How To Speed Up Windows XP

The default install of Windows XP includes features and processes most users don't need. If

you're involved in gaming or multimedia, and you can't afford a top-of-the-range PC, here

are a few tips to get the most out of your machine.

For beginner users:

1. Go to: Start > Control Panel > Display > Settings.
Select: Resolution 800 x 600 pixels and Colour Quality Medium (16 bit).
Click: Apply.
What it does: Reduces system overhead. Less work for your CPU.

2. Go to: Start.
Right click: My Computer.
Select: Properties > 'Advanced' tab > Performance > 'Settings' button > 'Visual effects'

tab.
Select: Adjust for best performance.
Click: Apply.
What it does: Removes unimportant cosmetic effects, thereby reducing system overhead.

3. Go to: Start.
Right click: My Computer.
Select: Properties > 'Advanced' tab > Performance > 'Settings' button > 'Advanced' tab.
Select: Processor scheduling > Programs.
Select: Memory usage > Programs.
Click: Apply.
What it does: Prioritises _your_ programs over those that XP _thinks_ are important.

4. Go to: Start > Control Panel > Display > Themes.
Select: Windows Classic.
Click: Apply.
What it does: Cleans up the desktop.

5. Go to: Start > Control Panel > Display > Desktop.
Select: Background - None.
Click: Apply.
What it does: Cleans up the desktop.

6. Go to: Start > Control Panel > Display > Appearance.
Select: Windows Classic Style.
Click: Apply.
What it does: Cleans up the desktop.

For Medium Users:

7. Go to: Start
Right click: My Computer.
Select: Properties > 'Automatic Updates' tab.
Select: Turn off automatic updates.
Click: Apply.
What it does: Stops Microsoft messing with your computer at inconvenient times. You can

re-enable this when _you_ feel like an update.

8. Go to: Start > Run.
Type: msconfig
Select: 'Startup' tab.
Action: Untick all boxes, except those you are certain you need to start when XP boots up.
Click: Apply.
What it does: Stops programs starting when XP does. Frees up system resources.

For Advanced users:

9. Run your favourite program.
Click these buttons on your keyboard simultaneously: ctrl + alt + del (Control + Alt +

Delete).
Click: 'Processes' tab.
Right click: The process of your favourite program.
Select: Set priority > Realtime.
What it does: Diverts CPU resources to the selected program.

10. Go to: Start > Run.
Type: services.msc
Right click: Any service you are sure you won't need, like 'Automatic Updates', 'Help and

Support' or 'Indexing Services'.
Select: Properties > 'General' tab > Startup type > 'Manual' or 'Disabled'.
Click: Apply.
What it does: Stops processes starting when XP does. Frees up system resources.

Warning: Change one setting here a day. Reboot your system after each one. Run your most

popular programs. If they're running normally, try disabling another service the next day.

This is to make sure you don't turn off something important. If you're not sure, leave them

alone.

Related programs:

Tune XP http://www.driverheaven.net/dforce/
This is freeware and simple to use.

X-Setup Pro http://www.x-setup.net/
This has a 30 day trial, and is for more advanced users.

Enjoy!

The Challange – Security Vs. Mobility

The overwhelming increase in the mobility of the corporate workforce and the availability of

wireless internet connections in airports, hotels, and coffee houses, creates an unbearable

challenge to IT managers. Whenever employees, travelling with their laptops, connect to a

hotel hotspot, they are in fact connecting their corporate computers to an unsecured

network, shared by hundreds of guests. This innocent connection jeopardizes sensitive data

and can bring back security threats into the corporate network when returned to the office.

For this reason, IT managers have adopted rigid security policies, creating a conflict

between the need for security and the productivity of the mobile workforce. For example,

some organizations consider the returning laptops as “infected”. The infected laptops are

completely formatted and cleaned. Some allow dial-up connections-only (no Wi-Fi), while

others go further to completely prohibit the connection of laptops to the Internet outside

the corporate network.
This unbearable conflict between security and mobility can only be solved if the mobile

force is equipped with the same level of security as they have inside the corporate network.

To understand what this means, we should examine the level of security that is maintained

inside the corporate networks.

Corporate Network - Two Lines of Defense

Corporate users enjoy higher security levels inside the corporate network because they

operate behind two lines of defense. The first line of defense, is a set of robust security

appliances, installed at the IT center and exclusively controlled by the IT department. It

is largely based on a comprehensive set of IT security appliances running secured and

hardened OS, with Firewall, IDS, IPS, Anti Virus, Anti Spyware,
Anti Spam and Content filtering. The second line is based on the Personal FW and Anti Virus

software installed on end-user’s computers.
The first line of defense completely isolates the user at the physical and logical layers.

Unlike PCs, these appliances are equipped with a Hardened operating systems that do not have

security holes, “back-doors”, or unsecured layers. They are designed for a single purpose,

to provide security.

The first line of defense provides the following advantages:

- Mobile code is not run - content arriving from the internet is not executed on these

appliances it just goes or does not go through into the network. It makes it more difficult

to attack as the mobile code delivered by the hackers does not run on the appliances.

Cannot be uninstalled – Security attacks often start by targeting the security software,

while trying to uninstall it or stop its activity.

Software-based security solutions, as any software program includes an uninstall option that

can be targeted. In contrast, the hardware-based security appliances cannot be uninstalled

as they are hard coded into the hardware.

- Non-writable Memory - Hardware-based solutions manage the memory in a restricted and

controlled manner. The security appliances can prohibit access to its memory, providing

greater protection against attacks on the security mechanism.

- Controlled by IT personnel – The security appliances are controlled by IT, who constantly

maintains the highest security policies and updates.

- Performance - The security appliances are optimized for maximum security and operate

independently from computers in the network, not degrading the performance of the desktops

or consuming their resources.

Consequently, the corporate PCs reside in a secured environment. If the security is

breached, at least the damage stops at the gateway. The first line of defense prevents

threats from entering the corporate network. While the second line serves as a precaution

and help defend against threats that may have already entered the network (e.g. emails). But

the real problem starts when the corporate PCs go in and out of this secured environment.

Outside the corporate network they are at the frontline with no first line of defense. The

problem intensifies as they return, bypassing the first line of defense as they enter the

network. These laptops can be considered as the greatest threat because they unknowingly

infiltrate security threats into the supposedly safe network.

Security: The Hardware Advantage

A fairly high percentage of computer users are now educated enough to know they must have

security products deployed in order to protect their computers.

In the case of Corporate Users, the IT staff makes sure their gateway is stacked with the

latest and greatest security appliances protecting the parameter.

In the case of Home Users, the users themselves make sure to install security software,

typically a combination of personal firewall, antivirus and anti-spam. Or a single

streamlined Internet Security Suite.

In both cases, the solution is simply not good enough!

We’ll start with explaining why security software running on top of the computer it aims to

protect will always be inferior to an external hardware solution.

The following points are well known to the IT professionals as they would obviously never

rely on software installed on users’ computers alone, and will always focus on the

hardware-based security appliances protecting the organization’s perimeter.

The advantages of external hardware-based security appliances are:

Immunity from the inherent vulnerabilities of the underlying OS – If, for instance, an

organization is running MS Windows on all its computers, the security software installed o

the computer will still suffer from the same underlying vulnerabilities and backdoors that

Windows inherently has. When you are protected by an external appliance who has its own

proprietary OS (Or a flavor thereof), the security mechanism does not suffer from these

vulnerabilities.

Mobile code is not run - content arriving from the internet is not executed on these

appliances it just goes or does not go through into the network. It makes it more difficult

to attack as the mobile code delivered by the hackers does not run on the appliances.

Cannot be uninstalled – Security attacks often start by targeting the security software,

while trying to uninstall it or stop its activity. Software-based security solutions, as any

software program includes an uninstall option that can be targeted. In contrast, the

hardware-based security appliances cannot be uninstalled as they are hard coded into the

hardware.

Non-writable Memory - Hardware-based solutions manage the memory in a restricted and

controlled manner. The security appliances can prohibit access to its memory, providing

greater protection against attacks on the security mechanism.

Controlled by IT personnel – The security appliances are controlled by IT, who constantly

maintains the highest security policies and updates.

Performance - The security appliances are optimized for maximum security and operate

independently from computers in the network, not degrading the performance of the desktops

or consuming their resources.

Prevent potential software conflicts – The security application you install on your computer

will reside on the same computer with an unknown amount of other unknown software all using

the same CPU, memory, OS and other resources. This often results in various conflicts,

“friendly fire” between 2 or more unrelated security application installed on the same

computer etc. When using a dedicated hardware security appliance, nothing runs except for

the intended use it was made for.

These are all just the general conceptual problems of protecting a computer with the

exclusive reliance on an installed software security application.

There’s a lot more to be said about the problems with these types of solutions. The lack of

Network Address Translation (As you’d get in a dedicated external hardware-based security

appliance), lack of physical network separation (DMZ), the fact that even simple ARP

poisoning attack cannot be stopped by them and much, much more.

Now that we’ve clearly established that using software-based security applications is not

the best security solution – what’s wrong with the security that Corporate Users get? The IT

staff makes sure their gateway is stacked with the latest and greatest security appliances

protecting the parameter.

We’ve shown that that would be the best way to go – So where is the problem?

The answer to that is simple – Mobility.
More and more of the corporate users actually have laptops and no desktop computers. More

and more users are becoming mobile, working remotely from outside the organization, working

either from home, or are simply on the road traveling as part of their business duties.

The minute the user packs up his laptop and leaves the protected (by a series of dedicated

hardware security appliances) organizational perimeter – all the amount of money and

professional effort that went into building up the corporate gateway, all of that becomes

meaningless!

The user has left the corporate protection behind, and is left essentially “naked” only with

the software security solution to his protection. And we’ve already established above it is

not enough.


So what is the perfect solution?

The perfect solution that solves all the issues presented above is simply to use a Personal

Security Appliance – A term coined by Yoggie Security Systems.

Yoggie has coined the term and essentially created a whole new category of security

products. The first of its kind in the world is the Yoggie Gatekeeper which is a powerful

and robust hardware-based security appliance that connects to the laptop and externally

scans and protects all the traffic with a series of 13 different security applications.

The Yoggie Gatekeeper is tiny and mobile, fits comfortably in your palm and can simply be

attached to a USB port on your laptop, which provides both the power and connectivity.

This way the powerful corporate-level security can be re-instated even as the user is away

from the protected corporate perimeter, allowing the laptop user maximum performance and

productivity (by offloading it and using external security applications, instead of

laptop-installed ones), giving them the highest level of security, and allowing the IT

department means to monitor and enforce security policies over remote and traveling laptops

without being intrusive to their users!

Spyware - Get your Basics Right!

Spyware! Spyware! Nowadays, we all get to hear this word more often that what would make us feel comfortable. What exactly is Spyware? Spyware can be defined as any technology that aids a group in collecting information about a person or organization from their computers without their knowledge. This is widely accepted as an encroachment of privacy. Now, how does this spyware actually reach your computer? Spyware can be installed in your computer via any program or software your download in your machine, while surfing the net. In most cases, you will not realize that you have installed something unwanted till things start going wrong or rather start smelling fishy (not literally, though!). What you need here is a spyware removal program to bail you out.

Get Rid Of Spyware Programs

Ok, if it is unwanted and I want to get rid of spyware, I can delete it anytime with the help of the ‘add or remove programs’ feature in my computer! Why would I need a spyware removal program? Well, what you need to understand is that spyware are not just any Tom Dick and Harry looking through your stuff. Spyware mingle with your registry files. Looking for them and deleting the right files, is like looking for a needle in a haystack!

There are people who can inflict quite a big dent on your reputation with the help of spyware, if they are in the mood to do so! Damage? Yes, spyware programs are not necessarily innocent knowledge gathering gimmicks by advertising companies. Those are called adware programs. Spyware programs, also known as tracking software can actually turn your computer to a source of viruses for thousands of machines. If an investigation is carried out, you will be the one to face the rut!

Now that you have realized that spyware can be bad for your health, what can you do to ensure that it stays out of your life and the computer? The first step you can take is block pop ups in your browser. Second, try avoiding downloads from websites you are not sure of, especially downloading pirated versions of paid software. You may actually be downloading malicious spyware or irritating adware in your machine instead! Finally, do not click on any URLs sent you via emails, unless of course you are sure about its authenticity.

Look around for free spyware killer programs on the net. Companies like Microsoft, Google and Yahoo offer free spyware removal programs that can be updated regularly. Various companies are offering spyware removal tools for free or for a nominal charge. It would be a good idea to download a trial version of any of the programs free and then depending on your experience purchase the full version. Getting a full version is essential because the trial versions in most cases lack some key feature and do not offer full functionality.

The Past And Present Of Computers

Computer (computador) is an appliance which can manipulate data in accordance with a list of instructions. It is a type of data processing system.

Today the computer (computador) has become indispensable in every household and comes in numerous physical forms. The first modern day computer was developed in the mid-20th century, though the concept of computer (computador) and various similar machines existed before. It actually started in 1837, when `The Analytical Engine`, the first fully programmable mechanical computer, was designed by Charles Babbage.

The Earlier versions were huge and bulky and used up a whole room. The device EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator) was one of the very first computers that could implement the stored program architecture. In comparison to them, modern computers (computador) have tiny integrated circuits and are much better in terms of capacity and speed as well as accuracy. Today`s tinier version can even fit in your wrist watch and are powered from the watch battery. Personal computers can be found in almost every house today and in various forms. They are in fact the icons of the information age.

What makes computers (computador) highly versatile and distinguishable from other appliances is that it can be programmed. A calculator can only calculate, just like a washing machine can only wash, but a computer can be programmed to do any kind of job. Software programs are a list of instructions that can be stored and executed by the computer.

A general computer (computador) has four major sections, the arithmetic and logical unit or ALU, the control unit or CU, memory and the interface for input and output devices. These parts of computer are interconnected by busses. The ALU, control unit, registers, and the interface for input and output devices are collectively known as the central processing unit or CPU. The Early CPUs used to be composed of different separate components, however since the 1975; the CPUs are being constructed on a single integrated circuit, the microprocessor.

The ALU is for arithmetic and logical operations of the computer while the control unit is for directing the various parts of a computer (computador). Its job involves reading and interpreting the instructions of the programs one by one and converting them into control signals for operating other parts of the computer.

The earlier version of computer (computador) used Magnetic core memory but today it has been replaced by the semiconductor memory. The main memory of Computer is divided in two parts, RAM or random access memory and ROM or read-only memory. RAM can be written and read anytime through CPU commands. On the other hand, ROM is pre-loaded with software and data that never changes, and it can be only read by the CPU.

I/O is hardware by the means of which a computer(computador) can receive information from the outside world and also sends back results. Common input devices are the keyboard and mouse. While common output devices include monitor and printer. There are some devices that serve as both input and output devices like Hard disk drives, optical disc drives, floppy disk drives etc.

Internet has literary changed our lives. Today people can search all types of information on various subjects, advertise their company or products pass information to a large group of people and do much more merely by a few clicks of the mouse. Whether you want to search a new home or compare prices of the latest mobile or fill up your college form or read the latest Harry Potter book, everything can be done on the Internet through your computer.

With increase of computers (computador) and its uses, an increasing number of professions involving computers have also developed. Computer-related professions include Electrical engineering, Nanoscale engineering Telecommunications engineering, Software engineering, Web design, Desktop publishing and Optical engineering.

About VoIP

What is VoIP? Is it useful, or inexpensive? The answer is that VoIP is Voice over Internet Protocol. Voice over the Internet allows connections all over the world. It is one way to have a free pc to phone international call. In other words it is a phone call from pc. Yes, it is useful, and it is inexpensive, especially if you like the word free. Some Voice over Internet service may allow you to only call anyone who has the same service, but some will allow a phone call to anyone with a telephone number including international numbers.

Easy Free PC To Phone International Call
Voice over Internet Protocol allows the converting of your voice into a digital signal that travels over the Internet. If you are calling a regular phone number, using a broadband service, the signal is converted to a regular telephone signal before it reaches the destination. In layman’s terms you are using your Personal Computer via a modem or phone adapter to connect to the Internet, and the receiving person will answer via PC or telephone. This allows the free pc to phone international call. This all happens with this broadband Internet connection instead of a regular or analog phone line.

The equipment needed to make this happen are a broadband high speed Internet connection. A computer, adapter or other specialized phone is required. Some Voice over Internet Protocol services only work over your computer or a special VoIP phone, while there are other services that allow you to use a traditional phone connected to a VoIP adapter. If you are going to use your computer as a phone call from pc then you will need to have some software and an inexpensive microphone. Some special VoIP phones plug directly into your broadband connection and operate largely like a traditional telephone. If you use a telephone with an adapter, then you will use the phone like you always have.

In order to make the VoIP free pc to phone international call you must make certain that your Internet provider will allow you to make those calls. It comes down to what your subscription service will allow on their services. Check into that before you decide if VoIP is right for you. One of the advantages of VoIP is that you may be able to avoid paying for both a broadband connection and a traditional telephone line, which will save you money. More so if you are able to make a phone call from pc. If you are traveling overseas or to another country you may take your phone and adapter with you, and connect to another computer. This makes you able to use your same provider to make phone calls back home.

The disadvantages are that the VoIP will not work during power outages and the service provider may not offer backup power. Not all VoIP service connects directly with emergency services such as 9-1-1. Nor will some providers offer directory assistance or white page listings. These seem to be the downfall of having VoIP service. The computer does not have to be turned on for the VoIP to work, but the broadband connection must be active or live. The other piece of news is that you can use both the computer and the VoIP phone service at the same time. Yes, this is one good way of making your free pc to phone international call.

The option is for you to check with your Internet service provider. Make certain you have all software and possible adapters, as well as the broadband connection. With the right equipment you will be able to make a free pc to phone international call. If you are attending school, working overseas, or checking on the family back home, then VoIP is a wonderful tool to connect with loved ones, and special people. This is a way to have your free pc to phone international call. The tools are available. Your next step is to set up your computer and Internet service provider for a Voice over Internet Protocol.

Stopping Spam – Some Useful Techniques

Spam has existed for about as long as the Internet has. Across the Internet there are

various ways in which spam can be posted. Spam in the form of emails remains the most

dominate type of spam present on the Internet. 90 billion spam emails sent daily worldwide;

a figure that that has more than doubled since 2005 at which point it stood at 30 billion.

As well as spam emails, spam can be seen across the Internet in the form of various aspects

of media such as, websites, guestbook’s, forums and link spamming, Link spamming is when a

normal link is manipulated to take you to a spammer’s site so that the site gains more hits

and therefore increases the sites page rank. As well as this, links can be manipulated and

placed on websites where the links tag looks innocent but when it is actually clicked it

takes you to sites containing, for example adult content.

These along with email spamming happen on a regular basis, as you’re probably already too

much aware of. Even if you have never posted in a chat room or forum but merely signed up to

one, your details are still there, making it possibly for spammers to get hold of them in a

way that is known as harvesting. Spammers use chat rooms and forums and ‘harvest’ email

addresses that are posted on the site or that appear as member’s username. Due to this it is

advised that if you need to give your email address out that you replace characters with

words; for example yourname@domain.com should be written as yourname[at]domain[dot]com; this

stops the spammers being able to harvest your email address.

An Anti-spam campaign that has recently been running to try and stop spammers altogether is

one that involves downloading a screensaver to your PC, which has a statement referring to

stopping spam. This screensaver, when idle on your PC, sends a lot of data traffic to

website that sell the goods and or services that are mentioned in spam emails. The idea

behind this was to get these spam sites running at a 95% capacity and to generate lengthy

bandwidth bills for the spammers that are behind the sites.

This screensaver has apparently been downloaded more than 90,000 times and has already

caused two big spam sites to go offline. Although this shows that the anti-spam campaign is

working there is a chance that by doing this you are setting yourself up for more attacks in

return to downloading the screensaver. Many discussion groups have also said that doing this

could be a dangerous precedent which might cause vigilantism.

Downloading such a thing could also slow down your Internet connection and there is no

guarantee that other sites that have nothing to do with spam won’t be targeted. Due to this

I would recommend that the best possible way to fight spam is through the use of a decent

anti spam software package.

Anti spam software packages will stop spam emails reaching your email account; filtering out

emails that are from your contacts and that are also seen as safe emails from genuine people

that want to contact you or your business.

As well as protecting your email account from spam messages, an anti spam filter system

should also block 100% of viruses that could cause devastating harm to your business,

including the loss of data. Outbound as well as inbound virus filters are another key

feature to an anti spam system, which protects your company reputation by stopping your

company spreading viruses unknowingly.

Anti spam filters/software are essential to the smooth running and operation of businesses,

making them a wise investment before the damage of spam takes effect.

Some Spam Filtering Facts

Do spam filters work? Even though it is estimated that 90 billion spam emails are sent worldwide every day the use of spam filters is still questioned.

The term spam filter can also be known as anti-spam software. This piece of software analysis’s your incoming email and uses a number of rules to decide whether the mail that you are receiving is legitimate email or not. So in answer to whether spam filters work or not the answer is yes. The extent as to how good they work depends on the spam filter that you have chosen. Some spam filters work better than others.

A decent spam filter will block about 99% of spam through filtering ‘buzz’ words that refer to adult content and medical supplies, which are mainly based on weight loss supplements. As well as filtering words based on a blacklist, a spam filter will also block explicit images.

Another feature of most spam filters is to scan for viruses. This is done on both inbound and outbound messages. Any viruses that are found are then blocked straight away. This feature is especially important to business owners whose reputation could be at risk if viruses are spread through to clients through messages that are in their outbox.

When we look at emails we can tell straight away what it spam mail and what is a genuine email, most the time without even having to open the message. To a computer however all the emails that you receive look the same, meaning your computer needs help to filter through what is spam and what is actual emails from people who are on your contact list or from people who are trying to contact you.

Many spammers know that spam filters work by filtering out words that have been blacklisted, that refer to typical goods/services that spammers are ‘promoting.’ Due to this many spammers try and get around spam filters by using incorrect spelling, inappropriate spacing and replacing letters with numbers on words that they know wouldn’t get through a spam filter. It is because of facts such as this that when you are choosing a spam filter that you get the best one you can for your personal/business needs.

A spam filter/anti spam solution means you get full control of the emails that you receive and often you get a feature with your spam filter/anti spam solution that is known as a dashboard. This dashboard gives you complete visibility of exactly what emails are being blocked meaning that you can set it so that none of the emails you wish to receive are accidentally blocked by your spam filter.

If you are using a spam filter within your business then you will notice how through the use of one your business will become more productive, saving you money and time.

Filtering through emails yourself wastes time that could be used up working or taking care of more important tasks, so why not let a spam filter do this for you.

Why to Buy a Green Environment Friendly PC?

As Techsavy become increasingly more environment conscious, PC manufacturers are tending to stay in step with a conscientious approach towards the issue of global warming which encouraged them to come up with a new generation of computers – Green PC.

Aiming at reducing the e-waste in the environment, these eco-machines enjoy a number of advantages that make them superior over conventional PCs. Green PCs or “Eco Friendly Computers” as they are commonly known as, use a fraction of the electricity of a normal PC–energy efficient 45W, contrary to usual 200W.

Green Computers do not contain the hazardous materials like brominated flame retardants, PVCs, and eliminate the dangers of heavy metals as lead, cadmium, and mercury, which are generally used in computer manufacturing. The parts used in eco friendly computers are designed out of recycled steel, aluminum, and plastic. Their screen can also be even made out of wood. This certainly underlines the component of fashion in sustainable living!

One of the biggest factors making computers an environmental menace is its dumping. According to the data showcased by recent surveys, around two million PCs are dumped in UK landfills every year. This causes soil infertility as most chemicals end up in the soil. The situation is worst in Asia, where much of the West’s useless equipment ends up.

As opposed to traditional computer equipment, green computers save energy and are easier to upgrade and recycle, thereby making your investment worth the money. Green PCs are no doubt a significant step taken towards the monumental objective of tackling changes in climate.

Using environment-friendly products in an efficient system, green computing solutions attempt to address the factors making a negative impact on environment.

Green computing solutions focus on increasing economic viability of the product, maximizing its energy efficiency, and biodegradability of a futile product. Many IT companies including the prominent names like Wipro have already gone green whereas a few others are in process to come up with their eco-friendly computers.

The introduction of Green PCs is likely to push environmental versions of all consumer products soon. They are more similar to a small piece of a large jigsaw puzzle.

Starting a web site – Steps to Success

Starting a successful website isn’t an easy task and requires a fair amount of planning before beginning the project. Here are a few simple tips that will get you on your way!

What type of website?

There are many types of websites you can create; such as Blogs, forums, directories, and galleries! It’s best to create a website based around something you enjoy and know about.

If you are launching a business website it’s a good idea to speak with a web design specialist, a professional looking website is key to a business’s online success. Don’t be afraid to invest a little, you will reap the rewards.

Choosing a Web Host

A reliable web host is important no matter you websites purpose, downtime and technical issues turn away many visitors, and isn’t worth pain. Budget is important but don’t be fooled by the web hosts that are practically giving their services away, they are often oversold and will result in problems with out a doubt.

Choose a web host that offers what you need at a reasonable market price, you will find the support level is often much higher as they can afford to pay quality staff.

Many web hosts offer the automatic installation of many great scripts such as content management systems, forums, galleries and much more!

Selecting your Domain Name

Ensure you get a domain name that matches your website! Have a think before you purchase, your web host will usually offer domain registration services bundled with your web hosting plan.

Getting Started

If you are unfamiliar with web design it’s a good idea to start a website based on some popular content management systems, you should find these options and software packages available in your web hosting control panel.

Install and become familiar with their operation.

Adding Content

Fresh, relevant content is important to any websites success; it will keep visitors coming back. Starting a forum is hard so it’s a good idea to get your friends / associates in on the project to generate some discussion.

Promote your website

It’s a good idea to get your link out there, submit to the search engines, and link from websites you visit. Once you are listed in the search engines your quality content should naturally draw users.

For business websites paid promotion is a great way to generate business leads.

Following these steps is a great way to ensure your websites success; no project is easy so with a little work you can have a popular (and profitable) website of your own!

Lithium Batteries - Tips to Make Your Laptop Lasts Longer

The basic makeup of each battery type is very similar. Each has a positive electrode (cathode), a negative electrode (anode), a separator and an electrolyte. However, the chemistry in each is different. The differences offer various levels of performance.

Much of our newest technologies demand much more power than its predecessors. The features and sophistication of the newer electronics have truly increased the power demanded from batteries. It is this power demand that motivated the industry to develop power sources to keep up.

A lithium is different from an alkaline.

Both the chemistry and construction of lithium and alkaline differ. It is the lithium design that helps this newer power source meet the high drains of many of today's devices.

These new and powerful batteries are used in various portable electronic devices, and are widely used as a mobile laptop computer power source.

Here are some tips to make your laptop power source last longer:

Heat Kills!

Heat truly decreases the life span of lithium batteries. You may notice that if you use your laptop as a replacement for a desktop, the battery capacity decreases greatly. Some measure the decrease at 60% to 80% of the original capacity after about a year.

If you use your laptop as a desktop, you should remove the battery while using the plug-in power source. And before storing your laptop battery, you may want to first check with the manufacture on the effects of moisture and dust in the casing.

Correct Storage

If you don't plan on using your lithium batteries for a while, you may want to put them in your refrigerator - not the freezer!

Ideally, you should store at a 40% charge level. At 100%, you may have unnecessary stress and internal corrosion. But if the charge is too low, the battery can eventually become unusable because it will self discharge.

Calibrating Helps

Most manufacturers agree that there is some benefit to completely discharging your lithium batteries periodically, especially for your laptop. If you completely drain the laptop cell, it will help to recalibrate which will allow for more accurate measure of the life span.

You should try this every 30 charges or when you notice readings are off.

Calibration does not extend the discharge time - it only resets it to show the remaining charge accurately.

Memory is not what it once was ...

When I got my first cell phone, I was told to let it completely die before recharging. This idea is that of memory. This process of completely discharging before recharging to the max, would supposedly give my phone the complete battery capacity.

If I recharged with 50% capacity already, the battery would assign the half way point as the empty point, and cut the capacity in half.

But this does not apply to lithium cells - only for nickel based. In truth, fully discharging your lithium battery often can be harmful to its battery's health, possibly making it completely unusable if levels go too low.

The modern lithium has a safety circuit to make sure it doesn't reach the point of no return. The safety circuit isn't guaranteed. If you leave it completely drained for a few days, the safety circuit probably won't save it.

What is Spam?

So the question what is spam or spamming as its also know as, there are so many different definitions on what spam actually is so I will list a fee so you can make your own mind up:

• Junk email which is usually unsolicited – sending a mass of emails from commercial sites to people who haven’t ask for the email and also emails sent to annoy or harass the receiver which may include crashing their computer.
• Unsolicited email – advertising a product and or service, which will overload the receiver’s computer which will slow the computer down.
• The using of mailing lists – to blanket online groups, private email boxes with indiscrimination, unsolicited messages of a promotional nature.
• An activity – that tricks search engines into giving their site a higher ranking on searches via hiding keywords and submitting webpage’s daily to the search engine.
• Ian an inappropriate attempt to – send emails and use emails to send the same email message to numerous people who didn’t ask for the information as well as other network communications.

Spam emails has got worse over the last few years in 2001 only 8% of emails sent worldwide were spam at the end of this year 2007 50% of all emails sent will be spam. If you have a company website this is likely to get worse, as spam emails will come through your business email address.

Spam cannot only cause you the inconvience in having to delete them all, it can crash your computer, overload your email account stopping you from receiving and sending other emails but also time and money lost. Money can be lost by stopping you from receiving important emails and also by the time colleagues spend deleting and filtering spam emails, which will stop them from doing their normal job. Worms and viruses may also be included in spam emails, which can destroy data and your system information

There are ways of filtering spam emails with the use of anti spam software and spam filtering software. There are free packages available on the Internet to help you protect your home computer and your email accounts but if you are a business looking for anti spam and spam filtering software your best bet is to look into the many companies selling specially designed packages for businesses.

There isn’t a complete cure for spam but anti spam and spam-filtering software can help your spam emails reduce but you will always get a few that filter through to your inbox. There are other ways to minimize your spam including: -

• Don’t use your personal email account when you sign up to newsgroups, forums, mailing lists etc.
• Use web filters to filter out your spam.
• Don’t click on any links that are in spam emails, don’t give them any of your personal information and don’t buy anything from them.
• If you have a website remove your email address from the website, this can be done by using a form to do with validation.

The Job of the Spam Filter

Even if you have one of the best spam filters on the market, some spam will always make it through. What is more important than having the best spam filter on the market is having the right spam filter for you. One spam filter doesn’t automatically benefit everyone, you need to find a spam filter that is best for your needs.

Pretty much everyone with a an email account has a certain amount of spam, even if you never visit any of the typical places that spammers harvest email addresses from, such as forums, chat rooms and other websites. All it takes is one spammer to find out that your email account is active and you will find your account will be flooded by more spam mail. One of the main reasons why there is so much spam around is because spam emails are so easy to create.

Many, if not all email users rely on some form of spam filter to block out spam emails as oppose to manually going through each individual email to delete them. However even when using spam filters some genuine messages can get caught up in the spam filter, meaning messages that you actually want/need to receive are getting deleted.

There are many different spam filters available today, all of which deal with spam in different ways. These spam filters vary in technique but by having so many different spam filters available, you are guaranteed to find one that is suitable to your needs.

One of these filters is a user defined filter. This filter is one that is already included in most email accounts. With this filter you can forwards mail to many different mailboxes. For example if you frequently receive mail from friends you can create a mailbox entitled friends and forward the mail from people you know to this mailbox. You can also forward mail to your trash if you are unsure of the sender and if the content of the email looks suspicious. By doing this you need to carefully look at the mail that you are receiving, you should be looking for characteristics and any recurring patterns in the senders email address or the subject line of the email.

Header filters are a more advanced filter, they look at the headers of emails to see if they are fake. The way in which this is done is because email headers contain information regarding the servers that were used to deliver your mail. Spammers don’t want to be traced so they put false information in the email header to stop people directly contacting them. Good spam filters can detect forged headers, showing what email is spam, however not all spam emails have fake headers.

Another filter; that is very specific is a language filter. These filters work by stopping emails that appear in another language. This filter won’t help people who receive a large quantity of spam as spam that appears in other languages isn’t really a major problem when it comes to spam. Spam that appears in another language only makes up a small quantity of the spam that we receive on a daily basis.

One of the more effective spam filters that will be of more help to a lot of people is a content filter. This filter scans all the text in an email to see if the content makes sense. It filters emails that appear “fuzzy.” Although this spam filter is effective at catching a lot of spam emails and will benefit most people when it comes to fighting spam, it can also filter out things such as newsletters that you are subscribed to.

Another filter that works well is a permission filter. This filter blocks all emails that don’t come from an authorised source. When you first set up this filter and go to send an email you will receive an automated response inviting you to visit a web page. On this page you will need to fill in some details. This will make your account authorised and any future emails that you send will be accepted.

When you choose your spam filter you should make sure that you get one that is right for your needs and that will stop the amount of spam that you are receiving.

Ways to Beat the Blog Spammers

Spamming blog’s can also be known as blog spam, comment spam and splogs. All of these are known as spamdexing. Any website that accepts and displays hyperlinks may well become a target of blog spamming.

The spamming of blogs, forums, chat rooms, etc is when comments are automatically posted that are promoting spammers sites. These comments rarely feature any text and normally just consist of the spammers link.

By doing this spammers are increasing there search engine ranking, which can result in the spammers site being listed ahead of other sites. Spammers use these chat rooms, forums, blogs, etc to post links back to their site because it is a way of getting people to visit their site and, sadly, sometimes spend money on the spammers products.

Blog spamming originates from guestbook spamming. Spammers would visit sites only to fill the sites guestbook up with numerous links taking you to their site. Guestbook’s were intended to be used by genuine visitors to the site, for them to comment on the use of the site. Spammers rarely even bother to add a comment to the various links they are posting; if they do it would simply say something like “cool site.”

In 2003 spammers really started to take advantage of the fact they could get away with posting in blogs, forums, etc. Many blog sites and forums started to add software to try and stop the spammers, but as the technology grew so did the spammers knowledge of how to get around it. Spammers started using tools such as Trackback Submitter, which allowed spammers to get around comment spam protection.

There are certain things that site owners can do to stop spammers posting. Validation tests are a way of blocking spam, comments on forums, blogs, etc. A validation test is a way of showing that an actual person is posting a comment and that the comment isn’t just being automated.

A Captcha test is like a validation test, again it makes it clear that a comment is being posted by a human and not just being automated. A captcha is a combination of numbers and letters that are embedded in an image. The combination of letters and numbers has to be entered correctly in order for your comment to be posted. Spammers are already trying to get around the captcha test, with many spam tools having text recognition built into them, this is why the numbers/letters that are embedded into the image are slightly distorted so they can’t be picked up by the text recognition. However site owners have to be careful when using a captcha test as some of them are case sensitive and with the distortion of the letters it can become difficult to recognise if the letters are in lower or upper case.

Validation tests can also put some people off posting comments because the tests can sometimes be seen as a nuisance.

When spammers post comments containing website links as a way of trying to get their site at a higher ranking in the search engine, they will be faced with the possibility of their efforts failing as many links relating to spam sites, are getting altered to that Google, amongst other search engines won’t include them in the search engine ranking at all. The way in which this is done is the link is manipulated, for example, instead of saying; Visit my discount pharmaceuticals site. The comment would be changed so that the link reads; Visit my discount pharmaceuticals site.

Spam is something that the Internet could do without but will never truly get rid of. It is important that you protect your email account and website as much as you can against spammers.

Windows Vista - Which Version Do You Need?

After deciding to shift to a Windows Vista OS, you need to decide on which Windows Vista version you should pick. Before you consider shelling out $400 for a Windows Vista Ultimate license, you really should ask yourself exactly what features you need and want so you can decide whether the price is right.

Windows Vista Home Basic

This is the most rudimentary version of Vista available. It has the more secure IE 7, the firewall, the quick search functionality, and easier connectivity. When it comes to the features that distinguish Vista from previous versions of the Windows OS, though, Home Basic is somewhat lacking, though it does offer parental control.

Windows Vista Home Basic is a good choice only if you use your computer solely for web surfing and basic document processing, or if your computer is just barely powerful enough to run Windows Vista.

Windows Vista Home Premium

For an extra $40, you can get much more out of Windows Vista. Aside from including all the features of the Home Basic version, Home Premium offers all of the window-dressing that makes Vista look like Vista. You will have pre-packaged games and Aero interface capability. Aero gives your windows and icons a 3D appearance and smoother transitions, as well as allowing you to add transparency effects to window borders. Home Premium offers tablet PC functionality, document collaboration, and scheduled backups. Home Premium also offers the fully integrated Windows Media Center for all your home entertainment needs, plus a moviemaker which is HD format-capable.

Windows Vista Home Premium is designed for the user who uses the computer for PC and network gaming, since Premium supports DirectX 10, with its advanced graphics technologies incredible graphics rendering. Premium is also designed for watching High Definition movie, editing/making video clips, burning DVD copies, and interfacing with the Xbox 360, which Home Premium edition automatically detects to allow for Video, Audio, and Picture sharing.

Windows Vista Business

Windows Vista Business drops Parental controls, Media Center features, and pre-installed games for obvious reasons. Vista Business does have the rest of the Home Premium features plus support for business applications and business data security (fax, remote desktop connectivity, file encryption, and complete shadow incremental backup). This version of Windows Vista is, as the name implies, strictly for business purposes.

Windows Vista Enterprise

Windows Vista Enterprise adds Microsoft’s BitLocker encryption technology to the feature set found in Windows Vista Business, but this version of Windows is only offered to businesses participating in Microsoft’s Software Assurance program.

Windows Vista Ultimate

This edition has everything that is included in the Home Premium and Business editions. Vista Ultimate also adds Enterprise’s BitLocker encryption technology for the computer’s hard drives, protecting the drives so that only authorized users can boot up the OS or view the files contained in the drives.

Because of its full complement of features, Vista Ultimate is perfect for people who use the PC for fun and business in equal parts, as well as users who want to be protected from data loss and PC theft.

Spyware is a Growing Problem to Computer Users

Spyware can intercept and take partial control over a user’s interaction with a computer, without the user’s informed consent. The first recorded use of spyware was on October 16th 1995. However spyware at first was meant to be denoted hardware meant specifically for espionage purposes.

In 2000 Gregor Freud, who is the founder of Zone Labs used the term spyware in a press release for ZoneAlarm Personal firewall. It was since this press release that spyware has taken on its present sense.

Computer systems that are running Microsoft Windows have seen spyware be a preeminent threat since 2006. This is especially true if the computer system uses Internet Explorer as its main browser.

Computers with Internet Explorer as their main browsing site are particularly vulnerable because Internet Explorer is the most widely used browser and also because it has a tight integration with windows, which allows spyware to access crucial parts of an operating system.

Another potentially malicious piece of software is Adware. Although the intentional use of Adware is in a none harmful way, as it was made to simply display adverts, such as pop ups, it has the potential for misuse. Adware and spyware are similar to viruses in the sense that they can be malicious in nature; however people are profitting from these threats making them more popular.

Programmes such as Eudora Mail Client display adverts instead of using Shareware fees. This is a prime example of adware being used in the intended way; as advert supported software, used in this way adware is not classed as a bad thing.

The way in which spyware has been designed is so that it exploits infected computers for commercial gain. Spyware monitors the web browsing activity of Internet users and uses this to target products at the internet user that reflects there search engine use.

Spyware does what the name states, it spies on you, it takes note of your web browsing activities and then targets you based on its findings. Spyware isn’t just about getting you to click on pop up adverts; it has the potential to start taking control of your computer by adding toolbars to your browser window as well as redirecting your homepage.

Although spyware doesn’t spy on you in the sense of taking your identity, it has the potential to do this. Spyware can take things such as credit card numbers if you purchase items online. Spyware has the potential to be a very dangerous piece of software and one that everyone should be made aware of.

Spyware can also affect your disc usage, taking up space on it meaning you could run out of disc space for important documents as well as slowing your computer down.

There are many anti-spyware solutions around that could greatly help your computer. However there are also a lot of fake anti-spyware programmes around. One way in which these fake anti-spyware programmes target you is through banner ads on websites. These banner ads usually tell you that your computer is infected and that by clicking on the banner ads you can download the latest anti-spyware software. This may be true but this ‘latest’ software is actually fake software that won’t get rid of spyware and will more than likely cause your computer to have more spyware.

In order to get rid of spyware in a safe way you should always get your anti-spyware software from a genuine website.