The Sims has become a game that needs no introduction to all the digital game lovers all across the world. This life simulation game has gained great heights soon after the release and has done excellent business all over the world in the past few years. The Sims 2 is the sequel of The Sims with improved features as well as added game play attraction. The game has excellent features that might attract you if you are not known to the game actually.

As being a life simulation game, this comprises of all the best features that one could possibly put in a digital game. The game has all life elements including wants and fears that one has in a real time situation. You can make a family of your own inside the game getting the best excitement out of the technology. The family you make in the game will be a combination of the genes of the parents giving you the best experience in the gaming world.



The game tends to provide a lot more then it seems actually by giving players the exact know how of how the whole life system works in the best possible way. It gives you information about how the family trees are made, the relations that persist between people. Love, hate, likes, dislikes have all been a part of the life and the game is an excellent development of these feelings turn into a digital experience giving the player an experience of how does it actually feel like undergoing all these feelings.



The game has been developed keeping in sight the five main aspirations that one has in his life. These include popularity, fortune, family, knowledge and romance. The developers at EA sports have tried their utmost to keep the game developed as a positive one giving the players an impact that no other game tends to give. The negative elements of life have been no appreciated in the game and these elements lead to the loss of the basic five aspirations needed to advance in your game.



The game has six aging cycles in the development of the life of an individual in the game. These include baby, toddler, and child, teen, adult and elder. The game gives you an option to customize the entire minor as well as the major details that might be involved in the game. These include all the clothing, styles, and related stuff. You can get customized hairs, shirts, underwear, bathing suits and make-up.



You can even customize your living as well. Build roofs, decks, basements and multiple levels for your homes so as to enjoy the best out of the gaming experience. This is perhaps the best part in any game available on the planet. No other game gives you such a vigilant experience about the life simulations as does The Sims 2.



The graphics of the games have been well woven so to provide the players with an excellent and real-time experience. All the development is made in a 3 Dimensional environment with every minor detail highlighted to add interest in the game giving an excellent experience overall. The only disadvantage that it rendered is the need of a fast machine with ample resources to run the game. The 3D graphics need high resources to give you a nice experience while playing the game. You can move around in the world by changing angles all around and having a closer look to everything that comes your way.



Personalities, experience, lifestyles have all been highlighted in the games giving a vivid image of how everything works when it comes to the social life of any individual or a family. Traits that usually occur in the actual life have all been highlighted in the game giving a complete structure of general life the way it actually is. The fun that we usually have in the real life is all well taken care of in the game and the element of fun and frankness has also been added giving an impression of a perfect game that occurs on the planet.



Unlike all the different types of games that occur on the planet, this is perhaps the game that has all the features of an unconventional one. It’s a game that tests your creativity and interests beyond everything else on the planet making it an experience worthwhile by bringing you closer to the positive elements of life in real. Neighbors, relatives, friends, family and all such relation have been highlighted in the game. For a better development in the game, you need to have a positive stance on all these basic elements giving you an excellent experience though.



The game is a technical one when it comes to the playing experience but tends to satisfy the expectations that you might have in your mind just after knowing that this is the best life simulation game on the planet. The technical part is for the users who are not well known to three dimensional games as it would give you a very clumsy experience for the starting few minutes of the game until you understand how it works.

The Sims has become a game that needs no introduction to all the digital game lovers all across the world. This life simulation game has gained great heights soon after the release and has done excellent business all over the world in the past few years. The Sims 2 is the sequel of The Sims with improved features as well as added game play attraction. The game has excellent features that might attract you if you are not known to the game actually.




As being a life simulation game, this comprises of all the best features that one could possibly put in a digital game. The game has all life elements including wants and fears that one has in a real time situation. You can make a family of your own inside the game getting the best excitement out of the technology. The family you make in the game will be a combination of the genes of the parents giving you the best experience in the gaming world.



The game tends to provide a lot more then it seems actually by giving players the exact know how of how the whole life system works in the best possible way. It gives you information about how the family trees are made, the relations that persist between people. Love, hate, likes, dislikes have all been a part of the life and the game is an excellent development of these feelings turn into a digital experience giving the player an experience of how does it actually feel like undergoing all these feelings.



The game has been developed keeping in sight the five main aspirations that one has in his life. These include popularity, fortune, family, knowledge and romance. The developers at EA sports have tried their utmost to keep the game developed as a positive one giving the players an impact that no other game tends to give. The negative elements of life have been no appreciated in the game and these elements lead to the loss of the basic five aspirations needed to advance in your game.



The game has six aging cycles in the development of the life of an individual in the game. These include baby, toddler, and child, teen, adult and elder. The game gives you an option to customize the entire minor as well as the major details that might be involved in the game. These include all the clothing, styles, and related stuff. You can get customized hairs, shirts, underwear, bathing suits and make-up.



You can even customize your living as well. Build roofs, decks, basements and multiple levels for your homes so as to enjoy the best out of the gaming experience. This is perhaps the best part in any game available on the planet. No other game gives you such a vigilant experience about the life simulations as does The Sims 2.



The graphics of the games have been well woven so to provide the players with an excellent and real-time experience. All the development is made in a 3 Dimensional environment with every minor detail highlighted to add interest in the game giving an excellent experience overall. The only disadvantage that it rendered is the need of a fast machine with ample resources to run the game. The 3D graphics need high resources to give you a nice experience while playing the game. You can move around in the world by changing angles all around and having a closer look to everything that comes your way.



Personalities, experience, lifestyles have all been highlighted in the games giving a vivid image of how everything works when it comes to the social life of any individual or a family. Traits that usually occur in the actual life have all been highlighted in the game giving a complete structure of general life the way it actually is. The fun that we usually have in the real life is all well taken care of in the game and the element of fun and frankness has also been added giving an impression of a perfect game that occurs on the planet.



Unlike all the different types of games that occur on the planet, this is perhaps the game that has all the features of an unconventional one. It’s a game that tests your creativity and interests beyond everything else on the planet making it an experience worthwhile by bringing you closer to the positive elements of life in real. Neighbors, relatives, friends, family and all such relation have been highlighted in the game. For a better development in the game, you need to have a positive stance on all these basic elements giving you an excellent experience though.



The game is a technical one when it comes to the playing experience but tends to satisfy the expectations that you might have in your mind just after knowing that this is the best life simulation game on the planet. The technical part is for the users who are not well known to three dimensional games as it would give you a very clumsy experience for the starting few minutes of the game until you understand how it works.

Yesterday, I wrote about how the FBI is warning us that personal details can be stolen (i-jacked) when using public computers. This occurs using crimeware, previously installed on a public computer, logs the keys you are stroking and sends the information (electronically) to criminals.




It can be dangerous to look at any of your online financial information on these (public access) machines.



When writing about this phenomenon, I remembered that even using your personal computer at a public place with a wireless connection can expose a person's personal and sometimes, financial details.



Just the other day, Martin Bosworth, over at Consumer Affairs, wrote an excellent piece covering this danger, where he stated:



Sending unencrypted information over any unfamiliar network can turn your computer into an open book -- with pages full of your personal information.



Many of these connections are appear to be legitimate connections because they are spoofed (camouflaged to appear as if they are a trusted connection).



Spoofing a connection, or site isn't very hard to do. They simply copy and transpose pictures and statements (words) from legitimate sites to their own. The Artists Against website has a portal, where you can see fake websites that are up and running on the Internet, here.



Martin's article contains some excellent tips on how to navigate the murky waters of public hot spots, safely.



They can be viewed, here.



Interestingly enough, wireless technology, isn't only used to compromise individuals. In the recent TJX data breach, where some are saying 200 million records were stolen since 2003, reports are saying the data was stolen, using wireless technology.



It's being reported that this was accomplished from a car with a laptop. Driving around with a laptop, using other people's wireless connections, is sometimes referred to as "war-driving," which is my new word for the day.

Microsoft Corp. has closed the public testing period for Windows Live Hotmail and has begun a months-long process of migrating users to this major upgrade of its Hotmail Web mail service, the company will announce Monday. (To read a hands-on review of the new Microsoft Hotmail, check out our Today@PCWorld Blog: Microsoft Launches New Hotmail.)




Windows Live Hotmail, dubbed as the biggest Hotmail upgrade since the Web mail service's debut in 1996, has been tested by about 20 million users since Microsoft first allowed people outside the company to try it out in mid-2005, said Brooke Richardson, Microsoft group product manager for the popular e-mail site.



"It is safer, faster and has more features than Hotmail. It's definitely an advance for our current customers," she said. Windows Live Hotmail has a brand new code foundation which will let Microsoft add improvements quickly, something that had become a challenge with Hotmail's decade-old code base, she said. "It's a much more stable foundation for us to innovate," she said.



A major challenge for Microsoft will be to convince long-time Hotmail users that the upgraded version is worth switching to, said Van Baker, a Gartner Inc. analyst. "Consumers get accustomed to things they use on a daily basis, like their e-mail service," he said. "When you make changes, sometimes it's a challenging transition for consumers."



Microsoft will not autocratically move users to the new version. For now, Microsoft will give Hotmail users the option to continue using the old version if they don't want to switch to the upgraded version. However, at some point, everyone will be unilaterally migrated over to Windows Live Hotmail, she said.



New users will be automatically signed up for Windows Live Hotmail but, like any user of the new service, they will get to choose from two user interfaces: a "classic" layout that closely resembles the old Hotmail; or the new interface, which was designed to look like Microsoft's Outlook e-mail and calendaring desktop application, she said.



Later this month, Microsoft will release a free software for linking Windows Live Hotmail with Outlook, a capability the company previously charged for. With Microsoft Office Outlook Connector for MSN, users of the Web mail service will be able to access their account from Outlook, along with e-mail, contacts and folder synchronization for free. In the future, Microsoft will release a desktop client for Windows Live Hotmail called Windows Live Mail. Windows Live Mail will be the successor to Outlook Express and Windows Mail on Windows Vista.



But all these different names, brands and components leave Microsoft with a fragmented story in the Web mail market that could lead to consumer confusion, Gartner's Baker said. "Another big challenge is to manage this message," he said.



In terms of security improvements, each e-mail message carries a "safety bar" which indicates whether the message came from a known, unknown or potentially fraudulent sender. Spam protection has also been enhanced. Windows Live Hotmail also has a mobile version so that its estimated 280 million users can access the service from cell phones and handheld devices with a Web browser.

Many people that are new to the Internet world are nervous about the potential of viruses, Spyware or Adware that can harm their computer, affect performance or make their very private information public to others.




Spyware programs can do a number of damaging things to your personal computer. Spyware infects your pc and hides in the background and can do many nasty things to the performance of your system. It can also do harmful things to you such as send out your personal information, your every keystroke and photo that resides on your hard drive, watch your surfing habits and shopping habits and annoy you with annoying pop-ups filled with advertisements and even pornography.



If you are experiencing any unusual changes in your computer's performance or have any unusual new pop-ups, changes to your toolbars or new icons on your desktop, you should run a system scan to find out if you have Spyware. Products exist on the market to help you combat this problem. Be sure to install software that you know is credible. Downloading freeware can often result in further Spyware existing on your computer. Spyware, Adware and Malware companies frequently fool users into sending pop-ups telling them that there's a problem with their computer and this in fact is further spyware. These errors can open your system up to future further problems by fooling people into thinking they're downloading fixes when really further spyware is being downloaded.



Watch your system's performance and at the sign of any unusual activity, realize that you are probably infected. Do something as soon as possible to protect your privacy. These programs don't discriminate and can launch themselves when you or your family members sit in front of the computer. Pornographic pop-ups can turn up whether it's an adult or a child using the computer. Protect your pc.



Antivirus alone isn't enough to combat this problem. Spyware sneaks into your system via executable files that you don't need to do anything to launch. They can sneak in as attachments that you download or by many other means. They're harmful and annoying but you can protect your computer and your privacy with the right software. This software needs to have an auto update for spyware definitions as new spyware definitions are being added daily. So a spyware removal program is a great compliment to your existing anti-virus software.

Q: Being a regular gamer, I was interested when a friend told me about software that can create virtual CD/DVD drives. Can you tell me more about it and which program I should use: Alcohol 120% or DAEMON Tools?




A: Using virtual discs has several benefits for computer users who need to frequently switch between discs. Virtual CDs are hassle-free and run much faster than physical CDs spinning in a drive. They allow you to keep your original expensive CDs and DVDs in a safe place to prevent damage. That’s why software like Alcohol 120% and DAEMON Tools has become popular among PC gamers. Plus, virtual CDs are an alternative for no-CD patches which can be hard to find and questionable when it comes to legality.



So how do they work? First you need an image (copy) of your disc saved to the hard-drive. Then you’ll need software to create virtual drives where the image can be mounted (loaded). However, those huge image files can easily eat up your hard-drive’s free space, so watch out for that.



Now there are several virtual CD/DVD programs to choose from, but DAEMON Tools and Alcohol 120% are by far the most well-known. I am quite familiar with both programs, so I’ll tell you about the major (and some minor) similarities and differences to help you decide which one is suitable for you.



Both DAEMON Tools and Alcohol 120% can create virtual drives, mount and unmount images and emulate the copy-protections: SafeDisc, SecuROM, Laserlock and RMPS.



But Alcohol 120% provides several more features: creating and burning images, creating duplicate back-ups of most CD/DVDs, erasing re-writable discs and an emulation function called “Ignore Media Type”. And it allows up to 31 virtual drives compared to a maximum of 4 drives that you can create with DAEMON Tools.



As for the interface, I found both programs quite easy to understand. DAEMON Tools runs only from a system tray icon while Alcohol 120% has a clean window to manage your images and virtual drives. They look very different but each is simple in its own way.



To wrap it up, obviously, Alcohol 120% offers much more functionality than DAEMON Tools, but that’s not all. Alcohol’s additional features come at a small price whereas Daemon is freeware. So, I can’t really decide for you which one is better. My advice is to install DAEMON Tools, try it for a while, download the 30-day trial of Alcohol 120% and see which one meets your needs.

If you have recently installed a new device, for example, a new TV PCI card, make sure the driver that you set, match your hardware configuration. You will be able to determine whether new equipment is the cause of failure if, after its physical removal, failure will cease. To solve the problem with this, you should check with the seller, what driver software suited to your PC.




The virus, spyware or Trojan horse attack can also be a cause of computer failure. These viruses usually attack the core files of Windows, such as ntdll.dll and ntoskrnl.exe. Viruses can get on the computer because of clicking on an unknown link, or, if you open an unknown application, attached to your e-mail. Always keep your antivirus definitions database updated to detect instantly and remove virus infection PCs.



Change of Registry Windows is another cause of the malfunctioning PC. Frequent installation and uninstallation of programs and damaged drivers of software lead to a change in the registry Windows. Register Windows, existing on your PC in several files, records bonds or links between hardware, memory space and addressing. If these links are broken, then your PC will not work properly, it will hang, or will crash the operating system. A good registry cleaner is needed to restore automatically these links.



Errors in the registry appear due to the presence in it of unwanted, outdated, unnecessary and damaged information. Frequent installation and removal of programs and applications is one of the main causes of errors. Every time you install an application, the information about it is recorded in the registry. This information is required for proper application on your computer. By removing the application from your computer, you delete the information about it listed in the registry. However, sometimes these data are not deleted from the registry. It is even worse when you are not using a special master to remove applications, and simply delete the folder. This leads to difficulty of the keys, and their work becomes unstable. Removing applications in this way every time you leave in the registry empty cells, the blank pieces of the registry makes it unstable.



Viruses and spyware are also very often the cause of errors in the registry largely due to the fact that it goes directly into the computer; they send malicious data to the registry to damage the file structure.



Damaged registry starts to make frequently the system errors and may even stop the whole system. To avoid all these mistakes you should clean the registry regularly.



Recommendations to identify and prevent computer crashes:



Install new software with the latest drivers. Check the compatibility of hardware devices with your existing PC. Always update the security system to prevent an attack on the security vulnerabilities of the operating system Windows. Run the application registry cleaning at least once a week, it will fix any registry errors. Always update your service program of removal Spyware and antivirus software. Review your personal computer for Spyware or viruses regularly.



If you need to find a nice free adware block or any helpful information about the topic of spyware blockers, please visit the hyperlinked web site.



And it is very important that you follow a final piece of advice – today the Internet technologies give you a really unique chance to choose what you need for the best price on the market. Funny, but most of the people don’t use this opportunity. In real practice it means that you should use all the tools of today to get any info that you need.



Search Google and other search engines. Visit social networks and check the accounts that are relevant to your topic. Go to the niche forums and join the online discussion. All this will help you to create a true vision of this market. Thus, giving you a real opportunity to make a smart and nicely balanced decision.



And also sign up to the RSS on this blog, because we will do the best to keep this blog tuned up to the day with new publications about the market of spyware blockers and any changes on it.

World of Warcraft is known as one of the most qualitative massive multi-player on-line role-playing games. The game saw the light in the end of 2004 and was the initiator of one more significant event in the history of computer games –the birth of the new genre, which was fated to become one of the most popular genres – MMORPG. The developers of World of Warcraft did what other game developers did not dare to, despite numerous facilities and technical development – they used the opportunity to create something, people were waiting for. Their brainchild became the most asked-for invention of the beginning of 21st century and the most popular genre of computer games. The main innovation, introduced by the first MMORPG in the world, lied in the number of people that could play this game. World of Warcraft was the game to be played on the web; it opened new horizons and let thousands of game players enjoy the game together. The preinstalled chat was used for communication with other World of Warcraft players and was considered to be the great add-on to all other advantages of the greatest game of all times.




All World of Warcraft players are aiming at fast leveling and gathering much World of Warcraft gold. These two things are the key goals of all players and they are achieved differently. WoW game players use the following strategies to get much World of Warcraft gold:



- Grinding. Being tiresome and boring occupation, grinding is not very popular among WoW game players. The try to avoid it, but those, who are at the first levels of the game should consider this gold-making strategy. If you manage to put up with the boredom, you will get a great profit from grinding.



- Auction house. Experienced WoW players know how to make use of the Auction house. When you level up your character, kill mobs, visit new territories, you get different equipment, weapons, which you cannot use sometimes. Different weapons are good for different characters and you have to know how to sell your equipment at the most profitable price. As soon as you learn all strategies of trading at the Auction house, you will speed up your leveling greatly and get much WoW Gold.



- Killing mobs. Visiting new territories, you will meet mobs. Killing them can help you to get some WoW gold. Every time you kill mobs, they drop gold or other WoW items that can be sold at the Auction house and bring profit.



- Finally, you can buy your WoW gold. You can use real money for this bargain and you will get WoW gold in exchange. Although this strategy runs contrary to the terms and conditions, stated by the creators of WoW, it is quite successful and used by WoW players.



One step before you go and buy wow accounts – visit this site with advice about how to buy wow accounts and not get screwed, how to choose and where to find the best price on the wow eu account.

Computer games have already occupied an important niche in the lives of modern teenagers, children and adults. Even if you want to find a person, who does not play computer games at all, you will have difficulties, because more than every second person in the world has a computer at home and plays the games. Computer games, released by modern computer game developers are very colorful and are intended for generating cheerful mood. People like playing, because they can avoid thinking of their troubles and can just relax. It is a perfect opportunity to get rid of all negative thoughts, tiredness, and everyday stress. You do not have to discuss your problems with a friend or a doctor and you do not need to fight depression. All you have to do is to turn on your computer and let the world of a computer game absorb you, making forget of all problems. The opportunity to relax and feel free is one of the most important reasons for the popularity of computer games. Different people prefer different genres of computer games. Today we have numerous genres, able to satisfy the needs and tastes of different gamers. Among the most popular genres are such as adventures, also known as quests, arcades, shooters, strategies, including real-time strategies, role-playing games, massive multi-player on-line role-playing games and plethora of other genres. The last two genres are considered to be the most popular due to the world famous game Warcraft. Warcraft was released in 1994 and was immediately accepted by the public as the most interesting and amusing game. It managed to win the love of millions of people throughout the world. The main reasons for this were the amusing plot and beautiful graphics of the game. People had never seen anything like that before and they used every spare minute to play the game. One of the greatest things about it was that it could be played by up to 10 people at a time, which was quite an achievement for that time. If people from the same area wanted to play the game together, they had to arrange the local area network. Special settings helped to choose different number of players in the game.




The success of Warcraft and its achievements were duplicated by the brand new game from the same authors, named World of Warcraft. The new design of the game was intended for work on the web and that was the major difference between it and Warcraft. Thousands of players could get access to the game at the same time and see each other in the gaming world. This option has been decisive for the tremendous success of the game and World of Warcraft became the most popular MMORPG in the world.

Nowadays online backup is natural for the majority of people owing to the fact that they are more affordable and more well-known among the all online audience. But the issue of comparing online backup service still might be a kind of difficult task. As far as many online services seem to offer the similar features, they do have different prices making the right comparison possible. The aim of this article, therefore, is to show you the most important features of back up that you need to include in your profound comparison.


1) How much space do you need?

It is not a secret that these days many online backup services can offer you free backups with a 2 GB limit. But if you are in search of the bigger backups, it is vitally important to compare the space with the price associated with it. Interestingly, it is true that most online backup services do have some tiered program to make it sure that you always possess enough backup space.

2) Are you used to synchronize computers?

It is a well-known fact that the majority of online backup services do allow you to synchronize your computers. In fact, this might result to be helpful in case you used to work on both your personal computer and at work. In spite of the fact that this feature is not available within each service, it is vitally essential to keep an eye on it. What is more this characteristic can make a huge difference in the price, actually. It means if you do not need it, you should not do everything possible to obtain it.

3) Specific features

I am more than sure that there are a number of features that are able to increase the prices on spot. However, not all of these features are available from each internet backup service provider, so it means that you need to either add or subtract it from your comparison. Remarkably, versioning gives you a chance to restore a previous backup copy, which might be useful for your business later if you need to restore your computer till the point where it was several backups ago. Speaking about the continuous data protection, it ensures that you can back up files each time they are newly created or changed. This can be especially important and vital when you are working on certain project and you want to make it sure that your backup is always valid. Such function as locked file support ensures that you can backup files that are open or locked, or both at the same time. I must admit that this is especially useful when you possess huge number of files that have the protection in the form of password.



Nowadays data is one the most valuable things for us. So such services as Online Backup increase in their popularity. Need to simplify the process of file backup? Searching an alternative to sites with paid accounts to download files, long countdown timers, pop up ads? Please check out this site. Lots of info about online data storage backup and how to share your files quickly.



Web technologies have become an integral part of our lives giving us a truly unique chance not only to select precisely what we search for the best price on the market but also to keep and share info with others. Don’t lose this opportunity to use the online facilities – subscribe to the RSS on this blog and you will [spin]keep abreast of the newpublications about File Storage and other related issues.

As far as we are living in the well-developed society, every day we need various methods for saving the useful data from our personal computers. Admittedly, I must admit that these days we are greatly in need for the safe ways of keeping information which in most cases has the direct relation to our business. Interestingly, we can easily use such methods as an external zip drive or different types of USB memory sticks that are devoted mostly for saving small documents. Actually, these USB memory sticks can be carried out, but the thing is that quit often we find out that we are not able to utilize a so called back system of this type. As far as the development of modern technologies has increased during the past years, we today have to rely on our personal computers and on the Internet itself in order to make the good database of our work, no matter whether it is done for business or with the personal intentions like viewing our photographs or listening to music. Amazingly, the best and the most advantageous development that has been put into practice in the world of Internet during recent years is an advancement of online backup services. Actually, such system allows the user to back up all important data, files and documents from their computers through the means of Intent utilizing the possibilities of third party online back up service.




It is not a secret that we quit often use the Internet for the huge range of tasks owing to the need to view numerous files and websites. In fact, this provides us with more possibilities in comparison with the opportunities offered by the standard computer without any access to the internet. You might not believe me, but it is true that online backup is a much more economical way of making backups of your work as not additional equipment is demanded. What is more it is also able to provide us with a sense of security considering the events when your computer or hard drive is stolen or damaged, your data will be still present and saved thanks to the online backups that you have previously made through the means of Internet. However, I am sure that you do not really know how exactly this system works.



Interestingly, the recent researches show that about 42%of data loss is according to some sort of mechanical error, while 34% – occurs because of the human errors and lack of knowledge. From this very reason, it is irresponsible from your side not to make backup when you have a great possibilities for doing them. As soon as you complete some work on your computer, you are more likely due to your old habits to save it on your computers memory or on the CD, as well as on an external storage device like a zip drive. The issue we are discussing right now is why not to use the possibilities of online back up and quit old traditions.



Currently information is one the most important things for us. So such services as Online Backup get in their popularity. Want to simplify the process of file storage? Searching an alternative to sites with paid access to download files, long countdown timers, pop up ads? Please visit this site. Lots of info about online data storage backup and how to share your files quickly.



Web technologies have become an integral part of our world giving us a really unique chance not only to choose exactly what we require at the best terms which are available on the market but also to store and share info with others. Don’t lose this opportunity to avail themselves of the online facilities – sign up for the RSS on this blog keep track of the newinfo about Online Backup and other relevant issues.

It is a well-known fact that every year millions of personal computers collapse and destroy all their data. Unfortunately, such simple activity as eventual knocking a cup of tea over your laptop can destroy all important financial documents as well as digital photographs that contain some of the most unforgettable and precious memories from your present and past. Of course, this is very expensive and even sometimes impossible to get all this data back. That is why the case of prevention is cheaper and better than the cure itself. It is the same like a disease: better to prevent than to treat. However, in fact, there are numerous ways of overcoming the problem of data loss. Interestingly, during the years backup methods have become briefer comparing the first big server based installations with the little USB keys. Actually, the problem is, if the way you give preferences to is a kind of the low cost option, the thing in this case is that you have to run the backups on your own. Afterwards, you get the problem of where to store the backups. Admittedly, as far as the process of backing up your computer can be a huge unnecessary hassle, you are likely to easily forget to do this. However, once your personal computer fails, the great need for getting the backup appears. But I must admit that the only one you have is 15 years out of data! I think that this is a considerably long period of time for considering the importance of backing up.




That is why, on my opinion, the only way to successfully and correctly back up your computer is to make an automatic copy of your data and settle it somewhere in the safe place. Thanks to the development of modern technologies online backup allows you to put this desire and need into practice. It is not a secret that the majority of online backup providers can provide you with a small software program to be installed on your personal computer. Besides, you are free to use settings in this program in order to determine what documents will be backed up and when. As soon as you have completed this setup, the program itself is going to automatically connect to the online backup server and then to transfer the real copy of your document to it at the moment, meaning time, you specified.



It is not a secret that some programs can let you take the real time backup. This means that the files are likely to be backed up once they are saved in the hard drive. In case you always forget to do your computer backups, this can be a really precious tool for your business and just for yourself, because you always get nerved when something important just disappear from your computer.



Currently information has become one the most valuable things for us. So such services as Online Backup increase in their popularity. Need to simplify the process of file backup? Looking for an alternative to sites with paid access to download files, long countdown timers, pop up ads? Please go to this site. Lots of info about online data storage backup and how to share your data fast.



Online technologies have become an inseparable part of our world providing us with a really unique chance not only to select precisely what we need at the best terms which are available on the market but also to keep and share info with others. Don’t lose this chance to use the online facilities – subscribe to the RSS on this blog well informed about the newpublications about Online Backup and other relevant issues.

USB security software is an essential solution to have in many scenarios, especially in larger commercial networks where information leak is something that needs to be prevented as much as possible. Also, for businesses which regularly rely on their computers for their day-to-day functioning, it is of utmost importance that computers do not end up getting bogged down by malware or other technical problems. In commercial or public networks especially, unrestricted usage of USB devices is something that should be avoided, since USB drives can contain malware or be used for leaking important, confidential information.




USB security software provides users with an important additional safeguard that will give network administrators and the owners of home computers alike a higher degree of power over how other people use their systems. One such solution which provides everything you need for USB security is Everstrike's USB Security software. Using this solution, you can help protect your computers from the connection of any unauthorized USB devices, though it will not simply block off the ports entirely. What it does allow you to set restrictions on is hardware such as USB memory card readers, flash disks and other removable USB storage. The program will not cause any problems for other types of USB device such as USB printers, keyboards and other input devices. These can continue to be used as normal.



USB Security will allow you to secure individual computers such as in the case of home use or entire networks. This makes the software extremely versatile, making it highly useful in all sorts of different scenarios ranging from small, single computer home installations or entire networks over extensive commercial installations. When used on a network-wide basis, USB Security can also be centrally deployed and managed, allowing network administrators to easily enforce their security policies from one, central location. Helping to control file transfers, guard against potential information leak and prevent infections from malware, this simple, yet powerful utility provides a solution that in many cases should be considered essential.



Using the program's settings, administrators can easily set a white-list of USB devices deemed as safe. These can include devices such as printers, scanners, or anything else in addition to USB storage devices which are explicitly allowed by the administrator. It is perfectly possible, an easy, to allow access to specific USB storage devices which, using the software, you can assign passwords to for added security. This means, that when such a device is connected to a computer running USB security, it will prompt the user for a password before they can continue.



USB Security is also completely unobtrusive. It runs invisibly in the background and is completely undetectable to PC users. It will not bombard the user with any warning messages or pop-up windows unless explicitly configured by the system administrator to do so. Another thing that administrators will certainly appreciate is the fact that the software can be installed and managed from the central server computer. Settings can be applied this way for all of the computers across the network.

Hotel reservation software is used by the hotels and travel companies to show room availability and provide online hotel reservation services to customers. Additionally, hotel reservation software helps in room availability checking, real-time updating, full search capability, reporting and sales analysis, etc. It is important that hotel reservation software should offer secure and accurate online reservations to customers.




Moreover, hotel reservation software can be used by big or small hotels, property owners, travel agents, etc. with proper ease as it is extremely user friendly. Considered an ideal, hotel reservation software is highly configurable and easy to use hotel software as well as extremely affordable. It helps owners track customers and avoid double bookings as well as analyze reservation patterns. Moreover, owners or travel agencies can create custom receipts and confirmations through online transactions.



With the help of hotel reservation software the data about customers, their behavior, etc. can be stored and there would not be any requirement of piling up files to know about visiting customers as the hotel software stores it all. Hotel Reservation software are being designed to simplify the booking process and allow travel agencies and hotel owners get on with running their business. With right storage of data, users can use the data to attract repeat customers.



Hotel reservation software steps customers through the process of making a booking easily and comfortably. Additionally, it ensures that it can be used by just about anyone as it is highly user-friendly. Payment system has been made easy and customer friendly as the hotel reservation system is flexible and payment system allows owners to add additional charges such as bar, laundry, meals or any additional add on purchase.



Moreover, using hotel reservation software owners can check whether some customer owes the money or not or what amount he owns. With the help of excellent reporting methodology, owners can see the big picture and plan accordingly. With just one click owners can analyze trends, plot graphs and compare their performance year to date. Notwithstanding, owners even can monitor the performance of their promotions and advertising quickly and easily.



Hotel reservation software are easy to use Configuration Wizard as installation is quick and easy in comparison to other software. Moreover, once the owner uses the Configuration Wizard to get started, he can begin taking reservations immediately. Interestingly enough the unique Configuration Wizard asks simple questions to get owner’s up and running. Owners even can configure more features when they need them.



Security and Logins are the two crucial part of hotel reservation software. User-friendly features of hotel reservation software allow owners to create Logins for important tasks. It not only reduces the risk of unauthorized access and allowing him choose which employees can access which features, it also helps owners to have secure and safe transactions. Advantages of hotel booking software help increase in direct sales from the owner’s web site.



Whereas there is a decrease in administration costs, hotel reservation software claims to be offering the maximized room yield. Hotel reservation software is powered by a technology that connects directly to the central reservation systems of hotels worldwide. Moreover, hotel reservation engine provides the widest selection of hotel accommodations throughout the world with better room and rate descriptions which can be utilized for bettering up the services.

I can still remember the day when the first 1 gigabyte hard drive was released. At the time, it was unfathomably large for a personal computer user. “That has more storage that I could ever use.” I thought. Today, hard drives top out in Terabytes rather than the gigabytes and operating systems alone like Windows 7 take up 16GB of storage. Today, the size of hard drives varies drastically. Notebook PC have hard drives that vary from 4GB up to 1 terabyte on souped up media laptops. Desktops are typically more robust with most featuring at least a 160GB with many multimedia systems boasting 750GB to 1 terabyte drives at a relatively affordable price (below $1,000). However, what do you really need, and what are the differences between hard drives?




Every computer has a hard drive. They are the main storage facility for your computer. Whenever you install a new program, save a document, or download something from the internet, it is stored somewhere on the computer hard drive. The storage size of a drive is in typically megabytes (1MB equals around one minute of music), gigabytes (made up of 1,000 megabytes), and terabytes (One terabyte equals 1,000 gigabytes). You might expect that the greater the storage capacity the better the drive, but that is not necessarily true. Since so much that your computer does is dependent upon the hard drive, the speed of the hard drive is critical. Hard drive speed is measured in the rate per minute (rpm) that they spin. Most drives will spin at 5,400 or 7,200 rpm but premium specialty drives are available at 10,000 or 15,000 rpm. With a faster hard drive, data can be accessed faster, thus speeding up almost everything that you do on your computer.



While every computer has a internal hard drives, external hard drives are also available which can offer many of benefits. Many users safely store and back up all of their important data against disk failure by using an external hard drive. Additionally, one of the best ways to speed up your computer is by freeing up your hard disk. Many people choose to use an external hard drive to boot up their hard drive if their internal drive is slower. For example, if their internal hard drive spins at 5,400 rpm, they could use an external drive that spins at 7,200 rpm to boot their computer, a process that can often take several minutes, in a much quicker time.



Both internal and external drives have their benefits. Internal drives are safe because of their secure and stable casing. Plus, with the fan cooling available on internal drives ensures that the drive stays cool. External hard drives are housed in boxes outside of a computer and are connected by firewire or USB drives. The potential benefits of an external drive include improved performance if the external drive is faster than the internal drive on your computer, durability versus many laptop hard drives which can be jarred as they are moved and the ability to be used as backup storage

The challenge facing many businesses today is how to run data servers and related hardware in an efficient way without overloading thermal capacities of these devices. The amount of power needed to drive storage units, servers, and routing management devices that are used in today’s online business community can become a cost-deficient equation, when combined with the cooling systems needed to keep the data center running trouble-free. Systems that run in an unconnected environment will waste power through excessive cabling, and those systems that attempt to reduce patching by piling devices together in what can be described as a haphazard manner will eventually have overheating issues.




The importance of a sensible, practical, and compact data center cannot be stressed enough. That is where data cabinets comes into play. This is not a new concept, yet many of the cabinets in use today are outdated as far as their ability to handle newer hardware that is continually needed to keep up with data control needs. Another issue with existing data cabinets design is their inability to contain upgraded device configurations in an energy-efficient manner that can control thermal conditions to a useable level. The network can be connected together in various locations around the infrastructure by a wall mounted data cabinet, usually housing small active equipment or patching arrangements.



In other words, the data center of today needs data cabinets that are flexible enough to handle changes in device installations while still allowing for ease of cabling and maintenance, all within a design that can handle the increased heat that is created by those devices. Any equipment that dispapates a substantial amount of heat would not normally be housed in a wall mounted data cabinet.



The first important feature of well-designed data cabinets is access. Loading a cabinet with hardware is one thing; leaving room for multiple cabling applications and maintenance is another. The best designs will have access doors and panels that will allow the user to open the cabinet in different ways, either to get at the devices themselves or to change patching configurations. A functional front door setup be hinged on both sides of the cabinet, and will be properly vented. Some of the better designs will include the option of a split-door style, much like a closet door that opens in the middle to allow access to the center of the cabinet, while also opening on the edges to allow access to the patch bay.



Of course, the patch bay is critical in all data cabinets including wall mounted data cabinet enclosures There must be an increased ability to change cabling configurations, allowing for both fiber optic and copper ports. This will be best addressed by having the central patch bay directly in the center, so that cables from routers, servers, and mapping and analyzing devices can be connected in one spot. Patching flexibility should also allow for both vertical and horizontal port configurations so that system devices can be changed out or relocated as the need arises.



Other important features of effective data cabinets include access door designs that are thermally-minded, drawing in cool air while removing heated air; rack-mount designs that allow flexibility and room for growth; and blanket panels that not only fill in any empty spaces between devices, but also maintain interior temperatures to a safe operating level

Everybody knows that, for years, movies have been easily accessible online. Or did you know this? This guide shows you how to download movies online by selecting trusted websites and using software that the top downloaders use.




The first step is to find a movie that you want to download. There are several types of movies - old movies (dating past 1995), newer movies (older than 1995), and box office movies (currently playing in the theatres). Typically, it is more difficult to find the older movies because they were released before the internet boom and older movies are less available than movies from 1995 to 2008. Movies from 1995 to 2008 are more easily available and can be downloaded by searching the web or by searching trusted movie sites. Box office movies (the movies still playing at the movie theatres) are typically available if they have been released for more than a week at the box office. These movies are usually shot with a video camera and are illegally distributed online (known as CAMs or if the audio is plugged-in quality, then a TELESYNC).



Now that you have selected a desired movie, the next step is to find a "release" for that movie. A "release" is a movie team that launches a movie "release" that includes editting and updated audio to make the viewing experience for computers how it should be. To find a release, you can quickly Google something like "moviename (year) dvdrip rapidshare.com" This search will most likely yield "rapidshare.com" links (which are a collection of 5-20 links from rapidshare.com that compromise the movie release). Movie releases generally vary from 5 to 10 of these links, depending on how long the movie is. These links will end with a "rar" format and are broken up pieces of 1 movie file (because rapidshare.com only allows users to upload in 100mb parts, so they split it into 5-10 usually).



Once you have found the links, you will have to use a rapidshare premium account to download each part. Once you have each part downloaded (you can use a free acount, it just takes longer), use Winrar to unrar the files (just selected the first file and extract the contents of it). You now have your movie!

Laptops are the perfect educational tool for students. They can handle an innumerable amount of tasks and serve many different functions that allow students to consolidate all of their class assignments and home studies into one convenient location, which simplifies workflow and increases productivity.




The two most important things to look for in a student laptop are portability and battery life. This laptop will likely be carried in a backpack or shoulder bag from class to class, so you will definitely want a system that is light and easy to transport. There is also no guarantee that you will have access to an auxiliary power supply in your classroom or on campus, so you will most likely want a battery that lasts up to several hours per charge.



Desktop real estate can be limited in your class, so you want to make sure your laptop is compact and economical in size, preferably around 14" X 10" in general dimensions.



As far as individual specifications, you can get by with most base configurations. A 1.66GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, a 40GB hard drive, and a standard DVD/CDRW drive should suffice, but you may wish to upgrade certain components depending on whether or not you want to use your notebook for any extra curricular activities, such as gaming or multimedia production.



Unless you intend to do higher-level networking, or unless your school requires domain-based authentication to access the school network (check with your IT department), Windows XP Home Edition should more than meet your needs for an Operating System.



Lastly, you will need some office suite software to process and edit your reports and class assignments. Microsoft Office Basic will be able to handle most of your needs, however, if you plan on doing any slide-show presentations or website creation, you will want to go with Office Pro.



These are the main things you need to know and consider before purchasing a student laptop. This is just a general outline. Feel free to make additional customizations if you have specific requirements for school.



This article may be republished freely as long as this copyright notice and box of resource links are included at the bottom.

Dynamics SL or Solomon enables software developers and users to modify standard Solomon screens easily and efficiently. It can be a simple changes that the manager or user can make, or complex customizations that the software developer or consultant with Visual Basic programming and Sql statement experience will do.




The customizations will apply to a single user or to all users, and just select the level from a Solomon setup screen. You may like to add data fields like a Custom Name, or hide data fields. To re-arrange data fields on data entry screens to make it look like the source document. You can also reformat a label or data fields to make them larger or smaller, or change the color to the text. Controls you can add to the screens can be a label, text box, combo box, push button, or a frame. Or to change the order where the Tab orders will be different from they were.



You can also add any new data fields from the Sql Server database, the data can come from an unused Solomon data table or a custom data table. The customization can also be easily exported or imported to and from Solomon, so it can be moved from one computer to another one.



For more advanced customizations, Visual Basic for Application or VBA can also be available to change the logic or add additional functions to the data fields of a Solomon screen. For example, you can add a new field named Result Amount, and use VBA to do the complex math to derive the values from other data fields that are on the screen. The possibilities are almost unlimited with the Customization Manager.



Solomon has been in the accounting software market for many years, and various sizes of companies from small to large are still using its many modules to automate their businesses. The version 7 has upgraded with Visual Basic.Net and made it keep up with what is new in the computer market. With it many modules, data entries, and reports, it is always ready for different types of businesses or working environments. Companies with different industries can select from the modules and use the ones that will fit the companies the most.

Have you thought about computer security at all? Most likely not. Many unsuspecting individuals believe that computer hackers only hack into corporations and rich people. This is far from the truth. So beware. Computer security does not involve just warding off bad hackers. Every day your computer is susceptible to threats regarding your computer system and the information you store on your computer.




Identity theft is a problem that has grown in intensity over the past couple of years. Indeed, large credit card companies and banks have had their systems invaded and millions of people have been put at risk. The thing that you should really keep in mind is that if companies are vulnerable to hackers, then why isn't your computer? After all, the best hackers invade the best systems. But there is a lot of money to be made attacking computers just like yours and stealing all of your financial and personal information and it is happening to people like you and I every single day.



Not concerned about identity theft? What about the amount of time and money you have put into your computer? If your computer has a virus it can destroy your memory and hard drive causing you to lose all your information. Your computer will be an easy target if you dont' have a security system. Your unprotected computer will eventually succomb to a computer virus. A computer virus can be devastating.



To avoid the disastrous and awful effects of a computer virus, you must set up a security system on your own computer. Make sure that you have a firewall installed. A firewall can analyze information from the Internet and check to make sure it is not harmful to your computer. If the firewall determines that the information is harmful then it will block it. A firewall should be the first component of your computer security plan.



You will also want to invest in some anti-virus software to provide additional protection against anything that should get past your firewall. It is not uncommon for hackers to get into the systems of people you know and use their computer as a clone.



Think about a cloned computer. It is a tool for the hacker. The hacker will make the cloned computer do anything they want it to from stealing e-mail to breaking into other computer systems. You can supply a shield against this by analyzing all your e-mail messages with anti-virus software. Don't open attachments unless you were expecting them. Hackers thrive on placing disastrous viruses in attachments. Stop them quickly and effectively by not opening attachments and deleting the e-mail message right away.



Spyware has gained a lot of press lately and it is what people are using to steal identities and learn all there is to know about their victims. Spyware roams about your hard drive and collects information for the person that sent it to your system. This malicious software can slow your system down and completely give away all of your private information. Anti-spyware is offered by browsers and software providers for free in most cases and it is advised that you install it on your system as an additional safeguard.



It is imperative that you have a secure computer, especially in this highly technical computer age. The Internet is home to dishonest people that will rob you of your information and use it for their own gain. Protect yourself against these hackers and conartists by having an effective, robust computer security system. Do it now.

Anti virus protection

Anti virus protection is pretty much a must have for anyone that uses the internet regularly. I thought I’d save a little money and went without anti virus protection on my notebook when I first got it, and after just two months I had to take it in for a serious set of repairs due to all the damage done to it by viruses. The guy at the repair shop, who also happens to live across the street from me, told me that he’d never seen a computer so riddled with viruses and spyware. When he asked what kind of anti virus protection I’d been using, I said ‘nothing’ and he nearly fainted.




I guess I’d still been in the mindset that viruses are a rare and unlikely phenomenon that only really unlucky people get afflicted with. Sort of like a digital version of Ebola. Sure, Ebola is scary as all heck, but come on. How many people get Ebola every year? What, like five? I remember when viruses first began appearing in the media, some ten or fifteen years ago. Everyone was scared of them but no one actually got one.



Well, apparently viruses have advanced as much as computers have over the years, and you’re now taking a big risk if you don’t have anti virus protection. Fortunately, there are a number of different programs that serve as effective anti virus protection today. My neighbor/computer repair friend signed me up with McAfee, and I’ve been using them ever since. They are probably the largest and most recognizeable company devoted to anti virus protection software, but there are plenty of other big names as well, such as Symantec’s Norton Antivirus program.



I’ve been perfectly happy using McAfee’s anti virus protection, and haven’t had any viruses since I installed it. A lot of computers will come with some form of anti virus protection already installed on it, and all you’ll have to do is register for continued protection.



Fortunately in recent years, anti virus protection has extended to the more commonly used email servers as well. Most of the free email accounts, such as Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, or Gmail, will scan any incoming emails and attachments for viruses. Still, it’s a good idea to be wary of emails from people you don’t recognize. I usually don’t even open them and delete them right away.

The screensaver from Cool Educational Software no longer does what its name says, namely saves screens. It educates! And it does so in a really unusual way, which is appealing to everyone.




Cool Educational Software released its first product, Cool Educational Screensaver, a new way educational software that downloads educational video lessons from the Internet server and plays them when the PC becomes idle.



All the lessons are grouped to courses by subjects. As an example, the "History::Ancient Egypt" course contains lessons "Pharaohs", "Mythology of Ancient Egypt" and so on.



Every day on the first launch Cool Educational Screensaver downloads the next lesson of the specified course and shows it during the day. After all lessons from the current course are shown, user chooses another one and continue.



"We see screensavers as an opportunity not only to individualize computers but also satisfy the passion of many people for self-education," says Alexander Mozgovoy, CEO of Cool Educational Software. "The latest research shows that screensavers work for about 40% of the time the computer is on. Displaying educational information via a screensaver throughout the day is 4-5 times more effective than traditional learning methods at ensuring people remember. It's what we call incidental learning and our screensaver is all about it. It shows some principle scientific and cultural information in history, geography, biology, astronomy in a casual way. If you constantly exposed to this information, there is no other chance but to absorb it!"



Cool Educational Screensaver has a special mode - Content Wizard, which opens upon installation and lets you set up the delivery and playback of educational videos. You can, for example, change channel preferences, and select a desirable background audio. Then you update the index of lessons from the Internet and choose the subject to learn. Cool Educational Software updates the lesson database regularly - a pack o new lessons is ready every day!



A lesson about Pharaohs (the "Ancient Egypt" course of Astronomy channel) was provided for this review. It presents some basic data and interesting cultural facts about Ancient Egypt, pictures and photos of the Pharaos. The information is well-organised and the educational video itself looks just fine.



If you need a nice piece of software that's very different and compelling running on your PC when you're not working, then go visit www.cooleducationalsoftware.com for the educational experience that will never end. The free trial version of Cool Educational Screensaver offers only the first courses of each channel just to show you an idea of this software. Subscribed users gain an unlimited access to all courses. Subscription is available for 1, 3, 6 and 12 months.

computer

The screensaver from Cool Educational Software no longer does what its name says, namely saves screens. It educates! And it does so in a really unusual way, which is appealing to everyone.




Cool Educational Software released its first product, Cool Educational Screensaver, a new way educational software that downloads educational video lessons from the Internet server and plays them when the PC becomes idle.



All the lessons are grouped to courses by subjects. As an example, the "History::Ancient Egypt" course contains lessons "Pharaohs", "Mythology of Ancient Egypt" and so on.



Every day on the first launch Cool Educational Screensaver downloads the next lesson of the specified course and shows it during the day. After all lessons from the current course are shown, user chooses another one and continue.



"We see screensavers as an opportunity not only to individualize computers but also satisfy the passion of many people for self-education," says Alexander Mozgovoy, CEO of Cool Educational Software. "The latest research shows that screensavers work for about 40% of the time the computer is on. Displaying educational information via a screensaver throughout the day is 4-5 times more effective than traditional learning methods at ensuring people remember. It's what we call incidental learning and our screensaver is all about it. It shows some principle scientific and cultural information in history, geography, biology, astronomy in a casual way. If you constantly exposed to this information, there is no other chance but to absorb it!"



Cool Educational Screensaver has a special mode - Content Wizard, which opens upon installation and lets you set up the delivery and playback of educational videos. You can, for example, change channel preferences, and select a desirable background audio. Then you update the index of lessons from the Internet and choose the subject to learn. Cool Educational Software updates the lesson database regularly - a pack o new lessons is ready every day!



A lesson about Pharaohs (the "Ancient Egypt" course of Astronomy channel) was provided for this review. It presents some basic data and interesting cultural facts about Ancient Egypt, pictures and photos of the Pharaos. The information is well-organised and the educational video itself looks just fine.



If you need a nice piece of software that's very different and compelling running on your PC when you're not working, then go visit www.cooleducationalsoftware.com for the educational experience that will never end. The free trial version of Cool Educational Screensaver offers only the first courses of each channel just to show you an idea of this software. Subscribed users gain an unlimited access to all courses. Subscription is available for 1, 3, 6 and 12 months.

computer of hardware

Computer hardware is a physical part of a computer that executes within the hardware. It is unlike computer software or data that can be frequently changed, modified or erased on a computer. Computer hardware is not frequently changed and so is stored in hardware devices such as read only memory (ROM) where it is not readily changed.




Most computer hardware is embedded and so is not visible to normal users. Below are the different types of hardware's found in a computer.



Ø Motherboard: It is the central or primary circuit board making up a complex electronic system such as a computer. A motherboard is also known as a main board, logic board or system board.

Ø Central processing Unit: A CPU is the main component of a digital computer that interprets instructions and process data in computer programs.

Ø Random Access Memory: A RAM allows the stored data to be accessed in any order. RAM is considered as the main memory of the computer where the working area is used for displaying and manipulating data.

Ø Basic Input Output System: BIOS prepares the software programs to load, execute and control the computer.

Ø Power Supply: Power Supply supplies electrical energy to an output load or group of loads.

Ø Video Display Controller: It converts the logical representation of visual information into a signal that can be used as input for a display medium.

Ø Computer Bus: It is used to transfer data or power between computer components inside a computer or between computers.

Ø CD-ROM drive: It contains data accessible by a computer

Ø Floppy disk: It is a data storage device

Ø Zip Drive: It is a medium capacity removable disk storage system.

Ø Hard Disk: It is a non-volatile data storage system that stores data on a magnetic surface layered unto hard disk platters.

Computer




Technically, a computer is a programmable machine. This means it can execute a programmed list of instructions and respond to new instructions that it is given. Today, however, the term is most often used to refer to the desktop and laptop computers that most people use. When referring to a desktop model, the term "computer" technically only refers to the computer itself -- not the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Still, it is acceptable to refer to everything together as the computer. If you want to be really technical, the box that holds the computer is called the "system unit."



Some of the major parts of a personal computer (or PC) include the motherboard, CPU, memory (or RAM), hard drive, and video card. While personal computers are by far the most common type of computers today, there are several other types of computers. For example, a "minicomputer" is a powerful computer that can support many users at once. A "mainframe" is a large, high-powered computer that can perform billions of calculations from multiple sources at one time. Finally, a "supercomputer" is a machine that can process billions of instructions a second and is used to calculate extremely complex calculations

History of computing hardware

The history of computing hardware is the record of the constant drive to make computer hardware faster, cheaper, and store more data.




Before the development of the general-purpose computer, most calculations were done by humans. Tools to help humans calculate were then called calculating machines, by proprietary names, or even as they are now, calculators. It was those humans who used the machines who were then called computers; there are pictures of enormous rooms filled with desks at which computers (often young women) used their machines to jointly perform calculations, as for instance, aerodynamic ones required for in aircraft design.



Calculators have continued to develop, but computers add the critical element of conditional response and larger memory, allowing automation of both numerical calculation and in general, automation of many symbol-manipulation tasks. Computer technology has undergone profound changes every decade since the 1940s.



Computing hardware has become a platform for uses other than mere computation, such as process automation, electronic communications, equipment control, entertainment, education, etc. Each field in turn has imposed its own requirements on the hardware, which has evolved in response to those requirements.



Aside from written numerals, the first aids to computation were purely mechanical devices which required the operator to set up the initial values of an elementary arithmetic operation, then manipulate the device through manual manipulations to obtain the result. A sophisticated (and comparatively recent) example is the slide rule in which numbers are represented as lengths on a logarithmic scale and computation is performed by setting a cursor and aligning sliding scales, thus adding those lengths. Numbers could be represented in a continuous "analog" form, for instance a voltage or some other physical property was set to be proportional to the number. Analog computers, like those designed and built by Vannevar Bush before WWII were of this type. Or, numbers could be represented in the form of digits, automatically manipulated by a mechanical mechanism. Although this last approach required more complex mechanisms in many cases, it made for greater precision of results.



Both analog and digital mechanical techniques continued to be developed, producing many practical computing machines. Electrical methods rapidly improved the speed and precision of calculating machines, at first by providing motive power for mechanical calculating devices, and later directly as the medium for representation of numbers. Numbers could be represented by voltages or currents and manipulated by linear electronic amplifiers. Or, numbers could be represented as discrete binary or decimal digits, and electrically controlled switches and combinational circuits could perform mathematical operations.



The invention of electronic amplifiers made calculating machines much faster than their mechanical or electromechanical predecessors. vacuum tube (thermionic valve) amplifiers gave way to solid state transistors, and then rapidly to integrated circuits which continue to improve, placing millions of electrical switches (typically transistors) on a single elaborately manufactured piece of semi-conductor the size of a fingernail. By defeating the tyranny of numbers, integrated circuits made high-speed and low-cost digital computers a widespread commodity.



This article covers major developments in the history of computing hardware, and attempts to put them in context. For a detailed timeline of events, see the computing timeline article. The history of computing article treats methods intended for pen and paper, with or without the aid of tables. Since all computers rely on digital storage, and tend to be limited by the size and speed of memory, the history of computer data storage is tied to the development of computers.

Thinking about getting a new computer, but with all the choices out there are you getting a little overwhelmed? Well why not look into building your own computer? By building your own computer you can get all the options you really want, whether you need a graphics design machine, game machine or just a simple word processor. You can tailor the computer to your specific needs. Now I know what you are thinking, “Isn’t building a computer difficult? I don’t want to screw anything up.” Well with a little reading, assembling your computer will be cake.





Most computer parts will only fit in the slots that they are intended for, so there is little possibility of plugging something in the wrong spot, but a little preparation and reading can go a long way. There are literally hundreds of sites on the web with tutorials that you can check out. Now be careful because some will be better
than others, try to read a few so that you can really get a feel for what you are going to do. One of the sites I recommend you check out is http://www.cheap-computers-and-parts.com.




When you go about purchasing the parts, like any other big purchase, price them out, you may find that the price of parts varies between stores. Usually you’ll be able to make a deal with one of the stores around to give you all the parts at the lowest price you found, saving you some cash, and the hassle of driving all over town picking up parts.





Once you’ve got all parts you want and need, and you’ve read a few tutorials, its time to put it all together and enjoy your very own brand new computer.

I’ve always been a skeptic when it comes to technology, especially computers and the Information Age. I used to think it was crazy how people would put their total faith into a machine, some even more so than in their faith in humanity. Human beings are flawed, imperfect creatures. I say this in a positive way because if humanity were completely positive and perfect we would have nothing to learn, and life would lose its vitality and mystery. Computers come from the same universal reality as humanity, so I believe that we should look at technology in a similar context. Computers are not infallible pieces of nature’s perfection.




I’ve come to learn that computers are great tools for human society. They can be functional in innumerable areas of everyday existence, helping to simplify many aspects of our lives. However, as today I discovered my computer had ‘died’ after a lightning strike had hit my house and subsequent power surge, the realization came that a complete faith in our progressive technology is simply not practical. I’m not saying that like the Luddites of the early era of industrialization we need to destroy this stuff, I’m just saying that we must realize that like all things in life, technology can and will become sick and die on occasion. Working at an Internet Web Hosting company I have been witness to many of these illnesses, and it has been very fortunate that human ‘doctors’ have been present to undertake surgery.



It’s a real bummer when something goes wrong, but these occurrences are necessary in a space-time continuum that is in constant flux. If you are a spiritual person, you might say that there’s only one thing in life to have unwavering faith in: Magical existence itself. You might be asking yourself by now, ‘What is this guy talking about?’ I think I’m just rationalizing the death of my newfound ‘friend’. I’m coming to the point where I understand my old fears were irrational and unfounded, as most fears generally are. However, I’m also wondering about these people out there who have more faith in computers than human beings. For instance, I know of a man who says that he would rather fly in an airplane under automatic pilot instead of the real thing. Human pilots can get drunk the night before and be depressed and hung over right? Whereas computers are completely rational, unemotional and unable to partake in activities deemed by most as unsavory.


The sad fact is computers can break and die. Maybe we need to find a happy medium where inorganic and organic intelligence work in tandem, so that if one half of the partnership fails, the other half can always compensate. Let me tell you I’m quite sad right now, but hey ‘shit happens’. I just hope that the ‘shit’ isn’t your plane landing in the ocean because of a computer that’s had too much vodka the night before.

Computer Forensics in a Nutshell




Computer forensics are examinations of computers made during a criminal investigation. When police look into the files and data on a computer during an investigation, they are using computer forensics. It is obvious that you would want to look at a suspect's computer if they are involved in a hacking or industrial espionage case where the computer is being actively used to commit the crime, but these are not the only sorts of cases where computer forensics is used. Even if a murder case or a theft where a suspect used a computer could have information on it that is important to the case. You never know where you might find the information that you need for a case, and so investigators look at everything they can find.



- What Computer Forensics Investigators Look At



There are three basic kinds of data that a computer forensics investigator will look at when examining a computer: saved data, meta data and deleted data.

The first thing that a computer forensics investigator will do before examining this data is to make a copy of the hard drive. Even just looking at a file can sometimes change the data or meta data, and it is important that none of the original information is tampered with when using it in a criminal investigation. Making a copy of the computer's hard drive allows the investigator to go through all of the data without having to worry that he is tampering with potential evidence.

Saved data is any data that is normally accessible on a hard drive. It is all the data that is saved onto the hard drive. This includes things like documents, imagages, internet logs, program files, etc. This is the easiest data to look at, because it involves no special working to access these files. Sometimes files might be hidden within multiple folders or using confusing file names, so the examination will need to be thorough to make sure anything important to the case is found. Files can also sometimes be password protected, which makes it more difficult for an investigator to open them to read them. Computer forensics investigators are trained to get around these kinds of blocks.

Meta data is information that accompanies saved data. It is the information that tells you about the saved dat, like when a file was created, when it was last modified and when it was last accessed. This tells us when something was made, when the person who created the file was using it and if he had made any changes to it. This can be useful as it can help put a timeline to the data the investigator is looking at, and match up information for use with the case.


Deleted data is data that has not been saved on the computer or has been deleted from the computer. You can't access this information just through normal use of the computer. It requires special software or special methods to go into the hard drive and look at it.

When a file is deleted from a computer, it isn't actually removed from the hard drive. The file is kept in the same place as it always was. What is really happening is that the computer is being told that this file does not exist, and it will act as if it doesn't. You can't look at the file if you are just looking through the saved data, because the computer doesn't see it as saved data. However, if you skip over what the computer thinks about the data, and only look at the raw data, you will be able to see the file still there.

There are some difficulties with this, though. Because the computer doesn't think that the file is there any more, it has no problem putting new data where the deleted data was. If this happens then the file will be erased and you will no longer be able to look at it. Sometimes the new data doesn't completely write over the deleted data though, and an investigator can sometimes still see traces of the deleted data on the hard drive. It is similar to when you tape over an old VHS tape, sometimes the old show or whatever you had taped before will pop up every now and then because the new taping isn't total. These traces can give the investigator an idea of what the computer user had deleted, and can sometimes give cues as to why it was deleted.



- Computer Forensics Growing



As computers continue to become more important in America, computer forensics will continue to grow as well. Looking at data can lead to information that would never be found through other methods of investigation, and it proves very useful in a number of different criminal cases.

target=new>www.lavasoft.com). Larger organizations can look to companies such as Computer Associates (www.ca.com) for enterprise protection. There are instances when there is simply just too much spyware installed on a machine where these tools cannot help, and you’ll be forced to format your hard drive and reinstall your operating system.


Hackers: The term hacker has many different meanings to many different people. A dictionary might define the word hacker as follows, “A person who breaks into, or attempts to break into, or use, a computer network or system without authorization, often at random, for personal amusement or gratification, and not necessarily with malicious intent. 2. [An] unauthorized user who attempts to or gains access to an information system 3. A technically sophisticated computer expert who intentionally gains unauthorized access to targeted protected resources, loosely, a computer enthusiast. 4. A person who uses a computer resource in a manner for which it is not intended or which is in conflict with the terms of an acceptable-use policy, but is not necessarily malicious in intent.” As you can see, a hacker is someone with a very high aptitude in computing. By studying the inherent design of computer systems, a hacker will then attempt to compromise those systems for a purpose. Typically, they use a collection of tools easily downloadable on the Internet to exploit a flaw in a program or hardware system. Hackers do what they do for various reasons. Some do it for simple prestige amongst their peers, others for financial gain, and others do it to make a political statement. The impact of your network’s security being breached can lead to very serious financial losses. Imagine your customer database being sold to a competitor or even what public response would be if you had to tell your customers that their personal information was stolen?



Protection from Hackers: I was once told, that no matter how good a safe you buy, there will still always be a locksmith that can un-lock it. The same goes for protection against hackers. However the amount of people with the expertise to bypass most security defenses, available to companies, are few and far in between. To keep your network safe, the following three items are an absolute must. A quality firewall at your network’s perimeter to filter what goes in and out of your internet connection, desktop level firewalls to keep internal company computers safe, and the importance of performing updates to your computer’s operating system and applications. Firewalls simply stated, filter data passing through them. They are in essence, inspectors that allow and deny data to be passed through them based on certain rules. Most quality firewalls will protect your network by letting the good data through and keeping the bad out. Recommended firewalls for small businesses can be purchased from companies such as Cisco (www.cisco.com), Watchguard (www.watchguard.com) or Sonic Wall (www.sonicwall.com). Firewall vendors typically have many different models available, so consult with your network security professional on what to buy. The important thing is that you have one in place. Desktop level firewalls provide a true multi-layered approach to security. This added level of protection strengthens your computer systems defense, and is especially helpful to companies that have remote workers. Most companies today do have firewalls on their corporate network; however no one ever thinks about the company president’s laptop that gets brought home everyday. The president brings his laptop home and sets up his trusty remote connection back into his office over his broadband home Internet connection. The once protected laptop is now completely unprotected and connected directly to the corporate office, which gives a direct avenue for virus and hackers onto your corporate network. The great thing about desktop firewalls is that you can get some great ones for free! If you use the Microsoft Windows XP operating system, simply upgrade to service pack 2 and it includes a free and easy to use desktop level firewall. If you do not have Windows XP or just do not want to use their firewall, Zone Alarm (www.zonealarm.com) offers a great desktop level firewall. The last level of defense is to keep your networked systems up to date with the latest patches and fixes from their respective manufacturers. I will assume that most companies use Microsoft Windows products for most of their computing needs, so to keep your system updated simply go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com. You should check for updates twice a month.



Even though this article simply brushes the surface of network security, I hope it gives you insight as to some potential dangers out there and real incentive to implement better security for your company. Just as you have an alarm system at your office, please take the necessary steps to protect your company’s computer network and data. If not, the costs of recovery I guarantee you will far exceed the costs to implement a secure network.

Anyone in business today realizes both the natural dependency on computers in the workplace, and also the potential dangers associated with storing important data on them. Today’s business owners are constantly being reminded that their company’s data is at risk by the daily reports on various news stations, or even their favorite business-related website. But what can a typical small business owner do to protect their network from these threats that are broadcasted in so many ways? Dangers lurk at every turn on the Internet. There are thousands of attacks or areas of security that could be discussed, but I am going to try and focus on three general nuisances associated with today’s computers: viruses, spy-ware, and traditional “hackers” that will intentionally try to exploit your computer systems for various reasons. All of these attacks, although different, serve a specific purpose for the attacker, yet basically translate into three things for a business: lost productivity, lost data, and the end result… lost money. Here is brief descriptions of what the aforementioned attacks are, consist of, and what a typical small business can do to protect their technology investments.




Virus: A computer virus shares some traits with an actual virus that gets people sick. A computer virus must piggyback on top of some other program or document in order to get executed. Once it is running, it is then able to infect other programs or documents. Obviously, the analogy between computer and biological viruses stretches things a bit, but there are enough similarities that the name sticks. A computer virus can have many intentions. One common goal is the virus’s desire to infect as many machines as possible. Some are harmless and are no more then an attempt for a hacker to spread their name and get recognition amongst their peers. However, this can still lead to slow computer performance or programs acting up. On the other side of the coin, viruses can be extremely harmful and delete data, cause complete computer interruption, give someone unauthorized access to your company data, or even be used in conjunction with thousands of other infected computers to launch grand-scale attacks. Viruses are still mostly transferred via email; however newer attacks will entice you via an email to a malicious website that will exploit a flaw in your computer to install the virus.



Protection from Viruses: If you are reading this article, and you still do not have current (this is very important) anti-virus software running on EVERY single computer you own, then shame on you. With all of the marketing commotion that surrounds viruses, you should already have antivirus software on all of your computers. If you don’t, then hurry to the store and purchase it. Popular software in the antivirus market is made by Symantec (www.symantec.com) and McAfee (www.mcafee.com). Larger companies may look into a system that will scan emails prior to the email getting to a user’s inbox for viruses. Also, be wary of what you open in your email. Do not open emails from people you do not know, and even if you do know the sender, take extra caution, as most viruses today will trick you into believing that the virus is sent from someone that you know.



Spyware: You may know spyware by one of its many names, adware, malware, trackware, scumware, thiefware, snoopware, and sneakware. Because of its stealthy nature, most Internet users are more familiar with the symptoms of spyware infection: sluggish PC performance, increased pop-up ads, unexplained homepage change, and mysterious search results. For virtually everyone surfing the Internet, malware and adware are a nuisance, but if you do not detect spyware on your PC, it can lead to much more serious consequences such as identity theft. Many people wonder how they get spyware installed onto their computer in the first place. Typically, spyware is installed onto your PC without your knowledge because the programs are usually hidden within other software. For example, when you are browsing a website, and a pop-up appears to install the latest online Casino game, it probably will give you that game, but you’ve also just installed spyware along with that. Another avenue for Spyware to infect your machine is through popular Peer-to-Peer File Sharing software such as Kazaa. The financial impact on a business that is plagued by spyware can toll very high. Costs paid to computer consultants to remove spyware, and a user’s overall lost of productivity from a slow-performing computer can add up very quickly.



Protection from Spyware: Spyware is a huge problem in today’s computing environment. Fighting Spyware starts with smarter use of your computer. The best defense against spyware and other unwanted software is not to download it in the first place. Here are a few helpful tips that can protect you from downloading software you don't want. Only download programs from web sites you trust, read all security warnings, license agreements, and privacy statements associated with any software you download, and never click "agree" or "OK" to close a window. Instead, click the red "x" in the corner of the window or press the Alt + F4 buttons on your keyboard to close a window, and be wary of popular "free" music and movie file-sharing programs, and be sure you clearly understand all of the software packaged with those programs. If you do happen to install Spyware on your computer, there are some tools available to assist in the removal of spyware. Be careful however when downloading these “free” spyware removal softwares, as even some of the removal tools incorporate spyware into their software. A popular product that does a good job of removing spyware is Lavasoft’s Adaware