November 21, 2005
A Review of Article Submitter Pro Article Submission Software
Anyone who is serious about doing business online knows how important it is to use software to automate one's business efforts. And doing this wherever and whenever one can will only serve to increase one's productivity and potentially allow for gainful benefits.
One such software that automates a very tedious process is Article Submitter Pro. This software is designed with the sole purpose of submitting articles for article writers and online authors. This is not a complicated process by any means. But it is very repetitive and has great tendency for submission errors. This is especially true for authors who routinely write articles and do many dozens of submissions for each article to online article directories.
(read the entire review of Article Submitter Pro at ArticlesandAuthors.com)
Posted by Andre Best at 8:31 PM | Comments (0)
September 12, 2005
Which Antivirus Software Is Best?
Before we get into discussing which antivirus software program is best, let's start out from the beginning and clarify what these software programs are all about in the first place.
The Random House Unabridged Dictionary (1993 Ed.) defines a virus as “a segment of self-replicating code planted illegally in a computer program, often to damage or shut down a system or network.” Today’s antivirus programs are as the definition says software programs specially designed 1) to detect those nasty viruses that, unbeknownst to you perhaps, lurk in the e-guts of your computer and 2) to combat viruses that try to penetrate your box.
It’s interesting that the word virus can be found in the dictionary (ca. 1993) but not the word anti-virus. Goes to show one how new this all is. But no matter how it’s sliced I would guess that one cannot have an anti-anything without first having a thing to be ‘anti-’ about. But whichever came first, the virus or the anti-virus, is irrelevant when it comes to protecting you, your computer, and the sensitive personal information you happen to store on your box.
And how these programs do the voodoo that they do is something that only techie’s, hackers, and 17-year-old teenagers with a lot of time on their hands know. But that doesn’t matter to us, for the most part. Instead, what is important is that every computer user, even those who aren’t actively surfing the www, have an antivirus program properly installed and regularly updated on their machine. Let me tell you why.
Three years ago I received an email from my sister in Canada. But she didn’t send it to me. It was sent out by a virus on her machine – automatically - to me, my brothers, and my father because we were all listed on her personal email list. My computer was messed up for a few days and my Dad finally had to reinstall Windows on his machine. Quite the nuisance. And ‘yes’, we all had antivirus software on our machines at the time. But one not only gets a nasty infection from Internet emails – a computer can also become infected through offline activities such as insertion of floppy disks, CD’s, DVDs, flash drives, and shared file usage.
You’ve most likely heard of the biggies in the antivirus industry: Norton, McAfee, TrendMicro, Kaspersky, Panda. They all cost around the same ($50 - $70/year with ongoing virus updates). But just make sure that whichever program you use/plan to use is automatically installing regular (that is, every few hours, yes - hours) updates to your machine. Why? Well, I read a recent statistic that the first virus program to propagate worldwide only a few years ago took four days to do so. The last, and most recent, virus to go global took only 15 minutes to do so. And this is only going to get quicker, with advances in technology and networking capabilities. So do your utmost to protect yourself. At ALL times.
So to sum up, I know you’re all good little computer users and you either already have regularly updating antivirus programs on your machines at home, or you’re going to rush over to your nearest Fry’s Electronics, put it on your wish list, and get one for a present from your spouse or partner, right? Good.
Now. . .does anyone have a dictionary that actually defines what an antivirus is?
Written by Andre Best
President, Ultimate Results, Inc.
http://www.andrebest.com - Learn About Life From Another Perspective
(Author's permission is granted to share this full article with others. Just leave the signature line intact, please.)
Posted by Andre Best at 9:54 AM | Comments (0)
September 7, 2005
How to Make Your Computer Faster
Let’s start this article out by me asking you four questions.
When was the last time you dumped a cup of ice cubes in your garbage disposal, turned the water on, and then let the disposal unit run until the cubes were pulverized?
When was the last time you poured about a cup of vinegar in your dishwasher when it was empty and let the machine run a short cycle?
When was the last time you took one of those pointy long bristle brushes and cleaned off the coils under your side-by-side refrigerator?
When was the last time you cleaned and defragged your computer’s hard drive?
Believe it or not – the answer to the first three questions should be “About three months ago” and the answer to the computer hard drive defragging question should be “About three weeks ago”. Why?
Because while you may not notice the price of not maintaining your kitchen appliances until they actually break down, you will generally pay the price everytime you try to use your neglected computer. It will run slower and slower and take more time to get started, shut down, and process stuff. And all you’ll know is that the little bugger ‘just takes so long’ to do stuff that you want done now.
You see, the more you use your computer the more you are asking it to take whatever remaining space it has on the hard drive, its version of a brain, and store that stuff for potential later use. But unlike the grey matter in your head the computer is not just using less than 10% of it’s useable space. It will make use of all available space as it needs to. So, the more you use it, the longer you use it, the more stuff you have it do – the more e-clogged up and e-full it becomes.
Eventually, as the computer fills up its hard drive, it just begins to stuff files and things wherever it can fit them. It doesn’t care where they go. As long as it can find a space – it starts stuffing e-files in. And the result is your computer just responds slower and slower and s l o w e r.
But, unfortunately with this filing mess you can’t yell at your computer “Go clean up your room, NOW!” Well, I guess you could. You might even want to yell at it to vent a bit. But neither will work.
You see, you have to do a couple of things first. You have to set up the cleaning schedule. And you have to at the very least do manual and regular hard drive defragmentations. And how do you do these things? Easy.
Every few weeks click on Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools and then click on both Disk Cleanup and then Disk Defragmentor. On the pop-up screens click where you need to and follow the simple instructions and then let your computer do what it needs to do – uninterrupted. In an hour or less you’ll be done.
Oh, and after you do this don’t be like I was when I got my first computer. I waited 673 days between defrag sessions. The tech support guy I called to find out why my computer was running so slowly said I ‘set a new record for not doing what I should have been doing’. That’s the type of record you don’t need to try to break.
Written by Andre Best
President, Ultimate Results, Inc.
http://www.andrebest.com - Learn About Life From Another Perspective
(Author's permission is granted to share this full article with others. Just leave the signature line intact, please.)
Posted by Andre Best at 5:37 AM | Comments (0)
September 3, 2005
Do You Need a Firewall?
With the literal proliferation of world-wide attacks on current vulnerabilities in Microsoft-based operating systems I don’t know about you but I feel pretty safe and secure every time I turn on my computer at home. Okay, all kidding aside, during this article we’ll learn about three things you can do to better e-protect you and your computer.
If you’re not already doing it, the first thing you can do, if you’re bent on protecting yourself as you do your web-surfing or even when you are just typing away that long neglected killer email to Grandma, is to make a good ‘firewall’ a vital part of your computer system.
“What God's green earth is a firewall?” you ask? Good question my dear e-reader.
The easiest description I saw of one of these puppies was during one of the afternoon cartoon shows my kids watch. One of the cartoon characters was sucked into a computer and wasn’t able to make it into the guts of the computer because he came up against a huge, wide and tall, wall of fire just roaring away in front of him and essentially blocking his path beyond it. [He also yelled out “Oh no! A firewall!” so it was crystal clear (to all the kiddies watching) what this object was.]
But just to make sure that we’re on the same brain wavelength – firewalls aren’t really like this. You see, real firewalls come as either: a good piece of software installed in the computer [e.g. ZoneAlarm or BlackICE (just note that any software program is not foolproof)], or as actual hardware installed outside the computer [like a simple and relatively inexpensive (<$75) Linksys router. I know, I know - it used to be that a router was just a thing that Dad used as he worked in his garage workshop. But no more.]
But no matter which type is installed, a firewall still can save one a whole heap of e-grief before some techie wiener’s computer bug finds its way into one’s computer system – usually without one’s knowledge.
So, do what you can to protect yourself while you’re using that technological (black) box of wonder sitting in that back office at home because using it without some form of e-protection against cyber-tampering is kind of like going on that trip without that spare set of underwear Mom always packed for you. Remember? You never knew when you were going to need it but when you did need it, you were sure glad you had it.
And with the Net being a potentially invasive e-monster if left to its own devices, that is oh-so-much truer today. Make your Mom proud - get that firewall installed. Software or hardware. Just do it, eh?
Written by Andre Best
President, Ultimate Results, Inc.
http://www.andrebest.com - Learn About Life From Another Perspective
(Author's permission is granted to share this full article with others. Just leave the signature line intact, please.)
Posted by Andre Best at 1:59 PM | Comments (0)
September 1, 2005
Should You Do A Computer Backup?
Have you ever considered getting life insurance for your computer? You should. Okay, before you think that I’ve been sitting in front of my computer monitor for too long please bear with me for a bit.
Life insurance for your computer is not the typical life insurance stuff you’re used to. Think of it as insuring YOUR well-being – when your computer dies. Or at least threatens to do so.
Okay, André, get to the point. Fine. Let me say it as simply as I can. . .“Back up your computer.”
Take the time to back up your computer’s hard drive(s). Think about it. What’s on that simple little wondrous circle of modern technology? If you use your computer a lot, pretty much everything that’s important to you. Documents. Receipts. Emails. Proof of this. Proof of that. Pictures. Programs. Sensitive data. Lists. Forms.
And how would you feel were you to lose all of that without prior notice? Not good, right? Well, let me help you no longer live in denial/ignorance (and I mean this in a good way since this is a ‘family-friendly’ newsletter ;-) about one simple fact of modern life
Your computer’s hard drive is part of a machine. Machines break down. Especially the parts of them that move. Your hard drive has moving parts. So it’s a safe bet to guess that your computer’s hard drive IS going to break down. Not if, but when. And, to quote some famous commercial I saw when I used to watch television – ‘Will you be ready?’
So, just how do you get ready? Back up your hard drive to an external device. Regularly.
I know, I know - it’s annoying. It’s a bother. It’s something we’d rather not think about. Or actually do. But when we need it, like insurance, we’re glad it’s there.
Back up your computer to an external device like a CD, DVD, or external hard drive. Regularly. I do mine every two weeks so as to not lose too much information in the event of a permanent, fatal crash. And yes, it has happened to me. Twice in the last year. And yes, before those events I didn’t back up my hard drive. Why not? Because of the “it won’t happen to me” mentality almost all of us live in.
Don’t let it happen to you. Go out this weekend, or go e-shopping, and buy software that costs less than $100 to help you out. Try ‘Back Up My PC’, ‘Back Up Plus’, or ‘Second Copy 2000’, to name a few. And if you’re REALLY serious about backing up your entire system do check out Drive Image 7.0. It saved my derriere. Twice.
Good luck. And don’t ignore this article. By the way, when this happens to you and you happened to be one of the few that listened to my advice just make your thank you to me in the form of anything from the ‘dark chocolate’ family.
Written by Andre Best
President, Ultimate Results, Inc.
http://www.andrebest.com - Learn About Life From Another Perspective
(Author's permission is granted to share this full article with others. Just leave the signature line intact, please.)
Posted by Andre Best at 1:45 PM | Comments (0)
August 30, 2005
Safer Online Shopping
Everyone who thinks the Internet is nothing but a gargantuan black hole that sucks people’s money into it and never spits anything back out in return, please raise your hand.
Okay, you can all lower your arms now. Some information sharing is in order.
I too used to be like you. Especially after hearing stories of people losing their hard-earned green on some online order that never actually made it to their doorstep. They ordered a product, perhaps even something as expensive as a car or a horse, and the only thing that traveled off into the sunset was their dearly departed e-money.
Well, stop worrying so much because now you can purchase products online and not have to break a sweat for fear that your just-purchased product is never going to arrive. Why? Because you’re going to learn about paying close attention to three aspects of online ordering before you buy.
First, on any order page where you are asked to enter your credit card or check information never, and I mean never, provide any personal financial information unless you see that little locked padlock symbol in the lower left or right part of your computer screen. Double click on that padlock when you see it and read what pops up. All of it. Make sure the information looks right to you. If any of the dates are expired, or soon-to-be, don’t order. Anything.
Second, ensure that the order page that contains the form for you to input your personal information into has a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) with an ‘s’ in it. I know, I know - too much techie-speak. I’ll explain with two examples…
A non-secure website page has an URL that looks like this: http://www.mauigateway.com/seal/
A secure website page has an URL that looks like this: https://www.mauigateway.com/seal/
Notice the ‘s’ right after the ‘http’ letters in the second example? This makes all the difference because that ‘s’ is more than just an extra letter: it stands for ‘secure’. So, if the URL of the webpage you want to order from doesn’t have that extra ‘s’ in it, it’s not a truly secure website and you’d be wise to not order anything from it. Period.
Oh, and don’t believe anyone who tells you that all one needs to do to make a non-secure website’s order page secure is to type in an ‘s’ after the ‘http’ letters in the URL. Trust me, there is a lot more that goes into making a webpage secure than just hitting one key on a keyboard.
If you would like to get a primer on just how much more, so you can feel safer about your online ordering of those cars and horses, I highly suggest you click on the website URL in the second example above. It’s a very educational page on what makes a site genuinely authentic.
Now lets move on to the last piece to this sometimes-confusing online ordering puzzle. And that piece is a tiny piece of software: the ‘Alexa’ toolbar.
Alexa (that was bought out by Amazon.com) is a small, free program available at the Alexa.com website. It’s been downloaded over ten million times and only represents a small portion of Internet users, but that’s enough to help us out here.
Essentially, Alexa ranks a website’s popularity (e.g. Yahoo.com: #1, MSN.com: #2, Google.com: #3, Amazon.com: #18, Dell.com: #127, Verizon.com: #439, etc.) based on how frequently that site is visited by Alexa toolbar users.
Once installed on a computer Alexa tracks and ranks every website visited from that computer in relation to all the other 16,000,000+ websites on the World Wide Web. This ranking is easily visible in the toolbar itself and it changes as each page is visited. (Let me add that Alexa ranks all the web visits from a computer and it gathers cyber-crumbs wherever one goes, but the program cannot penetrate secure webpages (like order pages) so a toolbar user won’t be unknowingly giving away any financial/bank/credit card secrets. Also, the toolbar can be turned on or off in your browser at any time just by clicking on View>Toolbars>Alexa.)
So, how does this help you with your online ordering stuff? Good question. Let’s answer it.
Suppose you want to order something from a website that tells you it’s super-dee-duper e-popular and that it gets several million hits a week making it one of the ‘top sites on the Net’.
Also, that it’s won all these Top Site e-awards and it shows you all the twirling graphics and dancing enchiladas to prove this, and to cinch all this it provides a bunch of rave testimonials from past ‘satisfied buyers’. Sounds pretty convincing - so just place the order, right? Well, hold on little doggie. FIRST check out your Alexa toolbar.
Take a close look at that ranking in your trusty Alexa toolbar and what do you see? This site is ranked as the 2,615,573rd most popular site in the world. Hey, wait a minute! Something doesn’t mesh does it? Either they’re lying and trying to mislead visitors/buyers about their popularity (perhaps just to get their money?) or this site is EXTREMELY unpopular with those other ten million Alexa users, for some reason. Either way – not good.
So what should you do? How about you think twice about ordering from this site or wait at least until after you contact them (assuming they have a phone number listed) and perhaps see if they accept easily cancelable checks. And if they don’t then don’t buy. Simple.
So there you have it. With Alexa you can now know for yourself, versus just believing what you read or are told, if what you see is what you’re going to get.
And add this piece to the locking padlock and the secure order page pieces and you can be almost certain that your online ordering will piece together as perfectly as expected. And that you actually get what you paid for. Cool.
Written by Andre Best
President, Ultimate Results, Inc.
http://www.andrebest.com - Learn About Life From Another Perspective
(Author's permission is granted to share this full article with others. Just leave the signature line intact, please.)
Posted by Andre Best at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)
August 29, 2005
Google Search Engine Savvy
If you use a computer you most likely have heard of Google.com. Google is only several years old and now is both the third most viewed web page and the most widely used Search Engine in existence. In case you’re wondering, an extremely simplified definition of a Search Engine is to think of one of these e-monsters as one humongous encyclopedia.
Google states that it has catalogued over 8.3 billion (yes, billion) web pages yet you can easily sift through all this information to make your life easier in times of need. How? Well, you can put Google to maximum use by having it do amazingly complex research on your behalf. Here’s how.
First, think of any tidbit of information that you desire to know more about. Perhaps you’ve gotten an error message on your computer, or you want to know the meaning of a term not commonly used, or perhaps you’re looking for a replacement part for an older model Sony tape recorder. It really doesn’t matter what the information is about because Google can help.
Second, you need to pull up Google.com on Internet Explorer or Firefox and input some exact text into the box on the simple main page. Just be absolutely sure to put the words you desire information on between quotes. This way Google searches for that exact phrase, not just portions of it. Some examples are:
“Error 0010507B: Unacceptable parameter”
“98 to XP”
“two long beeps on startup”
“Sony Model #35068BA”
“Jane Winnifred Smith”
“stuffing tomatoes with rice”
Third, press the ‘Google Search’ button and watch in amazement as Google shuffles around its cyber-database containing those 8.3 billion web pages. And it’ll do all this in about a millisecond(!).
Finally, if all went as it should, you now most likely have in front of you many webpages from discussion boards and other websites containing the exact same phrase you just typed in. Now it’s up to you to sift and sort through these Google-found pages to find the relevant information that will help you with your inquiry.
Isn’t technology wonderful? With proper use of Google.com as your e-research buddy you can find accurate answers to virtually any question or problem you want answered.
Written by Andre Best
President, Ultimate Results, Inc.
http://www.andrebest.com - Learn About Life From Another Perspective
(Author's permission is granted to share this full article with others. Just leave the signature line intact, please.)
Posted by Andre Best at 12:39 PM | Comments (0)