Of course, here in Gearhead, we have our own delights to peruse.
Consider, for example, Ultra Screen Saver Maker. If you need to make Windows screen savers for your organization, this tool is worth looking at because it's simple and fast. You can incorporate still images as a slideshow as well as audio, video, text and Flash animations, and you can test run the results as you go. For output formats you can choose between standard screen saver format (.scr) by itself or in a .zip file, or a self-installing executable file.
I'm still playing with this tool but, so far, it is stable and effective. Priced at $19.95 and licensed for free distribution of generated screen savers, Ultra Screen Saver Maker gets a rating of 5 out of 5. If you'd like a Gearhead screen saver, drop a note to gearhead@gibbs.com with the subject line "screensaver."
Next, we have a tool that addresses one of your most embarrassing problems: data leakage, the accidental or intentional revelation or transmission of data that, for either basic privacy or regulatory reasons, shouldn't be exposed. It occurs all the time and you can deal with the problem when data is in motion, that is, being transmitted, or at rest, when it is stored.
ROUNDUP: Data leak nightmares
Identity Finder DLP is a tool for data at rest, searching for a range of sensitive data, including Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, bank account data, passwords and PINs, dates of birth, phone numbers, driver's license numbers, personal addresses, passport numbers, and even mother's maiden names.
Using either an agentless approach or by agents controlled by a centralized management console, Identity Finder searches for static, sensitive data and then catalogs it and, optionally, archives, redacts and/or deletes it.
I tried Identity Finder on a Windows system that I've been using for a couple of years and the amount of personally identifiable information scattered like buckshot throughout the system was amazing!
Identity Finder comes in a range of editions starting with Home, costing $12.95 for a single Mac or Windows machine. For the enterprise editions there are also optional modules for searching SharePoint, Exchange and websites. If you have not conducted an analysis like this in your enterprise, you'll be shocked and probably quite worried if HIPAA or other regulations apply to your business. Identity Finder gets a rating of 4.5 out of 5.
My final tool is in the Not Yet Tested but Interesting Department: EASEUS Todo Backup Free 2.5. This tool offers disk and partition imaging; incremental disk backup, automatic backups; FTP, CD/DVD and network archiving; restoring to dissimilar hardware; quick file recovery; selective restore; and data wiping for Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7, Windows Server 2000/2003/2008. It is also available in a licensed version.
If you try this tool, let me know what you think. Actually, let me know what you think about any tool. Or anything else.
Gibbs is all ears in Ventura, Calif. Speak up to gearhead@gibbs.com.
Read more about software in Network World's Software section.