Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on August 07, 2008 by CyberNet.

Tutorial Thursday

Windows only

Have you ever been working on a project where you wish you had a copy from a few hours or days ago before you made some changes? Most people never think about being able to setup a system that manages revisions of files (a.k.a. version control) because they think it’s too complicated, but it takes only minutes to do using the free Cobian Backup software.

I’ve been a huge fan of Cobian Backup ever since I wrote about it back in April. It has a number of features that truly makes it one of the most complete backup solutions I’ve found, and today we’re going to demonstrate how it can also serve as a revision management system for you’re most precious files. What it will do is make a copy of a file every time it recognizes that a change has been made. As you can imagine this type of system can be priceless for programmers, writers, designers, and more.

How do you set it up? Here is the step-by-step guide on what you need to do:

1. Download and install the free Cobian Backup 9. You should see a screen like this when you run it the first time:
   
2. Click Task -> New Task. Give the new task a useful name, and choose Differential as the backup type:
   
3. Click on the Files section along the left side, and in the upper-half of the window choose the files and/or directories you want revisions kept for. After you’ve done that move down to the bottom where you’ll choose the location you want the revisions to be placed.
   
4. Now switch over to the Schedule section. Change the type to Timer, and then at the bottom of the window enter in how many minutes you would like between each backup. If you’re working on something where having lots of revisions is very important you can have it check every minute, otherwise every 15 to 30 minutes should be suitable. Alternatively you can set a specific time/day for the backups to occur, but generally a timer works better for keeping track of revisions.
   
5. That’s it! Press the OK button to have it start creating your revisions. Any file(s) that get changed will be copied over into a new folder that is labeled with the date/time that the backup was performed:
   

Now that you have everything setup you can rest easy that you’ll have revisions available for your most important files and folders. I know what you’re probably thinking now. What do you do when you want to see all of the revisions for a particular file? Do you have to navigate through each folder individually? Nope, you just need to perform a search in your backup folder for the particular file. This can easily be done by right-clicking on the backup folder, and choosing the Search option.

One thing that you want to keep in mind when doing all of this is that duplicates are made of a file every time a change has been made to them. So if you’re working with large files (movies, music, etc…) these backups can really start to eat away at your disk space.

–Other Configuration Options to Consider–

If you’ve followed the steps above your backups should be working just fine, but there are a few things that you may discover that you want to configure:

• Changing the Timestamp Format
  Each time a new folder is created to hold your revisions the name is assigned to the current date and time. The format of the time can be changed by going to Tools -> Options -> Advanced and altering the value in the Date/Time Format field.
• Disable the Popup Alert
  Whenever a backup starts a little popup is shown down by the System Tray telling you what’s going on. If your backups are frequently getting executed this can get quite annoying, but they can luckily be disabled. Just go to Tools -> Options -> Functionality, and uncheck the Show backup hints option.
• Archive Each Backup
  If you’re frequently doing backups they can quickly start to take up a lot of room. One thing you can do to help conserve space is archive/compress the files each time they are backed up. When you’re configuring your backup you should see a section along the left side labeled Archive, and clicking on that will let you choose your compression method. I recommend using 7Zip since it will save the most room, but the standard ZIP format might be the easiest for you to work with since Windows includes built-in support for it.

–Overview–

As a programmer and writer I’ve found revision systems like these to be incredibly useful, and that’s largely because everything doesn’t always work out the way you want it to. Being able to revert back to a file’s previous state can save a lot of frustration. If you’re working on a report, project, or anything else that’s extremely important I’d recommend setting up a revision system like this so that you don’t regret it later on.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Your Week in Review with Sunday’s SummaryCyberNotes: Powerful Free Backup SoftwareHelpful Tip: Recover Lost Bookmarks in Firefox 3CyberNotes: Schedule A Database Backup In WindowsBackup Your Files To An Email Account

This article was written on September 28, 2009 by CyberNet.

Welcome to the WrapUp by CyberNet. This is a collection of news stories, downloads, and tips that we have collected over the last few days, but never got around to writing about. Don’t forget to send in your own tips, or just leave a comment on this page if you think you’ve got something we should include.

–News–

Another Browser Migrates to WebKit
The WebKit rendering engine is on a roll. Safari started the whole thing, and then Google Chrome thought it would be good to use, then just recently Maxthon followed up with support, and now Epiphany. Sure, Epiphany may not be the most popular browser since it’s Linux-only, but that’s besides the point. What this shows is a growing trend of browsers migrating over to WebKit, which could prove to be a positive thing for users. If WebKit is established as a common rendering engine we may start to see an increasing number of sites making sure they work well with it. We might finally be able to pick a browser based upon the features it offers instead of whether it can display sites properly.

Phoenix BIOS Boots PC in Seconds
Phoenix has developed a BIOS that can “POST” in a mere one second, which leads to an overall fast boot time. They used a Lenovo T400s with an SSD, and it was able to reach a useable Windows 7 desktop in just 10-seconds. It’s not quite as fast as resuming from standby, but this can make having to restart your PC much less painful. I look forward to seeing this available in the future.

Dropbox Hits 2 Million Users; 1 Million Active
I have to admit that Dropbox is one of my favorite services. The main reason I like it so much is the fact that they offer 2GB of online storage that can be used to keep all the files I upload in sync across all my machines regardless of the OS. I was actually surprised to see that they only have 1 million active users… they definitely deserve more than that.

–News in Brief–

Wii Price Cut Available on Amazon
Amazon is already showing the price cut on the Wii, bringing it down to $199. To top it off they are also throwing in a $25 Amazon gift card with it.

Microsoft’s New Prototype “Wall”
Want a glimpse of the future? Here’s a new video put out by Microsoft demonstrating yet again what our offices may look like tomorrow. And by tomorrow I mean 50 years from now.

Firefox 3.6 Provides Tools for Better Support
Mozilla is adding an about:support to their browser that will give the users details about their Firefox setup that can be provided when they are in search of support.

DirectX 10.1 vs. DirectX 11
The difference between these two versions of DirectX doesn’t appear to be that great, but it might be more significant at higher resolutions.

Hide Read Labels in Gmail
A new Labs feature in Gmail will let you show only those labels that have unread items.

Video Interview with Steve Ballmer
Steve Ballmer sits down with TechCrunch and talks about Yahoo, Zune, and more.

FeedDemon 3.0 Released
The final version of FeedDemon has made it out the door, and is complete with Google Reader synchronization.

Microsoft’s Tablet… the Courier?
Rumors are that Microsoft is working on on a new kind of tablet PC that could be pretty amazing if the “leaked” image ends up being real.

Google Taps into IE with Chrome Frame
A plugin for Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8 offered by Google lets web pages render with Chrome.

Picasa 3.5 Gets Name Tags and More
The new version of Picasa can identify the people in your photos, and will also let you geotag them.

Push Gmail for the iPhone and Windows Mobile
Both iPhone and Windows Mobile users can receive push email notifications if they’re using Gmail thanks to the new Exchange/ActiveSync support.

Netflix Makes Out Like a Bandit with their $1 Million Competition
We’ve covered the Netflix $1 million competition before, and we may see other companies following their lead. It’s said that if you look at everyone involved in the competition that Netflix was getting “Ph.D.’s for a dollar an hour.”

–Tips, Tutorials, and Reviews–

Auto Shutdown Firefox and More
I’ve seen extensions to shutdown Firefox after your downloads are done, but this one is rather unique. How so? First off it can integrate with the popular DownThemAll extension. Second, you can specify command line operations you want executed before your computer shuts down. Now that’s impressive.

GIMP is Getting Single-Window Mode
If you follow me on Twitter you know how excited I was last week when it was announced that the next version of GIMP would include a single-window mode. That’s right. Should you choose to you’ll no longer have windows floating all over the place. Not only that but the new version will also have several other great improvements that actually make me excited for the next release.

XPize Polishes Up XP
If you’re still holding off on upgrading your copy of XP then maybe you should consider giving it some new life with XPize. It updates a lot of the icons so that they are much more modern, and comes bundled with some themes that can even skin your login screen. It’s a completely free way to make your PC feel a bit more up-to-date.

Evernote Beta for Windows Gets a Facelift
I use Evernote all the time to take notes when I’m on the go, at home, or at work. The great thing is that Evernote stays in sync no matter where I’m at, and now the refreshed Windows version has some of the features only the Mac version had. The most prominent example is probably the thumbnail previews that go along with the awesome three-pane view.

–Tips in Brief–

How to Try Out Microsoft Office Web Apps
If you’re impatient and want to try out Microsoft Office Web Apps these are the instructions you need to follow.

Top 10 Ways to Get More From a Cameraphone
Here’s a variety of different ways you can use your cameraphone to ensure that it’s put to good use.

Create Beautiful Drawings with Livebrush
Got some artistic talent? This free app will transform that talent into a digital form.

Force IE to Use Chrome Frame
If you really like Chrome Frame you can force IE to always use that to render websites. Or, you know, you could just use Chrome.

CNet Techtracker Checks for Software Updates
Yep, another app that will check for updates to the software you have installed on your computer.

Selectively Block Flash Animations in Chrome
This will block all Flash animation on websites until you explicitly approve them.

Tux Paint: Great Image App for Kids
This is a pretty cool app for kids because it makes it simple for kids to find the various tools they need to draw.

Digsby Gets New Twitter Features
My love for Digsby has diminished a bit, but the new Twitter functionality is pretty cool.

John’s Background Switcher Updated
The new version includes a bunch of features including Google, Yahoo, and Bing image search results.

3 Tools to Manage Virtual Drives
Get some virtual drives hooked up to your PC with these free programs.

–Downloads–

• AIM 7.0.11.2 [Mirror]
• BurnAware Free 2.4 [Mirror]
• Digsby Build 65 ^Beta [Mirror]
• Drupal 6.4 [Mirror]
• FeedDemon 3.0.0.41 [Mirror]
• FileZilla 3.2.8 [Mirror]
• Google Chrome 4.0.213.1 ^Beta [Mirror]
• Google SketchUp 7.1.4871 [Mirror]
• iTunes 9.0.1 [Mirror]
• Mandriva Linux 2010.0 ^RC1 [Mirror]
• Maxthon 3.0.48 ^Alpha [Mirror]
• Maxthon 2.5.9.1883 [Mirror]
• Miranda 0.8.7 [Mirror]
• Notepad++ 5.5.0 [Mirror]
• Opera 10.10.1792 ^Beta [Mirror]
• Paint.NET 3.5 ^{Beta 1} [Mirror]
• Picasa 3.5.79.67 [Mirror]
• RSSOwl 2.0 ^RC1 [Mirror]
• Sandboxie 3.39.20 ^Beta [Mirror]
• Thunderbird 3.0 ^{Beta 4} [Mirror]
• uTorrent 1.8.4.16667 [Mirror]
• uTorrent 2.0.16625 ^Beta [Mirror]
• VLC Media Player 1.0.2 [Mirror]

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on November 01, 2007 by CyberNet.

Tutorial Thursday

I was recently approached by a friend who had just installed Quicken 2008 onto his computer, and previously he had kept his transactions in a complex Microsoft Excel spreadsheet much like myself. He thought that the import process would be a piece of cake, but that didn’t turn out to be the case since Intuit, the parent company behind Quicken, decided to start phasing out Quicken Interchange Format (QIF) file support a few years ago.

The decision came about because QIF was seen to have many inefficiencies that the new format, Open Financial Exchange (OFX), is able to conquer. Intuit wanted to make it extremely difficult to import QIF files into Quicken 2008 (as well as 2005, 2006, and 2007) so that banks and credit card companies would start using the new format. This has angered many people because some banks only provide their data in the QIF format.

But wait, why do I even care about QIF if I’m trying to import data from Excel, which doesn’t have the ability to save a QIF. Actually there is a nifty little add-on for Excel called XL2QIF that will convert your spreadsheet to a QIF file using the data that you specify. In just a few seconds I had the Excel data converted into the needed format.

TIP: All QIF files can be edited and examined in any text editor, such as Notepad or WordPad. This is important because we’ll be doing some manual editing in a minute, but don’t be intimidated because it is pretty straightforward.

Here are the steps you need to take to import QIF files into Quicken 2008:

1. Open Quicken and create an account for the data that you want to import. You don’t have to create another account if you already have one made.
2. Now go to File -> Export -> QIF File, and select the account that you want to deal with from the Quicken Account to Export from. This should be the account that you created/used in Step 1. It’s crucial that you check the Account List box.
   
3. Now open the QIF file from Step 2 in a text editor, such as Notepad. Copy all of the text up to the line that specifies the date for the first transaction (highlighted in yellow below). The data we want should look something like this:

   !Option:AutoSwitch
   !Account
   NCyberNet Credit Card
   TCCard
   L0.00
   ^
   !Clear:AutoSwitch
   !Account
   NCyberNet Credit Card
   TCCard
   ^
   !Type:CCard

   Now open the QIF file that you want to import. Paste the text that you just copied, and replace all of the data up to the date on the first transaction. The entire process should look something like this:

   (Click to Enlarge)
   

   Wondering why you just did that? The data that you just copied is used by Quicken to identify which account the transactions belong to. The original file was missing that critical information, and without it Quicken will have no idea where to put the transactions. In older versions of Quicken it would let you select which account to apply the transactions to, but that doesn’t work anymore. Needless to say it’s an important part of the process if you want to import a QIF file into Quicken.

4. In Quicken go to File -> Import -> QIF File. Browse for the file location on your computer, select All Accounts as the account to import into, and make sure the Account List box is checked. Then hit the Next button!

   (Click to Enlarge)
   

5. Now all that you have to do is accept the transactions that you just imported from the QIF:

   (Click to Enlarge)
   

It may seem like a long process, but once you understand how it works you can probably import a QIF file into Quicken in under 30 seconds. Just save the account information that you copied in Step 3 if you regularly download QIF files from your bank. By saving that information you will never have to go through the export process in Step 2.

Believe it or not it took me upwards of two hours to figure out that this trick would work. I tried dozens of different techniques mentioned around the web, and then I finally figured that if Quicken can still export the data as a QIF that it should also be able to import it. Turns out that I was right.

Whether you’re trying to import Microsoft Money data or import an Excel spreadsheet this trick should be just what you’re looking for!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Your Week in Review with Sunday’s SummaryCyberNotes: Fast Uploads to FTP, Imageshack, TinyPic, and RapidshareQuicken Online – How do you Manage your Finances?Import Documents from Google Docs to ZohoSave Google Presentations as a PowerPoint (PPT)

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