recovery

Out of memory, out of luck

Those who rely on automatic log-in features may get in trouble when they have to actually remember what resides behind those asterisks. This concept for KRyLack Password Decryptor offers help for those situations, but we ran into problems with its functionality in our tests.

The program launches a tastefully designed, easy-to-use interface that's simple to comprehend. Each button and field is carefully labeled to explain the steps for using this tool. We liked its look and feel. Unfortunately, it just didn't perform well in our tests.

By dragging an icon from its interface over the asterisks in a … Read more

Cree wins contract to light the Pentagon

LED manufacturer Cree has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to supply over 4,200 recessed LED lights for the Pentagon, the company announced Tuesday. Financial details were not disclosed.

Testing commissioned by the U.S. government determined that Cree's LR24 recessed LED lights would offer a 22 percent energy reduction compared with fluorescent lights, and save the Pentagon 140 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

The government also commissioned a cost analysis that showed the lights would yield a payback of less than four years once things like energy savings, maintenance, and … Read more

Symantec, VMware team up for disaster recovery

Symantec is going to collaborate with VMware to sell its disaster-recovery products for virtual environments.

For mutual customers, VMware ESX will be integrated with Symantec's Veritas Cluster Server (VCS) disaster-recovery product. Support will be provided through TSANet, a database that participating vendors use to coordinate support responses, and exchange support information.

"VMware is pleased to see Symantec deliver solutions like VCS that integrate with and complement the value of VMware virtualization," Shekar Ayyar, vice president of infrastructure alliances at VMware, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Symantec's VCS is designed to protect applications from unplanned downtime … Read more

NASA unveils lunar image recovery project

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif.--Scientists who want to see how the moon has changed in the years since the Apollo missions will soon have the ability to do just that.

That's thanks to a new NASA project in which the agency has restored 42-year-old images taken of and from the moon, all of which will be made freely available to the public.

And while many people will surely have an interest in examining the iconic images, several NASA personnel on hand Thursday at an event celebrating the project explained that it provides the real scientific benefit of making it possible … Read more

ElectraTherm gets funds for 'waste-heat generator'

ElectraTherm, which has developed a relatively small machine for making electricity from waste heat, has raised $2.6 million and plans a follow-on round next year.

The Carson City, Nev.-based company's ElectraTherm Green Machine is designed to squeeze power from the heat thrown off at industrial facilities like factories, saw mills, or oil and gas operations.

The company intends to make units that range in size from 30 kilowatts to 500 kilowatts, enough to offset electricity use at an industrial facility. A 50 kilowatt unit can generate roughly what 40 U.S. homes consume.

The money from the $… Read more

Make your own PC rescue disk

One of the worst feelings in the world is a computer that won't boot up. How can you fix a problem if you can't even access the hard drive? A good preventative measure is to create a rescue disk for your computer. Watch our video then head back here for the steps.

Your computer may boot up into a safe or recovery mode all on its own--which is great--but if the power's fine and the dang thing just won't boot, you need a rescue disk. If you still have Windows or Mac OS X, your install … Read more

Smokestack heat: Fuel of the future?

How's this for a tantalizing possibility: rather than install solar panels on your roof, the lost heat from your furnace could power your home.

That's not yet a product, but a growing number of scientists and clean-tech companies are trying to coax usable energy from smokestacks and other waste-heat sources.

A global push toward energy efficiency is prodding more industrial outfits to reuse heat from their operations that would otherwise be lost to the skies.

Meanwhile, improving thermoelectric technology that converts heat into electricity is being fitted onto everything from car exhaust pipes to furnace flues.

It's … Read more

Featured Freeware: Pandora Recovery

The name Pandora originates in Greek mythology, and it means "all-giving." It's an appropriate name for Pandora Recovery, which can give you back files you've deleted--even those gone for months.

Now for NTFS and FAT-formatted volumes, Pandora functions by scanning the hard drive and building an index of existing files and deleted file markers. This, in turn, allows the dead files to be brought back to life--as long as the file format is currently supported by the computer. Users can browse for deleted files, search for specific ones, preview certain file types like images, and get … Read more

Power Downloader resurrects your dead (files)

The name Pandora originates in Greek mythology, and it means "all-giving." It's an appropriate name for the program that Power Downloader recommends for you this week, too. Pandora Recovery is a well-designed freeware program that can restore files you've deleted or thought lost because of a hard-disk failure.

Accidentally permanently deleting a file is a fact of computing life, but as long as the hard drive is NTFS-formated, Power D happily recommends Pandora to all of his friends. Whether Kitty Kilobyte needs to recover an old spreadsheet long since gone, or Francois Foto didn't realize … Read more