Browser Security Matters
If you do not secure your Internet browser, it could lead to a number of problems with your computer system within the blink of an eye. Even worse than spyware, without the proper protection, you could end up leaking all sorts of personal information that others could use against you to steal your identity or harm and manipulate your computer system.

The threat of attack from malicious software on computer systems all around the globe are continuing to increase on a seemingly daily basis. The problem increases when users click mindlessly on links with which they are not familiar or visit websites that are disguised as popular places you may want to visit on the web. Because of this, more and more criminals are exploiting Internet browser vulnerabilities and compromising computer systems all over the world.

Firefox Offers Secure Browsing Solutions
The Mozilla Firefox Internet browser supports a number of features that can help you keep up your guard against those who may wish to harm your computer or worse. Firefox supports a number of security policies that are easy to configure. In addition, you can increase the security of your Mozilla Firefox browser with a number of add-ons that are available to provide you with the safest Internet browsing every time.

Safe Internet browsing is a major concern, especially with the number of people who are now logging on to the Internet to buy and sell items, take care of their banking needs, socialize with their friends and colleagues, promote their business and even earn a college degree. With all of that valuable information swimming around on your computer system, it is important to arm yourself with the right protection.

7 Firefox Addons for Secure Browsing
While Mozilla Firefox offers many add-ons and security features, there are few select choices you should know about.  Following are some of the best security add-ons for Mozilla Firefox that will help you make sure that your computer and all of your valuable information is kept:

1.Adblock Plus
This add-on is the most popular among Firefox users for blocking banners and ads, with almost 800,000 downloads every week.
2.BetterPrivacy
This one will protect your system against cookies that cannot be deleted, known as “super-cookies”.
3.NoScript
This add-on for Mozilla Firefox Internet browser is believed by many to be the best when it comes to keeping your computer safe from a number of different attacks.
4.WOT
WOT, or Web Of Trust, is a great add-on that will warn you anytime a website is out to rip you off, infect your computer or bombard you with spam.
5.Stealther
This is the best add-on for surfing on the Internet without leaving footprints of everywhere you have been by disabling browser history, cookies, disk catche, file history, forms info and more.
6.Roboform Toolbar
This one provides the user with a great way to manage and secure passwords.
7.KeyScrambler Personal
This add-on works to encrypt all of your keystrokes in order to keep your system safe from keyloggers.

Many people are coming to appreciate all that Firefox has to offer.  With these easy add-ons, you can be assured that your browsing is safe as well as productive.

1 ) CleanRAM [in English] : This nifty little application releases valuable program memory that’s no longer being used without having to restart the device. There are 3 levels (Basic purge, Quality purge, Fundamental purge) to perform RAM cleanup.

2 ) S2U2 : is a simple lock/unlock application which has the iPhone style slide unlocking. It can be used as a screensaver while you don’t use your device. It will also shows your calender appointments, missed calls, unread SMS/email etc.

3 ) SmartLyrics : lets you manually search for the lyrics to any song, it can also automatically pull the lyrics for the song you play on windows mobile using Windows Mobile Media Player or in HTC AudioManager. Requires registration.

4 ) YoMoMedia RSS : If you read RSS on your device then this is a must have. This app comes in 2 parts – a web application and a Windows Mobile RSS Client. The best part about it is it syncs the feeds between these 2 apps.

5 ) w0lf’s Translator : uses the Google Translate engine to provide translations right on your mobile device. It also has Auto-detect feature to know the input language.

6 ) Microfi Nitrogen : is an opensource Windows Mobile app that allows you to play MP3/OGG/AAC/MP4/M4A/3GP/WAV/WMA songs stored on your Pocket PC device. It features a file browser, full skin support, smart shuffle and repeat modes, a 10-band equalizer with preset support (8 included presets), built-in sleep mode, a blank screen command to prevent energy waste while playing music and many more new features.

7 ) ShootMe : is an all-in-one app. There are other apps that simulate shotguns or light sabres or even boxing, but why have different apps for each one. ShootMe! has all of those funny apps gathered in one. The application has a Free and Paid version.

8 ) Flexilis : If security is a priority for you then Flexilis is the app for you. Along with the Anti-Virus and Firewall app, Flexilis also provides a module for backup, which will let you back up your contacts and photos. You can also transfer your data to a new phone with Flexilis. The Anti-Theft Module enables you to respond when your device is lost or stolen by locating your device, sounding an alarm, or deleting your personal information remotely from the web.

9 ) G-alarm : is one of my all time favorite applications. I love my sleep and wont easily wake up with the normal alarm on my phone. This ingenious application will ask you to complete a simple game / puzzle before you can snooze/switch off the alarm. Its definitely worth the asking price of €4.99.

10 ) Cinemo & Flix : Both these apps are for finding movie showtimes and information. Cinemo works in the US and Canada. While Flix works in UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

11 ) Shopping Cart : A simple and intuitive shopping list application for Windows Mobile users. Its a finger friendly application and new features are added frequently by the developer. Requires registration.

12 ) Samsung Caxixi : Is a versatile accelerometer enabled music application for Samsung Windows Mobile devices. It plays the sounds of a variety of instruments and the sounds are triggered by shaking the phone using a variety of gestures. You can have 5 different sounds mapped to different movements at any given time. See the Youtube Video for more info.

13 ) Scramble : is a Windows Mobile App for puzzle solvers. If you love a good puzzle then you will love this game. It offers different modes and difficulty and is quite finger friendly. It should work on all screen resolutions: VGA, WVGA, QVGA and WQVGA. Check the video to see the game in action. For $0.99 this app is a must for those boring train ride to work.

Twibbon is now the easiest way to promote awareness of your cause on twitter, by overlaying a support icon over your Twitter profile. There are hundreds of causes to support and there is surely one you are passionate about. Just click on the cause you like, it will make you login via Twitter (which is safe), and your profile is changed. You can also revert back to your original profile by selecting your original icon from your unique profile page (like mine).

You can also create a new Twibbon, but you will first need to log in to Twitter to get started.

Boost Wireless Router Signal
Herein are some handy tips that enable you to boost up the signal strength of your wireless router.

1 ) Position of wireless router – Placing your wireless router in a room may result in signal loss or weak signal. It is always advisable to place the wireless router at the center of your home, such that you will have the same signal strength all over your place. Placing router near to metal objects like file cabinets or near dense brick walls can also add to signal loss or weak signal. So care must be taken not to place the wireless router near to any bulky objects such that the signal path is obstructed.

2 ) Interference by other wireless equipments – We use many other wireless equipments other than the wireless router like cordless phones, garage door openers, etc, which also operates using radio signals. Most of the wireless equipments emits radio signals in the same frequency, hence signal interference can take place. Placing the wireless router near to these equipments can also lead to signal scrambling and signal strength loss. Place the router away from these appliances and you can also change the frequency of the wireless router such that its signals will not be interfered with others.

3 ) Change Wireless router relay frequency – In US and Canada most of the routers relay signals using channel 6 2.4 G Hz by default and most other equipments like cordless phones may also use the same frequency. So try changing the channel such that the signal frequency will change and help reduce the signal interference and may improve the signal strength. You need not have to change any settings in your computer as it will detect the signal automatically.

4 ) Update Router firmware – The Router manufacturers will constantly update the firmware fixing problems which help in improving the performance and signal strength. To do this just visit your Router manufacturers web site and download or update to the latest firmware. It is always better to keep your operating system up to date such that any improvements or updates made to the network adapter drivers will be updated automatically. This can improve the performance of your system as well as improve the network adapter performance.

5 ) Buy Router and network adapter of same brand- Signal strength and the wireless performance can improve a lot when you use the Router and the network adapter of same make. Many manufacturers include signal boost techniques in there equipments such that you can have high performance. Router and adapter from different vendors may work fine but they cause problems some times and may not perform to the full capacity.

6 ) Use high gain antenna – Antenna supplied with the router will be an Omni directional antenna which will emit signals in all directions. So when you have placed the router in your living room then half of the signal is transmitted outside your house which is of no use. This can result in signal loss and poor performance. The solution is replacing it with High gain antenna which will emit signal in only one direction. You can install the antenna in such a way that all the signals will be transmitted inside your house. This is only possible if your router has a removable antenna. Check it before you install.

7 ) Placing a repeater – Router can transmit signals only to certain distances, mostly up to several meters. As you move away from the signal source (that is router), signal becomes weak and performance will be decrease. To overcome this problem you can place a repeater to boost the signal strength such that you can roam for more distance.

8 ) Replace your network adapter – The signal problem may not be always related to the router itself. Remember it is a two way transmission, so check the wireless network adapter of your PC or Laptop. Try replacing the network adapter and check if the problem is resolved. You can also use wireless USB network adapters for better performance and reliability.

9 ) Boost the signal with reflector – Reflector will reflect back the signal in the direction that we need, just like a mirror reflecting the light. Wireless signal from the router can be reflected the same way using a Tinfoil reflector which acts like a mirror. This can be easily made in your house using daily household items and in few minutes – all that you need is tinfoil, cardboard, sticky taps.

•Cut cardboard in rectangle shape about 15 x 10 cm in size and wrap tinfoil around it.
•Cut another piece of cardboard (or paper) in a circular shape. Now bend the circular paper slightly and place it like shown in the figure.
•Now pass the tip of the antenna along the focal point of the parabola, reflector. This not only helps to reflect the signal but also acts just like a dish to receive signals and focus them on to the antenna.

1. Install firmware update with care

Nokia periodically releases phone firmware updates which can be used to patch the device in both software and hardware side. But sometimes these are only minor upgrades with some extra software applications. Updates are usually installed to phone memory, which would eventually affect overall device performance by limiting resources for other applications. So read the change log, update size and compare it with your phone memory size before proceeding with new firmware upgrades.

2. Speed up Nokia phone with software

Symbian phones also have disk partitions, system registry etc. But these are not accessible to normal users unless they are using file explorer software. Software installations and file transfers create logs files, thumbnail images, registry errors and other junk files in Symbian phones. Memoryup is a software that aids in recovering dispersed RAM in Symbian OS and arranges them to speed up the device. It has both pro and free versions. The free version is also good for minimal recovery from unwanted items.

3. Remove unnecessary applications

Usually we install mobile applications for testing, and later leave them on the phone unused. Periodical checking should be done to remove these unnecessary softwares. Antivirus software is not recommended for Symbian S60 V3 and other latest phone models. Also make sure that you are not installing applications to phone memory.

4. Kill background running and autostart apps

Few applications automatically start with phone boot and they will work in the background while the phone is multitasking. For instance, in Nokia series and music phones, the default music player is an auto start app. Also when we open messages and other programs, we forget to exit them. So altogether they will reduce the memory available to needed applications and results in “phone out of memory warnings”. It’s very simple to kill these unwanted applications. Press firmly on standby button. Open each of them and exit.

5 . Use default themes

There are lots of custom Nokia Symbian themes available for download. Though they look better than your default themes, they would affect the total network and application speed of the device.  There is also a chance for malware infections.

Speed of any mobile phone depends on the processor and the installed phone memory. So it’s the discretion of the user to select a suitable phone matching his requirements. These tips would additionally help them to maintain or manage existing memory performance and speed.

1. WP Security Scan
This plugin will scan your entire WordPress installation and will suggest you regarding security vulnerabilities like  passwords, database security, file permissions, admin security. It will also hide the version of your WordPress and remove the META tag from the core such that hacking to your WordPress installation would be hard.

2. Secure WordPress
It will help secure WordPress installation by removing miscellaneous items after the installation process which may aid hackers. It will remove error information from the login-page and also remove or change the WP-version data but leave it unchanged in the admin area. It is suggested to remove any unwanted information to the non-admin for security reasons so it will remove update information about plugins, themes and core update information. Secure WordPress will add a blank index.html to the plug-in directory such that if anyone is trying to view the contents of the directory they will be viewing a blank page instead of the contents.

3. WordPress Database Backup
This is the first plug-in to be installed soon after you complete WordPress installation. It will help you backup all your core data and other content of your choice to the destination your choose: hard disk, email or remote server. In the event of crash either by your fault or from hackers, you can restore your WordPress blog from the backup file easily. It is recommended that you use this plug-in for WordPress version 2.0.3 or later.

4. Force SSL
Having a secure SSL connection to communicate with your users is beneficial. To enable this, your site must be SSL enabled first. To implement this, you need to buy the SSL certificate. By installing this plug-in it will force your user browser to connect to your site via a SSL connection. This eliminates any third party attacks between the connection and all the data that is transmitted to and from the site will be encrypted for better security.

5. Chap Secure Login
If you are not having a secure connection like SSL to protect your password , then you can use this plug-in for encrypting passwords. It will use the Chap protocol to hide the passwords and transmit it encrypted. The only information that is transmitted unencrypted is your username. Protecting password will give full security because password leaks will enable the hacker the gain full control of your WordPress blog.

6. Anonymous WordPress Plugin
All the WordPress versions 2.3 and above have the feature to get automatic updates for plugins. During this process it will send some of your information like your blog’s URL, version number, list of installed plugins and activated plugins to Wordpress.org. This information could be of potential use for hackers. So to avoid this, installing Anonymous WordPress plug-in is a feasible option. It will strip off your blog’s URL and version number and empty the activated plugins list. This plug-in is compatible with WordPress 2.3 and above.

7. Login Encrypt
This will help encrypt the login information using the complex DES and RSA combination. It uses the JavaScript appended and encrypted the password of the user and generates a unique DES key. And by using this key, user can have secure login each time they login to your blog.

8. Admin SSL
This plug-in will work with both the private and shared SSL connections and it will force a SSL connection in every page where password can or has to be entered. It is very helpful to protect the admin area, posts and all the pages of your WordPress installation and secure the login page. This plug-in works on WordPress 2.2 to 2.7.

9. AskApache Password Protect
It will block the bots and creates a safe wall for any vulnerability your WordPress blog may have. It will protect your password as well as your WordPress directories like the wp-includes, wp-content, etc. It is like placing your WordPress blog behind a security wall.

How to order free Google number cards? The image and link will appear in your Google Voice inbox, on the left side below the account balance, on different times for different Google Voice users throughout the week. Click on the link, customize and order your free cards through iPrint.com. So if you don’t see that link right now, relax, it might appear soon.

Google Voice gives you a unique Google Number – One number for all your calls and SMS! Google Voice is invite only and you can request an invite right now. Remember Google Voice is available for sign up in US only.

This video will explain better what Google voice is all about

For all those who want to clean a dirty CD with minimum effort in the cheapest way, follow the process with simple steps given below in order.

•Find yourself a container (a medium sized one which is good enough to submerge a disk in it)
•Squeeze into the container a table spoon of liquid soap or window cleaning solution. You can also use all-natural cleaning liquid made out of distilled water.
•Now pour clean water into the container and fill it. Now the water should become soapy once it gets mixed with the cleaning solution added whatsoever.
•Now put the dirty disk into the container filled with soapy water. Leave it there for about a minute or two.
•Now remove the disk from the soapy water container and rinse it with running warm water.
•Repeat the process if the disk is still a bit dirty. In case the smudges on the disk are stubborn, you can use a soft cloth to rub soap on those parts.
•Finally shake off the excess water and let the disk to dry naturally. Do not use any artificial blower or hair drier.
Now you have your shiny good as new CD which can be easily run on your computer and there are less chances of getting data copy errors on running it.

WARNING: Use this technique at your OWN RISK. If you have important stored data, seek professional help to clean your CD. We take no responsibility for data loss or CD damage.

This is yet another one of those excruciatingly vague questions that most people in the online industry will hear quite a bit. The fact is, some websites are only worth $100 or $200 (like a custom design for a blogspot blog, as an example). Others have literally millions of dollars of value in them (like a website and database for a major car dealer, which keeps track of and can search for tens of thousands of cars, and has complex search criteria, a user sign up, custom made graphics, custom made promotions added on a regular basis, etc., etc., etc.)

Don’t worry. You don’t have to spend millions for your website. But you should know what you’re paying for. But it is important for budgeting that you understand the cost of an online store website.

One way to separate “types of websites” is by comparing Custom Design websites to Template websites. There are several major differences to these types of sites.

Custom Website Design
Here are some positives about what you will receive with a Custom Website Design:

•A fully unique website, built to your specifics.
•The opportunity to modify or tweak specific features that you would like to change or alter.
•The option to have special “moving aspects” on your website, such as a “flash banner.”
•Added customization.
•Your banner creation is generally included. You could also purchase a logo design from the same designer or design company.
Here are some downfalls to getting a Custom Website Design:

•They cost significantly more. Designers charge anywhere between $60 and $150 per hour (on average). Even a simple website, to suit small business’s needs, will generally cost well over a thousand dollars. If you want to have more than a couple of pages, or any additional features, or if you want them to put in your products for you, it will cost well more than that.
•You’re “stuck with it.” Once your website has been given to you, you cannot easily modify it yourself. This means your website is stuck as is unless you learn HTML, or continue to re-hire your designers for changes and revisions. With a website that’s not changing, it’s far more difficult to adapt to your market, and you will generally not be as well ranked with the search engines.
•It’s a little risky. Because you’re hiring someone for their time, not necessarily for a specific product, it is very difficult to get a refund from a design company if you’re not satisfied with your design. Most design companies have a contract which specifies that they only do a set number of alterations once they’ve made the website, even if you don’t like it. This means that if your number of alterations runs out before you like the website design, you may be stuck with a low quality site.

Template Website Designs
Here are some positive things about getting a template website design, or template website builder.

•They are generally the same quality as custom website designs. Despite what designers will try to convince you of, most templates were made by professional designers in the first place, so the quality will be similar.
•They are far easier to modify. If you don’t know HTML coding, or have access to expensive photo editing software, it is far easier to modify a template website. Templates usually come with easy to use website modification tools, which allow you to change and add text, images, and more on your website. This means you can update more frequently, adapt to your market, and become more “liked” by the search engines.
•They come with all the features “built in.” While you have to pay a website designer to add a store for your online store website, all of the important features are already included in a template website.
•They are easy to expand. It can be a large and expensive task to add a page on a Custom Website Design. However, adding pages, products, categories, etc., is very easy with Website Templates.
Negative things about Template Website Designs:

•Other people will have the same templates. It may be attractive and effective, but it’s not unique. Other people will have the same borders, backgrounds, and navigation that you do as a result of what a template is. Of course, most people visiting your site won’t notice this, and most won’t have seen the other sites with the same design, but it is still a downfall.
•You have to learn the builder. Even with dedicated customer care or technical support, you won’t be given step-by-step-by-step directions on the website builder you are using, and there are some basic things you will need to learn. They may not be as complex as HTML code, but it is still something you’ll have to pick up on.
•You’re limited in the templates you can choose. If you know for sure that you want a pure black website with gold navigation and and baroque styled frame around the site, with a maroon colored pattern outside of that, it’s pretty unlikely that you’ll find that specific of a template. If you’re really picky about those aspects, templates may simply frustrate you, because they are confining in that way.
So which do we recommend? Well, neither and both. Each suits the needs of different people (or, more importantly, the needs of different online businesses).

In brief:

•If you know basic HTML, are okay with spending a little more, and don’t mind spending money when you want to make changes, the advantages provided by a custom website design are likely worthwhile for you.
•If you don’t know HTML, are on a tight budget, and don’t mind investing little bit more time into your site when you need to make changes, then a Template Website Design is probably the best fit for you.
So, what can you expect to pay for each of these? Well, prices range and vary for each type of website, and especially with custom website designs you will need to do research into the special features of your site.

However, we can say that Template Sites that include an online store, an ability to expand pages, and the ability to add products/images/etc., should cost between $700 and $2000. Custom websites that have the normal pages for a store website (Home, About Us, Contact Us, Privacy Policy, Shipping Policy, Store, etc.) should generally cost between $1500 and $4000.

There are plugins available for WordPress that allow you to shorten the lengthy URLs and enable you to count the number of clicks for each shorten URL. WordPress plugins are very easy to install and use. You can include a short URL for every post in your WordPress blog so that users can easily share posts with others right from your blog.

Here-in are the five handy WordPress plugins for shortening URL’s.

1. Short URL Plug-in – This WordPress plug-in allows you to shorten the long URL’s easily and it even enables you to keep track of the short URL’s so that you can know how many times each short URL has been clicked. This feature is really useful to track downloads and other links in your blog. If you wish to reset the counter you can click on the ‘clear all’ button to zero the counter. It includes pagination of links, easier setup of htaccess (permalinks) and allows administrators to pass variables to their redirects.

2. YOURLS WordPress plug-in – This is a URL shorting service that lets you to shorten the long URL’s on your post and tweet them to the Twitter site automatically. You can configure the settings according to your needs such that you can set it to tweet when you have added a new post or page on your blog. It will send a Tweet with the title of the post and a shortened URL which will redirect to your post. It is very simple to install and works automatically after the initial configuration of the plug-in. It is also compatible with other URL shorting services like the Tinyurl.com, bit.ly, is.gd, tr.im etc.

3. WP-Chunk – This WordPress plug-in will shorten the URL’s that are present in the comments field. Most of the visitors would like to add or share some other information related to the post in the comments. In that case, they just add the URL of the page that contains the related information. This WordPress plug-in will help shorten the URL’s present in the comments field so that you do not have problem when editing the comments or your blog will look just tidy with all the short URLs.

4. Pretty Link – This is another handy WordPress plug-in that allows you to shorten any web page URL’s. It will help you to track the hit count of the shortened URL’s, where each hit came from, the browser used, OS and the host. One cool feature of this plug-in is that: you can use your own domain name to shorten the URL’s.

5. Shorter Links – This WordPress plug-in will generate shorter URL of the posts on your blog so that users can easily post the link on any of the web services like Twitter, friendfeed, share it etc., When you save the post to WordPress, the shorter link that is generated can be edited into more meaningful characters. You can further configure the plug-in using the provided settings.