Home Networks

If you manage a home or personal network, automating your software updates can help you save time and system resources. If every computer takes the time to download patches, security fixes, and similar updates, this may lead to a bandwidth bottleneck. Additionally, if some of your computers at home are not connected to the internet, you may need to set up an offline solution to get updates to these machines.

A program called Personal Software Inspector is a fully featured software updater for home users. This application undertakes a deep scan of your system to let you know when you have out-of-date software or titles that may be a risk to security. It works by looking at any executable files on your computer and comparing them to their own database.

Something else you might consider is RadarSync Updater. This little program will inspect your device drivers to let you know when they are out of date. When you find one that needs replacing, you can download it directly (from the premium version) or type it into Google (with the free version).

Enterprise Solutions

While these programs are good fixes for home users, IT professionals who work for both large and small businesses will likely need a solution that is a little more robust. In this case, Dell KACE’s software distribution appliances are a good option.

This appliance allows IT managers to effectively deploy software and operating systems across large networks. The technology offers a huge amount of control over when and where applications are deployed, and it also provides regular BIOS and device driver updates for Dell client and server systems. Deployment time can be drastically reduced, giving IT professionals more time to work on other projects.

Keeping software current does not have to be a completely arduous task. Whether you manage 10 computers or 10,000, managing software updates across multiple systems is a matter of choosing the right tools to assist in your task.

This is a guest post from David Malmborg. David works with Dell Kace. He also enjoys writing about technology, computers and saving money. Hoping to post an article on this blog? Check out the guest posting guidelines and contact us right away.

Image Credit - Kevin Zollman

Effectively Manage Software Updates on Multiple Computers originally published on Ampercent

Why?

The simple reason is that search engines are sometimes clueless on detecting the original content curator and might rank spam sites higher on search result pages. In those circumstances, you neither get any credit for writing that long blog post, nor you get any conversions. Worst part: search engines may consider you as a scraper and permanently remove your site from their index.

This is one of the reasons why I take duplicate content very seriously. I have set up Google Alerts for this domain and use a couple of online plagiarism checker to get email notification when someone rips off content from this website.

Check For Plagiarism In Word Documents, PDF’s And Text Files

But what about text files, word documents, PDF’s and other content which is not available under a website but as a file on your computer? How do you check for duplicate content in office documents, PowerPoint presentations and Excel spreadsheets?

One easy way to cross check a document for plagiarism issues is to copy a portion of the text and search for the same in Google or Yahoo. After completing your search, you will be able to quickly figure out whether the same text was directly lifted from another source.

This method, though universal in nature, has one disadvantage. You have to repeatedly copy text from the document and search it on Google. This can get really boring and hectic, considering the size and volume of documents you have to check on a regular basis.

A better alternative is to use Desktop Plagiarism checker – a free utility which can be used to find duplicate content in word document, PDF files, PowerPoint presentations and text files, without having to copy content from the document and paste it on Google, over and over again.

This is a great tool for students and teachers who have to frequently check project reports, homeworks, assignments and other textual material for duplicate content issues.

Once you have installed the desktop plagiarism checker on your computer (Windows only), remember to register a free account or the document import feature won’t work. Hit Control + O and drop the document you want to check in the program window. Next, choose the search engine (Google, Yahoo Or Bing) which you want to use and that will be all.

I must say that the results are pretty accurate and better than a usual Google search, which sometimes, depend on your Google account preferences (if you are not using an incognito window to search). The program will quickly find all the closest possible matches and will list them one by one, acording to the number of matching words, freshness and number of links.

You can export the list of all URL’s as an HTML file, so this will be handy when you want to keep a backup of all the plagiarized versions. The next step is to send a DMCA notice with their hosting provider or use the Google Adsense complaint form or the DMCA complaint form at Blogger (if the concerned website is using Blogger.com as its content management system).

Overall, this is surely one of the best duplicate content checker for Windows, which can be used to bulk check duplicate content in Word Documents, text files, Excel spreadsheets and PDF’s. If you run an educational organization and need an easy way to cross check research work, assignments or essays of students, who sometimes, copy paste all the stuff from Wikipedia and other websites.

Note: In order to make the maximum out of this tool, remember to use all the three search engines and select the “exact match” option.

Desktop Plagiarism Checker Lets You Cross Check Text Files, Word Documents And PDF’s For Copied Content originally published on Ampercent

Wouldn’t it be great if you can create a “kid friendly section” on your Android device which will prevent kids from surfing the web, use Facebook, Twitter and other social sites , make calls, send text messages and use applications which you don’t want them to use? Your customized and blocked section would only allow them to play and use specific games and applications that are considered “safe”. In short, you need a custom partition on your Android phone where you child can play and learn in a safe environment, without making calls, texting or getting online.

Famigo Sandbox lets you do just that.

Famigo sandbox is an ideal solution for parents, who want to let their kids use their Android smartphone or tablet device, provided their children can use only specific applications or games that they approve. Your children won’t be able to open the browser, surf the web, look up contacts and neither they would be able to make or receive any calls, once they are inside the Famigo Sandbox.

Once you have downloaded and installed the application from the Android market, follow the instructions of the wizard and choose a pattern passcode. This is important, as you don’t want your kid to disable the sandbox from the task manager or uninstall it right away.

Before choosing the applications which your children can use while they are in the Sandbox, go the application preferences and choose the following options one by one:

• Block In-App purchases: This would prevent your kids from buying and installing applications from the Android market. It goes without saying that they won’t be able to install third party applications using a .apk file.
• Block Social gaming: Choosing this option would ensure that social gaming networks are blocked on your Android phone, while the Sandbox is running.
• Block Incoming phone calls: This would make sure that your kids can not receive phone calls on your behalf, while you are not present in front of your phone. Dialing random numbers or making calls to people in your contact list can also be prohibited, provided you block the “Contacts” and “Phone” app through Sandbox preferences.

Now head over to the Sandbox home screen and hand pick the apps you want your kids to use. For example, you can let them use the Gallery the camera application so they will be able to take photos and videos but since you have blocked the “browser”, they won’t be able to share those pics on Facebook or other social networking sites.

So when you are giving away the Android to your 8 year old son, just start the Famigo application and forget about it. No more spying over the shoulders of your kid, while he is busy playing games or listening to jingle bells.

The neat thing regarding Famigo is besides acting as an internal firewall for Android, it is a great app discovery engine. You can browse the Famigo gallery and find thousand of educational, informative, funny as well as useful app your children might love using. All the Famigo applications are not free but they are certainly “Child Safe” and free from third party advertising.

Famigo Sandbox is a free download for Android but as of now, iOS users are out of luck. Watch the following video to learn how Famigo works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmX1gtRERYU

Create a Kid Friendly Section On Your Android Device With Famigo Sandbox originally published on Ampercent

Here are some free Android apps which lets you check data usage on Android and monitor how much bandwidth is consumed by different applications or games that you use frequently. If you don’t monitor download and upload usage of your 3G network, there is a high chance that your monthly internet plan will get finished within a week or two.

Note: All the following applications works as advertised, but you have to manually run these apps / services, each time you switch on your Android phone. If these applications are not running while you are using the 3G internet connection on your Android, they won’t be able to track data usage and hence the reporting would be faulty.

1. 3G Watchdog 

3G watchdog is my favorite app for tracking 3G internet usage of my mobile internet service provider, as it allows me to specify weekly and monthly bandwidth usage limits. 3G watchdog shows an “Always ON” notification on the left top side, so I always have a rough idea how much bandwidth usage I have

Using 3G watchdog is simple and straight forward. Here is what I do:

The day I recharge my mobile plan with a 2GB monthly data usage top up card , I create a new tracking profile and enter the start date, quota and switch on the “Alerts’ feature. The following alerts can be chosen, depending upon your requirements:

• Get a notification alert when your monthly data usage crosses 75% of the total quota.
• Automatically disable the 3G connection while a Wi-Fi connection is in range – this saves a lot of data transfers and the best thing is that 3G connection is disabled automatically, without any monitoring required from my side.
• Automatically re enable 3G usage when your monthly quota is back under limit.
• Show a data usage counter on your Android’s home screen [ see example ].

3G Watchdog is extremely accurate and provides a daily log of all upload and download usages, so you can quickly find the days when your internet usage was high or low. One downside is that there is no way to track how much data was downloaded using a Wi-Fi connection or a wireless access point, but that’s acceptable as Wi-Fi internet plans are either open for public use or are equipped with an affordable unlimited broadband plan.

This app is free to download and ad free.

2. Opera Mobile

Opera mobile is a generic web browser for mobile devices and not a full featured data usage tracking application for Android, iPhone, Symbian or any other mobile operating systems. However, the latest version of Opera Mobile for Android has added a nifty feature under Menu > Help > Data Usage, which lets you find out how much bandwidth was consumed during your current or last browsing session.

Unlike other data usage trackers, Opera mobile won’t be able to track data download or upload usage for applications, games and third party services, hence the usage reports might not match with other monitoring applications. Opera Mini and Opera Mobile is ideally suited for users who are out of 3G coverage area and need a faster way to download webpages on their mobile browsers.

Opera Mobile fetches a request URL, compresses the web page and sends the mobile optimized copy to the user’s end, so webpages will load way  faster with fewer kilobytes of data being downloaded at the clients end.

3. Droidstats

Droidstats lets you track incoming and outgoing call minutes, number of sms messages sent or received and the amount of data usage transfer within a specific date range. Unlike 3G Watchdog, Droidstats can track the exact amount of data transfer through your Wi-Fi connection, so you can compare how much data was downloaded using your home Wi-Fi connection and how much data was downloaded using your mobile’s 3G internet connection.

One additional advantage of using Droidstats over other data monitoring applications is that this one lets you export your calls and sms event information into an excel CSV file. This is extremely useful, when you want to check a detailed log of incoming and outgoing calls for the last three months.

You can control and set limits on the outgoing call minutes, number of sms messages and control the billing cycle as per your requirements. Droidstats is the best app if you want to monitor incoming and outgoing calls, sms messages and mobile internet usage – all from a single and non intuitive interface.

Other Applications worth trying: On any day, I would use 3G watchdog or Droidstats but here are some alternatives you may want to try out.

Data Counter widget, for example, is another free application which lets you monitor network traffic on Android.  Drop the data couter widget on your Android’s home screen and keep an eye on wlan network usage, Wi-Fi, 3G and GPRS traffic . [see example]

Onavo is another free data monitoring app which lets you track which applications are consuming more internet data, when your phone is connected to a 3G or a GPRS connection. This app will let you save money on mobile internet usage bills because you will be able to track which applications consume a good amount of upload/download data usage. I tested this app and found that Facebook and Google Reader consume the maximum amount of data usages. [see example]

Track Internet Data Usage On Your Android Phone With These Free Apps originally published on Ampercent

On the other hand, if you want to use Dropbox for business or within your organization and want more storage space for all your employees, here is some good news.

Dropbox For Teams – 1000 GB of Storage Space For 5 Users

Dropbox has recently launched a new storage plan for businesses and organizations, who require an enormus cloud storage space for their employees. If your business is completely web based and you need a reliable service which can offer cloud file sharing and synchronization within a selected group of users, you might want to use Dropbox for teams.

The “Dropbox for teams ” plan includes a hefty 1TB (1000GB) of storage space for 5 users, costing at $795 annually. The earlier storage space was only 350 GB but Dropbox has upgraded the storage space by as much as 3 times in their recent plan upgrade.

You can of course add more users to your file sharing team by paying an additional annual fee of $125 for each user. On adding an additional user, your entire storage space will be bumped by 200GB. That’s a huge amount of space to consider.

Dropbox for teams also provides administrative control within your file sharing system. The administrator of your file sharing system can grant necessary access permissions to other users, so this makes sure which users can access which files/folders and which users can overwrite recent files with their own versions. Unlike the regular Dropbox account, Dropbox for teams offers unlimited revision histories, so you will never lose an earlier copy of a file that was uploaded months ago.

This plan is not geared towards home users, as the pricing is above the average line for personal use.

Should You Use Dropbox for Teams Or Upgrade to Another Paid Dropbox plan?

Whether you should use the teams plan for your business or use a regular paid plan of Dropbox, strictly  depends on your core requirements.

If your employees are not under one office and need a super easy way to send large files to their colleagues, the regular paid plans of Dropbox would be worth going for. If 100GB of storage space  does not sound enough and you need more storage space to share HD videos, large project files, files in a web server, tons of documents, photos and so forth, Dropbox for teams will be an ideal choice.

If the storage space and administrative rights is not a concern and 100GB sounds more than enough, you should choose the Dropbox pro plan, which costs only $19.99 a month ($240 a year). That’s a savings of $555 a year.

Another disadvantage of the Dropbox for teams plan is that there is no option to pay bills monthly. You have to pay an annual of $795 in one shot and there is no way you can downgrade to an earlier plan, after a few months going forward.

Why not use a web hosting service or a home web server within your office?

Makes sense, right?

You can pay a fee of $15 a month and grab an unlimited amount of storage space with any of the popular web hosting providers e.g Hostgator, GoDaddy or Dreamhost. I agree this is not an ideal backup and sync solution for companies and businesses but if your employees are well acquainted  on handling an FTP server, using an internal web server is very cost effective solution. Of course, you won’t get automatic and out of the box file sync properties as Dropbox provides but it is certainly more secured and the data stays in your hands only.

There is only one catch – be sure to check with the tech support of your hosting company because some web hosts do not allow file backups of executable files. In the worst case, you might lose all your files so be careful!

If all else fails, you can use Poguplug or install a home web server within your office using Apache and Windows. This requires no costing and installation charges and your file sharing server is available round the clock, as long as the server and the host computers are connected to the internet. No foreign hands tampering with your data!

Check out the  Dropbox for Teams FAQ here.

Using Dropbox For Business, Company Or Within An Organization originally published on Ampercent

Not to forget the slicing of advertisements, widgets and other unnecessary jargon embedded within the body of the article, hindering with the overall readability of the webpage in question.

Paginated pages is again, another concern. A lot of websites who publish editorials/detailed reviews, paginate the entire content across multiple pages, so you have to click through multiple links in order to read the complete blog post.

This is why e-readers such as Amazon Kindle and e reading applications in Tablet devices are so popular – they allow you to read webpages in a clutter free environment. The added advantage is of course the swipe feature, you can just flip fingers across the screen to scroll through a page, as if you are reading a book and turning through its pages.

Opera is trying to recreate this gesture in your desktop web browser. Enter Opera reader

What is Opera Reader?

Opera Reader kills scroll bars on webpages by introducing the concept of ” integrated swipe”. To be precise, Opera reader turns scroll-able pages into paged web pages.

Pages that support the CSS3 extension markup of Opera reader can be read without using browser scrollbars, just like you flip between screens in your smartphone or turn through pages in an e -reading application e.g Amazon Kindle. Here is a brief demo:

To test this feature yourself, download the latest build of Opera web browser (Opera Labs camera and pages special version) and browse through these example pages. [1] [2] [3]

Using the smooth gestures features in Opera reader is easy, all you have to do is swipe the mouse in different directions across the page; quite the same way you flip through photos in your Android or iPhone device. However, scroll bars in webpages will continue to work perfectly in other browsers e.g Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer.

So how do you make sure your website is compatible with the latest CSS3 markup extension of Opera reader? The folks at Opera have published a detailed documentation on implementing the CSS extension markup on webpages so that they support smooth page swiping, instead of using horizontal and vertical scroll bars. The code and features are currently under development, but it doesn’t hurt to try this feature out and see whether you can actually create an Opera reader friendly experience on your website.

Google Chrome fans can try the Teleprompter extension for smooth scrolling or activate the in built smooth scrolling feature in Google Chrome 15.0 from about://flags page.

Opera Reader in Desktop And Android – Video Demo

Here is a quick video demo of Opera reader as seen on my desktop and Android device:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQefMfCdhG0

Personally, I am really impressed with Opera reader as it provides an easy interface to read ebooks and long PDF documents without having to scroll down infinitely. On a desktop, I can navigate between pages using the Page up, Page down keys or use the mouse for navigation.

Opera Reader is a free download and is available for Windows, Linux, Mac and Android operating systems.

Opera Reader Bids Good Bye to Scroll Bars on Webpages originally published on Ampercent

It is undoubtedly the best tabbed browser for Android with an exact look and feel of Google Chrome for desktop, which unfortunately in not available for the Android operating system yet. I have used Opera mobile, Opera Mini, Mozilla Firefox and the default Android browser for quite some time but after switching to Dolphin browser few months back, I can say that I did took the right decision.

The recent version of Dolphin for Android has added bookmark sync and cloud computing features which does three things things.

Dolphin Connect: Dolphin connect is like Google Chrome sync for Android, allows you to sync bookmarks from Android browser to multiple mobile and tablet devices. The advantage of bookmark sync needs no explanation, as you can access all your bookmarks from any device you have access to. Be that your Android smartphone, your Android tablet or the phone of your friend – as long as you know the credentials of your Dolphin account, all your bookmarks are accessible.

This is a real lifesaver for people who use multiple smartphones and need a really simple way to sync browser bookmarks across multiple Android phones or tablets. Not to forget the fact that you can always download bookmarks in your Android phone from Google Bookmarks, which works great!

Sync Browser Preferences, Settings and Custom gestures: Not only browser bookmarks but Dolphin 7.0 for Android lets you completely sync browser preferences, settings and the custom gestures. There is practically no need to re configure the browser on your brand new tablet. If you’re using Dolphin, you are almost ready to go the moment you have keyed in your account username and password.

Webzine: Dolphin’s powerful Webzine feature allows you to quickly access your frequently visited sites using channels. Dolphin 7.0 is being introduced with 16 popular channels directly on the home screen, so you can read news, visit blogs, update Twitter, browser through Facebook and do a lot more other than normal web browsing.

Probably the biggest advantage of using Dolphin browser over Android’s default browser is that Dolphin supoprts iPhone, iPad and iOS devices so you can be rest assured that those bookmarks can still be accessed from your iOS device, without having to export it manually and import it all the way to a different platform.

The newest version of Dolphin for Android (with Dolphin connect and Webzine) is available on GetJar while the app will be available on Android market from October 23rd.

Related: How to Sync bookmarks between multiple browsers

Dolphin Browser 7.0 For Android Adds Bookmark Sync And Other Enhancements originally published on Ampercent

Next, I have to drag the application window to the secondary display, which is too many steps for that matter.

The second common annoyance with multiple monitors is that there is no easy way to pin application windows from one monitor to other. Let’s say your work desk has three of four extended monitors and you want to quickly pin an application window from the primary monitor to the fourth one.

The usual case here is to click the application window, and drag it all the way down to your right until it passes to the second, third and finally to the fourth monitor. Now consider a scenario when you have half a dozen program windows open across different monitors and you want a really one click option to pin windows from one monitor to other, without having to drag and drop them over and over again.

Add A Windows Taskbar in Your Extended Monitor

Multimonitor taskbar is a freeware utility which extends Windows 7 taskbar on multiple monitors attached to your system. The program lets you quickly minimize or maximize application windows from any extended monitor and not just the primary one. If you have a three monitor setup, the program adds a third indows taskbar on the third display and iof you have a four monitor setup, the application adds a fourth Windows taskbar on the fourth monitor.

All the taskbars are duplicate copies of each other and you can minimize program and application windows from any monitor of your choice.

This is a real lifesaver when you are not very comfortable using the Alt – Tab keyboard shortcut (or the Win key + Tab one) for minimizing and maximizing program windows and want to access Windows 7 taskbar from all the monitors or secondary displays attached to your system.

Additionally, the program also adds a “Pin” option on the top right corner of every application window which lets you quickly move the window from one monitor to another. Here is how the “Move” option looks like:

So if you have a dual or triple monitor work station and you always wanted an app which could easily move program windows from one secondary display to its immediate neighbor, this little program is all you need.

How to Extend Windows Taskbar Across Multiple Monitors originally published on Ampercent

Then there are other routine system tasks which one needs to perform, in order to keep their operating system in a healthy state. This includes defragmenting the hard drives, cleaning up temporary internet files, freeing up disk space and troubleshooting other problems that directly affect your system’s performance.

Most of these services come by default under Windows system tools but their scope is limited. If you need a single application which can handle all the system maintainence tasks in Windows with just one click, try Auslogics BoostSpped 5 Pro.

Auslogics BoostSpeed 5 Pro: All In One System Maintenance Tool for Windows

There are literally thousands of free system maintainence tools for Windows but sadly, none of them deliver the service as advertised. After using Auslogics Boostspeed on my Windows 7 computer, I can confidently say that it is an exception. Not the way it handles all the system tasks but the results speak louder than anything else.

After using Auslogics Boostspeed, my computer’s booting time was reduced by 4 seconds. My system is cleaner than before and there are no performance lags when I use heavyweight programs or applications.

Here are some nifty features of Auslogics Boostspeed 5 Pro which we think offers really good value to your system:

• Auslogics Disk Cleaner: Auslogics Boostspeed comes with an in built disk cleaner which cleans up unnecessary junk files from your system and also allows you to defragment your hard drivesand repair file system errors in different Windows partitions.Using this disk cleaner has two advantages – first, your hard drives are automatically defragmented at regular intervals and second, your system partitions remain in a healthy state as file system errors are fixed automatically.
• Explore your hard drive:  Auslogics Boost speed has a very useful disk explorer feature which scans your entire computer for duplicate files and foldersand provides one click options to remove them. This helps in freeing up valuable disk space, while your files and folders stay more organized without any redundant copies.From the screenshot above, you can see that Auslogics disk explorer found two duplicate movies on my C drive that were consuming 4 GB of space.
•  Auslogics Startup Manager: Auslogics startup manger allows you to configure Windows startup itemsand prevent programs from auto running during Windows start up. This helps in improving the overall booting time of Windows and you can access Windows explorer within 5 seconds.
  Additionally, you can configure Windows registry and shell handlers and prevent programs from executing their entries in Windows registry during system startup.There are more system tools which comes with Auslogics boostspeed package. This includes automatic disaster recovery, registry  cleanup, speeding up internet, erasing browsing history, cached items and so on.

Get Free Licenses of Auslogics BoostSpeed 5 Pro

Auslogics team has partnered with us to give away 5 free licenses of Auslogics BoostSpeed 5 pro. To win a free license of Auslogics Boostspeed, here are a few things you have to do:

1. Comment in this post letting us know why would you choose Auslogics Boostspeed Pro to speed up your system.
2. Like this post on Facebook OR share it on Twitter and post your sharing link in the comments.

The winner will be chosen randomly and announced on 25th october, 2011. Good luck!

Winners Of The Auslogics BoostSpeed Free License contest

And the winners are ….

Alex, Grr, Stan Payson, malkhaz and Pradeep Singha.

Congratulations to all of you for winning the free lifetime license of Auslogics BoostSpeed 5 Pro. We will soon contact you via email and send the licenses.

Speed Up Your Slow Computer With Auslogics BoostSpeed 5 Pro: [Winners Announced] originally published on Ampercent

uTorrent has recently released an alpha version of uTorrent 3.1  which adds sync capabilities and external storage integration right within the desktop uTorrent client. With the sync feature working, you can quickly convert torrent downloads to a format that is best supported by the device where the file will be used. Let’s take an example to understand this scenario.

Let’s say you are downloading a really large video file in MP4 format but you will play the video file on your mobile device, which supports only 3GP videos. You don’t know whether the target video will be in Mp4 or 3GP format because the torrent file is still downloading and will take some time to complete. With the new uTorrent 3.1 Alpha, you can convert a file for a particular external device, right from uTorrent itself. There is no need to use a separate file conversion software. Neat!

From the screenshot above, you can see that my uTorrent 3.1 client has automatically recognized my Android handset and the external hard drive plugged into my laptop. Now there are two advantages of uTorrent 3.1 over earlier versions of uTorrent.

First, I can drag and drop the torrent downloads right into the external storage device, without having to change the download location. There is no need to cancel the download progress, as uTorrent will automatically sync the download to your external storage device, which includes external hard drives, Android, iPhone, iPad, PS3 and XBOX.

This is very useful when your computer is running on low disk space and you want to download the torrent on an external storage device, without having to start it all over again.

All in all, external device integration in uTorrent was a much needed feature because it makes file sync and copying to external devices a breeze. On top of that, you can even move the download progress to an external device, which is a lifesaver on so many occasions. If you are a die hard uTorrent user, give this a spin!

Related: How to create your own torrent file and seed it

Quickly Copy uTorrent Downloads To External Devices – Android, USB, iOS, PS3 And XBox originally published on Ampercent