files

Last week, I received a question pertaining to a free Windows backup program. I took this opportunity to ask the readers of the Infopackets Gazette newsletter, and received MANY suggestions. So, without further adieu, here are some top picks: ... Karen's Power Tools: Replicator : Replicator copies from any source to any destination; it works with ZIP, CD-R, and HD. It can be set to freshen files that are updated/deleted and can be set for unattended operation. Required: Visual Basic 6.0 . My Own Backup (MOB) : A flexible piece of software that allows for Disk Spanning (CD-R backups). Some ... (view more)

Have you ever flashed your BIOS? The BIOS is a chip built onto a circuit board that contains a set of instructions. The instructions are responsible for controlling the device and how it interacts with other peripherals. For example: a main board ... (motherboard) contains a BIOS (CMOS) which stores information about your computer, such as the size of your hard drive, COM ports, buffers, and the like. Flashing a BIOS simply means to update the code of the BIOS instruction. This is done with two separate pieces of software: the BIOS flashing program, and the BIOS update itself. The BIOS flashing ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ken H. asks, " Can I download films directly to my burner from the Internet? " My response: You can't download files to your CD burner on the fly unless you have DirectCD installed. Even so, I don't recommend downloading and ... directly burning to CD, mostly because you need a complete file to burn to CD. Since files don't always download 100%, the process of "downloading and burning on the fly" would have problems from the get-go and may end up in a waste of media. Usually files have to be downloaded to your hard disk, then burned to CD. Once the files ... (view more)

Abstract This article is a continuation of last week's issue of the Infopackets Gazette. This article presents an overview of current privacy issues, discusses potential methods in which an individual's privacy may be jeopardized, and examines ... specific countermeasures that can be used to protect private information. Information Technology Abuse -- Privacy Issues (Part 1 of 2) -- Third Layer: Firewalls, Web Filters, and Tracking Detection Firewalls: Any computer system that accesses the Internet should be equipped with a firewall to enable the user to detect and prevent unauthorized access to ... (view more)

With regards to the last issue of the Infopackets Gazette which informed our users of a Data Recovery program called Drive Rescue , I wrote a comment: " If you accidentally delete a file, don't write anything else to your hard drive -- even if you ... are attempting to install Data Recovery software in the first place! Otherwise, the drive may overwrite the area of the data you're attempting to retrieve, making the rescue operation impossible. " Denise R. wrote in with a response to the above comment: " I have Drive Rescue on a floppy for use in recovering files on the C: drive; ... (view more)

Earlier this week I sent out a very controversial article to a few other online ezines (electronic magazines) in hopes of syndicating the Infopackets Gazette to help increase our readership. If you haven't visited infopackets.com recently, you might ... have missed the intriguing article about Mcafee Anti Virus. The article questioned whether or not McAfee purposely mislead users to purchase an update to their Virus Scan software ($39.95), when in fact, it was not required for some users. The article was an instant hit. It was published on a few major web sites and generated quite a bit of ... (view more)

Downloading programs and drivers off the Internet and installing them on your computer can get a little tricky, especially if you don't know what to do after the file has been downloaded. This guide provides Windows 95, 98, NT, ME, 2000, and XP ... users a methodical approach to program and driver installation, without any techno jargon or fluff. Although this article is a bit lengthy, it should be known that Steps 1 and 2 provide much of what is to know, while Step 3 reintroduces the familiar concepts with a few extra twists. With that said, let's get on with it! A file has been downloaded. Now ... (view more)