So you’re on the road and you do not have Mobile WIFI for your laptop – or you just straight-up want to get Internet off a device bigger than 3 inches!  I understand.  You’re already paying  your cell provider for Internet access – wouldn’t it be nice to use that internet on your laptop, to surf the web in “real time”?  You betcha – and you can – by tethering your devices.  Get ready to go Macgyver.

Rumors have circulated that the iPhone/Android/Smartphone’s with Internet access do not offer “tethering” on your service plan.  This could not be more false and I will show you a simple and easy way to get internet access off your android Smartphone device.  For those of you unfamiliar with Tethering (according to Wikipedia):

Tethering is the use of a mobile device such as a mobile phone to supply Internet access for another device which is otherwise unconnected, using the mobile device as a modem.[1] This can be done through Bluetooth wireless technology or cables (such as USB).

Tethering has been used to gain access to the Internet since mobile devices started using their networks to give users Internet access, but has increased in prevalence due to Internet connectivity in modern cell phones and laptops.

Methods of Tethering:

There currently are two different ways you can tether a phone, via:

1. Bluetooth: Use of Bluetooth wireless technology to pair your phone and laptop together to share a internet connection.
2. USB Cord:  Use of a USB cord to connect between your phone and your laptop to share a connection.

Bluetooth in general is the most wire-free (cool) tech way to go about it.  But it will involve a couple extra steps such as pairing.  USB is pretty much a no-muss, no fuss easy solution if you’re in a rush.  (Did I really just rhyme?)

Simple and Safe Tethering Solution:

This solution works for the iPhone, Treo, Palm OS, Windows mobile, Blackberry, and Android operating systems on phones.  I personally have experience using it with the Android platform and feel it’s top notch.  This information I post is generally geared towards installing it on Android/Motorola Droid/etc.  For me personally, I chose it as opposed to “rooting” my phone.  For the those uninitiated in what this means – it generally means illegally gaining core level operating system access to your phone.  Can it ruin your phone make it stop working all together? You bet.  So take the safe path unless you’re real daring, have money to waste, or a hardcore technie. 

A Company called JuneFabrics makes the experience pretty easy and tidy to use. Therefore…

1. Surf to: www.junefabrics.com
2. Choose your Operating System: Android, iPhone, Treo, Windows Mobile, Blackberry
3. Download and Install the PDAnet software on the laptop/pc you want to tether to your phone
4. Go to Android Market or the iPhone Apps market, etc and Download/Install PDAnet to your phone.
5. Note for Android Owners: You will need to enable USB debugging. Go to > Settings > Applications > Development > ENABLE USB Debugging
6. Reboot your PC and your Phone
7. Connect the Phone either via Bluetooth OR USB to the PC.  Try USB first – its often easiest.
8. Your devices will recognize each other.  If at this point it asks for drivers, approvals, firewall changes – Approve them and move on.
9. On the PDA/Smartphone/iPhone/Android device: Right Click on pdaNet Application on taskbar > Connect
10.  
11. Click ENABLE USB TETHER or ENABLE Bluetooth DUN
12. The devices should sync up and you should now have Internet Access off your laptop. CONGRATS!

This process took me approximately 5-10 minutes to complete.  Really great, fast, and reliable.  All in all, great product.  By the way, if you find this product useful then I suggest buying/donating to the software designer – they deserve it.  Depending on your plan and 3G status signal strength, you’ll get decent speed internet.  When you’re ready to stop surfing off the phone – go back to pdaNet application and turn off/disable the connection.

Some Warnings:

Bandwidth: One word – Bandwidth usage!  Sure, you can tether your phone. Does your carrier probably want you to?  Most likely not.  Do not give them a reason to cut your service.  If you’re surfing the web, checking email, stocks, etc well then I am sure the bandwidth usage will be pretty low and they will not care.  Thinking about downloading full movies off iTunes or using torrents?  Think again.  Just a word of advice that I’ve read amongst the many forums. 

Battery: You are using your phones internet, therefore you will drain the battery faster then usual.  Keep this in mind when using this method.

Maximum Battery Usage TIP! (Post Update)

A.J, a TftM reader, brought up a good point in the comments below and it relates to battery optimization.  If you want THE MOST BATTERY LIFE out of your MOBILE DEVICE then you should use USB TETHERING. 

The thought process?  USB tethering will keep your mobile device charged while it’s being the source of your internet. The Bluetooth method lacks a continual charge, plus, using Bluetooth itself will put some drain on the battery as well.

   USB = Fuel Efficient / Bluetooth = Super Nifty Gas Guzzler.

Conclusion:

For my part, I’ve only used tethering a couple of times and one of those times was during a road-trip.  In this case, it was a life-saver.  Sure, my Motorola Droid can do most everything for me – but I work quicker on full-screen/full keyboard laptop.  Plus, it brings up the maps and directions a lot larger! 

Was this tip helpful?  What other solutions do you all use?  Has anyone had any positive or negative experiences with PDAnet?  Any good alternatives?  Love to hear from you!

DHCP – There can be only ONE!

Well not really, there can be others but that out of the “scope” of this article. Once in awhile a problem comes into the network, either through a hacker or uneducated user, that they add a device (router, personal server, Linksys wireless router, etc) to the network.  What happens then is a conflict between your original DHCP server and the newly added device.

When this happens certain things may occur…

• Your workstations will get a IP from either your authorized DHCP or the rogue device.
• Workstations will not be able to connect to the Internet
• Workstations or Server may have duplicate IP addresses which means, no connectivity!
• Your authorized DHCP may get intermittent problems, such as not receiving pings.

Anyway, all of the above was such my case one fine Monday morning.  It isn’t fun because it wasn’t until I replaced network cables, switched NICs, and did a few other tests that I realized a rogue device was on my network.  So let me help you skip past all this mess and download a Microsoft tool to detect Rogue DHCP servers.

Rogue DHCP Server Detection

In short, there are a few other resources you can lean on for more in depth detection but I’ll suggest a tool for now.  DHCP Server Prevention is an entirely more difficult task and more complex, so I wont cover that in this article.  For the time being, and for diagnosis I suggest Microsoft’s Rogue DHCP Server Detection Tool.  You can download it below.

http://blogs.technet.com/teamdhcp/attachment/3260962.ashx

I’d like anyone else’s advice or experience with these problems!  I know we’re all in the same boat once in awhile when it comes to DHCP issues and connectivity!

A hybrid example for this is Gmail (you go to their site, compose, read, and send emails all on their system – not yours).  Typically, people use to email through Microsoft Outlook which had to be installed on your PC and it only used the internet to send the message and ask for new ones.  If your computer crashed, you lost all your email and attachments.

Another newer example of Cloud Computing is Google Docs – which enables you to login to your account and have your documents written, published, and saved on the Internet (in the Cloud).  Typically people install Microsoft Office on their computer then create and save the files to their computer.  If the computer crashes, you have lost all your Documents and the installation of Microsoft Office.

Let’s Expand

The beauty of Cloud Computing is that nothing is kept on your computer system at all.  This is vaguely familiar to “dumb terminals” that make servers do all the processing and terminals to output the result.  However, in modern computing, when someone goes to Facebook to post, comment, or search those operations are being done on Facebook servers – not your personal computer.

The Cost Benefits

You’re probably reading this on an overpowered workhorse computer with the latest technology in it.  You probably also paid $1500 or more for it.  What you bought was COMPUTING POWER.  Guess what?  The majority of us never use a computers full computing power.  Web 2.0, Facebook, Hotmail, Gmail, MySpace, Google Docs, etc all do the majority of computing through the internet on their own web servers.  Not your PC.  An obvious cost benefit of Cloud Computing is the diminishing need for expensive computer systems. 

If you recall my article on Buying a Computer, you’ll see I am not a proponent of purchasing expensive machines.  I believe you should buy what is in your budget and according to your needs.  Most peoples needs are for word processing, photos, music, and email.  Sadly, a 10 year old computer can do all of that for you so you have no need for overpriced hardware. 

As technology increases and the web becomes smarter we should not have to be pumping money into costly hardware.

Centralization Benefits

Cloud computing has the distinct advantage of keeping your data and applications located on a remote server and not your local PC.  This means that the provider of the cloud-based application will backup your data for you and make it available as often as needed.  If you use several computers or one crashes, you can still access your data in the same application and files regardless of what computer you’re using.  It basically puts data and applications in a centralized location on the Internet – instead of your PC.

The Privacy Issue

Now all this sounds so promising but there may be one downside.  Privacy is an issue for some people who may not want to keep their personal photos or business information on anything but their own PC.  Keeping it on the Internet (although probably still secure) leads to a possibility for information leakage.  What is important here is to choose applications and online storage that respects the users rights to privacy and offers written Terms of Service on security and usage.  

In it’s hybrid form, you’re already sharing your personal information with everyone when you post information or links to Facebook, share photos on Picasa, etc. Most other users will make be looking at this information, but, Facebook and Google do use “anonymous” user data to fine-tune their search and marketing programs.

The Real Eye Opener

If some of this information has seemed confusing then this explanation should help.  I know Technicians will feel this one!

The benefit in cloud computing comes to realization when your computer system or hard drive crashes and you lose all your information. 

What do I mean?

If you were in an solely Cloud computing environment or Operating System (not Microsoft Windows, OSX, etc) then you could pick up any other computer, login, and have access to your files as if nothing changed.  Super right?  Yes.

Now imagine if you were using a typical computing environment – if your hard drive crashed, then you’d lose all those music, documents, photos, and special software programs like Microsoft Office immediately. 

Delving Deeper

I’ve mentioned things like Facebook, Google DOCs, and Web 2.0 before.  Right now, these are just a step in the right direction and examples of how we cloud compute on a regular basis.  See, you’ve been doing it and haven’t realized all this time!  Congrats! But its a hybrid solution.  Let me explain…

You Cloud Compute when you:

• Type a Document and save it in Google DOCs
• If you write an email on Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail and send it Online
• Search a database online
• Post information to Myspace, Facebook, etc.

You “Locally Compute” (as in solely on your PC), when you:

• Save pictures, music, documents on your computer
• Write a Microsoft Office Word document or Excel
• Open Adobe Reader, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, or any kind of manually installed software program.

Bottom Line: 100% Cloud Computing would do all of these things in the Cloud and not on your PC

Computing Nirvana: A New Wave

I’m imagining in the near future there will be a new wave of minimal, easy to use, cloud computing devices (such as Netbooks with Cloud Operating Systems).  This would take us away from typical Operating Systems such as Windows, AppleOS, and Linux which are not 100% Cloud Computing Operating Systems.

This will lead way to a minimal and functional Operating System that has one job: Keep you connected to the Internet to access all your files, applications, and media.  The computer crashes?  Repair, reboot, login – and everything is there.  Changing computers?  Login – and everything is there.  Your house burns down with everything in it?  Login on any other computer or similar OS – everything is there.  Kind of groovy isn’t it?

Want to be a Tech Cowboy and Cloud Compute?

Up until more recently Cloud Computing was something that only businesses were able to take a hold of.  However, as a regular end-user things may be looking up for us to tap into this kind of technology.  If you want to look into converting an old PC, Netbook, or laptop to try out 100% Cloud computing then keep on eye on these technologies:

• Jolicloud – Cloud Based Operating System which is a Linux Distro. Competitor of Chromium.
• Google Chrome or Chromium – This is currently in testing and should release next year.  I have a lot of hopes for this Minimal list Cloud based OS.
• Ubuntu Netbook Remix
• Moblin

Do you have your own ideas about cloud computing or would like to add upon mine?  Please feel free to comment below!

Do not pass up the opportunity to get your hands on this software early and upgrade.  We’ve waited long enough through Vista – Why wait more?  Start computing on a modern AND stable operating System!

~ James 

However, this can be used easily by just about anyone to connect to their home pc (or work PC) from anywhere in the world.  Please note, your systems administrator may not allow you to install this on your work PC though for security reasons.  But for your home PC, its invaluable.  Heck, nowadays you can pretty much get to your home PC from your iPhone or Blackberry!

Interested in Remote Access? Well…

Who should use this

Business: As an IT Professional, I use this profusely to monitor several servers in different places.  I also use it to access my own home computer.  If you do not want to use clunky VPN setups and configurations in business, just to get access to a server – then use LogMeIn.  Besides, it’s free anyways even if you use it for business.  Although the business packages aren’t expensive and have some nice features.

Personal: For you addicted at-homers, you too can use LogMeIn.  If you’re away and want to check your computer, you can do so with LogMeIn pretty easily.  It’s pretty painless even for newbie’s.

Tech Support:  I’ve seen several people add quite a few pcs to their account in an attempt to provide dirt-cheap remote desktop support.  This does work.  Personally. I have my friends and parents computers on my account, so I can fix any annoying problems from time to time.  Being in the Caribbean makes it difficult to fix family and friends computers back in the US!

Why it’s so great!

Hands down – Number 1: It’s easy to use!

The 2nd reason:  Easy Setup – It blasts through all firewalls and network configurations by using LogMeIn servers as an intermediary.  No more port-forwarding or making special rules in your router to accommodate for this software.  Most remote access software is a pain because of intricate network configurations – LogMeIn solves that by using their secure servers as a middle-man and both the client and host computers meet right in the middle.  Pretty awesome huh?

Number 3:  Yes it is secure.  They use 256bit encryption when sending any data back and forth not to mention SSL.  For those of you that don’t know what that means – it mean’s its a good thing! Entirely unlikely any hacker could be snooping your business.

Like it?  Go Sign-Up

Again, it’s free. What can it hurt? And you can access your servers or PC’s from anywhere with a laptop and an internet connection.  Check out their site.

http://www.logmein.com

Tutorial of LogMeIn

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea5snGizfCs

Tech Blog PCMech posted a nice YouTube video on the basics of LogMeIn.  You should definitely check it out.

Have you used LogMeIn? Have an alternative or easier solution? Let us know

Related Blog’s on the Topic: GoToMyPc vs LogMeIn – LogMeIn coming to Blackberry Storm – AskTheAdmin – Review on LogMeIn

Automating the installation of Windows XP (or even Vista) can save any technician a lot of time. Typical installations from scratch can often take a couple of hours. Who has this much time when you have computers lined up. Not me, that’s for sure.

The conventional, Microsoft approved method of automating installation is to use their solution or the WAIK. WAIK means Windows Automated Installation Kit, provided off the Microsoft website.  Don’t get ahead of yourself though and start downloading this! I have an easier solution for you.  Make use of Norton Ghost and everything is very simple.

What you Need

• A Couple Blank CDs
• Norton Ghost 14.0 Software
• Western Digital My Passport Essential 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive WDME5000TN (Midnight Black)

Sound interesting? Read on…

Creating an Image with Ghost

1. Spend the time to make a "perfect" XP machine such as installation, anti-virus software, updated patches, customized settings, and Installations of any productivity software.

2. When everything is perfect, install your legal copy of Norton Ghost 14.0 on the machine.

3. Plug in your Preformatted external USB hard drive pre-formatted external USB hard drive. Make sure its recognized and ready for files to be written to it.

4. Start up the Norton Ghost software and first create a Recovery CD within the software. You’ll require the recovery CD that came with Ghost, as well as a blank CD. This recovery CD basically allows you to boot a machine from CD, right into the Norton Recovery console.

5. After the CD is done, Go to Tasks – Run or Manage Backups then One Time Backup. Click through the menus and choose the C drive as an included drive. Next choose the destination folder to one you create on your External Hard Drive.

6. You should use standard compression and also check "Verify recovery point after creation". Be sure to click on "Advanced" as well, to set "Divide into smaller files to simplify archiving". Make sure you set the MB to under 4000, since most external hard drives use FAT which has a 4 gigabyte limit.

7 Click ok then Next twice and then Finish. The backup will begin and notify you if its verification and success!

Was that so hard? No way. It was super easy. And guess what You have a perfect installation image of Windows XP now! You can save those files anywhere a server, external hard drive, or NAS even to use for fresh installations later.

Recovering an Image with Ghost

Ok so your hard drive is messed up or you want to re-image an old machine. If the machine is different, just install Norton Ghost 14.0 on it before you re-image, plus in the external HDD, and then create a recovery CD just like you did in the previous section. Then continue as below (do not make an image of the bad computer though!)

1. Put in the Recovery CD and reboot your computer and plug in the External drive. Make sure you can "Boot to CD". Sometimes you may have to hold down F12 (typically) to get to the Boot Menu and choose your CD-ROM drive to boot from.

2. When the system boots in, you’ll see a familiar interface. It will have some options but you will click on "Recovery my Computer"

3. At this point it will often find your external HDD, but if not, you can find it on your own on the next screen. Point it to the recovery folder and files of the hard drive image and click next.

4. Always choose verification and automatic reboot.

5. Click next through and Finish. The computer will start to re-image and then reboot.

6. Come back in 15-30 minutes and you should see the Windows Login screen. Congrats you did it!

Conclusion

Learning to image hard drives is a huge time saver and does not need to be as complicated as Windows Automated Installation Kit. As you’ve seen above, you won’t need certifications or a rocket scientist degree to run through the steps. After imaging a couple of times, you’ll be able to do it this way in your sleep! If large-scale automation is what you want, Norton also has some more advanced options to look into for Norton Ghost as well.

In conclusion, beat the learning curb and try out Norton Ghost 14.0 before anything else. I think you’ll be pleased.

- James

Related Blog’s on the Topic: A – B – C

That’s right, I said it.  After many hours of teaching myself Vista in personal and business environments I’ve almost given up.  I really wanted to like Vista.  It had a clean looking interface and looked modern.  However, this obviously is at the expense of real processing power.

Over time, the more you use a computer you’ll probably notice that you care a lot less about the graphics in your Operating System then about Performance.  For me, in the past couple years Vista has failed miserably in the performance arena.

As a IT Professional, there were some things I did like about Vista and these are it:

• Clean Interface
• After a Windows update is handed down from the server – it would install, log-off, reboot, then log back in with all your old Windows open.  This was pretty nifty and end-users rarely noticed the update.
• Gadget Sidebar – There were some nifty little tools you can use in there.

BLOG UPDATE – July 1st 2009! Guess what? Windows 7 is now available for Pre-Order!  Check out the link below

What I hate about Vista as an IT Professional:

• Upon booting in Safe mode you aren’t given a choice of the default Administrator account. If someone forgets their password, you need to get a boot-disk utility to unlock the administrator password!  XP made this so much easier.
• Constant crashing of Apps.  Sure it’s great that they only crash inside the app, and not the entire OS.  But this isn’t good enough.
• Will they ever fix the Printing Preferences crash bug?  I administrate about 75 computers and every single one of them does it, including anyone’s laptops they give me.
• Resource Hog:  Vista uses up so much ram and resources it’s ridiculous.  This severely slows down the computer.

Stay with XP

Thank you Microsoft for making it impossible for average users to get PCs with Windows XP on it.  We’re all stuck with buying Vista on our PCs for the most part.  If you have a choice or can get the “downgrade license”, please do so.  Then DOWNGRADE to Windows XP.

Windows XP at this point in time is probably the most stable Operating System Microsoft ever had.  It interacts well with servers as well as makes efficient use of resources.  If you take a laptop that had Vista installed on it then install XP – you’ll immediately see the speed difference.

Sorry Microsoft, but you did drop the ball with Windows Vista.  Server 2008 is another story – so far I’ve had good experiences with it.

Please Note:  Windows XP will have a direct upgrade path to Windows 7!  It was cited here: Microsoft: Windows XP to Windows 7 Upgrade and PC World: Upgrade Path for XP to Windows 7

Windows 7 So far

Personally, I haven’t had a chance to try it out.  However, what I’ve heard from my colleagues in the field is that it’s everything they wanted Vista to be, with the performance of Windows XP.  I hear it even has some touch-screen capabilities, that’s pretty neat.  Here’s a list of new features also: Windows 7 Features

That it’ for my gripe session.  Love to hear yours! Anyone else out there had their hands on Windows 7?  What do you think?

Related Blog’s on the Topic: Computer Pros say wait for Windows 7 – Avoid Vista – Should you wait for Windows 7

In a previous article on Paperless Living, I made mention of the ability to archive and store your own documents in order to cut down on printing.  The use of the PDF format is a very popular solution and step towards paperless living.

What is .PDF?

PDF stands for – Portable Document Format.

As the name suggests, it makes the document portable and it does it in this sense.  It optimizes and compresses the document for use for fast internet transfer and accessibility.

Document Security

Most documents such as .DOCX have no reading, editing, or printing security built-in.  This basically means that anyone can change your document and print it.  This is not so with PDF files, if you make use of Adobe Professional.  In Professional, you can set security limits on document editing, printing, and so forth.  So for you business environments out there – stop sending DOC files to clients!  They are unsecure and in the case of say, a contract, they can be easily changed.  A PDF file is not easily changed.

Compression and Conversion: How to convert .doc / .DOCX Word Files to PDF

It is known that you can convert your doc, rtf, and .DOCX files to PDF format easily within Word by installing this Add-on.

1. DOWNLOAD and Install PDF Add-on for Microsoft Word

2. Open Microsoft Word

3. Type out your Document or open an existing one

4. Click top-left Office symbol, Scroll down to Save-as

5. Choose Save-As PDF/XPS

6. Name your file and then click Publish.

7. You’re done! It’s that simple.

However you can also convert JPG files and scanned images to PDF as well and it will compress the file while it converts to PDF.  Secondly, depending on how advanced the setup or the software you use, you can even scan directly to PDF and make the document searchable (More on this below).

How I’ve used it in business environments: Archiving and OCR (Character Recognition)

With the use of a scanner, you can scan in documents to be converted to a searchable PDF.  This means the software decodes the wording on the page and recognizes common characters on it (aka Character Recognition).  Most scanners do include software to bundle, and offer basic scanning and conversion.

Commonly, I’m handed some ancient document (that was typed on a typewriter in some cases) and asked to re-type if possible.  Although I am superfast at typing, this idea does not appeal to me.  What I do however, is use a good scanner and do a direct scan-to-PDF with the OCR function enabled (making it searchable or copiable).

The difference between a regular scan and OCR scan is large.  OCR scan detects all the characters and enables you to Highlight, Select, Copy, and Paste the characters just as in Word.  In a Regular Scan, it basically treats any document as a photo and scans it as such – which is un-editable.

Many organizations have been or are starting similar batch jobs of document conversion for archiving.  They are removing all those paper files from the cabinets, throwing them into a commercial scanner (40 pages per minute scans!) and “tagging” the documents by subject, year, etc into a Document Management System.  Where do the papers go?  Well anything usually older then 3-5 years is thrown out.

Guess what – from that point on you can pretty much make a pact not to print anything and go completely digital – then transfer documents to archive via PDF on a server.  Ok I am getting ahead of myself – but you see the possibilities don’t you?  Yes!

Best Software for PDF Creation and Conversions

It goes without a doubt that Adobe Professional is best suited to creating original .PDF files.  You can download Adobe Reader for free, but it is highly limited it functionality such as editing, scanning to PDF, converting, or managing a PDF document.  You can only really read PDF files with it and not scan, edit, or add security features.

Hand-down, as many may guess, Adobe Acrobat Professional 9 is the best PDF creation and conversion software.  A few great features are such as these:

Easily create Adobe PDF documents
Create Adobe® PDF documents with one-button ease from Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Windows® users can also create PDF documents with one-button ease from Outlook, Internet Explorer, Project, Visio, Access, Publisher, AutoCAD®, and Lotus Notes files.

Scan to PDF with OCR
Scan paper documents with OCR technology to create compact, searchable Adobe PDF documents.

Convert e-mail to Adobe PDF files
Convert e-mail in Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes to Adobe PDF documents to facilitate searching, archiving, and retrieval. (Windows only)

Capture web pages as Adobe PDF files
Convert web pages to Adobe PDF documents to easily print, archive, mark up, or share. (Windows only)

Create in PDF/A or PDF/X
Create documents in PDF/A, the ISO standard for long-term archiving of electronic documents, or PDF/X, the ideal format for high-quality, professional printing

Combine and optimize documents
Combine documents, drawings, and rich media content into a single, polished Adobe PDF document. Optimize file size, and arrange files in any order regardless of file type, dimensions, or orientation.

Maintain individual file security settings
Maintain individual digital signatures and security settings in PDF files and forms when combining them into a single PDF package.

Include only the pages you need
Specify which pages, layouts, or sheets should be included from source files in your final, combined Adobe PDF document.

Optimize Adobe PDF output
Select from multiple file size and quality settings to optimize PDF output for your intended purpose.

Combine and optimize documents
Combine documents, drawings, and rich media content into a single, polished Adobe PDF document. Optimize file size, and arrange files in any order regardless of file type, dimensions, or orientation.

Maintain individual file security settings
Maintain individual digital signatures and security settings in PDF files and forms when combining them into a single PDF package.

Include only the pages you need
Specify which pages, layouts, or sheets should be included from source files in your final, combined Adobe PDF document.

Optimize Adobe PDF output
Select from multiple file size and quality settings to optimize PDF output for your intended purpose.

Apply passwords and assign permissions
Restrict access to Adobe PDF documents using 128-bit encryption. Set document permissions to help restrict who can print, save, copy, or modify a document.

Sign documents digitally
Apply digital signatures to authenticate documents, manage their status, and help protect against unauthorized modification.

Hungry for more?  Download the – Printable feature overview (PDF, 234K)

Conclusion

Obviously, using PDF technology and Adobe software is quite diverse, and I’ve only scratched the surface.  But that is the whole point on this blog – to scratch the surface of your creativity and lend some insight.  I’d be happy to hear from other users of the PDF format, Adobe, etc and know how they are doing business or working in paperless environments, archiving, and collaborating.

Related Blog’s on the Topic: 5 Benefits of PDF – 10 PDF Tricks – Convert anything to PDF online