I like to think that I'm generally aware of new tools and technologies, but sometimes good technology slips by in areas where I'm not looking.

I've used WinZip for eons for situations where I have to e-mail files to people (yes, I even paid for a license!). And I have used WinRAR for years for larger files, like SQL Server backups and VHD backups. Between those two products, I thought I had the compression category pretty well covered.

Well, a few weeks ago I randomly stumbled across a reference to a free, open source compression software utility called 7-Zip. Apparently most of my friends and colleagues had heard of it, and one has been using it for quite a while.

Since I like WinZip's convenience and speed, and I'm a big fan of WinRAR's compression performance, I was skeptical that this free tool could compare with both WinZip and…

How many passwords do you have to know or remember? I think if you took the time to count them all, you would be pretty surprised.

Multiple e-mail accounts, web site logins, client VPN connections, RDP server logins, GP logins, GP system passwords, and FTP sites are just some of the passwords I have to manage.

Multiply these by the number of clients you have to manage, and you will quickly exceed your ability to remember them, especially if you haven't used them for several months.

I used to track most of the common passwords in memory, and then used a password protected Excel spreadsheet for reference.

But when I added in all of my personal passwords (bank web site, credit card site, health insurance site, retirement account site, dozens of e-commerce sites, ATM pins, frequent flyer sites, etc.), it was clear that all of those passwords were too cumbersome to manage.

I spent a few weeks evaluating different apps that help manage passwords. I tried common free and open source options and I tried a few commercial products. I think I eventually went to CNet Reviews to see what product they ranked as the best password manager.

At the time, they recommended a product called RoboForm, so I downloaded the trial version. At first, I was pretty puzzled by the product, and…

I must have spent hundred of hours copying locations of files.

Here is what I generally do

1. F6

2. Ctrl + C

3. Ctrl + V in notepad or email editor

4. Click on the file

5. Click F2

6. Click Ctrl + C

7. Go back to notepad or email…

If you have ever had a hard drive fill up unexpectedly, or desperately needed to free up additional space on a hard drive, you will likely appreciate WinDirStat. It is a free, light weight application that provides disk usage information.

Although the massive, inexpensive hard drives available today are making disk space less of an issue, laptop drives and expensive server drives are often relatively small and do sometimes get filled up with large files.

Old SQL Server backups and bloated SQL Server mdf and ldf files are just two examples…

Have you ever made a mistake trying to figure out times in different time zones? It happens to me all of the time--I forget whether a state is in Mountain or Central or Eastern. Or I accidentally add an hour instead of subtracting. Clearly not rocket science, but definitely an error prone process.

I've found two tools (so far) that help me keep track of time zones.

The first is FoxClocks, an Add-On for the Firefox web browser. This utility is essential for helping me coordinate with people in other time zones and countries, since I can quickly glance at my browser and know what time it is in any city or country around the world.



FoxClocks has served me…

If you are a roving consultant, you've probably built up a set of tools, technologies, and tricks to help you work more efficiently in all sorts of situations. For the mobile consultant, you have probably had to work at a free desk during the rare visit to the office, or at random workplaces at client sites, airports and airplanes, and endless coffee shops in between. You may have had to pull files off of a floppy disk (remember those?), open an Access 2.0 database, open a 2GB text file, use VLookup on a giant Excel file, connect to a client VPN from a rental car in a parking lot, you name it. My favorite was having to sit on a milk crate and rest my laptop on a broken office chair while working at a client.

Well, I've certainly had to field alot of random requests in random places over the years, so I thought I would occasionally share some…

Several non-technical friends and colleagues have asked me how to manage and secure sensitive or confidential data.

One is an independent CPA that has client information in his tax preparation and accounting software.  Another is involved in high stakes business transactions and legal proceedings, and travels to dozens of countries every year to meet with investors, attorneys, and governments.  Another friend has a business that provides health insurance, retirement plans, and other employee benefits to businesses, and has to store a lot of very sensitive medical and financial information.

In the Dynamics GP world, the most sensitive data that I've worked with are client databases with full HR and Payroll records, or client data files that have confidential employee information, including name, address, phone, SSN, etc.  Just today I received some files containing employee information for an HR and Payroll integration to Dynamics GP, so I immediately wanted to encrypt the files.

While there is no single answer to the question of how such confidential information should be managed, when most people think of securing such data, they often use two phrases:  "password protect" and "encrypt".  It's a good start, but that's often the limit of their knowledge.

Before discussing details, I usually ask the person what concern or risk they are trying to address.  How sensitive or confidential is the data?  Is it only of interest to competitors?  Would criminals want it?  Would law enforcement want it?  Would lawyers or private investigators want it?  Would a government want it?


Most people just don't want the data wandering around publicly, and don't want it exposed if a computer is hacked or stolen.  But some people do legitimately need to ensure that certain files cannot be accessed by a government agency, even if the computer is confiscated.

Although there are probably lots of different options, I usually offer the following choices:

1) Put a password on the Excel or Word file. …