4 Best Windows 8 Kids TV Apps For Entertaining Little Kids

4 Best Windows 8 Kids TV Apps For Entertaining Little Kids

Got a bored kid that needs some entertaining? Got a Windows tablet? You’re in luck.

Parents worldwide all know that perfection in childcare is not always possible, and that occasionally you just want to hand over something to keep them quiet for a short spell. Like for instance, when you’re in a restaurant trying to keep your cool, when it’s too early in the morning and you really need a coffee or when you just want to disappear and be alone for 5 minutes.

We’ve previously covered some great Windows 8 apps with games for your kids. Now it’s time to look at some that just show kid-safe videos.

The following apps work on any Windows 8 installation, but if you’ve got a Windows tablet, you’re set even when you’re out and about (provided you have Internet access). Moreover, you won’t need to worry about movie ratings or reviewing the videos in advance as they are all kid-friendly.

Kids Videos

The Kids Videos app has a variety of videos for kids of all ages. Videos are organized by topic, with sections catering to different interests, including:

• educational videos,
• cartoons,
• animal videos,
• music and more.

A unique feature of Kids Videos is its tiny superstars, i.e. little kids who spend time in front of the camera doing cool stuff. This app even has the Simon’s Cat cartoon!

This app makes it really easy for kids to just swipe across to scroll to more content. You can enter certain sections if you like, but there’s no need to do so as a lot of content is viewable from the main screen. This is great for the little ones.

When you’ve had a look around, this app will also feature a live tile if you want it to.

Kids TV

The Kids TV app is touted as one-stop wholesome kids entertainment and really lives up to the title. Videos include:

• Curious George,
• Mickey Mouse,
• Thomas The Tank Engine,
• Bey Blade,
• Caillou,
• Sid The Science Kid,
• Wow Wow Wubbzy and more.

A selection of nursery rhymes will keep the little ones entertained.

To use this app, the kids can scroll to choose between the shows, then choose videos from there. It’s bright and attractive, so it makes exploring the content fun.

Kids Videos HD

The Kids Videos HD app has thousands of kid-safe videos to watch. Cartoons include:

• Yo Gabba Gabba,
• Teletubbies,
• Scooby Doo,
• Sesame Street,
• Chuggington,
• Sponge Bob,
• Winnie the Pooh,
• Spider-Man,
• Bob the Builder,
• My Little Pony,
• In The Night Garden,
• Transformers and more.

Beyond cartoons, this app offers:

• zoo animal videos,
• and full-length Disney movies.

Scroll through dozens of different shows, then sort the episodes available either by views or rating. It’s very easy to use and it looks great!

You can also search this app for videos from YouTube, knowing that all of the results are kid-friendly. Results of the search can be sorted by relevance, views and ratings. When you’ve found a bunch of videos that your child loves, you can then create playlists for your kids.

Kids.TV

The Kids.TV app contains:

• educational videos,
• cartoons, such as Mickey Mouse,
• nursery rhymes,
• and other kids songs.

Words PBS videos are another key feature of Kids.TV. These are incredibly cute animations that will teach your kids about reading different words in a really inventive way.

The main screen is bright and colourful, with a single line of show types to scroll through and choose from. When you choose a section, a video will automatically start for you. After this video, your kid can easily choose another from the left-hand side.

It has quite a lot of content greyed out and only available when you purchase the full version, however that’s not a problem. The free version still has many hours of quality entertainment. My guess is that you won’t let your kid watch for that long anyway.

Which One?

Of course, each of these apps have their own merits and different apps will be more appealing to different kids. That’s why my advice is not to choose. Just get all of them. Seriously, you’ll want them all in an instant on that day your kids are going stir-crazy and you need to entertain them quickly.

You do see a few adverts in these apps, but no more than other free Windows 8 apps, and most of the ads are for Bing or related products.

Which Windows 8 apps do you use to entertain your kids?

bloggeradsenseo

IObit Advanced SystemCare 7: An Excellent All-In-One Utility

IObit Advanced SystemCare 7: An Excellent All-In-One Utility

Keeping your computer up to date and free of errors can be a real pain in the butt. In fact, if you don’t devote a few hours to the purpose every month, it may well be impossible. That’s where an all-in-one system utility comes in handy.

One of the top choices has always been IObit Advanced SystemCare 7, a free program with paid versions that can manage many aspects of your PC. This latest edition is the most comprehensive yet – but can it really handle all computer maintenance needs?

Installation And Setup

The file you download for Advanced SystemCare 7 is the full executable, rather than a download utility for the full program, so setup is straightforward and extremely quick. However, the installer does have two annoying habits. First, it asks to install some additional toolbars during installation, and second, it opens an advertisement for the full version of Advanced SystemCare 7 in a web browser after installation is complete. Neither move is harmful, or even unusual for free software, but both can be an annoyance.

Less annoying is the tutorial that begins when the program is first started. Though it’s not particularly deep, it does provide a good, broad overview of the features available in the software. At the end, you have the choice of two different skins – traditional “Classic” or “Metro,” which is inspired by Windows 8.

A Summary Of Features

IOBit Advanced SystemCare 7 has been around for some time now, as the “7″ in the title indicates. Many features have been added over the years, and the latest version is no exception.

Besides a general interface update that throws in the Metro skin and re-arranges some options, the program includes new surfing and homepage protection tools that can guard against malicious websites and help parents lock down content they don’t want their kids to see. There’s also a new duplicate file removal tool, improved disk explorer, and a new feature that lets you remove User Account Control from specific programs.

And that’s just what’s new. There are too many features to list here, but highlights include a registry cleaner, a disk cleaner, an uninstall utility, two types of de-fragmentation utilities, a disk repair utility and even folder encryption. Pay for the ultimate version and you’ll even receive a built-in antivirus. In short, this is a one-stop shop for almost anything you can imagine.

The Scan Button

All of the choices can cause a bit of confusion, even for advanced users. To combat this, IObit simplifies a significant number of the repair utilities into one big, far “scan” button located prominently on the program’s main menu. This button looks for scans for malware, registry errors, junk files, broken shortcuts and several other potential problems.

Embarrassingly, even on my system (which I try to maintain fairly well), the program managed to find a very large number of errors to fix. One of these was a browser toolbar that had somehow lodged itself into Firefox, a problem I’d ignored because I use Chrome. The app also tossed out some junk files and fixed a number of broken shortcuts that I didn’t even know existed.

I was also happy to see that the scan process, though it is extensive, is not slow. In fact, scanning on my computer took less than thirty seconds. It should be noted that I use a solid state drive, so readers who own a computer with a mechanical drive should expect a slower scan time. But, even so, Advanced SystemCare 7’s performance surpasses any system utility I’ve used before.

Opening The Toolbox

While the Scan button is quick and useful, it only manages utilities that can automatically return results. Many other features of Advanced SystemCare 7 require some users input, and that’s where the Toolbox menu comes in.

The number of features accessible here is staggering, and IObit has leveraged many of its utilities to add more functionality to the software. Features like Uninstaller, Protected Folder, and Game Booster are actually separate programs that you could install independently, if you so desired.

This approach helps the program offer its staggering array of features, but it also leads to a somewhat disjointed interface. Features which launch as separate apps usually have an interface that looks different from Advanced SystemCare 7 itself. On the upside, however, it’s possible to pin these sub-programs to your taskbar, a trait some users might prefer.

Functions that are part of the program itself use a fairly basic Windows interface that isn’t attractive, yet easy to use. The options available for each feature are presented in a straightforward manner and easy to understand. Even the most complicated features, like Disk Explorer, do a good job of presenting information and work quickly; scanning my main hard drive only took seconds, which is even quicker than the tool I usually use for the same job (TuneUp Utilities 2011).

Conclusion

IObit’s Advanced SystemCare is an impressive utility that has come a long way over the past few years. What started at a respectable, but not class-leading utility has gradually become one of the best in the business. The program is now so good, it may dislodge me from using what I have for the last two years, which is saying a lot.

Now let’s talk about price. The Free version, which was used for this review, is quite powerful given its lack of price tag. You can scan your system for errors and repair them without paying a cent, and many of the features found in the Toolbox work, as well.

If you plunk down $19.99 for the Pro version, however, you’ll enjoy a number of benefits. The automatic scanning is improved with six added features that don’t run while scanning with the free version, malware protection is beefed up, and the safe-surf parental control features become available. Paying $29.99 for the ultimate version adds more real-time protection features to the anti-malware tools and adds automatic scanning of downloads to proactively block threats. In addition, both paid versions come with free 24/7 technical support.

Have you had a chance to use Advanced SystemCare 7? Let us known your thoughts on it in the comments!

bloggeradsenseo

How To Increase Storage Space On Windows 8.1 Devices With SD Cards

How To Increase Storage Space On Windows 8.1 Devices With SD Cards

Windows 8.1 devices are all full PCs — yes, even the tablets — and often support SD cards. This allows you to easily expand your PC’s storage. Just insert an SD card and you can treat it as a “permanent” part of your device. The SD card will likely be slower than your device’s built-in storage, but it’s a great way to store music, videos, pictures, and other files.

The original release of Windows 8 didn’t have very good support for SD cards. You couldn’t easily access them from Windows 8-style apps without going through some obscure tricks on the desktop. This has changed with the Windows 8.1 upgrade, which offers much improved support for SD and micro-SD cards.

Insert an SD Card

To get started, pick up an SD card or micro-SD card. Be sure to get one that your device supports, as some devices may only support smaller micro-SD cards and not the larger SD cards.

After you insert the SD card, it will appear as another drive with its own drive letter. You can use it normally from desktop applications and the File Explorer window. If you’re using Windows 8-style apps, you’ll need to do some more tweaking.

Set Default Save Locations

The new PC settings app allows you to easily set a removable drive as your default save location for pictures, music, and videos. This is the easiest way to set up an SD card as the main location for your media files, but it’s limited. For example, you can’t set it as your default documents folder here.

To do this, press Windows Key + I and click Change PC settings. Select PC & Devices, select Devices, and then scroll down until you see the Default save locations section. Click the Setup button and select the removable drive you want to use as your default save location.

This creates Music, Pictures, and Videos folders on your SD card. Windows then adds these folders to your Music, Pictures, and Videos libraries and sets them as the default save location. Your default save locations are used both from Windows 8-style apps and when saving a file to a library from a desktop application.

Note that this won’t move any existing music, pictures, or videos to your SD card. You’ll have to do that manually, if you want to — check the next section for more information.

Manage Libraries From the Desktop

Windows 8-style apps use libraries. For example, a music app gets its music from the Music library, while a photo-editing application accesses its images from the Pictures library. To manage where Windows stores such files used by Windows 8-style apps, you’ll have to manage your libraries. Read our overview of the Windows libraries feature for more information about how they work.

Confusingly, Microsoft has hidden the libraries by default in Windows 8.1, even though they’re required by Windows 8-style apps and now work properly with SD cards. To access libraries, open the File Explorer on the desktop, click the View tab on the ribbon, select Navigation pane, and select Show libraries.

Select a library and you’ll see the folders inside it. If you made an SD Card your default save location earlier, you’ll see a folder on the SD card and a folder on your computer. You can move folders between the computer and the SD card from here using cut and paste.

To modify your libraries — for example, perhaps you want to use the SD card as your default save location for documents — right-click a library and select Properties. You’ll be able to add and remove folders from the library, in addition to choosing which folder is your default save location.

Unlike on Windows 8 and previous versions of Windows, you can easily add folders from a removable drive to your libraries without using third-party programs for managing your libraries.

Save Downloads to an SD Card

Your Downloads folder can also be moved to your SD card. To do this, simply right-click the Downloads folder in the File Explorer window and select Properties. Click the Location tab and specify a location on the SD card for the Downloads folder.

Whenever a program downloads something to your downloads folder, it will be stored in the Downloads folder on your SD card instead.

Move SkyDrive to an SD Card

In the final version of Windows 8.1, your SkyDrive folder can also be stored on an SD card. SkyDrive uses “smart files” to save space, but it can still use quite a bit of space if you choose to download files for offline use. Move the SkyDrive folder to an SD card and you can free up space on your system drive.

This is as simple as moving your downloads folder. Just right-click the SkyDrive folder in the File Explorer window, select Properties, select the Location tab, and choose a new location for it.

This entire process demonstrates the evolution of Windows from a desktop operating system to one designed with mobile devices in mind. Windows 8 had poor support for SD cards, requiring tricks to add them to libraries. Windows 8.1 offers improved support for SD cards with an option in the PC settings app, but many other settings still require drilling down to the desktop — even if you’re using a small, 8-inch Windows tablet.

Have you set up Windows 8.1 to work with an SD card? Did you use any other tricks we didn’t mention here? Leave a comment and share them!

bloggeradsenseo

Flipboard Launches on Win 8.1 With Live Tiles, Introduces Catalogues

Flipboard Launches on Win 8.1 With Live Tiles, Introduces Catalogues

Flipboard, which makes personalized social magazines for you on Android and iOS, has finally launched a native app for Windows 8.1 that takes advantage of the new Live Tiles. The service has also embraced e-commerce to launch a Pinterest-like catalogue feature.

The Flipboard Live Tile gives you an up-to-date look at all the content you’ve subscribed to, along with the ability to pin specific Flipboard selections to your Start Screen. In the app, you can swipe up from the bottom for Subscribe, Refresh, Edit, Flip It, and other options, while swiping down from the top brings up suggestions like what other people also read or magazines you might like. You can also get tips from the “Discover” tab, which houses the Content Guide for recommended reading. Basically, you get all the things that made Flipboard one of the best Android apps and a must-have iPad app.

Flipboard also supports the Snap View or Split Screen multi-tasking mode in Windows 8.1, which let you use the app on one side of the screen while having another app open in another part of the screen.

You can download Flipboard from the Windows Store.

Meanwhile, an update for the iOS and Android apps allows users to create customized buying guides out of items found on Flipboard. Using this, you can make your own product catalogue, allowing readers to even buy what you showcase.

“To jumpstart its commerce activity, Flipboard is launching 11 product-oriented magazines curated by its editorial team, as well as bringing on celebrities like fashion designer Cynthia Rowley and chef Daniel Boulud to create catalogs of their favorite products,” CNET reports.

While it seems like a feature for businesses right now, using the Flipboard browser bookmarklet, you could soon be easily creating shopping catalogues in a snap.

bloggeradsenseo

Microsoft Has Designs On 3D Printing As It Releases 3D Builder For Windows 8.1

Microsoft Has Designs On 3D Printing As It Releases 3D Builder For Windows 8.1

Microsoft has just released a 3D builder for Windows 8.1, meaning Windows users will be able to print their own 3D objects.

Yes, you will need a 3D printer. After that, Microsoft’s recently introduced app called 3D Builder for Windows 8.1 should make it easier for amateurs to try their hand on 3D printing. The application takes advantage of the native 3D printing feature on Windows 8.1 which comes with plug ‘n play support for 3D printers. The operating system also recognizes 3D print file formats. 3D printing technology is trending, and though still not mainstream, there are sufficient resources for anyone who wants to dip their toe in it.

3D Builder makes it easier to design and create objects in 3D. It has a clean utilitarian interface that also offers a readymade library of objects you can create…for instance, toys or something useful like a money clip. You can download a design from the Internet, print 3D designs created in other applications, or easily design a new object from scratch. The user-friendly interface on the face of it looks simple enough to master for anyone. Microsoft says — The clean, simple user interface lets you scale, rotate and adjust what you want to print. Add multiple objects to a single print – even stack or push objects into one another to create new ones.

3D printing could become the norm in a few years. Maybe earlier, as 3D printer prices come tumbling down. The announcement also pointed out that manufacturers like 3D Systems, MakerBot and TierTime will be supporting Windows 8.1 in time for the holiday season. MakerBot is also available at Microsoft Retail Stores.

The introduction of the 3D Builder app is a timely arrival in the rapidly developing field of 3D printing. What do you think about it?

bloggeradsenseo

Best Android Remote Desktop Apps Compared: Which Is Right For You?

Best Android Remote Desktop Apps Compared: Which Is Right For You?

Are you a tech support person on the go? Maybe you just want to be able to set up a download on your home computer while you’re away. There are any number of reasons why you might want to use your Android device for Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) access to a Windows computer. If you’ve got an Android phone or tablet, and can set up Remote Desktop Protocol access on your Windows computer, you will find at least one good RDP client for you here. If you’re looking for something for your iPad.

Before we go any further, we should clarify that these clients do require a Windows computer to be set up with Remote Desktop Connection enabled. There are other ways to remotely connect to, and control, your desktop. Often they use an intermediary service like LogMeIn. There are also open source alternatives, most of them based on the Real VNC source. We’re not looking into these options today, as the intent is to keep the amount of work you have to do to a minimum and use what Windows has already given you for free. Keep in mind, not all versions of Windows support RDC (Remote Desktop Connection), but most of them do. If you’d like to learn more about RDC, I suggest you start with the Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection: FAQ. (Please note that some items in the following screenshots are blurred out for privacy and security reasons.)

Microsoft Remote Desktop - Free

The Features

Microsoft’s Remote Desktop app is as bare bones an RDP app as you can get. You can see in the screenshots that there aren’t any excessive options here. Create a connection profile, search for a connection profile, and connect to a computer. That’s about it. For a little more on this app in its Android and iOS incarnations, flip to Mark O’Neill’s quick read.

There isn’t the option to change experience settings such as Show Remote Desktop or Themes. Being able to use or not use those options gives you control over the quality of the desktop experience and the bandwidth used for the connection. Microsoft says that they have, “High quality video and sound streaming with improved compression and bandwidth usage.” It isn’t clear exactly what that means, however having the ability to control what is brought back to your Android would be preferable.

Connecting to the Remote Computer

If you don’t put in a password when you create the connection profile, you get the standard desktop window asking for your password. Since the window is tiny and the screen controls awkward, this is a real drawback. The little compass rose control is the only way to enlarge or shrink your screen. No Android finger gestures. Any movement of the screen from left to right, or top to bottom, must originate in the compass rose. Terribly awkward. the keyboard is difficult to use as well. This is not the app that it could be. Download and use at your own risk.

2X Client RDP – Free

The Features

2X’s start-up screen is very simple, and intuitive. Your choices are to initiate a connection that you’ve already created, add a new connection, or go into the application settings. If you are creating a new connection, 2X gives you a few options – one is a Standard RDP connection, and two that use 2X’s servers and are fee-based services. These services might be something that you would consider if you require functions and security that an ordinary RDP connection doesn’t have.

NOTE: Do NOT save your password into your RDP profile. It would be very painful if you lost your Android, someone else found it and now had access to your computer or server.

Connecting to the Remote Computer

Once the connection is set up and saved, all you have to do is click on the connection, enter your password, and you’ll be connected to your Windows computer. This is where the RDP apps start to really differ. How do they let you interact with the remote computer? The mouse feature in 2X is very simple to use, the keyboard mimics a Windows keyboard very well, and the client supports standard Android finger gestures for manipulating the screen. You can stretch, pinch, and tap on icons to start programs. It is very intuitive and uncluttered. It also has all the experience settings that most people would want, such as Color Depth, Sound Options and whether this is a console session or not.

Ericom AccessToGo RDP – Free

The Features

AccessToGo has the most features of the RDP apps tested. Not only can you create standard RDP connections, you can also create connections to VMWare View, which is great if your a system administrator running virtualized servers. Ericom also offers the Blaze RDP Server that you can install on your desktop, for faster RDP connections. You have to request a quote for the Blaze RDP server, so it is probably more for use in the business environment. If you are using VMWare at work, you can also create VMWare View connections on the free app as well. Very handy for the server administrator types.

Connecting to the Remote Computer

Because AccessToGo automatically adjusts the size of the desktop to your Android devices screen, you’re able to use the standard Window’s log on dialogue much more easily than with Microsoft’s RDP app. The client also supports standard Android finger gestures for re-sizing the screen, selecting files, and tapping to click. If that’s not enough for you, you can switch to using your finger to control the cursor, using an onscreen mouse with several different controls, and a top bar with special key controls. Whatever way you like to work with your remote desktop, this app has it.

The Takeaway

For a full set of features, ease of use, and server administrator level control, Ericom AccessToGo RDP is the app to get. If you just need something to logon to the home or small business computer remotely, then 2X RDP is your choice. If you don’t like yourself and prefer to do everything the hard way, then you’ll be contentedly miserable with Microsoft’s RDP app.

Do you use any of these RDP apps? If you do, what do you like or dislike about them? Is there another RDP Android app that you prefer? We’d love to hear about it in the comments and why you like it! Do you think these reviews are off-base? Let us know about that too! We’re all in this thing called life together. Let’s help each other out.

bloggeradsenseo

How to Get Your Identity Stolen in One Easy Step

How to Get Your Identity Stolen in One Easy Step

I recently found a discarded desktop computer, a Dell Inspiron model, lingering by the dumpster. Anything left next to dumpsters signifies that the former owner wants you to take it. Whoever abandoned the computer wants to do someone a favor. Unfortunately, computer donators don’t really know what they’re actually giving away: Privacy, passwords, security and potentially a great deal of money.

After giving the discarded computer a quick teardown, I put it through a variety of security tests and found glaring problems – problems our readership may learn from.

Stealing someone’s identity doesn’t take a lot of intelligence or even a lot of effort. The bad guys only need you to trust them with your hard drive and a combination of bootable live disks, brute-force password crackers and recovery software can turn your financial and personal life into a living hell.

Initial Observations

The computer itself had a great deal of dust inside of it – suggesting that the previous owner  likely didn’t properly dispose of their data. Upon close inspection, the dust itself had a peculiar kind of texture to it. When hit with canned air, it didn’t immediately disperse the way most dust does. A sure sign that the owner smoked around his electronics.

For those who don’t know – smoking around computers is a big no-no. Smoke carries with it oil, which adheres dust to surfaces. You can tell the difference between dust from a smoke-free home and dust from a smoker’s. Just put your nose to the power supply exhaust and you can smell the difference.

Opening the computer up revealed a dust-choked, yet still intact computer. All the primary components were there – motherboard, CPU, DVD drive, RAM and the power supply. This shot was taken after blowing it out with canned air. Notice the dust’s persistence.

The component that caught my eye, the soul of the computer: a hard drive. Getting access to just the hard drive gives an attacker a tremendous amount of power. They don’t really need anything other than the hard drive to launch a penetrating assault into the darkest corners of your personal life. Just two kinds of software make it easier than stealing candy from a baby.

Ophcrack

There are about a dozen easy ways to perform a password reset or password recovery on someone’s computer. Ophcrack is a Linux-based Live USB/CD that does just this without any understanding of computers required. Simply download and burn the image to a USB or CD/DVD and boot it on the target computer, just like an installation disk. By default it will attempt to solve up to 14-character long passwords using what’s referred to as a Rainbow Table.

While a brute-force attack attempts to guess the locked computer’s password, a Rainbow Table differs slightly in that it offers a variation on the brute force method, combining a pre-generated table. In short, it can break passwords very rapidly. Considering that most users don’t use secure passwords, it oftentimes takes a few minutes to work. Actually, even secure passwords don’t last long against Ophcrack.

I want to demonstrate how easy it is for a data-thief to steal someone’s password; it’s not my intent to bypass any security measures. How easy is it? On my own computer (not the discarded computer) Ophcrack guessed the password in 0 hours, 0 minutes and 0 seconds. To put that in perspective, the password didn’t withstand a single second getting hammered with brute force. In short, you can’t rely on your login password to protect sensitive data on your computer, unless it’s longer than 14-characters.

On the positive side of things, Ophcrack can recover forgotten Windows passwords. Also, as a means of providing security audits, the software remains an absolutely invaluable service.

Recuva

Recuva can undelete data that you’ve sent to the recycling bin, even after emptying it. It exploits a loop-hole in how operating systems erase data. In order to preserve performance, information isn’t deleted after you clear the recycling bin. Although the operating system marks “erased” data for deletion, it leaves it on the hard drive’s platter until it is eventually overwritten with new data. Here’s a shot of what Recuva looks like as it undeletes your data:

Data isn’t actually reliably destroyed until the portion of the hard drive it inhabits gets overwritten – several times. That’s why data destruction software oftentimes writes over data multiple times. For example, the Cheney administration used a special wipe process known as a “seven level“ wipe. The method writes over erased data seven times, ensuring that not even data fragments could be recovered, even with techniques such as Magnetic Force Microscopy.

Unfortunately, judging from the exterior of the computer, the individual who generously gifted their computer probably didn’t take any precautions. A tell-tale indicator that someone hastily wiped their data prior to handing off a computer is an empty recycling bin. Most people don’t wipe their recycling bins on a regular basis. And if it was recently wiped, chances are that data still inhabits the computer’s hard drive.

Password Theft

When a thief goes for the Triple Crown of skulduggery, he recovers your hard drive, breaks through your password and then loots your computer of its internally held passwords. The two most vulnerable programs are instant messenger clients and most browsers, which store unencrypted passwords. A nearly axiomatic expression has been to not store passwords of any kind on your desktop.

• Chrome: There’s several password recovery tools available for Chrome. You may want to check out ChromePass. One of the main reasons you should never save passwords in Chrome is that there’s no password protection at all.
• Internet Explorer: Internet Explorer requires that you use a recovery tool like IE PassView.
• Firefox: Unlike Chrome, Firefox at least includes a password manager, which you can lock using a password. Password recovery tools do exist for it, though.
• Instant Messengers: One of the best password recovery tools for instant message clients is MessenPass. It works on a variety of clients as well.

There’s a great deal of software options out there for recovering a password from instant messengers, browsers and other software. Considering that many of us reuse passwords on multiple platforms and websites, thieves getting hold of just one can potentially lead to financial disaster.

What Should You Do?

For those seeking to dispose of their own computer, and for those who find one,perform a multi-pass wipe on it. Ubuntu or Linux Mint are great for performing formats. Also, simply overwriting the original installation may not prevent data recovery attempts, but it will reduce the likelihood of it.

For destroying data, try Parted Magic. Parted Magic includes several disk wiping (and cloning) utilities that include multi-pass functionality. If you prefer another solution, try one of the many LiveUSBs offered in Live Linux USB creator . We have covered several password recovery options. On the other hand, we cannot stress enough how important it is to use strong passwords to protect your data.

Conclusion

If you intend on throwing out an older computer, at the very least, consider using a multi-pass formatting tool on the hard drive. At the most, remove your hard drive from your computer before handing it off. A second point that I wanted to make with this article, is that data thieves only need your hard drive in order to get your passwords. The best precaution is to remove your hard drive.  A third point is that you should be empathetic. If you ever find a discarded computer, take the hard drive and wipe it. You get Karma for doing so.

For the computer in question, I performed a multi-pass wipe. With a free hard drive on hand, I then used it in a Linux-based RAID array and donated the remaining parts.

Did anyone else ever forget to wipe a discarded computer? Or find a computer? Let us know in the comments.

bloggeradsenseo

Enjoy The iOS 7 Look On Any Device!

Enjoy The iOS 7 Look On Any Device!

Have you installed iOS 7 on your Android yet? No? Well, that’s probably for the best, but it doesn’t mean you can’t get your chance to enjoy the iOS 7 look without an iPhone.

iOS 7 brought many new features to the table, which you might be curious about even if you’re not an Apple user. Alternatively, you may just like the looks of it, but don’t want to give yourself over to the Apple side. No worries, we’ve got you covered.

If you like dressing up your tech, you can now dress up Android, Chrome and even Windows in iOS 7 clothing. It’s an interesting visual experience, and a great way to confuse your friends. Here’s what you need to do.

Android

As you might expect, there are several iOS 7 themes out there, only some of which are definitely worth your time of day. If you’re looking for the best iOS 7 look and feel, combined with the most versatility, you can’t go wrong with Espier Launcher iOS 7. Espier Launcher is a solid iOS launcher I’ve tested in the past, and it’s iOS 7 version is even better than previous ones.

Espier Launcher tries to strike the perfect balance between Android and iOS. It definitely looks like iOS 7 (as much a it can under the circumstances), and on a device without an ever-present navigation bar like my Nexus 4, you might really be able to fool some less techy people.

It comes with regular iOS features such as the app switcher built in, and you can enhance it further by downloading additional plugins. This way, you can get the iOS 7 Control Center, the lock screen, the notifications, and more. Most of these plugins are free to download, just like the launcher.

If for some reason you’re not liking Espier, you can try the iPhone 5s Launcher, which is nicely done but not as accurate as Espier, or GO Launcher’s iOS 7 theme, if you’re already using GO Launcher and want to stick with it.

Chrome

Why would you want Chrome to look like iOS 7? Because it’s fun, of course. And for true iOS 7 lovers, it’s a great way to enjoy the same visuals every time you launch Chrome. Don’t worry, the iOS 7 New Tab Page will change nothing in your everyday browsing experience. It’s just a new tab page that will help you access your favorite websites iOS 7 style.

The iOS 7 New Tab Page comes built in with numerous icons for many popular websites. It also features the famous Apple tray for your favorite apps (or websites, in this case). Just like iOS, you can click on icons to make them jiggle around, and remove them from the new tab page by clicking the X. You can also drag them around to change their position. Unfortunately, you can’t create folders for your icons.

From the settings, you can control the look and feel of the new tab page by choosing one of the iOS 7-ish wallpapers, and by adding your own websites complete with custom icons. You can export and import your settings and icons and thus use them on several different computers.

The new tab page comes complete with an “App Store”, through which you can add many more website icons to your start page. This App Store looks much like Apple’s, and includes lots of options to choose from. If you’re wondering about the different games, these lead you to Flash versions of the original games in your browser.

iOS 7 New Tab Page is not the best or the most customizable new tab page you can get. For that, you’d want to check out these 9 new-tab-page extensions we’ve reviewed in the past. However, it’s a great way to get the iOS 7 feel into your browser, and it feels pretty genuine. For a theme.

Windows

Before you embark upon dressing Windows up as iOS 7, it’s highly recommended that you create a restore point. Installing themes is not dangerous, but they do change many things in order to achieve the new look. If you change your mind and want to go back, uninstalling the theme may not be enough to revert everything back to normal, and you might find yourself hunting for settings you don’t know how to change back.

Installing the iOS 7 skin pack is easy. If you’re on Windows 7, install this iOS 7 skin pack. If you’re on Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, install this skin pack.

As you can see, what this skin pack does is give you some sort of mix between iOS and OS X. The icon tray at the bottom looks a lot like OS X, but the skin pack does try to give you an iOS experience with its sliding desktop and its different widgets.

It’s definitely different from your normal Windows experience, so if you’re on Windows and hate it, miss your old Mac, or just want something different and fresh, it’s a fun theme to try. Don’t expect your computer to turn into something that acts like an iPhone, though.

Bottom Line

Dressing up your tech is fun. And iOS 7 is not the only costume out there. You can even dress your Android phone up as a Windows Phone, a Blackberry, and even an old iPhone.

Do you like using themes on your devices? What are the best-looking themes you know of? Share below!

bloggeradsenseo