files

What's the fastest-growing data source at large organizations? Video? Maybe at YouTube, but not at Citibank. The answer is log files. Yup, those mundane text messages produced by every conceivable technology device are growing like a proverbial weed.

Why the log file explosion? First off, every IT shop has more and more devices to manage each day, and more devices mean more logs. In the past, most IT managers paid limited attention to logs, but this too has changed. Driven by security monitoring, regulatory compliance reporting, and IT troubleshooting, large organizations now aggregate, analyze, store, and archive terabytes of … Read more

If you're away from your home computer and need to open a file on a foreign computer that doesn't have the program installed, there are a few options. For one, Gmail converts several file types so they can be viewed right in the browser, including PDF, PowerPoint, and Microsoft Office documents. However, it's not nearly as helpful for music files, as its only able to make a few listenable. Enter Koolwire, a simple no-frills service that converts several popular file formats under 10MB through e-mail.

Besides taking any Word, PowerPoint, or Excel document and turning it into … Read more

Anyone who has shared a computer with a roommate, family member, or co-worker knows it's pretty hard to keep everything organized. But beyond having separate user accounts or personal folders, some data you have on your hard drive just isn't meant to be seen by other users. Whether it's your personal account numbers, journal entries, or other private files, a secure place to store items on your shared computer is necessary for your privacy.

A while ago I found a great Windows app for creating secure volumes called TrueCrypt. This open-source (free) program offers up multiple levels … Read more

When I'm doing file-management chores, I'm usually in too much of a hurry to navigate the various options on the File, Edit, and other standard toolbar menus. It's faster to simply right-click the file and choose an option from the context menu that pops up. Unfortunately, the option I need is usually not on the right-click menu. There's a great free utility that not only adds a bunch of useful file-management tasks to your context menus, but also makes it easy customize the menus by adding entries of your own devising, and removing the ones you … Read more

The first few times I worked on Word files in the OpenOffice.org Writer program, I was satisfied if the documents opened at all. That's a long way from being able to trust the open-source app with a Word file from your boss that you need to work on and return with all functions and formatting intact. These steps won't guarantee trouble-free file transfers between Word and OOo Writer, but they'll help you prevent some of the most common conversion glitches.

Keep it simple: Word files with complex graphics, nested tables, fancy fonts and formatting, and OLE … Read more

As Power Downloader sifted through an enormous amount of e-mails recently, he ran across one from a friend who wanted some software advice. Apparently, his friend was designing a Web site and had looked around for a free FTP program for transferring files, but had not yet found anything very promising.

Firing up his trusty Web browser, Power Downloader immediately began searching for the perfect free FTP client. Accessing Download.com, Power scanned the file lists and quickly came to the app he was looking for: FileZilla. With this powerful open-source FTP client on his computer, Power's friend would … Read more

WASHINGTON--Congress must not interfere with Internet service providers that are trying to filter pirated content from their networks, a Republican politician said Wednesday.

The recommendation from Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.) came in a steadfastly pro-copyright speech at an Internet policy conference here, during which she railed against what she described as rampant online piracy.

"I believe the best chance we have for achieving any success against digital piracy is to allow those entities and individuals who manage networks to have the flexibility and agility to take necessary and lawful steps to stop piracy online before it starts," … Read more

In a speech at the Midem music trade show, U2 manager Paul McGuinness claims that Internet service providers bear a portion of responsibility for the sales decline in recorded music. It's so laughable on so many levels that I can't let it pass without comment:

1. File trading's not the sole cause of lower sales. McGuinness, like the RIAA and IFPI and other recording industry bodies, assumes that piracy on P2P networks is the main driver of the decline in music sales. This ignores several studies that have shown that heavy P2P users are also the heaviest … Read more

Peer-to-peer file-sharing generally involves free software, and much of the technology is certainly still legal in the United States (for now). However, once you start trading copyrighted material like music and movies, that's where legal problems arise. If you're trafficking, uploading or downloading copyrighted digital material without consent of the owner, you are infringing. You are also risking the possibility of massive penalties, more if the work in question has not yet been released.

This weekend, a company called Qtrax made a big splash by announcing "the world's first free and legal peer-to-peer digital music site.&… Read more