Category Archives: windows

How to protect your profile and emails on Thunderbird 3 (Ubuntu and Windows instructions)

On Thunderbird, the only way to be 99% sure nobody will read your emails is to save your profile on an encrypted folder (or disk partition) using e.g. TrueCrypt but if you are not concerned that you are under surveillance, you can simply use a quick and useful trick that allows Thunderbird to ask for the Master password every time you launch it.

In Ubuntu you have to follow two different steps. First of all, go to Edit —> Preferences —> Security —> Passwords and create your Master Password. Secondly, go to Edit —> Preferences —> Advanced —> Config Editor (click on “I’ll be careful, I promise”). Then in the filter bar, type password and change the parameter for mail.password_protect_local_cache to True. The next time you will launch Thunderbird nothing will be displayed (old and new emails) before you insert the correct Master Password.

If you are using Thunderbird on Windows you have to modify mail.password_protect_local_cache going to Tools —> Options —> Advanced —> Config Editor (click on “I’ll be careful, I promise”). Then, as for Ubuntu, in the filter bar type password and change the parameter for mail.password_protect_local_cache to True.

Prey: a multiplatform, open source anti-thefth free software for laptops

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What about losing your laptop? Obviously the chances to find it and have it back are very few! But there are several software you can install on your laptop to trace the ip and geo-location of te laptop and with a bit of fortune you could find it. Prey is one of these programs you can use and it is particularly interesting because it is open source and free up to three laptops. After the download of the proper version for your OS (Linux, Windows, Mac OS X or Android) you have to run it on your machine and configure it through a very simple interface (on Ubuntu: Applications —> System Tools —> Prey Configurator). Do not forget to select Enable guest account and Wifi autoconnect to improve the possibilities to trace your laptop. You are also asked to provide an email account where you will receive the geo-location reports if your laptop is stolen. When you activate your Prey account do not forget to fill in the Configuration and Modules tabs. Personally we suggest to switch to ON the following commands: Auto update, Notify new reports and all the commands contained in the left column of the Modules tab. At this point, if your laptop is missed, you have to log in your on-line Prey account and, in the Configuration tab, switch the Missing option on YES. Since this moment, Prey software on your laptop is activated and will start sending reports to your email and to your Prey webpage. Last but not least, to better protect your laptop I suggest to hide or cancel the Prey Configurator icon from the OS menu (in Ubuntu: System —> Preferences —> Main Menu —> System Tools and deselect Prey Configurator).

Calibre: el mas versátil gestor, conversor y visualizador de eBooks

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Los E-books están ganando cada vez mas espacio a los libro de papel y seguramente en un futuro no muy lejano llagaran a tener el mismo mercado que los libros de papel. Entre las varias aplicaciones para gestionar vuestra biblioteca digital y vuestros E-reader, he encontrado Calibre, que me parece una de las aplicaciones mejores al momento y es disponible para diferentes SO (Windows, Linux y Mac). Yo la he instalada en mi Kubuntu y tengo que decir que funciona a la perfección; tiene una interfaz gráfica muy intuitiva y aunque sea la primera vez que uso un gestor de E-book no le encuentro ninguna dificultad en moverme en las diferentes opciones que ofrece. Con Calibre es posible administrar nuestros libros en diferentes categorías: Fecha, Autor, Titulo, Editor, Tamaño… y también permite la conversión a diferentes formatos: ePub, PDF, MOBI, oeb, pdb y mas. Es posible también la sincronización con diferentes dispositivos: Kindle, Nook, Papyre, Sony. En el caso que algún libro tenga mas de un formato disponible, el mismo Calibre elige cual el mejor formato para nuestro lector. Calibre es disponible también para Iphone, Ipad e Android. Otra preciosa opción que ofrece es la configuración como lector de noticias y RRS pasándolas a formato de libro electrónico, Para concluir, os aconsejo de probar esta aplicación porque seguro que os puede ayudar mucho en gestionar vuestra Biblioteca Digital.

How to speed up Firefox on Ubuntu 10.04 (or Windows and OS X)

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In the past three months Firefox was updated more than we were used in the past also because it had some “speed problems” expecially on Ubuntu 10.04. Now, after the last updates, Firefox seems to go fast but for people who like to try some hacks we have collected some tips from the web:

– start Firefox

– in the address bar type about:config

– find and modify these lines:

– network.http.pipelining > Make it True

– network.http.pipelining.maxrequests > Make it 8 or 10 (we made it 30 and it really works fast especially on websites as ebay)

– network.http.proxy.pipelining > Make it True

– network.dns.disableIPv6 > Make it True

– last but not least restart and Firefox should work fine and a little bit faster.

Before trying these changes, please consider that changing advanced settings on Firefox can be harmful to the stability, security and performance of the program. Take notes of all the changes you are doing in case you need to revert them later.

Dear Readers: Computer Borders is back!

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We need to apologize to all of you because we promised weekly posts and then we took quite a long hiatus. We didn’t mean to be gone for so long, but life got strange, and so on and so forth. But now we are back, and we would like to apologize with all you.

On a more positive note, though, we just checked our reader’s statistics, only to see that we still have almost 200 daily readers. And, believe us, we are shocked! Thanks for waiting our return, everybody.We decided to change something on our blog. First of all we will not duplicate our posts in the Linux and Freeware pages but we post them just in the homepage. In this way, we will have some posts in English and other in Spanish… it is not orthodox but…. why not? We dare!

We would like to know what you all think of the blog so far. What would you like to read? Leave us plenty of criticism in the comment sections. And, you will see a weekly post, starting Monday!

I2P a real versatile anonymizing network for Linux and Windows

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This week for our Freeware Page, we tested I2P a freeware which let you to surf internet without revealing your IP and encrypt your data. As described on the I2P Homepage, this freeware is a “anonymizing network, offering a simple layer that identity-sensitive applications can use to securely communicate. All data is wrapped with several layers of encryption, and the network is both distributed and dynamic, with no trusted parties”. During out test we used bothXP and Ubuntu because I2P is a java file even is it seems to be a exe file and it could be used on all the Linux OS. On Windows XP it is very simple to use I2P but at the beginning it is really slow and for this reason we suggest to keep it run for about twelve hours because this freeware needs to build its own network and for this it takes some hours. When ready you have to setup all the software you want to filter through it. For this reason, we setted Firefox (Preferences-> Advanced -> Network -> Settings) Manual Proxy Configuration to HTTP Proxy as localhost, port 4444. Then we put a tick on “Use this proxy server for all protocols” and we finished indicating “No proxy for” as localhost, 127.0.0.1. After some seconds we discovered that our IP was now in the northern part of the France (far away from our real location). To setup I2P it is necessary to point Firefox on http://localhost:7657/index.jsp because, by default, I2P tries to launch Internet Explorer also when it works on Linux. After a week of tests we can say that I2P is a little bit slower than TOR but it can easily be integrated on your browser, mail client, chat and others programs. For our (limited) experience I2P is the most complete anonymizing network we know. To conclude, as already discussed also on this post none or nothing can create a perfectly anonymous software but I2P can help to better improve our privacy. Recommended!

Two new Backgrounds/Wallpapers on http://deeza.org

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Today, we would like to suggest two new backgrounds/wallpapers we published on http://www.deeza.org/downloads.html. Enjoy and let us know if you like them!

Best 10 Freeware Sites

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This week, in our Freeware Page, we would like to share our personal list of the 10 best freeware websites. Of course, this is just our personal opinion but we are 100% curious to learn new website from your comments!

#1 http://sourceforge.net/
In our opinion FileHippo is the #1, a lighthouse for all the other freeware distribution sites. The programs here are open-source and you can find freeware for all the most used OS: Linux, Windows and Mac

#2 http://www.filehippo.com/
Full of real freeware, well structure and it has developed a powerful “update checker” http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/

#3 http://www.techsupportalert.com/
Well organized, contains brief but effective review about each software

#4 http://download.cnet.com/
The software is categorized between Windows, Mac, Mobile and a very interesting Webware category for the online stuff. Use “The Download Software Finder” to be sure to surf between real free programs

#5 http://majorgeeks.com/
Good site, full of stuff and Shareware programs are clearly labeled!

#6 http://www.tucows.com/
An evergreen site; it was one of the first to share freeware, interesting but it does not contain a huge variety of freeware as others site

#7 http://www.nonags.com/
Elementary graphics but it contains a site menu and the proposed software is really freeware so….

#8 http://www.freewarefiles.com/
Interesting site but sometimes you find old version of proprietary software distributed as free…

#9 http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/
Well structured, easy to navigate and updated. Watch the tags (freeware or free trial) before downloading programs!

#10 http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Freeware/
Basic graphics; it has many freeware but you have to dig them from the lists.

We wait your comments!

How to keep your Windows PC always updated: FileHippo Update Checker!

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This week in our Freeware Page we posted a brief review about FileHippo Update Checker for Windows. This Updater is very light (just 155 Kb) and very fat. This particular checker has uses the large software database contained on FileHippo.com and in just 2-3 seconds is able to detect all the necessary updates and it also find the beta version ready to be installed. During the installation you can decide if FileHippo Update Checker has to run at each start-up or if you prefer to use it only when you prefer. Anyway, FileHippo Update Checker easily shows the results of the available updates on a html page on your browser. Recommended!

Create a portable wifi hotspot using your Nokia mobile and Joikuspot Light

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It is not always possible to find a wi-fi hotspot everytime you need but now it is possible to create you own portable hotspot on the go. This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we reviewed Joikuspot Light: an interesting software to create a wi-fi hotspot with your Nokia. The first thing you have to focus on your attention is your data plan on your mobile. In fact, if you have not a flat plan we really do not recommend to use Joikuspot because your mobile bill could be very expensive! For all the people with flat mobile plans we can affirm that Joikuspot Light is very easy to use and the connection are stable. In our tests we use a Nokia based on Symbian and we were able to surf the internet without any problem. To install it you can download the right version on the official website http://bit.ly/7I4zG8 and install it later on your phone or you could decide to send the link directly to your Nokia mobile using the “Send to phone for Free”. Enjoy it!