At some point, we all go from organized to disorganized. Let's assume you are a business executive working in a busy corporate building. Chances are you are going to get a heavy workload and it will impact how clean your workspace is. However, this article is about keeping your desktop clean and clutter free, along with the use of software to find documents you have misplaced.

Using folders to keep your computer clutter-free

First things first—you need to allocate some time to clean up your work (or home) computer. Now although organizational management is highly regarded in a workplace, I doubt your boss will appreciate you spending 2-3 hours organizing the desktop in one go. The best method around this is to spend about 20 minutes per working day or when you finish work, stay in and use that time to get it done.

There are many ways one can keep the computer clutter-free with the use of folders. There are home methods, then we also have work methods. Most workplaces have a naming and saving policy, so this does not replace your workplaces policies. This section of the article might be best for those workplaces without a naming and saving policy or a home user. Workplaces usually use a numerical, geographical or alphabetical policy, but this section will cover different methods.  

Method One

For people with very large amounts of documents, you may use what I call the ABC Home Policy. What you do is make a folder for every alphabetical letter and then a maximum of one sub-folder for each project. For example, see the below photograph.

Note: (Libraries -> Documents -> [letter goes here A-Z] -> [sub-folders goes in here]).

In this above example, I created the letter "R" in Documents, then created the sub-documents (Resume, Run Time Space & Runescape).  However, this method should be done only for those with many, many documents.

Method Two

This one is simple, yet very effective for home based users. Now, not everyone will need all these folders, so select the ones that apply to you. The folders are: Temporary Data, To Be Archived, Downloaded Utilities, Master Documents, Templates, Scripts and eBooks. Here are the brief explanations for them all:

• Temporary Data: Basically, anything temporary (less than six weeks) should go in here.  
• To Be Archived: Anything and everything can be put in here, but the idea is to clean the folder out and find the files a new location before the end of the day. Whether that be in another folder or an external hard drive.
• Downloaded Utilities: Portable programs go in here. For example, even though I have an antivirus program and Malwarebytes, I like to have extra programs such as TDSSKiller and SuperAntiSpyware as a backup.  
• Master Documents: I like to store a lot of my important documents in here, e.g. my future plan. Basically anything that is important, yet not confidential (as that should be stored in a TrueCrypt volume).
• Templates: You may have a lot of business templates (e.g. financial ones, apology letters, etc.), and this is where they should be stored. 
• Scripts: You may write scripts or save a lot from others, they can be stored here. An example script can be found here. 
• eBooks: Yet another simple one. This is for those who save a lot of PDFs and eBooks. 

When you have finished creating the folders, send them all to Documents.

Tips

• Never go to bed with a messy desktop. Clean it up and put everything in the correct area.
• Install Everything; when you lose something, this will find it for you in a flash.
• You may also want to consider an organizational desktop background. Take a look at this one. 

This week's AON might be a little short, but finally, the Garradd comet's peak has come! I picked the Garradd comet to follow because it's a bright and easy-to-follow comet. Be sure to observe it! If you need help finding it, you can find more information here.

• Until March: The Garradd comet's peak is this month! Be sure to observe it!

• February 3: Moon is at its most northern declination.
• February 4: Io occultation, Europa transit.
• February 6: Io and Europa eclipses.

Below I have defined some of the events I will be notifying you about over the course of this repeating feature:

• Transit—When an astronomical object passes in front of another, like one of Jupiter's moons passing in front of Jupiter.
• Occultation—When one object is hidden by another object that passes between it and the observer.
• Moon Phases—It can be fun observing different phases of the moon. These are what fraction of the moon is dark. It is also fun observing the dark side.
• Conjunctions—Two (or more) bright objects in one field of view! This is when two or more astronomical objects are relatively close. Sometimes it is cool to see planets or bright stars pass by or behind the moon.
• Apogee or Perigee—This is when the moon is closest or furthest away from Earth. Not really for observing, but it can be interesting to view the moon when it is large and small.
• Meteor Showers—Easily observed by the naked eye or by binoculars.
• Comets—Not very often do these come around, but are amazing to watch.
• Lunar and Solar Eclipses—Mainly these are lunar eclipses, but if you get to see a solar eclipse you are very lucky!  This is when an astronomical object passes into a shadow of another.  This could be Jupiter's moons passing into its shadow, or vice versa.
• Solstices—This is when the Earth wobbles, or from Earth this is how the northernmost or southernmost point the sun is at. There are two each year. This is mainly for information.
• Equinoxes—This is when the earth is in the middle of its southernmost and northernmost position and it is equal. Again, this is mainly for knowledge.
• Declination of Moon—This is when the moon's path around the Earth is slightly tilted up or down. The declination is the furthest up or down it will go.

There may be more to come. When these are included, I will explain what they are.

Hello and welcome to another InfoSecurity World tutorial. The intent of this article is to teach one how to encrypt sensitive files. When set up correctly with a strong password, it would be almost impossible to hack. Even the FBI have had issues decrypting this software. I'm here to teach you how to create a general encrypted container—not the complex hidden TrueCrypt volume.  

What is the benefit to having a TrueCrypt container on the computer? There are many, and here are just some of them:

1. Great place to store your passwords;
2. Good for storing sensitive information such as your medical history and bank details;
3. Great place to store sensitive back up files. Examples include government documentation such as your Social Security Number (SSN), Birth Certificate and/or Citizenship Certificate; and
4. Having all your sensitive files in this encrypted container means that whenever your computer becomes infected, it cannot gather the information from what's in TrueCrypt. In addition to the above, should the computer get stolen, all your sensitive information will be encrypted and they won't be able to access it without the correct password.

In all, whatever you consider as "personal" or something that could be "destructive or dangerous in the hands of the hacker"—encrypt it.

Requirements

• Install the latest TrueCrypt from here before proceeding.
• Back up your computer in case something goes wrong.
• TrueCrypt works on Windows 7/Vista/XP/2000, Mac OS X and Linux.  It supports both 32 and 64 bit on Windows and Linux.

Creating the Truecrypt Volume

Do NOT proceed to these steps until you have both installed TrueCrypt and backed up your operating system.

Step 1 Create a Volume

Find Truecrypt on your computer and open it. Choose from the list of drive letters. I have chosen (F:) Drive to create my personal TC container.  When you've chosen which drive to use, click "Create Volume". 

Step 2 Create an Encrypted File Container

You may also choose from the others, but we will not be discussing those options today. It is also recommended that inexperienced users go with the method I'm creating. It doesn't make the data any less secure choosing this option. The other options are more about encrypting the entire computer which is for advanced users, not beginners.

Step 3 Create a Standard TrueCrypt Volume

Do not select "Hidden TrueCrypt Volume", as this is for more advanced users.

Step 4 Choose the Destination

Navigate to the "Documents" folder and for the file name, type something like 'TC Volume".  Do NOT click on an existing file or folder and press save. Doing so will overwrite it—all data within it will be lost. 

Step 5 Select Your Encryption Method

The default is recommended. AES-256 has being trusted for many years and therefore is more reliable. Note that this encryption method might be used by the U.S. government to protect classified information up to the Top Secret level.

Step 6 Choose the Container's Size

Think about what you will be storing and how much? It's a good idea to add a little bit of extra space in case you decide to store something big. 5 to 10 GB is usually enough.

Step 7 Choose a Password

I recommend at least a 20-character password. It should contain letters (lower and upper case), numbers, symbols and spaces. Here is a great guide to creating good passwords.  

Step 8 Set the Default File System

Here you need to make a decision on whether the container will be used to store large files (over 4GB). Depending on what you choose, it will let TC choose the best formatting option for you. 

Step 9 Create Your Encryption Key

Step nine is the fun part! Move your mouse randomly across the TC window to create your encryption key. The longer you move it the stronger the encryption will be. 30 seconds should be the absolute minimum, while a minute or two is ideal. What will happen after you've done this is TC will format your volume, which shouldn't take too long. 

Guess what? That's it! That's all there is to creating a TC volume. Just click Exit to quit the program and I'll show you how to open the volume.

Find TC and open it up. Click "Select File" and find the container. Press OK, then click "Mount" and enter the password as the below picture shows.

Warning

• The use of encryption is illegal in some countries. So before you install this, ensure that this program is legal in your country.

Image by opscode