Monday 16 December 2013

FREE Online Project Management

AceProject is an online project management suite to manage your tasks, timesheets, documents and expenses. A FREE package includes 5 users, 2 projects, 50 tasks and 250Mb of space. Features include project tracking, gantt charts, task management, timesheets, expenses, file sharing and versioning. See: http://www.aceproject.com

Tuesday 10 December 2013

Monday 9 December 2013

Check if you have an account that has been compromised in a data breach

Every week a major firm or online service seems to get hacked. Have I been pwned? allows you to search across multiple data breaches to see if your email addresses has been compromised based on data which has been made publicly available.  See: http://haveibeenpwned.com/

Friday 6 December 2013

Microsoft Remote Desktop For iOS & Android

Microsoft have finally released a FREE Remote Desktop Client on iOS (iPhone / iPad) and Android, which supports RemoteFX and high quality video streaming.

iOS version: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/microsoft-remote-desktop/id714464092
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.rdc.android

Thursday 5 December 2013

FREE HP Propel IT Service Portal

HP is launching a FREE online IT service portal called HP Propel, featuring the HP Service Portal, the Standard Catalog, and the Knowledge Base, all mobile-enabled. The premium version extends these features with an enhanced catalog; advanced authentication methods, such as single sign-on; and access to the extended Propel Knowledge Management solution.
Pre-register to be notified when the service goes live in January 2014 at: https://h71044.www7.hp.com/campaigns/2013/events/propel/preregistration.php

Monday 2 December 2013

Protect Your Browser From Banking Trojans

HitmanPro.Alert is a FREE tool that checks the browser integrity and alerts users when secure online banking and shopping is no longer guaranteed. There is also a BETA version of HitmanPro.Alert 2.5 with CryptoGuard that protects against CryptoLocker.  Supports all popular web browsers: Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and many others. Available for all version of Windows, see: http://www.surfright.nl/en/alert

Thursday 28 November 2013

SoftPerfect WiFi Guard

WiFi Guard is a FREE network utility that lets you know if your network is used without your knowledge. As a specialised network scanner it runs through your network at set intervals and reports immediately if it has found any new connected devices that could possible belong to an intruder. Available for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux, see: http://www.softperfect.com/

Friday 22 November 2013

Increase Your Online Safety

Get Safe Online is the UK’s leading source of unbiased, factual and easy-to-understand information on online safety. Offering advice on how to protect yourself, your computers and mobiles device and your business against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other problems encountered online.  Jointly funded between the UK Government and businesses. See: https://www.getsafeonline.org/

Thursday 21 November 2013

FREE Cloud Based Collaboration Platform

Teambox is an online collaboration platform for task management, file sharing and communications. Additional standard features include time tracking, Gantt diagrams, task list templates, notes and much more. A FREE account is available for up to 5 users, up to 5 projects, up to 5 GB and with Google Drive Integration. Also available is a FREE iOS and Android App, see: http://teambox.com/

Tuesday 19 November 2013

FREE Online Digital Design Courses For 14-19 Year Olds

Adobe® Generation is a series of free online courses designed for young people with a passion for creativity! If you want to know how to create stunning images, amazing animations, captivating videos, cool games and fab app designs then these courses are perfect for you! There are five courses to choose from including; Photo Imaging, Animation, Video, Game and App Design and these will take place consecutively, from November 2013 through to June 2014. See: http://www.adobegeneration.com/

Thursday 14 November 2013

Teaching Kids To Program

Code.org is a non-profit dedicated to growing computer science education in schools. Their website offers FREE resources, online apps, programming languages and tutorials to teach kids to code. Their aim is to get 10 million people of all ages to try a one hour intro to computer science during Computer Science Education Week (Dec 9-15, 2013), see video.

Thursday 7 November 2013

FREE Password Generator

Thinking up new secure passwords every time you sign up for an online service is not easy. Instead use PWGen, a free professional password generator. Available for all versions of Windows, see: http://pwgen-win.sourceforge.net/

Friday 25 October 2013

CryptoLocker Prevention Tool

Nick Shaw from Foolish IT has written CryptoPrevent, a tiny utility to lock down any Windows OS to prevent infection by the Cryptolocker malware or ‘ransomware’, which encrypts personal files and network files. The virus arrives as a video codec download or in email attachments with disguised exe files (sample.pdf.exe) so make sure 'Control Panel - Folder Options - View - Hide extensions for known file types' is not ticked. See: http://bit.ly/cryptoPrevent

For further information see: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/cryptolocker-ransomware-information

Tuesday 15 October 2013

FREE Online Fax Number

Most people rarely need to send or receive a fax, but if you do HelloFax has a free account limited to 5 fax pages. Faxes arrive as PDFs and can be sync'd with Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, SkyDrive and Evernote. See: https://www.hellofax.com

Wednesday 9 October 2013

Delete Outdated Windows Updates

A recent Update for the Disk Cleanup wizard in Windows 7 (KB2852386) enables you to delete outdated Windows updates, freeing up disk space. The option has been added to the 'Clean up system files' button allowing you to select 'Windows Update Cleanup'. Requires Microsoft Genuine Validation so download from IE to avoid compatibility issues. See: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2852386

Friday 4 October 2013

Remove Locked Files

FileASSASSIN can remove locked files from your Windows computer, whether due to a software glitch or malware infection. Features include, unlock locked file handles, unload modules, terminate file process and file deletion. Warning: Please use caution with FileASSASSIN as deleting critical system files may cause system errors. FREE For personal use, see: http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/fileassassin/

Thursday 3 October 2013

Microsoft Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET)

The FREE Microsoft Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) is designed to help prevent hackers from gaining access to your system. Software vulnerabilities and exploits have become an everyday part of life. Virtually every product has to deal with them and consequently, users are faced with a stream of security updates. Available all Windows versions. See: http://www.microsoft.com/emet

Monday 30 September 2013

FREE Windows Application Virtualization

Cameyo lets you repackage your software into virtual applications. These are self-contained executable (.EXE) files which contain the application's entire eco-system: registry, files and other components. Available for all versions of Microsoft Windows. The Enterprise version is FREE for up to 50 machines. See: http://www.cameyo.com/
Cameyo have also created downloads for over 500 public virtual apps at http://online.cameyo.com/public

Friday 20 September 2013

FREE BIM 3D CAD Viewer

The FREE Solibri Model Viewer lets you view BIM Open Standard IFC files (OpenBIM) and Solibri Model Checker files. Currently supports IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) versions IFC2x, IFC2x2, & IFC2x3. Available for 32/64 bit Windows & Mac OSX. See: http://www.solibri.com/solibri-model-viewer.html

Monday 16 September 2013

FREE And Cheap Shareware Software

Quite a few big software brands sell through shareware often as 30 day trial versions. Shareware On Sale lets you purchase software that has become FREE or dropped to a fraction of the original cost. No credit card details are required to create an account, which lets you see all your download links and licences keys. See: http://sharewareonsale.com/

Wednesday 11 September 2013

See Where URL Shortened Links Actually Go

Shortened web address links are used everywhere from Twitter to LinkedIn, but can also be used by phishing and malicious emails to hide where they really go. Use these websites to check any shortened URL links. See: http://www.checkshorturl.com/

Tuesday 10 September 2013

FREE 3D CAD Software on the iPad

Until SketchUp is available on the iPad, have a look at the FREE Autodesk® FormIt 3D design app. Originally designed to create buildings, but can be used as a generic 3D modeller. 3D models can be saved or imported via a FREE Autodesk360 cloud storage account. Android version coming soon. See: http://autodeskformit.com or go to iTunes.

Monday 9 September 2013

FREE PC Problem Automatic Fix Tool

Wise PC 1stAid is a FREE utility that helps you fix the most common PC problems by asking you about the symptoms you are experiencing. If it is not listed, you can submit your problem to their tech forum from within the software for unlimited technical support. Available for Windows only, see: http://wisecleaner.com/wisepc1staid.html

Thursday 5 September 2013

FREE RAR Compression Utility

IZArc is a free compression utility to open, extract and convert compressed archives, including RAR, ZIP, 7-ZIP as well as CD image files ISO, BIN, CDI and NRG. Features include 256-bit AES encryption, self-extracting archives and intergration with your anti-virus software. Available for Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7/8, iOS (iPhone and iPad) and IZArc2Go for USB memory sticks, see: http://www.izarc.org

Wednesday 4 September 2013

Internet Security Fundamentals - why antivirus is only part of the solution

My Internet Security Fundamentals eBook is now available as an iBook for the Apple iPad. If you don't have an iPad you can get an Adobe PDF or Amazon Kindle version from www.booleanlogical.com

Here's what ScamSearch had to say about my eBook: "a very useful, comprehensive, informative eBook. It's especially useful for a typical computer user who has limited knowledge of what can and will go wrong on the internet."

Tuesday 3 September 2013

FREE Bitdefender Mechanic For Apple Macs

Keeping your Mac fast and private requires a bit of knowledge and some digging around in various settings or using the command line. The people behind Bitdefender antivirus put all of this together in one easy to use app. Bitdefender Mechanic can be downloaded for FREE on the Mac App Store. Requires OSX 10.7.5 or higher. See: http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/mechanic.html

Monday 2 September 2013

Office365 Does Not Scan Zip Files by Default

THIS HAS NOW BEEN FIXED - ZIP FILES ARE NOW SCANNED, THOUGH YOU CAN STILL BLOCK EXE FILES
After receiving a virus inside a zip file attachment in Microsoft Office365, I contacted the helpdesk who confirmed that the default security settings do not scan email attachments for executable (exe, com) files inside a zip folder.
 click here for the instructions.

Thursday 29 August 2013

FREE Backup for VMware or Hyper-V Virtual Machines

Backup VMware or Microsoft Hyper-V VMs with the FREE edition of Unitrends Enterprise Backup™ (limited to  protect up to 1 TB of your virtual machines without limitations on number of VMs or sockets. Unitrends Free gives users the capability to automatically backup  VMware, Hyper-V and Windows with daily recovery points. See: https://www.unitrends.com/products/free-backup-vmware-hyper-v-software

Thursday 22 August 2013

FREE Microsoft TechNet Magazine Digital Download

Microsoft's TechNet Magazine for IT professionals is available as a FREE digital download with issues going back to 2005. No subscription is required. See: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ff395842.aspx

Wednesday 21 August 2013

FREE Zero-Config Remote Desktop Software

Ammyy Admin is a feature rich remote desktop utility with file transfer and voice chat features. It doesn't require installation or admin rights and is available for all versions of Windows. FREE for non-commercial use but limited to 15 hours a month. See: http://www.ammyy.com

Tuesday 20 August 2013

FREE Network And Internet Utilities

NSAUDITOR.COM has over 30 FREE network and internet utilities, such as a network traffic monitor, broken web links checker, registry auditor, DHCP explorer, and an IP to Country Resolver. Available for Windows 8, 7, Vista & XP, see: http://www.nsauditor.com/freeware

Tuesday 13 August 2013

Learn To Type Faster And With Fewer Errors

Learning to touch type is one skill that will free up more of your day (assuming you sit in front of a keyboard) than many time management techniques. Keybr.com is a FREE flash based online typing instructor, that keeps track of all your mistakes and your words–per–minute, so you can see how much you've improved. See: http://www.keybr.com

Monday 5 August 2013

FREE File Synchronization Tools

You should always have your data stored in two or more different locations in case something happens to your computer. Synchronization tools help you achieve this and these FREE tools have evolved to be quite powerful utilities.

Synkron offers mutlisync capabilities to sync multiple folders in different locations to a signal destination and can easily restore files that were overwritten or deleted in previous syncs. Available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. See: http://synkron.sourceforge.net/
FreeFileSync can sync locked files, offers advanced batch script functions and a wide range of comparison options, including compare by file content and symbolic link handling. Available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. See: http://freefilesync.sourceforge.net/

Thursday 1 August 2013

Faster Technical Support Service Requests In Microsoft Office365

Before you call the Microsoft Office365 helpdesk, save yourself the trouble of giving out your name, telephone and email address numerous times by creating a service request ticket yourself at http://portal.office365.com under Support, Service Requests. Once you have a ticket number, call the Office365 support line and you will have saved yourself either time and or blood pressure.

Monday 29 July 2013

50% Off TuneUp Utilities 2013 by AVG

TuneUp Utilities 2013 by AVG is a PC cleaner, optimizer and troubleshooting. To get 50% off the £29.99 cost, install the FREE trial, then after a couple of days un-install the software. This takes you to webpage giving you 24 hours to get the reduced price. Available all versions of Windows, see: http://www.tuneup-software.co.uk/

Monday 15 July 2013

Windows Emergency Task Manager

Many Windows PC viruses disable the Task Manager to stop you shutting down the malicious software wreaking havoc on your computer. Luckily you can use a FREE portable program called Quick Disaster Recovery to start a replacement task manager or run a set of preset fixes. See: http://qdr.sourceforge.net/

Monday 8 July 2013

How To Set Up An Apple iPad For A Child

I recently helped a colleague setup an Apple iPad for their 9 year old kid so that they couldn’t install paid apps, but could install free apps.  The kid would have their own email address and know their iTunes account password, though the parent could choose which paid apps they wanted to install. Also by carefully peeling back the plastic covering the power connector, we configured it and installed over 30 apps so that it was fully setup and full of apps as soon as the present was opened. See: http://bit.ly/1das47E

Friday 5 July 2013

PDF Issues - Adobe Reader & Acrobat Removal Tool

PDF files have nearly replaced paper for many people, so when you find that you cannot open one and reinstalling the Reader doesn't work, try this utility. The Adobe Reader and Acrobat Cleaner Tool removes a standalone installation of Reader or Acrobat version 9 or 10 (though not from Adobe Creative Suite) - available for Windows only, see: http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/acrobatcleaner.html

Wednesday 3 July 2013

FREE Scheduling & Shutdown Utility

Shutter is a multifunctional scheduling utility, supporting many different events and actions, such as Battery Low, Window Closes, Process Stops, Ping Stops, Shutdown, Reboot, Log Off, Lock, Sleep, Execute Program, etc. Featues include a web interface for run-time information and to allow remote execution of actions. FREE for non-comercial use, or €14.95 for a license. Available for all versions of Windows, see: http://www.den4b.com/?x=products&product=shutter

Monday 1 July 2013

Ganib - Project Management

Ganib helps you manage, track your tasks and collaborate easily to improve productivity. Available as either a FREE local installation or a FREE hosted SAAS package for up to 10 projects with unlimited users. See: http://www.ganib.com/

Wednesday 26 June 2013

FREE iPhone, iPad & iPod Data Recovery Software

EaseUS MobiSaver Free allows you to directly scan an iOS device (iPhone/iPad/iPod) or extract from an iTunes backup file to recover data like photos, videos, notes, text messages, contacts, call history, calendar and more. Available for Microsoft Windows 8/7/Vista/XP and requires iTunes. See: http://www.easeus.com/mobisaver-mobile.htm

Monday 24 June 2013

Identifying A Font

Identifying a font used in a presentation when all you have a printed copy can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. These two websites will turn you into Sherlock Holmes when it comes to fonts.

MyFonts.com lets you upload an image of the font in question and you are then asked to confirm the letter characters. The system then tells you what fonts it thinks may match, see: http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/
Identifont has a completely different approach. It lets you identify a font by answering a series of questions about key features of the font characters, see: http://www.identifont.com/

Wednesday 19 June 2013

FREE Online Document Management System

CometDocs is an all-in-one service for all your document management needs. Features include document conversion between 30 document formats, file transfer, document repository and sharing files publicly or privately. A FREE account gives you 2GB of space, up to 15 conversions a week and a 1GB daily transfer limit. See: http://www.cometdocs.com/

Tuesday 11 June 2013

FREE Email Sales Tool

Yesware is a Chrome and Firefox add-on for Gmail that helps salespeople and small businesses manage their sales related email. The FREE plan includes 100 email tracking events / month, templates, prospect lists, copy to CRM and personal email activity reports. See: http://www.yesware.com/

Thursday 6 June 2013

Test Your Antivirus Software

The Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO) is an international non-profit association which has a selection of quick tests to if the software protecting your computer is in full working order and configured correctly. See: http://www.amtso.org/

Tuesday 4 June 2013

FREE Alternative To Google Docs

Live Documents is what most people hoped Google docs would have been, with the features of Microsoft Office and the collaboration of Google Docs. The suite includes Live Writer, Live Spreadsheets and Live Presentations, though a FREE hosted account limits you to 20 of each with 100MB of storage. See: http://www.live-documents.com/

Wednesday 29 May 2013

See What Passwords Your Browsers Remember

WebBrowserPassView is a FREE password recovery tool for Windows that reveals the passwords stored by the following browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari and Opera. See: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/web_browser_password.html

Tuesday 28 May 2013

Organize A FREE Event

Eventbrite is an event management portal that lets you create, promote and manage your events.  If the event is FREE, then eventbrite do not charge you any fees, but you still get all the management features like attendance tracking, ticket printing, and entry management app.  All you need to do is provide the venue. See: http://www.eventbrite.com/

Monday 20 May 2013

FREE Private Social Network For Business

Chatter is a FREE, private and secure social network for business. Only people with a verified company email address can join your network. Features includes file sharing, private messages and private groups. Apps also available for iOS, Android & Blackberry. See: www.chatter.com/