How to truly erase that hard drive

Deleted files can often be recovered, and that's a problem when you're passing your PC or PC-related tech along to someone else. Whether it’s sensitive financial data, business documents, or scandalous photos that could be used to blackmail you, you probably don’t want people getting their hands on your private stuff.

Fortunately, you can take steps to protect your data, whether you’re getting rid of a PC, external hard drive, or USB stick. Here's how! (And here's how to wipe mobile devices clean.)  Click here for rest of the article:

Plants V. Zombies for PC/Mac free until May 28, 2014!

The Walking Dead has it all wrong -- zombies aren't just interested in human flesh, they also have an appetite for plants and sunflowers, and pretty much anything you put in their path. So we were taught when Electronics Arts published the highly addictive Plants Vs. Zombies game two years ago this month. If you happened to miss out on the fun, now's your chance to give it a go -- Plants Vs. Zombies is available for free on PC and Mac until May 28, 2014.

Electronic Arts is giving the PopCap Games title away via Origin. Why? We're not sure, but hey, we won't argue. It normally sells for $4.99, though these freebie promotions aren't exactly rare -- EA and PopCap Games have been known to give this game away for free before, particularly during Halloween.

For those of you new to Plants Vs. Zombie, it's a tower defense title comprised of 50 levels, over two dozen types of zombies, 49 flavors of plants, and five different game modes (Adventure, Mini Games, Puzzle, Survival, and Zen Garden).

Click away if you want to add this to your gaming greenhouse.

Ultimate Security...a self encrypting Hard Drive from SanDisk

If you take a look at SanDisk's product portfolio, you'll find a range of memory and storage devices, including various solid state drives. However, one thing you wouldn't have found prior to today is a self-encrypting SSD line. With the introduction of the SanDisk X300s, the company now has one to offer corporate environments in need of secure storage -- healthcare and financial services are two industries that come to mind.

SanDisk's X300s family leverages TCG Opal 2.0 and Microsoft Encrypted Hard Drive hardware-based encryption, coupled with a new SSD administration dashboard for easier audit and compliance management, the company says. The drive line utilizes AES 256-bit FIPS 197 certified hardware crypto engine to enable full-disk encryption without the performance penalty that software-based encryption can introduce. It also features advanced power management with DEVSLP low-power mode, enabling Microsoft InstantGo, a connected standby feature that keeps data on certified hardware in sync while the device is asleep.

"Businesses of all sizes want computers that are reliable, secure, built to last and are easy to support remotely," said Kevin Conley, senior vice president and general manager, client storage solutions at SanDisk. "For the enterprises that deploy hundreds or even thousands of laptops, it’s essential that their IT departments be able to centrally and securely manage these devices. The X300s, designed with SanDisk’s world-class flash, helps corporate IT leaders not only deliver the heightened performance and lower TCO that flash is known for, but also addresses data protection and security needs, without business disruption. "

The X300s comes in two form factors -- 2.5-inch 7mm and M.2 2280 single-sided, with capacities of 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. In terms of performance, the drives offer up to 520MB/s sequential reads and up to 460 sequential writes, depending on the model (PDF).

Another chance for all of us to get Google Glass!

Google's Explorer Program is once again open to the public, just as it was last month. Like before, cost of entry is $1,500, which in return makes you an "Explorer," which is Google's clever way of avoiding the term "beta tester." Not that there's anything wrong with being a beta tester, especially when the product is fairly refined, but Explorer sure does sound a whole lot better when you're being asked to plunk down one and a half large to join the party.

When Google opened up its Explorer Program to the general public last month, users flocked to Glass and quickly depleted Google of it's "Cotton" (white) Glass inventory. As of this writing, Cotton is again available, though "Charcoal" (black) is currently out of stock. The remaining three colors are up for grabs and include "Tangerine" (orange), "Shale" (gray), and "Sky" (blue).

"Last week we told you we'd be trying out new ways to find Explorers. Well, we weren’t kidding. We learned a lot when we opened our site a few weeks ago, so we’ve decided to move to a more open beta. We’re still in the Explorer Program while we continue to improve our hardware and software, but starting today anyone in the US can buy the Glass Explorer Edition, as long as we have it on hand," Google stated on Google+.

There's been a bit of hubbub since the last time Google offered up its Glass devices to mere mortals (read: non-celebrities). A teardown analysis suggested the bill of materials of each Glass is just $80, the most expensive part being the processor. However, the teardown didn't take into consideration research and development costs. A spokesman for Google denied the BOM cost, calling the estimate "absolutely wrong."

If you want to join (or just check it out), head over to the Glass website.

Make your Windows XP-using friends/family members read this important PSA

Microsoft has officially pulled the plug on support for Windows XP.  That’s it.  Finite.  Done.  No more.  Don’t expect to see any future patches, services packs, fixes, hotfixes, critical updates, anything — if you’re one of the one-fourth of desktop users or so who are still running the antiquated operating system (yes, there’s that many of you), you’re about to enter the Wild Wild West of computing.   For the whole article click here.

Manually Install Drivers And Fix ‘Driver Not Found’ Error On Windows

Plug & play a new device into your Windows PC and it will find and install the right driver for it. This happens most of the time but then there are always exceptions when Windows fails to find the right driver for devices made by even the most popular manufacturers. The reasons behind this can be numerous but in the end only one thing matters; how do you fix it? How do you install drivers that Windows failed to install? The solution, you will find, is very simple and requires no apps.

I personally experience this problem after I re-install an operating system.   Inevitably, Windows will forget to install some driver for some device.  Here’s my work around which will work for just about any failed driver installation, if you get past the first step.

Find the drivers you need

In order to install the driver, you need to download it. For one reason or the other, Windows can’t find the right one but that doesn’t mean the device manufacturer didn’t release drivers for the device. Search for and download the right driver for your device. The best place to look for the latest stable driver is the manufacturer’s own website. Make sure you download the right one for your model and make. If it downloads as a zipped file, extract it. It doesn’t matter where you extract the driver files to though you might want to back the file up in case you ever need to uninstall and reinstall the driver in future.

Connect & View Driver Information For Your Device

Connect your device to your Windows PC and open the Device Manager. Right-click My Computer and select Properties from the menu. Click on Device Manager in the left column in the properties window. Since drivers for your device failed to install, Windows doesn’t know what kind of device you connected. Expand Other Devices where you will see your device listed. Windows had partial success installing drivers for my device so it can identify it reasonably well but you might only see a serial or model number reported for your device.

Install the driver

Right-click your device in the Device Manger and select Properties. In the General tab, click Update Driver and select the ‘Browse my computer for driver software’ option. Navigate to the unzipped folder that contains the files you just downloaded and make sure you include sub-folders. Let Windows take care of the rest.

If your device came with a CD, select that when selecting folders to install drivers from. In most cases, you don’t need to go through the device manager when you have an installation CD because the drivers are shipped as executable files that are installed when they are run.