Storing Your Important Files in Public Places

Maybe someday we'll have Internet connections that are fast enough and security procedures that are safe enough for me to consider storing everything on a server. In some ways, that day is already here. Nearly all of my files are backed up to a Carbonite drive in Boston, but I always work with local copies of those files and I back them up locally, too.

If you're thinking about online storage, the primary options are Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft's recently renamed OneDrive. Each of these offers some storage for free and for those of us who want to keep just a small number of files in a location where they're always available may find that the free storage is all we need.

Free storage ranges from a low of 2GB at Dropbox to 15GB at Google. In between, Microsoft offers 7GB and Box provides 10GB.

Google Drive (15GB free)

This used to be called Google Docs, but it's been expanded beyond the basic word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation applications. Now you also have 15GB of free disk space to use for anything you want to store. All you need is a Google account and most people have one of those. If not, setting one up takes about a minute.

Files are accessible from the Google Drive website, but PC and Mac owners will probably want to download the application that allows you to access the files more directly and synchronize them so that the Web-based version is always the most current version of the file.

If you have a Chrome notebook computer, Drive is built in and if you have an Apple or Android hand-held device, there are apps available for accessing your files.

If you need more storage, Google charges $5 per month for each 100GB up to a limit of 16TB.

Box (10GB free)

Box is actually intended more for workgroups in a corporate environment. It excels in providing collaboration tools and allowing file owners to share their files with others in the group while restricting what others can do with the files. For individual users, it might represent too many choices.

Users can connect their Box account with other applications such as NetSuite, Adobe Lightroom, Salesforce, and Microsoft Office.

Apps are available for Windows and Mac computers as well as Apple and Android devices.

If you need more space, each 100GB costs $10 per month or $45 per month for 1TB of space.

Microsoft OneDrive (7GB free)

I recently allowed the extra space that I had purchased from Microsoft expire because I found that I wasn't using the service as much as expected and 7GB was more than enough for what I had online. One of the primary advantages of OneDrive is that it appears in the Windows Explorer as a file folder under Windows 8. There's also an app for Mac users and anyone can use the Web-based tools to access files.

If you have an Office 365 subscription plan or use an application such as OneNote, Microsoft OneDrive is a perfect fit. Changes to the documents are reflected in the online copies of your files as you make them and this allows real-time collaboration.

You'll need to sign up for a Microsoft account (formerly Passport and lots of other names). The account provides access to the Microsoft's Outlook e-mail service (formerly Live Mail), Xbox Live, and other Microsoft services. It's also what you'll use to sign on to your Windows 8 computer and to synchronize certain operating system functions among all of your computers.

If you need more space, 50GB costs $25 per year and there's a limit of 200GB.

Dropbox (2GB free)

Dropbox is the name that everybody knows when it comes to online storage. It's easy to use and available for just about every operating system and device. You can use the Web interface or download an app for most systems.

Although the service provides only 2GB of free storage, you can obtain an extra 250MB by working your way through a tutorial on how to use Dropbox and if you activate automatic photo upload from a mobile device, you'll get an extra 3GB. Referring friends to Dropbox will earn an extra 500MB for each person who signs up (16GB total).

If you need more space and don't want to play the games needed to obtain it, 100GB costs $10 per month up to a 500GB total.

Links to the Download Pages

• Google Drive
• Box
• Microsoft OneDrive
• Dropbox

Spring Cleaning with Slim Utilities

Spring cleaning sounds like a good idea. Just the thought of spring is a good idea, even in mid Ohio where the snow and winter weather were nowhere near as severe as in some parts of the country. Just in time for spring, you might want to try Slim Cleaner, a utility from Slimware. The company offers several free utilities that can help you haul away the junk.

If you already use CCleaner and like it, there's no overwhelming reason to switch to Slim Cleaner; but the program does have more options. And you may want to look at Slim Computer and Slim Drivers, too.

The initial screen is the Cleaner screen with its tabs for Windows, applications, browsers, and registry. And there's one called "advanced".

• Windows: Cleans up log files, memory dumps, and junk in temporary folders and various other places where unnecessary data can pile up.
• Applications: What you see here will depend on what applications you have installed and whether they create temporary files that can safely be deleted.
• Browsers: On this tab, you will see a list of options for each browser that's installed on the computer and a list of items you may wish to delete. I dump cache files, logs, and crash reports, for example, but keep cookies
• Registry: This tab offers clean-up options that can eliminate junk from he Registry. By default, all of these options are not selected and it's probably wise not to select any of them unless you're sure about what they do.
• Advanced: Everything here seems not to be selected by default, too. If you understand the implications of having Slim Cleaner delete the system's prefetch data or the font cache, these operations are safe. If not, I'd recommend leaving them unselected.
  

Even though I deselected all of the cookie options in the browsers tab, Slim Cleaner still asked when I ran the clean-up process. The default was "No", but if you're somebody who fears cookies, you can choose one of two options to have them deleted:

• Zap them all. (I definitely do not recommend this.)
• Zap those that don't contain login information for "many popular websites". So if you have login data in a cookie for a site that isn't particularly popular, the information might be lost.
  

The second vertical tab is called Optimize and it contains horizontal tabs for Startup and Services. These tabs are useful when it comes to identifying which applications and services are running on the computer, who made them, and how well regarded they are. Most of mine showed up as "good" or "optional", with the occasional "unrated". If you find something that you want to remove, you can place a check mark in the box at the left.

The same process applies to the Services tab. You'll see a list of all processes that are running and checking the box at the left will tell Slim Cleaner to remove it. Be particularly careful with services, though, because a service you want to have running might be dependent on a service whose name you don't recognize.

In short, if you don't recognize the application or the service and if you're not certain that removing it won't cause any problems, leave it alone. If you fail to heed that warning and find that you need to restore something you deleted, that's what the Restore List tab is for.

The third vertical tab is called Software. Unlike the Startup tab in the previous group, this shows all applications that are installed on the computer and uses the same rating system. You can select individual applications and have Slim Cleaner uninstall them.

The Updates tab will attempt to check for program updates.

Tab number four is called Browsers and it provides a detailed look at add ons that may be installed in each of your browsers: Toolbars, BHOs (browser helper objects), and ActiveX applications.

Within the Browsers panel, you'll see browser icons. The ones that are installed on your system will be in color and the ones that aren't present will be in gray. Select each one and then review the toolbars, BHOs, and ActiveX components that are associated with the browser. Check the box on the left to select the object for removal.

As with the other tabs, there's also a Restore tab in case you delete something in error.

The Disk Tools tab opens a new window that lists every disk drive on the computer and then offers options to analyze the disk, securely delete data from the disk, and "shred" files and directories (this takes the deletion a step further than just securely deleting the file or folder). You'll also find a function that can find duplicate files, even if they're not on the same disk drive, and a disk defragmenter function.

Windows 7 and Windows 8 both have disk defragmentation built in, so if you have a current operating system, you won't need this. Additionally Windows 8 (and to a lesser extent, Windows 7) will handle solid state drives without causing any problems.

When you ask the program to analyze a disk, you'll see a display like this. You can drill down into directories and the file analyzer shows every file that's there, including system files that are normally hidden from view.

And yes, you can click a file here and delete it. This is another one of those places where caution is called for. Deleting certain files will make your computer exceedingly unhappy.

If you're getting the impression that Slim Cleaner provides significant insight into what's going on inside the computer, you're right.

The Windows Tools tab puts a pretty interface on some of the more commonly used Control Panel functions.

The final entry in the vertical tabs is called Hijack Log and it has two modes: Novice and Expert. If you switch to the Expert mode, you will be warned that it will display far more information than the Novice mode and that making changes could be detrimental. The name of the panel might be misleading because it really isn't a log of hijack attempts. It would be useful, though, if you thought that something had hijacked the machine and you're trying to track it down.

I selected Toolbars and noticed an odd entry at the bottom of the list. Is it suspicious? Should I delete it? Let's see what the community has to say about it.

As it turns out, this is a component of Avast Antivirus.

When reading comments from other Slim Cleaner users, read carefully. In this case, those who recommend keeping it all note that it's part of the antivirus program that the user installed. Those that recommended removing it had far less compelling or logical reasons for doing so.

Generally speaking, the overall recommendation from the crowd will be accurate, but the answers should be treated as data points and not as conclusive answers.

Slim Cleaner is free and there is no paid version, but Slimware does have some commercial applications. Consider Slim Cleaner to be one reason to visit the company's site and try out its programs.

Going Out for a Drive

A companion application, Slim Drivers, has both free and paid versions. The free version offers to identify outdated drivers and download new versions for you.

What's surprising is that it actually does both. Some driver update programs identify the missing drivers but refuse to download anything until you pay. Slim Driver will remind you each time you tell it to fetch a driver that the paid version will do the work automatically and faster, but that's as far as the nagging goes.

That's not to say that it's perfect or that you should accept its recommendations without question. For example:

1. You will be offered additional software when you install applications from Slimware. These are easy enough to refuse, but ignoring text on the screen could result in having something extra installed.
2. The recommendations aren't always correct.
   

Slim Driver told me that 16 drivers were outdated. Some of these were clearly right, but some of the drivers listed are specific to hardware that I don't own.

Note the Xeon processor at the bottom of the list. That's the most obvious piece of hardware that's not present, but some of the other devices listed weren't present, either.

I selected the first item on the list (video drivers) and told Slim Drivers to go get it.

The program first offers to create a restore point and this is a step that no user should skip. Being able to restore to an earlier point following a failed driver update is essential whether you're running an update manually or you're allowing a program such as this to do it for you.

Here's the advertisement that you'll see during the download process.

And then the update process launches.

The process is complete.

The single video driver update resolved 2 problems and I was left with just 14 outdated drivers. At the conclusion of the update process, I was told that the computer needed to be restarted. That is common with driver updates.

After I repeated the process with the network and audio driver updates, my total number of updated driver needs abruptly dropped to zero. Mission complete.

I mentioned that it's not always correct, though. Here's an example.

When I ran Slim Drivers on a Windows 8 tablet, everything seemed to go well until I rebooted the device for the second time. A warning appeared telling me that an application installed on the tablet expected an earlier version of the audio driver, not the newer version that had just been installed.

The application still worked, but the warning at each reboot was annoying. That's why the system restore point is so important. Restoring to a previous state removed the new driver and replaced it with the older version.

Slim Computer

Another offering from Slimware is called Slim Computer. It seems to be a somewhat simplified version of Slim Cleaner with some, but not all, of Slim Cleaner's functions.

High-powered utilities that can keep your computer clean.

Had it not been for the "free" "extras" that Slimware tries to install with some of its applications, these utilities would rate a solid four cats. Three is still a very good rating, though, and the interface is surprisingly easy to understand considering that the applications, particularly Slim Cleaner, pack so many features.
Additional details are available on the Slimware website.

Short Circuits

Where Did I Put My (Fill in the Blank)?

A Brooklyn friend posted a note to Facebook this week saying that he had just spent a lot of time trying to find his camera. He searched on, around, and under the desk. Looked through the rest of the house. Checked the bedroom. Then he looked in his shirt pocket. The small, light camera had been there all along. How much time to you waste every week looking for things like this?

Nokia may have an answer. The Nokia Treasure Tag is a little box that's a bit more than an inch square and about half an inch thick. Attach it to something you frequently lose and you'll never lose it again. There's a catch, though. It's designed to work with a Nokia cell phone.

Pair the device with your phone and if they're ever separated, they'll howl. I once had a cat like that. Whenever I left the room, he howled. It didn't work the other way around, though. He could leave the room and I didn't howl.

When one device starts howling, you should still be close enough to the other one to follow the sound and find it.

You can pair a total of 4 Treasure Finders with a Nokia Lumia phone. Each of the devices will show up an an icon on the phone's home screen. Or you can replace the icon with a photo.

Although the howling is automatic, you can turn it off if you decide to leave the paired device at home for the day. Simply press a button on the Treasure Finder to silence it. This, by the way, was not an option with the cat. The devices are available in blue, yellow, white, and black. They'll be available for purchase in April. The cost is $30.

And if you don't have a Nokia Lumia phone, you should be able to acquire an app from the Apple store for IOS devices or from Google's Play store for Android devices.

Affordable Near-Real-Time Mapping Just $150,000

To the Air Force, $150,000 is "affordable". Newly developed LIDAR technology will make it possible for precision mapping of an area of about 100 square miles in less time than it takes to have a pizza delivered. The mapping will be based on images taken from an airplane. If you're wondering why this is important, stick with me for a moment.

LIDAR is an acronym for "light detection and ranging". It's not new technology, but advances in existing technology make the process much faster than in the past. The device in the airplane uses laser light to photograph the surface of the earth. Think of it as a large strobe light on a camera. The on-board camera uses the light that bounces back to calculate distances.

The faster mapping is possible because of advances in chip technology. Instead of silicon, these chips use indium gallium arsenide.

The faster mapping is important because it can be used during natural disasters to illustrate situations as they exist on the ground. The increased detail apparent in the resulting images could help search-and-rescue workers. Of course, the technology could also be used for targeting and bomb-damage assessment.

The new technology reduces both the size and the price of LIDAR systems. Princeton Lightwave has an industrial model that's priced at $150,000 and would easily fit on a bedside table. Read more about it on Princeton Lightwave's website. And if you buy one, please invite me over to take a look!

Another Chance for Net Neutrality

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler says that the agency will try again to ensure what's called "Net neutrality" that would force Internet service providers such as Comcast and AT&T to treat all digital traffic the same, regardless of where it originates.

Last month a federal appeals court found in favor of Verizon in its suit that challenged the FCC's authority to regulate broadband communications. The ruling, although not in the FCC's favor, admitted the commission's authority and found essentially that the FCC had mis-classified broadband providers.

Many commentators have compared the future of broadband Internet service to the current state of cable television, where only basic service is provided at reasonable rates and each additional component entails extra fees.

FCC Chairman Wheeler emphasizes the commission's "responsibility to oversee the public interest standard and ensure that the Internet remains open and fair." Although he said that the FCC will not pursue the matter further in court, it will insist that Internet service providers stick to the Open Internet Order, which went into effect 4 years ago.

This week Consumer Reports also released the results of a study that found most (71%) broadband users would switch to another provider if their current provider slowed, blocked, or charged more for streaming services. The question that remains is this: What if all of the broadband providers collude in such a way that they all slow, block, or charge more for streaming services?

Yes, I chose the word "collude" with great care. And as for the FCC, it seems to believe that the CEOs of the various broadband providers will simply play nice with the rest of us even though a federal judge has told them that they don't have to.