Welcome to Michael's Article Collection

How to Use Review Toolbar

If you haven’t heard of Review Toolbar, you are being left behind. You are also missing out on the best websites on the Internet today! The Review Toolbar is a toolbar that sits with other toolbars on your web browser, such as Internet Explorer. It can be used to see how websites rate, using a star system, to read reviews written by real people for websites, and even to add your own reviews of . . .

Computer Data Backups: Test Now or Cry Later

If you're like most small business owners, your computer data backups are one of those things that you rarely pay attention to. Computer data backups are kind of like flossing your teeth and eating low-fat, high-fiber foods… everyone knows what they're supposed to do… but how many REALLY do these things religiously?!?Unfortunately when it comes to your computer data backups however, complacency. . .

Computer Consulting 101 Hiring Tips (Part 1 of 2)

Does your business need the services of a computerconsulting firm? Before you rush out and hire the firsttechie or slick-salesperson that knocks on your door, besure to consider these favorite Computer Consulting 101hiring tips for screening and interviewing local computerconsulting firms. In this first in a two-part series, we'lllook the root of the problem, as well as the four most basiccrite. . .

Appointment Calendar Software: 4 Critical Features - Part 1

Effective appointment calendar software should have the ability to create multiple categories, display a monthly view, create reminders and provide recurrence capability. In this article series I will go in-depth into the above features and show the valuable benefits of each one.When your appointment calendar software can create multiple categories for you, it puts you at a great advantage for . . .

Internet Faxing: Simple Way To Send Your Faxes Online

Nowadays, fax services are undeniable one of the most important communications among human. If doesn't matter how big is your business, what's your business nature and how you run your business - you just need a fax service to send out those documents. The recent survey that shows a bigger percentage of business phone bills are for faxing prove that the fax is still one of the 'must-have servic. . .

VoIP Small Business/Home Business Advantage

Small businesses, home-based businesses, and self-employed individuals have been turning to internet telephone service (also called broadband phone or VOIP) in droves. What is the attraction? As a self-employed, telecommuting, small-business-owning freelance writer, I can provide some insight.I switched my business to internet phones early in 2005. Despite a few hiccups, I'm not going back to l. . .

Business Protocol: Becoming the Vanderbilt of Conference

Don't Forget your Business Protocol on Conference CallsAs rapid, streamlined and efficient become the catchwordsof today's business, it's easy to forget common courtesiesin our fast-paced business world. Because of this, we haveto make a greater effort to maintain the common courtesiesthat were once an everyday part of life. Conference callsis one of these areas. They save time and money,. . .

Cracking Passwords

Cracking Passwords is one of the key components in performing a security assessment is the acquisition of user account information and cracking of the account password. There are many methods and tools that can be used to crack passwords, however, you must first retrieve the information to crack. And once again, there are many ways of acquiring the account information. This article will illustr. . .

What Are Hosted Applications?

As access to the Internet becomes more widespread with faster, more reliable and 'always on' connections becoming the norm the growth of applications using the hosted application model continues to expand.Although hosted applications will not suit every situation, or every customer, they offer many individuals and organizations, as well as the application manufacturers' themselves, considerable. . .

More Computer Consulting 101 Hiring Tips (Part 2 of 2)

Does your company need to retain the services of a competentcomputer consulting firm, but you have no idea how to reallyevaluate "competence"?In the first part of this two-part series on ComputerConsulting 101 hiring tips, we looked at why smallbusinesses find it so difficult to hire good computerconsulting companies, as well as four basic questions thatyou must be addressed when searching for . . .

The Webmaster's Assistant

There are many tools available to a webmaster to analyse website traffic allowing them to monitor the number of visitors, see what pages have been accessed and even the length of time each visitors spends accessing the website.However, despite the considerable data available what is missing is anything to tell the webmaster what the visitor was thinking. Did they like or dislike the site? Was t. . .

The Speed Of Life: Can Wireless Data Keep Up With Us?

If you are a part of the modern information age today, you would have noticed that everything these days is moving at a blistering pace. It wasn't that many years ago that we were tethered to our walls if we wanted to talk to someone that wasn't within earshot. These days you are hard-pressed to find a place that average everyday users like you or I would go where a mobile phone will not get co. . .

How Will You Describe a Domain Name?

What is a Domain Name?Imagine that everybody in the world used their telephone number instead of their name... If names didn't exist, you'd be forced to invent them, or you'd never be able to identify your closest friends, let alone casual acquaintances you'd met only a couple of times!Domain names were invented to fill a similar need on the Internet. Most computers connected to the Internet ar. . .

A Devoted Friend Who Knows Your Interests

I'm a big fan of Lois McMaster Bujold and Suzanne Vega. I'd love to know when either artist releases something new. (For those who don't know them, the first is a novelist, and the second is a singer/songwriter.)There are a lot of things I'm interested in, and information about them all can be found somewhere on the Internet. My interests also pop up in newspapers, and (usually very short) segm. . .

Securing your Wireless Network

When one thinks about home security, they ususally think of taking measures like installing alarms, deadbolts, and window locking devices. But if you have a wireless computer network like many American homes, your personal data (credit card numbers and banking information) could be open to hackers.When you first purchase and turn on your wireless router, the router manufacturer makes it dead si. . .

My Space Is Your Space: Myspace.com

This article has an accompanying comic strip that can be found at: http://www.m6.net/articles/images/myspace.jpgYou know, I've been writing articles on the Internet for over 2 years now and it never seems to amaze me how slow I am to pick up on new phenomena that keep springing up on the World Wide Web. Just as I hear about some really cool website/web concept, I am then told about a new one th. . .

Americans Favor Internet Over TV, But Do They Trust Your ...

The Center for the Digital Future today released its results for the fifth year of their project, "Surveying the Digital Future" - http://www.digitalcenter.org/pdf/Center-for-the-Digital-Future-2005-Highlights.pdf . And what interesting results they are! More people are using the Internet for more things, more often, but even though it's their most important source of information, they don't tr. . .

Free Ebooks Equal Free Money

Do you know the secret to making money with affiliate marketing?Many smart affiliate marketers earn revenue by creating free special reports (or ebooks) that discuss a specific topic. These guides contain links to high-paying affiliate products. So whenever someone reads a free ebook and purchases product from an affiliate link, the marketer earns a sales commission.But what if you don’t know h. . .

What Happens When You Visit An Internet Website?

Time For Some Alphabet SoupWhenever you type an address into your web browser, or click on a link in a web page, you are making a request for a certain document. Handled by the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), your request is sent over the Internet to the server that holds the document you want. Assuming all goes well, the server will respond by sending the document, usually a web page cons. . .

A Dozen Techniques to Improve Your Software Online Help

There are several main reasons why putting your software manual on-line is necessary. It makes your web-site attractive for search engine crawlers and therefore brings you targeted traffic from Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and other search engines. A good online manual makes your product serious and credible. Moreover, if a user faces difficulty using your software and asks for technical support, you m. . .

Has Someone Stolen Your Identity? Here Are 8 Ways to Tell

Right now, someone could be using your identity to start a new credit card, to get a loan, to drain your checking or savings account. In some cases, you might not find out about the theft for weeks, sometimes even months. Unfortunately, the longer it takes to discover the crime, the more damage will be done and the harder it will be to rectify that damage.Thankfully, there are some ways for y. . .

Energize Your Sales

Looking for ways to kick start and energize your sales? Here are a few proven ways you can Super-Charge Your Sales.Turn your banner ad into a trivia question. Post the question on the banner and tell readers they can win a prize if they answer the question at your site.Motivate people to buy your product. Tell them a lot of positive things like "You can now reach your goals and change your lif. . .

How the Mini-ITX Form Factor Is Changing How Your Compute...

Until just recently, consumers have been forced into buying desktop computers that have very little variation from model to model. I’ll be the first to admit that some of the better manufacturers are doing a great job of making the boring old “box” look very nice, but there are not many of them. Typically these “out of the ordinary” computers systems are reserved for hi-end gaming machines th. . .

Strategic Planning – Software design scenario

The most basic and pervasive management function is planning. All managers at all levels plan, and the success of the performance of the other management functions depends upon this activity. Planning is deciding in advance what has to be done, who has to do it, when it has to be done, and how it is to be done. It bridges the gap from where we are to go to where we want to go. Managers plan for. . .

Applying Physical Data Model in Entity-Relationship Analysis

Entity-relationship analysis comprises of three major abstractions to describe data. These are entities, relationships and attributes. Here entities are the distinct things in the enterprise. Relationship is the relation between the entities and attributes are the nature or properties of the entities.So in a software design scenario we assimilate similar objects in sets and call these sets as e. . .

Goal Centric Software Design

Before we go into details of goal centric design let us look at one of the most important part of modern software design named abstraction. In brief abstraction is nothing but selection through examination of certain aspects of the whole requirement of the software project. Abstraction determines aspects of the requirement and isolate and rank the aspects on the basis of their importance. Thus . . .

How to Prepare IT Certification Exams

Preparing IT certification exams is a significant undertaking whether you're just out of college or have been in IT field for years. IT professionals are continuously demanded to acquire new knowledge in order to perform well on their jobs as new technology in IT industry emerged at a pace that has never been seen before. While tests in colleges emphasizing on measuring the systematic underst. . .

The Email Alternative: Using An Extranet For Online Docum...

Why is an extranet better than email for sharing documents? The answer is simple: email is perfect for one-to-one communication, but not ideally suited for groups engaged in project collaboration.Most e-mail programs provide little – if any – effective way to prioritize your messages and attachments. Everything arrives in the same place, in the order in which it was sent.With an extranet, all p. . .

Easier Way To Make Money Online!

There have never been more people online with the desire to earn money then today. The big questions have been the same since the start and will not change in the future. How to make money online. The answers have been as many as the starts in the sky, but the biggest problem is that most of them never work for more then a few persons. How can you make money online? Some of the ways to make mon. . .

How to Convert Email to SMS

One of the simplest methods of converting your emails to SMS messages is to make use of an email to SMS gateway. Many SMS gateway providers offer a simple conversion which allow you to send through an email to their servers which in turn spits out an SMS message and delivers it to the various recipients. In most cases one will first need to setup an account an SMS gateway provider and then reha. . .

Media Players And The Digital Age

It is important for you to know exactly what a media player is, and how you may want to use it with your lifestyle. Remember the longer you wait to learn, the more you will feel left behind and possibly be missing many entertainments features too. The word multimedia player has its beginnings with the media technology from radio and TV. It is just another form of communication written in comput. . .

How To Find Amazing Laptop Deals

Laptop computers are becoming increasingly popular because of their easy portability. A laptop is ideal for those who must travel because of their jobs or for those who work away from their desk. College students also use laptop computers for their studies. It is not difficult to find good laptop deals. Electronic stores and the Internet are all perfect places to look for laptop deals.Before pu. . .

What Features To Look For When Applying For Good Hosting ...

When looking for a host, it will be useful to obtain as much information as possible about the web hosting company itself and the services they offer. These pre-sales questions are a way to check several things about the web hosting company. You can obtain detailed information about the services they offer - the web hosting plans they have, the features included there, etc.These days hosting pl. . .

The Ebay Survival Guide

When I was in the Armed Forces we were always being issued with “Survival Guides”. How to survive in the Jungle, the Desert, and the Sea are just 3 titles that I remember. But if there is one environment that has been crying out for a survival guide it is eBay.So I was intrigued when I got my hands on Michael Banks latest book “The eBay Survival Guide”. I soon realised that it was a cut above m. . .

Maintain Your PC’s Performance With PC Programs

Over time, even the most sophisticated, memory packed computer can begin to run slow if we don’t do something to prevent it. The reason why has less to do with how computers are made and how they age and more to do with the way we use them. You see, all of the daily tasks that we do on our PC from running programs to downloading and deleting software can make our computer sluggish. To keep this. . .

Can You Hear Me Now?

I'm sure you've seen the cellular phone commercial, two customers are on cell phones and one says, “Can you hear me now?” takes a step back and repeats, “Can you hear me now?” While commercials like that make us laugh, the truth is that as telecommunications expand and include many different options, we must make sure that we are not exchanging flexibility for sound qua. . .

The Importance Of Proper Security For Your PC

The world online can be a scary place and sometimes it can get downright nasty. From viruses and spyware to internet identity theft, the information stored on your computer is under constant assault and should be protected at all costs. Why? Unscrupulous hackers will stop at nothing to get your precious personal information, and you have to stay one step ahead of them to ensure that they don’t.. . .

Building Web Communities With Free Forums

Looking for somewhere online to meet new people, discuss hobbies, plan events, or just have fun chatting? Internet forums have been around for some time on the web and often are free and easy to setup. Forums are basically online discussion web sites where people share information and chat grouped around a set of topics. One example might be a local photography club. You could setup topics arou. . .

Spyware: It's Hidden Agenda

We have all heard about spyware. Spyware is regularly featured in various news media and is a topic of much discussion in computer circles. The reason for this is the constant bombardment of spyware related material, that infiltrates computer systems. Spyware has a hidden agenda.The Internet is loaded with information on every conceivable subject. There are ebooks, software, photos, file sharin. . .

What is Exactly is Broadband?

These days, "broadband" is a word that is thrown around easilyin telecommunications and internet lingo, but the averageconsumer may not have a clear understanding of how broadband isdefined. It's easy to understand why; the technology industrydefines it in different ways as well. So how is broadband defined? The online Webster's dictionarydefines broadband as "A class of communication channel c. . .

Successful Myspace Strategies

Using MySpace effectivelySocial networking is a phenomenon that seems recent on the internet with sites likie ecademy, linkedin, ryze, openbc, orkut, craigslist, friendster, and of course myspace. But the nature of networking with others has been around for thousands of years as individuals gathered in communities and expanded their base of friends. It's through the technology advancements, tho. . .

Free VoIP Services: Not Necessarily Free

Though not a new technology, VOIP, or Voice Over Internet Protocol, has recently begun gaining ground on the traditional long distance telephone industry. Simply put, VOIP is the ability for a person to talk on the telephone over an Internet connection. Using a variety of types of equipment to switch analog sound bits into digital data packets, VOIP has made placing long distance phone calls mo. . .

Five Ways Web Conferencing Can Help You Sell More Products

When it comes to business, any new technology will ultimately be judged on how well it contributes to improving productivity and profit. If you are selling goods or services, online web conferencing can improve your bottom line by boosting sales and lowering costs. Here are five reasons why this is so:1. It allows you to meet with more prospective clientsIf you have to physically travel to a cl. . .

Personal and Professional Ink Jet Printers

Ink Jet Printers for Professional and Home UseInk jet printers work by impelling a jet of colored ink tothe paper directly. Colors that are used by low-end jetsare magenta, yellow and cyan, however they provide muddyblack color. When pure black prints are required thenfour-color jets, having black ink are used. Ink jetprinters are put to special use by the industries. Theyare the most popular c. . .

Extranets For Advertising Agencies

Ideally, clients and agencies have aligned interests, and they usually do. Today there are real challenges to that important alignment, forcing clients and agencies to look for new and better ways to collaborate. Enter easy-to-use, web based extranets.What is an extranet? Specifically, an extranet is a private web site that provides a secure environment for a select group of users to share docu. . .

Choosing The Right Web Host - The Hardest Customer Task T...

Can we take this whole internet thing one step further and host our site ourselves on our own PC? Well, the basic answer is no! If you need to get a site live quickly or cheaply, it can be nearly impossible to do it yourself. Outsourcing these tasks to professional web host prividers that will save you money and headaches. The company will lodge your site on a web server, make the necessary con. . .

Aboard The Broadband-Wagon

'Broadband' is the general term used to refer to high-speed information transmission over networks, and nowadays is used increasingly to mean a fast Internet connection. The term has more to do with the electrical waveform (‘signal’) being transmitted. The signal can come to you through a variety of physical arrangements: a DSL line, a T1 line, a TV cable, a wireless link and even your utility . . .

Will VoIP Make The Telephone Ring?

As a large proportion of people worldwide are increasingly favouring the Internet as a means of communicating with others, it should come as no great surprise to see it being adapted to encompass that other technological marvel of our age, the telephone.Once again, the Internet has taken another step forward in its evolution, this time with the arrival of voIP (voice over Internet Protocol). B. . .

The Power of VoIP

VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol is becoming the powerful choice for residential and business customers when it comes to selecting telecommunications applications. VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol is the technology used to transmit voice or audio files over the Internet. Using what is known as the Packet Switching Network, audio is transmitted over the Internet and then received by a . . .

The MMORPG Phenomenon: Digital Addiction?

For the uninitiated, MMORPG stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. The basic premise of these epic online games is that players from around the world converge on servers to do battle against computer driven opponents and often each other. Each server can hold on average up to 5,000 players at a time. It is then no wonder that these servers become home to a unique subculture . . .