The TV Computer

What you’ll need:

• TV with VGA, DVI, HDMI or, as a last ditch effort, S-Video input (an LCD will make this way more awesome)
• Video card that supports one of the above outputs
• Wireless card if your router isn’t close enough to run a cable
• Wireless keyboard and mouse
• A spare computer monitor for setup (if you have a tube TV with S-Video)

I’ll mostly cover the setup for a tube TV with S-video. The concept is the exact same for a flat panel, you just don’t need a second monitor.

Plug the computer into a spare monitor and hook up the keyboard and mouse to start installing all the programs you’ll need. Install your browser of choice to access Hulu and Netflix, and install iTunes so music can be controlled via devices like the iPod Touch.

After getting that all set up nicely, plug in the S-Video cable to the TV set. A small issue with a tube TV and S-video is that the resolution is not very high, and Windows 7 does not like to go below 800×600, so consider using newer LCD or plasma TV. Just plug in a DVI or VGA cable for video and a 3.5mm cable for sound.

This setup works great if you do not have cable TV as you can stream plenty of content through Netflix, Hulu and other web based entertainment sites. The PC has become my DVD player as well, and if you have a Slingbox this will also do a great job.

If you invest some money into a capture card on a higher-end PC, you can have your own DVR and not pay the cable company for their DVR service. The capture card will require a computer with hardware like a dual core processor and 2 GB of ram, depending on the card.

Print server

What you’ll need:

• Computer running XP or better (or OSX/Linux if you’re familiar with them)
• Printer with USB or LPT port
• Network capabilities
• Monitor for setup
• Mouse and keyboard

If you are not fortunate enough to have a wireless printer, or have to share your printer with other people, don’t go buy a fancy new printer; you can just follow these steps and put that old computer to use. This can be particularly useful in a college house with several roommates who need to print PowerPoint slides and lecture notes.

After the initial setup, this computer won’t require a permanent monitor, mouse, or keyboard. Set the power settings to save power, and make sure you have “wake on LAN” enabled so when it gets a signal from someone to print it will come out of standby mode. Make sure you don’t set a password on the user account, so the computer is ready to go right when it starts up.

Manually assigning an IP address would also be a good idea so you can always find the printer computer on the network. The computer should finally be configured to share a printer over the network.

On the computers that will print to the print server, you need to add a network printer at the IP address assigned before. You should now be able to share the printer with anybody who needs it, driver free.

Side note: Installing some sort of VNC software so you can administer the server from a different computer without needing to hook up a monitor will save you headaches later.

File Server

Setting up a file server is very similar to the print server setup, except that you enable a folder to be shared instead of a printer.

What you’ll need:

• Computer running XP, Vista, Windows 7, OSX, or Linux
• Network connection (Gigabit LAN will make it much faster if you have the proper equipment)
• 250 + gigabytes of storage space, or what ever you see fit

Much like the printer setup, you first need to  get a fresh copy of your OS of choice installed. Once that’s done, create some folders to put your shared data in. Windows makes user control pretty easy, letting you set permissions on each folder on a user-to-user basis.

Linux can offer a more secure way for this if you know what you are doing, but Samba isn’t as fast as Windows-to-Windows transfers. Most importantly, you needs to consider the operating systems of the people who will use the server. If everybody uses Windows, then a Windows server is best. If you have some Apple computers mixed in with the PCs, Linux may be your best choice. Also, if you have OSX running and you’re sharing from an NTFS drive, you WILL have slower read/write speeds. You’re better off formatting the drive as FAT32 or JFS.

Side note: Just like the print server, you’ll probably want to install remote access software so you can access the computer later.

The Music Server

What you’ll need:

• Computer with iTunes installed
• Network connection (doesn’t have to be very fast)
• Receiver or good speakers
• iPod Touch or iPhone with remote installed, a PowerPoint remote control, or some other way to change the song wirelessly
• Depending on your sound system. you may need a better sound card in the PC

The first step is to open iTunes and allow the device to change songs on that computer. Installing a Pandora or Last.FM client may also be a good idea if this computer has a permanent monitor. Next, hook the computer up to some speakers or a receiver and control the music via the device you set up earlier. As before, installing VNC software for remote administration is a good idea.

Side note: iPod Touches have a fun DJ request function with iTunes.

Other uses for old laptops

• DVD player
• Car computer (requires a power inverter)
• Kitchen computer
• Digital picture frame
• Linux box!
• User account management server

What uses have you found for old computers? Let us know in the comments section below!

The post 4 Great Ways to Give Your Old Computer a Second Life first appeared on Techerator.

Quanp, short for Quantum Papers, couples its online storage features with an easy to use and visually appealing desktop software. This software enables you to store files in a folders called “Places”. After creating a Place, you can simply drag and drop files into it and view/sort them with 3D thumbnails. While loading your files into a Place you’re given the opportunity to add tags and descriptions to them.

I found especially convenient that Quanp doesn’t require the physical files to be moved or copied when you load them into a Place. For example, I have a lot of pictures stored on my computer. When I load them from my camera, they are automatically sorted into folders by date. This is semi-useful if I can remember when I took whatever picture I happen to be looking for, but it doesn’t really do me any good if I want to search through only pictures of family, or landscapes.  If I load all of my pictures into the Quanp desktop software, however, I can sort my pictures in a number of different ways while keeping my files and folders neat on my computer.

What I find to be the easiest and  most useful option is tagging. When I’m loading my pictures onto Quanp I can tag pictures/files based on what they contain. After they are tagged, I can use the included search options to search for pictures I’ve tagged as landscape, family, or landscape and family. The results are then brought up as thumbnails in 3D space which makes them easy to quickly browse through.

If you find yourself searching for a specific tag or groups of tags often, it might be more convenient to make a different Place for those files.  For example, I take all my pictures tagged Landscape and put them in a Place called Landscapes. I can then simply click on the Place when I start Quanp to view all my landscape pictures. Even though a file my be stored in two or more Places in the Quanp software, the actual file remains unmoved from its original location.

All of this so far has been only what happens on your computer. Along with all of the aforementioned awesome features, Quanp is an online storage solution as well (similar to previously covered Dropbox). Quanp will upload any files you load to the desktop software onto the service’s website. You can do this by manually pushing the upload button or you can set up and automatic uploader that will check for newly added files every so often (you can change the how often in the settings).

Quanp’s Microsoft Office Add-in

Quanp has recently released an Add-in for Microsoft Office which can be downloaded at http://us.quanp.com/about/addin. I’ve never used an add in for before so I was a little wary about how it was going to work.

Run the installation file and follow the install instructions. Once the add in is installed, it will appear on the right hand side of the Home Ribbon.  In this article, I’m using Office 2007 on Windows Vista, so it’s location may be different depending on the Microsoft Office you use.

Clicking the Quanp button will bring up a list of actions such as upload and download. Clicking download will prompt a log in box for Quanp. After entering your information, a box pops up asking you what Place your file is stored in. When you select the appropriate Place from the drop down menu, all the Office documents in the Place are displayed. Double clicking a document will open it up in Microsoft Office. You can also save and upload documents from Office directly to your Quanp account.

Quanp Send for Windows

Quanp Send is a widget for Windows. It allows for quick sending of large file (500MB max) to other Quanp members and to email. To use it, simply drag a file and drop it on Quanp Send and a dialog box will pop up asking you who you want to send it to. You can also assign tags and descriptions to the file before you send it off.

Conclusion

All in all, I really like Quanp. I’ve always been a big fan of online storage services, and up until using Quanp, the problem has been that I had to move or copy the file I wanted from its original place on my computer to a dedicated shared folder. I enjoy using Quanp’s desktop software for its easy-to-use search options and quick browsing.

The only problem I had with Quanp was at first when I loaded files with the software, I couldn’t get them to show up.  Here’s the fix: there is a refresh button on the left side you may have to push to get recently files to appear on the software.

The post Share, Organize, and Store Your Digital Files Online with Quanp first appeared on Techerator.

Once you’ve installed a virtual operating system, you might want to access files that are stored on the host operating system.  VirtualBox offers a feature called ‘Shared Folders’ which will allow you to share files between the host and guest operating systems.

Linux Host with Windows Guest

Steps performed in host (Linux)

1. Verify that the guest virtual machine has been shut down.
2. Open the terminal from Applications > System Tools > Terminal
3. Enter the following, substituting the virtual machine name, shared folder name, and the path to files on the host.

VBoxManage sharedfolder add “virtual machine name here” -name “shared folder name” -hostpath “/path/to/files/here“

4. Start the guest operating system.

Steps performed in guest (Windows)

1. Start the guest operating system from the host.
2. Install Guest Additions from Devices > Install Guest Additions.  Note: You will need to restart.
3. Open the command prompt from Start > Run… > cmd.
4. Enter the following into the command prompt, substituting the shared folder name entered in step 3 above.

net use p: \\vboxsvr\shared folder name /PERSISTENT:YES

5. Adding the /PERSISTENT:YES to the command will mount the share at every boot.
6. You can also change the drive letter from p: to any other you wish.

Windows Host with Linux Guest

Steps performed in guest (Linux)

1. Start the guest operating system from the host.
2. Before Guest Additions can be installed, some dependencies need to be installed using the command below.

sudo yum install kernel-headers kernel-devel gcc

3. After the dependencies have been installed, you can install Guest Additions from Devices > Install Guest Additions.
4. Open the terminal and enter the following line

sudo cd /media/VBOXADDITIONS_(VirtualBox Version Number)

Once the guest additions have been installed, you will need to restart the guest OS.

5. When the guest has restarted, open Shared Folders from Devices > Shared Folders… from the guest window.
6. Click the Add New Shared Folder icon on the right of the window, or press the Insert button on your keyboard.
7. At the Add Share window, select Other… from the Folder Path drop down and select the path of the folder on the host that you wish to share with the virtual guest.
8. In the Folder Name enter a name of the shared folder, such as MyShare.
9. Click the Make Permanent checkbox if you wish to keep the changes and click Ok to close the dialog.
10. Open the terminal and enter the following command to mount the shared folder.

sudo mount -t vboxsf sharename mountpoint
Eg. sudo mount -t vboxsf MyShare /home/dustin/Desktop/Shared

11. The above command will not keep the shared folder mounted after restarting the system.  To mount when starting the system, you will need to edit your fstab as shown below.

sudo nano /etc/fstab
sharedname mountpoint vboxsf defaults 0 0
eg. MyShare /home/dustin/Desktop/Shared vboxsf defaults 0 0

12. Your shared folder will now be mounted at boot.

Once the above steps are completed, you will now be able to access files on your host operating system from your VirtualBox guest operating system.

The post How to Setup Folder Sharing with VirutalBox Guests first appeared on Techerator.

Folder permissions dictate who can make changes to files and folder on your web server.  These permissions can be easily (and often accidentally) changed, allowing an intruder to access and make changes to your content and settings.

WP Security Scan is a plugin for WordPress that can quickly detect security flaws and advise you how to fix them.  Along with checking critical folder permissions, WP Security Scan can create secure passwords, secure your database, hide your WordPress version (which prevents version-specific hacks), and protect your administrator account.

To get started, install WP Security Scan from your self-hosted WordPress installation by clicking Plugins –> Add New and search for ‘WP Security Scan’ (in newer WordPress versions), or by downloading the plugin from the WordPress Plugins Directory and manually uploading it to your server’s wp-content/plugins folder.

Once you have installed and activated the plugin in WordPress, click the newly created Security button on the Dashboard menu.

The main page for WP Security Scan will show critical security information in the top left corner of the screen (secure elements are shown in green, insecure elements are displayed in red with additional information).  The right side of the screen will display technical information about your web server.

The next important step is to verify your folder permissions.  Under the Security tab on your WordPress dashboard, click Scanner.  This will display a list of critical WordPress folders, the permission the folders should be set at for maximum security (listed as “Needed Chmod”, and the folders’ current access level.  Folders with incorrect permissions will be displayed with red highlighting and secure folders will be displayed with green highlighting.

The easiest way to change your file and folder permissions is to use a program such as WinSCP or Filezilla to access your web server.  In these programs, you can simply right click a folder and select “Change Permissions”.  This will bring up a dialog box where you can type in the number listed in the “Needed Chmod” field of the WP Security Scanner.

Advanced users can optionally change their file and folder permissions by logging into their web server using a shell client such as Putty and manually edit their permissions with the chmod command.

Once you have corrected the incorrect file permissions, run the Security Scan again.  You should be presented with friendlier results as shown below.

WP Security Scan has plans to release additional features in the future including a single-click option to change file and folder permissions, testing for XSS vulnerabilities, intrusion detection/prevention, and lock out on multiple incorrect login attempts.

Have any other tips to keeping your WordPress self-hosted website secure?  Let us know by commenting below.

The post How to Keep WordPress Secure with WP Security Scan first appeared on Techerator.

Getting started with SyncToy is very easy:  Simply download the application and install it.  Once you’ve installed SyncToy, open it from the Start Menu and you will be brought to a welcome screen.

To create a folder pair (which means the folders will synchronize files together), click ‘Create New Folder Pair’ at the bottom of the screen.  You will then be able to select the folders you want to synchronize.

Once you’ve selected the left and right folders, you will be able to choose the type of synchronization that will be used:

Synchronize – This should be used when you want to edit files in both folders and want the changes to be made on both ends.  Therefore, if you add a folder on one drive, it will be pushed to the other.

Echo – This means folder pairs are going to be exact copies, and it will use the left folder as the source.  Any changes made to the left folder will be copied to the right folder, but if changes are made on the right, they will be over written by the files on the left.  This is nice for backing up due to it overwriting anything different on the back up drive.

Contribute – This option is the same as echo, only added or modified files will be synchronized (no deletion will occur).

After you’ve selected the type of synchronization you would like to perform, you will be shown a summary screen with the option to change settings.  You will also be given the option to preview the synchronization, which will show you exactly what files will be moved, updated, or deleted.  You should always preview the sync before running it the first time to make sure your settings are correct.

Once you think your sync is ready to go, click ‘Run’ at the bottom of the screen.  The speed of the synchronization process will depend on the amount of files being synchronized as well as the speed of the media you are using.  When it is finished, the program will display results and shows you any failures that may have occurred.    If all is well, you are done!

SyncToy is an excellent tool, but you have to remember to run it manually.  If you want to make SyncToy to run on a schedule (which is a great idea to ensure consistent backups), check out this guide.  Data redundancy is the key to surviving in the computer world, so keep up on your backups!

SyncToy 2.0 is a free download for Windows and can be downloaded here.

The post Synchronize and Backup Your Files with SyncToy 2.0 first appeared on Techerator.