Dr. Bill.TV #271 – Video – “The Actual Holiday Edition For Sure Edition”

An unusual Holiday Edition! A Roku update on the Dr. Bill Bailey.NET NETcast Roku Channel! The vision of BitCasa, the Infinite Hard Drive, and how to get it! How to fix your family and friend’s computer over the holidays even if you’d rather not!

Links that pertain to this Netcast:

TechPodcasts Network

Blubrry Network

BitCasa – The Infinite Hard Drive

Malwarebytes – Anti-Malware

Piriform CCleaner

Faronics “Deep Freeze”


Start the Video Netcast in the Blubrry Video Player above by
clicking on the “Play” Button in the center of the screen.

(Click on the buttons below to Stream the Netcast in your “format of choice”)
Streaming M4V Audio





Streaming MP3 Audio

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(Right-Click on any link above, and select “Save As…” to save the Netcast on your PC.)

Available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/gK_5R_jf990

Available on Vimeo at: https://vimeo.com/56533309


Dr. Bill.TV #271 – Audio – “The Actual Holiday Edition For Sure Edition”

An unusual Holiday Edition! A Roku update on the Dr. Bill Bailey.NET NETcast Roku Channel! The vision of BitCasa, the Infinite Hard Drive, and how to get it! How to fix your family and friend’s computer over the holidays even if you’d rather not!

Links that pertain to this Netcast:

TechPodcasts Network

Blubrry Network

BitCasa – The Infinite Hard Drive

Malwarebytes – Anti-Malware

Piriform CCleaner

Faronics “Deep Freeze”


Start the Video Netcast in the Blubrry Video Player above by
clicking on the “Play” Button in the center of the screen.

(Click on the buttons below to Stream the Netcast in your “format of choice”)
Streaming M4V Audio





Streaming MP3 Audio

Streaming Ogg Audio

Download M4V Download WebM Download MP3 Download Ogg
(Right-Click on any link above, and select “Save As…” to save the Netcast on your PC.)

Available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/gK_5R_jf990

Available on Vimeo at: https://vimeo.com/56533309


Holiday Computer Fixing – If You Must!

Fix My Computer!And now for Dr. Bill’s public service for the holidays, “How to fix your computer!” We all know that it happens during the holidays! No matter how much you plan to take time off, kick back, and relax, you soon find that your parents, or your best friend, or someone else that you know, says, “Hey, you’ve got some time off, can you fix my computer? I’ve managed to hose it up with all kinds of viruses, and malware again because I’ve been surfing all over the web and going to places that I shouldn’t go, and clicking on things that I shouldn’t click on. I know you told me, time and time again, NOT to click on those little monkeys that go across the screen, and yet I do it every time! I’m really stupid! However, I’m your friend… won’t you fix my computer!?” To which, you either sigh, and say, “Okay, bring it over and I’ll fix it for you.” Or, you point to your T-shirt that reads, “No! I will not fix your computer!” Which, by the way, you can buy from ThinkGeek.com! Just sayin’. But, most of the time we go ahead and fix the computer because, yes, we’re geeks, but we’re also friends, and family, and generally nice guys!

So, what’s the best way to fix said computer? Well, in the case of a repeat offender, the best thing to do is install Linux Mint, and be done with it! That way they can’t mess it up again, it won’t get infected, and if you don’t give them the root password, they can’t even install more junk! Yeah, I know, this is an unlikely scenario, because a lot of times they say that they absolutely, positively, must have Windows Solitaire… and though you assure them that there is a version of Solitaire that runs on Linux, they just HAVE to have the Windows version, or whatever the software that they’ve grown accustomed to, or addicted to, is! Never mind that Linux has any number…. tens of thousands…. hundreds of thousands… of software packages available! In fact, freely available, for download but, NO! They have to have Windows! Sigh.

So, let’s look at some things we can do, starting from the fairly simple and moving up the ladder, in order to fix your friend’s computer. Microsoft actually has a tool that you may have seen as it downloaded and was updated occasionally on your computer called the Malicious Software Removal Tool. You can access this tool by going to the console prompt of the machine, by going to “Start” then “Run” and inter the command “MRT”. Follow the prompts, and this simple Microsoft utility will uninstall some malware and is pretty straightforward.

If you’re looking for a more thorough purging of malware on a system, I would next move on to Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, however; be sure to download it ONLY from their website, which is located at www.Malwarebytes.org. Install this, update the malware signature file, and run it using the deeper search mode and you’ll be amazed at what it will find!

Another program that I keep in my “fix-it” arsenal is CCleaner. CCleaner is a free product of Piriform Software, and is used to thoroughly clean the machine’s Internet cache, as well as it’s registry, and also has tools for uninstalling software that can be accessed from it’s simple menu system. I install it on pretty much any computer that I build, just to keep it clean.

Now, when you clean the computer, or reinstall the operating system, and put all their data back, which of course you saved! (I know you did!) Then, you are ready to hand it back to them, and say, “Welcome to your new, fast, clean computer! Please don’t muck it up again!” But alas, you know they will! So, go ahead and install something that will allow you to access their computer from a remote location, because you know that they will call having found something that isn’t installed that they needed, or to ask you how to click on icon. (I kid you not, it has happened to me!} There are a lot of tools for remote access; many are paid software services, like Citrix Go-To-Assist, or the paid version of LogMeIn. However, for your purposes, the free version of LogMeIn is probably fine. Lately, I have been installing TeamViewer, which to me, seems to give you a better experience when you take over a computer and work with it, it even allows you to hear the sound coming from their computer. It is available for free, non-commercial use, at www.teamviewer.com.

Also, if they are truly creatures of habit and believe that the Internet can only be accessed from the “Big Blue E,” meaning, of course, Microsoft Internet Explorer, then I have a real neat trick for you! We all know, of course, that Internet Explorer is the least secure browser available to you today, and it practically guarantees re-infection of their computer! And, we also realize that Google Chrome is the safest browser! It will cut down on their infections dramatically! Therefore, we need them to use Google Chrome! It will insure us longer times between pesky rebuilds of their system! If you can’t talk them into using it intentionally, then the next best thing to do is to trick them into using it, so… how do we do that?

Simply install Google Chrome, then right-click on the Google Chrome icon, go to “Properties”, go to “Change icon” and set the icon to be the Internet Explorer icon! You’ll find this icon available in the file: C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll … so, select this file, and locate and choose the Internet Explorer icon. Now, when they “click on the Internet” they’ll actually be running Google Chrome! Tricky, huh? And, no, I am NOT kidding with this suggestion!

And of course, if they are really incorrigible, then you may want to lock their system down completely! A good way to do this is to use a commercial product called “Deep Freeze” from Faronics Software. Their website is www.faronics.com and the Standard Edition, one year license is $35.50. This product will lock down their system, so that every time they reboot, they will be back at the clean build that you provided for them! Whatever junk, or malware, or even legitimate software, that they have installed will simply “disappear!” And, they’ll be back after the reboot to the point at which you left them! This is pretty harsh, but if you value your time, and your sanity, this may be the way to go!

Or, there’s always that T-shirt from Think Geek!

Bitcasa is Da Bomb… and YOU Need It!



Video streaming by Ustream

This video is the TechCrunch “Disrupt” Conference, where Bitcasa founder, Tony Gauda, discussed what Bitcasa is, and how it works. I set this up over the holidays… and, it IS “da bomb!” You won’t understand how much you need this until you try it!

And, by the way, there are clients for: All Windows (including a new Windows 8 app), Linux, Android, (iOS [Apple, iPhone, iPad] is coming soon!) As the video says, the founder, Tony Gauda has a Linux laptop, personally, so you KNOW it works great on Linux!

Infinite Hard Drive
Keep every file you have ever owned in Bitcasa. Ditch the external hard drives, and store your files in your Bitcasa Infinite Drive to free up space on your computer and phone. Never run out of space again.

Access Anywhere
Everything you save in Bitcasa is available on any computer, phone, or tablet. Your music collection, photo albums, movies and videos, documents and files, are available anytime, anyplace.

Keep Your Data Safe
Bitcasa encrypts everything before you upload, safely ensuring only you can access it. We keep at least three copies of everything you store in Bitcasa in data centers 1,000 times more reliable than your PC. You can also rollback to previous versions and recover deleted files.

Share With Anyone
Whether sending hundreds of photos to your friends, an entire portfolio of work to a client, or your baby’s first steps to Grandma, Bitcasa makes sending any file or folder — no matter how large — instant and easy.

Easy to Use
Download the Bitcasa Infinite Drive, and use it just like any external hard drive. You’ll never have to worry about lugging USB cables and large hard drives around to access your stuff – now everything can be accessed from anywhere!

Keep Your Computer Synced
You can also elect to “mirror” all your computers to your Bitcasa Infinite Drive. Your files are automatically and continuously backed up and available anywhere. Everything is still available offline, and your changes will sync up when you are back online.

It is FREE for now, and then sometime next year, it will be $10.00 per month. Try it NOW!

BitCasa – The Infinite Hard Drive

Dr. Bill.TV #270 – Video – “The Merry Christmas, a Little Early Edition”

Mistserver is now open source! Psy’s Gangnam style hits one billion views, Johnson Space Center’s parody of Gangnam style! The Roku Remote app for Android, a demo! No iTunes podcast submission until Dec. 27th. GSotW: VirtuaWin: Virtual Desktop Manager!

Links that pertain to this Netcast:

TechPodcasts Network

Blubrry Network

VirtuaWin: A Virtual Desktop Manager for the Windows


Start the Video Netcast in the Blubrry Video Player above by
clicking on the “Play” Button in the center of the screen.

(Click on the buttons below to Stream the Netcast in your “format of choice”)
Streaming M4V Audio





Streaming MP3 Audio

Streaming Ogg Audio

Download M4V Download WebM Download MP3 Download Ogg
(Right-Click on any link above, and select “Save As…” to save the Netcast on your PC.)

Available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/1QQRiyKdtaI

Available on Vimeo at: https://vimeo.com/56166155


Dr. Bill.TV #270 – Audio – “The Merry Christmas, a Little Early Edition”

Mistserver is now open source! Psy’s Gangnam style hits one billion views, Johnson Space Center’s parody of Gangnam style! The Roku Remote app for Android, a demo! No iTunes podcast submission until Dec. 27th. GSotW: VirtuaWin: Virtual Desktop Manager!

Links that pertain to this Netcast:

TechPodcasts Network

Blubrry Network

VirtuaWin: A Virtual Desktop Manager for the Windows


Start the Video Netcast in the Blubrry Video Player above by
clicking on the “Play” Button in the center of the screen.

(Click on the buttons below to Stream the Netcast in your “format of choice”)
Streaming M4V Audio





Streaming MP3 Audio

Streaming Ogg Audio

Download M4V Download WebM Download MP3 Download Ogg
(Right-Click on any link above, and select “Save As…” to save the Netcast on your PC.)

Available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/1QQRiyKdtaI

Available on Vimeo at: https://vimeo.com/56166155


Geek Software of the Week: VirtuaWin!

VirtuaWin

So, you like the multiple desktop feature in Linux, and would like to have it on Windows? No problem! Here’s VirtuaWin!

VirtuaWin: A Virtual Desktop Manager for the Windows

VirtuaWin is a virtual desktop manager for the Windows operating system (Win9x/ME/NT/Win2K/XP/Win2003/Vista/Win7). A virtual desktop manager lets you organize applications over several virtual desktops (also called ‘workspaces’). Virtual desktops are very common in Unix/Linux, and once you get accustomed to using them, they become an essential part of a productive workflow.

VirtuaWin is designed to be simple and elegant to use yet still be highly configurable and extensible.

HAVE AS MANY AS 9 VIRTUAL DESKTOPS ON WINDOWS WITH VIRTUAWIN!

VirtuaWin is a freely distributed program and is licensed under the GNU General Public License.

Apple’s iTunes Podcast Submission Shut Down Over Christmas

I got this from Apple:

“Dear Podcast Provider,

iTunes podcast submission system will be offline from approximately December 21, 2012 through December 27, 2012 (Pacific). During this time, you will be unable to submit new podcasts to the iTunes Store. New episodes may appear in existing podcasts in iTunes Store slower than usual due to increased seasonal system load. Full functionality to the iTunes podcast submission system will be restored on or about December 28, 2012.

As always, you can continue to manage & edit podcasts that are already on the iTunes Store through their associated RSS feeds.

Regards,

The iTunes Podcasts & Radio Team”

Gangnam Style Makes YouTube History

So, the original Gangnam style video has hit one billion views. Dewd! We are SO bored!

Gangnam Style Makes YouTube History: First Video to Hit 1 Billion Views

“Today, a 34-year-old K-Pop artist made online video history when his viral video, Gangnam Style, smashed our records and became the first video ever to reach one billion views. Yup, that’s right one BILLION views!

PSY’s success is a great testament to the universal appeal of catchy music– and er, great equine dance moves. In the past, music distribution was mostly regional. It was more difficult to learn about great artists from around the world. But with a global platform at their fingertips, people are now discovering and sharing amazing music from all over the planet, by artists like Brazilian Michel Teló and Belgian-Australian Gotye.”

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