It’s easy to add an icon to desktop

July 3, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Q. I recently started a Gmail account. Is there a way to get an icon on my desktop that goes to that account?

A. To create a desktop icon linking to any Web page, Gmail included, just go to the page and click and drag the icon in the address bar (in this case, the red envelope) onto your desktop.

In recent columns, I have referenced LastPass as a solution for storing your Internet passwords and Dropbox as a solution for storing all of your documents and irreplaceable files online.

However, Jeff Crume, a Stump the Geeks contributor and distinguished engineer at IBM, wrote in with concerns. Both services have been in the news recently — LastPass with a potential hack and Dropbox with privacy vulnerabilities.

Jeff’s note was so eloquent that I’d like to share it here. He writes:

“I have no direct knowledge of this particular situation [with LastPass], so I can’t say whether they were doing a good job of securing user passwords or not, but with the rise of cloud computing services such as this, it serves as a cautionary tale.

“When data isn’t stored on a computer you control, it’s hard to know whether it is being secured properly or not. In some cases, cloud services offer better security because they have the expertise and technology to focus on the threats in a way that typical users would not or could not. In other cases it may just amount to a case of blind trust in an organization and computing infrastructure that may not be justified.

“When you’re talking about storing the keys to your personal kingdom (i.e. the passwords to your bank account, credit card, email, etc.) in a place that is ‘out of sight, out of mind,’ you hope it’s also not ‘out of control.’

“My recommendation would be to only use services like these for storing passwords and data that is not sensitive in nature, unless you really know and trust the service provider.

“For instance, passwords for websites that require you to have an account but don’t charge for their services and, therefore, don’t contain a lot of information about you such as your credit-card numbers, are a better candidate for centralized services like LastPass, while other tools that store passwords locally on your own hard drive might be better for passwords to more critical accounts.

“By the same token, Dropbox is great for sharing files that aren’t of a sensitive nature, but if you need rock solid confidentiality, it’s best not to store your data on someone else’s hard drive, as is the case with cloud-based services. Unless, of course, you feel the benefits outweigh the potential downside, which is a decision that will vary from person to person depending upon their tolerance for risk.”

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2011, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)

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