Who is on Your Network?
Posted by Jason on
August 19, 2008
As soon as you set up a computer network you are opening up a great big can of worms. Cabled networks are pretty secure but wi-fi can create problems. Providing you take sensible precautions and enable encryption you should be okay. Nevertheless, you still might like to keep an eye on who is using it and connecting to the Internet especially if you have kids in the house – in which case this little utility, called LookatLan puts you back in control. It generates a lot of infomration, most of which probably won’t be of much interest to you, but the main window tells you what you need to know, about who is connected to your network, and what they are up to.
Ebay Sniping Tool
Posted by Jason on
June 26, 2008
Speaking as a regular ebay user, I am constantly being outbid in the last seconds of an auction, almost certainly by automated bidding programs, and it’s ticking me off! On the very shaky premise that if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, I am now seriously considering going over to the dark side and using what’s known as a ‘sniping tool’ to do my bidding for me and based on my researches, it seems that one of the best is a freeware utility called JbidWatcher. It’s very easy to set up, you feed it your ebay details, tell it what you want to bid on, how much you are prepared to pay, and how late you want to make a bid and it gets on with it. Moments before the auction ends JBid makes it move, and if you are successful, the item is yours, assuming of course that rival bidders are not using sniping tools as well, set to place higher bids even later than you…
Laptops Aloud
Posted by Jason on
May 12, 2008
It’s not long until the holiday season begins and with the widespread availability of Wi-Fi in hotels and airports, and Wireless Hotspots all over the place I’m guessing that a lot of you will be taking your laptop with you on your travels this year. The only trouble is they’re so nickable, all it takes is a momentary distraction, and it’s gone. Well, this little freeware utility isn’t going to stop you doing something daft, but if might just alert you to the fact that someone is interfering with it, and if it does get pinched, they won’t be able get at the data stored on it, at least not easily. Read More »
Lock Your Windows, With a Cellphone
Posted by Jason on
April 15, 2008
If your PC or laptop has a Bluetooth adaptor, and your cellphone is similarly equipped, then here’s something that might interest you. It’s a free utility called BtProx, and the idea is you can lock your PC, so no-one else can use it, unless you, and your cellphone are in the immediate vicinity. As I’m sure Apple Mac fans will remind me, it’s not exactly a new idea, but no matter, its a simple and effective way to protect your computer, though, just make sure your phone battery doesn’t run out, or you will be in trouble…
