Thu, 22 May 2008
Truecrypt Files on an encrypted Filesystem
A couple of months back I ran into this very good utility called Truecrypt.
It is a free open source software(GPL license) which creates a filesystem in a file and it is encrypted.
One of the cool things about this is how seamlessly it integrates with Windows/Linux.
It shows up as a drive in Windows Explorer just like a USB drive.And it mounts like regular mountpoints on Linux.
Another benefit of having all your files in one file is that you really don't need to worrying about forgetting to backup individual files.All you have to backup is one file which has all your folders/files etc.
To me This is a huge benefit as I have looked into multiple backup tools/machine imaging utilities etc but by far truecrypt is the best.
Another advantage of truecryt based filesystem is that it is ultra-portable. You just copy one file onto any machine and you have your filesystem there
. No need to use partition magic or other tools to backup the pastition and then restore it on another machine.
Combine this with Portable Apps and you can have your working desktop/environment on any machine and best of it all , it is encrypted !!!!
Oh, the other thing you don't have to pay inflated prices for USB drives for encryption.You buy **any** USB drive and put your encrypted files on the USB drive and you can derive similar protection.
One of the cool things about this is how seamlessly it integrates with Windows/Linux.
It shows up as a drive in Windows Explorer just like a USB drive.And it mounts like regular mountpoints on Linux.
Another benefit of having all your files in one file is that you really don't need to worrying about forgetting to backup individual files.All you have to backup is one file which has all your folders/files etc.
To me This is a huge benefit as I have looked into multiple backup tools/machine imaging utilities etc but by far truecrypt is the best.
Another advantage of truecryt based filesystem is that it is ultra-portable. You just copy one file onto any machine and you have your filesystem there
. No need to use partition magic or other tools to backup the pastition and then restore it on another machine.
Combine this with Portable Apps and you can have your working desktop/environment on any machine and best of it all , it is encrypted !!!!
Oh, the other thing you don't have to pay inflated prices for USB drives for encryption.You buy **any** USB drive and put your encrypted files on the USB drive and you can derive similar protection.
posted at: 16:39 | category: /general | permanent link to this entry
Short stint with net10(parent company is tracfone)
I tried Net10(prepaid service) for about 2 months .
Essentially their model of pre-paid is 10c a minute and you need to buy a minimum of $30 card (gives you 300 mins) every 60 days.So essentially it comes down to about $15 per month
I got the Nokia 1600 from their website
Their business model is that they lease from GSM carries like T-mobile and AT&T.You will not come to knonw upfront who your carrier will be .
I didn't quite like their service as I had to talk to them multiple times to get my home phone ported to them and they goofed up multiple times at many places and sometimes I had to wait for 45 minutes to talk to a Support person.
I also ran into multiple issues with them mainly because the phone which I got was really a tracfone inspite of the packaging and everything saying it was a Net10 phone.Then I had to wait for a new SIM card because the original SIM card which came with the net10 package was of Tracfone and hence would not work at all.So they shipped me a new SIM card after multiple calls etc.
Inspite of multiple calls to their support they were clueless about the concept of an email address associated with mobile phones.
So once I came to know that the underlying carrier for my Net10 phone is AT&T I just played around and found out that my phones email address was@txt.att.net .Anyways I believe the same thing will work if your underlying carrier is t-mobile.
Their website absolutely sucks and most of the things you cant do on their website.
Overall I was not very happy with them and moved on to my tried and tested Virgin Mobile.You can read about it here
Essentially their model of pre-paid is 10c a minute and you need to buy a minimum of $30 card (gives you 300 mins) every 60 days.So essentially it comes down to about $15 per month
I got the Nokia 1600 from their website
Their business model is that they lease from GSM carries like T-mobile and AT&T.You will not come to knonw upfront who your carrier will be .
I didn't quite like their service as I had to talk to them multiple times to get my home phone ported to them and they goofed up multiple times at many places and sometimes I had to wait for 45 minutes to talk to a Support person.
I also ran into multiple issues with them mainly because the phone which I got was really a tracfone inspite of the packaging and everything saying it was a Net10 phone.Then I had to wait for a new SIM card because the original SIM card which came with the net10 package was of Tracfone and hence would not work at all.So they shipped me a new SIM card after multiple calls etc.
Inspite of multiple calls to their support they were clueless about the concept of an email address associated with mobile phones.
So once I came to know that the underlying carrier for my Net10 phone is AT&T I just played around and found out that my phones email address was
Their website absolutely sucks and most of the things you cant do on their website.
Overall I was not very happy with them and moved on to my tried and tested Virgin Mobile.You can read about it here
posted at: 15:58 | category: /reviews | permanent link to this entry
Free child ID kit
A child id kit allows partents to store vital information about their kids like fingerprints/hari sample etc.
It is very important to get a child id kit for your kids as in the event of missing a child or abduction this information is very critical for police to help finding your child.
We went to our local police station in the great mall in milpitas to get our child id kit free.
The process was very simple and the following things were done
The process was pretty fast and I would encourage all parents to find a local police station which can ID their child.
It is very important to get a child id kit for your kids as in the event of missing a child or abduction this information is very critical for police to help finding your child.
We went to our local police station in the great mall in milpitas to get our child id kit free.
The process was very simple and the following things were done
The process was pretty fast and I would encourage all parents to find a local police station which can ID their child.
posted at: 12:26 | category: /kids | permanent link to this entry
