Antivirus Internet Security Basics: How Viruses Get on a Computer
by Yves A Martin
Recently a computer security expert stated that the only way to keep a computer 100% safe was to never turn it on. This is actually inaccurate and a little misleading. A computer used solely to type up and print out documents, never connected to the Internet and that never received files transferred from some other computer, could in fact be a useful 100% secure computer system. Viruses and other malware get on a computer through a network like the Internet and file transfers from other computers and there are several ways that can happen.
Users want to attach computers to the Internet and receive emails, instant messages, browse web pages, download music and fun software etc. The problem is that this puts not just millions but billions of people at their doorstep! Imagine that if billions of people could reach a home instantly - how many ill intentioned people would come by to see if the doors and windows were secured? How many con artists would knock on the door? An Internet connected computer is in just that predicament.
When a computer is connected to a network by design it starts listening for communications from the outside world. Things known as ports get created which are special “doors” to the computer. These doors are special because they each have a designated program that will answer the door if it is knocked on. Examples of programs that listen for traffic from the network include:
· instant messaging programs
· Internet phone software
· software for connecting to the computer from remote locations
· Internet games
Even the operating system itself opens ports to share files or a printer or anything else on the computer. Each of those programs creates a “door” to the computer that it will answer if someone “knocks” on it. If the answering program is poorly designed then the “knocking” program could take advantage of it and thus compromise the computer.
In addition to people being able to come across the Internet and knock on one of the “doors” mentioned above - by using a web browser and surfing the Internet users are inviting people to access their computers. Every time a web site is browsed the web browser is downloading files to the computer and processing them. If that web browser is not programmed properly it is a huge security risk. For example on December 12 of 2008 Microsoft reported a big security hole in all versions of its Internet Explorer browser. The hole permitted data stealing software to be installed on the victim’s computer just by browsing an infected web page! Other examples of programs that invite access to your computer:
· Email programs
· File sharing and music sharing programs (by far one of the largest security risks)
· Instant messaging software
So aside from isolating a computer from the outside world, how can one protect a computer system? Here are some tips:
1. Don’t use Internet Explorer as your main browser. I am not bashing Microsoft or Internet Explorer particularly and something should be made clear: It is not necessarily that other browsers are programmed so much better but that 80% of people surfing the Internet are using Internet Explorer. Thus thieves interested in gaining access to the maximum amount of victims are going to spend most of their efforts exploiting the security holes of the browser that 80% of the people are using.
2. Put a firewall between your internal network and the Internet. A firewall’s job is to keep out those billions of people who can be at your doorstep instantaneously. It will only allow those you invite to knock on your computer’s door.
3. Use a Firewall on each individual computer. The network firewall mentioned above is a big step toward protecting the internal network. The problem is that it generally won’t protect users from themselves. A user browsing a website is telling the network firewall that it has given an invitation to that website and to permit files from that site to come through. If the user browses an infected website with a browser that has a security hole a virus will get into the network. If it is a certain type of virus it could start replicating itself within the local network. A computer firewall defends against this sort of problem.
4. Update your operating system and browsers. Security holes are constantly found in all operating systems and all browsers. Software updates patch these holes.
5. Use a good and up-to-date antivirus and spyware program. These programs help prevent damage from viruses that do make it to your system.
6. Backup your data. Short of isolating a computer it is impossible to 100% secure a system. If you backup your data then should the worst occur having good backups will prevent disaster.
The above represents the basics and go a long way to protecting computer systems.
Yves A Martin is the founder of M-Qual Computer and Internet Specialists: a network engineering and small business technical support firm based out of Philadelphia, PA. Yves maintains a site about Antivirus and Internet Security where users can find reliable information about computer security and also find out about recommended Antivirus Software.
Article Source: Article Directory
Article: link
Increase Windows XP Performance
by Terabai
Computer is part and parcel of the worlds today. We use it for entertainment, work and personal needs and for business. Thus the performance of the computer is essential for every user. Although there are a lot of Windows’ versions but here are some tips to increase your Windows XP performance.
Firstly you have to make sure that your windows are using NTFS concept. So how do you check what kind of system are you windows using? You just have to go to My Computer, right click on Drive C and then choose Properties. Then you can see what system you windows are using. If your windows are using FAT32, then you should change it to NTFS. The main reason for this is that NTFS are more secured and trusted plus it is more efficient with large hard disk drive. Changing the format is easy. You have to create backup for important data on your computer. After that, go to Start Menu, and click Run. Type CMD on the Run Menu and click Ok. You will be brought to a DOS program. There you just type C:/FS:NTFS. It will convert your windows system from FAT32 to NTFS.
After converting Windows System, check as well whether the system are using the options Indexing File as well. You can check it by going to your Properties of your C Drive. At the bottom of the properties, you can see two check box and they are Compress This Drive To Save Disk and Index This Drive For Faster Searching. Uncheck both to increase you Windows performance. Checking the box is good in a way that it increase the performance upon searching files and folders on your computer. But it reduces your memory capacity and in the end making your computer slower.
This is another thing that could make your computer load slower. You have to empty your Windows Prefetch Folder. You have to empty this folder every three month at least. Prefetch Folder is a storage for data and applications that are being use regularly. It can make those regular data or folder to load fast. But from time to time, this folder will be full of data and applications that you do not used anymore. This will affect your Windows XP loading time and the performance will be affected because the reference folder has to be loaded as well. So it must be emptied for at least every three month. For your information, the content of the folder are not critical. You can find the folder at C:windowsprefetch.
Have you ever wondered sometimes why you have to wait for a long time to load your computers? It might be due to your startup program. Your computer has to load a lot of programs for example like MP3 programs, antivirus programs and a lot more. This makes the start up loading time to increase. You have to get rid of the program that is not needed upon starting Windows. To overcome this all you have to do is uncheck any program that is not needed. Do not worry as this does not do any uninstalling operation. It only disable the program to start along when Windows are start up. The way for you to do this is by going to the Start Menu and then go to Run. Type in MSCONFIG and you will be brought to System Configuration. Go to Startup and just uncheck which software or program of which is of not important for Windows Start Up.
Those are a few things that you can do to increase the performance of your computer. There are a lot of other things that you can do, but it would be more technical and best if you just send your computer to a computer technician. I would suggest for you to find a friends who really have the knowledge on computer.
Free Computer Applications My World My Life
Article Source: Article Directory
Article: link
What You Need To Know To Launch Your Home Business Online
by Chandrasoma Perera
A home business online can be a lucrative pastime or a serious business venture. It is a pastime when you do it secondary to your day job by working few free hours a week and enjoy doing it whether you get an income or not. A serious business when you conduct your home business online as your main source of income.
Both alternatives are available to you. It is worth trying it either way. One worthwhile advantage of a home business online is that you can launch it with little investment. In a home business online more effort you put to it more results and income you will get from it. If you are new to home business online and wish to know about launching a home business online here is a simple step by step way of doing it for your benefit and reading pleasure of course.
The first requisite for launching your home business online is a website of your own. There are several ways of getting one. Perhaps, you do not want to spend money to try out a home business online. Learning HTML will be useful. There easy to use free resources on the web like Nvu that can be used by beginners to format own websites.
Or else, you can set up on your own, in a few minutes, a free blog using Google blogger com or Word Press. You can then use your blog in place of website in your home business online.
And if you are prepared to spend some money to get a professionally done website you can hire the service of an expert and get it done to suit the needs of your home business online. Then you have to use a good hosting company to host your website. Or alternatively you can obtain, at a not so big expense, a turnkey website setup on your own domain. Such turnkey websites can be customized to your requirements. This is easy as most turnkey website systems come with hosting as part of the package and with a pre-written email campaign as well.
Next you need products to sell. It is not necessary to have your own products to sell via your website. You can sell other people’s products at a commission and/or affiliate programs etc., through your home business online. For this you can pick a niche market and a specific niche-segment (micro-niche) of it.
You have to choose specific keywords. These keywords need to be used to optimize your website by means of SEO. There are free resources on the web to learn all about SEO. And expertise is obtainable at a fee to optimize your website through SEO.
Once this is done you need to build your email list of subscribers. There are several such methods for building your list. This can be done by buying leads to add from your auto-responder or getting visitors to your site to subscribe to an email news letter etc. Then you have to set up an auto-responder with a pre-written email news letter campaign to promote your products or affiliate programs.
Suppose now you have a very attractive website promoting marketable products and you need sales. For this you need visitors to your website. That is traffic. To get traffic there are many ways. Advertising via ezines, banner ads, Pay per click ads, article marketing, and links are some of the popular methods that can be used. Articles are a free means of getting traffic links to your website.
The best way to get targeted good quality traffic is through search engine searches. For that you have to promote your site to be on the first three pages of Google and other search engines like Yahoo, MSN etc. This requires optimization for Search Engine acceptability, link popularity etc of your website.
These are in brief steps needed to launch and promote your home business online. There are few more ingredients that are needed. Those are a budget, a strategic plan, business goals to aim at, a vision to reach and consistency of purpose and enthusiasm to make you home business online a success.
Chandrasoma Perera was born in the beautiful island of Sri Lanka and he writes regularly on a variety of subjects. He introduces tested and proven home business online ideas and opportunities his website:- http://www.chanano.com
Article Source: Article Directory
Article: link
The Hard Drive And Graphics Card
by Victor Epand
The hard drive is where all your programs, drivers and other applications are stored, and also where you usually save every thing you create on your computer, unless you use an external hard drives.
It is non volatile, meaning that it does not need power to keep all the information there, unlike RAM. The more GB your hard drive has, then the more it is able to store, but that does not mean that it is faster. The speed of the hard drive, or how fast the information can be retrieved, depends on the revolutions per minute or rpm, which indicates how fast the hard drive spins.
Most laptop hard drives have an rpm of fifty four hundred, but you can upgrade to seventy two hundred. The cons of a faster hard drive are that it generates more heat and will drain your battery faster, so take that into consideration when configuring your laptop. An example of this is the 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM).
This hard drive can store 160GB of data. The SATA is the name of the interface, the means by which information travels between the hard drive and the mother board, and it spins at 5400 revolutions per minute. You would think a hard drive with more capacity is faster, but it is actually just the opposite. Some times you will see laptops with dual hard drives and a dual hard drive is faster than a single one.
Recently, solid state hard drives have started to appear, and the larger ones are a great choice if your budget allows it. The 128GB is currently the largest solid state hard drive available. Since they do not spin like traditional hard drives, they are quiet and they do not get hot. They will not drain the battery as fast and are much better at handling shakes and bumps.
You do not need to spend a lot of money on upgrading to a huge hard drive, just make sure you have enough space for your operating system, programs, files, etc. It is very easy and relatively inexpensive, to add external hard drives.
The graphics card produces every thing you see on your screen, from plain text to complex 3D graphics. The card comes either integrated, meaning it is soldered to the mother board or separate discreet. The integrated card shares memory with the CPU, which really slows things down if you do any on-line gaming, or work on music or video. Another down side is that you can not change an integrated card if you decide to upgrade.
The discreet card has its own RAM and version of a CPU, the GPU, so working on complex image production will not affect the speed and performance of the rest of your computer. The speed of the card is determined by its band width, which is how fast information travels between the GPU and the graphics memory or RAM.
The fastest cards are capable of producing up to sixty 3D images per second. The human eye can only see twenty five per second, but more are needed to make a 3D game flow smoothly. If you are using your computer only for word processing, email, and Internet browsing, any of the newer laptops will do the trick with the card that is included, even if it is integrated. If you want to do more graphics intensive work such as in Photoshop or Illustrator, then a separate card is preferable. If you use your laptop for on-line 3D games, then you would want to go with the best card your budget allows, or one that is separate from the mother board, has a lot of memory and a fast processor.
An example of this type of graphics card is the 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS. This card from NVIDIA has 128MB of RAM, GeForce is just a name, and 8400M GS is the model number. Most computer sellers only list this kind of basic information about the graphics cards. To get the full specs on any card listed for a computer, you need to go to the manufacturer’s website.
Victor Epand is an expert consultant for computer parts and suits and ties. Shop here to find hard drives and graphics, formal suits and ties, and computer parts in Canada.
Article Source: Article Directory
Article: link
Original or Compatible ink? How to decide
by Abbi M Rouse
Compatible ink cartridges: cheap inferior substitutes or genuine bargain? Original cartridges: over-priced necessity or high quality ink? How is anyone to decide when the data available is so scanty and inconsistent? Cut through the hyperbole and hype and check out these five points to help you decide which ink is right for your personally.
1. What do you print?
a. Mostly text
b. Mostly photos
Independent tests show that black compatible inks consistently give comparable results against OEM (original equipment manufacturer) cartridges.
If you want top quality photo prints however, you may need a genuine cartridge with matching paper. The big brands perform rigorous tests to ensure their own inks and papers get optimum results together.
However, an independent review site* ran an extensive test comparing compatible ink prints against OEMs: the compatible prints were preferred by their audience. Results were cross-referenced on various OEM and 3rd party papers on a number of different printers.
The conclusion: if results matter most, experiment until you get your best results. Experimenting not an option? Good results can be got from OEM inks plus matched paper. Alternatively, top brand compatibles are out there that perform lab tests on their own ink and paper.
2. How much printing do you do?
a. A little
b. A lot
The choice often boils down to money. If you print loads, a cheap compatible is tempting.
But beware: not all compatibles are equal. Those dirt cheap cartridges can be cheap for a reason - low quality inks, cheap plastic casing (leaking or affecting ink in storage) and the cheapest compatible inks dry out quickly leading to clogged print heads.
You can buy cleaning cartridges to ‘wash out’ print heads or use the cleaning program on your printer, but the first costs money and the second wastes ink. A lot of ink.
Print heads can be replaced or repaired, depending on your machine, but if you are outside warranty this will cost, although if you save enough money using cheap compatibles this may not worry you.
Manufacturers cannot legally void warranty on a faulty printer that has used third party ink, but they can void it if they find that ink has damaged the machine.
The conclusion: the greater your ink use, the more benefit there is to choosing a high quality compatible ink. But pick a quality one, particularly for colour print work.
Divide the cartridge price by its print yield for a cost-per-print price. Compare results between cartridges and you can judge your savings on using a compatible. You may save enough over time to cover the cost of printer repair or replacement.
3. How concerned are you about your prints fading?
a. Not very
b. A lot
The hard truth about cheap compatible inks is that few have what is termed ‘archival’ quality - i.e., they fade. HP, Canon and the like have dedicated laboratories for testing ink recipes to maximise print quality. Their huge budgets allow stringent testing, and they need to: their reputation rests on the results.
High quality compatible inks are available, but the cheapest 3rd part inks use low-grade ingredients and inferior production methods. And it shows in their life span. Unbiased testing has frequently shown that the cheapest compatible inks on the market start fading in less than a year.
Thankfully reliable compatible brands are available which last as much longer than their cheap competitors and in tests compare favourably with the OEM brands.
However, be aware that fading can be a result of using the wrong paper. For optimum results with any inks you need to use the best paper. But more importantly, use the Right paper.
Porous or Instant-Dry paper gets poor results with the dye-based inks usually found in compatibles (for example Epson paper, designed for Epson’s pigment-based ink).
Best results with compatible ink come with ‘encapsulating’ paper, made to work with dye-based inks, such as HP’s and Canon’s. Some inkjet papers claim to work with dye And pigmment, but check product reviews first.
Print life can be maximised and fading avoiding by storing prints away from humidity, air pollution and bright lights. Prints from dye-based inks are especially prone to ozone-erosion, and other air-based pollutants. These prints should be displayed behind glass to avoid fading.
The conclusion: OEM inks offer archive quality prints. Cheap compatibles fade but a good compatible can give you great results.
4. Are Green issues important to you?
a. No
b. Yes
Most compatibles use new casings that cannot be recycled. If your printer or its parts wear out sooner because you use cheap compatibles then OEM cartridges are clearly greener.
There are some good ‘green’ third party cartridges available which use recycled cases and come in environmentally-friendly packaging - shop around. Or you could refill your own cartridges with bottled ink.
Conclusion: genuine can be greenest, unless you find a reliable eco-friendly compatible.
5. How old is your machine?
a. A few years or more
b. New
If you’re happy with an old machine you might bulk-buy cartridges. If you’ve found a great source of compatibles, fine; otherwise you’re probably safer buying originals. OEM cartridges are more likely to be stable in storage, particularly pigment-based inks, which are less susceptible to drying out.
If you have an older machine which takes cartridges still used by newer models then your choice of compatibles will be broader. But keep an eye on the market when purchasing ink to avoid a nasty surprise if supplies dry up.
Newer printers often need ‘chipped’ cartridges. Manufacturers add chips to deter users from buying compatibles, and to control ink flow. The compatible cartridges use either their own chip or get you to reuse the chip from your original cartridge.
Ink wastage is a common complaint about OEM chipped cartridges. The chip says ‘ink low’, and the machine stops until you change cartridges. However, tests have proven that as much as 30% of the cartridge’s ink is left unused.
Decent compatible cartridges now come hardwired to bypass erroneous ‘low ink’ messages, plus come filled to maximum capacity. An OEM ink cartridge often holds far less ink quantity than you’d assume from the cartridge size. Decent third party inks offer a lot more ink per cartridge.
The final conclusion: an ink seller with a high turnover is a better source than one where ink is stuck for months on the shelf, slowly deteriorating. Check any product reviews available and experiment. Choose a compatible from a reputable supplier selling a named brand. A quality compatible ink will not damage your printer. If your ink use is modest, original cartridges make good sense.
*trustedreviews.com - The Inkjet Investigation.
Looking for genuine cartridges or a great quality compatible ink? Visit 7dayshop.com - we only stock the Inkrite range of compatible inks. Inkrite cartridges carry 30% more of their UV-resistant ink in their recycled cartridges than typical OEM cartridges. Quality guaranteed at a low price!
Article Source: Article Directory
Article: link