Keeping Your Home PC Up To Date

Keeping your PC current with Operating System and software patches, Virus Protection, and Spyware Protection has never been easy but it's getting there. In addition backups are a concern as well. Lately I've been using a four-pronged approach, all of which are currently free...

1. Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware. Microsoft Security Essentials is an effective tool based on what of seen and read, as well as my own experience. I was a subscriber to Windows Live OneCare which handled Virus Protection, Spyware, Operating System patches and backups in one easy to use application. Unfortunately Microsoft discontinued this little gem and offered Security Essentials in its place for free.
   
   
2. Backups. The simplest and easiest backup application is built right into your Microsoft operating system. I'm running Windows 7 Backup & Restore but the Windows XP OS has a similar feature. I use an external drive to store the backups. The great thing about these backups is how easy it is to restore multiple user profiles when rebuilding my PC from scratch (i.e., reinstalling the Operating System).
   
   
3. Application Update Notifications. I've been using this great free product for several weeks now, FileHippo Update Checker. It's free and it has been working well without any problems. In the four weeks or so since we've installed it I've been notified of at least six different software application updates including the Sun Java Runtime, Apple iTunes, Apple QuickTime, Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, Google Chrome, and more.
   
   
4. Operating System Patches. Once again, built right into the Windows operating system is Windows Update. I've been using this for years now without a problem. In addition to Operating system updates, Microsoft Office updates are included as well.
   

Another great tool I've come across is Secunia Software's Personal Software Inspector (PSI). I've been using this without any problems for a several weeks now as well. It is also free and purports to "detect vulnerable and out-dated programs and plug-ins which expose your PC to attacks".

Popular Anti-Spyware options include Spybot S&D, Ad-Aware (free version), and Windows Defender.

LifeHacker.com has an excellent guide to keeping your PC up to date...

Good Motorola Android Guide

Master Google Android: 40 Tips and Tricks 

How to Copy All Email From MS Outlook to Gmail

I have been hosting my own Microsoft Exchange Server from my home for the past five years. Recently the hard drive went south on the only Domain Controller I had in my network. As luck would have it this occurred on the day before a two week family vacation. After several failures attempting to restore Active Directory I quickly decided to host our email on Gmail. I pointed DynDNS to Gmail's servers and voila! After returning from vacation I got around to bringing the Exchange Server back up. For now I decided I would stick with Gmail (yes I drank the Kool-Aid).

So Google has a neat tool  Google Email Uploader that does the trick (Contacts & Email). The only thing now is my calendar (I have lot's of birthdays, anniversaries, and other recurring appointments)...

One major downside for me with the whole process was having to go through and fix many of the tags. Google doesn't use folders; instead the concept of a "tag" is used. The app converts each folder to a tag but if you have folders inside folders, the entire folder path becomes the tag. For example: "Employment\Benefits\401K\" was one tag. I flattened this structure by creating three tags, "Employment", "Benefits", and "401K", and then assigned all three tags to the emails in the folder. The process led me to simpliify my filing structure as well.

Correction: Android Does Have Multitouch

I stand corrected. There is an applicaton called PicSay that allows "pinch and zoom", similar to the iPhone.

Android Annoyances

A few things that the Motorola Droid lacks:

1. Multitouch (only Google Maps has multitouch)

2. Can't play Flash videos

3. No LogMeIn client (I want that)

4. No Mint client (yet -- supposedly in the works)

It appears that Flash may be added soon. It also seems likely to me that if they can do multitouch for Maps (iPhone has it), they can do it for other apps as well. Either it's on the way or violates a patent that Apple has on the iPhone. LogMeIn? I hope soon. Mint is also supposedly in the making...

04/18/2010 UPDATE. Just noticed the announcment on Adobe's site that Flash Player 10.1 which will run on Android 2.0 (& higher) will be released sometime during the first half of 2010. In addition Android 2.1 update has improved multitouch added to the browser and the photo gallery.

04/19/2010 UPDATE: The release of Adobe Flash Player 10.1 has been pushed back to the second half of 2010. Mint has been promising an Android client and here is a screenshot. LogMeIn is also apparently in development.

Moto Droid MAC Address for Wi-Fi

If you're like me and you have MAC filtering turned on in your Wi-Fi unit it can be tricky locating the MAC address of your Motorola Droid (Android v2.0). You will need to enter this into the list of MAC addresses allowed in your wireless unit's administrative screens.

1. From the home screen (desktop) open the fly-out context menu and select "Settings".
2. Scroll to the bottom and select "About Phone".
3. Select "Status".
4. Scroll to the bottom (near the bottom) under "Wi-Fi MAC address".

Once connected to the Wi-Fi unit you will find your browsing speed is greatly improved.

Mind Mapping for Android

Thinking Space is a great Mind Mapping tool that appears to integrate with FreeMind.