When you are on the road and need to be able to contact a home server to retrieve files or administer a website or business then the first thing you need is a USB key and the second thing is a couple of portable apps to run on it.  While it may be nice to have a notebook or netbook PC and a WiFi connection for, a USB key can keep you going even without those things.

When I travel I carry a netbook, but if I just happen to be out then I don’t normally have that with me, but I do, however, have a USB drive on my keychain.  So if we’re at my wife’s sister’s house and a need arises I can pop that drive into their PC and access the dashboard of  my home server, or all of the files stored on it, or the admin page of my website and I won’t leave any user names, passwords, or other traces behind.

These are the two apps that I have loaded on my PNY Micro Swivel Attaché 4 GB USB Drive that allow me this type of access.

Firefox Portable

Firefox Portable can be run straight from a USB drive and leaves no traces when the drive is removed.  Running this I can type my DynDNS address into the address bar and, via HTTP, access the dashboard of my home server.  From there I can check out stats, make sure everything is running fine, and even install an upgrade or reboot the server.  If I put FTP in front of the address I can access the files stored on the server.

Filezilla Portable

Filezilla Portable is a free FTP program that runs great on a USB drive.  It’s lightweight and leaves no trace when the drive is removed.  If you want todo some serious moving around or uploading of files then you need a real FTP program and not just FTP access via a web browser.  Plus it supports SSL and SFTP.

Those are my two go-to files when I am away from home.  If you have others the please chime in in the comments below.  Both are free, compact, and easy to install on a USB drive,

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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If you like keyboard shortcuts for some of the things you do – like Control-C for copy, then here’s one you may not know about.  Well, at least I never knew until just recently.  If you’re like me and frequently have lots of windows open at the same time, then hit Windows-D to minimize all of them and show your desktop.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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If you’re like me you don’t want anything covering up that nice photo you have set for your wallpaper.  I like to keep my desktop completely clean – none of the “clutter” that Windows puts there by default.  But of course I still want easy access to all of my programs.  So here is what I do whenever I set up a new PC.

1. We’ll start by right-clicking on the desktop and choosing View and then un-checking Show desktop icons.

2. Don’t be alarmed that all of your desktop icons are now gone because now we’re going to make them reappear in a cleaner spot.  Right click on an empty area of the bar on the bottom of your screen the choose Toolbars and then click Desktop.

3. You will now see a lick to all of your desktop icons on the bar.  Hover your mouse over it and you will have access to all of those items which once cluttered your desktop.

4. The final step is to hide this bottom bar so that it only appears when your mouse pointer moves to the bottom of the screen.  To do this once again right click on this bar and this time choose Properties.  Now, on the Taskbar tab, check the box for Auto-hide the taskbar.  And, that’s it.  You now have perfectly clean, but just as useful, desktop.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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When you installed Windows 7 did one of your favorite Start Menu items disappear?  Or is there something you always wished was on that menu that isn’t?  For me, 2 key things were missing – Network and Run.  I found an easy way too add them, and also, to take away an item I don’t find useful.

Let’s take a quick look.  For this example we will add Videos to the Start Menu since that is another that is not there by default.

1. Start by right-clicking on the Start button and choosing Properties.

2. Now click on Customize and you will be presented with the following menu.

3. You will now see a series of check boxes and radio buttons.  Quite simply, the ones checked are already in your start menu.  Uncheck them and they will be removed.  Check them and they will be added.  Here I have scrolled down to Video (all items are alphabetized) and I have chosen to Display as a Link.  This is the default display method.  However you may also choose to Display as a Menu which you may prefer.

4. Try both and decide which you prefer.  As you can see, it’s easy to switch these item, and how they display, any time you want.  When you’ve decided click OK and you’re done.

Now you have another way to customize Windows how you want it.

Alan

Alan is the owner and editor of Making Windows Easy. In addition to writing about technology he is also an avid distance runner and hiker. Read More

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