Vista Tricks

1. If you hate the look of Aero, click Start/Control Panel/Themes and you can choose a non-Aero theme, such as Windows Classic.

2. Windows Vista's installer can detect serial-ATA (SATA) drives without the need to provide a driver diskette. Don't bother creating a diskette for your SATA drives before you install Vista.

3. If, for some reason, the Vista installation gets interrupted due to an unintentional shutdown or reboot, start the computer without booting the Vista DVD. Windows Vista's installer should pick up where it left off. If it does-n't, then restart the installation over from scratch.

4. When you perform a search with Vista's new, instant search feature, you can save the search in a special folder. This powerful feature allows you to create a virtual folder which, by default, is saved in your \\Searches\ folder. Every time you open such a folder, the search results are updated.

5. In Windows Vista, you can add additional clocks to the system tray. Click the clock, and then click Date and Time Settings. Click the Additional Clocks tab. You can add one or two additional clocks to the tray and select their time zones.

6. You can save your progress in most of the games included with Windows Vista—even the carry-overs from earlier versions of Windows.

7. You can create XML documents, which are more secure than regular text files or even word processor docs. Just create a document in a word processor, print it via the options menu, and select the XPS printer.

8. If you upgrade your graphics card in preparation for Windows Vista, be sure to get a new card with as much local memory as possible. Since Windows Vista renders everything—even the desktop and windows them-selves—as 3D surfaces, local 3D memory greatly improves performance...sometimes even more than a more powerful GPU.

9. Windows Vista games deposit their saves into a special directory, called Saved Games, in your personal folder. In theory, that will make upgrading to a new system much easier for gamers, who like to migrate their game saves.

10. When using the Help system, it's usually advantageous to include Microsoft's online database in your search. The online/offline status of your search is located on the bottom right of the Help window. You can click it to toggle.

11. The Games folder is a powerful repository of all things gaming. From within, you launch games, update games with the latest patches, enable parental controls to protect younger users from harmful content, and more. Invoke it by clicking Start/Games.

12. Several applications are available to help you tweak Windows Vista for maximum performance. They in-clude TweakVI (www.totalidea.com), TweakVista (www.tweakvista.com/tweakvistautility), and VistaBootPRO (www.vistabootpro.org). And don't forget about Windows ReadyBoost, which lets you use a removable flash memory drive to boost system memory.

13. Do you use the icon in the upper left corner of system and application windows? A quick double-click closes the window (instead of a single click on the X at the upper right). Though Microsoft left the icon out in Vista, the function remains.

14. In Microsoft Windows Explorer, you can use column headers (Name, Size, and so on) to sort files. Savvy users may right-click on a column head to remove items or add some—say, Dimensions for images. There are around 45 such columns available in Windows XP. Windows Vista has well over 250, covering a multitude of metadata.

15. If you've become used to surfing your Program Menu to get to applications, you'll be in for a shock when you first use Microsoft Windows Vista. The new Program Menu shows you only recently used applications and requires extra clicks to navigate to submenus. This can be very frustrating but, thankfully, the Search box Microsoft has added to the Start menu is a great replacement—as long as you're an accurate typist. As quickly as you can type, it returns intelligent results in apps, files, even e-mail messages.

WII Tips n Tricks

1. Press the home button on the main menu. Next click on the controller image. You can adjust the wii-mote volume and rumble functions.

2. Hold a and b down and you can move the windows on the main menu around.

3. In order to add someone to your friend's list you BOTH have to enter each other's Number ID and Console Nickname to be able to send messages and Mii's.

4. Want your plain-looking Wii to have some style? Add a blue light around you CD drive anytime the console is on by doing the following:

Go to your email from the home menu, and add your personal computer email address to your address book. Wait ~1 hour for the email (mine took at least this long) Reply to the email from your computer. In a few minutes, you will have an email waiting for you on your Wii. Don't read it! As long as it remains new, you have a pretty blue light!

5. In wii sports bowling, you can release on the back swing and throw the ball backwards. It scares all the miis behind you.

6. Email A Wii: You can email any Wii that you know the Friend code for. The Email address will be w(Wii Number here)@wii.com. For Example: w123456789012@wii.com

7. Get rid of Generic Teammates/Spectators: The Wii will automatically use the other Miis in your Plaza as teammates and spectators in certain Wii sports games. Create friends and family, and you can get rid of the generic Miis.

8. Register and Extend Warranty: Register your Console on Nintendo.com, get a free 90 day extension to your warranty.

9. Get Free Nintendo Power: Register 3 Nintendo products on Nintendo.com, and get 3 months of Nintendo Power free.

10. Extra Parts: There are two parts to the Wii in your box that you may either not find, or never know what they are. The first is a Clear Disc piece. This piece fits under your Wii stand to Stabalize it's balance. The second is a Small(1" - 1.5") plastic Piece. This piece is the stand for the Sensor bar. It puts some disntance between your TV and the bar. In theory, that should give you a better angle reception.

11. Get Miis in your parade: Setting your Miis to Mingle, and having your friends do the same thing will soon have Miis walking around in your parade. Your friends' Miis will wonder over to your console and parade around, so long as they are set to Mingle. You can then grab them and send them to your Plaza so you have a copy.

12. In Zelda, the direction Link spins when doing a spin attack depends on which way you spin your nunchuck.

13. In Wii Sports Bowling, when you press up on the Directional Pad, it will zoom in on the lane. The zoom in sound is the exact same sound from Super Mario 64 anytime you moved the camera.

14. If you go to the Channel section in your menu you can choose to save VC games on a SD card.

15. In LOZ:TP if you keep it at the start screen for an extended period of time, it plays an extremely extended trailer that they didn't show to the general public.

16. On hole 3 of Wii Sports Golf, there is a small section of fairway at about a 45 degree angle to the left from the tee box. It is a small patch surrounded by Out Of Bound-ness. If you can land your ball on there, you can easily make it on the green in 2, to to Eagle the course.

17. Wii Video 9 - Wii Video Converter

Wii Video 9 is a free video conversion application developed by Red Kawa. It allows you to convert your computer video files (like avi, divx, mpeg, etc.) into the specific video formats that are playable on the Wii.

Wii Video 9 can also be combined with Videora, another software application, and together they can let you automatically download and convert video for your Wii using BitTorrent and RSS technology.

18. In the Wii menus, turn your wrist and the hand cursor will also turn.

19. from Varelse: While your Wii is powered down you can press any button on your Wiimote and lights will flash. The number of lights flashing is the amount of charge left in your battery (1 is least charge, 4 is most charge).

20. In Wii Bowling, if you aim right to any lane near you, you can throw your ball there, but you won't hit any pins unless you aim right.

21. Zelda. You can skip cutscenes in Zelda by hitting the - button. You must have at least seen the cutscene once, however.

22. Black Ninja Wii Bowling easter egg YouTube - Wii Sports Bowling Easter Egg

23. When you purchase a virtual console title and Mario runs across the screen, if you happen to get fire flower Mario, you can shoot fireballs with the A button.

24. Omie When looking at your messages press a+b and you can move the messages around. If you have a lot of messages then you can arrange them in this manner or you can just delete them.

25. Order a nice wii sports case from here: eBay: Wii Sports White DVD Case - Store your game in style (item 320053039034 end time Nov-29-06 18:24:43 PST)

26. In the Photo Channel, you can catch the evil cat that runs across the screen to get tips! It appears in the Fun option, and you can grab the cat with the A and B button.

27. You can have a 194 piece puzzle by holding down the 1 button before selecting any piece amount.

28. when you get an e-mail, not only does the disc drive light up and pulsate blue, but your Wiimote sends out a little chirp

29. when you’re in the Mii channel and you don’t use the Wiimote for a little bit and your Mii’s start walking around, if you then suddenly use the Wiimote, all the Mii stop and follow the ‘hand’ for about 3 seconds.

30. If you hold the SYNC button down on the Wii for 15 seconds, it will clear all synced Wii Remotes from the console.

31. Hold the B button and point to the direction you want to go in the Mii channel and you can scroll around the screen. You can see all the Miis without arranging them.

32. from zorilla. Press down on the control pad while watching a video to change the voices, if you change the mood on a video the sounds will be affected too.

33. With Wii forecast, you can rotate the globe on a different axis by turning/twisting the remote.

34. if the weather shows rain when you check it, you will hear the sound of rain and the same for thunder.

35. The weather channel will affect your in-game weather on Wii games. http://forums.nintendo.com/nintendo/...age.id=2808300

36. from Inibriator on IGN: Hit left and right on the dpad in the Weather Channel Globe to change the icons between the various options.

37. from +Maniacal=Maniac+ You Can Use The Right Analog Stick On The Classic Controller To Navigate The Wii Menu.

38. from Snoopwiius I have just found when on the main menu on Wii Play were you select which game you want to play you can click on various places on your Mii and he/she will perform different poses and facial expressions.

39. from scorpio369 In the globe view in the weather forecast channel, if you grab the world and give it a quick flick the world will go spinning (it works better if you zoom out with the - button) you can only really spin it east or west cause it gets stuck on the poles. This has no real value unless you wanted to choose some random city in the world.

40. from kwarp If you're winning in Wii Sports Baseball by 4 or 5 points, the pitcher on the other team will start sweating.

41. from avidlinuxuser On the Beta Version of Opera, there are two files. One is in the Wii channel for the browser itself. The other is in the same area as game saves. If you delete the file, it clears the cache and cookies resulting in keeping the experience snappy.

42. from albino_vulpex When viewing photos in the photo channel, press B to create a pixilated circle for censoring The size of the circle depends on how close your remote is to the TV.

43. from joeydarkfire Wii Tennis: When you get to the screen (in 1 player) where there is a picture of 2 yous and 2 "?" press on them and they will change between "?" and u so u can play against yourself or just watch a match.

44. from duckols In bowling when the bowling game is loading you can press different directions on the D-pad to change the color of your ball.

45. from doctorecs In Wii boxing you can have your character do poses by moving your hands around. Example, put both hands up in the air as if you just won a victory.

46. from kiobot In Wii Play: On the game selection screen poke your Mii's arms, legs, face and torso with the (A) button and see what happens...

47. from razoola In Wii Play, leave the main game select title page on and do nothing. After a while you character Mii's will fall asleep and the music will change to a more nite nite twinkley sound.

48. from riviet In tennis, hold the two button during the warning screen right until the positions screen loads up for a blue court (the one from training).

49. from Carbon the number of coins mario gets when downloading VC games is the same as the number of blocks of memory it takes up.

50. from ToadIsDoingMagicMushrooms After beating the Boxing champ - Matt - you can get silver boxing gloves. To wear - Hold (1) when the screen goes black before a match.

51. from dialtone75 Press 2 while pitching in Wii Sports Baseball and you'll pitch side-armed.

52. from Zorilla When loading WII NEWS grab the cat that appears at the top of the loading screen to get some tips.

53. from Braniac If you click on the loading cats on the news channel each one will make a different pitched noice a bit like a miaow. They act as a kind of keyboard.

54. from +Maniacal=Maniac+ To Make Your Mii's Pants Red... Select Them As A "Favorite"
To Make Them Blue, You Must Send The Mii To SOmeone, And Have Them Send It Back To You.

55. from Ken drummer Go to http://wiiminder.com whilst on the opera browser to have tabbed wii browsing

56. from rustinsmommy In the boxing, if you dodge a punch it will do a slow motion type sound and the screen will blurr a bit. If you quickly hit your opponent when this happens it will do a special punch that hits really hard.

57. from strubcube when in the doodle mode of the Photo channel, when you add things like glasses, or lip marks, or hearts, or whatever, if you move your remote closer or further away from the screen, the images you put on the picture get smaller or larger depending on the distance from the screen

58. from cpa|mer You can add more Miis in Parade and audiences. Use Wii Sports to do it:

1. Make about 10 Mii's.

2. Transfer those Mii's to your Wiimote.

3. Delete the Mii's that are transfered to the Wiimote out of the plaza.

4. Start up Wii Sports.

5 When given the option of which Mii to use during gameplay choose the option to get the Mii from the Wii Remote.

6. After viewing the Mii's on the Wiimote back out by using the B button.

7. Exit out of Wii Sports and back onto the Wii Menu.

Now check the Mii parade and all 10 of the Miis that were on the Wiimote are in the parade. Now if you dont want the Miis on the Wiimote just delete them off. These Miis will now show up in all Wii Sports games that have an audience.

ERGONOMICS FOR GAMERS AND PROGRAMMERS

If you are a long time computer user like me, you might have noticed the occasional hurts and discomforts that go hand in hand with spending long periods of time in front of the PC. Stare at a monitor for hours on end, year after year and most likely you'll eventually start to notice the pains magnify in frequency and severity. Do this long enough, and the discomfort could become part of the daily routine when you sit down to work or game at a computer.

This is especially noticeable when using a computer setup outside your home or office, where the mouse and keyboard, monitor and even the position you are sitting in are different. If you depend on your computer to make a living, these symptoms can present a major barrier to your ability to work effectively, and not just day-to-day.

Poor ergonomics in your computer environment can lead to permanent personal injury.

Computer Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSIs), including conditions like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Tendinitis, are the most common occupational injuries in North America. Many of these cases would be easily preventable, but still occur due to ignorance of the symptoms or the severity of the injury. Ironically, repetitive strain injuries have been documented as far back as 1793.

This guide aims to provide a guideline for identifying and avoiding situations which could result in the development of a repetitive strain injury, and to recommend ergonomically sound computer setups and products.

And please, if your livelihood does not depend on computer work and you are reading this anyway, chances are that you are a gamer. Don't pass this article up, unless you can be sure you are not going to be spending 8 hours straight or more in front of your computer when Half-Life 2 comes out… RSIs happen to gamers too, believe me, and a little prevention goes a long way to keeping you in the game. Pun, intended.

What is a repetitive strain injury?

Repetitive strain injury is a blanket term for several conditions. All involve damage done to one or more of the muscles, bones, nerves or soft tissue due to constant, recurring motions. This also referred to as Cumulative Tissue Damage or CTD.

Repetitive strain injuries are by no means unique to computer users, though this is what we will focus on. Like any injury, they are generally easier to prevent than to treat once they have become entrenched. Repetitive strain injuries can result in permanent nerve damage and disability. RSIs caused by computer use are generally in the hands, wrists, neck and shoulders, and include the infamous carpal tunnel syndrome, a compression and irritation of the median nerve responsible for sensation in the thumb, index and middle fingers.

Common symptoms

Carpal Tunnel syndrome results from inflammation of the tendons of the wrist which can be caused by repetitive hand movements like constant typing. The common factors that link the various computer related repetitive strain injuries are the pain and discomfort that they cause, and the difficulty of treatment once they are established.

Common symptoms of computer related repetitive strain injuries include:

* Pain or numbness in the hands and fingers
* Pain or numbness in the wrists
* Weakened grip
* Problems opening and closing hand(s)
* Stiffness and pain in joints of hands, wrists and arms
* 'Pins and needles' sensation in the hands and wrists
* Lack of coordination
* Eyestrain
* Sore neck/back
* Recurring headaches

What can you do to avoid the pain?

The best way to avoid any form of injury while working on the computer is simple. Take a break. If you are typing or using the mouse intensively, try to take a 5-10 minute break for every hour of work. Just make sure you get up, or at least move your arms and hands out of their work positions.

Stretching is recommended during these breaks, provided you are not already experiencing some form of pain which may be associated with an RSI. If you think this may be the case, see a doctor before attempting stretches routinely, as they may aggravate your injury. See the resources section for some excellent desktop stretching exercises.

Good posture and correct hand placement are far more important for reducing your risk of developing a repetitive strain injury than any of the various products out there. Any activity which contorts the wrists or hands for extended periods of time while putting pressure on them will lead eventually to injury, which is why good typing position is so important.

Good typing habits include:

* Keep your hands straight and level at the wrists, not bent inwards or outwards.
* Do not rest wrists or arms on the wrist rest or table during the act of typing.
* Key combinations such as shift+(a letter) are best done with both hands, not by contorting the hand to hit multiple keys at once.
* Do not use the elevation pegs at the back of the keyboard to raise it, as this will always result in an unnatural typing position. The flatter the keyboard plane, the better.
* The position of the keyboard should be lower than your elbows when your arms are hung at your side.
* Avoid using excess force to press the keys. Typing faster does not have to go with typing harder.

Other ergonomics tips

For your work station, the mouse should be within easy reach so that you do not have to stretch every time you use it. Keeping it close to the keyboard reduces some risk of injury. You should be grasping the mouse from slightly above, so that your wrist is higher than your hand.

Good posture is important of course. If you don't have a good chair with back support consider getting one. Remember, just like your parents have always told you, avoid slumping.

The monitor should be directly in front of you with the top of the screen at eye level or below. To reduce eyestrain while using a traditional (CRT) type monitor, set your refresh rate to 75Hz or higher. Do this by right-clicking anywhere on the desktop, hitting 'properties' then the 'settings' tab, then 'advanced' followed by the 'monitor' tab.

Using the drop down box on this page you can adjust the refresh rate, which is the frequency that the screen redraws itself every second.

Higher settings equal less perceptible flicker, which equals less strain to the eyes. Older monitors may not be able to reach 75Hz refresh rate however. Note that changing the refresh rate may cause a brief period of discomfort while your eyes adjust to the new speed.

Also note that if the 'monitor' tab indicates that you are using a 'default monitor' you will need to obtain the correct drivers for your monitor before you can change the refresh rate without hitting "unsupported frequency" errors. If you do don't worry, you just need to wait 15 sec before the computer resets the values if you don't agree to a little pop up box.

Pain and discomfort is the best indicator of repetitive strain injuries. If you are not experiencing anything worse than eyestrain after long periods of computer use, chances are your current setup suits you ergonomically.

Ergonomic products can help

There are many products out there intended to help you avoid repetitive strain injuries. We will not cover specific products too closely, but rather look at some genres with specific examples. Keep in mind that buying a new keyboard, wrist-rest or mouse will not cure an existing condition. They may well help ease the strain on your body, allowing it to eventually heal, but if you suspect you already have an RSI, seek medical help.

It may seem like a small discomfort now, but believe me, given the amount of work hours and even careers lost to RSI, it's worth taking seriously, and your doctor and co-workers should understand that.

Here are some of the most common types of ergonomic products that have been created to help prevent RSI in the first place.

Keyboard trays: Useful for ensuring that the keyboard and mouse are placed correctly level to or below the elbows. Test the position if possible before purchasing a desk with a tray.

Wrist rests : Useful for resting the arms and wrists in-between typing periods. They should not be used while actually typing, as this can cause extra strain on the hands and wrists. Make sure they are not high enough to interfere with your natural typing motion.

Split keyboards: Keyboard design in which the main keys are split into two groups and angled at approximately 45 degrees to ensure that the wrists are kept straight while typing. Studies have shown that these are more comfortable in the long run, though they require some time to adjust to. Generally, the faster the typist, the longer the adjustment period. An example of a split keyboard is the Microsoft Natural Keyboard range.

Tented keyboards: A split keyboard in which the two halves are tilted outwards away from each other so that the palms of the hands face slightly inwards instead of straight down at the desk. These keyboards are based on the principal that working with the palms down distorts tendons in the fingers and wrist, increasing risk of injury over time.

Vertical keyboards: The tented keyboard taken to extremes. A split keyboard with the keys placed at 90-degree angles, so typing is done in the 'handshake position.' Can be very difficult to adjust to.


Dvorak keyboard: An alternative key layout designed to place the most commonly used keys within easier reach. Can reduce risk of injury through reducing the range of movement needed to type, but requires complete re-learning of keyboard layout.


Ergonomic Resources

Negative tilt keyboards: Keyboards with raising legs on the front edge of the keyboard, enabling them to be tilted to provide a more level surface for typing. This reduces problems associated with bending the wrists back while typing, including Carpal Tunnel syndrome. You can easily raise the front of a normal keyboard yourself, but note that a flat keyboard allowing close to no wrist tilt is the ideal, so raising it higher than this may harm more than it helps.

Monitor Arms: Can be used to position monitors independently. Keep in mind that the top of the monitor should be positioned at eye level or lower, and at a comfortable distance to reduce eyestrain.

There are many other types and categories of ergonomic products available, so do a little researching if you need a piece of gear to relieve a particular stress.
Other online resources you may wish to check out include an excellent interactive computer ergonomics primer, a guide to good posture and stretching exercises, and perhaps even an RSI sufferer's story. This website has good list of common repetitive strain injuries and information also.

IPOD Solutions

There are millions of iPod stories and many of them involve dead or dying batteries. Apple faced one of its biggest public-relations brouhahas when users of first-, second-, and third-generation iPods complained en masse about the relatively short life of the music players’ lithium ion batteries.

After only a few months (sometimes weeks) of use, they could no longer hold a charge. Even notebook batteries go south after a time, but at least you can replace a laptop’s battery—you can’t swap out an iPod battery (although Apple replaces out-of-warranty iPods containing failed batteries for a sum).

A quick and humbled learner, Apple improved the battery life of its latest hard disk–based players—up to 20 hours on one charge for the 60GB model. Still, several tricks will let you extend the life of your iPod battery, both for daily use and for the long haul. Note that while some of the following tips will work on the iPod Nano and Shuffle, which use flash memory, they are intended specifically for hard-disk iPod models.

Pausing vs. standby: Because much of the power consumed by hard-disk iPods (not the Nano or Shuffle) spins the disk, press Pause when you leave the player unattended. Left playing in default mode, the iPod will run until the battery is drained.

But did you know… You can think you’ve turned off the iPod when you’ve actually entered a standby mode. The way Play/Pause is engineered on the click dial, if you press down until the screen goes dark, the iPod may be in a paused standby mode (not Pause), which uses more power. To verify that the unit is in Pause mode, press the middle button. When the screen lights up, look in the upper-left corner for dual bars (Pause), not the triangle (Play). To cut power totally, flip the Hold switch on the top.

Backlighting vs. equalizer: The backlighting on portable devices eats up battery power faster than a piranha gobbles up a goldfish. To do without the backlight, choose Settings•Backlight Timer•Off.

But did you know… Turning off the iPod’s sound equalizer will also preserve battery life. It takes processing power to transform a Madonna dance track into an acoustic tone poem. To disable the equalizer, select Settings•EQ•Off.

Changing tracks vs. making tracks: Rewinding or fast-forwarding uses extra energy, but so does changing tracks via the Previous/Next buttons, as the hard drive turns on to find and open the songs. Similarly, using the device’s Shuffle or Random modes, which require frequent hard-disk accesses, will put a bigger dent in your player’s battery life.

But did you know… The iPod sends tracks to its memory cache so it can seamlessly play them while powering down the hard drive. That’s great for tracks that are 7MB or smaller (the average length of a single), but podcasts, audiobooks, and other long files need sustained hard-disk access, which can run down your battery.

An alternative is to use a lowersound- fidelity compression method when you load tracks onto the device, such as ACC or MP3 at 128 kilobits per second (the cache can play for 25 minutes at this level). Note that while compressing in AAC is likely to give you better sound quality than MP3 at the same bit rates, few non-iPod players support AAC. Also, keep in mind that spoken content can be compressed much more heavily than music, so don’t hesitate to use lower bit rates for talk-radio-style podcasts or recompressed audiobooks.

ipodMacs are not immune to hard drive or system startup problems. On occasion, something may go wrong during the boot process and your computer just sits there. If you have enough open space on your iPod, you can use it as an emergency startup disk. Then, if you experience the frightening feeling of not having your Mac boot properly, you can at least boot it from the iPod and possibly repair the problem or at least move some of your files off the boot drive.

Light aircraft maker LoPresti Speed Merchants is adding the ability to use an iPod as a flight data recorder, more commonly known as "black box," to its Fury piston aircraft. The airplane will include an iPod dock connector, and will be able to send data to the iPod for storage.

Pentium processors

The Pentium brand name initially referred only to the fifth-generation microarchitecture of microprocessors from Intel, called Intel P5 and described here, but later it covered also subsequent generations. So, the Pentium as Intel P5, considered here, was a successor to the 486 line, and was first shipped on March 22, 1993.

The Pentium was expected to be named 80586 or i586, to follow the naming convention of previous generations. However, Intel was unable to persuade a court to allow them to trademark a number (such as 486), in order to prevent competitors such as Advanced Micro Devices from branding their processors with similar names (such as AMD's Am486).

Intel enlisted the help of Lexicon Branding to create a brand that could be trademarked. The Pentium brand was very successful, and was and still is maintained through several generations of processors, from the Pentium Pro to the Pentium Extreme Edition and further. Although not used for marketing purposes, Pentium series processors are still given numerical product codes, starting with 80500 for the original Pentium chip.

Intel has now largely retired the Pentium brand and replaced it with the "Intel Core" brand, although it is still used on a line of value processors called Pentium Dual-Core[1]. The first Intel Core, released in January 2006, extended the Pentium M microarchitecture. The Intel Core 2, released in July 2006, features the new Intel Core microarchitecture.


Microsoft and many other companies use the original Pentium as a standard for specifications of requirements. For example, Microsoft's stated requirements for the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition, include (at least) a Pentium processor running at a clock speed of 600 MHz (required), or 1 GHz (recommended). To find out if another processor meets the requirement, a conversion must be used that gives its speed in terms of standard Pentium clock rates. For example, a Pentium Pro would meet the requirement running at a much lower clock speed, because of its more advanced architecture. An equivalency chart is usually used to compare more modern processors to find out if they meet this requirement.

In programming, it is sometimes necessary to distinguish the original Pentium processor architecture from later (P6 or P68-based) Pentium-branded architectures. For these cases, i586 is a common, though spurious, way to refer to the early Pentium processors, as well as processors made by Intel's competitors that can run machine code targeted to the early Pentiums.

Computer Security_ten steps

Computer Security made easy:Once you look through, I think you'll be struck by how little effort is required to make your PC more secure. Even performing the first five steps of this guide will make your system better protected than the vast majority of Internet connected PCs. It is not wise to rely on the comparative anonymity of the Internet to keep you safe. If you do, you will be burned eventually and inevitably. Secure your PC now to avoid future regrets.

The next five procedures can be considered essential for any computer user that values the sanctity of his or her data. By following these five easy steps, you can avoid 99% of the potential trouble lying in wait for you on the Internet.

Step 1. Use a strong password

The danger: malicious computer users can gain access to your computer over the Internet, stealing and deleting data and potentially implanting viruses and Trojan horses.

The cause:
The major irony of Microsoft's shift from non-password protected home operating systems like Windows 98 and ME to the password and access-list based 'security' of Windows 2000 and XP is that your data is actually less secure by default.

Sure, the new operating systems give security conscious users all the tools they need to protect their data, but what if the users are not aware of the risks? During the install process, you are prompted to create a password for the built-in 'administrator' user account. Users accustomed to Windows 9X/ME's pointless passwords often decide to bypass this by entering a blank password, thus opening up their entire computer to anyone who takes the trouble to look twice at their Internet address.

There are two reasons for this vulnerability: One, every Microsoft Windows XP and 2000 system has a built-in account called 'administrator' which has full access to all files and configuration settings of the computer. Anyone who is remotely familiar with these operating systems knows of this account's existence. This definitely includes anyone who might try to break into your computer.

The other factor in Windows 2000 and XP's vulnerability is the presence of hidden administrative shares. Each logical drive (C:, D:, etc.) on your system, plus the Windows directory, is actually shared (made available for remote access) by default. These hidden shares are only accessible to Users with administrative privileges, but once an intruder has your administrator account password, he has your entire system laid open for him.

By using one of a multitude of free and legal software tools, a potential intruder can easily locate and gain access to your data by finding your IP address and attempting to connect using the administrator account. Obviously, if there is no password on the account, you are defenseless.

Even if you have put a password on the account, you may not be safe. Simple passwords can easily be discovered by an intruder using a 'dictionary attack' software tool, which can try words and combinations of letters until your password is compromised.

The administrator account is uniquely open to this style of attack, because while other user accounts can be 'locked' by the operating system if an incorrect password is entered too many times, the administrator account cannot be locked out. This means that an intruder is free to try as many password possibilities as he or she wants, without worrying about losing access to your system.

The Cure to Step 1.

The cure: Set effective passwords for all users

The best way to protect yourself from malicious users is to effectively password protect all your user accounts. An effective password, according to Microsoft, is at least seven characters long and contains a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols. While you can cut corners a bit here in the interests of memorization, make sure to use six or more characters and include at least some numbers and upper case letters in the middle of the word. By using several characters and a mix of upper and lower case letters and numbers, you can make your password effectively uncrackable to intruders who do not possess super computers capable of predicting the weather...

To change user passwords make sure you are logged in as a user with administrative privileges (the first user created during the XP install process has these). Right click on 'my computer' and select 'manage.' Expand 'local users and groups' then 'users.' Right click on each user and select 'set password.'

Note the ominous warning message. If you have used XP's built-in file encryption to protect any of your files, you must remove it before you change your password or you will lose access to the files. Otherwise, proceed and set a secure password for each account.

The accounts you should set passwords for are the administrator account, and any accounts you created during or after the installation of Windows.

Step 2. Make sure your system is protected by a firewall

The Danger: Malicious users may locate and attempt to break into your computer from the Internet.

The Cause: All computers that communicate over the Internet must have a valid IP address, such as 61.232.252.6. These addresses allow computers to exchange data with other computers over the 'net. Your system also leaves a variety of ports open to listen for incoming data. Ports are access points for certain kinds of data to enter and leave your computer. For example, while you are viewing this website, your computer and our web server are communicating through port 80, the default port for the HTTP language that web pages generally use.

The trouble is that anyone can use freely available software like GFI's LANguard security scanner to scan a range of IP addresses for computers and gather information about these systems. If your computer is poorly password protected these utilities provide remote users with the ability to directly access your files.

This happens because by default, many ports in your system are fully prepared to listen and respond to any data request from the Internet. This means that your system is fully visible, the equivalent of wearing glow-in-the dark clothes in a blackout…

The Cure to Step 2.

The cure: Use a firewall program or device.

A firewall is a software program or hardware device which blocks remote access to your computer. It does this by closing all ports to data unless the communication is initiated from inside the firewall first. So you could, for example, surf this page without problems through a firewall since your computer sends the request for data to our web server first.

The firewall would note the Internet address that your request was sent to, and allow return communications from that specific address back through the firewall. However, anyone trying to scan a range of IP addresses for vulnerable computers would turn up a blank for your address, since the firewall blocks all unsolicited communication from the Internet.

Almost all home Internet sharing devices include firewalls, so if you are using a router to share your Internet connection within your home, you are likely already protected. Otherwise you need to use a software firewall. Windows XP comes included with one, though you need to activate it. Several free third-party software firewalls are also available, most notably Zone Lab's Zonealarm.

To activate the Windows XP firewall go to 'start/control panel/network and Internet connections/network connections' then right click on your Internet connection and select 'properties'.

Go to the 'advanced' tab and check the 'internet connection firewall' box.

The windows XP firewall is now active and will block most non-requested data from entering your system.See PCstats Beginner's guide to Firewalls and Internet security for more details on configuring the XP firewall.

If you have installed Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, the firewall works a little differently. Unless you have another form of firewall software like Zonealarm installed, the XP firewall should be active by default.

To check this, go to 'start\control panel\windows firewall' and ensure that the firewall is set to the 'on (recommended)' position. The 'windows firewall' icon in control panel is only available to Service Pack 2 users, so if it's not there, simply follow the directions given in the last paragraphs. For more information about the changes to Windows XP made by Service Pack 2.I recommend Zonealarm for firewall

Step 3

Step 3. Use antivirus software

The Danger: Computer viruses can cripple your computer and destroy your data.

The cause: There are an incredible variety of computer viruses on the Internet, with many different ways of infecting your system. The stereotypical vector for viruses is the email attachment, and this is still the most common source of infection for unwary users. Opening up a seemingly innocent attachment from a friend can have disastrous consequences. There are few computer users who have not experienced the effects of a computer virus at some point, and malicious coders keep churning them out.

The cure: Install and use a professional antivirus program

Using an antivirus software package from a reputable manufacturer like Symantec or MacAfee provides an effective defence against viruses. You should scan your system for viruses once a week at least, and use the software to examine any email attachments you are unsure about. Many packages, like Norton Antivirus, come with auto-protection features which will scan any files entering or leaving your system for viruses.

While this is fairly self explanatory, a couple of extra tips: if you're going to buy and install anti-virus software, do it now, before you get infected with a virus, rather than waiting until your system starts to act up. The reason for this is that many viruses have components that can disable or subvert popular antivirus programs like Norton's and MacAfee's software. So if your system is infected before you install the antivirus software, it may not be able to help you.

Secondly, make sure you keep the program updated. Antivirus software manufacturers are constantly creating new sets of virus definitions to keep up with new threats. Without updated definitions, the software will not stop newer viruses from infecting your PC. Most reputable antivirus programs will update themselves automatically when you are connected to the Internet, but it doesn't hurt to make sure you have the latest update before you scan for viruses.

Step 4. Check your PC for spyware and adware

The Danger: Spyware and Adware programs can quickly infest your PC, compromising privacy and performance.

The cause: Spyware and adware are generic names for a variety of programs designed to collect data and/or advertise products. Sound innocent? The catch is that these programs are often installed on your PC from websites or as part of 'free' software like Kazaa, and work from inside your computer, gathering information about your surfing habits for marketing purposes. Worse, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Programs in this category may call up extra pop-up advertising while you are surfing, or even redirect your browser to websites of their own choosing. While makers of this type of software need to obtain your consent to install their programs, they are often presented in misleading ways, or hidden within the license agreements of other software.

There is a second category of programs involved as well, browser hijackers. These malicious programs can subvert your web browser's home page and links and generally cannot be removed without great difficulty. At their worst, these programs can make using your computer a trial. System and Internet performance can be slowed due to the extra data being sent from your computer, and floods of (often obscene) advertisements may dog your Internet surfing experience.

The Cure to Step 4

The cure: Install and use a reputable spyware finding/removal tool.

Fortunately, certain individuals have devoted a lot of time and effort to create free software which is specifically aimed at removing these (legal) pests from your system. One software system we tend to use is Ad-Aware, freely available from the Lavasoft website as it is the most popular and frequently updated removal tool. Ad-Aware functions much like any antivirus program, so it should seem instantly familiar to most users.

Use the 'check for updates now' function to make sure you have the latest updates. Hit the 'start' button and choose 'next' to scan your system with the default options.

Once the scan is complete, you will be shown any suspicious files, registry entries or cookies detected. You can now delete or quarantine these files.

If Ad-aware found and removed malicious software, you should empty your recycling bin and restart your computer and scan again to make sure it is completely removed. Make sure to rescan your computer weekly.

Step 5

Step 5. Update update update

The Danger: Viruses and malicious users may exploit newly discovered security holes within Windows and Internet Explorer.

The Cause: Windows XP is an extremely complex operating system, and as such has a number of bugs and design holes which are constantly in the process of being fixed by Microsoft. On the other side of the fence, there are users who are enthusiastically trying to discover these flaws, either for the purpose of informing Microsoft or just for the heck of it.

Generally, major vulnerabilities or flaws are patched almost immediately after their existence is made known, or even before. However, users who do not update their systems with the new patch are at the mercy of anyone using software tools designed to exploit the vulnerability.

A recent example of this would be the infamous 'blaster' worm which used a weakness in Window's RPC (Remote Procedure Call) handling to infest an enormous number of systems across the world. Once on a system, the virus could spread itself out to other vulnerable PCs and also force its host to shut down automatically. Microsoft quickly patched the security hole and provided a tool to remove the worm, but since many users did not patch their systems, the infestation spread and slowed down Internet traffic worldwide.

The Cure: Keep your Windows computer up-to-date with the latest Microsoft security patches.

Windows XP includes an automatic updating feature which will periodically check Microsoft for updates and download them to your system, ready for installation. To use automatic update, right click on 'my computer' and select properties, then choose the 'automatic updates' tab.

If it is not already, check the 'keep my computer up to date…' checkbox to enable automatic updating. Now run Windows update from 'start\all programs\windows update' to make sure you are fully patched for now. Windows update will now periodically check Microsoft's site for updates and download them to your PC. You will be prompted with an icon in the task bar when new updates are available.

Advanced security steps: The following five procedures will provide you with an extra blanket of security to complement the essential changes you just made to your system.

Step 6.

Step 6. Change the name of the administrative account

The Danger: Malicious users may attempt to use the built-in 'administrator' user account to gain access to your PC.

The cause: As mentioned above, every Windows 2000 and XP installation includes an 'administrator' user account which has full control over files and system settings. This account cannot be locked or disabled and is thus the first target for anyone trying to hack into your computer. While the account should already have a password, provided you followed the procedure above, this does not protect it from attack.

The Cure: rename the administrator account.

Renaming the administrator account adds an extra layer of security by removing the standard user name 'administrator' which any malicious user will try first when attempting to gain access to your PC.

Make sure you are logged in as a user with administrative privileges - the first user created during the XP install process has these, as does the administrator. Right click on 'my computer' and select 'manage.' Expand 'local users and groups' then 'users.' Highlight the 'administrator' account and right click. Choose 'rename' and change the account to a name of your choosing.

Step 7. Disable 'hidden' shares within XP and 2000

The Danger : malicious users can easily gain access to every file and folder in your computer.

The Cause: Windows 2000 and XP both use a system of hidden administrative shares. Every drive on your computer system is shared under the name '(drive letter)$.' These shares exist to allow users with the correct username and password to remotely administer files on your computer. Of course, if a malicious user obtains a username and password with administrative rights to your system, all your files and folders are available to them over the Internet. They would be free to copy, change or delete as much of your data as they saw fit.

The cure: Disable the hidden shares.

Unless you are in a business environment, it is unlikely you will have a need for the hidden shares. Disabling them will considerably reduce the danger of your data being compromised remotely.

You will need to edit the Windows registry using REGEDIT in order to carry out this step. Please ensure that you backup your registry to a file before editing it.

To disable the hidden shares first start REGEDIT ('start\run' and type 'regedit') and then navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters
Add the Dword value 'AutoShareWks' with a value of '0' and restart your computer.

Step 8. Change Internet Explorer security settings

The Danger: Viruses and browser hijacking programs can infect your system through the use of ActiveX code on certain websites.

The Cause: By default, Internet Explorer will run certain content, including small programs embedded in the code of a website. An example of this sort of thing would be a pop-up ad asking you whether you wish to install so-and-so's software. Say yes and you may have just saddled yourself with a spyware problem. Certain malicious software may not even have the courtesy to ask before it has its way with your browser.

The cure to Step 8

The cure: Raise Internet Explorer's default security level.

Fortunately, IE can be set to a more restrictive level of security. At this setting, the browser will not run certain types of content found on websites. This includes potentially malicious ActiveX code. Of course, this can also change your web browsing experience, as it will cut off certain content from safe websites also. To get around this, you can add known safe sites that you regularly visit to Internet Explorer's 'trusted sites' list.
To raise IE's security level:

Open Internet Explorer, go to the 'tools' menu and select 'Internet options.' Now select the 'security' tab.

Set the Internet zone to the 'high' security setting. This will ensure that IE will not run activeX instructions, the means by which most browser hijackers get access to your computer. You can place trusted websites that you regularly visit into the 'trusted sites' Internet zone.

Site addresses that you enter here will be mostly unrestricted, allowing them to display their content properly.

Step 9

Step 9. Secure your shared files

The Danger: Intruders may access your shared files

The Cause: By default, Windows XP uses the simple file sharing system. This allows any user that has authenticated to your computer to have full access to all shared files. In Windows XP Home, the 'guest' user account is the account used by all remote users to access shared files. Of course, the guest account has no password by default, allowing unlimited, non-password access to your shared files for virtually anyone who finds your IP address.

While a firewall will block this type of access in most cases, it still pays to limit your venerability by configuring simple file sharing and the guest user account more securely than the default.

The Cure: Secure and configure the guest user account

If you are using Windows XP Professional, you should password protect and disable the guest account. This will force any intruder to use one of the user accounts you created or the administrator account, both of which should now be secure if you followed the above procedures.

Make sure you are logged in as a user with administrative privileges (the first user created during the XP install process has these, as does the administrator).

Right click on 'my computer' and select 'manage.' Expand 'local users and groups' then 'users.' Highlight the 'guest' account and right click. Choose 'set password' and provide the account with a secure password. Now right-click the guest account again and choose 'properties.'

Check the 'account is disabled' box.If you are using Windows XP Home, you cannot truly disable the guest account, as it is used as an integral part of the file sharing system. You can password protect it though… Bring up the command prompt (start/run and type 'cmd') and type 'net user guest password' where 'password' is the password you want to use to secure the account

Step 10

Step 10. Stop using Internet Explorer and Outlook Express

The Danger: many viruses and malicious programs target Internet Explorer and Outlook Express specifically.

The Cause: IE and OE are unquestionably the most popular web browser and email client in the world. They are the default applications that a majority of Windows users are familiar with. Because of this, many viruses and other malicious programs are created to target specific vulnerabilities in these two programs. Since the user base is so huge, they can afford to be specific. These viruses generally will not affect systems which employ other products for their web browsing and email retrieval.

The Cure: Learn to use a new web browser and email client.

There are several free browsers and email clients available that can easily replace IE and Outlook Express. The trick is to get used to using them. By not using IE and OE, you considerably reduce the danger of infecting your system with a virus.

Some examples of alternate browsers and mail clients include;Mozilla the makers of this popular browser also offer Thunderbird, a free email client.Opera. Eudora which is an ad-supported mail client with a long and successful history.