WebMail Notifier

Are you an avid Firefox user? If so, you’ll definitely want to check out the new add on I have for you today. It's called WebMail Notifier and it will save you a lot of time and it will make it easier for you to check your e-mails!

I don’t know about you, but my e-mails are spread out across several e-mail addresses with Yahoo!, Hotmail and Gmail. It takes me ages to check all of them when I wake up in the morning and I don’t usually have time to check every single one. Well, that's when WebMail Notifier comes into play! It’s all maintained by a little envelope icon that sits in the bottom right hand corner of your Firefox browser. It looks like this:

If you want it, simply click here to get it!

To install WebMail Notifier, just click on the Install Now button and then restart Firefox. When it's finished, you’ll need to set it all up. Here’s how:

1.) Right click on the envelope icon.

2.) Choose Preferences.

3.) Choose the e-mail program you use (for example, Hotmail, Yahoo!, etc).

4.) Enter in your username (for instance, test@yahoo.com) and your password.

5.) Click on the Add button to complete the setup process!

WebMail Notifier will then check your e-mail for new messages regularly. If you get a new e-mail, the envelope icon will light up. You can customize your preferences to hear a chime sound when you get a new message as well. How cool is that?!

It's the easiest way I've been able to find to keep on top of all my e-mails at once. Give it a try today!

~ Brandon Zubek

DVD Rip

How many of you have a growing DVD collection? If so, how would you like to be able to save or rip those DVDs to your computer? Yep, they would be saved on your hard drive and you could watch them anytime you please. That would be pretty cool, wouldn't it? Well, you’re in luck, because that's exactly what I’m going to show you how to do today!

If you’ve ever tried to rip a DVD, you know it can be a complicated process. There are so many different programs that make you deal with video format, codecs, compression and all those other confusing settings. Well, I’m going to eliminate all of that from the DVD ripping process for you by using what is called a “one click program.” It’s a single program designed to convert DVDs into AVI or MPEG videos, all with just a few clicks of the mouse. Let’s get started!

1.) First, download the program you’ll be using as a ripper. It's called bitRipper and the download link can be found right here.

2.) Follow the installation procedure that appears on your screen. When it's finished, go ahead and run bitRipper.

3.) With its simple interface, the program will look similar to this:

4.) Now, you can go ahead and insert a DVD into your computer's DVD ROM drive.

5.) bitRipper will instantly recognize your DVD. To burn the entire video, make sure Track 1 is selected.

6.) For the output, select Browse. From there, you can choose where you want the video file to be exported.

7.) To select the format, use the drop down list at the bottom of the dialogue box.

8.) Finally, click on Start Ripping. Once you do that, a progress bar will appear that gives you an estimated end time.

9.) Once bitRipper has finished, the file will appear where you selected to place it.

10.) To access another great feature of bitRipper, click on Settings. There you will see an option to shut down your computer after bitRipper is finished. I think that’s quite nifty, especially if you're ripping a large DVD overnight. As soon as the ripping is done, your computer will shut down!

I hope you have fun with this great little program, but keep in mind that you should never copy or distribute videos that are copyrighted by someone else. Enjoy!

~ Neil Patel

Windows Updates: July 2008

It's that time again! Yep, the Windows Updates for July 2008 came through to most computers on Tuesday, July 8, 2008, so if you haven't installed them yet, you better get to it. They're probably sitting down there in your system tray just waiting for you to download them! Whether you've updated your computer yet or not, I'm sure you're all curious to know what's new this month, right? Well, come along with me and I'll tell you!

There are four updates this month and they are all categorized as "important." That's right, no critical issues this time around! The first issue dealt with a vulnerability in Microsoft's SQL server that could potentially allow elevation of privilege. The second was a vulnerability in Windows Explorer that could allow remote code execution. The third update involved vulnerabilities within DNS that could allow spoofing and the fourth issue had to do with vulnerabilities in the MS Outlook Web Access for Exchange server that could allow for elevation of privilege. Whew, that's a lot!

Of course, all of those issues were fixed with this month's Windows Updates, but you have to install them in order to reap the benefits! A few affected software and download locations were also taken care of, as well as, detection and deployment tools and guidance. And as always, the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool was also updated. That's it. You're now up to date for yet another month!

~ Erin

TrueCrypt

Today, I have a free download for you called TrueCrypt. It's a program that allows you to make encrypted virtual drives so that your important data is password protected. While I have reviewed many programs that allow you to password protect certain items on your computer, TrueCrypt is the first one I have found that will allow you to password protect data on a flash drive. That means, when you plug your flash drive into any computer, you will have to enter a password in order to access the files you have encrypted. I think that's awesome and this is the first free program I have been able to find that will do it.

Before I get into the specifics, I want to say how important it is for you to follow these directions carefully. Read over them completely before you do anything, just to make sure you're comfortable with the process. Anyone can do this, as long as you follow along carefully.

First, you will need two things:

1.) A USB flash memory card. Any size is fine, but it must be blank.

2.) The free TrueCrypt software, which you can get here: http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads.php

Okay, here we go!

To begin, download TrueCrypt from the link above and save it to your desktop.

Next, find the file you saved on your desktop and install it. That will install the TrueCrypt program on your computer. It needs to be installed on the computer in order to set up the flash drive, but it will not be needed after that. Choose the Install option and then click Next.

After the installation is complete, plug your flash drive into the computer and allow the system some time to properly recognize and install it. That should happen automatically. Now, go to My Computer and write down the drive letter the system has assigned to your flash drive. On my computer, my flash drive has been assigned the letter J:, but it will probably be different for you. Please make sure you know the drive letter before continuing.

After figuring out the drive letter, close the My Computer screen. There should be a new icon on your desktop for the TrueCrypt program. Double click on that to open it.

When you open the program, you'll see a screen with a bunch of drive letters on it. That screen is used to choose the drive letter that will be assigned to your encrypted files drive. TrueCrypt works by creating a new drive letter for your protected data. Anything you put on the new drive will automatically be secured by your password. We will now put the drive on your blank flash drive.

On the TrueCrypt screen, choose a drive letter by clicking on it. I chose letter X: for my drive, but you can choose any letter you'd like. After selecting a letter, click on the Create Volume button.

Next, we'll go through the settings to create the drive. Please follow along carefully!

The first screen that comes up will ask you what you want to create. Choose the Create a File Container option and then click Next.

The next screen will ask you the volume type. Choose Standard TrueCrypt Volume and then click Next.

The next screen will ask you to choose the volume location. This is where you will need to know the drive letter for your flash drive. You need to tell the program where the encrypted files will be saved. To do that, click on the Select File button. A new window will open that allows you to look through your files. On that screen, go to My Computer and double click on your flash drive's letter. After doing that, type "encrypted" into the file name box (you can actually type any file name here, I just chose "encrypted"). It should look like this:

Click Save and then click Next.

The next screen asks you about encryption options. You don't need to do anything here, so just click Next.

Okay, now you should be on a screen that says Volume Size. That screen asks how much space you want to use on your flash drive for encrypted files. It will tell you how much space is available, but you don't want to use it all. I chose to use 2,000 MB. That should be plenty.

After choosing your size, click Next. The next screen will ask you for a password. Type in the password you want to use for your files and then confirm it by typing it in again (no checks are needed in the other boxes on the screen). Then click Next. Note: The program will tell you that a very large password is recommended. It's truly up to you how big you want your password to be. There's no point in encrypting your files if you can't remember the password for them later!

The next screen will actually encrypt the folder. The program creates an encryption code based on the movement of your mouse. Just move your mouse around for awhile and then click on the Format button.

Then just wait. This part will take some time. It's formatting the drive so that you can use it.

After it's finished, click OK and then Finish.

We're done with the first part!

The next part is much quicker.

Go back to the main TrueCrypt screen (the one with the drive letters on it). Then go to the Tools menu and click on Traveler Disk Setup.

That will open the area to make the flash drive work on any computer.

You will then see a screen with a few options. Here's what you do:

First, click Browse in the File Settings box. On that screen, select your flash drive's letter (the one you wrote down before) and click OK.

Next, put a dot next to Automount TrueCrypt Volume. Then click Browse in the box below. Click on the file you created in the last set of steps. (I named mine "encrypted," what did you name yours?) Then click Open.

Finally, put a check in the box that says "Open Explorer window for mounted volume." Then click Create. Here's what it should look like:

After clicking Create, you will get a message saying it's done. Click OK and then close out everything.

Congratulations! You're done!

Now, you can disconnect the flash drive and then reconnect it. It should ask you for your password and then open a blank space for you to copy your files.

Note: If you see a screen like this:

Just click Mount TrueCrypt Volume, then OK.

One last thing: In order for this to work correctly, you must be an Administrator on the computer you're plugging the drive into. That's the case most of the time, but if not, you can right click on the drive and choose Run as Administrator. That will fix it.

I know this seems like a lot, but it really only takes a couple minutes if you follow the directions. Plus, if you want to undo everything, all you have to do is go to My Computer, right click on the drive and choose Format. That will make it good as new, removing any changes you made. Enjoy!

~ Gary

Gmail E-mail Headers

Are you a faithful Gmail e-mail user? If so, this tip is a must read for you! Have you ever wanted to know where all the spam mail you get really comes from? I mean, you already know it’s not PayPal, the IRS or your bank, right? (Read here for more on that). So, who could it be? Well, here’s how you can find out some interesting information about your Gmail e-mails. You know, if you're curious!

To check an e-mail’s message header, here’s what you do:

1.) First, simply open the message.

2.) Next, look toward the top right hand corner. See the arrow? Click on it.

3.) Then from the drop down menu, select Show Original.

4.) In that garbled mix of words (the e-mail header), you really only need one thing: the IP address.

Here’s where you can locate it:

Plus, even better, you can track where the message came from. Just go to http://www.who.is and enter in the IP address. It’s that easy!

So, now you know how to locate certain details in your Gmail e-mail headers. Although you can’t really stop spam (it’s bound to come through sometimes), you can find out where it’s coming from. And that makes it a little easier to take, don't you agree?!

~ Brandon Zubek

Disabling the Vista Welcome

As you've probably figured out, the Windows Vista default setting is set to show the Welcome Center screen every time you start up your computer. While the Welcome Center is mildly interesting the first time you see it, you'll more than likely get tired of it rather quickly. You can easily change the setting though by unchecking the Run option under the Startup button, located at the bottom of the Welcome Center screen.

1.) To do that, go to Start, Control Panel.

2.) Select Welcome Center.

That takes care of that!

Now, similarly, the Vista Sidebar is also shown by default. While some users will find the Sidebar and its widgets very useful, you may want to use that space on your desktop for something else. If that's the case, you can turn the Sidebar off. Here's how:

1.) Go to Start, Control Panel.

2.) Right click on the Windows Sidebar icon in the system tray.

3.) Choose Properties.

4.) Uncheck the "Start Sidebar When Windows Starts" checkbox.

5.) Click OK.

That's it I hope many of you can get some good use out of this one!