Breaking Away From The Standard Computer Mouse

The one thing that the 21st century has brought to the computer consumer is choices. The choices and selection of the Computer mouse today can fill an entire catalog. From a Touch pad ergonomic mouse to a Character recognition touch screen panel, it's hard to know which one you will need to buy.

Depending on your line of work, a certain computer mouse style over another will be better than others. For example, a Touch pad keyboard, where the touchpad on the keyboard is the mouse may be very useful in a travel type of setting, eliminating the cord as well as an external object taking up space. If your job demands more of your design skills, something like a Touch screen panel or Finger mouse an Ergonomic mouse pad that allows for comfort as well as control is probably more the type of mouse you are looking for. For more modern applications that pertain to more commercial uses, the touch screen panel has only yet presented itself with a hint of what is to come.

The beauty of touch screen panel technology is the versatility that comes with it. Touch screen panels are everywhere. If you have been living and breathing in the past 10 years, you have seen touch screen panels work their magic. At the grocery store, the bank and even the postage delivery driver who has you sign for the delivered package that it was indeed received.

Mobile phone, digital hand held devices and more are leaning towards touch screen technology. We will soon see and use new touch screen technology that was once an incredible sci-fi movie idea that has come to life.

Instead of reaching for the same computer mouse that everyone has used before, new technologies should have you thinking differently about new uses. There are relatively new Capacitive sensor technology designs that allow for flexible shapes, so that capacitive sensors can be placed in a variety of objects used for several different purposes. This leads to even more designs that can be used for hand held devices and custom computer mouse technologies. When you are ready to buy an upgrade to your dinosaur computer system- pause a moment before you place that new basic computer mouse into your shopping cart. A whole new world of technology tools have been created and custom built for you and your specific job in mind.

Medical Document Imaging Transforms Medical Practice

Medical document imaging can transform medical practice by capturing patient charts in an electronic form. Unlike paper charts, practitioners can access electronic charts with utmost ease, by clicking a mouse (or touching their PDA). Whereas they had to wait for the paper chart earlier, now the chart is available to them instantly.

The patient chart is the key document in healthcare. It communicates the specific information that doctors need. Even if the patient moves to another city the patient chart can be accessible by doctors there over the Internet.

Lab results can also be scanned immediately into an electronic document, and made available within hours to doctors. Even if the results are stored in another hospital, doctors can access it by dialing to the hospital.

This kind of scenario is very different from a paper-based one. Paper charts and lab results have to be physically moved around. Doctors have to make a request for the documents and then wait while it's being located and transported.

Lost charts are a frequent problem when large numbers of paper-based charts have to be managed. Frequent retrievals and transportation could not only increase the risks of loss but also damage the records. Even otherwise, legibility is typically a problem.

E-Prescibing, where a doctor uses a PDA to check drug databases and make an electronic prescription can solve the legibility problem. Medical document imaging solutions often come with e-prescribing solutions also.

How Medical Document Imaging Reduces Costs

Paper-based charts require storage equipment and space. Dedicated staff are needed to attend to the paper-handling, filing, maintenance, and retrieval tasks. The problem is compounded because charts can be misplaced or lost and time might be spent on fruitless search.

Where the chart has to be sent to another location, courier charges are incurred, as against the Internet access possible to electronic records from anywhere.

Even within the same practice, the records can be accessed from any of the networked hospitals, clinics, or even from the homes of practitioners.

In a computer-based system, the paper charts and reports can be shredded once they've been captured by the medical document imaging system.

Other benefits of Medical Document Imaging System

Where doctors have to consult one another, the same patient record can be simultaneously accessed and studied by the doctors involved from their workstations.

Security and confidentiality can be improved if paper records are destroyed once they are done with. Access to the electronic records can be strictly controlled.

Medical document imaging is easy to install. It is easy to use, users can be trained in little time and regular imaging operations can start within a month or so.

Conclusion

Medical document imaging clearly brings out many of the advantages of document imaging systems. Patient charts and lab reports are scanned into the system, which can then be accessed by doctors from their workstations, or transmitted to distant hospitals if needed. Costs are reduced because paper handling and storage requirements are eliminated or minimized. Security and confidentiality are improved through more effective access control.

Learn To Keep Your Computer Sparkling

Has the snoring granny of your neighborhood broken through your living room without any notice? It is her habit to disturb you in the wee hours of night by echoing a series of unpleasant music. But for your knowledge, the granny is on her trip to somewhere else. So what is sounding so dubious? You may be frightened. Kindly pay a vigil attention to your computer. You may find the alter ego of the snoring granny. The cause of snoring is the dust that has built its permanent hill station in your system. Dust chokes the vents behind your computer and forces it to give you the glimpses of the snoring granny. Do you know the fact that dust not only makes your computer to behave dubiously but also makes the CPU to heat up? Heat is the most potent enemy of your computer which causes component failure. So clean computer regularly and minimize the threats which affects the performance and efficiency of your computer.

Tools required for cleaning computer

You need simple tools to clean computer and you can do the cleaning at home with the help of these tools. The tools required are a screw driver, can of compressed air, cotton swabs, rubbing alcohol, anti static cloths and water. You can find the compressed air can at computer dealers. Never use cotton ball in place of cotton swabs when you clean computer. It may not provide the desired result.

Turn off the computer and disconnect the power supply when you start to clean computer. With the help of the screw driver open the case opposite to your mother board. Do not touch the inside parts of computer frequently. Keep your fingers away from the cards and cords when you clean computer.

Then blow air from the compressed air can around all the components of your computer. The nozzle of the can should be four inches away from the machine. The inside cover should be wiped with a light moistened cotton cloth.

After you clean the inside of the case, start to clean the outside. Dip the cotton swab in rubbing alcohol. Then give a gentle wipe to the outer side with this cotton swab. After the outside is cleaned properly, clean the keyboard. Keyboard has the maximum chance to gather dust as they have the maximum exposure to the outside. Clean the keyboard with the help of the cotton swab. While cleaning make sure the cotton swab is damp not wet. If it will be wet, further problems can occur.

Clean the monitor with the help of the moist paper towel softly. While cleaning, do not spray liquid directly on the screen. Spray the liquid on the cotton cloth and clean the monitor with that cloth.

After cleaning all the equipments, connect the power supply only when they are dry. Perform this cleaning once in every three months to make the life span and performance of your computer satisfactory.

How To Prevent Your Computer From Being Slow

One of the most common complaints that we hear from PC users is the slowness of their PCs. You must have had the same problem with your computer some time or the other. And generally the answer we get to this problem is that perhaps you have stored way too many files and documents on your personal computer, which makes it slow down gradually. This is indeed a valid explanation for a slow computer; however it is not the only reason for a slow computer. Other than this something very vital which you need to look into is the registry of the computer.

The registry or the registry files in the computer keeps stock of everything-information and settings of all the software, operating system software, hardware and every single file and functions running on the computer system. The registry files have to be maintained in proper order; otherwise once any of the files go awry, the computer faces problems in functioning smoothly and might even hang up. The computer requires starting up any particular software by looking into the registry files. In case the registry file is absent or not in its proper shape, the computer is liable to stop running the given software. This in turn slows down the computer generally. The slow computer is unable to do anything with the software. In such a situation there is the possibility of the computer hanging or getting locked up. This is where you need to take care that the registry files are in working order, or fixed properly when the need be.

The basic thing you need to have in order to fix your registry files is registry repair software. You can get the very best standardized registry repair software and use it on your personal computer. The registry repair software is imperative for such a situation; you cannot repair the damaged registry files otherwise. Using the registry repair software helps because it points out the number of files that are corrupted and need to be repaired. Then you can give command to the registry repair software to fix each and every registry file and restore them to their original configuration. The entire process is surprisingly simple, and can be done in only a matter of minutes. And because it is a relatively simple process you can check your registry files from time to time. For instance if you use the registry repair software once a week it is enough to ensure that the registry files are in proper shape.

A slow computer is a very common malaise in computer systems. As mentioned earlier, storing an excessive amount of files and folders may also cause your computer to operate slowly. In such cases we find that the speed of the computer decreases; a file or folder might take more time in opening than it earlier used to or your CD writer might take an unusually long time in writing material to a blank CD. But you should not forget the importance of registry files and how you can keep them in perfect order with the help of the registry files repair software.

How To Go Safe While Buying A Used Laptop

Most of us must have bought some second hand device in our life. But if, on returning to home, we find out that the product we purchased at second hand rate inot functioning properly, then? Even if we get a warranty card with the product, still it causes unnecessarily headache to us. So, one should always be at safeguard while purchasing a used product and if the purchasing is of used laptop, then being mentally active is a first and the most important task.

In the present scenario, buying a laptop is not a big deal but if they are easily available in the minimized prices, no one wants to miss the opportunity. Companies go for used laptop because they need to satisfy the requirement of several laptops for their employees whereas students go for them because they are affordable to their financial status. But as a customer, you must be concerned about some intense inspection of the used laptop so that you can minimize the chances of its improper functioning in the near future.

One of the most important steps to be taken into account while going for used laptop is to buy it from company showroom only. Because on doing purchasing from showroom, at least you get the avail the return guarantee in case of failure of laptop. Sometimes, you also get some limited period warranty on the used laptops.

Second step that should be included in the inspection before buying a used laptop is the condition of the presentation of data. Do not inspect the monitor when it is displaying something. Turn it off and then check the screen from the sides. This way, you can detect whether there are any scratches on the screen or not. After the complete satisfaction from the turned off screen condition, switch it on and check out the displaying modes. Check it again and again, because it is quite possible that you get the shortfall after second or third attempt.

Now, after inspecting the monitor, check out all the connectors and plugs of the used laptop. Confirm that all the additional parts like mouse, USB, Ethernet and other parts are connected to the laptop at the right place. Make an intensified inspection while checking out the plugs and power connections. Generally, laptops are specifically for satisfying portable purposes. So, it will be wise on the customers part if he checks all entire hardware of the used laptop.

These are some tips for you that help you when you are in market for buying a used laptop. If you are alone unable for the inspection of a used laptop, you can take help either from some known laptop specialist or from internet. There are countless websites that are available to you through internet and could help you in being a safe purchaser if you are buying a used laptop.

What is the Best Way to Remove Spyware

Trying to find a file on your computer that is invisible can be a headache in itself. Trying to find this same file that is causing you so many problems is downright aggravating. You could be spending more time enjoying your computer or even more importantly working from your computer than trying to find the culprit that keeps opening explorer every time you open outlook express.

With the time and aggravation that is taking its tole on you it is time to act on this intruder once and for all. First of all, uninstall all programs that are not essential to you. This mean that alarm software you downloaded to wake you up but could never get to work right. And yes, get rid of some of you search bars also. These are breeding grounds for spyware and the likes.

Once you uninstall the unwanted programs from you add/remove console, begin by cleaning your hard drive. Use the native one that comes with windows or download your own. I personally like system mechanic, but that is just preference. Once you know that a lot of the junk files are cleared from your computer, It is time to run an anti-virus program. Any will do that is up to date. Key being up to date. After this is done it is time to attack the menace from within. Your adware, spyware, malware or whatever you want to call that gremlin.

Start by downloading an anti-spyware program. Here is some reviews on a couple of good ones, http://mertod.bezoogle.com/pp/adware/ , Then once you have the right one for you download it and get the latest update. ALWAYS ALWAYS updater your spyware software. Updating gives new definitions and uses the old ones as well. So what might work today might not work tomorrow unless you update.

After you update it is time to run your spyware to find that nasty adware. Exit all of your windows programs first. Get down to the bare desktop. If you have to go to task manager do cnt + alt + del. Close any know programs that are open. The reason you close all the programs is some spyware removers cannot clean a file that has adware on it if it is open. It will not scan it. So be safe and close every thing you can. It is also good to exit from the internet. This keeps the spyware from opening browsers and the likes.

After scanning the drive for spyware I like to rescan. If time permits do so. Also immunize your computer after the scan. This helps the spyware protection software to keep tract of what it found to be suspicious. After you have run the scan, restart your computer and repeat the scan again. Let the spyware remover rescan your computer until all accounts of the adware are gone.

If the problem is so bad that you cannot get rid of the spyware or even worse your computer begins to act strange or be unresponsive it is probably time to take it to a local technician. Hopefully we can take preventative measure before we reach that step in getting some spyware protection and prevention on your machine as soon as possible. Once you are infested with spyware, your computer and your life become a pain when it comes to getting the most out of your computing.

Hopefully you will take the steps to protect and prevent unwanted spyware from taking over your computer and causing you a massive headache in the process. Adware and spyware are major enemies to your computer and should be removed immediately. The more time without a spyware remover on your computer the more time the spyware can hide and eventually ruin your computer from inside. Take the steps to remove these unwanted visitors from your computer.

HP Inkjet Printer Review

HP has really become of the leaders in home based technology from their personal computers and laptops to being the folks that brought all-in-one printing into the home. Back when the internet first began gaining popularity and Microsoft Works was still the word processor of choice I owned a Hewlett Packard and swore them off ever since. However, that changes a couple of years ago when I purchased my first all-in-one printer which did photos. I fell in love with the crisp quality of the printing, the ability to use the machine without needing to hook it up to a computer but I hated the bulkiness of the required software, especially on my Macintosh. If I would have taken a minute to look at the hp inkjet printer reviews out there instead of making an impulse buy, I probably would have chosen a different model. We live and learn right?

In earlier days one would have to spend time searching Google and other sites to find reviews for hp printers, but it seems now the major manufacturers have caught on. Upon reviewing HP's website I noticed they provide their own customer review capabilities as well as giving potential buyers the ability to check out other review sites, like Cnet, and showing what rating those sites have given the product. All in all it's a pretty handy feature for the hp inkjet printer reviews to be right there on the manufacturer's page.

However, just in case there are several other sites still accessible with product reviews. Not to insinuate that HP is being Machiavellian but no company wants to display reviews and ratings that paint not so beautiful pictures of their products. So just be sure to check around and don't be suckered into buying an hp printer based solely on the reviews. Also be sure to read the hp inkjet printer reviews thoroughly and decide if the pros or cons the other consumers listed fit your specifications. While a Macintosh user may have problems with the software, like I did when I bought my HP printer, if you use Windows as an operating system then in all likelihood that won't be something that affects you. If a user gives the printer a low rating because it's slow to print black and white, but you want the printer for photos then that review isn't necessarily relevant and their recommendation shouldn't be held as highly in your mind.

While consumer ratings or hp inkjet printer reviews can be helpful to see how the population responded, it's always a good idea to get reviews from experts who have more understanding of what a printer should be capable of and what they're dealing with. Sometimes the population feels like a piece of technology should be able to perform a task much better than we are actually capable of making, or their "forever" is actually a fairly standard time period.

Cool Designs In Consumer Electronics

Most consumers own several electronic devices that have features that perform the same function. This is because consumer electronics are designed to blend in with the needs that consumers have and are marketed solely on one feature and the other features tend to blend into the background. A cellular telephone will include features such as calculator and calendars, but since these consumer electronics are sold individually, there is little talk about duplicated features in any magazines.

Consumer electronics like personal digital assistants are designed to perform tasks that are identical to tasks performed by larger devices but are used more because they are portable and can be enjoyed in many settings where the larger device will seem inconvenient. Many people will own personal computers and use the connectivity devices to download music to the handheld consumer electronics such as MP3 players and PDA's, but they will enjoy the storage space found on the computer and store musical files until they are needed.

A person has the option of installing global positioning devices into the dash of their automobile or using these consumer electronics from portable devices such as PDA's. Some computer software programs will serve the same purpose and a person will find that they can use the internet search engines to find websites that will perform exact distance calculations from one place to another. All of these consumer electronics will perform the same task but consumers are given a choice in which one they want to use and most users will consider the cost of using each method.

Some people use consumer electronics to help with mathematical calculations. A handheld calculator is very useful to a budget conscious shopper, but will prove to be an invaluable tool for someone who is performing intricate equations for algebra. Some users will need consumer electronics while at work because buying materials for a job site will require a building contractor to know the square root measurements of all building surfaces.

Computer software can be used to calculate the cost of every home remodeling project and consumer electronics like flash sticks can be used to store the files safely until they are needed. Computer technicians can use these devices to store many files that are needed for completing compute repairs, and other consumer electronics can be used to verify if electrical connections are energized or not safe to work on.

Other consumer electronics will make tasks simpler and reduce the cost of building projects. Electronic devices such as stud finders allow building contractors to find objects behind drywall that are not visible with the naked eye. A contractor might need consumer electronics such as heaters to make paint dry faster. When the building is finished, the occupant will rely on other electronic devices to maintain a comfortable temperature throughout the building.

While the design of consumer electronics is angled toward accomplishing a specific purpose, many devices can be used to accomplish a variety of tasks. Electronics are meant to simplify life and serve as forms of entertainment outside the home. Radios are one of the consumer electronics that can provide safety information if it is tuned to the right channel, or it can help keep drivers awake while driving for hours on a busy highway. Some consumer electronics are capable of putting drivers in contact with fire, police or ambulance companies in the event that an accident occurs on the roadways.

Learn About Furnace Torches, Gas Torches, And Soldering Torches

Metal Casting provides the hobbyist with a great way to create personalized parts and pieces that may otherwise be unattainable or far too expensive. Casting is an ancient art that is still is use to this day by major industries to artists to those with backyard foundries. This skill is a valuable one that promises to provide the hobbyist with a rewarding past time. Most hobbyists begin their casting careers with a modest sized furnace to fit their most basic needs. Within a few months, the hobbyist might find that the furnace has grown and that they are casting at every chance that comes along. Don't worry, this is completely natural.To say that metal casting is addictive is an understatement. Metal casting provides a way for an idea to materialize through molten metal.

This is perhaps one of the greatest parts of the entire metal casting process like seeing what was once just sketches solidify from liquid iron, or whatever metal is used. All the metal caster needs is an idea and red hot liquid metal.The furnace is the pride and joy for the metal caster.

Most will construct their own furnace tweaking the design here and there to better suit their needs. Many home foundries are based on home made furnaces and if constructed correctly can prove to be highly effective. The crucial part of the furnace is the furnace torch. The torch brings the heat, incredibly high heat, and without it that chunk of metal would just sit in the crucible and never see life as something new and exciting. Except as a paper weight; a very ugly paper weight.When searching for an appropriate casting torch the hobbyist will need to take several things into consideration. The size of the furnace, and what metals you plan to use are chief among the considerations. Many casters will use a torch that uses propane gas as it provides enough pressure and heat to melt most metals. If the hobbyist plans to use natural gas like the kind that is provide in households they may find that the pressure is just not enough and the desired temperatures will not be reached. The same is true for Butane. While natural gas and Butane can be used, propane seems to yield the best results. Oxyacetylene torches are a favorite with many casters especially for casting iron.Price is yet another consideration. While it may be possible to rig a casting furnace it is not always advisable. Torches can range in price from $40 to several hundreds of dollars depending upon the size, the use, and accessories.Many jewelers are able to use small independent casting torches but when dealing with metal casting in furnaces you will need to use a torch that can be mounted and used in such a fashion. Many think that just because you need a furnace torch you are going to need a large furnace. This is simply not true.

A small furnace and furnace torch can produce enough heat to melt aluminum, iron, and a number of other metals. One of the furnaces functions is to help the flame reach optimum temperature and in the case of Reverberatory Furnaces, a furnace torch is an absolute requirement.Casting torches can be found in some hobby shops and in hardware stores. Several online shops also sell torches for the hobby metal caster. When buying a torch hobbyist should shop around in order to find the best deal. Always use caution when dealing with a furnace torch.

XML Within the Enterprise

The last four decades of the twentieth century witnessed the birth of the Computer Age. Computers have become an essential tool for nearly every corporate worker. Personal computers are now found in over 50 percent of U.S. households, and with this proliferation has come the explosion of the Internet. The Internet has not only changed the way consumers gather information and make their purchases, but it has also completely changed the way corporations must do business.

Today corporations must be able to respond quickly to market pressures and must be able to analyze large quantities of data to make appropriate decisions. To be of any use to the corporation, this data must be accurate, relevant, and available immediately. As we will see in this tutorial, a Digital Nervous System (DNS) will provide the corporation with a computer and software infrastructure that will provide accurate, relevant data in a timely manner. One of the most important elements of the DNS is the movement of data. In many circumstances, the ideal way to move this data will be in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format.

XML can be used to create text documents that contain data in a structured format. In addition to the data, you can include a detailed set of rules that define the structure of the data. The author of the XML document defines these rules. For example, you could create a set of rules that can be used for validating Microsoft Exchange email documents, Microsoft SQL Server databases, Microsoft Word documents, or any type of data that exists within the corporation.

An industry initiative called BizTalk, which was started by Microsoft and supported by many other organizations such as CommerceOne and Boeing, provides a standard set of rules that are agreed upon by different corporate communities and individual corporations. These rules are stored in a central repository and can be used to build standardized XML messages that can be sent between applications within the corporation and to applications belonging to the corporation's partners. Both large and small corporations can benefit from using these XML messages because it allows them to do business with a wider range of partners.

XML can do a great deal more than just move data. Data can be included in an XML document and then an Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) page can be used with the XML document to present the data in Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 (and hopefully other Web browsers in the near future). Using an XML document and an XSL page allows Web developers to separate data and presentation. tutorial 2 will examine why this technique is essential for corporate Web development.

Another initiative, the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), enables you to use XML to call methods on a remote computer on the Internet, even through a firewall. The SOAP initiative is being developed by Developmentor, Microsoft, and others. For more information on SOAP, visit http://www.develop.com/soap/.
BizTalk, Internet Explorer 5, and SOAP address three of the most important issues facing corporations today:

Creating standardized messages that can be moved inside and outside the corporation (BizTalk)
Separating data and presentation when building Web pages (Internet Explorer 5)
Calling methods through firewalls and between different platforms (SOAP)
The focus of this book will be on the features of XML and how it can be used to address these three issues.

Gather Your Keywords to Improve Search Engine Positioning

We all do this - when we need to look something up on the Internet, we automatically fire up our favorite search engine. For many web surfers, their home page is already set to Google, Yahoo, or MSN. In that search engine we punch in a few words that relate to the information we need. Almost immediately we are overwhelmed with a batch of results. But how much of these results do we actually read through? The majority of web surfers scan through the first page or two, and perhaps even through page three. If a web site is positioned beyond page three they are basically out of luck. When web surfers punch in keywords related to your products and services, does your site come up within the first few pages of the search results? If it does, you're likely running a very successful business in which visitors come to you without much need to advertise.
Most web site owners haven't built their website with reaching search engine users as one of the site's goals. In this article I will pretend that you own a shopping web site called PrettyDresses.com. Your web site is very lovely, full of pictures of dresses in all the latest styles and trends. Anyone who has found your site is very impressed with the selection of products and beautiful pictures. But you ask yourself, why is your traffic so low? Why isn't anybody finding my site? What can I do? The answer is quite clear and the problem is quite easy to solve.

Almost without thinking, web surfers (more specifically web searchers) will pop open their search engine and type in something like 'evening gown'. As this is their first thought, it should also be yours. Does your web site contain the words and phrases that web searchers are using to find your products and services? Are those words found on your website many, many times, only a few times, or not at all?

On regular intervals search engines crawl the web, reading and collecting information on the sites they come across. As they come across your website, they look for what the most frequently used words are phrases are to determine just what it is that your web site is all about. The better your web site does at effectively using the phrases that are being searched, the higher up the list your web site will be displayed on web searches. If your web site's content does not match what is being searched, it will not be found. It is a simple as that.

It should be clear by now that you should be starting to put together a list of keyword phrases to include within your web site. This list should include your products and services and any related items. There are many people searching for dresses as you are reading these words. Do they all use the exactly same phrases - of course not. Your mission is to discover as many of these phrases as possible and which phrases or words are used most frequently. The list should be prioritized based on which words are used in searches most frequently.

Brainstorm. Sit and think about what your web site is really all about. Close your eyes and picture your website as a store with customers looking around. What are they looking for? What are they asking you for? "Excuse me, I'm looking for a...”

Think about which words relate to your products and services. What is another name for dress - a gown, evening gown, sun-dress, a cute black dress, etc.

Be sure to ask family and friends, and clients and associates. Which phrases or words might they use when looking for your products and services? You are soon to discover a pattern. The most commonly used search terms will start to emerge.

Which keywords do high end competing web sites use, that carry products and services that are similar to yours? Their research may save you some of your own.

Pretend to be different types of customers. Be a customer that knows exactly what they want and jot that down. Also be the customer that is just looking around, or looking for ideas. This second customer may use more generic terms, while the first customer may refer to specific items. What other types of shoppers can you pretend to be? What about a wealthy shopper versus a bargain hunter?

Are some of the words on your list often misspelled? If so make sure to jot down the incorrect spelling as well. Poor spellers also have money to spend.

Are your products or services focused on a specific geographical location? If so, be sure to jot down the neighborhood, quadrant, city, state, and even country. A visitor may not want to drive too far from home and may therefore search for 'dresses in south Dallas'.

Also be sure to include the different variations of your selected keywords - for example: dress and dresses.

Remember to keep a balance between keeping your pages readable by both visitors and search engines. An over-optimized page will include many, many keywords which will improve your positioning with search engines, but may sound like nonsense and unprofessional to a real human visitor. Don’t turn away potential customers after they’ve found you. Some search engines have been known to punish web sites that attempt to trick the system with keyword spamming on their web pages.

Now its time to get to work. Use these ideas in this article to optimize your web site's content. Be sure to include the words and phrases that your potential visitors have in mind. Don't forget about your web site's title and description meta tags, which are only read by search engines. With some hard work and careful analysis you'll be sure to see a lot more traffic in your future.

Bad SEOs? What about Bad SEO Clients?

You hear all the time about bad SEOs. Bad SEOs are offering worthless services, failing to deliver on their internet marketing promises, polluting the search engine results?well, a lot of bad things. But how much ever gets said about bad SEOs' spiritual counterparts: bad SEO clients?

As an SEO, I can see things from the other side of the table. You see, despite trying hard to make it clear I'm a good, ethical, results-oriented, smarter marketing, white-hat SEO, I have gotten no end of inquiries from bad prospective SEO clients. Sure, no one who gets cheated is ever entirely to blame, and some cheated businesses are entirely blameless. But the bad SEOs would have too small a market to stay in business if it weren't for almost-as-bad clients.

Shades of Bad SEO Clients

First, let me make clear what I mean by "bad" SEOs. Bad SEOs are bad because they either do unethical things to get e-marketing results, or because they consistently fail to deliver results. A good SEO delivers results and does it without trampling over other people's rights (like submitting automated comments to their websites or trying to get good sites de-indexed).

A bad SEO client, in turn, is someone who will only be satisfied (albeit temporarily) with a bad SEO. Because they refuse to consider ethical web consultants or smarter marketing strategies, they are creating markets for the e-marketing charlatans and black-hats. There are two basic types of bad SEO clients: crooks and fool--oops, I mean, ethically challenged and judgmentally-challenged.

Ethically-Challenged SEO Clients

I haven't gotten so many inquiries asking for out-and-out unethical services. Still, I've been asked about blog-sp@mming software and other shady internet marketing tactics a couple times. A colleague shared this gem with me: "Have you thought about just scanning a book from the library and using it for web content? Or is that too high-risk?" (Seriously, someone asked him this.)

Of course, judging from the amount of comment sp@m and SEO-motivated hacking on the web, there is plenty of demand for this stuff.

Judgmentally-Challenged SEO Clients

A much larger group of bad SEO clients are simply those who insist on putting themselves in the way of fraud. Yes, that's right: I'm blaming the victim. Someone who goes looking for a $5 gold watch can't cry too long if the watch turns out to be fake or hot. With SEO, there are a few more nuances, but it's the same essential idea.

The overwhelming majority of these judgmentally challenged souls are private individuals whose only business is the business-in-a-kit variety. Yet they are also sometimes representatives of actual successful companies. The real businesspeople tend to be quicker to let their misconceptions go (after all, they can afford the real SEO alternatives), but not always. Let's look at some representative types of this group, straight out of my own inbox (note: these are inquiries from prospects, not actual clients).

1. Something-for-(Little More than)-Nothing Clients

Really, I tend to think these people should be in the ethically challenged group, but maybe that's just the remnant of my work ethic making me be mean There are actually two kinds of these clients:

- The ambitious but cheap client: "I'd like to get to the top of Google for the keyword, 'mortgage' so I can turn over $100,000/month in revenue. I can spend up to $1,000."

-The Adsense-is-my-business-plan client: you wouldn't believe the numbers of inquiries I get from people who only plan to make money off Adsense or other on-site advertising?they don't even have a plan for getting repeat traffic, nor do they have content to synergize with the SEO effort. By buying promotional services, they would essentially be buying advertising in order to make money off advertising?you see where that could be a problem?

Another way of looking at it: why wouldn't I just create a site myself and keep all the profit from my efforts? In fact, most SEOs do have their own project sites, which are often monetized by Adsense. The money we could otherwise get from Adsense is one very low baseline for pricing our services. Legitimate SEO clients are typically selling goods or services at a profit rate that works out to ten or more times what they could get from Adsense.

In addition to the greedy, I also see a few other kinds of less common, but still problematic prospective SEO clients:

2.SEO-Starry-Eyed Clients: "Search engine traffic is definitely the best way for me to get pet-sitting clients in my tiny Himalayan village."

3.The Little-Knowledge-Is-a-Dangerous-Thing Client: "Don't tell me about keyword research, content, anchor text, or natural linking strategy, just get me the PageRank (or links, keyword density, or whatever the fad is)."

4.Gullible-and-Not-Letting-Go Client: "I know of at least two services that will submit my site to thousands of search engines for $29.95. If you can't do that, I'll take my business elsewhere."

5.I-Will-Never-Trust-SEO-But-I'll-Consider-It-Anyway Client: "No one can guarantee a good search engine ranking so this is all pointless?I'll just go with that $29.95 search engine submission package someone just emailed me about. At least it's cheap."

In short, if you are going to find good SEO web consultants, you need: 1) realistic expectations; 2) a realistic budget; 3) solid information. Don't expect something for nothing, do a little reading, and it's much less likely you'll fall victim to bad SEOs.

10 Things We Hate About Apple

It's high time we unloaded on the high-and-mighty Mac maker.
Narasu Rebbapragada and Alan Stafford, PC World

The company formerly known as Apple Computer and now called simply Apple, Inc. is unique in many ways--including in its ability to drive even folks who admire it positively batty. It makes great products (usually), yet its secretiveness about them borders on paranoia, and its adoring fans can be incredibly irritating. Of course, its fans have to put up with some irritations, too: Simply being a member of the club still means you must endure unending jabs from the other side of the socio-political-techno aisle. But do they have to wear their suffering as a badge of honor?

Today, we--that's us, Narasu and Alan, veteran Mac users both--are going to get some stuff off our chests. We've enumerated ten things we hate about Apple (or its followers, or simply about the experience of using its products). But in the interest of fair play (not to be confused with FairPlay, Apple's DRM technology) we're also publishing another list--Ten Things We Love About Apple.

Use the Comment link at the end of this article to add your own gripes about Apple--or to defend it.

And so, with protective helmets in place, off we go:

1: Free Speech, Anyone?
Even if you're no Apple fan, this particular issue might not rise to the top of your own personal gripe list--but hey, we're journalists. So sue us.

Er, that's probably not the right turn of phrase to use, considering that in December 2004, Apple filed a lawsuit against the AppleInsider, O'Grady's PowerPage, and Think Secret Web sites for posting information about upcoming technologies that Apple had shared with outsiders under nondisclosure agreements. In the case of O'Grady, the news was of a FireWire interface for GarageBand. In the words of O'Grady himself: "yawn."

Apple pressured the sites to reveal their sources, and even worse, pressured the sites' ISPs. In May 2006, a California court said no way, ruling that online journalists enjoy the same First Amendment rights as "legitimate" offline journalists. Seems silly in today's world, doesn't it? Recently, the court ordered Apple to pay the sites' legal fees--about $700,000.

2. More Secretive Than Homeland Security
Those feds are secretive, but they're no match for Apple reps' infuriating stock answer: "We don't comment on future product plans." Being an Apple adherent means never knowing for sure if the shiny new MacBook or iPod you just bought is about to be rendered obsolete by a Steve Jobs keynote.

Of course, Apple is merely the most famous secretive Silicon Valley company, not the only hush-mouthed one. And tight lips make for explosive buzz when the company does decide to drop a bombshell. But contrast Apple's secrecy with Microsoft's lack thereof--Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and company love to talk about their company's upcoming products, and they still get their fair share of buzz. Even though many of those plans have a tendency to not actually come true.

3. Ain't Too Proud to Blame
When Apple shipped iPods containing a worm last year, instead of issuing a humble mea culpa, Apple took a swipe at Microsoft, saying, "As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it." As you can imagine, that didn't fly with security experts. How about an apology to the folks who were unlucky enough to buy the infected iPods, period?

4. iHate iAnything
Apple first floated the idea of product names with a leading lowercase letter in 1994 with eWorld, an ill-conceived online service that went belly-up after a year and a half. But when it introduced the original iMac in 1998, it hit on a phenomenal success--and prompted hundreds of third-party manufacturers to follow with sickeningly cute Bondi Blue products with names that also began with a lowercase "i." Now dozens of Apple and third-party product names begins with "i." Their manufacturers are all jumping on the bandwagon, hoping that a single letter will sway us to buy their stuff. Meanwhile, you can't even start sentences with the products' names.

Is it any wonder that we're inclined to like Apple TV in part because it turned out not to be iTV? Or that we're kind of sorry that Apple was able to strike a deal with Cisco to share the name iPhone?

Principal Guilty in Microsoft Piracy Case

A court Monday found the principal of a village school guilty of using bootleg Microsoft software and ordered him to pay a fine of about $195 in a case that was cast by Russian media as a battle between a humble educator and an international corporation.

The trial of Alexander Ponosov, who was charged with violating intellectual property rights by using classroom computers with pirated versions of the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office software installed, has attracted wide attention.

Russian officials frequently allege that foreign governments, including the U.S., are meddling in Russia's internal affairs, and Russian media reports have portrayed the case as that of a Western corporation bringing its power to bear on one man -- in this case, a principal who also teaches history and earns $360 a month.

Microsoft, however, has said repeatedly it has nothing to do with the charges, which were brought by Russian prosecutors in the Ural Mountains region where Ponosov's school is located.

The case "was initiated by Russian authorities under Russian law," the company said in an e-mailed statement after the verdict. "Microsoft neither initiated nor has any plans to bring any action against Mr. Ponosov."

Prosecutor Natalya Kurdoyakova said in televised remarks that Ponosov knew he was violating the law "and illegally used these programs in computer classes."

Ponosov has maintained his innocence, saying that the computers at the school came with the software already installed.

"I had no idea it wasn't licensed," Ponosov told The Associated Press by telephone. He said that he planned to file an appeal.

"Prosecutors made a lot of mistakes starting from the moment they checked the computers," he said.

Ponosov was found guilty of causing $10,000 in damage to the company, RIA-Novosti quoted judge Valentina Tiunova as saying.

In February, the court in the Vereshchaginsky district of the Perm region threw out the case, saying Ponosov's actions were "insignificant" and presented no danger to society. Both Ponosov and prosecutors vowed to appeal in hopes of forcing a clear decision, with Ponosov saying he wanted a full acquittal.

In March, the regional court ordered Ponosov to stand trial a second time.

Despite government pledges to crack down on Russia's rampant piracy, the country remains the No. 2 producer of bootlegged software, movies and music after China.

In April, the Bush administration put Russia, China and 10 other nations on a "priority watch list," which will subject them to extra scrutiny and could eventually lead to economic sanctions if the administration decides to bring trade cases before the World Trade Organization.

The designation was made in an annual report the administration is required to provide to Congress each year that highlights the problems U.S. companies are facing around the world with copyright piracy. The report said that the United States will be closely watching to see how Russia fulfills the commitments it made to upgrading copyright protection as part of a U.S.-Russia accord reached last year which was seen as a key milestone in Russian efforts to join the WTO.

Fox Interactive Nears Deal to Buy Photobucket

SAN FRANCISCO, May 7 — Photobucket, a four-year-old, rapidly growing Web company, is in advanced talks to be acquired by Fox Interactive Media, a division of the News Corporation, a person briefed on the negotiations said Monday.

Photobucket allows its users to store photos and videos and then easily drop them into their pages on prominent sites like Facebook, eBay and particularly MySpace, which is also owned by the News Corporation.

The deal is not yet complete, but the parties have ironed out major issues and are focusing on finer points, according to this person, who said the price could be as high as $300 million. The person asked not to be further identified because of the sensitivity of the talks.

Representatives of MySpace, Fox Interactive Media and Photobucket all declined to comment.

News of the discussions was first reported earlier Monday on a Silicon Valley blog, Valleywag. Photobucket said last month that it had hired Lehman Brothers to explore a possible sale of the company.

Photobucket, which has offices in Denver and San Francisco, has catapulted over older sites to become the largest and fastest-growing photo-sharing service on the Web. Unlike rival photo sites such as Kodak Gallery, Shutterfly and Flickr, which is owned by Yahoo, Photobucket positioned itself as a tool for people using sites like MySpace, rather than a place to get prints made or to interact with other photographers.

The company has had the kind of booming growth that make larger media companies envious. A year ago, it said it had 14 million members. On its Web site on Monday, Photobucket cited 41 million users.

The site is free for basic use, but charges $25 a year for a premium subscription that includes extra storage space and the ability to store videos more than five minutes long. It also displays advertisements to users when they manage their accounts.

The company already has a symbiotic, if sensitive, relationship with MySpace. According to the research firm Hitwise, for the week ended Saturday, 60 percent of Photobucket traffic came from MySpace users who had placed their photos and videos on Photobucket. It was also the third-largest destination for people leaving MySpace, after Google and Yahoo.

“There’s clearly a synergy between these two sites,” says Bill Tancer, general manager of global research at Hitwise.

That close relationship has made MySpace uncomfortable in the past.

Last month, MySpace blocked slide shows and videos stored on Photobucket, saying the company was violating its terms of service by embedding its own advertisements in the media files. After a week of discussions, the two companies resolved their differences and MySpace removed the block.

Microsoft Delivers Hotmail Upgrade

Microsoft Corp. has closed the public testing period for Windows Live Hotmail and has begun a months-long process of migrating users to this major upgrade of its Hotmail Web mail service, the company will announce Monday. (To read a hands-on review of the new Microsoft Hotmail, check out our Today@PCWorld Blog: Microsoft Launches New Hotmail.)

Windows Live Hotmail, dubbed as the biggest Hotmail upgrade since the Web mail service's debut in 1996, has been tested by about 20 million users since Microsoft first allowed people outside the company to try it out in mid-2005, said Brooke Richardson, Microsoft group product manager for the popular e-mail site.

"It is safer, faster and has more features than Hotmail. It's definitely an advance for our current customers," she said. Windows Live Hotmail has a brand new code foundation which will let Microsoft add improvements quickly, something that had become a challenge with Hotmail's decade-old code base, she said. "It's a much more stable foundation for us to innovate," she said.

A major challenge for Microsoft will be to convince long-time Hotmail users that the upgraded version is worth switching to, said Van Baker, a Gartner Inc. analyst. "Consumers get accustomed to things they use on a daily basis, like their e-mail service," he said. "When you make changes, sometimes it's a challenging transition for consumers."

Microsoft will not autocratically move users to the new version. For now, Microsoft will give Hotmail users the option to continue using the old version if they don't want to switch to the upgraded version. However, at some point, everyone will be unilaterally migrated over to Windows Live Hotmail, she said.

New users will be automatically signed up for Windows Live Hotmail but, like any user of the new service, they will get to choose from two user interfaces: a "classic" layout that closely resembles the old Hotmail; or the new interface, which was designed to look like Microsoft's Outlook e-mail and calendaring desktop application, she said.

Later this month, Microsoft will release a free software for linking Windows Live Hotmail with Outlook, a capability the company previously charged for. With Microsoft Office Outlook Connector for MSN, users of the Web mail service will be able to access their account from Outlook, along with e-mail, contacts and folder synchronization for free. In the future, Microsoft will release a desktop client for Windows Live Hotmail called Windows Live Mail. Windows Live Mail will be the successor to Outlook Express and Windows Mail on Windows Vista.

But all these different names, brands and components leave Microsoft with a fragmented story in the Web mail market that could lead to consumer confusion, Gartner's Baker said. "Another big challenge is to manage this message," he said.

In terms of security improvements, each e-mail message carries a "safety bar" which indicates whether the message came from a known, unknown or potentially fraudulent sender. Spam protection has also been enhanced. Windows Live Hotmail also has a mobile version so that its estimated 280 million users can access the service from cell phones and handheld devices with a Web browser.

How Do I Know If My PC Is Infected With Spyware or Adware

Many people that are new to the Internet world are nervous about the potential of viruses, Spyware or Adware that can harm their computer, affect performance or make their very private information public to others.

Spyware programs can do a number of damaging things to your personal computer. Spyware infects your pc and hides in the background and can do many nasty things to the performance of your system. It can also do harmful things to you such as send out your personal information, your every keystroke and photo that resides on your hard drive, watch your surfing habits and shopping habits and annoy you with annoying pop-ups filled with advertisements and even pornography.

If you are experiencing any unusual changes in your computer's performance or have any unusual new pop-ups, changes to your toolbars or new icons on your desktop, you should run a system scan to find out if you have Spyware. Products exist on the market to help you combat this problem. Be sure to install software that you know is credible. Downloading freeware can often result in further Spyware existing on your computer. Spyware, Adware and Malware companies frequently fool users into sending pop-ups telling them that there's a problem with their computer and this in fact is further spyware. These errors can open your system up to future further problems by fooling people into thinking they're downloading fixes when really further spyware is being downloaded.

Watch your system's performance and at the sign of any unusual activity, realize that you are probably infected. Do something as soon as possible to protect your privacy. These programs don't discriminate and can launch themselves when you or your family members sit in front of the computer. Pornographic pop-ups can turn up whether it's an adult or a child using the computer. Protect your pc.

Antivirus alone isn't enough to combat this problem. Spyware sneaks into your system via executable files that you don't need to do anything to launch. They can sneak in as attachments that you download or by many other means. They're harmful and annoying but you can protect your computer and your privacy with the right software. This software needs to have an auto update for spyware definitions as new spyware definitions are being added daily. So a spyware removal program is a great compliment to your existing anti-virus software.

Total Innovations, Inc. specializes in developing award winning software programs designed to solve computer users needs. The spyware removal software, http://www.emailspy.com & http://www.folderhider.com are a few of the most recent. See full details at: http://www.spyblaster.com

Viruses

One might think of a computer virus as a tiny computer program designed to perform mischief. Most computer users have heard about computer viruses. A computer virus is the result of a destructive program that someone has written and placed inside a computer program, which unsuspecting people then place in their computer system.

Some viruses can erase all the information from the place where it's stored on the computer's hard disk. But each virus is different. Some display strange messages on your computer screen; others make small changes in your computer programs.

Where do these viruses come from? They certainly don't float around in the air like some human viruses. Instead, like any other computer program, a human must create them.

Why do people create them? It's hard to say. Some people create these programs out of meanness to get even. While others create them just as a challenge. Why do you thing people create these very destructive programs? How does your computer get a virus? Almost exactly the way humans do. The computer gets exposed to one. Well, its not quiet that easy.

Many people get contaminated computer programs by trading programs with other people. Others get contaminated computer programs through the use of modems, which allow computers to communicate over telephone lines (ie. The Internet)

Most of the time, programs that arrive by modem or a trade are perfectly safe to use. However, you do stand a chance of getting a program that has been tampered with. Here a computer program virus is hiding inside the normal program. Many computer programs that are traded were copied illegally.

When this program enters your computer through your input device, it hides in your computer's memory and starts to duplicate itself like a disease. When you save your data, you also save the virus. Slowly but surely, the virus crowds out your data and causes major system problems.

The virus can't affect the computer's ROM (Read Only Memory), but it can affect RAM (Random Access Memory) and your computer disks. When your shut off your computer a virus that has been picked up will be lost, just like any other memory that is held in RAM.

If the virus is on your disk or hard drive, it will return to the computer when you use the program again. If you switch from one program to another without shutting down the machine, the virus will attach itself to the new program. In this way, it can slowly infect all your programs before you know that it exists. Today millions of dollars are being spent to rid and protect computer systems from these virus programs.

Commercial and shareware programs have been created with the sole purpose of detecting and fixing suspect programs that might be viruses infected. These detection programs should be ran when any disk is put into your disk drive or every time your computer is first started up each day to scan the computer's hard drive.