How to Turn Your Computer Into the Ultimate Remote Access Media Server

If you're out of the house a lot but still want access to files on your home computer, one of the best ways to solve that problem involves setting up your computer as a remotely accessible home media server. Here's a look at how to not only access your files (and control your computer) remotely, but also share files with others, stream music and video, access your photo library, and a whole lot more. Below we'll walk through how to turn your home computer into a remote-access media server on Windows, Mac, and Linux. When you're done, you'll be able to remote control your computer from anywhere (as though you're sitting in front of it), access any of your files, and stream video, music, and photos to any other computer or nearly any mobile device. Before we get started, let's take a look at what you'll need: A computer that's at least as fast as a netbook or nettop, but faster is better. If you're simply serving up files, you can even use a Pogoplug. A reasonably fast upstream internet connection (1mbps will work, but 5mbps is ideal) A router with port forwarding capabilities (which is basically any router) Some software, which will vary by platform and we'll discuss in each section Once you've got all of those things together you're ready to get started. First, we're going to take a look at the basic features you'll want on your media server. After that we'll take a look at the fancier stuff, like streaming your video and music, hosting your photos, and a few more handy things that'll make your server really great. Screen Sharing and Basic File Access While a lot of the fancier stuff we're going to look at it is what you'll probably use more often, you want to make sure you have complete and total access to your server from afar. Setting up remote control, or screen sharing, means you can control your home computer remotely from nearly any device—like you're sitting in front of your computer. This will allow you to tweak your system, start a download, or do whatever you need. Often times services won't work perfectly or you'll have various problems you'll need to solve, and most of those issues can be solved via SSH or through screen sharing (VNC). You'll also want to have basic access to your files, so we'll look at setting up FTP (and other protocols) as well as setting up your router so remote access is easy. Windows Some sharing services are available in Windows by default and all you really have to do is turn them on. Others will require a few downloads. Either way, setting up basic file access and screen sharing is pretty easy to do in most cases. Here's how: VNC (Screen Sharing) While Windows automatically has RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) ready to go, we like VNC because it's a platform-independent protocol, meaning it's more compatible with other operating systems. While there are plenty of VNC servers for Windows that you can choose from, we likeTightVNC because it's pretty straightforward and completely free to use. For more details on how VNC works, see this post. If you understand the basics of VNC servers and clients, then you can skip that read and just get started. Here are the steps to get VNC set up: Download TightVNC, install it, and launch it. (Note: If you want to install it as a service so you can run it even when no user is logged in, choose Start Menu —> Programs —> TightVNC —> Administration —> Install VNC Service.) Once TightVNC is open, it will allow you to connect over VNC and log in as any user already set up in Windows. If you'd like a global password, however, you can enable that by choosing Start —> Programs —> TightVNC —> Administration —> Show Default Settings and entering a default password of your choice. When you want to connect to your VNC server from another machine, you can do so by installing TightVNC, opening the TightVNC Viewer application, and entering the IP address of the machine to which you want to connect. (For information on other TightVNC features and how to use them, check out theTightVNC user guide). Note: You can secure your VNC connection with Hamachi to encrypt your remote screen sharing session so prying eyes can't see what you're doing. File Access with FTP, SFTP, and SSH Next we need to add file sharing. First let's start with FTP. While you can enable FTP as a service in Windows, this has become increasingly more complex in Windows 7 and Vista so we're going to use a free tool calledfreeFTPd. Also, if you want to set up SSH to connect to your computer remotely over SSH and use SFTP (Secure FTP) for added security, the same site has a free SSH server called freeSSHd that you can download as well. Download and install the server software you want, and choose to run freeSSHd/freeFTPd as a system service so you don't need to be logged in to access them. Once these tools are installed, launch them and you'll be able to access them from your system tray. Right click the system tray icon and choose Settings. In the Settings panel, you'll be presented with a lot of tabs but the one you want first is Users. Click it, and then click Add to add a user. Enter a username and password for the user you want to add and tick the box next to Shell. If you're setting up freeSSHd and want to be able to use SFTP, be sure to tick the box beside SFTP. When you're done, click OK. If you want to access your files over FTP or SFTP remotely, you'll need an application that supports those protocols. Our current favorite is Cyberduck. To connect to your server remotely via SSH, you'll need an SSH client. For Windows, we like PuTTY. File Access with Windows File Sharing (SMB) Of all the ways to remotely access your files, SMB is the easiest to set up. Chances are you actually enabled file sharing when you installed Windows. If not, here's how to do it (on Windows 7/Vista): Locate the folder you want to share and right click on it. Choose Share With: Specific People Choose Everyone from the drop-down menu and then click the Add button. Unless you want read-only access, click Read and change it to Read/Write. Click the Share button to enable sharing for that folder. That's all you have to do to enable these basic sharing services on your Windows PC, but doing so will only allow you to access them from other computers on your local home network. If you want to be able to access your machines remotely when you're away from home, you'll need to forward ports on your router or set up a VPN (Virtual Private Network). We'll discuss this later in the Configuring Your Router section towards the end, but first we're going to look at the more exciting options you have for streaming and sharing your media files. Mac OS X Setting up any sort of remote access on Mac OS X is very easy and doesn't involve much more than ticking boxes. Here's what you need to do: Open System Preferences (you'll find it in the Applications folder on your hard drive). Under Internet & Wireless, chooseSharing. On the left side you should see a list of services. First things first, tick the box next to Screen Sharing, then click Computer Settings and tick the box labeledVNC viewers may control screen with password and enter a password of your choice. When you're done, clickOK and you'll be all set. Next we need to enable file sharing of some kind. Regardless of how you'd like to share your files, you need to tick the File Sharing checkbox and click theOptions button. This will bring up a panel that will let you choose different ways to share your files. By default, AFP (Apple Filing Protocol) will be enabled. You can also enable FTP, which is the most compatible way to access your files from practically any computer (but not necessarily the most secure) and SMB (Server Message Block, which is more compatible with Windows and Linux than AFP). SMB needs to be enabled on a per-user basis, so make sure you tick the box beside your username—and any other users you want to have access—before clicking the Done button to save your preferences. If you'd like a more secure way to access your computer and files than FTP provides, you can tick the box beside Remote Login to enable SSH. This will let you access your computer through the command line using SSH, which will provide you with remote control over just about everything, and also let you access your files using SFTP (Secure FTP). Lastly, if you'd like to enable any additional sharing services you should do so now. Be sure to note what they are as you'll need to forward the ports on your router for those services later. The instructions above apply to Mac OS X 10.6 and may differ between major versions of the oprating system. For example, Screen Sharing is only available in 10.5 and above. In the past, enabling VNC was handled under the Apple Remote Desktop section. In addition to checking the Apple Remote Desktop checkbox, you also needed to click the Access Privileges button, check the "VNC viewers may control screen with password," and enter your VNC password. If you're using an older version of Mac OS X (such as 10.4), please use these instructions to enable VNC instead. That's all you have to do to enable these basic sharing services on your Mac, but doing so will only allow you to access them from other computers on your local home network. If you want to be able to access your machines remotely when you're away from home, you'll need to forward ports on your router or set up a VPN (Virtual Private Network). We'll discuss this later in the Configuring Your Router section towards the end, but first we're going to look at the more exciting options you have for streaming and sharing your media files. Linux If you're running Linux, chances are you already know how to set up all these basic file sharing services. Setup also differs between the different flavors of Linux. For these reasons, we're not going to provide detailed steps for Linux in this post. If you're new to Linux and do need some help, however, be sure to check out our night school lessons on getting started with Linux (in particular, the installing apps lesson). BONUS! You can disable sleep on your media server if you'd like, but if you want to conserve some power and let it turn off once in a while you can set it up to wake on LAN. How do you do this? Check out our Wake on LAN How-to. Streaming and Sharing Media UPDATE: Libox is apparently shutting down. We didn't realize this because it still functions. SO, if you don't already have a Libox account you should skip to the alternatives section where you'll find information about Opera Unite, which does many of the same things as Libox (along with some additional features). There are many, many ways to access your media remotely, butLibox is a free tool that's compatible with just about everything from desktop computers to iDevices to just about anything with a web browser. Also, to repeat, it's free. Installing it will not only let you stream your videos, music, and photos to your devices, but you can use Libox to remotely share media with your friends as well. Here's how to set it up: Visit Libox.com to sign up for an account and download the Libox server software. Install Libox on your home media server. Launch Libox and click the Add Media button in the app to start adding your music, photos, and videos. Give Libox some time to do its thing and soon you'll start to see your media popping up in the Libox application. If you want to access your media from other machines, you can do so easily by installing the Libox desktop application and running it on your local machine. When you sign in, all of your media will be available. Alternatively, you can just visit Libox.com on your computer or mobile device. If you have an iDevice, you can pick up Libox for iOS. It's a universal app and will run on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Alternatives for All Platforms Libox isn't the only way to remotely view and share your media. While it's pretty great—especially for a free app—there are some alternatives you may want to explore. For example,Opera Unite is a feature of the Opera web browser and an easy way to share your media. It handles your photos, music, and video. You can even share your webcam and host a web server. While Libox is great, a lot of people prefer Opera Unite for its additional features and an extension of the browser they already love. Both are worth checking out. For some additional options for all platforms, be sure to check out our guide to the best tools for streaming media to your gadgets and the AirPlay-alternative guide to streaming your media. Alternatives for Mac OS X While AirVideo has long been our favorite desktop-to-iOS video streaming option, StreamToMehas become my top choice for a couple of reasons. First, it allows you to stream your media to Macs as well as iOS devices (and Mac to Mac streaming costs you nothing). Second, you're able to stream audio as well as video. While it has the occasional hiccup you'll find with just about any media streaming application, it works phenomenally well regardless of your connection speed. If you're Apple-centric, you'll want to consider using StreamToMe instead of Libox. Configuring Your Router If you've made it this far, you've managed to set up your home media server for local access. If you want to access it remotely, however, you're going to need to either set up a virtual private network (VPN) or set up port forwarding on your router. Setting up a VPN is more secure but also a much more in-depth process. It's also a bit slower so you're at a disadvantage when serving up large amounts of data, so you may want to set it up but also forward some ports for certain things. If you do want to set up VPN, check out this guide for help with the entire process. If you (also) want to forward ports on your router, here's what you need to do: First things first, you need to visit your router's admin page. The address of this page will depend on your router. For example, Linksys routers house their admin page at 192.168.1.1, whereas D-Link routers use 192.168.0.1. Apple AirPort routers have no web interface and need to be configured from the AirPort Utility application. Consult your router's manual if you don't know its IP address. There are plenty of other ways to locate this information, such as checking your network information in your OS' relevant control panel or running ipconfig (Windows) or ifconfig (Mac/Linux), so feel free to locate your router's local IP address however you'd like. Once you've found the IP address, enter it into your web browser (e.g.http://192.168.1.1). This will load the admin page. Your router may have a default username and/or password set (often it's admin) so enter that if needed (and check your manual if you don't know it). Now that you have access to your router's admin page, you need to locate the port forwarding section. Router manufacturers like to hide these settings in varying places and sometimes those places are kind of strange. Linksys, for example, often places it in Applications and Gaming (and lists it as Port Range Forward). In custom firmware DD-WRT, it's under NAT/QoS. You can often find out where these settings live by searching for the name of your router and port forwarding if you don't want to dig through the user manual for the information. Once you know where your router's port forwarding section is, click it. If you've made it this far, you're in luck. The next steps are easier to explain as setting up port forwarding is pretty much the same on most routers. Usually you'll see an Application field where you can type a name of the service you're configuring. For example, if you're setting up FTP you'll type in FTP (and perhaps the name of the server, if you want to be sure you remember which server it is). Next, enter the port you want to forward. In the case of FTP it's 21. In the case of SFTP/SSH, it's 22. (We'll go over all the ports later.) Some routers will ask for the starting and ending ports. If you're forwarding both 21 and 22 your starting port can be 21 and your ending port 22. If you're only forwarding one port, these numbers should be the same. Next you need to set the protocol. By default Both will be selected (meaning both TCP and UDP), but you generally do not need to open the port over UDP in most cases. Unless you're explicitly running FTP over UDP, you can set the protocol to TCP. With SSH, you may want to open it on both as there are some cases where SSH will use UDP. If you always want to cover your bases,Both is a good choice. It just means you may be opening ports unnecessarily. In the IP Address field, enter the IP address of your home media server. You can find this by running ipconfig (Windows) or ifconfig (Mac/Linux) or in your network settings. Whatever it is, it'll almost always have the first three numbers as your router's IP (e.g. 192.168.1.x). This is the IP address you want to use because it belongs to the computer to which you want these ports to forward. Some routers won't just ask for a port range or single port to forward, but rather a Port from and a Port to. When this is the case, the Port from means the the port you'll use when connecting to your home server remotely. In other words, it's the port that's open to the world on your router. Port to, on the other hand, refers to the port on your server. Why is there this distinction? Let's say you have to computers and you want to be able to remotely connect to them via VNC. VNC, by default, uses port 5900. If you open port 5900 and forward it to one computer, the other computer can't also use that port. What you do in this case is use port 5900 for the first computer (which means the Port from is 5900 and the Port to is 5900 as well) and some other unused port, like 5901, for the second computer (which means that the Port from is 5901 and Port from is still 5900). Lastly, tick the box next to Enable to, of course, enable the port forwarding rule you've just created. This seems like an obvious step, but it's a very easy step to miss. That's the process for enabling port forwarding, and you'll need to add new port forwarding rules for each port you want to forward. Of course, you need to actually know the ports you want to forward in order to forward them. To save you some time, here are the ports for the services we discussed (and a few extras you might need): FTP: 21 (TCP) SSH/SFTP: 22 (TCP, but UDP on rare occasions), and sometimes 115 for SFTP (TCP) HTTP (for hosting a web server): 80 (TCP) SMB: 139 Printer Sharing (LPR and LPD): 515 (TCP) AFP: 548 (TCP) RTSP (Streaming Servers): 554 (TCP and UDP) NFS: 2049 (TCP and UDP) VNC: 5900 (TCP) Once you've got your port forwarding rules defined for all the ports you want to use, save everything. Depending on your router it may need to reboot, but once it's done you should be good to go. There are tons of awesome things to add to a media server and there's no way to cover them all in this post. If you've got some suggestions for other things you think belong in an ultimate remote access server, share 'em in the comments.

The Stress-Free Guide to Settling Down in a New City

Whether you're moving to a new side of town or moving across the country (or beyond), getting settled in a new city can always be a little nerve-racking. Here are some of the best ways to get acquainted with your new home and make new friends. Photo remixed from an original by Richard Bostock I recently moved across the country to sunny California last month, and with little knowledge of the area and few friends outside of the Lifehacker crew, it was pretty daunting. Here are some of the things I've learned that helped me get me on my feet quickly. Getting the Lay of the Land Once you've actually moved in and nailed down the obvious—finding the closest grocery store, drug store, Apple store, or whatever else you need—the town can seem pretty overwhelming. If you're feeling a little lost, here are a few ways to make sure you get to know your new home quickly. The Obvious: Use the Internet The first thing that probably popped into your head is to check out places like Google Maps, Yelp, or Citysearch to find some of the best places to eat, hang, see movies, and so on. There's a reason for that: it works pretty well. If you want to grab a cup of coffee or some lunch, hit up one of those sites and look at reviews of nearby spots. Of course, there's no substitution for trying something out, so don't be afraid to hop around, either. If you find a movie theater that has the highest rating on Google Maps, that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best one or the best one for you—so plan to "shop around" a bit before settling into a routine to quickly. That said, the internet should give you a good start. An especially neat trick, if you're looking for stuff that's near you, is to just bring up Google Maps, center it on your place, then search for *. The wildcard search works on Maps and will pretty much show you everything that's nearby, which is pretty handy when you're just trying to get a sense of what's close. Ask Real People Of course, there's no substitute to the advice of a real live person that you can ask questions and interact with. Chances are, you're bound to have at least one or two people you know that live or lived in the town to which you've moved. Ask them for advice. Call them, go out to lunch with them, or just email back and forth and pick their brain. Ask any and all questions you have, from where are good spots to eat to where are the parts of town you might want to stay away from, or how bad the traffic is at rush hour (I learned this the hard way when I moved to LA). A really great (and geeky) way to compile this kind of advice is to create a Google Doc and invite the few people you know to collaborate on it. If you can get one person to get the ball rolling, you can probably get a lot of people to join in, adding their favorite places to eat and things to do in town (especially if they disagree with one another—people have a lot of pride in their favorite local hangouts and will gladly offer up their own advice). It can become self-sustaining pretty quickly. Everyone, even the new people I meet each week, are more than willing to contribute to the doc with their favorite spots/hangouts if I invite them as collaborators. I also highly recommend crowd-sourcing some responses on Facebook and Twitter, too. You might be surprised how many people are familiar with the area and can give you great advice about anything you need to know. Again, what's really useful about this is it isn't just some random reviews around the net—if you can follow up with people and get all your other questions answered, you'll be a lot better off. There's nothing wrong with asking other locals, even if they're just people you meet for a few minutes on the street, in a coffee shop, or elsewhere. Dropping the simple "I just moved here" line works wonders. It's remarkable how friendly and helpful people are to newcomers. They're bound to give you a nugget or two of information you might not have gotten elsewhere, so above all, just be friendly! Getting Out and Making Friends The other half of the equation is getting out and finding stuff to do with other people, and forming a group (or groups) of friends. It won't just happen by sitting on your couch watching Seinfeld reruns, so here are a few things you can do to get the ball rolling. Keep Up Your Hobbies (or Dig Up Old Ones) A great way to find people with similar interests to you is to get out and get active with your favorite hobbies, even if they're ones you haven't visited in awhile. If you like electronic music, there's bound to be a group dedicated to that culture. If you are or used to be a gamer, find your local gaming shop and drop in for a Magic: The Gathering Draft. Even if it's something you haven't done for years, it's a great way to get out and meet like-minded people. Meetup.com is a great way to find groups based on similar interests in your area—just type in where you are and what you're looking for and you'll probably find multiple groups getting together during the week. And, if you don't find one (or don't find one that suits you), start your own! Rarely are you the only one with your interests in a given town, and if you can't find anyone, make them come to you. Apart from your own hobbies, I can't recommend getting involved with community service and other local organizations enough. That may make you roll your eyes, but it's something you don't need any former experience to get involved in, everyone's always super friendly, and at the very least, you'll get some free DIY skills out of it. Anything that gets you out and social is going to make you feel better than sitting at home doing nothing, so you've got nothing to lose by getting out there. Meet Friends of Friends If you already have a friend or two in town, you're pretty lucky. Take advantage of it! Even if you aren't best friends with them, accept any invitation you get to hang out—you might find a friend of theirs that you have a remarkable amount in common with. Don't give up after one meeting, either. The more time you spend around people, the more likely you are to become friends with them, even if you didn't originally think you would. After all, are we really in a position to be picky? Don't be afraid to contribute to the group, either. Don't let everyone else always make the plans and invite you, or you'll seem like you aren't interested. if you've got a place in that Google Doc you want to go eat for dinner, go ahead and invite all of them out. That way you seem like an actual contributor and not just a tagalong, and they'll be more likely to think of you when other plans come around. Take Initiative You won't meet anybody just sitting at home alone, so when you have the opportunity to get out of the house, take it. Instead of getting takeout and heading home, eat out by yourself. Work in coffee shops. It may feel awkward at first, but there isn't anything wrong with grabbing a book (or your favorite read-it-later service) and enjoying the sunshine a little. You never know when someone will strike up a conversation about what you're reading. Again, don't turn down any invitations you get. Even if it's something you wouldn't necessarily do, take the opportunity to get out of the house (unless, you know, it's an invitation to go rob a bank—it's probably okay to turn that down). Photo by Sahaja Meditation. Don't Stress About It No matter how much you put yourself out there, you're still likely to have some time to yourself at home, and that's okay. Don't set your expectations too high, and enjoy the relaxation time while you can (I hear Portal 2 is great)! It may take some time, but things will unfold naturally. Don't worry too much if you don't slip into a routine to quickly. These tips are meant to help, but they won't make a new life magically appear before you. As with everything, the more positive an attitude you have, the more likely it is that good things will happen. A lot of this is pulled from my own experience over the past few years, and suggestions from others that have done the same. For more tips on getting acquainted with a new city, be sure to check out our top 10 tools for finding cool stuff nearby, as well as our guide to finding the best spots in a new city. And, of course, if you have any of your own hard-earned insight, share it with us in the comments.

Defend Your Desktop Against the Forces of Evil with These Superhero Wallpapers

In a world of computer viruses and spyware, a mere human doesn't stand a chance. That's why this week we're providing your desktop with some superpowers—or at least the illusion of them, thanks to these wallpapers. Let's Get in a Super Mood Before we get started, let's pay a visit to the SuperFriends. Superman Download this wallpaper | Wallpaper Gravity 1280x1024 For more great wallpapers, check out our previous Wallpaper Wednesdays. Got any great wallpapers you'd like to share?Email me a link with "Wallpaper Wednesday" in the subject line. Batman Download this wallpaper | Wallpaper Abyss 1920x1200 For more great wallpapers, check out our previous Wallpaper Wednesdays. Got any great wallpapers you'd like to share?Email me a link with "Wallpaper Wednesday" in the subject line. Spider-Man Download this wallpaper | TheWallpapers.org 1600x1200 For more great wallpapers, check out our previous Wallpaper Wednesdays. Got any great wallpapers you'd like to share?Email me a link with "Wallpaper Wednesday" in the subject line. The Amazing Spider-Man Download this wallpaper | Comic Wallpapers 1920x1440 We had a tough time with the Spider-Man wallpapers because they were all so busy (and/or tiny), and we like to keep the desktops simple. That said, some of them were just really awesome despite being busy so we had to include one anyway. For more great wallpapers, check out our previous Wallpaper Wednesdays. Got any great wallpapers you'd like to share? Email me a link with "Wallpaper Wednesday" in the subject line. Wonder Woman Download this wallpaper | SpazChicken on deviantART1280x1024 For more great wallpapers, check out our previous Wallpaper Wednesdays. Got any great wallpapers you'd like to share?Email me a link with "Wallpaper Wednesday" in the subject line. The Flash Download this wallpaper | The Paper Wall 1600x1200 For more great wallpapers, check out our previous Wallpaper Wednesdays. Got any great wallpapers you'd like to share?Email me a link with "Wallpaper Wednesday" in the subject line. Tardis XP Download this wallpaper | Boxless Thoughts 1600x1200 For more great wallpapers, check out our previous Wallpaper Wednesdays. Got any great wallpapers you'd like to share?Email me a link with "Wallpaper Wednesday" in the subject line. Raphael Download this wallpaper | The Paper Wall 2560x1600 For more great wallpapers, check out our previous Wallpaper Wednesdays. Got any great wallpapers you'd like to share?Email me a link with "Wallpaper Wednesday" in the subject line.

Top 10 Things You Can Get for Free or Cheap

Everyone likes saving money, and while sometimes you "get what you pay for", there are a few great things that you can snag for free with just a little ingenuity. Here are our ten favorite expensive things you can get out of paying for. 10. Cellphone Minutes With all the smartphone-compatible VOIP setups out there these days, you don't need to be paying extra money for unlimited cellphone minutes. Just grab a VOIP solution likeFring on most smartphones,Talkatone with Google Voice on the iPhone, Google Voice and SIPGate (also available on Android), or just plain Gmail on your computer, which is free through 2011. With a setup like one of these, you can start using the lowest minutes plan (or in some cases, ditch it altogether) and make your calls over 3G or Wi-Fi. 9. Paywalled Web Sites Paywalled web sites have been around for awhile, but they're starting to become more prevalent. If you don't have the cash to shell out for a premium Wall Street Journal or New York Times membership, you can get around the paywalls pretty easily with just a Google hack,a service like Instapaper, orother handy methods designed for a particular site. Note that unlike most of the other things on this list, this is bucking the system in a pretty big way, and from an industry that (unlike, say, the cellphone industry) is struggling pretty hard. If you're a heavy reader, we'd kindly recommend you pay for the services—after all, we're writers too—but for those of you that just need access to a few paywalled articles here and there, we understand the desire to avoid a full-on subscription. Handle with care. 8. Speeding Tickets Getting pulled over by the police isn't fun, and getting a $100 ticket on top of that is even more annoying. We've gone through quite a few ways to get out of a speeding ticket, and while it isn't foolproof, you can probably get some of those tickets thrown out. Not every trick is perfect, either, so you'll have to try them out and see what works for you. Of course, if you're getting more than the occasional speeding ticket, we'd suggest you just drive slower, but for the occasional honest (or not so honest) mistake, this can help you squeeze your way out of it. 7. Education You won't be able to get a college degree from it, but if you're just looking to expand your knowledge, you don't have to pay an arm and a leg for extra college classes. There are a lot of places you can get a free education online, whether you just want to brush up on a few things or take a year-long course on a subject you've always been curious about. Some of them you can get for free on-the-go, like iTunes U or previously mentionedKhanApp. Photo remixed from originals by marcopakoand J-a-x. If you actually need a degree from your education (or you're already in college), you can still save some serious dough by getting your textbooks for free or cheap. 6. Online Storage One of the best ways to sync or back up your files is by uploading them to the cloud. While you'll have to shell out if you're looking for a huge amount of space, there are plenty of ways you can get past the meager 2 GB offerings without paying a dime. Dropbox is especially good about offering a lot of free upgrades through referrals and other promotions, and Amazon's Cloud Drive will upgrade you to 20 GB with the purchase of one MP3 album—some of which you can find for less than a dollar. If you need even more space, you can combine online storage solutions for a large, free, and organized backup system. 5. Student Discounts Even if you aren't in school anymore, you can still get discounts on tons of things with your old student ID, a .edu email address, or other sinister methods. For example, you cansnag a free year of Amazon Prime with just a .edu email address, or grab Windows and other premium software for free (or with really heavy discounts). If you're in school (or have a friend in school), you can get even better deals at your university's computer store, whether it be for a new computer, iPod, or just an "academic" copy of expensive software. 4. Wi-Fi Wi-Fi seems to be everywhere you go these days, but it isn't all free. If you need free access to the internet on-the-go, there are a lot of ways to find it. You can grab it from a lot of popular chains like Starbucks orMcDonald's, or even a few other unexpected businesses, like laundromats. If you're traveling, be sure to check out the best and worst hotels for Wi-Fi, and learn how to get cheap or free Wi-Fi when you're flying. If Wi-Fi is a bit less ubiquitous, be sure to check out ourdefinitive guide to finding free Wi-Fi. And wherever you go, make sure you're staying safe on those public networks. Photo by °Florian. 3. Movies If you're a movie buff, you can catch quite a few movies in the theater for free just by searching around. Lots of movies havefree, advance screenings to build buzz, and other theaters have show free kids' movies during the summer for a weekend family outing. If you like classic movies, you can find a lot of them for free online, at places like Hulu, previously mentioned Classic Cinema Online, or even YouTube. 2. Smartphones and Other Gadgets If you have a smartphone, there's no reason to pay hundreds of dollars every year or two to get a new one. In fact, with a little strategy, you canupgrade to the newest iteration of your smartphone each year for free. All you need to do is take good care of your phone and know where and when to sell it for optimal cash back, which you can then use to buy the newest model. In fact, this strategy works with most gadgets, too—so there's never any reason to keep plopping down money for the newest gear. 1. Anything Else If there's something we haven't mentioned on this list that you feel you're paying too much for, you can always try and get discounts with a bit of haggling. We here at Lifehacker have learned that, no matter who you're dealing with, it never hurts to ask if there are ways you can save a little money. You might not be able to get everything forfree, per se, but you can save quite a bit of money on anything from cable bills to gas to blank DVDs if you just look a little harder. Photo by Daniel Borman. There are a lot of things you can grab for free on the net, too numerous to mention here. If you aren't picky about your choices, you can grab tons of eBooks for free,discover new music, and get extended free trials to services like Hulu Plus orGrooveshark Plus just by looking around. And, of course, we offer money-saving tips every day here on Lifehacker. Got any of your own favorite freebies of heavily discounted items we didn't mention (or any other ways to grab items we did mention? Share them with us in the comments.

Download Windows 8 Transformation Pack for Windows 7

If you are impressed by the features and the look of the Windows 7 OS then you must have been waiting for the next upgrade Windows 8 to be launched soon. We are unsure when it will be launched but here is the transformation pack that shall give you the look and feel of the Windows 8 OS in advance.

The transformation pack is only for the system having the Windows 7 installed in it and following are the requirements failing which you won’t be able to install the pack.

Requirements:
• The pack is designed to work only on the Windows 7 SP1.
• Will work on both the 32 bit (X86) and 64 bit (X64) systems, although will work the best on 32 bit one.
• Require .Net Framework 4.5

Note: We also advice you to create a System Restore Point so that you can undo the changes completely if you find any problems after installation.

Download Windows 8 Transformation Pack

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Make your Facebook Session Secure

You would be surprised to know that your Facebook Account had gone unsecure recently and this is the reason why every random person complaints of his account gettinghacked. Don’t know if this was deliberate but Facebook security settings have changed recently without any notice.

It was when one of my friends on Facebook (thank you Neha), had this message as her wall update, that I got to know about this unsecure session of mine.

Here is how to find if your settings have changed or not

Open your internet browser and login into your Facebook account as you usually do. Now check the URL of your browser, if it starts with the http instead of the https then you need to do the following steps to make your connection securer.

This is because the letter s in the https stands for “secure”, so if your session is running on http, just make the following changes.

Settings to make the session secure:

1. Go to Account Settings -> Account Security
2. Click on Change option

3. Check the box of “Secure Browsing (https)” and click Save.

This will make your connection securer and will protect your account from most of the attacks.