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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Remotely Fetch Files from Your PC with SkyDrive (When It Isn’t on Your SkyDrive)

Windows: Like other online storage and syncing tools, SkyDrive is great for convenient access to the files you have in its sync folder(s). But it also has a killer feature: The ability to grab a file from a remote computer even if it hasn't been synced or is stored outside of the sync folder.
SkyDrive's Fetch feature is responsible for this awesome capability that can save you in a pinch when you've forgotten a file. 7Tutorials has a step-by-step guide to using SkyDrive's Fetch feature, but basically, you only need a few things: Enable Fetch in the SkyDrive desktop app (if you didn't do so already during the initial set up, it's under the app's settings menu) and make sure the computer you want to connect to is on and connected to the internet. Note that you can only fetch files that are on a Windows machine, but you can use a Mac to upload them to SkyDrive.
Then, log in to SkyDrive on the web from any computer and click on the name of the remote computer. You'll have to enter a security code Microsoft will email or text you for extra security, then you can browse the computer's files, right click the one you want, and upload it to SkyDrive.
For more screenshots and details, you can check out 7Tutorial's instructions or Microsoft's Fetch page.

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Free the Photos Imports Your Instagram Photos Into Flickr

The service couldn't be simpler. Free the Photos Just give it access to both your Instagram and Flickr accounts and click the "Free Your Photos" button. You can even have it notify you when its finished, after which you'll find all your photos in a set called "Instagram." You're then free to reorganize them and set whatever terms you want on them (like Creative Commons). Hit the link to check it out.

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urn Your FreeNAS Box Into the Ultimate Anonymous Downloading Machine

A low-powered home server is one of the best ways to download files with BitTorrent and Usenet, but if you really want to stay safe on file sharing services, you need to anonymize your traffic. Here's how to turn your FreeNAS box into the ultimate downloading machine so you can download safely and monitor its activity from anywhere.
We've shown you how to turn an old computer into a networked backup, streaming, and torrenting machine with FreeNAS, and even gone a little further and installed some Usenet and media management programs on it. But even with all that power, our downloading machine is missing a few things. Namely:

1. A VPN service that can anonymize all our traffic, to keep it safe from prying eyes
2. A method of monitoring our downloads and media management tools from the internet, so you can keep up with them from anywhere—even your phone

In this guide, we'll show you how to add both of these features, turning your home server into the ultimate anonymous downloading machine.
Note: If you're just starting out, we recommend checking out our other FreeNAS guides first. Our original guide will show you how to set up FreeNAS 7, while our second guide will show you how to install programs manually, using Usenet as an example. Keep in mind that, while we're still referring to it as FreeNAS to keep some consistency with earlier guides, these guides use the FreeNAS 7 project, now known as NAS4Free, instead of the more current FreeNAS 8 (which we won't be using). This guide should work whether you have an old FreeNAS 7 box or a new NAS4Free box—they're essentially the same piece of software.

Set Up a VPN for Anonymous Downloading

We've said it once, and we'll say it again: the only way to stay anonymous is by using a proxy or VPN service. Yes, it costs money—usually around $10 a month or so—but these days, you shouldn't download without one. Unfortunately, FreeNAS doesn't come with a VPN, so you'll need to do it from scratch. Luckily, that isn't too hard—you just need to find a VPN service that works for you.

What You Should Look For in a VPN

There are a lot of great VPN services out there, and everyone has different needs, so you'll want to find one that works for you. Here are the features you may need to look for:

• OpenVPN Support without plain-text authentication. Most VPNs support OpenVPN—which is what we'll be using on our NAS—but many of them require you to store your username and password in a plain text file. Not only is this insecure, but it requires additional features that require a complex installation, so we don't want that. If you're considering a VPN service, look up their guides on how they work OpenVPN. There won't usually be any guides for FreeBSD, but their Linux guide should be a good example. If it requires having some sort of password.txt file rather than a .key file, you'll want to look elsewhere.
• Port Forwarding, if you want to use the VPN in conjunction with the first tip in this guide regarding monitoring your NAS from afar. Otherwise, you won't be able to specify which ports on the VPN go to your NAS. Check your VPN's FAQ to see if it supports port forwarding if you want to use Dynamic DNS (and note that this is different from the port forwarding on your router—it's a feature of the VPN service itself).
• BitTorrent Support. Some privacy servers have clauses against using their services for BitTorrent, so if you're using BitTorrent on your NAS, you obviously want to make sure your VPN allows it.
• Other Privacy Features depending on your wants and needs. If you're going for anonymity, you should obviously look for a VPN client that doesn't log activity, but you might even want one that accepts Bitcoin or goes through a specific country. This is up to you, and is often advertised heavily on the VPN's home page.

For this guide, we'll be using a VPN service called Mullvad as an example, but I highly recommend you research other VPN services that fit your specific needs. Everyone is different, and what VPN you choose will be based on how you're using your NAS and what kind or privacy features or services you want. Photo by Pavel Ignatov (Shutterstock).

Step One: Set Up a Jail for Installing New Programs

We'll need to install OpenVPN from the FreeBSD command line, just like we did with SABnzbd and Sick Beard in our previous guide. Before you do so, you'll need to set up a "jail" on your system, which allows you to install programs on one of your NAS' drives (since our FreeNAS installation resides on a flash drive).
If you followed our guide to setting up SABnzbd and Sick Beard, you can skip this step and move on to step two of this guide, since you've already done all of this.
First, SSH into your NAS. Windows users should download PuTTY, and type in the IP address of your NAS on the main page. You'll want to log in as root and type in the password you created for yourself when you set up the NAS. If you're on OS X, type this command into the Terminal and press Enter.

ssh -l root 192.168.0.10

Where 192.168.0.10 is the IP address of your NAS.
Once you've logged in as root, you'll need to create a few folders and mount them, using the following commands. Replace SEAGATE with the drive on your NAS where you'll store the programs.

cd /mnt/SEAGATE
mkdir extensions
cd extensions
mkdir var
mkdir usr
mkdir tmp
mount_unionfs -o w /mnt/SEAGATE/extensions/usr/ /usr/
umount -f /var
mount_unionfs -o w /mnt/SEAGATE/extensions/var/ /var/

This puts your usr, var and tmp folders on an actual hard drive where you'll be allowed to install programs that don't come with your NAS. You'll want to run a few of these every time you start up your NAS from now on, so head to your NAS' web interface and go to System > Advanced > Command Scripts and add the following command to the list as a PostInit script:

mount_unionfs -o w /mnt/Media/extensions/usr/ /usr/

When you're done, head to step two.

Step Two: Install OpenVPN

We're going to use OpenVPN to connect to our VPN service. Assuming you're running the newest version of NAS4Free, which is based on FreeBSD 9, run the following commands:

setenv PKG_TMPDIR /mnt/SEAGATE/extensions/tmp/
setenv PACKAGESITE "ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-9-current/Latest/"
pkg_add -rv openvpn

If you're using an older version of FreeNAS, check what version of FreeBSD it's based on from the home page of the Web interface. Chances are, it's FreeBSD 7.3, in which case you'll want to install OpenVPN with the following commands instead:

setenv PKG_TMPDIR /mnt/SEAGATE/extensions/tmp/
setenv PACKAGESITE "http://ftp6.us.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD-Archive/ports/i386/packages-7.3-release/Latest/"
pkg_add -rv openvpn

Everyone's NAS may be a little bit different, so make sure you're installing the correct package for your NAS' software. You'll also want to replace i386 with amd64 if your NAS is 64-bit.

Step Three: Set Up OpenVPN with Your VPN Service

This is the trickiest part. Now, you need to head to your VPN provider's web site and look up their OpenVPN guide. Chances are, it'll have a ZIP file you can download with a config file and some certificates inside. With Mullvad, for example, you get a ZIP with a config file for Windows and Linux, as well as a .key file and a few .crt files. First, we're going to edit our config file. Open it up in your favorite text editor (the Linux one is best, if it exists) and take a peek inside. It should look something like this:

client
dev tun
proto udp
remote openvpn.mullvad.net 1194
resolv-retry infinite
nobind
persist-key
persist-tun
ca master.mullvad.net.crt
cert mullvad.crt
key mullvad.key
remote-cert-tls server
comp-lzo
verb 3
ping-restart 120
ping 10

Usually it'll have some instructions inside, too, so you know what each setting does. Most of the defaults should be fine, but if you have any trouble, try some of the above settings and see if they work (obviously using your VPN's server under remote and the correct file names under ca, cert, and or key.
When you're done, SSH back into your NAS and run the following command:

mkdir /mnt/SEAGATE/extensions/usr/local/etc/openvpn

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Rename your configuration file to openvpn.conf and drag it into your newly-created folder, along with any .crt and .key files that came with it. You may need to drag them to /mnt/SEAGATE first, then use the FreeNAS File Manager (Advanced > File Manager from the Web interface) to copy them to /mnt/SEAGATE/extensions/usr/local/etc/openvpn. Lastly, open up your NAS' web interface and head to System > Advanced > rc.conf and add the following variables:
openvpn_enable with a value of YES
openvon_if with a value of tun
Once you've saved those variables, continue to the next step to try running OpenVPN for the first time.

Step Four: Start OpenVPN

Once all your config files are in place and your ports are forwarded, it's time to try running OpenVPN for the first time. Open up your NAS' web interface and go to Advanced > Command. Type the following command into the "Command" box and press Execute:

/usr/local/etc/rc.d/openvpn start /usr/local/etc/openvpn/openvpn.conf

Then, head to Diagnostics > Log to see if your VPN works properly. You should see a pretty big wall of text, ending with something like openvpn[1234]: Initialization Sequence Completed. (You may need to refresh your log a few times before it shows up, as it'll take a few seconds for the VPN to start). If everything looks okay, SSH back into your NAS and try to ping www.google.com again. If it works, you've successfully set up a VPN on your NAS!
If it didn't work, you may need to change some settings in your config file. Look for any errors you see in your log and try it again. If OpenVPN is running but you can't connect, you'll need to go to Advanced > Command and run kill 1234 before trying again, where 1234 is the process ID of OpenVPN. You'll see this in the log, and it'll change every time you restart OpenVPN.
This is the hardest part of the process, and troubleshooting the problem is different for everyone depending on your VPN service and the other things you have running on your NAS. Don't give up, and make sure to follow all the instructions to the letter to get everything working. If you're using BitTorrent, now would be a good time to check your torrent client's IP using CheckMyTorrentIP.com, as described in step three of our BitTorrent anonymization guide. If you get your VPN's IP, then you've successfully set up an anonymous downloading NAS!

Step Five: Set Up Your Firewall

The last thing you should do, once your VPN is up and running, is set up a firewall on your NAS that blocks all traffic except your VPN connection. That way, if your VPN goes down, your NAS won't fall back on your regular connection, which can expose your actual IP and destroy any anonymity you may have had.
In your NAS' web interface, go to Network > Firewall. Everyone's firewall may be a bit different, but here's a template you can use to create your rules:

Click on the image for a closer look. Going number by number in the image, here's what each set of rules does:

1. This rule allows all local traffic on your network. That way, no matter what happens, you can still access your NAS and its web interface from your other computers.
2. These two rules allow your DNS connection, which usually travels along port 53.
3. These two rules allow your VPN to establish a connection. The rule in the screenshot assumes your VPN uses port 1194 to do so. If you use a different port in your OpenVPN config file, use that here instead.
4. These rules allow any traffic that travels over the VPN, like your downloading. These may be different depending on your VPN service you use. Look in the log when you connect and see what IP addresses it uses in its routes. For example, mine uses addresses like 10.8.0.169, so I added 10.8.0.0/24 to my firewall to allow any connections from that range of IP addresses.
5. These rules allow multicast connections, which your NAS will need if it uses services like Bonjour to connect to other computers on your home network. Not everyone needs these open, but you may—if you don't add these rules, you'll just see a few errors in your log from time to time that don't matter.
6. These two rules allow DHCP, if your NAS uses it. If you have a static IP, you don't need this rule.
7. Lastly, this rule denies all other traffic that doesn't match the above rules. For our purposes, this basically means all traffic that doesn't go through the VPN. If your VPN goes down, your NAS won't be able to access the internet, and everyone trying to peep on your downloading will not be able to see who you are.

Again, your firewall may differ a bit, but this is a good place to start. Click the Plus sign to add each individual rule, and when you're done, check the Enable box and click "Save and Restart" in the bottom left corner. Head back to your SSH window and try to ping www.google.com again, first with OpenVPN running, and then after you've killed OpenVPN as described in step four. The ping should work correctly when OpenVPN is running, and return errors when OpenVPN isn't running. Again, if it doesn't work correctly, you may have to fiddle with some settings until you get it right.
Once everything's working properly, give yourself a pat on the back, because you've now anonymized all the traffic coming in and out of your NAS! It's not an easy process, especially because it's a little different for everyone, but it can be done—it just takes a little patience and a little knowledge about how all everything works.

Monitor Your Downloads From Afar with Dynamic DNS

So you've got yourself a kickass downloading machine, but what happens when you're out and about and come across a file you'd like to download? Or maybe you want to check in on your server and see what TV shows you've downloaded or ripped to your home theater PC? By default, you can't access your NAS from outside your home network, but all it takes is a few tweaks to make this possible. Then you can monitor downloads, start new ones, and check in with your NAS from your laptop, phone, or even someone else's computer while on-the-go.

Step One: Sign Up for a Dynamic DNS Service

We've talked about how to do this before, and the process is pretty similar with your NAS. To start, you'll want to sign up for a service like DynDNS or No IP, which will give your home network an easy-to-remember domain name like myawesomenas.dynalias.org. This makes your NAS easier to connect to from the outside world, and ensure you don't need to memorize a bunch of different IP addresses. Most of these services are free, though you can pay a fee for more advanced features.
Before you sign up, check your router's admin page to see which services your router supports. Mine only supports DynDNS, for example, so that was the one I had to use. Other routers may support different services, so check the Dynamic DNS settings of your router for more info.

Step Two: Set Up Dynamic DNS on Your Router and NAS

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Once you've signed up for your service of choice, head back to your router's admin page and type in your credentials and domain name into the provided boxes. This will be different for every router, but yous hould find it in your router's settings under "Dynamic DNS," "DDNS," or something similar. Next, do the same thing on your NAS. Open up your NAS' web interface and go to Services > Dynamic DNS. Pick your provider, type in your domain name and credentials, then check the Enable box in the upper-right corner. Click the Save and Restart button to start the service.

Step Three: Forward Any Necessary Ports

Lastly, you'll probably need to forward a few ports on your router so your NAS is accessible from the outside world. Once again, we've talked about this before, so check our guide to port forwarding if this is the first time you've done it.
If you're using a VPN, all you need to do is forward the port that your VPN uses to connect. In our case, that's port 1194, as shown in our VPN config file. So, head to your router's configuration page and find the section for port forwarding, then forward port 1194 over the UDP protocol.
You'll also need to set up port forwarding from your VPN service's web site. Otherwise, your VPN won't know who you are when you try to connect from the outside world (since a number of other users are using the same VPN as you). Head to your VPN's home page, log in, and look for the section on port forwarding. (If you're using Mullvad, it's on the main page after you log in). Click the New button to add a new port. Your VPN service decides how many you're allowed to have; many limit you to just a few so you don't hoard them from other users.

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Now, you don't get to choose which ports your VPN gives you, so after it's assigned a few ports to your account, you'll need to assign them to the services on your NAS. For example, if your VPN assigns you port 12345 after clicking "New," and you want to access your BitTorrent downloads from afar, you'll need to go into your BitTorrent settings on your NAS (Services > BitTorrent) and change the web UI's port number to 12345. If you're running other web-based services, like Sabnzbd or Sick Beard, you'll need to assign them each their own port as well, as provided to you by your VPN service. Note that you won't be able to access your NAS' web interface from afar, since you can't customize what port it uses, but you can access everything else, which is really what's important. Be sure to update your bookmarks with the new port numbers, too!

Step Four: Try Accessing Your NAS From Elsewhere

Lastly, just try to access one of your web interfaces using your new hostname. For example, if your hostname is myawesomenas.dynalias.org and your newly-assigned BitTorrent port is 12345, you would type the following into your address bar to access it:

http://myawesomenas.dynalias.org:12345/transmission/web/

Again, repeat this process for any other services you have running, like SABnzbd or Sick Beard. If everything works, then congratulations! Now you can monitor your downloads, add new downloads, and otherwise keep track of your NAS from anywhere on any device.

---

It isn't a simple process, and it can be a little different for everyone, but all the setup is well worth it. When you're done, you'll have a quiet, low-power machine that stays on 24/7 and downloads all your files for you, completely anonymously, with easy access from wherever you are. If you run into any problems during setup, be sure to check out the NAS4Free forums, the OpenVPN forums, the FreeBSD forums, or right here in the comments of this post. Good luck!



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Save to Drive Instantly Sends Images, Audio, and Video to Google Drive

Chrome: Save to Drive is a Chrome extension that allows you to save any image, HTML5 video, or audio directly to your Google Drive account with a simple right-click.
The process is pretty straightforward. When you come across a file you want to save to your Google Drive, right-click it, select "Save image to Google Drive," and it gets sent over right away. Unfortunately you can't pick a folder in your Drive to send it to, and images occasionally have preview problems, but as a quick way to save a file without sending it to your hard drive it works great.


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Smart WiFi Toggler for Android Learns Where Your Networks Are, Toggles Wi-Fi and Data Automatically

Android: Smart WiFi Toggler is a free utility that automatically learns where your preferred wireless networks are located, and when you approach their location, will turn on wi-fi and join those networks. When you leave the network's range, the app will turn off your phone's wi-fi radio so you don't waste battery searching for networks while you move around.
If you frequently switch between wi-fi at home or the office and 3G/4G on the go, you know it sucks to look down at your phone only to see you left wi-fi on while you're driving and your battery has suffered as a result. XDA forum member sebouh00 designed Smart WiFi Toggler to handle this problem, and once installed, the app does most of the work for you.
The app uses your phone's network location so you don't trade one battery drain (scanning for wi-fi networks) for another (scanning for GPS location), and automatically turns on and joins your preferred wi-fi networks without your intervention. The app even automatically learns where those networks are located so you don't have to program it manually.
Granted, Smart WiFi Toggler doesn't do anything that JuiceDefender or Tasker can't already do, but Smart WiFi Toggler is completely free, less complicated, and does one thing very well.



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Hack a Dead PC Power Supply Into a Rechargeable Lantern

If you have access to a dead computer power supply you can use the case, power switch, wiring, and power port along with a 5v lead acid battery and a landscaping lamp bulb to create a rechargeable lantern.
Computer power supplies can burn out after several years and unless you're an advanced electronics hobbyist they're not worth trying to rebuild. Instructables user 300mpg notes that You can reuse many of the components as long as you're careful to follow proper capacitor safety procedures. To make the lantern you'll open up the power supply and remove all internals except for the power switch, power plug, and wiring. Cut out the fan grating and fit a 12v landscape lamp, but don't permanently attach it until you test the wiring. Wire the switches, lamps, and battery together and test the function of the lamp. Once that's done cut two openings in the top of the power supply case for a handle made from the the wiring bundle that connects the power supply unit to a motherboard—zip tie the ends together from inside the power supply unit and you'll have a comfortable handle for your lantern. Now you'll just need to cleanup the case and glue the battery and lamp to the casing; adding foam spacers between the case and the battery would be a good idea and used mouse pads work well for this..
From the original design you would connect a 12v sealed lead acid battery charger to the positive and negative connections on the power supply plug. As commenters on the Instructable pointed out, mounting a battery charger inside the case might be a superior design as then you already have the plug and can reuse a standard 3-prong computer power cord.
This seems like a fun project that makes dead components useful again and is worth doing as long as you follow all electrical safety procedures.



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Apollo Brings CyanogenMod’s Official Music Player to All Android Devices

Android: Cyanogen's built-in music player is much better than the stock Android player, and now it's available for all devices at Google Play, rooted or no. It's debut comes packed with added features, like voice search, automatic artist and album art image fetching, gapless playback, homescreen and lockscreen widgets, and the ability to pin your favorite tunes to your homescreen.

Apollo comes in two flavors, an ad-supported free version, and Apollo+, a $0.99 version that pulls out the ads and entitles you to faster updates from the developer. Both versions offer the same features otherwise though. The app features gestures to move between screens, a persistent player on the bottom, super-fast search, notification playback controls, headset control support, and more. Everyone gets homescreen widgets, while Ice Cream Sandwich devices get lockscreen widgets and Jelly Bean devices get Lockscreen player controls.

Before you shell out for the paid version, give the free version a spin. If you've ever run CyanogenMod on an Android device, you may be familiar with the player, and if you currently are, you already have it. The app doesn't support third party services yet and only plays local music right now (so no Google Music for you,) but the dev says upcoming releases will bring tablet support, Last.fm scrobbling, the ability to specify your own media directories, customizable widgets and controls, and more

Apollo (Free) | Google Play

Apollo+ ($1) | Google Play via Android Police

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