Stories by Mark O'Neill

Create very strong and secure passwords with the free PWGen

It's very fashionable among hackers these days to randomly choose someone's online account and break into it for bragging rights. If you are determined not to become a victim of hacking, then you need to strengthen and overhaul all of your passwords. It's no longer cute or safe to use passwords like "password" or "123," PWGen is a neat little software app that can help you generate passwords in an instant, no thought required.

Mark O'Neill | 04 Jun | Read more

Boxcryptor encrypts data in the cloud

You may be too concerned about privacy and security to leave naked files lying around on a remote server. That's completely fair, but don't let it keep you from using the cloud. Boxcryptor is a free Windows desktop app that creates an encrypted folder that can be placed inside your cloud storage folder.

Mark O'Neill | 30 May | Read more

Hide your programs from prying eyes with WinLock

Anyone who works in an office will know that when it's time to run to the bathroom, the chances of someone snooping around the computer increases. Whether it's a nosy colleague looking for gossip or a boss checking up on your work, no one wants to be caught out checking Facebook on company time. That's where a small program called WinLock comes in to save you.

Mark O'Neill | 02 May | Read more

Document Metadata Cleaner strips personally identifiable metadata from your files

Microsoft Office is the most popular word processing suite around, when it comes to generating documents. But a lot of people are completely unaware that, every time you open a document, type in it, edit it, close it, or do anything more than breathe on it, personally identifying data called "metadata" is collected and attached to the document. Disclosure of this information can be very detrimental in certain situations, so it pays to spend an extra few minutes before sending someone the file, to wipe the metadata. A free, small app called Document Metadata Cleaner will help you achieve this.

Mark O'Neill | 12 Feb | Read more

Toolbar Cleaner removes unwanted browser toolbars, browser extensions, and start-up items

At one time or another, we install too much stuff. And who can blame us? The Internet is one big playground with lots to install and play with, and we eventually forget that too many installations can slow down and eventually crash our system. One key to a smooth healthy running computer is to keep it as trim as possible, with as little bloatware as possible. Enter Toolbar Cleaner (free) to make that task really easy.

Mark O'Neill | 09 Jan | Read more

Stop Snoopers From Spying on Your Web Activity With ProXPN

Your privacy, safety, and anonymity on the Internet are increasingly under threat. Governments want more power to monitor people's Web usage, and businesses want to keep records of every website you visit and every item you purchase online. And let's not forget the shady-looking individual sitting in the corner of the coffee shop, monitoring your wireless signal in an attempt to steal your online banking details and passwords.

Mark O'Neill | 27 Aug | Read more

Free TrashMail Browser Add-On Protects Your Email and Information

Quite often, you will come across freebies on the Internet such as free music or free eBooks, but as the saying goes, "you don't get something for nothing." In return for that free MP3 or eBook, the site owner will want your email address, which they will then use to flood your email inbox with never-ending spam about Viagra . TrashMail is a Firefox add-on and Chrome extension which aims to instantly stop all this nonsense with a simple right-click of the mouse.

Mark O'Neill | 17 Jul | Read more

SOA Security: The Basics

Diving into Service Oriented Architecture? Vordel's Mark O'Neill covers basic SOA security threats and defenses--and explains how security helps increase SOA's business benefits.

Mark O'Neill | 13 Mar | Read more