TranquilBeach Computer Service

Macs hit with Malware Attack

2009-01-27T12:23:00.000-08:00

It has been believed for several years now that Macs were almost impervious to virus, malware, and spyware attacks. However, those watching carefully understood that it was not the system itself which afforded the user a greater amount of security, but instead that the authors of such malware did not see any reason to attack the Mac due to its small market share.

However, as the Mac has grown in popularity for the aforementioned reason, some authors have now seen bit of a challenge in infecting the Mac platform. The newest attack comes from the world of Bit Torrent and has disguised itself as iWork09. Simply put, iWork09 is a pirated version of the popular software for the Mac.

Once the file is downloaded, and installed the software can take control of the infected computer. The software then connects to remote computers where it is given further instructions by the author of the software, including installing more malware, or stealing information from the infected Mac. Unfortunately it is not a simple matter to remove all pieces of code from the Mac and often takes up a substantial amount of time. This is due in large part to the lack of malware support for the Mac.

Mac users must now become wary of such pirated software available from Bit Torrent and other such P2P sharing protocols. It was only a matter of time before the Mac was to be attacked. Nevertheless it begs the question, how long before the other Mac products are attacked such as the iPhone.

The safest bet is to never take a chance with your computer system no matter what format it is. Never visit questionable sites and never ever download anything for free that is pirated. It is only common sense and if you follow this advice it is likely that you will have a much better chance of not becoming infected with malware, spyware, or viruses.

Five Best Websites for Online Television and Movies

2008-12-17T09:35:00.000-08:00

The Internet has made watching television online almost like second nature. Back in the early days of online video watching it was not so easy to pull up a chair and watch your favorite shows. However, technology has changed, thank God, and watching online television is only limited by your computer’s hardware. There are quite a few awesome sites out there now and most networks have even jumped into the fray in hopes of cashing in on a lucrative advertising revenue stream. In this article we will only be discussing the top five websites for streaming movies and television.

1. AOLN2TV is a website started by Warner communications shortly after the merger of Time Warner and AOL. This site allows the user to watch older television shows from the 80s and 90s. Some of the best known shows by people that are children of those eras might be Max Headroom and Freddy’s Nightmares. However there are a slew of other shows and even some full length movies. If you are feeling a bit nostalgic, or even just miss your old favorite show I highly recommend heading over to AOLN2TV and checking it out, you will not be sorry that you did. http://television.aol.com/in2tv

2. Hulu has now come into its own and is one of the leading sites on the Internet for online movies and television. At first this website was a bit slow and had mostly small clips of movies and recent television shows. However, the content has grown and it now rivals the larger networks for content. Hulu is the brainchild of NBC Universal and News Corp. These two companies saw that there was a new market for online streaming media and had the idea to cash in on a growing phenomenon. The videos have ads spaced sporadically through them, but they only last for thirty seconds at a time which makes them less intrusive. http://www.hulu.com/

3. Joost is another great site which streams television shows to your computer via the Internet. The site is well organized into categories which makes finding that favorite show a breeze. However, if you are looking for a movie to pass the time with, then Joost will certainly have something for everyone. Joost is a community driven site which means that you can even find some very interesting videos submitted by its members such as independent films or just silly stuff like what you would see on YouTube. http://www.joost.com/

4. G4tv is an online television network site that appeals to the more geeky side of television. Since I am 85% geek I felt that I would be remiss if I did not mention this great site and its awesome content. G4tv is geared towards the tech crowd and gamers and offers the viewer the opportunity to watch their favorite tech g4tv shows online. Everything from tech news, product reviews and the latest and greatest in tech gadgetry is available here. http://www.g4tv.com/

5. Tvshack is the ultimate in online television and movie viewing. Thousands of episodes of every imaginable television show can be watched from this one website. Nevertheless, even the movie selection is impressive and there are no commercials. The nice thing about this site is that you can find your shows alphabetically, or browse by category. You will be able to find almost any show that you would like to see at tvshack. http://tvshack.net/tv/

There you have it, the top five best websites for viewing movies and television online. I hope this list has been helpful and happy hunting.

The Benefits of Ubuntu

2008-12-07T13:31:00.000-08:00

For years now Linux Distros have been slowly creeping into the mainstream populace’s awareness through word of mouth. Linux Distros were, in large part, used by hardcore programmers, system administrators, and those interested in keeping their computers secure. However, even now Wal-Mart is selling computer at reduced prices with a free Linux Distro installed. This particular Distribution of the Linux Operating System is known as gOS or (Green Operating System)

Nevertheless, even Linux Distros are not created equally and recently I have compared Ubuntu with gOS and I had some very different results with the two Distros. I started with the installation of these two Operating Systems and found that gOS would not install correctly on my laptop or my desktop. There seemed to be an issue with drivers and networking and gOS seemed to be very particular when it comes to hardware. I could have searched the Internet for drivers, but then that would be a lot of work and I am trying to do this as a layman.

Ubuntu, on the other hand, installed correctly and loaded all drivers needed for me to do a bit of computing and even my network was up and running without any special instructions from me. As a matter of fact, the install went just as well as Windows, but much faster. Install of Ubuntu took about twenty minutes, whereas Windows takes about two hours with all updates and service packs from Microsoft, yeesh. Now, there are many Linux Distros and they do work, but Ubuntu has all of the features you could want as well as, many you may never even use.

As a computer service man I will often recommend using Ubuntu to my customers. This generally happens when it is not possible to recover Windows and they do not have the disk for re-installing the OS, which happens all too often. Ubuntu is 100% free and is open source which mean it is always being updated and features are constantly being added. No more waiting for Microsoft to sell you the next latest and greatest OS, Vista anybody? Now you can have a safe and secure computing environment that is updated on a regular basis and it cost you nothing at all.

Because Ubuntu is a Linux Distro, there are hardly any viruses written for it. This is because Windows has the “Lion’s share” of the market and if this changes I am sure that we will see many more Linux based viruses, but not yet. Nevertheless, adware, and spyware are still rampant and as the Mozilla based browsers have ramped up, so have the writers of such code. However, open source equals constant updating to combat the spread of malware, spyware, and adware. After all, this is why we changed to a Linux Distro in the first place, right?

Ubuntu is simply one of the best and most stable Linux Distros available today and even rivals the paid for Linux Operating Systems, such as RedHat. You simply cannot go wrong with the Ubuntu Operating System whether you reason for switching is security, or cost.

How to Avoid Computer Viruses

2008-12-06T07:38:00.000-08:00

Computer viruses are pieces of code, which infect a user's PC in order to gain access or damage the system. Any computer connected to the Internet is susceptible to a computer virus; PC is more common than Mac. In most cases, a virus is used to gain access to the user's computer in order to gain control, but can also be used to steal information. Viruses are mostly problematic because they are self-perpetuating and can email themselves out through the PCs e-mail service without the user being aware of it thereby infecting anyone in the user's contact list.

There are many ways for a computer to become infected by a virus. The first is opening e-mails, the second of which is downloading files from the Internet. Either way a virus can be a very serious issue. There are a few telltale signs that your PC may be infected with a virus. Number one is that your Internet speed decreases exponentially. Two, would be that your e-mail never seems to complete and is always trying to download. Moreover, your PC may act strangely and even at times might reboot itself. It is oftentimes difficult to tell whether a piece of hardware is failing or you have a virus.

This is why it is important to have an antivirus program installed on your PC. An antivirus program can scan through the system and find any malicious code, which may be causing problems with your computer. Many individuals choose to use free antivirus programs. However, a paid for antivirus program is oftentimes much more effective. Such antivirus programs as Norton 360 and McAfee are the top-of-the-line when it comes to virus protection. These run approximately $50 a year, but are well worth the money.

As of now, there are thousands of viruses on the Internet as well as different variations. The chances of your PC being infected with one of these viruses are very high. The computer represents a large investment on your part, and it is important to take care of that investment, not to mention the loss of data that you may suffer. Having proper antivirus protection is imperative if you are going to be surfing the Internet.

Tips on Home Networking

2008-11-25T06:33:00.000-08:00

It seems that these days just about everyone has a home network. Some people have their networks hard wired with CAT5 Ethernet cable, while others may rely solely on wireless access points. Either way it is important to set up your network correctly or you may find that your downtime is more than your uptime and that may lead to your downfall.

It is a fact, that when it comes to home networking many people have no clue how to set it up, or are too lazy to do it correctly, I must admit that I have been guilty of both offenses. Nevertheless, over the years I have learned a thing or two about networking and in this article I will share some very important information with you that might just get you out of a bind.

It is important that when you setup your home network that you assign IP addresses to each of your computers. An IP address will be in the format of four numbers separated by dots i.e. (192.168.2.1). Each of your computers should have the same first three numbers but the fourth number should be different on each PC. This configuration ensures that each computer has its own static address and alleviates any possibility of IP address conflict errors.

A wireless network requires the same attention; however, security is very different in this environment. Think of your wireless router as a radio transmitter, anyone that can receive a signal, say your neighbor, can get on your network and possibly even into your own computer. Every manufacturer has a different setup for their routers; however, they all have security modes known as WEP (Wireless Encryption Protocol).

WEP is the minimum security protocol that you should use on your wireless network, although, there are others, only Wardrivers would bother breaking into WEP. Wardrivers are people that drive their vehicles from place to place hacking into or even connecting to wireless networks. Usually, it is harmless, but sometimes they are being nefarious and may even be downloading illegal stuff through your network.

This Wardriving activity has actually led to some people being investigated by the authorities even though they were not involved nor had any knowledge of the events. Remember, it is important to secure your wireless network and keep other from gaing access.

How to Avoid Computer Viruses

2008-11-25T06:30:00.000-08:00

Nvu Free Web Designer Software

2008-11-17T06:54:00.000-08:00

One of the many tools that I utilize is the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor. This software enables the user to create great looking websites in a matter of minutes without needing to know how to write code. Even for the seasoned webmaster, this software can be a time saver in that it allows you to simplify the tedious tasks involved in the design of a website. As for myself, I hate having to code such things as tables, fonts and other tedious objects. I opt instead to do a majority of the work in a WYSIWYG editor and then I can go into the code and fine-tune it to my specifications.

A good WYSIWYG editor can set you back quite a bit of coin, so instead I choose to use the free editors available. One such piece of software that I have come across is Nvu. According to the developer’s website, it is pronounced N-View. This html editor is open source, which means that it is free, but more than that, it means that anyone that can write code can contribute to make the software better.

This means that the software is constantly being updated and improved upon by a community of programmers. Now, you may not think that having a bunch of unknown programmers working on this software is not such a good thing. However, the software performs very well and for good reason. These same programmers use the software, they are the ones that add features and functionality that they like, and this translates into great features for you.

Nvu is the perfect html editor if you just want to get your personal website started, or even dabble in creating professional sites. The Nvu WYSIWYG editor is very simple to use and the average user can start building websites in a matter of minutes, even without prior coding experience. The Nvu software is touted as a replacement for Adobe’s Dreamweaver and Microsoft’s FrontPage, and to a certain extent that is true, but it does lack certain capabilities when it comes to server behaviors, but the software is still quite comparable to the two high-priced competitors.

Some of the nice features include tabbed workspace, which gives you the ability to work on several pages at the same time. You also have the ability to switch between graphic mode and code view. This makes searching for a particular piece of code that may need to be modified by hand coding, as simple as two mouse clicks.

The Nvu website even offers a first time user’s tutorial to help get you off to a running start in the exciting field of web design. With the Nvu software, it is likely that you will amaze yourself as well as your friends with the great web designs that you can create.

Links
Website – Nvu WYSIWYG Web Editor
h ttp://nvudev.com/

Free Online Movies and Television at Hulu.com

2008-10-31T15:42:00.000-07:00

Hulu.com is a relatively new site which allows users to watch movies and commercial television programs for free. This website was released by NBC, Universal, and News Corp. These companies have seen their programs uploaded to YouTube, but have seen no form of revenue from their programming. It was decided that the media giants should do something in order to create a bottom line on their own property. Like the saying goes, “If you can’t beat them, join them,” and that is exactly what these Corporations have done.While viewing on Hulu.com is free, it is required that the user create a free account. The site boasts the best quality of video available on the Internet. There is even a section for hi-def programs. However, you must have a very fast computer and a high end video card to enjoy the extraordinary picture quality. The programming on this website is broken down into section. The main sections are “TV” and “Movies,” the respective subsections are categorized into standard genres.

When I had heard of the release of this website to the public, I just had to check it out. So, I went ahead and signed up for a free account and I started browsing through the different offerings. I must say that the quality is decent, better than YouTube, but not quite astounding, especially the animated movies and series. While viewing animated series there is some pixilation during movement. Unfortunately, the hi-def section was beyond the abilities of my poor little Gateway laptop and the video was slow and jerky. However, the video was very clear and it was actually hi-def, I just wish that I could have enjoyed it.Nevertheless, this brings me to another issue with the Hulu website. Although, Hulu is touting free online programming, it seems that much of what they offer are just excerpts from TV series and movies. It is almost like watching just the special features areas of DVDs. Hardly worth the effort and when you see a link to a movie or show that they are offering on the site and it is only a ten minute clip, well the site can really start to frustrate you.

In my experience with online movies and television programming you can do much better just by going to the television shows network websites where you can watch the archived shows for free, and you do not even have to sign up for an account. If you enjoy watching classic TV shows from the 90s or even the 80s then you might want to check out AOL Time Warner’s IN2TV. On this site they have a very large selection of shows that you can watch for free.It is possible that with time Hulu may grow into something worthwhile, but for now there simply is not enough content available to really make it worth the process of signing up for the account. Personally, I will sacrifice a small bit of video quality in order to watch full shows instead of starting a show only to find out that it is only a small portion.

Links

http://www.hulu.com/

http://television.aol.com/in2tv

Software Review – WinRAR

2008-10-25T11:27:00.000-07:00

WinRAR is the top of the line file compression and archiving utility on the market. I have been using the WinRAR archiving and compression utility since version 2.0 and quite honestly, I have not found another program which is compatible with so many different archive types, or that is so simple to use. The WinRAR interface is intuitive and it does not take very long to get the hang of using the program.

Of course, WinRAR does support the ZIP file format, but it achieves a much higher compression rate using the RAR file type. One of the best features of WinRAR is that it will setup right-click context menus in the Windows environment. This makes archiving and even extracting files very simple.

However, you can even add files to an existing archive on the fly. Whenever I create an archive, if the data is sensitive, I will password protect my archive. WinRAR’s encryption and password protection ensures that my data is safe. I always backup my data to CDs and I find that it is beneficial to be able to password protect and compress my files so that I can fit more information on a disk. This saves me money because as you know writable CD disk are not free.

Another feature that I enjoy about WinRAR is that you can create self-extracting files. When you choose this option, WinRAR will create and executable files. When you double click the EXE file, your files will be extracted automatically and it will even create folders that you predetermine to your hard drive. This saves you a lot of time by eliminating the need for you to manually add directories in Windows Explorer.

WinRAR is one of those utilities that serious computer users just will not go without. While everybody seems to have their own personal preference as to what software they use WinRAR will always be in my arsenal of computer utilities. I only wish that everybody would use the RAR compression format.

Because I have used WinRAR for so long and I find it to be a valuable resource I give this program a 5/5 rating. I would suggest downloading the trial version of WinRAR and see for your self what a valuable tool this utility is.

Website
http://www.rarlab.com/

Awesome Free 3D Creation Software

2008-10-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

I love working with 3D graphics and animations, and I know that many other people share my love of creating great little movies and pictures from 3D as well. It is an awesome thing to think up a concept and then to be able to bring it to fruition. The only trouble is that the commercial 3D graphics programs are way out of the price range for the average person to buy.

Luckily there is a 100% free piece of software which allows you to create awesome 3D environments that are actually quite stunning, and they do rival the quality of the much more pricey software. Blender is a full 3D graphics program which rivals the best on the market and it is astoundingly versatile and powerful. Blender gives the user a full set of tools to work with. The great thing about blender is that you have everything available to you so that you can create animated movies or just 3D art.

Some of the features include “Modeling,” “Rigging,” “Animation,” and “Rendering.” But even with those features we have only begun to scratch the surface of what this software can do. You can also add lighting effects, and particle effects. Creating an animated creation is very simple and much of the work is done for you. Probably one of the best features available is the ability to create a game in real time.

If you are an artist and you have drawn some 2D characters, well the next logical step is to make those characters 3D and then animate them. Make your own series of YouTube videos, or build your own high-tech game. There is no limit as to what you can do with this software.

I know if you are like me you are thinking that it all sounds really great, but I have no talent when it comes to graphics. Well with blender you do not have to be. All that you must be is willing to give it a try. The software is free so you lose absolutely nothing. Plus there are many resources and tutorials as well as, video tutorials to help you out.

The way you work with the subjects in Blender is very much like working with clay but on a computer. It is easy and you manipulate it until you get the desired effect. I remember just a few short years ago that Blender was difficult for the new user to get used to and many just gave up in disgust, but now it is absolutely awesome and has many features which help to ensure that even a noob can make a great 3D scene or even a great full length animation.

LinkWebsite - Blender

http://www.blender.org/

Genealogy – Where to Start

2008-10-22T07:03:00.000-07:00

Today the Internet has opened many portals for the search into one’s family history. Genealogy has been a favorite past time for many centuries. It was always such a time consuming ordeal to trace one’s history that laymen often could not become involved. However, many genealogists have built databases of family histories and have started putting them on the Internet.

It has only been within the last couple of years that some of these resources have truly become user friendly. Theses websites have databases which cover many of the government’s records from many countries. These include death, birth, marriage, census, and even now military service records. Whenever one wishes to initiate the search for family history, it is important to start in the right place. There is nothing worse than starting a genealogy search only to find that it is too difficult and the information is too sparse to really gather any data at all.

The first website I want to guide you to is Ancestry.com. It is free to be a member, but there is a pay version also. The free version however, is great to start with. As a member you have the ability to start building an online family tree. You can start off easily enough by entering the data of the relatives you know. As you add new information to your family tree, the websites database will automatically search for possible matches with other members trees, and the public records.

This can be very helpful if you hit a dead end and can find no more information. When the database finds another match to a person in your family tree, it will let you preview it. If it is a good match, then you can add that persons data into your own tree. One really great feature is that this database includes many public records. As a free member you may see enough of the data to know that it is a match, however, if you are a paid member you can see all of the data, including a scan of the original document.

There are other features which make this site a valuable resource for the professional, as well as layman. The website offers the ability to use actual photos of your ancestors in their profile. You are also able to submit audio recordings, such as family stories which refer to that particular ancestor. Another really cool feature is a tool which will search through your family history to see if you are related to any famous people.

Of course, when you depend upon other’s family trees for your data, you must be diligent not to accept erroneous information. If you do accept data and it turns out to be incorrect, you will lose a lot of the work that you have done. I do have another website that you can use to validate, and yes even find information on your ancestors.

The website is run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is 100% free and allows you to search their large genealogical index, including vital records. You do not have to become a member to use their search tool. LDS has been collecting extensive genealogical data for a long time and they work daily adding new data to the database as it becomes available. The trick to this site is that if you do not find the information you are looking for. Check the website daily because that is how quickly it changes.

With the use of these two websites it is possible to find your family ancestry much further in history than you could have ever believed. Your family will be pleased and amazed that you were able to gather so much information in such a short amount of time. It only takes a little at a time to build a wealth of information on your family’s past. I hope this has been helpful to you in your pursuit of your family origins.

CitationsWebsite: Ancestry.com
http://www.ancestry.com/

Website: LDS
http://www.familysearch.org/

Search Engines – Where they were and where they are going

2008-10-20T06:11:00.000-07:00

The evolution of search engines has come along way in regards to Indexing the Internet. It is not a new concept and one that has been in the making for nearly twenty-five years. The evolution of search engine technologies has been astounding to say the least, but it begs the question, where is it going? Well, that is a good question and one that we might be able to answer once we understand how search engines work, as well as what is the ultimate goal of these search engine developers.

Before there was widespread access to the Internet, it was mostly utilized by academics and governmental agencies so that they could share data and information. It was a pretty small group and there was no real need for any type of search capability. People would connect directly to another user's computer via telephone line and they would already know which file they wanted to retrieve. As these individuals and agencies started freely sharing their information on a larger scale, it was soon too cumbersome to search the many computers on the network to locate a file of interest.

Along came what was technically the first search engine, as it had the ability to traverse the network and index files located on various computer systems. The name of this search engine was, "Archie," and is a play on the word archive and the name Archie of comic book fame. It was written by Alan Emtage, Bill Heelan, and Peter J. Deutsch, while they were students at McGill University. The search engine was released in 1990 where it quickly gained notoriety in the networking world. Although some do disagree as to whether this can be considered a search engine, or not, I am of the mind that it is by definition, a search engine. The purpose of a search engine is to index websites or files and then present that data to the user on request. Archie did this, even if it was not able to search the text within the files.

It was when Tim Berners-Lee started piecing together the World Wide Web that we saw that the technology of the Internet was now friendly to innovations in search engine technology. Tim Berners-Lee developed the hypertext markup language standard, otherwise known as HTML, which is the language that websites are written in. It is within this coding standard, which enabled search engine developers to index the web utilizing, "Bots, or Spiders."

Bots or Spiders are different names for the same thing. These are programs, which are written to crawl across the Internet gathering information from websites, or files. These programs are the real brains behind the search engine technology. If it were not for these little guys, people would have to manually index the entire Internet one site at a time. Given the quantity of sites on the web, it is unlikely that this could ever be accomplished, although the DMOZ Project, started by AOL, does a good job, they can never truly compete with an automated indexing program. These programs automate the task of indexing websites and the way in which they index is in accordance with its programming instructions.

The early search engines on the Internet included companies like, "Excite, LookSmart, and Yahoo. These search engines started as just web directories. They were basically just a collection of links to website and through sheer necessity, due the explosive growth in the Internet, evolved into utilizing automated indexing. For the most part, this technology was an unprecedented jump in the performance of search engines and paved the way for the average individual to find exactly what they were looking for. These early Bots were only indexing the title of the web page and a brief description based upon the text presented at the beginning of the site. It was also an issue that the bots would list the sites in the order in which they found them. There was no relevancy, or rating of websites at that time. It was not a perfect solution and finding exactly what you were looking for required hours of reading through an overwhelming amount of search results.

It was not long after this that search engines improved upon their technology even further and developed bots which would index websites based upon certain META tags present, that were coded into the text of the web page. These tags included such things as, "Title," "Description," and "Keywords." "Title" would be the actual name of the website, "Description" would be just that, a description of the content presented in the website. The "Keywords" tag was very special indeed and was the actual method in which these sites were indexed according to relevancy. The Bots would read these tags and index the sites according to a predetermined algorithm.

Unfortunately, whenever somebody comes up with a great way to make things simpler, there are those that take advantage of it and soon discover ways in which they can abuse it for their own personal gain. This was the case at this point in time when web developers figured out just how the Bots were indexing their sites. The Bots would index and rank sites by comparing the "Title," "Description," and "Keywords" tags, based upon their relationship with each other. In other words, you could rank higher in the search engines if, your title was used in the description and both of those were listed in your keywords. This turned out to be a simple equation and soon the Bots were having a real hard time ranking sites because if the web developers scored low in the index, they simply had to modify those three tags to increase their standing.

It was not long before the search engine developers started to realize that they were being bogged down in the mire of trying to combat worthless links being presented in their search engine's results. Yahoo was probably affected the most and soon found themselves toe to toe with the up and comer Google. It was at this time that the developers made a slight, but very important change to the coding in their Bots. They recoded their software to scan the web pages themselves and then compare the content to the tags. If the words contained within the tags were present on the web page, then it was indexed at a higher level. Of course, this was not the perfect fix, but it did present a way in which webmasters could no longer easily, and so flagrantly, misrepresent their websites to the potential users.

The search engine Google does not rely heavily on META tags to index sites, but they are still used by other search engines. The reason for the change in the importance of META tags is quite simply to give the web developers less opportunity to manipulate their websites ranking, and give the search provider a better end product by making the results presented more suited to the users query. Search engine developers do not like the developers to have the ability to manipulate the information they are collecting. In this day and age data is money, if your data is corrupted or flawed, then you are going to have a difficult time competing in this market.

As of now, Google is the dominant force in the market of search engines. Google's profits continue to grow and the search engine giant is not shy about developing new web-based technologies to lure new users to their services. In this market, users are the equivalent to money and all of the search engine developers are vying for their piece of that pie. Ask.com has been trying to gain some momentum in recent years, with its advertising and new search engine enhancements. Ask.com is pushing its algorithm as the wave of the future and an almost Artificial Intelligence approach to searching the Internet. The user types in their search phrase into the search engine box and not only do relevant links pop up, but also related topics. The other great enhancement to this search engine is that of having the ability to preview the content on the website without having to enter it. This is a nice way of ensuring that the site is actually presenting the content that it claims it is.

With all of these great innovations in the search engine industry, one has to wonder what is next, and how far can it really go before we hit the ceiling with this thing? Google is now working on a CSE, or Custom Search Engine, technology. According to an interview with Eric Enge, President of Stone Temple Consulting, Shashi Seth, who runs the Google Co-op, said, "Google is working on a customizable search engine which will be personalized to the individual user." It is clear that if search engine developers can offer users the ability to search in a more personal manner then they will definitely open up the market and walk away with the prize. However, the obstacle they face is that of individuals not wanting to share their personal information and web browsing habits for the entire world to see. As for me, I like the idea of a personalized search engine, which would include many of the Google pet projects as well.

Citations

http://www.searchenginehistory.com/
http://webtips.dan.info/titles.html
http://www.stonetemple.com/articles/shashi-seth-interview-102406.shtml

Why not upgrade to Microsoft Vista?

2008-10-20T05:27:00.000-07:00

Before Microsoft Vista was released, there was much anticipation by the Microsoft user community. The so-called Longhorn version of the Operating System was going to be the latest and greatest since Windows for Workgroups. However, as Microsoft kept pushing back the launch date of their new OS; people became, a little more leery about the new product, even in spite of the media hype put forth by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

The delay in the release date was seen by many as an indicator of some problems in the development of the Operating System and now that it is out, it seems as though those worries were well founded. For the average user Microsoft Vista presented a lively and vibrant environment. Nevertheless, the Operating System itself was far too different than XP and people soon found that they did not have the patience for the learning curve that Vista presented them with.

One item of contention which was supposed to be a positive was the security enhancement features of Vista. However, users were soon bogged down with the OS querying them on every move they made. This became a hindrance to the Operating System as well as to the average user’s patience. Overall Windows is a very nice looking Operating System and security is a bit more protective, perhaps, a bit over protective, but it is still not the best.

No matter what Microsoft does, it seems someone, somewhere will figure out a way to get into your system, and to be fair this is usually the fault of the user. This is where Microsoft made its mistake in my opinion. Microsoft developed an OS that made it so that nothing could be done unless the user approved it thereby eliminating any blame to its Operating System. However, this plan has backfired and many users find themselves switching back to XP.

As a matter of fact, the abandonment of Vista for the XP Operating System has been so prolific that Microsoft has started producing commercials to fight this embarrassing exodus. The commercials show a person which is in a situation, very much like the old blind taste test commercials, and they are told by the spokesman that they are using a new Operating System called Microsoft “Mojave.” The people are then so surprised and so absolutely love the new Operating System that they start praising it. That is when the Spokesman lets them know that they are actually using Windows Vista.

Unfortunately, this will only work with people that have not tried Vista but have been informed by others to stay away from it. If you have used Vista, you will know that what I state in the beginning of this article is true. The learning curve is too high and it is even difficult to figure out where your downloads, and documents are if you are used to the other Window’s Operating Systems. It is very easy to get lost in the Vista Operating System and usually a hard reboot will be required to set things straight again.

I recently upgraded my laptop to Windows Vista. Certainly, I could not tell you about it if I had not used the OS myself. So, with that said my experience was so bad that I have now gone back to XP in less than a week, and I am an advanced computer user. Installation of Windows Vista went very smoothly. However, it gave me a video card driver that would not enable Direct3d which makes everything on the screen jumpy. When I went to my laptop vendor’s website, they did not have a Vista driver and said that Vista supplied the driver now, strike one.

I noticed right away that my computer ran a lot slower, and when I say slower, it seemed to be moving at half speed. I finally figured out a few ways to speed it up a bit, but it was not enough to suit my needs. Whenever I would try to install a driver, Vista would not install them but it would pop up with a box offering me a choice of saying that it was installed properly or reinstall using Vista’s recommendations. Okay, I do not need that, just do it the way that it works, jeez guys who thought of that, I hope he was fired, strike two.

Now while all of this is going on I still have to acquaint myself with where all of my documents and folders are. There are slight differences, but when you use one Operating System for so long any little change is going to throw even the best of us off. I can say that I did not like the Start Menu at all. Something about it did not feel right and when I used it I was left feeling confused, it could be psychological, but either way it was a hindrance. Then out of nowhere my programs started shutting down on me including Internet Explorer and all that I was left with was this sympathetic message telling me the computer is sorry but my program must be terminated, strike three.

So, I struck back and pulled out my old faithful XP disk and booted Vista right out of my computer, literally. My old XP was a sight for sore eyes and as a matter of fact, it even seemed to run faster than before I had upgraded to Vista, good for me, bad for Microsoft. I imagine if you buy a new laptop or desktop with Vista already on it then it might be just fine. However, I am betting that if you take off that Vista and put XP on, you will have a screaming fast PC.

What to know when upgrading to Windows Vista

2008-10-20T05:24:00.000-07:00

Memory is one of the most important resources that your computer can have. Even if you have the fastest processor on the market, it will not do you much good if you do not have enough memory to run your system. I learned this from experience when I purchased a Pentium 2.0 GHZ CPU and found that my system performance was not any better than when I had my 1.0 GHZ processor. The problem I had found was that the 512 GHZ of system memory I had was just not enough for me to enjoy the benefits of the faster processor.

It was a hard lesson, but after upgrading my memory up to 1.0 GHZ my system took off like a rocket and I was soon enjoying the speedy experience of a computer that not more than five years ago I could only dream of. These are the types of trial and error experiences we go through with PC computers. Sometimes we only consider one particular part of our computer, but we do not always consider that whenever we change one piece of hardware, or even software, it will affect our entire computer system and we must consider whether or not these affects will be beneficial or detrimental.

The same is true when deciding on upgrading your Operating System. The Operating System on your computer is the middle man between you and your PCs hardware, so it is important that you be able to speak the same language and communicate in a fast and efficient manner with the core components of your PC. Now, I have seen enough upgrades through the years to know that every time an OS upgrade is performed, there is degradation in the speed of a computer. I first learned of this when upgrading from Windows for Workgroups 3.11 to Windows 95 and it is even truer today when it comes to Windows Vista.

Ultimately whenever you upgrade your Operating System, you will almost always have to upgrade your hardware as well. In my case, upgrading from Windows 3.11 to Windows 95 it was a mere matter of increasing the amount of RAM (Random Access Memory) in my system. At the time memory was not very cheap so it was a bit of a financial investment on my part. Nevertheless, I really wanted that Windows 95 Operating System and I gladly shelled out the cash for that 16 MB of ram, yes I said 16 MB, as in megabytes. However, my system was soon flying like a 747 after having been on a prop driven plane for the last three years.

Recently and when I say recently, I mean within the last week I have upgraded my laptop from Windows XP to Windows Vista. Now, my laptop is not the greatest thing, however, it is not the worst system on the market. In Windows XP the thing flies and I have no trouble no matter how many programs I have open. My laptop is a 1.5 GHZ with 1.0 GHZ of memory and under XP was enormously fast. However, when I upgraded to Visa this week I have noticed a clear lack of performance in my system. Much of the trouble is with opening programs, and when I type it is so slow that I type faster than the characters appear and I suck at typing. I mean I do not type with one finger, but I am not a very fast typist and to have the letters show up a second after I have typed them is saying a lot and it is really annoying as well.

Unfortunately, my laptop is maxed out on the hardware upgrades as far as processor and memory is concerned, so that mans that there is not much I can do to increase system performance but tweak certain settings in the Operating System itself. This is why it is so important to understand what your hardware can handle when considering an upgrade to Windows Vista. A general rule of thumb might be to not upgrade, but instead purchase a new computer system with the Vista Operating System on it already. This ensures that the computer you have will handle your computing efficiently.

Windows Vista is a good Operating System regardless of others might say, although, there is a slight learning curve associated with it. It is worth the effort though considering the security enhancements and the additional features. I would recommend that if you seriously want to upgrade to Vista, then you should have at least a 2.0 GHZ processor with a minimum of 2.0 GHZ of memory. Some might go so far as to install four gigs of memory but you will not see all of it so it is a sort of overkill and waste of financial resources.

Another important thing to consider is to check with your hardware vendor's websites to make sure that they do indeed support Vista and that they have drivers available for your particular hardware. There is a simple way to inventory your hardware and find out exactly what you have so you can find the drivers needed for Vista. Click your “Start” button and then click on “Run” in the menu. In the dialog box type in msinfo32 and then you will see your system information popup. This window shows all resources for your computer including the software environments.
In the right column you will see “Components” expand that tree and you will see all of the hardware devices that are on your PC. You can either write down each component or you can print them out, but you can only print out the one that you are currently viewing. On a side note, the most important ones to get are your video, sound, media readers, modem, and network card. It is safe to say that Vista will have most of the drivers that you need already, but better safe than sorry.

I certainly hope this helps you to better understand what is important when considering an upgrade to Windows Vista. The Operating System itself is very nice and has many features and additional security features that may at times seem a bit intrusive, but it is well worth the upgrade. Just understand that if you are upgrading your computer your system performance will decrease simply because your computer was designed with an earlier OS in mind.

Maintaining your Wireless Network

2008-10-20T05:21:00.000-07:00

Wireless networks are a fairly new phenomenon. It seems that you can hardly go down any block without running into a wireless connection network connection. Unfortunately, these connections, and if I had to venture a guess, I would say seven out of ten of them are unsecured. This not only presents a problem for your bandwidth, but it also presents a problem with security and may also get you in trouble with the law.

Most IPs only give their customers a certain amount of bandwidth. When more than one computer is connected to the wireless network the bandwidth must be shared between the computers equally, which slows down the connection exponentially. I have seen wireless networks that share three computers and an Xbox running Xbox live. When even one of the other computers is being used, the Xbox live loses its connectivity.

This defeats the purpose of having a wireless network in as the three other computers cannot even be used while one user is playing Xbox live, this in and of itself is a problem. However, if you add even more computers from the outside world on to your wireless network, even the three computers may not be able to connect to the access point, and this is an issue, which I have come across repeatedly.

Now, as to the second issue of security, we find that as people are able to connect to your wireless network, they also gain access to your computer and its files, especially if you have file sharing turned on. Now, this may not present much of a problem to the individual user but for businesses, it is a serious risk and can result in the loss of thousands or even millions of dollars.

The third issue comes when unauthorized persons connect to your wireless network and download illegal material. The authorities will often track down the IP address that the offensive download request are originating from and in general, that is you. Now you may not be guilty of such downloading and you may be able to prove it. Unfortunately, it will not stop the authorities from seizing your computers for a certain amount of time in order to forensically examine them.

This is why it is important that you utilize the WEP (Wireless Encryption Protocol) security feature on your wireless access point. Another measure of security is to assign each of your computers a static IP address and limit the number of available IP addresses that your access point delivers. This ensures that a computer that does not have the correct IP address will not be able to connect to your access point. Another feature, which you might want to utilize in securing your access point or router, is to do Mac address filtering. Each network card is given a specific Mac address.

You can set your router so that only Mac addresses that are in your network cards can access your router. This is another high level of security, which can help secure your network and keep unauthorized individuals from accessing it. Remember, with wireless networks security is the predominant issue, and it is to your benefit that you ensure that your security is at its highest level.

Reasons to Switch to Ubuntu from Microsoft Windows

2008-10-20T05:18:00.000-07:00

There are many valid reasons to switch from Microsoft Windows to Ubuntu Linux. Both the average computer user and corporations can benefit from the switch to Ubuntu. Do not worry if you have never heard of Ubuntu, I will briefly introduce you to the best free Linux distribution available.

The name of the Operating System is an African word which means, “Humanity to others,” this is a strong belief and sentiment held by its founder Mark Shuttleworth. Mark is also the first astronaut from an African nation to go into space, in a 2002 Russian mission to the Space Station. Mark has also worked tirelessly to improve scientific studies in African nations.

Ubuntu is a completely free Operating System, which has all of the bells and whistles available in Microsoft Windows. The fact that this Operating system is completely free should appeal to the average user, but more significantly to businesses, which spend much of their IT budgets on user licenses with Microsoft. Ubuntu comes in a few different versions available to meet the needs of users and companies in need of specific configurations.

1) Ubuntu Desktop is a basic user Operating System which is a very close match to the Microsoft Windows Operating System. It includes many types of free software, including graphics programs, and an office suite, which is 100% compatible with Microsoft Office. Email, Internet browser, games, and other various software is included, and makes Ubuntu just as productive as Windows, without the cost.

2) Ubuntu Server addition, is everything most companies, or individuals would need in Server software. One of the advantages to using a Linux server is its security. Although, no server can be 100% hack proof, Linux distributions have a better track record than most other Server platforms. Ubuntu Server can automatically install LAMP components at the time of the installation of the Operating System. LAMP stands for Linux, Apache, MYSQL, and PHP. These components when installed will ensure that you have all of the functionality of a complete Web Server from the time of installation. Ubuntu Server also allows updating and system administration control over all workstations connected to it. This gives a company a large financial benefit by eliminating the need to update each workstation independently.

3) Xubuntu, and Kubuntu are merely derivatives of the Ubuntu Operating System, but they utilize different desktop interfaces. Xubuntu utilizes the Xfce desktop environment with a heavy emphasis on GNOME applications. Kubuntu is a derivative that utilizes the KDE desktop and application. This particular setup is my favorite and it feels the most like Microsoft Windows to the user.

4) Finally there is Edubuntu another derivative of the Ubuntu Operating System which focuses mostly on education.

The Ubuntu Operating System is just as easy to install as the Microsoft Operating System. There is a host of free software which is completely compatible with Ubuntu, which can do everything that the costly Windows based programs can do. The only real drawback is for gamers. Most games developed by the gaming industry does not include support for Linux, but there is a way in which you can play some of your Windows. There is free software available which can emulate the Windows Operating System in a Linux environment. As more people switch over to Linux distributions, the gaming industry will most likely recognize the trend and start creating Linux versions of their popular titles.

I can not impress upon you enough that the Ubuntu Operating System is 100% free, and so is the software that is included with it. Just the Operating System and the basic software included is a savings of approximately $1000.00 USD alone. In a company setting, multiply that by the number of workstations you have and you will soon come to understand the benefit of switching to Ubuntu.

Sources

http://www.ubuntu.com/http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/25/1634232

Computer Overheating

2008-10-20T05:16:00.000-07:00

Overheating is a major factor in computer crashes. Many people assume that when their computer crashes, that it is due to a virus, a part failing, or simply due to the Operating System itself. While some of these may be true, it is more often than not, a symptom of overheating.
A crash due to overheating can be characterized by the entire computer system being unresponsive or, "locked up." This generally results in the user having to manually restart the computer, and in some cases, having to unplug the computer from its power source. After restarting, the computer may seem to operate normally for a time, but eventually it suffers the same crash symptom, regardless of which program the user is working in.

There are a few reasons as to why a computer will overheat. First, one or more cooling fans may have stopped running, or the internal bearings are going bad. There are generally up to three cooling fans in any given computer system, and these include, the power supply, the central processing unit, or CPU, and the video card. To check and see if your power supply fan is working you only need to place your hand on the back of the computer tower and feel that air is being sucked in. If you look at the fan, you can verify visually that it is working as well. The other two are located inside of the computer tower. To verify these you will have to open the case and visually inspect them to ensure that they are operational. If any of these have failed, or have a high-pitched whine, or are vibrating, you may need to replace the fan, or the component itself.

Other factors in overheating are dust, and smoking. While your computer is powered up the fans are constantly sucking in fine dust and smoke particulates, which then coats the internal components and the air intakes of the computer. Once the air intakes are clogged, the fans can no longer move enough air through the computer to keep it cool. Smoking takes a large toll on your computer, because smoke, has in it a tar like substance, which coats the computer components. Once this happens, the components are insulated from the cooling effect of the air passing over them.

In order to prolong the life of your computer, it is necessary to perform regular cleaning. I would suggest going to a computer store, such as Best Buy, or CompUSA and purchase a can of computer cleaner. It is a compressed air, which has no water vapor in it. Open your computer case and spray out all of the dust, including inside the fans and vents. One important note is to make sure that you hold the fans so that they do not spin while you are spraying them clean. Even if the unit is unplugged, if the fans spin they act as generators and create an electrical voltage which can damage them, or other components inside your computer.

There is no real set time on how often you should clean out your computer. It depends on where you live and how much dust is in the air. Here is a tip, whenever you change your air conditioning filters, you should consider cleaning out your computer. I hope this article on computer overheating was helpful to you. Remember, your computer represents a big investment on your part and it is important to keep it clean and well maintained.

Best Free Office Software

2008-10-20T05:14:00.000-07:00

There are many free alternatives to the Microsoft Office products. This would be beneficial for college students, the average user, and even small businesses in general. These people often find that they are unable to afford the high prices Microsoft charges for its products. These alternative software offerings are compatible with Microsoft Office.

The first free office product is actually an entire suite. I have used it myself and it is awesome. It is called Open Office, and is available for download so that you can start using it right away. Included in this complete office suite is:

1) Writer is the software which is the equivalent of Microsoft Word. It is very similar in look and feel. It has the ability to read and write in the Word format up to Word 2003. It has almost all of the features of Microsoft Word and those that are not present will not likely be noticed.

2) Impress is the equivalent of Microsoft PowerPoint. It can be used to create beautiful presentations with the look and feel of Microsoft PowerPoint. It also includes a couple of slide templates, but if these do not suit your needs, you have complete control over your work. This software can also read and write in the Microsoft PowerPoint format, which makes it completely compatible, however Office 2007 is as of yet not supported.

3) Calc is the spreadsheet software included in the office suite. It is compatible with Microsoft Excel. It has all of the functionality of the costlier Microsoft version, but it is free.

4) Draw is the graphics powerhouse in the suite. It is kind of a cross between Microsoft Paint and Microsoft Visio. I have not had much occasion to use it, but I have tried it and it does deliver good results.

Now, no office suite would be complete without the ability to read PDF files and convert them. Foxit reader is a free PDF reading and converting software. I have used this software and I find it to be much more productive than Adobe Reader. Of course, Adobe Reader is free for personal use; however Foxit Reader is free for business use, not including the text conversion version. Text conversion is only free for personal use.

The main reason why I have decided to add Foxit to this list of software is because, Foxit is free, it is small, and it is very fast. The one thing that has consistently bothered me about Adobe Reader is the speed at which it loads up. This is especially excruciating when loading PDFs from the Internet. There are additional plugins that you can purchase which would make Foxit as useful as a full blown version of Adobe Acrobat, but the free version is perhaps all that you will need. The beautiful thing about using Open Office Suite and Foxit together is that Open Office Write can convert documents to PDF.

It is with these free software packages that you can have all of the tools offered by Microsoft with zero the cost. That is a huge advantage whether you are just trying to save a buck, or trying to keep the bottom line down.

Links
http://www.openoffice.org/http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

Small Business Accounting Software That is Free

2008-10-20T05:03:00.000-07:00

Companies are often looking for ways to cut cost. One of the ways in which a small business can save some money is to use free software. You heard me right, there is software out there that is 100% free, and you can even use it for business purposes. Many commercial software companies will sell user licenses to businesses. This is often paid per CPU (Central Processing Unit), or on a per computer basis. This means that if you have ten machines in your office, then you must pay to use the software on each computer. As you can imagine, this can be a very costly proposition.

However, there is free accounting software available for small businesses. One such software is "Ace Money Lite." This is one of the most complete and productive free accounting software packages I have seen. It features a very nice and easy to navigate user interface. This accounting software will allow you to keep track of bank accounts, investment accounts, and payee accounts. The nice thing about this particular software is that it will not only run and print out textual reports for you, but it will also create attractive and easy to read graphs, and projections.

Another free accounting software is "AdminSoft Accounts." AdminSoft Accounts is a full featured accounting software package. This software is quite impressive with all of the features it has. This software will keep track of your customers and invoicing and suppliers and payments. This gives you full control over various accounts whether you owe them money or they owe you. Another nice feature which is not found in all free accounting software is the ability to control inventory and handle purchase orders. This means that all that you have to do is enter in the data and when your inventory falls below a certain limit; you will know about it and be able to re-order as needed.

It is very exciting to see all of the free software which is available for businesses to use. It boggles the mind as to why they do not use these free treasures, when it is their main objective to save money. These are just a couple of examples of free accounting software packages available to companies that are willing to use it. However, there are many other free software packages available for companies and individuals. They include everything from office software to complete Operating Systems. Many of these are just as good as Microsoft products and in many cases much more stable and secure.

Links

Ace Money Lite:
http://www.mechcad.net/products/acemoney/

AdminSoft Accounts:
http://www.adminsoftware.biz/

Google Pack – Useful or Useless Software

2008-10-20T05:01:00.000-07:00

When I first heard that Google was developing free software for users to download, I was a bit sceptical. I have seen supposed free software come and go. Many programs are not worth the time it takes to download. However, there are rare occasions when there is a hidden gem waiting to be discovered.

The Google Pack is a suite of applications and utilities which, can be downloaded and installed at once. The main program is actually called, “Google Updater.” The updater software sits as a resident program in your taskbar and allows automatic software updates. Google Updater is also used as a download and install manager, which allows the user to access the many applications in one convenient interface.

The applications available through the Google Updater program are a various assortment of useful tools and utilities. The really great feature of this software is that you are not forced to install all of the software available. You download only the software you want and then the Updater software handles the downloads and installations for you.

1) Google Earth – A program which allows the user to access satellite images of many places on the face of the Earth. The program also features the ability to look at a specific location at street level. One of the newest features is the ability to look at many locations through the CCTV cams located at street level in various cities. This program is more for fun than anything else, but if you are into looking at interesting features on the planet, then this would be a nice feature to include in your installation.

2) Picasa – A free graphics and photo cataloging program which allows you to organize your photos. This program gives you the ability to print, create a web photo album, or share your photos through email with your friends and family. Also included is photo retouching software. The photo retouching software is not a full graphics software package, however, it does offer some basic image filters and tools, such as red eye removal.

3) Google Desktop – This application indexes you hard drive and creates the ability to search your files and folders with the Google search tool on your desktop. The trouble I had with this particular software was the length of time it takes to index your hard drive for the first time. It took too long and rendered my laptop useless while this process was going on. Since I keep my hard drive very well organized I removed this application and my performance returned.
4) Norton Security Scan – This is a security application which scans your computer for potential security issues. The program itself is quite watered down and there are much better security suites available for free which offers many more features.

5) Spyware Doctor – This application states that it will protect your computer from spyware, trojans, and other types of viruses. Unfortunately, it is not a full version and lacks a resident scanner. It also has no real time antivirus protection. There are better free full security suites available which offer built in firewall, antivirus, anti phishing, and spyware protection.
6) StarOffice – Is a full Office Suite which is offered by Sun MicroSystems. Sun is primarily known for developing the JAVA programming language. However, this is Sun's version of OpenOffice, so all features are the same, and you can refer to my previous article, “Best Free Office Software,” for a full review.

7) Skype – This is an application which claims to give the user the ability to make long distance phone calls over their broadband connection for free. I have not used this particular application, so perhaps it will be the focus of a future review.Google Talk – This is a simple chat program which allows its users to communicate with one another. This application is pretty much the same as AOL Instant Messenger and Yahoo Messenger.

The final software offerings are just some applications which are available on the web, and have been free to use since they were first released. The first is Adobe Reader, which is a free program which allows users to read PDF files. It is my recommendation that anyone that has a need to read PDF files, use Foxit. Foxit is much smaller and the load time is very fast. The second is Real Player and allows users the ability to play streaming audio and video feeds.

All in all the Google Pack does offer some useful and fun applications. Google Pack is well worth the download and it is likely that individuals will find something that will appeal to them.

Citations

http://pack.google.com/http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

Unmatched Computer Security with Norton Internet Security 2008

2008-10-20T04:58:00.000-07:00

Many programs offer to secure your PC against Internet threats, but few names are as trusted as Symantec. While these other security suites do perform to an acceptable level, Symantec continuously pushes the bar higher with its innovative and effective security software. Symantec does offer security software that has many additional features not seen in other security software. However, Norton Internet Security 2008 is a full featured Internet security suite for your PC that will not bust you budget.

Much of the protection available in the Norton security software occurs behind the scenes of your PC which gives you the benefit of being able to work on your PC trouble free and without the burden of constantly having to interact with the program. Once you have installed the software and setup your personal preferences, that is it and you do not need to do anything else.The software works very well and I have not had any trouble with any viruses, spyware, or even tracking cookies since I installed it. The software is constantly updated and new virus definitions are constantly being released. This happens without any interaction from you and you will not even notice when these updates take place.

Norton Internet Security 2008 protects against viruses, Trojans, malware, spyware, phishing, and identity theft. However, this security suite does not just protect your Internet browsing, but it protects your email, and your PC from prying eyes. One of the features that I was a little leery of was the “Identity Safe.” It is a little scary to trust all of your login data to a program running on your computer. However, in order to fully evaluate this software I decided I had to give all of the features available a try.

The “Identity Safe” is amazing and I wish I had used it sooner. This feature in the Internet Security software allows you to store your login information, including usernames and passwords, and allows you to login automatically by clicking a link in a dropdown box in your browser. It is very convenient and saves me a lot of time typing in my login information on the many sites that I visit on a regular basis. However, if you share your computer with other people or if you leave your computer on all of the time, you can logout of the “Identity Safe” so that nobody else can use your login data.

I did have one problem after installing the software for the first time. My computer started to run very slowly and my browser would almost stand still while trying to load websites. I went to the Symantec support pages and the answer was readily available. It was so obvious that I did not believe that it would actually solve the problem but it did. The issues were simple, I simply had to clean out my temporary Internet files, clean my hard drive, and then defragment it.

I performed all of these task and my computer runs like new, even with the Internet Security running. Now I do not even notice any delays in the performance of my PC. I can say from experience that your computer represents a large investment on your part. You owe it to yourself to protect your data and your identity with the first name in computer security.

Link

Website – Symantec (Norton Internet Security 2008)http://www.symantec.com/norton/products/overview.jsp?pcid=is&pvid=nis2008

Software Review – Microsoft Student with Encarta Premium 2008

2008-10-20T04:53:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has put its best foot forward and developed the perfect application for students. Microsoft Student 2008 is the absolute pinnacle in teaching and tutoring software which can only serve to enhance your child’s learning experience. I have been using Microsoft’s Encarta for years, but with the release of Student 2008, I am simply amazed. This is a suite of software that every student should have at their disposal.

Tools such as Microsoft Encarta Premium edition are an invaluable resource for your child’s study needs. Microsoft Encarta is an encyclopedia, which covers everything from early civilization to current events, and many other topics in between. Encarta is searchable making topics easy to find and the user interface is simple and user friendly, as you would expect from Microsoft products. This is a great study aid which can help any student excel in their studies.
Microsoft Student includes a vast array of pre-made templates to assist your child in creating perfect book reports and presentations. Student 2008 also includes tutorials which will guide your child through the process of creating their book reports. Not only will these tools improve the quality of your child’s school work, but it will also produce results that your child will be proud of.

Math is a subject which many students struggle with and Microsoft Student includes an absolutely awesome math tutor program called “Microsoft Math.” Microsoft Math is a math tutor program which is unparalleled by any other that I have seen. It offers step-by-step walk through instruction of mathematical equations. Microsoft Math also includes 2D and 3D graphing for complex formulaic calculations, and with the save feature you will never lose your work again. The math program also includes online help, which is a wealth of information and covers every math topic under the sun.

Included in this software package are foreign language tools which can help your child in French, Spanish, German, and Italian. It will teach your child by translating words into other languages and will even help them conjugate verbs. This is a great way to help your child complete those foreign language assignments.

Another terrific feature in Microsoft Student is that it contains over 1000 book summaries. This resource will help your child understand the concepts of many of the most popular books written. These summaries include intermediate school books all the way up to a collegiate level.
Microsoft Student with Encarta Premium 2008 is a wealth of knowledge neatly rolled up into one package. This learning software it is not only helpful, but it is fun and it will inspire confidence in your child as they learn through the interactive program.

The cost of this software is a modest $49.95, an absolutely low price, considering all that you get. Quite simply Microsoft Student 2008 will help your child to excel in school, but it will not bust your budget.

Links

Website – Microsoft Student
Microsoft Student with Encarta Premium

Software Review – Dragon Naturally Speaking 9

2008-10-20T04:42:00.000-07:00

Controlling your PC just became a little simpler thanks to voice recognition software. In the past voice recognition technology was burdensome at best. Many of the products offered were very low on performance and high in errors, which made the software more trouble than it was worth. However, a leader in voice recognition software has come out with a version of their software which is likely to please just about everybody.

Nuance Communication Incorporated, the developer of Dragon Naturally Speaking, has released its best version to date. In this version it is clear that the innovator in voice recognition software has improved in leaps and bounds. In the newest version, the company states that the software is 99% accurate at recognizing speech. It is also being praised for its ability to type up to 165 words per minute in a word processor program. This gives the user the ability to speak in a natural manner and the software is able to keep up.

This is a terrific advantage when the user does a lot of writing, whether it is articles, a book, or simple business reports. Many people are not proficient in their typing skills and this would be a great advantage in a very competitive market. The other great feature of this software is the ability to control your computer by speech. Imagine that you no longer need to use your mouse or keyboard when using your computer and you can simply perform every task simply by speaking.

Included with the software is a specially designed microphone which ensures that the speech software works optimally. However, the software now has Bluetooth support which creates an even more effective and productive computer experience. There are currently four versions of the software available depending upon your needs. These versions include the “Standard,” “Professional,” “Legal,” and “Medical” editions. Medical and Legal editions are geared more towards the recognition of medical and legal references recognition.

Although the software is somewhat expensive, it is an expense which is worth its weight in gold. It is a certainty that the user will find that their productivity and the quality of their work will increase. Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 is the best voice recognition software available and I rate it a 4.5 out of 5.

Link

Website - Dragon Naturally Speaking

http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/

ReadyBoost in XP? Sure why not?

2008-10-20T04:40:00.000-07:00

For those of you in the computer world that have had experience with Microsoft’s Vista, you may have come across a cool little utility added to the Operating System. The utility in question is called “ReadyBoost.” I must admit that when I was using Windows Vista I was very impressed with the ReadyBoost utility. It made Vista move a little faster, nevertheless, there were other considerations which caused me to return to the familiar Windows XP, which you can read about here.

ReadyBoost is a utility which enables the user to use just about any flash memory device, limited only by your computer’s hardware, as RAM (Random Access Memory). This greatly increases the speed of your PC because it enables you to shut down the virtual memory which reduces the amount of data being written to and read from the hard drive. The use of the hard drive by Windows to create virtual RAM is a detriment to the speed and efficiency of the Operating System. However, in this case you will not be shutting down virtual memory but instead putting the “Swap file” on your flash drive.

Well, I started wondering how I can use a flash memory device in Windows XP as a generic type of ReadyBoost. I had come across a few tutorials across the Internet, but none really set it up so that I could fully enjoy the benefits of this particular upgrade. I am sure that there is one somewhere so if you have written one or know of one do not be offended if I am not aware of it. What we want to accomplish is to set up a flash memory device as extended RAM and then have the ability to turn off the paging file on the hard drive, which is the virtual memory.

Flash thumb drive and jump drives are relatively cheap and you can probably find one for about twenty bucks, already this is cheaper than buying more RAM for your computer, even if you can fit it in. I went to Wal-Mart and purchased a two Gigabyte jump drive to use in my PC and one Sandisk flash card to use in my laptop. I could have used the jump drive in my laptop but the flash card has a smaller profile and does not stick out where it can get broken off.

Now, the hard part is over, that is parting with your hard earned cash, but consider the money, time and headaches from the slow computer performance you saved yourself from. As a side note, it is going to be necessary to leave the device in your computer, but not mandatory depending on how much RAM you already have. If you have a Gig of RAM or more in your system you can turn of the virtual memory anyway. However, if you have less, then I would say keep the device in while you are using your computer.

Here we go with the tutorial, first place the device into your PC and make sure that it is recognized by the Operating System, you will know when you go to “My Computer” and see the extra drive. Now that you have that done go to your “Start” button, click it and then go to “Run” and click on that, now go to the run dialog box type in “sysdm.cpl” without the quotes. This will open your system properties, and then you must click on the “Advanced” tab. Now, in the “Performance” section click on the “Settings” button, then you should go to the “Advanced" tab again, go down to the “Virtual Memory” section and click the “Change” button.

Here is where you are going to choose each drive that you have by highlighting it and changing the virtual memory, if you look at the screenshot above you can see that I have turned off Virtual Memory on all drives except the Sandisk which is a flash memory device. I can adjust it in size which I might just make it 1024 Megabytes which is equal to one Gig of memory, add that to the one Gig of physical RAM I have and I have now have two Gigs of memory in my laptop. This is a beauty of an upgrade for my laptop and it only cost me twenty bucks.

There is an additional benefit to doing this and that is, if you do not use your entire jump drive, or flash disk as virtual memory, whatever is left over can be used to store files, which is what I do. I hope this tip has been helpful to you and I trust that you will find this to be a very beneficial upgrade, happy computing.

Tips to Increase the Speed of your Windows XP System

2008-10-20T04:38:00.000-07:00

It seems that over time that computer system you purchased not so long ago seems to run a little slower than it used to. There are times when this can be due to malware, viruses, or even spyware which has infected your system. However, this is not always the case and at times you can just make a couple of system changes and speed your computer up noticeably.

The unfortunate thing about the Windows XP Operating System is that it is continuously updating its files. Much of this is done through patching and generally happens without the user’s knowledge, except in the cases where a reboot may be needed. While these updates are beneficial to your system they do tend to change the requirements for your system resources. Whenever DirectX or Windows Media Player is updated, they automatically strip away resources from your computer system and it begins to run a little slower as a result.

There are two specific services running on Windows XP which robs the system blind and even slows down Internet browsing. The first is the Hard Drive Indexing service and is constantly keeping track of the data on your hard drive in order to make it faster to search for. However, it has been my experience that the time saved in searching is not worth the system resources being used in order to index the drive. So, quite simply, I turn it off and my system start really moving at speeds I had not seen in a long time and even browsing the Internet is about five times faster than what I had before.

If you want to turn off drive indexing, do not worry because if you change your mind you can always turn it back on. The steps to turn it off are as follows:“Start” “My Computer” Right-click the drive that you want to change, usually drive C. Now go click on “Properties” At the bottom of the Panel you will see a check box that reads “Allow Indexing Service to Index this Drive for Faster Searching” Uncheck the box. Apply to all and then if a box pops up click on “Ignore All.”

It will run through your hard drive and reset all of the attributes of your files and folders. The second speed enhancing tip is to shut down the System Restore. System Restore uses a portion of your hard drive and eats up your resources by setting restore points. Honestly, whenever I need a restore point, it never works so I turn it off and get my kicks through the increase in computer speed.To turn off the System Restore you must go to “Start” “Control Panel” and then click on “System” and then all that you have to do is click on the System Restore Tab at the top and uncheck the box.

These two simple tweaks will increase the speed and efficiency of your computer by at least five percent, which is big in computer talk. Browsing the Internet will be much more pleasant that was.

Adjust your Virtual Memory in XP to increase Performance

2008-10-20T04:36:00.000-07:00

As many people are aware, RAM is an important factor in any computer। RAM is needed to run programs, the hardware, and even the PC itself. If you were to pull the sticks of RAM out of your PC and switch it on it would most likely only beep at you and you would only see the reflection of your face staring back at you in the reflection of the screen. It appears that RAM is just as important as any other piece of necessary hardware in your PC.

RAM is an acronym for (Random Access Memory) This type of memory is very fluid and changes as needed by the processor. It is only a temporary container for your data. When you turn off your PC, that data on the RAM sticks is gone. Whenever you close a program the data that the particular piece of software uses is supposed to dissipate. However, due to poor programming, in many instances unnecessary data is left in RAM which leads to poor PC performance or even system crashes.

In Windows XP and even Vista another type of temporary data storage that is used is known as “Virtual Memory.” This type of memory utilizes the hard drive as RAM. However, because your hard drive is slower than a memory chip it takes longer for a program to load into virtual memory. The trouble is compounded even more when the hard drive is fragmented. In this case the hard drive must constantly be working hard in order to not only access the programs you are running, but the virtual memory needed to run them as well.

One of the troubles with XP and Vista is that they do not allocate the virtual memory very well. Windows creates what is known as a “Swap File” on your hard drive and this serves as the virtual memory. This space on your hard drive is reserved for virtual memory. Nevertheless, Windows sets a maximum and a minimum size for this space. The trouble with this is that the space is growing and shrinking constantly and the performance of your PC deteriorates.

So, in order to increase the performance of our Virtual Memory we want to set both of the minimum and maximum levels to the same size, thereby, creating a much more stable and efficient memory system. One trick that I will share with you is that if you are using XP, and you have 1 GB or more of RAM, turn your virtual memory off. This is true unless, you are using resource heavy video or audio processing software on your PC.

In order to change your virtual memory settings go to click the “Start” button, go to “My Computer,” right click it and then from the context menu click on “Properties.” Now you can click on the “Advanced Tab” and under “Performance” click on the “Settings” button. After you have clicked the “Settings” button then click on the “Advanced Tab,” and then under the “Virtual Memory Settings” click the “Change” button. This is where you can disable and yes, even set the size of your virtual memory.

You will have to reboot your computer after making these changes, but do not worry, your PC will not let you forget. Personally, I like to set my virtual memory to 1024mb maximum and minimum. This is because I use Photoshop and video editing software so my system is very memory intensive. If I could I would buy more RAM but my system is maxed out. However, there is another trick to fix that as well and I will share that with you next time.

Simple Computer Maintenance that you should perform on a Regular Basis

2008-10-20T04:32:00.000-07:00

In the high tech world of computers, users can sometimes forget that computers need special care too. Many people will simply get on their computer and start clicking away on the mouse visiting a vast assortment of websites. However, these fun and fascinating websites place small files on your computer. These files are known as cookies and they keep track of your browsing habits, but they also serve to allow the websites you visit to make your experience a little more personal.

Cookies are not the only files which are placed on your computer when you browse the Internet, but there are also XML files, images, and certain scripts which are stored on your computer to speed up your browsing experience. Another file which is stored on your computer is the browser cache`, pronounced “Cash.” Over a period of time this file can become quite large and will seriously slow down your Internet browsing speed.

Another problem which afflicts many computer users is the fragmentation of the hard drive. Fragmentation of the hard drive occurs when data is moved or removed from the disk. Generally this happens all of the time due to the “Windows Paging System,” but mostly occurs when software is uninstalled from the PC. That is why it is important that certain processes be run on your computer to ensure that your PC is always running at its peak performance.
The first process we want to run is the Browser History Deletion utility. The following is a step by step guide in Windows XP, and then a shortcut in Internet Explorer version 7.

1) Click “Start” and then click on “Control Panel”

2) In the “Control Panel” click “Network and Internet Connections”

3) Next click “Internet Options”

4) In the Internet Properties panel that pops up you will see a section which reads “browser history” click on that

5) Down at the bottom of the new panel you should see a button which reads “Delete All,” go ahead and click

6) Next a small popup box asking you to confirm that you want to delete your browser history. Also there should be a check box which is asking you if you ant to delete files and settings stored by add-ons. Go ahead and check the box ad then click the “Yes” button. That is all that there is to it, you have just cleaned out your browser history and freed up a little more space on your hard drive.

These are the steps to clear Internet history in Internet Explorer 7.

1) Open Internet Explorer

2) Located on the “Tabs Bar” you will see a button labeled “Tools,” go ahead and click it.

3) There will be a drop down menu and the first item listed is “Delete Browsing History,” go ahead and click it.

4) From this point just follow steps 5 and 6 from the previous section to complete the process.
Now that you have cleared all of those pesky Internet files you need to clean other files that have been stored on your computer. These files include such things as temporary files stored by application and install and uninstall processes. These can accumulate on your hard drive and grow to a size which will certainly inhibit the performance of your PC. To clean your hard drive, follow these simple steps:

1) Click on “Start,” place your mouse cursor over “All Programs,” go to “Accessories,” next go to “System Tools,” and finally click on “Disk Cleanup.”

2) Next you will see the Disk Cleanup utility calculating how much space you can free up on your hard drive. Once the process is done you will be presented with a list of file types which will be removed from the system. Do not worry about checking any boxes and just go ahead and click the “OK” button. The process can take some time considering the amount of data that your computer has stored.

Now that you have cleaned out the junk files on your PC it is time to defrag that hard drive to optimize your drive’s performance. Over a period of time the data on your hard drive becomes fragmented. This means that because information is constantly being written to the hard drive the data can become scattered all over the disk. This scattering of data causes the hard drive to work much harder when retrieving information and can lead to a premature failure of the device.

Now, most people would just go ahead and run the Defrag utility while in a regular session of Windows, however there is a faster and much more efficient way of defragmenting your hard drive and you will be sure that your running programs will not interfere with the defrag process. Defrag has a difficult time when there are programs running and moving data all over the disk while the utility is trying to optimize it. In many instances the Defrag utility may fail, or because certain files are loaded in windows, they can not be moved and it defeats the purpose of Defragmenting. For this next section you may wish to write it down, or print it out.

1) Go to ‘Start” and the click on “Turn Off" Computer,” yep we want to restart the computer and get it into boot mode.

2) Once your computer has restarted and you see your computer manufacturer’s splash screen you want to push “f5” on you keyboard. This preset you with several options, but you will only be concerned with the top which is labeled “Safe Mode”

3) Now your computer will load up into safe mode. This simply means that all of the device drivers and special services will not run in this mode and that is what you want.

4) Next you want to go to “Start” “My Computer” and then click on it with your right mouse button. A menu will popup and you will see “Manage” click that

5) Next you will see the disk defragmenter program towards the bottom of the panel. Off to the right of that you will see the defragmenter toll and you should click on the button labeled “Defrag.”

6) This is where it may take some time to complete and is entirely dependent upon how big the drive is or how much data is on the disk. I normally recommend doing a defrag while you are sleeping or out for a period of time.

Once the process is completed just go ahead and restart you computer normally and you should have a noticeable increase in performance. These steps should be done on a regular basis and I do mine about once a month because I am always trying new software. You might be able to get away with doing it every three months, but it is up to you. Look for these symptoms which may assist you in deciding when you should do your next service.

Your Internet browsing is excruciatingly slow. Your computer is hanging up and slowing down to the point of locking up. You look at the LED display which shows your hard drive working and it is flashing like it is on Turrets. These are just some simple clues that you should look for before deciding to service your PC.Image CreditNicholos Poma B.S.

Family Safe Internet Content Filtering in Internet Explorer 7

2008-10-20T04:29:00.000-07:00

Many computer users today are not aware of the fact that Internet Explorer comes with a built in Internet content filter. This tool is designed to block your children’s access to sites, which may be inappropriate. The, “Family Online Safety Institute” supports the utility. FOSI is a non-profit organization whose mission is to help protect children from inappropriate websites.

I have had a lot of success with this free tool and I find it to be very affective in preventing my children from accessing sites and chat services that I deem inappropriate. However, it can be a bit annoying at first because you will have to type in your password for just about every site your children visit. The trick is that every time you have to enter your password, add that site to your list of allowed sites. That way you only have to worry about it once.

It takes a bit of work to set this service up, but the benefits far outweigh any sense of inconvenience you may feel. The utility has come a long way since Internet Explorer 6, and has added some extra controls to help parents keep their children safe on the Internet. The settings range all the way from nudity and bad language to depictions of drinking and gambling. There is even a setting for websites that just simply set a bad example for kids.

There is one drawback however, and that is that this utility does depend upon the website owners themselves to input the rating code on their websites. Often the webmasters of these sites generally do not add content rating code, but that is no problem because there is a setting for that as well. However, there are those unscrupulous webmasters that will purposefully give their site a clean rating when it is not. Therefore, no matter what we parents do, we must always be diligent in monitoring our children’s online experience.Here are the steps to setup your Content Advisor in Internet Explorer 7 as well as version 6.

1) Click “Start” then open “Control Panel”

2) Click on “Network and Internet Connections”

3) At the bottom under icons choose “Internet Options”

4) At the top, choose the “Content Tab”

5) Under Content Advisor choose “Enable”

6) In the list shown, choose the content key that you wish to change and move the slider to the desired position.

7) Next go ahead and click the “Approved Sites” tab at the top. In order to save yourself some time and trouble, go ahead and enter in as many safe sites that you wish your children to access.

8) Next click on the “General” tab at the top. Make sure that the “Supervisor can type a password” box is checked.

9) You may check the “Users can view websites that has no rating” box, however I do not advise it. If you leave it unchecked, you increase the efficiency of this tool exponentially.

10) Next, you want to click on the “Create Password” button in the middle. This is where you will create your password, which you will enter to view particular sites and will also be used when you want to edit any settings to your filter.

11) When you have your desired settings go ahead and save your settings by clicking the “Apply” button at the bottom.

One important note is to make sure that you do not lose or forget your password, so write it down and keep it safe. I hope this tutorial helps you in helping to make your Internet experience a pleasant one. It is important that we are realize that the Internet is a very big place and it is up to us to make sure our children do not get lost in it.

Computer Performance Tip – Optimizing the Windows Registry

2008-10-20T04:26:00.000-07:00

The Windows Operating System utilizes a registry system to store information about the Operating System itself, settings and personal preferences of the user, and the software installed on the computer. The importance of the Windows registry data cannot be emphasized enough. Without the registry, the Operating System will fail to function. This will happen even if a small piece of data in the file becomes corrupted, or is missing.

It is important that you always create a backup of your registry before modifying it. This includes whether you modify it manually, or through the use of third-party software to do it for you. The easiest way to backup your registry is to create a, “System Restore Point.” Here are the simple steps for creating a System Restore Point.

1) Open the, “Control Panel.”

2) Click on the, “Performance and Maintenance” icon.

3) In the left column you will see a tab which reads, “See also,” below that you should see System Restore. Go ahead and click on that.

4) To set the System Restore Point, just follow the prompts. It is pretty straight forward and no special knowledge is required.

Now that you have backed up the System Registry, you can now optimize your registry and improve the performance of your computer. The registry is very similar to the hard drive in the way that it works.Since the data of the registry in actually stored in a single file, as information is added and, or removed it leaves gaps in the information which is known as fragmenting. As you add programs and additional settings to your registry it grows in size. This causes the computer to have to read even more data when accessing the registry data file. The larger the file grows, the more time it takes for the computer to read it.

While it is possible to manually clean the registry, it is not very reliable, nor is it productive to do so. With all of the information contained within the data file it would simply be too time consuming to do so, not to mention the almost inevitable mistakes made when deleting the wrong data.

There is free software available which does a very nice job of cleaning unneeded information from the registry, as well as defragmenting it. The first software I will recommend is produced by an obscure software developer known as, “ToniArts.” In general, I do not like using software developed by relatively unknown companies, but I tried their product named, “EasyCleaner,” and I found that it performed above and beyond many other products on the market. The great thing about this software is that it not only cleans out the registry, but it also performs many other maintenance task, such as cleaning up your web surfing history, and finding unneeded files and DLLs on your computer.

Our next piece of software is one that I use in conjunction with the registry cleaning software, and that is, “Registry Clean Expert.” It is another great piece of software by another obscure software producer known as, “iExpert Software.” The software is free and does a great job defragmenting the registry file. It is very simple to use and in general it only takes a couple of mouse clicks to complete the process. It is also very fast and in no time you can be assured that your registry data is completely defragmented.

An important note is to use the cleaner before you defrag the registry; otherwise you are defeating the purpose of the defragmentation process. These are the best free tools, for optimizing the Windows registry that I have found in over fifteen years on the Internet.
Links:

ToniArts – Registry Cleaner
http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm

iExpert – Registry Defragmenter
http://www.registry-clean.net/free-registry-defrag.htm

Tips for Faster Computing

2008-10-20T04:24:00.000-07:00

Computer technology has improved with leaps and bounds. It was not all that long ago when computers were so slow that the average user really saw no benefit from using one. However, that changed in the 1990s and computer technology was changing the way we saw the world and interacted with one another. But what happens when your new high speed computer suddenly loses its speed and leaves you feeling like a throw-back to another era? Well, there are some things that you can do to bring that slow computer back to its former glory, and get you up to speed.

Many people knowledgeable in computer technology would simply recommend hardware upgrades to increase the speed and performance of your pc, and at times this may be the exactly what is called for. However, many times it is a simple matter of maintenance that is needed to solve your computing issues. Remember, when you bought your computer it was fast and efficient, but something caused it to slow down over the course time. Your hardware has not changed; therefore it must be a matter of software.

On a Windows based computer system, over time the Operating System collects a lot of miscellaneous files. Some of these files can be attributed to the automatic windows updates, some are from everyday browsing of the Internet, malware, spyware, viruses, and then there are files left behind by uninstalling programs that you no longer use anymore.

All of these scenarios can dramatically reduce the performance of your pc. The real big issue is how to get rid of these unneeded files. Some of these files are hidden in the system and are not readily found by the average user so that they can be deleted. There are software programs available which can help clean these up, but then you have just downloaded and installed another piece of software.

Luckily, the Windows Operating System comes with some very handy tools you can use to help increase the performance of your computer. The first handy tool is the “Disk Cleanup Utility.” This tool is part of the Operating System and it will run through your computer and find unneeded files and then allow you to clean them out. It will also compact files to decrease their size. The shortcut for this utility is located on the “Start Menu,” under all “Programs,” “Accessories,” and “System Tools.” You can also just right click the drive you wish to clean. In the menu which pops up, you then click on “Properties” and then the “Tools” tab.

If you have more than one account on your computer, then you should run this tool for each account because user files are kept in separate folders on the hard drive. Once you have done this then you will want to run the “Disk Defragmenter” utility. The Defragmenter tool compresses the space used by programs on the hard drive. Over a period of time programs on the hard drive are constantly being moved around and this leads to data fragmentation on the drive.

The drive will soon have to start reading data in several different physical locations and this leads to a large decrease in performance. The Defragmenter utility can be found in the same locations as the “Disk Cleanup” utility. It may take some time to defragment the hard drive and this is dependant upon the size and speed of the drive itself. These are two of the most important utilities included with the Windows Operating System.

There are also problems with adware, and spyware. These are malicious software which are downloaded and installed to your computer. Generally, this happens whenever you use another free software such as, “Messenger,” or third party enhancements like, ”Emoticon Packs,” and other add-ons to your email programs. However, it is possible for this software to be installed through your email program, or by simply visiting a rogue website.

These malicious programs will run in the background and you will not even be aware of them but they will seriously inhibit the performance of your computer and hoard valuable memory resources. You will also notice that your Internet is not as fast as it used to be, and you may also notice popups even when you are not browsing the Internet. This is due to the fact that the malicious software is constantly communicating with its point of origin over your Internet connection.

Some of these programs can be very difficult to get rid of. I would suggest getting a spyware removal program such as “AdAware,” or “Spybot Search and Destroy.” Both of these programs are free and do a great job of removing unwanted malicious software. Lastly, get rid of all of those programs that you do not use, or do not need. Anytime you have software installed on your computer it takes up space on your hard drive. As the hard drive is working to locate files, or programs to run, it has to look at the data for those programs that you do not use as well. This makes the hard drive work much more and can impede computer speed as well.

If you still have slow performance even after all of these tips have been exhausted, there is a last resort which I even now do on a regular basis. Approximately once a year I completely reinstall my Operating System. I know this is a hassle, but the results are very nice and it is almost like having a new computer system. I feel that it is worth it to have the increase in performance, even if it is short lived.

Integrate your PC into your Entertainment Center

2008-10-20T04:19:00.000-07:00

Personal computers have reached a point where it is now very affordable and simple to integrate them into your entertainment system. The personal computer is no longer relegated to the corner desk where it collects dust when it is not being used checking email, or simply browsing the Internet.

PCs are now powerful enough to create a very extensive entertainment center with endless possibilities. Most PCs sold today have built in DVD players which gives the user the ability to watch feature length motion pictures. With the speed of PCs today movies can be watched without any jittering.

However, more than that PCs offer many other benefits besides just watching movies. Gaming is a big deal and personal computers have certainly been at the forefront of the technology. Throughout the computer revolution, gaming has been a large part of the industry. Gaming consoles such as XBOX, PlayStation, and Nintendo are proprietary in nature and games must be purchased for that particular game console. However, with PC versions you can run several games on one system and there is none to little compatibility issues.

There are a few issues that you must be made aware of in order to have a pleasant entertainment experience. PCs are relatively inexpensive and come equipped with a lot of processing power. However, some manufacturers will hold back a little of that power and offer it as an upgrade at the time of purchase for a modest fee, of course. Nevertheless, if you are offered upgrades for memory, hard drive, or processor speed, I would suggest that you do take advantage of them.

For a workable entertainment system I recommended that you purchase a computer which has at least one gigabyte of memory. Another issue to be aware of is that the many computer manufacturers use a graphics card which is built into the motherboard. In general, these are pretty worthless and will actually use a portion of your system memory. This will decrease the amount of physical memory available to your system, and result in poor system performance. The sound card is another piece of hardware which is usually built into the hard drive and while it may not have a large impact on system resources it is usually not a quality piece of hardware and can affect system performance in some applications, especially in computer gaming.

The best tip for making your entertainment system the best it can be is to purchase a video card and sound card separately. These cards are relatively inexpensive and the jump in performance makes it a very worthwhile purchase. Video cards are very powerful and they have their own onboard resources. This allows your CPU (Central Processing Unit) the ability to process applications and leaves the graphics rendering to the video card itself. In a recent online poll I conducted, NVIDIA was overwhelmingly, the graphics card manufacturer of choice.

One important feature to look for on a graphics card is a “Video Out” option. This option allows you to connect your computer to a device such as a standard television, or other external video device. There is much talk about HDTV these days, and personally I do not really care all that much about it. My preference is the size of the screen and I find that projectors are the way to go.

With a Video Out port you have the ability to connect your PC to a video projector which in essence can give you a screen with an area the size of a wall in your home. This gives you the impression of being in a movie theater and it becomes a very immersive experience. Imagine if your computer screen was as big as 72 inches or more, and you were able to watch movies and television on it.

Myself, I really like computer gaming and there is nothing better than playing your favorite MMOG (Massive Multiplayer Online Game) on a screen as big as your wall. Of course, it takes a little getting used to, but it is worth it. Another nice feature is that sound systems available for PCs have come a long way and surround sound is normal for a good gaming rig.

Worried about missing your favorite shows on television? No sweat, many of the cable networks allow Internet users the ability to watch their favorite shows online. It is completely free to watch online television and some of the networks even archive shows so that you can view episodes that you might have missed. Guess what? You just saved money by losing that monthly cable bill, how does that feel?

Many households have a computer, and it is a good idea to put that resource to use so that it benefits you in every possible aspect. By making the computer the center of your entertainment system you can have all of your entertainment needs satisfied in one inexpensive and relatively compact piece of equipment. In essence the computer can now be your television, home theater, stereo system, video game console, telephone, and much more.

Tips on Maintaining PC Health: Spyware

2008-10-20T04:17:00.000-07:00

Spyware is one of the most intrusive and destructive types of software today. Almost every computer user is, or has been infected with spyware. Spyware, simply put, is software that is placed on the user’s PC without their knowledge and collects data about that particular user. The information could be as benevolent as the user’s web surfing habits, or can even capture user data such as credit card numbers and other sensitive personal data.

Most spyware is installed while visiting a particular site and may even come in the form of cookies. However, there are instances where the user has installed the spyware which is generally bundled with other software. Installing IM (Instant Messenger Smilies) would be a good example of how spyware can get onto a user’s PC. Remember, if the software is free, it probably has some baggage attached to it.

There are two ways to keep your system free of spyware. The first is to download a program which you would schedule to run that would detect and remove any malicious software. The other is to purchase an Internet Security Suite such as McAfee, or Norton. These programs will keep spyware from infecting your computer in the first place. They generally cost about $50.00 USD a year, and they are well worth it.

However, if you are on a tight budget, then there are some decent free spyware removal programs available. The first and most widely used is Lavasoft’s Ad-aware. Ad-aware does a very good job of ridding your PC of spyware and the great thing about it is it is free to use and it has no spyware in it, an exception to the rule.

The next is Spybot Search and Destroy which is my personal favorite free program. I have tested both pieces of software and have found that Spybot S&D out performs Ad-aware slightly. Nevertheless, nothing beats a good pay for spyware blocker and while these free software’s do perform well, the trick is to keep the spyware off of your PC in the first place.

When not taken care of immediately, spyware can render your PC useless and cost you time and money. It is important that you get some kind of spyware removal program whether it is free or paid for.

How to Rip Audio CDs with Windows Media Player 11

2008-10-20T04:05:00.000-07:00

All right, so you have gone out and purchased a music CD featuring your favorite artist and now you want to be able to listen to your music on your MP3 player. However it is unlikely you will ever get that big CD to fit inside that little player and even if you did it is unlikely that you will be playing any music. This is where “Ripping” comes in to play and this tutorial I will show you how to do it. The term “Ripping” is simply taking media from one device and encoding it so that it may be played on another or even to make copies.

If you place an audio CD into your computer and navigate to your CD drive you will notice that the files may end in CDA. This format will actually play in your computer and you can listen to it through your media software whether it is Windows Media Player, Real Player, or whichever of the myriad of software players you choose to use. However, if you have an MP3 player and you copy these music files directly to your player without first converting them, they will not play.

Luckily, ripping audio CDs in Windows Media Player 11 is very easy to do and after some initial settings you will be ripping your music like a pro. Nevertheless, I must warn you that ripping your audio CDs to MP3s can be habit forming and may result in the need to purchase an MP3 player with a larger capacity. First of all there are a couple of annoyances which I must address in Windows Media Player 11. Whenever I insert the disk I want ripped into my CD drive, Windows Media Player wants to start ripping the music automatically.

However, what if I do not want to rip everything on the disk, maybe I just want a few songs ripped. Also, the default format for ripping in Windows Media Player is WMA format, which in most cases is fine and will play on most MP3 players, but I want the MP3 format because I want to be sure that they will be compatible. Well, we can fix these issues by going into the Player’s options. First of all, go ahead and open up Windows Media Player 11. At the top menu bar you want to go to “Tools” then click on “Options” and then choose the “Rip Music” tab.

Now this is where you will setup all of your options for ripping your CDs. First of all you will notice that there is a default location where you will be ripping your music to. The default location is fine and Windows Media Player will create separate folders in your “My Music” directory automatically for each CD. Below that in the next area you will see the word “Format” with a drop down box. Go on and click on the arrow and choose MP3 as your default format. Finally, under that there is a checkbox which is selected by default which reads “Rip CD when inserted,” uncheck this box and then click on the “OK” button.

Now your player is setup and you are now ready to start ripping your CD collection to your computer. If you have Windows Media Player open then go ahead and click on the “Rip” button. If you have no music CD in your CD drive, then you will see nothing listed. However, once you insert an audio CD the list will then be populated by the media files on the disk. Now, you are able to check off the music that you do not want ripped. Once you have made your selections go ahead and click on the “Start Rip” button or you can just press ALT+S on your keyboard. You will be able to monitor and see the green progress meters and when they are complete, you MP3s will be in the default directory.

That is all that there is to it, now you can populate your MP3 player with your ripped music simply by dragging and dropping the folders to your device. However, this does not work with an iPod, so do not try it. I hope this tutorial has been informative and has eased your mind in the world of ripping media. This is one of the most simple of tasks to perform so there is no need to stress over whether you will do it wrong or not.

Spring Cleaning your PC

2008-10-20T03:52:00.000-07:00

There comes a time when that computer of yours just does not seem to be as fast as it used to be. Strange things start to happen like you seem to get more crashes than you used to and the crashes become too frequent to be considered a glitch in the Microsoft Operating System. Inevitably, we all start to look for a promising piece of software that will be the computer savior of our dreams. However, this is not always the case because as we will see through this tutorial, the biggest troubles can come from the smallest of things. What most people do not realize is that dust is one of the biggest causes of computer failures that we face.

Dust is minute particles that get into everything and cause our PC components to overheat. It is important to clean out our PCs every once in a while. Unfortunately, some people have never cleaned out their computers. These individuals may get lucky and never experience any adverse affects, but then there are those that seem to always have trouble and they are soon driven to the point of forking out a lot of money for a new computer, or shady PC repair companies (No names mentioned here).

The problem that dust presents is that it insulates electronic components from the ambient air and they are not able to dissipate the heat they create. Also, dust and lint will often collect in the air flow vents and stop air from circulating over the components to keep them cool. The most susceptible components to heat is the CPU, memory, and the video processor, which on newer cards have their own processor cooling fan. As a side note people that smoke near their machines are going to have to perform a special cleaning in order to get their components sparkling. This is due in large part to the tar that is in the smoke which coats the components creating an especially tough layer of insulation. However, we will go into this later on in the tutorial.

Now then, in this tutorial I will completely disassemble an old junker PC that I use as a file server. It is a Gateway case that I refitted with a newer motherboard and installed a momentary switch into when the old switch died. It is an ugly computer, but it works great and I have never had any trouble with it at all, other than that lousy switch. There is no one way to open a PC case. The cases are made differently according to the manufacturer. In my Gateway case you loosen the two thumbscrews in the rear and then slide the side cover off.

I do know that on Dell Optiplex and Precision desktops that there are two tabs that you must depress, one on top and one on the bottom. Depress both tabs at the same time and pry the computer open, it is on hinges so it should not be too difficult. There is one final tower that I have come across and it is the simplest to open. You merely pry off the face plate and then the side panel can be pulled right off. This is my favorite case to use when I build my own computers just for its simplicity.

As you can see from the first picture this computer is quite dirty and is in need of a serious cleaning. Now some people might just do a little dusting and call it a day. However, I am serious about doing this right so I am going to pull out all of the boards including memory, video, CPU, USB card, sound card, and Ethernet. I will also be removing all drives and the power supply; hey I got to make sure this thing is clean right?

The next picture shows that everything has been removed and they are laid out according to their location in the case. I find it easy to do it this way. However, you might choose to mark the locations of your cards with a permanent marker, just so that you will remember where they go. Many service people like to use compressed air to clean out a PC, but I just do not like to do that. There are a couple of reasons, one is that using highly compressed air can blow some of the jumpers off of the motherboard or even out of the drives and it is very difficult to figure out where those little squares go.

Another issue is that compressed air causes the fans to spin and if you do not hold them they will generate a voltage that could damage your components, not to mention all of the dust that gets into the air that you inevitably breathe in. I prefer a soft bristle paintbrush and a vacuum cleaner. The paintbrush can get into difficult places to reach and the vacuum ensures that most of the dust is disposed of in an enclosed system and not my lungs. Back to the cleaning project, it may seem to be a little intimidating looking at all of those wires running from this and that and the other thing. Do not worry too much about it, if you are worried about whether or not you will remember where they go, you can also mark the end of the connector with the connection on the component. Some sort of numbering system works great.

Always remember, as far the ribbon cables are concerned that there is a red stripe or a red dotted stripe which is a reference point to pin number one. Just make sure that the red stripe lines up with pin number on the motherboard and the component that it connects to. The pins are numbered on the printed circuit boards although; in some cases you may need a magnifying glass to see them. In this picture you can see that the power supply has been opened and “Oh my God,” I did not realize just how dirty that thing would be, we certainly have to do something about that.

Wow, in the next picture you can see the difference. This power supply is now beautiful and I have just extended its life and this saves me a few bucks that I can use for something a little more important.

As you can see, the CPU is really dirty and honestly I do not know how this thing still works. Talk about dirty; these cooling fans have the fuzzies growing under them. That is okay, a few quick brushes with my trusty paintbrush and these suckers will look good as new.Probably the most tedious task s to brush and vacuum out the case, but we have to do what we have to do right? Now it is time to put all of these things back together again and get this file server back up. I personally have my own order as to how I put it all back and it is really up to your own personal preferences.

First I install all of the drives because in some cases the video and sound cards can get in the way and cause you to have a real difficult time getting the drives in. Next I install all of the various computer cards following the markings I had made earlier. Finally, I install the memory cards, the CPU, and last but not least, the power supply. Finally, it is time to run the test and make sure this thing is working. If you find that a drive is not detected by the computer bios you can almost be certain that a ribbon cable is on backwards. That is the only error that I have ever had after doing a complete cleaning and it is as simple as switching the ribbon cable to the correct position. In the last picture you can see that this computer is clean as a whistle and ready to give its all to fulfill my need for more power and faster computing.

As a side note to those of you that smoke around your computers. The cleaning procedures are the same however, it might be necessary to purchase some non-conductive electronic contact cleaner to spray your pc boards with. If you use the non-conductive spray you do not have to worry about something shorting out should you not dry them completely. You will be amazed at all of the brown gunk that pours off of these boards while you spray them. By the way, dust your components before you spray them, otherwise you will be working with mud instead of just tar, or dust.

That is all there is to cleaning the hardware in your PC. I personally clean my computers out about every six months because I live in the Southwest Desert and it is very dusty here. Determining how often you should clean out your computer may take a little guessing on your part. I hope this is helpful and that in the long run you save yourself some money in unneeded repairs while at the same time increasing efficiency.

Simple and Cheap Network Using Your Existing Phone Lines

2008-10-20T03:46:00.000-07:00

In the early years of the Internet revolution, many homes had only one computer. At that time, relatively few people used the Internet, and many others saw no real benefit to plugging into the new frontier known as "Cyberspace." However, many families find that the Internet is a resource that is quickly becoming a large part of their everyday lives.

Many homes today have more than one computer. There may be a computer that mom and dad use and then another which the kids use. It is beneficial to separate these two computers but still share the same Internet connection. As an added benefit, mom or dad can setup "Remote Desktop Connection," which makes it possible to login to your children's computer and get a bit nosy, or simply lock down certain features, all from the comfort of your own computer.

If you are looking for a simple way to network your home then doing so through your existing phone lines might be an option for you. Most homes and apartments have an existing phone line, which consist of six wires. Only two of these wires are used for your telephone and in most cases are a blue and a white/blue wire. The other four wires are not used by anything and can be used to network your computers through a router, even if they are in different rooms.

I use phone jacks that have an RJ45 and RJ11 plug on the same cover. This gives me one jack for the regular phone and one jack to connect the Ethernet cable. It also looks a lot nicer than leaving wires hanging out the big gaping holes in the walls. These special covers can be purchased at Radio Shack, or even Lowes. For my network, I use a router so that I do not have to worry about patch cables or extra NIC (Network Interface Card) cards in my computer for ICS (Internet Connection Sharing). My router is just a basic Speedstream two port router.

The first thing to do is to remove your old telephone jack and install the new RJ11, RJ45 jack. The phone line is generally located at the top of your new dual jack and has only six screws with wires attached to them. Your two telephone wires should connect to pins three and four on the back of the RJ11 jack. You can determine which one these are by looking at the color of the wires already attached. Pin three should have a red wire attached to it and pin four will have a green wire. If you are in doubt hold the cover with the back facing you and the RJ11 jack on top. Start by counting the screws from the top right and go clockwise. The top right screw is number one, and the same thing applies to the RJ45 jack.

Now that you have your regular phone line connected you should make sure that it is working by checking to see that you have a dial tone on your telephone. Once you have made sure that everything is operational so far it is time to wire up that RJ45 jack. The four wires that should be left for you to use are orange, white/orange, green, and white/green. The way that I wire it up is as follows, orange wire to screw number one, white/orange wire to screw number two, green wire to screw number three, and finally, white/green wire to screw number six.

You can do these wires in any order that you want, but you must make sure that it is the same on all of your jacks. So far, I have only been able to connect two devices at a time and I only get 10 MBPS. However, that is plenty fast and I have not had any problems with my network at all. My next project will be to replace all of the telephone wiring and installing CAT5 cable at the same time to get a fast 100MBPS network going.

I have noticed that the telephone lines are not as good at handling the bandwidth as CAT5 Ethernet cable. There is also a problem with the faster Gigabit NIC cards. If after you have set your network up and it is having some speed issues or you seem to be losing packets, you need to lower your NIC setting to 10 MBPS Half-Duplex. You can do this in Windows XP by going to "Start," "Accessories," "Communications," "Network Connections," right click on "Local Area Connection," "Properties", "Configure," "Advanced."

I hope this tutorial has been some help to you in setting up your own personal network in your home. It is a very decent way to go and it really cost nothing considering your home is already wired for it. I must make mention of the fact that not all homes are wired the same and the colors of the telephone lines may vary but the principles are the same.

How to Enable Popup Blocking in Internet Explorer

2008-10-20T03:43:00.000-07:00

Blocking popups in Internet Explorer is easier than falling off of a log. Starting with Internet Explorer version 7, the browser comes with a built in popup blocker which is quite effective at blocking all types of unwanted popups. It allows the user to customize their blocking preferences as well. The user can designate which sites they wish to allow popups from. This is important because many websites people use are reliant upon popups. Such websites may include a form that shows up in a new window in which the user would enter their data. Many of these sites include secure shopping and financial sites such as your bank.

There are three preset values, which you can choose from to best match your personal browsing needs. The first is the low setting. This allows popups from only secure websites. This is probably the best setting for the average user. The second preset is medium. This setting will block most popups, but it is not very reliable and you will wind up feeling as though it is ineffective. The third is the most drastic and it is my personal favorite. It is the high setting and it blocks all popups. Popups can still be allowed but only by pressing Ctrl and Alt at the same time. If you wish to enable the popup blocker than all you have to do is follow these simple steps.

1. Open Internet Explorer

2. Click on the button named "Tools"; it is located at the top of your browser on the right hand side.

3. Click on Internet Options

4. Click on the Privacy Tab located at the top5. Make sure that "Turn on popup blocker" has a check mark in it.

5. Click on the Settings button and set your blocker to your preferences.

Now, you may enjoy being virtually popup free while surfing the Web depending upon the settings you chose.