Threats from external sources have created a need for everyone with internet access to use an encryption tool to secure all information that resides on servers and computers. Large corporations have always used extensive measures to protect their computer networks from viruses and attempts to hack into databases, but many smaller businesses and private users usually ignore threats until an identity is stolen or a network is compromised. Information contained in every spreadsheet or report is the responsibility of the company to protect, and lawsuits can be filed if someone is able to steal that information.

Consider installing one of these top five encryption tools on every computer and server to protect valuable information from external threats. Each of these programs is meant to be installed on every computer. Encryption processes take place in the background without intervention from the user. Every private computer user would be wise to select one of these programs and install the software on computers in the office or at home to prevent outside invasion and theft of personal information.

1. Pretty Good Privacy – (PGP)

• Recently purchased by Symantec Corporation
• Known throughout many industries as the standard in data encryption used to protect sensitive information on removable and permanent data storage devices containing information stored in spreadsheets, word processing documents, email, instant messages, and any other form residing on the media.
• Considered the easiest and most comprehensive software program in nearly every application from the smallest home office to multinational organizations that must protect employees and citizens from foreign investigations into private information.
• Method: Public Key Encryption
• Price: $239 for full version (required in certain applications)
• OS: Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux

2. Stunnel

• Program designed to allow a network to encrypt inbound arbitrary TCP connections that reside inside the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
• Requires an SSL library, such as OpenSLL, to perform correctly.
• Complex encryption protection of information throughout the network is available after proper setup procedures have been implemented. Transparent to every user and impenetrable to threats from external threats.
• Method: Universal SSL Wrapper
• Price: Free (requires open source code)

3. TrueCrypt

• Encryption solution based on open source implementation written and provided by the True Crypt Foundation.
• Provides varying level of encryption based on the need of the software program used.
• Localized encryption is used for Microsoft programs since drive encryption is not possible when working inside these programs.
• Rated as extremely easy to use and effective in on-the-fly use that enables the user to access any file without extra steps to remove the encryption prior to editing the file.
• Method: Creates a virtual encrypted disk
• Price: Free
• OS: Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux

4. Kruptos 2.0 Professional

• Menu driven with drag and drop option for easy use for each file. Nested files within each directory are treated as individual files.
• Invoked one file at a time for easy control and retrieval of all encrypted files.
• Allows easy editing of encrypted files and re-encrypts the file when it is closed after use.
• Easily integrates with Windows for easy use without attention to actively encrypting and removing encryption through extra steps. All functions are available through the menus.
• Method: Algorithm used for encryption is Blowfish 128-bit
• Price: $14.99 for full version (offers 30-day free trial)
• OS: Windows only

5. Folder Lock

• Provides the option to simply lock folders from external view or apply the encryption algorithm. Whenever the program is opened, the master password must be entered by the user. When external penetration is attempted, the computer can be set to shut down.
• Offers a “stealth” mode to hide the existence of the program on the computer.
• Encryption file size is limited to 25 MB in the free version.
• Method: Blowfish 256-bit encryption algorithm
• Price: Free trial version, $39.95 for full version
• OS: Windows only

The most powerful encryption programs used to protect information that resides on computers are free of charge. When evaluating the best program to protect the information on your computers, look closely at the level of encryption the program provides and the ease of use. Price is not an indicator of the power of the product in this particular segment of the software industry. Repetitive use of the program will build confidence in the software options. External attempts to penetrate the network security can be viewed easily through the statistics options in each of the programs.

Also see: How to password-protect Excel/PowerPoint/Word Documents

About the author: James works at Office Kitten, one of the UK’s top suppliers of business equipment.

© 2011, The content is copyrighted to The Heat Web blog by Christian Casino. Please refer to the license before using our content.
Permalink | Post tags: applications, encrypt, Linux, list, Mac, security threats, Windows

If you’re also unsatisfied with the Windows Desktop Search, you can try installing third-party software that is more advanced and can find the files on your PC much faster!

Check out these Desktop Search Freewares:

1. Copernic Desktop Search

Copernic Desktop Search (CDS) enables you to instantly search files, e-mails, and e-mail attachments stored anywhere on your PC’s hard drive. The application executes sub second searching of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, Acrobat PDFs, multimedia, and much more!

Features of Copernic Desktop Search:

• Find files instantly (over 150 file types like MP3, JPG, WAV, MPEG, .doc, .ppt, PDF, HTML, ZIP files)
• Find emails or attachments from Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora and Mozilla Thunderbird
• Instantly preview your results
• Optimize your search by refining fields or using advanced search keywords
• Benefit from automatic, seamless real-time indexing of new or updated files and emails
• Search the Web or your computer from the same lightweight, intuitive interface
• Save battery power by suspending the indexing process

* After installing Copernic Desktop Search, initial indexing will begin.

NOTE: In order to search the content of your computer, it requires an initial scan of all your documents. Depending on the number of files stored on your PC, it may take from few minutes to several hours, but it is performed only once. Only then you will be able to experience its full potential.

Download Copernic Desktop Search

2. Google Desktop Search

Google Desktop makes searching your computer as easy as searching the web with Google. It’s a desktop search application that provides full text search over your email, files, music, photos, chats, Gmail, web pages that you’ve viewed, and more. By making your computer searchable, Desktop puts your information easily within your reach and frees you from having to manually organize your files, emails and bookmarks.

Features of Google Desktop:

1. Useful results. Just type the file you are looking for and it will show you the most relevant search results, each of which include the file name and a brief snippet with your search terms highlighted. You can now also preview your Desktop search results right inside the browser

2. Quick search box. If you are in a hurry, you can use the quick search box. Just press “CTRL” button twice to call up the search box and press “CTRL” twice again to hide it.

3. Finding deleted files. Google Desktop creates cached copies (snapshots) of your files and other items each time you view them, and stores these copies on your computer’s hard drive. As a result, you can often use Desktop to find items you accidently deleted.

4. Advanced Search Forms. You can use the Advanced Search to speed up the searching of your files. You can easily specify the type(s) of search you want to do without having to remember specific search operators.

5. Google Desktop can find multiple file types on your computer.

6. Lock Search. If you don’t want others to search the files on your PC, you can activate the Lock Search. Simply click on the Desktop icon in your taskbar and select Lock Search from the menu. To unlock Desktop search, enter the Windows password of the current user on the Desktop home page.

Download Google Desktop for Windows

Download Google Desktop for Linux

Download Google Desktop for Mac

3. InSight Desktop Search

With InSight, you can instantly search for files stored anywhere in your PC’s hard drive. It’s also a digital music jukebox, that features ability to search for music based on information like artist, genre, year, album etc. InSight also brings Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, right to your desktop, allowing you to search and view articles within the application itself. It also automatically updates itself for any changes that might take place on your files.

Download InSight Desktop Search

4. Locate32

Locate32 is software which can be used to find files from your hard drives and other locations. It works like updatedb and locate commands in Unix based systems. In other words, it uses databases to store information about directory structures and uses these databases in searches. The use of these databases provides very fast searching speed. The software includes a dialog based application as well as console programs which can be used to both update and access databases.

Download Locate32

5. Exalead Desktop Free Edition

It gives you the ability to search more than 100 file types, including email messages, email attachments, Office documents, PDFs, images, sound files, video clips and more.

Download Exalead Desktop Free Edition

6. Yahoo! Desktop Search

Features:

• Find anything on your computer
• View results instantaneously – as fast as you can type
• Protect your privacy with easy search controls
• Find information related to your desktop content
• Take action immediately on search results

Download Yahoo! Desktop Search

7. Beagle for Linux

Beagle is a search tool that ransacks your personal information space to find whatever you’re looking for.

Check out the steps that will help you run Beagle on your Linux-based computer.

You may also want to download and install Windows Search 4.0, the latest version of Windows Search for the desktop. It delivers fast search capabilities for files, e-mail, documents, and more, provides performance enhancements and support for enterprise-critical features, and is easy to manage and extend with customized functionality.

Download Windows Search 4.0 (XP/Vista/Windows 7)

© 2010, The content is copyrighted to The Heat Web blog by Christian Casino. Please refer to the license before using our content.
Permalink | Post tags: desktop search, Email, free programs, Google desktop, Linux, Mac, scan files, Windows Search

Aside from the Windows XP Backup, there are other free softwares like Snap Backup that add bells and whistles you won’t find in the basic Windows XP Backup utility.

Software Description:

Snap Backup is The One-Click Backup Utility that makes it simple to protect your important work.  It is for individual computer users who need a simple and convenient way to backup their valuable files, and it’s free (open source).

Features of Snap Backup:

1. One click to perform a backup
2. Configurable settings
3. Runs on most platforms (including: Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, and Windows)
4. Supports multiple languages
5. It’s free!

How to use Snap Backup:

1. The first time you run Snap Backup, you configure where your data files reside and where to create backup files.

2. Specify an archive location, such as a USB flash drive (memory stick) or external hard drive, for storing backup files.

3. Snap Backup automatically puts the current date in the backup file name so you won’t have to rename it every time you backup. The backup file is a single compressed file that can be read by zip programs such as 7-Zip, The Unarchiver, and Mac’s built-in Archive Utility.

Snap Backup is 100% Java and designed to run on any computer with Java. It’s so easy to use and a must-have for every PC user!

Protect your important files with Snap Backup. Download it here.

© 2010, The content is copyrighted to The Heat Web blog by Christian Casino. Please refer to the license before using our content.
Permalink | Post tags: backup, free utility, Freeware, Linux, Mac, Windows

F.lux makes the color of your computer’s display adapt to the time of the day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day! F.lux can also help you sleep better! You now have a reason to stay up late because of your PC!

F.lux is so easy to setup! Just tell F.lux where you live and what kind of lighting you have then you can forget about it! F.lux will do the rest, automatically!

F.lux is free to download and it is available for Windows XP/Vista, Mac OS X, and Linux.

© 2009, The content is copyrighted to The Heat Web blog by Christian Casino. Please refer to the license before using our content.
Permalink | Post tags: better lighting, computer display, computer screens, F.lux, improve lighting, lighting, Linux, Mac OS X, night time, sleep better, time of the day, Windows

Take a look at these awesome desktop blogging softwares:

1. Windows Live Writer (WLW)

WLW makes it easy to share your photos and videos on almost any blog service — Windows Live, WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, and many more.

WLW is probably the most popular desktop blogging software today. It is an impressive blog editor, and is probably the cleanest one.

For a complete review about Windows Live Writer, click here.

2. Thingamablog

Thingamablog is a cross-platform, standalone blogging application that makes authoring and publishing your weblogs almost effortless. Unlike most blogging solutions, it does not require a third-party blogging host, a cgi/php enabled web host, or a MySQL database. In fact, all you need to setup, and manage, a blog with Thingamablog is FTP, SFTP, or network access to a web server.

3. BlogDesk

As an offline weblog client, BlogDesk lets you comfortably write and effortlessly publish new entries to your blog. No need to use those annoying HTML Tags in the WYSIWYG editor. Images can be directly inserted and are automatically uploaded. Even publishing simultaneously to multiple blogs is a matter of a click.

4. Zoundry Raven

Zoundry Raven is the next generation WYSIWYG blog editor that makes posting to your blogs easier and faster. It’s as easy to use as a word processor, plus it includes simple tools to add links, tags, photos, music, video files, and more.

It supports Blogger, TypePad, MovableType, MetaWeblog and LiveJournal. The tool is available as a portable application which you can use on your USB device. Finally, you can use Raven to create and modify your WordPress pages just like any other blog post and set WordPress tags as well as import tags from all of your posts.

5. w.bloggar

The w.bloggar is an application that acts as an interface between the user and one or more blog(s); in other words, it is a Post and Template editor, with several features and resources that the browser based blog editors do not offer.

Because w.bloggar runs over the Windows GUI, it allows the user to edit posts without being connected to the Internet. Posts can be saved locally; and anytime the user wants to publish a new text, one click on the w.bloggar icon in the system tray brings up the editor, and one more click will post it to the weblog.

6. Qumana (Windows, Mac)

Qumana is an easy-to-use desktop blogging editor, enabling you to write, edit and post to one or more blogs. You can use it even when you are offline. Save your blog posts to your hard drive and upload whenever you like. Great for bloggers on the move!

Its features include easy text formatting and image insertion, simple Technorati tagging, and advertising insertion with Q Ads*.

*Make money from your blog content by inserting the ads of your choice with the built-in Q Ads tool.

7. Post2Blog

Post2Blog is a handy blog editor with live spellchecking and Flickr, Word, Firefox, RSS Readers integration. The tool also has a “Portable Mode” support, integration with RSS Bandit and Sharp Reader — you can post selected items from these RSS readers using Post2Blog plugin. You can also add Technorati, Delicious, 43 Things tags to your posts and earn money using “Insert Amazon Link” feature.

8. Bleezer (Mac, Windows, Linux)

Bleezer is a freeware that has all the standard features as well as some advanced functionality. Spell checking, pinging services, uploading files and FTP capabilities are available. It’s a handy little tool that is quick and efficient.

© 2009, The content is copyrighted to The Heat Web blog by Christian Casino. Please refer to the license before using our content.
Permalink | Post tags: blog, blogging software, desktop client, editor, free, Freeware, Linux, list, Mac, Tools, Windows, WordPress