Where has all the space gone on your computer?

You want to find out how much space your music collection is taking up?
You want to find out why you can no longer fit downloaded movies onto your harddrive?
Here is the answer...

You laptop or PC has a certain amount of hard disk space which you can store files on. In a standard computer you can find out how much that is by clicking on 'my computer' and right clicking' on the 'C' drive. Select 'properties', and you should now see the size of your hard disk and also how much free space you have available.

But if you want to find out where the space has actually gone on the computer, which files and folders are what site... then you need "TreeSize Free 2.3" This is a small program that's free to download and easy to use.

Once you have downloaded and installed it, you run the program and it will start to give you the size of each folder. Each folder can be expanded in Explorer-like style to see the size of its subfolders.

Something to note: You will not be able to open files from this program, and the program doesn't remember the data it collected so you have to run it from scratch every time you want to see the size of your folders but this is no big deal as I don't expect that this is something that you would need to do often, the process doesn’t take long and it can run in the background whilst you do other things.

How to get this program:
1. Go to http://download.cnet.com/
2. Enter "TreeSize Free 2.3" and scroll down to find it amongst the results
3. Press 'download'
4. Save it somewhere and run it to install it

Protect your data in 3 simple ways

Here are three simple steps to ensure that when you walk away from your computer, people will not be able to see what you are working on.

1. Set up a password so you have to log on everytime you start the computer. This is the most basic protection you really should have in place - and most workplaces already have this.

You can password protect individual files, folders or the whole computer.
Create strong passwords that:
- Are at least 6 characters
- Include upper and lowercase letters
- Contain at least 1 special character (@$*>?) and/or numbers

To set up a password there are a number of ways but an easy one is to press these 3 buttons at the same time; 'Ctrl' 'Alt' and 'Delete' and click on 'Change password'

2. Set up a screensaver with password protection - this means that when you walk away from your computer a screensaver will automatically start after a preset number of minutes and when you are ready to start work again, you will have to enter in your password to be able to access your work.

To turn on your screensaver with password protection, go to the ‘Control Panel’ and look under ‘Display’. Go to the ‘Screensaver’ tab, where you will see the available options. Set the amount of minutes the system should wait before it start the screensaver when the computer is not being used. Tick the box for password protection.

3. Finally before you walk away from your computer at work or in a public place, press these 3 buttons at the same time; 'Ctrl' 'Alt' and 'Delete' and select 'Lock Computer'. In this setting all your files remain exactly as they are, but noone will be able to see them or access them while you walk away. When you come back you simply enter your password and you can continue working as before.

These are just 3 simple techniques you can use to protect your data!

Let us know if you have any other handy tips like this. Remember the team at B Technologies is here to help.