Well, you’ve come to the right place. Process Blocker is a free program that does a great job of blocking unwanted processes on Windows 7, Vista, or XP.

Once you install the app on your computer, click on Configure Process Blocker in the Start Menu.

The application is very straight-forward. On the main screen, go ahead and check the box that says “Block the following applications” and then click on Add.

A pop-up dialog will appear where you can enter the information about the process:

You have several options here. You can either type in the full path, if you know it, or you can simply type in the name of the executable file, i.e. messengerapp.exe, without any path and the program will block any executable that has that name, regardless of the location. You can also click Browse and find the executable file that way.

At this point, the program will only block programs that have the exact name you put into the box. Once you choose an actual EXE file, then the lower check box will become active like below:

The check box “Block other applications having the same CRC” basically means that if someone were to rename the EXE file, it will still be able to block the process/program from running. As you can see, I am trying to block the Notepad application in Windows. If you go ahead and click Add, the blocked app will show up in the list and then click OK to close the app. It will still be running in the background and block apps as you try to run them.

The only thing to keep in mind is that by default, when you try to run a blocked app, you will see a message like this show up in Windows:

This is a little annoying if you are trying to block a program someone else may try to run and you don’t want them to know loud and clear that they are being blocked! Not only that, it even tells them the program name, which they can just open and modify at will. It would have been nice if the program had some security like a password or something.

Luckily, if you open the program and click on Information and Statistics, there is a check box that says Display tray notifications when listed applications are blocked.

Uncheck that box and now when you try to run that program, nothing happens! It simply won’t load. The user will probably think something is wrong with Windows, you know the real reason. It’s not a highly secure program as someone could technically just go to the Task Manager and kill the process! So if you really want to hide this from someone, you should probably delete the shortcuts from the Start Menu and other visible locations.

Overall though, it does do a very good job of blocking processes/programs. It gives some rudimentary stats on how many times something was blocked, but it doesn’t break it down by program.

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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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Today I found a cool site called iTools.com, which is basically a ever-increasing set of online tools combined and presented nicely in one single interface.

So what kind of tools does iTools.com have available for you to use? Well, a bunch! They have currently broken it down into 5 categories, which will probably grow over time. Right now they are Information, Language, Media, Internet and Money. It’s not all tech-related stuff, but there are quite a few useful tools for techies.

For example, under Information, you can click on Encyclopedias and search multiple sites including WikiPedia, Wolfram Alpha, and Britannica directly from within the iTools website.

It’s almost like a startup page that you have for your browser with links to all your favorite sites. This is kind of a startup page for a bunch of tools that they have integrated into iTools. The queries are all sent to the appropriate sites, but the data is loaded up in iTools.com’s website.

The most useful category from an IT perspective is Internet. Here you have a nice set of tools including DNS, IP Address, Ping, Website Information, and Web Development.

Some of the tools on the site don’t work as expected and I’m not sure if that’s because the site has not been around for too long or what. I’m hoping the developers keep updating it because it’s a cool idea, but there needs to be a lot more tools available in order for me to use it on a regular basis.

However, if you’re looking to do several tasks at once and iTools.com contains the sites you normally use, you can save yourself from having to open multiple tabs to multiple sites and get the job done in one window.

Or even if you don’t care to use these tools via iTools, you can still browse all the different tools since there are many that I had not heard of before, but are very useful. For example, WatchMouse will check the load time of your site from 10 different sites all across the world.

Know of any other sites with links or lists to free online tools? If so, post a comment here and let us know! Enjoy!

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That’s where nice liked tweaker/optimizer programs come in handy. They give you easy access to common settings, optimization, and information about your system all in one place.

One of my favorite little apps is EnhanceMySe7en. They have a free version and a PRO version, but I have always used the free one without really finding a need for paying. You can see a list of features of the free and PRO here:

http://www.seriousbit.com/tweak_windows_7/comparison_table.htm

The program is broken down by sections and then sub-sections, which makes it really easy to get to a particular setting or option quickly. You have Tools, Most Used Tweaks, System, Optimizations and Customizations.

Under Tools, you can quickly get System Info, which gives you quite a bit of into about Windows, the Processor and memory. You can click on Processes, which can help you identify unrecognized process running on your computer.

What’s nice about this program is that it gives you a description of what each process does and where it comes from. Very helpful if you just want to learn about the esoteric processes running on your system.

Flip over to Disk Cleaner or Registry Cleaner and you got yourself a CCleaner basically built-in. You can clean out temp folders, delete invalid paths and registry entries and lots more.

What’s nice about Disk Cleaner is that it also gives you a chart of what’s taking up space on your hard drive, kind of like TreeSize, but again built right in. And if you click on Defragmenter, you can defragment not only the hard drive, but the registry too.

Under Most Used Tweaks, you can quickly tweak performance, security and network settings.

You can disable a lot of access using the security tab like the Control Panel, Command Prompt, Task Manager and lots more. Under Optimizations, you have a ton more options for optimizing memory, startup/shutdown speed, hard drives, etc.

Some of the stuff can be quite technical like for Startup/Shutdown, you can disable CD-ROM autorun, disable last Know Good Config, disable logging of system crashes, etc. Be careful here because some of these options really come in handy when you need to restore you system.

Finally, under Customizations, you can customize the Start Menu, the Desktop, the Taskbar, Media Player and Internet Explorer.

Overall, this program has a ton of features, options and settings. You can really do a lot with it! Enjoy!

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