Free sharing/colaboration of MS-Office files..

ms-office-2007Well wonders never scease 🙂  It would look like Microsoft is on the free path these days 🙂  Now you can share documents and stuff free via; http://workspace.office.live.com/

Now this is especially interesting for students and the likes, a nice way to collaborate on assignments etc.

I have not yet checked it out in details but it seem quite straight forward.

Maybe there is something interesting in this video.

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Hosted Exchange $9 a month.

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free_30days_banner-transJust heard about this in a webcast this morning, and thought I might share it with you all.

In case you are just dying to get your hands on the exchage functionality (you get Outlook 2007 included) but dont want to install and run the server yourself, then this may be worth checking out;
https://www.dnamail.com/Services/Exchange/Default.aspx

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SandboxIE a virtual sandbox for all your applications

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sandboxieYou must have heard of virtual machines and virtual software (Softgrid and ThinApp former Thinstall) these solutions are really cool and offer a lot in security and ease, however they are not really good for adhoc projects.

Say you need to test a new application but are not sure you want to keep it, well you can fire up a virtual machine and install the software here, however fireing up a virtual machine takes time, memory and ressources so in other words its not ‘easy’ and convient.  Well a little known program takes care of this, SandboxIE, with this baby you can download your application and just right click on it and say run sandboxed.

So how does it work, well its quite ingenious actually. The software will create a “sandbox” for the application (could be anything – a single exe file – Microsoft office or an installation software) anything this software does is written in the sandbox and NOT in your filesystem (both filesystem and registry are sandboxed), however the software can READ anything on your filesystem/registry – the software thus does not know its sandboxed it will preform just as it would in real world.  You can even browse the sandbox and see what files are installed and where (or what changes would be made by the software).

SandboxIE has buildin support for internet browsing security, hence you will by default have a shortcut for launching your Internet browser in a sandboxed environment, this is really cool as if will offer you a VERY high level of security when browsing – any evil stuff you stumble across during your browsing can be undone (activex components installed, Google-Yahoo-Live toolbar, trojans installed).

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What are the applications of this software?

  • Security for one, you can now safely run an application (suspected spyware etc) and the changes it makes are NOT permanent, you can simply empty the sandbox afterwards.
  • Installation tests, say you are installing new software but need to figure out which settings etc are right, well now you can install the same software as many times as you like.
  • Launch your internet browser in a sandbox, none of the trojans and evil scripts on the net can harm your windows installation – any evil stuff installed (including Google Toolbar etc) can be undone by clearing your sandbox.

A word of caution though, even though the software can NOT write to your filesystem it can still read everything on it (registry and files), thus if we are talking spyware or the likes it can still read your confidential information, also spyware/trojans installed while you browse may compromise your privacy even though they cant do permanent damage to your system.

SandboxIE is very easy to get started with, but offers very complex configuration.  If you are interested in or use Virtual Machines of software virtualization you should really check this our, but also if you are concerned with security while you browse the net.

You get a free 30 day trial and then the price is 22€ (well worth its price).
Download and get all the details here; http://www.sandboxie.com/

Get a great podcast intro to SandboxIE here

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Microsoft SkyDrive 25gb FREE storage

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skydriveSo you may have heard about this?  Microsoft has expanded your live-id with an online drive of 25gb of free storage (and I have even heard that if you use the whole thing they will expand your storage automatically, this however is unconfirmed).

So what can you use this for?

Well I immediately thought of an online backup of all my digital photos, and sure enough its possible (and my photo archive is still less than 25gb).  However nothing is ever perfect and this is also true for Skydrive, my problem with it is the file management – I organized my photos in a lot of different folders starting with a year folder and then moving down, however in skydrive you can ONLY upload files NOT folders – well you can manually create folders and upload to them but NOT drag and drop a folder (including subfolders) to SkyDrive.  So is this a show stopper, well no but if your files make use of a complex folder structure then uploading to SkyDrive WILL require some work.

So SkyDrive is indeed exiting but not perfect, but as its free you cant really complain too much can you 😉

You can share your SkyDrive or parts of it with friends which is quite nice.

I recommend you check it out, and while you are at it also check out the related services Live Mesh and Live Sync;
http://www.labnol.org/internet/compare-windows-live-sync-mesh-and-skydrive/6166

To check out SkyDrive log in to;
http://skydrive.live.com (use your live-id or create one)

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Antivirus 2009 – removal

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So a friend of mine got infected by this Antivirus 2009 (that is irony for you, infected by an Antivirus), anyway I will be visiting him shortly to try and disinfect that darn thing.

From what I can figure out I will get the best results by using the tools from;
http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Should be safe to use acording to;
http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/malwarebytes.org

I will update this post with the results of my efford, should you however have better tips let me know..

UPDATE JAN 7th
Malwarebytes malware scanner worked like a charm, big thumbs up.

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Temporary email accounts

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You may remember my last post on “avoid getting spam”, well it would seem there is a bunch of these services out there.

I found a list on; http://www.prospector.cz/Free-email-accounts/Temporary-email-accounts/

I have not checked these, so use at your own discretion.

10 Minute Mail
temporary e-mail address where any e-mails sent to that address will show up automatically on the web page. You can read them, click on links, and even reply to them. The e-mail address will expire after 10 minutes.
AnonymBox
12 hours temporary email account provider.
DodgeIt
temporary email account with seven days lifespan.
E4ward
disposable email address forwarder. They will forwar all emails to your real address. The email forwarding you can throw away anytime.
GishPuppy
disposable email addresses that automatically forward messages to your normal (private) email. Cancel them whenever you want.
Guerrilla Mail
provides you with disposable e-mail addresses which expire after 15 minutes. You can read and reply to e-mails that are sent to the temporary e-mail address within the given time frame.
HaltoSpam
temporary email frowarding service. After seven days is your alias destroyed.
Jetable
temporary email address. As soon as it is created, all the emails sent to this address are forwarded to your actual email address. It will be deactivated after the lifespan you selected (hourd/day/week/month) comes to its end.
KasMail
disposable email for a set period of time, ranging from a few days to a few years. All the messages sent to the disposable address are automatically forwarded to your regular email address. When you decide that you don’t want to use the disposable address anymore, for example if you are receiving too much spam, just make it expire.
Mail expire
temp forwarding email address that allows you to create a free email alias for yourself. For a period you choose, from 12 hours to 3 months, anything sent to this email alias will be passed on to you at your actual email address.
MailEater
free disposable email accounts. No sign up is necessary.
Mailinator
personal disposable email account that is created when mail arrives for it. No signup needed. Your temporary email account will be automatically deleted for you after a few hours.
MailNull
free temporary email service to help you take control over your email. Mail sent to this disposable email will be forwarded to your current email account. You can disable it with a click of the mouse.
Mintemail
free 4 hour email address with option of email fowarding.
MyTrashMail
free disposable ( temporary ) email service.
No Bulk
offering anonymous email accounts (no password required).
NoSpamFor.Us
temporary email forwarding service. After seven days is your alias destroyed.
PookMail
instead of giving your real email address to every website on Earth, just make up an imaginary name for @pookmail.com. After 24 hours is your temporary email account cleaned from the system.
Shortmail
short-term disposable email account service. All email are deleted after a 72 hours period.
Skeef Mail
allows you to register at other websites without giving away your own e-mail address. Instead, create a temporary e-mail account that’ll last 60 minutes. Enough time to receive e-mails that contain activation or download links, and to reply to e-mails that ask for confirmation.
Slopsbox
receive only email account where everything is deleted after 24 hours.
Sneakemail
disposable email service.
Soodonims
a free, unlimitted disposable email address site. No click address create . Control by time and qty received. Simple termination of spam mail. Easy to use, it will indicate the websites that are careless with your email address.
Spam.la
throw away email accounts. Simply choose a name and then you can filter out the messages to this address online to see it. No need to sign up.
Spam.Su
receive spam to any mailbox at spam.su (such as example@spam.su) without registration, passwords or logins. Access it by the corresponding URL (such as http://example.spam.su).
SpamBob
provides free disposable email addresses for use whenever you don’t want to provide your real email address.
Spambox
with this service you can create a temporary e-mail address that will forward all incoming mail to your usual e-mail address. You can choose the expiry time of the temporary email from 30 minutes up to one year.
Spamfree24
free and fast throw away email addresses. Your incoming mails will be temporarily stored for 2 hours.
Spamh0le.com
An anonymous temporary email forwarding service. It allows you to sign up for a short term mail forwarding account. You choose a name and how long you want the account to stay active.
Spaml
automatic disposable email solution where you don’t have to click. When you visit this site the auto-generated email address is automatically saved to your clipboard.
Spmagourmet
Self-destructing disposable email addresses.
TempEmail
place where you get a free, temporary, disposable, anonymous email address, keeping your own email address spam and virus free.
Temporaryinbox
free disposable email address, which doesn’t require registration and can be used to avoid spam. Use this email address in forums, lotteries, erotic sites or wherever. The spamers will never find out your private email address.
WillHackForFood
temporary email account with longevity from 8 hours to 7 days.
WillSelfDestruct
this site enables you to create a one-time secure web page for a recipient. You can create a secure anonymous email message to a friend or colleague by entering their e-mail address and the message, i.e. sending a password or other sensitive information that you don’t want other people to see. The recipient will receive an e-mail with a link to a one-time secure web page which they will be able to view once and only once. Once the url has been accessed the message is deleted. You may enter your email address or just simply your name if you wish. If you do not enter an email address or name your identity will be anonymous to the message recipient. No messages or e-mail addresses are stored after the message has been viewed. We also do not log your IP address or any information about you, your message, or the recipient. Once sent, all data disappears forever.
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YouTube issues with WP 2.7 (see update at the buttom)

It would seem there is an issue with embedded youtube videos, will my troubbles never end :-(…

If anyone got the inside knowledge on why youtube videos and WordPress 2.7 does not work please let me know 🙁

Just tried with Firefox 3 and there everything worked fine… I do however get the yellow warning sign in IE the lower left corner stating a problem with the page.. but no problems in Firefox.. very strange indeed..

I even tried the procedure described on;
http://www.eastwoodzhao.com/day-4-internet-explorer-youtube-compatibility-issue-fixed/
but still not working 🙁

Additional note; I later found out it works ok on a IE6 I have on a virtual machine, I am beginning to suspect foul play (or at least settings) on my IE7.

UPDATE JAN 5th,
I today also tried on my work pc, and guess what it worked like a charm.  Thus it would seem the problem is with my IE7 at home 😐  How the f… do you debug that 🙁

UPDATE JAN 7th,
I have read and tried a lot of different ideas to solve this, this includes re-installing flash player (for which I was very hopeful) however still no luck.  When I uninstall Flash player a border is shown around the YouTube embedded video, once Flash installed this is removed and replaced by ‘nothing’ a transparent window with no border..  Could it be an IE setting?  Help is greatly appreciated.

UPDATE MARCH.
Sorry for not mentioning this before, but the issue somehow went away by itself during the end of January / beginning of February, very strange 😐

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Commenting on blogposts..

As I was forced to move to a new provider, I used the time to test some additional safety features and as a result I have reopened for commenting on my blog posts.

Happy commenting..

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Avoid getting spammed – when using download forms

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spam
We all know the hassle, you wish to download some neat utility but the download link require you to hand over your email address (download link send via email). Now as a person that has previously released quite a few utilities I can understand why this is, its nice to see who is using your software and neat to have a database you can mail to in case of updates etc, however as not everyone respects your privacy I don’t like to provide my email to just anyone..

So is there a solution you ask, and yes indeed 🙂 its right here;

http://slopsbox.com/

So how does it work, well fairly simple actually, here is a step by step guide;

1. open http://slopsbox.com/
2. click “List (and add) domains
3. Now scroll through the domain names and find one you like.
4. now to create your temporary mail address all you need is your imagination, add whatever you like in front of the domainname you chose before (eg. mr.cool@aliraheem.com) – you can choose what ever you like simply add @domainname to the handle/name you choose.
5. Now goto the site where you want to download, enter “your new email address”.
6. Goto http://slopsbox.com once again, enter the email (the one you invented yourself) and the code displayed, and sure enough there is your email download link 🙂

Ok, the world is not perfect, so do allow 10-20 min for the mail to arrive, if no mail arrive in 20 min try again with a different domainname.

Remember the mail address you ‘invent’ is accessible by everyone, hence make sure not to provide personal details when you subscribe to what ever it is you use the mail address for, once you get your login (to the download site etc) be sure to log on and change the password – anyone who guess ‘your email’ can read your mail so anything provided in the mail must be considered compromised.

But the good news is that you dont have to worry about getting spammed 🙂

Happy emailing..

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Nifty search tip – domain/ip search

Ok just heard about this lately, its actually rather cool.

goto live.com , in the search field enter;

IP:<IP ADDRESS>

<IP-ADDRESS> would be the IP of a webserver, adsl line or whatever, the neat thing is that you will now get a listing of all the domains hosted on this IP..  Nice..

Usually I use google for searching, and they may have a similar feature but I have not had time to dig into that.

What can I use that for you say?  Well, say you want to find more information about the owner of a web-site, well there are all the usual steps like whois etc.  but by using the above you can detirmine what other websites are hosted on that IP, this can maybe give you further info on the owner or the hosting provider.

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