February 28, 2007
Why won't my system recognize my usb device?
Why won't my system recognize my usb device?This is a great question.It's a great question because it happens all the time-your computer is on, you're ready to work, you plug in your usb device, and.nothing.It was just working!What's going on?Why is it that all of a sudden nothing is showing up?You know that your computer can recognize it, but why won't it?In fact, just as I was starting to write this article, my computer decided that it no longer wanted to recognize the usb device that I had been using for the last couple hours, that was still plugged in to the computer, but I guess that the computer had had enough of usb devices for the day.
Continue reading "Why won't my system recognize my usb device?"AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, or IRC - Which instant messaging program should I choose?
Communicating on the Internet has become the new phone. Talking to friends, meeting new people, dating, sales, or help with homework. It is free, cheep and easy. Many programs can be downloaded easily from the messaging program web site. Most of these programs have several great features and simple to get up and going.
What instant messaging program do you choose?
Continue reading "AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, or IRC - Which instant messaging program should I choose?"February 27, 2007
If I let my neighbor share my WiFi can they see my network traffic?
If I let my neighbor share my WiFi, can they see my network traffic?The short answer is `maybe'.It all depends on how you have set up your network and what kind of protection you are using.If you have not taken precautions, more people than just your neighbor could be monitoring your traffic.
The term `WiFi' is a contraction of "wireless fidelity" and is commonly used to refer to wireless networking technology.There are many ways you can set up a wireless network and all of them will have a hub and/or switch and/or router.The key differences between these devices will determine whether others can see your traffic.
How to protect your MySpace password
This article is about how to protect your MySpace password.There are a number of different reasons why you will want to protect your MySpace password as carefully as you possibly can.Of course there are the general reasons that apply to protecting all of your passwords.You don't want people to be able to access all of your different accounts online, from MySpace to your email accounts to you Target account and everything else that you use the Internet for.You wouldn't want someone to post a blog comment with your name, would you?That could end up being much more disastrous that you can imagine.
Continue reading "How to protect your MySpace password"February 26, 2007
Dual core processors - are they worth it?
Are dual core processors worth getting?Do you want to spend the time and money finding the right processor for your computer?Are dual core processors worth buying at this point in technology? Will they be compatible with my computer?
For you, the answer may be yes, it's definitely worth your time and money to get dual core processors.For others, the answer is no.It may not be worth it to get a dual core processor at this point.Whether or not it is worth getting depends on your purpose and computer use. A person who only uses their computer for word processing may find it is not worth it, while the person whose whole life is on the computer will find it more worthwhile.
Continue reading "Dual core processors - are they worth it?"February 25, 2007
How do I send a text message on my cell phone?
You may ask how to send a text message on your cell phone.The answer to the question would be `it depends on what phone you have.'Phones do not have a standard.They keep changing almost daily.As each phone maker tries to out do their competition, they rarely will have the same options on their phones.
However, the basics will be the same for most phones.Most providers try to keep their phones they same also.So if you know how to send a text message on your verizon cell phone, you will probably still know how to send a text message when you upgrade your verizon phone.
Continue reading "How do I send a text message on my cell phone?"How to access your email on someone else's computer
Imagine this: You're at your in-laws' house.Your spouse has just left you home alone with the parents to go hang out with some old friends.You're going crazy with boredom.You want to read your email but you don't know how to access it on their computer.Will somebody please help you!!
Relax.There is a world of options available to you.
February 24, 2007
How important are computer clock speeds?
The importance of computer clock speeds depends on the applications the computer will be designated to run. General office work makes little difference about clock speeds.If you are trying to do high-end graphics or gaming, then it could be considered more beneficial.
Clock speed is a measure of how quickly a computer completes basic computations and operations. Therefore, the importance of the computer clock speeds relies on several factors.
Continue reading "How important are computer clock speeds?"AMD versus Pentium - advantages and disadvantages of using each
So you've decided that you want a dual core processor.You've already asked yourself all the necessary questions to consider before getting one.Questions like "are dual core processors worth getting?Are dual core processors worth buying at this point in technology? Will they be compatible with my computer?"But you've decided that, yes, you do indeed want a dual core processor.Maybe you're a serious gamer and want to improve your game speed.Maybe you always have one thousand and one programs running on your computer and it can't handle it anymore and so you decide to get a dual core processor.
Whatever your reason is, you've made a good decision.Dual core processors offer great advantages over a single core processor.They can increase the speed of your computer, increase the efficiency of your computer (including making it more energy efficient!) and don't even use more power to run.
February 23, 2007
Renting software over the Internet
Renting software over the Internet is a fairly new concept.There are some great advantages to doing so, but there are also some drawbacks considering the infancy of the software rental market.It's definitely something you can look into without making a long-term commitment and if you don't care for it you can always go out, buy and install the software yourself.
The main idea behind renting software is that you or your business can "rent" access to software over an Internet connection rather than buying it and installing it on your desktop.An Internet company, often known as an ASP or application service provider hosts the software and usually charges customers on a per-use basis or they charge a monthly fee for unlimited use.To use the software, you go to your provider's (ASP's) web site and log in to start working.For example, say you own a company with 100 computers.Employees needing access to Microsoft Word on a daily basis operate fifteen of these computers.Rather than buying the program and getting fifteen licenses for use on these computers, you can "rent" access to the software and pay a monthly fee for unlimited access.Now suppose you also have fifty of those employees that occasionally use Microsoft Excel programs.You don't want to invest a lot of money into buying a program that is seldom used, so you can "rent" access to this software and pay per-use.Whenever these employees need to make a spreadsheet, they simply go to the ASP's web site, enter their login information and start working.
Continue reading "Renting software over the Internet"How do I remove myself from the search engines?
How do I remove myself from the search engines?First let's talk about search engines.What search engines, like Google, Yahoo, MSN, and hundreds and hundreds of other search engines do, is they go out and they search all of the billions and billions of pages of information on the Internet.And then they collect all of that information and they index it.So then what you can do is direct a search engine to search through all of its collections and all of its indices for a particular term.It will then pull up all of the pages that have a particular name in them, for instance, and will bring up the most exact hits and matches first.
Continue reading "How do I remove myself from the search engines?"February 22, 2007
.NET tools for your business
If you're like most average computer users, you probably have no idea what ".NET tools" even are.You may have some vague idea that they have something to do with the internet and your computer...but that may be as far as your knowledge on the matter extends.Which is why it's a good thing you're reading this article.If you keep reading, you will learn a few things about what .net tools entail and how to take advantage of them to improve your business.
Let's start with a simple definition of what ".NET" actually means.You may be thinking of the .net that stands for NETwork, which is a general domain used on the internet's domain name system.A domain is the last three letters (usually three) of a web address that indicate what organization a site belongs to.An example of this would be ".info, .com, .edu or .org.".Net is simply one of those domains.
Continue reading ".NET tools for your business"How do I find out who owns a hotmail account?
How do I find out who owns a hotmail account? There are a lot of different reasons why you might want to find out who owns a hotmail account.Maybe someone is spamming you.They send you abusive email after abusive email.You can't stop it.They're driving you crazy.They're clogging up your mailbox.Maybe they're actually being personally abusive.They're attacking you, they're threatening you, and they're basically driving you mad.Of course you want to find out who owns the Hotmail account.Then you could have at least some way to legally shut them down, or at least find out who the owner of the Hotmail account is and then be abusive back to them.
To find out how you find out the owner of a hotmail account, let's start by talking about hotmail.Hotmail is one of the most popular email systems out there.It's popular for a few reasons.First of all, it's completely free.Of course you can pay money for Hotmail Plus, but basic Hotmail is utterly free.Because Hotmail is completely free, there's no sort of loss on the part of the user if he or she wants to open up multiple accounts.You can own as many Hotmail accounts as pleases you, and you can use them for whatever you want.The way that you sign up for a Hotmail account is the key to why it's so blasted hard to find out who the owner is.The fact is that when you sign up for any free email account like Hotmail or Yahoo or Juno or Gmail, you don't have to tell the truth about any of your personal information.Nobody's going to check up on you.Nobody has any way to check up on you.This can actually be a good thing-let's say that you want to set up an account that you'll use when you have to log on to other websites or set up accounts, and you don't want anyone to be able to get your personal information some how.So you use an account that has a bogus name and other information that goes along with it.The thing is that there is no way for anyone to find out who you really are.
How do I change my MSN Hotmail secret question?
How do I change my MSN Hotmail secret question?There are a number of different reasons why you would be asking this.Maybe you forgot your secret question that you had set already.Maybe somebody found out what your secret question and your secret answer was.If that's the case, that somebody who has your secret information can log in to your email account even without your password.A secret question and secret answer combo is commonly used by email services or other online services, such as banking and credit cards, email accounts, and shopping accounts with different stores.This secret question and secret answer combo is designed to make sure that nobody can access your account.The problem, of course, is if somebody finds out what your secret question and your secret answer are.Then you've got to change your secret question for your own security.
Continue reading "How do I change my MSN Hotmail secret question?"February 21, 2007
How to use anti-static mats to prevent damage
Sometimes static can be one of the worst inconveniences of your day.You walk across your living room, see a sock that you dropped the day before and bend down to pick it up, only to be shocked by a bolt of electricity known as static.Or maybe it's an exceptionally dry day outside.Before you left for work this morning, you spent nearly an hour working on your hair so that you'll look perfect for that special lunch meeting today.But thanks to static electricity, your hair has been flying wild and free all day, regardless of the pound of hairspray you applied in the hopes that it would keep it tame.
An even worse situation is when you're being introduced to the new boss or a new client and your office is dreadfully static-y.You approach your new boss or client, greeting him or her with an outstretched hand.When your hands touch, there that familiar and dreaded zap and crackle!You're both shocked by static electricity.Your new boss or client shrieks and gasps with surprise and recoils from your static-filled self.You turn away in shame, appalled that your problem of static has struck yet another unsuspecting victim.
Continue reading " How to use anti-static mats to prevent damage"How do I change my MSN Hotmail password if I forgot it?
How do I change my MSN Hotmail password if I forgot it?This is a great question, and a question that it seems like a lot of people need an answer for, based on how people ask the question.
Now let's say that you forgot your MSN Hotmail password.This could be because you don't use your account very often and when you try to log in, you just can't remember that blasted number letter combination.Or perhaps you were hit on the head very hard and can't remember anything at all, in which case you might not be able to get your MSN Hotmail password if you can't remember the answer to your secret question.More on that later.
Perhaps you've been traveling for months and you haven't had any access to email, since you've been in the middle of nowhere, and when you try to log in to tell your family that you're okay, your travel-addled brain simply can't remember that password.Whatever the reason, there's no reason to freak out because you can't remember your password.Hopefully.
Continue reading "How do I change my MSN Hotmail password if I forgot it?"February 20, 2007
What's the best backup solution for me?
Backing up your essential data is very important but can also be tedious and annoying. For most users, if it's not quick and easy, it won't happen. Not everyone wants or even needs to have their entire system backed up, although some may find that peace of mind is worth the work required to backup your system.The question you will have to ask yourself is this: if my home/office/building were to catch on fire and destroy my computer today, what would I want to retrieve?This will help you decide what you need to backup, where to back it up at, how often it needs to be backed up, and how much space will be required to backup your data.It doesn't matter which method you use to perform a backup, it just matters that you actually do it.
Think about what resources you have that you will need to back up.Have you thought of all your computers? All the drives therein? How about external hard drives you're not using for backup? Do you have a web site? Do you have a backup of it? What would happen if your ISP lost it?If you're a small business, do you have databases that need backing up? Office machines that belong to everyone, but no one?
How to find a .NET developer
At some point during the course of your business, you may have a need to find a .net developer.It may be that you just need a developer for a one time job, or maybe for an extended period of time.Regardless of your reasons or your purposes in wanting to find a .net developer, there are certain things that you should look for when trying to find a .net developer.
Things to look for when trying to find a .net developer to work for your company:
1. Look for a .net developer with experience.A good .net developer should have several years of quality experience (programming and/or developing websites) under his/her belt.
2. Look for a .net developer that has had good education.Education goes right along with experience.Look for a .net developer that has both education and experience.They may have more education and less experience, or more experience with less formal education.Either way, your .net developer should have a good mixture of both.
February 19, 2007
How do I change my MSN Hotmail alternate email address?
How do I change my MSN Hotmail alternate email address?This is a great question, especially because of the Internet age that we live in.There are so many chances for people to get a hold of your personal information through the Internet.There are also a lot of ways that people can get a hold of your email address, including your alternate email addresses.If someone gets a hold of your alternate email address and password, then he or she can start sending emails out from your address and that can obviously really screw up a lot of things for you and everybody that you know.
So you want to change your MSN Hotmail alternate email address, for some reason or another.Perfectly understandable.So what do you do?You go into your MSN Hotmail email account and try to change your alternate email address.There's just one problem.You can't find the information anywhere.You can't figure out how to do it.It just plain and simple doesn't tell you how.
Continue reading "How do I change my MSN Hotmail alternate email address?"February 18, 2007
How do I backup my data over the Internet?
How do I backup my data over the Internet?This is a fantastic question, for a lot of reasons.In fact, just the other day, I was finishing up an enormous report.Pages and pages of information, graphs, analysis, conclusions, the whole works.It took me days to do it; it was one of the biggest projects I've had to do in a long time.Of course I backed it up-I saved it on both my flash drive and my hard drive.And just as I was finishing up, well we all know the story.It's happened to everyone.My computer crashed.Turns out that I had a terrible virus infection, and I'm not talking about a cold.The entire thing was erased; I'm not entirely sure how, or why, but poof.It was gone.
February 16, 2007
I lost my MSN Hotmail password - how do I access my account?
I lost my MSN Hotmail password - how do I access my account?This is a question that a lot of people ask, because, well, a lot of people forget their passwords to their MSN Hotmail accounts.Now this doesn't have to be the disaster that you might think it is, as long as you set up your account properly and you remember how you set it up.
There are a few things that you can do to access your MSN Hotmail account if you've lost your password.Here are the steps that you're going to need to take.
February 15, 2007
How does email work?
Email servers are probably about the most complicated servers to set up because not only is there a huge number of security implications to running your own mail server but they also tend to be split up into many small parts taht all do different, highly specialized, things. This page aims to give you an overview of how and email system works. I don't pretend to be an expert on these things but this should be a good starting point.
At the pointy end of the system is the MTA which stands for mail transport agent. This is the bit that does the grunt work of moving email around on the Internet. Probably the most popular MTA is sendmail but there are plenty of others to choose from including courier-mta, postfix and qmail as well as pay for offerings. The MTA probably has the most security issues as it is world facing. There used to be problems (and to some extent there still is) with open relays. These are badly configured MTAs that allow anyone to connect and send email through them. Many modern MTAs make it deliberately quite difficult to configure an open realy.
Continue reading "How does email work?"February 14, 2007
Domain registration suppliers - which one is best for you
With the rise of internet scams, identify theft, and fraud, it is more important than ever to protect your online assets-websites, personal information or emails.Therefore it is imperative that you choose a domain registration supplier who will give you the most out of your money, as well as be safe and dependable.This will help to ensure success in your online business, or whatever else your purpose one the web may be.
Since domain names are available all over the internet, it is difficult to know which ones are reliable and which ones are fraudulent.At the click of a button, anyone can buy a domain name and have their own website up and running in no time.So let's say you have a great idea for domain name and you think you've found a reliable site that sells domains at a good price.But before you jump to pay to reserve your domain name right now, you need to be sure you've done the following:
February 13, 2007
Can I use Outlook Express or Outlook to access my MSN Hotmail account?
Can I use Outlook Express or Outlook to access my MSN Hotmail account?This is a great question for a number of different reasons.Both Outlook Express/Outlook and MSN Hotmail are part of the vast MSN empire.MSN stands for MicroSoft Network.Outlook Express and Outlook are like MSN Hotmail in that they are all email clients.You can use all three to view, read, manage, organize, write, and send your emails.The difference lies in what you have to do to use them.Outlook Express and Outlook are stand alone email clients.That means that you don't have to be online and go through a webpage to use them.If you are surfing the web and see an email address, and you want to send an email to that particular person, whether it's a journalist whose article you want to respond to or Support that you want to contact, you click on that hotlink email.Chances are that then the email client that will come up is Outlook or Outlook Express.MSN Hotmail differs from Outlook and Outlook Express.It's a free email service (unless you use MSN Hotmail Premium), and like most free email services, you can only access MSN Hotmail online, through the webpage.
February 12, 2007
Can I get someone's name and address from their IP address?
Can I get someone's name and address from their IP address?This is a great question.There are a lot of myths and rumors that swirl around the Internet about IP addresses.I read a question on one message board on which a very, very concerned parent asked about IP addresses and stalkers.Apparently, this poor woman's kid had posted something rather mean and unflattering on someone else's blog or something like that.The owner of the website then replied to the kid.He told this kid that he had his IP address, and so he now knew his exact home address, his phone number, his name, his social security number, had access to credit cards and bank accounts, knew his work address, and basically every single confidential and private piece of information that you could know about a person and, of course, that he was going to come and get this poor kid.
February 11, 2007
What is Skype and how do I use it?
Skype is a peer-to-peer Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network.This means you are able to transmit voice communications over the Internet.Skype works on all popular operating systems including Windows, Mac, Linux, Pocket PC and many Cell phones.It was founded in 2003 by a couple of entrepreneurs, Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis.The Skype Group has since been acquired by eBay as of October 2005.
Skype is a little piece of software that makes it easy, fun and cheap to communicate with people around the world.If both you and the person you are communicating with are on Skype, it's free. This includes chatting, voice and video conferencing.Skype generates revenue by offering features such as making and receiving calls to and from landline and mobile phones, as well as voicemail and call forwarding. Skype is available in 27 languages and is used in almost every country around the world.
Continue reading "What is Skype and how do I use it?"February 10, 2007
How do I change the size of my email display text?
You may want to change the size of the text for reading your email.This may happen for a variety of reasons.If you change to a laptop or get a smaller monitor, you may have trouble reading the smaller print.Also, if you are using your email on a projection screen while teaching a class, you may need to make it as large as possible.Additionally, you may want to shrink the text display size so you can maximize your screen space on a monitor.
Technology both in software and hardware continues to change.As technology improves you may find yourself trying to read email on smaller portable screens.Or you may find yourself with a large flat screen monitor and you may want to decrease your text size in order to maximize your screen.Whatever your situation is, you should be able to find a method or methods to create the proper resolution and text size for your computer.
Continue reading "How do I change the size of my email display text?"February9, 2007
How do I image a hard drive?
You may ask how to image a hard drive.You will first need to get software that images a hard drive.Once you have found the right software use their instructions to receive the best results.
When you `image' a drive you are taking an exact copy of the drive as it is at that point in time.You get an exact copy unless it is corrupted and then you get nothing.It is an all or nothing situation.
You may think this is a good solution to back up your information.However, if you use your computer often, which most people do, you will lose all of the data that you created or changed since the last time you took an image.Hence, many find the image tactic not a practical solution to back up their data.
Continue reading "How do I image a hard drive?"February8, 2007
How do I resolve my MSN Hotmail sign in problems?
You could be having difficulty signing in to MSN Hotmail email account for various reasons.We will explore some of these hang-ups and some troubleshooting solutions you might want to try.
If the only problem you are having with your computer is your email account, the easiest fixes include:
- Check to make sure your sign-in name is typed in correctly.Although most sign-in names are not case-sensitive, some names are.
- Your Hotmail account may have expired.A Hotmail account is deleted if it is not used during the first 10 days after you register or for any consecutive 60 days. Because Hotmail cannot reactivate a deleted account, you must register for a new Hotmail account.
February7, 2007
I have no C drive but some programs insist on it. What can I do?
You may or may not have a C: drive on your computer.You don't have to have one.However, some programs want to be installed on the C: drive only.In these cases we can create a virtual C: drive on the hard drive that you do have.
The C: hard drive is assumed to be the boot drive.However, any drive could be assigned to be the boot drive.The boot drive is where all of the start up programs are held. Most computers have the C: drive as the boot drive so some programs insist on being loaded in that directory.If this is the case, you can make a virtual drive to act as the C: drive.
Continue reading " I have no C drive but some programs insist on it. What can I do?"February6, 2007
How can I connect to my home computer from work?
You may have a need or desire to connect to your home computer from work.There are several factors that you must consider before trying to connect.Most importantly, will your work allow it and if it does will they help support it.
Your best method to find access to home would be to approach your IT department and see if they have software that supports access.Many companies realize that employees work at home and offer support to access files at home.Other companies feel that accessing home computers put their networks at risk because they can't control the security of home computers.If home computers are hacked by thieves then they could potentially gain access to the company through the home computer.
Continue reading "How can I connect to my home computer from work?"February5, 2007
What is email greylisting?
You may ask what email greylisting is.This is a new way email users have created to deal with spam.
Email whitelisting and blacklisting is a method used to filter your email.If you don't want email from a certain email address, then you add that email address to your blacklist.If you are positive you want all email from a certain email address, then you can add that address to your whitelist and all email sent from that address will bypass your email filters.
February4, 2007
What is email whitelisting and blacklisting?
Email whitelisting and blacklisting is a method used to filter your email.If you don't want email from a certain email address, then you add that email address to your blacklist.If you are positive you want all email from a certain email address, then you can add that address to your whitelist and all email sent from that address will bypass your email filters.
An advertising technique companies have become fond of using is SPAM.Spamming is the abuse of email to send unsolicited and undesired bulk messages.These messages are most often sent via email.
Continue reading "What is email whitelisting and blacklisting?"February3, 2007
If I let my neighbor share my WiFi can they see my network traffic?
If I let my neighbor share my WiFi, can they see my network traffic?The short answer is `maybe'.It all depends on how you have set up your network and what kind of protection you are using.If you have not taken precautions, more people than just your neighbor could be monitoring your traffic.
The term `WiFi' is a contraction of "wireless fidelity" and is commonly used to refer to wireless networking technology.There are many ways you can set up a wireless network and all of them will have a hub and/or switch and/or router.The key differences between these devices will determine whether others can see your traffic.
February2, 2007
How to set up a small business network.
You have 2 basic options to begin with, wired or wireless network.Once that decision is made then you have greatly reduced the myriad of options, but there are still a lot of products our there for the small business network.
Wired vs. Wireless
A wireless business network can be used when installing wires can be very difficult or expensive.Also, you will find a wireless network is the easiest to install because it is a matter of a couple of cards, a router and you are ready to go. However, there are some disadvantages.
Continue reading "How to set up a small business network."February1, 2007
Why are Internet petitions a bad idea?
Internet petitions are most likely a bad idea.This is an arguable opinion, but you will see by the end of this article that there is a lot of room for the negative.However, if by signing an email opinion you could change a policy that would resolve world hunger, then we should all sign internet petitions.
Most petitions have no effect and many can cause harm.The following points will show you to take extra care before signing a petition on line to make your opinion heard.
1.Email Harvesting.Often the survey or Internet Petition asks those that are signing to enter an email.They explain this is needed to make sure that you are a real person and not a computer program that is signing the petition.This is how the owner of the petition keeps you from ‘stuffing' the petition with multiple signatures.
Continue reading "Why are Internet petitions a bad idea?"Renting software over the Internet
Renting software over the Internet is a fairly new concept.There are some great advantages to doing so, but there are also some drawbacks considering the infancy of the software rental market.It's definitely something you can look into without making a long-term commitment and if you don't care for it you can always go out, buy and install the software yourself.
The main idea behind renting software is that you or your business can "rent" access to software over an Internet connection rather than buying it and installing it on your desktop.An Internet company, often known as an ASP or application service provider hosts the software and usually charges customers on a per-use basis or they charge a monthly fee for unlimited use.To use the software, you go to your provider's (ASP's) web site and log in to start working.For example, say you own a company with 100 computers.Employees needing access to Microsoft Word on a daily basis operate fifteen of these computers.Rather than buying the program and getting fifteen licenses for use on these computers, you can "rent" access to the software and pay a monthly fee for unlimited access.Now suppose you also have fifty of those employees that occasionally use Microsoft Excel programs.You don't want to invest a lot of money into buying a program that is seldom used, so you can "rent" access to this software and pay per-use.Whenever these employees need to make a spreadsheet, they simply go to the ASP's web site, enter their login information and start working.
Continue reading "Renting software over the Internet"How to change your MSN Hotmail password
You can change your MSN Hotmail password fairly easy once you know how.However, you must know your current password in order to change it.If you have forgotten your current password, then it is impossible to change your MSN Hotmail password with one exception which will be explained later.
You should change your password periodically.A software program can figure out your password if it has enough time.A good suggestion would be every two months.You will probably want to write it down because if you change the password and then immediately go on a week long vacation, you may find yourself not knowing how to log into your account.Then you will not be able to change your password with one exception.