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When I am at work I try to find ways of getting certain mundane things done faster.  In most cases it has to do with finding my way around my PC and searching through folders or running a certain program.  In my journey’s to find quicker ways of working in Windows I have found that the Windows Key on the keyboard is a lifesaver.  Below is a list of my top Windows Key Shortcuts that will enhance your productivity and in some cases hide your web browser game from your boss

In case anyone is wondering which key I am talking about, it’s the one seen at the right.  So without any more delay, here is the list of windows key shortcuts that will make your Windows browsing experience a little better.  In case anyone doesn’t know, to perform these shortcuts you need to hold the Windows key and then press any of the letters shown below.

• Windows Key + E - Opens the Windows Explorer window.  This will allow you to find that folder you are looking for faster than double clicking your way through My Computer and the C: drive.
• Windows Key + R - Opens the Run: command window.  This is useful if you run certain programs like msconfig or sysedit.  This is mainly for advanced PC users
• Windows Key + D - Instantly brings you to the desktop.  This can be a lifesaver if you are surfing the internet and you see your boss walk by and you need to be back at the desktop screen fast.  It also helps if you load something that takes a while to load, as this will allow you to get to the desktop and cancel the program that is freezing.
• Windows Key + F - This will open the Window Search window.  This can be helpful if you are looking for files on your computer that you can’t seem to remember where you left them.
• Windows Key + M - This command will minimize all of your windows to the Taskbar.  This is similar to the Windows Key + D shortcut.
• Windows Key - Pressing just the Windows Key will open the start menu.

So there you have it, all the Windows Key shortcuts you need to know to help you be more productive at work, or in the case of Windows Key + D, a little more sly about your web surfing

Here ya go folks, after posting about how bad Limewire is, I was contacted by Frostwire’s lead developer Angel Leon and had the chance to ask him a few questions about Frostwire and open source development.

Easy Tech Talk: What made you decide to get into open source projects?
Angel Leon: Ever since I was in school in Latin America, I always felt that we could do a lot more by sharing our knowledge instead of hiding our code. Then the whole open source movement got more and more advocates, and I started using a lot of it to solve day to day problems, and also being in a position as a student  that couldn’t afford to buy expensive software licenses it was a great option having all these projects available for free with such high quality standards.

ETT: How did you get into programming?
A.L.: From a very early age I was using computers and video game consoles, it was mostly the inspiration of video games that got me to write very simple programs in Basic on my old Apple //c. Back then I had no manuals or connectivity of any sort, so I’d learn the syntax by listing the code of existing programs that came with the apple. Then the web came, and I learned HTML, JavaScript, and then in Computer Science school we started with Haskell, Modula, Pascal, C, C++, Java, PHP, … and so on.

ETT: Why did you choose the frostwire project?
A.L.: After leaving limewire I still wanted to somehow keep in touch with the code and learn more Java. The frostwire project was almost dissolved at some point and I was invited to contribute to it.

ETT: Since open source usually makes very little money, what else do you do to make ends meet?
A.L.: I’m a software engineer with over 7 years of experience in web development, I used to work full time for a company, but now I’m an independent consultant and a full time funding partner at MyBloop.com (We’re looking for investors!)

ETT: Do you think that P2P programs encourage more people to pirate software?
A.L.: I don’t think P2P encourages pirating, what encourages pirating is the lack of access to software. Some people do it because they really have no choice. Does the CD burner on your computer encourage you to pirate? I don’t think so, but it could certainly serve you to pirate. Does having a car encourage you to run over people on the street? P2P is just the next technology out there to distribute media, there were also crusades against the VCR’s, Tape Decks, The printing press and so on, it’s just part of the growing pains of evolution in media distribution, eventually big media will open their eyes and work side to side with projects like FrostWire to make their content available to as much people as they can.

ETT: What other projects are you working on?
A.L.: I’m currently working on MyBloop.com, a website that wants to offer free unlimited file storage to the world. I’m also trying to form an internet video game company with some friends, I’m very interested also in learning a lot about the Android platform.

ETT: How long have you been on the frostwire team?
A.L.: Hmm, I believe since the end of 2006, I’d have to see the repository to see when I first started doing commits.

ETT: What can you tell people out there who are interested in getting into software development?
A.L.: The best way to learn is by creating something, don’t just read about developing, actually try to get yourself to build something, the problems you’ll solve will teach you a lot. If you’re trying to pick a language to start, I’d recommend Python, it’s simple to learn and it has a lot of power.

ETT: How did you become the lead developer on frostwire?
A.L.: After the initial java developers left, we sort of divided responsibilities, managing the site, the builds and most of the code changes are some of the things I do when I work on FrostWire. My previous experience with java and software packaging pretty much put me on that role, it’s something I enjoy very much doing, and it allows me to be creative in ways I probably can’t be in my day to day job where development and decision making are more strict.

I’ve come to realize that in today’s world people are worried about identity theft and invasions of privacy, but they fail to protect themselves on a very basic level… their passwords.  The password you use for your credit card site or bank account login is just as important as shredding your credit card statements after you’ve looked through them. I’ve seen too many people recently that use their address or pet name in all lower case letters as their password and it drives me nuts.  It’s time to take that extra step in protecting yourself and create yourself a strong password.

Creating a strong password is a fairly simple process that most people seem to skip over for the convenience of having an easy password to remember.  Now your password should be pretty easy for you to remember but it should be hard for someone to guess.  You should stay away from making your password something that can easily be found out about you such as your address or birthday.  Passwords are supposed to protect your information so it would be in your best interest to make you password something that someone can’t just type in because they know you and guess the correct password.   So here are a few things you should consider before making your password or changing your already existing password.

Use a combination of upper and lowercase letters in your password.  Thes should be spread out and not follow the normal way that grammar teaches us.  Put a capital letter in the middle or end of the word to spice things up.

Use numbers in your password as well.  You should put numbers in the middle of your password, not at the beginning or end.  This will make it more difficult for someone to guess whatever word you use for your password because the number in the middle will throw them off.

If the website you use allows it you should also put a symbol somewhere in your password.  Any symbol will do as long as it is allowed by the site.  These can be placed near the end of your password as an extra step in making sure you’ve got a strong password.

A good rule for strong password creation is to use numbers as letters and to add the letters of the website you’re using to ensure that you can remember what site each password is for.  You can use a similar password for each site you use, just make sure to change the letters relating to the site for each password.  For example, if you were to make a password for this site, you could do something like “t3Chn0logy!Ett” or “e@SyTecHt@lK”, notice how both passwords have upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols in them.

Also, you should make sure that you don’t keep your passwords with your login information written on post-its next to your monitor or keyboard.  That’s just making it too easy for someone to know all the information they need to get into your account.  If you are going to write the login and password on something, try to write them in random locations on the bill of the site you need them for, or write them in an address book under the letters of the website they correspond to.

Remember that your password should be easy for you to remember but hard for someone to guess.  If you are going to use something like a pet or car, try to mix up the letters so you password doesn’t resemble the original word.  You can check out this site for random password generation.

Have you noticed that your computer is running a slower than it normally does?  Have you recently added a new program or saved a bunch of new pictures to your hard drive?  You might want to consider running a defrag program to straighten out your hard drive.

When you save files to your computer, it simply stores the data where ever it can at the moment as long as you have free space.  When the files are spread out out of order, it’s known as fragmentation.  It’s like throwing things in your room at random and leaving them lying around, sooner or later you’re not going to know where things are until you search for them.  That’s what your hard drive goes through when it isn’t defragmented often.  This clogs up your hard drive’s ability to find what you want and slows down the performance of your computer.

You can defrag your computer simply by using a defrag program.  Windows comes with a built in defrag utility program but I find that it doesn’t do a good enough job.  There are many programs out there that defrag your hard drive but the one I recommend is Auslogics’ Disk Defrag, it’s free and very efficient.

Now simply running a defrag program might work out for you but there are some things that you want to take into consideration before running a disk defrag program

First off, make sure you have at least 15% of your hard drive’s total space free.  This is very important to remember.  This ensures that the defrag program will have enough room to move all the data around.  Think about cleaning a room in your house, if you pile everything in the room and then try to clean it you won’t do a very good job.  But if you leave enough space to put things temporarily before moving them into their proper place, then you’ll do a much better job, and that’s why you want to have space available for the defrag program to do its work.

Secondly, you’ll want to avoid using any programs during the time that the defrag is taking place.  This will make sure that no program tries to place data on the hard drive while the defrag program is trying to move data around.  It will only cause more data to be fragmented and you’ll have to run the defrag program again.

The third thing to consider is how often to run a defrag program.  This depends on how often you save files and add new files or programs to your computer.  If you work on your computer everyday, then it might be a good idea to schedule a defrag every few days.  If you only use your computer to browse the internet and save pictures from trips you take, then you can safely defrag your computer a little less often, about once every few weeks.

So the next time you feel that your computer is running slow, take the time to run a defrag program and get your files back in order.

Today is Blog Action Day and I wanted to write a little bit about how poverty has affected technology in my eyes.  Each year bloggers all over the world unite under one topic and post about it to hopefully make a difference in the world.

The most obvious and recent event that I can think about is the 1 laptop per child program. This non profit organization is striving to provide laptops to children in developing countries as cheaply as possible so the children of the region can learn with the benefit of a computer. Having a laptop is scarcely seen in these regions especially in the classroom since not a lot is spent on education in these third world countries and other areas where children have little education. There are several ways that you can get involved in this program and you can learn about them at the 1 laptop per child website

Although not directly related, I believe that poverty around the world has sparked companies’ interests in making computer more affordable to those who otherwise wouldn’t be able to buy a computer or laptop at the current price. This spawned the making of the Eee PC by Asus who created an affordable laptop that has all the basics one would need in a computer.  Making computers more affordable allows more people to experience new things with the use of their computer. Research can be done on the internet which beats going to the library and sifting through hundreds of pages before finding what you need. This also allows people to work more efficiently and provides them with the knowledge on operating a computer if they’ve never touched one before. You can read more about the Eee PC and compare the different models over at Asus’ website here

Poverty is unavoidable in certain areas of the world but if we can all take a little time and donate a laptop or cell phone or even some spare cash we could start a chain reaction that one day would alleviate some of the burden felt in areas where technology and education are scarce.  To read more you can go to Blog Action Day’s homepage.

So it’s coming close to the DTV switch occurring on February 17th 2009 at midnight and I wanted to take a minute and explain exactly what’s going to happen.

As of right now, all full power television stations are providing their service over the air as an analog signal and through cable companies as a digital signal.  The analog signal can be received by any TV using an antenna (rabbit ears) similar to how your radio works in your car, while the digital signal can only be received by a TV with a digital tuner or through cable / satellite service.   The DTV 2009 switch will require all analog signals to be stopped and only digital signals will be provided. This means if you only use an antenna to receive your TV stations, you will lose this service unless you sign up for cable / satellite or get a DTV converter box.

Now the government is providing 2 coupons each worth $40 towards the purchase of certified DTV converter boxes.  These boxes will simply convert a television signal coming into your house into a digital television or DTV signal.

The reason the government is requiring all stations to switch over to an all digital signal is to clear the airwaves for emergency services and provide television viewers a clearer picture on their TVs.  This will ensure that emergency responders have a clear signal to use in case of a disaster.

The DTV switch is causing a lot of confusion and hopefully this will clear that up.  You do not need to buy a new TV or even sign up for cable as long as you get a DTV converter box from your local retail store.  Make sure you check out the government’s web page on DTV 2009 and make sure you get the correct DTV converter box.  You can visit the DTV 2009 site here.

Do you still use an antenna to receive your TV stations? Leave a comment and tell us what you think of the DTV switch.

In my spare time (which I have a lot of thanks to my recent lay off) I fix computers for regular users.  Every now and then I come across someone’s PC that has decent virus and spyware protection on it and I let out a little sigh of relief.  But for every computer I see with good protection, I see many others with little or no protection, and even worse, I see Limewire.

Limewire is a program that allows users to download music and other files and it is probably one of the most virus infected programs I’ve ever come across.  The viruses aren’t in the Limewire program itself but rather the files that are downloaded from other users of the program.  Limewire is what’s known as a P2P or peer to peer program.  This means that people upload and share their files for other people to download.  This is what makes the RIAA very angry because usually this means someone is pirating music or software.

Now I don’t condone piracy in any way. I’ve worked in the software industry and seen the sweat and tears that get put into a good product and when someone pirates it, the people that worked on it don’t get paid properly.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way there is a program that you can use to download music and files so that you can SAMPLE them.  If you like what you hear then you can go out and buy the program or cd or even download the song on iTunes.  Having a P2P program can be a great help when you’re in college or just looking for a specific file that you may be missing.  You can find anything you want with these programs and sometimes it works out that you find something so great that you wouldn’t have found in your normal daily routine.

The program in question is Frostwire.  Now I know it sounds like Limewire and I think that’s what they were going for when they names this program.  Frostwire is an open source program which means it is developed by the community, which 99% of the time means the program itself doesn’t contain spyware, adware, or viruses of any kind.

The good thing about Frostwire is that it is free to use and sets up within minutes.  The thing to beware of, as with any P2P program is what files you are actually downloading.  Make sure you check the file type of what you’re downloading and that it matches the type you’re looking for.  For example, if you are going to download a new song in mp3 format, make sure the file type is mp3 and not wma or any other type.

As I said before I DO NOT promote piracy in any way, but if you are going to download a song to hear if you like it or try a program out before you buy it, make sure you’re using a P2P program that isn’t loaded with virus infected files like Limwire.

When you get a new computer that has Microsoft Windows installed you can safely assume that previous features will be included with your current system. If you get a computer that has a newer version of the operating system on it such as Windows Vista you might wonder what has changed and what is still familiar to you.

Well I recently helped a client fix a problem with their computer that had nothing to do with Windows but we did try something that most people hear about but don’t know a lot about, and that is System Restore.

System Restore, for those of you who don’t know (or for you Mac users out there) is a system utility that Microsoft Windows comes with that can essentially take your computer back in time to fix certain problems that come up. Most people will tell you that if you have a problem that you can just use system restore to fix it but this isn’t the case.

You see when Windows performs an automatic update or you install a new program, Windows will make a System Restore point and save it to your hard drive, so long as System Restore is enabled. This can come in really handy if you install a new piece of hardware and the drivers cause your system to mess up. And if for some reason a Microsoft Windows update ruins your settings you can use System Restore to go back before the update and wait for a proper fix to come through.

But as great as System Restore sounds the problem lies in the actual programs you use on a daily basis. Windows System Restore only affects system files which means anything that Windows installs and uses can be turned back but if your resume or Quickbooks account files get messed up and corrupted, System Restore won’t fix them.

So let this be a warning to those of you who don’t back up your data. Windows System Restore will go back in time and make your computer work like it did a week ago but it won’t fix your personal files, so get yourself an external hard drives and back up your data yourself. This way if your file is corrupt you can grab the backup copy and only lose a few days of work instead of a years worth.

External Hard Drives are pretty cheap now-a-days and you can get them at any computer retailer or save yourself some money and buy one from Amazon.com

Remember backup early, backup often.