Computer Performance Improvement - 8 Tips to Make Your Computer Purr Like a Kitten

SIGNS OF A COMPUTER WITH PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS!

(If this is indicative of your computer, you need help!)

Programs run slower than they used to.

Frequent freezes or crashes.

Sporadic system instability.

Frequent blue error screens.

Requires frequent reboots because of system hangs.

These 8 simple tips will help clean up your computer and you'll be surprised at the performance improvement!

CLEAN UP YOUR WINDOWS REGISTRY

This essential task is often overlooked but will remarkably improve PC performance. Most PC users don't even know there is such a thing as a Registry much less that that it should be regularly cleaned. In fact, Microsoft doesn't even include a cleanup tool in Windows.

Every time a program is installed or uninstalled changes are made to the Windows Registry which is a huge internal database of Windows' settings. All programs, as well as Windows itself, store a huge amount of information in this database and these entries control the way everything in the computer looks and behaves.

Many times, changes to a computer are not handled correctly leading to conflicts and the slowing of the computer due to a corrupted Registry. Some things which can cause this are:

• frequently installing or uninstalling programs
• removing a program and leaving traces behind
• leftover entries from a hardware uninstall
• power failure or system crash in the midst of updating the registry
• unused drivers on the system
• Spyware or Adware type programs that come back every time the PC is restarted

The Registry can be edited manually using a Windows program called RegEdit, but woe to the novice; this is really a job best left to the experts. Instead, you need to use a special program which makes the cleanup for you.

EMPTY THE RECYCLE BIN

Regularly empty the Windows' Recycle Bin thereby releasing hard drive space and helping to improve performance.

When you delete a file, instead of removing it completely from your computer, Windows puts it into the Recycle Bin. You then can restore these flies from the Recycle Bin back to their original place on your computer if you should need to.

REMOVE UNNECESSARY PROGRAMS

If you're like me and download a lot of free programs or free trials, after a while your computer might begin to slow down. That means it's time to remove some of the old programs you don't use any more (and most you probably only used once just to see how they work).

After installing a program, if you decide you don't need it and won't use it, get it off the computer thereby freeing up system resources. Most programs come with their own uninstaller but if it doesn't you will have to use the Operating System's Add/Remove Programs feature which you can get to through The Control Panel.

Uninstalling unused programs will help speed up your computer, but removing the wrong files can cause you some really big problems. NEVER, NEVER EVER just delete a program file by using the delete key; this can really mess up the Registry. Be careful and if you are not sure, ask for help from someone you know who is more experienced. If you are unsure whether or not to remove a program, it's best to leave it.

Some programs leave uninstalled junk all over the Windows Registry! Therefore, to improve PC performance AFTER AN UNINSTALL, IT'S ESSENTIAL TO CLEAN THE REGISTRY.

RUN DISK CLEAN UP

Windows Disk Clean Up is a great built-in utility that automates regular maintenance tasks to improve PC performance. Whenever you "surf the net", open file attachments, delete files, etc., your computer saves a record of your activity. Most if not all of these files are harmless, and are very small. But if you spend a lot of time on your computer, before long they will use up enough space to slow your computer down a tad.

Double-click My Computer, right click on the 'C:' drive, then click Properties, then click Disk Cleanup. The PC will then spend a few moments analyzing.

When it has completed analyzing, Windows will give you a list of areas where it has found files to cleanup. To clean an area, check the box next to it. To leave something intact, such as Temporary files, just remove the check mark next to the item and click OK.

Your computer will then begin the removal process which can take a good while.

DISK DEFRAGMENTATION

When Windows stores programs and files on your hard disk it saves fragments of files in the nearest empty spaces and then links these pieces together. When the computer needs to retrieve a file, it has to go through the process of chasing these links hunting down the fragments and piecing the file back together. This can really slow down a computer, especially if it has small internal memory and has to do a lot of caching and file swapping.

The cure is to routinely run the Windows Disk Defragmenter which gathers together the fragments of files and puts them back in the right order in as near contiguous space as possible.

This makes it far easier for your computer to find what it's looking for on the hard drive, enabling programs and files to load more quickly.

To defragment your hard disk click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools and then Disk Defragment. When the program has loaded, click Defragment. Before starting you need to run "scandisk" which checks for disk errors. Without scanning your disk first for possible errors, defrag may refuse to continue its defragmentation routine.

The process can take over an hour. Because defragmenting your hard disk takes such a long time, you really don't want to go through the process very often; maybe every 3-4 months and it's best not to use the computer while defragmenting

GET A HIGH SPEED INTERNET CONNECTION If you spend a lot of time on the internet, a high speed internet connection is a must. It is more expensive, but for most people the savings in time and effort is worth the added expense.

Some of the advantages to having a high speed internet connection: faster surfing, web pages open more quickly, files download faster, and if you send or receive large files, like pictures or video, they will open in a flash when compared to a slower dialup connection.

If you're already spending money for your dialup connection (through your phone line) then you'll find DSL to be comparable in price, and a lot faster.

A cable internet connection might cost a little more, but it is usually the fastest type of internet connection you can get from home.

REMOVE SPYWARE & ADWARE

If you've ever had spyware or adware on your computer, you know how frustrating it can be. All kinds of strange things happen: your homepage changes seemingly on its own, unwanted and inappropriate popups, unfamiliar icons, and the list goes on.

Spyware or Adware are files that are often downloaded onto your computer without your knowledge (or at least without you knowing what they really are).

Unfortunately, many of these programs "sneak" their way onto your computer, and avoiding them entirely is difficult, especially if you spend a lot of time on your computer, surfing the Internet and downloading new programs and files.

There are ways to remove these unwanted files from your computer.

Check out these 2 adware/spyware removal programs that are simple to use (both are free):

Ad-Aware http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/ Spybot http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

Adware/Spyware continue to be such a problem because most of these programs make money for the people creating and spreading them. If you find these unwanted intruders on your computer, don't panic. In most cases, it is not vicious like a Virus or Worm. You just have some extra "junk" on your computer. However, keeping it off of your computer will help it perform more efficiently.

ADD MORE INTERNAL MEMORY (RAM) AND A LARGER HARD DRIVE

If you have done all/most of the above and your Computer's performance is still so bad that you are thinking: Gee, I guess I am going to have to buy another computer! If everything else about the computer is satisfactory to you, then you might consider an Upgrade. If the PC is only a couple years old, it can easily be upgraded.

If you still have the manuals that came with it, you can determine the type of memory it uses and buy it off of the internet at a good price. If you don't have the manuals, take it to Best Buy or Circuit City and ask them if it can be upgraded (or take the model and make info to them). Their upgrade cost is not that bad and certainly cheaper than buying a new computer.

Another alternative: if you know a High School Kid who has taken some computer courses, he/she can probably do it real cheap.

I have personally maxed out my computers memory and added another hard drive. Together with the items above, my computer runs like a "Tiger chasing a Scared Bunny".

I hope this has been of help to you. I have prepared a brief video which depicts the frustration I was having with my computers performance and how I Cured My Computers Performance Problems. You can see it by clicking the link below.

Linux Reseller

What is Host Reselling?

Host reselling has become one of the most feasible options available on the internet and affordable domain names are easily to procure with several web hosting and domain booking websites. These domain names, in turn, can be used for different purposes. Acquiring a host reselling account may prove an excellent option. Now-a-days most of the organizations prefer using Host Reselling Accounts. Organizations that are into the business of offering website hosting, the option of reselling account is no less than a boon.

Linux Reseller Hosting

Linux Reseller Hosting has got the approbation of being considered as one of the best hosting plans. Using Linux Reseller hosting, unlimited domains can be hosted on servers of Linux. Linux hosting is cheap and much easy to manage apart from the fact that it is widely accepted and accredited by web hosting companies. If you are using Linux then, you will be offered various loaded characteristics.

Linux server is acclaimed for its dedicated features and one interesting thing is that this is PHP compatible. Being associated with Linux Reselling is a nice thing for customers as this is secured. Linux reselling hosting come with free software like Apache, APF and Sendmail.

Benefits of Linux Reseller Hosting are as follows:

• All technical issues can be tackled very easily if you use Linux Reseller Hosting Plan.
• State-of-the Art Technology along with latest equipments like communications, routers.
• One gets appropriate commission if the name of Linux is recommended.
• The staff of Linux is committed to provide qualitative services to the clients.
• Linux has introduced easy proceedings such as online activation and nice support.

Linux Hosting Plan Explained

Linux hosting plan is preferred by most of the individuals and resellers. Every hosting plan of Linux has attractive features and is affordable; this is the main reason that hosting plans of Linux are trusted. Each hosting plan is different and the reseller can have several options displayed to the buyer for choosing. Apart from all this, set up procedures of these hosting plans are very easy.

One commendable thing is that Linux Reselling Hosting plan is considered best when it comes to reliability. Cost effectiveness of Linux Reseller hosting is known to all and it is quality hosting at cheap prices. In order to cater to the needs of reseller, many companies have opted for Linux Reselling Hosting.

If one is planning for entering into the business of reseller hosting then, you can use multiple domain hosting plan with Linux. These plans allow the buyer to have multiple domain names and related security features. In addition to all this, back up, Email support with unlimited account services and database support are other common characteristics of Linux Reseller Hosting.

Web Hosting For Linux

Web hosting is one of the most in-demand services on the internet today. Years ago, website owners needed only very simple HTML pages to be hosted, but today, there is a wide array of web-based hosted applications to choose from.

The internet continues to be a way for website and business owners to link to others on a global scale with the assistance of web-based technology such as JSP, PHP, ASP, and more. The choices in available technology have created opportunities for more options in web hosting companies because these HTML websites can function easily on both Windows and Linux platforms.

More About The Linux Platform

Of course, web hosting platforms are different based on its operating system. The two most popular, Microsoft Windows Server and Red Hat Linux.

Most computer and internet users know more about Microsoft Windows than Linux. However, Linux is a great option because it was created and built by community efforts and by several IT companies, such as Red Hat, Mandrake, and Suse. It was designed for professional use and is a strong competitor for Microsoft Windows Server because it is quite robust in features and protection, yet very inexpensive in comparison. Additionally, spamming, viruses, and hacking rarely occur.

Which Web Hosting Companies Offer Hosting For Linux?

There are several web hosting companies to choose from that offer Linux hosting packages. A few to consider are Lunarpages.com and BlueHost.com. Both web hosting companies have packages for Linux users for both business and personal websites. With web hosting for Linux, just as with web hosting for Windows, there are a variety of features and packages to choose from, depending on your website's specific needs and requirements.

Linux Hosting Elements to Keep In Mind

Because the two platforms do have differences, there are a few things to remember. As far as accessibility, a website that is recommended for a Linux based server can certainly be hosted on a Windows web server; however, the opposite may not be achievable. Additionally, website owners must consider future growth. Websites are dynamic in nature so be sure that your web design is well-suited to a Linux based web server.

Website Owners Using Linux

If you have used Microsoft Windows before and have switched to Linux, you are in for a treat. It is many people's opinion that Linux will eventually dominate Windows because of a few important factors.

The system is extremely stable and offers a nearly 99.9% uptime. Linux is a full-fledged server with server applications like DNS Server, File Server, Web Server, and FTP - all free of cost. Users familiar with Linux know that its low cost and well-designed architecture are important to business and website owners, especially those who like to save money.

Web hosting companies offering Linux based hosting are definitely ahead of the game. In the web hosting industry, versatility is the key to staying on top. LunarPages and BlueHost are great because of the versatility they are offering to website owners, so choosing one of these web hosting providers will keep you ahead of the game too.

Strategic Product Creation-Software Creation Guide

Software is the essential key to enable the working of any computer system. Creating software involves using the right programming language that will enable the hardware to work efficiently, thus achieving the goals that are assigned to it.

Creating software involves various phases or cycles which are called Software Development Life Cycles (SDLC). SDLC enables the software engineer, client, tester and consumer to configure in the right kind of software that is needed for a particular purpose. A software can be created for various services which include; insurance, banking, tourism, hotel management and other important industries.

Creating software through the process of SDLC

The process of software creation goes through SDLC in which it is guaranteed that the software is appropriately tested and that it meets the requirements of the client. The following are the stages through which the software goes through:-

· Planning: The conceptualization of the software is brought about particularly with regard to the purpose of the software.

· Analysis: The Software engineer has to understand the requirements of the software and whether or not the software meets the standards of the client.

· Design: A basic blueprint of the software is made so as to gain an understanding of what the software will encompass.

· Development: The coding of the software is typed by the programmer and software engineer. Thus the software is brought about.

· Testing: The software is tested for any fault in order to ensure quality.

· Implementation: The software is loaded into the system to check its overall operability.

· Maintenance: Any errors and problems that may occur during the functioning of the software are immediately rectified, ensuring the quality of the software.

Through these processes of SDLC a new software product is created which enables businesses to run their operations successfully.

Computer Software - How is Computer Software Different?

Software, on a broader perspective, refers to any electronic media content. The term computer software is a term used to refer to computer programs, procedures, and documentation that perform specific tasks on a computer system. This term is also used to describe application software or productivity software, system software such as computer operating systems, and middleware – software that manages and coordinates distributed systems.

Computer software is may be viewed as the language of computers. There is a wide variety of software available and these are categorized into three different types: system software, application software, and programming software.

System software runs the computer system including all the hardware devices contained within the system. This software is used by the computer to interpret input from external sources into something a machine can understand. Software works with the computer’s hardware components and includes the computer’s operating system, diagnostic tools, device drivers, utilities and more. One may automatically think of computer operating systems when the words software system are mentioned – operating systems run the computer. The most popular operating systems today are those manufactured by Microsoft. Other competing operating systems are open source OSs such as Linux and Unix.

Programming Software provides tools that assist programmers in creating computer software and programs. These software tools use different programming languages and include text editors, interpreters, compilers, linkers, and debuggers. All these tools are merged into a software bundle through an integrated development environment or IDE. These IDEs have a graphical user interface that makes programming easier by eliminating the need for programmers to type in numerous commands in order to compile, interpret, debug, trace, and perform other tasks on their code.

Application software provides a way for computer users to complete specific tasks. Common applications include medical software, databases, computer games, industrial automation, educational, and business software programs. The different types of application software may be further subdivided into productivity software – also known as tools, this includes programs that may be used to produce spreadsheets, documents, databases and other products. The most commonly used productivity software is MS Office from Microsoft; educational software – includes programs that provide an alternative method to teaching. This includes drill and practice programs, problem solving programs, tutorials, presentation programs, and references; multimedia – generally includes any software program that is used to view or edit pictures, sound clips, video clips, graphics and other related content; and games – as the name suggests, games are computer programs mainly used as a manner of entertainment.

Software Guide: Some Tips About Software

The term software is generally used for computer software that is an essential part of the computer system. It stores and process all encoded information or computer instructions on PC. Computer software has very vast scope in computer world.

According to computer science and software engineering computer software is all information that is processed by computer systems, programs and other data. Software is completely opposite to hardware, which is used to store or execute the software. Software is loaded into random access memory and then executed in central processing unit. It belongs to machine language that is not easy to understand for the users.

Every operating system has its own software that requires an individual processor. It understands machine language that consists of several groups of binary values, which gives processor instructions and data. Software converts machine language in simple language that enables the users to understand machine language.

Software generates a connection between electronic hardware and data. The user can operate the sequence of data instructions with the help of software. Software can use any type of data such as output/input. Sometimes the output of software can be input for another software. Software provides an interface between hardware, data and other software.

Software can be divided in three classes such as system software, application software and programming software. System software enables the users to run computer hardware and computer system including operating system, device drivers, diagnostic tools, servers, windowing systems and some more.

Users can perform one or more tasks simultaneously with the help of application software. With the help of application software, they can perform all applications like office suites, business software, databases and games. Whereas the programming software offers some functional tools that enables the programmer to write difficult computer programs. Programming software provides some useful tools like text editor, compiler, interpreter, linker and debugger etc.

After installing software a computer can operate that vary software. Application software passes the instructions to system software and then computer program executes on computer.

AntiVirus Protection Guide - Finding The Right PC Protection Software

It is vitally important for anyone that accesses the internet to have an anti-virus protection software installed on their computer. A virus can cause enormous problems for you if it is left on your computer undetected. By having an anti-virus protection program installed on your computer it will help to keep your computer safe against viruses, worms, Trojan horses and other unwanted programs.

If your computer does receive one of these viruses an anti-virus program can help you to clean and get rid of the virus before it causes any major problems.

An anti-virus protection program needs to be updated regularly and it is very important that you remember to do this. A good program will remind you to check for updates regularly. Computer hackers that create these viruses are constantly coming up with new viruses and anti-virus programs are constantly updating their software programs to protect against new viruses, so it is important to keep checking for updates so that you will be protected against any new viruses.

When looking for an anti-virus protection program it is recommended to do some research and make sure that the vendor that you get the program from is a reputable company and that the program has good reviews. Make sure that you have researched enough to be confident that the program will give you the protection that you need to avoid any devastating effects of an unwanted virus.

Once you have an anti-virus protection program you will need to set it up so that the program automatically turns on when your computer is turned on. You want your program to be continually protecting and to pick up on any viruses trying to enter through emails or when downloading files. A good program will detect any viruses trying to access your computer and notify you immediately.

Once notified of a virus your anti-virus protection program should guide you toward removing the virus. It is vital that you do not use your computer until you have removed the virus completely; if you do you may spread the virus and make the situation worse or may even pass the virus on to friends or colleagues through emails.

When choosing an anti-virus protection program make sure that the program will protect you constantly, and that you will have good support from the program creators. Look for a program that will block spyware, spam and pop ups and that will give you a firewall feature.

If you already have an anti-virus protection program installed onto your computer but you are looking to change to a different one, make sure that you uninstall your current program before installing a new one.

By taking these necessary and important steps in finding a good anti-virus protection program for your computer, you and your computer should remain free from viruses and safe from computer hackers. Don't let a nasty virus take over your computer and possibly cause you to lose all your files stored on your computer, get protected and keep your files safe.

Backup Software- Don't Buy It

Computer Backup- Forget About It!

Backup Software is for the birds! Computer Backup is too hard, too much trouble and a pain in the butt. Let’s just forget about it.

Backup Software is touted as the savior of your computer’s critical business and personal files. They claim that all computer hard drives (where our files are stored) eventually will have a 100% failure rate. They try to tell us that the failure of our hard drives is just a matter of WHEN, not IF.

Do your backups they shout!

Poppycock!

BACKUP SOFTWARE- LET’S GET REAL

You and I know the real story. The real story is that new computers are so well made that they almost never fail, right?

Therefore, we don’t need to worry about buying backup software and setting up a computer backup system, do we? It would just be a waste time-- for sure!

After all we know that all the press about hard drive failures, natural disasters and terrorist attacks is just a conspiracy by the backup software companies to get us to buy their products.

Personally I never had a hard drive failure (that I recall). If my computer stops working for whatever reason, that’s life.

Therefore, I ignore these software backup companies that try to push their backup software products on the unsuspecting public even though they make data and file restorations easy. I don’t give them the time of day.

Therefore as you see, I don’t need backup software, do you? Of course not.

BACKUP SOFTWARE- STARTING OVER WITHOUT IT IS EASY

In the unlikely event that I got a virus or a bunch of spyware on my computers I’ll just bite the bullet and move on. After all, if I lost all my data to a virus, then so what? Who needs backup software?

Heck, I’d just buy a new computer and begin again and I’d still wouldn’t need backup software because it’s just too much hassle.

If ALL my business data was lost due to a hard drive crash or virus corruption then I’d just start my business over. No big deal. It’s not that hard, right? Using backup software is just a pain.

BACKUP SOFTWARE FOOLISHNESS

So by now we’re all agreed that using backup software for computer backup is just for the foolish, right? Right.

Who would want to use backup software that automatically and easily backs up EVERYTHING on your computer hard drive to a DVD Rewriteable disk or USB external hard drive? That would mean you could easily recover from any computer disaster. That makes too much sense and is far too logical.

They claim that backup software is a virtual computer insurance policy against fire, flood, theft, earthquake, hurricanes, tornados and terrorist attacks.

Balderdash!

Ridiculous.

Hey, the businesses who survived Hurricane Katrina didn’t need backup software did they? OK, OK I admit a lot of businesses without backup software and off site backup lost EVERYTHING and now they cannot recover their data and reconstitute their business. But that’s life. Now these businesses and their employees can now move on to something new. How exciting!

Look, life without backup software is just so much more interesting.

By the way, did I tell you how much I enjoy playing Russian Roulette?

Did I neglect to mention my brief stay (it was really was only a few days) at the mental hospital? Ahh, that’s ancient history. Let’s get back to the present.

BACKUP SOFTWARE- THE PRESENT DAY

Want to hear something silly? My friend Ben down in New Orleans owned an insurance company. It made a very good living for him and his family. He didn’t believe in backup software either. All his computers were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Ben just laughed and said, “No problem, this disaster gives me the chance to write the Great American Novel that I’ve always dreamed of writing”.

What about his 10 employees and his thousands of customers he was asked? Ben said, “Heck, things always work out for the best don’t they?”

What about the income from the business that supported his family he was asked? Ben said, “Oh, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) told me they would take care of us and not to worry.”

See, Ben is all set and is none the worse for wear even though he didn’t have backup software.

BACKUP SOFTWARE LESSONS

So boys and girls what have we learned about this backup software thing?

* If we don’t have backup software, so what, it just makes life after a hard drive crash more interesting and fun.

* After a natural disaster that destroys your computers, FEMA will make it OK.

* All the hubbub about backup software is just a bunch of advertising hype to sell product.

* Just because you like to play Russian Roulette, you aren’t really crazy.

FINALLY- BACKUP SOFTWARE FOLLYIES

I know another guy, Carl Jordan, who is crazier than I am. Carl and the rest of the loonies at Tweak All Consultants (www.tweakspeed.com) actually believe backup software can save your bacon.

In my own strange way I try to be fair and balanced. Therefore
if you disagree with me check out Carl’s review of backup software at Backup Software

Now, where’s my medication? My meds really smooth me out. They also help me forget about rational things like computer backup and backup software.

Jack Back has been in the computer business since 1983 as an IT executive and working computer consultant company owner. He has helped many clients after a computer crash who had no computer backup. Hurry to get your FREE REVIEW of backup software that saves your irreplaceable computer data from loss, damage or destruction at the Backup Software website.

Antivirus Software - Protect Your PC From Malicious Virus Threats

Many computer users have had the unfortunate experience of computer virus infecting their PCs. Make no mistake, these viruses are not the biological ones that spread from one sick person to another, but do have similar traits in that computer viruses are just as contagious, and spread and infect computers very quickly over the internet.

Technically speaking, a computer virus is a form of executable code. These viruses are designed to cause malfunctions on the affected computer. When other computers are connected to this infected machine, the virus replicates itself to enter and infect the other PC.

You might have heard of the Worms or Trojans, which are viruses that are designed to steal important personal information such as your ID or passwords or account numbers etc that reside on your computer. They can also enable the particular virus to gain access into a machine and then hijack control of the infected computer. Other viruses, especially the macro viruses, are designed in such a way that they can delete or overwrite system or data files in the affected computer.

Installing antivirus software is by far the best solution to protect your PC from attacks from these computer viruses. The best known antivirus software are the Norton, McAfee and Panda, which come with features such as inbuilt firewall and direct access to online back up. These antivirus software also have the ability to deactivate the malicious viruses.

The antivirus software protects your computer from virus attacks following two main methods, the first method being prevention, and the second one cleaning. The preventive function involves stopping new viruses from entering your PC, while the cleaning function involves detection and extermination of the old viruses. The protective tasks include such procedures as monitoring emails, P2P downloads and internet connections. On the other hand, the virus cleaning part includes procedures such as scanning of your computer, detecting viruses and then eliminating them from the computer system.

Antivirus software are generally very efficient in dealing with harmful computer viruses. Even so, computer users are recommended to follow certain safety rules to tighten the protection even more:

* A common mistake most people tend to make is to open unsolicited emails that contain virus, either unknowingly or absent-mindedly. Never open such emails if you want to protect your precious data from getting lost once and for all.

* Another precautionary measure involves not opening any attachment sent with an email. Unless you are sure of its source and what it contains, it is usually better to just delete this mail with the doubtful attachment.

* Make sure to also use a personal firewall.

Get effective Antivirus Software [http://ultimate-antivirus.info/sitemap.php] to protect your computer against computer viruses [http://ultimate-antivirus.info/free-download-anti-virus.php] by visiting Ultimate-AntiVirus.info [http://ultimate-antivirus.info].

New Google Software: 13 Free Downloads that You're Gonna Love

IIf you've not downloaded the newest free software bundle from Google yet, then you've gotta read this...

This package includes the latest powerful tools with countless features that will benefit you in a number of ways. There's text, photo, music, and video applications, programs that address security issues, and things to assist you in exploring the web. There's handy desktop applications and other useful, timesaving goodies. A couple of these programs have potential limited only by your imagination. This is a great collection for anyone, whether you're building websites, doing research, or just surfing the web, and, best of all, it's completely free!

Here's what's included...

GOOGLE SOFTWARE --

• Google Earth is a "3D Earth browser" that lets you view actual photos of the earth from space to street level. Create maps, find driving directions, or look at your own house. A bird's-eye view of the world...
• Picasa is a photo organizer that allows you to find all of the photos stored on your computer, and organize, edit, and share them with others.
• Google Pack Screensaver allows you to convert photos from your personal collection into screensavers that may be set up as collages or full screen pictures.
• Google Desktop is a desktop companion with a TON of features. It features a sidebar that gives you instant access to a number of useful applications -- a real timesaver!
• Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer also come with a ton of features. With it, you can run a search from any webpage, autofill forms, or list the Google page rank of any webpage.

ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE --

• Mozilla Firefox with Google Toolbar is a quick and secure web browser. It allows you to browse using tabs rather than separate windows and has many useful plug-ins, add-ons, and extensions available. If you don't have Firefox yet, I would highly recommend it!
• Norton Antivirus 2005 Special Edition is an AV program that protects your PC from viruses, worms, and Trojan horses. The Google Pack includes a 6-month subscription and updates.
• Ad-Aware SE Personal is an antispyware utility that safely detects and removes spyware to protect your privacy.
• Adobe Reader 7 allows you to view, print, and search PDF files. This version claims to launch up to 50% faster than Reader 6.0

OPTIONAL SOFTWARE --

• Google Talk is a voice & IM application that allows you to call or send instant messages to your friends for free. Get a free account using your mobile phone.
• RealPlayer is a media player that plays popular media formats, organizes music and videos, and transfers music to iPods and other portable media players.
• Google Video Player is a tool that plays videos that may be purchased and downloaded from the Google Video website.
• GalleryPlayer HD Images are high-quality images, artwork, and photos that are perfect for screensavers or desktops.

Google Pack requires Windows XP and either Firefox 1.0+ or Internet Explorer 6.0+, although some of the individual programs will work on older versions. The download process is easy and user-friendly. It allows you to pick only the software that you want, and if you already have any of the programs installed, it will check the version and will only be updated if the Google Pack includes a newer version. You'll also get updates about new software with Google Updater.

Salon Software Products

Some parts of running a beauty salon business can be parts that the owners or managers don't enjoy, Often when salon owners start out, they think about their primary interests in hair, facials, manicures, massages, or other aspects of delivering personal beauty services to the public. They don't think about the fact that as in any business, there are tedious demands such as paperwork, employee W-2's, client information, records of payments, and all kids of day-to-day requirements that face owners.

One way to take away some of the hassle of doing these types of things is purchasing a good software package for assistance in these aspects of running your salon. This can be wonderful, as it will make a huge difference for the salon owner and take these unpleasant chores out of your hands and leave you with the aspects of your business you enjoy. The ability to get rid of the responsibilities that these software programs can substitute for can really be a blessing for many operators,

These types of programs have many features that are attractive to the buyer. They are very user friendly, requiring little or no instructions or technological skill. Help services are available on top of these features, supporting and instructing the operator when there is any difficulty. It is compatible with many editions of Windows, and usable on most types of computers. It is easy to download and run.

They are often as easy to purchase as clicking a download from the internet rather than even going to a store and making a physical purchase. This can be initially a demo version to allow you a free trial to get to know the services to see whether they are helpful for your business, and then a payment to continue. The software will be compatible with versions of Windows, Mac and other programs and operating systems.

A number of companies provide these services. Among the many other salon software packages are Salon Iris Salon Software; The Spa Salon Manager; OMNI Salon Management Spa Management Software Systems; and Orchid Medical Spa Software by Restexx Information Technologies. Mosts often they are available in English, but some such as Plan Magic Business 9.0 is available in a number of other languages such as Spanish, Italian and even Russian, among others. With such ease of purchase and operation, these programs will allow you to get on with the business of doing what you enjoy and specialize in the most.

Software Marketing - An SEO Approach

Software Marketing - The SEO Strategy

Software Marketing comes in many flavors. Depending on if consumers (via standard software package sales) or business or enterprise are your target customers, your software marketing strategy will differ greatly.

This article is going to go over rather low cost but effective strategy that will kick off your online software marketing with effective medium to long term results. We will focus standalone packages that you will make accessible for sale from your website, or software directories.

If you sell b2b custom software you can still use the information in this article if you be a little creative!

So to begin, its important we maximize our time spend and get the things done that yield the best results with the least effort or cost. The following 8 steps need to be followed

Website Design

Its critical (obviously) to have a competent looking site, designed well, with great copy that convinces visitors to buy or download. Most visitors wont purchase your software directly from your website, but rather after downloading your software from elsewhere (software directories etc). They will most likely however check your website before making a purchase, to make sure you seem legit, can offer support etc. Therefore keep it professional!

Keyword Research

Its important to get a good understanding of the words people will use to search for your product. There are many tools and services will show you what search phrases are used on the search engines and the estimated number of searches a month. This allows you to know exactly what search phrases or keywords you need to focus on and provides a picture of the potential market size by search volume.

Competitive Research

The Internet allows you, quite easily, to tell exactly what marketing your competition is doing, the ads they use, the copy they use, where they advertise and who their affiliates are. Take advantage of the $$ and time they spent on market research and testing and simply copy and improve on their strategy!

Download.com Listing

This important step is where you need to get yourself a well written, professional download.com listing for your software, making use of your 1-3 top keywords you found via your keyword research. Download.com ranks very well in the search engines and is seen as authority site by google for down-loadable software.

Software Submissions

We want to make use a good manual software submission service (costs more - gets you more listings) or automated software submission tool (unlimited submissions for the upfront cost - less reliable) to submit our software to 600-1000 software directories. This gets you instant downloads, and if you know how, will greatly improve the search engine rankings for your main software listing!

Deep Links

We now use deep links to push our main listing up into the top of the search results in the search engines. Deep link directories and submission services are not that easy to find, but there are some great ones out there if you know where to look!

Link Building

The foundations of the strategy are now complete and you have set yourself up for consistent medium to long term downloads (and hopefully sales!) and a decent ranking for your listing (and the free traffic that goes with it). Now you want to regularly generate links to your listing to keep improving your results moving forward. You now want to outsource our link building through certain services such as elance.

Article Submissions

Build your trust levels and position yourself in your market with quality articles and information targeted at your niche. Sell ecommerce software? Write articles on related topics that online business owners will find useful. Show your potential customers your not just a bunch of programmers, but rather you understand their problems, their business, the niche etc and can provide software that delivers. Article submissions not only raise your profile in the marketplace but have the added benefit of generating quality back links to your listings, as well as sending good qualified traffic to your product pages!

The above steps are a good place to start for any software marketing strategy and provides a firm base to build on moving forward.

Chiropractic Software Program Comparisons

It is important to choose a software program based on what it can offer your practice, and not solely on cost. It is understandable that most new chiropractors come out of school with a lot of debt and want to get started for as little money as possible. Scrimping on something as important as your office software could cause you big headaches and even more money in the long run. If you have to upgrade to a better program, not only will you have to contract workers to perform the upgrade, your office staff will not be able to access your records for a period of time until the upgrade process is effective. These are thoughts to consider when reviewing your software options. Chiropractic software comparison is a necessary evil when finding your perfect software match.

Weeding through the various types of programs available can be exhausting. Some programs offer insurance billing specifically, while others focus on only patient records. Prepare to spend several hours in reviewing your options and be sure to speak with your office staff about their needs. Since the staff will be the ones using the programs, it is absolutely imperative that their input is considered. The Internet is a good search tool when looking for chiropractic software comparisons.

One of the most utilized programs today is Eclipse® Practice Management Software. This company has been providing office solutions for over 20 years and has one of the most comprehensive office management software packages in the industry. According to their website, “ECLIPSE includes billing, scheduling, EHR (electronic health record), daily notes, an extensive alerts system, certified HIPAA compliant electronic claims & remittance, security features that include patient data access tracking to help you run a HIPAA compliant facility, and myriad reports fine-tuned by two decades of client feedback”. Eclipse also boasts of the software’s abilities to streamline your office records and create a virtually paperless office.

Another popular chiropractic software program is Lytec®. Founded in 1989, this company is well-known as a leader in helping chiropractic offices streamline their records and superior customer support. Lytec specializes in the efficiency of patient billing, insurance filing and appointment setting. Included in their software package is a patented program called Code Import which loads CPT-4, ICD-9 and HCPCS directly into the Lytec software to greatly reduce coding errors. Another interesting feature of the Lytec software program is the Fee Schedule Import feature. This feature “automatically loads Medicare fee schedules into Lytec saving time and improving accuracy.”

ChiroSoft® is a software program designed especially for today’s chiropractic offices. It was first launched in 1982 and has had over 20 years experience in fine-tuning the software for the busy chiropractor. One of the most recognized and appreciated features of this program in the fee slip feature. According to their website, “A fee slip is printed on each patient before they see the doctor, this allows for easy communication between the front desk and the chiropractor. The front desk must post services into ChiroSoft® to cancel out that daily fee slip. This prevents billable services from being missed by the office staff.” Many chiropractors find this feature very valuable and recommend it to others.

Chiropractic Complete Max Pro® is another widely used software program for chiropractic offices. The tagline for this company is: save time, improve efficiency, reduce costs, increase productivity, and maximize profits. This product seems to offer a variety of necessary tools to maximize the performance of the chiropractic office. It offers flexible appointment scheduling, automated payment plans, statistical reports, the ability to bundle procedure codes that are used daily for quick reference, Multiple case management without creating double patient accounts, mailing list creation, electronic patient records, front desk management, and marketing tools. This is a bundled program that seems to offer nearly any tool that a chiropractor needs.

Finding the appropriate software for your practice can be very time consuming. When you first begin your search, it is likely that you will be overwhelmed with choices. Remember to consult with your office staff to determine what their needs may be. That is a good starting point in deciding which programs to purchase. Getting the right software in the beginning can save a lot of trouble in the future. If you have to change programs, you will have some lag-time where you will not be able to access your records. Finding a good vendor who understands your needs and who will offer excellent customer support is also a very important step. It may take some time, but with all of the products available on the market today, with a little research and thought, you will find the product you need to make your business successful.

10 Amazing Advantages of Web Based Software

More and more providers and billing services are looking into the benefits of web based software over the old fashioned server based practice management systems. After running a medical billing business with server based software for fifteen years, we decided it was time to look into some of the newer features.

The field of medical billing is always changing and improvements should be expected in our software capabilities. As technology develops we should find our software doing more jobs for us in less time and dealing with regulations and coding changes in real time. Of course we want all this available to us at a reasonable cost. We found that with the newer technology of web based practice management systems can really save time and money.

The newest software offers unbelievable features creating shortcuts that save time, money, keystrokes, denials, and improves cash flow. With a web based practice management system you can sign onto a secure program on the web on any computer, not just the one with the software installed. Here are ten amazing advantages of some of the best of the new web based medical billing software.

1. Saves time - Development of new technology has automated so many processes previously dependent upon employee data entry that incredible amounts of time can be saved. Electronic payment entry, one click printing capabilities, problem claims stored in a queue rather than searching through electronic reports, and one click reproducing of last claim codes are just a few of the amazing shortcuts now available.

Just imagine the time saved alone in not having to enter payments. The eobs can now be scanned and converted to an 837 file that electronically enters the insurance payments and automatically bills the secondary insurance carrier or the patient.

In our server based system we had to open a box and choose whether you were printing a primary insurance, a secondary insurance, or a patient statement. When you clicked on one of those it asked which form you want to use. After clicking on the appropriate form, a box would ask if you which printer you use. Then if the printer had more than one drawer, you would have to click on properties and choose the drawer with the correct type of paper for the form you are printing. If one of my workers printed out only 25 paper claims or patient statements a day, a one click printing job would save over 100 commands per day. As a billing service, we receive hundreds of electronic reports per week that we must open, read, and deal with the problem claims. This task was overwhelming with the server based program. The new web based program we now use sends just the problem claims to a queue. We now go to the queue and check on only the problems instead of wading through all the accepted claims to find the rejections.

These are just a few of the time saving systems now available with some web based programs. These systems have enabled us to increase our work load by 50% without taking on more employees or increasing our hours.

2. Saves money - With so many time saving advantages of web based software we were able to take on extra accounts without increasing our payroll. We put our employees to much more productive work. Web based software can also save the upfront costs of purchasing a server based software along with the required licensing, support, and updates. The web based program we decided on charges one small monthly fee. That's it. No extra charges for electronic submissions, support, provider scheduling, providing a superbill, patient online payments, ICD9 and CPT codes, code query, set up fees or back ups. No up front costs. Not only does this cost less, but it works better.

3. Eliminates many errors that create rework. The automated methods used with the newest web based software take many jobs that were once entered manually by billers and now eliminate the human errors thru automation. A simple typo can cause a claim to be rejected or denied slowing down the payment cycle and causing much extra and unnecessary work. Rework is one of the most costly problems in an office. Whenever you can eliminate rework with better systems you save money.

4. Works in "Real Time" - When you are used to working on a static server based software you have no say in updating a process until a new version is released which you must purchase if you want to be able to update to these new requirements. This can be a problem when you have an outdated code you want to change or there are new requirements such as the NPI numbers, addition of taxonomy codes, or changes to the workers comp form. A web based program can provide for these changes as they become necessary. Instead of spending thousands of dollars to purchase the latest version of a server based software, the web based program is updated as it becomes necessary for any changes to be made. As diagnosis codes and CPT codes are added or eliminated, web based software can deal with these changes immediately, not with the next update. This feature can eliminate coding denials of insurance claims due to CPT or ICD9 changes.

5. Claims scrubbing - Claims scrubbing can go well beyond just letting you know that a patient's birth date is missing. One small example of how helpful an effective claims scrubber can be is when a chiropractor bills a claim to Medicare where Medicare requires the AT modifier. If the modifier is not on the claim to Medicare it will be denied and if the AT modifier is on a claim to another insurance company, that claim may be denied for invalid modifier. A good claims scrubber will flag the claim if you have used the modifier incorrectly.

6. Capable of billing UB04 forms as well as CMS 1500 forms - Small facilities such as rehab clinics and mobile surgery centers are sometimes required to submit their claims on UB04 forms, depending on if they are credentialed as a facility or a provider with the insurance carrier. We found a web based software that will allow submissions of UB04 as well as CMS 1500 claim forms eliminating the need for two separate billing programs if you are billing for a facility. This is a great option for a billing company who may take on a small facility and has no way to print UB04 forms as well as for the small facility that needs to bill UB04 forms.

7. ICD9 and CPT codes preloaded for your specialty - Our server based medical billing software did not have the codes preloaded. We were constantly adding diagnosis codes and unfortunately some invalid diagnosis codes were added. When an invalid code was used, usually the claim was denied for invalid diagnosis code. The claim was then corrected and resubmitted - a good example of the rework I was talking about earlier. The web based program we decided on has all diagnosis codes and procedure codes for the specialty of the provider already preloaded. There are no unnecessary codes but you can add codes. As codes are updated, added or deleted by the AMA, they are changed automatically in the program. This will be especially helpful when we go to the ICD10 codes.

8. Automatic insurance company updates - You don't have to keep up with insurance company address changes or electronic payer number for your clearing house. Our favorite web based software preloaded all insurance companies that could go electronically with the correct payer number. If a carrier changes their payer ID# it is automatically updated by the web based software. You don't have to worry about it. How many of us have suddenly had all claims for a particular carrier fall into a black hole and find out it was because they changed their payer number and only notified providers on a small sidebar on their website. With good web based software this would not happen. Because they work in "Real Time", insurance companies and their electronic identifiers are added or updated as the clearing house adds/updates them.

9. Eliminates need for accounting software - A billing service finds the need for accounting software like Quickbooks to keep track of billing their providers for their services. With the new technology, a billing service can now bill their providers, print statements, send past due notices, run reports, and enter payments all in the web based system eliminating the need for Quickbooks. The web based software we chose performs all the functions we once used Quickbooks for.

10. Multiple practices, eligibility, and electronic submissions at no extra cost - This makes a huge difference to a billing service. When we first started looking at the web based software we were afraid that it would be cost prohibitive for a billing service with multiple providers as most companies charged based on the number of providers. We were thrilled to find an application which not only had more technical features but didn't charge by the provider or practice but rather by the user.

After researching the advantages of web based software extensively, we found that we could not afford to ignore the advantages of web based software. The next thing was to find an application that was affordable for a billing service.

We found that a company that used the SaaS (Software as a Service) concept could offer a much more reasonable product than a typical licensing product. Most web based programs charge per provider or practice so if you are billing for 60 providers, it can get real expensive. Using the Saas concept a web based medical billing software could now be offered to medical offices and billing services for a reasonable monthly fee and with no set up costs.

Xena-Health software quickly showed us a superior product with a host of benefits we didn't know existed resulting in cutting our data entry time in half. We never dreamed of all the possibilities that newer technology could supply and at such a reasonable cost. With many medical office costs rising yearly, it was a wonderful surprise to find a cost savings product that actually increased our efficiency. Xena has been great to work with and we have been thrilled with the results.

Software Cracks

Software cracking is reverse software engineering. It is the modification of software to remove protection methods. The distribution and use of the copies is illegal in almost every developed country. There have been many lawsuits over the software, but mostly to do with the distribution of the duplicated product rather than the process of defeating the protection, due to the difficulty of proving guilt.

The most common software crack is the modification of an application's binary to cause or prevent a specific key branch in the program's execution. This is accomplished by reverse engineering the compiled program code using a debugger until the software cracker reaches the subroutine that contains the primary method of protecting the software.

The binary is then modified using the debugger or a hex editor in a manner that replaces a prior branching opcode so the key branch will either always execute a specific subroutine or skip over it. Almost all common software cracks are a variation of this type.

Proprietary software developers are constantly developing techniques such as code obfuscation, encryption, and self-modifying code to make this modification increasingly difficult. In the United States, the passing of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) legislation made cracking of software illegal, as well as the distribution of information which enables the practise.

However, the law has hardly been tested in the U.S. judiciary in cases of reverse engineering for personal use only. The European Union passed the European Union Copyright Directive in May 2001, making software copyright infringement illegal in member states once national legislation has been enacted pursuant to the directive.

The first software copy protection was on early Apple II, Atari 800 and Commodore 64 software. Game publishers, in particular, carried on an arms race with crackers. Publishers have resorted to increasingly complex counter measures to try to stop unauthorized copying of their software.

One of the primary routes to hacking the early copy protections was to run a program that simulates the normal CPU operation. The CPU simulator provides a number of extra features to the hacker, such as the ability to single-step through each processor instruction and to examine the CPU registers and modified memory spaces as the simulation runs.

The Apple II provided a built-in opcode disassembler, allowing raw memory to be decoded into CPU opcodes, and this would be utilized to examine what the copy-protection was about to do next. Generally there was little to no defense available to the copy protection system, since all its secrets are made visible through the simulation.

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Learn Forex Trading, Forex Strategies, Forex Software, Forex Investment

What is FOREX (Foreign Exchange)?

Forex (Foreign Exchange) simply means the buying of one currency and selling another at the same time. In other words, the currency of one country is exchanged for those of another. The currencies of the world are on a floating exchange rate, and are always traded in pairs Euro/Dollar, Dollar/Yen, etc. In excess of 85 percent of all daily transactions involve trading of the major currencies.

Four major currency pairs are usually used for investment purposes. They are: Euro against US dollar, US dollar against Japanese yen, British pound against US dollar, and US dollar against Swiss franc. The following notation is used for these currency pairs: EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, and USD/CHF. You may consider them as "blue chips" of the FOREX market. No dividends are paid on currencies. The investment profits come from well known "buy low - sell high".

If you think one currency will appreciate against another, you may exchange that second currency for the first one and stay in it. In case everything goes as planned, some time later you may make the opposite deal - exchange this first currency back for that other - and collect profits.

Transactions on the FOREX market are fulfilled by dealers at major banks or FOREX brokerage companies. FOREX is the world wide market, so when you are sleeping in the North America some dealers in Europe are trading currencies with their Japanese counterparties. Therefore the FOREX market is active 24 hours a day and dealers at major institutions are working in three shifts. Clients may place take-profit and stop-loss orders with brokers for overnight execution.

Price movements on the FOREX market are very smooth and without gaps that you face almost every morning on the stock market. The daily turnover on the FOREX market is about $1.2 trillion, so investor can enter and exit position without problems. The fact is that the FOREX market never stops, even on the day of September-11, 2001 you could obtain two-side quotes on currencies.

The currency foreign exchange (http://www.123forex.blogspot.com) market is the largest and oldest financial market in the world. It is also called the foreign exchange market, or "FOREX" or "FX" market for short. It is the biggest and most liquid market in the world, and it is traded mainly through the 24 hour-a-day inter-bank currency market - the primary market for currencies. The forex market is a cash (or "spot") inter-bank market. By comparison, the currency futures market is only one per cent as big.

Unlike the futures and stock markets, trading of currencies is not centralized on an exchange. Forex literally follows the sun around the world. Trading moves from major banking centers of the U.S. to Australia and New Zealand, to the Far East, to Europe and finally back to the U.S.

In the past, the forex inter-bank market was not available to small speculators due to the large minimum transaction sizes and often-stringent financial requirements. Banks, major currency dealers and the occasional huge speculator used to be the principal dealers. Only they were able to take advantage of the currency market's fantastic liquidity and strong trending nature of many of the world's primary currency exchange rates.

Today, foreign exchange market maker brokers such as FX Solutions are able to break down the larger sized inter-bank units, and offer small traders the opportunity to buy or sell any number of these smaller units (lots).

These brokers give virtually any size trader, including individual speculators or smaller companies, the option to trade the same rates and price movements as the large players who once dominated the market. Market makers quote buying and selling rates for currencies, and they profit on the difference between their buying and selling rates

Why Trading FOREX?

The cash/spot FOREX markets possess certain unique attributes that offer unmatched potential for profitable trading in any market condition or any stage of the business cycle:

A 24-hour market: A trader may take advantage of all profitable market conditions at any time; no waiting for the 'opening bell'.

Highest liquidity: The FOREX market with an average trading volume of over $1.5 trillion per day is the most liquid market in the world. That means that a trader can enter or exit the market at will in almost any market condition minimal execution barriers or risk and no daily trading limit.

High leverage: A leverage ratio of up to 400 is typical compared to a leverage ratio of 2 (50% margin requirement) in equity markets. Of course, this makes trading in the cash/spot forex market a double-edged sword the high leverage makes the risk of the down side loss much greater in the same way that it makes the profit potential on the upside much more attractive.

Low transaction cost: The retail transaction cost (the bid/ask spread) is typically less than 0.1% (10 pips or points) under normal market conditions. At larger dealers, the spread could be less than 5 pips, and may widen considerably in fast moving markets.

Always a bull market: A trade in the FOREX market involves selling or buying one currency against another. Thus, a bull market or a bear market for a currency is defined in terms of the outlook for its relative value against other currencies. If the outlook is positive, we have a bull market in which a trader profits by buying the currency against other currencies. Conversely, if the outlook is pessimistic, we have a bull market for other currencies and a trader profits by selling the currency against other currencies. In either case, there is always a bull market trading opportunity for a trader.

Inter-bank market: The backbone of the FOREX market consists of a global network of dealers (mainly major commercial banks) that communicate and trade with one another and with their clients through electronic networks and telephones. There are no organized exchanges to serve as a central location to facilitate transactions the way the New York Stock Exchange serves the equity markets. The FOREX market operates in a manner similar to the way the NASDAQ market in the United States operates, and thus it is also referred to as an 'over the counter' or OTC market.

No one can corner the market: The FOREX market is so vast and has so many participants that no single entity, even a central bank, can control the market price for an extended period of time. Even interventions by mighty central banks are becoming increasingly ineffectual and short-lived, and thus central banks are becoming less and less inclined to intervene to manipulate market prices.

Unregulated: The FOREX market is generally regarded as an unregulated market although the operations of major dealers, such as commercial banks in money centers, are regulated under the banking laws. The conduct and operation of retail FOREX brokerages are not regulated under any laws or regulations specific to the FOREX market, and in fact many of such establishments in the United States do not even report to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The currency futures and options that are traded on exchanges such as Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) are regulated in the way other exchange-traded derivatives are regulated.

DVD Software Explained and Clarified

The real problem in identifying what DVD software would best suit your needs actually comes from the lack of a standard definition of each type. In addition to that the technology of dealing with DVDs has stabilised through development so that just burning a DVD would hardly be described as rocket science anymore!

This has resulted in many of the DVD software brands branching out into other functions in an effort to attract customers through added features and benefits. This merging of the various things you may want to do with a DVD has resulted in it becoming rather unclear as to which software you should get to suit your particular needs.

DVD Copying Software.

This is DVD software that has, as its main purpose, the simple action of copying a DVD onto another DVD. It will generally do this by first making a copy on to the hard drive of your computer then using that copy to burn to a new blank DVD. Generally this will be an automated process.

A variation of this is DVD Ripping where the software deconstructs the original DVDs contents into its various files and folders while it is being copied to the computer hard drive. This allows some degree of manipulation prior to burning a new DVD. Pure DVD Copying software is very often combined with the ability to make basic edits and changes to parts of the DVD and remove unwanted features like subtitles or extra content.

DVD Conversion Software.

The primary function here is to take the contents of an existing DVD and convert them into another format. For example a home made video DVD being converted to a more compressed video format for uploading on to YouTube or similar or for viewing on a computer.

A good example of a combination of DVD Copying Software and DVD Conversion Software would be a product called DVD Fab. This is software that allows DVD copying in many forms with a high degree of control over the final output combined with the ability to convert the contents of the DVD to other formats.

DVD Burning Software.

The main purpose of DVD burning software is to take data from a computer and transfer it on to a DVD disc. This occurs in two ways depending on what is being burned.

In the case of data such as files, folders or documents this is a pretty straightforward process of copying that data and placing it on the DVD in such a way that other programs can read what is there.

In the case of video DVDs it is a slightly more complicated procedure. There are certain protocols that determine how a video DVD must be written on to a disc. DVD burning software has the ability to understand and create those protocols as it is burning. The DVD Burning ROM of NERO 9 would be an example of this. This does, however, lead to another type of DVD software.

DVD Authoring Software.

DVD authoring is the action of creating the DVD structure (including menus, buttons, subtitles and reference to special features) that you would find on a video DVD. The video on a DVD is actually a type of video file called MPEG2. If you just burned the MPEG2 on to a disc a DVD player would not be able to recognise or play that file. The file has to be "wrapped" in a certain type of structure for the DVD player to be able to play it.

Also, the disc needs to have menus created so that both you and the player can navigate around the disc and play the parts you want. The creation of all of this is the job of DVD authoring software. Corel DVD Movie Factory would be an example of DVD authoring software and all such software must also have the ability to burn the DVD as well as create the structure.

DVD Editing Software.

Many people search in the internet for this and probably get a little frustrated as to why they can not get a definitive result. The reason for that is that the term itself is a bit of a misnomer. It is unclear whether the person wishes to edit the structure of the DVD (menus, movie titles etc.) or whether they are seeking to edit the actual video.

In reality if you want to re-edit or manipulate the menus or features that are on a DVD and then burn to a new DVD that action would be covered by either a DVD copying or conversion software as mentioned above.

If what you want is to re-edit the actual video itself on a DVD then DVD software is not really designed to do that. This activity has now crossed over into the field of video editing software. Having said that there still is a range of DVD software suites that do include this function as an added feature. Nero 9 and Roxio Creator 2009 have this ability.

DVD Merging or Combining Software.

This one really suffers from the loose definitions of all of these functions. Most DVD copying software or conversion software offers the ability to take a couple of DVDs or more and have you re-combine the contents on to a newly created DVD. So you could say they merge or combine DVDs.

However there is another very specific action which is the merging of two, three or even four DVDs into one DVD but at the same time retaining the menus of the original DVDs. The most common need for this is the case of DVD camcorders that record to 8cm or "mini" DVDs.

People who re-use their 8cm RW DVDs or who wish to archive their recordings may want to transfer the contents of a few of those DVDs on to one full sized DVD and save some space. Simply copying the contents of the DVDs over on to one full DVD would result in the loss of the menus of the original DVDs. That would mean you would have hundreds of individual MPEG2 files on a disc and no way of knowing which one is which. Simply a sea of MPEG2 icons in a folder!

There is only one software I know of that can handle that problem and is the only one I know of that could be described as DVD Merging software. It's name is DVDRemake and it can merge or combine two, three or even four DVDs on to one without losing the original menus. Very handy for the DVD camcorder enthusiast.

Finally! DVD Data Recovery and DVD Repair Software.

As much as the manufacturers of DVDs, DVD burning software and DVD burners would have you believe that DVD is somehow perfect because it is digital that is very far from the truth. DVDs can get burned with errors, get scratched, or have errors "built in" because of glitches in the software being used or even the computer being used.

For such occurrences we have this category of DVD software. Generally speaking we are now getting down to some very specialised software that can correct existing errors in DVDs. Of course when you get these errors you will get nonsensical and meaningless messages such as "no disc" (even though you can see one!), "disc error" (well duh!), "invalid DVD navigation structure" (my personal favorite!) and a whole range of others. Without going into the myriad of available specialist software for this it is interesting to note that Nero 9 now has a module within it to handle a great number of these problems called RescueAgent.

So, that got a whole lot more complicated than I intended but I hope at least it will provide you with a general guide to the various functions of DVD software.

Lance is not very good at writing about himself in the third person. He is an ex-patriot Australian living in Taiwan running a business consulting company. His grasp of the Chinese language ranges from poor to laughable and in most circumstances his actual use of the Chinese language results in laughter.

Will Book Catalog Software Make a Good Gift?

Getting a gift for someone is always a nerve-wracking adventure, isn't it? No matter how well you know a person, a gift can be a stressful decision to make. But when the person you want to gift is someone who loves books, the answer might be easier than you think. After all, you've seen the book catalog software available, but is it as perfect a gift as it seems to be? Here are some things you need to know.

Organization Helps Anyone

With book catalog software, your friend or family member will be able to organize the books they own now and the books they own in the future. Whether this is a person that reads a lot for business or for pleasure, a software program helps them to easily find and to use the books they own. All they have to do is to enter the books into the program (or as a part of the gift, you can do this for them) and then they will be able to look at the list to see what they own, what they don't own and what they might want to purchase in the future. This is an especially important gift when the person not only has a lot of books to organize, but they also have multiple sites in which they store their precious books.

Show You Know Them

When you already know a person is a book lover and you give the gift of book catalog software, you are showing that you care and that you know them well. This is going to make the recipient feel loved and appreciated. By recognizing what is important to them, you show that this person is important to you - and that often makes any gift all the more special and appreciated. You can even give this gift to someone who might be just starting out with a book collection to encourage their activities. And even if the person isn't a reader of books for pleasure, this is a gift which will help academics keep track of all their necessary reference guides.

A Lifelong Gift

What's great about a book catalog software program is that not only is it something a person can use today, but it can be added to and adjusted for the rest of the user's life. As the book collection changes, so can the catalog's listings. This will help anyone utilize this gift no matter what they end up doing with their books and no matter where they might move. Since the listing will be saved electronically, the program helps the user keep track of their collection from anywhere their computer might end up.

With book catalog software, you can be assured your gift will be appreciated. Unlike so many other gifts, this is one that not only is useful and practical, but also a gift which shows how much you care. In this case, the thought is what counts - and the thought you've put into this gift will make the recipient smile.

Trading Software

A statement that goes without saying is that computers make people’s lives easier. That is as long as you don’t have a laptop causing you problems like I do! Everywhere from shopping and buying movie tickets researching important topics, computers have changed the way we do business. In the stock market, trading software has also been helping to revolutionize trading. From research, technical analysis and share trading, trading software plays an extremely intimate role in helping people make their fortune in the Internet. Trading software has changed the way people trade and equipped them with incredible amounts of information. Whether free downloads or subscription software costing several thousands of dollars, people are looking to trading software to get ahead.

The Power of The Computer

Computers and the Internet have made collecting, organizing, and understanding information on companies a much easier task than just a few short years ago. These days finding and reviewing annual reports or knowing the latest corporate moves by a company is literally a click away. All of the available information in trading software has made investing less about “playing the stock market” and more about intelligent investors making informed choices. From paper trading futures to Forex trading, it is easier than ever before to understand the dynamics of trading. Some of the unique features of trading software are:

• Tremendous Amounts of Data – Without any special packages, the Internet is loaded with information that can help successful traders understand exactly what they need and where they can find it.

• Free and Low-Cost Downloads – Who say you can’t get anything for free these days? There is a wide variety of trading software and each one serves a different purpose. In addition, a large number of stock and futures brokers offer software to help people learn to trade successfully, also known as paper trading. One piece of advice when it comes to stock, options or Forex software. Be wary about downloading from unfamiliar sources. While you may be trying to legally make money, others can be attempting to invade your computer or our personal information to profit from you illegally. It is wise to only download trading software from sites that you know and trust.

• Personal Finance Packages - Personal finances packages are trading software solutions that help you get all of your financial data in one place including bank account, credit cards, and stock trading investment accounts. The two most popular are Quicken and Microsoft Money. These products give you a wide variety of interfaces that let you spend hours controlling every aspect of your financial life if you so choose. They both will download information to popular tax preparation software so you can save time when you begin that process and allow you to track your investments and let you go online to update your stock portfolio. If you want consolidated financial solution, these programs are worth considering and both cost less than $100.

• High-End Packages – Some of the most sophisticated trading software available can help investors with highly complicated fundamental and technical analysis. This kind of trading software usually is subscription based and generally includes such things as stock charting and regression calculations. For day traders, there are real time quite services that offer up to the minute quotes and it very closely resembles what the actual brokers see. Unless you are a serious day trader, this is probably not really necessary and too expensive just to have.

Conclusion

The computer and the Internet of open a large number of opportunities for investors. Whether you are looking for stock buying tips or wishing to get involved in online futures trading, there is trading software available to you. The features and power of this vast array of trading software can help you get ahead in the big world of investing.