Know Magic

Computer diagnostics help you to identify different problems and failures that any computer may present in any given moment for an apparently unknown cause. PC diagnostics test the system, including memory and BIOS, the software and the hardware by means of PC diagnostics software designed specially to do this task.

Common problems occur when a computer has insufficient resources, either low RAM (memory) or low free disk space. These conditions may result from a temporary condition, as an example, when the system is allocating memory and disk space to create temporary files that later will be deleted by the same process, or because the high level of disk activity requires an update.

PC diagnostics software can determine every stage, offering the fix or advice to solve particular problems through different processes. They usually begin with a BIOS check up, although the very first basic Computer diagnostics comes built in, making it flash the led indicator in your keyword when something goes wrong or when the monitor does not come up.

Check signal error using PC diagnostics applications is also possible and advisable since the fast modern processor sometimes are forced to a quick start, skipping all the built-in diagnostic tests. In addition, some utilities are able to modify the BIOS setting to boost the start up speed of your computer.

Never ever, modify the BIOS settings if you are not aware of the problems a misconfiguration may cause; otherwise make a backup of the BIOS before modifying it. Computer diagnostics may help you go through the process and continue with the routine memory testing, usually returning a report of the bytes allocated to the system resources, which are still available to use.

Depending on the PC diagnostics software you are using for the testing process, you can run a full check up, that runs in batch mode with almost no intervention on your part, or you will be presented with a sort of menu with check boxes to click only the PC diagnostics you need to verify.

Once you have selected the Computer diagnostics to be performed, the application will search for faults in specific software modules that usually can be solved by installing a relevant software update or “service pack” as well as for general protection failures (GPFs) that occur when the operating system cannot handle a problem in an orderly way.

Insufficient resources and faults in software modules are the most common causes of GPFs reported by PC diagnostics. PC diagnostics software will continue the process verifying problems with device-drivers and configurations, as well as with those plug-and play system devices in order to provide you with an extensive report of the diagnostic process.

Natalie Aranda writes on computers and information technology. Computer diagnostics help you to identify different problems and failures that any computer may present in any given moment for an apparently unknown cause. PC diagnostics test the system, including memory and BIOS, the software and the hardware by means of PC diagnostics software designed specially to do this task. PC diagnostics software can determine every stage, offering the fix or advice to solve particular problems through different processes.

Essentially the up most important thing with web deals is that you find the best one for you. What’s incredible about Compare Broadband UK is that the corporation just offer impartial home broadband and mobile broadband advice. Unlike all other websites the corporation give out self-reliant guidance on a multitude of different broadband providers, the firm help to pick up the utmost offer for the customer so you will spend essentially the least sum of money attainable and be able to receive a wonderful deal from across your broadband operator.

Mobile Broadband is the name utilized to explain the various sorts of devices, including the wireless dongle USB from Three Broadband, that provide one with wire less high speed net access without the wires and without a fixed line connection. Mobile Broad Band gives you the added convenience to work on your laptop computer where ever you are situated. All the public actually need to do is click in your USB dongle and off you go, effortless wireless broadband where ever you need it. There are countless various offers to go for and more different packages to go for with many different broadband providers. The broadband companies at the moment are BT Broadband, Sky, T-Mobile and 3 These providers have all taken the lead initiative on supplying wire less web access. Yet all the above cell telephone networks have fore mostly concentrated on marketing their chosen service to laptop, Wireless Broadband has become particularly popular and more or less 2 million United kingdom broadband buyers now are linked wirelessly to the world wide web in and around their apartment, this is a number that is repeatedly developing as tons of consumers get wise to the benefits of wireless internet access. Wireless broadband is great for a property which occupies countless people all keen to use the internet, it means that should more than one receiver will be connected at the same period. And the eye-opening benefit is that if you should not actually have a wire anymore. Consequently no additional phone lines and telephone extensions coming from the wall and being connected to your pc, incredible isn’t. Work out the house with Mobile Broadband from Compare Broadband UK.

1. Before sitting down for coding, you must have formal or a paper-napkin design of the solution to be coded. Never start coding without any design unless the code is trivial one.

2. Good code documentation is as important as good knowledge of a programming language. Write brief logic for each major block of your code as comments in source code file itself. Its good to mention creation and modification dates of your program along-with why modification was required.

3. Maintaining versions of your program is another important task. Some present-day programming tools already have a built-in version management. Whenever you make any change to your program, they save its copy as .bak file.

My approach is to maintain 3 versions of a program. Say, I have a file program.c which is used by other project team members also. I copy this file as program.c.old as backup and make another copy as program.c.wrk where I do modifications. When modifications are successfully compiled, replace program.c with .wrk file.

You can also append a date or some explanation phrase to your program versions like program260505.c or programReadFnWrking.c .

4. If your project contains multiple source files then maintain a README file stating purpose of each source files, data files, intermediate and log files (if any). You may also mention the compilation and execution steps.

5. Ever wondered why your IF statement is not working as it should do. May be your are using single equal i.e. “=” instead of “==” in the condition check. A good approach is to write condition in reverse order. So, your condition should read something like this:

if ( 10==i) ….
So, if you put single equal sign by mistake then it will be detected at compilation time only as an error.

6. While using loops and conditional statements, always first put closing braces corresponding opening braces and then write the inner statements i.e.

1) for(int i=0;i<10;i++)

2) {

4) printf(”i=%d\n”,i);

3) }

The numbers at the starting of each line indicate sequence of writing loop code.

7. Avoid using magic numbers. For example, instead of writing

circleArea = 3.14 * pow(radius,2);

use following code:

#define PI 3.14

circleArea = PI * pow(radius,2);

8. Use meaningful variable and function names. For e.g. instead of using ‘r’ use ‘radius’ to represent radius of a circle. Similarly, function name ‘calculateArea’ is better than any cryptic short name. In a hurry, we may use short variable names but the time saved leads to double wastage of time later when you guess for what that short variable name stands for.

9. Using print statements for later debugging is a good habit. But, removing them when final code is ready is, sometimes, a risky task. So, make a function that displays debugging information passed to it. When your final version is ready, simply comment the internals of this function. So, this requires changes only at one place.

10. Once you are done with coding, start optimizing your code. Some of the variables you declared earlier may not be of use at this stage. Similarly, statements which are not loop dependent can be moved out of loop block. Sound knowledge of compiler can also help in optimizing the code further.

11. With good knowledge of your operating system and hardware, you can improve performance of your program in terms of resource requirements etc.

12. Always indent your code for clarity and easy readability.

13. You will also like the idea of organizing project files in into various folders like SOURCE, HEADERS, MAKE, EXES etc.

14. Study the code written by others. This will bring to you new programming techniques and what approach they have followed for the task for which you have also coded.

15. Last but not least important, take backup of your source-code files so that your effort don’t go waste if hard-disk crashes or a similar mishappening occurs.

Syed Feroz Zainvi has obtained M.Tech. (Comp Sc & Engg) degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (INDIA). His areas of interests are distributed computing, computer graphics and Internet Technologies. Currently, he is involved in Software Project Planning, Development and Management. His other interests include writing for magazines and contributing utility softwares on Magazine’s CDs. He also have flair for teaching computer science with new teaching methodologies. His web-page URL is http://www.geocities.com/zainvi_sf

On 21 August 2003 Symantec Security Response upgraded the W32.SOBIG.F threat to a category 4.

It is the sixth version of this worm.

SOBIG.F follows a computer worm known as “Blaster,” or “MSBlaster,” which infected at least 500,000 computers all over the world only a week ago. The “Nachi” worm which is designed to protect pcs from “Blaster” caused its own havoc including infiltrating unclassified computers on the Navy-Marine intranet and the collapse of the check-in system of Air Canada.

Associated Press has stated that 1 in 17 emails sent around the world has been infected.

According to Paul Wood of MessageLabs it took anti-virus companies at least 12 hours to release updated software to combat the worm.

W32.Sobig.F@mm is, in fact, a worm, not a virus. This worm sends itself to every email address it finds in files with the following extensions:

• .TXT

• .WAB

• .MHT

• .HTML

• .HTM

• .HLP

• .EML

• .DBX

The “SOBIG” worm is found in emails in your inbox with the following subject headings:

• RE: DETAILS

• RE: THANK YOU!

• RE: YOUR APPLICATION

• RE: YOUR DETAILS

• RE: DETAILS

• RE: APPROVED

• RE: THAT MOVIE

• RE: WICKED SCREENSAVER

I have personally received emails with all of these subject headings on a daily basis. The body of the email simply refers you to an attached file. It is absolutely critical that you DO NOT open this attachment. It is this attachment that contains the “SOBIG” worm.

The “SOBIG” worm is attached to files with the following names:

• Movie0045.pif

• Your_document.pif

• Thank_you.pif

• Document_all.pif

• Details.pif

• Document_9446.pif

• Wicked_scr.scr

• Application.pif

The last day on which the “SOBIG” worm will spread is 9 September, 2003. Although this means email address collection and mass-mailing will stop at that date a computer infected with the worm will still try to download updates from master servers even after this date.

The worm affects Windows 95, 98, Me, Nt, 2000 and XP but leaves Unix, OS/2, Windows 3.x, Macintosh and Linux unaffected.

Thankfully Symantec Security Response has created a removal tool which is free to clean an infected computer. To access Symantec’s free removal tool visit: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.sobig.f@mm.html

For a free virus scan visit: http://www.stop-sign.com

This past month’s computer attacks follows a historical trend - virus activity surges when college students have free time on their hands in the summer.

However, there is a suspicion that these kind of virus attacks may be driven by profit motives because worms such as SOBIG.F place a “trojan horse” on infected drives of unsuspecting pc owners which allows spammers to quickly distribute millions of unsolicited emails around the world.

Poorly designed software is declared the main cause of increased virus activity by computer designers as software is often distributed without appropriate amounts of testing.

Microsoft last year announced its intention to slow down software development so that software can be made more safe from infiltration.

Regardless of the cause, here is the reality:

• Sobig.A was found on January 9 2003 with no expiry.

• Sobig.B was found on May 18, expiring May 31 2003.

• Sobig.C was found on May 31, expiring on June 8 2003.

• Sobig.D was found on June 18, expiring on July 2 2003.

• Sobig.E was found on June 25, expiring on July 14 2003.

• Sobig.F was found on August 19, to expire 10 September 2003.

The spread of the SOBIG.F worm is being hailed the fastest ever.

History, therefore, tells us that Sobig.G is, in fact, just around the corner, faster and stronger than each of its predecessors.

As Sobig.F nears its expiry on 10 September 2003 I can almost envisage its evil grin as it declares, “I’ll be back.”

About The Author

Copyright 2003. Karin Manning. All Rights Reserved. Karin Manning is the webmistress of http://www.reprintrights4u.com and the publisher of Net Wealth, filled with up to the minute tips and techniques for growing your business online. To subscribe visit http://www.reprintrights4u.com and fill in the Newsletter Popunder on entry.

karin@reprintrights4u.com

Wouldn’t you be shocked to find that your personal sensitive information, like files, credit card information, operating system / software and other non-disclosed data to be penetrated by unscrupulous prying eyes? Even worse…

“Is your computer infected by Spyware?”

What is Spyware? Spyware are infectious programs developed to secretly subtract and transfer electronic information over the Internet, without a User’s apprehension.

Norton Anti-Virus or any other “virus protection” solution, will not protect your computer from malicious applications like Spyware.

Ever Downloaded any kind of Music, Video or “Free Software”?

On the Internet, anything “free” has a hidden cost… much more than the cost of a highly-priced product.

How much is your Privacy’s worth to You?

To diabolic marketing companies, your identity my friend, is worth thousands of dollars… they get rich by capitalizing and selling your privacy to third parties, who will in return, sell (again!) or use you as a guinea pig for their promotions -

your Anti-Virus won’t protect you from Spyware!

Hint: Some even sell your information to telemarketers, or bulk e-mail marketing companies.

The question is… are the gigantic companies selling “anti-virus solutions”, a part of this greedy industry?

Two of the best “Spyware Scanners” you must-have to protect your computer and identity from prying Spyware.

Free Spyware Removal Tools

No Adware : Stops privacy invaders like Gator, Kazaa or Adware and PC cluttering pop-ups.

http://cyber-software.com

X-Block Probably the most powerful tool to automatically tracking, cleaning and informing you about malicious spyware, Trojans and Privacy-intruding programs.

http://cyber-software.com/x-block

Scan your Computer now for free. Open the program here and then opt to choose “RUN” instead of downloading it. You will be probably shocked to see how your Computer’s system is infected with several spyware programs.

About The Author

Article written by George Papazoglou This article maybe freely republished provided that it is left intact including Author’s credits and this resource box at it’s total entirety. © Cyber-Software.com

Youngsters reach adulthood in no time which means it is essential to consider saving when they’re young. By saving from just £10 to £25 a month with Scottish Friendly’s child bond immediately you could make all the difference when they are older. For example helping to pay for university fees or for the deposit on a new car.

You can save tax-free for any child with a Scottish Friendly Child Bond. It’s tax-free as it’s a friendly society savings plan, which means that under current legislation it grows free of income or capital gains tax. It’s a great way for parents, grandparents, family members and friends to make a substantial financial difference when the kids are older.

Basically the Child Bond is a with-profits investment plan: It invests for long-term growth as well as an element of security, in stocks and shares, fixed interest funds and cash

Money grows through the addition of potential yearly bonuses and when the bond matures there is a tax-free payout. The value of bonuses depends on how much profit we make and how it is distributed by us. Please note that bonuses are not guaranteed.

The Child Bond runs for a minimum of ten yrs, but it is possible to invest for longer if you like - perhaps to coincide with an 18th or 21st birthday. You can save either monthly, annually or with a lump sum payment.It is entirely up to you. It should be noted that if the plan is cashed in prior to the end of the term, the amount the child will receive may be less than the amount paid in.

If you opt for the monthly option, you can begin saving from as little as £10 a month - up to a maximum of £25 monthly. Or you can make yearly payments of up to £270 a year.

You can also pay all of the premiums in one go through our lump sum funding plan. If you invest the maximum amount of £2,340 for ten years, this actually invests £270 a year into the Child Bond - making a total of £2,700. The minimum lump sum of £1,040 will provide £120 a year for 10 years - a total of £1,200. This provides a way for you to pay all your premiums at once and is particularly popular with grandparents who like the reassurance of knowing all premiums for the full term of the plan are taken care of.

This plan includes life cover so you should consider if this is appropriate for your financial needs.

That’s why there are really great tools to win at fun website and internet sweepstakes this week. Online sweepstakes are for the most part much easier and faster to enter than fun websites.

The Dutch translation says: Woon jij in Eersel of Someren en wil jij graag een prijs winnen’ Met Win de prijsvraag.nl winnen is nog nooit zo gemakkelijk geweest. Geweldige prijzen winnen met de site van windeprijsvraag.nl‘ Vaak 258 prijzen om de dag. Van Goedereede tot Voorschoten, met Windeprijsvraag.nl winnen is altijd mogelijk. Een vrouw van 30 heeft een maand geleden nog een fiets weten te winnen.

You can win realy terrific wakeboards now every 19 days even if you live in New Albany Indiana or in Garden Grove California, isn’t that fantastic. Entering sweepstakes by mail is slumping in well known popularity this week. 9 hours ago also a Belgium dutch online company took of a online game contest and is also legally different. Promotions advertised as online game contests, even, can postulate an entry fee or manifest of buy. Thats marvelous to win Porches worth 4187 euro and that easy. Cyber sweepstakes and online actions are banned from needing a purchase to enter. Contest websites are tempered much more different than the conquerors who are not chosen by risk but by an fine element of easy skill. Easy sweepstakes are also legally totally different from the online contests in Bossier City Louisiana. Lots of more funny online contests are pick out to enter online cyber sweepstakes.

The good part about learning to sail, defiantly in the UK, is that the coastline is so near to us. We are never too distant from a sailing adventure! Leaving the coast behind you & fading away into the water on a stunning boat is less of pipe dream than you would think.

People young and old are capable of sailing. There is no age limit and boys as young as 6 can help a yacht crew. Most yachting tasks only needs a small quantity of physical power, therefore it can easily turn out to be a passion appreciated by everybody.

Leaning to sail doesn’t have to be very pricey. Don’t hurry out & purchase the dearest attire & gear. For your first few instances on the ocean you should loan or hire everything you may perhaps want. Invest in the sport once you’ve started to sail regularly. Learn to sail with Yacht Sailing Courses from Ondeck.

People with disabilities, for example vision impairment, can still learn to sail without limitations. Wheelchair individuals can still participate in the activity but should be extra selective in their judgement of yachting ship.

Training to sail is a wonderful experience & a pastime that will offer you many hours of indulgence. It’s not a complicated sport to conquer but the potential hazards you will meet means safety is crucial. We have created this editorial piece to help you out when studying to sail.

Not sure who to be for Halloween? Homemade costume ideas are great for a last Halloween costume minute idea or for a homemade costume that’s easy and inexpensive. Here are some fun tips for homemade Halloween costume ideas.

Most people do not realize the importance of backing up their files. As the cliché goes, you only realize the importance of something once it is gone. You accidentally delete your file or your hard drive goes nuts. Now your files are gone, and you feel miserable, depressed and frustrated because those are precious files. May it be work-related, school-related, sentimental value-related, you now feel the impact of your lost files because those files are indeed important.

So now what are you going to do? You can wallow in grief and learn your lesson to back up your files the next time.

But you can’t help but think of how important those files were. Your boss is going to be raging mad. Those reports should be submitted on time. Is there a way to recover them?

Of course there is.

If you accidentally deleted a file from the recycle bin, don’t fret. You could still recover that file because it is not completely deleted. Windows only modifies the first letter of the file name in the disk’s bookkeeping system so technically the file is still there. In order for you to recover that file, the file’s original name and retags should be restored before Windows overwrites it.

Because Windows hasn’t exactly deleted your files, it is only sensible that you do not anymore save anything on the hard drive. Why? Because once you have saved a new file, your deleted file (that you badly need to recover) will be overwritten to give way to the newly saved file.

You do not want that to happen right? So leave it as is or else you could do more damage than ease out the situation.

Now what? There is no magic formula to recover your files. To recover your files you will need a special recovery software or utility.

There are many commercially available recovery tools that you could use. Most of these tools access the disk through an operating system. Search the internet for programs that can restore your files. But before you actually buy a product that you think will work, read and research on several product reviews so that you not only get to recover your files but you also get your money’s worth.

If you can’t afford to spend on special recovery tools, you can find freeware restoration utilities on the internet. FINDNTFS, NTFS reader for DOS, TESTDISK, PC Inspector and Restoration are good freeware restoration tools that you can use.

If unfortunately all else fails, your last option is to hire a professional data recovery service but be prepared to shell out some serious cash. Prices can range from $300 to $4000. Just make sure you look a for a data recovery service that is reliable and won’t charge you if you can’t recover your data.

Also if you already decided to seek professional help, be prepared to supply them with your PC’s necessary information like drive size, operating system, and the cause of failure.

Now you have learned your lesson. Data loss is due to many reasons; user error, software error, hard drive failures, etc. Hard drives are not immortal; they too wear out, get defects and eventually die. You are not perfect; you make mistakes and accidentally delete things. You can prevent costly data recovery and other hassles if you will back up those files.