Archive for the ‘Computers’ Category

How to Stop Spyware From Robbing You

Tuesday
Mar 25,2008

Author: mohan mittal.

Booting up the computer in the morning seems to be taking
longer and longer. The pauses between asking for a web page
and it loading increase. Suddenly, even keystrokes aren’t
registering on the screen as quickly as normal. Is your PC
on the verge of a breakdown or has some version of spyware
made a nest for itself on your machine?

The average user doesn’t contemplate that the numerous
websites, free offers, giveaways or games they surf in a
day will damage their computer. And, nor does this average
surfer believe they could be downloading potentially
hazardous software that is going to cause their computer to
go on the blink, eternally.

The Internet is teeming with fantastic websites,
information, tools and interactive activities. Some of
these cost real money and some don’t. It’s easy to take a
freebie and feel like you got the better deal, but when a
lot of freebies come packaged with spyware to infect your
machine, the free price tag isn’t really worth it in the
long run.

Spyware is an umbrella term covering malware, adware,
viruses and worms. Virtually any type of software (benign
or malicious) will track, record and send your activities
(online and off) back to its source. Similarly, in the
beginning, adware was designed with the idea of preventing
end users from being besieged by unwanted advertisements.
However, those more interested in harvesting your personal
data, whether it is credit card numbers or other personal
information, have unfortunately warped the idea.

Prevention is the best remedy for all of these ills. Good
anti-virus software, effective firewalls and reputable
anti-spyware tools can save you time, money and a lot of
headaches later. Most users don’t think it can happen to
them, yet the best viruses and worms are so insidious, you
don’t even realize it is happening at first.

Benign programs that just want to know the type of items
for which you like to shop, can interfere with your
Internet connection, overwork your CPU and even tie up
valuable RAM. While it may not ‘mean’ harm, it will become
a nuisance when left unchecked.

With the numerous anti-spyware tools available on the
Internet and in your software stores, it doesn’t make sense
to stick your head in the sand. Ignoring problems on your
computer doesn’t make them go away. Because spyware can
come in so many forms and be potentially fatal, it doesn’t
make good sense to allow it the opportunity to inflict
damage before doing something about it.

Comparison-shop the various available anti-spyware tools.
There are many sites that cover current information on the
anti-spyware upgrades and latest problems. Educate
yourself to your options so that you can invest in the type
of software that will work for you.

About the Author:
i am 24 year old.

Tuesday
Mar 25,2008

Author: Musharf.

If your company has regional and worldwide operations, you might already realized that it is very hard to get decent internet connection in your remote locations. In this small article we will try to give you highlights on how to implement Microsoft Business Solutions CRM for worldwide operations with restricted internet connection.
• Outlook Client. This was very bright idea from Microsoft side to have outlook client as a presentation for Microsoft CRM data. Outlook has such nice features as synchronization and then working offline. If you have outlook client for CRM – you can download your customers, leads, contacts, and event properly programmed custom features, then work with them and finally synchronize them back to MS CRM database
• MS CRM Integration. As the task itself it is not difficult or challenging one. You can deploy MS SQL Server linked server to show your third party or even heterogeneous data on MS CRM screens. However, when we are talking about enabling working offline – we should get different approach. Your third party system should feed data into MS CRM database – through MS CRM SDK custom utility. In CRM itself you should stick to MS CRM user defined fields. If you take this direction – MS CRM custom features will be taken by Outlook client and synchronized with local machine. Your third party data could reside as it was mentioned in heterogeneous platforms: Oracle, DB 2, Sybase, Lotus Notes Domino, SAP, Pervasive SQL 2000, Ctree or any ODBC compliant database.
• Typical Industries. The most popular industry to deploy MS CRM as we saw so far is Transportation & Logistics, where MS CRM is usually integrated with Cargo/Shipment tracking database. Other industries, deploying CRM are: Education, Recruitment & placement, publishing & advertising. MS CRM is getting market in such industries as aerospace & defense, wholesale & retail, pharmaceutical, oil & gas, biotechnology, medicine/hospitals, non-profit
• Customization Tools. Visual Studio.Net is the first to mention, where you can create web application for MS CRM in VB.Net or C#.Net. Then you should use Crystal Reports Enterprise to expand reporting functionality. You use MS SQL Server scripting to pull the data from third party system (but not to update data in the CRM – you should use MS CRM SDK for this purpose
• Self Implementation. This was surprising discovery for us about 3 years ago. Microsoft CRM deploys all the spectrum of Microsoft technologies: MS Exchange, Active Directory, full-text search, BizTalk, XML streams, .Net – and we see that Microsoft-oriented IT departments take an initiative and implement MS CRM with minimal outside help

About the Author:
For more Free Resources www.100computertips.com

Tuesday
Mar 25,2008

Author: Musharf.

Now that spyware has far exceeded the threats of viruses Microsoft has released their version of a beta spyware scanner, remover and blocker. Spyware infects users with Internet Explorer with an endless build up of threats that run on computers and gather personal and usage information. Consequences of spyware can be browser crashes and start page changes as well as constant freezing.

With Microsoft’s beta spyware tool users must verify through the site that they possess a true, non stolen version of Windows XP before being able to download the software. Upon approval computer users get the download free and it begins immediately protecting against spyware invasions. The software includes a scanner that will detect and remove or fix spyware infected files. The scan runs easily just by booting up the program and choosing the scan. It can take twenty minutes or more for the entire scan to complete and once done it gives you a list of detected spyware.

When you choose to delete the detected spyware files you have the option of creating a restore point so that if any problems occur from remove a particular file you may rejuvenate its functions later. Microsoft’s anti-spyware tool also restores original Internet Explorer settings that may have been altered by spyware infections. Without this feature it is difficult and sometimes impossible to get an Internet Explorer browser to return to its normal features after spyware has hindered them.

After Microsoft’s beta spyware software has done its work your computer should run more productively and your privacy will be safer from intruders as you surf the internet. If you have Microsoft software it is wise to try to the free beta software so you computer can be better armed against spyware invasions.
You definitely need way to erase your hard drive completely.

Your hard drive is being used within your computer to record all the things that you are doing on the web? If you are worried about the websites that you have visited, the movies you have watched or the things that you have downloaded, you need an effective way to erase your hard drive completely.

But how?

Unfortunately, even reformatting your hard drive will not completely clean out your hard drive. You can still be at risk of this collection of data to be found and used against you. In fact, there are government agencies waiting for you to mess up so they can collect this data and use it against you. But, there are ways to erase your hard drive completely.

The program called Evidence Eliminator can help you by completely erasing everything that is located on that little black box inside of your computer. It will erase things so well that it can never be found again. No other method is available to do this type of work. If you are allowing yourself to be watched by your boss, government agencies or even your friends and family, then you are at risk of being put in jeopardy.

Even authorities with a microscope cannot recover files that were once on your computer once you use Evidence Eliminator.

With this easy to use bit of software, you will never have to worry again about your privacy and whatever you are doing on the web. Become safe again with the use of Evidence Eliminator.

About the Author:
For more Free Resources www.100computertips.com

Microsoft Patch Management for Home Users

Tuesday
Mar 25,2008

Author: Musharf.

With easy access to Broadband and DSL the number of people using the Internet has skyrocket in recent years. Email, instant messaging and file sharing with other Internet users has also provided a platform for faster spreading of viruses, Trojans and Spyware. Being on the Internet without proper protection is like walking in the rain with no umbrella - you’re gonna get wet no matter how fast you run.

With so many computers installed in home offices it becomes critical that home users install the latest Microsoft patches when they become available. Older operating systems like Windows 98, Windows Millennium, Windows 2000, or Windows XP prior to Service Pack require the user to initiate the process of checking for security patches. Windows XP Service Pack 2 has changed this and the default settings are now notifying the user of available updates automatically. This has increased the level of security in some areas, but there are a very large number of users and computers that do not install security patches or hot fixes provided by Microsoft.

How should home users actually handle the task of patching their computers? As businesses home users should do some research about the patches that are being installed? Just installing them and walking away will work for a while, but sooner or later home users will run into an issue that a patch breaks something and eventually renders the system useless. So, what should home users do when new Microsoft patches become available? First of all - patches are usually released the second Tuesday of every month. Often these events are commented in the news and other media. Users should also signup for email alerts or MSN Messenger alerts at Microsoft’s security website at http://www.microsoft.com/security to be aware about updates.

Once patches are available Microsoft recommends installing them immediately. Depending on the confidence level of the user this should be done fairly soon after the patch release. If a user has several systems available it is recommended to test the patches on the least critical system first before updating all machines. Only one machine at a time is recommended to keep track of things and to be able to fix problems. In Windows XP it is also recommended to create a restore point first so that the system can revert back to the existing state before patching. Home users should closely follow the media about virus outbreaks and updates. Waiting a few days with patching a machine can make sense if some critical work is done on the computer an important deadline needs to be kept. Nothing is more annoying than having to fight computer problems with limited time at hand. Speaking of time - never install patches without having enough time at hand. Users should allocate 60 minutes of time just in case. If something goes wrong time pressure is the last thing you want to face when troubleshooting a machine that is down.

About the Author:
For More Free Resources visit www.onlinepublishingsite.com

Tuesday
Mar 25,2008

Author: Musharf.

If you’re like many small business owners, the mountain of debt you accumulated during startup might have been enough to make you worry about collection agencies every time you answered the phone. But your feelings toward collection agencies are eventually going to change, if they haven’t already.

Small Business Collection Agency Services: More Benefits than Costs

Small business collection agency services will certainly cost more than just writing letters demanding your money back. But the amount of money you’ll collect, not to mention the time you’ll save, will more than pay it back. In fact, when you consider the hourly rate of your employees, or you yourself, collection agencies’ fees really can be quite a bargain.

Let’s say you have an assistant your business pays $10/hour, effectively costing your business $15/hour once you count in employment taxes, benefits, and the overhead of your office. You would be lucky if that assistant spent just five hours total on each debt, and managed to collect half of them.

But you would have sunk $150 into each successful collection. Plus, there’s the opportunity cost: $150 worth of time you haven’t spent in growing your business. So the net loss is $300, and probably more if you’re a profitable business that gets a good return on your people’s time.

But if you refer your delinquent debts to a collection agency for $75 each, and they collect three-quarters of them, you’ve invested only $100 per debt collected. Once you factor in all the money from all the debts the agency collected for you that you couldn’t have collected on your own, the return on investment is huge. That’s not even counting the saved opportunity cost, or all the stress you’ll save yourself and your associates.

In the end, your small business has to focus on doing what brings in the money: your core business. Leave your taxes to your accountant, your office repairs to your building manager, and your collections to your small business collection agency.

About the Author:
For More Free Resources visit www.start-ownbiz.com

Small Business CRM is Here to Stay

Tuesday
Mar 25,2008

Author: Musharf.

 you ask most small business owners what priority CRM has in their short-term business plans, chances are you’ll get more than one blank stare. The fact is that most small business owners don’t even know what CRM is not to mention how significantly it can benefit their growing company. This prevailing ignorance of small business CRM (customer relationship management) usually stems from just a few basic causes.

Excuses not to invest in small business CRM
The first and most common reason for disinterest in small business CRM is the very nature of small business. With limited financial and personnel resources at their disposal, business owners believe they can’t afford the money or time that a small business CRM system would require to show a significant ROI. Often times the chief concern is just staying afloat long enough to sign that big contract or receive a large product order.

Still other owners of new businesses believe that they can build and maintain quality customer relations simply by the virtue of the their cordial personality or particular market niche. They see small business CRM as an unessential luxury to be enjoyed exclusively by their larger competitors. What these owners often find is that without sufficient small business CRM support their business will never expand beyond the number of customer names they can remember. The problem is compounded when the company expands into internet sales (an essential move by any growing company) and suddenly finds its present customer tracking system overwhelmed by the sheer amount of incoming customer information.

The Bottom Line
The bottom line, as all successful small business owners have learned, is that it takes more than one good idea to build long-term business growth and stability. You may be great at attracting new customers to your business, but if you fail to care for, track, and understand your customer base, not only will you hemorrhage your hard-won clientele, you will also fail to capitalize on future opportunities by not anticipating future market trends.

The Solution
The good news about small business CRM is that there is an increasing number of automated systems available at prices that most smaller companies can afford without too much difficulty, usually around $2000 a year. Some CRM companies, effectively eliminating the need for small business owners to micromanage their CRM system, largely manage newer small business CRM systems. Now small business owners can reap the benefits of a smooth running CRM system with a minimal time/financial investment.

Features to look for in a small business CRM system
There are many features available to small business CRM users designed to not only track sales, but also cause sales. Here are some features to look for.
· Power Dialing-This feature allows your outbound sales agents to place 300%-400% as many sales calls, effectively quadrupling your workforce.
· Voice Messaging System-Allows you to automatically record and send sales calls designed to elicit a customer call back.
· Custom Fax and Email-Following up on leads with timely fax and email can mean the difference between closing sales and missing out on potential revenue.

Other ‘must-have’ features include:

· Calendaring
· Marketing management
· Sales management
· Order and quote management
· Service management

With the ability to outsource these business functions, small business owners can concentrate on implementing strategies that they’ve had to hold off on due to lack of customer information and/or time.

What is Pay Per Call? How Does it Work?

Tuesday
Mar 25,2008

Author: Musharf.

Pay Per Call is the next wave of advertising on the Internet. Similar to a Pay – Per –Click advertising. Pay Per Call has a lot more to offer and a wider audience in mind. The Pay-Per Call (PP-Call) is geared towards small businesses that do not have a web presence on the internet. However, this form of advertising can be used by all types of business or services offered on the net.

Advertisers create an ad similar to a Pay-Per-Click (PP-Click) ad. Advertisers choose key terms in which they would like to appear under. They also choose their geographical location (local, regional or national) Pricing starts at $2 and can exceed $20. The ad itself consists of a headline and 2 additional lines of text, (including a URL if the company has one). Surfers then call the toll free number shown in the ad. After the surfer calls the number, the call is forwarded to the actual business phone. Seems pretty basic doesn’t it? But, I had a few questions I needed answered so I contacted Ingenio and spoke to them about their service.

My first question regarded calls placed after business hours. If my business phones are manned Monday – Friday, 9 to 5, will calls still come in after 5pm on Friday? The answer is that currently there is no automated scheduling that will turn your ads on or off at a specified time. However, you can go in manually and pause your account so that your ads are not shown during non-business hours. The automated scheduling is in the process of being implemented but there is currently no set date for this to take effect. Of course, you can place your business hours in the ad as well but this may take up valuable space that could be better utilized describing products or services. Businesses that have a call center for after hours calls are effectively 24 hour businesses, so this should not be an issue for them.

My next question concerned wrong numbers and short calls. We have all done it. We see one number and dial another. Or, we see something and on impulse we reach for the phone, and then change our mind ten seconds after dialing. So, does the advertiser pay for these types of calls? Is there a time limit a person needs to be on the phone for? There answer is yes. The calls need to last at least ten seconds. This should be more than enough time to establish that a wrong number has been dialed. I also wondered about people trying to beat the system. The trouble with PP-Click is that people may dial and occupy a salesperson with no intent other than to try and boost their revenue off the ads placed on their site. Ingenious has taken this into account. They can track calls that come in through their system. Any numbers seen abusing it can be blocked. Hopefully, this will discourage any type of scam to boost profits on sites that sponsors these ads.

I was also interested to know about ads that did provide a URL. Was there an additional charge levied when someone clicked on the ad? Fortunately, there is not. If a business sells over the net as well, they could certainly use this to their advantage. Of course, one of the main advantages to this type of advertising is that it caters to potential customers that do not, for whatever reason, like to make purchases online. Overall PP-Call may be worth its weight in gold. At least the potential is there. Will it surpass PP-Click as far as the preferred method of advertising? Probably, not. It does however give advertises who couldn’t advertise on the net before a reason to start. Maybe then they will see the importance of having a web presence on the Internet.

About the Author:
For More Free Resources visit www.freeearningtips.com

How to Upgrade Your Pc

Tuesday
Mar 25,2008

Author: For more Free Resources www.100computertips.com.

Before you upgrade your PC hardware it’s best to search all options and ask for advice. Only after this you can go and buy a new component. It’s also useful to check if you really need an upgrade.

Do not upgrade your very old PC because it would cost a lot of money. It’s cheaper to buy a new computer in such cases because they are easier to upgrade later.

Upgrading the hard drive:

The majority of people do not really need to upgrade their hard disk, unless they use it for playing a lot of music, movies, and games. A 20 GB hard drive is sufficient to keep new office and internet applications, and all your files and data.

A medium sized hard drive would be around 40 GB and the maximum would be around 60 – 80 GB.

Before upgrading your hard disk it’s best to do a complete disk checkup including disk scan, defragmentation, etc. If you happen to be an average user and need more storage you can add an additional drive to the existing one. Before an upgrade, be sure to back up your files.

Upgrading the RAM:

RAM or Random Access Memory is the short-term memory of the PC. It keeps data that is being worked on now and may or may not be transferred to the hard drive that represents the long-term memory of the computer.

Current processors can perform an enormous number of operations per second. The hard drive, on the other hand, is significantly slower to handle so much information. This is where a high-speed RAM memory comes in. RAM needs a power supply to keep data. Once the power is turned off the data is lost.

Almost all PCs have 64 MB RAM and often 128 MB. If you want to run newer applications on your PC then you must upgrade to 128/256 MB RAM.

A lot of people who upgrade from 98 to Win 2000 discover that their computers lock up very often. This is because they don’t have enough RAM.

CPU upgrade:

If you choose this upgrade, you will have faster execution of instructions but it leaves the RAM and hard drive capacity unchanged.

This sis the most cost effective upgrade and can increase the efficiency of your computer
considerably. Seek a professional help before you take a decision.

Motherboard:

Upgrading motherboard is not such a good proposition unless you replace the CPU and the RAM as well to achieve greater performance levels. You upgrade the motherboard either because the current one doesn’t support a faster CPU or the CPU requires a different socket. It could be very expensive. Think about buying a new PC.

Ports:

Ports are sockets at the back of your computer where you plug in external devices. Older PCs work on “parallel” ports. If you need to work a lot on peripherals such as digital cameras, digital camcorders, CD burners, and scanners then you need to upgrade to USB and Firewire ports if you are not using them already.

Both tend to be cheaper than the “parallel” and SCSI devices they replace. Always make sure that there are no compatibility problems with other devices in your PC when you plan to upgrade any hardware on your machine.

About the Author:
If you feel as though you professional and personal lives are at stake if you lose all the data that you have stored on your computer, then it may be time to think about investing
in data recovery.

Tuesday
Mar 25,2008

Author: Rahul Chauhan.

In today’s world of technology buying a computer can be difficult and confusing. Because of this we’ve decided to write this article to guide you next time you buy a computer.

Before you buy a computer it’s important to decide what you want. Consider what your needs are. This will affect the decision you make in which kind of computer to buy. How much memory will you need? What kind of video card will suit you best? Should you buy a desktop or laptop? What sort of processor will suit you best?

When you want to buy a computer it is important that you buy when you need to buy. After all, no matter how long you wait, what you want will always be cheaper in six months time.

Choose the computer you want to buy based on its functions, quality and ongoing technical support. The salesperson at your local computer should be able to help you with this when you tell them you want to buy a computer.

You will also need to decide which additional drives you will need when you buy a computer. These can include CD and DVD burners, CD drives and Zip drives.

There are also extra accessories to consider when you buy a computer. Will you want to connect to the internet? You will need a modem, whether it is built into the computer or external. Sound cards, video cards and speakers also need to be considered when you buy a computer as well as what pre-installed software – such as an operating system (e.g. Windows) you will need.

Printers
A computer accessory we all need. From inexpensive ink jets to monochrome and color lasers, different printers are designed to do different jobs with your computer. You will have a few choices to make when getting your new printer: price, speed, and print quality are the main ones. Ink jet printers and digital cameras are changing how we print photographs. Load your printer up with special photo inks and paper and ink jet/bubble jet printers have become one of the best options for transforming a digital image into a photograph! For speed and razor sharp text the monochrome laser printers are fantastic.

Scanner
This computer accessory is for input into your computer. Graphic designers will use a scanner often to input pictures etc. If you don’t have a digital camera a scanner is the only other way to get pictures into your computer to email, manipulate, add to cards, etc.

Speakers
These are computer accessories that most computers come equipped with. But some people like ‘game players’ want to upgrade for surround sound. You will find many different versions and brands.

Keyboard and Mouse
These are also computer accessories that usually come with a computer system. Although most people will have to purchase new ones during the life of their computer. This is because they do not last as long as the computer system itself. Of course, it is dependent on how much you use them, how rough you are on them, and how clean you keep them

About the Author:
I am a web site promoter

Wednesday
Mar 19,2008

If you like this article, click here to give it a Digg (Whoops!)

Anyone who has tried to get to the Digg front page knows how hard it is to do that. You need a lot of friends, influence, and need to be a top member apart from writing quality content before you can dream of meeting success on Digg.

On Digg-clones, on the other hand, it’s relatively easy to get the attention you deserve. Many niche specific Digg-style sites have emerged over the past few months where you can submit stories to be reviewed and voted by those who are interested in your content. Though, you may not get as much traffic from niche social media sites as you would from Digg, it’s worth having your content read by the like-minded people who are more likely to become your regular readers.

Below is a list of 11 most popular Digg-like sites where bloggers, designers, and web developers can submit stories (their bog posts or whatever) to promote their content.

Sphinn

Sphinn Niche Social Media Site

Sphinn is a social site for search and interactive marketers. It’s designed to allow you to share and discover news stories, read and take part in discussions, discover events of interest and network with others.

PlugIM

PlugIM Niche Social Media Site

PlugIM is a user driven internet marketing community. Submit content, share articles, comment on projects and promote your favorites to the front page.

Blogg-Buzz

Blogg-Buzz Niche Social Media Site

Blogg-Buzz is a blogger driven site, exclusively for bloggers like you, to share, discover and promote blog posts that you find interesting!

Design Float

Design Float Niche Social Media Site

Design Float is a Digg style, community driven news aggregator dedicated to the design industry. Design Float aims to collect and organize design-related content from across the web while letting the community float the best articles to the top pages of their categories and sink the most irrelevant one’s to the bottom. The ultimate goal of Design Float is to, hopefully, categorize the huge amount of design-related content available on the web into neat and easy to navigate pages of articles in order of importance/relevance as decided by the community. Basically, it’s just a niche version of the highly popular Digg.com.

Pixel Groovy

Pixel Groovy Niche Social Media Site

Pixel Groovy is a user controlled tutorial directory. We provide the members with the control, not editors, to decide which tutorials are worthy of being published and which tutorials aren’t. This helps filter out and set a level of quality in the tutorials seen on the frontpage.

CSS Globe

CSS Globe Niche Social Media Site

CSSG is a web standards oriented site where, basically, anyone with the right will can post updates.

DZone

DZone Niche Social Media Site

  • DZone is a free link-sharing community for developers
  • anyone can submit new links to the incoming queue
  • members vote on upcoming links to determine what gets promoted
  • everyone can browse, search and comment on links

TagNe.ws

TagNe.ws Niche Social Media Site

TagNe.ws, is a web 2.0 application that allows you to submit an article that will be reviewed by all and will be promoted, based on popularity, to the home page. When a user submits a news article it will be placed in the “upcoming” area until it gains sufficient votes to be promoted to the home page. The original source for TagNe.ws was authored by Ricardo Galli. He was influenced by the extremely popular English technology site digg.com.

Dig a List

Dig a List Niche Social Media Site

DigaList is a global personal lists website. We all love lists, we all have kinds of lists, about life, work, dreams etc. Have you ever wished to dig out all these treasure and share them with others? In DigaList, you can create your lists, co-create a list with others, or dig out a list you like.

SEOyak.com

SEOyak.com Niche Social Media Site

SEOyak.com is a news site for the Search Engine Optimization community.

SEOyak.com allows users to submit stories that affect the SEO world and then vote on those stories to decide which submissions get the most exposure. The SEO industry has come to appreciate the power of social media recently, and SEOyak.com provides a great opportunity to get SEO news heard.

Qoolsqool

Qoolsqool Niche Social Media Site

Qoolsqool is a free and open educational resource for educators, students, and self-learners around the world.

Qoolsqool’s mission is to take advantage of 21st century technologies to advance knowledge and education around the world and reach to people with a need or a desire to learn or teach.