TekBlogger

How to Buy a Battery Online

2011-06-15T23:12:00.000+05:30

There are several factors that you want to keep in mind when you purchase a battery from an online store. Buying a battery can be a challenging task. You may read the article I wrote for the things to keep in mind at my website emallshopping.com. Th etitle of the article was All-battery.com: Batteries and Chargers. In this article, I provide several reasons why a store like All-battery.com is a good place to purchase a battery online.

Points to Remember

Brand: Keep in mind that a brand is important while purchasing batteries. When i say brand, it associates itself with several other features like reliability, service, warranty and shipping
Warranty: Look for the warranty the manufacturer or the retailer is providing to you. Never go for a cheap product that does not provide you with enhanced warranty.
Pricing: Retailers and store owners can manipulate the price effectively with offers that may not provide you benefits over quality. Check for the prices on several websites before you make a purchase. I suggest All-battery.com as it usually has the best prices.
Retailer or manufacturer: Again, if you purchase directly from the manufacturer, you can have the benefits of low prices. All-battery.com almost helps you save 80% of the cost you would pay at a retailer's store.
Shipping: Make sure you checkout the shipping options being provided by the store. Some stores like All-battery.com provide free shipping to customers. Its aso helpful to check whether the store ships to your country of residence.

Keep these things in mind whenever you choose to purchase a battery from an online store. For more information, please visit All-battery.com: Batteries and Chargers.

What is Internet Link Load Balancing and Link Load Balancer

2011-05-26T23:22:00.000+05:30

Link load balancing helps enterprises utilize all backup links efficiently. Link load balancing utilizes available bandwidth, link weight and total cost.

Large enterprises use more than one link to direct customers to a service or a website. More than one link is used to prevent disruption in service due to a failure on the part of the ISP (Internet Service Provider). Link load balancing helps these enterprises utilize the different backup links in their full capacity. This not only increases the reliability but also improves the overall access to the website.

Why is Link Load Balancing Important For Enterprises

Large enterprises that cannot allow access to the business services, to go down at any point of time, use more than one link and more than one internet service provider for this purpose to connect to the internet. Multiple internet service provider links help the enterprise to have a backup link in case of the failure of one of the links connecting the internal network of the enterprise to the internet.

When not in use, a backup link is mostly idle, i.e., the backup link is not fully utilized by the enterprise. Link load balancing technology is used by a load balancing appliance called the link load balancer which manages the different links connecting the internal network of the enterprise with the internet.

What is Link Load Balancing Technology

As discussed above, enterprises use more than one ISP link to connect the internal network to the internet or an external network. A link load balancing mechanism allows the enterprise to aggregate the bandwidth capacities of all these links and distributes the traffic on all available links.

The point to note is that all the links that connect to the internet are individually capable of handling the traffic. The purpose is to eliminate the risk of a single point of failure. When several links connect the internal network to the internet, and even when one of them fails, a link balancer simply diverts all traffic from the failed link to the one that is functioning well.

How do Link Load Balancing and Link Load Balancer Function

A link load balancer is placed between the enterprise internal network and the different links that connect to the internet through various internet service providers. The link load balancing device allows the use of all the possible links to connect through the internet. When a new request is registered, the link balancer simply diverts the request to the link that has lesser traffic thereby allowing greater bandwidth.

Link balancer also check for the health of the links. They try to divert traffic to the link that is seen in better health. The most advanced balancer use end to end checking of health by determining the response time of the link. This helps them to divert the bulk of the traffic to the most healthy links and ask for maintenance of the unhealthy link.

Read more from the article Link Load Balancers Smooth Web Traffic published in Network World Fusion.

Link Load Balancing Advantages

There are various advantages that are associated with link load balancing. A server may receive unprecedented requests for a service, that may well exceed the bandwidth of a single link, resulting in possible failure of the link and hence a disruption in the service. Also, the requirement of a 24*7 access to services compel enterprises to prevent any loss in communication.

Link load balancing helps against these threats. While it fairly increases the reliability of the system, it also increases the bandwidth provided for the services.

Source: Optimizing Internet Bandwidth With Link Load Balancing from SearchNetworking.com

Load Balancers as Firewalls: Firewall Load Balancing Overview

2011-05-26T23:21:00.000+05:30

Using load balancers as firewalls can reduce separate expenditure on a firewall component. Several capabilities of load balancer are firewall functions.

Load balancing is necessary for various purposes such as performance optimization and increasing reliability and availability of services. Load balancers are load balancing devices that are placed in between the internal network of the enterprise (LAN) and the internet. Load balancers have several capabilities that are similar to the function of a firewall. There are several factors that favor the use of load balancers as firewalls.

Packet Filtering By Load Balancers

Packet filtering is a firewall property by virtue of which it allows only certain categories of packets to pass through it. Load balancers can be setup so that only a certain category of TCP / UDP ports are load balanced, e.g. if TCP port 80 is set to be load balanced, it automatically allows packet filtering.

The network load balancing service uses a filtering algorithm to assign cluster web servers to the client requests. Most firewalls filter packets by using the destination port number or the source IP address or a combination of both. An example of the destination port would be HTTP port 80 for web and that of a source IP can be the subnet address of the internal network of an enterprise.

Since load balancers perform filtering by determining which server be assigned to a service, they can also do filtering as a firewall. The load balancers can be set up to allow load balancing only a certain category or certain type of destination ports. This would automatically act as a filter for undesired destinations.

Stateful Inspection in Firewalls

The default policy of firewalls is to block all incoming connections to a secure connection (e.g., a local area network) and allow all outgoing connections (mostly, from a LAN to the internet). File transfer protocols and the web are known to create complex patterns of traffic to and from a LAN. The appliance used to monitor network connection states, is required to record the different patterns of traffic by analyzing the different network connection states.

Central memory is used to store the information about all connection states temporarily. When an inbound connection request is registered, the firewall simply matches the request pattern against a known pattern to see whether the connection should be made or should be rejected.

A load balancer is a load balancing device that keeps a constant record of the states of all network connections. It performs a stateful inspection of all HTTP and TCP requests coming in to the LAN. Hence, if the load balancing is being done for a website, load balancers perform a healthy stateful inspection and can be used to block any request that does not match a known traffic pattern.

Advantages of Using a Load Balancer as a Firewall

The biggest advantage of load balancer as a firewall would be the reduction in expenditure on a separate firewall. Also, the need of a separate firewall would be eliminated that reduces maintenance costs and another point of failure. It is not advisory to use load balancers a s firewalls but when working under a restricted budget and low traffic requirements, load balancers as firewalls can be a healthy option.

For more information on how to create a firewall by use of load balancers, read the article Load Balancers as Firewalls by Tony Bourke published in O'Reilly.

Home Network Security Risk Assessment and Computer System Network Security

2011-05-16T19:45:00.001+05:30

Computer Network Security involves formulating policies to overcome the threats to organizational or individual data, posed by intruders.

Home Network Security risks have grown substantially in 2010. Network Security Risk Assessment is becoming a major area of study for people who remain online. Computer system network security is an inseparable part of information security and has become an important part of all organizational agendas and even small businesses and individuals using the internet for information exchange, being prone to information security threats, now take serious measures to reduce the negative impacts they would otherwise have to face.

Computer System Network Security: What is a Secure Network

A secure network, in the field of computers and information exchange, is a network that is resistant to the information security threats posed by intruders, and provides a safe medium of information exchange where the information can be assumed to reach only the designated recipient without being scanned or manipulated by unauthorized personnel or malicious computer programs while in transition.

Home Network Security: Individual Efforts to Ensure Computer System Network Security

Home Network Security Risk Assessment becomes an inevitable part of information security. Network Security threats such as viruses are mostly spread from one computer system to another connected to each other through a network. If these personal computers are secure, they add to the security of the network.

The most basic security step that any individual must take towards network security is installing and maintaining an antivirus program on the computer. Free antivirus software provide protection against some of the basic security threats. A paid version gives the choice of using advanced features provided by the antivirus.
Use a network security firewall. These firewalls can be implemented both in the form of hardware and software. These firewalls are designed to prevent any unauthorized communications between connected computers.
Never click on links that arrive in emails from untrusted sources. These links may lead to undesired downloads, installing of a virus or a trojan horse, or may even confirm the subscription of the email to a mailing list.
Always have a backup ready for important data stored on the computer. Make it a habit to backup the computer data once in a while. This really turns handy in case of a computer crash or in case it becomes urgent to recover the system completely or restore it to default settings.
Almost every software vendor provides updates to its products as no software comes with a lifetime warranty for protection against network security threats. Always keep updating the software being used on the computer and check for any security updates being released by the software vendor.
Never let out confidential information such as name, address, telephone number, email addresses, credit card info to a stranger. Never respond to emails that promise you large sums of money or expensive gifts or prizes for doing nothing at all.
Keep the operating system updated. Operating Systems vendors such as Microsoft keep releasing security related patches for their products. Often, there would be an option that would enable operating systems to get updated themselves by connecting to internet through automatic update feature.
Network security software are available to help individual and corporate users prevent threats to their systems. Avoid such software that have a single point of failure. Try to have a security software that provides protection in several layers or levels so that even if one level is breached, there are others for protection.
Do not keep data scattered all over the place on the computer and avoid the habit of maintaining multiple copies of data if not very necessary.
Try to encrypt the data when sending emails and attachments in emails.
Lastly, never leave the computer connected to a network when not using the computer. Switch off the computer itself or disconnect it from the network.
As discussed above, network security risk assessment is a major area of concern when discussing information security. Always follow a risk management program when dealing with computer threats

Use of Computer System Network Security Software

Though it is almost essential for organizations to deploy some sort of network security software to manage their information security needs and the security of their organizational databases, individuals can also use these software for protecting their personal computers.

Register Web Address and Reserve a Domain Name

2011-04-22T17:27:00.000+05:30

Wish to register a web address to protect your business brands? Learn how to register a web address and reserve domain name for your business.

Many people who do business online, are often found spending huge amounts simply to register a web address and reserve domain name of their choice. The question that appears is that is it so important to reserve domain names than spending on the SEO and traffic of the website?

Reserve Domain Name: Why is it Important

Sometimes, it becomes important to make your brand name appear on the internet exactly as you have it in the market. e.g., if Reebok makes an Internet appearance with a web address as goodshoes.org, it will be very difficult for a potential customer to get accustomed to Reebok on the internet. This is where one feels the need to reserve domain name for the online promotion of an existing business.

What is a Web Address

A web address in internet friendly terms may be referred as a domain name. A domain name is the address that has to be typed into the address bar of the web browser to reach a particular website. e.g., to open Suite101 in your web browser, you need to type in the domain name 'suite101.com' in the address bar.

As can be seen, there are two parts of a domain name separated by a period. The latter part or the '.com' in the above example reflects what is the type of the website. A .com reflects a commercial website, .info reflects an informative website, .biz reflects a business website and .org reflects a website representing an organization. This part of the domain name is called the top level domain name.

The other part of the domain name is the actual web address that we have been talking about. It is the name that has to be registered. This part is called the second level domain name and in the example above, the second level domain name is suite101.

How to Choose a Good Web Address

Choosing a web address is easy if there already is a business doing well with a brand name of its own. The first part of choosing a web address is deciding the type of the website. Choose a top level domain name according to the type of the website. A purely business website may loose a lot of significance if it has .info as the top level domain name.

The second part is difficult. One may choose the best possible name as the second level domain name, only to realize that it has already been taken up. In such case, try to stick as close to the name of your choice. This is where it becomes important to reserve a domain name matching the business you are promoting.

To check whether a domain name has already been registered or not, type the name in the browser and wait for the page to be loaded. if a website loads into the browser, the name has already been registered but if an error comes such as 'server not responding' or 'page not found', the name may still be available. The next step is to find a domain registrar.

How to Register Web Address With a Domain Registrar

This is the final step that needs to be done to reserve domain name. Once ready with the web address of choice, go to any domain name registrar that is accredited by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). Most registrars give the option of searching whether a domain name is available for purchase or not. Once again check and confirm and once it is clear that the name is available, pay the amount and reserve the domain name . Most registrars take $10 to $30 for domain name registrations. Again, the cost may vary according to the importance of the selected domain name.

Information Security Risk Management: An Overview

2011-04-22T13:01:00.000+05:30

Information security risk management involves risk analysis, risk assessment, risk audit and risk monitoring.

Information security risk management involves ensuring the implementation of data security standards in any organization. Information security risk is a big challenge for any company or organization that deals with permanent or temporary storage or transfer of information. Information security software that implement the information security program of an organization have become an important part of any organization worldwide.

Information Security Risk Management: What is Information Security Risk

There is no proper definition that may befit the description of an information security risk. In simple terms, an information security risk may be defined as any possible threat that uses a vulnerability in the system of an organization to cause disruption to the organizational routines and processes in some or the other form. An organization here refers to a large company or an individual entity or any entity that is responsible for processing or transfer of information.

Information Security risks may also be classified as threats that lead to a loss of any form to an individual or an organization. Such losses may include loss of privacy, identity theft, financial loss, negative impact on customer relations, loss or damage of confidential data or information, or a loss in profitability.

These risks mostly occur due to vulnerabilities in the system design. An information security vulnerability may be a weakness in the security design or processes of a system that can be exploited by unauthorized personnel to cause damage to the organization or entity.

A detailed description of information security risk can be found at Top Information Security risks for 2008 published in public interest by CISSPforum and ISO27k implementers' forum in iso27001security.com.

Information Security Risk Management: Steps to be Followed

It is always good for organizations that have a large database and those dealing with large transactions of information, to set up their own information security management system or ISMS. This system would contain all good practices that are responsible for a fair and clean transfer of information.

Many individuals and organizations have been using Information Security Software to deal with information security risks. These software are helpful in many forms. They provide two separate modules, i.e., database security software and network security software. Both these modules help in different ways in protecting the data stored and the data or information being transferred from one end to another.

Information Security Risk Management involves the following major steps: risk identification, risk analysis, deploying measures to curb security threats and regular monitoring of security risks.

Risk Identification: First Step in Information Security Risk Management

Risk identification and analysis are both important before any security risk management system can be deployed. The purpose of risk identification and analysis is to understand the possible threats that can be used against any possible vulnerability in the security architecture of the organization. Sometimes, an analysis may depict whether a security perimeter can be penetrated or not.

Risk Assessment

The next step would be risk assessment. Risk assessment is a step ahead of risk analysis. An assessment not only identifies a problem but also quantifies it i.e., it also measures the intensity of the security threat.

Information Security Risk Management: The Major Step

The next step is the major step. It involves management of risks. Designing security measures against known and possible threats is both time consuming and expensive. Sometimes, it requires making strategies to build a secure architecture or perimeter within which the transfer of information or storage of information takes place.

Information Security Risk Management Needs Regular Updating

Most information security risk management systems are designed to comply with International standards that have been formulated to reduce the risk significantly. These systems try to build safe and sound information transfer methods and environments. Also, these systems keep monitoring the system for a new possible threat against which the system needs protection. Continuous development and updating of these software or systems makes them expensive and time consuming.

Sources:

Risk Management Guide for Information Technology Systems from National Institute of Standards and Technology
Information Security Risk Assessment: Practices of Leading Organizations from US General Accounting Office
Security through Information Security Risk Management
Information Security and Risk Management from the University of Maryland

Website Hosting: Choosing A Web Host or Personal Server Hosting

2011-04-22T12:59:00.000+05:30

Website Hosting is an important part of owning a website. Choose a web host after reading a detailed webhosting review for it.

Website hosting is the second most important thing to do after designing a website. Whether it be individuals or organizations, all need a web host to host their websites or blogs. Creating a website is not just limited to designing its webpages but also requires a web host to save those pages. These web hosts then make the website available to the world wide web.

Before choosing a web host for a blog or a website, it is essential to know the needs of the website. Some websites may do well with a dedicated server while others may even do good on a free host. Hence, it is important to list out the needs of a website before website hosting.

Website Hosting: What is a Web Host

Technically speaking, a web host is the space provided by web hosting services to individuals or organizations that do not have a personal server for hosting websites. A website that has been designed, needs to be stored somewhere from where it will be accessible through the internet. A web host provides space for this purpose.

Websites can be uploaded to web hosts using the FTP (File Transfer Protocol) or a web interface provided by the host. Hosting a website becomes simpler with the use of a web interface as the user is saved from the hassle and technicalities of FTP. Once the website has been uploaded on the web host, it can be accessed through the internet when linked correctly with a domain name.

Personal Server Hosting

Website hosting on a personal server has both its pros and cons. Again, the type of the website must decide as to does it need a personal server or not. An organization needing security and stability for its website or websites to run successfully 24*7 may as well maintain a server for its websites but an individual owning a small business on the internet may lose a lot of money on hosting the website on a personal server.

The first important thing required for a server is the hardware. A good computer that can run 24 hours a day without crashing and a solid internet connection again available 24 hours, are the very primary requirements for a server.

Also, software necessary to run a computer as a server would be required. Server licenses are fairly expensive than client software. With the number of security threats increasing everyday, continuous efforts are required to keep the server updated against any negative impact due to a vulnerability being exploited by a threat.

Hence, personal server hosting is advised only if required and very necessary. Internet Service Providers and web hosting services do a fair job in providing hosting services sufficient for an individual's need or those of a small organization.

To read more about how to host a website on a personal computer and the risks involved in it, read the article Host A Web Server On Your Home PC by Ashish Mohta published in Technospot.net.

Choosing a Web Host for a Website Hosting

There are several factors to keep in mind when choosing a web host for a website. These factors depend upon the necessities of the website.

Website Hosting on a Free Host

If the website is a small personal website that has little needs from a web host, free hosting would be a good option. Free hosting does not allow PHP or SQL support that are indeed of little use to a personal website owner. If the website is a test run or a first website, owned by an individual wishing to try his hands on website design, free host would be a good choice.

Shared Hosting

The most used form of hosting is shared hosting. Small business websites, professional websites, and even websites with high traffic perform well on shared hosts. Here, the website owner is able to access the webmaster controls provided by the web host and utilize the resources of the web server. They provide personalized email accounts, larger bandwidth, greater storage space and many such functions.

Dedicated Servers for Website Hosting

For very large organizations that need an even greater bandwidth and storage space, dedicated servers are the solution. A particular server is allotted to the website that is fully dedicated to hosting it. Unlimited bandwidth and storage space is provided by these servers. Resources can be added and removed as per website requirement by paying for them.

For a more detailed review of web hosts, read the Webhost tutorial published in Tizag.com

Database Security Management and Database Security Software

2011-04-22T12:57:00.002+05:30

Database security management is an important part of any organizations security policy. Database Security Software is used to meet data security standards.

Database security management is a small part of 'computer network security'. Database security consists of maintaining security standards for a database environment. These standards may include the best practices for database security available on an international scale.

Such practices may include the provision of an intrusion detection system, application of firewalls both in the form of hardware and software and using routers for protection of databases. Database security management is the process of securing the database environment by formulating policies and implementing them towards data security.

Database Security Management: Recognizing Database Security Threats

It is a general misconception on the part of companies and organizations that the only threat to their secure databases is from external sources i.e., individuals or malware but an internal threat also exists.

Adrian Lane, Chief technology Officer, IPLocks, in an article titled, 'A Database Security management White paper: Securing the information Business relies on' published in technologyexecutivesclub, says clearly that most of the security tools designed to monitor suspicious activities is designed for protection from external threats and not internal, and regular monitoring of the employees making changes to the database is equally important to control data manipulation.

Not ignoring the fact that external threats still remain persistent to cause heavy damage to database security, regular updates to secure the database environment from these threats is also necessary.

There can be a variety of threats to a database security.

A user granted more access to a database than required may try to misuse his powers to manipulate the database.
A user who has only limited rights to access a database somehow manages to exploit a vulnerability in the database structure to gain administrative rights to manipulate the database.
The vulnerabilities in the underlying platform such as the operating system upon which the database functions or the base software that a database uses may allow threats to get converted into negative impacts on the database.
Another common threat is the famous Denial of Service (DoS) attack that prevents authorized and legitimate users or programs from accessing information from a database.
Unauthorized personnel gain access to login credentials of legitimate users and use this information to gain access to the database for wrong reasons including manipulating or stealing the data.

For a more detailed description of database security threats, read the document Top Ten Database Security Threats by Amichai Shulman published in schell.com.

Database Security Management and Database Security Software

Database security management is an integral part of computer network security. It again involves a series of steps which can be very broadly classified. The first step would involve recognizing the threats to database security, both external and internal. Once all possible threats have been recognized, a security policy must be formulated and then implemented into a database security program or database security software that protects the database environment.

A database security software works mostly in collaboration with a network security software. A database security software must include some essential layers for protecting the database. The first layer must consist of strong authentication procedures that would allow only legitimate users to access the database as the use of phishing websites and dummy webpages has increased over the years to gain confidential information.

Another important factor that most database security systems deploy nowadays is the regular monitoring of real time traffic accessing the database. Such activity is called Database Activity Monitoring or DAM. Such monitoring helps discover a regular pattern of database activity which can further be used to find out a sudden change or irregular activity.

A continuous review of permissions granted to users and administrators of the database must be done. Sufficient encryption must be provided to the login details of individual users.

Database Security Software is Built to Implement Database Security management Program

Database security software are an implementation of the database security management program. They work in collaboration with network security software to form the complete computer security software as the maximum risk to databases still exists from the networks that the database is connected to.

Website Designing: Website Color, Navigation, Content and More

2011-04-22T12:54:00.000+05:30

A good website layout or website design is necessary to build readership. Look at some of the best practices for designing a website.

The fundamental step involved in building a website is website designing. Website designing includes important steps such as deciding the website layout, a background color or picture for the web pages, the navigation links, the placement of website widgets, the inbound and outbound linking to and from the website, a correct format of content display, categorizing the content, and most importantly the style of presentation of the content..

Website Planning: The First Step to a Successful Website Designing

Website planning is the first step taken towards successful website designing. It becomes simple to design the layout and link the website to other similar websites. Read the article, Website Planning, before knowing the principles of Website design.

The Importance of a Good Website Layout in Website Designing

A good website layout is essential because it will provide the first impression about the website to its readers. Some websites rank good in search results for sometime and are able to bring in visitors but not all of them are able to make the readers ‘like’ the website. A good website is well arranged i.e. readers are able to read the website with ease. The primary goal of website designing is to make a reader friendly website.

Use of a Uniform Color Theme

It is an established fact that colors have a psychological effect on humans. Choose a color that goes well with the theme of the website. Colors can make readers revisit your website if used in proper context. An article titled Color and Custom Web Design published in NewHarvest Design on 9th March, 2010, provides useful information about the effects that different colors have on the reader.

Also, it is advisory to maintain the same background color for all the web pages of the website. This helps bring uniformity to the website. Having different colors on different web pages can mislead the visitors into believing that the web page is not a part of the website. In fact, many visitors will remember a website only through its layout and background color.

Use of Background Images

There are some websites that can look better if a background image is added to its web pages. A website discussing computer technology can look better if a related image such as an image of a computer is used as a background image or in the header to the website's pages.

How do Font Family and Font Sizes effect Website Designing

As discussed earlier, the primary objective of website designing is making the website easy to read. Having extraordinarily big or small font sizes hinders the flow of reading. The goal of a webmaster is to make the the stay of a reader on the website as comfortable as possible. Choose a font that is easy to read. The font need not be very stylish and also select an appropriate font size.

Website Navigation

A good website always provides an excellent navigation system to its readers. Provide links to each and every web page that is included in the website. If the website contains a lot of web pages, it is always good to include a sitemap on the home page of the website. It lets the readers navigate easily through the website.

Most of the time, a reader would like additional information on a particular topic he/she is searching for. A website will always have related web pages. Provide links to all related pages from a web page having similar content. This helps in letting the reader stay on the website for a longer duration. Read more about Website navigation.

Categorizing the Content

It is a good practice to arrange the pages of a website as one would arrange files in folders in a personal computer, i.e., provide separate categories to the website readers. A website related to sports can have categories for football, formula-1, cricket, badminton, and many more. It again increases the readability of the website. Here, the aim is to minimize the effort that a user has to put in, to have access to the information he is looking for.

Website Speed and Loading Time

Loading time is the time a website takes to load in the web browser in which it has been opened. Slow websites take more time to load. Design a layout that does not take too much time to load as readers are less likely to stay and wait for the website to show up. Use of images must be restricted to usefulness and relevance.

Style of Writing the Content

Unless very necessary, use of informal language to address readers must be avoided. The use of professional language brings a sense of authority to the website. Sticking to facts is necessary. Present only relevant information as content. Factually correct information makes the readers trust the website.

Displaying Necessary Information on the Website: Requisites of Website Designing

Some information must necessarily be displayed on every website to increase its legitimacy.

Contact Information: There must be a link on all web pages of the website that helps the readers contact the website owner or the administrator.
Privacy Policy: Design a privacy policy for the website. This becomes essential in case the website asks the readers to perform actions that include submitting their email address or other confidential information into forms on the web pages.
Search Box: Most websites have more than a single page of information. Hence, it is useful to add a search box that enables users to search information on the website.

PPC Keyword Research

The next step to building a successful website after having completed its designing, is keyword research. Keyword research is important for the search engine optimization of a website. Keywords help search engines guide visitors to the website by analyzing its content and finding 'keywords' from it. To know more, read the article, PPC Keyword Research.

Website Designing Importance

Website designing is the most essential part of building a website. Good planning leads to an effective and fruitful website design which further results in a good performing website.

.Further reading: Website Design Basics

Importance of PPC Keyword Research on SEO of a Website

2011-04-22T12:53:00.000+05:30

PPC keyword research is essential for the search engine optimization of a website. Keyword analysis is the key to search engine traffic.

PPC keyword research is absolutely crucial for a website's search engine optimization. PPC stands for pay per click. It is a term often used in the world of internet marketing. Since most websites rely upon search engine traffic, the search engine optimization (SEO) of the website is crucial to the success of the website. Keyword research is important because it forms the basis of any SEO technique.

Website Designing: A Prerequisite to PPC Keyword Research

Before going into the details of keyword research, the importance of website designing must be looked into. Website designing helps to plan out the content of a website. Keyword research is possible only when the webmaster knows what content has to be presented to the visitors and in what format. To know more, read the article, Website Designing

PPC Keyword Research Definition: Keywords

The term keyword can be better defined in terms of search engines. Keywords are those specific words or phrases that help search engines find relevant web pages or websites indexed with them. Whenever a website's content is to be planned, there is always a central idea upon which the content is built. Keywords are those important phrases or single words that a person searches through search engines to find related information.

According to the keywords used in a website, a search engine indexes and ranks it in the category it belongs to. Hence, keywords form the basis upon which search engines recognize the website.

PPC Keyword Research Definition: Pay Per Click Advertising

Pay per click advertising is a tool in internet marketing. It is an advertising model in which advertisements are displayed on a website and the advertiser pays the website owner a certain amount as form of commission of displaying the advertisement each time a visitor to the website clicks on an advertisement.

Importance of PPC Keyword Research for a Website

The importance of keywords can be realized by the fact that they help visitors find the website. The key is to find optimum keywords, i.e., keywords that 'perform well' and sometimes 'pay well'. The idea is not to use just any text in the content, but to use phrases that real time search engine users are using for searching items on the internet. To read more about importance of keyword research, read the article Importance of Keyword and Keyword phrases in Search Engine Optimization published in topranker.in

How to Find and Use Keywords in a Website

Keyword research can be understood in four simple steps. Before discussing these steps, it is important to know that keyword research helps better, if performed before writing the content for a web page.

A Simple Brainstorming Session

The first step is the simplest part. Sit with a pen and paper. Write down all the different phrases that a visitor could search to reach the content that is about to be written. These phrases could be single words or a phrase that describes the central theme of the content. e.g., if the content is about building a website, the keyword phrases can be 'website building', 'website designing', 'how to build a website', and many more. Prepare a list of these keywords.

Analyzing the Keywords

The next step is to analyze the list of keywords. For this, we need a keyword research tool. The best one available is the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. It is free to use. Open Google Adwords Tool and type in the different keywords that suit the content of the website in the space provided, each in a different line. When these keywords are put to 'search', the tool provides a list of the related keywords that are searched most by users globally and locally.

Now that we have the keywords that are being searched globally, it is time to select those that would best suite the content that has to be published.

Selecting the Keywords to be Used

This is the most important step. The keyword tool mentioned above displays the global monthly search volume and the local monthly search volume. It is natural to select keywords that are searched more. Here are some factors that must be kept in mind while selecting keywords.

Search Volume: Mostly, keywords which are searched more will have tougher competition. Try to select keywords that have moderate competition.
Search Trends: The tool also shows the trends for search of a particular keyword. If the content to be published is an evergreen content,try to chose keywords that have a constant or growing trend for different months of the year.
Pay Per Click Cost: Do this only if wanting to monetize the content of the website. Choose high paying keywords as they will bring in more revenue.
Relevance: Lastly, follow the above steps carefully and select only those keywords that are relevant to the content of the website.

Incorporating Selected Keywords Into the Content

This step involves inclusion of the selected keywords into the content. Include the keyword which suits the content best into the title of the web page. For the rest of the page, use the keywords in an appropriate manner. Remember not to stuff the content with keywords. Too much use of keywords is regarded as keyword stuffing by the search engines.

Use high paying keywords in the body of the web page and formulate the content around them. If contextual advertising is enabled for the website, and search engines find the content relevant, high paying advertisements will be placed on the web page and hence bring in more revenue.

Role of PPC Keyword Research in Maintaining a Website

After having built a website and successfully launching it on the web, it is also important to track its performance and improve it. There are several factors that judge the performance of a website such as the unique visitors visiting the website, the number of page views per day, the number of subscribers or permanent visitors to the website and many more. To read more about how to track a website's performance and improving it, read the article, Website maintenance.

PPC Keyword Research is an Important SEO Tool

Keyword research is extremely important because it is through these keywords that the search engines send traffic to the websites. A good content will always have relevant keywords. Also, the use of high paying keywords in the content increases the revenue generated from the cost per click advertising programs enabled on a website.

Website Maintenance: Improve Website Performance

2011-04-22T12:51:00.002+05:30

Website maintenance is essential to improve the website's performance and help it compete better against similar websites.

After building a website, it is important to maintain it. Website maintenance helps improve website performance. For maintaining a website, it is essential to regularly track its performance. Website performance can be calculated in terms of the page rank of its web pages, the total revenue generated from the website, the number of unique visitors arriving on the website, the number of page views on the website or by the average time a visitor spends on the website.

Website maintenance Helps with Website Designing and Keyword Research

After a website has been launched and is running successfully on the web, it is important to track its performance. Maintaining a website is important because it helps improve the overall website design. Also, a proper keyword research can be conducted before writing new content, so that the new content is more target oriented.

Tracking the Performance of a Website Using Google Webmaster Tools

The performance of a website can be tracked easily by using a free service from Google. This service is called Google Webmaster's tools. By signing into this service, a webmaster can keep track of various factors effecting the performance of a website.

Once a site map has been submitted to these tools, it provides information such as the number of indexed web pages, the number of unique visitors visiting the website everyday, the search queries that led to the website, outbound links that lead to the website and several other data. The information it displays can be easily interpreted through graphs and diagrams.

To know more, read the article How to Use Google Webmaster Tools to Improve Your Website published in Website101.com.

Website Maintenance Requisites

The primary step necessary for maintaining a website has already been discussed i.e., tracking its performance. The next important thing to do would be to analyze the performance report of the website.

Website Performance Analysis

Website performance analysis can be performed by following these simple steps.

Find the keywords that are being used the most by users to reach the website.
Find the links that are bringing in more traffic to the website i.e., outbound links.
Which pages of the website are gaining maximum interest from visitors.
Which area of the world are the maximum of the visitors from
Which page or pages on the website are able to keep visitors involved for a longer duration
Which pages of the website gain recommendations from visitors and which pages do not

Improving Website Performance Through Website Maintenance

After analyzing the performance of the website, try to improve its performance by the help of changes to the weaker sections of the website. Also, try to provide content that is being favored by the visitors.

If a website is gaining popularity among visitors for a specific content type, try to deliver that specific material to the visitors. Also, link some of the weaker sections of the website that may otherwise go unnoticed, from the popular pages. They stand a good chance of being noticed and visited by readers this way.

The best way to judge a website is by checking its competition. Always keep checking websites in a similar niche and check for any innovations or offers that are attracting visitors. Sometimes, checking the competition also helps in finding ideas to improve the content or layout of a website.

Check for broken or outdated links on the website. Broken links will make a website lose its credibility amongst visitors. Also, remember to include links to newly added pages on the website. Read more about an Easy Website Navigation System.

Select the keywords that were most searched to reach the website and frame the content around them. It is not mandatory to use those exact keywords but they should be focused hard in the content.

Always try to get links leading to the website. They increase the importance of the website in the search engine algorithms that are used for indexing and ranking web pages.

Importance of Website Maintenance

Website maintenance not only improves the performance of the pages that already exist on a website, but also gives the webmaster an insight into improving the future of the website. It helps develop a more target oriented and visitor friendly website.

Further Reading: 10 Ways to Improve Your Web Page Performance from Sixrevisions

Free Website Promotion: How to Promote a Website

2011-04-22T12:50:00.000+05:30

Learn various methods to promote a website for free. Website promotion helps a website become popular among readers.

Website promotion is as important a task as is creating and designing it. Once a website is successfully running on the internet, it is essential that it gains readership.

Website promotion consists of a number of necessary steps that also include enhancing the search engine ranking of the website. There are a number of ways in which a website can be promoted, by payed advertisements on the internet or offline advertising. This article though, will concentrate on free website promotion on the internet.

Methods for Free Website Promotion

There are various methods in which a website can be promoted on the web for free. This article discusses some of the very basic steps that are a part of website design and website planning, that help in promoting the website.

Content Management is Important for Website Promotion in the Long Run

There is an important relation between the content of a website and its promotion and performance on the web. There can be no better method for promotion if a website contains content that has been strategically well written for the internet. If proper emphasis has been laid on keyword research, the search engines will definitely rank the website higher.

Launch a Link Building Campaign

Google has been known to favor websites that have a lot of links leading to it. Try to build as many links as possible from relevant sources. Relevant sources include popular websites in the similar niche, another article on a website that has similar content, or a popular directory that saves links.

One can also write similar articles on other websites and link these similar articles. Links leading to a website always add to its credibility and popularity.

Focus on Internal Linking To Successfully Promote a Website

Focus hard on internal linking in the website. Internal links not only provide easy navigation to the visitors but also help in the SEO (Search engine Optimization) of the website. The importance of internal linking can be understood from an article, Internal Linking and Search engine Rankings published in promote-websites, which explains page rank sculpting.

The Importance of Social Bookmarking For Website Promotion

Social networking and social bookmarking can help a website in many ways. They help in letting the people know about the website as soon as a web page is included in the website and letting a web page get indexed in search engines faster. Eventually, they help bring in more direct traffic to the website.

Allow Visitors to Subscribe to the Website

There can be nothing better than visitors who like a website and will return to it when looking for some specific information. Allowing visitors a means to stay connected to the website helps a lot. This builds a readership for the website. To know more about the importance of returning visitors, read the article Increase Traffic With Return Visitors A Promotion Guide. published in

Email Signatures

Include a link to the website in your email signature. Every time an email is sent, the link to the website will be sent too. This increases the probability of people knowing about the website.

Create a Newsletter for the Visitors

Prepare a newsletter for the visitors of the website. Include the important updates on the website such as new content, new stand alone pages or anything that can be of interest to the visitors. Prepare a mailing list of all visitors or contacts who have subscribed to the newsletter and send this newsletter to them on a weekly or a monthly basis. If the website adds new content on a large scale, then the newsletter can be posted on a daily basis as well.

Importance of Visitor Interaction: Add a Blog to the Website

Almost all visitors reading information on the internet have an opinion about the same. Allow them to express their opinion about the content on the website through blogs or user comments section on all web pages. Some visitors like to add suggestions and some like starting discussions. This helps them visit the site again to keep track of the discussions.

The Importance of Website Promotion

Mostly, the purpose of building a website is conveying information or promotion of a business, be it online or offline. Both these purposes remain unfulfilled if the website does not get potential visitors or customers. Without proper website promotion, a website will remain lost amongst trillions of web pages on the world wide web.

For almost any topic that can be thought of, there are present millions of web pages on the web but there are some that rank higher than others. The reason for the same is that they have been promoted better than the others. In a generalized form, around 90% of the internet users use search engines to visit a website through search queries. To rank higher for a search query or a keyword phrase, website promotion becomes essential.

Free Website Promotion is Synonymous to SEO

Promoting a website not only helps in gaining traffic from search engines and web directories, but also increases the credibility and in turn the effective revenues the website owner can generate from it, as visitors tend to buy more from a credible source than from an untrusted market. The primary emphasis should be on search engine optimization of the website as it is the most effective tool of free website promotion.

Web Page Optimization and Website Performance Monitoring

2011-04-22T12:48:00.000+05:30

Website performance monitoring is essential for understanding which parts of the website need improvement and helps in better web page optimization.

Emphasis is being laid on website performance monitoring because internet is not only being accessed from computers alone, but also from cell phones and mobile devices. Speed has become a deciding factor in the field of internet as elsewhere. A slow website or a website that takes too much time to load in a web browser is mostly rejected by the users.

Website performance becomes even more critical if a website has regular visitors. A website will never want to lose any of those visitors because of a technical snag.

Website Performance Monitoring: What Factors Affect Website Performance

Website planning is the preliminary step to be followed before designing a website. Web page optimization is an integral part of website planning. Website performance is generally seen as the speed at which a website responds to a query. Most websites have images.

The speed at which these images load into a web browser effects the overall performance. Most websites display affiliate links or advertisements. These advertisements too, sometimes hinder the speed of a website.

Faulty HTML codes in the websites, not only prevent websites from getting indexed properly in search engines, but also prevent the website from loading correctly on all browsers. An article titled Website Optimization, published in Web Source gives more information about web site optimization techniques.

Improving Website Performance through Web page Optimization

Web page optimization refers to the process of designing web pages so as to improve their performance in search engines. There are several factors that have to be kept in mind when optimizing web pages but, content of the web page plays the most important part.

Role of Content in Web Page Optimization

Web page content is the most basic thing to be observed when optimizing a web page. The rule here is to be as target oriented as possible. The content should be framed around targeted keywords and should discuss a very specific central theme. Various keyword variations of one or two primary keywords must be deployed to gain a more targeted audience.

Include the Most Important Keywords in the Title

The title of the web page must focus on the primary keyword phrase around which the content has been framed so that the title leads a more target oriented audience to the web page. A target oriented audience helps the web page in several ways. Such visitors stay longer on the web page, hence increasing the credibility of the web page in search engines. Also, they are likely to buy a product on the website as the website becomes a trusted source.

Image Optimization

Another important aspect of any web page is the images on the web page. Images can be added as a supplement, or as a background image to the web page. Try to keep the image size a minimum by providing it just the required resolution and intensity. Images that are large in size will increase the overall load time of the website.

Also, include a suitable caption to the image that matches the context of the web page. An article by Mario Sanchez, titled Image Optimization Tips, published in The Internet Digest, explains the process of image optimization in detail.

Rectify HTML Errors

Broken links, CSS errors, HTML faults, tend to weaken website performance and also obstruct the flow of reading from a visitors point of view. There are several free online HTML validation services available, that check for errors in the HTML of a web page. The W3C Markup Validation Service is free to use and is a reliable means of checking for HTML errors.

Internal Linking helps Web Page Optimization

Search engines tend to lay emphasis on internal linking through a web page when indexing it. Always provide internal links to other related pages on the website using proper anchor text. It is also convenient for the visitors to read through the website if they find relevant internal links. The anchor text that is written must be strictly relevant to the content it is linking to; otherwise, it won't be counted as a genuine source. Read more about Easy Website Navigation.

Use of Meta Tags

Because of the abuse of this service to rank higher in the search results, meta tags have been considered not useful as an on page optimization technique, but some search engines still use the meta tags to rank web pages. Also, meta tags are used for displaying a brief summary of the content on the web page.

Content Management for Web page Optimization

Using the right keywords is not the only aspect of managing the content for web page optimization. Restrict the word limit of the content to a maximum of 600-700 words. Also, keep in mind that the keywords are not overused in the web page. This is regarded as keyword stuffing. Frame similar sounding keywords and use them around the primary keyword.

Summary

Web Page optimization is an important step in designing a website. A website is only as good as its web pages. Web page optimization leads to the website performing better on the internet amongst millions of competitors. It is essential to improve the performance of a website to keep gaining visitors to it. Off page optimization is as necessary as necessary as on page optimization, and both of them together result in a better website.

Small Business Web Page: Design a Small Business Website

2011-04-22T12:46:00.000+05:30

Owning a small business website is a growing trend in the market. Small business web page has become essential for promotion of businesses on the internet.

Small business web development is gaining interest among small business owners. The need to popularize a business on the internet has slowly become a field of research among internet savvy business owners. With the growing popularity of internet among potential customers, creating small business web pages has become necessary for every small business owner.

Also, the internet has proved to be a cheaper means of promoting a business. There are a lot of users who like browsing the internet, searching for products. The cost of offline advertising is much more than promotions on the internet.

Web Page Design of a Small Business Website

There are several things that effect the overall design of a small business web page. The reason why this article is discussing the design of a small business web page and not a small business website is that most small business owners prefer a single page as a website, that displays almost all information that a potential customer requires on a product being recommended by the website.

A Good Layout or Website Template

The first thing to remember is that the web page layout should be one that can accommodate a lot of information. A small business website or web page will essentially hold much more information than the homepage of a large business website or an informative website.

Internet users prefer a simple layout over a complex one that makes it difficult for them to browse for specific information. Try to have a less stylish approach and be more generous towards the areas that are for providing providing product related information to the customers. Website Design and Layout is as essential as the content it provides.

Information to be Displayed on a Small Business Web Page

Website Planning includes planning the content that needs to be displayed on the different web pages of the website. The goal of a small business website is to provide as much information to a customer as possible and build up the trust factor. A visitor should be so convinced by the information presented, that he starts trusting the product or the service being offered to him. There are some important points to remember.

Display all information about the merchant selling the service or the product.
Answer all possible questions that a customer may have about the product.
Offer a trusted and secure way of payment.
Provide a means of communication to the customers, allow them to interact and post their queries via email or a phone number.
Display any previous experience that the merchant has in selling products on the internet or otherwise.
Display any other relevant information that may help building trust among customers, such as another successful sale that the merchant has previously made.
Provide information about the product in detail.

Interlinking The Web Pages of the Website

If there are more than one web page on the website, remember to interlink them. If the website has a homepage, show links for all other sections of the website on it. Interlinking not only makes it easy for a visitor to browse through a website but also helps search engines in indexing the different pages of the website. Read more about the importance of Website Navigation.

Importance of the FAQ Page For a Small Business Website

The inclusion of a FAQs page on the website that has answer to the most common questions that a visitor may have about the merchant, the product or the service being offered by the website helps a lot. Many visitors do not purchase from a website due to a number of unanswered questions.

Design of the Small Business Web Page

A lot of effort is required to design a web page that meets the requirement of a visitor. The page needs to be simple, provide all necessary information, and primarily, focus on the product being offered. Read the article Designing a Website to know more.

Provide Variable Payment Methods

Provide more than one payment method. Many visitors are unable to make a purchase because of absence of a convenient payment method. Try to include as many payment methods as possible.

Why is small business website necessary

Small businesses need websites for promotion of an offline or online business. These websites not only help business owners build a brand name for there businesses online, but also help them sell products or services on the internet. Most successful online businesses take the help of small business web pages for selling products and reaching out to customers.

Further Reading: Small Business Web Development and How to Approach it by Dave Corby published on Suite101.com

Website Navigation: Tips for Easy Web Page Navigation

2011-04-22T12:44:00.000+05:30

Website navigation forms an important part of effective website design. Learn various web page navigation tips for an effective website navigation system.

The ease of using a website sometimes stands as the difference between the performance of portals in the same niche. Website navigation is an integral part of the website designing process. Allowing the users to navigate easily through the website, effectively increases the time that a visitor spends on the website.

If visitors reach the website through a search engine, they will search for related information on the present page rather than going back to the search engine. A healthy web page navigation system allows these visitors to browse through the web pages without having to find those pages through a search engine.

Website Navigation Should be Emphasized When Planning The Website

Planning the web page navigation system of a website should be done when planning the website. Various navigation techniques can be deployed in a website depending upon the niche the site belongs to or the number of pages in the website. The goal is to let a visitor get all the information that the website has to offer related to the topic that has brought the visitor to the web page.

Ways of Designing an Easy Website Navigation System

There are various methods in which an effective navigation system can be put up on a website. These methods include provision of a navigation bar at the top of each web page, a drop down menu containing links to various pages or categories of the website, interlinking of web pages by the use of contextual internal links, a small bunch of links at the bottom of each page, a column for related links at the bottom of each page and many more.

Methods for Designing an Easy Website Navigation System

Always provide a complete sitemap of the website, which contains links to all sections and subsections, and important pages on the website.
A top navigation bar that contains only the very important links of the website such as the categories, the contact information, and the home page URL.
In case the website has a lot of categories and the website registers a lot of hits for each of these, a second top navigation bar could be used containing links to the leading sections of the website.
A drop down menu is handy if each section on the top navigation bar has a sub section that is equally important.
Use sidebars to expand the 'categories' section of the website. Provide links to the popular pages or the most recent pages in each category.
At the bottom of the page, use a horizontal list of links leading to the contact information, privacy policy, and home page URL. Let this list be displayed on each separate page of the website.
Use Contextual interlinking to lead visitors to the related pages on the website.
Design the website layout such that it allows various sections on a web page to display links and important pages of the website.
Make sure that the link to the home page is displayed on every separate web page.
Always leave scope for addition of more links if planning the expansion of website by addition of more web pages.

Importance of Contextual Internal Linking for an Effective Website Design

Website navigation plays an important role in website design. Contextual Internal linking helps in the the search engine optimization of the different related web pages present on the website. The important thing to remember while interlinking the web pages, is to carefully use the anchor text that leads to another related page. Make sure the anchor text is relevant to the content on the web page.

An even better approach would be to use the primary keyword of the web page as the anchor text. An article titled The Importance of Internal Linking, and How to do it Right, by Scott Allen, published in Search Engine Guide, provides greater insight into the correct usage and importance of internal links.

Importance of an Easy Website navigation System

Provision of a healthy website navigation system helps visitors get involved in the website. They stay longer on the website and explore it. The longer a visitor stays on a website and the more number of pages are visited, the better it is for the search engine ranking of the website. Hence, it becomes essential to provide a healthy website navigation system while designing the website.

Further Reading: Basic Principle of Website Navigation by Charlie Morris from Web Developer's Journal

Security of Mobile Banking Application: Mobile Banking Technology

2011-04-22T12:42:00.000+05:30

Most big banks of the world now support the use of a mobile banking application for customers, exposing bank accounts to security threats such as phishing.

The advent of mobile banking technology has definitely brought flexibility in the ease of banking transactions, but at the same time has increased the risk of banking frauds. Various mobile banking applications have been introduced by international and local banks throughout the world, but most of them have not been tested to the extreme against banking fraud.

Customers are definitely feeling more comfortable completing transactions through their mobile handsets, but at the same time, an awareness of the threats that mobile banking technology poses before them is necessary.

Mobile Banking Technology Threats

The increasing number of developers for software being used on smart phones has its pros and cons. The fact cannot be denied that a large number of developers has reduced the effective cost of any mobile application, but several cases have been reported where a developer has compromised with little tricks such as phishing and scanning, that ultimately capture a user's confidential bank account information.

Security Flaws with Mobile Banking Applications

Since mobile banking applications make use of the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) and GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), the security of a transaction being carried out through a cell phone, also depends upon the security of data transfer through these services.

The GSM network uses A3/A8 mechanism to authenticate a cell phone over a mobile network. The most common algorithm used in this process is the COMP128, which was broken by Wagner and Goldberg in less than a day. Also, GSM uses the A5 algorithm to encrypt transmissions between a cell phone and a base station subsystem. This algorithm was also reverse engineered and cracked.

The GPRS has its flaws as well. Owing to the low processing capabilities of smart phones, the WTLS (Wireless Transport Layer Security) key sizes need to be restricted. These restricted key sizes are unable to meet the security requirements of the mobile banking applications.

A detailed version of the security flaws and their remedies was provided by Kelvin Chikomo, Ming Ki Chong, Alapan Arnab and Andrew Hutchison, in their journal titled, Security of Mobile Banking, for the University of Cape Town.

Security Measures to be Taken By Banks And Mobile Networks to Prevent Mobile Banking Fraud

The security measures that must be adopted to prevent such threats have to be divided into two broad categories viz, the steps to be followed by the bank and those to be followed by the bank's customers.

One important step that all banks can take is to provide an official mobile banking application to its customers, that prevents them from using an application developed by another individual or entity. This helps users from falling into 'phishing' traps set by fraudulent developers.

Secondly, a secure and encrypted data transfer must be enabled between the user cell phone and the service provider, in this case, the telecom carrier. All further connections to the banks servers should be done through dedicated lines or virtual private networks.

Thirdly, transactions that ask for credit or debit, must pass through multiple levels of authentication such as authentication of the cell phone, the customer identification number and the secret mobile PIN or personal identification number allotted to a customer.

Fourthly, at any time during a transaction, the PIN must not be allowed to be transferred as plain text. It should be encrypted and must be interpreted only at the sending and receiving ends.

Precautions Needed While Using a Mobile Banking Application

Never keep messages on the mobile device that contain information such as login passwords sent by the bank. Make a note elsewhere and delete the message.

Secure the information needed for authentication of the cell phone over a network, such as the SIM card number and the SIM card module.

Security is essential not only for the mobile banking application but also for the cell phone. Password protect the mobile device if possible.

Choose a strong password to use the mobile application. Do not use the same passwords that are used for logging into email accounts or public forums.

Try not to flash the firmware of the mobile device with a software not trusted by the mobile phone vendor. Possible vulnerabilities in an untrusted software leave the device prone to security threats.

Various mobile software protection software such as mobile antivirus programs are available in the market. Use such software on the cell phone to prevent any malware from exploiting the cell phone's system.

Consumer Awareness is the Biggest Asset Against Mobile Threats

According to Victor Smilgys, Tech CU's AVP of eCommerce and a mobile security expert, "Fraudsters know that the key to their success lies in the consumer" (source: Credit Union Offers Mobile Banking Security Tips published in Dark Reading). It is the consumers who benefit from technology and it is consumers who lose to fraudsters. An aware customer is many times better than any security system. Hence, the safe use of a mobile banking application lies in the hands of an aware customer.

Computer Health and Safety: Safety While Using Computers

2011-04-22T12:40:00.000+05:30

Improper body posture while using computers is a major risk to computer health and safety. Safety while using computers is essential for individuals.

With increasing use of personal computers and desktop systems in offices, computer health and safety concerns have increased many-fold over the years. People making extensive use of computers have become prone to several diseases, specially musculoskeletal problems, eye strains and discomfort when sitting in a correct body posture. Safety while using computers is necessary to prevent oneself from suffering from such diseases.

Computer Health and Safety Risks

The principal risk involved in using computers lies in the physical disorders threatening human health. Several diseases and physical disorders have been reported by people who use computers extensively. Some of the major problems that have been reported are:

carpal tunnel syndrome
body aches
discomfort while sitting in the correct posture
eye strain or weak eyesight
blurred or double vision
head aches and mental stress

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Major Computer Health and Security Risk

Carpal tunnel syndrome is the worst of the above mentioned disorders. In many cases, it may well become unrecoverable or may require a major surgery for recovery. Improper posture of hands in handling the mouse is the principal cause of carpal tunnel syndrome. It results in continuous or recurring discomfort or pain in the hands. It also causes weakening of the nerves and muscles of the hand. (Refer to the attached pictures)

Computer Health and Safety Measures to Avoid Computer Safety Risks

Computer health and safety measures can be deployed both at an individual level and at an organizational level. Awareness on the part of a computer user and prevention, is the most suitable way to tackle any safety risk posed by improper posture while using computers.

Individual Efforts to Ensure Computer Health and Safety

As stated earlier, an aware user is the strongest prevention against computer safety risks. If a user ensures the use of computers in a correct manner and with correct body posture, these risks reduce to minimum:

Never use the computer continuously for a long period of time. Take breaks in between, say 5 minutes an hour.
Keep the mouse and the keyboard at the same level.
Use a flexible chair, that allows you to relax and stretch out at times.
Use keyboards and mouse with longer wires, if not using a wireless set. This helps in changing body posture at will.
While using the mouse, remember not to bend the wrists up or down. The hands should be parallel with the forearm.
Face the monitor but not at an angle. Place yourself to face the computer screen straight.
Allow ample leg space before sitting. Spread the legs from time to time to avoid straining.
Use anti glare glasses to avoid the radiation from computer screen.
Blink your eyes to keep them moist.
Avoid using too bright screens.

Workplace Computer Health and Safety Tips

Almost all organizations use computers. There are certain safety measures and rules that must be deployed by organizations to ensure employee health and safety:

A regular update of any illness being faced by an employee suffering from organizational stress must be recorded.
Annual or monthly reports must be compiled to audit the organization's OSH policy.
Computer health and safety measures should be made known to all employees through print or electronic medium.
An authority must be made responsible to ensure that all employees and management comply with the OSH policy of the organization.
Seminars or presentations could be used as a tool to make employees understand computer safety risks and their prevention.

Importance of a Computer Health and Safety Policy

There can be no better remedy to avoid computer safety risks in an organization, than to build a computer health and safety policy. All organizations must ensure that the policy of computer health and safety is strictly adhered to by all employees and management of the company. Nevertheless, reduction of computer safety risks involves much more of awareness on the part of an individual than policy formulation by the organization.

Sources:

Lasa Information Systems Team's "Computer Health and Safety" published in Lasa Knowledgebase on 27th January 2003 and accessed on 9th September, 2010.
"Carpal Tunnel Syndrome" published in Medline Plus and accessed on 9th September, 2010.
"Safe Computer Use" published in DirectGov and accessed on 9th September, 2010.

Windows Network Load Balancing Service Tutorial

2011-04-22T12:36:00.000+05:30

The network load balancing service is an application provided by Microsoft which assists in controlling various network load balancing clusters.

The term load balancing refers to distribution of a request to more than one resource to increase reliability and efficiency. Network load balancing service also serves the same purpose by forming clusters of computers and implementing load balancing through the cluster. Since the request gets distributed over a number of computers, the system as a whole performs better than one stand alone system.

Network Load Balancing Definitions: What is a Cluster

A computer cluster is a group of more than one computer, that have been linked together to perform as one single unit. This helps prevent one single point of failure. Also, having the resources distributed over more than one computer increases the efficiency of the system.

What is Load Balancing

Load balancing refers to assigning more than one resource to a request so as to eliminate any chance of failure of communication, or disruption in service. Other advantages include complete utilization of all resources (including those being used as backups), and improving the response time of a request.

The term load balancing in the field of computers is prefixed by several other terms. A few examples would be link load balancing, firewall load balancing, ethernet load balancing, DSL load balancing and several others.

NLB Servers (Network Load Balancing Servers)

An NLB server is an independent server responding to traffic modulations initiated by an NLBS (Network Load Balancing Service). Several copies of the same application may be run on different NLB servers. They do not share processing or memory resources but respond to a common NLBS.

Network Load Balancing Service (NLBS)

Network load balancing is a Microsoft service that enables the NLBS to manage the TCP / IP requests amongst a cluster of NLB servers. As mentioned above, all NLB servers do not share any physical resource, but run different copies of the load balanced applications and respond to an NLB service. The NLB service allows all servers in the cluster to be reached by a common network address.

The servers in the cluster do not share a common storage and work as independent units. These servers are governed by the NLBS. These network load balanced servers process the traffic requests as requested by the network load balancing service or the NLBS.

How Does Network Load Balancing Service Function

The network load balancing service is responsible to process requests made to it by diverting traffic to the NLB cluster. When a request is made, the NLB service uses a hashing algorithm to determine which server from the cluster will process the request.

The NLBS uses the hashing algorithm on the IP address of the node which has made the request and accordingly decides which server would process the request. All the servers of the cluster receive the packets of traffic, but only the one that has been assigned by the NLBS, will process the request.

The purpose of the service is to increase the reliability and performance. Hence, each server in the cluster sends a heartbeat message of 1500 bytes to all other servers of the cluster at regular pre decided intervals. When a server stops sending these messages, it is to be assumed that the resources on the server are exhausted by processing requests and it will be excluded from processing further requests.

Advantages of Using Network Load balancing Service

The network load balancing service provided by Microsoft helps increase the performance of servers and enhances their reliability and availability. No separate hardware is required to deploy this service and the network load balancing manager serves as the single point of management of this service and the cluster associated with it.

Choosing The Best Anti Spam Appliance: Hardware Spam Filter

2011-04-22T12:32:00.000+05:30

Buying an Anti Spam Appliance? Look at some of the points to be noticed when purchasing a hardware spam filter. How to choose an anti spam appliance.

Blocking spam is one of the biggest challenges that large organizations face. Filters are deployed at the receiving gateway or in the path of the mail server.

Special hardware built for the same purpose is known as anti spam appliances, and can be used without bothering about the operating system being used by the organization. Also, these anti spam appliances prevent organizations from the hassle of detailing out and then selecting a software built for the same purpose.

When to Use an Anti Spam Appliance, a Hardware Spam Filter

Anti spam appliances must be used only when the requirement is huge. e.g., universities, multi national organizations, internet service providers etc. need a strong anti spam filter.
Many times, a customer feels comfortable in buying hardware than purchasing a software because of the ease of judging the specifications of a hardware and the lesser known vulnerabilities of a software.
Also, a hardware is easy to install. A manual is provided with almost all purchased hardware and the anti spam appliance needs to be placed just at the receiving gateway of the mail server.
Many anti spam filter software are OS dependent e.g., a LINUX version of the software may not run on Windows while under organizational policy, Windows is run on systems in the organizations. A hardware spam filter prevents this situation.

Anti Spam Appliance Features: What to Look For in an Anti Spam Appliance

There are some common features that any anti spam filter hardware or anti spam appliance must provide and a buyer must keep in mind these points when choosing an anti spam appliance. It is essential to see whether the vendor is providing these features in the appliance or not.

The ease of installation of the anti spam appliance, the effort and time that is required for a quick installation.
Does the anti spam hardware filter provide content based filtering
The appliance must be platform independent i.e., synchronize with any operating system.
Must allow network administrator of the organization to decide upon the email policy that would be implemented through the hardware.
Must compel authentication of users who are sending emails.
Should be able to filter out any malicious code that arrives through an email.
Must deploy advanced security measures such as anti spyware and anti virus functions.
Should be able to buffer overflow attacks targeted on mail servers.
The amount of emails that can be filtered through the anti spam appliance.
Must also provide for filtering of spam in instant messaging.
The actual accuracy percentage of filtering spam through the filter.
Must always maintain and update its real time blacklist or RBL.
prevent the arrival of any malicious software as attachments in emails.
Lastly, it should have the backup of a real time assistance in case of an emergency such as a denial of service attack.

Anti Spam Appliance Vendors

There are a number of reputed brands that manufacture and provide anti spam appliances. Some of the big names are Barracuda spam filter, SecPoint protector, GWGuardian Appliance, SpamGate, Semantic Mail Security Series, Proof Point protection server, Defencity Mail secure and many more.

Exchange Server Spam Filter: Anti Spam For Exchange Server

2011-04-22T12:30:00.000+05:30

How to choose the best anti spam solution for mail exchange servers? Points to be kept in mind when buying an exchange server spam filter.

Anti spam solutions are essentially required for large organizations running mail exchange servers. Cleaning of unwanted email helps increase business efficiency. It is also important that the anti spam filter on exchange servers maintain the continuity of emails while filtering only the undesired email. Many exchange server spam filters also provide antivirus services and protection from malware.

Quick View on Exchange Servers

Exchange servers help reduce the burden on an individual server responsible for sending and receiving emails. More than one server is used for increased access and reliability of mail exchange. All these servers are listed in the network's DNS registry as mail exchange servers. The server that is listed on position one in the list is the primary mail server which diverts traffic to the other exchange servers in situations of heavy traffic or a failure of the primary mail server itself.

Why is Anti Spam Filter needed for Exchange Servers

It is a common practice for organizations to use an anti spam filter on the primary mail server. Spammers use common tricks to bypass the primary mail server security and spam the mail exchange servers. An anti spam filter for exchange servers prevents spammers from sending undesired emails on these servers.

One solution would be installation of separate spam filters for all the mail exchange servers. This solution becomes useless because of the huge costs it would incur on the organizations. Exchange server spam filters work as a single unit hardware and are placed at the gateway just before the mail servers. This provides total security against any spam being delivered to the mail servers.

How to Choose an Exchange Server Spam Filter

Must allow individual businesses to run separate servers as mail exchange servers and at the same time must prevent any spam from entering the system.
Must continuously update its spam and content prototypes to prevent any new spamming tricks by spammers.
Must quarantine and filter all incoming and outgoing messages.
Must be platform independent so that organizations running a particular operating system need not rely upon compatibility issues with the software of the filter.
Preparing a report of all emails that were blocked.
The accuracy percentage of filtering of undesired emails.
Ease of installation of the filter with the exchange servers.
Must allow the administrator of the network to control the email filtering policy.
Must allow traffic to pass smoothly through them.
Should be able to handle large volumes of traffic without causing too much delay in filtering process.

Advantages of Using an Exchange Server Spam Filter

Anti spam filters used on exchange servers not only prevent spam from entering the mail servers but also perform some basic security function such as virus and spyware detection. They also can filter out the messages that contain malware and those that lead to download or installation of malicious software on the computer system. The advantage of using exchange sever spam filter also lies in the fact that they do not depend upon the operating system being used in the organization.

Google Affiliate Program For Advertisers and Publishers

2011-04-22T12:27:00.000+05:30

Google Affiliate Program is a pay per action affiliate program that allows publishers to earn a commission per sale made on advertisements on their website.

Google launched its own affiliate program known as Google Affiliate Program that pays whenever a sale is made through the advertisements displayed on a publisher's website or blog.

It also benefits the advertisers as they only pay commissions when a sale is made, unlike Google Adsense, which was a 'cost per click' program, where advertisers payed whenever a click was registered on the advertisements.

Google Affiliate Program for Advertisers and Publishers

The Google Affiliate program is beneficiary both for advertisers as well as publishers. For advertisers, the biggest benefit is that they need to pay the publishers only when a sale is registered through the advertisements.

It also is a benefit for publishers because they earn healthy amounts in the form of commissions - a percentage of sales made through advertisements on their website.

Google Affiliate Program Requirements and Benefits for Publishers

Google Affiliate program is suitable for those publishers who have substantial knowledge about click conversion into sales. Also, the website being used for publishing advertisements should provide high quality content to the visitors to maintain the Google standards of advertising.

There are many benefits that are associated with the Google AdSense affiliate program

The biggest advantage is the commission on every sale made through the advertisements which is much bigger than the earnings through AdSense's pay per click structure.
Publishers get to connect with a variety of advertisers and can pick the ones which best suite their website or blog.
Many advertisers run their own referral programs that help publishers to earn even better.
Easy reporting of all transactions that occurred through the publisher account.
Anybody using AdSense can get into the affiliate program.
The trust factor that is built in because of the brand association with Google.
A technical support team that eases out the processes of contacting advertisers and setting up advertisements on a website or blog.

Google Affiliate Program Requirements and Benefits for Advertisers

The affiliate program benefits advertisers too, as they pay only when a visitor clicks on an advertisement and purchases the product or service supported by the advertiser. As an advertiser, one needs to be able to build quality advertisements to attract visitors and then compel them to make a purchase.

The benefits associated with Google affiliate program for advertisers are:

As an advertiser, one gets to choose quality publishers to promote their brands.
The benefit lies in the 'pay per action' structure of payments. With such a structure, you only pay when you make a profit.
Some of the biggest brands are associated with the Google affiliate program. This builds a trust factor among the visitors on the website.
Various tracking tools are available that help advertisers track the various campaigns of online advertising.
A detailed profile of all publishers who are affiliated with the program is available to all advertisers, that allows them to choose from a group of publishers in a given niche.
Only those publishers are affiliated with the program who deliver according to Google's policies. Hence, advertisers lay assured that the traffic visiting their campaign are searching for quality.

Google Affiliate Program Overview

The Google affiliate program is a success among publishers and advertisers. There were some initial problems associated with the interface of the website as it was previously a Doubleclick Performics Affiliate Operations undertaking till 2008. With the new domain being shifted to a sub domain of Google, the problems with the user interface have been resolved.

Also, people already using the Google affiliate program are satisfied with the performance of the advertisements provided. The one problem that publishers face is that advertisers mostly reject a publisher who is already associated with another advertiser in a similar niche.

To sign up as a Google Affiliate as a publisher or an advertiser, use the following link.

Google Affiliate Network.

Data Recovery From Hard Drive Failure: Hard Drive Recovery Tools

2011-04-22T12:25:00.000+05:30

Want to recover data from a dead hard disk? Various methods of detecting a hard drive failure and methods of recovering data using hard drive recovery tools

It is a logical statement that all hard drives fail at some point of time. There are various reasons that account for a dead hard disk. There are two forms of reported hard drive failures, logical and mechanical.

There can be no better cure than prevention, i.e., to backup the data frequently, but in case of a hard drive failure, various hard drive recovery tools help with accessing data from the dead hard disk.

Why do Hard Drive Failures Occur: Logical Errors and Mechanical Failures

An operating system stores data onto logical locations or virtual addresses which are mapped against physical addresses on the hard disks. These mappings are stored in tables by the OS and are accessed when an application requires the tables. Incorrect termination of OS system files or services, viruses, applications not correctly configured, or installation of incompatible software have been reported to make these tables inaccessible by the OS for use, resulting in hard drive failures.

Mechanical or physical failures occur due to overheating of computer parts, voltage inefficiencies, mishandling of the hard drive, a corrupt firmware and media damage owing to overage or environmental conditions.

Data Recovery After Logical Hard Drive Failure

If experiencing any problems with the hard disk such as regular appearance of the BSOD (Blue Screen of Death), extremely slow retrieval of files from hard drive or regular freezing of the computer, it is time to check the hard drive for errors or failures.

The first step is to check if the problem is a logical error or a mechanical failure. Open the BIOS settings of the computer and check for the hard disk being listed there. If you can find your hard disk through BIOS, the problem is most likely a logical error.

Assuming that the hard drive is completely dead (the operating system fails to load), there are a few steps to be followed to recover the data from the logically dead hard drive.

The method being described cannot be guaranteed to work in all conditions since there can be a lot of causes for a dead or failed hard drive.

To recover data from a logical hard drive failure, one needs a working computer. Install the free application PC Inspector File Recovery. Install this freeware on the working hard drive. When you have done this, attach the failed hard drive as a secondary hard disk to the working computer. Once the BIOS detects the failed hard disk, data can most likely be recovered from the dead hard drive.

The freeware comes with a guide which displays the exact procedure to recover data from the failed hard drive. Follow those steps to recover data. If unable to recover data with the help of the above tool, switch to the next procedure.

Data Recovery After Mechanical Hard Drive Failure

In case of a mechanical failure of the hard drive, it is advisable to seek the help of a hard disk data recovery service. Mechanical failures can be found in many ways. If the hard disk is making sounds other than it usually makes accompanied with regular BSOD, frequent OS crashes, freezing of computer, and failure to recover data from a specific location, it is a good enough sign that the hard disk is getting close to a complete mechanical failure.

If the BIOS of the computer fails to show up a hard drive attached, then the most likely reason is a mechanical failure. It is most advisable to contact a hard disk data recovery service to recover the data that has been lost.

How to Load Balance a Web Server: Web Server Load Balancing

2011-04-22T12:22:00.000+05:30

Own a website that recently became popular? Use web server load balancing to optimize website performance. Learn how to load balance a web server.

Web server load balancing is essential when a website starts gaining more traffic than it is capable of handling or in case of dynamic web page services being provided by the website. A web server's performance is restricted by the underlying hardware and the available bandwidth. Load balancing a web server can effectively improve website performance and also increase the availability of the web services being provided by the web server.

Why is Web Server Load Balancing Essential

The performance of a web server depends completely on the underlying hardware and the bandwidth available to it. Under such restrictions, a web server is only capable of responding to a limited number of requests from clients. In a situation where more number of requests are made to the server than it can actually handle, a bottleneck situation occurs where the other requests wait till the server has finished responding to the previous requests. This results in a slow performance by the website from a user's point of view.

Also, if the services provided by the website are dynamic in nature such as dynamically generated content in response to a client request script, the limitations of the server increase many folds. This again results in a slow website.

How Does Load Balancing a Web Server Help

Load balancing is a technique in which a single point of operation is converted into many points i.e., more than one servers are made responsible for responding to client requests. The load is spread among many servers. This helps increase the number of resources that a web server can utilize.

The most common form of load balancing is to share multiple copies of the same files or website resources on different machines represented by the same network address and diverting traffic to the servers that are most capable of responding to the request.

How to Load Balance a Web Server

Web server load balancing can be done in several ways. The most common method is to use several servers instead of using a single machine. The purpose is to let the client see the group of servers as one single server. This can be done by a technique known as IP spraying.

A load balancer is placed at the gateway between a client request and the group of servers. This load balancer helps distribute the HTTP requests over the group of servers in a way to evenly spread the load.

The most basic technique of load balancing web servers involves DNS load balancing where several copies of the same website are placed on different servers and serving client requests on different servers. The DNS entry of the website returns different IP addresses each corresponding to a server.

There is a major drawback in this scheme of load balancing. The DNS entries are cached by client browsers and the other servers. This results in a client continuing to use the same copy on the same server, hence deterring the performance of the web server in case many requests require the service of the same server simultaneously, even when there are many servers available.

The above problem can be solved by using a reverse proxy server, that receives requests from clients and responses from the web servers and caches these on itself. When a repeated request is made, the proxy server can provide cached data; and on a request for dynamic content, it can divert the request to the most suitable server.

Advantages of Web Server Load Balancing

As discussed above, excessive load on the web server hinders the performance of the website. Web server load balancing not only improves website performance but also increases its scalability and reliability. In case the website experiences a sudden burst of traffic, load balancing helps managing the traffic to maintains it availability.

Recover Crashed Hard Drive: Laptop Hard Drive Recovery

2011-04-22T12:20:00.000+05:30

Facing a hard drive failure? Learn how to perform laptop hard drive recovery. Various methods to recover crashed hard drive.

Hard drive failures are inevitable. Whether a hard drive is new or old, one must always be prepared to perform hard drive data recovery. The best way out of a hard drive failure is backing up the hard drive data at regular intervals. If facing a hard disk failure, physical or logical, it is advisable to perform some basic troubleshooting steps to try and recover the data before seeking help from a hard drive data recovery expert.

Hard Drive Failure Symptoms

There are various symptoms that a failed hard drive may show, before or after being completely unusable.

Regular freezing of the computer after a normal OS boot.
The OS does not boot properly and the computer freezes even before the operating system loads into the main memory.
A clicking sound when the computer is switched on.
Regular appearance of the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD).
Difficulty in retrieving files from one or more partitions on the hard drive.

These problems may be due to other faults in the computer but in most cases, a diagnosis would reveal a hard drive failure.

Data Recovery From Hard Drive Failure on a Desktop Computer

Hard drive data retrieval is fairly easy if the issue is with a desktop computer. A freeware and a working desktop computer is all that is needed to successfully recover data from a dead or crashed hard drive. The first step would be to diagnose the problem on the computer and making sure that the problem is with the hard drive.

The next step would involve downloading and installing a freeware application that helps in hard drive data retrieval. By using this freeware after plugging in the crashed hard disk in the working computer, data will most probably be retrieved. A complete description of desktop computer hard drive data recovery can be gathered from the article Data recovery from hard drive failure hard drive recovery tools.

How to Perform Laptop Hard Drive Recovery

The most basic step would involve pulling out the hard drive from the laptop casing that holds the hard disk and using an external casing or enclosure to use the virtually dead hard disk as an external hard drive. The next step would be to attach this virtual external hard drive to a working computer and try to recover data. This approach would involve disturbing the hardware which in most of the cases would also be a violation of warranty agreement.

A better approach is to boot from a CD ROM with the OS installed on it. This installation would also contain all the necessary recovery tools already installed on it. A bootable CD ROM can be created by using a tool called BartPE. This product is not licensed by Microsoft but allows the system to remain in recovery mode for 24 hours.

Burning a CD ROM with the Windows installation on it allows a laptop user to boot the OS without having to boot the laptop from the failed hard drive. The BartPE CD ROM also has applications that perform data recovery functions. These applications automatically get installed on the CD ROM when burning the BartPE CD ROM. The instructions of creating and using the BartPE bootable CD can be found at the BartPE website.

Again, if you feel uncomfortable in following any of the steps, or in case the above steps do not work out, it is most advisable to seek the help of a hard drive data recovery expert.

Tape Data Recovery: How is Data Recovered From a Failed Tape

2011-04-22T12:17:00.001+05:30

Have archival data on a tape that has failed to respond? Learn the important steps of tape data recovery before calling in a tape data recovery expert.

Tape drives are mostly used by organizations for archiving important data and information. Tape drives are capable of storing large volumes of data at a fairly lower per unit cost than disk drives. Like other storage media, tape drives too, are susceptible to internal and external damages resulting in loss of data or inaccessibility of data. Unlike hard drive data recovery, tapes and tape drives need to be carefully handled when in the process of tape data recovery.

Causes of Tape Drive Failure

Improper handling of the tape or tape drive is the primary reason for a malfunctioning tape drive. Any tape drive comes with a certain duty cycle. A tape drive which works more than its normal scheduled duty cycle is more likely to face problems.

Also, there are specified transfer rates at which data must be transferred to the tape drives. When the data transfer rate is slower than the specified data transfer rate for a particular tape drive, data problems occur. Also, environmental conditions are responsible for the degradation of tape drives over time.

Tape Data Recovery Methods

The most common tape data malfunctions occur due to physical damage such as wear and tear, smoke damage or mechanical tape drive failure. While carrying out a tape data recovery, it is essential to check for such damages before using the tape in a drive for recovery.

In cases where the problem is a logical one and not related to physical damage to the tape, the process of recovery becomes even more complex. Data on a tape is not organized. Even if the recovery is successful, it would still be unreadable to the human eye because it remains unstructured. Various applications such as Windows BackupExec are used to organize the data that has been recovered and is in the form of a backup. When a logical problem is encountered in the backup data set itself, additional processing becomes necessary to prevent data loss.

Once the recovery process is over, it is necessary to build or organize this data into readable format. This generally involves rebuilding files that have been corrupted or damaged. There are many techniques to rebuild files from a recovered backup data set and the choice of a technique depends entirely upon the archive format.

Though some software promise safe tape data recovery, it is highly advisable to consult a tape data recovery service or expert for retrieving and rebuilding lost or corrupt data from a tape.

Precautions to prevent Tape Drive Failures

Though very robust, and built for storing data for a long time, tape drive failures are common. Tape drive failures can be avoided by using the tape drives with care. Never overwork the tape drive i.e., never over work the tape drive more than its specified duty cycle. Also, handle the tape drive with care. Use proper casings, and keep it protected from environmental changes such as moisture and wind. Make sure that the data transfer rate meets the standard rate specified for the tape drive.