Welcome back - here's today's featured article on a common problem suffered by computer users.
If like a majority of the people, you work n front of a computer for over 8 hours a day, and if you find yourself suffering from pain, numbness of the wrist, and even a stinging sensation in your hands, you could be suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome.
Better known as repetitive stress disorder, carpel tunnel syndrome is a crippling disability, that till recently, was viewed more as a shirker’s excuse to stay away from doing her/his work. But over 5 million Americans can’t be shirkers! For that is the number being presented by the latest survey regarding carpel tunnel syndrome sufferers in our nation!
Simply put, carpal tunnel syndrome is a work related injury that affects those individuals, whose work demands that they spend time doing activities that put pressure on the wrist and the wrist tendons. Most users of computers for prolonged periods suffer from some degree of the carpal tunnel syndrome.
Others who are likely to suffer debilitating effects are cashiers in banks and financial institutions, computer operators, desktop publishing professionals, call center professionals, assembly line workers, cash register operators and even writers – all of whom spend their time at work doing repetitive jobs with their wrists, thereby resulting in carpal tunnel syndrome.
But carpal tunnel syndrome is not something that comes about abruptly. It happens gradually, over time. Since it entails a nerve in the wrist to be pressured, causing numbness and associated disability, the process can take years to developed into a full blown case of carpal tunnel syndrome. The typical symptoms of carpel tunnel syndrome begin with a frequent pain or ache in the palms and wrists.
This may lead to numbness and/or tingling and itching. While the hands themselves may or may not appear swollen, they will feel swollen and no amount of heat treatment may make this sensation go away. These symptoms usually occur during the night, when the wrist is resting. If not treated in the initial stages, the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome only become more pronounced, and begin manifesting themselves during the day as well. Some of the symptoms of advanced stages of carpal tunnel syndrome include clumsiness, frequent dropping of items held in the hands, reduced grip capacity of the hands and even problems with dexterity and coordination control.
Having recognized carpal tunnel syndrome as a genuine medical problem, scientists and healthcare professionals have come up with a number of devises and treatments to ameliorate the pain of sufferers. One of the most commonly used among these treatments is what is known as splinting. Just s a fractured bone is repaired using splints to set it in its regular position, carpal tunnel syndrome too can be treated with splinting.
In most cases, it has been found that setting the wrist in a strain-free position and splinting it for a length of time, may remove the effects of carpal tunnel syndrome. There are also a range of oral and superficial medications available to treat carpal tunnel syndrome. The most common medications include anti inflammatory gels and ointments, oral corticosteroids and even local injections of steroids to relive inflammation and pain. In advanced or serious cases of carpal tunnel syndrome, surgery may be required.
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Saturday, December 1, 2007
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Wireless Security - Getting It Right
Welcome back - here's today's featured article:
by: Vishwadeep Bajaj
It may sound strange but is true that several organisations, which have adopted Wireless networking, are open to severe security breaches. Mostly the reasons are that organisations simply plug the access points and go live without bothering to change the default factory settings. Wireless local area networks are open to risk not because the systems are incapable but due to incorrect usage. The biggest problem lies with inadequate security standards and with poorly configured devices. For a start, most of the wireless base stations sold by suppliers come with the in-built security Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) protocol turned off. This means that unless you manually reconfigure your wireless access points, your networks will be broadcasting data that is unencrypted.
In the old world of wired local area networks, the architecture provides some inherent security. Typically there is a network server and multiple devices with an Ethernet protocol adapter that connect to each other physically via a LAN backbone. If you are not physically connected, you have no access to the LAN.
Compare it with the new wireless LAN architecture. The LAN backbone of the wired world is replaced with radio access points. The Ethernet adapters in devices are replaced with a radio card. There are no physical connections – anyone with a radio capability of sniffing can connect to the network.
What can go wrong?
Unlike the wired network, the intruder does not need physical access in order to pose the following security threats:
Eavesdropping. This involves attacks against the confidentiality of the data that is being transmitted across the network. In the wireless network, eavesdropping is the most significant threat because the attacker can intercept the transmission over the air from a distance away from the premises of the company.
Tampering. The attacker can modify the content of the intercepted packets from the wireless network and this results in a loss of data integrity.
Unauthorized access. The attacker could gain access to privileged data and resources in the network by assuming the identity of a valid user. This kind of attack is known as spoofing. To overcome this attack, proper authentication and access control mechanisms need to be put up in the wireless network.
Denial of Service. In this attack, the intruder floods the network with either valid or invalid messages affecting the availability of the network resources.
How to protect?
There are 3 types of security options – basic, active and hardened. Depending upon your organisation needs, you can adopt any of the above.
Basic
You can achieve the basic security by implementing Wired Equivalent Standard 128 or WEP 128. The IEEE 802.11 task group has established this standard. WEP specifies generation of encryption keys. The information source and information target uses these keys to prevent any eavesdroppers (who do not have these keys) to get access to the data.
Network access control is implemented by using a Service Set Identifier (SSID – a 32 character unique identifier) associated with an access point or a group of access points. The SSID acts as a password for network access.
Another additional type of security is Access Control List (ACL). Each wireless device has a unique identifier called Media Access Control address (MAC). A MAC list can be maintained at an access point or a server of all access points. Only those devices are allowed access to the network that have their MAC address specified.
The above implementations are open to attack. Even when you do turn on WEP, there are still problems inherent within it. The problem lies in the protocol's encryption key mechanism, which is implemented in such a way that the key can be recovered by analysing the data flow across the network over a period of time. This has been estimated at between 15 minutes and several days. The SSID attached to the header of packets sent over a wireless Lan - is sent as unencrypted text and is vulnerable to being sniffed by third parties. Unfortunately most supplier equipment is configured to broadcast the SSID automatically, essentially giving new devices a ticket to join the network. While this is useful for public wireless networks in places such as airports and retail establishments - in the US for example, Starbucks is offering 802.11b access in some of its stores - it represents another security loophole for corporates that do not switch it off. Finally any MAC address can be changed to another (spoofed), so the use of ACL is not foolproof either.
Active
To implement an Active type of security, you need to implement the IEEE 802.1x security standard. This covers two areas – network access restriction through mutual authentication and data integration through WEP key rotation. Mutual authentication between the client station and the access points helps ensure that clients are communicating with known networks and dynamic key rotation reduces exposure to key attacks.
Due to weaknesses in WEP, some standard alternatives to WEP have emerged. Most of the Wi-Fi manufacturers have agreed to use a temporary standard for enhanced security called Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA).
In WPA, the encryption key is changed after every frame using Temporary Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP). This protocol allows key changes to occur on a frame-by-frame basis and to be automatically synchronized between the access point and the wireless client. The TKIP is really the heart and soul of WPA security. TKIP replaces WEP encryption. And although WEP is optional in standard Wi-Fi, TKIP is required in WPA. The TKIP encryption algorithm is stronger than the one used by WEP but works by using the same hardware-based calculation mechanisms WEP uses.
Hardened
There are organisations like banks, which have very stringent security requirements. They need to implement the hardened type of security systems. These are solutions certified in accordance with the Federal Information Protection Standard (FIPS 1.40). Products in this category offer point-to-point security for wireless information communication and include offerings such as AirFortress and IPSec Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). A VPN will increase the cost of your network, but you can base your decision on whether to implement it by using the same course of action that you should be taking with all other parts of your infrastructure. Map the risks against the business data that you will be passing over radio, and assess the financial impact of a breach. If the data is too critical, reassess what should be passed over the network, or use a VPN to enhance your protection.
Summary
The vendors are working towards implementing newer standards and this year we should see products implementing IEEE 802.11i that will further the authentication and encryption gains implemented by WPA. Most notably, it will add a ground up encryption standard known as Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) as well as various other enhancements.
Newer standards apart, organisations must understand that achieving wireless security is essential and the good part is that it is easy. An organisation must define its security needs and use the features available in the systems accordingly. Choose a good vendor who can help you implement your requirements through standards based solutions. A good implementation must be supported by a security policy, which is well understood by everyone in the organisation. Make your employees aware that they all are responsible for security and share the cost of security breaches. Assign authority & ownership to few employees for the various parts in the security policy and make periodic reviews of their performance. Most important is to monitor your systems for any possible breaches and adapt if necessary. Never sleep well.
About The Author
Vishwadeep Bajaj is the CEO of ValueFirst Messaging Private Limited (www.vfirst.com), a company, which provides messaging solutions in India, Europe and the USA. Vishwadeep is based in London where he is an active participant in the mobility industry. This Article was published in Mobility Magazine.
webmaster@vfirst.com
**Get a money-making mall FREE! Click here:
http://www.mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/30831
by: Vishwadeep Bajaj
It may sound strange but is true that several organisations, which have adopted Wireless networking, are open to severe security breaches. Mostly the reasons are that organisations simply plug the access points and go live without bothering to change the default factory settings. Wireless local area networks are open to risk not because the systems are incapable but due to incorrect usage. The biggest problem lies with inadequate security standards and with poorly configured devices. For a start, most of the wireless base stations sold by suppliers come with the in-built security Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) protocol turned off. This means that unless you manually reconfigure your wireless access points, your networks will be broadcasting data that is unencrypted.
In the old world of wired local area networks, the architecture provides some inherent security. Typically there is a network server and multiple devices with an Ethernet protocol adapter that connect to each other physically via a LAN backbone. If you are not physically connected, you have no access to the LAN.
Compare it with the new wireless LAN architecture. The LAN backbone of the wired world is replaced with radio access points. The Ethernet adapters in devices are replaced with a radio card. There are no physical connections – anyone with a radio capability of sniffing can connect to the network.
What can go wrong?
Unlike the wired network, the intruder does not need physical access in order to pose the following security threats:
Eavesdropping. This involves attacks against the confidentiality of the data that is being transmitted across the network. In the wireless network, eavesdropping is the most significant threat because the attacker can intercept the transmission over the air from a distance away from the premises of the company.
Tampering. The attacker can modify the content of the intercepted packets from the wireless network and this results in a loss of data integrity.
Unauthorized access. The attacker could gain access to privileged data and resources in the network by assuming the identity of a valid user. This kind of attack is known as spoofing. To overcome this attack, proper authentication and access control mechanisms need to be put up in the wireless network.
Denial of Service. In this attack, the intruder floods the network with either valid or invalid messages affecting the availability of the network resources.
How to protect?
There are 3 types of security options – basic, active and hardened. Depending upon your organisation needs, you can adopt any of the above.
Basic
You can achieve the basic security by implementing Wired Equivalent Standard 128 or WEP 128. The IEEE 802.11 task group has established this standard. WEP specifies generation of encryption keys. The information source and information target uses these keys to prevent any eavesdroppers (who do not have these keys) to get access to the data.
Network access control is implemented by using a Service Set Identifier (SSID – a 32 character unique identifier) associated with an access point or a group of access points. The SSID acts as a password for network access.
Another additional type of security is Access Control List (ACL). Each wireless device has a unique identifier called Media Access Control address (MAC). A MAC list can be maintained at an access point or a server of all access points. Only those devices are allowed access to the network that have their MAC address specified.
The above implementations are open to attack. Even when you do turn on WEP, there are still problems inherent within it. The problem lies in the protocol's encryption key mechanism, which is implemented in such a way that the key can be recovered by analysing the data flow across the network over a period of time. This has been estimated at between 15 minutes and several days. The SSID attached to the header of packets sent over a wireless Lan - is sent as unencrypted text and is vulnerable to being sniffed by third parties. Unfortunately most supplier equipment is configured to broadcast the SSID automatically, essentially giving new devices a ticket to join the network. While this is useful for public wireless networks in places such as airports and retail establishments - in the US for example, Starbucks is offering 802.11b access in some of its stores - it represents another security loophole for corporates that do not switch it off. Finally any MAC address can be changed to another (spoofed), so the use of ACL is not foolproof either.
Active
To implement an Active type of security, you need to implement the IEEE 802.1x security standard. This covers two areas – network access restriction through mutual authentication and data integration through WEP key rotation. Mutual authentication between the client station and the access points helps ensure that clients are communicating with known networks and dynamic key rotation reduces exposure to key attacks.
Due to weaknesses in WEP, some standard alternatives to WEP have emerged. Most of the Wi-Fi manufacturers have agreed to use a temporary standard for enhanced security called Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA).
In WPA, the encryption key is changed after every frame using Temporary Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP). This protocol allows key changes to occur on a frame-by-frame basis and to be automatically synchronized between the access point and the wireless client. The TKIP is really the heart and soul of WPA security. TKIP replaces WEP encryption. And although WEP is optional in standard Wi-Fi, TKIP is required in WPA. The TKIP encryption algorithm is stronger than the one used by WEP but works by using the same hardware-based calculation mechanisms WEP uses.
Hardened
There are organisations like banks, which have very stringent security requirements. They need to implement the hardened type of security systems. These are solutions certified in accordance with the Federal Information Protection Standard (FIPS 1.40). Products in this category offer point-to-point security for wireless information communication and include offerings such as AirFortress and IPSec Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). A VPN will increase the cost of your network, but you can base your decision on whether to implement it by using the same course of action that you should be taking with all other parts of your infrastructure. Map the risks against the business data that you will be passing over radio, and assess the financial impact of a breach. If the data is too critical, reassess what should be passed over the network, or use a VPN to enhance your protection.
Summary
The vendors are working towards implementing newer standards and this year we should see products implementing IEEE 802.11i that will further the authentication and encryption gains implemented by WPA. Most notably, it will add a ground up encryption standard known as Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) as well as various other enhancements.
Newer standards apart, organisations must understand that achieving wireless security is essential and the good part is that it is easy. An organisation must define its security needs and use the features available in the systems accordingly. Choose a good vendor who can help you implement your requirements through standards based solutions. A good implementation must be supported by a security policy, which is well understood by everyone in the organisation. Make your employees aware that they all are responsible for security and share the cost of security breaches. Assign authority & ownership to few employees for the various parts in the security policy and make periodic reviews of their performance. Most important is to monitor your systems for any possible breaches and adapt if necessary. Never sleep well.
About The Author
Vishwadeep Bajaj is the CEO of ValueFirst Messaging Private Limited (www.vfirst.com), a company, which provides messaging solutions in India, Europe and the USA. Vishwadeep is based in London where he is an active participant in the mobility industry. This Article was published in Mobility Magazine.
webmaster@vfirst.com
**Get a money-making mall FREE! Click here:
http://www.mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/30831
Thursday, October 18, 2007
How To Restore Old Photos With Photoshop
Some very useful information in today's featured article:
by: Michael Wysmierski
There are times that people may have old photographs
they would like to restore to save the memories. Photos
usually get damaged through the times. The pictures may
get blurred, the color fades and the picture might acquire
marks and scratches. Thank the technology of today. People
can now save and restore their old photos with the help of
Photoshop.
Here are some steps to follow in restoring old pictures
using the Photoshop.
1. The person may use the Elements in Photoshop, which are
Dust and Scratch Filter to remove the marks, scratches an
blots in the photo. The Dust and Scratches Filter is
located on the Menu Bar and click on the Filter Tab. A drop
down will list elements and then he can choose the Noise tab
and select on the Dust and Scratches.
2. After clicking on the Dust and Scratches menu, a window
will pop up with two control sliders. The first slider is for
the Radius and the other one is for the Threshold. There
will also be another window if the preview box will be
checked. These are the main options that will be used in
treating the picture.
3. Adjusting the Radius slider may remove the scratches.
However, there is a tendency that overdoing it may make
the edges blurred too. If that happens, the option is to
adjust the Threshold slider and this will allow the details
to go back and make the picture clearer with the scratches
disappearing. The person should be careful not to set them
too far or it will only create blotches on the picture.
4. In removing the marks, selecting the whole photo will
not diffuse these marks. The option is to select only the
part where the scratches are located. He may use the Lasso
to do this.
5. He can then feather the edges of the selected area so
that the selected area will not be obvious on the picture.
He can do this by clicking the Feather option and click
the Scratch and Dust Filter again. He can do the process
again of adjusting the Radius and Threshold sliders to get
the texture needed and remove the scratches.
6. It there are still visible marks on the other parts of
the picture, he can do the technique again by selecting the
areas he would like to adjust. To finish the process and
make the picture presentable, he can crop the image enough
to remove the cracks and torn edges of the picture. The
canvas may be use to equally crop the image.
7. A person may add drama on the picture by adding a drop
shadow on it. This will make the picture appear as if it
has been lifted off the page. The color may also be removed
using the controls Shift+Ctrl+U. He can then add color by
putting a little amount of Sepia. He can do this with the
Hue or Saturation tab. The contrast may be adjusted using
the Levels option.
This is one easy way on how to remove the blotches and
marks on an old picture. This is also a good way to make
the picture look new but still appear classical. It will
be a pleasant and easy way to display pictures kept on old
albums and cabinets for a long time.
About The Author
Michael Wysmierski is the founder of Professional Header
Templates. He can be reached for more information at his
website here:
http://www.ProfessionalHeaderTemplates.com
mw@professionalheadertemplates.com
**Get a money-making mall FREE! Click here:
http://www.mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/30831
by: Michael Wysmierski
There are times that people may have old photographs
they would like to restore to save the memories. Photos
usually get damaged through the times. The pictures may
get blurred, the color fades and the picture might acquire
marks and scratches. Thank the technology of today. People
can now save and restore their old photos with the help of
Photoshop.
Here are some steps to follow in restoring old pictures
using the Photoshop.
1. The person may use the Elements in Photoshop, which are
Dust and Scratch Filter to remove the marks, scratches an
blots in the photo. The Dust and Scratches Filter is
located on the Menu Bar and click on the Filter Tab. A drop
down will list elements and then he can choose the Noise tab
and select on the Dust and Scratches.
2. After clicking on the Dust and Scratches menu, a window
will pop up with two control sliders. The first slider is for
the Radius and the other one is for the Threshold. There
will also be another window if the preview box will be
checked. These are the main options that will be used in
treating the picture.
3. Adjusting the Radius slider may remove the scratches.
However, there is a tendency that overdoing it may make
the edges blurred too. If that happens, the option is to
adjust the Threshold slider and this will allow the details
to go back and make the picture clearer with the scratches
disappearing. The person should be careful not to set them
too far or it will only create blotches on the picture.
4. In removing the marks, selecting the whole photo will
not diffuse these marks. The option is to select only the
part where the scratches are located. He may use the Lasso
to do this.
5. He can then feather the edges of the selected area so
that the selected area will not be obvious on the picture.
He can do this by clicking the Feather option and click
the Scratch and Dust Filter again. He can do the process
again of adjusting the Radius and Threshold sliders to get
the texture needed and remove the scratches.
6. It there are still visible marks on the other parts of
the picture, he can do the technique again by selecting the
areas he would like to adjust. To finish the process and
make the picture presentable, he can crop the image enough
to remove the cracks and torn edges of the picture. The
canvas may be use to equally crop the image.
7. A person may add drama on the picture by adding a drop
shadow on it. This will make the picture appear as if it
has been lifted off the page. The color may also be removed
using the controls Shift+Ctrl+U. He can then add color by
putting a little amount of Sepia. He can do this with the
Hue or Saturation tab. The contrast may be adjusted using
the Levels option.
This is one easy way on how to remove the blotches and
marks on an old picture. This is also a good way to make
the picture look new but still appear classical. It will
be a pleasant and easy way to display pictures kept on old
albums and cabinets for a long time.
About The Author
Michael Wysmierski is the founder of Professional Header
Templates. He can be reached for more information at his
website here:
http://www.ProfessionalHeaderTemplates.com
mw@professionalheadertemplates.com
**Get a money-making mall FREE! Click here:
http://www.mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/30831
Monday, October 8, 2007
Flash USB Drives: Backup Easily, Conveniently And Securely
Welcome back - here's today's featured article:
by: Yuri Filimonov
Tired of switching CD/DVD discs while backing up? Flash USB drives to the rescue!
If you already backup often, you are doing the most you can to secure your files against accidental file deletion and recovery, file damage and what not. Also, you may be considering making your backups as easy and painless as possible. So what may be a remedy to this issue?
Naturally, you need to consider several backup media and select the one suitting your needs and requirements. Among all, CD, DVD and flash USB drives are considered.
You may as well use CD to backup, but you will either need to dump CD-R discs often, or insert a CD-/+RW discs often to make another backup. Someone else can also misplace your backup CD disc or overwrite your backup data with other information. Moreover, a CD only admits about 700Mb of data, which may not be convenient. Nor is storing multiple CDs of your backup copy.
The same can be said about backing up to DVD. Of course, a DVD admits from 4.7Gb to about 18.6Gb of data, but is it really convenient backing up to DVD? An external hard disk drive or a flash USB drive will be speedier, more reliable and easier overall.
Here is when a flash USB drive comes handy. It not only allows faster data copying than CD or DVD, but can also admit from 256Mb to 4Gb of data (or maybe more). Moreover, you can take the USB drive with you anywhere you go and transfer the data between distant computers without resolving to FTP backup. Of course, one of the drawbacks of a flash USB backup is that the drive is only limited to about 100 000 writings, while another slight disadvantage (or an advantage, if you put it nicely) is that the device is so small you can easily misplace it.
About The Author
Yuri Filimonov has been an insider of the backup industry for a few years, allowing him to share insight on various backup issues, both in his articles and his website at http://www.fairbackup.com.
**Get a money-making mall FREE! Click here:
http://www.mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/30831
by: Yuri Filimonov
Tired of switching CD/DVD discs while backing up? Flash USB drives to the rescue!
If you already backup often, you are doing the most you can to secure your files against accidental file deletion and recovery, file damage and what not. Also, you may be considering making your backups as easy and painless as possible. So what may be a remedy to this issue?
Naturally, you need to consider several backup media and select the one suitting your needs and requirements. Among all, CD, DVD and flash USB drives are considered.
You may as well use CD to backup, but you will either need to dump CD-R discs often, or insert a CD-/+RW discs often to make another backup. Someone else can also misplace your backup CD disc or overwrite your backup data with other information. Moreover, a CD only admits about 700Mb of data, which may not be convenient. Nor is storing multiple CDs of your backup copy.
The same can be said about backing up to DVD. Of course, a DVD admits from 4.7Gb to about 18.6Gb of data, but is it really convenient backing up to DVD? An external hard disk drive or a flash USB drive will be speedier, more reliable and easier overall.
Here is when a flash USB drive comes handy. It not only allows faster data copying than CD or DVD, but can also admit from 256Mb to 4Gb of data (or maybe more). Moreover, you can take the USB drive with you anywhere you go and transfer the data between distant computers without resolving to FTP backup. Of course, one of the drawbacks of a flash USB backup is that the drive is only limited to about 100 000 writings, while another slight disadvantage (or an advantage, if you put it nicely) is that the device is so small you can easily misplace it.
About The Author
Yuri Filimonov has been an insider of the backup industry for a few years, allowing him to share insight on various backup issues, both in his articles and his website at http://www.fairbackup.com.
**Get a money-making mall FREE! Click here:
http://www.mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/30831
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Tips To Protect Data Loss
Welcome back - here's today's featured article:
by: Jowyne Leong
Prevention is always better cure. In order to avoid data loss situation, you could observe the following steps:
1. Use an Anti Virus software and keep it updated
Antivirus is designed to protect you and your computer against malicious computer virus. Some virus infections can delete, modify your data secretly and cause your computer to crash. So be sure to update your Antivirus software with the latest patch and signature files for maximum security.
2. Protect against power surges with an UPS
An uninterruptible power supply protects your computer and data during a power surge or failure. The spare battery in the UPS gives you ample time to save your documents and shut down Windows properly so that you don't lose any files or damage any hardware components.
3. Keep your machine in a dry, shaded and dust-free area
Never leave your computer near places where it is directly exposed to rain, sun or humidity. Such conditions have the tendency to cause rusting and damage to your hardware parts.
4. Do not attempt to repair or open up your computer without assistance
Without experience, you may damage the circuit boards, hardware components and worst of all, receive a nasty electric shock! Always consult an expert.
5. Do not over-tweak your system
Avoid modifying your system registry or overclock your hardware to yield performance boost unless you're absolutely sure of what you're doing. You don't wish to fry your computer.
6. Store your backups at an off-site location
This helps to protect your backup from damage in case of a fire or disaster.
7. Avoid moving your computer when it is in operation
You definitely would not wish for your power cord to fall off and cause a data corruption and physical damage to your hard disk such as a head crash while working on a project.
8. Do not share access to your computer with strangers on the network
Your computer data can be prone to theft and modification if anyone on the network can access your files freely.
9. Practise disk maintenance
Clean up temporary files, unused files and defragment your hard disk from time to time. This helps to keep your hard disk on top form.
10. Read failure symptoms
You know it's time to start backing up all your data files when your hard disk starts producing funny noises and your system starts getting cranky.
Jowyne Leong
About The Author
Adroit Data Recovery Centre (ADRC) Pte Ltd is the data recovery expert established since 1998. Headquartered in Singapore and Malaysia, we recover data for customers from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Philippines, Brunei and Vietnam.
adrc.net
ss2@adrc.net
**Get a money-making mall FREE! Click here:
http://www.mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/30831
by: Jowyne Leong
Prevention is always better cure. In order to avoid data loss situation, you could observe the following steps:
1. Use an Anti Virus software and keep it updated
Antivirus is designed to protect you and your computer against malicious computer virus. Some virus infections can delete, modify your data secretly and cause your computer to crash. So be sure to update your Antivirus software with the latest patch and signature files for maximum security.
2. Protect against power surges with an UPS
An uninterruptible power supply protects your computer and data during a power surge or failure. The spare battery in the UPS gives you ample time to save your documents and shut down Windows properly so that you don't lose any files or damage any hardware components.
3. Keep your machine in a dry, shaded and dust-free area
Never leave your computer near places where it is directly exposed to rain, sun or humidity. Such conditions have the tendency to cause rusting and damage to your hardware parts.
4. Do not attempt to repair or open up your computer without assistance
Without experience, you may damage the circuit boards, hardware components and worst of all, receive a nasty electric shock! Always consult an expert.
5. Do not over-tweak your system
Avoid modifying your system registry or overclock your hardware to yield performance boost unless you're absolutely sure of what you're doing. You don't wish to fry your computer.
6. Store your backups at an off-site location
This helps to protect your backup from damage in case of a fire or disaster.
7. Avoid moving your computer when it is in operation
You definitely would not wish for your power cord to fall off and cause a data corruption and physical damage to your hard disk such as a head crash while working on a project.
8. Do not share access to your computer with strangers on the network
Your computer data can be prone to theft and modification if anyone on the network can access your files freely.
9. Practise disk maintenance
Clean up temporary files, unused files and defragment your hard disk from time to time. This helps to keep your hard disk on top form.
10. Read failure symptoms
You know it's time to start backing up all your data files when your hard disk starts producing funny noises and your system starts getting cranky.
Jowyne Leong
About The Author
Adroit Data Recovery Centre (ADRC) Pte Ltd is the data recovery expert established since 1998. Headquartered in Singapore and Malaysia, we recover data for customers from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Philippines, Brunei and Vietnam.
adrc.net
ss2@adrc.net
**Get a money-making mall FREE! Click here:
http://www.mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/30831
Friday, September 14, 2007
Off-Page Factors Affecting Your Position On Google Searches
Welcome back - here's today's featured article:
by: John Fowler
Different search engines use different algorithms to calculate where you appear on their search results. This article will focus on the factors that we believe affect your results on Google searches. One word of warning, Google does not publish its algorithms and is constantly changing and updating the way it views sites - so these are the guidelines for you to follow, rather than a definitive statement of the processes involved.
We will divide the major factors into two main types, namely, on-page and off-page factors. Basically, on-page factors are those things that you can do to improve your ranking by adapting the actual coding of your site. Off-page factors are those factors mainly relating to incoming links to your site. This article, the second of two will focus on off-page factors.
In terms of off-page factors the areas we will cover are:
IBLs – inbound links to your site
Directory Listings – which directories feature your site
User Statistics – who visits your site and for how long
Inbound Links (IBLs)
Many of you may not be aware that many sites may be linking to your own site and sending new users and traffic to you. You can check who links to your site using an IBL checker, like the backlink checker that can be found on the free SEO Tools site www.datacoms.co.uk.
These checkers allow you to see which sites have linked to you as identified by Google, Yahoo and MSN. Interesting, the Google list is always smaller and more quirky than the other two. This is because Google has decided that pure volume of links is not a good measure of a site’s attractiveness since this metric can be spammed by the use of links farms, where unscrupulous webmasters can buy loads of links for free.
So Google uses other factors to check your site’s IBLs, and one of these is certainly pagerank. The concept of pagerank was developed by Google to rank sites across the web on a number of factors that overall aim to show how attractive a site is to potential viewers. Your site will have a pagerank, even if you don’t know about it. Again you can check your pagerank for free at www.datacoms.co.uk.
Sites with a pagerank or PR of 4 or more are considered worthy sites by Google and so a link from a site with PR 4 or above is more important to your site’s overall ranking. PR starts at 0 and goes to 10, with only sites like Microsoft, Apple, Google or NASA getting a perfect 10.
It is also very useful to get sites to link to you with consistent anchor text; this is the text description of your sites URL. So we try and use SEO Gurus for all out links, but some sites seem to take pleasure in changing this for us. The point is the more consistent the anchor text is the better you will be found. The old example of keying "miserable failure" into Google is a good one to demonstrate the power of consistent anchor text. This search gives George Bush’s biography on the Whitehouse site – no mention of "miserable failure" on the site, but it has many sites linking to it using those words as anchor text.
So try and get lots of sites of PR 4 or above linking to you, especially if the site has a similar theme to your own site. However, don’t grow your links too fast as Google sees this as spammy, and try and avoid reciprocal links where possible (these are links where each site agrees to link to each other). The best way to get links is with consistently good, well-written content that interests people.
Directory Listings
There are many directory listings sites on the internet, but some are much more important than others, because they are big and powerful with a high PR. Top of the list must be DMOZ, with a PR of 9. Also known as the Open Directory Project, DMOZ, is the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors. It gets the name DMOZ from the acronym for Directory Mozilla, as it is administered by Netscape Communication Corporation. It costs you nothing to get your site onto DMOZ, except blood, sweat and tears – see www.datacoms.co.uk for more details. DMOZ is important because it is one of the places Google looks when deciding the importance of your site. Hence, a listing on DMOZ almost guarantees better search results performance.
Yahoo is probably the second most important listing, but costs $299 a year to list your site, again a PR of 9. There are many other sites, far too many to mention, that may be useful to you. Some are free, others ask for reciprocal links or a payment. It pays to be selective on your links and we have as yet not paid for any links. Interestingly, even without paying Yahoo you can get high on their searches if you have a listing on DMOZ, so worth persevering.
User Statistics
Google has developed a number of measures to record the amount of visitors your site and individual pages visited. How did they get there (keyword searches), what pages did they visit, how much time did they spend on each page, did they bookmark the site, etc.
After all, a true measure of where you should appear on the search results is how popular and interestingly your site is. The only real way you can have this is by having interesting, or in marketing jargon, “sticky” content. Many sites are trying to add news feeds, puzzles or quotes of the day to try and achieve a greater degree of stickiness. But, in our opinion the reason people come back to your site has to be the quality and quantity of information that you have presented and organised for easy access by them.
Content is king, long live content!
About The Author
John Fowler trained as a Mathematician and has worked in the IT industry for over 30 years, much of the time in sales related functions. He now spends his time between being a partner in SEO Gurus and as a sales and management trainer for ICT companies. John can be contacted via SEO Gurus http://www.seo-gurus.co.uk.
**Get a money-making shopping mall FREE! Click here:
http://www.mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/30831
by: John Fowler
Different search engines use different algorithms to calculate where you appear on their search results. This article will focus on the factors that we believe affect your results on Google searches. One word of warning, Google does not publish its algorithms and is constantly changing and updating the way it views sites - so these are the guidelines for you to follow, rather than a definitive statement of the processes involved.
We will divide the major factors into two main types, namely, on-page and off-page factors. Basically, on-page factors are those things that you can do to improve your ranking by adapting the actual coding of your site. Off-page factors are those factors mainly relating to incoming links to your site. This article, the second of two will focus on off-page factors.
In terms of off-page factors the areas we will cover are:
IBLs – inbound links to your site
Directory Listings – which directories feature your site
User Statistics – who visits your site and for how long
Inbound Links (IBLs)
Many of you may not be aware that many sites may be linking to your own site and sending new users and traffic to you. You can check who links to your site using an IBL checker, like the backlink checker that can be found on the free SEO Tools site www.datacoms.co.uk.
These checkers allow you to see which sites have linked to you as identified by Google, Yahoo and MSN. Interesting, the Google list is always smaller and more quirky than the other two. This is because Google has decided that pure volume of links is not a good measure of a site’s attractiveness since this metric can be spammed by the use of links farms, where unscrupulous webmasters can buy loads of links for free.
So Google uses other factors to check your site’s IBLs, and one of these is certainly pagerank. The concept of pagerank was developed by Google to rank sites across the web on a number of factors that overall aim to show how attractive a site is to potential viewers. Your site will have a pagerank, even if you don’t know about it. Again you can check your pagerank for free at www.datacoms.co.uk.
Sites with a pagerank or PR of 4 or more are considered worthy sites by Google and so a link from a site with PR 4 or above is more important to your site’s overall ranking. PR starts at 0 and goes to 10, with only sites like Microsoft, Apple, Google or NASA getting a perfect 10.
It is also very useful to get sites to link to you with consistent anchor text; this is the text description of your sites URL. So we try and use SEO Gurus for all out links, but some sites seem to take pleasure in changing this for us. The point is the more consistent the anchor text is the better you will be found. The old example of keying "miserable failure" into Google is a good one to demonstrate the power of consistent anchor text. This search gives George Bush’s biography on the Whitehouse site – no mention of "miserable failure" on the site, but it has many sites linking to it using those words as anchor text.
So try and get lots of sites of PR 4 or above linking to you, especially if the site has a similar theme to your own site. However, don’t grow your links too fast as Google sees this as spammy, and try and avoid reciprocal links where possible (these are links where each site agrees to link to each other). The best way to get links is with consistently good, well-written content that interests people.
Directory Listings
There are many directory listings sites on the internet, but some are much more important than others, because they are big and powerful with a high PR. Top of the list must be DMOZ, with a PR of 9. Also known as the Open Directory Project, DMOZ, is the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors. It gets the name DMOZ from the acronym for Directory Mozilla, as it is administered by Netscape Communication Corporation. It costs you nothing to get your site onto DMOZ, except blood, sweat and tears – see www.datacoms.co.uk for more details. DMOZ is important because it is one of the places Google looks when deciding the importance of your site. Hence, a listing on DMOZ almost guarantees better search results performance.
Yahoo is probably the second most important listing, but costs $299 a year to list your site, again a PR of 9. There are many other sites, far too many to mention, that may be useful to you. Some are free, others ask for reciprocal links or a payment. It pays to be selective on your links and we have as yet not paid for any links. Interestingly, even without paying Yahoo you can get high on their searches if you have a listing on DMOZ, so worth persevering.
User Statistics
Google has developed a number of measures to record the amount of visitors your site and individual pages visited. How did they get there (keyword searches), what pages did they visit, how much time did they spend on each page, did they bookmark the site, etc.
After all, a true measure of where you should appear on the search results is how popular and interestingly your site is. The only real way you can have this is by having interesting, or in marketing jargon, “sticky” content. Many sites are trying to add news feeds, puzzles or quotes of the day to try and achieve a greater degree of stickiness. But, in our opinion the reason people come back to your site has to be the quality and quantity of information that you have presented and organised for easy access by them.
Content is king, long live content!
About The Author
John Fowler trained as a Mathematician and has worked in the IT industry for over 30 years, much of the time in sales related functions. He now spends his time between being a partner in SEO Gurus and as a sales and management trainer for ICT companies. John can be contacted via SEO Gurus http://www.seo-gurus.co.uk.
**Get a money-making shopping mall FREE! Click here:
http://www.mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/30831
Friday, September 7, 2007
How To Identify Spoof/Phishing Emails - Protect Yourself From Identity Theft
Welcome back - here's today's featured article:
by: Dan Thompson
What is a spoof email?
Spoof emails (sometimes also called "Phishing") are emails that pretend to be from a company or bank. The most common often come from eBay, PayPal, Barclays Bank etc. These emails will then contain a web link, if you click on this link then you will be taken to a login page and asked to enter your details. Most of these scammers go a long way to try and get your details, most spoof emails contain links to identical websites and users are tricked into entering their personal information. If you submit your information through one of these spoof websites then the fraudster has all of your details and can commit crimes using your identity.
How do they get my email address?
You may wonder how the scammers got your address or knew you were a member of a particular bank or institution. Often it is just good luck on the part of the scammers. They normally do not target individuals, but send out thousands of scam emails to randomly generated email addresses, in the hope that just a few will be successful. They also trawl the web for valid addresses they can use, and swap this information with each other. If you have ever posted on an Internet forum or published something on the web, there's a good chance your address is out there somewhere just waiting to be found. If you have fallen victim before, your address is normally added to a list of 'easy victims', and you are likely to then receive even more scams.
^^^^^^
3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC
http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
^^^^^^
How can I identify these emails?
Here are 4 simple tests that you can perform on any email you suspect is a spoof. Your email can only pass the test if it passes ALL FOUR of the tests. If your email passes all of the four tests then you can be 99.9% certain that it is a genuine email. If your email passes all four of the tests then we would also advise you to check the "Other Tips" section just to double check that your email is genuine.
If your email fails
If your email fails JUST ONE of the four tests then the email is a spoof and shouldn't be replied to and should be deleted immediately from your computer. Even if your email fails the test, I would still advise you to check out the "Other Tips" page for more good ways to spot a spoof email.
If you are still in doubt
Unless you are 100% sure that your email is genuine, DO NOT click on any links within the email. Contact the company in question (See the "reporting a spoof" page) and ask them to confirm if the email is genuine or a spoof.
^^^^^^
Enhance your PC. Enhance your life! Let RegCure reveal your PC’s true potential.
http://tinyurl.com/23v7bg
^^^^^
Test 1 - Who is the email addressed to?
Have a look at how the email addresses you. Most spoofs will say something along the lines of "Dear eBay user". This is the very first thing you should look for in a spoof email. Any email that doesn't address you by your name is a spoof. Ebay, PayPal and banks always address you by the name you registered with on their site, they NEVER send out emails saying
"Dear valued customer", "Dear member" etc.
If your email isn't addressed to you personally then it is a spoof! If your email is addressed to you then move onto the next test to see if it is a spoof email. Some more advanced spoof messages have started to include your name or email address instead of the generic "Dear member" or "Dear user". So even if your email were addressed to you I would strongly advise you to carry out the 3 other tests.
Test 2 - Where does the link go?
Most spoof emails will contain a link telling you to verify your details. You can quickly tell if your email is a spoof by hovering your mouse over the link. When your mouse is over the link, look in the bottom left hand corner of your screen and you will see the "link destination". The destination of a spoof link will usually look something like this:
"http://slp.clinker.net.mx/.sh/.a/index.htm?SignIn&ssPageName=h:h:sin:us"
Compare this with a real eBay link:
http://k2b-bulk.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MyeBaySellingSummary
And you can see the difference. You can easily check if you email is a fake by looking at the first part of the link destination, if the destination is a combination of numbers (102.382.54.23) or a link like the one in my spoof link above then the chances are that your email is a spoof.
Any non-spoof link will contain the name of the company in the first part of the link, eg:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk http://cgi.ebay.com http://cgi.paypal.com
Please note: Some spoof links will contain the words "eBay" or "PayPal" in the final part of the link. These are also spoofs!
All real emails will only contain the company name in the very first part of the link; after http://. If you still aren't sure if you have a spoof email, move onto the next test.
Test 3 - Who really did send you the email?
This test may seem a little confusing but don't worry it isn't as difficult as it looks. What we are going to do is find out where the email came from. Most people don't know this but you can trace the origin of your emails in most mail programs. To do this we have to view the "FULL message header", here is how you do this in the following email programs. If your program isn't listed here please contact your email provider for instructions:
Hotmail 1. Click on "Options" 2. Click on "Mail display settings" 3. The 3rd option can be used to display the header settings, select "Full" from the check boxes 4. Click on "OK" to save your settings
Outlook Express 1. Right click on the email and select "Properties" 2. Select the "Details" tab
Now that we can view the message headers, here is how you identify a spoof:
Look in the part of the header that says "Received From". If the email has come from anyone other than the sender it's a spoof. I had a spoof email and performed this test and notice that the email had been sent from a Yahoo account. Obviously a real email from eBay would not have been sent from a Yahoo address!
Test 4 - Click on the link
Only try this if your email has passed the previous 3 tests. Some spoof emails have been known to contain viruses that are activated by clicking on the link. Please ensure that you have a good virus scanner installed on your PC before proceeding. If you have important data on your PC you may also wish to backup that data on a removable backup device.
When you click the link in your email a web browser will open and take you to what looks like a legitimate login page. There are two ways to identify a spoof login page, and I will show you both of them! Have a look in the address bar at the top of the login page. Have a look at the http:// part of the URL. Any genuine login page from eBay, PayPal or your bank WONT start with "http://" it will start with:
"https://"
The "s" in https:// stands for "secure" and is there to show you that you are about to submit data over a secure connection.
Any page not starting with https:// is a spoof. The second difference between the two pages is the padlock icon in the bottom right hand of the screen. Notice that the spoof login page doesn't have a padlock, and the genuine eBay login page does. This padlock appears to show you that you are about to submit data over a secure connection. If your login page DOESNT have a padlock icon in the bottom corner of the screen then it is a spoof!
Other Tips for spotting Spoofs
1. Punctuation Read your email carefully and look for any spelling mistakes. You can be sure that any genuine emails wont contain simple spelling mistakes.
2. Adverts? Real emails from eBay don't contain adverts for burger king!
3. Hotmail identity check A new feature in hotmail now warns you if a senderID could not be verified. Any spoof email will contain this warning. (please note that recently I received a genuine email from eBay that contained this warning, so don't judge an email purely by this method)
4. PIN number Any website asking for your PIN (personal identification number) is a spoof. Do not enter your PIN number! If you have entered and submitted your PIN then contact your bank immediately.
5. Popup boxes Some spoof sites will include popup message boxes like the one below. Genuine sites don't use popup boxes telling you to enter details.
6. False sense of urgency Most spoof emails will make you think that your account is at threat if you don't act quickly. This is not the case.
7. eBay Messages Any genuine email sent to you from eBay will also appear in the "My Messages" section of eBay. To access your eBay messages, login to ebay and click on "My eBay". On the left hand side of the screen you will see a "My Messages" link. Click on this; if the email you received in your inbox isn't listed there then it is a spoof email.
8. Ignore the email address Ignore the email address that the email was sent from. Almost all spoof emails will appear as if they are from a genuine address. Some of the emails I receive are "from":
service@paypal.com memberservices@paypal.com awconfirm@ebay.com safeharbour@ebay.com operator_862736743@halifax.com
9. Download the eBay toolbar The eBay toolbar is a great piece of software that can be used to spot spoofs. As soon as you enter a spoof website from eBay or PayPal the toolbar will give you a warning telling you that web page is a spoof. The Ebay toolbar is FREE to download.
Dan Thompson has been creating websites for over 7 years. You can visit his website and receive 6 free e-books, check out the website on http://www.elpassobooks.co.uk
About The Author
Dan Thompson has been designing and running websites for over 7 years. You can visit his current website to obtain some free e-books at http://www.elpassobooks.co.uk
**Get a money-making mall FREE! Click here:
http://www.mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/30831
by: Dan Thompson
What is a spoof email?
Spoof emails (sometimes also called "Phishing") are emails that pretend to be from a company or bank. The most common often come from eBay, PayPal, Barclays Bank etc. These emails will then contain a web link, if you click on this link then you will be taken to a login page and asked to enter your details. Most of these scammers go a long way to try and get your details, most spoof emails contain links to identical websites and users are tricked into entering their personal information. If you submit your information through one of these spoof websites then the fraudster has all of your details and can commit crimes using your identity.
How do they get my email address?
You may wonder how the scammers got your address or knew you were a member of a particular bank or institution. Often it is just good luck on the part of the scammers. They normally do not target individuals, but send out thousands of scam emails to randomly generated email addresses, in the hope that just a few will be successful. They also trawl the web for valid addresses they can use, and swap this information with each other. If you have ever posted on an Internet forum or published something on the web, there's a good chance your address is out there somewhere just waiting to be found. If you have fallen victim before, your address is normally added to a list of 'easy victims', and you are likely to then receive even more scams.
^^^^^^
3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC
http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
^^^^^^
How can I identify these emails?
Here are 4 simple tests that you can perform on any email you suspect is a spoof. Your email can only pass the test if it passes ALL FOUR of the tests. If your email passes all of the four tests then you can be 99.9% certain that it is a genuine email. If your email passes all four of the tests then we would also advise you to check the "Other Tips" section just to double check that your email is genuine.
If your email fails
If your email fails JUST ONE of the four tests then the email is a spoof and shouldn't be replied to and should be deleted immediately from your computer. Even if your email fails the test, I would still advise you to check out the "Other Tips" page for more good ways to spot a spoof email.
If you are still in doubt
Unless you are 100% sure that your email is genuine, DO NOT click on any links within the email. Contact the company in question (See the "reporting a spoof" page) and ask them to confirm if the email is genuine or a spoof.
^^^^^^
Enhance your PC. Enhance your life! Let RegCure reveal your PC’s true potential.
http://tinyurl.com/23v7bg
^^^^^
Test 1 - Who is the email addressed to?
Have a look at how the email addresses you. Most spoofs will say something along the lines of "Dear eBay user". This is the very first thing you should look for in a spoof email. Any email that doesn't address you by your name is a spoof. Ebay, PayPal and banks always address you by the name you registered with on their site, they NEVER send out emails saying
"Dear valued customer", "Dear member" etc.
If your email isn't addressed to you personally then it is a spoof! If your email is addressed to you then move onto the next test to see if it is a spoof email. Some more advanced spoof messages have started to include your name or email address instead of the generic "Dear member" or "Dear user". So even if your email were addressed to you I would strongly advise you to carry out the 3 other tests.
Test 2 - Where does the link go?
Most spoof emails will contain a link telling you to verify your details. You can quickly tell if your email is a spoof by hovering your mouse over the link. When your mouse is over the link, look in the bottom left hand corner of your screen and you will see the "link destination". The destination of a spoof link will usually look something like this:
"http://slp.clinker.net.mx/.sh/.a/index.htm?SignIn&ssPageName=h:h:sin:us"
Compare this with a real eBay link:
http://k2b-bulk.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MyeBaySellingSummary
And you can see the difference. You can easily check if you email is a fake by looking at the first part of the link destination, if the destination is a combination of numbers (102.382.54.23) or a link like the one in my spoof link above then the chances are that your email is a spoof.
Any non-spoof link will contain the name of the company in the first part of the link, eg:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk http://cgi.ebay.com http://cgi.paypal.com
Please note: Some spoof links will contain the words "eBay" or "PayPal" in the final part of the link. These are also spoofs!
All real emails will only contain the company name in the very first part of the link; after http://. If you still aren't sure if you have a spoof email, move onto the next test.
Test 3 - Who really did send you the email?
This test may seem a little confusing but don't worry it isn't as difficult as it looks. What we are going to do is find out where the email came from. Most people don't know this but you can trace the origin of your emails in most mail programs. To do this we have to view the "FULL message header", here is how you do this in the following email programs. If your program isn't listed here please contact your email provider for instructions:
Hotmail 1. Click on "Options" 2. Click on "Mail display settings" 3. The 3rd option can be used to display the header settings, select "Full" from the check boxes 4. Click on "OK" to save your settings
Outlook Express 1. Right click on the email and select "Properties" 2. Select the "Details" tab
Now that we can view the message headers, here is how you identify a spoof:
Look in the part of the header that says "Received From". If the email has come from anyone other than the sender it's a spoof. I had a spoof email and performed this test and notice that the email had been sent from a Yahoo account. Obviously a real email from eBay would not have been sent from a Yahoo address!
Test 4 - Click on the link
Only try this if your email has passed the previous 3 tests. Some spoof emails have been known to contain viruses that are activated by clicking on the link. Please ensure that you have a good virus scanner installed on your PC before proceeding. If you have important data on your PC you may also wish to backup that data on a removable backup device.
When you click the link in your email a web browser will open and take you to what looks like a legitimate login page. There are two ways to identify a spoof login page, and I will show you both of them! Have a look in the address bar at the top of the login page. Have a look at the http:// part of the URL. Any genuine login page from eBay, PayPal or your bank WONT start with "http://" it will start with:
"https://"
The "s" in https:// stands for "secure" and is there to show you that you are about to submit data over a secure connection.
Any page not starting with https:// is a spoof. The second difference between the two pages is the padlock icon in the bottom right hand of the screen. Notice that the spoof login page doesn't have a padlock, and the genuine eBay login page does. This padlock appears to show you that you are about to submit data over a secure connection. If your login page DOESNT have a padlock icon in the bottom corner of the screen then it is a spoof!
Other Tips for spotting Spoofs
1. Punctuation Read your email carefully and look for any spelling mistakes. You can be sure that any genuine emails wont contain simple spelling mistakes.
2. Adverts? Real emails from eBay don't contain adverts for burger king!
3. Hotmail identity check A new feature in hotmail now warns you if a senderID could not be verified. Any spoof email will contain this warning. (please note that recently I received a genuine email from eBay that contained this warning, so don't judge an email purely by this method)
4. PIN number Any website asking for your PIN (personal identification number) is a spoof. Do not enter your PIN number! If you have entered and submitted your PIN then contact your bank immediately.
5. Popup boxes Some spoof sites will include popup message boxes like the one below. Genuine sites don't use popup boxes telling you to enter details.
6. False sense of urgency Most spoof emails will make you think that your account is at threat if you don't act quickly. This is not the case.
7. eBay Messages Any genuine email sent to you from eBay will also appear in the "My Messages" section of eBay. To access your eBay messages, login to ebay and click on "My eBay". On the left hand side of the screen you will see a "My Messages" link. Click on this; if the email you received in your inbox isn't listed there then it is a spoof email.
8. Ignore the email address Ignore the email address that the email was sent from. Almost all spoof emails will appear as if they are from a genuine address. Some of the emails I receive are "from":
service@paypal.com memberservices@paypal.com awconfirm@ebay.com safeharbour@ebay.com operator_862736743@halifax.com
9. Download the eBay toolbar The eBay toolbar is a great piece of software that can be used to spot spoofs. As soon as you enter a spoof website from eBay or PayPal the toolbar will give you a warning telling you that web page is a spoof. The Ebay toolbar is FREE to download.
Dan Thompson has been creating websites for over 7 years. You can visit his website and receive 6 free e-books, check out the website on http://www.elpassobooks.co.uk
About The Author
Dan Thompson has been designing and running websites for over 7 years. You can visit his current website to obtain some free e-books at http://www.elpassobooks.co.uk
**Get a money-making mall FREE! Click here:
http://www.mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/30831
Friday, August 31, 2007
Can VOIP Calling Save You Money On Your Phone Bill?
Welcome back - here's today's featured article:
by: Jessica Liu
As high speed and broadband internet connections are becoming more prevalent in homes across the United States, people are asking themselves can VOIP calling save me money on my phone bill? To answer this question you need to take a deeper look at VOIP calling and the expenses related to switching to VOIP.
The first thing to you should know is how VOIP calling works. When you place a VOIP call it works by converting the voice signal that you speak into the phone handset into a digital signal and sending it over the internet. This signal is then converted back into a voice signal and comes out of the earpiece on the other end. By sending the signal over the internet it doesn’t matter how far it has to go, a call across the street costs the same as call across the country. For people who have monthly long distance bills that are over $20, VOIP calling may be able to save you money on your phone bill.
^^^^^^
3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC
http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
^^^^^^
When evaluating VOIP services you should have an idea of your monthly calling volume. The best thing to do is look at your phone bill for the past three months and figure out how many minutes you are using. If you are using less than 500 minutes a month you will find VOIP calling plans that are probably much less than your monthly phone bill. If you are using over 1000 minutes each month you’ll probably find unlimited calling plans will be more cost effective. If you make a lot of international calls, check to see if those calls are included in the plans you are evaluating.
Some VOIP services require that you update your telephone equipment. This is especially important if you have more then one phone in the house. The key to the VOIP system is VOIP router. It connects your broadband internet access to your new phone system. Some routers only interface with newer VOIP phones, meaning you will have to purchase new phones. Some routers allow you to plug conventional phones into them and keep your existing equipment. This really becomes an important factor if you have more than one telephone in your house.
^^^^^^
Enhance your PC. Enhance your life! Let RegCure reveal your PC’s true potential.
http://tinyurl.com/23v7bg
^^^^^
Another factor to consider is the length of the contract. Many companies offer month to month contracts, others offer yearly, and some offer two year contracts. While a two year contract may look attractive from a price standpoint, locking yourself into a developing technology for twenty four months is something to give serious consideration to. A one year contract usually provides the best trade off between price and time commitment.
© Copyright VOIPTelephoneSystem.org, All Rights Reserved.
About The Author
Jessica Liu writes articles about VOIP for http://www.voiptelephonesystem.org which cover VOIP technology and VOIP related news.
Get a FREE money-making 1200+ store shopping mall – absolutely NO cost!http://www.mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/30831
by: Jessica Liu
As high speed and broadband internet connections are becoming more prevalent in homes across the United States, people are asking themselves can VOIP calling save me money on my phone bill? To answer this question you need to take a deeper look at VOIP calling and the expenses related to switching to VOIP.
The first thing to you should know is how VOIP calling works. When you place a VOIP call it works by converting the voice signal that you speak into the phone handset into a digital signal and sending it over the internet. This signal is then converted back into a voice signal and comes out of the earpiece on the other end. By sending the signal over the internet it doesn’t matter how far it has to go, a call across the street costs the same as call across the country. For people who have monthly long distance bills that are over $20, VOIP calling may be able to save you money on your phone bill.
^^^^^^
3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC
http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
^^^^^^
When evaluating VOIP services you should have an idea of your monthly calling volume. The best thing to do is look at your phone bill for the past three months and figure out how many minutes you are using. If you are using less than 500 minutes a month you will find VOIP calling plans that are probably much less than your monthly phone bill. If you are using over 1000 minutes each month you’ll probably find unlimited calling plans will be more cost effective. If you make a lot of international calls, check to see if those calls are included in the plans you are evaluating.
Some VOIP services require that you update your telephone equipment. This is especially important if you have more then one phone in the house. The key to the VOIP system is VOIP router. It connects your broadband internet access to your new phone system. Some routers only interface with newer VOIP phones, meaning you will have to purchase new phones. Some routers allow you to plug conventional phones into them and keep your existing equipment. This really becomes an important factor if you have more than one telephone in your house.
^^^^^^
Enhance your PC. Enhance your life! Let RegCure reveal your PC’s true potential.
http://tinyurl.com/23v7bg
^^^^^
Another factor to consider is the length of the contract. Many companies offer month to month contracts, others offer yearly, and some offer two year contracts. While a two year contract may look attractive from a price standpoint, locking yourself into a developing technology for twenty four months is something to give serious consideration to. A one year contract usually provides the best trade off between price and time commitment.
© Copyright VOIPTelephoneSystem.org, All Rights Reserved.
About The Author
Jessica Liu writes articles about VOIP for http://www.voiptelephonesystem.org which cover VOIP technology and VOIP related news.
Get a FREE money-making 1200+ store shopping mall – absolutely NO cost!http://www.mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/30831
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Rid Your Computer Of Spyware
Welcome back - here's today's featured article:
Stay well.
Jim Nettleton
by: Sandra Stammberger
Everyone seems to be asking these days: why is my computer so slow? Well, the answer to that question is usually that it’s loaded with programs called spyware and adware. Spyware and adware are programs installed, usually without your permission, on your computer so companies can show their advertisements, log what sites you visit so they know what products you’re interested in and record keystrokes on your computer so they know what you’re talking about. Below are 3 easy steps to take to start protecting and eliminating your spyware and adware problem on your home computer.
^^^^^^
3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC
^^^^^^
First, stop using Internet Explorer! I know you may be shocked, but Microsoft’s internet browser has more holes in it than Swiss cheese! The best alternative is Mozilla’s Firefox, available for free download at Mozilla.org. After installing the browser, it will automatically transfer your bookmarks/favorites and settings over to Firefox. Also, please make sure Firefox is your default browser. Using Firefox will reduce the amount of spyware and adware on your computer by 75%.
Secondly, download these two free programs: Spybot (safer-networking.org/en/index.html) and Ad-Aware (lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/). These two free programs will search throughout your computer, find the spyware and adware and allow you to quarantine and delete it. To be completely safe, be sure to run and update both of these programs twice a week. This will get rid of all spyware and adware currently on your computer and bring your protection level up to 95%.
^^^^^^
Enhance your PC. Enhance your life! Let RegCure reveal your PC’s true potential.
^^^^^
Finally, be sure to use a firewall. A firewall is just what it sounds like, a “wall” between your internet connection and your computer. If you have a high speed broadband connection, a firewall is a must. Most Windows XP systems have a built in firewall that you can simply enable (check Microsoft’s help files if you don’t know how) but if you’re looking for more protection but don’t want to pay, simply download Zone Alarm’s free firewall at tinyurl.com/7cn6a. Zone alarm’s firewall may take awhile to configure, but it is worth it in the long run. With a properly configured firewall, your protection level is now at 100%.
Good luck and be safe!
About The Author
Sandra Stammberger is the owner of Computer Geek Blog. On her blog you will find helpful computer info for anyone. Don't get stuck on a problem again. http://www.computergeekblog.com.
|
Editor's note: In our next post, Michael Wysmierski gives us a method to restore old photos with Photoshop.
Stay well.
Jim Nettleton
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Want To Buy An Inkjet Cartridge? Read This For Tips
Welcome back - here's today's featured article:
by: Ismael D. Tabije
Since computers—PCs, laptops and notebooks--have now pervaded the entire ambit of our lives, maintaining all its attachments has also become very important. A printer is one of the most useful attachments as it is constantly utilized by the computer users. However, buying inkjet cartridges for your printer can be a daunting task. You really have to know how to choose the best inkjet cartridge so that you are not confused by the various choices.
Some people get stressed when the ink in their printer cartridge show signs of getting over but there is no need to fret over such issues. When you go to the market to buy an ink cartridge you should not get lured by low priced products or by any bargain deals which promise a lot of savings. In all probability such low-priced cartridges would be faulty and would harm your printer. You will spend much more in repair costs than what you would save.
^^^^^^
3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC
http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
^^^^^^
The first step in selecting the best inkjet cartridge is to check the existing cartridge in your printer and then try to buy a cartridge of similar specifications. If you are unable to get the same type of cartridge in the market you should take the help of the following tips:
• The ink of generic cartridges can be harmful to your printer’s nozzles. So you should avoid using such cartridges.
• If you need the best quality of printing you should use the ink cartridges made by the same manufacturer as the printer. No doubt, these will be most expensive.
• The warranties of some printer manufacturers are not valid if ink cartridges made by a different manufacturer are used.
• It is advisable to check the page yield of the cartridge that you plan to buy.
The precautions needed to increase the life of the cartridge are: the cartridge should never be allowed to dry up fully as this will damage the printer to the extent that it will not be able to print even with a new cartridge, if one cartridge is out the other one should not be run to avoid damage to the jets and the cartridge should be shaken from side to side to utilize the balance amount of ink.
^^^^^^
Enhance your PC. Enhance your life! Let RegCure reveal your PC’s true potential.
http://tinyurl.com/23v7bg
^^^^^
Now the question is from where can you buy the inkjet cartridges?
Buying online is the best place as it is time saving and less expensive. If you do not have the time to keep running to the store, spending time in buying and then returning back, you can save time by ordering online and the cartridge will be delivered to your home or office.
Moreover, if you buy at a store, the ink cartridge will be much more expensive than if you order online as the online vendors offer substantial discounts. Almost any type of ink cartridge can be bought online and that too at a discount.
If you buy refilled or recycled ink cartridges either from a store or from a website, you might save some money but the damage to your printer will prove costlier to repair. As such you should buy only genuine brands and that, too, from a supplier or website that gives a guarantee.
You might be able to save about sixty percent of the cost of an original ink cartridge if you buy a recycled or refilled cartridge but if you need good quality printing it is best to stick to the same company that made the printer that you are using.
^^^^^^
3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC
http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
^^^^^^
If you follow the above tips, you will be able to choose the best cartridge from among the plethora of cartridges available in the market.
About The Author
The writer, Ismael D. Tabije, runs the website, http://www.bestlaptopnotebookdeal.com/, where you can get tips for buying top laptop brands at cheap prices from reliable online merchants.
idtbusiness@yahoo.com
by: Ismael D. Tabije
Since computers—PCs, laptops and notebooks--have now pervaded the entire ambit of our lives, maintaining all its attachments has also become very important. A printer is one of the most useful attachments as it is constantly utilized by the computer users. However, buying inkjet cartridges for your printer can be a daunting task. You really have to know how to choose the best inkjet cartridge so that you are not confused by the various choices.
Some people get stressed when the ink in their printer cartridge show signs of getting over but there is no need to fret over such issues. When you go to the market to buy an ink cartridge you should not get lured by low priced products or by any bargain deals which promise a lot of savings. In all probability such low-priced cartridges would be faulty and would harm your printer. You will spend much more in repair costs than what you would save.
^^^^^^
3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC
http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
^^^^^^
The first step in selecting the best inkjet cartridge is to check the existing cartridge in your printer and then try to buy a cartridge of similar specifications. If you are unable to get the same type of cartridge in the market you should take the help of the following tips:
• The ink of generic cartridges can be harmful to your printer’s nozzles. So you should avoid using such cartridges.
• If you need the best quality of printing you should use the ink cartridges made by the same manufacturer as the printer. No doubt, these will be most expensive.
• The warranties of some printer manufacturers are not valid if ink cartridges made by a different manufacturer are used.
• It is advisable to check the page yield of the cartridge that you plan to buy.
The precautions needed to increase the life of the cartridge are: the cartridge should never be allowed to dry up fully as this will damage the printer to the extent that it will not be able to print even with a new cartridge, if one cartridge is out the other one should not be run to avoid damage to the jets and the cartridge should be shaken from side to side to utilize the balance amount of ink.
^^^^^^
Enhance your PC. Enhance your life! Let RegCure reveal your PC’s true potential.
http://tinyurl.com/23v7bg
^^^^^
Now the question is from where can you buy the inkjet cartridges?
Buying online is the best place as it is time saving and less expensive. If you do not have the time to keep running to the store, spending time in buying and then returning back, you can save time by ordering online and the cartridge will be delivered to your home or office.
Moreover, if you buy at a store, the ink cartridge will be much more expensive than if you order online as the online vendors offer substantial discounts. Almost any type of ink cartridge can be bought online and that too at a discount.
If you buy refilled or recycled ink cartridges either from a store or from a website, you might save some money but the damage to your printer will prove costlier to repair. As such you should buy only genuine brands and that, too, from a supplier or website that gives a guarantee.
You might be able to save about sixty percent of the cost of an original ink cartridge if you buy a recycled or refilled cartridge but if you need good quality printing it is best to stick to the same company that made the printer that you are using.
^^^^^^
3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC
http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
^^^^^^
If you follow the above tips, you will be able to choose the best cartridge from among the plethora of cartridges available in the market.
About The Author
The writer, Ismael D. Tabije, runs the website, http://www.bestlaptopnotebookdeal.com/, where you can get tips for buying top laptop brands at cheap prices from reliable online merchants.
idtbusiness@yahoo.com
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Flash USB Drives: Backup Easily, Conveniently And Securely
Welcome - here's today's featured article
by: Yuri Filimonov
Tired of switching CD/DVD discs while backing up? Flash USB drives to the rescue!
If you already backup often, you are doing the most you can to secure your files against accidental file deletion and recovery, file damage and what not. Also, you may be considering making your backups as easy and painless as possible. So what may be a remedy to this issue?
Naturally, you need to consider several backup media and select the one suitting your needs and requirements. Among all, CD, DVD and flash USB drives are considered.
^^^^^^^^^
3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC – click here:http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
^^^^^^^^^
You may as well use CD to backup, but you will either need to dump CD-R discs often, or insert a CD-/+RW discs often to make another backup. Someone else can also misplace your backup CD disc or overwrite your backup data with other information. Moreover, a CD only admits about 700Mb of data, which may not be convenient. Nor is storing multiple CDs of your backup copy.
The same can be said about backing up to DVD. Of course, a DVD admits from 4.7Gb to about 18.6Gb of data, but is it really convenient backing up to DVD? An external hard disk drive or a flash USB drive will be speedier, more reliable and easier overall.
^^^^^
Enhance your PC. Enhance your life! Let RegCure reveal your PC’s true potential. Click here:http://tinyurl.com/23v7bg
^^^^^
Here is when a flash USB drive comes handy. It not only allows faster data copying than CD or DVD, but can also admit from 256Mb to 4Gb of data (or maybe more). Moreover, you can take the USB drive with you anywhere you go and transfer the data between distant computers without resolving to FTP backup. Of course, one of the drawbacks of a flash USB backup is that the drive is only limited to about 100 000 writings, while another slight disadvantage (or an advantage, if you put it nicely) is that the device is so small you can easily misplace it.
About The Author
Yuri Filimonov has been an insider of the backup industry for a few years, allowing him to share insight on various backup issues, both in his articles and his website at http://www.fairbackup.com/.
by: Yuri Filimonov
Tired of switching CD/DVD discs while backing up? Flash USB drives to the rescue!
If you already backup often, you are doing the most you can to secure your files against accidental file deletion and recovery, file damage and what not. Also, you may be considering making your backups as easy and painless as possible. So what may be a remedy to this issue?
Naturally, you need to consider several backup media and select the one suitting your needs and requirements. Among all, CD, DVD and flash USB drives are considered.
^^^^^^^^^
3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC – click here:http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
^^^^^^^^^
You may as well use CD to backup, but you will either need to dump CD-R discs often, or insert a CD-/+RW discs often to make another backup. Someone else can also misplace your backup CD disc or overwrite your backup data with other information. Moreover, a CD only admits about 700Mb of data, which may not be convenient. Nor is storing multiple CDs of your backup copy.
The same can be said about backing up to DVD. Of course, a DVD admits from 4.7Gb to about 18.6Gb of data, but is it really convenient backing up to DVD? An external hard disk drive or a flash USB drive will be speedier, more reliable and easier overall.
^^^^^
Enhance your PC. Enhance your life! Let RegCure reveal your PC’s true potential. Click here:http://tinyurl.com/23v7bg
^^^^^
Here is when a flash USB drive comes handy. It not only allows faster data copying than CD or DVD, but can also admit from 256Mb to 4Gb of data (or maybe more). Moreover, you can take the USB drive with you anywhere you go and transfer the data between distant computers without resolving to FTP backup. Of course, one of the drawbacks of a flash USB backup is that the drive is only limited to about 100 000 writings, while another slight disadvantage (or an advantage, if you put it nicely) is that the device is so small you can easily misplace it.
About The Author
Yuri Filimonov has been an insider of the backup industry for a few years, allowing him to share insight on various backup issues, both in his articles and his website at http://www.fairbackup.com/.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
A Parent's Guide To Online Gaming, Part 1
by: Steve Hall
The internet touches every aspect of your children’s lives. Where you might look up an unknown word in a dictionary, your kids are more likely to use dictionary.com. Where you use the telephone, they use instant messenger. An even greater difference can be found in how they play games. Where the games of their parent’s generation may have involved a board, cards, or at their most sophisticated a console system, the games your children play on the net can be far more complex. They mine gold, spread empires, fight dragons and aliens alone or with tens, hundreds, even thousands of their fellow gamers. All of this makes for a confusing mish mash of names, places, jargon and lingo that can leave you with no idea what your kids are actually doing and a vague feeling of uneasiness that some part of it might not be good for them.
^^^^^^^^^
3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC – click here:
http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
^^^^^^^^^
What’s appropriate for your kids is a decision only you can make. How much violence they are exposed to, how much time they spend in front of a screen and how much contact they have with the faceless strangers so common to the net are all questions you must grapple with and, in the end, decide for your family. While we can’t help you make these rough decisions, we can certainly help you get the information you need to understand your children’s hobbies better, both to make informed judgments about what they should and should not be doing, and to help you reach into another part of their lives that may have previously seemed like something of a puzzle box.
The Easy Stuff
The simplest type of online game is the sort of Flash or Java driven game that you generally see running inside your web browser. This type of game tends to be relatively simple compared to the stand alone games discussed later. Common examples include Bejeweled, Zuma, and Diner Dash. These games are almost universally single player and have none of the sort of violent or mature content that keeps parents up at night. Were they movies, they would be G Rated, with perhaps the occasional game stretching to PG. If this is the type of game your kids are into then first, be relieved. Then, try the game out. Many of these games can be very enjoyable for even the most casual of players. Some, such as Bookworm, even have genuine educational content. These games can be as much an opportunity for bonding and learning as throwing around a baseball in the backyard, and have the added bonus of being much easier to get your kids to sit down with you and play.
^^^^^
Enhance your PC. Enhance your life! Let RegCure reveal your PC’s true potential. Click here:http://tinyurl.com/23v7bg
^^^^^
FPSs: Finding Something to Shoot.
FPS stands for First Person Shooter. They are First Person in the same since that a story might be. That is, the player sees the world through the eyes of a single character and interacts with the game environment as though he were that character. Shooter comes from the primary goal of most such games, the shooting of whatever happens to be the bad guy. FPS games are among some of the most popular online. Common examples include Doom, Battlefield:1942, and the X-Box game Halo. From a parental perspective, these games can be cause for concern. They vary widely in the amount of realism, degree of violence, language, and general attitude. The only way to get a good idea of the content issues is to watch the particular game. If your kids don’t want you watching while they play, then fire up the game yourself sometime when they aren’t around. There is a sizeable variation in how violent and how personal FPS content can be from game to game. The single player portion of Halo, for example, has players fighting against alien invaders with largely energy weapons and a minimum of realistic human suffering. In contrast, WWII themed games tend to go out of their way to show realistic violence. Given the subject matter, this is appropriate for the game, but may not be for your kids. Online play presents a potentially greater concern. The goal of online FPS games is almost always killing other players. While some games do have various modes where this is a secondary goal, all of them give the player a gun and encourage him to use it on characters representing other people.
^^^^^^^^^
3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC – click here:
http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
^^^^^^^^^
Simulated gore and the use of violence against others to achieve goals may be things you don’t want your kids exposed to. Again, these are your decisions to make, but we encourage you to make them with as much information as possible. Talk to your kids. Find out what they think, in their words, is going on in the game. Make sure they see the line between what happens in the game and what happens in the real world, between what it’s okay to simulate and what it’s okay to do. The answers may surprise you. If your children understand the differences, see real violence as deplorable and simulated violence as part of the game then FPS games, even online ones, can be a perfectly healthy way to have fun and let off steam. In the end, it falls on you to make sure that what your child gets out of the game is good for him or her.
Next time, we’ll talk about RTS and MMORPG, the two other common types of commercial online game and touch on the twin demons of addiction and predation.
About The Author
Steve Hall is a writer for the GrandMatrix website. Download, play and rate full version PC games and puzzles for free. Choose from hundreds of titles, including classics, puzzles and strategy to the latest action, driving and RPG games at http://www.grandmatrix.com/.
The internet touches every aspect of your children’s lives. Where you might look up an unknown word in a dictionary, your kids are more likely to use dictionary.com. Where you use the telephone, they use instant messenger. An even greater difference can be found in how they play games. Where the games of their parent’s generation may have involved a board, cards, or at their most sophisticated a console system, the games your children play on the net can be far more complex. They mine gold, spread empires, fight dragons and aliens alone or with tens, hundreds, even thousands of their fellow gamers. All of this makes for a confusing mish mash of names, places, jargon and lingo that can leave you with no idea what your kids are actually doing and a vague feeling of uneasiness that some part of it might not be good for them.
^^^^^^^^^
3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC – click here:
http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
^^^^^^^^^
What’s appropriate for your kids is a decision only you can make. How much violence they are exposed to, how much time they spend in front of a screen and how much contact they have with the faceless strangers so common to the net are all questions you must grapple with and, in the end, decide for your family. While we can’t help you make these rough decisions, we can certainly help you get the information you need to understand your children’s hobbies better, both to make informed judgments about what they should and should not be doing, and to help you reach into another part of their lives that may have previously seemed like something of a puzzle box.
The Easy Stuff
The simplest type of online game is the sort of Flash or Java driven game that you generally see running inside your web browser. This type of game tends to be relatively simple compared to the stand alone games discussed later. Common examples include Bejeweled, Zuma, and Diner Dash. These games are almost universally single player and have none of the sort of violent or mature content that keeps parents up at night. Were they movies, they would be G Rated, with perhaps the occasional game stretching to PG. If this is the type of game your kids are into then first, be relieved. Then, try the game out. Many of these games can be very enjoyable for even the most casual of players. Some, such as Bookworm, even have genuine educational content. These games can be as much an opportunity for bonding and learning as throwing around a baseball in the backyard, and have the added bonus of being much easier to get your kids to sit down with you and play.
^^^^^
Enhance your PC. Enhance your life! Let RegCure reveal your PC’s true potential. Click here:http://tinyurl.com/23v7bg
^^^^^
FPSs: Finding Something to Shoot.
FPS stands for First Person Shooter. They are First Person in the same since that a story might be. That is, the player sees the world through the eyes of a single character and interacts with the game environment as though he were that character. Shooter comes from the primary goal of most such games, the shooting of whatever happens to be the bad guy. FPS games are among some of the most popular online. Common examples include Doom, Battlefield:1942, and the X-Box game Halo. From a parental perspective, these games can be cause for concern. They vary widely in the amount of realism, degree of violence, language, and general attitude. The only way to get a good idea of the content issues is to watch the particular game. If your kids don’t want you watching while they play, then fire up the game yourself sometime when they aren’t around. There is a sizeable variation in how violent and how personal FPS content can be from game to game. The single player portion of Halo, for example, has players fighting against alien invaders with largely energy weapons and a minimum of realistic human suffering. In contrast, WWII themed games tend to go out of their way to show realistic violence. Given the subject matter, this is appropriate for the game, but may not be for your kids. Online play presents a potentially greater concern. The goal of online FPS games is almost always killing other players. While some games do have various modes where this is a secondary goal, all of them give the player a gun and encourage him to use it on characters representing other people.
^^^^^^^^^
3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC – click here:
http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
^^^^^^^^^
Simulated gore and the use of violence against others to achieve goals may be things you don’t want your kids exposed to. Again, these are your decisions to make, but we encourage you to make them with as much information as possible. Talk to your kids. Find out what they think, in their words, is going on in the game. Make sure they see the line between what happens in the game and what happens in the real world, between what it’s okay to simulate and what it’s okay to do. The answers may surprise you. If your children understand the differences, see real violence as deplorable and simulated violence as part of the game then FPS games, even online ones, can be a perfectly healthy way to have fun and let off steam. In the end, it falls on you to make sure that what your child gets out of the game is good for him or her.
Next time, we’ll talk about RTS and MMORPG, the two other common types of commercial online game and touch on the twin demons of addiction and predation.
About The Author
Steve Hall is a writer for the GrandMatrix website. Download, play and rate full version PC games and puzzles for free. Choose from hundreds of titles, including classics, puzzles and strategy to the latest action, driving and RPG games at http://www.grandmatrix.com/.
Friday, August 3, 2007
How To Get a Good Deal On a Hard Drive
Here's today's featured article:
by: Mac McClellan
Computer equipment is one of the hardest things to buy if you are not at least somewhat competent in the market. Many people are willing to take advantage of someone who doesn’t have a clue what he or she need. Take the MarketPro Shows for example. Many different vendors frequent the shows in order to sell their wares, and on one occasion, this writer thought the Motherboard had gone on my computer, but I was also interested in upgrading my hard drive as well.
One vendor quoted a price of approximately $350 to replace the Mother Board and include a hard drive of 2 Gb. It seemed like a good deal at the time until shopping in various computer stores showed that a whole system with an 80 Gb hard drive could be purchased for not much more than that. Interesting thought, isn’t it? Why is a person going to pay $350 to get 2 Gb of hard drive memory when for approximately $599, one can get a tower with an 80 Gb hard drive, 512K of RAM, a keyboard, and sometimes even a printer depending on the sale that is being offered at the time.
*********
3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC – click here:
http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
*********
How do you know where you’re getting a good deal on a hard drive? One of the things that you don’t want to do is take the first deal that interests you because you think it sounds “good.” Unless you are a computer whiz who knows the prices and specifications of every product in the local area, you need to check around. Find out exactly what it is that you want and get some prices. While you are doing this, do not let anyone think that you are interested in buying at that time because they will attempt to convince you that if you don’t buy your hard drive that day, you will pay much more money for it and not get the same quality. You want to do all of your research before you make your final decision and know that in the end you have made the most informed decision of all.
^^^^^
Enhance your PC. Enhance your life! Let RegCure reveal your PC’s true potential. Click here:
http://tinyurl.com/23v7bg
^^^^^
When it is suggested that you check around, that doesn’t mean just the stores in your area because often times, an Internet search will yield you a much better price, but this means you will have to know exactly what it is that you want right down to the size of the hard drive and speed of the processor. Even EBay is a good source of value-priced hard drives, but you must be able to read into the seller’s profile, meaning that you do not attempt to place a bid if the seller has a private profile. Again, you must read the description in detail because if you are looking for a new hard drive, you must look at the complete description. Even if your hard drive has taken a nosedive, give yourself an opportunity to look for a good deal instead of simply taking the first one that sounds like a good deal because you’re desperate. This has not yet been mentioned, but one of the most important things about a hard drive is know the potential that it can crash and being sure to have all of your important information backed up so that it’s just a matter of reloading it when you replace the hard drive. Lastly, be sure to keep your virus protection up to date because one of the biggest causes of hard drive crashes is a virus.
Of course most of the work has already been done for you at http://harddriveusa.com/. At Hard Drive USA you can find great resources on hard drives and the best deals on hard drives.
**********
3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC – click here:
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About The Author
Mac McClellan is the webmaster for Hard Drive USA http://harddriveusa.com/, a useful site for information and resources on hard drives.
by: Mac McClellan
Computer equipment is one of the hardest things to buy if you are not at least somewhat competent in the market. Many people are willing to take advantage of someone who doesn’t have a clue what he or she need. Take the MarketPro Shows for example. Many different vendors frequent the shows in order to sell their wares, and on one occasion, this writer thought the Motherboard had gone on my computer, but I was also interested in upgrading my hard drive as well.
One vendor quoted a price of approximately $350 to replace the Mother Board and include a hard drive of 2 Gb. It seemed like a good deal at the time until shopping in various computer stores showed that a whole system with an 80 Gb hard drive could be purchased for not much more than that. Interesting thought, isn’t it? Why is a person going to pay $350 to get 2 Gb of hard drive memory when for approximately $599, one can get a tower with an 80 Gb hard drive, 512K of RAM, a keyboard, and sometimes even a printer depending on the sale that is being offered at the time.
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3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC – click here:
http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
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How do you know where you’re getting a good deal on a hard drive? One of the things that you don’t want to do is take the first deal that interests you because you think it sounds “good.” Unless you are a computer whiz who knows the prices and specifications of every product in the local area, you need to check around. Find out exactly what it is that you want and get some prices. While you are doing this, do not let anyone think that you are interested in buying at that time because they will attempt to convince you that if you don’t buy your hard drive that day, you will pay much more money for it and not get the same quality. You want to do all of your research before you make your final decision and know that in the end you have made the most informed decision of all.
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Enhance your PC. Enhance your life! Let RegCure reveal your PC’s true potential. Click here:
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^^^^^
When it is suggested that you check around, that doesn’t mean just the stores in your area because often times, an Internet search will yield you a much better price, but this means you will have to know exactly what it is that you want right down to the size of the hard drive and speed of the processor. Even EBay is a good source of value-priced hard drives, but you must be able to read into the seller’s profile, meaning that you do not attempt to place a bid if the seller has a private profile. Again, you must read the description in detail because if you are looking for a new hard drive, you must look at the complete description. Even if your hard drive has taken a nosedive, give yourself an opportunity to look for a good deal instead of simply taking the first one that sounds like a good deal because you’re desperate. This has not yet been mentioned, but one of the most important things about a hard drive is know the potential that it can crash and being sure to have all of your important information backed up so that it’s just a matter of reloading it when you replace the hard drive. Lastly, be sure to keep your virus protection up to date because one of the biggest causes of hard drive crashes is a virus.
Of course most of the work has already been done for you at http://harddriveusa.com/. At Hard Drive USA you can find great resources on hard drives and the best deals on hard drives.
**********
3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC – click here:
http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
**********
About The Author
Mac McClellan is the webmaster for Hard Drive USA http://harddriveusa.com/, a useful site for information and resources on hard drives.
Link Relevance
by: David Andrew Smith
We are constantly being told by SEO experts and the Search Engines that the importance of a link is determined by its page rank and relevance to our own web sites. Consequently when developing a linking strategy we should only be concerned with relevant links. That is other web sites which have some connection to our own. For example I run a web site devoted to providing a variety of cleaning services to commercial clients throughout the UK, so a relevant site would be a cleaning machine supplier or a cleaning chemicals supplier. Not other cleaning companies for the obvious reason they are our direct competitors.
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3000 channels on your PC! Satellite TV for PC - click here:
http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
*********
Now this sounds simple and straightforward and if we did this we would end up linking to about twenty sites. This number is not in any way sufficient for us to compete with our competitors who have many hundreds and in some cases thousands of links recognised by the search engines.
How does Google determine relevance? I would suggest that it is a completely random process. If I look at my own back links which Google are registering then many are relevant in terms of the definition above, but many are not. None of our suppliers who provide us with a back link and incidentally have high page ranks form part of this list and yet they are highly relevant? It may be that these form part of Google’s count but they choose for one reason or another not to divulge these. It remains a mystery.
How does a mathematical formula work out relevance? If I back link to my customers who are a very diverse group to me they are relevant but apparently not to Google. We have many back links from construction and building companies because we carry out builders cleans for them. Yet these are seemingly not deemed to be relevant but a mortgage company is? Builders and construction firms are mentioned several times on the web site and so a relevant connection should be able to be made.
If I look at the back links of my major competitors then the situation becomes even more confusing. Very few would appear on the surface to be of any relevance at all but who am I to judge? I do not have inside knowledge of the workings of these companies and their possible connections.
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Enhance your PC. Enhance your life! Let RegCure reveal your system's true potential! Click here: http://tinyurl.com/23v7bg
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To me the whole process seems completely arbitrary and I will continue developing links to sites that I consider relevant. If Google paid attention to its own advice in only developing links to relevant sites then presumably it would only link to other search engines?
It is an easy statement to make for Google and SEO experts, ‘only develop links to relevant sites’ but the reality is that they have no way of knowing what is truly relevant and what is not. Consequently my advice is to continue developing your links to websites that you consider of some relevance either to you or surfers who come across your site and continue to be astonished at what Google considers to be relevant!
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3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC - click here:
http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
********
About The Author
David Andrew Smith is the owner of a company which provides cleaning services http://www.wesparkle.co.uk/ to clients across the UK.
We are constantly being told by SEO experts and the Search Engines that the importance of a link is determined by its page rank and relevance to our own web sites. Consequently when developing a linking strategy we should only be concerned with relevant links. That is other web sites which have some connection to our own. For example I run a web site devoted to providing a variety of cleaning services to commercial clients throughout the UK, so a relevant site would be a cleaning machine supplier or a cleaning chemicals supplier. Not other cleaning companies for the obvious reason they are our direct competitors.
*********
3000 channels on your PC! Satellite TV for PC - click here:
http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
*********
Now this sounds simple and straightforward and if we did this we would end up linking to about twenty sites. This number is not in any way sufficient for us to compete with our competitors who have many hundreds and in some cases thousands of links recognised by the search engines.
How does Google determine relevance? I would suggest that it is a completely random process. If I look at my own back links which Google are registering then many are relevant in terms of the definition above, but many are not. None of our suppliers who provide us with a back link and incidentally have high page ranks form part of this list and yet they are highly relevant? It may be that these form part of Google’s count but they choose for one reason or another not to divulge these. It remains a mystery.
How does a mathematical formula work out relevance? If I back link to my customers who are a very diverse group to me they are relevant but apparently not to Google. We have many back links from construction and building companies because we carry out builders cleans for them. Yet these are seemingly not deemed to be relevant but a mortgage company is? Builders and construction firms are mentioned several times on the web site and so a relevant connection should be able to be made.
If I look at the back links of my major competitors then the situation becomes even more confusing. Very few would appear on the surface to be of any relevance at all but who am I to judge? I do not have inside knowledge of the workings of these companies and their possible connections.
********
Enhance your PC. Enhance your life! Let RegCure reveal your system's true potential! Click here: http://tinyurl.com/23v7bg
********
To me the whole process seems completely arbitrary and I will continue developing links to sites that I consider relevant. If Google paid attention to its own advice in only developing links to relevant sites then presumably it would only link to other search engines?
It is an easy statement to make for Google and SEO experts, ‘only develop links to relevant sites’ but the reality is that they have no way of knowing what is truly relevant and what is not. Consequently my advice is to continue developing your links to websites that you consider of some relevance either to you or surfers who come across your site and continue to be astonished at what Google considers to be relevant!
********
3000 channels for your PC! Satellite TV for PC - click here:
http://tinyurl.com/2rv59g
********
About The Author
David Andrew Smith is the owner of a company which provides cleaning services http://www.wesparkle.co.uk/ to clients across the UK.
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