Solution for Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) unable to run after Windows update

Yesterday, the automated Windows update of my laptop installed some updates, and one of them related to Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) failed.

Since then, the Microsoft Security Essentials unable to run, and the Action Center keeps on telling me that there is no antivirus and spyware protection running on my Windows 7.

I managed to fix it by this way:

• Download a new installer of Microsoft Security Essentials from Microsoft website (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security-essentials-download).
• Download OneCareCleanup from Microsoft website (http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/c/b/4cb845e7-1076-437b-852a-7842a8ab13c8/OneCareCleanup.exe)
• Run the OneCareCleanup.exe
• Reboot the computer
• Reinstall Microsoft Security Essentials with the installer downloaded just now

Note: If you directly reinstall MSE without running the OneCareCleanup tool, the installation will stop halfway, giving out a 0x80070643 error.

Microsoft Office 2013 traditional suite (retail box) no longer allow installation in more than 1 PC

Microsoft has just launched their Office 2013 suite, which is generally available in 2 different formats:

• the cloud-based Office 365 chargeable in yearly subscription basis, one subscription entitled to installation in 5 devices regardless PC, laptop, tablet or Mac.
• the traditional Office 2013 as Full Packaged Product (FPP - retail box) or Electronic Software Delivery (ESD - Internet download), paid once in a life time for the license.

The previous version of MS Office 2010 FPP products allow installation in multiple computers:

• MS Office Home and Student 2010 - up to 3 computers within the same household
• MS Office Home and Business 2010 - 1 computer and 1 laptop (mobile device) used by the same user
• MS Office Professional 2010 - 1 computer and 1 laptop (mobile device) used by the same user 

However, the new MS Office 2013, regardless Office Home and Student 2013, Office Home and Business 2013 or Office Professional 2013, is only licensed for 1 user and 1 computer only.

Beside this, the previous license agreement for MS Office 2010 retail products is transferable from one computer to another. You can uninstall the legitimate copy of MS Office 2010 from one computer, and use its license key to install and activate a new copy of MS Office 2010 in another computer, not more than one time every 90 days. You can also make a one-time transfer of ownership of the software and license to another user (i.e. sell or give it to another person).

The new MS Office 2013 was initially non-transferable, meaning once it is installed and activated in one computer, no other computer can use the same license, regardless the original is uninstalled or scrapped or not. This include situation when you want to shift from old or damaged computer to a new computer.

Anyhow, due to numerous protest by the users, there is news that Microsoft has just changed their policy to also allow MS Office 2013 to be transferable now.

How to put tick and cross in MS Excel

While working with MS Excel, sometimes you might want to mark a cell with a tick or cross. You can do that with either of these 2 fonts: Webdings and Wingdings 2.

Set the font of the cell(s) to Webdings, you can put a tick by typing the character "a", and putting a cross by typing the character "r".

Alternatively, set the font of the cell(s) to Wingdings 2, you  put a tick by typing the character "P", and putting a cross by typing the character "O".

You might want to share this trick with your friends, classmates or colleagues.

The Edge Financial Daily app for smartphones and tablets

Digital format of The Edge Financial Daily business paper has been made available to smart mobile devices including iPad, iPhone, iPod, Android smartphones and Android tablets for quite some times.

It is delivered with the free The Edge Financial Daily app available in Google Play Store and iTune AppStore. Currently, the digital format of the paper can be downloaded for free too.

However, this app doesn't bring good and convenient user experience to its readers yet, and still need quite a lot of improvement.

• The app is running on Adobe AIR, which requires user to install Adobe AIR app before able to run The Edge Financial Daily app. Adobe AIR consumes about 9 MB of storage space of your smartphone/tablet.
• Before we are able to read the paper, we need to download it from the Internet. The file size is around 30 MB per paper, taking some times to download, and consuming quite a lot of precious storage space of your smartphone/tablet too. Worse still if you are not connecting to the Internet via WiFi or HSDPA and need to download with slow speed, it really tests your patient.
• Probably because it is an Adobe AIR app instead of native app, its navigation respond is sluggish, page loading and rendering is slow too.
• The navigation buttons don't respond well. Sometimes need to tap a few times before it start working.
• It does not support multi-touch gesture. To zoom the text, you need to double tap the screen instead of pinching.
• I don't find any feature to jump to a particular page. Everytime you open the paper, you need to start reading from its cover page.
• Deleting the downloaded papers (especially to save valuable storage space) is a pain. There is no multi-select deletion. You need to delete the files one by one, and each deletion takes a few steps to complete.

It is very nice to be able to read the digital format of The Edge Financial Daily anytime, anywhere with our smart mobile devices. With this digital format delivered through the Internet, we no longer need to look for the paper in newspaper stand, or need to wait for the paper boy to deliver at our doorstep. Being paperless, it is environmental friendly too.

However, it would be better if the app can be redeveloped as native app instead of using Adobe AIR, optimize on the download time and file size, and improve on user interface and experience.

yEd - freeware for professional diagrams drawing

Talking about professional diagrams drawing, including Organization Chart, Venn Diagram, Flow Chart, Entity-Relationship (ER) diagram, Use Case Diagram, UML Class Diagram, Network Diagram, BPMN Business Process Diagram, Semantic Diagram, Decision Tree, Family Tree, Swimlane Diagram, ... and so on, what would be in your mind?

I am sure you will think of MS Visio, which is now part of MS Office suite. Visio is superb, but it is not free. For the free one, you might think of the open source Dia, now under GNOME project. Dia is good enough for most of the people looking for free MS Visio alternative, only that you need a lot of effort to use Dia to produce nice looking diagrams, and to maintain a relatively large diagram.

I've found yEd, a freeware developed by yWorks of Germany, which enables us to draw and maintain professional diagrams easily, and able to produce nice looking diagrams. One of its selling point is that it has a powerful feature that enables us to automatically rearrange all the elements in the diagram into well organized nice looking position, just with a single click.

The video below is a 90 seconds introduction to yEd.

yEd is running on Java, therefore it is cross-platform, able to run in Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, etc. It can import diagram/data from multiple format, including GraphML, GML, MS Excel spreadsheet, GEDCOM, TGF, XML through XSLT, etc. It can also export to multiple format, including JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, PDF, SWF (Flash), SVG, EMF, EPS, HTML imagemap, etc.

Here are some sample diagrams drawn with yEd:

 

Click here for more information and download of yEd.

FBI seized Applanet.net, Appbucket.net and Snappzmarket.com for hosting pirated Android apps

The US government has shutdown 3 Android apps marketplace websites namely Applanet.net, Appbucket.net and Snappzmarket.com recently.

Those websites are known to host and distribute popular Android apps which are selling with a price in the official Google Play Store and/or Amazon Marketplace, etc.

Actually, most Android apps are selling at a low price, even lower than a cup of Starbucks coffee, and we just need to pay for once to download the apps and able to enjoy all future version updates/upgrades. Even when we changed to a new Android phone, the apps we purchased before will be automatically installed into the new phone.

Smartphone users should build the mentallity of paying for the apps that they find useful, which they like to keep in their phone for their use. Most of the time, the cost of the apps is less than 1% of the cost of their smartphone.

FBI seizure of these 3 piracy marketplaces is a meaningful move to somehow educate the users not to avoid paying for non-free apps. If the mobile developers are well rewarded by producing popular apps, that will encourage more and more fantastic apps to be produced.

Reference: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/376360/20120822/piracy-infringement-android-apps-download-applications.htm

Interesting Android app to display Chinese family relationship terminology 亲戚关系

The Chinese has a very systematic and complex family relationship (a.k.a. kinship) terminology system which maintains a separate designation for almost every one of ego's kin based on their generation, gender, lineage, relative age, etc.

Do you know the Chinese family designation of each and everyone of your relatives? I've found an interesting Android app by chance, which can help you to quickly find out the correct designation. So, no more embarrassment in calling your relatives correctly when you meet with them next time during family gathering, wedding dinner, Chinese New Year visiting, etc.

The app is called My Relatives (亲戚关系) and you can get it from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lanhk.myrelatives.

Converting PDF back to Word or Excel file for free

I have been using the PDF conversion tools by Nitro PDF to convert PDF files back to Word or Excel format for quite some times. The result of conversion is pretty satisfactory.

They provide free conversion service, whereby we can submit the PDF file to them via their website, and they will email to us the converted Word or Excel file. The major limitations of this free conversion service are: can only submit 1 file at a time, and there is a submitted file size limit of 10MB only.

Anyhow, they also sell the Nitro Pro standalone conversion software that can be installed in your PC and perform local conversion without going through the Internet. Batch conversion is possible with Nitro Pro, and the file size limit is eliminated as well.

• Click here to go to the PDF to Word online conversion website
• Click here to go to the PDF to Excel online conversion website

80% discount for Advanced SystemCare Pro (3 PCs license) @ $12.97 only

From the 1st release of Windows 95 to the latest release of Windows 7, it is a common issue of all computers (regardless PCs or servers) running on Microsoft Windows OS that over time, the OS will become slower and slower, and the harddisk storage will also filled up with more and more junk files.

Advanced SystemCare by IObit is the tool to restore and maintain the performance of your Windows OS close to the moment it is freshly installed. There are 2 versions of it, the Free version with basic function, and the Pro version with tonnes of functions to clean, fix, optimize and tune up your Windows computer.

I have been using Advanced SystemCare Pro for more than a year, from Version 3 until Version 5 now. For each new version release, they introduced more and more functions, and it never fail in tuning up my Windows computers so far.

One of the beauty of this software is it can automatically and quietly perform its scan, fix and clean tasks when your computer is idle.

Just to share with you that now, there is a promotion for this software until 31 March 2012. You can get Advanced SystemCare Pro license for 3 computers, and a Windows Tweaks Guide eBook in PDF format, at the price of $12.97 only, which is 80% of their normal price. This price is even cheaper than my Norton Internet Security annual subscription fee.

The license will last for 1 year, and you get unlimited software update and upgrade as well as technical support along the period.

The trick of installing all software in Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 successfully

Recently when I tried to install Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Design Standard into a PC, 2 of the software were having error during the installation process, and unable to be installed. They are: Acrobat X Pro and Photoshop CS 5 (64-bit).

After some trial and error, I finally found the way to get all the software in the Adobe CS 5.5 suite to completely installed into the PC running Windows 7 Professional (64-bit).

The error encountered during the installation of the 2 software above was caused by the latest version of Adobe Reader and Flash Player already installed in the PC, resulting in dependency problem to some of the older version components in Acrobat X Pro and Photoshop CS 5 (64-bit). The 32-bit version of Photoshop CS 5 is successfully installed though.

The trick is, uninstall Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Shockwave Player, Adobe AIR and any other Adobe software newer than CS 5.5 (released in early 2011) from the PC, and reboot the Windows system.

Then, install all software in the CD of Adobe CS 5.5 to the PC. The error encountered before should be eliminated by now.

After installation, run the software update to update the installed Adobe software to latest version.

Then, reinstall the latest version of Adobe Flash Player and Adobe Shockwave Player from Adobe website. If you still need the Adobe Reader to read PDF files despite you are having the more powerful Acrobat X Pro, you can install it from Adobe website too. Adobe AIR should be installed along the CS 5.5 installation process, you can check and update it to the latest version as well.

Enabling WiFi wireless tethering in Garmin-Asus A10 to share 3G Internet with Samsung Galaxy Tab

I have just mentioned that Garmin-Asus A10 smartphone is a very good companion with Samsung Galaxy Tab. One of the crucial function for this companionship is wireless tethering, which is definitely possible but also not so straightforward.

This is because Garmin-Asus A10 is running on Android 2.1 (Éclair) which doesn't come with tethering feature, and Samsung Galaxy Tab is not able to connect to Adhoc WiFi hotspot (the portable WiFi hotspot running in Android smartphone or iPhone) without some tweaking.

You will need to root both the A10 and Galaxy Tab in order to achieve this. Rooting can be done using DooMLoRD's Easy Rooting Toolkit v4.0.

Once successfully rooted, you can proceed to install Barnacle WiFi Tether from Android Market to enable tethering function in Garmin-Asus A10.

You also need to replace the stock /system/bin/wpa_supplicant file in Galaxy Tab to a patched one to enable it to connect to any Adhoc WiFi hotspot. Here is the detail instruction and here is the wpa_supplicant file suitable for Samsung Galaxy Tab running on Gingerbread.

Now, tethering is ready. You only have to do the above for one time, and can enjoy the tethering function for unlimited times.

To tether the 3G Internet of Garmin-Asus A10 to Samsung Galaxy Tab, run the Barnacle WiFi Tether app in A10 and start the tethering. Then, enable WiFi connection in Galaxy Tab, and you will soon see them associated.

If you have other Android smartphone running on 2.2 (Froyo) and above or Apple iPhone 3Gs and above, you can also tether to Galaxy Tab after replacing the wpa_supplicant file in the Galaxy Tab with the patched one as mentioned above.

Upgrade phone SD card and move data from old memory card to new one the safe and flawless way

I have just purchased a 16GB Class-10 micro-SDHC memory card to replace the existing 8GB Class-4 micro-SDHC memory card that comes with my HTC Incredible S Android smartphone.

The question is: how can I migrate all the data in the existing SD card to the new one, so that when I plug in the new SD card into the phone, all my data will remain there and all the apps continue working as before?

After some trial and error, I have found the following perfect way.

Step 1: Go to Settings > Storage of your phone, and tap on "Umount SD Card".

Step 2: Switch off the phone and take out the SD card from its external memory slot.

Step 3: Slot in the old micro-SD card into an SD card adapter, and slot in the adapter to your computer's card reader.

Step 4: Use XXCOPY to backup all the content in the SD card to your computer storage. You can download XXCOPY for free here.

I use this utility instead of the Windows copy-and-paste method to ensure all the data are copied over, and to preserve the directory date and attributes as before.

In order to use XXCOPY, go to Windows > Run... and key-in "cmd" to go to command console.

Sample command: xxcopy f: c:\backup\sdcard /backup
where f: is the drive where the SD card is mounted, and c:\backup\sdcard is the destination to copy the data over. The "backup" parameter tells XXCOPY to preserve all the dates and attributes of the original files and directories.

Step 5: When the backup is done, safely remove (eject) the SD card adapter from the computer's card reader slot. Take out the micro-SD card from the adapter.

Step 6: Slot in the new micro-SD card into an SD card adapter, and slot in the adapter to your computer's card reader.

Step 7: Format the new micro-SD card.

Go to Windows > Computer, right click on the SD card and select "Format..." from the menu.

Make sure the file system is FAT32 before you start the format action.

Step 8: Use XXCOPY to copy all the content in your backup folder to the new SD card. This is exactly the reverse of Step 4.

Sample command: xxcopy c:\backup\sdcard f: /backup

Step 9: When the copy is done, safely remove (eject) the SD card adapter from the computer's card reader slot. Take out the micro-SD card from the adapter.

Step 10: Slot in the new SD card with data into the phone's external memory slot.

Switch on the phone and you are done.

Creating cool zooming presentation slides with Prezi

Still using your MS PowerPoint or OpenOffice.org Impress to create your presentation slides? Here is something different, something new and cool called Prezi.

Prezi introduced the Zooming User Interface (ZUI) whereby the presentation materials (text, images, videos, etc.) are placed on a big virtual canvas, and it allows you to zoom in and out the area of discussion (i.e. the frame) along the presentation. This makes your presentation standout from the traditional MS PowerPoint or OpenOffice.org Impress presentation slides.

The zoomable canvas makes it fun to explore ideas and the connections between them. It results in visually captivating presentations that lead your audience down a path of discovery.

You can see it in action here:

The tool to make Prezi presentations is available on their website as a kind of Cloud-based SaaS service. The public access license is free, while licenses with additional features are chargeable on subscription basis. There is special discount for educational use.

Using NetSetMan to change Windows network settings with a single mouse click

If you are using a laptop, you must have faced the problem of having to manually adjust the network settings to connect to the network (either LAN or WiFi) in different places. This is really a tedious thing, isn't it?

Although many places make use of DHCP to automate the IP address assignment (so that you are free from the hassle to manually set the IP address, subnet mask, gateway IP, etc.), you might probably still need to do some adjustment to some other settings, such as the SMTP email server, the DNS server, the default WiFi AP you want to connect with, the default printer, etc. Worse still, there are places that don't make use of DHCP server, and you have to manually change the network settings, especially the IP address, subnet mask and gateway IP, in order to connect and use the network there.

For example, the DHCP server might assign you with the ISP's DNS servers, and you prefer to use Google's DNS servers instead. In some other places, you cannot use Google's DNS servers because the firewall might have blocked DNS request to WAN, and you have to use their internal DNS server.

I found NetSetMan to be a very handy tool allowing you to quickly change your Windows network setting with just a mouse click to connect to the network in different places. It lets you pre-configure the network settings and save them in different profiles. By switching the profile, all the pre-configured settings will be switched over accordingly.

NetSetMan is free for personal non-commercial use. The free version lets you set up to 6 network profiles, while the Pro version lets you set unlimited profiles.

You can customize the settings in each profile for:

• IP address (to use DHCP or manual setting)
• DNS servers
• DNS domain
• WINS servers
• Default WiFi AP
• Default printer
• Network adapter status (activate, deactivate or restart)
• Your PC name
• The workgroup / domain to join
• SMTP server for email sending
• Network drive mapping
• Browser homepage and proxy setting
• Local "host" file setting for mapping domain names with IP addresses. Normally the setting in this "host" file will supersede the DNS result
• IPv6 settings

NetSetMan also allows you to run Windows script before and/or after a profile is changed.

It also has feature to allow you to copy-and-paste profile settings from one to another. This is handy to create a new profile where most of the settings are the same with the existing. You just need to make a copy, and modify those settings that need to adjust with.

Download the new Android Market version 3.1.3 for smartphones

If you have a smartphone running on Android 2.2 (Froyo) or Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), I recommend you to upgrade your Android Market to the latest version 3.1.3. This is the new release, more recent than the previous Android Market 3.0.26 / 3.0.27.

You can download the APK file of this new Android Market 3.1.3 from any of the links listed here:

• Location 1
• Location 2
• Location 3

You don't need root access to upgrade your Android Market to this new version. Same as the other APK installation, you'll need to enable "Unknown sources" installation in the phone's Settings > Applications.

This is how the new Android Market 3.1.3 looks like.

Its starting page is the Featured list. It has separate navigation listing for Top  Paid, Top Free, Top Grossing, Top New Paid, Top New Free and Trending. You can filter the listing by Categories and the result will be listed accordingly.

The Android Market 3.1.3 introduced Google's +1 feature, so you can +1 the apps you like.

Press the Menu button of your Android phone, and select My Apps to view the listing of the apps installed in your phone.

Another remarkable new feature in Android Market 3.1.3 is the PIN setting security for making purchases. You might be aware that previous versions of Android Market will let you make purchase of new apps with your Google Checkout account just by tapping on the Purchase button. If you let other people use or play with your phone, you have to be alerted that they can open the Market app and start purchasing paid apps using your account. Now, if you have set a PIN and locked down the purchase function with your PIN, that danger won't simply happen anymore.

Note: If you have an Android tablet running on Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), this Android Market 3.1.3 upgrade might not be applicable to your device.

Using inSSIDer and WiFi Analyzer to scan wireless networks around you

Do you want to know what are the active WiFi networks around you, together with the detail of their signal strength, maximum bandwidth, and connection security setting? Do you want to search for WiFi networks with open security?

If you encounter connection and/or bandwidth problem with your own WiFi, do you want to know which is the best available wireless channel to have least disruption from other wireless networks around you?

inSSIDer is a free open source tools for PC running on Windows or Linux to scan for all nearby wireless networks and to troubleshoot competing access points. It is best used in a laptop with WiFi capability. It provides detail of the wireless network around you as shown below.

With it, you can look for unoccupied WiFi channel to set for your own WiFi network, in order not to compete with the others. If you compete the same channel with other access points, you will possibly encounter poor wireless speeds and even frequent WiFi network disconnection.

If you have an Android device (eg. smartphone or tablet), there is a similar tool for the mobile device called WiFi Analyzer. WiFi Analyzer even has a Channel Rating feature to suggest for least competed channel to get the optimum WiFi stability and speed.

If you install the open source WiFi Connecter Library together with WiFi Analyzer, you add in the ability for WiFi Analyzer to connect to the WiFi network that you tap on its listing. This will make WiFi Analyzer to be a nice GUI tool for you to pick for the WiFi network you want to connect.

App: Use Business Calendar for Android to sync Google and Facebook calendars

Do you find the Calendar app that comes with your Android phone not impressive enough? Do you want a calendar app that can show as much information as possible in a single screen in a well-organized and readable way, especially in the Month view?

So far, I came across 2 Android calendar apps that meet this requirement, and able to sync with Google Calendar. They are Business Calendar for Android and CalenGoo.

I prefer Business Calendar by Mikado Software of Germany because its price is cheaper than CalenGoo, there is a free Lite version of it, and most importantly, its user interface is very much alike Google Calendar accessed with desktop web browser. It also has a more business professional look-and-feel than CalenGoo.

Click here to see some screenshots of Business Calendar.

Business Calendar is able to access and sync with the same set of calendars as the HTC Calendar app, including PC Sync (that will sync with the calendars in your PC through HTC Sync program), multiple Google Calendars as well as Facebook Calendar. Apparently, it shares the same calendar database with HTC Calendar that comes together with the phone.

Beside Month view, it has Multi-day (Week) view, Day view and Agenda view. Its Month view uses popup to show event details, allowing you to access the information easily within the same screen. Its Multi-day view supports multi-touch zoom-in and zoom-out gesture.

One of the thing I like about Business Calendar is it comes with highly customizable widgets of various size from 2x1 to 4x4 (altogether 12 of them), allowing us to access and manipulate the calendar directly from Android home screen.

App: Setting Profiles in Android phone with MyProfiles

Profile setting and management has been a must-have feature in all mobile phones since long time ago, even before smart phones available in the market. This function allows us to quickly change multiple settings in the phone to specific need, such as set it to Silent Mode in cinema, Battery Saving Mode at night, etc.

However, this basic function doesn't come by default in Android, and we have to install the 3rd party application from Android Market in order to have such function in our Android phone.

I find MyProfiles developed by Fancy01 Inc. in Taiwan to be the best in terms of user friendliness, easy to use and good user interface, although it isn't the one having the most comprehensive features. Its operation doesn't consume much battery too.

MyProfiles lets us define an unlimited set of profiles and name them accordingly. Here are the profiles I set in my phone.

MyProfiles provides 40 over icons for us to choose and associate to the profiles we set, which is pretty sufficient.

For each of the profiles, we can define the settings of:

• Sound volume for ring tone, media, alarm, notification, in-call and system
• Sound effect / music for ring tone, alarm and notification
• Vibration
• SMS notification handling
• Auto answering
• Auto speaker on
• Screen display timeout
• Auto lock timeout
• Airplane mode
• WiFi
• Bluetooth
• Mobile network
• Auto Sync
• WiFi hotspot
• GPS
• WiMAX
• Mobile data connectivity
• Display brightness
• Screen auto-rotate
• ... and more

After the Profiles is setup, they can be switched into until the next toggle, or switched temporary for a period of time, then fall back to the settings before the switch.

The temporary mode will be handy in situation such as: we know a movie will be ended in 2 hours time, so we set our phone to be in Silent Mode for 2 hours and let it auto-revert back to its previous state.

We can also schedule for a certain profile to be triggered during certain time period.

Currently, MyProfiles still lack of features such as location based auto profile switching, car motion (> 20 km/h) auto profile switching, battery state profile switching, cable connection (and/or charging state) profile switching, etc.

MyProfiles development is pretty dynamic, with new release coming out at least once every week. Fancy01 is also very responsive to emails sent to them.

MyProfiles comes in 2 versions, the free MyProfiles Lite and the paid MyProfiles. Its price at US$1.49 (increased from US$0.99 since 28 April 2011) isn't expensive and very affordable.

If you own an Android phone and haven't found a suitable profile management app yet, or you find your current profile management app too difficult or tedious to use, I recommend MyProfiles to you.

App: Yahoo! Mail for Android is a battery sucker

Yahoo! Mail for Android is an app developed by Yahoo! Inc. to access Yahoo! Mail accounts directly from the smart phone.

There are quite some feedbacks in Android Market complaining that this app is slow, but I didn't experience any obvious slowness in my HTC Incredible S.

Despite that, I've uninstalled Yahoo! Mail because it consumed too much battery, and I couldn't find any setting to fine tune its battery consumption, such as controlling its sync behaviour.

Before I installed Yahoo! Mail, my phone will consume about 7% of battery at night during my sleep. After installed Yahoo! Mail, I noticed the battery consumption had gone to 14%, doubling up the original, and after I uninstalled it, the battery consumption now gone back to 7% during sleep again.

Looks like Yahoo! need to pay more attention to their QA before releasing the app.

App: Keep an eye on apps that access your private data with Lookout Privacy Advisor

There are quite a number of private data stored in our smartphone, including our identity, contact details, location tracks, address book details, phone call logs, SMS messages, etc.

Do you want to keep an eye on the apps installed in your Android smartphone, to know what kind of private data they are able to access? In fact, these apps get access to our private data because we allowed them so during installation.

Anyhow, we don't want the apps to access our private data unless really needed. For example, SMS application such as Handcent need to access our mobile number, address book and SMS messages in order for it to function, but it should not access our location tracks unnecessarily.

Lookout Mobile Security (Premium Edition) for Android has a handy tools called Privacy Advisor that can scan through all the installed apps in our phone and provide us the insight of what kind of private data they are able to access.

After the scan, Privacy Advisor  will report how many apps has access to our Track Location, Identity Info, Messages and Contacts respectively.

It will list out all the apps with such private data access, and provide detail explanation of the findings.

If we click the "App Info & Options" button, it will go to the phone's application management function, which we have the option to uninstall the app if we want.

I find this feature pretty useful, but it is not available in the free version of Lookout Mobile Security.