If you use BitLocker Drive Encryption to encrypt and secure multiple local drives in Windows 7, you will be frustrated by the process of unlocking all drives one by one. One has to double-click individual local drives and then enter their respective passwords to unlock them. This is both a cumbersome and tiresome user experience. Shouldn’t there be an easier method where it requires users to enter passwords for the local drives and then unlock them with just one click?

Windows only: MediaTab is a free program that provides tag and other technical information about audio and video files, like MediaInfo, but is integrated into Windows Explorer, so you don’t need to open another application to get these details.

Windows: If you want to create a network plan and need an inventory or just want to see all the devices using your Wi-Fi, Wireless Network Watcher from Nirsoft is a free utility that can help. It scans your network for connected devices and lists their network properties.

Windows Firewall is a software firewall and packet filtering component of Windows which helps users create inbound and outbound rules to protect their network from being compromised. Like all firewalls, it protects the networks from unauthorized access while allowing legitimate communication to pass through and by blocking malicious, specified or user profiling agents. Unfortunately, the firewall settings can be a bit difficult for many home users to configure.

Via Lifehacker.com
I’ve been a huge fan of bulk-installing tool Ninite, and today they added a helpful feature that lets you link straight to your custom packages, for super simple sharing and remote troubleshooting.
Now, when you create your bulk app installer on Ninite’s page and hit “Get Installer”, it will link you to a new page listing the apps you grabbed and automatically download the package for you. What’s really nice is that you can link straight to this page—for example, http://ninite.com/chrome-skype-itunes-vlc-dropbox-essentials for Chrome, …

Steganography is the process of hiding an encrypted message in some otherwise innocent looking format. Normally you can do this with image files, but now(via Lifehacker.com) you can take it to a whole new level by hiding an entire TrueCrypt volume in an mp4 video file.

First you need a suitable mp4 file to hide your TrueCrypt container. I used a video from the NASA website, just click “Download video” to get your mp4 file. Really any mp4 file will do, but try to find a file …

Background:
A while ago I added a hackintosh installation to my HP netbook. Unfortunately I had no way to provide a backup solution to my new hackintosh installation by the way of my Windows Home Server.
I’ve been a long time listener of Windows Weekly. In the podcast, Paul Thurrott recommended Windows Home Server (WHS) for all backup need on a network and media sharing. This intrigued me, so i did my research. At the time, WHS 2008 was the current edition available for $99. Being a cheapskate i decided …

How-to and technology blog How-To Geek has a detailed writeup on adding Google Document types to your “New” right-click context menu. They’ve prepacked a registry mod (one for installing and uninstalling) and accompanying files like the Google Docs icons. Visit the link below and grab the installation package then follow along with their screenshot-heavy guide to install it.
How to Add Google Documents to the Windows Explorer “New” Menu [How-To Geek]

Many people have heard of the term Virtualization but don’t really understand what it does. Virtualization, to keep it simple, is a technology that helps you run multiple operating systems on the same machine.
Many people use this technology to virtualize an existing machine’s HD to a virtual machine for testing or training purposes. While there are ways to convert an existing hard drive into a virtual machine, the process was difficult and often required expensive programs.
Well, not anymore. There’s a new utility from Microsoft that makes it …

This is a great article showing you how to turn a USB pen drive into a bootable Windows Home Server Vail install disk. Basically it takes the Windows Home Server files and puts them on to a USB thumb drive and makes it bootable, instantly allowing you to boot from the thumb drive and install Windows Home Server Vail without the use of a CD/DVD Drive.

You can also do this for Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Server 2008 by following the same instructions but obviously …