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Regarding Firefox bookmark sync. The XMarks. It syncs across platforms and browsers. I’ve used it since it was called Fox Marks and it is great. Bundle it with Lastpass and two big dat problems are solved.

Curing slow boot times.

Since the problem described happens when on an office LAN, the problem may not be a problem but a feature. I work in a really secure environment at work and at boot, IT tends to do lots of security related stuff ranging from OS security updates to virus database updates to…well whatever it is they need to do. In general, they’re consuming less time at boot but periodically they either intend to stuff large packages of data or perform specific scans on boot OR they muck something up and cause problems.

It’s never a bad thing to discuss the problem with the local IT group (if you have one).

Porn sites safer than religious sites…the message is ‘shields up at all times’.

http://phys.org/news/2012-05-religion-riskier-porn-online-viruses.html

I agree.

That is why I send documents to others in pdf when I do not expect them to be edited. I am simply pointing out that if the OP wants to edit a document that is in PDF the most efficient way to do that is to obtain the original source (non-pdf) document.

When I send a pdf document, I certainly do not want it to be easy for someone to alter.

Security by obsurity (or in this case, security by ‘it’s hard to convert’) is a lost cause. If there aren’t methods available to make a PDF editable (and there are), there will be (more, better, easier,and free). The whole concept of DRM is doomed. If you don’t want people to replicate/modify a document, then print it on paper, hand it to them, let them read it, take it back, shred it, and hope they don’t recall enough to recreate the important bits. I work under the premise that if a person is allowed to see a document, in any form, they can and will take it. Heck, toss it on a screen, screen grab it, OCR the output, boom…they own the doc. If the content is worth taking, they’ll take it and convert it to something they can use.

PDFs are intended to make it easy for people who don’t have the source program used to create the document to read it, that’s all.

I think he means PDF Creator http://www.pdfforge.org/ which is brilliant and Open Source

RV

This is a GREAT little tool with tons of options including the ability to combine multiple jobs into one PDF (think a combined Word/Excel/Txt/Whatever) job that is converted to a single PDF, watermarking, encryption, the ability to generate different versions of PDF, option to output as other file types (jpg, bmp, etc), and the list just goes on and on. Free and wonderful.

What possible chance does a non-techy end user have if they get sucked into this votex of confusion? Is it any wonder that people have ‘admin/password’ left in place? How would a regular person even know where to start? Is it any wonder we’re all just giving up and joining the Borg? I find this kind of corporate behavior pretty close to criminal.
I’m lucky. My ISP provides a cable modem/VOIP box and all the home networking stuff is left up to me. I hope if/when we switch ISP’s it’s as easy.
Great article.

Before you do anything, make absolutely sure you understand the full requirements for the system. Appointment systems sound simple, right? Heck, maybe you just use a standard calendar app (google, outlook, whatever) and schedule appointments that way. I can almost bet you that there are constraints to the design you don’t yet know. for instance, are you booking a patient into a time slot? What about a specific exam room? What about a specific doctor/nurse/pa? What about special equipment required for the visit? What if you need to change time, room, or medical specialist? How does your system handle unusual cases?

I’d strongly recommend you sit down and work with several of the people who handle scheduling and see what kind of issues they need to handle, THEN figure out your design.

Good luck!

+10 for LastPass. Using a local password manager (KeePass for example) works great if it’s just you AND you never loose the stupid thumb drive. I live in a household and the idea of trying to keep multiple independent password keepers in sync is a logistical nightmare. That’s why I’ve opted for LastPass. Encrypted remotely. Encrypted locally. Available on pc, laptop, mac, windows, droid, kindle, you name it. I can download a copy of the password in the event that LP goes dark. Totally complex usernames and passwords for every site that I don’t have to remember. I totally love this product.

As a side note, the only problems I’ve ever had with ‘hacking’ were all physical attacks. I had my cc number used without permission, most likely stolen from a place of business by the cashier and banking data stolen when an employee of a check processing center left with a box of tapes. My on-line life (which started with CompuServe in ’85 or ’86) has actually been pretty calm so, while there are concerns, I don’t sweat it all that much.

I’d reached a point where I had too much data to store on any give free service and I didn’t want to try and split data over various services. I elected to go with iDrive for a couple of reasons.
It’s very reasonably priced.
It integrates with all flavors of OS so I can manage Mac, Windows, and Droid systems.
They offer a ‘disk swap’ service. If you have a ton of data to move in either direction, you have the option of passing a physical drive between yourself and iDrive. It’s not cheap but can make the process of moving a 500 GB data pretty painless.
It is NOT a backup solution, it is a file storage system. The distinction can be very important. Most cloud backup systems (backblaze for example) keep backup copies of files on the PC(s) you are backing up. If you delete a file on your PC, within some period of time, the copy on the cloud service is also deleted. iDrive just don’t care. Once you push a file to iDrive, it’s there until YOU decide to kill it.

You can run a remote TeamViewer session via browser as long as the app is installed on the target system. The link is near the top right of the team viewer main page; just log in and you have an https session available.

Hmmm, Brave man, Fred is…Yeeeesssss….

GPT uses 64-bit addressing, which lets it handle drives up to nearly 10 zettabytes (ZB). (Zetta- indicates a one followed by 21 zeros! For comparison, a terabyte is designated by one followed by 12 zeros.) It’ll be a long, long time before we outgrow GPT.

I opted for LastPass (paid version). I recognize that I’m giving some control to people I don’t know BUT, the encryption system used seems pretty safe from hacking and the decryption happens on my end of the string. if the LP db is stolen, I should be OK (excluding the NSA backdoor we don’t know about!).

There are several reasons I don’t go for apps like KeePass.
1. I have to remember to take the darn db with me all the time otherwise I’m SOL if I need to get into a site.
2. I live with my wife. We share our login lists. If we use a USB based PW manager, we have to keep the dbs in sync which is NOT easy.
3. My portable devices. LastPass has apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. No matter where I am or what device I’m using, I have a way to get to my stuff.
4. I can (and do) download the login list so I have a backup in the event that LastPass goes dark.

It’s worked well for me and, so far, no complaints.

Thumbs up on iDrive.
One other thing to pay CLOSE attention to is what providers mean by ‘backup’. In some cases, if you delete a file locally, the cloud copy goes poof in 30 days. If you’re interested in live copies of current files, then this is OK. If what you really want is a place to stash stuff and find it if you delete/kill it locally, this is a bad thing.
iDrive can sync if you want it or serve as a one way dump from selected folders on your various devices (Win, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Droid). I really like this service and you just can’t beat the price.

That helps. I think I’ll need to treat the 2010 install as ‘new business’ which probably means a more extensive test protocol.

Doug

Sounds exactly like the problem I had with my wife’s MacBook last year when I “upgraded” to a D-Link router (which are, as I now know, infamous for not playing nice with Macs). You didn’t mention what router you used, but if it’s a D-Link, start saving up for a replacement router.

Netgear router (which I had to buy when one of our systems was Vista) and a DLink NAS (NSLUG).

I’ll never figure out why a router would be sensitive to the OS.