Lookin Good

LooKInMyPC won’t fix your PC the next time it throws a wobbly, but it might make it easier for you, or someone who knows their way around computers, to track down the fault. When called into action it produces a detailed system profile and diagnostic report about all of the hardware, running services, drivers, updates, startup programs, networks, Internet connections, event logs and a zillion other things about your PC that could prove useful. Save the report when the PC is behaving itself and if things do go awry and help isn’t at hand you can email the report to a knowledgeable friend or tech. You don’t even have to install it on your PC after you’ve downloaded the program you get the option to install it on your hard drive, or on a removable drive or UDB memory stick. Hopefully you’ll never need it (some hope…) but if you do, it’s ready to help.

Make Mine a Martin

Now I know I said my last Christmas present list revision would be the last but I’ve had to change it again because now what I want for Xmas is a Martin Jetpack. Okay, I know it’s not quite the compact rocket (or jet) powered strap-on flying gizmo I had hoped for, and it looks and sounds more like a monster leaf-blower, but the range (30 miles) and endurance (30 minutes) make it a near-practical form of transport, for Londoner like me at any rate. The twin ducted fans can drive it up to ceiling of 8000 feet, it’ll zoom along at 60mph, it runs on regular unleaded and if the motor conks out there’s a ballistic parachute to get you safely back on the deck. The bad news? Well, it will have to be a late Christmas pressie because they’re not due to go on sale until January 2010, and prospective buyers need to stump up a deposit of $10,000, and that’s without knowing the final cost, which Martin say will be about as much as luxury car. So start saving now, and maybe if a few of you club together we can rustle up that deposit. Read more

Pavement P.U.M.A

Okay, forget all my previous Christmas present lists, the new one has only one item on it, a Segway/GM P.U.M.A. That stands for Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility and basically it’s a sit-down Segway, for two people. Like the Segway it scoots around on two wheels, balanced by lots of chips and motion sensors; the small wheels front and back are only for use when the machine is parked. It looks like a real hoot to drive; there are videos on the Segway site and You Tube that are well worth watching. It’s electric, obviously, so it’s very green and apparently it will be capable of going 20km between charges. Read more

Unforgettable USB Drive

If the media is to be believed Government employees are a forgetful lot, losing laptops and leaving CDs and USB drives containing sensitive data all over the place. It’s easily done; though and short of chaining a USB drive to your wrist sooner or later you are going to inadvertently leave one plugged into a PC. Here’s a simple little freeware program that might help jog your memory. It’s called Flash Drive Reminder and all you have to do is download the zip, extract it and copy a couple of small files to your drive. In fact there are two versions, Standard displays a reminder message when you plug the drive into a PC, and another when you log off or shut down the PC; the Quiet version just displays the logoff and shutdown messages.

Beer Powered USB Drive

Well, not exactly, and we’re not even sure the golden brown liquid in this rather eye-catching flash drive is actually beer, but we can tell you that it is available in capacities from 128Mb to 8Gb (sorry, no half pint or litre versions yet – now that would be useful…).

It is being produced by a company called CNK Promotions, and it’s the sort of thing that companies give away at exhibitions but CNK will happily pack their custom drives with the liquid of your choosing but be warned, the minimum order on this particular item (1Gb version) is 250 and at $20 a pop, not including the setup fee, you need to be pretty generous, or drunk, to give them away

Explore Your Computer

Windows has a number of diagnostic and system monitoring tools built in but this one, called System Explorer puts everything you need to know about your computer, and what’s it doing now, and in the past, into one very convenient and easy to use package. Here’s just a taster of what it can do. You can view information about running processes, startups, Explorer, IE Add-ons, uninstallers, drivers, services, connections and open files. You can check which programs and files were opened, and when, take snapshots of your Registry and later compare them if something has gone wrong to see what’s changed. It uses fewer resources than the Windows utilities and there’s even a portable version that you can run from a pen drive. Try it, get to know it and one day it could save you a lot of time and trouble if your PC throws a wobbly…

Fit For Purpose?

What’s all this then? At first glance it looks like it might be some sort of wireless gadget but believe it or not it is a complete PC, and no, that’s not a giant key. It’s called Fit-PC Slim and the whole thing measures just 10 x 11 x 3cm, which isn’t much larger than a pack of 20 cigarettes. Inside the box they have managed to squeeze an AMD Geode CPU running at 500MHz, there’s 512Mb RAM, a 60GB hard drive, Wi-FI and audio adaptors plus all the usual inputs and outputs. It comes pre-loaded with Linux or XP; there’s no fan, so it’s completely silent and all it needs to run is a simple 12-volt power supply. Amazing stuff, though you might now be asking why, and I have to say that I have no easy answers, but for someone out there it’s just what they’ve been waiting for!

Wave Hello to Air Mouse

I predict fun and games learning to drive the Gyration Air Mouse but it looks like it could be worth it. Unlike an ordinary rolling ball or optical mouse this one doesn’t need a flat surface to work. Just wave it around and motion sensors inside the case tracks your movements. This information is translated by ‘intuitive’ software, which works out where on the PC screen you want the mouse pointer to go. It also responds to a range of simple ‘gestures’ that are basically shortcuts for frequently used functions, like highlighting or magnifying text. It communicates wirelessly with a small dongle that plugs into a vacant USB socket on the PC, and for good measure, it also works as normal mouse on flat surfaces, so lie back in your easy chair, wave at your laptop and it will do as it is told, probably… In the shops soon, expect it to cost upwards of £60.

Digital Thumb Drive

Before anyone writes in, yes, I know this rather bizarre USB ‘Thumb’ drive has been around for a while, but I thought it deserved another outing as I’ve been looking into the weird and wacky world of USB drives, and there’s plenty of them about.

One of my favourites is the humping dog, which does what dirty dogs do, to your PC or laptop, when you download or upload data to the drive. Trust me, this is just the tip of the iceberg, I’ve found Barbie dolls with drives in the most unbecoming places, drives shaped like cakes and cameras, bottles and bones (check out what Vavolo has on offer), and objects one doesn’t discuss in polite company. Read more

Double-Quick Data Destruction

If you sell or otherwise dispose of your computer you must delete all of the data it contains. This is vitally important, not just from a security standpoint, but it’s also technically illegal to sell on a PC with Windows and many commercial programs installed unless you also transfer the licences, though this is almost impossible to do.

Active KillDisk remains my favourite method for deleting the data on a drive, but here’s a new one, called Darik’s Boot and Nuke, and this program really lives up to it’s name! Just boot the PC using a CD, DVD, pen drive or floppy and it totally destroys all of the data on every drive it finds. Read more