PC Versus Mac Debate

The PC versus Mac debate is raging in my house. We have both available for use so hopefully the opinions presented by those around me are at least somewhat based on actual experiences. So why are their opinions so polarized?

I have an aging iMac desktop machine at home that works just fine for all the things that I need to do. Which includes the usual email and web browsing but also serves well for video editing and photo management. At work I use an Intel based PC that is just amazing for all the applications that I need to run there, usually 5 to 7 at any one time. I couldn't ask for a more capable machine. It has lots of RAM and a nice big 21-inch LCD screen. I love it.

My teenaged son on the other hand wouldn't touch a pc unless a gun was pointed to his head. He and his friends seem to think that the pc or anything Microsoft is something to be avoided like the plague. Although they do seem to go mute when I point out that the Xbox they are playing is a Microsoft product. Selective preferences seem to be okay for them when it suits their entertainment needs.

For me having capable computing power when and where I need it is much more important than the relative cool appeal of whatever type of machine I have available. I couldn't give a rats behind whether or not the machine has any kind of sex appeal. As long as I can get it to do what I want ask of it. If I could make an old Commodore 64 do what I needed then that would be okay with me. I suppose I just don't look at my computer as any sort of status symbol.

I look at computers as appliances, just a means to an end. I don't expect my toaster to add anything to my social status beyond making toast when I put the bread in. And it's no different when it comes to computers. They are there to do our bidding. Nothing more. If a Mac is better at running graphics software then that is the platform to use. And if a PC is better suited when it comes to business applications then that is great too. It's just an appliance! If it does what you are asking then what more do you need? My car is an aging Toyota Camry (also an embarrassment to my son) that will easily exceed all posted speed limits so why would I need something faster? To me the car is just a necessary transportation appliance. Nothing more.

Why then do so many have such strong opinions on the PC vs Mac systems? Is it just marketing? Or maybe the wanting to belong to a community of like minded individuals. I don't think you can ever underestimate the power of the herd mentality. If all your friends think that the Mac (or PC) is the only way to go then it becomes very hard to buck the flow and go your own way. You run the risk of having to justify your choice to your peers with the possibility of great ridicule. As if it really matters in the end what type of processor does the work for you.

What I have noticed however as a distinguishing point is the relative lifespan of the two platforms. As I mentioned I have an aging Mac at home that still works as well as the day I brought it home. My PC friends on the other hand seem to be in a constant need of an upgrade. Over time their pc's just get slower and slower. This is despite all there efforts using firewalls and virus scanners. Things that are unnecessary with a Mac of course. At least for now while the Mac has only about a 5% market share that leaves little incentive to write those viruses for so few. Does that really make the PC an inferior platform for our needs?

Not at all. The PC is still the choice of most of the worlds users of the desktop computer. The huge array of software available for the PC is just one of the many reasons why it is king. There are a huge number of companies providing both hardware and software that use the Windows operating system. Resulting in a highly competitive marketplace that has because of this competition kept the prices at astonishingly low prices. You can now buy a good laptop complete with Windows and other companion software for under $500.00! And desktop computers can be had even cheaper. Just try to get a Mac for anything less than double that.

The cool appeal certainly is a huge factor. Macs have that in spades. Even with the higher price of entry they have a rabid fan base. Mac users are so dedicated to their machines almost to the point of obsession. They believe this strongly for reasons that could only be rooted in loyalty to Apple's vision of a unique alternative to the Microsoft near monopoly. There will always be a segment of the population that feels the need to rebel against a successful corporation. I know people that refuse to drink a Starbucks coffee and not that they will likely admit it but I suspect it is just the fact they perceive the company to be just too corporate. Too successful. Microsoft is all of that. A large very successful corporation, therefore they must be hated.

It's all good of course. It makes for a healthier marketplace to have some competition for the large dominant corporations. There is always room for more choice available to the consumer.

I recently produced the feature film The Harvest Project. Find out more and view the trailer athttp://www.theharvestprojectmovie.com The movie is also available for sale at http://www.filmannex.com/search/searchkey/harvest project You can contact me at doug_king@shaw.ca Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Doug_G_King

Everything You Need to Know About MPLS (Mult Protocol Label Switching)

The trend for network solutions encompassing multiple geographic locations is application of MPLS solutions. And with very good reason. However, there are some things you need to know to make sure it's done right.

Historically, tag switching (now called LABEL) was first proposed as a way to move IP packets more quickly than was possible with conventional routing. But, soon after implementations, it became apparent that any increase in speed was very slight. What really allowed MPLS to grow as an infrastructure technology was that it could provide new IP based services such as VPN's, Traffic Engineering (TE) etc.

The MPLS architecture separates the control information for packets required for packet transfer itself; that is, it separates the control and data planes. The data plane is used for the transport of packets (or label swapping algorithm), and the control plane is analogous to routing information (for example, the location to which to send the packet). This capability is programmed into hardware by the control plane. This separation permits applications to be developed and deployed in a scalable and flexible manner. Examples of applications that are facilitated by MPLS technology include the following......

MPLS QoS, BGP VPNs Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), Traffic engineering Traffic engineering (enables one to control traffic routing via constraint-based routing), Multicast routing Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM), Pseudowires [These can be used to evolve legacy networks and services, such as Frame Relay, ATM, PPP, High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC), and Ethernet], Generalized MPLS (GMPLS) etc.

Services offered by Service Providers (SP's) may include the following.....

* Layer 2 VPNs

* Layer 3 VPNs

* Remote Access and IPSec Integration with MPLS VPNs

* MPLS Security

* Traffic Engineering

* Quality of Service

* Multicast and NGNs (Next Generation Networks)

* IPv6 over MPLS

MPLS models adopted by service providers (SP) of broadband services depend on the services offered and also on the models adopted according to customer demands. The services provided have changed significantly through the last few years as technology has progressed. For example, many wholesale providers who offered ATM as access links now have moved on to Gigabit Ethernet.

For example, two of the most common braodband SP's would be the following.....

* Retail Provider - Any provider thats sells services to an end-user which can be business or residential. Usually they would lease bandwidth from a wholesale provider.

* Wholesale Povider - Any operator that sells services to other network operators. In context of the current broadband world, the wholesaler is usually whoever owns the subscriber plant (wires, cables etc.)

In between the subscriber and their "ISP" is the wholesale provider who owns actually owns and operates the access network, for e.g, DSL, Cable, Ethernet etc. Of course, for an IP network, these are just different types of access.

Several applications that are facilitated by the implementation of MPLS include....

* MPLS QoS - Quality of service mechanisms, for e.g, differentiated service, which enables the creation of LSPs with guaranteed bandwidth.

* Layer 3 VPN - Uses BGP in the service provider's network with IP routing protocols or static routing between the service provider and the customer. BGP is used to exchange the FEC-label binding.

* Traffic engineering - Uses extensions of IS-IS or OSPF to distribute attributes in the network. Traffic engineering enables you to control traffic routing and thus optimize network utilization.

* Multicast routing via PIM - The protocol used to create FEC tables; extensions of version 2 of the PIM protocol are used to exchange FEC label binding.

* Layer 2 VPN - Can be created via a Layer 2 circuit over MPLS. Layer 2 VPNs use Layer 2 transport as a building block.

Of course, features such as Security and Metro Ethernet are part of the MPLS architecture also.

Architectural Components and choices for SP's.......

* Scaling MPLS VPNs to Multi-AS, Multi-Provider, and Hierarchical Networks:

* Inter-AS VPNs: The 3 basic models discussed in RFC2547bis for Inter-AS connectivity are as follows:

- Back-to-back VPN connectivity between ASBRs

- VPNv4 exchange of routes and peering between ASBRs

- IPv4 exchange of routes and peering between ASBR's

All three above models focus on propagating VPN routes from one AS to the other AS. The first model is a simple one in which the ASBRs connect back to back via logical circuits or VLANs one per VRF. The back-to-back connections enable VPN connectivity and the exchange of routes between ASBRs on a per-VPN basis. For example, if ASBR1 and 2 need to exchange routes for 10 VPNs, 10 logical circuits exist between ASBR1 and ASBR2one for each VPN.

* Carrier Supporting Carrier.....

Another method of scaling MPLS VPNs is to create hierarchical VPNs. Consider a national or international carrier that is selling a VPN service to smaller stub carriers. The smaller stub carriers might in turn be selling another MPLS VPN service to end users (enterprises). By nesting stub carrier VPNs within the core or national carrier VPN, a hierarchical VPN can be built. With the CSC mode described in RFC 2547bis, the stub carrier VPNs and their routes do not show up in the core carrieronly the stub carrier IGP routes are part of the core carrier VPN. So, the core carrier does not need to learn or understand end user routes because the end user of the core carrier is the stub carrier. The core carrier needs only to provide VPN connectivity so that the core carrier's CEs (ironically, they are stub carrier PEs) are reachable. These CEs are called CSCCEs, whereas the PE that connects to the stub carrier and has MPLS enabled on the PE-CE link is called the CSCPE.

* Deployment Guideline considerations will involve the following summary guideline.....

Centralizing address translation makes keeping track of address assignment easier. Multiple NAT PEs might be required for load balancing. If this is the case, make sure public address pools do not overlap. One of the possible disadvantages to centralizing is the amount of redundancy that can be achieved by replication. For example, in a noncentralized environment, one gateway/server failure can result in an outage of only that VPN's service. However, in a centralized environment, a single gateway/shared PE failure can affect multiple VPNs. This drawback can be easily overcome by having multiple PEs that serve as shared gateways, which provide services to the same VPNs. So, you can provide redundancy with shared gateways.

If VPNs that use overlapping private address space need to access a shared services segment, make sure that private address space is translated somewhere in the path.

NAT impacts CPU utilization to a degree. Some protocols are more CPU-intensive than others. Therefore, the type of translation being performed could have significant performance impact. The impact is less for newer particle-based routers and more powerful routers.

As the number of translation entries increases, the throughput in terms of packets per second (PPS) decreases. The effect is negligible for less than 10,000 translation table entries.

The rate at which a router can add a new translation table entry decreases as the number of entries in the translation table increases.

As the number of translation entries in the translation table increases, the amount of memory used increases.

In addition to the above, there must be considerations regarding the following tools and policies.....

* Management, Provisioning, and Troubleshooting

* Equipment Scalability Versus Network Scalability

Finally, the basic arichitecture and mode of service will probably depend on customer demand and SP's commitment to deliver the same.

Here is a small list of some of the things that customers might want....

* More service selections 
* Better quality 
* Ease of migration 
* Ease of deployment 
* Ease of maintenance 
* Lower cost 
* Fewer hassles

Service providers want all of the above, plus......

* High-margin accounts 
* Rapid recovery 
* No loss of service 
* 99.99999% reliability

Enterprises want.......

* A simpler, easier network to manage

Enterprise networks range in consistency from very stable to constantly changing. Companies on growth trends are building new facilities and acquiring other businesses. They want ease of intermigration and implementation. Changes must be ably employed within their limited maintenance windows. Their data centers must run flawlessly.

The above information ... if it hasn't made your eyes go crossed ... should give you everything you ever need to know about MPLS.

But if you need more ...... as in help to reduce your time, effort, cost, and frustration in finding the right MPLS solution for your network application(s) ..... I recommend using the no cost assistance available to you through FreedomFire Communications.

Michael is the owner of FreedomFire Communications....including DS3-Bandwidth.com. Michael also authors Broadband Nationwhere you're always welcome to drop in and catch up on the latest BroadBand news, tips, insights, and ramblings for the masses. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Lemm

Tips to Protect Windows Vista Operating System

So far, Windows Vista can be considered the safest operating system but not most perfect one. In its early configuration, Vista still uncovers the possibility of leaking out the user's data to Internet through Windows Firewall, or some bots which can change settings without letting you know.

Consult the WINDOWS SECURITY CENTER

In order to have an overview of security settings, come to Windows Security Center where you can see the status of firewall system, automatic updating, malware protection and other security settings. Press "Start" - "Control Panel" - "Security Center", or simply click the shield-shaped icon on the taskbar.

If there are any red or yellow entries, it means that you are not completely protected. If you have not installed antivirus software, for example, or the existing antivirus program is expired, the "Malware" entry in Security Center will be marked yellow. Windows does not integrate any antivirus software so that you have to install yourself.

Use WINDOWS DEFENDER as a diagnosis device

Malware entry in Security Center is also supposed to report the anti-spyware capacity, and Vista depends on Windows Defender to do this job. Although anti-spyware capacity in security or anti-virus utilities is usually better than that of Windows, there are some good reasons to maintain the existence of Windows Defender. One of those is that each spyware utility uses a different definition to identify the spyware. Therefore, an abundant protection sometimes brings about practical benefit.

Another reason to keep Windows Defender in standby status is diagnosis capacity. Click "Tools", select "Software Explorer". Here you will find a list of all programs by category: Currently Running Programs, Network Connected Programs and Winsock Service Providers, but Startup Programs seems to be the most useful. Click ant names in the left window, the full details will display on the right. By checking any listed program, you can uninstall, deactivate or reactivate that one.

Deactivate the Start Up

Windows Vista monitors all documents and programs you generate in Start Up. This is convenient for some users, but on the other hands, it can be harmful for your privacy if the computer is shared in office or family. Fortunately, Window Vista provides a simple way to change this setting. The steps should be taken as follow:

Right-click the taskbar and select Properties, then select "Start Menu" tab 
Uncheck "Store and Display a list of recently opened files" 
Uncheck "Store and Display a list of recently opened programs" 
Press OK.

2-way Firewall

Almost every PC is equipped with Firewall software, currently. However, even when Security Center states that you are protected, you might not be protected at all.

The Windows Firewall function in Vista is able to "block" any input data which can endanger system, and that is really a good thing. Nevertheless, the off-line security function is not activated by default, so that this may be a dangerous situation if some new harmful software finds a way to break into your PC.

Microsoft has equipped Windows Vista with tools to deploy 2-way firewall feature, but finding these settings is a little complicated. In order to activate 2-way firewall feature of Windows Vista, press "Start", select "Run", then type "wf.msc", then press "Enter". Click the icon of "Windows Firewall with Advanced Security". This interface will display the principles of monitoring system inbound/outbound information. Select "Windows Firewalls Properties". You can see a dialog box containing some tabs. For the profiles: Domain, Private and Public, you should change the settings of "Block", then press "OK".

However, 2-way firewall activation can prevent all the applications from connecting to Internet. Therefore, before getting out of "Windows Firewall with Advanced Security", scroll down, select "Outbound Rules" and "New Rules" on the top right of the screen. Select "Program", on the next screen. Then select the path for Internet Explorer, iTunes or some of your applications requesting to connect to Internet. For each program, on the next screen, select "Allow the Connection", then name each principle/rule created. You will have to set a new rule for all applications which have access to the Internet.

Besides, you can use a firewall utility of third party such as Comodo Firewall Pro or ZoneAlarm, which are all free and able to offer other features in addition to firewall.

Close the doors to unexpected guests

If you share your computer with others (even if you don't), Windows Vista provides a good way to prevent unexpected guests from guessing your password of admin account. When you create a new user and assign someone to be admin (with full rights and authority), Windows Vista allows other users to guess your selected password. The following steps are to restrain the penetration of strangers:

Select "Start", type "Local Security Policy". 
Press "Account Lockout Policy" 
Select "Account Lockout Threshold" 
At the prompt, fill the maximum allowed invalid log-on attempts (e.g.: 3). 
Press "OK" and close the window.

Verify the attackers

With proper Account Lockout policy, you can activate the feature of verifying attempts to attack your account. In order to start verify the invalid log-on, the steps are as follow:

Select "Start", type "secpol.msc, click "secpol" icon. 
Press Local Policies then press "Audit Policy" 
Right-click "Audit account logon events policy" option and select "Properties". 
Check the dialog box "Failure" and press OK 
Close "Local Security Policy" window. 
Now, you can use Event Viewer feature (by typing the command: eventvwr.msc) to view the log-on history recorded in Windows Logs and Security.

INTERNET EXPLORER settings security

Windows Security Center also has function of reporting if security status of Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8 is as required or not. If the status is marked red, you should rapidly modify the IE settings

In the menu, select Tools, then select Internet Options 
Select Security tab 
Select Custom Level

Now you will see a window containing all options relating to IE's security issue. If the options are lower than required (can be changed by some malwares), those will be marked red. To modify a setting, click the corresponding one. In order to reset the original settings, press "Reset" button at the bottom of the tab. If you want, you can change the general security settings of the browser from Medium - High (by default) to High or Medium as required. Press "OK" to save these changes

Use OPEN DNS

DNS (Domain Name System) servers play the role of a telephone directory. When you type a domain name dantri.com.vn, for example, in the address bar, Internet Explorer will send the requirement of common domain name to DNS servers of the your ISP, then these servers are supposed to transform the character sequence to a string of numbers or an IP address. The DNS servers have been attacked over the past few years because the hackers have tried every possible way to redirect the common DNSs to the servers which they can control. A solution to prevent this abuse is to use Open DNS.

Click "Start" à "Control Panel" à "Network and Internet" 
Select "Network and Sharing Center". Under the taskbars listed on the left, select "Manage Network Connections". In the window of "Manage Network Connections", follow these steps: 
Right-click the icon of your network card 
Select Properties. 
Then select "Internet Protocol Version 4". 
Click "Properties" in the next displayed screen. 
Select "Use the following DNS server addresses". 
Input 208.67.222.222 into the primary address 
Input 208.67.220.220 into the secondary address 
Press OK

Cohabit with USER ACCOUNT CONTROL

There is a setting status that some users want it marked red. That is Vista's User Account Control (UAC) - the controversial security function of Vista operating system.

Designed to prevent the remote malware/spyware from automatically installing or modifying system settings, UAC tends to block legal installations by stopping the ongoing process with unnecessary error messages. In Windows 7, you can set up UAC as you want. Up to then, you will have more options.

There is an option of invalidating UAC. However, you should consider this risky choice because UAC can warn you of potential dangers. Instead, install Tweak UAC - a free utility that allows you to turn on or turn off UAC and simultaneously provides an intermediate "quiet" mode (this mode keeps UAC on but suppresses administration elevation prompts). With TweakUAC in "quiet" mode, UAC seem to be turned off to those who use administration accounts, but those who use standard account will still receive the warning messages.

Verify the results

By modifying the security settings of Windows Vista, now you can monitor the safety of system via System Health Report. This diagnosis tool receives the input date from Performance and Reliability Monitor and transforms them into a report with general information. To some extent, this report can provides you with information of potential security issues.

Open Control Panel. 
Click System. 
In Tasks list, select Performance (near the bottom of the list). 
In resulting Tasks list, click Advanced tools (near the top of the list). 
Click the last item on the resulting Task list: Generate a system health report. 
This report will list any missing drivers which can cause errors, reporting to you if the antivirus protection is installed or not, or if the UAC is on or off. To make sure of the best condition of your Pc, run this report monthly.

Dinh Cong Tuan is now working for a software company that provides IT solutions and software development services. If you want to know more about his work, visit the website: http://attsoftware.net see how he can optimize your business. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dinh_Cong_Tuan

Numbers and Web Server Monitoring

When I sit down to investigate the efficacy of my web server monitoring, I would like to confirm I understand the fundamentals. Before I even judge how my monitoring service is performing, I need to judge how web server monitoring works overall. It is important to me to make sure that I understand some of the technical basics; in truth, that understanding makes me a better businessperson, even if I don't really have the same technical background as the people that provide my monitoring services.

Even if I did, though, it's sweet to be able to take some shortcuts when it comes to learning about exactly what I should be expecting about my server performance. As it stands, though, I am a businessperson-most folk who look at getting some sort of web server monitoring are, whether tiny or large-and whilst I understand the technical aspects of my business, the technical facets of my business hardware infrequently escape me. Obviously, that's where the executives come in-that's where I start outsourcing-but less obviously, I am able to reassure myself about the smart investment I am making in having my web servers monitored. It isn't just me who can be reassured, though; I can share this with you.

Here's how I do it: straightforward maths. Web servers often perform without interruption (and if they don't, that's when I call in the guaranty and call up the company-and things can get hideous, which is why the people who build the hardware and write the software generally do a very good job ), so I do not need to stress about my servers being down for some terrible period of time. I haven't got to fret about 50 % performance. I haven't got to fret about seventy-five percent performance. I do not even actually have to fret about 90 p.c performance-what I have to fret about is those times when, for who knows what reason, the server goes down just for a jiffy or even a few seconds. goes down at a crucial time during a crucial transaction, it could be offline only for some seconds each week, but the impact of those few seconds can be enormous. That is the reason why I need web server monitoring.

That's over a complete week that my server is out of commission-an entire week that I am losing cash on transactions, I am losing efficacy on my advertising, and I am losing presence on the internet. In the bleeding edge world we reside in, I can't afford to have my web servers down for that long. What if that week coincides directly with the holiday season-and what if I am selling poinsettias online? You can see why it's important for me to know about numbers when it comes to my web server monitoring.

The great thing about web servers, though-and thus web server monitoring-is that ninety-eight percent performance is abysmally low. Usually, we are speaking around ninety-nine percent or higher. At ninety-nine percent, my servers are down only about three and a half days; at ninety-nine point 9 %, it's nearer to only a third of the day. Even so, knowing those numbers makes me realize that this monitoring is important to my business-and that is the reason why I'm investing in it, to keep sales up, traffic coming, presence building, and advertising strong.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Antony_B_Kline

Funny Computer Language

As a senior citizen just being introduced to the computer world, you will have to learn a whole new language of funny words connected with this new phase of your life...words that have a far different meaning than what you normal think they mean. Additionally, you will find strange new words such as "bits, bytes, megabytes, megahertz" and so on, but you may not have to worry about all of them.

When you are working a computer program, you may use a "mouse" which is not the four-legged type but a device with a hard rubber ball on the bottom (or even just a light) that helps move a "cursor (a pointer, that is, not one that uses foul language) on the "monitor" (not a teacher who watches you when taking a test, but a TV picture tube or flat screen nowadays) of the computer that shows you what you are typing or drawing or moving. You move the mouse with your hand (or finger if you are using a laptop (a portable computer) and "click" (attach) the pointer to a specific object to tell the CPU (computer processing unit) to do something.

Other terms peculiar to computers are "CD Rom, discs, hard and optical drives, desktops, laptops, notebooks, spread sheets, mother boards, Pentium families, dot matrix-ink, jet-bubble jet laser printers." There is also DOS and Windows 95 or XP to add to the new vocabulary...and new ones practically every time you look around.

Right now the "in" thing is to "Surf the Net" (that's the worldwide Internet, and you don't use a surfboard to do that)...it's a compendium of interesting facts, business and social relationships, news sources (such as this web site and not connected with a spider if you please) which you can reach through a "modem" (computer connections via a phone and online service that you have to pay for) at "baud rates (rates of speed including "broadband" which is the fastest one right now and will probably change in the future!).

Repairing a computer when it breaks down (freezes or crashes) may require calling in or seeing a "hardware" (equipment) or "programmer" person.

"Hard copy" is exactly what it means: however, with computers it means "print out" on a piece of paper from a "printer" (laser, ink jet or otherwise) of what is shown on the "monitor."

One word after a particularly bad session when things go wrong in "cyberspace" we understand quite easily..."Exit" or "Quit" or "Escape", while another is "Save" (And we also understand the mental anguish when we don't do that and what you have done is wiped out and you have to do it all over again unless you can "revert" back to what you just did which is possible.) The temptation to punch the computer's monitor is an experience we all go through while enjoying the attributes of a computer system and the help it gives us.

And "help" is the one attribute the computer has done for us. When I first started out in the printing business all type was set with metal individual pieces of type to form articles that were printed on a press. Today, if there was a mistake in this column, for example, it probably would take an hour to make the correction--something that takes a few seconds with the current computers.

The latest social words in cyberspace are "YouTube", "Facebook" and the newest, "Twitter" (and we do it too) which makes it a whole new "another" world in social communication.

This writer's last comment: Just enjoy the wonderful world of cyberspace...and surf to your heart's content on the Internet, even without a surfboard!

Bernard Block, editor and publisher of http://TheSeniorConnextion.com a web magazine for senior lifestyles to inform, educate and help-to-improve Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bernard_Block

Best Windows Registry Cleaner on the Market

The Windows Registry is the most important part of the Operative System (OS); this "database" holds all the crucial and sensitive information of your machine. Protecting it and maintaining it is the job of the user (you). This article will guide you step by step in how to optimize the Windows Registry, so you can get the top performance of your PC (personal computer).

You should always optimize your Windows registry to avoid computer slow downs as well as minimizing the risk of system crash and error messages.

So what do you mean by optimizing?

Optimizing the system registry simply means cleaning the registry. This simple act of cleaning frees your computer memory giving your machine a speed boost (your PC will perform on its peek performance).

So how do I clean my Registry?

To clean your registry you must use software called Registry Cleaner, the best registry cleaner on the market is Registry Easy, which will find all the registry problems on your machine and will fix it for you in no time.

Do I really need software? Can't I do it myself?

You can clean your system registry manually, but it is very risky and complicated. That's why it is recommended that you use registry cleaners; even the computer technicians use it! Simply because it is fast, reliable and risk free.

There are hundreds of registry files on your machine and finding the right one is very time consuming and not only that but also if you accidentally remove or alter a file that you shouldn't then you are in risk in losing all the information that your store on your machine, in some cases your computer may not even start!

So you see using a Registry Cleaners is probably the best choice to optimize your machine.

After testing some of the top registry cleaners on the marker I created a comprehensive review site that details my findings. Here is the website registry cleaner review to read his professional report. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Smit_Chacha

Resolving 403 Forbidden Page Error For WordPress Blogs

Well, sometime back I moved my blog from blogspot to WordPress using WordPress's awesome Importer tool. The action was mainly driven by the desire to host the blog on my own domain since that gives me a lot more flexibility to customize stuff as I want it to be. Luckily for me, my hosting provider (A2hosting) has a ready installation package for setting up a WordPress blog and so that part went pretty smooth. However, once I tried to open up the landing page of my blog, I got page forbidden (403) error. Incidentally, it was coming for every single page of the blog, including the wp-admin.

After a lot of hassle, I was finally able to resolve it and everything seems to be working alright since then. Anyhow, I thought of putting down my observations here for anyone who may face similar issue with their installations or otherwise.

- The obvious things first - I checked the permissions on the installation folder (for me, /blog) and found it to be perfectly ok (755 for read / execute to world).

- Next I checked the .htaccess in the root and so I found the problem. I had an earlier rails (Ruby on Rails) installation and following lines were present in it: -

<br /><em>RewriteEngine on</em></p><p><em>RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^sushain.com$ [OR]</p><p>RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.sushain.com$</p><p>RewriteRule ^contest http://127.0.0.1:12009%{REQUEST_URI} [P,QSA,L]</p><p>DirectoryIndex preload.html index.html</p><p># BEGIN WordPress</em></p><p><em># END WordPress</em><br />

I immediately knew that the URL rewriting module was causing some issue here, but I didn't want to tinker with this since I may want my Ruby app (although dormant for now) to come alive again in future. So, what I did instead was that I changed the .htaccess file in the /blog folder from -

DirectoryIndex index.php

AuthUserFile "/home/sushainp/.htpasswds/public_html/blog/passwd"

to - 

<em>DirectoryIndex index.php AuthUserFile "/home/sushainp/.htpasswds/public_html/blog/passwd" # BEGIN WordPress <ifmodule> RewriteEngine On RewriteBase /blog/ RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteRule . /blog/index.php [L] </ifmodule></em> <em># END WordPress</em>
This overrode the URL rewriting mechanism for /blog level addresses and thus, solved the issue.

By the way, for those of you interested in knowing more about URL-rewriting module, more information is available here.

Cheers !

-- Sushain Pandit http://sushain.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sushain_Pandit