Outsource your Local Search to the Expert

Outsource your Local Search to the Expert

Outsource your local search to Google.

You can bring the power of Google to your desktop.
Check out http://desktop.google.com

Some time ago Google released an amazing new offer, the Google Desktop. This desktop did not take the world by storm; however those who take the time to check it out will not be disappointed.

If you have some disk-space to spare, this product is well worth trying. (This product builds full text indexes for all your data.)

The installation takes only a few minutes, however, once you have the software setup a background process will need to run to index your hard drive.

The amazing and wonderful thing is that the desktop client is a free download. This is amazing technology to get at no charge.

You know how powerful Google search is, we search the Internet with Google every day.

Imagine when you did a search, being told not only that there were 1,200,459,000 web pages that matched your search string. What if, in addition to this huge search result you were told that there were also 57 emails and three files in your local file system? Is it possible you could find this useful?

No more do you have to search around your file system looking for that directory you stored something important, well it was important at the time.

You can search with the speed and power of Google on your own PC. Use the system tray search box or you can hit escape twice to get a popup search in the centre of your screen.

You have type ahead matching so you can often get your result before you have typed the whole word.

As stated earlier, after you install the product the system will index your hard drive while your PC is idle. This will take between 10 - 24 hours depending on how much data you have. Once it is completed however, you have a dynamically updated index, as you add new files they are indexed on the fly.

The system indexes all your key data, including email in outlook and outlook express, plus your web history.

Setup:

The installation takes only moments and you are asked during the install if you want to enable the advanced features.

This relates to the fact that some non user specific information is sent back to Google. This information is sent back to Google while you are using the product to help ensure you get relevant content showing up and no doubt some targeted advertising.

You also have the ability to encrypt the indexes that will be built on your PC. This well provide you with additional security, however, this will have some impact on performance;

Once installed on your system, the software will begin to spider your hard disk. This can be done in the background over a day or two. You can also set the interface to be aggressive and let the computer run flat out.

Note: indexing 20GB of content ran overnight and produced 1.2 GB of index files.

Now that the index is there, the impact is minimal on processing and seems to be updated real time or close to it.

Other Features:

There are many more cool things to discuss which will be the focus of another article, these include portal type desktop helper applications like weather, and news feeds etc., a scratch-pad that remembers what you type and much more.

All other features aside, the search feature on its own is worth evaluating. You will not be disappointed

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One-Time Web Offer Expired? Get a Second Chance Using Cookies!

One-Time Web Offer Expired? Get a Second Chance Using Cookies!

How often have you closed a web window that was offering a one-time-only deal? Probably every week? Have you ever regretted it; tried to go back to the web page, only to find that you could no longer bring that offer back up? Here is one solution that will take you back in time to give you a second chance to consider that one-time offer. You do it by removing a simple file or two from your Cookies folder.

For an offer such as this to work, the website has to be able to know whether you have looked at it previously. The only way it can do so is by setting a cookie (leaving a tiny file in the Cookies folder on your hard drive).

When you browse a site, the web software usually leaves a Cookie file on your hard drive. It also looks for its own special cookies whenever you log onto the site.

If the software finds no previous cookie, it determines that you are a new visitor. In this case, you will then be presented with that "special", "one-time only" deal. But if the software finds that telltale cookie, too bad ... it will deny you a second chance for that golden opportunity!

That precious page or window containing the offer will forever remain closed to you. Or so most people would believe.

But what if that cookie was no longer there? What if it had been deleted?

Although the cookie file is someone else's, the hard drive is yours, and you are perfectly within your rights to delete any file on your own computer. After all, that web site never asked your permission to write onto your hard drive, nor should you feel obligated to store any file simply for their convenience.

Now that our consciences are clear about that, we can go into how to delete the right cookie in order to be "reconsidered" for a "final" offer. Remember, all we are doing here is re-opening negotiations.

Suppose Garry Goodbuy at final-offer-forever.com is having a special sale. Usually, this sort of deal is available only through Garry's "good friend" Penelope Purchasewise at some-other-web-site.com, whose newsletter you receive every week. Of course, Penny is collecting an affiliate commission on every sale made via her link to Garry. So Penny builds up the excitement around this offer before handing you over to Garry's site.

To get you to break out your credit card before you leave Garry's site the sale is pitched as a one-time-only, now-or-never, offer. BUY NOW OR LOSE OUT!

Being a prudent Internet shopper, you decide to close out the web page and look around to see if this really is such a great deal. After your research you decide to buy the amazing thing that Good Old Garry was pitching, so you navigate back to where you found his deal.

This time the offer doesn't come up at all. It's invisible, gone, doesn't exist any more! What happened? What do you do now?

Easy enough: simply look into your Cookies folder for any recent files from final-offer-forever, and from some-other-web-site. Then you delete them. Now they no longer exist; so far as Garry is concerned, they never have.

Now re-trace your browsing path, in this case from Penny's newsletter, through her link to that "final" offer from Garry. Guess what? You are welcomed back with open arms to that very same "last-and-final" offer. Once again!

By removing the right cookie or two you have won a second chance. Congratulations! Absolutely nobody's feelings will ever be hurt, either; the people selling that wonderful product will still be delighted to take your money!

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Microsoft and History of Windows

Microsoft and History of Windows

“CHICAGO (CNN) -- Microsoft chairman Bill Gates tried to demonstrate his company's latest product Monday, but the product -- Windows 98 -- didn't cooperate. Gates was demonstrating the newest version of Microsoft's Windows operating system when it crashed during his presentation at the Comdex Spring 1998 Convention. The software is supposed make computers simpler to use.”
April 20, 1998 -Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9804/20/gates.comdex/

The news excerpt above is familiar to most of you especially if you have been dealing with computers for sometime. Bill Gates, departing from IBM which had built the most commonly used “Operating System” DOS, decided that users needed graphical interface to improve the usability of the systems. It was going to increase the computer “literacy” ratio and also the sales. So there started his journey with the mythical Windows 1.0 and went on with success and sometimes failures until the most stable product of Microsoft: Windows XP. Now all users are waiting for the 64 bit supported Longhorn.

The first graphical interface operating system was Windows 1.0 which was released in 1985. It gave great advantages to users including the use of the cursor and the pointing devices. Before, users had to type the commands in the DOS environment. With this improvement, they could simply click on a program and use several different programs at the same time. The next versions of Windows, namely 2.x and 3.1 were slightly improved using the advantages of the improved processors of Intel (286 and 386). The programmers started talking about extended memory and also about Windows software development kit (SDK) which caused the new releases of Windows to be much more popular. By then everybody was programming Windows based programs and users did not have any other choice but use Windows to access these programs.

The next innovative add-on to this system was the networking support. A superset of Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11 added peer-to-peer workgroup and domain networking support. For the first time, Windows–based PCs were network-aware and became an integral part of the emerging client/server computing evolution.

Then came the great New Technology of Microsoft: Windows NT. It was the completion of a 10 year project and a completely new operating system which was built from scratch. The most distinguishing aspect of this system was that unlike other windows products, this operating system was 32-bit. It offered solutions for high-end users and also for personal purposes. The following NT versions came with higher security updates for the networks and powerful program support.

In parallel to the developing NT products, Microsoft released also the successors of MS-DOS and Win 3.x products: Windows 95 and 98. These were also 32-bit operating systems which were optimized for multi-media users. Especially, the later versions of 98, with the Direct X, internet features, high hardware capabilities, met the requirements of most of the users. The crash of Windows 98 on TV in front of Bill Gates was already forgotten and the sales of Windows 98 – Service Pack 2 satisfy both the company and also the users. However, the issue of monopolization came up again with the integrated internet browser of Windows 95 and 98. Most people claimed and argued that this integration was an attempt to monopolize the internet and it was against the antitrust rules: “Antitrust laws prevent monopolies from tying two products together to force customers to take one product when buying another.”

Year 2000 was the year of both satisfaction and disappointment. For the new millennium, Microsoft released two products: ME and 2000. Millennium Edition was a total disaster from the point of users. It was much less stable than 98 and it was creating so many problems with different hardware installations. The security bugs caused a lot of home users to lose their data and open the doors for viruses and crackers. On the other hand, with the applied technology of NT and improved capabilities Windows 2000 was a great solution for professional users. Its stability reminded many of the users the older and much slower, 16-bit OSs of Microsoft.

Seeing the great success of the new NT based operating system (Windows 2000 professional) and the great disappointment with ME, Microsoft decided to unify the business world with consumers by means of optimizing Windows 2000 for personal use, adding new features to support the multimedia equipment. By doing the last retouches on the general graphics of the OS, Microsoft released its most popular OS in two different editions: XP Home and XP Professional. The "XP" in Windows XP stands for "experience," symbolizing the innovative experiences that Windows can offer to personal computer users. You and most of the world are now using XP and none of us can complain much after the security updates and the release of the second service pack.

At this point, Microsoft is working on their new product called Longhorn. They claim, it is going to be their most secure and efficient product, supplying the programmers with improved capabilities to create functions and also serving a much more concrete wall of protection for network users.

Overall, Microsoft has been doing their job for over two decades and extending their experience about the operating systems, creating better products with “less” bugs or security holes. One can say that Bill Gates was the biggest loss a company like IBM could ever have.

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Keep Your Home Wireless Network Secure

Keep Your Home Wireless Network Secure

Working from home has its advantages, including no commute, a more flexible work schedule and fresh coffee and home-cooked meals whenever you want.

But working from home while using a wireless local area network (WLAN) may lead to theft of sensitive information and hacker or virus infiltration unless proper measures are taken. As WLANs send information over radio waves, someone with a receiver in your area could be picking up the transmission, thus gaining access to your computer.

They could load viruses on to your laptop which could be transferred to the company's network when you go back to work.

Up to 75 per cent of WLAN users do not have standard security features installed, while 20 per cent are left completely open as default configurations are not secured, but made for the users to have their network up and running ASAP.

It is recommended that wireless router/access point setup be always done though a wired client.

Change default administrative password on wireless router/access point to a secured password.

Enable at least 128-bit WEP encryption on both card and access point. Change your WEP keys periodically. If equipment does not support at least 128-bit WEP encryption, consider replacing it.

Although there are security issues with WEP, it represents minimum level of security, and it should be enabled.

Change the default SSID on your router/access point to a hard to guess name. Setup your computer device to connect to this SSID by default.

Setup router/access point not to broadcast the SSID. The same SSID needs to be setup on the client side manually. This feature may not be available on all equipment.

Block anonymous Internet requests or pings.

On each computer having wireless network card, network connection properties should be configured to allow connection to Access Point Networks Only. Computer to Computer (peer to peer) Connection should not be allowed.

Enable MAC filtering. Deny association to wireless network for unspecified MAC addresses. Mac or Physical addresses are available through your computer device network connection setup and they are physically written on network cards. When adding new wireless cards / computer to the network, their MAC addresses should be registered with the router /access point.

Network router should have firewall features enabled and demilitarized zone (DMZ) feature disabled.

You can test your hardware and personal firewalls using Shields Up test available at http://www.grc.com.

All computers should have a properly configured personal firewall in addition to a hardware firewall.

Update router/access point firmware when new versions become available.

Locate router/access point away from strangers so they cannot reset the router/access point to default settings.

Locate router/access point in the middle of the building rather than near windows to limit signal coverage outside the building.

While none of the measure suggested above provides full protection as countermeasures exist, a collection of suggested measures will act as a deterrent against attacker when other insecure networks represent easier targets.

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Keep Your Computer Virus-free!

Keep Your Computer Virus-free!

Somewhere out there in cyberspace are malicious vandals hard at work dreaming up new computer viruses. Eugene Kaspersky, (of Kaspersky Lab Virus Research), in a November 23, 2005 article posted in Security News, said, "The number of new viruses and Trojans is now increasing every day by a few hundred. (Our) virus lab receives between 200 and 300 new samples a day." That is Not a misprint. He said 200-300 per DAY!

The worst ones we hear about. The large majority are quiet and anonymous like termites, often doing much damage before they are detected. Like human viruses, their effects run the spectrum from mostly benign to potentially fatal to their unwilling and unwitting hosts. Also as in human viruses, there are two different approaches to dealing with them: Prevention and Cure.

Preventing virus infection begins with guarding the portals of contact. Do not open suspicious e-mails or attachments without scanning them first. Most anti-virus programs have a right-click option to scan a selected file for viruses, which makes scanning easy. Similarly, when you download software, eBooks or whatever, always save to a file, then scan the file before opening. If you bring in data or software by floppy disk, CD or other portable media, the same rule applies; scan it first!

A good firewall can help somewhat in keeping viruses at bay, but there are too many ways to hide them in regular data or software transfers for a firewall to catch them all. A firewall (like chicken soup for human flu) can help, but don't rely on that alone.

As Benjamin Franklin said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." However, sooner or later, some viruses are going to get through your defenses somehow, and you will need to turn to cures.

If you should get hit by a really bad virus, you could lose most of your files before you know that there is a problem! The first step to enable cures is to prepare well in advance, positioning and backing up your files for easy recovery. Set up your computer with a small hard drive (4-10giga) for your C: drive and a much larger hard drive for all your data. Use your C: drive for programs only. Keep copies of your software purchase receipts, registration and activation codes and setup info in a file on your data drive. You can always download them again, if you can give the seller your purchase info to show that you already bought.

Almost all virus infections will be in the program section of the C: drive, so scan it daily. This won't take much time since you have arranged for it to be relatively small. Then scan your (larger)data drive once or twice a month.

You should still back up your data files frequently. If you cannot backup everything, at least backup the crucial information that would be difficult or impossible to replace. CD and DVD burners are a good way to do this backup, as are removable hard drives.

Finally, you will need good anti-virus programs to go after the viruses and either quarantine or (preferably) destroy them. There are many anti-virus solutions being touted and hyped out there. Some are good, most are not. Here is how to find the good ones:

1. Look for programs that offer both active and passive protection. Active protection means that part of the program remains memory-resident, actively watching for potential incoming viruses. When they detect a virus they can sound an alarm and give you a series of options for dealing with it. Passive or on-demand protection will let you ask for a scan of specified areas when you want it, but it waits for you to ask.

2. Select your anti-virus software based on the recommendations of independent testing agencies. Checkmark (by westcoastlabs.org), AV-test.org and PC World magazine are among the most respected independent testers of anti-virus software. For ratings of anti-trojan software, check with Anti-trojan - Forum. Use more than one anti-virus and anti-trojan program. Very few detect all problems, but what one program misses, another may find and defeat.

3. Keep your anti-virus programs up to date. There is a running gun battle going on between virus writer-disseminators and virus catch-and-destroy experts. New viruses are found; new anti-virus program patches to find and destroy them are usually ready within hours or days. Until your software is updated, you are still vulnerable to the new viruses.

In addition to using anti-virus software on your personal computer, consider using an Internet Service Provider or e-mail service that includes server-side anti-virus and spam e-mail filtering as a third layer of protection.

In summary, be careful, get good software, run it often and update it frequently... and stay alert to new developments! This struggle between new viruses and better anti-virus software is ongoing, and developing rapidly.

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It's 12 Noon...Do You Know Who's Using Your Network?

It's 12 Noon...Do You Know Who's Using Your Network?

Wireless networks are becoming more and more popular, and for good reason. Especially if you have broadband Internet access, a wireless router can give you instant communication with the world that is worthy of the science fiction I grew up reading!

The idea of reading email while lounging by the pool, text or instant messaging while doing the laundry, or lounging in the Jacuzzi listening to your MP3 collection is appealing to us all.

Unfortunately, many, or even most, wireless units don't come with security features already functioning. This may not seem like a big issue to someone who is simply setting up a home network, but there are a number of potential problems you should consider.

The most serious problem is the increase in identity theft. If your network is unsecured, the personal data on your wireless electronic equipment is also unsecured. The order you just placed for a book at Amazon may have given your contact and payment information to an unscrupulous hacker!

Nearly every town in which "WiFi" is common will have "War Drivers" and "War Chalkers" at work. These are people who walk or drive around town with wireless equipment, searching for unsecured networks. The "Chalkers" then live up their name, marking curbs and other public items with chalk so that others can more easily find and exploit your network.

Not all "War Drivers" are hackers, of course. Many just want to use your network for free, but the risk is high if you don't learn how to protect yourself. You can usually find quite a bit of free information as to how to secure your network at the website of your router's manufacturer, or by doing a search in a search engine for a phrase like "secure home wireless."

Beyond the truly malicious, there are also your neighbors who may find your network by accident and enjoy nosing into your activities and using your Internet access at will, slowing down your network speed in the process.

Even many businesses use cheap, home-use quality equipment for their company networks. With the poor security often found on small business networks, anyone with a basic knowledge of wireless can access sensitive company and customer data.

If you are unable to secure your network yourself, there are many service companies who will do it for you. A search of your local yellow pages or an inquiry at your neighborhood computer store should yield professional help and get your private data private again.

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It’s Getting Harder to Watch Movies (CODEX)

It’s Getting Harder to Watch Movies (CODEX)

After a long, exhausting day you came home, had your dinner and then sat in front of the TV looking for a nice relaxing movie. Nothing! Then suddenly you remembered that you bought the CD of the new, Oscar-winning movie “Million Dollar Baby”. You took out your laptop, inserted the first CD and hit “play”. To your surprise, the only thing you could see was a green screen. You took out the CD, cursing at the media market that gave you a “broken” CD for the fifth time. Tried the second CD; again the frustrating green screen. First thing in the morning, you took your “broken” movies and went to the shop. Having yelled at the owner of the shop for five minutes, you suddenly noticed the cynical smile on the guy’s face. Having the opportunity to talk, the shop keeper said “CODEX”.

All you needed were the codecs for these movies. They were not broken; they were just coded in a “foreign” language to your media player. The codecs were the dictionary that your laptop had to use to translate the absurd computer language to the nice scenes of the movies.

Every video, audio, picture or even word document files are coded in a different way. In the case of big data entries like movies, the computer has to use different algorithms to compress the data so that the size does not exceed the standard limits. We see this compression in PDF files (Acrobat Reader), in MP3 files (WinAMP), in MPEG files (movies), in each and every data storage file that you can imagine. While the compression is being done, the programs use some kind of a dictionary. Without these “dictionaries” (codecs in the case of video and audio files) the code would seem as meaningless to the player or the viewer as it is to you. So you have to install certain codecs to be able to use certain files.

Some codecs replace the repetitive symbols over the file, ome codecs changes the aspect ratio of the movie; some of them decrease the quality of the picture and yet, all of them turn gigabytes of data into fair size that can fit into a CD or a DVD.

As the user demands increases, codecs are multiplying in a logarithmic scale. There are several codecs that are musts for movie fans, however. You should install most of these if you don’t want to be disappointed.

1. MPEG4 - It is the default codec which is already included in WMP.
2. DIVX - A series of sound and display codex which come with shareware DIVX player.
3. XVID - Relatively new, one of the most used video codecs.
4. AC3 - Most common sound codec.
5. Intel Indeo - Rather useful series of codec which a new version pops out everyday.

Overall the way movies are encoded is changing day by day. Everyday we see a new aspect ratio. Everyday we encounter a new codec. To many, it would seem that it is getting harder and hard to watch movies. The least you can do is to download a codec viewer program which would help you on your quest for a pleasant evening.

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Isn't Your Computer Supposed to Work for You?

Isn't Your Computer Supposed to Work for You?

How many times have you wondered how to do a particular task on your computer but didn't know how? How about things like create a new folder or copy and paste some text into notepad? These are simple but often a lost skill with more than half of the computer users on and off line. If you are missing these and other computer training then these few tips may be of some help.

Computer Tip #1.

When a new Windows error message appears on your screen it seems that some people will simply ignore it and click "OK". This is an example of what NOT TO DO! Instead you should realize that the programmers did not spend the time creating that message for the fun of it. Instead at a minimum you should READ EVERY WORD! Then read it again slowly the second time so it sinks in. Once you read it you may recognize the program that is causing it and be able to solve the problem yourself.

Don't be afraid to research the error on any good search engine online. You may find free advice quickly although in most cases you may have to dig a bit to find it. As a last resort try making a call to a local computer tech that may just let you know how to solve it for free if it is not a serious issue. However if it is serious or mildly serious by all means ask for a qualified tech to come out and fix it.

Computer Tip #2.

Have you ever downloaded a piece of software from the internet and couldn't find it later? It happens to thousands of people all over the world every day! An easy way to find it later is to first prepare a landing zone or a place where you know you can always find it.

Some people use the My Documents of Windows but after downloading many files you may find it hard to find the latest file. One simple fix is to create a new folder on your desktop. The definition of your desktop is where you see icons of folder; files and you're able to see your favorite picture as the wallpaper for your desktop.

To create the new folder is easy. First find an un-crowded portion of your desktop and then using your ring finger click the right mouse button to bring up the context menu for the desktop. There in the menu you will find a selection called "New" Then Click on "Folder".

This will create a new folder on your desktop. You can name it something that will help you find the downloaded files. The first time you create a new folder, you will notice that the folder naming text is highlighted. To rename the folder to something more to your liking simply start typing and the highlighted text will be replaced with what you wish to type in. A good folder name would be downloads or my new files or even the month and year which will make it much easier to find those files in the future.

Now once the folder is created simply remember when you download the next file to save it in that folder on your desktop for easy and fast access.

Computer Tip #3.

Copy and paste is one task that every computer user will find they are using many times per session for many useful tasks. Say you wish to copy a portion of text into a file in which you are creating a report or project, even an article or your website content? This too is a simple skill to learn with a little practice you will be an ace at it and wonder how you ever got along without it. To copy something you must first highlight it using your left mouse button with your index finger.

You will want to start at the beginning point of the text you wish to copy and place your mouse cursor then by clicking your left mouse button. Now when you do this DO NOT let go of the mouse button which you are holding with your index finger and while holding that mouse button down simply move your mouse over the text until you reach your stop point then let go of your index finger.

Now simply move your mouse into the center of the highlighted text and then using your ring finger to press the right mouse button. This will bring up a menu with the copy selection. Use your index finger, otherwise called the left mouse button; click on "COPY" from the menu that comes up. You have now successfully copied the text and are ready to paste it into your project or a new notepad text file.

Place your mouse cursor in the blank notepad or project and then using your ring finger press the right mouse button to bring up the menu. From the menu select "Paste". If you successfully completed the copy process your text should appear in the new text file or your current project. If not go back and try again. With practice you will find it becomes second nature to you and your speed will increase as you use it more and more.

Computer Tip #4.

Remember that you can look up most common Windows commands if you press the F1 key on your keyboard. This will bring up the help file for Windows allowing you to quickly search or browse for the answer or information you are seeking for almost everything you might want to do in windows as well as Windows programs.

Keep in mind that most all of the applications created for your Windows operating system have the same basic commands available from the menu system. Some variants may exist depending on the purpose of the software application but the basics are usually there.

If all else fails the next steps would be to either call a computer friend or a genuine computer repair tech. In most cases the cost of hiring a professional is affordable even time saving if you decide you are not comfortable and do not wish to do it yourself. Another possibility is a community college or even a high school student may be able to help you. You can also check your local ROP services in your area for free classes.

Mastering these tips will help you become more comfortable when using or working on your or most computers running the Windows operating system.

Good luck and stay tuned for more computer tips coming you way soon!

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