Getting Started with TrueCrypt (to Secure Your Data)

WARNING!! BY ENCRYPTING YOUR FILES/HARDRIVE/FOLDERS YOU SHOULD KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE DOING.
YOU WILL NOT GET YOUR FILES BACK IF YOU FORGET YOUR PASSWORD, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO USE THE LAPTOP IF YOU ENCRYPT THE WHOLE PC AND FORGET THE PASSWORD.
I CAN ---NOT--- HELP YOU IF YOU SCREW UP OR GET ANYTHING CORRUPTED!!!!!
BY FOLLOWING THIS GUIDE YOU AGREE TO.
1)YOU HAVE DONE IT ON YOUR OWN RISK
2)I WILL NOT AND CAN NOT HELP YOU IN ANY WAY
3)DO NOT POST A COMMENT SAYING YOU GOT PROBLEMS, THEY WILL GET DELETED
4)I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN ACTIONS

!!!YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!
if you still want to proceed lets start.
BitLocker is a hard drive encryption utility in Windows 7 and Vista, unfortunately it’s only available in Ultimate and Enterprise editions and not in XP at all. Today we take a look at TrueCrypt, which is a free utility that will enable encryption functionality to other versions.

TrueCrypt
TrueCrypt is a free Open Source disk encryption utility that works with Windows, Mac, and Linux. It allows you to encrypt an entire drive, partition or flash drive and ensure no one can access the data without the right password. It provides on-the-fly encryption and after the drive is encrypted you can continue to use everything like you normally would. 
Installation is straight forward and it’s recommended to create a system restore point before installing.



In this guide I will show you how you can create an encrypted kontaier / folder which only appears as a file when it is inactive.


The program should look like this after it is started

How to create an encrypted container:
When you first press the button Create Volume and then this window will pop up:

That is where we select Create an encrypted container file and press next. then select Standard TrueCrypt volume and press next to the image:

then select a location where you want the container to stock, I select and save it on D: \ container and then it's container file will be named and stored on the D drive.

The next thing to do then, and choose which encryption method you want, I will not go into detail what each does. But even then I usually take the highest bit, so i can recommend ARES

Then you come to the part where you choose how big you want your file. You can have it so great you want, but if you plan and use the entire drive so I recommend you do not even make a container, because there are ways you can encrypt the entire disk. Here I choose and create a container of 20 GB. PS: When you create the container so the file is 20 GB big, it does not grow as you fill it. So it will take much space if you have little data in it in relation to greatness!

Then you will come to the part to create a password, and here I recommend that you use a password that no one else can imagine plus there should be one that you can remember for a long time. I've even gone the host in cases where I can find files that I've made long ago, but I do not remember your password! And when the file is useless and you do not get the data out! But in this guide so I just use that password test1234! If you have less than 20 characters in the password there as TrueCrypt will warn that it might be the insecure password. Because if you have a veldigt easy password, this is a possibility and brute force password very easily and thus has full access to your file!


When you have selected your password, you will be prompted to save large files, and it is simply the file system to keep it in. If you select NO then it is a FAT32 system and can not ineholde over 4 GB files. So I always choose YES, then the file system to NTFS and you can store large files!


The next page you will come to as you move the mouse randomly around the window and like a good time. This will allow your container to be more confident! And when you feel that you have done it long enough, then press the Format! And then start the TrueCrypt container and create! And it should look like this on the CA:


Then you are done!


Then your file created, and you will see the first window again, so now it is just and pressing the EXIT!


If you now see where you saved file, so it should be there.

m

And to open your file open up truecrypt


And there, select the select file ... Also you can find the location you saved the file and double click on the file. Also select a station name (the list above where it says E:, F:, G:, H, etc). What you do then is that you choose the station name, the file should start up in.

This is how it looks for me

then press the mount. Then the password field appear, and you enter your password etterfulkt of OK. Then your container will appear in the list above.

If you now go to my computer so you can see that your container has appeared as a separate disk, and then it just and put into the data you want.

.

When you are finished, you can just go to the TrueCrypt again and choose your container and tap Dismount.

PS: I have experienced that if you reinstall your OS, so you may have difficulty with and write to file. What this comes from I do not put me in: S But if it does, then copy out all your data, and creates only a new volume and put it in there! 

 you can take it one step further and create a hidden volume in your encrypted volume so you use one password to the first file then a second one to the hidden one (you need to know about the hidden volume to even know the pc have one)
but that is fairly advanced, so for the sake of a easy guide i will stop here, if you don`t know how to make one YOU DO NOT NEED ONE!

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Improve Digital Photography by Calibrating Your Monitor

Monitor profiling and calibration are serious business, often involving equipment costing hundreds of dollars. Thankfully, there are free tools for calibration both on the internet and in your operating system.
In this article, we’ll briefly cover ways that have been covered by other sources, discuss the equipment professionals use to calibrate their monitors, printers, and scanners. We’ll finish up with what is likely the method most appropriate for many users that will improve the quality of your digital photograph editing. Don’t miss it!

The Graphic Method

Lifehacker has covered the very excellent site Photo Friday, and the graphics professionals there have created to help users adjust their monitors and give themselves maximum contrast while keeping value range in subtle colors. Basically, the idea here is to use the buttons on your monitor to adjust brightness, contrast, color, etc with the graphics on-screen. This will ensure that your monitor is adjusted to show as many tones as possible.
This is an excellent tool, but only adjust part of the problem. You can adjust your monitor, but you’ll also have to adjust the color profile that the computer uses with the display.

• Lifehacker on the Monitor Calibration Graphic via Photo Friday
• Lifehacker on Screen Check via Photo Friday

The Professional Method

While this is not an endorsement, X-Rite is one of the major companies professional graphics people trust to ensure their prints match their screens as closely as possible. Many will not only spend the high fees for expensive screen calibration software and hardware, they’ll recalibrate again and again on a schedule to ensure the monitor and printer haven’t had their color shift too far apart.
As these tools are meant for professionals, they give some of the best results and can calibrate not only monitors, but scanners, projectors, and other graphics tools. They are however, priced for professionals, and are cost-prohibitive for many hobbyist photographers.

X-Rite Technology being demonstrated by a Graphics vendor selling the product.

This video is a good illustration on how to use this sort of technology to calibrate a monitor. Again, this is not an endorsement; many readers will find even the cheapest version of this technology is a waste of money for their needs. The following method is free for Windows users, as it is built into the operating system.

Calibrating and Profiling Your Monitor in Windows 7

Open your Start Menu and type in “Calibrate Display Color.” This tool is not available to Windows Vista users, as it is new to Windows 7. Lifehacker has covered Calibrize, which has similar features for Vista and XP.

The program you’re looking for is “Calibrate Display Color,” and it lives in your control panel. You can also go to your control panel and do a search for “calibrate.” The program is shown here, and you will need administrator privileges to calibrate.

It’s hardly an exciting looking app. Simply read the preamble about improving color on your display and click next.

The on-screen graphics do a good job of explaining the sort of look you want to achieve with the calibration tools. You’ll be given adjustment sliders and shown what you’re trying to replicate—here you want to adjust your gamma image to look like the middle “Good Gamma.”
It also does a good job explaining what gamma is—although you will not need to know that to adjust the simple slider.

You can adjust your gamma slider on this screen. Remember, you’re trying to replicate the “Good Gamma” image. When you’re satisfied, click “Next.”

This part is slightly more difficult, and Windows gives users the option to skip brightness and contrast adjustment.
You will have to adjust the monitor with the controls on the front of it, and if this is too frustrating for you, you may want to skip this step. Otherwise, carry on by pressing “Next.”

It will show you this graphic illustrating the correct value range you want to achieve. You’ll have to locate the brightness and contrast controls on the front of your monitor and adjust them. It may help to Google the product number for your monitor (likely on the back) and find your product manual online in PDF format. If you still have your printed product manual, you may find it helpful in making these adjustments.

You should have a menu on your monitor similar to this one, which is the menu for the LG company’s L227WT monitor. It is here you adjust your Brightness only using the controls physically on your monitor, not in Windows. Put down the mouse and find them!

The trick is maximizing detail while keeping the “X” in the background from disappearing completely. If you cannot see the “X” in the graphic, you need to adjust your Brightness setting. When you are satisfied, click “Next.”

Still working with the controls on the front of your monitor, this image will prepare you to adjust the Contrast setting. Your goal is to ensure that your darks are dark enough without losing details in your brightest detail areas, as in this man’s shirt.

Again, you’ll have to work with a screen similar to this one. Consult your monitor manual to find out how to adjust your contrast. On the LG L227WT it is available on the same menu, although your monitor may be completely different.

When you are happy with the solid black on your screen, and haven’t lost the details in the shirt, and can distinguish the background from the white in the shirt, you can confidently click “Next” and stop using the controls on your monitor.

Color balance will be your next step. You will return to working with your mouse, making adjustments to RGB sliders to ensure your monitor doesn’t have a dramatic shift one way or another. Your goal here is to adjust your grays to be as neutral as possible, not leaning to any color in particular, as shown above.

Adjust any of the three sliders until you are confident the gray displayed on your screen doesn’t look greenish, reddish, or bluish. When you are happy with your neutral grays, click “Next.”

You are given this screen to test your new calibration. Check the new one versus the old one, and see if you are happy with your work. If you are, congratulations! You are one step closer to perfecting your digital photography and ensuring better prints.

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Project Purple Dragon and Linux Home Server!

The project are now open and closing inn, Head over to "The Build" section on top and stay tuned for updates as the time goes by

Feel free to add a comment and discuss the project here

Happy Chrismas
Beezie

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Why Does Photo Paper Improve Print Quality?

So you’ve shelled out the money for a fancy inkjet photo printer, only you’re not impressed with the images you’re getting out of your standard office paper. Have you ever wondered why that photo paper works so much better?
Surely, paper is paper, right? What can be so special about it? In this article, we’ll explore the differences between regular typing paper, why these differences are good for printing, and how to take advantage of them for superior photographic printing.

Isn’t Photo Paper Just a Rip Off?

Everything associated with home printing is priced at a high premium—most notably ink cartridges. Photo paper, while priced at a high retail markup, is well worth the cost to any knowledgeable photographer or print lover. A good piece of photo paper will solve problems that most users won’t even realize that they might have had.
Naturally, photo paper is too expensive to use for the everyday sort of printing, even if the quality is decidedly higher. There are different grades of ordinary printing paper that can give some of the benefits of photo paper (cleaner, clearer images; brighter color; cleaner text) but at cheaper rates. But, in order to understand what to look for in a printing paper, we’ll have to understand what sets different grades of papers apart.

What is There to Know About Paper?

Like many aspects of graphic arts, paper has its own set of complicated esoteric terms. Take a look at some of the most important terms you’ll run into, and how they can help you when buying good quality photo paper.
Weight: The amount of mass of a ream of 500 pages of the paper in question before it is cut down to whatever its current size may be. Don’t expect a ream of 32 pound typing paper to weight 32 pounds! Paper weight is simply an offhand way to measure the density of a paper. It is a very common way to distinguish amongst paper types, even for ordinary retail papers.
Point size: While this term may seem familiar to those that have studied typography, point size is a measure of the thickness of paper, unlike weight, which is a measure of density of paper material. Points are one thousandth of an inch, with heavier papers having higher point sizes. Most retail and end-user papers have no mention of point size of papers, generally using weight as the only metric to measure a paper by. Business cards are often printed on thicker stocks, for example, 14 pt stock, or 0.014 inches.
Brightness: Brightness is the amount of light that is reflected off of a blank page. The brighter a page, the better color range is achievable, allowing for brighter colors and higher contrast. More contrast in lights and darks achieves a better color gamut (or range of colors) out of printers. Naturally, the brighter the paper stock, the better. Brightness is measured in values from 0 to 100. For instance, you can likely buy fine quality reams of typing paper with a brightness of 90.
Whiteness: Easily confused with paper brightness, “whiteness” is the shift in hue of the paper, similar to the various hues of soft white and bright white lightbulbs. Some papers have a color tint that leans warmer, yellower, or bluer. Many photo papers tend to lean blue, as bluish papers tend to be perceived as brighter than more neutral white papers. Many retailers might not sell papers that make note of whiteness; readers may simply want to note the color their white paper leans for their own purposes.
Paper stock: Related to point size and weight, various densities, thicknesses, and paper qualities have various names, like “Newsprint,” “Cardstock,” or “Bristol.” Many photo papers are heavier weights, often in an attempt to recreate the feel of old style photo prints on light sensitive paper developed with photo chemistry.
Coated Paper: Most photo papers are coated with a layer of chemical bonded to the paper, intended to allow inks to be absorbed more accurately, creating better quality images. Note that some papers are simply coated on one side, with a clear front and back, while others are coated on all sides.
Gloss: One of the most common types of photo papers, Glossy papers are coated with a bright, shiny emulsion, giving inkjet prints rich depths of color and a bold, shiny sheen.
Matte: Duller and more understated, matte photo papers are often coated as well, albeit coated to appear softer. Uncoated papers are often called “matte,” although this is a bit of a misnomer. Simply keep in mind that coated papers exist with matte finishes, as well as uncoated papers exist that necessarily have matte quality surfaces.

Why is Coated Paper Better than Regular Paper?

Inkjet printers fire ink at pages in small liquid drops. Paper, having been made from wood, is porous, and accepts the liquid material with capillary action, drawing it out in multiple directions the person doing the printing might not have intended. To explain it more accurately, the wet liquid inks have a tendency to flow, and flow from areas of high concentration into the porous papers, or open areas of low concentration. Because your inks are diffusing into your paper, you’ll notice your regular typing paper gets wobbly and your images aren’t as clean and crisp. What’s the solution?
Coated papers are chemically treated to help the paper be a better printing substrate—in fact they are expertly engineered to solve this problem so you don’t have to think about it. Ink blots rest on the emulsion in a wet state, but stay neatly put and are also neatly absorbed. Images stay clean, by microscopically controlling the absorption of inks into emulsified surfaces. This means your printed image will change less over time, as inks settle and dry, leaving pigment behind, locked into the surface of your photo paper.

Why Do Brighter Papers Have Better Color?

Coming back to the concept of Color Gamut, inkjet printers use four primary colors of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black to create a spectrum of colors. When the white canvas they lie on is duller, the mixtures of these colors have less range—the darks and lights are more similar to the darks and lights on brighter papers. A good comparison is to that of HD Televisions and Contrast Ratios, although the visual aid may explain the difference better.
Because your black point and your white point are closer together on duller papers, your spectrum of available colors (or color gamut) is narrower. Fewer colors are available, and these will tend to be duller. Starting with brighter papers will allow for a richer, fuller spectrum, with black points and white points as far apart as possible.

Is High Quality Paper a Guarantee of a Great Print?

Simply said, no. There are a thousand and one different reasons your prints will not turn out the way you want them to, and photo papers are merely one part of a very complex equation. They are a very important part of that equation, however. You would be wise to think about your photo printing needs when looking into photo paper, buying according to your printing goals.
Can good quality photo paper improve the quality of prints from your injet photo printer? Without a doubt, as increased color range and better, cleaner dots on coated papers will without fail create better prints than on typing papers. Will photo papers safeguard against human error, uncalibrated monitors, or poor quality printers? Simply said, no.
Don’t be discouraged by this, though. Simply keep in mind the terms and concepts mentioned here when buying your photo paper, and you’ll learn to produce better photo prints than ever before.

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How to Install, Manage, and Delete Fonts on Your PC

If you have recently found some terrific fonts that you want to use on your Windows system, then getting them installed may not be something that you are familiar with. Today we show you how to manage those fonts with ease.
Installing Fonts in Windows 7 & Vista
Installing fonts in Windows 7 and Vista is extremely easy. Just right click on the font files and select Install.

A small window will appear showing the progress on adding the new fonts to your system. Your new fonts will be ready to use as soon as this window auto-closes.

Viewing, Deleting, & Managing Fonts in Windows 7 & Vista
If you want to view, delete, or perform other actions with the fonts on your system then the Control Panel is the place to start. While similar there are small differences between 7 and Vista. For Windows 7 open your Control Panel, go to Appearance and Personalization, then click on Preview, delete, or show and hide fonts.

In Windows 7 the Fonts Folder will open in the same Control Panel window. Once there you can view what the font will look like, delete it, or even hide it if desired.

The easiest way in Windows Vista is to open the Control Panel and type fonts in the search blank. Once the Fonts listing appears click on View installed fonts. The Fonts Folder will open in a new window.

One difference between Windows Vista and 7 is that you cannot hide fonts in Vista, otherwise both are the same for managing your fonts.

Font viewing for Windows 7 and Vista is exactly the same right down to the font information located at the top of the window.

Installing Fonts in Windows XP
Working with fonts in Windows XP is a bit different when it comes to adding new fonts. To get started go to the Control Panel, then Appearance and Themes and look for the Fonts Link on the left side. Click on the Fonts Links to access the Fonts Folder on your system.

You will do all of the installing, viewing, deleting, or other font functions from this window. To install a new font in XP go to the File Menu and select Install New Font.

A new window will appear where you will browse to the location of the fonts that you want to install. Select one or multiple font files and click OK.

As with 7 and Vista a small progress window will appear while your new fonts are being installed.

Viewing, Deleting, & Managing Fonts in Windows
This part of managing fonts in XP is the same as in 7 and Vista, just right click on the chosen font to view, delete, or print it.

Viewing fonts is very similar to 7 and Vista except for the top portion of the window. Notice that there is an extra line of information provided for the font (i.e. “font brand” & e-mail address).

Managing the fonts on your system is quick and easy to do once you get started. After you have those new fonts installed then you can really have fun creating unique documents for yourself, your family, and friends.

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