Three days after Microsoft brought out 3 critical patches, exploit code has appeared for a plug and play-vulnerability. This is especially dangerous for Windows 2000 users. ...
The vulnerability makes it possible to remotely control the PC by sending special data packets to the system. For Windows 2000 PCs you don't need login rights, making it possible for malicious users to develop a fast-spreading worm based on this exploit.
Windows 2000 users are advised to install the newly released patches as soon as possible.
Different security firms have detect exploits with slightly different code, meaning that a few groups are busy trying to bring out a worm that exploits this new Win 2k vulnerability.
Symantec has send warning with a rate of 9.6 out of 10. The company says that one of the exploits could hit a Windows 2000 machine that has installed all patches that were released before Wednesday, August 10.
Even Microsoft has send out a security advice, reporting they know about the exploit code, and they recommend users to patch. Normally worms arrive a week after the release but it could also be earlier.
You can download the new patch
here
Sneakytje
The reasons why could you ever want to convert a powerpoint presentation to a flash file
Although we don’t know whether Microsoft ever envisioned such a big market about PowerPoint on its first release, today this software is impacting profoundly on education and corporation’s activities in the way that nobody could ignore. With a wealth of visual & audio effects people rely on it to express their ideas and plans more intuitively that leads to more effective communication outcomes.
One of most widely PowerPoint applications exists in education. With the booming of Internet, traditional education approaches have been eclipsing by various new emerging ways. And in spite of heavy promotion of supposedly new television education approaches in recent years, from my point of view, the real innovation and revolution is taking place somewhere else: On the Web, where I truly believe the advantages of PowerPoint will be fully exerted again.
Another great application undoubtly is for entertainment. PowerPoint2003 provides great transition effects and flash movie enable, narration record functions. People now tend to use it to make all kinds of brilliant slideshows as a way to keep and highlight their precious memory. For businessperson, it’s been an exclusive way to make their conception live for many years.
However like any other softwares PowerPoint has its share of weakness. The final project’s totally dependence requires the Microsoft PowerPoint installed in any computer on which a presentation is running; And its bulky size make it awkward to distribute. In recent years, people have came up with an idea to fix this inconvenience – to convert PowerPoint to smaller, multi-platform supported flash files. We can include the merits of this conversion as following:
1. Reduce Size and Email Ready
If you are using PowerPoint presentation frequently in your work, you must feel to be hindered by its bulky size every now and then, which holds you back from any distribution. Now with PowerPoint to Flash Converter, that kind of problem will be eliminated automatically. The converted flash presentation is absolutely a better option for emailing due to its smaller size; it will not clog your partner inbox.
2. Greater and Easier Accessibility for Viewers
The converted Flash presentations can be easily viewed in any Internet Browsers. For most of Browsers have already had Flash Plug-ins installed, so you can email the convert Flash file to your friends directly without worrying whether they have PowerPoint Software installed on their computers. And thanks to its smaller, streaming media format you can just post it on websites or Intranets to share with other people.
3. Keep all original effects in PowerPoint presentation
Convert PowerPoint to Flash will keep all original effects in your PowerPoint presentation without any distortion. After converting your PowerPoint presentation to flash files, you will be surprised to find that the result is amazing; all the original effects are remain unchanged. With this knowledge in mind, you can just go ahead and enjoy it!
4. Secure
PowerPoint files are editable by anyone else who has PowerPoint installed on their machine. Not so for Flash files which allow you to maintain a higher degree of control on your content if you wish to.
5. Firewall Friendliness
Flash-based content has no problem going through firewalls as it behaves just like standard Web content.
There are already PPT to SWF softwares on the market, some of them have really strong functions. But they all priced at above average level (several hundred dollars) compared with other softwares, their target clients mostly are companies or organizations.
From http://www.sameshow.com
A practical and easy-to-use PowerPoint to Flash Converter
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SusanZheng writes, teaches, trains and consults on business and professional presentations and eCommerce related matters.
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To make Windows Vista more accessible, the operating system will be supplied with multiple deployment tools. Many companies are now still waiting too long to update their Windows-installations. In big companies it is for the system administrator very complicated to do this. Therefore Microsoft wants make the windows roll out more easily, and smaller. WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit) is one of the tools for which the software builder has put a user guide on his website. WAIK contains the components and modules which the user can select before the installation.
For the companies and business clients there’s the OEM Preinstallation Kit. It will be offered by OEMs and system builders on companies. In this packet all tools will be offered which OEMs have available, except the OEM-license possibility and the Windows Preinstall Environment.
The company will try to make the installation process easier for business. Nowadays it’s still aimed at end-users.
Already in April, Microsoft has reported on WinHEC that Windows Vista will feature a modular installation, where the user can select specific components for the installation, like the shell, the file-system, Media Player and audio- and network.
Sneakytje
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PowerArchiver 2006 9.5 beta 2
The second bètarelease version 9.5 from Powerachiver is out now. This program allows u to make archives and works with the most usual types of compressing (.zip, .rar, .tar) but also CD or DVD-images. This version makes use of a new registration system. So, actual users will have to pick up a new serial number. This version works with Windows 2000, 9x, NT and XP
PowerArchiver tells on there site:
‘This second beta release includes minor fixes, including icon updates for Windows 2000 and the new PowerArchiver 2006 toolbar.’
Here you find PowerArchiver version 9.5 beta 2
Sneakytje
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Vandaag heb ik voor jullie een review van de Creative Zen Micro. Eens geen software, maar een mooie review. Deze mp3-speler kan je zowat vergelijken met de iPod Mini, maar deze is verkrijgbaar in 10 verschillende vrolijke kleurtjes.
Hiernaast zie je de doos waar de Zen Micro in gezeten heeft. In deze doos vind je naast de Zen Micro zelf, een zakje om de speler in te steken, de installatie cd-rom, een kadertje om de speler in mee te dragen aan de broek of om in te staan bij het opladen of overdragen.
De USB kabel (2.0) en de oortjes van Creative. En niet te vergeten 2 oplaadbare li-ion batterijen en bijhorende stroomadapter om op te laden.
De Zen Micro heeft volgende functies:
o De vaste schijf van 5GB biedt plaats voor zo’n 2500 muzieknummers (gebasseerd op 4 minuten per nummer bij 64 kbps WMA- / 128 kbps MP3-codering)
o FM-radio
o Spraakopname
o Adresboek, kalender en To Do-list (vereist microsoft outlook)
o Verwijderbare oplaadbatterij met tot 12 uur levensduur
o Microformaat, slechts 8,4 cm hoog, 5 cm breed, 1,8 cm diep.
o USB 2.0
Minimale systeemvereisten:
* Microsoft Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP
* 64 MB RAM (128 MB aanbevolen)
* USB 1.1-poort (USB 2.0 aanbevolen voor snellere overdracht)
* 30 MB vrije ruimte op de vaste schijf
* Intel Pentium װ 350MHz of AMD K6 450 MHz
* CD-Romstation met ondersteuning voor digitale audio-extractie.
Om te beginnen heb ik eerst en vooral de batterij verder opgeladen tot deze volledig vol was. Dit gaat makkelijk met de bijgeleverde adapter. Na een 2-3-tal uurtjes is deze volledig opgeladen. Vooraleer je dan je e
igen mp3tjes kan beluisteren die op je computer staan, moet je eerst de software installeren. Dit vind ik niet zo goed. Zonder deze verplichte software kan je de Zen Micro niet laten verbinden met de computer.
Toen ik de software aan het installeren was moest ik wel eens herbeginnen, want het was vastgelopen (of dit aan mijn eigen computer ligt of aan die cd rom laat ik in het midden). De bedoeling was dan om zo snel mogelijk mijn mp3tjes op mijn Zen te zetten want ik was natuurlijk benieuwd naar wat het zou geven, maar tot mijn eigen verbazing vond ik het nogal ingewikkelde software. Dat je met deze software heel veel kan doen, dat maakt het juist ingewikkeld, je kan er gewoon je mp3’s mee beluisteren op de pc, op cd branden, filmpjes bekijken (zoals windows media player dus), en uiteraard dan ook de mp3’s op je Zen Micro zetten.
Als het je dan eindelijk gelukt is om je mp3’s te slepen naar naar je Zen Micro kan je ze beluisteren. Dit doe je met de meegeleverde HiFi-oortelefoon. Die trouwens een zeer goede kwaliteit levert. Bas komt heel mooi tot uiting.
De oortelefoontjes zijn uitgerust met moesjes op de uiteinden.
Tijdens het luisteren van je mp3 zie je hetgene je hiernaast op de foto ziet. Bovenaan welk nummer je speelt (bv. 34 van 45) Dan respectievelijk de naam van het liedje, de cd waarvan het komt en de artiest. Daaronder zie je een balkje met het tijdsverloop. Links zie je hoeveel minuten ver de mp3 is, en rechts telt het af. Dit alles op een LCD-scherm dat blauw oplicht bij aanraking en gebruik in de menu’s.
De menu’s zijn heel gemakkelijk in gebruik. Je kan er door scrollen met het touchpad (dat wel vrij gevoelig is maar dit kan je instellen) en even op het touchpad tikken om te bevestigen. De andere toetsen zijn ook makkelijk in gebruik. De play-pauze toets in het midden, lin
ks: achteruitspoelen en vorige; rechts voorruit spoelen en volgende. Dan nog een pijl achterruit (linksonder) om terug naar het vorige scherm te gaan en een menuoptietoets (rechtsonder) om opties in een bepaald menu te bekijken.
Je kan ook FM-radio luisteren met de Zen Micro. Deze functie vind ik wel tof. Maar je moet wel zoeken om een goede ontvangst te hebben. Bepaalde zenders vind je dan weer onmiddellijk met een perfecte ontvangst. Je kan de zenders die je gevonden hebt ook opslaan en de naam bijzetten. Je kan er 32 frequenties opslaan. De Zen Micro kan ook zelf scannen en goede ontvangsten zoeken maar dit is niet altijd even goed.
Als je de mp3 speler Zen Micro aan je broek clipst kan je de toetsen ook vergrendelen met het schuifknopje bovenaan naast de oortelefooningang.
Zoals je hiernaast kan zien zit er een klein gaatje naast de USB aansluiting op de achterkant. Dit gaatje is eigelijk de ingebouwde micro om gesprekjes mee op te nemen. Ik heb dit even getest door er zelf in te spreken van dichtbij en als de speler op mijn bureau ligt. Als je iets opgenomen hebt moet je dit op de computer zetten en daar beluisteren. Datgene dat ik rechtstreeks in de micro van dichtbij ingesproken heb was heel duidelijk te verstaan en van goede kwaliteit. Hetgeen van verder was ook goed maar stil, dus je moet de speler bij u houden om te spreken en iets op te nemen.
Verder heeft deze Zen Micro nog een functie als kalender en adresboek maar dit kan je enkel gebruiken als je beschikt over Microsoft Outlook. Dit kan je niet op de speler zelf invoeren.
Conclusie:De Zen Micro is makkelijk in gebruik op de speler zelf, in het begin even wennen aan het touchpad maar eens je er de ‘feeling’ voor hebt lukt dit perfect. De software is vrij uitgebreid en verplicht zodat je de Zen Micro niet echt als een extern geheugen kan gebruiken om iets op een andere pc te plaatsen. Dit kan natuurlijk wel als de software van de Zen ook daar aanwezig is. Het geluid met de creative oortelefoon is ook zeer goed.
Goede punten:* Speelt zowal mp3 als wma
* Menugebruik
* Oortelefoon goede geluidskwaliteit
* 5 GB opslagruimte
* Vrij klein en licht goed in de hand (vergelijkbaar met gsm)
* Scherm goed leesbaar, ook in het donker met het blauwe licht
* Verschillende accessoires bijgeleverd (staankadertje, tasje, clips)
Negatieve punten:
* Softwaregebruik: verplicht om iets over te zetten en vrij ingewikkeld (is niet meer nodig als je de meest recente update download van de site van creative. Dan kan je de Zen gewoon inpluggen op je PC en ja favoriete mp3's overzetten.)
* FM-radio heeft niet altijd (en overal) een goede ontvangst, je moet nogal zoeken
* Kalender, to-do list en adresboek maar bruikbaar als je microsoft outlook hebt
Score: 8/10
Reviewer: SneakytjeLink: creative.com
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Today I will learn you how you make a mailing with Office 2003 or XP. Or a letter for different people. You need 1) MS-Access or MS-Excel. And 2) MS-Word.
There or two ways to make a mailing, with access or with excel. First I’ll do it with excel.
I explain it in steps, so just follow me ;)
Today I will learn you how you make a mailing with Office 2003 or XP. Or a letter for different people. You need 1) MS-Access or MS-Excel. And 2) MS-Word.
There or two ways to make a mailing, with access or with excel. First I’ll do it with excel.
I explain it in steps, so just follow me ;)
1) Open a new Excel file an type your addresses here. Do it in columns and name your columns like ‘Name, Address, Zip code (Postcode), City’. Save it somewhere on your pc.
2) Type your letter in MS-Word and hold place for the addresses.
3) Go to: ‘extra – letters en send lists – mail merge’ you’ll now see a box on the right with a wizard, where you can select your type of letter. In this example we’re going to make a casual letter’. Click at the bottom on ‘next’ so you go to step 2 from 6. Select start document and you chose ‘use current document and click next on the bottom’.
4) ‘select addresses’ ‘use an existing list’, select and open your excel-file and click in the new window ‘OK’ after you selected the addresses you want. Click next.
5) Place your cursor on the place you want your address and then you take the first option in blue: ‘address block’ Then you get a new window ‘insert address block’ Press OK if you are pleased with the example. You see on the place where the cursor stays now ‘address block’.
6) Click now in the box on the right at the bottom and you see the address is placed on the free holding place, and click next.
7) now you see 2 blue texts ‘print and edit separate letters’ you click on the second. ‘Edit separate letters’.
8) you get a new box and you press OK. there's now a new document with a custom version for each of the addressees
9) you can save this new document or print al the letters. The original document with your letter can you save also without al the different letters (only the basic letter)
You prefer to work with MS-Access?
(I suppose that you have made already a table with the addresses in MS-Access.)
To do this trick with Access you need to do the same as above, except you have to chose your access-file in stead of an excel file.
Sneakytje
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Voor de Nederlandstaligen onder ons heb ik de werkwijze om mailings te maken, met Office 2003 of XP) ook in het Nederlands uitgeschreven.
Er zijn 2 manieren om mailings te maken, je kan MS Excel gebruiken of MS Access.
Ik zal het in stapjes uitleggen, ik zou zeggen volg mij ;)
1) open een nieuw excel bestand en typ je adressen in kollommen. Deze kolommen geef je als titels: ‘naam, adres, postcode, gemeente’. Sla dit op.
2) Typ je basisbrief in MS Word and laat plaats voor een adres.
3) Ga dan naar ‘extra – brieven en verzendlijsten – afdruk samenvoegen’ Aan de rechterkant krijg je nu een kader met een wizard die je moet volgen.
Je kan nu kiezen voor verschillende soorten brieven. In dit voorbeeld gaan we verder met een standaard brief. Beneden in dit kader kies je voor ‘volgende’ en ga je naar stap 2 van 6. Selecteer begindocument en kies voor gebruik huidig document. En klik opnieuw op volgende.
4) Selecteer adressen, gebruik een bestaande lijst, selecteer en open uw excel bestand en klik in de nieuwe kader ok als je de gewenste adressen aangevinkt hebt. Klik OK.
5) Plaat nu uw cursor op de plaats waar je het adres wil zien verschijnen. Dan klik je op de eerste blauwe optie ‘adresblok’ Je krijgt dan een nieuw venster en klikt OK wanneer je akkoord bent met het voorbeeld. Je ziet nu op de plaats waar de cursor staat het woordje “adresblok” staan.
6) Klik onderaan in de kader op volgende en je ziet dat het eerste adres geplaatst is waar “adresblok’ stond. Klik volgende.
7) Nu zie je 2 blauwe teksten; afdrukken en afzonderlijke brieven bewerken. Je kiest voor afzonderlijke brieven bewerken.
8) Je krijgt opnieuw een kader en klikt gewoon op OK. Nu is er een nieuw document geopend met een aangepaste brief voor elk van de geadresseerden.
9) Je kan dit nieuwe documenten printen of gewoon opslaan. Het basisdocument met de basisbrief kan je apart opslaan om te gebruiken op een later tijdstip.
Verkies je om te werken met MS Access?
(Ik veronderstel dat je zelf al een tabel met adressen gemaakt hebt in MS Acces)
Je volgt alle stappen van hierboven, zoals Excel, maar ipv een excel bestand te selecteren bij stap 4, open je nu uw opgeslagen acces bestand.
Sneakytje
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Today I‘ll give you some tips and tricks to make a good PowerPoint-presentation.
When you decided to make a PowerPoint presentation, make sure you already know what your target is. Is it for Business? Is it for Entertainment? Is it for children? Is it for older people? All these target groups look to your presentation with a different eye. For example: children like colours and pictures while Businesspeople like more abstract schedules.
When you know what’s your target, you have to make a table of contents. These contents show you before each slide. So your public see what their is coming up and what’s past. On the photo you can see an example in dutch. (it’s used for my integrated project on the end of my high school period )
You can see here that the first 4 slides are past, the upcoming slide is ‘Grondstoffen’ and that there are still 6 slides are coming.
You just play with the colours and make for example the upcoming slide-title bold.
When you did this, you start to make your slides with the base text. Your first slide is a title-slide. One of the first following slides have to be about who you are and what you are doing.
Attention when you make text-slides!
Û Don’t use huge text-blocks, it’s so annoying for your public. You better make little scheme’s where you let come the text part by part. You can do this in the menu Slideshow and then ‘adapt animation’. And TELL your story while you show your slideshow. You can see on the photos a little history.
* Be to the point, concrete
* Keep it sober and simple when you use it for business, when your public are children then you can use different colours and pictures, but it is a don’t for business and serious affair.
* Your font have to be on each slide the same. Everyone has to be able to read it. (older people = make your text a little bigger)
* When you use audio or videotapes, make sure everyone can hear it.
* Exaggerating sounds by slide-change is also a DON’T, for business-affairs it’s better you don’t use is, if you really want to use it. You can do it by your very first slide with an applause-sound.
A good slide show from about 20 minutes has about 15 slides (without the contents-slides).
So I hope this tips helping you by making your PowerPoint Presentation.
Sneakytje
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I still get a ton of spam emailed to me. If I change my email address will it stop?
by Angela Daley, A Daley Design, LLC
If you change your email address, the amount of spam you receive will drop dramatically. However, this effect is usually only temporary. Once you begin to use your new address on a regular basis, the spammers slowly begin to catch up. It's similar to changing your phone number - the more you give it out and the longer you have it, the more calls you get.
The situation is not hopeless, however. Most ISPs provide some type of spam filtering tool. These tools seem to improve regularly in an attempt to keep up with the increasing craftiness of spammers. You can search your ISPs Email Help for information on turning on your spam filter.
Even free email services tend to provide some sort of spam-fighting technology. For example, the email account I have had the longest receives the most amount of spam. However, it is hosted on Yahoo and their SpamGuard technology does a pretty good job of filtering unwanted emails into a Bulk folder. I can chose to browse through these messages if I want or I can just delete them.
So whether you want to 'Guard' against spam, 'Block' it, 'Detect' it, or just plain filter it out, you have a good chance of being successful with today's tools.
About the Author
A Daley Design, LLC - Southern New Jersey based firm providing web design, site maintenance and updates, domain name registration and hosting assistance, email and newsletter design, search engine submission and other marketing services.A Daley Design, LLC(856) 415-2030www.adaleydesign.comaskangela@adaleydesign.com
Here are a few tips and trick for MSN Messenger
* When you start MSN Messenger you get always a pop-up from ‘msn today’, when you want to turn off this. You go to extra, options, general, and you tick off the fourth option ‘Display MSN today by sign in’. Click now OK.
* When you have a problem on your PC but you don't know how to solve it you can give a friend of you who knows the answer the control over your PC. This allows him to help you as he can remotely control your entire PC.
You can find this feature in a MSN Messenger chat window by clicking on Activities, and then select 'Remote assistance'. When he, or she, accepts it he can see everything what you see on your screen and can remotely assists you. Of course you cal always stop him by pressing the 'ESC' button on your keyboard.
* When you want to control your ‘receive files’ op viruses automately. Then you have to change it in the options because its not a standard setting. You find it by ‘file transfer’ and the you trick on ‘files scan for viruses with’ and then you chose your antivirusscan en click OK. When you get a file now it will be scanned now.
* With the launch of MSN Messenger 6 people are now able to add custom emoticons. But many people still haven't figured out how. Well here's the answer.
You first need to save the emoticon, or smiley, on your PC. Then you open a chat window and you click on the Smiley button where you find the casual emoticons. Click on 'more' and then on 'make'. You now get a new window where you can search the emoticon on your computer and add it to MSN. Then you need to assign a keyboard shortcut and a name and click twice on OK. Now you can use the new custom emoticon!
* With MSN Messenger 7.0 you can also 'steal' emoticons from other people, and it's very easy. When your buddy uses a smiley you want you can simple select the smiley, right click and select 'add'. Now you just need to assign a keyboard combination and a name to the new smiley.
You can use the 'stolen' emoticons by going to the normal emoticons menu.
So, I hope you can do something with these tips.
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Reloading Windows XP
By Bill NadraszkyIf you have been running Windows XP for a couple of years or more you may find that it is not running quite as quickly and smoothly as it was when you did your first install. I am constantly 'evaluating' software and uninstalling and reinstalling beta software on my computer and have always gradually become more and more disappointed after nine months to a year with the performance of my PC. So I regularly do a backup and reinstall all my software, including Windows.
Please note that this is completely different than doing the standard things to troubleshoot and fix individual problems such as system errors or application errors. These things are better fixed by using a systme Restore which is a great new feature to Windows XP
For anyone that has reinstalled their operating system a few times the process seems pretty straightforward as they have found all of the gotchas the first few times. I have lost mail and contacts but not much else over the years by following (or not following) a system to reload my operating system and software. This purpose of this guide is to give you a checklist to follow so that a reloading of Windows goes smoothly the first time.
The steps are as follows:
1. Backup all data
2. Document your current system drivers and software
3. Delete the Windows and profile directories
4. Reload Window
5. Reload software and data.
6. Get some sleep
1. Backup data.
There are two methods of the process of reloading your operating system. The first is to just delete the system files and the second is to backup the files to CD or DVD and then format the hard drive completely, my preference is to delete the system folders and work from there as the actual formatting is not needed as much now as it was in the past.
It is very important to be sure to get a backup of all of your data. My current practice is to create a folder in the Root of the C: drive called "backup for reload" and copy all of my files in there. The first few times that I reloaded my machine I either saved all of the data to another hard drive so I could format my main drive or I would just create a folder to save my data in that was in the root of the C: drive and just deleted the Windows directory. One thing to be aware of is that a new install of Windows is going to delete your current profile where your data is kept, you will be warned in the install and I am warning you here as well!
First of all Windows likes to keep all of your documents in your "My Documents" folder and even though the icon is on the desktop the folder is actually in the following location: c:documents and settings . The documents and settings folder is quite important as it does have all of the files that are associated with you as a user. Other folders in documents and settings are "Favorites" "Application Data" and "Local Settings".
If you use Outlook Express for your mail you will want to back up its folders. Open up Outlook Express and go to tools to options to maintenance and there is a button called "Store Folder" this will tell you where the folder is that holds all of your mail, usually located in c:documents and settingslocal settings Application DataIdentitiesMicrosoftOutlook Express., hard to find but important.
If you are using Outlook for your mail and contacts my policy has always been to search for all .pst files on your PC this will give you your main as well as archive folders and maybe even some long lost mail from before.
I also do a search and put the following in the search box *.doc;*.xls;*.ppt;*. mdb;*.pub this will search for all office documents on the PC, when I get the result I only backup the files that are not in my documents and settings for my name or in the my documents folder.
How big is your “Backup and Reload” folder now that you have all of your data in it? Can you back it up to a CD? Or two, or a DVD? This would be a nice time to do that save to a CD so that in the event of a catastrophic failure of your hard drive you can go back and reload your data later.
2. Document your current system drivers and software
So often when I am working on a computer I find that after a format and reload of Windows that I am missing a network card driver or a video driver. Before you turn off the computer to format it or delete the system files make sure that you have a copy of all of the drivers, realistically the only drivers that seem to change are the video drivers. What other drivers might you need? Well If you have the CD that came with the motherboard then you will probably only need to download the sound card, video, monitor, modem drivers and you can find the type of hardware by right clicking on the my computer and going to properties and then depending on your version of Windows look for the device manager. I do not tend to format my drive I only delete the Windows directory and the Documents and settings directory when I do a reload so I can then find the files later still sitting on the hard drive. My preference is to create a folder called mydrivers in the root of the C: drive so that after you reload Windows you will have a central place to go to find the drivers. Now just go out and download the drivers that you need.
3. Delete the Windows and profile directories
Now, this is where you have to take a deep breath before you get started as when we delete files we are not going to be able to get them back. When I delete files on the computer before I reinstall Windows I do not delete all of the files or format the drive. The only way that you can delete what you want is to use some kind of a boot disk that does not load Windows from your hard drive. I use the Ultimate Windows Boot CD and after I boot the drive up I move some data instead of deleting. More often than not I will have missed some important file so I create a “backup” folder that contains all of my data. I drop my current “Documents and Settings” folder into this backup folder and then also any applications from the “Program Files’ folder that may have some of their own files. This would include databases like Act or Maximiser and Tax software or book keeping software like Quicken. Most of the data files for applications are kept in the “My Documents” folder.
In the install of Windows you will need to have at least 2 gigs of free space so make sure that you have freed up enough space to do the install
When I am deleting folders I am most interested in deleting the” Documents and Settings” and “Windows” folders, as this is where you will find user settings as well as the registry both good and bad. If you are really aggressive you can also include the “Program Files” folder so that after you have reloaded Windows you can have the default settings for each application. I also delete any files that are sitting in the root of the C: drive.
4. Reloading Windows
Now that you have deleted the unneeded files and directories you will have to give yourself an operating system to reload all of your software into. I prefer Windows XP now although if you have a bit of an older computer Windows 2000 will probably be fine and takes less system resources.
Just a note here, Windows 98 is a bad choice and there are a few reasons why. Windows 98 is not supported anymore by Microsoft so it does not have any new security fixes or drivers being written for it. One other issue is that the underlying file system that Windows 98 supports is FAT32, if you are loading Windows 2000 or XP you will likely want to take advantage of NTFS but the only good way to do this with a fresh load is to format your machine, this will delete all of the data that you have on your PC now. If you are moving from Windows 98 there will be a spot in the install asking if you would like to format or convert the drive to NTFS, I would avoid this as you can convert after you have switched your PC to Windows XP in Disk Management from the Computer management application in Windows.
The rest of the install should go smoothly and after you have finished you will have a nice new clean install of Windows with only the recycle bin on the desktop and no applications. Perhaps the desktop is only 256 colors or the size is not quite right but this is where you will fix that problem by reloading your drivers. Go to start and right click on the “MY Computer” icon and select properties, go to the hardware tab, now find the device manager and anything with an exclamation point or a red X will need a new driver. Right click on the icon, select update driver and walk through finding your drivers. If you can not find the driver in the lookup then you may have to go back to the mydrivers folder and run the executables for the drivers which may quicken the process of loading new drivers.
5. Reload Software and Data
Now the slow torturous part of the Windows install begins. I always do this reloading of Windows because my computer has gradually slowed down from all of the software that I have loaded up and pledge never to do again, I have proven time and time again that I don’t live up to the pledge. The only software that I load first is Office XP and setup my personal settings and mail folders from Outlook (check around for this documentation as it varies with your version of Office) and I also install my commonly used utilities. I keep my software install disks close by and just load software as I need it over the next few days.
6. Get Some Sleep
Congratulations. This process is very long and occasionally we do lose data that was missed in the backup but after you are done you have a computer that is at least as good as the day you started using it. There are fewer errors, less hiccups and the computer is fast and responsive. Although it takes a long time I am more than willing to do it as long as I cleared some time beforehand as the difference in working with the computer for some time after is a real treat.
Bill Nadraszky is a Computer support specialist that has worked with various versions of Windows for 15 years. You can get up to date information on computer support at http://www.xptechsupport.com
Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
Anti-virus, Anti-Spyware all for free!
It isn’t always necessary to buy antivirus or anti-spyware software. You can find some very good software for free on the internet. On my PC I have the AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic, which you can download for free on
their website. This software includes an automatic updater to download the latest antivirus definitions. Antivir isn’t difficult to use and it’s a very good program.
To delete Spyware I have three free software programs on my pc: Spybot Search and Destroy, Lavasoft Ad-aware en the newest anti-spyware program from Microsoft AntiSpyware.
Spybot Search and Destroy can be downloaded
here.
You can find Ad-Aware on
this site, and you can download Microsoft Antispyware from
here. Just pay carefull atention to what these programs exactly delete. Microsoft AntiSpyware for instance also lists Patchou's Messenger Plus! as spyware, even if you haven't installed the sponsor programs, which contain spyware, with this tool. So pay some attention!
If you use these programs properly normally your computer should safe, especially when you don’t visit lots of strange websites ;). It’s a very cheap solution for a problem that many people experience. I hope you like it.
Sneakytje
Uninstall Windows Media Player 10 and Start Enjoying Your Media Again
by Ken SavageWindows Media Player 10 has been full of bugs from Microsoft since they offered it as a download from their site. Windows Media Player 9 was nice and simple. Windows Media Player 10 is way too complex and feature-rich that it has taken away from the simpleness of version 9 and ruined itself. Another great media player is Winamp but we won't go into that right now.
If you have installed Windows Media Player 10, you can roll back to the version of the Player that was on your computer before installing Windows Media Player 10.
To roll back from Windows Media Player 10 to a previous version, do the following:
* In Control Panel (Category View), click Add or Remove Programs.
* Click Remove a program
Now do one of the following: If you are running Windows XP Service Pack 2, select the Show updates check box (at the top of the list), click Windows Media Player 10 (in the Windows Updates section), and then click Change/Remove.
If you are running Windows XP Service Pack 1 or earlier, click Windows Media Player 10, and then click Change/Remove.
As of writing this many people have found bugs in WMP10 that make it unavailble for common audio and video files. If you find that WMP10 is crashing or giving you errors and you cant play your media files. Uninstall it with these directions and stay happy.
Be like the rest of the world and install Winamp.
About the Author
___________________________________________________________
Ken Savage is a Webmaster employee who writes about what is going on in the Tech industry usually days before it breaks to the rest of the world. He can be found at
http://www.kensavage.com
The state of online gambling may have just found another highly viable ally. The new world offered up by the mobile gaming industry can be highly rewarding for online casino operators and software providers, as the opportunity to play online, is increased by the popularity of hand-held devices such as PDAs, mobile handsets and palmtops. Soon we could see a growth in various synergies and partnerships between the hugely popular online gambling market and the even trendier mobile gaming industry which could just be the ticket to adding legitimacy to the exceptionally lucrative world that is online gambling.
Mobile gaming is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States of America and it is expected to increase from "1.2 billion dollars of annual revenues in 2005 to 7.6 billion dollars by 2010", according to reports published online. This means that the growth of the mobile gaming population is set to jump by a rapid 200 million people who will be using their cellular phones for extra curricular activities like mobile gambling.
There is no limit to the opportunities that mobile and wireless devices afford the gambling community and it is great that games like poker, slots and Roulette are already being played using mobile handsets. Wireless applications like WAP, GPRS and OTA are making the lives of million simpler and faster, and some say this adds to the overall mobile gaming experience.
However, there are some limitations that cannot be overlooked when considering a leap into the mobile gambling market and these are usually legislative, technological and cultural hurdles. In order for these factors to be properly addressed, they will need to be negotiated carefully and strict security will have to be thought out when dealing with problem gamblers.
Considering mobile gambling like its online counterpart has more anonymity than is offered at land-based casinos, there is a threat to its integrity because it is harder to pin down and track underage gambling due to the lack of real interaction with a customer.
Even though these problems could provide serious setbacks for the market, this is in no way hindering the speed at which consumers are joining in the fun that is being offered by mobile gambling. Mobile handsets are becoming more and more advanced, and with the hardware comes the same technological advancement in the software, which means an increase in use and the more people are buying into them. It is a never-ending cycle when it comes to technological advancement and one can only hope that the mobile gambling market is not just another passing trend.
Lilly Dice is a journalist who writes for http://www.thegambledoctor.com and http://www.pokerdoctor.com. Dubbed Lil' Dice on her websites, she has gained experience in the news and entertainment industry and has a background in broadcast and online journalism.
Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com
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Gamedeveloper Rockstar Games today released a new patch to remove the notorious sexscenes out of the GTA San Andreas game.These explicit scenes were activated bya modification called 'hot-coffee'. However,
The patch (version 1.01) completely removes these scenes
from the game so they can't even be activated with 'hot-coffee'. Additionally, the patch also adds HDTV support and also fixes a few other bugs. By
The Inquirer.
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Six Security Patches for Windows:
Today Has Microsoft released a bundle of six software security updates for Windows-users.
This updates are:
Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer
Vulnerability in Plug and Play Could Allow Remote Code Execution and Elevation of Privilege
Vulnerability in Print Spooler Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Vulnerability in Telephony Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Vulnerability in Remote Desktop Protocol Could Allow Denial of Service
Vulnerabilities in Kerberos Could Allow Denial of Service, Information Disclosure, and Spoofing
You can find this downloads on
Microsoft Update Site Source: http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2005/08/as_promised_mic.html
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Spam. How to fight it?
Internet is flooded today with undesirable advertising letters also known as spam. Both for an ordinary user connecting to Internet via dialup and for various companies paying for the dedicated line or using DSL spam equals wasted megabytes of information. The megabytes, which are paid for. And time, wasted on viewing advertising offers of unnecessary things or services.Currently there are a lot of ways to guard your email box against unceasing attacks of “Viagra”, tourist reservations, commercial seminars and the best “windows and doors” in the world, which can be bought cheaply and simply. One of the cures could be changing the email account. But this is by no means a panacea: in a while the new box will be displaying nonsense newsletters from all over the world. You can of course use the server-inbuilt filters or paid resources which try to minimize the spam flow, letting through just the letters from “authorized addressers”. But the server filters block just a small part of proposals to “enlarge” or “relax”. And the powerful “authorization” protection is, first, expensive (plus a monthly fee), and second, is very inconvenient for people on the contact-list (they have to undergo a lengthy “authorization” procedure).
Ideal filter
To clean the mail account from spam a universal anti-advertising shield is needed which will save the money otherwise wasted on downloading weighty letters traffic and the time otherwise lost on viewing and deleting them. Such a shield is the programs which remotely check the mail in the user box without uploading them and block unwanted letters immediately at the server. Such programs are many. They differ in interface and functionality, but have one thing in common: obligatory check of email at the server. Without this feature there would be no sense in the blockers at all. To upload messages and check them locally is not a big deal. The applications differ in their settings, spam filtering ways, speed of work and different features enabling maximum efficiency. The most wide-spread way of blocking spam is by letter headings and continuously updated list of “illegitimate” addresses, which are known as harmful advertisements distributors. What should an ideal spam blocking application be like? First, it should cope with its primary duties flawlessly. Second, it should have a nice interface, be simple to tune and work autonomously. Third, it shouldn’t prevent normal functioning of other programs, mail clients in particular. Let’s look into the interior side of a spam-blocking application and decipher the underlying basics.
Spam-blocking principles
Usually the application downloads message headers which undergo “partial enquiry”. Depending on the functionality of a certain “tool”, filtering is conducted by fields (header, sender, addressee etc.), black and white lists of electronic addresses in the database and a wider list of recognized spam generating servers. For checking lists are used, either created by developers or edited by users. Undoubtedly, the more thorough the home-made spam-blocking provisions, the better, but ideal work cannot be achieved without proper tuning of blocking and filtering rules. Of course a user setting the most rigid rules risks losing with the blocked spam useful and harmless letters. But in any case, it’s a private decision.Apart from preinstalled blocking rules, user can make his/her own corrections, such as widening the “dangerous server” lists, editing black and white lists and creating his/her own lists conforming to certain rules (for instance, taking into account letter size plus filtering from “that particular left-most Korean server list). On installing the application and adjusting its settings (or you can leave everything as it is) and initial workability check, one can make a final decision concerning fitness of the filter for further use. It remains to decide which application to select.
SoftInform Spam Blocker
New spam-blocking application by SoftInform company - Spam Blocker – enables maximum efficiency by guarding the user computer (his/her mail box to be more specific) from spam flows, saving money and time on viewing useless messages and paying for the “mail advertisements” traffic. As a universal spam blocking tool Spam Blocker possesses indefeasible advantages compared to analogical applications. High quality (blocking 85 to 100% of spam), simple, exquisite and friendly interface, flexibility of settings make SoftInform newly released application the best in its class.
Are you not tired of endless spam? Have you lost track of newly registered (“clean”) accounts? Dozens of letters daily burn you and your company megabytes of far from free traffic? All you need to do is to install Spam Blocker, in such a way ridding your computer from persistent and useless e-mail advertising.
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This is my first Blog and I hope you enjoy it. Here you can find all the newest things about software.
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