Updating Adobe Flash the best way possible

Keeping your flash player update is very important, if you have the latest version of flash if can auto update, but it can be very slow to alert you about this, by the time it does you could be infected. Sure you could just go to the source  get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ but because the install Mcafee Security Scan Plus is checked, most users don't notice this, and install a very unneeded program, heck even if you don't have any anti-virus , it would make any difference installing Mcafee as it doesn't detected or stop most of the malware out there. So I did some digging and this is the best way to make sure your flash is updated, ASAP!. First thing to do is go HERE , looking at step one will show you a animation of text scrolling say that flash is running on you system , and a ball going by. Step two shows your flash version and your web browser and the system your running. Step three shows you the version of windows , mac & others, and the browsers and what's the latest version of flash player from adobe you should have, now if the version that's shown  in step one with the arrow pointed to it is not the same shown as in step three, then you wanted to update your flash player! now ignore the rest of the steps on that page, and then go HERE under downloads if all you use is Internet Explorer then choose to download either EXE or MSI and then you from there download and run the update to adobe flash player, with out even worry to install the Mcafee security scan plus. now even if you don't use Internet Explorer download and install this update anyways, you never know. now if you use Firefox, or some other browser, (don't worry about google chrome, it uses it own flash player) under the list Plugin-based browsers, choose to download and run either EXE or MSI. For your Mac yours you do the same, but choose Mac OS X (Intel) and download and run the DMG installer. Well I hope this helps.

Simple ADB Backup Backs Up Your Android Phone from the Desktop, No Root Required

UPDATE! now there is a even easier way to do it with Holo Backup Here

Windows/Linux/Android (4.0+): Most Android backup tools require root, or run from your phone and save your data to your SD card. Simple ADB Backup is different. The app runs from and backs up your phone's data to your desktop, and does it all without root.
To use Simple ADB Backup, you'll need USB Debugging Mode enabled on your Android device (Go to Settings > Developer, enable developer options, then enable USB debugging) and the utility installed on your desktop. That's about it: just plug in your phone, launch the app on your Windows or Linux system, and choose a backup option. You have the option to back up your entire device, just apps, all data with or without system apps, or even a single app if you choose.
The app also lets you restore backed up data to your device. Before you back up, you'll be prompted to generate a password you'll also have to type into the app on your phone before the backup can begin, but after that, the process runs smoothly. It's extremely simple, completely free, and doesn't require you root first. We still think that Titanium Backup is a more feature-filled app if you're willing to root (especially if you want a bulletproof backup system for your Android), and MyBackup Pro is great if you're migrating to a new phone and don't want a desktop as a middleman, but Simple ADB Backup is free and so easy to use that even Android beginners can easily and quickly back up their important data.
Simple ADB Backup is the work of XDA developer omegavesko, who's released it for free over at the XDA Developer forums. Hit the link below to download it there.


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Get Linux

Get Linux is a portable and open source download client, which interacts with a server side library for downloading numerous Linux-based operating systems. With the help of this utility, you can download more than 100 Linux distributions, by simply selecting their name from the available list. This makes it easy to obtain the most updated Linux OS, without having to manually search and download the ISO file via a browser.

http://get-linux.net/tools/

Appupdater for windows

Appupdater provides advanced functionality to Windows, similar to apt-get or yum on Linux. It automates the process of installing and maintaining up to date versions of programs. It is fully customizable for use in a corporate environment.


http://www.nabber.org/projects/appupdater/

problem steps recorder for windows

 un psr in run / search in Windows

You can use Problem Steps Recorder to automatically capture the steps you take on a computer, including a text description of where you clicked and a picture of the screen during each click (called a screen shot). Once you capture these steps, you can save them to a file that can be used by a support professional or someone else helping you with a computer problem.

Notes

• When you record steps on your computer, anything you type will not be recorded. If what you type is an important part of recreating the problem you're trying to solve, use the comment feature described below to highlight where the problem is occurring.
  Some programs, like a full-screen game, might not be captured accurately or might not provide useful details to a support professional.

To record and save steps on your computer

1. Open Problem Steps Recorder by clicking the Start button , and then typing psr. In the list of results, click psr.
2. Click Start Record. On your computer, go through the steps on your computer to reproduce the problem. You can pause the recording at any time, and then resume it later.
3. Click Stop Record.
4. In the Save As dialog box, type a name for the file, and then click Save (the file is saved with the .zip file name extension).
   To view the record of the steps you recorded, open the .zip file you just saved, and then double-click the file. The document will open in your browser.

To send the problem steps in e‑mail

• After recording and saving a .zip file, click the help down arrow , and then click Send to E‑mail recipient. This will open an e‑mail message in your default e‑mail program with the last recorded file attached to it.

  Note

  • You won't be able to click the Send to e‑mail recipient option until you've recorded and saved a file.

To annotate problem steps

1. Open Problem Steps Recorder by clicking the Start button , and then typing psr. In the list of results, click psr.
2. Click Start Record.
3. When you want to add a comment, click Add Comment.
4. Use your mouse to highlight the part of the screen that you want to comment on, type your text in the Highlight Problem and Comment box, and then click OK.
5. Click Stop Record.
6. In the Save As dialog box, type a name for the file, and then click Save.
   To view the record of the steps you recorded, open the .zip file you just saved, and then double-click the file. The document will open in your browser.

To adjust settings

When you adjust settings for Problem Steps Recorder, they're only saved for your current session. After you close and reopen Problem Steps Recorder, it will return to the regular settings.

1. Open Problem Steps Recorder by clicking the Start button , and then typing psr. In the list of results, click psr.
2. Click the help down arrow , and then click Settings.
3. You can change the following settings for Problem Steps Recorder:
   • Output Location. If you don't want to be prompted to save a file after recording, click the Browse button to set a default output file name.
   • Enable screen capture. If you don't want to capture the screen shots along with the click information, select No. This might be a consideration if you are taking screen shots of a program that contains personal information, such as bank statements, and you are sharing the screen shots with someone else.
   • Number of recent screen captures to store. While the default is 25 screens, you can increase or decrease the number of screen shots. Problem Steps Recorder only records the default number of screen shots. For example, if you took 30 screen shots during a recording but only had 25 screen shots as the default, you would be missing the first five screen shots. In this case, you would want to increase the number of default screen shots. 
     
     
     
     
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How to Back Up Your Cydia Downloads Before Upgrading iOS

The jailbreak for iOS 6.1 just arrived, but Apple had to quickly introduce two emergency patches to the OS to fix Exchange support and a lock screen privacy bug. Thankfully, you can still jailbreak the updates, but if you're already running iOS 6.1 you might not want to hunt down your apps and tweaks again. Here's how to make it a little easier on yourself.

Backup (and Restore) Your Tweaks with Free Software

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We've talked about backing up your jailbreak apps manually, as well as with AptBackup (which actually just backs up a list of your apps, not the apps themselves), and PkgBackup (which does, but costs $10). Those all work fine, but we prefer OpenBackup because it's free, easy to use, and backs up everything you need. Here's how to use it:

1. Download OpenBackup in Cydia.
2. Open the app and select "backup." This backs up your iOS device to either iCloud (if it's enabled) or directly in iTunes. It also stores a local copy if you want to be doubly sure about the backup (you can find it at private/var/mobile/Library/Preferences/OpenBackupFiles and then save it to your computer's hard drive with software like iFunBox).
3. Open up iTunes, and then download and install the newest version of iOS.
4. Jailbreak your iOS device (again).
5. Head into Cydia and redownload OpenBackUp.
6. Select the "restore" option in OpenBackUp, and let it do its thing.
7. Wait for your iOS device to respring, and you should be done.

When OpenBackup is complete, you device should restore with all the tweaks and Cydia apps you downloaded originally. In the end, you have a lot of options for backing up Cydia apps, but the reason we like OpenBackup is because it provides that extra failsafe of both a copy on your machine and iCloud. It's also essentially the same process as PkgBackup, but it's free. If you want to pick and choose which apps and tweaks to backup, PkgBackup is the way to go, but if you want to do it in one quick swoop, OpenBackup was the most reliable for us.

Take the Opportunity to Get Rid of the Apps You Don't Really Need

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An automatic backup and restore option is fantastic, but personally I actually prefer the process of manually downloading everything again so I can clean out the clutter of too many tweaks. I've also had mixed luck with all three of the backup solutions listed above, so I tend to provide a failsafe anyway. Figuring out what's slowing down your jailbroken phone is kind of a pain, but when you manually reinstall everything you can really track down where a problem might be. Generally, I just pop into Cydia and write down the apps and tweaks I want to reinstall. If that sounds too tedious, Appinfo is a simple little app that'll export a text list of all your installed apps and sends it to you as an email. Then, when you're updated and jailbroken again, you can just go through the list and reinstall. It's tedious, but at least it keeps things clean.


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Write a Post-Interview Thank You that Actually Boosts Your Chances to Get the Job

We've discussed the best way to follow up after an interview, but what should you include in that follow-up to make sure your hiring manager or recruiter really notices? According to career strategist Hannah Morgan, it's a short, sweet, three line message that reaffirms your interest in the position and thanks the interviewer for their time. Here's what it looks like.
The follow-up letter, she explains, should be easily digestible to the reader, and it shouldn't require the hiring manager set aside a ton of time to read it. After all, they're busy, and it's a short walk from "appreciative that you sent a thank you note" to "annoyed you're wasting my time." Here's what she suggests:

Paragraph 1: This two- or three-sentence paragraph explains why you are writing…thank you.
Paragraph 2: This paragraph reminds the interviewer why your specific skills are a match for the job and how you will add value to their organization.
This might also be an opportunity to address any of your areas of weakness during the interview or to improve upon an answer you gave during the interview.
Paragraph 3: In this paragraph, emphasize your gratitude for the opportunity and state when YOU will be following up.

You can probably trim this down even more, but the format looks solid. She explains that the best time to send the note is 24-48 hours after your interview, and to send it directly to the hiring manager or recruiter that you worked with—if you were interviewed by a hiring committee or team, it may have less impact since everyone's opinions weigh on whether you get the job, but it can never hurt to send it to at least the person you'd be working for.
As to whether or not you should even send one, she shared this interesting graphic based on data compiled by CareerBuilder in a 2011 study of hiring managers and HR reps. Essentially, if you're not sending one, you may be doing your chances a disservice. A follow-up won't make up for a bad fit, lacking skills, or even a bad interview, but it can show character and tip the scales in your favor when someone's dealing with multiple qualified candidates, like almost every hiring manager is these days.


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Carbon for Android Backs Up Your Phone, No Root Required

Carbon is the work of Koushik "Koush" Dutta, the same developer behind ClockworkMod, one of our favorite Android utilities. This newest project is a sharp-looking backup and syncing tool for your Android device, one that can take your apps, app data (saved games, preferences, and so on), contacts, and other important data and save it to your phone's SD card or your desktop.
The app comes in two flavors: the free version backs up all of your data and stores it on your SD card or your desktop. For a $5 USD in-app upgrade, the premium version ditches the ads and unlocks a ton of additional features, including the ability to perform automatic hands-free backups on a schedule you set, and the ability to save your data to Dropbox, Google Drive, or Box.net in addition to your SD card or desktop. The premium version also allows you to sync two Android devices, so moving to a new phone is a snap. If your phone isn't rooted, you'll also need to install a companion app on your desktop for Carbon to activate and work properly (if your phone is rooted, you don't need to do this.)
The only caveat is that Carbon doesn't work on Motorola devices. Koush explains that Motorola phones "have a bug that break Android's backup mechanism," one that Motorola/Google will have to fix. He does note that if you have a Motorola phone and Carbon does work for you, he wants to hear from you. You can grab the app at the Google Play link below.

Carbon (Free, $5 in-app upgrade) | Google Play via Android Police

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Using a raw disk as a VirtualBox drive in Windows 7

The other day I was listening to episode 386 of Security Now! and learned from a listener who had written in that VirtualBox was capable of using physical disks for virtual machines and that this would work with SpinRite. Using this feature it is possible to run a SpinRite scan on a secondary disk in a virtual machine while still using the host machine. So to make sure I don’t forget how this was done and to hopefully help someone else out there, here are the steps that I took to get this working. An interesting thing to note here, since you can create raw drives in OS X, you should be able to run in the virtual machine a SpinRite scan on a secondary disk on a Mac!
Since it was listed on the manual page and I don’t want anyone to lose data, read this:

Warning

Raw hard disk access is for expert users only. Incorrect use or use of an outdated configuration can lead to total loss of data on the physical disk. Most importantly, do not attempt to boot the partition with the currently running host operating system in a guest. This will lead to severe data corruption.

For more information check out this section on creating raw disks in the VirtualBox manual https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch09.html#rawdisk.
Another final note: while I have not verified that this occurs, it is possible that Windows will assign a different disk number to the drive after rebooting. A few options for handling this include:

1. Create a raw virtual disk for each drive number naming them, so you can attach the correct one to the virtual machine before running it but not need to recreate the raw disk files.
2. After running the SpinRite scan delete the raw virtual disk vmdk file to make sure you don’t use it accidentally.
3. Follow the instructions on this post by Kevin Cave to create a raw virtual disk file that will always point to the correct drive.

Creating the Virtual Drive

1. Connect your hard drive.
This should be obvious. The first thing you should do is connect up the drive that you need to scan to the host machine.
2. Find the disk number.
After you have booted your machine back up you need to find out what number Windows has given to your disk. You can find this information in the disk management pane. First, open the start menu and right click on “Computer”. Select “Manage” from the menu. Next, select “Disk Management” from the pane on the left under the heading “Storage”. In the middle section you will see all of your hard drives and removable media drives listed. At the top of the bottom half should be at least two disks, the first labeled ”Disk 0″. Find the disk number for the drive you want to create the raw disk for (because you can’t use your host machine’s drive as a raw disk, obviously this drive should not have the (C:) partition on it).
Here’s a screenshot showing my desktop’s drives, the primary drive first as “Disk 0″ and the drive I want to run the scan on is the second, “Disk 1″.

3. Run VirtualBox as an administrator.
Right click on the VirtualBox shortcut and select “Run as administrator” from the menu. If / when UAC opens a box requesting permission to run, select “yes”.
4. Open up a command prompt.
Open the start menu and in the search box type “cmd”. In the list above right click on “cmd.exe” and select “Run as administrator”.
5. Navigate to the VirtualBox folder.
Next, you need to navigate to the folder where you installed VirtualBox. For me, this is the default location and since I’m running 64-bit Windows 7, the installer installed the 64-bit version of VirtualBox. For me this means I needed to “cd” (change directory) into the regular Program Files folder.

cd C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\

Note: For the more savvy Windows users, all you really need to do is add your VirtualBox install directory to the PATH environment variable.
5. Enter the following command
To create the raw disk for use with VirtualBox type the following command in the command prompt filling in the file name and the disk number in place of the # symbol:

VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename "FILENAME" -rawdisk "\\.\PhysicalDrive#"

Make sure that you include the double quotes around the filename and the disk name. This ensures that if there is a space in your filename that the command uses the entire path.
This is the command that I ran to create mine as an example using the disk number shown in the screenshot above and saving the disk image to my Downloads folder.

VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename "C:\Users\dan\Downloads\internalssd.vmdk" -rawdisk "\\.\PhysicalDrive1"

6. Create a new VirtualBox VM for running SpinRite.
In order to run SpinRite, you’ll need to create a VM and select the type “Other” then OS “DOS”. Follow the wizard and select how much RAM you’d like to allocate (I chose 128 MB which worked fine) and you don’t need to create a virtual hard disk since you are not installing an operating system.
7. Add the newly created virtual disk to your VirtualBox VM.
Navigate to the location of the file you created with the command and add it to your SpinRite VM. Lastly, you’ll have to mount the SpinRite.iso in the VM as well by adding a new CD/DVD drive and selecting the file on your machine.
8. Start up the VM and run SpinRite!
If everything went fine, SpinRite should discover the drive and show it in the list.
Note: You’ll need to run VirtualBox as an administrator anytime you want to run the VM so it can access the drive.

Running on OS X and Linux

The only changes to the above steps that should be required for OS X and Linux (I have not tested these but if they work for you or a something different is required let me know) is to change the name of the raw disk in the command. On Linux use “/dev/sda” or whatever your drive is. On OS X use “/dev/disk1″ or whatever your drive is.

Troubleshooting

Hopefully those steps worked for you like they did for me. If you get an error like, “VERR_ACCESS_DENIED” you probably didn’t run the command prompt as an administrator. If you get an error like,

VBoxManage.exe: error: Failed to create the VirtualBox object!
VBoxManage.exe: error: Code CO_E_SERVER_EXEC_FAILURE (0x80080005) - Server execution failed (extended info not available)
VBoxManage.exe: error: Most likely, the VirtualBox COM server is not running or failed to start.

Then you probably didn’t run VirtualBox as an administrator.



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SnapPea Manages Your Android Phone from Your Windows Desktop

 SnapPea

Windows: SnapPea is a free utility that lets you manage the apps, music, photos, and SMS messages on your Android phone from your desktop. Think of the app as something of an "iTunes for Android," without the terrible performance.
If you've been looking for an all-in-one utility to manage your Android phone, SnapPea might be worth checking out. That all-in-one experience is clearly SnapPea's biggest draw: It offers one application that lets you manage everything about your phone. Connect your phone to your PC via USB (with USB debugging on—it uses ADB for file transfers and backups) or pair it with the app over Wi-Fi.
From there you can manage, organize, and transfer files to or from your Android device all from inside the application's interface. You can install apps directly, bypassing Google Play if you choose, organize and update your phone's contacts, back up your phone, organize or move photos, music, and video, or import iTunes playlists and copy your music over. Perhaps most notably, SnapPea allows you to send and receive SMS messages on your desktop, through your Android phone.
SnapPea's clear competitor here is previously mentioned AirDroid, and there are pros and cons for each. AirDroid works using a web browser, meaning it's more cross-platform than SnapPea, but SnapPea lets you manage a few things that AirDroid doesn't. Still, which one works best for your needs is up to you.
SnapPea is free for Windows systems, and you can grab the installer below. There's no OS X or Linux version, but Mac users can download SnapPea's APK installer if you need help sideloading apps to your Android phone.



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Learn Beginner and Advanced HTML/CSS Skills for Free

When you want to make something awesome on the web, you have to start with HTML and CSS. With plenty of options, picking a good tutorial isn't always easy. Here are beginner and advanced lessons that'll teach you the basics and beyond.
Designer/developer Shay Howe put together a set of free lessons to help you learn the basics of HTML and CSS as well as more advanced techniques to improve your abilities. Each lesson walks you through various concepts, providing code-based and visual examples to help you understand. When you finish each, Shay offers additional resources so you can keep learning more about HTML and CSS beyond his guides. Whether you're looking to get started or improve your skills, check them out. His guides are very organized, detailed, and helpful.


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Beamer Streams Any Video to Your Apple TV via Drag and Drop

Beamer supports plenty of formats: AVI, MOV, MKV, MP4, WMV and FLV. You just drag the video onto its minimal interface and wait for the streaming to begin. Beamer will even automatically detect your Apple TV and connect to it so you don't have to set anything up. Just be on the same network and it'll get the job done. The main downside with Beamer is that it costs $15. It's a little hefty for a single-purpose utility, but if you really need a simple streaming solution it might be worth the money. You can, of course, test it out first. The free trial allows you to stream 15 minutes of any video. If you're just streaming short clips, you can use it for free indefinitely.

Go here to find out more and get the app!


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Hack Together a DIY Emergency Car Charger with a Cigarette Lighter Adaptor

If you're on a road trip and find that you forgot your car charger for your phone or other USB device, Popular Science shows off how to make one on the fly using a USB cable and any 5-volt car cigarette lighter adapter.
The process is incredibly simple, but you still want to make sure you do it right so you don't blow up your phone. All you need to do is cut the USB cable, and strip the insulation to reveal a red and black wire. Do the same to the 5-volt cigarette lighter adapter (don't use a higher voltage). Finally, twist the black wires together, then the red, and wrap some tape around them to insulate them. When you're done, you've created an emergency car charger that works just as well as anything you'd purchase at a store. Car chargers aren't particularly expensive, but if you're out in the middle of nowhere and need a quick fix, this works great.

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