My Favorite PDF Creator

One of the tools that I use and make part of my standard desktop build for clients is PDF Creator. It is a free PDF creation program. It is fast and light. What I also like about PDF Creator is that it will print as a PDF, PNG, JPG, BMP, PXS, TIF, PS, EPS, TXT, PSD, PCL and RAW.

While it can create the PDF's and other formats it is not always the right tool for all users. It is not useful for users who want to create fillable form PDF's. If you want to create a straight PDF or the other file formats PDF creator is the right tool for the job.

I always remove the toolbar that it offers to install as part of the program.

PDF creator can be download here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/

OpenDNS and Why You Should Use it.

I have been using OpenDNS for a long time as a a name resolver. I just started using to OpenDNS for content filtering and network protection.

Many people including technicians have a hard time understanding DNS. The short answer is DNS is the phone book for computers. When you need to find www.google.com DNS tells your computer where to find the Google web server. By controlling the “phone book” OpenDNS is able to keep out a large number of websites that are unwanted. There are 26 different categories of filtering. Open DNS is useful in the home and at the office. I am currently using OpenDNS to protect my home and office network. I don't have to worry about my kids and/or employees seeing something unwanted or becoming victims of phishing and malicious websites.

OpenDNS basic is free to use for home and office. OpenDNS Enterprise will give you all of the features including malware protection. OpenDNS is easy to configure and it doesn't require any new hardware to work.

Here are links for more information about OpenDNS:

OpenDNS Website - Overview
http://www.opendns.com/solutions/overview/

Video of how to use and setup OpenDNS
https://store.opendns.com/videos/basic.flv

If you need OpenDNS setup or want to discuss the technology we are happy to help.
Sublime Computer Services, We Make Your Technology Work
Adam Bell
615-942-0850
www.sublimecomp.com
adam@sublimecomp.com

Monitor your Hard Drive’s Health with Acronis Drive Monitor

Monitor your Hard Drive’s Health with Acronis Drive Monitor: "

Are you worried that your computer’s hard drive could die without any warning? Here’s how you can keep tabs on it and get the first warning signs of potential problems before you actually lose your critical data.

Hard drive failures are one of the most common ways people lose important data from their computers. As more of our memories and important documents are stored digitally, a hard drive failure can mean the loss of years of work. Acronis Drive Monitor helps you avert these disasters by warning you at the first signs your hard drive may be having trouble. It monitors many indicators, including heat, read/write errors, total lifespan, and more. It then notifies you via a taskbar popup or email that problems have been detected. This early warning lets you know ahead of time that you may need to purchase a new hard drive and migrate your data before it’s too late.

Getting Started

Head over to the Acronis site to download Drive Monitor (link below). You’ll need to enter your name and email, and then you can download this free tool.

Also, note that the download page may ask if you want to include a trial of their for-pay backup program. If you wish to simply install the Drive Monitor utility, click Continue without adding.

Run the installer when the download is finished. Follow the prompts and install as normal.

Once it’s installed, you can quickly get an overview of your hard drives’ health. Note that it shows 3 categories: Disk problems, Acronis backup, and Critical Events. On our computer, we had Seagate DiskWizard, an image backup utility based on Acronis Backup, installed, and Acronis detected it.

Drive Monitor stays running in your tray even when the application window is closed. It will keep monitoring your hard drives, and will alert you if there’s a problem.

Find Detailed Information About Your Hard Drives

Acronis’ simple interface lets you quickly see an overview of how the drives on your computer are performing. If you’d like more information, click the link under the description. Here we see that one of our drives have overheated, so click Show disks to get more information.

Now you can select each of your drives and see more information about them. From the Disk overview tab that opens by default, we see that our drive is being monitored, has been running for a total of 368 days, and that it’s health is good. However, it is running at 113F, which is over the recommended max of 107F.

The S.M.A.R.T. parameters tab gives us more detailed information about our drive. Most users wouldn’t know what an accepted value would be, so it also shows the status. If the value is within the accepted parameters, it will report OK; otherwise, it will show that has a problem in this area.

One very interesting piece of information we can see is the total number of Power-On Hours, Start/Stop Count, and Power Cycle Count. These could be useful indicators to check if you’re considering purchasing a second hand computer. Simply load this program, and you’ll get a better view of how long it’s been in use.

Finally, the Events tab shows each time the program gave a warning. We can see that our drive, which had been acting flaky already, is routinely overheating even when our other hard drive was running in normal temperature ranges.

Monitor Acronis Backups And Critical Errors

In addition to monitoring critical stats of your hard drives, Acronis Drive Monitor also keeps up with the status of your backup software and critical events reported by Windows. You can access these from the front page, or via the links on the left hand sidebar. If you have any edition of any Acronis Backup product installed, it will show that it was detected. Note that it can only monitor the backup status of the newest versions of Acronis Backup and True Image.

If no Acronis backup software was installed, it will show a warning that the drive may be unprotected and will give you a link to download Acronis backup software.

If you have another backup utility installed that you wish to monitor yourself, click Configure backup monitoring, and then disable monitoring on the drives you’re monitoring yourself.

Finally, you can view any detected Critical events from the Critical events tab on the left.

Get Emailed When There’s a Problem

One of Drive Monitor’s best features is the ability to send you an email whenever there’s a problem. Since this program can run on any version of Windows, including the Server and Home Server editions, you can use this feature to stay on top of your hard drives’ health even when you’re not nearby. To set this up, click Options in the top left corner.

Select Alerts on the left, and then click the Change settings link to setup your email account.

Enter the email address which you wish to receive alerts, and a name for the program. Then, enter the outgoing mail server settings for your email. If you have a Gmail account, enter the following information:

Outgoing mail server (SMTP):	smtp.gmail.com
Port:	587
Username and Password:	Your gmail address and password

Check the Use encryption box, and then select TLS from the encryption options.

It will now send a test message to your email account, so check and make sure it sent ok.

Now you can choose to have the program automatically email you when warnings and critical alerts appear, and also to have it send regular disk status reports.

Conclusion

Whether you’ve got a brand new hard drive or one that’s seen better days, knowing the real health of your it is one of the best ways to be prepared before disaster strikes. It’s no substitute for regular backups, but can help you avert problems. Acronis Drive Monitor is a nice tool for this, and although we wish it wasn’t so centered around their backup offerings, we still found it a nice tool.

Link

Download Acronis Drive Monitor (registration required)

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How to Check if Your Gmail Account Has Been Hacked

How to Check if Your Gmail Account Has Been Hacked: "Here is a step by step guide to help you check and determine if your Gmail account has been hacked or compromised in any way, and steps to take to ensure safety.

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Using Linux to Disinfect Windows

Using Linux to Disinfect Windows: "

Are you responsible for one or more Windows computers? If yes then the odds are really good that you have had to deal with cleaning viruses and malware. Did you know F-Secure offers a free Rescue CD built on Knoppix for just this purpose? Let's take a look at how easy the F-Secure Rescue CD is to use. more>>

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Blackberry Enterprise Server Express is Free

In March 2010 Research in Motion finally released the Blackberry Enterprise Server Express. It is a free version of the Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) . In my opinion this has been long overdue. Without a BES small and medium business users have been stuck with either IMAP or POP email proxied by their wireless provider. Calendar, contacts and tasks required 3rd party applications to make them work. For the average user that is a lot of different pieces to keep going.

The Blackberry Enterprise Server allows users to sync their email, calendar, contacts and tasks. The BES software is installed on an Exchange Server, Small Business Server or stand-alone server (virtual or physical). The synchronization with the Blackberry phone is done completely wireless. Once the phone is activated the need to plug in the Blackberry to the desktop via USB ceases. The only reason to plug up the Blackberry is to charge it. The desktop manager becomes a web application that is hosted on the BES so the software doesn’t have to be installed on each desktop. Overall I am very pleased with the new BES software. The BES software allows the small and medium business customers to utilize all of the features of their Blackberry device and simplify the service.

For more information about the Blackberry Enterprise Server Express go to Blackberry’s web site: http://na.blackberry.com/eng/services/business/server/express/

If you need a BES server installed or want to discuss the technology we are happy to help.

Sublime Computer Services, We Make Your Technology Work

Adam Bell
615-942-0850
www.sublimecomp.com
adam@sublimecomp.com

How I'd Hack Your Weak Passwords

How I'd Hack Your Weak Passwords: "Internet standards expert and blogger John Pozadzides knows a thing or two about password security and he knows exactly how he'd hack the weak passwords you use all over the internet.

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Free Shred Day!

Richards & Richards, in cooperation with the Nashville Better Business Bureau, invites everyone, individuals and small businesses alike to destroy their confidential documents securely for one day only – at no cost!

Location: 1741 Elm Hill Pike, Nashville
Date: Saturday, April 17, 2010
Hours: 10am – 2pm
What: Free Paper Shredding!

Note – no need to remove paper clips, binder clips, staples, etc. our shredder can handle all of it!

Richards & Richards and the Nashville Better Business Bureau want to help the commuity to protect themselves from identity theft. So, pack up as much paper as you want – in boxes, cars or trucks and bring it to our location. We’ll shred it all for free!

Wi-Fi 'Finders' Helping Thieves Locate & Steal Your Laptop

Wi-Fi 'Finders' Helping Thieves Locate & Steal Your Laptop: "leaving your laptop in the car for any reason, but, if you must, make sure you turn off the Wi-Fi signal first. According to Network World, thieves are using devices meant to locate Wi-Fi networks to detect laptops and steal them. Apparently, just closing the screen won't prevent your laptop from being detected, either."

Recover Operating System After Virus Attack

Recover Operating System After Virus Attack: "

One of the problems that many computer users experience after a computer virus attack are changes to the system cause by the malicious software. This can for instance mean that system tools like the control panel or task manager do not open, that security permissions have changed, services or startup items have been added or modified or that processes run in the background that have been loaded by the virus.

It is sometimes impossible to fix the damage done to the system which means that in those cases only backups or new installations are an option. But most changes are not as severe. They can be fixed either by the antivirus software cleaning the malicious program or by a third party tool like Virus Effect Remover.

We have reviewed Virus Effect Remover in the past but it has evolved since then which is reason enough to take a new look at it.

The software is a specialized tool which becomes apparent after startup. There are lots of buttons and information displayed in the main interface from access to tools in the left sidebar to a tab driven interface that displays a processes tree and links to various tools that can be used to check and repair specific system settings, files and features.

The tools on this page allow a user for instance to scan services, startup locations, check system files, show suspicious files, generate a process list and about a dozens of others. And that only from the main tab.

The other tabs list autorun details, process details, files and folders options, unlocker, other tools and options. Some of those, like the files and folders options display another tab bar below which demonstrates the complexity of the program.

Virus Effect Remover links to various Microsoft Windows system tools like the Registry Editor, Group Policy Editor or MSConfig.

The program provides the user with many useful information about the operating system and controls to repair some of the damage that has been done by a computer virus.

"

Best Tech Guy caller EVER with Leo Laporte

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Chuck Norris Botnet Karate-chops Routers

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"

Sublime Computer Services - Full Time - Systems Administrator Needed

Title: Systems Administrator
Skills: MCSE or MCSA, Microsoft Server 2000/2003/2008
Term: Contract
Travel: 40% Metro Nashville and surrounding areas

Job Description: The System Administrator for Sublime Computer Services will be employed to maintain and operate a computer system and/or network. The duties are wide ranging and vary widely with multiple organizations. The duties will include installing, supporting, and maintaining servers or other computer systems, planning for and responding to service outages and other problems. The System Administrator must have a strong grasp of computer security. This includes not merely deploying software patches, but also preventing break-ins and other security problems with preventive measures. Other duties may include scripting or light programming and project management.
The System Administrator must demonstrate a blend of technical skills and responsibility in order to perform their job well. Knowledge of operating systems and applications are required, as well as hardware and software troubleshooting, but also knowledge of the purpose for which clients use their computers.
A very important skill is problem solving under various sorts of constraints and stress. The System Administrator is on call when a computer system goes down or malfunctions, and must be able to quickly and correctly diagnose what is wrong and how best to fix it.
The System Administrator will exhibit a desire to help people, good communication skills, patience, flexibility, good time management skills, the ability to follow and create procedures, the ability to create documentation and enjoy being in a constant state of learning.

A basic list of applications and hardware that our clients use:
Server Applications: SBS 2003/2008, Active Directory, WSUS, DNS, DHCP, Group Polcy, FTP, Exchange 2000/2003/2007, SQL 2000/2005, IIS, Print Server Management and VMware.
Antivirus: Symantec and McAfee.
Firewalls/Routers: Watchguard, Sonicwall, Consumer Routers for Comcast, and ATT.
Networks: Wired, Wireless and Network accelerators
Backup Software: Windows Backup, Acronis, Symantec, Image for Windows, Macrium.
Cloud Software: Logmein, Dropbox, Google Apps, MS Sharepoint, MS CRM, Zoho CRM.
Client Software: MS Office suites, Open Office and Quickbooks
Mobile Hardware: Windows Mobile, Palm, Blackberry, Iphone and Google phones.

Please submit your resume to resume@sublimecomp.com . In your email please list the applications and hardware that our clients use with which you are proficient and to what degree.