How To Guide

If you have a XAMPP server like many of us, there are several security issues you should be aware of. The normal XAMPP installation is not secure by default. It is designed for ease of use, which unfortunately makes it not very secure. It is however very easy to set up when compared to other server software.

The first step to securing a XAMPP server is to run a built in script called the XAMPP security page appropriately enough. To use it, go to Http://localhost from your server box. If this is the first time you visit this page, you will have to select a language, otherwise it will show you the menu that takes you to the status page for all of your security issues.

To go to the status page, click on the “Security” link in the left column. If you haven’t been here yet and run the script already, it will show you all the areas of your sever that are currently insecure. As you can see, there are several issues that… Read More

If you are a teacher of any grade or subject, you can use this article to help you learn how to quickly create your next quiz or test in Microsoft Excel. Most people think that Excel is only for spreadsheets and that you need to use Word to make a quiz or test, but Excel has a very fast an easy way to create your tests and quizzes for your students. Read on to find out how.

Steps to Create a Quiz in Excel or Works

Here are the basic steps involved. If you follow these precisely, you will be able to easily create your tests and quizzes in Works or Excel. The directions are exactly the same in Works Spreadsheet and Excel, so if you don’t have the more expensive Excel program, you can use Microsoft Works Spreadsheet just as easily. This will help you keep organized and also help you save time, so here is how to do it:

1. Open Excel or Microsoft Works and start a new spreadsheet.

2. The first… Read More

Example 1

Open source seem to have a huge importance in the IT development as it involves lots of people in order to create a real competition to the commercial software that exists on the market.

A blogger with expertise in the software development domain shares his story with us in order to help us understand what the advantages of involving in Open Source are. As a result of learning an open source programming language (PHP) and then involving into an open source community, he easily found two jobs well paid where he was enjoying what he was doing.

His story also points the way an open source program can help you improve your software engineering skills and how that matters for top companies such as Google or Zend. By showing them a link to your contribution the employer can easily see the way you code and that saves you from a long interview that can sometimes be annoying.

By making part of an online Open Source community you’ll also be considered an important marketing asset by the employer. Most… Read More

Matt Hogan

Matt Hogan of New York, NY got a video purportedly from a friend in high school. When he clicked on the link, it launched a YouTube look alike site.  After it started to load he noticed the URL was not YouTube but www.yuotube.com.

Immediately the virus software on his PC sent up a warning box saying that there was malicious software trying to gain access. But it was too late and he had to run a scan of his PC. He learnt the name of the virus and where it was but he was unable to do anything about it.  He had to manually remove it and then his IE browser was disabled because the virus was attached to the proxy that let hi PC connect to the internet.

‘What’s worse is that by clicking the link, the virus then had access to my Facebook address book and sent out a few different messages to people in my address book. Luckily I was able to put a warning in my status on Facebook telling people not to open… Read More

SQL Server allows you to implement replication of data among several systems within the company. There are quite a few benefits to SQL Server Replication you should be aware of. By resorting to SQL Server Replication, you can achieve Load balancing: you will be able to distribute the data and the query load between several available servers.

If you have a system which is not always connected to the network and you want to manipulate data from your database on that machine, you can do this by using Server Replication. Server Replication also offers you redundancy. You will be able to have a fail-over database server which is always ready to take the load at any given moment.

A replication scenario has two main components: the Publishers and the Subscribers. The Publishers are the servers which offer the data found on them to other machines. There may be one or more publishers in a replication scheme. The Subscribers are the database servers from the network which want to receive data when the Publisher server updates its data. A server machine… Read More

More and more people and businesses rely on databases to keep and access the required information. If you need to keep a database, your job is not done once you have installed and configured it. You also have to monitor and maintain it constantly. There are a series of software tools which allow you to do this that are also known as SQL server database tools.

dbAnalyst

dbAnalyst is a software tool used to administer and maintain databases.
It is one of the software packages that all database administrator and developer should use. Its main benefit is that you can manage multiple databases using a single tool, thus saving time and money (you will not have to acquire multiple products to maintain your database and familiarize yourself with them). dbAnalyst can be used by both individual developers as well as large companies. This tool is a very versatile, cross-platform solution. It can be used to translate and analyze between databases and even different versions of databases. Although it is a very powerful tool, it is also user friendly and… Read More

Having developed a database for your enterprise is not enough. You have to constantly monitor it to be sure it operates at optimum parameters and it is also well secured. There are very numerous database software tools which you can use to maintain and secure your database. Below are just some of the tools you can use – the short description will help you have a general idea in regards to which niche each application is built for. Remember that there is more to your database than simple adjusting and backing-up.

Active Backup

Active Backup Expert is a good choice is you are looking for a backup solution. It creates protected backup copies of your files you can store on any drive in your system (a hard drive, CD-RW, CD-R, Jaz, floppy drive, etc) or on a FTP remote storage. It can also be used to synchronize files between two or more PCs.

Customer Relationship Database Management Software

This easy-to-use database software is the perfect solution for small and medium business.
This single application includes all the important components… Read More

Nowadays, you cannot surf the internet without having some soft of Anti-virus software installed on your computer. The great amount of malaware ready to destroy your system is nothing you should neglect, especially if you have sensitive data on your computer. Viruses have become so powerful and destructive that without the proper protection they can wipe-out your system or simply make it unusable until you format all your hard drive (therefore deleting the virus in the process). The unfortunate part is that viruses such as these prohibit you from saving your precious data – if no back-up was performed then you can simply consider all your data lost. In order to avoid such unfortunate occurrences you have to install one of the best antivirus software on the market, and maybe use it in conjunction with a firewall application. In this particular tutorial we shall discuss some of the features Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 has to offer and how to enable them for further protection.

From the moment you install your AV software, it is configured to a Recommended level which includes:… Read More

Microsoft Excel has many uses and it is considered by many as the most important program in the Microsoft Office suit. It is a very powerful application for creating and editing spreadsheets, but you can also use it for other purposes: for example, it has a very powerful chart-generating module, an element many people search and need. Because it is included in the Office suit, Excel is a very intuitive program, although it holds many secrets and useful tools.

Using charts in Microsoft Excel is a very important feature of this application as you can use charts to present data that has been entered in the worksheet in a visual way. Microsoft Excel has a full range of chart types it can generate. One thing you should know is that before you can use Excel’s chart generating module you must have entered the data into the worksheet. Generating intuitive and easy to read charts is fairly easy in Microsoft Excel and the program has a wizard to assist you.

Step 1

After all the data has been introduced in the… Read More

Microsoft Excel is one of the most used software applications for spreadsheet editing. Compared to a third party solution, it has the advantage that it comes along with the Microsoft Office suit and although it is one of the most powerful and features rich programs available, it is relatively easy to learn and use. Many people run away at first when they see the multiple menus and features Microsoft Excel has, but things are not that complicated. Because it is part of Microsoft Office, some of the menus ad features are common to all Office programs. This means that if you have worked with another Office application before (such of Microsoft Word), you will find many of the menus familiar (especially those related to opening a new work sheet, to saving files, to printing the spreadsheets and other similar actions). However, its main purpose is to create complex spreadsheets, calculations and graphs so may of these actions might be new for you.

It is a common situation that you have worked on a worksheet with multiple columns and rows,… Read More

There are quite a few software applications specialized in database security you can use to protect your database against all sorts of attacks.

The next sections will deal with some of the most used solutions on the subject of database security software.

• Oracle Security Solutions

Oracle is in the database business for more than twenty years. Oracle has developed a series of powerful software solutions for the protection of both governmental and commercial databases. The most powerful Oracle software tool is Oracle Database 11g. This software collection addresses some of the critical requirements around data privacy, protection, and consolidation. The Oracle Database 11g offers you some of the powerful and latest security features: fine-grained auditing, virtual private database, encryption features and label security.
The Oracle software collection also offers application protection. Because the protection offered is built-in at the data level, you do not have to change anything at your applications to get protection. The Oracle suit also is an effective inside threat guardian, as it is the only application of its kind which offers administrative… Read More

Data on your computer is the most critical thing you can own – I mean, think about it, it is hard to replace it (sometimes even impossible) and it can  be important for numerous people. Let us assume that you keep all your financial records on your computer, and that a computer crash erases them all – you will need to make numerous trips to your financial attorney, ask him how you should deal with this situation before you start developing problems with your state.

Obviously this is just one awful case – another would be finding that all your wedding pictures have been erased because you were to busy to back them up a while ago, even if your wife kept telling you to make a series of DVDs. Nevertheless, catastrophes can be many – the important thing is to protect yourself from them, and not let them happen because you cannot perform a simple backup procedure. Within this article, we shall discuss about three simple, reliable methods to backup your files.

Backing up using USB Flash Drives

USB… Read More

Sometimes you may get a message on your computer saying that is infected by some spyware or Trojan and that you need to get rid of it by clicking – don’t get taken in.

The other day I was sitting on my computer, doing work and had several web sites open. Suddenly I saw this pop-up window open saying that my computer was infected by a Trojan and that I should click to delete the file. Since I already have good, genuine anti-virus software on my computer, and it scans everyday and also offers real time scanning, I was disturbed. But then I checked the window and it was not from my software, so I quickly closed it. It was obviously an attempt to put a virus into my computer.

The worst thing

Almost all of us are everyday computer users and the threat of the viruses and spyware, Trojan and hijacking tools when online is very real. While this can compromise your safety, steal valuable documents from you computer, steal passwords and log-in ids, a good hacker… Read More

Video game industry is increasing in size at a very rapid rate with some of the world’s biggest software and media companies now an integral part of the industry. This only bodes well for the future to have such illustrious companies on board; but also in the present, with hundreds of millions of dollars they are ploughing into the sector. With the increase in research and development, there also comes an opportunity for people to forge great careers in this burgeoning industry.

Video game developers or video game designers (can be used interchangeably) are now in big demand. With competition between major players to provide games for consoles for companies like Microsoft, Sony – two companies with the signature consoles in Xbox and PlayStation respectively – fierce, it means competition to hire talented game developers is stronger than ever. With this, also comes the benefit of high salary and rewards for these game developers.

Role and type of video game designer jobs

It may seem like as if the role of a video game developer is to… Read More

The internet and email have created opportunities for criminals to use email in the theft of one’s identity. At one time, those who stole a person’s identity had to work a lot harder to get the information but now it is very easy to deceive a targeted person by using emails containing deceptive tactics. Here are some tips in how to identify email identity theft:

• Any email where the domain on the return address is hard to remember (such as a9203@xukkluoorg.com).
• Look at the timestamp on the email. In Outlook you can do this by a right click on the message title in the inbox and selecting Options. The timestamp will be at a strange hour indicating that it could be from the other side of the globe.
• Be suspicious of any email that asks for personal information such as credit card numbers and bank account numbers. This seems pretty obvious however sometimes the spammer offers awards in exchange for your registration on their site where you disclose personal

… Read More

A video game designer is one of the most exciting professions out there for bright minds. A game designer salary provides a comfortable lifestyle for anyone but it does not come without hard work. It is not that difficult to launch a full time career as a game designer provided one takes the proper steps.

Specializing in graphic/creative design
You must decide in what part of game design you would like to specialize. For example, if your talent lies in graphic arts, then you would want to learn everything you can about gaming graphics, 3D modeling, and high-end graphic manipulation/animation.

If your interest is in coding, you would want to learn everything you can about a particular gaming code (whether it be C++ or a proprietary coding that a company is using).

If you venture away from technical areas into the more creative side, you will want to acquire all possible knowledge about game story design. Not all game designers work with graphics, many work on the plot i.e. the storylines and the general structure of the games.

Education… Read More

The lifespan of a laptop battery is very important to people that like to use their computer on the go or in a mobile way. The length a battery is runs is often a very important factor in a purchasing decision for anyone buying a laptop, especially if they envisage using it all the time for their work/play needs.

Here are some tips to bear in mind when buying a new or replacement battery for a laptop:

No doubt, if you purchased your laptop as new, it will come with supplied a battery. However, many people find their existing laptop batteries are just not adequate enough. As a result, they can find themselves in frustrating situations e.g. the battery running out at a crucial moment.

In order to avoid such scenario, here are some tips you should bear in mind.

1) Buy a battery that has a long life, the lifespan is specified by the manufacturer. Of course, the longer lasting batteries will cost more than those with a shorter running time.

Consider a battery from a different manufacturer to… Read More

Search engine optimization is a phase that gets thrown around on the net a lot and it isn’t nearly as complicated as people make it sound. Getting your website ranked highly on all the major search engines is easier then it sounds with Search Engine Optimization. If you think ahead and form a website plan before launching your website your task will be simple.

Keywords

Your success with search engine optimization begins with your choice of keywords. You should create a list of about fifty keywords that relate to your site, you will eventually want to trim that list down to around 10. You should note that it’s very risky to use the same keyword more than once as some search engines will not list your site. To choose the best keywords for search engine optimization go to www.analog.com . They have an amazing free program that will show you in real time what words people are searching for. To maximize your search engine optimization you should choose plural words instead of single words.… Read More

Traffic is key for most webmasters or web businesses to generate income. There are various way of getting traffic directed to your website, some methods have an expense while there are also free ways of doing the same. Advertising is possibly the most reliant for of traffic because you can buy your way to higher positions on search engines, but there are also very effective ways to do this without spending a penny.

Here are some free methods:

… Read More

You need a new computer but there are so many choices. You can either get a notebook/laptop computer or a desktop version. In addition, there are so many different computer processors . How do you choose the best computer processor for your specific needs?

What do you need it for?

What do you need your computer for? If you will only be using it for word processing, you won’t need a high computer processor speed . However, your needs will be a lot different if you need it to record music, run graphics programs, etc. If you are a heavy internet gamer, you should find the latest in computer processor technology because new games are often only supported by the new technology.

The two main companies to consider are AMD and Intel. Other companies, such as Compaq, also have processors. Computer processor speed, for example, is a factor to consider when looking into a company. Check product reviews on the internet to make sure you get the most reliable and effective product for your price range.

Pick a model

Once… Read More