File Recovery with Undelete My Files

File Recovery tools are flooding the software market these days and it takes more than to provide a way to recover files to stick out of the masses. Undelete My Files offers several features that make it at least an interesting application to try. The file recovery is obviously the dominating component of the software. Hard Disks can be scanned which usually does not take longer than a few seconds - depending on the size of the hard drive - and the results are displayed afterward. One interesting aspect of this procedure is that multiple hard disks can be selected at once. Most other tools scan hard disks on a per disk basis only.

Another interesting aspect of that scan for deleted files is the option to preview items before they are recovered. Every file can be marked and a click on the preview button opens the file in the default viewer. It becomes pretty obvious if a file can be recovered, chances are slim if the default viewer cannot open it. If the file displays fine on the other hand chances are good that it can be recovered without difficulties.

Undelete My Files provides access to two specialized recovery operations: Media and Mail Recovery. Both target specific files and try to recover them. The advantage of using Media Recovery is that it specifically targets multimedia files offering a preview pane for quick file previews.

Mail Rescue tries to recover Microsoft Outlook Express, MS Outlook, Eudora and Netscape mails. The software automatically tries to locate the installation folders and proposes a system scan if none can be found.

Another function provided by Undelete My Files is the Advanced File Search. That's a nice function if you know what you are looking for. You can pinpoint the tool to search specific folders, look for certain names and file types, sizes and attributes. Pretty convenient if you want to recover specific files.

The last two functions are not related to file recovery. The first is a disk wiper that deleted existing files on the disk securely so that they cannot be recovered by normal means. The other the creation of a Emergency Disk Image which creates a snapshot of a disk to work with later on. That's actually a great idea to prevent that deleted files are overwritten by new files and the same way professionals are handling this issue.

Email Large Documents with Docstoc OneClick

Docstoc OneClick is an easy way to email large documents without attaching the files. Instead of sending the files, you can send the link to the document, where it can be viewed or downloaded. OneClick is an application by which you can instantly send files to any email, without having the pain of uploading the document.

How to send large documents

1. Download Docstoc OneClick and create a profile on Docstoc.
2. Now select the documents you want to send as email. You can select document with formats like .doc, .pdf, .xls etc. The size of the attactment can be a maximum of 50MB.
3. Right click on the selected files and select "Email as Private" or "Email as Public" option. The difference between these two option is that Email as Private will not show your uploaded documents in Docstoc to public.

4. An email is generated with the links to download the files. The default email client is used to generate the email.
5. The documents will be uploaded automatically by the application in the background.

You can access all your uploaded documents in "My Documents" section in Docstoc.

Docstoc OneClick

Edit PDF Documents Online

If you are looking for an online solution to edit PDFs, then PDF Hammer is a great website to Edit, rearrange and merge PDF files and all these services FREE of cost. With PDF Hammer you can quickly and easily edit PDF files online, without the need to install anything. Upload your PDF files to PDF Hammer from your Web browser, perform your edits, and then download back to your computer.

Features of PDF Hammer;

• Merge/combine PDF files together.
• Rearrange, reorder and delete pages.
• Lock your PDF files with password-based security.
• Add and edit document information (metadata) fields, including author, title, subject
  and keywords.

First you need to upload the PDF file from your computer. Once uploaded all the pages in the PDF are shown and you can start re-arranging the pages, delete or merge with other PDF documents.

Once you finish editing, you can change the Title, Author, Subject and Keywords of the document. You can also enable password protection for the PDF file.

Once you are done with editing, you can download it back to your desktop as PDF file with Export PDF option.

PDF Hammer is simple and free solution to edit documents online without having to install any softwares on your computer.

PDF Hammer

Startup Manager

When a computer starts up and boots into Windows, there are a bundle of other programs that load up with it. Some of them are needed, but others are unnecessary and do little more than slow down a computer.

When I am told that a computer is running slow, the first thing I do is look in the locations that call these programs to load, and I cull the programs that are not necessary. There are numerous locations (registry, startup folders and win.ini) where these programs are called from, so the process can take quite a while.

Startup Manager is a free utility that shows you each of these locations in a single, easy to use interface. Just check out the screenshot of it. This is certainly a no nonsense program.

Startup Manager shows you what is going to be loaded at startup. All you need to do is untick the items that you no longer want to be part of your daily life.

The startup programs should probably be checked every 6 or so months to keep your computer running lean. The list can expand very quickly, often without the users knowledge. Using this utility can save a lot of time. It is one of those useful programs to keep on a USB disk, so that you can load it up quickly in the case a friend is in need.

Get your copy of Startup Manager for free from StartupManager.org.

PC Login Now 2.0

Ever been unable to log into Windows due to a lost password? This used to require a reinstall of the operating system to regain access. This often meant some data would be lost, as it could no longer be accessed.

Because of this common need to recover passwords, a few tools have been created to get past this problem. I once heard of a program called Ophcrack, but it looked a bit tricky to use.

A tool called PC Login Now was recently made available as freeware, so I tried it out. The download is an iso file that needs to be burnt to a CD, using just about any CD burning software. The result is a Linux Live CD. Restart your computer and ensure that the computer will boot from your CD drive first (most will by default). Watch the Linux Live CD boot to life.

PC Login Now will work with any Windows install, and it can even handle dual boot machines. The opening screen shows you the operating systems available on the computer. Select the operating system you want to tinker with and press next. You should now be able to see all of the user accounts for that system.

You can then reset the password of any account, as well as enable or disable accounts. You can pretty much perform any of the basic user account options available in Windows. This program does not show you the old password as some tools do, but resetting the password is just as useful in most circumstances.

Once your computer reboots, a disk check will be run. When prompted, try to login leaving the password blank. You should be able to get into the system. PC Login Now claims a 100% success rate, and so far I have had no failures on the 3 machines I have tested. It couldn't be quicker or easier to use.

This will not work for computers which login to a domain, but there is normally a local user account on these computers, which you can use to gain access.

Take some caution using this in the workplace as many companies don't like these tools.

PC Login Now 2.0 is available for free from pcloginnow.com.

Recover Deleted Files with Freeware Recuva

Recuva is a freeware for recovering deleted files from you hard disk or USB drive. Recuva is a Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players. It will even bring back files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses.

Using the application is pretty simple, you need to select the drive and click on the Scan button.

Once you get the list of files, you can select on files which need to be recovered and then specify the target folder.

The application also allows secure delete files.

Download Recuva

Backup Files When Computer is Idle with IdleBackup

Many time we forget to back up files because we may not like to run another program in the background for backing up data as this could reduce the speed of your computer. IdleBackup is a free Windows application which can back up your personal files and folders when the computer is idle. The best feature of this software is that it checks if the computer is idle for more than 1 min before starting the back up process.

You can select the files and folders which needs to be backed up and also the back up path. The location can be on the same hard drive, an external drive (memory card, USB drive), or another computer on the network.

Next you need to select the automatic backup option on the top right hand corner. Here set the countdown time for back up to start after the computer has been in idle state. The minimum time that can be set is 60 sec. You can also tell the software to check for any CPU activity before ensuring that the computer is idle.

IdleBackup is a simple to use and totally free software for backing up data.

Download IdleBackup

How to Write Protect your USB Drive

The spread of viruses is mainly due to the incorrect use of internet and the misuse of external media like the USB or Pen Drives. Windows has an auto-run function enabled by default so whenever a USB drive is plugged in, Windows automatically recognizes it and performs a default action like opening the contents of the drive.

Viruses and malware use this method to propagate. When an infected USB drive is plugged into the system, the malware automatically starts up using the auto-run of the drive. This way the malware spreads very quickly.

Today I found out a neat utility which can write protect your USB drive. This comes in handy when you have a virus in your system and you have some fixing tools in your USB drive. You just write protect the USB drive, plug it in and then use the tools on it. In this way, your USB drive will not be affected by any kind of additional viruses which are on the infected system where you plugged in the USB drive.

The name of the utility is Thumbscrew. It sits in system try from where you can enable or disable the write protect function of the USB drive.

USB Write Enabled

USB Write Disabled

Download Thumbscrew (233 KB)