Microsoft today released their new SkyDrive app for Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 which finally competes head on with services like Mozy and Dropbox for online backup.  You can read Martin’s full writeup here, but as people will now be using this to create online backups of their files I thought I’d show you how to get the very best from it.

I always recommend, and indeed I always have recommended moving your personal files and folders away from Windows.  This means moving them to a different physical hard disk or partition.  The advantages of doing this is that if something goes wrong with Windows and you have to reformat your hard disk, you won’t lose all your files too.  You can move your user folders in Windows by following these simple steps…

1. Click your name in the top right of the Windows Vista / Windows 7 Start Menu
2. Select the user folders you want to move, I suggest Downloads, Favorites, My Documents, My Music, My Pictures and My Video
3. Right-click on the selected files and click Cut from the menu that appears
4. Move to the hard disk or partition where you want to store your files
5. Right-Click and select Paste

It’s slightly more complex with SkyDrive though as you may have a tremendous amount of files that you perhaps don’t want to store online, such as your music and video; don’t forget there’s still a limit of 2GB per file on upload and some videos might be larger than this and a maximum of 125GB online storage even if you pay for it.

I would suggest then creating two store folders for your user files and moving them away from Windows in two steps.  One folder for the files you just want to keep on your computer, and another folder for things you want to sync and backup in the cloud.  So you would end up with, for example D:\Files and D:\SkyDrive.  Alternatively you could create these within a sub-folder if you have other content on the disk.

Myself I am only backing up my Documents and Pictures folders to SkyDrive so these are in my new SkyDrive folder on a separate hard disk and the other user folders, Music, Video etc. are stored in the Files folder.

There is a good reason for this.  When you install SkyDrive it asks you what folder on your hard disk you want to use for the local storage of SkyDrive files.

By default, as you can see here it chooses your C:\Users folder but this isn’t keeping your files away from Windows.  So why does this matter?

This matters because in order to upload new and additional files to SkyDrive you drag and drop them into this folder on your hard disk and the SkyDrive sync software takes care of the rest.  If you have to wipe your Windows installation, you then have to wait for everything to sync back down from the cloud again before you get your files, as this will be your own local copy.

This is where you hit the Change button and you point the SkyDrive app at your new SkyDrive folder.  This already contains all the files you want to store and keep a backup of in the cloud, but they’re safe and away from your copy of Windows.  This would be the D:\SkyDrive folder we created earlier.  Remember if you have already installed SkyDrive you can uninstall and reinstall it to change the default store folder.

SkyDrive doesn’t mind that the files are here and will merrily sync the files in these folders up to the cloud and your new online backup.  I hope this helps you get the very best out of SkyDrive online backup.  This is a great new service and with the correct set-up you can be trouble-free for years.

How to Get the Best Cloud Backup / Sync Out of MSFT’s new SkyDrive App was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

Since then the Series 9 has been updated, and then updated again.  I’ll be reviewing the new new model in the coming weeks but this is its smaller brother and visually I was wondering what had changed from the original.  It’s made of the same black, brushed duralumin alloy that tapers to just a couple of millimetres at the front.  Open the case, which is frankly thin enough to give you a paper cut, and the super-bright 13.3 inch (1366 x 768) screen glares back at you.  The screen comes with an anti-reflective coating that works well and the high brightness, which is better than any other laptop I’ve used except its predecessor, will give you near perfect visibility in direct sunlight.

Then there is the scrabble-tile keyboard which is as good as it’s always been.  You can get up a reasonable typing speed on it and there’s enough give and feedback in the keys to make it pleasurable.  Finally there’s the also excellent multi-touch trackpad which is very comfortable and easy to use.

It’s internally that the specification has changed, but only slightly.  The processor has been upgraded to a 1.6GHz Core i5 and there’s 4Gb of DDR3 RAM on board along with a 128Gb SSD.  Battery life is around the same as its predecessor too with up to 7 hours of light use (though this does trail behind the MacBook Air and a couple of other ultrabooks).

So what makes this Series 9 stand out and why do I love it so much?  It’s the attention to detail that has gone into the design.  The body tapers to just 1mm almost all the way around with a silver edging.  At the back this curves into a very attractive loop and the only port to be seen is a small power socket.

All the main ports are on fold down flaps underneath and on either side.  It’s well equipped too for an ultrabook with a USB 2, a USB 3 Gigabit Ethernet and HDMI (though these need adaptors), Micro SD, microphone and headphone.  Internally there’s also Bluetooth 3, 802.11 b/g/n and a 1.3MP webcam built into the bezel.

The 900X3A-B01 can now be found online for $999 (£900) which in ultrabook terms is excellent value compared to other ultrabooks, especially given that the Series 9 has a desirability that others simply can’t match.

In day to day use this ultrabook happily ran any task I asked it to and was extremely comfortable to use.  It’s new big brother, while bigger, drops the lovely edging detail and goes for a more conventional look on the sides.  This helps the 900X3A-B01 stand out from the crowd.  As an ultrabook it’s still has jaw-dropping good looks, and coupled with the falling price should make this a very serious contender for your padded envelope too.

It’s standard printer fare on paper with a 20ppm print speed  a 1200 x 1200 ppi resolution, and fold down flaps for the paper input tray (150 sheets that one) and the output tray (100 sheet capacity).  From the front too it’s not exactly going to shout out at you from across the room.  Personally I felt that the big gawping mouth on the front made it look a bit like one of those toasters you find in hotel breakfast rooms.

But looks aren’t what this printer is about.  It’s in the extras that this machine shines and they begin with a handy A4 scanner on the top that’s so cunningly disguised you might even miss it.  It has a very capable 600 x 600 dpi resolution in standard mode with a maximum resolution of a very impressive 4800 x 4800 dpi.  It’s also able to do photocopying as a very respectable 20 ppm and it’s damn near silent.

In fact the whole printer is pretty silent which is just what you need in a modern home or small office.  There’s nothing worse than nasty clunking sounds being made by a printer as it starts up.  You don’t get that from this machine.

But this printer has even more to offer than that.  The front panel contains flip-out controls featuring a 2-digit LED display and very sensible buttons.  The WPS button was the one that interested me the most as this is a wireless printer.  Now I have experienced trouble with these before getting them properly connected to my network but it was so easy and simple with the SCX-3405W that I was wondering if I’d missed something.  Within a few seconds it was connected to the network and ready to print.

It’s very good at printing too.  There’s no hanging around with this machine as it’s 433MHz processor and 64Mb of memory get your prints off the starting blocks in no time at all.

So is this all the printer has to offer?  Well actually no as it’s also one of Samsung’s new Eco Printer line-up and comes with special controls in the driver for maximising the life of your toner, paper and all the consumables.  There might not be a duplex unit but the printer takes care of it with a special mode that makes it simple to print on both sides of the paper.  This is a feature that will be welcomed by many people and anything extra that helps reduce overall running costs will always be welcomed.

Externally it’s not a very big printer for what you get at just 389 x 274 x 249mm (15.3″ x 10.8″ x 9.8″)  though the paper trays when folded down add a little to this, and it weighs almost nothing at just 6.7Kg (14.7lbs).  In the UK all of this can be had for as little as £139 (I couldn’t find accurate US pricing though it is on sale) which for everything you get, including the eco mode, low running costs, quiet and speedy operation and wireless connection is excellent value for money.

For a small or home office the Samsung SCX-3405W is an excellent little printer at a brilliant price.  When compared to an inkjet all in one this little box will give you 1500 pages per cartridge and with those just being mono it’s much cheaper to run than its inkjet equivalent.  I’d buy one, though I’d be careful to keep it away from the bread bin.

In Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out I included a table showing how long it would take an average PC of the day to crack passwords of varying lengths and complexities.  Obviously for the new books this table would need updating and it’s a good indicator of just how quickly processing power has moved on.

As an example of this in the last book, written in 2010, an 8 character password made up of both upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols would have taken 2.25 years to crack.  The same password now would take just 57 days.  I have included the data in a table for you here, heat mapped with what I consider to be safe and unsafe password combinations.  Where does your password fit in the table and how secure is it?

Key:

k – Thousand (1,000 or 10^-3)
m – Million (1,000,000 or 10^-6)
bn – Billion (1,000,000,000 or 10^-9)
tn – Trillion (1,000,000,000,000 or 10^-12)
qd – Quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000 or 10^-15)
qt – Quintillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000 or 10^-18)

Moore’s law has a lot to do with the shorter times it takes to crack passwords today when compared to just a couple of years ago.  This theoretical rule states that the number of transistors that can be fitted into an integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years.  When you also consider new programming methods to allow any PC to use the GPU on some graphics cards and the popularity of quad core (and even higher core count) processors we can see where a password that we previously considered safe now simply isn’t.  Indeed a very secure password that I used fifteen years ago has now been in the “cracked instantly” category for some years now.

My advice is to make sure that your password contains both upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols and that it is at least 10 to 14 characters long.  You can use numbers and symbols instead of some letters, for example the number 0 can be used instead of an o or O, a £ can be used instead of an e and a 1 can be used instead of an i or an L.  You should also always avoid dictionary words (the first things password crackers look for) and easily guessable numbers such as the year of your birth.

My own password falls comfortably in the safe zone on the chart, much as this came as a relief to me, but another password that I use less often and that I considered safe is now in th red danger zone so I’ll be changing that straight away.

You’ll be able to read more about in the fall when the books are released, and there will be much more on security, safety and passwords included in each.  This subject is, after all, extremely important to all of us as malware increasingly tries to guess the passwords to our email and other accounts, and that the use of Internet banking means there really is something to gain from being a criminal.

So where does your password fit in the table?  You can check your own password at www.howsecureismypassword.net where this data comes from or at www.grc.com/haystack.htm.

This is going to give me 40Mbps broadband.  I know what you’re thinking, it’s still nowhere near the 100Mbps some countries and even cable customers here in the UK can get, but for someone who works online, write articles here, spends just about every hour of the day surfing the Internet, watches online videos and does a lot of online gaming it’s actually quite fast enough.

This will though, I am fully expecting, going to be the very last time I sign up for a home broadband connection.  I don’t change ISPs very often, the last time was in about 2004, but by the time my next change comes about I expect it to be a move to full 4G wireless.

Now here in the UK the governments has helpfully held up the auction of the 4G radio spectrum with seemingly endless reams of red tape, but it will inevitably happen in the next couple of years.  Finally we’ll (apparently) have speeds on a wireless connection that can’t be matched by most home and business broadband deals.  I say apparently because it entirely depends how many people use the network and for what, and also because we all remember the promises that were made about 3G in 2003.

The big problem with mobile broadband at the moment is that it is still extremely expensive, compared to a landline broadband connection anyway.  I pay for a mobile SIM for my laptop at just £5 a month but for this I’m capped at 500Mb, nowhere near enough for everyday home and/or work use.

As the networks wise up to the opportunities ahead of them with 4G however we will no doubt see prices drop to compete directly with current DSL broadband lines, and 4G routers will suddenly be everywhere.

This will be a very exciting time and I’m looking forward to it.  To be honest it actually seems quite strange that in this modern day and age, with Internet access being so ubiquitous, that we’re all still tied to our homes for general unmetered access on PCs and laptops.  Something has to change.

Suffice to say with the advent of 4G it certainly will change and when it does it’ll be huge and everywhere.  It doesn’t matter who you are or where you live, it will be impossible to get away from the immense marketing machine that will accompany it.

I’m looking forward to it as it’s going to be very exciting, a great opportunity and I don’t really need the landline anyway (nobody ever calls me on it, only businesses, as people know I@m on the mobile).  This fibre-broadband connection will very likely then be my last.  What about yourselves?  Will you switch wholesale to 4G?

This is going to give me 40Mbps broadband.  I know what you’re thinking, it’s still nowhere near the 100Mbps some countries and even cable customers here in the UK can get, but for someone who works online, write articles here, spends just about every hour of the day surfing the Internet, watches online videos and does a lot of online gaming it’s actually quite fast enough.

This will though, I am fully expecting, going to be the very last time I sign up for a home broadband connection.  I don’t change ISPs very often, the last time was in about 2004, but by the time my next change comes about I expect it to be a move to full 4G wireless.

Now here in the UK the governments has helpfully held up the auction of the 4G radio spectrum with seemingly endless reams of red tape, but it will inevitably happen in the next couple of years.  Finally we’ll (apparently) have speeds on a wireless connection that can’t be matched by most home and business broadband deals.  I say apparently because it entirely depends how many people use the network and for what, and also because we all remember the promises that were made about 3G in 2003.

The big problem with mobile broadband at the moment is that it is still extremely expensive, compared to a landline broadband connection anyway.  I pay for a mobile SIM for my laptop at just £5 a month but for this I’m capped at 500Mb, nowhere near enough for everyday home and/or work use.

As the networks wise up to the opportunities ahead of them with 4G however we will no doubt see prices drop to compete directly with current DSL broadband lines, and 4G routers will suddenly be everywhere.

This will be a very exciting time and I’m looking forward to it.  To be honest it actually seems quite strange that in this modern day and age, with Internet access being so ubiquitous, that we’re all still tied to our homes for general unmetered access on PCs and laptops.  Something has to change.

Suffice to say with the advent of 4G it certainly will change and when it does it’ll be huge and everywhere.  It doesn’t matter who you are or where you live, it will be impossible to get away from the immense marketing machine that will accompany it.

I’m looking forward to it as it’s going to be very exciting, a great opportunity and I don’t really need the landline anyway (nobody ever calls me on it, only businesses, as people know I@m on the mobile).  This fibre-broadband connection will very likely then be my last.  What about yourselves?  Will you switch wholesale to 4G?

Hi all, it’s that time of the month again (every first Thursday) for my free webcast and I think this month’s one is going to be very popular.  Manually Removing Viruses and Malware from Windows 7 is a masterclass in what you need to do to get meanies and nasties off your computer.

On the O’Reilly website, who are hosting this free event, they say…

Getting a virus on your computer is a pain and they’re becoming ever more difficult to remove. In this webcast, Mike Halsey, the author of Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out, talks you through the process of manually and safely removing viruses and malware from your computer without damaging your files or Windows itself.

It can be extremely difficult to remove malware and viruses, especially when they will almost always keep on running in Safe Mode so you can’t even get at them there.  I’ll talk you through all the steps you need to perform, how and when you need to do them and tell you what you need to shut down when and where.

This webcast also delves into some of the Administrative tools in Windows 7 that you may not be familiar with or may not have used before.  Everything is explained and you should be ready to clean up infected computers from then on.

The webcast starts at 10AM PT San Francisco | 6pm – London | 1pm – New York | Fri, Apr  6th at 3am – Sydney | Fri, Apr  6th at 2am – Tokyo | Fri, Apr  6th at 1am – Beijing | 10:30pm – Mumbai and last for one hour.  There will also be a Q&A session afterwards where you will be able to answer questions, and the chat room is always busy with people offering advice as well.

I hope to see you all there.  Again the webcast is completely free and you can register here.

Manually Removing Viruses and Malware from Windows 7 – Free Webcast was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

There’s a certain concern raised when a book you’re writing suddenly appears on Amazon when you’ve only written a quarter of it  :/  That said, it’s still very exciting and today this is the first look (for me too) of the cover for the first of my new Windows 8 books.  I don’t know about you but I think it looks really cool.

The new “Windows 8 Power Users Guide” is the first commercial edition of my self-published Power Users Guide series, the Windows 7 one is still available for download completely free here.  If you are wanting to, or even just thinking of writing a Windows 8 book because it’s a career you’d like to get into I want this book to speak up for each and every one of you, and indeed this is what the dedication inside the cover will say.

It’s a great time to self-publish a book as many services, including Amazon itself allows you to sell your eBooks and much more through their CreateSpace service.  Writing the book doesn’t need to be difficult either, my original Windows Vista Power Users Guide was just 68 pages and still had great reviews.

So what would your take on a Windows 8 book be and who would you write for?  Your market and knowing the competition is very important.  Perhaps you want to write for complete computer newbies.  Here you’d be competing with the Dummies books and Microsoft Press’ Step-by-Step books which are usually 500 pages, black and white and heavy going.  There’s also my own forthcoming Windows 8: Out of the Box which is none of these things and perhaps you’d want to write something closer to that.

Maybe you want to write an in-depth guide for enthusiasts or IT Pros, much like the new Windows 8 Power Users Guide.  There’s no need to cover the entire OS in-depth.  Just the pieces you feel are appropriate for your book.

So consider this a rallying call.  If I can do this then anybody can, I genuinely mean that.  If you want to write a book on Windows 8, Windows Server 8, Office 15 or any new product it’s never been easier and there’s never been a better time.

The Windows 8 Power Users Guide Now Availble for Pre-Order on Amazon was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

Based loosely on work started by Microsoft Research, the new OS will put the cloud at its heart with search, file storage (both locally and online) and multimedia as its basic pillars.  It is rumoured that both Apple and Microsoft are planning to replace their existing operating system products with this new operating system sometime in the next five years.  This would mean the death of Windows, iOS and OS X and a complete change in the way we use computers.

This new operating system, which will be platform agnostic, is based on a completely new way of structuring an OS with the core kernel rumoured to be just 10Mb in size.  It is this streamlined approach that appealed to Apple, who have been working to streamline and slim down operating systems for years.

So what will the interface look like?  The best information currently suggests something that won’t visually change too much from the Windows Desktop or OS X but with enhanced window furniture for both touch and, crucially, use through other mediums such as gesture control.  This would make the OS extremely good for disabled people or the elderly who can have trouble with existing mice and keyboards.

Gesture control will be the next big thing according to Microsoft Research and they’re very happy that Apple are adopting their system.  A lead technician within Apple was reported as saying that the company had been lagging far behind with this new technology and the new OS partnership with Microsoft would help keep both companies ahead for decades to come.

Additionally the new OS would feature voice control extensively, which would be Apple’s main contribution.  The theory being that when people talk and gesticulate to their smartphone or tablet in the street, it will be in a completely natural way and won’t appear any more animated than somebody having a telephone conversation.

For the cloud integration it is reported that many cloud services are being prepped for inclusion in the new OS and that new technologies are being developed that will enable the sharing of files and data between them in a way that will make the new OS meaningful.  In seconds and on any device you will be able to open a picture from Flickr and embed it into a document you create using Microsoft’s Office Live web apps.  At the moment this requires the downloading and saving of the photo locally, and the new sharing technology in the OS, which has yet to be named, would finally do away with all that.

It is not clear how the partnership came about but some believe it was Steve Jobs wish that Apple carry the work forward, and that it was an idea that he had personally discussed with Bill Gates for many years.

It will be sad to see the demise of OS X and Windows but both companies now seem to accept that technology has moved on since the early days of home and business computing and that new systems and methods are needed.  It is good though to see that Apple and Microsoft are working so closely together for the benefit of computer users everywhere.

The case dates back to when Richard was still at school and set up a website that contained links to copyrighted material online.  These included pirated movies and TV shows.  What resulted was a major legal battle in the UK, and in the city where I live, to prevent him from being extradited to a country where he hadn’t been since he was five.

Liberty’s official statement about the case is…

Richard, just 23, is accused of copyright infringement by US authorities for hosting a website offering links to downloadable pirate films and TV shows. Not actual material – just links. He built the site from his Sheffield bedroom and his computer server was not even based in America. Yet still he faces being dragged across the Atlantic for trial now the Home Secretary has approved his extradition. If removed Richard will become the first British citizen extradited to America because of copyright laws.

Richard’s mother, Julia O’Dwyer was in attendance along with the policy director for Liberty and two academic staff from Richard’s (and my) university, Sheffield Hallam.  Also in attendance in the audience was the leader of the UK Pirate Party, Loz Kaye, British Conservative MP David Davis, a former shadow home secretary and several people who were either helping someone else fight deportation to the US, or who had been deported themselves in the past.

Mrs O’Dwyer began almost comically saying “Who’d have known that a student in his bedroom could end up in so much trouble.” but went on to say that she believes “[They are] not fighting crime… [They are] actually fighting [their] own government”.  She is obviously deeply concerned about her son’s chances which she describes as…

“The odds appear to be stacked against us but we have to go on…the least damaging way for Richard”

David Davis MP, who is concerned about the extradition arrangement the UK has with the US said that “98% of people give in to plea bargaining” in the US, where a defendant pleads guilty to a lesser charge in order to receive a reduced sentence.  His concerns, and the concerns of Liberty were that Richard hadn’t shared any copyrighted content himself and was not guilty of breaking any UK law.

The issue of copyright infringement and the intervention of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and other organisations pressuring for prosecutions both in the US and for extraditions to the US from other parts of the world, only seems as though it will get much worse before it gets better.

Liberty’s involvement came about because of their also working with UK asberger’s sufferer Gary McKinnon, who faces extradition to the US for hacking into the Pentagon to look for UFO secrets.

Feeling is obviously very strong and the presence of two people who had been previously extradited to the US only served to rally the crowd when they told their stories.  It’s a tough call all round but Liberty and Julia O’Dwyer believe they are close to a breakthrough and are calling on UK residents to contact their MP to complain about the case.  You can read more about Richard O’Dwyer and Gary McKinnon’s cases here.