Cost Of Spam And Why Use Anti-Spam Filter

by: Julia Gulevich

E-mail is now being abused. The flow of spam on the Internet is the proof. It is annoying to download hundreds of disgusting spam emails into the inbox looking for some legitimate messages. Not only you waste your valuable time to delete junk emails by hand, you also waste your money as each spam message in your inbox takes precious kilobytes of bandwidth you paid for. In addition, spam messages can contain viruses, which can infect your computer system, and hidden tracking codes, which work as soon as you click on the message and let the spammer know that your email address is valid. With all that said, it would be great to delete the messages that you don’t want to receive beforehand and launch your email client to pull down only good emails. Anti-spam software can do this for you. It helps you fight against annoying spam.

There is a wide choice of anti-spam filters available on the Internet. The common services or features they offer are:

• Whitelist and Blacklist. The decision whether an email message is spam or good is taken based on the sender’s email address. The whitelist contains “friendly” email addresses, and the blacklist contains potential spammers, or simply people you don’t want to communicate with.

• Filtering based on the message subject or content. Some words or phrases are met in spam emails more often than others. These are usually vulgar or adult words (sometimes too offending). Thus, filtering based on a keyword is rather helpful.

• Virus scanning. There is possibility that spam email contains a virus in the attachment. Certain anti-spam programs allow you block emails with various suspicious attachments.

• Automatic spam detection. Some anti-spam filters can check inbound email and delete the emails they consider as spam automatically at a regular basis.

• Email recovering. Some spam blockers provide you with the ability to move spam emails to a quarantine folder and keep them for a fixed number of days. In addition, there is the possibility to recover an email from the trash if you need it.

So, with the great features and benefits that antispam software offers, you can now easily block the majority of spam emails.

Choosing DVD Burning Media

by: Carolynn Wong

There are many reasons why it's particularly important that we get to choose the most ideal type and, most of all, best DVD there is, especially if you're considering DVD burning. Low quality media can freeze or skip and may even not be recognized at all. Cyclic redundancy errors or “I/O” errors are also prevalent with these types of DVD media. These errors may mean that you are dealing with a dirty disco or that your DVD burner is not accepting the low quality media.

Another error that you can face is a "power calibration error." This type of error can also often be due to low quality media. What you could try to help is shut down the DVD software, eject the disc, and restart the program while re-inserting freshly cleaned media.

If you are trying to save up, cheap media can be fine for text or data sheets, even .jpg or .gif pictures but it’s not recommended for your DVD backups.

What you can do is download an identifier for your DVD in order to figure out what quality it is.

What you want and what you are after here is prime quality media for your DVD backups. Any type of media which may make use of superior dye and dye application paired with a quality composite disc are perfect for DVD backups. Gambling your DVD backups on lower quality media can very well waste your time and effort in DVD burning. Starting with good quality media will ensure you of quality results.

Remember, low quality media refers to the composite the manufacturer uses. This includes the dye method application and quality control of manufacturing. This does not necessarily refer directly to the price!

Aiming for the best burn!

When you are trying to get the best DVD burn, you may opt to decrease burn speed to 4x. Using a new 16x DL burner you could try burning at 6x. But 8x or over may result in coasters even while utilizing good quality media.

Backup life of a cheap disc

You may believe that data on a DVD backup may very well last forever, but make sure that you do not throw your originals down the drain. Frankly, you may end up needing them sooner than you think. Low quality discs can break down, some even within a year from burning. This is why quality is a key component in any type of DVD burning. Keep in mind that quality is an important factor in choosing all elements involved in DVD burning.

Wi-fi Wireless Internet Made Simple

by: Maxwell Z. Rubin

Just what is all this Wi-Fi wireless internet stuff they are trying to confuse and torment me with?

It is actually quite simple, useful and most of all convenient.

All you probably want to do is to share your internet connection throughout your home whether it be to other computers or so that you can sit in your bedroom and wirelessly surf the internet or send email. Perhaps as well you wish to share files such as songs throughout the computers in your house, apartment or condo.

Don’t let them confuse with all this alphabet soup - b , g , a , 11 megabytes , 54 , 108.

To begin with most any of the systems are beyond overkill. All will go faster than the even high speed broadband internet. Most use the same frequency as the standard cordless phones (2.4 GHz). . Be reassured the phones and the wireless internet in most cases will co- exist and work well with each other.

The most common wireless setups wireless b and g use the frequency most cordless phone use. G wireless internet is sort of a faster b standard. What is important to know is that it is all standardized. B will work with G and G products will work with B. G is said to up to 5 times faster than B that is assuming that you are relatively close. G wireless is very useful primarily if you are sharing large files between computers. For ordinary browsing b wireless is still overkill speed, faster as said than most broadband internet connections. The usual stated range of these wireless products is 300 feet indoors range and 1000 feet outside. The range is basically line of sight. Heavy dense objects – primarily metal, metal doors, metal foil insulation, heavy bricks and pipes and objects such as furnaces, metal filing cabinets will block reception to some degree. As well if the manufacturer makes some ultra high speed claims remember that both the router and wireless network adapters will have to be that brand and that special computer networking hardware feature to work at those high speeds and transmission rates. Remember to that wireless internet transmission speeds fall rapidly with distance.

Wireless internet is basically a radio setup with a transmitter and receivers. The transmitter is a box that plugs into the internet to share your internet connection. This is called a “Router “. . Wireless routers are made by a number of manufactures and the most widely known are the Linksys and D-Link brands. All routers are fairly good now. Tech support may be something to consider for setup ease. Routers are often sold on sale at big box stores as a means of drawing customers who already have at least one computer into their stores. It is reasoned that if a customer wants to buy a router the odds are good that he or she has more than one computer and once in the store will make additional purchases .Perhaps they will be even so fed up with the older computer as the kids have taken use of the newer faster model that the customer will even buy a additional new computer from the store.. The routers that you will find on sale will most likely be the newer g standard routers which will work with your B or G wireless network adapters in your computers.

Secondly you will need a receiver to receive the wireless internet signal at the computer end. You will have several options depending on your setup. If your laptop is a newer model then you may have a wireless “network adapter:” already built into your laptop. If you have an older laptop you can install a PCMCIA wireless network adapter into the credit card sized slot on your laptop. If you have a desktop computer you will have several options. If you have the abilities and are allowed by your warranty to open your computer case then you can install a standard PCI wireless card. The advantage of the PCI cards is that they almost always work, are screwed in so that they cannot be dislodged to stop working. The disadvantage is that the antenna of the card is hidden behind the metal of the computer case limiting reception. Another option is USB wireless adapters. Not only can the USB wireless adapter be installed without opening the case but as well with a USB extension cord the YSB network adapter can be lifted away from the computer to a higher more open place.

Several points on setup to make your life easier. After all networking is often called “Voodoo Science “. First if you are buying both the wireless adapters as well as the router try to buy the same brand, There will be easier setup , perhaps faster speed and tech support will not be able to blame the other vendor’s product for setup issues. You can tell tech support even after the return period of the store: “I guess the products are defective and have to be replaced “. There will be no issue of blaming the other vendor’s product. Case closed. Secondly most of the routers are setup by a “web based interface “. Some will come with an install disc as wizard. With others you will enter a web address usually 192.168.x.x and a password. To enter this setup interface. The instructions and passwords should be in either your instructional manual or disc that came in the box with your router. If you have a standard cable broadband account then just follow instructions if you have a DSL type of broadband internet connection then you will need the paper the phone company gave you with your internet account name and setup password. The type of connection that you set up in the router for DSL connections is called “POPE” The connection internet connection password is most likely different than your email password. This internet connection password is of very little value to anyone else. If you do not have this information phone your DSL provider tech support.

Next install the wireless adapters. Windows XP has its own wireless utility program installed. With previous versions of windows (Windows 98, 2000 and ME) you will have to install the utility program that the manufacturer provided on the install disk.

Most of his install manuals have 2 different sets of instructions – one for Windows XP, the other for the remaining operating systems.

When you setup the router you will be given a choice of whether to turn on the security features so that other people can drive up in front of your house and freeload your internet signals. It is anyone’s choice whether they wish to use this feature or not.

Believe me there will be no shortage of wireless internet connections for those freeloaders – estimate is 60 %. You can say to yourself if someone wants to waste gas to sit in front of my home to download songs or whatever good for them . If you wish to turn on the scrambling to sign onto your internet it will be in the advanced wireless or wireless security section of your router control panel. There are a number of choices. Most common is a setup called “WEP” (Web Enabled Protection)... This is available in a standard 64 bit or more secure 128 bit WEP settings. 64 bit setup is easier. 128 bit has you enter a long string of characters twice. Lots of fun with mistakes on entering those digits correctly. The easier to use security setup routines will allow an easy to use phrase code generator. For example in the phrase code generator you enter the word

Badgerlinux. The number / character code will then be generated that you must enter both the router and wireless adapter ends of your system. WEP is considered by purists not as secure as a newer system called WPA. Not all of the older hardware supports WPA. You may look at it as – if someone in my area can break into my WEP protected wireless system then that is the least of my troubles.

Lastly the biggest problem with wireless internet networks in neighbors. That is right neighbors. It is estimated that 40 % of wireless products are returned to big box stores. There are 12 available channels available in the wireless router settings. For convenience and to aid setup most brands of routers place the default channel of their routers as channel 6 right in the middle of the 12 channels available. It does not take much a signal at all to confuse your wireless adapter. You will see signal strength of your wireless route signal but you will unable to get a solid internet connection.

Worse yet this phenomenon of no internet connection may be sporadic. In many cases you will not be able to even spot the culprit in your wireless configuration software.

Remarkably wireless internet signals can travel a fair distance and may even appear to come out of nowhere. Worse yet the interference may be on sporadic. And as said it does not take much of a signal at all to leave you with no internet connection.

The answer is simplicity itself. “Change the Channel “. There are 12 available channels in your router setup control panel. The next 2 choices for wireless channel selection are at the 2 ends of the spectrum – channels 1 and 11. However it may simply be a matter of trial and error.

Wireless internet is rather amazing, you can surf the world, download songs, send email and transfer files conveniently at high speed and at some distance away from your internet connection. In addition you do not have to call or pay electrician to string the internet network wiring in your home. And if you wish to move the computers or even move just pickup and make the move.

If in the end you are having troubles on setup do not feel afraid to call tech support. Someone in India or the Philippines will be more than happy to assist you. Remember in the end you have the ultimate threat of all , that is to take your new Wi-Fi wireless products back to your store of purchase.

Printer Buying Guide

by: Microtek Lab Inc

Printers are essential peripherals, performing a critical role as they render electronic information into tangible records or material output. You're simply not using your computer to its fullest potential if you are unable to print reports, presentations, letters, photos, or whatever it is you need to output. Choosing a printer can be confusing, however, in today's competitive, ever-changing landscape. This buying guide rounds out some of the more important criteria to consider before you make that all-important purchase decision.

Printing Technologies
This is the biggest decision to make before anything else. Your choice should be based on how you work and the kind of output you will be expecting from the printer.

•Inkjet: Inkjet printers can deliver stunning color, so this is the way to go if you are mostly concerned with printing photos. Inkjets can be used for printing text, but the print speed is too slow if the primary purpose of the printer is document printing. To obtain more photo-realism, choose inkjets with an expanded range of colors that includes light cyan and light magenta in addition to the standard four-color CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black). The extra colors deliver more subtle color gradations in blue skies and skin tones. And if you print a great deal of black-and-white photos, consider photo printers with more than one variation of black ink or with gray inks. Many photo printers use color inks to produce a composite black, resulting in a muddy tint. A second black-ink cartridge and different shades of gray help maintain a neutral tone, with the gray ink allowing for subtle shading and thus improving the quality of black-and-white photos.

•Dye-sublimation: Dye-sub printers can print continuous tones and a superior range of colors that laser printers are unable to, making them ideal for more demanding graphic applications or color printing. Dye-sub prints are also less prone to fading and distortion over time than dye-based ink prints. In addition, many consumer-based dye-sublimation printers can print directly from digital cameras and also accept memory cards. They are, however, more limited in the range and size of printing media that can be used - usually letter-size paper or smaller.

•Laser: Laser printers are the perfect choice if you need to print large amounts of text documents. They print faster than inkjets and have a lower cost of operation over the long-term - even though they may cost more to buy initially. There are trade-offs, however. Monochrome laser printers produce crisp black-and-white text but cannot be used for color printing. Color lasers deliver excellent text and graphics but are much more expensive and can be costly to maintain.

Printer Usage
Some printers are good for general printing, while others are better at specialized tasks or combine several functions into one machine.

•Photo: If you take lots of pictures, consider getting a photo printer. Photo printers can be in the form of photo inkjets - which can print both photos and text; snapshot photo printers - for outputting small 4x6-inch prints; or professional photo printers - for large, tabloid-size photos and often including network connections to enable printer sharing. Most consumer and professional photo printers use inkjet technology, while most snapshot photo printers that print 4x6-inch prints rely on dye-sublimation technology. Regardless of the type or technology that is used, the most important thing to look for in a photo printer is photorealistic quality. Everything else is secondary.

•General Purpose: As the name implies, general purpose printers can be used for printing almost anything, including text and photos. Choose a general printer with a laser format if you print more text than photos; and choose an inkjet format if you print more photos than text. •Multifunction: Multifunction printers (MFPs) combine in one device several functions such as printing, scanning, faxing, and copying. MFPs cost less than buying separate stand-alone devices and cut down on the hassle of setting up individual machines. If you are strapped for budget or space, consider these all-in-one devices. Take note, however, that a malfunction with one component takes down the whole device, and individual components may not be upgradeable. MFPs are available with either laser printers to emphasize speedy text printing and the occasional graphics output; or they are available with inkjet printers for vibrant photo printing.

Printer Specs and Key Features
Printers feature various specifications, so navigating the spec sheet intelligently requires familiarity with what each specification entails according to the printing technology involved or for the type of usage planned for the printer.

•Resolution: For laser printers, 300 dpi is adequate if all you need is to print black-and-white text, but choose at least 1200 dpi for photorealistic grayscale or color printing. For inkjets, choose one featuring 1200-dpi or higher resolution with a droplet size of 4 picoliters or smaller for sharp, clean output. With photo printers, resolution varies according to technology: Output at 300 dpi by photo printers using dye-sublimation technology is comparable to photo printers using inkjet technology outputting at 1200 dpi or higher.

•Speed: Speed ratings vary greatly, and the print speeds cited by manufacturers usually refer to printing in draft mode or at the lowest resolution. For laser printers, a more accurate way of measuring actual print speed is to time just how long it takes from the minute you hit "Print" - to the time that it takes the printer to warm up, spool the job into the print queue, and for the printed output to finally come out. For inkjets, print speed is not one of its stronger suits; so don't be overly concerned with this spec.

•Memory: Extra memory will come in handy for laser printers to enable them to handle large graphics and documents more easily. Check the maximum upgradeable memory allowed for your printer, if it features a hard drive with similarly upgradeable memory, and if the printer can use generic memory or needs the manufacturer's brand. In the case of inkjets, memory is built-in and not upgradeable, but this is not an issue inasmuch as processing occurs on the side of the computer - so there's no need for large amounts of installed RAM to begin with on inkjets.

•Connectivity: Most printers today no longer support the older parallel connection but feature instead USB 1.1 or Hi-Speed USB (USB 2.0) - either of which should work fine with USB computers. For printers to be used on a network, it will need to have an Ethernet port to enable printer sharing. For more flexible printing options, you may want to look for printers with infrared input/output ports that allow wireless printing from notebooks or other devices with infrared ports. And if high-speed or long-distance printing is what you need, consider printers with a FireWire port.

Consumables and cost per page
The purchase price of the printer is just the beginning of its overall cost because over time, the hidden cost of ink or toner, paper, and parts will add up. These "hidden costs" are the consumables; dividing the total cost of consumables by the number of pages that can be produced from the consumables gives you the cost per page. Laser printers offer the lowest cost per page, using relatively inexpensive toner and normal-weight, uncoated paper. On the other hand, cost per page for inkjets can be four or five times as much, depending on how much ink you use and the cost of the paper - normally more expensive, coated, glossy paper for higher-quality color output. The tank configuration for inkjets should also be taken into consideration. Inkjets with a single cartridge for the colored inks will incur higher replacement costs because the cartridge must be replaced as soon as one color runs out - even if the cartridge still contains plenty of ink for the other colors. To save costs, get an inkjet with separate cartridges for black and each individual color.

How Spammers Obtain Your Email Address And Why They Send Spam

by: Julia Gulevich

You probably know that Spam is unsolicited and undesired e-mail message. Spammers are the people who send Spam. Spam is a serious problem. It is important today as never before because almost every other email message we receive is Spam. So, the question arises how spammers get your email address and why they send you Spam. Spammers can obtain your email address in three ways.

One way is to guess a mailbox name for a publicly listed domain name. Many organizations have the email addresses where the first part of the email address is a general word such as “info”, “sales”, “accounts”, “support”, etc. People often use the email addresses beginning with their first name, for example, John, Sandra, Julia. Spammers simply put the first names before the @ symbol followed by a domain name, and get possible email addresses.

Secondly, spammers can gather email addresses from the Internet. They use programs that search web pages looking for email addresses. If there is your contact email address in your web site, or if the email address is embedded into your profile, your email address will be obtained by spammers.

The third way to get your email address is to buy email lists. Some dishonest companies can make money by selling the customer’s information to spammers. Spammers can also bribe unscrupulous employees of companies to get a copy of the email list.

Once spammers got a list of the victims’ email addresses, they start spamming. They do it to make money. In general, there are two kinds of spam messages:

1.Offering trashy and fraudulent goods or services (e.g. Viagra, Cialis, medications, fake Rolexes, software programs, etc.)

2.Stock scams working on “Pump and dump” schemes. Spammers encourage you to invest in a particular company's stock, in order to quickly inflate its value and enable the spammers to make a fast profit.

By sending their undesired messages spammers have for an object to contact thousands or even millions people in the hope to hit one or a few dolts who actually will buy their crappy products. No dolts, no spam. But out of a million people, you will always find one or two.

Most of the Internet protocols that computers use to talk to each other are anonymous. Your email server thinks that any email server connecting to it over the Internet is giving its name properly and that the email it sends is legitimate. Spammers abuse this trust relationship to send you their garbage. The Internet protocols cannot be changed in a moment so we need another solution to the problem of spam.

Legislative attempts produced no effect. It’s not easy to track a spammer located in USA sending spam using a mail server from Russia to mailboxes in Australia. Spammers are also known to use Trojans to hijack one’s computer and make that person send spam on behalf of the spammer. The “victim” doesn’t even guess about it. These people would be caught up in any comprehensive Spam legislation.

However that may be you can take some measures to protect your inbox against spam flow by yourself. There is a wide choice of anti-spam products available on the Internet. You only have to choose the right one to block Spam before it reaches your inbox. There is no guarantee that you will get absolutely no Spam but at least you will reduce its amount.

How Search Engines Work

by: Hassan Sarsour

To make easy money online you have to get high targeted traffic to your website. This is acheived by your knowledge of how to be ranking high in the search engines. The basic step is to know how search engines work.

Most searh engines have three parts: a crawler, an index, and a search interface.Let's look at each part individually to get a better understanding of them. Each part has its own role to play in the process, with all parts working together to make searches possiple.

1. The Crawler:

Also known as a "spider" or "bot", this part of the search engine wanders the web, following links and picking up information for its database. Crawlers do most of their work at times of the day when searh engines are less busy, but they typically visit frequently updated pages more often. This is something to keep in mind when you are working on your pages.

Your site's title and text(your content) are the most important thing to a crawler. The fastest way to raise your site's search engine ranking for specific key words is to implementthem into your title and your content.

2. The index.

Once the crawler has collected all that text, it is then stored and indexed. This allows people searching for key words and phrases to get results relating to what they were searching for - their search results. Most sites will incorporate rating systems such as Google Page Rank or Alexa Rankings in positioning your site. These ratings are used attempt to ensure that sites that are important receive more traffic than unimportant sites.

To see this in action, go to a search engine and type in a word. You'll see some text on the page saying something like "results 1-10 of 1,234,000". This means that the search engine's index contains 1,234,000 pages it believes are related to the word you typed. If you wanted to, you could look through all these pages to find the information you're looking for.

In order to understand rating systems more thoroughly consider your own site. When you place links on your site you generally do so to increase your users understanding of the content of your site.

If every site in a particular field links to a particular site, this site is probably very important to that field and should, therefore, be listed highly in the lists of search engine results. This is the basic ideology of Google Page Ranks.

Consider again , a site that receives a great deal of traffic, it probably has some information or service that is very important to its users. Alexa ratings attempt to estimate the amount of traffic that a particular site gets and compare it to the amount of traffic that other sites get. The closer that a site is to the most trafficed site on the internet, the more likely it is to have important content if it is relevant to search query.

3. The Interface.

Search engines provide a public intrface for users who want to find information on the web. They can type the word or phrase they're searching for, and the interface will run an algorithm to find the pages relevant to their search and display them.

These algorithms are an important part of the SEO(Search Engine Optimization) business. You'll notice when the algorithms change, the rankings of your website will change with them. No two search engines have the same algorithms. They all work differently, with their unique features, and they will all respond to your website in their own way.

Broadband FAQ: Answers To Basic Questions About Broadband

by: Brayden Eckles

* What is broadband?
In the internet world, broadband refers to the process of sending and receiving information at very high speeds through a connection that is always on. With broadband access there is always a corresponding usage fee.

Broadband access also means that you can surf to any website you want faster than with a dial-up process, as web pages load more quickly. Broadband internet can give you the advantage in accessing better quality multimedia files like music and movies. Downloading programs, files, and email attachments with broadband can be done in minutes instead of hours.

* What are the different types of broadband?
There are different types of broadband internet access available but they depend on the location of the subscriber. The most commonly used form of broadband access is the ADSL or asymmetric digital subscriber line. Other types of broadband access are cable modem, satellite, and wireless.

* What is DSL?
DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line, which refers to the kind of technology that uses ordinary phone lines to send and receive information over the internet at higher frequency than normal phone usage. A DSL connection can handle both the data and the voice signals at the same time. Therefore your phone service is not interrupted when you use the internet.

DSL connection speeds depend on the distance between the subscriber and the provider. DSL technologies have two major types: ADSL internet access requires a fast downstream connection but slow upstream connection, and Symmetric DSL requires high speed connections in both directions.

* What is cable?
A cable is used in broadband services and refers to the transfer of internet access to subscribers by cable television. Usually, a cable is made up of bundles of different optical fibers that can carry larger amounts of data than telephone line over long distances without affecting signal frequencies.

* What are ADSL, IDSL, HDSL, and SDSL?
ADSL stands for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, which has a data rate that ranges from 544 kbps up to 6.1 Mbps in downstream basis, while in upstream basis it goes from about 16 up to 640 Kbps. The distance limit of ADSL for 1.544 Mbps is about 18,000 feet, for 2.048 Mbps is 16,000 feet, for 6.312 is 12,000 feet, and for 8.448 is 9,000 feet. Normally, ADSL is used for internet access, downloading music and video, and local area networking.

IDSL or ISDN Digital Subscriber Line is somewhat an application of a wrong name of DSL modem since DSL is familiar to ISDN information rate and services that to about 144 Kbps. IDSL with its symmetric function is best when traveling up to 6 miles; however, IDSL is not supplied by ADSL providers. With similarity to ISDN, the data increases to 144 kbps by sing control channels.

HDSL or High bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line is the first version of DSL that will be used for wideband transmission within the business place and between communication providers and subscribers. The main feature of HDSL is its symmetrical function, in which the same quantity of bandwidth is accessible in both directions.

SDSL or Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line is the same as HDSL; however, it only has a single line that carries 1.544 Mbps in the U.S. and Canada or 2.048 Mbps in Europe, that flow in each direction on the duplex line.