In Depth: How cheap technology is costing us dear

Very nice article by TechRadar about the cost of technology, particularly cheap technology. The story about Dell with UT is pretty shocking.

In Depth: How cheap technology is costing us dear: "

It's a great time to be a gadget geek. From wireless routers to Windows PCs, smartphones to sat navs, our technology has never been smarter - or cheaper.

The internet is a hardware heaven where you can pick up enormously powerful bits of kit for tiny amounts of money. It's just a shame about the whole economic damage, worker exploitation, environmental catastrophe side of things.

Cheap technology isn't as cheap as you might think. When something's designed to a particular price, compromises have to be made. Those compromises aren't just in the design, although of course you can't expect Porsche quality at Primark prices; they're in every part of the technology company's business from the factories it uses to the way it provides technical support. Typically, cheap technology means cutting every possible corner to make the price as low as possible.

What happens when you cut one corner too many? Let's ask Dell, the pioneer of ultra-cheap PCs, who managed to ship 11.8 million faulty - and potentially explosive - PCs between 2003 and 2005

The problem was with dodgy capacitors, manufactured from a stolen - and, it turned out, incorrect - formula. Writing in The Independent in 2003, Charles Arthur noted that Dell was aware of the compromised capacitors, and interviewed Dennis Zogbi of Paumanok Publications, who said: 'People want Western quality and Chinese prices. Well, you can't have both.'

Dell thought you could.

Dell's business was - and is - based on what the New York Times describes as 'limiting its inventory and squeezing suppliers', but it's possible to squeeze too hard. Cheap technology is a balancing act between price and quality control, and it seems that Dell lost its balance: the NYT reports that Dell suffered far more from bad capacitors than its rivals.

Despite internal tests finding that Optiplex desktops might have a failure rate as high as 97%, Dell didn't want an enormous and enormously expensive product recall, so it had a brilliant idea: it would blame its customers for the faulty computers.

According to the NYT Dell told the University of Texas its computers were failing because staff were 'making them perform difficult math calculations.'

BAD CAPACITORS: This Dell customer's capacitors don't look too clever. In total, Dell shipped 11.8 million machines with capacitors likely to fail

Still, at least if your Optiplex exploded you'd be able to speak to somebody knowledgeable about it. Wouldn't you? Nope. Dell was one of the first tech firms to outsource its customer service and technical support to Bangalore, and while the results were so bad and unpopular that Dell very quickly reinstated US-based support for its lucrative corporate customers, the idea stuck. These days, cheap kit means outsourced or online-only, irritating and inadequate technical support. You get what you pay for.

Unemployment and unhappy workers

Decent wages, employee healthcare, pensions and other benefits aren't compatible with cheap kit.

Because of those costs, Western technology firms have been outsourcing assembly work since the 1980s. Incredibly, there are fewer people making computers in the US now than there were in the 1970s: writing in BusinessWeek, former Intel boss Andy Grove says: 'manufacturing employment in the US computer industry is about 166,000, lower than it was before the first PC, the MITS Altair 2800, was assembled in 1975.'

OUTSOURCED:There are fewer people employed making computers in the US today than there were when this was cutting-edge tech

People still make our gadgets, of course. They just don't do it in the West. From Xbox 360s to iPhone 4s, many of our devices are put together in China. China's biggest electronics subcontractor, Foxconn, has around 800,000 employees and adds 100,000 more every year; Grove says that Foxconn employs 'more than the combined worldwide headcount of Apple, Dell, Microsoft, HP, Intel and Sony.'

In total, an estimated 1.5 million people work in Asian assembly plants. For every Western employee a technology firm has, there are ten Asian assembly workers putting its products together - often on very low wages and in poor working conditions.

By outsourcing the assembly work, we're missing out on money that would otherwise be spent locally. With no factories here, there are no machines for local firms to service, no subcontractors providing key components, no armies of hungry workers for the local shops and take-aways to feed, no pay packets injecting cash into local businesses from cake shops to car dealers.

For now it's Foxconn's turn in the sun, but that won't last forever. The same things that eventually made the US too expensive for tech firms - rising wages, good working conditions and organised labour - are starting to happen in China, too.

After a wave of suicides led to unwelcome foreign attention, Foxconn massively increased employee wages; meanwhile, a wave of strikes in China is forcing other firms to pay more, too.

That's good and bad. It's good if you're getting a pay rise, but it's not so good if your employer decides to up sticks to somewhere cheaper. And there is always somewhere cheaper. Right now that's inland China, where living costs and therefore wage expectations are lower than in coastal regions, so firms are moving there.

In the longer term firms may leave China altogether and go where labour costs are lower: South America, perhaps, or Vietnam. They're already thinking about it.

Carcinogens, conflict and child labour

Tim Hunt is with Ethical Consumer magazine, which hopes to make us think again about cheap, disposable technology. As EC reports, the gadgets we dump often end up in places like Indonesia, where 'those processing the waste are often overworked (up to 18 hours per day) and underpaid, and the use of child labour is common… often unprotected, workers use fire and mercuric acid baths to extract the precious metals. Burning releases dioxins - some of the most toxic compounds on Earth - while the acid residue contaminates drinking water.'

'There are also problems around the mining of natural resources, from the Congo for instance,' Hunt told TechRadar. 'Here the trade in metals has been blamed for fuelling the conflict that has raged there for several years.'

WASTED: Disposable technology doesn't always end up in recycling plants. E-Waste has become a global problem [image credit: CP on Flickr]

As technology becomes increasingly fashion-driven, this year's must-have gadget quickly becomes unwanted - and the move to mobile-based computing means things are speeding up. Where a PC has a useful lifespan of three to five years, we replace our mobiles every 18 months.

'It is clearly worse than it was 20 years ago because there is just more technology around and things are progressing so quickly,' Hunt says. 'If there is a closed loop where all products and materials are recycled then it shouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately, even with the new EU regulations, much of the waste finds its way into the landfills of poorer countries.'

Greenpeace wants to see tech firms eradicate toxic chemicals altogether. 'The issue of toxicity is overarching,' it says. 'Until the use of toxic substances is eliminated, it is impossible to secure 'safe' recycling.'

Perhaps the Electronics Industry Code of Conduct will save the world. The work of the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition, the EICC is a code of practice for electronics companies that prohibits the use of child labour, illegal working practices, dumping poison into duck ponds and so on.

It's been around since 2004 and signatories include Dell, who Greenpeace is currently attacking for its use of toxic chemicals and Microsoft, whose KYE subcontractor has been accused of child labour. So that's working well.

'Images of electronic waste in the form of discarded computers and other 'electro-scrap' dumped in Asia, other social and labour issues as well as pressure from civil society, prompted the electronics sector to develop an Electronics Industry Code of Conduct,' Greenpeace says.

'However, despite this Code, the hi-tech sector continues to produce ever shorter-life, often superfluous products with inherently hazardous materials. Why are hi-tech corporations, which profess to be responsible corporate citizens, allowing this to happen?'

It's a rhetorical question. 'One answer is that CSR [Corporate Social Responsibility] initiatives, whether they involve Codes of Conduct or reporting guidelines, are voluntary,' Greenpeace adds. 'At best, CSR can be a way for the best companies to lead the way. At worst, CSR initiatives can even be a diversionary tactic, used by industry to pretend that they are taking action and to avoid regulation.'

BAD GRADES: Ethical Consumer grades firms on their Corporate Social Responsibility pronouncements. It's not a great result for HTC

Economic realities

Those iPhones you see being assembled in Foxconn factories have an estimated profit margin of 60 per cent. Could Apple still make money without using Foxconn? Absolutely. Could it still make money if its kit was assembled in the US? Probably. Will it try? No chance.

Apple, like every other corporation, must give its shareholders the best return on their investment - and the best way to do that isn't to get your products made in your own country, or to work only with firms whose assembly plants are filled with joy and laughter.

'Most companies are taking some steps,' Tim Hunt says, 'but as they all strive to generate more profit by producing more and more goods at the lowest possible price, they are clearly going to come into conflict with labour and the environment.'

Perhaps the answer is to embarrass them. When Greenpeace wanted to draw public attention to the tech industry's environmental record in 2006 it picked on Apple, which was actually one of the more environmentally friendly firms; nevertheless, the Green My Apple campaign used Apple's high profile to great effect and Apple made more improvements. Apple now mentions its products' green credentials in its marketing.

POOR FORM:It's no coincidence that the firms low on Greenpeace's green electronics meter tend to be makers of low-cost kit

Could the same trick work with corporate citizenship? Probably not, because the way our economy works - essentially, shares are owned by large pension funds whose managers are paid by performance and therefore don't really care about the longer term or the bigger picture - means firms' number one priority is short-term profit.

Then again, perhaps the problem isn't the companies. Maybe it's us. Those pension funds are our pension funds, and we're the people who choose to buy cheap kit. Apple is atypical: the profit margin on a laptop is around 2%, while the margin on a netbook is less than one per cent. The aggressive pricing that makes netbooks so attractive also means manufacturers can be left with a margin of just twenty cents.

That means our buying choices matter: if we buy entirely on price, choosing our kit on the basis of who offers the most bang for the least amount of bucks, then we're helping to perpetuate the system.

If we want companies to care about the bigger picture, we need to show them that we care about it, too.

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"

(Via TechRadar: All latest feeds.)

10 reasons to migrate to Exchange 2010

I'm planning to migrate a good sized client in August-September myself, for many of the following reasons....

10 reasons to migrate to Exchange 2010: "

Organisations have shown a reluctance to upgrade to Exchange 2010 — but they could be missing out on some cost-saving improvements.

---

A Plan-Net survey found that 87% of organisations are currently using Exchange 2003 or earlier. There has been a reluctance to adopt the 2007 version, often considered to be the Vista of the server platform — faulty and dispensable. But an upgrade to a modern, improved version is now becoming crucial: Standard support for the 2003 version ended more than a year ago, and much technological progress has been made since then.

It seems that unconvinced organisations need some good reasons to move from their well-known but obsolete system to the new and improved 2010 version, where business continuity and resilience are easier to obtain and virtualisation can be embraced, with all the benefits that follow. Here are 10 reasons your organisation should migrate to Exchange 2010.

Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.

1: Continuous replication

International research shows that companies lose £10,000/$10,000 an hour to email downtime. This version of Exchange enables continuous replication of data, which can minimise disruptions dramatically and spare organisations from such loss. Moreover, Microsoft reckons the costs of deploying Exchange 2010 can be recouped within six months thanks in part to the improvements in business continuity.

2: Virtualisation

Exchange 2010 supports virtualisation, allowing consolidation. Server virtualisation is not only a cost cutter, reducing expenditure related to maintenance, support staff, power, cooling, and space. It also improves business continuity — when a virtual machine is down, computers can run on another virtual machine with no downtime.

3: Cost savings on storage

Exchange 2010 has, according to Microsoft, 70% less disk I/O (input/output) than Exchange 2007. For this reason, the firm recommends moving away from SAN storage solutions and adopting less expensive direct attached storage. This translates to real and significant cost savings for most businesses.

4: Larger mailboxes

Coupling the ability to use larger, slower SATA (or SAS) disks with changes to the underlying mailbox database architecture means that far larger mailbox sizes will become the norm.

5: Voicemail transcription

Unified Messaging, first introduced with Exchange 2007, offers the concept of the ‘universal inbox,’ where email and voice mail are available from a single location and consequently accessed from any of the following clients:

• Outlook 2007 and later
• Outlook Web App
• Outlook Voice Access — access from any phone
• Windows Mobile 6.5 or later devices

A new feature to Exchange 2010, Voicemail Preview, sees text-transcripts of voicemails being received, saving the time it takes to listen to the message. Upon reception of a voice message, the receiver can glance at the preview and decide whether it is an urgent matter. This and other improvements, such as managing voice and email from a single directory (using AD), offer organisations the opportunity to discard third-party voicemail solutions in favour of Exchange 2010.

6: Help desk cost reduction

Exchange 2010 offers potential to reduce help desk costs by enabling users to perform common tasks that would normally require a help desk call. Role-based Access control (RBAC) allows delegation based on job function which, coupled with the Web-based Exchange Control Panel (ECP), enables users to assume responsibility for distribution lists, update personal information held in AD, and track messages. This reduces the call volumes placed on the help desk, with obvious financial benefits.

7: High(er) Availability

Exchange 2010 builds upon the continuous replication technologies first introduced in Exchange 2007. The technology is far simpler to deploy than Exchange 2007, as the complexities of a cluster install are taken away from the administrator. It incorporates easily with existing mailbox servers and offers protection at the database — with Database Availability Groups - rather than the server level. By supporting automatic failover, this feature allows faster recovery times than previously.

8: Native archiving

A large hole in previous Exchange offerings was the lack of a native managed archive solution. This saw either the proliferation of unmanaged PSTs or the expense of deploying third-party solutions. With the advent of Exchange 2010 — and in particular the upcoming arrival of SP1 this year — a basic archiving suite is now available out-of-the-box.

9: Running on-premise or in the cloud

Exchange 2010 offers organisations the option to run Exchange on-premise or in the cloud. This approach even allows organisations to run some mailboxes in the cloud and some on locally held Exchange resources. This offers companies very competitive rates for mailbox provision from cloud providers for key mailboxes, whilst deciding how much control to relinquish by still hosting most mailboxes on local servers.

10: Easier calendar sharing

With Federation for Exchange 2010, employees can share calendars and distribution lists with external recipients more easily. The application allows them to schedule meetings with partners and customers as if they belonged to the same organisation. This might not appeal to every organisation, but those investing in collaboration technologies will see the value Exchange 2010 offers.

Taking the leap

Due to the uncertain economy, many organisations are wary of investing their tight budgets in projects deemed unessential. However, if they follow the ‘more with less’ rule and invest in some good service management for their IT service desk, the resulting cost savings will free resources that can be invested in this type of asset. The adoption of Exchange 2010, in turn, will allow more efficient use of IT by end users and help the service desk run more smoothly, thus engaging in a cycle of reciprocal benefits.

---

Keith Smith is Senior Consultant at Plan-Net.

"

(Via 10 Things.)

In Depth: 40 iLife tips and tricks you may not be aware of

I've barely started skimming the article and found things I can use. Worth a read.

In Depth: 40 iLife tips and tricks you may not be aware of: "

The iLife suite has been around for a while now, and iMovie and iPhoto were even available long before all these programs became part of a single retail package. In fact, they've become such a big part of our interaction with Macs that it's hard to imagine using a computer without them.

But the problem with owning a program for such a long while is that you can get stuck using the same functions over and over again.

The iLife suite is designed to make life as easy as possible by apparently limiting the number of options available to you. But just because you're constrained doesn't mean it has to be Apple's way or the iWay.

What many basic and intermediate users don't realise is that all of these programs have a lot of hidden features within them, designed to offer more advanced users some powerful tools and useful shortcuts that they can use to improve their workflow.

It's not a failing on your part that this isn't immediately obvious – most of these tools are undocumented, which means you'll probably happen across them by chance or discover them via an obscure comment in a forum or web page online. So to make your life easier, we've gathered together 40 tips you may not be aware of that can help you find new and efficient ways of using all of these iLife apps.

It could be as simple as using a keyboard shortcut to speed up your workflow in iPhoto, or as complex as writing some code yourself in iWeb. It's like finding 40 new features you weren't aware you even had, which should keep you going for a while – or at least until the next version of iLife.

iPhoto tips

Handy tricks for modifying and storing your pictures

1. Multiple libraries

Digital photography has exploded since the early days of iPhoto and you may find yourself needing bigger and bigger drives to store all your pictures. One of the downsides of iPhoto is that everything is saved in one location, meaning you can't split your photos up onto multiple drives.

But you can actually do one thing to help you organise yourself better, and that is to create multiple iPhoto libraries.

Hold down the Option key when you start up the program and you'll find a new window asking you to choose the library you'd like to load. You can also create a new one from there.

And best of all, these libraries can be stored anywhere, even on external drives. You could have one library for your family shots, one for work and different libraries for any project you need to work on.

2. Adjusting multiple photos

Sometimes you may need to apply identical changes to a great number of photos. If your camera wasn't calibrated properly for instance, or if you didn't change the settings for each environment, every shot you've taken in a day might well need to have the same adjustments applied to them. But manually adjusting each and every one individually would be extremely time consuming – not to mention mind-numbingly tedious.

Thankfully, there's a workaround. You still have to adjust at least one image, but once that's done, just click the Copy button, on the lower right of the Adjust window.

Next, select another photo and then click the Adjust window's Paste button (handily situated right next to Copy), for the changes to be applied instantly – saving you a good deal of time and more importantly a lot loss less headache.

3. Zooming into your work

When it comes to editing your images, you may find that doing precise adjustments is difficult because the interface displays the whole image by default with no obvious means of zooming into it. You could of course go full screen (View > Full Screen), but you still cant focus on a specific area unless you use your keyboard.

Using the keyboard you have two magnification levels: press 1 or 2 to select them. To go back to seeing the whole image, press 0. When magnified, a small floating window appears showing you which part of the photo you're currently seeing. To move to another, click and drag within that navigation window.

4. Before and after

When tweaking a photo to make it look right, you could get carried away and forget what it looked like originally. Sometimes, seeing the initial state of your photo can help you focus on what else needs to be done, or bring you back in line if you've gone too far and made your image look too artificial.

You could click on the Adjust window's Reset button (lower left) and then hit Command+Z to undo that action to switch between the original and current state.

That's all well and good, but there's a much easier way to achieve a similar result. Just hold the Shift key to see what your original photo looked like, then release it to get back to where you are now. That way you've got a quick and easy method to toggle between how your snap looked like when you took it and its latest modified version.

5. Confirm or deny

The Faces feature introduced with iPhoto '08, is a great way of seeing all the photos you took of a particular person, but setting it up can be a little time consuming.

First go to Faces, double-click on a specific person and you'll be presented with a series of photos which iPhoto thinks are a match. You then have to click once to confirm or double-click to inform the program that this selection was a mistake.

If there are a lot of errors, though, doubleclicking them all can be annoying, so try this instead: Option-click to reject the image.

6. Redirect the rejection

But what if you recognise the face that you're about to reject as belonging to someone else?

Instead of hoping to find it again in that person's series of shots you need to approve, there's another way. Ctrl-click on the image and you'll be presented with a contextual menu bearing three commands: Confirm, Reject and Name.

Select the last one and start typing that person's actual name. iPhoto will even link to your Address Book database to help you autocomplete the name, which is fabulously helpful.

7. Pins on the map

Unless you've got one of the latest cameras or you use your iPhone a lot, you may find that the Places section is of little use to you.

But if you like to see at a glance were you took all your photos, you can add that information manually. You can even apply it to multiple photos at once: select all the ones you wish to work on then click on the 'i' button, to the lower right of any of the selected shots.

Now type in the shooting location and all those photos will automatically get the same info.

8. Take your pick

If you mouse over an Event you're able to scroll through all the photos within it. Hit [space] and the image you're currently viewing becomes the one used to display the Event. You can also perform the same action in Faces, so you're not stuck with the first photo you labelled.

9. Copying location

If you find a photo you wish you'd included in a batch, don't despair – you don't have to type anything.

Just select an image which already contains the location you want and copy it. Next, Ctrl-click on the new photo and select Paste Location from the Contextual menu. Job done.

10. Date and time

What if you hadn't set your camera's time right, or you scanned a few old photos and need them to be placed in the order that you took them?

Well, you can easily alter that information: select a shot and go to Photos > Adjust Date and Time. Be aware though that if you select multiple photos, you wont be changing them all to the same date.

If you add five months to the first one, it'll also add five months to the others, time-shifting them all.

Easier ways to edit, archive and view clips with iMovie

11. Archiving

The days of FireWire camcorders and recording everything to tape are drawing to a close. Now, everything's on flash memory or hard drives built into cameras.

But this begs the question: what to do with all your footage? Importing it into iMovie is an option, but it gets converted to a format that takes up a lot more disc space.

But there is a way to save your media in its original format: connect your camera and go to iMovie's Import window. Bottom left of the interface is an Archive All button. Select it and iMovie will save the entire content of your camera into a special file.

When youre ready to import your clips into an iMovie event in the future, just go to File > Import > Camera Archive and select that file.

12. Copying adjustments

When it comes to making adjustments to your footage, you have some very powerful tools at your disposal. But just like with iPhoto, having to perform the same changes to multiple clips isn't something many people look forward to. Again, Apple's engineers have come to the rescue.

First alter one clip and copy it when youre done. Then select all the clips within the project or event youd like to change, go to Edit > Paste Adjustments and choose the type of adjustment youd like to apply.

Once done, all your selected clips will have been modified. You can also use keyboard shortcuts to make this job even faster.

13. Transferring data

If you've got a lot of footage stored on your Mac, you may get a little wary of adding more – especially if your disc space is running low. Even though the media you already have may be old, you're still reluctant to delete it.

But there is something you can do to free up some space – move any event you have to another hard drive. Don't do this from the Finder otherwise you would break the link between them and your projects.

Instead, connect your external drive and go to iMovie. To the right of the Event Library is a small icon representing a hard drive. Click on it to redistribute your events based on the drives they're stored in.

You can now Command-drag any event you like onto the new drive to move it to its new location, while at the same time preserving its link to any project that uses it.

14. Thumbnail selection

Thankfully, iMovie '09 brought back the idea of Themes, which had mysteriously disappeared from the previous version. They come with unique transitions which often pan over random and not particularly useful static shots from your project.

But did you know that you can actually choose which thumbnail images are displayed? To do this, click on the transition to select it. This reveals numbers along your project. Now drag those numbers to a new location to change the thumbnail to whatever you prefer.

15. Transferring your projects to one place

If you'd like to keep your projects and events together, you can perform the same action with your existing projects. Go to the Project Library. With the Event Library drive icon still selected, you should see your projects organised by drive.

When you move a project, you'll be asked if you'd like to also move the Events associated with them, or simply move the project itself. Now all you have to do is simply select your preferred option and the process will happen immediately.

16. Audio control

It's easy to add music to your film. Just drag it from the Music and Sound Effects section onto your project. But sometimes, that track clashes with your clip's audio, making it hard to hear either of them. When that happens, you can reduce the volume of specific tracks.

Double-click the track you wish to hear and select the Inspector's Audio tab. Tick the Reduce Volume of Other Tracks To box to instantly lower any other audio that also runs over this particular one. You even have a slider to choose how much of a reduction you want to apply – great for fine tuning.

17. Choose a new font

Select a title in your project and you'll see a Show Fonts button, top-left of the main preview section. Click on it and you'll be presented with a very short list of available fonts, along with only nine colours and nine sizes – but you'll be pleased to know that you're not limited by these choices.

Click on that window's System Font Panel button to reveal the regular font window from which you can choose any font, size or colour you'd care to use, adding nicely to the versatility of your finished product.

18. Font control

With the System Font window open you'll find that you have complete control over your title. You can, for instance, use the Kerning values to bring letters together, and not just for your entire title – you can affect only those that you've selected, leaving the others unaltered.

You could do the same with the Baseline controls to raise or lower letters. You could even go as far as choosing a different colour for each letter, or even a different font for each, if you're that way inclined. You're only limited by your own imagination and the boundaries of good taste.

19. Moving Ken Burns

Ken Burns has been part and parcel of iMovie since version 3, and it's been a great tool to bring some motion to still images in your project, but did you know that as of iMovie '09, you can finally apply this effect to video clips as well?

It's a great way to add some motion to a static shot if you'd come to the conclusion that panning across it or zooming in would make it more interesting.

20. Copying titles

Once you've created a unique-looking title with the two tips above, you might be frustrated to realise that you can't Copy the text layer – even when it's selected, that option is greyed out in the Menu Bar.

But don't despair, you won't have to re-create your title for every instance you'll be using it.

All you have to do is hold down the Option key as you drag your text layer to duplicate it. You can then move your copy to another part of your film, alter the text and you're done.

Making your tunes sound just like the real thing with GarageBand

21. Add MIDI files

There are hundreds of resources online where you can download free MIDI files to help with your music creation in GarageBand. These files include all the instrument information and notes for any particular song that you might need to recreate in your own style.

If you download a MIDI track from the internet and drag it onto an empty GarageBand project it will load all of the notes and instruments for that song for you to use as the basis of a new track, or even to use in creating your own remixes of an existing song.

You're also free to change any of the loaded instruments as you wish to suit your preferred style or genre, should you want to turn any of Radiohead or Vera Lynn's greatest works into happy hardcore or brass band remakes.

Of course, for some MIDI files, copyright may apply, so check your rights before downloading the files and also when publishing your project.

22. Record An iChat podcast

If you want to record an iChat conversation as part of an interview or for a podcast, you can do so in GarageBand version 5 and above.

Start by inviting friends to an audio or video chat via iChat (first letting them know you'll be recording). Now launch GarageBand and click Record. A message will appear asking if you wish to record the session. Click Yes and GarageBand will make a track for each person in your chat or conference.

If you're using a video chat, you can choose to show the Podcast Window from the Track menu where a snapshot of each participant will be shown each time they speak.

23. Play your keyboard

If you're lucky enough to own a USB keyboard then you won't have problems playing notes into GarageBand. If you don't, you have another option beyond simply clicking in the Piano Roll with your mouse.

Press Shift+Command+K to bring up GarageBand's Software Keyboard which enables you to use your Mac's keyboard as an input device. The keys are lettered so you know where to press, and there are also Velocity, Octave, Pitch Bend and Modulation controls available.

When using the software keyboard you'll need to manually click the Record button as the R key will be assigned to a note.

24. Shift octaves

If you want to adjust the pitch of an entire MIDI track you can do so in a few clicks.

Start by double-clicking your MIDI track on the GarageBand timeline to show the Piano Roll, which includes all of your MIDI notes. Click within the Piano Roll and press Command+A to select your notes.

All of your notes will now be highlighted green, denoting that they're selected. Click and drag the first of your notes up or down to adjust their pitch. An octave change will be 12 notes up or down from your original note.

25. Note expression

Notes in songs are rarely played in the same way twice unless it's part of some highly programmed dance music. If you're applying your own MIDI notes to your project you'll run this robotic-sounding risk, so make sure you make the most of the Expression feature in the Piano Roll.

Select Expression from the Piano Roll's drop-down menu, which can be accessed by double-clicking on any MIDI track. With Expression selected, hold the Command key and click on the Piano Roll to add points to determine how the expression of a note changes over time. This is especially handy for creating swelling notes for organs and string instruments.

26. Realism and swing

As with Expression, real live drummers aren't metronomic and often slip a little out of time. If you listen to a track that has perfect percussion it sounds a little too rigid.

If this is the case with your MIDI drum part, try picking a preset from the Enhance Timing drop-down menu in the Piano Roll. From here you can set a level of Swing that pushes some of your notes a little out of time for a more realistic effect.

You're also able use the Enhance Timing slider to fine-tune the rest of your settings.

27. Automation

To automate changes to an instrument as your song plays, click the downward pointing arrow next to the Lock button on any of your tracks to show the Automation section. Now select Track Volume and Pan and add other effects you wish to automate.

When selected, you can apply your automation by clicking on the timeline to add control points, which you can drag up or down to create changes over a period of time. This is especially useful for fading tracks in and out using the Track Volume automation.

28. Export song as sheet music

So you've created your first GarageBand song and you want to share it with others. Of course, you can email it around as an MP3 or upload it to the web, but what about your friends who can actually read music?

There is another way to share your project from GarageBand as long as it's made up of MIDI tracks. Start by opening the project you want to share and select the instrument you want to create sheet music for.

From the File menu, select Print, and that's it! If you want to save the sheet music as a PDF, simply choose the PDF option from the Print menu.

29. Count in and metronome

If you're having trouble playing along to your track and recording it, give yourself some warning of the start with a count in.

Head to the Control menu and select Count In. Now, every time you click record, there'll be four metronome clicks to prepare you before recording starts.

You can also turn on the metronome to help you keep time when recording without a drum track to follow. The metronome can also be turned on from the Control menu and plays every time you click the record button.

30. Multi-take recording

If you want to perfect a recording from a MIDI or real instrument you can set GarageBand to record multiple takes and then choose the best one.

Turn on the Cycle Region feature, the button to the right of the Play button on the Transport bar, and you will notice a yellow bar appear above the GarageBand timeline. Drag this bar over the area of your track you wish to record onto and click record.

You can now record your part as many times as you wish and then select your best take from the recordings. You can select takes by clicking on the number that appears at the top left of your recording on the instrument's track.

Make your website look better than ever with iWeb

31. Copying logos

Adding a logo to your pages is a great way to perpetuate your branding across your site, but have you noticed that many websites use their logo to link back to their home page? You can do this yourself very easily.

Click on your logo to select it then go to the Inspector's Link tab (second from the right), tick the Enable as Hyperlink box, choose One of My Pages from the Link To menu and select First from the Page menu.

If you did this for the first page, you can then copy and paste your logo onto every other page and its position and the link will be preserved.

32. Adding to the footer

By default, every web page you create with iWeb has a footer – a place at the bottom of your page that contains any information you'd like. No matter how much data you add in the main body, the footer will always remain at the foot of the page.

But moving an existing text box, photo or other object from the main body to the footer appears to be impossible. No matter how much you drag, this action merely extends the main body's size rather than adding it to the footer.

To move your selection into the footer area, you have to Command-drag rather than simply drag.

33. Removing the footer

But you may have no need for the footer at all and would quite possibly like to remove the Made on a Mac logo as well.

You can select it and delete it manually, or go to Insert > Button > Made on a Mac instead, but this still leaves you with an empty footer that you could do without. To remove this section from your page, go to the Inspector and select its Page tab (first on the left).

Select the Layout section and type 0 in the Footer Height field.

34. Resizing your page

You can use the Inspector tab to alter the dimensions of your page, especially its width, since most modern computers can cope with a width much greater than 700 pixels. You could also resize it to make your site more compatible with the iPhone if you so wished.

There's one problem with all this though – it only affects the page that you're currently working on. If you want to change the dimensions for your whole site, it's best to do this at the very start and duplicate the existing setting by Ctrl-clicking on it and choosing Duplicate, rather than creating a whole new page every time. This way you don't have to type in all your custom dimensions again.

35. Vertical navigation

If you're going to customise your page, why not change the most obvious part: the navigation menu?

If you click on it to select it, you'll find two resize handles – one to the left, the other on the right. Drag either towards the other to alter its dimension. As you do, the menus will start to appear one below the other. You can then move the whole thing to the left or right of your page.

As the navigation menu resides in the header section of your page, making it vertical will result in a much bigger header. You can drag items to it from the main body to fill it up using the same method described for the footer section.

36. Clickable numbers

Speaking of iPhones, wouldn't it be great if you could tap on your phone number when viewing your page on your mobile device so you could quickly dial it? This involves the use of an HTML Snippet (found in the Widget section of iWeb).

To drag one to your page, access the Snippet window, and then type in the line of code:

[your number]

Once you've entered that, click Apply, and your number will be instantly tappable.

37. Customise snippets

When adding text to a Snippet, the style never seems to match the rest of the site. But have no fear, you can change it by adding the following code to it:

You can of course change the font name, size and colour to any style or colour that you want to match your own preferred style.

The colour codes can be found in OS X's Colour Palette window in the Web Safe Colours section.

38. Static backgrounds

By default, if you add a background image to your site, it'll scroll down as you scroll down the text.

To keep the image static, do the following: go to the Page Inspector and add your image to the Browser Background section.

Next, save your site to a folder on your Mac. Open up the file using TextEdit as described in Step 40. Use the Find command to locate 'repeat scroll'. Change it to 'repeat fixed' and save the file. Your background will now remain static.

39. External navigation links

The navigation menu only links to pages within your own site. There's no obvious way to link to an external page – but you can manufacture one.

Create a new blank page and give it a relevant name. Next, remove all content from it and drag an HTML Snippet onto it and type in this code:

The page will appear in your navigation menu since it exists in your site, but as soon as you click on it, that code will handily reroute your command to the external web page URL you typed in.

40. Working on the code

If you've got any coding experience, you may wish to get your hands on the HTML code to tweak a few things here and there. You actually don't need a fancy program to do this, as TextEdit will do fine. But if you use it to open an HTML page, TextEdit will translate and display the content as if it were a web browser, which is not what you want.

Instead, open TextEdit and go to File > Open. Select a file you wish to view from there, but before you do anything else, make sure the Ignore Rich Text Commands box is ticked. Now open it and youll see the proper code.

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In Depth: 100 best ever free PC system tools

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In Depth: 100 best ever free PC system tools: "

There's a tool for just about anything you can think of in Windows. And if you look hard enough, you'll find a freebie is more than capable of doing the job you want – in some cases, free tools outclass their shareware or commercial rivals.

The trick is knowing what's out there and where to find it, which is where we come in. We've done the hard work for you, trawling the web for hundreds of free Windows tools and selecting the finest 100 to include in this feature.

You'll find programs to help you fix problems, speed up the way you use Windows, and unlock cool and exciting features you never knew existed. You'll save money in many ways too.

We're not going to pretend you need to download all 100 of these tools and install or run them all simultaneously; that's a recipe for disaster. Here's one tip, however: if you're in the mood to experiment with a selection, install Comodo Time Machine first, so you can undo any changes you make to your PC if you discover a program isn't to your tastes or doesn't meet your needs.

We'd also recommend backing up your computer before you begin – as you'd expect, we've highlighted a number of free backup tools in the System health section to help you here too.

One thing we will guarantee you: there will be at least one tool in this collection that – if you haven't already discovered it – will become indispensable. We predict you'll find at least ten tools to revolutionise the way you use your PC.

Now that's got to be worth an hour or two of your time…

System health tools

Monitor the status of your hard drive, CPU, memory and software

CrystalDiskMonitor
http://crystalmark.info/?lang=en

Your hard drive is arguably the most important component in your PC, seeing as all your precious data and settings (never mind Windows and programs) are stored on it. Knowing when a hard drive is about to physically fail could save you heartache, as well as hundreds of pounds in expensive data recovery fees.

CrystalDiskMonitor enables you to keep an eye on your hard drives' health in the background, providing you with a health rating based on its SMART status, as well as information about each drive's temperature.

If a drive is running too hot – over 50-55 degrees Celsius in a desktop or over 60 degrees in a laptop – you'll need to invest in cooling measures to reduce its stress and lengthen its life.

What gives CrystalDiskMonitor the edge over similar products is the fact it can also monitor external USB and FireWire drives, so your essential backup device is also covered.

FixWin
Website

This handy – and portable – utility can fix common Windows problems in a single click. Over 50 issues – such as a missing Recycle Bin – are covered, and although it's designed for Windows 7, many fixes work in Vista and XP too.

Partition Wizard
www.partitionwizard.com/download.html

Create, resize, move and recover partitions without data loss, thanks to the free Home Edition of this powerful partition manager. We've picked it over other similar offerings as it also works in 64-bit versions of Windows.

Microsoft FixIt Center
Website

This centralised tool gives access to all of Microsoft Support Center's automated fixes in a single tool. Select your problem to download and apply the fix.

SystemRescueCD
www.sysresccd.org

A customised boot Linux disc that gives you access to your hard drive and PC, even when Windows won't boot. Burn the CD using ISO Recorder.

Windows Memory Diagnostic
Website

A downloadable boot disc (burn with ISO Recorder) to test for memory errors. If you have a Windows 7 or Vista install disc it's under 'Repair your computer'.

Belarc Advisor
Webiste

This useful system information utility lists your PC's hardware spec, installed software, product keys and Microsoft updates, on a web page to save or print.

HWINFO32
www.hwinfo.com

This is a detailed hardware system information and diagnostics tool – frequently updated to work with the latest chipsets, motherboards, and processors.

CPU-Z
www.cpuid.com

Another system information tool, CPU-Z focuses on core components (with CPU, memory and graphics). Again, you can save reports to give to others or print.

GFI Backup Home Edition
http://gfi.com/backup-hm

Currently the best free files and settings backup tool, this is essential if you use XP or if you want more control over your Vista or Windows 7 backup.

ERUNT
Website

This backs up your Registry each time Windows starts. It's invaluable if you use XP, as you can easily fix a corrupt Registry from the Recovery Console.

DriverMax
Website

Easily back up, restore, and find updates for your drivers with this free tool. It also identifies unknown hardware devices – a free subscription is required.

AmpSoft WinOff
Website

This will set Windows to shut down, restart, log off, hibernate, or lock at a certain time or after an interval. Great for file servers and non-attended PCs.

AutoPatcher
www.autopatcher.com

This stores all Microsoft updates and certain system components offline, enabling you to quickly bring your PC back up to date after reinstalling Windows.

SpeedFan
www.almico.com/speedfan.php

You can monitor the temperature of your PC and – if supported – adjust fan speeds, to give better cooling or less noise directly from within Windows itself.

Comodo Time Machine
Website

A life without System Restore is unthinkable, and Comodo Time Machine offers something even better – instead of only monitoring certain changes on your system, it monitors every file and setting, enabling you to roll back your PC to a working state quickly, easily and with complete confidence!

Step 1. Take snapshots

Like System Restore, Comodo Time Machine can take both automatic snapshots and manual ones; take one before installing a new program, for example.

Step 2. Reverse changes

Select Restore System to roll your PC back to a previous state. Remember though, all changes (such as data stored on monitored drives) will be rolled back.

Step 3. Individual files

You can also restore lost, deleted or changed files and folders: choose Recover Files and enter all or part of the filename you want to restore.

CacheMyWork
http://cachemywork.codeplex.com

Frustrated by Windows' inability to retain your open programs and documents after a restart? CacheMyWork solves this, so you can restart after updates without having to start from scratch.

TeamViewer
www.teamviewer.com

Quite simply, this is the simplest and most effective free tool for connecting remotely to another PC, whether that's your home machine from work, or a friend's PC that's been playing up. You can even use it from your iPhone.

Registry Tweaker
www.registrytweaker.net

This handy tool gives access to key Registry tweaks for a more user-friendly experience, by describing what tweaks do rather than listing Registry keys and values. It's a good substitute for the Group Policy Editor.

CS Fire Monitor
www.pcwintech.com/cs-fire-monitor

This freebie has a whopping 11 monitors, to keep a beady eye on everything from hardware to software and the internet. Once set up it monitors in real-time, with a graphic display in the guise of a line graph and it also stores the results in a database to output as reports.

Its monitoring tools include NetStats, which doesn't just track your network and internet activity, but also identifies which programs are hogging your bandwidth. It can track processes, services and installed software too.

The program also has a built-in screensaver, which feeds data from the program into a series of graphs that display when the screensaver kicks in.

Buddy Backup
www.buddybackup.com

Do you want the security of an online backup program, but can't afford the monthly cost? Buddy Backup enables you, and like-minded individuals, to back up to each others' PCs over the internet for free. The new version now also backs up to external devices such as a hard drive, for when your buddies aren't online.

Partition Find and Mount
http://findandmount.com

If you lose access to non-Windows partitions, this recovery tool fi nds them. It can mount the partition and transfer the data off it to a more reliable source.

Zero Assumption Recovery
www.z-a-recovery.com

This commercial program gives one component for free in its trial version: the ability to recover lost and deleted image files from a camera's memory card.

ISOBuster
www.isobuster.com

Data recovery from damaged CDs can be tricky, but ISOBuster is one of the best tools. Some functions are free but others require registration (US$29.95).

Unknown Device Identifier
www.zhangduo.com/udi.html

This useful freebie helps you identify hardware that shows up as 'unknown' when detected by Windows. Once identified, you can source the correct drivers.

Recuva
www.recuva.com

Data recovery used to be an expensive business, but Recuva is the best in the growing number of data recovery tools that don't cost a bean. It enables you to recover your deleted and lost files with the help of a user-friendly wizard.

Windows Registry Recovery
www.mitec.cz/wrr.html

This handy free tool enables you to recover the Registry settings from files stored inside a drive image (such as that taken by Macrium Reflect Free). It's perfect if you've forgotten to export a key setting prior to reinstalling Windows on your PC.

EasyBCD
http://neosmart.net/

Vista and Windows 7 use a different bootloader to XP. Therefore if you have two or more Operating Systems – including Linux – installed on your hard drive using this alternative bootloader, you'll need this to manage them all.

Customise how Windows looks and works with these unmissable desktop customisation tools

Fences
www.stardock.com

It doesn't take long for the average desktop to become cluttered with shortcuts, folders and files. Fences is designed to bring order to chaos, by turning your desktop into a series of fenced-off areas, into which you organise your desktop icons any way you want.

Once created, fences can be reshaped, moved and resized, and if you want clarity of thought for a moment, just double-click on the desktop to hide everything from view (double-click again to bring the corrals back).

Once it's installed, reboot your PC and the setup wizard will guide you through the process of setting things up. You can back up your existing desktop settings too – so if you don't like what you see, you can return to the familiar cluttered mess in no time at all.

Windows DreamScene Activator
Website

Vista Ultimate supports DreamScene, so you can use animations and video on desktop backgrounds. This tool enables it in all versions of Windows 7 too.

Seven Transformation Pack
Website

If you can handle potential instability, you can get much of the look and feel of Windows 7 in XP and Vista with this collection of tools in a single installer.

Yahoo! Widgets
http://widgets.yahoo.com

If you use XP and are jealous of the Desktop Sidebar – or use Vista or Windows 7 and want something different – try this free sidebar tool from Yahoo!

Kludgets
http://kludgets.com

This is another desktop sidebar tool, but uniquely supports Apple Mac gadgets, as well as those used to extend the functionality of the Opera browser.

Litestep
www.litestep.net

If you want to step out on a limb, take a look at this free tool; it replaces the entire Windows desktop shell with a radically different user interface.

LogonStudio
www.stardock.com

Change the Windows logon screen to any image you like, with this simple-to-use freebie from the makers of ObjectDock.

Stardock ObjectDock
www.stardock.com

Similar to the 'dock' Taskbar replacement found on an Apple Mac, this dock is attractive and easy to use. And the good news is you can easily augment (or even completely ditch) the Windows Taskbar in favour of something similar thanks to this fabulous free tool. Download and install the free version, and read on to find out how.

Step 1. First steps

Once the installation is complete, double-click the desktop shortcut and the dock will appear at the bottom of the screen above the Taskbar.

Step 2. Configure dock

Some shortcuts are built-in, but you can drag and drop others from the Taskbar or desktop onto the dock. Click 'Configure Dock' to make changes.

Step 3. Hide the Taskbar

Switch to the General tab and tick 'Hide the Windows Taskbar' – it'll disappear from view, and your new dock will take its place permanently.

Switcher
www.insentient.net

This handy little tool enables you to view thumbnails of all open windows and programs side-by-side on the desktop, so it's easy to switch between them.

Launchy
www.launchy.net

Launch programs and access files from your desktop with this floating widget – enter a few letters to see programs and files for those search terms.

IcoFX
http://icofx.ro

The best free tool to design icons from scratch or convert existing image files. It supports icons up to 256x256 in size, perfect for Vista and Windows 7.

DeskSave
www.desksave.de

This simple tool creates a backup of the current icon layout on your desktop. If it changes – such as switching screen resolution – it's quick to restore it.

MultiMonitor Taskbar
Website

If you work with a multi-monitor setup, you'll want this free tool, which extends the Windows Taskbar to all of the additional screens you've got set up.

VirtuaWin
http://virtuawin.sourceforge.net

You don't need a second monitor to take advantage of extra desktop space: VirtuaWin enables you to set up, customise, and work on nine virtual desktops.

Right Click Extender
http://snipurl.com/rcextender

Customise and manage the context menu when you right-click with this. It works perfectly in Windows 7, but is semi-compatible with XP and Vista too.

Google Desktop
http://desktop.google.com

Google's Desktop tool has an indexed search engine to provide lightning-fast searches of your hard drive (as well as the web via Google itself). This is combined with a Sidebar application that can be customised with standalone gadgets, in much the same way as Windows 7 and Vista's built-in Sidebar.

If you're using Windows XP you'll get the most from this utility; if you use Vista and Windows 7 you may prefer to stick with what's already provided in the Operating System.

Standalone Stack
www.chrisnsoft.com/standalonestack

This tool creates a desktop shortcut that – when double-clicked – displays a tiled stack of the items in the folder. You can even pin the shortcut to the Taskbar to use from there, keeping your pristine desktop as uncluttered as possible. Think of it as Jump Lists on steroids.

BioniX Wallpaper
www.bionixwallpaper.com

Bored with staring at the same wallpaper day in, day out? Desktop Wallpaper Changer enables you to cycle between different background images of your choice, at a time that suits you. The program is packed with options, making it perfect should you tire of looking at the standard Windows desktop.

Keep Windows running smoothly with these streamlining tools

CodeStuff Starter
Website

As programs are added to your PC, Windows takes longer to boot and your computer feels more sluggish in operation. Much of this is down to the number of programs that start with Windows – not only do they add seconds to the startup time, they also use valuable resources, hampering performance as a result.

You can disable startup items using Windows' own MSconfig tool, but CodeStuff Starter is vastly superior; you get a more verbose description of each startup entry, can delete as well as disable unwanted entries, and quickly search the web for more information on any unknown items.

MSconfig Clean
www.get-in-control.com/msconfig-cleanup

If you've used MSconfig to manage your startup items, you may wonder how to permanently delete entries you've previously disabled. Simple: use this.

Startup Delayer
Website

This program enables you to introduce timed delays for specific startup programs, so resources at startup time are shared more efficiently.

Windows SteadyState
Website

This tool for Vista and XP will restrict access to your PC based on user profile, plus undo system changes at every reboot with Windows Disk Protection.

PageDefrag
Website

This tiny little tool defrags the paging file and Registry hives in XP, so you can defrag these key system files and give your system a speed boost.

AntiFreeze
www.resplendence.com/downloads

If Task Manager won't respond, this might enable you to recover your system. But only use it in an emergency – otherwise it can crash a functioning PC.

Ultimate Windows Tweaker
www.winvistaclub.com/uwtf.html

Dubbed 'TweakUI for Windows 7 and Vista', this handy tweaking tool is packed with optimisation and customisation features.

Auslogics Disk Defrag
www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/

Why choose this over the defragmentation tool built into Windows?

First, unlike the XP tool, it runs on a schedule. Better still, it can be configured to run in the background, defragging your drives when your PC is idle, thus keeping performance at top notch.

It can also be used to defragment individual files and folders too, making it your perfect one-stop defrag shop.

TweakUI
Website

Microsoft's unofficial PowerToy is packed full of handy system optimisations and tweaks, making it an essential tool if you use Windows XP.

Free Registry Defrag
www.registry-clean.net/

Free Registry Defrag skips the 'search and delete supposedly useless Registry entries' part of Registry cleaning – where most problems occur. Instead it simply compacts and defrags the Registry itself, which is where the actual optimisation takes place.

Start Menu Cleaner
www.iceview.com/start-menu-cleaner

Some program uninstallers leave Start menu shortcuts behind: this free tool searches it for redundant shortcuts, so you can clear them out.

Tidy Start Menu
www.tidystartmenu.com

Take control of your Start menu with this tool: once installed you can filter programs into a number of set categories, making them easier to find in future.

AM-DeadLink
www.aignes.com/deadlink.htm

AM-DeadLink supports all major browsers, to search for duplicates and non-working bookmarks. You can clean out your favourites and ensure they work.

Eraser
http://eraser.heidi.ie

Simply deleting files isn't enough to ensure they're destroyed – you need this tool to securely wipe files, folders or free space, manually or on a schedule.

PC Decrapifier
www.pcdecrapifier.com

If you bought your PC from a major manufacturer, this free tool enables you to quickly get rid of the bundled extra software you don't want.

Driver Sweeper
Website

This thoroughly removes drivers and hardware devices. Remove a driver in the usual way, then boot into Safe Mode and let it clean up any leftovers.

Revo Uninstaller
www.revouninstaller.com

When uninstalling software from your PC, you may be surprised by how much detritus is left behind. Revo Uninstaller can perform a more thorough uninstall of programs by searching for leftover files and redundant Registry entries from the program's own uninstaller.

The program also features a Hunter mode for those applications that don't have their own uninstaller, enabling you to remove hard-to-shift software too.

CCleaner
www.ccleaner.com

It doesn't matter how diligent you are, rubbish builds up on your hard drive in the form of leftover files, Registry entries and more besides. CCleaner makes it incredibly easy to search for and remove these unwanted items, freeing up space and resources.

OOLauncher
Website

This manages your startup items, so you can change the order of programs, delay their start times, and even reduce the priority of resource-hogging startup programs, to speed things up. And you can even set an entry to start up minimised or in an open window.

Process Lasso
www.bitsum.com

Some programs you install are more demanding than others, which is where Process Lasso comes in. This free tool sits quietly in the background, monitoring running processes, reining in the more demanding ones, and so ensuring your PC is swifter and more stable to boot.

Process Explorer
Website

This freebie enables you to keep a beady eye on which files and folders have been opened by all your running programs, and you can uncover which processes are using which DLL files. In terms of spying on the inner workings of Windows, there's no equal.

KillProcess
Website

A process assassin, this tool should be used with care – it's capable of killing any running process, even your protected ones. And unlike Task Manager it can kill multiple processes at once. When it's appropriate, however, this is the perfect response to unwanted programs on your PC.

Protect yourself and your PC with this collection of useful free security tools

Panda Cloud Antivirus
www.cloudantivirus.com/en

When it comes to protecting your computer from the latest malware, why should you pick this relative newcomer to the freebie scene? Is it easy to use? Check – the user interface is one of simplest we've seen. Is it light on system resources? Check – it only uses around 10MB of memory, meaning it won't slow down even low-specced PCs.

Ah, but what about the essential protection? Check, check and check. When it comes to malware detection and blocking, Panda is up with the very best, and only loses a little of its sheen when it comes to cleaning up already infected systems.

Even here, however, it's on a par with most other freebies on the market. The program utilises an online database ('Cloud Intelligence') for its AV scans, which is updated hundreds of times a day to keep it ahead of the latest threats. All in all, Panda has raised the bar for free anti-virus, so you should definitely take advantage – if you haven't already.

Malwarebytes
www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

No security tool is infallible, which is where Malwarebytes comes in. The free version has no real-time protection, so won't interfere with existing protection, but it can scan and remove threats missed by other programs. It's an essential addition to any armoury.

Threatfire Free
www.threatfire.com

Threatfire bends the rules of security software: despite its real-time protection against malware, it won't conflict with any anti-virus tool already installed on your PC.

It's designed to sit alongside existing security software, to strengthen your protection by flagging up what it considers suspicious behaviour. Review the details in the dialog, then either allow or deny the action based on whether you trust it.

TrueCrypt
www.truecrypt.org

If your computer is vulnerable to outside use or even theft, you owe it to yourself to make sure any important data is encrypted, so thieves can't steal your personal information as well as your laptop.

TrueCrypt is the best free tool for the job: not only can it encrypt individual files and folders inside a special encrypted container, you can use it to encrypt your entire hard drive too, preventing people from using your computer when you're not around.

If you want to protect your data, create and mount your container. Once done, you'll see a new drive appear in Windows – just drag your sensitive files into here, and you can edit and open them like any other.

The difference is, when you click Dismount or restart your computer, your files will be safely hidden and encrypted from prying eyes. Just open TrueCrypt and follow step four again when you want to regain access.

Step 1. First steps

Click 'Create Volume', tick 'Create an encrypted file container', and click Next. Leave 'Standard TrueCrypt volume' selected, and click Next.

Step 2. Create container

Click 'Select File' to pick a folder and unique filename for your container. Click Next, tick the default encryption options, and click Next.

Step 3. Select properties

Make the container big enough to hold your files, click Next, assign a password, and click Next. Change the file system to NTFS and click Format.

Step 4. Access container

Click Continue if prompted, then OK > Exit. Click 'Select File', browse to your file, and select a drive letter. Click Mount and enter your password.

AppRemover
www.appremover.com

Switching from one security app to another can be problematic. AppRemover recognises a wide variety of security tools, and ensures all traces are wiped before you install your new tool to prevent possible conflicts.

ZoneAlarm
www.zonealarm.com

Free firewalls are less common than anti-virus tools, and they're not as good as their paid-for cousins. ZoneAlarm is by far the most popular of those available, and offers superior protection to that offered in Windows.

HijackThis!
http://free.antivirus.com/hijackthis

To scan your PC for the effects of malware, HijackThis! can generate a log of areas commonly infected. It also has tools to fix malware problems.

Virus Effect Remover
www.virussecurelab.com/VER.html

An essential tool in your security armoury, VER enables you to undo any lingering effects of malware infection.

KeePass
http://keepass.info

Rather than a single password for all your accounts, KeePass can manage multiple logon details with just one master password, beefing up your security.

KillBox
http://killbox.net

This tiny tool specialises in deleting files that are in use, and therefore protected – many malware infections protect themselves in this way.

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer
Website

Malware infections often exploit security holes in Windows and other Microsoft products; MBSA will quickly scan your PC and verify you're fully protected.

PopTray
www.poptray.org

Prevent spam and virus-laden email by vetting all new mails while they're still on your mail server. Just select any dodgy mail, click Delete, and you're done.

File and folder apps

Manage your files more efficiently with these useful freebies

SyncToy 2.1
Website

Microsoft's handy free tool enables you to keep the contents of two folders (also known as folder 'pairs') perfectly in sync. Just select the two folders in question – one of which can be a shared folder on another networked PC – and then choose how you want the files to be kept in sync.

Once done, click Preview, check which changes will occur, and then click 'Run' to update your two folders.

SyncBack Freeware
Website

SyncToy is simple and easy to set up, but if you need more options – including automatically syncing two folders – then SyncBack Freeware is without doubt the best free synchronisation tool.

Rename Master
Website

If you're ever faced with the unappealing task of renaming dozens of files, Rename Master makes it as simple as possible. There's a powerful set of options including MP3/JPG tag support.

DupKiller
www.dupkiller.net

Duplicate files can quickly clutter up your hard drive, but it can be a dangerous game if you start deleting what appear at a superficial glance to be identical files.

DupKiller will hunt for replicate files in locations you may not consider, and does more than simply search by filename or file-size. You can also search by date stamp and even content, and you can even set a percentage match to ensure that only identical files are picked.

MagicDisc
www.magicdisc.net

This enables you to create virtual CD and DVD drives on your PC. You can then mount special ISO fi les and access them as if they were actual physical discs.

ISO Recorder
http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com

ISO Recorder can burn discs directly from ISO images by double-clicking an ISO file; you can also rip CDs and DVDs to ISO images for use with MagicDisc.

CDBurnerXP
www.cdburnerxp.se

This CD and DVD-burning application is lightweight, with all the features to burn audio and data discs. And it behaves nicely with other CD-burning utilities.

WinDirStat
http://windirstat.info

If you need details of a specific folder or drive, this displays its content in interesting ways. Perfect for finding out what's taking up all that space.

NoSleepHD
http://nosleephd.codeplex.com

Frustrated by your external hard drive powering down to save energy? This tool prevents it, by writing a small, empty file to the drive every few minutes.

FolderSize
http://foldersize.sourceforge.net

This tiny program adds an additional column to the Explorer window, enabling you to see the size of a folder without opening it. It runs in Windows XP only.

AppSnap
http://appsnap.genotrance.com

This handy free tool simplifies the process of installing and updating your software – just tick the program you wish to download or update. The program will tell you what version is available, and then enable you to easily download and install it.

Universal Viewer
www.uvviewsoft.com

This handy tool enables you to view a large number of different file types without having to open the parent application, including image files, text and Office files, and many more. Plus you can add additional types with the help of free plug-ins.

ArsClip
Website

Frustrated by Windows' inability to store more than a single item in the Windows clipboard? ArsClip enables you to store multiple entries in a wide variety of formats – including HTML, RTF, plain text and images.

These can be catalogued permanently if you frequently have to perform repetitive tasks such as form filling, and the bonus is that the program requires no installation, so won't bog your system down unduly.

Lock Hunter
http://lockhunter.com

Do you ever run into an error message telling you that a file or folder can't be deleted or moved because it's locked, or still in use?

The solution is to install this handy free tool; you can then simply right-click any file and choose 'What is locking this file?' A dialogue box will pop up revealing what's locking the file or folder – just click 'Unlock It!' and it will be freed up for whatever you need to do.

FileTypesMan
Website

This handy little tool provides an alternative to the confusing Windows file type manager, enabling you to quickly edit and view current file associations.

Zamzar
www.zamzar.com

This is actually a free online conversion service, so you can convert files up to 100MB in size between a variety of image, office and other file formats.

TeraCopy
www.codesector.com/teracopy.php

Speed up copying large files from one folder or drive to another using TeraCopy; it provides quicker file transfers than the Windows file manager.

The File Splitter
www.dekabyte.com/filesplitter

This tiny program enables you to split large files into smaller chunks, making them easier to transfer using floppy disks and other media, or via email.

IZArc
www.izarc.org

This comprehensive file archiving tool will compress files to save space, and has a mind-boggling array of obscure archives: there's RAR and LZW, as well as ZIP.

JDisk Report
www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport

Want to find where all that free disk space has gone? JDiskReport enables you to view a pie chart showing the largest folders or files in a selected directory or disk, plus you can view a selection of bar and pie charts (and top 100 lists).

These can be based on criteria such as when files were last modified, or what file types are taking up most room; it's perfect for managing your cluttered drive.

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