Ezine 178 - Utilities for Christmas
Fed up of getting socks for Christmas? Here are handy utilities to ask your relatives to
get for you instead. For example, with Lo Jack you can savour the anti-theft technology while protecting
your laptop.
The idea is that you install a Lo Jack client into your computer's BIOS
firmware (3 clicks and you are done). The Agent in your computer then
maintains daily contact with the Absolute Monitoring Center. Should
your computer be stolen then report it to Lo Jack. They will step-up
the contact ping to 15 minute intervals, which should enable the police to
catch the thief.
If it's the sensitive nature of the data in the wrong hands that worries
you, then Lo Jack can delete data on the laptop remotely. Incidentally
there is a version of Lo Jack for cars.
Check out the Lo
Jack site.
Frighten yourself; record your computer usage. Manic Time
is handy for seeing
through those New Year resolutions whether they be positive or 'denial'.
Download ManicTime
KeyTweak seems like a tool for an April 1st prank. However,
I can see 'business uses' if you have international connections. Download
KeyTweak
Guy cannot see the point of this program, whereas his friend 'Mad
Mick' swears by it. Guy says, 'If the normal built-in
notepad cannot get the job done,
then I go to one of two extremes, buy a proper script editor, or
just use
Word for Windows'.
Mad Mick says that while 'NotePad ++ is a good-enough versatile script editor,
the reason he likes it so much is that Notepad ++ is just so much
more fun and techie than any
other text editor.'
We both say, it's free and make up your own mind.
Download
NotePad++
What I like about SolarWinds is their mantra of 'built by network
engineers for network engineers'. If you get a chance look around their
site and seek out the head geek videos. Josh Stephens is that rare geek,
someone with network skills, who can also explain lucidly on camera what
is going and how to configure the settings. Now I must confess to an
impure thought, Josh is so slick on the videos that I wondered if he was
in fact an actor, but no, Josh is the real deal, a techie who talks the
talk AND walks the walk.
As my website indicates, over the years I have dabbled with tweaking
computer
performance. However, I regard Orion Network Performance Monitor
(NPM) as the 'big tackle'. Big in the sense that has the power to
zoom into network trouble spots, and big in the comprehensive range of
checks that it manages. If you are reviewing performance monitors,
then take advantage of Solarwinds offer to
download a free trial of Orion NPM v10.2.
Make an online check of any site. You probably don't really need this
utility very often, but if you are curious about a site
Test now.
Guy Recommends: Tools4ever's UMRA
Tired of writing scripts? The User Management Resource Administrator solution
by Tools4ever offers an alternative to time-consuming manual processes.
It
features 100% auto provisioning, Helpdesk Delegation, Connectors to more than
130 systems/applications, Workflow Management, Self Service and many other
benefits. Click on the link for more information on
UMRA.
Will and Guy's Humour
Yesterday we broke out our Advent Calendar with a difference.
Instead of the usual chocolates, see what we put in each day of December.
Check out our funny advent calendars.
Lots of useful utilities
•
E 200 Stuxnet •
Metro UI •
Review of Real-time Bandwidth Monitor •
Windows 8 Remote Desktop
•
E 199 Apps •
E 197 iPad •
E 188 Toast •
E 183 Utilities •
E 182 Ripper •
E 178 LoJack
• E 165 Nifty Utilities •
E 125 Nifty Tools •
E 106 Tips •
E 99 Tips •
Virtualization Manager • Ezines
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