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Undo your Mistakes!

Sometimes we make mistakes.  Fortunately, sometimes we can undo our mistakes.   Undo is a command or option in many computer or phone programs that undoes the last change made,  reverting the data or program to its state before the change was made.

The opposite of undo is redo. The redo command undoes the last undo. Both undo and redo are available in almost all computer software today.

Below are some ways to undo some of your technology mistakes.

General Undo Functionality

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Free PDF Editors

PDF has become one of the most common file types, one that’s popular among businesses attempting to go "green" or "paperless", as well as popular for sharing documents on web sites.  Part of their popularity is that they, in theory,  cost nothing to produce and assure that documents will appear the same to anyone, anytime; anywhere. PDFs can also be interactive or contain forms, if desired; and they can be partially or completely edited by peers. As more people switch to using PDFs, the desire or need to easily create and edit them also grows; thus, having access to the best

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Free Options to Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop has long been one of the premier image-editing computer programs available. If you're a graphic designer, professional photographer, or illustrator, this is probably what you use.  But it isn't cheap, it doesn't run on all operating systems; and it probably includes more functionality than is needed for most hobbyists, scientists, or students, adding to its complexity. Fortunately, there are free options to Photoshop, including some that are easy to use.  Below, we review three of the most popular applications we've used. (We should mention that web-based

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Cleaning Your Personally-Managed Linux System Using BleachBit

Utilities exist to help you find and clean your system of old and unused files. This allows you to free up disk space.  In this article we will look at installing and running on personally-managed Linux systems a utility that's free and available not only for many Linux distributions, but also Windows and Mac OSX.

Before we begin, it is important to keep in mind that running utilities that delete files with elevated privileges can break a system. One must always exercise care when doing so. Always keep in mind when running BleachBit that its file deletions are

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Tutorial: Getting started with web development using Vagrant/VirtualBox

Due to the interest received towards development/programming, in this blog post we're going to take the time to detail how to get started with web development using a local virtual machine environment.  We'll also go over how to write a simple "Hello World" script in PHP.  

  • git installed on host machine
  • Install VirtualBox
  • Install Vagrant
  • Ensure VirutalBox + Vagrant are compatible.
  • PuTTY or some other SSH client (Windows only, native in Linux)
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Wanna Cry? Active Ransomware Outbreak (Updated)

According to reports, there is an ongoing, fast and widespread ransomware attack against Microsoft Windows machines, with reports of as many as 200,000 infections in as many as 150 countries (according to Europol on Sunday, 14 May 2017). The software can run in as many as 27 different languages, matching the operating system language settings.

This malware is variously known as WannaCry, WCry, Wanna Decryptor, or Wanna Derypt0r and was discovered the morning of May 12th, 2017.  It works by encrypting your data and requesting a ransom

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Wanna Cry? Active Ransomware Outbreak

According to numerous reports, there is an ongoing, fast and widespread ransomware attack against Microsoft Windows machines, with reports of tens of thousands of infections in as many as 74 countries. The software can run in as many as 27 different languages, matching the operating system language settings.

The malware is variously known as WannaCry, WCry, or Wanna Decryptor, or Wanna Derypt0r and was discovered the morning of May 12, 2017.  It works by encrypting your data and requesting a ransom of .1781 bitcoins, the equivalent of roughly $300.

Initial reports indicate

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Windows Vista End-of-Life

Microsoft Windows Vista turned 10 years old and reached its end-of-life (EOL) on April 11, 2017.  As such, Microsoft no longer offers security updates, technical support, software, and content updates for Vista.  Machines running Vista no longer meet UT minimum security requirements, leaving these systems vulnerable to attacks. In addition, new hardware, software, and third party software updates may no longer work with Windows Vista. In short, keeping Windows Vista installed on your systems is a disaster waiting to happen.

If you are running Windows Vista today, it is

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Windows Internet Explorer 11 or Later Now Required

Microsoft has ended support for older versions of its popular web browser Internet Explorer (IE) as of Tuesday, January 12, 2016. After that date, Microsoft will no longer be releasing security updates, patches, or bug fixes for all versions of Internet Explorer except Internet Explorer 11 and later. After January 12, if you are still running an unsupported version of IE on the campus network, you are putting the University at risk.

In an effort to keep the campus computing environment safe and secure for everyone, all Windows computers should be upgraded to IE 11 as soon as

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Windows 8 End of Life – Upgrade Now!

If you are running Windows 8 (not 8.1), you need to upgrade ASAP!  The January 12, 2016 Patch Tuesday contained the last updates for Windows 8.  If you are still running Windows 8, it's time to update to Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, or risk exposing your PC to unpatched security risks.

Thanks to a quirk in Microsoft's support lifecycle, Windows 8 is no longer supported.  This is because Windows 8.1 is considered a service pack to Windows 8, and Microsoft provides two years to upgrade to a service pack before discontinuing support for the previous release.  Since

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