what's better than a secure password vault

A recent BBC news item covered password security following on from a recent security fail on a piece of web software.


BBC tech mentions a "Secure password vault" - but what's better?


Mark Hopgood, Director of Hopgood Marketing and consultancy has helped develop a one off key password generator which can be used to create a strong password, but doesn't store it anywhere, making it less vulnerable.


Here's how it works.

Firstly go to http://hopgood.eu/password

access to your email account is crucial. Make sure you have 2 step authentication or your mail provider allows you to recover by text message to your mobile phone

enter your email address and a secret word or pin - for extra security change this every month.

your unique strong passwords are displayed. Copy and use them in your fave websites, however they will only stay on screen for 20 seconds, so you will have to remember your email / PIN combination.

You can copy paste your passwords if you need to.

happy using the password generator at 

http://hopgood.eu/password

[answered] How to keep my favourite apps going now that XP has been discontinued. What's the alternative?

If you were wondering what to do now that Microsoft has stopped support for Windows XP, here's a couple of ideas.

Recently I've been asked by business owners not happy about the stop on support for XP. Well what does it mean to you as a business or home user and what can you do about it.

An alternative to using XP is to run your Microsoft Office on a secure and free platform like Ubuntu
(see below for details on how)

Here are some impacts on XP support being withdrawn.

1. XP will now be a target for hackers. Basically without patches being applied any more, vulnerabilities that are exposed will not be patched. Your machine will be controlled by bots.

2. Some business owners are furious as their XP work just fine - why should they change?

3. You might have to buy new software and hardware for everyone in your organisation if you want to stay safe.

Or do you?

Here's an alternative solution which I have been working on with business owners for a while.


1. Move to cloud where possible.
Already many businesses are using cloud based email and CRM systems. Often these are on a low cost subscription, but some are free. This takes out the need for local servers and running outlook. If you would like to speak to me about how to achieve this, my contact details are below.

2. Install an operating system that will work with your hardware. Even 5, 10 year old hardware is good for the usual business applications like word processing, spreadsheets, browsing, database. The problem with later versions of windows after XP is that they use more and more disk space, graphics and hardware. I've been running Ubuntu on my desktop PC for a couple of years now and haven't looked back.

3. Use distributed computing and storage for backups. I've been configuring online storage for backups, coupled with peer to peer file sharing which negates the need for power hungry servers.

4. Run essential apps in Ubuntu Linux. Yes, running microsoft office on anything other than XP is possible with a few tweaks. I've been doing it for a couple of years now and it means that I can be sure that my pc will be supportable for the future without having to worry about microsoft deciding when I should buy new hardware or software.

If you would like to speak with a consultant who can advise and test your applications with a view to moving to a no cost alternative to Microsoft / XP, here are my contact details.

Mark Hopgood
mark@hopgood.eu
tel: 07767 875 550 (UK)
tel: 904 638 9046 (USA)

Happy times ahead!

[best answer] How to automatically highlight the entire row when a cell is selected

If you are working on a large spreadsheet and moving between sheets, sometimes its difficult to see where the selected cell is.

This excel hack automatically draws a highlight "cross hairs" for the entire row and the column.

Here's how I achieved it...

Unlike other methods this doesn't interfere with cell contents.
What I do is draw 2 rectangles on the sheet and make them transparent. These will act as my cross hairs.
Then in the active sheet I add the following code in VBA...

Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal Target As Range)

With ActiveSheet.Shapes("Rectangle 1")

.Left = 0

.Top = Target.Top

.Height = Target.Height

.Width = 19638

End With

With ActiveSheet.Shapes("Rectangle 2")

.Left = Target.Left

.Top = 0

.Height = 19638

.Width = Target.Width

End With

End Sub

[Answered] How to add a bookmark to an Android Home Screen

1. Browse to the page you want to bookmark.

2. From menu, choose Save to bookmarks

3. choose save to bookmarks

4. In the Add to menu change from bookmarks to home screen

5. click OK

In Images...

fig. 1 choose Save to bookmarks from menu

fig. 2 change bookmark type from bookmarks

fig. 3 change bookmark type to Home screen, then click ok

Create a mobile friendly web site with Easy Mobile Websites

[Best Answer] What is a strong password?

Q: What is a strong password?

I'm always seeing articles about securing my system and need some advice on whats a good password. Please help!
  A: Here's the lowdown on passwords and security...

A strong password is one which can't be guessed easily.

Here's a top 20 of passwords from a recent adobe breach.

1.   1911938      EQ7fIpT7i/Q=                    123456
2.    446162      j9p+HwtWWT86aMjgZFLzYg==        123456789
3.    345834      L8qbAD3jl3jioxG6CatHBw==        password
4.    211659      BB4e6X+b2xLioxG6CatHBw==        adobe123
5.    201580      j9p+HwtWWT/ioxG6CatHBw==        12345678
6.    130832      5djv7ZCI2ws=                    qwerty
7.    124253      dQi0asWPYvQ=                    1234567
8.    113884      7LqYzKVeq8I=                    111111
9.     83411      PMDTbP0LZxu03SwrFUvYGA==        photoshop
10.    82694      e6MPXQ5G6a8=                    123123
11.    76910      j9p+HwtWWT8/HeZN+3oiCQ==        1234567890
12.    76186      diQ+ie23vAA=                    000000
13.    70791      kCcUSCmonEA=                    abc123
14.    61453      ukxzEcXU6Pw=                    1234
15.    56744      5wEAInH22i4=                    adobe1
16.    54651      WqflwJFYW3+PszVFZo1Ggg==        macromedia
17.    48850      hjAYsdUA4+k=                    azerty
18.    47142      rpkvF+oZzQvioxG6CatHBw==        iloveyou
19.    44281      xz6PIeGzr6g=                    aaaaaa
20.    43670      Ypsmk6AXQTk=                    654321

The best type of password is one that cannot easily be remembered or cracked by an electronic means.
So, here's a couple of tips on how to create a strong password.

1. Combine several words, numbers and special characters, e.g. facebook-mark-bumble-123!

2. Use a password helper - this creates a long hashed password based on key data you know. An encrypted password is difficult to hack and to remember so a password helper page will display your strong password for long enough for you to copy and paste it.

Try a password helper here. No personal data is transferred over the internet or stored, so it's safe to use.
http://hopgood.eu/password/

You can re-use the password generator to remind you of your strong passwords at any time. Remember your PIN! Remember we don't store any personal information for you.

comparing free broadband deals - you could be saving almost £240 over the next 2 years

Here's a breakdown of January 2014 unlimited broadband deals.

Why you would want to switch could vary. Perhaps your current provider is not giving you the service you pay for. Maybe you were promised amazing speeds but get nowhere near. Here's a breakdown of current offers including a try before you buy option.

Provider: BT
Initial cost: £8 per month + £15.99 line rental (£23.99 per month)
Offer duration: 6 months
Eventual cost: £16 per month + £15.99 line rental (£31.99)
Cost over 2 years: £719.76

Provider: Sky
Initial cost: £5 per month + £15.40 line rental (£20.40 per month)
Offer duration: 12 months
Eventual cost: £10 per month + £15.40 line rental (£25.40)
Cost over 2 years: £549.60

Provider: Community Commerce - Local Independent
Initial cost: £0 per month + £14.90 line rental (£14.90 per month)
Offer duration: 12 months
Eventual cost: £6.99 per month + £14.90 line rental (£21.89 per month)
Cost over 2 years: £483.42

Ubuntu: How To Create an ISO Image from a CD or DVD - howdoi?

Ubuntu: How To Create an ISO Image from a CD or DVD

Posted by Rob Rogers in Linux (modified by marknhopgood

I do a great deal of experimenting with virtual computer environments and utilize ISO images quite often instead of constantly going back to the same CD repeatedly. Ubuntu makes it easy to create an ISO image from your CD or DVD.

1. Insert the CD or DVD that you want to make an ISO image of.

2. Open a terminal window.

3. Execute the following command:

cat /dev/sr0 > /home/mark/test.iso
where "/dev/sr0" is the device name for your CD / DVD drive and "mark" is your username.

To find the device name for your CD / DVD drive, type Ctrl-Alt-T and type

gnome-system-monitor

This will bring up the system monitor

Click the File Systems tab. The device name will be listed in the Device column). 

Also make sure to change the path and iso filename to the desired path and filename.

The disc will begin to spin and the ISO image will start being constructed. Once it has completed, you have an ISO image of your CD. To verify that the image was properly created, mount the ISO file and check the contents.