Advanced Computer Tips & Tricks - tips,tricks,computer software&hardware,internet,information technology

SMS Text Message From Your Computer

If you are completely text chatter, who frequently keep sending the messages at requires the text services at most! Than it is aright place for you, as it is not required to check and copy paste text and send via your PC. Send SMS text message from your computer trouble free and at bulk in lesser time. Basically the feature that enables text SMS send convenient via PC is downloading the software for the same. Check online the most appropriate software that avails the most affordable, time savvy and user friendly software to send messages in bulk via using computer.

With the developing website services and online applications it have become much more easier to stay connected to your friends, family and loved ones at any corner in entire globe. Make the conversation easier and give your contact a better direction using the software for SMS text message via your computer. The usage of computer for messaging the text is techno adept is simpler and is as well as a time savior.

Certain advantages are awaited to be utilized at the most frequent manner that can enhance the messaging frequency, amount and save easily any kind of wastage as mentioned beneath:

Compatible, provides a very user friendly approach for sending SMS text message from your computer.

Trouble free excess makes it simpler to handle and there helps in reducing the wastage.

Bulk SMS in lesser time, it is more essential as many times much text remains unanswered as you lack with time. But it is necessary to be in frequent communication with your loved ones that is simply possible via this software anytime any place and at any corner of the world.

Affordable, it provides much better cost investment as the efficient usage via bulk SMS and text message it saves time and also helps saving the cost consumed via other general traditional styles, while SMA t5ext message via computer is handy and more efficient on the cost purpose as well.

Some better know-how for better execution of the incredible send SMS text message from your computer that can avail better direction are as underneath:

Selection of application: It is something that makes the entire story complete is selection of application that provides the functions and services as per you choose an application. So whenever certain software is med download take care of the factors that are essential for the usage and make a search of application as per usage or it will be hindrance for latter.

Appropriate registration, to get active for the services it is essential to sign up or register under the chosen application and make you of the application software service to stay connected anywhere and at any instance of time.

Some applications are also available that avails the sending SMS cost free but later charges the money for incoming messages reply. Better could be to go through the terms and conditions entirely and then download and sign up to get saved from misinterpretation.

Amazingly striking feature of text message application could save the entire trouble of every-time typing the contact number and eye on entire contact list. Check the driveling opportunity and make the best out of it. Acquire send SMS text message from your computer with time-cost savvy benefactor and that too being techno adept at the most pacing technological gadget.

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/computers_and_internet/article_6143.shtml

Labels: hot tips

conference software

Choosing conference software isn’t easy. With so many providers, features, tools and functions to choose from its a bit of a task to decide what is correct for you and your business.

So to make things easy I am going to tell you what you don’t want from your conference provider or package.

You shouldn’t choose a conference provider or package which requires you to download and install software. Primarily this is to avoid cross platform compatibility, but also will actually give you more grief than you bargained for.

If you chose a conference provider which requires downloading and installing, this would mean that you and your attendees would have to do this. I think straight away you know where I am going with this. Not everybody is using the same platform or operating system and this becomes very messy, not to mention embarrassing while you put your conference on hold while you wait for some all important attendees to try and login. Downloading software also uses up space on your hard drive and can slow your system down. In some cases your computer can come to an almost full stop. This is clearly no good when the few attendees which managed to login then find themselves struggling to watch your video, audio and take part. Not everybody is happy with downloading and installing stuff on their computer either. You will find that unless the already know, like and trust you, they wont download and install anyway.

So if I am saying not to choose conference software providers which encourage a download and install of software, what should you choose.

This is very simple. You only have the two options. The first one I have just talked of, this is downloading of software to your system for you and your attendees. The other option which is highly recommended is nice and simple. This is conferencing straight from a high speed server. Some conference providers offer you a conference room which is hosted on and can be accessed directly live from a server. This is fast, simply, and can be accessed by anybody with an internet connection. No downloads required make this the true global communication solution of choice. As the host you would own this room and access it yourself as a moderator with your own unique login details, you would then be in control of the conference using a moderators interface which holds all of the controls for the functions and features. Streaming your conference live from a server avoids the cross compatibility issues as there is no download required. All attendees can be invited and enter the conference room via a simple login link. You can access the room from anywhere in the world so long as you have internet access.

Downloading and installing conference software packages come with way to many negatives to justify spending your hard earned money on. Its easy to see here the huge difference in functions and value when comparing the two options.

When choosing your conference solution make sure it does not require you to download and install. Taking note of this guide now will save you time, money and problems.

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/computers_and_internet/article_6133.shtml

Labels: hot tips, interesting articles

Creating index of a book in Microsoft Word

This is the computer tips how to create index of a book in Microsoft Word.

Creating index of a book in Microsoft Word takes is actually an easy and two-step process because the feature is included in Word and you do not need to perform manual work any more. First all the required entries of the index text should be entered or typed by you and after pressing a button, index will be created by Word itself. All the typed or written entries in your document will be read and processed by Word itself to create a list which will also carry the numbering of pages.

Following steps in your Word documents should be followed in order to make or create an index of a book in Microsoft Word:

Words should be highlighted if an index is required and an insertion point should be typed or placed to separate wordsThen Alt+Shit+X should be pressed in your document (a shortcut to open dialog box of
“Main Index Entry” will collect the highlighted text itself. All highlighted text (to mark as index) will be collected in first level but second or sub-level entry should be typed manually by you in “Subentry” box
Finally after going through the above-mentioned process “Mark” button should be pressed or clicked to process (dialog box of “Mark Index Entry” will remain open for further entries)

“Concordance file” probably be read by you in Word’s help which actually marks entries of an index in your document automatically. Though this file of Word sounds like an easiest way of index making but actually more trouble will be faced by you in this process of index making because whole document is searched by Microsoft Word in this process.

Thats is how the computer tips how to create index of a book in Microsoft Word.

Labels: hot tips

Fix Windows Easy In Windows 7

This happens if one of the user accounts (not necessarily the current user account) in the system is logged on with a temporary profile. Any customizations that you make in the temporarily profile are lost after you log off the system. When Windows loads a temporary profile for an account, the following notification is shown and a corresponding event is recorded in the Windows Event Log.
Your user profile was not loaded correctly! You have been logged on with a temporary profile.

Windows Easy Transfer takes that into consideration and acts prudently by informing the user about the temporary profile, and not proceeding further. To resolve the problem, you must first fix the user account affected by this problem. Create a System Restore point and then follow these steps:

1. Logon to an administrative user account other than the user account that is experiencing the problem.

2. Click Start, type Regedit.exe and press {ENTER}

3. Navigate to the following branch and expand it:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ ProfileList

4. From the File menu, click Export and backup the branch to a .REG file.

5. Then, locate the SID that contains ".bak" suffix. (e.g. S-1-5-21-508115838-3306226147-1483886728-501.bak)

6. Note down the "ProfileImagePath" value data for the SID with ".bak" suffix.

7. Right-click on the SID with ".bak" suffix, and click Delete

8. Exit the Registry Editor

9. Open the following folder location using Windows Explorer
C:\Users

10. Right-click on the affected user profile folder (as noted in Step 6), click Rename. Assign "-old" suffix to the profile folder. For example, if the user profile folder is "Guest", rename it to "Guest-old"

11. Login to the affected user account ("Guest" account in this case) and then log off. This regenerates a new "Guest" folder under the Users directory.

** You don’t need the following step if there isn’t any useful data left in the old user account **. I wouldn’t care much about my "Guest" profile since no critical data is stored in there.

12. Logon to an administrator account and then copy your user data from the old profile. (i.e. Copy data from "Guest-old" to "Guest") leaving out the user registry files. You have more detailed instructions at Copy User Data from a Corrupted User Profile. [Caveat: Since you're leaving out the user registry, per-user desktop customizations from the old profile is not carried on to the new profile]

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5 Computer Tips on Windows Computer

These are 5 Computer Tips and tricks on Windows Computer.Try to read it and apply it to your computer.

1.An Easy Performance Enhancement

If you’re using the NTFS filing protocol on your system, instead of FAT32, you can get a bit more speed by disabling Windows® Indexing. The downside to this is that searching your drive for a specific file might take a moment or two longer, but everything else should run faster.

To disable this feature open My Computer and then right click on the drive you wish to reset – usually C-drive. Now click on Properties and then uncheck “Allow Indexing Service.” It will take Windows® a few moments to accomplish this task, based on your processor speed. If you have other hard drives, perform the same process for them. After this is done, it’s a good idea to empty the Recycle Bin and then Defragment your hard drive(s).

2.FREE Software

If you have a system and it does not have an office suite, such as Microsoft Office, and you don’t want to pay several hundred dollars to have one, try Open Office. This is a great alternative to other suites, and it’s free! Simply direct your browser to www.openoffice.org and follow the instructions for downloading and installation. Make no mistake, this free office suite is an extremely powerful set of software tools – easily a match for any competitor.

Internet Explorer (Microsoft’s Internet browser) is unarguably the standard in computers. This is why hackers develop so many malware applications to invade it. If you use a different browser, you have much less chance of an invasion by malicious software. There is a great alternative available, and it’s free. You can download a copy of Firefox at www.mozilla.org/products/firefox. You can even move your Internet Explorer settings into Firefox automatically – so you don’t lose your Favorites, etc.

3.Laptop Printer Fix

If you’re using a laptop that is running Windows® ME, and you’re having trouble printing through the USB, try this simple fix. Go to the website for the company that manufactures your printer. If you use a Hewlett-Packard, for example, go to www.HP.com and download the appropriate drivers and install them. ME has drivers that recognize the USB printer is present and attached, but not the drivers needed to make it print. Which drivers you download and install will be dependant on your printer. After installing new drivers, update the printer as necessary in the Control Panel.

4.Save $$$ When Shopping On-line

If you’re making a purchase on-line, and you know the item you want to buy, you can easily compare pricing all across the Internet. This can amount to a very substantial savings.

At this writing, I went to www.mysimon.com and typed in that I wanted to buy a printer: a Canon PIXMA iP4000. The service instantly checked the Internet and returned prices ranging from $62.00 up to $286.00. This kind of price spread is not at all unusual, especially for computers and electronics.

The My Simon website service only checks pricing, it does not provide a platform for purchasing anything, though it does link to such places. It also gives a rating for the sellers and other users’ input regarding their experiences with the company. You can order the results of the search for your product by price, so that you can quickly find the lowest price from the highest rated dealer.

5.Windows® XP Professional Only

A feature of Windows® XP Professional, that is not available in the Home Edition, is the ability to encrypt files. This encryption prevents others from opening the files in the folder you encrypt. To encrypt one or more a folders, follow these easy steps.

Click Start, then My Documents. Now locate the folder you wish to encrypt and right click on it and choose Properties.

On the General tab, click on Advanced. Put a tick mark in the box for Encrypt Contents to Secure Data. Click okay two times and the confirmation dialog box will appear allowing you to select the folder, the folder and all files, and/or the subfolders within it.

Now you'll be able to place files in this folder (or folders) and since they're encrypted, others will not be able to access them.

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5 powerful tips to get help online

5 powerful computer tips and tricks regarding needing help that'll help you get the help you need, when you need it, and get it in a way that'll leave the door wide open for future help:

Don't lead with your chin.
Leading with your chin is a great way to get knocked on your...

The single most important thing you need to remember when you're asking for help online, whether you're asking by email or by filling out an online form, regardless of how angry or frustrated you might be, is that there's a real "live" person on the other end...

A person who has "feelings" just like you do!

Including phrases in your first request for help like...

"Are you going to help me right now, right this minute, or are you going to give me my money back?"...

Or...

"I'm starting to think this is a scam!"...

Or...

"If I don't hear back from you in one hour, I'm going to call my lawyer!"...

Might make you feel good, but they'll virtually guarantee whatever help you do get right now will be minimal, at best, and your chances of getting anything other than minimal help from that person again in the future will be somewhere between slim and none.

Be polite.

For some strange reason, one I've yet to figure out, many people seem to think the rules of simple, common courtesy don't apply online...

Don't you be one of them!

A request for help written in a polite tone, using "please" and "thank you", will, more often than not, get you a prompt and courteous reply.

DON'T SHOUT!!!

Whether you know it or not, typing your request for help in all capital letters is the online equivalent of shouting in the face of the person who receives it...

And...

The liberal use of multiple exclamation marks makes your shouting even louder and more emphatic!

Question for you...

Do you like it when someone shouts in your face?

Guess what?

Neither does anyone else! :-)

Keep your request short and to the point.

Most people doing business online don't have the time to read long, drawn out messages trying to figure out what you need, nor do they have the time to keep writing you back over and over again trying to clarify what you need.

When you ask for help online, *always* include your name, contact information, order information, specific dates, specific details, and a clear, concise description of the help or information you need.

Avoid including any information that doesn't directly contribute to helping the person you're asking for help to give you the exact help you need.

Say thank you.

After you've received the help you've asked for, a simple "thank you!" or "thanks, I appreciate your help!" will go a long way towards insuring the door will be wide open the next time you need that person's help again.

The single most important thing you need to remember when you're asking for help online is that there's a real "live" person on the other end.

Treat that person as you'd like to be treated and you'll find as I have that, more often than not, you'll get all the help you need, when you need it, and that person's door will always be open to you should you need their help again.

Do try this computer tips and tricks about getting help online.

Labels: hot tips

How to use the email brilliantly

This is the computer tips and tricks regarding how to use the email brilliantly.Enjoy.

When it works well, e-mail can be great. It's hard to beat e-mail for everything from staying in touch with family to requesting information from businesses or other organizations. Want to send the same message to several people? Communicate with someone across the continent? Transmit photos, manuscripts or other information? For speed and efficiency, this virtually instantaneous medium is one of the most convenient features of modern life.

But e-mail is not without problems. If you key in the name of an intended recipient but your message keeps bouncing back, you might not be singing e-mail's praises. Ditto for attachments that won't open or other such nuisances. With just a little patience, though, you can readily overcome most e-mail problems. What follows are 4 common e-mail problems along with solutions for overcoming them.

Problem – Returned Messages

This may be the most frustrating of all e-mail problems. After taking the time to create a message, you click on the “send” button and consider your task accomplished. But the next thing you know, the message pops up in your in-box with a heading that it did not reach its intended recipient.

Solutions

First, take the simple step of checking to see that the address of your recipient has been entered correctly. This may seem obvious, but sometimes the only thing wrong is a misplaced letter, the use of “com” instead of “net”, or some similar error. If you know the correct address, this is a straightforward matter of double checking each character. If not, you might need to experiment by sending multiple messages, or by entering alternative addresses with slight variations. Under this approach, you simply keep track of which messages are bounced back and compare them with the overall list of addresses you used. If you sent four variations but only three were returned, you have solved the problem by the process of elimination.

Sometimes the source of your problem lies with the recipient. If messages to other addresses go through but fail here, try to contact the intended recipient by other means and report the situation. The cause may range from a temporary problem with the recipient's server to a switch to another e-mail provider, to a full in box. In this case, simply waiting may be the best recourse. Or a phone call or other communication may be required on your part to obtain the correct e-mail address. If all your messages are being returned, you may have a connection problem. See below for more details.

Problem 2 – You Have Lost Your Connection

Sometimes a failure to send or receive e-mail can be traced to a lost connection with your Internet service provider.

Solutions

If you see a “failure to connect” or “no response” message or have otherwise determined that you have failed to connect, double check to make certain there are no physical problems.

First, check your cables and connections. If you use a dial-up modem, listen to make sure it produces the normal high-pitched dialing sound. If not, the problem could be a loose connection. Locate the phone cord that runs from the back of your computer to the phone jack, and then make sure that each end is plugged in snugly.

If you will don't hear the expected dialing sound, check to make sure your phone cord is undamaged. If it seems worn, replace it with a new one. Other steps include making certain the line is plugged into the right port, and checking the phone jack by plugging the cord into a different jack. If you hear the dialing sound after any of these steps, you have made a successful connection.

Connection problems may be more common with dial-up modems than with broadband connections, but the latter are also dependent on physical connections. A loose wire or poorly connected cable can easily be problematic. Sometimes a glitch occurs that can be best addressed by repeating portions of the initial set-up process. A simple fix touted by Verizon technical service reps for some DSL (digital subscriber line) customers is to disconnect the three lines from the back of the modem and then reconnect them in a specified order. When this action is taken, the online connection is immediately regained.

If you are online but keep getting bumped off, the lost connection can be the result of an unintended software command. In Outlook Express, for example, you will find the command “Hang up when finished.” If the box in front of this phrase is checked, the connection will automatically be severed each time you send or download e-mail. Sometimes a misdirected click of your mouse will cause you to place a check in the box even though you do not realize it. Simply click on the check mark to make it disappear, and the hang-ups will cease.

These 2 common e-mail problems are quite easy to determine and when rectified will make your emailing experience more enjoyable.Do try these computer tips and tricks for your emails.

Labels: hot tips

How To Write the Good Password

1. Don't be so easy.

"123456" is the most commonly used password out there. "QWERTY" is number 20. "Password" is number four.

These disturbing statistics are from a recent analysis by Imperva, a computer security firm in Redwood Shores, CA, of a recently discovered file of 32 million stolen passwords. Similar research both 10 and 20 years ago revealed similarly sad situations.

2. Longer is better.

The same study also found that 26 percent of people used passwords that were only 6 characters long. In fact, nearly half were shorter than eight characters. With six characters, your password can have 308 million letter combinations. That sounds like a large number, but for modern hackers with automated password cracking programs, six characters spells "easy meat." NASA warns its employees that hackers can try that many combinations in a few minutes – and then start ransacking your account.

3. Use the shift key.

If your measly six-letter passwords combines uppercase and lowercase letters, things aren’t quite as hopeless, as you have upped your game to 19 billion combinations. If you move on to eight characters (which NASA advises as a minimum) you're up to 53 trillion.

4. Comic book cussing is good.

Including characters from outside the alphabet (including numbers) sends the possible combinations sky-high. Indeed, NASA calculates that an eight-symbol password with at least one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter, one numerical character, and one special character or punctuation mark gives slightly more than 6 quadrillion (that's 6 followed by fifteen zeros) combinations.

5. Keep it centered.

By now you've figured out that you should not use any words out of a dictionary. This includes slang and vernacular, plus names, especially your own. Variants of e-mail addresses are also unwise. Obviously, the way to go is potential gibberish, like "Szb21#^&." But keep in mind that some passwords are gleaned by hacking into computers where intruders can find stored passwords. Those are stored in encrypted form, but there's software that can attack the encryption. Nearly all encrypted passwords are stored with the last character in clear text, warns NASA, so the last character is a throwaway. So put the funny, unpredictable characters in the middle of the password. In other words, our example would be better as "Szb#^&21."

6. Keep it fast, keep it mental.

The password should be something you can type quickly, so no one can follow your fingers as they fly across the keyboard. It also has to be something you can remember with precision without writing it down – something you should never do. Experts suggest using a passphrase that stands for the password. For instance, our example could stand for "Sally's zealous boss's number's (#) up (^) and (&) it's blackjack (21.)" If that makes no sense, that's sort of the point.

7. Remain paranoid.

Just because the police have not shown up at your door does not mean your password has not been stolen, somewhere. To preempt anything that may be in the works, change your password every three months. But don't add a numeral 1 to the end of the password and call it changed – do a little more work than that.

8. Don't double up.

Don't use the same passwords for your office computer that you use on Web sites. Actually, it's best to use different ones each time, but its especially important to separate office from Web use, since Web passwords are more exposed to hacker theft.

9. Loose lips sink ships.

Now that you've come up with a sensible password, don't divulge it – especially to sudden callers whom you've never heard of, saying they're from the corporate help desk and who have a plausible story about how they need your password in order to rescue some important file that your boss must access immediately to prevent something dreadful from happening, etc.

10. Don’t turn your back on your computer.

Not that it's plotting against you, but when it comes to doing potentially illegal activities, people prefer to do it with someone else's computer. Turn off your computer when you're not using it. That saves power, too.

Labels: hot tips

5 Easy Computer Maintenance Tips

Step 1: Uninstall Programs You Don't Use

Over time, unused software collects in our computers like old keys in a drawer: They were useful for a time, but chances are you can't remember what they are for now. So if you haven't used a program in the last six months, uninstall it to free up space and allow your computer to run the important stuff more efficiently.

To do this, go to the Windows Start button, choose "Control Panel" select "Program and Features" or "Install/Uninstall Programs," depending on the Windows version. Scan the list. If you see a program you recognize and know you don't use it, right click on its name, and then click uninstall. If you are unsure about a program, leave it alone.

Step 2: Delete Temporary and Unnecessary Files

Each time you visit a site online, your computer stores information so the next time you visit, the page will load faster. This is good in principle, but temporary files add up over time, and may ultimately slow the load time of applications. If you haven't deleted temporary files in a year or longer, you may be able to free up 10 percent or more of the computer's memory.

To do this, go back to the Start button, select "Computer" or "My Computer," right click on the "C" drive, select "Properties" click on "Disk Cleanup" and select "All Users" if you get a popup window with that option. Once you give it the go-ahead, Disk Cleanup will calculate how much space you will be able to free up. Click to check the boxes in this window. If you disagree with Disk Cleanup's recommendations, simply make sure that box is unchecked. And then stop – don't click "Okay" yet. Rather, select the "More Options" tab and proceed to Step 3.

Step 3: Delete All but Most Recent System Restore

Free up more disk space by removing all but the most recent restore point. As a standard function, Windows takes a snapshot of the contents of your computer at regular intervals. This procedure will keep only the most recent one.

Click "Clean up." This takes a fraction of a second, but as you proceed with the Disk Cleanup, be patient. This process may take up to half an hour or longer if it's been some time since the last cleanup.

Step 4: Defrag

Data is written and stored in disk blocks. Over time, files are deleted and new files are added. If a file cannot be stored in adjacent blocks, they become fragmented. One 5 megabyte jpg. photo file, for example, could be scattered across 5,000 disk blocks. Instead of pulling the pieces of a file from adjacent blocks, the computer has to gather them up, which of course takes longer. Defragging is simply a way of eliminating empty blocks and putting files back together.

Your Properties window should still be open. Select Tools. Click on "Defragment Now." This process may be scheduled as an automatic task about once a week.

Step 5: Scan for Viruses, Spyware, etc.

Now that your computer is clean, use your security software to do a sweep for viruses, worms, and spyware that can damage your computer and compromise your privacy. This step should be faster now because you've already deleted unnecessary programs and files, which can save scan time.

Labels: hot tips

Recovery Word files

Recovery Toolbox for Word is a solution for recovery Word, it repairs documents in Microsoft Word format. This MS Word repair tool processes damaged files in Microsoft Word format, in the same time, the reason of email corruption does not matter. Recovery Toolbox for Word works with all Word files, it is safe to open even infected files of *.doc format.

Recovery Toolbox for Word is an effective way for Word text recovery, now MS Word repair and recovery doc can be done in several minutes.

Demo version helps to understand, how Recovery Toolbox for Word works and to estimate its data recovery engine.

Go and get your Recovery Toolbox for Word now.

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Microsoft Outlook PST repair tool

Microsoft Outlook is not a simple messaging, this program usually stores user contacts, meetings, tasks and journals. The loss of this data may affect your business.

Recovery Toolbox for Outlook can repair all items, stored in Microsoft Outlook, in several easy steps, just follow the instructions and all emails will be successfully repaired. It does not matter, what was the reason that led to mailbox corruption, there are a lot of them.

Recovery Toolbox for Outlook pst repair tool can save retrieved files as separate emails or as a single file of PST format.

It is very easy, you can save a lot of time for retrieving your email.

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Data protection product - SecurStore

SecurStore’s online solution automatically transfers data offsite in real-time, eliminating the risk of having backups located onsite in case of a disaster or loss of data during transportation to an offsite location. Data is transmitted and stored offsite in a state of the art data centre on a reliable disk subsystem, which is in turn duplicated and backed up onto a second disk sub-system located apart from the primary disk sub-system.

SecurStore backs up the critical data of s2s (120GB) online on a continual basis, so that from the moment a server goes down, all the data can be quickly retrieved online. The remaining less critical 80GB of data is either backed up to SecurStore’s Backup Lifecycle Management (BLM) offline service, or backed up by the outsourced provider.

S2s Ltd is a UK provider of network consulting and implementation services that needed data protection to ensure business continuity, even in the event of a server breakdown.s2s was previously using disk-to-tape to back up all the various systems the business was running on.

SecurStore is suitable for businesses that need to protect data from a few gigabytes to terabytes. The service ensures that any data held on PCs, Macintosh computers, file servers and application/database servers is securely backed up. SecurStore supports many platforms including Windows NT/2000/2003/XP along with AS-400 iSeries, Unix and Linux. SecurStore can also protect a wide range of databases including Oracle, SQL, Exchange, Lotus Notes and DB2.

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Computer Backups and recovery

Computer backup is so important to your computer that to ignore it is to risk its damnation.Data needs your protection. Failure to protect your data may cause your home or business records to eternally lost from computer resurrection.

If you backup your computer consistently and persistently your files will be resurrected and saved from accidental deletion, hard drive failure and those nasty things like fire, flood, theft, earthquake, hurricanes, tornado and others.

Hard drives still occasionally crash and frustrated users are left trying to figure out just how to do hard drive data recovery on their own.

Keep in mind that to do this, you may need to fix your master boot record, or retrieve data from a physically damaged disk. If you can’t do this, then you’ll need to employ the services of a hard drive data recovery expert.

If you’ve backed up your files, you can continue working or, better yet, you can save them to an external source and get a new hard drive.

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Types of Trojan Horse Viruses

Types of Trojan Horse Viruses

Trojan Horses have developed to a remarkable level of cleverness, which makes each one radically different from each other. For an inclusive understanding, we have classified them into the following:

Remote Access Trojans

Remote Access Trojans are the most frequently available trojans. These give an attacker absolute control over the victim’s computers. The attacker can go through the files and access any personal information about the user that may be stored in the files, such as credit card numbers, passwords, and vital financial documents.

Password Sending Trojans

The intention of a Password Sending Trojan is to copy all the cached passwords and look for other passwords as you key them into your computer, and send them to particular email addresses. These actions are performed without the awareness of the users. Passwords for restricted websites, messaging services, FTP services and email services come under direct threat with this kind of trojan.

Key Loggers

Key Loggers type of Trojans logs victims’ keystrokes and then send the log files to the attacker. It then searches for passwords or other sensitive data in the log files. Most of the Key Loggers come with two functions, such as online and offline recording. Of course, they can be configured to send the log file to a specific email address on a daily basis.

Destructive Trojans

The only purpose of Destructive Trojans is to destroy and delete files from the victims’ computers. They can automatically delete all the core system files of the computer. The destructive trojan could be controlled by the attacker or could be programmed to strike like a logic bomb, starting on a particular day or at specific time.

Denial of Service (DoS) Attack Trojans

The core design intention behind Denial of Service (DoS) Attack Trojan is to produce a lot of internet traffic on the victim’s computer or server, to the point that the Internet connection becomes too congested to let anyone visit a website or download something. An additional variation of DoS Trojan is the Mail-Bomb Trojan, whose key plan is to infect as many computers as possible, concurrently attacking numerous email addresses with haphazard subjects and contents that cannot be filtered.

Proxy/Wingate Trojans

Proxy/Wingate Trojans convert the victim’s computer into a Proxy/Wingate server. That way, the infected computer is accessible to the entire globe to be used for anonymous access to a variety of unsafe Internet services. The attacker can register domains or access pornographic websites with stolen credit cards or do related illegal activities without being traced.

FTP Trojans

FTP Trojans are possibly the most simple, and are outdated. The only action they perform is, open a port numbered 21 – the port for FTP transfers – and let anyone connect to your computer via FTP protocol. Advance versions are password-protected, so only the attacker can connect to your computer.

Software Detection Killers

Software Detection Killers kill popular antivirus/firewall programs that guard your computer to give the attacker access to the victim’s machine.

Labels: hot tips

laptop’s security

One of the first considerations that should be made is in regard to the laptop’s security. Since thieves will target these as often as they will cash, jewelry or other valuables, it’s critical to put as many security measures into place as possible when traveling through airports, bus terminals, train stations and any other form of public travel. Of course, it’s never wise to leave your laptop unattended. It’s a sad testament to the way of the world, but you can be fairly certain that when you return, your equipment will be gone.

When packing for your trip, place the laptop in a case that’s different – and less obvious – from its standard carrying case, and make sure that it’s checked in as carry-on luggage. This will not only ensure that it doesn’t get stolen, but will be in the pressurized part of the plane, rather than the baggage compartment, which doesn’t have pressure or climate controls that are needed to ensure the integrity of the laptop.

Laptop Contents
You should ensure that you only have files and other information on your laptop that you absolutely need to do your job whilst you are not connected to the corporate computer network. Get into the habit of transferring your files to a network folder whenever you are connected.

Highly Sensitive Business Information
Please ensure that you do not load information that is highly sensitive or sensitive (classified) onto your laptop, unless you have authorization to do so.

Laptop Backups
If you are not in the habit of routinely backing up your files on your laptop, you run the risk of losing your files and other valuable information if your computer crashes or is stolen. The best way to backup your files is to transfer them to a network folder whenever you are connected to the corporate computer network.

Cafes and Hotels
Keeping your laptop in sight at all times is especially important when you are in a cafe, restaurant or hotel etc. These are popular places for opportunists to steal mobile phones, wallets, handbags and of course laptops. It only takes a moment to be distracted while someone moves into steal from you. The best way to counter this type of theft is to have your laptop on the floor against your leg so you can feel its weight, and if you have a long carry strap, put your foot on or through the carry strap. This way you will know if someone tries to take it.

Conferences and Seminars
It is particularly important for you to protect your laptop if you take it to a conference or seminar. You cannot rely upon the security of the conference site, nor expect the support staff, to protect the laptop for you. It is not usually a good idea to take your laptop to these types of events, unless of course you don't mind carrying it with you at all times, even during breaks.

Travel
Whenever you travel, whether by walking, by car or using some form of public transport, your laptop can be vulnerable to theft or loss. It can be quite simple when you have other things on your mind, to accidentally leave your laptop behind when you get off a bus or jump out of a taxi. It is important for you to stay focused, alert and to keep your laptop close to you at all times. Again, wrap the carry strap around your person to prevent theft.

Laptops in Parked Cars
Remember; do not leave your laptop in a car in plain sight, unattended at any time. If you absolutely must leave your laptop in the car for any reason, put it into the boot of your car discretely. Don't forget to remove it, especially if using a hire car. Don't leave your laptop in the boot of your car for long periods on very hot days. Numerous laptops have been stolen from parked cars because they are attractive items for a quick cash sale. So please think before you act.

Disguise
There have been instances where people have been mugged specifically for their laptops. If you are walking through high-risk areas, you should consider disguising the fact you are carrying a laptop by placing it in a backpack or sports bag.

Using Laptops In Public Places
When you use a laptop in a public place, it is usually not just you that can see the screen; this is particularly true when you use your laptop on public transport. Think about how many times you have sat next to someone who is using their laptop and what you have been able to read on the screen. Remember, if you use your laptop in public; be careful about who can see your screen while you are working. Be discreet.

In addition to the laptop itself, it’s always a good idea to bring an extension cord and extra batteries. Even though you may plan to use electricity, you should also include a back-up plan, and batteries may only give you a few hours’ worth of power at a time before needing to be recharged or changed. When possible, cut down on the use of those things which need large amounts of energy, such as CD-ROMs, and reduce the number of auto-saves on your machine.

Labels: hot tips, interesting, notebook info

Boost your computer's performance

Interesting Computer Trick

For those whose PC is under trouble and wish to recover its speed and performance, there are fabulous computer tips and tricks with which you can speed up your computer's performance.

step1: Right click on desktop and select properties.

step2: In the appearance tab, click on effects, tick the 2nd option(if not already selected) and in the drop down menu
select 'clear type'. Uncheck all the options, then click ok and apply.

step3: now in the theme tab save your settings say 'my theme' for example, then apply and ok;

step4: Now right click on my computer, go to advance-->performance settings and select adjust for best performance, then click apply then ok;
(Note: if you already performed this step before step 1&2, then you have to select for best appearance first before applying step 1)

step5: Right click on desktop and select properties;

step6: In the theme tab, in the drop down menu of 'save as' option select 'my current theme' and click on apply button. Again in the drop down menu select 'my theme' as you saved earlier and click on apply and then ok and you are done.

Every time you try to install and uninstall any new program, you will find some files being stored behind as registry files. These are nothing but garbage files, which you need to, remove entirely to help improve the performance of your PC. Registry Cleaner is a software program, whose job is to empty the entire garbage registry files in no time. You may find some unwanted startup programs, which you do not use that often. To remove that, follow these steps:

Go to your startup menu -> Home -> run.

Type msconfig, uncheck all startup programs which you do not use that often under the startup tab.

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Windows XP Tips

To keep your computer secure, turn on automatic updates. Seems like every virus writer has nothing better to do then attack Windows operating systems. Keeping the system patches and security fixes is critical. During the setup of XP Service Pack 2 with a new computer or an up-grade you are asked whether or not to turn on automatic updates, if you made the mistake of checking no you can find this option in the Windows Security Center (Start / Control Panel) and change it back. Even with all its faults, XP is a powerful operating system that has many good security features.

Here are some more Windows tips to help you get the most out of your operating system. Remove Windows components not found in ADD / REMOVE. Many Windows components, things like Network Services or Solitaire are easy to remove through the Add or Remove programs configuration window (Start / ControlPanel / Add and Remove Programs / Windows Components). Simply un-check them, but … some things are deliberately hidden.

Many of the programs you install on your computer automatically configure themselves to launch at startup, usually invisibly. The truly essential ones, such as anti-virus and firewall products, generally run as services and run fine in the background. Other less important software like media players don't need to be running continually.

These extra programs slow the boot process and then severely suck up resources like memory and CPU cycles. It is pretty easy to control which applications launch on startup. The System Configuration Utility lists all these applications in one place.

Labels: hot tips

Windows 7 and Wi-Fi Tricks

If you have got Wi-Fi in your laptop and have Windows 7 installed in it then you can easily turn it into a Wi-Fi hotspot and share your net connection with other people in the range and Virtual Router is the easiest way to do so.

Virtual Router is an open source software which leverages the Wireless Hosted Network API which is a part of the new Windows Operating Systems (Windows 7 and Windows server 2008).

The program is really simple to use. After downloading and installing the software all you have to do is specify the network name and password to access this network. It uses the wpa-2 encryption to protect the wireless network from unwanted users.

The program requires only 20mb of RAM and is pretty simple to understand and use. Requires Windows 7 or Windows server 2008 to run.

Do search here for the software : virtualrouter.codeplex.com

Labels: hot tips

Low level format utilities

Low level format utilities for the hard disk.

Important drive information (servo, sector layout, and defect management, etc.) is stored in the low-level format at the factory.

This information is designed to last the life of the drive and therefore it is not possible to low level the drive outside the factory. Although some drive manufactures and BIOS provided so-called "low level format utilities", they actually perform a write-read verify of the drive’s user data sectors, and do not actually perform a low-level format. In the event of a corrupted master boot record or boot block virus, use FDISK /MBR command to restore the master boot record. If you need to low level format your hard drive then check the drive manufacturer and download such an utility from its website. Every drive manufacturer provides just such a utility. Below is a list of hard drive manufacturers with a links to low level format utilities.

It is also a good idea when you hard disk becomes inaccessible to see if it is just the system files that are corrupted. Most of the time, it is the case. SYS will do the job of replacing system files. Therefore, low level format is always of LAST RESORT when you encounter HDD problems.

IBM(Hitachi)
http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

Seagate
http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/utils.html

Maxtor
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/index.htm

Fujitsu
http://www.fel.fujitsu.com/home/drivers.asp?L=en&CID=1

Samsung
http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/index.htm
FAQ: Low level format

Western Digital
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp

Labels: hot tips