All Posts by Paul

The Pen is mightier than the megabyte!

Paul8 Replies

Mass storage device for PC. USB flash drives. Image via Wikipedia

As technicians we have way to many pen drives!

If you are like me, you probably have several different USB Flash drives laying around like I do.  I usually have special ones for special projects.   You’d probably have one for Virus removal and another one for fixing Hard Drives like Spinrite.   A few years ago, I would have 6 to 10 Pen drives for just those special occasions.   I’d even have one for all my saved games and other important files that I might need.

One Pen Drive to rule them all, One Pen Drive to find them,
One Pen Drive to bring them all and in the darkness bind them!

So I have found some great programs to create one massive Pen Drive so I don’t have to have so many USB Flash Drives laying around on the desk!  I figured I would go about talking about the best way to pack your USB drive with all that valuable information and have it at your finger tips in case of the some problems with the system.

  • YUMI – Multiboot USB Creator — This is what you will need to pack that USB with all your favorite ISO‘s.    The only requirement is the size of the Pendrive.   If you don’t have a big enough Pen drive then you will ultimately have to split them into small pen drives.    I have several different useful programs on my pen drive.  The only down side is that it is Windows only.   I would love them to make it for Linux or even OS X but It is still darn useful.
  • WSUS Offline Upate —  This is darn useful program.   If you ever needed to update a Windows without being online this is for you.  It will download the files and then make an ISO.   Once you have the ISO you can Yumi to put it on the Pen Drive.  Good news about this is you can keep using Yumi to replace the ISO every month and it doesn’t take much time.   Just don’t delete the files that WSUS downloads or you will have to redownload them again.  Just keep those files safe and all you will have to do is download the updates each month and then copy the new ISO to Yumi.
  • Puppy Linux — Is by far my Favorite little Linux Distro because it will allow me to save my personal settings in any computer I use and thus when I come back to the system with Puppy, I do not have to redo anything I did before.
  • Ultimate Boot CD — Is another great little ISO to install in the Pen Drive.   If your having problems with the system.   This will let you test the system in ways you probably never thought about doing.   Very useful for any Technician who is doing some kind of problem solving.
  • System rescue CD — If you ever needed to rescue the system from a variety of problems like partition problems or hard drive crashes.   This is goo for that resource.  This Distro contains many different tools for Networks, file restoration and Many more.
  • Spinrite —  The is obviously the best tool there is because it will already come as an ISO and all you will need to do is us YUMI to put it on the USB drive.   Once on the drive you have a plug and hard drive repair program for any occasion.

I pretty much gave you a baseline of ISO and programs to use to make your Ultimate Pen drive for when you might need them.  I won’t go on to much longer because I know your itching to try these programs and find even more programs to install onto your USB Flash Drive.   I will say if you search long and hard you could find some really good treasures to make it even better and worth while.   I like having only a few Pen drives than having a hand full of them. Don’t you??

Have a Good day, See you real Soon!

 

Paul Sylvester

 

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Why I never volunteer for bacon!

Paul

"Please Enter A Valid Email Address" Image by pjsherman via Flickr

All Dogs love bacon!

If your wondering what I am talking about.   I will explain it to you in ways that you probably never considered.    If you have ever signed up to websites and they ask you if they could share your email address and name to 3rd parties.   3rd parties are like Epsilon Marketing and they make there money by selling products to people who have volunteered to receive bacon advertisements.

Security is nothing to Epsilon!

I won’t go into detail about why because if I did you would probably agree with me just because of what happened.   Most likely Epsilon will loss a lot of customers and businesses due to the security breaches.    It just depends on how people feel about this company and why anyone should trust them after this breach.   I always tell anyone who signs up for a service to always makes sure to opt out of those emails.   I don’t know about you but I know right now Epsilon has Egg on their faces and wouldn’t mind sticking their heads in the sand.

Don’t Get Caught Spear Phishing!

Now since the hackers have your name and your Email address, you probably are wondering what can I do not to get fooled.   I thought it would be a good idea to give some good guidance for those who might want to prevent this from happening in the first place.   You don’t want them to get your sensitive information.    I don’t want anyone to know my passwords or even my credit card numbers.   They will try to fool into giving out this information because there is some kind of urgent response about some kind of problem with your account.

Some stuff to consider:

  • No Company will call you asking for personal information

  • Nothing is so important as to go to the website directly

  • If they don’t sound professional then tell them you will go visit the local bank or institution

  • Just because they know your name doesn’t mean they are real

  • Don’t click links in emails that you don’t trust, always go the sites that you trust by typing it in your browser

These are just a few ways to help prevent yourself from being phished but nothing can prevent it but yourself. So remember to think before you click and think before you give out any information to unknown emails or people.

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I’m back with a vengeance!

Paul

oil abstract painting MORE BIOGRAPFY;web album... Image via Wikipedia

Hello Again!

I am not an new blogger but actually an old blogger coming back to blog some more.    Over the past few months my old blog, Tech-linkblog.com has been slow or not even something that I wanted to continue doing.   I must say that it wasn’t because I didn’t want to but I was busy with my new job.

I must say It has been nothing if not busy for me.   I created two new domains to and got them up and running thanks in part to Hover.com.  This domain and unlockedcellphonesblog.com were recently bought because I wanted to expand my domains and have more resources when I needed it.

So what about my Old Domain?

I’ll probably keep it up and running because it will still make money for me and draw people to this domain and others.   It would be unwise to discontinue that domain just because I am going to start writing for this one now.   I have actually missed just sitting down and typing out what my thoughts are and sharing them with my readers.   Although there will be no major readers just yet, I do believe when I start discussing some good stuff like the Amazon Cloudplayer that people will want to come and find me to learn more about it.   I’ve not had any time to play with it but I am quite curious as to what people think of how Amazon has taken the lead in MP3 market?

So what is next?

I’m not sure but I will be updating at least once a week with stuff that I find interesting and maybe even twice a week.   I don’t know when these posts will be coming out but I am going to work on getting back to writing the way I used to just like when I was on my Tech-linkblog and blogging.   The only main reason to switch over to this new domain is because I felt it was more of a fit for me and it was an easier domain to have my reader remember and not forget it easier.    That is one of those tips that you need to remember when purchasing domains.   Find something that people can easily remember and come back to so they don’t have to try to remember a long URL.

Is there anything you want me to Talk about?

I know I kept saying this from my old blog but I thought I would continue to ask and see you would like to talk about and engage my readers some more.   The more I learn from my readers so the blog post can be more interesting to you and others.   I am sure I can come up with some topics of my own and I probably will continue to blog about what interest after all, this is the reason for this domain.   I do hope you join me for this journey and make yourself at home!

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Reviewing the Captr II from Cricket Wireless!

Paul

Cricket Captr II

Click on Image for More information

I recently bought the Captr 2 and I must say from everything I have done with this phone,  I am really impressed.   So before I begin with my observations, I will at least tell you the specifics of the phone itself:

The Retail Price of this phone is $59.99, even that can be a good thing.    I simply love this phone because of the durability of it and how reliable it has been for me.  I have been using a Plantronics Explorer series Bluetooth headset with this phone for quite some time and have great success with many of the features that come with this.

“What Have I tried?”  you may ask.

I will put it to you this way.   On other phones that I have used a head set on I have had very little success with voice dialing.    After you have trained you phone with your own voice could you dial a number without having to even touch the phone.   I like the fact that I could have it call any number I said and it rarely got it wrong.

The Pro’s of the Phone:

  • Obviously the Voice Commands —  They have fixed common problems with voice commands and it works even better.

  • Size —  I am one of those who like to have a small phone, don’t need any bulky phone to show off.

  • Battery life — Having used it for over 3 weeks.   The Battery life is really good, Only having to charge it every couple days.

  • Cost — It being a low cost phone, almost anyone can afford it.

  • Great for College or Highschool Students —  It being limited on web browsing this is good for cost and still keeping it touch with your kids.

The Con’s:

  • Screen size — If you are used to a big screen then this is something that you will have to get used it.

  • Memory size — The phone memories isn’t as big as an Iphone, so you can’t have unlimited contacts or messages on the phone.

All in all, This phone is great for anyone who is on a tight budget.    I have been really pleased with it.   I definitely will recommend this phone to anyone who might need a low cost phone and still be on a budget.   I have not had it dropped calls from this phone and the signal strength has been over 2 bars anywhere I have went.   Go check out the Captr II for yourself and you will be happy with it like I am!!

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Reviewing Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1 TB USB 2.0 Ultra-Portable External Hard Drive STAA1000100

Paul

Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1 TB USB 2.0 Ultra-Portable External Hard Drive STAA1000100 $129

Product Features:

  • USB 2.0 plug-and-play drive

  • Easy-to-use preloaded backup and encryption software

  • Upgradable to USB 3.0, FireWire 800 or eSATA or access content over the network and on TV

Technical Details:

  • Brand Name: Seagate

  • Model: STAA1000100

  • Hard Disk Size: 1 TB

  • Warranty: 2 years warranty

  • Hardware Platform: PC, Mac

  • Hard Disk Description: External hard drive

  • Width: 3.5 inches

  • Depth: 4.7 inches

  • Height: 0.9 inches

  • Weight: 9.9 Ounces

On My Laptop:

I did a quick speed test to see how fast this Hard drive was using my USB and If you had a eSATA input with the Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Upgrade Cable Powered eSATA – STAE103 the transfer rate would be faster but I only had a USB 2.0 port!

As you can see I only got 32.7 MB/S transfer rate on the Hard drive but I am sure if I did get the eSata cable it would be much faster.

Pro’s:

  • A lot of Space — Enough space to backup you files on your computer and still have Video files on it, like Podcasts and Personal Movies.

  • This hard Drive can be used in conjunction with Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex TV STAJ100.

  • Very Portable but still a little heavier than others I have USED.

  • You can still use it in conjunction with Paramount Shop Movies which comes on the Hard drive already.

  • Can put a lot of Video or Music files on the hard drive

  • Run’s Silently without a problem

Cons:

I have been using this for a few weeks using the Acer Backup program to keep my files safe and also putting all my major video files that I don’t want to loose on it. I must say I am quite happy with the drive it has work flawlessly keeping my files backuped. I have also used Allway Sync to keep my files Synced with my Video files and that seems to work really well. If you don’t have back up program then you can use Allway Sync. I didn’t like using the pre-loaded software for the drive because it took up some of my computer resources. Allway Sync was a less resource hog then the software on the drive.

A Powerful Hard Drive

This is a wonderful Hard drive for those who has a lot of stuff they need to keep safe. I recommend Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1 TB USB 2.0 Ultra-Portable External Hard Drive STAA1000100who might need a way to keep your multi-systems backed up. I have 2 laptops that I need to keep backed up and don’t want to have multiple Hard drives. This hard drive is a great resource for those who need portability and reliability. I recommend this to anyone who might need this or want it!


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