Some Cool stuffs

2008-06-23T14:08:00.001-07:00

Photobucket Album

Get your @Live.in id now

2007-11-29T20:58:00.001-08:00

Get your @live.XX addresses for India, Philippines and Spain

Microsoft is offering email ids with @live.In. Just go here to get these Windows Live IDs.
These are in addition to hotmail.com addresses already available in these regions.
and now both of these offers 5Gb of email space !!

Highest Waterfalls of the world

2007-11-28T21:06:00.001-08:00

Name(s) (foreign)	Location	Source/River	Height
Name(s) (foreign)	Location	Source/River	Feet	Meters
Angel (Salto Angel)	Canaima Nat'l Park, Venezuela	upper trib. of Rio Caroni	3,212	979
Tugela	Natal Nat'l Park, South Africa	Tugela River	3,110	947
Utigord (Utigordsfoss)	Norway	glacier fed	2,625	800
Monge (Mongefoss)	Marstein, Norway	Mongebeck	2,540	774
Gocta Cataracts	Chachapoyas, Peru		2,532	771
Mutarazi (Mtarazi)	Nyanga Nat'l Park, Zimbabwe	Mutarazi River	2,499	762
Yosemite	Yosemite Nat'l Park, California, U.S.	Yosemite Creek	2,425	739
Espelands (Espelandsfoss)	Hardanger Fjord, Norway	Opo River	2,307	703¹
Lower Mar Valley (Østra Mardolafoss)	Eikesdal, Norway	Mardals Stream	2,151	655²
Tyssestrengene	Odda, Norway	Tyssa River	2,123	647²
Cuquenan (Salto Kukenan)	Kukenan Tepuy, Venezuela	Cuquenan River	2,000	610
Sentinel	Yosemite Nat'l Park, California, U.S.	Sentinel Creek	2,000	610
Dudhsagar	Goa/Karnataka, India	Khandepar River	1,969	600
Sutherland	Milford Sound, New Zealand	Arthur River	1,904	580
Kjell (Kjellfossen)	Gudvanger, Norway	Gudvangen Glacier	1,841	561
Kahiwa	Molokai, Hawaii, U.S.	Unknown	1,750	533
Takkakaw	Yoho Nat'l Park, B.C., Canada	Takkakaw Creek	1,650	503
Ribbon	Yosemite Nat'l Park, California, U.S.	Ribbon Stream	1,612	491
King George VI	Guyana	Courantyne River	1,600	488
Upper Mar Valley (Mardalsfossen)	nr. Eikesdal, Norway	Mardals Stream	1,536	468
Kaliuwaa (Sacred)	Pahu, Hawaii, U.S.	Kalanui Stream	1,520	463
Della	Strathcona Provincial Park, B.C., Canada	Della Lake	1,444	440
Gavarnie	nr. Lourdes, France	Gave de Pau	1,384	422
Cachoeira da Fumaça (Glass or Smoke)	Chapada Diamantia Nat'l Park, Brazil	—	1,378	420
Giessbach	Bern, Switzerland	Giessbach River	1,312	400
Krimmler	Hohe Tauern Nat'l Park, Austria	Krimmler Ache	1,250	381
Vettis (Vettisfoss)	Jotunheimen, Norway	Utla (Trib. Mörkedola)	1,215	370
Papalaua	Molokai, Hawaii, U.S.	Kawai Nui Stream	1,200	366
Tin Mine	Kosciusko Nat'l Park, Australia	Tin Mine Creek	1,182	360
Silver Strand (Widows' Tears)	Yosemite Nat'l Park, California, U.S.	Silver Strand Creek	1,170	357
Honokohau	Maui, Hawaii, U.S.	Honokohau Stream	1,120	341
Wallaman	nr. Ingham, Australia	Wallaman Creek	1,001	305
Spray Stream (Staubbachfalle)	Lauterburnnental, Switzerland	Staubbach Brook	984	300
King Edward VIII	Guyana	Courantyne	850	259
Gersoppa (Jog)	Western Ghats, India	Sharavati	830	253
Hunlen	British Columbia, Canada	Atnarko River	830	253
Basaseachic (Salto Basaseachic)	Barance del Cobre, Mexico	Piedra Volada Creek	812	246
Waipio	Kauai, Hawaii, U.S.	Kekee Stream	800	244
Kaieteur	Guyana	Potaro (trib. Rio Essequibo)	740	225
Kalambo	Tanzania/Zambia	Kalambo River	726	221
Wollomombi	nr. Armidale, Australia	Wollomombi	722	220
Feigum	Lusterfjord, Norway	Feigumelvi	715	218

1. Unofficial (estimated) height. Subject to revision.

2. Incorporated in hydroelectric scheme. Greatly diminished flow.

Microsoft TV, Coming soon to India

2007-11-25T21:52:00.001-08:00

Microsoft and Reliance Communications have signed a 500-million-dollar deal to launch India's first high-definition Internet TV service, executives from both firms said.

The Internet protocol Television (IPTV) will start early next year in 30 cities including the financial hub of Mumbai and the capital New Delhi, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani told reporters Monday.

"The IPTV will bring in a digital home concept in a world-class manner," Ambani said. "Until now television was a broadcast one-size-fits-all experience. IPTV offers subscribers more choice, control and convenience."

"The IPTV technology is in its initial stages of growth. In one year, we expect the US and India to be the fastest-growing markets for this technology," Ballmer said.

"In the coming years, all the world's information and technology will turn digitalised. Whatever can be digitalised, will be digitalised."

India's movie industry, including the widely known Bollywood, produces the most films worldwide annually.

More than 30 cable news and scores of entertainment channels have sprung up in the past decade as the country eased restrictions that had favoured a state-run broadcaster.

About 71-million homes in the country of 1.1 billion people already have television, and 61 percent of them have pay TV, mainly through cable and satellite, according to industry figures.

Reliance Communications, India's second-largest telecom firm, owns and operates the world's largest Internet connectivity infrastructure, 165,000 kilometres (102,000 miles) of fibre-optic cable that spans India, the US and Europe.

The service will use Microsoft's Mediaroom IPTV software, a press release said, adding it was the Seattle-based firm's first exclusive deal for such services abroad.

The IPTV core planning team will be based in California while a research unit will be based at Hyderabad .

Both executives declined to give details on what content would be available or pricing levels.

What Is GERD ?

2007-10-26T00:08:00.001-07:00

GERD stands for Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease. "Gastro" refers to the stomach. Esophageal refers to the esophagus , the tube that carries food from the mouth to the stomach. Reflux means to back-up or flow backwards. GERD is a condition in which partially-digested food in the stomach backs up into the esophagus.

Partially digested food contains a strong acid. It also contains powerful enzymes that break down food. When acid and enzymes come into contact with the esophagus, they cause irritation, inflammation, pain, and other symptoms.
The stomach lining has a special protective layer that protects the stomach from acid attack. However, this protective layer does not exist in the esophagus, making it vulnerable to damage from stomach acid and digestive enzymes.

Many people think that heartburn (or acid indigestion) is a separate disease. It actually is one symptom of GERD. Heartburn is an unpleasant burning sensation under the breastbone that usually occurs after a meal.
Most individuals with GERD also have hiatal hernias , which make it easier for stomach contents to reflux into the esophagus. A hiatal hernia occurs when part of the stomach bulges into the chest cavity through an opening in the diaphragm . The diaphragm is a sheet of muscle that separates the stomach cavity from the chest cavity.

Facts About GERD

One 1 in every 4 Americans, or about 60 million people, experience heartburn at least once a month.
Almost 15 million people have heartburn each day.
Heartburn is very common during pregnancy. More than 50 percent of pregnant women have it occasionally and 5 per cent have it daily.
About 80 percent of people with GERD have a hiatal hernia, which makes heartburn and other symptoms more likely.
Hiatal hernias are very common, affecting about 15 percent of Americans. Yet only a small number of people with hiatal hernias have any symptoms.

Nice To Know:

Is GERD a new disease?

GERD is a relatively new term for recognized conditions commonly called "acid indigestion, " "heartburn," "reflux," "reflux esophagitis, " and "hiatal hernia." Doctors started using the term "GERD" in the 1980s because it better describes the real problem - reflux of irritating stomach contents into the esophagus. GERD is becoming the preferred medical term for these conditions.

Many people have never heard the term GERD and are not aware that GERD can have potentially serious health effects.
Doctors may still use other terms for conditions which actually are symptoms of GERD.

Nice To Know:

Q. What is heartburn, anyway? How does eating certain foods make the heart burn?

A. Heartburn has nothing to do with the heart. It's a popular term for the burning sensation that occurs behind the breastbone, right in the area where the heart is located. The esophagus also runs through the same region of the chest. It carries food from the mouth into the stomach, where a strong acid and enzymes help to digest it. When stomach contents back up into the esophagus, the acid and enzymes cause irritation and inflammation. That's the burning sensation in heartburn.

How to Hack Megaupload

2007-10-18T03:32:00.001-07:00

Two ways to fool megaupload........please try out any one of this two ways and download from megaupload without any trouble.........
IMPORTANT
If you have problems in downloading from sexuploader or megaupload then install the Alexa-Megaupload Toolbar. Once you have installed this toolbar you'll never get the country download limit message!!This toolbar supports only internet explorer… GET THE Megaupload Toolbar here-: http://www.uploading.com/?get=E70MQH4N
Download this toolbar this toolbar has no spyware or viruse I checked it out with spyware doctor.and it is just about 400kb. if you don't like it just uninstall it. JUST TRY IT TRUST ME MATE.
MEGAUPLOADER IS GREAT COMPANY AND NOT GOING TO DO NEGATIVE MARKET.YOU CAN TRUST THERE TOOLBAR.THIS TOOLBAR IS APROVED BY US CYBER LAW
OR
Megaupload and sexuploader have many problems but "i found a way to pass over this IP-block stupidity. go to www.guardster.com and clik the buton named "Access the Free Proxy" at the bottom of the page. Then, copy and paste the link in the box and click "I agree and wish to surf anonymously"
l maked test.. this web page is working
1. step www.guardster.com click
2. step select to Access the Free Proxy and click
3. step Address: http:// remove and copy megaupload link and paste here
4. step
Options: No Cookies - No Scripts (X) - No Images - Hide Referrer
Hide User Agent - Hide Title - Hide Header
......
remove (X) from (No Scripts) it must clear
and click "I agree and wish to surf anonymously" ...now Megaupload download page will opening .. it is opening little slow but download very faster.. You can make to download between 100 KB/s and 25KB/S speeds..

Cute Nissan Pivo 2

2007-10-09T22:26:00.001-07:00

Nissan Pivo 2 Conceptcar

TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's Nissan Motor Co. on Friday unveiled a new version of its egg-shaped Pivo concept car that can drive sideways and has a small robot to assist with navigation or calm down angry drivers.
The Pivo 2 three-seater electric car has wheels that can turn 90 degrees for easy parallel parking.
Like its predecessor, which was unveiled two years ago, the new Pivo has a cabin able to revolve 360 degrees, eliminating the need to reverse.
A round-eyed robot head sitting on the dashboard has cameras that can tell when a driver is getting sleepy.
"You look tired. There's a coffee shop 500 metres ahead on the left," it told a driver with drooping eyelids during a recent demonstration.
It can also nod or shake its head, helping to improve the mood of irate or glum drivers.
The car has "by-wire" technologies that use electric signals in the steering and braking.
Unlike the first Pivo, it has no axles. Instead it has four separate electric motors, allowing the wheels to turn further than a conventional car.
The Pivo 2 will be exhibited at the Tokyo Motor Show near the capital from October 27.

Onam: Carnival of Kerala

2007-08-23T23:51:00.001-07:00

High Spirited Festival

Late August or early September marks some high-spirited celebrations down south. People in the southern Indian coastal state of Kerala go crazy over the state festival of Onam, with ten days of feasting, boat races, song, dance and merriment.

The Origin of Onam
Onam or Thiruonam originated as a joyous annual reminiscence of the golden rule of King Mahabali, a mythical king, who ruled Kerala a very long time ago. It recalls the sacrifice of the great king, his true devotion to God, his human pride and his ultimate redemption. Onam welcomes the spirit of a great king, and assures him that his people are happy and wish him well.

The Legend
Facts and fables blend as Kerala celebrates this royal return, year after year with the festivities of Onam. Legend has it that the gods plotted against Mahabali to end his reign. For this they sent Lord Vishnu to earth in the form of a dwarf Brahmin. But before being trampled down to the netherworld, Vishnu granted the king's sole wish: To visit his land and people once every year.

The Custom
A flower carpet called 'Pookalam' is laid in front of every house to welcome the advent of the vanquished king, and earthen mounds representing Mahabali and Vishnu are placed in the dung-plastered courtyards. Traditional rituals are performed followed by a lavish feast called 'Sadhya'. Onam also means new clothes for the whole family, sumptuous home-cooked delicacies on plantain leaf and the lingering aroma of the sweet Payasam.

The Spectacle
Spectacular parades of caparisoned elephants, fireworks and the famous Kathakali dance are traditionally associated with Onam. It's also the season of many cultural and sport events and carnivals. All this makes Onam-time a perfect period to visit this coastal state, touted as "Gods Own Country". No wonder the Government of Kerala has declared this time every year as Tourism Week.

The Grand Boat Race
One of the main attractions of Onam, is the 'Vallamkali' or boat races of Karuvatta, Payippad, Aranmula and Kottayam. Hundreds of oarsmen row traditional boats to the rhythm of drums and cymbals. These long graceful Snake Boats called 'Chundans' are named after their exceedingly long hulls and high sterns that resemble the raised hood of a cobra.

Then there are 'Odis', the small and swift raiding crafts adorned with gold tasseled silk umbrellas, the 'Churulans' with their elaborately curled prows and sterns, and the 'Veppus', a kind of cook-boat. This traditional village rivalry on watercrafts reminds one of ancient naval warfare.

Thousands throng the banks to cheer and watch the breathtaking show of muscle power, rowing skills and rapid rhythm. These boats - all pitted against their own kind - rip through the backwaters of Kerala in a tussle of speed.

Onam is For All
Although this festival has its origin in Hindu mythology, Onam is for all people of all class and creed. Hindus, Muslims and Christians, the wealthy and the downtrodden, all celebrate Onam with equal fervor. The secular character of Onam is peculiar to this land where unity had always coexisted with diversity, especially during festivals, when people come together to celebrate life's unlimited joys.

Download BitTorrent Files through Your Browser without a Client Installed

2007-08-20T00:01:00.001-07:00

Let's say you're sitting in an Internet cafe or public library computer, and you want to download a file using BitTorrent. Most likely, a BitTorrent client like µTorrent or Azureus hasn't been installed so you might think you're out of luck.

There are actually two things you can do at this point. If you want to schedule a download to your home computer remotely, you can use µTorrent's WebUI feature to control µTorrent over the Internet. You can manage all aspects of downloading a BitTorrent file using WebUI.

Alternatively, if you want to download a file to a public computer where there are administrative restrictions on installing additional software, you can use BitLet. It's a completely browser-based BitTorrent client and probably the simplest way yet to download torrents.

All you need to do is point to a torrent file's URL and hit "Download torrent" to get started. For instance, let's say we want to download Lawrence Lessig's book Free Culture in PDF format.

The URL to the torrent can be found on Legaltorrents. Just paste it into the URL field, hit Download, and select the directory where you want to save the ebook. Then the download will start automatically. You can even resume downloads.

The only troublesome thing about BitLet is that you need to have Java installed and enabled in your browser for it to work.

Search Engine Market Share

2007-07-24T09:19:00.001-07:00

Yahoo Takes More Market Share From Google

Aliso Viejo, CA based Net Applications announces June 2007 world wide Search Engine Market Share results. Yahoo, for the second consecutive month, has regained search engine market share at the direct expense of Google.

Yahoo climbed back to 12.16% market share, and the last time they had that much share was back in September of 2006. But, at that time Yahoo was on the decline in market share. Google's US search market share has dropped to 51.53%. Net Applications has not recorded two consecutive months of search engine market share losses for Google until now.

It's intriguing to note that the comeback in Yahoo's market share coincides with the return of Jerry Yang as CEO. There may be no correlation at all, but if Yahoo keeps surging back, Yang may join Steve Jobs in the new 'hero' class of CEO. At the same time, Yahoo has promoted Susan Decker to President. Decker headed Yahoo's Advertiser and Publisher Group, and is responsible with Yang for Yahoo's strategic direction. They seem to have their strategic priorities lined up properly after several years of missteps.

For these and additional global market share results, click here

How to write a Good Resignation letter

2007-07-24T03:10:00.001-07:00

A change in job is an important time in one's career. While you may have written a great acceptance letter to your future employer stating your intent to join, it's equally important to leave your current employer on a positive note.

Writing a professional resignation letter would ensure that people remember you when you leave and the employers keep their gates open, in case you decide to come back in the future.

Here are some things to keep in mind when composing a resignation letter.

State your intention clearly

There is no need for lengthy explanations, you can simply state that you are resigning from your position to pursue other interests or opportunities. Keep it brief, but respectful, and mark the letter to your direct supervisor with a copy to the Human Resource manager.

6 good reasons for a job switch

Mention things that you would want to negotiate

Your resignation letter should provide a structure for your meeting with your boss. You can politely state what you deserve, such as a payout that was pending, vacation time, or any bonuses that were supposed to come your way.

Don't be overtly demanding, as you still have an exit interview to state your needs.

List down your current projects and completion dates

Your boss may not know the details of all the projects you are currently working on. It is your responsibility to remind him of the same. Provide a list of projects and their expected dates of completion, if there are any tasks that may not get completed within your notice period, explain the backup plan that you have in mind. As far as possible, finish the job and don't leave projects half completed.

Offer to train your replacement

You could also recommend colleagues who can take up your responsibilities, to your boss.
Share resumes of qualified candidates or recommend a valued co-worker for your position.

Also, mention your willingness to put in a few extra hours to train your replacement. Proofread your letter for errors and save a copy for your reference before sending it out.

Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna to your job

Farewell e-mails

By the time you finish serving your notice period, the word about your resignation would have spread around. So there is no need for sending out a sobbing e-mail, or one which boasts of your accomplishment.

Just 'thank everyone' for their support and provide your contact details (personal e-mail ID and phone number).

A sample letter:

Dear Mr Sharma,

I would like to resign from my job with immediate effect. I have taken this decision to pursue another opportunity that would act as a catalyst in my career.

I would be serving a one month notice starting tomorrow and would like to be relieved of my responsibilities by February 15, 2007. I would like to thank you for your support and insights that made my stint a great learning experience.

I am currently working on the following projects:

Conducting market research for our proposed product -- slated to be completed by end of this week.
Studying the sales trends for the last six months and providing a report -- slated to be completed by February 8.

I would like to discuss the following when we meet:

My pending bonus for the current financial year.
Vacation time and its adjustment with the notice period.

I would like to recommend a few team members for my position and would be happy to train and support my replacement.

Please let me know of a convenient time to meet and discuss the same.

Yours sincerely,
Amit Sharma
Designation & department

So, when you realise that it's time to say goodbye, do it in style and make a positive exit!

'Launch Wave' of Microsoft Products Coming in 2008

2007-07-16T22:29:00.001-07:00

Feb. 27, 2008 promises to be one of the most important dates in Microsoft's 33-year history, as it will release a host of major new products, including Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008.

The announcement of what it calls the "2008 Global Launch Wave" was made today by COO Kevin Turner at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Denver.

Currently, Windows 2008 is in beta 3 testing, with an expected release to manufacturing date (RTM) of this November, according to Redmond magazine columnist Mary Jo Foley, who blogs about Microsoft for ZDNet. Windows 2008, formerly code-named "Longhorn", is Microsoft's first new server operating system since Windows Server 2003.

Visual Studio 2008, formerly code-named "Orcas", is at the beta 1 stage, with beta 2 expected this summer, and an RTM of late this year or early next year.

SQL Server 2008, code-named "Katmai", is at the Community Technology Preview stage.

Turner made the launch announcement at the keynote address opening the conference. After recapping the massive wave of launches in Microsoft's fiscal year 2007, which ended July 1, Turner told the audience: "We're going to announce more big dogs today."

The products will launch together on Feb. 27, 2008 at an event in Los Angeles, followed by hundreds of other launch events worldwide.

As a result, Turner told the sold-out conference: "I see one thing in FY '08. I see money. I see monetization." And, he added, that vision extends to the partner ecosystem, predicting that "hundreds of billions of dollars will be available to you through monetization of these products."

Windows Server 2008 has been in development significantly longer than the other two products. Its forerunner, Windows Server 2003, was unveiled in April 2003. Longhorn's first publicly-stated schedule was for RTM in 2005. Since then, it's been plagued by delays, and even to meet the 2008 ship date it's had numerous major features stripped out.

Visual Studio and SQL Server development have fared better. VS 2005 was released in October 2005, while SQL 2005 shipped a month later.

source http://redmondmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=8800

MSDN bot

2007-07-16T07:18:00.001-07:00

A new way to search the MSDN library, You just need to add MSDNBuddy@hotmail.com to your MSN messenger (Sorry, this wont work with your Yahoo or windows messengers ), and start searching.

This is a little MSN live agent (bot) which helps you find information on the MSDN website.

Here is an example of how to start with.

After you enter your first comment, it will send you two options Whether to do a simple search or a complete search.

After entering the search option, again it will prompt you to enter the search string.

if you want to continue searching, then press 'Y' and continue

How to Become a Microsoft MVP

2007-07-11T05:12:00.001-07:00

Every 3 months, a new round of MVPs are announced. So I thought I'd take a moment to write about the "Unofficial" Criteria for selecting an MVP. It is important to note that this is just my opinion, based on my experience dealing with the MVP Program... as well as a hefty helping of common sense.

MVPs are Microsoft's "volunteer army". They support the community in numerous ways that Microsoft couldn't even begin to deal with. The best way to build a quality brand is to encourage customers to support other customers. It's cheaper too ;). If Microsoft can give you better access to product teams and free software to keep you happy, it doesn't cost them much. If they had to pay salary and benefits to every member of the community, their software would be nowhere near as successful. Don't think MVPS are the supporters of Microsoft, they are really the Critics of Microsoft, who help them in improving their products.
Microsoft MVPs are an important public face on the company. To that end, the company is obviously going to want some kind of control over what that face presents to the public. So they're pretty selective on who they award an MVP to.
If you look at the MVPs out there, Microsoft's selection criteria typically mirror their criteria for selecting employees. Again, with good reason - these people will be granted a high level of interaction with the product teams. They don't want someone dealing with the people they pay who will be disruptive to productivity. This is why many prominent Microsoft MVPs eventually get hired into the company.

So, if you want to become an MVP, here is my list of DOs and DON'Ts. They've worked well for me, although admittedly sometimes I don't follow my own rules.

DON'T be rude, vulgar, or disrespectful in your communication with other community members. Swearing, while OK during coding sessions and casual conversation, should NEVER be used in communication that will be read by many. It is uncouth and represents an extreme lack of control and judgement.
DON'T be in it just for a title. If you're looking to be the king of some imaginary social hierarchy, forget it. The MVP Program has been around a long time, and the Microsoft employees assigned to foster community and build the program will see right through you.
DON'T stop following these rules after you become an MVP. The honor is re-awarded yearly, and lots of people slack off and get dropped. As my daddy always said "I brought you into this world, I can take you out."
DON'T be a spoiled brat if you don't like a decision Microsoft made. The Visual Basic MVP petition fiasco is a prime example. Microsoft wants responsible adults as part of their program, even if they are young.
DON'T cause PR problems for Microsoft. It takes several good deeds to become an MVP, but one PR issue could send you packing. Taking them to task on an issue is one thing, but if Microsoft has to clean up a PR mess, you'll probably get taken out with the trash.
DON'T be elitist just because you've been in the industry for a while. You won't be around forever, and someone younger than you will eventually take your place. In this industry, you can be relevant one day, irrelevant the next.

DO be courteous every time you deal with a fellow member of the community. Give them the respect they deserve as a person. (This works well in life, too.)
DO interact in the community in more than one way (web blogging in and of itself doesn't get you in, you should also be involved in the newsgroups or Forums or something)
DO take extra time to understand Microsoft's position on decisions, and speak respectfully on those issues.
DO have an opinion on things going on in the tech world. Take some time to establish yourself on an authority in a subject area, and then expand your reach into other areas.
DO be genuine in your desire to help others. Microsoft's corporate culture is aimed towards the betterment of society. If that's not the center of your personal culture, you'll never be seriously considered.
DO exercise good judgement as often as possible. Rule of Thumb: Anything that will be indexed by a search engine should be well thought out before posting. Think ahead about whether you want that opinion associated with your name a year from now.
DO think of new ways to fill in the gaps Microsoft leaves in the community. If you have a crazy idea... try it out. You never know when you'll be mentioned in the next executive keynote.
DO evaluate your communication skills constantly. The better you can relate Microsoft's message to others, the more Microsoft will interact with you.
DO be consistent with your community work. You can't help out 4 or 5 people a year and expect to be an MVP.
DO look out for your other community members, and encourage others (especially young people).

And, a note to anyone younger than 25 - stick with it. There isn't an age requirement, so I wouldn't be surprised if a 12 year old put there somewhere could smoke all these old guys ;).

Hopefully, that helps some aspiring MVPs out there. We're always looking for new blood.

Source : http://weblogs.asp.net/rmclaws/archive/2005/04/03/396941.aspx

Microsoft Looks To Dodge Visa Limits With Canadian Software Center

2007-07-06T05:40:00.001-07:00

The company says the new center will allow it to "recruit and retain highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S." and station them near its Washington headquarters.

By Paul McDougall, InformationWeek
July 5, 2007
URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=200900554

Among the more vocal advocates for the defunct immigration reform bill was software maker Microsoft. The company, led by chairman Bill Gates, has long argued that the U.S. needs to raise caps on the number of visas it grants each year to foreign high-tech workers.

The immigration bill would have doubled the number of so-called H-1B visas, but it died in the Senate last week. Now, Microsoft appears to be taking a different tack.

The company on Thursday said it would open a new software development center in Canada this fall and stock it with "highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S." Microsoft said it plans to open the center in the vicinity of Vancouver, B.C. -- about a two-hour drive from its Redmond, Wash., headquarters.

Only a handful of other, major Microsoft software development facilities -- in Ireland, Denmark, and Israel -- are located outside the U.S. Microsoft maintains an office in Toronto primarily to oversee Canadian sales and marketing efforts.

Microsoft did not disclose how much it expects to invest in the Vancouver site. A company spokesman said the facility will initially house 200 workers, "with room to grow." The spokesman said the Vancouver workers would likely develop software for the full range of Microsoft's products.

Microsoft in a statement said the Vancouver center would attract workers "from all parts of the world."

"The Vancouver area is a global gateway with a diverse population, is close to Microsoft's corporate offices in Redmond, and allows the company to recruit and retain highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S.," Microsoft said.

Virtually all major U.S. tech firms have been pushing for a relaxation of limits on the number of foreign high-tech workers allowed into the country, arguing that the U.S. faces a shortage of such individuals. Conversely, worker groups such as the Programmers Guild claim that no such shortage exists and say tech vendors simply want to import cheap labor.

Microsoft's spokesman said the timing of Thursday's announcement is not directly related to last week's demise in the Senate of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, which would have roughly doubled the current 65,000 H-1B visa cap. "It's not a direct response, but we're being upfront about the fact that immigration issues factored into the decision," said the spokesman.

With a software center in Vancouver, Microsoft could bring programmers from India and other low-cost countries to North America and place them within a two-hour drive of Redmond without having to obtain H-1B visas for them, assuming the workers could obtain Canadian employment authorization. It would also offer a place for Microsoft to station foreign workers already in the U.S. whose visas are close to expiration.

Microsoft's spokesman said the Vancouver center would be staffed with "a mix" of Canadian-born workers and workers from other countries.

In March, Gates told the Senate that he would like to see the H-1B visa cap eventually increased to 300,000. But with no cap raise imminent, Microsoft is looking north. The big question: will other U.S. tech giants follow suit?

Google loses "Gmail" trademark case

2007-07-05T23:01:00.001-07:00

A court in Germany today banned Google from using the name "Gmail" for its popular webmail service following a trademark suit filed by the founder of G-Mail.

Daniel Giersch (33), started using the name G-Mail in 2000, four years before Google released "Gmail".

"Google infringed the young businessman's trademark that had been previously been registered," said the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in its judgement.

"As far as the Hanseatic Higher Court is concerned, the legal situation is unambiguous to the extent that it has not allowed an appeal to the Federal Court of Justice," said Giersch's lawyer Sebastian Eble, from the office of Preu Bohling & Associates.

The lawyer claimed that it was It is a legendary victory, because for many Daniels fighting "Googliaths," confidence and financial means run out in the long course of battle.

The battle for the trademark has dragged on for three years and has been fought in a number of State jurisdictions.

Google has filed lawsuits against Giersch in Spain, Portugal and Switzerland.

"Google has announced, at least in writing, to 'fight' my client abroad for as long as it takes before he drops the legal claims lodged in Germany," Eble confirmed.

But a court in Switzerland threw out Google's case and now Giersch will file a suit to prohibit Google from using the name in that country.

"I have made it clear since the beginning that I will never sell the name," Giersch said. "It is my sole intention to realise my idea for a hybrid mail system. I am absolutely convinced of its success. Neither "G-mail" nor myself are for sale."

After the Google lawsuits have ended, Giersch hopes to focus his energies into the further development of "G-mail," which he touts as a new "standard of communication on the Internet."

"My hybrid mail system 'G-mail' is an ingenious blend of innovative and well-tried communications solutions," he said. "It
is subject to the principles of the sanctity of the post. Google, on the other hand, scans the content of e-mails to blend in adverts. Criticism about this from data protectors that Google has to deal with harms my business. My employees and I are involved in mix-ups on an almost daily basis."

source: http://pressesc.com/01183582507_gmail

Beijing is also the Virus Capital Now

2007-07-04T23:57:00.001-07:00

According to UK-based managed security services companyNetwork Box, Beijing accounts for 40 percent of all viruses that passed though the company’s servers in June, and 5.25 percent of detected spam.

This compares with slightly lower percentages for cities in countries noted for having a malware problem. Moscow was second for spam with 5.12 percent, Seoul third with 3.58 percent, Turk in Turkey fourth with 3.4 percent, and London in fifth place on 2.47 percent, statistics that are likely to be skewed to some extent by the company’s UK-based customer base.

But it is in the area of virus distribution that Beijing outpaces other cities in the Network Box figures. Its 40 percent score contrasts markedly with much smaller scores for other locations. Not all of these are prominent – the obscure town of Wattleup near Perth in Australia comes is number 2 in the chart, with 3.68 percent of viruses. Madrid in Spain is third with 2.48 percent, Taipei In Taiwan fourth with 2.35 percent, and Henan in China fifth on 1.71 percent.

“There is a real danger of Beijing becoming public enemy number one for global malware. The increases we are seeing are probably down to illegal software that can’t be patched. With the rise of compromised machines and botnets, this could have far wider implications for global internet security,” said Network Box Managing Director Simon Heron.

China has for some time been notorious for its malware and hacking problem. It has variously been accused of officially-backed information warfare against the US, and of leading on every malware count experts can think up to measure the menace. More recently, crackdowns have started to reduce the volume of spam, some have reported.

Source : http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?NewsID=9373

How Google's Page Rank works?

2007-07-03T07:49:00.001-07:00

General Information regarding page rank and back links

The first thing that should be understood is the way Link Back can make your site be in the top 10 search results in Google's search engine. Due to the fact that there are a multitude of websites with a similar density of keywords, Google will select the web pages according to their page rank. The page rank of a website is given by the number of back-links it receives. From here we draw the conclusion that a rise in the number of back-links will increase our page rank and therefore a better position in Google's search engine. But what is a back-link? Any link pointing from one website to another is considered by Google as a recommendation for the target website, so the more recommendations (back-links) you have the more important your website will become for Google and thus your website will be noted with a bigger page rank.

In the last two years the attitude of search engines regarding indexed pages has changer radically- from the appearance of sandboxes to the reassessing of back-links. From here derived the necessity of knowing exactly what needs to be done in order to catch a better place in the top when speaking of search engines. This website ( Link Back WEB DIRECTORY ) appeared due to these new changes and we hope that it will help you for FREE to obtain a better position related to search engines.

Back-Links and Google Page Rank short introduction

Why Google, why page rank, why back-links, why web directory? The answer is very simple: with millions of sites available for any kind of information/services/ products etc. appeared the problem of choice and efficiency from here the growth in utilization of search engines. Obviously an algorithm was needed in order to provide the user results that would be as close as possible to his search, without the necessity of looking at thousands of web pages that contain the words specified in the search engine. Therefore Google took on the "page rank" method. Everybody knows it and there are millions of webpage about the so called calculation formula of the page rank, in which back-links are the only factor that determine the page rank of a web page.

The formula is PR(A)=(1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + ... + PR(Tn)/C(Tn))

-PR()= Page Rank of a webpage; example PR(Index.php) is the rank for the Index.php web page.

-T1.....Tn= all the pages considered by Google as back-links to your web page

-C()= the number of links that point out from the pages considered by Google as back links to your web page

-d= correction ratio with a positive value between 0 and 1, used by Google for corrections on the page-rank. In free translation this means that the more back-links that point to our web page and the higher the rank of the pages that contain the back links to our web page, the higher rank our web page will obtain.

It seems pretty simple ...but it's not quite as it seems. It's just like the definition of the back link "Back Link = a Link in one direction implied from the existence of an explicit link in the other direction"....something abstract and pretty confusing.

Let's take things one by one and just see what should be done in order to appear in a better position in search engines.

Increase Google Page Rank!

Rank It's very important to have a high page rank, but we are rushing again...if we are talking about a new website subscribed at Google it will be placed in "Google Sandbox", a testing category that will not promote the site as a result on the search of the Google search engine. The Google staff says that the website remains in the "Sandbox" a minimum of 60 days in order for Google to count exactly the number of back links and their accuracy. This routine prevents the appearance of new sites with high PR that might have been made artificially and therefore irrelevant.

Lets suppose that we have spent the minimum 60 days trial period in the Sandbox and in this period Google found 20 back links pointing to our webpage, the calculation formula was applied and our webpage resulted with lets say PR 2...what is to be done now? Simple...we take a look at the formula PR(A) = (1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + ... + PR(Tn)/C(Tn)) and we will see that we need back-links due to the fact that the PR (page rank) is directly proportioned with the number of back-links.

The easiest solution might seem to subscribe our website on any available forums, in all web directories, to participate in all the link exchange programs etc. but we will only discover that the effort was not worth it , our PR will still be 2. Nothing has changed, even more, if we will use Google's link query link:www.mysite.com we will detect that the number of indexed links has remained the same. And here will start the confusion and the number of questions about how this actually works. So, is this formula correct? Why didn't the number of links indexed by Google didn't grow? And especially what has to be done in order to not only grow the number of back-link but to also have them taken into consideration?

Increase back-link to your site and make Google take them into consideration!

Google does not consider as indexed back-link every referral to your website, so what worked 2 years ago now is worthless.

this kind of links are not helpful now as to regards to the modification of your website's PR. Now Google needs a third identity in order "to confirm a link":

thus Google can confirm the link (recomandation), and also the words found in the indexing context are the keywords found in the third website, so they are more relevant from the search engine's point of view than the ones found in your own website. You can have and agreement with the third website regarding the keywords.

Very important is that we pay attention to the following: if links, like the ones illustrated bellow, are too numerous they can be considered as spam and this may end up in your total exclusion from the search engines. With our website this can't happen, but please be very careful when trying to do this.

So up to this point we have solved the problem of how to make our back-links be taken into consideration, but we still have to solve the problem with growing their number and implicitly grow our page rank. Now lets see!

We created this website specially for growing the back-links' number and we do this, just as we explained on the first page, by using two methods: 1. Back-links, page rank and keywords ANALYSIS and 2. Back-link rotation & Google-Bot detection.

PAGE RANK, BACK LINK, BACK LINKS distribution by PAGE RANK, HEADERS and KEYWORDS ANALYSIS

In order to see what you have done good and what not, what is taken into consideration by Google and what isn't, Link Back offers a complete analysis of your website in order to have a clear and and comparing view (that is why it has been built on the structure of a web directory) on how Google indexes, searches and attributes your website rank, etc. This way you can see your website's position in a search engine.

Detailed analysis of the back-links that point to your website and the page ranks of the pages where these are originated from. This way you can see how many of your back-links come from pages with PR 0, PR 1....PR 10

Analysis by comparison of your website with other domain related websites regarding page ranking, back-links, keywords, meta, etc. This way you can be up to date with last page rank change and the determining factors and also the evolution in time of the page rankings and back-links.

Logs of the google-bot's visits on your website and a complete analysis of it's reaction to your website.

Detailed analysis on keywords, meta, headers, etc in comparison (if necessary) with other pages from the same category (the most often found word, words in their order of appearance in keywords search etc)

The relevance of keywords.

A good thing to do if you make a new website or already have one is to make a list of maximum 10 words very closely related to the product or service offered by your website, and put them in the order of their importance. This list can be taken from our website through the analysis of similar websites, or by keyword marketing (the study referring to the keywords that have pointed most frequently to a website in a similar area of activity as your own. A very important thing to know is that these words sometimes are more important than the PR of the webpage its self. /p>

Thus it is possible that a webpage containing in the URL, title, description and content an identical word as the one found in your webpage, but in a grater number this webpage will be posted before your webpage even if your PR is bigger by two points. So it is quite very important to have the keywords in your URL, meta and even in the content of your webpage, but carefully, not with a presence over 3-4% because otherwise it will not be taken into consideration.

Back-Link Rotation and GOOGLEBOT Detection

Let's start by explaining what Google-bot detection means. Search engines like google.com use programs called spiders or bots that have the soul role of visiting your website and indexing its content (meta, headers, words, back-links, etc). So it's very important to detect the web pages visited by these bots and also the time of the visits because in this way we can have important information as: what percentage of the website has been already indexed, the most visited web page, meaning that this page is the most relevant, etc. We will mostly use the detection of the Google-bot and the back link rotation engine in order to be compatible with Google's policies regarding the exchange of hyperlinks.

What is the idea exactly?

Let's say we have 4 websites that participate at the back link rotation, website A, website B website C and website D. In order to consider what page rank every website has available we will consider website A with Page Rank (PR) PR0, website B PR3, website C PR6 and website D PR0. Obviously the website with the highest PR has also got to have high feedback. Thus we will make a list in the order of every website's Page Rank and we will use a signifier for the number of appearances (PR+1). So the list will be:

site A, site B, site B, site B, site B, site C, site C, site C, site C, site C, site C, site C, site D

So we will have website A once, website B four times, website C - 7 times and website D once. We will go through this list step by step, from the first record to the last, and when it will end we will start all over again in order to establish the hyperlinks as it follows:

- websites B, C, D simultaneous hyperlinks towards website A and Link Back web directory

- Link Back web-directory - all the links corresponding to the links from websites B, C, D towards website A - the links will change after one visit of the Google-bot (website A appears only once in the list- it's the beneficiary of the back links)

- websites A, C, D simultaneous hyperlinks towards website B and Link Back web directory

- Link Back web-directory - all the links corresponding to the links from websites A, C, D towards website B - the links will change after four visits of the Google-bot (website B appears four times in the list- it's the beneficiary of the back links)

- websites A, B, D simultaneous hyperlinks towards website C and Link Back web directory

- Link Back web-directory - all the links corresponding to the links from websites A, B, D towards website C - the links will change after seven visits of the Google-bot (website C appears seven times in the list- it's the beneficiary of the back links)

- websites A, B, C simultaneous hyperlinks towards website D and Link Back web directory

- Link BackLink Back web-directory - all the links corresponding to the links from websites A,B,C towards website D - the links will change after one visit of the Google-bot (website D appears only once in the list- it's the beneficiary of the back links)

This is for only 4 websites, but imagine it not for 100 but for 1000 websites. You will find yourself in the position where all the websites in the directory and all the pages of the directory itself will point to your website. This is the ideal situation in which we have numerous links and it won't be spam, also the advertisement and presence on other websites in different contexts.

All codes are generated automatically and are 100% free of spam or clocking. The subscription to the back link rotation program is optional, you can benefit from the analysis alone if you do not wish to participate in the back link rotation program.

Back-Link Rotation Program has started

Link Back rotation program has started. Every site that participates in the Back-Link Rotation Program will benefit from 990 distinct ip links. In order for the program to be in accordance with the latest indexing rules from Google, the rotation will be made inside categories and related categories from the same geographical regions. All links generated are automated and each website that participates to Link-Back Rotation System will benefit from links from all compatible sites for at least 365 Google bot visits per year (enough for a +1 or +2 in your page rank per year)

The general plan would be:

Features in analysis:

1. Google-bot detection

Google-bot detection serves in logging all Google-bot visits made to your website in order for you to have a clear image on the way your website is indexed, and especially if all of your website's pages are indexed, number of accesses on each page, the frequency of display, the type of the Google-bot that made the visit (content-bot, link-bot etc) and other important aspects.

The phases are:

and

Click here for the code that needs to be inserted in your webpage

2. Google-bot analysis

Complete and detailed Google-bot activity on your site:

in this way you have the following information:

a. If all the pages of your website are visited by the Google-bot and if your website is entirely indexed.

b. Most visited webpage- the webpage within your website with the highest relevance

c. The detection of the Google-bot type according to it's IP address (crawl for index, crawl for links, etc)

For this option to be available and to function you need to have the Detect Google-bot button activated.

Click here to obtain the code that needs to be inserted in your webpage.

3. BACK-LINKS indexed by Google

You can have a complete image on the results of your actions that mean to grow the number of back-links (link exchage, paid links, etc)

You can also benefit from a complete analysis made on these links.

Due to the large quantity of data that needs to be processed for the detection of the back-links, crew for new links is made daily, weekly, monthly. The default setting is for monthly rapport. If you wish to have a daily or weekly rapport please click here for the code

4. Back-links by page rank

The formula is PR(A) = (1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + ... + PR(Tn)/C(Tn))

-PR()= Page Rank of a certain page; example: PR(Index.php) is the rank of the Index.php webpage

-T1...Tn= all the webpages that are considered by Google as being back-links to your website

-C()= the number of links pointing out from the web pages considered by Google as being back-links to your website

-d= correction ratio with a positive value between 0 and 1, used by Google for corrections on the page-rank.

It is very important to have information on the distribution of the back-links by rank.

Due to the large quantity of data that needs to be processed for the detection of the back-links, crew for new links is made weekly, monthly or every three months. The default setting is for a rapport every three months. If you wish to have a weekly or monthly rapport please click here for the code.

Microsoft Fan Names Daughter "Vista"

2007-07-02T23:05:00.001-07:00

Where are all the Microsoft fanatics? Oh, they're around, and one of them has just named his daughter "Vista." If she was a boy, she was going to have the initials DOS. No kidding.

Two months ago, one of my colleagues posed a question about the location of the elusive Microsoft fanatics. One of the company's most important groups of fans is its Most Valuable Professional program, a group of Microsoft experts that use, evangelize and champion the company's technologies.

Evidently, that evangelism sometimes reaches interesting levels, as MVP Bil Simser's daughter Vista Avalon Simser shows. If you're wondering, Avalon was the code name for the Windows Presentation Foundation, the graphical subsystem of .NET 3.0. If she was born a boy, the first name would have been Dev, short for developer, and the initials would've been DOS. But alas, a girl "would have be an upgrade," and so Vista was born.

I wonder if there are any kids named iPod or Linux out there. There's at least one geek who named his kid 2.0 instead of Junior.

Of course, Vista's name opens itself up to endless humor, such as having her own personalized gear, future upgrades in the form of service packs, that unlike the operating system she was actually ahead of schedule, that when she turns 16 she'll have problems with drivers and crash, and of course this gem in the comments: "Vista is asking your permission to see her boyfriend. Allow or Disallow."

Source : http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/07/microsoft_fan_n.html

Search Engine Optimization Improving Your Page Rank in Google

2007-07-01T02:09:00.001-07:00

As long as you're not doing it deceptively or fraudulently, there's nothing wrong with trying to improve your site's search engine rankings. This is what search engine optimization (SEO) is all about.

Do You Crawl Here Often?

Improving your site's search engine rankings is a slow process because it depends on how often search engines crawl your site, and that may happen as seldom as every few weeks there's no set schedule.

There are two basic techniques for improving a page's ranking.

The first is to ensure that the page has good content and good keyword density. This should be a no-brainer,you should already be creating your pages this way if you want AdSense to display relevant ads. Watch for missing keywords, though try to figure out what people are really searching for and make sure your page gets included in the search results.

The other technique is to get highly ranked pages to link to your page. This increases the relative importance of your own page, especially if the anchor text of the link (the text that the user clicks to activate the link) contains keywords relevant to your site. While this technique works especially well with Google, where the popularity of a page is a fundamental part of the PageRank formula, all search engines use incoming links as an important ranking tool. Note that the reverse can also be true: Incoming links from poorly ranked pages especially those that have been removed from search engine indexes due to overt attempts at page-rank manipulation will drag down the page's ranking.

As you might imagine, obtaining high-quality incoming links to your site can be a challenge. You can try to initiate a link swap with the other site, whereby you both agree to link to each other's sites the classic "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" situation. But link swaps only work if both parties feel they have something to gain from the relationship.

Of course, if you have unique, useful content, other sites will start linking to yours without any prompting on your part. This can be a mixed blessing, however, because you have no control over the quality of those incoming links.

How to remove blogger Navigation bar

2007-06-28T09:16:00.000-07:00

Log on to you blogger account, click the Layout link and choose the "Edit HTML" option, now copy and paste the following code inside the template

#navbar-iframe {
height:0px;
visibility:hidden;
display:none
}

Make your XP look like Vista

2007-06-24T09:01:00.001-07:00

Hey, even if you can't get your hands on Vista until next year, you could still make your XP look and act like Microsoft's next OS.

I found lots of tools for converting your existing Windows XP Interface to Vista interface, the best and the safer tool is Vista Transformation Pack. I have installed it on many times on different machines and it worked like a charm, the only problem i faced was, after the "windows updation" some of the existing looks changed from Vista to XP, the main notable change is with the Boot Screen, it changed from Vista to XP.

Vista's new Aeroglass interface isn't just window dressing, it also helps you find data faster and move more quickly between open windows. Luckily, you can add many of Vista's shiny, bright interface elements to XP. For example, Vista will list a file's properties and other metadata in a pane at the bottom of Explorer windows. The freeware utility InfoTip Extension lets you beef up the pop-up info tips you see when you hover over a file icon, customizing the information that appears and even displaying the contents of a text file. Unfortunately, this utility was designed for older versions of Windows and a few of its features don't work in XP. Also, it provides no extra information for MP3, WMA, WMV and other music and video files (which arguably already have pretty good info tips). But, hey, it's still more convenient than opening a file's Properties dialog box.
Vista's new features will also show you a thumbnail preview of open files and applications when you hold the pointer over each taskbar button. Microsoft's Alt-Tab Replacement PowerToy already gives you the keyboard equivalent: after you download and install the program, simply hold the <Alt> key and press <Tab>, as you normally would to switch between running apps, and you'll see a thumbnail preview of each app in succession, though you won't see a preview if the app is minimized. If, for some reason, you don't want the Microsoft version, try TaskSwitchXP and Alt-Tab Thingy--two freebies that do much the same thing, and throw in some extra features as well.
For a very Mac-like way to switch applications, try the US$10 shareware program WinPlosion. As with Mac OS X's Expose feature, moving your pointer to a designated corner will cause all open windows to display in a zoomed-out view; click one to restore the previous view, but with the targeted window in front.
If you're looking for some of the transparency that Vista's interface uses, you can buy tools that apply various see-through effects to Windows (such as the US$20 Actual Transparent Windows from Actual Tools). But, why bother? Freeware can do most of the same tricks sans cost. If you want only your taskbar to have a degree of transparency, check out Transbar from AKSoftware. On the other hand, if you want transparency only for your application windows, the free PowerMenu not only handles that task, but also makes windows stay on top of all others, minimizes them to the taskbar with a single click and changes their processing priority to suit your preferences. If you want to apply transparency to windows and to the taskbar, Vasilios Freeware's TransApps can do both--but little else. Finally, the aforementioned Alt-Tab Thingy can ghost any inactive window so that it becomes partially transparent and also invisible to mouse clicks (the clicks pass through to whatever is underneath). The window returns to full opacity and normal behavior once it becomes active again.
To apply Vista's cool new glasslike sheen to your windows, look no farther than the granddaddy of skinning utilities, WindowBlinds from Stardock, or the equally capable StyleXP from TGT Soft. These programs cost US$20 each and offer a free trial. Last, but not least, you can obtain Desktop Sidebar, a free version of Vista's sidebar feature that displays weather information, stock quotes, RSS feeds and other timely information.

Firewalls Comparison

2007-06-24T08:22:00.001-07:00

1.1 How Does Your Firewall Rate?
At this site they test all the major firewalls using leak-tests. Now outbound leak-testing is only one criterion for assessing firewall performance indeed some would argue that inbound protection is more important. My view is that both are important as are user friendliness, resource usage, software compatibility and resistance to termination by hostile agents. That said Comodo, Jetico and ZoneAlarm Pro top he list while the Microsoft XP SP2 firewall get the wooden spoon. ZoneAlarm free was another notable poor performer.

Product		Product Score	Level of Anti-leak Protection
	Comodo Firewall Pro 2.4.18.184FREE	9475	Excellent
	Jetico Personal Firewall 2.0.0.28 beta	9375	Excellent
	ZoneAlarm Pro 7.0.337.000	8600	Very good
	Lavasoft Personal Firewall 2.0.1019.7604 (700)	8500	Very good
	Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0.0.119	8375	Very good
	Online Armor Personal Firewall 2.0.1.190	8000	Very good
	System Safety Monitor 2.4.0.617 beta	7975	Very good
	Jetico Personal Firewall 1.0.1.61 FreewareFREE	7750	Very good
	Privatefirewall 5.0.8.11	7625	Very good
	Ghost Security Suite [BETA] 1.110	7500	Very good
	Dynamic Security Agent 1.0.8.8FREE	7375	Good
	Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security 2007 15.30.1151	7000	Good
	F-Secure Internet Security 2007 7.01.128	6625	Good
	Outpost Firewall PRO 4.0 (1007.591.145)	6550	Good
	ProSecurity 1.30	6500	Good
	BlackICE PC Protection 3.6.cpv	5750	Poor
	Sunbelt Personal Firewall 4.5.916	5200	Poor
	Look 'n' Stop 2.05p2	4800	Poor
	Safety.Net 3.61.0002FREE	4000	Poor
	Norton Internet Security 2007 10.2.0.30	3100	Very poor
	PC Tools Firewall Plus 2.0.0.25FREE	2625	Very poor
	Avira Premium Security Suite 7 build 98	2450	Very poor
	SensiveGuard 1.06FREE	2350	Very poor
	Sygate Personal Firewall 5.6.2808FREE	2350	Very poor
	McAfee Internet Security Suite 2006 8.0	2325	Very poor
	Blink Personal Edition 3.0.8.1496FREE	2250	Very poor
	ZoneAlarm Free 7.0.302.000FREE	1500	Very poor
	CA Personal Firewall 2007 3.0.0.196	1000	None
	Outpost Firewall Free 1.0.1817.1645FREE	1000	None
	BitDefender Internet Security 10.108	750	None
	Norman Personal Firewall 1.42	750	None
	Panda Antivirus + Firewall 2007 6.00.00	650	None
	Filseclab Personal Firewall 3.0.0.8686FREE	500	None
	Ashampoo FireWall Pro 1.14	500	None
	AVG Anti-Virus plus Firewall 7.5.431	500	None
	Windows Firewall XP SP2FREE	0	None

http://www.matousec .com/projects/ windows-personal -firewall- analysis/ leak-tests- results.php

1.2 Utilities that Work with Vista
If you use Vista you will already have discovered that many of your favorite freeware and shareware utilities won't work with Vista. At this site they list many utilities that will work. Note: despite the site's name, a good proportion of the products listed are non Vista. Many are also commercial shareware not freeware.
http://www.freevist afiles.com/

1.3 Free Web Based Applications
In recent issues I've mentioned how web based application may one day replace some of the programs currently running on your PC. Here's a list of just some of the products and services available.
http://tinyurl. com/2dztm8 (cogniview.com)

1.4 The Great Defrag Shoot-out
One of the best comparative reviews of defragment utilities I've seen. I don't agree with all the author's comments but hey, everyone is entitled to their opinion.
http://donnedwards. openaccess. co.za/2007/ 04/great- defrag-shootout- part-1.html

1.5 How to Permanently Wipe a Hard Drive
Most users are aware they can securely erase files and drives using free utilities like "Eraser" [1] and "Boot and Nuke" [2] that overwrite the data multiple times. At this site [3], suggested by subscriber Chris Price, they show how you can securely wipe a drive using a little-known feature built into many hard drives.
http://www.heidi. ie/eraser/
http://dban. sourceforge. net/
http://blogs. zdnet.com/ storage/? p=129&tag=nl.e622

1.6 Portable Software Lists
There are lots of these lists; none is complete but here are two of the best. The first covers free software while the second includes commercial products as well.
http://www.portable freeware. com/
http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ List_of_portable _software

1.7 Free Online Services Offer RoboForm-like Functionality

1.8 How to Reduce Your Spam

1.9 Free Service Monitors Website and Server Uptime and Performance

TOP FREEWARE AND SHAREWARE UTILITIES

2007-06-24T05:32:00.001-07:00

1.1 How to Mute Unwanted Website Sounds
Internet Explorer allows you turn off all webpage sound from the Advanced tab within Tools /Internet options however I find this very inconvenient as sometimes you want to listen to web audio. Firefox doesn't even offer an audio mute option at all but there is a free Firefox extension called Stop AutoPlay [2] that is designed specifically for the job. It works by adding a browser button that rather conveniently allows you to play or mute at will. It doesn't stop Flash sound files but if you use FlashMute in addition to Stop AutoPlay you have a pretty complete solution to all unwanted web sound.
[1] http://www.indev. no/?p=projects# flashmute Freeware, Windows 98-XP, 233KB
[2] https://addons. mozilla.org/ en-US/firefox/ addon/1765
1.2 Compress Your Files to the Max
ZIP may the most common algorithm for compressing files but it's far from the most effective. The Open Source 7-ZIP for example offers higher compression for most files but there are specialist archive formats that offer higher still., KGBArchiver V1.21 proved to be a competent well implemented archiver offering 10 different levels of compression using the PAQ algorithm. Archives are created in .kgb format. It also can create self extracting archives, supports ZIP, has drag and drop, a right click context menu and a few other niceties. It's not really a substitute for WinZip or IZArc but a specialist product aimed at those seeking to compress files down to the smallest possible size. Here are the results along with some other popular archive formats for comparison:

At its default setting KGBArchiver performed competently but on average, no better than WinRAR or 7-ZIP. At its "extreme" setting it did a great job at compressing plain text files but struggled to squeeze anything more out of the other file types. The 5.5MB .exe file took nearly 7 minutes and a similar time to extract while by comparison WinZip did it in 4 seconds and WinRAR in 9. Furthermore KGBArchiver consumed computer's entire CPU and memory resources while compressing. So is it worth it? Not for most users. However sysadmins and archivists with large text files to store (and plenty of CPU time) should at least check it out. Freeware, Windows 2000-Vista, 1.02MB
http://kgbarchiver. net

1.3 Free Portable Media Player Tops Its Class
The KMPlayer" that can either be run from a thumb drive or installed. It supports numerous formats including DVD playback. It comes with a whole batch of inbuilt codecs and support for external codecs as well. In the audio area it supports AC3, DTS, LPCM, MP2, MP3, Vorbis, AAC, WMA, ALAC, AMR, QDM2, FLAC, TTA, IMA ADPCM, QCELP, EVRC, RealAudio and more while with video you can play DivX, XviD, Theora, WMV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, VP3, VP5, VP6, H263(+), H.264(AVC1), CYUY, ASV1/2, VQ1/3, MSVIDC, Cinepak, MS MPEG4 V1/2/3, FFV1, VCR1, FLV1, MSRLE, QTRLE Huffyuv, Digital Video, Indeo3, MJPEG. To have these features available on a thumb drive is quite extraordinary. Freeware, Windows 98-2003, 12.3MB.
http://www.kmplayer .com/forums/ index.php
http://www.kmplayer .com/forums/ showthread. php?t=4704<= Link to download
1.4 Using a USB Drive as a Laptop Replacement
Regular contributor "Briard" takes a break from the world of Linux and instead explores the potential of Windows flash drive computing.
http://www.techsupp ortalert. com/briard_ in_usbland. htm
1.5 Symantec Norton 360:
15 day trial, Windows XP - Vista, 49.4MB.
[1] http://www.symantec .com/norton360/
[2] http://www.pcpro. co.uk/reviews/ 110678/norton- 360.html
[3] http://reviews. cnet.com/ internet- security- and-firewall/ norton-360/ 4505-3667_ 7-32330411. html
[4] http://www.techsupp ortalert. com/review- norton-360. htm

2.0 SECURITY PATCHES, SERVICE RELEASES AND UPDATES
2.1 Microsoft Security News
In the last month a new series of JavaScript related flaws were discovered in Internet Explorer [1]. These flaws could be exploited even if fully patched version of IE 6 and 7 and allow a hostile website to take control of an affected PC. A related flaw was also found in Firefox. As of today these flaws remain unpatched.
These flaws highlight yet again that you cannot rely on regularly applying Windows and other vendor updates to protect your computer when surfing. Always surf in sandbox or with your browser running with reduced rights. See item 2.6 below.
Patch Tuesday the 12th of June saw the release of six security updates from Microsoft, four of which were rated "Critical." The critical updated covered flaws in Windows, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express and Microsoft Mail. Another flaw rated "moderate" affected Vista systems and could allow "non-privileged users to access local user information data stores including administrative passwords contained within the registry and local file system."
Further details of the June updates can be found here [2]. All the updates are distributed automatically via the Microsoft Update Service. Dial-up users in particular need to be aware that these updates are large files and you will need a considerable period of time online for them to download successfully. If you have any doubts whether you have received the updates, then visit the Microsoft Update Service [3] now.
[1] http://lists. grok.org. uk/pipermail/ full-disclosure/ 2007-June/ 063712.html
[2] http://www.microsof t.com/technet/ security/ bulletin/ ms07-jun. mspx
[3] http://update. microsoft. com (Requires IE5 or later)

2.2 Firefox Updated to V2.0.0.4
Mozilla released a performance and security update for Firefox on the 30th of May. The new version 2.0.0.4 has better Vista compatibility and fixes five security flaws one of which was rated as "critical." Also released were the corresponding updates for the older Firefox V1.5, Thunderbird and the SeaMonkey Suite. To my knowledge there are no current exploits in circulation that utilize these flaws however, it is essential that you update now as the malware developers routinely reverse engineer security updates to identify flaws to exploit in unpatched machines. Users with automatic updates enabled should have had the new version automatically delivered and installed. You can check by selecting Help / About from within Firefox. If your version number is less than V2.0.0.4, then update manually from here [1]:
http://www.mozilla. com/firefox/
2.3 No More Updates for Firefox V1.5
Support for the old V1.5 version of Firefox was discontinued by Mozilla at the end of May. V1.5 users should upgrade to V2 as soon as possible any newly discovered flaws in the old version will not be patched. Starting from June 7th users with the automatic update service enabled will be advised of the upgrade. Other users should upgrade manually here:
http://www.mozilla. com/en-US/ firefox/
2.4 Serious Flaw in Yahoo Messenger
A critical buffer overflow flaw was discovered in the popular Yahoo Messenger instant messaging product. The flaw could allow a hostile website to take full control of a vulnerable PC. The flaw affects all versions of Messenger from 5.5.0 through to 8.0.0. All users should upgrade immediately to version 8.1.0.401 available from here [1].
[1] http://messenger. yahoo.com/
2.5 New QuickTime Security Patch Underscores Need to Keep Programs Updated
A patch for QuickTime 7.1.6 was released by Apple on the 29th of May to cover a Java Extensions flaw that could allow a PC to be compromised by simply by visiting a hostile website. Affected systems include Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP2, OS X v10.3.9 and v10.4.9. The Windows patch can be downloaded from here [1]. This flaw highlights the need for users to keep all the software on their PC up-to-date not just Windows and Office. You can easily check all your products by using the free service Software Inspector service [2] over at Secunia.
[1] http://www.apple. com/support/ downloads/ securityupdatequ icktime716forwin dows.html
[2] http://secunia. com/software_ inspector/
2.6 How to Protect Your PC Against Hostile Sites, Browser Flaws
Recent reports from Google [1] and Sophos [2] have highlighted the rapid increase the number of hostile websites. These sites use flaws in popular browsers as well as Windows to secretly infect anyone who happens to accidentally visit them. Keeping all your products up-to-date reduces your risk of infection but increasingly these hostile sites are exploiting new or unpatched flaws to attack visitor's computers. It's not hard to protect your PC against these threats: surf from within a sandbox such as Sandboxie or alternatively run your browser with reduced rights. To help you I've written a short how-to guide [3] that's now on my website. If you are not yet using these protective techniques I strongly recommend you read this guide and adopt its recommendations.
[1] http://googleonline security. blogspot. com/
[2] http://www.secureco mputing.net. au/news/53424, number-of- infected- web-pages- soar.aspx
[3] http://www.techsupp ortalert. com/safe- surfing.htm
2.7 Goggle's Security Blog Hints at the Future
Found this blog [1] quite informative, particularly the observation about the potential vulnerability of virtualization based security products. With the appearance of this blog and the recent purchase of the company that makes the GreenBorder sandbox, it looks like something is definitely brewing at Google in the security arena. Then there's the recent announcement of Google Gears [2], a toolkit that allows developers to modify their online applications to work offline as well. My guess is that Google is working on a secure browser for its online apps that also allows offline access through the Google toolbar. Maybe I'm not guessing, just fantasizing :>)
[1] http://googleonline security. blogspot. com/
[2] http://code. google.com/ apis/gears/-

2.8 The Best Windows Backup Software
If you have been looking for a backup program, this is the one.
http://www.backup- software- reviews.com/

2.9 The Best Spyware Detector
If you use Ad-aware or SpyBot you will be surprised just how more effectively SpySweeper detects and protects your PC from Spyware, Trojans, keyloggers and other malicious products. That's why it won the prized "Editor's Choice" award from PC Magazine and is rated "outstanding" by Gizmo Richards, editor of the highly regarded Support Alert newsletter. Spyware has become so serious you can't afford less than the best protection. Install it now before it's too late.
http://www.webroot. com/wb/products/ spysweeper/ index.php? rc=1132

2.10 The Best Remote Access Software
Read the full review here:
http://www.pcsuppor tadvisor. com/best_ remote_access_ software. htm

2.11 The Best Free Kids Craft Projects
Keep your young children engaged and amused with healthy, creative arts and craft activities that won't cost you a cent. Free newsletter packed with easy kids craft projects.
http://kidscraftwee kly.com/

3. 0 OTHER USEFUL STUFF

3.1 Good Deals on USB Flash Drives
[1] http://tinyurl. com/2ck8wx (compuplus.com)
[2] http://www.newegg. com/Product/ Product.aspx? Item=N82E1682022 7145
[3] http://www.buy. com/prod/ kingston- 2gb-datatraveler -usb-2-0- flash-drive/ q/loc/101/ 202743330. html
3.2 Free Utility Helps Your PC Conserve Power
[1] http://co2saver. snap.com/
3.3 Good Guide to Modern Website Design
[1] http://www.webdesig nfromscratch. com/current- style.cfm
[2] http://f6design. com/journal/ 2006/10/21/ the-visual- design-of- web-20
3.4 Useless Waste of Time Department
Here's a great way to mindlessly fritter away a few minutes of your life. Check this site where you can read how others are currently frittering away theirs :>)
http://twitter. com/

Run Windows Vista, Office 2007 Together Without Installation.

2007-06-24T05:14:00.001-07:00

Too lazy to install the new Office 2007 or Windows Vista on your machine ? Worried that the new software might break existing stuff on your computer or may not work at all ? Here's something for you - Windows Vista cum Office 2007 inside Windows XP.

Microsoft today released a free combo VHD edition of Windows Vista and Office 2007 Professional which includes Publisher, Excel, Outlook, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access, and Word.

You can download this all-in-one package from Microsoft Download Center and run it on your Windows XP computer without making any modifications by using the free Microsoft Virtual PC software.

Start the Virtual PC software and just open the Windows Vista cum Office 2007 image - the software will run independent of your existing XP SP2 setup and will not alter or install anything on the computer.

Excited ? There's a small catch - though the Office 2007 / Vista image file is free, it is a bit bulky (~2 GB to be exact) and requires addition 10 GB of free hard drive space for running smoothly inside the Virtual PC software.

If you think your Broadband connection can take the load, get the Office 2007 cum Vista installer from microsoft.com/ downloads/ (file available in VHD image format).