Backing Up Data on a Remote ‘Cloud’ Computer

Storing Your Files Inside the Cloud

WHEN the hard drive on Melissa Grove’s computer failed, she faced the possibility of losing 7,000 Word documents, 600 spreadsheets, hundreds of PowerPoint presentations and 12 years of federal grant applications.
“My PC clicked and I knew, uh-oh, and the computer was dead,” she recalled.
You’ve probably had that feeling. And you undoubtedly have heard the exhortation: “Back up your data or else.” For Ms. Grove, the executive director of the Legacy Counseling Center, a nonprofit support organization in Dallas for people with H.I.V. and AIDS, the story had a happy ending because she had backed up her data on a remote computer — what is commonly called “in the cloud.” With copies of everything, she could restore all her files.
While once a tedious task, backing up computer files is now much easier because the process has become entirely automated with the software that comes with a Windows PC, called Backup and Restore, or a Mac, called Time Machine.

Mac OS - empty trash securely

I had almost 1,000 files and folders in my Trash folder and could not empty it.

The solution was very simple: hold the Option key while emptying the trash. It worked perfectly!

Make Firefox Remember Passwords without a Bookmarklet

Make Firefox Remember Passwords without a Bookmarklet
A few years ago we wrote about a handy bookmarklet that would make Firefox remember passwords on some sites that ordinarily wouldn’t, like Yahoo! or Paypal. Some people on the article were reporting that this no longer works in Firefox 3, but one anonymous commenter referenced a rather clever workaround.
The trick requires the modification of a JavaScript file that Firefox uses for managing login-related tasks. Once the workaround is applied Firefox will start ignoring any attributes in the login forms that try to tell the browser not to remember a password. You’ll still be able to choose whether or not you want a password remembered for a particular site, but at least now the choice will be left up to you.
First things first. We need to open the nsLoginManager.js file in a text editor. The location of the file is a bit different depending on what OS you’re using:

• Windows:
  You’ll find the file in the components folder where Firefox was installed:
  C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsLoginManager.js
• Mac:
  Find Firefox in your Applications folder, right-click on it, and choose the option to Show Package Contents. Then within the Firefox.app navigate to the file:
  Firefox.app\Contents\MacOS\components\nsLoginManager.js

Alright. This is where my instructions get a little different than what’s provided by the person who found this workaround. They want you to remove a few lines of code from this file, but all you really need to do is flip a value from true to false. That way it’s a lot easier to revert back to the file’s original state should you ever need to.
Now you need to perform a search on the file for:
_isAutocompleteDisabled
You should be taken to a section of the file that looks something like this:

You’ll notice that I’ve highlighted line number 770 (your line number may be different), and it says:
return true;
You need to change that to say:
return false;
It should now look like this:

Save the changes to this file, and then restart Firefox.

The only downside to this trick is that you may need to re-apply it after updating or reinstalling Firefox. Other than that it works great, and is a little nicer than the bookmarklet since it doesn’t require any additional interaction after being set up.

User name and password not remembered - MozillaZine Knowledge Base

User name and password not remembered - MozillaZine Knowledge Base:
Sites prohibit password saving

Some websites, for example Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, and some banks, specify that your username and password should not be saved. You can override this behavior.
[edit]
Using a bookmarklet

1. Bookmark the 'remember passwords' link on this page.
2. Go to the log in page of the site you want to save your details.
3. Enter your login and password, but do not submit.
4. Open the bookmark you just made. (Nothing will appear to happen).
5. Submit.

On subsequent visits, your user name and password should be filled in.

Note: The 'remember passwords' bookmarklet linked above may not work on all sites. Here are some alternate versions you can try. Create a new bookmark and paste the code given below in the location field of that bookmark. [3]

* Try this version that works with frames (doesn't give feedback):

javascript:(function(){function R(w){try{var a,df,dfe,i,j,x,y,r=1;df=w.document.forms;for(i=0;x=df[i];++i){dfe=x.elements;if(a=x.onsubmit){a=''}if(a=x.attributes['autocomplete']){a.value='on'}for(j=0;y=dfe[j];++j){if(a=y.attributes['autocomplete']){a.value='on'}}}}catch(E){r=0}return r}R(self);var i,x;for(i=0;x=frames[i];++i)R(x)})()

* Here is a version that gives feedback if you run it a second time:

javascript:(function(){var c=0;function R(w){try{var a,df,dfe,i,j,x,y,r=1;df=w.document.forms;for(i=0;x=df[i];++i){dfe=x.elements;if(a=x.onsubmit){a=''}if(a=x.attributes['autocomplete']){if(a.value=='on'){c++}a.value='on'}for(j=0;y=dfe[j];++j){if(a=y.attributes['autocomplete']){if(a.value=='on'){c++}a.value='on'}}}}catch(E){r=0}return r}R(self);var i,x;for(i=0;x=frames[i];++i)R(x);if(c){alert('Found: '+c)}})()
[edit]
Using an extension

* Always remember password 0.6 extension.
* Greasemonkey extension with related scripts:
o Allow password remembering
o Auto-login

[edit]
See also

* Password Manager
* Master password

[edit]
External links

* Remembering passwords (Firefox Support)
* Username and password not remembered (Firefox Support)
* Make Firefox Remember Passwords without a Bookmarklet"

Excel Dates Incompatible from PC to Mac?

I discovered an amazing “bug” in excel tonight. I needed to create a copy of part of a spreadsheet into a new sheet. See if you can spot the difference between the original on the left and the new spreadsheet on the right:

You’ll notice that the dates are off by exactly 4 years and 1 day after a simple cut-and-paste into a fresh spreadsheet. It took a little while to figure out why this was happening.

First, a little background. When you write a date in excel, it stores the date as the number of days that have passed since either Jan 1, 1900 (on the PC) or since Jan 1, 1904 (on the Mac). Not surprisingly, this can cause problems between the two systems.

So, if you open a PC originated spreadsheet on a mac, it automatically uses the PC starting date (1900). If, however, you happen to make a new spreadsheet on that mac and cut-and-paste the dates to that new sheet, you’ll notice that the dates are off by 4 years and 1 day. Why the one day? Apparently that came down to a leap-year related difference between the two systems.

Fortunately, it’s easy to fix. If you’d like to conform your Mac spreadsheet to the PC system, simply open up Preferences->Calculation->Workbook Options an uncheck “1904 Date System”:

Your PC originated spreadsheet and your Mac originated spreadsheet will now match.

If you care, you can read a few more gory details on this Microsoft article on the date system.

Word 2007 "Compatibility Pack"

Q: I have Word 2003 and have just started to receive Word 2007 documents, which I cannot open. What is the best solution?

A: Word 2007 has a new default file format, called DOCX, that is incompatible with older versions, which rely on the long-standing DOC format. The new version can be set to always save files in the old format, but not everyone knows that or chooses to do so.

However, folks such as you with the 2003 version of Word can install a free "Compatibility Pack" from Microsoft that will allow your copy of Word to read the new format.
It can be obtained from the company's Download Center, at www.microsoft.com/downloads.
You'll find it listed there under "Popular Downloads."