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PreparedPC
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Posts by PreparedPC
OpenDNS FamilyShield Protects You and Your Family from Porn (and more)–for Free
Jun 24th
OpenDNS recently announced a free, simple-to-setup service called FamilyShield which not only blocks pornography sites, but also proxy and anonymizer, phishing and some malware sites.
OpenDNS FamilyShield versus OpenDNS Basic
OpenDNS has 2 free services, OpenDNS Basic and OpenDNS FamilyShield.
Unlike OpenDNS Basic, which requires you to create an account, FamilyShield requires no account, as you only need to specify FamilyShield’s 2 DNS addresses in the right place.
OpenDNS Basic gives you more control, as you can specify which categories of websites you want to block or allow. We covered this previously as a way to customize the level of web filtering on your network.
OpenDNS FamilyShield is pre-configured to block websites categorized as “Pornography,” “Tasteless,” and “Sexuality.”
There’s one more difference. When a user attempts to reach a blocked website, an OpenDNS block page appears in the browser. Those using OpenDNS Basic will not see advertisements on this page, while OpenDNS FamilyShield’s block page contains ads.
Setting it Up
You could set up an individual computer (instructions here). You might consider this if you don’t have a wireless network, or only want to protect a single computer. If you use this method, you’ll want to prevent savvy users from getting around FamilyShield by requiring them to log on to that computer using a standard user account, not an administrative account.
If you have a wireless router, follow instructions here to protect any wireless device that is (or will be) using your network. OpenDNS helpfully provides instructions for 18 brands of wireless routers.
OpenDNS FamilyShield is an effective way to prevent your network (or computers) from being used to display pornography and other unedifying websites. OpenDNS couldn’t make it any simpler to set up. Consider setting this up on your own network, or suggesting this to other people who want to protect their networks.
Secure Facebook in One Easy Step with SaveFace by Untangle
May 25th
Facebook has been rightly criticized recently for its increasingly complicated privacy settings. Several high-profile users in the tech community have left Facebook (after carefully deleting their posts).
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says, “In the coming weeks, we will add privacy controls that are much simpler to use.”
But what can you do now to ensure your Facebook settings are as secure as possible?
Untangle, the company behind Untangle for Windows which we’ve covered here, has answered the need to simplify Facebook’s privacy settings with SaveFace, a Bookmark utility which sets all of your Facebook account’s privacy settings (except “Add me as a Friend”) to “Friends Only.” More >
Dell Warranty Information Script Puts Your Computer(s)’ Information into an Excel Spreadsheet
May 11th
UPDATE (2010-05-23) – Frank van der Horst added some nice “eye candy” to this script. For each Service Tag in Computers.txt, the script will display a small Internet Explorer window with a progress bar. Thanks, Frank!
Do you or your company use Dell laptops, desktop and server computers? If asked, could you provide the current warranty information for those computers in a report? Sherry Kissinger at MyITForum.com posted a way for SMS (Microsoft System Management Server) administrators to get Dell warranty information from individual computers.
We modified the script to accept a text file (Computers.txt) of Dell Service Tag numbers (one per line) as input, then output the warranty information for each Service Tag to an Excel spreadsheet. It’s a quick way to provide this warranty information on demand.
The script works by looping through however many Service Tag numbers are in Computers.txt, using VBScript’s Msxml2.XMLHTTP object to request the information from Dell’s website, then “screen-scraping” the information for that Service Tag and populating the Excel spreadsheet with that information.
Here’s the script. Change the file extension from .txt to .vbs in order to run it. This script requires that Excel 2007 be installed. Create Computers.txt in the same folder as the VBScript file. When you run the script, the Excel spreadsheet will be created in the same location as the script.
Do you find this script useful? How can it be improved? Let us know in your comment.
Using Multiple Monitors? KatMouse Just Made Your Life Easier
May 4th
Every once in a while, you come across a Windows utility that makes you wonder “How did I live without this?” KatMouse is one of those utilities. This free, lightweight (using ~2 KB of memory) program allows your mouse’s scroll wheel to scroll whichever window the mouse cursor is currently over WITHOUT having to left-click on that window (to make it the active window) first.
It’s easier to see it action than to explain. Take a look at this 22-second video clip and you’ll see the advantage of using KatMouse:
Firefox Add-on UntinyFox Reveals Those Shortened URLs Automatically
Apr 28th
URL-shortening services such as bit.ly and SnipURL have been around for a while. They’re very handy for shortening long links, but they do present a risk, since they disguise the original website address. Clicking on an innocent-looking bit.ly link could result in browsing to a site that could infect your computer. How can you protect yourself?
Untiny is a website where you can paste a short address and find out its original website address. This is helpful, but it would be even more helpful if this “translation” was done for you automatically.
Firefox add-on UntinyFox does this for you. Take a look at the screenshots of our Twitter page below. Voila! The original DownloadSquad.com link is revealed.
Check out Firefox add-on UntinyFox as another way to protect yourself in your web browsing.
More >
Take Control of Your PDF Documents With PDFTK
Mar 31st
There’s a good chance that you use Adobe Acrobat documents in your daily work, school or personal life. They’re very useful for keeping a nicely formatted copy of your information, especially manuals and educational material.
But what if you only need part of a really large PDF document? Or what if you if have a collection of related PDF documents you’d like to merge into a single document? PDFTK will handle these for you, as well as rotate, add a watermark or stamp and (possibly) repair damaged PDF files.
There are several flavors of PDFTK: More >
SteadyState for Windows 7?
Mar 15th
Microsoft’s SteadyState is a great tool. After you install and configure SteadyState, you basically have a local backup image of your computer, exactly how you’ve set it up. Any changes that a user makes (installing programs, getting infected by viruses, etc.) get undone with a simple reboot.
This is really helpful in situations such as school computer labs, or if you’re the technical support for a relative who isn’t computer-savvy.
The good news is that SteadyState is available for Windows XP and Windows Vista. Unfortunately, Microsoft has no plans to create a Windows 7-compatible version of SteadyState.
Would you benefit from a Windows 7-compatible version of SteadyState? Let your voice be heard by speaking out in this message thread at Microsoft’s SteadyState forum.
No Longer Using Internet Explorer? Lock It Down!
Mar 4th
Unless you live in the European Union, your Windows computer will have Internet Explorer installed.
Maybe you no longer use Internet Explorer for browsing, and have moved on to a more security-conscious browser like Chrome or Firefox? You’ll still need IE, or rather, Windows needs IE for downloading patches. Also, programs like Microsoft Outlook are closely integrated with IE, so they need access to it as well.
The Problem
IE, by default, allows scripts on web pages you visit to execute. Most of the time, these scripts do something useful, but too often, a malicious script can install spyware or do something else nasty on your computer. Microsoft continues to be fairly diligent in fixing these issues as they’re discovered, but the big problem is when malicious scripts execute on unpatched computers.
The Solution
Steve Gibson, on a recent Security Now! podcast, shows us how to lock down IE so it still does what we need it to do, but essentially turn off scripting. This can protect you from the next IE security vulnerability.
Here’s how to lock down IE: More >
Make Your Own Custom “20th Century Fox” Fanfare Opening Movie
Mar 2nd
You know the famous 20th Century Fox fanfare opening?
Here’s how to make your own for free (though this will take your computer a few hours to render). It makes for an impressive, personalized 20-second opening sequence for your personal video productions.
More >
WordPress 2.9 Available!
Dec 25th
WP 2.9 is out for your upgrading pleasure. Finally, the ability to upgrade multiple (up to 10) plug-ins simultaneously is built-in. Video embedding is also much easier. Also, you can now do some basic image manipulation, such as cropping and rotating images.