Windows Vista - Why should I upgrade by Anmol

Windows Vista - Why should I upgrade

Microsoft has done it again. Introducing their latest version of windows Operating System for PCs. The big question here is if one should upgrade to Windows Vista or just sit put and be content with the good old XP and wait it out until the market has tried and tested the newer operating systems. While most people in the fray will definitely decide to wait until Vista has passed the test of fire until they finally decide to upgrade some people have taken the plunge and have had mostly satisfying experiences. For one almost all of them have stated that it is advisable to do a clean install instead of 'upgrading' from XP to Vista.

The advantages of changing to Windows Vista are many. To begin with Vista contains a radically revamped Windows Explorer with integrated Desktop Search capabilities that makes locating files folders and information a very simple task. Windows Vista now has a networking stack that supports IPv6 and is completely re-written. Windows services now have an increased two-way firewall protection. Newly architectured audio, and display features that make multimedia an even more enjoyable experience and a power management system more advanced than any OS. Apart from this there are the User Account Control, IE7 Protected Mode, and Bit locker Drive Encryption, Windows Photo Gallery, with industry-standard support for saving metadata in image files, excellent backup tools, including the ability to recover previous versions of a file, Super Fetch, Ready Boost, and other performance-enhancing innovations and not to mention Tablet PC support.

Now most people will argue that XP already has most of these features and they are very satisfied with the working of XP but this might just be the case of 'better the devil you know than the devil you don't know'. XP does have most of these features, however, Vista has improved on the performance of XP in Many ways besides Vista has been designed to suit individual needs such as Home, Office, Professionals, which means that you can choose exactly which version of Vista you need. Bugs will be there, but in the ultimate analysis - Vista seems to be here to stay.

5 Important Business Tips for Starting Up a New Business by Stefan Holm

When starting a business, there are several tips you should follow in order to guarantee its success. By following these simple business tips, you will experience less problems along the way and build your way up to the top in no time at all!

Tip #1: Start-Up a Business in the Area You Love

Keep in mind that you will be spending a great deal of time getting your business going, marketing it, and maintaining it. Therefore, you need to select an area of business that you are interested in. If you don't enjoy the business, it will feel more like a burden than a pathway toward financial freedom and success.

Tip #2: Don't Quit Your Day Job When Starting a Business

When starting a business, it will take some time before you begin to show a profit. Obviously, you won't be able to get far with your business or with your personal life if you do not have some cash flowing in. Therefore, it is better to keep working while you start-up your business. After the business gets up and going and proves itself to be successful, then you can quit the day job!

Tip #3: Build Up a Client Base

Start building up a client base before you actually start up your business. Start networking before you invest cash into the start-up of the business. This may entail giving away some of your services or products for free in order to build a reputation. Remember, it is never too early to start marketing your business. Then, when you do get your business started, you will have clients already in place.

Tip #4: Build a Team

When starting a business, it is important to create a support system. You will need a team of people to support you while you start up the business as well as afterward. Your team doesn't need to consist of a large number of people. Just one family member or one friend can be enough, so long as you have someone to bounce your ideas off of. Even better, consider finding someone to be your coach or mentor. Someone that has experience helping others in the same situation as you can prove to be quite invaluable.

You might also want to consider adding a few professionals to your team. These professionals may include accountants, lawyers, or bookkeepers. All of these people can help you get and keep your business on track.

Tip #5: Create a Plan

Before you start-up a business, you will need to create a business plan. In order to create a business plan, you will need to research your ideas in order to determine if there is a market for your product or service. Your business plan will help you determine what your business goals are and how you will achieve them. In addition, it will help you determine if your business truly has a chance for success before you start putting your time and money into it.

A business plan will also help you when the time comes to get money. While you may work to save up the money you need to start-up your business, you might also need to obtain a loan. If you go this route, you will need to present the lending institution with a business plan in order to prove that you business is well thought out and has the potential to be a success.

By following these simple business tips, you will greatly improve your chances for success when starting a business. Remember, you can never be too prepared when starting a business. And, the better base you give your business, the better your chances of finding success and creating a sustainable business.

Stefan Holm, The Lifestyle Entrepreneur, has spent 15 years investigating, testing and implementing different ways to get out of the rat race, live the life you dream of and get Life Balance, Unlimited Success, Financial Freedom and Peace of Mind. Now he reveals his secret innovative strategies and principles to the public. He truly is an underground lifestyle entrepreneur with proven strategies you need to know. For more information, sign up for his Best Tips at http://www.bestcoachingtips.com or http://www.bestcoachingtips.se

Windows Vista- First Impressions by David Smith

Well its been one month, and Ive been putting Windows Vista through its paces. I was a reluctant user, but because so many of my clients were upgrading, I thought it best to try it out for myself. So how was my first months experience?

This is one of the better operating system releases that Microsoft has done in recent years. Its definitely just a little better, and a little different than Windows XP, but not vastly different.

For once Microsoft seems to have released an operating system that doesnt need a year of patches to be usable. It seems to be stable and usable from day one, Ive been using it for over a month, and I havent seen it crash yet. It choked a little bit on my graphics card driver, but then there was a new driver especially suited for Vista, and it seems to work fine now.

The User Interface is probably the most improved and most altered. Things are just a little more transparent. And its just a little easier to multi-task. Its easy to have multiple windows up, each doing different tasks. One of my favorite innovations is when you hover over the tasks on the bottom taskbar, it gives you a small thumbnail of what that page looks like. This is perfect for having a few browsers open, and finding the exact page you wanted without having to open all of them.

Something new for Vista is that it comes with voice recognition already installed. No real need for $200+ voice recognition programs. It worked pretty well for me. I was actually able to type in a document or two with just my voice, and control the entire windows environment. Its definitely not a perfect implementation, but its still pretty cool.

One thing to keep in mind with Vista is that current hardware is a necessity. Vista really craves lots of memory, a fast processor and fast video card with lots of memory. If youve bought your computer in the past year, you should be fine otherwise you might need to do a few essential upgrades before you install Vista. I highly recommend at least 1GB of memory for most Vista users.

So after one month of Vista, I have to say, Im pretty pleased. Its a very fine release from Microsoft that I believe will prove to be quite popular. Its probably not worth it to spend money to upgrade as its not that different from XP. But, is a great choice for any new computers that you purchase.

Three Steps to Take to Recover Your Hard Drive by Tom Sample

Disk recovery services are very searched for and that is because more and more people have a computer as their means of working. We are more or less forced knowing computers, and therefore we depend on their good functioning.

But what if one day, when trying to boot your computer, it simply doesn't work? It doesn't seem to be able to "see" your hdd and anything else for that matter. Like any other mechanism, a computer needs all its' parts in good shape to be able to function properly. Unfortunately, you know that all your work was on that hard drive. Work which you forgot to save on a cd or dvd. That would have been a good idea, but now what?

It's easy in theory. You call a disk recovery company. First of all, you need to search the internet for available disk recovery companies in your area. They have to be in your area, because you need to provide them with the hardware. When you make the phone call, you will be asked a few questions, and remember, you will probably need to provide some technical details.

The first one would be the model of your hard disk drive. You need to take a look at it and see the label of the company which produced it, as well as the model. If you knew how to extract it from your computer, you will surely know that. If one of your friends did it though, just take a look at it or check the documentations which came with the computer.

Then, you will have to tell the company's disk recovery assistant the name of the operating system you were using. Your operating system's name is what appears when your computer boots.

Finally, you will need to provide the names and types of the files that you desperately want recovered. Each file has, apart from a name, an extension too. For example, text files created with notepad have the .txt extension. If you are working with the almighty program created by the company responsible for the operating system, those files have .doc extension. But these are just some basic examples.

When you provide the company with your hard drive, an evaluation is made which will tell you the amount of damage your hard drive has sustained. Taking that into consideration, a price is set for the service of recovering your losses.

Without getting into more technical details, it must be said that having your data recovered can be a life saver. You could have worked for months or even years at what you lost. Though, I must advise you, when all your work is centered around one computer, you really need to create back-up option.

Imagine the first scenario (the one in which you lose all your data) and a scenario in which you simply take a cd or dvd from your drawer. The miraculous cd has all your work, because you've been very cautious and you've been saving your work from time to time, let's say one a week. Now, tell me, isn't that the best disk recovery method?

Inside Ad-Aware SE by Cedric Price

1. Introduction

Ad-Aware SE is an anti-spyware/adware software product developed by Lavasoft (lavasoft.com). The purpose of this application is to detect aggressive advertising, Parasites, Scumware, selected Keyloggers, selected traditional Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, and tracking components. It can be installed on Windows 98, 98SE, Win ME, Win NT 4, Win 2000, and Win XP Home/Professional.

Ad-aware SE is available in four different versions - Enterprise, Personal, Plus and Professional. The Enterprise type is for corporations and it can provide centralized protection control for an entire network of computer users. The price is determined by the number of users and the length of the maintenance period (1,2 or 3 years). 10-25 users for 1 year is worth $28,45. The Pro version is for advanced home users and it's priced at $60 for one year licence. Information on the Plus variant can be found here http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad-aware_se_plus.php. Ad-Aware SE Personal can downloaded from the offical site for free at http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php.

In order to fully understand Ad-Aware SE, you must have an idea of what Spyware and Adware is. According to the definition given by Wikipedia.org, spyware is a broad term describing malicious software designed to intercept the data transferred from your computer to the internet, or to take partial control of the operating system without the knowledge of the machine's owner or legal user. Adware is a type of software, or a module attached to another software that displays different pop-up windows with advertisements, while you browse the Internet, and sometimes even if you are not browsing the Internet.

Spyware can not only track down your online activity for marketing purposes, it can work as a keylogger recording everything you type with your keyboard (including Credit Card numbers) and then send that to someone over the internet. Adware means 'advertising-supported software,' programmed to download and display advertising material to the infected computer. Quite often, spyware and adware can get mixed up in the same application, so it's not uncommon for spyware to act as an adware as well, or the opposite.

2. Types of scanning

Ad-Aware SE scans your memory, registry, hard, removable and optical drives. There are four scanning methods available to choose from - SmartScan, Full System Scan, Custom and ADS Scan. The SmartScan is the fastest one, but it's not that detailed and reliable. When you scan your system for the first time, logically you would want the Full System Scan and then use the SmartScan on a daily basis. Once a month you should do a Full System scan, while the SmartScan must be performed every day.

Here is how you can make a Full System Scan. Of course, you should start by downloading the software from the official website and install it, if you haven't done that already. Go to http://www.lavasoft.de/support/download/. Prior to running the installation, close down as many running programs as you can. Another must do is the Update. New anti-spyware and adware definitions are released almost every day, so you must make sure have them. Once you have the application installed (version 1.06r1 or above), click on the link saying 'Check for updates now' above the start button or the globe icon and the upper right corner. If Internet connection is available and you have configured your firewall to allow Ad-Aware SE to access the internet, it will connect to Lavasoft server and check if any updates are available. You will be asked for confirmation before anything is installed.

If you have to update the definitions manually, you can download the reference file itself from http://www.lavasoft.de/ls/reflist.zip. Unzip the folder and move it inside your Ad-Aware SE folder, choose 'Ok' when asked to over-write it.

Speaking of versions, the latest one is Ad-Aware 2007 Beta. You have to register at http://www.lavasoft.com/support/securitycenter/beta_applications.php, so that you can download it.

The way that Ad-Aware works is similar to a virus scanner, scanning files in search for known variants of spyware and adware. If it finds something, it notifies you an sends the file to a quarantine where it can be deleted. The Professional version has more features as you can set where to scan, how to scan, what actions must be performed on the files. It also gives you the option to have not just one, but several definition files so that you can truly customize your scans. Ad-Aware professional also allows you to add plug-ins, such as a hex-viewer, so that you can see in hex-decimal system that code of the corrupted files.

3. The Ad-Aware SE Tools

A very useful tool that comes with the Ad-Aware SE is the Process-Watch. As the name suggests, it allows you to view the name, handle, class name, process id and path of all the programs that are currently running on your Windows OS. Another interesting part of it is the Module section that shows you all the Dynamic Link Libraries that are currently being used by the processes in your system. But Process-Watch is not just for viewing, you can use it to stop a given process, and their associated modules. You can unload a given module, but first make sure that it's not a system module that is required for Windows to operate normally. Take into account that by default Process-Watch lists only those running processes that are connected to visible windows on the users desktop. If you want to see the rest of them, including all background processes, un-check the "Limit To Visible Windows"

All these features make the Process-Watch a must have for all advanced users of the Window OS that want to know more about what's really going on 'under the hood' or troubleshoot the system.

Ad-Watch is a real time monitor that comes with Ad-Aware SE (Plus and Pro versions). I adds an extra layer of protection to the OS, running silently in the background it watches for malware that attempts to modify your system. Ad-Watch prevents the installation of Adware and Mallware, instead of trying to detect them after they have been installed. If Malware/parasites are detected, Ad-Watch pops up, unloads the particular module and launches Ad-Aware. Click on the Popups button if you want to stop the occurrence of a given adware. For example, an adware keeps popuing up containing the url - 'girl-3.com', then you can go into the Popups menu, click on 'New Url' and enter the partial or complete URL of the browser window that pops up. Have in mind that this feature only works with Internet Explorer.

4. Removing infected files

Once the scanning process is finished, Ad-Aware SE displays a list of the infected files (if any) on the system. At that point, it is up to you to decide which ones you delete. If you are unsure about whether or not you want to remove a given file, you should quarantine it. This will create a back up copy of the file before it's deleted. In that way, you can restore the file later on. By default, all of the infected files found by the application, are selected. Click on the 'Next' button to remove them. To make a copy of a given file, select it and press 'Quarantine'.

Browser Hijacker is malicious piece of software that reset the home page of your Internet Explorer browser to website which advertises something. When Ad-Aware SE detects this type of adware, and you delete it, the home page will be blank until you change it manually, because the application didn't know what the home page was before the adware changed it.

5. Ad-Aware SE plug-ins

There are all types of plug-ins available for Ad-Aware SE. The plug-ins are designed to enhance the application and increase the level of protection it provides. Some of the are paid, while others are free. If you want to download the official plug-ins for Ad-Aware, visit http://www.lavasoft.com/download_and_buy/plugins_for_ad-aware/.

The plug-in installation process is simple. First you have to extract the executable from the downloaded archive, then you run it following the installation instructions. The installer will handle finding your Ad-Aware plug-in folder and automatically install it for you. The program must be closed when you are installing the plug-in. On the next start, you will be able to see the plug-in in the 'Add-ons' section.

One of the plug-ins that you can download for free is the HexDump 2.0. It supports all versions of Ad-Aware SE and its function is to display a hexadecimal version of cookies detect during a scan. The HexDump also provides an "English" translation of the hex code.

FileSpecs is another interesting plug-in, designed to output additional information regarding the files found during a search, such as file name, location, size, create date and date of last modification.

LSP Explorer is a module compabtible with all editions of the software and stands for Layered Service Providers. This tool allows you to view the active Service Providers on your system, with detailed info for each of them. Once you install it, run the Ad-Aware Se and click the Add-ons button. You will see LSP Explorer listed in the first tab called Tools. Click on it and press OK when asked to execute this tool and you will see a dialog containing a list of the Name Service Providers.

If you install any of those plug-ins, you will be able to see them by clicking the Add-ons button, Extensions tab.

6. Save download

A very common way of distributing adware or spyware is by attaching it to a totally legitimate, even anti-virus type of application. Therefore, make sure that you download programs from well known, legitimate and respected websites. For a safe, fast and trouble-free download of Ad-Aware SE, go to http://adaware.freesecuredownloads.com/

Computer Repair Educator by Travis Klein

Is it possible for regular Joe's to fix their own computer without needing to call a specialist in to do the computer repair? Yes! You can do it easy, and you can learn these computer repair techniques easy in the article I have written. You will be told exactly what you need to do and know, in order to get your computer repaired and working how you want it!

There is always the option of calling upon a company like Geek Squad, from Best Buy, if you have the extra $350 to repair your computer. Lets also state here their idea of computer repair is not what you need at all, unless you are looking for someone to come to your home with the intention of selling you software you don't need, instead of repairing your computer. Later I will indulge all of you reading, my experience with this company, and how it brought amusement into my world

Going through only the computer repairing techniques we need to know, I will not waste your time with confusing nonsense about how a computer works, or how did the computer get broken in the first place where it is in need of computer repair? Who cares right? What's done is done, lets just fix the darn thing.

I will show you how to do computer repair the easiest, most simplest way possible. We care about making our current computer situation better as it exists at this exact moment, ridding it of needing computer repair.

The computer repair basics presented here and the articles that follow will be more than enough to eradicate 90% of your home computer repair problems, completely resolving them all so you don't have to search the internet anymore for "computer repair" and how to fix your computer problems.

You could be thinking, as I at one time did when I knew very little about computers or repairing them, that it will be near impossible to understand these square mysterious beeping towers or how they work none the less. It is a lot easier then you might think! You just need to know the what information is important about computer repair, discarding all the unnecessary stuff that most computer repair companies say in order to confuse you so you hire them. We do not need them! We have ourselves and by gosh darn it, we have this helpful article to guide you thought basic computer repair.

Computer repair steps are all the same. Lets repeat, computer repairing steps are all the same, no matter if it is you doing it or a computer engineer doing it. The computer engineer goes though the basic steps while repairing a computer system, the same steps we are going to go over in this article. He might know what to do in that chance of 10% when a computer is more damaged then normal, but we are not going to worry ourselves with that odd chance.

There are not hundreds of computer gurus that develop new and innovative ways to repair computers. Computer repair techniques have already been mapped out for us, and proven, so lets just utilize other peoples work and findings about computer repair, after all its free and legal!. Think of the same situation where you look up a recipe online to cook a fancy meal, it is the same idea!

Now, I have been prepping you for too long telling you why I think you can do it. You know you can do it, you just need to believe in yourself and take computer repair one step at a time. I cannot stress that enough. Computer repair has to be done in steps...1) before 2). Yes it sounds obvious but be strict on yourself about his, especially while learning how to do computer repair, you will make it easy on yourself.

Usually when we fix something in life we have identify the problem.. blah blah. Skip identifying the problem! (not how you learned it in school huh?) Lets not even try to pinpoint a problem that needs repairing with our computer yet!

We are going to first do a few very easy computer repair basics that will solve almost all computer issues (shhh overpriced Geek Squad doesn't want you or anyone to know this).

First Guide in Computer Repair

1) Click the Start Menu, a button that is visible while hovering over the start menu is the "run" button. Click the run button and a small window in the bottom left of your screen comes up. 2) Type "msconfig" (with no quotation marks) in the box that is within the window. 3) Another window comes up, now go to the tab to the right called "start up" 4) Near the bottom of the window is a button called "disable all" click that button 5) Then click the "apply" button just below the "disable all" button. 6) X out of the window (close the window) and another window pops up. Click the "restart now" option.

And there you have it! You just taught yourself how to do a very easy computer repair technique which will solve alot of your computer repair issues.

Where are the Boomers Going Now? by Mark Kanty

Four the past 4 years I have been observing the growing trend for Americans and others, mostly Canadains and Brits, to purchase second homes and to also relocate to Panama. All we have to do is look to the Baby-Boomers to see where the next big growth industries are going to be. Lee Iacocca knew this very well as he led Detroit to major gains first at Ford with the Mustang and again at Chrylser with the mini-van. Well the boomers they are aging and guess where they headed? SOUTH! Just watch as the 2nd home market continues to thrive. But forget about Florida and the southern states. No, these boomers are much more worldly and are looking even further south to places like Panama. Relocation to countries which offer a lower cost of living - lower taxes - retiree incentives and a low stress lifestyle are just beginning to see the arrival of the boomers. What's it going to be like when the peak of the Boomer wave hits in 2012?

In 2nd Home Journal, Ellen Newbury writes, "International Markets Heat Up - Boomers Fuel Second Home Buys Abroad.

Americans are driving the second home market, and redefining it in the process. Baby-boomers continue to expand the market with their increased buying power. And they have begun to turn their attention more seriously to locales outside the U.S.

The move toward international second homes comes is no surprise to the analysts who have tracked boomers for decades. Globalization and the internet have made it easy for these adventuresome Americans to look beyond U.S. borders for investment and recreation. Boomers are being romanced by international hot spots, and they're looking to invest in the attractive global real estate markets.

The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) confirms the phenomena. "We have seen this trend in Americans buying vacation homes abroad," says Jeff Hornberger, International Market Development Manager for the NAR.

Hornberger says the NAR expects no slow down in the international second home market in the near future. "The foreign second home market will continue to explode in the coming years. It is not a temporary trend. The most popular destinations for Americans seem to be in Latin America, as this is where the dollar exchange is the best. Especially in Panama where the U.S. dollar is the local currency!

Panama, the third largest country in Latin America, is emerging as a popular second home destination. "The secret is 'out' for Panama, and Americans, especially retirees, are expected to move there in droves in coming years," says Hornberger.

Comprised of 480 miles of terrain linking Costa Rica with Columbia, Panama is arguably the hottest investment opportunity in Central America. Scott Harris has 16 years of real estate experience, and works in sales and marketing for Red Frog Beach in Panama. Harris says, "Panama is one of the hottest international markets and Americans and other foreigners are snapping up property like crazy."

Jaime Figueroa Navarro is President of Panama All In One, Inc. Navarro says that he has seen the trend in the booming second home market extend into his country. "...we're experiencing robust growth...many baby boomers are looking to live here as there are many advantages not available stateside...for example, the purchase of a new home or condo comes along with a 20-year homeowner's tax exemption."

The local currency is the U.S. dollar, making transactions easier for Americans, as well as removing the component of currency fluctuation and potential investment devaluation.

Navarro feels that now is the time to invest in Panama. He says there are many bargains on the market and the potential returns on investments loom large. "...this is where there is the largest business opportunity for the growing number of investors and promoters. In Panama now, the rule of thumb is, if you build a quality home, it 's sold...this trend will continue for the foreseeable future."

Used by permission of Publisher. www.2ndhome.net

IT Security Training and Information Security by Natalie Aranda

It is sometimes said that for everything we take away, there is something we must leave behind. This truism can be applied to the Information Technology field. The wide spread use of computers and the amazing advances in technology in the last two decades has changed the face of business. The increasing integration of the internet into the business sphere has kept this trend going into the present time. We have certainly gained much, but the price we have paid for this gain is a security threat that can not be minimized.

Business security in the past consisted of uniformed security guards who patrolled the offices and ground of an organization to keep physical intruders away. Now, the greatest threat to the security of an organization is within the electronic circuits of its database. This threat is two fold. First, there is the danger from outside sources accessing or altering data, and the second threat is from the loss of critical data through system failure.

Almost every type of IT training has a section that deals with security. It is an important part of even the most basic computer course. Password programs must be understood and essential security procedures followed by even the most junior employee in the organization. It is a good idea to make a basic computer security training session a part of new employee orientation. It is ultimately the responsibility of everyone in the organization from the network administrator to the switchboard operator to provide information security.

Most of the Certification programs that are growing in popularity as IT training tools and benchmarks of IT skills and knowledge include security training as part of their packages. From the CompTia A+ Certification to the Sun Certified Java Programmer (SCJP) Certification, the knowledge of proper security procedures is an essential element of the overall skills necessary to be considered a professional in the IT field.

Information security is involved with more than just keeping data inside the organization and away from those attempted to steal it. It is also involved with the protection of the data from something being entered into it. This is especially important when internet connections are widespread and connected to the organizations data base. The introduction of a virus or Trojan horse program in a system can have devastating consequences. Proper IT security training of all employees is the best safe guard available.

How to Organize an IT Training Session by Natalie Aranda

One of the main keys to the success of about anything at all is proper training. The field of Information Technology is no exception. If anything, training is even more important in IT due to its rapidly changing nature. The introduction of new technology makes training an ongoing issue in any IT department that wants to stay competitive. Although there are all types of training options available to IT professionals ranging from Certification training to individual E-learning opportunities, the need for organization wide IT training sessions still exists. There is hardly a single employee in most organizations today that is not involved with IT in some manner. It is the need to upgrade the skills and knowledge of everyone that makes an onsite IT training session so valuable.

There are some tips to help organize onsite IT training sessions. First, insure that each session is geared toward its target student audience. It does not help to mix the computer operators with the Database administrators in a basic computer course. Nor does it serve a good purpose to have the mechanics taking software training on data entry. A good IT training session will actually be a series of sessions each directed at a specific target audience based on job assignment and prior IT training.

Another important point in a good IT training session is proper scheduling. The training must be coordinated with the work schedule to insure that the people attending the training session are completely relieved of their work assignments. When a training session is constantly interrupted with phone calls or other distractions, it not only is hard to complete the training, but establishes a sense in the employees mind that training is not important. Insure the classroom time is well organized. The class should begin and end on time, and the classroom site should be prepared in advance with all necessary equipment on hand. When the employee sees that the organization takes training seriously, they will take it seriously as well.

A good network administrator will view the IT training program as an integral part of the operation of the IT department. The introduction of new systems or major changes should trigger training cycles that should be completed prior to implementation. Some organizations run their IT departments like they are secret cults with the IT techs serving the role of high priests. With the increased role of computer systems in business organizations today, this approach can be fatal. A well trained staff makes a lot of sense and a well organized training session is the key to reaching this goal.

How To Avoid Spyware? by Arvind Singh

Spyware can install itself into your system when you clicked some link to a program, opened spam email, clicked on certain popup windows or if you were downloading some free utilities, toolbars or games. Protect yourself with antispyware software. And check to see if your security settings are too low, change the settings to default level or higher, and keep a check on what you download.

Spyware is so invasive that Antispyware programs rank high on everyone's list of favorites when it comes to keeping the computer healthy and running. While no one's safe from spyware, there are some things you can do to avoid spyware, in addition to having antispyware solutions installed.

The most irritating thing about spyware is how it got into your system in the first place, not to mention how long it's been there or what it is doing. What could have triggered its existence in your system? What is even more annoying is the fact that you probably got tricked into clicking a link to some program for it to get installed in your system! Maybe you opened spam email - sometimes that's all it takes.

If you click on certain popup windows or if you were downloading some free utilities, toolbars or games, there's a pretty good chance it sneaked in that way, unless you had antispyware solutions installed in your system. The most likely source are those file sharing programs that are rife with spyware. And if you happened to browse through a corrupt website, it is no mystery at all as to how the spyware came in. Some legitimate software applications come bundled with the spyware.

Be Careful About Those Freebies

The Internet is full of free software that tempts you and when you succumb to it, comes integrated with spyware. If you are not protected by antispyware software, this spyware will relay all your browsing habits to spurious advertisers. Even your sensitive personal data can be revealed. How do you prevent this from happening? The first step is obviously to install antispyware software.

Exercising Caution

Beware when you surf the Internet. Check to see if your security settings are too low. If your system is not protected with antispyware software, this low security setting is a fine entry point for tracking cookies and spyware programs so that they can lodge themselves in your system. So, first change the settings to default level or higher, preferably, and keep a track of what you download. Update your operating system regularly. And keep your antispyware application also up to date with new definitions. Your antispyware solution will detect, then quarantine and delete spyware that happens to enter your system by chance.

Watch your email! If you don't recognize the sender, don't open the email or click anything in it. Only open email or download programs from sites you trust. Nothing comes free. Check around the online forums about which software comes bundled with spyware. It is easy to get feedback off the Internet about spyware and which antispyware is best to combat it.

Using Online Tutorials To Learn Adobe Photoshop by Mario Churchill

Adobe Photoshop has set the industry standard for photo and image editing. In fact, its popularity is such that it has become a full-blown industry in itself. In terms of ease of use and editing possibilities, Adobe Photoshop is hard to beat. And it's quite easy to learn even for beginners, especially those who have never in their life tried an image editing software before. There are literally thousands of tutorials online and on DVDs that can teach anyone the magic tricks of Photoshop.

If you're quite capable of navigating yourself using a program, your Adobe Photoshop installer has everything you need. Provided of course you know what you're looking for and what the terms mean, you will find the 'help' function very helpful. However, if you do not know the difference between crop and cut, you'll need to turn to other resources.

Head off to http://Adobe.com to find out more about Photoshop. There are plenty of info you can access from the site courtesy of their in-house experts. You'll find thousands of featured tutorials online, although if you're a beginner, you might want to take it slow and go to the 'Basic' tricks first before getting your hands on the more advanced techniques.

Adobe Photoshop is very easy to learn but you should first understand how it works and what exactly it can do so you'll have realistic expectations. Don't worry, though. Adobe Photoshop can create lots of magic and it won't disappoint. Once you've learned the basics, you can move on to the intermediate and advanced techniques.

If you prefer textual tutorials, you can use the articles on http://Creativepro.com. This site lists some of the best Adobe Photoshop techniques you'll find very useful. Included in the list are tutorials on the use of adjustment layers, aging of metal textures, using Camera Raw, using brush and patch, color replacement using Photoshop CS and even the all-important technique of restoring damaged photographs.

Whether you're an Adobe Photoshop newbie or pro, you will find a lot of tips and tricks at http://PSDesigns.com. This site lets you penetrate deeper and understand what goes on when you use different tools and devices. In fact, their tutorials are categorized based on technique. Included are background or knockout tricks, type, shape and pen techniques, pattern techniques, web and graphic design techniques.

One of our recommended sites is http://Photoshopsupport.com. This is a one-stop shop for online and video Adobe Photoshop tutorials. Everything you need to know about Adobe Photoshop is right here. There are free tutorials you can access online, including v.9 or CS2 tutorials.

Photoshopsupport.com also hosts free tutorials from Photoshop experts. Most recently, they have hosted tutorials by CreativeBits' Ivan Raszl. It features some of the most popular and creative techniques including removing red eye, creating textures like diamond-plated metal and brushed aluminum, making water drops and integrating photographs with uneven surfaces.

Some tips are as simple as changing colored photos to black and white and creating water drops - stuff you'll find handy later on. You can even access the Photoshop Tips & Tricks series volumes 1 to 6 on the site. And you don't have to be a grown-up to learn Photoshop either. The site has links exclusively for kids.

There are a lot of freebies onsite, including brushes, fonts, textures, plugins, photos and actions. If you prefer to download Photoshop video tutorials, there are also free video clips available.

If you have Photoshop v.10, you can access the CS3 resource center through this site. You can even download a trial version of public beta CS3 through Adobe Labs for free. The site alone has all the tutorials you'll need to sharpen your Adobe Photoshop trick armada and you can even do more using links to other tutorial sites

Organic Baby Clothing by Michelle Bery

In this day and age when people are looking for new and better ways to optimize their health, there has been a growing movement towards going organic. Organic food is naturally raised and grown and therefore free of additives and preservatives. Research has shown that the eating of organic food is far healthier for the human body - and supports a healthier environment. It stands to reason, therefore, that organic clothing does its part for the environment as well as a service to those who wear it. And no other organic clothing is as popular as organic baby clothing.

Just as organic produce and agricultural farmers raise their product with a commitment to using no pesticides, additives, or chemicals of any kind, organic cotton farmers are equally committed to their products and the environment at large. It has been reported that traditional cotton farming is responsible for using nearly a quarter of the world's insecticides and more than ten percent of the world's pesticides, making the growth of cotton an environmental crisis. Not only do these chemicals pollute the ground, air, and water in our environment but they embed themselves in the fabrics that we wear. Organic cotton farming ensures that no such chemicals are used and nothing could be more important than that when it comes to organic baby clothing.

As parents we are continually looking for ways to protect our baby's sensitive skin. We do everything from using dye-free laundry detergent to hypoallergenic soaps and creams. But when we slip an ordinary cotton fabric over their heads, we may be exposing them to unseen irritants. Organic baby clothing uses only natural fabrics free of dyes and other chemicals so that parents can rest assured that only the simplest and most natural of fabrics is touching their baby's skin.

Organic baby clothing can help reduce exposure to allergens and other irritants and keep babies comfortable. You can find organic baby clothing in many online locations as well as smaller specialty boutiques committed to the use of natural materials.

Quick Fixes for Five Nasty Vista Problems By Joel Durham Jr

Windows Vista certainly has its quirks. Here are some common conundrums and how to thwart them.

Six weeks later, the flaws are floating to the top.

Windows Vista's now a month and a half old, and most of the early adopters have formulated opinions: Some love it, some hate it, some just sort of think it's okay. Most of us at ExtremeTech fall between the first and third camps—it's nifty, but nothing revolutionary. One thing's for sure, though: message boards and blogs all over the Web are alight with reports of incompatibilities, bugs and nags.

A great deal of the problems we've encountered aren't really fixable. It's more a matter of finding a workaround or waiting for a patch or a driver, either from Microsoft, a hardware company, a game developer, or some other third party. No surprise there—Vista is a new operating system and glitches in core code, feature code and driver code are to be expected.

After spending a few hours surfing around, we pinpointed five rather prominent problems that actually have solutions, or that aren't really problems at all. Want to get your AMD Cool & Quiet drivers to load? Care to prevent your iPod hard drive from going corrupt with a few clicks of the mouse? Having trouble installing Adobe Reader? Read on.

Cool, it Works!

One of the most common gripes we've seen in message boards all around the Internet involve users not being able to install AMD's Cool & Quiet drivers on Windows Vista, and therefore not getting the power saving effect. AMD's driver Web pages only contain C&Q drivers for Windows XP.

C&Q has been around for a few generations of AMD processors and, provided the chip is installed on a compatible motherboard, it regulates the CPU's multiplier and voltage to go into low power states when the full processor power isn't needed. Since most motherboards contain intelligent circuitry for their CPU fans, the fan will usually slow down when the CPU isn't running hot enough to require full cooling force.

Why isn't there an easy-to-find Vista driver for C&Q features? Simple—it's built in! Windows Vista contains full support for C&Q from the onset, and it even gives you a bit of control over how it runs the CPU.

Go to Control Panel, click System, and click Power Options. Pick a plan, any plan, and click Change Plan Settings—for instance, beneath High Performance, click the blue text. The first page you see shows you how the computer will behave when plugged in and when on battery power; click Change Advanced Power Settings. A dialog box will appear.

Scroll down in the list box until you see Processor Power Management, and click the little + next to it. Now, you can set the minimum and maximum power states for the CPU while on battery, and while plugged in. You set a range, in percentage of the CPU's maximum power, for the processor to adhere to. For instance, in Power Saver mode you might set the minimums to 1 percent and max to 50 percent to save battery life; in High Performance mode you might force the CPU to run at 100 percent across the board for pure gaming muscle. The operating system will throttle the CPU as needed, staying between the power points you specify.

VPN DOA
If you're working as a telecommuter or from a remote location via a VPN, you should probably let your company's IT department decide whether or not you should upgrade to Windows Vista. It's likely a bad idea to do it yourself, especially on company equipment, without IT's blessing.

In any case, Windows Vista has a known problem with its VPN system that sometimes prevents users from connecting. After an upgrade, or even after a clean installation, you might set up the VPN exactly as you're supposed to, with all the correct information, and still not get through. It's not your fault.

You may have switched from a wired network to another wired or wireless connection before the VPN failure. If that's the case, Microsoft issued an update to solve the problem. You can get it through Windows Update as well as via that link.

Even if you didn't experience the VPN failure after switching network connections, try this update if you're having VPN problems.

Can't Read Reader
You can't consider a Windows operating system installation complete until you've got Adobe Reader on your system. So many assets on the Web come in Acrobat form, and unless you have the full program on your software shelf you need Reader to check them out.

If you're the kind of power-user who turns off User Account Control, or if you log on right into the default administrator account, you might notice that Adobe Reader 8 won't install after download—or after you discover it on some other media that included it. That's a known problem, and you're not alone.

You'll have to solve this problem through one of two ways. If you've turned off UAC, turn it back on. Go into Control Panel, click User Accounts, and click Turn User Account Control on or off. Restart the computer. Then, install Adobe Reader normally. When the installation is complete, you can turn UAC off again if you wish.

If, however, UAC is on and Reader still won't install, you'll need to run the installer in Windows XP compatibility mode. Navigate to the folder into which you saved the Reader installer. Right-click it. Click the Compatibility tab. Under Compatibility Mode, check Run This Program in Compatibility Mode and, below that, choose Windows XP from the list. Reader should install just fine after that.

Wire Won't Fire
So, you installed Windows Vista, it worked, you were happy, and then one day you get a bizarre blue screen with an error message along the lines of DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE. The first thing you have to wonder is where those friendlier error messages went during the development.

Now, think back. You probably plugged in an IEEE 1392 (FireWire) device at some point, such as a digital video camera or an external hard drive. You left it turned on and allowed Windows Vista to go to sleep. When Vista woke up, it gave you that rude error message.

The problem lies in a driver called Sbp2Port.sys, which is a mass storage driver that has a problem with sleeping computers. You need an update for it, which you can find right here on Microsoft's server.

Download the update and when it's in place, your FireWire stuff should let Windows Vista sleep peacefully.

iFried
When Apple released iTunes 7.1 to deal with a huge number of incompatibilities the music front-end had with Windows Vista, it introduced one new problem that has some iPod users surprised and dismayed.

Normally, when you go to remove your iPod, you click the little icon in the tray (a.k.a. the System Notification Area) that allows you to unplug a USB item safely. If you mouse over it, it's called Safely Remove Hardware. If you use that interface with Windows Vista and iTunes 7.1, the routine could corrupt the contents of your iPod's hard drive.

Apple May Use Flash Memory For Notebooks

AN FRANCISCO - Apple Inc. may sell zippy notebook computers later this year that use the same type of fast memory as music players and digital cameras, driving down prices of hard-disk drives, an analyst said Thursday.

The maker of the popular iPod music player and Macintosh computers hopes to introduce so-called flash memory in small computers known as subnotebooks in the second half of 2007, Shaw Wu, an analyst at American Technology Research who has a "buy" rating on Apple shares and does not own any stock, said in investor notes Wednesday and Thursday.

A shift to flash memory in place of much slower hard-disk drives would eliminate one headache for consumers: lengthy start-up times when turning on computers.

Apple of Cupertino, California, already uses flash memory in its iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle music players. Flash memory is lighter, uses less power and takes up less space than hard-disk drives.

Wu, who was among the first analysts to forecast the unveiling of Apple's iPhone music player/phone earlier this year, cited unnamed industry sources as the basis for his report.

"The time is right for the flash makers to make a move" as flash memory prices decline, Wu said by telephone. "Apple, from what we understand, is pretty much ready. The ball is in the flash vendors' court."

Apple spokeswoman Lynn Fox said the company does not comment "on rumor and speculation". Apple shares were up 60 cents, or 0.7 percent, at $88.32 in early afternoon trading on Nasdaq.

A transition to flash memory for computers could put pressure on makers of traditional hard-disk drives including Seagate Technology, the largest U.S. hard-disk drive maker, Wu said.

Apple, known as a technology innovator, would be among the first personal computer makers to use flash memory for storing data in computers, a step that some chip memory makers, including Micron Technology Inc., have said is inevitable as prices for flash decline and storage capacity increases.

Flash memory chips have solid state circuitry that uses no moving parts, making them less vulnerable to damage than hard-disk drives. Prices of flash memory have been declining rapidly but are still higher than those for hard-disk drives, Wu said, meaning early flash-based computers would be more expensive.

Apple would use a miniature version of its Mac OS X operating system in the flash-based subnotebook computers, Wu said, again citing unnamed sources. The computers could be introduced in the second half of this year, he said.

Shares of Samsung Electronics Co. -- the world's largest maker of so-called NAND flash memory used in gadgets such as cell phones, music players and digital cameras -- closed up 0.7 percent in Seoul. Toshiba Corp., the No. 2 flash maker, rose more than 5 percent in Tokyo.

Shares of Seagate were up 10 cents, or 0.4 percent, at $24.80, in early afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

By: Philipp Gollner

The most useful windows shortcut keys by Hazem Osman

There are so many shortcut keys that you can use with windows. They can make your life much easier when you use them. I won't tell you all of them because that would be so hard to remember, instead I will tell you the most important ones. Notice that if the active application uses the same shortcut key, Application's shortcut will be used instead of the windows one.

Windows Key: Windows Key + E: Opens the Explorer window (my computer).

Windows Key + R: Run (like Start -> Run).

Windows Key + F: Finds files or folders.

Windows Key + M: Minimizes all windows and shows the desktop.

Windows Key + Shift + M: Undo Minimize all windows (restore windows again)

Windows Key + L: Locks your computer.

Windows Key + Tab: Cycles through taskbar buttons.

Control Key: Ctrl + C: Copies the selected files and folders (or the selected text).

Ctrl + X: Cuts the selected files and folders (or the selected text).

Ctrl + V: Pastes the previously copied or cut file and folders (or text).

Ctrl + Z: Undo the last action.

Ctrl + A: Selects All files and folders in explorer window.

Ctrl + F: Displays Find files or folder in the active explorer window.

Ctrl + W: Closes the active explorer window.

Alt Key: Alt + Tab: Cycles through the running applications windows. Keep the Alt key pressed while pressing the Tab key to cycle, leave Alt key any time to switch to the desired window.

Alt + Spacebar: Opens the system menu for the active window.

Alt + Enter: Displays the properties of the selected item (like the properties of a file in explorer window).

Alt + Underlined letter: Presses the button which has underlined letter in any dialog also does the same for menu items.

Function Keys: F1: Displays Help.

F2: Renames the selected file or folder in the explorer window .

F3: Displays Find files or folder in the active explorer window.

Computer Viruses & Free Antivirus Software by Steve E. Driz

Let's face it, over the past 10 years, personal computers have become an integral part of our lives. Many households have computers in home offices, living rooms, kitchens and even bedrooms. We see the technology as something useful, friendly, and even precious and fragile at times.

Regrettably, the very technology of personal computing we seem to rely on is subjected to virus infections, email SPAM, Spyware/Adware, Trojans etc. As a result, your computer performance starts degrading, applications run slower than usual and in some instances; you are getting constant pop-up ads on your screen.

Worst-case scenario, your computer "crashes", well not literally, and you have to spend a significant amount of time and money on hiring a professional and re-installing the operating system along with all the software applications originally installed on your computer. But what about your data, the most precious personal information that may include your emails from family members, friends and colleagues, your personal documents, financial information and finally, family photos.

When you computer is infected, and the operating system needs to be re-installed, unless done by a professional at a significant cost to you, your personal information may be lost forever. You may ask, "Why is this guy painting such a grim picture?"

The answer is; "This is an unfortunate reality", and unless you are fully equipped and prepared to deal with the issue on your own, with a very little help, you may loose your valuable information permanently.

Computer Viruses and Antivirus Software

As I mentioned earlier, computer viruses may destroy your computer's operating system and disable access to your personal information. Computer viruses are generally distributed through email, Internet sites, instant messaging (chat software), and physical media such as CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, USB or floppy disks.

The best preventative strategy is to have a full-featured antivirus software installed on your computer.

Most of the personal computers purchased today are already equipped with the antivirus software. "So, what's the catch?" you ask me. The catch is that every commercial as well as non-commercial antivirus software requires frequent updating. Many people think that if the antivirus was installed on their computer by the vendor, they are protected for life. Wrong!

To give you an example, when a new computer virus is discovered, large teams of software developers work night and day to come-up with an antidote, a "pill" that would destroy a virus and will inoculate your personal computer. Once available, the antivirus update or "signature", will be available on the vendor's website for download. If your antivirus software is up-to-date, and is configured to update automatically over the Internet, you have very little to worry about. But what if I told you that millions of computer users out there have outdated antivirus software.

Believe it or not, it is true. It means that even though they think that their computer is protected, in actuality their, and any computer with outdated antivirus software may be easily infected by a virus.

You have to be cognizant of the fact that most of the commercial antivirus software available today requires annual subscription, and if your subscription was not renewed on time, the antivirus would stop updating its virus signatures, thus exposing your system to a threat. The good news is that there are non-commercial, free antivirus software packages that can be downloaded and used absolutely free of charge on your home computer.

Visa Security Summit Has Some Advice For Everyone

Merchants, bank,and card issuers all got a dose of suggestions for how to improve customer security.

By Larry Greenemeier

The tensions and problems surrounding the security of electronic customer data and online transactions got a proper airing last week, when Visa held a security summit in Washington, D.C. It seems everyone had some advice for others in the transaction chain.

Visa USA president and CEO John Philip Coghlan wasn't cutting retailers any slack for data breaches. "The majority of compromises come from storage of prohibited data and retailers using vulnerable systems to process data," Coghlan said. Just one-third of the largest merchants--those processing more than 6 million transactions a year--comply with payment card security standards. Visa this year will offer incentives for compliance, such as giving its lowest fees to those that are compliant before October, plus it will levy fines for noncompliance.

But retailers would like more help from Visa, too. Department store Nordstrom in 2005 increased its security efforts as Visa began comemphasizing pliance. But Nordstrom executive VP Daniel Little would like the card companies to offer better guidance on how companies should rank data risks. "That would help us identify the highest-priority issues," he said. Little and his team conduct weekly meetings related to payment-card compliance, and he provides quarterly reports to the company's board. "Information security and privacy are in the top five of our risks," he said.

For eBay CEO Meg Whitman, scams are one of the biggest business risks because of the potential loss of trust. She outlined some of eBay's new security tools and strategies. "Security on the Net is actually an arms race in its most classic form," she told the summit.

EBay and its PayPal group are the favored target for phishers. To ensure that customers can identify legitimate eBay E-mails, the company includes a digital signature on every one it sends. It's trying to convince Internet service providers to route only E-mails that contain this signature. Another measure is a PayPal security key that creates a random code to authenticate each transaction. "It's a combination lock for your PayPal account," Whitman said. It's been in beta for about a month.

Whitman also thinks banks and card companies could do better. She noted bank card networks receive information about fraudulent transactions days and sometimes weeks before merchants do, and that's a major problem. EBay wants to know about fraudulent payment accounts before its users ship goods to the perpetrators.

Small Software Developer Challenges Microsoft And Google With Free Operating System By Thomas Claburn

In the third quarter, a little-known Swedish software company plans to release a free operating system with the potential to radically alter the economics of software development. If successful, Xcerion could erode the power Microsoft derives from controlling the desktop, beat Google at its software-as-a-service play, and make commodity Linux boxes more viable as a platform for the masses.
"What Skype did for telephony, we want to do for software development," says CEO Daniel Arthursson. "We're enabling the 'long tail' for business software."

Arthursson's luring developers with financial incentives
For five years, Xcerion has been working on an XML-based Internet operating system, XIOS, that runs inside a Web browser. It's an abstraction layer that sits on top of a true operating system like Linux, Mac OS X, or Windows, just like Transmedia's Flash-based Glide Next media sharing environment.
But XIOS isn't simply an interface for media sharing. Rather, it's a complete XML-based operating system and development platform that replicates the desktop computing experience from inside the browser and adds the benefits of cloud-based computing, making applications and data available over the network.
Watch it in action and you'll see the threat it poses to Windows: Double-click on XIOS and the familiar desktop interface appears inside the browser window. Expand the browser window in full-screen mode and the Windows desktop vanishes beneath it. Of course, the XIOS environment could just as easily look like the Mac OS desktop or something else entirely. This is what Microsoft feared Netscape would do--turn its main asset, the operating system, into middleware.

WHY DO IT?
There are several reasons to run an XML-based operating system in a Web browser: security, data portability, freedom from hardware and platform lock-in, cost, built-in collaboration, and development productivity.
XIOS should be immune to most malware because it runs in a sandbox, a virtual environment where code can be executed without risk to computing resources on the outside. Because XIOS is based on XML, it's extremely portable and compatible. Applications can be easily tied to back-end XML Web services created with .Net, Java, or other Web technology. With XIOS running in a Web browser, users can access their files from any computer with an Internet connection and compatible browser, regardless of platform. The operating system has to be downloaded, but it's a small file--only 2 Mbytes.
As an operating system, XIOS can operate offline, storing files and running applications locally on a virtual hard disk. XIOS can be toted around on a USB flash drive with, say, Firefox, and every computer you plug it into becomes your computer, with your files.
The flexibility to store files locally or in the Xcerion cloud should enhance XIOS's appeal to businesses unwilling to trust application service providers with their data.

Follow The Money
Attracting developers is Xcerion's focus now. It has a fair shot at succeeding because its integrated development environment, an XML-based visual programming system, allows for extremely rapid development. It's orders of magnitude easier than, say, C++ or Java, Arthursson says, noting that it took him 30 minutes to develop an RSS-reader application and a few months to develop a PowerPoint clone.
When Xcerion launches XIOS, it expects to have a free productivity suite that initially will run only inside Internet Explorer and Firefox. Support for Apple's Safari and Opera is planned.
To provide incentives for third-party developers to write applications for its system, the back-end system is designed to route revenue either from subscription fees or ads served to users of free programs to application authors. Xcerion will take 10% to 20% of the proceeds, Arthursson says. The exact portion has yet to be decided.
If XIOS proves appealing to developers, Xcerion's open software-as-a-service platform could offer a far more diverse set of applications than controlled SaaS platforms like Google. "You can add more functionality yourself with our system," says Arthursson. "Google only provides the applications they develop."
Because XIOS was built from the ground up, it includes an answer to two of the most vexing computing issues today: collaboration and keeping files backed up and synchronized across multiple machines and operating systems. Its transaction engine can mirror local files in the cloud and distribute them to others, letting users collaborate on the same XML document.
XIOS has limitations. It can't handle advanced motion graphics for gaming, though it works with other browser-based software like Adobe's Flash; it isn't well suited for mobile phones; and it needs to prove itself in terms of speed. What's also missing is a sense that the tech industry believes in the approach. People testing XIOS aren't ready to speak publicly, Arthursson says.
Xcerion's initial impact is more likely to be felt by Salesforce.com's AppExchange, a similar though more limited approach to customized app development, than by Google or Microsoft. Three to five years out, Xcerion may offer far more applications than Google's and Microsoft's controlled, select sets of online apps. It remains to be seen which is more appealing to developers and the public, but the openness of the operating system and a platform that pays sound promising.

User-Friendly Linux Part IV By Ben DuPont

Storming The Last Bastion
Linux has long been a staple in niche markets and can be found in products from TVs to PDAs. Lately, it's gained ground on every facet of servers in the enterprise. The two nuts yet to crack: enterprise desktops and the home PC. In fact, it's a veritable David versus Goliath scenario: Microsoft Windows owns more than 95 percent of the desktop market, according to Gartner, while Linux holds less than 2 percent.
Why? A number of enterprise applications, both purchased and developed in-house, still run on Windows only. In addition, with Microsoft supporting Windows XP until 2013, there's little impetus to switch, given the cost of end-user training.
If your company is using .Net, you may find that the Mono platform in Novell SuSE, available for all Linux variants and Windows, provides the functionality needed to port your applications to Linux, possibly without modification. Also working in Linux's favor is the move toward Web-based applications. As Ajax development kits and Flash-based technologies become more feature-rich and easier to use, enabling developers to build RIAs (Rich Internet Applications) with functionality and usability very near desktop applications, this trend should snowball. Many users are already familiar with Firefox, and Open Office is eerily similar to Microsoft Office.
When most everything is Web-based, the OS running on the desktop becomes a nonfactor ... which means you should spend as little as possible on it. Yes, Vista has some whiz-bang features, but if a stripped-down version of virtually any free flavor of Linux will suffice, can you justify it? Alternatively, you could use LTSP (Linux Terminal Server Project) to serve thin clients, which will further reduce costs on the hardware side.
Another drag on adoption has been that though Linux supports almost all enterprise-level hardware and peripherals, consumer hardware support is a bit lacking. Most drivers are reverse-engineered--if a new chipset is introduced, Linux will likely not support it as fast as Windows because Linux support will be added sometime after the device hits the market, whereas the Windows driver is provided with the device.
Our take: As Linux catches on with enterprise desktops, end users will want to run it at home as well. When that happens, we should see more peripheral and hardware vendors providing at least binary Linux drivers, which will benefit the enterprise. For now, though, there's still a ways to go. Mice, keyboards, printers, USB drives and many digital cameras, to name a few common peripherals, generally work out of the box. The items users might have a hard time getting to work include some Wi-Fi and TV tuner cards. ATI and Nvidia provide binary Linux drivers for most of their video cards, with 3-D support, but these must be downloaded and installed separately.
And of course, there's a discouraging lack of games ported to Linux.
For pilot tests of desktop Linux, we recommend Red Hat, SUSE and Ubuntu--all have complete, easy-to-use desktop versions of their OSs. Slackware is ideal for the tech-minded users who don't want everything hidden by GUIs. If you check out Slackware, be prepared to edit config files.
Ubuntu and Slackware don't provide separate versions of their OSs for home and enterprise use. In fact, Slackware doesn't provide commercial support for its OS, but there are consultants who do.
Red Hat and Novell keep the enterprise and public versions of their OSs separate; Novell calls its free version openSUSE; Red Hat's free version is Fedora. There are two main differences between enterprise and public versions: First, free versions are released more frequently and include more-recent kernels (which usually means more hardware support), and they also include what the enterprise might consider beta versions of some software, as well as some other software that the enterprise has no need for but home users love. We can draw a parallel to the proprietary world, where businesses pay a premium for a few extra features that home users don't get.
Ubuntu, openSUSE and Fedora, in that order, top the list in hits per day on the DistroWatch Web site, and for good reason. All three OSs are user-friendly, easy to update, and they come with a ton of free software to play with. Ubuntu, the youngest distro in the list, has made installing, updating and removing software as easy as point and click. The Synaptic Package Manager provides a GUI for browsing packages (programs) that are installed or can be installed, and they're grouped by likeness. If you select a package that requires another package not already installed or selected, the manager will warn you and automatically install the other packages. Our only complaint is that there are so many to choose from, it's sometimes hard to find the package you're looking for. Synaptic also provides a search function that works well.
Before Ubuntu came along, there wasn't a good, easy-to-use Linux distro for new users. Since Ubuntu took the Linux world by storm, claiming the No. 1 free distro spot, openSUSE and Fedora have really picked up the pace.
Previous versions of Fedora were extremely bloated and had usability problems, and SUSE didn't have very good hardware support. Both lacked software. Today, these are both stellar OSs. It just goes to show how open collaboration helps everyone. Not only has Ubuntu raised the bar in terms of usability and cleanness in a desktop system, it's also contributed a lot to the open-source community, which benefits everyone.

User-Friendly Linux Part III By Ben DuPont

Virtualization And Thin Clients
There are two types of virtualization we're concerned with in the context of Linux: paravirtualization and full virtualization. With paravirtualization, the guest OS--meaning the OS running on the virtual machine--must be modified to run on legacy processors without chip-assist technology. Full virtualization allows the guest to run unmodified on the latest generation of CPUs, but an Intel (Intel VT) or AMD (AMD-V) virtualization processor is required.
Under their recent agreement, Novell and Microsoft will make Windows Server 2003 run under Xen on SUSE Enterprise Linux. They're also working to make SUSE Linux Enterprise run under Microsoft Virtual Server on Windows Server 2003.
Any changes Novell makes to Xen to support running Windows under Xen will make it back to the rest of the open-source community. What that means to the enterprise is that we could eventually see other Linux vendors, like Red Hat, enabling us to run Windows Server under Xen on Red Hat; Microsoft won't formally support it as it does on SUSE, however.
Today, Novell offers paravirtualized SLES 10 under Xen, with several customers taking advantage of this option. In pilot programs, Novell likewise has customers running fully virtualized SLES 9 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, while the ability to run SLES on Windows is in the works. The view here is clear: Customers have asked for more virtualization options, and Novell is responding. If you want Xen virtualization with support today, you'll have to go with SUSE. Meanwhile, Red Hat has Xen in beta tests now, with plans to ship sometime during the first quarter of this year with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. Of course, VMware is already a mature option and works with all different combinations of Windows and Linux.
Another consolidation option that Linux and open-source are making easier is the use of network-bootable thin clients. The Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) brings Linux back to the days of green mainframe terminals ... almost. Under the LTSP architecture, low-powered clients load their OSs and run programs from a central server. If the client has a network card with PXE (network-bootable) support, the client need not have any local storage. No storage, no maintenance.
The newest version of Ubuntu--version 6.10, code-name EdgyEft--contains a prerelease version of LTSP 5 that supports client-attached devices, like USB drives. This is an awesome feature, considering most of the system is actually running on the server and displayed on the client only through an SSH session.

Support And Training
Chances are, you already have a few Linux users on staff, and Unix gurus will be right at home at the Linux CLI. For rookies, we suggest opting for a distribution with GUIs to smooth the installation process. Free versions of Linux that we consider easy to install include Fedora, openSUSE, PCLinuxOS and Ubuntu. Although Slackware comes with several desktop options, you're presented with a command-line interface by default. Configuration is done mostly through config files, with few GUIs. Shops with critical systems and little in-house expertise, or those that need strong ISV support, should stick with Red Hat, Novell or Canonical's Ubuntu.
Unsure where to start? Red Hat and Novell offer consulting services to help companies determine where Linux is a fit and to create timelines for adoption--and they'll also provide training. Aleris' Daniels prepared his staff with a one-week, specialized "boot camp" provided by Novell. You won't go from zero to expert in five days, but the OS has come far enough that IT pros familiar with Windows Server will feel mostly at home with the Linux GUI. We found tools for adding printers, configuring wireless cards and mounting network shares, for example.
Want to branch out but still need that warm feeling that comes from a support contract? Third-party consultants specializing in myriad Linux variants are popping up all over. Michael Pardee, owner of Open Sense Solutions, specializes in Ubuntu and says he does a lot of business with smaller organizations, especially libraries. Local consulting generally comes with per-incident support, which helps keep costs down.
How much support you need from your Linux vendor will determine the cost of your subscription. With no support, Ubuntu is free, and you'll still get security and program updates and new OS releases. For $750 per year, Canonical offers 9/5 e-mail and phone support, while $2,750 buys 24/7 e-mail and phone support, both for one year.
Red Hat and Novell each offer their server OSs for $349, including 30 days of phone and e-mail support and one year of updates. If you want a more robust support arrangement, Novell offers 24/7 e-mail (four-hour target response time) and phone (one-hour target response time) support for one year for $1,499. Red Hat sells a similar package for $2,499, or $1,499 for 12/5 support with a four-hour response time.
One of the very real benefits of a Red Hat or Novell subscription is updates--not just security and program updates, but new OS releases. Subscribing customers are free to upgrade their OSs at their leisure or use old releases, unlike in the Windows world where a new license is required, and they can opt to receive and have updates installed automatically. Canonical, meanwhile, provides updates free of charge. With a time-to-market of two years or less for new GNU/Linux OSs--a lot shorter than what Microsoft has typically offered--enterprises can always be running the most up-to-date OS.
On the downside, with SUSE and Red Hat distributions, you get updates only as long as your subscription is valid. With Canonical, the updates are free, but support you pay for--if you want it.
For those who don't need OS support but would like to update automatically and want a strong ISV roster, is $349 per year justifiable? We think not. Officially, that $349 buys access to Novell's or Red Hat's servers for downloading updates and patches. But let's get real: What we're really paying for is connectivity to the vendor's servers and ISV support. Very large accounts can generally negotiate 50 percent to 70 percent discounts on list prices, according to Gartner, but what's missing is an updates-only alternative, priced at perhaps $175 and available to any size enterprises. Incident-based support would also be a nice option. We're not holding our breath for any of these.
Ben Dupont is a systems engineer for WPS Resources in Green Bay, Wis. He specializes in software development. Write to him at bdupont@nwc.com.
View From The Trenches
"There's no longer any one single factor that is acting as a barrier to Linux adoption," says Dr. James Bottomley, vice president and CTO of SteelEye Technology, a maker of business continuity and disaster-recovery software. As a member of the Open Source Developer Labs board of directors and an avid Linux user, Bottomley may have a bias, but he definitely walks the walk: SteelEye uses Linux across the board for development, Web sites and security infrastructure, and the company also helps customers migrate to Linux.
For word processing, Bottomley uses OpenOffice 2.0 and says compatibility with Microsoft Office is not an issue. "As CTO, I get mostly PowerPoint and Word documents across my desktop, but OpenOffice 2.0 seems to handle all of them just fine."

User-Friendly Linux Part II By Ben DuPont

Value Proposition
When you purchase a Microsoft Windows license, you're buying the right to use the software, but you're not buying unlimited use--you're restricted on server instances, for example, and you don't get source code for modification.
In contrast, when you buy Linux from Red Hat or Novell, you're not buying a license to use the operating system, because the GPL already gives you that right. What you're buying is a service that makes installing, updating and using Linux easier.
All well and good, except that, with support costs starting at $349 for 30 days of support, Red Hat and SUSE Linux provide virtually no savings over Windows Server 2003 . The picture gets even grimmer for commercially supported Linux when you compare it with Windows Server 2003 Web Edition: At press time, Microsoft has this version listed at $399, no CALs (client access licenses) required.
On the other end of the spectrum, OS costs can be slashed to zero if you go with a free distribution, like Slackware, but you may have a hard time running ISV applications and getting support, and IT will spend time patching and keeping systems up to date.
That's not to say free distros don't have a place in the enterprise. My firm, Wisconsin Public Service Resources, a utility holding company here in Green Bay, runs Slackware on the mini-ITX-based servers it uses to run meter-reading applications. No per-system license cost, and all required development tools are included free. We found that Slackware provides an ideal platform for this application because it's easy to strip down to just the necessary pieces--something that can't be done as thoroughly with Windows XP Embedded. Other, less quantifiable, savings include no need to reboot after most patches and fewer security concerns.

Two Problem Birds, One Stone
Beyond support-cost concerns, enterprises have said loud and clear that they don't know if there are intellectual property issues in Linux, and they don't care--just make the problem go away. Likewise, interoperability glitches between Windows and Linux have stymied IT. In response, Novell and Microsoft entered into an agreement that, among other things, prevents the two companies from suing each other's customers. The pact also has Microsoft and Novell working together to improve interoperability, including releasing a translator between ODF (Open Document Format, supported by Open Office and Star Office) and Open XML (supported by Microsoft Office).
Novell continues to deny that any known patent issues exist in Linux, while Microsoft claims there is infringement, but says it won't sue Novell customers because of the agreement. This kind of public squabbling only breeds FUD. Microsoft should let the open-source community know what areas of Linux it believes infringe on Windows so the matter can be resolved once and for all. Furthermore, Microsoft shouldn't require a formal agreement before working with Linux vendors to improve interoperability. Novell, having entered into the agreement, further perpetuates the notion that non-SUSE Linux customers are at risk of being sued by Microsoft, which gives its distro an unfair advantage.
Enough with the "he said, she said." Bottom line, Linux is established and secure, as evidenced by its strong ISV following that includes DB2, SAP and Oracle, among others. Novell claims to be porting 50 to 60 applications per month, and as part of its deal, Microsoft purchased $240 million worth of subscriptions with a mix of standard and priority support, according to Justin Steinman, Novell's director of marketing. Steinman adds that Microsoft salespeople have a SUSE Linux subscriptions quota.
We won't go so far as to say Microsoft endorses Linux, but it has clearly accepted that the operating system is entrenched in the enterprise and finally has an option to present to customers that want to run a heterogeneous environment.

What Can You Do For Us Now?
A few features are table stakes if an OS wants to be viable in the enterprise. All the Linux versions we tested support both iSCSI and Fibre Channel. Canonical provides AoE (ATA over Ethernet) support for Ubuntu. Red Hat and Novell told us they don't see the demand at this time, but the Linux kernel supports AoE, and there are open-source tools available.
Integration with Microsoft's Active Directory and Novell's eDirectory are widely supported; Novell played a large part in this through the Samba project. Samba was originally developed without Microsoft's cooperation by reverse-engineering; since the Novell-Microsoft deal, the primary Samba developer has left Novell. Given recent developments, we expect support and integration to get even better. Then there's the buzzword du jour: virtualization.

User-Friendly Linux Part I By Ben DuPont

If just a couple years ago we'd told you Microsoft had tasked its sales force with selling SUSE Linux Enterprise and agreed to refrain from suing Novell customers for patent infringement, you'd check to see if you were reading the April 1 issue. But not only is the
Novell-Microsoft deal a reality, Oracle has made some bold statements about Unbreakable Linux. The OS for each app," says David Daniels, director of technology for Aleris International, a recycler and maker of aluminum products. And often, Linux has filled the bill. In 2005, Aleris consolidated about 30 patch them, they aren't affected by viruses, and they're secure. That translates to a lot of time we can spend on other things."
Aleris still uses Windows for its Avocent IP KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) and Hyperion software, among other things, but Daniels says where there is a Linux alternative, he generally goes with it.
"It typically is easier to deploy and allows us to run more services from different vendors on the same box," he says.
Aleris receives SUSE Linux Enterprise Server as part of its Novell OES (Open Enterprise Server) maintenance, so there's no added cost for running SLES. Not everyone has that advantage: Our analysis shows that if you're buying Red Hat, SUSE Linux or even Ubuntu with support to save money over Microsoft Windows Server, you're in for a rude awakening (see "Three-Year Costs of an Application Server" in the image gallery ).
We decided to bring four Linux distros into our Green Bay, Wis., Real-World Labs® to see whether enterprises can cut these costs. We examined two commercial variants, Novell SLES and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, along with Canonical's Ubuntu and Slackware, both freely distributed under the GPL (GNU public license), with an eye toward usability.
We found that even companies without hard-core Linux pros can get out from under high mandatory support fees by adopting Ubuntu, which lives up to its slogan, "Linux for Human Beings" ... as opposed to the aforementioned command-line jockeys, perhaps. And it's been good for competition: Since Ubuntu stormed the scene and claimed the top free distro spot, Novell and Red Hat have been forced to pick up the pace (see "Storming the Last Bastion").
The Borrowers
In the open-source paradigm, code is written and tested by thousands of developers around the world, from hobbyists to those who work for companies like IBM, Novell and Red Hat. This code is available for everyone to use and modify, with the stipulation that you don't distribute it in binary-only form without also providing access to the source. All this open collaboration means Linux source code is run and tested on many different platforms as it's being developed. Then, it's further hardened when vendors like Red Hat and Novell prepare the software for their enterprise-class products.
Now, with all this code in the open, what's to stop someone from taking someone else's product and rebranding it?
Nothing. In fact, Oracle is doing exactly that to Red Hat Linux, and it plans to undercut Red Hat's support costs by more than half. With every Red Hat release, Oracle will download the code, remove all Red Hat trademarks and compile it. Oracle will also provide bug fixes for current and past releases of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
This may sound like cheating on Oracle's part, but it's really true to the nature of open source. Look at it this way: Red Hat does contribute a lot of source code that everyone can take advantage of, but the company receives more benefit from other developers than it gives. In the end, choosing one vendor over another is based on which offers the amenities you need--if Red Hat's services are really worth what the company's charging, it has no need to worry.
To that, Oracle's Monica Kumar, senior director of product marketing, told us that Oracle customers running Red Hat are not satisfied with the support they're receiving. "Problems range from delays in bug fixes to the inability to diagnose interoperability issues," Kumar says.
When we asked Nick Carr, director of marketing for Red Hat, about Oracle's plans, he responded in true open-source fashion: "The question is, will it shrink or grow the open-source world? Clearly, it will grow the market."
The winner here is the enterprise. Because Oracle products on Linux are a significant growth area, it makes good business sense for the company to make sure its Unbreakable Linux platform is truly unbreakable. And, with more than 9,000 Oracle developers busily developing Oracle Database, Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle E-Business Suite products, the company clearly sees Linux as the platform of the future and has a lot of incentive to see it succeed.

Analysis: Browser Security Part III By Roger Beall

Managing The Risk
Serious about browser security? Limit who can access the Internet--it sounds draconian, but it's good security practice. Use layers of security. Set browsers to accept only "safe" sites, then lock the firewall policy down for Port 80, and other in-use ports, to the identified "safe" sites. Other steps to take:

MONITOR Web traffic, and let everyone know you're watching. This is a tried-and-true method to discourage inappropriate browsing. If your policy is to monitor Web site access, for example, monitoring can range from simple--parsing firewall logs with an automated scanner--up to employing a comprehensive outsourced monitoring service. Remember: Policy that is not automatically enforced will be ignored.

MANDATE use of the security features that ship with the browser, and supplement them with additional tools, like Exploit Prevention Labs' LinkScanner, the Google toolbar, McAfee's SiteAdvisor and Netcraft's Anti-Phishing Toolbar, to name a few.

LOCK DOWN the browser using policies to prevent software add-ons or active components from loading, wherever possible.

RUN Web applications and browsers in the lowest permission level possible, ideally unprivileged or restricted account.

DISABLE JavaScript by default, then whitelist only the sites that need it through the "NoScript" Firefox extension.

STAY CURRENT with security advisories for the Web browser(s) that are in use within your organization.

EDUCATE users on safe surfing habits and useful skills like recognizing EV Certificates. Check out The SANS Institute's security newsletter--aka "SANS Ouch!"-- and disseminate the information to your end users. The bulletin provides phishing and hoax alerts, and every issue highlights the "security screw-up of the month." In February it was the loss by the IRS of 26 computer tapes containing information about an undisclosed number of taxpayers. Ouch, indeed. Subcribe here.

Roger Beall is a certified senior network systems engineer at Entre Solutions, specializing in cutting-edge technologies, compliance auditing, rbeall@entresolutions.com.