Headphone Essentials

Writen by Robert Thatcher

If you want to escape from the outside world, eliminate the noise around you and just lose yourself in your music, what better way is there to do it than by using headphones?

Headphones are great to use when listening to music or when watching TV or a movie. You may also use them to study, if you have those audio lessons on tape, or when you want to read a book but do not have the time, you can just listen to the audio books.

Professionally, headphones are used in editing videos and incorporating sound, or for recording purposes. In communications, there are headsets which combine the functionalities of a microphone, a telephone, and a headphone.

There are hundreds of applications for headphones. If you want to choose the type of headphones that will best suit your needs, take a look first at its parts and structure:

- Driver - the part of the headphone that produces the sound.

- Earpiece - this holds the driver up to your ear. There are earpieces that cover the entire part of your ears, while some are small, rounded pieces that would fit the inner part of your ear. Several earpiece types are available, depending on the appllication.

- Attachment system - depending on the type of headphones, the attachment system ensures that the earpiece will securely fit your ears.

- Finally, the other parts are the headands, for types which require one, and the wires and jacks which will attach the earpiece to the music player or device where the headphones are attached to.

Headphones are typically attached to devices such as mobile phones, CD or MP3 players,walkman, mobile phones and personal computers.

There are two types of headphones:

1. Sound-proof

This type of headphone is used when you want to isolate youuself from the sounds of the outside world.

You can use this in loud environments so that the sound coming from your music player or any other device is the only sound that you hear.

Sound-proof headphones are mostly the types which have headbands and the earpiece surrounds the entire area of your ear.

These have monitors designed to fit the inner ear. They have a sealed design, and if you want to go for this type of earphones, make sure that the brand offers a good sound quality.

They are designed to "cancel" outside noise.

Generally, the open type design offers better sound quality than the sound-proof variant.

2. Open-type

This type of headphones generally have a greater sound quality than the enclosed, sound-proof ones.

The open design makes for a more effective listening device.

In terms of design, there are also hundreds of types to choose from. Here are some examples:

- Clip-ons

This type does not have headbands. The attachment system of clip-on headphones comprise of two ear-buds that you can easily 'plug" into your ears.

- Wireless

This is convenient because it frees you up from wires and lets you move around freely while listening to your music.

- In-ear-monitor.

These are tiny headphones which conveniently fits into your ear canal. This type of headphone is more expensive and has a more sophisticated design. It can be used for professional and surveillance purposes.

- Earbuds

These are small earphones with two small, rounded earpieces that fits the inner part of your ear.

- Headsets

This is composed of a microphone and a headset, and is mostly used for communicating.

- Noise-canceling

The attachment system of sound-proof headphones contain a suspension system in the headband. This characteristic prevents outside noise from interfering with the sound produced by your audio or video device.

- Street style

This has is mostly used for listening to your MP3 files, and has a headband that you can fit at the back of your head.

- Earpad

This type of headphones have soft, flat pads which serve as earpieces.

There are several types and styles of earphones which are available in the market now.

When choosing the right headphones to fit your lifestyle, make sure that you know what is important to you. You may choose it based on design, application or brand.

Finally, make sure that you do not compromise the sound quality, since this is your purpose for owning headphones: to have a reliable listening device that will produce the best sound possible.

Robert Thatcher is a freelance publisher based in Cupertino, California. He publishes articles and reports in various ezines and provides headphone resources on http://www.about-headphones.info

Ipod Guide Some Info About Ipod Portable Digital Device

Writen by Jagpal Bains

An ipod is a portable digital media player designed by Apple Computer. IPod is currently very much popular for storing and playing audio files. It offers great sound quality and can store up to ten thousand songs. Standard ipod has built-in hard drive to store media files while shuffle, smallest ipod and ipod nano use flash memory. It can works as external data storage device after connected to computer.

IPod is selling like hotcakes throughout the world. All generations of ipod have monochrome screens excluding fourth generation ipod that has color screen. 'iTunes' is software that is used for transferring music, photos and videos to the ipod. Actually it is music jukebox that holds complete library of users' music on their PC. Apple's iPod came with unique white headphones.

Ipod is an easy to use portable digital media player. It can easily communicate with iTunes as connected to PC either Windows or Macintosh. It doesn't require user interference to coordinates with personal computer. Ipod plays MP3 audio files as well as AAC; advanced audio coding that was designed by Dolby Labs as a part of MPEG-4 audio/video standard.

People generally buy ipod due to certain reasons such as it is thin as pencil and can be easily fit into wallet. It offers great listening pleasure. Its screen is unbreakable and strain proof thats why you can use it without any fear. You can easily access listen world's great selection of music due to iTunes music store. It is an expensive media player that costs US$199 for 2GB and US$249 for 4 GB.

About Author: Author presents a website on ipod. Website provides information about ipod, reasons to buy ipod, features of ipod and some tips to buy ipod. You can also visit his site for cheap iPod

Using A Night Vision Device

Writen by James Hunt

It's difficult to see in the dark. Unless there's some light peeking in through the window or from under a door, our vision is compromised. If we wait a little while, our night vision kicks in, allowing us to see somewhat better. It's not enough that we can read in the dark, but it should be enough to keep us from stumbling into furniture or tripping over the carpet. Sometimes though, our human night vision isn't enough and we need a little help.

That's where technology kicks in. Thanks to science we can use night vision to do all sorts of things. With the proper equipment we can hunt, take pictures or even fight wars in the dark. We can also perform surveillance and search and rescue missions.

Here's how it works: Your night vision product will take existing light and amplify it through an objective lens, which then focuses on an image intensifier. A photocathode located inside the intensifier converts the photon energy into electrons. The electrons in turn strike a phosphor screen creating a viewable image. In reality it looks like you're watching television on a green screen.

Atmospheric conditions can affect night vision. For instance, if it's cloudy, foggy, or overcast, night vision can be compromised. The clearer the night, the farther one will be able to see with night vision technology. It should also be noted that night vision shouldn't be magnified, as light is lost during the magnification process making it more difficult to see.

Night vision devices include:
- Cameras
- Binoculars
- Scopes for firearms
- Goggles

If you think that using a night vision device on a frequent basis might be harmful, you couldn't be more wrong. Night vision products are no more harmful than a television or movie screen. It doesn't emit radiation or other harmful rays and there's no reason for it to cause blindness.

James Hunt has spent 15 years as a professional writer and researcher covering stories that cover a whole spectrum of interest. Read more at http://www.night-vision-central.info

Email Reminders Save The Day

Writen by Philip Nicosia

You've got a planner, a Palm Pilot, and enough sticky notes to wall paper one side of your room. But you still forget things. Why?

The fact is that when you're really stressed—the weeks when everything goes wrong, and you've missed about every deadline you've had due to emergencies that derail every attempt to get back on your track—you don't even look at your planner. No, your time management tools are buried under paperwork, and the sticky notes have long stopped being useful simply because there are too many to keep track of.

And that's assuming that you're the type who'll keep a calendar to begin with. Many of us aren't. Realistically, we forget to jot things down (an unfortunate habit that becomes far worse the more stressed and distracted we are).

Enter, the email reminder. No matter how disorganized you are by nature, or how toxic your schedule may be, you're bound to check your email. It's the way the office system has evolved, and our work habits have changed with it. All business and personal correspondence is now coursed through the web, and even if you no longer have the time to go to the bathroom and brush your teeth, you'll still (albeit hurriedly) quickly check your email for any new updates or instructions.

Setting up an email reminder means that whatever happens, you never forget the important things: it's right there in your inbox, the digital equivalent of a secretary hovering over your table.

Email reminders can also help cut down on your paper clutter—which, you have to admit, are one reason we feel that our business lives are spiralling out of control. If you've got dozens of papers stuck on your bulletin board, you can't sit down at your desk without feeling that your deadlines are screaming at you.

Besides, it's hard to tell at one glance which of those dozens of reminders are due today. It can all be overwhelming: which are most important? Which need to be taken care of right now, or can wait until next Tuesday? You can set up an email reminder to give you your schedule piece meal, so even if you are swamped with work you're at least able to focus on the most essential.

Email reminders are also part of the move for a fully integrated digital office. It makes more sense to streamline your work day so that everything you need to do is centralized in one place. You write memos and reports on the computer, send them through email, and simultaneously check what's next on your to-do list. For a hyper-busy executive, that's more "natural" than having to rummage through your papers for your planner, or wasting time retyping all the information on your Palm Pilot.

Email reminders can help you take back control of your schedule. No, it won't do the work for you—but it can make it easier to manage your work flow, so you don't get this toxic again.

Philip Nicosia is the webmaster of Onlinereminders.net, a site that provides a free email reminders service.

How To Have Fun And Keep Safe When Using Peer To Peer Software

Writen by Terry Brazil II

As you may have found out by now using peer to peer software can be very fun and good way to get your favorite music, movies, games, and whatever else you want to download. I am sure that you have also heard though that using peer to peer software can openly invite computer problems like adware, spyware, trojans and viruses. Not to mention some files may be illegally distributed and could cost you some very hefty fines. I however want to show you how to safely use peer to peer software just the way it should be.

The Problems With Public Peer To Peer Software

There are several problems that need to be addressed with public peer to peer software. The biggest of them is that they are not monitored. As soon a free peer to peer software program is released it starts building up steam and more and more users join. Some of these users sole purpose in lives are to make others miserable. People will put things like trojans, spyware, adware, and viruses in their files and then distribute them to others. This causes a huge chain reaction as it spreads throughout that particular peer to peer software community. This completely ruins it for everybody.

Here Are Descriptions Of What These People Put On Your Computer

Trojan: A destructive program that masquerades as a true application. Unlike viruses, Trojan horses do not replicate themselves but they can be just as destructive. One of the most insidious types of Trojan horse is a program that claims to rid your computer of viruses but instead introduces viruses onto your computer. These are installed once the file is open and starts every time you turn on your computer. These programs can even allow someone to take complete control of your computer.

Spyware: Any software that covertly gathers user information through the user's Internet connection without his or her knowledge, usually for advertising purposes. Spyware applications are typically bundled as a hidden component of freeware or shareware programs that can be downloaded from the Internet; however, it should be noted that the majority of shareware and freeware applications do not come with spyware. Once installed, the spyware monitors user activity on the Internet and transmits that information in the background to someone else. Spyware can also gather information about e-mail addresses and even passwords and credit card numbers.

Adware: A form of spyware that collects information about the user in order to display advertisements in the Web browser based on the information it collects from the user's browsing patterns.

Viruses: A program or piece of code that is loaded onto your computer without your knowledge and runs against your wishes. Viruses can also replicate themselves. All computer viruses are manmade. A simple virus that can make a copy of itself over and over again is relatively easy to produce. Even such a simple virus is dangerous because it will quickly use all available memory and bring the system to a halt. An even more dangerous type of virus is one capable of transmitting itself across networks and bypassing security systems.

As you can see you would never want any of this stuff on your computer. These are the most common reasons peoples computers crash and need to be reformatted resulting in the loss of valuable data. There is really only one way to avoid this happening to you. That is to join a private peer to peer network. Many of the people that want to such destructive things will not bother going out of their way or paying to do so. Why would they ever want to do that when there are millions of people to wreak their havoc on much easier.

The Shinier Side Of The Peer To Peer Software Coin

As you very well know peer to peer software is not all that bad. There is no other way out there to get the music, movies, games, or whatever else you want on demand. To buy all of the things the average user downloads in a month would run literally into the thousands.

Peer to peer software is also the best way to insure that you get the titles that you want as quickly as possible. When downloading strait from the web or even on IRC for that matter you may have to wait weeks if not months to see the most newly released products. With peer to peer software everybody works together so that you can get the newest titles as soon as they are available to the public and sometimes before they are.

Speed is also a major plus for peer to peer software. If you where to download a product from the web you may have to settle for a speed allot slower than you connection will allow you to or even worse you may have to wait just to get that slower connection. When you use peer to peer software you can utilize the resources of everybody else on the network that also has that file. That means instead of downloading the file from one place you are getting it from several hundred places. You will never have to worry about the file being inaccessible because a site is down or a person turned their computer off.

Search speed is just another major factor when you become a downloading freak. When using web pages and resources like IRC it can take quite awhile to find what you are looking for. You have to jump from site to site or server to server depending on what you are using, just to see what they have available for you. Then like mentioned before you have to deal with slow speeds and possible a waiting period. Some IRC servers even require you to upload a file to the server before you can even download anything. With peer to peer software you can download anything without having to bother with uploading anything, it is all done automatically.

With all public peer to peer software applications you have to worry about a variety of other things such as amount of files, audio quality, video quality, legal issues, and possibly the biggest of all no tech support. These public peer to peer programs don't offer tech support even though they are still making money off of it by means of advertisements. They would simply be to swamped with the amount of users they get.

5 Steps To A Safer Peer To Peer Software Experience

1) When installing your file sharing software, do not allow it to scan your hard disk for media to share. If you do this, it may end up sharing out every single song, video, picture, etc. it locates, regardless of whether it is copyrighted. This is a very important, especially if you have ripped your CD collection on to your PC.

2) Once you have set up the software, configure it to use a new folder as your shared folder. It may be worth putting some freeware items in the shared folder to make it look like your are not a 'free loader', e.g. the latest copy of Winamp, OpenOffice, music made freely available by the author, etc. depending on your uplink bandwidth.

3) If the file sharing software offers the ability to disable the browsing of your shared files make sure is checked. While this does not prevent your file sharing software from sharing out files, at least it prevents nosy people from remotely checking what you have shared out.

4) Periodically check the list of items your P2P application is sharing. Most P2P clients can view a list of shared items and this way you can make sure that you are not sharing out content that should not be shared out.

5) If you download something that you are not fully sure is free of copyright protection, immediately move it out of your shared folder once the download has complete. By default, file sharing software automatically shares any downloaded content, so just be warned. Some file sharing software such as eMule and BitTorrent clients even share out partially downloaded files.

Final Words And Recommendations

First off when using any peer to peer software I strongly recommend using a program like Peer Guardian. You can get Peer Guardian for free at their website. This software gathers a large list of computers you many not want to have access your PC (RIAA, MPAA etc.) and blocks them from connecting to your PC (to browse your shared files, see what you are downloading/uploading etc). It isn't a 100% safe of course, as the lag between them changing there IP and PeerGuardian updating to block it would allow them time to theoretically connect to your PC if they really needed to, also not every single "anti-p2p" IP is known, so it does not leave you completely safe either way. However, for most P2P users it is still well worth having providing you update often. It does however slow down your PC when it is running, so I would suggest disabling it to start automatically with windows and run it only when you have P2P applications running.

Second off join a private peer to peer software group. This highly reduces the risk of getting files that have trojans, spyware, adware, or viruses in them. It is still possible but a lot less likely. You are also a lot less likely to be caught downloading something you shouldn't since it is a private group and not just everybody access it. Overall these groups are the closest thing you will ever see to safe havens for peer to peer software users. I recommend iMP3Download (link in BIO) because of it's large amount of files. There are over 14 million mp3's as well as millions of games, movies, and software. It also gives some killer speed this group reaches speeds about two hundred and fifty times faster than kazaa and is completely spyware and adware free. They also give 24 hour tech support so you know there is somebody there if you have problems.

This article originally posted on great information resource (http://www.guruofinfo.com) where you can find the solutions to your problems.

How To Save An Image In A Sql Server Database

Writen by Balaji B

Most of the web applications have a lot of images used in it. These images are usually stored in a web server folder and they are accessed by giving the relative path to the file with respect to the root folder of the website. .Net being the platform for distributed application now, ASP.Net can be used to store images that are small to be stored in a database like SQL Server 2000 and later versions. For this purpose the SQL Server database provides a data type called "image" which is used to store images in the database.

To access these images stored in the database we will be using the ADO.Net classes. To find out how to insert and retrieve an image in to the SQL Server database, you can create a .aspx page which can have a HTMLInputFile control which is used to select the image file that is to be saved in the database. You can also create a textbox control in which you can add the image name or some comment or an image id for the image saved. Use a button control to upload the image to the database. Namespaces like System.Data.SqlClient, System.Drawing, System.Data, System.IO, and System.Drawing.Imaging are used in this task.

In the OnClick property of the button you can write the following code to upload an image to the database.

// create a byte[] for the image file that is uploaded
int imagelen = Upload.PostedFile.ContentLength;
byte[] picbyte = new byte[imagelen];
Upload.PostedFile.InputStream.Read (picbyte, 0, imagelen);
// Insert the image and image id into the database
SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection (@"give the connection string
here...");
try
{
conn.Open ();
SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand ("insert into ImageTable "
+ "(ImageField, ImageID) values (@pic, @imageid)",
conn);cmd.Parameters.Add ("@pic", picbyte);
cmd.Parameters.Add ("@imageid", lblImageID.Text);
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery ();
}
finally
{
conn.Close ();
}

You can also write the above code in a function and call that function in the OnClick event of the upload button. The code given above performs the following steps in the process of inserting an image into the database.

1. Get the content length of the image that is to be uploaded
2. Create a byte[] to store the image
3. Read the input stream of the posted file
4. Create a connection object
5. Open the connection object
6. Create a command object
7. Add parameters to the command object
8. Execute the sql command using the ExecuteNonQuery method of the command object
9. Close the connection object

To retrieve the image from the SQL Database you can perform the following steps.

1. Create a MemoryStream object. The code can be something like, MemoryStream mstream = new MemoryStream ();

2. Create a Connection object

3. Open the connection to the database

4. Create a command object to execute the command to retrieve the image

5. Use the command object's ExecuteScalar method to retrieve the image

6. Cast the output of the ExecuteScalar method to that of byte[] byte[] image = (byte[]) command.ExecuteScalar ();

7. Write the stream mstream.Write (image, 0, image.Length);

8. Create a bitmap object to hold the stream Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap (stream);

9. Set the content type to "image/gif" Response.ContentType = "image/gif";

10. Use the Save method of the bitmap object to output the image to the OutputStream. bitmap.Save (Response.OutputStream, ImageFormat.Gif);

11. Close the connection

12. Close the stream mstream.Close();

Using the above steps you can retrieve and display the image from the database to the web page.

You can use these algorithms and take advantage of the "image" data type available in the SQLServer 2000 database to store small images that correspond to a particular record in the table of the database. This method of storing avoids the tedious task of tracking the path of the web folder if the images are stored in a web folder.

Visit A Guide to .NET for a complete introduction to .NET framework. Learn about ASP.NET, VB.NET, C# and other related technologies.

Cd Amp Dvd Mastering

Writen by Thomas Morva

For many people, mastering CDs and DVDs is an esoteric art that only recording specialists know. However, anyone with the proper knowledge can master their own CDs and DVDs using a personal computer and special mastering software. CD and DVD mastering programs are available, a great option for people who want to do their own mastering.

Mastering is a very important step in the production of CDs and DVDs. This is the final polishing and editing process where the last creative finishing touches are applied to the tracks or songs on a record before it is sent for replication. Mastering involves a wide range of techniques that refine and finish the recording before it is ready to be replicated. CDs and DVDs must undergo mastering to ensure that the finished product has excellent picture and sound quality.

Mastering CDs and DVDs is generally done by professional mastering engineers. These mastering specialists usually work in high-tech facilities equipped with state-of-the-art mastering gear. Mastering involves a series of steps. The first step is the assembly editing, which usually involves arranging the tracks in the proper order or sequence on the disc. The spacing between songs is also determined and adjusted.

The overall quality of the digital audio or video is also refined in a process called ?sweetening.? The intensity and arrangement of the sound are enhanced so that the final master disc will sound much better than the mix. Finally, the output or the finished tracks are transferred onto the media needed for replication.

CD mastering programs are usually inexpensive and can sometimes be downloaded for free. Some offer extensive features and options that are also found in professional mastering software. Mastering CDs and DVDs just got easier and more cost-effective with these free CD mastering applications.

CD Mastering provides detailed information on CD Mastering, CD Mastering Engineers, CD Mastering Facilities, CD Mastering Software and more. CD Mastering is affiliated with Stand Alone CD Duplicators.

Head For Home The Right Way

Writen by Theresa Cahill

Once again another phone call with Raymond McNally of RTDWebsolutions prompts me to tell you about a prime piece of "real estate" on your own computer, the HOME PAGE of your own internet browser!

When you click HOME where is it taking you?

Mega-giants online would love to persuade you to have their site loading each time you go HOME, but is that an efficient way to use it? No, it is not.

Your own HOME PAGE should take you to the numerous links YOU need and use, at the click of your mouse.

By that I mean, if you have numerous startpage programs, affiliate program links, online banking links, website stats, administrative functions for your own website, etc., that you routinely check on - instead of filing them under your FAVORITES (and having to remember what stands for what), create one single HOME PAGE that can take you anywhere you need to be - all with the click of your own mouse!

Picture this - you open your browser or click HOME during the day and you are automatically at a page that is useful - for YOU!

And it's simple to set up! Even someone with zero website building capabilities can have their own personalized homepage up and running in no time using something as simple as NOTEPAD on your own computer.

You do NOT have to upload it either - unless you have your own domain and would enjoy accessing your list anywhere in the world anytime - just consider burying it deep inside your website and password protecting it first. Truly, this puppy can just sit on your own hard drive and can be modified as needed instantly!

Here's how to do it...

First, open WINDOWS EXPLORER, head to your C DRIVE, and create a new folder on your own C drive (up under FILE). Call this new folder HOMEPAGE. Close Windows Explorer.

Then:

1. Click open NOTEPAD

Note: Since certain codes do not lend themselves to article writing, please remove the * in the examples below and type SHIFT/COMMA to open a link and SHIFT/PERIOD when closing your link.

Also, where I have typed ENTER, you will type *BR* again substituting the appropriate keys for the * to create a hard return.

2. Type *B* Startpage Programs */B* ENTER

This creates a bolded heading called Startpage Programs, your first category.

Now, gather all your startpage program urls and copy and paste them one by one under this category. Be sure to type ENTER (see above) after each line of code to ensure they are one below the other.

Also, please note that you can easily add the NEW WINDOW "target" to each of your links. Just before the closing * (see above) of each of your links, insert:

one typed SPACE and then "target=_blank"

Now each time you click a link, it will open in a new window for you.

Here's a sample link:

*a href="http://www.mystartpagelink.com" target=_blank"* MyStartPage */a*

On your HOME page, you'll see a clickable link called MyStartPage.

You must insert some sort of name after the URL and close the a href reference with the */a* code to complete the link.

So, after getting your startpages organized...

3. Type *B* Affiliate Programs */B* ENTER

Again, go out and gather together all the programs you check on a regular or even infrequent basis. Enter the links given to you by that particular program, one by one, again inserting the NEW WINDOW code into each of your links, and typing the code for ENTER after each affiliate url.

4. Repeat the above as many times as needed to create the categories you personally need for things you routinely check on.

5. When you are through, SAVE the file to your C Drive inside the HOMEPAGE folder you initially created. Be sure to give your newly created page an HTM extension, for example: homepage.htm

Now, open your browser and click on TOOLS (sorry Netscape users will have to find their setting for the startpage on their own *smile!*).

The window pops open and the first thing you'll see under the GENERAL tab is "Home page."

In the address bar type in:

file://C:/HOMEPAGE/homepage.htm

Click APPLY. Voila! you are finished!

You can add and delete programs and headings at will anytime just by reopening this htm page into NOTEPAD, making your changes, and selecting SAVE. That's it, it really is simple.

Now whenever you choose to "GO HOME," your own browswer will open to something YOU need, your own organized page to work from! Enjoy!

© Theresa Cahill - All Rights Reserved. Feel free to distribute this article. Please keep it intact and with the resource box included below.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Theresa Cahill, a two decade veteran of marketing, is the owner of http://www.mywizardads.com and invites you to take a look at the services of MWA and download fr.ee helpful information and more at http://www.mywizardads.com/sitemap.html

Is That Your Check Book Driving Away

Writen by Darren Miller

Is Your Check Book On The Curb
---------------------
This is an article about people throwing away their home computers with all their financial and banking information on them and easily accessible. A very simple first step to financial and identity theft and it happens all the time. Computer Disposal and Identity Theft go hand in hand.

Since Hurricane Wilma, our city has stepped up bulk trash pickup to every month. Bulk pickup is when you can put out pretty much anything; dressers, vacuum cleaners, and of course computers. Early in the morning on each bulk pickup day people come around with pickup trucks to see what they can grab prior to the city trucks showing up. Some are looking for throwaways that can be refurbished and re-soled, while others work for charities that are looking to provide less fortunate people with items that are useful.

Identity Theft & Home Computer Disposal
---------------------
This morning my wife reminds me that not only is it trash day, it is bulk pickup day (And for some people, possibly Identity Theft day). So I take out the trash and put out the other large items. As I approach the curb, a truck full of discarded goodies pulls around the corner. He asks me if I am throwing that stuff, and if so could he put it on his truck. I said sure, and lifted it on to an already huge pile of discards. When he drove away, guess what I saw on top of the pile, three desktop computers, and one laptop. From the look of them, they were a few years old. I wonder why they were put out on the curb? Where they inoperable, or did their owner just get tired of how slow they were and bought a new one? Even if they weren't working quite right, I wonder how much effort it would take to repair them, probably not much.

Throwing Away your Computer, Money, and Identity
---------------------
Jackson Morgan, a contributing author for Defending The Net, wrote an article called "Computer Disposal - Throwing Away Your Computer, Money, and Identity" a few months ago. In this article, he interviewed people at the dump to see what was on their discarded computers. And the results were quite surprising, actually, to us they were not surprising. And now I am writing this article to give you my own personal experience / observation

Do You Take Computer Security and Identity Theft Seriously
---------------------
There are so many articles written about wireless security, Internet security, and computer security and how your identity and private information can be stolen. Some people are really concerned about this. I wonder how many of those discarded PC's on the truck this morning had owners that secured their wireless Internet connection? I wonder how many of those computers had their hard drives removed or destroyed. More importantly, I found myself wondering where those computers were going to end up?

Someone Just Sold A Thief Your Checking Account
---------------------
Let's think up a reasonable and viable scenario. Let's say that this gentleman is working with a charity. This charity takes discarded, yet useful items and cleans them up and distributes them to people who are less fortunate or down on their luck. One of the PC's really had no problems except that it was loaded with Spyware and Adware and needed a thorough cleaning inside and out. This was a great find, the Operating System is intact, and it's full of useful applications. Applications like Microsoft Office, and more importantly, QuickBooks. The computer is given to someone who cannot afford such a convenience, and all is well. Then about a week goes buy and something pops up on the screen. What do we have here, a QuickBooks reminder and notification of account balances. And look at that, a checking account with $80,000 in it. I wonder what else this computer contains. And were going to find out because there is no password to get into the application.

I don't know about you, and I am sure several people are going to think I'm being harsh with my following statements, but this scenario scares the you know what out of me. This does not apply to all those who are down on their luck, but how many people in a situation like this would ignore the information or be tempted to further investigate it. What if they already have little to lose? What could they do with this information and access to someone else's financial information. Maybe they don't do anything with it directly, but there is someone they know who would be willing to pay for access to a bank account with $80,000 in it. Not to mention the rest of the information that is most likely on the computer. Wouldn't be ironic if your financial information fell into the hands of a thief for $300? All because someone else was trying to help someone out.

Conclusion
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I find it quite strange that many people are concerned about the technical aspect of security yet overlook the most basic things. Do yourself a favor, before putting a computer out on the curb, take out the hard drive and label it "destroy" and take it to local metal shop when you have a chance. They can cut in into tiny little pieces or melt it down for you. Don't think because you have just a home PC that you don't need to have a userID and password to login to it. You do need this, for many reasons. Also, buy yourself an inexpensive paper shredder and make sure to shred all your important, but no longer needed paper documents. If you think you can't lose everything you have worked for over the last 10 to 20 years by making just a tiny mistake your are quite mistaken.

You may reprint or publish this article free of charge as long as the bylines are included.

Original URL (The Web version of the article)
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http://www.defendingthenet.com/NewsLetters/IsThatYourCheckBookDrivingAway.htm

About The Author
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Darren Miller is an Information Security Consultant with over seventeen years experience. He has written many technology & security articles, some of which have been published in nationally circulated magazines & periodicals. If you would like to contact Darren you can e-mail him at Darren.Miller@defendingthenet.com. If you would like to know more about computer security please visit us at http://www.defendingthenet.com

Keep That Harddrive Clean Would You

Writen by John Deprice

Your PC, just like your home, office or car, needs to be cleaned regularly. Find out what software solutions will do that unwanted task for you, so your computer stays fast, "healthy" and fully functional.

4DiskClean Gold (RSS Systems)

4Diskclean Gold finds and fixes PC problems fast, keeping your system running at peak performance and reliability, and properly maintains Windows to prevent problems altogether.

Here is what the software does. It deletes unnecessary files and temporary folders, fixes invalid Windows registry keys, eliminates duplicate files (like duplicate mp3 songs), erases all internet files (browser cache, history, & cookies), autocleans Internet Explorer cache on browser exit, blocks spyware, adware and bad cookies (2990 items). In addition to that, 4DiskClean Gold cleans all windows shortcuts that point to non-existing files.

AceUtilities (AceLogics Software)

Ace Utilities is a set of system-maintenance and optimization utilities for enhancing Windows performance. The program cleans unneeded junk, temp and obsolete files from your disks using disk cleaner, as well as cleans browser and application history, cache, temp files, cookies etc. Beyond that, Ace Utilities it controls the applications that start automatically with Windows, using startup organizer and fixes broken start menu and desktop shortcuts. The app can be used to remove true duplicate files or to uninstall applications correctly.

East-Tec Eraser (EAST Technologies)

East-Tec Erasers is not just a cleaner, rather it completely destroys information stored without your knowledge or approval: Internet history, Web pages and pictures from sites visited on the Internet, unwanted cookies, chatroom conversations, deleted e-mail messages, temporary files, the Windows swap file, the Recycle Bin, previously deleted files, valuable corporate trade secrets, business plans, personal files, photos or confidential letters, etc.

East-Tec Eraser 2005 offers full support for popular browsers (Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, America Online, MSN Explorer, Opera), for Peer2Peer applications (Kazaa, Kazaa Lite, iMesh, Napster, Morpheus, Direct Connect, Limewire, Shareaza, etc.), and for other popular programs such as Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, etc. Eraser has an intuitive interface and wizards that guide you through all the necessary steps needed to protect your privacy and sensitive information.

Clean Disk Security (Kevin Solway Software)

Clean Disk Security gives you secure file deletion, making sure that deleted files cannot be undeleted again. Deleting a file normally just removes the file's directory entry, but the data itself remains on the disk. This program completely eliminates the contents of deleted files. The highly acclaimed Gutmann disk cleaning method is now available as an option. This program can also clean the Window's swap file, and can optionally clean unneeded temporary files from your hard disk, such as your Internet browser cache, files in your system's Recycle Bin, and can clear the "recent files" list.

More Informatin on these applications:

http://www.deprice.com/4diskcleangold.htm
http://www.deprice.com/aceutilities.htm
http://www.deprice.com/eastteceraserbasic.htm
http://www.deprice.com/cleandisksecurity.htm

John Deprice maintains a comprehensive list of disk cleaning applications at http://www.deprice.com/utilities.htm

Custom Calendars

Writen by Richard Romando

Since antiquity calendars have played a major role in the cultural, social, religious, and occupational lives of people. Modern times have seen the advent of tailor-made calendars customized to suit an individual's special requirements. Single-page calendars and pocket calendars have long been in the market. Nowadays, special calendars can be ordered to suit one's needs and tastes, at affordable prices. Personalized desktop calendars, wall calendars, magnetic calendars, calendars for gifts, business and official calendars. . . all can be custom-designed by professional calendar designers. It is possible to have these calendars feature personal snapshots, quotes, logo texts and other designs. These can serve as interesting fundraisers, yearly gifts, and promotional gift options.

The Internet opens a floodgate of options for customized calendars. These include many websites offering free interactive calendars and printable calendars that can be customized. www.Bellaonline.com has as many as 10 different kinds of calendar that can be printed through Adobe Reader, PDF and postscript. Some of these options include Garden Graphics calendars, which are small desk calendars, and printable moon phase calendars, which are either zip-filed entire year calendars or individual monthly calendars, depending on your choice.

There are also draw calendars with blank spaces on top, mini-year calendars with the whole year on one page, time and date calendars where special dates and events can be marked, calendar pages for hanging, printable kid's craft calendars for kids, and many more. KodarkGallery.co and YearBox.com are some of the other websites that provide the opportunity to design one's own customized calendars. www.asensoft.com enables one to download software to design personalized calendars. Certain websites also enable one to get public events or personal and collaborative calendars, which can be used in personal websites.

Calendars provides detailed information on Calendars, Free Calendars, Printable Calendars, Custom Calendars and more. Calendars is affiliated with Atomic Alarm Clocks.

So What Is An Mp3 File

Writen by Bruce Hearder

If you have ever listened to music on your computer or on your via a iPod, then you have almost certainly used an MP3 file. Most people have no idea what an MP3 File is. Basically, an MP3 is a format for compressing audio files suitable for use on a computer or personal audio device.

What really is a MP3?

An MP3 file, (actually it's correct name is MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3) , is a digital audio format that is "lossy" (meaning the more the file is compressed, the more the quality of file file deteriorates from the original).

The file format was initially designed so that audio could be compressed to significantly reduce size of the file, whilst trying to remain as true as possible to the quality of the sound. This compression is achieved using psychoacoustic (the study of subjective human perception of sounds) methods to eliminate those parts of the audio spectrum that are not audible to the human ear, saving only those parts of the audio spectrum that we can hear.

A MP3 can be compressed and saved in many diverse ways, allowing for size flexibility and quality of the data. This one is one of the major reasons for the popularity of the file format.

A very brief history of the MP3 file format

MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 initially life as the "Digital Audio Broadcast" , financed by the European Union.

By 1991, two competing proposals where around, these included "Musicam" and "ASPEC". The best featured of each format where "combined" into what we now known as the MPEG format.

The algorithm (file format) was approved in 1991 as MPEG-1, becoming the international standard ISO/IEC 11172-3 in 1993. 1994-1995 saw the release of MPEG-2. Further work on the MPEG audio format was finalized in 1994. For a more detailed description of the history of the MP3 file format see (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mp3)

The MPEG-1/2 file format is currently patented and controlled by Thomson Consumer Electronics, who has been actively enforcing these patents. The Fraunhofer Institute started notifying several groups of developers in 1998, stating that a license was required to "distribute and/or sell decoders and/or encoders".

These licensing and patent issues have led many developers to focused more and more on creating and popularizing alternative audio file formats such as WMA and Ogg Vorbis. Microsoft has chosen to distance its self from the MP3 file format and uses its own Windows Media formats to avoid these licensing issues

Some of the key reasons, why the MP3 is still popular:
- The term MP3 has become a de facto name for storing audio files on digital devices
- The alternative file formats do not provide features that are significantly better than the MP3 format
- The great amount of existing material already in this format, and
- The huge range of equipment that can read and write this format

This article is only a very general introduction in the history of MP3's, nor can it delve too deeply into the working of the codex. If you require more information about this file format then see the following sites: Fraunhofer IIS - http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/amm/techinf/layer3/ MP3 Patents - http://www.mp3licensing.com/patents/index.html

Find more quality music information in the Music section of Exceed Directory - The human edited link directory

Dont Be A Slave To Your Email

Writen by Angela Lewis

I'm so, so really bad at it. I mean, I'm purely awful. I receive so much e-mail a day that it's basically just read, delete, read, file, read, delete, read, delete. I have e-mail from over a year ago that I should respond to. I usually wait so long that I just figure it's been too long to reply now, and then I file it away.

Does this sound familiar? Thanks to a world-wide adoption of email by businesses and individuals, this is the sort of problem that ordinary people are facing everyday. Up until a few years ago, most of us did not have the added pressure of having to deal with incoming email on a continual basis during our work day, or of having to check it from home at least once a day. We could sit at our desks or computers and work on an urgent report with our phone taking voicemail or being redirected - and strangely enough the world didn't collapse around our ears because we were not immediately responding to emails. I believe time management skills now need to also include managing email. While I am no expert in this area, I am able to keep my email under control using some of the following techniques, which I would like to share with you.

Schedule your email time: You could block off periods of time in your day that are 'no email' or reverse, block periods of time where email is acceptable. Personally I find that I can work better if I deliberately switch my email off while I have other work to handle, as I find that if I leave it running then email gets an automatic priority, often to the detriment of whatever task I was involved in at the time. I believe you must decide when to read email - this control should not rest with everyone out there who sends emails to you. For example, I will not log onto my email until I have completed one hour at my desk first thing in the morning; this means I can plan my day, deal with issues from the previous day, set up meetings and do necessary paperwork. Having set up the day to cater for my own needs, then I will log on and see what email awaits me.

I have found that if I log on first, hours can go by where I deal with often petty things, read and forward because the mail was not relevant to me, get engrossed in gossip, respond to personal greetings or jokes, or go off on a tangent with work I had no intention of dealing with on this particular day. If I have at least some chance to put my work priorities first, I find that I am not so tempted to spend great amounts of time with email that does not require my immediate attention.

Keep email quiet: If none of the above suggestions are possible, and you need to keep your email running while engrossed in other tasks, then at least consider muting the speaker on your computer so that you do not receive an audio notification of the email arriving.

Be realistic about answering your email: I allocate time when I need a break from a task to go and deal with my email, because even though you make think that it will only take five minutes to check your email, invariably something will require action from you - a reply, reading an attachment or supplying some information. This means you are then forced to work reactively, when perhaps you had other priorities over and above the 15 minutes you had allocated to email.

Sound the alarm: Employ an egg timer, a miniature clock alarm, a watch alarm or set a Microsoft Outlook Calendar reminder to jog your memory to when you have spent enough time with your email. If you have to leave your house or office at 10am for a meeting, set the alarm to buzz just prior to that time.

File it: Set up folders for your incoming work. I know this sounds obvious, but it is surprising how people many simply leave all their email in the Inbox. Go to File, choose New and then Folder. Make as many folders as you need, based on your work and the categories of emails you receive or based on who has sent them (you will know best how to categorise them). Making email folders is the same idea as labeling manila folders to put in a filing cabinet. When you need to keep an email drag and drop it with your mouse in the relevant folder.

Sent mail: Think about making folders for your outgoing emails – have a folder structure under the sent folder based on who you are sending email to, and move the important ones you need to keep into those folders. The sent folder can also end up with an unmanageable amount of email in it, so consider doing this and make sure you include the Sent folder when you do an email clean up and delete.

Deal with the email, don't just leave it all in the Inbox: There is nothing like a bit of extra stress from looking at an email inbox containing 300 – 400 emails, some opened, some not; have you replied, did you forward it, it all becomes too hard. Try and make it a practice to read it and deal with it - respond, delete it, forward it or file or it, but don't just leave it sitting there in your inbox thinking you will come back later. It is the same principle that is applied to stacks of paper of your desk, once you leave the email without dealing with it, the next time you come back you will need to waste time and re-read the emails to work out what you need to do with them.

Clean out regularly: Try and go through your inbox and sent box say once a month (e.g. nominate the first or last date in the month), give it a limit of 15 minutes and start cleaning out old emails. This also ensures your system runs more efficiently as well as making it easier for you to find things that are really important.

Email Rules: why not set up a couple of rules for your incoming email where your weekly joke, or daily inspirational message or emails from particular people are immediately filed in a particular folder, that way you check the folders when you a ready to read the messages. I suggest you read about rules in Outlook's help menus, but just to get started, you create a rule for a message by right clicking the message, then choosing 'create rule', and specifying the criteria for the rule. For example, you keep getting spam from a particular person, so you could create a rule and specify that when mail comes from that email account it is to immediately be deleted (deletion being one of the rules you can choose).

Delete email before it gets to Outlook: Go to your e-mail's server first thing via their website (e.g. Telstra.com or Optusnet.com.au) and delete all the spam and rubbish email before it even arrives in your email outbox.

Good Subjects: Ask your email contacts (personal and business where possible) to utilize the subject lines. This will help you to ascertain whether your incoming mail is urgent, a follow-up or trivial, because knowing the urgency of a message will help you to determine how soon you need to read and respond to the contents.

Extra email addresses: Consider setting up additional email addresses for personal use, or work-specific use. Most internet service providers provide you with 5 email addresses otherwise use a free one at Hotmail or Yahoo. This has the added benefit of stopping some unsolicited email or advertising arriving in your work email inbox and allows you to use that secondary account when you visit websites that require an email address before you can use them and you do not necessarily wish to give out your legitimate email details.

Good luck in using these strategies to work more effectively with your email.

Angela is a workplace IT Educator, counsellor and social researcher. Her area of interest is in how technology intersects with human relations. She has recently finished her PhD in Education and expects to be awarded in April. She can be found at http://angelalewis.com.au

If Youre Still Digitizing You Need To Read This Now

Writen by Aubrey Richardson

Still digitizing, huh? Why? If you're still digitizing I'm guessing you either enjoy it or feel as if you have no other choice available to you. I realize there are certain individuals who get satisfaction from creating or reproducing an image by hand. The very process of plotting or punching points (also known as nodes) can be very time consuming and become a tedious job. Once you've completed a complex or intricate piece of artwork, it's only natural to feel a sense of pride for a job well done!

I can remember as far back as 1982, when personal computers were just beginning to be introduced into the Awards & Engraving industry. Digitizing was painful! This was long before the development of computer aided design (CAD) software. All drawings had to be created from beginning to end with no mistakes or you had to start all over from the very beginning. You sure didn't want the phone to ring or have a customer come through your door while in the middle of any drawing!!

A few years later we were blessed with CAD programs that enabled you to digitize logos and images much faster. Using software commands to create vectors, curves, ovals, arcs and numerous other short cut keys, allowing you to improve your work and in many cases enhancing the original artwork. Certainly one of the coolest things was being able to stop, save your work and pick up where you left off at another time. Whether it was later that day, the next day or sometime the following week. It was nice to not feel "married" to the system and be able to take a break if needed.

As computers became more and more popular, hardware and software progressed quite rapidly. It wasn't long before people were talking about scanning and converting their raster files into vector formats. Many individuals retired their digitizing pads and began the "on screen" clean up process, believing this was their salvation from the point to point digitizing, we all thought was so nice in the beginning! Well, I must say for me it lacked the luster some were boasting of over the phone. Most all tradeshow demonstrations were what I would refer to as, "smoke and mirrors"!

Honestly I thought it was more challenging to scan and clean up my artwork as opposed to simply digitizing it from scratch. To me it was much easier and faster to continue to use CAD software and turn out a drawing that was much cleaner, with fewer points and maintained a much smaller file size. Most digitizers were (and are) concerned about the overall byte size of the finished logo. This was greatly due to the limitations of numerous proprietary systems. Forcing the digitizer to be mindful of their final output and keeping points to a minimum.

Through the years of now more than two decades, computers and software as we once knew it, has come a long, long way. We've all seen dozens of "state of the art" programs and hardware improvements to fill a small garage! Yet many of us still find ourselves looking for that "perfect" solution that would allow us to stop fretting over artwork.

Well, my friend … I have a solution for you. Let me give you an analogy or rather a comparison of digitizing (or scanning, it's really all very much the same involved process), versus mowing your yard. Yep, you read it correctly … Digitizing vs. Mowing!

Think about it … just because you can mow your yard, does that mean you should? (Again, I realize some people get satisfaction and pleasure from mowing, my wife loves to mow our yard). Much like I stated at the beginning of this article. You may do it for pleasure or feel as if you're stuck with it! You may choose to push mow with your standard hand mower or step up to a riding mower and sit comfortably within the leather seat. Either way, you're still "married" to the task at hand.

Digitizing = Hand Mower (push from point to point)
Scanning = Riding Mower (scan across the land)

You've heard it and read it many times, "your time is money". Most of us at some time or another have chosen to hire someone to do our yard work. Whether it be mowing or simply raking leaves, we've shuffled the chore to another individual or company. So I pose the question to you, "Why don't you hire someone else to do your digitizing?" Choose a respectable service and send your artwork to the professionals for digitization.

With technology as advanced as it is today, you can email (or fax) your logo to the pros and have it back within 24 hours (two business days for some). This creates a win-win situation for all parties involved in the process. You win by saving time and money (remember, your time is money), not to mention the mental challenges that may arise should you continue to do everything "in house". Your customer wins as well! They receive a top quality reproduction of their artwork in a digital format. This could and should open up more avenues for you to "lock in" their business for life. Giving you the slight edge over your competitors and versatility to create more quality products and services for your clients.

Aubrey Richardson is the founder of LogoFax.com one of the largest and fastest growing clip art sites online, while leading a team of successful business entrepreneurs on the net. Find out how you can tap into creating financial freedom for yourself and get in on the action for FREE ==> Clipart247

How When And Why To Erase A Hard Drive

Writen by Cedric H. Dirose

Many computer owners and users are unsure just when they need to erase a hard drive, and they may be equally confused about just how to go about it when it is necessary. There are in fact many reasons to erase a hard drive, and it is important to know which methods work best for which reasons.

Perhaps the most common reason to erase a hard drive is when the computer is headed off to a new owner. Whether you are selling a computer you no longer need or giving that computer to a worthy cause, it is vital to wipe that computer of any personal information. Even if you are selling or giving the computer to someone you trust, you never know where that computer, and the personal data it may still contain, will end up. Unless you trust every friend and associate of the person to whom you are giving the computer, as well as anyone they may give it to, it is essential to thoroughly erase the hard drive of any personal information.

At a minimum, this means removing document files, spreadsheet files, database files, financial programs and other such personal information. After that information has been removed, it is a good idea to follow up with some sort of file wiping software which overwrites the space previously taken up by those files. That is because the files are not truly gone after they are erased from the hard drive Erasing the files simply notifies the computer that the hard drive space they occupied is now available for use. A skilled computer user can still recover that erased data until the actual physical hard drive space has been overwritten, and that is what these programs do.

Of course a computer does not have to be on its way to a new home in order to benefit from the erasure of the hard drive. In some cases, the computer has simply become too unstable, bogged down under the weight of too many software programs, too much spyware and too many viruses. In order to bring the PC back to its new running condition, the user may wish to erase the hard drive and restore the original software. If your computer came with a special restore CD, you can simply use this CD and follow the step by step instructions on how to erase the hard drive and restore the original software.

If your computer system did not come with a restore CD, you may want to contact the manufacturer and ask for one. Having the restore CD around before you need it can bring you real peace of mind, and in most cases the computer manufacturer will provide the restore CD either at no charge or for a nominal fee.

Cedric has been a technical writer of a computer magazine for over 6 years. He also has a website that helps people with their technical computer problems as well external hard drive reviews. Visit http://www.altsyssoft.com for a technical priority list on what items to look for when choosing a hard drive for your new computer.

Computers Need An Anti Virus Check

Writen by Janis Elliot

Despite the real threat of computer viruses, it's still amazing just how many folks operate their PC with little or no antivirus protection. There are literally millions of PC's that are infected with malicious malware, spyware, and various viruses, and quite often unbeknown to the user. Many complain that their machines are running sluggish, or behaving oddly, but don't always connect viruses with these problems and usually blame the PC as being useless. If you are one of these people, then I urge you to install and run an anti virus check before you do another thing.

I have been using a free anti virus checker on all my machines since 1997 called AVG. It has protected me well over the years and has an automated update facility included in the giveaway version. Every single day, its anti virus check updater finds and installs new updates. This means that every single day they are finding new threats to online security. This should give you some idea of just how big the menace is. These virtual villains are writing code and nasty programs for no other purpose than to spy on, destroy, or steal your data, but it's up to you to protect yourself. Don't worry, there are many free programs out there which are designed to do just that.

Another mistake many folks make, is that they think they can simply visit one of the free online anti virus check programs should they get infected. The problem with this is that some viruses can wipe our your entire hard drive, stop you from opening web browsers, or simply shut your PC down each time you try to boot it up. No, the only way to keep your PC and your personal data safe is to download either a free or paid antivirus program, then run an anti virus check immediately to safeguard hardware, software, and stored information.

Most folks have a standard line of defense and despite running an anti virus check weekly (recommended), it is not enough defense on its own. Once again, there is some good free protection out there and here's what I have running on my PC:

Zone Alarm firewall: to block all unauthorized access to my machine.

AVG Free Edition: My anti virus check program.

Ad-Aware SE Personal: Which provides advanced protection from known data-mining, aggressive advertising, Trojans, dialers, malware etc.

SpywareBlaster: Another anti-spyware and anti-adware line of defense.

Spybot - Search & Destroy: Detects and removes different kinds of spyware from your PC.

That little lot should be enough to give most home users a good line of defense. Whichever programs you choose, they will become pretty redundant if you don't update and run them on a regular basis. These are not labor intensive tasks but you must remember to make a schedule and stick with it if you care anything about your privacy.

Your firewall will just run in the background, so there's nothing to do there. Your virus checker will scan you emails and find most viruses as they attempt to enter your secure zone, but it's still crucial to run a full system scan weekly to route out any that have gotten in through the back door. Ad-Aware needs updating and running weekly as does Spybot, but SpywareBlaster just needs updating.

So there we have it. Start by giving your PC an anti virus check, then download you free firewall followed by the rest of the programs.

The above is just a guide and there are many ways to protect your PC and personal data. If you require more advanced suggestions, I recommend you hop online and check out your options.

Janis Elliot is a proficient writer and webmaster for Anti All Sorts dot com where she has articles on Anti-aging Creams and Anti Virus Protection. She also has other pieces on the site relating to Anti All Sorts!

Antivirus How To Protect Your Computer

Writen by Jakob Culver

With intruders everywhere one has to be really aware of the ways and means of not allowing anyone trespassing! Well you must be aware of the specialized anti-virus software's that prevent and repair the commonly found viruses.

Still your machine gets infected so I will give you some tips regarding of methods that could reduce rate of infection of your machine. You actually just have to apply common sense! Tips to safeguard your machines from viruses

Rule no 1 stresses on the fact that you should never be tempted to download the mail that are from unexpected or unknown sources.

Always be in a control of your actions as clicking on any links in emails from places such as Amazon, PayPal, and Ebay which you would not be expecting otherwise, if you do that that could be a possible threat to your security system.

Though Internet explorer is the most widely used browser but let me tell you that it has many bugs in it and most of the viruses are created targeting this browser only! So chose Firefox as our primary web browser over Internet Explorer.

Keep the track of the unusual activities happening and if observe your computer acting unusually like hard disk storage or CPU usage then keep the track by asking Task Manager for any unusual processes.

You should be aware of the processes that are running on your PC (press CTRL+ALT+DELETE and then click processes to see)and if you find anything unusual running the you can suspect your computer to be infected with a virus or adware, you'll usually see a process or two in the task manager that are unfamiliar.

If you are into downloading things that cause the RIAA to get upset, don't use P2P clients such as Limewire, WinMX, Grokster, or Kazaa. When using bittorrent, make sure you read a torrent's comments before downloading to make sure there are no viruses in it. If you absolutely must stay with P2P clients such as Limewire, keep a second computer (it can be anything, even something ten years old) for downloading your files. Scan the files for viruses before moving them to your main computer.

While downloading something then get it scanned by an antivirus before actually executing or opening it!

These are some of the precautionary measures and when there will be computers security attacks by viruses are common and so there's no need to be a "virusphobe".

http://thecomputersnet.com is a computer and technology information portal founded by Jakob Culver. To find out more information about this topic and more visit the website: http://thecomputersnet.com

Dont Get Busted For Duplicating Dvds Illegally

Writen by Gregg Hall

Many people do not understand exactly what is considered legal and what is considered illegal where media is concerned. Some common questions include, "Is it legal to copy a song if you own the original already?" "Is it considered illegal if you record your favorite songs from the radio?" "Is it legal to record a movie from the television?" "Am I breaking the law by lending a friend of mine a CD or DVD?" Any of these questions can cause confusion within consumers are a daily basis. Thus the reason for this article, DVD duplication and the law, here we will look into the aspects involved in the subject.

Copyright protection is noticeable on a variety of media including, video, DVDs, printed books, and CDs. Basically the rule of thumb, is that all various types of entertainment are protected under copyright laws. What is copyright? It is protection for the owner or creator of the media, which gives them specific and legal rights to control and distribute it as they deem necessary. However, some owners will give permission for free and legal distribution by anyone. A good example of free distribution would include shareware and freeware software programs. These are software applications built and designed by any person and permission granted to distribute freely for the benefit of many people. Typically, this occurs when the owner is not seeking monetary gain for that product.

In the above case, any person would have rights in DVD duplication of that specific product. Cases where DVD duplication violates the law exist in instances where a person has, without prior consent of the owner, duplicated a movie onto a DVD. This would be consider illegal in accordance with copyright laws and regulations. Examples, of DVD duplication also include instances of download movies from the internet or using peer to peer programs to gain full length movies, these are very illegal and should never be resorted to under any circumstances.

You may have heard the news in recent times of "busts" occurring on those who choose to practice DVD Duplication. Any person caught willfully downloading illegal movies and practicing DVD Duplication could look forward to massive fines and or time in prison for these crimes. They are very serious crimes that are taken personally by the owners of the copyrighted DVDs and movies. The copyright laws are in places to protect owners from illegal activities, support the owners and actors by purchasing the DVD instead of practicing DVD duplication.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about DVD duplication and Movie Downloads at http://www.ezdownloadnow.com

All The Tips Youll Need For Buying The Mp3 Player Of Your Dreams

Writen by Tatiana I. Velitchkov

Whether you are jogging, shopping at the grocery store, working out at the gym, or working, you are constantly seeing people listening to an MP3 player. If you do not have one yet, then you are behind the times. MP3 players are the best way to tote your music from place to place, and listen to it everywhere that you go. Now that you know you must go out and get an MP3 player as soon as possible, here are a few tips to consider when you are buying one.

Price – This is usually one of the most important criteria when you are buying any item, but the price of an MP3 player can vary greatly depending on the many features that are available on an MP3 player. You should try to maximize the amount of features you can get for the best price. Prices of MP3 players usually start around $75 and go up to around $1000 and sometimes even more. You can often find MP3 players for much less, though, during a sale or promotion.

Size – The size of an MP3 player can also vary greatly. The smaller the size of the MP3 player the more expensive it is, but other things like the type of memory can also cause the size of an MP3 player to change. If you must have a very small MP3 player, then you might have to give up some features that the larger MP3 players provide.

Screen Size & Clarity – The screen is also another very important aspect of an MP3 player. The screen is where all of the song information will be displayed. Also if your MP3 player allows pictures or music videos, they will appear here as well. The more clear and larger the screen the more your MP3 player will cost.

Memory Type – The type and size of memory that an MP3 player has will determine the amount of songs the MP3 player will be able to hold. The memory type can also affect the way the MP3 player will react to movement. An MP3 player with an internal hard drive will be able to hold the most songs, but it will make the MP3 player larger, and also might skip if you go jogging, or work out at the gym while listening to it. Flash memory on the other hand will not hold as many songs, but the MP3 player will be very small, and it will not skip at all, even under the roughest conditions.

Battery Life – The battery life of your MP3 player is also very important, because you want to listen to your music, not sit and watch it charging. Some batteries will last for 4 – 5 hours, while others will last more than a day for your listening pleasure. You will also want to find out if the MP3 player uses an A/C adapter to charge, or if it can be charged by plugging it in to a USB port on your computer.

Accessories – Some MP3 players have a large variety of different accessories that will make it more stylish than anyone else's. Some common accessories are headphones, carrying cases, docking stations, and also necklaces to carry your MP3 player on. Depending on your fashion sense you might want to pick out an MP3 player with more accessories, so you can make sure that you stand out in a crowd.

Whether you go for the price as point for search number 1, or for the size as the most important factor, or for the memory type, or the accessories, at www.discussMP3.com you can be certain to find the new MP3 player you are seeking, and at the most discounted prices at that.

Tatiana is the owner of TakeYourFortune.com and runs Needs & Wants on Closeout and Discuss MP3 site and blog. Check out the customer reviews for help in choosing!

How To Windows Updates

Writen by Justin Oswald

Get All the Updates
It seems like every other week we hear about another security breach in Windows or that another worm has disrupted businesses worldwide. Microsoft Windows has always been known for its many exploitable security holes. New updates are made available for Windows all the time. Make sure you are getting them all.

Thankfully, Windows comes with a great update distribution and installation program, Windows Update. Most people using Windows don't seem to be aware of this utility. Microsoft runs a website which can only be accessed by Internet Explorer. All versions of Windows from 95 through XP can receive updates automatically from this site.

Get Updatin'
To get started open http://www.windowsupdate.com in Internet Explorer. You may have to install a few updates before you can use the service. Just follow the simple on-screen instructions. You will then be given the option of Express or Custom. Express will automatically install all of the high priority updates, so if nothing else at least do the Express update.

If you choose to do a Custom update you will be given the option of installing several categories of updates that either increase the performance of your PC or add new features to Windows. The high priority updates will already be selected for download. It is generally a good idea to get everything under the Software category. Don't just blindly add updates though. Give the description of each update a quick glance before checking the box next to it. If it sounds like something you don't want or need, then leave it behind.

I would leave the Hardware category to more advanced users. These driver updates tell Windows how to use each part of your computer to its greatest potential, but some driver updates are not updates at all. They may be older versions than the ones already installed on your PC! Certain drivers may make certain functions of your computer stop working or change a setting that you can't locate. If you want the latest driver you should contact your PC manufacturer.

Just checking an update does not install it to your machine. You will need to click the "Review and install updates" link to review your choices. When you are ready, click the Install Updates button to begin downloading and installing all the updates you chose. Generally the updates will be installed without the need for your input, though a few of the updates may ask you some questions. Also be aware, some updates can only be installed alone. If you add one of these to be installed it will save your other updates for another visit. These are usually the big important updates such as service packs and updates to DirectX. After all updates are installed the program will ask you to reboot.

After installing a bunch of updates it is generally a good idea to head back over to the Windows Update site. Sometimes installing updates will cause even more updates to become available to you. So make sure you get all the newest updates as well.

Automatic Updates
Microsoft bundled Windows XP with Automatic Updates which, as the name suggests, will automatically update your version of Windows with the latest high-priority updates. Some find this program annoying as it can interrupt work or a game at the worst time. It can be useful for users who don't wish to spend the time necessary to keep up with all the updates at Windows Update.

You can make sure Automatic Updates is enabled, change the schedule on which it operates, or disable it by double-clicking the Automatic Updates icon in the Control Panel. Keep in mind Automatic Updates only installs the high priority updates. If you want the increased performance or added features optional updates can bring, then make sure you do a custom update at Windows Update.

This article is from http://www.home-help-desk.com where articles, howtos, and faqs are posted to assist the everyday PC user. Topics include spyware, security, hardware upgrades, tweaks, and general computer usage tips. All advice is given in a step-by-step manner so almost anyone can have their computer running in top form.

Five Simple Steps To Speed Up Your Computer

Writen by Tim Lee

Most people download and save so much information on their computer that before long the computer starts slowing down and the user has no idea what the problem is. However, even if you are not a computer whiz there are several things you can easily do to speed up your computer quickly and easily.

Tip #1 Defrag

One of the first things you should do if you want to speed up your computer is to defrag. This is something you can easily do and a wizard on your computer will help you defrag. You might want to do it overnight, however, because it can take a long time.

Tip #2 Spyware Remover

Download a good spyware remover. Most computers have a lot of spyware running in the background, stealing information and slowing down your computer. Remove it frequently if possible.

Tip #3 Empty Temp Internet Files

Most Internet browsers save your last visited web pages for up to 30 days. If you don't want all of those pages saved then change the days to one or two, or none, whatever meets your needs.

Tip #4 Turn off Active Desktop

When you turn of active desktop that will be one less thing using memory on your computer. Plus, you won't really notice the difference.

Tip #5 Antivirus Programs

Make sure you have a good anti-virus program and use it frequently. If you are deleting virus and preventing them from feeding on your computer then you will have a faster computer as well.

Once you perform these simple tasks you will be amazed at how much faster your computer runs and with so little effort.

To learn more about softwares that speed up your computer, please visit http://www.make-computer-run-faster.com/

Gothic Calendars

Writen by Richard Romando

For many historians, old calendars discovered on historical sites are like guides or tips for solving a puzzle (a historical puzzle, that is). Why? Because unlike our calendars today that only contain numbers and the names of months and days, ancient calendars tend to contain more information. Feast days and important historical events, for example, are well chronicled in most ancient calendars. The language and form of writing used in the calendars, on the other hand, can reveal the culture of the people who used the calendar. With all this information, calendars can indeed help historians solve a historical puzzle, although not if the calendar itself is part of the puzzle.

Such is the case with the Gothic calendar or the calendar used by the Goths, an East Germanic tribe that originated from Scandinavia. Historical documents pertaining to the Goths are rare, and the Gothic calendar that was once found in a Gothic church did not provide enough aid for historians to know more about their history. Why? Because the Gothic calendar was incomplete. In fact, the calendar contained only two months, which historians have interpreted as pertaining to the months of October and November.

Because of the extreme lack of details, even the exact names of the months used in Gothic calendars are not known to historians (except for the months of October and November). Some historians, however, have attempted to reconstruct the calendar and have come up with the following names: Sulamenoths (January), Hrothimenoths (February), Austramenoths (March), Thrimilukimenoths (April), Fruma Linthja (May), Afar Linthja (June), Wiudamenoths (July), Hailagamenoths (August), Wintrufulliths (September), Blotamenoths (October), Fruma Jiuleis (November), and Afarjiuleis (December).

Just like our present calendar system, Gothic calendars are also made up of a seven-day week. Again, the names and the details about these days were not clear either in the discovered Gothic calendar or on any other historical documents pertaining to the Goths. However, using various sources, including the Bible, some historians were able to come up with the following names: Fraujinsdags (Lord's Day), Kirikadags (Church day), Arjaussdags, Midjawiko, Pintadags, Pareinsdags, and Sambatodags.

With names that only Germans and historians can probably decipher, there is not much for us to understand about the history and culture of the Goths from the Gothic calendar; not even from the one reconstructed by some historians. And until the time that other historical documents pertaining to the Goths and the Gothic calendar can be found, the calendar probably remains only a part of the historical puzzle.

Calendars provides detailed information on Calendars, Free Calendars, Printable Calendars, Custom Calendars and more. Calendars is affiliated with Atomic Alarm Clocks.

Desktop News Ticker Best Way To Stay Informed

Writen by Greg Culver

If you are among the people who are so much busy in their jobs that they didn't even get time to read news then the desktop news ticker could be beneficial for you. You can easily stay informed about the current news while working in office. Your desktop is like a Times Square when you use such desktop news ticker. I am from the community of the busiest people on the earth and hence get very less time to read the newspaper. Although I listen to the radio in the morning occasionally but it is not enough most of the times. But when you are busy then you would probably feel that listening to the radio for an hour or half is sufficient while you are on way to work. I am more than happy since I started using this desktop news ticker on my desktop as now I am informed of any breaking news in any part of the world. Most of us travel a lot for our business and the wireless connectivity is important for us to stay connected to the world. I use my favorite Fox desktop news ticker to stay connected.

If you are not interested in reading the details and only read the headlines on the desktop news ticker, even then you will be informed of all the news that you need to be informed of what is going on around you. Desktop news ticker is known as the "fair and balanced reporting" when it comes to news. The main advantage of desktop news ticker is that you can have the knowledge about what is going on around you even if you are extremely busy like me by reading the headlines on the desktop news ticker. Such desktop news tickers are usually descriptive enough to give an instant view of the news even if you don't read the complete article. If you want to read the full information of some news then just click the headline and the information would be on your screen in no time.

You can get a desktop news ticker for many other publications if you are not a fan of Fox News or if you are a communist and want to read the news of the current problems and issues. You can search the best suitable desktop news ticker for you from different types of desktop news tickers available with which you can choose different news sites. So just load suitable desktop news ticker to stay informed of all the news worldwide.

http://www.computeruniverseweb.com is a Computer and Technology site dedicated to providing quality articles and information. Click through for more articles.

Linux Power Tools Great Tools To Make System Administration Easy

Writen by Amarjyoti Krishnan

World War II - Germany decided to attack Poland. Poland had many great warriors. They all prepared to fight the Germans. They were all ready with the best armor, the best and well trained horses, and ofcourse the best weapons , swords , spears .... And the Pols were brave and were ready to give their lives for their country. Sadly they did just that... give their lives. The Germans had tanks... It is very important to have the right weapons when one goes for a war.

In the same way it is very important for system administrators to have the right tools to to work smart. Linux is a great desktop OS for developers as well as system administrators. Let us take a look at some of the utilities which makes this a great environment for system administrators and developers. Most of the content below is taken from the home pages of these apps and the I make no claims on the originality. My aim is to introduce the reader to the wonderful tools that are available in a Linux/BSD desktop environment.

Konsole

Let's start from what most people think Linux is all about - a text based shell. Konsole is what is known as an X terminal emulator, often referred to as a terminal or a shell. It gives you the equivalent of an old-fashioned text screen on your desktop, but one which can easily share the screen with your graphical applications. What makes Konsole special? Konsole's advanced features include simple configuration and the ability to use multiple terminal shells in a single window, making for a less cluttered desktop. Konsole is also available as kpart and can thus be easily embedded in other applications, like practiced by Kate and Konqueror.

As most system administrators need log into servers on a regular basis the konsole gives them a benefit over the Windoze command prompt. In windows one needs to use a program like putty to log in using SSH. Also as linux is the desktop OS the techs can use the man pages on the local system.

One can also try out the various commands locally. Consider a simple example.

Is it

$ ln sourcefile destinationfile

or is it

$ ln destinationfile sourcefile

Such things can be easily found out locally without carrying out experiments on the server. Many techs believe that servers are places where they can experiment. However, such experiments can lead to major losses to the customers due to one small error. A system administrator must understand that people have immense faith in them when they give their entire data to them and they cannot risk carrying out simple experiments on servers.

Some screenshots of the konsole can be seen at the konsole site

Personal Information Manager / Groupware

There are two popular choices here. Evolution from Novel and the Kontact from KDE. Both these an email client, calendaring, meeting scheduling, a task list, contact management and syncing functionality. Kontact is essentially the regular KDE PIM components which have been put in together i.e. kmail, korganizer, knotes etc.. It is very a very neat package and is stable and light. Both these are very functional and can connect to many groupware servers.

Klipper

Klipper is the KDE clipboard utility. It stores clipboard history, and allows you to link clipboard contents to application actions. Klipper can perform actions on the contents of the clipboard, based on whether they match a particular regular expression. For example, any clipboard contents starting with "http://" can be passed to the web-browser as URLs to open.

Copying text is as simple as highlighting the text. And to paste the text all one needs to do is click on the center mouse button. This can be particularly useful for sys-admins as they use a sequence of commands from time to time. Having these in the clipboard and using them often can make the work a lot easier.

Gaim / Kopete

Communicating via an instant messenger is an essential these days. Linux has a very clean solution for this. Both Kopete (http://kopete.kde.org) and Gaim (http://gaim.sourceforge.net/) are capable of handling multiple IM protocols such as supporting AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, Jabber, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Lotus SameTime. Gaim is a multi-protocol instant messaging (IM) client for Linux, BSD, MacOS X, and Windows. It is compatible with AIM and ICQ (Oscar protocol), MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, GroupWise Messenger, and Zephyr networks.

Kjots

KJots is a small program that helps you to write down some short notes and organizes them for you. It has two basic items used to organize your notes - "Books" and "Pages". This is a good light tool to write in all the templated responses and other important notes for quick references.

Kwallet

A lovely password manager which can store passwords for all the logins including those of kopete and websites.

Tea Cooker

KTeaTime is a handy timer for steeping tea. No longer will you have to guess at how long it takes for your tea to be ready. Simply select the type of tea you have, and it will alert you when the tea is ready to drink. Now how can a tea cooker be useful for techs. Often techs get involved in solving a problem and forget to update the client about the progress. Without communicating with the client, on many occasions the entire effort goes down the drain as the client get very agitated thinking that nobody is looking at his problem. What the tech can do is use the tea cooker and get a reminder so that he can respond the client with the progress.

Koffice/ Open Office

M$ Office is one of the most used software and a major reason why customers do not shift to other operating systems. They need Word and Excel for just about everything. K-Office and Open Office are two great solutions. Open Office can open M$ Office files and can even safe the files in M$ Office format which makes it easy to communicate with those who still use M$ products.

Lyx

Besides office suites which replicate the windows world products in features, Linux also has some great alternatives. LyX (http://www.lyx.org) is an example of a great document processor.

What is LyX?

LyX is the first WYSIWYM (What you see is what you mean) document processor.

LyX is what?!

LyX is an advanced open source document processor that encourages an approach to writing based on the structure of your documents, not their appearance. LyX lets you concentrate on writing, leaving details of visual layout to the software. LyX produces high quality, professional output -- using LaTeX, an industrial strength typesetting engine, in the background; LyX is far more than a front-end to LaTeX, however. No knowledge of LaTeX is necessary to use LyX, although it will give a user more power. LyX is stable and fully featured. It has been used for documents as large as a thesis, or as small as a business letter. Despite its simple GUI interface (available in many languages), it supports tables, figures, and hyperlinked cross-references, and has a best-of-breed math editor.

Dia

Dia is a great tool for creating diagrams. It has a huge in-built library of objects which are specially useful for software engineers. So making a diagram of a computer network is as easy as dragging a few computers and switches from the list of objects available. It currently has special objects to help draw entity relationship diagrams, UML diagrams, flowcharts, network diagrams, and simple circuits. It is also possible to add support for new shapes by writing simple XML files, using a subset of SVG to draw the shape.

Gnucash

An average tech earns a good salary and spends it is well too. To keep track of all these personal expenses the best is to have a great software. Gnucash is an ideal way to manage personal finances. Designed to be easy to use, yet powerful and flexible, GnuCash allows you to track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses. As quick and intuitive to use as a checkbook register, it is based on professional accounting principles to ensure balanced books and accurate reports.

KTuberling

And finally a product for all those techs who maintain their servers well and have no work or pending issues and yet have to sit through the nights waiting for some issue to popup.

KTuberling (http://opensource.bureau-cornavin.com/ktuberling/) was originally game intended for small children. Of course, it may be suitable for adults who have remained young at heart. Most techs in general love this software. It is a "potato editor". That means that you can drag and drop eyes, mouths, mustache, and other parts of face and goodies onto a potato-like guy. Similarly, you have a penguin and an aquarium on which you can drop other stuff.

There is no winner for the game. The only purpose is to make the funniest faces you can. There is a museum,like a "Madame Tusseau" gallery, where you can find many funny examples of decorated potatoes, penguins and aquariums.

World War II - Germany decided to attack Poland. Poland had many great warriors. They all prepared to fight the Germans. They were all ready with the best armor, the best and well trained horses, and ofcourse the best weapons , swords , spears .... And the Pols were brave and were ready to give their lives for their country. Sadly they did just that... give their lives. The Germans had tanks... It is very important to have the right weapons when one goes for a war.

In the same way it is very important for system administrators to have the right tools to to work smart. Linux is a great desktop OS for developers as well as system administrators. Let us take a look at some of the utilities which makes this a great environment for system administrators and developers. Most of the content below is taken from the home pages of these apps and the I make no claims on the originality. My aim is to introduce the reader to the wonderful tools that are available in a Linux/BSD desktop environment.

Konsole

Let's start from what most people think Linux is all about - a text based shell. Konsole is what is known as an X terminal emulator, often referred to as a terminal or a shell. It gives you the equivalent of an old-fashioned text screen on your desktop, but one which can easily share the screen with your graphical applications. What makes Konsole special? Konsole's advanced features include simple configuration and the ability to use multiple terminal shells in a single window, making for a less cluttered desktop. Konsole is also available as kpart and can thus be easily embedded in other applications, like practiced by Kate and Konqueror.

As most system administrators need log into servers on a regular basis the konsole gives them a benefit over the Windoze command prompt. In windows one needs to use a program like putty to log in using SSH. Also as linux is the desktop OS the techs can use the man pages on the local system.

One can also try out the various commands locally. Consider a simple example.

Is it

$ ln sourcefile destinationfile

or is it

$ ln destinationfile sourcefile

Such things can be easily found out locally without carrying out experiments on the server. Many techs believe that servers are places where they can experiment. However, such experiments can lead to major losses to the customers due to one small error. A system administrator must understand that people have immense faith in them when they give their entire data to them and they cannot risk carrying out simple experiments on servers.

Some screenshots of the konsole can be seen at the konsole site

Personal Information Manager / Groupware

There are two popular choices here. Evolution from Novel and the Kontact from KDE. Both these an email client, calendaring, meeting scheduling, a task list, contact management and syncing functionality. Kontact is essentially the regular KDE PIM components which have been put in together i.e. kmail, korganizer, knotes etc.. It is very a very neat package and is stable and light. Both these are very functional and can connect to many groupware servers.

Klipper

Klipper is the KDE clipboard utility. It stores clipboard history, and allows you to link clipboard contents to application actions. Klipper can perform actions on the contents of the clipboard, based on whether they match a particular regular expression. For example, any clipboard contents starting with "http://" can be passed to the web-browser as URLs to open.

Copying text is as simple as highlighting the text. And to paste the text all one needs to do is click on the center mouse button. This can be particularly useful for sys-admins as they use a sequence of commands from time to time. Having these in the clipboard and using them often can make the work a lot easier.

Gaim / Kopete

Communicating via an instant messenger is an essential these days. Linux has a very clean solution for this. Both Kopete (http://kopete.kde.org) and Gaim (http://gaim.sourceforge.net/) are capable of handling multiple IM protocols such as supporting AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, Jabber, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Lotus SameTime. Gaim is a multi-protocol instant messaging (IM) client for Linux, BSD, MacOS X, and Windows. It is compatible with AIM and ICQ (Oscar protocol), MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, GroupWise Messenger, and Zephyr networks.

Kjots

KJots is a small program that helps you to write down some short notes and organizes them for you. It has two basic items used to organize your notes - "Books" and "Pages". This is a good light tool to write in all the templated responses and other important notes for quick references.

Kwallet

A lovely password manager which can store passwords for all the logins including those of kopete and websites.

Tea Cooker

KTeaTime is a handy timer for steeping tea. No longer will you have to guess at how long it takes for your tea to be ready. Simply select the type of tea you have, and it will alert you when the tea is ready to drink. Now how can a tea cooker be useful for techs. Often techs get involved in solving a problem and forget to update the client about the progress. Without communicating with the client, on many occasions the entire effort goes down the drain as the client get very agitated thinking that nobody is looking at his problem. What the tech can do is use the tea cooker and get a reminder so that he can respond the client with the progress.

Koffice/ Open Office

M$ Office is one of the most used software and a major reason why customers do not shift to other operating systems. They need Word and Excel for just about everything. K-Office and Open Office are two great solutions. Open Office can open M$ Office files and can even safe the files in M$ Office format which makes it easy to communicate with those who still use M$ products.

Lyx

Besides office suites which replicate the windows world products in features, Linux also has some great alternatives. LyX (http://www.lyx.org) is an example of a great document processor.

What is LyX?

LyX is the first WYSIWYM (What you see is what you mean) document processor.

LyX is what?!

LyX is an advanced open source document processor that encourages an approach to writing based on the structure of your documents, not their appearance. LyX lets you concentrate on writing, leaving details of visual layout to the software. LyX produces high quality, professional output -- using LaTeX, an industrial strength typesetting engine, in the background; LyX is far more than a front-end to LaTeX, however. No knowledge of LaTeX is necessary to use LyX, although it will give a user more power. LyX is stable and fully featured. It has been used for documents as large as a thesis, or as small as a business letter. Despite its simple GUI interface (available in many languages), it supports tables, figures, and hyperlinked cross-references, and has a best-of-breed math editor.

Dia

Dia is a great tool for creating diagrams. It has a huge in-built library of objects which are specially useful for software engineers. So making a diagram of a computer network is as easy as dragging a few computers and switches from the list of objects available. It currently has special objects to help draw entity relationship diagrams, UML diagrams, flowcharts, network diagrams, and simple circuits. It is also possible to add support for new shapes by writing simple XML files, using a subset of SVG to draw the shape.

Gnucash

An average tech earns a good salary and spends it is well too. To keep track of all these personal expenses the best is to have a great software. Gnucash is an ideal way to manage personal finances. Designed to be easy to use, yet powerful and flexible, GnuCash allows you to track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses. As quick and intuitive to use as a checkbook register, it is based on professional accounting principles to ensure balanced books and accurate reports.

KTuberling

And finally a product for all those techs who maintain their servers well and have no work or pending issues and yet have to sit through the nights waiting for some issue to popup.

KTuberling (http://opensource.bureau-cornavin.com/ktuberling/) was originally game intended for small children. Of course, it may be suitable for adults who have remained young at heart. Most techs in general love this software. It is a "potato editor". That means that you can drag and drop eyes, mouths, mustache, and other parts of face and goodies onto a potato-like guy. Similarly, you have a penguin and an aquarium on which you can drop other stuff.

There is no winner for the game. The only purpose is to make the funniest faces you can. There is a museum,like a "Madame Tusseau" gallery, where you can find many funny examples of decorated potatoes, penguins and aquariums.

Amarjyoti Krishnan heads bobcares.com, a tech support company for webhosts and ISPs. He is the co-founder of Poornam Info Vision Ltd., a software and IT services company which specializes in Linux based solutions for Webhosts and ISPs. Poornam Info Vision is an ISO 9001:2000 certified company with a team of over 100 engineers.

Amarjyoti is a Computer Engineer based in India and has over 7 years of experience in the hosting industry. He has spoken and written extensively on the subject. His articles have been published both online as well as in print in magazines.

http://poornam.com
http://bobcares.com
http://amarjyoti.com