Default Mozilla Firefox Bookmarks Location - Windows XP

I was setting up an automatic backup process for my system, and one of the things that I wanted to backup was my Mozilla Firefox bookmarks. So I dug around and found out where they were. They’re all contained in a single bookmarks.html file, located here:

C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR_USERNAME\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\

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Windows Password Recovery / Reset

These are the things needed to edit the passwords on most systems. Fits on a single CD or floppy!

Tested on: NT 3.51, NT 4 (all versions and SPs), Windows 2000 (all versions & SPs), Windows XP (all versions, also SP2), Windows Server 2003 (all SPs), Vindows Vista 32 and 64 bit.

Note: If used on users that have EFS encrypted files, and the system is XP or Vista, all encrypted files for that user will be UNREADABLE! and cannot be recovered unless you remember the old password again. If you don’t know if you have encrypted files or not, you most likely don’t have them. (except maybe on corporate systems)

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

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Windows Backup with Acronis Review

As I just found out, Acronis True Image is an excellent tool to backup your system with! I thought that Norton Ghost was the industry standard, but Acronis just blew me away with its ease of use and powerful feature set.

With Acronis, you can backup either individual files and programs (even preferences) or backup your entire hard drive. And on top of that, you can also make incremental or differential backups. These are very useful features that allow you to save either space or time.

Click to see an enlarged screenshot

What’s the difference? Well in any case, you’ll need to make a full system backup initially. But in the future, any changes will be compared with the full system backup, and the differential or incremental backup only includes the changes since then. As you can expect, this is much faster than doing a full system backup everytime, and saves you tonnes of backup space.

However, you might face a higher risk of data corruption if you do too many differential or incremental backups. So you might want to do a few diffferential or incremental backups, then have a full system backup done as well, every once in a while.

The best thing about Acronis is that I am now protected against data loss from a system or hardware failure. If I keep to my regular backup schedule, it means that I only need to pop in my system backup disc to restore my computer system to its original configuration almost instantly.

And in Acronis, it’s really easy to create a system backup disc. Just select the “My Computer” option, and Acronis will guide you through the recovery process. Acronis True Image also gives you the power to specify the compression level of the backup - you can choose either normal, high, or maximum compression. Normal compression takes the most storage space while maximum compression takes the least space - but the drawback is that the backup process will take longer. If you need extra security, you’ll be pleased to know that Acronis also allows you to set your own password.

One very unique feature about Acronis True Image is that it will create a secure zone on your hard drive. This is a partition on your hard drive set aside specifically for backup and recovery, in the case of a system crash. It contains your bootable rescue data, and to make it secure, this partition is hidden, so no other software can access it. This secure zone backup feature is unique to Acronis - no other backup program has this, and I find it really useful to have.

Click to see an enlarged screenshot

If the world was perfect, Windows would never crash, viruses and spyware can be removed with one click, and installing new programs will never cause irreversible damage to our systems. But the world isn’t perfect - which is why the premium PC protection that Acronis True Image offers is something that absolutely no computer user should be without.

Millions of users have been using Acronis True Image, and that’s what started me on it. Now I’m a fan of it! You should try it out for yourself - there’s a free trial available, so there’s zero risk.

Note: Some of you have asked me about the difference between Acronis True Image 10.0 Home and Acronis True Image 9.1 Workstation. Well the main difference between Acronis True Image 10.0 Home and Acronis True Image 9.1 Workstation is that the latter provides you with the ability to manage backup/recovery process remotely. Generally, Acronis True Image 9.1 Workstation is meant for use in business and networked environments allowing IT staff to manage backup tasks and protect employee laptops and desktops throughout the organization from one central location.

Try Acronis True Image 10 Home (Free Download and Trial Version!)

Buy Acronis True Image 10 Home (Instant Download!)

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The Dangers of Using Public Computers, Internet Cafes and Kiosks

I don’t think it can be stressed enough. Public computers (these are computers on which anyone other than yourself can access) are DANGEROUS. You should never use these computers to access any private information. This means you shouldn’t type in any passwords or sensitive information using these computers.

This is simply because you don’t know what’s been installed on them. Internet cafes, internet kiosks at hotels and airports and other public places often provide you with computers, but you won’t know if there are malicious software installed on them.

You just need to use one computer that is infected with Trojans and keyloggers, and your sensitive information will be collected and transmitted to criminals.

The lesson is: Only access sensitive and financial information using a computer you trust.

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Chinese Input in Microsoft Windows and Word

Microsoft Windows comes with an East-Asian language option that allows users to input Chinese and Japanese text without additional software. I discovered about this Chinese IME when I was trying to figure out a way to input Chinese characters. Here’s how to do it:

Windows Vista

To install the Chinese IME in Windows Vista, go to Start Button >> Control Panel >> Clock, Language and Regional.

You should see the Regional and Language Options option. Then select Change keyboards or other input methods.

That will bring up the Keyboard and Languages tab in the Regional and Language Options dialogue. Click the Change keyboards… button. And in the “Text Services and Input Languages” dialogue box, add the Chinese IME and the Chinese Keyboard components.

Click the “Add…” button to see the “Add Input Language” dialog box. Select the Chinese (PRC) entry, expand it and select the Chinese keyboard that you would like to use. Typically, if you are using Simplified Chinese, you would use the Microsoft Pinyin IME.

Click the “OK” button, and you should see a “Chinese” entry under “Installed Services”. Click the “OK” button.

You may be asked to put your Windows Vista CD-ROM in the CD drive so that the relevant files can be copied to your hard drive. NOTE: You cannot install the IME without the CD.

That’s it. You should now see the IME icon in your task bar!

Windows XP

Go to Start Menu >> Control Panel >> Regional and Language Options icon. Then select the “Language” tab.

Click on the “Install files for East Asian Languages” check box , then click the “Details” button. You should then see the “Text Services and Input Languages” dialog box.

Up to this point, your Windows machine is now enabled to read Chinese fonts! But to input and write Chinese in Windows requires a few more simple steps. Read on to find out…

In the same “Text services and input languages” dialogue box, add the Chinese IME by clicking the “Add…” button in the “Installed services” frame. The “Add Input Language” dialogue box should appear, so just click on the “Input language” drop down box and select “Chinese (PRC)”. PRC stands for Peoples’ Republic of China. This is the most popular choice for Simplified Mandarin Chinese.

Once you have select “Chinese PRC” click the “OK” button. Now you should see “Chinese (PRC)” as one of the listed Installed Services. Click the “OK” or “Apply” button to finish.

You may be asked to put your Windows XP CD-ROM in the CD drive so that the relevant files can be copied across to your hard drive. PLEASE NOTE: You can not install the IME without the CD.

All installed IMEs are accessed through the the language bar tray icon. Here we see the “EN” icon, showing that the English Input Method is active.

To switch to the other installed IMEs, simply click on the “EN” icon. Select the Chinese (PRC) item in the IME popup menu to see a new “CH” icon.

NOTE: The Chinese IME will only become active if there is software running in the foreground that will accept Chinese input.

You can view the full IME menu bar by right-clicking on the “CH” icon. A popup menu will appear, so just click on the “Restore the Language bar” option to show the IME bar.

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Online Button / Badge Maker - Free

Know those small buttons or badges that you see around? Well know there’s a website that allows you to make your very own customised badge! You can put any text that you want on it, and have any combination of colours. Pretty nifty!

I made a button badge for myself, and here’s how it looks like:

Interested? Check out the site here: http://kalsey.com/tools/buttonmaker/

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Free Online Tool - Convert Movie Files (Avi, RM, MOV, etc)

This is unbelievable. I had a movie clip in .mov (Apple’s Quicktime format) and I needed to convert it into .avi so that I could insert it into a Windows Powerpoint. Apparently if I had a Macintosh, the Macintosh version of Powerpoint could play .mov natively. But oh well, shrugs.

So I looked online for solutions, because I really didn’t want to spend any money to buy a conversion software. Guess what? I found my answer - free online conversion tools!

These websites are absolutely fantastic! They’re fast, easy to use, and convert A LOT of formats. I found two - and I used the first one, which was Zamzar. Check them out:

http://www.zamzar.com
http://media-convert.com/

Zamzar was absolutely idiot-proof. I simply chose the file that I wanted to convert on my computer, and then it uploaded the file. It was only 2mb, so I didn’t have to wait very long. After which, I received an email telling me that my file was converted. There was a link in that email which brought me to the download page where I could download my movie in .avi format - amazing!

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