Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Wireless Networks used for... What?
Many schools have wireless networks in their schoolrooms and even in their dormitories, every student that has a compatible computer can finish their homework or even play on-line games. A business is filled with various styles of sections and Mac usage. It is crucial that each section within the company can communicate with each other so that info can be shared.
There are many more people who may like a wireless network within their own home. Every member of the household can have and use a PC at the same time. The benefits of wireless networks are large.
It is really easy for anyone to set up a link in their house. Each Mac within the house can be connected to the Web without lots of wires strung all over the floor. In an office situation, the company banks on quick communication and links to each department. An individual can be called in to setup extensive wireless networks throughout the whole business.
It is primary that students are able to join to the Internet not just in the classroom but also in their dormitory, there is usually more research done after school time therefore connection is required 24/7. This is really easy to do and will benefit pupils with their course research. You would be able to use the Web from almost anywhere in the building as long as you are in range of the wireless network. It is really easy to send files and software package to the people on the network, or even all that the Web. A person can even setup their PC to be able to remotely access another one in the home.
Using a wireless network like this means you are using the system to its broadest extent. Using this system is very straightforward and is a easy process to set up. A person can do several chores while other is on their individual computers. You can find wireless electronic network equipment for under $97, so making it affordable for most homes.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Build Your Own computer
The first question on your mind may be whether to go for a pre-built computer or to build your own. Both approaches have their pros and cons. When you go for a pre-built computer, what you really buy is convenience. Such computers are guaranteed to have no compatibility issues among the various components used, have technical support available and may come with warranties and service plans offered by the manufacturer.
With a computer built with your own hand, you get none of these facilities. What you get is customization and price advantage. On the side, you get to learn a lot about how a computer is put together when you build your own and you get a computer that fits your needs perfectly.
You can build your own computer in several ways:
1. You could buy the individual components of a computer and then put them all together yourself to build a computer.
2. A barebones computer kit comes with a pre-built skeleton to which you add a couple of components and have a computer ready to run.
3. You could go to an electronics retail store like Fry's and use the in-house experts to guide you in deciding what components to buy and use them to build your own computer
4. Your neighborhood computer technician is another good option that could be explored especially when you know what components to buy but are not sure how to go about building the computer.
5. Several computer component warehouses sell large volumes at low cost. If you have a tight budget, sourcing your components from such stores is a good option. The price savings can be significant in this case.
6. If you do not have an idea of how to go about building your computer, the Internet is an excellent source of information. Many websites guide you on how to select components, and give guidance on building the computer. There are also videos available online that show you how to do so.
7. Another favored option could be your friendly neighborhood computer geek. Geeks can be very helpful when it comes to Do-It-yourself projects like building your own computers. They have the requisite level of knowledge coupled with the research skills required to get the job done.
8. Another valuable source of information on how to go about building your computer is the public library. You may find several resources here that can help you build your own computer.
9. The science teacher of your local school is also a resource-person who can help you can see your project through.
10. If you know someone who has a homebuilt computer, you could ask him for guidance when you build your own computer.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
iPod Types
The iPod Touch
This is Apple's latest version of the iPod, and it is basically the iPhone without the cellular and camera capabilities. It also comes with more memory standard than the iPhone, with 8GB, 16GB and 32GB models to choose from. Going beyond the capabilities of a normal MP3 player, the iPod touch has full internet access through its wi-fi connection, a completely touchscreen interface, and allows you to play games, movies, and TV shows as well as listen to MP3's.
The iPod Classic
Of the various types of Apple iPod, this is perhaps the most recognizable. This is the signature style that has been around for years. The features are nowhere near those of the iPod touch, but for what it lacks in "wow factor", it makes up for with storage. Up to 120GB of songs, audio books, pictures, movies, and music videos can be stored right on its hard drive.
The iPod Nano
This slim MP3 player is called the Nano for a reason. It weighs around an ounce and a half, and is only 1/4 inch thick and 1 1/2 inches wide. It doesn't have near the memory of the classic iPod, but its small form factor makes up for it.
The iPod Shuffle
The iPod Shuffle is by far the most inexpensive of all the options. It doesn't offer a ton of storage or a flashy screen, but it is a small, practical MP3 player that can suite the basic user's needs just fine.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Things to Consider when buying a computer
Computers can do much more than you think and will be a significant part of everyone's future. Computers vary in price according to how powerful and functionality and have become an integral part of our everyday lives, from basic typing to shopping on the internet. Computers are here to stay so everyone should consider learning how to perform their own pc upgrades and minor repairs.
Computers are like cars: faster is not automatically better, they are complex systems and looking at one feature while ignoring the rest is not an intelligent way to buy a car or computer. Computers should be cleaned and checked every two to three months and computers are getting cheaper all the time. They don't break down very often, but they do have frequent small problems and computers offer more than just being a business aid these days.
But what a lot of people don't realize when they start looking into buying a computer is that it's common for a lot of the big brand companies to sell very out-of-date computers in their lower price ranges. I'm not kidding about this -- most of the big computer companies out there, when they sell their least expensive computers, are trying to unload old inventory that's been collecting dust on their shelves for a long time. And the more disturbing part of this is that from what I've heard, those computers often have parts in them that are *known* to be bad parts.
Now you'd think these bad parts would be thrown away, but no -- from what I've heard, what happens is they still sell them to the big computer companies at a discount, and those companies put them into their computers anyway.
So if you can find a reputable local company that sells computers they assemble themselves, you'll get a well built computer for a lot less because you're not paying for the brand name. So do your research well.
Buying a computer is a big deal for a lot of people, and understandably so and it is a very personal decision, and it is no longer like buying a tool, but rather an emotional purchase of a beautiful piece of furniture, adding character to the space surrounding it.
Buying a computer is not always at the top of your shopping list, especially with the current jump in food and gas prices and it is always an exercise in compromise.
All the above can be summarised by saying buying a computer is like buying a car or a home, give it the same respect and research and you will not go far wrong.
The Internet is Increasing Every Day
A individual may like reading the news, shopping or browsing the World Wide Web. There are lots of things you can find on the World wide web and some individuals simply like to watch or download films or music. There is a big on-line gaming community which some individuals just can't get enough off. Net usage is growing rapidly as individuals begin purchasing computers for the first time. This technology is not new; however millions of people still don't own a computer and have never used the Internet.
Using the Cyberspace and online programs has never been so easy. There are a number of ways an individual can use the Internet. Some individuals have a dial-up connection to connect to the Cyberspace, get at is controlled through a modem attached to their computer. A individual may have a wide band for Internet usage. This can be cable or DSL. Sometimes World wide web access is not available and the only way is to use a satellite, this would normally be when somebody lives in a remote location.
There are assorted techniques in World wide web usage. Some of these techniques are more stable than others and some are also faster. If you of recently purchased a PC and have no experience with the Internet it all might seem a little Greek to you. There are lots of different resources accessible that give you specific information on what might best be the right connection for you. There is also info and technical support accessible, there are also specific books that can help you with any problems you may have.
It is peculiar to think that there are people that have never owned a computer and has never even seen the Net. At some point most individuals will have to use the Net to gather info. Everyone will be exploring and learning from these machines in the near future. There are lots of things you can do on the World wide web, for example, view the latest news, or even check out your preferred football teams scores. When a person discovered this for the first time, they will be hooked for their lifetime.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Protect your PC from Hackers
1. The most common passwords are your name, college you graduated from, and your birth date. Some other passwords include god, secret, and love. Please, change your password. If you cannot think of a good password like me, use a program called Robo Form, it installs a tool bar, and on that tool bar it says generate, click on that and it will create a random password. Here is the link to download Robo Form: http://www.roboform.com/ .I recommend writing this random password down as you may not remember it totally the first time.
2. Viruses and Spy ware, the most vulnerable part of many peoples computers unless the right measures are taken. I will provide the links to a popular and free Anti Virus and Anti Spy Ware programs.
Anti Virus
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/downloads
Anti Spy ware
http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html
Download these free ware apps also known Avg Anti virus 7 Free Edition and Spybot S&D, then install them and run a virus scan and a Spybot scan once every week. Pay special attention to Trojan Horses and Trojan Droppers as these may be keyloggers, and what these do is they copy everything you do and then send it to the key logger's owner and these can be a menace because won't even notice it and your identity could be stolen.
Keep Safe And Post Any Comments, Suggestions For Future Articles, And Questions!!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
I Practice Safer Internet Browsing
Rule 1: Don't open email attachments
I shouldn't really have to say this, but I will. Don't trust any email attachments that you aren't expecting. If your Aunt Esther sends you a jpg, and you aren't expecting it, do not open it. If an email arrives with no text and just an attachment, don't open it! These attachments are usually nothing more than machine-generated viral payloads, designed to entice the weak-minded into clicking on them. Don't be weak minded!
Rule 2: Don't use default software
Internet Explorer and Outlook Express are more secure than they ever have been before. However, millions of people use these apps, which makes them a juicy target. By simply switching to the Firefox browser and Thunderbird email client, you'll cut your chances of being exploited.
Rule 3: Nothing valuable is ever free
Cynical? Yes. True? Definitely. Every day, you'll see dozens of promises on the Internet, promising everything from free laptops to free dating services to free cash! There's always a catch, and the catch is usually expensive. Sometimes, the services advertised are outright scams, another way to harvest credit cards from unsuspecting rubes. But, sometimes seemingly legit free sites will require you to sign up for expensive recurring charges that are nigh impossible to cancel. If an offer sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is.
Rule 4: Pay attention to URLs
We've all seen them, the spam emails and websites that look just like your bank's website, but the URL is a character or two off, and is actually hosted on a server somewhere in Siberia. If you upload your username and password to an illicit site, you'll quickly find your bank account drained. That's why it's always a bad idea to click links in emails--especially to access your bank account or Paypal. If you have an emergency notice, manually type the URL to visit the site. If something bad happened to your account, they'll let you know.
Rule 5: Criminals are bad spellers
Even if you do accidentally end up on a phishing site, there are almost always problems with it that you can detect! Either there will be spelling mistakes, weird grammatical problems, or goofy-looking problems with the images. If something feels weird about the site, trust your instincts and do a little digging before you enter your personal info.
Rule 6: Think before you click
Beware of skeezy websites. Frequently phishers use porn and warez sites as a way to farm new information and infect PCs with their malicious wares. Don't install software from these sites, it can include keyloggers and other spyware that will infect your PC and steal your private info.
Now, I wouldn't suggest that you run your PC without antivirus software. It's important, and it will help protect your PC should you (or someone else using your PC) exhibit poor judgement.
Monday, December 22, 2008
How To Become And Internet Tycoon?
How much do you pay to access the Internet? According to J.D. Power and Associates, the average price for high-speed access is $42.13 per month. Although you’re paying for 24/7 availability, you’re actually using only a fraction of that time. Divide that monthly fee by the number of minutes you’re actively online—when you’re not working, commuting, eating, watching TV, playing single-player games, sleeping, exercising, or doing whatever else you do when you’re not on the Internet—and broadband Internet access looks outlandishly expensive.
Now what if you could share that pipe—and split the cost—with your neighbors? Hmm. If the pipe’s fat enough, and you can get enough people to sign up, you could turn a nice profit. If you’re thinking the cost of the necessary infrastructure would present a barrier, you probably haven’t heard of Meraki.
Meraki Networks started out as a Ph.D. research project at MIT, but it has blossomed into a small company headquartered in Mountain View, California. The company’s mission, CEO and Co-Founder Sanjit Biswas told me in a recent interview, is to “bring affordable Internet access to the next billion people.” A noble goal to be sure, but I’m more interested in making money off my excess bandwidth.
Here’s how it works: To share your Cable or DSL connection, simply plug a Meraki Mini into your Cable or DSL modem and install Meraki’s Dashboard software on your PC. The Mini acts as a gateway, allowing anyone within range to share your connection to the Internet. The size of the network is limited only by the number of Meraki Mini’s you deploy, since each one acts as a relay. In this respect, Meraki is similar to two other mesh network systems we’re fond of: Zensys’ Z-Wave and Sonos’ Digital Music System--on much larger scale. But where these two systems are limited to a single household, a Meraki network can cover an entire apartment building, an entire neighborhood, or even an entire city.
Meraki Networks' repeaters not only allow you to share your Internet connection with your neighbors, it also comes with the software infrastructure you'll need to bill them for the privilege.
So, how do you make money off this? As the owner of the network, you grant or deny access to and establish policies for the network via Meraki’s Dashboard software. Dashboard comes complete with security and encryption, network branding and splash pages, detailed usage reporting, and network management. More importantly, the software has an integrated billing module, including fee schedules, support for major credit cards, and automated collections. If anyone abuses the network—by sucking up huge amounts of bandwidth via BitTorrent, for instance—you can turn off their access until they agree to behave.
The Meraki Mini ($50, available now) is an indoor repeater capable of serving wireless adapters within a 100- to 150-feet radius. The Meraki Mini Outdoor ($100, also available now) is a weatherized version of the same device with an outdoor range of 300- to 750-feet. The company will ship an improved version of their outdoor repeater, the Meraki 3, in August. The new device has the same range as the first, but you can by extend its territory by installing third-party antennas.
Both outdoor modules are capable of running on Power over Ethernet (PoE), but Meraki will also ship in August a kit containing a solar panel and a battery pack, so that repeaters can be set up nearly anywhere without the need for electrical power.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Shop Online Guide
eBay
I like ebay. I liked ebay at the very beginning. But, there are many things that I wouldn't buy from ebay. Ebay has it's strengths and weaknesses.
What to avoid:
- Avoid all sellers from China, Hong Kong, etc. (USA, Canada, and England are the only places I would buy from)
- Avoid buying the latest high-end electronics.
- Avoid buying anything at a price too good to be true.
- Avoid buying expensive items that you have never purchased before and thus don't have anything to compare to (i.e. Rolex watches, designer clothing, etc.)
- Avoid new sellers
What I would buy:
- Cheap and hard to find accessories (i.e. a blue face plate for your phone)
- Cheap clothing and accessories
- Cheap and used electronic equipment (i.e. a 5-year-old digital SLR worth less than $50)
Amazon
Amazon.com is a very reputable internet merchant. I would compare them to Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. but with no brick and mortar stores. Amazon.com does not charge tax (at least not for me in Illinois). Plus, all items bought from them can be shipped for free if the total order is over $25. This does not include items purchased from other merchants.
Electronics
When shopping around for electronic equipment, I compare prices from:
- Newegg.com
- Buy.com
- Amazon.com
- Adorama.com (For Cameras)
- AbesofMaine.com
For the best deals, I browse the forums at fatwallet.com or slickdeals.net. Those are communities of individuals finding and posting the best deals possible on items.
Check Ratings!
If you feel like you want to risk purchasing something from another merchant, check the merchant's ratings. http://www.resellerratings.com is a website that has almost every online merchant and user reviews. Always check with them before buying anything from a merchant you are not familiar with.
I hope you find this information useful. Shop online with confidence from these trusted merchants.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Buy a new pc
Computer Manufacturers
There are many computer manufactures. I suggest buying a computer from a reputable manufacturer: Dell, Sony, Toshiba, HP, and Compaq. Avoid the rest.
Processor/CPU
This is the main chip in the computer that does all of the calculations. The faster this chip is, the faster most tasks are completed.
Processor speed is calculated in MHz (megahertz) or GHz (Gigahertz). 1,000 MHz is equal to 1 GHz.
There are many types of processors. Some processors are more efficient and use less energy (i.e. Laptop processors). Others can perform more work with the same speed as another processor.
The 2 main processor manufactures are AMD and Intel. Intel is more popular but it is also more expensive.
Each processor manufacturer has many processor types to choose from. Not all types are equal. Usually you can tell which processor type is better by the price. The more expensive the processor is the better it can perform.
Recommended: Intel Core 2 Duo - 1.8 GHZ or faster
Memory/RAM
RAM stands for Random Access Memory. It is a temporary storage area for the computer. RAM is measured in MB (megabytes) or GB (Gigabytes).
The more RAM you have the better your computer will perform. The reason for this is because the computer stores files and programs in RAM. With more RAM, you can multi-task. Your computer keeps open programs and files in your RAM. These are read from the hard disk (see below). The more RAM, the less your computer has to access the slow hard disk.
Recommended: 1 GB - 2 GB
Hard Disk/Hard Drive
The hard disk is your long term storage area. All of your programs and files are stores on your hard disk. This includes MP3's, photos, documents, and more. Hard disks are measured for their capacity in megabytes or gigabytes. Hard disks are also measured for their speed in RPM. Slower hard disks are 5200 RPM (or even slower). Faster Hard drives are 7200 RPM. Really fast hard drives are 10,000 RPMs.
Recommended: 80 Gigabyte or more.
Monitor
Most monitors that come with computers these days are LCD/flat-panel monitors. These are lighter and consume less energy than the old CRT monitors. Monitors can get very complex. For most people, any LCD monitor will be good. The monitor size is measured in diagonal inches. A 15 inch monitor has a 15 inch diagonal screen measurement.
Recommended: 15 inch or larger. 17 inches is preferred. It provides a larger working area while being easier on the eyes.
Graphics Cards
A graphics card takes care of processing the graphics for your computer. The graphics card takes a burden from the main processor so that it can perform other tasks. The 2 main manufacturers are nVidia (GeForce) and ATI (Radeon). You don't need the latest and greatest graphics if you are not into the latest games. Make sure it's a dedicated memory card and not "integrated".
Recommended: 128 MB - 256 MB nVidia or ATI video card.
Conclusion
These are the basics. All of the other features you can avoid or choose the cheapest of the configurations.
Personally This Is My Dream Gaming Pc.
The paint job on this case costs over $200.
urchasing a computer may seem like a daunting task. There are so many options and configurations, that it may be very easy to get lost.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Becomeing a Gaming God
Top players—including PC Gamer’s very own Norm the Intern—all seem to have an innate talent for running-and-gunning. At least, that’s the nice way to put it when you’re on the receiving end of one of their rockets. But being awesome at shooters isn’t just luck; follow our guide to becoming a better gamer, and you’ll be on top of the leader board before you can say “pwnd.”
1. Know Your Maps
The best first-person-shooter gamers spend just as much time researching as they do button-clicking. For even the twitchiest of reflexes is worthless on an unfamiliar map; you’ll be riddled by railguns from every direction as you struggle to find even the most minimal of upgrades to your starting weapon. And in games like Quake, your opponents having quad-damage plus a knowledge of common spawning points equals you minus your body parts—plus an explosion of fire and guts. What fun!
You don’t have to get served up and down the battlefield to begin your most important of research tasks. After all, most multiplayer-themed shooters come with single-player bot modes. Fire up a one-on-one, set the computer to “bunny rabbit” difficulty, and resist the urge to spawn-camp your frustrations away on such an easy opponent. You’re here to research, not eradicate.
The world's top TF2 players (conveniently found on the official Maximum PC server) memorize their maps: it turns the routes, choke-points, and strategies into a chess game... with flamethrowers.
So what are you trying to learn? Start by sauntering through the level to find the spawning points for the map’s many weapons. You’ll want to be able to get to your weapon of choice—newb-cannon rocket launcher, sniper rifle, or some other ingenious combination of death and destruction—from any position on the map (especially the spawn points).
That’s just the beginning. In theory, you’ll work your way up to creating actual routes. You’ll be able to count the seconds between each power-up or weapon spawn. And you’ll be constantly running a loop around all the major power-ups—health, armor, ammunition. Even if your game doesn’t feature these goodies, you’ll want to know all the possible chokepoints, so you can mount the best offensive with each spawn.
2. Know When to Wuss Out
If you’re playing in a professional gaming setting, this tip is undoubtedly worthless. The second your opponent spots you, consider yourself three seconds away from corpsedom. But if you’re playing an everyday match on the Interwebs, or even a match against some of your more talented friends, then you’ll need to suck it up so you don’t suck it down. Humility is an important part of the FPS experience.
What does that mean? Don’t go charging off into battle with your starting weapon, even if your most hated of opponents just ran past the spawn point. You will die. If you’re obviously outgunned in a firefight, don’t keep shooting. You will die. If you’re facing off against a sniper who just head-shot two of your buddies in the face, don’t run toward him. You will die.
When trying to trap an opponent, make sure you’re using a weapon that’s going to get the job done. You’re in for a ride on the pain train if you don’t get the one shot, one kill.
Play smart. Turn tail. Run away, and perhaps you’ll hit a teleporter and confuse your opponent. Or better yet, pull a Macaulay Culkin and set a trap—run through a doorway and immediately hug the wall on the right. Stay put, and if your opponent is stupid enough to just run straight ahead, you might be able to catch him with a quick shotgun blast to the face. Advantage: you.
3. Gear Up
It’s important to customize your hardware for the kind of gamer you are. That includes redoing your keyboard’s keybindings to best facilitate your fragging experience. It’ll add about 10 minutes to your prematch startup time, but the payoff is worth it. Swap the weapons you frequently use to buttons more accessible to your WSAD-style controls. And if you indeed rock with a gaming keyboard, then make sure you’re using its extra input keys to their fullest potential.
Some keyboards come with fancy applications and feature a number of preset hotkeys. Use them as a base to save yourself some tweaking time!
If you can pick up a fancy gaming mouse, do it—you might not see an increase in overall accuracy from higher DPIs, but you’ll likely be able to switch your sensitivity on the fly. Need a little more machine-gun spray action? Kick the mouse up to a high sensitivity and let ’er rip. Camping spawn points in Facing Worlds? Lower your sensitivity and buzz the eyebrows off your opponents. Remember, reacting to an enemy is akin to raising the white flag; you want to anticipate your opponent’s movements at all times.
How2Mini: Waiting for a Respawn?
Here are some quick tips for your next few rounds of gunplay.
300 Pick on the weak. That’s right. We said it. If you’re in a 15-player deathmatch and getting rocked by three or four people you can’t compete against, stop fighting them. Find the guys you can utterly stomp on and hunt them mercilessly. They’ll call you names and hate your very existence, but hey, you’re on the top of the kill boards. They’re just jealous.
Be a Planeteer We might be speaking to deaf ears with this one, but hear us out. In team-based shooters like Counter-Strike and Shadowrun, you need to do just that: act like a team. Fun as it may be to entertain your dreams of becoming a virtual Rambo, it just isn’t going to work. Like wolves, you need to hunt in groups—use each person’s strengths to your advantage. And get on your headset!
Dance, Monkey! Standing still and shooting never works, but neither does jumping around like a chinchilla on speed. Create a dance—a few standard strafing/jumping moves that you’re familiar with, so you can always keep your mouse targeting trained on a player while you’re moving in-game. Otherwise, you’ll spend half the gunfight trying to react to your own dodging attempts instead of your opponent’s.
Talk Like You Mean It Psychological warfare is every bit as important as good accuracy. So the next time you get that sweet head shot, feel free to let your fellow players know just how newb they are in your favorite combination of obscenities, epithets, and physical gestures. It works in every cartoon; it’ll work in your first-person shooter.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Online Business
No need to guess, it works. I make a living from the Internet, and thousands of other people as well. The problems is that there are many scams out there, and many unscrupulous people hide themselves behind their website and just take your hard earned money.
Recently, I was talking to one of my friends (offline), and after surfing various MLM and get quick rich websites, he decided that starting an online business wasn't for him. I told him that he was doing a big mistake, but he didn't listen to me.
There are many legitimate online business out there. I'll talk about some of them.
1. You can create your own products and sell them via pay per click marketing.
2. You can sell your physical products on eBay.
3. You can buy some products on the Internet, resell them and keep 100% of the profits. These are called resale rights or master resale rights.
4. You can try paid surveys
5. You can even try the forex market if you want.
As you can see, there are a lot of business opportunities. But I intentionally kept the best for the end.
Do you want to know what is this incredible online business opportunity?
6. Selling other people's products.
This one is my preferred and I will de monstrate why.
Reason #1: you don't need to create a product!
Reason #2. You can start with no money, or with as little as $100.
Reason #3. It is the easiest business on the Internet!
Reason #4. You can make money while you sleep.
Reason #5. You can penetrate hot markets in minutes.
Plus you do not have any Inventory, no Shipping, and you work whenever you like.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
A+ Computer Certification
Are you entering the world of information technology as a service technician? One of your first courses will be an A+ computer certification course. This is a course that will take your current entry-level knowledge as someone who is preparing to enter the world of IT and build on it. You should already have basic computer user skills for a course in A+ computer certification. This is a course for those who have a serious interest in the IT field.
An A+ computer certification course will focus on skills and concepts of computer software and hardware. You will learn how to install, upgrade, repair, configure, troubleshoot, optimize and perform preventative maintenance on computer hardware and operating systems. Computer training courses vary in their lengths. The A+ course is five days in length.
This is training that will get you set for IT departments in corporate settings, or places where you have little dealing with clients but are working mainly with computer hardware. Once you complete this course, you will be prepared to take the CompTIA A+ Certification. You can sign up as an individual with computer courses. However, in many cases your place of employment will include computer training as part of their training budget.
For a course in A+ computer certification, look to LearniT.com. They are a trusted learning partner in the world of corporation information technology, business management and project management raining. You can count on excellent and consistent training and competitive prices.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Windows or Linux??
So, which netbook should you choose? If you're going after price and stability of the system, you would much rather have Linux netbook. If you're buying any model of Asus Eee netbook, you best bet for finding a really cheap one is to buy a Linux-based model.
Linux Netbooks
Linux is a free and open-source operating system that runs well on old PCs and less powerful computers like mini laptops. Linux users swear by the reliability of Linux netbooks? they boot quickly, usually don't crash and are compatible with free and open source software.
Not surprisingly, since it is open source, many Linux operating systems come in different varieties and customizations. Many versions (also called distributions) of the Linux OS come bundled with their own set of applications. Many netbook manufacturers develop their own software on Linux-operated netbooks. If you want to buy a Linux netbook, check with your manufacturer what customizations were made on the user interface.
The Asus Eee 900, for example, operates on Xandros Linux. Features are categorized and made accessible through tabbed interface. You can access Open Office and PDF reader on the tab for Work, while games and media players can be accessed on the Play tab. Users can even access corporate emails through a Microsoft Outlook Web Access.
Windows XP
Windows XP netbooks have a standard user interface, and you can operate your Windows netbook as easily as you did your desktop PC. The issues with Windows XP is that it is prone to malware such as trojans and viruses although Microsoft has improved Windows XP since its debut and that it is a more resource intensive operating system than Linux. On the positive side, Windows XP, while older, uses significantly less resources than Vista and can still run fast on a mini laptop.
Windows XP, however, remains a popular OS among computer users. The main advantage of Windows XP over Linux is that a lot of the useful software like Adobe Photoshop are written for Windows and can only be used on a Windows-based computer.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Extending iPod Battery Life
Here's how to help your iPod battery live long and prosper.
You Will Need
* An iPod
* iTunes
Step 1: Slide hold switch
When listening to music, slide the hold switch to On. This disables power to your iPod's controls, saving battery life.
Step 2: Disable equalizer
Disable the equalizer. Go to "Settings," then "EQ," and choose "Off." The equalizer optimizes sound quality, but it also drains your battery.
Step 3: Turn off backlight
Turn off the backlight. Go to "Settings," "Backlight," and select "Off."
Step 4: Create playlists
Create playlists in iTunes. That way you won't waste precious battery power manually selecting the songs you like. You can create a playlist on the fly right on your iPod. Choose a song title and hold down the center button until the title flashes-it's just been added to your On-The-Go playlist.
Step 5: Put iPod to sleep
Put your iPod to sleep when you're not using it. Just hold the "Play" button until the screen turns off.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Fastest Ways to Find People Online
When most people think of reconnecting with lost friends and relatives, they think about social networking sites, but there are many other ways people can get back in touch with loved ones. For instance, reverse phone number tracing sites allow you to type in any phone number, including cell phone numbers, and find out the name and often times the address of the person it belongs to. Now that the United States has embraced number portability, the ability to keep your phone number forever no matter how many times you change providers, a person can have the same number for the rest of their lives, which makes these locator sites even more valuable than ever before.
To begin your search, simply find your old list of phone numbers and begin entering them into your favourite tracing site. While there are many different sites that offer this service, there is only one that consistently provides the most accurate information anywhere.
The next time you need to figure out who owns a phone number, there is only one site you can trust. Reconnect with lost girlfriends, loved ones and buddies from college in an instant. Performing a search like this only takes a second and the amount of accurate information you'll get back will surprise you! Try it today.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Video Cards - What are they?
The video memory also called VRAM, it’s on the video card itself if its is not a integrated video card, which is terrible because the performance is cut in half and you won’t be able to play good games, but it is good if you are on a budget and not much to spend. The memory capacity is up to two gigabytes (GB). The memory speed is based on DDR2, GDDR3 and GDDR4. GDDR4 is the newest technology which ATI has first came up with. ATI has better hardware technology than NVIDIA but their drivers aren’t the best. They improved a little bit now that they are together with AMD.
Video BIOS or firmware is a program that controls the video operations and lets the video card interfere with the computer or the motherboard. It controls all the voltages that is given to the GPU and other components. The voltages may be adjusted for better performance, but be careful, don’t mess with that if you don’t know what you are doing. If you don’t have proper cooling or you increase the voltages too much you may fry your video card. Also, if you lower the voltages you downgrade the performance. Overclocking its not good if you plan to hold on to that video card or processor for a long time because it cuts its life in half. The RAMDAC transforms the digital signals form the computer into analog signals so the monitor or the display will recognize them.
Video cards have different interferences. If you plan on buying a computer or upgrading the existent, don’t just buy any video card. It may not be supported by the motherboard. The first one is PCI which stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect, but it doesn't have a good performance. AGP or Accelerated Graphics Port is used for 3D computer graphics but it is becoming less common in computers today. The newest one is PCIe and PCIe 2.0. It was introduced in 2004 by Intel. This is not a bus like the others, its structured around point to point serial links also called lanes. The new PCI-Express 2.0 doubles the speed to 16GB/s which is important for the newest games that require very high performance graphics cards. PCIe 3.0 was announced too, it will double the existing 2.0 bandwidth. Also, it will have enhanced data signaling, and much more. The release date will be sometime in 2009.
SLI and Cross Fire are solutions to link two or more video cards. They are two competitive brands NVIDIA and ATI. For this you would need a SLI or Crossfire compatible motherboard and two or more identical supported video cards.
So which one is better? Many argue that NVIDIA, just because they have been used to it from when they were kids. But this doesn’t mean that ATI isn't good. ATI, most of the time, has better technology, but they had to work on their software. Ati video cards are usually used for multimedia programs rather than games, but they are also very good for games. SLI and CrossFire might be the same, depending on the cards you are using. And you may use your favorite brands to build an ultimate computer with SLI or CrossFire which will serve you as the best tool to play Crysis, Call of Duty 4 and many other, on very high settings. If you are an absolute gamer choose ATI because it’s the best there is out there. Two 4870s X2, which have two GPUs each, will make your American Dream become real.
Google Adsense: Not Worth the Time, Not Worth the Effort
Google AdSense
is one of the most widely-advertised ways that webmasters can make money from their websites. The concept behind it is relatively simple. Google displays an advertisement on your website and you earn money when someone clicks it. The amount of money earned per click depends on the popularity of the site being advertised on the advertisement. Sounds like a foolproof way to make money, doesn’t it? Well, as I’m about to explain, the fine print says it all.
Google has their backs covered in more ways than one. What you would think is a truly legitimate way to make money, is in fact, one of the biggest scams that the world has ever seen. Let me explain my experience with the program and how it turned me, a true AdSense believer, into a person who will now tell everyone he meets not to sign up under the AdSense program.
I was just like you. I owned an animé website and loved spending time working on it. Then I heard about AdSense. I thought to myself, “What a great idea! I can work on my site and earn money at the same time!” So I signed up. That was on July 14, 2008. To my surprise, within 2 months, I had $10.00 in my AdSense account. Keep in mind that my site was relatively small - only about 150 pages. I went through their phone verification, home address verification, sent in my tax forms and selected my type of payment method - cheque, standard delivery (otherwise, Google charges you a whopping $30.00 for express delivery). This, of course, was all asked of me once I reached the $10.00 account balance.
Another two months went by and by the end of October, I was literally jumping up and down in my computer chair, seeing my AdSense balance finally exceed the $100 minimum payout amount. I was going to surprise my dad when I received the cheque in the mail. It was November 6, 2008 when I got the email from Google. Apparently, they had suspended my account due to “invalid clicks” on my advertisements. I was shocked out of disbelief! Not once had I clicked on my own ads, nor did I ever ask anyone to click on my ads! But they had suspended my account nonetheless. In the email, however, it stated that I could appeal their ruling. I did so, filling out an online information appeal form and sending it to Google. I explained that there was no way for me to determine who clicked on my ads and that I would do my best to ensure that this incident didn’t happen again (actually, the only thing I could do was inform my site’s community by posting a news entry explicitly stating to not abuse the ad-click process). It was nearly three weeks later that I got an email response.
“Hello,
We're currently in the process of reviewing your account with the additional information that you've provided. Please understand, however, that there is no guarantee that your account will be reinstated into AdSense. As a reminder, Google does reserve the right to disable an account at any time, as stated in the AdSense Terms and Conditions (http://www.google.com/adsense/terms).
Thank you for your patience.
Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team”
It then took another two weeks before they responded to my appeal.
“Hello,
Thanks for providing us with additional information. However, after thoroughly reviewing your account data and taking your feedback into consideration, we've re-confirmed that your account poses a significant risk to our advertisers. For this reason, we're unable to reinstate your account. Thank you for your understanding. As a reminder, if you have any questions about your account or the actions we've taken, please do not reply to this email. You can find more information by visiting https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=57153.
Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team”
Needless to say, I was steaming mad. And the worst part about this all is that it states in the AdSense Terms of Service (TOS) that Google has the right to suspend any account without prior notification or explanation, and refund all of the earnings in that account to the respective advertisers. Talk about unfair. What about all the money I obtained through “valid” advertisement clicks that has been returned as well?
I didn’t do anything wrong. All I did was set up an AdSense account in an attempt to make money. What did I do to deserve having my account shut down due to actions which I could not control? At least my account balance was only about $106.00, because if it was several thousands of dollars, I would’ve launched a class-action lawsuit against the company. I’m positive I’m not the only person who has been scammed by Google through this program, and I’m sure that we’d all be more than happy to gang up on Google and sue their pants off.
But then it just hit me, and it hit me hard. What happened to me can happen to anyone signed up under the Google AdSense program. I assume that one of the ways that Google determines whether or not a click is considered “valid” is with regards to the IP address of the computer that clicked on the advertisement. If the same IP address is shown multiple times clicking on an advertisement, Google becomes suspicious. If someone was intentionally clicking on my AdSense advertisements just to get my account suspended, then even if Google had reinstated my account, what could I do to prevent it from happening again in the future? To be honest - absolutely nothing. I have no control over what other people do while they visit my site.
In other words, if you have an AdSense account, it only takes a single person to click on your AdSense ads several tens or hundreds of times, and even though you personally have no control over who clicks your ads, Google will suspend your account assuming that you as a webmaster are clicking on your own ads (or you’re having someone else click on your own ads) in an attempt to increase your account balance, which is not the case. So based on this, theoretically, ANY person could go to ANY website, click on an AdSense ad 100 times, and get the site owner’s AdSense account suspended, thus making him or her lose all of their earnings.
Reflecting back on my experience, it’s actually quite sickening, thinking that I gave Google 5 months of FREE advertising on my site, only to get my account deactivated due to someone else who didn’t want me to get paid. Google won’t provide me any proof that my account was tampered with - all I have to go upon is their email which “claims” that my account was a “significant risk” to their advertisers. No doubt it was more likely a risk to their business, with such a small site as mine making about $20 a month in revenue, only to have it all taken away from me.
No doubt there are AdSense account owners out there who have been paid by Google, but I’d bet that the amount of people who have not received payment in proportion to those who have would be something to the extent of 25 to 1. If you have received AdSense cheques in the mail, and think that this sort of situation could never happen to you, be warned. Like I said before, all it takes is for one person to ruin your reputation, and your AdSense account goes down the drain.
As for me, there’s nothing I can do. Google hasn’t paid me anything, they haven’t shown me any evidence that my account had been tampered with (other than that email message simply stating my account had been suspended due to “invalid” clicks), and they don’t have to provide me with proof either, as written in their Terms of Service.
I encourage everyone who reads this to spread the word about how Google is scamming everyone with their AdSense program. You display ads on your site for free, and when it comes time to pay out, for the majority of the time, Google doesn’t. And I’m sure there will be many people reading this arguing that AdSense is the best program ever, that they’ve “supposedly” earned thousands of dollars through it, and that they have in fact received cheques in the mail. Whether they’re telling the truth or not - that’s another story. Perhaps some of them are even people who have been paid by Google to advertise
the AdSense program and its “authenticity,” just to fool everyone into thinking that Google does, in fact, pay their members. I cannot imagine how much free advertising Google has obtained through this con-of-the-century. Think about it for a moment. “Claim” to give out money, offer months of free advertising to their advertisers, then not pay out even one cent to the webmasters displaying those ads.
Understanding Your Target Audience
In simpler terms, it means looking deeper into your niche market, so you can serve them better by customizing your products.
Answer a few questions… but I warn you not to answer them too quickly. This takes a lot of thought and consideration to do correctly.
Question: Who would like to buy what you have to offer?
Don't just say ‘Women’. That is a gender identification, not a target market. All women are not alike. They have a wide variety of lifestyles, values and interests.
Don't just say ‘Golfers’. That identifies a group of people who partake of a sporting activity but it’s not a target market. Among golfers there are huge differences. Are you targeting the ever so often golfer with a cheap tips video or are you targeting the lifestyle golfer who travels regularly to play in competitions.
Be very specific. ‘Start up Fundraiser Coaching Professionals”
Question: Why is he/she interested in what you have to sell?
Don’t say ‘She will like it because she is a Mom’ because there are no products that ‘all moms’ are interested in. (Unless it’s an Artificial Intelligence Housekeeper and I think even then you’d get a few naysayers.)
Be very specific. ‘Start up Fundraiser Coaching Professionals” will want to secure this product because it contains the tricks and skill builders they need to attract their first clients.’
Question: What stage of life is she in?
• Young & Single
• Young & Married
• Young Motherhood
• Middle Motherhood
• Late Motherhood
• Empty Nest
• Older & Single
• Older & Married
These stages of life are important factors in identifying a target market. How you choose to communicate with your potential clients, you will need to take this information into consideration.
What motivates a young married woman isn’t going to motivate an empty nester.
For example, if you want to reach young singles you’ll probably want to use graphics and promotional materials that look trendy and highly relative or popular to modern day media.
On the other hand, to reach older married people you will choose a more traditional style and convey a stability that will resonate with older consumers.
Question: How much money does he/she have to spend?
• Frugal
• Average
• Upper Middle Class
• Wealthy
Financial income brackets are one of the most important issues in choosing and communicating with your target market.
The financially strapped customer will be attracted to messages that imply that they’re getting a great value or saving money.
Wealthy customers will be more interested in hearing that your product is made of the best ingredients and created for distinctive tastes.
Some individuals will only be interested in products that clearly demonstrate that they’re cheaper than everything else. They’re so driven by their tight budget or their personal commitment to frugality that they’ll choose one product over another on price point alone.
And in the other extreme, there are consumers who will purposefully choose the most expensive service provider on principle. Maybe even just to be able to say that they hired the priciest ‘most exclusive’ provider – or perhaps because they believe that the higher cost surely means that they’ll get the best quality. (Which may or may not always be the case!)
For some, impressions are everything.
Can you see how it would be literally impossible to create one sales message that rings true with all markets?
Well, that's it for this section. Now you should have your niche and understand who it is you're targeting. Next we're moving on to setting up a website and finding ways to monetize it. I'll write that thread tommorow, so for now - GET BRAINSTORMING!
What Can I Do to Make My Computer Run Faster?
If your computer is running slowly you would no doubt want to know what you can do to make it perform better. The good thing though is that there are several things you can do to make your computer run faster and this article would show you some of them.
The first thing you can do is to delete all the things on your computer which you no longer use or which you no longer need especially things like software and music downloads which can sometimes be very large and take a lot of space in the hard disk of your computer. This helps to free up space on your computer and can help to improve the performance of your system. You should also try not to install programs or software you don't need.
Another thing you can do is to clean your registry, the registry is the part of your computer that stores information about programs you use on your computer and even when you have deleted a software there might still be part of it left in the registry. You can clean it manually but it is a lot better to do it using a registry cleaner, there are many of them available on the internet some of which are free while you have to pay for some.
You can also make your system run faster by upgrading the ram of your computer, ram which is also called random access memory is very important because if you do not have enough ram your programs will run slowly. You can get a ram upgrade from ebay or any store that sells computer products, if you do not know how to install it on your computer you can get a friend to do it for you or take it to a computer store near where you live and someone should be able to help you.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Cash for newbies
How quickly would you quit your day job? How fast could you erase your debt? What kind of things would you buy that you've been “holding off on” until you got some money together.
I used to say things like that all the time. But, deep down I knew the money wasn't coming. Why would it? I wasn't doing anything to create more money. Sure, I was buying products and talking about all the money I was going to make with them... but something was holding me back. Who knows what it really was?
All I know is I was getting more and more miserable with every paycheck... never having enough left over to do any of the things I wanted to do - or buy any of the stuff I wanted to buy. Why wasn't I taking action to change my situation? Why was it so easy for other people, and impossible for me? Was I destined to spend my whole life on the outside looking in?
Luckily, I got fed up enough with all the guru products to try something NO ONE else was trying. I had nothing left to lose... and that's when I finally found what I was looking for.
That was one year ago. Today, my life is different...
No boss makes my schedule - I do whatever I feel like doing. If I want to play X Box in my underwear all day, that's what I do.
I wear whatever I feel like wearing. I threw out all my ties, I never wear slacks... and I don't think my toes have been covered once all summer.
I don't listen to petty gossip from annoying co-workers. I hang out with people I like (mostly my girlfriend) and no one else.
You know what's really fun, though? Listening the rush hour traffic report... and knowing you'll never again have to waste hours of your life sitting in that nasty mess. (You might not get how cool that feels right now, but believe me, you will.)
This dream has become reality for me and the others I've given this system to. We joke all the time about how dumb we were before... Following the IM gurus and sucking down their Kool-Aid like it was lifeblood. It's amazing how easy it is to see through the lies once you start making your own money. These days, we look at Google product launches like a comedy show.
Sometimes I think it was necessary for me to endure that painful learning curve... wandering around with the other lost sheep... wasting thousands on dead-end products... so I could finally get the success I have now.
If so, that's cool. It's worth it...knowing I'll never put on another name tag.
But, there's no reason for you to go through that same pain. Yahoo Cash 4 Idiots is your ticket to freedom...
How to Advertise Your Blog
Everyday you update your blog. You write about your life and post it on your site. But no one reads them. Then you try writiting about latest technology and gadgets hoping that you will get some comments from readers on the next day but still, not many people comes to your site. But you still continue posting and updating your site everyday, every night. After some period, you realized that you need to promote and advertise your site but you don’t know how.
Here I will share with you some tips on how to promote and get more readers to your site. I’m no expert in site advertising or marketing but I have some little knowledge that I want to share with you. :d
Join bloggers forum
Join and participate in bloggers forum or portals. Introduce yourself and brief politely about your site. Tell them what your site is about. I’m sure in every bloggers forum, there is a section where you can promote or show off your blog. Post something there.
Describe your blog and invite them to visit. If the forum admin enable signature in post (usually it is enable), put your site link in your signature. That way, peoples can see your site link when you post or reply someone’s post on the forum.
Visit other blogs
You must start it first. Don’t wait people come to your site. Visit other member’s blog and drop them some comments about their blog posts. Don’t give comments say something like, “Hey, nice site!” or “I love your site. Cool!” but give comments that relate to their posts. If they read your comment, they also will visit back to your site.
Another way is, if your post same like other people post, trackback their post. I assume you know how to use trackback. :p
Submit to Blog Directory/Topsites
There are many blog directories in the Internet. Submit your site to as many blog directories as you can. Almost of them are free but some of them you need to put HTML code on your site before your site been listed in their directory.
And join topsites too. If your site is on top rank, there will be more peoples now about your site.
Signature in Email
Put your site link in your email signature. So each time you send or reply email, the receiver will see it. So they’ll know that you have a site and they will visit your site to see what your blog is about.
Join Exchange Link program
This program is a two way feedback. You put their site link on your site and they will put yours on their site. The system goes like that. Beside increase your page rank, it also can bring more peoples to your site.
Public Bookmarking
Submit your contents to any public book marking sites such del.icio.us or Furl, etc. There are many to list here. But make sure that you submit on specific topic or people will ignore it.
Submit to Search Engine
Submit your site link to popular search engine such as Google, Yahoo, etc. There are some sites that can submit your site to 20 search engines for free.
Ping your site
This is a must. Ping your site to Pingoat.com or Pingomatic.com each time you update your site. Both of them give the best ping-ing services.
Well, if you have make all these things I’m sure in one week or maybe less, you will have regular visitors that come to your site. But make sure you have good contents on your site or you will loose them one by one.
If you have any comments or want to add up your own tips, feel free to say it in the comment form. Well, thanks for your time and hope this helps! ;)
What to Do When You Encounter Runtime Error 216
On Microsoft's official website, they mention that Runtime Error 216 is a problem experienced when either Windows cannot load a program, or an error message might occur when you either try to launch a Windows based program or even Internet Explorer. They attribute this run time error to the infection of a virus called the SubSeven Trojan virus and advises all its users to get a good anti virus software and clean out the problem. The runtime error 216 is actually a common problem with a lot of people and this is one of the best ways to trouble shoot it. With an anti virus software, you are able to clean out the Trojan virus and thus resume your computer to normal operations.
But then, there is a phenomena that is occurring all over the world for computer users - they are experiencing the same problem even when they have a good anti virus software installed. And some times, even after the infection has been cleared, the error message still appears. So what then happens? Before I go on, I will explain on how the Trojan virus works. In actual fact, it can be said that this virus is actually one of the lower risk viruses that are circulating on the net, and it uses a backdoor program built into its file system to gain access to your computer.
It affects all Windows versions prior to Vista and it allows people to gain access to your computer and your files without your prior knowledge. Usually, an internet firewall is enough to prevent the remote host from logging on to your I.P address and stealing stuff from your computer.
When you do get infected, problems you might encounter may include the inability to launch explorer or some programs, random CD Drives opening and closing, strange dialogue pop ups appearing on your screen randomly and the appearance and even disappearance of critical files. The problem with this Trojan is that it also penetrates the Windows registry and does malicious things to its command files.
Error 216 is just as much a registry error as it is a system error - all attributed to the Trojan virus. One of the common things that it does to your registry is add bogus command lines and embedded keys into your registry and causes Windows to be confused, often trying to execute commands that don't exist to files that are not there in the first place.
What you need to do is to also, get a good registry cleaner to clean out the problems that it has placed in your registry. If you do ignore this, you will be affected by either the same few problems cropping up or a global slowdown of your computer system. A registry cleaner is a good 'minesweeper' of problems left behind by viruses, malware and adware which have been removed from your system. There are many available online and it is just a matter of logging on and downloading them to make Runtime Error 216 disappear for good.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Affiliate Program Guide - Learn How to Market the Right Products and Earn Money Online
There was this really great affiliate program guide that I came across a while back that gave me all sorts of helpful tips and advice about using affiliate marketing to promote my site. The guide listed several programs that were worthy of checking out as well as several ebooks that looked really interesting. The guide was free and that is the best kind of advice for any business owner. In addition, the guide had tons of helpful information about all sorts of marketing and advertising tools that can be used to promote a site. Using affiliates is good because they get paid to bring potential customers to a website, but there are other types of marketing and advertising ideas that can be very effective as well.
One thing I learned from the affiliate program guide was the names of some of the better affiliate programs out there in the marketplace. I did not want to spend even a minute wasting my time and money marketing products that did not convert or weren't of the highest quality. I learned how e-mail can be used to bring business to a site as can highlighted key words and written reviews. Basically I have learned that the key to site promotion does not come from just one source but it comes from a combination of efforts in order to maximize exposure and gear people in the site's direction.
Assuming a site offers a good product or service it will, in effect, sell itself. Once the customer gets to see what it is all about they can decide for themselves. I also learned about placing ads on other sites in order for people to become familiar with my site and product offering. If they follow the ad they will be funneled directly to my site. Using the affiliate program guide for its information it was the first step in learning how to use affiliate marketing as well as internet advertising and marketing. With as much exposure as I can possibly get for my site I gave my business the best chance of establishing itself and created a base for new and repeat business.
An affiliate program guide is a useful tool for learning about the better affiliate programs and how to maximize them. By learning all different types of marketing and advertising I should do just fine. This site is my baby and I am going to do everything I can to help it grow up and be a strong and profitable business.
How to Make 2009 the Most Profitable and Fun Year Ever
HOW TO MAKE 2009 THE BEST YEAR OF YOUR BUSINESS AND YOUR LIFE
Regardless of The Economy or Any Other Challenges You May Be Facing
Are you concerned about how the economy might affect your business and your lifestyle in 2009?
Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could have one of the best years of your business and your life in 2009, despite the economy?
I believe you can have a breakthrough year - one of your best year's yet, possibly even THE best year ever, if you follow my step by step system. When I say "best" I mean most profitable and most enjoyable.
I've coached hundreds of small business owners over the last six years to triple their profits and double their time off. In the process, I've developed a step by step system. Here are some guidelines to help you make 2009 the best year yet:
KNOW WHAT SUCCESS MEANS TO YOU
Be clear about what is most important to you. What do you really care about? What would really make you happy? No fooling yourself or chasing dreams that aren't really YOURS. Do the soul searching necessary to create deep alignment between your most authentic self, values, goals, and actions.
CLARIFY AREAS OF FOCUS FOR 2009
Don't try to do everything this year. Simplify. Focus. Choose 2-5 areas to focus on and improve. Which areas of your life and business, if you made major improvements, would make this the best year ever?
DECIDE TO MAKE A CHANGE
Decide that you won't settle for less than a fantastic breakthrough year in 2009. Decide that you will no longer tolerate mediocrity and that you're going to break through any obstacles this year and make it happen.
CLARIFY YOUR VISION FOR 2009 AND BEYOND
The more clearly you can picture where you're headed, the more powerfully you can align your thoughts, choices, and actions to manifest that vision.
MOTIVATE YOURSELF WITH FEELINGS
Emotions are what drive and sustain action. What will it feel like to achieve your vision this year? What would feel like to have the best year of your life and business?
MAKE A COMMITMENT
The land of "good intentions, hopes and dreams" is very far away from the land of "commitment - no kidding I'm going to do whatever it takes". Fortunately, which land you live in is simply a matter of choice. Commitment accelerates your progress, increases your effectiveness, and it makes you more attractive to people and resources that can help. You may be waiting until you don't feel any fear your doubt before you commit to your vision. If this is the case, you will probably be waiting forever. I invite you to be bold and powerful. Make a potent decision and choose to go for it!
DO A NEEDS ASSESSMENT
This may be seem obvious but most people skip this critical step, or gloss over it on a surface level. What obstacles or challenges are you facing now? Make a list. What challenges might you face later in 2009? Make a list. What are your personal or psychological blocks to success? Identify any limiting beliefs, lack of self-esteem, resistance to receiving, money hang ups, fear of failure, fear of success, fear of looking bad, weak boundaries, relationship issues, emotional wounds, health challenges, resistance to change, self-criticism and doubt, addictions, etc. What's missing? What skills do you need to learn this year? What support do you need? Now go back over each challenge or obstacle you identified above, and come up with at least three key actions you can take to face the obstacle head on with courage and determination to TRIUMPH over that obstacle.
SET A FEW KEY GOALS FOR YOUR BUSINESS AND YOUR LIFE
Goal setting can be a confronting process. It takes us from the abstract to the concrete. Rarely are we specific enough about what we want that effective strategies can be easily discovered. Clarity is a powerful thing. It gives both your conscious and your subconscious mind something to focus on. It's a way of setting priorities. From the moment you set your 2009 goals you will be more focused, efficient, productive and on track with what really matters to you.
CLARIFY YOUR STRATEGIES
A little bit of smart strategy is worth way more than a lot of dumb hard work. Don't get me wrong, I believe in hard work too, and there is a time for hard work. However, we've all been taught the myth that hard work is the answer to everything. When faced with a challenging situation, most people's first impulse is to work harder and longer hours, doing more of the same stuff that wasn't working very well in the first place. Sometimes this works to some degree, but there is a heavy price to pay. The most successful people take the time to develop effective strategies before applying the hard work and effort necessary for great achievements. What strategies will you apply to achieve your vision and goals? You may need to get input from a mentor, a coach, or other business builders in order to fully develop effective strategies.
MAKE A MASSIVE ACTION PLAN
I'm a big fan of working smarter, not harder - of being strategic and efficient; however there is no replacement for taking massive action. There is a time for taking massive action, and when that time comes you have to step up, take the bull by the horns and get it done. Taking massive action on a regular basis builds massive momentum. Massive momentum leads to massive results.
One of the most powerful things you can do to optimize your probability of success is to make a "massive action plan". This simply means thinking about your outcome and brainstorming every action you can think of that would possibly lead to that outcome. You don't need to commit to doing everything on the list. In fact, you will want to focus on the highest priority items. However, having a nice big list is like having a menu of items to choose from. You'll never lack good ideas for moving forward on your project, and whenever you have time to focus on your outcome, your menu of action possibilities will be handy.
PRIORITIZE
Your level of success is a direct result of your ability to set and follow the right priorities. Make the effort to set accurate priorities and you're well on your way to getting results. Neglect this critical step and you'll spin your wheels and waste a lot of time and effort.
The 80/20 rule states that 80% of the results come from 20% of the actions you take, while 20% of results are produced by 80% of the actions you take. If you tracked it for a while, you would probably find this to be true for most of the outcomes you are working on. The mistake most people make is to spend a lot of time doing the 80% that gets only 20% of the results, and they never get around to doing the most important actions. If you do the most important actions first, you will get results faster, and with less effort.
CREATE HABITS OF SUCCESS
Small constructive actions done on a routine basis can quickly give you a sense of accomplishment and forward momentum. These habits (or success practices) form the foundation on which major changes take place. What action, if taken on a regular basis, would make a difference for you? These habits can be related to either your professional or personal life.
PLAN THE TIME TO PLAN
The busier you get the more challenging it is to take the time to plan, but the more important it becomes to be using your time wisely and strategically. I strongly recommend that you establish a daily and weekly planning routine. Schedule the time to plan. It should take 10-15 minutes per day, and 10-20 minutes each week. I also recommend that you plan out your year, setting important milestones and timelines, especially around the key factors that drive the profit of your business. Also, plan your vacations well ahead of time. A 12-month Year-At-A-Glance calendar, posted on your wall, could create a breakthrough in your business and your life.
WORK ON YOUR BUSINESS AND ON YOUR LIFE
There is a key distinction between working in your business and working on your business. Working in your business or in your life is what most people do most of the time: returning phone calls and emails, making sales calls, taking out the trash, feeding the cat, etc.
Working on your business are those things like working with a coach, creating a 5 year strategic plan, systematically evaluating your current strategies, setting goals for the day or the week; while working on yourselfincludes activities such as taking a workshop, reading a book that increases your knowledge in a useful area, etc. These kinds of things are usually not urgent but very important.
These activities are usually the most important factors of success. They are too often neglected because the urgent (and often not important) activities dominate our schedules. Spendingmore time working on your business or on your self will increase your overall effectiveness dramatically.
WORK YOUR PLAN
Working your plan will require you to be more proactive and less reactive. I work with most of my clients to support them in becoming more proactive. Most people spend the majority of their time being reactive. They react to emails, phone calls, the needs of clients, co-workers, friends, children, significant others, family members, deadlines, relationship breakdowns, technical challenges, and whatever life puts in front of their nose. Filling your days with reactive activities leaves little room for proactive activities.
This reactive way of being is habitual for many people. You might even take pride in how quickly and effectively you can react to the many things coming at you, putting out fires left and right. While having the ability to react quickly and capably is a useful skill set to have, if you are not also cultivating a proactive skill set, you are not manifesting your full potential. Take charge. Set new and stronger boundaries with yourself and with others that will allow you to be more proactive.
IMPROVE YOUR SALES AND MARKETING SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, AND SYSTEMS
Every successful business owner embraces sales and marketing as the primary profit engine of their business. If you see sales and marketing as a "necessary evil" or a dreaded task that you do only because you have to, then you're destined to struggle. You need to flip this around and learn to make sales and marketing into a fun challenge.
There are ways to market your products and or services that are aligned with you values, and therefore enjoyable and satisfying to engage in. Sales and marketing can be an opportunity to make a contribution to others, and to connect with people in meaningful and satisfying ways. You may need to redesign your marketing strategy so it aligns with your values.
Read, study, get mentored, and do whatever it takes to get good. If you join my coaching program I'll help you to design your marketing plan, including 1) Filling the Pipeline (meeting new prospects), 2) Following Up (being in communication with them & building the relationship), 3) Getting Presentations (setting up presentations), 4) Closing the Sale (turning a presentation into a sale).
I will also help you to design your marketing funnel, which should include a free product or free trial of some kind, which leads to the purchase of a reasonably priced product or service, which leads to higher priced product or service, etc. An intelligently designed marketing funnel is essential if your business is to thrive and reach its full potential.
FOCUS ON WHO YOU'RE BEING, AND NOT JUST WHAT YOU'RE DOING
On the road to success, most people put a lot of attention on "doing" and not enough attention on "being". If you get the qualities and characteristics of "being" handled, the "doing" will often take care of itself. A very powerful question to ask yourself is, "Who do I need to be in order to achieve my goal?" In other words, "What kind of person tends to be successful with this goal?"
The right actions will naturally flow out of who you're being. Learn to control your state of mind and emotions, this is a fundamental skill of all highly successful people as thought leads to emotion, emotion leads to action, and action leads to results.
GET ORGANIZED
The state of your physical environment tends to reflect your state of mind and your state of mind tends to reflect your environment. Sometimes it's difficult to tell whether a disorganized and chaotic state of mind led to a cluttered physical space or a disorganized and chaotic space led to a cluttered mind. In any case, your mind and your environment have a powerful unconscious influence on each other-one that is probably greater than you realize.
When I refer to your space or your environment I am referring to your office and or work stations, home, car, and storage spaces. You can optimize these spaces so they are most supportive of your success in business and life. Making changes in these areas can have a very powerful effect on your level of focus, productivity, sense of well-being, and ultimate success.
SET UP SUPPORT STRUCTURES
Set up support structures that will keep you inspired, provide accountability, facilitate ongoing strategic thinking, provide input from mentors and peers, and support you to overcome your specific internal blocks and external obstacles. It is usually necessary to set up effective support structures to achieve a big goal or vision. This critical element of success is frequently neglected. You could have truly inspiring goals, and great strategies for achieving them, and yet many things (both internal and external) could sidetrack or sabotage you. Support structures will prevent this from happening. However they will do more than that. They will support you to live into your potential, and to operate at your best in an ongoing way. Ultimately, support structures lead to sustainability, which is necessary to achieve your long-term visions.
LEARN FROM SUCCESS
Success leaves clues! Whatever you want to accomplish, chances are someone else has already developed some excellent strategies for getting there. Don't try to reinvent the wheel! Learn everything you can about what has already been proven to work in your specific situation. Study successful people. Get mentors and role models. Befriend them. Take their trainings. Learn their strategies. Then get to work and implement those strategies. Test them and see what works and what doesn't. Create your own strategies and improve upon the ones you have learned from others.
REGULARLY EXPOSE YOURSELF TO EMPOWERING INFORMATION
If you are not yet reaching the level of success that you desire, chances are high that you could benefit from developing your knowledge. I encourage you to adopt a humble attitude that recognizes that there is always more to learn. No matter how masterful or knowledgeable you are in a particular area, you can always learn more. Keep an open mind. Regularly exposing yourself to powerful information will keep bringing your attention to new areas for learning.
These days you can find information in many forms: seminars, books, eBooks, audio & video programs, classes, teleclasses, web pages, one-on-one mentoring, group coaching, etc. Exposing yourself to powerful information on a regular basis will keep you inspired and keep you learning, growing, and evolving your strategies.
GO ON A MEDIA FAST
The news media is full of negativity these days. It always has been negatively focused, but it's become even worse lately. The media companies profit from our collective fear and hysteria because it makes us tune and watch. Yes, there are real problems with the economy, but the level of fear and paranoia is way out of proportion to realty, and it serves no good. I strongly encourage you to unsubscribe from all newspapers, and stop watching news on TV or the internet. Seriously, go on a total fast. I guarantee it will lift your spirits and make you more positive and successful. If anything really important happens in the world, you will hear about it from your friends.
HIRE A COACH
A coaching relationship is an ongoing relationship that will help you produce extraordinary resultsbeyond what you could have done on your own, or at least more quickly than you could have done on your own. A coach can also help you get there in style, having more fun along the way.
I believe in coaching. I hired my first coach six years ago and my life and business went through some major changes and improvements as a result. The coaching relationship brought out my highest potential and supported me to keep pushing the edge of my limits. As a result, I made more money, had more fun, and kept growing and evolving in important ways. There is nothing quite like having a personal coach to help you clarify your values, vision, goals, strategy, and obstacles, and then to hold you accountable to take action in alignment with what's most important to you. It can literally change your life.
Even the most successful people have coaches. In fact, the most successful people usually have coaches and that is probably one of the reasons they are so successful. All top athletes have coaches, and so do most top business performers these days. Even coaches have coaches.
GET A SUPPORT BUDDY
Meeting with a support buddy regularly is one of the most powerful support structures you can establish. It can help with inspiration, keeping focused on your vision, goals and priorities, staying in action, breaking through resistance and breaking through playing small. My coaching programs include matching you up with a support buddy who is also in the program and wants to meet as frequently as you do. I teach you a specific process to follow which will make your support buddy meetings as efficient and powerful as possible. If you don't join one of my programs, I encourage you to find your own support buddy and set up a structured process for meeting regularly, either in person or on the phone.
START OR JOIN A MASTERMIND GROUP
A Mastermind Group as a synergistic community of supportive colleagues who work together to help each other attain new heights. Your peers help you brainstorm, give you objective feedback, create structures to maintain focus, provide support and act as catalysts for growth, all the time maintaining confidentiality, respect and complete honesty. Through the group synergy, you gain tremendous insights which will improve your business and personal life.
My coaching program, The Best Year of Your Business and Your Life, includes a Mastermind Group of enthusiastic business builders. We meet on the phone once per month for an hour and fifteen minutes. Each person gets a turn to have the full attention of the group. You start by stating your goal, challenge, or question. Then the group works to support you breakthrough to the next level. Because we all have so much in common, you get value from listening to the group's coaching of each member. I invite you to either join my coaching program, find another Mastermind group, or start your own.
LEARN TO MAKE QUICK, POWERFUL DECISIONS
A little known common trait of all highly successful business owners is the "Speed of Implementation" factor. This can be defined simply as the distance or time between getting a "great idea" or "great opportunity" and making a decision to follow through with tangible action.
How many times in the history of your business have you had a great idea or opportunity, but you didn't follow through? Instead you switched yourself into "research mode" or "waiting mode" and never switched to decision and action. Later you simply dropped the idea.
The sooner you choose to put your ideas into action, the sooner you'll get results-both positive and negative. The important part is you get solid feedback that will help you to steer your business in the right direction. Excessive thinking, research, reading, and waiting will not give you the answers you need to boost your business.
JOIN A PROGRAM DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY TO HELP YOU GET THE RESULTS YOU'RE LOOKING FOR
Most small business owners don't get support. Most small business owners don't invest in a coaching program. Most small business owners struggle. Most businesses fail within the first three years.
Most small business owners try to do it alone, as if they should already know everything to do, and it would be somehow admitting to some fundamental inadequacy to pay for support from a coaching program. This is ridiculous! Even the most successful people have coaches. Fortune 100 CEOs have coaches. The Michael Jordan's of the world have coaches. If you study the top 1% performers in your field, I would be willing to bet that the majority of them have coaches, or at least had good coaching and mentoring while they were building their business.
You can have a great year without the support of a coaching program, but can you have an over-the-top outrageous breakthrough year? You simply can't reach your full potential without support.
With support you can reach your full potential, speed up your path to success, have more fun, prevent getting derailed by your own limiting beliefs and patters, and ensure your success.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Wireless N
Wireless N - Are you up to Speed?
You just bought your Wireless N router and you take it home thinking that you are now going to see wireless speeds that are blazing fast compared to your Wireless G router.
Here is the inside scoop on Wireless N products
Wireless N claims to give you the ability of having 300 mbps speeds. This is only theory speed not the real speed. Even if this speed was reachable in the "Real World" wireless networks are half-duplex which means that you can only transmit or receive not both at the same time. So, this will drop your speeds down to 150mbps. Now add in walls or other obstacles (walls, doors, metal objects), co-channel interference and distance you are probably left with a whole 54 mbps to work with.
Wireless networks speeds are a combination of how much non-fluctuating bandwidth is available and how far that stable signal will transmit. You could have a very stable signal at 20 feet away but in the next room it could drop down to nothing. Or you could have a wireless signal that travels very far but almost zero stability. A stable signal gives you the ability for Streaming video, Wireless VOIP phone calls, Multi-media and much more.
Wireless N certification is interpreted by each vendor in a different way so get the most out of you wireless N network is to use a wireless router / access point and wireless adapters form the same vendor. Next find out how many mill watts or dbm the wireless access point will transmit at. The more mill watts or dbm the more powerful the radio. Next check to see what types of antennas does the wireless access points and adapters use. Some wireless access points have only one antenna while others have up to 14. More is not always better but in general it helps. Finally if you want Wireless N Speeds the computer and wireless access point need to be Wireless N.
Remember Wireless N speed depends on distance, obstacles, vendors, antennas, interference, placement, configuration and client sensitivity.
Computer Registry
Checking your computer registry, cleaning and repairing it are one of the essential maintenance functions of a computer. It is necessary to ensure that your computer is working correctly, that programs, which are no longer in existence, do not take up memory and your computer is not filled with items that are not necessary. These files can also create errors for you if there are too many of them in addition to freezing, slow load times and hanging programs.
There are several different ways to ensure that you do the best registry repair that you can do on your system. The first thing is to get a good registry cleaner there are a number of windows XP registry repair applications available many of them free of charge or for a reduced rate. These registry cleaners take the work out of cleaning up your registry. Before these cleaners individuals had to be trained in order to be able to access the registry, identify which files were safe to remove or were attached to the program that they were deleting and remove them.
The best registry repair program, removes the registry files for programs which have been deleted and which are not being used by other applications. It is common for registry files to be shared between programs in order to save space. These shared files often should not be deleted since they are being used by other programs and removing them can actually cause problems with the programs that are sharing them.
When you look into windows XP registry repair programs it is a good idea to check into the reviews on the program. Make sure that not only does it have good reviews from the computer experts but that it also has good reviews from users. You want to know what people like you think about the program before you go out and spend your money on it.
The second thing is that you are going to want to look for in the best registry repair program is the back up. You are going to want to ensure that you can back up your registry in case of an accidental deletion. This helps you to restore the files you need to restore without causing a problem for your computer. This is an essential function of the best windows XP registry repair programs on the market.
There are a number of different programs on the market. Some of these programs are paid others freeware but the good ones all have a few things in common and all help to protect your computer from the issues that come from having a clogged registry. Without cleaning your registry you could deal with computer slow downs, hanging programs, increased load times and a number of errors that come from having invalid values in your registry. These invalid values can actually cause your computer applications even seemingly unrelated applications because of shared files. Having a good registry cleaning program is one of the essential maintenance programs for your computer.