Month: October 2013
12 Back-to-School Cyber-Security Tips
Description
Laptops are must for college students. They use it for several tasks like taking notes, study on the go, etc. Being a student have you ever thought about your cyber-security? Well, if you have answered no then think now. Student life is full of risks in terms of safety and security. Staying in hostel with number of other friends poses threat to your online security. You can’t trust your roommates blindly.
Solution:
Here are some tips for students to stay safe:
1.If you are leaving your laptop alone then don’t forget to lock it down. By wrapping the cable around something massive, insert the lock into the device and then turn the key or twist the combination.
2.The most important thing is to password-protect your user account as well as disable the guest account if it is enabled. Also, press Windows+L to lock your computer when you are going away from it.
3.If you have an email address then set the email client to ask for password every time. Otherwise, anyone can read or send emails by logging into your account in your absence.
4.As a student, you must connect with many sites using a password each time. Thus, use password manager utility to manage your passwords as well as change any weak passwords.
5.Don’t share your password or login credentials with friends.
6.Always configure your social media accounts to limit your privacy up to your friends.
7.Keep your laptop malware free by updating free antivirus.
8.If you are getting emails with lucrative offers then do not believe all of them. Scammers are ready to fool you with such phishing messages.
9.Virtual Private Network is the best tool to protect your connection so that you can surf worry-free.
10.For further protection, go for anti-theft software.
11.Lock your smartphone using PIN, swipe code, facial recognition or any other security guard.
12.If you love to party hard then don’t take your expensive smartphone there. Instead, lock away your smartphone and take a cheap one.
Follow the above steps and stay secure online. For more from the XpertCrewTM team, please follow us on Twitter @Techvedic or contact Techvedic’s computer support helpdesk, as per below contact-details:
U.S. +855-859-0057 (http://www.techvedic.com/ )
U.K. +800-635-0716 (http://www.techvedic.co.uk/ )
CA 1-855-749-5861 (http://www.techvedic.ca/ )
AU 1-800-197-298 (http://www.techvedic.com.au/)
And yes, we are eagerly waiting for your valuable feedback. Do write us back. We would be more than happy to help you. We are available 24/7.
What To Do When Your Android Phone is Stolen?
Description
Your Android phone is a complete package containing a little of everything like photos, music, notes, games, and many more. It must be a nightmare for you that your Android phone is stolen. But, you should know what to do in such case.
Solution:
Firstly, try to track your device using Android Device Manager. You can easily use Android device Manager even if you have not configured it on your device yet. Through Google’s Web portal, you can access the Android device manager. By the use of large map, you can get the last known position of your mobile. In case, you are not able to see it then hit the Locate this Device button on the white inset window. After that, try to call your number again and again. Also, you can use the Ring option in Android Device manager.
Always call the police after getting the information regarding the location of your phone. It is not safe to confront a criminal on your own. Next is to deactivate the phone with your wireless provider. Make sure that after deactivating the service you will not be able to communicate with Android via Android Device Manager.
Furthermore, you should start taking steps so as to prevent the thief from accessing your personal information. For this, check out the web presence for every app and service on your phone. If it has the option to logout other devices, revoke tokens and de-register mobile devices then go for it. It will keep your login information safe.
Not finding any option to prevent mobile logins?? Then reset your passwords. The most important step is to file a police report along with the unique identifier for your device like its phone number or the serial number. Also, you can provide the tracking information to the police. Eventually, don’t forget to inform your family and friends so that the thief will not be able to impersonate you through text or social media.
Android is secured with powerful third party security apps. Android security suites have anti-theft capabilities as well as anti-malware. Almost all the Android security apps have same features like locate, remote alarm and remote wipe.
Bitdefender Mobile Security and Antivirus is the good choice to secure your Android device. Featuring remote SMS commands, it allows you to control your device without Wi-Fi connection. Moreover, avast! Mobile Security & Antivirus includes many anti-theft features. Anti-theft apps for Android including Prey and Bitdefender Anti-Theft are available. Lookout’s Plan B and Android Lost can be installed and activated remotely after a theft has taken place.
Therefore, learning about the use of security or anti-theft apps is very helpful. After that, you should invest in such kind of apps. Never forget to set a passcode for your device. This simple step can offer you long time protection.
For more from the XpertCrewTM team, please follow us on Twitter @Techvedic or contact Techvedic’s computer support helpdesk, as per below contact-details:
U.S. +855-859-0057 (http://www.techvedic.com/ )
U.K. +800-635-0716 (http://www.techvedic.co.uk/ )
CA 1-855-749-5861 (http://www.techvedic.ca/ )
AU 1-800-197-298 (http://www.techvedic.com.au/)
And yes, we are eagerly waiting for your valuable feedback. Do write us back. We would be more than happy to help you. We are available 24/7.
What to do with your USB flash drive: Maintain Windows
Description
Have you ever thought about using your USB flash drive to maintain Windows? For this, there is a tool called Parted Magic is available. With this, you can also clone your disk partitions; reset your Windows administrator password and many more. In this tutorial, we are going to tell you how to install Parted Magic.
Solution:
Make sure you have empty USB flash drive of 1GB in size. After this:
Install Parted Magic
1.Download the ISO of Parted Magic and the UNetbootin utility. The zipped file is known as pmagic-6.3.iso-x86_64.zip and that UNetbootin utility is named as unetbootin-win-549.exe.
2.Extracted the Parted Magic ISO from the zip file, you can run UNetbootin by double-clicking on unetbootin-win-549.exe.
3.Now, change the selection from “Distribution” to “Diskimage”. And, browse the Parted Magic ISO by clicking the button. After selecting the ISO file, set the correct drive letter of your USB flash drive and click the “OK” button.
4.After the completion of installation, reboot it or exit. In case, you are ready to boot into Parted Magic then click “Reboot Now” Button. Otherwise click “Exit.”
Run Parted Magic
1.After setting your computer’s BIOS to boot from USB devices, insert the USB flash drive into a USB port.
2.From the boot menu, select option 1, “Default settings (Runs from RAM).”
3.You will see the Parted Magic desktop after booting up.
Applications
Let’s discuss the applications:
GParted- It stands for Gnome Partition Editor. Basically, it is a graphical partition editor through which you can restructure disks. For launching it, double-click on the “Partition Editor” icon on the desktop.
Clonezilla- It is a disk imaging application which is similar to Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image. To launch, go to Start, System Tools, Clonezilla.
Chntpw- Using this command, you can clear or change a Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7 user’s password.
For clearing administrator’s password:
1.Go to Start > System Tools > Mount-gtk to start Mounting tool. In this example, Windows is installed on /media/sda3.
2.By clicking on the LXTerminal shortcut on the toolbar, launch a terminal window.
3.Now, type “chntpw /media/sda3/WINDOWS/system32/config/SAM” at the prompt and hit “Enter” key.
4.In the following menu, type 1 and hit the “Enter” key.
5.When asked “Write hive files?” type y and hit the “Enter” key.
That’s all you need to do. Now, you can easily repartition your hard disk as well as reset your Windows administrator password. For more from the XpertCrewTM team, please follow us on Twitter @Techvedic or contact Techvedic’s computer support helpdesk, as per below contact-details:
U.S. +855-859-0057 (http://www.techvedic.com/ )
U.K. +800-635-0716 (http://www.techvedic.co.uk/ )
CA 1-855-749-5861 (http://www.techvedic.ca/ )
AU 1-800-197-298 (http://www.techvedic.com.au/ )
And yes, we are eagerly waiting for your valuable feedback. Do write us back. We would be more than happy to help you. We are available 24/7.
Top 10 Hard Drive Upgrades and Fixes
Description
It is necessary to upgrade your hard drive timely. You should be able to perform functions including back up, recovery of files and improving storage space.
Solution:
1.If you have a good spare hard drive then you can set up automatic hard drive backup through Windows. There are two routes: online backup and offline back up. For this purpose, tools like Dropbox for online syncing and Time Machine for external hard drive backups are available.
2.Upgrade your hard drive and transfer all your media to it. There is no need to re-install everything.
3.Furthermore, you can setup a boot camp for Mac and Windows. You can boot Windows 7 with XP or Vista. Dual boot Linux with Windows 7 is also possible.
4.You can install a hard drive by yourself. No need to go to any tech shops for this purpose.
5.When your hard drive gets damaged or corrupted, you need to recover all your important stuff. If you are not able to get into your system then go for a live Ubuntu thumb drive to grab files and fix things. Also, Recuva is the best recovery tool to recover files from hard drives, SD cards, iPods, and much more.
6.Make sure to remove all the unnecessary stuff from your hard drive to free up space.
7.Convert all your built-in storage into an external drive.
8.Image your hard drive using DriveImage XML so that you can have a complete image of your system.
9.Always erase the data from your hard drive completely.
10.After a time, your machine gets noisy. Thus, you can use rubber shock absorbers or elastic suspension to make it noise free.
These are some important hard drive upgrades for you. For more from the XpertCrewTM team, please follow us on Twitter @Techvedic or contact Techvedic’s computer support helpdesk, as per below contact-details:
U.S. +855-859-0057 (http://www.techvedic.com/ )
U.K. +800-635-0716 (http://www.techvedic.co.uk/ )
CA 1-855-749-5861 (http://www.techvedic.ca/ )
AU 1-800-197-298 (http://www.techvedic.com.au/ )
And yes, we are eagerly waiting for your valuable feedback. Do write us back. We would be more than happy to help you. We are available 24/7.
Using memory in your storage device to speed up your computer
Description
In order to speed up your computer using storage space of your USB flash drives, Readyboost is a good option. On plugging Readyboost-compatible storage device into your computer, you will get AutoPlay dialog box offering you to boost the speed of your computer using Readyboost. Also, you need to decide how much memory on the device you want to use for this purpose.
To allow Readyboost work effectively, the flash drive or memory card should have at least 1GB of space. Otherwise, it will show a message telling you to free some space on the device if you want to use it to speed up your system. Also, you can enable or disable Readyboost for a specific flash drive or other removable storage device.
Solution:
For choosing USB flash drive or memory card to use with Readyboost, here are some tips:
1.Flash drive or memory card should have at least 1GB of space.
2.Also, the available space in your memory card or flash drive should be double the amount of memory (RAM) in your computer.
3.Always give Readyboost 2 GB to 4 GB of space for best results on most computers. You can use 32GB of available space on an individual storage device with Readyboost.
4.In order to work with Readyboost, flash drive must support USB 2.0 or higher. Further, your computer must have at least one free USB 2.0 port where you can plug in the flash drive.
5.To make sure whether the flash drive work with Readyboost or not, look for the note on the packaging from manufacturer. This note says flash drive is “Enhanced for ReadyBoost.”
6.There are some SD memory cards which don’t work well with Readyboost. If you will use any such card then Readyboost will display a warning message.
Therefore, speed up your computer using memory of your storage device. For more from the XpertCrewTM team, please follow us on Twitter @Techvedic or contact Techvedic’s computer support helpdesk, as per below contact-details:
U.S. +855-859-0057 (http://www.techvedic.com/ )
U.K. +800-635-0716 (http://www.techvedic.co.uk/ )
CA 1-855-749-5861 (http://www.techvedic.ca/)
AU 1-800-197-298 (http://www.techvedic.com.au/ )
And yes, we are eagerly waiting for your valuable feedback. Do write us back. We would be more than happy to help you. We are available 24/7.
How to Silence Your Noisy Computer?
Description
If your computer is generating too much heat and noise then you are at the right place. Here we are going to tell you some ways to keep your computer cool.
Solution:
1.Computer, similar to other electronic devices, heats up when it is in use. While working, its processor, graphics card, motherboard, and power supply get hotter. Thus, you need a cooling system to make it cooler. For this, use large metal heatsinks to direct the heat away from those components and then blow that air out of your computer using fans. Always use good quality cooling system to improve the cooling of your computer.
2.The next important thing is to clean your computer timely and keep it dust free. Gathering of dust on fans and heatsinks also makes your computer hotter while running.
3.Sometimes the CPU cooler and fan comes with your computer are super loud. Therefore, it is better to buy another cooler from market. High-quality heatsinks and fans are available in the market.
4.Number of fans you choose depends upon the case you have. If you have mid tower computer case with two fan slots in the front, and one in the back then you will take front fans as intakes and back fan as exhaust.
5.Fan controller is also must. It will help you in adjusting the fan speed by fitting in one of your computer’s drive bays.
6.There are some products you can try:
•Silicone Fan Fasteners to tighten the fans between the case and housing. It will prevent extra noise.
•Hard Drive Enclosures like SilenX Luxurae or the Smart Drive can be used for keeping your hard drive quiet.
•Acoustic Foam can be applied to the insides of your case to keep the noise level down.
•Dust Filters are very helpful in preventing dust from entering your case.
7.Lastly, go for quality hardware always.
These are some important points which you can use to keep your computer noise-free. For more from the XpertCrewTM team, please follow us on Twitter @Techvedic or contact Techvedic’s computer support helpdesk, as per below contact-details:
U.S. +855-859-0057 (http://www.techvedic.com/ )
U.K. +800-635-0716 (http://www.techvedic.co.uk/ )
CA 1-855-749-5861 (http://www.techvedic.ca/> )
AU 1-800-197-298 (http://www.techvedic.com.au/> )
And yes, we are eagerly waiting for your valuable feedback. Do write us back. We would be more than happy to help you. We are available 24/7.
What to do with your USB flash drive: Maintain Windows
Description
Have you ever thought about using your USB flash drive to maintain Windows? For this, there is a tool called Parted Magic is available. With this, you can also clone your disk partitions; reset your Windows administrator password and many more. In this tutorial, we are going to tell you how to install Parted Magic.
Solution:
Make sure you have empty USB flash drive of 1GB in size. After this:
Install Parted Magic
1.Download the ISO of Parted Magic and the UNetbootin utility. The zipped file is known as pmagic-6.3.iso-x86_64.zip and that UNetbootin utility is named as unetbootin-win-549.exe.
2.Extracted the Parted Magic ISO from the zip file, you can run UNetbootin by double-clicking on unetbootin-win-549.exe.
3.Now, change the selection from “Distribution” to “Diskimage”. And, browse the Parted Magic ISO by clicking the button. After selecting the ISO file, set the correct drive letter of your USB flash drive and click the “OK” button.
4.After the completion of installation, reboot it or exit. In case, you are ready to boot into Parted Magic then click “Reboot Now” Button. Otherwise click “Exit.”
Run Parted Magic
1.After setting your computer’s BIOS to boot from USB devices, insert the USB flash drive into a USB port.
2.From the boot menu, select option 1, “Default settings (Runs from RAM).”
3.You will see the Parted Magic desktop after booting up.
Applications
Let’s discuss the applications:
GParted- It stands for Gnome Partition Editor. Basically, it is a graphical partition editor through which you can restructure disks. For launching it, double-click on the “Partition Editor” icon on the desktop.
Clonezilla- It is a disk imaging application which is similar to Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image. To launch, go to Start, System Tools, Clonezilla.
Chntpw- Using this command, you can clear or change a Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7 user’s password.
For clearing administrator’s password:
1.Go to Start > System Tools > Mount-gtk to start Mounting tool. In this example, Windows is installed on /media/sda3.
2.By clicking on the LXTerminal shortcut on the toolbar, launch a terminal window.
3.Now, type “chntpw /media/sda3/WINDOWS/system32/config/SAM” at the prompt and hit “Enter” key.
4.In the following menu, type 1 and hit the “Enter” key.
5.When asked “Write hive files?” type y and hit the “Enter” key.
That’s all you need to do. Now, you can easily repartition your hard disk as well as reset your Windows administrator password. For more from the XpertCrewTM team, please follow us on Twitter @Techvedic or contact Techvedic’s computer support helpdesk, as per below contact-details:
U.S. +855-859-0057 (http://www.techvedic.com/ )
U.K. +800-635-0716 (http://www.techvedic.co.uk/ )
CA 1-855-749-5861 (http://www.techvedic.ca/ )
AU 1-800-197-298 (http://www.techvedic.com.au/ )
And yes, we are eagerly waiting for your valuable feedback. Do write us back. We would be more than happy to help you. We are available 24/7.
Send money with Google Wallet on Android and iOS
Description
After introducing Google Wallet two years ago, Google has revolutionized the future of mobile payments. But, now this application is revamped so as to allow users to send money to anyone in the US for free. This Google Wallet transformed NFC-equipped smartphones into digital wallets. With this, in-store purchases can be done.
Solution:
To start this new Google Wallet app:
Setup
Devices running Android 2.3 or higher can download it from Play Store and for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices running iOS 6 or higher, it is available in Apple’s App Store. When you open the app for the first time, it will ask you to sign into your Google account and create a unique PIN for future access. In iOS, you need to grant permission to the app to access your contacts, your location, and the ability to send push notifications. After that, you will get confirmation e-mail.
Functionality
There are only selected numbers of smartphones that can use Google Wallet’s Tap to pay feature for in-store purchases. Almost, all the Android and iOS devices can be used to keep track of your loyalty and gift cards.
Usage
For revealing the navigation menu, swipe left to right inside the app and access commands like My Wallet, Send money, Transactions, Wallet Balance, Offers, and Loyalty programs. In My Wallet section, you can get information regarding your latest transactions and Transaction tab provides you the entire list of your purchases. For detailed information about the purchase, click on a specific transaction.
Sending money
Before sending money to family, friends, or anyone with an e-mail address, you need to first verify your identity. For this, select Send money option available on the left and then click “”Verify your identity” tab on the bottom of the page. Also, you need to fill out the form with your legal name, home address, date of birth, and the last four digits of your Social Security number. After that, agree to the terms of service and wait. Now, you are verified with Google Wallet. In order to send money, set up a method of transferring money to your account. You can link your bank account to Google Wallet or add a credit or debit card to your account.
It can take up to three days to complete transactions. Once it is complete, you can go to the Send Money option and enter the name or e-mail address of the person. On the next screen, enter the specific amount of money and even add an optional message to the person.
This is how you can send money to anyone. For more from the XpertCrewTM team, please follow us on Twitter@Techvedic or contact Techvedic’s computer support helpdesk, as per below contact-details:
U.S. +855-859-0057 (http://www.techvedic.com/ )
U.K. +800-635-0716 (http://www.techvedic.co.uk/ )
CA 1-855-749-5861 (http://www.techvedic.ca/ )
AU 1-800-197-298 (http://www.techvedic.com.au/)
And yes, we are eagerly waiting for your valuable feedback. Do write us back. We would be more than happy to help you. We are available 24/7.
SIX STEPS TO KEEPING YOUR DATA SAFE
Description
Don’t want to lose your important data? Then follow these security tips and stay productive at your work.
Solution:
1.It is good to use proactive software protection. In order to provide initial protection on all computers, anti-malware software is required.
2.Viruses and spyware are very dangerous for your computer and can easily degrade performance as well as corrupt data.
3.Firewall is very helpful in blocking doubtful programs, viruses, or spyware. You can find various software companies that offer firewall protection. But, hardware-based firewalls offer better level of security.
4.Always be cautious of doubtful emails from unknown sources. In fact, don’t open email with attachments from an unknown sender.
5.Never trust the sites which have suspicious links as they are very prone to intruders.
6.Always keep the operating system updated.
Therefore, follow these tips and keep your data safe. For more from the XpertCrewTM team, please follow us on Twitter@Techvedic or contact Techvedic’s computer support helpdesk, as per below contact-details:
U.S. +855-859-0057 (http://www.techvedic.com/ )
U.K. +800-635-0716 (http://www.techvedic.co.uk/ )
CA 1-855-749-5861 (http://www.techvedic.ca/ )
AU 1-800-197-298 (http://www.techvedic.com.au/ )
And yes, we are eagerly waiting for your valuable feedback. Do write us back. We would be more than happy to help you. We are available 24/7.
Techvedic. Tech support 