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Tips for Saving Money on Electricity

According to the United States Department of energy, the average household spends about $1,300 on electricity annually. This is a lot of money and things such as the weather; the types of lights used and the frequent use of appliances are the deciding factors.

Can anything be done to make this go down? The answer is yes. By reading these tips, the money saved can be used for other expenses.

1. The weather surely gets hot in the summer. It could go up to 90 degrees or higher and the only way to stay cool is using an air conditioner. People should use curtains and shades to reduce the effort of this appliance in cooling the room under these hot conditions.

The doors and windows in the house must also be closed so the air doesn̢۪t go out enabling it to circulate in the designated area. The filters of this household appliance should be cleaned every 3 months to keep it in good condition.

2. The wattage of the bulbs determines how much electricity is consumed. These should be checked because there are some brands available that are just as bright as others that don̢۪t use a lot of power.

3. If there is no one in the room, the lights and other appliances such as the computer must be turned off. This can help prevent overloads or short circuits from happening that may start a fire in the home.

4. Many households have washers and dryers. If the practice is to do the laundry every other day, perhaps doing this twice a week when the load is full is advisable. This can also save some money when paying for gallons of water used during the month.

5. The refrigerator and freezer should be defrosted and cleaned every 2 weeks. This prevents the ice from getting too thick which may cause this machine to break down.

6. People have to cook in order to eat. The person can try using range top burners instead of ovens that use up a lot of electricity.

7. People who live in cold climates need a heater to warm the home. A blanket can be use to wrap around it to lessen the power used inside and while taking a shower.

There are many things that people pay for when owning a home. The homeowner can monitor the electric bills the few past months and see if the steps taken has shown improvements when the next one arrives.

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Five Tips for Finding a New Job in a Tough Economy

In tough economic times, jobs become harder and harder to come by. As unemployment rates continue to rise, so does the number of stories of former CEOs just happy to get a barista job at Starbucks. While the job market is highly competitive right now, with thousands of jobs disappearing and very few being created, finding employment isn't impossible it may take a little longer, though, so it's important to get started as quickly as possible.

1.Focus on you.
Every person has their own individual set of skills, talents, and abilities they bring to the table. What are yours? Take some time to really evaluate your professional skills and experience, and make a list of your strengths and weaknesses, both professional and personal (because, let's be honest, very few people can effectively separate the two). Enlist the help of an objective friend or co-worker, as people often have a harder time evaluating themselves objectively.

2.Be open to new opportunities.
The past does not necessarily dictate the future this is especially true in a tight job market. When beginning the search for a new job, start at a very general level and identify (using that list of strengths and weaknesses you made) some job types or specific industries you would fit well in. If you're an excellent communicator with experience as a copy-writer, you may be able to transition into a PR or marketing job. Don't confine yourself to the industry you've always worked in, either most professional skills can parlay effectively across many industries, so remember to focus on your skills and abilities, as opposed to specific experience or industry knowledge.

3.Update your resume.
This is another task you'll want some help with. Your resume is basically you on paper it's the first impression a potential employer will have of you, so it had better be good. Style and design should be considered they don't have to be over-the-top, but just like your personal appearance, the appearance of your resume says a lot about you, whether you like it or not. Also, remember to focus on skill sets and specific results you've achieved, and don't be afraid to brag a little bit. An effective resume tells a prospective employer why they should hire you and what you can bring to their company, so it's value and importance cannot be overstated.

4.Get out there.
Finding a new job particularly in a down economy is not easy. You have to be proactive, creative, and persistent if you want to get ahead of the competition. Once you've found a list of jobs or companies you;d like to apply for, consider going in person to submit your resume and application you'll have a better chance of sticking out from the crowd, and possibly even speaking with someone right then and there.

5.Keep at it.
Job hunting is a time-consuming process that can get difficult and even tedious at times. But it's imperative that you stay positive don't let rejection get you down, instead, tell yourself that any job you don't get wasn't the right job for you. In time, if you're persistent, you'll find the right fit.

Start A New Career Without Quitting Your Current Job

If you have been thinking of starting a new career, what better way than to start it part time. This way, you don't have to quit your current job. Part time does not mean that you work for a few hours; it means you work as a freelancer. Working part time gives you the flexibility to work at any time of the day and from anywhere. If this sounds like a good option, then read on. We mean serious business here.

By working part time, we are not talking about work from home options or data entry jobs. We are talking about internet marketing or online marketing. Internet is virtually the next best shopping place. So if you have a knack for sales, we suggest you take up training courses that can enhance your skill and prepare you to venture into this field of marketing.

This alternate career option can easily be pursued with your current job, for you do not have to spend a fixed number of hour's everyday. You can decide how much time you would like to devote to your online marketing venture. Moreover, it is absolutely risk free, since you can test the waters while you have a secured job to fall back on. In addition, you know that your secured job is not so safe any more with the current recession. In such a scenario, an alterative source of income in the form of online marketing is a great option. Starting a new career by giving up the current one would be risky. On the other hand, a parallel career option is safe and if it works, then you can take it up full time too.

Several online training courses teach you the tricks of the trade. Though internet marketing is considered to be simple, there are some common mistakes that people commit. In order to be successful in this industry, you need to have a thorough knowledge about what works and what doesn't. You can update yourself and enhance your knowledge about this marketing concept by reading the case studies, which have been incorporated in the training course.

If you are planning to start a new career or want to earn some extra bucks, then internet marketing is the right option. These courses teach various concepts of internet marketing like ad words, search engine optimization, affiliate marketing, banner ads, newsletters, bulk emails and so on. These methods are commonly used for selling products and services. How well you utilize these tools would depend on your marketing ability and skill. Once you know the basic rules of this internet marketing industry, you can avoid the most common mistakes. This guidance can be of great help when you decide to establish your business and venture into a new career. Online marketing training courses also offer accredited certification, which adds value to your profile.

Online Education - Myths And Facts

The case against online education is based on the attractions of a color blind society and is buttressed by a sense some have that these programs are not just incomplete, but pointless. The students are seen as being put into situations where they are cannot compete with full-time students and not only fail, but are also demoralized in the process.

Common to arguments against online education is a sense that their students advantaged by it displace full-time students who are more deserving of admissions since they can benefit better from this type of and will be able to perform better after graduation.

First of all lets understand online education. It refers to delivery of education from a distance and is distinguished by the separation in space and probably in time between student and instructor. It makes use of the Internet and web technologies as a medium of distribution and a computer-reconciled communication channel. In this section, we present a series of prevalent myths about online education, along with the facts concerning the myths.

Myth no.1
Normal work schedules are extremely tedious and variable (students can not be present in a classroom regularly). Hence, online education is great. All a student has to do is submit their homework assignments and keep abreast of the reading (they dont lose any time in wasteful discussions).

Fact no.1
Only active participants in weekly online discussions are able to successfully master class material. There is also a strong likelihood of your not earning even a passing grade.

Myth no 2
It has been said time and time again that you can learn online anytime, anywhere. You can at home, at your office, or anywhere. This mode of education helps you learn faster. Then again, online education doesnt really shorten the time needed to learn or master a skill, automatically. The time is generally longer than full time education.

Fact no 2
Online education by virtue of its mode of conduct, gives you the inbuilt advantage of managing your learning time better and more competently.

Myth no 3
Working grown-ups, with families and other responsibilities benefit from the elasticity of time in online education. Whether or not they take part in conferences or submit their projects on time or not does not, in any way, affect their grades.

Fact no 3
Despite the fact that instructors normally take all possible measures to accommodate their students, nevertheless they have to participate in the conferences a few times every week. They also have to submit their assignments on time.

Like it or not, finally, the fact remains that, in order to derive the most out of your Online education every student has to participate fully, professionally, and diligently.

Advanced Technology and DVI Cables

As technology becomes more advanced, Digital-Visual-Interface or in short DVI is the greatest digital interface that manufacturers have created; particularly to be used on your AV products, it is designed to be used with video so as to maximize the visual quality of your digital display devices.

These digital display devices can be your flat panel LCD computer display or even digital projectors. The DVI cables are made to be compatible with High-Definition-Multimedia-Interface, aka HDMI.

Since High-Definition is becoming more popular among consumers, it is crucial for you to choose the right or most suitable DVI cable for your product to maximise its capability, as DVI can also be used on video cards that include both a VGA and DVI output port.

There are currently three types of DVI formats or connections on the market. They include DVI Digital, DVI analogue and lastly DVI Integrated, which transfers in both digital and analogue.

Each of these formats offer consumers different end results of quality composition, such that if you want the best of both worlds for your video cards you may want to choose the DVI integrated, whereas you can go for either one of the other two formats, if you would like a true digital or high resolution analogue for your visual display.

Currently, the official DVI equipment is set to 7.5m in length. However, the maximum length is never exact as manufacturers are creating stronger cards and bigger monitors as well as booster and junctions for longer cables.

IPv6 and the Ultimate Cyberattack

The new internet protocol IPv6 will vastly increase the number of internet addresses available. Whilst IPv4 allows around 4 billion addresses, IPv6 increases this to around 3.4x1038. A major motivation for additional address space, apart from the fact that most of the currently available addresses are already allocated, is that it is foreseen that in the near future the will be an explosion in the number of devices that directly access the internet, each of which will have its own unique IP address.

Some obvious examples are mobile phones and cars. Already many mobile phones are used to access the internet via their network provider but currently the connection to the internet is via a system that is similar to Native Address Translation (NAT), which has a considerable number problems. Neither will it be long before all new cars have an IP address and are permanently connected to the internet. Self organising sensor networks will become commonplace and used for such diverse activities as monitoring the environment to public health care. Each node of this network will require an IP address. Items marked with RFID tags (Radio Frequency Identification) will also require IP addresses so that they can be monitored and organised.

In the home the television and the refrigerator will have IP addresses, as will the central heating system and your lighting circuits, intruder alarms, door lock and even your curtains. The internet will become ubiquitous and the connectivity will be almost infinite.

This of course created a massive vulnerability the cyberattack; so much so that the US government is investing $30 million into countermeasures against such a perceived attack. One of their concerns is hardware viruses that could be incorporated into chips. This could then be activated over the internet and used to launch massive coordinated cyberattacks from such items as televisions and refrigerators.
This might sound like science fiction but the American Defence Department is taking it very seriously. Effectively they are carrying out research into the ultimate antivirus software in order to protect the integrity of tomorrow's internet.

Simple Steps to Be as Rich as You Want

Do you want to be rich? Most of us will not deny the wealth that we see others enjoy. We sometime wonder how these people can get into such a pleasurable level of status that we do not even dream of. We wonder how come we work hard all our life and we have not achieved much no matter either materialistically or spiritually. How can we know those methods the rich people use and apply them into our life? Will we be rich after we use them? What price do we have to pay or do in order to get what we want like the other rich people do? In this article, we will find the secret that makes thousands if not million of people get as much wealth as they want. It was proven to be the effective method and we can also be the ones to utilize and enjoy the result of it.

The three steps that you can practice here will help to get you want include:

1. You visualize what you want. You see yourself as you already own it. If you want money, make a cheque that has the exact number of the amount you want. Carry it around and pick it up to take a look every time you have a chance. If you want a big house, take a picture of your dream house and put it on the wall in front of your working desk. Visualize yourself and your family live in this lovely house. See you and your family plan have a picnic party at the backyard of your house. What are you going to do in the pool that you have beside it? See it as it is happening now.

If you want a car, take a picture of the model you want. Choose the color that you like most. Keep the picture to see every time you have the opportunity. Visualize yourself drive this car around. How far you are going to drive this car? Feel the power of the engine. Feel the comfort you have while driving. See it and feel it as it is happening right now in front of you. When you visualize, your subconscious mind will response to it. The more intense your feeling have toward it, the more result you will get. The subconscious mind will believe that the situation is real. As the result, it will attract more favorable situation and opportunity into your life. You can be rich faster and accomplish more than you have ever dreamed of by right visualization.

2. You believe that what you want can happen. Apart from boosting your subconscious mind by visualization, you need to also stimulate your conscious mind. How are we going to do that? You need to have faith on yourself. You need to believe that you can be qualified to have and get what you want. The conscious mind communicates through words. Practice affirmation that you can do and achieve all you want. You need to eliminate all disempowering beliefs that you may have or use to have. Now you are totally convinced that all the assets, wealth and money you want can be yours and they will be.

3. You take constant and unwavering actions to achieve the wealth you want. Results come from actions. Do not expect anything happens without you do anything. Plan yourself around what you want to happen. What you will need to do in order to get them? How long is it going to take to the next level of income you want? What are you going to do? Make your action plan and incessantly pursue it. Rich will come when you take actions toward it.

The process of visualization can be enhanced by using Attraction Accelerator. It is background music which will help enhancing the power of your visualization. The process of having faith on oneself can be boosted by positive affirmation very often. To take effective actions will require proper goal setting and right planning to help the process.

Rich can be achieved by a lot of people and by you too. Once you can master the simple three steps explained in this article, you can go as far as you want.

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3 Secrets To Help You Become A Pro-Networker

Networking is just like any other relationship that you have with someone, it is about giving and taking. Sometimes we lose sight of our initial goal and find ourselves taking more than we might be giving. Giving doesn't have to be difficult, it could be as simple as giving someone the name of a good caterer or supporting their charitable cause by attending an event or making a donation. Don't view networking as a difficult task. If you do it enough you will soon see that it becomes quite natural. Here is a further 3 secrets to become a pro-networker. By utilising these techniques you will have a whole new outlook on networking.

• Remember names. While this may sound quite simple to you it can be very difficult for other people. When you first meet someone try and associate them with something at the particular event. Maybe you talked about luxury cars with this person, remember the car and attach their name. A few minutes after being introduced say their name again. If you don't remember it, ask! Hopefully the next time that you meet them they will be impressed that you paid enough attention to remember their name.

• Listen instead of talking. I know you're thinking, “why would I want to be quiet? I'm there to sell myself to others, right?” You should not attend a networking event with the idea of selling in your mind. You are trying to build a business relationship with someone, not make a sale. Allow the other person to talk about themselves and show an active interest in what they have to say.

• Finally, the third secret to become a pro-networker is not to miss opportunities. If you find that someone could use your assistance, don't hesitate to offer. If you wait, there will always be someone ready to jump in and fill the void. Even if it is only on a volunteer basis, this will build credibility around you and your business.

Utilising the 3 secrets to become a pro-networker can make this aspect of your business a little more enjoyable for you. Happy networking!

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How to Connect Your Laptop or PC to Your TV

Have you ever think or wonder if you can connect your laptop or PC to your TV or HDTV to show off your latest digital photos to your friends and family? There are other compelling reasons why we want to connect our laptop or PC to our televisions, especially when you have your HDTV that are so popular nowadays. Those who are games fanatic would be happy to hook-up their laptop or PC to an HDTV for great gaming experience. Viewing everything from presentations, movies and photos is now possible for the big-screen hook-up. This guide will help you setup your laptop or PC to connect to your TV or HDTV.
Traditional TV set
The cable you need depends on your TV and your laptop. Most of the new laptops today have an S-video output built-in. If you have an S-video output on your laptop and an S-video input on your TV then you will need an S-video cable. If you have an old laptop and an old TV you will probably need a standard video cable which usually has yellow connectors at each end.
High Definition TV (HDTV)
Most of today’s HDTV comes in either LCD or Plasma. High Definition TV usually is more expensive than traditional TV set and can be amounting to thousands of dollars for extremely large sets. All HDTV sets are in 16:9 ratio and have output for 5.1 digital sound and are extremely thin.
High Definition content or HDTV has some options that will give you higher quality image than you would get when using an S-video or a yellow composite video cable. To get the highest quality video, your laptop or PC needs to have a video card with DVI (Digital Video Interface) output.
This guide will help you connect your laptop or PC with Vista operating system to a HDTV).
1. First, you need to check if you have the needed cables to connect your laptop to your TV.
For better picture quality, you should connect the laptop or PC to the TV using standard VGA ports or via the DVI to HDMI cable provided with your TV that supports these ports.
If you laptop or PC has no DVI port, you can transform your laptop’s USB port into a DVI port using an adapter to connect it to your HDTV. The adapter has 128mb onboard memory, making it capable to handle resolution of up to 1400x1050 with quality similar to a DVI port.

2. Make sure that you connect the cable to the TV before turning on the laptop or PC as it may fail to detect and recognize external display sometimes. Open the display settings by clicking on Start Control Panel Personalization then click on “Connect to a projector or other external display” to get into Windows Mobility Center. Click on “Connect display” option to automatically detect and activate output to the TV screen. You can either mirror content of your computer on the TV or extend the display just like a dual monitor screen.
3. Pick up your TV remote and switch to "External Inputs" from the menu. You will need to change the default "Video 1" to a different selection which may be "HDMI 1" or "Video 2" depending on how you have made the connection.
Important: You may also need to change the screen resolution of your TV using the Display settings in your Control Panel else the picture may appear distorted.
How to Setup Audio from Laptop to HDTV
The above mentioned information will help you get video signal from laptop to show up to your HDTV. However, you will need to use a different cable in order to get the audio to your TV. Every laptop has a mini-headphone jack input so you can just buy a mini-headphone cable with male connectors on both ends.
If your HDTV does not have a mini-headphone jack input you can use a headphone to RCA cable to get the audio from your laptop or PC to your HDTV.

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How to Connect Your Laptop or PC to Your TV

Have you ever think or wonder if you can connect your laptop or PC to your TV or HDTV to show off your latest digital photos to your friends and family? There are other compelling reasons why we want to connect our laptop or PC to our televisions, especially when you have your HDTV that are so popular nowadays. Those who are games fanatic would be happy to hook-up their laptop or PC to an HDTV for great gaming experience. Viewing everything from presentations, movies and photos is now possible for the big-screen hook-up. This guide will help you setup your laptop or PC to connect to your TV or HDTV.
Traditional TV set
The cable you need depends on your TV and your laptop. Most of the new laptops today have an S-video output built-in. If you have an S-video output on your laptop and an S-video input on your TV then you will need an S-video cable. If you have an old laptop and an old TV you will probably need a standard video cable which usually has yellow connectors at each end.
High Definition TV (HDTV)
Most of today’s HDTV comes in either LCD or Plasma. High Definition TV usually is more expensive than traditional TV set and can be amounting to thousands of dollars for extremely large sets. All HDTV sets are in 16:9 ratio and have output for 5.1 digital sound and are extremely thin.
High Definition content or HDTV has some options that will give you higher quality image than you would get when using an S-video or a yellow composite video cable. To get the highest quality video, your laptop or PC needs to have a video card with DVI (Digital Video Interface) output.
This guide will help you connect your laptop or PC with Vista operating system to a HDTV).
1. First, you need to check if you have the needed cables to connect your laptop to your TV.
For better picture quality, you should connect the laptop or PC to the TV using standard VGA ports or via the DVI to HDMI cable provided with your TV that supports these ports.
If you laptop or PC has no DVI port, you can transform your laptop’s USB port into a DVI port using an adapter to connect it to your HDTV. The adapter has 128mb onboard memory, making it capable to handle resolution of up to 1400x1050 with quality similar to a DVI port.

2. Make sure that you connect the cable to the TV before turning on the laptop or PC as it may fail to detect and recognize external display sometimes. Open the display settings by clicking on Start Control Panel Personalization then click on “Connect to a projector or other external display” to get into Windows Mobility Center. Click on “Connect display” option to automatically detect and activate output to the TV screen. You can either mirror content of your computer on the TV or extend the display just like a dual monitor screen.
3. Pick up your TV remote and switch to "External Inputs" from the menu. You will need to change the default "Video 1" to a different selection which may be "HDMI 1" or "Video 2" depending on how you have made the connection.
Important: You may also need to change the screen resolution of your TV using the Display settings in your Control Panel else the picture may appear distorted.
How to Setup Audio from Laptop to HDTV
The above mentioned information will help you get video signal from laptop to show up to your HDTV. However, you will need to use a different cable in order to get the audio to your TV. Every laptop has a mini-headphone jack input so you can just buy a mini-headphone cable with male connectors on both ends.
If your HDTV does not have a mini-headphone jack input you can use a headphone to RCA cable to get the audio from your laptop or PC to your HDTV.

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Make serious money from your clicked pictures

If you think that you have the ability to excite someone by your pictures, then, do not just restrict your art to a mere hobby. Your little piece of camera could be your key to making serious money out of it. And there is a wide market out there willing to pay you for your photograph. All you have to learn is take the quality picture and market it through the right platform. Here’s how you can make money by simply taking pictures!

To begin with, jot down the agencies that are in constant need of pictures. Take glossy magazines for example. Pay a visit to some popular magazine vendors and pick some of the most read ones. Then, study the quality and the style of pictures clicked that best illustrates the article penned. Note the quality of the pictures and decide ways to match that quality. In case, you find a magazine that matches the level of the quality of your pictures, visit them with your portfolio containing 20-25 pictures on the same line. Or contact the photo editor and send him some of your potential pictures for his reference.

Another agency that highly seeks the creative services of these photographers is insurance and mortgage companies. Now, these companies have frequent demands for freelance photographers for clicking quality pictures of properties like residences, apartments, recreational malls, etc. You can click some quality pictures of appealing properties and send them across. This work can be taken as a part-time job which can be done at one’s leisure time. In case, you are selected, choosing the appropriate location and time would be at your dispense.

Further you can easily view a list of companies seeking freelance photographers by conducting an online research. Google "freelance photographers required" to get introduced to the prospective clients on a frequent search for freelance or part time photographers. Another option is to work with stock photography agents that successfully market pictures collected from myriad photographers from across the world and present them to a wide belt of interested online consumers. Considering the cut-throat competitions in stock photography, make sure that you're sent pictures are of the highest resolution and best quality to avoid chances of permanent rejection of your pictures. After your pictures have been accepted by the particular stock photography site, make sure that your pictures are most viewed. This can be achieved by penning the right keywords for describing your picture so that it appears in the first-two pages of the search engines.

Increasing the sale of your picture is absolutely in your hands. Observe and learn the quality standards and patterns followed by your fellow photographer registered in the stock photography site and base your pictures on the same level. Make sure that your pictures are sharp with no end blurred or out of focus. Do not take pictures that are representative of a sign or a company’s logo. Keep practicing to better yourself. Internet offers a wide scope for your art work to get world-wide acknowledgement.

Internet Evolution

The internet evolution has made the life easy but at times you might be a victim of few corns that came along with this revolutionary facility. Cyber crimes have become a great concern and have to be controlled for the security of personal and financial data. Hackers use different tools to get into personal data for harmful purposes. Viruses, spywares, malwares and other fraud bugs are largely available on internet and a minor carelessness can lead great loss. In today's fast growing world, every second person uses the internet for some reason.

Most of us do not take the security of our computer seriously and use our computer just to finish our desired task. It is highly recommended that reliable antivirus software should be installed on your computer to make sure of its security. If not your files get corrupted, the pc may crash and above all the hackers always have a better chance to get into your data if proper security features are not installed. This heavy loss to your computer occurs when viruses, malware and spywares attack your system. Their source can be a hacker trying to hack into your system or it can also be an online source that is initiated by a careless click or installation of a suspicious files. Besides that the probability of junk emails containing virus programs is increasing day by day. One should always be careful while going through the mail box as it is always safe to delete the unwanted and unknown mails without opening them. While registering and installing security software on your system you should make sure that it has got all the features to fight against all odds that are there to affect your system.

Viruses and malwares normally corrupt your system files and also slow down your system and internet speed. Once you have installed reliable antivirus software on your system, it is essential to upgrade the features on regular basis. Most of the advanced antivirus software would give you the option to schedule automatic upgrades. Besides that scheduling an automatic scan for viruses and other harmful bugs is also very essential in order to get the most out of the installed security program.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleStreet.com/

Future of Mobile Technology

With rapid advancements in mobile technology, it seems that the day is not far when this technology will take the world by surprise.

We are yet to see the differences that technology can make to our lives. Working from home & geographically spread out locations is becoming an upcoming trend with developments in laptop, mobile & wireless technologies. Such advancements in technology are the result of deep knitted integration between different technologies & devices. 3G technology is becoming older with other disruptive technologies in the pipeline. This was slower & more expensive with speed varying between 400Kbit/sec. and 700Kbit/sec. this will soon change with launch of new Wi Max technology. It will bring a revolutionary change in wireless broadband. Its speed will lie between 2Mbit/sec & 4Mbit/sec. Also it will be offered at a price point that matches that of cable access & is cheaper than 3G technologies to offer more competitive advantage. These advancements in technology will have severe implications on corporates, entrepreneurs, and students & will touch every aspect of mankind. Close to 8% of businessmen who remain on the move have chucked out their desktops & operate only through their smart phones or laptops.

As larger screens in PDAs & mobile phones are becoming more popular, there is increasing scope for marketers to go in for advertising through SMS, picture messages & interactive advertising. World is also getting better connected due to advancements in technology that supports social networking. Face book, orkut, linkedIn & many other portals are becoming famous places for social interaction. Software are being developed which will allow make interaction through these sites much more interactive & at the same time come up with better interface technology which improves networking & socialising through PDAs & mobile phones.

A new software for mobile phones allows user to store contact details & addresses in cell phones by speaking out their start & end points instead of having to undergo the cumbersome process of feeding them through small keys of the phone.

With such drastic changes in mobile phone technology, we are yet to see the wonders & changes that these devices can bring to our lives.


Article Source: http://www.ArticleStreet.com/

The Introduction of Adware and Spyware

People think that there is actually no difference between a spyware and an adware. Spyware is just a web term used to refer to an advertising supported software, which is also known as adware. These are the popup ads that often come out whenever we open a website or download a shareware software. But according to some web experts, spyware is much much more.

Supporters of spyware and adware say that though it can be pretty annoying at times especially if you are really in a hurry, both do give consumers huge benefits. Because the product ads generate income for developers of shareware software, consumers can get them for free. Developers are in turn paid for their work. Of course, if you don't want to be bothered by the constant popups, you can always pay the licensing fee or the regular fee for the software. If you want it for free, you just have to sacrifice through the spyware.

There is however another downside to it. Spyware, from the name given to it, is actually used as a tracking device in your computer system. These tracking devices will look into your surfing habits, your chatting logs and even the number of times you open your email. If designed or programmed the right way, it can discover just about everything else in your system.
And because the program runs in the background, there is no way that a person can control the kind of information that he or she sends out.

These kinds of programs were actually originally used by parents or people in the business sector who wish to track down and put on record web activity. It is actually beneficial but not when people are not aware that they are being tracked down. This is often the case when people download software over the Internet. As mentioned before, it is used by companies to advertise their products and in turn help the developers of software keep their costs down so that they can afford to offer their programs for free.

Although privacy issues indeed come into play, there is nothing illegal about it. In fact, its use is prevalent all over the World Wide Web. There are however some areas that people who values their privacy will object to. Because of this, people are given the option to refuse the software.

There is really no way that one can avoid adware and spyware as these programs are packaged with the software that you will be downloading from the Internet. The most that you can do is to avoid downloading from the internet and to refuse any file downloads that you did not personally authorize. It is also good to only view websites that have a good reputation or those that have anti-spyware and adware programs installed in their pages.

How to Fix a Damaged Disk

Are you tired of putting your favorite game in your Wii only to learn that it’s scratched and won’t work right? If you’re like me, you’ve developed special attachments to your collection of movies and hate to see them ruined. It’s even worse if your DVDs have important family events on them that can’t be replaced. Fortunately, these scratches can often be fixed. One fantastic way to fix a scratched disc is to purchase professional software. The software will take the information from the scratched disc, retrieve the unreadable images and save it onto a hard disc drive so it can be retrieved. This is actually a greatway to repair your disc if you want to spend the money.

If you do not choose to purchase software and would rather go with the do-it-yourself route, then a basic DVD repair kit may be the best way to go. A disc repair kit generally comes with everything that you will need to repair your disc. The kit consists of a DVD cleaning solution and soft white cloths. In order to repair the disc, you should first spray the DVD cleaning solution onto the scratches. Next, use your cloth to rub the disc using very short, straight strokes from the centre of the disc outwards. Do not bear down too hard because this could cause further scratching of the disc.

There is also a cheaper do-it-yourself way to fix a DVD. All you need is some alcohol and a piece of soft lint free cloth. Gently dip the cloth into the alcohol, being careful not to soak it. After you have moderately dampened the cloth, take your DVD and rub the cloth on the disc in a gentle and straight motion. This is an excellent method for removing most scratches. In place of alcohol, you can use toothpaste, regular all-purpose house cleaners, and polishes to help fix your DVD, game disc, or CD.

The above methods may work but the best way to save your DVDs is to use the SkipDR CD Disc Repair Kit. The SkipDR can fix up to 50 discs. The SkipDR works by fixing the scratches that are causing the disc to skip, stutter, and not play. This is a very reasonably priced tool as well. You will [save many DVDs over a lifetime when using the skipdoctor. The SkipDR does it for you in 3 easy steps: spray, spin, and shine. Check it out the SkipDR Disk Repair Kit.

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Repair Windows Registry

A Free Registry Scan Is Just A Plus…

The Windows registry is basically a large database used in all Microsoft Windows system that keeps all settings, options, preferences, and hardware options of the user. It continues to grow every time you boot Windows. Each time your computer starts up, Windows initially notifies the registry to let every installed software know the settings, documents, program paths, and a bunch of other stuff. The registry slowly accumulates clutter this way, and this slowly leads to a degradation in your computer’s speed.

When you install and then delete that program, traces of the program will remain in the registry database also.

Here’s the issue — After you’ve made changes to the registry, it can’t be undone without specialized software (or manual editing).

Doing a manual edit of your registry is a disaster and isn’t something the average computer user wants to try. Think of it this way: the best registry is always a virgin registry.

Ever since Windows 95, most if not all programs will intentionally leave behind entries in the registry to preserve licensing information, that aren’t deleted during an uninstall. This left over “stuff” continues to pile up until a registry cleaner program is employed to get rid of it.

Another thing to keep in mind, a good number of computer crashes could further corrupt your registry.

What to look for in a top-notch registry cleaner

Registry cleaning programs are designed to scan the registry, identify, and remove any no longer needed entries it holds. But that is the ideal situation. The reality is, there is no flawless registry cleaner. Every registry cleaner has several complex formulas which help them “identify” what is a necessary key and which is trash. There’s no way of forseeing if deleting a registry key will affect system performance in subtle ways. Therefore, a good registry cleaner should allow you to backup the registry before you begin cleaning the registry.

Here’s a safe way to back-up your registry nice and easy:

Click Start – Run
Type: regedit (which opens up the registry editor window)
From the box, hit File – Export
Save it with a name you’ll remember, preferably including the date

If you observe, there are actually four kinds of registry cleaners:

Deep scan registry cleaners
Light scan registry cleaners
Balanced scan registry cleaners
Fake registry cleaners

A deep cleaner is actually dangerous to your computer because it might delete some important registry keys by being overzealous. A light scanning program, isn’t much use either; it simply skims the surface. A bogus registry cleaner is dangerous, because it is malware disguised as a registry cleaner. Beware of downloading something just because it’s free!

The “best” registry cleaner is one that:

Defrags the registry
Offers a backup of the registry
Asks whether you want to delete various entries and offers solutions
Perform other spin-off tasks BESIDES registry work

Rather than simply suffering with the slow speed of your system and the constant crashes, you can, in fact, do something about it. Do yourself a favor and get yourself a good registry cleaner. It will help your system run as smoothly and efficiently as the day you bought it.

Obvious Online Backup Solution

Your most likely pondering why you would utilize a backup system on the Internet. Well, there’s a whole bunch of reasons. First, you can save alot of upfront costs by backing up to the Internet instead of buying specialized software or hardware. As long as you have Cable, DSL, etc., nothing else is needed.Second, you can retreive your files from any computer connected to the Internet (well, only by you of course). And with proper encryption and security, nobody else will know it’s even out there.

The Internet provides a gateway to nearly unlimited amounts of data storage with quality provders that make online backup their business. I pay around four bucks per month for my site and I’m backing up 30+ Gigs.Now I have used around 60% of my backup volume which leaves tons of space for future backups at a rate that’s more than affordable.

The first step is to make a determination as to which provider is best for you.Most providers that do free trial periods end up being more expensive overall than the providers that don’t offer free trials.So you can do a little homework and get a better deal by discovering and joining a site with great features and no hidden expenses. It’ll save you alot of money in the end. With all the product review sites, blogs, comparison sites, etc. It’s really pretty simple to make a decent decision.

So now, you’ve made a decision as to which provider you’ll use. Deciding which files you need to keep backed up due to their importance (financial), sentimental value (photos), difficulty in reconstructing (music, etc.). The best online backup sites have a program to select your backup files, frequency, rate limits, etc. and will seamlessly upload the backup files after they’ve been encrypted. As you can see what I described so far the best backup sites are very easy to use. And the best will run on all common operating systems (online backup for Windows, MAC, and Linux is what I mean here).

The simple explaination is if they make it too difficult for you, you’ll just go somewhere else. The market is highly competitive and services with lightweight features or only focused on Windows or MAC only, etc. generally arn’t reliable at all and may not even be around for you in the future. So make sure that they support Windows, Linux, and MacIntosh.They will if their serious about their business.

So, let’s put this basic overview into perspective with some questions you need to answer when selecting a Internet backup provider.

Do they have free software for you that will make it easy?

Does their software support Windows, MAC, and Linux?

Can all your computers be backed up with one login account?

What kind of Internet backup is it? How often do the backups occur?

Do they protect your files with encryption? You must insist on AES 256bit encryption to protect your data.

You have other issues that are important to you.But by getting the answers to these basic questions will serve you well.

Bluetooth Definition

Bluetooth is a specification for the use of low

power radio communications to wireless phones,

computers, and other network wireless devices over

short distances. The name Bluetooth is actually

borrowed from Harald Bluetooth, a Denmark king

more than 1,000 years ago.

The technology of Bluetooth was primarily designed

to support simple wireless networking of devices

and peripherals, which includes cell phones, PDAs,

and wireless headsets. The wireless signals that

are transmitted by Bluetooth cover short distances

of up to 30 feet, generally communicating less

than 1 MPps (Mega Byte per second).

The networks of Bluetooth feature dynamic topology

called PAN or a piconet. The piconets contain a

minumum of two and a maximum of eight peer devices.

The devices will communicate using protocols that

are part of the specification.

Even though the Bluetooth standard will utilize

the same 2.4 GHz range as 802.11b and 802.11g,

the technology isn't suitable for a Wi-Fi

replacement. When compared to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

is much slower, limited in range, and actually

supports less devices.

For short range devices, Bluetooth is rapidly

becoming the best. The technology is more popular

with cell phones, as Bluetooth headsets are the

way to go these days. To use Bluetooth, your

cell phone will need to have it enabled, or an

infared device somewhere on the phone.

Upcoming devices are utilizing Bluetooth as well,

such as PS3 and the Nintendo Revolution. The

wireless controllers will be Bluetooth enabled,

which will give players the cutting edge.

If you own a cell phone or other wireless device,

you should look into Bluetooth. The technology

is nothing short of spectacular, making it

something that will be around for years and

years to come. As technology gets bigger and

bigger, you can expect Bluetooth to advance

as well.

What Is Usb And Is It Available In Laptop Computers

USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. This is a serial bus standard for interface devices. It was originally created for personal computers, but since its creation USB has become very common on hand held devices like video game consoles, portable memory devices, Personal Digital Assistants, and portable media players.

USB is a major component in the legacy-free PC, and it was devised to help get rid of all parallel and serial ports on the personal computers because these ports are not standardized and had a requirement for numerous device drivers that had to be developed and maintained.

A USB system has a design that is asymmetrical, and consists of a host controller along with multiple peripheral devices that are daisy-chained. Any additional USB hubs can be included within the daisy chain, which allows for branching into a tree structure, subject to a limit of 5 levels of branching per controller.

No more than 127 devices, which includes the bus devices, can be connected to one single host controller. The modern computers available today often have several host controllers, which allows for a very large number of USB devices to be connected.

USB cables do not have to be terminated. The ability of USB to daisy chain devices led to an early prediction that each USB device would include a downstream port to allow for long chains of devices. Many of the first computers that were shipped with USB ports only had two USB ports.

Because of technical and economical reasons, daisy-chaining never became very widespread. Desktop computers today are usually available with six USB ports to reduce any need for USB hubs, generally with half of the available ports in back and half on the front panel for easy temporary connections of any portable devices.

In the market today, USB has become widely available on mobile computers. Laptop and notebook computers are available today with at least one, and possibly multiple, USB ports. Apple, Dell, and almost all the other computer manufacturers have several models of mobile computer that has one or more USB ports that are reasonably priced.

Another type of mobile computer today is the cell phone computer with Internet capabilities. This type of computer has a certain type of USB port that is called a mini USB port. This port allows for the connection between the cell phone and a computer or other device. Personal Digital Assistants also have mini USP ports for connection to the computer.

To answer the question does USB availability apply to mobile computers as well as desktop computers, the answer is yes. Almost all mobile computers that are available today come with at least one USB port, some with multiple ports.

Netbooks, Notebooks: What's the difference?

Netbooks are little computers that are receiving big attention these days. Netbooks are actually mini-notebook computers with limited applications. They are designed to be extremely portable, allowing internet use while out and about (hence the "net" in netbook).

A netbook has a screen size of twelve inches or smaller and is very light-weight, generally less than three pounds. These energy-efficient mini-computers are perfect for email, chat, Web surfing or even movie watching. Most designs out now run Windows XP or Linux operating systems and are not intended for extensive data storage or complicated programs like Photoshop or 3D games. However, at less than $400 they may offer the perfect solution for consumers who want the newest gadget at a reasonable price.

It is the price that is posing a problem for manufacturers. It was likely that the netbook was created to complement the notebook computer; a consumer would want both to serve different purposes. But as the economy has gotten tougher, people are buying the cheaper netbooks at a faster rate. "... the low price tag that makes them such a hit these days means less revenue and profit for PC makers than what their full-size counterparts produce," said tech columnist Dan Zehr.

Last fall, of the top-selling laptops on Amazonover half of them were netbooks. An analysis on Barrons.com noted netbooks "could dent Macbook sales." This was particularly true during the back-to-school and holiday shopping periods. Of course, sales of iPhones and Blackberries are not being impacted in the same way as notebook computer sales, as they hold a different niche in the market.

So are netbooks worth the hype? That depends. If a consumer is looking for a powerful machine to be able to perform typing-heavy applications on-the-go, he would be better served sticking with a laptop computer. John New, senior manager for global product marketing at Dell Inc., said the netbooks work nicely for portable entertainment, but they are not intended for creating content or long periods of use.

That may be the netbooks biggest problem. While they offer a longer, more in depth Web experience than a smart phone, it is considerably shorter than a laptop computer with a larger battery capacity. The netbook allows use between 30 and 45 minutes, which is significantly less than most plane rides.

If the little computer with the little price tag does prove too irresistible to pass up, there are a few things to consider when purchasing a netbook. First, the price is budget friendly, but the consumer should make sure the netbook is user friendly for his individual computer needs. It's not a great price if it sits unused. There are choices on operating systems, so the consumer should make sure they understand how to use what they are getting. Finally, try several out to make sure screen and keyboard size make for comfortable use.

Also, as PC manufactures and retailers are adjusting for the netbooks popularity they are offering deals with notebooks and netbooks packaged together. They are not exactly on par with two for one deals, but it may be the best deal in the long run.

Learning About Search Engine Optimization: What Is It?

Before you even think about setting up a website, you have to understand the term search engine optimization and its importance. When you set up a website with the intention of selling a product or service, you have to be able to draw traffic to your website or it’s not going to perform the job that you intended for it to perform. The process is not as simple as building a website and expecting everyone to find it. In order for potential customers to find your website, they must be able to locate it during a search, and that’s where search engine optimization comes into the picture.

You already know, or should, that once you build a website and upload it to the web, you then have to submit that website to the various search engines in order for anyone to find it when they are conducting a search. You probably also know the importance of Meta Tags in order for those search engines to be able to list your site so that it does come up in a search. What some new web builders do not realize is how search engine optimization works and its importance. Search engine optimization or SEO involves the placement of a sequence of keywords that are part of the text on your website. They are placed within the website to meet a certain density requirement, usually 1.5%-3% depending on the needs of the website owner. The same key phrases may be rearranged in different ways or spelled differently within the text on your page in order to allow for more keyword optimization within your site. In some cases, commonly spelled words may be deliberately misspelled in order to allow for the proper optimization this is to reflect the different ways that a web surfer may spell those keywords when conducting a search.

The purpose of the keyword placement and density is to give your website the highest placement possible with the search engines, especially the most commonly used, Google. Placing your website high within the search engines means that when someone does a keyword search based on terms that are on your website, you increase the chances that your page will come back as one of the first results. Keep in mind that when people are searching, they only read a certain number of pages within the results, so the sooner your page shows in those results, the better than chances are that someone will actually click on the link that will lead to your page. Unless you are completely familiar with the process of search engine optimization, you may want to hire an SEO expert to take care of this for you to ensure that your site obtains the highest ranking possible.

Scan The System For Spyware - Frequently

Spyware installs itself on the system and runs in the background. This slows the system down a great deal. Spyware also makes entries in the registry files. This must be removed with spyware removal programs.Â

By frequently adding and removing software and hardware from the system may make the system more and more sluggish over time. The system may become slow to the point of being annoying. Yet when the system was new it ran perfectly. There are many answers to why this happens. The system may be infected with viruses that are filling up the resources by replicating themselves or there may be Spyware operating in the background. These Spyware can wreck havoc with the system time by delaying the response of the processor to the programs that are running in front. One other possible reason could be that the registry has gotten full of obsolete entries and references that installing programs and hardware make in the registry. These entries are not removed when the programs or hardware are uninstalled. This has to be done manually or with any free Spyware removal tool made for the very purpose.

Use Software, Do Not Delve Into The Registry Manually

It is incorrect to assume that by uninstalling software from the system all the entries in the system pertaining to the software are removed. Nothing can be further from the truth. Many traces or entries of the uninstalled software or Spyware may be left behind in the system registry, either intentionally or unintentionally. These obsolete entries or references in the registry clutter up the system to such an extent that the system may crash and cause tremendous loss of data. A wake up call is the system slowing down and acting erratically. On such signs you should get some free anti-Spyware removal tool in addition to the anti virus software and scan the system for Spyware that may have installed itself on your system. Many anti virus packs come with software but it you do not have any it may do a world of good to get some anti-Spyware. After running the free anti-Spyware removal tool run the registry cleaner any free registry cleaner to remove all instances form the system registry.

Manual cleaning of the registry is very complicated as well as dangerous because if a wrong file is deleted the system may shut down and not boot up again unless the Operating System is reinstalled. It is for this reason that registry cleaners are designed. They do a great job in a few seconds and leave the system running more efficiently and fast. If your system has been running sluggishly lately. Run a registry cleaner after the anti-Spyware and it will surely be a pleasure to work on the system again.

How To Take Pictures In The Dark

Have you ever taken a picture of a cherished moment only later to discover it did not develop well because of the lighting? This will never happen again.

Advancements in sensor technology are transforming the quality of digital cameras. Sensors will enable the camera to be two to four times as sensitive to light compared to what is currently available. Photographers will produce higher quality pictures in low lighting situations.

The current status

Flashes are currently used to add more light to a scene, but they may not always be effective or appropriate. For instance, photos are prohibited in some indoor venues because the flash may take away from the participants of the event. Due to the progression of light sensors, taking a picture indoors will produce better results and may promote the usage of cameras in more venues.

Out with the old

The new technology builds upon old technology, which works as follows: Red, green, and blue pixels work in conjunction with an image sensor to collect more light to produce a quality picture. Half of pixels gather green light, while the remaining pixels collect red and blue light. The inner software then reconstructs a full-color signal for each pixel.

In with the new

The sensor innovation introduces a fourth pixel. It is sensitive to all colors, so all wavelengths of light go through and are detected by the pixel. The pixels are highly sensitive because they do not filter out any light. The panchromatic pixels are used to harness the amount of light and the color pixels are used to procure the final image.

Conclusion

This sensor technology will revolutionize how we take pictures. It enhances the quality of the picture and grants more opportunities to take great pictures at times when it has previously been less than optimal to do so.

Protect your Home PC from Hackers!

A recent study commissioned in July of 2008 by Steganos, a provider or privacy software, has found that many home computers are woefully unprotected and the users are unaware of the privacy and security software and settings on their computers. The Study found the following: ” 13% of respondents had no Anti-Virus Software installed on their home computer ” 9% did not know if Anti-Virus Software was installed on their home computer ” 19% had no Firewall installed on their home computer ” 60% had no privacy software installed at all on their pc ” 25% did not know if privacy software was installed at all. The report would suggest that at least 85% of home computers are not adequately equipped to handle viral type computer threats such as viruses, trojans, and spyware. These findings do not come as a surprise in the IT community since most are constantly noticing similar results with their clients. Most users are not aware of the real dangers to their home computer either because of complacency, ignorance, or apathy. Many corporate users do not need to worry about viral threats since the majority of their computing experience is conducted in the workplace or on company laptops where IT departments handle these threats in the background with high-end security systems. Since the users are kept out of the loop “by design”, they are not completely aware of the protection based applications that are in place, nor do they understand the steps required to maintain that protection. Because of this, the users don’t quite understand the nature of the threats nor do they comprehend the real dangers - and that is where the IT industry have dropped the ball. The problem lies mainly in the education of the computer user. Millions of home computers are used for email and social networking on websites like MySpace, Facebook, etc. With respect to home computer security (ie. viruses, spyware, etc.), these are the most dangerous activities for the uninformed and unprotected. Security experts will acknowledge that sites such as MySpace.com are over-populated with infectious apps, and that hackers have always been a miles ahead of the home computer user making them easy targets in these virtual hangouts. Again, educating the user to comprehend these threats and protect their home computers should have a dramatic affect which will drastically reduce these issues In an effort to educate the home computer user about these threats, Bruce Powers has recently created a website called thePowersZone (The Powers Zone) and has setup a series of informational videos ranging from how to recognize the different threats to your pc to how to download, install and use the tools required in an effort to inform and empower the users about these threats and how to protect their computer from these threats using gratis software (free). The first video is a comprehensive 30 minute instructional video created for the home computer users that are either novices, not technically able, and those unfamiliar with these dangers and walks the user in a step-by-step fashion in a effort to familiarize them on the threats to their pc and how to protect themselves. Bruce also has a monthly newsletter designed to keep users up-to-date with the latest technology changes.

Using the Right Property Management Software to Manage Your Finances

One of the biggest challenges that we face as landlords is making sure that all of our property related finances (loans and mortgages) are properly tracked, and that we know at all times what levels of interest rate we are paying and when they are due to expire.



As your property portfolio grows it becomes necessary to use an efficient property management software solution to help you to better manage your finances.

Here are some tips on what you should look for in this area:



Does the Software Allow You to Track All Finances?

Now, as a property investor you will know that it is not just mortgages that you have on a property. You will also have loans that are secured on your property. These different types of loans can include personal loans; bridging loans; and even credit card loans.

Any landlord software should be flexible enough to allow you to record details of any kind of finance that that you have on your property.



Does It Remind You When Your Mortgage is Expiring?

This is an essential ingredient, and one that every good property management software application should have. In fact, it is safe to say that not knowing you̢۪re your finance interest rates are expiring has lead to too many landlords overpaying in interest charges. This, of course, has a negative impact on the cashflow your property is generating.



Therefore, make sure that your chosen software solution will alert you when your fixed rate, tracker/discounted rate and other tie-in mortgages are expiring.



Fast Finance Analysis Reports

Now, any good landlord software package will come with one touch reports that help you to quickly determine the data that you have entered in for your property business.



A key reporting requirement is to be able to see a snapshot of the exact standing of the loan. In other words, you want a detailed breakdown of the mortgage/loan including all the mortgage interest and capital repayments that have been made during any period.

Another powerful report is one that I refer to as a ‘Mortgage Broker Summary’ report.



This report is a must and is going to save you a huge amount of time when you are looking to get renew or get new loans. This is because this one report answers all the questions every mortgage broker is going to ask about your current financial commitments.



This report will typically include the following details:

· all the mortgages/loans that you have

· who the mortgage/loans are with

· what amounts are outstanding

· what redemption penalties exist if you decide to redeem the loan

· and lots more

XP Game Compatibility

ou want to know if all your favorite games are still going to run under Windows XP. Remember what happened when we tried to run games on our Windows 2000 machines? Sometimes we were a little disappointed. Windows 2000 was made more for corporate applications than "Quake," but true techno-geeks know they don't have to sacrifice death matches for a robust business environment -- at least not anymore.


Windows XP has shown an impressive track record of game compatibility. We ran a number of standard games, such as "Tiger Woods Golf," "NHL 2001," "Max Payne," and "Unreal" on our Windows XP Professional machine. Some of these games were specifically slated for Windows 95 and 98, and were shown not to work in Windows 2000. The installation in XP was as smooth as silk. The games ran quickly and beautifully -- not a problem in sight (except for my bad chip shot -- Tiger was hanging his head in shame).


Some less-sophisticated programs may not run as smoothly, and we found that some older applications, such as the Atari 2600 Classic Game Collection, did not appreciate the Windows XP environment. In this case you can use the Application Compatibility Wizard, found in the accessories menu. XP includes integrated compatibility layers to mimic older versions of Windows, so if your program does not work in Windows XP, the compatibility wizard will walk you through the process of getting even your favorite DOS games up and running. In this case, we ran the Atari Classic Game Collection in the Windows 95 environment, at 256 colors and 640x480 screen resolution. Then we set XP to always run our Atari application in this environment, and everything was smooth sailing after that.

One final tip about compatibility: Don't run the compatibility wizard if your program appears to be running well in the normal environment, as the wizard will give you an error message. In general, XP has great program compatibility, so you can upgrade your operating system without giving up all your old favorites.

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Create a Shortcut to Lock Your Computer

Leaving your computer in a hurry but you don’t want to log off? You can double-click a shortcut on your desktop to quickly lock the keyboard and display without using CTRL+ALT+DEL or a screensaver.

To create a shortcut on your desktop to lock your computer:
Right-click the desktop.
Point to New, and then click Shortcut.
The Create Shortcut Wizard opens. In the text box, type the following:
rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation

Click Next.
Enter a name for the shortcut. You can call it “Lock Workstation” or choose any name you like.
Click Finish.

You can also change the shortcut’s icon (my personal favorite is the padlock icon in shell32.dll).
To change the icon:
Right click the shortcut and then select Properties.
Click the Shortcut tab, and then click the Change Icon button.
In the Look for icons in this file text box, type:
Shell32.dll.
Click OK.
Select one of the icons from the list and then click OK

Note: You can also lock the computer by pressing WinKey + Del

Download Rapidshare Files Without Delay

Downloading from RAPIDSHARE often becomes a headache due to the time delay for FREE downloaders!!!

Well here comes a Solution @ pctipsntricks.wordpress.com
Do as follows :
———————————————————–
>> Click a Download link for Rapidshare !

>> Click the Free button on Rapidshare Page !

>> Now as usual the timer starts !!!

>> Now, go to the address box of your browser.
(Address Box >> Where you type the websites !)

>> In the address box type: javascript:alert(c=0)

>> Click OK on the alert box that arises.

Password Protect Your Excel Files

Password to open the document:

If it is applied then you have to give the correct password to open the workbook. Otherwise you cannot open the workbook.

Password to modify the document:

If it is applied then you have to give the correct password to modify the workbook. Otherwise your workbook is opened but you cannot modify the workbook. It means that your workbook becomes read-only.

To apply a password to MS Excel document, follow the given steps:

1. Open the file

2. Click on Tools menu and select “Options” from the menu.

3. Select the “Security” tab.

4. Enter “Password to Open”

5. Enter “Password to Modify”

6. Click On OK

7. Verify the passwords by re-entering both of them.

8. Save the document and close it

9. Re-open the document and check the passwords.

Prevent Users From Writing to USB


If you have windows XP with SP2, then you can disable the writing option to USB drives. This trick is very useful if you have virus in your computer and want to copy files from a USB Drive but don’t want to transfer virus to the USB. Follow the given steps to disable the USB writing option:

To edit the computer registry, first you should log onto your computer with administrative rights.

First click on Start button and type “Regedit” in Run option.

Here locate the location to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control

Here in right side panel, click right to create a key with the name “StorageDevicePolicies”.

Now in left side panel, select “StorageDevicePolicies” key, again right click to create new DWORD value then label it “WriteProtect”. Set its value to “1″. But again to enable writing, set its values to “0″.

Now close the registry editor and restart your computer after any changes to go into effect.

Reduce the Shutdown time of Windows 2000 and XP

You can reduce the shutdown time of windows 2000 and XP using some tricks. Actually windows XP take time to close all running programs and applications before shutdown, but you can minimize this time if you have little knowledge about editing windows registry.

Follow the given steps to reduce the shutdown time:

· First click on Start button then type Regedit in Run option. Here locate the location to:
HKEY_Current_User\Control Panel\Desktop

· Here in right side panel, double click on AutoEndTasks and here its default value is 0. Now change it to 1.

· Now in same side panel double click on value name WaitToKillAppTimeout. Its default value data is 20000; now change this value of WaitToKillAppTimeout to 3500.

· Now close the registry editor and restart your computer after any changes to go into effect.

stoping any particular program to appear in frequently used programs list

Today tip will help you to manage the list of most often accessed programs in windows XP and 2003. You can stop any specific computer programs which are appearing on most frequent list of start menu. For example if you want, your windows media player is never showing on the most frequent programs list when you play any movie, so you can hide this entry from others using these settings. Your family members and co-workers can find out your programs browsing activities with clicking on documents list menu. However this tip is very useful for you, if you are sharing your computer with others or you do not want that other persons know about your last visited documents history. To clear the history of any specific program automatically, edit the computer registry keys.

Follow the given steps for configuration to stop any particular program to appear in frequently used programs list:

To edit the computer registry, first you should log onto your computer with administrative rights.
Click Start button and type regedit in Run option then press Enter for next.

Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\Program name.exe
Here are the executable file names for others commonly used programs:

For MS Word = windword.exe

For MS Excel = excel.exe

For Explorer = iexplorer.exe

For Notepad = notepad.exe

For Media Player = wmplayer.exe

In this case, we are trying to control windows media player is never showing on the most frequent used program list when we play any movie.

Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\wmplayer.exe

Now in right side panel, click right to create a new String value with the name NoStartPage and close registry editor.

But next time, if you want to disable this functionality then simply delete the NoStartPage string item.

Now close the registry editor and restart your computer after any changes to go into effect.

Disable the Security Center warnings

Security is a system of safeguards designed to protect a computer system and important data from damage or access by unauthorized persons. Different antivirus and firewall programs are used to manage the security of the computer. Some time this is build-in antivirus or firewall program in windows XP to maintain the computer security. But if your windows is not provided with any antivirus, firewall program and Automatic Updates, your windows security center will alerts you a message "Your computer may be at risk. Your virus protection status is unknown" with useless repeating reminder. You can disable this message permanently by changing the values of “AntiVirusDisableNotify” in windows registry.

Follow the given steps to edit the computer registry for disable message:

* First click on Start button then type Regedit in Run option.

* Here locate the location to:

· HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center

* Here in right side panel, double click on AntiVirusDisableNotify and set its value 1.

*

Now close the registry editor and restart your computer after any changes to go into effect.

How to disable the "Turn Off Computer" button in windows XP?

Today tip is very useful particularly for those users who want to restrict the common users to shutdown public computer in common areas. You can disable the "Turn off Computer" button on the start menu and a common user will not "Turn Off, Restart and Stand By" a computer. Using registry editor, you can implement this task in all windows XP versions with minimum effort.

Follow the given steps to disable Turn off Computer" button on the start menu:

To use this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights.
Click Start button and type regedit in Run option then press Enter for next.

Here locate the location to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Here in right side panel, right click to create a new DWORD value with the name NoClose.

Now close the registry editor and restart your computer after any changes to go into effect.
But next time, if you want to enable "Turn Off Computer" button on start menu then simply change the value of data box to 0 or delete NoClose DWORD item.

How to display the hidden settings of Nokia mobiles?




Today tip is about the secret codes of nokia mobile phones and will work on most of the latest nokia mobile sets. You can display the hidden information of mobile sets and troubleshoot the routine problems using these codes.

Follow the list of latest nokia codes list:









Code Action


*#7780# To restore the factory settings of mobile set

*#3283# To verify the set Manufacturing date

*#746025625# To stop the sim clock

*#67705646# Use to delete the operator logo

*#73# Use to reset game scores and phone timers

*#0000# Use to display the mobile software version

*#06# To display the IMEI Number of the mobile

*#92702689# To display the mobile warranty related settings (Serial no, Made,


Purchasing date, Repaired date, Life time).

*#7760# To display the Production serial number

*#bta0# Use to display Bluetooth MAC address

*#9999# Use to display the mobile software version

*#147# If you are using Vodafone then this code will help you show the last call detail

*#2640# To display the mobile security code

*#7328748263373738# Apply to resets the set default security code

*#43# To verify the call waiting status

*#2820# To verify the Bluetooth information

*#7370# To format the mobile phone memory

*#delset# To delete the GPRS AND EMAIL settings

#pw+1234567890+1# To display the lock status of mobile set
#pw+1234567890+4# To display the lock status of your SIM

Improve XP Shutdown Speed

XP Shutdown Speed

This tweak reduces the time XP waits before automatically closing any running programs when you give it the command to shutdown.
Go to Start then select Run
Type 'Regedit' and click ok
Find 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\'
Select 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'
Right click and select 'Modify'
Change the value to '1000'
Click 'OK'
Now select 'HungAppTimeout'
Right click and select 'Modify'
Change the value to '1000'
Click 'OK'

Now find 'HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop'
Select 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'
Right click and select 'Modify'
Change the value to '1000'
Click 'OK'
Now find 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\'
Select 'WaitToKillServiceTimeout'
Right click and select 'Modify'
Change the value to '1000'
Click 'OK'

Increase your RAM and so system speed


1). Start any application, say Word. Open some large documents.


2). Press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC to open Windows Task Manager and click Processes tab and sort the list in descending order on Mem Usage. You will notice that WINWORD.EXE will be somewhere at the top, using multiple MBs of memory.



3). Now switch to Word and simply minimize it. (Don't use the Minimize All Windows option of the task bar).


4). Now go back to the Windows Task Manager and see where WINWORD.EXE is listed. Most probably you will not find it at the top. You will typically have to scroll to the bottom of the list to find Word. Now check out the amount of RAM it is using. Surprised? The memory utilization has reduced by a huge amount.

5). Minimize each application that you are currently not working on by clicking on the Minimize button & you can increase the amount of available RAM by a substantial margin. Depending upon the number and type of applications you use together, the difference can be as much as 50 percent of extra RAM.



In any multitasking system, minimizing an application means that it won't be utilized by the user right now. Therefore, the OS automatically makes the application use virtual memory & keeps bare minimum amounts of the code in physical RAM.

Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts - Mozilla Firefox Hotkeys


Windows Keyboard Shortcuts for Mozilla Firefox

CTRL + A Select all text on a webpage
CTRL + B Open the Bookmarks sidebar
CTRL + C Copy the selected text to the Windows clipboard
CTRL + D Bookmark the current webpage
CTRL + F Find text within the current webpage
CTRL + G Find more text within the same webpage
CTRL + H Opens the webpage History sidebar
CTRL + I Open the Bookmarks sidebar
CTRL + J Opens the Download Dialogue Box
CTRL + K Places the cursor in the Web Search box ready to type your search
CTRL + L Places the cursor into the URL box ready to type a website address
CTRL + M Opens your mail program (if you have one) to create a new email message
CTRL + N Opens a new Firefox window
CTRL + O Open a local file
CTRL + P Print the current webpage
CTRL + R Reloads the current webpage
CTRL + S Save the current webpage on your PC
CTRL + T Opens a new Firefox Tab
CTRL + U View the page source of the current webpage
CTRL + V Paste the contents of the Windows clipboard
CTRL + W Closes the current Firefox Tab or Window (if more than one tab is open)
CTRL + X Cut the selected text
CTRL + Z Undo the last action

Windows Keyboard Shortcuts for Mozilla Firefox

F1 Opens Firefox help
F3 Find more text within the same webpage
F5 Reload the current webpage
F6 Toggles the cursor between the address/URL input box and the current webpage
F7 Toggles Caret Browsing on and off. Used to be able to select text on a webpage with the keyboard
F11 Switch to Full Screen mode

How to clear all windows history files with a single click?

Today tip will help you to manage the all types of user history in windows operating system. This is a built-in feature of all windows keeps track the user's history, for example the websites you have visited, the documents you have opened and the keywords or files for which you've searched. However this tip is very useful for you, if you are sharing your computer with others or you do not want that the other persons know about your last visited documents history. You can clear these kinds of user's history with a single click on desktop icon named Cleanmru.reg. There is no need to clear each history file one by one. This trick will work in nearly all of the windows versions like windows 2000, XP and 2003.

Follow the given steps for configuration to clear recently opened documents automatically:

To edit the computer registry, first you should log onto your computer with administrative rights.

Here copy the following 6 lines and paste in notepad then save with the name Cleanmru.reg on your desktop.

REGEDIT4

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\TypedURLs]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RecentDocs]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32\

LastVisitedMRU]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru]

When you double-click Cleanmru.reg icon to remove the windows history, a small dialog box will appear with the information "Are you sure you want to add the information in C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\desktop\Clearmru.reg to the registry?"

At the end, you will get the message "Information in C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\desktop\Clearmru.reg has been successfully entered into the registry." Click on Ok button and verify that your all history will have been clear.

Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP) Configuration.

IGRP Configuration



RouterA#show ip route

Gateway of last resort is not set

C 1.0.0.0/8 is directly connected, serial0/1

C 3.0.0.0/8 is directly connected, serial0/0

C 192.168.1.0/24 is directly connected, loopback0



Configure igrp on Router A

RouterA#configure terminal

Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with Cntl/z

RouterA#(config)#router igrp 10

RouterA#(config-router)#network 1.0.0.0

RouterA#(config-router)#network 3.0.0.0

RouterA#(config-router)#network 192.168.1.0

RouterA#(config-router)#exit

RouterA#(config)#



Now verify these configuration on router A with command us under:

RouterA#show ip route

To check the routing protocol with this command.

RouterA#show ip protocols

RouterB#show ip route

Gateway of last resort is not set

C 1.0.0.0/8 is directly connected, serial0/1

C 2.0.0.0/8 is directly connected, serial0/0

C 192.168.2.0/24 is directly connected, loopback0

Configure igrp on Router B

RouterB#configure terminal

RouterB#(config)#router igrp 10

RouterB#(config-router)#network 1.0.0.0

RouterB#(config-router)#network 2.0.0.0

RouterB#(config-router)#network 192.168.2.0

RouterB#(config-router)#exit

RouterB#(config)#



Now verify these configuration on router B with command us under:

RouterB#show ip route

RouterC#show ip route

Gateway of last resort is not set

C 2.0.0.0/8 is directly connected, serial1

C 3.0.0.0/8 is directly connected, serial0

C 192.168.3.0/24 is directly connected, loopback0

Configure igrp on Router C

RouterC#configure terminal

RouterC#(config)#router igrp 10

RouterC#(config-router)#network 2.0.0.0

RouterC#(config-router)#network 3.0.0.0

RouterC#(config-router)#network 192.168.3.0

RouterC#(config-router)#exit

RouterC#(config)#

Now verify these configuration on router C with command us under:
RouterC#show ip route

How to configure OSPF step by step?


OSPF short for Open Shortest Path First is a Routing Protocol used to select the best suitable route for packets with in the network. OSPF basically an open standard protocol and not relate to any particular vendor. OSPF propagate the changes to all networks more quickly as compare to RIP and IGRP protocols then only send the changed part of the routing table to the other routers with in their area. We can decrease the size of routing table by dividing a big network into logically small segment using its area feature. OSPF protocol check the availability of others routers in the network by sending Hello packets, if the other router does not respond then it is assumed to be dead router. When you used OSPF for single area configuration, its configuration method is slightly differs from the RIP and IGRP.

There are some common OSPF configuration and Executable commands:



OSPF configuration on Router A

In global configuration mode

Router-A(config) # router ospf 1 (Here 1 indicate the process identification number)

Router-A(config-Router) # network 20.0.0.0 0.255.255.255 area 0 (Here 20.0.0.0 indicate the network ID and 0.225.255.255 wildcard mask with area 0)

Router-A(config-Router) # network 40.0.0.0 0.255.255.255 area 1 (Here 40.0.0.0 indicate the network ID and 0.225.255.255 wildcard mask with area 1)

OSPF configuration on Router B

In global configuration mode

Router-B(config) # router ospf 1 (Here 1 indicate the process identification number)

Router-B(config-Router) # network 20.0.0.0 0.255.255.255 area 0 (Here 20.0.0.0 indicate the network ID and 0.225.255.255 wildcard mask with area 0)

Router-B(config-Router) # network 30.0.0.0 0.255.255.255 area 1 (Here 30.0.0.0 indicate the network ID and 0.225.255.255 wildcard mask with area 1)

Now on both routers each Network will be added automatically, you can ping to Router A and Router B to check communication. You can verify this on Router-A or Router-B by using command Router# ping 40.0.0.10 (ping for Router B) and Router # ping 30.0.0.20 (ping for router A).

How Break or recover the router password


*

Turn the power switch off and back on to recycle the power.
*

Press the Break key or key sequence to put the router into ROM Monitor mode. The break key varies by computer or terminal software. The sequence might be CTRL-D, CTRL-Break or another combination.
*

At the > prompt, type 0 to record the current value of the configuration register normally 0x2102, or 0x102.

>o

Configuration register = 0x2102 at last boot

Bit# Configuration register option settings:

15 Diagnostic mode disabled.
*

Type o/r 0x2142 to tell the router to boot from flash without loading the configuration in NVRAM at the next reload.
*

Type i to have the router reboot. The router ignores the configuration in NVRAM.
*

The router runs the setup dialog, Type no or press Ctrl-C to skip the initial setup Dialog.
*

Type enable ate the Router> prompt to go to privileged exec mode.
*

Copy the startup configuration to the running configuration by using the configure memory or copy startup-config running-config commands. Do not type configure terminal. If you use the configure terminal command, you overwrite the configuration stored in NVRAM.
*

View the configuration by typing write terminal or show running-config. View the configured line, vty and enable passwords. Any encrypted passwords need to be changed.
*

Enter the configuration mode by typing configure terminal. Change the line of enable passwords as necessary.
*

All interfaces are in a shutdown state. Issue the no shutdown command on every interface that is to be used.
*

Type config-register 0x2102 to return the router to normal operation at the next reloads.
*

Exit configuration mode by pressing Ctrl-Z
*

Save your changes by typing write memory or copy running-config startup-config.
*

Reload the router and verify the passwords.

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