7-zip can be used to create encrypted archives (see blog).
If exe files are allowed in the email, then 7-zip can create self-extracting achive.
7-zip, Tool for packing and unpacking files and folders, also with encryption
Today, a tool for umpacking files is a must. 7-zip is great tool for that.
7-zip supports several file formats:
- 7z
- BZIP2
- GZIP
- TAR
- ZIP
It can do AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats
For protecting your data backups on USB or CD/DVDs, a simple copy is not sufficient.
If you don’t have any other encryption tool, then at minimum use 7-zip encryption together with packing those folders and files. 7-zip can automatically split big archived files into smaller files. See example figure below. A new archive “blog.7z” will be created containing all files under “blog” folder. The archive is password protected, and 700M split files are automatically created making is easier to store them into DVDs.
7-zip can also be used to protect email attachments (see blog ).
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Freecap, Tool for protecting your communication over untrusted connections
When travelling, it is still very often that your wireless connection is not using protection. Also, when using connections in hotels and other places, one might like to have more protection on your communication.
Freecap can be used to provide more protection for other programs. Freecap can launch a program and reroute connections through a SOCK server (as mentioned in this blog).
For example, an email notifier tool “POP Peeper” does not have SOCKS capability. Freecap can be used to reroute the communication over secured ssh connection. The configuration is defined in menu File->Settings
The localhost with port 8080 is the ssh tunnel starting point using putty as SOCK server (see blog).
First, in Freecap, a program profile need to be created for POP Peeper (see below).
After which, the program is visible in the main window.
Before launching POP Peeper, remember to open & create the ssh tunnel first.
Freecap has also a portable version available.
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POP Peeper, Tool for notifying of new emails
Many of us have several email accounts and using more than one client machine or tool to access them. Instead of logging into them one by one, one could use Email Notifier tool like POP Peeper.
POP Peeper notifies you when there is new emails on any of the account. For screenshots, please see here.
It support POP3 and IMAP access methods, and SSL protection. Active modules can be seen in the About screen (below).
Accounts can be imported from email clients, or can be defined manually by using Wizard.
I have created my accounts with the wizard. One can define account settings for reading only. After account creation, the main account data is presented (see below).
Protecting the communication
When you are travelling and using untrusted connection, freecap could be used to protect your communication (see blog ).
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Accessing internet with laptop and old android smartphone
Intro
Xperia X10 mini pro comes with an old Android 1.6 system.
With PC Companion software one can update Android into 2.1 level (still old).
Problem
It might come as a surprise, but it is not possible to access Internet from laptop by using your Xperia x10 mini pro out of the box!
Solution
First
Phone need to be “rooted”. This basically means that software called “su” is installed into the phone. Programs can then request for root access, which normally is not allowed in original Android installation.
This can be done with a tool called “SuperOneClick“. Please note that USB cable should be connected and USB debug mode activated on the phone before running this tool.
Examples are available here and here. Now your phone is rooted.
Second
Tethering program in the phone is needed. Rooting (root access) is pre-requisite for many tethering programs to work.
Android application Barnacle provides both unsecured and WEP secured wifi accesses (ad hoc) for the laptop to connect to. Next install Barnacle from market place.
Examples are available here.
Unsecure connection setup is straight forward, and is easier to get working. WEP secured connection is more tricky to get to work.
For these installation issues, remember that this network is not normal wifi access point setup, but is ad hoc (computer to computer) setup. It might be easier to start barnacle in android phone first, and keep clicking “associate” button in the phone until this ad hoc wireless network becomes visible in the laptop. See figure below. Note the type!
For WEP secured setup to work, please check that wireless properties are correct. See the figure below. Security type=Shared, Encryption type=WEP.
In addition to radio interface, one can use SOCKS to protect the internet communication from the browser into a trusted server in internet (see blog).
Autoit, Tool for automating GUI tasks
Autoit for Windows is great tool for GUI task automation.
I used it for facilitating repetitive “every day” tasks. I used for opening tools, for filling in data. These are normally needed when mounting encrypted files, synchronizing folders or calendars and when opening your project notes.
Autoit is BASIC type of scripting language, and getting started is easy because of the great help file with ready-to-run examples. In addition to controlling windows, one can also create complex GUI application and compile it into an executable.
For example, with one line of code, one can open a message box with text:
MsgBox(0, “AutoIt Example”, “This is line 1” & @CRLF & “This is line 2” & @CRLF & “This is line 3”)
The outcome looks like this
And a more complex GUI application presenting available GUI controls for programming is included in example file “SampleControls.au3”. (Figure below).
The installation includes example “.au3” files, and SciTe editor which helps the programming by syntac highlightning and command shortcuts. (Other editor can be used as well). For a screenshort, see figure below.
There is build-in support for ini-files, and there is some basic (RC4) support for encryption functions. However, for storing passwords in ini-files, one could consider to use User Community provided additional open source packages which provides more encryption functions.
ini file could look like this:
[Passwords]
password_keepass = "C91E1E89AC4DB710A3E219E284137521757D6AED4AD72C21"
[Config]
revision=”1.0″
[Old values]
my_old_message_of_the_day=”I did not fail the test, i just found 100 ways to do it wrong”
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