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Cisco's Q1 Earnings Indicative of an Economic Upswing

Paul Lilly — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:57:09 -0600

Maybe the economy is recoverying after all, or so analysts are saying after Cisco reported fiscal first-quarter earnings that nudged ahead of expectations and showed strong sequential growth.

The network security firm reported a quarterly profit of $1.8 billion, or 36 cents a share. That's down from last year, when Cisco posted a profit of $2.2 billion, or 42 cents a share, but up from last quarter. Revenue for the first fiscal quarter climbed to $9 billion, which is more than the $8.75 billion analysts had expected.

"Our ability to launch four proposed acquisitions, the ecosystem-shifting coalition with EMC/VMware, and five new products and industry solutions into the Cisco pipeline in the past few months alone underscore this momentum," said John Chambers, Chairman and CEO of Cisco. "Our build – buy - partner innovation engine is clearly running on all cylinders, while our operational machine is pulling costs out of the business even as we scale new models for growth. Execution and results over time will demonstrate the long-term impact of this vision and strategy— but a new model of productivity based on collaboration is clearly emerging and we believe this may be the most profound opportunity for businesses in our 25 years as a company."

Cisco has been on a spending spree as of late, having recently agreed to purchase Starent Networks for a cool $2.9 billion and ScanSafe for $183 million.

Image Credit: thevarguy.com

Dell's Better-than-Expected Numbers Raise Recovery Hopes

Paul Lilly — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 09:33:48 -0500

It's been mostly gloom and doom concerning the PC market, but analysts are hopeful of a recovery following Dell's promising second-quarter results.

The OEM reported Thursday that profit fell 23 percent and sales tumbled 22 percent in the May-July period, which doesn't sound like much to get excited over. But the results beat out Wall Street's forecasts, enough so that shares shot up 6 percent following the news.

According to company CEO Michael Dell, the better-than-expected revenue will continue through the second half the year so long as current demand trends continue. However, "aggressive" pricing and rising costs for components like memory and LCD screens have tempered the company's enthusiasm.

Some analysts also remain tempered by the overall picture.

"It's hard to say something positive when you have such a significant revenue decline -- it was not a great quarter," said Charles Smulders, a vice president with market research firm Gartner Inc. "HP had a tough time too, but clearly they have a stronger focus on consumer PCs, so that plays in their favor, since much of the demand is coming from the consumer market."

Freeware Files: Five Apps for Dealing with Data, Data, and More Data

David Murphy — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:30:24 -0500

Dealing with your data is a critical part of the Windows experience. "No, really," you ask? I know, I know. But the kinds of file operations you perform on any given day represent the bread and butter of your operating system. You drag your pictures around, copy and paste your documents to other places, maybe send a file or two over email. It's simple stuff. That's not a value judgment, just a comment about the basic functionality that everyone uses on a modern OS.

When you're ready to step out of this minor league of file management and head into the majors, you'll find a host of freeware applications waiting to hit a pitch or two. These applications take the common elements of your Windows file operations and inject them with a dose of raw energy. For example, you can customize and jack up the very process of copying files from one directory to another. You can also beat back Windows' default system for batch file renaming and instead transform a large number of files with very specific titles and extensions. You can even map out just how much space your files take up on your drive, giving you the perfect opportunity to catch up on some spring cleaning across your battered hard drive.

While these kinds of processes are a mainstay of this week's roundup, I'm also taking a look at two additional programs that pack additional functionality into your operating system as a whole. So what are you waiting for? Quit your file transfers and get ready for a brand new world.

RichCopy

What it does: Copying files is a simple process, right? What if you're copying a ton of files across PCs and your network connection has a hiccup? What if you want to keep a specific set of attributes on a duplicated set files identical to the originals? What if you have a folder full of all sorts of files, but only want to copy those with specific file names or extensions? RichCopy eases your life in these ways, and more, by offering you the chance to customize the copying process with more parameters than you'll ever find in the good ol' Windows drag-and-drop mechanism. And the best part? RichCopy was actually developed by Microsoft's Ken Tamaru.

Download it here!

ADRC Data Recovery Tools

What it does: Saves your butt. No, really. Did you frak up and accidentally shift-delete a bunch of files you were working on? Try to recover them using this freeware collection of DIY "save thyself" tools. Not only can you possibly recover files you've deleted, but the program also comes with tools to rip the contents of a dying hard drive, as well as backup options akin to a Norton Ghost drive clone. I recommend you check out the latter instead of having to resort to the former to save your missing stuff!

Download it here!

SpaceSniffer

What it does: There are a number of graphical utilities for determining what's taking up all the space on your hard drive. So what makes SpaceSniffer unique? For starters, the program is an executable--slap this freeware file on a flash drive and carry it around to any PC you use. The intuitive, graphical view of your drive's contents teams up with powerful filtering functionality to allow you to conduct comprehensive analyses based on inputs you specify. See how much of your movie collection needs to hit the recycle bin and refine this search process to dig down into the nuances of your file archives even further! SpaceSniffer gives you a lot of options to work with.

Download it here!

ReNamer

What it does: Right-click on a batch of selected files in Windows, hit rename, and the OS will automatically append whatever name you create to the files you picked--automatically adding an ugly (1), (2), (3), et cetera, to the end of said files. Yuck. The freeware application ReNamer rips apart this sad scheme and grants you the ability to mass-rename files in a number of customizable ways. For example, you can change the cases of letters to anything you specify, develop rules for serializing the numbers that get appended to your files, and conduct find-and-replace operations for any part of the file name you want to change. When I say that the sky is the limit with ReNamer, I'm serious: this is the Up of helpful freeware applications.

Download it here!

SIW

What it does: This one isn't exactly file-related per se, however, the System Information for Windows application still gives you a ton of information about your PC as a whole. From substantial hardware and software inventory analyses, to built-in realtime monitors for your system's resources, to a fairly thorough suite of network tools, SIW is the kitchen sink of information utilities. It gives the default Windows task manager quite a workout. Best of all, this app doesn't require an installation at all--slap this on a flash drive and you'll be able to fire up a wealth of information about connected PCs with one quick double-click of the mouse. Time saved: limitless.

Download it here!

Have any awesome freeware apps that I've missed in one of these roundups? Want to talk shop? Show off a file or two that you ReNamed? I'm but one, 140-word message away: @Acererak.

How To: Recover Your Lost Windows User Account Password

Josh Kampschmidt — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:00:00 -0600

More likely than not, you’ve been asked in the past to help fix one of your friend’s or relative’s computers. Most of the time, the problems you’ve been brought in to remedy are basic malware or virus infections that you can address by grabbing the appropriate diagnostic and software removal tools stored in your trusty USB toolkit. But once in a while, you’ll be faced with a novice struck with the most basic and frustrating of problems: forgetting their Windows administrator login password. With no way to get into the system, you can’t even perform basic maintenance, let alone a thorough tune-up. Formatting is always an option, but we consider that a last resort. (Plus, guess who’s going to have to help reinstall all the programs lost after a wipe?) But all hope is not lost. There are a few ways to actually retrieve a lost Windows account password. Read on, and we’ll show you the light.

This guide is split into two sections. If you want to get rid of the old user account password, use Offline NT Password and Registry Editor. If you want to find out what the password is without changing it, then you need to use Ophcrack. There are a lot of Windows password revealers and crackers available, but we’ve found that these two programs are the most effective.

Time = 1 hour, 15 minutes

What You Need:

Offline NT Password and Registry Editor
Free, http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/
Ophcrack
Free, http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/
A ISO burning utility, IsoBurn
Free, http://isoburn.sourceforge.net/

Use Offline NT Password and Registry Editor

Offline NT Password and Registry Editor is one of the easiest password recovery tools to use. It allows you to reset a user account password, including the Administrator password. It is also a relatively small download.

To download Offline NT Password and Registry Editor, click here. Save the zip archive to your Desktop.

Extract the archive and you will get an ISO file. Burn the ISO to a CD using any CD Burning software, such as, CDBurnerXP or ISOBurn.

After you get the ISO successfully mounted, put the disk in the drive and restart your computer. Make sure you set your BIOS to boot from the CD drive. You can change your boot order by accessing the boot menu with F10 before the OS loads.

The program will begin loading off the disk. You will get a line that states “boot:” press Enter and the process will continue

When the loading process stops again, press the “1” key. This will allow the program to search for all probable NTFS partitions.

When the program asks what the registry directory pathway is, press Enter. This will keep the default \Windows\System32\config directory.

You will now see a list of registry entries. For our purpose, you do not need to worry about anything, just press Enter. This tells the program we want to reset the password and loads the appropriate registry hive.

Now that the hive is loaded, press Enter on your keyboard to edit user data and passwords.

You will now see a list of all the user accounts present on the system. Find the user account you want to change and type the appropriate name. Make sure you enter the username EXACTLY as it appears and hit Enter.

Be careful when the program asks you what task you want to perform. You do not want to set a new password right now. This could cause serious problems when trying to boot a Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 operating system. Instead, press “1” to clear the password.

The program will give you a Password cleared message, indicating that the password removal was successful.

Now type an exclamation mark to return to the main menu. Press “q” to quit the program. On Step 4, make sure you save the changes; otherwise, the password will be left unchanged. To save the changes, type “y”.

When the program asks if you want to do a new run, press “n” since the password is already removed at this point.

To close the program and return to Windows, press Ctrl-Alt-Del. The computer will restart and the password should have been removed from the account.

Ophcrack the password

Ophcrack is a simple GUI-based utility that runs from a CD. The main reason we are using this utility is that it does not automatically remove the password, but instead shows you the password. Ophcrack uses a highly optimized version of rainbow tables, making it very efficient at discovering passwords. In fact, it can recover over 99% of alphanumeric passwords within minutes.

There are three different versions of Ophcrack. We are going to use the Live CD version of Ophcrack, because we are assuming that you do not have another user account to run the program. It has two different versions of the Live CD, one for Vista/Windows 7 and one for Windows XP.

Click here to download the Windows XP Live CD or click here to download the Windows Vista/Window 7 Live CD. Save the appropriate file to your Desktop and burn it to disc.

Once you get the CD burned, put the disk in your drive and boot from the disk. You may have to change the boot order so you can boot from the CD.

Ophcrack will begin loading and eventually present you with three options, graphic mode, VESA mode and text mode. We are going to use graphic mode since it is the simplest option, so highlight Ophcrack graphic mode and press Enter.

Ophcrack will start displaying a lot of text; don’t worry about what it says.

When Ophcrack starts, it will load the files it needs to run into RAM.

Once it is fully loaded into RAM, it will automatically start looking for passwords.

You will find the password under the LM Pwd 1 or NT Pwd sections on the progress tab. Once the program finds the password, feel free to click Stop. Make sure you write down the password since the program will not change the password. When you are finished, click on the Exit button.

To restart the computer, press any key. When it asks if you want to shutdown, press “y” and the computer will restart and eject the CD. Take out the CD and boot Windows

You should now have the user account password. Sure, reformatting would have fixed the problem, but it is just as simple to recover the user account password. Now you know how to recover that user account password for your friend or significant other in case they have data on their computer they cannot afford to lose. You might want to write down their password for them on a post-it note, so you don’t have to perform this task again!

How To: Recover Your Deleted Files

Steve Klett — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 17:50:37 -0600

Have you accidentally deleted pics off a media card or quick-formatted your drive, and you want to recover the contents? You may be able to recover your data with these handy tools.

We have this “friend,” whom we’ll call “Steve,” who did something really, well, stupid. He accidentally deleted his entire archive of digital photos: more than 9GB of shots, including 99.99 percent of all photos that existed of his twin 3-year-old daughters, by mistakenly quick-formatting the wrong drive in my, err, “his,” PC. D’oh!

Steve naturally came to Maximum PC with his dilemma, and our data sleuths were on the case. A little tool called Zero Assumption Recovery solved the deleted-photo issue in short order. In just a few quick steps, and an hour’s wait for the program to scan Steve’s 300GB drive (which we installed as a secondary drive in another PC), we had his lost photos back! Not only did the scan find the pics, but it also managed to recover the original file names and folder structure—a feat several other similar programs couldn’t match.

But what about all the other data on the drive? We wanted it all back. So we turned to the big guns: GetDataBack for NTFS, which worked exactly as advertised. Finally, we also investigated how to get deleted files off of removable media, such as CompactFlash and SD memory cards.

Thankfully, Steve only quick-formatted his drive, and he immediately stopped using it, so the data was still there to be discovered. Any of the following methods should help you too, should you ever find yourself in poor Steve’s shoes.

Here's what you'll need:
* Zero Assumption Recovery (free trial)

* GetDataBack for NTFS ($100)

* MediaRecover ($30)

* A spare hard drive or PC

* Lots of time.

Recover Data From Your Hard Drive
GetDataBack for NTFS is the epitome of the adage “you get what you pay for.” Several freeware programs, including even the free trial version of GetDataBack for NTFS itself, either didn’t find a thing on our problem drive, or spit out just a laundry list of meaningless numbered files instead of our original file-structure.

Enter the full registered version of GDB for NTFS ($100), and presto—not only did the application find all of our lost files, but it completely recovered the drive’s original file structure and allowed us to recover everything, not just the digital photos we were initially hoping for!

Sure, $100 is a pretty big hit on the wallet, but when you consider that it can cost hundreds, even thousands, to have your data professionally recovered, it’s money well spent (particularly when you add in the ability to perform the recovery yourself: Do you really want some stranger to see all those lost pics and “home movies” you want back?)

Here’s how to use GDB to recover deleted or lost files on a working drive formatted with the NTFS file system. If your hard drive isn’t detected by Windows, or can’t be read, you’ll probably have to send the drive to an expensive data-recovery specialist to recover your bits.

CAUTION!
If you accidentally delete data off of a drive, or need to recover data from a quick-formatted drive, immediately stop using the drive. Install it as a secondary drive in the original PC, or in a spare machine, and install and run all recovery software on an unaffected drive. Do not save or install anything to the drive you want to recover data from, or you could accidentally render you deleted files unrecoverable!

Step 1: Determine the Correct Hard Drive
Unfortunately, the program does not list your drives in the same manner as Windows does, but with a little trial-and-error you should be able to determine the drive you want to scan. For example, if you want to scan your D drive, which is your secondary hard drive, select “2nd hard drive” and click Next.

Step 2: Select the Proper Partition
Your next move is to select the partition you wish to scan, which in our case is the first partition (NTFS) listed in the Available Drives column. Click the partition name to highlight it, and then click Next.

Step 3: Select the Exhaustive Mode
While GDB gives you the option of selecting which specific sectors on your drive you’d like to scan, we doubt anyone is hardcore enough to record the specific drive sector on which your data is physically stored—we know we’re not. So we’ll have to scan the time-consuming way: Toggle the “Search entire drive” and “Excessive search” radio buttons and click Next. Excessive search means exactly what you’d think: It directs GDB to perform the most exhaustive search possible of every sector of your drive.

Step 4: Wait
Sit back and read War and Peace or catch up on some sleep—this is gonna take a while. We jest, but only partly; scanning our 300GB drive took an hour and a half.

Step 5: Choose the Files to Recover
Once the scan is complete, you must select the file system you want displayed in a “recovery tree,” which simply means you need to choose from the scan list what logical drive you want to see the contents of, and click Next. After a relatively brief 10- to 15-minute wait, GDB will build and display the file structure of the lost logical drive you selected.

Step 6: Recover Your Files
Now, simply browse for the folder you want to recover just like you would in Windows Explorer. Right-click any folders or files you want to get back, and select Copy. GDB will save the folder (and all of its sub-folders) to a location of your choice. Rinse and repeat until you’ve recovered all of your files.

The Freeware Approach
You’re in college and would rather spend your money on Milwaukee’s Best and pizza than fancy-pants data-recovery software: We’ve been there. You’re not out of luck, as there are some decent free options out there, such as the free trial version of Zero Assumption Recovery. This slick little program will not only recover deleted images, but many other file types. Here’s how to use ZAR to get your data back.

Step 1: Optimize Your System
Fire up the program—you can probably leave the default settings alone. If you have more than 1GB of system memory, however, select the Options tab and “Faster method” from the “Volume parameters analysis” pull-down menu. Go back to Preliminary Setup and click the Proceed button.

Step 2: Select the Hard Drive to Scan
Now, select the drive you want to scan for lost files by clicking it; select Proceed. Next, select the partition on the drive you want to search and click Proceed again.

Step 3: Wait for the Scan to Finish
Sit back and wait for the program to scan your drive, which might take a long time, depending on the size of the partition you selected. Our 300GB drive took an hour and 15 minutes.

Step 4: Recover Your Files
Whoop! If the stars are aligned in your favor you will be rewarded with your old folder structure, which you can navigate to locate and restore your files. Note: The trial version allows only four folders to be recovered per scan, so you might need to repeat this procedure multiple times—or pony up the $100 for the full version.

Recover Data from Portable Media
If you accidentally delete photos from one of the memory cards you use in your digital camera, such as a CompactFlash or SD and you want them back—it’s no problem. There are several utilities, including several freeware programs such as ZAR, that will do the trick.

However, when it comes to preserving precious memories, we recommend you don’t skimp: Slap down $30 on MediaRecover, which is designed from the ground up to rescue lost media files from hard drives and media cards of all types, including SmartMedia, Compact Flash, Memory Stick, Secure Digital, xD Picture Card, Microdrives, and MultiMedia Card.

It does a good job, it’s relatively fast, and it’s a snap to use. We deleted a few dozen photos off a 1GB CF card and used MR to get ‘em back—in less than 30 minutes, from start to finish.

Step 1: Identify Your Drive
Insert the CF card into your PC’s media reader and select the appropriate removable media drive letter to scan. Click Next, and then select a folder where you want recovered files to be saved. Click Next, then Start, and then select a Scan method (we choose Quick Scan because we’re just after deleted photos)—leaving everything else at the default settings—and click Continue.

Step 2: Select the Images to Recover
The scan commences and a window pops up that displays thumbnails of recovered images. When the scan is complete you just need to choose which images you want to save, and select Save Images. The preview window will close and bring you back to the root menu.

Step 3: Save Your Files
The pay-off: Now, simply hit the “Open recovered files” folder and you’re done—MR opens the folder in Explorer—in Thumbnails view no less—and you can go to sleep knowing your pics are safe once again.