Who doesn’t like free software? Free is good but what’s even better is a free software that totally exceeds your expectation. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free is the best free data recovery software you will need which supports the largest recovery capacity as well as having the best features.
You can recover deleted files such as pictures, videos, audios, emails and documents for whatever reason; either accidental deletion, formatting, partition loss or improper operation. Best of all, it is very easy to use and with just three simple steps plus no technical knowledge required, you can easily get your lost data back.
Step 1 is to Launch the Program and Start a Scan. Do take note that you have to download the software and install it on your computer but not to install it on the same disk where you lost your data. The reason is the lost files might be overwritten. Another rule is to run the scan as soon as possible you discover about the missing data.
After you have launched the software, there are 6 different categories of files that you can choose from either Graphic, Audio, Document, Video, Email and Other. You can choose specific file types in order to reduce the scanning time.
Next you can select a location to start finding the lost data. It can either be your Desktop, Libraries, any of your Hard Disk Drive or Lost Hard Disk Drives. For the last option, it is for data loss caused by deleting a partition, losing a partition or repartition. The program will read the partition table and list all of the deleted partition information that is available.
Step 2 is to Scan your Computer or Device. There is a progress bar displaying the estimated time remaining as well as a percentage of the scanning and next to the bar there is a Stop and Pause button. The Pause button allows you to pause the scan and resume it later. Normally the scan will take only a few seconds or a few minutes. The program will first list down all the files that are simply deleted or cleaned from the recycle bin.
Then there will be a pop up window that allows you to run Deep Scan for further recovery if you are not satisfied with the initial scan results. Deep Scan is useful if you cannot find the files that you wanted from the first scan or the recovered files cannot be open correctly. What Deep Scan is doing is that it will perform a sector by sector scan which would take longer than the first scan and user is advised not to interrupt it in the middle of the operation unless absolutely necessary.
The third and final step is Preview and Recover the Files. Before recovering any files, you can preview the file first which it will display a thumbnail and information about the file so you can take a glance before confirming which files you want to recover. Then you click on the Recover button and save them on a different location as to where you lost the data. Finally you can Export Scan Status so you can later Import it to recover deleted files without having to scan again.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free can be easily downloaded from their website and installed to your machine within minutes. The data recovery software is highly recommended by those in the software industry as being the best in class.
The Information Technology production industry has large carbon footprint. This can best be best resolved through the process of re-using and re-deploying the redundant IT equipment. This process is called computer recycling.
In Ohio, this is not much a problem because there is Southeastern Data that helped reduce the redundant IT equipment of the area. Computer recycling can greatly reduce the problem of computer equipment disposal. If you are living in Cincinnati, Cincinnati Computer Recycling can also help you get rid of your excess and old IT equipment.
We all know how these scarce resources can damage the environment. Most environmental concerns relating to computers disposal lie in the monitor. The cathode ray tube is specifically the component in the monitor that causes the environmental problem. An average monitor contains 4-5 pounds lead. Lead is a very harmful substance not only to the environment but also to our health. This is what makes electronic equipment hazardous when disposed. Aside from lead, computers also contain many other hazardous materials like cadmium, hexavalent chromium and mercury. Cadmium is a known carcinogen. Hexavalent chromium has shown to cause liver disease, brain and nerve damage, high blood pressure and iron-poor blood. Last 2007, there were over 314 million computers thrown away that contains 1.2 billion pounds lead, 1.2 million pounds hexavalent chromium, 2 million pounds cadmium and 400,000 pounds mercury. Thankfully, today, there are now companies like Southeastern Data that takes care of the problem of computer disposal.
One problem in computer reuse is that after the process of recycling and upgrading, many organizations keep their old computers to store their data for backup in cases that the newer computers break down. Often, these old computers stay in the storage area beyond their useful time and at some point, they needed to decide about the disposal of such equipment. Most of the time, storing them for longer time is not a good option. Eventually, they’ll take up much space. Throwing them into the bin is a least desirable option. Thankfully, computer recycling comes as the most viable option. Such service is offered by Southeastern Data.
However, there is a risk in this option. There is a possibility that someone might recover the sensitive data from your computer and use it for their benefit. So you need to get the service of a trusted company like Southeastern Data. With them, you can be sure that your equipment and all the data stored in it are in good hands.
Before throwing out your old computer, think twice. There is a better option than putting them in the landfill. Computer recycling is a good option that does not harm the environment. Many obsolete computers today just gather dust in storage areas and it is important that you know there is a better solution to this problem. Let Southeastern Data recycle them so you can empty those spaces inside your home or offices. Many of the components inside your old computers can be recycled and reused. From the metal housing to the keyboards, they can all be reused. The toxic components of computers should be disposed of properly with the help of computer recycling companies.
Anker is one of my favorite brands for external battery packs and other mobile accessories, their Astro 3 2nd Generation is one of the best portable power banks you can buy. So when I saw that they now offer Apple certified Lightning cables at a better price than even the Amazon Lightning cables I was thrilled.
I never have enough lighting cables, and now I have all these old iPad charging cables and don’t feel like buying an adapter that is more expensive than just buying new cables. The Anker Lighting Cable costs just $12.99 on Amazon right now. Which is nearly $5 cheaper per cable than the Apple ones and a little cheaper than the Amazon ones directly. They also have a smaller plug on the iPhone 5S/iPad Air side, so unlike the Amazon ones which have a thicker head which may not fit through some case holes for your Lightning Charging port, this one will fit any hole that the standard iOS lightning charger would fit.
If you need another Lightning USB Charging Cable then the Anker Lighting USB charging cable is a sure thing and saves you a few bucks compared to buying the more expensive Apple one and the smaller head around the lightning plug makes it more versatile than the AmazonBasics one which I do own and have had trouble plugging them in through some iPhone 5S cases before.
Some hosting providers offer auto updates of WordPress and plugins under certain conditions but usually they lag too long, for instance I got a notice from Bluehost and HostMonster that they were going to update the Disqus and AIO SO Pack WordPress plugins due to security vulnerabilities yet this announcement is weeks late (better late than never) and I had already been running the newest versions since the day they were released. WordPress itself since it hosts plugins in the repository can do a little more to alert users about WordPress plugins, for instance, you know at least 1 plugin needs to be updated when you log into your dashboard and you see.
But I know way too many WordPress users and clients who never bother to notice and even check to update these plugins, I have logged into some clients where they have outdated versions years old as they write posts with Writer but never actually log into dashboard, or static sites that may not add new content and just leave it alone for long periods of time.
An auto update feature should exist with logging, this should be something offered by the hosting provider or WordPress in my opinion. A flag that you can say "auto update plugins when updates are available" and choose a time slot. There is a slim chance that plugin updates can cause issues or problems with the theme or site itself, but these are less likely than a security vulnerability which could have someone take over your site or turn it into a tool to attack other sites without you even noticing that something is amiss.
Security Patching and updates must be common place, assume you will patch constantly and always check your WordPress daily or as frequently as possible for patches and patch to the latest version of plugin as well as WordPress itself. Also it is important to make sure you are using some sort of WordPress security protection whether it is a plugin or Incapsula which I prefer, this will help block and prevent attacks, malicious bots and attempts from compromising your WordPress site.
So my Custom Built Media Center PC that I won from MakeUseOf arrived yesterday and I was excited to power it up and make sure everything worked properly, this is a light weight system that is ideal as a home media entertainment hub though it can function as a secondary computer in the home being that it has a fair amount of power and ram to power most low end games and do browsing and other application/Internet stuff.
It came pre-loaded with Ubuntu and here is some pictures of it all including some screen captures of the specs. This now makes one of the biggest items I have won from one of the dozens of online giveaways that I enter per month. Sometimes you just shotgun and enter as many as possible and once in a while you just get lucky.
Thanks to MakeUseOf.com for randomly selecting me as the winner and sending me the prize. I originally didn’t notice the winning announcement since my buddy Iggy actually pointed out that my name was listed as a winner on the giveaway page, and I checked and was like “HOLY CRAP” I really did win.
Played Curse of Naxxramus the day it release for Hearthstone, but found that once I got past the login issues and severe slow downs the content was relatively easy to beat on it’s normal mode, taking about 1/2 hour and then beating the 2 bonus matches in about another 15 minutes. The heroic battles I found were near impossible however and I have yet to beat a single heroic battle.
Meanwhile it is just under 2 weeks until the next chapter releases and this gives people time to save up the daily reward and get the 700gp cost it will take to unlock each chapter if you don’t want to pay cash to unlock the chapters that is.
Have you played Curse of Naxxramus yet? Did you get stuck on any of the challenges? What are some of your new favorite cards?
So this weekend I was playing the Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition starter pack and noted some obvious differences betweent this edition and previous editions of the game, I can’t say if this version is better yet because I only have a sample of the rules and there isn’t enough information to really create characters in the starter edition but I can say some of the differences and my initial impressions so far.
First from the characters I can tell you that the system of advantages and disadvantages is kind of fun, the fact that you can roll 2 D20’s and have to pick the highest or lowest depending on advantage or disadvantage gives you as special extra boost or bane if you are in a situation. This helps when a rogue in stealth gets to make an advantage attack roll and gain that sneak attack damage, but also when you have lucky skill and roll a 1 which happened far too often which this dice set and you get to reroll and take the alternate roll instead.
The six core attributes to Dungeons and Dragons remain mostly unchanged through every edition, but some slight tweaks put some skills under Intelligence and others under Wisdom. The starter set makes no mention of Bard, Sorcerer, Barbarian or Druid characters, just your basic Fighter, Rogue, Wizard and Cleric listed here. 5th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons introduces reactions and bonus actions which is interesting. In 3.5 you ready an action that can trigger on another turn, but reactions allow you to even cast some spells in reaction to something happening, like a Wizard can instantly cast Shield as a reaction to being hit or struck by a magic missile which could negate a hit after it already struck technically in some cases.
You can also ready spells to trigger as reactions instead, and the ability to cast many spells as rituals without using a spell slot is interesting. There is more copious healing in 5th Edition than 3.5 Edition in that you heal with merely an hour of rest, you get a pool of hit dice that you can choose to recover. I think this is from 4th Edition and I didn’t like that every character can heal so much and so quickly, in the later editions I can see it allows you to get back into the fights quicker but also diminishes the specialty of the Cleric and healer role. A warrior even has a recover skill where he can recover hit points as a bonus action (not even take a move or attack action) in combat, so basically he has like an Insta-Cure Light Wounds in 5th Edition.
Wizards and Clerics have extremely powerful offensive magic at 1st level, and cantrips which can be cast unlimited without memorization can even do 1d8 damage on a successful save or attack role. This means a Wizard or Cleric technically never needs a weapon as their cantrips can do as much damage as a longsword on a hit. Even more, a 1st level spell can do up to 24 points of damage (4d6 for Guiding Light) on Clerics and Burning Hands does 3d6 for Wizard at level 1, even Magic Missile does 3d4 damage at level 1.
I think Spellcasters are overpowered compared to other classes in the first few levels, it may even out later, but even with warriors and their damage bonus and wielding a weapon two hands to get higher damage die don’t have the damage capacity of a level 1 Wizard or Cleric spell from what I can see. I do like how they consolidated spells and you can prepare lower level spells in higher level slots to increase the effectiveness of the spell. Instead of Cure Light Wounds, Cure Moderate Wounds, Cure Serious Wounds…etc you now have Cure Wounds and if you prepare it at a 1st, 2nd, 3rd or higher level spell slot it will scale up it’s healing dice appropriately. This reduces the number of duplicate spells at different levels that have only a higher number of dice as a difference. Some spells now require you to prepare them as a higher level slot to get extra damage dice, this lowers the effectiveness of Level 1 Magic Missile when you are level 9 or higher, as you usually won’t want to waste a higher spell slot, it won’t automatically do 5d4 damage just for being a higher level anymore, though there are still some spells that scale up with your level, this is mostly cantrips which scale up which again means a wizard and cleric can almost always do more damage with a cantrip than a weapon with a warrior until they get multiple attacks per round.
Saving throws are simplified, now you have just saves vs your ability score. Base Attack Bonus is completely gone and replaced with Proficiency Bonus which applies to both attacks and spells for spell casters. I like the concept of death saves, and that there is no -1 to -9 HP to keep track of now, once you hit 0 you simply make a death saving through each round, 3 successes and you stabilize, 3 failures and you die. You can also have someone stabilize you, or you can be healed to 1hp. I like that there is a 3rd level revivify spell now that can bring someone back to life with 1hp, instead of the 5th level spell raise dead. This helps lower level clerics revive allies down in a fight if they went down a short time as you only have a 1 minute window to revive them with this spell.
Features and Traits are similar to Feats in 3rd Edition though there are none but the default ones with the pre-generated characters so I can’t say how many there are and variation of them. So far though the edition looks pretty lean, again a little bit less realisim, I prefer characters who need to spend longer periods of time healing off injuries and having to find rare herbs/medicines to heal rather than every character being able to recover so much HP just by taking short rests for example. The way spell preparation is done, where you prepare a pool of spells, and then can cast any in that prepared spool based on # of slots, means you can have more variety of what you can cast, instead of being locked to a 1:1 spell to slot, this may mean that there is no need for the Sorcerer class in 5th Edition as essentially this merges some of what the Wizard did and some of the benefit of Sorcerer in 3rd Edition.
So far on the quest that came with the starter set, my players (kids) wound up being slain at the entrance to the first quest in the 3rd combat, due to some unlucky dice rolls and decisions which led to one character getting unconscious from a 30′ fall leaving the others to be horribly outnumbered in a Bugbear battle.
Heroes of Warcraft has been a game that has captured a lot of my spare time lately, partly because it is a card game which I tend to really love since my Magic the Gathering days, but also because you can play in very small time chunks, where I have so little free time lately, if I have a spare 5 or 10 minutes I can get in 1-2 Hearthstone matches and feel like I am making progress. The game is brutally challenging to get under Rank 20 and my best previously was Rank 18 but somehow I hit a lucky streak with my Rexxar deck and was able to muster my way to Rank 15 this Sunday.
Here are some highlights of my matches!
I didn’t realize that when you hit Rank 15 you have to win 4 stars to proceed to next rank, this continues to make it more challenging to keep gaining ranks and having multiple wins in a row to keep getting bonus stars is the fastest way to climb them but also very hard to do. So many great players with great card combinations and I can’t wait for the Naxxramus expansion to come out which should be any week now.
First I thought I would share this review/feedback of Panorama Balloon Tours because not only did they manage to salvage my 15th Wedding Anniversary event, but they had a high number of negative reviews on Yelp which I don’t think did the company deserves at least in my own experience.
First, I did have a balloon adventure scheduled with Sky’s The Limit Ballooning Adventures, but the day of the Hot Air Balloon tour the pilot cancelled saying he was concerned about the winds and the weather. This was on July 4th and was our 15th year wedding anniversary and while I didn’t doubt the company and they touted safety above all else, I was curious to know if any other balloon companies were flying that day or would say the same weather issues were problematic.
As it turns out, a few other balloon companies and pilots were not flying due to concerns about the wind, but, Panorama Balloon Tours told me they would go up that evening (at least unless they made a different decision at time of arriving at launch site). We arrived at the meet up point which was meeting a silver van in a lot at 2730 Via de la Valle directly off of I-5 in Del Mar, which is a little informal but hey I don’t need a company to own an office as long as everything goes ok.
Jaime the owner was very accommodating in being able to get us into a balloon flight with literally a few hours notice and our basket was at capacity with 12 people including my wife and I, plus the Pilot. So they just had room to fit 2 more in. The van took us to the launch site and it was about 15 minute drive away.
First off, the pilot was Phil and from even the Yelp reviews they all say Phil is an excellent balloon pilot aka. Aeronaut. He was friendly and briefed on safety tips while the balloon was being spread out with the basket on it’s side. Explained how to climb into the basket, where to grab and hold, how to brace for when the basket touches down and went over other tips and information.
The balloon ride itself was unbelievably smooth, this was my first hot air balloon ride, I couldn’t believe how calm and the feeling of floating exists, it was less turbulent than being on any plane. You literally float up and horizontally and if you look at the balloon rotating you get a little bit of a dizzy sensation (at least I did) as your body expects more physical sensation to match the motion it sees. I did have some of my acrophobia kick in and was panicked to look over the edge, especially for the first 40 feet while the balloon ascended very rapidly.
We flew over millionaire homes and saw a large part of the beautiful Del Mar area with the ocean and mountains in the distance and watched the sunset from the balloon. The total flight was about 1 hour and 12 minutes and the touchdown was much smoother than we were prepared for with barely a bump. The flight was most enjoyable, went without a hitch and the pilot did his tour guide and stories the entire time to which everyone appeared entertained and enjoyed it. We had cheap champagne and sparkling cider for those who couldn’t drink after the flight, and then all shuttled back to where we had parked.
Now, I can tell you we didn’t have a Living Social, or Groupon or any discount, so we paid the full couple price for the Hot Air balloon ride as was expected for no notice and to save an Anniversary event. But their full price was $20 cheaper than Sky’s The Limit and I wound up saving $20 anyway. I will say most of the negative reviews on Yelp are about the Groupon or coupon not being accepted, or not valid for certain date ranges. Some talks about Jaime being rude, but I personally experienced no rudeness at all he just had the paperwork for waivers, offered to take our pictures and explained everything. I thought he did all the things right as a business owner at least in our situation.
If you are in the Del Mar/Carlsbad area and looking for a Hot Air Balloon Ride, then I can tell you that I had a positive experience with Panorama Balloon Tours http://www.gohotair.com/ I am not saying that Sky’s The Limit isn’t a good company, just that they cancelled on me and Panorama Balloon Tours was able to accommodate.
I was very happy to be contacted by Netgear on Twitter the other week who invited me to become part of their Ambassador program. Now that DragonBlogger is getting more reach and fans, Netgear considers us worthy of this program where they will periodically send us products to review and they want 100% complete honest reviews.
I was really needing a better router and the first product they sent me is the Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 router which should really help with my multitude of Wi-Fi enabled devices, though I don’t have a Wireless AC client at this time, I am hoping I see the performance benefits for all other devices.
In particular the 3 antenna and the Dual 1ghz processor should really help boost speeds in handling packet prioritization as well as beamforming to help improve signal for mobile devices. I like that it has USB 3.0 ports for faster access to any attached USB External drives and it will automatically turn any printer plugged in to be capable of supporting AirPrint.
Looking forward to reviewing the Nighthawk this week on DragonBlogger.com and seeing how much this router improves my Wi-Fi in my home.
