Creating a Good Password That's Easy to Remember

Conventional wisdom tells us that a password needs to be complex to be strong. Complex means that the password includes different character types--numbers, uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and symbols. And of course, the password is preferably not a real word, and it better not be something like Fluffy-2. (I'll give you one guess about that person's next password.)

Don't get me wrong; a complex password is indeed a good idea, until it gets so complex that you have to write it down. Once you do that, you've made your password more discoverable.

There are a couple of articles from Microsoft that talk about another option: long passwords. The longer, the better. (In this article, search for the section called, "Myth: Passwords Must Be Complex to Be Strong." In this other article, search for the section called, "What should I do to protect my passwords?") One easy way to create a really long password is to use a passphrase. This is preferably a phrase that you can easily remember, but may not make sense to somebody else. For example, "The bird wasnot inthekitchen's waterbed." After reading the articles mentioned above, you'll understand why this is such a good password. Even something simpler, such as "I'mgladBobreturnedwiththemilk" would take a long time to crack.

I'm not saying complex passwords are a bad idea, nor am I saying that long passwords are a complete alternative to complex ones. The best password is both complex and long. I.T. pros and others protecting high-security accounts should still strive to use the most complex passwords possible, and a password utility like PINs (see previous post) can help. But for the regular Joe wanting to keep his accounts secure, a long password--or passphrase--may be the best option.

Freeware Feature: PINs

PINs

Purpose: Store passwords in a secure database
Web site: http://www.mirekw.com/winfreeware/pins.html
Skill level required: Beginner

Deep down, you know that you shouldn't use the same password for so many of your accounts. You also know that you should use more complex passwords, rather than just incrementing a digit at the end of your pet's name every time your password expires. The problem is, how are you going to remember all those passwords?

The answer is PINs. Actually, the answer is: an encrypted password database. PINs just happens to be a fantastic and free one. With solid encryption and superb portability (no installation is required), PINs is my password database of choice for home and work.

A bonus is that PINs can generate passwords for you. So it can generate a password like P!+tZ-(9M, and you don't have to worry about remembering it. Or better yet, we can devise a password that's much more difficult to crack and is easier to remember. But you'll have to wait for another post to hear about that trick.

Leave Me Alone!

Another tip for the non-geeks out there (because the geeks already know this one):

As important as Windows Updates are, there are times when Windows wants to reboot following the updates, and you're in no mood to reboot your computer. You'll get to it soon enough, but you want to get rid of the nagging reminder that pops up every 5 minutes:



There are a couple of ways to handle this, but here's one of the easiest:

• Click Start
• Click Run
• Type "sc stop wuauserv" without the quotes, and press Enter

You've just stopped the Automatic Updates service. The yellow shield in your system tray will disappear, and you won't be nagged every 5 minutes.

Keeping It Clean

Now here's a predicament: You enjoy movies and television shows, but you don't appreciate foul language and indecency that is often found in them. So what can you do? The way I see it, the options can be categorized as follows:

1. Avoidance. This entails watching only those movies and shows without the offensive content. I understand and respect this choice, but it sure limits your entertainment options.
   
2. Manual censoring. This entails strategic use of the fast forward and mute buttons. The drawback is that it's difficult; you could get burned. This is particularly unacceptable when you're watching a movie with your family.
   
3. Automated censoring. This is my favorite option. It's more accurate and less stressful than manual censoring, but it's not free.

Manual Censoring

To effectively fast forward or mute unwanted content, you need to first educate yourself on the movie's content. I know of three free services that can help you in this matter:

1. Screen It (http://www.screenit.com/). This site evaluates 15 different content categories for each movie, including Alcohol/Drugs, Blood/Gore, Violence, and more. After reading through the categories that are of interest to you, you will be well-prepared to avoid any content that you don't want to see. This site is advertisement-heavy unless you're a subscriber. I personally bookmark the search page and use a popup blocker; I find the site most usable that way.
   
2. PluggedIn Online (http://www.pluggedinonline.com/). This site from Focus on the Family reviews movies, with a focus on appropriateness of content. I haven't used it much, but I heard about the site from a relative. It's worth a look.
   
3. The Dove Foundation (http://www.dove.org/). The mission of this foundation is "To encourage and promote the creation, production, distribution and consumption of wholesome family entertainment." Movies are reviewed for their family-friendliness.

Automatic Censoring

There are a couple of tools that can perform automated censoring. The tools differ in several ways.

• TVGuardian (http://tvguardian.com/). The TVGuardian is a device (or embedded functionality in a TV or DVD player) that filters out only foul language. Its strength and weakness is that it does so by monitoring the closed captioning for offensive words. There are some options in the system, such as how strict to be and whether to display modified closed captioning text when the audio is muted. TVG has been expanding its product line. I've personally used only one of their old devices similar to the Model 301 currently on their site, but other options are now available. Keep in mind that some of these Pros and Cons may be outdated if their technology has recently improved.
  
  • Pros
    
    • Works on anything that's closed captioned, including television, DVDs, and VHS tapes.
      
    • Cost ($70 for basic unit). No ongoing costs. Once you purchase and install the unit, it can run for years.
      
  • Cons
    
    • Only language can be filtered.
      
    • Not all movies—even DVDs—are closed captioned. If the production company (such as Universal Studios) decides that subtitles are a good substitute for closed captioning, the TVGuardian won't work.
      
    • You miss too much. TVGuardian mutes the audio when an offensive word is detected in the closed captioning. But closed captioning can show an entire sentence at one time. So to mute a single word, TVG has to mute a lot of audio.
      
    • Its accuracy is limited. If the closed captioning isn't completely in sync with the audio, the TVG can't do its job.
      
    • The replacement words are ridiculous. TVG replaces the word "screw" with the word "doodle" on screen (when that option has been selected). Some of the other word substitutions are equally silly.
      
    • The system cannot discriminate. A word like "screw" can be used innocently or offensively. TVG doesn't know the difference. So try watching a home improvement show with TVG, and you're likely to miss quite a bit.
      
      
• ClearPlay (http://www.clearplay.com/). ClearPlay-enabled DVD players can filter language and much more. With this system, the DVD players use DVD "filters" or "masks" to block out unwanted content. The DVD is never actually modified; ClearPlay just fast forwards past unwanted visual content, and mutes unwanted audio content. These filters are created by ClearPlay staff, so the process is much more labor intensive than the TVGuardian technology. Therefore, the ClearPlay model requires a subscription (although an option does exist for buying individual filters, which may work well if you don't watch many movies). The benefits include improved accuracy and a wider range of content categories. Unfortunately, this technology is currently limited to DVDs.
  
  • Pros
    
    • Accuracy. The filters are created by humans who watch the movies and pinpoint (to the second) where the undesirable content is.
      
    • More than language is filtered. Scenes of indecency, violence, or drug use can be completely skipped.
      
  • Cons
    
    • DVD only (and you need to buy a ClearPlay-equipped DVD player)
      
    • Cost ($85-100 for DVD player, $80/year for membership –but other payment options exist)
      
    • Procedure. With my early ClearPlay DVD player, I had to burn the filters onto CDs, and the filters needed to be loaded for each movie I wanted to watch. It's cumbersome. Obtaining the filters by modem or USB—which you can do on some of their players—would be much easier.
      
    • Limitations. Because these filters are created manually, you'll encounter movies that do not have filters. What's worse is that a different filter often has to be created for each edition of a DVD (widescreen, full screen, director's cut, special edition, etc.). You have to be sure you're renting/buying the edition that ClearPlay created a filter for.

Conclusion

A combination of these tools may be your best option. With the right tools, you can open up your entertainment options while keeping offensive content out of your home.

Research for Moderate Germophobes

Before I get labeled with a severe case of mysophobia, let me say that I don't carry around a handkerchief for opening doors and dusting off seats in restaurants. I don't have problems shaking people's hands. You won't find any evidence of a disposable seat cover if I ever use the bathroom at your house.

But...

I won't share a toothbrush with you.
I do purchase hand sanitizer occasionally.
My door-opening habits have been changed by the wear patterns on these doors. I figure that if I can avoid the most-used part of the door with almost no effort, why not?

Freeware Feature: VideoLAN VLC Media Player

VideoLAN VLC Media Player

Purpose: Multi-format, cross-platform media player

Web site: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Skill Level Required: Intermediate

It can be surprisingly difficult to play DVDs on a computer.

If you've ever added a new DVD-ROM drive to a computer yourself, or if you've ever just had to completely reinstall Windows, you may have found that Windows Media Player doesn't want to play your DVDs. What happened, you ask? You probably lack the proper codec.

CODEC stands for "compression/decompression algorithm." In simple terms, the video on your DVD (and other digital videos) is compressed--packaged--before it's distributed. Your media player needs to have the know-how (packaged in a codec) for decompressing the file and making it usable on your computer. Microsoft chose to not include a standard DVD codec in Windows. Bummer. Hopefully you happen to have a DVD software program that has the necessary codec; you may just need to find and install it. But if you don't own such a program or can't find it, what can you do?

I can offer you at least one solution. One day when I was looking for a free solution to this problem, I stumbled upon VideoLAN's VLC Media Player. It's an open-source project, and it's still under development. I personally found the video to be a little jerky at times, but usable. I suspect this problem will be eliminated in time, if it hasn't been already.

I also found the software to be less intuitive than Windows Media Player, but that too is likely to be fixed in time. The point is, I now have a solution for any computer that tells me I don't have the proper codec for playing a DVD.

UPDATE: While researching codec licensing options for my company, I found that users of VLC Media Player are technically required to pay royalties to one or more patent-holders. You can read about it here. (And for the systems administrators out there, it's worth noting that a couple of the big players in the commercial DVD codec market say that we're not allowed to use our OEM licenses when we clone PCs, meaning that buying WinDVD, PowerDVD, etc. preinstalled on your PCs is useless unless if you use cloning. This leaves two viable options: 1) buy a site license for a DVD player or codec, 2) use Windows Vista Ultimate or similar OS, which does come packaged with a DVD codec. Microsoft recommends not using Ultimate in a business environment though.)

Update on Amazon Price Alerts

One of the Amazon price alert services mentioned in this post has been updated. I received word from the APriceAlert.com webmaster a couple of days ago that the price threshold feature I requested has been added. Now you can get notified when a selected item at Amazon hits your specified price.

You won't see this option until you enter some initial information and hit Submit. The price threshold is set on the second page, prior to final confirmation.

As of today, it appears that there's still a built-in 30-day limit on price alert requests. That's because this site was built to serve the needs of people who want to take advantage of Amazon's 30-day price guarantee.

Let It Snow

I don't loathe snowstorms quite as much as I used to.

When I bought my string trimmer (or 'weed eater') a few years back, I decided on a model that supported attachments. [It might be this one; I don't have the model number memorized.] This design essentially makes you pay for a motor only one time, and allows you to simply add whichever attachment you'd like. The attachments aren't cheap, but theoretically they're cheaper than their gas-powered, standalone counterparts.

I now have a string trimmer, cultivator, blower, lawn edger, and a snow thrower similar to this one.

Yep, I said snow thrower.
Yes, I live in a state with real winters.
Yes, I was skeptical too.

It turns out that the snow thrower attachment is more effective than you'd suspect. When the adjustable chute is in the straight position, it can throw snow up to 30 feet or so (the description for a similar model on Amazon's site claims only 20 feet). Turning the chute to the left or right results in a dramatically shorter throw, but it can still get the job done. It has only a 12" wide path, but its design makes it easily maneuverable; I even use it to clear my stairs. I pull this thing out anytime we get more than 2" of snow. I'm not sure I'd use it for a long 2-car driveway, but it might do the trick.

I guess this is a mini-review for the snow thrower attachment, but more importantly, it's a plug for considering TCO (total cost of ownership) when buying anything. It's not just a concept for businesses. More on this topic in the future...

Little Investments

Plenty of research is available indicating which home improvement projects provide the biggest bang for the buck. Remodeling a kitchen? Your $10,000 project might add $9,200 to your home's value. Adding a monkey habitat in the backyard? Well, you might be paying for that one yourself.

That research is great if you're in the position to spend money, and are in the mood to do some serious work. However, I believe there are tiny improvements that can bring a return of 100% or more on your investment. One example: solar lights. Yes, I've seen them overdone, and I've seen them done poorly. But drive by a house with tastefully executed exterior lighting, and tell me that house doesn't look at least $1000 more expensive than the one next to it. That lighting can be accomplished for $200.

General landscaping is another option, though it can get pricey quickly. But if you have enough time to buy the plants young and watch them grow, you can watch your home's value grow right along with them. Besides plants, check with city hall to see if your city offers free mulch or compost, in order to keep your landscaping prices down.

I'm no expert on these things; I'm offering only my opinion. But when I prepare to sell my house, I'm going to line up all those inexpensive but potent cosmetic improvements. And since some of them are quite affordable, I'm putting them in place now so I can enjoy them in the meantime. What cost-effective home improvements do you suggest?

Freeware Feature: Weather Watcher

Weather Watcher
Purpose: Automatic weather updates
Web site: http://www.singerscreations.com/AboutWeatherWatcher.asp
Skill level required: Beginner

Want to scare an I.T. pro? Slowly and quietly approach him from behind, then suddenly yell, "Weatherbug!"

Weatherbug was--and maybe still is--a program that came with baggage. Consumers downloaded it rampantly, even installing it on corporate networks--where it doesn't really belong (for the most part, getting weather reports is not a work-related activity). I.T. pros quickly became annoyed with this program for two reasons: 1) it showed up in antispyware reports, 2) it showed up in network traffic reports. In other words, some security software was flagging it as spyware or adware, and the program was generating a lot of network traffic due to the frequent weather updates. When you're trying to run a clean network, those two things are vexing.

There has been much hubbub on the web about whether Weatherbug--in its current form--is indeed adware. I'm not going to try to settle the argument; I'm here to offer an alternative. (The alternative should probably still not be installed on a corporate network; I'm recommending it just because it's baggage-free.)

Weather Watcher is the program I stumbled upon one day, that is quite advanced for its price ($0). You can get the icon in your system tray, choose what it displays, launch the application, see maps, get multiple forecast formats, and more. There's just one caveat: there is an option to install some adware along with Weather Watcher. For that reason, McAfee's SiteAdvisor (which I've talked about before) gives it a bad rating. If you read SiteAdvisor's review though, you'll find that Weather Watcher users claim that SiteAdvisor's rating is unfair. It's very easy to install the ad-free version of Weather Watcher. No tricks here.

If you want weather updates on your desktop, try Weather Watcher before thinking about Weatherbug.

Bookmarks Evolved

You have an extensive collection of bookmarks (or "favorites") in your browser for the sites that you visit. You become so accustomed to using them that you don't even know the URLs of some of the sites you enjoy. Then one day you're using another computer, and you feel lost. Your bookmarks aren't there, and you can't operate without them. What can you do?

This is the kind of problem people are encountering more and more as computing becomes a commodity. The idea of having one personal computer where you keep all of your data is becoming less tenable. You need some way of storing data so that no matter what computer you're using, your data is accessible. The answer is to store data on a server; the problem is, servers are mostly designed for businesses these days, and typically only geeks put time and money into having a server at home.

The good news is that for small needs like centrally storing your bookmarks, you can use servers on the Internet. For example, Google Bookmarks and Windows Live Favorites are two free services that allow you to store your bookmarks on an Internet server so you can access them from any Internet-connected computer. Neither service provides quite the same quickness and convenience of your browser's built-in Favorites or Bookmarks feature, but they offer important functionality that today's browsers can't deliver.

The Little Oven That Could

I too was once like you: helpless, hopeless--living life without a toaster oven. But those sad days are behind me now.

The toaster oven really is a great idea, particularly if you're cooking for only 1, 2, or 3 people at a time. Rather than heating up an entire oven, you can heat up a relatively tiny space for cooking your food. And if saving energy doesn't float your boat, consider this: some toaster ovens require no pre-heating. With my toaster oven, I can start cooking food the minute I turn it on--saving the 8-10 minutes of preheating over my full-size oven (and again, there is an additional opportunity for saving energy; I'm using the toaster oven 100% of the time that it's turned on).

For what it's worth, the toaster oven I ended up buying after doing lots of research is the Panasonic NB-G100P-S. (Incidentally, this is one of those product categories where the Consumer Reports ratings have absolutely no correlation to consumer ratings on Amazon.com, as I alluded to in an earlier post.) It has minor drawbacks, such as the odd temperature increments, but overall it's fantastic. The reviews on Amazon give you all the information you need.

RAM Upgrades: Easy and Effective, but...

Adding RAM to your computer is an easy and cost-effective way to boost your computer's performance. Even a computer novice can handle this task for either a laptop or a desktop.

It wasn't always easy. There are two parts to upgrading your computer's RAM: 1) finding/buying the right RAM, 2) installing the RAM. Installing it is--and has been--fairly straightforward. Finding it? Well, that used to be quite a challenge.

But years ago, Crucial.com created an easy-to-use web site that helped consumers identify which RAM works in which computers. They have continued to improve their web site, and today, you can use Crucial's system scanner to find out how many RAM slots you have, which ones are full, which RAM works with your system, whether you need to install two modules at a time, and more. Many other sites have followed in Crucial's footsteps (I'm not certain that Crucial.com was the first to develop this "wizard" approach to RAM shopping), but there's another reason to buy from Crucial....

Not all RAM is created equal. I've seen too many people have RAM fail on them, and when RAM goes bad, it can cripple a computer--at least temporarily. Crucial is one of the world's largest RAM manufacturers, and they stand behind their product. There may be a few other good RAM companies out there, but whenever I'm buying RAM for my business or am recommending a RAM upgrade to somebody, Crucial.com is THE place I go. The usefulness of the web site and the reliability of the product justify the slightly higher cost vs. other brands or resellers.

P.S.: Don't forget to use FatWallet when you shop at Crucial.

Save Money on Home Theater Cables

When it comes to audio and video cables, Menards beats other retail stores--including WalMart--hands down. I don't have any hard numbers for you, but the savings is around 20%. When you're setting up a new home theater system, cables can run up a big bill in no time (speaker wire, component video cables, HDMI cables, optical audio cables, etc.), so 20% is significant. You can pocket your savings, or buy a new movie to watch using your new home theater.

I have a Menards 10 minutes from my house, but Home Depot and Lowes are 30+ minutes away, so I don't know how their prices compare on these items. Do all building supply stores have such good prices on home theater parts, or is it just Menards?

Freeware Feature: Avast! Antivirus

Avast! Antivirus
Purpose: Computer security (antivirus)
Web site: http://www.avast.com/
Skill level required: Intermediate

I don't love Avast! Antivirus, but I still recommend it. Here's why:

For one thing, I'm not a fan of Norton Antivirus. No, I'm not one of those people that hates all successful companies for no good reason (I am a fan of Microsoft and WalMart, for instance); I've just seen Norton products cause problems on my own computer and others' computers. This is 6+ years in the I.T. industry talking.

Secondly, I suspect that many people don't stay up-to-date on their antivirus software because it costs money to do so. Do you whip out your credit card every time your antivirus software asks you to do so?

Given those points, Avast! is a decent choice. It doesn't seem to cause as many problems as Norton, and there's no cost hurdle every 12 months. What I don't love about Avast! is its interface. I don't find it very intuitive. Perhaps you will though. If you're looking for a free antivirus program, this one is worth a try--and won't set you back a penny.