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It seems to be a well know fact, at least to those who do niche sites or serious blogging, that one of  the keys to top standing in Google’s organic search results is getting back links to your site or article.  All you have to do are:

• Write lots of articles with back links to your site or article
• Find sites to post the articles, then post them

Already got a domain name?  I know, I just bought one recently, and it only cost me $4.99 per year!  That is cheap.  Wouldn’t it be great if you can take that domain and use it on a free website hosting service?  If you are interested in learning how to do this, then read on.

Now-a-days, you can buy a domain name anywhere.  And like with anything, you always want to get the best deal on it and not necessarily host it where you bought it because of hosting cost.

If you are like me, you try to save where you can.  In this case, you can save on website hosting if you do it through 000webhost.com.  The good thing about using a hosting service like this is they provide the primary and secondary name servers you need to have the Internet know of your web site.  In this case, theirs are as follows:

• ns01.000webhost.com
• ns02.000webhost.com

You’ll have to note the above as you will need to enter them at the site where you bought your domain name.  For example, at GoDaddy.com, you’ll have to log into your account, then go to the Domain Manager page; there you can set the name servers to the name servers listed above.

At 000webhost.com, you just need to sign up for a free hosting service, and specify the domain name you own, and you are pretty much good to go.

By doing this, the cost of your website which uses your domain name is pretty much the cost of keeping the domain name.  If it costs $4.99 a year, then it only costs you no more than 42 cents a month for the domain and the hosting service combined!

Every so often I learn something from my kids who are in their 20s.  They are very active online.  My older one mentioned that she was able to acquire some X-Box accessories by playing games online.  I thought…”who in their right mind would give prizes for free?”; then she showed me.

She went to a site called clubbing.com.  ”Clubbing.com” sounds like site about going to clubs, until the page showed up.  It turned out to be “Club Bing”.  It is a site designed to promote Microsoft’s search engine!

On the site they list various games that causes the search engine to be exercised.  It makes sense.  As you play, you end up seeing various search results, including their ads.

When you play and complete a game, you are awarded tickets, virtual tickets which you can redeem for prizes.  Note that completing one game may result in around 20 tickets.

Prizes range in ticket counts from hundreds to tens of thousands.  My daughter said that when clubbing.com started, there were no limits on how many tickets you could earn per day.  Today they limit winnings to 500 tickets per day.

Go figure.  Some folks may be gaming the system.  Anyway, have fun out there, and maybe you can win prizes in the process.

Happy Valentine’s Day to my better half!!!

Thanks to the power of Animoto.com, I was able to create the above online animated greeting for that very special someone…my wife.

Have you ever wished you can save some of those YouTube videos for later viewing?  This is especially true if you plan on going somewhere with your laptop with no Internet access.

If your answer is yes, then read on…

There is a file conversion site–zamzar.com–that can actually convert YouTube video postings to any video format your computer can play.  All you need to do is open your browser to http://www.zamzar.com.  There make sure to do the following:

1. In step 1, click the URL link so that you can provide the URL of the YouTube video you wish to get.
2. In step 2, specify the video format your computer can play.  For windows computers, specifying “wmv”  should guarantee that your Media Player can play the resulting video file.
3. In step 3, you will need to specify you e-mail address.  This is where Zamzar.com will send a download link for the converty video.
4. In step 4, you just need to click the CONVERT button, and you are done.
5. Now all you have to do is wait for an e-mail from Zamzar.com
6. When you get the e-mail, you will find a download link for the YouTube video.  Click the link and download the video.  You can now play the video on your computer whether you have Internet access or not!

If you have several YouTube videos you wish to save for later viewing, repeat the above steps for each and everyone of them.

Have fun!

Warning:  Some videos are copyrighted.  Be careful not to contribute to such illegal activities.

Basic Google Search

Almost everyone uses Google to search the Internet; but not everyone really knows how to take advantage of some of Google’s basic search capabilities.  Knowing how to use Google’s basic search capabilities can narrow down your seach quickly from several hundred millions down to a few thousands relevant results.

Open your web browser to google.com.  This should open up to google’s simple, yet effective home page–the search page.  At this point, you can search the WEB, look for IMAGES, find some VIDEOS, or search for NEWS.  Most of the time, the default–WEB–will suffice.  Regardless, click the type of seach you wish to do.

In the search field, you can type relevant words that simply describe what you are looking for.  Say for example you are looking for an article on basket weaving.  If you simply type the words “basket” and “weaving” in the seach field, Google will come back with 1,150,000 results.  This is because google will look for articles that contain “basket weaving”, “basket”, or “weaving”.  Now, do you have time to look over that many articles?  Probably not.

To narrow down your results to more relevant searches, you can begin by using the “+” operator.  You can enter “+basket” and “+weaving”.  This will force Google to only return articles with both “basket” and “weaving”.  This approach narrows down the search to 704,000.  Better than the original 1,150,000 results earlier, but still too many.

To further narrow down the search, you can enclose your search criteria with quotes–i.e. use “basket weaving” including the quotes.  This forces Google to only return articles with the term “basket weaving”.  This narrows down the search to 370,000.  This is a significant improvement to the original result of 1,150,000.

Several hundred thousand articles are still too much to search through.  Think about what is unique about your search.  Say for example that you are only interested in nylon basket weaving techniques.  You can update your search to use ‘+nylon +”basket weaving”‘. This asks Google to find web articles that have the terms “nylon” and “basket weaving”.  This narrows down the search to 3,190!  This is definitely orders of magnitude less than the original 1,150,000 search result.  Most people will probably continue to get results of this magnitude; however, you now know basic Google search capabilities and should be able to limit search results to a few relevant thousands.

In the last few days there has been reports of a worm designed to wipe out your data.  CNET reports that this worm has already targetted US and South Korean web sites.  The worm travels through emails which has an attachment.  The email is basically a trojan with a payload designed to erase files on your computer–including the master boot record.  When installed on your computer, the malicious load with will basically render your computer inoperable on the next boot.

Don’t wait until this happens to you.  Take action; backup your precious files (documents, pictures, videos).  You have several options.

If you don’t have too many files to back up (i.e. less than 2GB), a free account at mozy.com would do the job.  They provide 2GB of free online backup storage space; however, for unlimited space it is only $4.95 per month!  However, if you are cheap like me, you can try to convince others to to sign up for their free 2GB as well, and you’ll get an additional 250MB of storage space for every referral!

There are other online backup solutions like elephantdrive.com and carbonite.com; however, these don’t provide an initial free online storage space.

The other approach is to simply buy a flash drive or an external high capacity USB drive.  There are many out there.  I’ve seen flash drive with capacities as high as 32GB, but I’m sure there are higher capacity units out there now.  You can buy external USB drives now with over 1TB of storage space for less than $200.  As a matter of fact, I recently purchased one at Best Buy.  Over two weeks ago, I completed a full backup of my drives containing years of accumulated documents and pictures.

I know that if by some chance my drive crashes or I am infected by one of this worm, I’ll have my backup to fall back on.

So don’t wait too long before backing up your data.  Get that peace of mind that you have something to fall back to should the worst happen to your hard drive.

Encryption: key to secured data transmission

Not many people realize that the traffic they generate on the Internet as they check e-mail, upload files, chat, and so on are out in the clear. This means that if someone tapped into the network (wired or wireless) where your traffic is flowing, that someone would be able to capture the information flowing through that network, and possibly interpret or maybe even change the account or various confidential information that may be in that flow. One way to keep those Internet peeping toms from seeing your confidential information is by using some form of encryption technology. There are three general scenarios where encryption technology is crucial. The first is the encryption technology you must ensure is used when accessing confidential information online. The second scenario is when you are sending confidential information to someone or some organization. The third is when you are using wireless technology to access your network or someone else’s in the process of connecting to the Internet.

When accessing confidential information online, you must make sure that the site you are connecting to uses TLS/SSL (Transport Layer Security, the successor to SSL–Secure Socket Layer). You can tell this in three ways:

1) The URL for the sites starts with https://

2) There is an indication in your browser that your connection is secure—typically symbolized by a padlock icon (in Internet Explorer 8, it can be found to the right side of the address field)

3) Your browser indicates that it trusts the site you are visiting (in Internet Explorer 8, the address field background turns green)

For example, when you access your bank online, you will see that their URL begins with “https://”, and that there is a padlock symbol somewhere on the bottom or top of your Internet browser. When you’re browser is using TLS/SSL to communicate with a web server on the Internet, you are doing two things by convention—ensuring that the site you are visiting is who they say they are through the use of an SSL certificate which is certified by a trusted authority (for example Verisign) , and the data you are transmitting are encrypted and thus protected from eavesdropping exposure.

What if you need to send something to someone—like a file or an email containing very confidential information (e.g. a set of social security numbers tied to their corresponding owners’ identity)? If trust and confidentiality are important attributes needed in your communication, then there is a product called PGP Desktop that you and your receiver can use. PGP stands for Pretty Good Privacy. The way it works is as follows:

1) Each user creates two kinds of crypto keys—one key is the secret key, the other the public key

2) The public key can be used to encrypt data. The data can then be decrypted using its corresponding secret key.

3) Say that user A and B have each created their PGP key pairs. User A wants to transmit data to B, and he wants only B to be able to read A’s message. They would first need to exchange public keys. User A would then use B’s public key to encrypt his data before transmitting it. When B receives the message, he can use his secret key to decrypt the message. No one else can decrypt A’s message because B is the only one that has the corresponding secret key to decrypt the message.

The use of PGP in the above example is just one of the many ways people can use the pair of crypto keys to encrypt their Internet traffic. By the way, the existence of PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) facilitates the exchange and certification of public keys.

The third and final scenario where you can encrypt your Internet traffic is WI-FI technology use. If you are using some form of wireless technology, you need to make sure you encrypt your wireless network lest you invite your neighbors to see everything you do on the Internet. Currently, the best form of encryption one should use for your home wireless access point is WPA2. WPA stands for Wi-Fi Protected Access. It is more secure that the previous WEP (wired equivalent privacy) or the WPA standard. By using WPA2, you are ensuring that your neighbors cannot see your private Internet traffic.

Remember, Internet traffic is generally not secure. To help keep your confidential data secured when it has to traverse it, you will need to put into effect the habit of only using web sites that support TLS/SSL. And if you need to transmit data to someone, you can use PGP. Lastly, make sure to use WPA2 encryption for your wireless access point to keep your neighbors from seeing your wireless traffic.

OVERVIEW

To make your computer run faster you need to know the following:

1. Key resources of a computer
2. Typical ways resources are used by your computer
3. What can slow down your once fast and responsive computer

Once you know these, you can make a better decision about what you can do to make your computer run faster.

COMPUTER RESOURCES

To understand how to make your computer run faster, you need to understand the primary computer resources that impact the performance of your computer. These resources are what help your computer perform its job. They are as follows: processor (central processing unit or CPU, the brain and processing power of your computer), memory (your computer’s RAM, or primary memory), hard disk drive (HDD, your computer’s secondary memory), network interface (your computer’s connection to the world-i.e. the Internet). The network interface could be your modem, your WI-FI card, or the built-in fast Ethernet network interface of your computer.

If at least one of these resources gets taxed, the computer’s performance gets worse and thus the computer slows down!

Depending on what you are doing with your computer or what it is doing on its own, certain resources will get taxed first. Once a resource is taxed, your computer slows down. Here are some typical scenarios to illustrate this.

1. Having many applications open or windows open will tax your computer’s memory. For example, if you have a lot of Internet browser windows open, your computer will start slowing down.
2. Running a program that performs heavy calculations will tax your computer’s processor. For example, if you are running a CAD program and are doing some image rotation, you will see that your CPU usage will increase.
3. Performing a large file download or upload will task your network interface. For example, when you upload a YouTube video, your computer’s network interface will be busy. It can impact your computer’s responsiveness.
4. A simple file copy from your hard disk drive can impact the performance of your computer. For example, copying a huge multi-megabyte file to your flash drive will tax your hard disk drive, and thus slow down your computer.
5. Your computer gets infected with a malicious adware or worm. Most malicious adware will cause multiple Internet browsers to open and cause memory, processor, and hard disk drive to be completely taxed-making your computer totally useless. Almost all worms will use up all of your computer’s resources causing your computer to slow down as well.

TYPICAL WAYS RESOURCES ARE USED

Unless your computer is infected with some form of malware, its resources will typically get used up in the following manner:

• The first resource to get used up is memory-your computer’s RAM. When a computer program runs, it uses up memory and disk space for any temporary file it uses.
• When RAM is in short supply, your computer starts using virtual memory. Virtual memory resides on your computer’s hard disk drive. The hard disk drive is the slowest of all computer resources. Thus, the moment your computer starts using more virtual memory, your computer will start to show poor performance-i.e. it will become less responsive. When the hard disk drive starts to flash frequently and you aren’t explicitly reading or saving a file, this is a sure sign your computer is depending more on virtual memory. At this point, your computer is probably running sluggishly.
• Files on a computer’s hard disk drive are stored in storage units called blocks. A computer can extract data faster if the file is stored in a contiguous sequence of blocks. Over time, files change and thus get scattered in the hard disk over non-contiguous blocks. When this happens, the file gets fragmented. When more and more files get fragmented, the computer will take longer and longer to read files. This is why computers perform better when you first get them. Then over time, it starts to perform poorly as data and program files get fragmented on the hard disk drive.

WHAT CAN SLOW DOWN YOUR ONCE FAST COMPUTER

You might notice that when you first opened up your computer, applications and other utilities are pretty responsive. Over time, your computer starts to get sluggish. The items enumerated below will account for this sluggishness.

• Installation of New Devices. When you install a new device (e.g. a printer) various additional programs get installed on your computer to help make it convenient for you to manage that device. For example, a printer installation will install at least a couple of programs that run in the background-a printer management utility and a printer driver/software updater.
• Applications in General. When you install an application, the application will also install a program that will help keep the program’s version up-to-date. This program will run in the background, periodically checking for software updates. When it detects an update, it will download the update and install it.
• Internet Browser Plug-ins. Adobe and Java are two of the most notorious plug-ins that use up your computer’s resources. These and other plug-ins typically download updates frequently and often-causing your computer to slowdown when it is downloading, probably without your knowledge.
• * Virus Infection. Antivirus software will occasionally fail to detect a virus infection. When your computer is infected with some virus (or some type of malware or malicious adware), your computer will start to slow down. Depending on what the virus or malware is doing, your processor, memory, or network resources could easily be used up.

MAKE YOUR COMPUTER RUN FASTER

Now that you have the proper background, there are things you can do to help make your computer run faster. Some may cost you, but most can be done at no cost. Here is a quick overview of what you can do:

• Perform a full virus scan of your computer
• Perform a disk defragmentation
• Uninstall or disable unnecessary programs
• Add more RAM
• Add faster disk drives

Before you spend money, the first thing you should do is to perform a full virus scan of your computer. To do this, you need to:

• Make sure your antivirus program has the latest updates
• Boot in safe mode
• Run a complete scan of your computer; making sure all disk drives are scanned

By doing this, you will help guarantee that a virus, malware, or adware isn’t slowing down your computer.

It is generally good practice to periodically defragment your main computer disk drive. Defragmenting will help your computer load data or program files into memory faster. On Windows, you will typically find the Disk Defragmenter tool in the Systems Tools folder, under Accessories.

Uninstalling or disabling programs or services can help your computer run faster as well. There are two ways to approach this-in Windows XP they are Add Remove Programs and MSCONFIG.

Do not attempt this if you aren’t sure of what you are uninstalling, but if you are, by all means do so.

In Windows XP, the first way is to open up the Add Remove Programs utility in the Control Panel. In the Add Remove Programs utility, look for programs you no longer use, and uninstall them. By doing this, you free up disk space and possibly remove any memory resident programs that the program installed. The other approach is to use the MSCONFIG utility (Microsoft System Configuration utility). To run MSCONFIG, simply click START, select RUN, enter “msconfig” in the “Open:” field, and click OK. Look for things you don’t need in the Startup and Services tabs. In the Services tab, you can reduce the chance of disabling key services by making checking the “Hide all Microsoft Services.” This ensures you don’t impact key services used by your operating system.

If you still find that your computer is slow, it is probably because the programs you are using require more memory, or the way you are using applications require more memory. In this case, purchase and install more memory. Check how many memory slots your computer can take, then make sure to consult your manufacturer’s specifications to ensure you purchase the right type and size RAM. If you aren’t comfortable dealing with hardware, you can always get the help of someone who is.

If you use a lot of data files, it may also be to your advantage to purchase a fast disk drive. Install the fast disk drive as a slave drive and place your data there. A faster disk drive can also help speed up your computer if you replace your boot drive with a faster disk drive. Note, however, that it takes a lot of time to replace your boot drive with another. You may want to consult the help of a professional of a competent friend to do this.

SUMMARY

There isn’t one quick action you can take to make your computer go faster-aside from buying a new one. You must first have some basic understanding of the key resources that affect your computers performance-processor, memory, disk drive, and network interface. You also need to understand how these resources are typically used up, provided your computer isn’t infected with a virus. Some key examples of things that over time slow down the performance of your once fast computer can also help you understand. With the proper background, you will make a better decision about what to do to speed up your computer.

When people think of home computer security, antivirus software always comes to mind. Unfortunately this isn’t enough to cover the basics of home computer security. Since there are many ways computers can be breached, it makes sense to employ multiple solutions to address the various vectors of computer attacks. Regardless of your computer or Internet skill level, you must establish some basic computer setup and practices in the following areas:

• Tools that keep malware out and help avoid malicious sites or content
• Safe computing practices to keep malware from getting in and to keep your private information from getting out

Malware (virus, spyware, worms, adware, root kit, Trojan, etc.) can enter your computer using the same path as data—through the network interface (via wireless or the network interface card) by exploiting one or more operating system vulnerability, email, web downloads, flash drives, CD/DVD discs , external hard drives and many others. You can also be lured in through malicious web sites where you can unsuspectingly download malicious content.

When malware makes it into your computer, the damage can range from a minor annoyance, file corruption, computer slowness, computer operating system corruption, identity theft, all the way to financial loss, or a mixture of any of these damages.

Your privacy or identity can be breached through your computer when fraudulent email posing as your bank, the government, or some authority requesting your confidential information is acted upon. Or through some links that takes you to a malicious site disguised as a bank, government, or other authoritative site.

First let’s look at the various tools you can use to keep malware out and help protect your privacy/identity. You will need one or more of these tools to keep malware away and protect your privacy/identity:

• K9 Web Protection (free)– provides web filter and protection from malicious sites; this is great for keeping you from entering malicious sites.
• AVG LinkScanner(free) – helps provide web surfing protection while you search; it rates and assess the integrity of sites during web searches and thus can keep you from visiting malicious sites .
• Avast! Home Edition (free) – provides basic spyware, root kit, and virus protection; has worm protection and malware protection via web shield feature.
• ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite – provides a comprehensive protection solution ranging from firewall, root kit detection and protection, antivirus/antispyware, privacy protection, anti-Spam, anti-Phishing, and identity protection.
• Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 – provides virus, spyware, and adware protection; getting the Internet suite version also provides intrusion protection, personal firewall, protection from malware sites, content filtering, spam protection, and identity protection.
• SurfSecret Privacy Protector – provides privacy and identity protection; also sells a privacy vault product designed to secure through encryption your confidential files and information; the privacy vault can prevent exposure of your confidential information from malicious programs and spyware.
• SurfSecret Keypad - provides identity theft protection by protecting passwords and usernames; also protects credit cards and other financial information through the use of an external device.
• CA Anti-Virus 2009 – provides protection against viruses, worms, Trojan horse programs; they have a separate anti-spyware program to protect against spyware.

Tools alone aren’t enough to keep your computer from getting affected or impacted by malware. You need to exercise safe computing as part of your basic computer security. When you exercise safe computing, you avoid opening email attachments that you aren’t expecting. You also learn to spot phishing scams—those fraudulent emails promising millions of dollars if you send personal and bank information, or those emails scaring you into providing your bank account login information to correct supposed account issue.

Should your computer get corrupted as a result of malware getting through, backups of your important files would become very important. Maintaining backups outside your computer is best. Elephant Drive is an Internet service which provides unlimited secure online storage; you’ll need this before your computer files are corrupted by malware. It’s like insurance, you’ll need it when disaster hits.

At the very minimum, your computer security should include the use of tools to protect a computer from malware and malicious sites and reinforced by the exercise of safe computing habits.