5 things you can do today to help fix our broken Internet

Internet was fundamentally broken in the way that only things which have been patched together could be :

Stay Up To Date
This is vitally important for Windows users, but it also has started to have more of an impact on Mac users too. If there’s a single thing that you can do to help the Internet as a whole, it is to use the latest version of your OS, updated software on that OS and to keep your virus definitions current in your scanner.

So many of the problems that we see, the vulnerabilites of the Internet, come from outdated software. If we could simply convince everyone to turn on automatic updating of their software, and to enable it to upgrade itself, numerous security holes would be closed.

Scan The System
Along the same lins as staying up to date, you need to have up-to-date antivirus and anti-malware scanners installed in your system. Granted, Mac and Linux users don’t have to worry quite so much about this, but Windows users, the
onus is on you
If we could get every computer user to have reliable antivirus and anti-malware protections installed, and get them to keep them up to date, we’d eliminate so many potential problems that it wouldn’t be worth the viurs-maker’s time to continue work on them.

Become the Future
I touched on this briefly in the piece about the broken Internet, and then more in depth when CloudFlare released its IPv6 gateway product, but it’s worth revisiting here — We have to stop living in the past.

Right now we’re living on an IPv4 system that is gasping its dying breaths. In order to move forward, we have to be on IPv6, but in order for hosts to justify the cost, we have to have content on that IPv6 network or else it’s going to be a barren Internet wasteland for anyone who transitions.

So you should find a way to make that IPv6 transition. CloudFlare offers one method, some ISPs are jumping onto the early move, as well. There will be other options as we move forward, and there are even software options being developed that can run on your own Web server. So, it’s more in-depth, but it’s vitally important to push this change forward.

Get Secure
So you don’t care if someone uses your WiFi connection, right? But what if they’re using it to spread problems? What if they’re enabling someone else to cause problems via your connection?

Wireless security is simple, so you should have it enabled. Many of the medium-quality an higher routers on the market offer guest browsing access to which you can freely give out the password and still keep the rest of your network secure. So don’t settle. Buckle down that insecure WiFi and stop having excuses.

HTTPS
It’s a matter of security. It’s a matter of making certain that your information stays your information. If a website offers HTTPS (and many more are, each day) then you should enable it. Twitter does, so do Google and Facebook. For many people on the Internet, that makes up the vast majority of their browsing day.

There’s one other step here, too. If you host a website, and you at any point ask for a user to submit any sort of information, make sure that you’re using a secure connection to do so. There’s hardly anything that I find more annoying on the Internet (except hipsters) than trying to look at something on a website, being asked to sign in, and then getting the insecure page warning.

I’m sure there are more, but these are the ones that came up to me off the top of my head. Beyond that, though, they’re shareable to your lesser-techie friends. So please, do share it with them and let’s start fixing our broken home.

Facebook to fix privacy breach

FACEBOOK has promised to fix a major privacy breach by this evening, after it was revealed the website was tracking users across the internet.

Australian technician Nik Cubrilovic blogged about the tracking on Saturday, and was called by Facebook's engineers in the US yesterday.

"Even if you are logged out, Facebook still knows and can track every page you visit," Mr Cubrilovic wrote in his blog post.

The accusation quickly spread around the world and the social networking site was forced to defend its position. Facebook reportedly promised to modify its technology so that users could no longer be tracked once they left the site.

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Its current technology puts "cookies" in internet browsers that track which websites users go to, email addresses and other information that could be used by third-party advertisers.

Mr Cubrilovic said the big response to his revelation had been overwhelming.

"I haven't put the phone down this morning (and) have media calling random family members asking to talk to me," he tweeted.

"Facebook does not track users across the web," a Facebook spokesperson said in an earlier statement.

"Instead, we use cookies on social plugins to personalise content (eg. show you what your friends liked), to help maintain and improve what we do (eg. measure click-through rate), or for safety and security (eg. keeping underage kids from trying to sign up with a different age).

"No information that we receive when you see a social plugin is used to target ads; we delete or anonymise this (tracking) information within 90 days, and we never sell your information."

But Associate Professor Axel Bruns from the Queensland University of Technology said that it was not only Facebook people have to be concerned about.

"We think we understand Facebook as an organisation, but at the same time, exactly who has access to that cookie is another question," he told The Advertiser.

He said that cookies were generally used to store account information, but could be used by unscrupulous organisations to track the links people click on.

"They may see that every morning at 9am you log on to some internal website for the place you work for so they can see where you're working," he said.

"It may be possible to associate what you do online with your Facebook profile . . . they can look at what you're clicking on and your status updates."

How to Fix Internet Explorer Shutdown Problems

Internet Explorer is one of the most popular web browsers. Although it is relatively simple to use, occasionally it does experience problems, including unexpected shutdowns. Find out what you can do to correct this situation without taking your computer to a repair shop. The first set of instructions should be followed no matter which of the first two options you select. After that, you have two basic choices: upgrade or update your IE.

Instructions

1
Spyware and viruses are known to cause problems with Internet Explorer shutting down unexpectedly. Download AVG, an anti-virus/anti-spyware application, from its website (see link in Resources). Download the free version or you can select the paid version if you want more options.

2
Click the tab labeled "Get it Now" in the section that describes the version you want to download.

3
Click on the link to "Check System Requirements" first to make sure your computer can handle this application. If you are satisfied that it can, scroll down and click on the "Download" or "Buy Now" tab for the version of AVG you want.

4
Follow the prompts that appear if any do. Once the download is complete, open the application.

5
Click the tab on the left-hand side of the page that says "Computer Scanner." In the next window that appears, select, "Scan whole computer." AVG will automatically remove any infections that it discovers.

How to Fix an Internet Explorer 8 Certificate Error

In the latest release of Internet Explorer you may encounter an issue where you can no longer navigate to some secured sites. Instead of getting to the page you expect you will see a page similar to the one in the image above. In Internet Explorer 7 there was an option to continue that appears to have been removed in IE 8.

In order to get past the security certificate error in Internet Explorer 8 you can follow these steps.

Instructions

Internet Explorer 8 installed.

1 Open Internet Explorer and verify that the page you are trying to view is listing a certificate error.

2 To clear the certificate error go to Tools --> Internet Options from the menu of IE 8.

3 Click on the Advanced tab and scroll down to the security section. Clear the boxes for: "Check for publisher's certificate revocation" and "Check for server certificate revocation".

4 Click Apply and Ok.

5 Attempt to reload the page by clicking the Refresh button at the end of the address bar or by pressing the F5 key. Your page should now load as expected.


Source : eHow

Fix a Slow Internet Connection

A slow Internet connection can be extremely frustrating when you are working online. You can contact a computer technician, but they will most likely charge you a large amount of money to just look at your computer. To avoid repair costs, there are some simple tricks you can try on your own to fix a slow Internet connection.

Instructions

1. Run a virus scan on your computer. If your virus and spyware protection are up-to-date, the scan will detect any offenders and remove them from your computer.

2. Unplug your modem and wait a minute. Many times resetting a modem will fix the slow Internet connection.

3. Perform a system restore on your computer. This allows you to undo any harmful changes that you have made to your computer that could be causing the slower Internet.

4. Free up space on your hard drive. Routinely removing temporary Internet files and programs that you no longer use will help keep your computer running efficiently.

5. Test your connection. Many Internet providers will allow you to use their site to check to make sure that there is not a problem with your connection.

Source : eHow

Amazing Features Of Windows XP Operating System

Windows XP was developed from its predecessor Windows 2000. It was the first commercial operating system from Microsoft which was designed to run on Windows Kernel and NT architecture. Since its release it has been hugely popular. Till 2006, 400 millions of copies were sold out. Though its avatar, Windows Vista was launched in 2006,Microsoft continued to deal in XP through system builders till 2009. Windows XP could be available through downgrading Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Pro, Windows Vista Ultimate or Windows Vista Business.

Editions Of Windows XP

Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional are the most popular editions of Windows XP. Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional were designed for home users and power users respectively. Windows XP Media Center Edition was launched with additional multimedia features improving the ability to record and watch TV shows, view DVD movies, and listen to music. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition was developed to run stylus applications built on the Tablet PC platform.

Architecture Of XP

The advanced features of Windows XP, i.e reliability, scalabilty, security and portability are attributed to its architecture. Windows' earlier avatars did not feature this type of architecture. The key design features of XP architecture are layered design, object oriented design,abstraction and client/server communication. Windows XP operate in two modes, namely- User mode and Kernel mode. User mode is the closest layer to the user which supports all application programs run by the user. Kernel mode, more closely related to the hardware, comprises hardware device drivers. Windows XP device drivers can run on all types of hardware. Kernel mode is also known as Hardware Abstraction Layer(HAL in short form).

User Interface Of Windows XP

Compared to its predecessor Windows 2000, Windows XP features more improved task based Graphical User Interface, which is described below.

1. The recently added programs are highlighted on the start menu.
2. The taskbar buttons of one Windows application are combined into one button.
3. Explorer window features task based side bars.
4. The taskbar and other tool bars could be locked to forestall accidental changes.
5. A blue triangle is featured in Explorer.
6. Desktop features drop shadows for icon labels.
7. Menus cast shadows.
8. DirectX 8.0 could be upgraded to DirectX 9.0c.
9. Start-up, logon, logoff, hibernation and application launch processes are much faster compared to Windows 2000.
10.User switching, which enables the user to save the current state and open applications of their desktop and allow another user to log on without losing that information, is faster.
11. If a driver upgrading does not work upto satisfaction, the new driver could be replaced by the older one.
12. Networking features like Windows Firewall, NAT traversal APIs, Internet Connection Sharing integration with UPnP, support for most DSL modems, peer to peer networking, network bridging, IPv6 and Teredo tunneling are implemented.
13. Component Object Model (COM in short form) is registration free.
14. Media features in Windows Media format are improved and Windows Media Center is introduced.
15. Kernel and power management is improved.
16. Security features like Credential Manager, Software Restriction Policies, Encrypting File System improvements and Data Execution Prevention are implemented.

Windows XP Troubleshooting

Like any other software Windows XP comes with many bug,undetected during the testing phase. In case the users face any problem while using it, online computer support should be sought. However Microsoft released many service packs to to fix the Windows XP bugs, reported from the field. The latest was Service Pack 3, which was released on 21st April,2008 and could be downloaded from Microsoft Download Center. In spite of that, many problems may still crop up, which could be resolved with the help of online PC support.

Source: EzineArticles

Mobile Internet gets users' favor through wireless apps

According to latest statistics, as of the end of June, 2011, the number of mobile internet users in China was 318 million, 14.94 million more than the number at the end of 2010, 65.5 percent of total internet users. The mobile internet is evolving into a thriving phenomenon. "Application is the king" is the important reason that mobile internet has been developing vigorously. User-friendlier and more energy-efficient smart phone operating systems, faster mobile phone internet explorers, and all kinds of clients in app stores have all made their contribution.

With mobile internet terminals such as smart phones and tablet computers becoming more and more popular, software improvement enables internet users to better surf the internet. Besides Apple's iOS, are there any other good mobile phone operating systems? Are there any other smart phone operating systems with higher degree of localization? What apps that internet users have been accustomed to use have been put on the mobile internet seamlessly? This issue of "Happy E-era" will answer all these questions.

For smart phones, the quality of apps decides two things: first, the usefulness of your mobile phone; second: the extensive capability of your mobile phone. The first thing is determined by the quality of the operating system, and the second depends on how many developers are willing to give their service and wisdom to this operating system.

In terms of smart phone operating systems, the most popular OS currently are Apple's iOS, Google's Android, and the conventional Symbian and Windows phone OS. The first two are the mainstream smart phone OS on the market now. In comparison, Android overcomes almost all iOS' "bad tempers". Android supports multithreading tasking. You can pose a Weibo, listen to music, and chat on QQ, all at the same time; it supports mini USB interface. You can connect an Android phone to your computer with an ordinary cable, and transfer files between the phone and your computer like you do on a portable hard drive, without using Apple's exclusive iTunes. On the other hand, however, Android is notorious for its energy consumption. Although significant improvement in this regard has been made with the introduction of Android 2.3 (for example, the energy consumption of GPS on Android 2.3 is 1/10 of that on Android 2.2), the standby duration of Android-powered large-screen smart phones is still an unavoidable issue.

Innovations of domestic mobile phone OS

Compared to iOS, Android is an open-source mobile phone OS based on the Linux platform. Its logo is a green robot. One of Android's most prominent features is that it allows other developers to modify it in accordance with local requirements. This is a breakthrough point for domestic mobile phone OS.

A few days ago, Xiaomi Technology announced its new mobile phone in Beijing. The MI phone carries the MIUI operating system developed by the company independently. This makes the MIUI OS one of the most influential Chinese mobile phone operating systems on the market, alongside with China Mobile's Ophone OS and the Tapas OS developed by Innovation Works. These operating systems all have their own merits. The Tapas OS lays emphasis on visual quality and desktop compatibility, while the MIUI OS highlights weekly updates. "Basically, if you have any complaint or suggestion today, we will fix it in the next week", said Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi Technology. Besides, all these systems are localized in accordance with the habits of Chinese users. Lei Jun said that over 100 innovative modifications have been made on MIUI to make the experience friendlier to Chinese users.

From another perspective, however, a major issue facing domestic mobile operating systems is that not many mobile phones use them. The Ophone OS is used only on China Mobile's customized 3G phones, while the MI phone is currently the only mobile phone that uses the MIUI OS. The Tapas OS will be carried on Sharp mobile phones for the first time. Under such circumstances, domestic mobile operating systems need to work more closely with the upstream and downstream of the industry chain to promote the development of domestic smart phones.

Industrial tycoons exert influence on the mobile internet

If an operating system is the skeleton of a smart phone, the various apps would muscles and nerves that implement its functions. In terms of apps quantity, there are 300,000 apps in Apple's Chinese App Store, and 120,000 in Android's app store. Different from Apple's App Store, most of Android's apps, even the Angry Bird, are free. Moreover, the openness of Android allows operators and mobile phone makes to set up their own app stores, which provides more choices for apps for Android phones.

Besides, the establishment of the app store model enables new entrepreneurs to find opportunities in the mobile internet, and make traditional enterprises and internet tycoons more pragmatic in their endeavors in mobile internet. Low-price airline company Air Asia has launched a self-service client. Passengers can handle the check-in procedure conveniently through the Air Asia app on their Blackberry, iOS, or Android phones. After booking the flight successfully, a passenger can check in the flight either on the website or on the mobile app 1 hour before the flight takes off. Qunar.com announced a few days ago that it would invest US$ 100 million in establishing the wireless client and mobile phone payment market. Currently, Qunar.com has realized mobile payment on iOS and Android phones. One-stop ticket purchase on the mobile phone will change the current e-commerce model of the civil aviation industry, bringing into it new profit growth points.

Repair Internet Connection Issues With Connectivity Fixer

As a work from home guy I rely on my Internet connection. If it goes down, I’m cut off from work which could be disastrous, depending on the downtime. I have a backup connection just to make sure that I can always connect, and if everything goes down at once I have yet another backup plan to either work from my parents house or from an Internet cafe.

Sometimes though it is not the Internet connection itself that is causing the connectivity issues. Sometimes it is a configuration on the computer. This can be after installing new network adapter drivers, a Windows update or other software that may interfere with network traffic.

Connectivity Fixer is a free software for Windows that can fix Internet connection issues automatically. The program can monitor the Internet connection actively, to fix any problem or issue automatically when it is discovered.

The description on the developer website mentions IP and Winsock related issues that are repaired by the software.

Two options are displayed when the software is started. The Fix Now button runs the repair of the Internet connection manually when clicked on. The Monitoring button starts the Internet connection monitoring which will trigger the repair program whenever connectivity issues are discovered.

A click on Settings open the program options. Here it is possible to configure the program to start with Windows, to enable the connection monitoring on program startup and to let the program fix problems automatically without notification (the default is set to notify the user when connectivity issues are discovered).

The program can detect connectivity issues for both wired and wireless Internet connections. Windows users can download the program from the developer website. The software is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the Windows operating system. It requires the Microsoft .NET Framework to be installed on the system.

Source : ghacks

Online Consultation: E-clinic Clicks

With the rise of internet users and IT penetration in India more people are looking for health information online. This has given rise to a number of health portals as well as online consultation portals. This fairly new business avenue has many takers as evident from the number of users of these sites. More over the investments in these companies point towards their popularity among investors as well. In the last few years the number of such sites is increasing, however only time will tell how many of these will be economically viable and sustain the initial surge. M Neelam Kachhap takes a closer look at the rising trend

Internet usage in India has been rising at a steady pace with metros and urban cities propelling this growth since 2000. According to a study, on an average there has been more than 30 per cent year-on-year increase in the Internet adoption among urban population. “In next 10-12 years, India is going to have one of the largest number of internet users in the world after China,” says Bharat Bhardwaj, CEO, Medisurge Technologies, (TopDoctorsOnline.com.)


Customer Behaviour Online

Although the pundits in healthcare sector are interested in this rising avenue for growth not many are aware of the profile of these Internet customers.

An international research released by Max Bupa in January 2011 has found that more than one third Indians go online for health information. Additionally, higher levels of education and income are associated with higher levels of online searching.

The survey also indicated that nearly 28 per cent of the respondents from India in the higher income bracket made use of the Internet to search for information often; as compared to 21 per cent of the lower and middle income groups. 26 per cent of those with graduate level education in India make use of the internet for online health information searches more often compared with 19 per cent and 16 per cent respectively for those with primary/ secondary or technical/ vocational level education. Bupa health Pulse 2010 also indicates that use of the internet to search online for health information varies with age and its use drops sharply in those aged 35 and over across the countries surveyed.

Are Your Customers Net Savvy?

This is not some distant data, industry experts agree that most of the patients walking-in to their hospitals are Internet savvy. According to a study, published in the Journal of Post Graduate Medicine one in four patients attending a private set-up is using the Internet for health information. A majority of patients find the information on the net reliable and of good quality.


What do People Look for Online?

The survey also reveals that more people look for information on medicines and self-diagnosis while surfing the net. Primary use of the internet for health purposes continues to be finding information about medicines (68 per cent of respondents) in all countries surveyed. Other uses include searching for information to make a self-diagnosis (46 per cent) and seeking other patients’ experiences (39 per cent). The use of the internet for interactive activities, such as emailing a medical professional, remains limited. According to the survey 18 per cent of respondents use social networking sites to find out about healthcare issues.


The study was carried out in the outpatient clinic of an urban, tertiary care private sector hospital in November 2004. The survey instrument consisted of an anonymous single-page questionnaire. Eight hundred and eighty consecutive adults aged 18-70 years, attending the general outpatient clinic of a tertiary care private hospital completed the questionnaire. Two hundred and eighty-one patients (32 per cent) acknowledged surfing the Internet, while 75 per cent (212/281) of them acknowledged that they accessed health-related information. Amongst those who accessed the Internet, 130 (61 per cent) found the information on the net to be of average quality. Almost all patients (211/212) felt that the information served the purpose and 95 per cent (201/212) also found it to be reliable. Only seven per cent (21/281) patients were aware of the presence of any quality standards pertaining to health information sites and none could name any accreditation standard.

Computer Internet Browser Problems

Whenever you go online or attempt to open a program on your computer, do you ever experience instances when your computer would slow down significantly? Before you start pointing fingers, let it be known that Internet connections are not to be blamed for this problem. There is a much more cause for slow computer problems and in this article; these will be discussed as well as tips on how to fix them right away.

To begin, the main reason why many PC users suffer from sluggish computer performance is because of the ever-popular computer registry. This is a device found inside of the Microsoft Windows operating system that monitors and regulates all of the programs and applications installed in your PC. Without the registry, your computer will not be able to function. Therefore, whenever you make a command or install a new program into your computer, the registry is accessed and a new file is added. Each time you do this a file is added into the registry, so eventually it becomes too heavy that it slows down the computer. You will know when the computer becomes slow when the Internet or the entire system lags, when boots and shutdowns take too long to finish, and of course the blue screen.

So what should you do to be able to stop the sluggishness and finally enjoy using your computer? You can always attempt to fix the registry by yourself, but this is never really a good idea since there are so many things you have to take note of and many possibilities of making mistakes. What is worse is that once you make a mistake, you can cause a fatal error that could destroy your computer internally. Believe it or not, because of this even pros and experts in computer repair will not attempt to fix registries on their own. Get a professional registry repair program if you need to fix your computer's registry.

Read on to learn how to repair Microsoft Internet Explorer in the various Windows operating systems
Instructions

1. Repair Internet Explorer in Windows 98. Select “Start” and then “Settings.” Click on “Control Panel,” then “Add/Remove Programs.” Locate Microsoft Internet Explorer on the list of programs installed and choose it by clicking on it. Select “Uninstall/Remove.” A box will open; pick “Repair” from the available options followed by “Continue.” Allow Internet Explorer to be repaired, then reboot your system to finalize it.

2. Repair Internet Explorer 6 in Windows XP. One of the quickest and easiest ways to repair Internet Explorer 6 is to upgrade it to Internet Explorer 7 (see Resources below for a link to Microsoft's Internet Explorer download page). This may take care of your problems; if not read the other options presented.

3. Repair Internet Explorer 6 in Windows XP using Service Pack 2, if you do not already have it installed on your computer. Open Microsoft Update webpage (see Resources below for a link). Once your system has been scanned, click on the “Express” install button. If you have not previously installed Service Pack 2 on your system and your computer is eligible for it, Windows XP Service Pack 2 will be one of the options listed. Click on the “Install” button to install it. Shut down and restart Internet Explorer to apply.

4. Repair Internet Explorer 7 in Windows XP. If you are having trouble with Internet Explorer 7, open Internet Explorer, click on “Tools” followed by “Internet Options.” Select the tab titled “Advanced,” then choose “Reset.” Select “Reset” again in the box that opens. After it has been reset, select the “Close’ and then “OK.” Close and then restart Internet Explorer to apply fix.

5. Repair Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Vista. If you have Vista installed with Internet Explorer 7, click on “Tools” and then “Internet Options.” Select the tab titled “Advanced,” then choose “Reset.” Select “Reset” for a second time in the box that opens. Select the “Close’ and then “OK.” Shut down and restart Internet Explorer to apply changes.

How to Delete Your Browser's History?

Want to make sure nobody can snoop and see where you've been on the Internet? Sometimes being able to erase browser history can come in handy, especially on shared computers. By following these instructions you'll be able to do just that with any browsers you use in Windows.

Chrome 5.0

* 1 Open the web browser, click on the wrench icon and then select "Options."

* 2 Click on the "Clear browsing data" button. The "Clear browsing data" dialog box opens.

* 3 Select all of the check boxes and then choose "Everything" from the "Clear data from this period" menu. Delete your history by clicking on the "Clear browsing data" button.


Internet Explorer (IE) 8

* 1 Open IE, click "Tools" and then choose "Internet Options."

* 2 Select the "General" tab, and then click on the "Delete" button located under the "Browsing History" section. The "Delete browsing history" dialog box opens.

* 3 Select all the check boxes displayed, choose "Delete" and then click "OK."


Firefox 3.6

* 1 Launch Firefox and then choose "Clear recent history" from the "Tools" pull down menu.

* 2 Select "Everything" from the "Time range to clear" menu.

* 3 Remove your browsing history by clicking on the "Clear now" button.

For More info: http://www.ehow.com/how_6528587_delete-history-visited-websites.html