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A recent client asked me to help lock down a single laptop, providing a work profile and a play profile. After several installations and removals of trial versions of applications, I found the right combination of applications: Webroot Parental Controls and Tropical Software Secure Browser. This combo fulfilled the most of the client’s requests of all I could find.

TropSoft’s application is controlling where the work profile can browse on the internet. While there are many apps that do that, this is one of few that allows TLD filtering rather than relying on a company’s list of approved sites or filtering on content. The work profile needs to access .org, .edu and .gov sites, needing access to only a couple of .com sites.

Webroot’s application is being used to control the work profile’s access to programs, denying access to applications like Internet Explorer, Firefox, games and media players. It’s also limiting the amount of time the play profile can be logged on each day.

Both applications are relatively inexpensive, running $40-45 each.

Many people have asked me about making a PDF, for there are so many applications available on the web. In my experience, PrimoPDF is the best. I’ve used it for several years and have seen it only improve in that time. I install it on PCs as part of my standard load for many clients. It’s so simple to use and using it produces files one can supply to other people that can be read on any PC or Mac and generally cannot be edited. Once installed, one simply “prints” to it as if printing to a standard printer. Once the print job is sent, PrimoPDF opens and asks for the location to save the PDF and presents other options for more customization. Try PrimoPDF if you need to create PDFs. It’s certainly worth being your first application before buying one that does more than most of us need.

I just used CrossLoop today for the first time. A well-timed call from a client allowed me to test it in situ. Having used a variety of remote PC management applications, I was amazingly pleased with how simple it was to guide him through the simple setup and session initiation. Upon completing the session initialization, I was able to remotely manage Ronnie’s PC much like any other remote management application I’ve used. Of course, there is some latency between actions and viewing the results, but that’s pretty normal. The big deal with CrossLoop is twofold: (1) It’s free. (2) It’s simple. My experience today showed me it’s a wonderful tool for helping a client from off-site. While nothing is as good as being on location to help a client, this (coupled with a phone call during the session) is a great next-best-thing for assessing/addressing a minor issue. And it can save both time and money for my client.

If you need help, contact your technical resource and suggest using CrossLoop. If you’re the tech, it’s a super-simple way to see and manage the PC in need.

Over the past few months, I’ve been using a dual-monitor setup on a couple of my PCs. Using the one that’s front-and-center as the main screen and placing one to the right of it is the setup I like. The one on the right is the great addition. I use it as a control panel mainly and as a secondary work pane. What does that mean? I have some Google tools (scratch pad, to do list, small calendar) and my instant messaging window always open on the right screen. I also use it for my Palm calendar. It’s exceptionally useful for when I need to reference the content of two different windows frequently. For instance, while learning Swish (a Flash programming application), I had the tutorial on the right monitor and Swish on the main monitor. Two monitors made it so much easier and faster to learn that I was hooked. That’s when I decided to set up my other main system with them.

Now that I’ve been using them for awhile, I am passionate about telling of my experiences with them to people who use their PC a lot. I just set up a new PC for a client and she loves the productivity boost from using dual monitors. Adding a second monitor to a system is super simple and not cost-prohibitive. LCD monitors can be acquired for as little as $150. An extra video card is as little as $50. That’s all you need for a dual-monitor setup on a Windows XP PC.

One tool I like in use with dual monitors is UltraMon. It makes managing the display settings of a dual-monitor system very easy and adds useful functions. The one I use the most is a button added to the minimize/maximize/close buttons in the top right of most windows. It’s a “move window” button that just pops the window over to the other monitor. Super simple, but very convenient. Realtime Soft offers UltraMon as a fully functional trial application and sells it for $40. The price is a little high, but I think you may find you like it enough to buy it.

When you’re ready to graduate from dual monitors to something just a little bigger and better, why not go for this puppy?!

Layers of protection are what will keep your PC virus-free, spyware-free, trustworthy and running well. These layers include: education, operating system updates, anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, and a secure web browser. Adding anti-spyware to your PC is a huge step in creating the layered protection you need to keep your PC safe. Gone are the days of anti-virus being all you need to protect your system.

I’ve used many different applications for eliminating spyware and other nasties not classified as viruses (collectively called malware). One has consistently proven to be invaluable. Ewido has been a favorite tool in my arsenal, cleaning malware from systems so infected that other tools couldn’t even complete their scans. It was purchased this year by Grisoft, purveyor of the excellent free-for-consumers anti-virus, AVG Anti-Virus Free. Recently, Grisoft released their first rebranded version of Ewido, called (surprisingly) AVG Anti-Spyware Free. I’ve not yet had need to tackle a seriously infected system with it, but I have installed it on several PC’s and it seems to be as good as ever.

AVG Anti-Spyware Free is available for a free 30-day, fully functional trial. (Here’s a link to Grisoft’s free products front page, should the direct link be broken.) After 30 days, the major loss in functionality is the loss of automatic updates and real-time protection. Automatic updates simply means that it checks for new spyware definitions daily, then downloads and installs them without your interaction. Real-time protection means that it prevents known spyware from even installing on your PC. While both of these features are highly desirable, it is a great product even without them. Updating the application manually only takes a few clicks and scanning your system is only a few more. The catch is you must remember to do these things! (Create a repeating calendar entry to remind you at least monthly.) Of course, for a reasonable cost of $40 for a two-year subscription, the fully-functional application is quite within reach of most budgets and certainly adds peace of mind, especially for the forgetful of us.

A few other anti-spyware applications that are available for free, are useful and are trustworthy:

• Spybot Search & Destroy (Clean-up and some prevention)
• SpywareBlaster (Prevention - plays very well with Spybot S&D)
• Windows Defender (XP only - plays well with AVG Free Anti-Spyware)
• AdAware (A good product, but I prefer the others)

A WORD OF CAUTION: Be wary of any other free anti-spyware applications, especially if an ad for one pops up on your screen. There are many unscrupulous people selling useless junk billed as anti-spyware. Even worse, some of them will actually infect your system rather than clean it. Here is an excellent list of “rogue” anti-spyware applications.

Add an anti-spyware solution to your PC and know that you are actively protecting your PC and the personal information you store on it and relay through it.

Earlier this month, I purchased a one-year subscription to Carbonite, an online computer backup service. I don’t even recall how I found them, but I’m glad I did. I do take various measures to backup my data, but I had one backup item on my task list that sat there for months: off-site backup. Having backups readily available is a wonderful thing when a hard drive crashes or some other minor calamity happens. (Of course, minor calamities are major ones when you don’t have recent backups or don’t even have them at all!) Unfortunately, major calamities do happen. Houses burn. Tornadoes strike. Jack Bauers fail to diffuse EMP bombs. In short, it’s a good idea to have your data backed up far away from where the original data is.

Carbonite has a simple solution for this and at a great price. For $50 per year, you can backup as much data as you want to from a single PC. Once installed, simply tell Carbonite what folders to monitor and backup. Usually, “My Documents” is all that’s needed. Of course, there are other things to backup that can make disaster recovery easier, like your username folder in “Documents and Settings.” If you’re backing up a PC with multiple user logons, you’ll want to be sure to backup their data, too. Carbonite is selective in what it backs up, but you can configure it to backup specific file types and, using its context menu add-in, you can tell it to back up specific items by right-clicking on them and selecting “Back this up” from Carbonite’s menu.

I backed up about 20GB of data and it took a few days for it to completely backup my data. Now, it’s up-to-date and only backs up what’s new or changed. If I delete a file, it retains the backup of it for 30 days. I can restore individual items simply by using Windows Explorer to navigate Carbonite just as if it were another drive on my PC. Should disaster strike and I need to completely restore all of my data to my current PC or a new one, I simply Visit Carbonite’s website to download their software, install it and initiate a data restore.

The downside of the full data restore is having to wait for the data to download from Carbonite. They state the rate is about 8-9GB/day. Seeing as that’s the only downside I have found, it’s extremely tolerable by me. As long as I’m getting my data back, I can wait a few days. Still, one thing I’d like to see offered by Carbonite is to overnight a set of DVD’s with my backup files on them.

The link to Carbonite at the beginning of this post is an affiliate link. If you try Carbonite by entering your email address, choosing a password and downloading a free 15-day trial (No credit card or other sensitive information is required.), I will receive some money. I started writing this post because I want to share this great service. While writing it, I figured I’d see if an affiliate program was available and signed up. If you’d rather not try Carbonite through my affiliate link, then click here for the direct link to their site. I hope you’ll try this service or find another way to backup your data. Computers can be replaced. Applications can be replaced. Irreplaceable data… Well, you know.

If you’d rather not use an online backup service, burning your “My Documents” folder and other important files to CD or DVD and storing them at Granny’s house, at work or in a safe deposit box is a good way to implement off-site storage. The trick is to remember to regularly update those backups. With Carbonite, (ahem) “Set it and forget it.”

AVG Anti-Virus is a product I have used for several years and have been very pleased with. I recommend it to my clients because it works and because they offer a free version. Recently, AVG 7.1 started displaying a warning to users stating “STAY PROTECTED: Your AVG Anti-Virus Free 7.1 will be discontinued on 15. January 2007!” The page goes on to show two products at costs of $29.95 and $52.95. Below those products is a small link to their full product list.

I’m a little disappointed in them, but I understand their need to market and to sell product when possible. While it may seem that the only option is to either buy AVG or find another free solution, you’ll find in the full product list a link to the description of AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition. This is the new version of their free antivirus solution, version 7.5. Certainly, there are reasons to purchase their fine product, but if the free version works just fine for you, why spend the money? Ultimately, after navigating their site and multi-page sales pitch, you’ll find a link to download the new free AVG Anti-Virus 7.5 software. (In case the link to the download page is changed, you can quickly get to it from Free AVG main page.)

Upgrading from 7.1 to 7.5 is quick and painless. Here’s how, per the manufacturer:

1. Run the AVG Free Edition 7.5 Setup program
2. Click “Next >” on the AVG “Welcome!” screen
3. Click “Accept” on the “License Agreement on Use of an AVG Free Edition” screen
4. Select “Repair installation” on the “Select Setup Type” screen and click “Next >”
5. Select “Restart the computer now” (pre-selected by the program automatically) and click “OK” on the “Installation Complete!” screen to restart your computer and complete the installation

Enjoy retaining your protection from viruses and such, but remember: Antivirus is not all the protection you need. There are lots of other nasties out there and protection from many of them comes in the form of anti-spyware. There are other ways of protecting your system, too, and I’ll talk about them in the coming weeks. The biggest and best thing you can do is to BACKUP all your data! If it took you time to create it, take the time to back it up. Applications are easily reinstalled, but recreating things made with those applications takes time, at best, and can be impossible. Think you can retake all those digital pictures of little Tommy’s first five years on Earth?