So without further ado (thanks Jesse), I present to you:

Yeah, I know this is a no-brainer and is listed on just about every single freeware list on earth. But think about it... I used to use Internet Explorer until this came around and after switching I refuse to go back. I've also tried out Safari, Opera, K-Melon, and yes even Google Chrome.

The thing I like most about Firefox is that it comes across as versatile while allowing me to customize to my hearts content through the use of add-ons. So take a moment and install the latest version of Firefox, because the next part of this list will be the Add-Ons that I have installed which make my browser an elite and powerful program.

Download Latest Version of Firefox

Now, let's work on the essential Firefox Extensions. These are the same ones that I have installed by default and are the very same ones I simply cannot live without. Your tastes may vary, of course, but again we're focusing on the things that I have personally installed and refuse to live without.

Firefox Extensions:

404: File Is Not Found? Now It Will Be!

Download

I wish this extension was around about ten years ago... so what does this do? Well, when you hit a page that throws you a 404 error (file not found) it pops up a dialog in Firefox asking if you want it to check Archive.org to see if they have a cached version of it on their servers. So essentially, if the site or page is missing today, there may be a good chance that it wasn't missing awhile ago and there is an archived copy of it.

Very useful indeed.

Adblock Plus!

Download

This is a staple for me, and pretty much a god-send. Does essentially what it says: Blocks popups, pop unders, and even advertising banners (if you tell it to be totalitarian about things).

AutoAuth

Download

AutoAuth automatically submits HTTP authentication dialogs when you've chosen to have the browser save your login information. (If you've already told the browser what your username and password are, and you've told it to remember that username and password, why not just have it automatically submit it instead of asking you each time?)

If you don't have a username and password saved for a subdomain (e.g., foo.bar.com), AutoAuth will give you a list of suggestions for that domain, based on other saved usernames and passwords for similar subdomains (e.g., bar.com or *.bar.com). Just choose which username to use from the list, and hit the Autofill button. [This feature is only available in Firefox 2.]

Better Gmail 2

Download
Add useful extra features and skins to Gmail, like hierarchical labels, macros, file attachment icons, and more.

Better Gmail 2 compiles the best Greasemonkey user scripts for Gmail into a single package. All scripts copyright their original authors. Click on the script homepage in the About tab for help and more information. Only compatible with the new Gmail interface.

If you are a Gmail user like I am, you'll find this add-on invaluable. It has a settings interface which lets you further pick and choose which options you would like for it to apply to your gmail account when you log in. Some things I have enabled, others I've left out. Give this a shot and see if it suits your tastes.

GMail Notifier

Download

The original notifier for Gmail.  Supports checking multiple accounts as well as Gmail Hosted accounts. It adds a GMail icon to the bottom right corner of the browser with a little number on it. Every 15 minutes or so it checks to see if you have new mail, and if you do, displays the number of new messages.

Clicking the little icon loads GMail in a new tab (if you set it to do so). Since you need to give it your login information to check for new messages, clicking it will automatically log you into your GMail account.

Again, this is a must-have for GMail users.

BlockSite

Download

BlockSite is an extension, which automagically blocks websites of your choice. Additionally, this extension will disable all hyperlinks to these websites, by just displaying the link text without the clicking functionality.

Ever run into a website that you simply do not want to see again? We'll say for example YTMND.com or maybe some stupid site you stumble across... This plugin allows you to literally stop it from ever loading in your browser again. It's that simple.

Colorzilla

Download

Advanced Eyedropper, ColorPicker, Page Zoomer and other colorful goodies.

With ColorZilla you can get a color reading from any point in your browser, quickly adjust this color and paste it into another program. You can Zoom the page you are viewing and measure distances between any two points on the page. The built-in palette browser allows choosing colors from pre-defined color sets and saving the most used colors in custom palettes. DOM spying features allow getting various information about DOM elements quickly and easily. And there's more...

If you are a designer like I am, or simply have a need to pick out colors for things, then this is uber-useful.

CustomizeGoogle

Download

CustomizeGoogle is a Firefox extension that enhance Google search results by adding extra information (like links to Yahoo, Ask.com, MSN etc) and removing unwanted information (like ads and spam). All features are optional and easily configured.

GoogleGears

Download

One of the few Firefox addons that aren't locted on the actual Mozilla site. GoogleGears allows web applications interact naturally with your desktop, store data locally in a fully-searchable database, and run JavaScript in the background to improve performance.

Something I can imagine uses this right off the bat is GoogleDocs, which comes in super useful when you get an email attachment in Gmail which is a document&183; Instead of downloading it, then opening it, you can simply open it right up in GoogleDocs and edit it - then send it back with revisions.

Google Preview

Download

Simply put, it adds thumbnail images to search results in Google showing you what the page looks like ahead of time. While I have this installed and have had it for quite some time, this function is a 50/50 mix for me.

Check it out and see if you like it. If not, no big deal :)

Download Embedded

Download

Downloads all or selected embedded objects on a webpage. Can be used for downloading movies, mp3s, flash, quicktime, or other embedded files (although this does NOT work on video embedded in flash [ youtube, video.google.com, etc.. ]

Of course, what kind of person would I be if I didn't hook you up with something that did actually work for places like youtube?

Video Download Helper

Download

DownloadHelper is a tool for web content extraction. Its purpose is to capture video and image files from many sites.

Just surf the Web as you are used to, when DownloadHelper detects it can do something for you, the icon gets animated and a menu allows you to download files by simply clicking an item

For instance, if you go to a YouTube page, you'll be able to download the video directly on your file system. It also works with MySpace, Google videos, DailyMotion, Porkolt, iFilm, DreamHost and others.

Thank me later

DownThemAll!

Download

You simply cannot live without this one, and neither can I.

DownThemAll is all you can desire from a download manager: it features an advanced accelerator that increases speed up to 400% and it allows you to pause and resume downloads at any time.

DownThemAll is fast, reliable and easy-to-use! It lets you download all the links or images contained in a webpage and much more: you can refine your downloads by fully customizable criteria to get only what you really want!

DownThemAll is absolutely freeware and open-source. No Adware, no Spyware.

Fission

Download

Fission combines address bar and progress bar (Safari style). This makes the progress bar more visible and allows for a nice visual effect.

FullerScreen

Download

This extension enhances the Full Screen mode into a really full screen mode, hiding the remaining toolbars and statusbar and making them visible again when the mouse pointer hits an edge of the screen.
It also offers a slideshow mode, enabling @projection CSS rules in a document when full screen mode is turned on. Navigation between slides in implemented in the extension and a slide manager showing thumbnails for the slides is available through shift-F11.

Grab And Drag

Download

Enables Adobe Acrobat-style grab and drag scrolling, Flick gestures, and Momentum scrolling in Firefox, Thunderbird, and Flock. Why worry about grabbing the scrollbar on the side when you can just grab the page itself and flick it up or down? This addon is my personal favorite.

  Greasemonkey

Download

Well duh. Of course I have Greasemonkey installed! Cmon! This single addon for Firefox lets you literally go hog wild with the web and change sites around to your hearts content!

Allows you to customize the way a webpage displays using small bits of JavaScript. Hundreds of scripts, for a wide variety of popular sites, are already available at Download.

IE Tab

Download

Ok, let's face it. Sometimes you absolutely positively are faced with a site that requires you to use Internet Explorer. I know it's not as often as it used to be in the days of old (thank god), but there are still times when you need to.

If you are using Windows (Apple and Linux folks can sit this one out), this usually means cranking up the Internet Explorer and staring in horror as it eats your sou- I mean resources.... But this is the answer to that horror.

Using IE Tab, you can integrate only the bare requirements of the IE Engine into Firefox in an "on-demand" manner. All the IE ability (like Microsoft Windows Website Downloads) and none of the hassle that actually running Internet Explorer brings.

Cooliris (formerly Piclens)

Words really cannot explain what Cooliris does. So what I will do is ive you a basic description, followed by a video of it in action. Hands down, this is the greatest plugin I have ever seen.

Full-Screen, 3D -- Cooliris (formerly known as PicLens) transforms your browser into a visually stunning experience for searching, viewing, and sharing online photos and videos. Our "3D Wall" lets you effortlessly search and zoom your way around thousands of images, videos, news feeds, sports feeds, and more. To share stuff with friends, just drag and drop.

Extended Statusbar

Download

Adds an Opera-like statusbar that shows:

• percentage of the page loaded,
  
• number of loaded images,
  
• bytes downloaded,
  
• average download speed,
  
• load time.
  

Stumbleupon

Download

Think of Stumbleupon as an infinite improbability drive for your browser. You can click the button and it will randomly bring you to a website page that is in your defined interests. You can rate what it gives you with a thumbs up and thumbs down, which allows it to get to know what you like over time, thus bringing you more of what you like and less of what you don't.

This is definitely a great time waster, as well as an excellent way to be exposed to content that you normally would not have simply found through normal searching. One of my personal favorites.

Translator

Download

Don't let the simple name fool you, translator is web translation extension that allows you to translate any web page into nearly any language at the click of a button.

Currently supports the following online translation services:

• Google Translation
  
• Babelfish
  
• PROMT
  
• freetranslation.com
  
• Altavista
  
• Im translator

I have this installed and use it often, because let's face it, the Internet is not always written in your native language.

That's it just for Firefox... but of course this excludes the common things like the latest version of Flash, PDF Reader, etc that is an automatic installation.

Now it's time to move along and get to the rest of the programs that I recommend, and also have installed.

FileZilla!

Download

It's a free and open source FTP client. Over the years, this has proven to be not only the best in my opinion but also my favorite one to use. I also keep a copy on my USB Memory stick when doing random work on a computer that isn't my own laptop, because you never know when you'll need a digital swiis army knife.

Spybot Search & Destroy

Download

It's either this or Adaware, but in either case, spyware and other things that simply crap up your computer and make life a pain in the butt for you is a reality. Clear that stuff out of your system and keep it clean using this program.

AVG Antivirus

Download

Depending entirely on your personal preferences, a virus scanner is still a must. Personally I run AVG Antivirus, and haven't had an issue yet. Since anti-virus software for Windows is a must, I will not limit the recommendation to just AVG, an instead will offer a couple of leading free options to take care of this.

Alternatives to AVG:

1. Avira Antivirus: Download
   
2. Avast! Home Edition: Download
   
3. Clamwin: Download

Pidgin Instant Messenger

Download

What to do when you have friends who use YIM!, GoogleTalk, MSN, ICQ, AIM, IRC, and others? The first answer is usually to download and install all of the above seperately just to keep in touch, but I'm here to offer you an open source alternative.

Pidgin is a multi-messenger client that is lightweight and lightening fast. It allows you to connect to all of those networks in a single client, but also is stripped down so essentially all you get is a text mesenger. This means no Video or Voice functionality, of course, but in the end most people don't really need all of that bloatware to begin with. If you are looking for a multi-messenger, you may want to give this one a try - or one of the following:

Trillian: Download

Digsby: Download

OpenOffice.org

Download

The name says it all. It's an open source office suite made by Sun and features pretty much every office type program you will ever need. No need to run out and buy Microsoft Office, because this can do everything and more for free.

Irfanview

Download

This is my swiss army knife for converting image formats. It can open nearly any image format and convert it to nearly any other format. Also supports batch processing which makes converting whole folders a breeze.

Auslogics Defrag

Not like you needed a full explanation of why you should defragment your hard drives regularly, but there is a specific reason why I use Auslogics Defrag instead of the built in Windows Defragmenter.

Personally I think Auslogics is simply a better program for the job, and also it actually shows you what it's doing while it's doing it (which for some reason is no longer the case in Vista from XP).  I'm an old school geek and still like to see those little squares lighting up and moving around like the old days of Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 Defrag.

Give it a shot and see if you agree with me on this one.

Auslogics Registry Defrag

Download

If you thought just your hard drive could get mucked up with adding and deleting things, think again. If your computer is running slowly, another culprit may in fact be a messy registry in your operating system. So grab a copy of Auslogics Registry Defrag and so some maintenance on your computer today.

Format Factory

Download

Ok, so we've covered the swiss army knife of graphics (Irfanview) but what about video and audio conversion? I cannot tell you how many times I've been around the Internet only to see innumerable posts all over the place begging for a good and free video converter.

Since nearly all available converters cost money or simply don't work, this can spell out a ton of downloading and uninstalling for the computer user who doesn't know any better. If this is the case, then see also the prior listing about Auslogics Defragger ;)

Format Factory is my personal choice for a Video and Audio Swiss Army Knife. It converts nearly anything to anything easily (at least within useful formats) and can even rip a DVD straight to AVI format if you want.

While it is true that I also have Goldwave Pro installed, Goldwave is an audio editing program and costs money so it is excluded in this list.

Inkscape

Download

Looking to create Scalable Vector Graphics? Inkscape is what I have installed just for this purpose. What can I say other than it just gets the job done and is free :)

Gimpshop

Download

Ok, so I lied. I do not have Gimpshop installed on this computer, but not because I wouldn't recommend it. What I use for general graphics happens to be Photoshop CS3 and Paintshop Pro 8. Both programs are not free and so would not work for this list So what I *can* offer is the rough equivalent for free which happens to be Gimpshop.

There is also Paint.NET which I actually have installed too, but do not use as much as Photoshop or Paintshop.

Skype

Download

The obvious choice if you want to do Voice chat online (and if you are a Pidgin user like I am).

ZScreen

Download

ZScreen is an open-source screen capture program that allows for region/window/full-screen screenshots. It can FTP screenshots and put the URL in your clipboard in a single keystroke. It supports automatic custom naming conventions with variables. It can also interface with image editing software. It is a C.NET 2.0 program hosted on Sourceforge.net and built by BrandonZ.

Reader Submitted: FastStone (Portable Freeware Version)

uTorrent

Download

If you are going to download torrents from the internet, I suggest uTorrent. It's lightweight and feature packed. Of course, I don't condone illegal file downloading... *coughs*.

What I would recommend if you didn't mind spending money

Hands down I would recommend getting your hands on Tuneup Utilities. I have a copy of it and it works wonders for keeping the hard drive cleaned up and purring like a kitten.

Also for website creation, I would recommend Dreamweaver CS3 and Flash CS3. While there are a handful of WYSIWYG website editors out there that are free, I haven't yet found one as good as Dreamweaver. If you have the cash to spend, I would also recommend Photoshop CS3 as well.

Of course there is the alternate method of just grabbing them from a torrent online using uTorrent, but you assume all risks involved with going this route and I wouldn't recommend it.

Well, that's it (finally) for my comprehensive list of things that I have installed on my computer that I recommend to you. This list of programs comprise what I actually have installed and use on a near daily basis, so you know they have to be pretty good. I know I've excluded things like the obvious media players (Winamp and VLC) or video editing software like Audacity, but Audacity isn't installed on this computer, while Winamp and VLC are both no-brainers.

I hope you've enjoyed this list, and the programs listed here come in handy for you in your daily routine.

Till next time...

MyCadsite

This website has over 40 tutorials. This course is divided into 4 levels: basic, intermediate, introduction to 3D and advanced topics. Each lesson and level has short self-assessment exercises. There are many videos showing step-by-step solving assignments and exercises. Have a discussion forum. You can also find videos on YouTube this course. This site is also available in Spanish.

AutoCadmark

This site has many Autocad video lessons, documents for downloading, links with tips and tricks, and links to various forums.

CadTutor

It has tutorials on basic commands to advanced modeling techniques, rendering, exercises, and many links about Autocad and other programs for drawing.

CadDigest

There are articles on Autocad and other cad software programs.

YouTube

There are several videos on Autocad in English and other languages.

There are other autocad websites on the internet. I believe that these five among the best. I hope that you can quickly learn the Autocad. Happy learning!

You will need two programs:

• RivaTuner: Download

• ATI Tool:Download.

It doesn't matter which card you have, the programs will work with any cards. Once you have installed the programs, run them. RivaTuner can be used to overclock and to change fan speeds, and ATI Tools can be used to overclock and test for artefacts. I personally think ATI Tools is better for overclocking, because it has an easier interface to use. You should start off with RivaTuner to change the fan speeds, because overclocking makes your graphics card run hotter than usual. So first open up RivaTuner, and under the heading "Driver Settings" click the little box next to customise.

Then Click on the first icon.

Then Click on the tab labelled "Fan."

I would recommend setting it to 60% first. Once set to 60% click "Apply." If you want RivaTuner to load the fan speeds when the computer starts up, then check the box "Apply fan settings at Windows startup," and click the "Save" button. Click OK and close RivaTuner.

Now open ATI Tools. This part can take a long time, so you need to be patient. You can see on the left of the window there are "Find Max Core" and "Find Max Mem." DO NOT CLICK ON THESE. ATI Tools pushes the card a lot, and may cause permanent damage to your graphics card. Under the columns labelled "3D perf," increase the numbers, only by five at a time. Pushing too much at a time can cause the card to overload. After increasing the clocks by 5, click on "Scan for Artifacts." This puts your card under stress so it can test if there are any flaws in the graphics.

Do it for at least 20 minutes before stopping and increasing the clock. If there are artifacts then it means the clock is too high, so you need to decrease it. Once there are artifacts found and you decreased the clock, do the artifacts scan for 30 minutes or more, in case it finds anything new. If the temperature goes too high during the scan, stop it immediately. A temperature above 80-90 degrees Celsius would be high. If the temperature is too high, increase the fan speed with RivaTuner. Once you find a stable clock, save at the top and create a profile name. You can make ATI Tools run this on startup if you want. Click on "Settings" in the bottom right corner. Click the drop-down menu, and then click on "Startup." Check the boxes "Every time ATI Tool is launched, load profile;" and "Load on Windows Startup Via." Under "Every time ATI Tool is launched, load profile," select the profile you saved earlier, and under "Load on Windows Startup Via," select "Registry Key." You have successfully overclocked your graphics card.

But what if you can't find exactly what you are looking for? Maybe you found something, but you know you can do it better. Becoming a podcast publisher is perfect for you!

Creating your very own podcast may seem like a daunting and highly technical task at first, but once you learn the basics and download the right (and many times free) software, you'll have the first episode of your very own podcast up in a day!

First, you need to decide if you will be publishing an audio or video podcast. Both have very similar processes. Audio podcasts aren't as media rich, but video podcasts require more advanced equipment and come with a more detailed editing process. For the purposes of this article we will assume you are starting with an audio podcast.

You will need to begin with a program that captures the audio recording and converts it into the standard .mp3 format that is recognized by podcasts. The most basic program to use with the best functionality is Audacity.

Once you have your audio file recorded you need a place to store and publish you audio file. More advanced users can upload the file to their own web page along with an RSS feed. This feed is what the listeners subscribe to and use to find the audio files. An easier alternative is to use a free online service called Poderator. Poderator will store your .mp3 files, automatically create your RSS feed based on your preferences, and promote your podcast. All you have to do is tell iTunes the location of your podcast so it can be placed in the official iTunes Store Podcast Directory for searching.

Please bear in mind that this is a very basic podcast tutorial. There is a world of software and hardware out there to aid you in creating the perfect podcast. For a more detailed tutorial on each aspect of publishing your podcast, look for the other articles posted below. They contain a wealth of information the help you along your way.

The last important element of creating a podcast is networking. It is difficult to get your initial fan base up, especially if nobody has ever heard of your podcast. Once your podcast is published, tell everyone you know about it! Ask owners of other podcasts and websites if they would be willing to link back to you. Be creative!

Remember to start small and work you way up. Your podcast may not become a huge hit at first, but with commitment, practice, and the right content your podcast can easily become one of the top podcasts on the net. The possibilities are endless!

(Photo credit: Dee)

If you're pregnant or you want to be a mother, it's time for you to have one USB Pregnancy Test device. It's 99% accurate to detect hCG (human Chorionic Gonadotropin), hCG-H (hyperglycosylated hCG - for detection before your first missed period), and LH (luteinizing hormone - for detection of your most fertile days). Note that these hormones don't indicate pregnancy or ovulation respectively as the extenuating circumstances may have affected the levels of these hormones in your body. In addition to these hormones, the device will show you the symbol of a baby, no baby, or multiples and your estimated delivery date based upon your concentration of hCG, hCG-H, and LH in your urine via its onscreen interface.

To use it, you pee on a stick, specifically the absorbent test strip at one end, then you remove the cap from the other end of the stick (to keep you away from casually contaminating) to reveal the USB connector. Next, pop it into your computer and you'll see your USB port starts the electrospray ionization process with a created spectrograph of the various masses for your analysis and urinalysis. After reviewing your test results, just pop the device out of your computer and change the test strip. The display will remain lit for five minutes before power off. It is recommended to use the horizontal USB drives for this USB product to avoid accidental moisture transference.

USB Wheel Phone Stand

(Photo credit: TechIT)

Can you feed your eyes with a visual stimulant instead of hearing the phone rings? Of course, with a device called USB Wheel Phone Stand, you can achieve your desire. However, this Ferris wheel only works for VoIP phones.When a call comes in, this device which is connected to your PC will spin. It's indeed an interesting stuff!

Popdrive Bottle Drive

(Photo credit: Simon)

The Popdrive Bottle Opener is a 1GB thumb drive that is both USB 2.0 and 1.1 compatible. This device comes with an attached bottle opener with its entire length in 3.75”, 1.5” in width, and 0.5” in height. Now, you can have this device to transfer your file and open those cold beverages without using your teeth. It also has an attached carabineer-style key chain to enable you to clip to your belt buckle, backpack, purse or set of keys easily. Its unique feature is that it lets you transferring files and opens the frosty beverage with the pesky bottle caps all at a time.

“I Love You” LED Laptop Light

(Photos credit: USBfan)

“I Love You” LED Laptop Light is a device that adds a little more light to your laptop or computer. It might be a perfect gift to give for Techie girl.

Star Wars USB Hubs

(Photos credit: akihabara)

For both computer Greeks and Star War's fans, the invention of R2-D2 and Darth Vader USB Hubs seem to be good news for them. Undoubtedly, the addition of these USB hubs will bring more joys to the computer users. Once you plug one of them into the USB port, it will operate automatically. You will see its eyes get blinking, its head moves and you will listen to sounds actually to what you listen in the Star War movie.

USB Fridge

(Photos credit: feiyang)

This USB Fridge will keep your beverage chilled while you're at your computer. It gets 5 minutes to bring the fridge down to 8 degree Celsius (47 degree Fahrenheit) after plugging it to your laptop or computer.

USB Illuminated Roll-up Keyboard

(Photos credit: Simon)

This USB Illuminated Roll-up Keyboard is made by high-quality silicone and it is washable, water resistance, soft touch while typing without creating sounds and foldable. It comes in white and pink color. This device is so convenient that it can be rolled up and put easily in your briefcase, notebook carrying bag or backpack.

USB Data Injection

(Photo credit: pcjunky)

This is not made for the injection purpose; rather it is used for data junkies. It might be simply made your daily data storage easier and interesting.

Stethoscope looks like USB

(Photo credit: Erfan)

Please don't be mistaken! This is not a stethoscope that a doctor uses to place on your stomach to diagnose to sounds of your heart, breathing, intestines and blood flow in arteries and veins. This USB is used for a direct individual data connection. It is equipped with the properties of hearing, scanning and checking.

Strange looking USB Drive

(Photo credit: 123pc)

This is a very creative designed of a USB drive, featuring in a delicate art in its design. It is a tool for theft prevention on a laptop or a computer that is essential for data security, virus protection, industrial or individual espionage and video piracy.

USB Apple-shape Speaker

(Photos credit: link)

This is an interesting design PC speaker used particularly for a notebook. That means the desktop computer users cannot use this device at their computer desks.

USB Monster Hub

(Photos credit: link)

This monster has six-legged attached beneath its body. It has the ability to hook up to USB devices via any of its highly adjustable limbs. Its furry legs are pretty cool looking. This monster resembles the Dark Star that I watched from the Slayers series.

USB & FireWire Hub

(Photos credit: Hume)

This stylist USB & FireWire combination Hub is designed by Ora-Ïto for your PC or Mac. The hub is round in shape, and has a white polycarbonate appearance. The add-in 4 USB ports and 2 FireWire ports allow you to connect iPod, PSP, mobile phone, movable keyboard, camera and printer simultaneously. That means you can connect up to six devices at a time. It comes with 8 flexible and twistable cables (5 USB 2.0 & 3 FireWire 400), a USB fan, a USB light, a USB extension cable and a FireWire 400 extension cable to make it fully equipped for all the connections the computer users required. Indeed, the connectivity with this interesting USB hub will let you experiencing the creativity and beauty of the art.

A Purse's U-disk

(Photo credit: KimJong)

Nowadays, a USB is like other fashionable hairstyle and clothing has become a modern trend to suit different requirement and situation. Like what you see in the picture, this is a female-like modern purse U-disk. It is particularly favored by females, spy agents or female detectives.

A Porcupine fish's U-disk

(Photo credit: Jack)

Hey, you, SpongeBob, don't make me angry; I'll stab you!

Christmas Cake USB Hub

(Photos credit: Yaujima)

This creamy cake is a product of Japan. It has 4 ports that are decorated with four USB strawberries, measures 120x120x130mm, and weights 650g. It offers up to 1GB memory and is compatible with OS Window 2000 and later. This sumptuous like creamy USB Hub cake looks like a real cake but unfortunately you're not tempted to have a slice of the cake.

Wooden USB Memory Sticks

(Photos credit: Joana)

These wooden USB Memory Sticks are available in memory sizes of 512Mb, 1GB, and 2GB. They're USB 2.0 Memory sticks which are compatible to Window, Linux and Mac. These memory sticks are useful to have around when transferring files from a computer to another computer.

This process takes a while the first time, but once you get used to it you can start a download from any site in less than 30 seconds, even if you've never seen the site before.

Answers to some questions you might be asking:

What's the Activity panel?

A web page is made up of lots of different files. There's the page itself, which contains all the text and some markup, then there's images, style files which tell the browser how to display it, JavaScript files which make the browser do things, embedded objects like our video player and so on. The Activity panel shows all these files and their progress. It's intended for developers, but we're using it anyway.

What is this Terminal thing? What's curl -o mean?

Back in the old days, computers didn't have a mouse pointer, a desktop, windows or menus (the things that make up the Graphical User Interface or GUI). They simply had a thing called a command prompt where you tell the computer what to do by typing (this is called a Command Line Interface or CLI). These days, we use a GUI for most things, but sometimes (especially in Unix, which OS X is based on) it's quicker to do things on a CLI, because of its nature. (This is one of the reasons Unix and Linux geeks say the platform is so powerful - Windows' CLI is basically dead). So, we have programs like Terminal, which allow us access to the CLI, without sacrificing the GUI. In a CLI command, the first word is the name of the proram to run - "curl" is the name of a program that downloads files, "cp" is a program that copies things

Why use Curl? Why not just download the files in Safari?

Sometimes, FLV files have an incorrect MIME type. This means, when they are sent to Safari, they identify themselves as a web page rather than a video file. Safari then goes "Ooh, I can display this!" and rather than downloading the file, throws a bunch of gibberish at the screen. By using Curl, with the -o flag, we can force it to download, and then open it with a video player. Besides, Curl gives us more information about the download.

Why can't I fast forward or rewind?

Note: Once version 0.9.0 of VLC is released this question will not be relevant.

VLC can't handle seeking (fast forward and rewind) in flash videos yet. There are some flash video players out there that do, but they are quite cumbersome, and VLC is a brilliant media Swiss Army Knife - it plays almost any format, and works on Windows, Mac, Linux and more. This problem is also solved in version 0.9.0, which you can get from nightlies.videolan.org if you're brave.

Please only use these instructions to download legal videos.

Image source

Here is the list, my personal review of some computer software programs that made our life easy.

Firefox

The Firefox Web Browser is the faster, more secure, and fully customizable way to surf the web than others.

Features:

• One-Click Bookmarking - you can search and organize Web sites quickly and easily
• Instant Web Site ID - You can avoid online scams, and suspicious transaction
• Improved Performance - You can view Web Pages faster and less memory for your computer

Yahoo Messenger

Chit Chat with your buddies and find friends in Yahoo! Yahoo Messenger is the most widely used instant messenger in the world wide web.

Features:

• Send text messages in real-time to your buddies on Yahoo or Windows Live Messenger
• Join a chat room to meet new friends while you discuss your favorite topics
• Photo Sharing - Share photos from your desktop or Flickr, then discuss them over IM while you and a friend view them together
• PC to PC calls - Make a voice call to another Yahoo! Messenger user for free
• Send text messages from Messenger to your friends mobile phones for free

Skype

No money for calls? With Skype you can chat and make free calls over the internet to other people on Skype for as long as you like, to wherever you like. You can call to mobiles using your computer. And it is absolutely free to download.

Adobe Reader

Adobe is a free software to download. This simplest of Adobe's PDF programs lets you do just about anything PDF-related (besides create new ones), including online collaboration. It includes a host of features to aid users with disabilities. Use Adobe Reader to view, search, digitally sign, verify, print, and collaborate on Adobe PDF files.

Features:

• Leverage a simplified user interface - You can view information more precisely and efficiently with the redesigned, easier to use Reader 8 interface
• More secure document workflows - Better protect documents, forms, and drawings
• Automate digital certificate administration
• Leverage existing security infrastructure

Audacity

Audacity is a free to download software you can do recording and editing of your audio interest. Audacity available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X operating systems.

Features:

• Record Live Audio
• Convert tape copies and records into digital recordings or Cds
• You can Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files
• Do can copying, cutting, splicing or mixing sounds together
• Change the beat or speed tempo of your Audio files

GIMP

The GNU Image Manipulation Program, or GIMP, is the most widely used bitmap editor in the printing industries. GIMP is a graphics, photo images, logos editor. Cropping, resizing, altering color, brightness adjusting, combing multiple images, and converting into different format files. It is often used as a free software replacement for Adobe Photoshop. But it is not designed to be Photoshop clone.

Features:

• Customizable Interface
• Photo Enhancement
• Digital Retouching

iTunes

iTunes is a software free to download. A digital music or media player introduced by Apple Inc. The program used for playing and organizing mp3, digital music, and video files. This software can connect to the iTune store via internet to purchase download music, videos, TV shows, iPod games, audio books, movie trailers, ring tones, and more.

Features:

• iPod music downloader
• Media player

AIM

Advanced Information Management (AIM). It is one of the most widely used free Instant Messenger program.

Features:

• AIM Plug-ins
  • Whimsicals - They're web applications that let you interact with your Buddies, send & receive IMs, & more all from a web browser.
  • IM fight - Fight your buddy.
  • AIM share - Blast your buddy list.
  • AIM WIMZI - Put a chat window anywhere.
  • QQ games - Fun and play with your buddies.

WinAmp

WinAmp the most famous media player after WPM. Play music, video, movie files, DVDs. Lots of Skin to choose for their new version. WinAmp offers 50 free mp3 download for downloading the software. You can also search for skins and plug-ins, access thousands of shout cast Radio stations, get free Music and Videos and search the Web using Winamp Search.

Feature:

• Offers free download of music and videos in their toolbar
• Remote Music and Video Playback and Sharing
• Play list the Best Music on the Web with Media Monitor
• Winamp Toolbar enables browser control of Winamp
• Album Art Support for Portable Devices

Thunderbird

Thunderbird is an ultimate open source desktop mail app support by mozilla. Its pluggable interface lets developers freely build extensions to make it ever more useful.

Features:

• Message tagging - Thunderbird 2 allows you to tag messages with descriptors such as to Do or Done
• Advanced Folder Views - offers a variety of ways for you to organize and display your folders, whether by favorites, recently viewed or folders containing unread messages
• Message history navigation - Show toolbar allows you to click forward and back much like in your Web browser
• Saved Research - Thunderbird has a “saved” folder allows you to store your file searched

Honor Systems

Monitoring: Monitor the comings/goings and the time of said comings/goings

Log Books: Here is a very basic simple tool which is easily implemented and simple to administer but unfortunately it has numerous inherent flaws and exploits. For example those with malicious intent can simply ignore the log book and you would have no record of them or their activities.

Punch-Clocks: Here is a system which most people who have worked in a large factory environment will be very familiar with. It is simple and consists of a timing device, a time notification mechanism and a medium; such as punch cards, on which to record the time data.

The worker would take their card from a holder located adjacent to the timer/punch card device, insert it into the timer/punch card device which would place a time signature on the card and when done the worker would put their card back into the card holder.

This system was soon found to have some fatal flaws in that there was no way of identifying the authenticity of the person inserting the card into the punch mechanism. One person could sequentially punch in or out a whole bunch of cards even for persons who were not physically present.

The vindictive could also remove other individual's punch cards and so their record of attendance was lost. Very distressing for a worker to have worked all week and not to get paid because the pay office had no punch card records to work on. The same was true for using this system as a means of identifying comings and goings.

Not to be outdone companies simply required the worker to carry their punch card with them. This did reduce the vindictive down-side some what but it was still open to fraudulent use. One individual could still insert a "friend"s card' for them. Not to be out done the employers now manned their time/punch devices and the officer manning the device retained all punch cards.

Unfortunately; for a small consideration, some punch card operators could be enticed to falsely use their systems and so absent employees were still getting paid. Employers once again responded by introducing measures such as rotating punch card staff. But no matter what they did there were still abuses of the system.

The point of all of this is to show that the honor system has too many fatal flaws to work efficiently and effectively in any situation where large numbers of individuals are involved. It has always been very easy to get lost in a crowd.

Over the years these systems have evolved with the times and today we still use honor systems in one form or another. It is only since the advent of biometrics that most of the abuse of these systems has been effectively curtailed. It is very inconvenient to give somebody your eye-ball to clock into work while you go to the big game.

Human Presence Surveillance

Monitoring - Designed to monitor the comings/goings and the time of said comings/goings

Manned Sign-In/Sign-Out Registers - This system is far more reliable than the honor system above. A log book or register is maintained for signing in and another separate log book/register is maintained for sign-out. Both are manned by different personal who counter-sign every entry to validate authenticity and the accuracy of the time entries.

Identifiers - Proof of identity should always be required even when the person is well known to the security personal. This is to ensure that only those who are meant to be present are in fact the only ones present.

Rosters -It is also common practice for the security personal to have a rooster style checklist detailing those who are to be expected to be coming and going and the times of said comings and goings are also generally included on the checklist as well.

Reliability - Systems such as these do provide a more reliable mechanism for maintaining accurate records of who goes in and out and when. They are also easy to implement, maintain administer and update. Unfortunately this type of system also has inherent flaws and drawbacks. One being the staffing requirements and the costs associated with this.

Flaws - Others being corrupted personal manning the monitoring points, human lackadaisicalness and courtesy - such as making occasional exceptions when known authorised personal have "forgotten" to bring their ID with them today. It may well be that they have lost it or it has been stolen and the speed with which any access privileges are withdrawn from such IDs is of paramount importance.

Video Surveillance

Affordable - I did say that the majority of the mechanisms that will be listed here are affordable and video surveillance even if only in the form of a web camera is definitely well within reach of the average organisation and in deed the average citizen today.

Placement - Video surveillance equipment needs to be thoughtfully and carefully placed to make avoidance, tampering and/or disabling it difficult. The placement of the equipment should also provide a good clear and unobstructed view of persons entering and leaving. The capacity to take still pictures at bottlenecked check points is also an advantage as this ensures that only one person at a time will pass and their photo is taken both solely and collectively if they are coming and going as a group.

Video is not the end all be all and should always be used in conjunction with other mechanisms (logs etc)

Cost - It does help provide 24/7 monitoring at low cost

Triggers - Trigger events can be predefined and the system can automatically notify those designated members of the chain of notification should a trigger event occur along with basic details concerning the nature of the trigger event. Fire would be one such identifiable trigger event.

Email Notifications - The capacity to notify various select personal via email is an option that is gaining rapid adoption in the general community as we are all becoming ever oblivious to the continual presence of video surveillance systems.

Security Updates - Matters concerning the monitoring equipment should be discussed amongst the security team members at regularly irregular weekly team meetings

Recordings - Many video monitoring systems that are used in the public arena are operated by or through the auspices of a statutory body such as the police, or transit authorities. In their case legislation has been enacted that prescribes the manner in which they make video recordings (usually of public places), how they store them, for how long they must be retained and so on.

When it comes to the private arena things become somewhat muddied. We do or will have Privacy Legislation that does at least in part provide guidelines and in the case of the more extensive Privacy Legislations legally binding statutes that dictate; to one degree or another, the manner(s) in which private individuals and organisations should behave in this area.

Remember not all States in Australia have consistent Privacy Laws so you will need to check what is relevant to you. I will be discussing Privacy in another article and will let you know when I have found a home for it.

Part 5 of the IT Security Guide will continue with Part 4 of the Physical Security Guide series and will cover the following topics:

• Physical Location and Placement
• Wiring Closets
• Infrastructure Cabling and Cabling in General
• Mission Critical Systems
• Rack Mounted Systems
• Servers

So until next time enjoy!!!

First off, you have to understand that the files an iPod recognizes are called MPEG-4 files. The only way to get these are by using iTunes, but iTunes will not recognize the format that a DVD is in..

SO, you need a converter! These programs can be used to convert many type of video files to many other types. For Example, the program I use is called the #1 DVD Ripper.

Warning: this product requires one to purchase the full program or it will only convert the first 10 minutes of your DVD.

So, once you've got your full version of the program, open it up.

This will be the screen that you see.

Next, open the DVD file you want by clicking on the load DVD button.

Once you have the DVD you want, you'll need to select what type of file you want it converted to.

Look for the iPod version and settings that want, and select that.

If you want to change any settings, click on settings. Once your ready to go, click start, and you can watch your movie being converted, (you actually see where in the movie the program is, because of the preview setting)

And your done! Enjoy your movies on you iPod!