Usually when sites come up they have the “XP” look to them because they are targeting Windows. This however looks very legit. You can see the familiar finder look on the left side where it is finding all of the infections. You can also see where it opened the download box to download the “Apple Security Center”. I downloaded the the software (knowing it was a virus but I wanted to test it out) to see if it was like popups in the passed where it would download an “.exe” or an “.msi” but it was indeed a package.

I will have to give them credit, the software looks legit. The software even includes Growl notifications and a shield that tells you that it is scanning.

I have a feeling that many people will fall for this scareware and give this company lots of money. I will say that it was however really easy to get rid of the Virus unlike the many Windows machines that I worked on in the Geeksquad. Please inform your users and your friends of this recent outbreak so you don’t end up doing cleanup on their machines.

Until next time.

Carpe Noctum

TJ

A little back history on this subject, like a lot of people I have multiple  Gmail accounts that I actively use, my personal, my work (K12) and my college account. Up until now I have had to log out of one to login to the other which becomes a pain. Up until this point I had no idea you could stay signed into multiple accounts. Not to mention its easy to setup.

To get started login to your Google account here.

Next click on the “sprocket” link at the top of the browser, and click on “Account settings”:

Click on the “Edit” button under Multiple sign-in section:

Check the “On” button and check all of the boxes. When your done click save.

You may now have to logout of all of your accounts and log back in. Now at the top of your gmail account click on your name. You will now see options to add your other Google Docs accounts.

This has already saved me so much time just by being able to click on my name and switch to my other account. My gmail and gdocs switch instantly.

*Originally appeared on my personal blog: tjhouston.com

Thanks!

TJ

To use the color meter, click “Go” and click “Utilities”

A finder window will come up, scroll down and click on “Digital Color Meter”

The program will load a crosshair and it will preview the image and tell you what the color is.

*Note as a precaution please take a couple of minutes to back up all of your files. The last thing you want to do is make your mac too clean and remove all of your pictures from that vacation you took last September.

Uninstall un-needed applications- I am just as guilty as the next guy for downloading and trying new software and than forgetting about it. When you are doing your clean up routine take a look at your list of applications and remove the applications that you do not use. I have found that CleanMyMac does a great job uninstalling not only the application but also all of the settings and plist files that go along with it. CleanMyMac also makes it simple by just dragging and dropping applications into the trash, and CleanMyMAc  will uninstall them from your system.

If you do not want to purchase CleanMyMac there is a program called appCleaner from freemacsoft that can be downloaded from here that works in a similar fashion.

Turn off unnecessary programs from launching at boot- You may have noticed your machine is launching programs when you boot up. This could not only slow down your system but it is also very annoying.

• First Click the apple on the top right of your screen
• Click “System Preferences”
• Next click “Accounts” near the bottom under “System”
• Next click the lock so we can make changes
• Enter your password and click “Login Items”. Here you will be presented with several items in a list, these are all of the programs that start when your machine starts up. To remove items, select the items that you do not want to startup and click the minus sign.

After you have pruned everything that you do not want to startup, click the lock to prevent any further changes. You will no longer have to wait for several applications to load when you boot up your mac.

Find out what is taken up all of the space on your hard drive and get rid of it- Sometimes in the Mac operating system, it is hard to find out what is taking up space on the machine without navigating to several different locations and getting the info on every folder.  There are several different programs out there that will show you what is taking up space and where it is located. For this we will be using “Disk Inventory X” from Derlien Software. Disk Inventory X will provide you with a map of your hard disk. The map will have different color blocks representing files on your computer. The larger blocks being the larger files on the disk.

• To get started, Click on the icon then choose a disk to scan.
• Choose your hard drive and click “Open Volume”
• Disk Inventory X will scan your drive. When it is complete you will be presented with an image of your hard drive in blocks, the larger blocks being the larger files.
• You can now click on the file to see where it is located. You can see in the above image “Portal Game Content Files” were taking up a lot of space on the hard disk.

*Note: You can also get statistics to see what type of files are occupying your hard drive by clicking on the Hide File Kind Statistics pane.

Perform System Maintenance with Onyx- Onyx is an all in one utility to clean out old temp files as well as do maintenance on your machine. To use onyx, download the application here and double click on the Icon to launch the program. You will be presented with several different tasks you can perform:

• Verify – This will allow you to verify preferences, S.M.A.R.T. Status of the Hard Disk, as well as the Filesystem Structure.
• Maintenance – This will allow you to repair permissions on your system, Run OSX Maintenance Scripts, and Rebuild things like Launch Services, Cache’s, and this will also rebuild the spotlight index used for searching
• Cleaning – This tab showcases several cache/temp file cleaners ranging from Log files to internet history
• Utilities – This tab provides utilities such as Manuals for different OSX programs and commands. This tab also has a place to launch hard to find applications such as “Directory Utility” and “Screen Sharing”.
• Automation- This is in my opinion the easiest way to clean up and use this program. This tab gives you a list of the most useful parts of the program. You make your selections and click execute. The program will run through the tasks that you have selected and provide you will a clean computer.

As suggested, for the novice the easiest way to use this program is to use the automation tab with the defaults selected with the addition of “Execute Maintenance Scripts” and click execute.

The All In One Utility: Clean My Mac - I have saved the best for last. Clean My Mac from MacPaw Software is in my opinion the best and easiest to use clean up software for the mac. Clean My Mac provides a very intuitive user interface and has the feeling of a Mac program. Besides cleaning temp files Clean My Mac also lets you manage your Widgets, Plugins and System Preferences. Clean My Mac also keeps your removable devices clean by removing .DS_Store (Mac) files as well as Tumbs.db  (PC) which are used by the operating system for things like positioning as well as thumbnail caching.

To use Clean My Mac:

• Click Scan
• Wait
• Click Clean

It is that easy! Clean my mac will navigate your machine and remove things like Log Files, Un-Needed Language Files, and temp files. Clean my mac will then alert you with a Growl notification so you can be working and it will not disrupt your work. This application has many other features such as managing plugins and extensions, securly deleting files, and what they call “Leftover” removal which gets rid of old application files . This application is deffinately worth $14.99 (6 Months) or $29.95 (Lifetime).

If you are unsure about what you are deleting CleanMyMac will display help information about what is being cleaned.

Bonus: There is a maintenance widget available from GiantMike.com. Maintenance widget will place a widget on your dashboard that will tell you when the last time the scripts were ran as well as the option to run the scripts whenever you want to. You can download the widget here: Maintenance Widget

These maintenance scripts perform the following tasks:

• Daily:
  • Removes old logs
  • Removes scratch and junk files (temporary files)
  • Removes scratch fax files
  • Backs up NetInfo data
  • Checks subsystem status
  • Cleans mail queue
  • Gathers account statistics
  • Cleans up asl.log
  • Rotates logs: system

• Weekly:
  • Rebuilds locate database
  • Rebuilds whatis database
  • Rotates logs: ftp, lpr, mail, netino, ipfw, ppp, secure
• Monthly:
  • Runs login accounting
  • Rotates logs: wtmp, install, fax

(From GiantMike.com)

This list is not the end all be all by any means. I have noticed after running these applications, all of my Macs have sped up and are much more usable now. If you have a program that you use please share. If you have any questions feel free to comment or email me at tj {at} smalltowngeeks {dot} net.

Until Next Time.

“Carpe Noctum”

First on your main toolbar click “Finder” and than click “Preferences”:

Now make sure “Hard Disks” is checked. Now your icon will be on your desktop.

If you have any questions feel free to email me at tj@smalltowngeeks.net

Airfoil takes your audio from your Mac or Pc and streams it to various devices on your network. Rogue Amoeba (developer of Airfoil) also has several applications that will allow your to turn your regular devices into speakers for Airfoil (Mac, Windows, Linux, IOS) as well as hardware devices such as the Apple TV and the Airport Express.

“Play any audio across your network to a whole host of devices, all in sync!”

Airfoil sends audio to remote speakers including iOS devices, other computers, and hardware devices like the Apple TV and AirPort Express. Airfoil for Mac gives you any audio, everywhere.” (From the Airfoil page)

What is great about this software is how it just works. To get started, download the software for Mac or PC from there website , install the software and you are ready to go. Available devices will show up in a list, here you can control what devices will receive the stream. You can choose single devices or all of them and your media will be streamed across the network in sync.

Audio:Airfoil works with several different audio services that are available online such as Pandora, Last.fm, and Spotify. The software also works with another “Rogue Amoeba” software title, Pulsar which pulls your XM and Sirius streams into a local application. The streaming does not stop on the web, any application that is on your computer that has sound can also be hijacked i.e. Quicktime, i-Tunes, and VLC. Another nice feature is the streaming of Metadata to IOS devices such as the Apple TV. Now you will have all of the information about the sound that is being played displayed on the device.

Video: Video at this time is not streamed to devices but the audio from devices is. There is a built in Airfoil Video Player that will play content and make sure that the audio stays in sync. You are also able to pull in the audio from sites like HULU and Netflix and play the sound through your Apple TV which in my case is connected to my surround sound system and the quality is not to bad. Airfoil also works with any Flash or Silverlight video so you can watch failblog in all of its glory and have great sound as well.

There are a few other utilities that I use in conjunction with Airfoil in order to enjoy different content and they are definitely worth a look:

Miro – is an application that brings together thousands of shows from all over the web. i.e. Hulu, Youtube.

PandoraJam – Pulls your Pandora stream into a local application on the Mac.

Perian – a free, open source QuickTimecomponent that adds native support for many popular video formats.
Remote (IOS) – Controls your i-Tunes from your IOS device such as the i-Pad, i-Pod Touch, i-Phone.

Hulu Desktop- Brings Hulu to yourdesktop for Windows and Mac.

If you have any other cool apps let us know!

Until Next Time

Carpe Noctum

You can be watching the newest episode of “Family Guy” in the PIP (picture in picture) while reading the “Times Online”. There are a few applications that have already arrived on the platform notably Netflix, Pandora, and Napster with more promised in the future. With the advent of the Google Chrome Store I think we will see more and more apps show up in the future. Now onto the hands on.

Scott:

The first thing that I noticed was the touch pad. I enjoyed the ability to two finger scroll but then I tried to double tap with the pad and wasn’t able to. No big deal, there is a click bar right below. to my dismay the click bar did not work in some applications. Sometimes you had to use the “ok” button located on the keyboard rather than the click. This alone not a big deal but it would be nice to see overall likeness with navigation on the device.

Continuing on, the first thing I did was Navigate to to Hulu, this is the perfect stage for Hulu content, to my dismay, there was a message stating “Viewing from the Google TV is not available at this time” the message did hint that they were working towards an agreement for the Hulu Plus users but it was un-availble at the time of the review.

Then I checked out the Netflix app. I logged into my account no problem, but went to play a movie and it didn’t work. I tried a different movie didn’t load. Tried a different account, nothing…

*Note this was tested by all 3 users and we were unable to play Netflix movies with any of our accounts.

I’m not an active user of Twitter, but I did notice there is a Twitter application available.

I performed a couple of quick google searches and they seemed to work alright.

The keyboard made for a great way to interact with the TV. Logitech makes good products and they also stand by there products. Being such a new device there are some bugs that need worked out but they can easily be fixed with a firmware update.

Final thoughts: This device would be a great addition to any system if the cost was a little bit cheaper but at $300 I don’t feel that it is worth it at this time.

TJ:

Bringing together web and media makes for a very rich experience. I have found that the Google TV like the i-Pad is a great content “consumption” device.

User interface: The user interface is a little on the confusing side, There is a place for applications such as chrome and Netflix and then there is a “Channels” section that is links to websites such as Amazon on demand, it is hard to distinguish where you would find certain things. Youtube has a new “mode” on the Google TV, leanback mode which takes the movie and puts it into full screen like you were watching a movie from netflix. One thing that was a little bit annoying was the screensaver coming on in the middle of a movie that was purchased from Amazon on demand, again not a big deal just a minor inconvienence. The search functionality is great, it searches youtube and the web but unfortunately not Netflix or USB attached devices. I would like to be able to click search and find the media I am looking for whether it is a song from my library or a video from Netflix. I do have a HP Media Smart Server (Twonky) in the house and it serves up DLNA content over the network. The built in Logitech Media Player was able to find the content and display it without any issue. As of right now the following standards are supported:

Audio

• MP3 – MPEG-1 Layer 3
• MP4 – AAC
• M4A – AAC
• OGG – Vorbis (Only when a USB device is connected to Revue)

Video (Currently in Beta)

• MKV – H.264/AVC
• FLV – H.264/AVC, H.263
• MTS/MT2S/TS – H.264/AVC
• AVI – H.264/AVC, DivX MPEG4, XVid MPEG4

Images

• JPEG
• PNG
• GIF
• BMP

(Source)

Keyboard: I found that I did have to look down at the keyboard when ever I was going to click in fear of hitting the back button which is very close to the left click button on the mouse. I do like the two finger scrolling it feels very natural to scroll in this way. I did not have a problem with not being able to click on the touchpad, I just adapted and used the buttons. The keyboard is very lightweight and it is a good fit for the product. The extra keys are mapped out well and I do like the one click search button located near the bottom of the keyboard. Another great addition to the Google TV is the Harmony remote application for Android. This is a free application on the Android market and it works great with little to no lag controlling the TV as well as the Google TV.

Final thoughts: I would purchase this device. The way I look at it is it can only get better from here. I have already retired my Apple TV in favor of the Logitech Revue. The device is a little bit pricey but it is cheaper than building a HTPC (Home Theatre PC) and it has an operating system that is very quick and very responsive. I only hope that Google TV does not become the next Google Wave.

You can see here, the difference between the two ways to display a bookmark on IOS devices:

As you can see the icon on the right looks cleaner and you can actually tell what the icon is suppose to be. Lets look at how to do this step by step.

First create a 57 x 57 px image (png) in photoshop. To make it easier, name it apple-touch-icon.png.

After you are done upload it to your site (ftp or file manager)

*Note the location of where you uploaded the icon to

If you have a static site, go to step A. If you have a WordPress Blog go to step A1

A: Find the <head> tag in your html should look like this:

After the <head> tag is where you are going to enter the link code to tell the browsers where your images are located.

<link rel=”apple-touch-icon” href=”./apple-touch-icon.png”/>
<link rel=”apple-touch-icon-precomposed” href=”/apple-touch-icon.png”/>

*note ./apple-touch-icon.png is the location and name of your image.

Now when the browsers are looking to your website to create the image, this will override the screenshot that it normally grabs.

A1:

For WordPress we are going to do similar to the above but the file that we are going to modify is the header.php. To access your header.php via the control panel navigate to the apearance tab and select editor.

Find header.php:

After the <head> tag is where you are going to enter the link code to tell the browsers where your images are located.

<link rel=”apple-touch-icon” href=”./apple-touch-icon.png”/>
<link rel=”apple-touch-icon-precomposed” href=”/apple-touch-icon.png”/>

*note ./apple-touch-icon.png is the location and name of your image.

I have noticed that this works for Android devices as well as Apple IOS devices. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

Until Next Time
“Carpe Noctum”

TJ

Lets take a look on how to add your account.

Below you can see I have both my Gmail google docs as well as my Google Docs for Edu.

To setup your google docs access, download Cyberduck from their website.

Open cyberduck and click on the add bookmark + sign.

Click the drop down arrow.

Choose Google Docs

Give your bookmark a nickname and input your gmail address then close the dialog box.

Next you will be prompted to enter your password, after you do click “login”.

Success! You will now see all of your documents, spreadsheets, presentations and your folders.

This tutorial was mac based but cyberduck does have a Windows Client that is now in public beta. You can download the beta here.

Until next time,

Carpe Noctum

T.J.

1. Go to the run command (Press the windows key + R) and enter “gpedit.msc” and we will now be in the Group Policy Editor.
2. Navigate to: “Computer Configuration” -> “Windows Settings” -> “Security Settings” -> “Local Policies” -> “Security Options”
3. Scroll through the list and find “Network Security: LAN Manager Auth. Level”
4. Change this setting to “Send LM & NTLM Responses”
5. Click Apply
6. Click OK
7. Restart Host

Your shares should now be able to be mounted within windows 7.

Until Next Time.

“Carpe Noctum”

TJ