.

    Download Free Web Proxy Checker

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  • Search All Domains Including Country Code TLD (ccTLD)

    A short and easy to remember domain name plays a very important part for a website. You want your visitor to remember your website and also not to spell it wrongly bringing them to your competitor’s website. I would definitely prefer to have raymond.com, raymond.net or raymond.org but they were all unavailable for registration so I settled with raymond.cc many years ago. You may have noticed that some of the registered domains names doesn’t have an active website because the registrant is waiting for a buyer that is willing to buy over the domain name at a high price. For example, raymond.net has a bar on top of the page that says “To purchase this domain, click here”. For the fun of it I sent an inquiry and the seller offered to sell raymond.net domain name at a whopping $29,000 USD! If I had to spend that amount of money, I would prefer to buy a new alternative domain name and spend the rest on employing professionals to do marketing, designing, custom coding and etc.

    Other than the top level domains such as .com, .net and .org, there are actually hundreds of other interesting top level domains for countries such as .to, .at, .bo, .so and etc. So far I’ve found two websites, EuroDNS and Only Domains which is able to search the availability of all domains including country code on the word that you provide.


    Searching for all domains in EuroDNS and Only Domains is easy. For EuroDNS, type in a word that you want to search, check all of the checkboxes in EuroDNS (Generic, Asia, Oceania, Europe, Americas and Africa) and click the Search button. As for Only Domains, enter a word, phrase or name into the search field, check the All checkbox and click the Search button. After a few minutes depending on the load of their server, you will get a result page showing you if the domain is registered or available for registration.

    Only Domains ccTLD

    Only Domains seems to show more results because they include second level domains such as .org.au, .net.au, .com.au… As for EuroDNS, the results are more thorough because it shows registered domains that are available to purchase from aftermarket, registration restrictions, setup fee, and etc…

    EuroDNS country code tld

    Do note that EuroDNS and Domains Only doesn’t necessarily offer the best price on the domains that are available to registration. You can perform searches in Google using keyword such as “.cc registrar” or “register .cc domain” (replacing the .cc with the country code that you want to search) and compare a few registrar for the cheapest price. Some registrar also offers discount coupon code so you can also search for them.

    Good luck in searching for a cool domain name for your website!

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  • Bad Peggy Scans for Damaged JPEG Images

    You may have heard of JPEG, GIF, BMP, PNG, and they are all actually different image formats. Each format has its own pros and cons so you will have to choose the correct image format to use depending on the situation. Unless you do a lot of image editing, you probably don’t need to understand what are the differences between different image formats. In computing, JPEG is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital photography. You may have tons of JPEG photos on our computer because most of the digital camera saves the captured photos in JPEG format. However there are times when JPEG photos can get corrupted or damaged due to many reasons such as bad sectors, partial transfers, blue screens and etc. One easy way you can scan for possible damaged JPEG images on your computer is by using Bad Peggy, created by Coder’s Lagoon the same author who created TruPax.


    Bad Peggy is an easy to use program that can scan a defined folder together with subfolders for corrupted JPEG images. All you need to do is run Bad Peggy, click on the File menu and select Scan. Then browse the folder that you want to scan and click the OK button. Bad Peggy will instantly start scanning your hard drive to search for possibly damaged JPEG photos. I tried scanning my hard drive and it found a couple of damaged but still readable JPEG files. It can also tell if the JPEG is a truncated file because the file has not been fully downloaded.

    Bad Peggy
    Bad Peggy detected a truncated JPEG image

    Clicking on the result allows you to preview the found damaged JPEG file and you can move, delete or export the list by right clicking on the file list. Bad Peggy is free and portable that works on both Windows and Linux because it runs on Java.

    Download Bad Peggy

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  • Save APK Files from Google Play to Computer with APK Downloader

    There are a lot of free apps from the Google Play (previously known as Android Market) where you can download and install it on your Android device. When you want to install an app, all you need to do is click on the DOWNLOAD button and it will start downloading an APK file and automatically install. Normally there is no need to save the APK file after installation but if you need it, one painful way is to download the APK file to your android phone, use Astro to backup it to SDCard, connect phone to PC, then copy the APK file to computer. redphx from Vietnam who is an android app developer has made all of that easier by creating an extension called APK Downloader that allows you to easily download APK files from Google Play with one click using Google Chrome web browser.


    The requirements to use APK Downloader is Chrome 17 or later and an Android device because you will need to provide JID and Device ID to login. First download and install the APK Downloader extension (link at the end of article) in Google Chrome. Then you will need to disable SSL error warnings by adding a --ignore-certificate-errors switch at the end of the Chrome’s shortcut. Right click on Google Chrome shortcut icon, select Properties and paste the switch to the end of the Target box. Now go to the APK Downloader Options page by clicking the wrench icon > Tools > Extensions and click on the Options link for APK Downloader.

    Android Device ID

    Enter the email and password that you use on the Google Play (Android Market), and to obtain your Android Device ID, you can dial *#*#8255#*#* which will open “GTalk Service Monitor”and look for the lines that begins with JID and Device ID. Your email is JID, and your device id is a string that after android- prefix. Once you’re logged in, go to Google Play and select any free apps that you want to download to your computer. You will notice that the address bar contains an APK Downloader icon and clicking on it will open a new tab allowing you to start downloading the APK file.

    Download Google APK

    Do note that APK Downloader only works on Google Play but not on Chrome Web Store.

    Download APK Downloader

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  • Send Messages that Auto Delete or Self-Destruct After Reading

    It may not seem possible to send a message to someone’s email that will auto delete or self destruct after reading because the email format is either in plain text or HTML. Allowing an email to auto delete by itself is just simply impossible because of the security risk involved. However, there are web services that lets you send notes that will self-destruct after being read. All you need to do is write the message, then a unique URL link will be generated containing your message. The link will automatically expire and will not be accessible anymore when it has been opened. You can find such service from Privnote and KickNotes but obviously it is not fool proof because the message is still displayed on-screen allowing you to copy the message and paste it to a text editor such as Notepad.

    A better option would be Burn Note and DestructingMessage because it comes with a timer feature where the message will automatically be removed upon reaching the time set by the sender.


    First let us take a look at DestructingMessage. There are two methods available which is to generate a link or directly emailing the link to the user. Then there is a drop down box allowing you to select the time until the message self-destruct and finally a box to type your message. After testing, I find that the email method is not working because I did not receive any email from DestructingMessage. As for generate a link, I received a unique link to the self-destructing message and opening that link shows the message with a timer stating that the message will self-destruct in X seconds.

    Self Destructing Message

    Visit DestructingMessage

    As for Burn Note, you get to select 3 note display method which are Plain text that allows copying, Short phrases that doesn’t allow copying (notes are broken into short phrases and played sequentially) , or a Spyglass display where the reader will have to click on the screen to reveal the part of the message. You then get to select if you want to enable the timer and note password. Once you’ve clicked the Send button, a unique link will be generated. A free Burn Note account allows Burn Note to send the email for you and also letting you see when your note is read.

    Although there are no 100% way to stop the temporary message from being recorded but so far Burn Note offers the most preventative measures against recording of the contents.

    Burn Note

    Visit Burn Note

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  • Unigine Heaven DX11 Benchmark 3.0 Released

    There are so many benchmarking programs that can use to benchmark the performance of your GPU and one of it which I’ve settled with is Unigine Heaven DX11 Benchmark based on advanced UNIGINE engine. Previously I’ve used the older version of Heaven Benchmark 2.1 to benchmark the 3D graphics performance on the antivirus performance test. Reason is during that time Unigine Heaven Benchmark was the only one that supports DirectX 11, while many still stuck at DirectX 10 plus it is free for personal use. It is also easy to use, simply install, select a few options and run the benchmark. A score will be given at the end of the benchmark together with the minimum, maximum and average FPS numbers. Few days ago a new version of Heaven DX11 Benchmark 3.0 has been released with many technical improvements, it now runs on Mac and supports for variety of new hardware, including extended support for multi-monitor configurations.


    The Heaven DX11 Benchmark 3.0 installer file is quite large at 235MB in size. After installation, running DX11 Benchmark 3.0 will open up a window allowing you to select some of the options such as DirectX versions (from DX9 to DX11 including OpenGL), Tesselation level, shaders level, Stereo 3D, resolution and etc, to use in the benchmark.

    Heaven DX11 Benchmark 3.0

    Click the Run button when you’ve done configuring and then either hit the F9 key or click the Benchmark button to start the benchmarking your GPU. The program will go through 26 stages of tests which takes about 4 minutes 15 seconds to complete and then shows you the average FPS and score achieved by your GPU on the benchmark. You can also save the benchmark results to your computer in HTML format.

    Heaven Benchmark Scores

    My test system got a terrible result of only 12.2 FPS on average because it’s not a gaming machine and it uses a built-in GPU.

    Download Heaven DX11 Benchmark 3.0

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  • Easily Create TrueCrypt Encrypted Container Files with TruPax

    TrueCrypt is probably the best encryption tool to hide the existence of any sensitive data on your computer. It is free, open source and 2 years ago FBI even admitted that they failed to crack TrueCrypt. Using TrueCrypt is not that hard but it may be a bit confusing for some people who aren’t good in computers. First you need to create an encrypted file container which is actually an encrypted file but can be virtually mounted to a drive letter so you can access your private data. During creation of TrueCrypt volume, you will get to choose the encryption algorithm, set the space for the volume and also the password. When the volume has been created, use TrueCrypt to mount the file to a drive letter and then copy the data to the new virtual drive that you want to protect and dismount. Now the encrypted volume file contains your file and it is nearly impossible to crack. Finally you will need to delete and wipe the files from your hard drive so that it cannot be recovered.

    If you still find it confusing, you can give TruPax a try because it does the same thing but uses a different approach in creating the encrypted container file which may be easier to understand.


    First you need to make sure that your computer has Java installed because TruPax runs on Java. Then download the correct version of TruPax according to the version of your Windows (32-bit or 64-bit). Extract and run trupax.jar. Optionally you can also click on install_english.vbs or install_deutsch.vbs which will create a shortcut of the trupax.jar on your desktop. The first time you run TruPax you will be prompted to choose the language. Once TruPax is running, all you need to do is either drag and drop the file or folder that you want to encrypt, or you can also use the Add Files or Add Folder button to do the same.

    TruPax

    Unlike TrueCrypt, TruPax automatically adjust the encrypted container file size to the exact amount of data, so you won’t be creating an unnecessary larger file with empty space on it. However if you prefer to have some free space in the encrypted container, simply set a number at the Free Space box which is in Bytes. An example of extra 10MB free space would be 10485760 Bytes. The Wipe Afterwards checkbox will automatically delete the files from your hard drive after creating the encrypted volume for convenience. I tried using Recuva to scan for the files that are wiped by TruPax but cannot be found. Finally click the Make Volume button, specify the name of the TrueCrypt container file and location that you want to save and click the Save button. Enter the password that you want to use to protect the encrypted container file and click the Proceed button.

    TruPax uses the default AES encryption. Once the TrueCrypt encrypted container file is created with TruPax, you will still need TrueCrypt to mount the file. Alternatively, you can also extract the container file from TruePax by clicking the File menu and select Extract. The Invalidate option from the File menu destroys the master key of the container file and will cause its content to become unrecoverable.

    TruPax is free and runs on Windows XP/Vista/7 and Linux both 32-bit and 64-bit.

    Download TruPax 6

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  • Copy Status Message or Share Something New from Windows Live Messenger

    Windows Live Messenger comes with a Share something new box at the top of the program so that you can type your status message which will be shown to all of your contacts. You should probably see a few of your contacts showing that he/she is on http://ebuddy.com Messenger which is quite annoying because using the free ebuddy service will automatically embed that status message. However there are times when someone uses a real cute or nice looking status message which you would like to copy and paste it to your share something new box or perhaps someone posted a message with a foreign language and you’d like to copy and paste it to Google Translator to translate it to English so you know what is it all about. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any way to copy the status message from Windows Live Messenger. Copying the name is possible though by selecting the name on the contact list and press F2 to enable editing of the name so you can copy it. After trying a couple of methods, I finally found a simple way to copy the personal status message from your contacts.


    Here is an example of a status message in Chinese from one of my old friend.

    Windows Live Messenger Status Message

    If you’re Chinese educated you would know that means but if not, the only ways are to ask someone who can read Chinese OR copy that sentence and translate it at Google Translate. One of the easiest way to copy a contact’s personal status message without installing any software is to sign in to MSN from eBuddy from your web browser. Once you’re signed in, double click on the contact to open up a chat box and you are able to copy the status message.

    Copy Windows Live Messenger Share Something New message

    I translated that Chinese sentence and it says “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step” quoted by a Chinese philosopher Laozi.

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  • The new iPad Replaces iPad 3 or iPad HD

    There were so much rumors about the new iPad which can be found all over the Internet but no one really guessed the name of the new iPad correctly which is just “The new iPad” instead of iPad 3 or iPad HD. I was actually excited on the announcement of the new iPad yesterday because my wife and I are sharing the first generation of iPad which we both find it a bit heavy and slow. I stayed up until nearly 3AM last night because I wanted to know what is new in the new iPad. If comparing The new iPad with iPad 1, there are definitely a lot of changes and it is worth the upgrade. However if I had the iPad 2, I may just continue using it until the fourth of fifth generation of iPad is out.


    There are a couple of major updates on The new iPad such as the Retina Display which is four times more pixels than iPad 2 thanks to the new custom A5X chip with quad-core graphics. Everything looks and feels incredibly lifelike and perfectly detailed with razor-sharp text and richer colors. Next is the 5-megapixel iSight camera with advanced optics that lets you shoot gorgeous photos and 1080p HD video.There’s the 4G LTE connectivity, voice dictation (but not the voice action called Siri) and bluetooth 4.0 technology.

    The new iPad 3 HD

    With all the upgrades, The new iPad still manages to maintain up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music and up to 9 hours of surfing the web using cellular data network. The measurement of the new iPad is exactly the same as the previous generation except it is slightly thicker (+0.03′) and heavier (+0.11pounds).

    People from United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia are able to pre-order the new iPad from Apple Store now and will be delivered on March 16. I guess we Malaysians will just have to wait for it. What do you think about The new iPad? Are you going to get one for yourself?

    The new iPad Malaysia

    Visit The new iPad Webpage

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