Computer tips and guide

VoIP. What Is It? by Lee Smith

2007-05-17T22:51:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest industries in the world today is the telephone industry. Between sales of physical telephone units, sales of local calling plans, sales of long distance calling plans and sales of cell or mobile phone plans there are billions of dollars exchanging hands on a regular basis within the telephone industry. Because of this people are always being solicited by companies claiming to be offering the next greatest thing in telephone technology.

In many ways it is rather ironic that telephone companies solicit customers long distance in order to offer them economical long distance plans and many customers have now become so jaded, that they simply do not respond to that type of sales method anymore.

If however, the product being offered is new and innovative and at the same time the product is able to do a lot for the people that are buying it, then the product will survive.

In today's world, things tend to survive more on their own merits rather than on the hard selling done by people looking for their own commissions. One such technology that has taken the telephone communication world by storm is the patented VOIP technology.

VOIP

VOIP is an acronym that stands for voice over internet protocol. It is a piece of technology that allows customers to actually chat with other people through the use of their internet connection rather than a conventional telephone line. The quality does not suffer at all in a good VOIP connection and even the long distance connection is able to maintain the same high quality that a customer has come to expect from their current long distance provider.

The only real difference between VOIP connections and their conventional telephone counterparts is that the VOIP connection maintenance costs tend to be quite a bit cheaper. The reason for this is that the internet is being utilized in order to help the consumer facilitate their telephone needs. To a large degree, the consumer is already paying for most of the technology used in VOIP services with the internet monthly payment they are already making. The bottom line for this is that the internet service provider providing the VOIP service does not have to charge as much for it and those savings usually end up being passed on to the customer.

VOIP Setup

You don't really need much in order to set up a very good VOIP uplink. First and foremost you need to have a broadband internet connection. In other words, you need to have fast internet along the lines of a cable or a DSL connection. Once you have this then all you need is a phone to utilize with the VOIP service and you are good to go. Once you sign up with the VOIP service from one of the many companies around that offer it, you will receive very detailed instructions on how to arrange the cables around your computer and modem in such a way as to facilitate the VOIP service. Once you've done that you can pick up the phone and start chatting right away; it is quick, easy to setup, very cheap and the height of convenience in the world today.

Computer Software by Carolyn Clayton

2007-05-17T22:50:00.000-07:00

Computer software is the combination of programmes and applications which interface with the physical components of the computer, the hardware, to enable the user to perform specific functions and tasks. There are two basic types of software, known as system software, which is responsible for the basic functions of the computer, and application software, such as Word Processing programmes, which enable the user to perform actual specific tasks, e.g. typing.

An operating system is the software behind all of the system and application management; it is responsible for organising and controlling how each of the systems interface with each other (basically the smooth running of every programme), for example, allocating the appropriate amount of memory in accordance with which programmes are running and require more power and input. Examples of operating systems are Linux, and of course Microsoft Windows, which holds a monopoly on the computer market for such systems. Without an Operating system, computers are merely empty shells with little or no use. They will typically run their won application software, for example Microsoft Windows has packages such as Microsoft Office, which deals with word processing, publishing, presentation slides, databases, etc. Modern computers can run several applications simultaneously without crashing and becoming slow, depending on the power and capabilities of the operating system.

Software is constantly being up dated and new versions being released, so much so that current systems can become out of date within months - it is a very fast moving and fast evolving area of industry. Microsoft have just released their latest operating system to follow on from the roaring success of Windows XP; Vista. Packages available include Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate and Business. The main improvements and selling points of this service package include state of the art user interfaces (Aero - Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and Open), easier transfer of media between devices and computers, better security (virus protection, etc) and new multimedia programmes. For example, Windows Media Player 11 is included in the package and has undergone a major revamp; including user interfacing, new search capabilities, and the facility too hook up with external devices such as the Xbox 360.

However, many consumers are fully aware of Microsoft's dominance in the computer industry and in particular the software market, and are reluctant to shell out for the new programme where many of the new features are seen as luxuries rather than necessities, and on top of that Vista cannot be installed on any machine - brand new machines must be purchased with the system already built in. So potential customers will have to buy a whole new PC setup just to be able to use Microsoft Vista - not a popular choice amongst consumers in an industry where there will doubtless be further improvements and new, better software waiting just around the corner. An advantage gained then, for rival Linux, whose majority of software CD's and packages can be accessed for free, so whilst it is a lot more complex and less user friendly than the likes of Microsoft and their Windows packages, yet it remains one of the most reliable and up to date operating systems out there.

What is the Ipod? by Gigi Villanueva

2007-05-17T22:49:00.002-07:00

The ipod is a brand for moveable media players, which can play MP3, AAC/M4A, Protected AAC, AIFF, WAV, Audible audio book, and Apple Lossless audio file formats. Ipods are designed as well as marketed by Apple.

The ipod has iTunes included in it, by which you can transfer tracks from the CD to MP3 format. All you have to do is connect the ipod to your PC and transfer the music along with the play list. Ipod is well suited for Macintosh computers that run on Mac OS X and PCs running on Windows 2000 or Windows XP.

When the ipod or ipod nano is connected to your PC initially, it identifies the computer as "home" computer. Thus every time you connect, your ipod will automatically download the music stored in on the PC. Try connecting it with a different computer. The moment you do it, your ipod will tell you that it is connected to a computer that is different from the home computer and will ask you if you are interested in removing its contents and link it with the music library of the new computer.

You can link more than one ipod with your PC. Every ipod provides an exclusive identification code to your computer. This allows you to derive the benefit of automatic transfer of music to the ipod inspite of the fact that you share the computer with another individual using ipod.

The design of all ipods and ipod nanos is suited to the active lifestyle of people with busy schedules. You can carry them in your hand or put into the pocket even while walking, jogging or running.

Ipods come with different sizes of storage facilities. The storage capacities vary from 512 MB to 80 GB. However, what amount of music that your ipod will be able to hold will depend on the rate of compression of your songs. For instance, twenty GB is a little more than 5000 four-minute songs, or more than 500 CDs. If you have more music than the capacity of your ipod, you will have to update it manually.

Ipods stand out because of the very good quality sound they provide. The powerful amplifier has the capacity to produce a very loud sound. And, with its check feature you can even out the song volume. In addition, a good model of the ipod has an in-built battery that can support it for 10-20 hours.

Your ipod can also double up as your computer's hard disk. This feature helps you to transfer files from your PC and take it with you wherever you travel. Moreover, you need not worry...the ipod is intelligent enough to treat your data and music files separately. There is no chance of one overlapping the other. What more? The ipod also has a digital watch to help you maintain your schedule wherever you go.

Top 4 Cell Phone Accessories You Need by Steve Smith

2007-05-17T22:49:00.001-07:00

Cell phones are such an integral part of our lives today that they we take them almost for granted. With so much multi-tasking and constant activity in our lives, we rely on them every day, and it's only when they become cumbersome or don't work for us that we realize how much we've come to count on them. The right accessories can improve the functionality and convenience of your cell phone as well as making it the envy of all your friends. These Cheap Cell Phone Accessories are absolute musts for today's best-dressed cell phones.

1. Anything Bluetooth. Bluetooth is simply a term for a low frequency radio wave signal frequency that is used to make any type of electronic equipment - in this case your cell phone - wireless. No more using those awkward wired headphones that you have to plug into your cell phone! Bluetooth earpieces are small, sleek and have enough range for you to walk about your desk or step away from your parked car while chatting away. You can also get Bluetooth car kits for hands free dialing. These allow you to talk all you want while driving with voice activation and dialing. Typical Bluetooth systems give you up to eight hours of talk time and 150 hours of stand-by.

2. Antenna Booster. You would think cell phones would have clear reception and great coverage just about everywhere these days. You'd be wrong. Getting an antenna booster is a simple solution that's inexpensive, easy to install and will widen your coverage area instantly. There's nothing more annoying than a dropped call or talking to someone who's cutting in or out. Weird problems like buildings that block cell phone reception are solved with a good antenna booster as well.

3. Amplifier Antenna. For cell phones that are the life line of road warriors, an amplifier antenna installed on the car is a must. These antennas are more powerful than the antenna boosters installed in the actual cell phones and are mounted on the rear windshield of the car. They give users great coverage in those areas known as "dead zones" between cell towers and in valleys or mountain areas.

4. Mobile phone charger. Yes, this sounds vaguely old-fashioned, but we still believe this is an essential accessory for anyone who travels a lot and talks a lot. After all, why run down your cell phone's battery when you're driving if you can be using a charger and prolonging the battery life for when you get out of your vehicle? The simplest solutions are usually the most elegant, and today's chargers for cell phones are light years beyond those old versions with the big coils and bulky plugs for the cigarette lighter that you could brain someone with. Check out the newer ones that feature slimmer, shorter cords and dashboard mount, drop-in holders for your cell phone.

Almost a quarter of people in the United States today use cell phones as their primary personal telephone. A few added accessories like the ones mentioned above can make them even more reliable and versatile. When you go shopping for your next phone purchase, be sure to look at a few good extras as well as the best Cellular Phone Accessories .

Integrating ACT! With Other Office Software by Sayed Ally

2007-05-17T22:48:00.000-07:00

ACT! is a diverse CRM software solution that will keep excellent track of your customer data. On top of that integrating ACT! with other office software is no problem at all.

Most of us use either Microsoft Outlook as our email package because it is more than that. Microsoft Outlook as a calendar, contact list, and to do list attached to it but it's not the greatest for managing customer relationships. That's the reason why ACT! delivers a very robust integration with outlook.

ACT! and Microsoft Outlook work hand with ACT! allowing you to integrate your calendars, contacts, and email capturing all of your information to be captured in ACT!. You can readily and easily use information between these programs which creates a seamless system for book appointments, scheduling call backs, or replying to emails with data stored in the ACT! database.

ACT! also integrates nicely with other office programs such as Microsoft Word and Excel. That means that you can quickly pull information into word. For example perhaps you are doing up a Christmas newsletter, you could incorporate all the mailing addresses stored in ACT! in minutes. No laborious work here.

Same goes for Excel. We often use Excel to deal with financial information, perhaps projections, or markup scenarios. What ever you reason for pulling data into Excel ACT! does it seamlessly.

For your sales staff ACT! allows them to tract not just sales that have occurred but sales opportunities and all from that initial inquiry. You can filter this information by what products they were interest in, what date they purchased, the order status, the amount of the sales, and a host of other variables. Basically you can pull what ever information your criteria sets. If you collect it you can request it back in a very usable format.

If you'd like to see what's going on at a glance you can pull your information into Excel and use the graphing capabilities. There are also some graphing capabilities in the ACT! report writer.

If you have critical data that you need to be able to have staff access remotely then you'll want the mobile solutions which will let them hook up with their cellular phone, Blackberry, or PDF. What they can remotely access can be determined by management or the IT department and then it can be configured accordingly.

You might also want to explore the ACT! accounting integration options which give you real time access to your customers and vendors. You can effortlessly find the information you need in seconds.

Integrating ACT! with other office software is not that difficult. It comes ready to integrate with many of the Microsoft Office programs. It also has several of its own add on modules.

Some of the add on modules that are available include addressing, shipping, document management project management, sales management, email, direct mail marketing, and a host of others.

What are you waiting for? Isn't the time to ACT! now? After all it's a competitive world out there and you want to stay ahead of your pact don't you? Whatever you need to do this is a program that can do it.

Computers: Where To Go For Data Recovery by Neo James

2007-05-17T22:47:00.000-07:00

All computer owners out there know that hard drives can and probably will fail at some point in time. Even though hard drives are built to last and withstand a lot of things, crashes are something that hard drives don¡¯t handle well. Although the loss of data is something to be expected - data recovery ensures that your hard drive doesn¡¯t fail you when you need it the most.

Your hard drive is very important. It stores all of your data and files, and keeps all of your important computer documents. Hard drives have rotating gears, an aperture arm, and 4 platters that store data. No matter how great a hard drive is built, failure is bound to happen one day.

When your hard drive crashes or you lose all of your information, there are things you can do to get back your data. The best way to get back your data, is to take your hard drive to a specialist in your area or send it off to a company. This way, tests can be ran on it and the specialists there can recover your data, which may require rebuilding your hard drive.

If you happen to have multiple hard drives or a RAID configuration, then all you need to do is replace the broken hard drive, and the data that you thought you lost will be regenerated among the other drives. If all of the hard drives in the RAID or mirror configuration have crashed, then you¡¯ll need to send them off together.

Those of you who decide to on the task of fixing the hard drive yourself, should rethink about it. Repairing a hard drive takes a lot of time, effort, and research. If you have no experience with hard drives, it is definitely something that you don¡¯t want to get into.

Even if you have a neighbor who is very experienced with computers and hard drives, you should still look into taking your hard drive to a professional - and get it done right the first time.

In the rare cases where the hard drive cannot be repaired, the experts will let you know. They will tell you that there is nothing you can do, the hard drive is completely destroyed. This way, you don¡¯t waste time or money on something that simply cannot be fixed.The registry keeps growing when you use Windows. As it does, it attracts obsolete information and becomes cluttered. Get Free Registry Cleaner Scan here!

Although data recovery can fix your hard drive and restore your data and information in most cases, you should still create a backup of your information. This way, you¡¯ll have everything you need just in case something happens that can¡¯t be fixed. It isn¡¯t hard to create a backup, and you should always backup your data at least once a week.

With the proper data backup, you can keep on going with your operations while your crashed hard drive is being repaired - which won¡¯t slow you down a bit.Get Free Registry Cleaner Scan at http://www.registry-cleaners-reviewed.info

3 Tips to Help You Find the Best Online Casino Gambling by Itay Paz

2007-05-17T22:46:00.000-07:00

Are you ready to try your luck at the best online casino gambling sites?

Since the dawn of internet gambling in the mid-1990s, there has been a huge surge of interest in this popular and entertaining activity. And, it is not hard to see why.

Online casinos let you bet as little or as much as you like from the comfort of your living room--and they offer hundreds of games, from keno and poker, to horse-racing and slots. Best of all, you avoid the noise, intimidation and smoke of crowded Las Vegas clubs, not to mention the expense of airfare and hotel accommodations!

The question is: how do you find the best online gambling sites? No one wants to waste their time or money on fly-by-night casinos or place their personal information in the hands of disreputable dealers.

But there is no need to worry. There are hundreds of online casinos to choose from and the vast majority of them are reliable, secure companies that deliver everything they promise.

So, how can you find the best online casino gambling sites quickly and easily?

1. Have you got game? Familiarize yourself with the many different types of casinos available online. Then, figure out which one best meets your needs. Essentially, you will need to decide whether you want to play web-based games, using programs like Java, Macromedia Flash or Macromedia Shockwave, or download-based games.

The advantage to playing web-based games is that you don't have to download software directly onto your computer hard-drive. The down side? Loading the graphics, sound and animation requires considerable bandwidth.

You will also find that there are fewer web-based games than download-based games. Why? These games are considerably faster since the graphics and animation run from your computer, not the internet. Still, there are some cons. It takes time for the software to install on your computer. You also run the risk of downloading a virus.

2. Try before you buy. The best online casino gambling sites will let you play for free at first. This way, you can see if the site meets your needs: Is it easy and enjoyable to use? Is it reliable and secure? Are you satisfied with its customer service?

3. Read the fine print carefully. Before you make your initial deposit, make sure you understand how its bonus system works; check its payout percentage--some of the best online casinos have a payout percentage close to 98%--and find out how long it typically takes to receive your winnings.

Finally, pay attention to what's featured on the homepage. The best online casino gambling sites proudly display icons regarding Fair Play initiatives, independent audits, secure software and reliable payment processing mechanisms.

Itay Paz is the VP Marketing of B4playing Ltd. , a tool that treats every user as a VIP. It gives you the online gambling information you want, when you want it. It eliminates your need to search for any current information related to online gambling. Sign up for B4Playing Tool, and take the advantage of it today by visiting the website at http://www.b4playing.com

Computers: Cooling Your Hard Drive by James Jonas

2007-05-17T22:45:00.000-07:00

For several different reasons, storage is a very important part of a computer. These days, computers do far more than they ever have in the past. From businesses to family photo¡¯s, storage is the ideal way to keep documents on your computer. The most popular method of storage is the hard disk drive, which we all count on for keeping our data safe.

Even though the hard drive stores data, it isn¡¯t perfect by any means. Hard drive failure is very common with all computers, with no real way to prevent it. Although there are several different reasons why a hard drive can fail, the most common is overheating. Viruses and crashes are common as well, along with theft and accidental deletion.

With the older style and mechanics of hard drives, the RPM speed was low, meaning that the drives wouldn¡¯t overheat. The hard drives we use now days, have speeds between 7,200 and 10,000 RPM, meaning that they can get quite hot when they start working. Computers of this day and age come with fans to cool everything down, with most hard drives including temperature sensors as well, so you can keep track of just how hot your hard drive becomes.

With hard drives today, overheating is a very common problem. The faster hard drives come with speeds of 10,000 RPM, which can make the temperature soar above 70 degrees F, really heating things up inside the drive.

The mechanics on the inside are built to withstand the heat, although if things become too hot, you¡¯ll encounter problems. If a drive becomes too hot and ends up losing the data, it may be next to impossible to retrieve the information - no matter how good your data recovery specialists may be.To keep your computer in top performance, you must scan and clean your computer every 2 weeks. Get Free Registry Cleaner scan here!

One area that suffers from the drive overheating is the platters, which are magnetic media. Platters are what carry the data throughout the hard drive. Platters are constructed from optical glass, aluminum, or ceramic and normally coated with a layer of magnetic material. Once the hard drive begins to heat up, the platters will start to expand, which changes their size.

When this happens, the magnetic surface on the platters will get destroyed, which results in a loss of data. If the physical area of the platters are damaged, it will result in unreadable sectors.

Other areas of the hard drive that can be damaged due to overheating are the read and write heads, head actuator, and the controller chip. Hard drives are very sophisticated pieces of hardware, and can¡¯t handle overheating. The read and write heads are a common example, as they can easily render the drive useless if they become damaged. If they get too hot, they don¡¯t make any contact with media, which pretty much stops the flow of transfer from information to the computer.

To prevent your hard drive from overheating, you should always make sure that it is cooled properly and well ventilated. You can always get additional fans and coolers, which will improve both ventilation and the flow of air in your computer. You can buy fans and coolers at very affordable prices, which makes them an ideal investment for keeping your hard drive or hard drives cool.

You can also get software that monitors the temperature of your hard drive as well. Whether it¡¯s software, or additional fans, you should always ensure that your hard drives are kept cool. By keeping them cool, you¡¯ll greatly reduce the amount of crashes. You¡¯ll also increase the stability of your hard drive as well, which will make your entire computer perform much better.Free Scan! See how many errors your computer has, at http://www.registry-cleaners-reviewed.info

Find free photos by Ellen Finkelstein

2007-05-17T22:44:00.000-07:00

Photos make great backgrounds for slides, but you need to find the right ones. The secret to finding free photos is to know how to use Microsoft's tools effectively and where to look on the Web. Find photos in PowerPoint

Many people don't know how to find photos in PowerPoint. In PowerPoint 2002 and 2003, do the following:

1. On the Drawing toolbar, click the Insert Clip Art button or choose Insert Picture > Clip Art. The Clip Art task pane opens. 2. In the Search For text box, enter a keyword to search for. For example, enter sky. 3. Click the down arrow of the Search In drop-down list to specify where you want to look. You can leave Everywhere check box checked to look on your computer, in MS Office collections, and on Microsoft's Web site (http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/default.aspx?lc=en-us). (By including Web Collections, you'll also be searching Microsoft's Clip Art and Media site. 4. Click the down arrow of the Results Should Be drop-down list. Here's the secret. Uncheck everything except photographs. 5. Click Go and you'll get only sky photos.

Find public domain photos on the Web

You often see sites selling royalty-free photos, but you have to pay for them. That may be the way to go if you want the largest selection to choose from. But you can find lots of photos, especially beautiful nature photos, that are in the public domain. This means that you can use them for any purpose, private or commercial. You just can't copyright them, since they in the public domain.

One site with a great collection -- and an excellent explanation of what public domain means and what to watch out for -- is PD Photo.org (http://pdphoto.org/). This site has gorgeous photos that you can use.

The U.S. government has three sites with extensive collections of great photos:

* The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/) has a great library of water photos. Here's an example:

You are supposed to give them credit as in, "Thanks to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce." Of course, you don't want to do this on a photo that you use as a background for a slide, but you can do it on your last slide or in small print at the bottom of your first slide.

* The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Pictures/Graphics site (http://pictures.fws.gov/) has lots of great photos and drawings.

The request a credit such as the following: Credit: U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service

* NASA has an extensive photo collection, but it's not very easy to search and many of the photos are taken for their technical characteristics, rather than their beauty. Nevertheless, you can find some great shots. The main site is at http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/.

Try their Earth from Space page (http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/efs/). Here's the eye of Hurricane Ivan and a great photo of noctilucent clouds (they also explain what those are). They also want you to acknowledge NASA as the source (as I'm now doing).

You can modify these photos as you see fit.

2007-03-29T02:33:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-03-29T02:32:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-29T02:31:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-03-29T02:30:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-03-29T02:29:00.000-07:00

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/

2007-03-29T02:27:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-03-26T02:11:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-26T02:10:00.002-07:00

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.

2007-03-26T02:10:00.001-07:00

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.

2007-03-26T02:09:00.001-07:00

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.

2007-03-26T02:08:00.001-07:00

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

2007-03-26T02:06:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-03-20T23:01:00.000-07:00

How to Make a Sizable Charitable Donation From Your IRA - Tax Free by Robert D. Cavanaugh, CLU

If you are over 70 1/2 years old, want to make a gift for a special charitable project, but your only liquid asset is your IRA, I have good news for you.

On August 17, 2006, the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA 2006) was signed into law. This nearly 1,000 page piece of legislation marked the most sweeping changes to the pension arena in 30 years.

Let me give you two common examples that contain problems faced by seniors solved by PPA 2006...

Roger and Claire are retired. Roger spent his working career in the aerospace industry. He was more than well compensated and over the years accumulated a very large 401(k) plan. When he retired, he rolled his 401(k) into an IRA. Other than their home, the IRA is far and away their biggest asset.

For years, Roger and Claire have been supporters of the Humane Society. Their local chapter is building an entire new wing on to their kennels. Roger and Claire would love to make a significant donation--somewhere in the neighborhood of $50,000 to $100,000.

Bill and Diane both worked during their entire careers. Mary taught 6th grade for 40 years. Bill was a career military officer. After his retirement, he spent another 20 years working in the private sector. Like Roger, Bill has a large IRA.

When Bill turned 70 1/2, he was required to start taking the minimum required distributions each year from his IRA. But Bill and Diane don't need the income; their other retirement income sources are more than adequate. Nevertheless, Bill must take these RMDs and pay tax on them as income.

Bill and Diane have been active in their church all their married life. Their church just bought a new organ. The church did not pay cash for the organ; the majority of it was financed. Bill and Diane would like to pay off the organ.

Both Roger and Claire and Bill and Diane are warm-hearted people. But, prior to the passage of PPA 2006, their generosity could have been thwarted by several things...

1. In both cases, their principal liquid asset was an IRA. Neither couple had other assets from which to make a gift.

2. If the large sums were withdrawn from their IRAs, they would be subject to ordinary income tax.

3. If given to a charity, rules which limit the amount that could be deducted as a charitable contribution would have to be followed. This means that they may still have to pay tax on a portion of their IRA withdrawals.

But thanks to provisions in PPA 2006, Roger and Claire can make their gift to the Humane Society and Bill and Diane can pay off their church's new organ using money from their IRAs and not pay any tax on the withdrawals. But they have to follow the rules...

1. First, you must be at least 70 1/2.

2. You can give up to $100,000.

3. This only applies to 2006 and 2007.

4. You can't withdraw the money from your IRA and then give it to your charitable cause. The transfer must be made directly from the custodian of the IRA to the charity.

5. These gifts, called IRA charitable rollovers, count towards your required minimum distribution for the year.

6. IRA charitable rollovers are not permitted for gifts to donor advised funds and supporting organizations. However, there are some exceptions that apply to funds held by community foundations: scholarship, field of interest, and designated funds qualify. So the first step is to contact your intended cause to see how they are classified and whether or not the law allows an IRA charitable rollover gift.

7. The gift must be a pure gift. In other words, there can't be any personal benefit strings attached like tickets to an event.

8. You don't have to report the IRA charitable rollover as income.

9. However, you don't get a charitable deduction for your gift. Sorry, you can't have your cake and eat it too.

This new law is a real winner. In these two examples, the Humane Society is able to build new kennels and a church pays off an organ they thought they were going to have to finance. The donors were able to make it happen despite the fact that the only real asset they had was an IRA.

I do not dispense tax advice. It is imperative that you consult with your tax advisor and the charity to make sure it is qualified and that the gift is made in the proper manner.

Robert D. Cavanaugh, CLU is a 36-year financial and estate planning veteran and author of the free newsletter, "The Estate Preservation Advisor". For cutting-edge, easy-to-understand financial planning resources and techniques to increase your income, reduce taxes and preserve your estate, go to http://theestatepreservationadvisor.com/freevideo.htm

2007-03-15T22:48:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-03-14T02:29:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-12T01:48:00.001-07:00

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.

2007-03-12T01:47:00.001-07:00

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.

2007-03-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-03-09T22:53:00.000-08:00

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.

2007-03-06T07:39:00.000-08:00

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.

2007-03-06T07:32:00.000-08:00

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."

2007-03-06T07:26:00.000-08:00

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.

2007-03-06T07:15:00.000-08:00

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.

2007-03-06T07:08:00.000-08:00

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.

2007-03-06T06:51:00.000-08:00

Analysis: Browser Security Part II By Roger Beall

GET SET FOR RAPID RESPONSE BY PUTTING MANAGEMENT IN PLACE: In this era of zero-day exploits and far-flung networks, it's outrageous that only two browsers--IE and, to a lesser extent, Firefox--let you rapidly deploy and configure software from a central admin server to all networked machines, restrict features through group policies and provide granular installation controls.
Microsoft's free IE Administration Kit is the standout here. IEAK has been around for a few IE incarnations, and we've seen the kit's functionality change with each major release. If you're managing IE, IEAK should be in your toolbox. In fact, in today's world of skinny IT budgets and barely adequate manpower, IEAK has been key in keeping IE dominant on the corporate desktop despite antitrust settlements, unbundling, security woes and periods of stagnated development.
IEAK aids in establishing and delivering user profiles, version control of browsers across the network, and customization of just about every setting using policies.
The only other browser that can boast a network-installation utility to set control by policy is Firefox, and that's only because of open-source project FirefoxADM. This project has been stagnant for a couple of years, unfortunately, and lacks the dedicated vendor support it should be getting. The result is a product that doesn't fully support all versions of Firefox, including the latest release.
Let's face it: Firefox isn't competitive with IE when it comes to enterprise deployments. While we applaud SourceForge for recognizing the importance of such a tool and the effort that's gone into making it available, we question the logic in spending a whole lot of time and money forcing Microsoft to decouple IE7 from the OS so there's a level playing field, if the tools to deploy and control rival browsers on the network aren't there.
The ability to tightly manage distributed browsers is basic to keeping them secure. Until Firefox, Netscape and Opera supporters step up to the plate and get their administrative acts together, IE will maintain its overwhelming market share.

CONTROL YOUR PLUG-INS: Component plug-ins such as Acrobat Reader and Flash Player are common in many environments. Legitimate utilities enhance business, but rogue plug-ins have long been both an admin and a user nightmare. It's been all too easy for an inexperienced user to inadvertently load a malicious control into his

2007-03-06T06:41:00.000-08:00

Analysis: Browser Security Part I By Roger Beall

Default assumption: Browsers are insecure. If we had a dollar for every flaw we've seen exploited--repeatedly--that let malware overrun our networks, we might have enough to cover cleanup efforts. Last year, 51 exploits targeted poorly designed ActiveX controls alone, according to Symantec. That's up from just 15 in 2005. Yes, ActiveX is off in Internet Explorer 7 by default, but if your end users need Adobe Reader or Flash functionality, you're back in the line of fire.
And users want every scrap of functionality. Information workers have made Web browsers the workhorse for knowledge exchange. Gartner estimates that demand for software as a service will grow more than 20 percent every year through 2010, and in our own recent SOA/Web services reader poll, nearly 80 percent of respondents said their enterprises currently use Web services--yet fewer than half secure both internal- and external-facing services .

Can IT resolve this dichotomy?
As with liberty, the price of Web browser security is eternal vigilance ... and a risk-management strategy, and attention to advances in security capabilities, and end user education, and strong centralized management.
Fortunately, vendors are stepping up, both collectively and individually. The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), for example, unites more than 100 vendors--it's heartening to see the normally competitive software sector put aside differences and operate in an open and constructive way to address the alarming criminalization of cyberspace. We're also cautiously encouraged by EV (Extended Validation) Certificates that confirm sites are legitimate. The EV SSL vetting process as defined by the CA/Browser Forum requires thorough independent audits, and these certs go beyond standard x.509 certificates by color-coding the address bar in some browsers.
On an individual basis, newer browsers--IE7 and Mozilla Firefox 2.0 in particular--focus on active fraud prevention and personal-information protection. An improved ability to scrub history and cache files, for example, benefits users and admins alike, as do antifraud measures, internationalized domain name (IDN) support, address-bar visibility and easier control over ActiveX component integration. And vendors are thinking outside the box--as evinced by Microsoft's Strider HoneyMonkey exploit-detection project, used by its Internet Safety Enforcement Team to track spammers and phishers.
The common thread: Proactively identify suspicious sites instead of waiting for users to stumble onto them.

Manage Risk

The risk-management question that matters: How can damage to my network be minimized or prevented, despite an insecure Web browser? The answer requires multidimensional risk-mitigation strategies that go beyond network design to include physical security, corporate-use policy, vendor relationships, information-access security policies, new-software-approval processes, user training and, often, data-privacy management and information-access restrictions.
Even the smallest shops must abide by basic ground rules. Hopefully you've limited browser use to legitimate business and installed a content filter. But what about automatic updates from Microsoft's update service?
Fixing browser vulnerabilities is the responsibility of the software vendor. Cleaning up after these fixes? That's your job. Software updates are notorious for changing browser functionality just enough to break critical business apps, meaning "routine" updates regularly kick-start a wearisome cycle of events: Test the updated version for compatibility with existing apps; deploy the update; and all too often, spring into action with a workaround and rollback plan because an obscure problem was missed.
If you allow for automatic updates, revisit this policy in light of Microsoft's auto IE7 deployment, which bypassed many enterprises' testing processes and broke many apps. Granted, Microsoft told us well in advance that IE7 would be deployed using the automatic-update service and provided auto-update blocking and directions on reverting to version 6. But that didn't help many IT groups that burned daylight rolling back installations.
The company is between a rock and a hard place: We chastise Microsoft for its abundance of browser vulnerabilities, but complain when it takes measures to update its browser automatically to a more secure version. The lesson here: Auto-updates allow for rapid response fixes to security threats; But they also highlight the need to stay on top of these changes, and to have active centralized management. To that end, here are some steps to take now.

2007-03-04T19:22:00.000-08:00

Seven Windows Vista Features That Depend On Longhorn Server

From security to management, there are some notable tricks Vista can't do without the not-yet-available Windows server version. By J.Nicholas Hoover

For companies eager to exploit the full potential of Windows Vista, the wait continues. A few of the operating system's features can't be put to use, at least not effectively, until the still-to-come Longhorn Server arrives later this year.
About 70% of the code in Longhorn Server and Vista is the same. Some features are made easier or only become available when the two operating systems are used together. Following are seven capabilities that depend on both:
1. Enhanced security: Microsoft's access control method--network access protection--is built into Vista and Longhorn. NAP lets administrators define policies that, for example, require that anyone who wants to connect to a network run Vista with the latest patches plus valid anti-spyware and anti-spam applications, or be denied access.
NAP is rooted in a quarantine feature in Windows Server 2003 that forces devices connecting to the network to be scanned, but only for VPN or wireless connections, not an office port. Longhorn's NAP will extend to all connections. Scanning also has had to be done via a script, meaning administrators write code to do a scan. Longhorn brings a graphical interface and preset options to NAP. Also, NAP will get the capability to automatically send the client to a restricted network that pushes out patches or disconnects it entirely and gives instructions to the user on how to get the machine up to snuff. It will be possible to install NAP on Windows XP, but the NAP-on-XP won't interoperate with some popular enforcement mechanisms and won't work without Longhorn.
2. Enhanced monitoring and reporting: The Windows event system--which records errors, inappropriate access attempts, and performance problems--has been completely rewritten for Vista and Longhorn. The previous version was text-based and not easy to search without indexing. In Longhorn and Vista, the event system is written in XML, so administrators will be able to pull down the start menu and search the event log right there, whereas in the past they couldn't use the search function to find something in the event log. Also, searching problems by application was previously difficult.
3. Network control: Microsoft mostly left quality of service--controlling bandwidth priority for certain apps and users--to networking vendors. Now it's making that better with Vista and Longhorn via an upgraded network protocol stack. Longhorn will assign priority and bandwidth limits to applications on a network, but only if there's a Vista client on the other end. Instead of leaving network quality of service up to WAN optimization controllers and load balancers, users can throttle bandwidth and prioritize traffic from within the operating system.
4. Future scalability: IPv6 is an Internet Protocol upgrade that promises to dramatically increase the number of viable addresses, and it's native in Vista and Longhorn. The explosion of devices and other potential IP-addressable objects such as radio frequency identification chips means the Internet will someday run out of IP addresses. The current version supports only about 4.3 billion devices--fewer than the number of people on the planet. IPv6, on the other hand, will support 340 undecillion devices (or 340 with 36 zeros after it). IPv6 should also be more resistant to port scanning attacks prevalent today.
The Vista and Longhorn networking stack was rewritten from scratch, allowing for native support for IPv6. The upgrade to IPv6 networks is happening now and will take several years, so there's going to be a long period of time in which IPv4 and IPv6 networks will run side by side, meaning that Vista and Longhorn can intelligently switch protocols to chat with each other over the network.
5. Easier remote desktop services: Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol allows applications running on a server to be controlled remotely. The versions included in Windows XP and Server 2003 require the user to access an entire remote desktop to use an application hosted remotely, meaning on a company server or another desktop. With the new Remote Desktop Protocol 6.0 client in Windows Vista supported by Longhorn, if an application like Word is hosted elsewhere, users will be able to click the Word icon on the desktop and Vista handles the rest. To the user, it appears as if the application is running locally. The new client can be installed on XP, but it loses functionality such as support for a single sign-on to multiple applications.
6. Faster communications: Vista and Longhorn include upgrades to the Server Message Block protocol that governs file and print sharing within Windows. The new protocol increases the number of possible open files on a server and tries to maximize the data each packet crossing the network carries. Not a sea change, but it could add up to better network performance when Vista and Longhorn are installed together.
7. Easier deployment and reimaging: Vista and Longhorn together should make for faster and more reliable operating system deployments via Windows Deployment Services. Windows Server 2003--as well as Microsoft competitors like Norton Ghost--allowed re-imaging of a whole disk or at least a sector, often forcing administrators to wipe and replace an entire hard drive instead of select files. The new Windows Imagine Format for Longhorn is file-based. It can replace files that are damaged or only files related to the operating system, instead of having to wipe a user's personal files as well.
Longhorn's imaging technology could conceivably also work with XP, but according to Directions on Microsoft analyst Michael Cherry, it would require "more tweaks and additional baby-sitting." The new deployment services are also available through an add-on to Windows Server 2003 SP2, but it's native in Longhorn.
Do these features alone make it worthwhile to leap to Longhorn when it comes out? Doubtful. Some of the synergies are subtle. Many companies are still early in the planning stages, but as IT managers consider whether to install Vista now or wait for Longhorn, it's worth knowing which features depend on having both.

2007-03-04T07:08:00.000-08:00

Amazing Grace - Amazing Movie by Rev Michael Bresciani

It is the 20 year long chronicle of the fight that Wilberforce put up to reform the inhuman trafficking of slaves from every quarter of the African continent. The film would leave anybody with a heart and only half a conscience challenged by its powerful humanity.
Wilberforce is played by Ioan Gruffudd a Welch thespian known for his part in the Hornblower series and his role as Pip in the huge BBC production of Great Expectations. His role is played convincingly and with inundating conviction. It is fitting that Ioan (pronounced Yo-an) should play the part of Wilberforce who saw nothing but defeat in the parliament year after year. One of the quotes Ioan is most noted for saying is "They say the most successful people are the ones who have failed more than they have succeeded."
Other great victories and reforms were eventually made by Wilberforce that are equally impressive although they are not part of the film. Wilberforce did much to improve the treatment of prisoners of war and was responsible for creating organizations for the prevention of cruelty to animals. He helped to improve conditions in hospitals, created better conditions for the poor and crafted the means to aid the failing societal system of India all in the latter years of his life.
A wonderful resource for educators and history students is available from amazinggracemovie.com. A downloadable PDF file outlines the life and work of Wilberforce, a timeline of events and a very detailed history of the song "Amazing Grace" penned by Wilberforce's mentor John Newton.
The actors and producers were not afraid to make known their understanding that Wilberforce and almost all who stood with him in his cause were Christians. The film clearly shows that it was their faith in Christ that compelled them to seek an end to the cruelty of slavery. They make many references to God and their dependence on him to aid them in their cause. References to Jesus Christ are not hidden and adherence and obedience to the scriptures is seen as part and parcel to their private and public lives.
Whether we like it or not every movie good or bad has a message connected to it, a philosophy or perhaps a philosophy of life. That message may be vigorously put forth or only subtly intimated. Amazing Grace puts forth several messages and it begs at least one very pertinent question especially for Americans.
The primary message seems to be that true Christianity calls for social action to accompany faith and obedience to God. That can mean anything from getting out to vote or taking a proactive stance for or against a cause or a much needed change to benefit a community, state or the entire nation.
Americans tend to throw in the towel when it becomes difficult to see anything being accomplished by our august body politic. Elections have been won by indifference which put people in power that should never have been. That indifference is often reflected in the general lack of political cognizance many of us display. As an example not long ago a poll concluded that almost fifty percent of Americans polled thought that Hezbollah was a friendly ally to the United States. If asked to define something as simple as the difference between a liberal and a conservative you may get more answers than you bargained for.
Between the antics and upheaval of the ACLU and a barrage of all new anti Christian voices it may be the most important time in our history for Christians to awake out of their political haze and get active. There is much at stake.
A second message the movie puts forth can hardly go un-noticed. Almost every significant move forward in the deep fabric of civilization was driven by Christian principles as derived from the Bible. The social status of women, better care for the sick, the poor and the outcast are all predicated on the strong teachings of Christ regarding showing mercy to even the lowest of mankind. The Crusades and the inquisitions stand alone and do not reflect the true teachings of Christ. Check closely and you will see they weren't predicated or based on the Word of God.
A third important message easily derived from the film is that some victories require much more than a single battle. In real warfare it is often a series of victories and defeats with the enduring and most highly motivated armies coming out ahead even if they were not the most powerful to start with.
When the movie begins the parliament has a circus like air and the seriousness of Wilberforce's contentions are scoffed at by all. After years of pounding, pummeling and persistence hardly anyone in the British Parliament would dare not to take him seriously. He may have grown only slightly more eloquent with the years but it was not his spit and polish that finally won the day.
The British can take pride for producing such a remarkable character and statesmen but for America the film raises a rather obvious question. Where are the films about the great Christian statesmen and founding fathers of this country? Perhaps even harder is the question of who has the guts to even propose such a film in the present climate of denial about our Christian founding principles?
It has been said often that William Wilberforce was in his time the very conscience of the British Parliament. More of note is what guided the conscience of Mr. Wilberforce. It is summarized by the very scriptures that William Wilberforce took as seriously as everything else he believed.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Philippians 2: 3-5
Rev Bresciani is a Christian author and columnist. His articles on many important subjects are now read in every corner of the globe. For a list of subjects and news from around the world visit http://www.americanprophet.org

2007-03-04T07:06:00.000-08:00

Why are there Lines on my Copies? by Bill Tucker

Why are there Lines on my Copies (How to Get Rid of Them!)
Have you ever made a copy and noticed that there are lines running down the length of the page? This article is about identifying image defects or lines that a Key-Operator (Person responsible for the equipment.) can fix on their own and lines that need a repair person to fix. You wouldn't want to spend $75.00 to $150.00 for a technician to come out to just clean your glass, would you? No, I didn't think so.
Slit Glass With the age of Multi-Functional Printers, (MFP's) comes new problems. Fax Machines, Digital Copiers and MFP's all have one thing in common. They all have an item on them known as the "Slit Glass." Each machine that uses a slit glass as a way to scan images will eventually get dirty and cause lines on copies along with transmitted faxes. These machines don't scan the same way that older or analog copiers do. Analog copiers use the entire glass with mirrors to get the image to the Photoconductor. Digital copiers use the slit glass. It passes along this small area and uses mirrors that direct it to the CCD unit. The CCD unit then converts the analog information into digital information. When using the Document Feeder or Processor the original only passes over the slit glass. It does not get copied from glass where you lay down your original.
How to Determine if the Slit Glass is the Problem. On Copiers, MFP's and Fax Machines you can quickly diagnose if the slit glass is the problem.
Copiers: First make a copy on the glass. If there are no lines showing, then make a copy through the Document Feeder or Processor. If there are lines on the copy then more than likely it is the Slit Glass causing the problem. I say more than likely because there are occasions where this may not be true.
Fax Machines and MFP's: First print a journal or a function list. To print these refer to your Operators Manual. If you don't have a line, make a copy through the Document Feeder or Processor. If there are lines then your problem is the slit glass.
Digital Copiers and MFPs This type of slit glass is easy to spot. Just lift the Document Feeder up and look for the small rectangular glass around 1 inch by 12 inches. Look at it carefully. If there is anything stuck on it, this will cause a line. The Image defect will look like a small pin sized line all the way across the page, although I've seen larger even 1 inch wide. The most common substance that I have found stuck to the glass is white-out. This happens because they don't let it dry well before running it through the feeder. When it dries on the glass it doesn't come off easily. Another issue is blobs of ink, again this is because of not allowing enough time for it to dry. Being impatient actually will cost you more time in the long run.
Cleaning the Slit Glass. Cleaning the slit glass is easy but you need to pay close attention and be sure that you have removed all of it. Take your finger nail and scrape off as much as you can. Get a cotton towel and saturate it with alcohol. I also recommend using an alcohol swab. These come in little sealed pouches and are inexpensive and easy to find. Let the spot soak for a minute and this will loosen up the white out. Glass cleaner does not remove it as good as alcohol. There is something about alcohol that breaks down the white out. Next, go over it with a lint free cotton towel soaked with glass cleaner, and then dry it off to eliminate streaks. Never spray the liquid on to the glass because some of it may find its way inside the machine.
Fax Machines. The slit glass on a fax machine may be a bit harder to get to. The document feeder or processor is normally under the control panel. Lift up the panel and shine a flash light on to the small slit glass. It is about 1 inch by 12 inches in diameter. Use the same technique to clean it.
You Cleaned the Slit- Glass but the Line is Still There. Some times the blob of white out is really stuck on the slit glass. I have a procedure that is fool proof in finding where the spot is, because sometimes it is so small that you can't see it. First, get the copy that has the line on it. Hold it directly and evenly on the slit glass. Look carefully and see if you can follow the line to the glass. This is where the spot is. One thing about this procedure. You must check it both ways. Turn the original 180 degrees and inspect it again because the image is reversed because of the lens. Now that you have found the spot you may have to use a solvent to get that spot off. These can be stubborn and difficult to remove. You can try WD-40. My technicians use a solvent called D-Ink (Coopers). D-Ink is very expensive but it works well. If you still have the line on your copies then you have another problem.
Calling for Service Call a qualified repair person to come out and take a look. I recommend using a local independent repair company. Look them up in your Yellow Pages. I recommend an Independent because they usually are a smaller company and they will give you more personalized service. I hate those crazy phone systems, being stuck in a loop when trying to call for service. Most of the time they also have more experience and you won't be paying for over- inflated hourly rates of an authorized dealer or huge corporation.
Other Line Problems If you followed my tests and you have a line both copying from the glass and using the Document Feeder then you have another problem. I believe that it is always a good idea to have a good technician ready to call, but why spend money when it is something so simple anyone could do it. Here is a list of probable causes. Many things could be wrong so I am not going to go in too much in detail.
Possible Causes / Lines
Laser Printers, Laser and LED Fax Machines Toner cartridge, Charge roller, paper or object stuck inside blocking the scanner, transfer roller, optics, and corona wire. Note: You can clean these but if you don't know what you are doing you can damage something.
Inkjet Printers and Fax machines Print head, Ink cartridge, dirty optics, paper or object stuck up inside machine blocking the print-head or optics.
Copier and MFP's Toner cartridge, Charge roller, paper or object stuck inside blocking the scanner, transfer roller, corona wire, and dirty optics. Note: You can clean these but if you don't know what you are doing you may damage something.
I hope this article has helped you save some of your hard earned money. There really is no reason to spend money when you can just clean it yourself.

2007-03-04T07:05:00.001-08:00

Tips to keep your computer safe by bobs

If you are using internet then your computer is not safe from hackers & virus. You must be aware of some basic ideas which can keep your computer safe from hackers & virus. Here are some basic tips which can help you regarding your computer safety.
Antivirus: - You must install an antivirus before using internet connection. An antivirus keeps your computer safe from unwanted programs which can damage your computer. There are so many antivirus programs available in market. You have to choose the right one according to your computer specifications. Some of the good names in antivirus programs are Norton, McAfee, Webroots etc.There are so many free antivirus are also available.After installing a antivirus program one must update the antivirus time to time. If your ntivirus is not updated time to time then virus can spread even the antivirus is installed.
Firewall:- Firewall is the security guard of your computer while using internet connection. It
restricts the unauthorized entry from outside to your system. You can setup personal security settings by using a firewall program. There are so many Firewall programs are available in market choose the right one and install it before using internet connection. Firewall program is of no use for stand alone systems without internet connection. There is no need to install firewall for them.
Emails:- Every one who is familiar with computers is using email accounts for communications .But now a days most of the virus programs come through e-mails. This is the easy way to spread virus. Before opening an attachment with e-mails make sure that it is of your use and comes from your known persons. Most of the time attachments with unknown extensions are virus programs which can damage your computer. If mails with attachments comes from unknown persons then don't try to open or save them on your computer they can be virus programs.
Some general instructions for the use of computers 1. Shutdown computer in proper way. 2. Close all the applications before doing shutdown or restart of your computer. 3. Make your electrical connections tight for computers. 4. Do not place magnetic things near to your PC these can affect your PC. 5. Do not use pirated software's for your PC. 6. Always scan the floppy or CD with antivirus before opening them in PC. 7. Always use Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) for your PC. 8. Keep your PC away from dust and heat.

2007-03-04T07:03:00.000-08:00

Get Satellite TV in your PC by Ken Isechen

TV on the internet? Something that has been evolving for years. It first started out with Television shows being recorded then downloaded on the internet to watch. These were known as VOD's, or "Video on Demand". Then it turned into people exchanging television streams from other nations. This was very exciting, you could watch the news, watch foreign sports, in totally different languages.
The only thing with this is that it was illegal. People were direct feeding a stream from the broadcasting station to view it free over the internet. Eventually big broadcasting companies caught on to this and now people all over the world pay monthly fee's to watch over 1,000 channels, at the leisure of their computers. This is an actual 1,000 channels. Not just 1-1,000 and only having 300 viewable channels like DirectTV and other leading satellite TV companies in America.
Televisions and Computers have evolved. I used to pay over $100.00 a month for my cable bills, but then I saw the beauty of watching television from my computer. I changed $100.00 into $29.99 a month. Having a laptop with a WiFi connection gives you the option to take your television anywhere. No hook-ups no nothing! The best part about it is it's so much cheaper.
There are still many companies giving out subscriptions to their "leading" PCTV channels, but I came across one that will never be topped. When the program first was released, it gave you 2,000 channels, from all over the world for only one payment of $200.00. Just think about that, 2 of your monthly payments for your regular cable. This program payed for itself after 3 months!
Since technology is evolving further and further the prices have dropped immensely. The program is called "Satellite TV for PC". The program has dropped from $200.00 to one simple payment of 49.95. That is for "Satellite TV Elite". Now the same developers came out with a more advanced piece called "Satellite TV Titanium". The Titanium edition has over 3,000 channels! Viewable in nearly every part of the world. You would probably think that the new edition costs more then the original $200.00. But it's actually cheaper! It's only $99.95!
So don't waste your time buying monthly subscriptions to your local cable companies, or even other PCTV companies. Pick up an easy one-time payment for unlimited viewing of your favorite TV shows all the way across the world. These channels pick up clearly and crisp to give you the ultimate TV watching experience!

2007-03-02T22:28:00.000-08:00

Is a dvd creator software a must have ? by Ted Peterson

How often do you convert or make copies of DVDs and store them on your computer for later playback or burn them on the DVDs or CDROMS? There are plenty of people around the worlds who would want to convert the quality DVDs to their desired format and then burn them later. Frankly speaking majority of people around the world rent movie DVDs instead of buying them and then makes copies to store such movies on to the local hard drive in a different format by using some good quality ripping software available on the internet.
If you are after good video quality then those ripping software are just going to be waste of time and will testing your nerve. Take a look at Super DVD Creator, cool software which would make exact copies any supported format video files into a different format like an AVI or MPEG1 or MPEG2.
Download the software today as it's very easy to install, only few simple mouse clicks. Click on the application icon through either desktop or programs menu and enjoy the initial looks. Pick-up a source and a destination location and that's all, now Click the start button to get the files converted into a DVD, SVCD or a VCD format. It can almost pick any formats like VCD, SVCD, DivX, WMV, ASF, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI, Xvid etc, and convert them to DVD, SVCD or VCD format and burn them directly on to the Disk.
There is a little more to this application interface where you can choose to pick some more options like picking up the DVD format either for PAL or NTSC.The software comes with a nice DVD Menu creator which is very good and the user can pick and choose the background image and music from any file on the local computer.
So check these 4 top reasons to Choose Super DVD Creator:
1. For its High speed and fantastic Video quality which is based upon the Super Encode Engine based upon MMX - SSE & 3DNow technology which gets you the best ever picture quality. You don't have to wait for hours for the ripping to finish, it take less thank 60 minutes to get a perfect copy of a 4.2 GB DVD. The power is impressive! 2. It support AC3 audio which means the Super DVD Creator is going to get you the Dolby AC3 5.1 audio surround sound effects as long as the original DVD has it. It makes true copies on your PC. 3. An extra support for the DVD Chapter Menu giving the user an ability to make a funky DVD menu with cool background picture and music. And yes use the menu if you have more than 1 movie to burn on to a DVD, otherwise it would not be feasible. With menu options you can pick and choose the movie and play them on your DVD player at home. 4. Support of DVD subtitle given a facility to copy the true DVD subtitles as they would be in the original DVD. Now this makes it a perfect Copy creator as well.
I really don't know what else a user might be looking for.

2007-03-02T22:27:00.000-08:00

Tired of waiting for programs to start? PC is slow? could be your registries. by Ted Peterson

We all know how important a windows registry is, as every operating system and application libraries are linked to it for a safer and smoother user experience. Windows are designed in a way to store every application's reference links inside registry. Can you image what would happen if this registry is corrupted? The answer is simple: your computer will not work any more.
How nice it would be to maintain your computer's windows registry with perfect and reliable registry cleaner software. If you don't know one then here is the popular one CleanMyPC Registry Cleaner. This software is very easy to install and immediately on the first time of its launch on the local computer, allows the user to take an instant backup of the current registry. This is very important as for some reason if you have manually deleted a good part of registry you can reboot the computer in the safe mode and can restore the registry information.
To backup the registry simply click on the "Backup Windows Registry" button and the computer will take around 2 minutes to store the backup file in user's specified location on the local hard drive. The next thing that you can do is to select the "Scan & Clean" option from the let Navigational panel. This will allow the application to scan through the registry for File Extensions, Application paths, Registry Integrity, Com/ActiveX entries, Uninstall Entries, Font Entries, Shared DLLs, Help Files Information, Windows Startup Items, History List and finally a File/Path Reference (only for advanced user).
I was amazed at the fact the there were more than 400 errors reported by the registry cleaner on my windows XP machine and which were fixed in a single click on the "Fix selected problems" button. It only repaired 10 problems as I was running a trial version of the software before. I did not waste any time and immediately purchased the original version and rescan my system registry and got every error fixed after which my computer rebooted. Once it came back online it was much faster and applications were opening instantly which used to give me a 30 - 40 seconds delay previously. My computer boot-up time was reduced to 1-2 minute from 5-7 minutes. This was simply awesome.
Quite often applications are installed and un-installed causing several thousands of referencing keys to be created and removed leaving gaps making the registry size to become considerably large. You can now use the "Defrag Registry" option which will reduce the registry size to a lot smaller to your surprise. Apart from that the "Startup organizer" allows a user to look at the startup items running on your computer which can play a significant role in downgrading your computer's performance. Uncheck those items which you don't want to initialize and start with a computer startup.
Finally an awesome "Privacy Eraser" option allows the user to kill every major browser's (like IE, Firefox, AOL, MSN, Opera) cache, cookies, off line files, URL history, saved user name and password and index.dat file used by Internet Explorer, to save up on disk space. You can also clear a lot of windows and Office based cache and temporary files as well. The list is so big that it would always be better to get this software and keep your system healthy.
Go get this one now!

2007-03-02T22:26:00.000-08:00

Say NO to spam in your inbox! by Ted Peterson

On daily basis many people around the world are facing growing email SPAMing issues. A SPAM is nothing but an unsolicited email received from an unknown person. Any organization can be affected with this SPAM. Thousands of emails are being dropped in the corporate mailing server everyday generating a demand for a much needed spam filter application. Now that's all about a corporate, what about a regular user. Take an example of a user with a yahoo mail account which is being loaded with all sorts of advertisement based email. This user never intended to receive those email nor did he/she ever subscribed to any such newsletter service. Yahoo mail has a SPAM filter which grabs most of the spammed email but still there are those which are never considered as SPAM and are still very annoyingly sitting in your inbox.
If this user has been using a mailing client like the 'Outlook Express' or 'Microsoft Outlook' or any other third party mailing client application, then the worry part would the download of such unsolicited emails on to the local computer, some of which could be injected with a virus or a Trojan horse which are very dangerous for your operating system and other private data.
Pctool.com did it again and released a SPAM Monitor application for such regular users to safe guard there mailing clients from unwanted SPAM'ed emails. This software is an email classification system that will help the user in separating the SPAM from the rest of generic emails. The application is has mainly focused on not-so computer savvy people around the world. Once you have downloaded the application, simply double click on the installer file to install the application on to your computer. Once the application is installed it will open for the very first time requesting to feed-in some valuable information abut the mailing client that needs to be monitored.
You can configure Spam Monitor in either a Minimum, Normal or Aggressive filter mode. The minimum mode will filter your email against the list of insecurely and easily-abused servers, and lists of confirmed spammers. It would catch a bit of SPAM with a little risk to your legitimate emails. Normal mode would filter against the list of probable spammers like the SPEWA and will catch more SPAM with slightly increased risk as you might find your legitimate emails in the junk mail folder or even getting deleted. And finally Aggressive mode will filter above the normal levels and check them against an aggressive list of SpamBag and SpamCop with higher risk of making mistakes.
There is another option which you may pick if you are living in an English speaking country "Assume all email from China, Korea and Taiwan is spam." These are the places where email servers are mostly compromised for sending SPAM on the internet. If you do not have any contacts in either one of these countries which sends you legitimate email, then go ahead and check this option.
And finally pick the mailing client like an 'Outlook Express' and let the SPAM monitor do its job. An awesome utility where an unwanted message will be tagged as **SPAM**
Protect your computer from unwanted email. Get SPAM Monitor Today!

2007-03-02T22:24:00.000-08:00

Process Orientation in Software Development by Jayram Tallamraju

Service orientation is the current buzzword and is part of mainstream development these days. So why am I going back to process orientation and the old school approach? If you are involved in software development life cycle, you may already understand why! If you don't understand the importance of process orientation, then this article might just offer you a few tips to help keep your development process running smoothly.
Developing software is not a difficult task. It doesn't matter what a developer's educational background is; writing a piece of code is so easy that if one understands the simple concepts and syntax, they can start writing software code. Unlike other engineering fields, with some basic training it is easy to get a software job and make good money.
While I believe that the above is basically true, that does not mean that a novice will produce good code. There is a lot of difference between good code and bad code. It's like building a house using a good design with a good foundation vs. just piling up some bricks until it looks like a house. Unfortunately not many people care or put as much focus into writing software as they would into building a house.A few reasons for this may be:
No matter how bad the code someone writes is, it is not going to harm anyone (at least for the vast majority of software projects).
There are no rules/regulations/standards that are enforced by a central standards committee or company.
I, for one, am certainly glad that same lack of standards/ethics is not commonplace in other fields. There are volumes of books on good RDMBS design, good coding standards, object-oriented design and design patterns, but they're just books and they cannot take action to prevent bad code (or the people who are responsible). I have yet to see a foolproof system in place to protect against bad code or practices to get the optimal level of productivity from developers.
Let's step back a little from coding and look at the real world outside software. I expect the best from the world that I live in. When I drive on the highway, I expect a smooth and clean road. When I buy a big screen TV, it shouldn't have scratches on screen or be missing buttons. When I spend my money, I want the best product or service.
But now looking back at the software industry, I don't come forward to fix bugs in my code for free! The company pays me, and I am expected to produce quality code in reasonable timeframe. Well, there is a lot going in my life and developing software is a low priority task that I only do so that I continue to get a regular paycheck. I get upset when my code is submitted to review or when people find bugs in my code. I've read few management books and most of them suggest that it is good to forgive others mistakes and not criticize others. I often think that the people who review or find bugs in my code, could do with an improvement in their people skills and learn how not to stress-out developers. I like my double standard approach: to demand best from others but give what ever I can, if and when I feel like. There are even times that I feel that working 30 hours a week for my current employer is too much. I know C++/HTML/Java and it's always easy to find another job thanks to the current economy and Monster.com.
I used to think that all developers thought like me. But then I met a different kind of developer - those who are so dedicated to what they do that they always give more then they expect to receive. These guys are givers and make a difference in the world. I think they do what they do simply because they love to do it - the money just happens to be a nice perk. That made me realize that I should do what I love and give the same service I expect from others. This caused me to seriously reflect on my approach and attitude towards software development. I asked these dedicated developers to help me provide some tips for developers like me. I would like to share those views with you all and I hope it helps to, in some small way, make the software development world a better place. Process Orientation in Practice
There are many things in life that we do in a certain way. When you drive a car, you stop at red lights and stop signs. If you're courteous, you may even give way for the pedestrians or yield to other traffic. Much of what we do in life is based on what we see others do and we tend to follow it. In some cases where rules are not followed, authorities are there to enforce them. In a way, this process is created for all of us to work and live together without chaos.

2007-03-02T22:23:00.000-08:00

Is a video converter that necessary? by Ted Peterson

Are you really looking forward for a versatile video converter than you must take a look at the Xilisoft Video Converter which has excellent feature a user today wants. Quite often users waste there time running through various other products or utilities which they can use to make some great quality video from DVDs, VCDs, Divx etc., and store them either on the computer or burn them on DVDs or CDROMs.
I was searching on the internet for such conversion utilities and most of them were failing to create some exceptional quality videos compatible with mobile phones, iPods, PSPs, DVD players etc, until I found Xilisoft Video Converter. Frankly speaking I was very much satisfied with the way this video conversion tool converted some of my favorite DVDs moments into high quality supported video formats. The software also supports multi-language support like English, Chinese and Japanese etc.
It didn't take long before the first movie clip was converted with absolute fantastic video quality. I played a little more with the software and found out that it would also convert a lot of other available formats to mobile formats like the MOV, AVI, MPEG, WMV, MPEG4, Xvid, Divx, RM, 3GP, 3G2 etc. Well if you would like to revert back the conversion, you can still use the same utility to convert to any of the available formats like the AVI, MPEG, DIVx etc and can also convert the audio only formats like the WAV, MP3, M4A, AAC etc and can automatically identify any existing audio formats too.
This is something which almost any video conversion utility will have as a prerequisite with the growing demand for more sophisticated conversion tools. Yet there are lots of difference one will find in this tool which works in a lot better way. There are more features added in this version of the software as compared to the previous version for an exceptional video conversion experience. * The new version 3.1 has more enhanced features which allow users to pick the encoding and decoding of the video file along with APE and CUE decoding facilities. * A direct audio CD ripping feature is been added which can be opened using a user friendly wizard which was missing from the older version. * There is a new zoom function which allows the user to playback movie in a zoomed way and a split function allows different kinds of movie formats to be added together to get a single output file. * You can also find a lot better batch conversion feature which works absolutely brilliant. * There is another good feature of multi-threading which allows you to convert more than one file at a time depending upon your CPU speed. * Another good feature is a pause, stop and continue feature which works without any computer hangs which quite often is a major user complains about. * If you want to pick only certain part of the movie then you can preview and split that part from the rest of the movie. All you will be required to do is to specify the start point and the time for which you would like to capture the movie followed by its conversion into a mobile format.
Finally the last piece of advice for everyone would be to test this product as soon as possible as it could very well be sitting into your cool tools collection.

2007-03-02T22:22:00.000-08:00

Have a big website? Worried about server load ? by Ted Peterson

Have we ever thought how big websites could be configured to handle massive amount of traffic? How thousands of businesses worldwide are facing challenges everyday to make sure there are no connection failures due to heavy load or congestion of traffic at the website. The answer is straight, every organization will have to monitor and baseline amount of traffic by going for stress test to find out if the current hardware could be supportive enough to handle a specific amount of load. One such great software is the "Web Application Testing" or WAPT, which is a great utility for any website's sustainability. This software is load, stress and performance testing tool for web sites and intranet applications with web interface. WAPT is designed for MS Windows 2000/XP/2003 and Windows 98/Me operating systems. The question that should be asked is why should we consider WAPT or why should the organization consider Load or stress testing? We certainly believe, major performance issues would arise if stress test has not been performed. This could very well mean that after the server reaches a certain level of concurrent connection made by visitors, it would consume its hardware resources to process every visitor's request. If there is a lot to process, the server might give priority to web application than its local resource ending up in a system crash. Thus, the goal of WAPT is very simple; it helps the organization's web servers to become active at every stage of stress, whether it's a web development or website traffic processing power. WAPT can perform a stress test by simulating several thousands of concurrent connections to check the web server/website performance and if it finds any bottlenecks it would warn and suggest fixing this issue by recommending the very next thing. There are lots of new features added in WAPT 4.0 - You can use multiple virtual profiles to test a single scenario - There is support for IP spoofing where each virtual user can run with individual and unique IP address - Each Virtual can be configured with different username and password and is compatible with Windows Integrated Authentication or Basic Configuration. - You can see and configure the type of reports even a test run summary report is generated - There is command line interface available - There is a support for persistent cookies - All the test scenario and profiles are stored in XML format The Main features of WAPT 4.0 - You can have the application run and understand multiple languages - There is cool recording feature which you can use to record any configuration and stress test simulations for later review or demonstrations as it supports playback of HTTPS/SSL 2.0 & 3.0 pages. You can also record the user connection speed using the keep-alive connections to a HTTP 1.0 or HTTP 1.1 pages or even HTTPS/SSL pages. - You can generate data for run-times on specific scheduled intervals by randomizing the delay between the page hits. - It also has a support for proxy servers for HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS4 & 5 and supports cookies as well. - All the authentication request can be handled using NTLM (windows Integrated Authentication) or using the basic authentication. - If you would like to call the website by a different name, then you also have the facility to add custom host headers - All this the scenarios can be configured using the user friendly Wizard - You can choose the reports to be either graphical or in plain text along with full virtual server logs A must tool for administrator or other user who would to maintain their website efficiently.

2007-03-02T22:21:00.000-08:00

Prepare Your Outlook Calendar Items For Daylight Saving Time Changes in 2007 by Ryan Corey

In August 2005, the United States Congress passed the Energy Policy Act, which changes the start and end of Daylight Saving Time (DST) as observed in the United States. All states except Arizona and Hawaii will begin observing Daylight Saving Time on March 11, 2007 and end on November 4, 2007. Many provinces in Canada will also adjust their DST observance, as will some states and provinces in other countries. This makes the new DST period four weeks longer than before. These changes will impact many people across the world in a variety of ways.
One of the most common ways the DST will affect the country and the world is that calendar items (appointments, reminders, etc.) in Microsoft Office Outlook will appear one hour off. Any all-day event will shift and span two days because these events are associated with 24 specific hours rather than an individual date.
Microsoft has released a program to update calendar items in Microsoft Office Outlook to accommodate the new changes in DST. This program is called the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook. It was released in January 2007, and is available from the Microsoft Download Center. The Time Zone Data Update Tool can update calendar items in Outlook to accommodate the changes in DST during the extended DST period.
The Time Zone Data Update Tool is required to update calendar items that occur during the extended DST periods for the following versions of Microsoft Outlook: Outlook 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2007. Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, the newest version of Outlook from the Microsoft Office Suite 2007 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, etc.), can automatically update a person's calendar to conform to the new daylight saving time rules but the Time Zone Data Update Tool also contains additional improvements that are not available in the default install of Office Outlook 2007.
There is an Exchange version of this tool available. Before implementation of any tool it is best to contact your company Microsoft Exchange Server administrator or systems administrator. Academy of Computer Education (http://www.trainace.com) Systems Administrator Eric Slade said, "We plan to implement the update through our Exchange Server internally for the company as well as for our IT consulting clients. This will make the process easier on our users. Although the update would be easy for them to run, many people are simply too busy to remember to get to it before the time change."

2007-03-02T22:20:00.000-08:00

World Of Warcraft Cheats by Phil Wilson

Like any game with a massive player base - it is after all a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, or MMORPG for short - World of Warcraft has spawned many a person who resorts to and freely indulges in World of Warcraft cheats to further their game.
This practice of using World of Warcraft cheats is frowned upon by Blizzard, the creators of Warcraft. This doesn't mean however, that the people who use any of the World of Warcraft cheats, or for that matter the people who find and create these cheats, are going to stop anytime soon.
Even the Grand Masters of the game who watch over the game like hawks miss an odd hundred to thousand or so players who might be utilizing these World of Warcraft cheats. But in a game where there are over eight million players worldwide, this is but a drop in the ocean so to speak.
What can you do about people who use any of the World of Warcraft cheats? Not much really. If however you do suspect someone of using any World of Warcraft cheats you can report these people to the Grand Masters who will then be able to take matters into their own hands and arbiter the matter satisfactorily.
For those of you looking for World of Warcraft cheats, be warned if you're caught using them you can, and in all likelihood, will be thrown out and banned from the game forever. Blizzard really doesn't like people who violate their Terms of Service agreements.
The problem with World of Warcraft cheats though is that it is almost ridiculously easy to find them, and since they are also for the most part free World of Warcraft cheats, many people can be enticed.
After all, in a game where gold is scarce until you get to a certain higher level, wouldn't it be nice to be able to be one of the richest people characters around? Not everyone thinks this way of course, but that does seem to be a moot point for the moment, as the World of Warcraft cheats web sites continue to flourish unabated.
What can feasibly be done about these web sites? Nothing. They have as much right to publish their content and findings on the net as anybody else, and until Blizzard catches a person at using any of these World of Warcraft cheats, the people who use them will also continue to flourish.
Regards,
Phil Wilson,
http://www.oreviewit.com
http://www.oreviewit.com/WorldOfWarcraft/index.php

2007-03-02T22:19:00.000-08:00

The Spanish Dream by John Smith

Beautiful Spain, if only this haven in the sunshine came without problems. I guess the reality is wherever you buy a property there is the potential for problems, yes even in the UK. Buying a property in the UK or indeed anywhere in the world is rated as one of the three most stressful things we can do in our lives alongside divorce and changing jobs. So why do so many people still dream of buying a property overseas? Could it be the sunshine, the more relaxed lifestyle, the improved quality of life or maybe it is more of an escape from all the bad things at home.
The politicians, the weather, the crime rate, the increasing tendency for the Government to scrutinise everything we do, the lunacy that is political correctness and the sheer pressure of living in a country where the normal upstanding tax paying member of society is increasingly marginalized and ironically made to feel like a foreigner in their own country. Where the unemployed and the so called disadvantaged and minority ethnic groups seem to get all the help our Government can muster yet our indigenous pensioners are unable to afford to heat their homes during the winter.
I am afraid that buying a dream property overseas away from all the madness that is the UK in the 21st century will remain a major goal for many Brits as evidenced by the National Office of Statistics figures for emigration in 2005, which tells us that more 300,000 people migrated from the UK to seek a better life elsewhere. I wonder what the figure will be for 2006. With more and more budget airlines opening more and more routes all over Europe travel is becoming more affordable to more and more people.
With prices as low as 15 pounds one way to Malaga with British Airways this summer the cost of travel becomes less and less of an issue. Southern Spain has probably the best climate in the World, maybe not as exotic as the Caribbean or Thailand but then there are no earthquakes or tsunamis to worry about no cyclones or tornados. So is Spain really a paradise virtually on our doorstep, well unfortunately Spain does have some problems like in Marbella where most of the local administration are in prison for dodgy real estate deals and issuing illegal planning permission to corrupt developers. Like in the region of Valencia where innocent Brits find that there home is suddenly subject to a land grab and they are in danger of losing their dream retirement home.
Inheritance Tax Laws which can mean when your partner dies you are suddenly saddled with a demand to pay or your home will be snatched back or sold at auction. These are the sort of issues which can turn a dream into a nightmare.
The good news is that these issues can be understood and with careful forethought and good advice, in the most part, avoided. The problem is that too many Brits jet off to Spain and leave their common sense and their brains behind. In Spain you need to seek advice, you need to get help and information from those who know Spain and have lived there and understand the issues. Buying a property is a major investment, no matter who you are, and buying in another country needs careful consideration, yet all too often buyers are seduced by fast talking salesman interested only in a quick buck and high commission fees and fail to take proper and sensible precautions.
By taking good advice and understanding the issues a lot of pain and stress can be avoided. New companies based in Spain are emerging like OLG or Overseas Living Group who provide advice for those hoping to buy in Spain. They are not estate agents but British advisors whose staff have lived and worked in Spain and so understand the local issues. They provide good independent advice and point you in the right direction for estate agents, developers and mortgage brokers in fact for anything you want in Spain. They scrutinise suppliers and only when they are confident that a supplier is a reputable and reliable company will they recommend them to their clients.
These kinds of companies can be invaluable in saving you on stress and heartache. Their service is usually free to the client as they get commission from the various suppliers who are happy to pay for good introductions to good customers. Spain can be a "dream come true" but as with everything in life it pays to be cautious.
John Smith regularly writes article for the Overseas Living Group Property Marbella Costa Del Sol Specialists

2007-03-02T22:17:00.000-08:00

What You Need To Know About Bluetooth Headphones by Chonticha Marijne

Bluetooth headphones and accessories are one of the fastest growing trends in electronic technology today. Those little gadgets that fit snugly to the ear are fast becoming the hot piece of electronic equipment to own if you want to compete. This hands-free opportunity to communicate with other headphones, PDAs, laptops, and now, iPod technology makes it one of the fastest growing consumer purchases. Bluetooth headphones come in a variety of model and price ranges. For a moderate $40 dollars, you can purchase basic Bluetooth headphones with a standby time of up to 120 hours. This model is able to also receive calls while not attached to your ear, and has voice dial and regular dialing options.
For a little more, consumers can try the BlueTake GT400 G3 Bluetooth headphones. This one incorporates a sleek style in a nice shade of blue that offers an attractive alternative to other headsets. This one also offers a full line of accessories. Fans of Bluetooth headphones might also want to check out the VR-3 wireless cell phone speakerphone designed for a Bluetooth headphones set. For less than $50, this handy gadget can be used in your car. Another, larger speakerphone is also available for less than $75.
Moderately priced between $50 and $100 dollars, consumers may also opt to purchase Scosche wireless Bluetooth headphones, still less than $100. These Bluetooth headphones are a little more stylish than other models and come with a docking base system that can plug into your cigarette lighter. When you dock the Bluetooth headphones into the docking system, they immediately go to speakerphone mode. Moving on up the Bluetooth headphones models and price ranges, any fan of Bluetooth headphones may want to take a look at the I-Phono Plus Bluetooth headphones and Transmitter kit. This model enables wireless music listening capabilities. For less than $200, users are able to control play lists and listen to either music or incoming telephone calls with the easy flick of a switch. The kit does contain the Bluetooth headphones and a Bluetooth transmitter that will work with any stereo or audio equipment. Another choice for Bluetooth headphones, and one that still ranges below the $200 mark, is the Scosche Bluetooth headphones. These nifty gadgets have a flip down microphone and come with a full range of options and accessories as well.
Besides being the hottest selling item on many consumer electronic favorites listings, Bluetooth headphones and accessories will continue to ride the popularity wave. Newer models boasting additional options and capabilities continue to hit the market every few months. As prices come down, more and more people will be able to afford and enjoy such convenient technology. Be advised however, that bugs are still being worked out on several Bluetooth models, so make sure to do your research before you buy. Check out forums and feedback on various websites selling Bluetooth technology to learn more about particular models of Bluetooth headphones to make sure you purchase the one that best suits your wants and needs.

2007-03-02T22:16:00.000-08:00

Know Your Bluetooth Car Kit Basics by Chonticha Marijne

When shopping around for a Bluetooth car kit, make sure to compare prices as well as Bluetooth capabilities and accessories. Many different brand names are now competing with the Bluetooth car kit accessories field, so it pays to be patient and take the time to find just the right car kit to suit your needs.
When considering a Bluetooth car kit, it's best to have a professional install the system, ensuring proper installation and guidelines. Most styles of Bluetooth car kit offers will include a major component that attach to your dashboard, either in front or behind. Hands free devices are the way to go these days, and reduce the number of people driving and talking on the phone at the same time, a key safety issue. Several different functions are available with most Bluetooth car kit offerings, as well as price ranges. When shopping, do consider the option of 'available call' controls on the control switch and whether or not the Bluetooth car kit will allow you to automatically mute the stereo system in your vehicle when receiving incoming calls. The ability to control speaker voices through an earpiece or your car's stereo speakers is also an option to consider.
A Bluetooth car kit can range between $150 and $350 for the most popular Motorola HR850 and Motorola IHF1000 Bluetooth car kit models. The Kyocera Koi KX2 is also a popular choice, as are the Parrot CK3100 and Parrot CK3300 GPS Bluetooth car kit models. Sony Ericsson offers the HCB-300 and HCB 700 Bluetooth car kit models, also highly rated.
A Bluetooth car kit comes with multiple functions and options that will suit just about any customer need. The most basic function controls within a Bluetooth car kit include but are not limited to volume, mute and voice activation capabilities as well as answer and end functions. Most models come with a stand-alone speaker, though many customers prefer to hook up the Bluetooth car kit to their vehicle speaker system. Many models automatically mute stereo systems, but check ahead of time to make sure this feature is available on the Bluetooth car kit model that you're thinking of purchasing. Other models offer noise cancellation as well.
A Bluetooth car kit is compatible with just about every major brand of cell phones, computer brands and models out there, in addition to PDAs. Such compatible models include Blackberry LG, Audiovox, HP, iPAQ, Motorola, Samsung, Nokia, Siemens and Sony Ericsson brands. The leading Bluetooth car kit on the market today is the Motorola IHF1000. This model goes beyond just simple voice activation and allows the owner to voice dial numbers one at a time. The voice menu on most major brand of Bluetooth car kit systems allow users true hands free options when it comes to answering calls, dialing by name or via storage of over a dozen contacts, and dial by number on mobile phone keypad options. Most Bluetooth car kit systems come with keypads, directional microphone, module, wiring connectors and mounting hardware, everything you need for true, hands free communication.

2007-03-02T22:15:00.000-08:00

Your files are your knowledge base, so how to make important data both accessible and secure?! by Sam Miller

First, let think about some basic ideas. When you name your file, try to use long name that explain the key idea about the file. Don't name file "Doc1", use some idea specific name. Consider designing some folder structure, try to divide information into different types, consider using some standard folder structures for some certain cases. For instance, if you work with projects, then you can create a template folder structure, which will have a subfolder "people", subfolder "docs" or sub-folder "resources".
The efficiency of your knowledgebase depends on how fast you can find file you need. So, it's a good idea to use some file search engine, which will be able to help you with file searching. What one should now about files and file system to do efficient search?
Make sure you understand file masks. Actually, mask is abstraction of file name. Using mask you may tell to find a file with a certain name or find a file of certain extension (file type). Let's try to use some file masks: a*.* is necessary to find all files starting with "a". The mask *.doc will find all Word files, mask *project* will find all file, which have a word "project" in file name. Why use file mask? To speed up your search. As a result you will need to scan just few documents, not hundreds.
Some computer gurus like to keep files as a plain text, especially, some important files. It might be a good idea, as plain text files are easy to recover in a case of system crash and plain text files are very fast to search in.
When searching file, consider using additional searching parameters. If you remember file was changed last week, then apply a date and time parameter. If you know what file size was, then apply size as a filter. Don't specify exact number of bytes, just give a range for file size.
Still not satisfied with Windows search? I guess why. The latest versions of Windows provide much better such capabilities than previous, for instance, now, it's not a problem to search in archives, but still search tools built in Windows are missing some features. The most important one is preview capability. If the result of your search consist of hundred of files, then it will be hard to scan all these files, as you will need to open files one by one. Instead, find some utility that will be able to provide preview pane, to preview results without opening.
Finally, the most important problem is that some popular file formats are not searchable with Windows search. For instance, Windows will not find a text in Adobe Acrobat PDF file, also finding text in Excel document also might be a problem. If these document types are what you are using everyday, then find some search utility that support them.
I hope these simple ideas will help to improve your knowledge base. By the way, I'm sure you wish to have access to you data from anywhere in the world. Consider renting some online storage, it's a good approach to making off site backup too. Keep your data accessible and secure.

2007-03-01T03:10:00.002-08:00

Microsoft Zune: 4 Things You Should Think About Before You Purchase Your Microsoft Zune by Desmond Owens

Should you buy the Microsoft Zune? There I was sitting in the aisle of mp3 players. I couldn't make up my mind on which one I wanted. Should I go with a Microsoft Zune 30gig? Or Maybe a 60gig? Still undecided I walked to the counter to find a sales associate. I said to him "Hey in your opinion would you get a Zune or a Creative Zen?" He tells me...."Ummm I dunno" Which kinda got me upset that he wasn't offering me any advice. My mind made up I went on to purchase the Zune.
While I hope you don't have to go thru what I had went thru. Here are some things that you should take into consideration before you purchase your Microsoft Zune.
"Which Zune should I get 30 gig or the 60 gig"...As much as I love mp3 players you know that the player is just a player and its not going to take over your desktop or laptop music library.
"I like the Black Zune over the Brown Zune"...That's nice and all but do you really pay attention to the color other than when you decide to buy. Shop around and go with your instincts if all else fail the cases or skins are available and will give your Zune a instant makeover.
The radio feature is pretty cool to. Not only are you able to listen to your favorite station, depending on the station it will even list the artist and the artist song currently playing.
Another great thing I like is the fact that it has a larger screen than other competing mp3 players. Can you imagine yourself sitting on a exercise bike or elliptical machine watching a movie instead of constantly looking at the time wanting the workout to be over.
These are just a few of the things you should consider. There will always be a debate on which mp3 player is better but should we really care? I mean not like we're getting paid for any of the sales. If your feeling like treating your self to a Microsoft Zune...Go for it.

2007-03-01T03:10:00.001-08:00

Microsoft makes free Vista migration tools available to IT - Network World by John Fontana

Microsoft this week released a set of six free tools for corporate users that are focused on assessment, planning, testing and deployment of Windows Vista.
The tools also include the latest release of Virtual PC 2007, Microsoft's virtualization software for the desktop that include special-use rights for users in Software Assurance maintenance programs.
The tools are part of an ongoing Microsoft strategy that began last year to provide migration tools as early as possible after the release of Vista, which shipped to corporate customers in November.
Migration tools were released with beta versions of Vista in February 2006, the earliest in an operating-system development cycle that Microsoft has made deployment tools available to corporate customers.
The company said its research showed some customers were spending as much as $1,000 to migrate desktops. Microsoft said its goal was to reduce that cost to less than $100.
The six tools are: the Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007, Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) 5.0, Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 1.0, Microsoft Volume Activation 2.0 Tools, Key Management Service (KMS) for Windows Server 2003, and Virtual PC 2007.
BDD 2007 includes guides and tools to deploy Vista and the Office 2007 family of software on desktops. It includes single-image engineering and deployment capabilities, user-state migration tools, remote deployment tools, and integration with other deployment products, such as System Management Server 2003. It also can be used to integrate some of the other deployment tools.
ACT 5.0 includes a set of tools to determine if current IT applications are compatible with Vista. The tools also help in solving compatibility issues and tracking compatibility information after the application is deployed.
Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 1.0 helps companies discover which of the PCs they already own are best suited for Vista upgrades. The tool has an inventory feature that works over the network and generates reports on each PC.

2007-03-01T03:09:00.000-08:00

How to use the GPS Clock by David Evans

The Global positioning System (GPS) is a US military system primarily intended for global navigation. The system provides highly accurate positioning information for navigation. The GPS system consists of a constellation of 24 orbiting satellites. Each satellite has an on-board atomic clock, which is ideal for providing a highly accurate timing reference.
This article discusses how the GPS clock can be used to provide an accurate timing reference for computers and computer networks. The GPS system is often used for computer timing applications, such as NTP time servers and accurate timing references.
GPS Time
GPS time is continuously broadcast by the GPS system. Time is referenced to UTC (Universal Coordinated Time), which is the same worldwide and does not vary with time zones. GPS timing information can be received with relatively low-cost equipment, such as a GPS receiver and antenna.
The GPS signal is very weak low-power radio signal. The signal has two designated frequencies, L1 and L2. Frequency, L1, is the civilian GPS frequency transmitted at 1575.42 MHz. The signal travels in a straight line and can pass through clouds, glass and plastics but is blocked by objects such as metal and brickwork. The ideal location for a GPS antenna is therefore on rooftop with a good view of the sky. Often, antenna installation on the side of a building or in a window can provide a good enough view of the sky to give adequate results.
GPS Clock
The GPS system provides a free-to-air time synchronisation service; there are no on-going set-up or subscription charges. Many computer systems utilise the GPS clock as an accurate timing reference. Highly accurate NTP server systems use the GPS clock as an external reference to synchronise Network Time Protocol servers. Typically, a GPS receiver can provide timing information to within a few nanoseconds of UTC. The accuracy achieved with a GPS receiver is generally more than required for most computer network timing applications.
GPS Receiver Output
The GPS receiver constantly outputs position and timing information. Generally, information is transmitted to and from the receiver via a RS232 serial interface. Standard GPS interface protocols exist, the most common being NMEA. The NMEA protocol consists of a number of sentences, or character strings, transmitted at 4800 bits per second. Contained within each character string is accurate time and position information. Due to the latencies involved in serial communication, the NMEA sentences are not generally accurate enough to provide a timing reference. Therefore a pulse per second (PPS) output is utilised. A PPS output is an accurate pulse output each second that is aligned to the start of each second. The PPS output can be fed into a control line on the RS232 interface to provide a hardware interrupt input for accurate timing. Often the DCD RS232 line is utilised as a PPS input from the GPS receiver. The PPS output combined with NMEA timing and positioning information provides a highly accurate timing reference for computers.
GPS Antennas
The GPS antenna is a signal amplifier that boosts the GPS signal for transmission along a cable, usually coax, to the receiver. GPS antennas used for timing purposes are generally dome-shaped pole mounting devices for permanent installation in a static location. Typically, the GPS antenna is fairly small in size, measuring less than 900 mm in diameter
GPS Cabling
The cable distance that can be utilised by a GPS antenna and receiver depends on the amplification of the GPS antenna and the quality of coax used in the installation. A typical GPS antenna may have a gain of 35 db. Low-quality coax such as RG58 has an attenuation of 0.64 db/m at 1575 MHz. Therefore, a cable run of 55m can be obtained using RG58 cable. Higher quality coax, such as LMR400, an unaided cable run of 200m can be achieved. However, very high quality coax can be expensive. A good compromise is LMR200 cable, which can be run unaided to 80m. Longer distances can be achieved with the aid of GPS amplifiers, which amplify the GPS signal still further, to increase cable distance.

2007-03-01T03:08:00.000-08:00

Why Outsource Website Maintenance? by Rajesh Mergu

The outsourcing dilemma The question of outsourcing your company's IT services, to help improve its productivity has rankled a lot of organizations, around the world. Some of the key concerns before outsourcing IT related work to a vendor are: 1. Security of your business data 2. Depth of knowledge surrounding the business you operate in 3. Deep technical skills to implement a scalable solution 4. Return on Investment (ROI) benefits that accrue directly from outsourcing IT related services.
The doubts that you face before outsourcing your company's Website maintenance, differ from those you face before outsourcing your company's IT services, only very slightly.
You would like to outsource Website maintenance, to have your vendor provide you with:
1. A scalable solution 2. Have a deep understanding of the business you operate in 3. Possess the requisite technical skill sets, to execute efficient web-site maintenance 4. A strong Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) framework, which would include the use of various services to support the requirements of users 5. Create metrics, to help you measure operational excellence before and after you outsourced Website maintenancefor more info got to my web site http://www.indigo.co.in
Benefits of outsourcing Website maintenance
1. Global delivery standards, which ensures highest quality of the end deliverable, and in this case better Website maintenance 2. Freeing up of critical resources, to focus on core business competence 3. High ROI, through reduction in Website maintenance costs, achieved through application of deep Website maintenance domain knowledge. This is usually achieved by using an experienced Website maintenance vendor. 4. High standards surrounding data security 5. Standardization of the content creation and publishing process 6. Identification and classification of valid and retired content 7. Versioning of content. 8. Automation of the content publishing process 9. Archiving of content 10. Scalability of the content management system, to easily accommodate future growth. 11. Easy-to-use content entry model for non-technical contributors, using templates, step-by-step walkthroughs, etc. 12. Introduction of process innovation, technological innovation, and supply chain innovation to improve your company's agility and productivity.

2007-03-01T03:07:00.000-08:00

Understanding And Correcting SMTP Relaying Problems by James Colins

SMTP is the acronym for "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol", which is the protocol used for sending email. Anyone who has ever sent an email has used the SMTP protocol behind the scenes. "Open mail relaying" is when an SMTP server is configured in such a way that it lets anyone send email through it. The problem people have now is that open mail relaying is a thing of the past - it is now much more difficult to find an SMTP server that will work for you. An SMTP relaying problem arises when you try to send an email through an SMTP server and find that you cannot, typically with an error message reading "relaying mail to name@domain.com is not allowed".
Relaying problems typically happen when you connect to the Internet from a different place than normal, for example if you try to use the same SMTP server from both work and home, or if you travel to different cities or countries. Students at universities often find that they cannot send emails using their university's SMTP server when they are off campus. Office workers often find sending emails impossible when they are in their own home, or when they are in a hotel, Internet café, or using an airport's wireless network in a different city.
When the Internet was first developed, it was not intended for personal use but as a tool used by scientists specifically for conducting research and sharing information and resources within a safe environment. Open mail relaying was considered perfectly safe in such an environment. As uses for the Internet began to change, problems with the old system began to surface - especially the old way of allowing open relaying (or passing) of emails from server to server until they reach the destination. The main reason - spam.
Unsolicited junk mail (known as spam) has unfortunately become a serious problem. It is estimated that 90 billion spam emails were sent every day in February 2007. The people who send spam (spammers) do not want to be shut down or blocked, and the more open relay servers they use, the less chance they have of being caught. This is why almost all ISPs now do not allow open relaying. The remaining few open relay servers are frowned upon by the Internet community and are generally blacklisted after a short period of time, so that even legitimate emails sent through them are blocked.
The good news is that the problem with 'SMTP relaying not being allowed' can be avoided. A solution is to use a service such as SMTP2Go (http://smtp2go.com), which is essentially an SMTP server that can be used from any location. Because it can determine that the sender of an email is legitimate, it can always allow legitimate emails to be sent, while preventing all attempts to send unsolicited emails. Services such as SMTP2Go have become necessary in recent years as ISPs crack down on the unauthorized use of their servers.

2007-03-01T03:06:00.000-08:00

Understanding Smtp Error Codes And Smtp Relay Servers by James Colins

How many times have you been confronted with a cryptic error code when trying to do something simple on your computer like send an email? Has it ever been anything less than frustrating? A typical error message for me might be:
"Your email could not be delivered - error 552".
Who knows what this means! SMTP error codes were designed way back in 1982, mainly for other computers to be able to read and understand them. As it is perfectly understandable that human beings are less inclined to think and communicate in numbers, this guide was written to help you to decode SMTP error codes (and other reply codes) and work out exactly what is going on when you are trying to send emails.
When emails are sent from your computer a protocol called SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is used. Typically, SMTP works well, providing a means for people to communicate via email but sometimes, as with most things, problems do arise. Depending on the issue, you might receive an error message or error code identifying the problem. In this article, we wanted to address some of the SMTP error codes you might experience, and exactly what they mean.
First of all it should be noted that every SMTP code is comprised of three digits, for example 451, 500 etc. While some of these codes may indicate an error, not all of them do. Each of the three numbers in an SMTP code has a unique meaning. For instance, the first number tells you if your command was accepted and processed correctly. The values associated with the first digit include:
1: Server accepted the command but no action has been taken yet. A confirmation message is required. Currently, this is not used. 2: Server has completed the task successfully. 3: Server understood the request, but for it to be processed additional information is required. 4: Server was met with a temporary problem. If the command is attempted again without change, it may go through. This is hardly ever used. 5: Server encountered a fatal error, meaning the command/request cannot be processed at all.
The second digit in SMTP error codes provides more information:
0: A syntax error has occurred. 1: Indicates an informational reply, for example in response to a HELP request. 2: Refers to the connection status. 3 and 4 are unspecified. 5: Refers to the status of the mail system as a whole and in particular the mail server.
The third and final digit allows for more precise errors to be given.
The list below shows the reply codes that exist, in numerical order, and can be used as a reference.
- 211 - System status, or system help reply. - 214 - Help message, only valuable to a human reader. - 220 - Service ready. - 221 - Service is closing the transmission channel. - 250 - Requested mail action okay, completed. (This is what we want to see). - 251 - User not found locally, message will be forwarded. - 354 - Start email input and end with .. This is normally sent by the SMTP server after the DATA command has been sent by the client. - 421 - Service not available so transmission channel is being closed (this may be a reply to any command if the service knows it must shut down). - 450 - Requested mail action not taken, which could mean the mailbox is unavailable or busy. - 451 - Requested action has been aborted: local error in processing. - 452 - Requested action not taken due to insufficient storage on the system. - 500 - Syntax error whereby the command given is not recognized. - 501 - Syntax error in parameters or arguments. - 502 - Command has not been implemented. - 503 - Bad sequence of commands. - 504 - Command parameter has not been implemented. - 550 - Requested action not taken due to unavailable mailbox (mailbox not found, no access, etc). - 551 - User is not local. The server then gives a forward address to try. - 552 - Requested email action has been aborted due to storage allocation being exceeded. - 553 - Requested action not taken because the mailbox name is not allowed. - 554 - Transaction failed.
A very common error message encountered when sending emails is "550 relaying mail to user@xyz.com is not allowed" or "550 Mail Relay not allowed". This normally means that your current SMTP server has disallowed you access because you are not currently connected to the Internet through your normal ISP (you might be traveling for example). ISPs do this in order to prevent spammers from hijacking their SMTP servers. A quick and easy solution (and in most cases the only solution) is to use an SMTP server that works from anywhere in the world, such as SMTP2Go at http://smtp2go.com, which has been designed to work from any location.

2007-03-01T03:05:00.000-08:00

Professional Styles And Techniques During Wedding Using Art Digital Photography by Low Jeremy

When photographers are hired to do a wedding, these professionals know what it takes to get the right shot. These people may not always tell the client to strike a pose and shoot but wait patiently to be able to catch that memorable shot.
There are a lot of great shots that can be taken during a wedding. Here are a few basic styles and techniques for those who also want to capture the event using a digital camera.
1. The individual should take these pictures with a good background or in a not so crowded place so the attention will focus on the newly weds or those who are the intended targets in the shot.
2. If there is a nice background in the back and it is hard to get both, the photographer should shoot the couple from shoulder up. Everyone will be happy and pleased when the pictures come out.
3. If some of the guests are wearing classes, these people can be advised to stand sideways or tilt the head down a little to avoid the reflection that usually occurs when the flash is used.
4. The individual should zoom in or out if there are only two or a group of people in the picture. This will also catch everyone in the shot instead of only getting half of person's body when the print comes out. This will be embarrassing so the image has to be reviewed at once and deleted so another one can be taken.
5. Proper lighting must be observed at all times. The person must not shoot the couple or the gusts against the light because only a dark image will appear after the picture has been taken.
6. The photographer should also get some stolen moment shots. This should be done when the husband or wife is doing something else or is not looking. This is the trademark of many professionals that is done during the ceremony or the reception.
People will enjoy shots such as the cutting of the cake, the toast and the first kiss or dance. The pictures taken can't be done again so the individual must be alert and present to get these images on camera.
Photography is truly an art. The person must practice the basics and learn from others to be able to do well in a wedding.

2007-03-01T03:04:00.000-08:00

AMD Debuts PC-to-TV Chipset by George Jugaru

If you like this article go daily for more hot and interesting news here: http://www.xomba.com/xombyte/buggsbunny Advanced Micro Devices introduced the first chipsets Wednesday to include graphics technology from its recently acquired ATI division, allowing the semiconductor maker to add extra features for connecting PCs directly to large-screen TVs and monitors, and get a leg up on rival Intel.
The AMD 690 series chipset unites AMD's central processor unit with the visual technology of the ATI Radeon X1250 graphics processor unit. It's designed to enhance Windows Vista graphics features such as the Aero and Flip 3D interfaces for seeing through menus and selecting windows.
Sunnyvale, California-based AMD has been facing off with traditional rival Intel for increased business as Vista rolls out across consumer and corporate desktops. One of the main features touted for Vista is its media center abilities for connecting to TVs and allowing users to better manage video, photo, and music files.
AMD's $5.4-billion acquisition last July of graphics technology specialist ATI Technologies gives the company extra bragging rights in the graphics space over Intel (see AMD Corrals ATI for $5.4B). Intel and the computer makers who use its chips still must rely on outside companies like Nvidia to give their PCs extra graphics-processing oomph.
The AMD 690 chip includes support for high-definition graphics standards such as HDMI (high definition multimedia interface) as well as HDCP (high-bandwidth digital content protection) to protect against unauthorized copying of content. It also boasts an output to DVI (digital visual interface) for a direct connection to today's modern digital TV sets.
"What stands out is the inclusion of built-in DVI and HDMI," said Shane Rau, a PC chip analyst with the research firm IDC. "This is a strong bow to the consumer market and the prospect of attaching digital video devices directly to the PC without requiring any intermediate silicon or boxes that would translate signals between the PC and a television."
After the stock market slumped on Tuesday, shares of AMD rose $0.12 to $15.20 in recent trading Wednesday, while Intel shares edged up $0.04 to $20.07.
Ready for Home Theaters
The chips are aimed at an emerging market for home theater-oriented computer systems. "This is a growth market," said Dean McCarron, principal analyst at Mercury Research. "One of the things that makes it unique is the video interconnect standards. It would be appealing to someone building high-definition displays."
AMD also has lined up an expanded lineup of motherboard makers to help push its product more directly to customers, including ASUS, Foxconn Technology Group, and Gigabyte United.
"They have taken a step forward because of the breadth of motherboard makers," said Mr. Rau. "Having the support of these motherboard vendors will help them penetrate the channel where motherboards are sold directly to end users and to system builders."
Phil Eisler, corporate vice president and general manager of AMD's chip division, and an 11-year ATI veteran, said system manufacturers will also begin including the chipsets in their PCs in a month or two. But AMD has not yet announced any specific computer makers.
Mr. Eisler sees the chipsets being used for connecting to big-screen TVs in the home and large monitors in the office. The chipsets support high-definition DVDs in both the HD-DVD and Blu-ray formats. They can also work well for casual gaming but are not appropriate for high-performance gaming.
Bringing Graphics on Board
Eventually AMD plans to put the ATI graphics on board with the processors themselves. "It's the first phase on the way to our fusion integration," said Mr. Eisler.
Mr. Rau believes the 690 technology could soon marry up with AMD processors on the same chip. "It's not a technological barrier, it's a marketing barrier," he said. The increased integration could help AMD gain extra market share against rival Intel.
IDC found that in the fourth quarter of 2006, AMD/ATI had 10 percent of the chipset market, putting them in about fourth place behind Intel, Nvidia, and slightly behind Via, a Taiwanese chipset maker. AMD has about 25 percent of the processor market compared to Intel in any given quarter.

2007-03-01T03:02:00.000-08:00

Print Automation for a Correspondence Management System in the Financial Services Sector by Plus Technologies

In this case study, we will explore how a financial services management company automated the printing aspect of their Correspondence Management System to improve the efficiency of the operation and reduce the costs associated with printing and distributing printed communications to their customers.
Company - This Company is one of the world's leading providers of financial services for corporations, institutions and affluent individuals around the world. The specific entity within the company examined in this Case Study is one that provides fund management services for banks and financial companies around the United Kingdom.
Business Problem - The Company's Correspondence Management System (CMS) requires many different types of letters to be printed on many different styles of letterhead stationery. Each bank they provide fund management services for has different letterhead paper and different business rules regarding additional pages of standard and/or variable information that needs to be bundled along with the letters being printed (this can be different by type of letter being printed within a single bank also).
To accomplish their letter printing, the CMS user would place the right number of pages of the appropriate letterhead and continuation sheets into a nearby printer, then print the document from within the CMS to the printer they had chosen. As they print they are hoping that:
Nobody else sends any letters to that printer in the meantime
They have inserted enough of the correct sheets of paper for the document being printed ensuring that the job is complete when printing is finished and the letter can be mailed to the end customer
This process is very labor intensive and time consuming, resulting in low productivity among the users of the CMS system, and is fraught with potential for error.
Key Challenge - The key technical challenge is the fact that the Windows Spooling system has no inherent functionality to determine if a particular form is loaded in a printer tray, which tray that is, and hold print jobs and only release them if and when the correct form is mounted in the printer. An additional challenge involved the low level of productivity of the staff utilizing the CMS because they needed to individually and manually manage their printed output to ensure it was correct before it was mailed to the end customer.
Technical Solution - The first step in implementing a solution to their challenge involved re-locating the CMS printers to a central location. Then they assigned a team of operators in the central printing department to remove the letters from the printers and assume the responsibility of ensuring that any other pre-printed documents or literature required is bundled with the letter before it gets sent in the mail. Additionally, the central printing department now manages the supply of letterhead paper and is in charge of mounting the paper in the appropriate printers as required. Note: There are over twenty different Bank's the company provides its services for, each with their own letterhead, and some with their own type additional paper for multi-page letters.
Because the letter-creating employee no longer physically managed the paper and inserts that were appropriate for the letter, the customer also required the implementation of an Output Management System (based on OM Plus) to provide the overall control of the documents through their central printing department. OM Plus' advanced Print Spooler software capability provides the needed central management and control to separate the creation of the document from the task of printing it on the correct letterhead and bundling it for mailing.
Example of how the Output Management/Advanced Print Spooler solution works
An employee creates a letter for an end customer for "Bank A" via the CMS application and prints the document to a central print queue.
The document is automatically searched and given a name that tells OM Plus: a. Which bank's customer is receiving the letter-Allowing OM Plus to know what form is required b. What type of letter it is c. Which department is submitting it d. How the central print department operators must process it for mailing.
After the job has been searched and re-named the OM Plus Server scheduler system receives it.
OM Plus examines the arriving print jobs and applies business process rules based on what the name of the job tells it (see point 2 above). It does this by reading through a set of rules until it finds a match. The rules examine the title of the incoming document and apply attributes so that the OM Plus scheduler module will release the job to the correct printer tray where the appropriate letterhead is mounted. It also applies a more descriptive title to the print job so that central print operators can manage the jobs using the OM Plus management screen more easily.
This more descriptive title tells the print operators whether to print the job and mail it, or print the job and include standard enclosure documents or marketing materials or print the job and include specific other printed documents with the letter.
The operators monitor the printing via the OM Plus management screen to see what jobs are waiting, whether particular jobs have been printed successfully, and to tell OM Plus when letterhead has been changed.
When OM Plus is told that a certain letterhead is available in one of the printer's trays, it then allows jobs requiring that letterhead to be released.
This OM Plus based output management/advanced Print Spooler solution results in much less reliance on the CMS users to have to manage the printing of their letters on the correct letterhead - leaving them to carry on with their work and improving productivity significantly. The central print management operators now focus on handling the letters being produced for the company.
Utilizing the Central Management screen within OM Plus, the central print operators review held jobs waiting for specific paper and load the paper into an available printer and allow the print to continue. No jobs are printed if OM Plus does not find the appropriate letterhead mounted in one of the central printers (eliminates waste, and removes the risk of sending letters to customers on the letterhead of the wrong bank).
Implementation - On site services including installation, system configuration, testing and user training were delivered by service engineers from our partner in the UK with offsite support provided by Plus Technologies. In this case, the implementation was completed and in production within two weeks of the order. As is the case with many implementations of our products, the customer requirements for handling of the documents and the processes associated with the documents evolved during the implementation. Due to the extremely flexible nature of OM Plus' configurability, our service engineers and partner service engineers were able to address additional document delivery challenges quickly.
Plus Technologies Case Studies - The Plus Technologies case study series includes real examples of how companies use Advanced Spooling Solutions to streamline operations, reduce cost and/or add functionality to existing business processes. For more information on these case studies, contact Plus Technologies.

2007-03-01T03:01:00.002-08:00

Automatically Control Which Documents Are Allowed to Print In Color by Plus Technologies

If output costs so much and interferes with so many crucial business tasks, then why aren't more organizations addressing it? Increasing numbers of firms are waking up to the opportunity, but they are finding it a difficult challenge. Output continues to confound for several reasons:
Most hardcopy costs are hidden - At the majority of organizations, the responsibility for acquiring, deploying and supporting output devices is scattered through the enterprise. No single organization or department has visibility or control. Advanced Print Spooler software permits this level of control over what prints in color.
p>Process impacts and savings opportunities are not fully understood - When it comes to output, how do you get the most bang for your buck? How do you know that you've maximized your investment? What capabilities are really inherent in the technology?
Color Printing Business Problem - A significant hidden cost of color printing involves the printing of a large percentage of an office's documents in color--Many of which do not need to be and should not be printed in color for any reason. The color printers installed in remote branch locations are used for all branch printing. This eliminates the need to purchase multiple devices (one for color documents and one for all non-color documents). However, color documents cost
In order to improve efficiency and consolidate devices, color printers are often installed as a branch office's single printer. Unfortunately, this leads to an abundance of printed business documents coming out in color (and using color supplies) that do not need to be in color.
The native print spooling system in Windows offers no capability to automatically monitor the print jobs and based on the company policy for color printing, let a document print in color or make the document print in black and white at a significant per page cost savings

2007-03-01T03:01:00.001-08:00

Removing records about recent documents is as important as clearing Web-browser history by Sam Miller

Recent documents is a security risk everyone should consider. What are recent files? The list of recently opened files appears in various kind of software products. The list of recently opened files helps us to find recently opened or edited documents quickly. But this is a security problem too. Any one can quickly scan your computer and see what files you was working with.
It's not a problem, if you can guaranty no one else have an access to your computer, but for some reason people concerned about security use file shredders to wipe data, clears regularly browser cookies and cache files, empty recycle bin when there is still enough free space on hard disk.
Any user leaves some traces when working with computer. These traces include recently opened files, the list of visited web-sites, some system logging information, which might be as detailed as what file do user open and when, what device do user access.
As for web-browser, then it's easy to clear traces - just use appropriate option to clear history record and temporary files. But there is an information that is harder to remove, recently opened files is one of the problems.
From intruder viewpoint, the list of recently opened files is a list of most valuable data. Even if most information is located at encrypted drive, it's important to keep in secret the list of recently opened files. Why? Because, there are a number of ways to get appropriate file. If intruder will know about what to search for, then his task would be much easier.
So how to get rid of recently files list. It depends on where the actual program keeps the list of recently accessed files. For instance, it might be some folder where the actual list is represented as files with .lnk extension. In this way Windows keeps recently files, which are visible from Start > Recent documents menu.
Some programs use more comprehensive scheme. For instance, it possible that program will keep file in Windows Registry. In this case you should follow some steps to remove recently opened files. As it is the most common case for keeping recent files list, let's talk about it in details.
First, you should run Windows Registry application. Select Start > Run and type there "regedit" (with ""). Windows will run Registry editor. Now, the task is to find appropriate category in Registry. Use a search function in Registry Editor. Once the appropriate category was found, you should delete the report or make it useless by changing file name. Be careful: Windows registry editor was designed primary for advanced users, so making some mistaken operation (such as deleting wrong key from Registry) might cause a system crash.
Try not to delete keys that you don't feel sure about. Think about making a copy before deleting, this will easy the process of getting back, if necessary.
As a result, using this simple technique it's possible to find and remove a record about recently opened or edited files. I some case, it's really need to hide your traces.
Are there any other obvious way to tell what user was doing at PC? Well, I think there is no more. Just consider removing Browser history and records about some recently open files, this is basic steps to keep your privacy.

2007-03-01T03:00:00.000-08:00

Cheap Ink Alternatives - Will They Work In Your Printer? by Frank Bolsom

When looking to replace your ink cartridge, you no longer need to immediately reach for the "genuine" brand. There are a few options available to consumers now days and they are much less expensive. You can buy a compatible OEM cartridge, a remanufactured cartridge or refill your existing cartridge. It is completely safe to use these cheap ink options, as well as a lot easier on your wallet.
A company other than the one that produced your printer manufactures OEM compatible cartridges. They are made new and to "original manufacturer standards" or "OEM standards", which means they have to meet the same requirements as the innovator brand. They need to have at least the same amount of ink and work the same way in the printer to pass as an OEM cartridge. This type of ink replacement is much cheaper than the genuine original product.
A remanufactured cartridge is one that has been re-filled and checked for re-use. These cartridges are used then sent back to specific companies who prepare them according OEM standards for re-sale. They are sold at a cheaper price than the originals and often have even more ink in them.
You can also purchase ink to refill your cartridge. This is probably the most inexpensive option available to you and it isn't difficult to do. Many people swear by refilling their own ink, claiming the quality and performance of the printer is the same. You can buy ink to refill your own color and black cartridges for very low prices.
All the above three mentioned options are safe to use in your printer and will not void your warranty, no matter what brand your printer is. It used to be that printer manufacturers could cancel warranties if genuine cartridge replacements were not always used, but that has changed now. A law was passed called the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Improvement Act, which prohibits any manufacturer trying to force their customers into having to use their parts exclusively. This includes cartridge replacements, so you can safely choose whichever option you prefer.
Whether you buy an OEM compatible cartridge, a remanufactured cartridge or choose to refill your existing one, you will save money. Buying the genuine cartridge is spending extra mone unnecessarily, when any of the alternatives will work just as well. Your printer will still be covered by warranty and work as efficiently if you choose to use one of these cheaper options.

2007-03-01T02:58:00.000-08:00

Sony Photo Digital Cameras by James Dawson

Sony is one of the best photo digital camera producers and this result is confirmed especially by their clients, who almost never complain regarding the product quality. Sony photo digital camera offer is wide ranging from 2 mega pixel cameras to over 8 mega pixel. In the following lines I will describe some Sony photo digital cameras characteristics with a variable price from several hundred dollars to over a thousand.
Cybershot DSC-T10 is a high performance Sony photo digital camera that is in many ways alike its predecessor the T30. What I like about it is the SteadyShot Optical Image Stabilizer that helps you take a decent shoot even in harsh conditions. Among its features I will point the 7.2 mega pixels, decent optical zoom 3x, Automatic focus and exposure, supports JPEG format, a movie mode with sound and 2.5 inch LCD. This Sony photo digital camera comes with 56 MB internal memory and Li-Ion battery.
Sony Alpha a100 is a true SLR (Single Lens Reflex), and if we are fair it is the first Sony photo digital camera real SLR. Many like to say that the A100 is the successor of the K-M Maxxum. Here are its specifications: an impressive 10 mega pixels, very nice lens Sony Alpha/Minolta A-Type. This Sony photo digital camera has image stabilization; it can switch between auto and manual focus and exposure, ISO 80 - 1600; it supports JPEG and RAW formats and has lithium - ion battery.
CyberShot H5 is a Sony photo digital camera with an awesome 12x optical zoom and 7.2 MP sensors being one of the best offers on the market. It comes with a larger LCD of no more then 3.0 inch LCD which is really nice especially if you want to actually use de 12x optical zoom. Check the specifications: 7.2 mega pixels combined with a 12x optical and 2x digital zoom. The CyberShot H5 Sony photo digital camera has optical image stabilization and can turn from auto to manual focus or exposure, ISO 80 - 1000, it supports JPEG format and has a nice movie mode, 2AA batteries, a 3.0 inch LCD screen and a 32MB internal memory.
CyberShot T50 is one of those Sony photo digital cameras that won't stop selling, because they're good, affordable with a nice and attractive look. The Sony photo digital camera comes in 3 colors silver, black and red. Its sensor has 7.2 mega pixels, the screen is more then enough 3.0 inch LCD, and its optical image stabilization option is a life savior. It has 7.2 mega pixels, 3x optical zoom and a 2x digital zoom, an auto focus and exposure and it supports JPEG format. You can make movie with sound, ISO 80 - 1000, internal memory of 56 MB, Optical Image Stabilization and 3.0 LCD, and the batteries are also good lithium - ion.

2007-02-28T07:31:00.001-08:00

How to Start Video Blogging? by: Kanicen Nichathavan

Videoblogging is the next generation of posting ideas and products over the internet. Everybody knows about textblogging. Now they use videos for a better way of expression. This form of communication may entail a lot of resources, but it is all worth it. If pictures say a thousand words, videoblogging exceeds that by far.

A videoblog requires larger disk spaces on websites, a faster server, and a whole new set of programs to support it. Videoblogs can be fed through RSS. This is technology of syndicating your website to other RSS aggregators.

Videoblogging works with people on the internet expressing their selves. Now if you put this on a business prospective, you are up to a lot of benefits. Think of it as a powerful tool in making showing your prospective customers your line of products or your services. It’s just like showing a commercial all for free. And if you videoblog through RSS, then most probably you are getting your target market.

People like to see what they are going to buy. Some would like to see proof and be sure that they are getting their money’s worth before shelving their dimes on it. All of us know the influence of a thirty second commercial. The effect of videoblogging is similar to that. You show your product, people watch it. If they like it, they buy it. If you present it good enough, they’ll buy the product even if they don’t need it.

Now on the web, things are pretty much static, unlike in television in which all are moving. If you post something that is mobile, it would most likely catch attention. Now imaging your product parading in all it’s royalty through videoblog. You’ll get phone call orders in no time.

If your business is just starting up, you can create a videoblog right at your own home. All you need is your web camera, microphone, video software, and lights. For as long as you know how to use your camera, then you can create a videoblog.

Invest in a good web camera. The higher its resolution is the better the output. And you like to present your goods in the optimum way so get the best one possible. Make a short story, or just capture your goods in one go. Just make sure you are getting the best profile for each. Get those creativity juices flowing.

Lights are important in a production. Make sure you illuminate entirely the area you are going to use to create videoblog. The brighter the area, the crispier the images will be. You can also use lighting effects for added appeal to the presentation.

Should you require sounds for your videoblog, you need a microphone. Record you voice as a voice over for promoting the product and its benefit to consumers. Sounds are as important as videos on a videoblog. It is advisable to make your sound effects as enticing as the video.

Your video editing software can be any program. You need this to finalize your work. You can add sounds, delete some bad angles, or insert some still pictures in there too. Some programs are user-friendly and can be used even with zero knowledge on video editing. Even simple video editing programs should do the trick. Select your background carefully too. The light affects the presentation so make sure that the background and the light complements each other.

Videoblogging is a great tool but it also has it downside. It may slow down the computer so other may steer clear of it. Download time may also be time consuming especially if customer is still on a dial- up connection.

But don’t let those stop you. Let videoblogging be an alternative for you, though it is best to still keep the text and pictures present in your presentation to accommodate all possible viewers of your site.

Nowadays, the more creative you are in presenting your product to the market, they more you are likely to succeed. Videoblogging offers an interactive way of selling. You involve the customers. You instill in them the advantage of your goods. And at times, those are enough to make a sale.

2007-02-28T07:31:00.000-08:00

2007-02-28T01:27:00.000-08:00

How to Use Authentication When Synchronising to a NTP Server by David Evans

Network Time Protocol (NTP) is used to advertise time to network time clients on an IP network. NTP is a UDP based protocol that is used to synchronise system time on network devices. This article describes how to utilise NTP authentication to authenticate a time reference when synchronising network time clients to a NTP server.
NTP Server Authentication
NTP is used to provide an accurate time reference for time critical processes. Therefore, NTP can pose a security risk if malicious users attempt to modify or replicate a timestamp to create a false time on a network device.
NTP authentication is intended to overcome security risks by ensuring that any response received from an NTP server has actually come from the intended reference. The client sends a request for time to a NTP server. The NTP server responds to the client with a timestamp along with one of a number of agreed encrypted keys. On receipt of the timestamp, the client un-encrypts the key and verifies it against a list of trusted keys. The client can then be sure that the received timestamp was indeed transmitted from the intended NTP server. NTP utilises MD5 encryption (Message Digest Encryption 5), which is a 128-bit cryptographic hash function, which outputs a fingerprint of the key. MD5 is a highly secure encryption, widely used on forums and by online communities for authentication purposes.
NTP Keys
NTP keys are codes that are encrypted on both the server and client that are used to identify the NTP server. NTP keys are stored in a file usually called 'ntp.keys'. Each key consists of a key number, an encryption code and the key itself.
E.g. NTP server keys:
1 M secret 5 M SeRvEr 7 M TiMeLy 10 M MYKEY 11 M TroPical 14 M MaGic
The key number acts as a reference to the specified key. The encryption code specifies the type of encryption to be utilised, e.g. 'M' for MD5 encryption. The actual keys must be identical on both the client and the NTP server. The client may utilise a sub-set of the keys specified on the NTP Server. The keys are case sensitive.
E.g. client keys:
5 M SeRvEr 7 M TiMeLy 10 M MYKEY 14 M MaGic
Trusted Keys
Trusted keys are specified in the NTP configuration file, 'ntp.conf'. Trusted keys specify which subset of keys are currently activeand can be used by the NTP server. This allows a sub-set of trusted keys to be selected from a potentially large keys file. Trusted keys are selected using the 'trusted-keys' configuration command.
E.g.
trusted-keys 5 7 14
This specifies that keys with the key references of 5, 7 and 14 are currently trusted and can be used by the NTP installation.
Summary
Essentially, authentication is used by the client to authenticate that the NTP server is who he says he is, and that no rogue server intervenes. The key is encrypted and sent to the client by the server where it is unencrypted and checked against the client keys to ensure a match.

2007-02-28T01:26:00.000-08:00

Mind Your Manners When Using Your Cellular Phone by Mary Lorainne

Cellular phone use has dramatically increased over the years. This could be attributed to the fact that people have realized the advantage of having one as you can basically contact anyone or you can practically be reached on important matters whatever be your location. The mass production of cellular phones has made these devices more affordable for people to buy. The market is filled with a wide variety of models and brands to suit every budget from the high-end units to those that are cheap.
But if we try to observe our surroundings it seems that the people all around us are not practicing proper etiquette when it comes to using their mobile devices. Manners are becoming unacceptable. Where ever we go, several mobile phones always ring and they somehow disturb others. We find cellular phones ringing at funerals, weddings, public performances, during meetings, interviews and even at places of worship where people are sincerely praying. It seems that people are increasingly becoming impolite when it comes to using their cellular phones. What's worse is that some talk in very loud voices enabling other people to overhear their private conversation.
It is time that people learn some manners when it comes to using their mobile devices. When you are at a meeting, dinner, or even class turn your cellular phone off or put it in silent or vibration mode to avoid disrupting what you are attending. Most mobile devices are equipped with caller id and missed calls are registered. You wouldn't have to worry about not being able to return a call after. If it is very important that you take the call, excuse yourself and proceed to a private or isolated location to take it.
Never make calls when inside museums, theaters, libraries, places of worship and when attending performances like stage plays, symphony concerts, etc. Avoid using loud and irritating ring tones so as not to annoy other people. When making calls make your conversation private by speaking in a low tone. I don't think other people would be interested in listening to your affairs. You should be aware of your company's regulations with regards to the use of cellular phones at work. It is important that you do not use your mobile phone when not allowed to so as to avoid being reprimanded.
The increased use in cellular phones should go together with the increased practice of etiquette and good manners towards others in using cell phones.

2007-02-28T01:25:00.000-08:00

Replace your desktop with a laptop by Elizabeth Lord

Gone are the days when a businessperson needed a desktop at work, a desktop at home, and a large, cumbersome laptop for travel. With the steady march of technology come lighter, more portable laptops with higher performance than ever before. Processors are advanced enough on almost any laptop to consider completely doing away with your desktop PC altogether.
For the gamers out there, laptops have always been too slow and too far behind the technological bandwagon to consider replacing your gaming computer with one. Now, however, laptops are being designed with the gamer in mind with faster processors, bigger screens, and high end graphics.
For the student going off to school, a small, lightweight laptop means that you can take your laptop to class with you to take notes as fast as you can type (which is often a lot faster than you can write), and be sure that they will always be legible. Additionally, laptops can have planner features to help you remember when that next assignment is due, and you will never lose your notes or keep them in a disorganized pile. Even if the rest of your life is a little hectic, keeping a laptop as your new PC can help your grades considerably.
If you decide that it is worth the investment to be able to bring your laptop to work and home with you, technology is allowing for easy set-up of your laptop with a docking station that makes time-consuming plugs a thing of the past.
There are so many benefits to consider to using a laptop as your new desktop computer. These include:
1) having your work with you at all times2) creating far more desk and floor space now that your huge tower and monitor are gone3) the ability to work from any location with a wireless network set up
With the only negative aspects being: if you feel the need to have the most modern technology available, you will find it difficult to upgrade many laptops, and laptops are more expensive than a desktop because of the size and convenience.
Laptops for the Businessperson:* Dell Latitude D820* Acer TravelMate 4650* HP Compaq nx9420 (2.16GHz, 1GB RAM)* Apple PowerBook G4 (17-inch)
The Dell laptop is an excellent business portable, and is priced around fifteen hundred dollars. It is one of the highest rated laptops for replacement of a PC, and the reviews call it perfect for the modern businessperson.
The Acer TravelMate is a great value for the price. It has a good battery life and nice processing power with all the features a home-office user will need. The Acer costs around twelve hundred dollars, making it the least expensive laptop on this list.
The third laptop, the HP Compaq, offers corporate caliber security according to the reviews, and has a nicely sized seventeen-inch screen for ease of use for those of us who stare at computer screens all day. This model is a lot more expensive, though, running between two thousand and twenty-two hundred dollars.
Last on our list, the Apple PowerBook delivers the features and power that most users require, but at two thousand dollars is more expensive than comparable Windows laptop. Still, it is a good option for replacing your bulky desktop PC.
Laptops for the Gamer:* Dell XPS M1710* Toshiba Satellite P105-S921* Toshiba Qosmio G25-AV513* HP Pavilion zd8000
Hard core gamers will appreciate the Dell XPS, which will play the newest games at the highest settings. Running at thirty-four hundred dollars, though, this laptop does not come cheap. With all the technology packed into this case, it will at least be a long time before you need an upgrade.
The Toshiba Satellite offers lots of features for an affordable price, but will not play the most intensive games at their highest performance levels. This is still a wonderful machine, and will cost about two thousand dollars.
The Toshiba Qosmio is designed to deliver the most high-quality multimedia experience available in a laptop. The Qosmio combines TV, DVR, stereo, DVD player, and high-performance PC in one big laptop. Replace your entire entertainment system (except maybe the speakers) for anywhere from fourteen hundred to twenty-four hundred. It seems like shopping around for this model might be well in your best interests.
The HP Pavilion's price is a relief at only twelve hundred dollars, is powerful and can play many of the newer games, if not quite the newest according to reviews.
Accessories to Consider
These laptops are all wonderful replacements for the bulky desktop computer sitting in your home office right now. There are just a few more things you need to make your laptop absolutely perfect for your office or game room.
When you go on the road all you need is your laptop and power cable, but when you bring your computer back home, you might feel more comfortable using an external keyboard, mouse, and monitor. The hook-ups for these can be painful if you have to do it frequently, but a docking port takes away the stress by mirroring all the ports, plugs, and slots on your laptop.
The first accessory that everyone should consider is a docking port. Especially wonderful for business users, these ports hook up to your printer, scanner, keyboard, monitor, mouse, network cables, power source, and any other gadgets you need them to. Instead of connecting a dozen or more wires and cables every time you move your laptop, push the laptop into the docking port and one little connection brings you back online with everything you need.
The rest of the accessories suggested here are just options, so we'll be brief. An external mouse, keyboard, and monitor might make you more comfortable at your desk, and a joystick or controller of another sort might be essential to the hardcore gamers.
No matter what you are considering your new laptop for, replacing your space-eating desktop PC is a move that you will never regret. Your new laptop will be portable, powerful, and just more fun because of all the things you can do with it. Save yourself some time and effort and consider replacing your PC with a laptop.

2007-02-28T01:23:00.000-08:00

Unlimited Software Downloads: Data Recovery by mike

Data Recovery
Data Recovery Information
How Secure Are Online Data Backups? Processing DATA is what all businesses do. Protecting data is what SMART businesses do.
Offsite Data Backup Not Just for Fortune 500 Companies Anymore In today's high paced digital world there is a very high value placed on information. Not just the kind of information you read in the newspaper or your favorite trade journals, but the type of information that we generate on a day to day basis with our digital devices.
Online Data Backups for Newbies How long have you been doing business online? Whether you are new or an old timer you need to understand the one important truth of the e-world. That being that the largest threat to business survival is data loss.
Disaster Recovery Made Easy With Online Backups Whenever disaster strikes the most critical asset that every company should have protected from sudden loss due to fire, flooding, or theft is their data. No matter what happens to your hardware you can be sure to be able to be up and running no matter how sudden or how severe your damage or loss is - if you use an online backup system.
Big Time Disaster Recovery Solutions Available for the Little Guy There was a time - not too long ago - that Data Disaster Recovery solutions were available only in the domain of multinational corporations and big business in general. However, with the proliferation of high speed internet access and the ability to store large amounts of data in a much more cost effective manner due to plummeting storage costs, the ability to perform a secure backup of data to a remote location engineered specifically for the purpose of securely storing massive amounts of information is now in the reach of the general public.
Hard Drive Crash? The Essential Data Recovery Report Your worst nightmare just became a horrifying reality. You keep hearing that little voice in your head mockingly shout "you should have backed that stuff up" The voice keeps echoing throughout your head as you perform a quick inventory all of the important information that you just lost?.
Data Recovery - What Not to Do! Data recovery is a tricky thing, and if you've somehow deleted or had your important files corrupted or lost due to human error, business espionage, faulty hardware or software or any other reason; the good news is that your lost data is probably recoverable. This article will show you a few things NOT to do when an event such as this occurs.
Data Recovery - You Can Get It Back! Data recovery is a process whereby you can save data and files you accidentally deleted, had eaten by malicious software or viruses, hardware failures, corporate espionage and many more scenarios. Most people believe that when the hard drive crashes their world ends also, but that's not usually the case.
Data Recovery The Easy Way If you aren't prepared in advance, you will most likely have to use a data recovery service or data recovery software solution to help get back as much as you can of what was lost. This can be a very good idea if there is no other way to recover your files, but it doesn't have to come to that in most cases.

2007-02-28T01:22:00.000-08:00

Worm creeps into computers via USB ports by Btv Raj

Security Experts at MicroWorld Technologies inform that they are witnessing increased incidents of a Worm with Trojan capabilities infecting Enterprise systems and home computers, in the last two weeks.
The Worm 'Win32.Agent.wj' copies itself to the root folder of USB flash Drives, MP3 players or other removable storage devices in the machine. Then the worm moves on to create 'autorun.inf' configuration file which activates the malicious code as soon as the infected drive is plugged into another computer.
Every time an infected computer is started Win32.Agent.wj too is run automatically and a text in Chinese is displayed on the desktop for some time. Internally, the malware conceals itself with the help of Windows "SetFileAttributes" and tries to evade detection.
"Malware writers are continuously searching for new devices and vectors for spreading their nasty creations into as many computers as possible," says Govind Rammurthy, CEO of MicroWorld Technologies. "This one seems to be affecting Enterprises particularly just as one and all have suddenly woken up to the exceptional convenience and easy portability that thumb drives offer. And no wonder it provides an equally easy mode of malware proliferation for Virus writers as well".
The threat of Trojans and Worms targeting USB Drives and other removable devices to advance their cause poses a clear and present threat to the Data Integrity of Enterprises. As the line between the office, home and a hotel room continues to blur for the executive living on the fast track of business, it's very important that he or she employs adequate safeguard against all sorts of malicious programs, Govind Rammurthy adds.
MicroWorld protects organizations and Enterprises against a wide spectrum of security threats with futuristic technologies and advanced products. Powered by the MWL technology, eScan from MicroWorld Technologies provides round the clock protection for Servers and Desktops against Virus, Worm, Trojan, Adware, Spyware, Spam, Phishing and content security issues.
The recently launched MailScan 5 from MicroWorld is the world's most advanced security software for Mail Servers. MailScan blocks malicious programs in emails at the Mail Server level itself while it also uses a revolutionary technology named NILP that works on the principles of Artificial Intelligence to weed out spam and Phishing mails.
MicroWorld
MicroWorld Technologies (www.mwti.net) is the developer of the world's most advanced AntiVirus, Content Security and Firewall software eScan, MailScan, and eConceal. MicroWorld Winsock Layer (MWL) is the revolutionary technology that powers most of MicroWorld products enabling them to achieve several certifications and awards by some of the most prestigious testing bodies, notable among them being Virus Bulletin, Checkmark, TUCOWS, Red Hat Ready and Novell Ready.

2007-02-28T01:21:00.000-08:00

Nude Digital Photography by Low Jeremy

Nudity is an art form even in the time of the Greeks. This can be seen in the various statues that were made which depicted the Gods to the paintings done by sculptors and painters until today. Not everyone is talented in doing this so people who want to excel in this art form will use the camera and bring this out.
Nude photography can be done showing either half or the entire body. This can be done in various poses and locations, which has made people perceive this to be pornography. There are no rules classifying one from the other and this will all depend on the opinion of the viewer.
Anyone can shoot a nude model using a camera. In order to save time, more professionals prefer to use a digital model so that an image can be taken again if the proper lighting was not achieved.
This also allows the specialist to shoot more than a hundred shots in one session without the need to change the film that was done conventionally in the past.
Point and shoot is the only way to get the desired image. First timers who want to get into the business of photography are advised to use digital cameras because the user an adjust the settings to get the right contract and color.
This will make the individual more focused in shooting at different angles instead of worrying how it will look when it is developed.
The key to getting the right nude photograph depends on three things. The first is a good digital camera. There are different brands out there and each of these can help start the artist's career.
The second is the model. This person should be someone who is open and comfortable being nude in front of the camera. Some people have shot the woman with clothes on first before deciding to take it all off.
The location is not that hard to find compared to the first two. This is can be done anywhere such as the beach or the park because natural light can really bring out the skin color of the model.
Nude photography may have some erotic element every time someone sees it. This just proves that sex sells and magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse among others are making a lot of money from it.
Those who want to start a career in nude digital photography should use these three elements and become famous from it.

2007-02-28T01:20:00.002-08:00

Director by John King

The time for Computer Forensic and Cyber Investigations training is now. The simple definition of Computer Forensics, "is the use of specialized techniques for recovery, authentication, and analysis of electronic data when a case involves issues relating to reconstruction of computer usage, examination of residual data, authentication of data by technical analysis or explanation of technical features of data and computer usage. Computer forensics requires specialized expertise that goes beyond normal data collection and preservation techniques available to end-users or system support personnel. Computer forensics is done in a fashion that adheres to the standards of evidence that are admissible in a court of law. Thus, computer forensics must be techno-legal in nature rather than purely technical. Our intensive instructor led course is designed to give a solid foundation in the theory and practice of essential computer forensic techniques. High-profile cases of corporate malfeasance and increased attention paid to cyber crime and cyber terrorism have elevated electronic evidence discovery to an indispensable component of any organization's security plan. The demand for computer forensics investigators is HOT.Several labor forecasts predict a shortfall of nearly 50,000 within the IS security profession, too. The time for Computer Forensic and Cyber Investigations training is now. With advanced skills, Computer Forensics professionals are among the technology industry's highest-paid workers, according to a recent survey by the System Administration Networking and Security Institute. Who Should Attend Anyone involved in the security of Information Assets including: Information Security Officers, Information Security Managers, Computer Crime Investigators, IT Auditors, Consultants, Systems and Network Administrators, Law Enforcement Investigators, lawyers, HR Managers, and others interested in information security are welcome. Prerequisites: Students must ideally have some work experience in any of the following three areas: Computer and software support, Computer networking or Information security
Courses we offer: Introduction to Computer Forensics - 4 days
How to Create Images and Forensic Imaging Methodologies - 2 days Email Investigations - 2 days
Server Investigations - UNIX, Windows, Linux - 2 days
Advanced Forensics (Network Based Investigations) - 4 days
Hacking Countermeasures - Certified Ethical Hacking (CEH) - 5 days Why Choose KCI for Computer Forensic Training? * Our courses emphasize technique and methodology, regardless of the software package used. * Recovering Data from a "Live System" * Real World Training Environment * The training environments are interactive * Work on case files in a hands-on environment. * Learn the Latest Techniques * Experienced Investigators Teach The Courses * Small Class Size * Vendor Neutral - Learn To Use Many Forensic Tools
The information learned in class will have an immediate impact upon return to work.
Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be prepared to obtain certification in the Computer Forensics field.

2007-02-28T01:20:00.001-08:00

What To Do If Your Mobile Phone Is Stolen by Armughan Riaz

Loosing a mobile phone is not an uncommon thing for anyone in this world. You must have heard that your friend or any other person forget his or her phone in a hotel, car, garden, park. and when he or she goes to pick up phone, mobile phone was not there where he or she left it. Now what to do if your mobile phone is stolen.
In many countries like Uk, there is mobile phone database, which can prevent lost or stolen mobile phones from being used on any mobile network, thus these stolen mobile phones are worthless to anyone. This system exactly works like a stolen credit card, whenever you loose your credit card, you simply make a phone call to your requisite bank to deactivate your credit card. Similar is the case with mobile phones, you call your service provider and give them a specific number to deactivate your stolen mobile phone. This system applies to both prepay and postpaid packages.
Every mobile in this world has a unique code called as International mobile equipment identity (IMEI Number). This is a unique serial number of every mobile phone. If you provide this serial number to your network operator, they will deactivate your stolen mobile phone. No one can use your mobile phone even if the person who has stolen your mobile, insert new sim in the mobile. This mobile will be useless for all networks or service providers. All mobile network operators will deactivate or disable the phone by reference to the unique IMEI nomber of the mobile phone.
Now question is how to get this IMEI number? This number can normally be found under the battery of mobile phone (looking something like 004400/01/123456/7). You can also get this number from the phone software, by entering following usefull code. Simply write down on your mobile phone following code.* # 0 6 #
A 15 digit code will appear on the screen after pressing send button, or in some phones it comes automatically just by writing * # 0 6 #. So whenever you buy a mobile phone, get this code from the battery or simply write above code on your phone and get IMEI number.
After this record this 15 digit IMEI number and your phone number on your personal note book, place this book at a safe place and thats it. Now suppose if you lost your phone, make a call to your service provider and give them your phone number and this particular key,i.e IMEI number. They will deactivate your stolen mobile phone. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones
Remember your mobile phone is very valuable for you. You may have very important data stored in it. So take care of your mobile phones. Don't use your mobile in crowded areas or where you might feel unsafe. Govenment is trying to encourage mobile phone companies to give more options for improving mobile phone security.
So remember this simple code * # 0 6 #. Tell all your friends and colleagues to get IMEI number with the help of this code. If all of us simply follow this tip of making mobile secure, believe me no one will try to steal anyone's mobile phone.
Send these beautiful mobile phone smsFunny sms, Love sms, Friendship sms, Birthday sms for mobile to your friends and colleagues.

2007-02-28T01:19:00.000-08:00

Protect Your Computer Data by Daniel Millions

Computer data can be very important to us, especially those of us who make a living on the computer. Over the last several years, the computer has grown on all of us, making our lives so much easier. For that very reason, it's easy to tell that if we lost our computer data, it would completely destroy a majority of us.
Losing data can be an overwhelming thought to say the least. Computers store data, although machines have been known to fail. Even though the computer has become a lot more reliable over the years, it is virtually impossible to prevent computers from losing data.
You don't need to take this lying down through, as you can indeed fight back. The ideal way to ensure that you never lose your precious data, is to back it up and keep backing it up. You should back up your computer data at least once a week, with once per day being the recommended way to do it.
In the past, and even some today, the floppy disc is the main method used to back up computer data. Even though they store a small amount of data, they are easy to access, easy to use, and nearly every computer has one.
Those of you who are looking to take things to the next level should look into backing up your entire hard drive. Backing up your entire hard drive is something that everyone should do, as it is indeed one of the best and most reliable ways to backup your computer.
When you create a backup of your entire hard drive, it will copy all of your information, so if something happens you'll always have your data. Doing a full backup of your hard drive is great, although it can be very time consuming. To make matters worse, it is recommended that you create a backup at least once a week. On the other hand, if what you have on your computer is very important, you'll find it more than worth the effort and time needed to back things up.
Another way you can back up your data, programs, and files, is to burn them directly to a data CD or DVD. This way, you can select which files or folders you want to keep. If you use CD/RW or DVD/RW disks, you can continue to add information to them when you create a backup. If you don't use the RW (re-writable) media, then you won't be able to go back and add more information to the disc.
Burning data directly to discs are the method of backup that most people are using these days, although backing up the entire hard drive is the preferred way of backing up your data. If you plan to use discs, you'll need either a CD or DVD burner, which you can get for a great price these days. The discs are cheap as well, which only makes this method of backing things up that much better.
Whether it's for your business or for personal reasons, you can't go wrong backing up your data. You should always strive to back things up properly, as this will ensure that the data will always be there when you need it. This way, if you computer happens to crash or you lose everything on your hard drive, you'll always have your backup files to go back to. This in itself can save you a lot of time, effort, and quite possibly even money - just for the simple fact that the files are all but a copy away to restore.

2007-02-28T01:18:00.000-08:00

Password Entropy and Length Correlations by Gary Hammock

Passwords are one of the oldest and most readily available methods of securing computers, data, and other information deemed sensitive. They are also one of the most sought after pieces of information by malicious crackers and other nefarious individuals. Passwords are a double-edged sword for those seeking to secure information--the data must be secure enough from unauthorized access, yet easily accessible for legitimate users.
Complicated passwords requiring a wide character set are a pain for users, yet simple passwords with long string lengths aren't entirely good enough. The best passwords are those that make good use of both string length and password entropy. Password entropy is the amount of variation of characters in the password. Think of a fair coin. One side of the coin is labeled "heads" while the other side of the coin is labeled "tails". On any given flip of the single coin, it is equally likely to have one of the two outcomes. This implies the coin flip situation has one bit of entropy.
Entropy is calculated as
h = L log2 W,
where W is defined as the character set width and L is defined as the password string length. By the nature of logarithms, the limit as W approaches infinity is equal to infinity. This means that a larger character set will give the password more entropy. Since for most uses and applications, passwords are bounded by a subset of the 256 extended ASCII set, namely the 94 printable characters of the standard ASCII set. Using W = 94 this gives an entropy of (6.555)L bits. This means that a password that contains the characters A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and the 32 "special" characters and punctuation will have an entropy of (6.555)L bits. Conversely a password that only uses 62 characters (namely those members of the set A-Z, a-z, and 0-9) will have an entropy of (5.954)L bits. This is a decrease of approximately ten percent. It is left to the reader to weigh the increased 10% entropy against the increased complexity seen by the user (i.e. is it worth the cost of increased password resets).
Keep in mind that these calculations assume no single byte is repeated. For example, the password, "password7" chosen from a set of the aforementioned 62 character set has an entropy, h, of 54 bits. If it is known by an attacker that there are two repeated characters in the password, the entropy is reduced to h = 48 bits. If it is known that the password only uses lowercase letters and the values 0-9, and that there are two repeated characters, the entropy, h = 42 bits.
Now assume that the password "{1seCRet}" is used with the larger, 94 character set. This password has an entropy, h = 59 bits. If it is known that there are two repeated characters, the entropy is reduced to 53 bits.
This shows that password strength is dependent upon implementation. Now compare the entropy and relative strength of the password, "MyLittleSEcReT40" from the 62 character set to the entropy and relative strength of the password, "7a*G4$Nb" from the 94 character set. (Many IT departments require passwords to have two uppercase letters, two lowercase letters, two numbers, and two "special" characters.) The password, "MyLittleSEcReT40" has an entropy h = 72 bits. The password, "7a*G4$Nb" has an entropy of 53 bits. In this example, the smaller character set has a larger password entropy than the larger set due to the length of the password (even with character repetition). For most people, "MyLittleSEcReT40" would be much easier to remember than "7a*G4$Nb" without the use of a mnemonic.
In summary, comparing the password string length to a constant entropy value. For instance,
(6.555)L94 = (5.954)L62yieldsL62 / L94 = 1.1
This means that for two passwords (one from each of the two character sets) to have the same entropy, the password from the 62 character set must have approximately 10% more non-repetitive characters. This means that a 9-unique-character password from the 62 character set has the same entropy as an 8-unique-character password from the 94 character set. It is left to the reader to determine password entropy versus password complexity as it applies to specific purposes. One primary factor in determining acceptable password entropy requirements is cost. It is prudent to determine which is greater, increased information technology support cost (for password resets), or the cost of leaking proprietary/confidential/personal data through improper password management.

2007-02-27T06:39:00.000-08:00

Digital Cameras: More Than Just A Camera by Robert Coram

So you're ready to buy a digital camera? You've been leafing through the brochures and looking at all the models. Maybe you've been standing in front of a few shop windows and looking at the rows of glistening bodies ready for you to purchase and start making your own collection of superb digital photographs. You've probably been on the web, too, surfing around the websites of the various electronics and pure camera retailers. Now you just have to make your choice.
The first thing to remember as you sail into my-first-digital-camera land is that digital cameras are now cheaper than they have ever been. You can buy a model now for a reasonable price that just a few years ago would have cost a small fortune. You can have practically all the features you want and still not break the bank or come home with a wilted credit card.
The second thing to remember is that the beauty of digital means that the camera is not taken when the shutter button is pressed. What does that mean? Obviously, with a digital camera, you can retake the photo easily, and without having to waste roll upon roll of film.
But the really great thing about digital photography is the stuff you can do once the photo has been taken. Take that digital photograph and put it onto your computer, and then with a bit of software you can often transform a mediocre (or sometimes really bad) photograph into a winner, or at least into something passable. Photograph too dark? Lighten it easily. Photo too bright? Darken it easily! And change the contrast. Not to mention cropping the photograph in a million ways.
This is the real benefit of digital photography. Almost any photograph can be salvaged. And sometimes turned into something that you can really be proud of with just a little work!
Have fun shooting!

2007-02-27T06:38:00.000-08:00

Podcast Audio Recording Tips by Sharon Housley

Before you begin podcasting develop a plan and a format for your show. Determine the focus of your podcast and what types of guests you would like to interview. Time spent planning your show will contribute to it's success.
Location, Location, Location When you are producing a podcast on a regular basis it is important that you select an appropriate location for the recording to take place. The location should be free of external distractions and relatively quiet. It is easiest if you use the same location each time, that way the equipment can remain in place and will not require moving or setup each time you produce a show.
The room should have a carpet or furniture that will absorb echoes and dampen the sound. The room should also have a door, so that you will not have unexpected interruptions. Reduce extraneous noise by turning off fans or any equipment. Consider hanging a note on the door, so that you will not be disturbed while recording.
Recording Away from Home When taking your podcast on the road it is equally important that the quality of the podcast is not compromised for the sake of portability. Consider using a directional microphone or finding a quiet alcove for interviews when on the road.
Equipment Make every effort to minimize background noise, at the very least use software that will allow you to edit out extraneous noises that occur while recording.
While Recording Before you begin recording sample different volumes and microphone distances and determine what levels result in the best recordings. To save time, do a test recording and listen to it prior to every show, this will help you catch anything that was inadvertedly unplugged. Spending a little more money on your microphone goes a long way.
Permissions and Contracts The legalities surrounding audio recording are a bit muddled. Regardless of what the legalities are in your region, it is best that you request permission prior to recording anyone!
When requesting an interview with a specific individual, be sure to tell them the topic of the show and give them an idea what types of questions to expect. Let them know how long the interview is planned for and the format of the show. Let prospective interviews know whether the broadcast will be edited or will the interview be broadcast live. It is always a good idea to provide interviewees a link to previous interviews. If the interviewee will require any specific equipment or software, provide them ample notice and do a test run to ensure that everything is working properly.
Interviews A little preparation goes a long way; if you have an interview scheduled, be sure to adequately prepare. Make sure that you can accurately pronounce the interviewers proper name, and ask them prior to the interview how they would like to be addressed. Research the interviewee and come up with a list of questions. In some cases it might be appropriate to provide the interviewee the list of questions prior to the interview, this will not only help them prepare but help them relax and prepare for their on-air debut. If you prefer not to tip your hand in providing the questions prior to the interview, then be sure that you have an idea of what their reaction and responses will be. Follow up questions should based on the interviewee's reactions to your queries. While broadcasting, use your research notes as talking points to direct the conversation. When you guest is talking let them explain their point of view; don't interrupt them unless there is a point to clarify.
Biographies of show guests should be included in the show notes or on the shows websites. Request the interviewee send a photo to be included along with the biography. After the show is published be sure to thank the interviewee and provide them a link to the finished interview along with instructions on how they can listen to the show.
Have Fun Use voice inflections to add emotion and passion to your comments and questions. Use music between segments not only does theme music create a brand and audio identity, it also helps transition one segment to another. Intro and outros can soften a podcast and give it a little extra polish. Introduce your podcast at the beginning and end of the show. Remind listeners who and what they are listening too. This is your opportunity to establish your audio brand. And finally have fun, listeners will be able to tell if your podcast is a labor of love or a painful rendition, keep your spirits up and your mood light!

2007-02-27T06:37:00.000-08:00

What Is DRM? by John Roberts

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management, or as some people call it, Digital Restrictions Management. Put simply, DRM consists of various restrictions applied in music or video files, so their use (such as playback) can be controlled by a third party, usually the company holding the copyright for a song or movie. DRM is not just a copyright protection technique but a whole set of technologies that aim to implement the DRM strategy each distributor of digital content specifies. As an example, DRM can verify that the user that bought an audio file is actually the same user playing the file. DRM technology can also be used to limit the number of PCs a file can be played on. The major disadvantage of DRM is that these restrictions are not always clear when a user buys a digital product.
Which Multimedia Formats Support DRM?
If you're expecting to see MP3 in this list, guess again. Due to it's open nature, the MP3 standard is unable to support DRM. Furthermore, there is no centralized coordination in the development and evolution of the MP3 format so don't expect digital music stores to offer songs in the MP3 format.
Advanced Audio Coding: The AAC format, used by iTunes and iPod, is based on Apple's QuickTime. It was originally designed as a replacement of the MP3, and can actually compress files better than the MP3 format can.
Windows Media Audio: WMA is a closed-source standard of digital music. It was designed to compete with the MP3 but in reality, it's actually AAC's main competitor, especially with regards to DRM support and buying music online. The latest version of WMA offers similar quality to that of AAC and better than that of MP3 files. This means that much smaller files can have CD quality. WMA is based on the ADvanced System Format (ASF) which can integrate different streams of audio and video as long as they belong to the Windows Media family.
RealNetworks & Sony: Both of these companies offer music download services. Real mostly uses the AAC format with the Helix DRM system, while Sony uses the OpenMG DRM system on ATRAC3 files. It is expected that Sony will support other music formats in the future.
Limitations of iTunes and iPod
Finally, here are certain things that you should know about iTunes DRM:
1. Music you buy from iTunes can only be played on an iPod. 2. Files from iTunes can be played on an unlimited number of iPods. 3. iTunes allows you to download each song you buy only once and of course, you're not allowed to re-sell that song. 4. An iPod can also store and play non-DRM music files. 5. Any certified .m4p files can only be copied/played on 5 authorized computers. 6. Music you buy from iTunes can be copied to a CD without any DRM limitations. 7. A playlist consisting of songs you bought from iTunes can only be turned into a CD 7 times (you can make 7 CD copies of the list). 8. You are not allowed to convert a song to a different music format.

2007-02-27T06:35:00.000-08:00

Windows Hosting Versus Linux Hosting - Which Is Right For You? by Neoone

There are literally hundreds of thousands of netting hosting companies out there. Many of these companies adduce both Windows hosting and Linux hosting plans. Windows plans usually equivalent supplementary since of the license costs imposed by Microsoft. Knowing this, how can you discern when you ravenousness Windows hosting and when Linux hosting entrust hoopla applicable as well or better? Keep reading to find out.
Windows operating systems are begin on relevant fancy 95% of all inherent computers in the world. With agnate a maraud dominance, Microsoft Windows is blessing of certainty to markedly deeper people looking for web hosting.
In the netting server creation though, Windows based servers are dilatory less than 20% of all websites on the internet. This is according to the late lacework server analyze from http://securityspace.com. By choosing a Linux hosting plan, you leave pride yourself in opportune company.
When finish you have to blessing Windows Hosting?
1. .NET technologies including http://ASP.net are not available on Linux platforms. If you have a website built with Microsoft .NET technologies you entrust have to round up a Windows hosting plan. In fact, if you itch ASP without .NET features, powerfully Linux hosting plans bring about not advance sustain for it.
2. Access Databases are unitary available with a Windows hosting plan. Access runs on a Microsoft Windows meaning and cannot beat on a Linux Operating system.
3. MSSQL is an vitality shapeliness database root out by Microsoft. If you avidity an commotion loveliness database trained are some alternatives that circuit on a Linux trick but if you rapaciousness Microsoft's MSSQL database, a Windows hosting plan will have to be your choice.
4. If you are using Microsoft's Sharepoint services relish some of the Sharepoint disposition activate in Frontpage 2003, a Windows Hosting going is your alone choice.
What is the headway to selection Linux Hosting?
All the leading services you motive to migration an movement comeliness website are available on Linux based systems for free. Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP are over used deep to protect the infrastructure unpunctual some of the strikingly traffic intensive sites on the internet.
PHP runs larger on a Linux server than on a Windows server. Having said that, unless you are putting a trying deadweight on your PHP scripts, this consign not be noticable.
In general, Linux hosting plans are at anterior 20% cheaper than Windows hosting plans. If you don't craze measure of the one's thing mentioned above, Linux hosting is a shapely superior for your needs.
For Microsoft peculiar technologies, Windows hosting plans are usually your finest bet. For everthing else, Linux hosting plans leave usually sign exorbitantly well. With the appraisal capital usually mount with Linux hosting plans, Linux hosting is usually the right more useful for you.
This fantasy was written by Joe Duchesne, baton of http://www.yowling.com/, a lattice hosting mission that offers Linux Hosting plans. Copyright 2004 Yowling. Reprint Freely as big league as you safeguard a clickable bracket traject to my website from this resource box.

2007-02-26T19:34:00.002-08:00

Windows Vista, A Killer OS by Budi Febrianto

Windows Vista, A Killer OS
Yup, I mean in. Windows Vista, A killer OS (Operating system). It really will kills (you).
You can see windows Vista requirements at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista
/editions/systemrequirements.mspx
You see know, why I says Windows Vista: A Killer OS. It will kill your budget and wallet. If you have any plan to use one, you can say good bye to your old computer. Simple upgrading the memory simply not enough, this beast will require new processor and new graphic card too.
The rules is simple. If you wan to use it, buy a brand new computer with the latest hardware and huge amount of memory. Event the home basic edition require minimum of 512MB of memory, that just for the OS! If you need to run applications like MS Outlook 2007, that you need at least 1GB of memory. That minimum configuration. The 'Wow' starts now - that's True!.
These are just a few words about vista that I got from mailing list that I join. These people mostly computer consultant with years of expertise. I think I listens for what they says.
* I'm running Outlook 2007 on a dual Xeon 3.06Ghz (not HT either) with 4G of RAM and it still drags.
* I just tried Vista with the latest MS Office. It ran quite well. Of course, you have to have a system with the nuts to handle it. This was on a Dell with an Intel dual-core (3.8 Ghz I believe) system. Tons of memory. I would never use it on an outdated single core system with 512memory.
* I find Outlook 2007 to be MUCH slower than 2003. I'm am not impressedby Vista or Office 2007 so far.
* Yeah, and what will be the requirement in the next version on windows, a supercomputer, and that's just for basics :P
* Quad processor, 4 GB ram, 2GB will be used upon successful bootup. In order to have the cool graphics as MacOS XII, you will need an SLI-2x4 4 - GPU video card that costs twice as much as the motherboard and processor chip.
* I used Vista for a week on a laptop that was purchased within the last six months and branded as "Vista Ready!" It ran like crap, the driver support for the touchpad was abysmal, and it lived in virtual memory. I'll run XP until I can't anymore. After that, FreeBSD on the desktop is looking more and more attractive.
* I don't object to Microsoft taking advantage of the power of newer machines, but I do find it rather annoying in the case of Vista that the *requirements* for the OS are so high. I've seen nothing in Vista that justifies using so much machine for just the OS. I do need to run a Vista box so that I can be familiar with the thing when my clients call with questions about it.
* Currently I'm running Vista Ultimate on a Core 2 Extreme X6800 with 2G of very nice RAM and an X1950XTX graphics card. I have a very fast array of 3G SATA drives, and Vista does look pretty and it's quite snappy. But... The same box feels faster with XP SP2.
Sure they are also some good words about Microsoft Vista, but hey... I'm not gonna quote them. :)
I'm not yet running Windows Vista, but for the prices of the OS and the price for the new hardware, I think I never will.
I'm not prepare to buy a new computer, and I think many people are like me, have a tight budget. I think I will stick with my old notebook powered by Pentium III 733 Mhz with 512 MB, running dual boot nicely with Windows XP Home edition and with Open Suse 10.1.

2007-02-26T19:34:00.001-08:00

Finding Free Antivirus Software by Michelle Bery

The advent of the computer, as anyone can tell you, certainly brought with it benefits of such proportions we could never have previously imagined them. But, as with anything, the good always comes with the bad. The computer, while handing us the world, has also exposed us to the dangers of it. Part of the danger, exclusive to the operation of computers, is exposure to viruses that can wipe out our hard drives, render our software unusable, and in some cases, completely eradicate normal function of our computers. For most of us, who store personal, professional, and even legal information on our computers, virus exposure can be devastating. Luckily, most people employ the use of antivirus software that protects our computers from attack; much like hiring a bodyguard. And while some software can come at a hefty price, there is free antivirus software available on the market today.
Free antivirus software can protect your computer without you having to pay a large price for software purchase or download. This free antivirus software should protect your computer from all forms of viruses and prevent the entry of anything that will damage your internal and external systems.
Keep in mind however, that free antivirus software still comes at a price. And the price is being unsure as to the quality and effectiveness of the software. Reputable computer and software manufacturers all offer their own variety of antivirus software available for purchase. And because of their standing in the industry - and the fact that you are paying for the software - the quality of the product is assured. Manufacturers of this sort have a vested interest in standing behind their products and designing software that will effectively protect and serve their customers.
Those companies - mostly found on the Internet - that offer free antivirus software do so at risk to the consumer. If getting free antivirus software makes the most sense for your financial position right now, then do so with consideration to the reputation and reliability of the company.
Free antivirus software will provide you with a minimum of protection in the short run; but when you are able, you should invest in proper and thorough antivirus protection.

2007-02-26T19:33:00.000-08:00

Registry Smart: The Importance of an Error-Free PC by Chris Wight

I work at an interactive marketing agency in the Boston area. For those of you who don't know, working at an agency means long hours and late nights. Being a bit of a techie guy, I have a pretty advanced setup at home, at least to the point that I'm still running Windows and not Linux, but that's another story. So I spend a lot of nights working from home on projects for my Fortune 1000 clients, and that means tight deadlines and a lot of money on the table. It also means that I depend on my computer, a lot, so it needs to be running in tip-top shape.
I didn't always take such good care of my computer, however. One particular evening, I was working on a project and the unthinkable happened. It was late, very late, and had spent the better part of an evening at my computer. I was getting ready to call it a night and decided to take one last look at my presentation. When I went to open it, however, I received an error window and my computer shut off. Upon restarting, I got another error and the computer turned off again, before it even finished booting windows! Now I had a problem on my hands. Several hours of work on a presentation were being held hostage on my computer, and this was due in the morning. It took a couple hours of tinkering before I could copy the file to another location and retrieve it there, but thankfully I got it.
The next day, when I had some time to address the cause of the error instead of just frantically trying to rescue data, I managed to get windows to finishing loading. After that, however, I was lost. I had o idea what was causing the error or how to fix it. I really didn't want to reinstall windows or buy a new computer, so I started doing some research online. It was then that I learned about registry cleaners. Registry cleaners scan your Windows registry for invalid entries that inevitably happen over time. These invalid entries cause many of the problems that most people have with their computers. Whether it's running slow, giving you error messages or shutting down suddenly, all this can usually be fixed by repairing your Windows registry.
I've now invested in a registry cleaner, called Registry Smart, which I use on a regular basis to keep my computer running smoothly. I no longer have any computer trouble, which gives me the peace of mind to focus on what's really important, my clients!

2007-02-26T19:32:00.000-08:00

Why Do Computer Users Need Backup by Makabongwe Maseko

First what's the meaning of backup? Back up is the name given to diskettes, or disks that can store copies of programs and then stored elsewhere.
Even with the best of care, any disk can suddenly fail for reasons you can't understand. Many computer users have found themselves unable to retrieve data from disks that worked perfectly the day before, because some defect has damaged a single track or small sector. Hard disks do crash. Any personal computer system can be hit by power overloads, water or misconducts.
Thus, users and big or small companies should always think about backup. The best protection if you're writing, designing, researching something is to make two copies of your data. One copy may be on your hard disk, certainly, but duplicates should be on tape, disks or removable hard disks cartridges, recordable CD-ROMs or flash drives.
If you are backing up less than 10MB, you can use diskettes since that is the most they can take, if you are backing up more than 10MB, then a tape, disks or flash drives can be more efficient. If you work with files daily, then you would be most secure if you backed up all your files every day. If you work with files only occasionally, you need to determine how often backup is needed. And remember to keep the backup media in a different place. If your computer system and your backup disks are in the some structure and the place burns down, your backup is obviously worthless. So consider moving them to a different place or location.
Some microcomputer software programs provide automatic backup. One program would be with Colorado scheduler. What you do is you insert your disk in the disk drive and with a single mouse click on the Colorado scheduler icon, the computer takes care of the backup.
Almost all large computer systems have scheduled automatic backup of either full backup or only those files that have changed since the last backup session.
You should note that some storage media's last longer than others. We have seen tapes deteriorate day by day. And will eventually deteriarate in the next 5 years. But this also depends on how it's stored. Hard disks cartridges have shelf life of about 10 years, according to most hard disks manufactures. You can get MO drives but they are more expensive yet also more durable.
The life span of a CD-ROM disk is almost unlimited. Thus you need to archive your backup material before deciding on a storage medium.
Now, be sure to have a timed backup strategy. By this, if you add and change data every day, set your backup software (if you have one) to back up those files every night. And you could keep two storage cartridges: a working one and one stored in safe place. Then exchange the cartridges on weekly bases.
Backing up your information and research has to be a must in your life. If you have not lost any work due to computer crushes, disk damage, or viruses then you better backup you data before it happens. Don't wait for it to happen to you.

2007-02-25T06:12:00.000-08:00

Windows Vista Top 10 Tips and TricksBy Zoran Petrovic

1. Power button default action
The default action for the Power button on the start menu in Windows Vista is Sleep, which isn’t necessarily useful for everybody. You can configure this setting easily by using the advanced power settings panel, which is a little tricky to get to normally, but we’ll take the shortcut. Open a command prompt (type cmd into the start menu search bar), and then type in the following: powercfg.cpl,1. You could also take the long route (Control Panel Power Options Change Plan Settings Change Advanced Power Settings) Once you get to this dialog, browse down as shown to “Power buttons and lid”
From here, you can change the options:
Power button action - Changes the hardware power button action
Start menu power button - Changes the power button on the Start Menu You can change the power button to either Sleep, Hibernate or Shut Down, or even nothing for the hardware power button.
2. Hide Desktop Icon Text on Windows Vista
Some icons are just obvious enough that nobody should need text below them to tell them what the icon is for. A good example of this is the icon for Internet Explorer. We’re all really used to it by now, and the text just makes it ugly. Just right-click on the shortcut, and choose Rename. Now hold down the Alt key and type in 255 on the keypad to the right of the keyboard. You can’t use the number keys right above the keyboard, they won’t work. If you have a laptop, you can turn on numlock and then use the little number keys next to the regular letters. (You know you always wondered what they were for)
For the first shortcut on the desktop, a simple Alt+255 will do. For the next shortcut, you’ll have to enter the combination twice (Alt+255, Alt+255). For the third, 3 times… you get the idea. The way this works is that the Alt+255 character is blank, so the shortcut filename is actually just named with a character that is completely blank. Since you can’t have two shortcuts or files named the exact same thing, the second shortcut will have to be named with two blank characters.
Now we have a sweet looking icon on the desktop, with no bothersome text beneath it. If you use this tip to rename a folder, you will not be able to rename the folder back using the right-click rename. I’m not sure why this is. What you’ll have to do is open a command prompt and change directory into the containing folder (For instance, the desktop folder), and run this command: ren “Alt+255” “NewFolderName” You will need to actually type the Alt+255 characters where illustrated in the command. It will appear as a space. Note that the Recycle Bin icon won’t work this way.
3. Enable Hidden BootScreen in Windows Vista
The Windows Vista BootScreen is pointless, but Microsoft decided to hide a more visually appealing boot screen that can easily be enabled with very little trouble. I’m not sure why they didn’t make the boot screen better.
1) Press Win+R, type msconfig and press Enter.
2) If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on Continue.
3) In the "System Configuration" window, click on the Boot tab.
4) Select your Windows Vista installation and under "Boot options", check "No GUI boot". Press OK.
5) In the dialog that appears, check "Don’t show this message again", and then click on Restart.
6) Your computer will now reboot, and you will see the Aurora boot screen with text that says "Starting Windows Vista".
Note: You may get a Windows Defender error on the next startup. You can enable the system config utility using the tray icon and this error will go away.
4. Fix for COM Surrogate Has Stopped Working Error in Vista
If you’ve been getting the error COM Surrogate has stopped working whenever you browse folders containing Divx avi files, it looks like the latest Divx update to codec version 6.5 fixes the issue, but it also seems to remove the thumbnails. If you want to upgrade, just use the divx update checker to grab the new version. Looks like it’s finally fixed, at least the error message is now gone, although I really wish they would have just gotten the thumbnails working instead.
If you are using Nero, you will need to update to version 7.7.5.1 to fix the problem. I think this is the source of the error for most people.
If you’ve upgraded Nero and Divx and still have the problem, you can try renaming the file C:Program FilesCommon FilesAheadDSFilterNeVideo.ax to NeVideo.ax.bak This will break Nero Showtime, however.
5. Stop an Application from Running at Startup in Windows Vista
Back in the old days, there were a lot of places an application could hook itself to run at startup. You had to check the registry in more than one place, as well as your start menu. With Windows Vista, there’s a built-in panel that handles all that for you. To quickly get to this panel, you can open Control Panel, and then type “startup” into the search box. The link for “Stop a program from running at startup” shows up immediately. You could have also opened Windows Defender and fooled around with the menus until you find the right spot, but this seems quicker to me. Now you can see the Windows Defender screen that lets you manage the startup programs. You can choose to Remove or just Disable any startup item using this panel, as well as lots of other useful information so that you can see what each item is.
6. Emptying Windows Vista Temp Files Directory
Windows Vista Disk Cleanup wizard is really not all that bad, but I did find a small problem with it… It doesn’t fully empty your temp folder. It only allows you to delete temporary files that haven’t been modified in a week. If you’ve recently done a lot of editing or something that generates large temporary files, you may want to manually clean up. Just type in %TEMP% into the start menu search box, and hit enter. You’ll immediate be taken to the temporary files folder, where you can delete whatever you feel like.
7. Disable User Account Control(UAC) For Administrators Only
If you can’t stand the User Account Control prompts, but you’d still like to retain a little bit of security, you can disable it for Administrator accounts only. What we’ll be doing is actually changing Windows Vista to automatically elevate the privilege level for administrators without prompting. The nice thing about doing it this way is that regular users as well as Internet Explorer still run as regular users, and would still use the normal security mechanisms. To configure this setting on Windows Vista Business and Ultimate, you can use the Local Security Policy configuration.
Just type in secpol.msc into the Start menu search box and hit enter.
Now browse down to Local Policies Security Options
Find the following in the list: “User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode” and double-click on it.
Change the setting to “Elevate without prompting”. You should be all done. This is an easier method that you can use to do the same thing from the GUI interface.
Open up Control Panel, and type in user account into the search box.
You’ll see the link for “Turn User Account Control (UAC) on or off”. Click it.
Uncheck the box, and reboot your computer. You should be done with obnoxious prompts!
8. Using Windows Vista System Restore
Windows Vista has a feature called System Restore that automatically backs up registry and system files whenever you install new software or drivers. This feature is useful when you install evil software that makes your computer run really slow. But don’t worry, System Restore won’t remove Windows Vista.
Using System Restore in Windows Vista
There are two places that you can use the system restore feature from. From within Windows, you can just type restore into the Start menu search box, and you’ll immediately see System Restore at the top of the start menu, or you can type rstrui into the search box and hit enter. Your choice. You will immediate see a screen where you can choose to roll back the system to the last restore point. You can select “Recommended restore”, and just click next, or you can choose a different restore point. If you do choose a different restore point, you will see a list of restore points that you can choose from. Click one of them, and you will have to confirm and then restart your computer to roll the system back. If your system won’t boot If you can’t even get into windows, you can boot off the installation dvd, and choose the “Repair your computer” option on the lower left hand side. Click next on the next screen. Now choose System Restore from the System Recovery dialog. It will take a few seconds to come up, and you will see the same screen that you would see in Windows. Click next, and on the next screen select the drive that your copy of Windows Vista is installed on. Click Finish, and Vista will roll back to the previous restore point. Really pretty simple stuff. I absolutely recommend keeping the system restore feature on in Vista !
9. Verify the Integrity of Windows Vista System Files Windows Vista includes a utility that will scan your system for corrupt, changed or missing system files. Running this from the command prompt is much easier than booting off the dvd into repair mode. To run this utility, you will need to open a command prompt in administrator mode. You can do that by right clicking the Command Prompt in the list and choose "Run as Administrator" Once you have an administrator command prompt open, you can run the utility by using the following syntax: SFC [/SCANNOW] [/VERIFYONLY] [/SCANFILE=] [/VERIFYFILE=] [/OFFWINDIR= /OFFBOOTDIR=] The most useful command is just to scan immediately, which will scan and attempt to repair any files that are changed or corrupted. You can run that command with this command: sfc /scannow
10. Disable Hibernation & delete the Hibernation file
Windows places a file on your hard drive that it uses when your computer goes into hibernation mode. If you do not use hibernation mode, or your computer does not properly support it, you may want to disable hibernation and clear the file off your hard drive to free up some space (the file will use as much space as you have in physical memory, so if you have 1GB of RAM, it’s going to use 1GB of your hard drive space).
Disable Hibernation: 1. Click Start, All Programs, and then right click on "Command Prompt". 2. From the context menu click on "Run as administrator". 3. If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on Continue. 4. In the command prompt window, type "powercfg –h off" (without the quotes). 5. Close the Command Prompt window.
Delete the Hibernation File: 1. Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then click "Disk Cleanup". 2. If prompted to choose a drive, select the drive in which Windows Vista is installed on to and press OK. 3. Disk Cleanup will scan the hard drive and present you with a list of options. 4. Check "Hibernation File Cleaner", and then click OK. 5. When asked "Are you sure you want to permanently delete these files?" click on the Delete Files button .

2007-02-25T06:09:00.000-08:00

Do You Keep Windows XP or Upgrade to Windows Vista? by Don Cundiff

History of Vista
Windows Vista is one of the biggest software projects ever taken on by Microsoft. They first started work on it in May of 2001, before the release of Windows XP, under the codename "Longhorn". Originally, it was expected to ship towards the end of 2003 as a minor release between Windows XP and the next version of Windows (codenamed "Blackcomb"). At that time, it was integrating many new features and technologies of "Blackcomb", causing its release to be shelved.
After many delays and concerns, Microsoft announced in August 2004, that development of "Longhorn" was basically starting over and will only re-incorporate the features that would be intended for an actual operating system release. Eventually in July 2005, "Longhorn" was renamed Vista and beta testing began in September. On February 22, 2006, Windows Vista was considered feature-complete.
Most of the work left to be done prior to the final release in January 2007, focused on stability, performance, application and driver compatibility, and documentation. In the meantime, Windows XP which was initially released in 2002 is now pushing five years old and is used by over 75% of the Windows operating system market according to Gartner. Making the switch to Vista is a major concern for Microsoft.
Windows Vista Editions
Windows Vista comes packaged in five different editions, three for home users, and two for business. The home editions include Home Basic, Home Premium, and Ultimate. The business editions are Business and Enterprise.
Home Basic edition is the least expensive (suggested retail price of $199, USD), and it really should not be categorized as an upgrade from Windows XP. It lacks most of the new features of Vista, such as Windows Aero glass effects (Flip, Flip 3D, taskbar thumbnail views), Media Center, Tablet PC, Meeting Space, no capability to perform scheduled backups, and more. Essentially, Home Basic is not much of an improvement over Windows XP.
Home Premium edition balances features with price. It has all the features of Home Basic, Windows Aero, Advanced Mobility Center and Tablet PC support, Windows Meeting Space, Media Center and HDTV support, and DVD authoring software. The suggested retail price is $239 (USD).
Ultimate edition includes all the features from both Home Premium and Business editions with a suggested retail price of $399 (USD).
Business edition includes a lot of things such as IIS Web Server, faxing, network projection, and all the features of Home Premium except Media Center. The suggested retail price is $299 (USD).
The Enterprise edition is designed for major corporations and is not included in this article.
Windows Vista, internally known at Microsoft as Windows version 6.0 has been five years in development. With over 50 million lines of code, and approximately 10 GB's in size, it is by far the largest Windows operating system ever. This is primarily due to the "Ultimate Edition", which contains all available components and features, including complete versions of both Tablet PC and Media Center.
The Features in a Nutshell
When it comes to new or improved features, Vista is packed with 100's of them. For this article, I have not listed individual features, but major categories of them.
Security - Improved from Windows XP, the firewall provides outgoing as well as incoming filtering along with Network Access Protection that helps prevent unauthorized computers from connecting to a user's internal network. Also, Windows Service Hardening monitors critical Windows services for abnormal activity, while User Account Control (UAC) focuses on alerting the computer administrator for permission before running programs and tasks. However, even with all these enhancements, security will best be proven by the test of time.
Performance - Vista System Performance Assessment benchmark tests CPU, RAM, Graphics acceleration (2D and 3D) and disk access for optimum performance. There is also SuperFetch that tracks frequently used programs and preloads them, ReadyBoost that lets you use flash memory on a high-speed USB drive, and ReadyDrive that supports hybrid hard drives with built-in flash-memory caches.
Media Center - Now Media Center is integrated within the Home Premium and Ultimate editions instead of a separate OS edition as in Windows XP.
Windows Aero - Stands for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and Open. It's the graphical user interface for Windows Vista that provides modern 3D graphics accelerators for such features as translucent "glass" window frames, live thumbnails, animations and live previews of documents and windows
Windows Instant Search - It allows users to perform instant search functions for applications, documents, favorite links, and e-mails from almost every screen in Windows. You can also create virtual search folders to call up old searches.
Backup and Restore Center - Users can now schedule periodic file backups automatically. The Complete Backup feature backups the entire computer as an image allowing users to automatically recreate machine setup onto a new computer.
Windows Photo Gallery - Using Gallery view users can add titles, ratings, captions, and custom data tags to photos allowing them to organize large amounts of their digital photos into a collection.
Windows Mobility Center- It has a control panel that centralizes information related to mobile computing. Users can adjust brightness, sound, battery level / power scheme selection, wireless network, screen orientation, presentation settings, and more.
Networking - Users can now interact with network devices in their PC and on their network. There are many new built-in tools to help diagnose network problems, view computers and devices, connect to various types of networks, diagnose internet connections, set up connections or networks, add devices to networks, and more.
Parental Controls - Parents can restrict access to applications and Web sites, limit the hours kids can log in, and create utilization logs.
DirectX 10 - DirectX 10 is only available on Windows Vista and with claims that games can perform six times better than the same game running in DirectX 9 on Windows XP. Currently, there are almost no games available to test this feature.
Internet Explorer 7 - Big improvement over Internet Explorer 6, although it still far behind Firefox 2. It does have tabbed browsing, many new security features, and it scales down printed output better. However, is still does not support in-page searches. These are just a few of the many new features available. More information about Windows Vista or Windows XP can be found at Home-Computer-Maintenance.com
Hardware Requirements
In keeping with Microsoft's long standing reputation, when a new operating system is introduced, it will also require an additional hardware upgrade.
If you purchased a new PC within the last two years, it probably has a Vista logo on it that states either "Designed for Windows XP, Windows Vista Capable", or "Certified For Windows Vista". These computers have been built to run Windows Vista.
A "Windows Vista Capable" PC is able to utilize the core features of Vista such as new desktop search, security, and networking. It requires the following minimum hardware:
800 MHZ, 32 bit processor
512 MB of system memory
A graphics processor that is DirectX 9 capable
20 GB hard Drive (15 GB free)
CD-ROM Drive
A "Certified For Windows Vista" PC (Vista Premium Ready) is needed to utilize the many extra features of Vista such as Windows Aero and full media center support. It requires the following minimum hardware:
1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
1 GB of system memory
DirectX 9 graphics support with WDDM driver, minimum 128 MB of graphics memory, Pixel Shader 2.0 and 32 bits per pixel
40 GB hard drive (15 GB free)
DVD-ROM Drive
Audio output capability
Internet access capability
Beware though, a PC carrying the Vista Premium Ready logo might not come with all the necessary hardware to support specific features such as a TV tuner card, so you would not be able to use the HDTV feature of Media Center. Be sure to compare and check what's supplied with the PC before buying.
Conclusion / Recommendations
The following conclusions are intended for the typical home user or small business owner environments and are solely the opinion of the author. First off, before continuing, much of the new software that is part of Vista can be downloaded and run on a Windows XP machine free: Internet Explorer 7, Windows Media Player 11, advanced search utilities, Google's Sidebar, Yahoo Widgets, etc.
Windows Vista is a great operating system even taking into consideration that many of the features have been copied from existing Mozilla, MAC, and Linux technologies. Security has been beefed up substantially and one can now monitor the network and system performance like real world computing should be. Parents now have a method of setting controls for what their children can and cannot do or view. With Windows Photo Gallery, HDTV, and Media Center, home users have all their entertainment issues finally addressed.
However, the overall price tag including software and hardware is pretty hefty. To get all these features, the average user will have to spend $239 for the Premium edition or $399 for the Ultimate edition, plus the cost for the new hardware that will support features like Windows Aero and HDTV. Even if they purchase an OEM system from a mass market retailer, there are still the compatibility issues from existing software that you may want to reinstall from your current home computer.
As far as doing an upgrade from Windows XP or doing a clean install, I whole-heartily suggest the clean install. Upgrades have always seen problems for Windows, from functionality to compatibility issues. The Vista clean install procedure has been refined to a point that very little user intervention is needed.
My recommendation would be to wait at least 6-12 months and let the bugs get worked out first. Windows XP has spent five years taking care of and fixing problems, has industry wide support, and is a solid, well designed and highly functional operating system. According to Microsoft's life cycle policy, support for Windows XP will be available for several years to come. There is even a service pack 3 that will be coming out later this year.

2007-02-23T21:33:00.000-08:00

Ink Cartridges, Toner Cartridges: Never Run Out Of Office Supplies by Andrew James

Have you ever been working on a really important presentation only to learn that your ink, toner, paper supply or other crucial office supplies are all used up? It happens to everyone that works from a home office and many people who work in small businesses every single day. And, there are times that it can make the difference between landing a contract and missing out on an important job.
So, how do you avoid running out of ink, toner or other important supplies at crucial times? Well, the answer is not the same for small business or home-based business as it is for large corporations. Large corporations purchase in bulk at wholesale prices and then build warehouses if necessary to hold the important supplies. You, however, probably only have a small closet or credenza to store your office supplies not in immediate use.
So, how can you as a small business owner manage to never run out of ink, toner, specialty paper, brochure stock and other critical items? It is really easy if you put a simple plan in place. Only the very smallest operation purchase paper one ream at the time. You probably purchase one case of paper stock so that you can save money. When you stack that paper stock into your credenza or storage closet, place one ream flat on the bottom and on top of that ream stick a brightly colored post-it type note on top of the ream that says in big black letters BUY MORE PAPER NOW. Now, here's the secret of including the word paper in your note. When you reach the ream above the one with the note, you simply pull the note off the unopened bottom ream and use it as a shopping list.
The same process goes for ink, toner, and any other office supply product that you purchase two or three or even a dozen at a time but you never want to run out of that item. The result is that, when you pick up the next-to-last inventory item of ink, toner, or other supply, you pull the note from the last one and use it as a reminder to buy the item now rather than waiting until the last item is in use.
Once you have reach the point of pulling a note from one item, before going shopping or sending someone from the staff to shop for supplies, review the quantity of other items on hand. If you are one ink or toner cartridge away from reaching the last one, it can be more efficient to go ahead and purchase additional ink, toner, or other supplies now rather than making multiple trips to shop. After all, time is money and you don't want to waste either.
When stocking items when you have not pulled the last item from the shelf to use, be sure to stock the oldest items in front rather than adding newer items to the front of the shelf. This will ensure that your stock is rotated properly and ink, toner, and other items with defined shelf-life will not go out of date. Just remember to place your handy sticker on the last one to remind you to buy more before you actually reach the end of your supply.
It's a simple system, but it will ensure that you never, ever run out of ink, toner, paper or other important office supplies at the moment you really need them to get the job done.

2007-02-22T20:34:00.000-08:00

The iPod Convenience by Tommy Thompson

A New Compact Way To Listen To Music
The small and smart iPod music technology is here and it is busy changing the way people listen to tunes. The first mobile device to listen to music came out in the 1980's when people were seen walking the streets with big boxes beside the ear on the shoulder. Though not very good to look at, these boxes were nevertheless very popular. The iPod has evolved from this big box and not only is it small and convenient, but it is cute as well. It has already become hugely popular. This gadget, working much like a computer is able to store songs by the thousands when they are downloaded from the computer. The storage capacity is enormous so there is no need for the CD's and cassettes.
Carry The iPod Music Everywhere You Go
Mobility is a major advantage of iPod music technology. Just make a unique installation to your car stereo and you can listen to the iPod music as you drive too. Or you can carry it to your gym and listen to your music while you are working out. An abundance of music can be stored on the iPod so that it can give a much needed lift to the listener when exercising rigorously and to keep one focused and energetic. Planning to go on a holiday or a business trip? Carry your iPod music with you and listen to your music while you travel in flight or in a car. When you are traveling in a group and listening to the radio not all will like the music that is played. But with your music on your iPod and a pair of headphones, you can listen to exactly what you prefer, and not disturb the anyone else.
With the iPod, there is no need to buy compact discs anymore. And anyways, if you are a music lover you may end up spending too much in CD's, and they also get damaged from scratches. Alternatively, just visit a few websites online and at a minor cost for each song, download all the iPod music you need. Or you can also get a few CD's and download the songs into your computer and transfer them to your iPod. A product of cutting edge technology, and the sound system of the speakers in iPod headphones can be superior. The price of the iPod music is going to vary though depending on where you download. It is very convenient, and will not hamper your activity. Perfect for the music lover on the go.

2007-02-22T20:33:00.000-08:00

Search engine optimization helps in creating a brand name by Steve Waganer

Success and failure of a particular business depends upon the kind of publicity done. This is true in the case of online and other businesses also. There are different methods that can be used for the promotion of any goods or services, but the key lies in identifying the one method which will be able to put your business to the top without too much of an effort. Advertising on the web is the most widely undertaken promotional methods about any product or service. The news about the existence of your business must reach out to a large number of audiences and only then will you be able to attract customers to do business with you.
The method of promotion on the web is known as SEO or search engine optimization. Search engine is not just one method, but is in fact a combination of different methods for promotion. Online business owners undertake Search engine optimization so that their sites can rank high in all of the major search engines. Ranking high in all popular and major search engines is one of the surest means to attracting huge traffics to your online site. Search engine optimization, if done in the proper manner, is sure to give immense benefits to your business.
It said that only a professional knows what work he has to do and it is not at all different in the case of search engine optimization also. If you are an online business owner, you will do wonders to your business if you hand over the search engine optimization work to a professional firm. Evaluating the existing competition in the market and finding out the methods that has been used for optimization is a good way of going about doing things related to search engine optimization.
This is your business and you have worked really hard to put this up. So do not just sit back and relax once you hand over the search engine optimization work to a firm that has trained professional. You must keep a constant track of the work which is being done and see if this is bringing results for your business or not. You are best judge to know if your business is benefiting from the search engine marketing strategy or not. If the strategy is not working out for you, sit and talk to the professional and try to find out what is wrong. It may be that the strategies adopted for search engine optimization may not be suitable to your business.
Remember each business is different and so the strategies adopted must also be different. The strategy which has proved to be a huge success for your friend's business may not at all be suitable for you. So what you must do is hire professionals who really know their very well, not someone how just has fancy degree and is not capable of doing anything of substance. The idea is to make a wise choice from the huge number of professionals who are working in the field of search engine optimization. Search engine optimization is in fact the most innovative means to do promotion about anything.

2007-02-22T20:32:00.000-08:00

Why Pocket PC? by Doug Smith

The Pocket PC is a very versatile mobile device because it can not only be used for work, but also for play. The platform it runs on supports a broad range of multimedia capabilities. The Pocket PC also boasts more overall multimedia capacity, so the games made for the Pocket PC tend to be more graphically advanced than those on the Palm.
Another reason why people like the Pocket PC is because of how small and mobile it is. All of these features it offers, some you won't find in a Palm Pilot, are compacted down into a sleek, light weight device. One of the nicest benefits the Pocket PC offers its users is the ability to seamlessly browse the web. It's simple and enjoyable on a Pocket PC.
There's a lot of new programs coming out for the Pocket PC that really make the device shine. The future of applications for the Pocket PC looks bright. Expect applications that cover mobile surveillance, enhanced voice recognition applications that will enable your Pocket PC to talk (perhaps in other languages as well), PocketTV - watch television on your Pocket PC, PocketBible, and more. The list goes on and on, this is one truly versatile mobile device.
The Pocket PC also caters to many different types of professionals nicely. For example, if you have a career in the health care industry, you'll find handy software tools useful like medical encyclopedias, contact and time management tools, and more
You won't have any trouble finding extra software for your Pocket PC, either. Many of the recently released Pocket PC applications are available for download from the Internet, or at your local mobile entertainment store.
I strongly believe that the Pocket PC is the most revolutionary mobile computing device developed to-date. It's a businessman's dream, because you can easily run your business from any locale you like. Find many compatible applications to make your job easier or browse the web for access to easy information at your convenience. For reasons like these, I highly recommend the Pocket PC for any situation.

2007-02-22T20:31:00.000-08:00

Print Files,Images and Documents to Any PrinterWorldwide for Free with PrinterAnywhere's New Service by Efraim Gershom

New software and technology from PrinterAnywhere Inc. enables any user with an Internet connection to connect to any printer worldwide. Users are able to share their printer or connect to another printer, without standard networking equipment, by downloading and installing the free software at www.PrinterAnywhere.com
Mission, KS, July 19, 2006 --(PR.COM)-- PrinterAnywhere Inc. recently launched a new service and technology allowing users worldwide to share printer resources for free. Users of the service only need an active Internet connection and the free software available for download at www.PrinterAnywhere.com. This printer sharing technology was developed to serve as a solution in situations where fax machines aren't available, email is an unacceptable solution because of privacy issues, and even to serve as a simple solution to often complicated printer sharing on home networks.
PrinterAnywhere.com allows two users from anywhere in the world to connect to each other's printers to share files or important documents that aren't suitable for other available transfer methods. The service is entirely free for users to either send files to a printer, or to receive a file from someone to be printed by their equipment. Both users simply need to be connected to the Internet during the data exchange (not necessarily at the same time), and each user needs to install the PrinterAnywhere software, which can be downloaded for free from www.PrinterAnywhere.com.
It isn't uncommon for business professionals to use printer services with copy/ print shops such as Kinkos. PrinterAnywhere allows them to send the printouts exactly where they're needed without having to visit a store. Everything can be done from an Internet connection. There are several situations where the PrinterAnywhere service would be beneficial including:
1. There is no fax machine available or working for either the sender or receiver of the document.
2. There are multiple computers in a home or business that need to share one printer, and typical networking equipment isn't working properly or is too difficult to set up.
3. Documents need to be transferred which are confidential in nature, and sending them via email poses a risk of the files being forwarded to unwanted parties.
4. A student's printer may stop functioning when they need to print an important paper or report, and they need to access another printer immediately through a friend.
5. Documents can't be properly transferred via email, because the two users have different and incompatible versions of software for reading the document.
6. The PrinterAnywhere service allows users to print documents and files from wireless hotspots such as Starbucks and Panera Restaurants, where printers may not be available.
This new technology freely available from PrinterAnywhere Inc. provides a new document transfer and printing option to business professionals, students, and home users equally. Anyone with an Internet connection can easily download the free PrinterAnywhere software, and immediately share their printer or print files to any available printer in the world.
For additional information on the PrinterAnywhere service or technology, contact Efraim Gershom at (913) 312-1370 or visit www.PrinterAnywhere.com.

2007-02-22T20:29:00.000-08:00

Step By Step Tips On What A Bank May Want From You If You Want To Borrow Money For Your Business by Makabongwe Maseko

If you need to borrow money, your bank manager and your professional advisers need to understand how you see your business developing. They can then assess the viability of your plans and forecasts and give you advice and practical help. But, first, what does the bank expect from you?
Broadly speaking before meeting your bank manager, you should be asking yourself some key questions:
(a) What type of business do you intend to start - and is it likely to succeed? (b) Do you have the personalities needed? (c) Will you need money to establish or expand your business? (d) Do you need the bank to lend it to you? (e) If so, how much? (f) And when? (g) How will you pay it back? (h) Do you have any security you could offer the bank?
Your bank manager will expect you to know the answers to these questions on the outset.
Your bank manager will base the decision on whether or not to lend money to your business on his/her assessment of your business plan. Ultimately, the decision has to be a financial one. But if you present your plan on the back of an envelope it may indicate that you have a non business like attitude, which is unlikely to impress your potential customers.
Therefore, try to prepare your business plan in a clear, professional way. Consider typing it, or having it typed, and do not overcrowd the page. Ensure that your headings are clear and that all the figures used add up correctly. Clarity and simplicity are the key words. If your business plan is confusing, it is unlikely to convince your bank manager.
Your manager will also want to assess your personal qualities and your reliability, your capacity to stay in business and fulfill the promise of your business plan. You need to think carefully about these important questions, as your ability to answer them will determine the manager's response to your approach.
Other considerations
Once you have made your business plan, checking every aspect of your business and deciding whether or not you need help with the finance, you need to consider some other areas, two of which are insurance and taxation.
It is important that you understand the implications of both of these from the beginning, as failure to do so could result in serious repercussions for your business later on.
Insurance
It is very important that you take adequate insurance to protect your business' future. This should include protection against:
(a) The cost of replacing stock and equipment that is lost, stolen or damaged. (b) To cover your premises against fire, floods etc. (c) Damages for injury to an employee, customer or third party whilst on your premises. (d) Any special risks that apply to your type of business. (e) Loss of life. (What happens to your family in the event of your death)?
Without the right type of insurance the survival of your business could be threatened.
Taxation
It is very important to you to make sure that you pay no more tax than you are obliged to pay, although you are of course obliged to provide accurate tax returns. Poor record keeping and lack of the right advice can lead to pay excess tax.
An unexpected tax bill can kill a small business, so you must be able to anticipate your tax liabilities.

2007-02-22T20:08:00.000-08:00

Advantages of List Cleaning Software by David Leivesley

Maintaining information databases is no longer an optional activity done by businesses but an integral requisite for effective business operations. Managing and maintaining all sorts of lists is also an important part of this exercise. Most of the organizations have to do this on a regular basis as the lists have to be constantly upgraded to maintain the current status of the lists. List Cleaning software simplifies this job that requires lots of time and resources if done manually. An efficient list cleaning software helps to maintain the accuracy as well as usability of the lists. The software also removes duplicate entries and erroneous data present in the list. This efficient list cleansing helps in maintaining the quality of the database and thus offers a reliable platform for other processes and procedures. The market is flooded with data deduplication and list cleaner software but WinPure is different. WinPure provides some amazing data deduplication as well as list cleaning software. The software simplifies the process of list cleaning and cleans lists & databases and removes inaccurate entries and duplicate data. WinPure offers two list cleaning software- List Cleaner Pro and List Cleaner Lite. Advantages of List Cleaning Software The software offers an interesting array of advantages that include the following: * It helps to increase the accuracy of your data . * It improves the quality of the data by removing duplicate entries. * It can clean files of different types of formats such as Access, Excel, Text files generated from CRM or outlook systems. * Helps to reduce costs specially postage costs by deleting duplicate addresses from the marketing database. * Reinforces and builds company credibility by standardizing names and addresses with accurate information. * It is easy to use. * It is affordable. WinPure List Cleaner Pro WinPure List Cleaner Pro is award winning software that provides data cleansing as well as list cleaning services to you. It helps to sort out all types of lists that include contact lists, marketing lists, and mailing lists along with other types of databases. The software has around 8 easy-to-use modules. These modules help the software to maintain any type of list easily and accurately. The latest version of WinPure ListCleaner Pro has the ability to import two different lists and match the two lists. WinPure List Cleaner Lite WinPure List Cleaner Lite, a list cleaning software that offers dedupe and data cleansing services. It helps to ascertain that the sales/marketing lists, contact lists, mailing lists etc. are duly maintained. The 6 easy-to-use modules in List Cleaner Lite help in efficient maintenance of the lists. If you wish to learn more about these list cleaners visit the site www.winpure.com and get relevant details about the effective & affordable list clean up software.

2007-02-22T20:05:00.000-08:00

Dedicated Server Hosting. Is it time for the next step for your site? by Martin Pavion

First, let's briefly explain the notion of web hosting. The more experienced readers that are interested in only the dedicated server hosting section of this article can skip this part!
There certainly are people out there that don't know what web hosting is really about. So, first the basics. Web hosting, or web hosting services as it is also called, is a type of Internet hosting service that provides space and other facilities for websites. Every website needs to store its information, images, video, sounds and so on, in other words all its content, to a place that the World Wide Web (the www. that we type in our browsers) can access. The web hosts provide space, Internet connectivity and other facilities for their clients, on servers that they own.
Now that the general idea of web hosting is explained, lets proceed to explain what dedicated server hosting is.
Dedicated servers are mainly used, because using shared web-hosting services has its limitations. The kind of people using dedicated servers are usually sites with a large number of visitors or companies that want to have full control of every aspect of their servers and also need to store a lot of information in large databases.
So, dedicated server hosting is a type of web site hosting where the client doesn't share the server with anyone else. It leases, from the provider, the whole server for itself. This type of hosting is more reliable and more flexible than the shared hosting, because you have full control over the server. This means that you can make your own decisions regarding which operating system to use, whether it will be a dedicated Linux server or a dedicated Windows server, what hardware configuration you will use, and so on. The hosting company can usually provide the administration or management of the server.
Depending on how much money you want to spend, you can choose the type of services and connectivity that you desire. The prices range from 50-100$ to thousands per month, depending on different options and services that the web hosting companies provide. The budget providers will surely be cheaper but they generally use a single upstream provider. If this fails your server will go down too. At the other end of the market, there are the high quality providers who definitely charge more but, use multiple quality uplinks, assuring that in the event one of them goes down your server will still work fine. The high quality hosts usually have improved routes to their locations also.
As previously mentioned, most of the dedicated server hosts provide administrative maintenance of the operating system for their clients. The management can include upgrades, security patches and updates, adding or deleting users and domains, and special programming requirements. Before making the decision to go for a dedicated server package for your company, you have to bear in mind that it still has limitations, unfortunately. Some of the dedicated server providers do not allow IRC (Internet Relay Chat IRC is a form of real-time Internet chat). This could be because they are afraid of DoS (denial-of-service) attacks against the provider that may lead to overwhelming their network and thus resulting in a poor quality for all their customers. So if this is important to your business, best to ask a specific question.
So, now that you are a little better informed about dedicated server hosting the only question left unanswered is "Do you need it for your site?"
If you just want to host a personal homepage, then clearly you don't require one. But if, for example, you have large mailing database then you will run into restrictions on sending mail from a shared server, and a dedicated server may be a suitable option. Those of you contemplating a large network of multiple sites could also thank yourself for choosing that route. Of course our friends in the adult community would find it very difficult to maintain a site with the kind of traffic that these sites generate. A dedicated server is the only option here. As the traffic to your site increases pay close attention to the amount of failed requests for pages (in the stats section of your control panel) this is an early sign that the shared server you are currently on is reaching capacity.
Shared servers are not a cheap option, but they allow unparalleled control over your online business and the added flexibility could be the spark that your company needs.