Identity Theft Nine Threats & Nine Steps To Protection

The Bad News: Identity theft is escalating at a torrid pace. It has become one of the countrys top problems. The bad guys are finding more ways to steal YOUR identity.

The Good News: You can take control of the situation, become both reactive and proactive guarding yourself against identity theft.

Identity Theft Is Spreading Faster Than The Worst Case Of The Flu!

First, lets understand just how bad identity theft has become in this country:

The Federal Trade Commission says that there is an underground market for credit card numbers, social security numbers and ID documents organized gangs or web mobs use and sell these documents for as little as $10 each. Some of these groups contain thousands of members. The amount of goods and services purchased with fraudulently obtained personal identity exceeded 52-billion dollars in 2004.

US Department of Justice states identity theft is affecting millions of households in the U.S. each year. The cost is estimated to be six-point-four billion per year. According to the FTC, an estimated 10 million adults become victims of identity theft each year.

The Department of Justice goes on to say that the most common misuse of identity was through credit cards, accounting for 50 percent of all identity theft. Next in line were banking and other types of accounts at 25 percent, personal information was 15 percent, and a combination of several types of identity theft was at 12 percent. The average loss for each identity theft was $1,290.00. Two-thirds of those surveyed said the theft cost them money despite credit card coverage.

A recent State of the Net survey by Consumer Reports which covered more than 2000 households with Internet Access projects that American consumers lost more than eight-billion dollars over the last two years to viruses, spyware and various scams. The report also shows consumers face a one-in-three chance of becoming a cyber victim about the same as last year. It goes on to say that consumers lost $630 million over the past two years to e-mail scams.

The average person today suffers through two or more incidents with their computer each year - the computer slows to a crawl, crashes altogether, viruses or spyware take over systems and more. Its getting worse as computers become more complex and as we do more with them.

So, Who Is At Risk For Identity Theft?

According to the Department of Justice there are three groups that are most at risk for identity theft: young adults 18 to 24, adults who earn $75,000 per year or more and households in urban and suburban area. Interesting to note that about five percent of adults who earn $75,000 or more a year are hit with identity theft.

The continued growth of online fraud and identity theft are putting an enormous strain on the existing infrastructure for the Internet as well as our social structure. For example, the banking community has been complacent about security upgrades required by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. They report that every bank in the country has not complied with their guidelines set for now. In an article titled, U.S. Banks Complacent Toward Identity Theft Solution, by PR Web, the single largest national security threat is a terrorist attack on our banking system. An attack aimed simultaneously at millions of user names and passwords within banks would shut down our banking system. This would instantly shut down banks worldwide. Credit/debit cards, checks, calls to the bank, would not work for at least a matter of days causing tremendous hardship and a ripple effect from no gas to I simply have to take this baby food.

Consider for a moment some of the potential social effects from this identity theft problem. What if citizens developed a lack of confidence in our credit card and monetary system causing economic upheaval similar to what we saw in the Great Depression? I know this sounds radical, but what if you couldnt trust your identity to anyone anymore? What if you feared that your money, your identity was going to be stolen? Its not unthinkable that you would store your money under your mattress at home or in a safe in the closet rather than possibly losing it to identity theft. If millions of people lost faith in our monetary system and the ability to keep their identity safe and then took all of their money home where they believe it would be safe, what would happen then?

We generally cant control what happens outside of our personal environment, what happens at a bank, corporation or the government seems so far out of reach. There are, however, steps that we can take that will give us a better chance of protecting our personal information. The first step is identifying the threats and then taking steps to protect ourselves.

Below, I have identified nine identity theft threats and nine steps to protect our identity in todays society.

Nine Threats To Your Identity

Here are nine of the most popular ways for thieves to steal your identity. Some of these are personally preventable and others are out of our control:

1. Stolen Company Data. Your personal information is stored on computers at stores where you shop, at your insurance company, your accountant, and more. It almost seems like a common occurrence where a company is hacked into and their customers information is stolen. This happens so often now that the crimes are rarely reported and dont make the front page anymore.

2. Social Engineering. Identity Thieves are very clever. They will invent any way possible to fool you into giving your identity out. Its called social engineering because the thief uses common social situations to get the information they want. Like a seemingly innocent phone call supposedly from your credit card company asking for your personal information.

3. Dumpster Diving. Identity thieves get a lot of their victims information out of garbage cans and recycle bins from old credit card statements and other personal documents thrown out carelessly.

4. Mail Theft. Your mail can contain valuable information: bills, banking information, credit cards, investments and more. Personal mail can often be stolen right from a mailbox.

5. Financial Account Hijacking. Once a thief has your personal information they can take over your personal accounts. You might not know about their activity for months.

6. Credit Card Magnetic Strip Theft. These clever crooks have tools to steal information off the magnetic strips on your credit card.

7. Discarded Computers. Your old computer really can tell stories. Even though you erased your hard drive crooks have tools to reclaim your personal information and use it against you.

8. Spyware and Viruses on Computers. You may not be familiar with the term malware. Its a term that covers all of the hacker tools that can cause harm on your computer. These tools include spyware, keylogger tools, Trojan horses and more.

9. E-mail and Internet Scams. Cyber thieves are getting more and more creative using scams like Phishing, Pharming and fancy come-ons to entice you to give them your personal information.

There Are Four Ways You Can Approach Protecting Your Identity...

One way is to do nothing and hope that identity thieves dont harm you.

Second, you can be reactive. Reactive simply means that you are responding to all the material that comes your way. You are checking your credit card and bank statements to make sure nothing peculiar is on them. And if you do find something strange you contact your bank or credit card company immediately. Reactive also means that you are checking your credit report when you apply for credit or a loan.

Third, you can be proactive. A proactive approach is a more aggressive way of protecting yourself against the bad guys. You are constantly looking ahead and evaluating before giving out valuable information.

And fourth, combine reactive and proactive approaches. This is the best way to ensure you identity protection.

Nine Critical Steps To Proactively Protecting Your Identity...

Here are your Nine Proactive Steps To Identity Protection:

1. Begin to operate on an I have to know everything approach when you give out your personal information. Only give out your personal information to people you know and trust.

2. Protect your Social Security Number, credit card and other financial information. Do not give this information out over the phone unless you initiated the call or as we stated above are talking to a trusted individual from a trusted company.

3. Cancel all of your unused accounts including banking, credit card, licenses and permits.

4. At least once a year, if not more often, update and check your credit report and Social Security Earnings and Benefits Statement to make sure everything appears as it should.

5. Protect your mail. Make sure you have a secure locked mailbox to receive all of your mail. Always mail your payments and checks from a secure Post Office Box or from the Post Office. And, if you have a Post Office Box at the Post Office never discard your mail in a garbage can. Always bring your entire mail home.

6. Always crosscut shred all bank statements, credit card applications or information and important documents before discarding to recycle or the garbage. It is best to stir up the shredded documents to make it even harder for identity thieves to steal your information.

7. Purchase identity theft insurance. This will cover any losses incurred while recovering your lost identity once a crook has stolen it.

8. Invest in professional grade protection for your computer. The best protection available today comes from Managed Internet Security Service providers. The best security services include best-of-breed corporate grade security software for your computer, as well as unlimited service and support from trained security pros. Make sure it is the same kind of service that is used by major corporations around the world. Frankly, the over-the-counter and free security software programs available dont keep up with todays professional cyber thief. If those popular programs worked, why do we see the cyber-crime problem growing at a progressively faster pace?

A managed professional Internet security program should have the following technologies installed: A bi-directional or dual Firewall that prevents information from coming in or going out of your computer without your permission, anti-virus protection that is updated daily, and malware protection that is updated daily. Malware consists of spyware, adware, Trojan horses, keyloggers and more. It constantly changes so you will need a technology that keeps up with the professional hackers who want your identity. Your best bet is to find a professional security service that affordably manages all this for you.

9. Beware of e-mail scams like Phishing and Pharming. Phishing is an e-mail that looks like it came from a bank or business claiming you need to take care of a problem or your account will be closed down. It takes you to a page to fill out your personal information. Meanwhile, Pharming is redirecting your computer from a legitimate to a fake web site. For example, you may think that you are going to your banking site, but instead are redirected to a site that looks like your banks web site, but is hosted by an identity thief.

Identity theft continues to grow at a torrid pace. Millions of people in the United States will lose their identity to thieves in the coming year. Many of them will suffer for years trying to clean up the mess that was left behind.

The bad news is we cant control all of the identity threats we face each day. The good news is there are reactive and proactive steps we can take to protect ourselves against personal tragedy.

Warren Franklin is engaged in the cause of educating and protecting people who use the Internet about the threats they face and the inadequacy of the solutions they trust, and over a two-year period has become an expert on PC Security and a passionate advocate of Internet safety. Find out more his campaign for personal and Internet security go to his web site at http://www.completeinternetprotection.com.Alana Blog36056
Andrea Blog71169

Spyware Can Cause You And Your System Irreparable Damage

Spyware is dangerous to your system and your personal identity. There is always the fear of identity theft as well as financial loss if your system is vulnerable to Spyware. Removing it is imperative.

Spyware can be described in simple terms as software that performs certain functions covertly on your computer such as collecting personal information, changing the configuration of the computer, and advertising. Spyware is often associated with advertising software or software that generates pop-up ads on the screen when the computer is connected to the Internet. Now this does not mean that all Spyware is malicious and causes damage to you by collecting personal information from your system. However, all Spyware do make changes to the system and cause the registry to grow substantially and ultimately cause the system to slow down to a crawl. The Spyware must be removed with the best Spyware removal utilities such as free Microsoft Spyware Removal Tool.

Is Cleaning The Registry Really Important?

Yes. Anti-Spyware searches and detects any Spyware operating in the background of the system. It is designed to detect any program that is operating and yet is not associated with the running programs on the system. Anti-Spyware can then remove such Spyware and secure the computer. Many free Adware Spyware removal tools also clean the registry to some extent. However, Spyware can create entries in the registry in hundreds or even thousands of places. These entries will stay hidden until the Spyware discovers that the exe file is missing. Then the registry entries start to operate and download the necessary files, secretly, from the Internet and the Spyware begins to operate again. Some free Spyware and Adware removal programs can go into the registry and pull out all the entries associated with programs that have been removed from the system.

Are These Spyware and Adware Removal Software Easy And Inexpensive?

Spyware virus removal software is very easy to operate. In fact, they just take a few seconds to download with a fast Internet connection. Installation takes just a few seconds and you are ready to go. Spyware virus removal software such as free Spyware and Adware removal is very effective and has all the safety features of a good Spyware removal utility. Along with this a good PC spyware cleaner can create a back up of the existing registry, which can be restored in case something goes wrong with the cleaning process.

Use Spyware Removal Tools Often

Spyware removal software should be run of the system at intervals of two to three weeks manually to clean and maintain the system. Many free Spyware programs do a great job and keep the system running perfectly. When you discover that the system has slowed down to an unusual pace run the anti-Spyware and you will be sure to come up with a few hundred if not thousands of infected files that need to be healed by the software.

Arvind Singh is admin and technical expert associated with development of computer security and performance enhancing software like Registry Cleaner, Window Cleaner, Anti Spam Filter etc. More information can be found at http://www.pcmantra.comAlexandre Blog49271
Alejandro Blog87143

Understanding Software Copyright Laws

Software copyright laws are among the most difficult to enforce among the masses. Many companies and corporations are well known for overlooking these laws, which were designed to protect the creation of software from not earning their worth. Perhaps one of the biggest hitches why many software businesses go out of business is they have difficulty enforcing software copyright laws and getting money that is owed to them from end users.

Software developers, particularly in the corporate world, design software that makes other companies run more efficiently. The software allows these companies to save millions of dollars each year. Software copyright laws protect the interests of the software developers who create these massive programs. These expensive programs are designed specifically for that one company. The copyright and license agreement often consists of a certain number of users with the company purchasing more licenses or copies of the software during expansions or paying some sort of royalties for the use of the software.

The purchasing companies agree to this and then often fail to honor that agreement. The agreement is what allows this company to use that software. When companies aren't living up to their end of this agreement, they are not only guilty of breaching that agreement, but also of breaking software copyright laws. The trouble always lies in proving they are not honoring the contract and the extent and duration of the breach.

Some ways companies will argue, in defense of not paying the royalties, additional fees, purchasing additional software, etc. is they had upgraded computers and reused the old software (they did actually purchase the rights to use the original software and by doing so feel that they have broken no software copyright laws). The problem lies in the fact that adding ten new computers and placing the software on those should mean you remove it from or get rid of 10 old computers. This is rarely how it works. The truth is they've stolen ten copies of software which can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Multiply this by 10, 20, or 100 companies doing the same thing and the offending companies are costing software developers millions of dollars in profits. This is when software copyright laws are not as far reaching in their scope as they really need to be.

Software copyright laws exist to protect the software companies from this type of abuse and misuse; however, the hands of the companies are almost unilaterally tied when it comes to proving that software copyright laws have been broken in court.

There are always exceptions to every rule. In this case big business software developers that abuse the software copyright laws make the exceptions rather than consumers who do not pay for the products they are consuming. The big boys are able to do this by offering licenses for their software and claiming that these laws do not apply to their situation because they are not actually selling the software, but only renting out permission for people or companies to use that software. The true irony is that these practices began as a response to the corporate irresponsibility mentioned above. It's amazing the very software copyright laws that were created to protect these companies can't protect their consumers from the greed of the developing companies.

Richard Cunningham is a freelance journalist who covers copyright law for http://www.ResearchCopyright.com. Download his free e-book, "Copyright Basics" at http://ResearchCopyright.com.Amato Blog92759
Alejandro Blog87143

When to Buy a Color Laser Printer Instead of an Ink-Jet Printer

Computer and technology products continue to improve, and color printers are no different. If you liked the printer your friend bought last week, just wait. You'll be able to get one better and cheaper next week.

So, if you're in the market for a new home or small office printer what should you get, ink-jet or laser? My short answer - laser. Let me explain.

When black ink-jet printers first came out you had to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $500. You could get a replacement ink cartridge for 20 bucks and you're good to go. Or, you could buy an ink refill kit and refill your cartridge for a fraction of the cost of a new cartridge. Well, those days are long gone. Now you pay twenty bucks for the printer and $500 for the ink! Well, not quite, but it seems that way.

I've worked on printers with a single color cartridge and with one cartridge for each of the three standard colors and either way, you end up paying a lot for ink. So what do a lot of people do to save money on ink? They use their printer as little as possible. While this may seem like a reasonable solution it creates another problem; the ink dries up. Then when you go to print it's all streaky because the ink has dried up and clogged the microscopic jets. So what to do now? You run your printer through the cleaning process, which, unfortunately, USES A TON OF INK!

Here's the answer, buy ink cartridges on sale and stock up. Oops, wrong answer. Ink cartridges have an expiration date and usually don't work after that date.

How about refilling? Most cartridges today use some kind of smart technology that knows when it's empty and won't work when refilled - plus it can be a real mess.

The reason most ink-jet printers are so inexpensive today is that printer manufactures use the same business model as cell phone companies, that is, give away the phone (printer) and make the profit by regularly selling minutes (cartridges). Add to that the natural trend of computer products getting cheaper and the fact that today's printers are really cheaply made (notice I didn't say inexpensive, I said cheap) and you'll see $29 ink-jet printers all the time.

But don't think you can just buy a new printer whenever your ink runs out, because most printers are sold with starter cartridges which are less than 50% full.

So, what about color laser printers? Color laser printers have been around for quite a few years now, costing about ten grand and weighing 100 pounds when the first came out. Now you can get one for under $300 that weighs less than 40 pounds. So obviously it costs more to purchase a laser printer than an ink-jet printer, BUT, the cost per page is much less with laser and the hassle is greatly reduced as well.

So, for routine small office and home use these days, I recommend color laser printers.

Mark Vander PloegAndrea Blog83424
Alexia Blog56037

School Fund Raising Idea Custom Gift Wrap

Some of the best fund raising ideas for schools are those which involve the pupils in some kind of creative activity. I'll bet if you asked most young children what they enjoy most at school the answers would include drawing or painting. Combining the talents of our children with parents and grandparents willingness to spend money is a winning combination.

And how do you get all that creativity on to something that displays our children's artistic skills to as wide an audience as possible? You print it on gift wrapping paper. Possibilities for themes are endless, but parent's pockets aren't, so selling the gift wrap at a couple of events a year should be just right. The most obvious are the Summer Fete or Fair and at Christmas.

Get the children to create their works of art on A4 paper sheets. They can be on white paper, or for an interesting effect spread a few different coloured papers among the pupils. A standard sheet of Gift Wrap is 500mm x 700mm or similar. When the children's illustrations are reduced down in size, you can fit any number from about 72 up to 288 images on to a sheet. It depends on the effect you want to achieve. The white background tends to work better with the lower numbers and the multi-coloured papers with higher numbers. Duplicate images as desired or necessary to make up the numbers.

The children's images are scanned and montaged using design software and printing should be carried out by a printing company. How much of the work of creating the gift wrap is carried out by the school will depend on the school's own capabilities. However, it is recommended that the assembly of images and final printing is carried out by professionals. The minimum quantity for printing gift wrap of this kind is 1000 sheets. The profit on this amount should be at least 100% after printing costs are taken out. For larger quantities, the amount raised by the school would be even higher.

At Christmas time, an additional fund raiser is to have greetings cards printed with images from the gift wrap. The advantage with these fund raising projects is that they can be repeated annually with different sets of children taking part. As well as the money raised, the expressions on the children's faces when they see their work in print is priceless.

Richard Leeds is the founder of PrintJuggler, and provides a personal service for customers with custom printing and gift wrap packaging requirements. For more details visit http://www.printjuggler.comAndrzej Blog4198
Alun Blog59688

Top 10 Home Software Programs in 2006

Word processing and spreadsheets were the first of the killer apps for home computers when PCs first started to propagate to the millions of households out there. Then, there were Internet Browsers that took everyone by storm. So what are the hot categories and hot products now? There are more products then ever out there for the home shopper and many of them not that good. We looked over many, many different products and product categories to find the best home products, the hot home product categories, and the best software products period. The list is neither exhaustive nor scientific, but the products listed here are definitely great! If you have a computer at home, take a look at these products!

The Hot Product Categories

When searching reviews and products out there on the web some of these categories were not the top on my list, but nevertheless, they are not only out there, but getting a lot of attention. Here are ten top selling software categories for the home computer:

* Home design and gardening software
* Spyware and Adware
* Family Tree Legends
* Video Sharing
* Website builders
* Speech to text conversion
* Parental control and Internet filtering
* Disk-imaging utilities
* Spam Blockers
* Internet Security

Top 10 Best Software Products

The home software market has never had so many choices and for the categories listed above there are too many products to mention. Below are ten standout products for each of these areas.

* Home design and gardening software - Home Designer Pro 7.0
* Spyware and Adware - CounterSpy 1.5
* Family Tree Legends - Family Tree Legend 5.0
* Video Sharing - Grouper
* Website builders SiteMaker
* Speech to text conversion Dragon Naturally Speaking 8
* Parental control and Internet filtering ContentProtect 2.0
* Disk-imaging utility - Acronis True Image
* Spam - Cloudmark Desktop
* Internet Security - ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 6

The information about Home Software Programs presented here will do one of two things: either it will reinforce what you know about Home Software Programs or it will teach you something new. Both are good outcomes.

For each of these products there are additional information in the following articles. Take a look at these home software products!

Below are some things to watch for in 2006, some of them are good and, unfortunately, some arent.

First the good news:

- We are getting a lot more serious about our security. This has a lot of reasons behind it. For example, new privacy laws are mandating organizations to tighten their security. Look to see more consumer privacy laws passed in the coming year and more tightening of security systems.

- Authentication requirements are increasing. This is closing in large security holes. Corporations are requiring a great deal more of authentication to get into secure systems (this also is on the bad news side)

- There is a plethora of sophisticated programs to help us be more secure and they will continue to get better. Competition right now is strong in the security industry sparking a lot of innovation.

- ISPs are now taking on the responsibility to help us with our security. Take AOL's recent commercials as a good sign that others will follow the trend.

Now the bad news:

- Securing our networks is costing us. Most companies are globalizing their organizations and making them secure costs a lot of money. It will get worse before it gets better.

- Authentication requirements are increasing. This is getting claustrophobic. Corporations are requiring a great deal more authentication to get into secure systems (This is also on the good news side) Unfortunately, for the end user, it is one more thing to be unhappy about, not unlike airport security lines.

- Hackers are getting more sophisticated. For example, Botnets are becoming more complex and harder and harder to catch and stop. Do a search on botnets on the Internet. They really are causing a whole lot of problems, but it does not stop there. The number of viruses and malware out there is staggering.

- Spammers keep finding more creative ways to fill our email boxes. Don't look for this trend to stop anytime soon.

So now you know a little bit about Home Software Programs. Even if you don't know everything, you've done something worthwhile: you've expanded your knowledge.

Dina Fedorova, finding a Home Business that's Right for You.Visit my site and download "Dotcomology:The Science of Making Money online". Absolutely Free at: http://www.Net-Plus-Profit.com 3 Easy Steps to Make money Online: http://www.Net-Plus-Profit.com/pips.htmlFor more information please visit : http://successuniversity.com.Andrea Pennington Blog86108
Anja Blog26960

Almeza MultiSet * Leader in Unattended Installation Windows and Software!

Interview for the Krasny Software computer magazine:

The Almeza Company has developed several quite interesting programs. Its flagship product is the automatic Windows and software installer * Almeza MultiSet. That's what we will talk about. Ivan Abramovsky, the CEO of the Almeza Company, answers the questions.

Q: What tasks does your program solve?

A: First of all, Almeza MultiSet has been developed to solve the task of the automatic installation of Windows together with a set of necessary software. MultiSet can create a bootable installation disk that automatically installs Windows, service packs, necessary drivers and any other software (video codecs, file managers, players... anything) plus it can configure all software and tune Windows (all custom settings in the operating system)

Q: What are the main features of the program?

A: 1) Automatic Windows installation
2) Automatic installation of any software
3) Creating a bootable disk for automatic Windows and software installation
4) Automatically restoring software settings and tuning Windows
5) Remote automatic installation. For example, it is possible to automatically install software via the local area network.

We should also mention the features of the program that won it users' admiration:

* Convenient Wizards. Automatic installation disks are created with the help of convenient wizards.

* Ease of use. The program does not require any special knowledge (i.e. it has no special script language, complicated settings), everything is as easy as possible.

* Processing all installation procedures correctly: restarting the computer during automatic installation, entering registration keys, entering usernames and other parameters; processing nonstandard exception situations in an adequate manner.

Q: And what unique features does the program have?

A: * Ease of creating an automatic installation disk. Minimum time is required to get the disk ready.
* Unique algorithm. The unique algorithm makes automatic installation as fast as possible.
* Creating the automatic Windows installation disk and installing service packs, drivers, registry keys and any other software right after that. It is also possible to enable automatic configuration for software and Windows.

Q: What benefits do your users get?

A: First of all, some statistics. Let's calculate: Windows installation + driver installation + service packs + necessary software + restoring old software settings + general OS configuration * on average, an experienced system administrator spends more than 200 hours a year on all that (25 8-hour business days); a regular user spends more than 90 hours a year (11 8-hour business days). Almeza MultiSet needs not more than 45 minutes to install Windows and necessary software. At the same time, human attendance is not required because installation is fully automatic. All in all, Almeza MultiSet will save more than 20 business days a year for a system administrator and more than 11 days a year for a regular user.

Second, Almeza MultiSet creates bootable disks for the automatic installation of Windows and a set of necessary software, drivers, service packs. This disk can be used to reanimate the computer. MultiSet is a turnkey solution = insert the disk and the new operating system, drivers, service packs and any other necessary software will be installed on the computer and you can configure the operating system and the software at once.

And third, Almeza MultiSet restores the system without losing the current data! Unlike in case of cloning image disks.

Q: Who are your customers, what is the target group of your product?

A: Our users are people who value and save their time, people who are used to giving routine work to computers. By automating the process of restoring and configuring the computer, MultiSet helps our customers save time. Mostly, our customers are:

* administrators (system administrator, network administrators)
* computer first aid services
* customer technical support services
* individual users
* educational institutions (schools, colleges, universities)
* companies possessing a large number of computers.

Q: How is the product doing at the moment?

A: Currently, thousands of people use Almeza MultiSet in more than 60 countries: the USA, Canada, Russia, the Netherlands, Austria, Argentine, Belgium, Turkey, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Germany, Switzerland, Jordan... The product is being constantly developed and improved, we extensively cooperate with our users and it allows us to know their needs. At the moment we are working on the next version of the program where we will implement new features and fix existing drawbacks.

Web:
http://www.almeza.com/

Download:
http://www.almeza.com/download/multiset.exe

Ivan Abramovsky is cofounder of Unattended Installation Systems. The company's flagship product MultiSet has become a "must-have-software" in homes and offices in more than 60 countries. Unattended Installation SystemsAlana Blog39681
Ambuj Blog37175

They Can Get You Where You Live

Most people have a pre-conceived notion that if there computer has a firewall or the latest anti-virus protection they are completely safe from hackers. This is simply not true.

It doesnt matter if you have a firewall or not. Sure, it blocks some unwanted intrusion to your computer but it cant block them all because of the very nature of the system. Just like a tiny bug that comes from outside and enters your home all it needs is the smallest opening and its there! Web traffic has to pass through firewalls to access your computer and even the best firewalls cannot process all the hugh amounts of inbound information.

Before a hacker can hack they have to talk to a computer in its own native tongue. Much of the time its HTML (hypertext markup language), but it can be Java, XML, Perl or a number of others. Most successful hackers have much more than a basic knowledge of computer languages as well as how security systems function. A hacker can be anybody with enough knowledge of computer languages and a great deal of computer savvy to look at a URL string and read between the lines. All a hacker needs to do is request information from web sites, servers or PCs using there unique knowledge of computer languages by using simple-well placed codes that may seen trivial yet extract a great deal of what you thought was secure information about you or your business. A hacker can, with persistence get administrative control of a web page and do just about anything to it like changing colors, graphic, text or Meta tags.

The only tools a hacker needs is an internet browser and a target URL. Broadly speaking a URL structure is: Protocol://sever/path/to/resourse?parameters This roughly translates to: http://targetsite.com/directory/files

When you open your browser to a web page whats viewed is what the browser interprets and displays. There is an ocean of information behind the pictures and text. On a typical web page, not readily available to the human eye but can be found none the less is information such as the HTML source code, source code keywords, hidden parameters, hyperlinks and a whole lot more. The more a hacker knows the better they can plan an attack. These people are very good at tricking a web server to release a source code for an application or script without it being executed. With enough prodding and poking at a web server they can view the original source code of the HTML content generated by the script. The method of attack will depend on what the hacker learns from the information accumulated from the server side, browser or client side.

Protocols

HTTPS is a protocol used for encrypted traffic within an HTTP stream. HTTPS is mainly used by sites that offer security where credit card and bank account numbers are used. Another level of security is the Secure Sockets Layer set of protocols (SSL) that has become a standard way to communicate between a web browser and a web site when a high level of security is needed. Not only that, but it can help secure e-mail, file downloads, and chat line conversations by using File Transfer Protocols (FTP) that works with SSL. Without this type of security in place it is relatively easy for someone to read the information you are transmitting. The thing to know here is that SSL only secures information in transit (between computer and website). It does not and will not guarantee security at your end and the site you are viewing! You will have to trust security measures at the site you are viewing and rely on your own computers virus and firewall protection. SSL uses a symmetric key cryptography for encryption, meaning the client and server uses the same key to encrypt and decrypt communication. If a hacker can decode the encryption key they can decipher the message coming in and going out.

Cookies

Many sites you visit will set a cookie on your system when you view that site. The purpose of cookies is to give you easier and faster access to the sites resources and to identify you later if you choose to purchase a product from them. This cookie will keep your personal information such as name, address and credit card number on their file in case you visit them again at a later date. The site itself has its own cookie system with the same personal information so when some user logs in they know who they are, what was ordered previously and what credit card was used so they can give you the use same and credit card? option. Because a lot of websites have security vulnerabilities hackers can view there cookies and retrieve credit card numbers and other personal info. Most web browsers let a user delete cookies on there system, either all of them or manually but they are still on the website visited. A common problem is if you punch in http://buyitnowsite.com and it sets up a cookie on your system, the creator of that cookie may have specified the domain type as site.com rather than buyitnow.com. Your browser then will offer up that cookie to any page in the same domain like virusdownloadsite.com (for example) or any site that you visit which may not have good intentions for you. This can lead to other sites having access to your personal information not intended for them. This could have been prevented if the technician who created that cookie made it specific enough to include the whole site name (buyitnow) in the coding. Really cookies are not intended to store information like user names and passwords, but unfortunately it is a common practice with websites and a hacker can view this information when infiltrating them. The best way to combat against cookie threats is through cookie management software that gives you full control over the use of cookies, which should include:

* Disable the sending and saving of cookies

* Notification before a cookie is sent

* Control of sending and receiving cookies based on the domain

* Look at and delete the contents of cookies

Most internet browser should give you a whole lot more options for cookies in the advanced tab or you can buy cookie software to have complete and easy access over all cookies.

I have mentioned here only a few areas of concern on protecting computer systems and internet browsing but there are others left untouched due to space ( one could write a book on the subject) but I hope you can see we are at more risk than you think. Because many of us have so easy access to the internet like an always on connection computers and servers will always be a target for hackers. Also the speed of connecting increases the risk of attack and the harder it will be to filter that access and make it harder for hackers. Even though we may never be completely safe from hackers there are things we can do to make there job harder. Never store personal information (passwords, credit card numbers) on your PC; instead use a floppy dick or CD for your private information and eject it from your PC when done. A general rule on firewalls is to block all incoming traffic that you didnt initiate. Dont run applications you are not familiar with and take what you download! Most important is to backup everything on your computer and make a bootable disk that you know is clean from infection.

Robert Hanania is a student of the internet, learning about home based businesses and computers. Robert is currently promoting his web sites. All are welcome to visit him at:Allistair Blog5928
Amal Blog82162

Increase Your System Performance with a few Basic Windows XP Tweaks

Increase Your System Performance with a few Basic Windows XP Tweaks

Windows XP is currently the most popular operating system for personal computers and comes in two broad categories--XP Home and XP Pro. XP home is designed for home users who do not need the more heavyweight corporate applications such as a web server but still require a scalable and reliable operating system. While Windows XP runs well out of the box, there are tricks that can be used to optimize your installation. There are great Windows XP tweaks that involve broadband settings, registry entries, and other under utilized components of WinXP.

While this first group of tips can not properly be considered Windows XP tweaks, they are so important that they should be included in any guide that discusses WinXP performance and efficiency. The single most important thing you can do to ensure to WinXP performance is to make sure that your computer is free from viruses, trojans, spyware, and other pieces of software that could serve to slow down or otherwise compromise the functioning of your WinXP computer. The first thing that you should do, particularly if you have an always on broadband connection, is to install a firewall. A firewall locks down the software entry points (called ports) that applications use interact with your computer. Ports are simply numbers that, when combined with your internet protocol (IP) address, specify a single channel of network communication. Some ports should usually be open, such as port 80 which allows web HTTP communication to occur, but others should be locked unless they are needed by a legitimate program. By default, the entire range of ports is open to the world on a WinXP machine. A firewall blocks all unused ports and lets the WinXP user decide which ports to open. WinXP service pack 2 contains a firewall that is on by default. Another member of this class of Windows XP tweaks is to install anti virus and anti spyware software. These programs can clear up the malicious pieces of software that siphon of your WinXP machine's performance.

Once you have implemented the above vital Windows XP tweaks, it is time to look at other performance based steps that you can use. The WinXP registry is a centralized data structure that WinXP programs, including WinXP itself, use to store configuration data. The registry can quickly become crowded and hence more slow to search. Particularly if you remove unused programs that do not uninstall properly, they may leave behind garbage in the registry that can cause registry searches to slow. Since registry searches can occur at any time during program execution (particularly during start up), a clogged WinXP registry can cause the entire system to slow. There are numerous free and share ware programs out there that can help you clean your WinXP registry. It is not advisable to muck around the registry yourself, and always be sure to back up your registry before making any changes.

Another important class of Windows XP tweaks is to keep your hard drive defragmented. Hard drives become fragmented when application programs save different parts of files in different places on your hard drive. For example, in order to maximize available space, WinXP may decide to save part of your file in different places on the hard drive. This means that access time for that file will become slow. Over time, your hard drive can accumulate many such fragmented files and generally become a mess. This can slow your computer down a great deal. Fortunately, it is easy to de-fragment your hard drive using built in WinXP utilities. The process can take a number of hours to complete, so many people choose to de-fragment their hard drive overnight.

Kris Mainieri shows you the best ways to optimize, secure, and maintain your computer absolutely FREE in his free ebook "The XP Tweaking Guide" check it out at http://www.kmainieri.com.Amanda Blog43681
Amerigo Blog61709

When to Buy a Color Laser Printer Instead of an Ink-Jet Printer

Computer and technology products continue to improve, and color printers are no different. If you liked the printer your friend bought last week, just wait. You'll be able to get one better and cheaper next week.

So, if you're in the market for a new home or small office printer what should you get, ink-jet or laser? My short answer - laser. Let me explain.

When black ink-jet printers first came out you had to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $500. You could get a replacement ink cartridge for 20 bucks and you're good to go. Or, you could buy an ink refill kit and refill your cartridge for a fraction of the cost of a new cartridge. Well, those days are long gone. Now you pay twenty bucks for the printer and $500 for the ink! Well, not quite, but it seems that way.

I've worked on printers with a single color cartridge and with one cartridge for each of the three standard colors and either way, you end up paying a lot for ink. So what do a lot of people do to save money on ink? They use their printer as little as possible. While this may seem like a reasonable solution it creates another problem; the ink dries up. Then when you go to print it's all streaky because the ink has dried up and clogged the microscopic jets. So what to do now? You run your printer through the cleaning process, which, unfortunately, USES A TON OF INK!

Here's the answer, buy ink cartridges on sale and stock up. Oops, wrong answer. Ink cartridges have an expiration date and usually don't work after that date.

How about refilling? Most cartridges today use some kind of smart technology that knows when it's empty and won't work when refilled - plus it can be a real mess.

The reason most ink-jet printers are so inexpensive today is that printer manufactures use the same business model as cell phone companies, that is, give away the phone (printer) and make the profit by regularly selling minutes (cartridges). Add to that the natural trend of computer products getting cheaper and the fact that today's printers are really cheaply made (notice I didn't say inexpensive, I said cheap) and you'll see $29 ink-jet printers all the time.

But don't think you can just buy a new printer whenever your ink runs out, because most printers are sold with starter cartridges which are less than 50% full.

So, what about color laser printers? Color laser printers have been around for quite a few years now, costing about ten grand and weighing 100 pounds when the first came out. Now you can get one for under $300 that weighs less than 40 pounds. So obviously it costs more to purchase a laser printer than an ink-jet printer, BUT, the cost per page is much less with laser and the hassle is greatly reduced as well.

So, for routine small office and home use these days, I recommend color laser printers.

Mark Vander PloegAllana Blog3801
Almus Blog33114

PC Time Synchronisation Services

Computers maintain time and date information using internal real-time clock chips. These chips are battery-backed and maintain time even when the power to the computer is switched off. However, the components utilised are relatively low-cost devices and have a tendency to drift by relatively large amounts. This article describes various ways of keeping the time on your computer accurate. It also shows how to synchronise a computers system clock with a highly accurate reference clock.

Computer systems time can drift anything from a few seconds a day to a few minutes each day. When processing transactions or performing time critical tasks across a number of computers, incorrect time can be a real headache.

The Internet found and solved this problem a number of years ago by developing the Network Time Protocol. NTP can be used to distribute accurate time from a highly precise time server to network time clients. Most modern operating systems have the ability to synchronise time with a NTP server. Generally, all that is required is the IP address or domain name of Stratum 1 or Stratum 2 NTP servers.

LINUX and UNIX operating systems can download the full NTP implementation from the NTP web site 'ntp.org'. NTP is freely available open source software available under the GNU public licence.

Microsoft Windows XP/2000/2003 and Vista operating systems have an integrated SNTP client. SNTP stands for Simple Network Time Protocol. Simple Network Time Protocol provides a sub-set of the Network Time Protocols algorithms. SNTP provides a simplified NTP algorithm with many of the complex routines to acheive high precision removed. Windows operating systems allow an IP address or domain name of a Internet or Intranet NTP server to be entered in the time properties tab. The SNTP client will then periodically contact the NTP server in order to update and synchronise system time.

A problem arises, however, if the computer does not have access to the Internet or is not networked. What is required is local access to an accurate time reference. However, there are many freely available time and frequency resources that can be utilsied.

A number of national time and frequency radio broadcasts are available. These radio broadcasts are generally referred to by their 'call sign'. WWVB is the North-American time and frequency radio transmission, broadcast for Colorado in the States. DCF is the call-sign of the German radio time transmission, which is broadcast from Meinflingen near Frankfurt. The UK time transmitter is located at Anthorn, Cumbria, it's call sign is MSF. A number of other broadcasts are available in France, Canada, Switzerland and Japan. USB and serial radio receivers are available that can receive radio time broadcasts and provide computers with accurate timing information. The PC system time can then be synchronised to the received time and frequency radio source.

The problem with national radio time broadcasts is that they inherantly have a finite transmission range. Their transmissions are generally regional and limited to national boundaries. The Global Positioning System (GPS) provides a solution to this. The GPS system operates from a number of orbiting satellites. Each satellite has an on-board highly accurate synchronised atomic clock. GPS can provide highly precise timing information anywhere on the face of the planet. All that is required to receive the GPS transmissions is a low-cost GPS receiver and antenna. The GPS antenna needs to be shown a good clear view of the sky for correct operation. By connecting a PC to a serial or USB GPS receiver, accurate timing information is continuously available.

To summarise, a wide range of highly accurate computer timing references are freely available. Utilising the Internet, National time and frequency radio transmissions or the GPS system can ensure that a computers time remains locked to a precise time reference.

David Evans provides technical authoring services to the computer time synchronisation industry. For detailed information on Windows 2000/2003 Radio and GPS time server systems, please visit: http://www.timetools.co.ukAlexia Blog47219
Anja Blog26960

Ratings Of Web Site Building Software

The ratings of web building software and how they stand up against each other can only be found through testing, trial and error. Websites must be user and search engine friendly which both are very important so you would need to find a software that cater to both effectively in order to have a profitable site. You need to make the search engines love your site by giving great content and making them aware of what the site is about; you also need to have a structure that even a baby could navigate through as well. They're a number of software packages out their but most doesn't balance the search engines and user friendliness effectively.

So I'm going to give you the top three I've found out there.

I rank them in the order of the results I have received from search engines, profits and amount of visitors to the sites.

They are:

1. "Site Build It" from sitesell.com

This browser based software gets number one in my ratings of web site building software. This allows its users to build web sites for the search engines and human users without any web site building experience. It has a step by step guide that takes you by the hand to building a web business; it helps you market that business as well. It helps you manage you pay per click campaigns, affiliate programs, site hosting, newsletter distribution; it also teaches you the fundamentals of building an online business. This is much more than just software.

The developers of this software also monitor the search engines to make sure you're following their rules at all times.

If you also have an existing web business then you can still use this software on that as well, it allows you to transfer your site to their software or you can just build another bigger better website from scratch; that would be my recommendation.

I give this tool 10 out of 10.

2. Websitewizard.com

This beauty is your next best bet to building a decent web based business.

It helps you do a lot of the leg work to get started, you get some excellent shopping cart and card processing software and you please your human and search engine users as well.

You can't ask for a lot more than that. Well actually you can but that is what they offer along with some great customer service.

I give this software 7 out of 10.

3. Instantestore.com

This piece of software is good because it sets you up to take orders from the first time you open up your e-commerce store.

Although it is great for building web sites and it can hold its own when it comes to the search engines, it needs a little work to become a full fledge marketing and web building tool.

For now it could get you up and running where site users and search engines are concerned. You will have to handle the other marketing aspects on your own.

I give this software 6 out of 10.

Balancing both search engines and human users can be tricky sometimes even difficult but these three software packages makes it easier for you to manage and to get targeted visitors to your site.

My ratings of web site building software are from experience and from that I can say these do the best job in balancing the important aspects of web building although they're more aspects you should consider.

Shane Hunte is a successful internet markerter who dreams of helping everyone he possibly can to create wealth on the internet. His current project is a website on creating search engine friendly web sites. Go to http://internetrevinue.com to find out more.Amerigo Blog7763
Allison Blog87575

San Diego's Top Certified Personal Fitness Trainer Reveals the essential strategies for lasting weight loss and lifelong fitness

16 Tips for getting maximum Weight Loss and Fitness results in minimum time

*Do you want to improve the quality of your life?

*Do you want to look and feel better than you have in years - maybe better than you ever have before?

*Do you want to protect yourself from disease and injury? And do you want to live a longer, more vital life?

I'm confident that you answered YES! to each of those questions, just as have the hundreds of individuals I've counseled, coached, and trained in my career as a Certified Personal Fitness Trainer and Health Expert.

Right now I'm going to reveal to you the 16 essential strategies that have enabled my clients to achieve these important goals.

These simple strategies can be immediately implemented into your lifestyle with little sacrifice on your part (okay, if not eating artery clogging fast food burgers and fries is a big thing for you, then maybe you won't look at that sacrifice as "easy," but I guarantee you it will add quality years to your life).

Why believe me? Because I have been training people for 14 years. Because I've seen people fail and others succeed. Because I'm the only person in San Diego who has 15 years of solid medical training, a NSCA CPT, and I am also a Certified Master Fitness Instructor through the Prestigious Coopers Institute. Because all of my Personal Training Clients are happy and getting good results. I am giving you this information because I'm tired of seeing people getting ripped off and wasting their time and energy on the latest "Miracle" diet or device. I'm tired of seeing slick marketers make a lot of money by selling people lies that won't help them.

So let's get right into it. Read on to discover...

1. How to Stay Motivated.

One of the biggest problems most people have is that they work out great for a couple of weeks, then just fade away.

The people who stick with it are those who have these two things in common:

* They don't follow a set routine. Routines always become boring. They also set you up for repetitive stress injuries. They don't work either. Your body quickly adapts to any routine and doesn't need to change any more to keep up.

* They get on an effective exercise program, so they get good results. The people who lose their motivation are the people who get frustrated because they are not getting good results. When you are getting good results, you will be so pumped that it's actually hard to quit.

A good fitness instructor will help you with both of these items.

2. Don't make it so hard.

Most people think of exercise as torture. They imagine that you must sweat and groan for hours every day to get in good shape. Not so, my friend! Two days per week of 30-minute low-intensity cardiovascular exercise (walking, jogging, biking, swimming); and two days per week of 30-minute light resistance training (using weights or resistance machines) is adequate in the beginning. As you become acclimated to the lifestyle shift, you can add more days and get improved results. But beware: if you try to do too much too fast, you may end up quitting altogether. If you've tried and failed doing it alone, then I suggest you get a training partner or personal trainer who will help you sustain your motivation.

3. Your exercise program needs only three things. If you skip any one of these three, your results will suffer.

* Resistance Exercise. This will raise your metabolism and cause you to burn more calories all day, even when you are asleep at night.

* Cardiovascular Exercise. Your heart rate during cardio exercise should be 60% to 80% of your maximum heart rate. The simple formula for calculating your 100% maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. If the intensity of your exercise increases your heart rate beyond 80%, slow it down a bit. If your heart rate isn't at least 60%, quit loafing. Your personal trainer can supply you with a simple heart rate monitor you can wear during exercise so you always stay in your peak fat-burning range.

* Proper Nutrition. A good, hard workout can burn maybe 300-500 calories in 30-45 minutes. It only takes one Big Mac to flush your entire workout down the toilet.

4. Don't waste your time working small muscles with isolated movements.

If you don't enjoy doing resistance training or are pressed for time, concentrate on working the largest muscle groups with compound resistance movements. When I see overweight people doing wrist curls or lateral raises, I wonder why. It's generally just a lack of understanding of how their bodies work. Most people want to lose fat and tone and firm their bodies. The way to do that is to use resistance (weights or machines) to train the large muscle groups. Men should be concentrating on legs, chest and back. Women should concentrate more on their legs and back. The best exercises for legs are lunges or squats (your personal trainer will show you the proper form and then monitor you during the exercise) and leg press. The best chest exercise is bench press, and the best back exercise is the seated row. All of these are compound movements, which means they incorporate multiple muscle groups.

5. Always, always, always stretch.

Stretching improves flexibility, blood flow, muscle recovery, low back pain and a host of other things. Additionally, stretching can prevent injury, make you sleep better and improve your performance in all sports. Always stretch, but be certain not to stretch cold muscles. You should always warm up before stretching. However, it is very important that you know how to stretch. Never bounce! Your personal trainer will show you the proper execution and timing of your stretches.

6. Don't do traditional sit-ups.

Unless you are super athlete with an incredibly well-developed midsection, sit-ups can lead to a strained lower back and possibly lumbar injuries. But it gets worse. Rather than hitting your abdominal section, sit-ups can shift exercise tension to your hip flexors - which defeats the purpose. There is so much misinformation about how to strengthen, tone, and firm the midsection, it's almost frightening. It is very difficult to learn proper abdominal exercise technique by reading about it or watching it demonstrated on a video. You need to do it with supervision and get feedback about your form from a knowledgeable source. And keep in mind that you use your abdominal muscles in almost every single movement you make. Strengthening your abdominal region is the single most effective way to prevent, or recover from, low back pain.

7. Set realistic, attainable goals.

You must have tangible, quantifiable, short-term, and long-term goals for your fitness program so you can gauge your progress. It's crucial to have a "baseline" before you begin, so you can measure success. Your personal trainer can give you a complete fitness analysis (you need this!) that will aid you and your trainer in developing a personalized fitness program, which addresses your particular needs. Having goals, particularly short-term goals, allows you to track your progress and keep motivated when times are tough and you don't feel like exercising. Keeping a journal of your cardio and resistance training workouts, as well as tracking what you eat is truly a fitness success secret. Just remember that your goals should be realistic and attainable. The best way for you to understand what is realistic and attainable for you is to talk to a fitness professional - not to buy into the "hype" of infomercial's, diet and fitness products that blatantly mislead.

8. Set exercise appointments with yourself.

Use your day-timer to set appointments for exercise - and then stick to them. You wouldn't miss a business meeting or client appointment, would you? So don't miss your exercise appointment with yourself. Nothing is more important than your health. Nothing. Everything else will crumble around you if your health goes south. So make your exercise appointments a priority. If you find it difficult to keep these appointments, then consider hiring a personal trainer who will hold you to your commitment. When you have money invested, and someone waiting for you to show up - you are much more likely to actually show up!

9. Remember the benefits of exercise.

Remember that feeling of euphoria you experienced after a particularly good work-out? You experienced that feeling because the most powerful "feel good" drug in the world - endorphins - were coursing through your veins. If there is a panacea, it's exercise. Nothing feels better than the post-work-out high you experience after exercising. Revel in that feeling. Let it wash over you and truly experience it. Etch that feeling in your brain. It will fuel your motivation on those inevitable days when you just don't feel like exercising. Being physically fit affects every single aspect of your life: you sleep better, eat better, love better, overcome stress better, work better, communicate better, and live better!

10. Exercise correctly.

So much time is wasted doing, at best, unproductive exercise, or at worst, dangerous exercise. Get educated on how to exercise correctly. And the absolute best way to do that is to hire a personal trainer to develop a program for you and then teach you what to do and how to do it right. Personal training does not have to be an ongoing process. You can hire a personal trainer for whatever length of time you need to learn the ropes. It could be five sessions, or it could be fifteen sessions. It's completely up to you. But statistics prove that those who understand how to exercise correctly, get better, faster results. And that's what you want, right? Results!

11. Enjoy yourself.

The most difficult thing is actually getting into your running shoes or going to the gym. But once you begin your work-out, relax and enjoy the process. Don't fight it. Make exercise your personal time. When you are exercising you can focus completely on yourself. Yes, exercising can and should be somewhat rigorous (depending on your level of fitness), but it is just that investment which makes it supremely rewarding. As with anything, if you are in the moment, you can fully appreciate the experience and truly enjoy the process.

12. Americans eat too many carbohydrates for our lifestyles.

I'm not advocating the high protein, high saturated fat diet that you hear so much about (frankly, its dangerous). But I am advocating minimizing your intake of bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and, of course, all sugary drinks. We are no longer an agrarian society participating in manual labor. Most of us are fairly sedentary throughout the day and therefore do not need the high levels of carbohydrates to sustain our energy. Additionally, carbohydrates are addictive. The more donuts you eat, the more you want. The bulk of your carbohydrates should come from vegetables and fruit. And those with high water content, such as cucumbers, grapefruit, tomatoes, cantaloupe, strawberries and even vegetable soups (watch out for high sodium), will fill you up nicely. By the way, numerous studies have conclusively proven that the quarter of the population eating the most vegetables get half the cancer of the quarter eating the least!

13. Deep-fried food has no nutritional value - none!

Almost every food, whether it's steak, chocolate or red wine, has some nutrients to contribute. But one thing is absolute: fried foods are garbage. Potato chips, French fries, onion rings, breaded chicken strips and all the rest of the deep-fried junk are pregnant with saturated fat and calories, and they contain almost zero nutritional value. If you're trying to lose weight and/or reduce fat, simply eliminate fried foods completely from your diet. Yikes! That stuff is scary.

14. Never, ever skip breakfast.

If you want to maximize your fitness results or fat-loss efforts, you've got to eat breakfast. Even if you don't exercise at all - breakfast remains the most important meal of the day. Your breakfast should contain complete proteins and complex carbohydrates (if you're trying to lose weight, you should eat the bulk of your complex carbohydrates at breakfast and lunch and only have vegetable carbohydrates at dinner). A great breakfast is oatmeal (not the pre-packaged, pre-sweetened kind) with a little honey and banana and a protein drink. Or try scrambled egg whites with Healthy Choice turkey sausage.

15. Drink plenty of fresh, clean water.

Yes, I know that you've heard this over and over again. But there's a reason for that - it's the gospel truth! The recommended amount is approximately eight glasses, or 64 ounces, of water every day. When you are exercising, you need to drink even more. Over 75% of your body is water (even bone is more than 20% water). When you don't drink enough water, and substitute diuretics like coffee, tea and caffeinated sodas, you dehydrate your body, your blood doesn't flow properly, and your digestive system doesn't operate smoothly (among other problems). Even a small deficit of water can radically affect how your body performs. Here's a good rule of thumb: if you're urine is a dark yellow and/or has a strong odor, you're not drinking enough water. Drink up!

16. Eat regularly throughout the day.

Fasting or overly restrictive diets will enable you to lose weight - in the short run, because the weight you lose is primarily water weight and lean muscle mass. In the long run, it has exactly the opposite effect you want. When you restrict your diet, your body instinctively thinks it's being starved and shifts into a protective mode by storing fat. Energy expenditures are fueled by your lean muscles. Therefore your body fat remains essentially the same and you lose vital fluids and muscle instead. The less muscle you have, the slower your metabolism becomes, and the less fat you burn. Instead of eating three big meals (or worse yet, one HUGE meal) eat five or six nutritionally balanced "snack/meals" each day. This keeps your metabolic furnace stoked, so you burn more at a faster rate. I know, it's counter-intuitive, but it's true!

There you have it. 16 essential strategies for an effective weight loss and fitness program that will have you looking and feeling better than you have in years - maybe ever!

I realize that starting (or re-starting) a productive and effective health and fitness program is not easy. That's why I encourage you to get help.

If you're sick, you go to the doctor. If you've got a tax problem, you see an accountant (or an attorney!). Have a toothache? You're off to the dentist. So why is it that so many people attempt to solve their health and fitness problems without consulting an expert? I don't know exactly, but I encourage you to make the investment in yourself - in your quality of life - by hiring a certified personal fitness trainer to educate you and help you get started (because the hardest part is just getting started and sustaining your motivation until fitness becomes habitual). Once you develop the habit, which can take as little as thirty days, your whole life will change for the better.

If I can be of any assistance to you, please don't hesitate to call me. I'm happy to speak with you and give you my recommendations without any sales pressure (I hate it when people try to "sell" me, so I wouldn't try that on you). Please E-mail me to obtain any additional information you may need. Thank you.

Best in Health,

Rivak E. Hoffman
http://www.somagenesis.com

With my diverse background in both medicine and as a personal trainer, I can create a healthy, strong, high performance body, which will look awesome and perform to higher levels. My unique style as a fitness instructor coupled with my medical knowledge allows me to methodically design a safe, effective, and productive exercise program to suit your goals.Angeline Blog257
Angelis Daniela Blog92886

How Affiliate Programs Work

Affiliate programs are a very popular home business. There are many reasons for this. Basically, though, affiliate programs are easy to get started with and they usually involve very little start up costs.

Affiliate programs are where a person, called the affiliate, sells goods for another company and earns a commission on what they sell.

There are many companies, from online business to large, well known companies, that have affiliate programs. The company sets up the affiliate program. What this involves is basically setting up a commission and sales structured program.

When a person signs up to be an affiliate they get an affiliate ID. This ID is critical to the whole process of making money through the affiliate program. Whenever that affiliate makes a sale their ID is what tells the company who to pay for that sale.

Affiliates usually set up their own websites and market their website to make sales. This is the only cost that is going to be accrued through an affiliate program.

One of the biggest misconceptions about affiliate programs is that they do not require a lot of work. Many people think that all they need to do is sign up and they'll start making money.

However, the key to making money with an affiliate program is to get the affiliate ID out there. Without people knowing the affiliate ID the affiliate will not make any money.

This requires work. The affiliate is going to have to advertise. Advertising is an ongoing process that requires quite a bit of work upfront. As time goes by, though, the affiliate will have established a customer base and they can begin to work less.

Affiliate programs operate on a fairly simple basis. They allow a person to have a home business without having to keep inventory, create a product or even process sales or handle customer complaints. It is no surprise that affiliate programs are so popular.

Bill Shultz is the owner of http://PipelineIncomes.com he has learned the secrets of affiliate marketing and is helping people achieve their goals online. To learn more about affiliate marketing Bill recommends you visit: http://PipelineIncomes.comAdella Blog97051
Ahmet Blog79465

Is Home Drug Testing a Parental Necessity or Overreaction?

Since the beginning of time, good kids have been known to do dumb things. The same can be said of nave and well-meaning parents. Because they dont know what to say, some parents fail to talk to their children about drugs. Others develop a false sense of security after they do.

Its much more comfortable for parents to hold the belief that things havent changed much since they were young than it is to accept the fact that they have. Its also much easier for parents to believe that their teenagers always tell them the truth and would never try drugs, but who ever said parenting was supposed to be easy?

Parents ask me when they should talk to their kids, what they should say, and what they can do to follow through. Ben Franklin said, Wise is the man who fixes his roof before it rains. I couldnt agree more. I suggest that parents would be well served to sit down with their children and start talking about a home drug testing program as early as middle school.

To protect privacy, home drug testing kits can be ordered on the Internet and shipped in nondescriptive packaging. The accuracy of the most popular test kits is comparable to labs and medical clinics at a fraction of the price. Results usually appear within minutes and are easy to read by the average parent in the convenience of their own home.

If the idea of drug testing your teens sounds unreasonable, consider how much times have changed. If someone told me when I was in high school by the time my son attended middle school, that police officers (now affectionately referred to as school resource officers) and dogs trained to detect drugs would patrol school hallways, I would have never believed it. Metal detectors and school shootings arent nightmares: they have become a reality.

A successful program will have several key components. The first component is comprised of parents willing to place a higher priority on acting as a parent than as their teenagers best friend. I find it hypocritical that parents who are quick to assert that its more important for their kids do the right thing than it is to do whats popular are reluctant to start a home drug testing program because the newfound accountability might not be popular with their kids.

The second component is the introductory conversation in which parents acknowledge that their kids are growing up and are deserving of additional freedom. However, additional responsibility and accountability should come with expanded freedom.

Dr. Michael Reznicek, a medical doctor with emergency room experience, actually developed a software program that facilitates the initial parent-child conversation and eliminates potential misunderstandings by creating a contract that spells out specific rewards and consequences tied to home drug test results. The software also becomes the preferred target of potential animosity over requests for hair, urine, or saliva samples for drug testing purposes because it also selects random testing dates.

From the time children are very young, theyre taught to just say no to drugs, and Im convinced that the peer pressure usually gets worse when they do. Teens dont know what to say next. Parents who follow through with a home drug testing program give their teens a socially acceptable excuse. The words My parents test me stop pushy peers in their tracks.

The final component of a successful program is effective parental follow-through. Teens want their parents to trust them. If they think their parents are nave and/or wont test them, they are more likely to try drugs because they dont expect to get caught. While teens place a high value on maintaining their parents trust, they just dont feel it is in jeopardy without testing. Teens behavior and choices change when they know that it is a near certainty rather than a virtual impossibility that their drug use will be discovered.

Mason Duchatschek has interviewed thousands of parents, teenagers, school board members, counselors, school principals and superintendents. He is the president of TestMyTeen.com (mason@testmyteen.com) based in Fenton, Missouri.Alicia Blog37955
Aneta Blog44280

Fix Computer Problems In A Jiffy With Rollback Rx

Rollback Rx system restore software is mandatory for every computer user to ensure system security and data loss prevention. More so in educational institutions dependent on PCs for their routine work, where a rollback tool is essential since most are multi user systems. PC restore is a regular operation that has to be done, to preserve data and to repair computer problems that might arise from misuse of computers. This can happen in many ways, but can be totally avoided with a disaster recovery solution like Rollback Rx.

Areas Where Rollback Rx Can Repair Computer Issues

In colleges and universities where several people use the same computer, students store their academic work in the form of reports, software programs, etc in various folders. Because many people use the same system, the necessity to fix computer problems arises when certain files or folders become deleted or moved. This could very well cause problems. With Rollback Rx, PC restore can be done easily to a secure state, to keep the operating system and other data intact.

Unauthorized Downloads Can Be Fixed With Rollback Rx

There is a tendency to download free programs that appear useful, little knowing that it can lead to security issues and computer repair. Viruses and spyware get into the system and crash the entire network. In such situations, Rollback Rx helps retrieve important data while removing all these unwanted elements from the pc network when a system restore is performed, preventing permanent damage and exorbitant costs.

Just imagine having the hard drive being deleted by a click of the mouse. When students handle computers, they are usually curious and tend to tinker around with settings and end up, sometimes unintentionally creating computer repair, putting the computers security at risk. When Rollback Rx is installed on the pc, it can be scheduled to take snapshots at specific intervals so that fixing computer problems becomes a quick task instead of creating several hours of downtime and data loss. This would avoid serious issues like certain scheduled activities being deactivated, antivirus programs being over-ridden or firewalls turned off, exposing the network to sabotage and other malware. With Rollback Rx, this sort of problem can be avoided and rectified easily, because it helps rollback the systems to a configuration that is suitable.

Rollback Rx system restore software is like a guardian for the PC network, avoiding computer repair and disaster through program failure or operating system malfunction. It keeps the system healthy and the user happy. While very simple to use, Rollback Rx has the options of selectively allowing only certain people to access it, thereby making it ideal where multi-user systems exist.

Jacob Henderson is the technical head of Horizon Data Systems and leading software development firm in the business of Desktop Security and PC performance enhancement software. During his more than 10 years of software development experience in various positions, Jacob Henderson has developed a large number of state of the art software and written numerous articles and reports. Jacob Henderson was one of the core team leaders, that is responsible for the development of user integration features of the flagship product of the Company-Rollback Rx Software.Angiola Blog5497
Ambi Blog91193

Open Source Technology, a Must For Your Small Business And Links To Get You Started

Are you looking for innovative ways to increase your ROI, your bottom line and downright save a ton of money on your IT costs? Let me answer that for you! Of course you are, you would not be a savvy business owner if you did not seek out ways to stretch your money. Drum roll please, introducing Open Source technology a new way for small businesses to even the playing field with their enterprise and big boy competitors.

Why is this important? You now have access to the same or comparable solutions that normally costs hundreds if not thousands to implement and deploy. Case in point, the Open Source version of SugarCRM, which is a Customer Relationship Management tool can be had for free while one of its proprietary and commercial competitors Salesforce.com cost about $1,000 to start per year for a five user license. Another quick example has Ubuntu, which is a full-featured Linux based operating system against Microsoft XP. XP Professional edition costs $299.99, while Ubuntu costs nothing and comes freely loaded with Office utilities that rival Microsofts Office software suite. You do the math. Remember to include per user and or per pc price and upgrades. Yeah, I know, you have been suckered for a long time and we didnt even mention the server operating system and licenses. Ask yourself, why am I paying for something when I can get it done for little or no cost?

Using Open Source is like using guerrilla tactics for your small business IT needs. Does free mean cheap? Lets take a look. Open Source software affords the user to have software developed by hundreds of developers instead of just a few. Most of the Open Source solutions mentioned here are tried and tested solutions. Did you know that you already use Open Source? Yep, in fact if you use a web browser or use email your using opens source software. The Internet is built upon open standards and runs on Open Source software. Who currently uses Open Source software? IBM, HP, Oracle, whole governments, Google, Yahoo and Amazon just to name a few.

So you might be asking yourself, what exactly is Open Source? Open Source software in its simplest form is software that freely distributes the source code along with the object code (the actual program that you install and use), so that any programmer familiar with the language can tweak, improve, modify or customize it without needing to ask anyone for permission or wait for a vendor to do it for them. For a more verbose definition, please visit http://www.opensource.org. The bottom line is, this model of software distribution can give you a freedom and a savings that compels you to at least become a bit more knowledgeable to its uses.

These are some useful links to help get you started on the Open Source road.

http://www.opensourceweekly.com (for the latest is Open Source technology for small business owners)
http://www.sourceforge.net (the world's largest Open Source software development web site)
http://www.freshmeat.org (Open Source software repository site)
http://www.theopencd.org (a collection of high quality Free and Open Source Software.)
http://www.ttcsweb.org/osswin-cd/ (a collection of over 100 free/Open Source software for home and business.)
http://www.itservants.com (Open Source Technology Consultants)

Top Open Source Applications for your small business needs.

http://www.openoffice.org (Great alternate to the Microsoft office suite.)
http://www.firefox.com (Open Source web browser, great alternative to Internet Explorer)
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird (Thunderbird email application, similar to Outlook)
http://www.tightvnc.com (for remote connection to your computers)
http://www.mysql.com (The worlds most popular Open Source database)
http://www.phpmyadmin.com (database management tool)
http://filezilla.sourceforge.net (Filezilla- ftp application to upload and download your web content)
http://www.joomla.org (Website Content Management System or CMS)
http://www.mamboserver.com (Website Content Management System or CMS)
http://www.apache.org (Very popular Web server application)
http://www.oscommerce.com (online shop/ e-commerce solution)
http://www.sugarcrm.com (the CRM tool mentioned in this article)
http://www.dotproject.net (project management web application)
http://www.gimp.org (Image manipulation program)
http://www.nvu.com (complete Web Authoring System)
http://www.gnucash.org (personal and small-business financial-accounting software.)
http://www.subversion.tigris.org (Subversion- Document management and revision control system)
http://www.k5n.us/webcalendar.php (WebCalendar- Online calendar program for single or multiple users)
http://www.openvpn.net (full-featured SSL VPN solution)

Desktop Linux Distributions

http://www.ubuntu.com Ubuntu
http://www.redhat.com Redhat
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki Fedora
http://www.novell.com/linux Suse
http://en.opensuse.org OpenSuse
http://www.slackware.com Slackware

You can also get the server versions to take care of your business client/server needs such as Email, file, print, FTP, Web, Database, Domain, Authentication etc., There are many distributions of Linux available please check http://www.distrowatch.com for additional resources.

This list is not at all exhausting and not meant to be. This should serve as a starting place on your journey into the Open Source realm. For general questions feel free to email me, if you have specific questions about any software listed here try posting to the respective forums. A good book to read is Open Source Solutions for Small Business Problems, written by John Locke. My definition of Open Source was found in this book.

What have we learned? Before you plunder hundreds of your hard earned or borrowed money into software seek out or find someone who is versed in this technology. Research and evaluate if an Open Source solution can fit your needs. Remember, Open Source Saves!

Paul Williams is a technology consultant, who teaches people how to save money by using open source software to solve their top 10 technology business problems. http://www.opensourceweekly.com.Alwyn Blog70798
Amato Blog77020

Why You Should Immigrate To Canada NOW!

Why Canada? There is really no perfect country on earth in which to live, but Canada comes as close to perfection as you're likely to get. When it comes to standard of living, health care, and a safe and secure society, Canada is consistently ranked as one of the top countries in the world in which to live. Canadians are blessed with an enviable standard of living, a free health care system, and a society that is multicultural and law abiding.

Canada has room to grow. In fact, the Canadian government is making great efforts to attract skilled immigrants to assist in Canada's economic growth. Immigrants are welcomed here not only by the government but by Canadian citizens, many of whom are first and second generation Canadians themselves.

In September 2006 the Canadian government introduced some new changes to the Skilled Worker Application, the main entry method to Canada for most immigrants. It is now even easier and less expensive to start the immigration process, since previously a Skilled Worker Application required numerous supporting documents for the initial filing, costing anywhere from CDN$3000 TO CDN$6000 if done by a lawyer or an immigration consulting company.

The new filing system requires applicants to only submit a Simplified Application Form to start the process. This initial filing allows applicants to gain entry to Immigration Canadas processing queue with the expenditure of very little time and money. While applicants wait the two or three years for their application to reach the examination stage they can perfect their qualifications, so as to be assured success in meeting all the immigration requirements. It is important that people desiring to immigrate to Canada take advantage of this new change in the regulations and get into the processing queue as soon as possible since it is likely, with the lower entry barriers, the immigration queue will fill up quickly. If you need more information about immigrating to Canada please visit our webpage at: www.immigroup.com/canadian_immigration/skilled_worker.php

The Canadian Government recognizes that expanding its Skilled Worker Immigration Program is essential to Canada's long term economic growth so we can expect to see further developments by the government to make this process even simpler in the years to come.

George Laczko is an immigration expert living in Toronto, Canada, and has put together a free information website at http://www.immigroup.com which extensively covers immigration and living in Canada issues.Aloysius Blog19023
Angelo Blog90850

How to Start Your Affiliate Business

Does this sound familiar:

Getting started is easy!
-- Complete the online application below.
-- Read the Affiliate Agreement and the additional terms included with it!
-- We notify you of your acceptance.
-- Place the links on your site and Start earning cash!

Just like that, you think you are on your way to earning 100s of dollars in income right away. You hear the success stories. You see the potential for earning an income on the internet. You jump right in and join a bunch of affiliate programs, purchase the services and software that you are told that you need. Now you have spent all this money and have still not made anything to show for your efforts.

What you need to do is start by planning out your business. Make sure that you have an overall business plan. Put this down on paper. When planning your business, you need to determine which affiliate programs to join. You want to avoid just putting up a list of affiliate links. This will never encourage people to buy from you. Do your research about products and services. There is so much out there on the internet about everything this should not be a hard task. Look to see what people are out there buying. Keep in mind that most people on the internet are looking for information. Make sure that you are able to provide then with the information that is helpful to them. Choose something that you can be passionate about and work hard at showing people how your product or service will help them. This will encourage visitors to click on that banner and purchase the goods or services that you are promoting.

Once you have figured out what your business is then it is time to establish a presentation of your business - Your WEB SITE. This does not have to be a grand 20 page web site. It is more of a one to two page site that allows you to pitch your business. Remember, if you are not building a business, you are not going to earn any money on affiliate sites. You want to keep your site very easy to understand and browse through. You want to make sure that you show your passion about the products or services that you are selling. Show people what the product or service can do for them. Make them think that it is something that they cannot live without. Use testimonials and personalize your web page for the product or service. You want people to see that you are just the average Joe who has found this wonderful product and show what it is going to do for them. It does not have to be anything elaborate. In fact, simplicity is the key to keeping people on your site. The more Bling that you have going on, the less likely that people will stay on your site.

Remember, starting any business is difficult. Dont expect to make big money right away. It takes time to establish trust with customers. But, by planning your business and building a quality site, you will avoid the mistakes that many affiliates make. You will be way ahead of the pack and on your way to building a viable web BUSINESS.

Markus Corkern is a writer and affiliate director for http://www.megaffiliates.com. He is active in new research and development in the internet affiliate marketing field.Anastasia Blog76993
Alylia Blog60559

Reclaimer's Rant (or Kill All Spyware!)

I positively despise Spyware, Trojans, Adware, Malware, Grayware, Viruses, and all forms of computer parasites. Their very existence is an affront to the average/intermediate or novice computer user. They steal your personal information, degrade and even cripple vital components and software. They cost you money in terms of time... time spent struggling against them, time finding them, and time trying to destroy or delete them.

I foresee a day when their existence becomes so problematic, that some heavy hitter like Microsoft will have to step in to aid in their suppression. Can you imagine the FCC's reaction to a broadcasting version of a Browser Hijacker that suddenly changed the channel to an infomercial in the middle of a movie you were watching? With the proliferation of high-speed cable ISP connections among computer users (connections that remain active 24/7), the bugs are finding clever new ways to ride in and infest our computers. Lately I've even become paranoid of MSN and Yahoo IM's.

Which brings me to the current object of my wrath:

Win Anti Virus Pro 2006
and
Drive Cleaner 2006

These miserable, bottom feeders somehow installed a trojan in my system (I think it rode in under the guise of an Apple Quicktime Update). My fiancee was the first to use the system at 7:40 in the morning. The computer was running so badly she rebooted it. Bad move. The trojan then imbedded itself and proceeded to announce (at very frequent intervals) that my computer was infected with a Trojan SPM/LX. Well, I guess they would know, SINCE THEY PUT IT THERE! To me this is like a security company hiring thugs to break into your home and steal your electronics, in order for them to demonstrate your need for their services... or the Fire Dept setting your house on fire, to encourage you to buy tickets to the Fireman"s Ball.

I do not recommend that you patronize Win Anti Virus Pro 2006. I can't imagine what uses your computer would be put to after installing their software.

A definite 'Reclaimer 2 Thumbs Down' for these guys.

Bear in mind, I am very well equipped with firewalls, antivirus, etc, etc. Currently I am working with Webroot Spy Sweeper Tech Support to clean my system, and it looks like the coast is clear. grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

If you are an intermediate or novice computer user, and you think your system is running poorly, or something is wrong, come to my webpage:

http://www.homeworkersunite.com/reclaimer.html

I have links to a ton of free spyware 'scan and clean' resources, free PC tune up and free registry repair resources. Everything has been used and tested by me. No tricks, no catches. Just honest help from some of the Internet's Good Guys.

Be careful out there

Reclaimer

Reclaimer is a former Protective Service Agent and Executive Bodyguard that has turned his attention to the field of Computer and Internet Security. It has come to his attention in his studies, that users who barely know how to turn on their computers, or even intermediate users are ill-equipped to deal with the jungle of spyware and adware out there. The geeks already know.Alylia Blog50705
Aiilyan Blog39936