Adware, spyware and computer virus share some similarities, one of which is that all three are major nuisances for computer users. Let's differentiate the three.
Spyware is software that does not intentionally harm your computer. What they do is that they create pathways wherein someone else aside from the computer owner can communicate with the computer. Normally spywares record the various types of web sites you visit which are later used by web advertisers to allow them to send you unwanted emails and pop-ups.
This is why spyware are usually frowned upon and greatly avoided. They are more intrusive than adware. Spyware have their own separate executable programs which allow them to record your keystrokes, scan files on your hard disks and look at other applications that you use including but not limited to chat programs, cookies and Web browser settings.
The spyware then will send the information that it had gathered to the spyware author. The agent will then use this information for advertising and marketing purposes. They even sell the information to advertisers and other parties.
Adware, on the other hand, are more legitimate form of freeware. Similar to spyware, adwares are advertising materials which are packaged into a software or program and are installed automatically once that particular program or software is added into the computer system.
Some forms of adware, on the other hand, download advertising contents as a particular application is being utilized. It is quite unfortunate that most of the adware programs take the form of spywares that is they track and report user information to program authors.
Some signs of spyware infections include pop-up ads that seem to be not related to the site you are viewing. More often than not, spyware pop-ups are advertisements about adult contents. Also if you notice your computer slowing down, there's a big chance that spywares and its other components have found their way in your operating system. When the Windows desktop also takes a longer time to load, its best to scan your computer for possible spyware infections.
Meanwhile, viruses are destructive form of software. They were purely designed and created for one purpose alone: to wreck havoc to your computer. They destroy whatever they come in contact to and will initiate self replication and infect as many components of the computer's operating system or network as possible.
Nowadays, a lot of anti-virus software also provides spyware and adware scanning and removal utilities. Some programs, however, are focused on located and deleting or destroying spyware and adware programs. Whether is an anti-virus software or a anti-spyware dedicated scanner, they both search your computer and identify any spyware and virus installed on your system.
They then remove it as well as their components located in the system registry among other places in your computer. It is therefore, good to regularly update your virus or spyware scanner to ensure that your computer is protected from the thousands of spyware and viruses in the internet. Never be fooled from ads that claim that their products only contain adware.
These adware maybe spyware in disguised and are just waiting to be deployed for them to gather your information. Learn to setup firewall systems and always block pop-up blockers to minimize computer infection and ensure the security of all your computer files.
A lot of computer users just unpack their new computer switch it on and never give any thought to there online security while they surf the internet. If you use your computer to do work or shop online, computer security is something everyone should give some thought.
No matter what your computer skills are, everyone can create a simple password for their computer which will be a start in securing your computer. Follow these steps to create your password:
1. Click on start then on settings and finally on Control Panel.
2. From the control Panel, select the User Accounts and then click on your User account.
3. Follow the steps for creating a password for your user account and apply it.
This first step will require a user to input the password to gain access to your account when the computer is switched on. When choosing your password please try and include some numbers and capital letters but make sure you will be able to remember it. A good example would be if you were going to use your pet dog's name of milo, you could input M1L0. The more digits you use the more secure it will be. You now have your own computer profile on the computer which no one else can use or gain access to your files.
Make a Password for Your Word Documents
After you make a certain written document you want to keep away from people you do not want to read it, you can always password protect it. You can us this to protect individual text file that you want to hide from everyone else.
1. In Microsoft word choose options from the tools menu.
2. Then click on the security tab on the pop-up and you type in the password that is required to open the text file in the box provided for.
3. Then click on OK after typing in your password and you will need to re-verify this password after you click OK.
4. Now you can safely save the document and be secure that no one else can read it without the password. You can only open this particular written document after you supply the right password. Even if some hacks into your computer and copies some of your work they will still have a hard time gaining access to your personnel data.
Online security is a very important part of our daily lives, the more you do today to protect yourself the less chance you will fall prey to the online criminals.
Computers take a lot of abuse these days and laptops probably bear the most of it. As mobile technology gains momentum more and more people are using their laptops to store information that they can access readily wherever they are.
In an effort to have organized, ready to refer information at their fingertips, many people are shifting over to virtual ways of storing data but not many pay attention to the fact that like many advanced machines a laptop also needs to be cared for and maintained. When one day your laptop decides to take a breather and crash, you realize you are at risk of losing all that valuable information that you entrusted into the hands of your faithful laptop. Backups may not be updated and every second of data loss may cost you a lot of money. Luckily, you have data recovery services that can help salvage your data with the help of advanced software and techniques. Data recovery experts are able to retrieve data that has been lost due to mechanical, electrical, physical and accidental causes as long as the damage is not irreversible.
Many services offer remote data recovery that is performed online. If that does not solve your problem, you can always ship the machine to the company's lab. The data recovery software provided by many companies also offers you a user friendly method to trace your lost files and recover all the valuable data in them. If you have critical information stored in your emails you can also opt to choose email recovery software that will help save your emails from getting destroyed.
Data loss can sign the death warrant for your business, unless you are able to locate and use the right resources that can help recover all the valuable information stored in your laptop.
Did you buy a new computer? You did. Did you make sure that you have removed all of your personal information from your old PC before discarding it? Many people just delete the files and information off the desktop, but what they DO NOT do is-clear their hard drives. The hard drives are the most sensitive thing in the computer and should be wiped and cleansed of YOUR information before selling or giving it to someone. Anybody can easily recover your personal data by using software for retrieving data. This could cause embarrassment as well as a source of trouble for the previous user. The data is always retrievable even though it got lost due to some sort of damage or error. That is why it is very important to clear all the information from your old PC's hard drive after uploading data to a new computer.
The data on your hard drive does not delete completely by deleting files repeatedly or by reformatting the existing drives. A computer genius can retrieve the data easily if it is not completely removed from the drives. Unless data is over written, programs that read the disk can always detect and recover lost data. Some of the guaranteed ways to DELETE the data completely or to make it inaccessible is to degauss, clean the drive or to destroy the storage media.
Some software programs such as CBL Data Shredder are also available that are effective in destroying data. They also offer a free Windows application that eliminates the possibility of anyone successfully retrieving computer data. CBL Data Shredder and other such programs are available on the Internet for downloading. There are also available on a CD from different stores and can be purchased online too.
CCTV stands for closed circuit television. It is a system where the circuit is closed and all the elements are linked. This is different from broadcast T.V. where tuners pick up the signals from the airwaves. For purposes of this article, linked means connected by wiring, microwave, infrared, etc.
What's It Used For?
The most obvious and common use for CCTV is for security. This type of installation is used in a variety of locations such as stores, banks, and government buildings. However, there are so many other uses. It can be used for monitoring traffic. It is used in sports stadiums to focus on the audience. It can be hidden in trains and buses to detect vandalism. It can be used to monitor animals in a zoo. It can even be used to reproduce infrared vision. The applications are almost limitless.
What's In It?
It all starts with the camera. This creates the picture that is transmitted to the control area. Most CCTV cameras are not fitted with lenses. They must be obtained separately and screwed on. There is a standard screw thread although there are different mounts. Not all lenses have focus adjustment. Most have iris adjustment. Some wide angle lenses do not have a focus ring. There is a BNC jack for connecting the video cable. In the case of line powered cameras, this coaxial cable also provides power. The monitor is what receives the signal that the camera creates. A CCTV monitor is similar to a television set but it does not have tuning circuits.
Simple CCTV systems consist of a camera connected to a monitor with coaxial cable. This cable also carries the power needed for the camera. This is called a line powered camera. The Pye Observation System was such a system and was popular during the early days of CCTV. It was affordable and could be set up with a minimum of difficulty. The next big step in the technology was allowing for four cameras to be connected to the monitor simultaneously. The view could be programmed to cycle through the available cameras or go to a particular camera chosen by the user.
Record For Posterity
Another big advance was when footage could be recorded and stored. The footage would be played back according to the viewing cycle the user chose. Once the footage is recorded, it cannot be changed to go to a different camera. The next step would be cameras that were able move and swivel. Simple platforms that move on a horizontal plane are called scanners. If a platform moves on both vertical and horizontal units it is called a pan, tilt unit.
The concept of CCTV is simple enough to understand. It is the application of such technology that still holds many undiscovered gems. Such a simple concept can be tapped for its limitless potential. And for the end user, it can serve as a great tool to accomplish many different things. In the end, that is the most important thing.
This article explains what a (PC or Laptop) Computer Backup is and how it can now be done quickly and easily and hence why there is really now no excuse for not having a computer backup.
In this article having a Computer backup means taking a copy of all of your software and all of your data held on all of the hard drives inside your PC. Having a full backup of this type means that should any or all of your hard drives fail or your computer is stolen, you still have a complete copy of everything that was on your computers hard drives.
Hard drives are very reliable, but they can go wrong. Also viruses can corrupt the data on your hard drives. If and when a hard drive problem occurs you will be glad you took the trouble to keep a full system backup. The alternative is reloading and configuring all of you software again and then there is the more difficult problem of all that lost personal data such as emails, documents, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, Music, Videos, Photos etc.
In the past computer backups would have been difficult and time consuming as they might have involved using a lot of floppy disc. Alternatively you could have gone for either an internal or external Tape Backup unit. A tape backup would do the complete system backup for you, but it might take several hours to backup everything on a system containing perhaps only many megabytes (MB) of data, but systems today often have gigabytes (GB) of data. (Note, 1GB is 1024MB i.e. over a thousand times bigger.)
One method to backup your complete system these days is to use a DVD writer, if your computer system contains a suitable DVD drive. You can buy software that will backup your complete software and saves it to the hard drive in a number of compressed large files. Usually two of these large files can be saved to a 4.7GB DVD. So if your full system backup produced eight of these large files you would then have to save these files to four DVDs. All this can be done, it just takes time and effort and a collection of rewritable DVDs. You must also remember to do this at regular intervals, and to keep 2 or 3 sets of these backup DVDs, so that you are never overwriting your current backup disks. However, there is now a better way and the next method is why there really is no excuse for not having a computer backup.
You can now get external hard drives that can simply be connected to your computer (PC or Laptop) via connections such as the USB connector. These external hard drives can be used to store even more data, but another very good use for them is as backup devices. When you purchase one of there external hard drives it may well come with software that allows you to do full backups as described above. These backups can be done easily and quickly in one step as all of your software and data is stored to compressed and possibly encrypted files on the external hard drive. Encryption of these backup files on the external hard drive is a very good idea as it means any sensitive personal data that is backed up is secure, just in case this external hard drive is stolen.
If you purchase an external hard drive that does not come with its own backup software then all you need to do is purchase the same type of backup software that was mentioned above when describing backing up to DVDs, but in this situation the software will simply backup directly to the external hard drive eliminating the need to copy files to DVDs.
So now you can do full backups easily and quickly at regular interval. There is however, another very useful feature that should come with these types of backup programs and that is to specify specific directories that you want monitored and if any file in these directories is updated or a new file is created then these files would be backed up immediately/dynamically to the external hard drive.
So for example on a Windows system you might specify that your "My Documents", Desktop and Favorites directories be backed up dynamically. If you then created a new document and saved it in the "My Documents" directory a backup would also be saved to the external hard drive. If you then updated this document and saved it, the software would automatically backup the file again, possibly giving it a version number on the external hard drive so that if need be you could go to the backup and choose from a list of backed up copies of the same file. This could be useful if you deleted something for example from a saved Word document, but then later wished you still had that content, in which case you could go back to the older backed up version and retrieve the deleted text.
One other thing to consider is that if you keep your external hard drive permanently connected to your computer there is the possibility that a virus could corrupt this hard drive or if your computer is stolen the external hard drive may also be stolen. To guard against this situation you could also do the DVD backup strategy as described above occasionally, or you could invest in a second hard drive that is only used for the full backups and disconnected and stored somewhere safe between backups.
If you decide to only connect your external hard drive to you computer when you do a full system backup, you could use the same external hard drive to backup any other computers you have, assuming the external hard drive has the storage capacity.
You may well have paid hundreds or even thousands of Dollars/Pounds etc for your computer hardware and software. You will have spent many hours configuring and adding data to your system in terms of documents, spreadsheets, music, photos, videos etc. So if you take all of this into account and look at the relative cost of purchasing an external hard drive just for backing up you system, you should now agree that there is no excuse for not having a Computer Backup.
It is very easy transferring files to your PSP once you know the process, You can transfer files by drag & drop them to the left/right. You can also select an MP4 MP4 file to change its title so that it will be shown in your PSP.
Do you know that the PSP isn't just a gaming electronic device companion when you're bored to death. Sony's PSP offers more than gaming. It could actually be your best companion during rainy days when all of your friends are at home and you can't seem to enjoy your outdoor recreation. Your PSP is good for video viewing, listening music and of course, playing games. PSP allows you to transfer photos, music and piggy back your PC in saving important files you need to bring during your vacation without your big desktop.
With much appreciation to this electronic device's features, you'll soon understand that this will be your buddy for it's built to piggy back your files while you're away from your home PC. On one hand, you'll need a good Sony Media Manager software if you'd like to transfer your music, photos, and your videos from your PC to your PSP device. The Sony Media Manager is a Sony software provision that can be purchased for around $20-$25, separate from the PSP. You also have the option to choose third-party software or freeware but are usually limited to video files to PSP-formatted conversion. Whichever you opt to use, you'll be given instruction how to do the transferring of your files from your PC to PSP.
In addition, you can make use of the Memory Stick when transferring image, video and audio files to your PSP. Your PSP is already equipped with memory stick duo and with the use of a USB cable, you can transfer your files hassle-free. Transferring files to your PSP is quite easy and your major tools are time and patience for it may take you around 2 minutes of more depending on how big and numbers of files you need to transfer.
So to successfully transfer your image, videos and audio files to your PSP, follow these simple steps. Prepare your Memory Stick of 2.00 or higher. Actually, transferring of files to your PSP is similar to the way you transfer music files to your PSP. You'll need to accomplish the same procedure:
1.Insert your memory stick to the left side part of your PSP.
2.Plug the USB at the back portion of the PSP. Remember, your USB need to have the mini B connector for you to plug it in to your PSP and the other connection needs to be plugged to the PC.
3.Locate the Settings icon in your PSP. Always use the X button when you enter or choose the settings/options. Once your PC identified the PSP, you'll receive the "portable device storage" identified message.
4.Create your PSP folder for the files that you'd like to transfer. Drag and drop these files to that folder.
5.Make sure to safely remove your USB and PSP from your pc by clicking the safely remove hardware option at the bottom part of your PC.
With the 5-quick steps, you can be sure that your files are in good hands. Unless there's an error or malfunction occurred, you can be sure that you can carry your files anywhere you go.
Have you noticed that your computer is functioning at a much slower pace than before? How about your computer hanging up on you and freezing altogether? Are there even times where it gave you the blue screen? Each and everyone of us has already gone through such stages in 'life' before and we all know how pain and agonizing it is to see the work you have been working on for the past hour gone in an instant. However, there are ways to deal with this and here we will give you some tips on how to check up your computer.
Check for viruses
It is always important to check first for any viruses or Trojans that may have unknowingly slipped into your computer under your nose. Find the best anti-virus software you can find out there and install it into your computer! Run through the program and let it sieve out all the 'dirt' in your computer. If there happens to be any viruses, let the program deal with it and there are prompts that will teach you how to deal with the virus. After which, you would have a virus free computer and set the virus scan to activate itself at regular intervals daily. As such it will also scan through your mil and everything else to ensure that no other virus would ever enter your computer again. It is absolutely essential for youths these days who love to surf the net.
Rid off all the spyware
Next, you have to get rid of any spyware that may be inside your computer. Believe me, anyone who surfs the net is bound to have some kind of spyware or adaware in their system unless they already have the necessary precautions in place. Websites would drop little programs into your computer and you have no idea that they have. Spyware and what it does varies very much but the main focus of such programs is basically to spy on you, your surfing patterns and your keystrokes. These will all be feed-backed to the original website where the spyware was planted and you would not even know. With all these programs functioning behind your back, no wonder your computer is processing so slowly and it is important to clean up all of these spyware. There are many different good spyware removal sites out there and you just have to download one and remove everything that is bad for your computer.
Last but not the least, you have to constant clean out your registry. Registry files do contain the information on how your software and hardware is suppose to function in your computer. However, these files can get corrupted and sometimes go missing causing your programs to not be able to function. Thus, find some good windows registry repair programs and equip yourself with enough protection to last your computer through.
These 3 steps are not the only steps you can take for a computer checkup, but they are the most important steps. Run them through and your computer should be relatively safe from crashing by itself.
One of the most obvious differences between a blue laser pointer and a green laser pointer is price. A 10 mW blue laser pointer cost $700 compared to the price of the equivalent 15 mW green laser pointer that cost $100.
It is not just blue laser pointers that are more expensive. Blue laser modules, OEM lasers and lab lasers are also much more expensive than their green counterparts. The reason for such a large price differences are the processes used to generate the laser beam, the components used that the manufacturing volumes.
Beam generation process
Both blue and green laser pointers use a pump diode that gives out infrared 808nm light that is used to pump the same type of crystals. The pumped crystals in turn give out light in the far infrared spectrum. The difference between blue and green lasers is the optical coatings on the pumped crystals and the type of far infrared light produced by these crystals.
The pumped crystals in a green laser pointer have an optical coating that causes the crystals to give out mostly 1064nm infrared light that is frequency doubled by another crystal to green 532nm light. The pumped crystals in a blue laser pointer have a different coating that causes the crystals to give out mostly 946nm infrared light that is also frequency doubled by another crystal to 473nm light.
The components
The process of producing 1064nm light is much more efficient than making 946nm light so blue laser pointers need a large pump diode to produce the same power. The larger pump diode makes blue laser pointers more expensive. The frequency doubling crystals in blue laser pointers are rarer and more expensive than those in green laser pointers.
Manufacturing volumes
Green laser pointers have better visibility than blue laser pointers and have less temperature problems at higher power levels. This means that green lasers are used for a larger number of diverse applications such as astronomy, pointing, burning and signaling and are manufactured in very high volumes. Blue laser pointers on the other hand are much more limited in their application and are manufactured in much lower volumes. Like any product, the lower the volume produced, the more expensive the product is.
There are thousands of web sites on the Internet. More and more people now have them. This could be to promote your offline business, run an online business or just have a platform to air your thoughts on your favourite topic.
If you are an internet lover then there may come a time when you decide to make your own website. The website you choose to make could be in many forms . This article is going to deal with generating your own site from just the windows text writer - notepad.
Here are some basics that we need to know about starting your own site.
Domain Names
A domain name is the first thing you will need to get a website up and running. A domain name is the address or URL that people will type into the address bar on their internet browser to access your site. This will usually start with the www - e.g www.mysite.com. Domain names have to be unique so finding one that is not too long and ideally, very catchy is going to be tough. Do a search on Google for Domain names and you will find loads of companies that supply them. You can search if the domain name is free and buy it for a small amount of money.
Domain names have lots of different extensions on the end of them. You have probably noticed the .com and .co.uk at the end of different websites. There are several different extensions you can choose from. a .com is generally more expensive as it is regonised worldwide . A .co.uk is a UK extension so would be ideal if your site was targeting a UK audience or based in the UK. Not to say that a.co.uk site cannot get a worldwide audience though - it is more the fact that people can easily recognise you as a UK site. There are many other extensions that you can only opt for however some have restrictions. a .edu is only for educational establishments and a .ltd.uk is only for limited companies - so as you can see there are restrictions.
Once you have purchased your domain name you then need to think about hosting.
Web Hosting
This is where your website will reside. A domain name alone will do nothing - a hosting package will link your domain name to your webpage files for the world to see.
There are many different types of web hosting available - some cheap, some expensive. If you are just starting out then I would suggest the cheapest will do the job quite nicely. You may find the people that you bought your domain from will also offer hosting as part of a package but I would advise shopping around as price can vary a lot. I would suggest that a years worth of hosting would cost you no more than £25 ($50 approx).
It is important to note that the attaching of your domain name to the hosting package and indeed the creation of the domain name can taker up to 48 hours to complete. So do not be alrmed if it does not immediately work.
Building your site
So now you have everything you need to build up your site. This is where you now have a lot of options available to you depending on what you want your site to be about and how you intend to manage it. For the purpose of this article we are going to assume that you just want a simple page online so when people visit your site they can look up some information about you or your company.
To allow us to do this we need to understand a bit of HTML - HTML may sound scary but it really isn't It stands for hyper text markup language. This allows you to create a very basic webpage in something like your standard notepad editor that comes with Windows.
There is an alternative to this. There are programs called WYSIWYG editors. WYSIWYG stands for What You See Is What You Get. These can make designing webpages very easy. There are some free WYSIWYG editors but for the purpose of this article we are going to assume that you do not have access to these programs and we will stick with HTML.
Video surveillance has been used in the United States for a long time. Banks began using video surveillance way back in the 1960s. This was then extended to hospitals, convenience stores, museums, galleries and other public places in the 1970s. At that time, video surveillance merely recorded events. It was not used for active monitoring.
Better Technology
As technology began to improve, the application of video surveillance began to expand as well. Lenses could now pan and tilt to offer 360 degree coverage. Cameras could also capture clear images even in low light conditions. Digital recording technology also offered automated monitoring functions. In these systems, a video database is maintained and users can search through it. All of this proved invaluable to law enforcement personnel.
Companies in the United States have put a lot of money into video surveillance for their own security. Private sector video surveillance operates across a wide variety of firms. These include manufacturing, financial, transportation, utilizes, and communications among many others.
The Video Boom
This growth in video surveillance has been noticed by developers of video systems and video technology. Sales of such products have reached all-time highs. The net earnings of leading video surveillance manufacturers have skyrocketed. Ten years ago, American businesses were already spending almost $100 billion annually on video surveillance products. Potential losses due to crime could amount to twice that much. About half of all such purchases go to industrial and commercial applications.
Video surveillance is extremely common in the American working environment. A company officer can legally videotape an employee whom they suspect of wrongdoing. Video surveillance is an approved method of observing these suspected persons. Such surveillance is also very useful in catching sexual harassment or medical malpractice. Some studies report that the American worker feels much safer in the presence of video surveillance.
Dangerous Times
The events of 9/11 changed the world. One of those changes is a greater acceptance of video surveillance technology for the purpose of preventing crime and terrorism. Before, shoppers would object to cameras recording their activities. Now, they feel safer if such technology is in place.
A survey shows that video surveillance technology is a deterrent for criminals planning to rob stores. However, it does not stop there. Even if the criminal is brazen enough to go through with his plan, the video footage usually helps a lot in apprehending him later on. Heinous crimes like rape are also deterred by video surveillance.
In the United States, society seems to have adapted well to the ever-present electronic eyes of video surveillance technology. With the tragedy in New York, who can blame them? The challenge today is to balance civil liberties with the necessity for security. That is a fine line that is always being re-drawn time and time again. But there is no doubt that the usage of video surveillance will continue to expand. In this new and very dangerous world, a country must be very careful and ensure the security of its citizens.
If you find yourself wondering how to remove spyware from your PC, it means that you've noticed that your computer is malfunctioning. What spyware and adware programs usually do is slowing down your computer speed by cluttering your hard drive with unnecessary and disturbing programs. Taking actions to remove spyware and adware will noticeably increase your drive speed and help you use your computer properly.
The main concern with all adware and spyware is that they pose serious security issues. You need to remove adware as soon as possible if you suspect its presence, because your personal information may be at risk. Whoever created the adware that has infected your PC can get access to the data you have stored in it, even if you are not online.
Other annoying effect of spyware programs is creating pop-ups. They can make the whole Internet surfing experience really annoying. Also, adware can modify your home page and infect some pages in order to display their own messages that are, most of the times, obscene.
Removing spyware is possible and one of the most efficient ways to stop its effects is using computer firewall protection. These firewalls prevent any adware or spyware from being installed in your computer as legitimate data is being downloaded when you surf the Internet.
It is of utmost importance to detect and delete spyware since their danger level has surpassed that of viruses. Spyware is now considered number one danger threatening our computers in the present.
In order to remove adware you need to research different methods. You can manually remove spyware or you can take the automatic route. Choosing to remove adware manually can prove to be difficult as each spyware may require different removal procedures.
Although most of us don't perceive what threat adware can be, it is imperative to show interest to what adware protection is concerned. If you are one of those people who has never checked his PC for spyware, adware and other harmful viruses, you're in for a real surprise. Scan your computer right away and start searching for the best way to remove spyware.
With Apple launching a whole new range of iPods recently, including the iPod Touch, can Creative afford to be far behind? Not one to be caught shuffling around (pun intended), Creative has launched the Zen Stone Plus series. With a player so tiny, we’d expected the Zen Stone to felt flimsy, but surprisingly it didn’t. There’s a small circular blue OLED screen- nothing special- and a play button surrounded by a circular button that houses four controls-track shuffle and volume up / down. There’s a tiny button on the top of the player that has controls for the Menu and play / pause functions.
Available in 2GB only, the Zen Stone features FM radio and supports up to 32 presets, inbuilt audio recording, and stopwatch function-not bad for such a small device. Unlike iPods, there are no drivers required to connect it to your PC-just drag and drop, which is a huge relief. Music quality is a mixed bag with the Stone. Firstly, if you’re even remotely interested in good sound, throw away the bundled earplugs. Once we replaced them with our Creative EP630 headphones, everything was so much clearer. Then we tried the Bose Intra Ear-our reference for PMPs-and things seemed even better. Punchy, tight bass, superb vocal tones, and a decent extended high-end makes the Zen Stone very suitable for rock, pop, jazz and reggae. If you listen to lot of classical music, you’ll need much better headphones to bring out the recessed highs. Bottom-line: the Zen Stone is only limited by its default earplugs-and most PMPs are.
Don’t let this stop you buying it-if you want something tiny, sturdy, and easy to use, the Zen Stone will suit you. If you want good sound, invest in a pair of decent in-ear earplugs.
A common question of computer users looking for an online backup service is, "What exactly should I be looking for in backup service?" These are the 3 most important features that you should be looking for before you sign up:
1. Automated Backup Scheduling:Any decent backup company will offer automated backups. These sort of backups are handy because they allow you to upload new data to their servers every single day without pushing any buttons. This is great for computers that are on most of the time but are not used very often. No one has to be at the computer for the backup to begin. Make sure the backup service offers daily backups. Automated backup scheduling provides great peace of mind for you, the user.
2. Backup Whenever You Want:Being able to backup on demand is just as important as automatic backups. This is important if you have just saved an important file(s) to your computer and need to make sure you have a backup of it as soon as possible. On demand backups are perfect for those situations, as well as when you just feel like saving all your data. You know that feeling you get that makes you always want to click that save button when typing documents. Well, on demand backup allows you to do that with all your files.
3. Quick And Simple File Restoration:When you do actually need a file that you backed up, you don't want to have to wait forever to access it. The online backup service you use should allow you to quickly find the file that you are looking for and restore it to your hard drive in only a few clicks. This is important when you have lost a file that you need right away and don't have time to go through some complicated restoration process. File restoration should be quick and simple
With each version of the Windows operating systems the backup process has improved. In prior versions I relied on third party backup solutions. With the Vista operating system I found that the Backup program that comes with Vista is dependable, and there is no need to buy another backup program.
The above statements are true if you are backing up your data to a USB external drive. I have a 250Gb external drive and I backup my computer at least once a month. You can use DVDs, but you would need multiple DVDs.
If you have a home network you can also backup one computer to another. If you only have a wireless network I would not recommend it because it will be a very slow process.
To start the backup process click on the Start menu and select the All Programs button, then select the Accessories folder, then Systems Tools folder and click on Backup Status and Configuration menu option. You have three options here:
· Backup Files
· Restore Files
· Complete PC Backup
Backup Files is when you want to backup your data only. No programs or operating files will be backed up. This would be good if you have the Vista DVD and CDs for all of your application. You would then just have to re-install the operating system and the applications, then restore your data.
You can also set this for automatic and as long as the device that you back up to is connected, it will perform the backup automatically.
Restore Files if you needed to restore the files from step one discussed above. Restore Files will allow you to recover an individual file, or a backup made on another computer, or restore files made from this computer.
The Complete PC Backup will copy the entire contents of your hard drive. I usually backup my computer once a month using the data as the file name. You basically select the Complete PC Backup and click on Create a backup now. Make sure the hard drive you are backing up to is attached. It will take some time to backup your entire system, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.
Advanced Restore will allow you to transfer the entire contents of your backup to a new hard drive or computer. This is done through the Advanced Restore option after you click on the Restore Files button.
Backing up to another computer running Vista may cause problems with Windows authentication. If it is only the hard drive that is different, you will need to re-authenticate the computer, but it can be done in about ten minutes.
Everyone thinks that they are safe until their computer stops working. Hard drives fail on 35% of the computers within the first year. Why take a chance. Make sure you backup your computer today.
There are also on-line backup locations offered on the Internet. Some are inexpensive. If something happened to the backup device, you are still out of luck. Having an online backup might be the right solution because these companies have a lot of redundancy. Go to the newsletter section of my site where I recommend a vendor for backups.
What can be worse for a business than to lose time and money? Today businesses depend more on the servers and network deployed applications rather than anything else. For example, if you rely on MS Exchange Server in your everyday business operations, you can easily translate server downtime into lost revenues. And if you happen to lose data stored on the MS Exchanger Server (MES), the consequences for your company may be even more tragic.
This raises an important issue: how to efficiently protect data stored on MES without having to stop operations? The answer to this question is a good MES backup program. The use of the backup program gives you a number of important advantages. Firstly, the program allows doing automatic MES backup and restore. This means that once you have assigned a backup task of the MES databases, you may rest assured that in case of server failure or data loss, you will be up and running in no time.
So how do you choose a good MES backup program? Well, to start with, you need to make sure that the MES backup feature is included in its functionality. Be careful there, because some backup software only offer this functionality as an additional upgrade, so make sure you do not buy a program to find out that the key feature is missing. To avoid the trouble, use a free trial option. This will allow you to test the MES backup feature in real action i.e. to do MES backup and restore.
Also, make sure that the MES backup program supports your version of MES. It would be a huge mistake to purchase a MES backup program which supports only MES 2003, while you need to back up MES 2007. This information should be clearly stated on the developer's website.
Another feature you would be interested in is MES data selection. The MES backup program should be flexible enough to allow the user select specific sever data components such as email, calendar, contact and tasks as well as user data. Normally, it works like this. You click a button 'MES backup' and the data are automatically added to the backup set. Then you manually select which components to back up, or use the file filters.
To ensure convenient MES backup, you need to automate the task, so the MES backup program must be able to perform a backup task without much effort required from the user. This is normally implemented with the help of a backup scheduler. Talking about a scheduler, you need to make sure that the scheduler allows for maximum flexibility. So do some research on the scheduler options: how often can you repeat backup, can you link your backup to an event such as an execution of a third party program, for example. Can you shut down an application after the backup has been done?
Also make sure that the MES backup program allows backing up MS Exchange Server while it is running. It would not be very convenient, if you had to stop the application every time you needed to back it up. So make sure that your MES backup program allows backing up the MES databases in real time while the application is running.
Amazingly many big company's still use tape drives, I have many clients myself that feel that using the old tape method is the best way to go when backing up their data... But for me, I simply feel that tape drives have had their day and it's now time to make room for Flash Drives and external HDDs.
Now if you work in a massive company with a massive funding pot then your probably have a more advanced backup procedure with high end backup storage servers, but even then you will need some kind of media device where you can store your files off site.
This is what was great about tape drives, you could easily store data on them and also erase then for another use without endless formating. Compact Disks (CD) are a great way to backup but have limited space, the same with DVDs you can only store so much on them. But the same goes for tapes, they can reach around 20GB but the larger they are the longer it takes to erase and rewind...
Tapes also decay, if you wanted to use tape drives to keep a history of data over a long period of time then think again, you may get many years but in the end they will decay and will be useless.
It's time to move on and use the next generation technology...
Flash drives are becoming more and more popular and also external HDD drives are becoming more advanced, bigger and cheaper!
Though let's talk more about flash drives, what advantage do they have over your standard tape drive. Firstly, they are way faster, so quick that they put your top of the range HDD drive to shame. Flash drives work like your average USB memory stick, they can now come in many sizes roughly around 32gb being the largest size.
Though there is two different versions, once works like RAM in your PC, this version is the fastest and works well but has a downfall of when power is cut off from the device (Like DDR RAM) it loses its memory.
But one version which many are using is the one that works like your average USB memory stick, its fast, it saves the data after being detached and is also very portable and hard to destroy!
Next backup media is the external HDD drives, they are much bigger then a small USB flash drive but can store way much more data and are more suited towards backing up file servers which store thousands of gigs worth of data. Not only that but external hard disks are becoming cheaper every single day. It's possible to get hold of a 350GB drive for 50GBP (Great British Pound) which is dirt cheap considering how much your data is worth.
The only problem with external drives is that its still a hard disk which can be corrupted if handle incorrectly, you still have to take care and buy the right drive as some get hotter then others. Other then that its probably the best and cheapest way of backing up your important data.
Tape drives for me are out, they are old and easy to break and if left in the wrong place can cause your data to be corrupted.
Hope this article helps you better understand which are the latest and best backup medias in the market.
There is one method that help in data recovery that has been long forgotten, despite that fact it exist in the computer world. Many would have think that losing data on our computer's hard drive, on tapes, and on diskettes we would think that there would be no other way to misplace or lose our important data, but we'd be wrong.
Using this near forgotten technique now.
The method is called CD data recovery, many may have known this method, but how often people are using it to retrieve their data; this time CD data recovery is the art of recovering data that has been lost on, you guessed it, a CD.
It is not the end of the world.
It is no longer the end of your life or the world if you had just lost your favorite photos, music files or any important information. With this method, your lost information can be completely recovered in most cases.
Just relax.
This method can help you to recover your data if you have lost your data on a CD-R, CD-RW or DVD. What are the reasons for data lost or failure on a CD?
#1 Due to virus attacks.
#2 Lost partitions.
#3 Configuration errors.
#4 The performance of the drives when reading the files to the CD.
The above reason makes the recovery of data on a CD often complicated, but rest assured that there is always hope for recovering your lost data.
Help is around.
There are some software that are able to help you to recover your data from a CD. Some of them are fully automatic and simple rewrites the lost files back to the hard drive, recovering missing or lost data from documents, images, and even applications.
They are cheap with high level of success. It also does not overwrite the files on the CD, which often can cause problems.
Another software such as "Multi Data Rescue" are used by many IT experts to recover their lost data from CDs. This program is usable in the Windows interface and is considered to be very user friendly. It can be used to recover data from CDs and DVDs, supports digital media recovery, and can even recover data from memory cards and USB related data issues.
With so many programs in the marketplace, CD data recovery is no longer about trying the impossible but rather rather about getting your lost files and documents back as soon as possible.
In conclusion.
Recovering in a quick manner is what all it matters right now though it is no longer a concern how much data had been lost.
Having said that, technology can be both an blessing or hindrance at times, but in the end, there are always tools to help us out. There will more and more advanced programs to help you to recover your data fast.
If you have ever lost or accidentally deleted important files from your hard drive, you know what a horrible feeling it is to think your vital data is gone forever. Fortunately, recovering data from a hard drive is not as hard as you might think, and within the scope of most computer users.
Now, had you been backing up your hard drive regularly, this shouldn't have been an issue in the first place. You DO back up the files on your hard drive regularly, don't you? Well, don't you?
Don't worry. You are not alone. Most people, even those who know better, do not back up their hard drives as often as they should, leaving important files vulnerable to loss or deletion.
However, data deleted in the usual way from a hard drive is not actually lost. It is simply not visible to you, the computer user. Unless the sectors themselves are overwritten, the data is still there and capable of being recovered.
Therefore, the first thing you have to do is to NOT write any more data. Do not save any more data if you can. Do not use another program. Just stop using your computer immediately. If you do not, you run the risk of overwriting the very data you are trying to recover.
If you have simply deleted files and emptied your Recycle Bin or even if your computer has crashed or you have lost, damaged, or reformatted partitions, you have a couple of options (besides taking it to a computer repair shop).
You can remove the hard drive and add it to another computer as a secondary drive. This helps assure that you will not accidentally write over the files you are trying to rescue.
Then you can simply boot the second computer and, using one of a wide variety of data recovery software available nowadays (such as Search and Recover or Undelete) installed on the second computer, restore the deleted and lost files from your old hard drive to the new drive.
Or, if you have an installation CD (yes, you can even make your own - but make sure you do not make it on your problem computer while you are working on it), you can actually use the software directly from the CD to restore your files right to your hard drive.
Restoring lost or deleted data from your hard drive gives you an 85% chance of recovering the data without having to resort to expensive restoration services.
After you have recovered your lost or deleted files from your hard drive, the next thing you need to do is come up with a good backup strategy for your data. The easiest way is just to put a reminder on your calendar and burn your data to a CD or DVD each week, month or some other interval. A better and more reliable option is to purchase computer backup software and put your backup process in auto pilot mode. There are a number of good services and software out there to help you backup your valuable and precious data. Take advantage of it!
Suffering a computer or hard drive crash is a nightmare most of us do not even want to contemplate. Our computers store our most valuable ideas, family memories and financial data. The very thought of losing items such as digital photos, income tax data, school homework assignments, business reports and so on can make you sick at the stomach.
The best way to provide yourself with peace-of-mind is to have a solid data backup system in place. This can be as simple as backing up your files to DVD or an external hard drive. A better option that works for you is to use software services that back your data up on the Internet.
These services, called online backup services, allow you to save your valuable data off-site conveniently, safely, and on a schedule, protecting your resources for a reasonable price. For as cheap as five bucks a month or so, you can backup all your precious files to a remote computer.
These backup sites works very simply. Instead of storing your backup files on local media, such as a server or DVD, you simply send your encrypted data over the internet to another computer at another location, and this other computer acts as your remote backup. Then, should you lose a file, you just connect to that remote computer and restore it.
In addition, those backup computers are, themselves, backed up regularly so you get, in effect, multiple off-site backups.
There are two main types of backup services: those offering software-based backups and those offering web-based ones.
Software-based backup requires you to install backup software on your computers. Using this software, you connect to the backup service, choose the files you want backed up, then transfer them over the Internet to the remote backup. While you can install this software on as many computers as you want, you need it to access your data so, if you are trying to access the data from another location or a new computer, you will need to install the software there. The upside of this type of backup service is that you generally can back up more files as you generally get more storage space.
Web-based backup services require no software on your computer other than a web browser. You use the backup service's website to choose what files to transfer and when. The upside is that you can access these backed-up files from many computer, not just from ones that have the backup software on them.
There are numerous benefits to data backup services online, including the fact that someone else does all the work, maintains all the backup equipment and media, and manages all the storage. The process can be made completely automatic and is simple to manage, requiring no fancy computer skills.
Online data backup services offer you the most convenient way to back up your files without having to remember to do it on a regular basis. These services are typically extremely easy-to-use and are recommended by many of today's top computer and Internet related magazines.
It's inevitable. Everyone faces hard drive failure at least once in their life. Whether its a stolen computer, a natural disaster, or simply a faulty drive, everyone will live this nightmare in real life. So what are the options for keeping your precious data in a safe place?
There are so many options for keeping your data safe because hard drive failure is such a common and life-shattering event. Options range from localized to off-site back-up solutions. Every option ranges in cost, the amount of control you have to recover data, and the convenience factor of the recovery and backup processes.
If you don't feel like throwing down cash on hardware, you can go the off-site backup route. The obvious benefit to online backup is not needing to pay for a device to store your data. Also, even if you do have your own device it is still not immune to failure and disasters. Online backup companies own ultra-secure servers with enormous amounts of available space to store your precious data. The drawbacks include having to download a program and/or run your system's resources in order to continually backup your data, the need to have constant internet access, trusting your data to a third party, and a monthly payment. Some of the big players in the online backup community include Carbonite, X-Drive, Box.net, Mozy, Connected.com, Novastor, and I-Backup.
The other option you could go with is local backup, or in other words, your own hardware. There is a big variety of hard drives you can buy and some are even designed exclusively for backing up your data conveniently. If you are in the market for a low cost solution that allows you to backup data instantly, look for the drives with a physical button on the enclosure that will back up your entire hard drive or specified sections. These are relatively inexpensive depending on the amount of space you need, but the main drawback is that these, like all hard drives, are fallible. If this drive dies, you're in trouble.
There are more higher-end back up solutions that uses a technology called RAID (Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks). These systems use two or more drives that mirror the data you are backing up. In other words, every time you drag and drop a file onto this external storage system, it writes an exact copy of both files onto two seperate drives. This way, if one hard drive fails, you know you'll always have a healthy drive with all of your precious data. One popular RAID module is the Buffalo DriveStation Duo, providing two SATA drives for space in the 1.5 terabyte neighborhood (that's around 1500 gigs).
Backing up data that is worth more than the hardware that is storing it will help avoid catastrophes that can end up in costly data recovery services, or even unrecoverable losses.
It is an hour to deadline for submitting a proposal for a job you have committed to doing for a client. Your computer is down and you have no idea of how to bring it back. Everything you have tried is to no avail. What will you do? The bad part of this is that the job you are submitting a proposal for is worth a lot of money that your company cannot afford to lose. Do you have remote data backup software? No. Well you are in trouble.
This is a scenario that can happen more easily than you think. Do not let this happen to you. Not only is it bad for business, but your reputation can suffer. This can be detrimental to any further jobs that you may try to get. If you value your business and cannot afford to miss opportunities due to computer problems, you need to invest in a good remote data backup software. By increasing efficiency, you do not have to spend time and money trying to get your computer files back up and running when you do not have either.
By backing up your data, access to anything that you need can be found at the click of a mouse. Well, a little more than that but not much. All you have to do is go to your choice of remote data backup, click on remote access, and put in your account number and password. Prepare your files for downloading and you are ready to go. Download them to your computer and you have everything at your fingertips. The good thing about remote data backup software is if your computer is down, you can access these files from any computer that has internet access.
If you are in the business of making money and your computer is your lifeline, you owe it to yourself to use remote data backup software. The loss of important files can affect your business to the point that it can put you out of business. You never know when you may need something in a particular file. If you cannot get to it, you are flirting with disaster. To ensure that you can find what you need when you need it, a remote backup service is your best choice.
When you do not have problems getting your clients taken care of and do not have delays, the client is happy, you are happy, and your business profits. Word of mouth is the greatest advertiser of all. When your clients recommend you to someone else and brag about the service they received, you are well on the way to building a great clientele. Using remote data backup software will only ensure that you will continue to be able to take care of the clients you have and the ones you will get.
To wrap it up, the best thing you can do if you have a business, small or large, home based, or not is to invest in remote data backup software. Your time is money and you cannot afford to spend it looking for files that have disappeared from your computer. If you are going to run a business, run it like a business, not a hobby.
Your company has not invested in online data storage solutions. The bad thing is your computer system has crashed and now you cannot access anything. Is there a good thing? No, there is not because you are about to loose a lot of money that you cannot afford to lose. Had you used data storage solutions, there would be no problem. You could have the files you need in a matter of minutes.
Online data storage will file anything you want to keep with a safe and secure server. Only you or whomever you set up a password system to access information can pull up anything. This is the safest way of keeping your confidential information where you can access it no matter what happens to your computer.
You can access this information from anywhere as long as you have a computer that is internet ready. If you have to replace a computer or computers in your business, you can get back everything important that you had saved. Because you may have lost it on your computer but it is secure at an online data storage facility, there will be no need to panic.
From the very beginning when people started using computers there has been the threat of computers crashing. It can be a virus or something that your computer picks up from the internet. Whatever it is, the computer is not infallible. One of these days, it is prone to crashing and crash it will. There is not a question of if, but when. If you do not use data storage solutions to protect your important data, you will find out that it is not easy to recover information. Sometimes it is impossible.
Backing up personal records is not a bad idea either. You may have financial information on your computer. If you work at home on your computer, the idea that you are in for smooth sailing is not exactly true. If people only knew how easy it is to pick up something that will change your computer system, there would be loads more people looking into online data storage solutions.
Even if you do not use your personal computer for work, you may use it for paying bills and keeping financial records. If this information becomes the victim of a computer crash, you will be unable to access it. You may lose data that you will never be able to recover if you do not use data storage solutions to keep your facts and figures safe.
Basically the one thing you need to remember is that when you do not safeguard information, just as you would safeguard your money, your home, and your family, you leave it open to either loss or even worse, theft. Do not become a victim. Safeguard your computer information with data storage solutions. The day will come when you will be glad you did.
There are many ways with which you can backup and recover your data both from windows and Linux operating system. One way of doing so is to have a local data center to be created so as to make a backup of each and every data bits you create. And another way is to make an online Data Storage disk so as to store the data in a remote data center.
Both the technique mentioned above is helpful and depends largely on the needs of yours. If you are ready to invest and a bit serious about your important data then go for having a local dedicated data center so as to have the data stored locally. This way you can have an extra control of each and every data bits which will be stored on the backup drive.
But if you decide to go for and online storage disk then you will have a less control of it. It will be a bit cheaper than the dedicated one as well. The online data backup facility will be more prone to security threats as being online storage of data can lead to leak of some of your important data as well.
The above two methods of storing data totally depends upon your needs and how much you are serious about your data backup needs. The storage of data or having backup locally will cost you a lot as you will have to locally setup he data house which will cost more. But this will be the best and the most reliable for any firm if they decide to go for this type of backup solution. In spite of having the large setup cost it also needs a good technician to manage and look after the system as well.
While opting for having online backup storage you need not have to care for anything.
Only you have to do is to go for having the best service of online data storage. Judge the best one and also the most reliable one. Another major problem on having an online data storage is of security. This is the major threat and can never be shorted out permanently. But somehow if you want to save some bucks then you have also to pay for it Never mind you can have a faith on online data storage as well. There are many companies now available in the market which provides the online backup facility in a secure and reliable way. So go and judge for the right thing to backup your data.
As a new technology, Blue ray discs are more expensive than DVD's, and although they will continue to fall in price over the next few years, you can take steps to ensure that any accidents will not deprive you of your movies. Movies are still currently around thirty dollars a piece, and by spending a small fraction of that, you can make sure that you'll always have them. In this guide, you'll learn how to backup Blue ray discs and keep your movie library safe and sound for years to come.
The Blue Ray Drive
You don't need a stand alone Blue ray player. In fact, a computer drive (many new computers are being shipped with Blue ray drives, and you can also buy drives yourself to put into a free 5.25" external bay in your computer) will help you learn how to backup Blue ray discs. Unless you buy two separate drives, you'll need to download some software (often available for free online) that will allow you to "rip" or copy the contents of the Blue ray disc to your computer's hard drive, although you'll want to read tutorials or manuals for the specific software you're using to learn specifically how to backup Blue ray discs with that software.
With the contents of the Blue ray disc copied to your PC, you can insert a blank Blue ray recordable disc into your Blue ray burner and use software like Nero or any other software that can burn to Blue ray discs to do just that. There are too many different ways you might have to burn content to Blue ray discs to list here, so you'll need to read up on the individual manuals or tutorials provided with the software once again to learn the final step in how to backup Blue ray discs.
Some problems remain with these methods though. For one, stand alone Blue ray players and the PS3 don't necessarily support the burned formats (yet), although programs like WinDVD Blu-ray Disc Playback Software will, so you can continue to watch the burned movies on your PC (and if you have a computer Blue ray drive, chances are that that is what you're doing anyway). Blank blue ray discs are just a few dollars a pack, and you can use them to record anything. If you have thousands of digital photos that you've taken over the years, you can free up hard drive space and make your computer run faster by moving all the photos onto a blank Blue ray disc for example. This process is actually pretty easy, and you can make sure damaged discs never hurt your movie library by learning how to backup Blue ray discs and potentially save yourself hundreds of dollars over the years.
While going for hiring someone for the data backup solutions one must know what type of backup techniques they are going to follow. Almost there are five main types of data backup techniques which are generally followed while going for data backup. Each is having its own advantages and disadvantages. Either these techniques mentioned below are applied individually or in groups so as to bring the most of the Data Recovery during crashes or during data loss. Here listed below are the most important backup techniques that are followed while data bachup.
Copy Backup - A copy backup copies all selected files but does not mark each file as having been backed up (in other words, the archive attribute is not cleared). Copying is useful if you want to back up files between normal and incremental backups because copying does not affect these other backup operations.
Daily Backup -A daily backup copies all selected files that have been modified the day the daily backup is performed. The backed-up files are not marked as having been backed up (in other words, the archive attribute is not cleared).
Differential Backup - A differential backup copies files created or changed since the last normal or incremental backup. It does not mark files as having been backed up (in other words, the archive attribute is not cleared). If you are performing a combination of normal and differential backups, restoring files and folders requires that you have the last normal as well as the last differential backup.
Incremental Backup -An incremental backup backs up only those files created or changed since the last normal or incremental backup. It marks files as having been backed up (in other words, the archive attribute is cleared). If you use a combination of normal and incremental backups, you will need to have the last normal backup set as well as all incremental backup sets in order to restore your data.
Normal Backup -A normal backup copies all selected files and marks each file as having been backed up (in other words, the archive attribute is cleared). With normal backups, you need only the most recent copy of the backup file or tape to restore all of the files. You usually perform a normal backup the first time you create a backup set.
There's a great new free software program that will help you save tons of time when searching through files on your computer. It lets you see what's inside your files without your having to actually spend time opening them.
Even if you give your files meaningful names, sometimes it's still hard to find the exact one you want when you're looking for it weeks or months later. Often, you can use the Windows automatic search function and its advanced features to find the file you need.
If that doesn't work, you're pretty much stuck with opening up your files with the program that created them, and looking at them one at a time. And that can take a lot of time if you have a lot of files.
So, imagine my delight when I learned of a free program that would let me peek inside my files without actually opening them. This sounded like a great new way to save time, especially considering the fact that I'd been unsuccessfully searching for a file that my son had created for me a couple of months ago.
More details about that later. First let me tell the name of the program, how to install it, and how to use it.
It's called Universal Viewer (just do a quick Google search to find it) and the basic download will let you peek into your text, image, multimedia, and HTML files. Click on the Installer link listed under the free version heading and choose save to download the file to your computer.
The files are zipped, so you'll need to unzip them. If you don't already have a program on your computer to do this, there are several free ones available. Two popular ones are 7zip and Tugzip.
After you have the files unzipped, you'll have an icon on your desktop that's the Universal Viewer Free Setup. Double click on it to install the program.
If you also want to be able to peek inside Microsoft Word and Excel files, get the Office plug-in from the same site.
If you want to look inside your Open Office files, there's also a viewer that lets you do that.
The easiest way to get started using Universal Viewer is to highlight a file you want to look at, right click to bring up your options menu, then click on the words Universal Viewer.
Presto. You'll be looking at the contents inside your file.
Universal Viewer works quickly with sets of files that you have in folders. To quickly go through all the files in a folder, use the forward and backward navigation arrows.
Back to my original problem. I'd tried finding my file by looking for it myself, manually. I'd tried the Windows search function with advanced options, including a word I thought was in the file name and the approximate date range I thought it was created. No luck.
After I installed Universal Viewer, I searched again for all graphics files that had been modified during the past three months. There were 2486 files found. I can only imagine how long it would have taken me to open up my graphics programs and then open up the files one at a time.
Instead, I used Universal Viewer to peek into the most likely folders, and in less than 30 seconds, I found what I was looking for. Quite impressive.
I figure I saved at least an hour. And I figure I'll have a lot more use for it in the future. You probably will, too.
Do Not Buy Another Ink jet Cartridge Until You Have Read This Report
or
What You Don't Know About Ink jet Cartridges
Table of Contents
1.Introduction
2.OEM cartridges (Original Equipment Manufacturers)
a. Digital Millennium Copyright Act
b. Business Models
c. Lexmark and Static Control Components
d. Epson succeeds
3.Compatible cartridges
4.Remanufactured cartridges.
5.Recycling
6.Laser Toner Cartridge
7.Photo Cartridges Ink jet
8.Conclusion
1. Introduction
Thank you for buying this guide i hope i have presented the information in a clear,concise and easy to understand way. I hope you will find it informative and that it will aid any future decisions that you make when making your next purchase of a printer or ink jet cartridges. This Guide to Ink jet Cartridges has been written to try and explain clearly the differences between different types of ink cartridges, and to set out clearly the advantages and disadvantages of each particular type. These ink jet printer cartridges can be categorized in to three types, mainly
1.OEM cartridges (Original Equipment Manufacturers)
2.Compatible cartridges
3.Remanufactured cartridges.
2. OEM cartridges (Original Equipment Manufacturers)
Original cartridges are the brands of the printer manufacturers, many of the cheaper models are only half-filled or even less. Original Equipment Manufacturer(OEM) A brand name ink jet carries the brand name of the manufacturer on it, usually the same as the printer manufacturer, for example, Epson, Canon, Hewlett Packard, etc. The manufacturer sell the printers he makes very cheaply knowing that he will make much more money from the replacement cartridges that must be bought to make the printer work. He can charge whatever he wants to for the cartridge. In the life time of a printer the cartridge might be changed seventy times dependent on its use. This is of great advantage to printer manufacturers.
2a. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
This act was signed into law by the American Congress 28/10/1998 to update the copyright laws for the digital era and basically makes it illegal to circumvent anti-piracy measures that are built into commercial software or to make or sell devices that can crack the anti-piracy measures and therefore copy the software. It also limits the liability of Internet Service Providers that are only transmitting the information, but they must immediately take down material that seems to infringe copyright
2b. Business Models
The printer manufacturing industry has chosen for its business model the Gillette business model that is it sells its products very cheaply or if necessary at a loss to ensure the after market sales of its blades. Cartridges can be worth many times more than the cost of the printer over the life of the printer. This is why manufacturers often contend with companies who they see as eating into their profits and are always trying to push them out.
2c. Lexmark and Static Control Components
Lexmark the second largest manufacturer of printers claimed that Static Control Components had reverse engineered their chip in order to provide lower priced cartridges. They cited that the DMCA covered their chips copyright and Static Control Components chip was therefore illegal. The copyright office of the United States ruled that a company cannot use DMCA to shield itself from healthy competition.
2d. Epson Succeeds
Epson is one of the largest manufacturers, if not the largest in the world. It too like lexmark has its own interest at heart when it also goes for the aftermarket inkjet manufacturers , but unlike Lexmark and other manufacturers it is not pursuing the DMCA route. What Epson is doing is simply charging these companies with patent infringement of two of their patents namely 7,008,053 and 7,011,397. which cover minor technical changes in the way that the cartridges are produced, todate they are having a lot of success as many companies are choosing to settle rather than fight it out. which is not good news for the consumer and may sound the death knell for inexpensive cartridges. Epsons vice president recently said "We will continue to pursue the ITC action and the pending District Court lawsuit vigorously and take whatever other action may be necessary to protect Epson from unfair competition through patent infringement or the distribution of counterfeit ink cartridges." It will not be long before the other manufacturers follow this line.
3. Compatible cartridges
Compatible cartridges are generic ink jet cartridges which are manufactured to meet or even exceed original equipment manufacturer (OEM) standards. Compatible cartridges are extremely popular most computer users are familiar with ink jet printers, as they provide relatively high quality printing and can be used in a variety of industries. Compatible cartridges are reservoirs of ink which connect to a series of small nozzles called the print head that are used to create very small dots of ink. Compatible cartridges cartridges are much smaller than toner cartridges and operate a different technology. Compatible cartridges allow higher quality images to be produced than toner cartridges for a lower unit cost. Compatible cartridges are a genuine economical alternative to the expensive OEM ink jet cartridges on the UK market today. Compatible cartridges may also contain a chip (like the original); these are called Chipped Compatible Cartridges. Compatible cartridges are mainly available for printers that use simple reservoirs as ink cartridges Compatible cartridges are not available for every printer; if a Compatible cartridge is not available then a remanufactured one maybe. Compatible cartridges are those not manufactured or sanctioned by the printer makers. for a great selection of compatible ink cartridges at prices to go to court and sue for DMCA infringement. You will get at least the same number of printed pages from compatible Ink jet cartridges as you will get from an OEM Ink jet cartridge (such as Canon and Epsom)
4. Remanufactured
Remanufactured cartridges are recycled ink jet cartridges that have been disassembled, inspected, cleaned, reassembled, refilled with ink and individually print tested to meet or even exceed original printer cartridge specifications. The majority of re manufactured hp ink jet cartridges are refilled to maximum capacity and contain more ink than the original hp ink jet cartridges. Remanufactured toner and ink jet cartridges offer clear advantages over new cartridges in cost, waste reduction, and sometimes even in product quality. Remanufactured cartridges commonly cost 30 to 50 percent less than new cartridges. this therefore has spawned a whole industry specializing in third party replacement printer cartridges these can be classified into two different types compatible ink jet cartridges such as epson ink cartridges or recycled or remanufactured . Recent research by the Rochester Institute of Technology, released in November 2004, found remanufactured printer cartridges provide the same print quality and page output as new cartridges. Buying locally remanufactured toner and inkjet cartridges, and recycling empty cartridges, is an easy way for government agencies and public institutions to reduce the environmental impact of these discarded products, while also making substantial savings and bolstering the local economy. Buying remanufactured cartridges saved the country a considerable amount of money in these budget conscious times. Primarily you will only find remanufactured Ink jet cartridges for Hewlett Packard, Lexmark and some Canon printers, as they have patented their inkjet cartridge designs. By using our remanufactured or recycled HP ink jet cartridges, you can help to save environment by conserving the natural resources and by reducing the pollution.
5. Recycling
In the UK alone it is estimated that more than 30 million empty ink jet cartridges are thrown into landfill sites every year. Start by saving your own empty ink jet cartridges and by asking all your friends to do the same. Find an empty box and simply save each empty cartridge as and when they become empty. Most people given the choice, would rather dispose of their empty cartridges in a way that would benefit the environment. Help the environment and save on your next ink cartridge purchase by recycling your ink jet cartridges. Recycling ink jet cartridges decreases the amount of waste that is put into our landfills. Recycling is a good thing and so is raising money for your cause. Recycling cartridges is environmentally friendly and you can feel good about supporting sustainable development for the planet's limited natural resources and not adding to our already overloaded landfills. Recycling ink jet cartridges and mobile phones is free, it wont cost you a penny and will help raise money for charities such as Tommy's, Save the Children, Handicap International, The British Heart Foundation and many more. Recycling cartridges allows you to help charities, reduce the amount of natural resources required to make new cartridges, helps reduce the amount of space taken up by landfill, reduces CO2 emissions and you even save money from your own pocket. Recycling or reusing our ink jet cartridges is something that all of us can do quite easily to make a difference and it needn't require a lot of effort, its simply a matter of choosing to do the right thing. Did you know that by recycling one cartridge you are helping to save three quarts of oil and reduce waste. In the last six months alone, ink jet cartridge recycling has saved more than 50 million liters of oil. Ink jet cartridge recycling helps reduce carbon emissions as well as to conserve resources and reduce waste. Ink jet Recycling Fact: It takes about a gallon of oil to make a new laser cartridge. In less than one year, recycling cartridges in Canada could save more oil than the 11,000,000 gallons spilled by the Exxon Valdez oil tanker into Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1989. This year, HP will produce more than 4 million ink jet cartridges using recycling plastic from used HP cartridges. Printer cartridge recycling industry analysts estimate that used ink jet and toner cartridges can be recycled and reused between 4 and 7 times. Remember, recycling ink jet cartridges, toner cartridges, and cell phones will reduce toxic waste in our nation's landfills. Http://www.columbusinksupply.co.uk If you are tired of the high cost of replacement cartridges and ink jet supplies, then look no further. As an industry leader of ink jet cartridges, we are proud to provide you with an economical alternative to the high cost ink cartridges manufactured by the original equipment manufacturers (OEM). We offer an extensive collection of cheap Canon ink cartridges, Dell printer cartridges and affordable Lex mark ink cartridges as well as a broad range of Brother printer cartridges. However, we've spent considerable time and effort in the research and testing of many brands of ink jet printer cartridges and only use what in our opinion are high quality ink cartridges and laser toner cartridges for your printers. Our mission is to offer quality printer ink cartridges to UK homes and businesses. As an industry leader of ink jet cartridges, we are proud to provide you with an economical alternative to the high cost ink cartridges manufactured by the original equipment manufacturers (OEM). Ink jet cartridges are a replaceable item on an ink jet printer. Ink jet Cartridges can make an ideal gift to students in college, or a friend setting up a small business from home. Thousands of people regularly buy their ink jet printer supplies from us every day, because our compatible ink jet cartridges are 100% guaranteed and are the highest quality online. We are dedicated to supplying the highest quality printer supplies, including ink jet cartridges, laser toner cartridges, ink jet printer refill kits and ink jet photo paper, to individuals, businesses, government and educational institutions worldwide.
6. Laser Toner Cartridges
Laser printers were once far more expensive than ink jet printers but now the cost of these items are very much reduced, so much so that they now compete with ink jet printer in terms of cost, and once when only a business with very large printing requirements could reasonably afford to buy one the cost is now such that they are within the budget of most people and home offices can enjoy high quality professional publications. Electrostatic Printing is what we normally call laser printing and the technology used to produce the printed page is vastly different from ink jet printing electrical charges are used to produce the images that are seen. Light photons are discharged onto the cylindrical transparent drum. a laser light is shone onto the drum, letters and images are sent from the computer as electrical charges. The drum is then coated with a toner which carries a positive electrical charge. Negatively charged paper is then rolled across the drum and the positively charged image is transferred to the paper. The toner cartridges are initially more expensive than the ink jet cartridges but are capable of much greater output a typical high capacity cartridge will yield approximately 4000 pages with 5% coverage. four toners are used they are cyan magenta yellow and black, the good thing is when one toner is used up you can still print using the other three colours, and every last bit of toner can be used. A common trick to get more out of the toner cartridge is when the toner cartridge appears to have run out open the printer remove the cartridge shake it and replace it into the printer this will result in a few more hundred copies being produced, i have done this myself a couple of times when i thought the toner was out and found that the toner settles in the cartridge and by shaking and replacing i am therefore able to extend the life of the cartridge. The life of most printers will be about 5 years if looked after properly and the cost of the toner cartridges is prohibitive they can be in excess of 25% of the initial purchase price of the laser printer which means you will pay many times over the original cost of the laser printer. To help to defray costs you might do as i did frustrated by the high cost of ownership i simply bought another identical laser printer with a full set of toner cartridges which incredibly worked out at a price 50% cheaper than a set of toner cartridges for the laser printer.The reason these types of printer are so popular now in the home office market is the quality speed and cost. These once very expensive laser printers are today very affordable and the situation described above no longer exists. Over the long term they will prove to be more economical then the ink jet although the initial investment will be greater than the ink jet.When looking to purchase a laser printer be sure to compare prices from a number of different sources as prices can vary considerably, depending on your needs you might consider laser printer that is not the latest model manufacturers frequently update models to reflect the rapidly changing pace in the electronics areas, or you might enquire about display models a these are often sold at reduced prices. These laser copiers are excellent machines and are available in a number of different sizes A4, A3 sizes depending on your requirement the quality of printing is so high that on some laser copies you are warned that you are not allowed to copy bank notes passports and other legal types of documents and to do so is a criminal offence that carries heavy penalties. Some of the advantages of toner cartridges: More cost effective Print more quickly does not include warm up time Longer print cycle
7.Photo Cartridges Ink jet
Colour photo ink jet printing is done using primarily three colours other than black:cyan, magenta and yellow, known as CMYK. Clear colour rich prints are very affordable with this high quality glossy paper. Statistics suggest that, on average, 60% of the documents that are printed in businesses are A4 mono, 20% A4 colour, 17% photocopies and just 3% are A3. Dye based ink have high brilliance and wide colour gamut, but are not light fast or water-fast enough. The former is generally better suited to straightforward monochrome printing, while the latter is used for colour. With colour printing, because different inks are mixed, they need to dry as quickly as possible to avoid blurring. If slow-drying ink is used for colour printing, the colours tend to bleed into one another before they've dried. Combined cartridges will have all of the colours in one cartridge. Some cartridge systems have 4, 5 and 6 colour systems. The whole cartridge must be replaced when one colour runs out. Today's modern printers need specific formulations to produce the photo quality of the original manufacturers cartridges. When it comes to photo printers, the Epson 1290 Photo is an excellent photo printer and produces amazing graphics on paper right up to A3 paper size. it should be noted that a key factor in inkjet printing is the quality of the inkjet paper by using paper which is specifically designed for use by ink jet printers rather than standard office photocopying paper the quality of the printed results are dramatically improved. Many printers are geared toward producing high quality, high speed text, others are designed for digital photo printing. The resolution of these printers varies significantly from those geared towards high speed text printing at resolutions of 360 or 600 dpi ranging to those printing high quality digital photographs at 4800 or 5760dpi. The quality of the printouts is excellent and you are printing out all your photographs from your digital camera. The modern advances in photographic equipment now means we can have photos printed on Ink jet Photo Papers whenever we need them. Those of you who need extremely high quality printing graphic artists, and photographers , can by trial-and-error find different generic cartridge products, which provides the quality results you required. There are several color models used in computer graphics, the two color systems that you are probably most familiar with are called. Subtractive colors or reflective colors, And Additive colors When printing your color photos you may have noticed the difference in the colors that you see on the screen and those that are printed by the printer, In printing a color document from a computer display, the printer must translate additive colors into corresponding combinations of subtractive colors. Even though each of the Additive Colors has its corresponding complement in the Subtractive Colors there isn't a direct correlation in converting one to the other. Additive colors are those that when mixed together create white, they are used for computer displays, they are the colors inherent in light Red Green and Blue (RGB) and are the colors that all other colors are created.In RGB, the overlapping of additive colors (red, green and blue) results in the subtractive colors Cyan, Magenta and Yellow.n the computer world, printers use subtractive colors they are used in the printing trades as dyes, inks, and pigments. Subtractive colors reflect their own color, while absorbing or "subtracting" all other colors present in white light, when mixed together they produce black because the more of each color you add the darker or less reflective it becomes. This system is known as CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black).The CMYK printing method is also known as "four-color process" or simply "process" color. If your images will be printed, then convert them to CMYK before printing
8.Conclusion
The prevailing business model in the printer manufacturing business has long been hinged on ink and toner sales, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future,but printer manufacturers have seen their profits shrink as third parties move in to sell ink and toner products closer to their own manufacturing costs. Forty per cent of all homes in the UK are now with a PC and future growth seems very likely as PC prices continue to fall, in addition to those in businesses, schools, colleges and hospitals. In the personal and small business computer market, inkjet printers currently predominate. Many successful businesses order back up supplies so that if they are printing an important job and the ink runs out they simply go to the supply room and get a replacement cartridge. In general, aftermarket generic and new compatible or remanufactured printer cartridge products are an excellent way to cut significant costs from your every day small business or personal printing expense, while maintaining quality printing results, but if printer manufacturers like Epson begin to claw back what they have lost to the third party after market manufacturers and recent decisions are upheld on appeal in the courts, then it would seem to signify that the end of the cheap generic cartridge is in sight. As the demand for inkjet cartridges increase as people see a return to the high priced cartridges of the past as imminent many home businesses will begin to also stock up with inkjet cartridges which might lead to shortages and price rises in the future. A new technology for printing is urgently required and with the huge advances in the electronics arena in recent years do not be surprised to see this new technology emerging quickly, Necessity is the mother of invention.
The high definition DVD war is over. The challenger has thrown in the towel and the victors arm is held aloft.
The announcement by Toshiba that its HD DVD format was to be abandoned has confirmed expectations that Sony's more expensive BLUE ray solution would prevail.
The two rival systems have been battling for two years now, initially racing neck and neck. The rot set in when Warner Brothers backed Blu-ray and said it would only issue films in that format in future.
One by one other content providers and retailers have added their vote for the Sony option.
The final nail in the HD DVD coffin appears to have been Wal-Marts decision to phase it out of their stores, announced earlier this month.
One hey reason for Sony getting the edge has been its development of Blu-Ray in its own Playstation 3, which means it had many more drives installed and working that its rivals.
As it makes its way to the failed formats Museums, to line up along-side that most famous exhibit, Betamax, those who have harvested in their own HD DVD player are left high and dry.
The one million people who bought one in good faith will have good reason to be miffed. Although prices came down from an initial almost £500 to £150, even that is a lot of money to have tied up in a player for which very few DVDs will now arrive on the shelves.
The key question today concerns plans for HD DVD units sitting in warehouses and on retail shelves. Will they be written off, or will they be advertised as bargains as sold to unsuspecting buyers? It should be the former, for they became obsolete last week - 25 February 2008.
