Love quickly switching between websites by using tabs with Firefox, Chrome, or Safari? Wish you could use tabs with MS Office?  Now you can, thanks to a freeware utility called Office Tabs.

Office Tabs installs in seconds, is readily customizable, and will make your use of Office easier, faster, and dare I say, more enjoyable. Instead of tediously switching from document to document, each is represented by a tab in a single Word, Excel, or PowerPoint window:

You can simply click on the document you want to work on, or use a simple, user-defined shortcut to switch from document to document. To open a new document, simply double click on the blank space in the tab bar. Office Tabs is easy and intuitive to use, and I’m confident you’ll really enjoy trying it out. Many aspects can be customized, including the appearance, position, and colors of the tabs. Here’s another Excel example (you can see I’ve customized it so the tab for the worksheet I’m using is highlighted yellow) -

Office Tabs works with all editions of MS Office 2003, 2007, and 2010, and is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, and XP. A premium version which has additional capabilities (save all tabs, close all tabs, etc.) is available for $25, but the free version has all the basics and definitely will enhance your Office experience. Now, if it could only refill my coffee cup!  See it here:  Office Tabs

I recently ran up against the nastiest piece of malware I’ve ever encountered – Windows Security Suite – (which of course has nothing whatsoever to do with Microsoft or Windows).  In a word, the program makes your computer seem completely infected and compromised, to the point where you can’t launch your browser, Task Manager, your anti-virus software, or much of anything.

Also known as Windows Defender virus, the program launches numerous – and I mean TONS – of popups which politely suggest that you are hopelessly, irretrievably FUBAR’d.   …and of course, it offers to sell you a program – for $49.95+ – to clean up your computer.  …hence, “ransomware.”

YMMV, but I was able to find a way to defeat it, and effectively remove it from my PC (This is a Dell Inspiron running XP.)  I discovered that if I rebooted the computer, it took the malware 40 seconds or so to actually start running – and launching popups.  Knowing this, I rebooted the computer, launched Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore as quickly as I could, and restored the computer to its state 3 days ago.

That seemed to clear things up, other than my McAfee AV program was acting a bit strangely.  I re-downloaded the software (it then ran normally), and performed a full scan of the hard drive, which produced absolutely nothing.

Then I downloaded and ran a scan using Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, which identified 2 issues with the Registry and 2 infected files and removed them.

These were the Registry issues:

Registry Data Items Infected:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center\AntiVirusDisableNotify (Disabled.SecurityCenter) -> Bad: (1) Good: (0) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center\FirewallDisableNotify (Disabled.SecurityCenter) -> Bad: (1) Good: (0) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.

And the two infected files:

Files Infected:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\certstore.dat (Trojan.Agent) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.
C:\Documents and Settings\Kevin\Local Settings\Temp\svchost.exe (Trojan.Agent) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.

Everything’s OK now.

I’m not sure how the system became infected, but I imagine it was from an email or perhaps a questionable website.  In any event, it was not an enjoyable experience.

Keep this in mind, should you encounter a similar problem.

If you use Google maps to create itineraries or check out sights to visit and own a Garmin GPS, the two are a powerful travel planning combination. It takes just seconds to download sites, including their addresses to your Garmin device.

All that’s required is a Garmin GPS and one of the following PC’s & browsers:

• Compatible computers and Internet browsers:
  • IBM-compatible PCs running Windows® XP or Vista operating systems with Internet Explorer 6+ or Firefox 1.5+
  • Intel-based or PowerPC G3 or later Mac OS 10.4 or later with Firefox 2.0+ or Safari 2.0+
  • (Also available for Mac:  Communicator plugin for Mac

Download any Google maps location in seconds…

As I explain on the brief video a bit further below, having created a map (immediately below) of sites and museums we want to visit in Rome, I began wondering if there was any simple way to add those sites to my Garmin GPS…

By the way, if  you’d like to view the map above in Google maps (so that all the location links are “live”), click here:   Rome attractions & restaurants

To add Google maps locations to your Garmin device, you need the Garmin Communicator plugin, available here:  Garmin Communicator.

The following video covers exactly how to transfer Google maps locations to your Garmin device, once you’ve installed Garmin Communicator on your computer:

It only takes about 15 seconds or so per site, and when you’re done your downloaded sites will appear in your Favorites on your Garmin GPS:

A couple of other notes:

Google maps is not compatible with the iPod Touch, and I imagine, the iPhone.  Pity.  I can view Google maps with my BlackBerry Tour, but the result is less than satisfactory, and requires modifying a couple of settings.

Also, if you’re imagining me stumbling around Rome, clutching a GPS unit in front of me, it’s nothing like that.  Power on your unit, extend the antenna, and place the unit in your breast pocket, and listen to the directions via a pair of ear buds – it’s discreet and you only need do it when you’re unsure of how to get where you’re going.

Have you used Google maps as a travel planning tool?  If yes, please comment on how you’ve made it work for your needs!

For the record, I have no connection with Garmin or Google.

Recently someone at work asked me to “burn some files on a disk.”  How quaint!  I hadn’t burned a data disk in years, what with thumb drives being so handy, inexpensive, and compact.  But this last attribute can also be a negative:  USB drives are so small, they’re easy to lose. What if you lose a USB drive and it contains sensitive information?

I was thinking about this recently as I was saving a number of passwords (which I use in conjunction with a password manager) on a jump drive.  (Don’t worry, I came to my senses and found a much more elegant solution.)  But it still had me thinking, as I have a couple of thumb drives in my bag which have files stored on them like our strategic plan and other critical files.  What if I were to lose them on a plane, somehow? Or worse yet, at a trade show?!?  I mean, stuff happens, to paraphrase the famous bumper sticker.

So I began looking for ways to encrypt of password protect thumb drives.  There are a number of solutions available, and in this post I’ll address the one that I’ve begun using.  It’s called Cryptainer LE, and it’s free.  (Like many pieces of software available online, there’s a free version and an upgraded version that you can purchase.  The free version lets you create password protected volumes on your thumb drive, each of which can hold 25MB of data; for my purposes, that’s plenty.  YMMV.)

Using the software is relatively straightforward.  I had to feel my way around a bit the first time I used it, however, so in this post I’ll provide an illustrated, step-by-step guide. In order to get started, you need to download the Cryptainer LE software onto your desktop computer; click on this link to do so:  Cryptainer LE free download.  NOTE that Cryptainer is for Windows only.

Once you’ve downloaded and installed the program, launch it.  You’ll see a window like this:

Click on “Install Cryptainer Mobile” and then select your USB drive for the installation location (drive J in this case):

You’ll then see this message; click on “OK”:

Shut down Cryptainer as instructed above. If you then double click on the USB drive in “My Computer,”  you’ll see that Cryptainer LE Mobile has been installed:

Double click on it in order to create an encrypted volume, and Cryptainer will prompt you to either accept a default name for the Cryptainer volume, or to create your own name for the volume.  In this case, I’ll use “StrategicPlan.”

Then, enter a password twice (you REALLY need to make certain you remember it); then click on “Proceed to Create Volume”:

The program will then create a special, 25MB volume that is only accessible via your password:

Notice that although in this case the USB drive is drive J, the volume created by Cryptainer is referred to as volume K; the message below is self explanatory:

After clicking on “OK” above, drive K was shown, and I dragged the file below from my hard drive:

If I then look at drive J, you’ll see the StrategicPlan volume, but it can’t be opened unless you utilize Cryptainer LE Mobile.

By double clicking on Cryptainer LE Mobile, the dialog box immediately below appears.  In order to actually view the encrypted files, you click on “Load” so you can load (in this case) volume K…

That produces a dialog box requesting your password:

Enter it and click on “OK”, and your files are accessible:

You can work on the file, and then re-save it to your USB drive.  When you’re done working with the file, you must “unload” the encrypted volume; simply click on “Unload” and you’re done.  If you forget and try to close out of the program without performing this step, Cryptainer will prompt you to do so.

And that’s just about it.  It’s free, it’s reasonably simple (especially if you follow these steps), and it’s reasonably idiot proof UNLESS you forget your password.  All the usual warnings about password selection apply – don’t use your name, birthdate, address, or anything similar – just make certain you can remember it!  Once again, if you’d like to try out Cryptainer LE, you can download it for free here:  Cryptainer LE free download

If you’ve used a similar product you’d like to recommend to our readers, please do so by commenting!

The Fine Print:  I have no connection to Cryptainer or Cypherix.

Here’s one of the simplest explanations I’ve found yet:

Of course I’m still waiting for an invitation as well…  you?