Hey, after a plague of personal health distractions, it's great to be back among the living. It's left me lots of time to think about what comes next, and it's going to be a fairly significant project: Getting Control of Your Digital Photos.   read more »

Featured Software:
  Microsoft Photo Info, Piky Basket, Duplicate Cleaner

I'm calling this a 'project' because there are different aspects to this problem that require different pieces of software. I started with the assumption that all most people really need to organize, edit, and share their photos is a single program like Picasa, which is a very powerful program, indeed. However, I have come to think that there are some steps to take on the organization front before bringing in Picasa

If you aren't yet convinced that you should use a different, strong password to access any information you don't want compromised, I recently ran across this piece, which is downright scary.

In keeping with past habits, I'm presenting a second solution to the problem at hand, which in this case is password management. The first, KeePass, is a program that you download and run on your own computer. There is another approach, which is an online password manager. In this scheme, your data is stored on a remote server, and you access it with a web browser.   read more »

Featured Software:
   PassPack Online Password Manager

You basically have two choices in dealing with passwords, which are 1) committing them to memory, or 2) writing them down/recording them somewhere. Each approach has its advantages and drawbacks. If you commit passwords to memory, chances are you use one or a few of them over and over again. You have probably chosen passwords that are relatively easy to remember, and may be relatively easy for a determined hacker to discover.   read more »

Featured Software
  KeePass Password Manager

I spend so much time scouring the net for great software that it would be criminal of me not to share my best sources with you -- particularly the free stuff.

I can't vouch for everything you'll find at these sites, but I can say each has lots of great software available for download.  These sites generally categorize things well, so before you buy commercial software, you can look and see if there is something available here.  Oftentimes, the free software is a limited version of a more fully-featured commercial product, which you can try out before you buy.   read more »

I'm back from summer vacation and trying to focus on getting some work done, in spite of the nasty case of poison ivy I picked up while I was camping on Cape Cod. This plant is just plain mean, for no good reason that I can think of...

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Although it's sometimes annoying, I get some warm fuzzies from Windows Update, because I like the idea that I have the most recent bug fixes for the software I'm using. What Windows Update does for the operating system, Secunia PSI does for applications, but only to the extent of finding software updates that plug security holes. If a piece of software I'm using has a new version available that fixes other kinds of bugs, or adds new capabilities, I would also like to know about that.

Featured Software:
FileHippo Update Checker
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When I learned about Secunia Personal Software Inspector, I had to admit that this was an area of computer vulnerability I hadn't thought much about: application security.

I usually think of computer security as akin to the border crossing stations that I used to have to go through on a day excursion from San Diego to Ensenada. You watch what goes into your computer, and you watch what goes out. But what if something was installed on your computer from a reliable vendor, but later determined to have security risks?

Featured Software:
   Secunia Personal Software Inspector
  read more »