Google Drive Tips You Really Shouldn't Miss

Google Drive is one of the most used cloud storage services, partly due to the fact that it is automatically integrated with every Google account. The service provides some really nice features, both for file storage, and for creating shareable, cloud-hosted documents, spreadsheets, slides, and a lot more. While Google Drive is used by a lot of people, not everyone might know all its cool features that are offered by the cloud service, and the plethora of add-ons that are available for it.

Here is a collection of some great Google Drive tricks that can be very useful to anyone who wants to make the most out of Google Drive.

View Google Drive Keyboard Shortcuts

If you are looking to expand your knowledge of the keyboard shortcuts that work inside Google Drive's web app, you can simply press "Ctrl+/" and you will be shown a card with all the different keyboard shortcuts that are available in Google Drive.

See Your Files Sorted by Size

Google Drive sorts uploaded files and folders by the "Latest Modified First" rule. This can be useful because it makes sure that the files you have uploaded the most recently are present at the top for easy access. However, if you're running low on available space on your Google Drive account, you may want to sort the files by their size, in order to determine where you can save the most.

To do this, hover your mouse on the Upgrade storage option at the bottom left panel of the Google Drive homepage. This will bring up a window with the breakdown of your usage, click on Drive, and Google Drive will sort all your files by Size.

Automatically Save Emails and Attachments to Google Drive

Save Emails and Attachments is another add-on for Google Sheets that lets you define rules based on factors such as the sender's email ID, the subject, message size, attachments, etc., and the add-on will run every hour automatically, and sync emails from your Gmail account into a spreadsheet. It also saves a copy of the email as a PDF inside Google Drive, along with any attachments in the email.

The add-on can also be run manually if required, by going into Addons > Save Emails and Attachments > Manage Rules > Run Manually.

Add Multiple Rows and Columns to Google Sheets

Google Sheets is a pretty well-rounded tool, and it provides almost every spreadsheet capability that someone might need. Combine that with the plethora of add-ons available for Google Sheets and you will see just how incredibly powerful it can get. However, Google Sheets only allows adding rows and columns one by one, but this can get tedious if you need to add multiple rows and/or columns to the spreadsheet. To resolve this, you can use the add-on called Add Rows and Columns, which allows you to add multiple rows and columns in Google Sheets with ease.

Save Web Content Straight to Google Drive

Google created a browser extension called Save to Google Drive that lets you add documents, images, links, and HTML5 audio and video files directly to Google Drive with a simple right-click.

To enable this on your desktop PC, download Google's free browser extension and authorize it on your computer. Then, right-click on the web content you want to save and then select Save to Google Drive. You'll be able to access that file on the Drive right away.

The Cost of Being Complacent on Protection Against Online Cyber Threats

Why do online cyber threats happen? The answer seems straightforward enough: An organization’s or individual’s computer security is compromised, enabling data breaches of employee records and theft of intellectual property. Moreover, it’s becoming more a question of an individual’s or IT department’s complacency on protection rather than the ability to fend off attacks. Hackers are always looking for those weaknesses in any system and complacency is certainly a weakness, a large self-inflicted breach in a defense wall, to put it bluntly.

Today’s threat environment is certainly daunting. Many online security experts have already been predicting that as of 2013 there would be at least one major data breach per month. And this outlook is somewhat conservative. In 2016 alone, there have been 411 recorded data breaches, exposing more than 11 million records. While not all incidents may qualify as “major,” they covered different sectors from healthcare to government, and have even affected basic services as in the case of the public transportation hacking in San Francisco recently.

Complacency makes defense difficult

Often, the problem begins with the defender or computer user. While it’s true that a hacker can find new ways to penetrate even the toughest defenses, this is extremely rare. Often, a hacker is handed the advantage by the user’s complacency. For instance:

§  Less than a third of computer, mobile, and tablet users install security software.

§  More than 63 percent of those with installed security software don’t even run virus checks.

§  40 percent don’t even know what safety breaches are.

§  Many mobile and tablet users use public Wi-Fi at malls for online banking.

§  More than 50 percent of Internet users are more concerned with speedy service than security. 

Businesses often feel they’re too big or too small to be in danger

Recent large data breaches confirm that even huge businesses need risk mitigation, while an insider threat can hit an organization of any size. In fact, more than half of security incidents involved a worker, former employee, or contractor. With even small businesses dependent on supply chains, the ingredients are there for a breach.

Not investing in endpoint security

Too often, businesses, big or small, just pay lip service to protecting customer data and company reputation. However, more than one-fifth of businesses of any size today lacked an enterprise resource management program, which could help with a breach. Again, it goes back to the basic complacency of “we’re not going to be targeted, anyway.”

Not vetting suppliers and failing to assign proper responsibility

Businesses are too heavily reliant on vendors and partners for credit card processing, supplies and materials, infrastructure maintenance, and consulting. Amid the growth of this ecosystem, leaders may assume that a breach caused by a contractor is not on them, despite their likely need to provide credit monitoring after such an event. This mindset can lead to the insufficient vetting of suppliers and the creation of weaknesses throughout the supply chain.

So the solution here is simple: Always stay protected. Remember the cliché, “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of solution.” It’s a cliché worth noting. After all, what’s at stake here is your own computers and even your own business.

Effective Computer Optimization: The Essential of Speeding Up Your Computer

Most computers don’t have to slow down over time, whether it’s a desktop or laptop. If your computer has gradually become slower because it’s 5 years or older, there could just be a few reasons for that sluggishness.

As with all computer issues, don’t be afraid to give your computer a reboot if something’s not working properly. This can fix quite a few problems and is faster than attempting to manually troubleshoot and fix the problem yourself. If you don’t know how to do the reboot, you can request your subscribed technical support company to do it for you.

Upgrade to a Solid-State Drive (SSD)

If your computer is still using a mechanical hard drive, try upgrading to a solid-state drive or SSD if you can afford it. Undeniably, an SSD will offer you a dramatic performance improvement. An SSD ensures a faster CPU, faster graphic processor performance, and faster overall system performance.

Uninstall Programs You Don’t Need

Open the Control Panel, find the list of installed programs, and uninstall programs you don’t need and use from your computer. This can help speed up your computer as those unneeded programs might include background processes, autostart entries, system services, context menu entries, and other things that can slow down your computer. It will also save room on your hard drive and improve system security. For instance, you definitely shouldn’t have Java installed if you’re not using it.

Defragment Your Hard Disk

Defragmenting your hard disk today is much easier compared to the days of Windows 97 and XP because Windows will automatically defragment mechanical hard drives in the background. SSD’s don’t need traditional defragmentation and modern versions of Windows will “optimize” them. However, if you’re still using a mechanical hard drive and you’ve just put a lot of files on the drive – like copying a huge database of PC game files – those files might be defragmented because Windows hasn’t defragmented them yet. In this situation, you might want to open the disk defragmenter tool and perform a scan to see if you need to run a manual defrag program.

Free Up Disk Space

If your hard drive is almost completely full, your computer may run noticeably slower. You want to leave your computer some room to work on your hard drive. Start removing all unnecessary files that you no longer need, no matter how small. Unneeded pictures, wallpapers, videos, and uninstalled program folders should be deleted. You don’t need any third-party software; just running the Disk Cleanup tool included in Windows to further clean out your disk.

Clean Out Your Web Browser

Since you use a web browser a lot, it’s a good idea to use as few browser extensions, or add-ons, as possible since these slow down your web browser and cause it to use more memory. Go to your web browser’s Extensions or Add-ons manager and remove add-ons you don’t need. You should also consider enabling click-to-play plug-ins. Preventing Flash and other content from loading will prevent unimportant Flash content from using memory.

The Principles of Computer Optimization and Why This is Important

Even computers with the new and powerful third and fourth generation i7 Gigahertz processing power and Gigabytes of RAM need to be optimized. If you use your computer on a daily basis, you may not realize that it is getting slower by the day. The computer registry gets cluttered with useless registry keys and it just is not smart enough to get rid of the clutter on its own. The computer hard drive also gets cluttered with useless files that will slow and PC or laptop to a crawl if not properly optimized on a regular basis.

The computer is like the human body

You can think of a computer as similar to the human body with the computer registry being the brain and the hard drive running the rest of the body. You know what it is like to have a lot on your mind; too many things to do and not enough time in a day. The brain is a terrible thing to clutter up because it can easily slow your daily functions to a crawl while trying to access information that should be readily available. This happens to a computer registry as well. The registry has its own memory that remembers everything that is done on the computer, which in time will bog it down and make any computer run slower just to access information.

Optimizing removes unnecessary software

This may also be called “bloatware.” This unnecessary excess baggage will dramatically slow down any PC, and unfortunately, computer manufacturers are paid to include these. Also, you may have installed software or downloaded an app before that you no longer need. You need to get rid of this as well. In short, you need to get rid of anything from your computer you don’t need anymore.

Optimize to update Windows

The beauty of Windows is that it is built so average users can install updates without the help of professionals. Modern versions of Windows are even set to install updates automatically out of the box, so you may not even have to do any of this updating work on your own. You can view your Windows Update settings and manually perform updates from the Windows Update pane under System and Security in the Control Panel.

Optimize to free up disk space

If you’ve been using your computer for a while, you can probably free up disk space by running the computer’s built-in disk cleaner utility. It will scan your computer for temporary files and other unnecessary system files you can delete and so, free up space. It also cleans out the registry that also clutters up the computer’s speed if too much garbage builds up inside it. Another way of freeing up disk space is by manually deleting unwanted files like photos, videos, movies, and the like.

Optimize to improve startup

When you optimize, you improve the startup performance of your computer. For Windows 7, 8, and 10, you can open Task Manager by simply right-clicking the task bar and selecting Start Task Manager. From here, you can manage all startup programs without installing any other software.

Recycle Your Old Android Tablet With These Useful Ways

Have you noticed lately that your ageing Android tablet can't keep up with your daily pace anymore? If it is but somehow it's not valuable enough to trade it or sell it on eBay doesn't mean you have to throw it in the trash or leave it eating dust on your drawer.

From turning it into a security camera to converting it into a smart remote or even handing it down to your kids, below are some great uses you can turn your old Android tablet into.

Security Camera

If you want to keep an eye on your home, you can use your old Android tablet as a connected security monitor. You can use either its front or rear cameras to keep an eye on your home or office. There are several apps that make it easy to convert your old Android device or devices for home security like the At Home Video Streamer. Just make sure that it is setup with a stand or mount and keep the device plugged in.

Universal Remote Control

Another useful thing that you can do with your old Android tablet is to use it as a universal remote that can change the TV channel, turn on your lights, or turn down the thermostat of your home airconditioning. Most smart-home apps operate over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, and you can control many smart TVs over Wi-Fi.

However, if you're using a more traditional TV, you'll need your tablet to have an infrared port, also known as an IR blaster. This feature can be found on about 20 tablets only, mostly from Samsung and LG, but you can check if your tablet does by reading your instruction manual or looking for a small covered hole on the side of your device.

If your tablet doesn't come with a remote control app preloaded, Peel Smart Remote is a great choice, as are AnyMote Smart Remote or Irdroid. If your smart-home devices or hub don't already have an app, you could use iRule or OnHome.

Digital Photo Frame and Photo Album

You can save about $50 to $100 for digital photo frames by using your old Android tablet instead. Turn your tablet into a photo frame with the help of apps from Play Store, such as Photo Slides. You'll need to load all the photos you want onto the old tablet and then place the device somewhere near an outlet so it can remain plugged in at all times. If you have extra bucks, you can purchase an inexpensive stand like theAmazonBasics Adjustable Tablet Stand to keep your tablet propped up and easy to view.

Backup Drive

Your computer's storage drive contains tons of important data, from your family photos to your work files. But no matter how secure your laptop or computer is, a single hardware or software failure can easily wipe out all your years of memories and hard work.

You can install an app like the Wi-Fi File Server Free, which will allow you to turn your old tablet into a wireless backup server. This will help you keep a copy of your file available at all times on your local network or even on the Internet. This is particularly helpful if you have a tablet with a microSD card slot and a high-capacity card inside.

Reference Library

Does your profession require you to keep a lot of books for your reference? Well, good news because you can take your old Android tablet and use all of its available storage as a reference library for your books. In fact, many Androids tablets feature a microSD card that can expand your storage, helping you add many more books to your collection.

If you want to have a large storehouse of information available that doesn't require any Internet connection, you can download the Kwix app. This app lets you download offline Wikipedia, WikiLeaks, and other free reference materials. A good source from which to purchase reference materials would be either Amazon's Kindle Store (download the Kindle app first) or Google Play Books. There are lots of free titles that are free of charge, and you can search as many books as your tablet storage will allow.