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As any PC power-user knows, getting files from one place to another is one of the oldest tasks in the book. Since way back when people have used floppies, ZIP disks, CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, thumb drives, email and more to get the files you need from point A to point B. But now there’s DropBox, which has—in the half year or so since it came out of beta—become our very favorite way of making sure that we always have our most important files at hand.
If you’re not familiar with how DropBox works, it’s simple: You create a free account with DropBox, and install a small app on your computer. This app creates a folder on your computer (wherever you choose) and monitors that folder at all times. Whenever you change the contents of this folder, by adding, modifying or deleting files, DropBox automatically syncs these changes to your account’s folder on their servers. Additionally, any other computer logged into that same account will have their DropBox folder synced as well. There’s nothing earthshaking about this capability, but the whole process is amazingly simple and makes collaboration an absolute breeze.
Still, with a little creativity, DropBox can be a lot more than just a way to move files from one computer to another. We’ve compiled a list of five of the coolest DropBox tricks we’ve heard of so far, so read on to find out how you can use DropBox and other free software to recover a stolen laptop, organize your Torrents, keep your passwords safe, and more.
Everyone knows that good password security requires that you use passwords that are A) long, B) complicated, and C) different for every website and service you use. Of course, these three requirements also make it a total pain to memorize all the passwords you need, meaning that most people don’t follow the rules, either using one password across many services (a security risk) or writing their passwords down near the computer (also a security risk).
That’s where KeePass comes in. KeePass is a free, open source password safe. It allows you to generate a unique, totally random password for every site or service you use, while only requiring you to remember a single master passphrase. Whenever you attempt to log into a service, KeePass asks for your master passphrase, then automatically enters the appropriate password from your safe.
That’s all well and good, but what do you do if you frequently use two different computers (say, a desktop and a laptop)? You could use a USB drive to keep your KeePass password archive with you at all times, but that’s one more little bit of hardware you have to keep track of. Instead, use DropBox to keep an up-to-date copy of your password file on both computers, at all times. Just tell KeePass to save your password archive somewhere in your DropBox synced folder.
Worried about security? Fuhgeddaboutit. KeePass saves your password in an archive encrypted with nigh-unbreakable AES 256-hit encryption. That means that as long as you pick a strong, long password, getting a hold of your KeePass file won’t do a hacker a bit of good.
As PC enthusiasts, nothing gets our blood boiling like tales of stolen laptop computers. With DropBox, though, there’s a chance for sweet, sweet revenge. The trick is to set up a keylogger on your own machine, and set it to save its log files into the Dropbox shared folder. If anyone ever steals your laptop, your Dropbox folder will give you a detailed look at what the thief is doing with it. If the cretin connects to a service such as MySpace (and our personal research indicates that cretins just love MySpace) then you’ll know exactly who stole your notebook.
By letting Dropbox handle the syncing, you don’t have to let an internet-enabled keylogger through your firewall (because who knows who it could be sending data too). Of course, keyloggers are pretty sketchy business, so if you want to try this trick out you’ll have to track one down on your own.
We like Dropbox. We like TrueCrypt. So what if… What if, we were to use the two together? Crazy, we know, but by combining the top-notch encryption of TrueCrypt with the easy syncing of Dropbox, you can create an encrypted drive accessible from any computer.
To do this, just download the TrueCrypt executable, run it, and choose to Extract it (rather than install it) to your Dropbox folder. From there, make an encrypted volume, as described in this article. This will allow you to run TrueCrypt and mount your encrypted volume straight off of the Dropbox folder, on any machine.
There’s one thing you should note about this method: First, Whenever Dropbox updates a file, it first compares the old file and the new, then only uploads or download only the bits that have changed. On the one hand, this is good because it means that you don’t have to re-upload your entire 500MB encrypted volume every time you add something to it. On the other hand, a hacker could (theoretically) see how the encrypted data is changing as you add or change files in the volume; an encryption no-no. Still, this definitely not something you have to worry about if you’re just looking for a little extra security for your Dropbox files.
Read on to find out how you can use Dropbox to control a BitTorrent and sync up all your instant messaging logs!
Comments are closed on this article
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petepost
December 30, 2010 at 2:00am
I recently started using dropbox for a client. I personally like it but don't think anything is special about the program except for maybe the feature that automatically sets up a folder specifically for the articles on your computer. Thats kinda cool. My client who I do article marketing and <a href="http://www.indigomediaconsulting.com">search engine optimization</a> for uses it on a pretty consistent basis and likes the ease of use. Why not share the docs in Google?
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astonvilla
April 10, 2010 at 2:13pm
Hello
DropBox works pretty well for me – on both Mac and PC.
And I wanted to give this little hint:
--> by using this link https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTU5ODc3MTA5 ,
both me and any new user will get a 256MB bonus to the 2GB free space!
This extra space will be the most welcomed for any new user!
Knightfox
July 21, 2009 at 11:48am
In case there are more lazy people out there.Here is how I setup my DropBox:
After the installation was done and the DropBox folder was somewhere on my System, I went back to the desktop and right-clicked on the "My Documents" folder and went to properties. On properties click on the move button to change the location of the "My Documents" folder and select your DropBox folder as the new target. Windows will ask if you want to copy all your files to the new folder. Just click yes...
Once this is done your My Documents folder will also have the little sync icon on the folder and you can just continue using your "My Documents" folder for old habit sake but the cool thing is that now your My Documents folder be the one that syncs when you work in it. So no need to save files in different locations or change old habits and quaranteed have all your work backed up.
ceator3571
July 18, 2009 at 12:17pm
This is a cool product and of course cools ways to use this product. Wow!
jbscpa
July 17, 2009 at 1:54pm
Move your iTunes database and libary folder to Dropbox and sync your iPhone from any computer.
heinricho
May 26, 2009 at 3:36pm
you could use this to sync your savegames, game config files (like keymapping,) etc.
would be quite useful if you are sitting at work (yes i can play games on my job) on 12 hour stints and don't want to have seperate characters for fallout, oblivion, or other games you spend significant amounts of time on. this will save you from copying save files from your clunky desktop to your laptop using a USB key or w/e all you high-speed kids use these days.
speedy and hands-free, sounds like a win to me.
marshallladd
May 12, 2009 at 4:18pm
If your office has blocked IM apps(US Army has) you could share a text file amongst friends on Dropbox. Keep loading, typing, saving and syncing back and forward. Kind of a hassle, not very practical, but it would work. You would even get a pop-up everytime they sent you a new message, of course it would only say something like "chat.txt has been updated" but it would alert you to a new not-so-IM.
linux_dork
May 12, 2009 at 12:29pm
I just want to second the idea the quickone said a few comments down. Using DropBox to store your Thunderbird profile, so you can have the same mailbox (sent messages, read messages, etc) synced across multiple computers.
Modred189
May 08, 2009 at 9:14am
I like dropbox simply for its file synching ability, but it is also a nice online backup tool, though with limited space. I, for one, do not trust online backups as much as physical backups.
I have three computers. A netbook and a main desktop (both with dropbox) and a backup/htpc macchine. While folders synch between thefirst two, I have Comodo Backup automatically copying any changes to my htpc, from the desktop, over the network. This means that not only is everything synched, but backed up to a secondary location.
For a while, I even had this set up as a quickie file share. I would create a second dropbox account and install it onto the htpc. Then, I gave the password and login for that second account to my friends and family. That dropbox account was pointed toward a particular folder in my dropbox folder within the backup location. As a result, if I dropped a file into my netbook's dropbox, it would be synched to my desktop and then backled up to my HTPC/backup. It was backed up into a dropbox folder that was synced to the online service that my friends and family could access.
quickone
May 08, 2009 at 8:38am
I only use my laptop when I travel and I have thunderbird on both my
desktop and laptop. Since the laptop was rarely used I often avoided
using thunderbird since it would have to download a hundred e-mails
from the past week. This has been a HUGE pain in the ass.
I
just set up dropbox to house the thunderbird profile information so as
soon as I connect with my laptop all the e-mails I deleted and replied
to on my desktop show up as so on the laptop. Here is a walk though for how to move the default profile location http://www.ehow.com/how_2268244_email-profile-folder-windows-vista.html
jos
May 08, 2009 at 7:23am
I use a Windows 7 desktop at work and OS X MacBook while on the go. Any ideas on how to do a Dropbox mashup that will keep my RSS feeds synced between the two? (basically subscriptions as well as keep track of read and starred items).
I know there are web based solutions but I find them rather limited. And there's also FeedDemon/NetNewsWire, which is ok on Mac but really sucks on the PC.
ponchato
May 07, 2009 at 5:36pm
If you could have your computer copy the FAHlog.txt and unitinfo.txt every, say 30, minutes, you could monitor any client with a live connection from anywhere with FAHmon.
Now, to figure out how to have computers automatically make copies of those text files in the Dropbox folder.
Modred189
May 08, 2009 at 9:19am
Go get Comodo Backup (google it), and have it do the backup of those files to your dropbox folder.
Taigi
May 07, 2009 at 3:19pm
While I have not tried this yet, I would be surprised if you were unable to share a profile among Firefox instances by creating a profile in the Profile Manager (accessed with the -profilemanager command line argument) putting it in the Drop Box folder, then mapping the other Firefox instance to it on the other side.
This would have th benefit of allowing you to have all of your Firefox sessions, extensions, customizations, etc ported back and forth.
Now that I have thought about it some, I am just going to have to try it.
Taigi
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Cadmium
May 07, 2009 at 6:37pm
Except for the fact that you declared Timer1 in the form instead of doing it outright in the code.
I'd be even more of a smartass and post code that would actually work, but I haven't used VB since '04.
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May 08, 2009 at 3:08pm
If you where a smartass, you would know that it does work. I made it myself, on my own time, and I have had little in the way of actually learning vb.net in college.
Also note, that this code is for Visual Studio 2008.
Cadmium
May 14, 2009 at 8:25pm
That code, as it stands, does not work. You drag-dropped a timer object to the form, which declares the object in the form file. Start a new project and copy-paste that exact code and try to run it. Oh wait, timer1 isn't declared.
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August 23, 2010 at 10:52pm
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horzo
May 07, 2009 at 2:35pm
Call me paranoid, but I have very little interest in using an online service to store or transfer important files. Even encrypted, I don't trust a third party to manage such things for me.
bhstone
May 07, 2009 at 1:13pm
In order for the key logger trick to work, wouldn't you have to have it so that your log on screen wasn't password protected? Please correct me if I am wrong...
neo1piv14
May 07, 2009 at 1:35pm
Seems like it'd depend on the logger more than anything else. You could probably find one that'd integrate itself deep enough into your system that it'd be enabled even if you weren't logged in. Nice thing about DropBox is that you can write to your folder before you're online and then it'll sync afterwards.
neo1piv14
May 07, 2009 at 12:57pm
Dude. The keylogger thing was amazing. I almost want to get my laptop stolen now.
chadb107
February 23, 2011 at 3:36am
I was thinking that as well, and most likely since the keypass file is so small anyways it would make the situation much worse.
