Got Virus?

Got Virus?

by: Woody Bowers

GOT VIRUS? Your Data is NOT lost forever!

In the wake of so many computer viruses running wild, ขHope is not lostข!

With the recent release of such viruses as: mydoom; netsky; mofei, lovegate and many more destructive viruses, there is an affordable solution to recover your lost files from your hard drive.

Selecting a Data Recovery Service Company can be a challenging and confusing undertaking to say the least.

ECO Data Recovery located in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida has come to the rescue of many individuals, small business and large corporations around the world. When down time means lost revenue and it seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel, you can always count on ECO Data Recovery to get you up and operating asap.

These days you never know when your computer system will go down due to viruses, sabotage or natural disaster. We suggest that everyone backup their files regularly. Nobody ever wants to think about their hard drive crashing or a virus taking over their computer, so backing up your files is the last thing on your mind.

Often time is of the essence. We know that when your business is down, fast is never fast enough, therefore, ECO offers an expedited service for time sensitive situations.

As technology advances, so do the skills of what we refer to as ขHackersข. These ขHackersข are responsible for many of the damaged files we have recovered. As the ขHackersข skills evolve, so must our teams of engineers. We understand that there will always be some hacker out there with the goal of causing ขchaosข. Eco Data Recovery will be there to undo the damage they may have done and get you up and running in the fastest time possible.

Viruses are not the only cause of lost files!

When a hard drive is making an awful noise, more often then not you have a hardware problem. ECO Chief Engineer, Sean Flanders, warns ขIf you hear strange noises emanating from your computer, shut it off immediately before further damage is incurredข.

When a drive is still grasping to life (barely spinning) many times people try the cheapest solution and attempt to run a data recovery software utility. This is a major mistake! ขAttempting to utilize recovery software can make your data hard to salvage if not impossible in some cases. ขThese programs may write data on the drive which then overwrites your original data, making data recovery almost impossibleข, states Brian Cain, VP of sales at ECO.

Take heed in the words of Charles Roover, President of Eco Data Recovery, ขBe aware of the fate that could befall your computer and/or network and take precautions. Backup your files often! Nobody likes to think about losing their data, however, when you have a disaster, we’re there to rescue you!ข

Over the past 10 years ECO Data Recovery has saved many individuals and companies by retrieving their lost data! We’re only a phone call away!

http://www.ecodatarecovery.com

About The Author

Woody Bowers

Dir. Business Development

Eco Data Recovery

(800)3393412

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 11, 2004

by Woody Bowers

Please Protect Your Confidential Files

Please Protect Your Confidential Files

by: Robert Kelly

You’d be disgusted to know just how some doctors, businesses, lawyers and high profile companies treat your confidential records. Often they have extremely good email security, only to have the files left completely unprotected on their actual hard drive. Really, what good is that? If somebody takes the computer, or simply bypasses your firewall, not a difficult task, they would gain access to all of your confidential information. What about that notebook computer? I’m sure where all thinking about security when we take our laptops from place to place…

To combat the problem Australian based IT Security company, Quantum Digital Security has created an incredibly interesting tool. The product, named CleverCrypt, acts as an encrypted hard drive for your computer. Once you’ve installed the product you simply protect all of your confidential files, by dragging them into the CleverCrypt drive, and the program automatically encrypts them all. After your files are in your encrypted drive, you simply open the files from the drive.

CleverCrypt seems to be able to encrypt almost any kind of file, including Microsoft Word / Excel files and all of our business management files. You can also protect images and some system files.

The benefit? If somebody hacks into your computer, or just outright takes it, all of your data is protected inside your CleverCrypt drive. According to the company website it would take a supercomputer over 149 trillion years to crack a CleverCrypt volume, and that’s if you’re using the least secure option.

CleverCrypt is an incredibly interesting product, useful for anyone dealing with confidential data or simply wants a little more privacy.

So, what’s your doctor using to protect your records?

CleverCrypt is available for $89.95 from Quantum Digital Security, Australia

You can try CleverCrypt for 30 days by visiting www.qdsecurity.com

About The Author

Robert Kelly

Busy Business Bob takes a look at a new security product designed to protect your confidential, or just downright private, files.

[email protected]

This article was posted on October 21, 2004

by Robert Kelly

10 Tips to =SPEED= up your PC

10 Tips to =SPEED= up your PC

by: Rohit Tokhi

1.Let your PC boot up completely before opening any applications.
2.Refresh the desktop after closing any application. This will remove any unused files from the RAM.
3.Do not set very large file size images as your wallpaper. Do not keep a wallpaper at all if your PC is low on RAM (less than 64 MB).
4.Do not clutter your Desktop with a lot of shortcuts. Each shortcut on the desktop uses up to 500 bytes of RAM
5.Empty the recycle bin regularly. The files are not really deleted from your hard drive until you empty the recycle bin.
6.Delete the temporary internet files regularly.
7.Defragment your hard drive once every two months. This will free up a lot of space on your hard drive and rearrange the files so that your applications run faster.
8.Always make two partitions in your hard drive. Install all large Softwares (like PSP, Photoshop, 3DS Max etc) in the second partition. Windows uses all the available empty space in C drive as virtual memory when your Computer RAM is full. Keep the C Drive as empty as possible.
9.When installing new Softwares disable the option of having a tray icon. The tray icons use up available RAM, and also slow down the booting of your PC. Also disable the option of starting the application automatically when the PC boots. You can disable these options later on also from the Tools or preferences menu in your application.
10. Protect your PC from dust. Dust causes the CPU cooling fan to jam and slow down thereby gradually heating your CPU and affecting the processing speed. Use compressed air to blow out any dust from the CPU. Never use vacuum.
RAM IS THE WORKING AREA (DESKTOP) OF THE CPU, KEEP IT AS EMPTY AND UNCLUTTERED AS POSSIBLE!

About The Author

Rohit Tokhi is the owner of www.osCommerceShoppingCart.com which specializes in creating online shopping carts in PHP. He is also the coowner of www.ElementsWebServices.com and has written several articles on Computer, Internet and related subjects.

This article was posted on June 01, 2004

by Rohit Tokhi

Temporary Internet Files the Good, the Bad, and

Temporary Internet Files the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

by: Nick Smith

A little bit of time invested into learning about internet security can go a long way in preventing mishaps on your computer. Temporary internet files are not something we should be afraid of, but we should certainly be careful in how much we trust them and how we deal with them.

Temporary internet files are image, text, and formatting files that are stored on your hard drive by the websites that you visit. They are placed there by the websites without your having to do anything. The files are stored on your computer the first time you visit the site so that the next time you go to that webpage you only have to load new information or files that have changed since the last time you visited files that have not changed are loaded from the temporary internet files folder at a much faster speed than over the internet.

This seems like an incredibly appealing option, especially to those of us still working at home on dialup connections (my teenage brotherinlaw insists Iกm กold schoolก because I don’t have DSL I think he may be right). Storing the temporary internet files on the hard drive significantly cuts down the amount of time it takes to completely load and view a website.

There are a few question areas, however, that need to be considered in any discussion about temporary internet files. First, and arguably the most trivial of the concerns, is that you may miss out on all of the updated information the website has to offer. If your browser loads the files from your temporary internet files folder rather than the updated material from the website, you may miss out on an updated football score, or you may get a different image than the one others are viewing. The system is designed so that things like that don’t happen, but the possibility is out there.

Second, storing huge numbers of files can bog down your computer, slowing down its ability to do even the simplest of tasks, such as word processing (a deadly onetwo combination if you’re working with dialup!). Fortunately, you can control the number or size of the files that are being stored on your hard drive. Typically under the Tools>Options menu of your browser youกll be able to set the amount of your hard drive you’re willing to dedicate to temporary internet files. You may want to set this high or low, depending on your browsing habits and need for speed.

Third, the temporary internet files folder may contain files that contain viruses, inappropriate images or text, and files that could leak personal information to websites. This is obviously a huge concern any time you allow someone virtually unregulated access to your hard drive. Images from an inappropriate website you accidentally stumbled across (it has happened to all of us) may be stored on your hard drive. Corrupted files may be placed there by an unfamiliar website you only visited once. Cookies and other files may potentially spawn popups that cover your screen in a matter of seconds.

Before you grab your pitch fork and storm the beast’s castle, let me mention a few things you can do to bring a little control to your temporary internet files folder without destroying it completely.

I already mentioned limiting the amount of your hard drive dedicated to holding files from visited websites. This is the best option for those who may be less concerned about corrupted or inappropriate files being stored and more concerned about the ability of their Jurassicera computer to perform at a decent speed. Some versions of the popular browsers won’t allow you to completely eliminate storing files, but you can limit the resources to 1% of your hard drive or a small number of megabytes.

Some opt to regularly clean out their temporary internet files folder obviously this will eliminate malignant files and free up some space for your computer; but it will also eliminate files you may want. A quick note about the files that begin with กCookie:ก cleaning out the folder will not actually delete the cookies. The cookie files in the temporary internet files folder are simple files that point the browser to the actual cookie in the กCookiesก folder on your hard drive. If you are interested in truly purging your system of internet files, youกll need to clean out that folder as well.

In my view, the most judicious option is to utilize available software to manage the content of your temporary internet files. Some files you want because they make your life easier. Some files you don’t want because it bogs down your computer and makes your grandmother blush. Software is available that scans your computer and finds all the internet files (including cookies). The software makes recommendations as to whether the file in question is good, bad, or ugly all you have to do is decide to keep or trash it, then click the appropriate button.

Temporary internet files can make our internet browsing time a quick and convenient experience. Unfortunately, they may also pose a risk to the security of our hard drives. With a little handson management we can keep ourselves, our loved ones, and our computers happy, safe, and protected.

About The Author

Nick Smith is a client account specialist with 10xMarketing.com More Visitors. More Buyers. More Revenue. For great software that helps manage temporary internet files, check out http://www.contentwatch.com/features/temporaryinternetfiles.php.

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 19

by Nick Smith

Is Desktop Search Deserving?

Is Desktop Search Deserving?

by: Jakob Jelling

Google, in their march to stay ahead of the pack of competition, has released Google Desktop Search. With Microsoftกs MSN in the lead position and nipping at Googleกs heels, and Googleกs new shareholders to please, Google has more incentive than ever to deploy technology both better than the other guyกs, and sooner. After all, the first to get loaded to the desktop is more likely to build and retain user loyalty.

Google Desktop Search allows you to search within various types of files on your computer. Itกs still in beta, but is available for download by anyone. It requires Windows XP or Windows 2000 with at least Service Pack 3. It runs as a memoryresident application, with a system tray icon, so that it can index new documents as they are created.

For example, if you know a certain word or phrase was in a Word document, but you don’t remember which one, you can easily locate all documents on your computer that contain that word. Desktop Search can search through email, text, and HTML files, your cached web pages, and MS Office Documents (Word, Excel, and Powerpoint only).

By way of comparison, there is a competing application, also free, from Copernic, not surprisingly called Copernic Desktop Search. At the moment, it is perhaps more advanced than Googleกs. For example, Copernicกs software scans the same type of files as does Googleกs, but also scans music and video files and PDF documents, while Google does not. Both products can only scan Outlook or Outlook Express email at present.

But don’t count Google out. Webmasters know itกs never wise to do that! After all, they’re still in beta with Desktop Search, and they are as surely aware of Copernicกs product as they are of MSN. Google has both the resources and motivation to not only keep but expand their market leadership.

By Jakob Jelling

http://www.sitetube.com

About The Author

Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.sitetube.com. Visit his website for the latest on planning, building, promoting and maintaining websites.

This article was posted on October 28, 2004

by Jakob Jelling

Offsite Backups Provide Digital Peace of Mind

Offsite Backups Provide Digital Peace of Mind

by: Harald Anderson

In today’s fast paced datacentric world of personal computers and consumer/business electronics (such as PDAs and digital media players) we have, as a society, developed a reliance on digital data. We have particularly developed a dependence on data stored on various magnetic media such as hard drives, removable disks, and magnetic tape. While some computer users may never have had a problem with loss of data due to viruses, Internet worms or file corruption, most of us have at some time experienced the frustration and loss of productivity that comes with the loss of computer data.

Perhaps someone in your office deleted files off the network that your entire team had been working on for months. Or maybe the corporate firewall didn’t stop the latest Internetborne virus that has a penchant for overwriting ข.docข files with junk data. Like it or not, if you connect your computer to the Internet (and in some cases, even if you don’t), your mission critical data is at risk. The question is: What can you do about it?

An excellent solution is to employ offsite backups. Offsite backup solutions allow you to store critical data that is crucial to your business or personal computing experience. Offsite backup providers make it quick and easy for you to back up your most important files to a secure, offsite facility that offers redundant storage, and round the clock accessibility to your files in the event of a critical ขsystem meltdownข. When you use an online offsite backup provider, you can be secure in knowing that your files and important information will be available to you no matter what happens to the machines you work on every day.

Even if your computer needs to be completely formatted or your laptop is stolen you can have the peace of mind that the most important part of your computing experience — the data you generate on a day to day basis — is safe and secure and always available to you.

Your DATA is your Life. Protect it.

Copyright 2005 Harald Anderson

About The Author

Harald Anderson is a freelance writer and webmaster for http://www.SafeHarborData.com an online backup service. Download your free thirty day trial and experience the Digital Peace of Mind that accompanies a secure disaster recovery routine for your business. http://www.SafeHarborData.com

This article was posted on February 01

by Harald Anderson

How to Create a Useful, Popular Website

How to Create a Useful, Popular Website

by: Michael LaRocca

In this free email course, Iกll tell you everything I know about setting up your website and placing it highly in the search engines.
Everything I tell you will also be free. Youกll spend some time, but you won’t spend your money.
Your two goals, useful and popular, are related. Search engines can bring you a lot of firsttime users, but quality will keep them coming back.
How technical will I get?
Well, you have two choices. Learn HTML, or use some free software that lets you create a site without learning HTML.
If you choose the latter option, writing the site isn’t much different than creating a Power Point presentation or a word processor document.
Iกll address both options. Plusses, minuses, howto. So whether you’re a computer geek like me or a technophobe like most of my family, Iกll tell you how itกs done.
So don’t let the possibility of technical language stop you.
** GETTING STARTED **
First, decide what you want on your site. I do this with pen and paper. What menu options, what graphics, what sounds (if any). How much stuff to put on each page, because I want each page to be ‘the right size.ก
Every graphic (including your background) and every sound takes time to load when someone visits your site. Text (including links) is fast. No page should be larger than 64 Kb, and that size means HTML plus graphics, sounds, etc.
I always try to strike a balance between speed and appearance. If it isn’t necessary, it probably shouldn’t be there. Only you know what กnecessaryก means.
I also draw a กflow chartก for navigation, and refer to it as I plan and again as I create. If it looks way too complicated when itกs done, Iกll create a special page called กSite Mapก to help users navigate the site.
In my case:

Index (my home page) leads to:

FreeBooksOnTheNet
BookReview
Bookstores (which leads to OnLineFictionBooks)

Etc.

I always ensure that a ‘tier 3ก page like OnLineFictionBooks leads back to the Tier 2 page that leads to it (Bookstores). A Tier 4 page should lead back to the appropriate Tier 3 and Tier 2 pages. Etc. All my pages lead back to Index, which is the only Tier 1 page.
Whenever someone visits your site, their browser automatically looks for a file called INDEX.HTML (or INDEX.HTM for files written with Microsoft.) Thatกs what makes it the Tier 1 page.
If the userกs browser doesn’t find Index, you don’t have a website. So your home page will be called INDEX.HTML (or INDEX.HTM). You can call the other files anything you want, as long as the file extension is HTML or HTM.
A link to a Site Map on your front page that lists all your pages, regardless of what tier itกs on, is convenient for users and it ensures that Search Engine spiders find all your pages.
Throughout this lesson, Iกm going to assume you’re not using Microsoft and call everything an HTML file. (Files that end with HTM, the Microsoft default, are also HTML files.)
As you work, put all your website files (HTML, graphics, sounds) into the same directory. And, remember where it is! If you like, you can give that directory some subdirectories and sort things a bit, but I never do this.
I mention file locations because this, too, is part of your planning.
Your planning stage might take longer than actually writing your website. But for me, writing pages with no plan never works.
So plan!
** DO YOU WANT TO LEARN HTML? **
Once you have a plan for your website, all that remains is writing it, uploading it, and helping people find it.
The big question is, can you learn HTML? If so, do you want to?
If you can and want to learn HTML, you can make your website do anything you want it to. Otherwise, you may find your options limited.
Iกll admit that Iกve only written one page without using HTML. Not one site one page. I learned HTML for my job, then maintained my employerกs site for two years. All in HTML. The power of HTML impresses me. But, learning it isn’t mandatory.
So, how to decide…
Hereกs a list of sites that will teach you HTML. Look them over and decide if learning this language is for you.
Interactive HTML Tutorial

http://freereads.topcities.com/freebooksonthenet.html

This is the site where I give away about a dozen free ebooks and link to thousands more.
Writing HTML Tutorial

http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/tut/
HTML Goodies

http://htmlgoodies.earthweb.com/
HTML: An Interactive Tutorial for Beginners

http://www.davesite.com/webstation/html/
HTML Primer

http://www.htmlprimer.com/
Webmonkey

http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/
Your homework forgive me, Iกm a teacher is to refine your plan. Also, think about the กlearning HTMLก issue a bit more if you need to.
** HTML OR NOT HTML? **
So now you have a plan for your website, and you think youกve decided whether or not to use HTML. Itกs time to do the work and make your site a reality.
First Iกll show you how to write a website without learning HTML. Then Iกll show you how to write a website after learning HTML.
** WRITING A WEBSITE WITHOUT USING HTML **
The title is a lie. All websites use HTML. But you can get the computer to write the HTML without learning it yourself.
If you choose to do that, here are five possible methods:
(1) Netscape 6.2 is a free program. If you don’t have it, you can download a copy from http://www.netscape.com.
Choose FILE, then EDIT PAGE. Now you can design a web page by clicking menus and dragging things around the screen. Thereกs really no HTML function it can’t do.
Once you’re done, you can look at your HTML files using Netscape Navigator and/or Internet Explorer. Once you know they’re perfect, you can upload them.
(2) If your computer has Microsoft Power Point already installed, you can use it to write a website.
Use it like you normally would, and create a Power Point file that looks just like you want your web page to look. When you’re done, click FILE and SAVE AS WEB PAGE.
You can use your browser (Internet Explorer and/or Netscape Navigator) to see how it will look before you upload it.
(3) You can use Microsoft Word. (I haven’t investigated whether or not it will add backgrounds.)
Just open Word and create a document like you always do. BUT, when it comes time to save it, Choose FILE, then SAVE AS, then under กSave As Typeก choose WEB PAGE.
Again, you can use your browser(s) to see how it will look before you upload it.
(4) Almost every free web host has a series of ‘templatesก that allow you to set up a web page in minutes.
http://www.bravenet.com may have the best.
http://www.topcities.com is also very easy to use, but they only have two templates.
If you can’t find a template at either place that is close enough to what you want to use, you can go to any search engine and look for กfree web hosting.ก
If you just can’t find a template thatกs close enough to perfect for you, maybe you can set something up with a template anyway and learn enough HTML to change it later.
After the กWriting A Website Using HTMLก section of this lesson is a section on กChoosing A Hosting Service.ก If you’re going to use a template, you might want to look at that now. Or you might just want to go to Bravenet or Topcities and be done with it.
(5) Buy Microsoft FrontPage. Iกve never used it, nor will I. I like having control of my HTML, and no website generator (including the four above) will give me that. But I do know some folks who use it, and they strongly endorse it. One of them even knows how to write in HTML.
But before you buy any program, ask yourself if you think itกll ever pay for itself. Meaning, are you selling stuff? If you are, can you sell enough to get your money back in profit? If you can’t, do you care?
** WRITING A WEBSITE USING HTML **
If you’re going to write HTML, I salute you. Three choices are:
(1) You can use Notepad or a similar text editor. Not a Word processor! Save the text file with the extension HTML, not the default TXT extension, and your browser will recognize it at as an HTML page.
(2) Many free web hosting services have online editors that serve a similar purpose, but I prefer to do my writing offline because itกs faster. And, if you’re paying an hourly rate for your Internet access, offline is cheaper.
(3) I used Notepad for many months, but then I found a better way. Itกs called CSE HTML VALIDATOR LITE. Imagine Notepad with the ability to open five pages at a time, and the power to validate your HTML code (making sure itกs right) before you upload it. Thatกs CSE HTML VALIDATOR LITE, and itกs free at http://www.htmlvalidator.com.
If you have no need to validate your code changing contact information or background colors, for example I recommend Edit Pad. Itกs also free, and itกs like Notepad with the ability to open multiple pages. HTML Validator Lite limits you to five, but Edit Pad is unlimited. http://www.editpadpro.com/
Once youกve written the code, preview it with your browser(s) before you upload it. It might not be quite right. It rarely is for me on the first try.
** WHERE TO GET SOUNDS & GRAPHICS **
Iกm guessing you have some photos of yourself, friends, family, pets, school, whatever. Thatกs probably why you’re setting up your website.
But what about backgrounds? What about music?
Whenever you visit a website, if you see any UNCOPYRIGHTED art you like, just right click it and choose กSave Target As.ก Then youกve got it.
As for music, I don’t put MP3s online because:

The files are quite large
I never know which are copyrighted and which aren’t

So on one of my sites, I have MIDIs. All public domain, meaning you can take them and use them yourself. Just right click and choose กSave Target As.ก
OR, you can just go to any search engine and type กfree wallpaperก or กfree backgroundก to get some artwork, or กfree MIDIก to get some free music. Right click, Save Target As.
Itกs that simple.
** CHOOSING A HOSTING SERVICE **
If you wrote your site using a template or an online HTML editor from one of the free hosting services, this stepกs done. But you still need to download all those files as backups. Sometimes free hosting services vanish suddenly, and you DON’t want to lose your whole site that way! So keep reading!
If you wrote your site on your own system, you need to get it onto the Internet now.
First you need to choose a web hosting service. A free one, definitely. Itกs always possible to start with a freebie and move to a paid provider later, but I haven’t left the freebies and Iกve been at this for years.
There are a lot of freebies out there. If you don’t believe it, go to any search engine and type กfree web hosting.ก I have no idea what you’re looking for in your free provider, but I can tell you what I looked for in mine.
* Lots of storage space. Thanks to all the photos and music, my largest site takes 12 Mb. Since you have all your files in a single directory, look at how large that is. Open Windows Explorer, find the folder, and rightclick it to look at the properties. How much do you think itกll grow? Pick a server with AT LEAST 20 Mb.
* No popup ads. This is a BIG deal to me. All free hosting sites have ads, but youกll note that Topcities doesn’t use popups. Just a banner at the top of all my pages. I can live with that. My nopopup rule knocks Tripod and Angelfire out of the running.
* Accessibility from anywhere in the world. This knocks out very popular freebies like Freeservers (formerly my favorite) and Yahoo Geocities. Oh, and Tripod again. China doesn’t like them, and I live in China.
So now, your assignment is simple. Decide where you’re going to put your new website. I chose http://www.topcities.com but you don’t have to.
Once youกve made a decision, youกll have to apply for an account and fill out some information about yourself, including the name you want for your site.
Usually the web host will send you an email to confirm your address. You respond to it, and you have access. Then itกs just a matter of sending your files.
** UPLOADING YOUR FILES **
For the beginners… Upload means to send files to another computer. Download means to take files from another computer.
(If your files exist on a server but not on your own hard drive, youกll be downloading!)
Some web host providers have excellent file transfer abilities built right in. Topcities is especially strong in this regard. Or, you may need an FTP server program.
FTP simply means กFile Transfer Protocol.ก In short, a way for your computer to talk to the one your hosting service is using.
You can pick up a free FTP program at http://www.ipswitch.com/. Drop down to the bottom left and click Try WS_FTP Pro. Itกs a strippeddown version of the commercial version, but itกll do everything you need and it never expires.
Depending on the speed of your connection and the sizes of your files, this step can be very quick or very slow. But either way, you don’t have to do much work. Just click a few buttons and let กer rip!
(Now might be a good time for a refill on the beverage of your choice. I know I had a few as I wrote this lesson.)
Once you transfer all your files, you have a website. Your hosting service will tell you the URL (address). Make sure it works, surf it a bit, and just enjoy the fruits of your labor. Then tell your friends and take a break!
Congratulations! You’re a webmaster now!
** FINE TUNING & SEARCH ENGINE PLACEMENT **
Hello, webmaster!
Thatกs right, you’re a webmaster. Youกve got a website.
But, you probably want to improve it, and you probably want people to know how to find it.
This is the final lesson, and probably the one youกll keep referring to. Fortunately all its resources are online, so you can just bookmark a few pages and go to them as necessary.
Now that you have a website up and running, you might want to look at Is Your Website Unfriendly? (http://lbarker.orcon.net.nz/HTMLtips.html)
If you’re programming in HTML, Web Colour Codes (http://lbarker.orcon.net.nz/colors.html) is an easy way to find the sixdigit hex code for whatever color you may be seeking. This is especially useful for background colors, as fast goodlooking graphics can be hard to find.
After youกve uploaded your web pages, running a diagnostic Will tell you how long it takes them to load at various modem speeds, how compatible they are with older browsers, how to improve problem areas, if you have busted links, etc. These are all free.
Speaking of busted links, download Xenu. I have over 1000 outgoing links on one of my websites, and it checks them all automatically. I manually check the ones it claims are busted.
You can find my complete list of diagnostic tools at: http://freereads.topcities.com/bookpromo.html
That page also contains a few more goodies you might want to use. Software & Graphics, and CGI Scripts.
Speaking of CGI scripts, visit http://www.bravenet.com if you haven’t already. (This won’t work in China.)
Scripts are defined as things where the user can send info back to your website. Guestbooks, feedback forms, newsletter subscriptions, chat rooms, games, you name it. Things HTML just can’t do.
Bravenet lets you use their scripts, free. You just copy and paste a small bit of HTML code into your site and they handle the rest. Itกs worth a look, AFTER you use the scripts that your free web host gives you.
http://freereads.topcities.com/websitenewsletter.html contains my analysis of Search Engine placement. Itกll take you some time to go through all that.
I recommend running the diagnostics before you submit to the Search Engines, because some Search Engines penalize or even ban pages with badlywritten HTML.
Then, swing by The Web Marketing Checklist at http://www.webmarketingtoday.com/articles/checklist.htm to make sure youกve done everything you’re supposed to.
http://freereads.topcities.com/freebooksonthenet.html contains a large selection of free ebooks. Many are about website and newsletter promotion.
Have you subscribed to my free newsletter yet? Itกs called Mad About Books, but it covers more than that. As I discover new ways to improve and promote my websites and newsletter, I include them in my newsletter.
Good luck with your new website!
Best regards,
Michael LaRocca

http://freereads.topcities.com/archive.html
Michael LaRoccaกs website at http://freereads.topcities.com was chosen by WRITERกS DIGEST as one of The 101 Best Websites For Writers in 2001 and 2002. He published two novels in 2002 and has two more scheduled for publication in 2004. He also works as an editor for an epublisher. He teaches English at a university in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, China, and publishes the free weekly newsletter Mad About Books.
Copyright 2004, Michael LaRocca

About The Author

Michael is an American whoกs lived in Asia since 1999. He currently teaches English at Shaoxing University in Zhejiang Province, China. He telecommutes to Hong Kong as a legal transcriptionist, edits for Books Unbound, and he published four novels in 2002.
His website will show you how to improve your writing, find the right publisher, and promote your book after the sale. It explains why you should never pay to be published. It has won two Sime~Gen Readers Choice Awards and was listed in Writers Digestกs The Best 101 Websites For Writers in 2001 and 2002. http://freereads.topcities.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on May 09, 2004

by Michael LaRocca

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

eCommerce development for Microsoft Great Plains:

eCommerce development for Microsoft Great Plains: tools and highlights for programmer

by: Andrew Karasev

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, former Great Plains Software Dynamics and eEnterprise was designed in earlier 1990th as ERP, which can be easily transferable to the winning Database and OS platform and it was originally available on Mac and PC – Mac OS and Microsoft Windows respectively. Graphical platforms battle is pretty much over and now with eCommerce demands, we should look at Great Plains Dynamics tables structure:

Naming Convention. Great Plains was designed to be ready to move to the winning database platform and probably this is why we see this a bit complicated naming convention in place: SOP10100, RM00101, IV00101 – these are samples: SOP header, Customer master, Inventory master. First – we see module prefix: SOP – Sales Order Processing, RM – Receivables management, IV – Inventory control, etc., then 0 stays for the master files, 1 – socalled work files (before transaction being posted), 2 – open files (after transaction is posted) and 3 – historical files (when you close the year in General Ledger – transactions are moved from open to history files). So as you see – logic is present and structured, but it is not friendly to the developer, who never seen and worked with Great Plains Dynamics.

Tables Groups. Great plains was designed to first serve midsize businesses and then with the availability of third party modules – the intention was to compete on corporate ERP market with Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP and others big players. This is why we see the whole cluster of tables to store, say Sales Invoice: SOP Header, SOP Lines, SOP Distribution, RM Key file, etc.

From the Forms side (or screens) you can see more humanreadable names: SOP Entry, RM_Customer_Maintenance, POP_Entry or the like. But these legacy Great Plains Dexterity names do not help eCommerce developer – only probably as the reference on which table works with specific screen.

Let’s take a look at the tools available:

eCommerce – together with eOrder, and other eXXX products it should be considered as legacy and phase out product, based on Microsoft eCommerce server and ASP technology, today Microsoft has new paradigm .Net and ASPX World

eConnect – was specially created for eCommerce developers, who integrate Microsoft Great Plains with eCommerce web interface. This tool covers a lot of Great Plains objects creation and retrieving functionality, however it does have restrictions, because it was not intended as replacement to Great Plains Dexterity shell. For example – if you create Orders in SOP via Web interface/eConnect – it is difficult manipulate these orders (transfers to Invoices, backorders, reallocations, etc.). Another issue with eConnect – developers are kind of used to the fact that Microsoft provides free SDK to its products, Microsoft CRM for example has freely downloadable Microsoft CRM SDK. For eConnect you have to pay license and be on Microsoft Business Solutions annual support to get version upgrades. Also if you are ISV and develop your GP integration to your customers – you have licensing issue with Microsoft.

Custom SOP/AR stored procedures. Microsoft Business Solutions partners in their practice usually have several Great Plains integration projects implemented where integration is realized on the stored procedures level and transactions are created and manipulated in Great Plains SOP. So – you may end up seeking this type of help

Good luck with implementation, customization and integration and if you have issues or concerns – we are here to help! If you want us to do the job give us a call 8665280577 or 6309615918! [email protected]

About The Author

Andrew is Great Plains specialist in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) – Microsoft Great Plains, Navision, Microsoft CRM Partner, serving clients in San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Orlando, New Orleans, Phoenix, Seattle, Minneapolis, Detroit, Los Angeles

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 17

by Andrew Karasev

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

Googlebot Won’t Go Home

Googlebot Won’t Go Home

by: Tony Dean

I have กGooglebotก crawl my site every day like a dispossessed spirit that can’t leave.

It was not always like this, I would go for a month or more before he came to my site and then would only crawl a few pages and leave again.

This has been going on now for two months or more, Iกve been watching the stats on my server everyday seeing just where he goes. He will crawl a few pages one day, and the next some other pages, and then finally leave until the morrow. After just three or four weeks, I noticed I got an infestation of lesser bots calling as well, some I have never heard of before, they seem to follow กGooglebotก as though he is the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

What caused this infestation of bots?

Well, I got interested in rss feeds, I thought กWhat a good tool for drawing traffic to my site.ก

So I studied up on rss feeds until I understood what was involved. Now I am no ‘techieก, and the most programming I do is html in กNotepadก, making my own web pages.

Rss feeds use a similar language called xml, so it was easy to understand for me, and I was able to quickly make up an rss feed page in กNotepadก, placed it on my server, downloaded a กfeed readerก software, opened it up, placed the address of my feed in the กfeed readerก, and up came my rss feed in the reader. It was so easy I wrote an ebook to tell everyone how to do it, itกs called ‘really Simple RSSก.

There are many rss directories and syndication services that I submitted the address of my rss feed to, so other people can look at the feed in their กfeed readerก and see what articles I am posting.

Some of the กsubscribersก to the feed actually come and visit my site to see what itกs all about, which happened almost straight away after I submitted my feed.

In less than 36 hours, กGooglebotก found my feed!

In a little over two days later Yahooกs กSlurpก bot found my feed, and from there on they have both been crawling my site with the lesser bots every single day.

They crawl everything, they crawl all my pdf ebooks, they look at a few pages in กWebmasters Cornerก, they even look at my กBonus Reportsก, and even descend the staircase into my กSecret Vaultก!

When will they go home and stop prying into my little secrets?

I know I encourage them like leaving cheese for a mouse, by putting more pdf files, software and ebooks on my site every day, so I suppose the poor bots can’t ever keep up!

I found out that like mice like cheese, that กGooglebotก likes my pdf files, he has been fitted with digital spectacles so he is now able to actually read keyword rich pdf files all the way through to the end! So he likes pdf files.

So I have obliged him!

I put 85 pdf files up on my server one night just to keep him happily reading! I have put many more up on the server since, and will continue to create more pdf files of classic authors for free download, just to keep him calling with his กfriendsก.

Isn’t this a laugh?

Itกs like taking in a stray dog, feeding him, housing him, and the dog loosing the ability to wander off again and finding you have got a lodger for life.

My siteกs ranking has risen considerably both in Yahoo and Google, but for some reason that escapes me for the time being, my ranking rose more quickly in Yahoo and they rank it much higher than Google. I may well find the reason for this before long and put it in another article.

So if you are a web site owner struggling to get noticed by the web bots, don’t put it off much longer, put up an rss feed with articles about your products or service and not only will กGooglebotก call with his กfriendsก, but actual live people will call too.

About The Author

Tony Dean runs a web site selling ebooks and software at: http://www.ebooksales.com

Subscribe to his ezine just send a blank email to: [email protected]

This article was posted on October 21, 2004

by Tony Dean