We did a full backup of the system using Acronis True Image server, upgrade the hardware, rebuilt the array and restored the backup (again using Acronis).  One option I noticed during the restore was the option to create a new disk signature or extract the existing signature from the backup file.  The default is to create a new disk signature, so we went with that a performed the restore.  An hour and a half later, the restore finished and everything looked good.  Everything except the Microsoft Office applications.  They for some reason wanted to reinstall and activate.  I let it run for about 10 minutes while it looked like it was trying to install, but it was hanging so we killed the process and looked around for some articles on what the issue might be.

I found a thread stating that creating a new disk signature during the restore could create reactivation issues with certain applications.  So we did the restore a second time, this time choosing to extract the disk signature from the image.  An hour and a half later (again), the restore looked good EXCEPT the MS Office applications tried to reinstall/reactivate again.

So back to the drawing board, I read through some additional troubleshooting threads and found some information on a similar issue and the fact removing a setup file from within the office install actually ended up solving the issue.

What I ended up doing was going to c:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE12 and removing the setup.exe file (I renamed it actually incase something didn’t work).   When I then went in and tried to run an Office application, it went through a quick install and fired right up.

I don’t exactly what the root cause was, but that was the fix and things have been working fine thus far.

Just thought I would through that out there and happy upgrading!

Microsoft Office tries to reactivate after restoring from Acronis Backup is a post from: Palaestra Training

Take a moment and imagine a world without computers, a world without applications. Its hard isn’t it? In today’s day and age it has become impossible to get certain things done without the help of a computer. And of course computer alone can’t do much if there aren’t proper application to assist you in what you are doing.

Web applications have come and gone. Some have stayed on top for years and have provided utmost value to the users and some have been dumped after their first use.

Today we bring you 29 Web Applications that are intended for students, businesses and webmasters. In this post you will find 29 web apps altogether divided in 3 groups – Students, Businesses and Webmasters. Under each link you will find a brief excerpt from their about us page which will give you a better idea as to how they might help you achieve what you are trying to do.

note : the description under each application is extracted from the application developers about page. No one else can describe a product like the makers do, so we decided we would use their own words to describe each applications.

Let’s get started,

Web Applications For Students

1. Shvoong Homework: Shvoong Homework allows students to work in interactive and inspiring surroundings, while helping their fellow students and benefiting from others’ knowledge. We are sure it will revolutionize the ways students, parents and teachers view schooling.
2. Dark Copy: DarkCopy is for anyone who enjoys the simplicity of a typewriter, and wants to increase productivity by focusing only on writing. It was created as a free, web-based clone of WriteRoom.
3. Printable Paper: Hundreds of papers you can download and print for free. We’ve got graph paper, lined paper, financial paper, music paper, and more.
4. BibMe: The fully automatic bibliography maker that auto-fills. It’s the easiest way to build a works cited page. And it’s free. Search for a book, article, website, or film, or enter the information yourself. Add it to your bibliography. Download your bibliography in either the MLA, APA, Chicago, or Turabian formats and include it in your paper. It’s that easy!
5. PDF Pad: PDF Pad is a comprehensive online destination where you can download and print the high quality documents you need for work, school and play, free of charge or registration hassles.
6. Lecture Fox: Free audio / video to different university courses and lectures from some of the top schools such as MIT, Harvard, Oxford, etc. Subjects include physics, chemistry, computer science, mathematics and faculty mix.
7. Buddy School: In BuddySchool teachers and students meet to study online. Teachers post their listings with information about their field(s) of expertise, pricing, availability and contact information, especially about the Internet communicators they use. Students search through listings to find a teacher most suitable for them.
8. Emurse: Emurse allows job seekers to easily create and maintain a professional resume that is hosted online, available for download in any needed format. Making additions and keeping resumes up-to-date and ready to go has never been easier.
9. Social Bib: Sick and tired of overpriced college textbooks? So are we! That’s why we created socialbib. Socialbib helps students get college textbooks for free. There’s no cost to join.
10. Bookgoo: Bookgoo allows you to upload, annotate, and collaborate with your offline documents in an online way. Putting your documents on our website is only part of the story. We allow your documents to be highlighted and annotated in the same way you would mark up a piece of paper with a highlighter and pen. Moreover, we allow you to then share your annotated documents with friends, colleagues, professors – really, anyone!

Web Applications For Business

1. Circle Up: CircleUp is a free social communications service that turbo-charges email and instant messaging when communicating with online and offline groups of any size. Think of CircleUp as improving email and IM to make them work efficiently for groups! With CircleUp, you can email or IM a circle of people and get back a single, organized result that you can print, share, export or archive, instead of a blizzard of individual responses.
2. Red Roller: Whether shipping ground or overnight, envelopes or 150-pound boxes RedRoller’s customers have access to a shipping solution to compare prices and delivery options from top carriers, print labels, schedule a pick up or locate a drop box, send email notifications, and track your packages in a snap.
3. Rota Board: Simple, Elegant, Organised (and Painless). Organising your employees working schedules shouldn’t be a burden. That’s why we’ve created Rotaboard – our FREE online rota management service. With Rotaboard, it’s easy to manage and keep track of all your staff’s working schedules.
4. Whos Off: Every company has difficulty tracking staff holiday, WhosOff delivers an answer to this enduring problem, by allowing staff to request holiday whilst applying simple initial controls, checking the number of days a staff member has left etc. and yet still passing the logged request on for final approval by an appointed approver. WhosOff is empowering all employers to have full visual control over staff holiday and its approval.
5. Postful: In business, you don’t have time to deal with letters. We put a corporate mailroom in your e-mail client. Postful is smarter, faster and more cost-effective than stocking stamps, envelopes, and letterhead (not to mention wasting your time stuffing letters). Whether in the office or on the go, Postful will change the way you work.
6. SlideShare: SlideShare is the best way to share your presentations with the world. Let your ideas reach a broad audience. Share publicly or privately.
7. Smartsheet: From assigning tasks and tracking project status to sharing information effortlessly. No matter the project, no matter its size, Smartsheet helps you get the job done.
8. BureauOfCommunication: Whether you need to communicate a problem, send an invitation to an event, or simply apologize for a transgression, our easy-to-use forms will ensure that your message is clearly conveyed.
9. Wufoo: Our HTML form builder helps you create contact forms, online surveys, and invitations so you can collect the data, registrations and online payments you need without writing a single line of code.
10. Wrike: Wrike is an integrated online project management solution that helps you manage projects, teams and businesses. By turning email overload into well-organized plans on the Web, Wrike makes your organization more efficient, transparent and agile. Wrike is collaborative, web-based, easy to use and inexpensive, so you can roll it out company-wide.

Web Applications For Webmasters

1. WebsiteGrader: Website Grader is a free seo tool that measures the marketing effectiveness of a website. It provides a score that incorporates things like website traffic, SEO, social popularity and other technical factors. It also provides some basic advice on how the website can be improved from a marketing perspective.
2. Websnapr: websnapr lets you capture screenshots of (almost) any web page. Allow your visitors to instantly visualize any web page before clicking. Increase site traffic, click-through rate and site stickiness.
3. WebGraphicsMaker: Free online tools which generate web graphics for your site or blog. Create Backgrounds, lines or bullets for your blog or site.
4. ValidChecker: Validchecker is a free tool that checks your html,rss,css documents’ validation peridiocally and send the results to you by email or RSS.
5. FreeScreenCast: We make screencasting simple from beginning to end. Record your screen, upload, and share with ease. No tech degree required.
6. AnyClient: AnyClient is a free platform independent file transfer application that supports all major file transfer protocols including FTP/S, SFTP and WebDAV/S. AnyClient is available both as a web based service requiring no software installation, and as a downloadable application that you can install locally.
7. WhoIsHostingThis: Actually, amongst the many web hosting/domaingin related tools we’ve encountered, we haven’t found one that gives you a clear answer to the simple question: Who is Hosting This Site? We’ve found that the best way to find good web hosting is to check out what your favorite web sites are using. This tool makes it very easy to do.
8. PhpForm: This application allows you to simply choose color, customize and add necessary fields and the app will get your HTML code ready for you.
9. Pingabilty: This app monitors site to make sure they are up and running. If the site goes down the webmaster is notified via email or mobile phone. A very handy app for webmasters who manage a number of sites.

If there are any you would like to share please feel free to drop the links on your comments. The applications mentioned above should help you make your life easier whether you are a student, a businessman or a webmaster trying to succeed in the game. We will be bringing more web applications and other useful information in the near future, so please subscribe to our feed to stay updated.

29 Web Apps For Students and White Collar Workers is a post from: Palaestra Training

You’ve also more than likely searched for a way to do all this while blocking access to various categories of websites (i.e. pornography, video streaming, etc) without having to constantly monitor, update and tweak.

If you’re technically savvy there are servers and applications you can setup in-house, but they require upkeep and updating, not to mention hardware and other resources.

This is where the beauty of OpenDNS comes in.  This free service is proclaimed as the world’s largest and fastest growing DNS service. 

Best of all it’s free, takes very little configuration to set up, and you can instantly start taking control of your network.

Why Block Access to Certain Sites?

Why would you want to block user’s access to certain types of sites?  A great question indeed!  If you are responsible for a business network (or a parent looking to keep their children safer) it only makes sense to block access to things that are deemed inappropriate. 

In a work setting, this is typically adult content sites, streaming video sites, chat or social networking sites, etc.  While these types of sites certainly have their place in the world at large, in a work environment they can open the business up to liability, decrease network performance and at the very least waste a lot of time.

OpenDNS is very easy to setup, and once you’ve created a free account you simply define your network or networks, point your upstream DNS to use them instead of your ISP and you’re instantly able to control what is accessible. 

You can block by category, by specific site, and even create custom messages that appear on a user’s screen when they attempt to access a site that is not allowed.

Easy to Configure and Manage

OpenDNS has a lot of great features, and we recommend you check them out for yourself.

One that I particularly like is the ability to set up shortcuts (like the old days of putting names in host files). 

With a shortcut, you can set up short pointers that direct you to your favorite website.  Then you only have to enter the shortcut into your browser’s address bar and your taken to the site.

The list of features goes on, and for a free services there is lots to be happy about.  Check out OpenDNS for yourself and see if it’s right for you home, small office or business.

Need a Safer and Faster Browsing Experience? is a post from: Palaestra Training

If you’re like me, you’ve been using Firefox for awhile, and you love when a new version comes out.  At the same time however, you’re dreading it because you know there’s a good chance some of your favorite plug-ins won’t work (at least not right away).

As an example, I use a Firefox extension “Signature” all the time for posting repetitive things like signatures, but also sometimes for complete responses to frequently asked questions.  I might have 3 or 4 paragraphs of text saved that I could easily drop in with this plug-in.

Unfortunately, the signature plug-in isn’t compatible with version 3.0 of Firefox (as of this writing).  Does this mean you just have to do without?  Well if it did, there wouldn’t be much need to right this article now would there? 

New Life for Old Add-ons

Firefox add-ons are usually installed automatically by visiting the Firefox add-ons page and clicking on your add-on of choice.  This action downloads an .XPI file and your Firefox browser does the rest.

Well we can do a little tweaking of the XPI file and change a few lines to make it work with Firefox 3.0.  Here’s what we do (I’ll use “Signature” as an example:

Trying to download the extension, you’ll notice that the option is grayed out because Firefox knows the version is not coded for the latest version

However, if you scroll down a little, you’ll see an option to see all versions.

This allows you to see previous versions that you can then right-click on and choose to “save link as”.  This enables us to save the .xpi file to our PC which we can then open and tweak.

The XPI file is in essence a compressed archive, much like a ZIP, RAR or CAB file.  You can use most unzipping type programs to open the file.  I chose to use WinRAR.  I opened WinRAR, then opened the .XPI file I saved locally.

I had to specify to look for *.XPI in the file name box, otherwise it doesn’t show up (it’s looking for it’s default file types, i.e. .zip, .rar, etc).

Once you open the .xpi file, you’re looking for a file called install.rdf.  This can be opened with any text editor, my text editor of choice is Scite (link opens new window).

Edit the install.rdf file, and you’ll see a min and max version number for Firefox.  Change the default maxVersion value from its default to the version you currently have or something slightly higher.  In this case I chose to increment the version to 3.1.0.

Close the file, add it back into the .xpi file (easiest way is to open the .xpi file using WinRAR, drag the install.rdf to your desktop, edit the file, save the file, then drag the newly modified file back into the WinRAR application overwriting the original install.rdf file.

Once you’ve gotten the install.rdf file back into the .xpi file, open the file with Firefox (File > Open File).  When you do, you’ll be prompted to install the extension.

Install the extension, restart your browser and you should have a newly working signature extension ready to be put back to good use!

Firefox 3 – Make Older Add-ons Work is a post from: Palaestra Training

Lots of websites collect personal information – some are just more obvious when doing it.

There are those sites that ask for personal information up front before granting the user access. Often, site visitors are asked for their name and e-mail address before gaining access. The Internet is a public place, so how anonymous are you? When you visit any web page, you leave traces of where you’ve been. Worse, if you share a computer, someone can see what you’ve been up to online in just a few clicks.

But there is a way to maintain your privacy through erasing the digital footprints that remain after you close your browser.

What’s important? When you want to cover your online tracks, consider removing the following: browser histories, cookies, cache files, AutoComplete information, e-mail trash, and log files created by chat programs and your internet connection. You can delete these items yourself, or install a program to do it for you.

Here are the 8 best ways to cover your online tracks:

1. Remove Most Recently Used (MRU) list

Most programs keep an MRU list showing the last used items. The most recently opened documents list is one of the ones you might be interested in, as it shows the last documents you’ve opened. You can remove or clear the list in one of several ways.

In Windows XP, you can right-click on the Start Menu, choose Properties > Start Menu > Customize > Advanced > Clear List. You can then uncheck “List my most recently opened documents” to prevent it from keeping a list in the future. Another method would be to manually remove it from the registry. Any time you tweak the registry, you run the risk of damaging your system so do so at your own risk.

If you want to remove the MRU from the registry, the key is found at HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer and then remove the key for “Recent Docs”. Again, back up your registry before you make any changes, there is always the risk of damage to your system.

2. Your identity

Most websites you visit log your IP address and activities, including the pages you view, the files you download, and the transactions you make. Your IP is also recorded in e-mail headers, discussion boards and mail servers. If you really want to keep your IP information private, you can install software that masks your IP, such as MMIP or Anonymous IP.

3. Cookies

Leaving a trail of crumbs with your cookies? Cookies make it easier for companies to identify visitors to their site and can be programmed to track your movements as you flit from site to site. Cookies allow websites or marketing networks to create a profile of you based on the information you have provided and your browsing patterns, and before you know it, ads are popping up on your screen. To clear them, go to your internet options and clear the cookies periodically.

4. The Cache
Empty the cache, also known as the Temporary Internet Files in Internet Explorer. The folder contains previously visited web pages and images, allowing anyone to click a link and see where you’ve been.

To clear it:

• In Internet Explorer- Choose Tools > Internet Options and click Delete Files.
• For Firefox or Netscape Choose Tools > Options, pick Privacy and click the Clear button next to Cache.
• To avoid doing this every time you surf the internet, you can disable the cache so nothing is documented.

5. Turn off AutoComplete

People can also detect where you’ve been if you have AutoComplete switched on. How do you know if it’s active? Type a few letters of a URL into your web browser and you’ll see previous entries of other searches appear. To turn it off, go to your Internet Options tab and navigate to the option that allows you to turn off AutoComplete.

6. Take out the trash

Keep the trash from getting into your inbox. Your email provider may have anti-spam software to screen spam for you. You can filter the trash by installing a program that filters out spam automatically.

Sometimes, it’s ok to keep secrets! Obviously, the best way to maintain your privacy is to use your own common sense, but pair that with a few good practices and you’re well on your way.

7. Clear Toolbar Data

If you use the Google toolbar, or Yahoo, Alexa, or any of the thousand other browser toolbars out there, make sure you clear the search data there as well. If not, when someone types something into the toolbar’s search area, it brings up your history which shows things you’ve searched on before that begin with the same letter or same word.

Clearing the toolbar will vary from one to another, but in Google’s toolbar for example, you’d click on the search box drop down and click “clear history”.

8. Anonymous Proxies

If you are ultra-concerned with privacy, you can browse the Internet through anonymous proxy servers. An anonymous proxy strips off your identifying information and replaces it with bogus information, so when you visit a website, it doesn’t show your IP address.

While this is again one of those things sounds great in theory, most of the free anonymous proxy servers are painfully slow and will make surfing too frustrating for most. The option is there however, for people who absolutely need to ensure their tracks are covered.

8 Best Ways to Cover Your Online Tracks is a post from: Palaestra Training

As we all try to get to the Four Hour Work Week, we’re always running to catch up on responsibilities and squeeze in that little bit extra to stay ahead of the game.

Everyone is looking for the perfect solution in self-organization. A key ingredient to getting it all done is to maximize and use your time efficiently, allowing you to maximize your productivity.

So what’s the best way to get there? What’s the magic tool? There is no perfect tool that will do everything we want it to do, but you can come pretty close.

There are tons of applications out there that boast time-saving benefits, but you need to try them out for yourself to see what works for you. There’s no point in investing in a slick new PDA model with tons of bells and whistles unless the features benefit you.

Remember, if you’re investing money in the tool, you’ll be investing time in using it, and no one will use a tool they feel is a hassle. In fact, you’ll end up struggling with it and wasting more time than you were before. Bye-bye productivity!

I’ve outlined a few tools to enhance your process and boost your productivity online in a variety of different ways.

SharePoint is a great tool for businesses, as it provides you with a single, location where everyone can get access to resources, manage content and workflow, and stay up to date on corporate information.

Instant messaging designed for large groups of individuals working simultaneously on a project. It offers group chat and real-time file sharing which makes it a lot easier to work remotely with business thousands of miles away.

SSL Explorer Users can now be granted access to their files, applications and email from virtually any location with an internet connection. SSL Explorer allows you to quickly provide tightly-controlled extranet access to your key strategic business partners and external consultants where information sharing is becoming more important than ever before. Your network support staff is also now free to remotely manage servers, routers and other network hardware securely using industry standard encryption technology to protect key information assets.

Skype allows you to get in touch with anyone at anytime, so you don’t have to wait around the office for that phone call. Best of all, Skype users can call each other for free. Other benefits to increase productivity: it’s multi-platform, so it works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Multi-person conferencing and file sharing is easy. You also have the choice to use IM or video conferencing.

Not sure how your time is being spent online? Wondering why your work day ends with little to know productivity? RescueTime is an excellent online tool that tracks what you do on your PC and how much time you spend doing each activity. At the end of the week it generates a report that can really give you insight into where your time is being wasted.

Toggl provides fast and effective time management. With Toggl, you can use a timer to track your tasks in real time. The dashboard makes it easy to switch between tasks during the day. You can invite colleagues and customers to join your workspace so they can be kept in the loop on work hours, time tracking, and project status.

ActionThis helps teams and small businesses get things done on time, using everyday business tools like Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Excel. Its unique project management application focuses not only on the set up of your project, but also on the execution. It helps you get you or your team on track and manage tasks to completion.

MS Outlook With Outlook, you can instantly search for information, manage contacts, calendar, RSS feeds, and alerts. The To-Do bar is a great way to check your priorities for the day. It highlights your flagged mails and tasks and also connects you to the tasks you’ve stored in other Microsoft Office programs. The color categories in the 2007 version make it easier to distinguish items and personalize categories.

A cumulative online organizational and productivity suite that can be shared with others to help increase efficiency. Zoho offers word processing, CRM, web conferencing, organizational tools, and a lot more. Each feature can used be used collaboratively with business or family members.

Go mobile by accessing communications and information wirelessly, including email, phone, internet, and instant messaging. The Blackberry has clients for most popular instant messaging clients, in addition to the BlackBerry’s own instant messenger, you’ll be able to keep in touch with everyone in real time. You can also use the organizer and sync your BlackBerry to Outlook…how’s that for productive!

If you’re looking for the latest news and updates regarding BlackBerry devices, CrackBerry.com has a great community and usually is one of the first to get the latest scoop on what’s new in the BlackBerry world including the new Blackberry Bold.

StumbleUpon helps you discover and share great websites. How does this help with time productivity and efficiency? Well for one, no more stumbling mindlessly through sites to figure out your interests.

How it works: StumbleUpon uses ratings to form opinions on a website’s quality. When you use it, you’ll only see the pages recommended by like-minded people. You end up discovering content you may have not found with a search engine. How is stumbling different than searching? When you use search engines you need to hunt through pages of results to find what you’re looking for. Rather than searching for websites, StumbleUpon members are taken directly to web sites that match their personal interests and preferences.

Radian6 helps you to monitor social media and minimize the clutter by effectively managing your online social activities.

The process is simple: the user sets keywords for topics they want to monitor. Then, you can use it to analyze trends, pass information to clients, and make recommendations or proposals. This is especially useful for business people since there is no need to manually monitor and analyze social media.

There you have it. Our bag of tricks for maximizing productivity and keeping connected. We’d like to hear your favorites as well as we look for the ultimate productivity toolset.

12 Tools That Enhance Productivity is a post from: Palaestra Training

It’s great to have a tool that complements your shrewd set of eyes, but you still need to teach your children to be cautious when surfing the internet.

Tools to enhance your children’s protection

IamBigBrother is available for both homes and business. You’ll know exactly who your kids chatted with last night and be able to read the full conversation!

Features:

• It runs in the background and remains undetected by the user. It captures chats and instant messages, email, websites…etc.
• It takes screen captures periodically.
• You can view recorded activity from any computer via a secure server.
• It monitors everything on your computer.
• Logs all visited websites.

The benefits:
You can enter in keywords and anytime they appear, they’ll be flagged as a problem. You can also click on a day in the calendar and pull up all the activity for that day.

SpectorPro has some interesting features to enhance your protection on your home computer. A Top 10 Summary Report logs a report of the most frequently used keywords, most visited websites and email and chat conversations.

Features:

• View the text of both incoming and outgoing email plus both sides of chat/IM conversations.
• The program activity records the actions of programs on your computer so you’ll know if your kids played games instead of doing homework.
• Screen captures allow you to visualize what your kids are looking at every few minutes.

The benefits:

With SpectorPro, The lists are organized for easy scanning. You can view the domains for websites visited by date. Then if you want to look at more, you can view each individual page. It also allows you to view the content of email and chat messages.

WebWatcher is simply designed to make it easy to protect your children from harmful areas of the internet. Completely invisible, it stands up to the most computer savvy of children. The best part, you don’t have to be an expert to use it.

Features:

• Blocks websites
• Records visited websites
• Screenshots
• Records Instant messages and emails

The benefits:

Once the program records what happens on your computer, it uploads the information to an account online that you can access from anywhere. You can also block websites your children visit based on the information you provide, using keywords or URLS. WebWatcher is also in real time, so you can see what your kids are doing while they are doing it.

Safe Eyes allows you to decide how much internet usage is appropriate for your child. It also allows you to specify what websites are appropriate, so when your children get distracted from homework they’ll be playing games or surfing websites that you approve of.

Features:

• Web and email blocking
• Time limits
• Program blocking
• Instant alerts

The benefits:

With Safe Eyes, you can control the amount of time your child is online, as well as when they’re granted access. You can also monitor instant messaging and categorize and flag over 35 categories of harmful websites.

Net Nanny not only made our 15 Top Software Solutions in 2008 but because of its overwhelming success and recognition it made this list as well for top monitoring tools for parents. Net Nanny provides protection on the World Wide Web, and less known dangerous parts of the Internet like the Usenet, peer to peer networks, and FTP forums. Updates happen automatically over the internet, so you’ll always have the latest version.

Features:

• Total customization
• Blur technology
• Customized restrictions
• Integration with popular search engines

The benefits:

With Net Nanny, you can implement blur technology to blur out the view of questionable material. You can hold suspicious items in quarantine until you review or delete them. The content clean up mode suggests files you may want to delete, and you can classify different warning levels to classify risks of different websites.

Minimize and be aware of dangers

Remember, it is still important to set some ground rules for your children when surfing the net so they are aware of the dangers lurking sometimes just a click away. Here are some tips to consider:

• Define a clear set of guidelines on using the computer and make sure your children know your expectations.
• Talk to your children about chat rooms and bulletin boards. Teach them to never give out personal information to people they meet online.
• Keep the computer in a central location in your home and know the other places your children may be granted access online.

Top 5 Tools to Protect your Children Online is a post from: Palaestra Training

1. Tops in parental control

The new version of the web filtering program, Net Nanny, is great for parents who want to monitor their children’s activities but aren’t very technically savvy.

Its filters allow you to block material on the Web and manage what parents want their children to see. Parents can also get a monthly list of inappropriate websites and edit block lists so they’re always in control of what their children can and cannot see.

A white list can also be created so that only the websites on the list can be visited or viewed. Keyword lists can be created to filter out vulgar or inappropriate terms on web pages and on emails.

2. Tops in file compression

BitZipper 5.0.4 is an advanced ZIP feature that allows users archive the same files and folders with one easy click of a button. BitZipper supports 15 different archive types, including popularly used WinZip, WinRar, and WinAce, among others. It also includes standard Zip features such as virus scanning, software installation, converting files and more.

3. Tops in system monitoring

Whether you’re a concerned parent who wants more control or a network administrator trying to maintain a tight ship at work, System Surveillance Pro 5.5 can allow you to monitor details about network activity such as keystrokes entered, programs run, websites visited, instant messages, etc. Everything you need to know about your computer network’s activity is at the tips of your fingers. It’s uncomplicated and easy to use which is why it made it at the top of our list.

4. Tops in mapping

Now this is different! Know where you are in real-time on a moving GPS Tracker with Google Maps. A small application on your PC uploads your GPS position over either GPRS or 3G, which updates your position on a moving Google Map.

5. Tops in recovery

Recover My Files Data Recovery Software restores data and retrieves lost disk and file data. You can recover deleted files, including DOC and JPG files, as well as digital camera photos, Zip files, email, MP3s and more. Even if a virus attacks your system or you experience a system crash, Recover My Files can salvage files emptied from the Recycle Bin or a formatted hard disk. Now that’s handy!

6. Tops in anti-virus

Our post last week provided a list of the top 7 anti-virus software programs. From that list, AVG is our long time favorite. AVG Free is easy to use and is not a space hog so it will not slow your system down. It runs automatic updates periodically and provides real-time protection as files are opened and programs are run. The Virus Vault handles infected files safely and effectively. So, unless you use Linux, Unix or a Mac, save yourself time and money and download AVG today:)

7. Top in firewall

Shopping and banking alone can be quite scary if you do not have peace of mind with a fully protected system. ZoneAlarm can give you a private web experience shielding you from any drive-by downloads, phishing scams, spyware, you’re your passwords, personal and financial information remain completely confidential and you can browse comfortably on your computer. While Windows XP and vista both come up with their own versions of firewall, ZoneAlarm is much easier than the Vista or XP firewall.

8. Tops in DVD software

WinDVD Gold offers great audio and great playback. With WinDVD you can watch movies on your PC or your laptop. The best part: you can tweak the settings to obtain a truly customized experience. You can also implement the mobile technology feature to share with friends and family from your mobile device or phone.

9. Tops in PC maintenance

Get rid of the extra pounds weighing down your PC! CleanMyPC Registry Cleaner scans the Windows registry and finds inconsistent or old information in the registry. By fixing the obsolete information in Windows registry, your system will run faster and be free of errors. The backup and restore function allows you to backup your Windows Registry in case of a system failure.

10. Tops in web conferencing

Communication via online venues has never been easier with web conferencing tools such as GoToMeeting . You can present more and travel less with this tool that will easily help you present, demonstrate and meet with clients, co-workers, etc. While there are a variety of alternatives out there that provide similar functionality, GoToMeeting made our list because of its ease of use and considerably low cost.

11. Tops in backup software

Everybody values their data and in a professional setting, data recovery solutions are crucial. BounceBack helps you create exact copies of your computer’s hard drive including files, applications, and operating systems. Unlike other programs that just create images, BouncBack creates an exact replica of your files. It’s easy to use and allows for easy access and immediate recovery of lost data. While BounceBack doesn’t crate an image copy of your hard drive, we find using it to the less technical a lot easier compared to some of the other alternatives.

12. Tops in chat

Do have too many chat id’s through aol, msn, yahoo, etc? Never fear, Trillian is here. This award winning chat client supports all major chat features and is easy to use and compatible with your system.

13. Tops in online forms

Are you sick of refilling your personal information over and over again? Can’t remember your passwords? Roboform 6.9 is the top rated password manager and web form filler that completely automates password and form processes. It’s ease of use and excellent features including password encryption and generation have helped Roboform earn several awards and recognitions such as CNET Download.com’s Software of the year.

14. Tops in remote sharing

Easy to set up in 10 minutes, LogMeIn Hamachi allows you enable a secure remote access to your business network from anywhere. Compatible with your firewall and no additional configuration needed, LogMeIn Hamachi delivers direct peer-to-peer connectivity that is simple, secure, and low in cost.

15. Tops in time management

Having trouble focusing at work? RescueTime offers you a great, simple way to better manage your time by generating a report that breaks down computer usage on various programs throughout your day.

So, what do you think of our list of the top software? Do you have your own list of software you use regularly?

15 Top Software Solutions in 2008 is a post from: Palaestra Training

Unless you logged out of Prodigy and went to sleep for the last 20 years, you are more than likely aware of just how prevalent, and how dangerous computer viruses can be.  On the low end they can be annoying either flashing a silly message or slowing your computer down.  On the high side, they could completely destroy your system and its data, or open holes for identity thieves and hackers.

Surfing online without an updated anti-virus  program is like crossing the Grand Canyon on a tight rope.  It’s not a matter of if you’re going to run into to trouble, it’s a matter of when.

Non-windows computers are certainly not immune from viruses, but Windows PCs are by far the most targeted attack surface out there. 

Anti-virus programs have been around for as long as there have been viruses, and the old joke is that the anti-virus companies make half the viruses to keep themselves in business.  That usually stems from the fact that shortly after a virus is discovered, the anti-virus companies have an update to their detection algorithms (thankfully) to keep viruses from spreading like wildfire.

Having said that, it goes with out saying that an anti-virus product is only as good as it’s last update.  Regardless of the Anti-Virus program you use, keep it updated!

Here are our Top 7 favorite anti-virus programs (in no particular order).

1. AVG Anti-Virus – This long time favorite has undergone a facelift in it’s most recent version, and it looks much more polished and ready for prime-time.  It’s virus-detection ability is as good as any we’ve seen (in our unofficial, un-scientific testing) and best of all, it’s free for personal use.
2. McAfee – McAfee has a robust suite of protection tools that help keep your PC virus and malware free.  In our tests there products seem to have a slightly noticeable impact on performance, but overall they have solid products that range from personal use to enterprise-level protection.
3. Norton Anti-Virus – Symantec’s Norton Antivirus have been another long time favorite that has gotten increasingly heavy over the years.  From our (again unofficial) testing, it always seems to slow our systems down.  Not to the point of being unusable, but slower nonetheless.
4. Trend Micro -  A long time contender in the AV space, Trend’s latest version is a solid product with good scanning capability and frequent updates.  We did notice some system slowdown at times, but due to the nature of virus scanning, it’s understood that some performance degradation is unavoidable.
5. BitDefender Internet Security – BitDefender has a solid anti-virus product that is easy to use, looks good, and plays well with others (the gamer mode keeps popups and warnings from interrupting you while your running wild through the streets of GTA)
6. Kapersky – Another solid play in the AntiVirus space, Kapersky has gone through some facelifts and design upgrades over the years as well.  Their newest version has an improved interface and works well. 
7. Panda Anti-Virus (Panda Security) – A decent AV product that has fewer features than some of the others, but can also be less confusing to the less technically inclined.  It’s easy to setup, has automatic updates and provides good AV protection for your home PC.

New Editions to Our List

Due to the massive response from our readers, we’re adding two additional antivirus products to our list.  Thank You for your responses, and letting us (and everyone else) know what works for you.

NOD32 (ESET) – We received a large number of e-mails and comments regarding NOD32, and what a great job it does for the people who responded.  So we’re adding this to our list, and we’ll be certain to include it in future posts on this topic.

AVAST! -  One that actually was on our larger list initially before we pared it down to 7, AVAST! antivirus is another perennial favorite for both home and business users.  AVAST also has a free version available for non-commercial use.

ICSA Compliant Protection

All the antivirus packages mentioned above are fully ICSA compliant and will provide you with solid protection against viruses and malware. 

It really comes down to features, personal preference, and performance tolerance. 

We’ve mentioned our favorites, what antivirus products do you like best?

Top 7 Anti-Virus Programs is a post from: Palaestra Training

You don’t want them, you don’t need them, and you can get rid of them and replace them with friendlier less bulky counterparts. So what are they?

Here’s a list of the top five most annoying elephantware programs:

The Windows Vista security feature

The nagging, clucky window that springs up like a babysitter and asks if you really want to do that thing you’re trying to do every time you move left or right on your computer.

You can get rid of it. Open the Control Panel, and type ‘user account’ into the search box. Click on “Turn User Account Control (UAC) on or off”. Uncheck the box, and that’s it!

Real Player

Real Player is the bear sniffing through your campsite searching for crumbs and leaving a major mess in its wake. This bear installs all kinds of crazy shortcuts on your desktop and assumes you want to use it as your primary player so it constantly pops up and asks if you want to make it your default. And to make things worse, Real bombards you with tons of news and updates as well as upgrades and offers…constantly. It’s like that kid on your grade school playground jumping up and down screaming “Pick me, pick me!” It’s a Real pain.

Adobe Acrobat Reader

You know the big guy at the buffet hogging all the desserts? Yup, that’s Acrobat Reader. It’s a file reader, and yet, it’s a heavy sucker taking up all kinds of space. And worse, once it’s executed it locks everything up and you end up waiting, waiting, waiting for it to load.

Norton Antivirus

Oh Norton…you’re slow, you make changes without my permission…I think it’s time we break-up. But like it says in the song Hotel California, “you can checkout anytime you want but you can never leave.” Try as you might, to fully shake Norton from your system is futile. I ended up with a ton of error messages and finally had to download and install additional software just to get rid of the software I already got rid of. Go figure.

MSN Messenger

Hey, If I’ve got to get a passport, at least take me somewhere hot and exotic, right? Nope. MSN Messenger requires all users to sign up for their passport, and then continues to annoy you with distracting advertisements as you try to chat with your contacts. And what’s with the ability to change nicknames? I need to know that I’m talking to John, not ‘Wanna eat, sleep, and read all day.” As far as I’m concerned, Messenger can Nudge and Wink itself right off my PC.

And there you have it…five really annoying programs on your PC. Let us know if you have more, you know you do!

The 5 Most Annoying Programs on your PC is a post from: Palaestra Training