Information Portal, Tech News, Data Recovery

Clear Windows memory without restarting

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 16:14:00 +0000

If you are running windows based computer you’ll know, like many others than after a while your system will in doubt start running slow. Most people will restart their computer to remove and idle processes. But if there’s a simpler way, why restart every time windows decides it doesn’t like you today?

1. Right click on an empty spot on your desktop and select New - Shortcut.

2. Type %windir%\system32\rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks in the box.

3. Click Next.

4. Give your shortcut a nice name like “Clear Memory”.

5. Click Finish and you’re done.

Now whenever your computer starts running slow click this shortcut to clear out your memory and get your computer running at a normal pace again.

Scientists Invent 30 Year Continuous Power Laptop Battery

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 01:47:00 +0000

Your next laptop could have a continuous power battery that lasts for 30 years without a single recharge thanks to work being funded by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. The breakthrough betavoltaic power cells are constructed from semiconductors and use radioisotopes as the energy source. As the radioactive material decays it emits beta particles that transform into electric power capable of fueling an electrical device like a laptop for years.

Although betavoltaic batteries sound Nuclear they’re not, they’re neither use fission/fusion or chemical processes to produce energy and so (do not produce any radioactive or hazardous waste). Betavoltaics generate power when an electron strikes a particular interface between two layers of material. The Process uses beta electron emissions that occur when a neutron decays into a proton which causes a forward bias in the semiconductor. This makes the betavoltaic cell a forward bias diode of sorts, similar in some respects to a photovoltaic (solar) cell. Electrons scatter out of their normal orbits in the semiconductor and into the circuit creating a usable electric current.

The profile of the batteries can be quite small and thin, a porous silicon material is used to collect the hydrogen isotope tritium which is generated in the process. The reaction is non-thermal which means laptops and other small devices like mobile phones will run much cooler than with traditional lithium-ion power batteries. The reason the battery lasts so long is that neutron beta-decay into protons is the world's most concentrated source of electricity, truly demonstrating Einstein’s theory E=MC2.

The best part about these cells are when they eventually run out of power they are totally inert and non-toxic, so environmentalists need not fear these high tech scientific wonder batteries. If all goes well plans are for these cells to reach store shelves in about 2 to 3 years.

Inside of Windows Vista Service Pack 1

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 03:52:00 +0000

"Now is the time and the time is now." This is the introduction Microsoft Product Manager Nick White tied to the company's first initiative designed to make public details about the first service pack for Windows Vista.

Carrying somewhat of the weight of a slogan, the time reference is far away from the impulse built into the Wow. I don't know if you still remember but "Wow is Now" was made synonymous with the launch of Vista in late January 2007. Quite a limp Wow, outperformed in the Vista delivery by the impact of Apple's iPhone for example and a marketing campaign which failed to gain or even keep a healthy momentum. Seven months after the consumer launch of Windows Vista the Wow is referenced less and less having faded into the background, while the operating system is slowly grinding and eroding Windows XP from its dominant position on the operating system market instead of dislodging it as an obsolete and expired platform.

Wow Reloaded, No Sooner than Next Year
Microsoft's second take at the Windows Vista Wow is scheduled for the first quarter of 2008. The company failed to put an accurate date on the release but just because it is not entirely up to Microsoft. "We’re targeting the first quarter of 2008, but the exact date really depends on feedback we receive from testers and the work we put into making sure we understand the feedback we receive," explained Jon DeVaan, Senior Vice President of the Windows Core Operating System division at Microsoft. Of course that the Redmond company, in its long tradition of hinting (notice that I am not using the term leaking, and have opted for an euphemism) future development directions, revealed the 2008 release date for Vista SP1 since the Financial Analyst Meeting 2007 in July. Notice that in the chronological enumeration of client and server milestones for the 2008 fiscal year, Vista SP1 is placed well after Windows Server 2008, formerly codenamed Longhorn. Although since July Microsoft indeed postponed the release to manufacturing Windows Server 2008 until the first quarter of 2008, the launch date remains set at the end of February 2008.

So your best estimates are that, if Microsoft delivers Vista SP1 at the end of February, you still have to wait six months beginning now for the refresh. In other words Microsoft has made a decisive move to catalyze Vista adoption before the service pack drops. It remains to be seen if the decision will or will not prove a gambit for the Redmond company. And just in case that you are hopping for Vista SP1 before Windows Server 2008, don't! The reason? Well the first service pack for Vista and Windows Server 2008 are intimately connected, via the 6.1 kernel.

"Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 have been built from the same fundamental source code base since the beginning. Many of the core files are identical between the two products, although each product has unique features, specific individual files and functional behaviors that are appropriate for the intended customer uses for the specific product. For example, Windows Media Center only appears in Windows Vista, while Active Directory or Windows Clustering only appear in Windows Server 2008. Examples of common files shared between the two operating systems are the kernel and core OS files, the networking stack, file sharing. In the past year since the Windows Vista public release, the common files in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 have been continually improved based on customer beta feedback, customer deployments, and Microsoft internal testing," explained Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc.

Windows Server 2008 is currently in Beta 3 stage and Microsoft was planning to RTM its last 32-bit server operating system by the end of the year. This is no longer the case. And currently the company's best estimates for Windows Server RTM are the first quarter of 2008. Coincidentally, the first quarter of the upcoming year is also the release date for Windows Vista SP1. Right... there is little coincidence here. At this point in time Microsoft plans to make the full beta of Vista SP1 available for download to MSDN and TechNet subscribers by the mid September. The company will also deliver a public testing build around the time it will move into the release candidate phase of the SP1. Indications point to later this year, but that is anyone's guess right now.

Vista SP1 - The Dying Breed of the Service Pack
Vista SP1 will not be a vessel for new features. This just to know what not to expect from the service pack. In no manner is Vista SP1 a repeat of Windows XP Service Pack 2. As a matter of fact XP SP2 was an exception from the service pack course over at Microsoft and in this respect not even SP3 will bring anything new to the platform launched in 2001 and last updated in 2004. But this does not mean that Microsoft is not growing Windows Vista. In this regard the company downplayed service pack releases as only an accessory to its update infrastructure. Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), the Download Center are all applauded as viable alternatives to the traditional service pack. This does by no means imply that Microsoft will discontinue the practice of refreshing its software products through the release of service packs.

According to Microsoft nowhere is the continuous evolution of Windows Vista outside of service pack releases more evident than in the areas of application compatibility and device driver support. Programs featuring the Works with Windows Vista or certified for Windows Vista logo programs have increased steadily in volume from 254 in November 2006, the month the operating system was released to businesses, to 652 in January, to 1,709 in June and to 2,076 in July. As far as device drivers are concerned, at the end of July Vista included over 2.2 million items, up 700,000 from the 1.5 million drivers supported in November 2006.

source: news.softpedia.com

Ultimate Windows Vista ScreenSaver For your PC

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 15:43:00 +0000

A top notch Windows Vista screensaver is coming to your desktop, not from Microsoft's Ultimate Extras website, but courtesy of the design firm Jackson Fish Market.

You have been able to read recently of a new Microsoft search project and experiment dubbed Tafiti. Essentially, Tafiti is a marriage between Live Search and Silverlight and an interesting approach all the way. In terms of an alternative perspective over search, Tafiti offers users the Tree View. A fully animated tree environment with orbiting search results. And believe it or not, this is the best that Microsoft has to offer in terms of screensavers for Windows Vista since the launch of the operating system. Because the Live Search/Silverlight Tree View is designed to act as a dynamic desktop screensaver.

"In the simplest terms, the Tafiti tree view is a screensaver. We haven’t done the work (yet?) to wire it into the machines actual screensaver mechanism, but we think about it as a passive way to browse more deeply into search results. (...) As the tree spins, the leaves start to turn fall-like. And as each leaf turns from orange to red it finally reaches an end point, turns green again, and the next web result shows up. In this fashion you can leave the tree running for some time as it browses very deep into the search query specified. The longer you let the tree run, the deeper you are browsing into the result set," revealed Hillel Cooperman, one of the founders of Jackson Fish Market.

You might have noticed that I keep referring to Microsoft although the tree view is in fact the work of the Jackson Fish Market. Well, first off, Tafiti is a Live Search and Silverlight combination, and in this context its connection to Microsoft cannot be denied. And second, the Jackson Fish Market reeks of Microsoft. Hillel Cooperman for example is a former Microsoft design director. And the design firm also features Tjeerd Hoek, former Design Director of Windows User Experience (UX) at Microsoft and Jenny Lam User Experience Designer both of them heavyweights during the Windows Vista development.

"If you have two monitors you could set up the Tafiti tree to run on the second monitor while you do your main work on your first. After several minutes you’ll be deeper into the result set than 99.99% of users ever go. And of course, when you get to something interesting you can check it out. I know this is kind of an esoteric feature, but we think there’s something interesting there in terms of browsing the Live Search index in a deeper way than most users ever do. It was also cool that Microsoft was willing to let us experiment with a feature that’s a little different than what people might expect. Anyway, that’s the intention of the Tafiti tree view," Hillel concluded.

Comparision of Windows Vista Home Basic vs. Home Premium vs. Business vs. Ultimate

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:55:00 +0000

Microsoft applauded shipping in excess of 60 million Windows Vista licenses in the operating system's first six months of general availability. However, the Redmond company is right on track to correct this little slip up.

Windows Vista will not continue to sell this well, at least not if Microsoft can help it. Just take a look at the handicapped comparison graphic included towards the bottom of this article, courtesy of the U.S. Vista Business official webpage. Now, in the past it has been demonstrated that Microsoft did not know its own operating system. That was of course in Canada, but still, it appears that ignorance is contagious and that state borders are no boundaries, or impediments.

It's beyond me why Microsoft is doing itself a disservice, but the company does excel in putting together some Wow-less comparisons between its main editions. Case in point: Windows Vista Home Basic vs. Home Premium vs. Business vs. Ultimate. Well... as far as the accuracy, the compelling argument made by the graphic, the marketing insight, the deep knowledge of its latest operating system, the exemplary resources, features and capabilities chosen to advertise the Vista editions, I have only one thing to say about the comparison... I really like the nuances of blue. I do think that they could have gone with turquoise instead, and that it would have proven a better choice, but hey, nobody's perfect and Microsoft excels in its flaw fiesta.

The comparison itself is obviously a complete strike out. Well... if the point was to underline that there is little to no difference between Vista Home Basic and Home Premium and between the Business and Ultimate editions, then Microsoft got it absolutely right. Otherwise, the Redmond company really, really drives nothing home... The main differences between Home Basic and Home Premium seem to be Windows Aero, Tablet PC capabilities, Windows Meeting Space, Windows SideShow and the ability to easily set up a network projector. Get your five Vista features for just $40! Because that's the gap that separates the $199 Home Basic and $239 Home Premium. And I have yet to see users convinced to upgrade to Vista because of Vista Aero and the SideShow.

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source: news.softpedia.com

Secure Your Remote Desktop Connection

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 03:27:00 +0000

With all the emphasis on security for Remote Desktop for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, here's an easy way to secure Remote Desktop.

Remote Desktop normally runs on port 3389. This is the port the Remote Desktop client connects to on default and this is the port hackers scan to find open Remote Desktop connections. By changing this port number, you essentially hide your Remote Desktop connection from hackers who scan port 3389. Then no one will be able to connect your computer through Remote Desktop unless they know the port it runs on.

To change the port number that Remote Desktop uses, you must edit a registry key. The registry key you must edit is located at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Terminal ServerWinStationsRDP-Tcp

This key is stored in a hex value so you must use a decimal to hex conversion tool such as the built in windows calculator (choose your desired port number and convert it to hex before you update the key).

You may need to reboot your computer for the change to take affect and also don't forget to update your firewall if you have one with the new port number.

To connect to your computer through Remote Desktop with an alternate port, enter the IP address or DNS name as you did before with one small modification, add :port number (i.e. if the port is set to 8989: instead of using 192.168.1.1 use 192.168.1.1:8989).

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Enable Remote Desktop Behind Firewall or Routers

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:49:00 +0000

Systems administrators have many options for connecting to another Windows system and working with it as if they were sitting right at the keyboard. These include the Remote Desktop feature in Windows, as well as VNC and its remote control software derivatives, which often include features developed using VNC's code base.

A recent VNC derivative is CrossLoop. CrossLoop deploys VNC in a way that makes it possible for any two PCs to talk to each other without an administrator or user having to change firewall settings or open ports on routers. This is done by using servers provided by CrossLoop to "kick-start" the connection between the two machines, which is done through a tunneling protocol secured with 128-bit Blowfish encryption.

CrossLoop's workings are straightforward: Installation is lightweight and the program works on all versions of Windows, including Vista. If you run the program as a host, it generates a random per-session 12-digit access code, which you provide to whoever needs access to the system. Taking remote control of a system without the other party's explicit authorization is impossible.

Wallpapers on the host are automatically disabled (and then restored) to speed up the connection. This means that when you connect to the remote computer over a Crossloop connection, the wallpaper used by the remote user is not echoed on the local machine,so it's that much less information to transmit.

CrossLoop features that are not supported in Remote Desktop include file transfers or the switching of control from the host to the server.

Note: The first time you host access to your system, you might need to grant permission to CrossLoop to work with any software firewall installed on that machine. However, hardware firewalls will not need to be set up in any way. If for some reason you want to confine all traffic to port 80, simply hold down the Alt key when clicking "Connect" in the client.

The application's licensing structure is a twofold one. The VNC components are licensed under the GNU GPL, but the CrossLoop networking components are proprietary and closed-source, although free for use. Put another way, you can use CrossLoop freely without paying at this point, but the key components of the program are not open source.

Prevent Windows XP Re-Activation

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:07:00 +0000

The time may come that you'll need to reinstall your Windows XP,it could happen. Maybe you'll add a new motherboard or hard drive. Maybe you'll get constant errors and problems that just won't go away. Or perhaps you're a neat freak who wants to rid yourself of clutter and start fresh with a clean operating system. If you do reinstall Windows XP, then you'll need to re-activate it too—that is, unless you keep this tip handy ;-)

See, the first time you activated XP it created a file called "wpa.dbl" that lives in the WINDOWS\system32 folder. By creating a backup of this file on disk, you can simply put it back into the folder after reinstalling XP and avoid the whole re-activation hassle. Here's how...

Go to My Computer then select your Hard Drive (usually drive C).
Go to the WINDOWS\system32 folder and scroll way down until you find the wpa.dbl file.

Right-click and choose "Send To" then either Floppy Drive (make sure you have a disk in) or CD-R/RW.

Now, when you reinstall Windows XP you'll come to the activation screen—decline to activate and let the install finish.

Restart your computer in Safe Mode (keep hitting F8 at start-up then when the Advanced Boot Options menu appears arrow down to Safe Mode).

Find your way back to the WINDOWS\system32 folder. It's a good idea to rename the wpa.dbl file you're replacing just in case you run into problems, so call it something like "wpa.nothing".

Get the backup disk and copy the old wpa.dbl file back to the WINDOWS\system32 folder and reboot.

Now you have You Windows XP is up and running again.

Hacking And Unlocking the IPhone: Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:51:00 +0000

A CROATIAN HACKER under the handle Sassha published a guide in hackint0sh, a fast growing internet forum for all those lads that want to be fashionable in areas without AT&T Cingular service.

This hack includes using your SIM card (has to be SuperSIM - V1, U types), SIM Reader/Writer, SilverCard and some nice files to download. Unlock work on computers equipped with both Mac OS (separate procedure) or Windows operating systems.

After the unlock, the phone uses regular GSM or EDGE network for cellphone connectivity, or Wi-Fi connection point when EDGE connection is not available. However, there is just one small fallback - YouTube does not work. Given the limited number of results that you get on YouTube anyways, this does not seem to be a great loss.

The funniest thing of them all is the fact that you have to use iTunes to activate the iPhone, while that service is not available in Croatia at all. This is due to the fact that Europeans have more strict regs about interoperability and that Apple Croatia has other things on its mind in August. But hey, it's not that Croatia has Nokia Club as well. It's only a 4.5 million people market that owns over three million cellphones.

Ah well, at least the Iphone works.

Hacking Guide of IPhone:

You will need:

1. an iPhone
2. SIM Reader/Writer (Infinity USB Unlimited, Dynamite Programmer,etc.
3. SilverCard
4. Your SIM card (It must be a V1 ,U must be able to get Ki number)
5. Download - http://simemu.gsmhosting.net/SIM_EMU_6.01_CFG_v2.1.zip
- http://www.kinforce.com/down/kinforc...rsim/ws109.zip

1. ::Getting IMSI,ICCID & Ki number from your SIMs::

Step 1 - Your(V1)SIM

1. Put your carrier SIM card in programer
2. Run Woronscan
3. Click on "Tasks" tab then on "IMSI select" u will get a IMSI number, write it down.
4. Click on "Task" tab then on "ICC select" u will get a ICCID number, write it down.
5. Click on "Tasks" tab then on "Ki search", in pop-up window just click "Search", and wait,Ki extraction has began.(I was waiting for mine 40 min ) When u get it, write it down.

Step 2 - Getting IMSI from AT&T SIM card which came with an iPhone

1. Put your AT&T SIM card in programer
2. Click on "Tasks" then on "IMSI select" u will get a IMSI number, write it down.
3. Close Woronscan
4. Remove SIM from programer

Now You have all "data" to make SuperSim.

::Making SuperSim::

1. Download & extract - http://www.rapidshare.com/files/4749..._iphone_u1.rar
1.a Put your Silvercard in programer
2. Run Sim-Emu 6.01 Configurator v2.1
3. Click on Configure tab
4. Click "Read from disk" button
5. Browse to your downloaded Flash&EEPROM files, first double click on SIM_EMU_6.01_iphone_u1.HEX and then double click on SIM_EMU_6.01_iphone_u1_EP.HEX, now they are loaded,positions 0 and 9 are red colored,thats fine.

6. In position 0 , type in data which u got from your carrier SIM with Woronscan - IMSI,Ki & ICCID!
For ADN/SMS/FDN# type 161, 15, 4, for SMS Centre type in your carrier SMS center number.

7. Now select position "9", here type IMSI from AT&T SIM card ,and PIN1 ,PUK1 same like in position "0" ,NOTHING ELSE!
8. In "Config mode" check "Files" circle check button
9. Click on "Write to disk" button,u'll be asked to save new created SuperSim Flash&EEprom files,Save it!
10. Write those NEW created Flash&EEprom files on Silvercard with your programmer software!
11. http://www.mobileshop.org/usertech/simcutting.htm

2. ::Making your iPhone SuperSim compatible::

Step 1
MAC - http://www.hacktheiphone.com/iphone_...dding_mac.html
WIN - http://www.hacktheiphone.com/iphone_...g_windows.html

Step 2
WINDOWS users - For already "fake activated" IPhones ,put the AT&T SIM that it came with IPhone in it or deactivation in step 12. will not work!In "Step 15" when U are filling in fields ,for ICCID use your carrier SIM ICCID not AT&Ts! When u download a "custom activator v0.2" DO NOT PROCCED to Step 16! At this point remove AT&T SIM card from IPhone(still connected to computer),put in your SuperSim AND THEN procced to Step 16.!

MAC users - In step 18. type your carriers SIM ICCID where needed

You will get Activated iPhone with your SuperSim! iPhone will say "Locked SIM", Don't panic!, its only a PIN lock, tap unlock---type PIN 1111. U can disable or change PIN later in Settings--Phone--SimPin.

MAC - http://www.hacktheiphone.com/iphone_...intel_mac.html
WIN - http://www.hacktheiphone.com/iphone_...r_windows.html

EDIT: Added link to new SIM_EMU_6.01_iPhone_u1(Thanx Vladimir_CDI)
EDIT: Removed step to disable PIN in Woronscan,added info how to disable PIN in iPhone

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Get Indexed on Google and Creating Backlinks

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 04:09:00 +0000

Social Bookmarking:
Submit your new website URL to the top social bookmarking sites first, before submitting to Search Engines, your pages will be indexed within days not months! Add 'tags' to your bookmarks so surfers can find your link when they search. Submit pages on a regular basis to stay at the top of site lists, creating more traffic.

Top Social Bookmarking Sites:
* StumbleUpon
* de.licio.us
* Furl
* Technorati
* soc.ialize.us
Search Engines:

Optimize keywords in your meta titles, descriptions, keywords, anchor text, header tags, image alt text. Use keyword generators to create the best keywords possible. Like Good Keywords v.2, Google Sandbox Keyword Tool. Write articles with keywords throughout your content. Make the articles informative and interesting. Submit your URL to link directories, article sites, social bookmarking sites, and other links back to your site, to increase your page rank.

Top Search Engines:
* google.com
* yahoo.com
* msn.com
* search.com
* altavista.com

Link Directories:
Link Directories are an important part of gaining quality links back to your site. A directory is organised into categories and subcategories. Human editors review each directory submission and evaluate the site's quality and relevance. Success only comes when you submit a high quality site to the proper category. Because the directory submission process is so specific to each particular directory, your website must be submitted manually.

Top Link Directories:
* Yahoo
* DMOZ
* SoMuch
* AbiLogic
* Pegasus

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Top SEO Techniques

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:05:00 +0000

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are methods that aid in the improvement of a website's ranking in the listings of search engines. There are different kinds of listings that are displayed in the results pages of search engines, such as paid inclusion, pay-per-click advertisements, and organic search results. Utilizing SEO can increase the quantity of site visitors that acts on the activity that the site intends.

Sites have different goals for search optimization. Some sites search for all kinds of traffic. A SEO strategy that is broad in scope can be advantageous for sites that cover broad interest, such as directories and periodicals. On the other hand, majority of the sites attempt to maximize their pages for a high quantity of very specific keywords that radiate the possibility of a sale. Usually, focusing on well-chosen traffic produces sales leads of desirable quality, and allows advertisers to pull in more business.

The importance of having a high rank for an advertiser's site cannot be emphasized enough. Unfortunately, many site owners believe that their site has a high-ranking, when the truth is exactly the opposite. Others who are aware that they do not possess enough presence in search engines do not know that it is possible to achieve the ranking they want, and that they can get it through means that are a lot easier and more efficient.

So what are the techniques that advertisers must employ to maximize their optimization and garner the site activity and profits that they seek? Here are some of the most useful ones.

1. Title tags should be written in a creative way. It should be created with the strongest keyword targets as the basis. It is the most important tag of a web site when it comes to optimization. The specific keyword of the web site that is being optimized should be the one that is placed in the title tag. It goes without saying that every site should have its own title tag.

2. Carefully select the words and phrases to be assigned to Alt tags. Alt tags are not really mandatory, but they are provided for text browsers because images do not get displayed in web browsers, and it is the Alt tags that give information to the users about its significance. The rule in Alt tags is fairly simple: only key phrases or key words should be put in Alt tags, overdoing may cause a site to disappear in search results or get banned from it indefinitely.

3. Manage keyword density. Keyword density is the percentage occupied by keywords or keyword phrases in a web page. Ideally, keywords are used once in the title tag, the heading tag, and in bold text. Keywords should be placed at the top of the page, and phrases can be inserted in every paragraph, depending on how long the paragraph is.

4. Determine the appropriate page size for the site. Speed is a vital element to the success of a site, and it important to both online visitors and the search engines. It is recommended to limit web pages under 15K.

5. Create rich themes for the pages. Search engines are increasingly getting particular about themes. Content should be created as often as possible, and the pages should be maintained to 200 to 500 words. The content should be created in relation to the market, and should be linked to the other related content present on the site.

6. Make the site's design attractive to the viewer. All efforts in optimization will be in vain if the site is poorly designed and if its contents are hard for viewers to read. There should be more text content than HTML content in the web site. Viewers should be able to use the pages in all major browsers. It should be noted that most search engines veer away from JavaScript and Flash.

7. Stay away from the bad techniques. Utilizing them could get a site blacklisted from the search engines. Spamming is a no-no, and the following techniques are considered spamming: doorway and identical pages, tiny or invisible text, cloaking, usage of keyword phrases in author tags etc.

Advertisers should keep in mind that simplicity is the basis of a successful SEO campaign. Sites should be easy for viewers to locate, follow, and read, and should contain relevant content. Following the techniques above will prove worthwhile for site owners in the future.

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Proactive VOIP Security Monitoring

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 16:19:00 +0000

Converged VoIP and data networks are costing enterprises a lot of money, but still they're left with one question: "Is it secure?"

For Alphonse Edouard, IT vice president for Dune Capital Management, an investment firm, VoIP has become a cornerstone of business. So ensuring its security is imperative.

"For a great deal of what we do, voice is very important," Edouard said.

Dune Capital Management started by deploying VoIP. "Then the 'work anywhere' concept came into play," he said.

Dune needed a way to ensure call quality and to monitor the network to guarantee that it's secure.

"We all know VoIP is very susceptible to hackers," Edouard said. In the past, he has used QRadar from Q1 Labs to monitor flow data and network traffic. Eventually, he started to monitor VoIP quality of service (QoS). But as Dune Capital became more and more dependent on VoIP, the company needed to ensure that enough bandwidth was allotted and also had to find a way to monitor VoIP traffic separately from data traffic, though the two share a network.

A new QRadar module specifically designed for monitoring VoIP networks fit the bill, Edouard said. The VoIP module combines network behavior analysis and security event correlation to monitor across the network protocol, application and security services layer of a VoIP network.

According to Q1 Labs vice president of marketing Tom Turner, companies are struggling to monitor VoIP traffic together with the security devices that protect it. Turner said that without effective monitoring, VoIP is subject to bandwidth contention and traffic jitter while also opening itself up to potential security threats such as toll fraud, man-in-the-middle attacks, and denial of service (DoS) or other IP PBX attacks.

QRadar's VoIP module gives users a set of security event correlation rules, application signatures and specific VoIP security reports. These are designed to help users better monitor their VoIP application traffic and correlate events from security devices protecting the network, while detecting and reporting on threats specific to VoIP applications and servers.

"Voice is an increasingly critical component of customer networks," Turner said. "In order to correctly monitor and secure VoIP applications, customers need to be able to unify their view of the network, the applications on that network and the security products that defend those applications."

The module offers:

* VoIP correlation rules, which correlate events taken from multiple VoIP source devices such as call managers, IP PBXs and voice gateways. The rules detect toll fraud attempts and DoS conditions against PBXs and other voice control services.
* Daily, weekly and monthly VoIP-event summary reports, which detail the number of VoIP-associated security and policy events that are being created on a network, an indicator of overall VoIP network health.
* Executive VoIP reports, which offer a high-level look at VoIP network activity, VoIP security event data and network behavior data in a combined overall view.

Edouard said he can monitor traffic at the port to compare charges against the phone bill. The module also leverages not having 10 different products monitoring the VoIP and data network, detecting anomalies, sounding alerts and generating reports.

"I can ensure that all calls are crystal clear and everything works fine," he said. "I can also ensure that VoIP traffic is secure."

Easy ways to Lose Your Data

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 16:44:00 +0000

Disk drives are marvelous devices. Especially when they go “clunk” and stop working. I’m not kidding: at least you know your data is hosed. I prefer that to the silent data corruption you don’t find out about until you can’t access a file or your OS starts freezing. Or a RAID rebuild fails.

Silent data corruption is common

You just don’t know it. Many low-end RAID controllers don’t report problems, figuring you’ll never notice. If you do notice, months later, what is the chance that you’ll know it was the controller’s fault?

Back up is better than insurance

Insurance is designed to protect you against damaging but uncommon events. But data loss is very common. Backup isn’t insurance. It is simple digital hygiene. You’ll use it again and again.

What are disks made of?

Hard drives sit at the bottom of a stack of hardware and software that usually gets your data from your CPU to the disk and back. But there are a lot of places where things can go wrong.

Here’s a partial list:

Media: those beautifully plated silver disks are subject to a couple of major problems:

* Flipped bits: when a read-only track sits next to frequently written track, the extraneous magnetic field from the writes weakens the magnetization of the read-only bits until your disk can’t read it. Normally disk ECC corrects these errors, but not always.

This is why disk fanatics periodically zero-out their disks and reload all their data. I’m not recommending this, just noting the practice.

* Physical problems, like a piece of dust, can scratch the disk and/or create enough heat so the head stops reading momentarily. Depending on severity the disk may remove that block from use or begin a death spiral into oblivion.

Wear out: disks have a lot of moving parts. In a 7200 RPM drive the disks are spinning 120 times per second compared to the 500 RPM of a CD drive. After a few years the motor can start to go. It may become slightly erratic, so some bits get squeezed and others get smeared.

The arm that moves the heads may can move dozens of times per second. When the bearings get loose it can go off track and corrupt data on adjacent tracks.

Electrical: if the drive power supply fails your drive will shut down. But if it is slowly degrading it can create extra heat or power surges that affect already marginal components. Component failures leading to sudden death are not seen by SMART reporting, which is one reason why SMART isn’t much use.

source: blogs.zdnet.com
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Advantage of Pirated Windows Vista Over Genuine Vista

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 16:16:00 +0000

Recently Microsoft had a 50% price cut for Home Basic and Home Premium Editions of Windows Vista. The price cut is mainly targeted at China which has the 2nd highest software piracy rate in the world after Vietnam.

The reason is to compete with pirate software market. Pirated version is better, why buy an expensive genuine copy? Here are some views of people who are using pirated version.

Consider these facts:
Genuine Vista

1. Limited number of re-installtions of Windows Vista.
2. Activation via internet or phone activation.
3. Hardware upgrade problems.
4. It’s expensive.

Pirated Vista

1. No re-installations problem.
2. No any kind of activation, easy to install cracks, pre-cracked Windows Vista.
3. No one cares if your hardware changes.
4. Yup. It’s totally free saving you some bucks :P

No features are missing with pirated Windows Vista. They are identical. Why buy genuine?

Why buy a real copy of Windows Vista?? Activation is the pain in a$$. You can install your pirated copy of Windows Vista many times as you like, with a genuine copy you have to do a phone activation and explain them why you need to reinstall and of course there’s only a limited number times you can do this. Also if you feel like upgrading your hardware with “genuine” copy of Vista installed, think again because you license for Windows Vista might be taken away and having to reactivate since Windows Vista activation system keeps track of your hardware and suspect that you have pirated Vista installed same thing might happen if you install drivers for your hardware.

As you can see pirated vista gives you more flexibility and easier installation. You see that by buying genuine copy is just having to activate and run into license problems.

Windows Genuine Advantage???? Think again, Windows Genuine Disadvantage sounds right to me.

Note: Though this post is very interesting in knowing about Pirated Windows Vista, being myself an Open Source Software user i recommend everybody to use Genuine Windows Vista. I know how hard it is to develop a software... SO YOU CAN HELP STOP PIRACY AND PIRATED SOFTWARE.

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Get Rid Of UAC on Windows VIsta

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 03:42:00 +0000

If you’ve used Windows Vista for more than 3.7 minutes, you know what UAC (User Account Control) is..

It’s the obnoxious, nagging popup window that will be your life for the next 3-5 years unless you switch back to XP in frustration, or to a better OS like… OS X, Suse, Ubuntu, or even XP.

Note: Disabling UAC will lead to a less secure system, so be warned.

Windows need your permission to annoy the crap out of you:

There’s a quick way you can enable or disable this annoying window from the command line:

Disable UAC

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\System32\reg.exe ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Enable UAC

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\System32\reg.exe ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

After you enable or disable UAC, you will have to reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.

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VoIP bandwidth fundamentals Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 16:11:00 +0000

Calculating the bandwidth for a VoIP call is not difficult once you know the method and the factors to include. The chart below, "Calculating one-way voice bandwidth," demonstrates the overhead calculation for 20 and 40 byte compressed voice (G.729) being transmitted over a Frame Relay WAN connection. Twenty bytes of G.729 compressed voice is equal to 20 ms of a word. Forty bytes of G.729 compressed voice is equal to 40 ms of a word.

The results of this method of calculation are contained in the next table, "Packet voice transmission requirements." The table demonstrates these points:

* Bandwidth requirements reduce with compression, G.711 vs. G.729.
* Bandwidth requirements reduce when longer packets are used, thereby reducing overhead.
* Even though the voice compression is an 8 to 1 ratio, the bandwidth reduction is about 3 or 4 to 1. The overhead negates some of the voice compression bandwidth savings.
* Compressing the RTP, UDP and IP headers (cRTP) is most valuable when the packet also carries compressed voice.

Packet voice transmission requirements
(Bits per second per voice channel)
Codec Voice bit rate Sample time Voice payload Packets per second Ethernet
PPP or Frame Relay
RTP cRTP
G.711 64 Kbps 20 msec 160 bytes 50 87.2 Kbps 82.4 Kbps 68.0 Kbps
G.711 64 Kbps 30 msec 240 bytes 33.3 79.4 Kbps 76.2 Kbps 66.6 Kbps
G.711 64 Kbps 40 msec 320 bytes 25 75.6 Kbps 73.2 Kbps 66.0 Kbps
G.729A 8 Kbps 20 msec 20 bytes 50 31.2 Kbps 26.4 Kbps 12.0 Kbps
G.729A 8 Kbps 30 msec 30 bytes 33.3 23.4 Kbps 20.2 Kbps 10.7 Kbps
G.729A 8 Kbps 40 msec 40 bytes 25 19.6 Kbps 17.2 Kbps 10.0 Kbps
Note: RTP assumes 40-octets RTP/UDP/IP overhead per packet
Compressed RTP (cRTP) assumes 4-octets RTP/UDP/IP overhead per packet
Ethernet overhead adds 18-octets per packet
PPP/Frame Relay overhead adds 6-octets per packet

The varying designs of packet size, voice compression choice and header compression make it difficult to determine the bandwidth to calculate for a continuous speech voice call. The IP PBX or IP phone vendor should be able to provide tables like the one above for their products. Many vendors have selected 30 ms for the payload size of their VoIP implementations. A good rule of thumb is to reserve 24 Kbps of IP network bandwidth per call for 8 Kbps (G.729-like) compressed voice. If G.711 is used, then reserve 80 Kbps of bandwidth.

If silence suppression/voice activity detection is used, the bandwidth consumption may drop 50% -- to 8 Kbps total per VoIP call. But the assumption that everyone will alternate between voice and silence without conflicting with each other is not always realistic. Silence suppression will be discussed in a later tip.

Most enterprise designers do not perform these calculations. The vendor provides the necessary information. The designer does have some freedom, such as selecting the compression technique for voice payloads and headers, and may be able to vary the packet size.

How can voice compression save bandwidth?
The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) started with the transmission of analog speech. This worked well for decades until the areas under city streets became saturated with copper cables, one copper pair per call. Starting in the 1950s, AT&T Bell Labs developed a technique to carry more voice calls over copper wire. They developed digitized voice technology through which 24 digital calls can be carried on two pairs of copper wire, thereby increasing the carrying capacity of the cables twelvefold. The voice is digitized into streams of 64,000 bps per call. The technology is called a T1 circuit and the bandwidth for the 24 calls is 1.544 Mbps. This worked well for domestic connections. The T1 technology then became the mechanism for long-distance domestic transmission.

Most of the early voice compression technologies were designed for undersea cables, where bandwidth was limited and expensive. Voice compression technologies were created to reduce this bandwidth requirement. Voice compression is also used for digital cell calls, operating at about 8 Kbps instead of 64 Kbps. So voice compression is not new.

As the PBX market has moved into an IP-based environment, voice compression has become attractive for WAN transmission. Voice compression can be used on a LAN, but since LANs have so much available bandwidth, it is not commonly applied to the LAN.

The quality of a PSTN voice call provides enough analog bandwidth to understand the speaker in any language. It is also enough bandwidth for speaker recognition. The analog bandwidth delivered by the PSTN is about 3.4 KHz. This is considered toll quality. Voice compression can reduce the speech quality and may affect speaker recognition, so there is a limit to how much bandwidth reduction is possible before callers complain about voice quality.

The CODEC (COder/DECoder) is the component in an IP phone that digitizes the voice and converts it back into an analog stream of speech. The CODEC is the analog-to-digital-to-analog converter. The CODEC may also perform the voice compression and decompression.

There are several voice digitization standards and some proprietary techniques in use for VoIP transmission. Most vendors support one or more of the following ITU standards and avoid proprietary solutions:

* G.711 is the default standard for IP PBX vendors, as well as for the PSTN. This standard digitizes voice into 64 Kbps. There is no voice compression.

* G.729 is supported by many vendors for compressed voice operating at 8 Kbps, 8 to 1 compression. With quality just below that of G.711, it is the second most commonly implemented standard.

* G.723.1 was once the recommended compression standard. It operates at 6.3 Kbps and 5.3 Kbps. Although this standard further reduces bandwidth consumption, voice is noticeably poorer than with G.729, so it is not very popular for VoIP.

* G.722 operates at 64 Kbps, but offers high-fidelity speech. Whereas the three previously described standards deliver an analog sound range of 3.4 kHz, G.722 delivers 7 kHz. This version of digitized speech has been announced by several vendors and will become common in the future.

It is important to note that all of the voice digitization transmission speeds are for voice only. The actual transmission speed required must include the packet protocol overhead.

The quality of a voice call is defined by the Mean Opinion Score (MOS). A score of 4.4 to 4.5 out of a possible 5.0 is considered to be toll quality. Voice compression will affect the MOS. An MOS below 4.0 will usually produce complaints from the callers. Cell phone calls average about 3.8 to 4.0 for the MOS. The following table presents the voice MOS for different standard CODECs:

Standard Speed MOS Sampling delay per phone
G.711 64 Kbps 4.4 0.75 ms
G.729 8 Kbps 4.2 10 ms
G.723.1 6.3 Kbps
5.3 Kbps 4.0
3.5 30 ms

This table illustrates two points. First, as the voice is compressed, the voice quality (MOS) decreases. The MOS in the table does not include network impairments such as jitter and packet loss. These impairments will further reduce the voice quality. The VoIP network designer should choose a compression technique with a higher MOS so the network impairments will not reduce the voice quality to an unacceptable level.

Second, voice compression also adds delay to the end-to-end call. The table shows the sampling delay for one phone. This delay is doubled for the two phones of a call. This end-to-end delay needs to be limited. As compression increases, the delay experienced in the IP network needs to decrease, which increases the cost of transmission over the WAN, but not the LAN. The delays shown in the table are the theoretical minimum. The actual delays experienced will probably exceed 30 ms, no matter what compression technology is implemented. This delay will vary by vendor.

The conclusion is that digital voice compression is worth pursuing for VoIP transmission on a WAN, but it comes with some costs in voice quality reduction and increased end-to-end delay.

VoIP bandwidth fundamentals Part I

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 15:39:00 +0000

Bandwidth requirements for Voice over IP can be a tricky beast to tame until you look at the method and factors involved. This guide investigates what bandwidth means for VoIP, how to calculate bandwidth consumption for a VoIP network and how bandwidth can be saved by using voice compression.
After this some questions may arise in your mind like:

What about bandwidth for VoIP?
Voice over IP (VoIP) is the descriptor for the technology used to carry digitized voice over an IP data network. VoIP requires two classes of protocols: a signaling protocol such as SIP, H.323 or MGCP that is used to set up, disconnect and control the calls and telephony features; and a protocol to carry speech packets. The Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) carries speech transmission. RTP is an IETF standard introduced in 1995 when H.323 was standardized. RTP will work with any signaling protocol. It is the commonly used protocol among IP PBX vendors.

An IP phone or softphone generates a voice packet every 10, 20, 30 or 40ms, depending on the vendor's implementation. The 10 to 40ms of digitized speech can be uncompressed, compressed and even encrypted. This does not matter to the RTP protocol. As you have already figured out, it takes many packets to carry one word.

The shorter the packet, the shorter the delay

End-to-end (phone-to-phone) delay needs to be limited. The shorter the packet creation delay, the more network delay the VoIP call can tolerate. Shorter packets cause less of a problem if the packet is lost. Short packets require more bandwidth, however, because of increased packet overhead (this is discussed below). Longer packets that contain more speech bytes reduce the bandwidth requirements but produce a longer construction delay and are harder to fix if lost. Many vendors have chosen 20 or 30ms size packets.

RTP packet format

The RTP header field contains the digitized speech sample (20 or 30ms of a word) time stamp and sequence number and identifies the content of each voice packet. The content descriptor defines the compression technique (if there is one) used in the packet. The RTP packet format for VoIP over Ethernet is shown below.

Ethernet
Trailer Digitized
Voice RTP
Header UDP
Header IP
Header Ethernet
Header

RTP can be carried on frame relay, ATM, PPP and other networks with only the far right header and left trailer varying by protocol. The digitized voice field, RTP, UDP and IP headers remain the same.

Each of these packets will contain part of a digitized spoken word. The packet rate is 50 packets per second for 20ms and 33.3 packets per second for 30ms voice samples.The voice packets are transmitted at these fixed rates. The digitized voice field can contain as few as 10 bytes of compressed voice or as many as 320 bytes of uncompressed voice.

The UDP header carries the sending and receiving port numbers for the call. The IP header carries the sending and receiving IP addresses for the call plus other control information. The Ethernet header carries the LAN MAC addresses of the sending and receiving devices. The Ethernet trailer is used for error detection purposes. The Ethernet header is replaced with a frame relay, ATM or PPP header and trailer when the packet enters a WAN.

'Shipping and handling'

In reality, there is no Voice over IP. It is really voice over RTP, over UDP, over IP and usually over Ethernet. The headers and trailers are required fields for the networks to carry the packets. The header and trailer overhead can be called the shipping and handling cost.

The RTP plus UDP plus IP headers will add on 40 bytes. The Ethernet header and trailer account for another 18 bytes of overhead, for a total of at least 58 bytes of overhead before there are any voice bytes in the packet. These headers, plus the Ethernet header, produce the overhead for shipping the packets. This overhead can range from 20% to 80% of the bandwidth consumed over the LAN and WAN. Many implementations of RTP have no encryption, or the vendor has provided its own encryption facilities. An IP PBX vendor may offer a standardized secure version of RTP (SRTP).

Shorter packets have higher overhead. There are 54 bytes of overhead carrying the voice bytes. As the size of the voice field gets larger with longer packets, the percentage of overhead decreases -- therefore the needed bandwidth decreases. In other words, bigger packets are more efficient than smaller packets.

Header compression

Cisco has created a header compression technique that is now the standard called RTP header compression. This technique actually compresses the RTP, UDP and IP headers and significantly reduces the RTP, UDP and IP overhead from 40 bytes to between 4 and 6 bytes. The bandwidth consumption for compressed voice packets can be reduced by nearly 60%. This technique has less value for large uncompressed voice packets. The header compression technique is not recommended for the LAN implementations because there is typically more than enough bandwidth for voice calls. The header compression technique should be considered for the WAN implementations, where bandwidth is limited and much more expensive.

Calculating bandwidth consumption for VoIP
The bandwidth needed for VoIP transmission will depend on a few factors: the compression technology, packet overhead, network protocol used and whether silence suppression is used. This tip investigates the first three considerations. Silence suppression will be covered in a later tip.

There are two primary strategies for improving IP network performance for voice: Allocate more VoIP bandwidth (reduce utilization) or implement QoS.

How much bandwidth to allocate depends on:

* Packet size for voice (10 to 320 bytes of digital voice)
* CODEC and compression technique (G.711, G.729, G.723.1, G.722, proprietary)
* Header compression (RTP + UDP + IP), which is optional
* Layer 2 protocols, such as point-to-point protocol (PPP), Frame Relay and Ethernet
* Silence suppression/voice activity detection

THIS ARTICLE WILL BE CONTINUED AS PART II.

VOIP Performance Testing Fundamentals Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 03:57:00 +0000

3. Analyze call quality with technical metrics
Once VoIP traffic is running in an accurately emulated virtual environment, the team can apply metrics such as mean opinion score (MOS) to pinpoint any specific places or times where voice quality is unacceptable. Typically, these trouble spots will be associated with observable network impairments -- such as delay, jitter and packet loss -- which can then be addressed with appropriate remedies.

4. Validate call quality by listening to live calls
Technical metrics alone can be misleading, since the perception of call quality by actual end users is the ultimate test of VoIP success. So the virtual environment should be used to enable the team to validate firsthand the audio quality on calls between any two points on the network under all projected network conditions. Again, a call generator can be used so that testers can act as the "nth" caller at any location.

5. Repeat as necessary to validate quality remedies
A major advantage of a virtual environment is that various fixes can be tried and tested without disrupting the production network. Testing in the virtual environment should therefore be an iterative process, so that all bugs can be fully addressed and the rollout of VoIP in the production environment can be performed with a very high degree of certainty.

6. Bring in end users for pre-deployment acceptance testing
Since voice quality is ultimately a highly subjective attribute, many VoIP implementation teams have found that it is worthwhile to bring in end users for acceptance testing prior to production rollout. This greatly reduces the chance of the dreaded VoIP mutiny syndrome, where end users balk at call quality despite the best efforts of IT and the fact that call quality meets common industry standards.

7. Continue applying the above best practices over time as part of an established change management process
To maintain VoIP quality over time, IT organizations must incorporate the above best practices into their change management practices. This is essential for ensuring that changes in the enterprise environment -- the addition of new locations, the introduction of a new application onto the network, a planned relocation of staff -- will not adversely impact end-to-end VoIP service levels.

It's important to note that while a virtual network test bed will pay for itself by virtue of its support for VoIP and convergence alone, this technology has many other uses that deliver substantial ROI. These uses include the development of more network-friendly applications, better planning of server moves and data center consolidations, and improved support for merger and acquisition (M&A) activity. These significant additional benefits make emulation technology an extremely lucrative investment for IT organizations seeking both to ensure the success of a VoIP project in the near term and to optimize their overall operational excellence in the long term.

Cool Ways to Earn Money Online From Home

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 03:40:00 +0000

Listed below were the overview of general ideas on how you can earn money online, whether part time, full time and/or working from the comfort of your home. These ideas doesn’t promised you that you will become rich, however, it may be the case if you dedicate your time an effort. These methods requires your skills (be sure you have at least one and be able to identify what is it), time, hardwork, dedication and patience. If you don’t have these needed qualities, just don’t read further anymore.

Some ways are nice, some are boring, others might be totally for an internet newbie (the intended audience) and there may be others that are repeatedly mentioned but at least these are legal and can let you have at least a single cent (no, it should be more than that). These are just ways and ideas - promotion, marketing and specifics on how to earn in a certain program is not covered here, thus your earning potential greatly depend on you.

1. Create website.
Your website may range from content-rich site, membership subscription sites, forums, gaming, anime downloads, directories of all kind, proxy, image and file hosting, video streaming and a list many to mention. You can monetize it through various methods such as selling advertising space, contextual ads, affiliate banners, membership subscriptions, pay per download, etc. The way you monetize your site will depend on what kind of site you are going to build.

2. Google Adsense and Other Contextual Advertising Programs.
The most basic way to monetize your website is to have contextual ads in your website from third-party advertising networks. Google Adsense (the hottest and most preferred in the industry), Yahoo! Publisher Network (YPN, US only), Bidvertiser, and Clicksor are only few of those ad networks that delivers contextual ads to your website. You just simply put a code in your pages where you want the ads to appear, and if your visitor(s) click on that ads, you will get paid. Please take note that you may not able to place ads from those specified networks to your site together. For example, you cannot have Adsense and YPN displayed together in your website. Please read their rules/terms carefully.

3. Affiliate Programs / Associate Programs.
Act like a salesman and get paid for selling someone else’s products or services. Affiliate Programs payments may vary, it’s either pay per sale, pay per lead, commissions from second tier, etc and you will also be paid by percentage or a fixed price. Just sign up with the affiliate program you like such as Commission Junction, Clickbank, LinkShare, ShareASale, etc. You will then be given an affiliate link (provided with advertising materials) that you can promote. Once a purchased or a sign-up occur through your affiliate link,you will earn a percentage of the amount that the company selling the product earns on that sale.

4. MLM ( Multi Level Marketing ).
This works much like of an Affiliate Programs, selling others’ products and services. However, on MLM, you will also get paid on your affiliates’ affiliates (downlines) commissions, multi level. But the MLM business model has a bad image and is considered by most as a Pyramid Scheme which is not true since it depends on the company that runs the business. Please make a due deligince before entering into an MLM business. TIP: Don’t join a program if it requires you to pay before you can join them.

5. Blogging.
The easiest way to monetize your blog is through Google Adsense. Other way of monetizing your blog is by selling advertising space (whether direct or through a third-party such as Text Link Ads). The new way to monetize your blog is by blogging itself. You will be get paid to blog on certain products and services and/or providing reviews. Some companies that offers this kind of monetizing your blog are PayPerPost, ReviewMe and SponsoredReviews.

6. Freelancing.
If you’ve got the skills, freelancing is enough for you to have a steady flows of income working from the comfort of your home. Though there is much competition in the freelancing industry, your success will rely mainly on your skills and dedication. Some freelancers offer their services to Rent-a-Coder, Scriptlance, Getafreelancer and eLance. However, most of successful freelancers didn’t exists in freelance websites stated above . Why? Because it’s the job that will find and look for them - they will not looking for jobs, they simply accept or refuse job offers. Below are some of the few freelancing jobs that you can do whil staying at home.

* Logo / Icons Design / Illustrations
* Web Design
* Web Development
* Programming
* Scripts Installation
* Searh Engine Optimization (SEO)
* Article Writing
* Article Submissions
* Directories Submissions
* Social Bookmarking Submissions
* Language Translations
* Business Consulting

6. Turnkey Sites.
Some people are busy enough that they can’t create the site that they want to have. Develop turnkey sites that most of the people demand. Ask them what they want and provide them immediately what they need. An example that offer this kind of service is Prozilla.

7. Sell Your Established Sites.
If you can’t manage anymore one of your sites, sell them. Usually, asked for a 12-month revenue price when selling them.

8. Create A Product.
Make product(s) that are in demand today and in the future. It could be an eBook, software (preferred a web-based software), photographs or something that is innovative and sell them.

9. Reselling Digital Products.
If you can’t create your own product, then buy from someone and resell them. Be sure that you will get resell rights when buying them. These products may include eBooks, Private Label Articles, databases, website templates and softwares.

10. Resell Web Hosting.
Buy a reseller web hosting account and act like you own a web hosting company.

11. Free Web Hosting.
In relation to #10, if finding clients to your own web hosting is too hard for you, offer it as free. While this is free, you can still earn through putting advertisements on your users’ website. The advertising income you can generate will surely more than enough the monthly fee of your reseller account.

12. Resell Domain Names

13. Give Freebies / Build A List.
Build a site that will offer free stuff such as eBooks, images, templates and among others. Let them register first (even only a name and an email) and forced opt-in them to receive email messages from you before they can get your freebies. If you have something to promot one of these days, you have already prospects!

14. Forum Posting.
Owners of a new forum have problems on growing their forums. Some new forum owners will pay you to post on their forum. Although, this is not quite a good income, but it could some up if you have the skills to write and post.

15. Forum Moderation.
When a forum grows into a large community, the owner might need some staff to monitor his forum. Usually, they will pay a forum moderator by percentage of the revenue that the forum generates.

16. MySpace Bulletins.
Join MySpace, build a lot of freinds and send them bulletins promoting your products or affiliate links. If you have no products to send to them, sell your bulletins to others.

There are still a lot more ways on how to earn money online. But mainly they fall under #1 which is creating your own website. Please comment to share your ideas on how we can make money online.

VOIP Performance Testing Fundamentals Part I

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 17:50:00 +0000

VoIP network performance testing can mean the difference between a VoIP system working at a high level QoS and a weak system that runs so poorly customers could take their business elsewhere. This guide discusses why it is important to run regular performance testing and some of the ways it can be done.
Voice over IP (VoIP) technology offers a wide range of benefits -- including reduction of telecom costs, management of one network instead of two, simplified provisioning of services to remote locations, and the ability to deploy a new generation of converged applications. But no business can afford to have its voice services compromised. Revenue, relationships and reputation all depend on people being able to speak to each other on the phone with five 9's reliability.

Thus, every company pursuing the benefits of VoIP must take steps to ensure that their converged network delivers acceptable call quality and non-stop availability.

A virtual network test bed is particularly useful for taking risk out of both initial VoIP deployment and long-term VoIP ownership. Essentially, such a test bed enables application developers, QA specialists, network managers and other IT staff to observe and analyze the behavior of network applications in a lab environment that accurately emulates conditions on the current and/or planned production network. This emulation should encompass all relevant attributes of the network, including:

* All network links and their impairments, such as: physical distance and associated latency, bandwidth, jitter, packet loss, CIR, QoS, MPLS classification schemes, etc.,

* the number and distribution of end users at each remote location and

* application traffic loads.

This kind of test bed is indispensable for modeling the performance of VoIP in the production environment, validating vendor claims, comparing alternative solutions, experimenting with proposed network enhancements, and actually experiencing the call quality that the planned VoIP implementation will deliver.

Following are seven best practices for applying virtual network test bed technology to both initial VoIP deployment and ongoing VoIP management challenges:

1. Capture conditions on the network to define best-case, average-case and worst-case scenarios
Conditions in a test lab won't reflect conditions in the real-world environment if they are not based on empirical input. That's why successful VoIP adopters record conditions on the production network over an extended period of time and then play back those conditions in the lab to define best-, average-, and worst-case scenarios. By assessing VoIP performance under these various scenarios, project teams can readily discover any problems that threaten call quality.

2. Use the virtual network to run VoIP services in the testing lab under those real-world scenarios
Once the network's best-, average-, and worst-case scenarios have been replicated in the test environment, the project team can begin the process of VoIP testing by running voice traffic between every set of endpoints. This can be done by actually connecting phones to the test bed. Call generation tools can also be used to emulate projected call volumes.

Improving VOIP Call Quality

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 15:33:00 +0000

If the problem is echo and it is happening within your building – return loss in your cable plant is the likely culprit – you can buy an expensive echo canceller or have your cables reterminated and tested (generally FAR cheaper). If the problem is jitter and delay, the solution could be as simple as putting your voice equipment on a VLAN and increasing the priority at which those packets are transmitted. You will also want to look at a few other things like making sure that your subnet is not too large, that all of your devices handle QoS and that they are layer 3 devices.

How can a business ensure VoIP quality of service (QoS)?

The first step is to be sure that your routers and switches support QoS, because many of the older ones do not. Second you will want to be sure that your network is healthy. You should turn SNMP (V3) on and monitor your network for a period of time (ideally 30 days as this covers end of month processes and other high traffic times). Look for bit errors, retransmissions, discards, etc. Correct any problems there. Make sure that your cabling is not the cause of any of these errors and that it tests out to be at least category 5e. Then you may also want to put your voice devices on their own VLAN if you have numerous devices. These processes will help ensure that your QoS goals are met. Your installation company will help with the setup of your switches to ensure QoS there as well.

A VoIP phone can send calls over the internet and data network as opposed to the POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) network. Also the VoIP is packet switched as opposed to circuit switched which means that the transmission is different.

You can get your VOIP call through your firewall in the following way:
You can get VoIP through a firewall. How you do that will depend on the type of VoIP traffic you want to get through the firewall and the particular firewall you are running. I think where this confusion comes from is from places like hotels that are blocking traditional VoIP packets from being transmitted.

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The Simpsons Movie sparks spam blast

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 15:23:00 +0000

Spammers are jumping on the success of The Simpsons Movie to trick e-mail users into validating their addresses, so they can then send them more spam.
Since the launch of the movie on July 27 spammers have been sending messages with an embedded picture of Homer Simpson in his underwear. The text asks if the recipient plans to see the new movie and to fill out a related survey by following an embedded link. If the recipient clicks on the link, the Web site records the e-mail address – now knowing that there is a valid user – and sends the address more spam.

The spam message also promises to award a prize to those who fill out the survey, according to antispam vendor SpamFighter, which `caught The Simpsons Movie spam in its filters.

While this new spam blast uses a hot pop-culture topic to entice recipients, the purpose of the spam is a throwback to the early days of e-mail abuse. Unlike phishing scams of late that try to extract personal or financial information from users or e-mails with hidden malware that installs bot nets on unsuspecting PCs, the Simpsons’ scam does nothing more than validate the legitimacy of the address, and then spam some more.

Another recent abuse that used the release of a Harry Potter novel and film to entice recipients was also comparatively benign; the W32/Hairy-A worm infected PCs and displayed a file that said “Harry Potter is dead,” among other messages, but didn’t download malware or attempt to extract information from the user.

Search TV Episodes on Bittorent Sites Easily

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 03:39:00 +0000

Are you a TV show freak? You'd love to watch every episode of TV shows but couldn't because you don't have the time to watch it when it's airing on TV? You can easily download them from torrent but then it's a tedious task going from websites to websites searching for the latest episode. Imagine searching latest episodes for 100 TV shows on 10 different torrent websites... I wouldn't imagine anyone doing that!

Well now you can! I found a FREE program that is able to automatically find new episodes for your favorite TV shows. Currently it is able to support searching for exactly 100 types TV shows. Some of the examples are Desperate Housewives, Lost, Heroes, My Name Is Earl and etc... I've never seen an easier way to search for latest TV episodes.

ted, Torrent Episode Downloader can find episodes of any TV show you like to watch.

It uses RSS and Bittorrent technology to get you the newest episodes as fast is possible. ted is free, easy to use and works on almost all computers. Ted checks feeds from TorrentReactor, Mininova, TVRSS, The PirateBay, Mr. Twig and Isohunt for new episodes of tv shows.

Once ted found a new episode, it will announce to you on your system tray. Then ted will fire up your favourite bittorrent client and your client will start downloading the episode. How cool and easy is that?

Other than that, ted also has a schedule checking feature. If you know that the latest episode of Heroes is being aired every Monday, you wouldn't want to waste your bandwidth by letting it check for new episode everyday. Just schedule ted to check for the latest episode of Heroes on Monday and Tuesday.

Ted works on Windows, Linux and Mac systems that have Java Runtime Environment 5.0 installed. You will also need a bittorrent client, like Azureus, µTorrent or Bitcomet to actually download the episodes.

Note: Watch out for the new version of ted 0.9 which to be released in the coming week! It will have new features and lots of improvements. In the meantime, you can go ahead and use the version 0.8 and then upgrade to 0.9 when it's out.

Download ted 0.8
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Easily Convert Files to PDF For Free

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:40:00 +0000

Sometimes I do need to convert my documents to PDF from time to time but not often. Since I don't convert my documents to PDF all the time, I don't want to waste my hard drive space to install a PDF printer driver and memory resources to keep it running in background all the time. I know that drivers loads up in Windows and it'd make my computer slightly slower. My solution when I want to convert documents to PDF is to use a free online service that enables me to upload files for free and instantly convert my document to PDF without downloading or installing any driver or software.

PrimoOnline is a free online conversion to PDF without any effort! All you need to do is browse for the file that you want to convert to PDF, enter your email address because after conversion, PrimoOnline will send the PDF to the email. Finally click the "Get PDF" button. Only 3 STEPS!

The Pros of PrimoOnline:
1. No download or installation required
2. Easy and effortless.
3. It's FREE
4. No limit of document file size for upload

The Cons of PrimoOnline:
1. You can't protect the PDF with password
2. No options at all
3. You might be afraid to upload your sensitive document to PrimoOnline

A total of 83 file types that can be converted into PDF.
123, bmp, cgm, csv, dbf, dif, doc, dot, dxf, emf, eps, gif, hwp, jpeg, jpg, jtd, jtt, met, mml, odb, odf, odg, odm, odp, ods, odt, otg, oth, otp, ots, ott, pbm, pcd, pct, png, ppm, pps, ppt, psd, pts, ptt, ras, rtf, sda, sdc, sdd, sdp, sdw, sgf, sgl, sgv, slk, smf, stc, std, sti, stw, svm, sxc, sxd, sxg, sxi, sxm, sxt, sxw, tga, tif, tiff, txt, vor, vor, wb2, wk1, wks, wmf, wpd, wps, xbm, xls, xlt, xlw, xml, xpm

[Convert Files to PDF ]

If you're need to convert your files to PDF very often or you require advance options, then you can use PrimoPDF. PrimoPDF is a desktop version of PrimoOnline but it's more powerful. It is a FREE tool for high-quality PDF creation, comprising a user-friendly interface that enables printing to PDF from virtually any Windows application.
PrimoPDF features:
* Completely free, not just a trial version, and no user registration is required.
* Ability to optimize PDF output for screen (online viewing), print (standard laser printers), ebook, and prepress.
* Resultant PDF output conforms to the PDF 1.4 specification.
* Secure PDF files with 40- or 128-bit encryption.
* Add document information (e.g. title, author, subject, keywords) to converted PDF files.
* NEW: Full support for 64-bit machines.
* NEW: Double byte character support.
* NEW: Support of non-TrueType fonts.
* NEW: Enhanced support for Microsoft Windows 98, ME, XP and Vista as well as improved PDF viewing support on non-Windows platforms.
* NEW: Ability to merge/append PDF files upon conversion.

[Download PrimoPDF]

Tweak Windows Vista Bubbles Screen Saver

noreply@blogger.com (Lovely) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:33:00 +0000

As with each versions of Windows OS, all Windows Vista editions bundled with some official screen savers. However, not all of these Vista screen savers allow users to easily configure its display behaviour via the Screen Saver Settings dialog box. The Bubbles screen saver is one of them.

Though, you can tweak or change the Windows Vista Bubbles screen saver to display Material Glass or metallic bubbles that look alike M&M Chocolate!

How to tweak or change Vista Bubbles screen saver settings?

1. Open Windows Vista Command Prompt with administrative privilege,

2. Turns on the Vista Command Prompt “copy and paste” function,

3. Copy and paste the following one-line Vista Console Registry Tool command (Reg.exe) into the Vista Command Prompt window

REG ADD HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Screensavers\Bubbles /v MaterialGlass /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

4. Press ENTER key to execute the Reg.exe command, which will forcibly create a 32-bit DWORD registry key called MaterialGlass in that Vista Bubble registry path with default value zero.

That’s the way to turns Vista Bubbles screen saver to display Material Glass bubbles (or metallic bubbles). At first glance, I thought there were M&M Chocolates in my Vista Desktop :-)!

Other than the Material Glass bubble, you can also set or tweak Vista Bubble screen saver to display real-transparent bubbles rather than the default semi-transparent bubbles.

Again, you need to execute the following Reg.exe command (Vista Console Registry Tool) to add one 32-bit DWORD registry key called ShowShadows with default value zero.

Before adding ShowShadows registry key, you need to delete Material Glass first:

REG DELETE HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Screensavers\Bubbles /v MaterialGlass /f

Next, adding ShowShadows key to enable a true transparent Vista Bubbles screen saver:

REG ADD HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Screensavers\Bubbles /v ShowShadows /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Likewise, to delete ShowShadows key, execute this Reg.exe command:

REG DELETE HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Screensavers\Bubbles /v ShowShadows /f

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