SYSTEM HELP

New Windows “Embedded” Visual Style for Windows XP

2008-10-13T02:17:00.001-07:00

Description:
Here is a new windows Embedded visual style for your windows xp.
Sit back and enjoy!!!

Installation Info:
From Windows Embedded Standard CTP Refresh.
No need to patch your uxtheme.dll, since this is an official visual style from Microsoft.
Just copy the Embedded folder & Embedded.theme to %systemroot%\resources\themes. The original wallpaper is also included.

10 reasons why PCs crash U must Know

2008-10-13T01:55:00.001-07:00

10 reasons why PCs crash U must Know

Fatal error: the system has become unstable or is busy," it says. "Enter to return to Windows or press Control-Alt-Delete to restart your computer. If you do this you will lose any unsaved information in all open applications."

You have just been struck by the Blue Screen of Death. Anyone who uses Mcft Windows will be familiar with this. What can you do? More importantly, how can you prevent it happening?

1 Hardware conflict

The number one reason why Windows crashes is hardware conflict. Each hardware device communicates to other devices through an interrupt request channel (IRQ). These are supposed to be unique for each device.

For example, a printer usually connects internally on IRQ 7. The keyboard usually uses IRQ 1 and the floppy disk drive IRQ 6. Each device will try to hog a single IRQ for itself.

If there are a lot of devices, or if they are not installed properly, two of them may end up sharing the same IRQ number. When the user tries to use both devices at the same time, a crash can happen. The way to check if your computer has a hardware conflict is through the following route:

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager.

Often if a device has a problem a yellow '!' appears next to its description in the Device Manager. Highlight Computer (in the Device Manager) and press Properties to see the IRQ numbers used by your computer. If the IRQ number appears twice, two devices may be using it.

Sometimes a device might share an IRQ with something described as 'IRQ holder for PCI steering'. This can be ignored. The best way to fix this problem is to remove the problem device and reinstall it.

Sometimes you may have to find more recent drivers on the internet to make the device function properly. A good resource is www.driverguide.com. If the device is a soundcard, or a modem, it can often be fixed by moving it to a different slot on the motherboard (be careful about opening your computer, as you may void the warranty).

When working inside a computer you should switch it off, unplug the mains lead and touch an unpainted metal surface to discharge any static electricity.

To be fair to Mcft, the problem with IRQ numbers is not of its making. It is a legacy problem going back to the first PC designs using the IBM 8086 chip. Initially there were only eight IRQs. Today there are 16 IRQs in a PC. It is easy to run out of them. There are plans to increase the number of IRQs in future designs.

2 Bad Ram

Ram (random-access memory) problems might bring on the blue screen of death with a message saying Fatal Exception Error. A fatal error indicates a serious hardware problem. Sometimes it may mean a part is damaged and will need replacing.

But a fatal error caused by Ram might be caused by a mismatch of chips. For example, mixing 70-nanosecond (70ns) Ram with 60ns Ram will usually force the computer to run all the Ram at the slower speed. This will often crash the machine if the Ram is overworked.

One way around this problem is to enter the BIOS settings and increase the wait state of the Ram. This can make it more stable. Another way to troubleshoot a suspected Ram problem is to rearrange the Ram chips on the motherboard, or take some of them out. Then try to repeat the circumstances that caused the crash. When handling Ram try not to touch the gold connections, as they can be easily damaged.

Parity error messages also refer to Ram. Modern Ram chips are either parity (ECC) or non parity (non-ECC). It is best not to mix the two types, as this can be a cause of trouble.

EMM386 error messages refer to memory problems but may not be connected to bad Ram. This may be due to free memory problems often linked to old Dos-based programmes.

3 BIOS settings

Every motherboard is supplied with a range of chipset settings that are decided in the factory. A common way to access these settings is to press the F2 or delete button during the first few seconds of a boot-up.

Once inside the BIOS, great care should be taken. It is a good idea to write down on a piece of paper all the settings that appear on the screen. That way, if you change something and the computer becomes more unstable, you will know what settings to revert to.

A common BIOS error concerns the CAS latency. This refers to the Ram. Older EDO (extended data out) Ram has a CAS latency of 3. Newer SDRam has a CAS latency of 2. Setting the wrong figure can cause the Ram to lock up and freeze the computer's display.

Mcft Windows is better at allocating IRQ numbers than any BIOS. If possible set the IRQ numbers to Auto in the BIOS. This will allow Windows to allocate the IRQ numbers (make sure the BIOS setting for Plug and Play OS is switched to 'yes' to allow Windows to do this.).

4 Hard disk drives

After a few weeks, the information on a hard disk drive starts to become piecemeal or fragmented. It is a good idea to defragment the hard disk every week or so, to prevent the disk from causing a screen freeze. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-Disk Defragmenter

This will start the procedure. You will be unable to write data to the hard drive (to save it) while the disk is defragmenting, so it is a good idea to schedule the procedure for a period of inactivity using the Task Scheduler.

The Task Scheduler should be one of the small icons on the bottom right of the Windows opening page (the desktop).

Some lockups and screen freezes caused by hard disk problems can be solved by reducing the read-ahead optimisation. This can be adjusted by going to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System Icon-Performance-File System-Hard Disk.

Hard disks will slow down and crash if they are too full. Do some housekeeping on your hard drive every few months and free some space on it. Open the Windows folder on the C drive and find the Temporary Internet Files folder. Deleting the contents (not the folder) can free a lot of space.

Empty the Recycle Bin every week to free more space. Hard disk drives should be scanned every week for errors or bad sectors. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-ScanDisk

Otherwise assign the Task Scheduler to perform this operation at night when the computer is not in use.

5 Fatal OE exceptions and VXD errors

Fatal OE exception errors and VXD errors are often caused by video card problems.

These can often be resolved easily by reducing the resolution of the video display. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Display-Settings

Here you should slide the screen area bar to the left. Take a look at the colour settings on the left of that window. For most desktops, high colour 16-bit depth is adequate.

If the screen freezes or you experience system lockups it might be due to the video card. Make sure it does not have a hardware conflict. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager

Here, select the + beside Display Adapter. A line of text describing your video card should appear. Select it (make it blue) and press properties. Then select Resources and select each line in the window. Look for a message that says No Conflicts.

If you have video card hardware conflict, you will see it here. Be careful at this point and make a note of everything you do in case you make things worse.

The way to resolve a hardware conflict is to uncheck the Use Automatic Settings box and hit the Change Settings button. You are searching for a setting that will display a No Conflicts message.

Another useful way to resolve video problems is to go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Performance-Graphics

Here you should move the Hardware Acceleration slider to the left. As ever, the most common cause of problems relating to graphics cards is old or faulty drivers (a driver is a small piece of software used by a computer to communicate with a device).

Look up your video card's manufacturer on the internet and search for the most recent drivers for it.

6 Viruses

Often the first sign of a virus infection is instability. Some viruses erase the boot sector of a hard drive, making it impossible to start. This is why it is a good idea to create a Windows start-up disk. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs

Here, look for the Start Up Disk tab. Virus protection requires constant vigilance.

A virus scanner requires a list of virus signatures in order to be able to identify viruses. These signatures are stored in a DAT file. DAT files should be updated weekly from the website of your antivirus software manufacturer.

An excellent antivirus programme is McAfee VirusScan by Network Associates ( www.nai.com). Another is Norton AntiVirus 2000, made by Symantec ( www.symantec.com).

7 Printers

The action of sending a document to print creates a bigger file, often called a postscript file.

Printers have only a small amount of memory, called a buffer. This can be easily overloaded. Printing a document also uses a considerable amount of CPU power. This will also slow down the computer's performance.

If the printer is trying to print unusual characters, these might not be recognised, and can crash the computer. Sometimes printers will not recover from a crash because of confusion in the buffer. A good way to clear the buffer is to unplug the printer for ten seconds. Booting up from a powerless state, also called a cold boot, will restore the printer's default settings and you may be able to carry on.

8 Software

A common cause of computer crash is faulty or badly-installed software. Often the problem can be cured by uninstalling the software and then reinstalling it. Use Norton Uninstall or Uninstall Shield to remove an application from your system properly. This will also remove references to the programme in the System Registry and leaves the way clear for a completely fresh copy.

The System Registry can be corrupted by old references to obsolete software that you thought was uninstalled. Use Reg Cleaner by Jouni Vuorio to clean up the System Registry and remove obsolete entries. It works on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE (Second Edition), Windows Millennium Edition (ME), NT4 and Windows 2000.

Read the instructions and use it carefully so you don't do permanent damage to the Registry. If the Registry is damaged you will have to reinstall your operating system. Reg Cleaner can be obtained from www.jv16.org

Often a Windows problem can be resolved by entering Safe Mode. This can be done during start-up. When you see the message "Starting Windows" press F4. This should take you into Safe Mode.

Safe Mode loads a minimum of drivers. It allows you to find and fix problems that prevent Windows from loading properly.

Sometimes installing Windows is difficult because of unsuitable BIOS settings. If you keep getting SUWIN error messages (Windows setup) during the Windows installation, then try entering the BIOS and disabling the CPU internal cache. Try to disable the Level 2 (L2) cache if that doesn't work.

Remember to restore all the BIOS settings back to their former settings following installation.

9 Overheating

Central processing units (CPUs) are usually equipped with fans to keep them cool. If the fan fails or if the CPU gets old it may start to overheat and generate a particular kind of error called a kernel error. This is a common problem in chips that have been overclocked to operate at higher speeds than they are supposed to.

One remedy is to get a bigger better fan and install it on top of the CPU. Specialist cooling fans/heatsinks are available from www.computernerd.com or www.coolit.com

CPU problems can often be fixed by disabling the CPU internal cache in the BIOS. This will make the machine run more slowly, but it should also be more stable.

10 Power supply problems

With all the new construction going on around the country the steady supply of electricity has become disrupted. A power surge or spike can crash a computer as easily as a power cut.

If this has become a nuisance for you then consider buying a uninterrupted power supply (UPS). This will give you a clean power supply when there is electricity, and it will give you a few minutes to perform a controlled shutdown in case of a power cut.

It is a good investment if your data are critical, because a power cut will cause any unsaved data to be lost.

Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 Book

2008-09-01T09:23:00.001-07:00

Visual C++ provides a powerful and flexible development environment for creating Microsoft Windows–based and Microsoft .NET–based applications. It also enables developers to build Web applications, smart-client Windows-based applications, and solutions for thin-client and smart-client mobile devices.

Microsoft Visual C++ (often abbreviated as MSVC) is a commercial integrated development environment (IDE) product engineered by Microsoft for the C, C++, and C++/CLI programming languages. It has tools for developing and debugging C++ code, especially code written for the Microsoft Windows API, the DirectX API, and the Microsoft .NET Framework.
Download Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0:
http://rapidshare.com/files/129860840/MicrosoftVisualC__6.0_jzn.rar

hack Windows XP Administrator Passwords

2008-08-28T20:08:00.000-07:00

How to hack Windows XP Administrator Passwords , Hack Admin Password ,crack Administrator Password
Tuesday, August 05, 2008 6:19 AM
Worked for me on both Windows XP Home and Pro .Now this one seems to be machine dependant, it works randomly(don't know why) If you log into a limited account on your target machine and open up a dos promptthen enter this set of commands Exactly:(this appeared on http://www.astalavista.com/ a few days ago but i found that it wouldn't workon the welcome screen of a normal booted machine

cd\ *drops to root
cd\windows\system32 *directs to the system32 dir
mkdir temphack *creates the folder temphack
copy logon.scr temphack\logon.scr *backsup logon.scr
copy cmd.exe temphack\cmd.exe *backsup cmd.exe
del logon.scr *deletes original logon.scr
rename cmd.exe logon.scr *renames cmd.exe to logon.scr
exit *quits dos

Now what you have just done is told the computer to backup the command programand the screen saver file, then edits the settings so when the machine boots thescreen saver you will get an unprotected dos prompt with out logging into XP.Once this happens if you enter this command minus the quotes"net user password"If the Administrator Account is called Frank and you want the password blah enter this"net user Frank blah"and this changes the password on franks machine to blah and your in.

Have funp.s: dont forget to copy the contents of temphack back into the system32 dir to cover tracksAny updates, Errors, Suggestions or just general comments mail them to either.
Do not Use it For theft purpose!...

yahoo Messenger Chat Recovery

2008-08-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

# a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Yahoo Messenger Chat Recovery

Password Recovery has announced Yahoo messenger archive recovery software that can recover all your private chat messages like instant messages, conferences and mobile SMS messages and saves it in RTF or plain text format. Yahoo archive decoder easily decodes and view not only yours but others chat conversation, while offline, without their password. Software retrieves all chat records that are stored on your PC. Yahoo messengerâ€™s archive viewer tool enables you to view yahoo chat logs of yourself, your spouse, your kids, or anyone, without logging in to yahoo messenger. Either you want to spy on your love one or you want to read your own chat logs, this utility allows you to view all the conversations without knowing the password. Software supports you to enable someoneâ€™s archiving option and secretly log his or her chat conversation. Our yahoo message viewer program will uncover the truth with extreme ease by secretly turning archiving on for all users, no passwords needed. Software allows you to read Yahoo's archive (.dat) files and enabling you to see every message which takes place on your personal computer. This software works with any version of Yahoo! Instant Messenger. Features: * Recover chat archive messages stored on your system or any other system on the network. * Decode all encoded archive file of any yahoo account. * Software auto detect stored yahoo archive message files and decode it. * Program decodes all send mobile messages from yahoo messenger to your friend list. * Read any archive file on your system even you don't know the password of that account. * Supports multi language chat conversation archive file recovery. * Enable and disable your yahoo archive setting even you are not logged in to yahoo messenger. * Import any external yahoo archive message file and decode it when file is not in yahoo directory. * Works under Windows XP, 98, ME, NT, 2000, 2003, Vista and Longhorn.

Company Details:

Company Name: Password Recovery
Company URL: http://www.passwordrecovery.in
Download URL: http://www.passwordrecovery.in/downloads/Y-A-recovery-demo.exe

Sitemap Generator

2008-08-24T23:30:00.000-07:00

Sitemaps are an important and the most difficult file to create to meet the search engines requirements. Sitemaps are used by website owners to get their content recognized on the search engines. One of the distinctive feature of having sitemaps for website is that it can be read by human as well as the search engines.

Sitemap generators have been popping up on the web every now and then. Some sitemap generators are easy to use while others are complex. Google too has come up with Google sitemap generators. However the Google sitemap is strictly for google and other search engines will not understand it.

If you are creating a sitemap for your website make sure you do not include folders or files you don’t want the search engines to see. Similarly make sure that there is no missing file or folder that you do not want the search engine to see. It is very important to be updated with your sitemap files especially if you have deleted or added any pages in your website. Similarly you also need to be updated about any changes you made in a particular web page.

Every website needs to have three Sitemaps updated.

· Sitemap in html
· Sitemap in xml
· Sitemap in txt

Apart from creating the above three sitemaps it is to be made sure that they are regularly updated

· Never include folders you do not want the search engines to see
· Never include files you do not want the search engines to se
· Make sure that there is no missing file or folder you do not want the search engines to see.

So as you can see that there is a constant need to keep your three sitemaps updated. The sitemap generators out there will help you with these things however the problem we saw was there is still much work involved in keeping these updated.

If you are looking for an effective tool to help you with your problems, we at Sitemap Builder are here to help you with all your problems. Sitemap builder has developed a tool that meets the requirements from the search engines and generates the three sitemaps automatically. It also helps you update each page on daily basis or as needed. Sitemap builder gives you an opportunity to include or exclude files as needed. It loads to your root site directory folder and automatically installs the sitemaps.

Delete index.dat Files

2008-08-24T00:37:00.000-07:00

What are Index.dat files?

Index.dat files are used by Internet Explorer and Windows to store history, Internet cache, cookies, UserData records and other information about what you have done in Internet or in your PC. Although some of their functions are useful, they are dangerous privacy threat - any person with even little knowledge about index.dat files locations and structure can see history of almost all of your computer activities. Index.dat files are not the only privacy threat but they are the most obscure and dangerous one because they are hard to find and even harder to delete. In fact, in most cases it is impossible to delete Index.dat files manually because Internet Explorer and Windows use them all the time.

Where are located Index.dat files?

Location of index.dat files depends on the version of Windows and whether or not you are using user profiles. Regardless of Windows version in many cases you can't see or find index.dat file using Windows Explorer. There is a little file called desktop.ini in each directory where index.dat file is located. This desktop.ini file forces Windows Explorer to hide index.dat files and to show the contents of Internet cache or history instead. However you can use some other file utility and binary (hex) editor to find the files and read their content. If you have Windows Me, Windows 98, Windows NT or Windows 95 then index.dat files are in these locations:

C:WindowsCookiesindex.dat
C:WindowsHistoryindex.dat
C:WindowsHistoryMSHistXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXindex.dat (XXXX are some digits)
C:WindowsHistoryHistory.IE5index.dat

What is in Index.dat files?

As already mentioned, index.dat files are binary files. Their content can be seen only with binary (hex) editor. We will examine an index.dat file from the Internet cache(Temporary Internet Files).

Actually the index.dat header is much larger but this is the most important part of it. The first thing is the version of the index.dat file (Client UrlCache MMF Ver 4.7) - this particular file is from Internet Explorer version 4 but the index.dat file format is very similar in Internet Explorer 5.x and 6.

How to erase or clean Index.dat files?

Erasing or cleaning of the index.dat files is not an easy task because they are opened by Internet Explorer and Windows all the time. If you are using Windows Me, Windows 98 or Windows 95 you can restart in DOS mode and then you can delete index.dat files one by one (look in the folders that are mentioned above). However if you are using Windows XP, Windows 2000 or Windows NT this won't work.

Mil Shield is a powerful privacy protection program that was designed specifically to clean and shred the index.dat files content. Unlike the other methods of dealing with index.dat file content, shredding is the best because it doesn't destroy the entire structure of the index.dat file which can cause Internet Explorer or Windows to crash but instead cleans and shreds only the privacy threatening URL, LEAK and REDR records.

About The Author
Mil Incorporated was founded with an ambitious objective to be a trusted software partner for individuals and enterprises around the world. Mil Incorporated provides software security and privacy solutions that incorporate state of the art technology, security expertise, and substantial resources.

Computer Performance Improvement - 8 Tips

2008-08-23T10:35:00.001-07:00

SIGNS OF A COMPUTER WITH PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS!
(If this is indicative of your computer, you need help!)
Programs run slower than they used to.
Frequent freezes or crashes.
Sporadic system instability.
Frequent blue error screens.
Requires frequent reboots because of system hangs.
These 8 simple tips will help clean up your computer and you'll be surprised at the performance improvement!

CLEAN UP YOUR WINDOWS REGISTRY
This essential task is often overlooked but will remarkably improve PC performance. Most PC users don't even know there is such a thing as a Registry much less that that it should be regularly cleaned. In fact, Microsoft doesn't even include a cleanup tool in Windows.

Every time a program is installed or uninstalled changes are made to the Windows Registry which is a huge internal database of Windows' settings. All programs, as well as Windows itself, store a huge amount of information in this database and these entries control the way everything in the computer looks and behaves.

Many times, changes to a computer are not handled correctly leading to conflicts and the slowing of the computer due to a corrupted Registry. Some things which can cause this are:
â€¢ frequently installing or uninstalling programs
â€¢ removing a program and leaving traces behind
â€¢ leftover entries from a hardware uninstall
â€¢ power failure or system crash in the midst of updating the registry
â€¢ unused drivers on the system
â€¢ Spyware or Adware type programs that come back every time the PC is restarted

The Registry can be edited manually using a Windows program called RegEdit, but woe to the novice; this is really a job best left to the experts. Instead, you need to use a special program which makes the cleanup for you.

EMPTY THE RECYCLE BIN
Regularly empty the Windows' Recycle Bin thereby releasing hard drive space and helping to improve performance.
When you delete a file, instead of removing it completely from your computer, Windows puts it into the Recycle Bin. You then can restore these flies from the Recycle Bin back to their original place on your computer if you should need to.

REMOVE UNNECESSARY PROGRAMS
If you're like me and download a lot of free programs or free trials, after a while your computer might begin to slow down. That means it's time to remove some of the old programs you don't use any more (and most you probably only used once just to see how they work).

After installing a program, if you decide you don't need it and won't use it, get it off the computer thereby freeing up system resources. Most programs come with their own uninstaller but if it doesn't you will have to use the Operating System's Add/Remove Programs feature which you can get to through The Control Panel.

Uninstalling unused programs will help speed up your computer, but removing the wrong files can cause you some really big problems. NEVER, NEVER EVER just delete a program file by using the delete key; this can really mess up the Registry. Be careful and if you are not sure, ask for help from someone you know who is more experienced. If you are unsure whether or not to remove a program, it's best to leave it.

Some programs leave uninstalled junk all over the Windows Registry! Therefore, to improve PC performance AFTER AN UNINSTALL, IT'S ESSENTIAL TO CLEAN THE REGISTRY.

RUN DISK CLEAN UP
Windows Disk Clean Up is a great built-in utility that automates regular maintenance tasks to improve PC performance. Whenever you "surf the net", open file attachments, delete files, etc., your computer saves a record of your activity. Most if not all of these files are harmless, and are very small. But if you spend a lot of time on your computer, before long they will use up enough space to slow your computer down a tad.

Double-click My Computer, right click on the 'C:' drive, then click Properties, then click Disk Cleanup. The PC will then spend a few moments analyzing.

When it has completed analyzing, Windows will give you a list of areas where it has found files to cleanup. To clean an area, check the box next to it. To leave something intact, such as Temporary files, just remove the check mark next to the item and click OK.
Your computer will then begin the removal process which can take a good while.

DISK DEFRAGMENTATION
When Windows stores programs and files on your hard disk it saves fragments of files in the nearest empty spaces and then links these pieces together. When the computer needs to retrieve a file, it has to go through the process of chasing these links hunting down the fragments and piecing the file back together. This can really slow down a computer, especially if it has small internal memory and has to do a lot of caching and file swapping.

The cure is to routinely run the Windows Disk Defragmenter which gathers together the fragments of files and puts them back in the right order in as near contiguous space as possible.

This makes it far easier for your computer to find what it's looking for on the hard drive, enabling programs and files to load more quickly.

To defragment your hard disk click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools and then Disk Defragment. When the program has loaded, click Defragment. Before starting you need to run "scandisk" which checks for disk errors. Without scanning your disk first for possible errors, defrag may refuse to continue its defragmentation routine.

The process can take over an hour. Because defragmenting your hard disk takes such a long time, you really don't want to go through the process very often; maybe every 3-4 months and it's best not to use the computer while defragmenting

GET A HIGH SPEED INTERNET CONNECTION If you spend a lot of time on the internet, a high speed internet connection is a must. It is more expensive, but for most people the savings in time and effort is worth the added expense.

Some of the advantages to having a high speed internet connection: faster surfing, web pages open more quickly, files download faster, and if you send or receive large files, like pictures or video, they will open in a flash when compared to a slower dialup connection.

If you're already spending money for your dialup connection (through your phone line) then you'll find DSL to be comparable in price, and a lot faster.

A cable internet connection might cost a little more, but it is usually the fastest type of internet connection you can get from home.

REMOVE SPYWARE & ADWARE
If you've ever had spyware or adware on your computer, you know how frustrating it can be. All kinds of strange things happen: your homepage changes seemingly on its own, unwanted and inappropriate popups, unfamiliar icons, and the list goes on.
Spyware or Adware are files that are often downloaded onto your computer without your knowledge (or at least without you knowing what they really are).

Unfortunately, many of these programs "sneak" their way onto your computer, and avoiding them entirely is difficult, especially if you spend a lot of time on your computer, surfing the Internet and downloading new programs and files.

There are ways to remove these unwanted files from your computer.
Check out these 2 adware/spyware removal programs that are simple to use (both are free):
Ad-Aware http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/
Spybot http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

Adware/Spyware continue to be such a problem because most of these programs make money for the people creating and spreading them. If you find these unwanted intruders on your computer, don't panic. In most cases, it is not vicious like a Virus or Worm. You just have some extra "junk" on your computer. However, keeping it off of your computer will help it perform more efficiently.

ADD MORE INTERNAL MEMORY (RAM) AND A LARGER HARD DRIVE
If you have done all/most of the above and your Computer's performance is still so bad that you are thinking: Gee, I guess I am going to have to buy another computer! If everything else about the computer is satisfactory to you, then you might consider an Upgrade. If the PC is only a couple years old, it can easily be upgraded.

If you still have the manuals that came with it, you can determine the type of memory it uses and buy it off of the internet at a good price. If you don't have the manuals, take it to Best Buy or Circuit City and ask them if it can be upgraded (or take the model and make info to them). Their upgrade cost is not that bad and certainly cheaper than buying a new computer.

Another alternative: if you know a High School Kid who has taken some computer courses, he/she can probably do it real cheap.

I have personally maxed out my computers memory and added another hard drive. Together with the items above, my computer runs like a "Tiger chasing a Scared Bunny".

I hope this has been of help to you. I have prepared a brief video which depicts the frustration I was having with my computers performance and how I Cured My Computers Performance Problems. You can see it by clicking the link below.

The author has spent his entire professional work career of over 40 years in the Computer Business where he programmed or managed Computer projects for NASA, U.S. Dept of Defense and as a consultant to private industry. Click this link for a short video of how He cured his computer performance problems -- http://www.RegistryCleaner.factsNinfo.com

What Is Wifi , What Are Wifi Hotspots & What Can They Do For Me?

2008-08-23T00:21:00.000-07:00

Wifi is an internet technology which allows you to access the internet within a local area without the need to physically connect your computer to a computer network, instead a wireless broadband signal is sent around the local area allowing computer users to connect to the internet in that area wirelessly. In case you were wondering Wifi stands for Wireless Fidelity and Wifi hotspots are public areas where you can access one of these wireless broadband signals. Public places where you can find Wifi hotspots these days are hotels, airports, restaurants, cafes, bars and railway stations. All this means you can travel around pretty much anywhere in the world and find Wifi hotspots from which you can wirelessly and easily access the internet, meaning you can keep up to date with your emails, surf the internet and do all the other useful things you do on the internet whilst on your travels. This technology is particularly good for business users who can gain extra work time by squeezing in internet time at various Wifi hotspots.

What Do I Need To Use My Computer In A Wifi Hotspot?

Well first of all you will need a wirelesss LAN network card installed in your laptop. This can be bought in your local computer store or in an online computer store and is not very expensive to buy. The other thing you will need is an account with a Wifi internet access provider so that you can connect to the net when in a Wifi hotspot. One thing to note is that there are several different Wifi internet access providers and that not all Wifi hotspots can be accessed by all the different Wifi internet access provider´s networks. This means that if you want to have maximum choice of Wifi hotspots to use, then it is a good idea to sign up with more than one Wifi internet access provider. The other thing you need to know is that most Wifi service providers charge you an hourly fee for using their service. These charges can add up, so if you are a regular or heavy user then it might work out cheaper for you to sign up for a monthly service plan which some providers offer and this could save you a lot of money as you will be paying a fixed monthly fee regardless of the amount of time you access the internet through Wifi hotspots.

Access Your PC From Anywhere

2008-08-21T22:41:00.000-07:00

There are several services available now that allow you to remotely access your computer from any other machine in the world, as long as it is connected to the internet. The good news is that Windows XP Professional has this functionality built into the operating system. In this article, I am going to show you how to configure your Windows XP Professional computer to support remote access using the Remote Desktop feature.

To use Remote Desktop you will need the following:

A host computer (the one you want to access remotely) that is running Microsoft Windows XP Professional and is connected to the Internet.

A client computer (the one you will use when remotely accessing your PC) running Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me), Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition, Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, or Microsoft Windows 95, with access to the Internet.

Appropriate user accounts and permissions configured on the remote Windows XP Professional to allow remote access.

The IP address of your home computer. You can figure this out by going to a site like www.whatismyip.com. The only problem with this is that your ISP may dynamically change this address from time to time. I would recommend using a free dynamic DNS provider, such as www.no-ip.com. This will allow you to assign a public DNS record to your computer, such as yourcomputer.no-ip.com. You will need to have tcp port 3389 open on your firewall. If your machine is behind a firewall or NAT router you will need to forward traffic on tcp port 3389 to your host computer.

How to Configure the Remote Desktop service

On the host computer, go to the control panel and double click the system icon. Click the Remote tab, and then click to select the Allow users to connect remotely to this computer check box. Administrators are granted access by default, but there is an option to add other user accounts if needed. Click on OK to save your changes.

Connecting to your computer

On the client PC, you will need a software client called Remote Desktop Connection. Computers running Windows XP Home and Professional already have this client installed. If you are connecting from a client PC that is running another version of windows, you will need to install the Remote Desktop Connection software. You can download the software for free from Microsoft's website. The next step is to run the Remote Desktop Connection software so you can connect to your computer. To do this, Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to Communications, and then click Remote Desktop Connection. From here you just need to enter the IP address or DNS host name and click on connect.

Obviously, there are security implications that need to be considered when opening ports on you firewall or NAT router and exposing your machine to the internet. Please consider all of the security risks and decide whether or not this method will work for you.

About The Author
Matt Peterson is a Senior Consultant for N2 Network Solutions, Visit N2 online at www.n2networksolutions.com

Lost your laptop? The CyberAngel(R) brings it back

2008-08-20T20:27:00.000-07:00

Introduction

If you're like a lot of people, your laptop is one of the most important of your personal or work possessions. If it got stolen or lost, you'd want it back. A company known as Computer Sent ry Software, Inc. has designed an innovative option for laptop recovery. With laptop theft on the rise, investing in an affordable laptop recovery package is well worth the investment. According to Safeware Insurance, a company that insures against theft, laptop theft rose 21% from 1999 to 2000.

Computer Sentry Software, Inc. based in Nashville, Tennessee, was founded in 1996 by actor Robert Urich and Dyrk Halstead after Robert Urich's son's laptop was stolen. Today, the company is providing it's services and software all across the nation, having distributed over 50,000 licenses of its CyberAngel® Security Software.

CyberAngel®

The CyberAngel® works through installation of client software on your laptop and registration with a security monitoring server. Using a password entry system, The CyberAngel® communicates to the security monitoring server whenever the password entry is violated, reporting the phone number or IP address that the computer called from. The engineering assumption for The CyberAngel® is that at some point, the stolen laptop will be connected t o a modem or a network connection (LAN, WAN, Cable Modem, DSL Circuit) on the Internet. Once the password entry system is violated, the Com Ports are blocked from the "unauthorized user," preventing them any access to online accounts or remote corporate servers. Additionally, when a violation has occurred, The CyberAngel® can encrypt selected directories to protect confidential information and data residing on the hard drive.

It is often the case that Computer Sentry's customers do not want their employees to know that this product has been installed on their laptops, and they work with IT decision makers who purchase their product to install the software i n a covert manner, such that the employees do not know that security software has been installed on their system. A large percentage of Computer Sentry's customers are concerned with internal theft, often more than external theft.

The CyberAngel® runs in stealth mode, and is not visible in the process table. The filenames are hidden, and only someone who understands where and how to locate the hidden files will be able to find them. When The CyberAngel password entry system is violated, the security features activate. The unauthorized user is blocked from any dial-up modem capability, user selected files are encrypted, and the software initiates communication to the security monitoring server. The security moni toring server then generates an unauthorized usage notification to the registered user / client.

The Security Monitor Server

When the computer calls the security monitoring server to report an unauthorized access, it is able to identify the phone number and / or IP address that the computer calls from. Using a te chnology similar to 911 centers, The CyberAngel® is still able to determine the dial-out phone number, even is the user has Caller-ID blocking. Since all phone numbers can be mapped to a physical location, locating the laptop is usually very straightforw ard after the phone number has been identified. When the user reports that computer as stolen, reports are generated that identify the registered name, physical address, and even a map that correlates to the phone number and / or IP address that the comp uter called from. Computer Sentry works with local police forces, supplying all the paper work and information they need to do a search and recovery. Computer Sentry Software, Inc. has been 100% successful in helping its customers obtain the needed searc h warrant and subpoenas.

After a recent CyberAngel® recovery, North Little Rock, Arkansas police detective Jim Scott said, "This made the recovery of the property amazingly easy. If they hadn't had it [The CyberAngel] then we wouldn't have found it," said Tara Shepperson, Executive Director of the CyberCrime Task Force of the Nevada Attorneys General Office. Shepperson went on to say, "We get a lot of complaints about stolen computers, but often they don't involve the loss of enough money to investigate becau se (law enforcement agencies) are overworked. Software like The CyberAngel® is the wave of the future in fighting these crimes."

Recommendations

For organizations that deploy laptop recovery software enterprise-wide, it is possible to obtain a savings on your systems loss insurance policy. If you have an anti-theft device installed on your laptop such as The CyberAngel®, Safeware Insurance, will give you a 20% discount on its computer loss insurance policy.

The biggest drawback for the CyberAngel® is that the laptop has to be connected to a phone line or network connection in order to be tracked and recovered. Another drawback is that if the disk has been reformatted before the laptop con nects to the Internet, the recovery software will be wiped out - however, statistics from the FBI and Computer Security Institute show that 95% of recovered stolen laptops are not reformatted, and the data and information is intact. Right now The CyberAn gel® can only protect systems that run on Microsoft Window's 95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000, and XP platforms within North America.

About The Author

Laura Taylor is Relevant Technologies' President, Chief Technology Officer and Founder. Her research has been sought out by the FDIC, the FBI, the Whitehouse, and numerous publicly held For tune 500 companies.

Ms. Taylor has been featured in a number of media forums including ABC Business Now, CNET Radio, Boston Business Journal, Computer World, and The Montreal< /I> Gazette. Her research has been linked to, and published on a variety of web portal publications and magazines including Business Security Advisor, SecurityWatch, eSecurityOnline, SecurityFocus, Netw orkStorageForum, ZDNet, Datamation, MidRangeComputing, Securify, and others.

She is also a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Convert Movies To PSP Format

2008-08-19T23:55:00.001-07:00

Sony PSP has been a tremendous hit as a portable gaming console, winning the hearts of all ages. No matter where I turn my head or when I take a walk I can always find people of all ages holding a PSP in their hand and gaming away in another world of their own.

With the popularity of the Sony PSP console, people have found ways to keep themselves entertained. And with the use of the Internet as a daily tool, we of all people have expanded the use of the Sony PSP console. It all began as from an idea of having a portable device in the palm of the hand and the next thing you know or realize is watching your favorite movie from a PSP console.

Before we can convert any movies to PSP format, we must understand how you are going to accomplish the task. Use a movie converter like â€œMedia Manager for PSPâ€ will enable anyone to convert any movie format to PSP format. Movie converter software programs like â€œMedia Manager for PSPâ€ supports .mp4, .avi, .mpg, .mov, .wmv, and other popular video formats. Simply use â€œMedia Manager for PSPâ€ to convert your favorite movie files to PSP format. Unlike other movie converters which requires a 2 step to more to convert your movies, this program manager offers drag and drop function to manage your files between your PSP console and your windows PC. Itâ€™s that easy.

Simply drag and drop your favorite files to and from your PSP console and you can even manage to backup your saved games to your windows PC. â€œMedia Manager for PSPâ€ manages and does everything and all the work for you, there is no need to worry about file formats or even preparing your files for transfer between your PSP and windows PC. The program manager takes care of it all. There is no other PSP manager that does this well than the â€œMedia Manager for PSPâ€. It is truly a winnerâ€™s program that manages everything with having the user following what works with PSP and what donâ€™t.

To briefly illustrate further about the software program functions, it does not just stop with managing your favorite movie files, it can also manage your digital photographs, music files, latest pod casts, video blogs, download your favorite websites, saved games, and even view your documents in HTML format and transfer Excel, Words, .txt and many other documents from your PSP console.

â€œMedia Manager for PSPâ€ is clearly the best or winner program manager to manage between your PSP and your windows PC. Most PSP movie converters require complicated steps and procedures to convert your movies to PSP, while some requires only limited movie files that you can convert to PSP format. To have a better understanding, here are the many different types movie formats you may encounter to convert movie to PSP formats;

.3g2, .3gp, .3gp2, .3gpp, .3mm, .60d, .aep, .ajp, .amv, .asf, .asx, .avb, .avi, .avs, .bik, .bix, .box, .byu, .cvc, .d2v, .dat, .dce, .dif, .dir, .divx, .dpg, .dv, .dxr, .eye, .fcp, .flc, .fli, .flv, .flx, .gl, .grasp, .gvi, .gvp, .ifo, .imovieproject, .ivf, .ivs, .izz, .izzy, .lsf, .lsx, .m1v, .m2v, .m4e,.m4u, .m4v, .mjp, .mkv, .moov, .mov, .movie, .mp4, .mpe, .mpeg, .mpg, .mpv2, .msh, .mswmm, .mvb, .mvc, .nvc, .ogm, .omf, .playlist, .pro, .prproj, .prx, .qt, .qtch, .rm, .rmvb, .rp, .rts, .rts, .sbk, .scm, .sfvidcap, .smil, .smv, .spl, .srt, .ssm, .str, .svi, .swf, .swi, .tda3mt, .tivo, .ts, .vdo, .vf, .vfw, .vid, .viewlet, .viv, .vivo, .vob, .vro, .w32, .wcp, .wm, .wmd, .wmv, .wmx, .wvx, .yuv.

The above is over a hundred different types of file format that you may come across with. And you can imagine simply converting movies to PSP format is complicated task to perform but all these tasks can be made simple with the converter program â€œMedia Manager for PSPâ€.

Jordan Michael writes on a variety of subjects and recommends
http://pspblenderpspdownloads.blogspot.com for more information on Convert Movies To PSP Format .

Notice - You are allowed to publish this article in its entirety provided that authorâ€™s name, bio and website links must remain active/intact and included with every reproduction.

Blogging for Fun and Profit

2008-08-19T23:52:00.001-07:00

A blog is an online version of diary where people write and display almost anything - their opinions, photos, jokes, thoughts for the day and more. People also share stories about their pets, their passion for soccer, stamps... the limit is only your imagination!

In the last few years, blogging has emerged to become a much more meaningful activity than simply maintaining a personal diary. People use it to advertise their products and services, in fact, quite a number of companies even create their online presence by using a blog instead of a website.

Create Your Own Blog

Starting a blog is free. You can create one at www.blogger.com - a free service from Google Inc. You don't need to register a domain name or buy hosting. When you sign up at Blogger, everything happens online. Your blog will be hosted by Blogger and you get an URL like yourdomain.blogspot.com. You simply log in to your account and start to write. This is much easier and cheaper than buying your own domain and hosting, then hiring someone to do the web design, writing and coding.

Another free blogging service available online is WordPress which is also very popular and easy to use. WordPress supports more features than Blogger while allowing you to customize your blog with various plug-in. You can check it out at wordpress.org.

Monetize Your Blog

While blogging for your own interest, you can in fact maximize the potential of your blog for many marketing or commercial purposes.

The quickest and easiest way to turn a blog into a money-making enterprise is to include advertising on your blog. This can be done with contextual ad programs like Adsense - an advertising program by Google. Basically, you get paid when people click on the ads displayed on your website or blog. Google Adsense program is free to sign up. You can visit www.google.com/adsense to learn more about the rules and guidelines of the program. Other Adsense type ads that you can use for blog monetizing are SearchFeed, AdBrite, and Yahoo's Publisher’s Network (YPN).

Affiliate program is another potential way to make money blogging. By focusing on the subject of your blog post, you can promote relevant products from cost per sale affiliate programs like ClickBank and Amazon. You can write a review about the product or service with your affiliate links embedded inside so you get the commission whenever a sale is made.

Boost Your Blog Traffic

Blogs are quickly indexed by search engines, but you need to update it regularly. Search engines love fresh content and regular update will ensure that your website is indexed and ranked high up as well. The higher up it appears, the more traffic will come to your site, which means more sales. You can actively participate in forums discussion or post comments on other blogs to get more link back traffic.

Whether you use your blog for fun or for work, remember that it’s a highly potential tool any which way. So what are you waiting for? Start blogging away right now!

Best Registry Cleaners

2008-08-19T23:49:00.001-07:00

Kelly Liyakasa is staff writer for 6StarReviews.com. Kelly Staller is site manager at 6StarReviews.com, a site dedicated to giving YOU, the consumer, the best product and service reviews around. If you like saving time and money by having someone else review leading sites and products, then Visit our site at 6StarReviews.com. Also, if you have the time, check out the 6StarReviews Blog for product updates, new site reviews and to give us suggestions or feedback! Visit 6StarReviews.com Blog!
No one wants computer errors messages, especially when we spend so much time and effort trying to ward off viruses, hackers and other bothersome intruders. Registry cleaners eliminate a major problem inflicted on PCâ€™s today: Windows registry errors. The problem is, many of us havenâ€™t a clue what one is or how to deal with the aftermath.
One major characteristic of the dreaded registry error is your inability as a computer owner to avoid them. Unless you just took your new Dell out of its box and freshly loaded your drivers, you will have some errors lurking around your files, software programs and processes. Why? Registry errors are the result of any changes made in your system files. They may or may not be intentional.
When installing new software or hardware, downloading most anything or performing daily PC tasks, your computerâ€™s registry can be affected. The Windows registry is designed to coordinate all functions and direct files in which actions to take. If a process redirects a file elsewhere, an entire program or chain of events can be obstructed, leading to error messages or a crash.
6Star Reviews.com cites one registry cleaner that can clear up these headaches, Registry Booster. If your PC needs a tune up, you can expect features like registry defrag, automatic updates, increased scanning speeds, choose error type and registry backup and restore.
That way, in the instance an important file was deleted or incorrectly repaired, you can revert back to your system status before the changes were made. The top registry cleaners available on the Net may prevent your second-least-favorite pop-up-a legitimate error message.

Backup Data On Your Laptop

2008-08-19T23:46:00.000-07:00

If you were to look at past statistics regarding the information that has been lost in regards to laptop computers, you would find yourself amazed. Even though this information can be astounding, many of us still don’t take the time to back up the information on our laptops.

To put it in simple terms, nothing in the computer industry is fool proof. Hard drives can crash, the laptop can get stolen, or it can even be dropped and rendered useless. To ensure that we are never left without our precious data, we should always create a backup of our information.

There is no mistaken the fact that over a million laptops have been stolen over the years in the United States alone. Anytime a laptop is stolen, chances are that it won’t be recovered. If the information wasn’t backed up, then the owner will be left with no laptop - but more importantly - no backed up data either.

Just like you can with desktop computers, you can also create a backup of the data on your laptop as well. You can use online services, back it up remotely, or use several other methods to ensure that you keep all of your data. Preserving your data is something you should really look into, especially if you have business material on your laptop.

The best way to go about backing up your data and files is to burn them to a data CD. Data CDs can hold up to 700 MB (Mega Bytes) of data, which means a lot of files. To back things up this way, all you need is a CD/RW burner in your laptop, which most of the newer ones come with.

The only drawback to laptops is the fact that they don’t offer near as much storage or security measures as a desktop PC. Desktop computers have a lot more power, and they can also do things (including backups) in a fraction of the time.

The laptop computer was designed for on the go use, which is the main reason why people don’t really think about backing up their data. When the thought finally does come to mind, it is normally too late to do anything about it.

As mentioned above, the easiest and quickest way to backup your laptop data is to use an online backup service. Depending on your connection to the Internet, it can take anywhere from several minutes to several hours. Although it may take you a little bit of time, you’ll have the satisfaction in knowing that your data is there if something should happen.

Whether it’s for your business or personal use, you can’t go wrong backing up your data. You should always create a backup of your data at least once a month, even more than that if you have a lot of important information that you add to your laptop on a frequent basis.

About The Author
John Ugoshowa. You are welcome to use this article on your website or in your ezines as long as you have a link back to www.quickregister.net/partners/

What Is Wifi

2008-08-19T23:42:00.000-07:00

What Is Wifi , What Are Wifi Hotspots & What Can They Do For Me?

Wifi is an internet technology which allows you to access the internet within a local area without the need to physically connect your computer to a computer network, instead a wireless broadband signal is sent around the local area allowing computer users to connect to the internet in that area wirelessly. In case you were wondering Wifi stands for Wireless Fidelity and Wifi hotspots are public areas where you can access one of these wireless broadband signals. Public places where you can find Wifi hotspots these days are hotels, airports, restaurants, cafes, bars and railway stations. All this means you can travel around pretty much anywhere in the world and find Wifi hotspots from which you can wirelessly and easily access the internet, meaning you can keep up to date with your emails, surf the internet and do all the other useful things you do on the internet whilst on your travels. This technology is particularly good for business users who can gain extra work time by squeezing in internet time at various Wifi hotspots.

What Do I Need To Use My Computer In A Wifi Hotspot?

Well first of all you will need a wirelesss LAN network card installed in your laptop. This can be bought in your local computer store or in an online computer store and is not very expensive to buy. The other thing you will need is an account with a Wifi internet access provider so that you can connect to the net when in a Wifi hotspot. One thing to note is that there are several different Wifi internet access providers and that not all Wifi hotspots can be accessed by all the different Wifi internet access provider´s networks. This means that if you want to have maximum choice of Wifi hotspots to use, then it is a good idea to sign up with more than one Wifi internet access provider. The other thing you need to know is that most Wifi service providers charge you an hourly fee for using their service. These charges can add up, so if you are a regular or heavy user then it might work out cheaper for you to sign up for a monthly service plan which some providers offer and this could save you a lot of money as you will be paying a fixed monthly fee regardless of the amount of time you access the internet through Wifi hotspots.

About The Author
Jose Miguel Poza runs a website about broadband & broadband service providers with many reviews of UK and US broadband services, a guide to broadband technology and links to cool broadband content. You can check it out at www.broadbandassistant.com

SQL

2008-08-19T23:36:00.000-07:00

QL Server - The Most Powerful Database Administration Tool

A SQL (Structured Query Language) server is a complete system designed for the purpose of database management, development and administration. With the help of the SQL server software, users are able to create and handle large relational or structural databases and develop applications that increase the effectiveness of their business.

Microsoft SQL Server has always been the best database platform. It provides secure storage and when it comes to working with large databases no other product can be compared with SQL server. It is also very closely related to Visual Studio and The office suite, so it's perfect for both database administrators and people who work with smaller and simpler databases

SQL servers have a large number of powerful tools that facilitate database maintenance, and administration. Among the most important ones are the Enterprise Manager, the Service Manager and the Query analyzer.

The Enterprise Manager allows its user to manage all the SQL server installations on a network and control all the databases from it. The Service Manager is responsible for controlling the processes and services of an SQL server Finally, the Query analyzer processes all the queries against any of the SQL databases.

The first version of Microsoft SQL server was released in 1993, the same time Windows NT 3.1 came out on the market, and after a few years, Microsoft SQL server 2000 was released. Compared to its previous versions, SQL server 2000 brings a lot of improvements and interesting new features, like XML support, functions that can be defined by the users themselves, indexed views and new data types. Also, some of the features that existed in the previous versions were enhanced in Microsoft SQL server 2000. Among the features that were enhanced you can find the full text search feature, the DBCC and. the backup and restore processes.

The last version of Microsoft SQL server was released in 2005 and it was, of course, called Microsoft SQL server 2005. This version is quite faster than SQL server 2000 and in the five years that passed since the first one was released a lot of new improvements and enhancements have been done. SQL server 2005 is not only a database administration tool, it also contains Messaging technologies, OLAP and Server integration services. It has a large variety of management tools integrated also and its security and database encryption systems have been seriously improved.

T-Sql has been implemented in order to handle errors better and the XML integration has gone deeper, now allowing XML to be stored in databases.

The new features of SQL 2005 are too many to enumerate, so we'll just take a look at a few of the most important ones:

Database mirroring - if a database fails, the application connects to another database from a secondary server, and transfer isn't interrupted Snapshots - if loss of data occurs or someone just made a mistake and modified some important data everything can be recovered because SQL server periodically takes 'snapshots' of the database and uses them to restore the data Support for 64 bit processors Business Intelligence features built into SQL Server Analysis Services and Reporting Services Significant security upgrades Enhanced encryption capabilities .NET CLR, and Visual Studio integration

..and many more other useful features

SQL server 2000 and SQL server 2005 are the best and the most complex database management tools on the market, and they can do much more than just managing and administrating databases, so they are the best choice if your company needs database administration and maintenance.

A good source for more information on how to install, customize, and make the most use of a SQL Server implementation, visit the Microsoft practice section of www.unitekconsulting.com.

About The Author
Shannon Margolis
IT Marketing Coordinator
www.unitekconsulting.com

How To Make Money From The Internet,

2008-08-19T01:59:00.000-07:00





	What is ClixSense? ClixSense is a unique opportunity for you to earn extra money for FREE! You get paid to view other members advertisements. You get paid for each full ad you view. Free to join! Register a free account, Log-In, click browse ads. Get paid for each ad you view. Receive a monthly paycheck for your activity

How to Setup a Home Network

2008-01-26T06:06:00.000-08:00

How to Setup a Home Network

Before you start: To decide what type of network to set up or to find out what hardware and cables you need, see What you need to set up a home network. That topic has information about the different types of networks (also known as network technologies), as well as hardware requirements for each type.

Once you know what type of network you want and have the necessary hardware, there are four possible steps to take (two of these are not always required):

1. Install any necessary hardware.
2. Set up an Internet connection (optional).
3. Connect the computers.
4. Run the Set Up a Wireless Router or Access Point wizard (wireless only).

Each of these steps is described in detail later in this article.

Start by setting up one computer. Once you set up the network and you are sure that the first computer is working correctly, you can add additional computers or devices.

Note: This information is designed for people who have a broadband connection (usually DSL or cable) to the Internet rather than a dial-up connection.

Install the hardware

Install network adapters in any computers that need them. (Follow the installation instructions in the information that came with each adapter.)

Set up or verify an Internet connection (optional)

You don’t need an Internet connection to set up a network, although most people want to use their network to share an Internet connection. To set up an Internet connection, you need a cable or DSL modem and an account with an Internet service provider (ISP). Then open the Connect to the Internet wizard and follow the instructions. For more information, see What do I need to connect to the Internet?

If you already have an Internet connection, you just need to verify that the connection is working. To do that, open your web browser and go to a website that you don’t usually visit. (If you go to a website that you visit often, some of its web pages might be stored on your computer and will display correctly even if your connection is faulty.) If the website opens and you don’t get any error messages, your connection is working.

To share an Internet connection

You can also share one Internet connection among two or more network computers. To do that, you can either use an intermediary device or set up Internet Connection Sharing (ICS). Your ISP might charge a fee for multiple Internet connections. Ask your ISP for information about this.

Use an intermediary device

You can use a router or a combined router and modem (also called an Internet gateway) to share an Internet connection. If you use a router, connect it to both the modem and the computer with the Internet connection, and then verify your Internet connection again. The information that came with the router should include connection instructions. If you use a combined router and modem, plug it into any computer. Check the information that came with the device for more detailed connection instructions.

Note

The router and modem must be turned on to use the Internet connection from any of the computers on your network.

Set up ICS

If you want to share an Internet connection and you don’t want to buy any more equipment, you can set up ICS on the computer that is connected to the modem. That computer will also need two network adapters: one to connect to the modem and one to connect to the other computer. ICS is not included with Windows Vista Starter.

Connect the computers

There are several ways to connect computers-the configuration depends on the type of network adapters, modem, and Internet connection that you have. It also depends on whether or not you want to share an Internet connection among all the computers on the network. The following sections briefly describe some connection methods.

Ethernet networks

You need a hub, switch, or router to connect computers using Ethernet. (For information about each type of hardware, see How do hubs, switches, routers, and access points differ?)

To share an Internet connection, you need to use a router. Connect the router to the computer that is connected to the modem (if you haven’t already done this).

Ethernet network with wired router and a shared Internet connection

If your home or office is wired for Ethernet, set up the computers in rooms that have Ethernet jacks, and then plug them directly into the Ethernet jacks.

Ethernet network using built-in Ethernet

Wireless networks

For wireless networks, run the Set Up a Wireless Router or Access Point wizard on the computer attached to the router. The wizard will walk you through the process of adding other computers and devices to the network.

Wireless network with a shared Internet connection

HPNA networks

For HPNA networks, you need an HPNA network adapter in each computer and a phone jack in each room where there is a computer. Plug the computers into the phone jacks. The computers will be automatically connected.

Turn on all computers or devices, such as printers, that you want to be part of your network. If your network is wired Ethernet or HPNA, it should be set up and ready to use. You should test your network (see below) to make sure that all computers and devices are connected correctly.

Run the Set Up a Wireless Router or Access Point wizard

If your network is wireless, run the Set up a Wireless Router or Access Point wizard on the computer attached to the router.

• Open Set Up a Wireless Router or Access Point by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Network and Internet, and then clicking Network and Sharing Center. In the left pane, click Set up a connection or network, and then click Set up a wireless router or access point.

The wizard will walk you through the process of adding other computers and devices to the network. For more information, see Add a device or computer to a network.

Enable sharing on your network

If you want to share files and printers on your network, make sure your network location type is set to Private and that network discovery, file sharing, and printer sharing are turned on. For more information, see Choosing a network location and Enable or disable network discovery.

Test your network

It’s a good idea to test your network to make sure that all of the computers and devices are connected and working properly. To test your network, do the following on each network computer: Click the Start button , and then click Network. You should be able to see icons for the computer you are on and all of the other computers and devices that you have added to the network. If the computer you are checking has a printer attached, the printer icon might not be visible on other computers until you enable printer sharing. (Printer sharing is not available on Windows Vista Starter.)

Lock my Pc

2008-01-21T04:05:00.000-08:00

Lock My PC 4 - a better way to lock your computer

Lock My PC™ is an easy in use, powerful and compact tool to lock your computer from unauthorized use. When you leave your computer unattended, the program disables the hot keys (including Ctrl+Alt+Del), mouse, locks CD/DVD ROM doors and displays a lock screen. Nobody can access your system without providing the correct unlock password.

Unlike another similar computer lock software that cannot lock Ctrl+Alt+Del on a computer running Windows XP, our Lock My PC runs own keyboard driver to block such key combinations. Moreover, bulletproof startup lock guarantee that when your computer locaked at startup, this lock cannot be bypassed even in safe mode!

Why Lock My PC ?

You don't like snoopers. They are always prying into your e-mail messages, programs, data, files, etc. Lock My PC allows you to lock your computer with a password while you leave it unattended. You can lock your computer manually, with a menu or hotkey, or set up auto lock when your computer is idle

Lock My PC (logo and trayicon menu)

Features and benefits
* Quick and safe computer lock by hot key, or mouse click
* Autolock when computer is idle
* Correct Ctrl+Alt+Del lock
* Bulletproof startup lock (couldn't be bypassed in safe mode)
* Different installation mode - setup for home or corporate use
* CD/DVD-ROM doors lock
* Multi-user support
* Multimonitor support
* Auto turnoff when computer is locked for a long time
* Blind password option
* Stealth mode
* Windows XP x64 compatibility
* Custom lock screens
* Cycling lock screen images
* Screen saving effects
* Lock screen transparency - you can view movies under the locked screen
* Password protected settings, quit and uninstall
* Command line options
* and many more

Difference from standard Windows XP computer lock feature

A lot of users believe that Lock My PC (as well as any other third party computer lock software) is useless because Windows XP has integrated computer lock feature.

Well, indeed, you can simply press Win+L on Windows XP computer keyboard and your screen will be safely locked. What advantages Lock My PC has over Windows computer lock?

First of all, when your computer is locked by Windows Lock feature, anyone who has Windows Administrative privileges can unlock your computer. Such unlock will force to close your session (all unsaved changes will be lost). If Welcome screen option is enabled on your computer (the default settings for non-domain computer), Win+L doesn't lock the computer at all - it temporary switches the user off and displays the welcome screen - if you share your computer with others, they can logon with their usernames and use your computer. Moreover, if you share your account with other users (it's common for home PC), Windows XP lock feature is useless at all - your folks will unlock your computer without any problem.

Another benefits of Lock My PC in comare with Windows lock feature:

* Custom lock screens and transparent lock screen options - your computer can be used as a presentation machine - the screen displays pictures or video, but nobody can touch your computer;
* Secure Lock before Windows welcome/logon screen;
* Displaying unsuccesfull unlock attempts - you will be notified if anyone tried to unlock your computer;
* If Lock My PC is used in muilti-user mode, a supervisor can unlock the computer without closing user session;
* You can lock CD/DVD ROM doors along with the desktop, keyboard and mouse - this can prevent CD media from being stolen while you are out;
* Command line support allows you to use Lock My PC in Internet kiosks.

Safe and secure

Lock My PC provides reliable locking mechanism that impossible to bypass:

Keyboard driver installed with Lock My PC blocks different key combinations like Ctrl+Alt+Del, Alt+Tab, Ctrl+Esc and many others.

Booletproof startup lock ("Always lock at startup" option) displays password prompt box before Windows logon/welcome screen and (unlikle the most of desktop locking software) bannot be bypassed in Windows safe mode.

Easy to use

As soon as the installation completed, double click on the Lock My PC tray icon to lock the computer.

Right click on the tray icon to get access to the program settings. All settings are groupped by cathegoriies.

Autolock computer after certain time of inactivity

You can set up Lock My PC to lock your desktop automatically if the computer is idle during a certain period of time. Moreover you can set up Lock My PC to switch the computer off (Hibernate, Standby etc.) if your computer was locked during a certain period of time.

Stealth mode

Lock My PC can work in stealth mode. Stealth mode is a state when the program is running on your computer but does not show any sign of its presence in memory. To activate stealth mode, enable options "Do not show tray icon at startup" and "Hide Lock My PC from Task Manager".

Two installation modes

Lock My PC can be used both in single-user and multi-user environment. During the installation process, you will instruct Setup wehter to install Lock My PC in single-user mode or in multi-user mode.

In single-user mode, Setup will create Lock My PC shortcuts only for you. Locked computer can be unlocked only with your password. Some advanced options for corporate use will be blocked. This mode is ideal for home use.

In multi-user mode, Setup will create Lock My PC shortcuts for all user accounts. Each Lock My PC user will have their own password. The user who installed Lock My PC will be Lock My PC Administrator and his/her password - the administator's password. This mode is ideal for corporate use.

30-days trial

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How To Make Money From The Internet

2008-01-16T21:37:00.001-08:00

How To Make Money From The Internet

A guide to the easiest ways of how to make money from the internet armed with a computer and a bank account.

Ways to Get Money from the Internet
The basic way to get money from the Internet is to promote products via ads. These ads are placed on your own website or on someone elses such as a search engine in the form of sponsored ads.

The product might be your own product or someone elses where you participate as an affiliate and receive commissions on sales.

How Much Money Could You Make from the Internet ?
With your own product you would make a profit on each sale based on your sale price minus the cost of materials, shipping and other expenses.

Own Product Example
You market an eBook priced at $49 for download from your website and use a 3rd party payment provider such as ClickBank.

Each month you have 1,000 visitors to your website and a sales conversion rate of 5% so your revenue is $2,450 per month.

Now consider expenses like web hosting at $10 per month and credit-card processing fees of 8% giving costs of $206 per month.

So, in this example your profits are $2,234 monthly.

Affiliate Marketing Example
You have a website about fishing where you review equipment and have product links carrying your affiliate tracking code.

Your website gets 10,000 visitors a month and 10% click on a product link. 10% of these people purchase an average of $100 of merchandise. You get paid 5% commission.

So 1000 people click and 100 buy a product and you are paid 5% of $10,000 in commission.

You only have web hosting costs of $10 per month to deduct.

This nets you $490 per month profit.

Own Product or Affiliate Marketing ?
From the above examples it is clear which is the most profitable approach to take. However, you may struggle to develop your own product, yet you can immediately access 1000's of other people's products via the affiliate marketing route.

The affiliate commission on eBooks is generally far higher than physical goods so you can make good money marketing other people's eBook products rather than developing your own.

For physical products, successful affiliate marketers generally create sites that recommend the products such as sport's equipment. If the price of the products is high, you can make good money.

How to Make as Much Money as Possible
Which ever route is taken you need to balance the following factors for maximum profits:

Maximize Visitors
The more people that see your ads, the more will click and buy. Some ways to maximize visitors are:

Add more content and pages to your website
Optimize your website for search engines
Get more links to your website
Advertise your URL in Google adwords and pay per click search engines
Advertise your URL offline in classified ads
Maximize Click-throughs
Pre-sell products with reviews, articles and related information then provide links in easy to find places.

Maximize Profit
Adjust the selling price to balance sales volumes at the point where maximum profit is produced.

Minimize costs by reducing shipping costs and administration costs. One of the best ways to do this is to market digital products such as software and e-Books that don't require physical shipping.

Maximize commission. Look for large commission percentages and high conversion rates in affiliate partnerships.

Website Traffic Analysis: Is Weblog Analysis Adequate

2008-01-16T21:28:00.000-08:00

Website Traffic Analysis: Is Weblog Analysis Adequate?

Summary : The Internet bubble may have burst, but Internet marketing is stronger than ever. Paid search engine advertisement is growing at a stratospheric rate of 25% per quarter (not per year). Internet sales are growing at a rate much faster than overall retail sales. The Amazon stock has nearly tripled in a year.

The Internet bubble may have burst, but Internet marketing is stronger than ever. Paid search engine advertisement is growing at a stratospheric rate of 25% per quarter (not per year). Internet sales are growing at a rate much faster than overall retail sales. The Amazon stock has nearly tripled in a year.

What is happening is that all organizations, even small ones, are realizing that Internet hype may have been overdone but the importance of Internet marketing is growing stronger every day. Internet marketing is all about bringing traffic to your web site, and then converting this traffic into achieving your strategic goals, be they selling goods, building awareness or delivering information.

In this context, understanding traffic to your website gains critical importance. Simple metrics such as counters or page views are totally inadequate in the marketing context. Marketing managers and small business owners need to know who is visiting, from where and when, why they are visiting and what they are doing when on the website. These are the 5Ws of Internet marketing.

Currently this type of analysis is being conducted in two ways: Weblog analysis and Tracking code analysis. The web logs are provided by Internet service providers, and there are both online and offline tools to conduct the analysis. Tracking code analyses are provided online by several providers such as Hit Box and Web Site Traffic Report.

Although both types of analyses are supposed to count the same thing (visitor actions on the website), there are technical differences that are subtle in scope, but significant in impact. Tracking code systems are generally more direct and more accurate. Further, tracking code systems are relatively so inexpensive (usually starting at $10/month) that every organization should investigate the value of their use. The cost of using inaccurate statistics far exceeds the minor cost of tracking code systems.

The table on the following page highlights the main technical differences between the two systems and their impact on the outcome.

Feature	Weblog System	Tracking Code System	What does it mean?
HTML Frames: Often each webpage may have two to four or even more frames	Often counts each frame as a page view.	Page is only counted once.	Serious over count with weblog analysis. A serious discrepancy.
Cached pages	Many ISPs store many pages on proxy servers to improve performance. These are mostly not counted by weblog systems.	Properly counts each as a page view.	Undercount by weblog analysis. The seriousness of the undercount depends on the use of proxy servers.
IP address pools	Many ISP have a pool of IP addresses that change over time and even during a session. Weblog systems are based on IP address and thus may over count users.	Uses an internal session cache that does not rely on IP address.	over count by weblog analysis can be significant.
False page views	If the users quickly skip over pages even before the page is fully loaded, the weblog system count the skipped over page as a page view.	The page view is not counted until the tracking code (usually at the bottom of the page) is loaded.	over countby weblog systems can be significant.
Artificial traffic	Scores of search engines spider the web every day. Any hit by the spiders is counted as a page view.	The spidering is usually too quick to be recognized by the tracking code systems.	As the number of search engines grows, the over count by weblog systems can be serious.
Placement of tracking code	No impact.	In some very slow systems, the tracking code at the end of the page may not be recognized before page change even when most of the page has been read.	This is a relatively rare problem and is even of less significance with faster connections. Tracking code systems may yield a minor undercount, if any.

The analysis above clearly shows that tracking code systems provide better data that is the basis of all analysis.

All tracking code systems are not alike. Many produce scores of tables and charts, but the critical insights are lost in charts and graphs. We recommend Web Site Traffic Report (www.websitetrafficreport.com) where the key data is intuitively organized in a single report that is automatically emailed to the users every day while the users still have the options to go online at any time and conduct additional analyses.

System Cleaner

2008-01-16T02:42:00.000-08:00

» Advanced History Supervisor
AdvancedHistory Supervisor - is an utility that manages history files. Whenever you use your computer, you leave traces of your activities. Investigators, your employer, your colleagues, your friends, and your family members can find out what you've been doing online ...more>>>

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Alive Internet Eraser is a privacy protection software to erase the history of your activities on a computer. It allows you to erase browser cache, cookies, history, visited URLs, typed URLs, auto complete data, index.dat in one click. Alive Internet Eraser support all recent versions of Internet Explorer, and popular browsers such as Netscape, AOL, Opera and MSN Explorer...more>>>

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CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history...more>>>

» Clean Space
Clean Space 9 has been designed for the protection and removal of activity history stored in your computer to make sure no-one will be able to access this information. In other words, nobody will be able to view the websites you’ve visited, images or videos you’ve viewed, programs you’ve started, letters you’ve written...more>>>

» East Tec Eraser 2006
Keep what you do on your computer to yourself and protect your privacy! East-Tec Eraser 2006 protects your privacy, identity and confidential information and removes all evidence of your computer and online activity...more>>>

» Error Doctor 2007
ERROR DOCTOR™ will fix hidden bugs and errors on your PC and increase the overall performance speed of your computer by as much as 300%. Statistics show that 93.7% of personal computers have corrupt and potentially dangerous files with 150 or more errors on them...more>>>

» Flash Clean
FlashClean is a useful program for cleaning up the history of your activities on a computer. Each time you surf on Internet or use other applications in your PC, traces of your activities linger on your hard drive and are open to any person who uses your PC ...more>>>

» Object Wipe
ObjectWipe is a solution to keep your computer privacy: wipe files and folders; wipe disk drives and flash memory; wipe unused disk space. ObjectWipe overwrites data in either fast or secure erase algorithms with multiple passes using overwrite patterns ...more>>>

» One Privacy Eraser
1 Privacy Eraser is an Internet Eraser that protects your internet privacy by cleaning up all the tracks of your internet and computer activities. Our internet eraser supports popular web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla, AOL, Netscape, Opera and MSN Explorer...more>>>

» Privacy Eraser Pro
Internet Eraser - Erase Internet History & Protect Internet Privacy! Privacy Eraser is an Internet Eraser that protects your Internet privacy by cleaning up all the tracks of your Internet and computer activities...more>>>

» RAM BOOSTER EXPERT
Ram Booster expert is an award winning memory optimization tool. Our product is a memory optimization tool that will help you to increase the computer free memory count and will make your Windows to run faster and stable...more>>>

» Shadow Security Scanner
Safety Lab Shadow Security Scanner is a Proactive Computer Network Security Vulnerability Assessment Scanner with over 5000 audits. This is a new generation of hi-tech software (network vulnerability assessment scanner) that perfor med greatly in the 20th century and remains on the front line in the new millennium!...more>>>

» Super Utilities
Super Utilities - Make your computer run faster, safer, with greater privacy and security Comprising four focus modules designed to do everything from cleaning your Registry to removing spyware infestations. Super Utilities is a megamart of system-maintenance tools designed to keep your computer running smoothly...more>>>

» Trojan Hunter 4.5
TrojanHunter searches for and removes trojans on your system. It uses powerful scanning techniques such as file, memory, registry, port and ini-file scanning to locate trojans on your system. Rule files are easily updated with the LiveUpdate utility...more>>>

» Watchfire AppScan Enterprise
Watchfire AppScan is the industry's first and leading web application security testing suite, and the only one to provide comprehensive remediation tasks at every level of the application. AppScan scans web applications within your infrastructure, tests for security issues and provides actionable reports and recommendations...more>>>

» Webroot Window Washer
As you work on your computer and browse the Internet, you leave behind traces of your activity. This information not only takes up valuable disk space but also jeopardizes your privacy...more>>>

» Wiper Wizard
A lot of people do not realize that their PC store information about what they have done, what documents they have used, what web sites they have visited, and various other activities they have performed. Therefore, anyone else can see what you have been doing on your computer, which raises several privacy concerns...more>>>

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XP Smoker Pro 5.1 is the newer, more powerful version of the Award winning tweaking utility designed specifically for Windows XP a.k.a WinXP. XP Smoker Pro allows you to change a multitude of settings in the registry...more>>>

marketing

2008-01-14T06:12:00.001-08:00

What is customer relationship marketing?

Customer Relationship Marketing is a practice that encompasses all marketing activities directed toward establishing, developing, and maintaining successful customer relationships. The focus of relationship marketing is on developing long-term relationships and improving corporate performance through customer loyalty and customer retention

What is Relationship Marketing? Description

Relationship Marketing is an approach which emphasizes the continuing relationships that should exist between the organization and its customers. It emphasizes the importance of customer service and quality and of developing a series of transactions with consumers

2. Why this is important for an organization?

· Companies that want to realize a customer intimacy strategy.

· Companies that want to accomplish a customer friendly image.

The most important aspect of relationship marketing is the fact that people buy from people and companies they like and trust. As a result, building relationships with customers is extremely important in order to ensure continued sales, as well as attract new markets and customers.

3. Advantages of customer relationship?

CRM is an enterprise-wide strategy for presenting a single face, sometimes called a unified marketing message, to the customer. It responds to issues relating to sharing customer data and providing a seamless contact and fulfillment experience for the customer.

CRM front-end applications usually integrate with back end systems such as accounting and manufacturing for a true enterprise-wide cost reduction solution.

Ensure top of mind positioning to bolster your corporate image
Maintain identity and differentiation with key customers
Promote new product and service offerings
Sustain contacts with slow-adopting customers and prospects
Boost referrals and leads
Improve client relationships and retain existing customers for long-term profitable success

· Strong relations with clients offer a degree of protection against actions of competitors.

· Loyal customers can be more profitable. Winning new customers is expensive, satisfied customers may buy more, happy customers can bring additional customers, etc.

· Focus on providing value to customers.

· Emphasis on customer retention.

· The method is an integrated approach to marketing, service and quality. Therefore it provides a better basis for achieving Competitive Advantage.

· Studies in several industries show that the costs to keep an existing customer are just a fraction of the costs to acquire a new customer. So often it makes economic sense to pay more attention to existing customers.

· Long-term customers may initiate free word of mouth promotions and referrals.

· Long-term customers are less likely to switch to competitors. This makes it more difficult for competitors to enter the market.

· Happier customers may lead to happier employees.

Advantages of relation ship marketing

The cost of acquisition occur only at the beginning of a relationship, so the longer the relationship, the lower the amortized cost.
Account maintenance costs decline as a percentage of total costs (or as a percentage of revenue).
Long-term customers tend to be less inclined to switch, and also tend to be less price sensitive. This can result in stable unit sales volume and increases in dollar-sales volume.
Long-term customers may initiate free word of mouth promotions and referrals.
Long-term customers are more likely to purchase ancillary products and high margin supplemental products.
Customers that stay with you tend to be satisfied with the relationship and are less likely to switch to competitors, making it difficult for competitors to enter the market or gain market share.
Regular customers tend to be less expensive to service because they are familiar with the process, require less "education", and are consistent in their order placement.

Increased customer retention and loyalty makes the employees' jobs easier and more satisfying. In turn, happy employees feed back into better customer satisfaction in a virtuous circle

Limitations of the Relationship Marketing model. Disadvantages

Relationship Marketing is less appropriate in the following circumstances:

· Relatively low value products or services.

· Consumer products.

· Generic commodities.

· Switching costs are low.

· Clients prefer a single transaction to relationships.

· No / low customer involvement in production.

4. Strategies of relationship marketing..how ur going 2 maintain a loyal customers?

Defining Customer Loyalty

Customer loyalty is the practice of finding, attracting, and retaining your customers who regularly purchase from you. Customer loyalty is not customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is the basic entry point of good business practices. Your small business should provide satisfaction to all your customers.

Loyalty cards and programs have their rewards and pitfalls. Rewarding customers for spending more dollars can create a vicious cycle of creating customers who want rewards and will look anywhere to obtain them. With loyalty cards and programs reaching a saturation point, how can a small business stand out?

Software, card programs, and loyalty schemes are the tools of customer loyalty programs but they aren't the essence of loyalty. To build loyalty, you must earn it. Look at these 8 ways to earn more customer loyalty for your small business:

Step-1

You will first need to identify the diverse audience with whom you wish to build a relationship. Then you will need to find out the answers to key questions:

What does this audience know about Extension and/or your program?
How does this audience feel about Extension and/or your program (positive or negative)?
What needs does this audience have that your program can meet?

Step-2

If they know about Extension and your program, and have favorable feelings towards it, then you will have to keep maintaining a good relationship with your audience by keeping in touch with them through impersonal marketing techniques like mailings, flyers, etc.

If they know about Extension and/or your program, but have negative or indifferent feelings towards it, then you will need to change this negative image before you can build trust. This can begin to happen when you apply The six Ps technique of personal marketing, with special emphasis on promotion and price. (The six P's are covered in EDIS fact sheet FY757, "Personal Marketing: A Strategy for Marketing Programs to Diverse Audience").

If the audience does not know much about Extension and/or your program, then you must inform them. You can do this by applying The six P's technique of personal marketing

Step-3

Identify the assets that individuals or institutions in the diverse audience possess. Use the assets of these individuals and institutions to carry out your programs. Volunteers can have short or long-term assignments. These experiences help build program ownership and foster even more participation. (EDIS fact sheet FY760, "Maximizing the Assets of A Diverse Community" will deal specifically with how to identify the individual and/or institutional assets of diverse audiences.)

Step-4

Actively solicit the increased participation and involvement of community members, which will foster greater loyalty to the program

Step-5

Encourage greater support from community members. Loyal individuals are more likely to advocate for the program and/or donate resources to the program.

Each of these steps takes time and attention. Relationship marketing must be nurtured.

Conclusion

Relationship marketing is one of the most time-consuming, but most effective strategies for marketing Extension programs. Relationship marketing is a process, not a one-time event; clientele must understand that you are committed long-term and that they can depend on you to provide education.

To be effective, you must establish a relationship with the audience you are targeting by making a connection with them over time. In order to build a relationship, as with any other relationship in life, Extension needs to be constantly in touch with its audiences. By making a connection with diverse audiences, Extension can build strong community networks that promote the programs we market beyond the limited scope of small workshops and community meetings

Company Loyalty First: Customer loyalty is a 2-way street. How can you expect customer loyalty if you don't practice company loyalty? Are you loyal to your best customers or are you giving discounts and extra attention to new customers? Loyalty is about being fanatical with devotion to your best customers.

Employee Loyalty Second: Any customer loyalty program must factor in the front line of the business. It's the point of contact between customer and employee that sets the foundation of repeat business. "Hire for attitude, train for skill. Hire nice people. As a customer, I'm always amazed when small businesses put unfriendly, surly people in front of their customers. Loyalty is often the direct result of the relationships your employees build and maintain," says Ben McConnell of marketing consulting firm Wabash & Lake and co-author of "Creating Customer Evangelists."

Quench the Thirst: Consumers are thirsty for trust following corporate scandals and the general distrust of corporations. If your small business is not trustworthy, your odds of establishing customer loyalty are diminished

Establish good business ethics and practices.

Finding Loyalty: Any small business wishing to start a customer loyalty initiative needs first to identify important customers and understand their customer's behaviors. Use whatever tools, software, and data-mining techniques to locate your repeat, regular customers. Equally vital is to know your profit margins. Don't offer discounts until you know the impact on your bottom line.

Reward Customer Retention: The key metric to track in your customer loyalty program is customer retention. How many customers are defecting? How many clients are retained? Measuring customer retention is half the battle. Your staff must be rewarded for retention. Your small business doesn't have to be

like big corporations who talk retention but reward sales people for bringing in new customers only.

Use Customer-centric Language: It's easy to think you put the customer first. However, take a closer look at your marketing communications. How many times does your literature refer to "we" the company versus "you" the customer? Go back and speak from the customer's perspective.

Bolster Customer Communications: Part of customer loyalty and retention are maintaining regular contact with your most profitable customers. Communication to your best customers should take the form of showing your appreciation and providing new learning experiences to add value to your customer's life. Send special thank-you notes, surprise gifts, and regular communications such as newsletters to connect with them.

Use the Small Business Advantage: Small business will always have the advantage in connecting with customers and building a solid relationship. Your passion for helping customers with your products and services is difficult for large companies to replicate. As customer evangelist guru Ben McConnell states, "Small businesses thrive on outstanding customer loyalty. It's their currency of growth and their best differentiator. Without loyalty, small businesses are destined to compete on a playing field with larger competitors where they are outnumbered and outwitted."

Win the customer service game by putting customer loyalty to work in your small business. Just remember, it's more than cards and software. It's more about earning trust and relationship building.

What is marketing orientation?

The marketing concept entails discovering and identifying the customers' unmet needs, and then satisfying them. The market orientation is based on this concept and is characterized by customer focus, a coordinated marketing effort, and long-term success. A customer focus involves a consistent and continuous effort to find out what customers need or want. A coordinated marketing effort means that information about the customer or marketplace is shared throughout the organization. Firms whose actions are customer-driven are better able to adapt to a dynamic marketplace, and they perform better in the long run.

Prior to the selling process, information about the market is collected in order to determine what the customer needs and the best way to satisfy those needs. This is the most prevalent philosophy found in the business world today.

the market orientation requires that information about the market (e.g., potential customers, trends, competitors) is collected prior to making decisions that involve the selling process (e.g., what to sell, where to sell, how much to charge, how to promote the product). The market orientation depends on a two-way relationship with customers where firms actively seek to discover unmet customer needs and then to satisfy them. This is the essence of the marketing concept: "making what is desired or wanted" rather than "selling what we make." The market orientation is characterized by the following:

customer focus
coordinated marketing effort
long-term success

A customer focus involves a consistent and continuous effort to find out what is needed or wanted by customers. To this end, a firm might collect information directly from individual customers, or it might track competitive, economic, social, political, or technological trends to anticipate future customer needs.

A coordinated marketing effort means that information about the customer or marketplace is shared throughout the organization. Other functional departments (e.g., research, finance, manufacturing) are partners in the effort to satisfy customer needs.

Finally, the marketing concept is associated with long-term success. Firms whose actions are customer-driven are better able to adapt to a dynamic marketplace, and they perform better in the long run. Perhaps the best way to understand why a customer orientation is associated with a longer time frame is to look at the opposite extreme. Consider the "shyster" snake oil salesman who tries to sell bottled water as a youth elixir in a traveling carnival. The salesman may be successful the first time he comes to town, but he won't be the next time. In other words, the marketing concept helps to maintain customer satisfaction, which leads to long-term success.

While the market orientation seems like an obvious, common-sense philosophy, it did not become dominant until relatively recently (late 1950s). Today it is practiced by virtually every large and medium-size company. In fact, there isn't a consumer good company I can think of that would introduce a new product nationally without first finding out whether there was a significant consumer need for it.

Now imagine a boy, Joel, age ten, who wants to sell lemonade. Before he starts, Joel goes to the adults in the neighborhood and asks them what type of lemonade they would like. He finds out that most of them do not like lemonade—they prefer iced tea, and only in the heat of the summer. He tells his parents about his discovery and enlists their support in helping him set up his iced tea stand in July and August. Joel's parents also help him get the taste of his iced tea just right, and his iced tea stand is a success. In the coming years, the neighbors remember Joel's good iced tea and reward him with lawn-mowing and baby-sitting jobs. Inspired by his early success, Joel becomes a millionaire, dates supermodels, self-actualizes, and now helps make the world a better place by teaching marketing.

Product Orientation

The original philosophy of exchange for businesses revolved around the product itself. Firms that adopt the product orientation focus upon the efficient production of their products with no input from customers. This is kind of a "if we build it, they will come" philosophy. An example of this would be the type of attitude exhibited by the owner of the general store in a small western U.S. town back in the early 1800s (e.g., Deadwood). Essentially, anything the Wells Fargo wagon could deliver was stocked and bought by the local citizenry eager for rare goods. Today, a similar product-oriented philosophy might be found at a high-technology firm that depends on engineering expertise to be innovative. For example, in the early 1990s, the personal computer industry basically followed a production orientation. Product improvements were based on manufacturing and engineering innovation and not on customer input, resulting in a philosophy of "if we build it faster with more storage, they will come."

The product-orientation philosophy was the norm up until the early 1900s and is best suited for situations in which demand exceeds supply. It is based on the idea that the product will sell itself. However, today, product advantages are fleeting and somewhat arbitrary. For example, competitors in the personal computer industry quickly match each other on processor speed and hard disk storage, and not everyone thinks a razor with the most blades is necessarily the best. Product orientation can be an extremely risky philosophy when there is no excess demand for the product .

Consider a child, Lisa, age eight, who wants to sell lemonade. Since she is meticulous in her schoolwork and is rewarded with straight A's, she knows making "the best lemonade" will be her ticket to success. To this end, Lisa steals her father's credit card and makes purchases on the Internet for the best lemons from Valencia, Spain, pure cane sugar from Hawaii, and a fifty-gallon lemonade cooler on eBay. She spends all night preparing her super lemonade and then sets it up on a table in her front yard on Saturday. No one stops to buy her lemonade even though she has made "the best lemonade in the world." Why? Because no one knows what is sitting on her table or what she is doing there. Totally demoralized, Lisa is doomed to live a life of drug addiction—or worse yet, pursue to a career in accounting.

Sales Orientation

As business environments became more competitive and production technologies more advanced, making enough became less of a problem and selling what was on hand took on more importance. The sales orientation philosophy is to sell (i.e., persuade people to buy) what is made. This became the dominant orientation with the advent of the Great Depression in the late 1920s and 1930s. This orientation gave birth to advertising and the traveling salesman as means of informing or persuading potential customers. Like the production orientation, the sales orientation is internally driven. However, sales orientation introduced the concept of communication—albeit one-way, to the customer. "Just sell the damn product" is a useful exaggeration of the sales orientation.

Today, the sales orientation exists in a variety of contexts. With rare exception, the lettuce grower in California's Salinas Valley simply grows the iceberg lettuce and then tries to sell it (and quickly because of its perishability). Or, consider the many small businesses that reflect an entrepreneurial interest. In both cases, business activity is the result of internal, personal impetus: "I am a lettuce farmer. Once I grow the lettuce, I need to sell it." "I need to make money and I make good sushi, so I'll open a restaurant and sell sushi."

Consider a child, Melvin, age nine, who wants to sell lemonade. He is outspoken about his excellent schoolwork, is rewarded with straight A's, and knows that making "the best case for your lemonade" is the ticket to success. Not only does he make lemonade using real lemons, Melvin advertises in the local paper and puts signs up at his stand that read "Real Lemonade 25 cents." But once again, no one buys the lemonade. Why?

Because it turns out that Melvin lives in Buffalo, New York, and is trying to sell his lemonade in February. Thwarted from his ambition, Melvin decides a meaningful life isn't possible and moves to Kansas.

2.why marketing orientation is important?

Extending the Marketing Orientation: Relationship Marketing

The relationship marketing concept emphasizes the creation and maintenance of long-term relationships with all participants (i.e., customers, suppliers, retailers) in the exchange process. This helps us apply marketing orientation's long-term and coordination characteristics to an alliance of participants who share decision-making responsibility. For example, a firm such as Dell Computer practices relationship marketing by soliciting new-product design opinions not only from customers, but also from suppliers.

Implicit in maintaining long-term relationships, especially with customers, is the need to surpass expectations through superior product or service performance. Therefore, relationship marketing values repeat purchases above one-time transactions. For example, a friend of mine once found herself at Harrods department store in London, facing the prospect of buying a memory card for her digital camera that was about twice as expensive as it would be in the United States. The salesperson suggested she buy a CD instead, at a minimal cost, and then used his computer to offload the pictures on her camera card to the CD, freeing up the desired space for more pictures. In essence, the salesperson sacrificed a one-time sale equivalent of about $50 and probably gained a lifelong fan and shopper of Harrods. In addition, Harrods gains invaluable word-of-mouth advertising when the story is related to friends and then on to others (like you, in this instance). This story illustrates a common-sense, yet powerful fact of consumer behavior that underlies relationship marketing—people like to buy from people/companies they like and trust!

This is especially true for expensive items (e.g., automobiles, jewelry) when service after the sale may be a consideration. That is why relationship marketing grew out of business-to-business (B2B) contexts, where service is often part of the purchase (e.g., United Airlines purchase of Boeing jets would require Boeing to agree to maintenance and perhaps customization services as part of the contract). However, even in routine consumer activities, we often choose an alternative based on who we like. In Paris, shoppers for daily groceries on Rue Cler patronize shops of those who have become friends of theirs. Or perhaps you might frequent the restaurant of an owner who has treated you warmly on previous occasions. As for myself, I don't know if my barber, Don, is the best or cheapest at cutting hair. All I know is that I like talking to him about the Tigers and Rams football teams, for which we share a passion. Relationship marketing at this level makes particular sense when there is not a large price difference among alternatives.

The Internet has been used as an efficient relationship marketing tool. Its interactive nature has allowed firms to build and maintain customers at a low cost. Companies use e-mail to provide fast customer service as well as discussion boards to build a sense of community.

password-recovery

2008-01-14T02:45:00.001-08:00

NirSoft web site provides a unique collection of small and useful freeware utilities

In order to search for a freeware utility in NirSoft Web site, click here.

If you are looking for password-recovery tools, click here.

If you have a software-listing Web site, and you want to add the freeware utilities provided by NirSoft, click here

MessenPass

Recovers the passwords of most popular Instant Messenger programs: MSN Messenger, Windows Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ Lite 4.x/2003, AOL Instant Messenger provided with Netscape 7, Trillian, Miranda, and GAIM.

Mail PassView

Recovers the passwords of the following email programs: Outlook Express, Microsoft Outlook 2000 (POP3 and SMTP Accounts only), Microsoft Outlook 2002/2003 (POP3, IMAP, HTTP and SMTP Accounts), IncrediMail, Eudora, Netscape Mail, Mozilla Thunderbird, Group Mail Free.
Mail PassView can also recover the passwords of Web-based email accounts (HotMail, Yahoo!, Gmail), if you use the associated programs of these accounts.

Protected Storage PassView

Recovers all passwords stored inside the Protected Storage, including the AutoComplete passwords of Internet Explorer, passwords of Password-protected sites, MSN Explorer Passwords, and more...

Dialupass

Password recovery tool that reveals all passwords stored in dial-up entries. (Internet and VPN connections) As opposed to many other tools, this tool works in all versions of Windows, including Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

Asterisk Logger

Recovers passwords stored behind asterisks (****) characters. You can use this tool to recover the passwords of many applications, like CuteFTP, CoffeeCup Free FTP, VNC, and more...

AsterWin IE

Reveals the passwords stored behind the asterisks in the web pages of Internet Explorer 5.0 and above. You can use it for recovering a lost web site password, if it's stored on your computer. Visual Basic source code is included.

Network Password Recovery

Recover network passwords stored by Windows XP operating system.

SniffPass Password Sniffer

capture the passwords that pass through your network adapter, and display them on the screen instantly.
You can use this utility to recover lost Web/FTP/Email passwords.

PstPassword

Recovers lost password of Outlook PST file.

Access your pc from another Computer

2008-01-14T02:37:00.001-08:00

Access your pc from another Computer

LeafNetworks Leaf2006 software allows users to create personal virtual networks over the Internet with their family and friends. On these networks the users can share folders, pictures, stream music and videos, play Xbox games, play PC games and enjoy full connectivity with each others computers.

Leaf2006 uses an innovative TCP based NAT firewall traversal method to create these virtual networks which allows it to work with a broad range of firewalls and network configurations. Home users and small business users should see the immediate benefit of Leaf2006 as they can now interact with each other in a peer-to-peer fashion as opposed to having to go through intermediate servers.

D ownload the software

Recover Deleted Files from your Hard Drive,Flash drive, Memeory Card

2008-01-08T07:35:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Recover Deleted Files from your Hard Drive,Flash drive, Memeory Card

Data recovery is the process of salvaging data from damaged, failed, corrupted or inaccessible primary storage media when it cannot be accessed normally. Often the data are being salvaged from storage media formats such as hard disk drive, storage tapes, CDs, DVDs, RAID, and other electronics. This can be due to physical damage to the storage device or logical damage to the file system that prevents it from being mounted by the host operating system. Although there is some confusion as to the term, data recovery can also be the process of retrieving and securing deleted information from a storage media for forensic purposes. There are lot of data recovery tools available. I explained below a software is one of i am using.

Recover My Files

Recover My Files is advanced data recovery software to recover deleted files and formatted or corrupt drives. It works with hard drives, digital cameras, USB drives, ZIP disks, CompactFlash cards, SmartMedia, and Memory Sticks. Recover My Files has specific recovery support for 350 file types, including: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Outlook Express, Hotmail, Yahoo, Netscape, IncrediMail, databases, AutoCAD, Microsoft Money, QuickBooks, SQL, MYOB, photos, MPEG, AVI, and MP3 files. Recovery is simple; no technical skill is required. Recover files that standard undelete programs cannot find. The application has exclusive built-in CD and DVD burning support to save your recovered files.

Here are some key features of "Recover My Files":

· Recover deleted files even if emptied from the Recycle Bin
· Recover formatted hard drives, even if you have reinstalled Windows!
· Recover your files after a hard disk crash
· Get back files after a partitioning error
· Recover documents, photos, video music & email.
· Recover from hard drive, camera card, USB, Zip, floppy disk or other removable media

Can Purchase this software from Here

Read Comments For More Information

Friday, October 5, 2007

Recover Datas From Damaged CD, DVD

CD Recovery Toolbox tool was developed for recovering damaged files from different disk types: CD, DVD, HD DVD, Blu-Ray, etc. You can use it to restore information lost as a result of some mechanical damage of the disk (scratches, chips, different spots on the surface) or as a result of incorrect recording. Thus, the program can recover data that was considered lost. The CD Recovery Toolbox Free tool scans any CD and DVD disks and finds files and folders located there. We should mention that there can be some information on the disk that cannot be recovered. Not all of the files and folders can be found – that depends on the degree and location of the damage. Therefore, the CD Recovery Toolbox Free tool finds the possible maximum amount of information. After that, it shows a list of all files and folders available for recovery. Now the user can select the files and folders to be recovered. Those specific objects will be recovered while the others will be ignored. The program recovers the maximum amount of information in the damaged file. This reduces the risk of data loss considerably.

CD Recovery Toolbox not only has a complete set of data recovery features, but is also user-friendly and convenient. The program interface is designed as a step-by step wizard, where the user has to perform a single action on each page of the wizard. The wizard makes the use of the tool very simple and convenient even for a beginner.

Download

Top rated in MP3 & Audio Software

2008-01-06T03:34:00.000-08:00

QuickTime 7.3.1

JetAudio Basic 7.0.5.3040

Ashampoo Burning Studio 7.21

Miro 1.0

iTunes 7.5

FreeRip 3.04

CyberLink PowerDVD 7

FoxyTunes 2.9.6

Flash Movie Player 1.5

Free Wireless Internet Hack

2008-01-03T03:28:00.000-08:00

Free Wireless Internet Hack - The best video clips are right here

Windows XP Password Hack

2008-01-03T03:10:00.001-08:00

Windows XP Password Hack!!! - The funniest videos clips are here

How To Hack 1000's Of Webcams Just Copy And Paste

2008-01-03T03:05:00.000-08:00

How To Hack 1000's Of Webcams Just Copy And Paste - Click here for this week’s top video clips

there are thousands and thousands of webcams out there from US to asia and sometimes weird things happen places would you like to witness sum of the action straight from ..

Protect Yourself From Hackers, With Invisible Folders!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-01-03T03:00:00.000-08:00

Protect Yourself From Hackers, With Invisible Folders!!!!!!!!!!! - Watch today’s top amazing videos here

Provide yourself with some extar protection if your anti-virus programs fail...make your icons invisible... even the names!

Find Ip Address Of Any PC

2008-01-03T02:58:00.000-08:00

Find Ip Address Of Any PC - More amazing video clips are a click away

with this metod you can find the ip address of any pc (local if they have a router)

HACKING, IT CREATES A DISPLAY LEGAL NOTICE ON STARTUP

2008-01-03T02:54:00.000-08:00

Wanna tell your friends about the do's and dont's in your computer when they login in your absence. Well you can do it pretty easily by displaying a legal notice at syste... More»m start up.Less«

-> HACKING, IT CREATES A DISPLAY LEGAL NOTICE ON STARTUP - Funny videos are here

Free Data Storage

2008-01-03T02:31:00.000-08:00

10 Free Online Storage Service - 2 of 2

6. OrbitFiles: OrbitFiles is another online storage service which gives you 6GB of free storage space.

6 GB free storage.
Automated updates with Hercules uploader.
Allows you to edit your files.
Unlimited upload/download.

7. Mozy Online Backup: Mozy provides 2GB of free online storage, but Mozy currently works only on Windows. A beta version is available for Mac users.

2GB of free, secure storage.
Open/locked file support.
Block-level differential backup.
128-bit SSL support (to secure your data during transport)
448-bit Blowfish encryption.
Continuous or scheduled backup options.

8. Egnyte: Egnyte is a web 2.0 content sharing solution that combines sharing, automatic organization and a powerful search capability. Using continuous synchronization, Egnyte seamlessly integrates the desktop with the web.

1 GB storage space.
Integrated search.
Support for Windows and Mac OS (beta), browsers supported are IE and Firefox.

9. Xdrive: Xdrive is another online storage service which gives you 5GB of free online storage space.

5 GB free storage.
Conveniently access all your files from anywhere.
Back up your valuable files, music, photos and more - automatically.

10. IDrive E: IDrive gives you 2GB of backup space absolutely free for storing your photos, media files or other important documents. Best suited for individuals and families.

2 GB storage space.
No restriction on backup.
Unlimited bandwidth.

Apart from this there are other services like Gmail drive, Microsoft Live Folders, Rapidshare and Megaupload. So which service do you use for online storage? Please share your thoughts on online storage.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

10 Free Online Storage Service - 1 of 2

Storage and back-up is one of the most important things in Internet and Technology world. But the problem with all these technology is that they may crash anytime and we are bound to lose all our data. Backing up your files, be it images, files, documents, softwares, is necessary. Storing everything in back up device or hard disk is not feasible as it will increase the cost. Free online storage comes handy here. Many of the sites provides free online storage services that are secure. Here is the list of top 10 free online storage services.

1. Box.net: Box.net allows you to store your images, documents and other files online.

1 GB storage space.
10 MB upload file size.
Upload/ Download limit: 10GB per month.
Drag and drop with good interface.
Ability to create sub folders and share files.

2. eSnips: eSnips is a social content sharing site which gives you 5GB of free storage.

* 5GB of free storage space.
* No upload/download limit.
* Easily share the files and photos.
* Browser toolbar available.
* Community/ Social networking tools.

3. DropBoks: DropBoks is very simple in its interface and also very secure one.

* 1 GB free storage space.
* 50 MB upload files size.
* No upload/download limit.
* Simple interface and good security.

4. MediaMax: MediaMax, powered by Streamload, gives you a private and secure place to upload, store, access, and share your personal videos, photos, movies, music and files.

* 25 GB free storage- a large amount compared with most services.
* 1 GB transfer per month.
* 10 MB upload file size.
* Allows you to upload files to existing users without creating an account.

5. OmniDrive: Omni Drive allows you to share edit ad access all your files from the browser.

* 1 GB storage space.
* 5 GB monthly transfer, unlimited file size.
* Good interface.
* Integration with Zoho Office for online document editing.
* Drag-and-drop uploading; multiple folder levels.

Posted by Kogulan at 5:01 PM 3 comments Links to this post

How to protect your PC with Ad-Aware:

2008-01-02T21:58:00.000-08:00

BargainBuddy, 180 Search Assistant, NavExcel: these names strike fear and loathing into the hearts of Web surfers the world over. But these are far from the only spyware components you need to worry about. Cyberspace is crawling with all kinds of vicious critters that can wreak havoc on your system, and the problem is only getting worse, as unsavory software developers spawn more malignant and sneaky spyware variants virtually overnight. One of the most popular spyware-combat tools on the market is the free Ad-Aware, but don’t let its cute baby-blue interface and price tag fool you: It’s a powerful program capable of dealing with many of the newest, most serious threats. In fact, it took top honors in the latest edition of our spyware obstacle course.

Step 1: Stay up to date

Click for larger image

Like most antispyware utilities, Ad-Aware works by comparing your PC’s contents with a database of known malware. Spyware manufacturers are always trying to stay one step ahead of the programs designed to foil them by routinely unleashing new nasties on the Web. However, antispyware developers are just as savvy, and they regularly update their databases with the newest spyware definitions. Before you scan your PC for problems, you should make sure your copy of Ad-Aware is equipped with the most up-to-date database. From the main interface, you can click the globe icon in the upper-right corner, or you can simply click the link that says “Check for updates now”. You’ll have to connect to the publisher’s server and hit OK a couple of times, but the process goes quickly.

You can also configure Ad-Aware to regularly prompt you to update its spyware definitions. To do so, click the gear-shape button at the top of the main window. The General Settings tab contains a Definitions section, where you can enter the maximum number of days that should pass before the program asks you to update it. We’d suggest updating your spyware definitions every couple of days--it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Step 2: Start the spyware scan

Ad-Aware offers two main scanning options: a quicker smart scan and a more thorough full-system scan. If you’ve never used the program before or suspect your PC is jam-packed with malevolent software, you should opt for the deep-scan mode. Click the Scan Now button on the program’s left side, mark the box that reads “Perform full system scan”, then hit the Next icon. The scanning process will probably take a while — especially if you keep a lot of files on your computer — so you might want to step away for a breath of fresh air. The next time you use the program, you can safely go with the faster smart scan option, which is still very effective.

Step 3: Remove the intruders

Once Ad-Aware has finished scanning your computer for spyware, a summary screen appears, which shows you the amount and type of threats the program detected. Ad-Aware categorizes its findings as either critical or negligible; clearly, you should focus your attention on the Critical Objects tab. There, you’ll see what kinds of nefarious modules and Registry keys Ad-Aware found on your machine. The app will tell you the names of all the malicious components and what kinds of spyware they are, as well as show you the physical location of each threat on your PC. If you right-click the check box next to any entry on the list, a rather lengthy menu will pop up. Scroll about halfway down and choose the option “Select all objects”. Click the Next icon, then hit OK in the pop-up box. The amount of time it takes Ad-Aware to complete the removal process depends on how much malware is on your machine, but the app will notify you when it has finished cleaning out your computer.

Step 4: Optimize scan times

As noted above, Ad-Aware’s scan times can be quite lengthy if you have a large hard drive with many files. However, you can take a couple of steps to make future scans more efficient. The program searches for cookies and categorizes them as Critical Objects, even though they don’t pose a real threat to your security. You can decrease scan times by configuring the program to ignore cookies. From the Scanning Results screen, find the cookies (near the bottom of the list) and mark the check boxes next to their names. Right-click one of the selected cookies, then scroll down the context menu and choose Add Selected to Ignore List. The next time you scan your machine, Ad-Aware won’t include those cookies in its results.

Similarly, you can have the program ignore certain drives on your computer, such as your CD or floppy drive. When selecting a scan mode, check the radio button labeled “Use custom scanning options”, then click the Customize link. Under the Drives, Folders & Files heading, click the link next to the Windows folder icon labeled “Select drives & folders to scan”. From there, you can choose which drives to scan or ignore by simply checking and unchecking boxes.

Lesson 2: Spyware and adware

2008-01-02T21:54:00.001-08:00

n this lesson, you’ll learn what adware and spyware is and how to protect yourself from it and remove it from your system.

In Lesson 1, you learned that viruses, worms, and Trojan horses are programs designed to carry out malicious activity on your PC. You also learned that viruses and worms are capable of replicating automatically and spreading from system to system. In this lesson, you will learn about adware and spyware.

Adware is an application installed onto a PC without the user’s knowledge. These apps have a single purpose: to deliver ads to the user. This is a deliberate business model because the people behind the adware are paid to pipe ads to users who unwittingly host adware on their PCs. Technically, adware is more of a nuisance than malicious, but it can cause system crashes because it makes PCs unstable.

Spyware is a different matter. This type of application is designed to spy on you. It might spy on your Internet surfing habits or collect information from your computer about your identity, your credit card numbers, or your passwords. Spyware is particularly bad because it can capture all sorts of data and send this back to criminals who can use it to steal your money or identity.

As a rule, the most common sources of adware and spyware are low-quality, dubious Web sites (for example, sites that deal in pirated software or music). Most adware and spyware is installed by either tricking the user to click something and install an application or by exploiting a flaw in the browser or operating system.

If you want to get the best from your PC, you don’t want to have adware or spyware running on it. Many antivirus packages (for example, Norton AntiVirus 2007, McAfee or ZoneAlarm) can detect and remove certain adware and spyware, but it’s best to have a separate program to look for and remove these unwanted PC pests.

Microsoft Windows Defender scanning a PC for spyware and adware.

A number of free applications are available for you to choose from. One is called Windows Defender and is available from Microsoft. Another good program to install and scan with on a regular basis is called Ad-Aware by Lavasoft. You can install both of these on your system, having Windows Defender running all the time and using the latest Ad-Aware to scan your system daily (if you are security conscious) or weekly to check for and remove anything that might have managed to sneak by Windows Defender.

Ad-Aware from Lavasoft is a good spyware and adware scanner.

Another thing you should do if you are running Windows XP is to make sure that you have installed Service Pack 2 (also known as SP2). Many of the exploits that adware and spyware use to install themselves on PCs without the user’s knowledge have been patched in SP2. Visit Microsoft’s site and install all the patches your operating system needs.

Lesson 2: Spyware and adware

2008-01-02T21:54:00.000-08:00

n this lesson, you’ll learn what adware and spyware is and how to protect yourself from it and remove it from your system.

Microsoft Windows Defender scanning a PC for spyware and adware.

Ad-Aware from Lavasoft is a good spyware and adware scanner.

Lesson 1: Viruses, worms, and Trojan horses

2008-01-02T21:47:00.000-08:00

In this lesson, you’ll learn what viruses and worms are, how they can enter your PC, and how you can remove them quickly and easily.

Viruses and worms are computer programs deliberately designed and written to alter the way your computer works, without your permission or knowledge.

A virus has two properties:

It must be able to run itself.
It must be able to replicate or duplicate itself.

Some viruses are designed to cause damage to the PC they are on by destroying programs, deleting user files, or reformatting the hard drive, but other viruses are merely prankster programs that spread and present a message in one form or another. But even these joke viruses must be removed because they can consume valuable system resources or cause the computer to crash.

A worm is different than a virus; it is a program that can spread from system to system within another document, such as an e-mail message or a Microsoft Word document.

A Trojan horse is a file that claims to be innocent but harbors malicious code that might do one of a number of different things, such as delete files or steal your data. The main difference between a Trojan horse and a worm or a virus is that a Trojan horse does not replicate itself.

It is quite easy to protect yourself from viruses, worms, and Trojan horses: install a good antivirus program (for example, Norton AntiVirus 2007, McAfee or ZoneAlarm) and keep it up-to-date. A good antivirus scanner will not only be able to detect and block any viruses, worms, or Trojan horses that try to enter you system, it will also be able to remove any malware already installed on your PC.

It is important to keep the antivirus application updated (it’s recommended that you upgrade the main software package yearly) and that you download and install the latest antivirus detection databases regularly, because hundreds of new viruses and worms are released weekly. If you don’t keep the detection databases in the program up-to-date, the app won’t be able to detect and repair anything new that finds its way onto your PC. Consult the help file or manual for your antivirus program to find out how to do this (most are able to update themselves automatically).

Scanning a file using Norton AntiVirus software

Here are a few other precautions you can take to keep yourself safe:

Be suspicious of any e-mail attachments that you receive from unknown sources. E-mail is the main source of viruses, worms, and Trojan horses.
Be suspicious of downloads sent to you via chat applications (such as MSN Messenger or AIM).
Be picky about where you download files from on the Internet; many virus and worm writers use free software to disguise malicious applications.
Make sure that your PC has all the latest patches and updates installed (if you run Windows, visit the Windows Update site to install all the patches your operating system needs).
Scan all discs and downloads for viruses before running them.

Video Software

2008-01-02T07:44:00.001-08:00

Corel DVD Copy

Copy DVDs and convert videos for PCs or mobile devices.

Camtasia Studio

Create and share training videos, presentations, and screencasts.

Zuma Personal Edition

Create your own interactive music videos.

MP3 / Audio Software

2008-01-02T07:40:00.000-08:00

Top Rated

Jan 02

QuickTime

Play MPEG-4 movies with AAC sound with latest version of Apple's premier media player.

JetAudio Basic

Play audio and video files, convert to other file formats, and burn CDs.

Ashampoo Burning Studio

Create, copy, and rip your own audio, video, data CDs, and DVDs.

Miro

Subscribe, watch, and download Internet videos.

iTunes

Create MP3 playlists, burn CDs, and download music to your iPod and iPhone.

2008-01-01T20:35:00.000-08:00

Learn how to reveal and be professional with google earth

Google Earth Secrets - Awesome video clips

Building and Upgrading a PC

2008-01-01T20:26:00.000-08:00

*.Part 1 of 9 -
Identifying Components

In this part of the tutorial we will show you how to correctly identify the components of a pc.

Building And Upgrading A PC Part 1 Of 9 - Identifying Components - Watch more amazing videos here

*.Part 2 of 9 -
Connecting Internal Cables

In this part of the tutorial we will show you how to correctly connect internal cables such as hdd led, reset sw, speaker, and com port cables.

Building And Upgrading A PC Part 2 Of 9 - Connecting Internal Ca - For more of the funniest videos, click here

*.Part 3 of 9 -
Connecting The CPU Fan & Heatsink

In this part of the tutorial we will show you how to correctly mount a CPU fan and heatsink to the motherboard.

Building And Upgrading A PC Part 3 Of 9 - Connecting CPU Fan And - Funny bloopers are a click away

*.Part 4 of 9 -
Installing a Hard Disk

In this part of the tutorial we will show you how to correctly install and mount a hard disk drive.

Building And Upgrading A PC Part 4 Of 9 - Installing A Hard Disk - Watch the best video clips here

*.Part 5 of 9 -
Installing a Cd-rom drive

In this part of the tutorial we will show you how to correctly mount, connect and install a cd-rom drive in your computer.

Building & Upgrading A PC 5 Of 9 - Installing A Cd-rom Drive - Awesome video clips here

*.Part 6 of 9 -
Installing Ram

In this part of the tutorial we will show you how to correctly insert RAM into your computer

Building & Upgrading A PC Part 6 Of 9 - Installing RAM - The best bloopers are here

*.Part 7 of 9 -
installing a Video Card

In this part of the tutorial we will show you how to correctly install a video graphics card into your computer

Building & Upgrading A PC Part 7 Of 9 - Installing A Video Card - Click here for more blooper videos

*.Part 8 of 9 -
Finalizing Components

In this part of the tutorial we will finalize installing components.

Building & Upgrading A PC - 8 Of 9 - Finalizing Components - Click here for the most popular videos

*.Part 9 of 9 -
Connecting External Cables

In this part of the tutorial we will show you how to correctly connect external cables such as power lead, keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc.

Building & Upgrading A PC 9 Of 9 - Connecting External Cables - Click here for more home videos

A small method to hide and secure your folder

2007-12-31T00:14:00.000-08:00

Here’s quick and free way to create a secure folder in Windows XP. There is a very nice program called Free Hide Folder from Cleanersoft that allows you to easily hide your private folders.

Your folders are completely hidden and you must supply a password to open the program to unhide the folders. The personal edition is free, just click the Skip Registration button unless you’re using it for commercial purposes.

I’ve tried this program myself and I cannot access the hidden folder via Windows Explorer nor the command prompt. So if the above method is not working, give this a shot!

Any questions, post a comment! Enjoy!

Wireless / Networking.2

2007-12-31T00:10:00.000-08:00

How to connect a PC running windows Vista to a wireless network?

This article is on how to connect to a wireless network in Windows Vista.You can connect your PC, running Windows vista as OS, to a home wireless network or a public network very easily.Infact this has been made much easier in vista, than in window XP.

Moreover, Windows Vista can even detect a non-broadcasting wireless network (hidden SSID), thereby enabling you to configure it as a preferred network. This is a new feature in Windows vista that Windows XP lacks.

How to connect a PC running windows Vista to a wireless network?

First, make sure that you have a wireless adapter and a driver installed on your computer.Otherwise do ensure that you set up an adapter and the appropriate driver(driver for connecting to the wireless network).

Then go to the Start menu and click on "Connect To"

A network window will pop up that will show all the available connections, like dial-up, VPN and wireless.Choose the wireless connection and click the Connect button.

If the network you try to connect is a security-enabled network, that requires authentication,then:

the connection will happen automatically,if the network key is automatically provided by your network or system administrator (i.e.,if the network supports IEEE 802.1x)

Else you need to edit the network key, before you can connect.The key can either be a WEP or a WPA or a WPA2 encryption key.

The connection will show up as connected,once you are actually connected to the wireless network.

You may see and modify the connection settings of the wireless network by right clicking on the connected wireless network and choosing "Properties".

You may even set up the network as the default wireless network.

Thanks Indyankk

PAGE 6

2007-12-30T23:56:00.000-08:00

Photoshop CS2 RAW

Anyone who is serious about digital photography and wants to produce the best possible picture needs to shoot and process RAW... this book will help Digital Photographers Go RAW

July Photoshop Madness

Since so much is going on in the Photoshop world we're going to start a potpourri column that will cover a broad array of "stuff" we know you'll like -- including our Photoshop Pro of the month Jarvis Grant from the Washington, DC area, along with free filters, brushes, layer styles, tutorials and a lot more... it's simply Photoshop Madness

Guest Tutorial for Photoshop

Our guest tutorial this month features an easy Photoshop step-by-step for converting color images to good black and white images, called: "Making Black/White in Photoshop" sent in by Richard Schneider.

Adobe CS2: Sharing Palettes

if you're wondering "How can I use colors in a stock photo as a shared palette across Adobe Creative Suite 2 applications?" here's good news -- the Adobe Expert Support staff shows you how to Share Color Palettes Between CS2 Programs

Ten things to do with Photoshop

There are literally hundreds of things the professionals do with Adobe Photoshop. But for most people many of those things aren't needed... however everyone needs to know these Ten things you can do with Photoshop, but probably aren't!

Beauty Retouching

How to remove blemishes from photos, and giving skin the fashion magazine look are some of our most frequent questions. Now we invite you to see some spectacular retouching from the incredibly talented photographer and photo retoucher from Vinica, Croatia --- Marija Matijasec, as she shares some tricks on Beauty Retouching

Interview: Cher Threinen-Pendarvis

Helping us all celebrate Designing Women Month, artist, designer, author and educator, Cher Threinen-Pendarvis visits to chat about Photoshop, Painter and using a graphics tablet to expand our creative digital painting techniques... we think you'll enjoy getting to meet The Master Painter

Photoshop: Fill Type with an Image

There are many ways to achieve results in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. Here, we answer several readers' frequently asked questions -- in the process you'll learn a number of essential Photoshop tricks with selections and layers for Filling Type with an Image

Photoshop: Paint in Grayscale

There are many ways to achieve results in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. Here, we demonstrate how to utilize brush coloring modes to actually paint color to grayscale! You'll see both Photoshop and Elements examples in this tutorial Painting Color to Grayscale

Changing Colors in Photoshop Elements

People write in wanting to know how to change the color of everything from their cloths to their cars to their houses. Here, we'll show you how to change the color of any object you find, simply by using the Photoshop Elements "Replace Color" command

Eye Candy 5: Nature & Texture

New Photoshop plug-in. Eye Candy 5: Nature includes 10 filters that beautifully render organic phenomena. The second of a three-part upgrade to Eye Candy 4000, Nature simulates fire, smoke, rust, and more. Nature includes four new filters, six totally revamped Eye Candy classics, and hundreds of one-click special effects presets. Eye Candy 5: Nature and Eye Candy 5: Textures

DigiEffects Web Euphoria

Here's one of the BEST for 2004 - plug-ins from DigiEffects ... that easily and effectively create the most sought-after effects in the business... Web Euphoria

Type in your face

Al Ward, author of "Photoshop for Right Brainers" walks you through an extensive tutorial using layers and layer masks for a rather striking image. More than 30 illustrations and Al's competent guidance will show you how to put type in your face!

Editors Choice: Photoshop for Right Brainers

Want to expand beyond typical tips and techniques? Tired of those "hot" tricks without a reason or purpose? Al Ward's technical expertise gives you precision training and a creative jolt in the arm that won't quit... Photoshop for Right Brainers

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2007-12-30T23:55:00.001-08:00

Adobe & Orange County Choppers

Orange County Choppers (OCC), a motorcycle shop that builds custom choppers and is also the focus of the popular television show, American Chopper on the Discovery channel. Take a look at how graphic designer Jason Pohl utilizes Adobe software for Orange County Choppers

Ten things to do with Photoshop

Beauty Retouching

Interview: Cher Threinen-Pendarvis

Photoshop: Fill Type with an Image

Photoshop: Paint in Grayscale

Changing Colors in Photoshop Elements

Hand Tinting Photographs in Photoshop

Artist, Photoshop Wizard and Author Tim Shelbourne is back with another blockbuster tutorial -- try your hand at creating the subtle effects of traditional photo retouching with this tutorial from Tim's Photoshop Photo Effects Cookbook ... Hand Tinting Photographs in Photoshop

Burned Holes in Photoshop

A number of readers asked how to make a burned hole, then didn't quite understand instructions at Photoshop 911. Here we describe the whole process in ten easy-to-understand steps with pictures on how to make burned holes Photoshop Elements and Photoshop...

Ben Long's Photoshop Action Pack 2.0

Ben Long has released a major update to the Photoshop Action Pack collection of Automator actions, which is now available for free download -- automate the more complex aspects of your post-production workflow using Apple's Automator and simple-to-use plugins in Photoshop Action Pack 2.0

March Photoshop Madness

Photoshop Madness is back with another cool newsletter... this month we're instituting four new standing features: 1. Book of the Month (with freebies from the book); 2. Tutorial of the Month (TOM), 3. Question of the Month (QOM) and the answer, 4. Art is Where You Find It, and the occasional STUPID site of the month. It's all good, all fun -- and seriously folks... it's true Photoshop Madness

Type On A Path or Around a Circle

Answering one of the most frequent questions at Photoshop 911 and DTG, this monster, 4-page tutorial that shows you how -- not just Photoshop, but InDesign, Illustrator and Quark XPress as well... Text on a Path, Circular Type

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2007-12-30T23:54:00.001-08:00

February Photoshop Madness

A great month for Photoshop tips, tricks, tutorials, antics... and more! * Harry Potter Style Special Effects * General Photo Composition * Liquify Filter Warp Tool * Tutorial Junkies "Become and Alien" tutorial * Curled Corner Tutorial * Psychology of Color * Photoshop CS2 Smart Objects * Ring of Fire effect * Sharpening Photos Smartly... and we revisit a Feathering article. But seriously folks... it's true Photoshop Madness

Convert a Photo to a Pencil Sketch

One of our most frequently asked questions is how to convert a photo to a pencil sketch or drawing... to the rescue comes Tim Shelbourne who shares a full pictorial tutorial from his Photoshop Photo Effects Cookbook! This is the best tutorial online for learning how to Convert a Photo to a Pencil Sketch

January Photoshop Madness

Okay, I'll try to refrain from the negative with only positive links. In all the madness it's very difficult. This month get a Creative Shot-in-the-arm * Snow, Santa retouching, and paper for the Holidays * Robin Klein's extraordinary vision * Phong.com's superb tutorials * Deke Duz Image Wrapping * Matrix Wallpaper * Skin Retouching * Bruce Fraser color terminology... and more Photoshop Madness

October Photoshop Madness

This month's Photoshop Madness column includes * Apology for comments last month... Convert color into grayscale * Surreal Sports * Watermark Action * Getting Good Prints * Creating Flexible Documents in Photoshop CS2 * Deke Duz Vanishing Point Tool * Replacing Objects and Filtering * Assembling Panoramic Photos * Photoshop Metal Madness and Gradient Blur Plug-Ins * Oh Pleeeze, Photoshop Me ... and others in this month's Photoshop Madness

September Photoshop Madness

This month's Photoshop Madness column includes * Photoshop Alzheimers - yes, it can afflict software too * Articles: Adobe Bridge & Camera Raw * Beauty Retouching in Photoshop * Tutorials: Change the Color of a Sunset * Hand Tinting * Several excellent PDF downloads for Photoshop users * Duotones Revisited * CS2 Up to Speed ... and others. Photoshop Madness

Ten things to do with Photoshop CS2

...that you couldn't do before! Yes, CS2 is a major upgrade and Shaun Pearce is back with another of his top ten lists -- this time Ten things you can do with Photoshop, but couldn't do before!

Eye Candy 5: Nature & IMPACT

New Photoshop plug-in. Eye Candy 5: IMPACT includes 10 filters that give you seriously the IMPACT you need... chrome, bevels, glass buttons, extruded objects, Zoomed & Backlighting, perspective shadows and more. You really should check this out... Eye Candy 5: IMPACT

Upgrading to Adobe Photoshop CS2?

Macintosh computer authority and writer George Engel takes a look at the latest Photoshop upgrade from Adobe... after a bit of trouble, sez: "What a great adventure this is, and an affordable and very worthwhile upgrade." Photoshop CS2

July Photoshop Madness

Guest Tutorial for Photoshop

Adobe CS2: Sharing Palettes

Carving and Debossing in Photoshop & Elements

In this Photoshop 911 seminar we answer a reader's question on how to carve images out of a background. It's called "debossing" -- but we'll show you some other valuable layers and filters tricks too, as we... Carve an Image into the Background using Photoshop

Photoshop Cut-Outs

This reader requested a tutorial on cutting a logo out of a piece of fabric using Photoshop version 6 under OS 9.1 on a Mac. The screens may look different, but the technique is virtually exactly the same no matter what version or system you use to ... Cut a logo out of the Background

Photoshop & Elements for Sepia Prints

In this Photoshop Elements seminar we answer a reader's question on how to achieve the warm sepia tone look of old-time photos. We'll dispel a few rumors about sepia tones, and provide some tips for Photoshop and Photoshop CS users as well. See: Sepia Tone Photographs

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2007-12-30T23:52:00.000-08:00

June Photoshop (SURF) Madness

Doing the Curl * Tattoos in Photoshop * Boardwalk Movie Star * Five Tips for Optimizing GIFs * Web Hands-On Training * What is Depth of Field * Photoshop's Shadow/Highlight tool * Brick Wall Tutorial * question of the month * PTPerspective Photoshop Plugin * Warning Dialogs * Free Stuff and much more... in Photoshop Madness

Making the Wrong Drop Shadows in Photoshop

20-year photo retouching veteran Glenn Honiball joins us to point out the most common drop shadow techniques and how to deal with them. As we've said for years... nothing spoils a Photoshop retouch project more than Common Drop Shadow Mistakes

Photoshop Elements 5

Photoshop Elements gets 100 new tools! Okay, I knew that would get your attention, but when you add Richard Lynch's new "Hidden Elements" then PS Elements seems like it goes from version 4 to version 5 automatically! Get the Upgrade Here

Photoshop Blending Modes

Unlike Photoshop's built-in filters, blending modes don't change the actual pixels that make up an image, so their effects are completely reversible. Photoshop expert John Beardsworth shares his blending modes expertise for Quick and easy Powder Pastels

Centering the Radial Blur in Photoshop

A reader writes that the "book" tutorial doesn't work correctly on his image. So, here's a little trick to get the effect you want when Photoshop doesn't want to cooperate... Centering the Radial Blur

Image to Surface Shape in Photoshop

A game of Photoshop Tennis in the Design Cafe prompts a tutorial on how a picture was turned into the cover of a book. This tutorial covers a number of techniques from transform to layer masks... Put an Image into A Shape...

Photoshop (Color) Madness

Photoshop Madness is up to its ears in COLOR... color everything in Photoshop... how to color, where to color, when to color ... also: Tutorial of the Month (TOM), Question of the Month (QOM) and the popular Art is Where You Find It... this has got to be total Photoshop Madness

Hand Tinting Photographs in Photoshop

Burned Holes in Photoshop

Ben Long's Photoshop Action Pack 2.0

March Photoshop Madness

Type On A Path or Around a Circle

The Art of Digital Photography

Be Inspired, Creative, and Productive O'Reilly Releases Window Seat: The Art of Digital Photography & Creative Thinking. Adobe guru Julieanne Kost says: "Be open to whatever comes your way" ... The Art of Digital Photography

Photoshop CS2 RAW

Anyone who is serious about digital photography and wants to produce the best possible picture needs to shoot and process RAW... this book will help Digital Photographers Go RAW

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2007-12-30T23:51:00.001-08:00

Photoshop (Upgrade) Madness

YES, it's time again for Adobe to relieve you of some more money -- of course, you have lots left over after the holidays, right? It's "YAP" (Yet Another Photoshop upgrade) time ... and all the links that are fit to see are in this month's Photoshop Madness

Photoshop Photo Collage

Who can resist a photo of Santa and the kids? Well, to answer some Photoshop 911 questions about photo collage, Fred makes up a nice gag-gift holiday card putting grown kids on Santa's lap. Follow along as we use Photoshop for the Holidays

Watermarking in Photoshop Elements

Many readers ask questions about automating various functions in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. This short tutorial answers the frequent question about watermarking. It's easy, and we also provide a semi-automated trick for those who want added control over watermarking your files in Elements

Photoshop Holiday Madness

Okay... so it's the holiday season and you're not really sure what to give the folks... or your friends... or the Pizza guy -- but if you've got Photoshop... mugshots, Caricatures, the Cucoloris ("Cookie") Effect, Mask Tutorial, Scaling Photos in Elements -- plus: Stupid Question of the Month, Pro of the Month, and Stupid Photoshop Web Pages all in Photoshop Holiday Madness

Feature: How would Andy Warhol do it

In this 9-page, 50-image seminar tutorial, investigate the style of Andy Warhol and how to utilize art methodology and Adobe Photoshop CS2 to simulate Warhol's famouse portrait style for your own projects... the perfect gift is a portrait using Photoshop in the Andy Warhol style

Deke McClelland shows how to fix color cast in Photoshop

Using photos in promotions? Taking photos at events and gatherings over the coming weeks? Chances are, you'll encounter the dreaded "color cast" problem. Thanks to Deke, now you'll know how to Fix Color Cast in Photoshop

Old-time Engraving Effect

You asked for it -- a plug-in filter for Photoshop that turns your picture into an ancient engraving, lithograph, pencil sketch, etc. Reader Svetlana Chernousova reviews this wonderful new plug-in from Alpha Plug-ins -- possibly one of the more useful filters you'll find, the Photoshop Engraver plugin

Creating textures and backgrounds

In this tips piece, the gurus at Spiral Graphics share their secrets at generating seamless textures. Even if you don't use Spiral's Genetica software, this information will prove important for anyone who makes textures... 5 Texture Tips: the key ingredients to great textures

Alien fixes photo faux pas

Can you really enlarge digital photographs in Photoshop? As we've all been taught, you can always reduce a digital image with excellent results -- but what about enlarging one! Follow along and see the proof that you can save a low resolution photo for high-end printing as the Alien fixes this photo faux pas

Photoshop Patterns How-To

Artlandia experts share tips and tricks for creating patterns using Symmetry-Works -- it's easy to generate spectacular patterns for web or print use as native Photoshop files. Pattern Tiles in Photoshop!

August Photoshop Madness

Stupid Photoshop Web Pages * Photoshop Pro of the Month: Nicolas Noben * Post processing * Another Missing Photoshop Guru * Photo Journalism Ethics * COOL STUFF: Vertus Fluid Mask * VIDEO tutorial: Saving Color Swatches * QUESTION OF THE MONTH: Torn Paper Edge Effects * Free Stuff and much more... in Photoshop Madness

Ink Outlines Filter in Photoshop

Some Photoshop users just never get around to trying out the array of filters provided with the program. That's a shame. But follow along as Photoshop expert Roger Pring offers an interesting "drawn" line effect in combination with a background mottling that recalls the Sponge filter using Photoshop's Ink Outlines Filter

Realistic, complicated shadows in Photoshop

20-year photo retouching veteran Glenn Honiball returns with another tutorial for building shadows -- creating a shadow for a more intricate object, then placing it into a landscape! Realistic, complicated shadows in Photoshop

July Photoshop (PHOTO) Madness

Jerry Jividen is our "Guru" of the month, but we also have a Missing Photoshop Guru... also: Edit Photos on the FLY * VIDEO: Ancient Map Effect * What Film Photographers Already Know, with Ben Long * LightMachine Fixes NASTY * QUESTION OF THE MONTH * Free Stuff and much more... in Photoshop Madness

JULY Feature: Selective Coloring & Tonal Color Effects

Mr. Tim Shelbourne is back, to once again share his Photoshop expertise with this wonderful colorizing tutorial -- just in time for the 4th of JULY! So many readers write to Photoshop 911 asking for a Selective Coloring tutorial

Using Photoshop to Whiten Teeth and Eyes

Follow along in this tutorial as Barry Huggins shows you not one, but three methods for whitening teeth... * use the Dodge tool; * method 2, the Screen method; and method 3, using Levels! Perk up those photos with Photoshop for whiter teeth and eyes!

Awesome Patterns in Photoshop

Time was that if you wanted to generate spectacular patterns for web or print use, you needed to go through the tedious process in Adobe Illustrator, then import into Photoshop. Artlandia now brings all that horse-power to your fingertips for generating quick, easy professional patterns in Photoshop!

Photoshop

2007-12-30T23:43:00.000-08:00

Saving Photos: Dark, Under Exposed

Low lighting, camera movement, and other woes spoil the photo. Sometimes a photo just looks too dark to save. Sometimes it just can't be saved. But before trashing the photo, here are a number of exercises that show some easy tricks you can employ to save underexposed photos

Degrading Color for Hand Tint Look

A Photoshop 911 reader asks how a certain 'tinted' look was achieved in some sample photos... these are near grayscale with muted color. We knew we could accomplish the look by pulling an adjustment layer called the Gradient Map

Photoshop's "Match Color"

A Photoshop 911 reader asks how the "Match Color" function works to save two of his photos. Match Color uses the color map from one photo to change another -- and it works great -- sometimes. But when it doesn't, you have to look for other solutions. Matching Color

Painter: Photo to Woodcut

Painter is one of the premier natural medial programs, and ideal for converting that coveted vacation shot to a graphic work of art -- follow along as award-winning fine artist, designer and educator Cher Threinen-Pendarvis shows you how noted artist John Derry created his Pagoda Woodcut

One Photo to Many: Collage Mosaic

Several readers have asked about breaking apart a single photo so it looks like a collection of snap shots. There are actually a number of ways to do this from the quick and easy "SLICE" method, to the more difficult and time consuming "random" method - we think makes a much better looking Photo Collage Mosaic

Photographically Correct Film Simulator Effects for Photoshop

Alien Skin is back with an all new features list for Exposure 2 Film Stock Simulator! This new effects package plug-in features more than 300 presets for film simulation and a full range of photo lab and darkroom effects... Exposure 2 for Photoshop and compatibles

Photoshop To Painter & Back Again

Many Photoshop users think the word "Corel" is a thing of the past. However, those truly in the know will say Painter does it all. We do get a lot of questions about using the two together -- so we turned to the award-winning fine artist, designer and educator Cher Threinen-Pendarvis with her excellent tips for Using Photoshop with Painter

Photoshop Madness: Type & Lettering Tutorial Hell

It's a jungle out there... For this years Fall Fonts Festival we intended to send you some good tutorials on working with type in Photoshop. There are thousands of them, but unfortunately we began turning up some rather disturbing results for this month's Photoshop Madness

Outlining Type: Right or Wrong:

If you read the Photoshop Madness listed above, then you'll understand what we're doing here. This tutorial points out the wrong and right ways to outline shapes, like typography, in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. Outlining Type: What's Right or Wrong

Photoshop's Photo Filter Adjustment Layer

This is one of the little known gems you'll find in Adobe's Photoshop and Photoshop Elements because it's a filter, but it's not in the filters menu. Use it when you want to change the color temperature of a photo... here's the value of Photoshop's Photo Filter Adjustment Layer

Photoshop 911: Spot Adjustments using a Mask

Someone asked how to make slight spot adjustments in just the dark areas of an image. Levels, or any other adjustment are easily fine-tuned by painting black and white into the mask area an Adjustment Layer Spot Adjustments using a Mask

Photoshop 911: Pop an image out of the border

A Photoshop 911 forum question was how to make a photo break out of the frame. Even though this has been around longer than Photoshop has, it can be daunting to a new user. But it's simple to Pop an image out of the border

Harrys Filters are back

... along with PhotoFreebies for Windows - Harry's Filters is a free Photoshop-compatible plugin containing dozens of useful image effects. The PhotoFreebies are a collection of 11 freeware plugins with various effects for digital photos. Harrys Filters

Photo Vector for Windows

Vectorizer and image cleaner: a proven handy tool for designers and CAD/CAM professionals to cleanup, reduce number of colors and vectorize images. AlgoLab Photo Vector for Windows

Learning: Separations for Screen Printing

One of the frequent questions we get is how to separate flat art for making silkscreen stencils. Rather than flood you with a lot of geek gibberish, we present the easiest, most direct method in Photoshop and Illustrator for making flat color separations for screen printing.

Major Event: Removing Backgrounds with Katrin Eismann

This is the ultimate tutorial for selecting fine images, delicate objects, wispy hair, and removing the background to replace it with a totally different image. This is the absolute best, anywhere when you have questions about Selecting hair and fine details in Photoshop

Photoshop Elements QuickFix & Color Corrections

You can dramatically improve the appearance of all your summer photos with just a click or two -- even if you have no idea of what you're doing. Let image specialist Barbara Brundage show you how in this 7-page chapter on QuickFix & Color Corrections using Photoshop Elements

Photoshop blending Photos to Sketches

Turn your summer photos into works of art by combining the Find Edges filter and the Overlay blending mode in Photoshop. Noted Photoshop guru John Beardsworth shows you how with these recipes for Blending Photos to Sketches

Photoshop Watercolor Filter

Sooner or later, you're going to have a photograph that suggests an artistic treatment. Photoshop expert Roger Pring joins us to give you some starter points on... Photoshop's Artistic Watercolor Filter

Photoshop: Carved in Wood

A reader wrote in with a client who wants his web site menu buttons to be on a tree -- looking hand-carved. So, this tutorial gives you nice sign boards with the type routed in to nail to the tree. Carved in Wood

Photoshop: Changing Colors

We get quite a few requests for this kind of technique for people colorizing houses, cars, people's clothing, and from time to time a boat or two. In this tutorial, we must change the color of a boat, then apply lettering to the side to show the client the finished lettering job.

Photoshop: Clipping Path makes a Hole in the Doughnut

More frequently asked questions: "...if I were creating a clipping path of a donut, how would I put a path around the outside and the inside of a donut?" In this tutorial, we using image clipping paths to create a hole where the background shows through!

Photoshop: Saving an old, faded photo

Photoshop 911 question: "... I've read plenty of tutorials on how to repair dents and scratches with the clone/stamp tool, but haven't found anything to help with the color problems" In this tutorial, we bring this old photo back to life with a lot of adjustment layers

April Onslaught of Adobe CS3 Products

In case you didn't see the live web-cast demonstrations of the new Adobe product line -- here are all the detailed releases: Adobe Delivers Two Editions of Photoshop CS3 along with a powerful InDesign CS3 Release and an entire new Creative Suite 3 Product Line, including Creative Suite 3 Design Premium products, Creative Suite 3 Web Premium, Creative Suite 3 Production Premium. They're posted with an overview in the Adobe Directory.

Removing Backgrounds 2: Save Shadows

From Photoshop 911 Forums: "I want to replace white backgound with another color but to save shadows on image. With "replace color" is inposible to replace white. So here's what the 911 Dream Team sez: Load a little luminosity!

Layer Mask: merging photos

This is one of the most frequent questions we get in the Photoshop Forums and Photoshop 911. So here the Photoshop 911 dream team provides a fairly simple solution that will work in almost all versions of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements... Montage Making Masks

Setting a HEX color for GIF format graphics

Optimizing color fields for the Web can be daunting -- but when you need a specific range of HEX colors, it can be downright frustrating. Question was: "How can I change this HEX color in a gradient?"; Photoshop 911 sez: Put the HEX on a GIF

Photoshop question of the year: Removing Backgrounds

This is the most frequently asked question of them all: "How can I remove the white background around my logo?" We've talked about clipping paths and layer masks many, many times... just this once we wish everyone would listen and learn how to Remove the White Background from Graphics

Text Mask to Embossed Watermark for Photos

A reader in the Photoshop 911 Emergency Forum wanted help making a watermark. This tutorial shows you how; plus shows you how to make a custom shape, and put it to work as a powerful custom shape tool to watermark all your photos

Place a picture into text

A reader in the Photoshop 911 forum asks "how can i turn a picture of a dog into text" ... and since we all love dogs, we decided to demonstrate the easy way to use all versions of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements to Put an image into type

Painting into a Layer Mask to Reveal Image

Photoshop 911 reader L.W. restoring color to a black and white image. This basic tutorial shows you how in all image editors that use layers and layer masks for Painting into a Layer Mask to Reveal Image

Lesson 6: Vista Search

2007-12-29T19:55:00.000-08:00

In this lesson, you’ll learn more about the Instant Search capabilities described in Lesson 1 and how to use them in other areas of Vista.

You already got a taste of Windows Vista’s new Instant Search capabilities in . Now let’s take a closer look at this tool, which makes finding what you need blissfully easy.

For starters, the Instant Search box is downright ubiquitous in Vista, appearing not only in the Start menu (see Lesson 1), but also in Control Panel, Windows Media Player, Windows Explorer, and even certain Vista applications (mostly notably Contacts and Windows Mail).

Two key concepts

There are two key things you’ll want to understand about Instant Search. First, it’s context-sensitive, meaning it begins its search wherever it’s being run. When you search inside the Start menu, for instance, the tool looks for applications first–the items most closely associated with that instance of Instant Search. Search in Control Panel and you’ll see Control Panel results ahead of any others.

Second, Instant Search is dynamic: It works as you type, narrowing the results a bit further with each letter (or number) you add to the search string. Type “mo,” for instance, and you’ll immediately see all documents, applications, and other items that contain those letters. Keep typing, however, until you get to “monthly,” and your search will narrow considerably.

To see Instant Search in action, click Start and then click Search in the right-hand pane. This will open Vista’s basic Search window, which you can use to find, well, just about anything on your PC. Notice the “show only” buttons across the top; click one to quickly filter your search results.

Windows Vista Instant Search Results

After you’ve completed a search, click the Save Search button to save the results in a Virtual Folder. This folder contains no actual files, only the results of your search. It’s dynamically updated, too: The next time you view the folder, it will show any items that have changed.

Just one question: Why didn’t Microsoft put an Instant Search box on the desktop? Here’s hoping that oversight gets remedied in Service Pack 1!

Lesson 5: Vista Security

2007-12-29T19:54:00.001-08:00

In this lesson, you’ll learn about Vista’s new security features and how they promise to protect you from viruses, spyware, and identity theft.

It’s the rare Windows user who hasn’t had to deal with some kind of security hassle: phishing attempts, spyware infestations, virus activity, and the like. Vista brings numerous new tools to the table in an attempt to make your PC safer and less vulnerable.

Internet Explorer 7, for instance, includes a built-in anti-phishing filter. Suppose, for example, you receive an urgent e-mail from your credit card company warning you of fraudulent activity on your account. The message looks legit, complete with the company’s logo and boilerplate warnings about identify theft (how ironic). You click the provided link and end up at the company’s site, where you’re asked to verify your personal information (by typing it in). Problem is, it’s not the company’s site, but rather an identical-looking fake. Internet Explorer 7 can detect these fakes and issue proper warning. This anti-phishing technology is also included in Vista’s Outlook Express replacement, Windows Mail.

Added protections

Perhaps even more important, IE 7 employs a new Protected Mode that should help block the kinds of attacks that made IE 6 so vulnerable. Parts of that mode rely on a new Vista feature called User Account Control (UAC), which blocks certain tasks from running until the user manually approves them. For example, Vista won’t install certain kinds of applications without your approval–a helpful safeguard against spyware or a virus that you didn’t even know was there. Although UAC can get annoying–you need to provide consent just to access Device Manager–it goes a long way toward protecting you from hidden dangers.

Speaking of spyware, Vista incorporates Windows Defender, an anti-spyware and anti-malware utility that was available as an optional download for Windows XP. It runs in the background, so you won’t have to deal with it unless it detects some unauthorized activity and requests your input.

Finally, Vista updates Windows XP’s built-in firewall to include outbound protection, meaning that if some malware does find its way onto your PC, it’ll have a hard time establishing communications with other PCs. Even so, you might want to consider a third-party firewall product that offers more robust protection, as Vista’s blocks only the outbound traffic that matches preconfigured rules.

The Windows Vista Security Center

The settings for Vista’s security features can be turned on and off from the Windows Vista Security Center screen. This allows you to control Windows Defender and other applications that safeguard your computer, including the Windows firewall and virus protection.

By all reports, Microsoft takes security seriously with Vista. In fact, experts from Symantec and McAfee (two major security vendors) predict that Vista’s new security features will shut down current avenues of hacker attack, according to CNET’s Security Watch. Still, be ever vigilant against attacks; where there is a will by cyber-criminals to attack Vista, they will eventually find a way.

Lesson 4: Windows Vista Media Center

2007-12-29T19:52:00.001-08:00

In this lesson you’ll learn what you can do with Windows Vista Media Center: watch, pause, and record live TV; play your DVD and music collection; listen to FM radio; and much more.

If your PC has Windows Vista Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate, it can double as a full-featured media center. That’s because those versions of the operating system come equipped with Media Center, an entertainment-minded interface designed to be operated by remote (but also keyboard-friendly). Thus, your PC can serve as the heart of your living room or as an extra entertainment center in the den or bedroom.

To get the most from Media Center, you’ll want a TV tuner for your PC. The ATI TV Wonder 650, for example, installs in a desktop PCI slot, while the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 950 plugs into a USB port, making it suitable for desktops and notebooks alike. Both models let you tune in standard cable/satellite stations or, with an optional antenna, over-the-air HD stations. (And believe it or not, even a typical LCD monitor offers enough pixels to fully resolve HD signals. It’s like you got a free HDTV and didn’t even know it.)

The Windows Vista Media Center

Even better, Media Center can pause, rewind, and record live shows, just like a TiVo or cable-company DVR. It features a free electronic program guide (EPG), and it supports multiple tuners (meaning you could watch, say, American Idol live while Lost is being recorded).

Media Center also lets you tap into your PC’s photo, video, and music libraries; listen to FM radio (you’ll need an antenna, of course); play DVDs; and access online media like NPR News, XM Radio, and the Movielink movie-download service. All this happens from within Media Center’s user-friendly “twist” interface.

Although many of these features are currently available in the Windows XP versions of Media Center, Vista sports a new and aesthetically improved interface as well as more intuitive navigation. Vista Media Center utilizes the wide-screen aspect ratio, displaying everything in a left/right layout as opposed to the traditional up/down, reducing the amount of screen scrolling required.

Still, if your sole reason for upgrading to Vista is the new-and-improved Media Center, early reviews suggest that those already plugged in with an up-to-date Windows XP Media Center may want to wait. Thus far, Vista offers too few functional improvements aside from a fresh coat of paint.

One final note: If you own an Xbox 360, you can stream all your media (live/recorded TV, music, photos, etc.) from your PC to your game console–effectively turning it into a second media center.

Lesson 3: The Windows Vista Sidebar

2007-12-29T19:50:00.000-08:00

In this lesson you’ll learn how to access the Vista Sidebar and use it to add and configure gadgets.

One of Vista’s goals is to put more information at your fingertips. Enter the Sidebar, a feature of built-in desk accessories, a concept first popularized by the Mac. It occupies the right or left end of your screen and serves up a clock, calendar, newsreader, weather gauge, and other useful items. You can add, remove, and reorganize these mini-applications or “gadgets” as you please to create exactly the Sidebar you want. Here’s how.

The Windows Vista Sidebar, displayed on the right side of the desktop

First, decide if you want the Sidebar to be a permanent fixture on the desktop or something that stays hidden until you mouse over to the side of your screen. Right-click an unoccupied area of the Sidebar, choose Properties, and then check or uncheck “Sidebar is always on top of other windows.” (This is also where you decide if the Sidebar should occupy the right or left side of the screen.)

Get more gadgets

To remove any of the existing gadgets from the Sidebar, mouse over it, then click the little close-application x in the corner. To change the settings for a gadget, click the little wrench instead. You can also drag and drop a gadget to a different location on the Sidebar, or drag it off the Sidebar altogether and position it somewhere else on your desktop.

To add gadgets to the Sidebar, click the plus sign at the top of it. You’ll see a dozen or so choices; drag any of them to the Sidebar. However, there are hundreds more available online. Here’s a partial list:

Live Clock
Amazon Search
iTunes Songs
Pong
WeatherBug
Hangman
Video Player for YouTube
Bible verse of the day
Google Searcher
HTML Sandbox

Click the “Get more gadgets online” link to see a complete list. There are literally hundreds of gadgets from categories including fun and games, search tools, security, and more. These aren’t drag-and-drop additions, however; you’ll have to download and install them first. Fortunately, most gadgets cost nothing.

Windows Vista Basics, 2

2007-12-29T19:47:00.001-08:00

In this lesson you’ll learn how to use Internet Explorer’s new features, including tabs, add-ons, RSS feeds, and the Instant Search box.

Although Microsoft unveiled Internet Explorer 7 months before shipping Vista, it was optional: You didn’t have to install it. With Vista, however, it’s the stock Web browser–and that’s a good thing. Let’s take a look at a few of its more noteworthy new features.

First and foremost, IE now offers tabs, meaning you can load multiple Web sites within a single IE window. To open a new tab, click the empty tab or press Ctrl-T, then click one of your Favorites or type in a Web address. To switch between tabs, just click the one you want. You can also press Ctrl-Tab to cycle between them, or click the Quick Tabs tab to see thumbnails of all your open tabs. You can even drag and drop tabs if you want to change their order.

If you regularly visit news sites and blogs, you’ll appreciate IE’s new RSS feed reader. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, the method used to subscribe to sites that regularly post new items and information. While viewing such a site, look for the orange RSS icon in the toolbar and click it. You’ll see a preview of the site’s feed and an option to subscribe. To access your subscriptions, press Ctrl-Shift-J to open IE’s Favorites Center; click a feed to see the latest posts from that site.

Internet Explorer’s new RSS feed reader

Internet Explorer’s search tool is no longer limited to Microsoft’s search engine. Now you can use it with Google, Yahoo, eBay, Wikipedia, and many others. Click the down arrow to the right of the search box’s magnifying glass, click Find More Providers, and then choose the one(s) you want. When the time comes to actually conduct a search, click that arrow again to choose the engine you want.

Finally, IE 7 lets you expand its capabilities by installing add-ons–little programs that add or tweak features. To see what’s available, click Tools > Manage add-ons > Find more add-ons. Unfortunately, most of the add-ons cost a few bucks, though you may be able to find a few free ones.

Windows Vista Basics 1

2007-12-29T19:26:00.000-08:00

In this lesson, you’ll learn how the Start menu has changed and how to work with its new features, including the overhauled All Programs view and Instant Search box.

The first thing a Vista user is likely to notice is the new Start menu. Scratch that: It’s the new Start button that stands out. Gone is the word itself; in its place is a small circle containing the Windows logo. Click it and you’ll see the new Start menu, which differs from its predecessors in three key ways.

First, Vista banishes the cascading application menus that used to fly up and out from All Programs. Now, when you click All Programs (or hold your mouse pointer over it for two seconds), your installed applications appear in a compact, scrollable list.
Vista’s second Start-menu change is its Instant Search box, which appears immediately above the Start button when you click it. Type a few letters into the box and Vista immediately begins to display matching results. Because this particular Instant Search box resides in the Start menu (other boxes are littered everywhere within Vista), it lists matching applications first, then other items it finds on your PC: documents, Web favorites, and so on.
Vista’s third Start-menu modification changes the way you shut down your PC. Just to the right of the Instant Search box you’ll see a circle with a line in the middle. Click it to put your PC in standby mode (Vista does a better job managing this low-power state than XP did), or click the arrow next to it to access the complete shut-down menu.

This can seem a little awkward at first, especially if you’re more accustomed to finding a program by its location within the cascading menus. (For instance, perhaps you instinctively knew to look for Picasa near the top of the second cascading pane.) However, this new method is actually a much faster way to find a program, as you don’t have to wait for and scan fly-out menus that can span the entire screen. Instead, you just scroll until you find what you’re after.

Thus, you can launch programs without ever taking your hands off the keyboard. Just press the Windows button, type the first few letters of the desired application (such as “pic” for Picasa), then press Enter to launch it.