vpnsite.net

DATA TRANSMISSION CODES

We have mentioned teletype machines, these were the backbone of operator communication with the computer, but were also used for remote input of data. A phone line could be used to link a storeman in the warehouse with the main computer using a modem (Modulator-Demodulator) in much the same way you dial-up to your ISP (Internet Service Provider).

These modems typically worked at 110 Baud, the standard speed of the teletype, and sent or received one character at a time. They modulated the carrier on the telephone line in a string of bits in serial pattern (one after the other) for the code, usually ASCII, complete with start bit, stop bits (1 or 2) and negative or positive parity bit. Other codes were, for example, SOH (Start of Header), STX (Start of Text), ETX (End of Text), used to identify
the following or previous characters. Of course these ‘control’ characters had to be correctly decoded and used to control the data flow.

At the computer data terminal this serial data was read into a shift register, gated by the control characters, until all bits were received, then read out from the register in parallel (all at once) to be stored in memory. At the warehouse the data was sent from the modem to the teletypewriter for printing.

Little has changed here, except the speed of operation. The codes are much the same, only upgraded for new types of equipment. As new technology is introduced, new access and control codes will be required, but the basic data remains the same.

DISK CODES

Magnetic disks and, later optical disks use similar recording techniques to magnetic tape, with one major difference - they record in serial format. The blocks on the disk incorporate an address code as well as the data and other codes we have mentioned, as the data on a disk is randomly accessible. We can specify an address and read the data from it. The same applies to an optical disk, which is used mainly for its capacity and portability. The data codes are of standard format.

PRINTER CODES

Printer codes used were a standard set of ASCII characters, and were restricted to the character set etched on the print drum, or band in use. A line printer was used, and one line of data was sent at a time, to be held in the print buffer and read out as required when the appropriate character was under the hammer. Once again control characters such as line feed and form feed were used.

Matrix printers were used for small scale print jobs usually accompanying data terminals away from the central computer. Once again the character set was restricted to the basic ASCII codes, and Control codes with printers from different manufacturers able to be used due to the standard codes (Interfaces were a different matter!)

Contrast this with the laser or inkjet printer today, Virtually any font and character set, color and pictures too. Transmission by Network, USB, Parallel or Serial port, or Wireless. Once again mainly control code differences to suit the medium and different handling for serial or parallel.

Tony is an experienced computer engineer. He is currently webmaster and contributor to http://www.what-why-wisdom.com . A set of diagrams accompanying these articles may be seen at http://www.what-why-wisdom.com/history-of-the-computer-0.html . RSS feed also available - use http://www.what-why-wisdom.com/Educational.xml

[tags]article submission, articles, writers, writing, publishing, ezine, email marketing, email newsletter, email[/tags]

ERP Consulting industry is on the way to serve clients nationwide and even worldwide, when the client is multinational corporation. There are several reasons to specialize in remote support. In this small article we’ll give you these reasons and the advantages of remote installation, customization, integration, programming, reporting.

Remote Support Technologies. These technologies are well known and we will just mention them: VPN, Citrix, Remote Desktop connection, Microsoft Terminal Services, Web Sessions, PCAnywhere (however the last one should be avoided if possible)

MS SQL Server Platform. This means that in the case of data repair, upgrade, testing, - it is relatively easy to backup DYNAMICS and companies databases, install them on MBS partner server, do the job and then restore the results in the client’s production environment.

Dexterity Customization Technology. Dexterity uses chunks to integrate customizations, you, as dexterity developer can test your customization in your test environment and then deliver and integrate final version of the chunk.

Standard Reporting. Microsoft Business Solutions recommends Crystal Reports as reporting tool of choice.

However there are additional reasons to seek remote support in the case of large corporation of medium size business. Let’s look at them:

Microsoft Business Solutions Partners specialization. Specialization allows Nationwide MBS customization & implementation partner serve specific industry: aerospace & defense, oil & gas, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, healthcare, apparels, wholesale & retail, beverages, distribution & logistics, freight forwarding & transportation, biotechnology, etc.

Customization Partners. Each vertical market requires MBS partner to be experienced with business processes implementation via GP custom logic. Writing proper specification form the customization is probably 70% of the success.

Cost Reduction. This is also important for both - client and GP partner. Usually remote support partner has US based lead developers and project manager and uses excellent programmer in such countries as Philippines and Brazil where developers have excellent Dexterity source code programming experience.

Happy implementing! You can always appeal to us to help you with your system. Give as a call 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Microsoft CRM, Axapta, Navision, Microsoft RMS, Microsoft Business Portal customization company, serving clients in Chicago, Boston, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Toronto, Montreal, Brazil, Mexico, UK, Australia, Canada, UK, Europe, Russia an having small offices in multiple states and internationally.

[tags]Microsoft Great Plains, Microsoft Business Solutions, Remote Support, Dexterity[/tags]

Hey! You sent me a virus! I came home and checked my email and in my inbox is an email from my best friend. It has an attachment and the subject line reads: Check this out! It’s really cool! So being the trusting soul that I am, I do! But no sooner do I open the attachment, and WHAM! My Anti-Virus pops up and screams VIRUS!!!!!

Now I’m hopping mad. How dare my friend email me a virus! So I don’t email him back (because he’s my friend and I don’t want to slam him). Instead, I call him up to yell at him. “What are you doing sending me a virus! What’s wrong with you? Why don’t you have an Anti-virus program running on your computer?”

His response, “I didn’t feel like paying for the subscription. It’s too much money.”

“So what?!,” I said, “Now you’re infected with a virus and spreading it to all your other “friends” in your address book.” I seriously began to evaluate whether or not he is a true friend, but then I think about his life. He needs help. He is vulnerable and He doesn’t even know it.

You see, my friend runs a home based business and he uses his computer constantly. Day in and day out, he is working on his PC. Not only does he work for himself, but he dabbles with selling and buying on eBay and uses his PayPal account frequently. To save time, he pays his bills online, banks online, even does some day-trading. AND HE’S NOT WORRIED ABOUT VIRUSES?!?!

Like many computer users today, he is out there be-bopping around, not paying a bit of attention, “saving himself a few bucks.” Not even close. The average computer identity theft takes a whopping 15 seconds, drains the victim to the tune of $6300, is not discovered for more than 60 days and then takes over 40 hours to fix. Don’t be like my friend. A good anti-virus is a pittance compared to that. It can protect you from loosing important files, accounting records, financial information, personal data, FRIENDS and much more.

Viruses come in all shapes, sizes, flavors and destructiveness. They can do something simple, such as attaching itself to your email address book and sending itself out. Viruses can be creative and write itself to the Master Boot Record on your hard drive, rendering your computer USELESS, and making it virtually impossible to recover and files you have stored on it. One virus can take you out of the picture, destroy your small business, your kids term paper and all your photos.

There are many different software companies who make Anti-Virus software and their prices are all relatively comparable. You can decide which one you trust most. There are others that are free (for personal use) and do just as good a job as the ones you pay for. Either way, you need to make the decision to protect you and your computer, and act on it.

We are concerned about your computer safety and security at How To Use My PC and would love to help you make the right choice for your situation, in plain, simple language. The choice is yours.

If you have questions, feel free to send them to teachme@howtousemypc.com

©2006, Blue Mountain I.T. Solutions. Permission granted to reprint this article as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and that the content, by-line and hyperlinks remain unaltered and functional.

Dave Baughn, owner of Blue Mountain I.T. Solutions, is a computer guru, network specialist, author, speaker and consultant. He revolutionizes networks in the Tri-Cities area of Northeast Tennessee with his cutting edge company Blue Mountain I.T. Solutions. Smart as he is, he is merely a human and can only be at one place, at one time, so he created How To Use My PC for the “non-techies” at home who want to learn how to use their computer within the comforts of their own home.

Dave will send you the hottest computer tips, tools, ideas, and alerts into your inbox when you sign up at www.ComputerSupportTips.com for his FR*E newsletter. Learn at home!

[tags]virus, anti-virus, how to use my pc, anti-virus program, email, computer safety and security, PayPal[/tags]

As a provider of computer consulting services, you should communicate to your clients that a dedicated server generally can enforce strong user passwords. This means your clients can:

Force users to change passwords at predetermined intervals

Prevent recycling of previously-chosen passwords

Eliminate the use of blank passwords

Enforce selection of passwords that are a mixture of both letters and numbers, as well as upper and lower case characters

Protection Against “Accidental” Reboots

When a PC is used in a peer-to-peer network as both a server and a workstation, sooner or later the server will get rebooted accidentally - no matter how careful the server’s primary user is.

Let your computer consulting services clients know that whether the peer-to-peer server gets rebooted as a result of installing a new piece of software, or a buggy application with memory leaks causes system crashes, sooner or later their employees will be livid when the server goes down without warning.

This will likely cause corrupted data files and lost hours of collective work in progress. A dedicated server system is a simple way to prevent this enormous potential problem.

Centralized File Protection

With a peer-to-peer network, servers tend to sprout up throughout your computer consulting services clients’ office as multiple end users set up file and printer shares on their own PCs.

With a client/server network, files are centrally protected from data loss and corruption resulting from hardware faults, accidental deletion, power problems, hacking, sabotage, and virus threats.

Don’t Forget Back Up Solutions

As their computer consulting services provider, communicate to your clients that conversely in a peer-to-peer network environment, with decentralized file storage, they should consider how crucial data files will be backed up.

Will data backup be a manual process? Will an external tape backup drive get passed from user to user (requiring each end user to take initiative)?

The Bottom Line about Computer Consulting Services

When providing computer consulting services, have clients consider how often antivirus definitions will get updated on each server. And don’t forget to think about whether each peer-to-peer server has a UPS (battery backup unit) capable of unattended shutdown if power is lost, when no one is around to manually and safely shutdown the “server”.

Copyright MMI-MMVI, Small Biz Tech Talk. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}

Joshua Feinberg helps computer consultant business owners get steady, high-paying clients. Learn how you can too. Sign-up now for Joshua’s free audio training program that shows you how to use field-tested, proven Small Biz Tech Talk tools.

[tags]computer-consulting-services, computer consulting services[/tags]

When dealing with networks one has to understand the different types and how they are used along with the advantages and disadvantages of each.

A mesh network allows for redundancy in that if one node goes down all terminals are able to still communicate with
other terminals and networks by taking several possible paths. The mesh network will be more complex and time consuming
to install, but is also the more reliable than other topologies. If each terminal having reliable connectivity is mission
critical, the knowledge is available and cost is not really a factor then a mesh would be the preferred network.

Bus topology is probably the least preferred topology to implement. If one node is removed or non-operational on the bus
then all terminals will not be able to utilize the network. According to Annabel Dodd (2005) “Prior to hubs, each device
in a LAN was wired to another device in a “bus” arrangement.”(p. 26)
Circumstances that may play a factor in this use of this particular topology would be cost savings in regards to cable and
the importance of that particular network to the department’s mission, as well as the network’s size as well as security.
Required speed, number of attachments, cable length, and use play a factor in determining the use of the bus topology.
Bates & Gregory (2000) tell us that bus speed is limited to “10Mbits/s with effective throughput of 3.3-4 Mbits/s” and that
attachments cannot exceed “1024 addressable nodes” and are “limited to cable lengths of 1500 meters.” They continue on to
say that “collisions when the network gets 40% busy, resulting in less throughput.” It seems that the bus topology is also
the least secure in respect to the fact that all transmissions are a broadcast to the entire network.

The star topology is another network architecture. Circumstances to install this type of network would be similar to those of the bus topology. The star topology would be
primarily used with hubs and switches. This topology allows for all terminals to continually communicate on the network
when a terminal is dropped or goes down. This type of topology is important when connectivity of each terminal in the
network is important and is mission critical to operations.

Combinations of all the various topologies will be seen in MAN, WAN, and even some larger LANs. An example would be a
college campus in which each department uses a star topology internally, but meshes with all the other outlying departments.
So in the case of a college campus all departments would still be able to access records from other departments on campus
when one or more departments lose connectivity.

[tags]networks, star, bus, mesh, wan. lan[/tags]

Things you can do to keep your computer running smoothly.

1. Empty your recycle bin, delete the deleted files from Outlook, you can also delete files in your sent folder that are no longer needed.

2. Get rid of those cookies, they can take up alot of space. Marketers also use this information to track your buying patterns.

3. You can delete your Temp files these end with *.tmp you can use F3 in Windows to search for that extension.

4. Run Microsoft ScanDisk at least once a month.

5. Run Microsoft Defrag as well to keep your files in order on your harddrive.

6. Dust, dust is horrible for your system. If you smoke, dust more often, you can purchase canned air from Radio Shack to blow out your case, do it outside.

7. Purchase system utilities software such as Noton System Works or Registry Mechanic to keep your system running optimal.

8. Consider upgrading your RAM if your system is running sluggish.

9. Upgrading your video card can improve your gaming experience.

10. A new processor can do wonders to application performance.

11. Make sure Windows is done shutting down before you power off.

12. Use Anti-Virus Software and update your Anti Virus signatures.

13. If your using DSL or Cable use a firewall.

14. Install the latest drivers for your hadrware.

Benjamin Hargis CEO

Phuture Networks

http://www.phuturenetworks.com

[tags]Computers, Computer, Computer Help, Computer Support[/tags]

A router is a computer device that receives or forwards data packets to and from the Internet towards a destination in the process called routing. A router is the essential component of the computer networking that enables any sent data to arrive at the right destination.

As an illustration, imagine that the Internet is the world and one computer is one household. Other computers connected through the Internet are households around the world. Say one household will send a letter to another household in any part of the world. The letter has an address right? And that address would determine the destination of the letter. But without one reading the address, the letter would not arrive to the right receiver. The letter also would not be able to reach the intended receiver if there is not medium. This medium would be the courier. And the courier of the computer data is the router.

A router (broadband router) is also a device that enables two or more computer to receive data packets from the Internet under one IP address at the same time.

Remember that to be able to connect to the Internet, a computer must have an IP address unique from the rest of the computers. Therefore, every computer connected to the Internet has it own IP address. It is like having a fingerprint or ID as an access pass to be able to enter the web. With the presence of the router, this “fingerprint” or “ID” could be shared by two or more computer at the same time.

In simplest form, a router makes two or more computer use the Internet at the same with one access pass.

One more thing: a computer with cable modem could also be considered as a router. In this, the computer would do the process of routing like normal routers do. Other computers are then connected to the computer with Internet connection that would give it with the Internet connection. The computer with cable modem has the direct contact with the Internet and the ones connected to it are sharing the connection.

Why would anyone need a router?

For households with two or more computers who would want to have Internet connection to every computers they have, taking subscription for each would be too much. The solution is to buy a router that would enable every computer in the house to have an Internet connection. In the definition above, the broadband router would act as a hub to the existing Internet connection.

If the router is comparable to a hub, would it affect the Internet speed?

It should be taken into consideration that once a single Internet connection is divided, the connection speed is affected. But there are some broadband routers that would bring minimal slowdown to the Internet speed and the effect might not even be big.

Internet speed would also depend on the type of application used in a router. While some would inflict little effect on the speed like online games, others would terribly slowdown your connection and even hinder you to use the Internet at all.

Usually, offices use a more sophisticated router to redirect Internet connections to the large number of computers. These routers would give better data packeting compared to a typical router used at home that results to faster Internet speed.

Robert Thatcher is a freelance publisher based in Cupertino, California. He publishes articles and reports in various ezines and provides router resources on http://www.about-routers.info

[tags]routers[/tags]

Once you’ve got your CCNA, you’re ready to move on to the next level, the Professional certifications. For years, Cisco had one Professional certification, the Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) certification. Over time, Cisco has expanded this level of certifications to include the Cisco Certified Security Professional (CCSP) and Cisco Certified Voice Professional (CCVP).

With security and voice being the two most rapidly expanding areas of today’s networks, some new CCNAs consider going after the CCSP or CCVP without first adding the CCNP to their resume.

While it’s temping to hurry up and get a Cisco security or voice certification, the best thing you can do for your networking career is achieve your CCNP certification first, then decide on the CCVP or CCSP.

Why? Because the CCNA is just the tip of a very large iceberg when it comes to routing and switching. It’s a very important accomplishment, and the CCNA is indeed the foundation of your networking career, but you need to add on to that level of understanding routing and switching before moving on to more specialized areas.

Two examples are OSPF and BGP. You learn about the theory of OSPF and some basic and intermediate configurations of that protocol in your CCNA studies, but the knowledge you acquire of OSPF in your CCNP studies is invaluable. As for BGP, there is no BGP in the CCNA curriculum, but it is a great idea to have some BGP knowledge in today’s networks. It’s also good for your career.

I know it is a huge temptation to go after the security and voice certifications while not paying attention to the CCNP. Do yourself a huge favor and add the tremendous amount of routing and switching knowledge needed for the CCNP to your knowledgebase, and you can then move on to the CCSP or CCVP. Even better, you’ll be better prepared to climb the biggest certification mountain around - the CCIE!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages.
For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” and “How To Pass The CCNP”, visit the website and download your free copies. You can also get FREE CCNA and CCNP exam questions every day! Pass the CCNA exam with The Bryant Advantage!

[tags]ccna, pass, free, exam, icnd, intro, ccnp, bsci, ccvp, ccsp, next, bgp, ospf, certification, cisco[/tags]

Security is a hot topic in today’s networks, and will continue to be for a long time to come. With that in mind, you must consider adding a Cisco security certification to your resume and firewall skills to your skill set.

It’s quite a jump from the CCNA to the CCSP (Cisco Certified Security Professional), and Cisco has made that leap more manageable by adding Specialist certifications. These certifications can give quite a boost to both your resume and your skill set, and act as a great “stepping stone” to the CCSP.

At present, Cisco offers four VPN/Security certifications, those being Cisco Firewall Specialist, Cisco IPS Specialist, Cisco VPN Specialist, and Cisco VPN/Security Sales Specialist. Since every WAN engineer has contact with Cisco firewalls on a regular basis, we’ll take a closer look at this popular certification first. (And those who want to be WAN engineers had better learn something about firewalls, too!)

At the writing of this article (October 21, 2005), Cisco is offering an option for each of the two exams you’ll need to pass to earn this certification. For the first exam, you can take either the 642-551 SND (Securing Cisco Network Devices) or 642-501 SECUR (Securing Cisco IOS Networks). The final day to register for the SECUR exam is December 19, 2005.

For either, you’ll need to be able to answer questions regarding the proper use of Cisco security devices; how to configure security on a Cisco switch and on a router, including syslog logging, AAA, ACLs, and security for router services and interfaces.

The choices for the second exam are the 642-522 SNPA (Securing Network with PIX and ASA) and 642-521 CSPFA. Topics for these exams include , IPSec, NAT, firewalls, AAA, and policy mapping. (As always, you should check for the latest exam blueprints at Cisco’s website. Click “Learning And Events” on the main page, www.cisco.com).

The only prerequisite for this certification is that you must hold a valid CCNA certification.

As always, getting some hands-on experience is the best way to prepare for your Cisco exams. (Your employer is going to get a little upset if you practice your configs on his or her PIX. It would be a good idea to have a good lawyer, too.) There are online rack rental services that include Cisco security devices in their pods.

Cisco certifications are a great way to help protect your career as well as your network. The more you know, and the more varied your skills, the more valuable you are to your present and future employers. Use your CCNA as a foundation, and keep building on your skills!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages.
For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” and “How To Pass The CCNP”, visit the website and download your free copies. You can also get FREE CCNA and CCNP exam questions every day! Pass the CCNA exam with The Bryant Advantage!

[tags]ccna, cisco, ccnp, firewall, exam, pass, certification, SNPA, AAA, ACL, SND, MCSE, router, switch[/tags]

Intro
This concise article will tell you in plain English how you can promote your software easily and effectively.

Submit your software
I recommend submitting your software to upload.com. It costs $79 dollars a year, but is well worth it. It will display your product on download.com and its partner network made up of 20 other major download sites. Download.com is so popular that if your product was only listed on download.com it would still be worth the yearly fee.

Use Rudenko’s (submit.rudenko.com) software submission service to submit your software to hundreds of software archives. Unlike auto-submit programs, Rudenko has employees manually submit your software to each archive so it is less likely to be rejected.

Rudenko’s software submission service is also beneficial because most of the software archives will have a link to your website. Relevant pages that link to your website increase your link popularity. The higher your link popularity the better your search engine ranking will be, especially in Google. Rudenko’s software submission service costs $70 and if you include “David Mahler - 10% discount” in the comment field you will receive 10% off.

Promote through your website
If you have a website than you can promote your software for free by utilizing effective search engine optimization techniques.

The two key factors for search engine optimization are effective titles and clear body text. Make sure that the titles are relevant, unique to each page, and include key phrases that are likely to be searched. Body text should be clear, concise and saturated with key phrases. Feel free to add your key phrase as many times as it seems natural to do so. Before you publish your masterpiece, test your website copy by reading it out loud to yourself or to a friend. If it sounds awkward you probably need to take a few of those key phrases out. Remember it is important to write for both people and search engines.

For more information on search engine optimization I highly recommend highrankings.com.

Have someone else do the work
Websites like shareit.com and cj.com allow you to partner with affiliates that distribute your software for you. This is an easy way to get your product out there but you can expect to pay a commission to the affiliate.

Conclusion
Whether you are a sole proprietor or a major corporation, these software marketing techniques will be effective in promoting your software.

David Mahler started his business (Small Business Services) creating websites in 2002. His company has since extented his services to Intranet design, database design and website copywriting.

[tags]software marketing advertising promotion online promote program[/tags]