How to Watch Your PC on a TV

By Bryan Lambert – September 6, 2009

Many people have purchased large screen flat female viagra panel televisions over the last few years and one of the cool by-products of having an HDTV is many will have a plethora of inputs that will allow you to view your desktop computer quickly and easily right on your television. Some of the geeky pleasures of having the ability to output your computer to a TV are showing off videos or photos on the big screen, and using it as a very large work or gaming screen. In this Tech Tip, we are going to look at some quick and easy methods for viewing your computer's output on your television (these tips work great for projectors as well).

What you will need:

The quick, cheap and basic way to get a computer to show up on a TV is to plug it in. If you have a desktop pc, you may be able to use the cable that you have right now going to your monitor. If you have a notebook computer, you’ll need to buy an additional cable(s).

Here’s the common inputs you’ll see:

VGA Cable
This is the tried and true connector that we have seen on computers, well almost forever. This is the connector that nearly every HDTV will have. Sure you may not get the resolution you need, and it can’t play back protected content (think Blu-Ray movies), but it is quick and simple to use.

S-Video
Some computers have it, some don’t – but S-Video is also a quick and easy way to get the computer screen working on the TV. The nice thing about S-Video is that it will many times work on standard resolution TVs if you still have one hanging around (the resolution is not that good, but it's a nice way to show off pictures).

DVI Cable
DVI is a terrific format to use, not only because it can support very high resolutions, but also because it can support full resolution HDCP protected content (High Definition movies such as found with Blu-Ray). Because the signal is digital (VGA isn’t), you also tend to get a much better looking picture than you would than with VGA. The cable can cost more, and it doesn’t carry audio (you’d need a separate audio patch cable for that), however the next cable on our list does.

HDMI Cable
For hooking a computer to an HDTV, this is definitely the way to go for many people because it's one cable that carries both video and audio, it supports HDCP protected content and high resolutions, and is relatively inexpensive. One drawback is that while many laptops have an HDMI connector, many desktops do not – so you’d need to add that port yourself (usually through a video card upgrade).

Wireless
Some companies, such as IOGear also offer wireless solutions for both video and audio. Wireless tends not to support the higher resolutions, but can be alot of fun to use.

Tips…

Some common caveats to look out for:

1. You need to go into your video card “control panel”, use a function key or go into the video card properties to set up the computer for “dual monitor use” if you have a laptop or are leaving your main monitor connected if using a desktop. For TV display, most people just choose to “mirror” the display (same image appears on both monitors).
2. Unless you are using HDMI, you’ll need to run a separate audio cable for audio through the TV.
3. The highest resolution you can display is what can be supported by both the TV and the video card (it is just like a big monitor after all).
4. For Blu-Ray protected content, you’d need to set your output to the HDTV only – it will not usually display on both TV and monitor (you may also need to set the audio out to SPDIF for Blu-Ray movies to get the audio on the TV as well).
5. Some laptop computers tend to “lose” the audio capabilities of HDMI when using drivers not designed for the unit (even if it is a “recommended” update from your computer automatic updates).
6. You may need to “play” with the TV’s aspect ratio to make the computers output “fit” properly to the TV screen.
7. Be sure that you set the source on your TV to match the input you are using on the computer.
8. Make sure that the cables are plugged in all the way – it’s really easy for a cable to slip out “just a little”.

In Conclusion

Whether you want to show off some photos in a slide show or use your Entertainment PC for use as a Blu-Ray player, hooking up your computer to a HDTV is a great way to use your HDTV to its full capability. So fire up the PC, plug it in and let the fun begin!

Four Password Managers To Wrangle Those Pesky Passwords

By Scott Nesbitt – August 30, 2009

Passwords. They're a blessing and a curse, aren't they? In today's digital world, we all seem to have passwords for … well, for everything. And a lot of passwords. For online banking, Web mail, e-commerce sites, our favorite Web applications, and more.

As many of us have learned, though, it can be hard to remember all of those passwords. If you forget a password, the kinds of sites mentioned in the last paragraph can either send you a password or reset it. But that's takes a bit of time and just adds to the confusion.

While you can write down your passwords in a paper notebook (remember those?) or in a file on your external hard drive, what happens if you lose the notebook or delete the file? Or if someone else gets hold of them? The situation will end in tears.

Instead of relying on your memory or more traditional ways of storing passwords, why not turn to a password manager?

Enter the password manager

A password manager is a piece of software that, obviously, lets you securely store and organize your various passwords. The software is usually designed for a desktop computer or a notebook computers, but password managers are also available for smartphones. The BlackBerry, for example, comes with one called Password Keeper.

The principle behind the password manager is simple. It stores your login information in an encrypted database or in a file hidden somewhere on your external hard drive. You enter your information using a simple form. This information can include:

• The name of the Web site or service with which the password is associated
• A user name
• The password (of course)

Optionally, there might be space for entering a URL and a note.

Whenever you need a password, you just dip into the password manager and pull it out. Some applications, like Apple's Keychain Access, enable you to log into a Web site using a single password.

The obvious advantage to using this kind of software is convenience – you don't need to try to remember multiple user names and passwords, or worry about confusing them. They're all in one secure place. But what's out there? Let's take a look at a few.

Universal Password Manager

This is an interesting one. Universal Password Manager is an Open Source application that runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS. You'll need Java installed on your computer to run this application, but the three operating systems on which it runs usually have Java installed already.

To get set up, you create a database for your passwords. From there, you can add your passwords to the database using a simple form.

Universal Password Manager has a nifty feature that lets you copy a user name or a password from an entry in the database, without having to double click on the entry. This is useful when you remember one or the other (it happens!).

The database is encrypted with a scheme called AES (Advanced Encryption Standard). It's not the strongest encryption but it works. While you can create multiple databases – for example, one for our desktop computer and one for your cheap netbook – Universal Password Manager is Web enabled. You can save a database to a Web server and point the application there. No matter what computer you’re using, you can always access your password store.

KeePass Password Safe

KeePass is sort of like a supercharged version of Universal Password Manager, though only for Windows. It comes in two versions. The Classic version, which has more than just basics features, and the Pro version, which needs Microsoft's .NET to run. You can compare the features of the two versions here.

Remember what I said about KeePass being Windows only? That's not quite true. The Classic version also runs in Linux under Wine, although the toolbar buttons go AWOL. And the developer says that the Pro version will run under any operating system, like Linux or Mac OS, that supports Mono (an Open Source version of .NET).

KeePass stores all of its information in a database that's encrypted with AES (told you it was like Universal Password Manager). You can have multiple databases, and add multiple groups to a database. Groups enable you to collect similar Web sites, applications, services in separate folders — one, say, for Web applications, one for e-commerce sites, and another for banking information. This makes it easier to manage your passwords.

You can also tell KeePass to protect certain fields of the database — like password or user name — while the application is running. While you're using a database, or before you save it, this keeps the information safe from other applications, like trojans, that may try to read your computer's memory. What really sets KeePass apart from other password managers is its collection of plugins. There are plugins for importing passwords from other applications, managing databases, integrating KeePass with other software, and more.

GNOME Password Manager

If you're running Linux with the female viagra sildenafil target=”_blank” title=”http://www.gnome.org/”>GNOME desktop, you've got a password manager already installed. Called GPass, you can find it under Applications > Accessories. It's a simple application but one that gets the job done.

To use it, you click the Add button on the toolbar. From there, enter whatever information you need. At the very least, you should specify a name to identify the information, a user name, and a password. Click OK and you're done. It's that simple.

Passwords are stored in a file, encrypted with the Blowfish encryption scheme, somewhere on your computer. I'll be darned if I can find that file …

GPass lacks a lot of frills. But one useful feature that it shares with Universal Password Manager is the ability to copy user IDs and passwords by right clicking on an entry – you don't need to open it. GPass also has a decent search feature, which is useful if you have a lot of passwords.

Passpack

Passpack is a Web-based password manager. It's said to be quite secure. The login procedure itself is in three steps: enter your user name and password, then click a security image, then enter a passphrase.

Once you're in, it's easy to use. As with desktop password managers, Passpack has a form for entering a user name, a password, and a link to a Web site (if necessary). On top of that, Passpack shows you the strength of the password while you're typing it. I can't vouch for the accuracy of this. If you enter the entire alphabet and numbers from 0 to 9, the password will be considered fairly strong.

Passpack also has some useful tools. You can import and export password files to and from another password manager. There's an Adobe AIR application that lets you access your passwords from your desktop. On top of that, Passpack supports a feature that lets you specify sites to which you can login with a single click.

A few words of advice

If you're using an online password manager like PassPack, it's probably best not to add passwords for online banking, credit cards, or services like PayPal to it. The application might be secure, but you can never be 100% confident. The convenience could wind up costing you.

If your password manager has a feature that automatically generates password, don't use it. A good password is random. These applications generate passwords that aren't truly random. Instead, they're what's call pseudo random. You get a complex password, but there are tools available that can detect a pattern in the password and break it. It may not happen to you, but you never can tell.

And never, ever forget the password to get into your password manager. That seems like simple advice, but far too often people have let that password slip their minds. It's embarrassing, and I'm speaking from experience.

Conclusion

Wrangling your many and varied passwords isn't an art. It can be tough, but with the good password manager the job is a lot easier. You don't have to worry about potentially fallible human memory, and you'll eliminate the chaos that all of your passwords are causing you.

Getting (and Sending) the Fax, Online

By Scott Nesbitt- August 23, 2009

One technology that refuses to give up the ghost is the fax. Businesses large and small rely on computer parts like the fax machine for exchanging documents and contracts and the like. And fax spam doesn't seem to have decreased much, either.

But faxing has never been the most efficient communications technology. You need to print the pages that you want to send, then cart them over to the fax machine. Even if you have an all-in-one printer or copier with fax capabilities, which enables you to avoid the two above steps, you never know when your device will break down. Ink cartridges and toner cost a lot. And if you're faxing outside of your area code, or outside the country, you can rack up some pretty impressive long distance charges.

Small and home office users, smaller businesses, and location-independent professionals really can't justify the expense of, or even need, a fax machine. If you have to deal with companies, clients, or organizations who rely on fax you can turn to the Internet for a cheaper, reliable alternative. And that alternative is online faxing. 

How does it work?

No feeding sheets of paper into a machine is necessary. Instead, you create an account with a Web-based service; more on this soon. From there, you need to do one of two things, depending on the service – either upload the file that you want to fax to the service, or send it to the service by email. All of the dirty work goes on behind the scenes on the service's servers. With one type of service, you log into a Web site, upload your file to the service, type the fax number of the recipient, and then just click a button.

Or, you use email. Yes, email – a technology that everyone thought would bury the fax machine. You fire up your email client and attach your document to the message. For the email address, you enter the fax number of the recipient, followed by the domain name of the fax service you're using – for example, 11234567@myfaxservice.com. The email goes to the fax service, which converts the attachment to a format that a fax machine can understand. The service strips the fax number from the email address and routes the fax to a phone line, where it finds its way to the recipient.

A number of online fax services also allow you to receive faxes. The process works in reverse. You get a toll-free number from the service, and when someone sends a fax from a machine that fax is routed to female viagra does it work a server. The server converts the fax into an electronic format, and either sends you an email with the fax as an attachment or emails you a notice to log into the service and download the fax.

File formats and such

A few paragraphs ago, I mentioned that you could upload or attach the files that you want to send. But what kinds of files can you use? That depends on the online fax service that you're using. At the very least, you can send:

• Microsoft Word documents
• PDF files
• JPEG images (the same kind of files used for photos taken with digital cameras)
• TIFF images (and older format that's compatible with faxing)

Some services support other formats, like PNG graphics or OpenDocument files, which is the file format used by the Open Source office suite OpenOffice.org.

The problem with using graphic formats like JPEG is that documents can look smudgy. TIFF files are quite large, especially ones that contain multiple pages. Most people I know who do their faxing online use PDF files. They're comparatively small, clean, and they're easy to produce.

The pros and cons of online fax

The obvious advantage is that you don't have the burden of the expense of a fax machine or a multifunction printer. As well, you don't need to worry about long distance charges when sending a fax outside of your area code. Trust me, this can add up if you have a long document.

On top of that, you can save a tree or three by not needing to print off a document before faxing it. You also have the flexibility to fax whenever and from wherever you want. All you need is a reliable Internetconnection.

On the downside, you lose a little control over your faxes. You don't know how long they'll reside on someone's server or how secure that server truly is. If you're concerned about security, you might want to avoid using online faxing for confidential documents. You're also out of luck if you don't have an Internet connection or if your chosen service is knocked offline for any length of time.

Still, for someone working out of a home office, a small business person, or a location-independent professional, the advantages of using an online fax service outweigh the disadvantages.

What to look for when choosing an online fax service

Let's say you're convinced that an online fax service is for you. Before you sign up with one, there are four main factors that you need to consider before making your choice.

First off, see if the service offers a free trial. It doesn't have to be a long one – one or two weeks should be enough. That way, you get a feel for whether or not the service and its offerings are right for you. Note that you might be limited to sending faxes only within your area. And remember to contact the people to whom you're sending the faxes to ensure that they're getting through and that they're of acceptable quality.

While there are a number of free online fax services, they might not be the best options for professional use. Why? Those services are supported by ads, which the insert on the cover page of the fax and/or at the end of a transmission. If your recipients don't mind seeing ads for, say, carpet cleaning services then you should be OK. Otherwise, a few dollars a month is a good investment.

Not every online fax service has wide-ranging global coverage. If you regularly send faxes to other countries, make sure that the service you choose will allow you to send faxes to those countries.

Also consider some of the features that you might not use regularly, but will undoubtedly find useful at some time. Features like the ability to archive faxes online for future reference and an address book that gives you quick access to people to whom you frequently send faxes.

Some services you might want to check out

Quite a bit. This TechTip will only look at some of the better or more interesting for-pay services.

First up, eFax. With eFax, you send and receive faxes as email attachments. It's easy to use, and the service supports a large number of file formats – including several whose names I haven't heard in years. eFax even supports faxing from wireless devices. There's also an OpenOffice.org extension for sending documents to eFax, and the service offers a 30 day free trial. eFax is a bit more expensive than most other services – $16.95 a month – but it is reliable and packs a lot of features.

FaxZero is a free service, which adds an add to your fax's cover page. But it also has an option that allows you to send a 15 page fax to anywhere in the United States or Canada for $1.99. And you can pay using PayPal. You just go to the FaxZero site, enter the name and fax number of the recipient (along with your name and email address), upload a Microsoft Word or PDF file, and away you go. It's quick and it's cheap; a good option for anyone who only sends faxes once in a while.

Like eFax, MyFax uses email to send and receive faxes. In fact, it allows you to send and receive from up to five different email addresses. There's also a Web interface for sending, receiving, and reading faxes and you can set up an address book of recipients. MyFax also integrates with Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Office, as well as the ACT! personal information manager. The service supports 178 file formats (!), and at $10 a month is a pretty good deal.

Finally, there's PamFax. Now, PamFax is a little different from the other services discussed here. It works with Skype, the Internet telephone service. Well, at least the Windows and MacOS versions of Skype. PamFax is both a service, and a piece of software that integrates with your Skype client. When you want to send a fax, all you need to do is start PamFax, enter your recipient's fax number, select the file to send, and the click Send Fax. You can also choose a cover page, and even receive faxes from within the PamFax software.

Paying for what you send takes several forms. You pay by the page; literally pennies per. If you have a Skype Credit account, you can have PamFax deduct fees from that. There are also monthly plans, and you can buy credits. What you choose will depend on how much faxing you do.

Final thoughts

Fax is definitely a technology that refuses to die. It'll probably be around for more years than most of us want to admit. But until businesses move away from it, fax will remain an essential tool. If you need to send faxes, and don't want the expense of maintaining a fax machine, then one of the online fax services that's available is a great alternative – regardless of whether you're sending a couple of pages or hundreds of them.

Self Publishing on the “NET”

By Bryan Lambert – August 9, 2009

“Are you a writer or do you want to look like one?”  If so, then welcome to the 21st century world of self publishing!  Yes, you too can produce good quality printed works for a pittance – especially with the advent of self-publishing the internet way.  On the Internet, there are a number of self-publishing or “publish-on-demand” sites available and in this week's Tech Tip, we’ll look at some really cool things that you can do by self publishing via the Internet – the geeky way.

Make You Own Calendar, Photo Book or Print up a Family History

Making your own bit of personal memorabilia can be fun, easy and exciting.  Whether it’s a cool calendar that you hand out , a personal photo book for the coffee table or even a family history that you create with the help of Ancestry.com (see the Tech Tip on 15 cool websites) you’ll find that self-publishing sites help walk you through the process. Not only make it as painless as possible, but offer top notch on-demand printing that looks terrific and is relatively inexpensive.  Many will even grab your Facebook, Twitter or Flickr Photos.

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Sites such as Lulu.com have cool and creative step by step “wizards” and “creators” that walk you through making a terrific calendar or photo book that will be the envy of your friends and family.  Such self-publicizing sites are very up-front with costs (for example, for a standard calendar or a 20 page letter size photo book, on Lulu you’ll be looking at under $20). If you decide to venture into reselling your work they’ll help you with that too.  So in an afternoon, from the comfort of your living room you can design your calendar or photo book and then have it shipped to you – geeky fun for all.

Get that Novel Published (kind-of)

Four years ago, I participated in a wonderful experience of tossing together a 50,000 word novel in just one month – by participating in “National Novel Writing Month” held every November (see www.NaNoWriMo.org for details if you think you’re up to it).  Typically, if you reach the magic 50K mark, one of the self publishing sites will print out a free copy of your novel for you.  Obviously, since these are self publishing websites, any services such as editing and layout are extra, but in this modern computer age, many of us are up to that task.  The last year (November 2008) www.CreateSpace.com kindly stepped up to the plate to make this offer available to NaNoWriMo participants.

If you have a novel already done up, why not have a self-publisher site print up a copy for you – it’s something that you can look at for inspiration as you submit copies of it to commercial publishers for their “slush piles.” – or If you are an enterprising type, feel free to try these sites for posting/selling your work – it usually (for the most basic services) will not run you anything to have it up for sale. Self printing novels is actually pretty cheap considering how much you pay for paperbacks these days. For example, for many novels of around 100 pages – you’re looking at under $10.

Look around at what some other people have done

Despite the knock that some uninformed people may give the self-publisher businesses, you’ll be surprised at some of the really good quality items you’ll run across (and how cheap some of it is – some publishers will even let you have e-copies free).   Self-publisher websites are kind of like the “America’s Got Talent” of the writing world – you’ll never know what you discover!  True there may be some duds but you’ll be sure to run across some gems as well in the process.

Concluding words

In truth, this Tech Tip just scratches some of the cool things that you can do in the world of self-publishing.  For example, some sites allow video and musical content as well as the written word.  So get cracking and go ahead and explore this very cool, very geeky and very 21st century version of self-publishing – the Internet way.

A Linux Live CD to the Rescue!

By Scott Nesbitt – August 2, 2009

Computer hard drives. They're an essential component of your computing experience. While they're not as fragile as they were even 10 years ago, they're often one of the weak links in the chain of hardware that makes up a desktop computer or a laptop computer.

When something goes wrong with a hard drive, you can be in a lot of trouble. Especially if you haven't backed up your data recently. If you need that data – whether it's office documents, photos, videos, or all of the above – right now it can cost you. Professional data recovery can cost anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. And there's no guarantee of success.

But before going that route, you might be able to do the job yourself if you're willing to get your hands dirty. How? All you need is a blank CD, a USB flash drive, and some Linux Live CD software.

More than just for a test drive

As discussed in a previous TechTip, Linux Live CDs are a great way to take Linux for a spin without installing it on your computer. But there are other Live CDs that perform special jobs.

What kinds of jobs? How about trying to fix a computer that's not playing nicely.

The situation

A few months ago, my wife's laptop (which ran Windows XP) wouldn't start properly. It would power up, then display a screen which informed her that the last shutdown wasn't completed properly. There were several boot options presented. But no matter which one my wife chose, Windows would try to start then the laptop would suddenly reboot. With the same message as before.

Nothing my wife or I tried worked. Instead of doing something drastic, like trying to reinstall Windows or Linux, or reformatting the hard drive, I tried starting the computer in safe mode, without the option to reboot automatically on an error. When I did this, the boot up stalled when XP was trying to load a driver called mup.sys. I did some research, and learned that mup.sys can get corrupted or infected with a virus. As it turned out, there was more to the problem than that.

I got the feeling that I might be able to salvage the hard drive. If nothing else, I figured I could get the most important files off that laptop.

To do that, I decided to turn to a Linux Live CD for help.

Getting the Live CD

In this case, the Live CD was actually a rescue CD. I looked at several, and on the recommendation of a couple of techie pals, I got my hands on one called SystemRescueCD.

SystemRescueCD comes with a number of utilities for analyzing and diagnosing problems with a hard drive or system memory, and for recovering from failures and errors. While SystemRescueCD comes with a very lightweight graphical user interface, most of the utilities are run from the command line.

If you need help with running the utilities, even if you are an experienced Linux user, then you should take the time to browse the documentation for SystemRescueCD.

It helps, believe me.

Burning the disk image

I downloaded an ISO image, which is literally a snapshot of the contents of a disk – in this case, a stripped-down Linux operating system and a bunch of utilities.

When you have an ISO image, you need to burn it to a blank CD as a disk image. In Windows, you can use a nifty freeware application called ISO Recorder. Just about every CD burning application for Linux allows you to burn an ISO image.

On Mac OS X, just select Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility, then choose Images > Burn.

Getting to work

Once I had the CD ready, I popped it into CD-ROM drive of my wife's laptop, and restarted it. Luckily, her laptop was set to boot from the CD-ROM drive. If this doesn't work for you, change this in your computer's BIOS settings. Depending on your computer, you do this by pressing F2 or ESC or DEL when the computer firsts starts up.

The first thing I did once the Live CD loaded was try to mount the Windows partition on the hard drive from the command line.

In Linux terms, mounting merely means getting access to a file system or drive. 

The command I used was:

mount -t ntfs /dev/sda2 /mnt/windows -o ro

This tells the command to access an NTFS file system (the default used by Windows) via the device /dev/sda2 (which is how the Live CD detected the hard drive), and to let me access the drive using the directory /mnt/windows.

That worked. So, I plugged in one of my 4 GB USB flash drives and mounted that with the following command:

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/usb1

This allowed me to get access to the flash drive via the directory /mnt/usb1.

I ran the command cd /mnt/windows to change to the Windows drive, and then navigated my way to the folder where my wife kept her files. Using the Linux copy command (cp), I then transferred the files over to the flash drive. That took a while; there were about 3GB of files there.

A pair of funny things happened when copying the files. First, some files refused copy over. Second, many of the files had long names. When they were copied over to the flash drive, the names got truncated and the a good chunk of those names were replaced with a tilde (~).

Trying to save the hard drive

While I managed to salvage most of my wife's files, I wanted to see if I could also save the hard drive. SystemRescueCD comes with a powerful utility that can help determine this called testdisk. Testdisk can do diagnostics on and recover hard disks. It has a text-based interface. You don't have to type commands, but instead selection option by tabbing, using the up and down arrow keys, and pressing Enter. It's like many DOS programs of yore.

I ran the first check by selecting the Analyse option. For some reason the program stalled. After killing testdisk, I looked at the log file that it produced. In the log file was an error message stating that there was a problem with the number of disk sectors. That's not a good sign. Disk sectors store large lumps of data. If they're damaged, a hard drive is usually toast.

Next, I ran a check on the physical cylinders of the hard drive by selecting the Deeper Search option. Testdisk got through about 97% of the deeper search, and it stalled too. That indicated that there was a physical problem with the hard drive and that there was no way I was going to save it.

effects viagra /> Summing up

A Linux Live CD, especially one like SystemRescueCD, can be a good way of recovering your files if your computer starts acting up. A tool like SystemRescueCD is a bit geeky, and can be a tad difficult to use if you have no experience with backup software.