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Archive for February, 2010

Verizon DSL – It’s Cheaper Than You Think

Posted in Desktop Support
February 27th, 2010 by admin

Verizon DSL is a digital subscriber link (DSL) internet service provided by Verizon communications. Internet can be accessed in many ways like cable, ISDN, dial-up, optical fiber, power line internet, satellite, wi-fi, DSL etc. The advantage of DSL is that the voice telephone and fax can be used simultaneously with the internet connection. DSL technology takes advantage of the fact that on the telephone line, voice occupies a very small bandwidth and a large bandwidth is unused. This unused bandwidth is utilized by DSL for internet. Verizon DSL can also be used to connect more than one computer to one connection.

DSL internet service is provided over the ordinary telephone. Verizon DSL is available in most places where verizon has provided telephone service. However DSL is not available on all telephone lines due to physical limitations. If the telephone is beyond 3 miles from the verizon central office (telephone exchange) the DSL service is not available. This is because the quality of the connection generally deteriorates beyond the 3 mile limit. Further if the copper wiring in the home telephone line is not as per requirements DSL service cannot be provided. Whether Verizon DSL can be provided or not to a particular Verizon telephone line can be checked easily by entering the telephone number in the URL given below.

Verizon DSL is available in two packages. The Home package and The Business Package. Home package is available in two speeds, 3 Mbps/768 Kbps and 768Kbps/128Kbps. The rates are $312.45 $ per year and $ 164.45per year respectively. The charges have to be paid in monthly installments. A $19.95 shipping and activation will be charged separately.

For business DSL the prices are, 768Kbps $24.95MO, 3Mbps/768 Kbps $39.95 MO, 7.2 Mbps $79.95 MO. $25 setup fee and equipment for all packages.

Verizon DSL supports both PC and Macintosh. The minimum PC requirements for Verizon DSL are any one of the operating systems, Windows98, Windows Me, Windows XP or Windows 2000. 233 MHz Intel Pentium processor or equivalent or higher. For Windows XP, 300 MHz Intel Pentium processor or equivalent or higher. 128 MB RAM for Windows XP or 2000. 64 MB RAM for other OS. 100 MB free disk space. CD-ROM or DVD drive. USB Port or 10Base-T Ethernet Network Interface Card.

For Macintosh computers the minimum requirements are Macintosh OS X or 10.2-10.4 .PowerPC processor with speeds 120 MHz or higher. 64 MB RAM. 100 MB free disk space. CD-ROM or DVD drive. 10-Base-T Ethernet Network Interface Card. Alternatively the computer can be assessed automatically for compatibility with Verizon DSL at this URL. http://www22.verizon.com/ForHomeDSL/channels/dsl/sysreq/pc.asp

Verizon DSL can be ordered online. Verizon DSL comes with a self installing kit. The kit is an audio visual guide on how to install the DSL modem, using DSL filters, and installing Verizon Online DSL software. In case of difficulty the 24/7 live technical support is available. There are other benefits of opting for Verizon DSL, such as 10 MB webspace, 9 e-mail accounts, 30 day money back guarantee etc. (If the individual is not satisfied with Verizon DSL he will be repaid the money he has paid.)

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Cheap web hosting with good uptime and support

Posted in Technology Support
February 21st, 2010 by admin

I having not one, but two web hosting plan that is priced below $50 dollars per year. Ya, that is $3-$4 dollars per month hosting plan. With php, mysql, host multiple websites, emails, ftp, crons job and many other features that makes these the complete hosting package. And with good customer support, and live chat support as well. Couldnt belief they are selling it at this incredible low price.

I am talking about hostnine shared hosting and hostican shared hosting. Hostnine shared hosting start with $3.95 and the basic plan will allow multiple domain hosting. Get hostnine coupon from http://www.hostninereview.org/hostnine/hostnine-coupons and will get your 50% saving from your first bill. I paid around $40 dollars for the one year plan. For this august, its giving me 100% uptime and no downtime. I tracked using serviceuptime.com monitoring services.

For the hostican hosting base-host and tera-host, you can get the coupon from http://www.hosticanreview.org/hostican/hostican-coupons and apply it to get $50 dollars discount from your bill. I paid only $45 dollars for the hosting. This hosting is giving me very good uptime as well.

Next time you look for cheap web hosting with quality in it, you will know where to start looking. And I glad I found them as well.

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Using A Client Extranet For Efficient Online Collaboration

Posted in Desktop Support
February 17th, 2010 by admin

Efficient collaboration with clients is essential for any service firm. Traditionally, collaboration has focused on face-to-face meetings, supported by email to share work in progress.

Over the past several years, a new tool has grown in popularity: the client service extranet. While face-to-face meetings remain the most effective (and essential) collaboration tool, extranets have replaced email as the favored forum for sharing and organizing the vast number of documents that are part of all client/agency relationships.

Increasingly, service firms are using extranets as a platform to share work with clients securely and efficiently. They allow clients to log into a secure workspace and access the materials that pertain to them.

An extranet allows clients to:

Access draft documents for approval or comment
Preview artwork or multimedia presentations for approval or comment
Provide important background information from the client before the project begins
Archive past projects for easy comparison
Access time and billing information
Access a log of all project communication
Reduce the number of or eliminate the need for face-to-face meetings which can make servicing remote clients easier and less expensive

Since most clients are busy people, using an extranet can save both time and frustration for the client and improve the agencys level of service and as a result, the clients overall satisfaction.

How Do You Set Up An Extranet?

You can set up and in-house extranet or purchase a hosted extranet from an application service provider for a monthly fee.

Building an in-house extranet

If you select an in-house implementation, you will need to have an existing intranet infrastructure available. Then you can purchase the necessary equipment and software and either hire or train personnel to maintain the system. The initial cost can be significant and may be beyond the reach of smaller firms.

Building an in-house extranet offer the following advantages and disadvantages compared to using a hosted (ASP) solution:

Advantages

Complete control of user interface design
Ability to customize functionality for each client
Integration into internal systems
Direct access to all user activity

Disadvantages

High up-front development cost
Requires staff expertise in the development of extranets
Commitment of internal staff for 6 months to a year for planning, execution, review and implementation
On-going commitment of internal staff for internal and client support, hosting, maintenance and upgrades
Extensive internal and client training

Using a hosted solution

If you decide to purchase the extranet from an application service provider, you will pay a monthly fee for as long as you use the service. The hosting company provides the infrastructure, security, setup and maintenance of the system. It isnt even necessary for you to have an internal network. Many will also provide training for your staff as well.

Using an Application Service provider (ASP) offers the following advantages and disadvantages compared to using an in-house extranet:

Advantages

Proven track-record of web-based application
Low cost of entry and predictable cost over time
Rapid implementation as quickly as one day
No internal staff commitment to internal and client support, hosting and maintenance
Upgrades available at no cost
Savings on internal server use
Easier to learn, easier to use

Disadvantages

Less freedom in user interface design
Fixed functionality

Whether you choose to build and maintain your own extranet, or choose to use a hosted solution, your firm will streamline client services by providing faster access to critical documents, and by reducing the turn around time for review and approval. Which one you choose will depend on your companys needs and existing resources.

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Casino En Ligne Non Stop: Quels Jeux Jouer

Posted in Technology Support
February 9th, 2010 by admin

Pour un bref rappel, ces derniers peuvent tre rpartis en trois catgories. On y distingue les jeux flash, tlcharger ou en direct .
Les jeux de casinos sont les jeux de paris en ligne les plus populaires en raison des gains que l’on peut y remporter. Mais quels sont les plus rentables?

Casinos directement sur server:

Il s’agit de plusieurs sites surlesquels les joueurs et les utilisateurs peuvent jouer aux jeux de casinos tels le Bingo, Black Jack, Baccarat, Poker et bien d’autres encore, ne ncssitant pas de tlchargement pralable d’un logiciel particulier, puisque ces derniers vous sont proposes sur Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Shockwave, ou Java, dj intgrs sur votre browser. Ces derniers sont les plus populaires.

Casinos en Ligne A Tlcharger :

Mme principe que le prcdent. Toutefois, pour avoir accs aux diffrents jeux, l’utilisateur doit tlcharger le logiciel du casino sur son ordinateur. Bien que la qualit soit gnralement meilleure au niveau des graphismes, le tlchargement a pour inconvnient de prendre normment de place sur le disque dur.
Le logiciel est directement reli au service du casino sans avoir besoin de recourir browser. Ainsi, l’image et le son fonctionnent beaucoup plus rapidement que sur le support reli au server de l’ordinateur. Toutefois, le temps de tlchargement initial peut tre trs long.

Les casinos “en Direct”:

Reprsentent le top de casinos en ligne. Ces derniers permettent aux joueurs d’tre face une interface mondiale et directement avec le casino, comme si vous y tiez! Le joueur peut intervenir tout moment et se confronter n’importe quand d’autres joueurs et ce sur plusieurs de poker, blackjack et autres tables grce la prsence de fentres windows. C qui le diffrencie des autres? Le joueur a la possibilit de choisir les meilleurs tables, de varier ses plaisirs en cours de parties et de joueur sans se lasser toute la nuit.

On distingue donc les jeux populaires suivants:

Les jeux de cartes:
Asian stud, Baccarat , Blackjack, Casino war, Caribbean Stud Poker, Chinese poker, Faro, Four card poker, Let It Ride, Mambo stud, Pai gow poker, Red Dog, Spanish 21, Texas Hold’em Bonus Poker, Three card poker, Two-up.
Ces jeux sont gnralement considrs comme des jeux de Tables et se jouent sur un tapis feutr. Un croupier est toujours prsents pour ces jeux puisque ce dernier est en charge de la distribution des cartes.

Ds:
Craps, Pai Gow, Sic bo, Chuck-a-luck

Nombres Alatoires:
Big Six wheel, Roulette,Bingo, Keno et bien d’autres encore.
Ces jeux sont bass sur le fruit du pur hasard.

Sans oublier les fameuses Machines A Sous, les Loteries et les Vido Poker. Ces dernires ne peuvent tre joues que par un joueur la fois et ne demande aucune exigence particulire ni aucune stratgie. C’est pourquoi il est l’un des jeux les plus priss aussi bien en ligne qu’en cercle virtuel.

Les jeux en ligne cependant offrent aux joueurs des avantages long terme suprieurs ceux offerts par des casinos rels et leur donnent la sensation de toujours garder le contrle sur leurs jeux et d’tre responsable de leurs choix.

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Upgrading To Microsoft Windows Vista Tips

Posted in Desktop Support
February 7th, 2010 by admin

Upgrading To Microsoft Windows Vista Tips

The traditional annual days of giving are at hand. Some people will want to upgrade (if it can be called that) to Windows Vista.
Here are some tips to help keep you out of trouble.
Recommended minimum hardware requirements for Windows Vista
Windows Vista Home Basic
800-megahertz (MHz) 32-bit (x86) processor or 800-MHz 64-bit (x64) processor
512 megabytes (MB) of system memory
Note On system configurations that use system memory as graphics memory, at least 448 MB of system memory must be available to the operating system after some memory is allocated for graphics.
DirectX 9-class graphics card
32 MB of graphics memory
20-gigabyte (GB) hard disk that has 15 GB of free hard disk space
Internal or external DVD drive
Internet access capability

Audio output capability

Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, and Windows Vista Ultimate

1-gigahertz (GHz) 32-bit (x86) processor or 1-GHz 64-bit (x64) processor
1 GB of system memory
Windows Aero-capable graphics card
Note This includes a DirectX 9-class graphics card that supports the following:
A WDDM driver
Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware
32 bits per pixel
128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)
40-GB hard disk that has 15 GB of free hard disk space (the 15GB of free space provides room for temporary file storage during the install or upgrade.)
Internal or external DVD drive
Internet access capability
Audio output capability

Note A Windows Aero-capable graphics card is a graphics card that meets the following requirements:
Supports a Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) driver
Has a DirectX 9-class graphics processor unit (GPU) that supports Pixel Shader 2.0
Supports 32 bits per pixel
Passes the Windows Aero acceptance test in the Windows Driver Kit (WDK)

Operating system requirements to upgrade to Windows Vista

There is a table which outlines the upgrade options mapped to the different Windows Vista editions listed below:

Home Basic
Home Premium
Business
Ultimate

Upgrading from the OS listed below:
Windows XP Professional

Windows XP Home

Windows XP Media Center

Windows XP Tablet PC

Windows XP Professional x64

Windows 2000

You will find much more information at http://remotehelpdesk1.com/articles.htm

Notes:
If you are currently using Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Professional x64, you are eligible for an upgrade copy to a corresponding or better edition of Windows Vista, but a clean install is required.

Upgrade copies are not available for versions of Windows earlier than Windows 2000. These earlier versions of Windows require you to install a full copy of Windows Vista.

If the edition of Windows Vista that you choose to install will result in a loss of functionality over your current edition of Windows, you will need to do a clean install, or install Windows Vista to a new partition on your PC.

Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor

Before you begin
Before you run the Upgrade Advisor, be sure to plug in any USB devices or other devices such as printers, external hard drives, or scanners that are regularly used with the PC you’re evaluating.

Download Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor

Ready to upgrade? Check out these special offers from Microsoft partners.
The Upgrade Advisor works with 32-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista. Review the upgrade options available for earlier versions of Windows.

Make sure your computer is ready for the edition of Windows Vista you want.
The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor will help you to determine if your Windows XP-based PC can run Windows Vista. You can also use the Upgrade Advisor to determine if your Windows Vista-based PC is ready for an upgrade to a more powerful edition of Windows Vista.

This small software tool will scan your computer and create an easy-to-understand report of all known system, device, and program compatibility issues, and recommend ways to resolve them. Upgrade Advisor can also help you to choose the edition of Windows Vista that best fits the way you want to use your computer.

Just download, install, and run the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor.

Please Note:
The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor works with 32-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista, except Windows Vista Enterprise edition. It will not work with other editions of Windows.

The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor does not collect or send any personal, identifiable data to Microsoft Corporation or third parties.
Upgrade procedure

To upgrade your computer to Windows Vista, follow these steps:
1.Start the computer by using the current operating system. Verify that the Microsoft Windows operating system that is currently installed on the computer is eligible for upgrade to Windows Vista.

2.Insert the Windows Vista DVD in the computer’s DVD drive.

3.Use one of the following procedures, as appropriate:

If Windows automatically detects the DVD, the Install now screen appears. Click Install now.

If Windows does not automatically detect the DVD, follow these steps:
a. Click Start, click Run, type Drive:setup.exe, and then click OK.

Note Drive is the drive letter of the computer’s DVD drive.

b. Click Install now.

4.When you reach the Which type of installation to you want? screen, click Upgrade to upgrade the current operating system to Windows Vista.
The Upgrade option is unavailable, and you receive an “Upgrade has been disabled” message

When you try to upgrade to Windows Vista, the Upgrade option is unavailable.

Additionally, you receive the following message:

Upgrade has been disabled
This issue may occur if one of the following conditions is true:
The operating system that is currently installed on the computer is not supported in the upgrade path to Windows Vista.

You did not start the computer by using the current operating system. Instead, you started the computer from the Windows Vista DVD. To resolve this issue, start the computer by using the current operating system, and then run the Setup program from the current operating system.

The operating system is installed to a partition that uses the FAT32 file system. To resolve this issue, convert the file system on the partition to use the NTFS file system. For more information about how to resolve this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 307881 ( http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881/ ) How to convert a FAT16 volume or a FAT32 volume to an NTFS file system in Windows XP

The partition on which you want to upgrade to Windows Vista has insufficient free hard disk space. To resolve this issue, free additional space on the hard disk.
tmm

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Career Paths For Comptia A+ Certified Technician

Posted in Technology Support
February 5th, 2010 by admin

The world is your oyster. Where you decide to take your career after this is entirely up to you. There are some things to consider depending on your geographic location. If you happen to live in or near the larger populated cities, competition for entry-level technical positions can be fierce. More and more IT graduates enter the workforce each day. By obtaining your A+ certification you can have a substantial advantage over your competition in the career world, as well as having a good foundation for adding more certifications too.

Computer repair and technical support can however be quite lucrative. Here are some of the common fields that your A+ cert can make you a part of:

*Field service technicians
*Help Desk and Customer Service
*PC technicians
*Computer Manufacturing (DELL, HP, IBM etc.,)

However the opportunities for advacement and alternate fields are virtually endless. Here are some areas where specialized training and skills are in large demand:

- Computer Forensics
(Due to an increase in computer related crimes such as identity theft etc., lead to a greater need for people to analyze data without corruption.)

- Disaster prevention and recovery
(Oh-No!, I forgot to back-up my files. Now what do I do?)

- Personalized Training
Teach corporate and home users how to use software applications, prevent data loss and identity theft.)

- LSDBMS and VLSDBMS
(Large Scale Database Management Systems and Very Large Scale Database Management Systems) otherwise know as terabyte data warehousing.

Other Career Paths:
Once you have gone through the IT industry right of passage, the CompTIA A+ certification. Your career path can go in any direction you decide to take it. Let’s take a look at some different paths to follow.

The Hardware Path:
You can go from simple computer repair to manufacturing high-end workstations and servers.

The Technician Path:
The next step is taking the Net+ Exam and installing network cabling, supporting corporate end users and managing the corporate desktop.

Administration:
Network support, configuring routers and managing user accounts on the corporate servers. This is also the well known Nework+/ MCSE/NOVEL CNA/Cisco CCNA track.

Development:
Design and manage the companies web presence and intranet.
(.NET, ASP, MsSQL, PHP, MySQL, Oracle, ColdFusion)

As you can see from just this small list the possibilities are astounding. This is only a small percentage of the technologies and career paths for you to choose from. The table below lists various other certifications that you can combine with A+ to take your career in a new direction. Also visit Comptia’s Related certification page for more information on how to apply A+ towards advanced certifications by vendors such as Cisco, Microsoft and more.

* Hardware: Server+, Manufacturing

* Technician: Net+, MCDSP, MCP/MCSA (Microsoft Track)

* Administration: Network+,CCNA/CCNP,CNA/CNE,Linux Track, MCSE

* Development: .NET, MCDBA, PHP/MySQL (Open-source Track)

Information technology is an ever changing arena. And while you may have decided on a specific career path, the benefits of the CompTIA A+ certification will remain a solid foundation for you to build on.

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Understanding Support Vector Machines (SVMs) Classifiers

Posted in Desktop Support
February 1st, 2010 by admin

The past couple of years witnessed the increased applications of statistical methods in different fields and for different purposes. These differences made the deficiencies of the existing methods apparent. However, it was not until the Internet became a hit in 1990 that the dissatisfaction with the then current statistical methods considerably grew since the methods are proving to be more and more disadvantageous. This eventually incited the diligent search for a more innovative statistical approach that can be used in classifying large amounts of information.

In the early 1990s, Vladimir Vapnik along with a group of other mathematicians and scientists developed a new statistical approach that is more efficient particularly in dealing with large classification problems. This new approach was called Support Vector Machines (SVM).

What are Support Vector Machines you ask? This is a mathematical procedure that makes it possible to teach a computer to classify large amounts of data. The results are said to be more reliable compared to using the old statistical methods. A support vector machine is an approach for building functions from a set of labeled training data.

To fully understand how a support vector machine works, it is imperative to also understand some basic factors first. Classification is normally associated with training and testing data that is made of certain data instances. Each instance in the training set hold one “target value” (class labels) and numerous “attributes” (features). The main objective of a support vector machine is to create a model that calculates target value of data instances in the testing set that are only given to attributes.

A support vector machine has two main functions. The first one is that it can be a classification function (wherein the output is binary: while the input is in a category). Meanwhile, the second function is that it can simply be a general regression function.

With regards to the classification function of support vector machines, it basically works by searching a hyper surface in the space of possible inputs. This hyper surface will then try to split the positive examples from the negative ones. The split will be selected to have the largest distance from the hyper surface to the nearest of the positive and negative examples. Naturally, this would make the classification accurate for testing data that is near, though a slightly different from the training data. There are numerous ways to train support vector machines and the simplest and fastest method is called Sequential Minimal Optimization.

The output of a support vector machine is of an irregular value, and not a subsequent prospect of a class given an input. However, there are recently created algorithms that could map support vector machine outputs into posterior probabilities.

Support vector machines classifier are powerful tools, specifically designed to solve large-scale classification problems that are often encountered when classifying text. For instance if you look in a one of the document that belongs to a large group of documents that is actually a related set, if you consider all the words found in the entire set, you will find more words missing from the document compare to the number of words found in the document. This is classification problem is called the sparse data matrix. Classification problems such as large number of documents along with a large number of words and the sparse data matrix, needs a classification engine that can obtain a much faster and more efficient result.

As with everything else in the market, support vector machine classifier can also be obtained from the Internet nowadays. A quick search in the net will provide you with a various system and method that could help you build fast and efficient support vector machine classifiers that are suitable for different problems, particularly ones that are related to large data classification problems such as classifying pages from the Internet as well as other problems related with sparse matrices and large numbers of documents. Though most method may differ in their make up, they have one common factor and that is all of them utilize a technique called the “kernel trick” in order to apply linear classification techniques to non-linear classification problems.

There are some methods that impose upon the least squares nature of such problems, and use the exact line search in its customary process then uses the conjugate gradient method that is suitable to the problem.

However, support vector machines are not without its share of drawbacks. One problem in support vector machine classifier is the lack of computer memory that are needed for support vector machine handling of the data normally caused by text-intensive problems like the ones found in classifying large numbers of text pages found on the Internet.

One solution that has enhanced the ability of computers to learn to classify such data is called chunking. Chunking refers to the process wherein the problem is broken down into more convenient pieces that are within the means of the available computer resources. Examples of chunking decomposition techniques used to decrease such problems for support vector machines are the SMO and SVM Light.

However, there is one disadvantage here though. The speed improvement is only moderate, particularly for designing classifiers like the ones needed for web pages that usually contain the largest and most difficult text problems. Keep in mind that speed is imperative. Therefore a support vector machine classifier design that is considerably faster and with a precision that corresponds to the existing classifier engines is needed in order to decrease the training time of support vector machines.

Regardless of the occasional drawbacks, a support vector machine classifier is still a tremendously powerful method of acquiring models for classification. It provides a mechanism for selecting the model structure in a natural approach that offers a low margin for error and risks. Support vector machines classifier has truly become significant tools in todays modern society. Is it any wonder why mathematicians and scientists alike are still continuously searching for new ways to further improve these new learning machines?

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