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Have you ever had a problem sending large emails to other people?  Many web-based email accounts have a limit to how many bytes worth of attachments you can send at any one time.  Filemail.com is an online large email sender which resolves this problem.

The service can be used for free (up to 2GB) or can be subscribed to for $4 per month (£2.41 at time of writing) or $45 per month (£27.12 at time of writing).  Obviously the more you pay, the more features you get.  For example, in the $4 Premium Package you can send up to 10 GB, have password protection and keep track of uploads/downloads.  The features are even more extensive for the $45 Corporate package, including giving your email a real brand image.

Filemail.com is really easy to use.  Simply type the recipients email address, your email address, a message, upload the file(s) and then click send!  It couldn’t be much easier!

We think Filemail.com is a great website and will most definitely resolve the forever occurring issue of how to send big files via email!

Have you ever used Filemail.com?  What do you think of it?

Today is our last post from our Password series!  It’s always important to treat all your passwords with care.  It’s essential that you do so because you never know who may want get hold of your password or pass phrase until it’s too late!

• Reveal – Make sure you keep your passwords away from everyone (even family), especially children.  You never know who they may accidently tell.  You never know who may pass on your password without thinking.  The only exception to this is a joint account created with a spouse.
• Protect Recordings – Make sure you store any passwords you’ve written down in a careful place!  Never put it in the bin with out shredding and ripping the paper up profusely.  If you save them on your computer make sure the file is well hidden and not easily accessible.
• Email – Never give your password out via email.  If you’re emailed asking you to go to a website to verify your password it is more than likely to be a phishing scam.  Click here to find out more about phishing!
• Regular changes – It is a great idea to regularly change your password, depending on its length. If your password is around 8 characters long then we recommend you change it every couple of weeks.  If it is strong and 15 letters long we think it should last for years!
• Control of Computer – We suggest that you should only access profiles and accounts when you’re on your own computer.  It can be dangerous to do so in internet cafe’s etc because criminals can easily access previous used passwords using their technical equipment.

We hope that you’ve found the Password Series interesting and helpful!  Don’t forget to check out the Microsoft Password Checker to test the strength of your passwords!

Below are a variety of formulas that people often use to create passwords which are easy to guess and therefore easy to hack!

• Sequences – Try not to use sequences of letters or numbers as they are very easy to guess.  E.g, ’123456789′ or ‘abcdefg’ or ‘ddddddd’
• Look-alike – It is always good to use look-alike symbols instead of letters, e.g. ‘a’ is ‘@’.  However, we only recommend doing this when you combine them with a variation of letter cases.  No professional account hacker will be fooled by ‘i’ as ’1′.
• Personal Details – Don’t use your personal or family member details as your password.  E.g, name, date of birth, address, username/login name.  Hackers will try this information first.
• Dictionary – Hackers are now using some top quality software that can guess passwords from dictionary’s in all type’s of languages, even if the word is spelt backwards, misspelt and includes substitutions.
• Variation – We recommend that you have a few passwords instead of using just one for everything.  If one system is hacked into, and you use the same password for everything you may as well consider every account that you have on the Internet as hacked.
• Storage – many people are beginning to use online storage.  We would heavily discourage this.  If your online storage is hacked into you may have personal documents saved.  Consequently they will all be accessed by the criminal.

Finally, don’t forget to check the strength of your password with the Microsoft Password Checker!

Below is a 6 step method to creating a strong, good quality, easy to remember password!  Our method is easy to remember, just think the ‘S and 5 C’s’ method!

1. Sentence – Think of a personal sentence of phrase that you find really easy to remember, e.g. I have three pet rabbits and two budgerigars.  This is known as a pass phrase.
2. Compatibility – Some systems, whether it be on the computer or online, may not allow spaces in your password.  If the system you’re using does allow for spaces use the pass phrase from step one and move to step 4.  If not then move to step3.
3. Conversion – If the system doesn’t allow for spaces convert the phrase.  For example, take all the first letters from your pass phrase to make a word, e.g. ‘I have three pet rabbits and two budgerigars’ changes to ‘ihtpratb’.
4. Complicate things – Make the password harder to guess by varying between upper and lower case letters and throw in the odd number too.  For example, your pass phrase could change from this  ‘I have three pet rabbits and two budgerigars’ to ‘I hAvE 3 pEt RaBbItS aNd 2 BuDgErIgArS’ or your converted pass phrase could change from this ‘ihtpratb’ to ‘Ih3PrA2b’.
5. Characters – Now try to replace any words, letters or numbers with symbols and alternative characters.  For example, your pass phrase could start as ‘I hAvE 3 pEt RaBbItS aNd 2 BuDgErIgArS’ and change to ‘! h@v£ 3 p£t R@BbIt$ & 2 BuDgEr!g@r$’ or your converted pass phrase could start as ‘Ih3PrA2b’ and change to ‘!h3Pr&2b’.
6. Check – Finally, check the strength of your password using the Windows Password Checker.  The stronger the better!

Over the next few weeks we’re doing a series on passwords!  It is always important to have a good password.  Having a strong password makes it even harder for any hacker to get into your private accounts and information, etc.

Here are some good ways to ensure you have a good quality password:

• Length – It is ideal to have a long password.  By long we mean at least 8 letters long but if possible even longer!  Generally, the longer it is the harder it is the hack.  Many systems now also allow for spaces in your password.  Therefore it may be a good idea to invent a long phrase rather than a word.
• Use the whole keyboard – It is a great idea to use letters, numbers and symbols in your password.  The greater the variety of keys the harder it is for an attacker to break into your account.  Surveys have shown that having a 15 character password using both letters and numbers is far stronger than having an 8 character password with just letters.  In fact it’s 33,000 times stronger!
• Make it memorable – It is essential that your password is really easy for you to remember!  However, it is also essential that other people, even your friends, wont be able to guess it easily!

Finally, check out the quality of your password with the Microsoft Password Checker!

Are you finding that emails from some of your contacts are sneaking into your Junk Mail/Spam folder?  Here is a great little tip for those of you who are running AVG 8/8.5 to stop this happening!

1. Open up the AVG Interface (Start –> Programs –> AVG –> AVG User Interface)
2. Click tools and then advanced settings
   
3. Click on the (+) next to Anti-Spam and then Click Settings.  After this click in the box next to ‘add recipients of sent e-mails to whitelist’ to make sure there is a tick in it.  (Click on below image to make it bigger)
   
4. Select Apply and then click OK.

We hope this helps!

Normally when we want to select multiple items we have to use the old ‘hold ctrl or shift and select’ trick.  However, we’ve now discovered a far easier way…check boxes.

To enable check boxes do the following…

1. Click on the start orb and type ‘folder options’ into the search box.  Then click enter.
   
2. A new window should then appear.  Click the ‘view’ tab.
3. Scroll down and click in the box next to ‘use check boxes to select items’, so it has a tick in it. Then click OK.
   
4. You’ll now notice that you can click in check boxes by hovering over files and folder. (click on image to enlarge)
   
5. You can also select all by checking the box on the menu bar (Click on image to enlarge)
   
6. And it will also work on desktops
   

We like this feature and would recommend it to you! Any questions then ask below!

So this is the last quick tip of 2008 and maybe ever! We won’t be doing our weekly quick tips in 2009…instead we will be working on longer and bigger tutorial series and product reviews. If there is something you want to see then let us know!

So…5 of our fav tips from 2008

1. Wireless Network Planning – http://followthis.info/Kf7fLL1
2. Windows DVD Maker – http://followthis.info/cJeac9J
3. Saving as PDF in Office 2007 – http://followthis.info/jjdDAcK
4. Resize Multiple Images Quickly – http://followthis.info/KHA743c
5. Stopping Spam – http://followthis.info/L6BGa2g

They’re the ones we like but they are all great So you can access them all here: http://followthis.info/ge8Eaga

I always think of this track at Christmas…important to think of others at Christmas and those less fortunate than ourselves. When the 2004 version came out I remember me and friends buying copies for all our family to support it! A great way to remind people of what is going on in other parts of the world!

and the 2004 version…

Heard this from your IT Support before?

Wondering why it takes so long for IT Support to answer the phone?