Rule the Cyber world

Keep safe your wireless gadgets from being hacked!!

2009-01-21T02:33:00.000-08:00

Few tools help you to perform wireless hacking and those can be used in to save ourselves from such wireless attacks to our wireless equipment like Laptops and practices to follow to secure your Wireless Network against each of these powerful tools.

NetStumbler – Do not broadcast your SSID. Ensure your WLAN is protected by using advanced Authentication and Encryption.
Kismet – There’s really nothing you can do to stop Kismet from finding your WLAN, so ensure your WLAN is protected by using advanced Authentication and Encryption
Airsnort – Use a 128-bit, not a 40-bit WEP encryption key. This would take longer to crack. If your equipment supports it, use WPA or WPA2 instead of WEP (may require firmware or software update).
Cowpatty – Use a long and complex WPA Pre-Shared Key. This type of key would have less of a chance of residing in a dictionary file that would be used to try and guess your key and/or would take longer. If in a corporate scenario, don’t use WPA with Pre-Shared Key, use a good EAP type to protect the authentication and limit the amount of incorrect guesses that would take place before the account is locked-out. If using certificate-like functionality, it could also validate the remote system trying to gain access to the WLAN and not allow a rogue system access.
ASLeap – Use long and complex credentials, or better yet, switch to EAP-FAST or a different EAP type.
Ethereal – Use encryption, so that anything sniffed would be difficult or nearly impossible to break. WPA2, which uses AES, is essentially unrealistic to break by a normal hacker. Even WEP will encrypt the data. When in a Public Wireless Hotspot (which generally do not offer encryption), use application layer encryption, like Simplite to encrypt your IM sessions, or use SSL. For corporate users, use IPSec VPN with split-tunneling disabled. This will force all traffic leaving the machine through an encrypted tunnel that would be encrypted with DES, 3DES or AES.
Be careful and safe to have a great wireless future ahead!!

Can we counter a Buffer Overflow by Smashguard?

2008-11-14T22:04:00.000-08:00

A buffer overflow attack is perhaps the most common attack used to compromise the security of a host. This attack can be used to change the function return address and redirect execution to the attacker's code. We present a hardware-based solution, called SmashGuard, to protect against all known forms of attack on the function return addresses stored on the program stack. With each function call instruction, the current return address is pushed onto a hardware stack. A return instruction compares its address to the return address from the top of the hardware stack. An exception is raised to signal the mismatch. Because the stack operations and checks are done in hardware in parallel with the usual execution of instructions, our best-performing implementation scheme has virtually no performance overhead (because we are modifying hardware, it is impossible to guarantee zero overhead without an actual hardware implementation). While previous software-based approaches' average performance degradation for the SPEC2000 benchmarks is only 2.8 percent, their worst-case degradation is up to 8.3 percent. Apart from the lack of robustness in performance, the software approaches' key disadvantages are less security coverage and the need for recompilation of applications. SmashGuard, on the other hand, is secure and does not require recompilation of applications.

What you can do on internet!!

2008-11-05T22:59:00.000-08:00

The Internet is a huge library of billions of web pages, hundreds of search engines, and tons of legal facts just waiting for your use. To begin an investigation, you first need a target, in this case a person. It is best to think optimistically about finding that person. Plenty of information can be obtained on anyone from online references or offline departments, so think positively! With the exception of adoption cases and those that have been closed from the general public, like certain military investigations, everyone leaves a paper trail that can be followed when you know how to go about it. Like all investigators, you should keep notes on what you find. Hopefully this tutorial will allow you to locate the person your searching for quickly, but if you don’t, you might be able to use your common sense to track them down. Please remember, things like this take time and require a lot of patience.Go on start yourself nothin is impossible in the world for you:=)

Javascript-Part2

2008-11-05T22:54:00.000-08:00

Places To Learn More Advanced Javascript

I will just provide a list of tutorials and sites with more advanced javascript. If you wish to learn javascript and be able to write your own you will have to look at other people's scripts for examples and read a few more tutorials. I just went over the very basics so you wouldn't be lost.

http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/programming/javascript/tutorials/tutorial2.html - good examples, not really advanced.. prolly a medium level javascript tutorial.

http://www.webdevelopersjournal.com/articles/jsevents2/jsevents2.html - A javascript tutorial on event handles. Fairly advanced.

http://www.htmlguru.com - a classic site, go to the tutorials section and learn a lot of advanced javascript made easy.

http://server1.wsabstract.com/javatutors - Goes over some specific aspects to advanced javascript work. Useful in many situations.

http://www.pageresource.com/jscript/index6.htm - The advanced string handling and the forms tutorials are good, I would suggest reading them if you wish to get more into javascripting.

Coolnerd's Javascript Resource - A nice list of al the javascript operators, statements, objects.. although it might be alittle old I still use it all the time.

If you want to create your own javascripts for yoursite be warned. Javascripts are very limited in power, but can be the solution to many simple problems. You will have to spend a few weeks learning more advanced javascript in order to make anything really useful. Creating that awsome DHTML (Dynamic HTML) feels really good ;) Dynamic HTML is pretty much javascript that interacts with the user, css, and layers -

, , and .

Here is some links to good dynamic html sites:

The Dynamic Duo, Cross browser dynamic html tutorial - Goes over things step by step.

Taylor's dynamic HTML tutorial - That nice webmonkey style that everyone loves.

Curious Eye DHTML tutorial - This will really get you going making cross browser Dynamic HTML.

Intro to DHTML - Might be nice if you aren't as html and javascript knowledgable as most DHTML beginners.

Good luck with your adventure into javascript =)

Hacking With Javascript-Part1

2008-11-05T22:47:00.000-08:00

The basics of javascript are fairly easy if you have programmed anything before, although javascript is not java, if you know java you should have no problems learning it. Same for any other programming language, as most share the same basics as javascript uses. This tutorial might not be for the complete newbie. I would like to be able to do a tutorial like that, but I don't have the time or patience to write one. To begin if you don't know html you must learn it first!
Javascript starts with the Script tag.Anything between these two tags is interpreted as javascript by the browser. Remember this! Cause a few hacks use the fact that if you use script tag and don't finish it all the html on the page underneath that is ignored.Javascript uses the same basic elements as other programming languages.. Such as variables, flow control, and functions. The only difference is that javascript is a lot more simplified, so anyone with some programming experience can learn javascript very quickly. The hardest part of scripting javascript is to get it to work in all browsers. I will now go over the basics of variables:

to define a variable as a number you do: var name = 1;
to define a variable as a string you do: var name = 'value';

A variable is basically the same in all programming languages. I might also point out that javascript does not support pointers. No structs to make your own variables either. Only variable types are defined by 'var'. This can be a hard thing to understand at first, but javascript is much like C++ in how it handles variables and strings. A string is a group of characters, like: 'word', which is a string. When you see something like document.write(something); it will try to print whatever is in the variable something. If you do document.write('something'); or document.write("something"); it will print the string 'something'.

Hacking With Javascript-INTRO

2008-11-05T22:44:00.000-08:00

Javascript is used as a client side scripting language, meaning that your browser is what interprets it. It is used on webpages and is secure (for the most part) since it cannot touch any files on your hard drive (besides cookies). It also cannot read/write any files on the server. Knowing javascript can help you in both creating dynamic webpages, meaning webpages that change, and hacking. First I will start with the basic javascript syntax, then I will list a few sites where you can learn more, and then I will list a few ways you can use javascript to hack. There are a few benifits of knowing javascript. For starters, it is really the only (fully supported) language that you can use on a website making it a very popular language on the net. It is very easy to learn and shares common syntax with many other languages. And it is completely open source, if you find something you like done in javascript you can simply view the source of the page and figure out how it's done. The reason I first got into javascript was because back before I got into hacking I wanted to make my own webpage. I learned HTML very quickly and saw Dynamic HTML (DHTML) mentioned in a few tutorials. I then ventured into the land of javascript making simple scripts and usful features to my site. It was only after I was pretty good with javascript and got into hacking that I slowly saw it's potential to be used milisously. Many javascript techniques are pretty simple and involve tricking the user into doing something. Almost pure social engineering with a bit of help from javascript. After using simple javascript tricks to fake login pages for webbased email I thought about other ways javascript could be used to aid my hacking, I studied it on and off for around a year. Some of these techniques are used by millions of people, some I came up with an are purely theorectical. I hope you will realize how much javascript can aid a hacker.

Computer Memory-What is it!

2008-11-05T10:41:00.000-08:00

Computer memory is called Random Access Memory (RAM). The information stored in RAM can be accessed randomly, rather than sequentially. This means that data can be found in any location at the same rate of speed. Other storage media, such as CD-Rom and hard drives, must wait while the drive spins to the correct location before the data can be accessed.
Computer memory is simply a storage area for the program code and the data that program uses. Computer programs use RAM to write and retrieve information, allowing for fast data retrieval and manipulation.
How Much RAM is Enough?
Simply stated, the answer is, as much as possible. Keep in mind, though, once you've reached a certain upper limit, which is determined by the computer program(s) used, investment in more memory will see a diminished return.
Adding more memory is one of the best ways to maximize computer performance. If you compare 2 identical computer systems, the one with the most memory will over-all be the faster. More RAM allows the computer to place more program instructions into memory, relying less on the slower hard drive.
Think of 512 Megabytes (MB) as the base standard for a modern computer. With that you can multi-task (run several applications concurrently). For instance, you can check email and download MP3s, without noticeable sluggishness.
Some applications, however, are more memory-hungry than others. Graphics programs, for example, are notoriously greedy. Memory needs are further exagerated by the operating system used. Microsoft Windows is far more demanding than, say, Linux. Currently, most PCs use Windows, though.
Should you notice your computer slowing down, consider adding more memory. Before committing to that option, however, try de-fragmenting your hard drive with a utility (program) designed for that sole purpose. A fragmented hard drive is a common cause of stalled computer performance.
Types of RAM
Right now DDR SDRAM is the most popular memory module. DDR stands for Double Data Rate, which means that the memory can be accessed twice per clock-cycle. SDRAM, the acronym for Synchronous Data Random Access Memory, has been the standard for memory modules for nearly a decade.
To add memory to your computer, you must install modules with the correct contact layout. Before purchasing new memory, you must know which type your motherboard will accept. The most common form factors are 168 pin, 184 pin and 200 pin.
You'll also need to know whether there are slots available on your motherboard. If all the slots are already in use, you'll have to replace 1 or all of the current modules with higher capacity ones. If there is at least 1 free slot, you can simply buy a new memory module and insert it in the empty slot.
A word of caution: whereas some motherboards can accept either SDRAM or DDR SDRAM, the 2 types cannot be mixed. You must decide on 1 or the other. Check the motherboard manual first to determine which kind of memory your computer requires.
And finally, when you are ready to install your brand new memory module, make sure of 2 things: the power is off (for your safety) and you are electrically grounded (for your computer's safety).

Google Revolutionizes Desktop Searching

2008-11-05T10:10:00.000-08:00

We're all used to searching the web at blazing fast speeds: picking out the right webpages among the five billion choices takes only a few hundredths of a second. Yet when it comes to searching a relative puddle compared to that ocean, the number of files, e-mails and documents on our computer, the average person is stuck wasting minutes or even hours using Windows' standard search program.
Google has come to the rescue once again with a new application, Google Desktop Search. It indexes files, e-mails, AOL conversations (if you give it permission), Word and Excel documents just like Google indexes webpages. You can then use the convenient icon it places in your system tray to bring up a Google search box that brings the power, speed and ease of use of Google searches to your desktop.
Google Desktop Search, like its Web counterpart, takes only a fraction of a second to search, sort and list the matching files, e-mails, conversations and web history. Results can be filtered with a single click to include only, for example, matching e-mails, and to sort them by date or relevance.

While the new Google software is still in beta, it is free for anyone to download and installs in just minutes. It will take a short while before its full ability can be used as the program makes its index of e-mails, documents and other computer files only when the computer is not in use.
Download a free copy at http://desktop.google.com/

Earn money online

2008-11-05T10:09:00.002-08:00

Believe it or not, but it’s actually possible to make money from blogging. One teenager has, in fact, earned more than $5,000 a month just from making posts on his blog! Of course, not every blogger is this lucky. It does take some skill, and some luck to make money from blogging. What it also takes is some knowledge of how exactly to generate income just by posting blogs. In this newsletter, we will go over three specific methods of making money on your blog: Adsense, Pay Per Lead, and Affiliate Links. So how exactly do I make money on my blog? You do it by working with another company that wants to use your blog as a form of advertising. It sounds like selling out, right? Not exactly. The advertising can be as in your face or subtle as you want. And it can still make you money, provided you have enough visitors to your blog. What is Adsense? Adsense is a program offered by Google. The program, if installed, will display ads provided by Google. How do I get Adsense? You’ll need to go to Google.com, first. At the bottom of the screen is a link for “Advertising Programs”. Click on that. Then click on the link for “Adsense”. Scroll down on the page that comes up and click “Click Here To Apply!” You then fill out the form with information about yourself. After 12-48 hours, Google will notify you via email whether or not your site has been accepted. When you’ve been accepted, set up your ads by doing either of the following: 1. If your blog is hosted on Blogger.com, you can set up your AdSense ads by going to your profile, selecting settings>template>add an element. Then select AdSense and login with your account info. Next, you’ll configure your ads and save the template. That’s it. 2. If you are self-hosting your blog, you’ll have to set up AdSense in more of a manual way. You’ll create your ads(which can be as small or as tall as you want) and then copy the HTML/Javascript code Google gives you. Then you’ll paste it into your blog(on the left, right, or top of the screen). For the first few days, the ads displayed by Google will be Public Service Announcements. After the ads have been up a few days, though, the ads will switch to ads that are relevant to your blog. How does Adsense work? Every time a visitor clicks an Adsense ad, you get a little bit of money(usually around 30-60 cents). The amount you get for each ad clicked depends on the number of unique visitors you receive on your blog. The more visitors, the more money that can be earned. Google will then send a check or pay you through Paypal once you’ve made at least $100 from the ads. It is important to remember that Google will penalize you if you click your own ads, or if you ask visitors specifically to click ads. So don’t do that! Pay Per Click Pay Per Click is basically just like AdSense, except you don’t just work with Google—you work with multiple companies. BidVertiser is one such company you can sign up with to do Pay Per Click advertising. How do I get Pay Per Click You sign up with a site like Bidvertiser and then follow their instructions to set up the Pay Per Click ads on your site. How does Pay Per Click work? It works by paying you money each time someone clicks an ad that you display. You won’t get paid for multiple clicks from the same user in the same visitor, nor will you get paid for someone simply visiting your site. You only get paid for legitimate clicks. Affiliate Links Affiliate links are basically links which people pay you for. Companies will actually pay owners of popular blogs to post links on their blog. You can do as much Affiliate linking as you want. How do I get Affiliate Links? You can get Affiliate links by searching for “Affiliate Link Programs” on the internet. Once you find an Affiliate link program that looks good to you, sign up for it. Then you can follow their instructions for putting the link(s) on your blog. How do Affiliate Links work? Like the other two methods mentioned above, Affiliate links work by paying you money each time they are clicked. You get paid for each click per unique visitor. So that’s it. There’s three legitimate ways to make money from blogging. It is important to keep in mind that the amount of money you are able to make depends on how many visitors your blog draws. If you draw a lot, you’ll make a lot. If not, the money you earn will be modest. But it’s still extra money, so why not do it? Making money using Adsense, Pay Per Click or Affiliate Link programs is easy and effective. Start monetizing your blog today.

Post Regularly for a BLog

2008-11-05T10:09:00.001-08:00

Keeping people interested in your blog, whether it is a business or personal blog, is key to attracting a lot of regular visitors. Many blogs have died because people have just lost interest. The main reason for the lack of interest is simply a lack of posts by the blogger. Regular, frequent posting, which will boost your blog’s ranking in search engines, is essential to the survival of any blog. You might be asking yourself, what is frequent posting? How many blog entries should I make on a given week? How do I make frequent consistently good posts? What are the reasons for me to post frequently? In this newsletter, we will go over all of the above. What is frequent posting? Frequent blog posting is posting enough to keep your readers interested. Obviously, people will not want to come back to a blog that hasn’t been updated in months. They want to see consistent posting so that they know coming back to check the blog next week to see if there are more posts won’t be a waste of time. How many blog entries should I make each week? This is one of the tougher questions to answer. It really depends on the purpose of your blog. If it’s a personal blog, a weekly or twice weekly update is an excellent idea. A political/sports/music/religion blog should have 3-4 posts per week. Business blogs should have at least 2 posts, but preferably 4 each week. The thing to remember is that quality counts. Posting frequently just for the sake of posting frequently tends to result in subpar posts which people won’t care about. It is important to find a balance—frequent, quality posts that won’t result in burnout on your part. Why create 4 poor quality posts each week when you could post 2 quality posts per week? How do I create quality postings on a consistent basis? It’s all about following a consistent pattern of writing. Maybe you’re not a natural writer and this is difficult. That’s why we’ll give you an outline to help you. 1. Pick a topic that is interesting to you and to your readers. Maybe if your blog is a personal blog, you could write about the latest happenings in Hollywood. 2. Carefully think about what you’ll write about the topic. It makes it easy to make quality blog postings if you know exactly what you’ll write. Plot out everything about the post before even beginning to write it. 3. Before writing your content, pick out some keywords that are relevant to your blog. If you naturally use keywords throughout your post, you will please search engine spiders which will get your blog ranked higher on search engines. Your visitors won’t mind the use of keywords if they are used in a tasteful way. 4. Begin writing your post. Don’t limit yourself to a particular amount of words. Just do what’s natural. And if any blog post is hard for you, just take a timeout and relax. You should be able to finish the post a bit later on, after you’ve had some time to think things through, you should be able to finish the post with no problems. Why is frequent posting important? Blogs are meant to be outlets for individuals or businesses. They are used to get an opinion out on something and to engage readers. Readers need to have something that makes them want to keep coming back to a blog. That something is usually quality, frequent posts. Gaining and maintaining visitors isn’t the only reason to post often in your blog. Catching the eye of a search engine—and achieving a high ranking—is another valid reason for posting frequently. Most likely, each posting in your blog features some keywords or keyword phrases scattered throughout it. Logic says that the more natural keywords you have on a blog, the better. Thus, the more posts you make on your blog, the more keywords you have on there. And the more keywords you have, the more likely a search engine bot is to crawl your site. The more your site is crawled by bots, the more likely it is that you will have a high ranking on a search engine. Frequent blog posting can be easy as long as the person who is posting takes the time to plot out what they’ll write about. So take a few minutes to think about your post and then just do it!

Cleaning the Mother Board

2008-11-05T10:07:00.000-08:00

If you have not done the inspection mentioned in the previous article - How to Clean your Case, now is the time to do so. Look at the blades of the fan in the back of the computer. Also look at any vents. Is there clusters of dust there? Is there grime caked on to it? If so, the inside needs to be cleaned. If the fan blades are clean but it has been several years since you have cleaned the motherboard or if the computer is around cigarette smoke, it probably should be cleaned anyway. Dust and particles in the air (like cigarette smoke) can build up on the circuitry of the motherboard and cause it to heat up and/or corrode. The first thing that you need to do is unplug your computer. Then open up the case to get access to the motherboard. Cases open differently. If you don't know how to open your case, look on the back of your computer along the edge for some screws. These screws may hold on side panels or an upside down U shaped panel that covers the sides and top. Removing the screws will allow you to take off the cover. Other cases have the screws on the front of the computer. To get access to these screws, you must first remove the front panel by pressing a hidden latch. The cover is there to give easy access to the inside of your computer, so if you look hard enough, you should be able to figure out how to remove it. Remember that if you touch anything on the motherboard, you should be grounded by either touching the metal frame of the computer with your other hand or by wearing a special grounding device. The goal of cleaning the motherboard is to remove all dust and debris from the motherboard and all components inside of the case. This can be done using one of three methods. The preferred method is to use a can of compressed air to blow it out. Always hold the can in an up-right position to prevent the propellent chemicals which can damage or corrode components from coming out. Dust and dirt should be blown away from the motherboard and out of the case. Another way to remove dust is to use a vacuum. The common advice is to only use a battery operated vacuum because an AC powered vacuum causes static and static can ruin the motherboard. I have used an AC powered vacuum (before I knew that it was not recommended) to clean my motherboard many times and it has never caused any problems, but I may have just been lucky. When using the vacuum, keep the nozzle a couple of inches away from the motherboard or any other components so that it does not come in contact with them and so that any small parts are not sucked into the vacuum. If you do not have a can of compressed air or a vacuum, you can use a dry cloth and brush to clean the motherboard. Be careful not to dislodge or break anything using this method. While cleaning the motherboard, be careful not to unplug any cables or connections or to dislodge any loose components, such as, jumpers. Methodically clean the whole inside of the case going over all of the motherboard from one end to the other and all other components. Don't forget to clean the fans and heat sinks. Do not open up the power supply box or stick anything in it beyond the fan. If you do, you could get a shocking surprise and ruin your computer. If your computer does not work when you put it back together, something was obviously dislodged during the cleaning. Open the case back up and push all connections and cards into their slots. Look for anything that may have become disconnected. Cleaning the motherboard is probably the most dangerous form of cleaning but it is necessary to prevent an early death of your computer.

Cleaning your Mouse

2008-11-05T10:06:00.001-08:00

If your mouse is working sluggishly or not at all, don't go out and buy another cheap mouse. The cause is probably just a dirty mouse. A quick cleaning could fix the problem. First, you need to identify which kind of mouse you have. If you turn your mouse over and part of a ball is showing, you have a ball mouse. If you see a lens, you have an optical or laser mouse. Each type of mouse requires a different type of cleaning. The optical or laser mouse does not need to be cleaned near as often as the ball mouse, but it and the surface it runs on can still get dirty. If you do not clean the surface that the mouse moves on, it will soon turn black. So about once a month or so, wipe the surface off with a wet rag. The lens probably never will get dirty, but if it does, take a soft cloth, cotton swab, or q-tip wetted with window cleaner or alcohol and clean the lens. The ball mouse may need cleaning quite often, so you should get well acquainted with the following cleaning procedure. The dirtier the ball mouse gets, the harder it is to get it to move the cursor on the screen smoothly. If you have to move the mouse across the mouse pad several times to get the cursor to move halfway across the screen, it needs to be cleaned. The mouse does not need to be disconnected to clean it, but you should close all of the programs that are running, so that you don't accidentally click on something and mess it up. If you do decide to disconnect the mouse, be sure to turn off the computer first. The mouse cord should never be unplugged from the computer while it is running. Doing so could ruin your motherboard. Turn the ball mouse over and find the cover that holds the ball in. Look for arrows on the cover to show which way it needs to be turned. Place two fingers on the cover and push in the direction of the arrows. Once the cover has been turned about an inch, cover it with your hand and turn the mouse back over to the upright position. The ball and cover should fall into your hand. If it doesn't, shake the mouse gently. Wipe the ball off with a wet rag. Now look in the ball well and find the three rollers. Start by cutting across the buildup on the rollers with your fingernail (a knife or steel dental pick may also be used gently), then turn the roller and remove the buildup as you go along. If you do this correctly, you will end up with one curled strip of buildup for each roller. Make sure to remove the buildup from the well. If it falls inside somewhere, blow and gently shake it until it comes out. Take a wet rag and clean each of the rollers by wiping across it, then turning it and wiping again. Continue until the entire roller is cleaned. Put the ball back in the ball well and lock the cover back in place. If the mouse still has problems once it is assembled, try cleaning it again. If that doesn't work, you may need to buy a new mouse. It is a good idea to regularly clean the surface that the mouse is on because the cleaner the surface, the less dirt will get inside the mouse and the less often you will have to clean it. If your mouse is shared by many people (especially if one of them is sick), you may want to disinfect the top of the mouse between users. Follow these instructions and your mouse will be up and darting again in no time.

Cleaning the Printer

2008-11-05T10:05:00.000-08:00

Does your printer have frequent paper jams? Does it put ink where ink shouldn't be? Is the outside of your printer dirty or covered with smudges? If so, it is time to clean your printer. First, there are some general rules that apply to cleaning just about any electrical device. It is best to turn off the printer before cleaning it. Do not spray water or cleaner on or in the printer. Instead wet the rag with it and clean the printer with the rag. Different types of printers require different cleaning methods. So if you can get your hands on cleaning instructions for your make and model of printer, do so and follow them. Unfortunately, many manufacturers only make that kind of information available to their licensed technicians. In that case, you are stuck with these instructions, so read on. Open up your printer and take a look. If you have an ink jet printer and there is an ink mess inside, clean it up with wet paper towels. If you have a printer that uses toner either vacuum or blow it out. Some toner, especially color toner, can be harmful to you, so only use a vacuum with a micro-toner filter or blow and run. Figure out where the drum is (it is shiny and larger in diameter than the rollers) and do not touch or scratch it. If you do, the scratches will turn up as marks on every paper that you print and will require that you replace the drum (not a cheap option) to fix it. Examine the path that the paper takes through the printer. Clean all of the rollers (but on a toner printer, not the drum or rollers near the drum and watch out for the rollers after the drum because they may be hot). It may take some disassembly and/or contorting of your arm to get to some of the rollers. Access is not always easy. The most important rollers to clean are the ones which pick up the paper from the paper bin and transfer it into the printer. If these rollers are dirty or bad, they will cause consistent paper jams. The rollers are made of either hard plastic or rubber. All of the rollers can be cleaned with water or rubbing alcohol. If the rubber rollers have deposits that you can't get off, you can use harsher cleaners but be careful because those cleaners can damage the plastic rollers and parts. To clean a roller, wipe across the roller with a wet rag, rotate the roller, and wipe again. Do this until you have worked your way all the way around the roller. Look at the rag. If it has been blackened by the roller, move to a clean part of the rag and clean the roller again. Once everything is clean on the inside, close it up and clean the outside. Wipe off the case and each of the buttons or knobs. If there are staples or paper clips sitting on it or wedged in the cracks, remove them and throw them away. Other areas of the printer can be cleaned but to do so, you will have to either get training and special tools or leave it to a trained professional.

Cleaning the Registry

2008-11-05T10:04:00.000-08:00

In the beginning Windows' registry consisted of two files totalling around 5mb in size. Today it consists of at least 12 files with the Software file itself being 30mb or bigger in size. As the size of the registry has exploded, so has the trash and clutter in it. It may seem like a daunting task, but cleaning the registry properly can fix system problems, speed your computer up, and make it run more efficiently. I have spent many years developing and refining thousands of procedures to do just that. I could share these methods of hunting down the trash with you and let you find them and delete them by hand, but if you were to sit down at your computer right now and work nonstop, you would still be busy with them a week from now when the next issue of Ray's Computer Tips arrives. By then your registry would have new clutter and you would have to start all over again. To make registry cleaning easier on everyone, I wrote a program called RegVac Registry Cleaner (http://regvac.com/regvac.htm) to perform those procedures. It has been so successful that several companies have asked me to model their registry cleaners after RegVac and even more have copied processes that first debutted in RegVac. The first place RegVac cleans is the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT section (the Classes Vac in RegVac does this). This section contains settings for the classes of Windows. Think of a huge box full of snakes and you will get an idea of how complicated and interwoven it is. It is so complicated that many registry cleaners bypass it or simply perform surface scans of it. RegVac uses over a hundred processes to follow each tentacle of each class deep into this area and make sure that they abide by the rules. Next RegVac validates the entries in 22 lists with 7 different methods (the FilesList Vac does this). This is a minor part of RegVac but the bulk of most other registry cleaners even though they usually do not clean all 22 lists. Another part of RegVac, the Software Vac, which is unique to RegVac, finds old software sections in the registry and provides a way to remove that software's entire branch. Other registry cleaners only remove a few entries in this area often leaving huge portions of the registry that do nothing but take up space and get in the way. Even more trash can be discovered in hundreds of stashes used to store data you will never use. Most registry cleaners do not even touch these. The Stash Vac lists these stashes and lets you go through and select which ones to empty out. Please use caution when using the Stash Vac because some of the items listed there may be important. For example, one folder in the Stash Vac lists places where data for international keyboards are stored. You probably will never use the data for Bulgarian keyboards, so you can remove it, but if you live in the US you may experience problems after removing the United States 101 keyboard. The items that you can safely remove are usually obvious. Last but not least, when cleaning the registry, you should look for broken links to files on the computer (this is what the Bad Link Vac does). If a file is referenced in the registry but it does not exist on your hard drive, that is a good indicator that something is wrong. Many programmers start out writing a registry cleaner thinking all it has to do is check for these broken links and remove them. In fact, that is all many registry cleaners do. Even though that is all they do, they often don't do it correctly. If you check the results of such scans, you will find out that many of the broken links are really good links. I spent several months refining this part of RegVac so that as far as I know it is 100% accurate. Despite this, please realize that some software enter broken links in the registry and require them to be there in order for them to run. RegVac skips the ones it knows about, but you still need to be careful with this part of RegVac. RegVac has six more tools that clean even more areas: the Add/Remove Editor, the System Config Utility, the OpenWith Editor, the AutoComplete Editor, the Junk Keys Editor, and Registry Backup, Pack, and Restore.

Cleaning your Keyboard as easy as 123!!

2008-11-05T10:03:00.000-08:00

I know most of you will not heed this advice, but KEYBOARDS CAN MAKE YOU SICK (how's that for tactfulness?). Germs live on your hands and fingers. When you type, many of them jump on to the keyboard. When someone else types on your keyboard, those germs transfer to their fingers. Or when you later type on the same keyboard, those germs reconquer your fingers. Regularly disinfecting the keyboard can prevent this. To disinfect the keyboard, turn off the computer. Then spray disinfectant on a cloth. Be sure to use disinfectant and not just any type of cleaner because not all cleaners disinfect. Also do not spray the disinfectent directly on the keys. Spray it on the cloth. Wipe down the top and sides of the keys. Give the keys a few minutes to dry off before turning the computer back on. Now that you know how to do it, you should make it a regular practice to disinfect the keyboard. It's one step towards a healthier you. So you have your keyboard disinfected and life is great. Then your child spills koolaide all over it. What do you do? There are certain steps that you should take when something, like pop, beer, wine, coffee, milk, or kool-aide, is spilled on the keyboard. The first thing to do is immediately unplug the keyboard from the back of the computer and turn the keyboard over so that its keys are down. This will allow the liquid to drain out. You will probably want to put a cloth under the keyboard or at least make sure that the surface you have put it on is washable. Then use the mouse to shut down Windows and turn off the computer (this is important because later you will have to plug the keyboard back into the computer and you should never plug any device into a computer while it is on). While the keyboard is upside down use a cloth to dry as much of the liquid off as you can. If you have a can of compressed air or a vacuum, while the keyboard is upside down blow or vacuum it out. Then let the keyboard set upside down for at least a night so that it can adequately dry out. If the liquid that spilled on it was sticky, you may want to follow the extensive cleaning procedure explained in the next article, How to Clean your Keyboard - Part 2. Liquid spilled on a laptop keyboard can easily reach the hard drive, so turn it over immediately and leave it in that position until it dries. Keyboards are quite resilient and so it should work when you turn it on again. But if not, another attribute of keyboards is that they are cheap and so it won't cost too much to buy another one. With these pointers in mind and a quick reaction, you just may save your keyboard from total destruction the next time it gets coated with coffee.
When it comes to cleaning your keyboard there are many methods that can be used, some harder and more effective than others. The easiest method is the Shake Method. It is so easy that you can do it right now. Pick up your keyboard, turn it over being careful not to press any keys, and shake it. See all of that stuff fall out? It is dirtier than you thought, isn't it? You can use one of the following methods to clean it further. The Blow Method - You can buy cans of pressurized air at the computer department or computer store which are made especially for cleaning your computer. They usually have either a hose and nozzle or a tube extending from the nozzle. Hold the keyboard up vertically (that means that end of the keyboard is up and the other end is down), aim towards the keys and press the button. Keep blowing until all of the debris is blown out. Be sure to get around and in between all of the keys. This can be done with the computer on, but it is better if it is off so that you do not have to worry about pressing the keys and coming up with a page of aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa's. The Vacuum Method - This is just like the Blow Method except that a vacuum is used instead of a can of pressurized air. It is quite simple. Just turn the vacuum on, pull out the hose, and run the nozzle over the keys. Before doing this make sure your keyboard does not have any loose pop off keys that could be sucked into the vacuum. The Cotton Ball Method - This can be done in addition to the above methods and in lieu of the following methods. Take a cotton ball or cloth and wet it with rubbing alcohol. It should not be so wet that the alcohol runs down into the cracks of the keyboard. Wipe the tops and sides of the keys. The Dishwasher Method - I hesitate to tell about this method because there is the possibility that it could fry your keyboard. When I had less experience with computers, I dunked my keyboard in a sink full of water to clean it. It did work afterwards, so I don't doubt those who say this method will not mess up your keyboard, but if it does, don't complain to me. I warned you. If your keyboard is not the standard membrane type of keyboard or if it is on a laptop, do not even think of trying this. This is how you do it. Unplug the keyboard and place it face down in an empty dishwasher. Do not disassemble the keyboard and do not put it in a dishwasher that has dirty dishes in it. Some say to add soap, some say not to. Run the dishwasher through a regular cycle. Take the keyboard out, shake the water out, and stand it on end until it is completely dry (this may take several days). If it does not work after doing this, it may not be dry. Let it stand another week and try it again. If it still does not work, I warned you. The Disassembly Method - This is the most thorough method, but it should not be done on laptop keyboards or non-standard non-membrane keyboards. Turn off the computer and unplug the keyboard. Turn the keyboard upside down. You may want to get two books or short boards to place the keyboard on. Position them so that they hold up the keyboard on the edges when it is turned over. This should leave the keys dangling and not touching the books or the floor. This is especially needed when the keyboard's back is off; otherwise the keys will be lifted out of their position by the floor (or whatever surface it is laying on). Get a screwdriver and remove all of the screws from the back of the keyboard. Lay the keyboard down on the books and carefully remove the back. Take everything apart and clean thoroughly. It is better to take the keys out one at a time and clean them so that you do not put them back in the wrong place. Wipe each one down with a wet cloth and then with a dry cloth. Any keys that may be hard to put back in, can be cleaned in place without removing them. Wipe around the keys as they sit in place and blow any debris out with your lungs (using compressed air or a vacuum may upset the keys). If you are really brave, you can remove all of the keys at once and give the frame a good wipe down too. Do a once over and make sure that you have cleaned everything. Then reassemble it all. Don't forget the keyboard's cable. Wrap a wet cloth around it and wipe it down. It may have an accumulation of grime that needs to be scrubbed off. Also if any of the letters on the keys have rubbed off, you can use a fine point permanent marker to draw the letter back on the key. Use these cleaning methods and your keyboard will last a long time and be something you can be proud of.----Happy Cleaning----

Greatest Blogging Ever

2008-11-05T10:02:00.001-08:00

So you’ve decided to blog, but aren’t sure whether you should host the blog yourself or sign up for a free service like blogger.com. It’s a dilemma that many bloggers face. There are pros and cons to both, which makes the decision difficult for many. Neither is perfect, and neither is for everyone. Fortunately, you should be able to make the best decision for you if you are armed with adequate knowledge of both. In this newsletter, we’ll go over services like blogger.com and others, plus software that allows you to host your own blog. We’ll also go over the pros and cons of each. After reading this, you will know which is best for you. Who offers free blog hosting? Many sites offer free blog hosting. Among them are Forumer, Blogger, BlogEasy, Aeonity, BlogThing and Blogates. A quick search for “free blog” on Google reveals many possibilities. What software can I use to host my own blog? Like free blog hosting, there are many possibilities for software that makes hosting your own blog easy. Most of them are free to use. These include: WordPress(the most popular software) Apache Roller Blosxom Geeklog Textpattern LifeType There is also blog software which you can purchase for use on your site. These include: Community Server Movable Type Radio UserLand One negative about using software and hosting your own blog is that the process can often times be complicated. You have to download the software and install it to your server, which doesn’t always go easily. It’s particularly hard for those who don’t have a lot of experience installing things on servers. Why should I remotely host my blog at a place like Blogger? Places like Blogger allow you to host your blog there. It’s a good option for many people. The Pros • It’s easy to set up and maintain a blog. You don’t have to go through the trouble of installing software and configuring it to work on your server. All you have to do is sign up for an account and start posting. • It’s friendly for beginning bloggers. Sites that host blogs offer good tutorials on how to make your blog postings, so that even someone who is completely new to the concept of blogging can do it easily. • Most blog hosting sites are completely free to use. There is no need to pay for things like a domain name and hosting. • Monetizing your blog is easy. Rather than having to manually put HTML/Javascript codes on your blog to manually set up things like AdSense and Pay Per Click advertising, you can select an option on most blog hosting sites that does much of the work for you. The Cons • You don’t have as many options to customize your blog. Remotely hosted blogs are admittedly somewhat limited in terms of what you can actually do on them. You have to stick with what is provided to you in terms of look and features. • The URL you get is always yourname.BLOGSITE.com. You don’t get to have a custom domain name like YOURNAME.com. This can possibly hurt traffic to your blog. • Blogs hosted on free blog sites don’t look as professional as self hosted blogs. Why should I self-host my blog? The Pros • You have more options and more flexibility. You are able to tweak the blog to your liking. • Your URL is your address for your blog. Rather than having go to where your blog is hosted to read it, they can read it right from your site. • The ability to make your blog look professional. Blogs that are hosted on sites of their own tend to look a lot better than those hosted on free sites. • More space for your blog. Free blog sites usually place a restriction on how much space you have for things like photos and music. By hosting your own blog, you are able to use as much space as you need. The Cons • There are sometimes problems with setting up blog software to run on your site and server. If you aren’t experienced when it comes to working with mySQL, the process will be hard. • Updates aren’t as easy to post. • You have to manually set up programs to monetize your blog. However, if you are good with HTML/Javascript, this shouldn’t be too hard. • You have to pay for your own hosting and domain As you can see, there are pros and cons to both. Which should you choose? Well, it depends on who you are and what you intend to use your blog for. If you intend to use it for business, then a self-hosted blog is the best idea. If it’s a personal blog, then a free hosted blog will probably be fine for you. Closely examine all of the pros and cons mentioned above. That way, you’ll be able to make the best decision for you!

RSS Tool-The Guide

2008-11-05T10:00:00.001-08:00

RSS is an abbreviation that has evolved into the following, depending on their versions: • RDF Site Summary (also known as RSS 0.9; the first version of RSS) • Rich Site Summary (also known as RSS 0.91; a prototype) • Really Simple Syndication (also known as RSS 2.0) Today, RSS stands for 'Really Simple Syndication', and it has the following 7 existing formats or versions: • 0.90 • 0.91 • 0.92 • 0.93 • 0.94 • 1.0 • 2.0 RSS tools refer to a group of file formats that are designed to share headlines and other web content (this may be a summary or simply 1 to 2 lines of the article), links to the full versions of the content (the full article or post), and even file attachments such as multimedia files. All of these data is delivered in the form of an XML file (XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language), which has the following common names: • RSS feed • Webfeed • RSS stream • RSS channel They are typically shown on web pages as an orange rectangle that usually has the letters XML or RSS in it. RSS feeds can be used to deliver any kind of information. Some of these 'feeds' include: • Blogs feed - each blog entry is summarized as a feed item. This makes blog posts easier to scan, enabling 'visitors' to zoom in on their items of interest. • Article feed - this alerts readers whenever there are new articles and web contents available. • Forum feed - this allows users to receive forum posts and latest discussion topics. • Schedule feed - this allows users (such as schools, clubs, and other organizations) to broadcast events and announce schedule changes or meeting agendas. • Discounts or Special feed - this is used to enable users (such as retail and online stores) to 'deliver' latest specials and discounted offers. • Ego or News Monitoring - this enables users to receive 'filtered' headlines or news that are based on a specific phrase or keyword. • Industry-specific feed - used by technical professionals in order to market, promote, or communicate with current (and prospective) customers and clients within their specific industries. RSS feeds enable people to track numerous blogs and news sources at the same time. To produce an RSS feed, all you need is the content or the article that you want to publicize and a validated RSS text file. Once your text file is registered at various aggregators (or 'news readers'), any external site can then capture and display your RSS feed, automatically updating them whenever you update your RSS file. RSS tools are useful for sites that add or modify their contents on a regular basis. They are especially used for 'web syndication' or activities that involve regular updates and/or publications, such as the following: • News websites - as used by major news organizations such as Reuters, CNN, and the BBC. • Marketing • Bug reports • Personal weblogs There are many benefits to using RSS feeds. Aside from being a great supplemental communication method that streamlines the communication needs of various sectors, RSS tools and feeds can also have tremendous benefits in your business, particularly in the field of internet marketing. RSS tools and feeds provide Internet users with a free (or cheap) and easy advertising or online marketing opportunity for their businesses. Below are some of the RSS features that can help make your internet marketing strategies more effective. 1. Ease in content distribution services. With RSS, your business can be captured and displayed by virtually any external site, giving you an easy way to 'spread out' and advertise them. 2. Ease in regular content updates. With RSS, web contents concerning your business can now be automatically updated on a daily (and even hourly) basis. Internet users will be able to experience 'real time' updates as information in your own file (such as new products and other business-related releases) is changed and modified simultaneously with that of the RSS feeds that people are subscribed to. 3. Custom-made content services. With RSS, visitors can have personalized content services, allowing them total control of the flow and type of information that they receive. Depending on their interests and needs, visitors can subscribe to only those contents that they are looking for (such as real estate or job listings). 4. Increase in (and targeted) traffic. With RSS, traffic will be directed to your site as readers of your content summary (or 1 to 2 lines of your article) who find them interesting are 'forced' to click on a link back to your site. These are just several of the many things that you can do with RSS. The possibilities are endless, and they are all aimed at providing you with an effective internet marketing strategy for your business.

Battle of the Browsers

2008-11-05T09:58:00.000-08:00

-The History and the Future of Internet Browsers -

With Internet Explorer 8 now available, can Microsoft hope to retain market dominance over fierce open source rivals such as Mozilla's Firefox or the feature packed Opera web browser. Can history give us a clue to what the future of web browsers/browsing might hold? How did Netscape Navigator go from having a dominant 89.36% market share of all web browsers in 1996 and yet only 3.76% by mid 1999? Let us take a journey that will begin long before even the intellectual conception of Internet Explorer, that will glance at its long defeated rivals, examine the current browsers available and will end with a prediction of what the future of browsing will offer us – and which browser(s) will still be around to offer it. People often think that Internet Explorer has been the dominant web browser since the golden age of the internet began. Well for a very long time now it has indeed been the most popular browser and at times been almost totally unrivalled. This was mainly a result of it being packaged free with Microsoft Windows, in what some would later call a brutal monopolisation attempt by Microsoft. The last few years however have heralded the arrival of new, possibly superior browsers. Mozilla's Firefox has been particularly successful at chipping away at Explorers market dominance. So where did it all begin, and why were Microsoft ever allowed to have a hundred percent market dominance? Origins The truth is they never did have total dominance, but at times they have come very close. Microsoft actually entered the Browser Battle quite late on. Infact a man named Neil Larson is credited to be one of the originators of internet browsers, when in 1977 he created a program – The TRS-80 - that allowed browsing between “sites” via hypertext jumps. This was a DOS program and the basis of much to come. Slowly other browsers powered by DOS and inspired by the TRS 80 were developed. Unfortunately they were often constricted by the limitations of the still fairly young internet itself. In 1988, Peter Scott and Earle Fogel created a simple, fast browser called Hytelnet, which by 1990 offered users instant logon and access to the online catalogues of over five thousand libraries around the world – an exhilarating taste of what the internet, and web browsers, would soon be able to offer. In 1989 the original World Wide Web was born. Using a NeXTcube computer, Tim Berners-Lee created a web browser that would change how people used the internet forever. He called his browser the WorldWideWeb(http://www., which is still likely to sound familiar to internet users today. It was a windowed browser capable of displaying simple style sheet, capable of editing sites and able to download and open any file type supported by the NeXTcube. In 1993 the first popular graphical browser was released. Its name was Mosaic and it was created by Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina. Mosaic could be run on both Unix, and very importantly, on the highly popular Microsoft Windows operating system (incidentally it could also be used on Amiga and Apple computers). It was the first browser on Windows that could display graphics/pictures on a page where there was also textual content. It is often cited as being responsible for triggering the internet boom due to it making the internet bearable for the masses. (It should be noted that the web browser Cello was the first browser to be used on Windows – but it was non graphical and made very little impact compared to Mosaic). The Browser Wars - Netscape Navigator versus Internet Explorer Mosaic's decline began almost as soon as Netscape Navigator was released (1994). Netscape Navigator was a browser created by Marc Andreessen, one of the men behind Mosaic and co-founder of Netscape Communications Corporation. Netscape was unrivalled in terms of features and usability at the time. For example, one major change from previous browsers was that it allowed surfers to see parts of a website before the whole site was downloaded. This meant that people did not have to wait for minutes simply to see if the site they were loading was the actual one the were after, whilst also allowing them to read information on the site as the rest of it downloaded. By 1996 Netscape had almost 90% market dominance, as shown below. Market Share Comparisons of Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer from 1996 to 1998 ....................Netscape.......IE October 1998..........64%.........32.2% April 1998............70%.........22.7% October 1997..........59.67%......15.13% April 1997............81.13%......12.13% October 1996..........80.45%......12.18% April 1996............89.36%.......3.76% In these two years Netscape clearly dominated the internet browser market, but a new browser named Internet Explorer was quickly gaining ground on it. Microsoft released their own browser (ironically based on the earlier Mosaic browser which was created by one of the men now running Netscape), clearly worried about Netscape's dominance. It was not so much the worry that it would have a 100% market share of internet browsers on their Windows operating system, but more the worry that browsers would soon be capable of running all types programs on them. That would mean foregoing the need for an actual operating system, or at the most only a very basic one would be needed. This in turn would mean Netscape would soon be able to dictate terms to Microsoft, and Microsoft were not going to let that happen easily. Thus in August 1995, Internet Explorer was released. By 1999 Internet explorer had captured an 89.03% market share, whilst Netscape was down to 10.47%. How could Internet Explorer make this much ground in just two years? Well this was down to two things really. The first, and by far the most important was that Microsoft bundled Internet Explorer in with every new copy of Windows, and as Windows was used by about 90% of the computer using population it clearly gave them a huge advantage. Internet Explorer had one other ace it held over Netscape – it was much better. Netscape Navigator was stagnant and had been for some time. The only new features it ever seemed to introduce were often perceived by the public as beneficial for Netscape's parent company rather than Netscape's user base. (i.e., features that would help it monopolise the market). Explorer, on the other hand, was given much attention by Microsoft. Regular updates and excellent usability plus a hundred million dollar investment would prove too much for Netscape Explorer. 2000 – 2005 These years were fairly quiet in the Battle of the Browsers. It seemed as if Internet Explorer had won the war and that nobody could even hope to compete with it. In 2002/2003 it had attained about 95% of the market share – about the time of IE 5/6. With over 1000 people working on it and millions of dollars being poured in, few people had the resources to compete. Then again, who wanted to compete? It was clearly a volatile market, and besides that everybody was content with Internet Explorer. Or were they? Some people saw faults with IE – security issues, incompatibility issues or simply bad programming. Not only that, it was being shoved down peoples throats. There was almost no competition to keep it in line or to turn to as an alternative. Something had to change. The only people with the ability and the power to compete with Microsoft took matters into their own hands. Netscape was now supported by AOL. A few years prior, just after they had lost the Browser Wars to Microsoft, they had released the coding for Netscape into the public domain. This meant anybody could develop their own browser using the Netscape skeleton. And people did. Epiphany, Galeon and Camino, amongst others, were born out of Netscape's ashes. However the two most popular newcomers were called Mozilla and Firefox. Mozilla was originally an open sourced project aimed to improve the Netscape browser. Eventually it was released as Netscape Navigator 7 and then 8. Later it was released as Mozilla 1.0. Mozilla was almost an early version on another open source browser, Firefox. With it being an open source the public were able to contribute to it - adding in what features it needed, the programming it required and the support it deserved. The problems people saw in Internet Explorer were being fixed by members of the open sourced browser community via Firefox. For instance, the many security issues IE 6 had were almost entirely fixed in the very first release of Firefox. Microsoft had another fight on their hands. 2005 – Present Firefox was the browser that grew and grew in these years. Every year capturing an even larger market share percentage than before. More user friendly than most of its rivals along with high security levels and arguably more intelligent programming helped its popularity. With such a large programming community behind it, updates have always been regular and add on programs/features are often released. It prides itself on being the peoples browser. It currently has a 28.38% market share. Apple computers have had their own browser since the mid 1990's – Safari - complete with its own problems, such as (until recently) the inability to run Java scripts. However most Apple users seemed happy with it and a version capable of running on Windows has been released. It has had no major competitor on Apple Macs, and as such has largely been out of the Browser Wars. It currently holds a 2.54% market share and is slowly increasing. Internet Explorer's market share has dropped from over 90% to around 75%, and is falling. It will be interesting to see what Microsoft will attempt to regain such a high market share. Opera currently holds 1.07%. Mozilla itself only has a 0.6% market share these days. The Future of Web Browsing Web browsers come and go. It is the nature of technology (if such a term can be used), to supplant inferior software in very short periods of time. It is almost impossible for a single company to stay ahead of the competition for long. Microsoft have the advantage of being able to release IE with any Windows using PC. That covers over 90% of the market. They also have the advantage of unprecedented resources. They can compete how they wish for as long as they wish. So there is no counting IE out of the future of web browsing. Safari is in a similar position, being easily the most popular Mac web browser. Its long term survival is dependant upon Apple and the sale of their computers. These are the only two browsers that are almost guaranteed another five years of life, at least. Firefox may seem like another candidate, but the public is fickle, and one bad release, or if it seriously lags behind the new Internet Explorer 8 for long, could easily see its popularity quickly descend into virtual oblivion. However, it seems likely community driven browsers, such as Mozilla and Firefox, will be the only types of browser capable of competing with the wealthy internet arm of Microsoft in the near future. As for web browsing itself, will it change any time soon? Well it already has for some online communities. For example, if you want to buy clothes you could try entering an online 'world' creating an online virtual You to go from 'shop to shop' with, looking at products and trying/buying what you see. Some 'worlds' allow you to recreate yourself accurately including weight and height and then try on things apparel such as jeans to give you an idea of how you would look in that particular item. Will 'worlds' like this destroy normal web browsers such as IE ? - It seems unlikely. Traditional web browsers provide such freedom and ease of access that it is hard to see any other alternative taking over. However they are part of the new, 'thinking out of the box' wave of alternatives that some people will find attractive, and really who knows what the future will bring.

Internet And Business Online

2008-11-05T09:55:00.000-08:00

The best role of business online is that of interdependency. We’ve all heard the old saying, “No man is an island.” When it comes to online business this is especially true. If a business owner who takes their business into the online world determines they will be self reliant and never accept the help of anyone then that individual will not be in business long enough to change their minds. It is accepted fact that the greatest tool for long-term exposure to your website is through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Without it potential customers can’t find you. It is unreasonable to expect that you can adequately develop a website without optimizing your website for the best possible search engine ranking. Search engines also place a high value on sites that have links placed on existing sites. These ‘backlinks’ demonstrate to search engines that others trust your site. By placing your link on their website these other businesses indicate a trust and recommendation for your site. In effect the two strategies listed above rely exclusively on what others can do for you when it comes to your online business. Shirley Temple once proclaimed in her movie Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, “I’m very self-reliant.” American westerns are filled with lines dealing with pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and holding down the fort. Many of us have grown up to believe if we want something done right we have to do it ourselves. This thinking is in opposition to the rules associated with an online business. The online world can only exist because people share. Individuals share technology, but the also share links, reviews, blogs, forums and a wide range of other marketing strategies that find a commingling of interdependency. In online business you are as dependent on others as they may be on you. Unlike the word ‘dependent’, the term interdependent indicates a mutual dependency. In other words you are depending on others to help provide links back to your site while they are equally dependent on you (or others) for the success of their business. Have you really taken a proactive approach to networking? It’s possible you are reading this today and you’ve never considered asking someone else to place a link to your site on his or her online business site. It can feel awkward depending on others to achieve online success especially if you’ve been lead to believe reliance on others is also a sign of imposing on their otherwise brilliant generosity. I suppose it could be a deep-seated sense of pride that makes it hard to consider the need to ask others for help. However, the truth is depending on others is really what has made the Internet possible. The growth of this online world is comprised of a link of computers, networks and servers that are connected in a way that provides the maximum benefit for all. Building an online business can feel a bit like trying to build a house of cards. Without the ability to rely on the other ‘cards’ around you it is virtually impossible to build. Interdependence. This is the essence of online business.

Internet Explorer's Caption Change trick

2008-10-07T23:25:00.000-07:00

Open the registry editor and go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main.

In the right pane create a new String Value names Window Title (Note the space between Window and Title). Right click on this newly created String Value and select Modify. Type in the new caption you want to be displayed. Restart for the settings to take place.

Take Over the Screen Saver

2008-10-07T23:23:00.000-07:00

To activate and deactivate the screen saver whenever you want, goto the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ScreenSavers

-Now add a new string value and name it Mouse Corners.
-Edit this new value to -Y-N.
-Press F5 to refresh the registry.
-Now you can activate your screensaver by simply placing the mouse cursor at the top right corner of the screen and if you take the mouse to the bottom left corner of the screen, the screensaver will deactivate.

Wow great isn't it!!

Encryption Algorithms Explained!!

2008-10-07T23:13:00.000-07:00

Encryption has become a part and parcel of our lives and we have accepted the fact that data is going to encrypted and decrypted at various stages. However, there is not a single encryption algorithm followed everywhere. There are a number of algorithms existing, and I feel there is a need to understand how they work. So this text explains a number of popular encryption algorithms.

RSA is one of the most popular encryption algorithms around. It was invented in 1977 by three MIT scientists; Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adelman. This algorithm uses very very large prime numbers to generate public and private keys. For more details about the implementation of the RSA algorithm, read on.
The entire RSA algorithm is based on the concept of factoring. Factoring is very easy to calculate i.e. an algorithm based on factoring can easily be carried out, however, the strength of an algorithm based on factoring lies in the fact that factoring is quite difficult to reverse. So, encrypting data using a factoring algorithm can be done without much of a problem, however to decrypt or crack an algorithm using a factoring algorithm is not that easy.
Say you have two numbers x and y. Now it is relatively easier to find out the final numbers when they are multiplied by a number N, however on the other hand, if only N is know to us, then it is not easy to calculate x and y. On top of this in RSA, N is very large number. This makes the calculation all the more difficult. RSA uses factors of around 150 digits, making it not only impossible for manual calculation but also making sure that the RSA encryption cannot be cracked within a feasible amount of time.
In case of the encryption process, as RSA is a block encryption algorithm, the entire data is broken into blocks and each block is treated as a sequence of bits, with the number of digits being just a little less than N. Each block is considered as a single digit, and multiplied ‘e’ number of times by itself, [In the case of PGP, e is normally 17]. The result thus obtained, is divided by N and the remainder obtained is the final encrypted message.
In case of the decryption process, the recipient, makes use of another special number; ‘k’ where (ke-1) is divisible by (p-1)(q-1). The value k is chosen such that multiplying the encrypted message k times by itself and then dividing by N, gives the original message as the remainder. So basically to find out k, p and q should be known.
e and N constitute the public key which can be freely distributed, while k forms the private key, which should be kept a secret.
Note: In this case, e and k and symmetric here...

Data Encryption Standard or DES
The U.S government in 1977 adopted the Data Encryption Standard (DES) algorithm. According to it’s developer the DES algorithm is:
" It is a block cipher system which transforms 64-bit data blocks under a 56-bit secret key under a 56-bit secret key, by means of permutation and substitution."
Now, this tutorial will guide you through the various steps of the DES encryption algorithm making you more confident in dealing with DES encryption.
The following is a step by step guide to the DES algorithm, which was originally written by Matthew Fischer and has been edited by me-:
1.) Firstly, we need to process the key.
1.1 Get a 64-bit key from the user. (Every 8th bit is considered a parity bit. For a key to have correct parity, each byte should contain an odd number of "1" bits.)
1.2 Calculate the key schedule.
1.2.1 Perform the following permutation on the 64-bit key. (The parity bits are discarded, reducing the key to 56 bits. Bit 1 of the permuted block is bit 57 of the original key, bit 2 is bit 49, and so on
with bit
56 being bit 4 of the original key.)
Permuted Choice 1 (PC-1)
57 49 41 33 25 17 9
1 58 50 42 34 26 18
10 2 59 51 43 35 27
19 11 3 60 52 44 36
63 55 47 39 31 23 15
7 62 54 46 38 30 22
14 6 61 53 45 37 29
21 13 5 28 20 12 4
1.2.2 Split the permuted key into two halves. The first 28 bits are called C[0] and the last 28 bits are called D[0].
1.2.3 Calculate the 16 subkeys. Start with i = 1.
1.2.3.1 Perform one or two circular left shifts on both C[i-1] and D[i-1] to get C[i] and D[i], respectively. The number of shifts per iteration are given in the table below.
Iteration # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Left Shifts 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 1
1.2.3.2 Permute the concatenation C[i]D[i] as indicated below. This will yield K[i], which is 48 bits long.
Permuted Choice 2 (PC-2)
14 17 11 24 1 5
3 28 15 6 21 10
23 19 12 4 26 8
16 7 27 20 13 2
41 52 31 37 47 55
30 40 51 45 33 48
44 49 39 56 34 53
46 42 50 36 29 32
1.2.3.3 Loop back to 1.2.3.1 until K[16] has been calculated.
2 Process a 64-bit data block.
2.1 Get a 64-bit data block. If the block is shorter than 64 bits, it should be padded as appropriate for the application.
2.2 Perform the following permutation on the data block.
Initial Permutation (IP)
58 50 42 34 26 18 10 2
60 52 44 36 28 20 12 4
62 54 46 38 30 22 14 6
64 56 48 40 32 24 16 8
57 49 41 33 25 17 9 1
59 51 43 35 27 19 11 3
61 53 45 37 29 21 13 5
63 55 47 39 31 23 15 7
2.3 Split the block into two halves. The first 32 bits are called L[0], and the last 32 bits are called R[0].
2.4 Apply the 16 subkeys to the data block. Start with i = 1.
2.4.1 Expand the 32-bit R[i-1] into 48 bits according to the bit-selection function below.
Expansion (E)
32 1 2 3 4 5
4 5 6 7 8 9
8 9 10 11 12 13
12 13 14 15 16 17
16 17 18 19 20 21
20 21 22 23 24 25
24 25 26 27 28 29
28 29 30 31 32 1
2.4.2 Exclusive-or E(R[i-1]) with K[i].
2.4.3 Break E(R[i-1]) xor K[i] into eight 6-bit blocks. Bits 1-6 are B[1], bits 7-12 are B[2], and so on with bits 43-48 being B[8].
2.4.4 Substitute the values found in the S-boxes for all B[j]. Start with j = 1. All values in the S-boxes should be considered 4 bits wide.
2.4.4.1 Take the 1st and 6th bits of B[j] together as a 2-bit value (call it m) indicating the row in S[j] to look in for the substitution.
2.4.4.2 Take the 2nd through 5th bits of B[j] together as a 4-bit value (call it n) indicating the column in S[j] to find the substitution.
2.4.4.3 Replace B[j] with S[j][m][n].
Substitution Box 1 (S[1])
14 4 13 1 2 15 11 8 3 10 6 12 5 9 0 7
0 15 7 4 14 2 13 1 10 6 12 11 9 5 3 8
4 1 14 8 13 6 2 11 15 12 9 7 3 10 5 0
15 12 8 2 4 9 1 7 5 11 3 14 10 0 6 13
S[2]
15 1 8 14 6 11 3 4 9 7 2 13 12 0 5 10
3 13 4 7 15 2 8 14 12 0 1 10 6 9 11 5
0 14 7 11 10 4 13 1 5 8 12 6 9 3 2 15
13 8 10 1 3 15 4 2 11 6 7 12 0 5 14 9
S[3]
10 0 9 14 6 3 15 5 1 13 12 7 11 4 2 8
13 7 0 9 3 4 6 10 2 8 5 14 12 11 15 1
13 6 4 9 8 15 3 0 11 1 2 12 5 10 14 7
1 10 13 0 6 9 8 7 4 15 14 3 11 5 2 12
S[4]
7 13 14 3 0 6 9 10 1 2 8 5 11 12 4 15
13 8 11 5 6 15 0 3 4 7 2 12 1 10 14 9
10 6 9 0 12 11 7 13 15 1 3 14 5 2 8 4
3 15 0 6 10 1 13 8 9 4 5 11 12 7 2 14
S[5]
2 12 4 1 7 10 11 6 8 5 3 15 13 0 14 9
14 11 2 12 4 7 13 1 5 0 15 10 3 9 8 6
4 2 1 11 10 13 7 8 15 9 12 5 6 3 0 14
11 8 12 7 1 14 2 13 6 15 0 9 10 4 5 3
S[6]
12 1 10 15 9 2 6 8 0 13 3 4 14 7 5 11
10 15 4 2 7 12 9 5 6 1 13 14 0 11 3 8
9 14 15 5 2 8 12 3 7 0 4 10 1 13 11 6
4 3 2 12 9 5 15 10 11 14 1 7 6 0 8 13
S[7]
4 11 2 14 15 0 8 13 3 12 9 7 5 10 6 1
13 0 11 7 4 9 1 10 14 3 5 12 2 15 8 6
1 4 11 13 12 3 7 14 10 15 6 8 0 5 9 2
6 11 13 8 1 4 10 7 9 5 0 15 14 2 3 12
S[8]
13 2 8 4 6 15 11 1 10 9 3 14 5 0 12 7
1 15 13 8 10 3 7 4 12 5 6 11 0 14 9 2
7 11 4 1 9 12 14 2 0 6 10 13 15 3 5 8
2 1 14 7 4 10 8 13 15 12 9 0 3 5 6 11
2.4.4.4 Loop back to 2.4.4.1 until all 8 blocks have been replaced.
2.4.5 Permute the concatenation of B[1] through B[8] as indicated below.
Permutation P
16 7 20 21
29 12 28 17
1 15 23 26
5 18 31 10
2 8 24 14
32 27 3 9
19 13 30 6
22 11 4 25
2.4.6 Exclusive-or the resulting value with L[i-1]. Thus, all together, your R[i] = L[i-1] xor P(S[1](B[1])...S[8](B[8])), where B[j] is a 6-bit block of E(R[i-1]) xor K[i]. (The function for R[i] is written as, R[i] = L[i-1] xor f(R[i-1], K[i]).)
2.4.7 L[i] = R[i-1].
2.4.8 Loop back to 2.4.1 until K[16] has been applied.
2.5 Perform the following permutation on the block R[16]L[16].
Final Permutation (IP**-1)
40 8 48 16 56 24 64 32
39 7 47 15 55 23 63 31
38 6 46 14 54 22 62 30
37 5 45 13 53 21 61 29
36 4 44 12 52 20 60 28
35 3 43 11 51 19 59 27
34 2 42 10 50 18 58 26
33 1 41 9 49 17 57 25
This has been a description of how to use the DES algorithm to encrypt one 64-bit block. To decrypt, use the same process, but just use the keys K[i] in reverse order. That is, instead of applying K[1] for the first
iteration, apply K[16], and then K[15] for the second, on down to K[1].
Summaries:
Key schedule:
C[0]D[0] = PC1(key)
for 1 <= i <= 16
C[i] = LS[i](C[i-1])
D[i] = LS[i](D[i-1])
K[i] = PC2(C[i]D[i])
Encipherment:
L[0]R[0] = IP(plain block)
for 1 <= i <= 16
L[i] = R[i-1]
R[i] = L[i-1] xor f(R[i-1], K[i])
cipher block = FP(R[16]L[16])
Decipherment:
R[16]L[16] = IP(cipher block)
for 1 <= i <= 16
R[i-1] = L[i]
L[i-1] = R[i] xor f(L[i], K[i])
plain block = FP(L[0]R[0])
To encrypt or decrypt more than 64 bits there are four official modes (defined in FIPS PUB 81). One is to go through the above-described process for each block in succession. This is called Electronic Codebook
(ECB) mode. A stronger method is to exclusive-or each plaintext block with the preceding ciphertext block prior to encryption. (The first block is exclusive-or'ed with a secret 64-bit initialization vector (IV).) This is called Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) mode. The other two modes are Output Feedback (OFB) and Cipher Feedback (CFB).
When it comes to padding the data block, there are several options. One is to simply append zeros. Two suggested by FIPS PUB 81 are, if the data is binary data, fill up the block with bits that are the opposite of the last bit of data, or, if the data is ASCII data, fill up the block with random bytes and put the ASCII character for the number of pad bytes in the last byte of the block. Another technique is to pad the block with random bytes and in the last 3 bits store the original number of data bytes.
The DES algorithm can also be used to calculate checksums up to 64 bits long (see FIPS PUB 113). If the number of data bits to be check summed is not a multiple of 64, the last data block should be padded with zeros. If the data is ASCII data, the first bit of each byte should be set to 0. The data is then encrypted in CBC mode with IV = 0. The leftmost n bits (where 16 <= n <= 64, and n is a multiple of 8) of the final ciphertext block are an n-bit checksum.

Wait for more updates...:)

Do you know on which language Google originated?

2008-10-07T22:43:00.000-07:00

Google for themselves coded an unknown language!!!They probably use whatever is best for the project they have in hand, I have seen them using .asp on some of their sites, .php on others.
According to python.org they use python.http://www.python.org/
Quote-Google:
"Python has been an important part of Google since the beginning, and remains so as the system grows and evolves. Today dozens of Google engineers use Python, and we're looking for more people with skills in this language." said Peter Norvig, director of search quality at Google, Inc.
Google uses a mix of languages for it's various purposes.
1. Orkut is in ASP.NET
2. Google's Help System is in Python
3. Definitely C/C++ for Searching
4. Google's real strength is in CSS & JavaScript
5. It uses AJAX to speed up what I think.
CGI is used at a lot of sites. ->PayPal(sister concern of EBay) uses it
Amazon uses CGI. Enter amazon.com/index.cgi to see yourself...
And Python is a interpreted language as pointed out but it can be converted to native code & it can also call native code written using C++ (python code can also be called from C++).
Facebook is the fastest rising social networking website in the world. Developed by Mark Zuckerberg, this social network started out as a social networking website within schools.It was developed using AJAX => http://www.ajaxwith.com/Ajax-for-Facebook.html
To know more post question's as comment's here!!

DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+RW and DVD-RW explained

2008-07-18T10:12:00.000-07:00

There's DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and even DVD-ROM! So what's the difference between all of these different names, aren't all DVDs the same? Well, it's not quite that simple.
Let's first start with the most obvious difference: some have R and some have RW. The "R" stands for readable, while the "W" stands for writeable.
The main difference between DVD-R and DVD-RW, or DVD+R and DVD+RW is that the R disc formats can only be written to once, and then it is only readable and can’t be erased for the rest of its digital life. While RW discs are can be written to and erased many times, they are both readable and writeable.
"R" discs are perfect if they are only needed to be written to once, such as giving some files to a friend or transferring them between PCs. "RW" discs have their strength in the ability to be used many times over, which is great for routine system backups, etc. And naturally, the RW discs are slightly more expensive than the R discs, but you'll have to decide if the trade offs are worth the money.
Now, onto the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R. As I just described above, DVD-R & DVD-RW are sister discs, the difference being one is writeable once, while the other is writeable multiple times. The same thing is true for DVD+R & DVD+RW. So the question is, what's the difference between the plus and minus?
In order to explain this we must take a trip back in time. When DVDs were first being developed, there was no industry standard. Multiple companies were competing to develop what they hoped would be the dominant form of the future.
The DVD-R DVD+R difference can easily be summarized by the following:
* The DVD-R/RW standard was developed by Pioneer, and is used primarily by Apple and Pioneer. These "minus" discs can only be written to in one layer on the discs surface. In addition, this format is supported by the DVD forum, but is in no way an industry standard. DVD-R/RW discs are cheaper than the "plus" format. * The DVD+R/RW format is supported by Philips, Dell, Sony, HP, and Mcft. These discs can be written to in multiple layers, giving them slightly better and more disc storage than the "minus" format. Because of this additional capacity, they are slightly more expensive than "minus" discs.
A couple final things to clear up is the difference between DVD-ROM and DVD+RW, or the other DVD formats I mentioned above. The DVD-ROM drive can only read DVDs, while the other DVD drives can read and write data to DVDs.
And naturally the DVD+RW CD+RW difference can be explained by the "DVD" or "CD" prefix. DVDs, on average, can store up to 4.7 GB of data, while a CD can only store about 700 MB of data, or about 15% of a DVD's capacity. While CDs are slightly cheaper, in my opinion, the benefits of DVDs are much greater.
So now that you've learned about the difference between DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and even DVD-ROM, which one is right for you? The easiest way to determine which is more beneficial is to watch the industry trends. A few years ago all pre-built computers were shipping with DVD-ROM drives. Today, most PCs have a burnable DVD drive.
I feel that the benefits of having a burnable DVD drive far outweigh any additional costs. They store much more data, and they are ideal for storing your home movies to watch on your DVD player.
My advice is to look at DVD burners that support all of the major formats I've mentioned above, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW. While a DVD drive that supports all of these formats may be slightly more expensive, it will allow you to use any type of DVD disc to burn to, and you'll be protected from any industry shifts to one format or the other.

What is INTERNET!!!

2008-07-18T10:09:00.000-07:00

The Internet is a computer network made up of thousands of networks worldwide. No one knows exactly how many computers are connected to the Internet. It is certain, however, that these number in the millions.
No one is in charge of the Internet. There are organizations which develop technical aspects of this network and set standards for creating applications on it, but no governing body is in control. The Internet backbone, through which Internet traffic flows, is owned by private companies.
All computers on the Internet communicate with one another using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol suite, abbreviated to TCP/IP. Computers on the Internet use a client/server architecture. This means that the remote server machine provides files and services to the user's local client machine. Software can be installed on a client computer to take advantage of the latest access technology.
An Internet user has access to a wide variety of services: electronic mail, file transfer, vast information resources, interest group membership, interactive collaboration, multimedia displays, real-time broadcasting, shopping opportunities, breaking news, and much more.
The Internet consists primarily of a variety of access protocols. Many of these protocols feature programs that allow users to search for and retrieve material made available by the protocol.
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COMPONENTS OF THE INTERNET
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WORLD WIDE WEBThe World Wide Web (abbreviated as the Web or WWW) is a system of Internet servers that supports hypertext to access several Internet protocols on a single interface. Almost every protocol type available on the Internet is accessible on the Web. This includes e-mail, FTP, Telnet, and Usenet News. In addition to these, the World Wide Web has its own protocol: HyperText Transfer Protocol, or HTTP. These protocols will be explained later in this document.
The World Wide Web provides a single interface for accessing all these protocols. This creates a convenient and user-friendly environment. It is no longer necessary to be conversant in these protocols within separate, command-level environments. The Web gathers together these protocols into a single system. Because of this feature, and because of the Web's ability to work with multimedia and advanced programming languages, the Web is the fastest-growing component of the Internet.
The operation of the Web relies primarily on hypertext as its means of information retrieval. HyperText is a document containing words that connect to other documents. These words are called links and are selectable by the user. A single hypertext document can contain links to many documents. In the context of the Web, words or graphics may serve as links to other documents, images, video, and sound. Links may or may not follow a logical path, as each connection is programmed by the creator of the source document. Overall, the Web contains a complex virtual web of connections among a vast number of documents, graphics, videos, and sounds.
Producing hypertext for the Web is accomplished by creating documents with a language called HyperText Markup Language, or HTML. With HTML, tags are placed within the text to accomplish document formatting, visual features such as font size, italics and bold, and the creation of hypertext links. Graphics and multimedia may also be incorporated into an HTML document. HTML is an evolving language, with new tags being added as each upgrade of the language is developed and released. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), led by Web founder Tim Berners-Lee, coordinates the efforts of standardizing HTML. The W3C now calls the language XHTML and considers it to be an application of the XML language standard.
The World Wide Web consists of files, called pages or home pages, containing links to documents and resources throughout the Internet.
The Web provides a vast array of experiences including multimedia presentations, real-time collaboration, interactive pages, radio and television broadcasts, and the automatic "push" of information to a client computer. Programming languages such as Java, JavaScript, Visual Basic, Cold Fusion and XML are extending the capabilities of the Web. A growing amount of information on the Web is served dynamically from content stored in databases. The Web is therefore not a fixed entity, but one that is in a constant state of development and flux.
For more complete information about the World Wide Web, see Understanding The World Wide Web.
E-MAILElectronic mail, or e-mail, allows computer users locally and worldwide to exchange messages. Each user of e-mail has a mailbox address to which messages are sent. Messages sent through e-mail can arrive within a matter of seconds.
A powerful aspect of e-mail is the option to send electronic files to a person's e-mail address. Non-ASCII files, known as binary files, may be attached to e-mail messages. These files are referred to as MIME attachments.MIME stands for Multimedia Internet Mail Extension, and was developed to help e-mail software handle a variety of file types. For example, a document created in Microsoft Word can be attached to an e-mail message and retrieved by the recipient with the appropriate e-mail program. Many e-mail programs, including Eudora, Netscape Messenger, and Microsoft Outlook, offer the ability to read files written in HTML, which is itself a MIME type.
TELNETTelnet is a program that allows you to log into computers on the Internet and use online databases, library catalogs, chat services, and more. There are no graphics in Telnet sessions, just text. To Telnet to a computer, you must know its address. This can consist of words (locis.loc.gov) or numbers (140.147.254.3). Some services require you to connect to a specific port on the remote computer. In this case, type the port number after the Internet address. Example: telnet nri.reston.va.us 185.
Telnet is available on the World Wide Web. Probably the most common Web-based resources available through Telnet have been library catalogs, though most catalogs have since migrated to the Web. A link to a Telnet resource may look like any other link, but it will launch a Telnet session to make the connection. A Telnet program must be installed on your local computer and configured to your Web browser in order to work.
With the increasing popularity of the Web, Telnet has become less frequently used as a means of access to information on the Internet.
FTPFTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. This is both a program and the method used to transfer files between computers. Anonymous FTP is an option that allows users to transfer files from thousands of host computers on the Internet to their personal computer account. FTP sites contain books, articles, software, games, images, sounds, multimedia, course work, data sets, and more.
If your computer is directly connected to the Internet via an Ethernet cable, you can use one of several PC software programs, such as WS_FTP for Windows, to conduct a file transfer.
FTP transfers can be performed on the World Wide Web without the need for special software. In this case, the Web browser will suffice. Whenever you download software from a Web site to your local machine, you are using FTP. You can also retrieve FTP files via search engines such as FtpFind, located at /http://www.ftpfind.com/. This option is easiest because you do not need to know FTP program commands.
E-MAIL DISCUSSION GROUPSOne of the benefits of the Internet is the opportunity it offers to people worldwide to communicate via e-mail. The Internet is home to a large community of individuals who carry out active discussions organized around topic-oriented forums distributed by e-mail. These are administered by software programs. Probably the most common program is the listserv.
A great variety of topics are covered by listservs, many of them academic in nature. When you subscribe to a listserv, messages from other subscribers are automatically sent to your electronic mailbox. You subscribe to a listserv by sending an e-mail message to a computer program called a listserver. Listservers are located on computer networks throughout the world. This program handles subscription information and distributes messages to and from subscribers. You must have a e-mail account to participate in a listserv discussion group. Visit Tile.net at /http://tile.net/ to see an example of a site that offers a searchablecollection of e-mail discussion groups.
Majordomo and Listproc are two other programs that administer e-mail discussion groups. The commands for subscribing to and managing your list memberships are similar to those of listserv.
USENET NEWSUsenet News is a global electronic bulletin board system in which millions of computer users exchange information on a vast range of topics. The major difference between Usenet News and e-mail discussion groups is the fact that Usenet messages are stored on central computers, and users must connect to these computers to read or download the messages posted to these groups. This is distinct from e-mail distribution, in which messages arrive in the electronic mailboxes of each list member.
Usenet itself is a set of machines that exchanges messages, or articles, from Usenet discussion forums, called newsgroups. Usenet administrators control their own sites, and decide which (if any) newsgroups to sponsor and which remote newsgroups to allow into the system.
There are thousands of Usenet newsgroups in existence. While many are academic in nature, numerous newsgroups are organized around recreational topics. Much serious computer-related work takes place in Usenet discussions. A small number of e-mail discussion groups also exist as Usenet newsgroups.
The Usenet newsfeed can be read by a variety of newsreader software programs. For example, the Netscape suite comes with a newsreader program called Messenger. Newsreaders are also available as standalone products.
FAQ, RFC, FYIFAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions. These are periodic postings to Usenet newsgroups that contain a wealth of information related to the topic of the newsgroup. Many FAQs are quite extensive. FAQs are available by subscribing to individual Usenet newsgroups. A Web-based collection of FAQ resources has been collected by The Internet FAQ Consortium and is available at /http://www.faqs.org/.
RFC stands for Request for Comments. These are documents created by and distributed to the Internet community to help define the nuts and bolts of the Internet. They contain both technical specifications and general information.
FYI stands for For Your Information. These notes are a subset of RFCs and contain information of interest to new Internet users.
Links to indexes of all three of these information resources are available on the University Libraries Web site at /http://library.albany.edu/reference/faqs.html.
CHAT & INSTANT MESSENGINGChat programs allow users on the Internet to communicate with each other by typing in real time. They are sometimes included as a feature of a Web site, where users can log into the "chat room" to exchange comments and information about the topics addressed on the site. Chat may take other, more wide-ranging forms. For example, America Online is well known for sponsoring a number of topical chat rooms.
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a service through which participants can communicate to each other on hundreds of channels. These channels are usually based on specific topics. While many topics are frivolous, substantive conversations are also taking place. To access IRC, you must use an IRC software program.
A variation of chat is the phenomenon of instant messenging. With instant messenging, a user on the Web can contact another user currently logged in and type a conversation. Most famous is America Online's Instant Messenger. ICQ, MSN and Yahoo are other commonly-used chat programs.
Other types of real-time communication are addressed in the tutorial Understanding the World Wide Web.
MUD/MUSH/MOO/MUCK/DUM/MUSEMUD stands for Multi User Dimension. MUDs, and their variations listed above, are multi-user virtual reality games based on simulated worlds. Traditionally text based, graphical MUDs now exist. There are MUDs of all kinds on the Internet, and many can be joined free of charge.