What is PTRE and Is It Worth Your Time?

PTRE stands for Paid To Read Email programs. Online companies that pay you to read email that they send to you. You get paid when you click a link in the email and visit the site that they’re advertising, usually for a set amount of time.

Here are steps you should take before joining a PTRE program:

* Check the Programs Terms - Some PTRE programs don’t pay until you accumulate $200. It’s unlikely you’ll ever reach that amount, especially with what some of these companies are paying per email read. I personally don’t join a program that’s payout minimum is higher than $10, unless they offer bonuses. You’ll also find what countries they’ll allow you to join from.

* Signup Bonus - Do they offer you a sign up bonus when you first join? This can be important, especially if their payout minimum is high. Some companies will either offer a signup bonus or a referral bonus of a set amount.

* Categories – When you sign up do they offer to send you emails to categories you’re interested in. Most programs allow you to pick from a list of categories that they want to receive emails about.

* Payment Per Email Read - Realistically you can earn between .025 and 3 cents per email link. Many programs will offer to pay you more, but never do or if they do you’ll only get one email per month from them. Programs will often send more than one link advertisement per email and/or a few emails to you per day.

* Point Emails - Most programs also offer you points to read emails. Points are usually redeemable for advertising on the programs site and/or entries to win prizes.

* Referrals - See how much commission you’ll make on the people you refer to the PTRE program. Also see how many levels deep their referral program goes. Referrals do help, but be realistic on how much you’ll earn on your downline.

* Payouts - Most PTRE programs offer you advertisement options before you reach the cash out level. In other words, if the minimum cash payout level is $10 you can often redeem $2 for an ad campaign on their site.

* Advertising - Whether you pay cash or use your points to advertise on a PTRE site it’s a good investment. Most programs offer targeted advertising. The people that receive your ad have requested the category your offer belongs to. You can also track your stats to see how well your campaign did.

Here are 3 other ways PTRE programs also offer to make you some money:

1. Paid To Search - Get paid to search from the programs site or from search sites their affiliated with. Many times you’ll receive paid search links in your email.

2. Paid To Click - Get paid to click on banners and/or links in the programs paid to click section. You usually have to stay on the visited site for a set time to receive credit (an average of 30 seconds).

3. Paid To Join – Offering a set amount of money for you to join programs, services, newsletters and other related offers. Some programs even pay you a commission to shop from their site.

You won’t get rich with PTRE programs, but you can earn a few bucks, plus quality advertising for your site. Just make sure you don’t get carried away and join too many programs or you’ll be clicking emails for an hour a day.

For a list of quality PTRE programs with full descriptions visit http://www.links2see.com/email.html

SOBIG.F Virus Promises "I'll Be Back"

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.”

Convert Your Passions Into Dollars

On Cyberspace (Internet), there is a method from which you can make thousands of dollars per month without needing to have your own product or service. This method is highly flexible, and can be used in different forms to produce income by different people with different knowledge and skills. But one definite use of this method can make money for almost any human who is willing to just do it. This specific style can be defined as:

Transform Your Hobbies or Passions into Income Generating Websites

How? Through Affiliate Programs – The Method for Anyone to Go Smiling All The Way to the Bank, or to Wait Laughing Every Month While Waiting Commission Checks To Come to Your Feet. Let’s talk about...

Affiliate Programs

In 1997, Amazon.com launched the pre-existing idea of affiliate programs. (Amazon.com practically sells anything, but primarily books, and sells online only).

Since books are all-inclusive on any subject of human activity, Amazon.com thought why not utilize all websites out there, who offer knowledge, in such a way that these websites will offer links from their sites to Amazon.com (thus boosting traffic levels and revenue for Amazon.com), and Amazon.com in return will pay commissions to the referrer (affiliate) for each product sold. That's how affiliate programs started and the idea circulated.

An affiliate program works, using Amazon as the example, as follows; the affiliate provides links from his site to certain books on the Amazon site, books that are related to the affiliate's site content. Amazon uses advanced software that tracks who sends each visitor. If and when the visitor buys, Amazon pays the affiliate a commission. Affiliate program is a service offered to people who want to make money.

Affiliate programs work for anyone, since there are thousands of merchant companies out there who offer affiliate programs on thousands of different products. Online Businesses that offer Affiliate Program are broad in scope; Computing & Internet, Fun & Entertainment, Health & Fitness, Home & Family, Marketing & Advertising, Money & Employment, Society & Culture, Sports & Recreation. There are, surely, offline businesses that offer partnership too, but this article is indifferent to Offline Business. At any rate, online business is immensurable easier then an offline business and success rate is higher, partly owing to the easiness of starting an online business, and also due to the fact that online business stands steadfast in front of a Global Massive Market, instead of a Local Market. Of course this may not always be true. Success of some businesses depends on promotional efforts.

Let’s Get Back To Affiliate Programs:

All the book-keeping, order processing, shipping and handling is taken care by Merchant companies. Your only goal is to make people click on the link which will send them to the merchant company. And Its FREE Join affiliate programs.

Broad nature of affiliate programs makes it possible for anyone to leverage Internet, which brings us to the specific method I mentioned on the headline.

Transforming your hobbies into income generating websites

Let me tell you one thing before going further, To transmute hobbies into income is only one way to make money through affiliate programs. There are other ways, such as, if you have an established business, you can promote related affiliate products on your website as recommendations. If you are conducting an e-mail campaign then you can advertise affiliate products in your e-mail campaigns. The way I am talking about is largely desirable for beginners, but it is universal. Let’s move on…

People who have website

Take a look at any website that doesn't sell anything but has some content on a particular subject, and you will find an online business that will offer an affiliate programs for that subject. And the owner of that website can make money. So if you own a website, consider searching for a related affiliate program(s).

If your website is about Movies, you can get affiliated with Amazon.com and get access to their movie database; you can advertise anyone of their Movies on your website and get commissions if any visitor from your website follows your advertisement and buys from Amazon.com. As I said earlier, companies identify which visitor came from which affiliate by the use of advanced software technology. Each Affiliate has a unique URL that points to the merchant company. When you get affiliated with any company you are told how exactly this tracking process is handled.

People who don't have website

If you don’t own a website, then here is what you can do if you are interested in affiliate business (this is only one way to do it, I just want to give you an idea, but remember, most companies will give you tips and tricks to jump-start once you get affiliated with them).

One way which works well for many people is to concentrate on a small niche. Choose a topic in which you are passionately interested, and create a web site around that theme. Then select associate programs which closely fit the theme of your site and blend them into the site, using text links.

* Write articles or find articles with reprint rights that match your passions. You can find articles with reprint rights on http://www.articlebank.com

* Select affiliate programs that fit the theme of your articles

* Create an informative website containing these nice Articles. To create a quality website, I recommend http://www.websitewizard.com. With this service you can create a website if you can stack blocks.

* Ingrain into your website, your unique affiliate links, wherever you see fit.

* Once your website is ready, promote it by submitting to search engines. I have provided for you a free software that will submit your website to search engines. Click here to download.

This is what might happen; supposing that people are now visiting your website. Interested People will come and read your articles; they will like your webpage (for whatever reason) and will perceive that you know what you are talking about and so check out your recommendations (your affiliate advertisements), and they might click and buy through them. Thus, you will make commissions. Of course, that’s only a possible outcome. Whatever I am saying in this article is not scientific or proven information. You might make money or not. But it largely depends on your website content, and your promotion.

Affiliate Programs are very good way to make money, since you don’t need to own products.

There is one other advantage for signing up with affiliate programs, which is, you get extensive, tested and proven marketing materials, tips and tricks on how to improve your promotion and get more visitors to your website, hence bigger commissions. All this material is yours free if you sign up with their program. Why? Because your success is their success.

Do-It-Yourself Keyword Optimization

Do-It-Yourself Keyword Optimization
by: Mario Sanchez


The first step in a search engine optimization campaign is to choose your keywords or keyphrases for each of your web pages. Keywords are the terms that search engine users type in the search box to conduct a query. The right keywords are those that:

1. clearly describe the purpose and content of your site, and,
2. allow your site to show up as close to the first results page as possible.

A good position doesn't depend only on your choice of keywords. It also depends on how well do you position those keywords in your web page, and how many quality external pages link to you. However, choosing the wrong keywords can throw off your entire search engine optimization strategy, so you need to invest a few hours and make sure you do it right.

Let's start with your homepage. Look at it carefully and write down the words and phrases that best define your site. Try to form two or three word phrases, since competition for one-word keyphrases is fierce, and it is virtually impossible to get a top position for them. That is why, from now on, we will talk about keyphrases, not keywords.

Once you have developed your list of potential keyphrases you are ready for the next step: to analyze the demand and supply for those keyphrases, and choose the best ones (those with good demand and not enough supply).

We will first check the demand for your selected keyphrases. For this, we will go to Overture's Search Term Suggesion Tool:

http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

Overture is a popular pay-per-click search engine (as we know, pay-per-click search engines are the only ones that disclose keyword poplularity for free). You will then type each of the keyphrases you selected, and see how many people search for those terms. This tool will show you only those searches conducted in Overture (and only in one month time). However, the relative popularity of each search term will be very similar in other search engines as well.

In addition to telling you if your selected keyphrases are popular, this tool will show you other keyphrases that you may not have thought about, which may even be more relevant to your site. For example, if your first keyphrase was "Italian Restaurant", the Search Term Suggestion Tool will also display other popular search terms, like: "Gourmet Italian Restaurant", "Northern Italian Restaurant", "Italian Restaurant Pizzeria", "Italian Restaurant Miami", etc. You may also try other keyphrases, for example: "Italian Cuisine", and come up with more specific keyphrases, like: "Fine Italian Cuisine", "Italian Cuisine Miami", "Northern Italian Cuisine", "Italian Cuisine Fine Dining", "Gourmet Italian Cuisine", etc.

What you have done is to validate and enlarge your pool of popular, in-demand, potential keyphrases for your web page.

The next step is to check the supply, or, in other words, to see how much competition there is for your selected keywords. Naturally, you want to focus on keyphrases where competition is less fierce. For example, chosing "Italian Restaurant" alone will certainly hurt you. There are so many of them that your chances of showing up in an advantagous position within the search results are pretty slim.

Having said that, get your list of keyphrases, go to Google ( http://www.google.com ) and type-in each of them in the search box. Enter your keyphrases within quotation marks (to filter-out less relevant results), and see how many results each individual query produces, making a note of those with a relatively small number of results (less competition). You will stick with the keyphrase that:

1. Best describes the topic and content of your page.
2. Is a popular search term according to Overture's Search Term Suggestion Tool.
3. Generates a relatively small number of results after performing the Google search.

If "Gourmet Italian Restaurant" is the keyphrase that best meets these three criteria, it will become your primary keyphrase. To get even better results, you can choose a second keyphrase to make your page more relevant to an even more specific niche. For example, if your restaurant is in Miami, you can consider "Miami" a second keyphrase.

Once you have chosen the keyphrases for you homepage, do the same for the other pages on your site.

You will then take your selected keyphrases and optimize your pages heavily for them. This involves placing them in strategic locations in the title, headings and body of each page.

About The Author

Mario Sanchez publishes The Internet Digest ( http://www.theinternetdigest.net ), an online collection of web design and Internet marketing articles and resources. You can freely reprint his weekly articles in your website, ezine, newsletter or ebook.

This article was posted on August 15, 2003

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Professional Web Surfer Offers Tricks Of The Trade

Library assistant turned Yahoo! Canada surfer, Kate McCabe shares search tips.

(NC)—After working as an educational administrator, a library assistant, and a movie reviewer, Kate McCabe admits that her career path took an unexpected turn when she became a professional Web surfer.

"I was looking for a career change when one of my colleagues suggested that I apply for a job at Yahoo!," said McCabe. "At first I wasn't sure what kind of job I could expect but my diverse interests and my passion for Canada were exactly what they wanted in a Web surfer."

Many say it's the human touch and expertise that differentiates Yahoo! Canada Search (www.yahoo.ca) from other online search engines, many of which rely strictly on algorithms to pull together search results. As the company's surfing manager, McCabe's main job responsibility is to help users find the information they want. As well, because Canadian users are primarily looking for Canadian sites she ensures the search and directory functions reflect this need. For example, Canadian sites appear at the top of the main directory categories and are noted with a Canadian flag.

McCabe also spends a great deal of time studying people's searches to help determine how Yahoo! Canada can best present search results and help people find what they are looking for, witnessing first-hand the common mistakes consumers make when researching information online.

The most common pitfalls include selecting search terms that are either too specific or too vague, or entering terms that have dual meanings. For example, when you type the word, "Iroquois," are you seeking facts about Iroquois native people or are you looking for information on HMSC Iroquois or are you hoping to find information on Iroquois Falls, Ontario?

With search challenges such as these, the importance of someone like McCabe comes in with her skill to direct your search so it produces category results for both topics.

Tapping into her experience as a library assistant, she offers a simple tip: before you begin an online search, imagine you are at a library information desk describing a book for which you are looking. The more accurately you can describe your search, the more likely you will get better results.

Although it is not her job responsibility, McCabe is fascinated by what people search. One of the most of the most interesting trends she has noticed is that Canadians use search engines for travel. "I picture people researching and booking a trip to a tropical island or even a summer getaway within Canada because they need a break or time off with their families," said McCabe.

With professional Web surfers like McCabe working behind the scenes, Internet enthusiasts can easily and quickly research their dream vacation and a whole lot more.

Free Software for Newbies and Web Developers

Here is some free software tools to help you build your own websites and create web products.

Learning new skills is not difficult. It just takes a bit of willingness to give it a go. You will feel great satisfaction knowing that you can do this stuff.

Zip Utility

HTML Editor

FTP Software

Screen Shot Software

Zip Utility

You just gotta have a zip utility if you intend to spend time on the Internet. I use Winzip for all my zipping and unzipping needs. It is fast and easy to use. If you would like to check out other zip utilities, go to download.com and do a search.

HTML Editor

To build web pages and eBooks, you'll need some kind of HTML editor. I use 1st Page 2000 for all my HTML editing. It is 100% Free for ever with all features working. This page and web site is being built with this editor.

After the editor is installed, you'll need some web pages to study. Search Google with the key words "free web page template". Don't worry, I just did it. Here is the search results.

Quick Lesson:

All I did to begin learning was to simply open up these templates and study the code from within the editor and try to relate it to what I could see on the actual web page. For example, here is a shot of code from within the HTML editor:

This is a screenshot of some code from this web page. Study the code and relate it to what you see on this page. The red and blue codes are commands which create a hyperlink and cause the link to open in a new browser window.

Take it easy. Learn one command at a time. It won't be long before you get some web pages happening.

When you are ready to learn some more commands, go to HTML Goodies for a good range of Free tutorials.

FTP Software

To transfer your web site to the Internet, you'll need an FTP program. Go to download.com to find several Free FTP programs available for download. I like WS_FTP because it is fast to learn and easy to use. Another popular program is CuteFTP.

Screen Shot Software

To capture images from your computer screen, you'll need a program that will cut the image quickly and easily. I use a freeware program called SRip32. No installation is required and it is very user friendly.

You can also do a search at Google for even more free screen capture software programs.

Web-Safe Fonts for Your Site

Choosing the right typeface for your website copy is important, since it will affect the way your readers perceive your page (serious and formal, or friendly and casual). Aside from this, there are also important usability concerns. For example, some font types are more easily readable than others, and some are more widely available.

You want to choose font types that:

1. fit the character of your site,
2. are easy to read on a computer screen, and
3. are widely available across many browsers and operating systems.

There are basically two types of fonts: serif and sans serif. Serif fonts are those that have fine cross-lines at the extremities of the letter. Sans serif ("sans" being the French word for "without") are fonts that don't have serifs. The most common serif font is probably Times New Roman. Arial is an example of a common sans serif font.

Let's go briefly through the most popular font types and evaluate their availability, readibility and character:

Arial:

* Availability.- Thoroughly available. It is probably the most common sans serif font. It is the default font for Windows, and it first shipped as a standard font with Windows 3.1.
* Readability On Screen.- Not the worse but definetely not the best, especially at small sizes, when it becomes too narrow and the spacing between characters too small.
* Character.- Has a streamlined, modern look but is also plain and boring.
* For Mac users, the equivalent of Arial is Helvetica.

Times New Roman:

* Availability.- Thoroughly available. It is probably the most common serif font. It is the default font for web browsers. It was first shipped as a standard font with Windows 3.1
* Readability On Screen.- Acceptable for font sizes of 12pt. and up, but terrible for smaller sizes.
* Character.- Serious, formal and old fashioned.
For Mac users, the equivalent of Times New Roman is Times.

Verdana:

* Availability.- A widely available sans serif font, Verdana was first shipped with Internet Explorer version 3, when the exponential growth of the Internet demanded a new font that was easy to read on the screen.
* Readability On Screen.- Exceptional. It's wide body makes it the clearest font for on-screen reading, even at small sizes.
* Character.- Modern, friendly and professional.

Georgia:

* Avaliability.- Good. It is a serif font introduced by Microsoft with Internet Explorer version 4, when the need for a serif font which much better readability than Times New Roman became evident.
* Readibility On Screen.- Very good. It is the best serif font for on-line reading, since it was specifically designed for that purpose.
* Character.- Modern, friendly and professional.

Microsoft has also popularized two more fonts: Comic Sans Serif and Trebuchet.

Comic Sans Serif was launched with Internet Explorer verion 3 and mimics the hand writing used in comics. It is easy to read and is informal and friendly, but it is not considered appropriate for more serious, professional sites.

Trebuchet is another sans serif font, similar to Arial but with more character, although it can be difficult to read in small sizes.

Finally, we can mention Courier New, a serif font that was widely popular with old, mechanical typewriters, and that is now used only to present simulated computer code (if you need to present snipets of sample HTML code in your web pages, this is the font to use.)

Therefore, from a usability perspective, the clear winner is Verdana. If you are inclined to use a serif font, Georgia is the best option. Arial remains a good option for specific parts of text, like headlines and titles, where a different font must be used and you can use larger sizes.

Nigerian Scam

Although this scam has its root from Nigeria dated a decade back, nowadays, you receive similar scam letters from many African countries, notably, Nigeria, Benin, Togo and even South Africa.

The subject lines of these emails are pretty similar. Something like: Business relationship, Urgent Assistance needed, Soliciting for your assistance, A cry for help etc. Most of the emails from this scam begin in the same way. Here are two excerpts from most recent emails that we received:

"I am Engr Moses Ekpen a director in the budget and planning department of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources (FMPNR), I had a seven man Tenders Board Committee in charge of contract award and Payment approvals. I came to know of you in my search for a reliable and reputable person to handle a very confidential transaction, which involves the transfer of a huge sum of money to a foreign account."

Or

"I am Mrs. Mariam Abacha, the widow of Gen. Sani Abacha, The Late Nigerian Military Head of State. You were introduced to me through the Chamber of Commerce. I am presently in distress and under House arrest while my son Mohammed is undergoing trial in Lagos and Abuja. He is presently detained in prison custody. The government has frozen all the family account and auctioned all our properties.

To save the family from total bankruptcy I have managed to ship to Europe and Asia through a Shipping company, the sum of US20, 000,000.00 respectively kept by my late husband."

The essence of these emails are also basically the same – the person although does not know you, thanks to your business reputation, has decided to contact you with a very confidential proposal to transfer a mind boggling amount of money from his country to any foreign land.

There could be numerous stories but the bottom line is they require your help to transfer the amount. For your service they will promise you something from 10 to 40% of the whole amount. There would be a telephone no or an email address to contact the person.

You may wonder how they swindle people.

There are various ways that the crooks rip off their victims. Some of the most commons ones of them are described below:

They will ask you to open a bank account under their name. On their second step, they will ask you to deposit a sum of say US$ 10000 to that account, explaining if the account does not have any decent amount, the officials those who are responsible for transferring the promised millions of dollars would become suspicious and won’t authorize the transaction. Once you deposited the asked sum, they simply withdraw it and disappear. Usually they choose a bank where they might have some connections. So you, after losing your money, do not get any help from the bank either.

They will ask you to send some merchandize or gifts for the officials they need to bribe in order to make the transactions of the assumed millions of dollars smoothly. Naturally, you never hear from them once you sent the requested gifts to their address.

We even heard stories like this one: A man was persuaded to come to Nigeria to look after the transaction by himself. Over there he was kept hostage until he shifted all his liquid assets to the thugs.

Looking at the increasing quantity of scam emails that we receive, this only convinces that many fall for this seemingly simple trap. According to FBI these swindlers have defrauded millions of dollars from gullible people.

There could be other variations of this scam, next time you read an email that feels suspicious, just delete it! There are other ways of making money!

Some words of cautions! Although most of these scams originate from African countries, please do not generalize and consider that all companies form these countries are bad. As usual a few people are responsible for tarnishing the reputation of a country.

Internet in Russia and Ukraine - Part 1. General Information and Statistics

User Base

The non-US and non-English Web segments have been boosted by a growing trend towards PC penetration and cheaper Internet access in the last couple of years. The US share of the global population online, once above ninety percent, is now under a quarter, while the number of Internet users who do not speak English at all continues to grow.

The Asia-Pacific region remains a key contributor to the increase in the number of non-English speakers on the Web, but the Russian Internet, aka Runet, demonstrates the accelerated pace of development as well.

The Russian language on the Web was represented by 2.7 percent in March 2003, said Global Reach (http://www.global-reach.biz/globstats/index.php3), a consultancy that tracks non-English online populations. The share is quite minor, compared to English with its 35.2 percent. However, the growth rate of Runet is far more exciting; the Russian Internet audience has tripled over the last two years, registering a 40 percent increase annually. The February 2003 Report by SpyLOG (http://gs.spylog.ru/interesting.phtml?id=51%20) indicates that the total users who surf the Russian portion of the Internet have reached about 15 million, 60 percent of whom live in Russia and seven percent in Ukraine. Moscow and St.-Petersburg account for 53 percent of the total Internet users in Russia. Similarly, the Ukrainian Internet surveys reveal that the vast majority (70 percent) of Ukrainian users live in Kiev, Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov and Donetsk, according to freenet.kiev.ua and mct.kiev.ua as quoted in Kyiv Post Business March 20, 2003.

The Ukrainian user base grows as fast as its Russian counterpart. The total Internet users in Ukraine reached 2.5 million by year-end 2002, a 150 percent increase in a year, said the head of the Ukrainian State Committee for Communications and Information Technologies (http://mignews.com.ua/events/ukraine/73927.html). Independent marketers confirm the recent trends on the Ukrainian Internet, or Uanet for short. For example, eRus.ru (http://www.e-rus.ru/news/2003/03/251511_3939.shtml) quoted GfK-USM, a marketing company, as stating that the regular Internet users in Ukraine accounted for 6.4 percent of the total population (3.1 million of 48.4 million) in February 2003, and the number of the users who purchased products or services through the Internet was doubled when compared to February 2002.

Internet Access and Prices

Dial-up connection is the most common way of accessing the Internet in both Russia and Ukraine. The Ukrainian dial-up users, for example, pay $0.1 to $2.0 an hour for Internet access, depending on an ISP, time of day and availability of callback services. The monthly charge for unmetered access in Kiev currently ranges from about $4 (midnight to 9.00 a.m. with no callback support) to about $40 (24-hour access via callback service). The callback service in Kiev will save you about $0.4/hour, an additional fee charged by Ukrtelecom for connection to the local telephone line.

The broadband access is rather expensive, ranging from $40/month (IDSN, 64 K/s, 1 GB monthly data transfer) to $300/month (dedicated line, 64-128 K/s, unlimited transfer) with a set-up fee of $200 to 300, plus some hidden charges that are quite common for the local providers. Thus, only corporate clients can enjoy the privilege of broadband subscription.

What Users are Searching for?

Like Internet users worldwide, the majority of Russian and Ukrainian surfers search the Web for information. A Yandex poll (http://www.yandex.ru/polling/9.html) shows that about 24 percent searchers use the Web for easy reference and over 15 percent use it as a research tool. A further 12 percent of those polled said the Internet was a news source for them while only 14 percent preferred online entertainment services. An increase in personal consumption in Russia and Ukraine has made a positive impact on the regional Internet. Russians and Ukrainian are increasingly relying on the Internet in order to evaluate products or services before they make their final decision to buy, whether online or offline. Currently, about 1200 online shops are listed in Magazin.ru, the largest Russian e-commerce catalogue, while CNews.ru (http://www.cnews.ru/reviews/online/) reported last year that the total number of operational online shops in Runet was 500 at the beginning of 2002. The most e-shops are online outlets of bricks-and-mortar businesses, but some "pure" online stores have opened their virtual doors as well. Most notable are bookstores such as Ozon, Biblio Globus and Books in Russia, and Bookshop, AzBooKa and Bambook in Ukraine. Despite a certain lack of high-quality online offerings in Runet and Uanet, surprisingly few Western sites offer the products and services that need no customs clearance. For example, web hosting fees in Ukraine are about two to eight times higher than those somewhere in the United States, but the service providers abroad seem to be in no hurry to enter the local market. This is also true for e-books, especially on programming and computing.

Spam and Spamdexing

Despite spam is still flourishing on the Russian Web, unsolicited email messages in Runet are far less aggressive than the email marketing campaigns in the US, when a news subscriber may receive bundles of advert mailings that are vaguely associated with his/her initial subscription.

The more pressing issue for both users and search engines is spamdexing, i.e. unfair tricks aimed at attaining high rankings in search engines. Searching Runet for a particular key phrase can give you dozens of mirrors and doorways. Some successful SE optimizers in Russia and Ukraine openly advertise that their promotion techniques are solely based on building doorways or cloaking, which currently seems unwise on the global Internet.

The top Russian search engines fight against spam in much as the most popular search engines do worldwide. For example, Yandex and Rambler penalize websites for using unfair tricks and encourage Runet users to report search engine spam. Many professional programmers and webmasters also voice their concerns about spamdexing. Articles by A. Shkondin at ClubPro.spb.ru (http://clubpro.spb.ru/) provide some classic examples of how spammers play games with the Russian search engines and Internet surfers.

Common Sense Approach to Search Engine Optimization

Most web surfers start their sessions at a search engine or a web directory. There are a number of different methods you can use to capture their traffic and drive it to your site:

1. Stick to the big names: The two largest directories: Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com) and the Open Project Directory (http://www.dmoz.org), and the two largest search engines: Google (http://www.google.com) and Inktomi (used by MSN search (http://www.msn.com) and AOL (http://www.aol.com) are likely to deliver 80% of your traffic, so concentrate on those and don’t spend too much time on anybody else.

2. Yahoo and the Open Project Directory are administered by humans, so an editor will inspect your site before it's added. They receive so many submissions that it can literally take months before your site is reviewed, and nothing (not even paid subscriptions) guarantees that it will be listed. It’s worth to keep trying, though, so check back every month or so and, if your site isn’t listed, submit it again.

3. Google and Inktomi are robots (software programs) that “crawl” (find and read) millions of sites on the web, and add them to their index. That's why it is not absolutely necessary to manually submit your site to a search engine, since they may find your site and add it automatically when they find a link to your site on another page.

4. You don’t need to submit all the pages on your site to a search engine. Once the search engine finds your main page (homepage), it will find the other ones by following links. To improve the chances of your secondary pages being found, create a link called ‘site map’ in your homepage, and have it point to a page that is nothing but a collection of links to all the pages on your site. This way, the search engine will follow the link and “suck in” all your pages. Try putting this link as close to the top of your homepage as possible, since it will have a better chance of being picked up by the search engine.

5. Your site will stand a much better chance of showing up at the top of the search results list if you choose keywords that are as specific as possible. In general, niche sites that use very specific keywords have a better chance of being at the top of the list than generic sites that use more common keywords. For example, a restaurant that specializes in brick oven pizza (keywords: brick oven pizza) has a better chance of showing up in a prime position than an all-encompassing Italian restaurant (keywords: Italian restaurant).

6. A good search engine ranking is also conditioned by the amount of inbound links to your site that the search engine finds in other websites. A significant amount of links to your page from high ranked, quality sites with content related to yours, will significantly boost your rankings. Try contacting the webmasters of the leading websites for the keywords of your choice and try to get them to link to your site. You can offer a link exchange or place a paid link (advertising) on their pages, if that’s an available option.

7. Creating a good page title tag is also key, since it’s usually the first thing the search engines display in the search results page. Also, you must create a well written, easy to understand ‘Description’ meta tag, since some search engines will use it to describe your site. The more your title and description match your preferred search keywords, the more likely web users will click into your site. Don't pay too much attention to the 'Keywords' meta tag, since most search engines ignore them nowadays, due to the potential for abuse.

Finally, one last word of advice: don’t obsess with search engines, since they are not the only way to generate traffic to your site. Try different approaches, like writing articles and posting them in discussion groups and newsgroups. Also, don’t overlook bricks-and-mortar techniques like passing around business cards embedded with your website address, or advertising in traditional media. It is a combination of all these things, and high quality, original content, what will make your site popular.

Tread Towards A Successful “Internet Research”

Internet is a terrific resource containing billions of web pages dedicated to thousands of topics. Since the amount of information available on the Internet is so vast and mind baffling you may feel lost.

Your expectations from “The Information Superhighway” will crash if you proceed with the general view that exaggerates the ease of Internet usage. What is required is a moderate, balanced approach keeping one’s head on shoulders. Approaching the net should be similar to any other research endeavor i.e. by adopting a formal strategy to maximize results. “Motivation” is the key word here. If you do not have a serious research goal, you cannot dig far.

To make the search a more meaningful exercise and profitable too, you should know where to search and how to search. Be clear about what you are looking for? Be specific in the identification and use of keywords. Being an advanced Internet researcher, you should always use the advanced services when available on a search engine or a directory or a look-up. Have a list of Boolean search strings ready before proceeding on for advanced search in a search engine. For preparing Boolean expressions the following may be used as required:

“AND” is used to tell the search engine to find both terms on the same page.

“OR” is used to find one term or the other. Looking for one term is very useful when the same term may appear in two different ways.

“NOT” tells the search engine to look for web pages with the first term but not the second.

“NEAR” instructs the search engine, only to return the web pages in which the terms are near each other.

Categories of Search Tools available are:

Search Engines – They use keywords or phrases to search the Internet. Many of them allow you to enter questions rather than simply a few search terms. Most search engines have catalogues that sort a limited number of sites on the topic. Some frequently used search engines are:

* Alta Vista
* AOL
* Excite
* Google
* Hotbot
* Lycos
* MSN Search
* Northern Light
* Overture
* Web Crawler

Meta Search Engines - They quickly and superficially search several individual search engines at once and return results compiled into a convenient format. They only catch about 10% of search results in any of the search engines they visit. Some examples of Meta S.Es are:

* Ask Jeeves
* Copernic
* Meta Crawler

Subject Directories – They are the collection of web sites picked by editors (sometimes experts in a subject) and organized into hierarchical subject categories. They are often carefully evaluated and kept up to date. Some widely used directories are:

* About.com
* BigHub
* DMOZ
* Invisible Web
* Yahoo

Search engines are wonderful but the problem is that none of them has indexed even half of the Internet. Each search engine indexes the web differently, searches the web differently and thus has very different results. This means if you enter a search into Altavista and get zero results, this may not be the case if you go to Northernlight or Google. A good web researcher must search a few search engines before exhausting the search.

What is MUST before setting out for search is a glance at the FAQs. As each search engine is different from each other, it is essential to set your doubts at rest before you proceed.

X-raying the websites – At times you will not be allowed to access a particular page on the website as it may not be linked with any of the pages on that URL. A good researcher knows that just because you are not allowed access to a page, does not mean you can’t still get in. If you can’t get in from front door of the website, then try the back door of the server by using the advanced function on a search engine. Even if a page is not linked, the search engines might have indexed it. All you need to do is go to the advanced search function on Altavista and type in host:XYZ.com AND the words you expect to find on your page.

Flip Searching – Flipping is a technique in which you look for pages containing links to specified URLs. Use linkdomain:ABC.com to tell the search engine to locate all the pages that are linked to “ABC URL”.

Every great researcher should have an organized library of resources. Whether this comes in the form of organized bookmarks and favorites or a notebook, it is imperative to track your research.

The Internet is like an ever-changing medium. What worked yesterday, may not work today. Therefore, a good researcher should always have “Ever Onwards” as the motto and should not surrender the search easily. With over billions of pages on the Internet you can turn all odds in your favor and succeed in finding what you are looking for.

A Closer Look at Cyber Crooks

I work from my home, the most peaceful workplace I can think of so far. As a Homemaker and part time Freelance Writer, I submit articles and subscribe to various respectable writing newsletters and do endless research online. But before signing up, I read privacy policies, some brief while others boringly lengthy.

I am just one among millions of unknown but honest Internet users. Why, to my mind, would I worry so much about anyone in the Internet community making me a target for nasty tricks or harassments?

Nonetheless, I feel safe just knowing that the websites that interest me run a committed sense of policy on security.

But when my computer screen started flashing as if gasping for air and slowly died down months ago, I blamed electric current fluctuations. But when my files disappeared and my computer turned alarmingly uncooperative, I referred the case to the expert, my husband.

For the first time, I was hit by a computer virus.

It was not as simple as unplugging the computer connection, sleeping on it for a few days while a computer surgeon works on the damage so everything could be good as new.

I saw months of hard work on research, completed manuscripts stashed in my hard disk, long hours spent online, time, money, and effort my spouse has invested in setting up the whole system, all go down the drain and turn into nothingness.

Going through the process of repair and reconstruction is painfully tedious, time consuming, and costly.

I was angry. I took it as an attack on my person. The perpetrator has no heart.

A series of disturbing yet quite interesting cyber intrusions that followed prodded me to quench my curiosity and do a personal research on what inspires the behavior behind the waste of skill, time and resources involved in these damaging cyber pursuits and other elctronic petty crimes that make life miserable for honest internet users.

CYBER OFFENDERS

Anyone who enters your home without your consent is committing an offense theoretically. Your computer system is an extension of your boundaries and must not be infringed. When someone gains unauthorized access to your computer in any manner or utilizes the computer technology in performing a felony, he/she commits a cyber crime.

The Hacker is always the first person that comes to mind in relation to cyberspace violations. After all, who else can be as knowledgeable and bold enough to break into someone else’s computer system?

Hackers used to have nobler objectives for their being. In the earlier days of the Computer technology, they were the computer experts/geniuses who tested computer systems, with the owners’ consent, for loopholes and recommended better programs or fixed the errors themselves to frustrate any effort to exploit the defective system by more dangerous ‘creatures.’ They even had the Hackers’ Code of Ethics.

There are two types of Hackers: The Ethical Pros, the highly skilled professionals who hire out their skills to organizations concerned about their own network’s safety. They represent Hackers of earlier generation. The other type is the CyberRambos or plain crackers-despised by the Elite Hackers, Crackers crack/break systems for superficial reasons. (UC San Diego Psycho. Dept.: Computer & Network Resources)

But by what many Hackers have become these days, it is difficult to ascribe their destructive behaviors to nobility instead of outright violation.

And by whatever name they are called, these cyber felons have become simply faceless and nameless ‘hackers’ to their victims.

ON MOTIVES

An online article by David Benton entitled: ‘What’s Inside a Cracker?’ from SANS (SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security) Information Security Reading Room, states seven psychological profiles of malicious hackers as documented by Canadian Psychologist Marc Rogers M.A., Graduate Studies, Dept. of psychology, university of Manitoba and a former Police Computer Crimes Investigator:

Newbie/Tool Kit (NT): new to hacking, have limited computer/programming proficiencies; rely on ready-made pieces of software (tool kits) that are readily available in the Internet;

Internals (IT): disgruntled employees or ex-employees proficient in how the company’s internal systems work;

Coders (CD) and Virus Writers: programmers who’d like to see themselves as elite; they write codes but not for personal use. They have their own networks to experiment with “zoos.” They leave to others to introduce their codes into the “wild” or Internet. (Hacker Psych 101 by Jeremy Quittner);

Cyber-Punks (CP): antisocial geeks, the most visible, socially inept, and burdened with unresolved anger that they take into cyberspace; they relate better to computers than humans and have better computer skills and some programming capabilities; capable of writing their own software, they intentionally engage in malicious acts such as defacing web pages, spamming, credit card number theft, etc.;

Old Guard Hackers (OG): have no criminal intent in its real sense but display an alarming disrespect for personal property with great interest in intellectual endeavo;.

Professional Criminals (PC) and Cyber Terrorists (CT): most dangerous; They are professional criminals and ex-intelligence operatives who are guns for hire. They specialize in corporate espionage, are extremely well trained and have access to state of the art equipments;

Further, Rogers pointed out that not all Hackers are criminals. He has categorized them as follows: (Jeremy Quittner, Hacker Psych 101);

Old School Hackers: akin to the 1960s style computer programmers from Stanford MIT for whom it is an honor to be a hacker; interested in analyzing systems with no criminal intent; they believe the Internet was designed to be an open system;

Script Kiddies/ Cyber –Punks: wannabe hackers and crackers; use other Cracking programs carelessly with the intent to vandalize and corrupt systems; often caught red-handed because they brag their exploits online.

Professional Criminals: breaking into systems and selling information Is their livelihood; they get hire for espionage; often have ties with organized Criminal groups; not interested in disrupting systems but more on stealing intelligence data;

The list of motives is endless: boredom, illicit thrill, addiction, blackmail or low self esteem, and a desperate need for recognition from the hacker peer group, all cowardly performed under the protection of anonymity.

“Underlying the psyche of criminal hackers may be a deep sense of inferiority. The mastery of the computer technology or the shut down of a major site causing millions of dollars of damage is real power trip.” (J. Quittner, Hacker Psych 101, Hackers: Computer Outlaws)

Jarrold M. Post, a George Washington University Psychiatrist says: It’s (Hackers) a population that takes refuge in computers because of their problems sustaining real world relationships.”

The less information you share in the Internet the better. But as computer wizards, Hackers will always find ways to reconstruct your identity even with very little details in their possession.

However, there are varied ways by which you, a legitimate Internet user can be protected. Know the warning signs and get educated on how to thwart any attempt to victimize you. Don’t take the wired blows sitting down.

“Constant awareness and updating of knowledge is the best defense to any attack,” wrote Shayne Gregg, CA (NZ), CISA, CMC, in ‘A Response to Recent Cyber Attacks.’ (Information Systems Audit & Control Association InfoBytes)

I recommend The Complete Idiot’s Guide to: Protecting Yourself Online by Preston Gralla, Executive Editor, ZDNet. It is comprehensive, easy to understand, and a must for every Internet user’s library.

HACKERS, CYBERPUNKS, et al

Cyber Crime is not monopolized by hackers or crackers. The pedophile, thief or drug dealer in your community who hire computer experts to carry out their illegal activities online are as guilty and despicable.

Just like the criminals roaming out in the real world, Cyber felons are a bunch of psychologically imbalanced and misguided citizens who happen to have the dexterity to commit electronic transgressions or hire a computer expert to do the job and will never get enough despite their Cyber Glory and ‘conquests.’

Still the tendency to commit a crime lies hidden in wholesome images, while the unsuspecting is often caught by surprise. What you don’t see is sometimes what you get.

Hackers cannot be strictly stereotyped. Peter Shipley, Chief Security architect for the Big Five firm KPMG avers: “I know a lot of hackers, including one who spends an hour and a half in the gym everyday. He is built. I know of women who are knock-down gorgeous who are hackers.”

No Exceptions

Whenever high tech-crazed folks travel through your wires to make your computer system malfunction, steal your identity or get paid to give you trouble, it’s a sign that you do not take the needed precaution whenever you log in.

When I asked myself quietly back then “Why me?” I guess the reply would be “And why not?” As with most inventions, the Internet is being abused and mishandled. And as always, a helpless victim completes the drama.

Anyone can be a casualty at random regardless if one is honest, educated, high profile, residing at the far end of the globe or a Stay-at-Home- Mom working hard and peacefully from her abode.

Hackers won’t care how his/her prey will feel.

But I am still hoping that such an impressive brainwork will be put to good use by present day hackers, just how their predecessors intended Hacking to be used.

What to Do if You Fall in Love With More Than One Screensaver

If you don't know where one screensaver goes when you install another one then this article is for you. Learn about the standard way of switching between installed screensavers and get prepared to a much more convenient one.

It was a great surprise for me to get dozens of emails complaining about what I myself would have never thought of. Many people installed my Rainy Screensaver ( http://www.elasticsystems.com/rainy/ ) and found it quite entertaining. But then they got upset because their previous screensaver was very fun too and now it wouldn't come up anymore.

What has happened to their old screensaver after the installation of another one? Today we will deal with this question.

Probably, many of you will find this information rather obvious. I am really sorry for not being very helpful to this part of my readers this time. But I receive too many emails of described nature. This leaves me with the hope that some people will learn something new in their quests for becoming Screensaver Gurus.

Here we go. The root of the problem is that screensaver installation hides many steps happening behind the scene. This is very convenient but it's what makes the answer to our question not so obvious for many people.

I hope you were following my articles. In Windows Screensavers Explained I told you about the place where screensavers live in your system. But don't worry if you missed that article. Here's the information you need.

Your operating system (and we are talking about Microsoft Windows here) expects to find available screensavers in two folders on your hard drive. These folders are C:\Windows and C:\Windows\System if you use Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows Me. If you have Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows XP then these folders are C:\WINNT and C:\WINNT\System32. Note that I suppose you system is installed on your hard drive C. If your system is on drive D, you should look into D:\Windows. The same goes for other drives.

When you install a screensaver it gets into one of these folders. The screensaver simply copies itself over there. Some screensavers have more than one file. Usually they copy other files into a separate folder under your Program Files. But it makes no difference for the purpose of our discussion.

The main idea behind all this is that your previous screensaver doesn't disappear. A new screensaver copies itself into one of the mentioned folders. But copying is not removing. The previous screensaver is not removed unless you uninstall it manually. That is, if you install two or more screensavers, you can still enjoy all of them.

What exactly should you do to admire all screensavers installed on your system? The answer is simple and you could easily find it yourself by an accident. Try the following. Right click anywhere on the empty desktop and choose Properties. You will see Display Properties dialog. This dialog has many pages but you need the one named Screen Saver. Activate it by clicking on its title. You should see a preview window with the last installed screensaver. Now look below that window. There's a drop down list with the name of that screensaver. This drop down list is the answer to our question. You can select any screensaver installed on your system by clicking on the list. After that Windows will launch only the screensaver you have selected.

The described solution is perfect if you have two or three favorite screensavers and would like to change between them once in a week. But what if you have five or ten favorite screensavers and want to see them on a day-by-day basis? We will beat this problem next time by introducing a few quite useful tools. They can make switching between screensavers a lot easier and more entertaining. Stay tuned...

What You Should Know About Installing Screensavers

Do you remember that frustrating feeling when you find an interesting screensaver and can't install it on your computer? This article will help you to never have it again.

Back to when Windows 95 started to find its home on many computers there was just half a dozen of screensavers preinstalled with the system. All you could do was selecting one of these. It was as simple as boring.

Luckily those times are left behind. Now we have hundreds of screensavers developed throughout the years and available for download. Finding a nice screensaver matching your taste and style can be a hard task. How much disappointing is it when you are unable to install the discovery on your computer then? I bet you know.

Often you come across a screensaver with an intriguing description and no screenshots. You are curios to see it in action. But: SLAP! You can't figure out the way to make it work on your system and you will never know what you have missed. What a pity! I know.

Well... Enough! Enough of this! There should be a way to make us, screensaver hunters, luckier. Keep reading. There's something that can open a whole new world of screensavers to you.

First, in order to fight this evil, we should find its roots. Why is it so that we have the problem? Mainly it's because there are several ways to distribute screensavers:

1. As self-extracting installation packages
2. As ZIPped installation packages
3. As individual .SCR files

The self-extracting packages are the easiest to install. You just download the screensaver and double click it. Then the installation program starts and performs all the steps necessary to install the screensaver. That is, you have it ready for use just with a few mouse clicks.

You can recognize the ZIPped installation packages by their names. They have ".zip" at the end. Double clicking such files will probably get you nowhere unless you are well prepared.

The third category is represented by files with names ending with ".scr". Activating such file usually launches the screensaver. That's not bad. At least you can see what it's all about. But this way it won't appear in the list of available screensavers that the operating system starts if your computer goes to rest. That is, you have to use a little trick if you like the screensaver.

Now that the reason of our problems is a bit more obvious, I almost hear your question. Once the self-extracting packages are the easiest to install, why just not to stick with them? Okay, you are right. It makes a perfect sense. But you forget one important thing. Screensavers are created by programmers.

And programmers differ from other computer users in that they see everything from their very specific and technical point of view. It's not a problem for them to extract files from ZIPped packages as they work with them very often. It is rather natural for them to copy files into secret system folders that 80% of users didn't hear about and don't have to.

That's why they create screensavers and put them on download sites in the form that is hard to install for you. But don't hurry to blame them. They mostly do it unintentionally, not because they hate people who can't handle ZIP archives or bare screensaver files.

I know it because I am one of them. In fact (my face goes red here) my Rainy Screensaver ( http://www.elasticsystems.com/rainy/ ) was distributed as a ZIPped package until version 1.7. Thanks to the people who provided me with their feedback. I really don't see any reason to hurt those who use their computers as tools or source of entertainment. These people don't have to know all technical aspects.

I hope more and more screensaver writers will understand this and will make their screensavers easier for you to install. Meanwhile you yourself can get the knowledge needed to handle not so friendly installations without a problem. So let's get back to installing ZIPped packages and bare screensaver files.

* ZIPped installation packages

These ".zip" files are known as archives. It is very popular way to spread software and information over the net. They let you to "pack" many files into one that is much easier to download. They also use special methods known as compression to reduce the final size of the packed files and thus save your time and money spent downloading them.

In order to unpack (extract) files from a ZIPped package you should use a special program. Probably the most popular and easy to use is WinZip. You can download it from http://www.winzip.com. Windows XP has a built-in support for ".zip" files so, if you use Windows XP, there's no need for additional software.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that a ".zip" package usually contains a collection of files that should be extracted somewhere before you can use them. It doesn't matter what program you use to extract the files. Just follow its instructions to do it and put extracted files in the place of your choice. It's better to create a special folder for such cases. Alternatively you can use temporary folder provided by Windows.

Once the files are extracted you should examine them. If you see one named "Install.exe" or "Setup.exe" among them then you can double click it to complete the installation process. Even though archives are very convenient when used on a bunch of files, they can be used to pack a single file to reduce its size. So if you have extracted a single file with its name ending with ".scr" then you should keep reading.

* Bare screensaver files

As I have said before, these files have their name ending with ".scr". They are screensavers themselves. That is, they are the programs that create all these amazing effects when started. You can find some details about them in my article "Windows Screensavers Explained" at http://www.elasticsystems.com/articles.html .

The easiest known way to install ".scr" files is to right click on them and then choose "Install" from available menu options. Once you do this, Windows will set the screensaver as default and open Display Properties dialog where you can adjust screensaver's settings if you wish.

This way has some disadvantages though. First, you should be careful with where you keep the screensaver file. If you have put it in the temporary folder and it is likely to be deleted or moved somewhere else later, then the system won't find the screensaver anymore. So you'd better create a special folder for screensavers that you choose to install this way. Second, if you select another screensaver from the list in Display Properties dialog then Windows will forget any screensaver installed using the described method. That is, you will have to right click it and choose "Install" once and again.

Nevertheless, this way is very convenient if you just want to take a look at the screensaver, play with its settings and delete it. If you really like the screensaver and want it to brighten boring cloudy days then you'd better find a cozier place to keep it.

How do you find such place? It's easy. What you need is to drag the screensaver into your Windows folder. If you use Windows 95/98 or Windows Me then chances are this folder is on your drive C: and has a name of "Windows". If you use Windows NT/2000 or Windows XP then it's probably on your drive C: and is called "WINNT". Once you put the screensaver in this folder it will be available in the list of installed screensavers in Display Properties dialog. Now you can select it whenever you wish. Furthermore, you should worry no more about reinstalling it every time you change your mind and select another screensaver.

TIP: Sometimes you download a ZIPped installation package for screensaver, extract its contents to some folder and find there both "Setup.exe" (or "Install.exe") and ".scr" files. In this case double clicking "Install" or "Setup" is the preferred way. That's because the installation program will perform all the steps needed to install the screensaver like copying necessary files, updating system registry, providing uninstaller and so on. Simply copying the ".scr" file to Windows folder apparently won't do it.

Now that you have a few more useful tricks under your belt, you can install much more screensavers. Add here acquired confidence that those screensavers you like are ready to please you whenever you wish and there's a good reason to become a bit happier.

Windows Screensavers Explained

In this article you will find some background information about screensavers and their history. You will also learn how Windows screensavers differ from other programs and how you can use it to your own advantage. Also there are some tips for users owning laptops, notebooks or CD-burning devices.

Have you ever asked yourself a question like "What is a screensaver actually?" I did. And now I will gladly share the results of my investigation. As you can see easily, splitting the word "screensaver" into two words will give us the phrase "screen saver". This isn't a rocket science and it's clear that the phrase suggests our subject somehow saving the screen. So the word "screensaver" can be applied to some sort of good things that save the screen of our so much beloved baby-computer. But what does it mean exactly? Who is going to harm our computer screen? Who could be such a bad person? The answer lies in the exact definition of screensavers.

If you are a meticulous person then you can search the Internet and come up with some of the existing definitions. But don't hurry. I will list some of the most often found. Here they are:

* A moving picture or pattern that appears on your screen when you have not moved the mouse or pressed a key on the computer for a specified period of time. Screensavers prevent screen damage that is caused when the same areas of light and dark are displayed for long periods of time.
* A program that "wakes up" after a certain amount of time has elapsed with no keyboard or mouse activity and blanks the screen or displays various moving objects across the screen; these are used to prevent your screen from getting "burn in".
* An animated picture or graphic that can be programmed through the Display control panel to come on the computer screen after so much inactivity time has elapsed. The main reason for a screensaver is to reduce wear and tear on the CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) inside the monitor that can burn out or become etched if the same window is left on for extended periods of time.

The picture is getting clearer, isn't it? Let's make it plain. The "burn in" or "damage" used in these definitions refer us to the time before 90-ies. At that time many cathode ray tubes in TVs, computer monitors or elsewhere were prone to be damaged if the same pattern (e.g., the WordPerfect status line; the Pong score readout; or a TV channel-number display) was shown at the same position on the screen for very long periods of time. The phosphor on the screen would "fatigue" and that part of the screen would seem grayed out, even when the CRT was off.

TIP: Be careful when using a screensaver on a computer with an LCD screen (most laptops and notebooks). A pixel on an LCD screen is on when it's dark; therefore, blacking the screen as some screensavers do would cause more damage.

Eventually CRTs which were resistant to burn-in (and which sometimes went into sleep mode after a period of inactivity) were developed. But in the meantime, solution was found: home video game systems of the era (e.g., Atari 2600s) would, when not being played, change the screen every few seconds, to avoid burn-in; and computer screensaver programs were developed.

The first screensavers were simple screen blankers - they just set the screen to all black, but, in the best case of creeping featurism ever recorded, these tiny (often under 1K long) programs grew without regard to efficiency or even basic usefulness. At first, small, innocuous display hacks (generally on an almost-black screen) were added. Later, more complex effects appeared, including animations (often with sound effects!) of arbitrary length and complexity.

And now we live in the world full of fun and entertaining screensavers. Many of them produce amazing and very attractive effects. You can find a screensaver on any theme you like, download it, install and enjoy.

This means that a typical screensaver is a program. And it really is. But isn't there something different? Is there something that distinguishes a program running as screensaver from other typical programs? You're right, there is a bit of mystery. In order to demystify it we should plunge deeper into screensaver mechanics. But don't be afraid. It isn't complicated at all.

First, as you already know, screensavers are launched automatically by the operating system.

TIP: Be careful if you use CD-Burning devices regularly and your system is configured to launch screensaver after some period of inactivity. Some screensavers produce very sophisticated effects but for the price of intensive CPU load. If you leave your computer while CD-Burning software is working, screensaver will be launched. This can sometimes lead to the CD-R/RW disks burned improperly.

During their installation process screensavers are copied to the system directory (years ago users had even to copy screensavers by themselves). Once they are there, Windows finds them and puts in the list of available screensavers. You can see this list in the Display Properties dialog. But how does the system know that the program in its system directory is a screensaver? The answer is simple. Any screensaver program has a name ending with ".SCR" extension, while a typical program has the ".EXE" extension at the end. This is the first difference.

Second, almost every screensaver has a bunch of settings allowing you to change its appearance in many ways. This isn't a much difference because many typical programs have options and settings too. The difference lies in the way the user invokes configuration dialogs. Windows provides the only way to do it. It's the Display Properties dialog mentioned above. Other programs usually have their own buttons or menus to do that. Why are we talking about it? It's simple. The whole process means that the system has a way to communicate with screensavers: to launch them, preview and configure on your demand while other typical programs don't have it. Usually they are simply launched and that's all. This is the second difference.

So what? How can we use it to our own advantage? Imagine yourself downloading a new screensaver, running it and finding it rather amazing. The screensaver can be so amazing and entertaining, that you would like to show it running on your screen to the friend of yours. But wait. How do you do that? What if your system is configured to launch the screensaver after 5 minutes of inactivity only? Or after 10 minutes or even more? Will you wait for this eternity? You can say that there is always a way to launch the screensaver from the Dialog Properties. But in order to do that you should launch the dialog, find the Screen Savers tab and click the Preview button. Quite a lot of things to do. And if you are willing to demonstrate two or even more screensavers the things get complicated even more. And what if the screensaver you've found looks best when the whole desktop wallpaper is seen on the screen? The Display Properties dialog will simply destroy this unique beauty you were willing to share.

Now imagine that double-clicking an icon on your desktop could do all this. Simple action, no unnecessary dialogs. Sure, some preparation steps are needed. But they are done once. After that you can enjoy launching screensavers using icons as many times as you wish. Is it worth doing? Try it, the result can be very effective. Once you manage the process, you can proudly call yourself a "Professional Screensaver User". If you like the idea then there's the way to achieve it:

1. Use Windows explorer to navigate to your system directory. Usually it is C:\Windows or C:\Windows\System if you use Windows 95/98/Me. If you use Windows NT/2000/XP, then you should look in C:\WINNT or C:\WINNT\System32
2. Look through the list of programs there. It can be quite large, but you can easily find the name of the screensaver you are looking for. Alternatively you can use the "Find Files or Folders" facility.
3. Once you've found it, use the right mouse button to drag the file onto the desktop. After releasing the mouse select "Create Shortcut Here" from the popup menu. The icon for the screensaver should appear on your desktop.

Now you can launch the screensaver at any time. Simply double-click the created icon. Enjoy! I will be glad if you feel a bit more control over the system.

Windows Screensavers Explained

In this article you will find some background information about screensavers and their history. You will also learn how Windows screensavers differ from other programs and how you can use it to your own advantage. Also there are some tips for users owning laptops, notebooks or CD-burning devices.

Have you ever asked yourself a question like "What is a screensaver actually?" I did. And now I will gladly share the results of my investigation. As you can see easily, splitting the word "screensaver" into two words will give us the phrase "screen saver". This isn't a rocket science and it's clear that the phrase suggests our subject somehow saving the screen. So the word "screensaver" can be applied to some sort of good things that save the screen of our so much beloved baby-computer. But what does it mean exactly? Who is going to harm our computer screen? Who could be such a bad person? The answer lies in the exact definition of screensavers.

If you are a meticulous person then you can search the Internet and come up with some of the existing definitions. But don't hurry. I will list some of the most often found. Here they are:

* A moving picture or pattern that appears on your screen when you have not moved the mouse or pressed a key on the computer for a specified period of time. Screensavers prevent screen damage that is caused when the same areas of light and dark are displayed for long periods of time.
* A program that "wakes up" after a certain amount of time has elapsed with no keyboard or mouse activity and blanks the screen or displays various moving objects across the screen; these are used to prevent your screen from getting "burn in".
* An animated picture or graphic that can be programmed through the Display control panel to come on the computer screen after so much inactivity time has elapsed. The main reason for a screensaver is to reduce wear and tear on the CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) inside the monitor that can burn out or become etched if the same window is left on for extended periods of time.

The picture is getting clearer, isn't it? Let's make it plain. The "burn in" or "damage" used in these definitions refer us to the time before 90-ies. At that time many cathode ray tubes in TVs, computer monitors or elsewhere were prone to be damaged if the same pattern (e.g., the WordPerfect status line; the Pong score readout; or a TV channel-number display) was shown at the same position on the screen for very long periods of time. The phosphor on the screen would "fatigue" and that part of the screen would seem grayed out, even when the CRT was off.

TIP: Be careful when using a screensaver on a computer with an LCD screen (most laptops and notebooks). A pixel on an LCD screen is on when it's dark; therefore, blacking the screen as some screensavers do would cause more damage.

Eventually CRTs which were resistant to burn-in (and which sometimes went into sleep mode after a period of inactivity) were developed. But in the meantime, solution was found: home video game systems of the era (e.g., Atari 2600s) would, when not being played, change the screen every few seconds, to avoid burn-in; and computer screensaver programs were developed.

The first screensavers were simple screen blankers - they just set the screen to all black, but, in the best case of creeping featurism ever recorded, these tiny (often under 1K long) programs grew without regard to efficiency or even basic usefulness. At first, small, innocuous display hacks (generally on an almost-black screen) were added. Later, more complex effects appeared, including animations (often with sound effects!) of arbitrary length and complexity.

And now we live in the world full of fun and entertaining screensavers. Many of them produce amazing and very attractive effects. You can find a screensaver on any theme you like, download it, install and enjoy.

This means that a typical screensaver is a program. And it really is. But isn't there something different? Is there something that distinguishes a program running as screensaver from other typical programs? You're right, there is a bit of mystery. In order to demystify it we should plunge deeper into screensaver mechanics. But don't be afraid. It isn't complicated at all.

First, as you already know, screensavers are launched automatically by the operating system.

TIP: Be careful if you use CD-Burning devices regularly and your system is configured to launch screensaver after some period of inactivity. Some screensavers produce very sophisticated effects but for the price of intensive CPU load. If you leave your computer while CD-Burning software is working, screensaver will be launched. This can sometimes lead to the CD-R/RW disks burned improperly.

During their installation process screensavers are copied to the system directory (years ago users had even to copy screensavers by themselves). Once they are there, Windows finds them and puts in the list of available screensavers. You can see this list in the Display Properties dialog. But how does the system know that the program in its system directory is a screensaver? The answer is simple. Any screensaver program has a name ending with ".SCR" extension, while a typical program has the ".EXE" extension at the end. This is the first difference.

Second, almost every screensaver has a bunch of settings allowing you to change its appearance in many ways. This isn't a much difference because many typical programs have options and settings too. The difference lies in the way the user invokes configuration dialogs. Windows provides the only way to do it. It's the Display Properties dialog mentioned above. Other programs usually have their own buttons or menus to do that. Why are we talking about it? It's simple. The whole process means that the system has a way to communicate with screensavers: to launch them, preview and configure on your demand while other typical programs don't have it. Usually they are simply launched and that's all. This is the second difference.

So what? How can we use it to our own advantage? Imagine yourself downloading a new screensaver, running it and finding it rather amazing. The screensaver can be so amazing and entertaining, that you would like to show it running on your screen to the friend of yours. But wait. How do you do that? What if your system is configured to launch the screensaver after 5 minutes of inactivity only? Or after 10 minutes or even more? Will you wait for this eternity? You can say that there is always a way to launch the screensaver from the Dialog Properties. But in order to do that you should launch the dialog, find the Screen Savers tab and click the Preview button. Quite a lot of things to do. And if you are willing to demonstrate two or even more screensavers the things get complicated even more. And what if the screensaver you've found looks best when the whole desktop wallpaper is seen on the screen? The Display Properties dialog will simply destroy this unique beauty you were willing to share.

Now imagine that double-clicking an icon on your desktop could do all this. Simple action, no unnecessary dialogs. Sure, some preparation steps are needed. But they are done once. After that you can enjoy launching screensavers using icons as many times as you wish. Is it worth doing? Try it, the result can be very effective. Once you manage the process, you can proudly call yourself a "Professional Screensaver User". If you like the idea then there's the way to achieve it:

1. Use Windows explorer to navigate to your system directory. Usually it is C:\Windows or C:\Windows\System if you use Windows 95/98/Me. If you use Windows NT/2000/XP, then you should look in C:\WINNT or C:\WINNT\System32
2. Look through the list of programs there. It can be quite large, but you can easily find the name of the screensaver you are looking for. Alternatively you can use the "Find Files or Folders" facility.
3. Once you've found it, use the right mouse button to drag the file onto the desktop. After releasing the mouse select "Create Shortcut Here" from the popup menu. The icon for the screensaver should appear on your desktop.

Now you can launch the screensaver at any time. Simply double-click the created icon. Enjoy! I will be glad if you feel a bit more control over the system.

Brand Your Website's URL With a Favicon

Have you ever noticed that when you look at your browser favorites menu or the address bar, some entries have their own little icon beside their URL?

It's called a "Favicon" (a graphic file with a .ico extension) and it's placed in the root directory of the web site. Everytime you bookmark a site that has its own favicon.ico file, it is added to your browser, and it will be visible from then on in the favorites menu and in the address bar.

At the beginning, only large websites had a favicon, but now you too can create one and use it to brand your website. The first thing you have to do is to create your favicon. To be displayed by browsers, it must have a size of 16x16 pixels. To create one, you can use a graphics program called Icon Forge (you can download a free trial version in CNET):

http://download.com.com/3000-2195-10128559.html

You can either create an icon from scratch, or import a 16x16 '.gif' or '.jpg' file and save it as a '.ico' file.

You will then have to save your icon with the default name of 'favicon.ico', and upload it to the root directory of your website (where your index page is). Finally, after that, you must associate your icon to your web page. You do that by including the following HTML code immediately after the HEAD tag of your page:

link REL="SHORTCUT ICON" HREF="http://www.yourwebsite.com/favicon.ico"

Once you've done that, that's it. To try it out, go to your web page and add your page to your favorites. You should be able to see the favicon next to your bookmarked page title. Also, the next time you type your URL in the address bar, you will see your favicon to the left of the URL.

(Favicons work with Internet Explorer 5 or newer, and with recent versions of Netscape.)

5 Ways To Make Money Online Today

If you are not sure exactly what you should be doing online, don't worry! In this article I'm going to show you some of the best ways to make money online in the year 2003.

Become an affiliate:

This is probably the easiest and the hardest way to make money online. It's easy as it cost's you nothing to join an affiliate program, but it's hard because so many affiliates fails. The stats are 95% of all affiliates never make a cent, but there is help. With the following resources, you will be a step ahead of the rest.

Allan Gardyne's Free Associateprograms.com is a brilliant site to start with. His newsletter is the best in the business.

Phil Wiley's Free Ozemedia.com and newsletter is great, if you can, I would buy his book straight away.

Rob's Free Profitpuppy.com is a hard hitting guide to affiliate programs, straight from the trenches

Create Your Own Software:

This could probably be a bit over your head if you are just starting, but software is selling like hotcakes online. A few examples of what I mean would be, Headergenerator.com and Ecovergenerator.com. These basically just allow you to create your own graphics for your website with out having to hire it out to others.

You can learn more about software and programming from the following resources.

Ben Praters Softwaresecretsrevealed.com is a great guide from someone who is actually making his fortune with software.

Ryan Deiss's Deadsoftware.com is another great site to learn about using pre existing software for your own profits.

Create Your Own Ebooks:

This is the easiest to get up from the ground as you don't need a lot of expensive resources or knowledge. While it seems every man and his dog are creating ebooks and selling them online, it's still a very viable business, and very profitable if you can come up with a topic for your book that is in great demand.

There are only 2 resources you should be checking out if you are new online, (there's a lot more later on down the track).

One is Terry Deans Netbreakthroughs.com which is the ultimate marketing site online. It doesn't matter what you are creating or selling online, you need this site. He shows you exactly what to do with real life examples. This is the most highly recommended site on the Internet to my liking.

The other is Bill Myers Bmyers.com. This site is great for coming up with product ideas but I'm still a little dubious on his online marketing tactics he suggests. Either way, the cost of his membership site is nothing to the amount of ideas you will get for potential killer products.

Create A Members Site:

This is becoming the most popular method of making money online now. Membersites that pay you monthly is where the money is at. Why work your butt off to write a book that's only going to pay you once, when you can write content that will pay you month after month.

The best place to learn about membersites is Paidmembersites.com run by Terry Dean and a few other marketing experts.

Sell On Ebay:

I can not see selling on Ebay ever fading to the point where it's unprofitable to do so. While it may seem everyman and his dog are selling on Ebay, and it's true, it's still very profitable. All you have to do is find a target niche market and give them everything they need. Don't even think about trying to sell electronic goods on Ebay unless you can get them at super cheap prices and have a large quantity to sell constantly.

The best way to learn about Ebay is to get a few products together and sell them. There are plenty of guides on selling on Ebay, most of them you can get from Ebay itself. I also recommend, if you are going to sell on Ebay, that you have another look at Bmyers.com. He talks quite a lot about Ebay, and it's good information.

Well, there you have. Those are probably the most profitable businesses on the Internet right now.

Good luck!

5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Website

When designing your website, remember to avoid useless and confusing features, however “cool” they may seem to be. Usually, keeping things simple and consistent are the best way to go. Here are five easy ways to improve your website and make it more appealing to your visitors.

Put your logo on every page of your site, and in the same location. Usually, the best place to put it is in the upper left corner of the page. Remember to make your logo clickable, linking to the main page of your site (an exception is the logo of the main page itself, since you are already there). The benefit of doing so is that if your visitors get lost they can always come back to a familiar location.

Don’ t use a splash screen. Splash screens are seen in many websites before they give you access to the main page. They are usually slow-loading Flash animations that only delay and frustrate users. Remember, when your users want animation, they can turn on the TV. When they go to your website, they usually want information, and they want it fast. Some sites that use splash screens now provide a “Skip the Introduction” link, which most users click anyway, further validating the uselessness of flash screens.

Avoid using heavy pictures. They unnecessarily delay the page upload process. It is OK to use graphics, but they have to be optimized for the web. Use only .gif and .jpg formats. If the pictures are too heavy, try using some of the on-line graphic optimizing tools. They can reduce the weight of your pictures by more than 50% with no noticeable decrease in quality. Another thing you can do is to use thumbnails (clickable miniature versions of a picture). If a user is interested in the picture, he can click on the thumbnail and wait until the full size picture is displayed.

Try not to use animated banners or fancy icons. Just because you can is not a good reason to load up your site with neon-colored, flashing-and-popping, Vegas-style graphics. They usually take away from the content of your site and distract users. Plus, it has been demonstrated that less and less users click on banners every day.

Don’t make your pages too long. People don’t like to read from a screen. Instead, try to use the advantages of hyperlinks to present a summary of the topic or article, with a link to the full article in another page (similar to what newspapers do in their main page, with the added benefit for web users that it is easier to click on a link than to turn a page). If what you have to say is too long, break the discussion in several parts, each of them with a link to where your visitor can continue reading.

Remember, the goal is to give your visitors fast access to your information, through an interface (website) that is visually appealing and easy to use.

You can freely reprint this article. Just include the following resource box at the end:

Mario Sanchez publishes The Internet Digest (http://www.theinternetdigest.net) a website and newsletter that gives you useful advice on web design and Internet marketing, one free tip at a time.

Is Someone Stealing Your Source Code?

That's a question that worries many people on the Internet. And some people go to great lengths to hide their source code.

There are several reasons you might want to conceal the source code of your web pages:

* if you have web pages that rank highly in the search engines, you don't want people to see your meta tags
* you don't want people copying your web page design or java scripts
* you want to protect your website from email harvesters and other spam utilities

But can you hide your source code?

The short answer is no - to display a web page, the browser has to be able to read the source, and if the browser can read it, so can your visitors.

But there are ways to make it more difficult for your visitors to read your source code. Here are some of them:

(1) Adding dozens of carriage returns at the top of your HTML page

This one has fooled me a couple of times. All you see is a lot of blank space - but just keep scrolling down and you'll find the source code.

(2) Using frames

When you try to view the source code of a page using this technique, all you see is the first ten or fifteen lines of HTML. But just save the page to a folder on your hard disk and then look for a sub-folder where the images in that page were saved to.

In the sub-folder you'll find an HTML file that contains the source code you were looking for. Again, this won't fool experienced users, but it's worth a shot. Here is the code: http://www.ezine-writer.com/framescode.html

(3) Disabling Right Click

This is an old trick and experienced surfers know how to get around it. Here it is anyway - a script that disables Right Click: http://www.ezine-writer.com/rightclick.html

(4) Disabling View Source

I searched high and low for a script that disables 'View Source' in the browser menu bar, and couldn't find one.

Here is a script that is supposed to disable 'View Source' - I tried it out in my browser (IE 6.0) and it didn't work, so perhaps it only works in older versions of IE: http://www.ezine-writer.com/no-source-code.html

(5) Encryption plus frames

This is a technique that will work on all but the most experienced web surfers. Here is the code for doing it: http://www.ezine-writer.com/hidesource.html

I've created a copy of my index page using the above technique - if you click on View Source, all you see is a jumble of characters: http://www.ezine-writer.com/encrypted.htm

Well, that's it! All you need to know about hiding your source code.