I was going for a fresh start with my computer. It’s been running slow. There’s a lot of stuff installed that I don’t need. So I did some autumn cleaning, opening the case to dust it up and then doing a fresh format and install of Windows 7 Ultimate. (All my documents, photos, videos, music, and other files are stored off the “C” drive. (See this article for more info on “Clean Starting” your PC)

Besides Office and iTunes, and this handy guide I created a while back, here are some more programs (in no particular order) that you should download and install:

10. Foxit Reader

Adobe/Acrobat Reader was a default for me for years. Every time I configured a new computer, it was one of the first programs I installed. Until now.

Thanks to MaximumPC, a magazine I’ve read and subscribed to for years, I found Foxit Reader. Apparently, 100 million other people have found it too.

It’s fast and light, allowing you to view PDFs with just 3MB of memory used. It’s free, but there’s also a professional version for $40 if you want to do some PDF editing. I think I’m in love.

One warning, when you install it, it does try to bundle a browser toolbar with it. Just uncheck that option.

9. 7-Zip

Sure every new version of Windows supports Zip files natively, but what about the occasional RAR or ISO file? What about GZIP and TAR files?

7-Zip is a tiny program that integrates into the Windows 7 shell to give you native-looking support for all these formats. It is a great program that does not hog resources.

8. Filezilla

Sure iCloud and Dropbox are great, but I back up a lot of my files on personal webservers, and I still like FTP as the way to go when it comes to accessing those files. It also comes in handy for editing website files on the fly.

Filezilla is the best way to use FTP in Windows. You can download a client and a server app for free under the GNU license. It’s a great way to handle files.

7. Notepad++

Good ole Notepad. One of the last unchanged vestiges of Windows 3.1 days. Personally, I love Notepad, but my eyes don’t. Neither does my head after a migraine induced by a difficult CSS editing session.

Notepad++ is just that. It is a basic text editor that does two things that we tech nerds need: It supports more than one document, and it highlights HTML and programming code in easily recognizable colors.

It is a smart text editor that is also amazingly fast, almost as fast and unassuming as the original Notepad. But once you install Notepad++, you’ll know why I’m never going back.

6. Audacity

This isn’t new at all, but if it is to you, then shame!

I love Sony’s Acid software for music projects and anything that requires a lot of power, but for everything else, including podcasts and streaming interviews, it’s Audacity. Audacity does for free almost as much as hundreds of dollars worth of audio software can do, and it’s so easy to use.

Audacity is a default app for Emerson College as well, and if the journalism and multimedia students are using it, you should too.

The only pain is that you have to download the MP3 plugin separately.

5. Gimp or Photoshop Elements?

Gimp is the open-source response to $500 for Adobe Photoshop. It’s very decent software. It is what Open Office is to Microsoft Office. Powerful, but lacking in the polish department. It’s also free.

If you want to buy something, Photoshop Elements is an under-$100 alternative to the full version, and it’s worth a glance. If you primarily do photo editing, retouching, and the like, Elements is really all you need. It gives you layers and most of the tools you use in the full version.

Still…I don’t use either. I admit it. I have the full version. I use it for Blast’s graphical needs, and I also need things like Adobe InDesign and Contribute.

4. Secunia PSI

This is a new one for me, but I’ve started to really enjoy it. Secunia Personal Software Inspector keeps tabs on all the software you have installed on your computer and checks them against a database of known vulnerabilities. It will tell you if you need a new patch or if your older software is at end-of-life, possibly leaving it vulnerable to exploits.

You can disable the tray icon and just scan your computer manually, but I have it running right now, it it only uses 1.2MB of memory, so I’m happy. When you’re doing a clean start install of Windows, it’s great to have this one running, because it will tell you what you still have to patch, even when you think you’re done.

3. bioPDF

Here’s another one that goes against the Adobe grain. bioPDF is a PDF Printer that lets you do just that. Everyone runs into a time when they need to create a PDF, and there are a lot of bloated or adware-filled options out there. This is not one of those. This is a quick, tiny, and free PDF creator.

2. GnuCash

We all need a little accounting software in our lives. For most people, that’s Quicken. For small business owners, it’s QuickBooks. But both cost money, and people tend to think they have to buy it new all the time, because new versions keep coming out every year.

I use GnuCash. It’s larger than your usual free app (about 400MB) but that works in its favor in this case. GnuCash is also the only title of its kind to make PCMag.com’s Best Free Software of 2011 list.

The best thing is, if you have an old version of Quicken of Microsoft Money, you can import your old backup files into GnuCash.

1. TrueCrypt

TrueCrypt is an encryption program. Not everyone needs it. Some people really need it. No matter. TrueCrypt won’t stop the CIA or a police raid on your computer, but if you want to hide sensitive, uh, photos from a snooping friend, roommate, or significant other, it will do the trick.

All snark aside, there are perfectly valid reasons to use this software. People store all kinds of sensitive information on their computers (see Gnucash) and this software lets you protect it.

Software claims to be able to decrypt BitLocker To Go flash drives in less than 20 minutes.

But this isn’t exactly a kid in his mother’s basement. The program is from Passware Inc., which develops password recovery, decryption and cyber forensics solutions to corporations, law enforcement agencies, and the government. They showed their talents this week at the 2010 International Training Conference by High Technology Crime Investigation Association in Atlanta.

Their product, Passware Kit Forensic 10.1 that allows for cracking of BitLocker To Go USB Disks. Passware’s BitLocker decryption capabilities, first introduced in November 2009, support all types of hard disk images, including raw image files, images created with Guidance EnCase or any other forensic tool.

“This enhanced solution for computer forensics allows the entire memory capture and decryption process to take no more than 40 minutes regardless of the complexity of the password,” said Dmitry Sumin, president of Passware, Inc.

This new ability includes live target memory acquisition and BitLocker encryption key recovery that allows computer forensics to gain easily full access to the contents of the encrypted USB disk. Passware Kit Forensic now also supports BitLocker To Go images saved as Virtual Hard Disks (VHD) — a format that allows attaching BitLocker hard disks in Windows 7 and Server 2008 without using any third-party disk mounting tools.

You can get your hands on Passware Kit 10.1 for about $800.

BitLocker Drive Encryption is a full disk encryption feature included with the Ultimate and Enterprise editions of Windows Vista and 7, as well as the Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 server platforms. By default it uses the AES encryption algorithm in CBC mode with a 128 bit key, combined with the Elephant diffuser for additional disk encryption specific security not provided by AES.

There are many methods and products for ensuring data encryption, but unfortunately many can run you hundreds of dollars along with countless hours of time in the process.

I’ve always felt that some of the best software is free — take Mozilla Firefox for example.‚  SafeHouse Explorer is another great free product and in my use, I’ve found it to be a comprehensive data encryption solution for most Windows users.

One thing that I’ve noticed and enjoy about SafeHouse Explorer is its very clean look and simplicity of use. The application is designed to have the same appearance as the Windows Explorer and some of the most frequent tasks such as the “open volume” button are well placed and labeled, making the overall interface very functional, yet simple.

SafeHouse Explorer works to protect and encrypt your files by first letting your choose the size of its database or volume file. Then you create a password. I recommend that you choose a strong password (use the password strength indicator to help you), considering this will be your “master password” to all your files that are stored in that one volume. Once this is complete, you can simply drag and drop files into the window, and the program will then index and encrypt the files upon exiting the program.

One feature worth noting is the secure move-ability. This feature enables you easily move files to the SafeHouse application, and once imported, it destroys the files in the original location where they were dragged from.

Recovering your files is simple as well, and there are a variety of ways to regain access to your encrypted files. Users can create desktop shortcuts, double click on the volume file or simply launch the application and use the “open volume” button and navigate to the database or volume file. From there, users must enter their password- in which they assigned previously when they created the volume. SafeHouse Explorer then displays all of their files and the user can make changes. It then automatically creates a network drive when it recognizes you are logged into a particular volume. Once you close SafeHouse Explorer it deletes the network drive from Windows. This option makes it incredibly easy for users to easily gain access to their files using the familiar genuine Windows Explorer without having to use SafeHouse Explorer to access files. When volume is open in the application, users can make modifications directly to the file in SafeHouse Explorer. Many other clients require you to re-import files to make changes.

The company also offers a pro version of SafeHouse that offers additional functionality, but the free version is more than enough for most Windows users just looking to safeguard and encrypt files. There’s no Mac version, however.

You can download SafeHouse Explorer for free at: http://www.safehouseencryption.com/

With many of us trying to be more secure online by choosing better, less redundant and overall more secure passwords, the real question is “How do we remember them all?” Atek, a California based company, thinks they have a solution with their Logio Password Organizer Device.

It’s tiny –‚  only 1/8″ thick. The device reminds me of a cheap oven timer, and with that take on things, it’s very disappointing with flimsy thin plastic that almost breaks in half if you type with firm pressure.

The keyboard is somewhat acceptable yet very cheap-feeling again. I’ve found most of the other buttons take a few presses to get the unit to respond.

I found performance to be below average but manageable when you apply heavy pressure to the keyboard, which is really just a pain. I also found the interface to be very slow, and it often took a few seconds to respond to basic commands.

The simple menus are, well, simple. However, it is extremely tedious to keep pressing the down arrow to get to your listing at the end of the list when you store many items. The unit can store up to 200 records, but I couldn’t imagine pressing the down arrow 200 times to get to the last listing.

Two hundred is also a small number, considering several gigabytes of data fit into tiny secure digital cards these days.

The Logio stores all your passwords behind one AES-encrypted master password. Try not to forget that one.

I’ve always believed that as consumers, our pockets are filled with devices. We have our mobile phones, iPods, flash drives and more strapped onto our belt and stuffed into our pockets. Smartphones are beginning to get more and more advanced and with Apple, RIM, Palm and Windows Mobile taking new approaches we might finally be able to free our pockets.

With this in mind, the Atek Logio Password Organizer seems like a safe way to organize passwords and is defiantly more secure than your traditional pen and paper, but it contributes to the device clutter problem. I believe that the prototype would be far more successful if the company could develop mobile applications with this same functionality in mind for Smartphones such as Apple’s iPhone, RIM’s Backberry devices and Windows Mobile Smartphones.

The product retails for $29.95 and is available at http://www.atek.com/

I thought I broke it. But I didn’t. Phew.

The Buffalo MiniStation DataVault is a tiny little 160GB 5400 RPM hard drive that is completely powered by mini USB and features full disk encryption/password access for a nice touch of portable security.

It really is small. It’s not much larger than a first generation iPod.

Getting back to the first paragraph, Buffalo advertises that the HDD is suspended on shock absorbers in the case, protecting it from … stuff. Clearly, the best way to test this was to transfer a bunch of big files onto it and then start shaking it like a bottle of water with one of those Crystal Light On the Go packets poured in.

Then I dropped it on the ground. Not hard. Just so.

Then Explorer froze and crashed.

I pulled the plug, restarted Explorer and plugged the drive back in. Vista warned me that the drive was improperly turned off last time and offered to do a scan to check things out. It turned up clean and about half the files had transferred onto the disc. I transferred a bunch more to and from the drive and it seemed to work fine. I’ll let the reader be the judge there.

The best thing about the drive is that it’s truly plug-n-play. I plugged it into a USB port and it was asking me for the password in seconds. I also like that it draws all its power from USB and doesn’t require another one of my vital AC sockets.

As far as performance goes, HD Tune averaged about 28 MB/sec read and about 27 write, which is above average for a USB drive.

We test drives with HD Tune Pro 3.10.

The drive comes pre-loaded with Memeo backup software and Firefox and Thunderbird portable with a taskbar app to launch all the portable programs you want to load onto it. (Big fan)

It seems like a good drive and a great bargain at under $100.

Just in case, Buffalo does give a 3-year manufacturer warranty.

Take a seven dollar can of compressed air from any office supply store. Flip it over, and spray its liquid nitrogen on a computer’s DRAM, or digital random access memory. Reboot the computer, or even extract the DRAM chip and clone it, then run a few relatively simple programs. Nothing that would defeat an intermediate level programmer.

It’s that easy to bypass the most popular forms of hard disk encryption software. From Windows Vista, to Mac OSX, to various flavors of Linux, it appears that all major operating systems are highly vulnerable.

Conventional wisdom held that DRAM memory was rapidly volatile, causing all of its information to fade as soon as power to a computer is cut. However, researchers with Princeton’s School of Engineering and Applied Science department have recently proved that false.

By tipping the can of air upside down over a laptop’s DRAM chips, the nitrogen gas freezes the chip within seconds. When it’s frozen, the memory can stay fresh for longer than ten minutes — more than enough time to steal the encryption keys that allow easy access to the hard drive’s data.

In their paper, titled, “Lest We Remember: Cold Boot Attacks on Encryption Keys,” they say, “We show that this phenomenon limits the ability of an operating system to protect cryptographic key material from an attacker with physical access. We use cold reboots to mount successful attacks on popular disk encryption systems using no special devices or materials.”

The revelation and airtight research have knocked the computer world for a spin, as laptops containing military information to proprietary corporate research are now wide open.
In their paper, the researchers observe that many computers with inefficient cooling systems do not need the benefit of liquid nitrogen at all. The DRAM stays cool enough on its own to simply reboot the computer with the proper access tools.

The researchers end their abstract by noting, “Though we discuss several strategies for partially mitigating these risks, we know of no simple remedy that would eliminate them.”

See also: The New York Times