PC security starts with an assessment of the security risks. The security of your computer depends on the operating system you are running. If you are running one of Microsoft’s Windows versions, then you are probably familiar with the security issues of earlier Windows versions. With the increased use of the internet, security has become an even more important issue. As such, it is no surprise that regular updates and patches to Windows XP and Vista are still released.
Obviously there is more to security than just the operating system. Every PC that is connected to the internet requires a firewall to keep out undesired internet traffic. Next to that, a good antivirus program is essential to keeping your PC safe.
But where do you start if you want to find out how secure your system is? You may think that you have all the required PC security in place, but how can you be sure? Well one of the first steps is to check the baseline security and Microsoft has a great free tool that enables you to check your system security.
There are a number of download links on the page, so make sure you pick the right one. The last 2 characters before the “.msi” indicate the language. The x64 stands for the 64 bit version and the x86 stands for the 32 bit version.
An installation wizard will guide you through the installation process. Once installation is completed, you can start the Baseline Security Analyzer through the icon on your desktop. The startup screen allows you to start a security scan of a computer.
If you click Scan a computer, the default suggestion is to scan the current computer, but you can also scan a different PC in your network if you know the name or IP address.
The program will download updated information and then start the security scan. After the scan, it will show you a report with the results.
You can now use this report to assess your system’s baseline security and fix any issues that you feel need improvement. Each issue that you find will have a link to “How to correct this”, with information on how to improve the PC security based on the issue found.
The Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer is a great little tool to assess your PC’s security. Use it as a first step in improving your computer’s security, protecting you from internet attacks, viruses, malware and other security related PC problems.
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Written by Jason on August 1st, 2008 with no comments.
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Few weeks ago, I read about a very interesting and one of the most useful Firefox extensions called NoDoFollow on a website. After reading a short description, I decided to test it and see if it is really capable of doing that the developer claims. So what is this SEO tool that I am talking about? What does it do and how is it useful to us?
NoDoFollow is a simple 3 KB extension for Mozilla Firefox browser. The extension lets you know which links on a website are DoFollow and NoFollow. As most of you already know, the
difference between DoFollow and NoFollow is very significant. Thus, sometimes it is very important for webmasters to know whether links on a blog or website are DoFollow or NoFollow.
How does it work?
The extension takes seconds to download and once downloaded you can easily use it. All you have to do after downloading is right click on any web page and then click on "NoDoFollow". Doing so will turn the extension on and all the links on the page will be highlited in either blue or pink color. The links in blue are DoFollow and the ones in red are NoFollow. Here is a screenshot to show you how it looks:
This small extansion is very useful to webmasters when they want to buy or exchange links. Buying a NoFollow link only provides you with traffic while a DoFollow link also helps improve your website's PageRank. Thus most webmasters check the attribute of the link before getting in any kind of deal.
Bloggers can also benefit from this tool as they can see which blogs have DoFollow attribute on and which blogs do not. Then, bloggers can comment on DoFollow blogs and leave their link to get some link juice.
Download NoDoFollow by
Zacharyfox-------------------------------
Some useful links:
Search quality, continued - Google Blog
More Transparency in Customized Search Results - Google Blog
A picture isn't always worth a thousand words - Inside Adsense
Back to school with more than 1 million users worldwide - Google Blog
Hello from A2 - Google Blog
We Knew The Web Was Big - Google Blog
Updates and Fixes for July 18th - Blogger Buzz
Easy as 1-2-3 - Adsense Blog
SEO, Marketing, Blogging & Moneymaking
Written by admin on August 1st, 2008 with no comments.
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As described on The Windows Experience Blog, Esther talks about Live Icons, which makes searching even faster by letting you see a preview of the files you’re searching for. If you’re a visual person you’ll especially appreciate seeing icons instead of file names or folders, and not having to open each file individually, which saves a ton of time.
ITsVISTA
Demo: Live Icons in Windows Vista
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Written by Joe on August 1st, 2008 with no comments.
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Windows Vista and SP1 focus on delivering greater performance and overall system responsiveness. By striking a balance between speed and responsiveness, windows vista and SP1 deliver a level of performance that has the greatest positive impact on the system’s usability.
This guide looks at the following areas of performance improvement:
• Making configuration changes that help a computer feel more responsive when you use it.
• Using hardware to boost the actual physical speed of a computer.
• Making configuration changes that help a computer to start faster.
• Making the computer more reliable may help increase performance.
• Monitoring performance occasionally so that you can stop problems before they get too big.
Improve Performance Quickly and Easily.
This guide focuses on performance improvements on a single computer, but also takes a look at some of the tools used in enterprise environments to help make performance tuning manageable on a much larger scale.
Download:
Windows Vista Performance and Tuning
Written by Madhukar on August 1st, 2008 with no comments.
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In the last video, Esther told you all about how Instant Search makes her day-to-day life easier. Today, she's going to talk to you about Live Icons, which makes searching even faster by letting you see a preview of the files you're searching for. If you're a visual person you'll especially appreciate seeing icons instead of file names or folders, and not having to open each file individually, which saves a ton of time.
Video: Windows Vista Demo: Live Icons
Written by Brandon LeBlanc on August 1st, 2008 with no comments.
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In the last video , Esther told you all about how Instant Search makes her day-to-day life easier. Today, she's going to talk to you about Live Icons , which makes searching even faster by letting you see a preview of the files you're searching for. If Read More......(
read more)
Written by Windows Vista Team Blog on August 1st, 2008 with no comments.
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There appears to be a shift taking place in the PC industry: the move from 32-bit to 64-bit PCs. We've been tracking the change by looking at the percentage of 64-bit PCs connecting to windows updates, and have seen a dramatic increase in recent months.
The installed base of 64-bit Windows Vista PCs, as a percentage of all windows vista systems, has more than tripled in the U.S. in the last three months, while worldwide adoption has more than doubled during the same period. Another view shows that 20% of new Windows Vista PCs in the U.S. connecting to Windows Update in June were 64-bit PCs, up from just 3% in March. Put more simply, usage of 64-bit Windows Vista is growing much more rapidly than 32-bit. Based on current trends, this growth will accelerate as the retail channel shifts to supplying a rapidly increasing assortment of 64-bit desktops and laptops.
64-bit PCs running 64-bit editions of Windows Vista typically have 4GB of memory or more. Compared to 32-bit systems, which top out at around 3GB of memory, 64-bit PCs can offer added responsiveness when running a lot of applications at the same time and have the potential for greater performance and new experiences as next-generations applications are written to take advantage of this new platform.
What started out as a gradual (some would say "glacial") movement toward 64-bit PCs, driven primarily by technology enthusiasts, seems to have turned into a swift transition, likely fueled by the falling cost of memory and consumers' desire to get the most out of their PCs.
This change begs a few questions:
Is the 64 bit market ready to go mainstream?
Will consumers realize the benefits from larger chips and 4GB or more of memory?
The answer to both of these questions is yes - but a qualified yes.
Preconfigured 64-bit PCs obtained from retailers or PC manufacturers should work quite well. This is in stark contrast to the experience of many technology enthusiasts who built their 64-bit PC from scratch and may have had to scour the Web looking for drivers. So, unless you really love to tinker with your PC, we suggest you buy a pre-built 64-bit PC at retail or directly from a PC manufacturer.
you plan on using with your new PC. Any hardware or software product displaying the ‘Works with Windows Vista' or ‘Certified for Windows Vista' logo must be compatible with both the 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows Vista in order to warrant the use of the logo. If you don't see the logo, visit the Windows Vista Compatibility Center and check the 64-bit compatibility status. Hardware and Beyond the box, you also need to consider the hardware peripherals and software programs software vendors continue to test and improve their products. Please note that the Windows Vista Compatibility Center is currently in beta. In some cases it is possible that a device may be marked as not compatible when in fact it is. I recommend that you also check with the device manufacturer to see if the compatibility status of your desired device has changed.
On the performance front, 64-bit PCs can provide a more responsive experience when running many applications simultaneously. websites such as Bit.Tech.Net and Tom's Hardware have published performance benchmarks detailing some of the improvements realized from running the 64-bit PCs. In addition, PC Accelerators built into Windows Vista, such as Windows SuperFetch, improve performance by keeping commonly used programs in memory, even when the program is closed. More memory capacity on 64-bit PCs allows SuperFetch to do its job more efficiently.
But if you only use your PC for a few tasks, and rarely do them at the same time, then you're unlikely to realize a measurable performance benefit today. Of course, buying extra capacity for your future, unplanned needs is always worth considering.
In the future, we expect both compatibility and performance of 64-bit PCs to continue to improve. Most hardware devices have 64-bit drivers today and most software products work unmodified because of the 32-bit emulation technology in 64-bit Windows Vista (called WOW64). But there are some gaps, especially in the long tail of the market, but we expect rapid improvement now that 64-bit PCs are getting so popular.
Written by Madhukar on August 1st, 2008 with no comments.
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Moving onward from windows xp service Pack 3 and windows vista Service Pack 1 to Windows 7, Microsoft is gearing up for the death of 32-bit versions of the Windows client. On the server-side, Window's transition to 64-bit only architectures is almost complete, with Windows Server 2008 being the last server operating system from Microsoft with support for 32-bit CPUs.
On the client-side, the evolution from x86 to x64 is still a long way from the finish line, but the Redmond company is starting to witness the first signs. According to the software giant, the adoption of x64 Vista is growing at a pace superior of x86, a trend which is predicted to accelerate.
"We've been tracking the change by looking at the percentage of 64-bit PCs connecting to windows update, and have seen a dramatic increase in recent months. The installed base of 64-bit Windows Vista PCs, as a percentage of all Windows Vista systems, has more than tripled in the U.S. in the last three months, while worldwide adoption has more than doubled during the same period. Another view shows that 20% of new Windows Vista PCs in the U.S. connecting to Windows Update in June were 64-bit PCs, up from just 3% in March," explained Christopher Flores, Director Windows Communications.
Microsoft is giving credit not to end users for the increasing shift to 64-bit Vista operating systems, but to its channel partners, especially original equipment manufacturers, who are making the jump to x64 CPUs and machines preloaded with the analog variant of the latest Windows version. The main advantage of 64-bit Vista over its 32-bit equivalent is the ability to handle RAM in excess of 4 GB, and on top of the extra system memory, to also manage a larger number of CPU intensive applications simultaneously. In the end, the user experience will simply benefit from the added performance that 64-bit Vista SKUs will deliver.
"What started out as a gradual (some would say "glacial") movement toward 64-bit PCs, driven primarily by technology enthusiasts, seems to have turned into a swift transition, likely fueled by the falling cost of memory and consumers' desire to get the most out of their PCs," Flores indicated. Still, the transition is far from over. In fact, Microsoft has already confirmed that Windows 7, the successor of Windows Vista, would also be made available in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors. In this context, it seems, Microsoft will only deliver 64-bit exclusive versions with Windows 7 Server and maybe Windows 8, on the client-side.
For the time being, Microsoft is claiming that x64 Windows Vista is growing, and said nothing about the 64-bit version of Windows XP SP2. XP SP3 is of course only available for 32-bit machines.
Written by Madhukar on August 1st, 2008 with no comments.
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Some people didn't take to heart my cautions on the subject
of attached input queues, item number five on the list of five things every Win32 programmer should know .
And then they find that their application stops responding. // Code in italics is wrong Read More......(
read more)
Written by The Old New Thing : Code on August 1st, 2008 with no comments.
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Hi Everyone! I have just learned about a great opportunity for you all to get some free backlinks. The owner of Spring Of Life has decided to giveaway limited amounts of PR3 and PR4 blog links to some lucky webmasters. The link will be posted on
Spring of Life (PR3) and
GTA Save Game (PR4). The links are all free but there are some simple
requirements which can be found on Spring Of Life.
This is a great opportunity for webmasters to get free links and help boost their PageRank for the next update. Remember that all links are DoFollow! The mentioned blogs get a lot of traffic everyday and already have a reliable number of regular readers. Getting a link on those blogs can greatly benefit your blog/website's traffic and PR at the same time. As mentioned above, there are some requirements but they are really easy. Just take a look at the original post and you will find all the
details.
Act now because the offer is limited.
SEO, Marketing, Blogging & Moneymaking
Written by admin on August 1st, 2008 with no comments.
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