Everyday Nerd

Vista’s UAC can be annoying, and although I’ve shared with you how to make it less annoying, Norton (Symantec) has come up with a replacement UAC that is makes it much better!

With one BIG feature - “Don’t ask me again”  I think I’m in love!  There are several programs I run during the course of the day that the UAC prompts me.  I run them every day I don’t need to be prompted to open the command prompt, or and administrative mmc window!  Also, it’s fast!  Much faster than the default Windows UAC.

Thanks to Norton UAC Replacement, I’m running UAC-less on the daily apps that I use, but still have the protection from of UAC for everything else!  Although it is in Beta, Norton UAC Replacement is solid, and I have had no issues so far - I’ve been running it for about two weeks now.

Link: http://www.nortonlabs.com/inthelab/uac.php

As a responsible nerd, I cannot stress enough how important backups are!  Hard drives do fail, CD’s/DVD’s do scratch, and tapes do go bad.  My choice of backup is some sort of off-site backup.  What about security you might ask?  All my data in a third party’s hands?  Can I trust them with it?  Well, what if the company you are using doesn’t even have access to the decryption key? 

I started using Spider Oak a while back, switching from Mozy.  One of my biggest reasons was security.  SpiderOak does not have the ability to decrypt your data that you have backed up.  I had a chance to speak to the Alan Fairless, co-founder and CTO of Spider Oak, and he explained it like this:  If any backup service provider has the ability to reset your username’s password, they have access to your data.  SpiderOak cannot reset your password, for this reason.

More than just a backup solution, SpiderOak also syncs your files, and allows you to share files with anyone!  SpiderOak also supports Windows, Mac, and Linux, and supports command line backups for each OS (very nice for scripting backups).  Unlike Mozy, SpiderOak allows an unlimited number of computers per account, and allows access to all your files from any computer.  Because of the smart synchronization, there are no duplicate files either!

SpiderOak isn’t just for home users, it is perfect for business use as well!  I am implemented it for a non-profit organization that I work with, and it is working perfectly!

My only complaint with SpiderOak, is that it runs in the system tray in Windows, but in my conversation with Alan Fairless, this is a feature that is coming soon, so hang tight!

Again, I cannot stress enough how important having a backup of your computer can be!  Your digital pictures, videos, email - you name it - if it’s important to you, back it up!!!  SpiderOak offers a free service of 2GB free, or a paid plan of $10.00/month for 100GB. 

SpiderOak has allowed a special offer to the readers of EverydayNerd.com!  15% off each purchased plan, but only through October 25th, so HURRY!  Folks, this is an AWESOME deal, and you don’t want to be caught without a backup!

Link: http://spideroak.com

The promo code is : everydaynerd (no capitals, no spaces)

If you have ever had to reinstall Windows, you know what a pain it can sometimes be to find drivers.  There always seems to be a driver that is hard to find.  Double Driver, is a nice little utility that creates a backup of all you drivers (something you do BEFORE you re-install Windows).

This may be a program that you only use a couple of times, but it can save you hours of a headache!

 Download Double Driver

I use several Instant Message clients; Google Talk, MSN Messenger, AIM, Yahoo!, and Facebook.  It can be quite a pain to have so many clients running on your machine, let me tell you!  I’ve used a few IM clients in the past, but have been rather disappointed by them all.

Not anymore!  I’ve been running Digsby for a few weeks now, and absolutely love it!  Digsby brings ALL my IM protocols into one windows client.  It is hands down the best IM client I have ever used!

Thanks KF for asking a great question, and something that almost everyone with a digital camera is going to ask at some point in time!

There are several ways to backup items on your computer; burning files to DVD (See Infra Recorder), using online backup services such as Mozy, or as simple as taking your flash memory to any photo processing location, and letting them archive the pictures to CD/DVD. 

But in this case, when talking specifically about pictures, I only have one way that I will back them up:  Picasa!

That’s right, you read that right, Picasa!  I’ve told you before about how much I love Picasa, especially Picasa 3!  Well, now, here’s one more reason to love it even more!

Open Picasa, and go to Tools, Backup Pictures.

At the bottom of Picasa, the Backup steps (all two of them) appear:

First, either accept the default backup set name, or create/edit the set in Step 1.  The set can be customized to backup to DVD, or to a drive (good if you are backing up to an external Hard Drive, or network drive), as well as choosing All file types, All Pictures, or only JPEG with Camera Information.  I go with the default, because I want my movies backed up as well (I have Picasa “watch” my home movies folder as well).

If this is your first time backing up your pictures, you will want to choose “Select All” in step 2, otherwise, Picasa will automatically select all the pictures that have not been backed up since your last backup.

Also, if you wish, you can manually select the folders that you want to backup.

If you have a lot of pictures, it may take a couple of DVD’s to backup, but trust me, it’s a LOT better to have a backup of those precious memories, than your hard drive going “clack clack clack” with the only copy of your pictures on it… 

Restoring from the Picasa DVD Backups is just as easy as the backup process.  Simply insert the DVD, let the auto-play run, and a nice restore wizard asks you if you want to restore to the original location, or a new one.  Easy as pie!

REMEMBER:  ALL HARD DRIVES GO BAD!  It’s a matter of when - not if!

Backup often, cry less…

Download Picasa 3