Brendan’s Blog

I just read a great blog post here that speaks to a transition I recently made myself.

I have been an Exchange/Outlook user since 1996, before Outlook was even a product.  During those years I developed systems of email folder heirarchies that I used to “file” my email.  These heirarchies changed year-to-year as I changed projects or jobs.  This filing helped me find relevant email on any number of topics when required.

I also have a no-delete policy for email.  I don’t delete anything.  My theory is that storage will continue to get cheaper, and search functionality will continue to improve.  Once my mailbox size became large, I started creating an annual “PST” archive file so that my primary mailbox would stay manageable.  Over the past twelve years I’ve amassed many gigabytes of email.

Last year I began using Google Mail’s web interface as my primary personal email client.  Around the same time I saw an “Inbox Zero” presentation by Merlin Mann which was very thought provoking.  After a short time my habits changed dramatically from being an email filer, to an email finder.  I highly recommend it to anyone who spends time moving emails from your inbox to other folders in an attempt to organize your email.

When using Google Mail, I immediately archive any message that doesn’t require me to perform a follow-up action.  Those that require follow up stay in my inbox until I’ve completed the task.

When using Outlook I flag messages requiring follow-up.  Messages from high-volume email distribution lists are automatically moved to Inbox subfolders via the Rules feature.  Others emails simply stay in my Inbox or their distribution list folder until Outlook AutoArchive moves them to a PST file.

The advantage to “finding” is that you don’t spend time filing on a daily basis.  I don’t even label much as I can almost always think of keywords, senders, or recipients that narrow my search sufficiently.  The only filing and labeling I do is automated with filters.  Email from active distribution lists gets automatically tagged and/or filed appropriately.

Are you a finder or a filer?

I prefer to store documents digitally, rather than with paper in drawers.  I have long sought a way to quickly convert paper documents into digital form for archival and search/retrieval purposes.  I recently found a great product which sits on my desk, and does exactly that.

Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 Instant PDF Sheet-Fed Scanner

Increase productivity in a snap with the Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 Sheet-Fed Scanner. The S510 digitizes both sides of a document in a single pass at up to 18 pages per minute in color, making it ideal for a small office or home office environment.

Changing how documents are managed

• One button scanning to searchable PDF
• Scan directly to Microsoft® applications
• New multifunction Quick Menu feature
• Easily protect, preserve, & share documents
• Business card scanning
• Color Duplex 18 pages per minute
• Adobe® Acrobat® 8.0 Standard

The Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 is around the size of a toaster.  I can put a document in its feeder tray (up to 50 pages at a time) and just hit go to start.  Both sides of each page are scanned simulateously.  When its done, a PDF is created and OCR processes begin.  It sits just to the right of my monitor in prime desktop realestate.  I use the ScanSnap regularly to scan bills, paper correspondence, and even drawings created by my kids.

My only complaint is that the scanner driver is not TWAIN compliant, so applications like PhotoShop, and NeatReceipts don’t recognize it.  The “workaround” is to use the ScanSnap to scan first to PDF for import to other applications.

Update: I should point out that this product is not cheap.  The average price is around $400.  At the moment, a $50 mail-in-rebate is available though October 2008 at Newegg.com.

Once upon a time I frequently reused passwords. So if you knew my dogs name, or what kind of car I drove, you could easily have pretended to be me with just a little extra work. This is obviously a very bad idea, but I’m sure many people struggle with managing passwords for web sites and computer systems you access on a regular basis.

Passwords are keys to your identity.  If a malicious person were to figure out your email password, what harm could they cause?  Could they quickly gather the names and contact information for your friends and family?  Could they figure out where you bank?  Could they reset your bank password by telling your bank that your password was forgotten?

A researcher who examined 10,000 Hotmail, MSN and Live.com passwords that were recently exposed online has published an analysis of the list and found that “123456″ was the most commonly used password, appearing 64 times.
- Wired Magazine

Here are my tips for choosing the best passwords:

• Use different passwords for every site/application.  Do not reuse them.
• Change passwords frequently.  The more you use a password, the more you should change it.
• Keep your passwords secret.  Guard them as if they were keys to your identity — they usually are.
• Consider using a random password generator.
• Consider using passphrases (e.g. Myhouseismadeofwoodandhasyellowsiding!)
• Consider using acronyms (e.g. Mhimowahys!)
• Do not use words, birthdays, family and pet names, addresses, or any other personal information in your passwords.
• Do not use repeat characters such as 111 or sequences like abc, qwerty, or 123 in any part of your password.

I strongly recommend using a password managment tool for three important reasons.

1. Tools remember many passwords so you don’t have to.
2. Tools can type passwords for you.  This makes strong passwords easy to use.
3. Tools can create strong passwords which are complex, unique, and random.

A while back I wrote a post about PasswordSafe, which I used to manage my usernames and passwords.  I later switched to a different tool named KeePass.  KeePass is also free and open source, but I think it is also easier to use.  I now also use LastPass which is a different on-line based password manager.

KeePass is a free open source password manager, which helps you to manage your passwords in a secure way. You can put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key file. So you only have to remember one single master password or select the key file to unlock the whole database. The databases are encrypted using the best and most secure encryption algorithms currently known (AES and Twofish). For more information, see the features page.

The ability to auto-type usernames and passwords is infinately flexible with KeePass.  Auto-type is a very important feature, although I can understand why you may not initially think so.  Think about the strongest types of passwords.  They are long, complex, unique, and full of many different character types.  Do you want to type those in manually each time?  Once I switched to KeePass, my normal password length increased to 20 or more randomized characters wherever possible.  Since I don’t have to remember or type them, I prefer the really long/complex ones.

To manage my password database across several computers, I use FolderShare to synchronize it between systems.  This keeps my database of (as of writing 317) passwords the same across all my systems.  Occasionally I also copy the password database file to a USB flash drive so I can access accounts when I’m not using one of my own computers.

KeePass has many other great features.  The listing of features below links to their website.

Some websites with more complicated authentication schemes will require customization of the auto-type string.  The software “help” references provides details on how to do this.

The small physical size and low cost of USB based flash disk drives, or USB Drives, often exposes confidential information due to theft and loss. The growing memory capacity on these drives increases the problem as more data is stored for longer periods of time.

I use my USB Drives frequently, as do many mobile professionals. I categorize my usage into two basic functions:

• Storage – Storing my files for later reference, often with a PC which is not my own.
• Transfer – As a mechanism to copy files from one PC to another.

When evaluating encryption methods I considered how a given encryption product would impact the use of a USB Drive for both functions. For example, since I frequently use my USB Drive with PCs I do not own, I cannot use a product which requires a typical software installation on a PC to use.

I also sometimes lend my USB Drive to others temporarily – typically when transferring files from one PC to another. The encryption product needs to allow a third party to still use my USB Drive without knowing how to use the encryption software.

Another consideration was cost. A low to no-cost solution is usually preferable, not only because it does not require an initial investment, but it also facilitates easy testing and rapid adoption.

I settled on a product called TrueCrypt which, for now, seems like the best tool suited for my use. Its license provides for free use for both non-commercial and commercial purposes. Version 4.2a for Windows is around 1,388KB in total size which includes documentation.

Main Features:

• Creates a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mounts it as a real disk.
• Encrypts an entire hard disk partition or a storage device such as USB flash drive.
• Encryption is automatic, real-time (on-the-fly) and transparent.
• Provides two levels of plausible deniability, in case an adversary forces you to reveal the password:
  • Hidden volume (steganography – more information may be found here).
  • No TrueCrypt volume can be identified (volumes cannot be distinguished from random data)
• Encryption algorithms: AES-256, Serpent, and Twofish. Mode of operation: LRW.
• Further information regarding features of the software may be found in the documentation.

I create an encrypted disk volume within my USB Drive, rather than encrypting the entire device. The encrypted volume is used to store all protected data. When the encryption software is not used, the encrypted volume simply appears as a large file which cannot be accessed. Naturally this file can be deleted, however, the data within the file is protected from unauthorized access.

I leave unencrypted free space on the USB Drive for use when transferring files from one PC to another. This allows the USB Drive to be used for file transfers without using the encryption software at all.

TrueCrypt can certainly be used in many other ways and for many other purposes. I simply find the USB Drive to be an easy use-case.

My kids have lots of movies, and I quickly found that DVD movies are not kid-proof. Scratched and lost discs cost us a number of titles before I took action to protect our investment.

The process involves making copies of DVD based movies that I have purchased. I am not a lawyer, but I contend that what I’m doing does not violate the spirit of copyright laws. If anyone has evidence otherwise, send it to me, and I’ll send it to my lawyer for review.

There are several reasons why I make copies of my DVD movies:

• I’m a fan of backups. I like knowing that if a disc is lost or scratched, I don’t have to re-purchase a new copy.
• Backups made with this process start playing the real movie immediately when it is inserted.
  

  Note to movie studios: I hate the commercials that you force kids to watch before they can actually watch the movie that is on the disc. It is unreasonable to me that you block the ability to skip or fast-forward through commercials on a DVD that you charge money to buy.

  Four things are needed to make a copy of a commercial movie DVD. This is not “secret” knowledge. A quick Google search will tell you the same thing.

1. A PC with a DVD recorder. If your PC has two DVD drives (at least one of which is a recorder) things are even easier.
2. Blank DVD media. Most commercial movie DVDs use dual-layer media which can hold up to 9GB of video and audio data. Most blank DVDs for use in computers is single layer and only holds 4.5GB of video.
3. Software to disable DVD copy protection mechanisms. I use AnyDVD. Once installed, all DVDs appear to your PC as having no copy protection. AnyDVD also includes an option to skip the movie trailers. (My favorite feature.)
4. Software to compress the source video (9GB) so that it will fit onto a standard blank DVD (4.5GB). I use CloneDVD. It is very easy to use and works quickly.

Once I had all of the software installed, the following steps summarize what I do each time I want to make a movie backup:

1. Configure AnyDVD to “Remove annoying adverts and trailers” and “Jump directly to the movie.”
2. Insert the original movie in one DVD drive, and insert a blank DVD disc into the DVD recorder drive.
3. Start CloneDVD and click the “Clone DVD” button.
4. Point the software to the source DVD drive.
5. View a portion of the on-screen movie player to ensure that it found the right movie content. Click Next.
6. In this screen I don’t change anything. If you want you can remove foreign language content to save space and potentially have less need for compression. Click Next.
7. Confirm that it is writing the copy to the blank media, and will erase any temporary files from your hard disk once the process is complete. Click Go.
8. Watch the video in fast forward mode if you like, and relax. A sound will play in 30-40 minutes to let you know it is complete.

Blank DVD media can be purchased almost anywhere. You may find that some media works better than others in your recorder (DVD-R vs. DVD+R). You may also notice some media works better than others in your DVD players (like the one in your car.) Some players (usually older ones) don’t support writable DVD media at all.