INFORMATION PC ALL THE INFOS YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND BETTER YOU PC

Advantages of email hosting exchange

2011-11-25T19:19:00.000-08:00

To remain aggressive in today’s business environment, you’ll need sophisticated messaging equipment that provide good and effective access to e-mail, calendars, contacts, and tasks. E-mail advertising is one of the effective marketing to reach customers. Private email hosting won’t permit bulk emailing.

Most companies do not have a big IT budget or technical employees to implement and maintain an entire in-house email server infrastructure. Other elements such as costs are generally the main factors why hosted trade or Webmail email hosting and email hosting exchange is turning out to be increasingly more popular. By using hosted trade or Webmail from an email hosting provider your business do not need to physical-in-house-on-site e-mail servers.

email hosting exchange is sometimes also called exchange hosting and is generally operating on the Microsoft Exchange backend server. Using an email hosting is always secure. Utilizing a premier email hosting provider services also comes with substantial reliability and efficiency as well as administration and 24/7/365 support. To summarise the main distinction between hosted trade and Webmail email hosting is the fact that Webmail is a budget version of email hosting and with Webmail you employ a web browser to deliver, receive and review email messages, i.e. you’ll require web use of utilise Webmail. All email hosting exchange service providers do daily backup the servers data.
Hosted exchange is based on Microsoft’s latest exchange server with Microsoft outlook as your consumer. With Outlook you are able to do more than send and obtain email, you can share calendars, folders and contacts. Outlook is accessible for desktop, browser and mobile access so you’re usually connected, whether you’re in the office, on the street or working at home. You usually link to exactly the same trade server; therefore your inbox always stays synched in near-real time, no matter which Outlook consumer you’re using.

Inside a hosted exchange atmosphere, the hosting provider owns and it is responsible for the data centre, network, devices, operating technique and software infrastructure elements. In brief, the hosting supplier is accountable for offering a steady operating atmosphere for each and every software used. Your own IT organisation manages the programs and maintains complete manage more than the applications infrastructure and company procedure.

•End users can obtain Outlook 2010 or Outlook for Mac 2011 and change their own account configuration configurations like their Password, Display Name or Email Aggregations.
•Account Professionals can modify end user settings for any consumer as well as update some domain-level functions like International Contacts, Distribution Lists and Import/Export duties.
•Account Directors can add new users, upgrade existing customers, sign up for additional billable functions, as well as total all Supervisor tasks.
•Administrators can manage all customers, functions, add-ons and tasks for numerous Exchange Organizations signed up below their account.

Firefox Crashes

2011-11-25T11:19:00.000-08:00

Firefox crashes when you open or Swap Tabs or just crashes on it own.

When firefox crashes you can see that

Firefox has encountered a problem and needs to close

Mozilla Crash Reporter

Firefox crashes due to addons of toolbars or plugins.

This Program menu in our computer lists two short cuts for Mozilla Firefox. The very first is obviously one which begins our
Opera browser. Oddly, we couldn’t care less concerning the second one. What’s Mozilla Opera safe mode? Mozilla Firefox (Safe Mode) becomes the
following resort once the regular browser comes crashes lower.

Firefox in safe mode troubleshoot these

A diagnostic tool to troubleshoot issues with add-ons, themes or toolbars especially after upgrades.compare the extension-loaded Firefox with the default clean slate version of the browser.compare speeds if there’s a worry about performance.pin down conflicting issues n the user settings (about:config tweakings) after an upgrade.Restore to default installed state.

Mozilla Firefox Safe Mode gives us a window to start over (temporarily) by disabling add-ons and resetting (permanently)
other settings to defaults. By comparing the performance, we can narrow down and fix the cause of any problem.

There are two ways we can start Firefox in Safe Mode (Windows) ““

From Start ““ All Programs (Programs
in windows7) ““ Mozilla Firefox – Mozilla Firefox (Safe Mode).From Start ““ Run ““ Type
firefox.exe -safe-mode. Hit OK.
(or “C:Program
FilesMozilla Firefoxfirefox.exe” -safe-mode)

Other Operating system path are :

Linux ““
use Terminal and type in /path/to/firefox/firefox
-safe-mode

Mac OS X
““ open Terminal and type in /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox
-safe-mode

Restoring teh setting to default will fix the Firefox Crashes problems.

The first great thing about Firefox is that it is relatively non-buggy. The second good thing is that the Mozilla Firefox Safe Mode is absolutely straightforward. And the third, with Mozilla’s rich gallery of add-ons – even if one fails, there’s an alternative

Notes: AdapterVendorID: 8086, AdapterDeviceID: 2e12, AdapterDriverVersion: 8.15.10.1749ProductName: Firefox
ReleaseChannel: release
SecondsSinceLastCrash: 391
StartupTime: 1314084164
SystemMemoryUsePercentage: 35
Theme: classic/1.0
Throttleable: 1
TotalVirtualMemory: 4294836224

System Tool – Virus removal Tool

2011-11-25T02:19:00.000-08:00

System Tool is a fake security program which is a clone of Security Tool.
This program is classified like a rogue anti-spyware tool because picks up numerous false infections and shows lots of fake security alerts to be able to scare you into thinking your pc at risk. It hopes that you’ll then purchase its full version. But you need to know, System Tool is not able to identify or remove any infections, trojan viruses, earthworms nor is going to be safeguard you against legitimate future security risks. Thus, you have to remove this adware and spyware out of your computer as quickly as possible.

System Tool is distributed by using adware and spyware that pretends to become expensive updates, as well as video codecs needed to look at a web-based movie. Once began, it’ll configure itself to operate instantly when Home windows begins. Next, the rogue will work something scan and report numerous infections to help you believe that your pc is have contracted trojan viruses, spy ware along with other adware and spyware. It will prompt you to cover a complete version of System Tool to get rid of these risks. Obviously, many of these infections are fake and don’t really exist on your pc. To help you securely ignore them.

Application cannot be executed. The file {file name} is infected.
Please activate your antivirus software.

System Tool Warning
Intercepting program that may compromise your privacy and
harm your system have been detected on your PC.
Click here to remove them immediately with System Tool
System Tool

WARNING 23 infections found!!!
System Tool Warning
Some critical system files of your computer were modified by
malicious program. It may cause system instability and data
loss.
System Tool will also replace your current Windows background with a fake security warning that states:

Warning!
You’re in Danger!
Your Computer is infected with Spyware!

The Virus removal tool Malware Bytes Anti-malware helps in automatic remove of system tool from your computer download this MalwareBytes Anti-malware

Boot your computer in Safe Mode with networking by Pressing F8 during the start up
Install the Downloaded Malware Bytes Anti-malware (MBAM). Close all programs and Windows on your computer.

Double click on MBAM setup file and do the installation without making any changes to default settings . Launch the Malware bytes Anti-Malware software. Select Perform Quick Scan, then click Scan, it will start scanning your computer for System Tool infection. This procedure can take some time.
Once the scanning completes, checkmark all the files and click on the remove button.
System Tool will change the Windows system HOSTS file so you need reset this file with the default version for your operating system Reboot the computer

Windows 7 Installation from windows bootable USB tool

2011-11-24T19:19:00.000-08:00

Windows 7 can be easily installed by windows bootable USB and no need to use the Optical drive for installation anymore. The windows bootable USB is free tool from Microsoft allows you to take a .ISO image and turn it into a bootable flash drive. windows bootable USB tool was created not only for netbook /laptops users, but this can be download for Windows 7 from Microsoft in lieu of ordering an installation DVD. Windows 7 windows bootable USB Tool can be downloadable to create a bootable flash and ISO file in quick fashion—just install it and follow the on-screen prompts.

Note that if you opt to use a flash drive, it must be 4GB or larger to hold all the files.

The ISO file contains all the Windows 7 installation files combined into a single uncompressed file. When you download the ISO file, you need to copy it to some medium in order to install Windows 7. This tool allows you to create a copy of the ISO file to a USB flash drive. To install Windows 7 from your bootable USB flash drive all you need to do is insert the USB flash drive into your USB port, run Setup.exe from the root folder on the drive.

Note: You cannot install Windows 7 from the ISO file until you copy it to a USB flash drive with the Windows 7 Bootable USB Download tool and install from there. Download the Windows 7 Bootable USB tool

The copy of the ISO file that the Windows 7 bootable USB Download tool creates is bootable. Bootable media allows you to install Windows 7 without having to first run an existing operating system on your machine. If you change the boot order of drives in your computer’s BIOS, you can run the Windows 7 installation directly from your bootable USB flash drive when you turn on your computer. Check the documentation for your computer for information on how to change the BIOS boot order of drives.

Install error

2011-11-24T13:19:00.001-08:00

System: Multivision Arcus 5020, 512MB RAM, Windows XP Home (SP3)

Q: I have subscribed to PCU since issue 55 and I have learnt so much that I wouldn’t be without it. Keep up the good work! Now for the problem. I have been running AVG Anti-virus free together with Agnitum Outpost Firewall Free quite happily on this PC for a long time and have had no problems up to now. Past updates to new versions of AVG have gone without a hitch but when I recently updated to AVG 2011 (v10) everything ran at a snails pace, particularly Thunderbird and Firefox.

I had just been looking at PCU issue 132 and decided to give Comodo Internet Security a try as you give it a 5-star rating. I uninstalled AVG 2011, turned off Outpost Firewall and duly installed Comodo. A reboot was required – this was when the icy hand of panic gripped me! The PC started its loading process but at the point where the desktop should be displayed and my settings loaded the PC went back to the beginning of the start-up routine and stayed in this loop. At this point the years of receiving PCU came into their own and I got the PC into safe mode, selected to open System Restore and successfully restored to a previous working state. I tried only installing the antivirus but with the same effect. I eventually ended up installing Avira Antivirus and kept Outpost Firewall.

Apart from the PC getting on in years like me, do you have any ideas as to what is causing the problems?

A: Comodo does seem to have compatibility issues with some systems. However, the most likely cause of installation problems is that the software is conflicting with part of the old security program. Antivirus and other security tools are quite deeply embedded in the system such that some components are left behind even if you follow the correct uninstall process.

Because of this most developers provide removal tools to help you perform a thorough clean up. You can download the AVG removal tool to clean up its traces. Before attempting to reinstall Comodo it’s worth running its removal tool as well to ensure there are no remnants of the aborted installation.

We’ve successfully run the latest Comodo on old XP machines without a problem so we doubt that the age of the system is the cause.

Comodo Internet Security should run fine on Windows XP systems

Originally featured in PCU134

Windows7 Troubleshooting tools Helps Fix Common Computer Problems

2011-11-24T13:19:00.000-08:00

Windows7 has built in feature of troubleshooting Common Computer Problems. if your computer pops up with some error message, then check out the windows7 help menu to fix the problem with just one click.You can improve your computer’s performance by the support provided on the troubleshooting .

Here is one such common computer problems did you know you can help improve your laptop computer’s battery life in just a few clicks with the “Improve Power Usage” Windows scans your computer’s power settings and automatically optimizes them so you get the most battery life possible! Here’s how

1. Click Start and in the “Search programs and files…” box, type Action Center.

2. Click “Troubleshooting.“

3. Click the Troubleshooter you want, such as “Improve Power Usage.”

4. The tool runs the Windows fix on your computer automatically!

5. Windows Troubleshooter is complete, fixed the issues and can see the improvements in battery performance

iTunes storage

2011-11-23T18:19:00.000-08:00

Q: On computer A I have iTunes installed. The iTunes folder is on an external drive and the iTunes folder is specified in iTunes. iTunes works perfectly. The iTunes application on this computer was used to import songs.

On computer B I also have iTunes installed, with the iTunes folder specified as the same one on the external drive. I thought that was all that was needed to make iTunes work on the second computer but it doesn’t work at all. Do you know how to operate iTunes work with two computers and one external hard disk?

A: First of all it’s important to understand a bit about how iTunes works. It’s designed to manage your media for you without you having to worry about where the files are stored. That’s great on a single machine but when you want to move files or share them between systems it rather gets in the way.

Whilst iTunes stores media files in a location that you can change via the Edit menu under Preferences, it also has a database to keep track of everything. This is usually stored in your Windows My Music folder in a sub-folder labelled iTunes. The database path is not affected by your iTunes preferences and in fact prior to iTunes 7 you couldn’t change it at all.

What you need to do in order to share your tunes between two computers is to place the database on the external disk too. To do this, on computer A’s iTunes go to File/ Library/ Organise Library, check the Consolidate Files box and click OK. This will ensure all your media is on the external drive. You can now move the database, make sure iTunes is not running and copy the iTunes folder from My Music to the external drive.

Once you’ve done this launch iTunes whilst holding down the Shift key and it will prompt you to choose a library. Click Choose Library and browse to the iTunes folder you just copied to your external drive. You can now move the external drive to computer B and repeat this final step to select the library location. Note though that the iTunes database is not designed for multi-user access so if your external drive is on a network make sure that you don’t have iTunes running on both machines at once or it will become corrupted.

Start iTunes with the Shift key held down to select a new library location

Originally featured in PCU134

Framework error

2011-11-23T15:44:00.000-08:00

Q: I was wondering if you could help with a problem? I keep getting an error message that reads: C:\windows\microsoft.net\framework 64\v.2.50727\config\machine config\ this is followed by the code 0XC00CE508 and the machine stops working. Can you give me any help to resolve this and stop the message occurring?

A: As you’ve probably gathered from the error message, this is a problem with Microsoft’s .NET Framework. In order to fix it you need to manually remove and reinstall the Framework programs. Exactly how to do this varies depending on the versions you have installed. Full instructions and links to downloads are available on the Microsoft support site along with a cleanup tool.

If that doesn’t work, try booting into Safe Mode – by tapping F8 at startup – and from a command prompt run sfc /scannow which will check for and repair damaged system files. If that fails you may need to do a repair install either from your original Windows disc or from the machine’s recovery partition.

To solve .NET Framework problems you may need to remove and reinstall the program

Originally featured in PCU133

Missing link

2011-11-23T12:19:00.000-08:00

System: Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz, 1GB DDR RAM, Windows XP Home (SP3)

Q: On a friend’s PC, a hyperlink in Outlook Express when clicked does nothing – hovering the mouse over it does not result in the cursor turning to a hand as it should. A URL shortcut on the desktop when double-clicked, instead of opening Internet Explorer, just opens the Open With dialog with Internet Explorer highlighted and the Always use the selected program to open this kind of file box not ticked. If this box is then ticked and OK clicked, Internet Explorer then opens the website.

However, the next time the shortcut is double-clicked, the same thing happens. There is some type of file association problem with Windows. Attempting to manually edit the settings for HTM and HTML file types to open with Internet Explorer also fails to solve the issue.

This issue may have been caused by the following sequence of events. The computer crashed and would not boot. A repair reinstallation of Windows XP SP 3 failed and it was necessary to do a full reinstall. Internet Explorer was then updated to IE 8. After this Outlook Express wouldn’t work with the ISP, but wouldn’t reinstall due to IE 8. Uninstalling IE 8 and reinstalling Outlook Express and then reinstalling IE 8 allowed Outlook Express to work with the ISP settings. Everything appeared to be working correctly, but then a couple of weeks later with this issue arose.

Hope you can come up with a solution, otherwise I’ll have to do a format and start again.

A: This is a relatively common problem as Outlook Express and Internet Explorer share may of their settings, but the fix isn’t always straightforward. The first thing to do is make sure IE and OE are both closed, go to Control Panel and open the Internet Options applet. Click on the Programs tab and tick the Internet Explorer Should Check to see Whether it is the Default Browser box. Next open My Computer from the Start menu, click Tools/ Folder Options and go to the File Types tab. Locate and highlight (NONE) URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol click Advanced, highlight Open, click Remove, then Yes and OK. Now launch Internet Explorer.

If that doesn’t solve things you may need to re-register IE’s .dll files. Click Start/ Run and type in iexplore /rereg. If it still doesn’t work after that go to Start/ Run again and type the following, pressing Enter after each regsvr32 urlmon.dll – regsvr32 shdocvw.dll – regsvr32 mshtml.dll and finally regsvr32 browseui.dll then try IE again.

If that still doesn’t solve things take a look at this Microsoft Knowledgebase article and try the Fix It link.

The other approach is to try installing a different browser such as Firefox or Chrome as this is an issue which usually only afflicts Internet Explorer.

Making Internet Explorer the default browser should ensure that it opens links from Outlook Express

Originally featured in PCU134

Noise annoys

2011-11-23T04:19:00.000-08:00

System: Intel Core 2 Duo, MSI 975X Platinum motherboard, Windows 7 Home Premium

Q: My PC was built for me by a friend and has been fine for the past year or so. However, recently the CPU fan has become very noisy, making a ticking, rattling sound as the machine is running. I think it might need replacing but unfortunately the friend who built the system has moved away. Is this something I could undertake myself or would I be better taking the machine to a specialist?

A: The first thing to do is take the side off the case and have a look at what’s happening inside when the system is running. The standard cooler supplied with retail Core 2 Duo chips has relatively exposed fan blades and it may be that they’re simply catching on a stray wire inside the case which is causing the noise.

If this isn’t the case, then replacing the heatsink/fan assembly isn’t a difficult task provided you take care. Make sure you take antistatic precautions by touching a radiator or other earthed object before you start. On modern Intel CPU systems the cooler is held in place by four plastic studs that locate in holes in the motherboard. These are pressed down and twisted to lock them into place. Unplug the fan’s power cable from the motherboard header, release the clips by pressing and twisting anti-clockwise and you should be able to lift the old cooler off.

In order to ensure good heat conduction from the chip to the heatsink thermal paste is used. You need to clean off any residue of old paste from the top of the chip. Use a tissue moistened with a little white spirit.

You can buy a new cooler for about £5, but we’d recommend spending £10 or £15 to get a good quality unit – if it uses an aluminium heatsink make sure it has a copper insert. You’ll often find that thermal paste is pre-applied to the cooler, check when buying, otherwise you’ll need to spend a few more pounds to buy a tube.

Refitting is a reverse of removal. Apply a thin layer of paste – if required – seat the new heatsink on top of the chip, press down the pins and twist clockwise to lock them into place. Connect the fan’s power cable to the motherboard header and you’re ready to go.

Coolers for modern Intel CPUs are held in place by four plastic studs that latch into holes in the motherboard

Off script

2011-11-22T18:19:00.000-08:00

Q: I recently downloaded some software that appeared to install some malware on my computer. I installed some additional security software from issue 132 and scanned my computer with Avast and also several malware checkers having first disabled the system restore. I seem to have cleaned the computer, as the scans picked up two infections and subsequent scans show nothing.

However, recently when I try to log on to a website I sometimes get Firefox cannot load a page, or it seems to be redirected through google-analytics.com delaying the page from loading. Do you know if this is part of the previous infection I may have had or something that has been introduced by Google through the recent Firefox update? Either way it is very annoying. Can I get rid of it or should I just change my browser?

A: Most likely you’ll find that the browser is trying to redirect via a spoofed page. This is because the virus has poisoned your machine’s DNS (Domain Name Server) cache. So when the browser gets a legitimate request for Google Analytics – which is used by many websites to track visitors – it tries to redirect to another page which then attempts to run a script to re-infect the machine. Hence the fact that Firefox hangs as the site will probably have been reported and taken down by now.

You should be able to cure it by flushing out the DNS cache. Close all browser sessions, then click Start/ Run – or use the Start menu Search box in Windows 7 – type in ipconfig /flushdns and press Enter. When you next run your browser the cache will be empty so you shouldn’t get the problem. If it persists and you have a router, check that the DNS settings on there haven’t been corrupted too.

To stop this from happening in future you can download NoScript a Firefox add-on which prevents webpage scripts from running without permission.

You can clear out the DNS cache using the ipconfig command

Originally featured in PCU134

Persistent Trojan

2011-11-22T14:19:00.000-08:00

Q: My computer crashed with error Bccode;100008e BCP1;C000001d BCP2;845B1609 BCP3:844D6BC8 BCP4:00000000 05Ver:5_1_2600 SP:3_0 Product: 768_1. On running a scan I found Trojan AGENT/GEN and Trojan AGENT DROPPER/CCOC.

I ran SUPERAntiSpyware through in Safe Mode and normal mode and deleted restore points as suggested in your magazine. I also deleted all temp folders as instructed. But computer remained unusable so I did a recover from the hidden partion. I ran SUPERAntiSpyware again and it still picked up AGENT/GEN. Norton Internet Security 2010 keeps getting turned off and I can only turn it back on by rebooting, I have no other programs installed. Should I have reinstalled using the four recovery disks?

A: Agent/Gen is a generic detection for a Trojan program that drops a malicious payload on the PC. It will usually place a .exe file in the Startup folder and a .dll in the Windows\System32 folder, it will also add registry entries to enable it to run when Windows starts and will try to shut down security programs.

The problem with tracking down malware like this is that it uses randomly generated file names so it’s hard to spot if you’re trying to delete the files manually. Running a malware scan in Safe Mode should ensure that the files aren’t in use and can therefore be removed by the scan program. Removing restore points and temporary files should also be carried out in Safe Mode to ensure that the Trojan can’t sneak back in at a restart. It’s worth running an online scan using something like TrendMicro HouseCall to get a second opinion when you reboot to normal mode after removal.

Restoring the system from a hidden recovery partition probably doesn’t so a complete reinstall, so there is a chance that the malware may still be lurking on your PC. Using the recovery discs should do a complete reinstall and format the disc, but you will need to reinstall any other software and make sure you have a backup of your important files.

You can use an online scanner such as HouseCall to verify virus detections

Originally featured in PCU134

Sticky problem

2011-11-22T07:19:00.000-08:00

Q: I had always been under the impression that all USB sticks were of the same standard until I recently purchased a new 8GB stick. The new one, a different make from my other, performs much better speed wise, why would this be?

Another puzzle, although pleased with the transfer speed of the new stick I have found another problem when using it. The PC will not boot with the stick in place, however once it’s running I can insert the stick and all is well. Your expert advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

A: Depending on the age of your slower USB stick it may be that it’s USB 1.1, whereas the new one is likely to be USB 2.0. The difference in speed between the two standards is quite substantial, USB 1.1 operates at 12 Mbit/s whereas USB 2.0 can achieve a theoretical 480 Mbit/s. Although the newer standard was introduced in 2000 it took a while to become widely adopted and USB 1.1 devices were still on the market until relatively recently. A USB 2.0 capable PC will still support 1.1 devices at the slower rate. A diagnostic tool like SiSoft Sandra will allow you to check your USB speed.

Why the machine won’t boot with the flash drive connected is a bit more of a mystery. The first thing to do is check the boot sequence in the BIOS to be sure that the PC isn’t trying to boot from the USB device before the hard drive. If that’s not the case then it’s most likely that there’s a conflict with legacy USB support. You can try turning this off in the BIOS, but beware, if you have a USB keyboard and you turn off legacy support you won’t be able to get into the BIOS to change it back unless you have a PS/2 keyboard handy. On some systems you can disable USB legacy storage separately from the keyboard and mouse.

Current flash drives use the faster USB 2.0 standard

Tracking access

2011-11-22T00:19:00.000-08:00

Q: Is there any way that I can tell if someone else has been using my computer? Preferably without having to install any additional software. I noticed a new item had appeared on my All Programs menu and I’m sure I didn’t put it there.

A: You can track logins from the Windows Event Viewer. Go to Control Panel, select System and Security/ Administrative Tools/ Event Viewer, then filter for event IDs 4264 and 4636. This will give you a list of all logins with their date and time.

If you suspect someone has been using your machine without permission it’s worth changing your password or ensuring that Windows asks for a password – if it doesn’t already – both at start up and after the screen saver has been activated. You can manage your password through User Accounts and Family Safety in Control Panel. To set a screen saver password go to the desktop personalisation screen, select Screen Saver and tick the On Resume, Display Logon Screen box.

Having said that, new items on the All Programs menu can sometimes be added by software updates so you may be worrying unduly.

You can force Windows to ask for a password after the screensaver has been displayed

Originally featured in PCU133

PHP – Preparing Your Computer

2011-11-21T13:39:00.000-08:00

We now know that PHP is run on the server whose role is to generate pages. However, only a server can read PHP, and your computer is not a server. So how will you create a dynamic website if PHP doesn’t even work on your computer ?

There’s no need to worry : we’ll temporarily transform your computer into a server so that you can work on your dynamic site. You’ll finally be able to start programming after this chapter !

Depending on if we’re making static or dynamic sites we need different programs. In fact, when we’re creating dynamic sites we need a few more programs !

Web designers that create static sites are lucky, in general they already have all the programs they need :

A text editor : in theory a program such as Notepad that’s pre-installed on Windows is enough, although it is recommended that you use a more advanced tool such as Notepad ++ or Dreamweaver. We’ll talk about the choice of editor at the end of this chapter.

A web browser : allows you to test your web pages. You can use for example Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari, or any other browser you use for surfing the web. It is recommended to regularly test your sites on different browsers.

However, if you’re working on a dynamic site, these programs aren’t enough. It is necessary to install extra programs.

So that your computer can read PHP, it needs to act like a server. Don’t worry, you don’t need to buy a special machine for this : you simply need to install the same programs that are installed on the servers that deliver content on the internet.

What are these programs that we need ?

Apache : is what we call a web server. This is the most important program because it delivers the pages to the clients. However, Apache can only handle static web pages (it can only read HTML code). It therefore needs other programs to work with it.

PHP : is an Apache plugin that allows it to handle dynamic web pages in PHP. By combining Apache and PHP your computer will already be able to read PHP web pages.

MySQL : is the database management system I talked about in the introduction. It saves the data in an organised manner (such as the list of members on your site). We won’t need it immediately, but we’ll install straight away.

All these programs that will help us create dynamic sites are free. There are others (that sometimes cost money), but the Apache + PHP + MySQL combination is the most popular on web servers. It’s so popular that “packs” have been created which contain all these programs. It is possible to install them one by one but that takes time and won’t have any benefits (unless you’re a server administartor, which you probably won’t be ).

We’ll see how to install the “pack” that suits you depending on your operating system during the rest of this chapter.

There are several packages that exist for Windows. I’m going to show you XAMPP which I have used for the last couple of years.

Start by downloading XAMPP from the official site. You don’t need to download the add-ons. The installer should be enough.

Once you’ve downloaded it just install it by leaving all the options by default (the different things don’t need to be services). It should install itself in a folder like C:/xampp and create a shortcut in the start menu.

When you launch XAMPP, an icon will appear in the task bar :

Clicking once on the icon will make the control panel appear. Just start Apache and MySQL to be able to run PHP :

You can now go to XAMPP’s home page. To do this simply go into XAMPP’s control panel and click on the Admin button next to Apache :

A similar screen to the one below should appear in your default browser. If the page displays itself, it means apache is running correctly.

The web page you can see on the screen has been sent your own local server that was installed at the same time as XAMPP. You are the only person that can see this server. Notice that the URL at the top of your screen starts with http://localhost which means that the work is on your computer.

To create a new web site you need to make a new folder inside C:/xampp/htdocs/. This is the folder for all web sites running on your localhost. For example, in the image below, I’ve made a new website called test :

Now, to view your new site, you simply need to open your browser and go to http://localhost/test (replace test with the name of your site) :

If you’re using Mac there is a good tutorial here

If you’re using Linux there is a good tutorial here

As you already know, to modify the source code of a web page there are several solutions :

Use a simple text editor that you already have, such as Notepad. To open it go to Start/Programs/Accessories/Notepad. This program is enough to write HTML & CSS and even PHP but…The best is to use a specialised program that colours your code to make it easier to read. You’ve probably already installed one if you’ve read HTML – Getting Started from our HTML & CSS Lessons

Whatever editor you choose to use, it won’t change how you learn PHP: everything will be the same for everyone.

Control Internet Access: help your kids focus on their homework and your employees focus on their job

2011-11-21T10:19:00.000-08:00

Computer Aid has now released another great software utility:

Control Internet Access

CIA is a tool for restricting and monitoring internet access on a computer.

Developed by Mike Hansell, it was designed to help parents keep their children focussed on their homework, by restricting internet activities that can cause hours of distraction (eg youtube, various messenger applications like MSN, Facebook, Twitter, as well as websites that contain various taboo/blacklist words (like poker, gambling, etc… the list can be easily altered).

CIA was mainly designed to be as simple to use as possible. You don’t have to be a geek to use it.

Probably the most difficult part of setting up CIA, is picking a password that others cannot guess.

After that, you setup a weekly schedule, by simply pointing and clicking at a visual timetable.

Each 15 minute block, can be configured for:

No restrictionHomework (restrict time wasting activities including YouTube)Homework (restrict time wasting activities excluding YouTube)High restriction (No web browsing, chatting or messaging)Shutdown PC (PC cannot be used at all)Monitor Only (take regular screen snapshots)

If a parent needs temporary access to the PC while a CIA restriction is in place, then just clicking on the taskbar icon will let you enter your password, and then you can use the PC normally.

Of course, CIA can also be used for the office, where employees can waste many productive hours on the internet. CIA can help reduce these productivity losses.

And don’t forget the advantage of restricting access to sites that could infect a computer. CIA can help increase the effectiveness of your antivirus software.

Download the 10 day trial of CIA, you’ll find that its different from most other parental control software currently available.

How to add Google as a search provider in ie9

2011-11-21T02:19:00.000-08:00

Interesting… I was recently setting up a new PC, and then installed IE9.

So far, its all quite simple.

Then I get the usual annoying setup wizard, that asks all the questions designed to confuse a novice computer user (do you want to activate web slice, etc).

At the end, I expect to be taken to a web page, where I can select google as my default search engine… but google isn’t there!

So whats microsoft up to?

I quickly find many posts saying:

hey, its easy, just go to: tools -> manage add-ons -> search providers -> find more search providers

But the problem is that I’m taken to a microsoft page that gives me the following choices:

BingEbay AustraliaGrays Online

So where is google?

It turns out that microsoft believes that if you don’t live in the USA, then you don’t want to use google as a search provider…

But the solution is easy when you know how…

Just navigate to:

Google search provider in IE9

Then pick google on the left.

I wonder how long this page will remain available, before Microsoft decide to make it “disappear”?

Problems buying a used PC

2011-11-20T19:19:00.000-08:00

A friend purchased a used PC from an Auction website.

It had some problems, and after I had it sorted, he asked me for a written report.

This is what I sent him.

—————————————————————–

When I first started the PC, it “froze” at the BIOS screen and it had a badly squealing case fan so I removed and lubricated it.

Then I investigated the freezing problem.

It responded to the TAB key which allowed it to display the POST screen, but would not respond to the DEL key to get into setup.

I checked a number of things but it wasn’t until I removed the modem card, that it started Windows… so the modem was faulty.

I tried to plug in my toolkit USB drive but it refused to recognise the drive.

I looked at device manager and it was totally empty (the first time I have ever seen this) so I started SERVICES.MSC and found more 90% of entries were set to disabled

There was no COA sticker, so I then booted of a toolkit CD to try and recover the Product Key but it was not available

I suspect this copy of Windows has been hacked so it could be installed on multiple PC’s but this was extremely poorly done, rendering Windows all but unusable.

Fortunately I had a copy of windows and a COA from a computer that had failed and been withdrawn from service.

I loaded this copy of Windows XP, updated it to SP3, found the required drivers from the manufacturers website and it is all going 100%

If the seller was not able to provide an authentic COA and install a legitimate copy of windows, why didn’t he sell it as a “no operating system installed”.

Crazy and quite illegal.

problems with firefox rapid release development

2011-11-20T14:19:00.000-08:00

I’m starting to get annoyed with the firefox rapid release development cycle.

I’ve known about it for a few months now, and when I first heard about it, it seemed like a good idea.

But then, as I’ve gone through version 4, then 5, and now v6.0, I’m finding more and more add-ons are breaking…

Back when I evaluated all the major browsers, looking for one that I would adopt as my main browser, the main reason I chose firefox was that it had a large number of add-ons, which allowed me to do things that no other browser (including firefox), could do out of the box.

Now, about half of my plugins are disabled, as they are incompatible, and firefox is becoming increasingly annoying to use… it feels like useful aspects are “falling off”.

The version numbering means that firefox no longer needs to support older version… so more effort can go into future development.

Thats great in theory, and users probably don’t care about having firefox V26.0 in 5 years time, but they do care about usability and stability.

For me, firefox is losing useability, and if it gets any worse, I’ll need to have another look around, and see what I can switch to.

The last time I looked, I remember:

Chrome didn’t have all the functionality I wanted (and virtually no plugins to add that functionality).IE lost a lot of the configurability that I wanted (I think its a lot better now)Opera had some compatibility issues.Maxthon and various others had a whole range of issues.

I even tried firefox on my android phone for a while, but eventually decided that the speed of the built-in android browser overshadowed any benefit of using firefox sync, and the nicer firefox UI.

Baseband

2011-11-20T10:19:00.000-08:00

Baseband is used to describe bandwidth and channels (the signal or system frequency). In terms of bandwidth, baseband is the highest frequency (measured in hertz) used by the bandwidth, or the upper bound of the bandwidth.

In terms of a channel, baseband is a type of communication channel that uses frequencies which are very close to zero hertz. Serial cables and local area networks (LANs) use baseband channels.

Thunderbird master password reset

2011-11-20T09:19:00.000-08:00

I recently had a customer call to ask if I could setup their email client.

I couldn’t see why they would need this, as they seemed competent enough.

Anyway, when I arrived, I was told that a well-meaning employee had tried to setup Mozilla Thunderbird, but did not get anywhere.

When I started Thunderbird, I was asked for a master password as soon as I tried to do something meaningful (eg complete setting up an email account, or changing the settings of an existing account).

It was annoying, as I could make all the changes I needed, but as soon as I tried to save the changes, I’d get the master password dialog box.

Since nobody knew the master password, I decided to find out how to reset the password.

I soon found the trick:

Start Thunderbird -> tools -> error console -> paste the expression openDialog("chrome://pippki/content/resetpassword.xul")-> evaluate button

Please note that there is a very real possibility that you will lose any other stored passwords… But this wasn’t an issue in this case, as it was a new account.

Where is view source gone in Firefox 6 ?

2011-11-20T01:19:00.001-08:00

I recently upgraded to Firefox 6

And soon afterwards, I was wanting to look at the HTML source for a web page, and I tried to do what I normally do:

view -> page source

But its not there anymore!

A quick search of the menus didn’t find it, so I initially gave up & used internet explorer.

About a day later I decided: Right! It has to be somewhere!

I then found 3 different ways of viewing the page source code:

right-click on a “empty” part of the page, and then select: view page source. Its quick, but doesn’t work of some parts of a web page.Ctrl U (like the previous technique: its quick, but doesn’t work if you have the cursor in a text input field)tools -> web developer -> page source

I still like the old view -> source

Maybe in firefox 7? or in firefox 96.5?

Bind point

2011-11-20T01:19:00.000-08:00

A Bind Point refers to a place in a video game where a character will be sent to after using a particular item. Depending on the video game, the Bind Point can be a specific building, a boat, a particular landmark or a specific set of coordinates. A character can set a Bind Point by interacting with an object in the game, talking to another character in the game, or simply by setting a save point in the game using a programmed feature in the game menu.

Block Letter

2011-11-19T16:19:00.001-08:00

A block letter is a letter (usually business letter) format where all typed content is aligned with the left margin and no indentation. A block letter typically contains specific components, including the sender's name, address, phone, the recipient's name and address, the current date, a reference statement (usually in the form of "Re: [the reference]" ), the subject, the main body of the letter and other components as well.

A block letter could be used as a template letter, one that is used for all correspondence of a specific nature or type. It could even be turned into a Microsoft Word template, where various components are fed into the document from another source (like an Excel spreadsheet) using macros. This is customary when the same letter needs to be sent out to many people and personalized to each of them. In the below picture, is an example of what a block letter may look like.

AutoCAD

2011-11-19T16:19:00.000-08:00

First introduced in December 1982 by Autodesk, AutoCAD is the most commonly used software programs to create 3D models of almost any object or structure they can imagine. The program is commonly used by engineers and architects due to the powerful capabilities of 3D modeling. AutoCAD helps design products and structures for commercial use and is available in multiple languages.