Brent - What is the best way to ensure that nobody can recover any information from a hard drive that's being thrown away?

This is a question that we're asked all the time. While the average user will simply reformat the drive, the average "techie" has access to the kinds of software that can retrieve the information from the drive. There are a couple software options out there that will do a really good job at writing meaningless information to the entire drive (thus destroying what you had stored on it).

If you are trying to erase an external or non-operating system drive, you can use a piece of software from Acronis called Acronis Drive Cleanser 6.0. For $49.99, it will erase any partition or entire drive you tell it to and make sure the data won't be recovered. The easy-to-follow step-by-step wizard makes Drive Cleanser 6.0 a perfect solution when you are getting rid of an old PC, upgrading a hard drive, returning a leased computer or re-deploying a PC within your company.

The other option, while being free, takes a bit more know-how. It is called Darik's Boot And Nuke. It is a self-contained boot disk that automatically and securely wipes the contents of any hard disk that it can detect. With the power to prevent all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis, Darik's Boot And Nuke comes in handy when wiping a drive to throw away / sell or to clean up for a new Windows installation, but be careful. Darik's Boot And Nuke will wipe ANY Hard Drive plugged into your system at the time of booting.

With today's growing technology, how many remotes are you keeping track of in your living room? Conservatively, you may likely have one for the TV, the DVD Player, the DVR / Cable box and maybe a CD changer. For the gadget-lovers, there are Xbox 360s, Apple computers, remote-controlled A/V switchers and more! Most universal remotes tend to work OK for basic functions like power, volume and channel changing, but the Logitech Harmony 670 Advanced Universal Remote works great for even the most advanced devices.

If you are comfortable plugging it into your computer to set up the programming, this remote will individually control all of your brand-name entertainment electronics with access to all menus and settings on each. You can even program color-coded action buttons such as "Watch Movie" that will change the input of your television, power on your DVD Player and sound system and even start playing the movie with the touch of one button! The remote comes complete with a "help" button so that anybody in the family will be able to configure it.

Webroot E-Mail Security:

E-mail is the most vital method of communication for businesses around the globe and most companies cannot fully function when e-mail is down. Increasingly, e-mail delivery systems strain under the rampant influx of spam, viruses and other malicious threats which account for 70% (or more) of daily traffic. The Webroot E-Mail Security SaaS was developed to preserve your systems and your time.

Business Continuity Add-on:

Business Continuity means that your service is constantly active and available at all times - not just when disaster strikes. Unlike many other solutions, there is no delay in delivering critical emails in times of crisis. You can switch over to a graphically-rich web interface for full email functionality no matter where you are, re-route email if your mail servers are lost and re-synchronize email once the disaster is over. 28 days of mail are made available from secure, mirrored data centers in separate locations to prevent the chance of data loss or corruption. DCG is recommending Webroot's business continuity solution for all clients who need 100% uptime.Contact DCG for more information.

If you are a Windows Vista user, you are probably used to the pop-up security system that appears at nearly every actionable item from installing software to changing the time on your system clock. Winability Software heard many cries for help and developed a very small, efficient program called TweakUAC.

This FREE program, at only 85KB in size, does not require installation of any kind and will provide you with a very easy method (see image above) of turning the UAC on for all users, off for all users or off for Administrators only.

If you are using Vista Pro or Ultra, you can fine-tune your UAC settings by following the steps below:

• Select "Start" and type "secpol.msc" without the quotes
• Navigate to "Local Security Settings" on the left
• Click on "Local Policies" and then "Security Options"
• Scroll to the bottom for the User Account Control options
• Select "Switch UAC to the quite mode."