Show off your photos with a screensaver slideshow

If you have seen someone's customized screensaver and thought to yourself, "that's really neat...I wonder how they did that?" then this post is for you. The trick is in using Windows' built-in slideshow feature, and it is a straight-forward and easy adjustment to make.

Tip of the day: To create a custom screensaver slideshow, all you have to do is, basically, turn it on. It will by default show a slideshow of the pictures in your My Pictures folder, but you can point it to any folder which contains images -- and here's where the customization comes into play.

To get started, let's assume that all you want to do is display your My Pictures folder. This will allow me to demonstrate the first step: turning on a screensaver slideshow. First, right-click on any blank area of your desktop and select Properties. This will open the Display Properties window. Click on the Screen Saver tab. Now go down to the drop-down arrow box labeled Screen saver (which by default should say "Windows XP") and click on the down arrow to open your list of choices. Select "My Pictures slideshow". Now instead of the boring black background with a moving XP logo, the screensaver will be your pictures. Click the Preview button to see what it will look like.

While we're here, let's take a look at some of the other settings. Here is where you can set how long a period of idle time elapses before the screensaver kicks in. If you're in an office setting, I would reduce this timer to a low number; and if you're at home, you might want to adjust it to give yourself a little more time. To redirect the slideshow to a different folder, and to modify your slideshow's variables (such as how long each picture displays), click the Settings button. You should get a screen like the one pictured below.

As you can see, you can "tweak" your slideshow quite a bit here, and even add transitions between slides. Again, use the previous screen's Preview button to see how these adjustments will actually play out. If you're happy, you can quit here, but if you don't want to display your whole My Pictures folder -- but instead, only a subset -- or want to use a different folder of pictures, keep reading.

First, open your My Pictures folder (Start >My Documents >My Pictures) and right-click on any blank area. On the menu that opens, select New, and then folder. Give your new folder a name like "slideshow". Now fill this folder with copies of the pictures you do want to display, by right-click+dragging them into the "slideshow" folder, letting go, and selecting "Copy here". Repeat this until you have your selections all copied.

Now that you have your slideshow folder all set up, return to the My Screen Saver Properties window (the one pictured above) and click the "...browse" button. Double-click on the "slideshow" folder (you may have to navigate to it: do so by clicking My Document >My Pictures >slideshow), and you're done. Again, you can use the Preview button to see how it will look.

To make your PC more immune to casual browsing while you're away from your desk, go back to Display Properties' (right-click any blank area on your desktop and select Properties) Screen Saver tab and put a check in the checkbox labeled "On resume, display Welcome screen." If you've followed my advice from earlier posts, this will require your user password to log in.

Today's free link: I don't have my screensaver displaying my own photo's, I have it set to display a series of "Demotivators" (free for personal use) -- an amusing and ironic play on the "motivational" posters that Executive-types love to hang in work areas. If you haven't seen the Demotivators (and their often spectacular photography) yet, do yourself a favor and click here. And be sure to browse the different categories.

*Original posting:6/26/07

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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Digital cameras and you

Not too long ago, I mentioned my friend who was preparing to travel; and told you that for the first time he was going to leave behind his 35mm (film) camera gear, and take only a digital camera (see Mondays: love 'em or leave 'em). For the first time, he was going to leave at home his lenses, flash unit, filters, different speed/type film rolls, etc., and carry a single unit.. with a couple of spare memory chips.

I also mentioned that he is the type of fella who does extensive research before making a purchase, like a camera, and I can tell you he bought a pretty fancy digital camera for his trip.. and we're not talking about a "pocket camera". But, we're not talking about an SLR (single-lens reflex) and a whole bunch of accessories, either. I won't name a specific camera here, but I will say that his choice had 12x zoom, electronic image stabilization, and a nice, large, LCD viewer. When I held it in my hand, I was pleasantly surprised by its comfort and light weight.

No sooner had my friend returned from his travels abroad, then he was at my door with his memory chips containing his pictures, in hand. He knows about my previous life as a professional retouch artist, and he wanted my help with culling, cropping, and color-balancing (etc.), and burning the 'good ones' to a slide show on a CD.

And so I got a very good look at his "product", and vicariously traveled abroad with him as he narrated the history of each and every shot.. much like a new father describes the wondrous attributes of his first-born. There were several things that impressed us:

I, being an old hand at professional photography, was impressed by the image quality this digital camera produced. No. The pictures weren't Hasseleblad-quality, but the resolution, color depth and saturation, and depth of field were all remarkably good.. even when enlarged to fill my 20" monitor. All of my color "balancing" tweaks were quite optional, and I only did two at that.

He, being new to digital imaging, was blown away by how easily and quickly he could edit the shots, put them into the order he wanted, and create a portable slide show he could carry on a thumb drive (I haven't yet told him about online "albums".. he was too busy trying to absorb the wonders of Photoshop) or CD.
He had a finished, quality slide show to present to his friends and family in a matter of a few hours -- he was used to it taking weeks to assemble, and for him to have to carry around a projector and carousel trays.

Yes.. technology is changing everything. I can no longer be a film-camera snob, and badmouth digital cameras as being inherently inferior. My friend did not break the bank buying his camera, and his choice was roughly in the low end of the middle-grade of digital cameras, if you include SLR's, and on the higher end of the scale if you limit your choices to point-and-shoot's. (He spent under $500, including several extra high-capacity Flash Memory chips.)

And, as this tale illustrates, there's no comparison in the speed and convenience of digital imaging.

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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About firewalls*

Regular readers of this post know that I advise running a firewall. It has been a while since I have told you how to do that, so I will do so today. If you already have a firewall, you may want to keep reading as some firewalls are not as good as others (and some are next to worthless) and I will get into the details on that further down the page.

A firewall is a tool that essentially seperates networks, and allows/blocks "traffic" between those networks. Basically its goal is to block "bad" traffic from entering your machine or home network from the vast, scary Internet, and only allow "good" traffic to come and go.

Tip of the day: Install and enable a 3rd Party firewall. Or, if you have one already, turn it on. Microsoft brought personal firewalls into Windows with XP Service Pack 2 (and improved it in Vista), so if you are running XP or newer you already have a firewall built in and so the first thing to do is to make sure it's turned on. There are several ways to check the status of Windows Firewall, and here's a couple: Start >Connect to >Show all network connections, or Start >Control Panel >Network Connections.
You will now see a window showing your networks. You want to look under the heading "LAN or High Speed Internet" for the network that says "Connected", (mine says "Wireless Network Connection" because I'm writing this from my laptop and I'm in my local public library) and if it's on, "Connected, firewalled". Right-click on the icon and select Properties and select the Advanced tab. The top area is your firewall. Click the Settings button, use the radio button to turn it on. Done.

Your computer may have come with, or you may have purchased, an Internet Security Suite -- typically from a vendor like McAfee -- and these all come with some sort of firewall. You should know if it is enabled because if it is, you will have been pestered with pop-up warning boxes asking for an "Allow or Deny?" decision [the price you pay with all firewalls, as they "learn" your configuration and usage].
To make sure it's "on" open the suite's control panel by double-clicking on its desktop icon or right-click its system tray icon. There will be several categories of "protection", and each interface is different, so you may have to explore a little bit to find it.

PLEASE NOTE: It is "not good" to have two firewalls running at the same time! Use only the strongest firewall you have available.

Okay, so what do I mean by "strongest"? Well first of all, you may have read that the Windows Firewall isn't very good. This is particularly true of the XP firewall, and that criticism is mainly because it's a "one-way" firewall -- it is only designed to prevent intrusions. It is incapable of monitoring the traffic that leaves your PC. It cannot prevent your personal data from "leaking" out. It is also not very "robust". (Vista's firewall is 2-way.)
Robust, in computing, is a term used to describe how, steady and reliable a system is, how “fault tolerant”, and how difficult it is to purposely “crash” it. A lot of the personal firewalls available simply aren’t very robust, and a hacker can bring them down fairly easily, and then, obviously, you would be unprotected.

ALSO NOTE, Please: It is my belief that any firewall is better than no firewall. It will protect you from the casual or inexperienced hacker. However, keep reading because there are robust, two-way firewalls available for free.

If you want a professional-strength firewall (and my point is, you do), the top contenders are for-sale versions, and they are not unreasonably priced. Kerio (now owned by Sunbelt), Outpost Pro, and ZoneAlarm Pro are my recommended choices.

Free link(s) of the day: There are two free firewalls that are as good as the for-a-fee ones mentioned above. My first reco’ is the free version of ZoneAlarm. The Install starts out as the “Pro” version and then reverts to a free version. The Pro version period really helps with firewall’s “learning” and seems to me easier for the average user to configure and use. It is quite vigilant and “chatty” — but it’s effective.
A more robust firewall is offered by Comodo. It takes more system resources and seems to me quite slow in responding to allow/deny answers and isn’t quite as “user friendly, but it is quite configurable for the more advanced user.

*Prior publication 6/30/07

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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Every good story needs a villain

This story opens gently enough. It begins with a friendly and helpful Comment posted on a friendly and helpful blog.

Someone had written to share "the results of their work", which he said "solved his security problems." He was talking about viruses and spyware, and other malware, and he said his method "covers 99.8%! of all known threats."
He posted his advice/Comment on an article about How To prevent the dangers posed by spyware (and also warns about "rogue" anti-spyware programs). He signed himself "Spycrasher".

So far, this all sounds pretty good, doesn't it? 99.8% effective certainly sounds good.

As you have probably deduced, Dear Reader, the "friendly and helpful blog" in question was this one. Tech--for Everyone, like most blogs, provides readers the opportunity to respond, ask a question, or just "put in their two cents", simply by clicking on "Comments" at the bottom of the article. And also like most blogs, I have the ability to "moderate" which comments get posted and which don't-- for instance, Comments containing offensive language will not be published.
Spycrasher's 99.8%- effective security solution will NOT be seen here.

But.. maybe you're a little curious as to what it was. And.. maybe, why I deleted it. (Take another peek at today's title..) "Spycrasher's" comment said to use three particular anti-spyware programs-- in tandem-- and he provided download links. (This, alone, triggers red flags.) He mentioned two tools I was not familiar with, and one rather well-known program.

* Hyperlinks are always suspicious (and blocked as a matter of policy), and the first thing I checked was, did the links point to legitimate websites..? Or would clicking on them take you to a poisoned webpage (which could infect your machine) or a pharming site.
No problem there. The links he provided did indeed point to real websites.

* The next thing was to check out the unknown programs themselves. No self-respecting and legitimate tech writer will advocate something they have not used, and tested, themselves. Period.
In my initial research of the first program (XoftSpy-SE), I found a wide range of reviews and comments.. from "this is rogue" to "this is the best thing since sliced bread", and I learned that the program was "for pay".
I don't promote "for pay" software here (but do provide a daily free download), nor, even potentially rogue app's; and so I stopped right there. I would not allow Spycrasher's Comment.

* Being the gentleman that I am, I decided to write Spycrasher and thank him for his submission, and explain why I had moderated it. But before I did, I wanted to get a feel for where he was coming from.. so I ran a Whois on his IP...

Now, I gotta tell you.. it is very rare for ARIN to come back with a "no match found". Very, very strange.

So I traced him.

New York >London >Amsterdam >Berlin >Warsaw...
And then he disappears into a virtual private network somewhere in the Ukraine.
Odd.

* So I used a search engine to find instances of the word "Spycrasher"... and he came up a lot. Spycrasher likes to post in various forums. Quite a few of them, actually. Like, practically all of them.
And he posts a lot of Comments there.
* Guess what? They are all identical to the the one he posted (I should say "pasted") on mine.. right down to the 'wink' smiley ;-).

Very.. odd.

Tip of the day: Be very leery of hyperlinks, folks.. and please understand: not every innocent looking thing you see on the Internet is in fact "friendly and helpful". There are people whose full-time job it is to try to trick you, and seduce you into doing something you normally wouldn't.
I am very sad to say.

[note to bloggers/forum moderators/webmasters: you may want to search your published pages for instances of "Spycrasher", and delete this guy.]

Today's free link: I am going to repost a program here today, because I have it on every single one of my (Windows) machines, and I think you should too. ThreatFire (originally named "CyberHawk") is a free, behavior-based anti-malware application. I use it as a supplement to my antivirus and other anti-spyware tools. Heuristic tools like ThreatFire are your only defense against "zero day" exploits.

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved*. post to jaanix

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