VITAL TIPS FOR GADGETS AND PC

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/

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/

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 you’re 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

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.