Just ICT Zone : Revolution is Begin

Choosing The mp3 Player That Suits You

2008-06-16T09:20:00.000-07:00

If you've been looking around for an mp3 player, chances are you're very confused with all the different specifications and the vast array of models out there. You've read that you can get your entire music collection on to one mp3 player and that's true - but not every mp3 player. You have also been told that you can throw them around, go jogging with them, climb a mountain with one and all this is true - but again, not every mp3 player will withstand this treatment.

Basically, if you want to get physical with your mp3 player then you need one with no moving parts. In this case, the iPod is not what you want. You would be looking for a machine which saves it's music to memory. Some of the most popular mp3 players which fall into this category are in the Creative MuVo range.

There are basically three types of mp3 player. Hard drive based, memory based and mp3 CD player based. The hard drive mp3 players allow you to store thousands of tunes whilst the memory based version sacrifices music volume for freedom of movement. You can even get waterproof mp3 players! The mp3 CD players read the mp3 music from a CD which you have pre-burned.

So now you have enough information to know what type of mp3 player you should be looking for. Now what about capacity? How much music can you get on the various players out there? Let's take a look ....

If you want your music to sound good you want to be using at least CD quality mp3s. One minute of CD quality mp3 takes up around 1Mb. The memory based mp3 players have a top limit of around 500Mb meaning you can get roughly 120 average length tunes on there. But the top end hard drive versions go up to as much as 60Gb which is a whole lot of music - an anorak's dream :)

Another consideration is battery life. The hard drive mp3 players plough through the batteries at a rate of knots since the disk has to physically turn. The memory based option uses a lot less battery power. Many of the memory based mp3 players use the AAA size battery which is very convenient since you don't need a re-charger and you don't need to search for hard to find battery types. You'll find that most hard drive versions use lithium-ion rechargeable batteries and if you use your mp3 player a lot, your re-charger will be in regular use. Many people simply leave the power lead plugged in when they are at home.

An important factor in your decision should be the size of the unit. If you want to use your player at the gym or while you're out jogging then you'll want the smallest player possible. There are some really tiny models on the market these days. You will usually have to sacrifice some storage with a very small mp3 players but you can usually get enough music on there to have a good long workout.

If you want to use your mp3 player more at home then size will not be such a great consideration. The iPod is still a very compact unit and most people will be able to fit their entire collection on there. Of course the iPod is not your only option and there are many excellent manufacturers out there. Just be careful of some of the cheap imports you see on ebay, often there is no support for these players.

As a replacement for the home hi fi system, the mp3 player is becoming more and more popular. High fidelity purists obviously will never be swayed but to most of us the quality of the mp3 is perfectly adequate for our everyday listening purposes.

In fact many modern players coming on to the market have been designed with both portability and versatility in mind. What better way to entertain your dinner party guests than to have your mp3 player randomly selecting music from over ten thousand of your favourite tracks? No more fumbling around in your CD rack trying to find the disk that lost its cover ;)

Now you know what to look for, go get yourself a player and join the digital music revolution.

About the Author:

Fabio

My PC Has Adware, What Should I Do?

2008-06-14T20:23:00.000-07:00

I gotta tell ya, when I first got my computer when it was brand new, it worked like a charm! Then as I got a little bit more familiar with it, friends and family suggested I try some online applications. One was this cute purple ape that would help you surf the net.. or so I thought.

Turns out that damn application, along with a few others I installed, what were supposed to help increase my productivity, ended up doing exactly the opposite!

Sound familiar to you? Well, if so, then your not alone. Millions of computer users around the world have their PC’s infected with adware, and don’t even know it. What’s adware you say? Well, its any application that records what you do (or do not do) and reports that data back to third party vendors.

Now I know this sounds like covert ops stuff, but its really big business. See, the truth of the matter is these advertisers make a lot of money off of knowing your computer habits. Things like, where you go, what you do, how long your there, where you clicked, etc. Its kind of scary when you think about it.
They come up with the applications that are usually disguised as innocent toolbars or programs that will show you the weather, etc. Once you install these things, they leach and lurk throughout your machine, slowing it down to no end.

They don’t care that you may have work to do, a report for school, or if your playing a game. Their job is to report back to their vendors what your doing, and how you do it. This way, these advertisers can come up with better targeted ads that will be used to get you to click on this link, or buy this product.

There is hope though, and it can return your computer back to you, the rightful owner. You can download to your PC some adware removal tools that will take out all of the know adware off your machine, and in the process, speed it up too.

It’s usually a quick download and install, and the applications are easy to use. Usually you let it scan your machine for a list of known offenders, and it does the rest, scouring your machine looking for them. When it does find any, it makes a list of what adware you have, what it does, and flags it for removal.

All you need to do then is say yes, and it takes them out fast. Then you just reboot your machine, and waalaa! Fast and fun computing just like your used to.

So there is light at the end of the tunnel for your PC. Now you know, so go get your PC scanned and cleaned today.

About the Author:

Bryon Wilks,

Good Computer Maintenance - Part Two

2008-06-12T08:38:00.000-07:00

In our last part of discussion of good computer maintenance, we will discuss backing up, some free stuff, and cleaning tips. All great bits of advice for proper care of your computer.

Back It Up

One maintenance task that is still crucial is backing up your data, particularly if it is business or financial related. At the very least, manuallly copy such data to a recordable CD or DVD disc when it changes. More sophisticated options include using the more automated backup tools that come with Windows, a stand alone backup program for networks such as the well regarded Dantz Retrospect Professional (www.dantz.com), or a Web backup system such as the excellent IBackup (www.ibackup.com).

Free Stuff

One really interesting maintenance task is checking to see who is spying on you. If you download a lot of software, one or more programs may be peeping at your Web surfing habits, which could be slowing you down. Such behavior naturally riles people, and good spirited entrepreneurs offer free software to weed out the sneaks. The best overall stand alone program for this is Patrick M. Kolla's Spybot Search and Destroy (www.safer-networking.org).

Another fun, and free, software maintenance program is WinPatrol (www.winpatrol.com). Among other things, it shows you all the programs that load automatically every time you load Windows, letting you disable any you do not want running that may be slowing you down, regardless of whether you use Windows XP, NT, 2000, ME, 98, or 95.

Cleaning Tips

Clean your monitor if it becomes smudged. But stay away from glass cleaners ... they can remove a monitor's anti glare finish. Use isopropyl alcohol or distilled water along with a lint free cloth. Wet the cloth first, then the monitor.

Periodically open up your computer's case to clean out dust. Every couple of years or more frequently if your PC is in a dusty area. This will help prevent heat build up, which can shorten the life of system components.

Use either a portable vacuum cleaner or compressed gas duster. To minimize static discharge, avoid older vacuum cleaners and brush attachments, and prevent the metal of any vacuum cleaner from touching your PC. After vacuuming the inside of your PC, vacuum the grille in front and your keyboard.

Before working inside a PC, ground yourself ... turn off your computer, leave it plugged in, and touch an unpainted metal surface inside the PC. Your PC should be plugged into a three pronged grounded outlet, preferably on a dedicated circuit. Do not move a PC or connect or disconnect its cables while it is on unless they are plugged into a univeral serial bus port.

If your mouse starts misbehaving, take it apart and clean it. Shake out dust, or use a cleaning swab or compressed gas.

Finally, it is best not to smoke around your PC. Cigarette smoke can coat the innards of your PC with tar, shortening its life.

About the Author:

Marv Ko

Good Computer Maintenance - Part One

2008-06-12T08:34:00.000-07:00

Normally we think of maintenance as a chore, something we have to do to keep things running smoothly and prevent problems down the road, whether with our car, house, or computer. But with a PC, maintenance can actually be fun ... approached from the right perspective.

Automatic Updates

The "joy" of computer maintenacne takes many forms. These days, automation is the byword. Operating systems such as Microsoft Windows and Symantec's Norton Interenet Security let you automatically keep crucial parts of your computer system up to date. It's fun to watch the technology keep tabs on itself.

The security vulnerablilites of Windows are legion, and this forces you to download patches and updates if you want to minimuze your exposure to hackers seeking to break into your system over the Internet.

You can run Windows Update periodically through Microsoft Internet Explorer, which automatically detects which versions of Windows components you currently have installed and, by checking with Microsoft's site, which have newer versions.

Or, if you are running Windows XP Home Edition, you can automate things even further by directing Windows to check for "critical updates" by itself at the frequency and time of your choosing. From the Control Panel, go to System and click Automatic Updates to specify your settings.

Website Updates

You can keep your other software up to date by periodically checking the Websites of the respective manufacturers. Typically, by pulling down the program's Help menu, you will quickly be directed to the site. But the Website VersionTracker (www.techtracker.com/products) does something similar with multiple programs, for free, whether you have a Windows PC or a Mac. The ad-supported site has 30,000 programs in its database. Pay versions, starting at $24.95, automatically alert you when new updates of programs that you're using become available.

Using Utilities

Staying up to date is crucially important these days in keeping the bad guys away from your computer and those using it. A good utility suite for this is Norton Internet Security (www.symantec.com), which combines such crucial tools as a firewall, anti-virus program, porn-blocker, spam filter, spyware detector, and pop-up ad blocker. If you use the program, make sure you let its LiveUpdate feature automatically keep your virus definitions and other components up to date.

Symantec's other utility suite, Norton SystemWorks, is less useful, and if you need system tools more powerful than those provided by Windows itself, a better package overall is V Communications' SystemSuite (www.v-com.com).

SystemSuite includes tools for preventing and recovering from hard disk crashes, recovering accidentally erased files, completely uninstalling programs you no longer need, and completely shredding sesitive files. It also has an excellent file manager, PowerDesk, that makes quicker work of copying, moving, deleting, and otherwise manipulating files than Windows Explorer.

With today's large and fast hard drives and more efficient operating systems, one maintenance task that's no longer as necessary is disk defragmenting. When working with files over time, they invariably wind up stored in places at different locations on your hard disk. Running a defragmenter gathers up the pieces and places them together in one contiguous location.

Recent testing by the computer magazine PC World, however, showed that defragging no longer improves performance the way it used to. It still makes sense to defrag once in a while, though unless it's for a network file server, there's usually no need to buy a separate program for this beyond what comes with Windows itself.

So in all ... even automated maintenance can be fun in that it is automated and can leave you more time for other endevours.

About the Author:

Marv Ko

Rootkits – Hidden Hazards on Your System

2008-06-11T06:51:00.001-07:00

If you’re concerned about security on your computer network, there’s a new word to add to your vocabulary – rootkit. A rootkit is a set of utilities installed on your computer whose purpose is to hide what other programs are doing. They’ve been around for a few years, but they didn't really hit the security spotlight until November 2005. That was when researchers discovered that some CDs from Sony were installing a rootkit on user computers as part of their DRM (Digital Rights Management) software. The purpose of the rootkit was to prevent the DRM software from being detected and uninstalled – but there was an unintended side effect. The rootkit opened a security hole on those computers that couldn’t be detected by standard security software, and left them vulnerable to attacks by malicious software and hackers.

That’s bad news for users and IT professionals who depend on virus and spyware detection programs to alert them to an invader on their networks. Generally, when you’re computer is infected by spyware or malware , it can be detected by monitoring your computer activity. You can check the running processes and find programs that shouldn’t be loaded. You can run a virus or spyware scanner to find registry keys and files that fit certain patterns. You can monitor activity coming in over a network.

A rootkit makes all of those defenses worthless by hiding the keys, files, processes and communications from your computer operating system. What your computer can’t see, it can’t report and you can’t fix. The methods used to hide the files and processes vary and are getting more and more sophisticated. Most do it by ‘hooking’ into a process that Windows expects to find running, either by replacing the process files, or by adding itself into them.

With the rootkit in place, the hacker has a virtual backdoor into your system. He can read your keystrokes, record passwords, gather information from your network and change your data and files. A hacker with access to your system through a rootkit can reinstall hacking programs, access your accounts and your users’ accounts and wreak general havoc. It’s the ultimate Trojan backdoor.

Once a rootkit is installed, it’s virtually impossible to detect and remove. When a virus detection or spyware program runs, they don’t see the rootkit processes – they see the process that’s cloaking it. Some may alter their own files with the details and stats associated with the files that they’re replacing so that operating systems don’t notice a difference. A sysadmin who is an expert in network security may be able to detect it by running system checks from an uninfected machine, but most agree that once a rootkit has been installed, the only way to be sure you’ve removed it is to wipe the drive clean and install the operating system.

Because rootkits don’t install themselves, you can block them by blocking attempts to penetrate your network. One way to effectuate this is to install a spyware or malware protection program to help prevent rootkits from being installed at the server level or on individual desktops. The key is to practice excellent network security at all times so that you block the programs that install rootkits.

Article Provided By: http://spyware-removal.thrcomputer.com

This article was prepared exclusively by http://www.articleauthors.net

The Value of Microsoft MCSE Certification and Career Path

2008-06-11T06:44:00.000-07:00

Developing a professional career in the IT industry requires knowledge, computer training and dedication. Earning a MCSE Certification (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) is a valuable reference proving your expertise in designing and implementing the infrastructure for business solutions based on the Microsoft Windows Server System and Microsoft Windows 2000 platform.

Since January 2000, Microsoft Certification made effective a number of benefits for those individuals applying for a MCSE Certification, starting with the industry recognition of the knowledge achieved and proficiency handling Microsoft products and technologies.

This computer training offers a 50 percent discount or rebate on yearly subscriptions to Microsoft TechNet or TechNet Plus during your first year of certification exclusively, although fulfillment details may vary according your present location, in which case further details will be available in your welcome kit.

In fact, the TechNet subscription provides MCSE Certification with a portable IT survival kit, updated monthly, containing the complete Microsoft Knowledge Base that Microsoft Support uses, as well as service packs and other kits of great value to Microsoft Certification.

Computer training opens the access to Microsoft technical and product direct information through the MCP Member Site, with exclusive discounts on products and services, not only from Microsoft but also from many selected companies.

Another great advantage to consider is that individual who is currently certified in other fields can learn more about exclusive discounts on MCSE Certification and few more Microsoft Certification by visiting the MCP Member Site.

This site is also the turnkey to free access to Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine Online, the acclaimed career and professional development magazine, as well as invitations to Microsoft conferences, technical training sessions, general computer training and most special events.

A side note on comments; security-enhanced content available on the Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine Online site includes the current issue for those enrolled on MCSE Certification courses and additional online-only featured columns and content, besides the MCP-only database, and regular chats with Microsoft and other technical experts.

Like with any Microsoft Certification, students obtain their certificate, MCSE logo, wallet card, transcript, and lapel pin to identify them as a MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional) to colleagues or clients. Some of this material is downloadable through the exclusive MCP Member Site upon certification.

MCSE Certification values by itself, as a part of your career path. They offer you computer training required, and specializations in messaging, security, MCSE on Microsoft Windows 2000, MCSE on Windows Server 2003, and special deals on subscriptions to Windows & .NET Magazine, considered the leading source of independent, how-to information for Microsoft Certification and IT professionals working on a Microsoft Windows platform.

About the Author:

Natalie Aranda

Which is which; Cheap Laptop or Cheap Desktop?

2008-06-10T04:44:00.001-07:00

Should you buy a cheap laptop or a cheap desktop?

You may find yourself asking that question many times while shopping for a computer. This guide offers you the pros and cons of owning a laptop versus a desktop pc.

1. Processing speed

Comparing processing speeds, laptops usually lag behind their desktop counterparts. With the rapid advance in microchip technology, the gap between them will become smaller.

2. Wireless.

Most laptops especially those with Intel mobile chips come with wireless capability out of the box. This means you can get online from any location at home easily without ugly wires if you have a wireless network setup at home.

Desktop pcs do not typically provide this capability out of the box although that may change in the near future.

3. Memory.

Memory chip tends to be more expensive in Laptop than desktop pcs. If you buy a laptop with less than 512MB ram, be prepare to pay more for memory upgrades than you have to with a desktop pc.

4. Graphics Display

Because of the size of a laptop, most business or entry level laptop use integrated graphics with limited ram. This means most laptops even some expensive ones cannot run graphics intensive applications or 3d games as well as a desktop pc.

With a desktop pc, you can buy a dedicated graphics card just to serve a graphics intensive application.

5. Portability.

Portability is why everyone wants a laptop these days. Because of their size and weight, it is easier to carry a laptop around as opposed to a desktop pc.

6. Screen Display.

Everyone buy laptop for their portability so laptops usually do not come with screens as big as their desktop counterparts. The screen technology used is usually not as good as those used by desktop pc.

Furthermore with a desktop pc, you can always upgrade to a bigger and better screen whereas for laptop you are stuck with the same screen display for the whole lifespan of the laptop.

So whether you should buy a cheap laptop or a cheap desktop, ask yourself what are your needs? If you want to be able to use a computer wherever you go, then you are looking at a laptop to fulfill your needs.

However if you do not require the portability of a laptop, play a lot of 3D games, graphic intensive applications, if you care about upgradeability to prolong the lifespan of your investment, then desktop pc is a smarter choice for you.

About the Author:

Artice by Florie Lyn Masarate.

Virus or Spyware - What's the Difference?

2008-06-10T04:42:00.000-07:00

This month's article is one of the things I still find comes up as a frequent question, "what's the difference between Viruses and Spyware"? I will try and clarify that here.

One of the biggest slowdowns of a PC is caused by viruses, adware or spyware as it's often called. Before you can benefit from any other optimisation tips or improvements you really need a system relatively free from those pests.

A virus is a piece of malicious software code written to cause some kind of damage to a computer system or network or even the Internet itself. Viruses spread, similar to their biological namesake, from one machine to another and can spread havoc wherever they go. They are most commonly spread by sharing files with others or through email attachments where they can be set up to send themselves to all the addresses in your email address book.

Adware is usually dowloaded and installed along with some other program without your knowledge and unlike a virus doesn't spread by itself. Very often you click "OK" without reading the terms and conditions and by doing so you agree to have the files installed. An example is you see a "free" program on offer that you think might be useful and download it without thinking. Even some anti-spyware programs install adware and the website earns money from the ads that are clicked on.

The catch is that the extra files introduced are used to determine things like your surfing habits and the data is used to serve up popup ads or redirect your browser to a page other than the one you wanted. Some of the programs can be used to install keyloggers which can send back information about passwords and bank details etc. Adware is not a security problem it is more an annoyance especially when you have ten different programs trying show ads. The amount of computer resources it uses up slows your system to a crawl.

Spyware is more malicious and evil intentioned and is designed to steal something from you. It can be downloaded by visiting
the wrong types of websites or along with other files the same way as adware. Spyware can often be hard to remove as it can continually recreate itself and hide somewhere on your hard drive.

Programs such as trojans can be used to allow access to hackers at a later date. From the story of the Trojan horse where the Greeks hid inside the wooden horse left as a peace offering and were wheeled in
to the fort by the Trojans themselves. Then at night the Greeks crept out of the horse and opened the gates and let the enemy in. Trojans and adware unlike viruses don't spread themselves.

It is wise to run more than one spyware checker as no one system gets rid of them all. You can never be certain you have every one removed because new ones may not have been discovered and the Spyware program doesn't recognise it yet.

I use the two free ones "Spybot search and destroy" and "Adaware 6.0" and I also use

Counter Spy which comes from a reputable company that specialises in removing spyware.

Sometimes people say to me "doesn't my anti-virus software remove spyware"? Well the answer is most don't and even if it does I always find a specialist product works best. Beware also of bogus spyware scanners available on-line which actually install their own spyware once they have removed their competitors. Sometimes you run a free scan and it finds all sorts of nasties but you will have to sign up and pay to remove them. I have even seen it that they find things that don't exist or try to frighten people into believing they have lots of spyware when all they have are advertising cookies.

Cookies are small text files that websites leave on your system so that when you return they can customise the page that loads or they can count you as a returning visitor. They are harmless and most of them are useful. They can be easily removed by deleting them in your browser settings.

So you need to be running a suitable and up to date antivirus program and one or more Spyware checkers.

About the Author:

Article by Dave Fraser.

Tips for Comparing Projector Prices

2008-06-10T04:41:00.000-07:00

Buying a projector is an investment that you want to be sure you make wisely. So taking the time to do some comparison shopping when it comes to prices is simply a smart thing to do and something you certainly won’t regret.

There are several ways you can go about comparing prices on projectors. The first is to visit electronics stores and office supply stores that sell projectors and check out their prices in the stores. This is an especially good method during sales. It’s also a great way to get a good deal locally because many stores will offer to beat their competitors’ best price by a certain percentage, which can save you even more money.

You can also research and compare prices on projectors online. Doing your projector price comparison shopping online makes it possible for you to check out a much larger number of prices on projectors than you can do by going from store to store. This will also make it possible for you to check out the prices on a wider number of brand name projectors and even look into the prices of used projectors. Online auction sites such as eBay are great places to compare prices on used projectors.

Consumer report magazines are also a good resource for comparing prices on various projectors. These reports have the advantage of also rating the projectors, so you can compare quality as well as prices on projectors.

This is an important part of comparing prices on anything, whether it’s projectors or cars. You want to get the most value for your money, and that means that many times a medium priced item is actually a better value than a higher priced one because it has more features than a stripped down top brand name one has.

Also, even before you start comparing prices on projectors, it’s a good idea to have a budget in mind for what you’re willing to spend for your projector. This will help you focus your price comparison, although you don’t want to rule out looking into projectors that may cost more than you’ve budgeted for because you may run into an unexpected bargain as you do your research.

And if the thought of doing all the research needed to compare prices on projectors sounds like work to you, remember that at least half the fun of making any purchase is in the search! Make a game of it and see just how great a projector you can find for the least amount of money, thanks to your savvy comparison shopping. Then take those savings and splurge on something just for you!

About the Author:

Jim Gelder

10 Things To Do For A Healthy & Secure PC

2008-06-09T09:08:00.000-07:00

A Top 10 List That Can Save Your Computer
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Many who read this article may find these recommendations to be old news. However, think about the number family, friends, and associates that ask you for help fixing their PC and I believe you will understand why I chose to write this article..

This list of recommendations for a healthy & secure PC is by no means a complete list of everything you can and should do. It is however a great start if you want to keep your computer running properly for an acceptable period of time. It will also help prevent some of the most common issues related to PC security.

A Top 10 List That Can Save Your Computer
----------------------------
Many who read this article may find these recommendations to be old news. However, think about the number family, friends, and associates that ask you for help fixing their PC and I believe you will understand why I chose to write this article..

This list of recommendations for a healthy & secure PC is by no means a complete list of everything you can and should do. It is however a great start if you want to keep your computer running properly for an acceptable period of time. It will also help prevent some of the most common issues related to PC security.

1. Hard Drive Fragmentation
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Believe it or not, many people have never even heard of hard drive fragmentation, or the process of Defragmentation. In a nutshell, when you install software or create files and data, the Operating System stores this data on your hard disk drive. The most efficient way of storing this data would be in one continuous disk file. However, files are not always stored this way, or are initially stored this way and later become split up, or fragmented. Because of this, when the data or file is retrieved, the hard drive must be searched in multiple places just to combine data that makes up one file. This slows things down tremendously. If you are running Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you should perform a disk defrag at least once every two weeks, more if possible. All of my systems run this process automatically once every week in the evening hours.

2. Installing Games & Disk Intensive Software
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If you're a gamer, or regularly use disk intensive software, the above Defragmentation process will help. However, you can also take another step to make things move a little faster. If you have two physically separate disk drives in your system, I suggest that you use one primarily for the Operating System and related software, and devote the other physical disk for installing games and other disk intensive applications. This cuts down on the competition for disk resources between your Operating System and other applications. There are other things you could do as well, such as configuring the appropriate type of RAID where multiple disks appear to the operating system as one big logical disk drive. This takes a little more planning to get the most out of your drives so I’ll cover that in a future article.

3. Virus & Spyware Protection
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The bottom line here is; make sure you have installed some sort of anti-virus and spyware protection. Furthermore, don’t just assume that the default configuration of the program is best suited for your environment. For instance, I can’t tell you how many people I know whose computer has contracted a serious virus because of just one minor but very important task. When the anti-virus software pops up a message and tells you that your subscription is about to expire, don’t just hit the ignore button. Take a five minute break from what you are doing and renew your virus signature subscription. Not only will this keep you up to date on newer viruses, it will allow your software package to update to newer versions. The same thing goes for spyware protection. There are plenty of free spyware protection solutions out there, none are perfect, but most do the job. I suggest using Microsoft’s AntiSpyware Beta package at the least.

4. Software & Hardware Firewall Protection
-------------------------------
If you are not using a firewall, then you are just asking for trouble. Actually, there is a significant chance that your system is already compromised if you have no firewall protection at all. Many cable/DSL router combo devices have built in firewall protection, and this is at least a good start. However, if you have Windows XP SP2, go ahead and enable the built in firewall as it will provide you another level of protection. Oh, yes, and when the system pops up a message about whether or not to allow a certain application or communication to take place, don’t just hit the ok button, read it thoroughly then make a decision.

5. Installing & Uninstalling Applications
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Just about every time you install a new application or piece of software you increase the time it takes to boot your PC and in some cases decrease its performance. On thing that drives me crazy is printing software. For the life of me I cannot understand how or why printer support software could total 400MB in size, but they sometimes do. Not only that, they tend to load all kinds of unnecessary real-time running applets. HP printers are notorious for this. Be very aware of what it is you are loading and only load those components that you need. Even some off-the-shelf software packages load adware and other not so helpful applets. Also, when you uninstall software, not all the software gets uninstalled in many cases. One thing I suggest is to purchase a registry cleaner. This can dramatically decrease boot times and in many cases increase the overall performance of your PC. 6. Purchasing & Downloading Items On The Internet
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When you download or purchase any software from the Internet, make sure you pay close attention to everything you are agreeing to or checking off on the various pages that lead up to the final purchase or download. As with everything else, make sure you read the fine print. You may be agreeing to download and install something you don’t need or may impact the security and performance of you PC. Also, how many more mailing lists do you really need to be on? How many Internet Explorer tool bars do you need? Most of these tool bars should be renamed to “adware / spyware bars”

7. Installing Operating System & Application Patches
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In a nutshell, if you are using Windows XP, make sure that automatic updates are turned on. This is very important. Microsoft releases security and bug fixes routinely and some of them are critical in nature. Something people tend to overlook is updating and patching their applications. For instance, Microsoft Office has critical security patches and performance enhancements available in the form of patches and service packs. It’s not just Operating System bugs that can put you at risk, applications can too.

8. Updating Drivers
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Similar to the above, hardware manufacturers routinely update their drivers. This includes video cards, sounds cards, capture cards, system boards, you name it. Some manufacturers have started to release automatic updates for their hardware, but many have not. Make sure you check these sites regularly and when a driver update is available, install it.

9. What Do Your Children Download
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This is a really big one. I can’ tell you how may times I have been told by people that they have no idea how something got installed on their computer. Usually their second sentence contains “one of my children must have downloaded it”. The first thing that comes to mind is “why do parents let kids download what ever they like in the first place”. Not only can this severely impact the security and performance of your computer, who knows what your kids are getting their hands on. Do you know what one of the most frequently installed application installs I see on a teenagers machine is? Kazaa, BearShare, eDonkey, all P2P file sharing programs. I don’t care what anyone says regarding how convenient and safe these applications are now, they are wrong. Monitor what your children are doing / downloading on the Internet. Install a parental control software package if need be.

10. Rebuilding Your Operating System
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If you are not familiar with system imaging software, I suggest you read up on them. One of the most popular packages is “ghost” and it’s been around for quite some time. I rebuild my systems pretty much on an annual basis. When I first configured them, I used an imaging package to create a complete image of the basic OS and application install. This allows you to not only re-install the base operating system and applications by hitting just one button, but can save you big time in the event of a system disaster.

Conclusion
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Many of my peers and other technical people will read this and say it’s all common sense and very basic. Well, if this is what you do for a living then yes, it is. But many people don’t know these things or did know about them and have forgotten. So many PC are in such bad shape and it’s beyond me how the average person even deals with it. It has to be frustrating not knowing where to turn or what to do, especially if you don’t have a tech friend or family member to call on. I hate to sound pessimistic, but things are not getting better for the average home or small business person. Technology should not be this difficult to maintain. The average person just wants something that will work, and stay working.
You may reprint or publish this article free of charge as long as the bylines are included.

Original URL (The Web version of the article) http://www.defendingthenet.com/newsletters/
TenThingsToDoForAHealthyAndSecurePc.htm

About the Author:

Darren Miller

Strategies for Maximizing the Life of Your Hard Drive

2008-06-09T09:06:00.000-07:00

If I asked you the question: which part of your computer is the most fragile, what would you say? What if I asked: which part is most important to you?
Often, the answer to both of these questions is your Hard Drive.

Your hard drive is likely one the most important things you own. It contains work data, school data, emails, photos, music, movies, tax information, etc… Incidentally, the hard drive is also one of only two moving components in your computer (the other being your optical drive). The following is a list of important maintenance and monitoring techniques you can use to maximize the life of your hard drive and prevent data loss.

Hard drives are physically fragile – handle with care
Statistics show that 25% of lost data is due to a failure of a portable drive. (Source: 2001 Cost of Downtime Survey Results)
Contrary to its seemingly rugged appearance, your hard disk is a very delicate device that writes and reads data using microscopic magnetic particles. Any vibration, shock, and other careless operation may damage your drive and cause or contribute to the possibility of a failure. This is especially relevant for notebook users, as they are most at risk of drive failure due to physical damage, theft, and other causes beyond their control. That’s why we recommend regular backup of notebook hard drives, as often as possible.
Possible solutions include external USB or Firewire drives (although these are prone to the same risks), desktop synchronization, or backup at a data center through the web.

Hard drives write data in a non-linear way forcing it to become fragmented.

When files accumulate on your hard drive, they do not just get written in a linear fashion. A hard drive writes files in small pieces and scatters them over the surface. The fuller your hard drive becomes and the more files you save and delete the worse file fragmentation can be. Hard drive access times increase with fragmentation since your drive must work harder to find all the pieces of the files. The more fragmented your data is, the harder the actuator arm has to work to find each piece of a file.

A case in point: Disk fragmentation is a common problem for users of Outlook Express and database software. Each time outlook saves new mail, it does so in a different physical location from the previous time. This results in extreme fragmentation, causing longer hard drive access times and forcing more strain on the heads. This strain can eventually lead to a head crash, and often that means a virtually unrecoverable drive.Finally, in the event of a total crash, a fragmented drive is much more difficult to recover then a healthy defragged drive.

Luckily, Windows makes it remarkably easy to defrag your hard drive, simply launch the Disk Defragmenter utility (Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools), choose which disk or partition you’d like to defragment and set it to work overnight or while you are not actively using your computer. Defragmentation will speed up your computer and ensure a longer life for your hard drive.

A very small power surge can fry a hard drive – use a UPS and turn off your computer when you can

Another little-known fact about the fragility of your hard drive is its susceptibility to electrical failure. An electrical failure can be caused by a power surge, lightening strikes, power brown-outs, incorrect wiring, a faulty or old power supply, and many other factors. If a power surge enters your computer, it may do an unpredictable amount of damage, including destroying your hard drive’s electronics or crashing the heads and possibly resulting in total data loss.
The best way to protect your computer from such dangers is to use a highly rated protected power bar or an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). Although these devices won’t eliminate the chances of a crash, they will serve as effective protection in most cases. Also, you can minimize the danger of an electrical problem and reduce wear of your hard drive by turning off your computer or using power-save modes whenever possible. It’s a known fact that 100% of drives fail, the question is when will it happen and will you be prepared? Make sure to check out the knowledgebase section of our website for more detailed information on how electrical power affects your computer.

Be SMART, monitor the health of your drive to prevent unexpected crashes

All modern hard drives have a self-monitoring technology called SMART (Self Monitoring Analysis & Reporting Technology). What most people don’t realize is that the majority of hard drive failures do not have to be unexpected. Most failures occur as a result of long-term problems which can be predicted. By regularly monitoring disk health and performance, you can know about potential hard drive problems before you lose any of your data.

Several excellent utilities are available, including DiskView and Stellar SMART for standard IDE and SATA desktop drives. Also available are tools that monitor the health of SCSI drives and full RAID Array systems. Ariolic Software offers a great utility called ActiveSMART.

The only fool-proof way to prevent data loss is... Backup!

If you only take one of the suggestions here to heart, let it be this one: always back up your important data. After all the monitoring and all the prevention measures are in place, one fact still remains: all hard drives fail. Backing up regularly will ensure that you’re never caught without your critical data. For individuals, the simplest solutions include external portable hard drives, dvd’s, and online storage. For businesses, we recommend renting space at a secure data centre and implementing a disaster recovery plan, regardless of the size of your business.

I hope that the above techniques give you some idea of the importance of hard drive maintenance and provide some insights in how you can protect yourself from data loss.

About the Author:

Article by Alex Bezborodov

Tracking your Emails with Mailtracking.com

2008-06-09T06:40:00.000-07:00

I'm going to tell you about a great service I use a lot and I'd like to see you use it too. Its free and it has lots of benefits and advantages.

It is to be found at Mail Tracking and once you sign up for it and start using it you will understand its benefits real well.

If you use it and send me an email (for example) you will get a report back that tells you when I opened your email, how long it took me to read it and if I open it, read it and close it then open it again later it wil also tell you that.

If I were to forward your email to anyone else it would tell you I did that, when that person opened it and how long they took to read it.

There are other bells and whistles too. You can do a pretty fair job of customization once you get into the configuration menus.

The one thing you want to watch out for is that you don't demand that I send you an email receipt for opening your emails. Some of you do that now and I never hit the send button. The reason I don't acknowledge receipt is that my firewall won't let me do it for some strange reason. With mailtracking you don't need that because you are going to get a receipt anyway.

Now then, let me explain the whys and wherefores bit more. Let us assume that you send me an email and I don't answer it. Why would I ignore your emails? Well, I usually wouldn't but sometimes when deleting some to the junk emails I get a key bounce effect and more than one email gets deleted. The one that got unintentionly deleted might very well have been your email. I probably would not have any way of responding to you since I don't keep email address books because of the virus problems.

Then maybe I don't get back to you because I'm extremely busy from time to time and your email gets shoved down the stack of constantly incoming emails and goes by unnoticed, and you don't get the service we both want you to have.

Now then, with mail tracking you know exactly when I opened your email or if I didn't even open it. You know that I want to give you the very best service possible and you know that I want to get your email answered within 24 hours if at all possible. That means that if I don't answer you within 24 hours something has gone wrong. What might have gone wrong? As we all know, anything can go wrong with email. You make a typo and I don't get it but for whatever reason you don't get a mailer daemon return from it, So there you sit, getting madder by the hour. And I am oblivious to what has happened.

If you use mailtracking.com service lots of that frustration can be eliminated. You can send me another email if I don't answer within 24 hours so you can be sure to get my attention and some action going for you.

If I open the email you will know when I opened it and if I don't get back to you within 24 hours you will know it is time to start calling me or asking me what for and why.

Use it for sending email to other businesses for the same reasons. And use it with friends, relatives and whoever for the same reasons. It isn't about trying to track them down or stalk anyone although you could come pretty close with the pro version I use. I could not use it to find your house and actually drive right up to your front door except by accident. In order to actually do that I would have to know your actual address but lacking that I could drive right up to your door, sit there in front of your house and look around me and wonder which house was really yours and not know I was sitting right in front of it. And why on earth would I want to do that anyway?

I use it because I want to know that you got what I sent you and so why wouldn't you use it for the same reason?

I think it can be used when sending payments by paypal too. I'd like you to start trying to use it when sending in a payment. That would make sure you sent it to bbauer1@netzero.net and not to bbauer@netzero.com or some other bad address and if you did that you would have a way to track the mistake and get your money back faster so you can send it to the right address.

You don't even have to sign up for their service to start using it. All you have to do is send an email to someone such as ceo@creditwrench.mailtracking.com and mailtracker will immediately pick up on that and send you back a confirmation telling you that they opened a free temporary account for you. Then you can follow the links in that and go sign up and customize your settings and start using it. Their pro version is only about $40 a year and I think that is well worth it when you send out as many emails as I do.

Security and service are important to all of us and this tool heightens both of those a whole lot. Get it and try it. I think you will like it.

About the Author:

Mr. Bauer is the CEO of Credit Wrench

Cleaning and Organizing Your Computer

2008-06-09T06:38:00.001-07:00

It is a good idea to think of your PC as an office. It stores files, programs, pictures. This can be compared to an actual office's files, machines and decorations. The operating system is the boss. With this image in mind, think of an office you've visited that was slow and inefficient. There were probably many different reasons for the inefficiency. This is the same with a computer. There can be many items that slow down your computer. Perhaps the one most commonly overlooked is disorganization and clutter.

Disk Cleanup

An office can accumulate a lot of unnecessary files, machines, and decorations. This is the same with your computer. One of the best ways to keep this clutter under control is to perform a cleaning utility periodically. In Windows this cleaning utility will be called a "disk cleanup." It removes a variety of unnecessary files depending on the options you have selected.

To perform a disk cleanup on Windows XP you can simply click on "my computer" under the start menu. Than right click on your "c drive" or "hard disk" and choose properties. Than click "disk cleanup" and follow the prompts. When selecting files to clean up, or delete, Windows will give you information to help you decide. When looking over the list of file types, you would simple click on the name of the file type and read the description placed below in the description area. This will let you know if the files can be safely deleted. To select the file group just check the box next to the group name. When finished selecting press "OK" to finish.

Now, performing a disk cleanup is not very time consuming, just a couple minutes, and it may save more time in the end by making your computer run faster. However, a disk cleanup should be run periodically rather than just once in a great while. One way to make this run periodically is to make it a scheduled task. This will allow your computer to run it automatically with intervals and time of day determined by you. Yet, you can always run it yourself periodically without creating a scheduled task.

Add or Remove Programs

The information given above can help you get rid of some unnecessary files, but you may also need to clean out some unnecessary programs as well. This can be done using the "add or remove programs" utility in Windows. This is located in the control panel and lists all of your currently installed programs along with an option to uninstall them. It is a good idea to browse through the add or remove programs utility every once in a while just to make sure that all programs are of usefulness.

If there are programs listed that are no longer used, you can simply highlight the program and click the uninstall button. Windows will than begin the process to uninstall the program. In most cases, to finish uninstalling a program, it is wise to restart your computer. This will dump and files that are held temporarily.

The add or remove programs utility is very useful, but not all of the programs are listed up front. Programs that come pre-installed on your computer and the Windows operating system can also be uninstalled. For instance, Outlook Express is a default e-mail program that comes with the Windows XP operating system. If you do not use this e-mail program you can uninstall it. Click "add or remove windows components" found in the add or remove programs utility and simply follow the instructions.

Defragment

Many offices contain a large number of files and programs that are valuable and cannot be thrown away. In fact, they may contain files that are not even used, but still have to be retained for some reason. Although these files must remain in the office, they need to be organized. This is why we create file folders that hold groups of files that are related. Than we store them in cabinets that are arranged in alphabetic order.

In a computer, the files that are saved are placed on the hard drive. However, they are placed according to the time that they were saved. So, if you open a word document and save the file as "file A" and than open another document and save it as "file B", you have a "file A" placed next to "file B." This is fine, but if you open "file A" later on and save it again, than the added information is saved next to "file B."

When files are broken up this way it is referred to as a fragmented file. This means that the computer must find the first part of the file and then find the second part of the file to open that one word document. This can make your computer run slower. However, Windows has created a utility that is meant to rearrange files so that they are no longer fragmented but sit right next to each other.

You can run the disk defragmenter by selecting "all programs" under the start button. Next, select "accessories" and "system tools" and you will see "disk defragmenter." In fact, this is also an alternative way to select the disk cleanup mentioned earlier. Before starting the defragmenter you can analyze your hard drive to see if Windows recommends performing the defragmenter. It will either say that you should or should not defragment at this time.

If you need to defragment your computer, simply hit the defragment button. It may take your computer a while to finish this task depending on the speed of your computer and the amount of defragmented files. It could take from about 15-30 minutes or more. However, you can still use the computer while the disk defragmenter is working.

Are You Safe From Hackers?

2008-06-09T06:30:00.000-07:00

We don't use E-gold very often since most of our online business and customer sales are conducted through our online merchant account. However, we occasionally have someone who will request paying by E-gold so we keep an account there for this reason. Once a month or so we withdraw the funds and decided to do so yesterday. Imagine our dismay when we logged into our E-gold account yesterday and found our balance to be a big fat ZERO! We had checked the balance just a few days ago so we knew this was not correct. After investigating the history of the account, we found that a spend had been made to another e-gold account user WITHOUT our knowledge or authorization. We had been hacked!

Since we have up to date anti-virus and firewall software on our computer, we assumed we were safe. Not so! It seems this is not enough to keep away the hackers as the software does not prevent "Spyware" from being installed on your computer.

"Spyware" is software that gets onto your computer and literally "spies" on your activities. The spying can range from relatively harmless use of cookies tracking you across multiple websites... to extremely dangerous "keystroke loggers" which record passwords, credit cards, and other personal data. That data then gets relayed to the person who put the software on your computer.

Spyware gets on your computer in one of several different ways.

First, it rides along with software you download from the 'Net and install on your system.

Second, they come as email attachments (much like viruses) and automatically install themselves on your computer when you open the email message.

Third, hackers find an open port on your computer and use the "back door" to install basically anything they want.

And fourth, the more malicious types, like keystroke loggers, can even get installed by someone with direct physical access to your computer such as an employer, suspicious spouse, business competitor, or someone who wants to know exactly what you're doing.

So how do you protect yourself against these malicious hackers? You need a program that specifically scans your system for the tens-of-thousands of existing spyware programs along with the new ones appearing daily.

Below are two programs which specifically check for and remove spyware from your system:

"Spybot Search & Destroy" - www.safer-networking.org
"Ad Aware" - www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/

You may have spyware lurking on your computer right now so protect yourself today by downloading one of the above programs!

As a point of reference, we contacted E-gold and informed them that we had been hacked. We provided them with the account number of the person who received the funds and asked for a contact e-mail address on the person. E-gold informed us that they could not provide that information without a "court order" and that basically there was no way of getting the money back!

Take action today to protect yourself from this growing threat! The bottom line is: - Keep your anti-virus program current
- Install a firewall
- Carefully screen software before installing it
- Scan specifically for spyware weekly
- Stay current on this growing threat.

Author : Charles & Susan Truett