Auto Cursor for Firefox selects the first visible text input field automatically

If you are visiting websites with search files or other text input forms regularly which do not place the mouse cursor into the text field automatically, you may be interested in solutions that do that automatically so that you do not have to activate the form manually whenever you visit the site and need to enter text into the form.

The online encyclopedia Wikipedia for instance places the cursor automatically in the search form on the start page, but not when you are visiting the main page or an article page on the site. Users of the excellent Firefox add-on NoScript may also notice that some sites, like Google Search, only place the cursor in the search field if google.com has been whitelisted temporarily or permanently in the extension.

The Firefox add-on Auto Cursor activates the first visible text input field on the majority of web pages automatically, and without changing other functionality of the website. This should work on the majority of websites and domains out there, including Google, Wikipedia, Mozilla, Bing, the number 1 tech blog in the world, Amazon, eBay and the great search engine DuckDuckGo.

Yes, some of those sites may select the text field automatically on page load. Then again, others may not, and if you are a NoScript user, even those that do may not provide youwith the functionality without whitelisting. With Auto Cursor, that is taken care of even for NoScript users.

The extension should work fine on the majority of Internet sites. The author of the extension notes that the extension won’t function properly on pages with active anchor links and pre-focused elements.

The extension is in an early stage of development and it is likely that we will see improvements being made to it in the  near future. It works well on the majority of sites though for that.



Source:http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/08/auto-cursor-for-firefox-selects-the-first-visible-text-input-field-automatically/

How to encrypt partitions with DiskCryptor

I have been using TrueCrypt ever since I discovered the encryption software years ago to protect data from being accessed by third parties. It is a great open source software that has functionality to create encrypted data containers or partitions, including the system partition the operating system is installed on.

DiskCryptor is, as the name implies, another encryption software that offers functionality to encrypt disk partitions. That’s a disadvantage compared to TrueCrypt and not the only difference between the two applications. TrueCrypt for instance is available for Windows, Mac and Linux, while DiskCryptor only for Windows. The software furthermore supports a portable mode which DiskCryptor does not as well.

As far as the advantages of DiskCryptor go, it supports keyfiles for full disk encryption and can place bootloaders on external devices like USB Flash drives. Another interesting fact about DiskCryptor is that partition backups only take up the data space and not the space of the partition’s overall storage capacity. If you backup a 1 Terabyte drive that is encrypted with TrueCrypt, you end up with a 1 Terabyte backup. With DiskCryptor, you’d end up with a backup that is only as large as the data that is stored on the partition. This reduces the time it takes to create the backup and the storage requirements.

How to encrypt partitions with DiskCryptor

It is actually very easy to encrypt a partition with the disk encryption software. The program needs to be installed on your system, and requires administrative privileges to run. It will load the list of connected hard drives and partitions, indicating the system partition and boot partition on the screen as well.

First thing that you may want to do is click on Tools > Benchmark to benchmark all available encryption algorithms. This is important as it directly correlates to the time it takes to encrypt the selected partition. The program supports AES hardware acceleration and cascading algorithms. Please note that the actual encryption process is slower than the speed outlined in the benchmark as you have to factor in disk reads and writes, whereas the benchmark does not.

Once you have done that, it is time to select a partition that you want to encrypt. This is done with a click on the selected partition and the selection of encrypt on the right sidebar menu. Select the algorithm that you want to use, and whether you want to use the program’s Disk Wipe feature. The disk wipe feature does not erase unused or used space. What it does is the following:

What “Wipe Mode” does, is that it prevents possibility to recover data by examining residual magnetic energy, which can be done on a specialist equipment. When in “Wipe Mode”, DiskCryptor reads each sector’s data, wipes the sector, and then writes the encrypted data back to it. So any data that was there before, including deleted files, will still be there when the encrypted volume is later mounted.

You are then asked to enter a password, select a keyboard layout and optionally select to use a keyfile as well. The program displays a password rating right on the screen. It is
recommended to select a secure password consisting of numbers, upper and lower case letters and special characters. Make sure you select the right keyboard layout as you may otherwise run into troubles when you enter the password to mount the encrypted drive.

The program starts the encryption of the drive afterwards. This can take a long time depending on the size of the drive and its speed. It took about 40 minutes to encrypt the main 120 Gigabyte drive of the test system.

If you have encrypted the operating system partition, you are asked to enter the password on boot. Windows will only boot if you enter the correct password.

What I recommend you to do in addition is to backup the headers of all partitions that you have encrypted. The developers of DiskCryptor furthermore recommend to create a LiveCD with DiskCryptor included for emergencies.




Source:http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/08/how-to-encrypt-partitions-with-diskcryptor/

The Internet Archive adds over 1 million torrents to the site

The Internet Archive over at archive.org is a non-profit that is building a digital library of Internet sites, accessible via the Wayback Machine, and other forms of culture in digital form. It is one of the largest repositories for books, music, images and movies which are all freely available for download at the site.

Up until now, users who visited the website could either download the files directly to their computers, or in the case of media files, stream the contents instead. Today, over one million torrents (currently 1.399,074 torrents) have been made available including the sites live music converts, a movie and audio book collection, and lots of books.

Torrent downloads have been added to the list of regular download options on the site. According to archive.org, downloads should be faster than regular downloads as they are served from two high speed servers and – of course – community seeders and peers who either have downloaded the files completely already or are in the process of doing so.

The move to embrace Bittorrent is significant for a number of reasons. First, it highlights that Bittorrent is not just about the dark side of the Internet, about copyright infringement and the downloading of the latest commercial games, movies, TV shows or music for free. It too can be used for legal purposes, and what better way to demonstrate the power than to offer the archive.org collection as torrents.

It could also mean a significant bandwidth reduction for the maintainers of the site, as part of the traffic is now handled by peers who are downloading and seeding particular files.

The cooperation between The Internet Archive and Bittorrent Inc brings one of the largest free digital file collections on the Internet into the focus of the torrent community. And while you may not find the latest blockbusters and Pop albums here, you’ll find lots of masterpieces of the past here.

Torrents are tracked on a special hotlist page that is highlighting current statistics, trends, and top 25 torrents in various categories.

And if you are looking for recommendations, I suggest you start with the Computer Chronicles archive on the site even though it is not offered as torrent downloads yet. The show covers a variety of topics, from computer systems of the past like the C-64 or Amiga, to virtual reality, a profile of Bill Gates or the arrival of Cd-Rom drives. It is a trip down memory lane and definitely fun to watch.

If you fancy a movie, you could check out the feature films collection, which is part of the larger movies collection. Here you find Film Noir movies of the 40s and 50s, classic Sci-Fi and horror movies including classics such as Plan 9 from Outer Space or original The Fast and the Furious movie.

Have you been to archive.org lately? If so, would you recommend and items?




Source:http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/08/the-internet-archive-adds-over-1-million-torrents-to-the-site/

Highlight the mouse cursor to locate it on the screen

If you have a large computer monitor, or maybe even multiple monitors, it sometimes may take a second or two to locate the mouse cursor on the screen. The same can be true if you share a single mouse and keyboard on multiple computer systems. If you often run into issues finding the mouse cursor on the screen, you may find a feature to highlight the cursor on demand helpful to resolve it.

Windows 7, and maybe other Microsoft Windows operating systems as well, comes with an option to do that. For that, you need to open the mouse properties control panel applet. To get there click on the start button, then control panel. Locate the hardware and sound listing, and select mouse under devices and printers once it opens up.

Windows 8 users need to press the Windows key, enter mouse, switch to the settings filter on the right, and select mouse from the results listing.

The mouse properties window opens and you need to switch to the pointers options tab in here. Locate the preference “Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key” and enable it by placing a checkmark into the box

Click the apply button afterwards to enable it on the system. You can now highlight the mouse cursor with a single tap on the Ctrl key on the keyboard. Windows creates a large circle around the mouse cursor for a moment that is closing in on the mouse cursor. The circle’s color differs wit the background color of the desktop or window that is open so that it is always visible regardless of the background color. The very same option is also available under Windows 8.

You can furthermore enable pointer trails in the same menu if you want another visual indicator on the screen when you start moving the mouse.



Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/07/highlight-the-mouse-cursor-to-locate-it-on-the-screen/

PCSX2 1.0 Playstation 2 emulator. Play PS2 games on your PC

The Playstation 2 was the dominant system of its time, and even though my beloved Sega Dreamcast was ahead of its time in many regards, it was the Playstation’s general appeal and the success of the Playstation 1 that made it the number one system back then. It was the time when Microsoft entered the market with its first Xbox, which I modded into the perfect multimedia device.

If you still have old Playstation1 or Playstation 2 games you may be lucky enough to play some of them on a PS3 system if you own it. If not, your best solution to play them besides connecting your old PS2 to the television is emulation. One of the best Playstation 2 emulators has recently been released as version 1.0. The latest version supports 1697 games, including all time favorites like Shadow of the Colossus, the God of War and Grand Theft Auto series, Kingdom Hearts and of course Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid.

You can check if your games are compatibility here on this page. So how does the emulator work? You first need to download it from the official website. It is available for Windows, Linux and Mac, as well as source code. Installation should not pose any troubles. What you do however need is a Playstation BIOS to load games any games.  What you should do is extract the BIOS file from your Playstation 2 gaming system, the process is explained on the forum.

Once that is out of the way, you need to configure the controls. If you have a compatible gamepad I suggest you connect that to your computer as it is the most comfortable option to play games using the emulator. If you do not have a pad, you can map the buttons of the Playstation 2 gamepad to the keyboard of the system. This works well for games that are not fast paced action games.

 You can then load Playstation 2 games, for instance as ISO images, right from within the program interface. I’d like to point out that the emulator has been created for gamers who own a Playstation 2 and the games they want to play on their PC.

You can scale the resolution up to 1080p, make various modifications to the graphics and audio processing to get the most out of the emulation and benefit from a variety of other features that it makes available like saving games or adjusting the game speed.

You do need a fast modern PC for the emulator to render the games in acceptable frames per seconds. The recommended hardware for the emulator is an Intel Core Duo 2.3 Ghz or better processor, at least an Nvidia 8600GT or better, and 1 Gigabytes of RAM. The more extra processing power you have the better.




Source:  http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/07/pcsx2-1-0-playstation-2-emulator-play-ps2-games-on-your-pc/

Microsoft opens the Office Store

Microsoft seems to have looked closely at Apple’s revenue model when it decided to build stores into its core products Windows and Office. Apple is not the only company that is profiting from its own store where users can purchase apps, music and other items for their hardware devices and systems. When you look at the gaming sector, you will notice that free to play models with built-in stores seem to do phenomenally well.

We already know about Windows Store, as it was announced last year. Developers basically can submit their applications for inclusion in the store after they have paid a one-time fee to become a registered developer. Microsoft earns 30% of the first 25,000 Dollars of app revenue, and 20% after this with monetization models including in-app purchases or advertising next to direct purchases in the store.

And now the Office Store. The concept itself is identical to the Windows Store concept. Add a store to the latest product of Office, that is Office 2013, to provide developers with opportunities to make available their applications, and users with a central location to find and install Office apps and add-ins.

And Microsoft? Earns 20% from all net proceedings on every transaction, leaving 80% for the developer.
Adding applications to Microsoft Office is different from adding apps to Windows Store. What you need to do is the following:

• You visit the Office Store website and pick the apps that you want to add to your Office installation, or you open the apps store right in Office

• Either way, you need a Microsoft Account to continue and add apps to Office

• Free and paid apps are then added to the Microsoft Account, from which moment on they become available under Office Store in the Insert App window

• In Office, click on the Insert tab, and there on Apps for Office > See All.

 So what kind of apps can you get right away for Office? For Outlook, you find contact related applications like LinkedIn or Twitter apps, or a car rental app from Hertz. For Word and Excel, you get templates and forms, Bing Maps and Search that are then displayed in a sidebar in Office.

I do not think it is ideal to redirect the user to the Office Store website whenever apps are selected in Office. Direct store access would certainly be a better comfortable option here. The core benefit of the store for Office users is that there is now a central location for apps that can be installed in Office, something that was not really there previously.

What’s your take on Microsoft’s built-in store strategy? I do think that it will add to the company’s yearly revenue over time when users start to buy apps, make in-app purchases or look at ads that are displayed in the apps. You find Microsoft’s Office Store announcement here.





Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/07/microsoft-opens-the-office-store/

Sleepwalker: Windows shutdown just became more comfortable

Do you like to watch a movie or listen to music before you fall asleep at night? If you do, you have probably noticed that the PC is still on the next morning when you wake up. If you have been using a mobile computer on battery, you may even notice that it has run out of battery, and that you have to charge it first before you can use it as a mobile computer again.

Shutdown software like Sleepwalker, or the previously reviewed Shutdown Scheduler or Smart Shutdown, automate the shut down of the PC so that the device gets turned off automatically after a certain time or events.

Sleepwalker adds a number of options to the shutdown process: some automatic, some manual. As far as manual options go, you get access to new keyboard shortcuts that you can use for the following purposes:

• Shutdown computer
• Restart computer
• Hibernate the PC
• Log off user
• Power down monitor
• Run the screensaver

 You can in addition configure the software to clean up temporary data when system state changes. While the offered options are not as extensive as those that programs like CCleaner offer, it lets you empty the Recycle Bin, clean several Internet Explorer specific settings and the Windows Pagefile. Plus, you can configure the program to overwrite the data securely so that it can’t be recovered anymore at a later point in time.

The core features are however automatic.  One of the options that you have in this regard is to enable the program’s idle shutdown feature. You basically configure the program to shut down the PC after it has been idle for a specific time.

You can alternatively configure timers that activate the desired action at a specific day and time. The following actions can be configured here:

• Shutdown
• Restart
• Hibernate
• Log off user
• Turn off monitor
• Run screensaver
• Run a file

The action can be configured to run only once at a specific time of the current day, daily, only on weekends, or weekly at a specific day of the week.

Sleepwalker can be password protected to prevent other users from tampering with the program’s configuration. You can additionally log events and enable sound notifications. in the program settings.

A right-click on the application’s system tray icon provides access to the preferences and options to change the system’s power state directly.

Sleepwalker is a comprehensive software for Windows users who like to improve the operating system’s shutdown capabilities. 



 Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/07/sleepwalker-windows-shutdown-just-became-more-comfortable/

No straight to the desktop booting in Windows 8?

News made the round yesterday that Microsoft seems to have shut down some methods that Windows 8 Beta users have used to bypass the startpage of the operating system to boot straight into the desktop. Up until now, users of Windows 8 could boot to the desktop using a number of workarounds. I’m for instance using the Start8 software to boot directly into the Windows 8 desktop when the computer is turned on.

According to the article, all of these features won’t function anymore in the retail version of Windows 8. I have a hard time believing the claims made in the ZDnet article for a number of reasons. First, the author of the article does not appear to have access to the Windows 8 RTM yet, and relies solely on another author to verify those claims.

According to book author Rafael Rivera, users cannot boot straight to the desktop in Windows 8. The example given however only refers to the shortcut trick that I have linked above as well. It fails to mention if other methods, like that provided by Start8, have been tested as well by the author. The article points out at the end that third party solutions like Start8 seem to work just fine under the Windows 8 RTM build.

And there you have it. It is still possible to boot right into the desktop. While you may need to use a program like Start8, or any of the myriad alternatives to do just that, you can still bypass the startpage if you want to.

And even if you do not want to install a software for that, the desktop itself is just a click or a keyboard shortcut away. Considering that the majority of IT workers boot into the PC once a day or less, it should not really be that of an issue for them.

Sure, it would have been very helpful if Microsoft would have added a new entry to the Group Policy to bypass the startpage in Windows 8, which many organizations and companies would surely have activated to avoid having to train their employees extensively.

I certainly would have liked to see such an option, and it is not clear why Microsoft has not added one to the operating system to help out its enterprise customers. A feasible reason could be the company’s drive to establish the startpage and Windows store in the Windows world. If a large part of consumers and companies bypass the startpage, they won’t come into contact with the new part of the Windows world.

Update: Apparently, there are other options available to boot directly to the desktop. You basically have to load the 4desktop.exe file to the system startup to get straight to the desktop. Works in the Windows 8 RTM.



Source:   http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/07/no-straight-to-the-desktop-booting-in-windows-8/

SpringPublisher Destop Publishing Software 3.0 Review and Giveaway

The desktop publishing software SpringPublisher has just been upgraded to version 3.0, and the team behind the product was nice enough to provide us with a review copy and ten software product keys for a give away. The program is offered as a free and professional version, with the free version limited to personal use and without some of the features of the pro version.

The pro version of SpringPublisher supports high quality outputs in 350 DPI, 100 store credits to purchase templates in the template store and micro perforated paper printouts.

You can use SpringPublisher to design and print your own business cards, flyers, labels, letterheads and postcards using templates and a built-in easy to use graphics editor. The free and pro version of the program ships with several templates that let you design and print your very own business cards or flyers within a few minutes.

Editing a template could not be easier. All you need to do is click on the item that you want to edit, and either move it around directly, or use the element properties menu on the right to change its appearance. Here you can change the text and font properties, the alignment, sizes, angles, opacities and several other properties that define the element.

You are however not limited to the default elements of the template. You can replace any element with another, or leave the area that it covered completely blank. You can for instance replace the default logo with a company logo, add another line of textual information to the back of a business card, or insert maps, shapes or other images as you see fit. And if you are the creative type, you can instead create your own custom designs using the tools it provides you with.

One of the new features of SpringPublisher 3.0 is the option to create artistic QR codes which you can add to your designs. This basically mixes a regular QR code with a logo or image that you add on top of it.

You can add e-business card information or plain text to the QR code, and add an image from your local PC or shapes to it. The program computes the QR code on the fly, and displays the readability level of the content here as well. Even if you do not want to add a logo to the QR code, you can still make use of it to add it to your business cards, postcards, letter heads, flyers or labels so that contacts can scan the information with their phone to add contact information or other information this way to it.
Another new feature of SpringPublisher 3.0 is support for Avery papers (micro perforated papers) that are available online at Amazon and locally at Walmart, Office Depot and other office supplies stores. These papers are specifically perforated for easier printing and cutting (note that the free version does not offer support for micro perforated paper).
Those two are the main feature additions. SpringPublisher however has more to offer than this, including:

• The option to add maps to your printouts (using Google Maps)
• To add barcodes to the printouts
• To save designs as images to have them printed out in print shops
• Format support for the United States, Europe, Asia and international.

Verdict

The new features improve the excellent desktop publishing software further. The software makes it incredible easy to create your own designs and make them look exactly the way you want them to look like. The QR code feature is an excellent addition to the program, as is support for micro perforated paper in the pro version of SpringPublisher as it aids you when it comes to cutting out the printouts in the end.
Please note that the free version includes an offer to install the Babyloon Toolbar on the user system.

Giveaway

We have ten SpringPublisher 3.0 Pro licenses for a giveaway. Winners will be randomly drawn from all users who leave a comment on this page in the next 48 hours. Winners will then be announced on the ghacks Google+ page



Source:  http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/06/springpublisher-destop-publishing-software-3-0-review-and-giveaway/

Microsoft Net Framework Verification Tool update brings 4.5 support

When you are experiencing issues with applications that depend on Microsoft’s Net Framework, you have a few options at hand to troubleshoot those issues. If you are running Windows 7 or earlier, you could try the .Net Framework Cleanup Tool for a drastic approach that is removing all installed versions of the software from the system. You could alternatively try Microsoft’s own .Net Framework Repair Tool which works for all versions of Windows.

If you want to dig deeper, the Microsoft .Net Framework Setup Verification Tool can come in handy, and it is this tool that just got updated to support the new Microsoft .Net Framework 4.5 and Windows 8. As the name suggests, you can use it to verify .Net Framework installations on Windows.

    The .NET Framework setup verification tool supports verifying the following products:

• .NET Framework 1.0
• .NET Framework 1.1
• .NET Framework 1.1 SP1
• .NET Framework 2.0
• .NET Framework 2.0 SP1
• .NET Framework 2.0 SP2
• .NET Framework 3.0
• .NET Framework 3.0 SP1
• .NET Framework 3.0 SP2
• .NET Framework 3.5
• .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
• .NET Framework 4 Client
• .NET Framework 4 Full
• .NET Framework 4.5

By default, the .NET Framework setup verification tool will only list versions of the .NET Framework that it detects are installed on the computer that it is being run on.  As a result, the tool will not list all of the above versions of the .NET Framework.  This product filtering can be overridden by running the .NET Framework setup verification tool with the following command line switch:
netfx_setupverifier.exe /q:a /c:”setupverifier.exe /a”

When you first start the program after installation you are presented with a menu that is displaying all .Net Framework versions that are recognized on the system.

All you need to do is select the product that you want to verify and click on the verify now button afterwards to start the process. The program checks all selected Framework files then, a process that should not take longer than a few seconds, and reports back to you whether the product verified successfully or not.

You can click on the view log button in case it did not verify, to check which files or Registry keys and values that belong to the framework did not verify. Your best bet then may be to uninstall the Framework that failed the verification to reinstall it afterwards on the system. If that fails, you still have the Cleanup Tool and the Repair Tool available that you could use to resolve the situation.
You can download the latest version of the Microsoft .Net Framework Verification Tool from Aaron Stebner’s website where it is available for all supported operating systems (including Windows 8).




 Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/06/microsoft-net-framework-verification-tool-update-brings-4-5-support/

Buy Windows 8 Pro: digital download for €59.99?

We already know that Microsoft will make available Windows 8 upgrades for $39.99 regardless of the version of Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 that is the upgrade being bought for. And while this appears to be a promotional offer that is valid until January 2013, it is likely that upgrade prices won’t increase much afterwards.

Customers who bought an eligible PC with Windows 7 get an upgrade opportunity for $14.99 or even for free, depending on the PC that they have purchased.

What we did not know yet was how much Microsoft would be charging for retail copies of the operating system. While many assumed that the price would be below $100, no one knew how much below it would turn out to be. A leaked screenshot now suggests that Microsoft will charge €59.99 for a digital Windows 8 Pro version.  If you convert the Euro price into Dollar you end up with roughly $75 if Microsoft is using current exchange courses. It can very well be that customers from the US will pay less than that, as it is quite common that US retail prices are converted 1:1 to Euro.

•  Buy a product key online
•  When you buy a key online, we’ll activate for you. We’ll also send you a link so you can install Windows any time. And if you want, you can buy a windows DVD (also great as a backup).

The €59.99 get you a Windows 8 Pro product key and digital download of the operating system. If you want a Windows DVD on top of that, you’d have to pay another €14.99 for shipping and handling, which is about $19 US Dollars.

The legitimacy of the screenshot has not been yet verified by Microsoft, and it is unlikely that the company will do so. For now though, that is all the information we have. And while some of the texts appear unfinished on the screen, it could very well be the price you can buy Windows 8 Pro for.

To sum it up:

•     Windows 8 Pro Upgrade for $39.99
•     Windows 8 Pro for €59.99 or $75 (or maybe $69.99)

Are you planning on buying or upgrading to Windows 8? If so, how much money would you pay for a digital download, Windows 8 DVD, or upgrade?

Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/06/buy-windows-8-pro-digital-download-for-e59-99/

Music-Plow for Chrome: find music while you are surfing on the Internet

So you read about Justin Bieber’s new song somewhere online, or are currently browsing through the Rolling Stone reviews section and found a song that could be exactly what you are liking. Since the song is not linked directly on the site, or embedded on it, you may be inclined to search for it on the Internet to listen to it. Maybe you head right over to YouTube to see if it is available there. Or, you prefer to find it on Grooveshark, Spotify, or another music site that may be offering it.

And maybe, the review got you that excited that you want to purchase the song right away on Amazon, iTunes or another music store that is available in the country you are living in.

With Music-Plow for Chrome, you are just two clicks away from doing so. The service supports Grooveshark and YouTube for listening to music, and the iTunes and Amazon stores to buy the song online right away. All you need to do is highlight a song name (or artist or album name), right-click it and select the find matching music option in the context menu.

You will then see an overlay on the screen after a few seconds like the one on the screenshot below.

Here you find five songs that match the highlighted text. The extension displays the name of the artist or band, and the album / single it was released with. Next to that are four buttons linking to Grooveshark, Youtube, Amazon and iTunes.
Depending on the country you are living in, you may be able to make use of all four buttons, or only some of them. And if you are living in a country like Germany, you may even get the dreaded “this video is not available” message when you select YouTube.

Recommendations are solid for the most part. Sometimes though recommendations do not bring up the song and artist that you are looking for, even though YouTube or another of the supported services may list it after all.
Still, if you love music and read reviews and news regularly, you may really enjoy the new extension for the Chrome browser.



Source:  http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/06/music-plow-for-chrome-find-music-while-you-are-surfing-on-the-internet/

OpenCandy explained: what you need to know about the technology

OpenCandy is a technology that software companies can add to installers to earn money from optional software offers that are based on a system scan and the user’s location in the world. That’s different from software installers that always include the same type of offering, the Babyloon Toolbar or the Ask Toolbar for instance, regardless of the user’s location in the world or whether the toolbars are already installed on the system.

According to the FAQ on the OpenCandy website, the installer queries the company server for a list of recommended apps for the user location, operating system and language and checks those against the installed applications on the system and prerequisites that those programs may depend on. The first recommendation to pass all tests is then selected and presented to the user in the installer.

OpenCandy sends anonymous statistics back to the server which is used to improve the technology and to provide software companies with analytic insights.
Installation Process

Here is a typical installer that is using Open Candy. You should see an OpenCandy EULA link on the first screen which reveals to you that OpenCandy is being used by the installer.

Applications powered by OpenCandy
This is a short incomplete list of application installers that are powered by OpenCandy technology:

•     CCleaner
•     CDBurnerXP
•     CutePDF
•     Daemon Tools
•     Extract Now
•     Free Video Converter
•     IE7 Pro
•     MediaCoder
•     MiPony
•     Miro
•     Orbit Downloader
•     SPlayer
•     Super
•     Unlocker
•     uTorrent
•     Winamp
•     WinSCP

As you can see, this includes many popular applications. According to OpenCandy, hundreds of applications are powered by the technology.

What OpenCandy collects

•     operating system version and language
•     country location
•     timezone
•     language of the software installer
•     if the installer was completed or canceled
•     if a third party recommendation was made, and whether it was accepted or declined
•     if the recommendation was downloaded and the installer initiated
•     if the installation completed successfully

According to the FAQ, Open Candy does not collect personally identifiably information about the PC or user. The company notes that it does not collect or store IP addresses.

Is OpenCandy adware?

The answer depends on the definition of adware. According to Wikipedia, adware is any software package which automatically renders advertisements. The answer must be yes then, as OpenCandy displays automatic advertisement for another software product during the installation process.

While it is certainly is adware, it is not spyware or malicious in nature.  It does not install software without the user’s consent nor does it place tracking software or files of its own on the user system.

Can you bypass OpenCandy?

Some programs support the /NOCANDY parameter which you can add to the run command when you start the installer to bypass OpenCandy during installation. While this works with some applications, it does not seem to work with all that you may come across.

Should you avoid software that comes bundled with OpenCandy?

This is obviously a question that only you can answer for yourself. I do not really mind the program for as long as it is not collecting personally identifiable information, adding software or files without user consent on the system, or trying to hide or sneak by in other means.

I’d still recommend to pay attention to the installation dialog and try the /nocandy parameter whenever you install software that comes bundled with OpenCandy.

Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/06/opencandy-explained-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-technology/

Add run as different user to the Windows 8 startpage

If you want to run a program as a different user in Windows 7, all you have to do is hold down the shift-key on the computer keyboard before you right-click the program that you want to start. This adds the run as different user entry to the context menu from where it can be selected.

The option can be quite useful under certain circumstances. You can for instance use it to test run a software under a different user account to make sure it is working correctly, or run a program will standard user rights instead of administrator rights.

You can hold down Shift on the Windows 8 desktop as well to reveal the run as user command there. What is not working though by default is to do the same on the startpage. Holding down Shift while right-clicking won’t display the option on the lower toolbar that is displayed instead of the context menu.

What you need to do is add the option to the startpage first before it becomes available there. To do that, you need to open the Local Group Policy Editor which is only available when you are running Windows 8 Pro.
Group Policy

Tap on the Windows key and enter gpedit.msc and hit return afterwards. This launches the Group Policy Editor. Use the left sidebar to navigate to the following menu there: Local Computer Policy > User configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar.

Locate the entry Show “Run as different user” command on Start and double-click it to bring up its configuration menu. Switch from not configured to enabled and then on ok to save the setting.

• This policy setting shows or hides the “Run as different user” command on the Start application bar.
• If you enable this setting, users can access the “Run as different user” command from Start for applications which support this functionality.
• If you disable this setting or do not configure it, users cannot access the “Run as different user” command from Start for any applications.
• Note: This setting does not prevent users from using other methods, such as the shift right-click menu on application’s jumplists in the taskbar to issue the “Run as different user” command.

The Registry key that gets created when you enable the feature is located under the following path:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\{2EFD5E24-75E6-4F3C-B2B6-E231206FAE9A}User\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer

The key ShowRunAsDifferentUserInStart is set to 1 if the feature is enabled, and 0 if it is disabled.






Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/05/add-run-as-different-user-to-the-windows-8-startpage/

Burn videos to DVD with Freemake Video Converter

Would not it be great if the process of burning video files to DVD would be as easy as copying regular files on a data DVD? Freemake Video Converter makes that possible as it providing you with the means to burn any video file to a video DVD that you can watch on your television or other devices capable of playing DVD movies.

What makes this solution great in particular is the program’s ease of use. You do not have to worry about video formats, resolutions, bitrates, audio formats or the DVD menu as it is all handled automatically by the program. All that you need to do is add the video files that you want to burn to the program, insert a blank DVD into the DVD writer, and hit the burn button to get started.
Burn videos to DVD

Before we start with the guide I’d like you to pay good attention to the installation of the software. The installer will present two offers to you during the installation which will install third party software on your system if you do not uncheck the options. If you do not pay attention, you will end up with Nitro PDF Reader, a new browser toolbar, and a changed homepage and default search provider. Just uncheck the options if you are not interested in them. If you want to reward the developers of the software, you can alternatively make a donation to them on the homepage.

To burn videos to a DVD do the following in the program:

Click on the Video button at the top and add as many video files as you want to the application. Freemake Video Converter will automatically adjust the resolution and bitrate of the resulting DVD. I would not go overboard with that though, as you may end up with a bad resolution or video quality.  A rule of thumb is that your resulting video DVD should have a 720×576 resolution. I’m going to show you how to check that in a minute.

Once you have added videos you should click on the to DVD button to open the DVD menu. Here you see the resulting DVD resolution, bitrate and format. A standard DVD is selected by default which you can change to a dual-layer DVD instead or a Mini DVD here. You can furthermore switch from PAL to NTSC, and change to a different type of DVD menu if you like.

If you are not satisfied with the quality of the output, return to the video selection menu and remove some of the video files to reduce the overall playtime of the videos. Once you are satisfied click on the burn button to start the process. Freemake Video Converter will convert the videos into a DVD compatible format before they get burned to disc.

The process itself should not take that long. While it depends on a few factors, like your computer’s processing performance and the source video formats, it should be quite speedy. I never spend more than an hour converting and burning videos on a test PC to video DVD format.

The DVD menu looks solid, and if you want, you can make it static instead or get rid of it completely if you prefer the movie to play automatically. You may however experience black borders when you play back the video DVD, and this seems to depend largely on the resolution of the source video files.

Verdict

Freemake Video Convert is an easy to use program that turns virtually any video format into a video DVD in a short amount of time. While you may get better or customized results with specialized software, you’d spend more time configuring said software for that result.





 Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/05/burn-videos-to-dvd-with-freemake-video-converter/

Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center to manage Microsoft hardware released

If you are the owner of a Microsoft keyboard or mouse you up until now had to rely on IntelliPoint and IntelliType Pro drivers to add full support for the devices. While it is without doubt possible to simply use generic drivers that ship with Windows to use basic mouse and keyboard functionality, special features may become only available after you install the drivers.

One of the issues that users may have experienced in the past is that you had to download and install two different drivers if you had more than one Microsoft peripheral connected to the PC.

That’s going to change with the release of Microsoft’s Mouse and Keyboard Center for Windows 7 and Windows 8. It is basically a unified driver for all Microsoft mice and keyboards so that you can control all device functionalities from a single application interface.

A 32-bit and 64-bit version of the Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center is provided by Microsoft which both provide the same functionality. One can see immediately after startup that the program has been designed with Windows 8 in mind. Not only can it be launched from the Windows 8 start screen, its interface resembles other configuration screens of the Windows 8 operating system as you can see from the screenshot above.

When you start the program after installation you will notice that it will automatically detect the installed hardware. You need to make sure that it is connected to the PC at the time, and if you are using Bluetooth devices, you need to make sure the connection has been set up before you start the program.

Some devices may not be supported by the Mouse and Keyboard Center You can check mice and keyboard compatibility on this troubleshooting page. As far as Mice go, you will notice that mice like the Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse 7000, the IntelliMouse Optical or the IntelliMouse Explorer 4.0 are not supported by the Mouse and Keyboard Center. As far as keyboards go, there are a few that are not supported a swell. Consult the following table for a full list:

Unsupported Mice

• Comfort Optical Mouse 1000
• Compact Optical Mouse
• IntelliMouse Explorer 4.0
• IntelliMouse Explorer for Bluetooth
• Laser Mouse 6000
• Notebook Optical Mouse
• Optical Mouse
• Optical Mouse by Starck
• Standard Wireless Optical Mouse
• Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer for Bluetooth
• Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse 6000
• Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse 7000
• Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse
• IntelliMouse
• Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000
• IntelliMouse Optical
• Mobile Memory Mouse 8000
• Wireless Laser Mouse 6000
• Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer 2.0
• Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer with Fingerprint Reader
• Wheel Mouse

Unsupported Keyboards

• Keyboard Elite for Bluetooth
• Keyboard with Fingerprint Reader
• MultiMedia Keyboard
• Wireless Desktop Elite Keyboard
• Wireless Keyboard 2000
• Wireless Optical Desktop for Bluetooth Keyboard
• Wireless Photo Keyboard
• Internet Keyboard
• Wireless MultiMedia Keyboard
• Wireless Comfort Keyboard 4000
• Wireless Comfort Keyboard
• Wireless Laser Keyboard 5000
• Natural MultiMedia Keyboard
• Wired Keyboard 500

The latest version of the Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center can be downloaded from the official Microsoft Hardware web page.




 Source:  http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/05/microsoft-mouse-and-keyboard-center-to-manage-microsoft-hardware-released/

So what is a torrent exactly?

After having received numerous emails in the past that asked me to explain what a torrent is, I finally decided to write this little guide to help everyone who wants to know more about torrents, how they work and how you can use them. Many Ghacks reader without doubt know exactly how they can make use of torrents, and it is likely that this guide is not revealing any new information for them. I invite you to contribute to the article by leaving a comment below.

I first would like to address the different between torrent and Bittorrent, which is often used synonymously on the Internet. Bittorrent is a peer to peer (p2p) file sharing protocol that uses a swarm-like approach to file sharing. A torrent (file) stores metadata that programs like uTorrent use to download data to the PC it is running on.

What is a torrent?

The Bittorrent specification details the metainfo that are included in torrent files:

•     announce – Lists at least one tracker url
•     info name – Suggested name for the file or directory
•     info piece – Files are split into fixed size pieces, and this defines the number of bytes of each piece.
•     info pieces -  A hash list
•     info length – The length of the file
•     info files path – A list of strings of subdirectory names and file names
•     info files length – The actual file size in bytes

When you download a torrent file and add it to a downloader such as utorrent or qBittorrent several things happen in the background. The Bittorrent client tries to establish a connection to the tracker to receive a list of peers that are currently transferring pieces of the file. This can be users who are downloading the files associated with the torrent currently, or seeders who already have downloaded the complete data and are now making it available to all downloaders. The speed usually improves with popularity of a download.

When you add a torrent to a program compatible with Bittorrent, you receive a wealth of information. The popular uTorrent client for instance displays the number of pieces and files, the peers you are currently connected to, the trackers, and the hash among other information.

Every user who has started downloading the file and has downloaded at least one piece can also be a seeder for that file. The idea here is to accelerate downloads by using swarm technologies. While there are ways to artificially limit your own upload speed or use modifications that prevent the seeding of files, the majority of users are both downloading and upload pieces of files they are interested in.

The local client downloads pieces from different users to assemble the files once all data pieces have been downloaded to the system.

You may also encounter magnet links on some sites that may have replaced torrents on those sites, or may be offered in addition to torrent files. A magnet link is a web link that contains metadata that Bittorrent client can use to start downloading files. The benefit for sites that host torrent files is that it is reducing the bandwidth needed to operate the site. While torrents can reach a size of a Megabyte or more, a link reduces that to less than a Kilobyte of data.

How to download a torrent

It is actually pretty easy to download torrent files. All you need is a program that is supporting the Bittorrent protocol. This can be a web browser like Opera, or a program designed specifically for the purpose like uTorrent. The programs usually register the .torrent file extension on your system so that all torrent links that you click on are automatically added to the application.

If that is not the case, you can drag and drop the torrent files from the local system to the application to start the download.

Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/05/so-what-is-a-torrent-exactly/

Convert Files online with Online-Convert.com

I prefer to convert files locally whenever possible as it is giving me more control and flexibility. The biggest advantage that I see is that I do not have to upload one of my files to another service to convert it, which can be especially important in a business environment. Online file converters to have their advantages though. You can for instance access them on systems where you do not have access to local converts. Say you are in an Internet cafe and want to convert an audiobook or ebook that you have discovered recently into a format that your smartphone, mp3 player or ebook reader supports.

It is exactly this scenario where a service such as Online Convert comes in handy. Another advantage is that you can run conversions regardless of the computer you are using. A low performance machine like a netbook may not be usable at all during conversions, and since it is a low performance computer, you may end up spending more time converting the file than you may want or have time for.

Online-Convert.com is without doubt one of the better online file conversion services available on today’s Internet. It supports the conversion of a wide variety of file types:

•     Audio
•     Video
•     Image
•     Documents
•     Ebooks
•     Archives

When you load the main page of the service you are presented with all available conversion options. Unlike on other services, you begin by selecting the file format you want your file to be converted to.

Once you have selected the target file format you are automatically taken to the next page where you can upload the audio format from the device you are currently working on or alternatively enter or paste in an url that is pointing to the file you want to convert.

Depending on the selected type, you may see additional options displayed on that page. If you have selected to convert an audio file for instance, you can modify the bitrate, select to normalize the audio or trim the audio file. A click on convert file opens the third and final page where the conversion progress is displayed to you. You can enter an email address if you want to receive a notification and even the converted file when the conversion has finished.

The service will keep the file on their servers for a 24 hour period. If you want, you can use the delete link to remove it right away or let it expire automatically after that time.

Free users are limited to 100 Megabyte per file and four concurrent conversions. Those who need more can subscribe to the service for a monthly or one-time fee to increase the file size limit to 1 Gigabyte, the concurrent conversions to 10, and benefit from encrypted up and downloads.

What I like about the service is that you can use it without registration to convert a handful of files, that you do not have to install or enable a plugin like Java, and that they provide you with the means to delete files right away from the server.

Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/04/convert-files-online-with-online-convert-com/

Add Search the Internet to the Windows Start Menu

One of the things that I like about the search in Windows 8 is the option to load websites automatically from the interface. Just search for a site url, do not forget www. or http:// in front, and tap on enter afterwards to open the website in the default system browser. You can’t do the same when you are running a previous version of Windows. Even Windows 7 does not offer you the option to load websites or search on the Internet for a search term that you enter into the search form.

The experts among you may already know that there is an option to add Internet search options to the start menu of previous versions of Windows. You can activate the feature in the Windows Registry, and the following guide explains how you can do that.

Use Windows-r to open the run box on the screen. Type regedit into the form and hit the enter key afterwards to load the Windows Registry editor. You may see an UAC prompt when you do that, and it is necessary to accept it to continue. Navigate to the following key in the Registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer

The Explorer key may not be present on your system. If that is the case, right-click the Windows key and select New > Key from the context menu. Name it Explorer and save it. Right-click on Explorer afterwards and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value from the context menu. Name the Dword AddSearchInternetLinkInStartMenu. Double-click the new entry and change its value to 1.

You need to restart the system, log off and on again, or kill the explorer.exe process in the Task Manager or another process manager before the new feature becomes available. When you know enter a search term in the start menu you will see the search the Internet option right above it on the screen. When you select it, the search results listing will be opened in the default browser.






Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/04/add-search-the-internet-to-the-windows-start-menu/

Firefox: Add the favicon back to the urlbar

With Firefox 14 came a change to the browser’s address bar that many Firefox users did not agree with. Mozilla removed the favicon from the browser’s address bar to block malicious sites from making favicons look like secure connection icons. Another reason for the move was that Mozilla felt that displaying favicons both in the address bar and in the browser tab was redundant.

The move was highly controversial, and if you look through the comments on the page that is linked above, you will notice that many Firefox users are fed up with Mozilla’s drive to change the user interface of the browser regularly.  They feel that the browser lacks consistency in this regard, and that Mozilla is making too many changes to the browser core.

Site Favicon in Urlbar is a Firefox add-on that restores favicons into the browser’s address bar. Once you have installed the add-on in the browser you will notice that favicons are displayed again in the urlbar next to the security icon.

But that’s not the only feature that the restartless add-on is making available. If you want, you can modify the default icon for sites that do not have a favicon, or hide the globe icon or security padlock icon in the browser. While I would not recommend removing the padlock icon, I can’t really see a reason to not remove the globe icon from the address bar, especially since you can now click on the favicon instead to get the same information popup.

That’s still not all it offers though. If you want, you can highlight all secure connections further in the address bar. The add-on distinguishes between verified identities, domains and unknown identities here, and will paint the background in different colors.

Add-ons come once again to the rescue of the browser and it is likely that this add-on will be fairly popular once it makes the rounds.





Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/04/firefox-add-the-favicon-back-to-the-urlbar/

Tequila Zombies 2 [Game Saturday]

Today I’m bringing you a review of Tequila Zombies 2, a straightforward well designed side scrolling action game that puts you in the role of Miguel or Jaqueline to fight the zombie infestation. The graphics and animations are solid for a Flash game, and gameplay should keep you entertained for a while.

Each level of the game consists of ten stages that you have to complete to move on to the next. Zombies pour into each stage from the left or right border and it is your tasks to eliminate them all. You begin each round with a melee weapon but get all sorts of weapons, armor and drops from zombies which help you beat the later stages of the game.

The drops are linked to the game’s update system which means that you will only get drops that you have unlocked between levels. That’s not a lot at the beginning, as you only get the chance of a pistol drop. Once you progress and earn some money, you can buy chainsaws, automatic weapons, armor, explosives and even the almighty minigun.

You have to remember though that those are drops and not equipped right from the beginning. There is usually no shortage when it comes to drops though, and if things get desperate you still have your special attack that you can activate with a tap on the space bar. These usually clear the screen from all regular zombies giving you some breathing space.

Regular zombies? It would become boring pretty soon if you would have to fight only regular zombies. While they come in  a wide variety, from the zombie dogs to flying gun-wielding zombie angels and your regular two-legged assortment of zombies. They alone add variety to the game, but it is the bosses the game throws at you that really require all your attention and skill.

You will meet three bosses in every level that are harder to kill and usually accompanied by an unlimited wave of regular zombies. Your tasks is to kill the boss to stop the endless hordes from attacking you. Special drops that birds carry around on the map help you tremendously here. They usually carry weapons that you do not have bought as an upgrade yet and are often essential to getting a boss down as soon as possible.

As far as controls go: you move with the AD or left and right cursor keys, use W or up to jump, space to activate the special attack, and the mouse to aim and shoot or slash. When you die or complete a level, you can enter the arsenal to buy upgrades to power up your game in later stages and levels.

Tequila Zombies 2 is a fun game that should keep you entertained for a while. It offers enough variety game play wise to not get boring after the tenth or so wave of zombies which is a rare trait for these kind of games.





Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/04/tequila-zombies-2-game-saturday/

Download TED videos with TED Downloader 3.0

We have covered the TED Downloader back in 2011 for the first time that you could use to download all videos from TED talks. If you have not heard about TED before I suggest you check out the site to get an impression of what it is all about. If you are short on time, lets say that it offers talks by experts in fields like technology, global issues or science that are often remarkable in one way or the other.

The talks may give you a glimpse of the future, provide solutions to current issues, or may be informative in another way. They are usually held in a way that viewers with little to no background in the field can understand the main concepts.

Back to Ted Downloader. The program has been released in a new version recently, which improves on the previous versions considerably. A lot has changed since our first review of the program, and while some of the features have been integrated into previous updates, version 3.0 introduces additional improvements.

If you have only used the very first version of the program you will now notice that all Ted talks are listed in the application interface with their speaker, title, location, year and month, and play time. What version 3.0 adds on top of that is a search option that you can use to find topics or speakers of interest. Want to download Bill Gates’ speak? Just enter Gates and you will see all three videos of Bill Gates. Just select the one your are interested in and the program jumps automatically to that video. What’s left is the selection of the video and a click on the start download button.

If you just want to download everything, you can instead check the download all videos box in the program interface to do so. Be aware that you will download 1225 videos which may require Gigabytes of storage space. You can select low, normal or high quality videos in the settings – automatically displayed on first start – which impact the size of each video that you download. The normal videos are usually in the 2-digit Megabyte range.

The author of the application has added another cool feature to the program. TED Talks are in English with subtitles provided for various languages. The program lets you select a subtitle language in the settings, and you can then select to download subtitles for the videos that you download automatically. Other features that you may like is a skip button for individual videos, options to save the settings or the link list as HTML, XML or TXT files.

TED Downloader 3.0 features impressive improvements over previous versions. As impressive as it is, I can still think of a few features that would make it even better. For one, there should be an option to select all videos that pop up in the search results. To take the Bill Gates examples: if I want to download all three videos, I have to search three times for Bill Gates to do so.

Other features that I’d like to see is integration of TED ratings and categories, the option to schedule downloads of new videos, and the option to stop and resume downloads at a later point in time.




Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/03/download-ted-videos-with-ted-downloader-3-0/

Digg relaunches as a general news site

The new Digg has just been relaunched and is now available for everyone.  The new website displays all contents on the frontpage with no option to dig deeper into the site.  Top stories, popular and upcoming are all listed on the frontpage, and it seems that the team of moderators is strictly limiting the contents that appear here.

When you look at the contents, you will notice that all types of news are covered, from news to media and even fun-related categories. The site does not provide you with filters or sub-pages where you can only access the contents you like. Reddit for instance does that better as it lets you blend out news that you are not interested in to concentrate fully on the news that you want.

Since there is no list of all upcoming stories, users are fed a list of preselected stories that they may vote on which is miles away from the original service.

Another thing that you will notice right away is that there are not any user comments on the site. While you may see an occasional social media comment added to a news piece, the new Digg is giving users no option to comment and add to the stories that get posted on the site. For me, it is the comments section on sites like Reddit or Hacker News that make the difference as they often add information to a story posted on those sites.

When you submit a story you are only asked for a link and nothing more. Previous Digg users will notice that they can only log in using Facebook or Twitter, and not their original Digg account.

It needs to be noted that this is just the first version, and that the developers had only six weeks to pull it off. It is likely that they will add features to the next version of the website.

For me, the new concept is not attractive enough. First, there is the pre-selection of contents that users may vote on, then there is no user interaction whatsoever. Lastly, the frontpage covers all news and offers no filtering options.

Have you been to the new Digg yet? If so, what is your take on the relaunch?




Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/01/digg-relaunches-as-a-general-news-site/

Dropbox just reset my user password

I check my emails first thing in the morning to make sure I do not miss anything important right away. Imagine my surprise when I received an email from the Dropbox team notifying me that my Dropbox password had been reset.  I first thought that Dropbox had been hacked and the team decided to play it safe and reset all user passwords. Then I read on and noticed that this was not the case. According to the email, no suspicious activity was discovered, and the only reason for reseting the password according to the email is that some users use the same password on multiple services.

Hi Martin,

Recently, passwords have been stolen from some Internet services. This is a problem because many people use the same password on multiple services, which is unsafe.

As a precaution, we’ve reset your password and you can create a new one here.

We haven’t detected any suspicious activity in your Dropbox, but we’re proactively taking steps to keep users safe.

We know it’s easy to use a single password across different websites, but this means if any one site is compromised, all your accounts are at risk. If you’ve ever used the same password for more than one website, you should create new unique passwords for each of them. Tools like 1Password do this for you and can help make your accounts safer.
Best,

- The Dropbox Team

 I verified both links in the email and they are both pointing to Dropbox.com, which eliminates the possibility of a phishing attack. One links to the blog for additional information, the other to the reset password page on the site.

According to the blog post, not all Dropbox passwords have been reset, but users who have not changed their password in a long time or have a commonly used password are affected by this.

Dropbox furthermore has improved security significantly. The company has introduced a page that highlights all active logins to the account and will furthermore integrate two-factor authentication to Dropbox in the coming weeks.

The blog post addresses the spam mails that some Dropbox users have received in the last two week period. According to Dropbox, attackers managed to get hold of an employee’s Dropbox account that contained a document with user email addresses.

Resetting user passwords when there is no sign of a security breach or misuse is a bold move that is certainly going to irritate part of the userbase that is affected by this. When you look at the comments on the blog you will notice that many are furious about the change, with some even expecting a cover-up of sorts.




Source:  http://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/01/dropbox-just-reset-my-user-password/