Finds of the Week (January 22, 2012)

Finds of the week is a variety of web sites that I've stumbled over recently that are fun, interesting, or useful.

How To Create A Strong Password And Remember It
The Consumerist has some good suggestions for creating strong passwords that look doable for most of us. I'm probably not the only person who has used the same password in more than one place - not a good practice. =) I've since changed them. Other security recommendations are not having the same user name and changing your password often. There aren't any hard and fast recommendations on how often to change a password - I change passwords often on important sites, not as often on sites that I rarely access. I use the free online service LastPass to generate passwords - there are a lot of options you can choose - longer or shorter, use numbers, letters, special characters, etc. (note: LastPass has free and premium paid plans - last I checked the paid plan adds mobile service, otherwise it's the same as the free plan).

Use MailStore To Backup Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Emails
The last few years have been a little bumpy for web mail; Hotmail deleting all the email in many people's accounts (all the email was restored, but still....), Gmail freezing or locking accounts so they can't be accessed and Gmail accounts being hacked. This ghacks article describes how to backup gmail. hotmail, and Yahoo email accounts using the free program MailStore.
Mailstore runs on Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3, Microsoft Windows Vista, and Microsoft Windows 7 with
Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 SP1 or Microsoft .NET Framework Version 3.5 SP1 installed.

Greatest 3D Street Arts Of 2011
I love street art, also known as 3D chalk art. It amazes me how a flat surface can be so convincingly converted to appear three dimensional. I was happy to run across this collection of images. There are links to two more collections in the introduction and a few more at the bottom of the page under related entries.

How to initialize a hard drive in Windows 7
"....If you install a new hard drive in your PC you must first initialize the hard drive in Windows 7. This can be done via a GUI, so even beginners can do it. Here’s how." This helps avoid the "Bootmgr is missing" error message. =)

What is the Difference Between Malware, Virus, Rootkits, Spyware, Worm and Trojans
I tend to file all the above under "malware, but as this brief article explains, there are differences.

Off for now,
Rhiannon

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