Wisdom World ....a new world on the Internet: 2009

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Top Five Online Scams

By: Gary Gresham

These con artists and hackers are just waiting to commit online fraud and steal your identity. Look carefully at these top five online scams and be aware of what is going on so you won't become a victim.

Scam # 1 Online Auction Scam

You buy something on an online auction, send them the money and get nothing in return. Or the product you get is a fake or a cheap knockoff instead of the genuine brand name item. This is a risk you take when buying from an online auction.

Scam # 2 Phishing Scam

The phishing definition is when a fraudster spams the Internet with email claiming to be from a reputable bank. The email outfitted with authentic bank logos asks you to log in and verify your account information. The thief captures your account information from the web address they take you to and drains your account. These can also become identity theft scams too because they can sell your information to other criminals.

Scam # 3 Nigerian Letter Scam

These email scams usually start out with all capital letters and begins with: DEAR SIR/MADAM. The email goes on to say they are the some minister of something for an African country. He wants you to help him get millions of dollars out of the country. You just need to pay for legal fees and some other advanced fees before the transaction can be finalized. You would think people would be too smart to fall for this. But you would be wrong.

Scam # 4 Reshipping Scam

You are emailed by an offshore corporation that needs a U.S. address and bank account which you supply. You receive goods and reship them to another country. You receive wire transfers into your bank account and you transfer money into their offshore account. In return you get to keep a percentage of everything. But with this scam you are taking a big risk because you could get arrested for participating in moving stolen property and transferring stolen funds.

Scam # 5 Congratulations You've Won Scam

This email tells you have won a nice prize like a plasma TV, a new computer or even the lottery. All you have to do to claim your prize is go to this web address and pay for the shipping and handling with your credit card. In the case of winning the lottery they need advanced fees to cover legal costs. Not only do you never get the prize but you start getting mysterious charges on your credit card.

So what's the best thing to do when you or someone you know has fallen for one of these scams? Some people are embarrassed and don't want to tell anyone. But that's how these thieves get away with these things for so long without getting caught. The best way to stop these con artists from operating is to report email scams to the authorities.

The best place to report email scams is The Internet Fraud Complaint Center or (IFCC). They are a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). Their web address is: http://www1.ifccfbi.gov

IFCC's mission is to address fraud committed over the Internet. For victims of Internet fraud Business Management Articles, IFCC provides a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of a suspected criminal or civil violation.

By becoming aware of these top five online scams and reporting email scams to the IFCC you can make the Internet safer for everyone.

Courtesy: Spyware Information.com

6 Mistakes to Avoid on Email Subject Lines

By Daniel Scocco

If you are a blogger, website owner or online worker, you probably need to contact people via email all the time. On some occasions you will also be the one starting the conversation and looking for a reply. For example, you might want to offer a guest article for a particular blog, or you might want to propose a business partnership to someone. Unless you craft your email messages smartly, though, there are good chances that the other person won’t even read them. Spam filters are the first obstacle, but even if your message goes though the other person might just delete it.

The subject line is probably the most important part of your message, and in this post I wanted to cover six mistakes that I see people making:

1. Creating one word subject lines

Have you ever received an email with the subject line “Hi”? If you have, you know how annoying it is. One word subject lines are terrible because they fail to communicate what the email is about, where it is coming from and the like (more on that later). Additionally, they might also reveal laziness or carelessness from the sender’s part, which might lead the receiver to ignore the email.

2. Making requests

People want to receive, not to give. If your subject line makes a request right away, the receiver will be less likely to open it. Examples include link exchange requests, voting requests and so on. A better approach to get the conversation going is to start by offering something.

3. Using spammy keywords

Using spammy keywords in your subject line is a no-no. Even if you get lucky and the spam filter does not block your message, there are good chances that the receiver will tag your message as spam as soon as he reads the subject line. Here is a short list of words to give you an idea of what should be avoided:

* free
* money
* win
* degree
* gift
* deal
* sign-up
* survey

4. Begging for attention

Using “Please Read This” as your subject line will not help convincing the receiver to open your email. Quite the opposite. The same is true for using words like “urgent,” “important” and similar.

5. Making it sound too good to be true

Real business or joint venture opportunities usually come from people you already have a relationship with. If you are going to email someone for the first time, therefore, avoiding using these terms, else you might be seen as a scammer.

6. Making it look like an automated message

If your subject like looks like an automated message from a website or online service, well, people will assume it indeed is. Just take a look at the automated messages you receive and avoid crafting your subject lines in the same fashion. One example is the “Invitation to…” subject line. Usually those come from social networks, and people tend to ignore them.

By now you might be asking yourself: “OK I understand the mistakes I need to avoid, but how should I craft a good subject line then?” In my opinion a good email subject line should have two elements: a relevancy hook (i.e., a keyword that will assure the receiver that the email message is indeed for him, like his name or the name of his website) and a brief description of the content of the email (because even if the receiver knows your message is a legitimate one, he might not read it immediately or at all unless he knows what it is about).

Courtesy DailyBlogTips

Monday, October 26, 2009

PortableApps adds Chrome and Skype

By Seth Rosenblatt

The PortableApps Suite is a storehouse and management system for "portable" versions of some of the most popular freeware around. That collection used to be limited only to open-source programs. But on Wednesday it started making portable versions of closed-source freeware to users. The first batch of portable freeware includes Web browser Google Chrome, VoIP client Skype, BitTorrent client uTorrent, antispyware tool SpyDLLRemover, and three others at the time of writing. The new portable versions of these programs work both independently and in tandem with the PortableApps suite.

In a statement published on its Web site, PortableApps.com founder and CEO John Haller said that PortableApps "remains committed" to open-source software, but that closed-source freeware publishers would find other venues for USB stick-friendly versions of their programs if PortableApps didn't open its doors to them. For users that want to support only open-source programs, he said that the PortableApps directory will soon be filterable.

PortableApps is also planning to accept portable versions of commercial software, although it hasn't announced a timeline yet. Readers can check on the latest updates to the PortableApps catalog at their Web site, although we do host most of them at Download.com as well.

Courtesy: cnet.com

Friday, September 25, 2009

Better searching in Gmail

Just as you can specify a Web site for Google searches ("google tips" site:itworld.com), you can use a variety of search operators with Gmail. Two caveats: Gmail searches won't suggest spelling for you or handle plurals ("dog" won't return "dogs").

Common e-mail header information (to, cc, bcc, subject, and from) can be added to search queries. Examples include "to:John" or "to:john@doe.com", "bcc:Boss", "subject:netbooks". Add the "in:anywhere" query and include the Trash and Spam listings in your search (they're ignored in regular searches).

Gather all messages with attachments by searching "has:attachment". Narrow that list by searching for "filename:doc" or "filename:pdf" to return just those types of attachments. All file extensions work.

Searching by time requires you to put the date in the form yyyy/mm/dd. Search after the Ides of March using "after:2009/03/15" and you'll get all messages after, but not on, March 15th. Search for earlier messages using "before:2009/03/15" and you'll get all message before, but not on, that date.

Labels in Gmail take some people by surprise, and a few have trouble making the switch from nested folders to labels. Just remember a message can only be in one folder, but it can have multiple labels.

Search using the labels by adding "label:inbox" or "label:sales" in the query, depending on your predefined labels. System labels such as starred, drafts, spam, trash, read, and unread work too.

Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT can be used, as can parentheses and braces for grouping search terms. Searching "from:jane subject:(zoo|tigers)" will return messages from Jane about the zoo or tigers.

Yes, most of these tips work in Calendar, Docs, and other Google Apps.

This tip comes from Scott Granneman, author of Google Apps Deciphered. Prentice Hall.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Search and surf the web without leaving traces on your computer

Browzar is based on the Internet Explorer engine, which means it's such a small file that it only takes seconds to download. We've made it disposable; so you have the choice of keeping Browzar on your PC, or downloading it each time you need to protect your privacy. You don't even need to install it: with Browzar you just click and go...

No browsing history, stored files, or cookies
No embarrassing search auto-complete
No installation. Just click ‘run’ and go
No registration required

The freedom to surf the web with complete privacy
Browzar doesn’t do web cache, web history, cookies or auto-complete. We promise that your business stays your business.

The freedom to search for whatever you want
Browzar doesn’t remember what you search for and won’t embarrassingly auto-complete what you’ve searched for in the past.

The freedom to use it wherever you are
Browzar only takes seconds to download. Use it at home, at your friend’s, at work, in an Internet café, in fact anywhere you’ve got a computer and an internet connection.

The freedom to use it whenever you want
Using Browzar doesn’t involve commitment. Use it once a year, once a week or everyday, it’s up to you. It's free to download and use Browzar as many times as you like.

To download browser go to: http://www.browzar.com/index.html

Happy safe browsing!!!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Bebe and Cece: "Still" Dynamic Duo

Growing up in Detroit, MI, Benjamin "BeBe" Winans and Priscilla "CeCe" Winans were born into a home that birthed the first family of Gospel music. The Winans Family was led by a mother and father who taught their ten children the foundations of a Godly life and admonished them to use their voices for the glory of God. The success of their four brothers, The Winans, blazed a trail for BeBe & CeCe to create their own path of writing and performing music that would attract a legion of fans and change the face of Gospel music forever.

After the success of their debut album, BeBe & CeCe became the first Gospel pair to see their second album, Heaven, reach #1 on the Billboard sales charts in 1988 and also be certified Gold. The title track reached #12 on the Billboard R&B singles chart and also spawned two more hit singles with "Lost Without You" and "Celebrate New Life."

In 1991, the dynamic duo released Different Lifestyles featuring the single "Addictive Love" and a cover of the Staples Singers classic, "I'll Take You There." Both singles topped the R&B charts. From there, BeBe & CeCe released two more albums and after an amazing run of smash hits and albums, BeBe & CeCe went on to pursue incredibly successful solo careers.

With a phenomenal career that has spanned more than 20 years, BeBe & CeCe have become one of the most commercially successful gospel artists in the business. As a duo their accolades include five Grammy Awards, eight Dove Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, one Soul Train Award and over a dozen Stellar Awards. They have also racked up 12 chart topping R&B singles, as well as numerous #1 singles on Christian AC and CHR radio, three gold albums and one platinum album.

Watchout in October for the first full length album by the duo in 13 years. Their first single together in 13 years "close to you" was released June 2009.The new CD will be released on their record label B&C/Malaco Records. The release is scheduled for October 6,2009 and will be entitled "Still."

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

23 Ways To Speed Up Windows Xp Aside Defragmentation

Since defragging the disk won't do much to improve Windows XP performance, here are 23 suggestions that will. Each can enhance the performance and reliability of your customers' PCs. Best of all, most of them will cost you nothing.
1.) To decrease a system's boot time and increase system performance, use the money you save by not buying defragmentation software -- the built-in Windows defragmenter works just fine -- and instead equip the computer with an Ultra-133 or Serial ATA hard drive with 8-MB cache buffer.

2.) If a PC has less than 512 MB of RAM, add more memory. This is a relatively inexpensive and easy upgrade that can dramatically improve system performance.

3.) Ensure that Windows XP is utilizing the NTFS file system. If you're not sure, here's how to check: First, double-click the My Computer icon, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Next, examine the File System type; if it says FAT32, then back-up any important data. Next, click Start, click Run, type CMD, and then click OK. At the prompt, type CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS and press the Enter key. This process may take a while; it's important that the computer be uninterrupted and virus-free. The file system used by the bootable drive will be either FAT32 or NTFS. I highly recommend NTFS for its superior security, reliability, and efficiency with larger disk drives.

4.) Disable file indexing. The indexing service extracts information from documents and other files on the hard drive and creates a "searchable keyword index." As you can imagine, this process can be quite taxing on any system.

The idea is that the user can search for a word, phrase, or property inside a document, should they have hundreds or thousands of documents and not know the file name of the document they want. Windows XP's built-in search functionality can still perform these kinds of searches without the Indexing service. It just takes longer. The OS has to open each file at the time of the request to help find what the user is looking for.

Most people never need this feature of search. Those who do are typically in a large corporate environment where thousands of documents are located on at least one server. But if you're a typical system builder, most of your clients are small and medium businesses. And if your clients have no need for this search feature, I recommend disabling it.

Here's how: First, double-click the My Computer icon. Next, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Uncheck "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching." Next, apply changes to "C: subfolders and files," and click OK. If a warning or error message appears (such as "Access is denied"), click the Ignore All button.

5.) Update the PC's video and motherboard chipset drivers. Also, update and configure the BIOS.

6.) Empty the Windows Prefetch folder every three months or so. Windows XP can "prefetch" portions of data and applications that are used frequently. This makes processes appear to load faster when called upon by the user. That's fine. But over time, the prefetch folder may become overloaded with references to files and applications no longer in use. When that happens, Windows XP is wasting time, and slowing system performance, by pre-loading them. Nothing critical is in this folder, and the entire contents are safe to delete.

7.) Once a month, run a disk cleanup. Here's how: Double-click the My Computer icon. Then right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. Click the Disk Cleanup button -- it's just to the right of the Capacity pie graph -- and delete all temporary files.

8.) In your Device Manager, double-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers device, and ensure that DMA is enabled for each drive you have connected to the Primary and Secondary controller. Do this by double-clicking on Primary IDE Channel. Then click the Advanced Settings tab. Ensure the Transfer Mode is set to "DMA if available" for both Device 0 and Device 1. Then repeat this process with the Secondary IDE Channel.

9.) Upgrade the cabling. As hard-drive technology improves, the cabling requirements to achieve these performance boosts have become more stringent. Be sure to use 80-wire Ultra-133 cables on all of your IDE devices with the connectors properly assigned to the matching Master/Slave/Motherboard sockets. A single device must be at the end of the cable; connecting a single drive to the middle connector on a ribbon cable will cause signaling problems. With Ultra DMA hard drives, these signaling problems will prevent the drive from performing at its maximum potential. Also, because these cables inherently support "cable select," the location of each drive on the cable is important. For these reasons, the cable is designed so drive positioning is explicitly clear.

10.) Remove all spyware from the computer. Use free programs such as AdAware by Lavasoft or SpyBot Search & Destroy. Once these programs are installed, be sure to check for and download any updates before starting your search. Anything either program finds can be safely removed. Any free software that requires spyware to run will no longer function once the spyware portion has been removed; if your customer really wants the program even though it contains spyware, simply reinstall it.

11.) Remove any unnecessary programs and/or items from Windows Startup routine using the MSCONFIG utility. Here's how: First, click Start, click Run, type MSCONFIG, and click OK. Click the StartUp tab, then uncheck any items you don't want to start when Windows starts. Unsure what some items are? Visit the WinTasks Process Library. It contains known system processes, applications, as well as spyware references and explanations. Or quickly identify them by searching for the filenames using Google or another Web search engine.

12.) Remove any unnecessary or unused programs from the Add/Remove Programs section of the Control Panel.

13.) Turn off any and all unnecessary animations, and disable active desktop. In fact, for optimal performance, turn off all animations. Windows XP offers many different settings in this area. Here's how to do it: First click on the System icon in the Control Panel. Next, click on the Advanced tab. Select the Settings button located under Performance. Feel free to play around with the options offered here, as nothing you can change will alter the reliability of the computer -- only its responsiveness.

14.) If your customer is an advanced user who is comfortable editing their registry, try some of the performance registry tweaks offered at Tweak XP.

15.) Visit Microsoft's Windows update site regularly, and download all updates labeled Critical. Download any optional updates at your discretion.

16.) Update the customer's anti-virus software on a weekly, even daily, basis. Make sure they have only one anti-virus software package installed. Mixing anti-virus software is a sure way to spell disaster for performance and reliability.

17.) Make sure the customer has fewer than 500 type fonts installed on their computer. The more fonts they have, the slower the system will become. While Windows XP handles fonts much more efficiently than did the previous versions of Windows, too many fonts -- that is, anything over 500 -- will noticeably tax the system.

18.) Do not partition the hard drive. Windows XP's NTFS file system runs more efficiently on one large partition. The data is no safer on a separate partition, and a reformat is never necessary to reinstall an operating system. The same excuses people offer for using partitions apply to using a folder instead. For example, instead of putting all your data on the D: drive, put it in a folder called "D drive." You'll achieve the same organizational benefits that a separate partition offers, but without the degradation in system performance. Also, your free space won't be limited by the size of the partition; instead, it will be limited by the size of the entire hard drive. This means you won't need to resize any partitions, ever. That task can be time-consuming and also can result in lost data.

19.) Check the system's RAM to ensure it is operating properly. I recommend using a free program called MemTest86. The download will make a bootable CD or diskette (your choice), which will run 10 extensive tests on the PC's memory automatically after you boot to the disk you created. Allow all tests to run until at least three passes of the 10 tests are completed. If the program encounters any errors, turn off and unplug the computer, remove a stick of memory (assuming you have more than one), and run the test again. Remember, bad memory cannot be repaired, but only replaced.

20.) If the PC has a CD or DVD recorder, check the drive manufacturer's Web site for updated firmware. In some cases you'll be able to upgrade the recorder to a faster speed. Best of all, it's free.

21.) Disable unnecessary services. Windows XP loads a lot of services that your customer most likely does not need. To determine which services you can disable for your client, visit the Black Viper site for Windows XP configurations.

22.) If you're sick of a single Windows Explorer window crashing and then taking the rest of your OS down with it, then follow this tip: open My Computer, click on Tools, then Folder Options. Now click on the View tab. Scroll down to "Launch folder windows in a separate process," and enable this option. You'll have to reboot your machine for this option to take effect.

23.) At least once a year, open the computer's cases and blow out all the dust and debris. While you're in there, check that all the fans are turning properly. Also inspect the motherboard capacitors for bulging or leaks. For more information on this leaking-capacitor phenomena, you can read numerous articles on my site.

Following any of these suggestions should result in noticeable improvements to the performance and reliability of your customers' computers. If you still want to defrag a disk, remember that the main benefit will be to make your data more retrievable in the event of a crashed drive.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Google chrome crashes due to winhttp.dll

Google chrome crashes due to an issue with winhttp.dll, for a few.Though Google chrome initialized and started up properly, after disabling sandboxing using “--no-sandbox” option and thereby fixing the application failed to initialize (0xc0000005) error, Google chrome crashed on browsing any web page.On further verification, the crash seems to have been caused by winhttp.dll.

The fix for this issue was to add “--new-http” option towards end of the “target” line i.e. Right click the shortcut to “Google Chrome” and click Properties. Then in the target text field, add a space then add “--new-http” (without the double quotes) right after the ending quotation mark.Note that I am adding this option by leaving a space after the “-–no-sandbox” option.Also note that there are two dashes before new.Refer image below.

What this effectively does, is it creates a new instance of winhttp.dll, from your windows operating system environment, and thereby overrides the winhttp.dll that comes packaged with Google chrome.

Now, I did experiment to remove these options in the shortcut to Google chrome and started browsing web pages Fix the crashes due to winhttp.dll with “--new-http” and enjoy browsing with google chrome.

Update 2: If you remove the options, google chrome will throw the same errors on a restart.So you should live without the sandboxing effect until Google resolves this issue permanently.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Free services that let you store / send large file to other users.

How do I upload my files using an FTP program?

The following article explains how to upload your website to different servers through an FTP (File Transfer Protocal) program. There are a large number of programs you can choose from. The basic idea is to first establish a connection with a server and your computer and then upload the files. This will transfer your website to the servers so that others can view your site on the internet.
To upload your files using an FTP program, please follow these steps:

1. Open the FTP program.
2. Enter the following information in the connection bar:

* Address/Host Name: this will be your domain name or IP address. Some programs may require you to enter http://, but most do not.

* User/Username: this is the "username" that was issued to you when you signed up with the hosting company.

* Password: this is the "password" that was issued to you when you signed up with the hosting company.

* Port: the default port number for FTP is 21. For Most FTP programs you will not need to add this information. It will use port 21 by default.

Entering the above information should open a connection to your websites folder on our the hosting server. You should also see a folder that represents your home machine.

Navigate through the folder of your home machine to find your files. Select each file and drag it to the folder that represents the hosting server. This should upload your files into your websites folder on your hosting server.

Note: in order for your site to show up when you type in your domain name or IP address into a web browser, the first page or the home page must be named one of these file names:

* index.html (standard HTML extension)
* index.htm (standard HTML extension)
* index.shtml or shtm (standard SSI extension, used with server side includes)
* index.asp (standard "active server page extension)
* default.html (standard HTML extension)
* default.htm (standard HTML extension)
* default.shtml or shtm (standard SSI extension, used with server side includes)
* default.asp (standard "active server page extension)

If you require a different home page name (called a "default document"), you can update it through the Control Panel or we can accommodate your needs. Please let us know what name you require. In most cases it is easier to rename your home page to one of the documents above. Please note that some file names (such as .asp and .shtml) are reserved for specific types of web applications. If you are unsure of which file extension to use, you can probably safely use .htm or .html.

Also, these documents carry an "order of precedence" as they are listed above. For example, if you have both an index.html file and a default.html file, the index.html file will show up when viewing your site with the domain name or IP address.

Hope this information was very helpful to you. Do have a most lovely day!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

FASTEST WEB BROWSER

From the advent of Internet, web browser is the most commonly used software in the Web World, There have a great variety of web browsers on the internet, the most important web browsers include Internet Explorer, FireFox, Opera, Maxthon, Netscape, Google Chrome and Safari, then which is fastest web browser? There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes, because Internet content is always changing, the web pages load times may get different timings when you run these tests.

For Windows platform, Internet Explorer is most popular web browser, but for many people, Internet Explorer is too strong and too big, it will become slower and slower, there have too many plug-ins and spams launched with Internet Explorer, it will become hard to use and slow very much. Program can use the newest IE8 core, it is a vast improvement over old version, especially in performance.
Fastest Web Browser

This program is titled "Fastest Web Browser", developed based the IE core, one tiny and full features web browser for Windows OS. As its name show, it is one quick and handy web browser, can launch and browse Internet content rapidly. Program base IE browser core, it customizes the IE core to make it be quicker than normal IE. It can be seemed as one lite version for Internet Explorer, light and handy, small and fast. It is completely free software; everyone can use it for free.

Fastest Web Browser is one tab browser, it allow you to view multiple web pages in the same browser without the need to open a new browser session. Each tab functions like a Browser window to display distinct content, but you can switch back and forth between tabs without opening more Browser windows, tabbed browsing lets you view many different websites at one time.

Main Features

* Fast - quickly browse and launch;
* Small - standalone program, no installation need, can run from Flash Disk (only 820KB);
* Tabs browser - browse multiple web pages in the same browser;
* Free - one completely freeware;
* Easy to use - no need install;
* Support all Windows versions (98/XP/2000/2003/Vista);
* Program can run a 64-bit version of Windows;
* Windows 7 compatibility;
* 100% Clean, no spyware or adware

Download this beautiful and fastest web browser from: http://www.fastestwebbrowser.com

Friday, July 17, 2009

Components Of The Internet

The Internet is a computer network made up of thousands of networks worldwide. No one knows exactly how many computers are connected to the Internet. It is certain, however, that these number is in the millions.

No one is in charge of the Internet. There are organizations which develop technical aspects of this network and set standards for creating applications on it, but no governing body is in control. The Internet backbone, through which Internet traffic flows, is owned by private companies.

All computers on the Internet communicate with one another using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol suite, abbreviated to TCP/IP. Computers on the Internet use a client/server architecture. This means that the remote server machine provides files and services to the user's local client machine. Software can be installed on a client computer to take advantage of the latest access technology.

An Internet user has access to a wide variety of services: electronic mail, file transfer, vast information resources, interest group membership, interactive collaboration, multimedia displays, real-time broadcasting, shopping opportunities, breaking news, and much more.

The Internet consists primarily of a variety of access protocols. Many of these protocols feature programs that allow users to search for and retrieve material made available by the protocol.

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COMPONENTS OF THE INTERNET
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WORLD WIDE WEB
The World Wide Web (abbreviated as the Web or WWW) is a system of Internet servers that supports hypertext to access several Internet protocols on a single interface. Almost every protocol type available on the Internet is accessible on the Web. This includes e-mail, FTP, Telnet, and Usenet News. In addition to these, the World Wide Web has its own protocol: HyperText Transfer Protocol, or HTTP. These protocols will be explained later in subsequent articles.

The World Wide Web provides a single interface for accessing all these protocols. This creates a convenient and user-friendly environment. It is no longer necessary to be conversant in these protocols within separate, command-level environments. The Web gathers together these protocols into a single system. Because of this feature, and because of the Web's ability to work with multimedia and advanced programming languages, the Web is the fastest-growing component of the Internet.

The operation of the Web relies primarily on hypertext as its means of information retrieval. HyperText is a document containing words that connect to other documents. These words are called links and are selectable by the user. A single hypertext document can contain links to many documents. In the context of the Web, words or graphics may serve as links to other documents, images, video, and sound. Links may or may not follow a logical path, as each connection is programmed by the creator of the source document. Overall, the Web contains a complex virtual web of connections among a vast number of documents, graphics, videos, and sounds.

Producing hypertext for the Web is accomplished by creating documents with a language called HyperText Markup Language, or HTML. With HTML, tags are placed within the text to accomplish document formatting, visual features such as font size, italics and bold, and the creation of hypertext links. Graphics and multimedia may also be incorporated into an HTML document. HTML is an evolving language, with new tags being added as each upgrade of the language is developed and released. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), led by Web founder Tim Berners-Lee, coordinates the efforts of standardizing HTML. The W3C now calls the language XHTML and considers it to be an application of the XML language standard.

The World Wide Web consists of files, called pages or home pages, containing links to documents and resources throughout the Internet.

The Web provides a vast array of experiences including multimedia presentations, real-time collaboration, interactive pages, radio and television broadcasts, and the automatic "push" of information to a client computer. Programming languages such as Java, JavaScript, Visual Basic, Cold Fusion and XML are extending the capabilities of the Web. A growing amount of information on the Web is served dynamically from content stored in databases. The Web is therefore not a fixed entity, but one that is in a constant state of development and flux.

For more complete information about the World Wide Web, see Understanding The World Wide Web.

E-MAIL
Electronic mail, or e-mail, allows computer users locally and worldwide to exchange messages. Each user of e-mail has a mailbox address to which messages are sent. Messages sent through e-mail can arrive within a matter of seconds.

A powerful aspect of e-mail is the option to send electronic files to a person's e-mail address. Non-ASCII files, known as binary files, may be attached to e-mail messages. These files are referred to as MIME attachments.MIME stands for Multimedia Internet Mail Extension, and was developed to help e-mail software handle a variety of file types. For example, a document created in Microsoft Word can be attached to an e-mail message and retrieved by the recipient with the appropriate e-mail program. Many e-mail programs, including Eudora, Netscape Messenger, and Microsoft Outlook, offer the ability to read files written in HTML, which is itself a MIME type.

TELNET
Telnet is a program that allows you to log into computers on the Internet and use online databases, library catalogs, chat services, and more. There are no graphics in Telnet sessions, just text. To Telnet to a computer, you must know its address. This can consist of words (locis.loc.gov) or numbers (140.147.254.3). Some services require you to connect to a specific port on the remote computer. In this case, type the port number after the Internet address. Example: telnet nri.reston.va.us 185.

Telnet is available on the World Wide Web. Probably the most common Web-based resources available through Telnet have been library catalogs, though most catalogs have since migrated to the Web. A link to a Telnet resource may look like any other link, but it will launch a Telnet session to make the connection. A Telnet program must be installed on your local computer and configured to your Web browser in order to work.

With the increasing popularity of the Web, Telnet has become less frequently used as a means of access to information on the Internet.

FTP
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. This is both a program and the method used to transfer files between computers. Anonymous FTP is an option that allows users to transfer files from thousands of host computers on the Internet to their personal computer account. FTP sites contain books, articles, software, games, images, sounds, multimedia, course work, data sets, and more.

If your computer is directly connected to the Internet via an Ethernet cable, you can use one of several PC software programs, such as WS_FTP for Windows, to conduct a file transfer.

FTP transfers can be performed on the World Wide Web without the need for special software. In this case, the Web browser will suffice. Whenever you download software from a Web site to your local machine, you are using FTP. You can also retrieve FTP files via search engines such as FtpFind, located at /http://www.ftpfind.com/. This option is easiest because you do not need to know FTP program commands.

E-MAIL DISCUSSION GROUPS
One of the benefits of the Internet is the opportunity it offers to people worldwide to communicate via e-mail. The Internet is home to a large community of individuals who carry out active discussions organized around topic-oriented forums distributed by e-mail. These are administered by software programs. Probably the most common program is the listserv.

A great variety of topics are covered by listservs, many of them academic in nature. When you subscribe to a listserv, messages from other subscribers are automatically sent to your electronic mailbox. You subscribe to a listserv by sending an e-mail message to a computer program called a listserver. Listservers are located on computer networks throughout the world. This program handles subscription information and distributes messages to and from subscribers. You must have a e-mail account to participate in a listserv discussion group. Visit Tile.net at /http://tile.net/ to see an example of a site that offers a searchablecollection of e-mail discussion groups.

Majordomo and Listproc are two other programs that administer e-mail discussion groups. The commands for subscribing to and managing your list memberships are similar to those of listserv.

USENET NEWS
Usenet News is a global electronic bulletin board system in which millions of computer users exchange information on a vast range of topics. The major difference between Usenet News and e-mail discussion groups is the fact that Usenet messages are stored on central computers, and users must connect to these computers to read or download the messages posted to these groups. This is distinct from e-mail distribution, in which messages arrive in the electronic mailboxes of each list member.

Usenet itself is a set of machines that exchanges messages, or articles, from Usenet discussion forums, called newsgroups. Usenet administrators control their own sites, and decide which (if any) newsgroups to sponsor and which remote newsgroups to allow into the system.

There are thousands of Usenet newsgroups in existence. While many are academic in nature, numerous newsgroups are organized around recreational topics. Much serious computer-related work takes place in Usenet discussions. A small number of e-mail discussion groups also exist as Usenet newsgroups.

The Usenet newsfeed can be read by a variety of newsreader software programs. For example, the Netscape suite comes with a newsreader program called Messenger. Newsreaders are also available as standalone products.

FAQ, RFC, FYI
FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions. These are periodic postings to Usenet newsgroups that contain a wealth of information related to the topic of the newsgroup. Many FAQs are quite extensive. FAQs are available by subscribing to individual Usenet newsgroups. A Web-based collection of FAQ resources has been collected by The Internet FAQ Consortium and is available at /http://www.faqs.org/.

RFC stands for Request for Comments. These are documents created by and distributed to the Internet community to help define the nuts and bolts of the Internet. They contain both technical specifications and general information.

FYI stands for For Your Information. These notes are a subset of RFCs and contain information of interest to new Internet users.

Links to indexes of all three of these information resources are available on the University Libraries Web site at /http://library.albany.edu/reference/faqs.html.

CHAT & INSTANT MESSENGING
Chat programs allow users on the Internet to communicate with each other by typing in real time. They are sometimes included as a feature of a Web site, where users can log into the "chat room" to exchange comments and information about the topics addressed on the site. Chat may take other, more wide-ranging forms. For example, America Online is well known for sponsoring a number of topical chat rooms.

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a service through which participants can communicate to each other on hundreds of channels. These channels are usually based on specific topics. While many topics are frivolous, substantive conversations are also taking place. To access IRC, you must use an IRC software program.

A variation of chat is the phenomenon of instant messenging. With instant messenging, a user on the Web can contact another user currently logged in and type a conversation. Most famous is America Online's Instant Messenger. ICQ, MSN and Yahoo are other commonly-used chat programs.

MUD/MUSH/MOO/MUCK/DUM/MUSE
MUD stands for Multi User Dimension. MUDs, and their variations listed above, are multi-user virtual reality games based on simulated worlds. Traditionally text based, graphical MUDs now exist. There are MUDs of all kinds on the Internet, and many can be joined free of charge.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Make a slide show of your photos with music.

Everybody knows how big is a wish to share impressions with family and friends after a journey. There’s not much to do – select the folder with photos, press “Start” and enjoy the moments passed (Hey! Don’t forget to insert an ethnic music CD. I recommend).

I doubt whether our software is the first one created for such purposes, BUT no doubt it is the easiest. Of course, if you like to investigate the toolbar you can look at Adobe Photo Elements or Picasa, but if you want to see the photos accompanied by music – try PhotoMusic.

* Step 1: Select the folder with photos. Press Start - and see the professional SlideShow on your HDTV panel at high resolution.
* Step 2: If you are interested not only in photos but music also, select the folder with mp3 files or insert Audio CD.
* Step 3: Hard-to-please customers can manage settings, save and load created projects.

By the way if you want to give photos to your friends, just burn PhotoMusic on CD together with the photos and the software will automatically display images from the folder.

courtesy: http://www.coolutils.com/PhotoMusic

The Case for Idealism...an Ode to Idealists!

Case Study: Three young idealists, who blew away their competition: Gandhi, Obama And Walt Disney

I often wonder about the difference between great idealism, great ambition, and great stupidity. It is a fine line indeed. Idealism has always been scoffed at. But where would we be without it?? Failed idealism is often termed as stupidity. But is it really??

I like the quote "Aim for the moon; if you miss it, you will still land among the stars." It is only when you aim high that you can soar high.

George Bernard Shaw once famously said, "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

And indeed so. Its very easy to forget that the people who have been the greatest visionaries were also termed as idiots and idealists. While everyone now might laugh at the thought, Americans have been quick to forget that the president they now adore would not have been but for a healthy dose of idealism on his part. Barack Obama for all given purposes had no business even thinking he would be President. He was of mixed parentage, with a white mother and African (different from African American) father; grew up in Hawaii (a state that has produced zero presidents before this one) with no proper religious background; had a muslim middle name sandwiched between strong Kenyan names; had a Harvard degree, no military service, very little public service, and was of modest means. Add onto that, that he was running against a Clinton. Yet he ran, and he won. And hopefully, he will be the change we all want to see among leaders of our world.

Speaking of "be the change," think of Gandhi, a softspoken, slight Indian man who thought that he could take down the mighty British empire, with a grand total of, well, no weapons. Even fist fights weren't allowed!! If he had told you in the early 1900's that the non-violence movement would not only encompass India and topple the British empire, but bring civil rights to African Americans in the US, reverse apartheid in one of the most racist regimes in the world - South Africa, bring the Chinese military to its knees in Tianenman Square, and become the mainstay of EVERY modern demonstration in the world, you would have laughed!! Many did; yet all those things happened and the movement still endures.

A few days ago, I found myself in another mecca of idealism - Disneyland. Riding some of the rides I had loved as a kid, I was struck by how timeless they were. Disney was SO ahead of his time. To think that much of Disneyland and Disney World's layouts have scarcely changed since they were built, inspite of the massive changes in technology in the recent past; that the most popular rides then still endure, and they continue to "make dreams come true" everyday is mindboggling. I'm sure if Disney had told you in the 30's that people would pay an-arm-and-a-leg to watch talking robot animals in the 21st century, we would have laughed. Yet here we are, years later doing exactly that.

Probably the biggest and powerful idealists are parents and teachers - moms, especially.

I think we need more idealism. Balanced with pragmatism, an unrelenting idealist with clear vision is capable of great change. Rather than laughing at them, maybe we should support them with our pragmatism. That while they soar high, we can be the tails on their kites to guide them, while also enjoying the ride.

Here's to the idealists amongst us!!

Courtesy: http://tworque.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

How do I remove the Microsoft "Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications" ?

RemoveWGA is a small utility that enables you to remove the Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications tool.

RemoveWGA will enable you to easily remove the Microsoft "Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications" tool, which is calling home and connect to MS servers every time you boot. Futures updates of this notification tool will (officialy) setup the connection rate to once every two weeks.

Once the WGA Notification tool has checked your OS and has confirmed you had a legit copy, there is no decent point or reason to check it again and again every boot.

Moreover, connecting to Microsoft brings security issue for corporate networks, and privacy issues for everyone. It is also unclear which information are transmitted (Microsoft published an official answer, but an individual study brought some questions).

All of that, along the fact that Microsoft used deceptive ways to make you install this tool (it was told you it was an urgent security update, whereas it is a new installation giving you no extra security) makes me calling this tool a spyware.

Also, Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications is different than Windows Genuine Advantage Validation. RemoveWGA only removes the notification part, phoning home, and does not touch the Validation part.

Here are some key features of "RemoveWGA":

· Tell you if the WGA notification tool is active on your system
· Allows you to remove the WGA notification tool from your system
· Accept the "-silent" command line parameter to silently check if the WGA notification tool is active on your system, and popup only if it is found (usefull for checking automatically at startup for instance)

Note: Some antivirus and antispyware programs flag RemoveWGA as being infected/malware, although the application is perfectly safe and does not pose a threat to your system. This is called a 'false positive'. The term false positive is used when antivirus software wrongly classifies an innocuous ( inoffensive ) file as a virus. The incorrect detection may be due to heuristics or to an incorrect virus signature in a database. [Similar problems can occur with antitrojan or antispyware software.]

What's New in This Release:

· Added more error checks (files existing, processes can be read, etc...)
· Added more files to be deleted : WGANotify.settings, WgaNotify.log
· Set all files to be deleted at next reboot instead of just the system32 ones (Wgalogon and WgaTray)

download link: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Uninstallers/RemoveWGA.shtml

Thursday, July 2, 2009

10 essential e-mail security measures by Chad Perrin

There’s a lot of information out there about securing your e-mail. Much of it is advanced and doesn’t apply to the typical end user. Configuring spam filters such as SpamAssassin, setting up encrypted authentication on mail servers, and e-mail gateway virus scanner management are not basic end-user tasks.

When one can find end-user e-mail security tips, they’re usually specific to a single mail client or mail user agent, such as Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, or Mutt. This sort of information is of critical importance to many users of these applications, but there are few sources of more general security information for e-mail users that aren’t specific to a given client application.

The following is a list of some important security tips that apply to all e-mail users - not just users of a specific application. The first five are listed in the order one should employ them, from the first priority to the last. This priority is affected not only by how important a given tip is, but also by how easy it is to employ. The easier something is to do, the more likely one is to actually do it and move on to the next tip. The last five pointers are best practices that will help prevent users from making careless mistakes.

Note: This article is based on the IT Security blog posts Basic e-mail security tips and More e-mail security tips by Chad Perrin. It’s also available as a PDF download.

#1: Never allow an e-mail client to fully render HTML or XHTML e-mails without careful thought.

At the absolute most, if you have a mail client such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird that can render HTML e-mails, you should configure it to render only simplified HTML rather than rich HTML - or “Original HTML,” as some clients label the option. Even better is to configure it to render only plain text. When rendering HTML, you run the risk of identifying yourself as a valid recipient of spam or getting successfully phished by some malicious security cracker or identity thief. My personal preference is, in fact, to use a mail user agent that is normally incapable of rendering HTML e-mail at all, showing everything as plain text instead.

#2: If the privacy of your data is important to you, use a local POP3 or IMAP client to retrieve e-mail.

This means avoiding the use of Web-based e-mail services, such as Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo! Mail for e-mail you want to keep private for any reason. Even if your Webmail service provider’s policies seem sufficiently privacy-oriented to you, that doesn’t mean that employees won’t occasionally break the rules. Some providers are accused of selling e-mail addresses to spamming “partners.” Even supposedly security-oriented Webmail services, such as Hushmail, can often be less than diligent in providing security to their users’ e-mail.

#3: Ensure that your e-mail authentication process is encrypted, even if the e-mail itself is not.

The reason for this is simple: You do not want some malicious security cracker listening in on your authentication session with the mail server. Someone who does this can then send e-mails as you, receive your e-mail, and generally cause all kinds of problems for you (including spammers). Check with your ISP’s policies to determine whether authentication is encrypted and even how it is encrypted (so you might be able to determine how trivial it is to crack the encryption scheme used).

#4: Digitally sign your e-mails.

As long as you observe good security practices with e-mail in general, it is highly unlikely that anyone else will ever have the opportunity to usurp your identity for purposes of e-mail-but it is still a possibility. But if you use an encryption tool, such as PGP or GnuPG, to digitally sign your e-mails, recipients who have your public key will be able to determine that nobody could have sent the e-mail in question without having access to your private key-and you should definitely have a private key that is well protected.

#5: Avoid unsecured networks.

If, for some reason, you absolutely positively must access an e-mail account that does not authorize over an encrypted connection, never access that account from a public or otherwise unsecured network. Ever. Under any circumstances.

Be aware of both your virtual and physical surroundings when communicating via e-mail. Be careful. Trust no one that you do not absolutely have to trust, and recognize the dangers and potential consequences of that trust.

Your e-mail security does not just affect you; it affects others, as well, if your e-mail account is compromised. Even if the e-mail account itself is not compromised, your computer may be if you do not take reasonable care with how you deal with e-mails - and that, in turn, can lead to affecting both you and others adversely as well.

#6: Turn off automated addressing features.

As communication software accumulates more and more automated convenience features, we’ll see more and more cases of accidentally selecting the wrong recipients. A prime example is Microsoft Outlook’s “dreaded auto-fill feature,” where it is all too easy to accidentally select a recipient adjacent to your intended recipient in the drop-down list. This can be particularly problematic when discussing private matters such as business secrets.

#7: Use BCC when sending to multiple recipients.

It’s a bad idea, from a security perspective, to share e-mail addresses with people who have no need for them. It is also rude to share someone’s e-mail address with strangers without permission. Every time you send out an e-mail to multiple recipients with all the recipients’ names in the To: or CC: fields, you’re sharing all those e-mail addresses with all the recipients. E-mail addresses that are not explicitly meant to be shared with the entire world should, in e-mails addressed to multiple recipients, be specified in the BCC: field - because each person will then be able to see that he or she is a recipient, but will not be able to see the e-mail addresses of anyone else in the BCC: field.

#8: Save e-mails only in a safe place.

No amount of encryption for sent e-mails will protect your privacy effectively if, after receiving and decrypting an e-mail, you store it in plain text on a machine to which other people have access. Sarah Palin found out the hard way that Webmail providers don’t do as good a job of ensuring stored e-mail privacy as we might like. Many users’ personal computers are not exactly set up with security in mind, either, as in the case of someone whose Windows home directory is set up as a CIFS share with a weak password.

#9: Only use private accounts for private e-mails.

Any e-mail you share with the world is likely to get targeted by spammers - both for purposes of sending mail to it and spoofing that e-mail address in the From: field of the e-mail headers. The more spammers and phishers who spoof your e-mail address that way, the more likely your e-mail address is to end up on spam blocker blacklists used by ISPs and lazy mail server sysadmins — and the more likely you are to have problems with your e-mails not getting to their intended recipients.

#10: Double-check the recipient, every time - especially on mailing lists.

Accidentally replying directly to someone who sent an e-mail to a mailing list, when you meant to reply to the list, isn’t a huge security issue. It can be kind of inconvenient, though, especially when you might never notice your e-mail didn’t actually get to the mailing list. The converse, however, can be a real problem: if you accidentally send something to the list that was intended strictly for a specific individual, you may end up publicly saying something embarrassing or, worse, accidentally divulging secrets to hundreds of people you don’t even know.

Courtesy: TechRepublic.com
Chad Perrin is an IT consultant, developer, and freelance professional writer. He holds both Microsoft and CompTIA certifications and is a graduate of two IT industry trade schools.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Michael Jackson Mourned By Friends, Fans, Fellow Musicians

Friends, music luminaries and fans from around the world and around the web reacted to the news of Michael Jackson's death on June 25 with thoughts on his life and legacy.

"I can't stop crying over the sad news. I have always admired Michael Jackson. The world has lost one of the greats, but his music will live on forever! My heart goes out to his three children and other members of his family. God bless." --Madonna
Michael Jackson 1958-2009

“I am absolutely devastated at this tragic and unexpected news. For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I just don’t have the words. Divinity brought our souls together on The Wiz and allowed us to do what we were able to throughout the 80’s. To this day, the music we created together on Off The Wall, Thriller and Bad is played in every corner of the world and the reason for that is because he had it all…talent, grace, professionalism and dedication.He was the consummate entertainer and his contributions and legacy will be felt upon the world forever. I’ve lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him.” --Quincy Jones

"May God cover you Michael. We all lift your name up in prayer. I pray for the entire JACKSON family particularly Michael’s mother, children and all his fans that loved him so much. I would not be the artist, performer, and philanthropist I am today without the influence of Michael. I have great admiration and respect for Him and I’m so thankful I had the opportunity to meet and perform with such a great entertainer, who in so many ways, transcended the culture. He broke barriers, he changed radio formats! With music, he made it possible for people like Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama to impact the mainstream world. His legacy is unparalleled. Michael Jackson will never be forgotten." --Usher

"The incomparable Michael Jackson has made a bigger impact on music than any other artist in the history of music. He was magic. He was what we all strive to be. He will always be the King of Pop! Life is not about how many breaths you take, but about how many moments in life that take your breath away. For anyone who has ever seen, felt, or heard his art, we are all honored to have been alive in this generation to experience the magic of Michael Jackson. I love you Michael." --Beyonce

"Yesterday was a day I will never forget, or want to remember. Michael was both weak and strong, clever and kind, talented beyond belief and equally insecure. He was a doting father, respectful son, loving brother, and caring uncle. He was my friend. I take great solace in the pride and confidence he exhibited during production rehearsals on Wednesday night. That is the memory I will cherish for the rest of my life." --Randy Phillips, President & CEO of AEG Live, producers of "This Is It.

Michael Jackson's personal crescendo of amazing power as an entertainer was clear and unmistakable -- and has never slowed to this very day! His passing will be grieved far beyond that of any other singer, composer, producer, dancer and choreographer, in the history of the world. Indeed, in my very firmest, personal, belief there will never, ever be another Michael Jackson! --Don Cornelius, Soul Train

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Financial Management - A Key Life Skill

Money makes the world go around, and while there have been people who have said that "money does not bring happiness", the reality is that those who do not master the financial game will live a life full of uncertainty, poverty, and worst of all: an inability to truly reach their potential as human beings.

The cold hard truth is that we all want to be rich, but statistics and economics show that only a handful of us will ever reach it; the majority will simply always be out of reach.

One reason for this is an inability to properly manage one's financial resources. Generally college does not teach its students, the ability to handle their money.

It is true that a student majoring in finance, business, accounting, or economics will learn more about this subject than most, but only a percentage of college students are majoring in these areas, and this leaves out the rest of those who are not.

People often tell that money does not mean anything to them, but in reality money means something whether you think it is important to you or not. Without money, you cannot buy food, cannot travel, cannot enjoy cutting edge technologies, cannot pay for medical costs, and so on.

Those who do not have money tend to be wanting, while those who have money tend to be masters of their finances.

Having said that, the first step in learning financial management is to learn budgeting. You need to know how much you are spending on any given item on a regular basis.

Once you are able to discover how much you are spending on food, electricity, water, and other things, you will be able to develop a budget which will allow you to control your spending, which will further allow you to save money. It is also important to understand the importance of saving money as opposed to borrowing it.

Unfortunately, we live in a society today which is debt based, and people are encouraged to borrow as opposed to saving. Borrowing money will lead to a lifetime of debt and more debt.

Most people today, especially those living in the U.S. or Europe, are in debt bondage. They live in houses they do not own, drive cars that do not belong to them, and use money (called credit), to buy everyday goods.

This money or credit does not actually belong to them, but is loaned to them by banks, which then turn around and charge them compounding interest to use it.

Many people end up taking on so much debt that a huge portion of their income must go back to repaying it. these individuals become dependent on a bank or loan company to fund their lifestyle.

In contrast, an individual who is debt free and thrifty is a person who is a master of his finance. Such individuals owe nothing to no one, and they can pay for everything they need in cash.

The money that they save is a superior form of capital when compared to credit, and this capital can be used to make investments which can lead to in an increase in one's income, which can be used for saving and more investments.

This is the basic formula towards becoming wealthy. While there is a large amount of financial advice available out there, some of which is highly complicated, the simple way to wealth is to save a lot, stay out of debt, and invest.

Studying economics can actually be quite valuable If you have the time or inclination, it would not hurt to read some books on economics.

Understanding basic economics does not require one to be a rocket scientist, and you will find yourself becoming even better with finance as a result.

Once you understand how economies function, you will be capable of making prudent investment decisions which can allow you to master the finance game.

The Power of Your Thought Process

One of the most important life skills that you can have is the ability to control your thoughts. While this may see relatively simple, it is much harder than what meets the eye. We live in a day and age where our minds are constantly being bombarded with information.

From television ads to billboards, radios, and the internet, we are constantly being fed a stream of information, and much of this information is absolutely worthless. The average man is so caught up in the daily affairs of their lives that they seldom take the time to think critically about the world in which they live. To be successful in life, you must keep control of your thoughts at all times.

One type of behavior that you will want to become familiar with is adaptive behavior. These types of behaviors give humans the ability to perform activities successfully during the course of our lives. Adaptive behavior can also be thought of as a manner in which you will be flexible when it comes to changing and adapting with the times.

When you are an adaptive person, you will be able to deal with unexpected situations in a manner which is not only creative, but constructive as well. The adaptive individual is someone who can focus their mind in a fresh direction, and can make a decision based on outcomes which are desirable.

To succeed, you must be open to change, since being able to adapt to important changes is a factor which will allow you to become successful. As you go throughout life, always take the time to think about and analyze situations so that misinterpretations can be avoided.

One key mistake that many people make is an inability to give themselves enough time to analyze given situations. When you are dealing with others, you should always take the time to ask questions so that you can gather any data which may not be present, and so that you can avoid making mistakes which are quite costly. It is also absolutely critical to think for the long term.

The Power of Thinking Ahead

Most people are hopelessly caught up in the present moment. Most people today probably do not take the time to look even a few months ahead, led alone years. Successful people tend to be those who work in the present for a goal that they intend to achieve tomorrow.

As the Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla said: the present belongs to them, but the future belongs to me. A wise an prudent person is an individual that always thinks ahead, and will take the time to look out for potential problems that may be coming on the horizon. When you are making any decision, it is always wise to ask yourself what impact it will have on your future, or those who are dependent on you.

The best way to adapt to change is to continue always learning. The process of learning does not stop once you graduate from college, it is life long process that never stops. Technology, fashion, and skills will continue to change as we move further into the future, but the person who is always learning new things has absolutely no reason to fear these changes, and will in fact be able to embrace them.

Another important factor in being able to control your thought process is to always look beyond the surface. Instead of running from challenges, you should always be ready to embrace them.

When you are faced with any challenge, you are faced with an opportunity which will allow you to grow as a person. Embracing challenges will not only allow you to become wiser, but they will also allow you to harness your skills as well.

When you encounter situations which are painful, they will often contain the seed which may have a blessing, and if you are able to find this blessing, you will be able to grow further as an individual. It is also important to have a good idea of the things you value in life, because the values of one person may differ dramatically from those of another.

Conclusion

The ability to control your thought process is a critical life skill which is indispensable. By controlling your own thoughts, you will be less prone to being manipulated by others, and you will be able to see situations in a different life. The power of the human mind is one which is difficult to fathom, and many people don't use their mental capacities in a manner which can allow them to get the things they want in life

Importance of Adjusting to Changes

The legendary actor and martial artist Bruce Lee is famous for speaking about the flexibility of water, and how everyone should strive to be like it. After all, water does not have any set shape, and it conforms to whatever container it is placed in.

Not only is this statement applicable to the martial arts, but it is also connected to one essential life skill: the ability to adapt to change. Being able to adapt to the changing times is one of the most essential skills that a person can have.

Those who are not able to adapt, are very likely to get extinct sooner then those who are able to adapt. From warfare to science, technology, and politics, history has shown that those who are too tied to the past are bound to be left in the past.

One key factor that allowed Napoleon to crush his enemies was his ability to break away from the past; Napoleon developed military strategies which were revolutionary for the time, and his enemies, who were stuck in the "old fashioned" way of doing things, quickly succumbed to his forces when faced with their high speed movements.

Today, technology is changing at such a rapid pace that many traditional colleges and universities, which in the past were considered to be on the cutting edge of education, are being left in the dust. If you are able to adapt to the times and change when it is time to change, there is no limit to the power and success that you can achieve.

Being able to adapt is difficult for most humans, and the reason for this is because humans are creatures of habit; having to change our patterns and behaviours is frustrating and annoying. To illustrate this, most of us get annoyed with our bosses when we suddenly have to change the way we have been working.

We would really simply prefer to keep doing things the old way, since this allows us to stay in our comfort zone. Very few are able to cope without distress after being forced out of their comfort zone, However, it is important to know when to adapt, and when not to.

Adapting to the changing times is not always the wisest course of action. While the need to adapt to change is good in most cases, it should be done with a level of caution.

There are times when adapting to changes can bring more harm than good. To give an example, have you ever been in a situation where everything was fine, but you decided to change it for whatever reason, and your attempts to change it ended up making it worse?

As the old saying goes: if it are not broke, do not fix it. Change is only effective when it is absolutely necessary. Trying to fix a system that is not broken is a total waste of time. To understand this, think of technology.

Many people today are obsessed with the latest technological gadgets and gizmos. They run out and spend literally thousands of dollars on gadgets that are cool to have, but are not really needed.

While there are some fundamental tools that one does not want to be without today (such as a computer for instance), many of the gadgets and gizmos which people buy are a complete waste of money. For instance, there is no "real" difference between a $400 cell phone and a $20 one, both are designed to do the same basic thing, which is to make phone calls!

The people who waste money on these gadgets think that they are "adapting to the times," but in reality, they are making changes which are unnecessary. The only time that you should upgrade your technology is when the current technology is simply not efficient enough to help you accomplish your goals.

Just because a gadget company makes a change does not mean that the change is good for you. When those around your are adapting to the times, you must logically decide whether or not you should do the same. However, no matter what you do, never adapt to the changing times just because others around you are doing so.

Adapting to change should be done based on logic, not emotion. Many people refuse to change with the times because of an emotional attachment to the past. This is dangerous, since the past is the past, it is always prudent to look at present and also ahead on the future.

The past is something that cannot be changed, and those who are stuck in it are often doomed. As you become older, it becomes even more important for you to avoid being tied to the past, as this problem is more pronounced in older people than it is in the younger generation.

How to Work with People

To be successful in life, you are required to work with people. While college courses sometimes give students projects that must be completed within groups, in reality you are required to do more than simply be capable of working in a team.

Not only must you be able to work in a group, but you must also be capable of dealing with people, including those who are difficult.

Unfortunately, there are certain types of people in our world today who like to take advantage of others. When meeting you, they will instantly size you up to determine whether or not a person is weak or not, and if they detect an individual who is timid, they will attempt to take advantage of him in a number of ways.

There is little you can do to avoid these types, however you can be cautious and guard yourself against such persons. An additional thing to keep in mind is that it may not be immediately obvious that you are dealing with this type.

The best way to deal with such individuals is to be assertive. Be clear about what you want, and never waver on anything.

You should always be willing to walk away from any project or deal if the other party is unwilling to treat you with respect. No matter what you do when dealing with this type of individual, you should never let your temper get the best of you.

When you get angry, your options may fail. Often in life people will give you a hard time about every little thing, they make you angry but you must never allow them to see your anger or argue with them.

While you always have the option of walking away, these people may be valuable due to their money or business connections, so winning them over is more valuable over the long term.

There are also people in this world who confuse kindness and patience of weakness. They assume that because you are soft spoken, or you do not mind waiting, they can walk all over you. Again, you must show these people, without becoming visibly upset with them, that you will not allow this type of treatment.

It is better to show them as opposed to telling them; remember, your actions always speak louder than your words. If you do business with a lot of people, it will also be necessary for you to sign contracts and agreements. We live in a very litigious society and it is recommended to always do business with a contract.

It does not matter whether it is friends or family, or if you like the person you are dealing with. Always sign a contract which is clear and concise, so if something goes wrong, you can hold it up in a court of law, showing the judge that the other party agreed to the terms of the document.

Without a contract, it is always your word versus theirs, and no judge really wants to hear this. They want to see evidence, and having the right evidence is what will allow you to win cases. To be successful in this world, you must gain the respect of others.

The problem is, becoming angry and allowing your temper to get the best of you can always destroy bridges built with trust and respect between people and lead to other problems.

The essence of dealing with others is to control your emotions. On your path to money and success, you will run into difficult people. You can always avoid them, but doing so may kill valuable business relationships which can allow you to make it to the next level.

Therefore, when you become upset with someone who you feel does not respect you, take the time to figure out how to handle the situation in a logical manner.

The Power of Leadership

Leadership is one of those skills that is often hard for everyone to learn in school; many believe that you either have it or you do not. While there may be some truth to this, it is possible for any individual to become an effective leader, so long as they cultivate the many traits and views that successful leaders have.

While there are many definitions which are used to describe leadership, it is "the ability to persuade a group of people in a manner which allows a specific goal to be reached." While there are many different types of leaders, this definition clearly describes the primary outcome that they all share.

If you are capable of influencing others around you in a manner that allows you to achieve your goals, then it can be said that you have leadership skill. There is no set formula that one follows to become a leader, and the skills which are required for leadership cannot easily be taught in a classroom.

The greatest leaders tend to be those that have a natural gift; many leaders are highly charismatic. There are many styles of leadership, some of the fundamental traits that all leaders share, which you can apply in your own life are outlined here below.

Power of Discipline

Leaders have extensive amount of discipline. No one can lead others if they cannot first lead themselves. If you are the type of person who has to be told what to do all the time, then you are not a leader, but a follower.

If a leader knows that they need to wake up at a certain time in order to get an important task completed, then they will do so. If they know that they need to be working on a specific project at a certain time, no one has to tell them to do so; they just automatically know to do it. The first traits common among leaders is that they tend to be full of both discipline and the ability to lead themselves.

Strength and Wisdom

Two other traits which are common among leaders is both strength and wisdom. When one studies history, this becomes obvious: those who were promoted to the rank of general in most societies throughout history have been men who were brave, strong, and battle tested. No one wanted a general who was weak and inexperienced. In addition to this, no soldier wishes to fight under a general who was unwise.

A wise person is often promoted to leadership positions since they often make wise decisions which benefit themselves and those under them. This is also why many societies throughout history selected older men to be elders of the tribe, since they had lived many years and had knowledge, wisdom, and experience with regard to many matters.

Being a strong leader does not necessarily mean that you need to be physically strong, or have a powerful physical presence; it could simply mean having a strong mind, being resolute in your thought process. While having physical strength can be helpful, it is only one factor which is effective in strong leaders.

Wisdom is equally, if not more important than physical strength, since a wise general can keep his men alive, and a wise CEO can keep his company and employees profitable and employed.

People often rally under a wise leader because the leader can give them a sense of security; In a harsh world where hardly anything is certain, and where people aspire to improve their lot in life, the man or woman who displays strength and wisdom will be followed, so that their followers can reap the benefits of their wisdom.

However, a key thing that one must always keep in mind is that while leaders may enjoy many privileges, including fame and wealth, their position also comes with a great deal of responsibility, as well as risk.

Leadership Dangers

While leaders enjoy many privileges, their power comes along with huge responsibility; they are obliged to serve those who put them into power. If a leader makes bad decisions which hurts those beneath him, he is subject to being overthrown and replaced by a leader who is more effective.

If the leader becomes abusive, or uses his power in a corrupt way, again, sooner or later he will be crushed and overthrown. While a leader often gets the praise and benefit from any achievement his group accomplishes, when things go wrong, and the group is not successful, the leader is the person who will often be primarily blamed, and may be most likely to fall.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Essential Life Skills

Life skills are some of the most important skills you can have. One thing which separates life skills from the skills that we learn in school is that life skills tend to be things which are hard to teach in a classroom, skills that will most often be learned through experience alone.

Handling Work

One such skill is learning how to handle work. In real life scenario, anytime that you think that you have got to a point in a project where you think it is fully completed, there will always be more work that can be done, extra effort that can be put in-order to take it a class above the rest. Contrary to this, in college, students are given projects that must be definitively completed at a specific time.

While project deadlines also exist in the real world, the work is never quite finished. There will always be more that you can complete, and you should think of life in terms of ever increasing experiences which allow you to learn more about the world you live in.

Handling People

An important life skill is learning how to handle people. When it comes to handling people you must always keep in mind is that people are non-altruistic, and will do things primarily for their own self interest.

One thing that is found to be interesting is that many people, particularly those who are unsuccessful, go throughout life making decisions based on emotions, as opposed to logic. Many people look out for their own self interest, not yours.

While emotions are inevitable, they also make humans weak. A computer or machine does not factor in emotion into its decision making process; its decision on whether or not to carry out a function is based on cold hard logic.

You must keep in mind when doing business in this world is that people are looking out for themselves; if they need to rip you off in order to get something they want, many of them have no problem doing so. Therefore, you must always protect yourself and try to make critical decisions based on logic and never emotion.

Never think that people care about you because you are a nice person, or because they just like associating with you. While it is true that you attract more people when you are sociable, people in most cases will only deal with you if there is something they can get out of it. If they cannot get anything out of it, then they may not deal with you.

When dealing with people, never deal with them in terms of emotion. The people you deal with should be useful to you; if they are not, then you have no business dealing with them.

Friendship

Friendships should be handled with caution; friends tend to become jealous and patronizing, and because they know you as a person, they can sometimes be more dangerous than your enemies.

Always watch friends carefully, and be prepared to discard of them if they become problematic. Never continue dealing with a friend simply because of any emotional attachment you have to them, think logically.

Good Grades

Having good grades will not make you successful, but it will get you a job

In college, many students are obsessed with having a high GPA. They thought that by maintaining a high grade point average, they would have more job opportunities. They are right, they will have more job opportunities, to work as an employee for someone else.

Having a college degree will not guarantee that you will become the CEO of a company; the fact of the matter is that most of these students end up becoming employees who work under a person who never even graduated from college.

Having good grades only shows that you are good at following directions, at memorizing facts and concepts.

The problem with getting good grades is that it does not teach you how to take risks, or how to become a leader. This is something that can only be learned out in the real world, you can only learn how to lead or deal with risk by having experience, it is something that you acquire as you progress.

Because high GPA students seldom learn how to lead or face risks, they are often the least likely to establish their own companies, since it is easier and less risky to simply go work for someone else.

Life Skills For Success

There are a number of skills that you will need to develop in life if you wish to be successful with anything, and the bad news is that most of these skills are not taught in colleges and universities. One skill that is extremely valuable is public speaking.

If you have the ability to speak in a persuasive manner, and convey your ideas to an audience, then you have the potential to achieve an enormous amount of success.

Those who are good with public speaking tend to be those that have confidence in themselves, and they tend to be people who are a delight to be around.

If you are good at speaking, this means that you are a skilled salesperson, and are capable of selling practically anything, whether it be products or ideas.

Public speaking is also a powerful way to market yourself because you never know who is sitting in your audience.

If you are giving a speech about an investment idea you have which needs capital in order to take off, for all you know, the wealthy investor may be sitting in the audience, and if you speak well, you may meet them after you're done speaking.

Another skill, one which is closely related to public speaking, is the ability to write. When you are a good writer, you can easily sell products and ideas, and you will convey your thoughts much more effectively than someone who writes poorly. However, being a good writer requires you to do more than just learn grammar.

Being a truly good writer requires you to be masterful at controlling your thoughts. When you're able to organize your thoughts in a manner which will allow you to communicate ideas to your audience in an effective way, then this is a sign that you're an effective writer.

The ability to write and communicate with the written word is a timeless skill that is just as valid today as it always has been, and if you are able to write persuasive books, papers, and articles, you will find yourself developing a following within a short period of time.

In addition to public speaking and writing, the ability to manage yourself is absolutely critical.

The ability to manage yourself

Many people are failures in life simply because of an inability to manage themselves. The hallmark of self management is to have lots of self discipline.

If you have a problem waking up on time, or doing what you know you need to be doing when you should be doing it, then your success in life is doubtful.

Another life skill which is indispensable is an ability to work with and recognize authority. No matter how high you rise in life, there will always be someone you answer to. If you're the type of person who has a problem with authority, you're not going to go very far.

As I always like to say: someone is going to tell you what to do, one way or another. It could be your boss or client, or it could be a prison guard, but someone is going to tell you what to do.

Individuals who are argumentative, or who always think their way is the right way, are people who won't go far, because they will make so many enemies and burn so many bridges that no one will want to deal with them.

Even when your client or boss is wrong, and you know they are, it is better to let them find out for themselves as opposed to arguing with them about it. Arguing with others is never a sign of power, and is in fact a sign of weakness.

As the old saying does, "the truth is seen, rarely heard." Talk is cheap, people talk about doing things all the time. To become successful in life, you have to be a man or woman or action, not words. In the long run, actions are the only things that really count.

The Power of Networking

Networking is one of the most powerful tools that you can have at your disposal. No matter how smart or talented you are, if you're incapable of networking with others, you will not go very far. The most successful people in the world are those who know how to build a network. The purpose of building a network is to use the energy and resources of others as opposed to using your own.

Your energy and resources are very finite, it is easy to exhaust and wipe yourself out. However, by working together with a team, you suddenly partition your work load and can complete various tasks within a short period of time.

Welcome To WisdomWorld

You are welcome to WisdomWorld the haven of every good thing on the internet. We will keep you informed on latest development in the world of gospel music, ICT and sports all around the globe . We will also keep you abreast of breaking news and events around the world. You will also have the opportunity to place a request for eBooks on different subjects such as computer, motivationals, fashion, business etc as well as gospel music albums of various genres(audio and video) such as Rock, Hip Hop, Praise worship, reggae, country, contemporary, soul, jazz, funk, accapella, R & B etc. Thanks for visiting and I believe you will not leave here as you came. God bless you.

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