GMail Drive shell extension

posted by palani on 25 feb 2008

Please note that GMail Drive is still an experimental tool. There’s still a number of limitations of the file-system (such as total filename size must be less than 65 characters). Since the tool hooks up with the free Gmail Service provided by Google, changes in the Gmail system may break the tool’s ability to function. I cannot guarantee that files stored in this manner will be accessible in the future.

GMail Drive is a Shell Namespace Extension that creates a virtual filesystem around your Google Mail account, allowing you to use Gmail as a storage medium.

GMail Drive creates a virtual filesystem on top of your Google Gmail account and enables you to save and retrieve files stored on your Gmail account directly from inside Windows Explorer. GMail Drive literally adds a new drive to your computer under the My Computer folder, where you can create new folders, copy and drag’n'drop files to.

Ever since Google started to offer users a Gmail e-mail account, which includes storage space of 4000 megabytes, you have had plenty of storage space but not a lot to fill it up with. With GMail Drive you can easily copy files to your Google Mail account and retrieve them again.

When you create a new file using GMail Drive, it generates an e-mail and posts it to your account. The e-mail appears in your normal Inbox folder, and the file is attached as an e-mail attachment. GMail Drive periodically checks your mail account (using the Gmail search function) to see if new files have arrived and to rebuild the directory structures. But basically GMail Drive acts as any other hard-drive installed on your computer.

You can copy files to and from the GMail Drive folder simply by using drag’n'drop like you’re used to with the normal Explorer folders.

Because the Gmail files will clutter up your Inbox folder, you may wish to create a filter in Gmail to automatically move the files (prefixed with the GMAILFS letters in the subject) to your archived mail folder.

Google is preparing for Gmail 2.0 and restructured their login. They will allow 3rd party tools to access an interim version for some time, but be prepared that GMail Drive may need to be updated again soon. Version 1.0.12 fixes the login, and now works with Google Apps accounts (hosted domains) too.

 

Buffalo 100GB External SSD

Buffalo has a new line of USB 2.0 external solid state drives (SDD) (product page – in Japanese). Given their low power consumption, they can be powered by the USB port, which is always practical. From a storage point of view, SSDs are more expensive than their disk counterparts, but they are also arguably more resistant to shocks (although disk drives aren’t that bad these days). The price is steep:

· SHD-UHR32GS: 32GB, $310

· SHD-UHR64GS: 64GB, $660

· SHD-UHR100GS: 100GB, $950

Firefox extensions’ roundup

Add-ons for the browser are being introduced to boost its potential

The availability of a variety of free communication tools is the hallmark of the net.

 

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Several add-ons are being released for the Firefox (FF) browser to enhance its potential. This edition of Netspeak takes yet another look at a few of them.Besides being a preferred email service, for many, Gmail has become a major communication/file storage tool as well. A couple of FF extensions, meant for exploiting Gmail’s file storage/communication features are discussed here.GspaceNetSpeak has already discussed a few tools (such as the Gmaildrive — http://www.viksoe.dk/code/gmail. htm) that enable you to use your Gmail acount as an online file storage device. The FF extension Gspace ( http://www.getgspace.com/ ) is a similar product with additional features.One advantage of Gspace is the availability of an easy-to- use graphics user interface (GUI). Another feature worth a mention is the facility to manage multiple Gmail accounts. However, you cannot log in to multiple accounts simultaneously. Once installed, Gspace leaves an icon on the browser’s bottom-right corner, for opening the Gspace control panel.gTalk

One of the popular features of Gmail is its chat facility that lets you exchange instant messages with your Gmail contacts. In fact, the chat facility has become an important means to build a personal online community for many. Google provides a chat client (gTalk) for augmenting the utility of the chat facility with additional features (voice chatting, file transfer, Gmail notification and the like).A shortcoming of the current version of gTalk is the lack of conferencing or ‘group chat’ facility. To circumvent this limitation you can use the Google talk gadget ( http://www.google.com/talk/ ). Once the gadget is launched, you will find your chat buddies, listed on a web page. To initiate the chat, click on the buddy’s name (as you usually do). Now, if you propose to bring another online contact into this conversation, click on the ‘GroupChat’ button.

Partychat

is yet another means by which you can implement group chat facility on gTalk. Partychat allows you to create your own chat rooms, where others can join for a group conversation. For this, just add partychat@gmail.com as your buddy, create a chat room by sending the message ‘/create chatroom-name’.Your friends can enter this chatroom by sending the message ‘/join chatroom-name’ to party@gmail.com .For more details: http://googlesystem.blogspot. com /2007/09/chat-rooms-for- google-talk.html.If you wish to chat without visiting Gmail or installing gTalk, use the Firefox extension, gTalk sidebar (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4708). Once the sidebar extension is installed, you can bring in the gTalk gadget inside the browser sidebar by pressing the keys ‘Alt+g’.Though modern web sites generally publish webfeeds for helping its readers keep up with the latest content on them, many sites still don’t have a webfeed.To obtain the latest content available on such web sites, the extension Update scanner (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3362) could come handy.

Search assistant

While invoking a web search on a specific subject, you may not have the information on all the terms related to it – particularly when the subject is an unfamiliar one.Some means of obtaining the terms related to the subject being handled, along with search results, could be useful in refining the search and thereby producing more relevant search output.In this regard, you may find the search extension, ‘Search radar’ (http://searchradar.webaroo.com/) useful. Once integrated into your browser, search radar automatically displays a set of terms related to the search query, whenever you do a Google search.

Harry Potter USB Worm on The Loose

Posted by palaniappan on july 3rd ,2007

A new Harry Potter-themed worm is making its way into USB drives across the globe, posing as a file containing a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the eagerly-anticipated final novel in the Harry Potter series. Web security firm, Sophos has warned computer users of the worm called W32/Hairy-A, which claims to reveal the secrets of the latest book.

According to Sophos, the worm can automatically infect a PC when users plug in USB drives which carry the infected file. If the users have allowed USB drives to ‘auto-run’ they will see a file called ‘HarryPotter-The Deathly Hallows-doc’. The corrupted Word document simply states that ‘Harry Potter is dead’ while the worm then locates other removable drives that it could infect.

Also, after infecting Windows computers, the Hairy-A worm then creates several new users which have the same name as main characters from the Harry Potter series namely Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ron Weasly. After logging in, users are shown a message saying “Read and repent. The end is near, repent from your evil ways O ye folks, lest you burn in hell..JK Rowling especially.”

Every time an infected user opens the Internet Explorer browser, their start page will be redirected to an Amazon.com Web page, selling a spoof copy of Rowling’s latest novel, called “Harry Putter and the Chamber of Cheesecakes.”

Sophos describes the malware as an ‘old school’ virus written to cause mischief and to show off, rather than to rake in illicit funds. Security experts at firm advise users to disable the auto-run facility of Windows so removable devices such as USB keys and CD ROMs do not automatically launch when they are attached to a PC. Also, computer users are advised to check removable media checked for malware before use.

This is the second attempt by miscreants to use the popularity of Harry Potter to exploit PC users. In 2005, web crooks tried to trick users into paying for a supposed advance copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince a few weeks before the release of the sixth book in the series. The year before, a virus posed as a copy of the film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks

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