Easy Thumbnails is a free program that allows you to quickly and easily create thumbnail images from multiple images at once.

Download Easy Thumbnails from

http://www.fookes.com/ezthumbs/.

To install Easy Thumbnails, double-click on the .exe file you downloaded. If the Open File – Security Warning dialog box displays, click Run to continue with the installation.

If the User Account Control dialog box displays, click Yes to continue.

NOTE: You may not see this dialog box, depending on your User Account Control settings. See our post, Windows 7 – How to configure UAC (User Account Control), for more information.

The Welcome screen on the setup wizard displays. Click Next. Read through the License Agreement and select the I accept the agreement radio button. Click Next.

The Select Destination Location screen displays. If you want to install Easy Thumbnails to a different location other than the default location listed in the edit box, use the Browse button to select another location. We accepted the default location. Click Next to continue.

The Select Start Menu Folder screen displays. If you want to add the shortcuts for Easy Thumbnails to a different Start menu folder than the default listed in the edit box, use the Browse button. We accepted the default Start menu folder. Click Next to continue.

On the Select Additional Tasks screen, you can select the Create a desktop icon check box to put a shortcut to Easy Thumbnails on the desktop. This option is not selected by default. To add an icon to the Quick Launch Toolbar, select the Create a Quick Launch icon check box, which is not selected by default. Click Next.

The Ready to Install screen displays with a summary of the settings you selected. If you want to change any of the settings, use the Back button. Otherwise, click Install to continue with the installation.

Once the installation is done, the Completing the Easy Thumbnails Setup Wizard screen displays. To view the readme file for Easy Thumbnails, select the View Readme.txt check box.

Easy Thumbnails provides an easy way to create thumbnails from images directly within Windows Explorer. To be able to do this, select Add “Make Thumbnail” shortcut to Windows Explorer to add the option to the popup menu.

If you want Easy Thumbnails to start as soon as you close the setup wizard, select the Launch Easy Thumbnails check box so there is a check mark in it. It should be selected by default. Click Finish to close the setup wizard.

If you want Easy Thumbnails to check for product updates twice a month, click Yes on the following dialog box that displays.

If you want to convert images of a certain type, select the file type from the Files of type drop-down list. To view all image file types, select All images, which is the default selection.

To find the images from which you want to create thumbnails, navigate to the desired directory in the Look in tree. Click the plus signs to expand the directories.

When you find the desired directory, select it. The images in that directory are listed in the box below the Look in tree. Select the image files you want to convert just as you would in Windows Explorer. If you want to save the thumbnails in a different directory than the original images, click the … button to the right of the Save in edit box at the bottom of the left side of the Easy Thumbnails window. Select a directory on the Browse For Folder dialog box and click OK.

To make thumbnails from the selected images, click Make. If you want to make thumbnails from all the images in the selected folder, click Make All.

A dialog box displays telling you how many thumbnails were created. Click OK to close it.

By default, the prefix “tn_” is added to the beginning of each filename to indicate the file is a thumbnail.

You can change this on the Settings tab. We decided we wanted to add the suffix “_tn” to the end of each filename. To do this, select Add suffix from the New name drop-down list.

In the Prefix/suffix edit box, enter the desired text you want inserted at the end or beginning of the current filename. For example, we entered “_tn” as our suffix.

When we convert images with the new settings, the “_tn” suffix is added to the end of the current filename.

Use the Resize drop-down list to specify if you want images resized and how. Each option is explained in the help file you can access on the About tab by clicking the Help F1 button. Under the Reference Information book, select the Settings Tab item.

We chose the Shrink to fit option, which is the default. This resizes the image only if it is larger than the square or rectangle specified by Max. width and Max. height.

You can preview a thumbnail for an image by selecting the image in the list on the left and clicking the Preview output tab on the right.

Easy Thumbnails makes a useful addition to your image editing toolkit. It is free for home or professional use, supports all the popular image formats, and is fully Windows compatible, from Windows 98 through Windows 7, both 32-bit and 64-bit. You can also use it in Mac OS or Linux, in conjunction with Wine.

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The first part of this article covered installing and running SafeHouse Explorer and creating your first SafeHouse volume.

In this part, we discuss creating a portable version of SafeHouse Explorer you can carry around with you on a USB flash drive, opening a volume, adding files and folders to a volume, opening files stored in a volume, closing a volume, securely deleting files copied from a volume to a local hard disk, and creating a self-extracting volume.

Make sure you have downloaded SafeHouse Explorer and followed the steps in the first part of this article prior to proceeding with this part.

Create a Portable Version of SafeHouse Explorer

To put a portable version of SafeHouse Explorer on a USB flash drive, select Copy Files to Memory Stick from the Tools menu.

The Copy Files to Memory Stick dialog box displays. By default, the Copy Program File check box is selected. If you want to also copy the volume you just created to your USB flash drive, select the Copy Volume check box. Use the … (Browse) button to select your volume. Select the drive letter for your USB flash drive from the Drive drop-down list in the Destination Drive or Memory Stick box. The name of your USB flash drive displays along with the total size and the amount of space free on the drive.

NOTE: You cannot copy volumes that are open to a USB flash drive. If the volume is open, a message displays in red at the bottom of the Copy Files to Memory Stick dialog box and the volume will not copy to the USB flash drive. Click Cancel, close the volume, and then select Copy Files to Memory Stick from the Tools menu again.

Now that your volume is closed, you can click Start on the Copy Files to Memory Stick dialog box to copy the program file and your volume file to your USB flash drive.

The progress of the copy operation displays at the bottom of the dialog box.

When a message displays indicating that the copy operation finished successfully, click Close.

The program file (SafeHouseExplorer.exe) and the volume file (SampleVolume.sdsk) are copied to your USB flash drive.

Open a Volume

To open a volume in SafeHouse Explorer, double-click on the SafeHouseExplorer.exe file to open the program and click Open Volume.

On the Open SafeHouse Volume dialog box, navigate to the drive/directory where you saved your volume file, select it, and click Open.

Enter the password you applied to the volume in the Password edit box and press Enter or click Open.

Add Files and Folders to a Volume

The volume opens and is listed in the Folders pane on the SafeHouse Explorer window. To add folders and files to your volume, drag-and-drop them onto the right pane.

You can also add a file or folder by copying it in Windows Explorer, on the Desktop, or elsewhere, and pasting it into the volume. To paste the file or folder into your volume, right-click in the right pane and select Paste from the popup menu. You’ll notice that you can also create folders in your volume so you can organize your files, just like you do in Windows Explorer.

Open Files Stored in a Volume

You can open files in your volume directly from within the volume or by copying them to the local hard drive first and then opening them. To open a file directly, right-click on the file in the right pane of the SafeHouse Explorer window and select Open.

NOTE: You can also select Open With and choose a program, just like you would in Windows Explorer.

The following Security Notice displays indicating that a temporary, read-only copy of your file is created on the C: drive of the local computer to allow access by Windows and other applications. This file is securely deleted and wiped clean when you exit SafeHouse Explorer. If you don’t want to see this dialog box every time you open a file within SafeHouse Explorer, select the Do not show again check box. Click Continue to continue opening the file. If you decide you don’t want to open the file this way, click Cancel.

If you would rather access the file from the local hard disk, right-click on the file in SafeHouse Explorer and select Copy from the popup menu. Paste it to a location on the hard drive using a program like Windows Explorer and then open it normally.

Close a Volume

To close an open SafeHouse volume, click Close Volume.

Securely Delete Files Copied to a Local Hard Drive

If you copy files/folders out of SafeHouse Explorer to edit them and then copy the revised files back into the volume, it is smart to securely delete the files/folders from the local hard disk. SafeHouse Explorer provides a tool to do that. To securely delete a file or an entire folder, select Secure Delete from the File menu in SafeHouse Explorer.

On the Select File(s) To Secure Delete dialog box, navigate to the location where you copied the files/folders from your volume. Select the file(s) you want to delete and click Select. You can select multiple files using the Shift and Ctrl keys, in the same way you do in Windows Explorer.

NOTE: You can also select one or more folders to delete. All files and subfolders within that folder will be securely deleted.

The Confirm Folder Delete displays to make sure you really want to delete the files/folders. Click Yes if you do.

NOTE: Remember once these files are deleted, they cannot be recovered. Make sure you have copied the revised files back into your volume before securely deleting them from the local hard disk.

The deletion progress displays on a dialog box.

Create a Self-Extracting Volume

You can also convert your volume into a self-extracting volume. This is useful if you want to send files securely to someone through email. When sending a normal SafeHouse volume, you would have to also send the SafeHouseExplorer.exe file so the recipient can open the volume. If you create a self-extracting volume, all you have to send if the volume. And, of course, separately, securely relay the password to the recipient, as well.

NOTE: However do take note if you do create a self executable EXE you will not be able to normally interact with your files as if you were using a volume.

To create a self-extracting volume, select Make Self-Extracting Volume from the Tools menu.

NOTE: The volume you want to convert to a self-extracting volume must be closed.

The Make Self-Extracting Volume dialog box displays. Use the … (Browse) button to the right of the Existing Volume to Copy edit box to select the volume to be converted. Use the … (Browse) button to the right of the Self-Extracting EXE File to Create edit box to specify the location and filename for the self-extracting volume file. Click Start.

NOTE: If the volume you are converting is still open, the following error displays. Click OK. You are returned to the Make Self-Extracting Volume dialog box. Click Cancel to close it, close the volume, and then select Make Self-Extracting Volume from the Tools menu again.

Once you have clicked Start to create the self-extracting volume, the creation progress displays at the bottom of the dialog box.

When the self-extracting volume has been created, a message displays at the bottom of the dialog box. Click Close.

The self-extracting (.exe) file with the SafeHouse icon is available in Windows Explorer. Double-click the file and enter your password to access its contents.

You can also convert a self-extracting file back to a normal SafeHouse (.sdsk) file using the Extract Volume from EXE option on the Tools menu.

Wrap Up

In this part, we covered creating a portable version of SafeHouse Explorer you can carry around with you on a USB flash drive, opening a volume, adding files and folders to a volume, opening files stored in a volume, closing a volume, securely deleting files copied from a volume to a local hard disk, and creating a self-extracting volume.

The first part of this article discussed installing and running SafeHouse Explorer and creating your first SafeHouse volume.

Note that the trimmed-down version of SafeHouse Explorer built into self-extracting volumes does not have the Secure Delete feature. If you are going to be accessing your SafeHouse volume on public machines, we recommend you use the portable version of SafeHouse Explorer with your SafeHouse volume so you can securely delete any files you temporarily copy from your volume to the public machine.

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However, to use the portable version of TrueCrypt, you must have administrator privileges on the computer on which you are running TrueCrypt. There is another program, called SafeHouse Explorer, that allows you to take your files with you in an encrypted file store without requiring administrator privileges to run. SafeHouse Explorer is not open source, but it is free.

Download SafeHouse Explorer from

http://www.safehousesoftware.com/SafeHouseExplorer.aspx.

NOTE: The full SafeHouse Explorer program is downloaded during installation. Make sure you have an internet connection before you start installing SafeHouse Explorer.

Install SafeHouse Explorer

SafeHouse Explorer can be used as a portable program, but it needs to be installed first. To install it, double-click on the .exe file you downloaded.

If the User Account Control dialog box displays, click Yes to continue.

NOTE: You may not see this dialog box, depending on your User Account Control settings. See our post, Windows 7 – How to configure UAC (User Account Control), for more information.

The SafeHouse Setup wizard displays. Click Next to continue.

On the License Agreement screen, select the I accept this license agreement check box and click Next.

The Ready to Install screen displays. Click Next to begin the installation.

The progress of the installation displays on the SafeHouse Setup window.

When the installation is finished, a message displays below the progress bar. Click Finish.

If you want to run SafeHouse Explorer immediately after you close the SafeHouse Setup window, select the Run SafeHouse Explorer on exit check box before clicking Close to close the window.

Run SafeHouse Explorer

The first time you run SafeHouse Explorer, the Quick Start wizard displays. Click Next on the Welcome screen.

For more information about SafeHouse Explorer, read through the Learn More screen. Click Next when you are ready to continue.

Performance enhancements allow SafeHouse Explorer to work better with other applications. Administrator rights are required to install these enhancements. Installing SafeHouse Explorer from your computer, using its traditional setup utility, requires administrator rights, so the enhancements are installed automatically. However, when you run SafeHouse Explorer from a USB flash drive on a computer that does not have SafeHouse installed, you can choose to install the performance enhancements by clicking the Install Performance Options button, as long as you have administrator rights. If the performance enhancements are already installed, the button is not active. Click Next to continue.

Create Your First SafeHouse Volume

If you want to create a SafeHouse volume, or storage vault, now, click Create Storage Vault. You don’t have to at this time, but our instructions continue to show you how to create a volume.

The Create New Volume wizard displays. Click Next on the introductory screen.

On the Name of Private Storage Area screen, click the Browse (folder) button to the right of the Folder edit box to select a location for the SafeHouse volume.

On the Browse For Folder dialog box, navigate to the desired location, select the folder, and click OK.

Back on the Name of the Private Storage Area screen, enter a name for your SafeHouse volume in the Filename edit box. The .sdsk extension is automatically added to your filename. If desired, enter a Description for the volume. Click Next.

The Size of your Private Storage Area screen displays. Enter the size for your volume in the Volume Size edit box and select whether the size is in Kilobytes, Megabytes, or Gigabytes from the drop-down list. The maximum size for SafeHouse volumes is 2,000 gigabytes. The amount of space available on your hard drive displays in the Space Available box.

NOTE: Older Windows operating systems (Windows 95/98/Me) and hard drives formatted using the FAT file system (rather than NTFS) do not support file sizes greater than 4GB.

If you have SafeHouse Personal Edition or Professional Edition also installed on your computer, you have the option to be able to expand your volume in the future as you add more files. To do this, select a size range for your volume from the Resizable drop-down list. The drop-down list only includes size ranges that are valid on your system.

NOTE: This feature is standard in the Personal Edition and Professional Edition. SafeHouse Explorer simply launches the resizing wizard from either of these products.

For extra security, select the Preinitialize volume with random data check box. This fills the volume with random data to make if difficult for someone to separate your read data from the random data if they happen to get into your volume. Depending on the size of your volume, this process may take a few minutes. We recommend turning on this option, unless you really don’t have the time to wait.

Click Next.

The Choose a Volume Password screen displays. Choose a secure password and enter it in the Password edit box and then again in the Retype edit box. The following articles provide some tips for creating good, secure passwords:

• Using Password Phrases For Better Security
• 10 Ways to Generate a Random Password from the Command Line

Also, check out the really useful password tools on the Gibson Research Corporation website (www.grc.com), run by Steve Gibson, security guru and privacy expert.

• Perfect Passwords
• Password Haystacks
• Perfect Paper Passwords

Steve also publishes a podcast called Security Now (http://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm) with Leo Laporte from TWiT TV (www.twit.tv), where they talk about important issues of personal computer security.

Click Next to continue.

The Ready to Create Volume screen displays that shows a summary of the volume specifications you chose. If you want to create a shortcut on the desktop that provides quick access to the volume, select the Create a desktop shortcut to open this volume check box. Click Create Volume.

The volume creation progress displays. The approximate time remaining displays below the progress bar.

When message displays indicating the volume has been successfully created, click Finish to close the Create New Volume wizard.

You are returned to the Create Your First Storage Vault screen on the Quick Start wizard. Click Next to continue.

The Finished screen displays. There’s a link allowing you to upgrade to a full version SafeHouse at a discount. Selecting the Show me these ten essential tips check box opens a web page where you can sign up to receive the tips, a coupon to save 40% on the Professional version, and the SafeHouse Newsletter. Click Finish to close the Quick Start wizard.

If you chose to create a new SafeHouse volume when first running SafeHouse Explorer, the SafeHouse Explorer program now displays with the newly created volume opened.

If you have SafeHouse Personal Edition or Professional Edition also installed on your computer, your volume displays in Windows Explorer as a drive with a drive letter. If you are only running SafeHouse Explorer, you must copy files into and out of the volume using the SafeHouse Explorer window shown above.

NOTE: If you copy a file out of your volume to the hard drive, you can securely delete the file when you are done working with it and have copied it back into the volume. We will discuss the Secure Delete feature in SafeHouse Explorer later in this article.

Wrap Up

This was the first part of a two-part article about using SafeHouse Explorer to securely store and transport your important, private files.

In this part, we covered installing and running SafeHouse Explorer and creating your first SafeHouse volume.

The second part of this article will cover creating a portable version of SafeHouse Explorer you can carry around with you on a USB flash drive, opening a volume, adding files and folders to a volume, opening files stored in a volume, closing a volume, securely deleting files copied from a volume to a local hard disk, and creating a self-extracting volume. Stay tuned!

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To add time zones to the clock, click on the clock on the panel and select Time & Date Settings from the bottom of the drop-down calendar.

On the Time & Date dialog box, click the Clock tab. Select the Time in other locations check box and then click Choose Locations.

The Locations dialog box displays. Click the green plus button to add a new location.

Start typing the name of the city you want to add. Wait a moment for a list of cities to pop up that match what you typed. Select the desired city from the list.

The local time for the selected city is automatically entered. To remove a location, select it and click the red minus button. To close the Locations dialog box, click the X button on the title bar.

NOTE: You can change the order in which the cities display in the clock menu by dragging and dropping them on the Locations dialog box.

To close the Time & Date dialog box, click the X button on the title bar.

When you click on the clock again, the new city you added displays on the clock menu below the calendar.

You can add more locations if desired. Unlike Windows, you can add more than two additional time zones to the clock in Ubuntu.

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We found a program, called MyUnity, that allows you to customize every part of your Unity desktop, including the Launcher, the Dash, the Panel, the Desktop, and the Fonts.

Before installing MyUnity, you must get the MyUnity repository. To do so, press Ctrl + Alt + T to open a Terminal window. Type the following command at the prompt and press Enter.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:myunity/ppa

A message displays telling you about the PPA (Personal Package Archive) you are about to add to your system. Press Enter to continue adding the PPA.

Once you’ve added the PPA, you need to update it. Type the following command at the prompt and press Enter. This command actually updates all repositories in your system.

sudo apt-get update

Now, you’re ready to install MyUnity. To do so, type the following command at the prompt and press Enter.

sudo apt-get install myunity

The system analyzes what packages are needed to do the installation and tells you how many will be installed and how much disk space will be used. When asked it you want to continue, type a “Y” (without the quotes) and press Enter.

You are returned to the prompt when the installation is finished. To close the Terminal window, type “exit” (without the quotes) and press Enter.

To open MyUnity, click the Dash home icon at the top of the Unity launcher bar.

Type “myunity” (without the quotes) in the search box. You do not need to press Enter. Results display as you type. Click the MyUnity icon that displays.

There are six tabs on the MyUnity dialog box. The tabs are located on the bottom of the screenshot at the top of the dialog box. The launcher tab allows you to change settings, such as Size, Transparency, and Behavior, that affect the launcher bar on the left side of the screen.

The dash tab allows you to turn on and off the Blur effect, and change the Dash Size for when you click the Dash home button on the launcher.

Use the panel tab to change the Transparency level on the panel.

Use the desktop tab to show and hide the Home, Networking, Devices, and Trash icons on the desktop.

Use the font tab to change the font and font size for the different parts of the Unity desktop.

To change a font for a particular part of the desktop, click the button for that part. The screen displays controls that allow you to select the font and size, and the style of the font, such as bold, italic, or underline. Make your desired changes and click Apply. To return to the choices on the font tab, click Close.

If you’ve made a lot of changes and then decide you want to return to the default settings, click Default Unity settings at the bottom of the MyUnity window.

To close MyUnity, click the X button on the title bar of the window.

Now, you can easily change the settings for your Unity desktop all in one place and make look and behave just the way you want.

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