Learn How To Safely Backup Your Hard Drive

Learn How To Safely Backup Your Hard Drive

by: Otis F Cooper

We all know that we should back up our system as soon as possible.But if you’re like most of us,you will get to it tomorrow.The problem is that tomorrow rarely ever comes until you experience a serious computer failure and then its too lake.

Taking the time to backup your data or entire hard drive is not as painstaking as it may seem.And the rewards of doing so will be great should your system experience a crash.

WINDOWS AND OTHER BACKUP SOFTWARE

If you have Windows XP you willl need to install the new Windows backup ultility from the Windows XP cdrom.Just place the WinXP cdrom in your cdrom drive and locate the line D:\VALEADD\MSFT
TBACKUP.

Here you see the first letter as D but if your optical drive have a different drive letter,exchange the D with your driveกs letter.To install the utility,click on the file named NTBackup.msi.

The backup utility will be installed to the system tools group. Click Start,All Programs,Accessories,System Tools,and Backup.There is a neat wizard that will walk you through the backup process.

WinXPกs backup utility will backup your entire hard drive and will make a recovery disk to boot.

One neat third party backup software you can try is NewTech InfoSystems at http://www.ntius.com where you can download their trial version and put it to use for 30 days.And if its your cup of tea,the full version will run you about $79.95

INCREMENTAL OR DIFFERENTIAL BACKUPS

You should back up your entire hard drive when you perform your first backup.After that it is best to perform an Incremental backup.This type of backup only allow you to backup files that have changed since your last performed backup.

Differential Backups copy changed files and files that have been added since you last did your entire backup. This type of backup is more detailed than incremental backups and is easier to restore.

BACKUP STORAGE DEVICES

You can backup your files on cdroms and have the files compressed to save both space and backup time.WinXP will compress folders,subfolders,and files during backup.

You can purchase compression software that will do the same saving you cdrom storage space.The compressed files are automatically uncompressed once they are restored unto your hard drive.

You can also use a second hard drive as your backup storage device.We use two backup hard drives to be certain Ultimate PC Repair is up and running 24/7.

You can either purchase an internal hard drive in install it to your ide cable or you may want to purchase an external hard drive that connects to your Universal Serial Bus or USB Port.

The advantage of the external drives is that they have very large amount of storage space,transfer data fast,and can be moved from your computer to any other computer.

We use the Western Digital 170 Gigabyte External Hard Drive and we simply bounce it around to either one of our four computers with the greatest of ease.

USING ONLINE BACKUP SERVICES

You may also consider online services for backing up your data.If you lose all your backup data,say due it a natural dissaster such as a flood,your online data is right there waiting for you.

Another advantage of online backups is that you can access,upload,or download your data from any location. It is best to use high speed internet access if you’re considering online data storage.

One such online backup service is Istorage located at http://www.iomega.com/istorage and charges from $2.49 a month for 50MBs to $17.95 a month for a big 1,000MBs of storage.

Or you can check out FilesAnywhere located at the url http://www.filesanywhere.com

Still another online service to try is CapSure located at http://www.capsure.com

Backup your system now in one way or another if you have not done so.If you have critical data that you simply cannot due without,take the time to invest in a backup device or one of the many online backup services.

Stop and perform those backups as soon as possible. You will be thankful you did should something go wrong with your computer.Its always better to be safe than sorry.

About The Author

Otis F. Cooper, author of the award winning PC Super Pack, the Computer Training By Video course. Learn how to make your computer work for you. Read more about repairing your PC and register to receive Ultimate Repair Tips ezine now.

Visit http://www.ultimatepcrepair.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 21, 2004

by Otis F Cooper

Navision Customization: C/SIDE, C/ODBC, C/FRONT, X

Navision Customization: C/SIDE, C/ODBC, C/FRONT, XBRL – development options

by: Robert Horowitz

Microsoft bought Navision, Denmark based software development company, along with Great Plains Software. Now Microsoft Business Solutions offers following ERP applications: Navision (former Navision Attain), Microsoft Great Plains (former Great Plains Dynamics/eEnterprise), Solomon, Axapta. Formerly Navision had strong positions in Europe. Now it is promoted in USA and Europe. Navision has pretty advanced manufacturing module.

We would like to give you: programmer, software developer, database administrator the orientation in Navision customization tools

• C/SIDE (Client/Server Integrated Development Environment) The core of Navision is the C/SIDE. C/SIDE is the foundation for all the business management functionality of Navision. It is made up of five building blocks, called object types, which are used to create the application. These five object types are shared throughout Navision to create every application area, and give it a unified, consistent interface. This powerful language allows for the internal construction of new business logic and sophisticated reporting. Because of the internal nature of modifications it’s highly recommended that you develop all your code in ขprocessing onlyข report objects and called from the native code base. By grouping all your code in logical units, upgrades and additional modifications are easier to manage.

• C/ODBC and C/FRONT Both C/ODBC and C/FRONT enable you to easily use information from Navision in familiar programs such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. The Open Database Connectivity driver for Navision (C/ODBC) is an application program interface (API) that provides a way for other applications, such as the entire Microsoft Office Suite, to send and retrieve data to and from the Navision database through the ODBC interface.

• External Tool: Navision Developer’s Toolkit The Navision Developer’s Toolkit enables your Microsoft Certified Business Solutions Partner to upgrade your Navision solution to the latest version. It is used to analyze and upgrade customer and vertical solutions

Reporting Options Aside from the powerful internal reporting tool which requires an indepth knowledge of C/SIDE to make it useful the other options are:

• Jet Reports Jet Reports is a complete reporting package utilizing Microsoft Excel. Using Excel you can create reports on any table of data from within any granule in Navision.

• C/ODBC Using the ODBC driver, the entire Microsoft office suite and programs such as Crystal Reports can access the database. I would recommend using this tool for occasional reporting requests only. If you need to pull data out of the Navision database on a regular basis one of the other options is a better choice

• Business Analytics (SQL Server Required) Using Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) from Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000, Business Analytics organizes all of your business data into information units called cubes. Using a familiar Microsoft Outlook®style interface, Business Analytics presents this information to your desk top where easy to use analytical tools allow you to carry out targeted analysis that is tailored by you, for you

• XBRL Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) for Navision enables simple and dependable distribution of all a company’s financial information and ensures smooth and accurate data transfer. XBRL is an XMLbased specification that uses accepted financial reporting standards and practices to export financial reports across all software and technologies, including the Internet

Good luck in customizing and reports design and if you have issues or concerns – we are here to help! If you want us to do the job give us a call 18665280577! [email protected]

About The Author

Robert Horowitz is Certified Navision Specialist in Microsoft Business Solutions Partner Alba Spectrum Technologies – USA nationwide Navision, Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, based in Chicago, California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, New York, Georgia, Washington, Colorado, Canada, UK, Australia, Moscow and having locations in multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com). You can contact Robert: [email protected]

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 18, 2004

by Robert Horowitz

Hard Disk Wiping and the Secure Removal of Data

Hard Disk Wiping and the Secure Removal of Data

by: Lee Sykes

It is important for businesses to recycle their computers, but have you thought about what happens to the data on your computer when it is collected?

How sensitive is the data stored on your hard disk?

If you are donating equipment to a recycler, you need to ensure that their data removal procedures operate to a high standard.

A recycler needs to honour the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998, in summary:

To treat all data obtained from a donation as confidential

To use appropriate methods to securely destroy all data

Notify the donor as soon as possible if any unauthorised use or disclosure of the data is made

How Do You Securely Remove Data?

If a hard disk is formatted, this is not a secure way to wipe data!

This method has inherent limitations, as only the file allocation tables and the pointers to the data (that render the data inaccessible) are destroyed. The data on the remainder of the drive is not destroyed, and the inaccessible data is easily retrievable. There are many free programs available on the internet to recover data from a formatted drive.

Best Practice:

A Recycler should use a piece of software which will:

run from a bootable floppy

report the actual hard disk capacity (the same reading as the BIOS and label on the HD)

overwrite a single character pattern to the entire HD

produce a report that all areas have been overwritten

report any bad or unusable sectors that cannot be overwritten

verify successful erasure

The key point here is that the hard disk is actually overwritten with new data – ie. 10101010

This ensures that your old data cannot be retrieved.

The Security Levels:

In order for a disk to be wiped to High Security Standards, such as Military Of Defense standard, the hard disk is overwritten several times, for instance:

Perform 3 overwrite cycles to all areas (where each cycle will be a single pattern, followed by its complement), and a final overwrite with a random character pattern (ie. A total of 7 overwrites) – verification of successful erasure should then be carried out for all Hard Disks.

How Do You Erase Data From A Hard Disk That No Longer Works?

The simplest way to ensure this is to destroy the Hard Disk. Recyclers have many different methods for this, but an example is to drill a hole through the disk, just off centre.

Summary

Before you allow your computer equipment to be collected, ensure you check the recyclers’ procedures for the secure removal of data from your hard disks. Most recyclers will also provide some form of report after the collection to guarantee the data from your hard disks was securely removed.

About The Author

Lee Sykes operates the online WEEE Recycling Directory (Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment)

A free service where you can search for Computer Recycling in your area, post a tender and request a Collection of Computer Equipment, as well as provide businesses information regarding how to comply with the WEEE Directive.

http://www.weeedirectory.com

This article was posted on September 11

by Lee Sykes

The security risks and ways to decrease vulnerabil

The security risks and ways to decrease vulnerabilities in a 802.11b wireless environment

by: Richard Johnson

Introduction

This document explains topics relating to wireless networks. The main topics discussed include, what type of vulnerabilities exist today in 802.11 networks and ways that you can help prevent these vulnerabilities from happening. Wireless networks have not been around for many years. Federal Express has been using a type of wireless networks, common to the 802.11 networks used today, but the general public has recently just started to use wireless networking technology. Because of weak security that exists in wireless networks, companies such as Best Buy have decided to postpone the rollout of wireless technology. The United States Government has done likewise and is suspending the use of wireless until a more universal, secure solution is available.

Background

What is Wireless?

Wireless LANs or WiFi is a technology used to connect computers and devices together. Wireless LANs give persons more mobility and flexibility by allowing workers to stay connected to the Internet and to the network as they roam from one coverage area to another. This increases efficiency by allowing data to be entered and accessed on site.

Besides being very simple to install, WLANs are easy to understand and use. With few exceptions, everything to do with wired LANs applies to wireless LANs. They function like, and are commonly connected to, wired Ethernet networks.

The Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance [WECA] is the industry organization that certifies 802.11 products that are deemed to meet a base standard of interoperability. The first family of products to be certified by WECA is that based on the 802.11b standard. This set of products is what we will be studying. Also more standards exist such as 802.11a and 802.11g.

The original 802.11 standard was published in 1999 and provides for data rates at up to 2 Mbps at 2.4 GHz, using either FHSS or DSSS. Since that time many task groups have been formed to create supplements and enhancements to the original 802.11 standard.

The 802.11b TG created a supplement to the original 802.11 standard, called 802.11b, which has become the industry standard for WLANs. It uses DSSS and provides data rates up to 11 Mbps at 2.4 Ghz. 802.11b will eventually be replaced by standards which have better QoS features, and better security.

Network Topology

There are two main topologies in wireless networks which can be configured:

Peertopeer (ad hoc mode) – This configuration is identical to its wired counterpart, except without the wires. Two or more devices can talk to each other without an AP.

Client/Server (infrastructure networking) – This configuration is identical to its wired counterpart, except without the wires. This is the most common wireless network used today, and what most of the concepts in this paper apply to.

Benefits of Wireless LANs

WLANs can be used to replace wired LANs, or as an extension of a wired infrastructure. It costs far less to deploy a wireless LAN than to deploy a wired one. A major cost of installing and modifying a wired network is the expense to run network and power cables, all in accordance with local building codes. Example of additional applications where the decision to deploy WLANs include:

Additions or moves of computers.

Installation of temporary networks

Installation of hardtowire locations

Wireless LANs give you more mobility and flexibility by allowing you to stay connected to the Internet and to the network as you roam.

Cons of Wireless LANs

Wireless LANs are a relatively new technology which has only been around since 1999. With any new technology, standards are always improving, but in the beginning are unreliable and insecure. Wired networks send traffic over a dedicated line that is physically private; WLANs send their traffic over shared space, airwaves. This introduces interference from other traffic and the need for additional security. Besides interference from other wireless LAN devices, the 2.4 GHz is also used by cordless phones and microwaves.

Security Issues of WLANs

Wardriving

Wardriving is a process in which an individual uses a wireless device such as a laptop or PDA to drive around looking for wireless networks. Some people do this as a hobby and map out different wireless networks which they find. Other people, who can be considered hackers, will look for wireless networks and then break into the networks. If a wireless is not secure, it can be fairly easy to break into the network and obtain confidential information. Even with security, hackers can break the security and hack. One of the most prevalent tools used on PDAs and Microsoft windows devices is, Network Stumbler, which can be downloaded at http://www.netstumbler.com. Equipped with the software and device, a person can map out wireless access points if a GPS unit is attached. Adding an antenna to the wireless card increases the capabilities of WiFi. More information can be found at: http://www.wardriving.info and http://www.wardriving.com to name a few.

Warchalking

Warchalking is a method of marking wireless networks by using chalk most commonly. Wardriving is usually the method used to search for networks, and then the person will mark the network with chalk that gives information about the network. Some of the information would include, what the network name is, whether the network has security, and possibly the contact information of who owns the network. If your wireless network is Warchalked and you don’t realize it, your network can be used and/or broken into faster, because of information shown about your network.

Eavesdropping & Espionage

Because wireless communication is broadcast over radio waves, eavesdroppers who just listen over the airwaves can easily pick up unencrypted messages. These intruders put businesses at risk of exposing sensitive information to corporate espionage. Wireless LAN Security – What Hackers Know That You Don’t www.airdefense.net Copyright 2002

Internal Vulnerabilities

Within an organization network security can be compromised by ways such as, Rouge WLANs (or Rouge Aps), Insecure Network Configuration, and Accidental Associations to name a few.

Rouge Access Points – An employee of an organization might hook up an access point without the permission or even knowledge of IT. This is simple to do, all a person has to do is plug an Access point or wireless router into an existing live LAN jack and they are on the network. One statistic in 2001 by Gartner said that, ขat least 20 percent of enterprises already have rouge access points.ข Another type of attack would be if, someone from outside the organization, enters into the workplace and adds an Access Point by means of Social Engineering.

Insecure Network Configurations Many companies think that if they are using a firewall or a technology such as VPN, they are automatically secure. This is not necessarily true because all security holes, big and small, can be exploited. Also if devices and technologies, such as VPNs, firewalls or routers, are misconfigured, the network can be compromised.

Accidental Associations – This can happen if a wireless network is setup using the same SSID as your network and within range of your wireless device. You may accidentally associate with their network without your knowledge. Connecting to another wireless LAN can divulge passwords or sensitive document to anyone on the neighboring network. Wireless LAN Security – What Hackers Know That You Don’t www.airdefense.net Copyright 2002

Social Engineering – Social Engineering is one of the most effective and scariest types of attacks that can be done. This type of attack really scares me and can be done for many other purposes besides compromising security in wireless networks. A scenario: Someone dressed up as a support person from Cisco enters the workplace. The secretary sees his fake credentials and lets him get pass the front desk. The impersonator walks from cubicle to cubicle, collecting user names and passwords as he/she goes. After finding a hidden corner, which seems to be lightly traveled, he plugs an insecure Access Point into the network. At the same time he configures the Access Point to not broadcast its SSID and modifies a few other settings to make it hard for the IT department to find this Rouge Access Point. He then leaves without ever being questioned by anyone because it looks like he just fits in. Now, all he has to do is be within 300 feet from the access point, (more if he added an antenna), and now has access to all kinds of secure documents and data. This can be a devastating blow to any corporation and could eventually lead to bankruptcy if the secrets of the company were revealed to competitors.

Bruce Schneier came to my classroom and said the following about Social Engineering, ขSomeone is just trying to do their job, and be nice. Someone takes advantage of that by targeting this human nature. Social Engineering is unsolvable.ข

Securing Wireless Networks

According to Bruce Schneier and others such as Kevin Mitnick, you can never have a totally secure computing environment. What is often suggested is to try and control the damage which can be done if security is breached. One can try many different tools on the market which can help prevent security breaches.

WEP – WEP supports both 64 and 128bit keys. Both are vulnerable, however, because the initialization vector is only 24bits long in each case. Its RC4 algorithm, which is used securely in other implementations, such as SSL, is quite vulnerable in WEP. Http://www.infosecuritymag.com/2002/jan/cover.shtml Wireless Insecurities By Dale Gardner. Different tools exist to break WEP keys, including AirSnort, which can be found at www.airsnort.net. Although this method is not a secure solution, it can be used to help slowdown an attacker if other means are not possible financially or otherwise.

VPN and IPSec IPSec VPNs let companies connect remote offices or wireless connections using the public Internet rather than expensive leased lines or a managed data service. Encryption and authentication systems protect the data as it crosses the public network, so companies don’t have to sacrifice data privacy and integrity for lower costs. A lot of VPNกs exist on the market today. An important note about VPNs is, interoperability does not really exist, and whatever you use for your server has to be the same brand as your clients most of the time. Some VPNs include:

Borderware

BroadConnex Networks

CheckPoint

Cisco

Computer Associates

DMZ – Adding this to your network enables you to put your wireless network on an untrusted segment of your network.

Firewalls – Firewalls are all over the place. Firewalls range from hardware to software versions. By adding a firewall between the wireless network and wired network helps prevent hackers from accessing your wired network. This paper doesn’t go into specifics about different firewalls and how to set them up, but there are many. Some of the firewalls include:

ZoneAlarm (an inexpensive based software firewall) Zonelabs.com

Symantec has many different firewalls depending what you require.

PKI Publickey infrastructure (PKI) is the combination of software, encryption technologies, and services that enables enterprises to protect the security of their communications and business transactions on the Internet. What is PKI? http://verisign.netscape.com/security/pki/understanding.html

Site Surveys – Site Surveys involve using a software package and a wireless device to probe your network for Access Points and security risks.

Proactive Approaches

Since wireless technology is insecure, companies or anyone can take a proactive approach to try and identify hackers trying to gain access via wireless networks.

Honeypots – are fake networks setup to try and lure in hackers. This enables administrators to find out more about what type of techniques hackers are using to gain access. One product is Mantrap created by Symantec.

ขManTrap has the unique ability to detect both host and networkbased attacks, providing hybrid detection in a single solution. No matter how an internal or external attacker tries to compromise the system, Symantec ManTrapกs decoy sensors will deliver holistic detection and response and provide detailed information through its system of data collection modules.ข

http://enterprisesecurity.symantec.com/products/products.cfm?ProductID=157

Intrusion Detection – Intrusion Detection is software that monitors traffic on the network. It sounds out a warning if a hacker it trying to access the network. One such free product is Snort.

ขBefore we proceed, there are a few basic concepts you should understand about Snort. There are three main modes in which Snort can be configured: sniffer, packet logger, and network intrusion detection system. Sniffer mode simply reads the packets off of the network and displays them for you in a continuous stream on the console. Packet logger mode logs the packets to the disk. Network intrusion detection mode is the most complex and configurable configuration, allowing Snort to analyze network traffic for matches against a user defined rule set and perform several actions based upon what it sees.ข http://www.snort.org/docs/writing_rules/chap1.html#tth_chAp1

Network Monitoring Network Monitoring would be products such as snort that monitor the flow of traffic over the network.

Quick tips and tricks

When setting up wireless networks and access points there are a few quick steps that can be taken to immediately secure the network, even though it does not make it secure. Some of these ways include:

Change your default SSID: each router or access point comes with a default SSID. By changing this it can take longer for an attacker to know what type of device he is trying to hack.

Change the default password – generic default passwords are assigned to access points and routers. Sometimes the password is admin. By changing this password, the attacker cannot modify settings on your router as easily.

Disable broadcasting SSID: By default APกs broadcast their SSIDs, if you shutoff this setting it is harder for outsiders to find your AP.

Enable MAC filtering: WARNING: this can only work in smaller environments where a centralized access list does not need to be maintained. You can enable only specific wireless cards to access the AP by only enabling those MAC addresses.

Turn off shares: If security is important, scanning for shares and turning off the shares on the network can help. Also encrypting sensitive data can prevent hackers from accessing the data.

Put your wireless access points in a hard to find and reach spot.

Keep your drivers on all wireless equipment updated. This helps patch existing security vulnerabilities.

Read current press releases about emerging wireless news.

About The Author

Richard J Johnson

Network+ Certified

RJ Computer Consulting

http://rjcomputerconsulting.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 24, 2003

by Richard Johnson

Microsoft CRM Integration with Navision – overview

Microsoft CRM Integration with Navision – overview for programmer

by: Andrew Karasev

Microsoft Business Solutions CRM is very good budget alternative to Siebel and actually beloved by Microsoftoriented IT department system. Considering the fact that in many cases Microsoft CRM should somehow fit into and cooperate with existing legacy business applications, integration question maybe the first to place. It is probably good to mention that Microsoft Navision has its own CRM module (and Navision will probably have MS CRM Navision integration tool for MS CRM 2.0 – at this moment we do not know when). We would like to give you, software developer highlight on how you allow Navision data lookup from Microsoft CRM screens: Account (which is customer), contact, lead.

We suppose that Navision is installed with native C/SIDE database, because in the case of MS SQL Server this topic doesn’t make sense

Microsoft CRM web interface is built on .Net architecture and Microsoft CRM SDK is married with .Net. We suggest you to use Microsoft tools to connect to Navision database via ODBC.

Native C/SIDE Database. If Navision sits in C/SIDE database, then create ODBC linked server to Navision via C/ODBC

Configure web.config to enable Microsoft CRM customization

Configure isv.config to place the button or navigation bar on one of your MS CRM customizable forms: Lead, Account, Contact, etc.

Use MS CRM SDK sample code to come into Microsoft CRM Security realm

Create separate Database on the same SQL server where Microsoft CRM is hosted and place heterogeneous stored procedures or views – which will be pulling data from Navision C/SIDE linked server

Program ADO.Net calls and returned dataset processing in Visual Sudio.Net (preferably C#.Net, because Microsoft CRM SDK is C# oriented)

We probably should mention that isv.config buttons allow you to transfer GUID of the Contact, Lead or Account to your integrated web application

Crystal Reports caution – MS CRM has builtin Crystal Reports Enterprise, licensed for MS CRM data access only. So, if you like to integrate web Crystal report into your application – you should resolve licensing issue and check with Microsoft on purchasing full version of Crystal Enterprise. The other way is to separate your Crystal web application and MS CRM by placing them on separate hardware

Additional tip – in your stored procedure use this directive: DBCC TRACEON(8765), which allows working with the data results of variable length returned by C/ODBC driver

Good luck with integration! If you want us to do the job give us a call 16309615918 or 18665280577! [email protected]

About The Author

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies – USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving clients in Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Miami, Denver, UK, Australia, Canada, Europe and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), he is CMA, Great Plains Certified Master, Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer. You can contact Andrew: [email protected]

This article was posted on February 18

by Andrew Karasev

Loyalty Cards Systems – Beware, Some Should Be Avo

Loyalty Cards Systems – Beware, Some Should Be Avoided

by: Jeff Walters

Recently, I discussed a loyalty card system with a vendor who was selling quite a number of his systems to restaurants. I was shocked to discover the lack of detailed information that this vendor catered for, and the opportunities the system he provided squandered.

The way their scheme works is that whenever a restaurant customer is presented with a bill, they provide their loyalty card to the waiter, who swipes it at the till. If the customer has accumulated sufficient points from previously purchased meals, he/she is awarded a rebate on the price of the meal.

This is simple price discounting based on repeat purchases. No other marketing activities are carried out either by the loyalty card company, or by the restaurant to proactively influence the number of times the card holder frequents the restaurant they rely solely on the meal discount to attract customers back for more meals.

This is a system that is woefully underexploited.

I asked about the level of detail that was transmitted to the card site and was once again disappointed only the total meal cost was transmitted. The customer profile that was being created was extremely superficial. My view was further confirmed when I asked whether the กsignificant otherก, or other family membersก details were collected. Once again, no.

The key things wrong with this service offering:

* Lack of transaction details. These days, with broadband communication and high volume data disks, there is really no excuse not to collect data at transaction level.

* The simple act of recording the bill at individual meal item level opens up a wealth of information:

Number of main meals if there are children in the family unit (provided during signup), analysis of the bill will provide a clear indication of whether the whole family always eats out, or if on occaision the parents treat themselves to a quiet night on their own possibly anniversaries, or birthdays, or just a regular night away from the kids.

Types of meals red meat, fish, vegetarian which could be used for special promotions

Beer, cheap wine, or expensive wine drinker

If you had the above information at your finger tips, who would you rather focus your marketing efforts on to get to come back to your restaurant the family of six that buys budget meals, and drinks beer and soda, or 3 couples ordering starters, highpriced meals, drinking quality wine, and finishing off with expensive liqueurs?

* Even recording the value of the tip could be useful. A usuallygenerous tipper who awards a low tip (possibly to a new waiter) is giving a clear indication of a bad experience. This information could be used by the restaurant owner to contact the customer within a few days to establish what was wrong with the meal or service, and to invite the customer back with an offer of a generous discount for the next meal.

* Not getting the details of the กsignificant otherก and details of any children prevents marketing to special days. Its pretty pointless merely getting the birthday of the cardholder itกs not that compelling to get an SMS or postcard suggesting that you treat yourself to a special night out. Itกs far more effective to receive a prompt to take your significant other out for that special meal. Childrenกs birthdays are another opportunity to encourage the family to come out to the restaurant for a slapup meal but this is only possible if you take the trouble to collect the data…

Hopefully the above points have provided some ideas as to how basic transaction data can be used effectively by an information analyst or direct marketer.

If you are approached by a vendor to implement a loyalty scheme, or you are thinking about calling for proposals from scheme suppliers, make sure that you investigate the level of data detail that each supplier collects.

If data is recorded at line item level i.e. product ID, quantity, and price then you will have a wealth of sales data that you can start using for a variety of campaigns. If they only provide you with a bill total per meal, then I suggest you look elsewhere for a more effective loyalty card scheme.

© 2005 Intellinova (Pty) Ltd. All Rights Reserved

This article may be reprinted, provided it is published in its entirety, includes the author bio information, and all links remain active.

About The Author

For the past 20 years, Jeff Walters has transformed raw data into profitproducing strategic information in various sectors banking, insurance, gambling, medical, government. He has lead several datatoinformation projects: ABC Costing, analytical CRM, datamart development, and Balanced Scorecard.

Want to convert your raw data into strategic assets? Contact Jeff Walters via : www.IntelliNova.com, or www.SystematicDirectMarketing.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 30

by Jeff Walters

Data Backup Prevention Is Better Than Cure

Data Backup Prevention Is Better Than Cure

by: Justin Koh

Imagine that you have been working on a file for the entire day and there was a power surge that caused your computer to กblack outก. It would have been a frustrating experience for us as we had put in a lot of time and effort into it. I am sure that many of us would have experienced data loss in some form or another and have learnt to be wiser to backup our data to avoid any form of data loss.

Have you ever thought of a worst case scenario where a fire broke up and destroy your computer or where your laptop got stolen? Should that happen, the first thing that comes into your mind is the thousands of dollars that you spend on your computer or laptop and you would feel very upset about it. However, when you thought for a second moment, you started to realize that what is really valuable are the amount of data that you have built up over the years in it. Though hardware can always be replaced, even at no cost to you if you have insurance, but lost data is gone forever.

Lost data such as the thousands of mp3 and movies that you have downloaded from the Internet, thousands of digital photographs that are impossible to replace are lost in an instant. This form of data loss hits home especially hard when the laptop holds the lifeblood to your business. Imagine all your business contacts documents and contracts that you have painfully built up over the years would be vanished just like that. Your business would be wipe out overnight.

Do not wait for the worst to happen before you start to consider about data backup.

About The Author

Justin Koh is the original contributor of this article for http://www.backupcenter.info.

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 20

by Justin Koh

C++ Function Templates

C++ Function Templates

by: Muthukumar

C++ Function templates are those functions which can handle different data types without separate code for each of them. For a similar operation on several kinds of data types, a programmer need not write different versions by overloading a function. It is enough if he writes a C++ template based function. This will take care of all the data types.

There are two types of templates in C++, viz., function templates and class templates. This article deals with only the function templates.

There are lot of occasions, where we might need to write the same functions for different data types. A favorite example can be addition of two variables. The variable can be integer, float or double. The requirement will be to return the corresponding return type based on the input type. If we start writing one function for each of the data type, then we will end up with 4 to 5 different functions, which can be a night mare for maintenance.

C++ templates come to our rescue in such situations. When we use C++ function templates, only one function signature needs to be created. The C++ compiler will automatically generate the required functions for handling the individual data types. This is how a programmerกs life is made a lot easier.

C++ Template functions Details:

Let us assume a small example for Add function. If the requirement is to use this Add function for both integer and float, then two functions are to be created for each of the data type (overloading).

int Add(int a,int b) { return a+b;} // function Without C++ template

float Add(float a, float b) { return a+b;} // function Without C++ template

If there are some more data types to be handled, more functions should be added.

But if we use a c++ function template, the whole process is reduced to a single c++ function template. The following will be the code fragment for Add function.

template

T Add(T a, T b) //C++ function template sample

{

return a+b;

}

This c++ function template definition will be enough. Now when the integer version of the function, the compiler generates an Add function compatible for integer data type and if float is called it generates float type and so on.

Here T is the typename. This is dynamically determined by the compiler according to the parameter passed. The keyword class means, the parameter can be of any type. It can even be a class.

C++ Template functions Applicability:

C++ function templates can be used wherever the same functionality has to be performed with a number of data types. Though very useful, lots of care should be taken to test the C++ template functions during development. A well written c++ template will go a long way in saving time for programmers.

About The Author

Muthukumar

More articles can be found at http://www.codersource.net/.

This article was posted on October 16, 2004

by Muthukumar

Is DVD Storage An Attractive Alternative For Your

Is DVD Storage An Attractive Alternative For Your Computer Backup?

by: Per Strandberg

If you have a computer for home use or for your business and don’t take comprehensive backup for full protection then you are in the dangerzone. Maybe you do not take any backup at all.

You can find in Windows a basic backup utility which are installed during the installation.

I should say for all Windows…,but in fact it is not included during the installation of Windows XP Home Edition.

It is as if Microsoft thinks that data protection is not necessary for home computers and computers used by small businesses.

It is true that hard drives are becoming less prone to hard disk crashes.

But, if you consider not only hard disk crashes, but also virus infection, theft plus other treats, then you realize the importance of implementing a fullproof backup strategy for your computer.

Today many computers are equipped with a DVD burner, yet most do not use it to manage their vital data backup. The amount of data you can store on a single DVD is several Giga Byte.

There are many types of backup you can make.

Here are the steps that I take myself to fully secure my data against data loss:

1. Disk image backup.

I use a disk image backup software and make a complete image backup of the disk on consecutive DVDs.

I also create an emergency rescue CD.

If I have a hard disk crash I’ll use this emergency CD to boot from.

But, first I have to install and setup a new hard disk that is working.

Then I can recreate the data directly back from this backup stored on the DVDs.

This work is made fast and without the need to spend time installing both the operation system and the backup software.

Everything is instead copied directly into the hard disk from the DVD’s.

2. Full hard disk backup.

I also use a data backup software and create a full backup of the hard disk on consecutive DVD’s.

This is a standard disk backup. With this backup Iกm able to restore any files and/or folders.

I can also move the data to another computer.

3. Regular scheduled backup of files and folder.

Here I use the same software product I use for the full disk backup. I make with this software regular schedule backups of the files and folders I work with.

In my case they include My Documents, Outlook emails and other files that are modified over time.

I do this by keeping a permanent rewritable DVD inside the DVD burner.

I then rotate a number of DVD’s for this purpose so I can keep copies away from the computer.

Whenever I install important new programs from the Internet or I make other major changes to my system I’ll also create a new disk image backup and a full hard disk backup.

You should use a DVD burner that is built for rewritable DVDs.

Unfortunately there are several competing DVD standards on the market.

The DVDR, DVDR and DVDRAM standards supports DVDs which only can be written to once and can’t be reused and those standards should be avoided.

The DVD player should instead support at least one rewritable DVDs standard.

Either DVDRW or DVD+RW.

Conclusion:

I use regular schedule backup to backup the data files I work with on a daily basis.

I’ll make a disk image backup so that in case of a hard disk failure I will be back in business fast.

I also create a full disk backup so that I will be able to restore individual files or folders. It makes it also possible to move the data to another computer.

Copyright 2005 Per Strandberg

About The Author

Per Strandberg specializing in data security and data storage and have a site about data backup technology

at ==> http://www.databackupandstorage.com

Discover more about DVD storage

at ==> http://www.databackupandstorage.com/dvdbackupandcopy.html

Learn more about how to backup from Windows

at ==> http://www.databackupandstorage.com/windowbackup.html

This article was posted on February 04

by Per Strandberg

5 Things Every Internet Marketer Must Learn From M

5 Things Every Internet Marketer Must Learn From Mail Order To Increase Their Profits Now!

by: Jo Han Mok

Understanding that the Internet is another vehicle for direct response marketing can potentially make you rich!

Itกs true. Not many people actually กget itก.

Information marketing has much in common with the กold schoolก mail order business. In fact, many of the practices you see online today such as two page direct sales minisites, mailing lists and unique products, come directly from the mail order model.

Every Internet Marketer would benefit from studying the mail order industry. The basic marketing principles and practices employed by the industry translate naturally to the online environment.

The five core priorities of successful mail order companies parallel those of the online marketer. They are: demographics, targeting, testing and tracking, upselling and customer follow up. If you aren’t focused on these key areas yet, read on to discover why should be, and what it will mean for your bottom line.

Direct Response Lesson #1: Demographics

Demographic information provides an in depth profile of your potential customer. There are two ways to acquire demographic information, and two separate motives for each method.

You can:

• Acquire data from consumer data mining companies such as MarketShare Online • Acquire data from your existing customer base

The preferred source depends on your product development process and your current resources. Professionally gathered data allows you to survey the market and create highly targeted products. Rather than searching through keyword lists for potential niches, you can use demographic data to target specific classes of consumers based on their spending habits and disposable income. Your marketing strategy becomes much clearer with this data in hand. It allows you advance insight into your customer’s interests, pricing points and mindset. Now, you have a baseline against which to test the effectiveness of your sales message.

You should also acquire as much demographic data as possible from your existing customer base and mailing list. Even when you possess the resources to pay for this information you should still query your own customers.

Why?

Quite simply, you need to compare the profile of your existing customer base against your expected customer base. For example, if you sell a highpriced information product targeted towards small business owners, yet find that 50% of your list is composed of nonqualified tirekickers, something is off with either your sales copy, your targeting or both.

Direct Response Lesson #2: Targeting

Here is a rule of thumb for you to memorize: interest and need alone are not enough to generate a sale. This is a controversial statement, I know. Ask yourself the following question, though: how often have you found yourself interested in a product yet not purchased it? How often have you needed a product, yet not been able to afford it?

The truth is that, in either case, despite your interest and your need, you were only marginally targeted when the offer was presented to you.

This subtle case points to the synergy between demographics and targeting. This is why mail order companies go to such great effort to acquire detailed information on the marketplace. Whether you send 100, 000 pieces of mail or pay for 100,000 visitors to your web site, the goal is the same: put the offer in front of the right people, at the right time. If you put the right offer in front of the right person at the wrong time, it’s the same as no offer at all. It is untargeted.

Direct Response Lesson #3: Testing and Tracking

You absolutely must test and track everything you do. You must track your payperclick campaigns, your newsletter mailings and the paths taken by visitors to your web site. You must test your ad copy and your product pricing.

The testing and tracking phase of a marketing campaign marks the proving ground between demographics and targeting. Once you’ve acquired the data on your potential customer’s behavior, you must track their actual behavior to find out if it matches the expected results.

Until you do this, you are really only guessing at what works. Every mail order company places a tracking code on their post cards. This allows them to zero in on the exact location, age, income, race and marital status of responsive customers. When you first launch a product online, however, you are essentially blind to this information until you start tracking. As you gather your data, however, you will discover which search engines and which newsletters pull the best. Over time, you will be able to match this up with deeper demographic data collected from your list and discover, at the very least, the age and income of your customers and which search engines they prefer.

Can you imagine knowing that men between the ages of 2434, for example, prefer Google, or that stay at home mothers prefer Yahoo? This type of data is priceless because it directs your targeting up front. This is the exact goldmine which awaits you when you devote careful attention to testing and tracking your campaigns.

Direct Response Lesson #4: Create Robust Order Forms for the UpSell

Your order form can pull more profit through impulse purchases than you realize. Many internet marketers seem to believe that one product should lead to one simple order form. This is probably due to so many of us being selftaught. We copy what we’ve seen.

Have you ever stopped to examine a mailin coupon or catalog form? Even when the offer ultimately focuses on one major product, the form still includes an upsell and sometimes even a counteroffer.

For example:

ขYes! I’d like to order the Incredible Bikini Wax System for $49.95 today! Also, please include my 14 ounce bottle of Instant Soothing Moisturizer, a perfect complement to the Incredible Bikini Wax System and a steal at only $9.99ข (UpSell)

ขYes, I’d like to subscribe to Golfing Today! Instead of the incredible offer of 12 issues for $14.99, I’d like to receive a full 52 issues a year for $29.95ข ( counteroffer)

The reason for doing this, of course, is that the customer is already interested and already in a buying mindset. You’ve done all the hard work to lead him to your site and you’ve enticed him with your sales letter. He’s on the order form with credit card in hand. Why not use this moment to make a complementary offer? You can upsell a related product of your own or that of one of your joint venture partners for a profit split.

There’s really no harm in making the offer. The customer will either take you up on it or he won’t. The important point here is that a robust order form, with additional offers, helps you squeeze out extra profit and cuts down the work of luring that customer back in the future to make additional purchases.

Direct Response Lesson #5: Post Sale Follow Up

What happens to your customer after the sale? Take a page from the book of mail order secrets and follow up with that customer! If you’ve ever purchased anything through a catalog, you know what happens. You end up on their mailing list and continue to receive catalogs and other offers in the mail.

In fact, you may receive so much mail from that one company that you become irritated! While I don’t recommend going overboard with your mailings, I do recommend moving your customers to an announcement list or newsletter.

You don’t want a one time shot with that individual. Rather, you want to build a lasting relationship. Your follow up process should be designed with several goals in mind:

• Keeping your name and brand in front of the customer • To build trust and credibility by sharing supporting material that adds value to the product • To maintain contact so that you can make additional offers in the future

Customer follow up is so important it can’t be stressed enough. There is a rule which states that 80% of your sales will come from 20% of your customers. In other words, if someone purchases from you once, they are likely to purchase from you again provided you take appropriate action and keep them connected to you. Remember that your customers are human and may go through a variety of emotions after making a purchase.

They may experience buyer’s remorse. They may feel nervous about sharing their credit card information with you and then never hearing from you again. They may absolutely love you and your product and want to reach out for more information. You must tend to each of these variables in order to gain the customer’s trust and appreciation, so follow up!

What will you do with the five lessons presented to you in this article? You have before you a nearly complete outline of a profitable business system for online marketing. Take these principles to hear and put them into practice. Know your market. Speak to your market. Connect to your market. I guarantee your profits will soar.

Copyright 2004 Jo Han Mok

About The Author

Jo Han Mok is a frequent guest and featured speaker at Internet Marketing bootcamps and conferences on subjects such as copywriting and Joint Venture Marketing. Visit his website to get a simple stepbystep plan that can take you from ground zero to having money deposited in your bank account from an online business every single day for the rest of your life!

==> http://www.SuperFastProfit.com

This article was posted on August 25, 2004

by Jo Han Mok

Drive Solutions Inc, Expands Data Recovery Service

Drive Solutions Inc, Expands Data Recovery Service

by: Woody Bowers

For over 11 years Drive Solutions, Inc. has been selling hard to find early model hard drives as well as new drives to large corporations, small business, and individuals alike.

During this time Drive Solutions has performed Data Recovery Services for many fortune 500 companies and Government agencies.

Drive Solutions Inc has expanded their Data Recovery Services to the public at a very economical price.

Drive Solutions, Inc. Specializes in recovery of Notebook and PC hard drives as well as other forms of storage media such as Digital camera memory cards, USB jump drives, CD, DVD, and more.

In previous years Data Recovery was far too expensive for an individual to afford. As time and technology have moved forward the cost of the data recovery service has decreased dramatically making it an affordable service for everyone.

Years ago you could expect to pay upwards of $3000.00 for the recovery of your vital data. Today the successful recovery of your data can run under $400.00 making this service very affordable for end users.

I spoke with the Director of Business Development at Drive Solutions, Bruce Masterson, who said ขThese days we see a lot of our business coming from home computer users that have stored all of their pictures of family, vacations, and all kinds of personal files on their hard drive and nowhere else.ข

We all hear about how important backing up your files is however, not many people think about their hard drive crashing especially at home.

Nowadays more and more people store their music files, family photos, contacts, etc… on their home computers. These files usually aren’t worth $3000.00 to the user however, since prices have dropped for data recovery services more and more end users are utilizing the service. ขDigital cameras and mobile storage devices such as the Apple IPOD have created a real demand for an affordable data recovery serviceข.

ขThose portable devices take a beating. People don’t realize that if their portable device has a hard drive in it the hard drive has moving parts and these parts can become damaged from shock.ข Masterson stated.

The Folks I spoke with at Drive Solutions, Inc. told me that all hard drives will fail eventually and to always keep my data backed up and to keep my backup files in a different location.

After my tour of their 10,000sq ft facility in Chatsworth, Ca, I realized just how many drives they work on every day. That’s a lot of hard drives failing around the globe.

When they say to back up your files before trouble strikes Listen and do it before you have to use a data recovery service. ขWe’ll be here when you need us but, take action now and avoid our service all together.ข That’s the last bit of advice I got from Bruce before I left their lab.

About The Author

Woody Bowers

About Drive Solutions, Inc.: Based in Chatsworth, California. DriveSolutions, Inc. is committed to delivering the most cost effective solutions for expert data recovery services. Drive Solutions, Inc. has been using their advanced technology and expertise to recover data for corporations and individuals alike for over 11 years. This company utilizes multiple world wide networks to source parts if needed. Delivering retrieved data in a timely manner, First class customer support, and confidentiality of client data is what keeps their clientsก coming back.

www.DSiDataRecovery.com

This article was posted on August 02

by Woody Bowers

DataRecoveryNet.com Enters Medical Industry

DataRecoveryNet.com Enters Medical Industry

by: Woody Bowers

Palm Beach Gardens FL Florida based data recovery service, DataRecoveryNet.com, launched a new service directed toward the medical community aimed at curtailing the loss of private and vital patient data as well as securing patient health information.
DataRecoveryNet.com recovers data from malfunctioning, damaged, or failed hard drives and other media. This offering is sure to assist the medical industry with new HIPPA requirements. ‘the medical community is in need of specialty services like our data recovery service due to the new requirements of HIPAAก says Chuck Roover, President of DataRecoveryNet.com Hospitals and other health care service companies store patient health information in hard drives that eventually fail.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted in 1996. The law required the US Dept. of Human Services to develop standards and requirements for the maintenance and transmission of health information.
This law refers to security, confidentiality, and nondisclosure of patient health information. These regulations went into effect on April 14, 2004.
About DataRecoveryNet.com: Based in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. DataRecoveryNet.com is committed to delivering the most cost effective solutions for expert data recovery services. DataRecoveryNet.com has been using their advanced technology and expertise to recover data for corporations and individuals alike for over 10 years. This company utilizes multiple world wide networks to source parts if needed. Delivering retrieved data in a timely manner, fanatical customer support, and confidentiality of client data is what keeps their clientsก coming back.
On the web: www.DataRecoveryNet.com

About The Author

Woody Bowers

Director of Business Development

Eco Electronics

[email protected]

This article was posted on May 18, 2004

by Woody Bowers