vpnsite.net

Cable modem reviews provide customers the specifications, functions, weaknesses and strength of the product they bought. These reviews are available on TV, print and on the Internet. They normally compare one product line with the stating the disadvantages and advantages of using one over the other.

Until recently, most Internet users had limited options other than to utilize a 56K modem and the phone line to access the Internet. Prowling on unused bandwidth cable networks, cable Internet services are quickly becoming another popular choice. With approximately 80 million U.S. households wired with cable television, and cutting-edge technologies that permit Internet data transfer via cable wires; cable Internet access has gained wide-strides in the market share over dial-up and DSL connections. Cable Internet access and cable modems are relatively new technologies and issues such as speed consistency; security and data reliability are still being assessed.

The effects of cable modem reviews cannot be evaded since those who score well on a review usually come at a higher price. The main concerns of reviewing cable modems are to show which modem provides are the most efficiency. Check the manufacturer’s website to see what new drivers are available. They often have newer drivers than what comes with the modem. Do not use native Windows drivers; always install drivers from the manufacturer. You can also avail of the user manual to see what is the most user-friendly. Another option to make sure that your cable modem is properly is to monitor it using downloadable software. These monitors show you in real-time upload and download speeds performed by your cable modem.

Cable Modems provides detailed information on Cable Modems, Installilng Cable Modems, Cable Modem Reviews, Uncapping Cable Modems and more. Cable Modems is affiliated with Computer Cables.

[tags]Cable Modems, Installilng Cable Modems, Cable Modem Reviews, Uncapping Cable Modems[/tags]

A VoIP PBX System is often associated with bandwidth savings and reduced cost. However, since this is a relatively new technology, there are many quality related issues to be dealt with. Many of these issues arise owing to the use of packet switched networks.

A significant problem that is associated with a VoIP system is the delay in packet transmission. This delay results in echo and talk overlaps. An echo is usually caused if the round trip delay of the signal from the destination back to the source is more than 50 milliseconds. In packet switched network, given the number of routers and networks a voice packet has to traverse, the delay can be considerable for long distance calls. Modern VoIP systems therefore implement echo control and cancellations methods to deal with the problem. Another problem caused with packet delays is talk overlaps. This problem occurs if the packet delay in any direction exceeds 250 milliseconds.

Apart from delays, another problem associated with VoIP networks is jitter. Jitter is caused by the inter-packet delay in the network. This causes distortion in the talks. Jitters can be minimized by holding the packets until the slowest packets arrive at the destination. This can however increase the delay in playing the voice. Various approaches are being tried at to compromise between delays and jitters.

Another severe problem affecting a packet network is packet losses. IP networks usually have high incidences of packet loss as compared to ATM networks. During peak traffics, the problem of packet losses can be enormous. Data packets can be retransmitted, but in case of voice packets a different approach is required. Some of the solutions proposed for solving this problem include replaying the last packets until new packets arrive, sending redundant information to compensate for the loss, and a hybrid approach combining the previous two methods.

This article is written for AccessDirect, providers of Voice Mail, and VoIP PBX Phone systems. Visit us at www.messagingservice.com

John Kinskey, consultant with AccessDirect, providers of Unified Messaging,Voice Mail, and VoIP PBX Phone systems.

[tags]PBX, IP PBX, PBX Phone System[/tags]

The term Remote Access refers to the ability to get access to a computer or a network from a remote location. This technology is largely used in big corporate houses, where the people in faraway places can easily access the computer’s network.

Remote Internet Access works on a similar technology. Through Remote Internet Access to an Internet service provider, a home user gets to use the Internet in the convenience and comfort of his home. Not only the home users, but also big corporate houses and Internet caf

For most entrepreneurs computers are an intrical part of our business. An entrepreneur can not afford for their computer to be inoperable even for a minute. Implement some of these quick and affordable computer tips to keep your computer healthy and making money for your business.

#1 - Double Internet Speed

Comcast recently doubled cable modem download speeds. Now you can surf the Internet and download files twice as fast. However, you need to power cycle your cable modem [unplug it for 30 seconds and reboot computer] for the new configuration to be automatically downloaded to your modem.

#2 - Connecting to Work from Home

Having trouble with your corporate VPN connection when working from home? Oftentimes this can be fixed with a simple firmware upgrade to your network router or a slight change in settings.

#3 - Sudden Lost Connection

Has your Internet connection suddenly stopped working? Frequently computer users with software-based firewalls suddenly find their Internet connection no longer available. Oftentimes when you download a software update, it can change your original configurations. As a quick test, disable the software firewall. If connectivity returns, it’s a misconfiguration issue.

#4 - Slow E-mail and Internet Browsing

Has your computer been working wonderfully, but suddenly e-mail or Internet browsing is painfully slow? It could be your cable connection went out. And although the connection has returned, your computer and the cable modem may be having difficulty communicating. Try power cycling your modem.

#5 - Eliminate Popups

Google offers a free popup blocker with its toolbar. Download the toolbar at www.toolbar.google.com. System requirements: Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later. The popup blocker requires Internet Explorer 5.5 or later.

About The Author

Sharron Senter is co-founder of http://www.VisitingGeeks.com - an on site computer repair, security and networking company serving north of Boston, Southern NH and Maine. Visiting Geeks’ technicians are crackerjacks at squashing viruses, popups and securing and making computers perform faster. Learn more about Sharron at http://www.SharronSenter.com.

[tags]computers,computer 101,computer tips,personal computers,online,coaching[/tags]

Does the technology really matter in today’s world? Basically computer systems just work today, cell phones work almost anywhere now and with our mobile devices we are getting all of our office communications now while we are out and about. So does the technology matter? All the information flowing through cyberspace, through the airwaves, down the copper, does it matter how it gets to its destination?

For the small business owner who is attempting to crack into an emerging market with a breakthrough product, the answer maybe a plain old - NO. As a small business owner myself, when I want to make a phone call for example, I simply pick up the handset and expect a dial tone. Dial my ten or eleven digits and strike up a conversation with my party at the other end. How my voice enters the phone system and comes out the ear piece at the other end is not important to me. The intelligence going over the technology is what matters. In the end, the fulfillment of the required and desired task is what matters. “The technology itself is required to assist and enhance the fulfillment process,” states Zak McKracken, a Managed Services consultant in Australia.

Owners of small businesses are turning to features and benefits over the actual technology. We find that a benefit of working from home to catch up on loose ends when it is convenient is a great selling feature to emerging technologies like SSL VPN, where ease of use and security are important requirements to the overall benefit of working remotely. However, the technology needs to have a tremendous level of “ease of use” attached to it. Small Businesses do not want complicated steps that many small business IT consultants believe is necessary to properly secure a network for remote access, for example. The technology needs to be simple and effective or the small business owner will never invest in it.

The shift in the SMB consulting community needs to change. As Dave Sobel of Evolve Technologies in Washington, DC states, “I sell value, not technology”. This is what small business owners are looking for in today’s strong economy. But businesses today are still cautious on where they will invest their technology dollars. They require a solution that provides everything they need, it must be affordable and it has “to work better than predicted,” says Amy Babinchak of Harbor Computer Services, a Microsoft MVP in Security. Solutions need to have value: be full of benefits and provide the business owner with a tool to assist them in performing their tasks and services and to be competitive in the marketplace. Small businesses do not have endless IT budgets, so they need to do more with less. They need reliable solutions that work, without paying through the nose for IT support services.

Small business owners today are too busy trying to stay a step ahead of their competition to worry about computer systems. Those who do focus efforts on their systems may have to re-evaluate their business when they realize that they just wasted a whole year setting up a server and workstations instead of focusing on their product offering to the market. Small Business owners who try to do their own technology end up in a trap because they focus so much effort on their own systems that they lose the perspective of their real business function.

IT Consultants have been preaching in their communities “that they should become trusted advisors to their customers,” states Doug Geary of GearyTech in Toronto. “When you find yourself in that position, you will find the brand/flavour of your recommendations is mostly meaningless.” This is true despite the argument of many IT consultants. To a small business owner, it doesn’t matter if a server has SATA, SCSI or SAS drives, they just need to be able to store their information securely, reliability and most importantly with zero downtime. We see many technology focused consultants putting all their attention on the specifications of a server for example, “the RAM is this fast, the drives spin a 15,000 RPM, and RAID 5 means this.” Doesn’t matter! Can the server you are recommending meet their goals? If the answer is yes, then you have done your job.

Where does the technology matter then? It matters to the IT consultant who is working on building out the solution. It matters to the people that have to support it. It doesn’t really matter to the business owner. They want to have someone who is reliable, trustworthy and most important available when they need that team or person to take care of it. Today’s business owner puts a lot of trust in IT companies to provide them with a solution that will meet their needs and then they must be able to support it, and if they are not around down the road for some reason, someone else needs to step in and support it without rebuilding or going through a tremendous learning curve.

The actual technology only matters to the IT company. They are the ones that need to learn it inside and out, they are the ones that need to stay ahead of the technology curve and have the ability to inform their clients when new solutions are available to make the business owner’s life easier and/or more profitable.

So what is important to the business owner? It just has to work, when they need it, always. Benefits to their business are very important and features and “nice to haves” round it out. Business owners like mainstream, well known solutions. They want what their peers have because they saw it at the gym, lunch or out on the golf course. When they ask for it, it is because they saw their peers with it, and maybe it is a solution that allows his/her friend to work from home three afternoons a week or go to a school event and still have information from the business coming to them when they are away from the office. It is not the job of the IT consultant to discourage the technology, it is the job of the consultant to embrace it and provide it. Many times I see business go elsewhere simply because the company was ill equipped to adapt to the client’s changing needs or request, and the competitor could.

Stuart R. Crawford is the Director of Business Development, at IT Matters Inc. (http://www.itmatters.ca), a SonicWALL Gold Partner, Microsoft Gold Partner, Small Business Specialist and Microsoft Partner of the Year Finalist for their Small Business and Network Infrastructure solutions. He can be reached at scrawford@itmatters.ca

[tags]technology matter, tech, computers, networks, systems, technology, information, cellular, ssl[/tags]

1. Don’t have a five year plan, order things only when they break

2. Purchase the cheapest computers you can find every ordering cycle

3. Let each department decide what they need to purchase

4. Don’t train employees how to use the technology

5. Don’t research the company or read multiple reviews before buying

6. Purchase computers one or two at a time.

7. Give each employee their own desktop printer

8. Don’t listen to your techs

9. Fail to get warranties for your mission critical hardware and software

10. Don’t have a testing lab

11. Give your employees laptops with out quality carrying cases

12. Don’t make a computer security policy

13. If you do have a computer security policy don’t enforce it

14. Over hire full time tech staff

15. Don’t hire consultants for special projects

16. Hiring consultants when you have a staff that should be doing that job

17. Purchase the latest and greatest technology because you like being a guinea pig

18. Don’t do tech surveys, why ask the end user

19. Keep old computers ( We can have them do something)

20. Have accountants become the boss of your Tech Director

21. Fail to negotiate for a lower price with vendors

22. Don’t get multiple quotes

23. Fail to verify that a companies tech support is really 24×7

24. Purchase expensive web servers when a hosting company can do it for cheap

25. Trust your Tech Department to much

26. Hiring a highly paid computer security consultant to protect your network and hire a minimum wage security guard to protect the building?

27. Upgrade computers that are five years old and wonder why they still aren’t that fast

28. Hire tech people who are really know their job but can’t communicate with anyone

29. Don’t purchase laptop locks

30. Always do what your boss tells you to do

http://www.wirelessninja.com will save you 60% on your next years tech budget. We will make your your computer network simple and secure.

[tags]Computers, technology, purchasing, computer security, technology[/tags]

While most small businesses really do need to find a good local computer consulting business to take care of their computer problems, there are some computer problems that are simple enough for even a technophobe to handle. At Computer Consulting 101, we’ve found there’s one very simple piece of advice that often doesn’t get communicated to non-technical small business end users: When in doubt, reboot first.

Seriously, while it may sound tremendously simple, end users often overlook it during typical computer panic attacks.

Anytime you’re about to consider an issue a real IT support problem and call your computer consulting vendor, always reboot first.

First, exit out of whatever files and programs that you’re working on. Then, run through a Shutdown and Restart sequence to reboot your computer.

If you suspect your computer problem involves something hardware-related, such as with your network card, modem, mouse, keyboard or sound card, you should even go one step further, before calling your computer consulting experts.

Go to your Start menu. Next, shutdown your PC. Then turn the power off for a minute or so if you’re computer didn’t power itself off on its own. Then finally power your PC back up again and see if the problem resolved itself on its own. Many times a simple reboot is all it takes.

The Bottom Line

While this advice probably sounds very basic, at Computer Consulting 101 we’ve found that a substantial percentage (as many as 10-20% of problems) of trouble calls for IT support become unnecessary after a reboot. And of course, because you probably pay every single time you pick up the phone, why not conserve your IT budget for those projects that can help your company drive more revenue, improve productivity, reduce overhead, and boost your bottom line. Remember, before you call a computer consulting professional, reboot first. so you can conserve your computer consulting budget for those problems that really require expert assistance.

Copyright MMI-MMV, Computer-Consulting-101.com, All Worldwide Rights Reserved.

Joshua Feinberg, co-founder of Computer Consulting 101, is a 15-year veteran of small business computer consulting and an internationally recognized expert on small business computer consulting. He has appeared in dozens of business and IT trade publications including CRN, VARBusiness, Microsoft Direct Access, TechRepublic, American Express OPEN Platinum Ventures, Entrepreneur, Inc, SCORE, Small Business Computing, and USA Today. To get immediate online access to Joshua’s proven sales and marketing strategies for growing your computer consulting company’s profits, sign up now for the free one-hour Computer Consulting 101 training recording at http://www.computer-consulting-101.com

[tags]Computer Consulting 101, PC Troubleshooting, Reboot[/tags]

The Best Internet Software

I’ve scoured the online world to find the best Internet software in several categories, and I tried hard to find Macintosh equivalents for Windows programs when available. Most of the Windows programs are FREE, as are most of the Mac versions, but there were a few cases where I couldn’t find a freebie or equivalent for the Mac. Let’s have a look…

WEB BROWSERS

FireFox (WIN/MAC/LINUX) FREE
Firefox is a full-featured alternative to Internet Explorer that offers more secure browsing, popup blocking, tabbed browsing (view more than one web page in a single window), built-in search and a download manager.
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Opera (WIN/MAC/LINUX) FREE
Opera’s hallmark is compliance with Internet standards, and features a pop-up blocker, multiple-window navigation, mouse gestures, keyboard shortcuts, an e-mail client with a spam filter, and integrated search for user security and speed. The cross-platform browser includes chat, support for RSS newsfeeds, a password manager and cookie manager.
http://www.opera.com

FORM FILLERS

Roboform (WIN) FREE
RoboForm memorizes and stores your passwords, so you don’t have to. It automatically logs you into websites and completes online forms with one click. Passwords can be printed, copied to another computer, backed up, and restored.
http://www.roboform.com

My research shows no equivalent to Roboform for Macs. The Safari browser has some built-in form filling, but it will not work with IE, Firefox or other browsers.

RSS READERS

Feed Demon (WIN) FREE TRIAL
Stop wasting time checking your favorite web sites for updates. Take advantage of RSS feeds and use FeedDemon instead, and make them come to you. Easy-to-read newspaper format displays the latest news from dozens of sites, and Watches alert you to items of interest so you don’t have to look for them.
http://www.bradsoft.com/feeddemon/

NetNewsWire (MAC) FREE TRIAL
NetNewsWire is an easy-to-use RSS and Atom newsreader for Mac OS X. Its familiar three-paned interfacesimilar to Apple Mailcan fetch and display news from thousands of different websites and weblogs, making it quick and easy to keep up with the latest news.
http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/

REMOTE CONTROL

LogMeIn (WIN) FREE
Access your home or work computer via the Internet. LogMeIn offers full access and remote control of your computer via a web browser. You can view the desktop and use the mouse or keyboard to launch programs, open files or play a game. It’s just as if you were sitting in front of the remote computer.
http://www.logmein.com

Remote Desktop (MAC)
Mac users, try Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac.
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherproducts/otherproducts.aspx?pid=remotedesktopclient

SEARCH UTILITIES

Google Desktop Search (WIN)
Google Desktop Search lets you search the web or your own computer. Very handy when you want to find that file or email containing a certain word or phrase. By continuously cataloging your hard drive, Desktop Search can find text inside files created by Outlook, Thunderbird, Firefox, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Instant Messenger, PDFs and more.
http://desktop.google.com/

Finder (MAC) FREE
If you have a Mac, then you’ve got search and more built in. Finder gives you lots of options for locating, displaying and organizing all your files and folders. And Dashboard helps you search the Internet for weather info, stocks, airline flights, phone numbers, language translations and more.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/finder/
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/dashboard/

FILE TRANSFER (FTP)

WINSCP (WIN) FREE
A highly rated file transfer program useful for updating your web sites. Supports SFTP for secure file transfer and can set permissions on remote files too.
http://winscp.net/eng/index.php

Fetch (MAC) $25 - FREE TRIAL
This is the one everybody recommends for Mac file transfer. Full featured, but alas, not a freebie.
http://www.fetchsoftworks.com

NETWORK UTILITIES

Sam Spade (WIN) FREE
Sam Spade is a powerful tool for checking information on internet locations. Use ping, dig, traceroute and whois to trace any computer on the internet, or see the route to from your site to another.
http://www.samspade.org/

IPNetMonitor (MAC) $40
IPNetMonitor provides a set of 15 commonly used Internet tools which allow Macintosh users to monitor and debug their connections to the Internet.
http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Utilities/IPNetMonitorX.shtml

TELNET CLIENTS

Secure NetTerm (WIN) $30 - FREE TRIAL
Telnet allows your PC to emulate another type of computer, and is especially useful for connecting to a Unix shell account. I use NetTerm to remotely login to my web host’s Unix-based server and manage my websites. Make sure you ALWAYS use a telnet client that supports SSH encryption, or you will be sending your password and session data over the Internet in clear text, which could be intercepted.
http://securenetterm.com

Nifty Telnet (MAC) FREE
Nifty Telnet-SSH is said to be the best free SSH (secure shell) client for MacOS 9.
http://www.msi.umn.edu/user_support/ssh/nifty_os9.html

For MacOS X users, you can use the built-in Terminal tool. This page tells how to enable Kerberos to make secure (encrypted) connections with Terminal.
http://www.it.iastate.edu/pub/mng338/mng338.html

Reprinted from: http://www.askbobrankin.com/free_internet_software.html

BOB RANKIN… is a tech writer and computer programmer who enjoys exploring the Internet and sharing the fruit of his experience with others. His work has appeared in ComputerWorld, NetGuide, and NY Newsday. Bob is publisher of the Internet TOURBUS newsletter, author of several computer books, and creator of the http://LowfatLinux.com website. Visit Bob Rankin’s website for more helpful articles and free tech support.

[tags]internet software,browser,rss,aggregator,remote control,file transfer,telnet,ssh[/tags]

Curiosity has always eluded man. This has led to many inventions and discoveries. One of the finest examples of man’s inventions is computer. Automatically a picture comes to our mind. They are able to do huge computations, repetitive and boring jobs that took us long time.
Exactly what the computer provides is not the ability to be rigid or unthinking. But rather to behave conditionally; sometimes this way, sometimes that, as appropriate. This means applying knowledge to action. Believe it or not, even here, attitude matters the most. We ask these machines to do the job that we already know and do. But we want them to do faster and more accurately.

The irony is we humans are trying to produce intelligence through artificial ways. Its just the science of producing machines (making machines) that have intelligence and a bit of common sense. It’s about how you program a system so that it behaves like humans. They can think, process information, can take decisions and act accordingly. Yes, we prefer illusions to reality.

History could be associated with early age Egyptians but this got its formal name ‘Artificial Intelligence’ at Dartmouth Conference, Hanover, New Hampshire in 1956 under the guidance of John McCarthy. And the world came to know about the level of human thinking. Many things followed. LISP or list processing, the language used for AI was developed by John McCarthy in 1958. In 1970, world got its first expert system in the field of medical sciences for detecting blood infections, MYCIN. Prolog or programming in logic, one of the AI’s main languages was developed by Japanese in 1972. One big thing that really amazed world happened in 1991 when a human chess master was defeated by a computer.

And rest they say is history

There are various fields where it has found a good response. The fields include:

* Game playing - Program a system for playing games like chess.

* Expert Systems - Create a knowledge base, help systems to take decisions based on their experience (knowledge in base).

* Human Sensory Systems - Emulate human senses of voice and vision.

* Neural networks - Attempt to reproduce connections (neurons) that exist in human brain and thus simulate intelligence.

* Robotics - A popular field. Program a system in such a way that it is able to see, understand and react to the external stimuli.

The ongoing success of adding intelligence to machines so that we fail to distinguish whether it’s a machine or a human being seems assured. However, the goal to duplicate human intelligence or the idea to create a clone of humans in intelligence is a bit controversial. We are successful in creating robots (machines) that are able to come up with answers in definite situations. But still not able to duplicate our daily circumstances. We face uncertain situations. To adjust to these, we require thinking and common sense. Thinking is a set of mental processes that go on in an unconscious mind. We do that deliberately also. Question still remains. If we are able to add this thinking in a deliberate way, can we ever achieve that higher level of sub - consciousness?

Yes, sometimes things should be left aside for time to answer. So can a computer be intelligent, think, understand and act at the same time, should not be questioned now?

Sujata Sachdev

[tags]Intelligent,artificial intelligence,machines,common sense[/tags]

Would you like to advance your knowledge in Information Technology (IT)? If you are, I believed that you have already found out more information about them. But do be extra careful that you should only consider those schools that are accredited. University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is one of such schools that award a Master of Science in Information System and is fully accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. UMBC is recognized as one of the top research universities in the nation. Completing a graduate program with them will certainly give you an added advantage over your peers.

The completely online program is designed for professionals working in the IT field who want to advance their career. The schools welcome those into the program with or without prior experience or education in information systems.The program covers three levels. In Level 1, you will have to take fundamental subject such as introduction to information systems. In Level 2, you will have to take the core courses will cover management information system, networks, database management systems and structured systems analysis and design. In Level 3, which is the Advanced Courses, you will have to complete at least six courses choosing from Interaction Design, Enterprise-Wide Computing, Project Management Operations, Health Informatics and Electronic Commerce, Computer and Network Security and Capstone Project. As you can see from the curriculum, the course has covered a wide spectrum of areas.

As IT advances every day in a rapid manner, what was known to be the best six months ago may not be applicable today. Similarly, the knowledge and skills you have acquired before may not be relevant today as well. In order for you to keep pace with the relentless changes in the IT environment, you will need to upgrade your existing knowledge and skills. This can be done through attending conferences, reading journals or even taking up an advance course such as the one offered by UMBC. Whatever mode you may choose from, or a combination of them, it will certainly equipped you will new knowledge and skills to tackler challenging problems and providing effective solutions.

The ever changing IT environment and technology will make you redundant if you still rely on your existing skills and knowledge. It is always timely for you to upgrade your knowledge to stay on with the race and keep yourself competitive. Do not be displaced by technology but replace technology with your skills.

You can obtain more information at Distance Learning University.

Rose Mary.
Freelance Writer on Various Topics.
UMBC is recognized as one of the top research universities in the nation.
Find out more about their program at
Distance Learning University.

[tags]distance learning,distance learning university,distance learning mba,distance learning college,dista[/tags]