When blogging, you need to protect your privacy and reputation — what you put on your blog today might stick around for a long time to come. Your viewpoints could rankle readers, and some may not always have your best interests at heart. Or, you may have posted some information on your blog that you’d rather someone — say, a new love interest or potential employer — not know.

Never put any personal identifying information online that exposes you to possible identity theft or physical confrontation:

•Social Security Number

•Home address

•Birth date or place

•Mother’s maiden name

•Passwords

•Bank account numbers, or any information you use as password reminders or identifying information with financial institutions.

•Most bloggers prefer to keep phone numbers private as well. Don’t reveal this information about other people either.

Many bloggers solve privacy issues by choosing to blog anonymously or by using a handle — a phrase or moniker that doesn’t identify the writer. But don’t forget that many of your online identities are linked or are easily linked. For example, if you use a nickname when leaving comments on other blogs and then use that same nickname on a bulletin board or when signing up for a social networking service, it won’t be hard for people to connect the dots. In fact, many of these services already work together.

Anonymity is a great way to protect yourself on your own blog, but it won’t keep you from showing up in other people’s blogs or Flickr photo streams. If your friends and family have blogs, consider setting some ground rules with them about situations and topics you want excluded as subjects on their blogs. Be willing to accept the same kinds of requests about your own blog writing.

Take charge of your own online identity by starting a Web site or blog yourself. If other people are mentioning you online, having an “official” Web site with the right information on it can help supplant or downplay less desirable material.

Like most other applications, Adobe offers keyboard shortcuts so that you can access its features quickly and easily with the touch of a key or two. Explore the shortcuts that are used the most, by both Windows and Mac users

If you have installed software on your computer and for any reason it gives you issues, the best thing to do is to uninstall it. Period. But what happen if such a piece of software keeps restarting your Windows operating system or worst, disables certain services so that you won’t be able to performs some important operation anymore ? In this case Windows will help you with a special feature called Safe Mode. Basically, in Safe Mode you will be able to troubleshoot your computer in order to fix issues. However, if you need to uninstall and remove some software, you have to know that this kind of “limited state” Mode has the Windows Installer Service completely disabled. Let’s see how to turn it on and uninstall everything… even in the Safe Mode configuration. Windows Installation Service is responsible for the installation and uninstallation procedure. If you try to access it in Safe Mode you will get the following message: “The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if the Windows Installer is not correctly installed. Contact your Support Personnel for assistance”. The following tutorial will teach you how to turn the Windows Installation Service in Safe Mode:

1.Click Start
2.In the Search field, type regedit and press Enter.
3.Locate the following registry key: HKLM\ SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ Control\SafeBoot\ Minimal\
4.Right-click on the Mininal key and from the menu select New – Key. Now name the new key MSIService and change the value to Service by double-clicking it.
5.If you are in the Safe Mode with Network Mode, repeat the above steps for the following registry key: HKLM\ SYSTEM#92;CurrentControlSet\ Control\ SafeBoot\Network\
6.The newly created MSIService will make available the Windows Installation Service in Safe Mode. However, I want to remind you that it is necessary to turn the new service on.
7.To do it, exit regedit, click Start and in the Search field type: services.msc and press Enter.
8.From the list, locate Windows Installer. Right-click it and select Start.
9.If the procedure to turn on Windows Installer doesn’t work try this one:
10.Click Start.
11.In the search field, type cmd. Do not press Enter.
12.Right click the Command DOS icon and click the Run it as Administrator link.
13.In the command prompt, type net start msiserver.
At the end of the whole procedure do not forget to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

1 Right-click your problematic file and select Open With from the pop-up menu.As shown in this figure, Windows names a few programs you’ve used to open that file in the past.

Don’t see the Open With option on the menu? Then choose Open. Vista jumps straight to the Open With window, shown in the next step.


2 Click Choose Default Program and select the program you want to open the file.The Open With window lists many more programs. If you spot your favorite program, you could double-click it to open your file immediately. But that wouldn’t prevent the same problem from recurring. The next step tackles that challenge.

If Windows doesn’t list your favorite program anywhere on its list, you have to look for it. Choose Default Programs, click the Browse button, and navigate to the folder containing the program you want. (Hint: Hover your mouse pointer over the folders to see some of the files and programs inside.)


3 Select the Always Use the Selected Program to Open This Kind of File check box and click OK.That box makes Windows return top-billing status to your selected program. For example, choosing Paint Shop Pro (and checking the Always box) tells Windows to summon Paint Shop Pro every time you double-click that type of file.

Internet is the first means used by hackers to gain access to your computer and steal your information and files. Internet is also the first means used by viruses and malware to gain access to your computer and damage it with their malicious codes. Nowadays, thanks to flat fees we are accustomed to leave Internet connection always on, even if we are not in from of our PCs. And that’s the most vulnerable moment of day. When we are not in front of our machines and we don’t know what’s going on. A virus could access our files, a person could steal some of our work, a hacker living at the other side of the world could enter our hard disk! This tutorial will teach you how to auto disconnect your Internet connection dial-up when Internet is not used or there is no delivery activity.
1.Click Start.
2.In the Search field, type regedit and press Enter.
3.Locate this registry folder: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Services\RemoteAccess\ Parameters.
4.On the right pane, right click any empty space of the window and from the menu select: New – DWORD ( 32-bit ) Value.
5.Name the new registry key AutoDisconnect.
6.Double click the new key and give it a value between 0 to 1000 (1=1 minute). For example, if you give the value 10 minutes, the system after 10 minutes of inactivity will turn off the Internet connection.
7.Restart your computer for the change to take effect.

There are a lot of ways to customize your Windows 7. In fact, you can change the wallpaper, the theme and add some tools to make your Windows 7 looks a little different. However, you can not change certain messages your operating system displays on your screen…till now! Let’s see how to create a custom message on Windows 7 Startup screen.
1.Click Start.
2.In the Search field, type regedit and hit Enter.
3.Locate the following registry folder: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ Software\Microsoft\Windows\ Current Version\Policies\ System.
4.On the right pane, double click the legalnoticecaption and select Modify from the menu.
5.In the Value Data field, type whatever text you want. (this will be the Title of your message)
6.Click OK.
7.Now, double-click the legalnoticetext registry key and select Modify from the menu.
8.In the Value Data field, type whatever text you want. (this will be the Body of your message)
9.Click OK.
10.Now, restart the computer for the change to take effect.
11.When your system will startup you will notice your custom message!

The security of sensitive data now is a prime concern for both individuals and organizations following the high profile incidences of privacy and data leakage over memory sticks. The serious consequences of these incidents have forced business and personal users to keep improving traditional security measures and trying to find a good method to encrypt memory sticks for important information.


By encrypting memory stick, the data contained on it is unreadable to anyone except those who have the correct password. In such situations, there are usually 2 options for you. One is hardware encryption while the other is software encryption.

Hardware Encryption
Hardware encryption uses special chips to encrypt and decrypt the data. Many big memory stick manufactures like IronKey and SanDisk provide secure memory sticks with embedded hardware encryption. These hardware-encrypted memory sticks have ability to automatically overwrite the contents of the drive if the wrong password is entered more than a certain number of times. They are one of the good choices to protect data on memory sticks, but they cost you significantly more. And if you want to buy some new secure memory sticks, your previous unencrypted memory sticks will become wasteful. In this case, you can try another security measure - encrypting memory stick with software encryption.

Software Encryption
Software-based encryption encrypts data stored on a memory stick and transparently decrypts the information when an authorized user requests it. USB encryption software usually allows you to add password to protect memory sticks. Without correct password, sensitive data is not viewable to anyone even he have the device in hand. It usually allows you to create a resizable encrypted area for your critical data. This can fully protect your confidential data from prying eyes. Meanwhile, it also enables you to encrypt the sensitive data while keeping some normal shareable on a memory stick. Some also provides the ability to hide your encrypted data.

Compared with hardware-encrypted memory stick, USB encryption software is cheaper while it can provide efficient protection for your sensitive data as secure memory stick does. And just with one USB encryption application, you can turn every unencrypted memory stick into encrypted memory stick. There are various USB encryption software options available for you, including open source and commercial ones. Usually paid software is more reliable. If you want to something that works well, you can try Wondershare USB Drive Encryption.

Wondershare USB Drive Encryption is a handy tool to exactly encrypt memory stick and other portable storage media. With US military-level 256-bit AES, it guarantees the highest level of file security for business and personal users. You are no longer need to worry that a lost USB device may leak your privacy/trade secrets and cause a disaster. It just takes 3 simple steps to extend protection to memory sticks. With correct password, you can view your encrypted files stored on memory sticks on any computer without the protection software installed. You can also hide encrypted data by deleting access to it.

Both hardware encryption and software encryption have their own advantages and disadvantages. Personally, I’d prefer USB encryption software to encrypt my memory sticks. You can select one to encrypt your memory sticks according to your actual needs.

Most of us have a PC at home and one at work. We use our work PC most of the times and home PC comparatively less. Did it ever happen to you that you forgot your Windows 7 Password ? Maybe you go for a month long vacations or business trip and when you are back, you may forget some of your passwords to the home Windows 7 PC.


We tend to have lots of passwords at work, online and at various computers. So to save yourself from a locked out situation, we recommend that you create a password reset disk.


In this article, I will share with you a very simple method to create a Windows 7 Password Reset Pen Drive. So next time you are locked out of Windows 7 at the login screen, you can plug in this USB pen drive in your computer and reset the Windows Password.


To create a Windows 7 Password reset pen drive, I advice to have a small capacity pen drive which is cheap and you should keep it at a safe place, but not so safe that you forget where you kept it when you need it sometime in future.




Follow these simple steps:
Step 1. Insert a pen drive (backup any data if present on the pen drive and delete everything). Then go to Windows 7 Start Menu and type “create password reset disk” in the start menu search and launch the program “Create a password reset disk ” which will be highlighted in the search results.


Step 2. Just follow the simple Password reset Wizard as seen below, by selecting the pen drive from a list of drives it will show you. Note: If you have not inserted a Pen Drive before launching the utility, it will not work and will give an error. If the pen drive is in place, you will see Wizard something like the images below. It will also ask for your current password to create a password reset pen drive.


Step 3. Now you simple need to keep this drive at a safe place. You can use this in case you forget your Windows 7 Password sometime in future, just click forgotten password on the login screen and choose the option to Reset Password after inserting this pen drive into any of the working USB ports of your computer.


NOTE: Windows will honor only the most recent Password reset disk that you have created, so in case you happen to create more than one disk, only the one which is latest will work, all other old password reset disk will not be able to reset the Windows 7 Password.


If you have not created a reset disk and have forgotten your password, you can still reset the password using some utilities like Windows Password Recovery Tool. But these processes may cost you little money if you need to buy a software to do that. So to avoid any inconvenience later, we recommend that you create a password reset disk.


Related source: http://www.lostwindowspassword.com

Facebook's recent 'instant personalization' has the blogosphere buzzing, and the privacy implications haven't gone unnoticed. Some believe that privacy is effectively dead online, and that individuals simply need to "get over it."

But is that really the case? Is privacy dead? For those of us who are active online, maintaining privacy can be a difficult task, but it's not impossible.

Here are nine tips for protecting your privacy on the internet...

Take advantage of privacy protection tools. There are plenty of ways to ward off all of the cookies and other common technologies that are used to track your every move online (for behavioral targeting, etc.). From dedicated programs to browser-based plugins, even the latest versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer offer 'private browsing' functionality that's easy to take advantage of.

Use different browsers. Depending on the nature and extent of your online activities, using different browsers may be a good way to help defend your privacy. For instance, you may want to use one browser for all of your social networking activities, but another browser for everything else you do online. This may be an especially valuable rule given the direction Facebook is going in.

Don't overshare. It should go without saying: everything you post online is, in effect, public. That's because you realistically have little to no ability to control what happens with the content and information you post. Given this, it's wise to avoid oversharing, and at a very minimum, everything you post online should only be posted after weighing the potential consequences against the potential value.

Think like an SEO. Everything you do online theoretically creates a trail of your activities. Sometimes the crumbs you leave on that trail reveal personal information, such as your name and location. When using online services, think like an SEO to evaluate whether or not your activities are likely to be visible on major search engines. For instance, does a particular website that includes member profiles display a made-up username or will everything you post to it be listed under your real name?

Be wary of social networking. While you may not want to avoid social networking altogether, which is the best approach for any person dedicated to protecting his or her privacy, being selective about the sites you use is important. Just as companies shouldn't sign up for every social media service under the sun, try to stick to those sites that you actually plan to use, and those sites whose privacy implications you understand.

Set up disposable and/or specific-purpose email addresses. Using one email address for everything you do online is convenient, but it can also create a privacy mess. Instead, consider setting up disposable emails when signing up for services you're not sure about. And give thought to setting up email addresses for specific purposes (eg. online shopping, email newsletters, etc.). When setting these email addresses up, you may even want to avoid providing accurate personal details (eg. your full name, true location, etc.).

Don't trust privacy policies. A privacy policy only tells you how personal information will be used under ideal or theoretical circumstances. But it says nothing about what's going to happen to it in real life. A rogue employee, a data breach or a change of ownership could render any website's privacy policy worthless. So instead of trusting a website based upon its privacy policy, base your trust on your trust of the person or company running it.

Don't give your personal information up so easily. Most online services, especially those that are free, want something in return. Usually, that something is personal information. Which is why it's so important to always compare the information you're required to give up to the information that a website operator realistically needs to provide you with a service in return. In some cases, you may find that you're being asked to give up certain kinds of personal information when there's no good reason why.

Choose the company you keep wisely. You can do everything right when it comes to your privacy, but if you happen to associate with people who are careless or downright voyeuristic, there's a good chance someone else will post information and content about you online. So it goes without saying that anyone concerned about his or her privacy online should make the effort to ensure that friends aren't a privacy liability.

Privacy may be difficult to maintain in an online world dominated by social networks, ad companies and other services that automatically collect massive amounts of data about their users. But by using available tools, staying vigilant and applying common sense, your privacy doesn't have to die every time you browse the web

By default, Windows 7 allows you to delete all the customized power plans you have created but it doesn’t let you delete the default one. If you can’t stand the default power plan and you need to get rid of it because you want to use the one you have created, here is a little hack which will be very handy to you!
1.Click Start.
2.In the Search field, type cmd (don’t press Enter!).
3.Right click the icon and from the menu select: Open Command Prompt with administrator privileges.
4.In the Command Prompt, type: Powercfg List. This should show you a list with all the power plans available.
5.Type Powercfg -Delete GUID. Replace GUID with the default Power plan’s name you have got from the list above.
6.Done!