Need to find largest files on your computer? So did I when my hard drive ran out of space unexpectedly and I couldn’t save a webinar recording. That is not good and I needed to be able to find the largest files so they can be either deleted or archived on an external disk.

Almost immediately, I found this neat little tool called WinDirStat.

Image courtesy of WinDirStat

Not only does it find the largest files it also tells me where the largest directories are which makes more sense because rarely do the largest files on your computer eat up a chunk of your hard drive. It is the largest folders that do that.

As if that isn’t sweet enough, WinDirStat can show me these files and and folders visually. The cherry on top – WinDirStat is opensource, meaning we can put that wallet away. Yay!

WinDirStat as the name suggests is a Windows application. There is a Mac version too called Disk Inventory X

As our children use the computer more often and begin downloading and saving files, this should come in very handy as well to weed out all that junk they have accumulated.

I don’t care what others say but I am actually really enjoying Windows 7. To satisfy all you Apple Fans – yes, I do have a Mac and enjoy it as well. I just like being a dual platform household. Anyhow, back to Windows 7. There are many features that I like which won’t be listed here. Among them, is the ability to automatically resize a window to half of the screen or full screen when you drag it to the edges.

Hmmm… actually, I thought that would be one of my favorite features because having windows automatically snapped to a right size allows me to place two applications or two browser windows side-by-side. This is something I do a lot when paying our household bills. Pulling up the bank account information on one side and spreadsheet on the other.

It all kinda went downhill when I decided I prefer an older app I’ve been using for ages. This app is called GridMove. It is free and you can find it at Donation Coder – donate and you’ll get a permanent license – Because of the community effort, GridMove has a lot of different grid layouts. So, unlike native Windows 7 where you only get the option of full or half screen, you get as many as 100 different possibilities with GridMove. Here’s an example

I really like this because sometimes you want to listen to Pandora but want it opened so you can interact with it but small enough to stay out of your way. Then, you can still keep in view other things you are actively working on or inactively monitoring.

When GridMove got re-installed onto the system, Windows 7′s native re-sizing kept interfering so I needed to turn it off. Thankfully you can and it is easy. You go to Control Panel > Ease of Access > Ease of Access

Click Make the mouse easier to use

Check the Prevent windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen

School calendars, blog designs, client files, a million photos of growing children, WordPress plugins. Such are the things a mom’s hard drive is filled with. The worst thing, the larger hard drives they make, the more gets stuffed in there. Unlike physical files where you can actually see the clutter, once things get dumped into the hard drive it is so easy to lose track of them.

If you use Windows, you know that Windows Explorer – the file manager that comes with it – is not exactly the best. Actually, you won’t necessarily know much you’re missing until you try a third party file manager. That was exactly the case with me.

After reading glowing recommendations for FreeCommander, I decided to give it a whirl, fully expecting to be disappointed and uninstall it within a day. At first glance, the interface is far from lovely and there seemed to be tons of confusing buttons and options. It wasn’t looking good. I relied on my file manager countless times throughout the day. I really didn’t have time to learn how to use this thing so I could view my files. But I decided to give it a fair trial and stuck with it a little longer.

Screenshot courtesy of FreeCommander

It was actually much easier than I thought. Perhaps I was too used to looking at my files the old way. Stuff I like:

• The two pane interface is great because now I no longer have to line up two windows side-by-side to copy files. It’s a lot easier to locate the folders you want to copy files between using this interface.
• You can also save favorite folders (a must) and there are handy buttons running along the top that go to common folders like My Computer, Control Panel, Desktop and even a button to launch Command Prompt.
• Running along the top of the panels are also quick buttons to go directly to every drive in your computer, CD, DVD drives, removable disks.
• FTP connections. This I really liked. I no longer have to fire up a separate file manager just to copy files. This alone has shaved off minutes every time I need to upload something. My only gripe about it is it seems a little slow to me. Could be just my perception.

Overall, I’m awfully glad I gave this a whirl. I’ve hardly scratched the surface and already hooked. Looking for a good file manager yourself? Give FreeCommander a try. As the name suggests – it is free.

There are notebook cases that protect … and then, there are notebook cases that actually do that – and look cool, too. Check out Twelve South’s BookBook – a leather case for Macbook Pros: it looks exactly like a vintage book or ledger!

According to it’s maker, the BookBook leather case “brings three levels of security to your prized Mac”
… firstly by its hardback cover and spine for impact protection, secondly via disguise as a lookalike old leather-bound (and large!) book. It claims the third level of security is “the stylish case protects you from being like everyone else because BookBook is totally original, just like you.”

Am not too sure I’d agree to the last claim, for it sounds more like marketing-speak more than anything else …

Anyway, it definitely looks cool with such a design. It is closed with hidden twin zippers all-round on the edge of its very authentic-looking “pages”. The leather zipper pulls mimic that of bookmark ends really takes the cake! The Macbook Pro’s LCD screen and lid is secured into the case by way of elastic bands at the top two corners; not too sure about the bottom, though. Photos do not show how that is done – it could be using hook-and-loop strips, or just resting bare on the case without any fastenings. All BookBook cases are handcrafted and its leather hand-distressed, so no two of them are exactly the same … I suppose “one-off” exclusivity is good consolation for anyone that is willing to shell out $79.99 – $99.99 for a notebook case.

Twelve South also makes a similar case for the iPad/iPad 2, which doubles up as a landscape-oriented stand when the cover is folded back. The two halves are prevented from flattening out by way of a cord that attaches to both halves.

Am not too sure about protection via disguise as an old book is entirely a good thing, though … What happens if someone decides to use “that old book lying on the desk” to whack a trespassing roach or two? Oh, dear …

Take a few minutes to look through your computer store’s bargain bin when you’re there next time. I did earlier this week and landed a really sweet deal, an oh so tiny USB drive by Verbatim called the Tuff n Tiny. It had 4GBs, was opened and had a 96¢ sticker on it. This thing normally sold for $20 or you can get it from New Egg for $17 – $18 still not bad but 96¢ was unbeatable. We were told it had a defect but hey for less than a buck, we were willing to bet they were wrong.

The drive is pretty neat, really, really small about the length of my thumb. It also looks so much like a toy I am a little afraid of losing it or one of the kids would grab it and it would disappear forever in their room. It does come with a password protection software if using Windows and works just like any other USB drive.

Verbatim claims it is tough and sturdy. We shall see. Soon, I this will be one of those things passed on to the little ones so we will see how much of their rough handling it can take. Good thing, we got it for so little.

Well, the holiday season is upon us, some of us lucky moms may have a 2nd monitor in the horizon. No better time than now to be ready so that you can get that baby up and running and enjoy on Christmas day. If you’ve never had two monitors before then the big question you’ll inevitably ask is how do you do this?

Two ways. One, if your computer’s graphic cards have two outputs. Many of the latest cards do have two. One for regular VGA and one for DVI. Most monitors include the required cabling. But it never hurts to have one extra. If you are currently using the VGA, then you’ll need to get a DVI cabling and vice versa.

The other method works well if your computer only has one monitor output. It is a multi monitor adapter. Because it is USB, you can get as many adapters as you like and chain it into a USB hub. How sweet is that? One such adapter is the Arkview USB-1612. Check out the image below to get an idea how it works. It’s got pretty good reviews too. Although I already have two monitors, I think this might be the one I’ll look in to when we ever add a third.

When we lived in a tiny apartment clear across town, our power was supplied by a small electric Coop. I’ve never given much thought to power outages because they were kinda rare and if there were any, it would be taken care of quickly. Now that we moved, we have a big company for our power company. Ugh! I cannot understand how a small coop can out perform a company with all the resources at their hands… wait a minute, I take it back. I can but that’s a whole ‘nother rabbit hole and not the point of my post.

Living in a hurricane prone zone meant we are aware of how even the smallest surges can completely fry our computers and just about anything really, but because the computers are such a big part of our lives, well, we put them all on a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) or backup power. We’ve added more since we moved because of that unreliable power company thing. I tell you, it’s a good investment. So many times, I would have lost all the work I spent hours on if not for the UPS. When the power goes off, it gives me 30 minutes to safely shut down the computer, monitor and any other peripherals we’ve hooked up to it.

This is huge – it is not fun to have to spend what you thought was your extra money that month on a fried monitor or computer or – fill in the blanks -

These things can get a tad pricey, if you can only afford a small one, I’d still say go with it. Remember, it’s not only the computer you may have to replace but you could lose all the data on the hard drive too.

Hey ladies (and a few gents around), just wanted to give you a heads up that Zone Alarm is running a 50% off deal from now until December 1st, 2009. I’ve been using Zone Alarm for 5 years now, if not longer and have been quite satisfied. Happy to report that other than small annoyances, I’ve not had an issue with viruses for a long, long time.

Now, that doesn’t mean this is a magic pill, I do a lot of other things to keep my computer safe and secure as well – we’ll talk about that later, but ZA is definitely my first layer of defense. If you want to try something new, why not do it for less. There are no coupons required. Just visit this page or click the banner.

Sometimes, when I direct someone to a website or page to find something they need, they don’t see it immediately. That is totally not their fault but the web masters’ for not making the site easy to navigate or find information people need. Most people would just leave.

Image by Su

But what if really need to find the item whatever it is? It often amazes me why people don’t use the magic buttons – Ctrl+F or Command+F for Macs. It’s like having a built in mini search engine for the page you are on. Great way to find stuff on a page.

I use it a LOT, on all kinds of pages and sites. Sometimes, instead of reading through a long list of replies on a forum I use Ctrl + F. Also, sometimes download links are not always easy to distinguish from ads. What I do is, Right click on the page, View Source and then Ctrl+F and search for “.exe” or whatever extension the download is. May not work all the time especially if the download uses a click tracker, but in that case, search for the word “download” or the name of the file if you know it. Huge timesaver, especially if you’ve been on the site before and know something is there but somehow just miss it.

Last year, I was sorely disappointed when I learned that Kids Programming Language retired. On its web page they recommended Phrogram instead but Phrogram is not a free program. Granted, it is a small investment to get the kids to learn a very useful skill, still. Times are tough.

Then I came across Scratch. It works on Mac and PC and even has an online community to share the kids creations. Mostly games. Some of the games are pretty fun too. Heck, I just whiled away some time there when I should be blogging.

Another programming software for kids I came across is SiMPLE.