EmergingTechs.com

As an IT manager, I am constantly setting up new computers. I wish setting them up was as easy as just plugging them in and turning them over to the user but it’s not. Before I can do this, not only do I have to install all of the typical company software, but I also have remove all of the preloaded trial software. This can take lots of time depending on the manufacturer of the computer and how much software has been preloaded. This is time that I could spend doing other things like managing our servers. In my search to make this process much easier, I have found a program that will automatically uninstall preloaded software for me, and I would like to show you how to use it. read more »

With so many different brands of antivirus software, choosing one can not only be difficult, but also expensive. With this being said, I would like to share with you some of the best free antivirus programs available including a site that ranks all antivirus software based on how successful they are at removing viruses. read more »

If you are a tech, then you probably know that hard drive failures are inevitable. Chances are that sooner or later it will happen to someone you support or possibly even you. Even with a successful backup, you still may not have files that were created or modified after the last backup. Even worse is when you don’t have a backup at all. There is still hope however. I would like to show you how you can use a simple freeware utility to recover files even when your hard drive will not boot. read more »

My previous job was at a state university. Before sending our old computers off to auction, we had to wipe all hard drives according to Department of Defense 5220-22.M standards. This was to ensure the next owner would not be able to recover any sensitive files that were stored on the computer even through forensic analysis. Now I would like to show you how to wipe a hard drive following this same technique. read more »

If you support users like I do, then you will know how frustrated they can get when their hard drive fails and they have no backup. Even worse is when this happens to you. That is why I would like to share with you an easy way to automatically back up your hard drive using a very powerful free backup utility. Just follow these simple steps. read more »

Have you ever come across a computer that wouldn’t connect to the Internet after removing spyware or other network related software? Or maybe you can connect, but you can only visit certain sites while others time out. This problem is associated with winsock corruption in Windows XP. At this point most people reload the machine. Now you don’t have to. This utility has helped me a countless number of times so I would like to share it with you. read more »

In the following article I am going to show you how to host a web site from your own computer. Why would you want to do this you might ask? Well for one, it’s free. It’s also great for hosting small web sites or sharing large files with friends. However, if you are planning on running a site with high traffic I would not recommend this. Just follow these simple steps and you will have your own web server up and running in no time. read more »

Over the years I have used many different types of remote administration utilities to manage my remote workstations and servers. Some of these utilities have worked great and others not so great. For the past year or so I have been using a free utility that I feel has surpassed all of the rest. It is easy to use, has a very fast response time and the best part about it is that it works through your web browser so you can connect to your computers from anywhere. read more »

The title says it all. I am a tech and I have found all of these portable apps to be very useful so I thought I would share them with you. All of them can run directly from your USB flash drive. I hope you will find them useful too. read more »

If you are like me and you use your flash drive between your Mac and your PC then you have probably noticed some extra files that Macs leave behind when you open it up in Windows. These files are usually titled .Trashes, .DS_Store, and various other dot underscore files, which are called resource forks. After a while, quite a few of these pesky files can accumulate and you must browse through each folder to delete them only to have them reappear next time you use your device on a Mac. These files have also been known to cause problems with some MP3 players and cameras. Unfortunately OS X does not have a feature to prevent these files from being created on removable drives but there are some utilities that will remove them for you. read more »