Internet Tips And Secrets

Web Based Training And Internet Enabled Technology

2009-09-29T21:28:00.001-07:00

Only a few years ago, web-based learning through the PC was seen as revolutionary. Companies could put their guidance and ongoing training courses online and all employees would receive standardized learning. Soon, with the spread of Wi-Fi, router-based, wireless and satellite networks, people could tap into this type of training, while in flight. A seller could get trained in the most recent marketing presentation, while riding on an airplane for his or her next destination. Or a person could get oriented to their new home before the first day.

Now, web-based training have taken another step forward because of the technology used on the Internet that allows devices In addition to computers. There are some obvious examples of how this might work. For example, the television can be connected to the Internet in a way that allows to tune in with a training course or conference as easy as switching to a specific channel. You can use the DVR and really get the most out of the conference.

There are also less obvious but still valuable examples of the potential of Internet-enabled devices. For example, an Internet-enabled printer can tap into web-based training to help maximize the quality of the photos before printing them. You can learn to crop, sharpen, lighten, etc. Having your photos on-line guide that directs real-time information to a computer nearby. What web-based guide, because the device is enabled to the Internet can truly "know" what you just did and direct you to the fact that it was correct or not. If you have an Internet-enabled all-in-one, one could also learn to scan and fax for maximum results.

There are also some distant way, but really interesting this technology could be used. In the kitchen, internet-capable devices could actually teach you to cook as you go, sending information to a monitor near about when food is done or ready for the next step. The Internet has enabled a coffee machine could use web-based training to help you prepare the perfect coffee that responds in real time to the fineness of the seeds on the ground, water temperature, or density of the resulting beverage.

In all these examples, web-based learning will take place in real time, and could lead to new skills being developed. And in every instance, there is also the potential for interception in live help. In the first example, a guide could take you with everything he had lost in the conference, if you "arrive late". In the Internet has allowed such as printers, could help live help when a document is of particular difficulty - the other person can "see" what's happening in real time. In the third example, a cook could teach people how to cook or his recipes as he or she is almost there - even monitor the temperature and other information from their remote location.

Perhaps the most exciting web-based learning and Internet enabled technology is the ability for people to do things together, even when they are away. Hundreds of people could be part of a Web-based conference that helps them learn to use the latest Internet-enabled device. Or, your friend, relative, or teacher who knows how to do something that could not offer web-based learning where they can see and react to your input on an Internet-enabled device.

The Difference Between Satellite Internet And DSL

2009-09-29T21:26:00.001-07:00

What is Satellite Internet? Getting high-speed Internet via satellite is called as satellite internet. Satellite internet is much faster than DSL or cable. Internet via satellite can be read even in the remotest corners of the country. They are easy to install and use. The speed of the Internet is more than DSL or cable. Satellite internet is also known as lightning fast internet connection. You can download large files quickly and also listen to radio online without interruption. The speed of the Internet is constant and is not subject to fluctuations.

What is DSL? The form is full of DSL Digital Subscriber Line. DSL internet is faster than cable Internet. This is a broadband Internet connection and files can be loaded and unloaded quickly. The most important point is that it requires no need for new cables to connect to the internet DSL. You can simultaneously connect through the phone lines for Internet access and to receive and make calls too. DSL internet is much faster than dial-up Internet. While you opt for a DSL Internet connection, you get a DSL modem to connect to the Internet.

The differences between the Internet via satellite and DSL:

ท You can stay connected to the Internet with the help of internet via satellite. Satellite Internet service offers two ways to access the Internet, which provides faster Internet connection without fluctuations in bandwidth. While DSL Internet, the speed of the Internet is not constant.

ท Satellite Internet does not require huge cables or telephone lines for Internet access. The speed of the internet is also constant, as two-way satellite Internet uses Internet at high speed. Internet speed DSL Internet depends on the telephone wires and if there is something wrong wiring so your DSL Internet would come to stand still. The better the quality of your telephone cable the better the speed of the Internet.

ท satellite Internet service is accessible anywhere and anytime. You can use the Internet via satellite in remote places. DSL Internet access is possible where there are telephone lines.

While ท The download speed of audio and video files are smooth in DSL Internet files take a long time to download.

If ท stay in a city or a rural area, the speed satellite Internet is the same, while with DSL internet the speed would be high if it is near the headquarters of the provider of DSL services. The farther you are at the office of the provider of DSL services lower the speed of the Internet.

The best Internet solution: With technology improving day by day, the demand for fast Internet, with bandwidth and download speed has increased and this in turn has led to the Internet via satellite. Satellite internet can be accessed anywhere, which is the most important part of this technology. No cable and no hassles for internet connection and installation. Internet via satellite is more reliable than a DSL or dial-up internet. If you feel that there is a need to change the internet connection opting for an internet connection via satellite is the ideal solution.

The Internet Explorer Revolution

2009-06-30T20:38:00.000-07:00

As the internet has evolved and become part of everyday life, Internet Explorer has also become a household name, used numerous times each day by the majority of internet users. As with any market, Internet Explorer needs to keep it's competitive edge, offering regular updates and improvements on previous versions. The latest Internet Explorer package to be released is IE 7.0, and is expected to make a solid impression with increased security features and an improved user-experience.

Internet Explorer has listened to what it's customers need and want, and stepped up to the plate and delivered. For example: Internet security is by far one of the biggest concerns for all internet users, whether it be in a corporate environment, a small business, personal computer or a computer used by young children. Each internet user needs specific protection, so IE 7.o offers a wide range of security features, and the ability to turn features and restrictions on or off.

More Internet Explorer 7.0 improvements:

Increased Online Security - Protecting your computer from spyware that monitors your internet usage habits, records sensitive information (banking details, passwords etc...), as well as rejecting applications that will install annoying or malicious software on your computer without consent, this includes everything from basic adware to full scale virus software.

Adult Filters – One of the biggest threats online today is the ease in which children can access inappropriate material. With this security add-on, you can block adult content and trust your children will be safe online.

Pop-up Blocker – Stop annoying pop-ups ruining your online surfing experience.

Privacy – For this feature, you have better control access to sensitive information, as well as your personal internet surfing habits.

You will also find some extra add-ons for Internet Explorer 7.0 that will save you time by personalizing your browser settings. As you will see from the list below, the features can be very helpful if implemented correctly.

Auto-Fill Forms - If you expect to regularly be completing online forms (order forms etc...), now you can simple store address, account, and shipping information to easily and quickly populate online forms.

Business Tools – Rather than have your company do things differently in various locations or even departments, you can now streamline processes easily and efficiently.

Developer Tools – With this add-on for Internet Explorer 7.0, you will save tremendous time pertaining to programs, utilities, and tools.

Download Manager – Set your download options, applications and software updates to autopilot, for a time that suits you!

Live Feeds – Have your favorite news broadcasts, blogs, stock quotes, sports schedules and results sent directly to your desktop each morning or night.

Offline Browsers – Save websites and visit them at a later date... no internet connection necessary.

One of the most exciting developments of IE 7.0 is the graphic imagery add on options. These developments will increase your options online and generally enhance online user experience.

Animation Players – Allows you to produce, and visit interactive websites, mobile content, and digital applications.

Design Tools – This add-on allows you to add power and enhancement to your desktop publishing, digital design, or illustration.

Digital Photography – Gives you enormous flexibility when organizing, editing, uploading and sharing digital photos.

The Internet - How Do I Connect

2009-06-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

If you own a computer – and in today’s world who doesn’t – sooner or later, you will want to have access to the Internet.

The Internet for some is the Holy Grail of the modern age, and not having access to it is seen in some quarters as sacrilege.

But how do you connect to this Holy Grail – the Internet?

You need an Internet Service Provider or ISP who will give you access and you need to decide between dial-up service which uses a regular telephone line, and broadband service which, very often comes in the form of Cable, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), Satellite or T1 connections.

Do not get thrown off by all the computer talk. The option really is yours to decide on the type of service you need especially if you are working within a budget.

You must first determine what you will be using the Internet to do. If you will be checking email and accessing the Internet occasionally, then, you may need to consider dial-up service.

Dial-up service is cheap with a couple of disadvantages. It uses a telephone line to dial-in to the ISP’s network and when the connection is made, you are not able to take or make calls.

With dial-up service, you need to make sure that the ISP offers local numbers where you are located because you do not want to incur any long distance charges which can be expensive and unnecessary.

Additionally for dial-up, you will need to ensure that you have the right hardware to interface with the ISP’s network. You will need a modem for this service and these are not very expensive today.

If you have determined that dial-up service is not for you, then your choice is going to be one of the following: Cable, Satellite, DSL or T1.

Cable can be a good option because of its speed and the fact that you can receive a bundle of services at discounted rates depending on the provider you choose.

Some cable providers will have special pricing packages on Internet service if you sign-up for regular cable TV service as well. They will even give you, free of charge, antivirus software to protect you computer from being infected by viruses.

For a cable connection to work, you will need a network card and a cable modem. If you have a modern computer, a network card may already be installed as these are now being included as standard components in computer systems in recent years. You can buy a cable modem or your ISP may include one with the plan you choose.

Another option, DSL uses a telephone line for Internet access. Your local telephone company may offer this service or you may be able to obtain service from an independent provider who does not offer regular telephone service. Just check with providers in your area to see what is available.

DSL, like cable, is faster than dial-up, and like cable, actual connection speeds will vary depending on your location and how many persons are actually connected at the same time. You may want to verify how many persons in your area are being serviced by the same ISP to assist you in your decision making as to which provider to choose.

Satellite and T1 connections can be expensive but may be the option available to you depending on where you are located.

If you have to use a satellite connection, bear in mind that you will need satellite equipment for the system to work and you must have an unobstructed view of the southern sky.

One very important point to consider if you will be using a broadband connection is that your computer will always be connected to the Internet unless you turn your system off. You will therefore need to protect your system by installing a firewall and antivirus software.

Ultimately, the final decision is yours. The good thing is you have choices so do some research before you buy.

Internet Faxing Revolutionizes Communication

2009-06-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

Everyone should be able to see the way that businesses are shifting into the new digital era. Many aspects of business have shifted away from their traditional ways in favor of more convenient and cost effective methods that take full advantage of available technologies. One of these developments is the new use of internet fax services to greatly improve communication in the new digital age.

The old way of the fax machine could generously be described as "worth the effort." The frustrating process of sending out a fax message was definitely a memorable event. Most people should know of the practically legendary status of fax machine issues.

If the toner wasn't running low, then it was running out of paper in the middle of an incredibly important message. This meant precious time was wasted as you stood in the long lines in the hallway trying to desperately get the machine to work.

Well, those days are now behind us. A business can now use an internet fax service to make their communications much more effective and efficient. Any business can now pay a reasonable fee to receive their own toll free fax number that operates through their already established internet connection.

The money saved on eliminating the now unnecessary dedicated phone line can usually make up for new expenses. For effectively the same price, a business gets a lot more functionality though.

It really revolutionizes the way that employees are able to work. There will be no more lost time as they wait in line for the fax machine. There will be no more missed or misplaced faxes that didn't get picked up. The employees don't even have to leave their desk. They can manage all of their fax related business over their internet connection.

If they want to send a fax, they just have to sign on to the management server and choose the file they want to send and type in the destination. Receiving is even better. Faxes will be processed and entered into the online database almost instantly. There is no wait for a lengthy printout and multiple faxes can be received at the same time. All of these little features make sending and receiving documents easier than ever.

You also have to consider just how handy this will be for people who don't work the typical nine-to-five office hours. Anyone who regularly travels knows that maintaining communication is of the utmost importance. Unfortunately, it isn't very easy to constantly call and see whether new faxes are available. It is just as inconvenient to have a document a client needs on your computer while your client needs it 500 miles away.

The beauty of internet faxing is that you can have the full power of a fax machine in any internet enabled laptop computer. The user just has to duck into a coffee shop or library to get quick internet access and send a few faxes or check whether they received any.

All of these little advances have revolutionized the way that businesses can communicate with each other. You can now send or receive faxes whether you are sitting at your desk or in a hotel room 1000 miles away.

How To Protect Your Child Against The Evil Side Of The Internet

2009-05-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

In the world today, there are many people who take advantage of children. It used to be that we had to worry about predators in parks and playgrounds, and in our neighborhoods. In today’s society, we now have to watch and protect them from online predators.

Statistics indicate that children who use the Internet often are targeted by online predators more often because they can disguise themselves as same age as the child using the Internet. There are however, guidelines for parents to follow in order to protect their children from the dangerous side of the Internet.

Protect Your Passwords

It is critical that you limit your child’s access to certain Internet sites. One way to do this is to password protect your computer and under no circumstances give those passwords to your children. Most children will share passwords with their friends and it defeats the purpose of having them. Passwords will also alert you when your children use the Internet, and you can keep a better watch over what they are doing. They will not be able to sneak on the computer when you are sleeping or at work because they will not know what the passwords are.

Monitor Computer Time

It is very important that you monitor what your children are doing online. Tell your child what is appropriate and what is not. Warn them of the dangers of online communication. Sit your child and watch what they do and say online. More importantly, watch what is said to them. If you are suspicious, keep a log of what is said and contact the local authorities.

Block Access

Blocking access to sites that are not appropriate will go a long way in protecting your child. Many Internet providers provide tools that will allow you to better control your child’s time on the Internet. Using parental controls to protect your children is advisable to all parents. With them, you can set the parameters to keep your children safe. With parental controls, you block sites and chat rooms that you feel may be unsafe for your children.

Parental Controls

Parental controls are a great resource for parents in the fight to keep children safe. However, it is not a parental replacement or babysitter. Studies have shown that parents who have direct involvement in their child’s Internet use have fewer incidents of predatory harassment.

Kid Safe Browsers

Because of the growing problem of online predators, safeguards have been developed. Kid safe browsers are specifically made for children and do not allow certain keyword searches to be performed.

Internet Safety

Children are extremely vulnerable to Internet predators because they are by nature very trusting. It is important that you teach them safety protocol. It is important that they understand that under no circumstances should they ever give out their personal information on the Internet, and explain to them why these precautions are necessary.

It may be difficult to explain why these precautions are necessary without scaring your child, however, being cautious is very important when it comes to online safety. Some children are willful and will give their information anyway. This is when it is necessary to restrict their online activity altogether until they are more responsible.

Pre-teen children should always have a parent present to monitor what their activities are. They may not appreciate you looking over their shoulder; however their safety should be your number one priority. When it comes to your child and the Internet, there is no such thing as being overprotective.

Technology and Wireless Satellite Internet

2009-05-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

As technology advanced forward, many of the things we've taken for granted for years are being reborn under the banner of wireless or wireless satellite Internet. Of course, we're talking about a lot more than just receiving the Internet from a satellite connection. Many other technologies have also obtained new life through the use of "sky birds."

Some of the most visible changes in technologies has been in communications and entertainment. Cellular telephones use satellite services to bounce signals literally around the world. Although cell phone service is typically within a 2 mile radius of a cellular tower, by using the power of stationary satellites, a signal or connection on a cell phone can be routed to wherever another cell tower can be found. This is especially good news for those people who tend to be in more remote areas.

Wireless satellite Internet is a connection to the web that's available anywhere the sky can be seen. Using a satellite to make the connection into the web holds the promise of all the web all the time, anytime. The always on no matter where you are can be a major benefit for many people. This feature is especially promising for serious followers of sports, sport teams, news, weather junkies, stock reports, etc. Imagine anytime, all the time, whenever there's a computer to be able to log into you Internet connection using wireless satellite Internet services.

Another technology that falls under the umbrella of wireless satellite Internet is the whole television genre. Companies like Direct Way and Dish Network are rapidly building infrastructure that replaces traditional antennae or cable television reception options. For about the same price as cable-TV a clear view of the southern sky will deliver crystal clear television with all popular channels.

Movies on Demand is an up and coming technology that will literally allow you to order movies to watch whenever you want. No more being tied to the start times of the networks, cable companies or even the satellite entertainment providers. All movies, whenever, all the time is the driving force behind the wave of growth in this fast paced industry.

The World of Internet

2009-05-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

Internet…. It entered our lives not so long ago, but made a revolutionary change in the lives of all the mankind. Internet brought a new quality of communication, information, services, etc into the world.

It helps to sell and buy, communicate and find soul mates; it provides you with essay help and entertains when you feel sad. Its missions are countless. It is our reliable companion in life. As students we order custom essays on the net, as grown ups we use it every hour in our work, older people use internet instead of books, guidebooks, maps, etc. We can’t ignore the influence of the internet on our lives. Some say it is negative, the others state it is positive. But it is not all black and white. In this article my aim is to discuss influence of the Internet on person’s mind. Internet is distinguished by a high speed of information exchange. That is why we have a completely new level of relations between a person and a computer, between two people with computer’s help.

We tend to perceive greater amount of information more quickly and we discover new capabilities of our brains, a completely new perception of the old information. Computer specialists have more logically structured mental processes. It enables them to express their ideas more clearly and with more precision, they are more self –organized. One of the most important functions of the Internet is personal communication on – line. On – line communication has its own peculiarities: it is not an epistolary genre, but it is not a real – to – life conversation. It is absolutely new kind of communication combining the both. An opportunity to have a talk with a remote interlocutor in real time mode affords to carry out individual psychotherapy. Virtual communication has its own specific characteristics. The exchange of written messages which substitutes verbal communication is a comparatively slow process. A person has time to ponder on his thoughts and to shape them appropriately. Thus he loses a lot of useful information while typing and editing the text. Though there is an opinion that the exchange of information becomes more intense as for its contents and size. Lately there has been a lot fuss about the so – called Internet addiction. Most of such discussions agree on the irretrievable harm of the Internet addiction. But we suggest not being hasty with conclusions. Let’s consider the issue. We can get used to anything: to warm rain, Mexican soap operas, essay writing every weekend. We also can get used to the Internet. You get used to neutral things with no encoding, zombing or programming qualities. They influence you in a natural way like a tasty home pie your mother baked for you and you got used to it. It is up to you whether you will get addicted to something or not. It depends on your personal tastes, world outlook, and your senses. Otherwise everyone will be drinking coffee, watching Mexican soap operas, writing essays every weekend or getting lost in the Internet. Even those who claim all this to be a kind of drugs will be doing the same things. That is why comparing Internet with drug addiction is groundless and people should be careful when drawing such parallels.

Can the place with many friends, with a lot of interesting news, where I can find a lot of sensational information do me harm? Can the place containing all the works of art, grand libraries, music, movies, thrilling games do me harm? Surely, not. Will I love this place? No doubt, I will. Will I aspire to visit this place as often as possible? Yes, I will want to come there again and again. Why then everyone gets agitated and worried, if this place is called Internet? What does it change? Internet is a whole world, where your dreams come true, where there are no borders between countries and continents, where you need neither a visa, no passport. I love this world. I got used to it and I miss when I am without it. And it is natural to aspire to everything what is dear to me.

The Birth of Internet Access

2009-04-30T20:35:00.001-07:00

Isn’t it interesting how we always seem to take for granted some of the most significant technological breakthroughs that have helped propel our society into the 21st century? Internet access is one such technology that has changed the way we work, live, and play. The Internet has become such a necessity in most of our daily lives that we hardly even give its significance a second thought. We use the Internet for personal communication, our finances, entertainment, dating, news, research, and much more. However, it’s amazing when asked, “Who created the Internet?” the usual answer is a simple “I don’t know”. The creation of the Internet was a pretty large technical undertaking that took many years to perfect and would require a great deal of your time if explained in complete detail. However, this editorial cuts to the chase and explains its development in a clear, concise, non-technical manner.

In the late 1960s, the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) developed by ARPA of the U.S. Department of Defense created a network of computers that were all linked together. This network was referred to as ARPANET and was specifically designed to be redundant. The reason for the network redundancy ensured that if any one section of the network became damaged in a large scale military conflict, the remaining computers on the network would still be able to communicate with one another. Back then, the military understood the potential of computer networks and they also understood that in any military conflict reliable battlefield communication is paramount to a successful outcome. This is what led the military to research a way to reliably network computers for such a scenario.

By the mid 1980s, the National Science Foundation created NSFNET. This used the ARPANET technology that was originally developed for military application to allow universities and researchers to connect to each other. By 1987, NSFNET was no longer capable of handling the amount of information that was being transferred, so the National Science Foundation made improvements to the network in order to increase information transfer speeds. This high speed network technology was the key advancement that made the future of Internet access practical. As a result, this improved high-speed network laid the groundwork for the application of commercial Internet access.

In the 1980s, the majority of individuals with Internet access were mainly comprised of scientists and researchers. By the early 1990s, many companies, now more commonly referred to as Internet service providers (ISP’s) started offering Internet access to average home users. This was the key transition point that allowed the average individual with a simple modem and computer configuration to acquire Internet access.

The World Wide Web (www) was created in the early 1990s by a European Laboratory. Their goal was to develop a way for researchers to work more closely together and to make the sharing of their research easily accessible amongst other researchers. As a result, the first publicly accessible Web site was created in 1993.

By the mid 1990s, well over 30 million people had acquired Internet access. These vast numbers of Internet surfers enticed large corporations to invest their marketing dollars into Web design and promotion in order to sell or provide information about their products and or services. As a result, today there are millions of companies vying for the attention of anyone with Internet access. Moreover, it has become a standard requirement for just about every business model to acquire an Internet presence.

In conclusion, the birth of Internet access can be attributed in large part, to the combination and sharing of individual ideas and talents from thousands of people around the world. If it were not for this collective effort, the Internet and the access to it that we have become so dependant on would not exist today. Imagine for an instance what life would be like without the Internet. You would probably feel more or less confused and lost without even realizing why. Think about it, to a lot of people the Internet has become their sole source for personal banking, investing, driving directions, Online education, tickets for entertainment events, hard to find items, health related resources, music, dating, Online gaming, shopping, and work/school research. These are just a few examples of the many uses that the Internet brings into our lives. As you can see, Internet access has become such a common requirement in our lives that without it we would literally be lost.

Security Issues And The Internet

2009-02-28T20:12:00.000-08:00

With the age of the personal computer upon us, we must be constantly monitoring the activity of children on the Internet. The World Wide Web is filled with an abundance of unsafe sites that children certainly should not have access to. It is rather unfortunate that many parents simply do not have the knowledge about computers with which to implement proper security systems that restrict the Internet content available for the viewing of young children. In not knowing how to restrict the websites that young children can view, parents can be unintentionally putting their kids in harms way.

There are thousands and thousands of predatory adults lurking around in chat rooms and as such children can easily become entangled with some such adverse character. Laws have actually been established suggesting that a lack of restriction, if done knowingly, could result in fines and/or imprisonment. Thus not only is it important to understand the potential threats on the internet and know how to combat these threats for your children's sake, it is equally as important for your sake. Along with the treats posed by chat rooms the Internet contains a plethora of other offensive materials that, under no circumstances, should be approved for viewing by young children.

Restricting the content is actually a relatively simple task to accomplish. Having some background knowledge with computers will certainly make the process a much more efficient one though. Basically there are a number of ways to go about monitoring and restricting the content available on the Internet and the more direct of which involves consulting and manually adjusting the level of security via the internet options accessed through a web browser. There you will be presented with a number of options to choose from and the process is clearly outlined. The alternative method involves consulting the settings inside the main hard disk drive and it follows in much the same manner as the pervious technique.

Know Your Internet Browser

2009-02-20T20:11:00.000-08:00

IE is a very good browser in many respects, but the bad guys just love to hack at it and bombard you with nasty bugs. However, there is a better browser available that's not subject to all these viruses and attacks. Internet Explorer is the most popular browser that is used for surfing the net today. Users need a secure and reliable internet browser that will not let harmful viruses and spyware invade computers when browsing the interent. The most widely accepted browser as far back as anyone can remember is Internet Explorer. In the browser generation we are now seeing other browsers enter the market like firefox, opera and others.

Now, Firefox is the main rival of IE. Since new alternatives like Firefox and Opera have come out we now know that, yes there is faster browsing out there. Most of Firefox's advantages are MSIE's disadvantages, and vice-versa. Firefox allows you to “open in tabs. There has also been a joke circulating among Firefox fans that there is only one thing that is more secure in Internet Explorer than in Firefox and that is a feature that has not been implemented yet in Internet Explorer.

There is a strong integration with IE with Microsofts OS, though there is a positive side and a negative side to this because this enhances security problems. The Firefox team made a conscious decision to support neither ActiveX nor VBScript, activex and vbscript are not standards in the web society are often the problem when it comes to security vulnerabilities when using IE. Internet Explorer version 7 has been improved a great deal to help users a glimpse of the type of functionality you can expect from the new Windows Vista, it will not only do this but is fixes many security problems and introduced many new features into the browser. If you end up at a site that you think is questionable, and it does not have the appropriate security certificate, IE7 will now warn you by displaying messages.

Safety is comprised when the threat of internet crooks create and execute large-scale hoaxes such as ID theft and phishing. With the introduction of IE7 they have added a new feature called Phishing, Phishing is stealing your identity by bringing to sites that mimic other websites. What is phishing, phishing is when people send emails and falsely portray that they are from a bank or credit card company in hopes you will give you personal information to them. This is done by you clicking on a link in an email and entering your information, you think the site you are entering you information is the real site but it is not.

Just hit "Delete Cookies" and they will be gone, but as you surf the internet more, they will slowly come back. Note: Some sites may store cookies to use your personal information without your consent. Choose a level for internet privacy policy, cookies to be allowed or disallowed, but make sure you don’t allow third party cookies onto the computer.

Internet Provider Connection Software - Why?

2009-02-10T20:09:00.000-08:00

As a computer technician I encounter many misconceptions about computers. Internet provider software is one that is often misunderstood. Internet service providers often give customers the false impression that their software is necessary to connect to the internet. If you are one of these folks, you may be asking yourself what other impressions your cheap Internet service provider is giving you.

Do I need software to connect to the Internet?

Absolutely not. The Windows operating system provides all the networking software needed to connect to the Internet and most other types of networks for that matter. Some ISPs require that their branded software be installed to connect to their service. This required software is used by the service provider to capture your attention for the purpose of showing you advertisements and the ISPs own focused content.
Usually when you click to connect to one of these service providers your browser opens and you are bombarded with ads while the home page loads. You may be able to customize the content posted on the home page to your liking, but lets face facts, You have become a captive audience and you are being taken for a ride.

What does the Internet Service Providers software do?

Internet access provider software does 2 things immediately on install. First it hijacks your Windows connection software so that it can not be used to connect to any other service provider. Usually other Windows network services are also disabled, such as Internet connection sharing. Second, it hijacks your web browser so that you must log on to their home page, which I find ironic since internet service providers are always warning us about spyware that hijacks your browser.

The perpetrators of this type of hijacking is a list of the most popular service providers. You know them as, AOL, NetZero, EarthLink, PeoplePC, AT&T, Netscape... and the list goes on. AOL being the ring leader and takes control of your computer beyond the extreme to the point of being criminal. All of these service providers prefer to hijack the Internet Explorer browser because all Windows users have it installed and it is easy to build software for. But most can also be used with Netscape or Firefox.

So what is the alternative?

Simply contact a service provider and ask them if internet connection software is required to use their service. Not all Internet service providers require that you install connection software and are very willing to help you set up your Windows connection.
While doing research for this article, I expected to find price to be a factor in the connection software equation. ISPs that require connection software obviously make money force feeding you advertisements, allowing them to offer lower rates. To my surprise that does not appear to be the most important factor in setting price. I found that bandwidth has more affect in determining rates.

So, escape from the hijackers. There are many national Internet service providers out there that don't require that you be held hostage to pop up ads and stale content. Search the Internet for ISPs, do your homework and you will find the freedom to surf the web the way you deserve.

Basic Changes To Make In Your Internet Explorer Options

2009-01-30T00:14:00.000-08:00

Most people get their computer with Internet Explorer already installed and set to all the default settings. The default settings are what Microsoft calls “recommended settings”. These settings are not always the best for your usage. One size does not always fit all. But how do you change the settings and what do they all mean? I’m glad you asked...

In this article I am going to take you step by step through these settings to explain them to you. Open a new browser window before you start, so you can follow these steps as you read the article. At the top of your new browser window, click on “tools” then “Internet Options”.

The first tab you will see is the “general” tab. The very first option you have is where to set your home page. Type in http://forum.dugancom.com/. I’m just kidding. That is my website. Pick a website that you want your browser to open to every time you go online. If you have a favorite search engine, put it there. If you have a home page enter that. Hit apply when you have done this and that will be your home page from now on. Anytime you hit the home button at the top of your browser it will automatically go to that page.

The next option you have is to “delete cookies”. There is a lot said about how to manage cookies and what they are for on the Internet. But for the purposes of this article I will just tell you that cookies store information like websites where you want to be automatically logged in rather than having to type in a username and password every time. There are other cookie uses and hopefully I will have time to write about that in another article. If you delete the cookies, you will have to login to websites you use often and it won’t remember your username etc.

The next button says “delete files”. These are the temporary files Internet Explorer stores on your hard drive so if you go back to them they will load faster because the images and other files are already downloaded. Later we will get to another area with a setting that will help you manage this. You can go ahead and delete these files if you want to and every now and then you should.

The next button is called “settings”. Click on that button now. It says, “Check for newer versions of stored pages... “ then gives you several options. Clicking “every visit to the page” will cause pages to load slower because rather than going into the temporary Internet files for cached files, it queries the server for the newest version of any files on that page.

“Every time I open Internet Explorer” means that the first time you visit that website, “this session”, it will check for a newer version of the page. After that, it will refer to the cached page on your hard drive. “Automatically” means you let Internet Explorer manage this for you and that is the recommended setting. “Never” means it will always use the cached version on your hard drive rather than check for newer versions.

I recommend either auto or never, because if you want to check for newer versions of a page all you have to do is push shift and hit the refresh button on your browser tool bar.

The next option in settings is how much space to allow for temporary Internet files. Five to Twenty megabytes is plenty. Internet Explorer tends to override your choice here anyway. Bill knows best I guess.

The next button is “move folder”. Don’t click that. Back away slowly and do not touch that button. It sends nuclear missiles at several minor countries. Seriously, moving the location of your temporary Internet files is not a good idea. The next button, “view files” is pretty boring stuff and you don’t need to do anything here. The same can be said for “view objects”. Those three can all be left alone.

Go ahead and click ok so we can go back to the general tab. You will see the next option is about computer history. Now this is a personal choice. You know how links you have clicked on before are a different color than those that you have not clicked on? Well history remembers that for you so you know which pages you have or have not visited. It also records the history of all the websites you or anyone else on your computer has visited. In your address bar, the drop down arrow that shows you all the websites you have been to is put there by the “history” option. It is also used if you have auto-complete enabled for web addresses you are typing into your address bar.

You can set this for the number of days you want to save history for. If you have kids, you can access these files to see where they are going on the Internet as well. If you are using a computer at work you might want to set this to 1 day. To the right of where you enter the number of days is the button to erase history now. Computer experts can still find your history. This is not absolute.

Next button is “colors”. The best setting is “use windows colors, but experiment if you want to. Next button is “fonts” and if you click on that, it’s pretty self-explanatory. This is not where you choose font size. That is in the “view” part of your browser rather than the “tools” area we are in now. “Languages” is also self-explanatory. “Accessibility” is where you can alter settings if you have special needs.

Ok, now let’s move on to the “Security” tab. “Medium” is the best setting for most users and probably is already set there. Be careful when changing security options that you do not understand. Click “custom level”. Scroll through. If there are things you are absolutely sure about and want to change, then do so. But if you are not sure, don’t change it.

You will see that when we first came to the tab the “Internet” icon was selected in the window at the top. You can also click on “Local Internet” and do the same for your settings there. This is for your local network if you have one. The next icons are, “trusted sites” and “restricted sites”. You can add websites to either area that you wish to allow or disallow no matter what other settings are on your computer. This is one way to block your child from visiting a particular website.

Go to the next tab at the top called “privacy”. Now this is another area where you need to be careful and understand what you are changing before doing so. This is probably already set to “medium” which is fine for most users. The “import” button probably doesn’t apply to you. Click the “advanced” button. Everything here is probably grayed out except the option to check override cookie handling.

Automatic settings mean that you accept both first party and third party cookies. That means you accept cookies from the website you are visiting and from any other websites that the website you are visiting has chosen to set cookies on your hard drive like their advertisers or others who want to track user’s habits.

Click ‘override automatic cookie handling”, then check “block” for the third party cookies and you will block some spyware or adware being placed on your system. If you want to block cookies from a particular website or you want to only allow cookies from specific websites, this is where you add those websites.

Next, we go to the “Content” tab. Again, this is an area that you need to know what you are changing before you change anything. You can click “enable” for content advisor. The first slider bar can be changed to block different types of content. First you can start with types of language you wish to block, then nudity, sex, and violence by clicking the icons in the window and using the slider bar. The “more info” button will help you understand this more.

The “approved sites” tab at the top will let you enter websites that you want to access regardless of the settings you just made with the slider bar. On the “general” tab, you should click allow websites that have no rating because not all websites are rated. You can also check the box that says a supervisor, you, can use a password to access restricted websites.

If you share your computer with your children, this is an option where you can visit restricted websites but they cannot. Be careful when setting this password. If you forget it, you will not be able to make changes to these settings later. If you lose this password, you have to know how to go into the registry to get it removed. Unless you know about rating systems, you don’t need to worry about the two buttons at the bottom of this tab or the “advanced tab”.

Click ok to make any changes you made and to enter a password if you decided you wanted one. If you understand about “certificates” and “publishers” then you don’t need my help here. If you don’t understand them, leave those buttons alone.

Click the “autocomplete” button. This is pretty easy to understand. Autocomplete works to help you not have to type the same information on forms and in your Internet Explorer address bar. You can also clear any previous information here. Click prompt me to save passwords and it will ask you each time you enter a password if you want Internet Explorer to remember your password for this website so you don’t have to type it in every time. I don’t recommend you allow it to remember banking and financial passwords.

“My Profile” is where you can enter information about yourself and use that whenever asked for your profile on a website or it can be automatically accessed by some applications saving you time.

Now, click the “connections” tab. If you are currently connected to the web and reading this article, then it is safe to assume your settings here are correct and you should leave them alone.

Click the “programs” tab at the top. There are drop down menus to help you set the default program for each of the tasks. This is a personal choice that will let you set your default web browser, html editor, and email program.

Now we reach the “advanced” tab at the top. Scary hunh? No, this area is mostly personal choices and your choices don’t have near the serious consequences of your settings in “content”, “privacy”, and “security”.

Most of the choices should be left where they are as the default settings. I will only talk here about the ones you may want to change. Do not check notification for EVERY script error unless you want to be annoyed a lot. Not every script in every webpage is error-free and there will be a lot of popups about them if you check that box.

Notify me when downloads complete if checked will give you a sound when a download is done. Underline links is a personal choice. I leave it set on always so I know when I see a link. The next ones again are a choice of whether you want to use Autocomplete.

You can scroll through the rest of the choices and change the ones you understand. Likely if you don’t understand an option you don’t need to change it anyway. I hope this article has been helpful to you and has helped you personalize your settings rather than have Bill Gates do it for you.

A must-know about computer and internet glossary

2009-01-20T00:13:00.000-08:00

Computer-related things tend to have a language all their own. While you do not need to know all of it, there are many confusing words and phrases that you are going to come across sooner or later.

Bandwidth. Bandwidth is the amount of data that your website can send each second, as well as the amount of data that the visitor to your website can receive. If either one does not have enough bandwidth, then the website will appear slowly.

For this reason, you should choose a host with plenty of bandwidth, as well as testing that your site doesn't take too long to download on slow connections.

Browser. A browser is the software (see below) that visitors to your site use to view it. The most popular browser is Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which comes with Windows.

Cookie. Cookies are data files that your site can save on the computer of someone who visits that site, to allow it to remember who they are if they return.

FTP. File Transfer Protocol. This is a common method of uploading (see below) files to your website.
Javascript. A common language for writing 'scripts' on websites, which are small programs that make the site more interactive. Another common cause of problems for visitors.

JPEG. Joint Photographic Experts Group. This is the name of the most popular format for pictures on the web, named after the group that came up with it. If you want to put pictures on your website, you should save them as JPEGs.

Hardware. Hardware is computer equipment that physically exists. It is the opposite of software.
Hosting. If you've got a website out there on the Internet, then you'll be paying someone for hosting. It is the service of making your site available for people to see.

HTML. HyperText Markup Language. A kind of code used to indicate how web pages should be displayed, using a system of small 'tags'. The 'b' tag, for example, causes text to appear in bold, and the 'img' tag displays a picture.

Hyperlink. A hyperlink is when a piece of text on a website can be clicked to take you to another site, or another page on the same site. For example, if clicking your email address on your website allows someone to email you, then your email address is a hyperlink.

Programming. This is when the computer is given instructions to tell it what to do, using one of many 'programming languages'. Programming languages for the web include PHP and Perl.

Server. The server is where your website is stored, and it is the server that people are connecting to when they visit the site. Note that server refers both to the hardware and software of this system.

Software. Programs that run on the computer, or that make your website work. Microsoft Word is software, for example, as is Apache (the most popular web server software). Opposite of hardware.

Spider. Do not be scared if a spider visits your website! Spiders are simply programs used by search engines to scan your site and help them decide where it should appear when people search. It is good to be visited by spiders, as it means you should start appearing in search engines soon.

Upload. Uploading is when you transfer data from your own computer to your website. For example, you might upload your logo, or an article you've written. Opposite of download.

URL. Uniform Resource Locator. This is just a short way of saying 'web address', meaning what you have to type in to get to your website.

How the Internet actually works

2009-01-14T20:07:00.000-08:00

To most people, the Internet is the place to which everyone plugs in their computer and views webpages and sends e-mail. That's a very human-centric viewpoint, but if we're to truly understand the Internet, we need to be more exact:

The Internet is THE large global computer network that people connect to by-default, by virtue of the fact that it's the largest. And, like any computer network, there are conventions that allow it to work.

This is all it is really – a very big computer network. However, this article will go beyond explaining just the Internet, as it will also explain the 'World Wide Web'. Most people don't know the difference between the Internet and Web, but really it's quite simple: the Internet is a computer network, and the Web is a system of publishing (of websites) for it.

Computer networks

And, what's a computer network? A computer network is just two or more of computers connected together such that they may send messages between each other. On larger networks computers are connected together in complex arrangements, where some intermediary computers have more than one connection to other computers, such that every computer can reach any other computer in the network via paths through some of those intermediary computers.

Computers aren't the only things that use networks – the road and rail networks are very similar to computer networks, just those networks transport people instead of information.
Trains on a rail network operate on a certain kind of track – such a convention is needed, because otherwise the network could not effectively work. Likewise, roads are designed to suit vehicles that match a kind of pattern – robust vehicles of a certain size range that travel within a certain reasonable speed range. Computers in a network have conventions too, and we usually call these conventions 'protocols'.

There are many kinds of popular computer network today. The most conventional by far is the so-called 'Ethernet' network that physically connects computers together in homes, schools and offices. However, WiFi is becoming increasingly popular for connecting together devices so that cables aren't required at all.

Connecting to the Internet

When you connect to the Internet, you're using networking technology, but things are usually a lot muddier. There's an apt phrase, "Rome wasn't built in a day" because neither was the Internet. The only reason the Internet could spring up so quickly and cheaply for people was because another kind of network already existed throughout the world – the phone network!

The pre-existence of the phone network provided a medium for ordinary computers in ordinary people's homes to be connected onto the great high-tech military and research network that had been developed in years before. It just required some technological mastery in the form of 'modems'. Modems allow phone lines to be turned into a mini-network connection between a home and a special company (an 'ISP') that already is connected up to the Internet. It's like a bridge joining up the road networks on an island and the mainland – the road networks become one, due to a special kind of connection between them.

Fast Internet connections that are done via '(A)DSL' and 'Cable' are no different to phone line connections really – there's still a joining process of some kind going on behind the scenes. As Arthur C. Clarke once said, 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic'.

The Internet

The really amazing about the Internet isn't the technology. We've actually had big Internet-like computer networks before, and 'The Internet' existed long before normal people knew the term. The amazing thing is that such a massive computer network could exist without being built or governed in any kind of seriously organised way. The only organisation that really has a grip on the core computer network of the Internet is a US-government-backed non-profit company called 'ICANN', but nobody could claim they 'controlled' the Internet, as their mandate and activities are extremely limited.

The Internet is a testament both simultaneously due to the way technologists cooperated and by the way entrepreneurs took up the task, unmanaged, to use the conventions of the technologists to hook up regular people and businesses. The Internet didn't develop on the Microsoft Windows 'operating system' – Internet technology was built around much older technical operating systems; nevertheless, the technology could be applied to ordinary computers by simply building support for the necessary networking conventions on top of Windows. It was never planned, but good foundations and a lack of bottlenecks (such as controlling bodies) often lead to unforeseen great rises – like the telephone network before, or even the world-wide spread of human population and society.

What I have described so far is probably not the Internet as you or most would see it. It's unlikely you see the Internet as a democratic and uniform computer network, and to an extent, it isn't. The reason for this is that I have only explained the foundations of the system so far, and this foundation operates below the level you'd normally be aware of. On the lowest level you would be aware of, the Internet is actually more like a situation between a getter and a giver – there's something you want from the Internet, so you connect up and get it. Even when you send an e-mail, you're getting the service of e-mail delivery.

Being a computer network, the Internet consists of computers – however, not all computers on the Internet are created equal. Some computers are there to provide services, and some are there to consume those services. We call the providing computers 'servers' and the consuming computers 'clients'. At the theoretical level, the computers have equal status on the network, but servers are much better connected than clients and are generally put in place by companies providing some kind of commercial service. You don't pay to view a web site, but somebody pays for the server the website is located on – usually the owner of the web site pays a 'web host' (a commercial company who owns the server).

Making contact

I've established how the Internet is a computer network: now I will explain how two computers that could be on other sides of the world can send messages to each other.

Imagine you were writing a letter and needed to send it to someone. If you just wrote a name on the front, it would never arrive, unless perhaps you lived in a small village. A name is rarely specific enough. Therefore, as we all know, we use addresses to contact someone, often using: the name, the house number, the road name, the town name, the county name, and sometimes, the country name. This allows sending of messages on another kind of network – the postal network. When you send a letter, typically it will be passed between postal sorting offices starting from the sorting office nearest to the origin, then up to increasingly large sorting offices until it's handled by a sorting office covering regions for both the origin and the destination, then down to increasingly small sorting offices until it's at the sorting office nearest the destination – and then it's delivered.

In our postal situation, there are two key factors at work – a form of addressing that 'homes in' on the destination location, and a form of message delivery that 'broadens out' then 'narrows in'. Computers are more organised, but they actually effectively do exactly the same thing.

Each computer on the Internet is given an address ('IP address'), and this 'homes in' on their location. The 'homing in' isn't done strictly geographically, rather in terms of the connection-relationship between the smaller computer networks within the Internet. For the real world, being a neighbour is geographical, but on a computer network, being a neighbour is having a direct network connection.

Like the postal network with its sorting offices, computer networks usually have connections to a few other computer networks. A computer network will send the message to a larger network (a network that is more likely to recognise at least some part of the address). This process of 'broadening out' continues until the message is being handled by a network that is 'over' the destination, and then the 'narrowing in' process will occur.

An example 'IP address' is '69.60.115.116'. They are just series of digit groups where the digit groups towards the right are increasingly local. Each digit group is a number between 0 and 255. This is just an approximation, but you could think of this address meaning:

A computer 116

in a small neighbourhood 115

in a larger neighbourhood 60

controlled by an ISP 69

(on the Internet)

The small neighbourhood, the larger neighbourhood, the ISP, and the Internet, could all be consider computer networks in their own right. Therefore, for a message to the same 'larger neighbourhood', the message would be passed up towards one of those intermediary computers in the larger neighbourhood and then back down to the correct smaller neighbourhood, and then to the correct computer.

Getting the message across

Now that we are able to deliver messages the hard part is over. All we need to do is to put stuff in our messages in a certain way such that it makes sense at the other end.

Letters we send in the real world always have stuff in common – they are written on paper and in a language understood by both sender and receiver. I've discussed before how conventions are important for networks to operate, and this important concept remains true for our messages.

All parts of the Internet transfer messages written in things called 'Packets', and the layout and contents of those 'packets' are done according to the 'Internet Protocol' (IP). You don't need to know these terms, but you do need to know that these simple messages are error prone and simplistic.
You can think of 'packets' as the Internet equivalence of a sentence – for an ongoing conversation, there would be many of them sent in both directions of communication.

Getting the true message across

All those who've played 'Chinese whispers' will know how messed up ('corrupted') messages can get when they are sent between many agents to get from their origin to their destination. Computer networks aren't as bad as that, but things do go wrong, and it's necessary to be able to automatically detect and correct problems when they do.

Imagine you're trying to correct spelling errors in a letter. It's usually easy to do because there are far fewer words than there are possible word-length combinations of letters. You can see when letter combinations don't spell out words ('errors'), and then easily guess what the correct word should have been.

It reely does worke.

Errors in messages on the Internet are corrected in a very similar way. The messages that are sent are simply made longer than they need to be, and the extra space is used to "sum up" the message so to speak – if the "summing up" doesn't match the message an error has been found and the message will need to be resent.
In actual fact, it is often possible to logically estimate with reasonable accuracy what was wrong with a message without requiring resending.

Error detection and correction can never be perfect, as the message and "summing up" part could be coincidently messed-up so that they falsely indicate nothing went wrong. The theory is based off storing a big enough "summing up" part so that this unfortunate possibility is so unlikely that it can be safely ignored.

Reliable message transfer on the Internet is done via 'TCP'. You may have heard the term 'TCP/IP': this is just the normal combination of 'IP' and 'TCP', and is used for almost all Internet communication. IP is fundamental to the Internet, but TCP is not – there are in fact other 'protocols' that may be used that I won't be covering.

Names, not numbers

When most people think of an 'Internet Address' they think of something like 'www.ocportal.com' rather than '69.60.115.116'. People relate to names with greater ease than numbers, so special computers that humans need to access are typically assigned names ('domain names') using a system known as 'DNS' (the 'domain name system').

All Internet communication is still done using IP addresses (recall '69.60.115.116' is an IP address). The 'domain names' are therefore translated to IP addresses behind the scenes, before the main communication starts.

At the core, the process of looking up a domain name is quite simple – it's a process of 'homing in' by moving leftwards through the name, following an interrogation path. This is best shown by example – 'www.ocportal.com' would be looked up as follows:

Every computer on the Internet knows how to contact the computers (the 'root' 'DNS servers') responsible for things like 'com', 'org', 'net' and 'uk'. There are a few such computers and one is contacted at random. The DNS server computer is asked if they know 'www.ocportal.com' and will respond saying they know which server computer is responsible for 'com'.

The 'com' server computer is asked it knows 'www.ocportal.com' and will respond saying they know which server computer is responsible for 'ocportal.com'.

'The 'ocportal.com' server computer is asked if it knows 'www.ocportal.com' and will respond saying that it knows the corresponding server computer to be '69.60.115.116'.

Note that there is a difference between a server computer being 'responsible' for a domain name and the domain name actually corresponding to that computer. For example, the 'ocportal.com' responsible DNS server might not necessarily be the same server as 'ocportal.com' itself.

As certain domain names, or parts of domain names, are very commonly used, computers will remember results to avoid doing a full interrogation for every name they need to lookup. In fact, I have simplified the process considerably in my example because the looking-up computer does not actually perform the full search itself. If all computers on the Internet did full searches it would overload the 'root DNS servers', as well as the DNS servers responsible for names like 'com'. Instead, the looking up computer would ask it's own special 'local DNS server', which might remember a result of a partial result, or might solicit help (full, or partial) from it's own 'local DNS server', and so on – until, in a worst case scenario, the process has to be completed in full.

Domain names are allocated by the person wanting them registering the domain name with an agent (a 'registrar') of the organisation responsible for the furthest right-hand part of the domain name. At the time of writing a company named 'VeriSign' (of which 'Network Solutions' is a subsidiary) is responsible for things like 'com' and 'net'. There are an uncountable number of registrars operating for VeriSign, and most domain purchasers are likely not aware of the chain of responsibility present – instead, they just get the domains they want from the agent, and deal solely with that agent and their web host (who are often the same company). Domains are never purchased, but rather rented and exclusively renewable for a period a bit longer than the rental period.

Meaningful dialogue

I've fully covered the essence of how messages are delivered over the Internet, but so far these messages are completely raw and meaningless. Before meaningful communication can occur we need to layer on yet another protocol (recall IP and TCP protocols are already layered over our physical network).

There are many protocols that work on the communications already established, including:

HTTP – for web pages, typically read in web browser software

POP3 – for reading e-mail in e-mail software, with it stored on a user's own computer

IMAP4 – for reading e-mail in e-mail software, with it archived on the receiving server

SMTP – for sending e-mail from e-mail software

FTP – for uploading and downloading files (sometimes via a web browser, although using special FTP software is better)

ICMP – for 'pinging', amongst other things (a 'ping' is the Internet equivalent to shouting out a 'are you there')

MSN Messenger – this is just one example of many protocols that aren't really standard and shared conventions, but rather ones designed by a single software manufacturer wholly for the purposes of their own software

I'm not going to go into the details of any of these protocols because it's not really relevant unless you actually need to know it.

The information transferred via a protocol is usually a request for something, or a response for something requested. For example, with HTTP, a client computer requests a certain web page from a server via HTTP and then the web server, basically, responds with the file embedded within HTTP.

Each of these protocols operates on more or more so-called 'ports', and it is these 'ports' that allow the computers to know which protocol to use. For example, a web server (special computer software running on a server computer that serves out web pages) uses a port of number '80', and hence when the server receives messages on that port it passes them to the web server software which naturally knows that they'll be written in HTTP.
For a client computer it's simpler – it knows that a response to a message it sent will be in the same protocol it initially used. When the messages are sent back and forth the server computer and client computer typically set up a so-called 'stream' (a marked conversation) between them. They are then able to associate messages to the stream according to their origin address and port number.

The World Wide Web

I've explained how the Internet works, but not yet how the 'World Wide Web' (the 'web') works. The web is the publishing system that most people don't realise is distinguishable from the Internet itself.
The Internet uses IP addresses (often found via domain names) to identify resources, but the web has to have something more sophisticated as it would be silly if every single page on the Internet had to have it's own 'domain name'. The web uses 'URLs' (uniform resource locators), and I'm sure you know about these as nowadays they are printed all over the place in the real world (albeit, usually only in short-hand).

A typical URL looks like this:

<protocol>://<domain-name_OR_ip-address>/<resource_identifier>

For example:

http://www.ocportal.com/index.php

That said that's not really a full URL, because occasionally URLs can be much more complex. For example:

<protocol>://<user>:<password>@<domain/ip>:<port>/<resource_identifier>

You can ignore the more complex example, because it's not really relevant for the purposes of this article.

HTTP is the core protocol for the web. This is why URLs usually start 'http://'. Web browsers almost always also support FTP, which is why some URLs may start 'ftp://'.

Typically the 'resource identifier' is simply a file on the server computer. For example, 'mywebsite/index.html' would be a file on the server computer of the same path, stored underneath a special directory. On Windows the "" symbol is used to write out directory names, but as the web wasn't invented for Windows, the convention of the older operating systems is used.

We now have three kinds of 'Internet Address', in order of increasing sophistication:

IP addresses

Domain names

URLs

If a URL were put into web browser software by a prospective reader then the web browser would send out an appropriate request (usually, with the HTTP protocol being appropriate) to the server computer identified by the URL. The server computer would then respond and typically the web browser would end up with a file. The web browser would then interpret the file for display, much like any software running on a computer would interpret the files it understands. For the HTTP protocol, the web browser knows what to interpret the file as because the HTTP protocol uses something called a 'MIME type' to identify each kind of resource the server can send out. If the web server computer is just sending out an on-disk file then the web server computer works out the MIME type from the file extension (such as '.html') of the file.

An 'HTML' file is the kind of file that defines a web page. It's written in plain text, and basically mixes information showing show to display a document along with the document itself. If you're curious, try using the "View page source" function of your web browser when viewing a web page, and you'll see a mix of portions of normal human text and short text between '<' and '>' symbols. The former is the document contents and the latter are the display instructions.
In newer versions of HTML there's a split between 'structuring' a document and 'displaying' a structure – in this case, another special technology named 'CSS' is added to the mix.

I've explained how typical web pages are just files on the disk of a server computer. Increasingly, things are slightly less direct. When you visit something like eBay, your web-mail, or an ocPortal-powered website, you aren't just reading files. You're actually interacting with computer software, and the web pages you receive are generated anew by that software every time a request is made. These kinds of systems are known as 'web applications' and are increasingly replacing the need to install software on your own computer (because it's so much easier just to use a web browser to access a web application on a server computer).

All About Internet Fax Services

2009-01-10T00:13:00.000-08:00

Are you interested in Internet fax services? The advantages of web fax services are many and subscribing to internet fax services is worth the money you spend on it. This article will help you to know all about internet fax services, advantages of online fax services, and what online fax service providers can offer to their customers.

The main advantage of internet fax services is that online fax technology makes sending and receiving fax easy and fast. One can even use the service even if he/she does not have access to POTS (Plain Old Telephone) as the internet fax services act as an intermediary to handle the fax sending and receiving process. This allows the users to send and receive faxes, especially those marked with “URGENT” anytime they want.

With online fax service you need not have to worry about providing an extra space for you fax machine. Internet fax services can save much of your office space and you can use utilize internet fax services to handle all of your specialized communication needs.

Internet fax services can save your hard earned money to purchase expensive ink cartridges or having the funds to pay the office supplier to send the faxes for you. You can send the fax messages at the convenience of your home or office.

The maximum infrastructure one may require is a computer, a reliable internet connection and an email ID.

Sending internet fax message is quite easy – what a user has to do is to simply type the message in the text space of the electronic mail and press the send button. The fax message will be transfer the network based server of the service provider, where it is converted into a suitable file format before eventually forwarding it to the recipient’s mail box or fax machine, whichever is applicable.

Online fax facility is offered by several companies – most of the companies ask the users to join in any of their monthly subscription packages. There are also several companies which offer free internet fax services. In free online fax services, the user cannot enjoy all the advantages or features offered in a paid internet fax service. That is there may be limitations such as only a specific number of fax messages per month or the user can only receive messages. Therefore, selecting a paid online fax service will be better for the user to enjoy all the benefits of internet fax service.

Web faxing or email faxing is an efficient technology which bridges the gap between traditional fax machines and web based communication. Internet fax services eliminate the operational cost and complexity of using fax machines and provide the users the flexibility and easiness to send and receive fax messages. After all, internet fax service is another communicating tool which makes life easier!!

A Guide To Using Internet Fax Services

2009-01-01T00:12:00.000-08:00

Using internet fax service is an easy way to send and receive fax messages over the internet. Online fax services provide great advantages to its subscribers at affordable rates. By subscribing to internet fax services a customer can send and receive fax messages from anywhere at any time – what one need is a computer, an internet connection and an email ID.

Nowadays there are several companies offering web faxing services. Most of these companies provide a paid service and a free service. The difference between these two is that if a customer needs to utilize all the features of an online fax service he/she need to subscribe for a paid fax messaging service. Free services are offered with various limitations such as only receiving faxes or sending a limited number of faxes.

Using internet fax services is quite easy, the technology is similar to email services to a certain extend. To start using web fax services, first you need to subscribe with an internet fax service provider. The service provide assigns you a unique internet fax number. Same as email ID, this is the address to which other users can send in their fax messages. The subscriber also has to create an email id in the service provider domain, in order to send and receive faxes. This is where the users are supposed to type their messages and it is where the incoming fax messages will be delivered by the service provider. Once the user sent the fax message, the message will be dispatched to the service provider’s server, where it is converted into a suitable file format before eventually forwarding it to the recipient’s mail box or fax machine, whichever is applicable.

The advantages of using web faxing are that the users can send and receive as many faxes simultaneously or send all faxes instantly. Another major advantage is that, the there is no complexity of a conventional fax machine and those never-ending paper jams. The technology is quick and even cheaper than traditional fax messaging. So why spending time and energy with the traditional fax machine – subscribe for an online fax service now!

A Computer And Internet Glossary

2008-12-12T00:04:00.000-08:00

When you use computers and the Internet in your business, it's all too easy to start feeling like you're drowning in a sea of nonsense. Computer-related things tend to have a language all their own, and while you don't need to know all of it, there are many confusing words and phrases that you're going to come across sooner or later. Here's a quick primer.

Bandwidth. Bandwidth is the amount of data that your website can send each second, as well as the amount of data that the visitor to your website can receive. If either one doesn't have enough bandwidth, then the website will appear slowly. For this reason, you should choose a host with plenty of bandwidth, as well as testing that your site doesn't take too long to download on slow connections.

Browser. A browser is the software (see below) that visitors to your site use to view it. The most popular browser is Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which comes with Windows.

Cookie. Cookies are data files that your site can save on the computer of someone who visits that site, to allow it to remember who they are if they return. You will find that problems people have in ordering from you will almost inevitably be related to cookies -- they will need to have them turned on.

Download. Transferring data from a website to a computer.

Favourite. A favourite is a website that a user has stored to look at again, by choosing 'Add to Favourites' in their browser's menu.

FTP. File Transfer Protocol. This is a common method of uploading (see below) files to your website.

Javascript. A common language for writing 'scripts' on websites, which are small programs that make the site more interactive. Another common cause of problems for visitors.

JPEG. Joint Photographic Experts Group. This is the name of the most popular format for pictures on the web, named after the group that came up with it. If you want to put pictures on your website, you should save them as JPEGs.

Hardware. Hardware is computer equipment that physically exists. It is the opposite of software.

Hosting. If you've got a website out there on the Internet, then you'll be paying someone for hosting. It is the service of making your site available for people to see.

HTML. HyperText Markup Language. A kind of code used to indicate how web pages should be displayed, using a system of small 'tags'. The 'b' tag, for example, causes text to appear in bold, and the 'img' tag displays a picture.

Hyperlink. A hyperlink is when a piece of text on a website can be clicked to take you to another site, or another page on the same site. For example, if clicking your email address on your website allows someone to email you, then your email address is a hyperlink.

Programming. This is when the computer is given instructions to tell it what to do, using one of many 'programming languages'. Programming languages for the web include PHP and Perl.

Server. The server is where your website is stored, and it is the server that people are connecting to when they visit the site. If someone tells you, for example, that your server is 'down', it means that your website is inaccessible. Note that server refers both to the hardware and software of this system.

Software. Programs that run on the computer, or that make your website work. Microsoft Word is software, for example, as is Apache (the most popular web server software). Opposite of hardware.

Spider. Don't be scared if a spider visits your website! Spiders are simply programs used by search engines to scan your site and help them decide where it should appear when people search. It is good to be visited by spiders, as it means you should start appearing in search engines soon.

Upload. Uploading is when you transfer data from your own computer to your website. For example, you might upload your logo, or an article you've written. Opposite of download.

URL. Uniform Resource Locator. This is just a short way of saying 'web address', meaning what you have to type in to get to your website. Sometimes pronounced as 'Earl'.

Sounds Phishy To Me... Avoiding Internet Scams

2008-10-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

What the heck is 'phishing?' Well, it's a scam which uses e-mail to lure its victims. But, instead of harming your PC like a worm or virus might, it harms something even worse - your personal finances.

These 'phishy' e-mail messages appear to be from a real company that you know and trust. It may be a bank or Internet Service Provider (ISP) that you use quite often. The fake message asks you to confirm your records by updating your information file, in order to keep an account from closing or some other false action. The message will refer a web-link which leads to a web site which may look like the real thing, but isn't.

Unsuspecting victims enter sensitive info such as name, post address, home phone number, social security, and credit card account info, as the web site has the same look as the trusted business. That's when people are tricked into giving private info to crooks - and it's almost like having your pocket picked in the train station, or worse. Now the phisher can simply use your identity and information to apply for credit, make purchases, or any number of online activities... posing as you, of course.

These methods are particularly dastardly; the messages deceive to abuse the good-natured trust of an individual who cooperates with a request. The con artist preys on people who may not be as familiar with using online banking, or who may fail to recognize the signs that it could be a scam. Many phish e-mails use language which doesn't flow well, or a web site URL which includes all numbers instead of the words one would expect, as in '153.35.24.53' instead of 'mybank.com.' Sometimes the navigation buttons appear in strange places on the overall layout.

Beat the Scam

These Internet scammers are out there; what can you do to protect yourself? The Federal Trade Commission offers some suggestions.

If you get a message containing a warning which states that you should enter your private info to avoid closure of an account:

* don't reply or use the web link * open another browser window * enter the known web site address * use your normal account login and password to enter * make any necessary changes * use the phone to contact the company directly with your questions

Don't transmit your private information by e-mail. Before sending your private info to a web site:

* find the image of the lock in the status area of the browser * look to make certain the web site address shows 'https' at the beginning, which indicates security * carefully review your bank statement when it arrives, with particular attention to any possibly false charges * e-mails which seem suspicious can be reported directly to the Federal Trade Commission at uce@ftc.gov.

Phish Victim?

Have you sent your private into to a suspect source via e-mail? Here's a list of some important steps to go through:

* contact the relevant institutions and file a report as soon as possible * immediately cancel the account, opening another * review statements and make written reports of false charges found * research the maximum amount you're liable for * complain to the Federal Trade Commission

Through learning we can help reduce phishing and identity theft on the Internet.

About the Author

Nick Pegley is a marketing expert with All Covered: Technology Services Partner for Small Business, providing information technology consulting and IT services in 20 major U.S. metro areas. Outsource your procurement, installation and technology disposal headaches..

It Is Easy To Get Free Registry Fix From The Internet

2008-10-20T20:42:00.000-07:00

Registry basically functions as a log file that is used by the operating system to store the information of the hardware components and installed software and current system settings. This information helps the operating system to trace and initialize the respective components whenever they are needed by a function or program that is running.

So, much depends on this information that is stored in the registry. This is an effective way of storing the information as all the information is being stored at a specific location and sequentially that makes it easier for the system to track the components whether hardware or software. But the problem occurs when the registry gets errors in it. This primarily happens when the registry gets bigger in size and invalid and unwanted entries clog up the registry file. Whenever the registry gets these errors the system becomes slower and starts malfunctioning like automatic restarts and program failures.

Fix Windows registry periodically for better PC performance

To overcome these problems and to make sure that your computer gives you faster and optimum performance you have to fix Windows registry errors from time to time. For eliminate the errors from the registry you can reinstall the Windows operating system so that a new registry is created during the time of installation. But that is not a viable solution as you can not reinstall Windows every time there is an error in the registry. You can also manually edit the values in the registry keys but that will take huge time and have to be an expert on the subject to flawlessly modify the entries. Therefore the free registry fix software is the best effective way to repair the registry errors. The registry cleaner tool scans the registry keys and deletes the invalid and outdated entries and the embedded keys and fragmented entries from the registry. It will also organize the registry that will ensure optimum performance of the computer.

Get registry fix software to organize the registry entries

It is easy to get free registry fix software from the internet. You can download the registry fix software from the websites that are offering free download. But before you download and install the free registry fix program you need to make sure that it will be compatible with your operating system. So, if you are using Windows XP operating system you have to get a tool that is specifically made to fix XP registry.

About the Author

Author is admin and technical expert associated with development of computer security and performance enhancing software like Registry Cleaner, Anti Spyware, Window Cleaner, Anti Spam Filter. Learn how Registry Fix increases efficiency of computer. Visit our Home page.

Here Are Some Tips I Colleted Over Internet For WoW Ten .

2008-10-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

Sunfury Attack Plans

* Obtain and turn in at 62,36 in Shattrath City from Lord Torvos. * Go to 25,66 in Netherstorm and kill Sunfury Blood Elves until one drops Sunfury Attack Plans. * Pays 10g10s and Shattered Sun Supplies. Intercept The Reinforcements

* Obtain and turn in at 50,39 at the Isle of Quel'Danas from Vindicator Kaalan. * Go speak to Aryren Cloudbreaker beside the flightpoint at 48,25. He will send you on a strike mission to the enemy ships. Bomb the ships, then land and kill 6 Dawnblade Reservist. * After you killed 6 talk to the Unrestrained Dragonhawk on the ship and fly back to shore. * Pays 7g59s

Know Your Ley Lines

* Obtain and turn in at 47,35 at the Isle of Quel'Danas from Astromancer Darnarian. * Use the Astromancer Crystal quest item at The Dawning Square Gate (48,44), the Dawnstar Village (42,35), and the Greengill Coast (61,62). * Pays 11g99s and a Darnarian's Scroll of Teleportaton (Single use teleportation to Shattrath City).

Blast The Gateway

* Obtain and turn in at 58,17 in Hellfire Peninsula from Magistrix Seyla. * Open your bag and use the Sizzling Embers quest item. It will give you a "Living Flare" pet that follows you. * Go to approximately 58,21 or 60,18 and kill Incandesent Fel Sparks (look like yellow Fire Elementals) until your "Living Flare" turns into a yellow "Unstable Living Flare". * Go to 58,19 and the "Unstable Living Flame" will destroy the gate on its own. * Pays 10g10s and Shattered Sun Supplies. Blast The Gateway

* Obtain and turn in at 58,17 in Hellfire Peninsula from Magistrix Seyla. * Open your bag and use the Sizzling Embers quest item. It will give you a "Living Flare" pet that follows you. * Go to approximately 58,21 or 60,18 and kill Incandesent Fel Sparks (look like yellow Fire Elementals) until your "Living Flare" turns into a yellow "Unstable Living Flare". * Go to 58,19 and the "Unstable Living Flame" will destroy the gate on its own. * Pays 10g10s and Shattered Sun Supplies.

Arm The Wards

* Obtain and turn in at 47,30 at the Isle of Quel'Danas from Captain Theris Dawnhearth. * Go to east of his location and kill Wretched Fiends until you have 4 Mana Remnants. * Use the Mana Remnants on the Crystal Ward at 46,35. * Pays 9g10s

Further Conversions

* Obtain and turn in at 47,30 at the Isle of Quel'Danas from Vindicator Xayann. * Go east from the quest giver and kill 5 Erratic Sentry. Each time you kill one, loot it and use the Attuned Crystal Cores quest item on it. * Pays 9g10s

About the Author

Read more about WOW at WOW Gold Price List . Hunter Crowell is a researcher, avid online gamer, and creator of http://www.mmoinn.com, helping players find the cheapest place to buy their gold.

Moving towards a faster and speedier internet

2008-10-07T20:38:00.001-07:00

The Internet is a global organization of interconnected computers to share information, resources and views with millions of private and public, academic, business, and government networks. Internet connection can be built with dial up connection or it can be a broadband connection. Sometimes the working speed is affected by the stability of internet connection, but the stability of internet connection is not the only factor to be taken in consideration.

There are many Internet Service Providers (ISP) in the market providing high speed internet connection like BSNL, MTNL, CellOne, Airtel, Tata Indicom etc. A user can itself make optimum utilization of the internet connection by considering the following significant tips in mind:-

Select correct Browser: Web Browser enables the users to interact with other web sites and a correct Web Browser can really affect access speed of internet. As a safety measure, always select a web browser that will help you to save bandwidth. There are many famous web browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape Navigator, Lynx etc. Mozilla’s Firefox is gradually getting popularity amongst internet users because of its astounding features. More so, Firefox comes with a couple of good add-ons such as Adblocker and Flashblocker which aids fast transfer of data on internet.

Avoid auto updates: This is another tip to boost up internet speed i.e. try to avoid auto updates on the internet because these programmes keep downloading latest updates from the Internet as soon as they are available, they end up using precious bandwidth, eventually adding to your bill and as a result the internet bandwidth get chocked in downloading which ultimately affect internet speed.

Go for offline browsing: Offline Browsing is another point which must be taken seriously to amplify internet speed. Offline browsing basically downloads pages from sites that you frequently visit on to your hard disk, thus making them locally available. One such software is Webaroo, which allows offline browsing. The latest version, Webaroo 2, lets you download videos from YouTube, Metacafe, Google Videos and other sites as well as download Flickr Photos by user, group and photoset.

Measure your bandwidth: Measuring bandwidth is a good choice to restrict plans that put download limits on your usage. Bandwidth can be measured easily on the internet. One such software is BitMeter II that tracks your PC’s current download and upload speed and gives you constant update. Other examples includes CodeBox Software and Bit-Meter’s creator that calculates data transfer time.

Compressor programmes: Sending compressed files over internet is a choice to increase its speed. Generally graphic files, images and sound files take more space and utilize more bandwidth than text files, so it is advisable to send compressed files over internet.

At the ending note, we can say that if you keep the above said points in your mind, then it will really help you to boost up your internet speed and you would be able to use maximum bandwidth of your internet connection.

Satinder Kaur/ITVoir Network For Further Information Contact : www.itvoir.com

About the Author

I am a content writer and working for www.itvoir.com

Answers to your questions on the internet

2008-09-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

To err is human; to really foul things up, it takes a computer. While computers make so many things so much easier for us, users face as many problems too.

The internet has created a communication boom around the globe. You can sit glued to your seat in front of a computer, eyes glued to the screen; fingers glued to the keyboard and well, do almost anything under the sun. Most importantly, talk to, chat with, and share with other people around the world, glued to their respective seats as well. Communicating across seas is no more the huge thing it used to be. Everything is so easy to use today. Emails, chatting, blogging, forums, social networking sites, video sharing sites, and all other kinds of interactive pages on the internet, provide for innumerable things to do, almost effortlessly.

Although there are professionals everywhere you turn to help you out with your problems on the computer and the internet, it's useful to have some place you can just go to with your questions, and have them answered for you. Undoubtedly, anybody who uses computers will have all sorts of queries. It's amazing how computers can do so much good for us and make big, confused question banks out of us at the same time.

Count on the internet to come to the rescue again. There are innumerable websites out there, which offer question - answer services. Users can post their questions and other users can answer it. Apart from providing for information and knowledge sharing across the world, it also creates a platform for social networking, through blogs, forums and discussions. Other than simply answering questions, the users of these sites put up videos relating to frequently asked questions, making it more interactive and interesting, doing away with monotony. So now you have video and audio answers too!

It works very simply. You log on to one of these websites and you post your question. You can answer questions posted by other users on the site if you know them. You get answers to absolutely any question related to computers. Operating systems, hardware, software, browsers, cables and adapters, patches and fixes, scanners and projectors, email and spam, servers, licensing, backup et al; you just have to ask, and you'll get your answer.

http://www.proitexpert.com is a website where users can post their queries related to computers and have them answered. They can answer questions posted on the site as well.

What to Do When Your Internet Explorer Freeze?

2008-09-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

Internet Explorer is one of the most established and widely used browsers in the world. It is a long standing product that has developed a strong and rabidly loyal group of supporters. Even with the introduction of newer internet browsers, some traditionalist still prefer Internet Explorer. But however faithful, even the most loyal Internet Explorer user has probably experienced moments when Internet Explorer freezes. Being a true-blue Internet Explorer user, you are undaunted. But what should you do when your Internet Explorer freeze?

Like many computer problems, there may be many different reasons as to why Internet Explorer freezes. But before we can fix the problem, it is important to know the underlying reasons that cause Internet Explorer to freeze.

#1 Computer

As much as we hate to admit it, sometimes the problem lies with our computer and not with Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer's ability to load information depends on your computer's processing speed. Internet Explorer is an application. And when multiple instances of this application are opened via new windows, it decreases the computer's ability to load information quickly. Also, opening too many windows at once increases the RAM usage and hence if you have very limited RAM, chances are you will face frequent problems like Internet Explorer freezing up. As such, it is advised that you do some RAM-shopping and grab a bigger RAM.

#2 Internet Explorer updates

Internet Explorer, just like any other piece of software, requires regular updates. Most computer users automate their software updates. This is recommended, as doing so will allow you to obtain the latest upgrades without the need for you to manually search for it. Internet Explorer has their glitches, and as such, it is important to take note of the patches or bugs fixes that might become available for you.

Sometimes, Internet Explorer will release an entirely new version of Internet Explorer. These new versions need to be downloaded and installed compare to mini patches and DIY bug fixes. To be on the safe side, keep your eyes peeled for these patches.

#3 Virus attack!

Seeing is believing. Unfortunately, this idiom doesn't necessarily apply in the case of these virtual pests that can infest your computer undetected. These viruses can be the reason why your Internet Explorer freezes up or gets laggy. As responsible computer users, your computer should be equipped with necessary software like anti-virus and anti-spywares and registry cleaners remove viruses and spyware before they harm your computer and Internet Explorer.

Remember that Internet Explorer was designed primarily for Windows and is not entirely compatible with other operating systems such as Macintosh and Linux.

Internet Explorer is a constantly evolving product that exist in the dynamically changing landscape of your computer. Using it successfully your operating system requires the appropriate updates and software patches. As long as you follow the advice listed above, Internet Explorer should work flawlessly on your system. Unfortunately if your Internet Explorer woes still persist, then perhaps you should consider the blasphemous; switching to another browser.

Click Here to fix your screen freeze problems for free. Logan Albright helps thousands of people optimize their computers through a proper computer check up. He is an authority on troubleshooting computer problems at http://www.pcaholic.com .

Internet can even be handy on the go

2008-09-10T20:38:00.000-07:00

Think about this: Is a simple antivirus application enough to protect your PC against all threats?

No longer are viruses the only threat on the internet. In recent years other threats have evolved which include spyware, adware, hacking, identity theft, information theft, pop-ups and the loss of information.

Let's begin with the basics. We all need to protect our PC in the same way we protect our home, car and bank account. We wouldn't give a stranger the keys to our car, home or bank account now would we. If you don't protect your PC it is like giving the keys to a stranger and letting him/her have full access to your PC. Once the stranger has the keys they can snoop around and take whatever they want. I know, your thinking how can they do this, my computer is in my house and my doors are locked. Well, today you can be anywhere in the world and access someone's computer via the internet. Since the introduction of cable modems and DSL everyone's PC is online all the time and accessible.

Why do I need to protect my PC, I don't keep any important information on it? Ask yourself a couple of questions.

1. Do I bank online? 2. Do I shop online? 3. Do I create documents, spreadsheets? 4. Do I let other people use my PC? 5. Do I download music, files onto my PC?

If you answered yes to any of these questions then your PC is vulnerable. If you bank online then you are sending personal confidential information to your bank via the Internet. For Example: Let's say you are infected with spyware and you are typing in your account number plus password. A spyware installation can record key strokes and then send them off to a site on the internet. Now the person who setup the site has your account number and password to your bank. Here is one more example, if you answered yes to I let other people use my pc, here is what happens. The other person decides that they like this new cool piece of software. They download and double click on the exe, msi or whatever installs the software. The adware, spyware or virus installs. Now the infection is installed and now it can start stealing confidential information or cause havoc on your PC. You get onto the PC as always, since you don't know this has happened and start doing what you always do, type documents, go to chat rooms, do your banking online, reconcile your banking with quicken and all this time your confidential information is stolen and you are completely unaware that this occurred.

The million dollar question, what do I do? Well, you can follow this approach. 1. Install a Spyware application and install and configure correctly. If you already have spyware application installed make sure it is up to date and make sure that is configured properly. 2. Install an Adware application and install and configure properly. If you already have adware application installed make sure it is up to date and make sure that is configured properly. 3. Install an Antivirus application and install and configure properly. If you already have antivirus application installed make sure it is up to date and make sure that is configured properly. 4. Install backup software, why because if something does get through your defenses or delete something by accident you always have a way of retrieving the information. You should try to backup your system at least every other day. 5. Install Encryption software. This software will encrypt files like word docs, spreadsheets, banking file on quicken. This way if someone does steal your information they will not be able to read it. 6. Install a Firewall. The Firewall can either be software or hardware based. I would install both especially if you bring your laptop with you and connect to the internet at different locations. The Firewall will block hackers trying to scan your system while you are on the Internet.

Many people have these applications installed but they do not configure them correctly. Just installing the application does not mean that the application is working properly to stop the threat/infection. On some applications you need to configure the setting to make the application work the way it was designed to. Find out how to configure and install the software properly either by reading a how to book or getting someone to help. If you already have the application installed make sure it is up to date and make sure that is configured properly. All of the software needs to be up to date and kept current. As new threats are release on the internet, all applications will need the current updates to fight these threats. About the author - Did you find this article useful? For more useful tips & hints, Points to ponder and keep in mind, techniques & insights pertaining to Web Designing

Do please browse for more information at our website :- http://www.100computertips.com http://www.computertips.reprintarticlesite.com

My PC Vulnerable on the Internet

2008-08-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

Think about this: Is a simple antivirus application enough to protect your PC against all threats?

Why do I need to protect my PC, I don't keep any important information on it? Ask yourself a couple of questions.

1. Do I bank online? 2. Do I shop online? 3. Do I create documents, spreadsheets? 4. Do I let other people use my PC? 5. Do I download music, files onto my PC?

Do please browse for more information at our website :- http://www.100computertips.com http://www.computertips.reprintarticlesite.com

Internet Connection Speed Test - How You Can Speed Up Your Internet Today

2008-08-18T19:58:00.000-07:00

In today's fast pace and high tech world one must learn how they can always have their internet speed running as fast as possible. First off, you should download Firefox with Google Toolbar. After you have successfully downloaded Firefox with Google Toolbar you should then proceed to download Firetune, which is a completely free software component that is used to make FireFox run faster, more efficiently, and smarter.

Next, you will need to download the Lvllord Patch - this patch will be used to increase the TCP connections.

Finally, you'll need to download the SG TCP Optimizer - this software will help to increase your internets speed. Read the rest of this article and then be sure to click the link at the bottom for easy access to all of the downloads we just talked about.

To test internet speed at this point, simply point your browser to one of the free internet speed test. Click on test my internet speed to determine whether or not your internet speed has changed at all.

While what we just talked about should significantly increase your internets speed, you must also remember that there are many other various factors that affect your internets speed including spyware, adware, hardware, network conditions, and how many computers are connected in your household.

For example, if someone in your household is downloading a large multimedia file you can notice a large lag time on your computer due to the amount of bandwidth that is being used at one time. There is no defense against this and you have to wait it out.

In general, DSL is known to be a more stable internet but slower alternative to cable internet. Many businesses will turn to DSL and pay higher premiums to increase their speed and keep the stability. On the other hand, many households will deal with the random outages of cable internet in exchange for lightning fast speeds.

A quick tip that you can use to not only speed up your internet but your computer as well can be done by performing the following:

In your windows toolbar click Start-> Run

Next type "msconfig"

Once the msconfig toolbar comes up, click the "Startup" tab and de-select all. What this will do is unselect all the programs that automatically load on to your computer when you boot up. These processes highly drain your computers CPU and RAM which in turn causes your internet explorer and other programs to run much slower than they would if these programs did not startup immediately when you startup. By deselecting all the programs you are not deleting anything, you are simply choosing for them to not immediately start-up when you boot your computer.

Now, head back over to a free internet speed test to determine if your computer and internet is running at a faster and more efficient rate.

Always talk with your internet provider to see if there is anything they can do for you in order to speed your internet.

S Millson is an internet professional who focuses on internet speed tests. He has been showing people various ways to test internet speed efficiently and free. Visit http://www.internetspeedzoom.com to learn how to speed up your internet today!

Internet Fax vs Fax Software

2008-08-18T19:56:00.001-07:00

Internet fax service is an online service which allows you to send and receive faxes as email attachment via the internet. On the other hand, fax software requires a PC, a fax modem and a phone line to work. Both internet fax service and fax software have some advantages over the use of fax machine. Back then when internet access was not so popular, fax software was a useful tool to send and receive faxes using a PC. But nowadays, many home users, small businesses and large corporations are switching to internet fax service because it is not only more convenient and economical to use, it also looks professional to the customers.

Both internet fax service and fax software are easy to use and set up; and they do not require the investment of a fax machine. Faxes are sent, received and stored in your PC. There is no need for machine maintenance, no paper jam problem, no misplaced fax documents, and the paper and cartridge cost can also be reduced.

The main advantage of internet fax service over traditional fax software is its convenience and mobility. Internet fax service allows you to send and receive faxes from anywhere with internet access, even in your handheld device. You do not need to leave your fax modem and PC on in order to receive faxes. There is no need for an additional phone line. You will not get a busy signal and you will never miss a fax.

Another advantage of internet fax service is that it helps your company image by providing professional service to your customers. Unlike fax software and fax modem, which is often used by homes and small businesses, internet fax service is good for businesses of all sizes. You can get a free fax number or a toll free number at very low cost in more than 2000 cities around the world. Your clients can fax you for free and you are either charged with a very low rate or at no extra cost at all. Some internet fax companies even allow you to send faxes to global destinations for free. This versatility is extremely useful for small to medium or even large corporations. Even when your office is located in the U.S., you can set up a toll free or local number in Tokyo and your Japanese clients can fax you for free. The faxes are then routed to your email address. Similarly, you can also send them faxes as email attachments by simply typing their fax number in the TO: line of an email message.

Price and package are the prime concerns when shopping for internet fax service. Do the companies provide free local fax number? How much does a toll free number cost? How many pages of free incoming and outgoing faxes are included in the monthly fee? Do they provide free wireless access? Do they have enough coverage and provide a local fax number in your area of interest? What about the reputation of the companies? Do they provide free trial?

In summary, internet fax service is a useful tool for homes and businesses of all sizes. If you would like to have the convenience of sending and receiving faxes anytime anywhere, consider the internet fax service. You will see how internet fax works much better than fax software or a fax machine.

Kwan H Lo owns an online review site promoting the best antivirus software, internet fax service and other utility software.

Top Internet Marketing Techniques

2008-08-10T20:34:00.000-07:00

Although trends in internet marketing come and go, there's always certain internet marketing techniques that will work. What's key is applying these techniques consistently to your business.

You don't have to be a writing genius, or even an expert internet marketer to make these techniques work. Most of the time, if you're willing to read and follow instructions, you can learn how to do these techniques.

You can use these techniques regardless of what you are marketing whether it's your own products or sevices, MLM, or affiliate programs. If you're a writer, even better because the internet is an ideal place for writers.

1. Search engine optimization

The real secret to search engine optimization is finding the right keywords. Although two word keywords are popular, they may or may not help searchers find what they are looking for. Use less competitive three to four word keyword phrases to optimize.

Use a search engine optimization suite like Web CEO, which is free, to help you optimize your site. It offers a quick start guide that will help you get started in less than an hour. Since most website owners don't bother optimizing their sites, you'll easily get higher rankings simply by optimizing your site.

2. Article Writing

Writing articles brands you as an expert, helps you build valuable backlinks, and uses pull marketing instead of push marketing.

Pull marketing is more effective because you are drawing visitors to you. Visitors are looking for you because you offer something of value up front.

Tease the reader with an offer of additional information. Use a list so you can recycle your traffic.

Since the internet is largely a content driven medium, you can easily find success by writing articles. However, if the thought of writing articles makes you crazy, try writing lists, or a How To. A How To is easy because you show others how to do something. Just write down the steps.

3. Press Release Writing

Write an effective press release, and you can get traffic fast. Press releases are far more effective than ads because they are seen as news.

Although print readers expect advertising mixed in with content, online readers tend to avoid it if possible.

Just make sure that what you're writing about is newsworthy. Include the how, what, when, where, and why, just like a news story. Stress information about your topic instead of your product. Don't forget to include your product though. Press releases need to be focused.

4. Forum Posting

If the thought of writing articles or press releases still makes you nervous, then try posting on forums first.

You can ask, as well as answer questions and build trust and credibility with other forum members. Just remember not to advertise your products or services. Reserve that for your signature file and make sure you follow forum guidelines.

This can be a time consuming process, so I don't recommend making this your primary method of promoting your business.

5. Joint Ventures

Joint ventures work best if you own your own product. You will want to create an irresistable offer for your joint venture partners, and you want to make it easy for your joint venture partners to become involved.

When choosing joint venture partners, you'll want to do some research. Contact each website owner personally with your offer. Stress the benefits of doing business with you. Make your offer. Show the site owner the benefits of doing a joint venture with you and don't forget to give your partner a copy of your product, as well as special commission rate.

Although setting up your first joint venture can be time consuming, once you have a network of partners in place, it can become very lucrative without a lot of work. Also, joint ventures are the fastest way to earn money from your new venture.

6. Affiliate Programs

To some extent, starting your own affiliate program goes hand in hand with joint ventures. If you plan to create joint ventures, you will save yourself a lot of time and expense by setting up your affiliate program first. You can easily do this by using and affiliate program script, readily available for free in script directories.

The secret to a successful affiliate program is to create plenty of resources for your affiliates, as well as offer them generous commissions and support.

7. Free Reports

A free report is longer than an article but shorter than a book or ebook. You can write a short, usually five to 10 page report in a couple of hours.

The secret to a good short report is the same as for articles. Give your readers a taste, and then refer them to the product or service you are marketing.

Although you can find plenty of free ebook compiliers on the internet, it's better if you offer your report in PDF so that anyone can download it and read it. Tools like Open Office will allow you to convert your report to PDF, and you can even make the links clickable.

Once you've written your report, you can use one of the methods above to advertise it, or you can submit it to ebook directories.

If all of these internet marketing techniques seem too complicated, then your best bet is to try linking. Linking works best if you own your own website because many website owners will want a reciprocal link. You can also post comments to blogs, as well as submit to directories. Just remember to avoid me too comments. Make your comments intriguing so that others will want to visit your site.

There are plenty of other ways to market your business effectively. However, it can easily become expensive. These techniques allow you to slash your marketing budget to zero, and they're very effective.

For more useful tips & hints, please browse for more information at our website:-http://www.reprintarticlesite.comhttp://www. jointventures.reprintarticlesite.com

The Seeds Of Lasting Internet Profits For The Internet Novice

2008-07-30T19:52:00.000-07:00

How can any internet novice make internet profits that continue? Well its simple how can any child learn the alphabet? All of it is learnt step by step, the first step being simply to start! Sounds a little odd to say that but it’s not because most of us have toyed with the idea of making money while we sleep or making money 24-7. How many of us actually have a website let alone an internet income stream? Not many!

When you start out you should do everything yourself! Your online business is nothing yet so you can’t pay someone for all the tech work out of your non-existent internet income stream! You will obviously need to have some time, commitment and little money to start. You need to buy and register a domain name get a hosting account then start to build a basic website.

If you don’t know how to you will need a basic education as to what needs to be done and how. Look at other websites for layouts and ideas, visualise what you want your website to look like and what you are actually going to sell or promote. There are various ways to learn how to get it started; 3 weeks ago I had no idea how to build a web page let alone a website now I own and am in the process of building (albeit slowly) four websites.

I haven’t got my own product yet, one day I may have one, that’s because I have decided to start tapping into one income stream by being an affiliate, that’s where you promote someone else’s products or sites for a commission for every customer they get through your site.

Building an internet business and making internet profits that last will require determination especially initially as you plant your seeds for future profit. The likes of Yahoo, MSN, and Google aren’t the top 3 visiting sites because of what they are doing now – remember it’s not long ago that there was no internet. Google floated on the stock exchange in 2004, the share price has more than tripled! Imagine - the work you do now for your website could result in your very own Google in 10 or 20 years time. Bringing you back down to earth again, you can’t make any profit from the internet without any traffic coming to your site!

Many of the things mentioned here can be learnt for free on various courses online. Without learning there can’t be much earning. So the tip for any internet newbie is to invest time and effort in a free practical course that gets you the basic knowledge and the continue seeking information to help build on that so that you can plant the seeds that create internet profits that last.

Kaval is an Internet Marketer and actively trades the Financial Markets. These secrets can be learnt by you at http://www.InternetMarketingSecrets4u.com/

Cleaner Registry - Get Free Registry Cleaner Download From Internet

2008-07-24T20:33:00.001-07:00

A free registry cleaner is all that it takes to get rid of all those error messages that you keep getting in middle of the important jobs you are doing at your PC. Basically Window registry is a file that is maintained to store all the information about the hardware devices attached to the PC, operating system and other programs that are installed in the system and also about the settings of the PC.

How registry errors are accumulated in the registry?

The registry is updated and a new entry is added to the file whenever you make any changes to the system through the control panel. Whether you add or remove a hardware component, install or uninstall a program, open a new user account everything is logged in to the registry. Therefore, it is quite obvious that as you keep using the computer more and more entries are generating in the registry making the size of the file huge. This is when the registry starts to function irrationally and the system becomes slower and prone to frequent errors. To fix these registry errors you need a free registry cleaner to scan and repair the registry.

How to get a cleaner registry?

You can download a free registry cleaner from the internet and use it regularly to clean the unwanted entries from the registry as well as organizing the valid entries. It will reduce the start up time of the PC, make your PC faster and more stable. The free windows registry cleaner scans the registry files, deletes the outdated entries that are no longer being used by the system, traces of the incomplete installation that clog up the registry, embedded keys that are used by the malware programs. More advanced registry cleaners like the Window XP registry cleaner can be scheduled to scan the registry automatically at a fixed time without your intervention.

The free registry cleaner tools can also back up the registry file. It is therefore recommended that you back up the registry each time before you use the program to clean the registry. Though the registry cleaners are designed to keep the valid entries intact, the back up will provide you added protection by enabling you to restore the registry in case there is any problem after you have made changes the vital registry file. So, with least effort and very less amount of time to scan the registry, you can fix the errors and get cleaner registry.

Free Registry Cleaner is an online resource, providing in-depth information about Registry Fix Program and significance of cleaner registry.

Security And Internet Browsers – Firefox Vs. Internet Explorer

2008-07-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

Introduction

The Internet is becoming a more and more dangerous place to be, due in no small part to the inherent security risks posed by viruses and spyware. Additionally, applications that access the Internet as part of their normal operations may have errors in their code that allows hackers to launch attacks against the computer on which those applications are running. The safety and integrity of digital assets is further compromised by the fast-growing threat of cybercrooks who devise and implement large-scale hoaxes such as phishing and ID theft.

In the light of all this, it’s clear that users need a reliable and secure web browser between them and the Internet, which will be free of these problems and won’t let harmful content invade the computer.

The web browser industry continues to be dominated by the Windows-bundled Internet Explorer, with an 85% market share, but in recent years a new breed of free, more functional and resilient browsers has appeared – the most popular being Mozilla/Firefox and Opera. All have received serious security upgrades to help protect against recent scares and safeguard users online.

Internet Explorer is at version 6.0, essentially the same product that was included with Windows XP in 2001. Eighteen months ago, the release of Windows XP Service Pack 2 substantially increased IE safety; however, it did not eliminate many of the loopholes exploited by hostile program code. At present, Firefox is at version 1.5, but its very different development history (see next section) means that it can be considered at a similar level of maturity as Internet Explorer.

Currently, Microsoft is preparing its next-generation browser, Internet Explorer 7.0, which it plans to introduce sometime during the first half of 2006. The company has stated that it intends to make the browser stronger and more secure to help protect its users against the many problems that have dogged the software over the years.

We, along with Internet users everywhere, await the final results with interest. In the meantime, we decided to undertake our own security evaluation of both IE 7 (beta) and its closest rival, Firefox 1.5.

History and overview

Internet Explorer is a proprietary graphical web browser developed by Microsoft. In 1995, the company licensed the commercial version of Internet Explorer 3.0 from Spyglass Mosaic and integrated the program into its Windows 95 OSR1 edition. Later, it included IE4 as the default browser in Windows 98 – a move which continues to raise many antitrust questions.

Firefox is an open-source browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation; anyone who is proficient enough can collaborate in writing and improving its program code. Mozilla is known for its stringent approach to security, promising a bounty of several thousand dollars for any major vulnerability found in the product.

Security incidents and threat response

While no browser is perfect, major security lapses happened rather more frequently with IE than with Firefox. To be fair, Firefox has less than a 10% market share and is thus a rather less enticing target than IE; that’s probably also why security researchers focus much of their attention on the vulnerabilities of Microsoft’s browser, not Firefox’s. Some people have argued that if the market shares were reversed, bugs in Firefox would start appearing on a more frequent basis, as has recently been the case with Internet Explorer.

The open-source architecture of Firefox contributes to the overall safety of the browser; a community of skilled programmers can spot problems more quickly and correct them before a new release is available for general use. It’s been said that threat response time for Firefox averages one week, while it may take months for Microsoft engineers to fix critical bugs reported by security analysts – an unacceptable situation for users who remain unnecessarily vulnerable to exploits (hacker attacks) during that time.

From the threat response standpoint, Firefox is clearly the winner.

Security features

- Phishing safeguard

New protection against financial fraud and identity theft has been incorporated into the new IE. A so-called “phishing filter” now appears on the Internet Options menu, which is intended to protect users against unknowingly disclosing private information to unauthorized third parties. Here’s how it works:

If a user visits a spoofed site which looks exactly like a genuine one – usually as a result of clicking on a link in a fraudulent email - the browser senses a phishing attempt and compares the site against a list of known phishing sites. If the filter finds the site is a phishing culprit, it blocks access to the site and informs the user of the danger of leaving his/her personal details on sites like this. The database of known phishing sites is updated regularly, and users have an option to report a suspected phishing instant to Microsoft for evaluation.

We’re pleased to report that, even in beta, the filter appears to work quite well, correctly identifying half of the test sites we visited as phishing sites.

In Firefox, phishing protection is delivered through third-party extensions such as Google Safe Browsing (currently in beta for US-based users only (see http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/safebrowsing/index.html); this can be plugged into the browser’s extension menu.

As additional protection against accidental phishing, the authors of IE have stated that they plan to make their product display the URL of every visited site. With IE 6, this capability was not available and many pop-ups appeared without displaying an address in the previously non-existent address bar. Unfortunately, in neither browser were we were able to achieve more than a fifty percent URL display ratio; we trust that this percentage will increase as the release of IE 7 approaches and Mozilla continues to work on improving its functionality in this area.

- Restriction of executable Web content

In the current version of IE, suspect websites have been free to install almost any software they want on visitors’ machines. While XP SP2 has dramatically reduced this possibility, many unnecessary add-ons and toolbars can still be easily installed by inexperienced users. IE 7 should provide more protection for naïve users, as it will offer to run in protected mode, thus restricting access to the host OS files and settings and making these critical elements of the computer inaccessible to malware.

The default setting for Firefox 1.5 is to have installation of extensions and add-ons disabled; the user must manually change settings in order to enable adding extensions to the browser.

There will always be a tradeoff between security and functionality, but security experts always maintained that letting websites unrestrictedly launch executable code within the browser creates unlimited potential for exploitation. IE 7 will offer much greater flexibility in configuring which external code will be permitted to run within the browser and what impact it would have on the OS.

ActiveX restrictions

Aside from some graphics enhancement of web pages, in most cases ActiveX is more damaging than beneficial. Many sites that serve up spyware and pop-up ads use ActiveX scripting technology, and ActiveX scripting in the Windows environment can be allowed to run unrestrictedly with administrator (root) privileges. Firefox 1.5 does not support Microsoft’s proprietary ActiveX technology and so the Firefox browser is more resilient against spyware infection.

In IE6, even with SP2, ActiveX is allowed to run by default, which automatically renders IE users less protected against the threat of spyware. In the upcoming IE 7, it is not yet known whether Microsoft will continue this approach, but early indications point to this being the case. This would be unfortunate, since the current approach is a clear security vulnerability.

Of course, IE users can manually disable ActiveX scripting on a particular website and let ActiveX be started automatically on all other sites visited. Or, vice versa, they can disable ActiveX scripting on most of the sites visited and permit it to run on a particular site. All this can be configured under the Security tab in IE’s Options menu. However, it is hardly realistic to expect Internet novices, who need the most protection, to do this.

Java, JavaScript and Visual Basic components

Java and JavaScript can be enabled and disabled by both browsers. Firefox allows users to specify permissions for particular actions performed by these scripts. IE 6 allows users to create a group of trusted sites to which global limitations on these scripts will not apply. In IE 7, more flexibility will be added that will lead users toward a more customized display of web pages belonging to a particular site; it appears Firefox also plans to introduce more flexible parameters.

- Internal download manager

IE 7’s download manager will be revamped, and feature an option to pause and resume downloads - a feature not available with the current version. Specific actions will be able to be defined following the completion of a download, and users can check the newly-downloaded file with their anti-virus before running it. This approach is already in place with Firefox, so Microsoft appears to be playing catch-up here.

- Encryption of data on protected sites

When you submit sensitive information, such as transaction details to a bank or financial institution, it travels in an encrypted form through a secure HTTP (SHTTP) connection. The information is encrypted by your browser and decrypted at the receiving end. The new version of IE will use stronger encryption algorithms to reliably transfer your data without the risk of being intercepted and deciphered by someone in transit. A padlock icon indicating that a user is on a secure site will be placed in a more obvious place than currently, and more detailed information will be provided to help visitors check the authenticity of such sites.

Firefox currently has a better-organized display of security certificates for its users, so clearly Microsoft has a room for improvement.

Updating

Both browsers are updated automatically when new code is ready. Firefox has this update mechanism already in place, and for IE 7, it is expected that updates will be provided through Windows update technology.

Privacy enhancements

IE 7 will have the ability for users to flexibly set what private data will be saved and can be applied to different sites; users will be able to easily remove browsing history and other private details such as passwords, cookies, details submitted on web forms, download history, and temporary files. In IE 6, these files were stored all over the place and users have complained that there is no clear way to delete this information. Firefox 1.5 already provides this capability.

Conclusion

IE 7 promises a lot of interesting security and privacy enhancements that will help users stay more secure. With the final release users will receive a good, solid browser that, if Microsoft promises are fulfilled, will help it to compete well on the security front. As we have seen, Firefox 1.5 is already a role model, and it will be interesting to see what lies ahead for this talented challenger.

Igor Pankov is a Product Marketing Manager at Agnitum Ltd., the developers of Outpost Firewall PRO. Free Version is available for download at http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpostfree/download.php.

Internet Services - Tips For Choosing Internet Service Provider

2008-07-10T19:48:00.000-07:00

For those who are relocating or moving from dialup to broadband internet access, choosing a broadband ISP can cause some headaches. Should you go with DSL or cable internet access? Which ISP is better? You may need to spend hours or days visiting individual ISP sites, reading detailed service plans, checking for service availability in your area. Here are some simple tips to help you choose a good ISP.

The first thing you need to find out is service availability. In the past, you might have to go to the websites of different ISPs and scan for service availability for your geographical area. This is no longer necessary as some broadband service resellers have installed sophisticated software technology. This technology allows you to compare and choose from dozens of national ISPs simply by entering your phone number or home address.

What about price? Should you pick the one with the lowest price? Before you can make an objective comparison, ask yourself: what do you do most over the internet?

If you like to play real time online games or you need to download video clips, music files, games and software frequently, connection speed should be your primary concern. In general, ISP and service plans offering higher connection speed also cost more.

For a family with more than one PC at home, the ability to set up home networking is important. If you have a large family, you may want to choose a plan offering multiple email accounts. However, this is less important these days as free email accounts can be obtained from other sources such as Yahoo and Google.

For family with children, parental control is a useful feature. You can also compare the entertainment pack which comes with high speed internet access.

Almost all broadband ISPs provide free virus protection, pop-up blockers and anti-spam software. However, high speed internet access is often connected via a static IP address which makes your computer vulnerable to hacker attacks. You should also install a good personal firewall program yourself.

Read the terms and conditions of service carefully. Do you need to sign a one-year contract? Does the ISP provide money back guarantee? You may be charged a penalty fee if you cancel the service before the contract ends. It is also important to check if the ISP provides good customer service and 24/7 technical support.

You can ask your friends which ISP they currently use. However, please bear in mind that internet connection speed is affected by many factors. For examples, DSL internet speed is affected by the distance from ISP service center and the speed of cable internet is affected by the number of people sharing the bandwidth in your neighborhood. Therefore, people from different locations may experience different connection speeds using the same ISP. Usually, you will get a better idea of actual performance by getting feedback from your neighbors than friends living in other areas.

To sum things up, although price is an important factor in choosing an ISP, you should also consider your personal need, family structure, features and terms of the service plan, and the reputation of the internet service provider. Using comparison tools provided by some broadband service resellers can also save you time and money in the selection process.

Kwan H Lo is the owner of http://www.isp-reviews.org, an online site providing information on internet access technologies and best ISP.

The Internet Explosion

2008-06-30T03:52:00.000-07:00

The Internet is more than just a massive network of computers. It is a revolution in communication. IN 2000, nearly 100 million people were online (up from just 36 million in 1996. Twenty-nine percent of all Americans were online in 2000, and by 2008 that number is expected to increase to 43 percent. Why all the interest in the Internet? The Internet is a powerful communications medium that allows its users instant access and allows businesses to operate without borders. Listed below are the benefits of selling online:

1. Lower Cost

The automation of customer service lowers cost, which may make it possible for a company to offer products as a lower price.

2. Large purchases per transaction

For example, online bookseller Amazon.com makes personalized recommendation to customers and, along with every title offered, list related titles ("Customer who bought this book also bought..."). Another click or two will add one or more titles to an order. These features lead people to buy more books than they might in a traditional bookstore.

3. Integration of business processes

The Internet offers companies the ability to make more information available to customers than even before. For example, a computer company that tracks each unit through the manufacturing and shipping process can allow customers to see exactly where the orders is at any time. This is what overnight package delivery company Federal Express did when it introduced online package tracking.

4. Large catalogs

Amazon.com offers a catalog of 3 million books on the Internet. Imagine fitting a paper catalog that size in your mailbox!

5. Improved customer interactions

Online tools allow business to interact with customers in ways unheard of before, and at almost instant speed. For example, customers can receive automatic e-mails to confirm orders and to notify them when the orders are shipped.

Flexibility Successful websites are not just glorifies mail-order catalogs. The Internet offers companies the ability to configure products and build custom orders, to compare prices between multiple vendors easily, and to search large catalogs quickly.

As revolutionary as the Internet has been in the consumer market, it has been even more revolutionary in the business-to-business market which consists of selling goods and services from one business to another. Business-to-business e-commerce is already at least 5 times as big as Business-to-Consumer e-commerce.

The rise of Internet marketing came so fast and furious that it drew hundreds of competitors into the frey. As a result, many Internet companies are not proving as successful as people hoped, and their stocks have dropped in price tremendously. Companies such as CDEnow, Peapod, eToys, and Drkoop.com have failed or seen their stock drop dramatically.

Many Business-to-Business stocks experienced similar failures. There is no question that some Internet businesses will grow and prosper, but along the way there are sure to be lots of failures, just as there have been in traditional businesses. There once were dozens of automobiles companies; almost all of them failed and only a few large companies now dominate the auto industry. Success will come to those who offer quality products as good prices and offer great service. Many of those companies will be a combination of old brick-and-mortar companies, such as Sears and General Electric, with new Internet sites that make them more competitive.

Pamela Upshur is the owner of Upshur Creative. Upshur Creative combines fresh, contemporary, fully functional turnkey websites with the best PHP scripts and databases to create the largest and most comprehensive turnkey collection for entrepreneurs. Visit Upshur Creative at: Turnkey Web sites.

Communicating On The Internet

2008-06-28T03:51:00.000-07:00

Internet communication is quite a challenge in today's information flow. Never the less, its one of the most important skills to govern if you want to win opinions, sell products or services, promote and have a successful website. To win this race you need a communication strategy based on the intention and goals of your Internet presence. The basic challenges are fierce competition, information volume and busy net surfers.

Net surfers are in a hurry and the time to communicate to them is limited. Normally a visitor will leave your website within 5 to 10 seconds if he or she don't find it interesting. So it's vital to catch the visitors attention and know how to get your message across. In case you are uncertain of how your website is doing, check your site stats. If many of your visitors leave quickly, there could be something wrong with your communication. Find out which pages the visitors are entering on your website. Its no use in having a great and catchy front page if the majority of the visitors are landing on a boring sub page.

You only have one chance to communicate the message to your Internet visitors. Keep in mind that those visitors, reading your message don't spend much time to find out what you have to say. Therefore, say it fast, say it precise and in a way the website visitors would like to hear. Learn the KISS rule (Keep It Simple Stupid) and how to address your messages direct and simple.

There are some basic rules that you should beware of when you're writing for the Web, ask yourself the following questions:

What communication style do my visitors prefer and how do I catch their attention?

Find out what the visitors want to read and then write for them. Investigate and collect information from sources like blogs, forums, websites and similar. Don't just write something for the sake of filling up your web space.

What are my visitors looking for?

Identify and refine the message that you want to promote to your visitors. Pinpoint your focus, zoom in and communicate it to your visitors in a language that they can trust and relate to.

Is the website adapted to the group or market I am targeting?

Evaluate your information sources. Make sure that the information you're basing your website content on is creditable and precise. Does the information represent the values that you wish to communicate? Is the information based on facts, or is it a personal opinion? Many times the combination of fact and opinions go hand in hand. Meaning that strong personal or public opinions have inflated the visitors attitude long before they arrive at your website.

Consider all aspects and implications of your writing. Make sure that you end up with an appropriate conclusions that your readers will more or less agree with. Analyze the costs, benefits, and consequences of the content that you plan to publish on your website. Discuss SEO (Search Engine Optimization) versus targeted communication. The best decision off course, is to choose a strategy that lead your visitors into the desired actions.

Tony Gregson is an experienced Internet Marketer and online Entrepreneur. Tony is educated in Marketing and Business Administration. He is a Manager and Co-owner of several online projects, and a couple of his latest sites are SEO Facility Marketing Directory and the Article Marketing direcory at, Website Article Content where you can get fresh reprint articles too.

Newspapers Take To The Internet

2008-06-25T03:48:00.000-07:00

The Internet has accelerated a long-established cultural trend: more and more people are getting their news from electronic sources rather than the newspaper. Television and radio have made steady inroads; the trend really accelerated with as cable TV crept into a majority of American households and all those specialty channels became available to the populace. The noisiest, if not most successful cable channels are the news feeds that can be found in multiple formats and languages.

Now, the Internet has made further incursions into what was once the kingdom of Hearst, Wrigley and the Big Apple's Grey Lady: The New York Times. The once mighty Times is down to a quarter of a million in daily circulation and most of that is in the suburbs. It is also true that the Times is changin' however, as are most dailies and many community newspapers. Some papers, like the New York Times, have developed a number of features that are designed to maximize the internet's ability to target.

The NY Times and the Washington Post are two prominent examples of papers that publish daily online versions of their papers, which are updated several times daily. Moreover, they produce specialty sections that the online reader can select from a menu and have delivered daily via email. The Post will provide you with a section on technology or one on the arts, for example; each email is delivered daily with minimal graphics and perhaps half a dozen in-depth articles on the selected topic.

Most papers have similar "newsfeeds" that are provided based on selected areas of interest. Some papers also have developed blogging sections that solicit feedback on articles, attempting to retain "viewer" interest. And as online newspapers have grown more sophisticated in presenting information, they have also developed higher quality graphics that include lots of quality digital photographs - and increasingly, video.

The New York Times has taken to using video in its obit section. Their editors are sending camera crews to interview prominent and aging individuals so that they have video footage "in the can" for use upon the demise of the subject personality. The video is augmented with a voice-over or talking head delivering the standard obituary fare detailing the deceased's life, accomplishments, and surviving loved ones.

The Washington Post has inaugurated an online feature that is a series of interviews with interesting people and/or people with interesting careers. These are simply feature pieces that would once have been long written pieces in the features section accompanied by a set of photos. Now, they are video presentations of the individual talking into a camera about the facets of their lives that make them newsworthy. The pieces are edited so that they are not interviews, but rather singular presentations by the person who is being highlighted.

The San Jose Mercury News takes advantage of its hometown industrial base to turn out a regular online feature focused on the Silicon Valley: its businesses, trials and tribulations. While the Merc delivers this regular feature for free, the San Jose Business Journal wants a subscription fee.

That is also true of all the business journals operated by the parent company - which produces business weeklies for perhaps thirty of the nation's largest cities. It is increasingly true of specialty periodicals such as Business Week, which offers its online product for a fee. Specialty news services are finding that the subscription model can work just as well online as on the news rack.

Madison Lockwood is a customer relations associate, specializing in small business development, for Apollo Hosting. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and web design services to a wide range of customers.

Could You Be The Next Internet Guru?

2008-06-23T03:47:00.000-07:00

Have you ever asked yourself if you have what it takes to become an Internet Guru?

Let's take a look at some of the things you need to be aware of before you jump head first into the mainstream of building websites, marketing and becoming an internet millionaire overnight.

First and foremost, Believe that it is not going to be an easy ride to the top - the saying "Build It and They Will Come" is just that. It is just a saying and nothing more. Don't let yourself be fooled into believing that you will not have to do anything else besides building it. Surviving on the internet and becoming a top internet guru takes a lot more work then that.

The second thing to consider is Time: You do need to have a lot of time to make any website succeed on the internet. Plan on spending at least, if not more, 4 hours a day, and 6 days a week to become that entrepreneur that you are dreaming of becoming. You actually need to take a day off to let yourself recharge and not go into information overload. There is a great deal of information to be found on the internet about starting a home business and internet marketing but try to limit yourself from trying to gain all of the knowledge all at once.

The third one is a big one - Money. Although it is not necessary to have loads of it to make it work it is helpful to have some to get things rolling. There are a lot of free advertising sites that are free and many that offer a free trial period but while you can make money with most of these you will always make more if you upgrade to the next level or levels and that always costs Money.

The fourth thing to consider if you have enough of is the Desire To Succeed - Personally I believe this is the most important of all. Let's face it, if you do not have the desire to succeed you will never climb to the top, become the next internet guru or a millionaire eventually.

Why? Because even with all time and money there is if you do not take the initiative to do something with it you will never succeed on the internet.

So take that first step to becoming Tomorrows Guru by believing you can do it and do something with that desire!

Lisa Gower is an online business entrepreneur that enjoys helping other people find their niche on the internet. To find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home visit: http://www.TomorrowsGurus.com

What Is An Internet Offering?

2008-06-20T03:43:00.000-07:00

Direct Public Offerings, commonly known as Internet Offerings, are a development of the Internet and World Wide Web. Similar to SCOR offerings in the type of paperwork required, they remain an unknown as far as acceptance by the securities industry. Their primary setback at this time is that there are no acknowledged trading markets (like NASDAQ, NYSE, AMEX).

Test for a Direct Public Offering

Drew Field, on his web site ( http://www.dfdpo.com/screen.htm ) suggests the following test as to whether your venture is a candidate for a DPO:

1. The business would excite prospective investors, making them want to share its future.

Soon millions of Americans will become “securities analysts,” using computer-based tools for screening and selecting among thousands of companies to invest their retirement funds and savings. Until then, companies will have to attract us with a story close to our personal interests. We’re not ready for the "dull but good" businesses yet.

2. There is a history of profitable operations under the Company’s present management.

DPOs are sold when the prospectus is read, by cautious individuals spending their own money. With some exceptions, they want proof that management can turn a profit.

3. Company and management meet standards of honesty and social responsibility.

When people invest directly in share ownership of a company, after making their own decision and using their own money, they feel a sense of identity with that company. Polls consistently show that an overwhelming percentage of consumers prefer products from companies that aren't causing harm. That carries over to buying shares as well.

4. The business can be understood by people who may have no experience investing.

Shares are sold in a DPO when someone reads the prospectus, and sales are lost when this prospectus is difficult to understand. Try describing your business in ten words or so. Also, try telling your whole story--what your business is, what you're going to do with the public's money and the particular risks of investing in your shares--in a one-page memo.

5. The Company has natural affinity groups, with cash to risk for long-term gain.

Affinity groups may be easier to explain your business to, but also need to be large enough to buy your entire offering. For instance, people in the same area of town may be likely investors, even if they aren't also customers. Other groups may be interested in the particular technology or corporate mission of a business. Along with the number of potential investors, consider strength of the affinity (how loyal do they feel toward your company).

6. Those affinity groups will recognize the Company's name and consider its offering.

DPOs for companies with consumer branded products should carry the logo, slogans and color identifications through into the share offering materials. Companies with names that are entirely different from their product names must transfer the feelings about the known name over to the new one. The greatest challenge is to create recognition for a company with no current identification among affinity groups.

7. Names, addresses, phone numbers and demographics are in the Company's database.

There are ways to "profile" those customers and figure out how to reach them through selected media.

8. A Company employee is able to spend time as project manager, directed by the CEO.

There needs to be one person for whom the DPO is the top business priority. Experience has shown that anything less than that will lead to slippages in the schedule and a decline in enthusiasm for getting the job done. The ideal is someone earlier in their career who works directly under, and speaks with the authority of the CEO or CFO.

9. The Company has, or can obtain, audited financial statements for at least the last two fiscal years.

This is the requirement for the new securities law filing forms made available to small businesses (under $25 million annual revenue) by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. Unless the company has been in business less than two years, we suggest that you not try to save accountants’ fees by using unaudited (even "reviewed") numbers. In cases where prior years would be difficult or impossible to audit, or where accounting records need to be put in auditable shape, it may be best for the company to arrange some private financing until it is ready for public scrutiny.

John B. Vinturella, Ph.D. has almost 40 years experience as a management and strategic consultant, entrepreneur, and college professor. He is a principal in business opportunity sites http://jbv.com and http://muddledconcept.com, and maintains business and political blogs.

Where Are The Internet Police?

2008-06-18T03:45:00.000-07:00

Do we need internet police? You bet! The internet is still the wild west, and the sheriff hasn't yet come to town. Scams are everywhere, and there is little to stop the criminals. For example, I estimate that my online articles have been used in violation of my copyright at least 2000 times. Two thousand times - this is not an exaggeration.

Is there anything I can do about it? Yes, when someone in another country steals my article and puts their own name on it, I can find it online using search engines. At that point, the most I can really do is send a threatening email mentioning a lawyer that I can't actually afford to hire for each of these many violations.

In these cases the thieves usually remove the article, but they will almost always keep stealing other articles. They know that it is too much trouble and expense for anyone to pursue a legal case against them.

Of course there are larger crimes. I get "scam" emails almost daily, looking like they came from my PayPal account or my bank. You have probably seen the same. They try to get the information necessary to empty our accounts.

The Internet Police To The Rescue

There are few police qualified to fight crime online, and no political will to allocate money for training. My solution is to encourage someone or some company start their own for-profit internet police department. It would be a company that charges for protecting our rights.

They would know all the tricks necessary to go after the criminals. They would have technical knowledge needed to shut down web sites of criminals, for example. They could go after web hosts or others that repeatedly did business with known criminals. They could punish the wrong-doers.

To finance these operations, they could charge for each enforcement action, or sell a basic security package that might even include virus protection and such. Many, including myself, would pay for this protection, particularly if they could truly punish and deter criminals.

This would essentially be a "vigilante" operation. I am okay with this, because it is clear that the legal authorities are so far defaulting on their responsibilities in this area. Of course the company would have to develop a reputation for true integrity.

How would this work in action? Suppose I found an article of mine that was stolen. I would contact the Internet Police.com (or whatever their name was). They would then verify that I have used their service without problems before (to be sure I am not making bogus claims against others). Then they would look at documentation I sent them. I might have a service contract with them, or I would pay a set fee.

They would contact the owner of the website where my stolen article is, telling them to cease and desist in their copyright violation. If this site or person had a record of such violations, punitive action would be taken, which could include notification of all who do business with them that they are stealing articles. It might also mean being listed on the internet police "most wanted" list, a site the public could visit.

If this didn't convince the offenders to change their ways, other actions could be taken. Web hosts might be convinced to close their accounts. Volunteers might be used to overload their server with non-stop visits.

Criminals who engage in scams like trying to access people's bank accounts, could be "tricked" into divulging information. Criminals are always susceptible to being fooled, because they are always hoping for unearned power and money. Information thus obtained would be used to punish them, or could be forwarded to the appropriate authorities near them.

There are many ways internet criminals could be legally punished by the internet police, especially in conjunction with internet users who want to help clean up the web. Eventually, after a few good stories of this "vigilante justice" get into the press, fewer people would choose to engage in internet crime.

Copyright Steve Gillman. For inventions, new product ideas, business ideas, story ideas, political and economic theories, deep thoughts, and a free course on How To Have New Ideas, visit : http://www.999ideas.com

Investigations On The Internet.

2008-06-15T03:42:00.000-07:00

How many people realize how much of their privacy is not really private? How many people are unaware that they are being watched closely? Well there is no concrete number but it is certainly many many more than you would think. There are more spies around you than you think doing investigations on you right and left that you are completely oblivious to. The thing is that they come in the form of everyday things that people just accept as a nuisance.

So what are the things that people use to do investigations into your personal life? Well lets start with your monthly bills for examples. First your phone bill. You didn’t maybe think about it but people have access to the people you call, the amount of time you spend talking to certain people or places of business and where you make the calls from. In fact with the advent of cellular phones that receive and send out digital signals to satellites you can be placed in a certain place at a certain time with the information that the phone companies have. Scary huh? Kind of remind you of enemy of the state?

Well how about credit cards? You think about what you spend your money on and if you would want anyone knowing how you spend your money? Well they do! You are a name and a number in their records that is attached to every charge that you have made, what you bought, in what quantity, how much you spent, and where you bought it. Another way to pinpoint where you are and when. You can imagine how helpful this is to the officers of the law when they are carrying out their investigations. Hopefully this is not what concerns you but rather that your privacy is not as secure as you thought.

What about the internet? Well this is perhaps the least understood and the most vulnerable place to be for people. People have parts of their lives that they don’t want to be public knowledge and many if not most of them are heinous things but legitimate and upright yet sensitive things. More and more everyday people are computerizing their information including the sensitive stuff, and if its one your computer and you are connected to the internet than you are at risk. People left unprotected are basically an open book to whomever would have a advantage over you with that information. This is not only how you spend your money or where you hang out on the internet but also any health records, financial records, family records, etc.

So do yourself a favor and become aware and learn how to take steps against the invasion of your privacy via subversive and subtle techniques of investigation.

Hallidae Thomason is an expert in information security and is alarmed at the ignorance of the general public about their vulnerability to investigations. If you want to be safe you should go to www.investigationsgoods.info

Let The Internet Help You Keep In Touch

2008-06-13T03:41:00.000-07:00

Have you experienced the frustration of sending a message to a friend only to find it bounced back to you? Your friend has probably changed their email address and forgotten to tell you about it. If it’s someone you see at the pub or at work, or can contact by phone, you can just ask them to give you their new address. If email is the only contact you have, however, it becomes a lot more difficult to stay in touch.

The internet has brought us tremendous freedom of communication and competition between internet providers and email providers means that it’s never been easier to run several email addresses or to change to a new address when you feel like it. Usually, you’ll send out an email to let people know that you have a new email address, but it’s not unusual for people to be missed off the list and lose your details.

So once you discover you can’t contact your friend by email, what do you do? You can try mutual friends to see if they can pass the address on, or you can try reunion sites that help you to get in touch with old friends from school, college, work, the forces or any other groups that you might have belonged to. For that to work though, your friend has to be registered and there will usually be a subscription charge to pay before you can contact them.

Similarly, if you’ve recently changed your own email address, how do you make sure you’ve told everyone, or that you can catch people who try to get in touch after a few years of no contact?

The ideal solution is also on the internet: services that let you set up a single account for all your old email addresses. People can find you via your old details and you can be sent a message letting you know that someone’s trying to get in touch with you. Whether you respond is up to you – after all, there may be some people that you don’t want to renew your friendship with. But for most people, online services like these help you to ensure that everyone who wants to get in touch with you can; or that you can find someone you thought you’d lost touch with for ever.

Past Information specialises in services for finding friends via old phone and mobile numbers or old email addresses. Visit their website by clicking on Find An Email Address.

Internet Addiction!

2008-06-10T03:35:00.000-07:00

The Internet is fast becoming just another part of everyday life, much like the TV and the computer itself. What started as something amazing, exciting, and often out of reach, has become commonplace and freely available. Technology is advancing at an amazing rate. I can remember when 56k connections were the new exciting fad that everyone just had to have, and now you’re almost abnormal if you still chug along with your trusty dialup. The Net has become integrated into our lives, as people are becoming dependant on its services. The advent of the Internet has its threatening side though. It has been found that some people are becoming addicted to the online world.

A recent news story reported that the Finnish army has sent some of its conscripts home due to the fact that they are unable to handle the compulsory six months in the army without access to their computers. When computers and the Internet are becoming integral components or even the main focus of leisure, education, and work time, it’s not hard to see how losing access can really affect someone. I can see this new technology getting blamed for all sorts of woes in the future much in the same way television has in the present.

Internet addiction comes in many forms. The common areas of Internet addiction that are often listed are cybersex, cyber-relations, gaming, information addiction, and the simple addiction to computers and Internet in general. Information addiction is an interesting concept to me. Basically the sheer volume of information freely available online has lead to some people desperately ‘needing’ to find out more and more. To me, getting people obsessed with learning seems kind of like a good thing, but it does seem that it can form a similar sort of mentality to drug addiction where the user is always searching for their next ‘hit’ which becomes harder and harder to find. Often the depth of information available is actually lacking. We tend to skim read information online by just picking out a few points and then moving on. I’ve found in my own case that it’s sometimes quite hard to concentrate on a page long enough to read it in its entirety. I tend to read a little until I get the basic idea and then move on. This process has carried over into the ‘real world’ in some ways with newspapers rarely keeping my interest long enough to actually get through a whole article of any real length. I’ve witnessed similar experiences with friends and families and I think that attention spans are gradually getting shorter.

This means that probably more than half of the people who come across this article have stopped reading by now. Their interest has waned and they’ve moved on for the next tidbit. I could probably get away with padding the end of this article with the word ‘chicken’ and it would go relatively chicken unnoticed due to the skimming nature of article reading.

A quick Internet search will reveal that Internet addiction is actually more of a problem than many would choose to believe. Chicken. There are several websites and foundations on the Web dedicated to helping people over their Internet addiction. I found that humorously ironic…websites dedicated to helping people get over Internet addiction…it’s kind of like printing anti-drinking messages on the inside bottom of a beer can. The cynic in me can’t help but wonder about the validity of these online services. A common question in the ‘Could You Be Addicted to the Internet?’ questionnaires is ‘Do you have trouble controlling the urge to make purchases online?’, and then they encourage you to send them $90 to book an online chat room counseling session!

It shouldn’t be too hard to work out if you’re addicted to the Internet. Do you find that when you get offline you’re frequently surprised by the amount of time that has passed? Do you find yourself staying home because you’d rather use the Internet than do something else chicken? Do people comment on the amount of time you spend online? If this is ringing a bell then you may have to look at what you’re doing.

I don’t know how severe Internet addiction can get. Presumably it’s as problematic as any other addiction. I shouldn’t downplay it or the therapy institutions out there offering help. I will take a guess and say that, at least to some degree, people simply being aware of what can happen can probably prevent it. Don’t be afraid to do something if you notice problems in yourself or a friend. Just try cutting back on your usage for a while until it’s under your control. Like any problem, don’t be afraid to get friends involved. If it’s particularly serious you could try installing a parental control program that limits your access to the Internet, and get a friend to choose and keep the disabling password secret from you. Stay aware, alert, and in control and your Internet use can and will be a beneficial part of life.

Daniel Punch M6.Net Chickens http://www.m6.net

Freedom On The Internet

2008-06-08T03:36:00.000-07:00

The Internet brings freedom to speak your mind, but what if you're not allowed to use it?

Throughout all recorded history on our lovely little planet, Earth's human beings have been concerned with a few main ideals. One of these is the idea of freedom. Freedom, what is it? What does it mean to you? To look at it simply and in context of communication, I'd say that it is the right to express oneself within certain moral boundaries. Recently I have discovered that the incredible tool of the Internet is being infected by some of our imperfect human beliefs (a sign of the perfect balance in Nature). Check out a website called 'Reporters Without Borders'. This site is dedicated to both freedom of speech for the masses as well as to the safety of the people who are trying to share true unadulterated stories with the wider community. In the site's Internet section I came across a new article about MSN Spaces, the blogging software from one of America's and the world's biggest companies, Microsoft. Well, it seems that in China they have agreed to have the words 'democracy' and 'Dalai Lama' completely rejected by the system, therefore censoring every on-line journal in China using this software. Looking at the Dalai Lama I don't get a feeling of hostile intent...

This comes just after China announced that all blogs and websites have to be registered through the government's authority. After enquiring about how to put an independent blog on the Net a hopeful Chinese Internet user was told not to even bother trying to get back on the Net. The government now has real-time tools to 'watch' what people are saying at any given moment, and if you are deemed as writing something subversive you better watch your back, as you will be dubbed a cyber dissident. On the website they've got a list of a large number of these 'criminals' who have been imprisoned in many different countries. A court case begins today for a Chinese man who wrote some punk music lyrics on his site. He could be put away for a long time. I'm not joking here, there are a lot of people sitting in cells, many of which are put through all kinds of torture. I'm lucky I'm not in China or one of these other often-repressively ruled countries or I'd be called a dissident just for writing these controversial words.

Look, I don't want to come across as judgmental but it is a known fact that many aspects of human society across all cultures have problems with their ethics and moral codes. I am just using China as an example because I am a great believer in the uniting, egalitarian power of the Internet. I have this strange feeling in my stomach that eventually oppressive ideologies will have to topple and fall as people become more informed about life's possibilities, and more connected to the true oneness of the world. Ironically, I believe the Internet is the means for all this to become a reality.

Another incredible part of this site is all the information relating to reporters and the plights and ordeals they go through when attempting to share the truth, even losing their lives in the process. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, particularly its blogging section http://www.eff.org/bloggers/ is another site that is dedicated to freedom of speech for all people who want to express themselves on the Internet. Or check out the World Association of Newspapers http://www.wan-press.org/ who has a different perspective on current events, as they focus on what happens to the news bringers themselves.

Are you a believer that one-day the world can come together as one? If you are, speak your mind; the Internet is a great place to share your point of view. Let everyone know how you feel about this situation. I have a Chinese friend who says that controlling 1.4 billion people isn't as easy as you might think and that the current system is functioning OK. OK is OK but I think it's about time humanity started to use a larger percentage of these huge brains we have. The first step is making sure that everyone gets their fair say, without fear of being pushed around by those few who often abuse the power they have been given.

Jesse S. Somer, M6.Net Web Helper, http://www.m6.net

Using The Internet

2008-06-05T02:57:00.000-07:00

Dependant on your age, looking back on all those years that you spent sitting in classrooms at high school may bring back some daunting memories. Working by set rules, not being allowed to do what you want, yet at the same time it may be possible that you are feeling a sense of regret; a sense that comes with maturity when you look back and thing I could have utilised that time better and learnt something instead of mucking around. In previous years, the only options to enhance your education would be to go to night classes or take up a part time degree at a university, yet that is now a thing of the past. With aid of the internet comes unlimited potential to learning online, and people have started picking up on this fact providing services to help enhance our education. In fact, by reading this article you are already proving how versatile the internet can be at providing an education, and when you finish reading this, you should hopefully be raring to go to set out and learn something new!

When it comes to the internet and education, it really boils down to what you are looking for. If it is a formal qualification, then there are sites out there that will teach you online and either provide a test via the internet, or arrange an exam in a public exam room. However, if its just pure knowledge you want instead of the credentials, then you have got a mass of information at your finger tips ranging from full depth tutorials to short 101 sessions to help teach you something new. There are topics from learning a new language by use of audio, to teaching you how to fix a car. It really does depend on what you are after.

For instance, if you are a coder and you are looking to learn a brand new language, then the best way to proceed is probably through online tutorials. Most of the tutorial sites online list tutorials written by people like you and me, attempting to pass their skills on. For example, www.w3schools.com provide in depth tutorials to nearly every single web based language out there. Each tutorial is broken down into key parts with examples how the code works, making it easier for you to learn. The worst tutorials are where they show you something and do not explain how it works and you should steer clear of these types.

When it comes down to it, if you are just looking to enhance your education using the internet, the best way to go about it, is searching for information on that topic using a search engine like Google. There will be a guarantied chance that you will find some information on what you are looking for, however it is important to understand that to get the best possible education out the internet, it pays to use more than resource. A lot of the sites out there providing you with the education are written by average people, just like the tutorials I mentioned earlier. There are no standards or specifications they have to abide by, so if chance would have it, you may stumble onto a site filled with incredibly well articulated rubbish. In other words, it looks good but the information is worthless. Cross referencing your information is a key point to good research and learning!

Now reading this, you may still feel a little lost as you might just want an online reference you can go to. Well, to help you along, www.eliteskills.com/free_education is an excellent free reference site. It has tons of links to help you get started on what you want to learn, linking to genuine university sites where they put their lectures online for students and anyone else interested to learn from. A lot of the information on there leads to pod casts where you can download entire lectures via Itunes. Examples would include their language section. If you click on their basic French link it will open up Itunes and provide you with over 100 tracks containing individual lessons from a French Teacher.

For those of you who want to actually earn a degree online, or get some qualifications, there are options for you to. However it is important to note, that for a degree or qualification, you are going to have to spend money on it. Free sites offering free qualifications are probably fakes trying to draw you into their ad venue scheme, and they are just not worth it, so please be aware that it’s going to cost you money. How much depends on what you want and who you go with.

One of the best sites out there to obtain a degree or a course is the Open University. While based in the UK, international students are always welcome, and all their courses can be done online. This would appeal to people who are serious about gaining some extra qualifications alongside the ones you have already got (or have not got if that is the case). They offer nearly every type of practical degree from languages to sciences, and are an excellent choice if you want to have a job alongside it.

If you do not fancy joining the Open University, then have a look around your countries universities and see if they offer any degrees or courses online. It is not guarantied that they will, but you might get lucky and find a few that do some courses.

Basically, using the internet for an online education is an excellent idea if you approach it with an open mind. Never take anything for granted on it, and be wary of cheap deals to get you a qualification. If you see a course you want to do on a site, then search about for other people who’ve done it and see if they would recommend it to you.

This article was written by StefanD. He runs a Internet Business Advertising site dedicated to businesses world wide You can print or publish this article as long as you keep the link live.

High Speed Internet Services - Have You Jumped On The High Speed Internet Bandwagon?

2008-06-03T02:56:00.000-07:00

With technology expanding rapidly in our daily life, high speed internet connection has penetrated into our homes and offices if your local internet service provider offers high speed internet connection services. In this world of instant gratification where people do not have the patience to wait anymore, it is easy to see that high speed internet connection is becoming the mainstream norm as compared to dialup connections. However, before jumping onto the high speed internet bandwagon, it is essential that we considered all the options that are available to us and most importantly the cost associated with it.

1) Local dial-up - They are simple to setup and can be costly as some companies charges phone bill while you are connected. Speed can typically range from the slowest at 26k to 56k connection speeds.

2) Cable connection - It requires a cable modem and are usually provided by company which offer cable TV. Speeds can range from 512k to the high speed of 10Mps.

3) DSL - A DSL modem is needed to be installed on to your computer. Speeds typically range from 512k to the high speed of 9Mps. The cost involved could be twice the amount of a basic dial-up.

4) Broadband - This is typically referring to a cable, DSL, wireless connections or satellite internet connections. Speeds typically range from a 512k to 1.5Mbs.

5) Wireless connection - A wireless modem is needed to be installed on to your computer and are available in limited area. Speeds typically range from 2Mbps. The advantage is that you do need a wire connection to be connected.

6) Satellite internet connection - Upload speed and download speed can be different. For example, you may be able to download through satellite and upload through dial up. This is the most expensive option out of all the options given, but this service is available anywhere throughout the world. Speeds are available at 500k onward.

Which type of high speed internet connections do you really choose? Well, the answer lies in what you need. One thing for sure, if you are tired of waiting for a standard dial up to connect and download, you are ready for a broadband connection. Plus, once you have experienced the power of a broadband connection, you will never ever go back to dial up again.

Justin Koh is a freelance writer whose articles have appear in most major ezines. You can find his latest high speed internet news and articles at http://www.highspeedinternetcenter.info

The Use Of Formal English vs. Internet English: How Has The Internet Degraded Language Skills?

2008-05-30T02:54:00.000-07:00

At one time, in the not so distant past, computers were not commonly found in homes. Computers served as a time saving device for businesses and offices and they were big, heavy, unattractive and very expensive. Over time computers, have become smaller, lighter, operate faster and have price significantly dropped in price. Thus many more of us have incorporated computers into our daily lives and homes. Today, most of us would be lost without our computers, electronic devices and the Internet!

Before the age of computers, the only way to correspond with others at a distance was through letters written by hand or on a typewriter. There was no spell check or grammar check to make life easy. People had to rely on their own proof reading and language skills in order to be understood.

In the 1990’s when computers began popping up in homes all over the world and the Internet became readily available, chatting programs such as ICQ, MSN, and AOL Instant Messenger made their debut. With these developments, communicating through writing was forever changed, and the English language has never been the same.

The development of instant messaging programs has resulted in the use of a new ‘spin-off English’ and has quickly become the de facto means by which many young people communicate. The most common spinoff would have to be using short forms and it is common to see entire phrases abbreviated. This new language is often referred to as “Internet slang”. Examples include:

• lol = laugh out loud
• ur = you are, your, or you’re
• h2gtw - have to go to the washroom
• cmitm - call me in the morning
• btw = by the way
• b4n = bye for now
• l8er = see you later
• teotwawki - the end of the world as we know it
• p911 - parent emergency / parent near

Internet slang is a form of chat room shorthand that should only be used informally. However, this slang has spilled over the chat room wall and has made it into e-mails, written correspondence, and yes, it has even found its way into research papers and the homework of schoolchildren and college students.

When writing formally, important points such as capitalization, punctuation, and grammar structure should always be used. Writing English is a craft, and this craft should be practised regularly in order to train and engrain proper techniques. Unfortunately, the use of chat rooms and slang has begun to replace reading and letter writing as primary forms of communication, ultimately harming our language skills.

The use of Internet slang has undeniably affected grammar, punctuation and spelling. Grammar is the foundation of the English language. Punctuation sets the tone and the overall meaning of a sentence - without tone, meaning can be easily misconstrued. There are often many mixed-messages in chatroom slang and e-mails!

Today many people spend more time conversing over the Internet than they do face-to-face. The Internet (including instant massaging and e-mail) is quickly becoming the most prevalent form of written correspondence. It is therefore easy to understand how the use of Internet slang for hours a day can lead to the development of poor English habits. People even belting out “LOL” in the middle of a conversation instead of laughing when speaking to a friend or colleague!

So what can be done to keep slang out of formal writing such as research papers and homework? Upon finding slang in homework and test, are deducting are more pints than they would for the usual grammar mistake. This makes the student more mindful of what they are writing and for whom.
Replacing the use of chat rooms and slang with regular reading and writing with a conscious effort to observe proper English grammar, punctuation and spelling will go a long way. Practice certainly makes perfect where the English language is concerned.

Learn English in the Comfort of your own home! Learning English online has never been so comfortable and easy. Receive language training in line with the most respected English language schools in the world, study at home or in the office. We work hard to develop your English language ability, and we focus on quality, passion, community and results.

Understanding Browser Cache in Internet Explorer

2008-05-28T18:42:00.000-07:00

Your cache plays a crucial role in your Web browsing activities, so it makes sense to understand what it is and how you can use it best

Your cache is a clever creature. It stores the web pages - text, pictures, sounds, objects - you visit on the Internet, so that when you revisit the same pages your browser pulls them from its cache instead of hauling them across the Net again.

This speeds up your web browsing - downloading web pages can be a slow process. A small cheer for the cache. Microsoft named the cache in Internet Explorer 'Temporary Internet Files'.

Keeping Updated

Having a cache doesn't mean that you're viewing old and out-of-date web pages. Clearly that wouldn't be any good for anyone. Instead, your browser checks with the server hosting the web page to see if the page has changed since the last time you visited. If it hasn't changed, you'll see the page in your browser's cache.

If it has changed, your browser will display the new page and substitute this for the old one in your cache. If you reload the page using the Reload option in your browser, this will download the web page, regardless of whether or not it has been updated since your last visit.

Size Matters

The efficiency of your cache is largely determined by its size. In Internet Explorer go to Tools - Internet Options - Temporary Internet Files - Settings. This is where you modify your cache settings. Your memory cache is where pages are stored during your browsing session. It's quicker for Internet Explorer to pull pages from the memory cache than the disk cache, but when you close your browser, everything in your memory cache is lost. Your disk cache is where files are permanently stored.

Increasing the size of your disk cache can help speed up your browsing because more files can be stored. When you're browsing you'll occasionally notice that your viewing is halted while your browser removes some cache files. This means your cache is full and your browser needs to empty the oldest, least-used cache files to make space for new ones. If this is happening regularly, you should make your cache bigger. It all depends how fast your computer is and how much free disk space you have.

You can clear your memory and disk cache at any time. If you think your cache isn't working properly, clear it out to give it a fresh start. If you want to cover your browsing tracks, you should clear your cache because it provides a log of all your recently visited web pages.

For faster web browsing make sure that the settings in cache are set to 'check for newer versions of stored pages' automatically. If you set it to check every visit to the page, it will slow down your browsing dramatically. If you choose the never option, your browser will never check and you'll find yourself looking at old web pages.

Sandra Prior runs her own websites at http://usacomputers.rr.nu and http://sacomputers.rr.nu.

The Seeds Of Lasting Internet Profits For The Internet Novice

2008-05-28T02:51:00.000-07:00

Kaval is an Internet Marketer and actively trades the Financial Markets. These secrets can be learnt by you at http://www.InternetMarketingSecrets4u.com/

7 ways on how you can find information in the Internet

2008-05-27T18:45:00.000-07:00

Introduction

When it comes to information searching, Internet is truly a blessing. It makes information searching task, easier than ever before. In my schooldays, of course internet was already there, but due to inability to have access to the internet, in order to search for a single information, I have to spent hours if not days in the library, to search for what I`m looking for. Now, as I am working in an industry, which is related to material engineering, I can find information of some specific materials in a matter of minutes.

However, in order to optimize information searching in the Internet, we should be using the most effective technique or method. Different kind of information will require some specific ways of searching, so that we will be able to capture the most accurate information, in the least time.

In this article, I would like to share 7 ways of information searching in the Internet, that I usually use.

Method 1 : The search engines

Undoubtedly, search engine is the most widely used method on information searching. There are lots of search engine on the net, but the most widely used will of course be Google, Yahoo and MSN search.

Search engine is powerful to search for almost any information at the surface level, but to dig deeper there are certain tools that needs to be used. Some of the tools needs not to be explain, such if you are looking for books, then amazon.com will surely be the right tools, or if you are looking for some services or products in specific categories, then of course "The yellow pages" will be the best choice.

Nowadays search engines had been providing tool bars, which is able to downloaded and displayed as a part of your browser. It is a very convenient tool. I usually search using google, as I have a google toolbar incorporated to my firefox browser. No matter at what site I had been surfing, I can always perform a search without first having to go to the search engine site.

Method 2 : Wikipedia

Wikipedia is another blessing in information searching. If you are required to write an essay in any topic, this will be definitely a good source to refer to. Wikipedia search result usually starts with history of the searched item, followed by lots of explanations on the search item, with links, which explain deeper on specific terms. Indeed as it name suggest, it is an encyclopedia.

It is provided in so many languages. I use wikipedia mainly to find material properties such as thermal expansion rate etc. There is a material periodic table provided by Wikipedia, and by clicking at any element, almost all of the main properties will be displayed.

There is also another type of wiki which is called "Wiki how to". It provides lots of information of step by step on how to do lots of things. I am not embarrassed to say that, when I started to write articles, I did refer to "Wiki how to"

Method 3 : Refined search

While surfing the Internet, did you ever see this type of search option within any website - [Couldn't find what you search for, try google custom search]. This is another kind of search engine, but a refined one. It is usually refined to some specific keywords, and Webmaster will place the search engine within their site to enable readers to find result, which is more specific to the topic. I myself did place the refined search option in almost all my blogs.

One way of finding the refined or custom search engine is by visiting the related site and see if there is a custom search engine within the site. But another way is you can type the phrase as below followed by the topic that you want to search. For example, if you want to find something on computer, than type the phrase as below on the normal search engine. It will guide you to the custom search engine.

inurl:cse inurl:coop site:google.com computer

You can create your own custom search engine too. But you will need a google account.

Method 4 : Meta search engine

I have been touching a computer for nearly 20 years, but not until a few weeks back I discovered something, which is called meta-search engine. How does meta-search engine differs from other search engine? Meta search engine does not have database of web pages. What it did is, submitting the keyword that we inquire to several search engines. In this way, we are able to search on several search engines at the same time.

My favorite meta-search engine is kartoo.com. The reason I like kartoo is, it is visual. Once the result had been displayed, if we point to any site, it will show the links to what other sites it relates to. Other meta-search engine are such as www.surfwax.com and www.copernic.com

Method 5 : e-articles

e-articles is another good source for information finding. Few weeks back, I started an effort to generate income through google adsense. I had put my website in place, and finally I realized that in order to make things work, marketing is the key. I need to increase traffic to my site. In order to learn how to increase traffic to my website, I type "e-article" or "ezine" on my search engine and click enter. Then I surf to any of the e-article or ezine provider, and in the search box, I type, "increasing targeted traffic", and what do you know, all the knowledge I needed was listed.

Not every articles submitted to the e-article provider will be published. It will be screened based on the article provider criteria. By this quality control, mostly the quality of the articles is reliable.

Method 6 : Reviews

Reviews are quite straightforward. Let say if you are going to buy a computer, and you want to consider other peoples opinion on several types of computers, you can find websites which is reviewing computers.

I found one review site, which is quite unique. It is called, ReviewStream.com. This site gets the reader to post their reviews. And they pay their readers for their review. The scope of the reviews is quite vast, from air conditioner, restaurants and even airports! So if you want to buy something, or you want to have a vacation somewhere, before you do or go, this is a good review site you can use to see what actually other peoples think about it.

Method 7 : Yahoo answer

This is a site, which I use to analyze peoples interest. Frankly speaking, I never did post any question to Yahoo answer. The number of questions posted and answered in "Yahoo answer" is usually sufficient to give me the information I needed. Readers post the questions here, and readers also provide the answers. You can find information on answers provided by other readers, but if the thing that you want to search had not been posted by anybody, then why don't you just post it?

Conclusion

The Internet provided lots of ways to find information. There are a lot more ways to find information that I could not cover here. Indeed computer and Internet is an amazing tool. To see what other amazing things can be done with computer and the Internet, please go to Computer & Internet

Working in hi-tec semiconductor support industry, Schanizan requires lots of online search of latest technology. The advance of features in the internet had help me a lot in performing my task.

If you like this article, you probably want to visit my blogs as below : Computer & Internet Online Play Game Plaza

Security And Internet Browsers – Firefox Vs. Internet Explorer

2008-05-25T02:49:00.000-07:00

Introduction

History and overview

Security incidents and threat response

From the threat response standpoint, Firefox is clearly the winner.

Security features

- Phishing safeguard

We’re pleased to report that, even in beta, the filter appears to work quite well, correctly identifying half of the test sites we visited as phishing sites.

- Restriction of executable Web content

The default setting for Firefox 1.5 is to have installation of extensions and add-ons disabled; the user must manually change settings in order to enable adding extensions to the browser.

ActiveX restrictions

Java, JavaScript and Visual Basic components

- Internal download manager

- Encryption of data on protected sites

Firefox currently has a better-organized display of security certificates for its users, so clearly Microsoft has a room for improvement.

Updating

Privacy enhancements

Conclusion

Igor Pankov is a Product Marketing Manager at Agnitum Ltd., the developers of Outpost Firewall PRO. Free Version is available for download at http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpostfree/download.php.

Internet Fax – A Guide To Sending And Receiving Faxes Using Internet Faxing Services

2008-05-23T02:45:00.000-07:00

How would you recognize a good innovation? It must improve a certain process in a simple and easy method. According to this definition internet fax is a great innovation. Find out how you can send and receive faxes using internet fax services.

Internet fax improves the process of sending and receiving faxes – No more investing and maintaining an expensive fax machine, no more frustrated waiting to delayed faxes or free phone lines. Internet fax brings a new era to the data transmission world.

A guide to sending faxes using internet fax services – email to fax services:

1. If you do not have one, you must create an email account.

2. Make an account on one of the internet fax services. Just go to their site and log in. You can use the free trial or pay almost nothing to get an account.

3. Install the internet fax service software and fill in the required parameters.

4. Open a new email message.

5. Write the content of the fax in the body section of the mail or attach a text file with the content.

6. Fill in the destination number in the “To” field. The destination number will be a combination of the fax number and the internet fax service. For example, if the fax number is “12345678” and the internet fax service is “efax”, then the destination number would be: 12345678@efax.com.

7. Fill in the recipient name in the subject field of the email message (not mandatory).

8. Choose the “Send and Receive” to send the fax.

9. The fax will immediately reach the recipient as a regular fax.

A guide to receiving faxes using internet fax services – fax to email service:

1-3. The first three phases are identical to the ones in the email to fax guide.

4. Once a fax is sent to you, it will automatically be converted into an email message, which you could read as any other email.

Well, internet fax service is a real innovation. Try it. The only question now is which internet fax service is the best one for your needs.

Find the best internet fax services only on http://www.911makemoretime.com/Internet%20fax.htm - Internet fax services source . http://www.tigilet.com – Web content experts

Internet Cookies: Are They Harmful?

2008-05-14T08:31:00.001-07:00

Many people ask the question of whether cookies are harmful for their computers. The answer is generally no, but it is not nearly as straightforward as it sounds. While cookies are often stored in text files, only used to track information that is already provided to various websites, and are set to expire in short periods of time, they can be used for malicious purposes in certain instances. You will need to work with cookies - however, if you know when to delete them and when not to, you can still enjoy the conveniences they provide.

When Cookies are Good

Cookies are used by websites and browsers to store basic information about your Internet use. If you visit a pet store online and commonly look at cat products, the store will install a cookie that saves your preferences and tracks which pages you look at, not only telling the company what their customers are viewing, but giving you targeted results on the front page.

Additionally, browsers use cookies to store login information that you may not want to enter repeatedly. If you ever click the "save password" button below a login form, you are installing a cookie on your computer that will automatically insert your password into the fields. For those with multiple logins, this can be convenient and time saving.

In addition, bulky information such as IP addresses and browser preferences for a website can be stored in a cookie, saving time when loading a website you often visit. Generally, cookies are used as a shortcut to load information that you have already provided to a website, presenting no security risk on well known, established websites.

When Cookies are Bad

It is on websites that are not well known and established that cookies may become a concern. Because they can be installed without your knowledge, cookies can be installed by a third party from a website that is less than desirable. If you enter login information on a website that installs a cookie on your computer for malicious purposes, that individual can then take the information stored in that cookie and try to use it to steal other pieces of your information. This is easily solved in most cases by setting a higher security level for cookies, requiring that the browser ask you before saving any cookies to your browser or hard drive. Another possible way in which cookies can negatively affect your computer is when they are stored on your hard drive for too long. Generally, the information there is safe because it is non-executable text files. However, if malware or spyware is installed on your computer, it may be possible for it to access those cookies and start retrieving your login, email, and personal information and sending it back to whomever installed the spyware.

Being Safe with Cookies

Cookies are necessary to run an Internet browser. They make it possible to visit most websites and can actually speed up and make your browsing experience safer. To feel more at ease and safer with them on your computer, you should set your browser to delete cookies on a more regular basis. Some may save up to 30 or 60 days automatically. With a third party privacy tool or by setting the browser to delete them every day, you can remove them from your hard drive before anyone can access and use your information. In combination with a good spyware removal tool and sensible browsing habits, you can overcome the possible negative effects that cookies might have on you and your PC's privacy.

Jeff Wilson writes extensively about computer related issues like how to protect your personal privacy on the Internet, fixing those annoying Windows errors, and speeding up your PC. To get a free download of Jeff's favorite Internet Privacy tool go to http://www.pcdatakiller.com.

Understanding the terms Web, Internet & Email

2008-05-14T08:29:00.001-07:00

You may think you know what these terms mean, but I've found that in fact, most people misuse and misunderstand 2 or 3 of those words every day!

Let me explain.

Let's start with email -- this is the one that most people get basically right, although they still misunderstand one important thing about it (more on that in a minute).

Email is, of course, "electronic mail" -- a pretty simple concept to get. Its the computer equivalent of a traditional letter. Traditional mail through the post office is often called "snail mail" these days because it takes days to get to the person you're sending it to, unlike email which can take seconds (although sometimes can take hours).

Even snail mail is pretty amazingly fast compared to how it used to be back in the day, when it could take weeks or months to get to someone.

Just like regular mail, email has a sort of post office that it goes through - something called a "mail server".

There are two types of mail server - POP and SMTP. But I prefer to use the terms incoming and outgoing because it makes more sense than the technical terms.

Don't worry about what the letters POP and SMTP stand for. Just remember:

POP = incoming, for mail that's coming in to you

and

SMTP = outgoing, for the email you're sending out.

Let's talk about the word "Web" now.

The Web is what most people think of as "the Internet" -- it's the web pages, or pages of words, pictures, and sometimes sounds and videos even, which you go and visit using your "web browser".

A web browser is just a program that lets you look at web pages -- most Windows people click on the blue E, which is Internet Explorer (made by Microsoft and given away with every copy of Windows, which is why most people use it. NOT because it's the best option).

Most Mac people with fairly new Macs use Apple's web browser Safari, which looks like a little compass.

Other people, both Mac users and Windows users, use a different program called Mozilla Firefox.

For a lot of good reasons, I strongly strongly recommend that Windows users do NOT use the blue E -- Internet Explorer -- the main reason is because it is very unsafe and is almost a guarantee that your PC will get infected with something nasty.

Mac users should not use "the blue E" (Internet Explorer) either, but more because it's very out of date and just doesn't work with many modern websites anymore.

One way to think of a web browser is like a car that lets you drive around on the "information super-highway" as they used to call the Web back in the 90s.

Some brands of cars are safer than others -- you could almost think of Internet Explorer as one of those old Poison Pintos, and Mozilla Firefox as a Volvo -- not a guarantee to save you from harm, but a lot safer than a Pinto!

One point of confusion some people have is that sometimes you can use web browsers to read your email. Like if you use Yahoo mail or Hotmail.

In that case, you are looking at your email through what's called "webmail" because you are using Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple's Safari to view your mail.

It's kind of like going to the post office and reading your mail there. Throwing some of it away, and then putting the stuff you want to keep back in the post office box for storage.

Using an email program like Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, Eudora, or Apple's OS X Mail, is more like reading your mail at home, and storing the stuff you want to keep at home instead of at the post office.

Now let's talk about the last term: the Internet.

This may be, out of the three terms I've been talking about, the one that is most mis-used.

Here's the thing: the Internet contains BOTH the Web AND email.

But many many people, probably most people in fact, talk as if the Internet was a separate thing from email or the web, when in fact the web and email are both just *parts* of the Internet.

Or another way to put it is that the web and email are just certain ways of looking at all of the information that's available on the Internet as a whole.

The Internet is really just a big "network" of interconnected computers that talk to each other and share information. Some of it is presented as web pages, some of it as email, and so on.

Hope that all makes sense.

Worth Godwin is a computer coach with over 13 years experience helping computer users in Plain English. Have more computer basics articles sent to your inbox and get your computer related questions answered. Or take a look at Worth's easy basic computer tutorials on CD.

Choosing the right kind of Internet service provider (ISP)

2008-05-14T08:28:00.001-07:00

In this article I'm going to explain some of the differences between different options for ways to connect to the Internet.

First off, let me explain the two *general* types of Internet connection before getting more specific about some of the more specific types within these two general categories.

When looked at as simply as possible there are two common types of Internet connection: dialup and "broadband".

Dialup is, of course, the old fashioned way to connect to the Internet, using a dialup modem. Dialup modems have been around far longer than most people realize: I bought my first one around 1986.

It was a "1200 bps" (bps is a measurement of speed) modem that I paid about $200 for back in the day. Dialup modems capped out at 56K bps a good ten years or more ago, and now sell for under $10 if you know where to look.

So that's about 46 times faster, and 20 times cheaper.

Now you might be thinking "I think I read somewhere that my computer has a 56K modem in it. That must be pretty fast then!"

If you're thinking that, you're wrong.

Dialup is old technology, and hasn't really improved in about ten years, which if you've read my article about the dangers of keeping old computers where I mentioned Moore's Law, means it's about 150 year out of date in relative terms!

So the simple way to think of it is, dialup = slow.

Many people are using dialup still, either because they don't see any reason not to, or they have no choice where they live.

But what I want to tell you is that even if you are currently using dialup and think "it's good enough, so why bother upgrading?" -- you're making a mistake.

I'll tell you why in a minute.

First, let me explain the general alternative to dialup. It's called "broadband", which basically just means "fast ".

Broadband comes in a number of varieties, with a range of speeds, all of them a lot faster than dialup.

Aside from being much faster, broadband generally doesn't tie up your phone line, so people don't get busy signals if they try calling you, and you can make phone calls while you're online.

The two most common types of broadband are cable and DSL. Cable internet comes over the same cable as cable TV, and is offered by a variety of companies with different brand names -- Roadrunner is one example of cable internet.

DSL actually comes over your phone lines like dialup, but is much faster and, like cable Internet, you can make phone calls while you're connected.

You also have less-used options like satellite, which gives you fairly fast connections to the Internet over a satellite dish like satellite TV. It is pretty slow for broadband, but a lot faster than dialup. It's mostly used by people out in the boonies who don't have any better option.

What I suggest to most people is to get DSL, if they can get it where they live. In most cases it's only slightly more expensive than dialup is, and in some cases it's the same price or even cheaper!

It's not usually as fast as cable Internet, but it is plenty fast for most people, and lets you do a lot of things that just aren't possible (or are very very annoyingly slow) on dialup, such as watching videos on YouTube or other sites, or downloading large files.

Which brings me to one of the biggest reasons I think people should stop using dialup and switch to some kind of broadband -- downloading large files.

You might think that you never do that, but not so fast... Maybe you do (or should be) and don't realize it.

First off, people are sending around large pictures (or several smaller pictures) via , and even videos via email all the time now. If you're on dialup and you tried checking your email one day and it never seemed to be able to get the new messages, or it took forever to do it, you may have become a victim of this.

So there's that reason.

But there's an even more important one: computers have things called "security updates" or "patches" which are critically important to download. It's important for both Windows or Macs.

Without these patches, your computer can be vulnerable to attacks by viruses, worms, and more.

But these security updates (think Windows Update, or Macs' Software Update) sometimes can be very large files.

So large that it can take hours and hours, or even DAYS to download. And if you don't download them, your computer is vulnerable.

Which leaves you between a rock and a hard place if you're still using dialup.

So think about switching if you haven't already, and forward this to your friends who haven't.

Routing Information on the Internet

2008-05-14T08:25:00.000-07:00

Question 1: Explain the reasons for treating packet routing as a principal requirement since the birth of the Internet and discuss the major design features of the Internet Protocol which have enabled version 4 to remain viable until now, despite the exponential growth of the Internet.

One of the major functional requirements of the ARPANET project was that it be able to remain functional after having one or more of its links broken. The mechanism chosen to do this was packet switching; in a packet switched network in order for one device to communicate with another on the network it only need to know its address, not how to get there. In a system like this where there are multiple possible routes between any two nodes the network will be able to adapt quickly to damage in an emergency. This was a primary requirement of the defence advanced research projects agency. In modern networks this function is managed by the internet protocol. IP is a data oriented protocol used by hosts to communicate data across a packet switched network. Unlike older network layer protocols (Apple talk, x.25 etc) it was designed from the beginning with internetworking in mind (ref. Tanenbaum, p412). Initially the internet supported simple applications such as file transfer and the formation of newsgroups. In order to perform these tasks all that was needed was a simple software based routing system and a network interface that worked with the existing communications infrastructure. However as the complexity of communications tasks increased so did the demand for greater transmissions rates. This led to the development of devices that had the capability to switch at the data link layer and the network layer. The development of devices that switched at the data link layer addressed the bottleneck in the local area network environment and the developments of devices that switched at the network layer helped alleviate the bottleneck in inter-network routing by moving the route lookup for forwarding to faster switching hardware. In modern communications networks which utilize high speed communications mediums like fibre optics or satellite links the speed of the packet switching mechanism still struggles to keep up. An IP packet is composed of a 32 bit header and a variable size message. The first 4 bit field of the header is the version number. By first indicating the version many different versions of the internet protocol can operate side by side (ref. Tanenbaum, p213). Currently version 4 is prevalent across the net but is currently in transition to version 6. There was a version 5 but it was not designed to succeed version 4, instead it provided a complimentary service for streaming multimedia applications and wasn’t adopted for mainstream use. Version 6 is being developed to address the address shortage problem with version 4. Unfortunately the integration of IPV6 has been slowed down by the use of network address translation (NAT). Network address translation allows multiple private hosts inside a network to communicate with the outside world via a single IP address. It does this by converting the source and destination fields in the header of IP packets as they pass in or out of a private network via a router. However many IP purists don’t agree with this method as each host no longer has a unique address, this restricts the use of some network protocols like UDP or voice over IP. In order to make the most efficient use of the remaining IP addresses, many ISP’s now make use of class-less addressing. In class-less addressing the different host and domain portions of the addresses in class-full IP addresses are ignored to make better use of the 32 bits available.

Question 2: Justify the major design features and discuss how routing protocols have evolved along with the evolution of the Internet from the original distance vector protocol (also known as RIP �" Routing Information Protocol based on the Bellman-Ford algorithm) inherited from the ARPANET.

As the bandwidth needs of the internet increase the functionality of the internet routing protocol has been a growing matter for concern. Distance vector routing is a basic routing method where distances are calculated based on the number of hops between two communicating hosts. To facilitate this routers regularly exchange routing tables with all of their neighbouring routers. Essentially each router has a picture of the state of the network immediately around it. Upon receiving a packet the router will then use the data in these routing tables to decide who the most suitable next recipient is. The algorithm which uses this data to decide the next hop is the Bellman-Ford algorithm. This method was then employed by C.Hedrick to write the routing information protocol in 1988, which then became the standard for networking between research labs. Software based on this algorithm was in use as early as 1969 in the original internet, the ARPANET. Although RIP is currently one of the most popular interior gateway protocols for use in internal networks and sometimes in inter-networks, it is considered outdated in comparison to routing protocols like OSPF (open shortest path first) protocol. The advantage of OSPF is its use of the Djikstra algorithm which takes into account both the number of hops between two ends of a communication and the relative difficulty of each hop. By taking into account the difficulty of the route, not just the number of links that need to be traversed; this algorithm facilitates better load distribution.

Question 3: For the purpose of routing traffic the Internet is treated as a collection of Autonomous Systems (AS). Discuss taking currently used protocols as examples, what roles are played by the Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) and Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP) in these Autonomous Systems.

An autonomous system is defined as a network, or inter-network that is controlled by a single administrative entity (ref. SearchNetwork.com). In order for autonomous systems to interact in inter-networks they need to agree upon a consistent exterior routing protocol. The Interior Gateway Routing Protocol was developed in the 1980s by Cisco. Cisco's principal goal in creating IGRP was to provide a robust protocol for routing within an autonomous system (AS). (ref. Cisco documentation) This protocol was the successor of RIP. Where RIP was good at routing in small sized quite homogenous networks it was outstretched by the increasing size of networks, its maximum hop count of 16 was a particularly limiting factor. In the early internet routing was done using a set of core routers that each maintained complete information about network reachability on the internet, information was exchanged using the interior routing protocol. Around the periphery were other non-core routers. These routers exchange reachability information with the core routers using TCP/IP’s exterior routing protocol, the exterior gateway protocol (ref. TCP/IP guide). Both of these protocols deal with exchanging routing tables with immediate neighbours, which may well be in different autonomous systems. These protocols have now been superseded by the border gateway protocol. Border gateway protocol has the advantage over its predecessors of supporting class-less inter-domain routing, which makes more efficient use of the IP addresses available in IPv4 It also uses route aggregation to reduce the size of the routing tables that it communicates with its neighbours, this makes a big dent in the overhead bandwidth cost of maintaining the network (Wikipedia - BGP). BGP was devised to replace the EGP and thus remove the necessity for NSFNET Internet backbone. This allowed the internet to become a fully decentralised network. If BGP is running on a router within an autonomous system it is known as interior BGP (iBGP) and if it running on a router on the border between two autonomous systems it is known as exterior BGP (eBGP). One of the biggest problems facing the border gateway protocol is the growth of the global internet routing table. This dataset is growing to the point where older routers will run out of memory and CPU power; they will no longer be effective gateways for the different autonomous systems they serve. As the global routing table get longer BGP is also taking longer to stabilize it after big adaptation in connectivity. In order to prevent the growth of the global routing table from drowning the whole networks there is an agreement among ISP’s to try and keep its size to a minimum. Methods being used keep the size down include route aggregation and classless inter-domain routing.

Question 4:NAT (Network Address Translator) boxes are used today in conjunction with a boundary router as a temporary remedy for the problem of insufficient IP addresses. Discuss using clear illustrations how NAT allows a large number of users on an intranet to access the Internet using only a few IP addresses.

IPv4 is has a limited life expectancy. This is because as we invent and build more and more devices capable of connecting to the internet we are running out of unique IP addresses to give them. Because of the way addresses are separated into classes over 70% of IPv4 addresses are owned by American institutions. Although IPv6 is a better solution that conforms to the internets ideal of unique addresses for every node a more accessible short term solution has been adopted; NAT or natural address translation. Many autonomous system administrators choose to implement NAT because it allow many nodes to connect to the internet via a single IP address, often the cost of having more IP addresses outweighs the benefits of it. In NAT all communication from inside the autonomous system goes via a boundary router. When a packet reaches a boundary router from inside the AS its source address is recorded in a table associated with a random available port number. The packets source address field is then re-written as the publicly visible address of the boundary router and the randomly port number generated in the NAT conversion. When a packet arrives at the boundary router from outside the AS the destination port number from its header is extracted and used as the index in the NAT lookup table to ascertain which IP address inside the AS the packet is intended for. To illustrate I’ll use my home network as an example:

In this network four computers are connected together by a NAT enable router and ADSL modem in one device. The public address is 87.113.6.35. The NAT lookup table might look like this:

Source Computer Source
IP Source Port NAT Routers
IP Address NAT Assigned
Port number
CompA 192.168.0.1 400 87.113.5.53 1
CompB 192.168.0.2 300 87.113.5.53 2
CompB 192.168.0.2 550 87.113.5.53 3
CompC 192.168.0.3 80 87.113.5.53 4
CompD 192.168.0.4 27 87.113.5.53 6
CompD 192.168.0.4 500 87.113.5.53 7

So for example if CompD was to attempt to access a website who’s IP address is (110.35.10.90). A packet with its destination field set as that address will leave CompD. It will then reach the address translator. The address translator will then change the headers to indicate a source address of 87.113.5.53 on source port 7. Once the website has received the request and returns an acknowledgement it will be received by the boundary router. The NAT translator will use the destination port number, to look up the internal destination address and port, in this case 192.168.0.4:500 and route the reply to CompD. The address translation is then in place for the rest of the communication.

Question 5: Discuss why the use of NAT is considered unacceptable by IP purists.

IP purists believe that every node on a network should be identified by a unique IP address. When people started using NAT it became impossible to use one unambiguous address to talk to any node on the network. NAT may solve the problem of address shortages but it creates hundreds of smaller problems. NAT prevents a computer from knowing its own address outside the NAT controlled area. NAT also prevents cooperating applications like voice over IP from working. This is because NAT makes it very difficult for a host on the internet to initiate a connection with a host sitting behind a networks NAT router. If the host behind the router doesn’t initiate the communication then there isn’t the necessary record in the lookup table to know which device on the internal network is meant to receive the communication. By using ports to expand IP addresses NAT scrambles both the IP packet headers and the headers of packets from transport layer protocols like UDP and TCP it restricts the uptake of other transport layer protocols that it doesn’t know how to manipulate. This is unacceptable to network purists as each layer in the network protocol stack should operate independently of the layers above and below it. This also pressures application developers to use TCP or UDP in situations where another transport protocol might be better suited. The use of NAT over IPv6 will most likely stifle the development of new and better transport layer protocols.

Best Regards,

Sam Harnett MSc mBCS

Pixeko Studio �" Web Developers in Kent

I'm a degree educated software developer and internet enthusiast

Downloading Computer Software Off the Internet

2008-05-14T08:20:00.001-07:00

If there is one thing that people like it is something that is available to them for free. This especially goes for computer software. Various places offer free software programs for people on a trial period or shareware versions of products that are free. These can range from business products to games. There are many places that you can visit and start downloading computer software off the Internet.

CNet's Download.com is one of the world's top places to go for downloading computer software off the Internet. They have different types of software on this site. These programs include developer tools, web browsers, spyware and virus protection programs and drivers for hardware programs. Some fun software, like screensavers or games, can be found on Download.com too.

One of the best things about Download.com is that of the variety of software it has for downloading. This includes freeware and shareware as well as products that are active for only a certain amount of time. Reviews of products from CNet writers and users are also available so that it can be easier to find the right download. This is considered to be a top rated site on the Internet. You can also add your products to the website if you have something to offer people.

ZDNet also has one of the top locations for downloading computer software off the Internet. This site is located at downloads.zdnet.com. Windows and Macintosh programs are available along with software development software for security, optimization and debugging. Shareware and trial software are the most common programs that can be found here. Mobile phone programs are available for download too.

Another place for downloading computer software off the Internet is Computer Hope. Located at computerhope.com, this site features information on how to use computer programs and on how to make computing easier for anyone. Various programs are available for downloading on the site, including program drivers and assorted freeware programs. The products that they offer are intended to help make your computing experience easier.

GoLoads, which is at goloads.com, is another of the places for downloading computer software off the Internet. Many of the programs that are available here are multimedia programs. These programs include audio editing software, media conversion software and video editing programs. While many of the programs featured here for download are entertainment programs, there are some other great options to look into as well. This includes email tools and office programs.

Many different formats are supported on GoLoads. Windows, Macintosh and Linux operating systems have programs available for download on the site. Pocket PC files are also available. This is indeed one of the best sites to visit for anyone because of the amount of software for different operating systems.

For those who enjoy computer games FilePlanet is a great place to visit online. Located at fileplanet.com, this site features many different files for games. These include demos of games that can be tried before buying a game and upgrades for games. Additional files, including new multiplayer maps for online action games, roster updates for sports game and other fun additional files are also featured on this site. Reviews of these files are available also.

Another great place to consider for downloading computer software off the Internet is PC TechBytes. Available at pctechbytes.com/downloads, this site features utilities that are available for use on a computer. Most of the programs here are trial editions of programs. Computer benchmark software is available along with programs for networking, firewalls and backup services. As you will see, these programs are all used for the intention of protecting and supporting a computer.

These are all great sites to visit for downloading computer software off the Internet. Some sites will have a variety of software and reviews that are helpful, while others will carry only productivity or gaming files. No matter what you are looking for, there are some great sites to look into for downloading software for the computer.

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The History Of The Internet - How The Web Came To Be

2008-05-13T07:53:00.001-07:00

The fundamental idea of the internet first came about in a paper that was published in 1960 by J.C.R. Licklider. In it, he articulated the concept of a wide network of computers, and some of the uses that would arise from such a network. Mr. Licklider had ideas that would shape the powerful tool that we use so frequently in modern times.

2 years later, Licklider was hired by the U.S. Government's Department of Defense. Specifically, he worked in a branch called DARPA. At that point, they had 3 terminals in their office, and several men worked together on the technical concepts that would allow them to network the computers.

Although they established some groundbreaking computer protocol, their small network was barely a baby step towards what we have today. Computer scientists around the world worked on their own computer networks, trading ideas and information amongst themselves. Networks grew to be more complex, and to contain more computer terminals.

Eventually, the small handful of network owners began to theorize about what sort of possibilities there would be if every single computer network was interlinked into one giant network. Men from DARPA and Stanford University worked on the problem of how so many individual networks could be merged. Eventually they determined that the key was to establish a universal protocol. In order to be a part of the large network, individuals would have to follow the protocol.

Stanford researcher Vincent Serf wrote the "Specification of Internet Transmission Control Program" - which, coincidentally, was the first known use of the word "internet". It also established guidelines known as the TCP/IP. DARPA's network approved this protocol, and it became the only acceptable way to transfer data within its network. The standards were provided to all of the other major networks at the time, and one by one they converted their machinery to the new protocol. Because of this universal compliance, almost any two networks could be joined, no matter what their type was.

The phrase "The Internet" began to be used in reference to a sort of mainframe of inter-connected networks. They could be easily accessed by any machine using the proper protocol. Data could be easily transferred using existing infrastructure - in fact, countless satellite links and phone routing stations were converted to the TCP/IP protocol to further the information-carrying ability of the internet.

Throughout the 80s, the internet began to grow into a worldwide phenomenon. Naturally, almost every country had its own computer enthusiasts and research programs with their own networks established. Word spread of the universal TCP/IP protocol that was connecting computers across the world, and foreign networks enthusiastically adopted these standards. This globalization only contributed more to the spread of the internet, as brain power from across the world was united to optimize the networks and establish the best methods of data sharing.

To this day, TCP/IP remains nearly universal, being used by every internet-compatible computer as well as a huge number of private networks. We can certainly do more with the network than the pioneers of the 80s, but without their work we could still be sending telegrams instead of emails.

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Speed Up Your Internet Connection Speed With An Internet Accelerator

2008-05-13T07:51:00.001-07:00

When you are stuck using dialup, you may be having some issues with a slow running Internet connection. You know the type, slow downloads, slow connect, slow to open even the simplest website, and all of the fun things that can go along with dialup. However, you now have a solution, taking advantage of web accelerators.

An Internet accelerator has been designed to speed up the process of downloading images and media over a dialup connection. It does this with a compression technology. The accelerator will actually compress all data and files, which means that your websites will now load a faster rate. This is especially useful when you visit the same sites repeatedly, because most accelerators have a save feature that allows you to keep something similar to a copy of the website to download faster the very next time you need to access the website.

Below are some of the major benefits that you can have just by using Internet accelerators.

Faster Than Standard Dialup

Thanks to the compression feature, web accelerators have the capabilities of pushing your dialup connection to its limit. Giving you the fastest possible connection over dialup, faster than you ever thought possible. Some areas still have not moved into the technology of broadband or faster types of Internet connection, therefore, they have no other option than to use dialup. If you must use dialup, why not use the fastest dialup possible with a web accelerator.

Cheaper Than Other Options

Even if you live in an area with DSL, Cable, or wireless capabilities, these options can really start to put a dent in your checkbook. If you are on a budget and simply cannot afford these higher speed connections, dial up with an Internet accelerator may be the right option for you. You can still access your favorite Internet sites for less money than those using cable, DSL or satellite and still faster than those using standard dial-up without any type of accelerator.

Has Now Become A Standard Dial Up Feature

Many dial up companies are now offering Internet accelerators as part of their standard packages. In some cases, it may be the same price as the dial up package or you may have to pay a small additional fee to get the accelerator, but it worth the small fees charged by dial up companies. You can push your dial up modem as far and as fast as it could possibly go, without having to spend an arm and a leg to get it. It Just Make Sense

It just makes sense to use web accelerators with your dial up Internet connection. You will just love the added speed, the added support, and the added time it gives you. Generally, you have to wait forever for your dial up connection to bring up your favorite websites, now you can load them in half the time, which mean have the wait. Get started with faster dial up right now.

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Protect Your Family From Unwanted Internet Content With An Internet Filter

2008-05-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

Never has it been more critical than right now to protect children from the online perils of pornography. According to USA Today there are over 1000 new pornographic websites each day. Over 30% of all the websites online have some form of inappropriate content. It has been estimated that approximately 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 7 boys will be sexually molested before the age of 18. The relationship of pornography to child sexual abuse is compelling. 77% of those who molested boys and 87% of those who molested girls said they were regular users of hard-core pornography.

For most families, being on the Internet is as commonplace as being on the telephone. While most parents feel that it is not necessary to monitor their children online, this is a very big mistake. Some, but not all, of the problems for families associated with online pornography are as follows:

· Children innocently typing in incorrect URL's and accessing porn sites by mistake possibly causing trauma to the child.

· Cookies being placed in browsers by porn sites thereby allowing them to track your children and send them pornographic emails.

· Curious children seeking porn sites (and they will) potentially opening themselves up to developing an addiction to online pornography.

· Porn seeking children using their parent's credit cards to accumulate, in many known cases, hundreds of dollars of charges for viewing online pornography.

· Marriages and families are being torn apart due to husbands and wives becoming addicted to online pornography.

Online pornographers are targeting your children. Over half of the children using the Internet receive an invitation from pornographers to visit a pornographic web site right on the computer in your home.

Face it; the Internet can be a particularly dangerous place for children if they should surf it unmonitored. Who has the time to monitor your kids 24 hours a day? If you are looking to create a safe web environment for your children, you may want to consider purchasing an Internet filter. An Internet filter is basically a simple to install software application designed to prevent access to websites that you do not want your children to visit.

A few years ago there were a lot of dial up Internet service providers that offered filtered Internet access. Many of these companies are still around. With the lower prices and availability of broadband Internet, most of us have moved away from dial up. The problems of unfiltered Internet access remain the same, but the availabilities of Internet filtering are worse.

There is a selection of good stand-alone Internet content filters that are available for high speed Internet access. Most of these filters are customizable to your families needs and are very affordable. As you have moved into the high speed Internet world, have for forgotten to protect your kids?

Protect your family from unwanted Internet content with a Family Surf Internet Filter. Our stand-alone Internet filter software is available to you at an affordable rate while you maintain your current Internet access with the added assurance that your family is protected from objectionable online material. http://www.internetfilters.net

A Basic Tutorial on how to secure your computer from Internet threats for Beginners

2008-05-13T07:47:00.001-07:00

Once you are connected to the Internet, there are many Internet threats such as viruses, trojans, spywares, hackers that may damage, slow down or steal information from your PC.

The following points will provide some insights on how you can better protect your computer against common Internet threats. It is written in simple non-technical terms so that beginners or non-technical personnel are able to understand. Every security safeguard a computer user takes will reduce the number of people skilled enough to break into their computer using various attack methods.

(1) One of the common Internet threats is virus attacks. What is a virus ?

Viruses are computer programs which has these characteristics:

1. The program is able to self-replicate.

2. The program is able to activate itself. In addition, viruses spread by infecting files.

Here is my encounter with viruses:

"Back when I was administering multiple office networks across the region, I have seen some viruses such as "Netsky" attacking the computer networks and they come in by the thousands (20,000 in a night to be precise !).

Fortunately, I had an anti-virus program that was blocking these virus onslaught from entering into the Computer Data Centre which holds the company critical operations and data storage. The unsung hero (The anti-virus) did it's job well and not a single virus came through the company network. Unfortunately, the server that runs the anti-virus had a hardware failure due to the extremely high traffic of cleaning these viruses.

I had to immediately get ready a standby server to take over the anti-virus job and later installed a clustered anti-virus solution for high availability. This meant an anti-virus software is the absolutely the first protection that a computer cannot do without".

So how to get protection and are there FREE Anti-Virus ?

The ANSWER is yes. One of the popular Anti-Virus is AVG Free Edition Anti-Virus.

(2) Another form of Internet threat is Spyware.

Spyware programs are able to retrieve various types of personal information and can also by itself install additional software, pointing your web to other web sites that may have viruses. Furthermore, multiple spywares can cause your computer to slow down as it takes up your CPU, Memory and Disk space. Your network performance may also suffer as spyware redirect unwanted network traffic.

Traditionally an Anti-Virus is adequate to protect a PC but now it is essential to also include Anti-spyware program to counter this threat. Anti-spyware programs are to monitor your PC for spyware while giving you a peace of mind while going about your on-line activity.

There are also FREE and popular Anti-Spyware programs such as Spybot Search and Destroy and Lavasoft Adware Personal.

(3) Trojans

These are computer programs that can hide themselves behind an innocent looking e-mail attachment (e.g. a tempting computer game). Once the attachment is executed, the trojan will install itself into the computer and it can now start doing damage to your computer.

Some trojans has spyware, which is software that keeps track of Internet usage statistics and it will send these information back to the creator.

Most anti-virus comes with trojan removal. However, nowadays it is better to equip your PC with a personal firewall. It will help you to block unwanted applications/virus from trying to penetrate your PC.

The above represent the basic defense against Internet threats. Of course there many more measures to minimize these threats. If you require more information and step by step guide to install the above security software, please refer to the website listed below.

Gabriel Ng is the author of http://www.comsectutorial.com This site is setup to provide information, recommendation on hacking prevention, controls to minimise security threats from viruses, trojans, spywares, hacking based real life experience while conducting security assessment and penetration tests. There is a beginner section that guides new Internet users step by step to install the security defenses. http://www.comsectutorial.com/virus.html

How to Achieve Good Internet Security

2008-05-13T07:45:00.001-07:00

In the computer industry, Internet security refers to techniques for ensuring that data stored in a computer cannot be read or compromised by any individuals without authorization. Most security measures involve data encryption and passwords. Data encryption is the translation of data into a form that is unintelligible without a deciphering mechanism. A password is a secret word or phrase that gives a user access to a particular program or system.

Internet security can be achieved through following steps.

ISP

Your Internet service provider (ISP) should be your first line of defense. If you have a choice, choose an ISP that offers online virus, spam and content filters. This will reduce, but not eliminate, the amount of spam and the number of infected emails that you receive. The content filter is to protect your kids. If you do not have a choice or want to keep your current ISP, consider using an online email service that offers virus and spam filters. For more information, see our Broadband page.

A variety of Privacy Software is available to clean your browser, stop spam, trip up phishing, filter content for kids, catch web bugs, manage cookies, and block banner, pop-up and pop-under ads. For more information, see our Privacy, Anti-Spam and Anti-Phishing pages.

Routers

Routers provide the security from internet using Network Address Translation technique. Network Address Translation (NAT) typically has the effect of preventing connections from being established inbound into a computer, whilst permitting connections out. For a small home network, software NAT can be used on the computer with the Internet connection, providing similar behavior to a router and similar levels of security, but for a lower cost and lower complexity.

Firewalls

A firewall blocks all "roads and cars" through authorized ports on your computer, thus restricting unfettered access. A stateful firewall is a more secure form of firewall, and system administrators often combine a proxy firewall with a packet-filtering firewall to create a highly secure system. Most home users use a software firewall. These types of firewalls can create a log file where it records all the connection details (including connection attempts) with the PC.

Anti-virus

Some people or companies with malicious intentions write programs like computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses and Spyware. These programs are all characterized as being unwanted software that installs automatically on your computer through deception.

Trojan horses are simply programs that conceal their true purpose or include a hidden functionality that a user would not want. Worms are characterized by having the ability to replicate themselves and viruses are similar except that they achieve this by adding their code onto third party software. Once a virus or worm has infected a computer, it would typically infect other programs (in the case of viruses) and other computers.

Viruses also slow down system performance and cause strange system behavior and in many cases do serious harm to computers, either as deliberate, malicious damage or as unintentional side effects. In order to prevent damage by viruses and worms, users typically install antivirus software, which runs in the background on the computer, detecting any suspicious software and preventing it from running.

Some malware that can be classified as Trojans with a limited payload are not detected by most antivirus software and may require the use of other software designed to detect other classes of malware, including Spyware.

Anti-Spyware

Spyware is software that runs on a computer without the explicit permission of its user. It often gathers private information from a user's computer and sends this data over the Internet back to the software manufacturer. Adware is software that runs on a computer without the owner's consent, much like Spyware. However, instead of taking information, it typically runs in the background and displays random or targeted pop-up advertisements. In many cases, this slows the computer down and may also cause software conflicts.

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How To Set Up A Wireless Network Using Satellite Internet Service

2008-05-12T07:39:00.000-07:00

If you live out in the country and can't get high speed Internet access, satellite Internet acess will provide you the best option to surf the net at broadband speeds. In addition to being able to get broadband speeds, you are not just restricted to one coax cable connecting one computer. You have the ability to use a wireless connection. You can network your home or office computers easier, and you can several people surf the Internet on different computers at the same time.

The first step to establishing your wireless network is to choose a reliable satellite Internet service provider. Two-way satellite Internet service offers you the most efficient service. The three best companies satellite internet access companies are Starband, Hughesnet and my favorite Wildblue. There are a couple of one-way service providers but I would stay away from them. Unless you want to tie up you phone line and want other headaches!

After you have selected a satellite Internet service provider you will want to go out a purchase the necessary equipment to go wireless. If you don't have a computer that has an internal wireless networking card already built in then, you will want to either buy one that does, or you will want to buy a wireless network adapter. After you have established the network card you will need a wireless router. I would stick with the known brands such as linksys, Netgear or D-link. These three brands are dependable and easy to set up.

After your satellite Internet service has been installed you will be ready to connect your wireless network. Start by connecting your satellite Internet modem to the router. Your router will then send signals to your computer via infrared signals. Configure your router following the instructions that came with your router.

If you are using a wireless network adapter you will want to plug it into a USB port in your computer. If your computer came with an internal wireless card you should receive the signal through the card. If you purchased your router before installation, most installers will assist you in setting up your router. If not, just follow the instructions in the router manual. It's pretty simple!

There is one thing to keep in mind. When two or more people are surfing the Internet at one time, the Internet connection speed is shared. So if you subscribe to a service using 512k speeds, you both could be splitting the speed. With this in mind be selective when choosing your satellite Internet access provider. You will all then be happier with your satellite Internet service in the end.

Setting up a wireless system with your satellite Internet access will provide you with the speed that you have been lacking with the flexibility to share the connection with family or co-workers. It offers a great combination!

Put an end to your slow Internet access. Wild Blue Satellite Internet access may very well be your best choice to bring you high speed internet access. http://www.wildbluesatellite.net

How To Undelete Internet Explorer History

2008-05-12T07:35:00.000-07:00

Internet Explorer builds up a history of the websites you've visited. Every so often, it can pay to clear it out. But what if you do this and didn't mean to? Can you undelete Internet Explorer history?

As always with Windows, there's more than one answer to this question.

The simple one is to use Windows built-in Restore feature.

At intervals, modern versions of Windows take a snapshot of your computer. These snapshots are called "restore points". If you regularly install software, it can be worth manually setting a restore point before going ahead with the software setup routine. That way, if something nasty happens you can get your system back to how it was.

The chances are that you'll have a reasonably recent restore point set by your system. It's then just a matter of running Windows Restore and you should get all your Internet Explorer history back.

But sometimes there are reasons that restore points don't exist.

Maybe you've changed your system settings so that they aren't automatically taken. Or maybe some malicious software has changed the setting for you. Or it may not even be safe to restore your system - maybe you've recently cleaned out a virus and the nearest restore point is actually before you got rid of the thing. You probably don't want to go to the hassle of re-ridding yourself of a virus. Or the latest system restore was taken before you installed a complicated piece of software.

What can you do in these instances to undelete your Internet Explorer history?

Depending on what other software you are running, there's a chance that there are some other files used by Internet Explorer to track your browsing history. These files are called index.dat and they may be hidden by the system and will almost certainly be littered across your hard drive in a variety of folders.

You can see why people use software to remove their tracks now, can't you?

So how do you go about finding these files?

Go to your Start menu and select Search.

Choose the "For files and folders..." option from the menu that appears.

Then select the "All files and folders" option.

Several options will be given to you. The file name box needs to have "index.dat" in it (don't type in the quote marks).

Then click the "More advanced options" link and tick the "Search hidden files and folders" option as well as the options that are already pre-selected for you.

If Windows thinks you've got more than one hard drive, just select "Local Disk (C:) from the drop down list.

Then click the Search button and let Windows go off and present you with a list of files. You may want to go off and grab a coffee while it does this.

Whilst you could open these files in a word processor, they won't make much sense when you view them. So you're going to need a specialist piece of software to read them - just use your favorite search engine and search for "index.dat reader". Use the software you find to open these index.dat files and get your browsing history back.

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What Is An Internet Proxy? Why Use One? How Would You Use One?

2008-05-12T07:30:00.000-07:00

The term internet proxy is one of many online terms that have a techie sound to them. In some cases, such terms sound more complicated than they are. In the case of internet proxies, unfortunately, this is not the case.

An internet proxy is not an easy thing to understand or implement. For the non-tech-savvy individual, a proxy might seem a bit over your head.

For intermediate to advanced internet users, however, a proxy can be a handy thing. Let's take a look at what an internet proxy is, what it can do for you, and how to go about using one.

What does Proxy mean?

You may already know that proxy (in general) means to substitute one thing for another, or one who speaks on behalf of another. That meaning is not far away from the application of this word when it comes to the internet.

In layman's terms, a proxy is basically a way of connecting to the internet without being traced in the process. Whether or not this is fully effective is another discussion. Can privacy ever be fully achieved when ones uses the internet? Conventional wisdom suggests not.

Why Use a Proxy?

When a proxy is implemented, a barrier is created between your computer or network and the website you are visiting. The implied benefits of this include increased security and privacy.

The most popular internet browser, Microsoft Internet Explorer, for example, contains a proxy setting. Although many software programs may use a proxy in some form or another, there is a difference between this as opposed to your actively using a proxy for the purpose of online anonymity.

Why Be Anonymous?

The reasons to attempt to be anonymous online are many and include:

* Surfing Privacy * Security from Hackers and Online Attacks * To remove limitations of a Public Network * To Prevent Websites from Tracking Your Behavior

Proxies Won't Protect Criminals!

Another reason some people may want to be anonymous is because they think they could get away with online internet crimes. Committing crimes always has a consequence, regardless of where it takes place. The internet is no exception.

Just as there is no perfect crime in real life, there is no perfect crime online. Before you consider committing any crimes, think again. Think about whether you want to have regrets in life, disgrace your family and friends, pay fines, spend time in jail, or worse.

No matter how anonymous you think you are online, there is always a way for the authorities to get around the barriers and detect your wrongdoing. So simply don't do it in the first place!

How Can I Use An Internet Proxy?

Making use of an internet proxy is most easily done using a third-party company to provide the proxy for you. Go to your favorite search engine (like Google or Yahoo) and type in "internet proxy."

There may be free options but the best type is trial based software. They let you try the proxy out and see if you like what it does. Freeware usually has a catch (keep that in mind) so trial ware is better.

Many routers have proxies built into them. Before you invest in a third-party proxy online, call your router manufacturer and ask if a proxy is built into your router and how to enable it.

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Setup Internet Connection To Digital Video Recorder Behind Router

2008-05-12T07:26:00.000-07:00

This is first article from two part series looking at the seemingly easy task of setting up Internet connection to security DVR. While this article will focus on general steps involved in proper connection forwarding to CCTV DVR, the part two is all about dynamic DNS support and workarounds. Before we step into the main subject, I like to explain very briefly a few key aspects of Internet connection for those of us not familiar with term like IP address, DDNS, port forwarding or IP mapping.

Terminology:

Every computer or other network device, in our case CCTV recorder has its own address called IP address, much like your home address it allows the information to find its way in enormous world of internet. IP address has four groups of numbers separated by dots; the number range is between 0 and 255. There are two separate networks that we need to take into consideration, LAN for Local Area Network and WAN for Wide Area Network. LAN has its own IP addresses and handles connection on local network devices (computers or devices located in your home or office network), if WAN IP is your home address than LAN IP would be your apartment number.

WAN IP is an external address visible to every user on the Internet. We will explain rest of the terminology as we go along.

Setup:

The best way to explain and clarify surveillance DVR connection setup is to use an example. In our example, we will setup DVR model VDV-074 from DVRExperts thru Netopia Router/Modem combo currently used by AT&T DSL provider with static IP service, I will also use Linksys WRT54G Router for Cable DSL connection. Security DVR recorder needs to be connected to the Internet through Router and Modem, in some cases Router and Modem are all in one devices, for example Netopia Routers.

For standalone Modems please connect the Internet out to WAN port, on your Router. Connect CCTV DVR and computers to available ports on the Router as well. Your Router will need to be setup now to log in to the Internet service provider and establish connection.

Netopia Router users:

Open up browser on your computer and type into the address bar your routers default IP http://192.168.1.254. User name and password window should appear; the default user name and password for Netopia Routers are admin for user and serial number of your Router for the password.

Select Configure followed by Quick start link, type your Internet service providers user name (email address) and your ISP password. Click submit and alert icon located in upper right corner (I know it is strange), finally select save and restart. Your connection should be up in minute or so, click home link to see your connection status.

Linksys Router users:

Open up browser on your computer and type into the address bar your routers default IP http://192.168.1.1. User name and password window should appear; the default user name and password for Linksys routers are admin for user and admin for the password.

The home page of the router has ISP settings, type in your email address as a user name and ISP password for the password, select save or submit. The Router will restart after minute or so, log in again and go to status page to see if your connection status is UP.

If everything is ok and your connection is UP, we can now proceed to fun part of the setup process

There is great number of different security Digital Video Recorders on the market, so please follow your DVR's manual for details; I will only provide the proper settings. In the DVR menu, setup static LAN (Internal) IP for the DVR, in our example we have 3 computers and DVR. Each device has assigned LAN IP address as follows:

Computer 1 - 192.168.1.100

Computer 2 - 192.168.1.101

Computer 3 - 192.168.1.102

DVR - 192.168.1.103

The surveillance DVR will now be accessible within our network by typing its assigned internal IP (192.168.1.103) into browser or connection software. What we need now is to forward the connection from external IP (WAN) which is accessible from outside of our network to the LAN IP of the DVR (192.168.1.103).

Netopia Router users:

Select Configure followed by Advanced and finally IP Maps. IP map table should be empty, click on add and type into IP Map Entry Name text box the name of your DVR connection, in our example I just typed in DVR so I know what this IP map is for. In Internal IP address box type in 192.168.1.103, for external IP address refer to you ISP work sheet and find out what is your IP. In some cases ISP will provide more than one static IP, you can choose one of them.

Click submit and alert icon located in upper right corner, finally select save and restart.

From now on anyone requesting external IP will be forwarded to the internal IP of the DVR (192.168.1.103), therefore the connection should be established successfully.

Linksys Router users:

When setting up your DVR for access from the Internet, you will need to configure Port Forwarding on your Linksys Router. This can be accomplished in one of two ways, Specific Port Forwarding or the DMZ host. The DMZ host automatically forwards all incoming connection requests to a given IP address on your local network. Open the Applications & Gaming section of the router and choose DMZ. DMZ is not secure and should only be used with embedded, non-PC based CCTV recorders.

To expose the DVR to the Internet, enter the DVR local IP address (192.168.1.103) in the DMZ Host IP address box. In some cases you may just want to forward specific ports to your security DVR. If you are running any other device/server that hosts services available to the internet, you will want to use specific port forwarding instead of the DMZ Host, also if your DVR is PC based it is strongly recommended for security reasons, to only forward ports used by DVR connection. Open the applications & Gaming section of the router and choose Port Range Forwarding. Type in the name for the connection, starting port number, ending port number and internal IP of the DVR (192.168.1.103 in our example). Save and exit.

Your connection is now setup properly.

You probably noticed the term static IP in this article, and are wondering what that is.

Well, static IP is what the name suggests an IP that never changes. While there is no problem with internal IP selection; we can use whatever we want or prefer - the external IP, usually is dynamic. The static IP has to be requested from the ISP and is more expensive than dynamic IP. In our case we do want static IP so we have address for CCTV DVR connection that will never change.

Throughout this tutorial I have assumed that the external static IP is available.

Unfortunately in many areas it is not, or the cost is prohibitive. Don't panic yet, there is at least couple of different ways around this problem and I will try to go over each approach in my next article "How to use free dynamic DNS services for DVR connection."

About The Author Robert Moskal is Technical Department Manager at V2Comp, Inc., a major distributor of CCTV cameras and other surveillance equipment located in Chicago area. More information about new products can be accessed at http://www.amazingoutlet.com

What Exactly Is An Internet Proxy?

2008-05-12T07:16:00.000-07:00

Basically, a proxy on the internet allows you to move all over the place without anyone knowing your real identity. Supposedly, you can be completely untraceable and even bypass firewalls or filters.

Whether you are using the internet from a school, work, library or any other firewall protected area, companies offering internet proxies claim that you will still be able to access blocked websites and remain totally anonymous.

Some even say that you will able to go to an amazing number of social networking sites such as: Myspace, Bebo, Facebook, Orkit, Friendster, and hi5. Even though these websites would be blocked from public schools, colleges, libraries, and most company offices, they claim you can go to all these places and more without your identity being known.

Another such proxy server says that through them you can even go to YouTube and Myspace video sites with no one being able to discover your IP address or your true identity.

Some proxy servers claim that they can enable you to bypass local proxies and security restrictions, surf through blocked sites, and just move about privately and securely without even having to install any software on your computer. One of these servers says that what they do is put a "privacy cloak over you" so that no one will know who you are or that you are hiding there.

It is even claimed that, with the use of an internet proxy, you will remain anonymous when you browse the web through a public web proxy and that the website cannot even find your real IP address. You do not have to configure or update anything locally, and yet everything will be prepared and working properly.

One such site offers ssl and non-ssl sites and comes with no bandwidth or geographical restrictions. This site offers service that is completely free of charge.

Another one of the many pages of advertised servers says that they have created anonymous web surfing through an intermediary so that they can prevent all unauthorized third parties from being able to gather any of your private or personal information.

If all these internet proxy servers are free, why are there so many of them? They seem to pretty much make all the same claims with just a variation here and there. Is there really a need for so many sites to say the same thing? Maybe there is more to all this than meets the eye... Makes you wonder!

Although it seems disconcerting that a criminal-type could do this to look for victims, it really can be a protection for responsible citizens. Would you want to go to a website and have the server be able to obtain personal information about you? The idea that you can keep your email address or other things private is a good thing. Maybe you better wear that cloak after all!

Proxies do offer a level of protection while you are browsing the internet. But you must remember that they do not give you complete anonymity. Using a proxy will certainly not allow you to break any laws without getting caught - you still have to behave.

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Who Cares About Broadband Internet Anyways

2008-05-12T07:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, not too long ago there was a company that launched Internet use into the average household. Remember the name AOL? AOL was pretty much the standard for Internet communications, even for many businesses. You waited for the sound of your modem to dial up and viola ... you had access to news, chat rooms, search engines, and a whole vast unknown world of web sites to explore.

While we all probably enjoyed the great wonder of the technology, dial up was a pain in the butt. We had to wait to connect and even then cross our fingers hoping we wouldn't be disconnected from our coveted connection. Disconnects led to newer and improved versions of AOL and birthed competing companies such as Earthlink promising fewer dropped connections online.

As people adapted to the Internet they began to want to surf the Internet faster to obtain more information and do more. To address the issue, many providers began creating dial up that claimed to be faster. The problem with the faster dial up was to get the optimal speed you had to sacrifice image quality or images altogether.

The cries of the consumer did not go unheard and DSL was marketed to the public as the more attractive option to downloading and viewing pictures while still browsing the world wide web. The big problem with DSL however was the cost. DSL was very expensive for it's day so many suffered at the hands of the slow dial up connections that first brought them Internet connectivity.

The days of over priced high speed Internet (broadband) are finally coming to an end, and at a very good time in web technology. With the addition of sticky sites such as YouTube and MySpace you cannot enjoy the sites without broadband.

Streaming video of comedic situations, live action, amazing events, and even friends and family are all posted on YouTube and you do not want to wait 15-20 minutes to watch a 5 minute video. Broadband allows video to play almost instantly creating an almost television like experience.

An additional benefit are software update downloads. Critical updates for your computer operating system as well as anti-virus programs can be made over the Internet without interrupting your surfing experience or tying up your phone line for 3 to 4 hours.

Not only does a broadband connection allow you to watch video, download programs, and surf the World Wide Web at incredible speeds, but you can actually use it to save on phone bills as well. With the invention of VoIP technology you can make unlimited calls throughout the United States from a regular phone by utilizing your broadband Internet connection through many VoIP providers.

Broadband allows you to also do instant messaging with relatives and friend with live video from a web camera keeping you closer to loved ones far away. The better your broadband connection the better quality of voice and video you will enjoy as well.

With broadband the uses are almost unlimited and time is less spent on aggravating long waits for whatever you want to do online. I think it's clear what the benefits are for having broadband Internet. Don't be at home without it.

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What Makes A Good Internet Service Provider

2008-05-12T07:12:00.000-07:00

When you already have a website on hand, the next best thing to do is to search for a good internet service provider. There are quite a number of hosts available in the market which provides you with fees and a space to start building your website. Looking for an Internet Service Provider is an easy task to do; but finally getting down to a good one is quite a hard search. Perhaps it is because attractive packages are wide open in the market and are high in availability.

People from different walks of life, including computer experts and professionals, repeatedly find it difficult to choose a good hosting service. The critical component constitutes of the speed and volume of data transferred over by your connection, thus, the success and growth of your business depends much on the internet service provider that you use. Varying amounts and payables are in a wide array of choices too, and you must contemplate on these issues before finally settling down on the perfect one. New corporations are jumping on the bandwagon everyday as the trade between internet connections grow at an amazing rate. Bear in mind that not all people have the same preferences, and their internet service provider may or may not be the one that would perfectly suit you. Thus, be careful not to be swept off of your feet when a provider advertises seemingly attractive opportunities.

Qualities That Your Internet Service Provider Must Have

Here is the list of criteria that your internet service provider must meet: the site should be reached anytime of the day and at any hour every week, the provider should supply updates and technical support on a regular basis; and lastly, the charges should neither be too high nor too low.

An even better internet service provider would aid and guide you in building your websites. Modifying the pages of your site would also be one of the best assets they can give you. Some hosting providers offer software tools for free, and guides and manuals are supplied as well.

Due to the evolving internet world and the demand for more choices, internet businesses have grown ever since which necessitated the need for more internet service providers. Also, with the wide competition along the road, the services of the internet world became less costly. Corporations, small-time business deals and even individuals situated at home can now afford to have their own web sites at exceptionally lower costs.

Internet Service Provider Speed

The internet world has indeed swept across the entire globe in much popularity, and it has been incorporated in the lives of millions of human everyday. It has been considered a mecca of information, and at the same time it is widely used for communication purposes.

Downloading movies, music and files are an option too, and when you need all these activities on a permanent basis, you'd have to consider a very fast connection speed. Remember that if you're running a business over the world web, you'd have to consider speed at very high rates. Without this option, you'd surely face a falling and down breaking business ahead.

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Internet Security and Confidentiality

2008-05-12T07:11:00.001-07:00

Today the largest illegal activity involving fraud is internet theft. The world never sleeps, every minute someone tries to steal your information for fraudulent purposes. Many people have their identity stolen and find themselves in a serious financial situation. The other major problem that internet users face is viruses created by others to destroy your system, shutting it down and causing you to loose valuable information. Today the estimate that there are tens of thousands of individual viruses created has proven to be true.

New viruses being created on a constant basis make all of us on the internet in danger of losing our operating system. In order to provide internet security and confidentiality for yourself and your clients you need to be able to identify the various types of viruses. There are programs that you can use in order to protect your website and those who use it by providing important information about their personal accounts.

Macros viruses are the number one problem for internet users it is estimated that about 75% of all viruses are macro. The viruses spread by shared documents and grow every time you make a new document. There are applications created by Microsoft Word and Excel that streamline repetitive tasks to help make your job easier. The problem occurs when macro viruses embedded in one of the shared documents is open. Every time this document opens, the virus has spread doing increasing damage. The viruses also attach to any new documents you created thus spreading very fast doing much damage. The next viruses called the Boot sector are very dangerous, since it will erase or modify critical portions of your operating system, which makes your computer inoperable. There are viruses that are passed in the form of an email attachment. You should make sure that you know who sent you the email before you open the attachment. Then there are viruses that are annoying but not harmful enough to cause severe damage.

The hacker is always diligent waiting to open up your personal information. Every minute on line you spend is an open door for the hacker no matter what kind of internet connection that you may use. The hacker uses eavesdropping tools to monitor your online activity, introduce codes to disable your system, or run remote control programs that seize control of your computer. We are always vulnerable for the professional hacker as they often come to us like a thief in the night robbing, destroying and terrorizing. Internet Security is necessary for everyone with no exceptions. There are antiviral software programs that detect viruses and prevent the destruction of your computer. The same companies who created antiviral software programs have also created personal firewalls. The firewalls make a barrier between the Internet and your PC, which blocks hackers from accessing your computer. The program will provide you with a detailed report and clear follow-up options every time your computer is probed or attacked.

All of us strive to protect our property and by using our own personal firewall, we are able to do just that. We need to take other precautions that help keep our computer safe. You should get personal firewall software to avoid data theft. Make sure that you update your virus checker's to make sure that you are up to date with the continuous new viruses created. Then make very sure that you know who is sending you an attachment before opening. There are thousands of viruses that come your way everyday but a couple good programs and caution on your part can insure that you have Internet Security keeping your personal information confidential.

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Surf The Internet Silently Using Anonymous Proxy Servers

2008-05-12T07:01:00.000-07:00

When you surf the Internet it's possible that your browsing habits and patterns can be accessed by people or organizations that you wouldn't want to. You do leave a trail behind online, such as your IP address, computer name and other data available from your computer, when you surf the Internet. This is true even if your system contains no spyware or malware software.

Your IP address, your country location, your specific location in your country, what computer system you are on, what browser you use, your browser history, and other information can all be accessed with the right knowledge and systems. Although that's not all some unscrupulous organisations can access.

These people or organisations can get your computer's name, IP address and even find out your name, email address and possibly your credit and bank details in extreme cases.

When you visit a website, information about you can be retrieved, using cookies and search engine data. In late 2007 Google admitted that they keep information about what sites and searches you performed for up to 18 months.

Information can be intercepted and used by others to track your Internet activities, mainly for marketing purposes, but your private information could be used for much more sinister means as well.

You can surf the web anonymously and stop leaving a trail for others to find. This is not a 100% guaranteed solution, but it makes it much more difficult for people to know who you are, where you have been and what you have been searching for. There are websites and programs that can allow you to surf anonymously using proxy servers that help protect your identity and browsing habits.

An anonymous proxy server replaces your Internet address for its own. This has the effect of hiding your IP address and making it much harder for people to track you. One possible use of using a proxy server could be at your workplace, where using a proxy server can allow you to bypass your employers firewall and gain access to those social networking sites or eBay that you're not allowed to visit. Now that's just a guess, so don't quote me on that!

There are many free anonymous proxy servers out there on the Internet. I won't suggest any to you as if you want to find some proxy websites, a simple search via a search engine will give you many results. There are also some paid for proxy programs out there if you are really serious about making your surfing habits much more private.

Using a proxy server isn't 100% guaranteed, but if you don't want your privacy invaded any more than it already is, then seriously think about using a proxy web server or web service.

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Internet Explorer Errors - How To Resolve Them

2008-05-11T21:48:00.001-07:00

Are you trying to figure out why your computer keepings crashing? Well, don't fret. The problem isn't nearly as complicated as some people think it is. Truth be told, fixing a PC running slow can be quite easy with just a little bit of information & some simple know-how.

As you know by now, crashes are never good for a computer. Not only are they extremely annoying & frustrating, but they're also potentially dangerous in the grand scheme of things. The more the PC crashes, the more data thats gets lost -- the more data lost, the more stability the PC loses. So, in a sense, every time your computer crashes, it gets closer & closer to complete instability. With that being said, the goal of every PC user should be to find the root cause of the crashes and then fix the problem before it worsens. Luckily though, finding the reason behind a computer crash isn't too hard, as most crashes are usually an after affect of the all too common registry crash.

In case you didn't know, the registry is what governs the information flow on your computer. It isn't some mystical force that allows everything to run smoothly -- it's a complex system made up of thousands of files that tells the computer what to do and how to do it. Having said that, when this particular information management system becomes corrupted with errors, things start to go a bit haywire. The computer slows to a crawl, it becomes unresponsive, and it begins preventing the user from using certain software applications. Not long after these symptoms, the registry will begin to consistently crash -- and if the registry crashes, the computer crashes. It's a simple fact, the computer can not operate with a broken registry; so, fix the registry and you fix the computer.

The best way to fix your computer's registry is through the use of Windows repair software. A reliable PC registry repair cleaner will allow for quick & effortless scans that require minimal user interaction. All you have to do is click a button and the software will begin scanning and repairing the registry within seconds. The best part about this is, mistakes are kept to a bare minimum! If a mistake is made by the software and something important in the registry does in fact get deleted, you can simply use the "backup" copy of your registry to restore the computer's functionality. And don't worry if you don't know much about creating a back-up copy, most registry cleaners come equipped with an automatic "Back-up" feature.

The benefits of running top registry cleaners is too great to be ignored. Besides the obvious "crash protection" benefits, you also get to take your PC's performance to a whole new level. By eliminating all the errors within the registry, you will enhance the computer's speed, performance, as well as it's overall stability. In short, it will be like getting a brand new computer. Honestly, why would anyone not want to use Windows repair software?

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