How to Clean your Mouse

If your mouse is working sluggishly or not at all, don't go out and buy another cheap mouse. The cause is probably just a dirty mouse. A quick cleaning could fix the problem.

First, you need to identify which kind of mouse you have. If you turn your mouse over and part of a ball is showing, you have a ball mouse. If you see a lens, you have an optical or laser mouse. Each type of mouse requires a different type of cleaning.

The optical or laser mouse does not need to be cleaned near as often as the ball mouse, but it and the surface it runs on can still get dirty. If you do not clean the surface that the mouse moves on, it will soon turn black. So about once a month or so, wipe the surface off with a wet rag. The lens probably never will get dirty, but if it does, take a soft cloth, cotton swab, or q-tip wetted with window cleaner or alcohol and clean the lens.

The ball mouse may need cleaning quite often, so you should get well acquainted with the following cleaning procedure. The dirtier the ball mouse gets, the harder it is to get it to move the cursor on the screen smoothly. If you have to move the mouse across the mouse pad several times to get the cursor to move halfway across the screen, it needs to be cleaned.

The mouse does not need to be disconnected to clean it, but you should close all of the programs that are running, so that you don't accidentally click on something and mess it up. If you do decide to disconnect the mouse, be sure to turn off the computer first. The mouse cord should never be unplugged from the computer while it is running. Doing so could ruin your motherboard.

Turn the ball mouse over and find the cover that holds the ball in. Look for arrows on the cover to show which way it needs to be turned. Place two fingers on the cover and push in the direction of the arrows. Once the cover has been turned about an inch, cover it with your hand and turn the mouse back over to the upright position. The ball and cover should fall into your hand. If it doesn't, shake the mouse gently.

Wipe the ball off with a wet rag.

Now look in the ball well and find the three rollers. Start by cutting across the buildup on the rollers with your fingernail (a knife or steel dental pick may also be used gently), then turn the roller and remove the buildup as you go along. If you do this correctly, you will end up with one curled strip of buildup for each roller. Make sure to remove the buildup from the well. If it falls inside somewhere, blow and gently shake it until it comes out.

Take a wet rag and clean each of the rollers by wiping across it, then turning it and wiping again. Continue until the entire roller is cleaned. Put the ball back in the ball well and lock the cover back in place.

If the mouse still has problems once it is assembled, try cleaning it again. If that doesn't work, you may need to buy a new mouse.

It is a good idea to regularly clean the surface that the mouse is on because the cleaner the surface, the less dirt will get inside the mouse and the less often you will have to clean it.

If your mouse is shared by many people (especially if one of them is sick), you may want to disinfect the top of the mouse between users.

Follow these instructions and your mouse will be up and darting again in no time.

Setting Up Your First Web Hosting Account

Setting up a web hosting account for the first time can be confusing and frustrating for the novice. This article will guide you through the steps of setting up a new web hosting account for your website.

Setting up your web hosting account will depend upon many things, the first of which is:

Do you already have a website built and ready to be hosted?

If the answer to that question is yes, then your next set of questions should be:

How was your website designed? Did you design it yourself using Microsoft FrontPage, or did you use some other WYSIWYG website building software? Did a professional designer build your site for you? Did they use Microsoft FrontPage, or did they use some other WYSIWYG website building software? Did your designer use a database driven software, such as Cold Fusion? Maybe they coded your site using a text editor – you’ll need the answers to these questions.

If you have a FrontPage website, you’ll need a web host who supports FrontPage. If your site was developed with Cold Fusion, you’ll need a web host who supports Cold Fusion. This also applies to other design software not mentioned here. Check with your web designer and/or web design program’s documentation for further help with this.

Maybe you haven’t yet designed your website. Many web hosts offer online website building software that requires no programming or HTML knowledge. If this is your strategy, make sure your web host offers such software, and find out if there’s a cost for you to use it.

Finding The Right Web Host

Locating a web host that gives you the reliability you need, plus excellent customer service, and that offers all the features you’re going to need, can be challenging.

You can begin your search by asking business associates, friends and relatives who have websites of their own, who they use. Just as you would get a recommendation for a good restaurant, word of mouth can sometimes steer you in the right direction.

You can also check out the many web hosting directories on the web. These directories are set up to allow you to search using the features that you’re looking for in a web host. Keep in mind though, that many of the listings you see may also be paid listings that are pushed your way for obvious reasons.

Once you narrow down your search to a few potential web hosts, your next step will be to visit the many web hosting message boards and forums on the web. Perform a search on each of the potential web hosts that you have in mind – read through the posts and see what other people’s experiences have been with the hosts you have in mind. If you see too many negative comments or experiences by others, you might want to take a hint from that and rule out that particular hosting company.

Once you’ve narrowed down your search to a few web hosts, you should make contact with them and get answers to any questions you have. Since you’re a beginner at this, you might strongly consider using a web host that provides telephone support. A web host that provides only email support may not be able to fully answer questions that you have – this applies to sales questions as well as support questions.

When you make your inquires, keep track of which host responds to you the quickest. Which of these hosts answers your questions patiently and takes the time to go over details with you? Do they seem more interested in getting you to sign up, or do they address topics you have no concern about, beware of those danger signs.

Signing Up For Your Web Hosting Account

Most web hosts have multiple plans that you can choose from. The trick is to choose a web hosting plan that provides you the features you actually need, without choosing a plan that offers you features you don’t need, or may never use. This is probably the most difficult thing a novice will be faced with when choosing a web host. You’ll need to choose a plan that strikes an even balance between what you need right now and what you may need a month or two down the road. Your website might remain the same size as it is today, by next year; however, your site may grow quickly, requiring additional resources in a relatively short period of time.

Consult with your web designer and with your potential new web host about these issues. Ask you potential web host if it’s easy it is to upgrade your account if you need additional services. Ask if there are any additional charges if you upgrade your account.

The last thing you should do before signing up for a web hosting account is to read your web host’s AUP (Acceptable Use Policy), and/or their TOS (Terms Of Service), and/or their SLA (Service Level Agreement). Make certain that you understand and agree with your new web host’s policies, and that your website does not break any of your new web host’s rules and regulations. By not reviewing your new host’s contracts with you, you may find your website and email shut down without prior notice for breaking a rule you were not aware of, or you might end up paying for fees you didn’t know you were liable for.

The majority of web hosts require you to sign up for a hosting account by using your credit or debit card. Some hosts offer online check payment, as well as paper check payments. Many web hosts accept PayPal. You might want to ask if your host offers discounts for advance payment. Some hosts offer substantial discounts if you prepay a year in advance. I don’t recommend this until after you’ve had some time to experience your new host’s level of service and support.

Most importantly, don’t rush into signing up. Wait until you get all of your questions answered to your satisfaction.

How To Stay One Step Ahead of the Google Dance

It's taken you 6-months of hard work, constant changes, reading every shred of information on search engine optimization strategy not to mention thousands of dollars trying out web optimization tools and services.

Finally, you have a page rank of 5, you are listed in the top 10 on your major keywords, and you are seeing the benefit - some decent traffic from Google and other search engines.

Then, as quickly as your search engine optimization strategy begines working, it suddenly, and without notice, disappears!

You frantically look for evidence of dropped links, pages not working, it HAS to be something you've done!

Well, the truth is, it may not have been anything you did - turns out Google updates their algorithms every few months in an attempt to improve it's search engine optimization strategy.

In fact, Google has shown that they are not afraid to make major changes impacting tens of thousands of sites, businesses and corresponding sales and profits.

Even more concerning, everything points to the fact they will continue to make changes.

So what can you do to protect your search engine optimization strategy and the resulting traffic critical to the success of your online marketing?

There are some things you can do.

1. BUILD CONTENT WITH REAL, RELEVANT VALUE

Do you develop content just for search engines or just for your visitors and customers?

The answer is both.

Truth is, your customers search for information based on keywords. Use tools like Wordtracker (http://www.highertrustmarketing.com/part/wordtracker) to find those keywords.

Plan your articles around answering questions associated with each keyword. Over time, you will build highly relevant content that will be irrisistable to the search engines - no matter how they change them.

2. LINK FOR QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY

One single link with a Pagerank (Google's term for ranking sites) of 5 is worth 10 or more sites with a Pagerank of 3.

In addtion, as an important part of your search engine optimization strategy, make sure your links include a brief description (a URL only inbound link may be ignored), includes important keyword and appears on a relevant partner site.

Avoid FFA's and most link farms, they may actually do you more harm than good.

3. AVOID KNOWN MISTAKES

Common mistakes people make with their search engine optimization strategy are:

* Cross linking unrelated sites, recent discussion with master Affiliate Marketing pro James Martell recently brought this issue to light
* Submitting to link farms, in many cases this will eventually get your site penalized or even banned from the SE's
* Duplicate content. Many people feel the need to duplicate their pages and make small changes for each search engine (also called doorway pages) - however if this is not done properly, you will get penalized
* Trying to load your content with too many keywords. Focus on 1-3 keywords only

4. USE GOOGLE ADS

While still unproven, it certainly has been found by many in the search engine watch community that sites who use Google Adwords or Google Adsense tend to appear higher in listings.

5. VARY YOUR TRAFFIC GENERATION TECHNIQUES

Too many people rely on Google traffic for 99% of their traffic. It's true, search engine traffic is the most economical way to advertise online, but there are many other ways to vary your traffic generation strategy.

Add these traffic generation techniques to your search engine optimization strategy:

* Writing articles
* Running affiliate program
* Joint Ventures
* Viral "sticky" tools
* Press Releases

Yes - you need to dance with Google. By following these techniques, you can actually lead your traffic generation strategy rather than follow the Google dance.

Email Marketing - The End Is Nigh!

Consider if you will the resources, the time and the financial investment given to attracting new web traffic. Banner advertising, link exchanges, search engine ratings, affiliate schemes and the list goes on. Yet when it comes to retaining a customer’s future business or even a return visit, we simply hope that they will opt-in to a newsletter mailing list and everything will be okay.

Of course the truth of opt-in email marketing is far from okay. For a start, people, especially private individuals, frequently change their email address. For many people, email addresses are a disposable accessory, which should be replaced every few weeks when the Spam starts rolling in. I don’t know about you, but I have enough trouble keeping up with the email changes of my friends and family, let alone a list of a few thousand customers and potential customers.

Typing “email marketing” into Google will return literally thousands of software products and services all promising to make your email campaign more successful and slick. Of course it doesn’t matter how much or how little you expend on your email newsletter, it will still be one subject line of possibly hundreds, all screaming for attention.

 Average email click through rates fell from 5.4% in 1999 to just 1.8% in 2003 (Source eMarketer)

 27% of emails never get opened and of those that are opened only 23% are read thoroughly (Source: J Neilsen)

 Average open rate for B2B emails has fallen by 42% since 2001 (Source eMarketer)

Although such statistics make grim reading, worse is yet to come. Some industry experts are predicting a total collapse of the email infrastructure within the next five years due to the shear volume of traffic. A technology dating back to the 1960’s, email was developed as a means for geeks to communicate with other geeks, about something they had seen in the alt.freakygeek newsgroup. It was never designed to cope with the demands of mass marketing which have been inflicted upon it since the arrival of the WWW. So with that in mind, it is something of a miracle and a credit to the technology of yesteryear that it continues to work at all.

Recent research commissioned by Yahoo revealed that the average British PC has nine “sick days” a year, two more than the average for human workers. Six of these days are lost battling against Spam, while a further three are taken up combating viruses.

The Yahoo findings went on to reveal that nearly half of British computer users find dealing with junk e-mails more stressful than traffic jams and the majority want service providers to act.

But I’m no Spammer, I hear you cry! No, but your legitimate email is going to have to share the same inbox as the volumes of Spam and with only a Subject Line to stand out from the crowd, is it any wonder that email is becoming so ineffective as a marketing tool?

Clearly, alternatives to email marketing need to be developed. One emerging technology being pioneered by three software houses in the UK is that of One-2-Many Broadcasting. Already employed by the BBC, Visa, and many other blue-chip Net companies, One-2-Many Broadcasting offers a far-improved method of communicating with customers than opt-in email marketing or newsletters and already being hailed as the THE next big marketing tool.

One-2-Many Broadcasting involves the customer downloading a small client onto their PC. The customer can filter and influence what information they receive from within the software client. Once installed the website can then communicate directly with that customer by broadcasting information in a wide range of formats, all of which is attractively presented directly onto the customer’s screen. Sounds frighteningly, intrusive doesn’t it? Well, not according to the millions of people who are already receiving information from the latest news through to film clips of the latest movie releases. One London based soccer club, Arsenal, has reported a phenomenal take-up of their One-2-Many Broadcasting Service, with over 100,000 subscribers in the first 12 months of operating.

So will One-2-Many replace email marketing? Who knows, I suspect that over the coming years a variety of marketing alternatives will appear, of which One-2-Many will hold a share of the market. In developing alternatives to email marketing one of the major factors will and is that of price; emails are extremely cheap. Any alternative therefore, if it is to be successful, needs to be competitively priced and rich in unique features.

To date, One-2-Many Broadcasting has been relatively expensive and financially not an option for most small to medium sized businesses. As the concept of One-2-Many marketing is developed, more and different software is likely to emerge, which will in itself introduce competition and hopefully lower prices.

Simple Solution for Php Includes - IFrames

I have recently created my first Php program. I wanted to share with others some of the problems that I encountered, and how I finally overcame these obstacles.

My Reason for needing a Php Include

To start, my most recent website features a free classified advertising solution, a modified version of PhpBB stripped to function as an Article Bulletin Board (No replying), and a link directory. The business model of my Website offers free Classified Advertising, but charges a small fee for enhanced advertisements (Featured, Bolded, and Better Placement). The Classifieds were purchased from a developer, so I had little experience with the application. The link directory was a free resource of an old program that I modernized a bit. I choose the old link directory because the links are clean. They are not replaced with coding to count outbound traffic. I figured this would increase the value of links, to sites who exchanged links with me.

To increase revenue on the new site, I realized that I needed to increase the value of, “Featured Advertisements”. To do this I wanted to randomly rotate featured advertisements, from the classifieds, across my Bulletin Board and Link Directory. Bare in mind, all three are run from a unique table, and I wanted to leave it that way. In addition, I had little experience with the development for all three applications.

I started reading tutorials and utilizing Forums to create a Php program for external pages on the site. The program would pull a random featured ad from the classified table. This program only took me about 32 hours to create, while performing research. I didn't intend to get into the schematics of the program with this post, so forgive me if you are looking for a Random generator. But I would be more than happy to share my code upon request.

The code I created was simple, it worked just the way I wanted, but I ran into one cumbersome obstacle; how do I implement this easily across two unique table driven applications? The answer was to use a Php Include

I started reading tutorials on, "Php includes and functions and classes". I realized quickly that this was a bit more confusing than creating the actual coding. In addition, I ran into parsing errors if I included the new coding in only one application.

My solution to using the, "Include ()," Php function

I found that very few people were willing to provide any feedback for such a problem, even in the most resourceful forums for Php Coding and information resources. I fumbled with the coding for over 72 hours. I thought this was a bit ridiculous, as the code itself took less time to create.

I finally came across a helpful solution that may prove beneficial, if you are in the same situation with Php Includes. The code was uploaded onto my server as a file (something.php). I removed the standard, "Php Include ()," function from all links and the PhpBB coding. I then called the Php file (page) using an Iframe tag, on pages I wanted it to appear. This proved to be a successful replacement for the Php Include.

Search Engine Results Using Iframe for Php Include

I waited until Google came around to see how the Iframe affected my sites search rankings. Finally, the other day this happened. The conclusion, my search rankings still increased due to recent link exchanges. The code is working to my needs, and it is easily included on any page that I want, even externals outside my site can call on the code, which opens more doors for advancement.

Here is the simple Iframe code I used to replace the Php Include:



Using the Iframe tag for Php Include Conclusion

I have encountered no problems with including my PHP code on pages across external servers, using the iframe as a Php Include. As you can see, it is totally customizable. You can specify the width, height, alignment, border, scrolling, margins and more. The only obstacle that I have encountered, is the style sheet that the site, or page, with the, "Php Include," is not utilized. The page that the code is on seems to need its own unique style sheet.

I hope this proves beneficial to anyone having trouble with running a "Php Include" across various unique online applications.

One Point Two Billion

In this surreal world of the internet, anyone, even you, can put your point across to a staggering number of people in every country on the planet.

From political activists to artists and writers, can now find an audience to take notice of them where they could not get much attention in their local community. Their horizons have been dramatically extended, so their work will travel on indefinately with no end in sight as in entering a collosal black hole.

Where does their online work go? Where does it come to a stop? The answer is, it will go on as long as the internet is there. Even after they have no longer maintained a web site, their work can be handed on to other sites, to add content.

There are too, website archive sites who keep copies of websites for people to look at now and in the future. Twenty years from now people will be able to look through archived websites to see what was new then, what were the prices, what the stock market was doing, what writers and artists were putting out, and the list goes on and on. Ideal for a writer in the future.

Not only will people be able to see what was going on, but in some cases will be able to hear what peple had to say, for websites now are using music, video, and sound.

For those aspiring authors, and everyone it has often been said, has a book within them, can write their great work of literature, compile it to an e-book, and pass it around the internet, where it could go the rounds for ever more, long after the author has died. Conventional authors could hardly say that about their hardback or paperback books.

At this moment in time, maybe only 40% to 60% of people in any country log on to the internet every day, but the numbers keep growing every year, and for those wanting to make a living out of the internet, the future potential is enormous.

Consider the Asian market where the internet is fairly new, with China as the next real big explosive market with unlimited potential. Credit cards in China are unheard of, except for an elite minority. To receive payment for anything over the internet you would either, have to wait another 50 years if you want to be paid by credit card, or persuade your Chinese clients to open an internet payment account online with the likes of Stormpay, which is an innovative new company, who will take any form of payment to credit your new account, even cash, or bank check. Stormpay even have 'WalkUp' offices around the world in major cities and more are being established where a client can deposit cash to credit their account for use on the internet. Then the client can pay for anything on your site, e-books, software, music etc., if you also open a Stormpay account for receipt of the credits, all you need to open an account initially, is an email address. Could not be simpler. Credit cards over the internet could be a thing of the past, many people still will not use credit cards over the internet because of hackers, so what better way of secure transactions do you need than a Stormpay account? It gives confidence to your clients who need not hesitate to make a payment, there and then, for whatever type of goods and services you provide.

Consider another aspect of selling to Asia and China in particular. Most of the internet to-day is based on the English language, but that is not the language they understand in Asia and China. So, to sell to them you would have to make your site multi-lingual. This could be just a few captions in Asian or Chinese languages together with a button they can click on for web pages in their own language. Or failing that, clicking on a picture of an item on the screen can bring up a voice in their language to explain what it is and how much it costs, and to pay for it, they don't need a credit card, just click on a link to to Stormpay's site and sign up for an account and subsequently they can pay for anything on your site instantly. The voice in their own language can be reassuring to the client.

Consider once again, if you intend selling to the vast Chinese population, the enormous potential of this untapped market, if you could only make a single dollar from each one living there, you would be rich beyond your wildest dreams, for the population totals ONE POINT TWO BILLION and still counting.

Be Aware of Phishing Scams!

If you use emails actively in your communication, you must have received various messages claiming to be from Ebay, Paypal and a number of banks. A recent email as if from U.S. Bank Corporation that I received contains the subject "U.S. Bank Fraud Verification Process" and in the body of the mail it says "We recently reviewed your account, and suspect that your U.S. Bank Internet Banking account may have been accessed by an unauthorized third party. Protecting the security of your account and of the U.S. Bank network is our primary concern. Therefore, as a preventative measure, we have temporarily limited access to sensitive account features. To restore your account access, please take the following steps to ensure that your account has not been compromised:". It continues with a link to a webpage, which looks very similar to original web page of the bank.

The misleading web site appears authentic with familiar graphics and logos. The wordings are professional right down to the legal disclaimer at the bottom of the page.

If you happened to be holding an account of the claimed bank, followed the instructions of the email and input your account, pin, password, etc. you are doomed. You just have handed over access to your account to a con artist, who, in a matter of days, will drain off all the money available in that account.

This new scam, which is proliferating in a very rapid pace, is called "Phishing". Phishing is a form of identity theft, where a con artist with the help of official looking email containing link to phony web pages capable of harvesting information, tricks an unsuspecting victim into divulging sensitive personal data. Scammers use these data to bilk victims out of their savings.

One of the most common phishing campaigns being waged has targeted users of Web auction giant eBay and its PayPal division with financial services giant Citibank serving as another popular target. However, recently, every major bank has been hit with this scam. Crooks send out huge amounts of emails with an expectation that some of these email address owners may have online access to their accounts at the bank.

The term "Phishing" is a deviation of the word "Fishing". In hackers’ lexicon, in many words, "F" becomes "Ph". The term derives from the fact that scammers use sophisticated bait as they "fish" for users’ personal information.

According to Gartner, a research firm, illegal access to checking accounts gained via phishing has become into the fastest growing type of consumer theft in the United States. Roughly 1.98 million people reported that their checking account was breached in one way or another during the last year and US$ 2.4 billion were defrauded from the victims!

Gartner also estimated that 57 million U.S. Internet users have received phishing emails and 3 percent of them may have fooled into revealing their personal sensitive information.

The Anti-Phishing Working Group has also spotted a dramatic increase in reports of phishing attacks in recent months. Since November, 2003 phishing scams increase by about 110 percent each month. In April alone, the group identified 1125 unique phishing scams, a sharp lift of 178 percent from the previous month.

MessageLabs, a company that watches phishing scams closely, has noted an even more dramatic increase in number of phishing emails. It claims to see phishing messages jump from just 279 in September, 2003 to a staggering 215,643 in March of 2004.

The scammers also started to use more sophisticated technologies in recent months. The latest generation of phishing scammers uses several methods to trick users, including pop-up graphics to mast the true web URL of the phishing site and the installation of Spywares and Trojans on victim’s computer. The perpetrators also take advantage of security bugs in web browsers, in which the URL in the address bar appears to be for one site but is, in fact, a link to a totally different site.

A new Windows worm under the name "Korgo" is able to infiltrate into victim’s system with a key logging Trojan, steal information that the victim input in web forms and secretly transmit to designated server. There are a number of variants of this worm and they are spreading rapidly. However, Microsoft in April came up with a patch to seal this glitch. Many computers without the patch are still vulnerable to this potentially dangerous worm.

A U.S. Treasury report provides consumers with steps to prevent and report phishing scams:

* Do not respond to or open any e-mail that warns that an account is about to be closed. Contact the company directly by phone and inquire of this e-mail.

* Do not submit financial information unless there is a symbol for a locked padlock on the browser's status bar. Also look for the https:// at the beginning of the Web address. If both of these signs are absent, the Web site is not secure.

* Always review your bank statement and credit card statements immediately upon receipt.

* Verify the domestic telephone number listed on the Web site through directory assistance or other reliable sources and call the number. Many phishing attacks have originated outside the U.S. and don't have a domestic number.

* Report suspicious activity or if you have been defrauded to the FTC and the FBI.

* Phishing e-mails can be forwarded to uce@ftc.gov. Complaints can be filed at www.ftc.gov. Phishing attacks can also be reported to the Internet Fraud Complaint Center at www.ifccfbi.gov.

Other cautionary measures you should take in order to protect yourself are:

* Since most of the phishing emails come through spam, get a spam filter and install on your computer.

* If you suspect a phishing attempt, report immediately to the bank. Every bank web site has a link or a toll-free number to report scams. Don't be ashamed if you were tricked into divulging account information. If you report it immediately, your account will be protected until you receive a new PIN.

* Change your password and PINs regularly. Banks advise that you use separate PINs and passwords for different accounts, that way if one gets compromised, your entire financial life won’t be revealed. - If you are a frequent user of EBay, download its Web browser toolbar, a small program that runs with a user's Web browser. It flashes red when the user visits a possible spoof site. The toolbar uses a database of spoof site URLs, submitted by customers and is updated quite often.

* Check your computer frequently for possible Trojan virus.

Understanding Survey Software Features

If you take a look at the features that different survey softwares offer, you will quickly realize that understanding all of them is no mean task. But it is very important that you do because only then you can choose the right survey software. It is important for one other reason, it determines your price. More features invariably means more dollars. So if you don't choose the right survey software, you might end up paying more for features you don't need.

While it is impossible and not even worthwhile to look at all the features, here is a look at some of the important ones. Chances are that these are the ones will make or break your decision. The features have been divided into 6 categories based on their function in the process of conducting an online survey.

Survey creation

* Images, sounds, video - This allows you to insert images, sounds, and videos in your surveys, and can enhance the appearance of your surveys. However, use it only when necessary since it increases the time it takes to download and display your survey, and certainly don't overdo it.
* Question library, response library, sample surveys - These allow you to create surveys quickly since you don't have to create them from scratch. They are a must if you do a lot of surveys regularly. And they don't impact the price that much, so you might as well opt for them.
* Skip logic - This allows you to skip questions depending on the answers to previous questions. Most survey softwares allow either AND or OR logic to decide whether to skip or not, but some allow a combination of any logical conditions. It might sound like a "nice-to-have" feature rather than a "must-have", but you will be surprised how often you need to skip questions in your surveys.
* Data piping - This allows you to use the answers to some questions in the following questions. This is a very neat feature and it allows you to "personalize" your surveys. For e.g., you can say "Thanks Steve" instead of only "Thanks" if you know that the name of the respondent is Steve from a previous question. It also allows you to ask questions like "What do you like most about Coke?" when the respondent has selected Coke as his/her favorite drink in the previous question.
* Advanced survey creation features (spell check, auto-correct, thesaurus, import from MS Word) - These are fairly advanced features and not really required in most cases, especially if you don't do surveys regularly. You can spend the time to spell check the survey yourselves. However, if you do a lot of surveys, then you might want these features. But they will impact the price quite a lot since they are considered as "premium" features.
* Branding (your logo and background color) - This allows you to place your company logo and use your company website's background color for your surveys. This is good enough in most cases, but not if you are looking to customize each and every aspect of the survey. It is quite an important feature since it gives your respondents the feeling that they are still on your website.
* Advanced survey presentation features (pre-designed editable survey templates, new templates, full-customized look) - These are fairly advanced features and allow you to customize almost every aspect of the survey. Survey softwares do this in a variety of ways: they have pre-designed editable templates, ability to create new templates, or create surveys with a full-custom look. These features are also considered as "premium" features and will impact the price quite a lot.

Survey Distribution and Tracking

* Handheld device - This allows you to distribute your surveys on hendheld devices. This method of distributing is not as common as the other methods like placing link on website, embedding entire survey in websites, sending email invitation with link, or embedding entire survey in emails and newsletters. But it is definitely becoming popular because of the convenience it offers for taking surveys "on the road". As of now though, it is considered as a "premium" feature and will impact the price.
* Track respondents - These allow you to track your respondents after they receive your email invitations. The simpler ones allow you to maintain an email list and send email invitations to all or some email addresses in the list. The more complex ones allow you to create an "audience" from the list in a variety of ways. They also allow you to track who read your email invitation and clicked on what links, who took the survey and who didn't, send reminders to the ones who didn't, etc. All these complex tracking activities fall more under the realm of "campaign management" than conducting surveys though. If you need these features, you are much better off going for a full-blown campaign management solution than a survey solution with half of what you need.

Taking Survey

* Password protected surveys - This allows you to protect your surveys with a password. The respondents have to know the password to be able to take the survey.
* Save and continue later - This allows your respondents to save the survey and continue later. It is a very good feature to have especially if your surveys are going to be long. Some survey softwares make the respondents explicitly save a link and bookmark it to continue later. These don't work that well compared to some others that don't require the respondents to do as much.
* Response validation - This allows you to validate the responses your respondents enter. These features are very important since they ensure that your respondents enter "valid" responses and increases the quality of the results. Always prefer survey softwares that have more types of response validation.
* Respondent uniqueness control - This allows you to ensure that a respondent takes the survey only once. There are a few ways to do this and not all of them are "full-proof". If you want to strictly enforce respondent uniqueness, make sure that the survey software allows you to send unique URLs to every email recipient. It is the only "full-proof" method of enforcing respondent uniqueness.

Response Collection

* Email notification upon response submission - This allows you to get email notifications when a respondent completes a survey. It is the only way to get the responses with survey softwares that don't store them in a database. But it is also offered as an addon by those that do store them in databases.

Survey Analysis

* Graphical reports - This allows you to graph the results and not all survey softwares have this feature. If you like to see results in neat-looking graphs, make sure that the survey software has this feature. Check out the sample reports; most companies have them on their website. Or better yet, try out the product and generate them yourselves!
* Advanced analysis features (cross-tabulation, sub-set analysis, 360 degree feedback, etc) - These allow you to perform advanced analysis on the results. Cross-tabulation allows you to relate the responses of one question to those of another. Sub-set analysis allows you to perform analysis on a sub-set of the responses by filtering out certain responses. These are definitely "premium" features and will impact the price.
* Export data - This allows you to export the responses so you can do analyses in your favorite tool, like Excel or SPSS. Make sure that the survey software has this feature, especially if it doesn't natively support the advanced analyses that you want to do.

Tips For Developing An Effective Questionnaire by: Nick Hill Developing the questionnaire is undoubtedly the most important part of conducting a su

Developing the questionnaire is undoubtedly the most important part of conducting a survey. The quality of the questions will determine the quality of the results and the effectiveness of your survey. Here are 12 tips for developing an effective questionnaire.

1. Write a good introduction - The beginning of your survey should have an introduction of the survey. It should state your objective in a way that grabs the attention of potential respondents and encourages them to take the survey. Also, since it is easy for online survey respondents to abandon your survey, you should include instructions on how to complete the survey and an estimate of how much time it will take.

2. Ask questions that provide the information you need - Always keep your objective and the information that you need to gather to achieve it in mind while asking the questions. Also, it is best to avoid the temptation to gather "extra" bits of information that are "nice to know" but irrelevant to your objective.

3. Ask important questions first, demographic questions last - Since it is very easy for online survey respondents to abandon your survey, always ask the important questions first and the demograhic questions last.

4. Organize the questions in logical groups - Always organize the questions in logical groups. It makes it easier for your respondents to understand and answer the questions, thus increasing the quality of the results.

5. Use plain, easy to understand language - The most effective surveys always use plain, easy to understand language. Using unclear or ambiguous language will give you misleading results. So test your survey thoroughly to ensure that it is indeed easy to understand.

6. Avoid technical terms, jargon, and acronyms - If you use technical terms, jargon, and acronyms, your respondents might not understand them, get frustrated, and abandon your survey. So strictly avoid them.

7. Use even number of responses - Whenever possible, use even number of responses for multiple choice questions. That way the respondents have to give a positive or a negative opinion, they can't give a "neutral" answer.

8. Randomize the responses - Whenever it makes sense, randomize the order in which responses are displayed. This removes "order bias" from the responses.

9. Avoid unnecessary graphics and embedded components - Although it might be tempting to use graphics and embedded components, their use increases the time it takes to download and display your survey. So use them only when it is absolutely necessary and certainly don't overdo it.

10. Be sensitive to the feelings of your respondents - Always be sensitive to the feelings of your respondents. If you offend them, they might abandon your survey. So test your survey to ensure that it is not offending to any group of people.

11. Thank the respondents - Your respondents spend the time to take your survey. So never forget to thank them for completing the survey.

How To Conduct Effective Online Surveys

Although they are inexpensive and product fast results, online surveys still need to be conducted properly to be really effective. The key steps for conducting effective online surveys are:

* Identify your objective
* Decide what information you need
* Develop a questionnaire
* Conduct the survey
* Analyze the responses
* Recommend a course of action

* Identify your objective

Online surveys are conducted to find out the characteristics, behaviors, opinions, and knowledge of a particular population. No matter what the subject matter, all surveys are conducted with an objective, to gather information relevant to a specific problem or situation. And the key to a successful survey is clearly identifying that objective upfront. To do that, ask yourself "what problem am I trying to solve?" The ideal objective has a narrow scope and can be clearly stated. The wider the scope, the more complex your survey and the less meaningful its results. Always remember, your survey is only as good as your understanding of your objective!

* Decide what information you need

Once you have defined your objective, identify the information you need to gather to achieve your objective. If the objective is clear and narrow, the information you need to gather will be apparent. Be specific and avoid the temptation to gather "extra" bits of information that are "nice to know" but not relevant to your objective. Once you have identified the information you need, you should explore the possibility of gathering it from existing data sources. With an abundance of information available from corporate databases and public information sources, you might gather the information without even conducting a survey!

* Develop a questionnaire

Developing the questionnaire is undoubtedly the most important part of conducting a survey. The quality of the questions will determine the quality of the results and the effectiveness of your survey. Get tips for developing an effective questionnaire.

* Conduct the survey

Once you have developed the questionnaire, you need to test it on a few people to determine if it is clearly written and can be understood by people representing your potential respondents. Testing the survey might take several iterations, but it is well worth the effort. Once you are satisfied that your questionnaire is clear and unambiguous, you are ready to conduct your survey.

If you are going to distribute your survey through email, make sure that your email message is clear and compelling. A boring message will not get the attention of your potential respondents and decrease your response rate. Additionally, you should also remember the following things:

* Address emails to a single person whenever possible.
* Always use the blind carbon copy (BCC) if you must send a single email message to a group of people.
* Include a valid email address in the "From" field or the recipients will consider your message as spam.
* Provide the URL that will take people directly to your survey, if you are inviting them to the website to take the survey.
* Tell recipients how to contact you if they have a problem or concern.
* Identify the source of purchased email addresses so recipients know who to contact if they want to be removed from the list.
* Ignore the "flame" or "hate" messages you might receive in response to your email invitation. A small percentage of the recipients always take offense to something or the other.

If you are going to distribute your survey from your website, you need to consider how will get visitors to take the survey. If your site has just enough traffic, you can probably place a hypertext link on your home page through which visitors can reach your survey. If you have very heavy traffic, you can use a program on your web server to randomly deliver your survey to some of the visitors. However, if your website doesn't have enough traffic, you should consider sending invitations by email or other traditional methods.

Once you have sent out notifications, responses will begin to come in immediately. For online surveys that invite individual participants (email or postal mail), most people will respond within 72 hours of receiving your invitation. Surveys that rely on passive participation (clicking on website links or responding to indirect advertising) generally take much longer. In either case, you need to decide how long to keep your surve active based on your target audience and how many responses you need to collect. If you are surveying a known group of people (e.g. customers, employees, students, etc) you might need to send out reminders to remind some people to take the survey.

* Analyze the responses

You can begin to analyze the responses as soon as you receive them. Unlike traditional methods, online surveys make it possible to analyze responses without human intervention. Responses are received in electronic format and immediately added to a database. Once in the database, they can be manipulated with a variety of tools, including the survey software, statistical packages, spreadsheets, and presentation programs. The key to proper analysis of online surveys is no different than that for traditional methods. You must be able to filter the data and display results in a variety of formats for effective analysis. And always remember to relate the analysis back to your objective.

* Recommend a course of action

The last step in conducting effective online surveys is to recommend a course of action. With your objective in mind, you should be able to recommend specific actions as a result of your survey. Your recommendations can vary widely depending upon the nature of the problem you are trying to solve. If you cannot identify any actions as a result of your survey, then it is highly possible that your objective was too broad, your information needs were incorrect or incomplete, or your questionnaire was poorly written. In these cases, your recommended action should be to conduct further study.

Conduct Online Articles Or Be Left Out!

In a world where websites and email have become ubiquitous, conducting online surveys has become so convenient that everybody is doing it. Are you? If not, here are 10 reasons why you should.

1. Develop quickly - Most survey softwares have a sample survey library, question library, and a response library that enables you to develop surveys quickly. You can also develop surveys from scratch very quickly.

2. Present the best way possible - You can use a drop-down list for questions with many responses, or you can also use audio and video where it is appropriate. Online surveys allow you to present your questions in the best possible way.

3. Pre-populate with data - You can pre-populate your surveys with data that you already have about each respondent.

4. Distribute easily - You can distribute online surveys very easily, and in many different ways: link on website, entire survey on website, link in email, entire survey in email or newsletters, or handheld devices.

5. Skip questions - You can skip questions based on the answers to some questions. The logic to determine whether to skip or not can be simple or fairly complex.

6. Personalize your surveys - You can use answers of questions in the following questions. This allows you to personalize your surveys, like saying "Thanks Steve" instead of only "Thanks". You can also ask questions like "Why do you like most about Coke?" if the respondent selected Coke as his/her favorite drink in the previous question.

7. Validate the responses - You can validate the responses given by respondents thus ensuring that they enter valid data. This increases the quality of the results.

8. Eliminate errors associated with manual entry - With online surveys, respondents take the survey themselves. This eliminates the need for manual entry and its associated errors.

9. Get fast results - With online surveys, you can begin to accumulate responses in hours rather than days, and complete surveys in days rather than months.

10. Save time and money - You save lot of time developing surveys due to the time-saving features that survey softwares have. You can also save money compared to the traditional method of conducting surveys since you have to send out postal invitations, hire call personnel, hire data entry personnel, and generate results manually.

How-To Refill Your Ink Cartridge

Forget about emptying your wallets every time you see the blinking light. Quit worrying and start doing it yourself! It’s an easy process that won’t take you more than five minutes.

The following is included in a typical ink refill kit: ink bottles, syringes and detailed instructions. Some kits include an air balance clip for balancing the air inside the cartridge to ensure proper ink flow. Some kits also include hand-drill tool to make a hole in the top of your empty cartridge.

Refilling Process

1. To start the refilling process, fill the syringe with one of the ink colors over the sink or several sheets of scrap paper to prevent any mess. Different printers hold different amounts of ink. In most Epson printers, the black cartridge holds approximately 17 ml and the color cartridges hold approximately 8 ml. See the instructions with your refill kit to see how much ink your cartridges can hold.

2. Before inserting the needle, make a small hole in the top of the cartridge (one for each color chamber). The hole is at the top of the cartridge near the label. Simply push the needle through the hole and press to the bottom of the cartridge towards the outlet hole. It’s important to fill the cartridge slowly so as to avoid the ink from foaming and introducing air in the chamber.

3. You do not need to seal the refill holes since there are already breather holes on the top of the cartridge.

4. Any unused ink can be put back in the bottle. You should clean the syringe with water and dry it properly to do the same process for the other cartridges or for future use. You can also label each syringe for the different colors so that each syringe is only used with one color.

5. Once you place the cartridge back in the printer, run the cleaning cycle 1 to 3 times. If there are any gaps in the printing, run the cleaning cycle again.

Don’t Forget

There are a few things to remember when refilling your cartridge. It should be refilled before the cartridge is completely empty to avoid the chamber from drying out and clogging. Also, it is a good idea to let the printer cartridge sit for a few hours (or overnight) so that the pressure in the cartridge will stabilize.

Some printers, like newer Epson models, have a green chip on their ink cartridges which is visible by looking at your cartridge. They are often referred to as “Intellidge” cartridges. The chip keeps track of how often the cartridge is used and lets the computer know when the cartridge may be low or empty. As long as you reset the chip, refilling the cartridge with ink from a refill kit will not be a problem. A resetting tool can be used to reset the memory on the chip. This allows the printer to recognize the cartridge as being full which makes printing with a refilled cartridge possible.

Refilling your own ink cartridge is easy, good for the environment, and very good for your pocket.

Avoiding Blacklisting: Making Sure Your Email Gets Through

We all know that email is probably today's most popular way to advertise. Every day our inboxes are filled with messages from people who want our business--whether we asked for the contact or not. Email is today's biggest communication factor; but why shouldn't it be? It's all but free to use, and it's almost instantaneous.

But there is one problem with advertising via email that you may not think of very often: blacklisting. All it takes is one complaint, and your ISP or domain name can be put on someone's black list. If you're on the black list, your emails are not getting through--and neither is your advertising message.

So how big of a problem is this? Well, AOL, one of the world's biggest Internet service providers, winds up blocking a whopping 80% of messages to its subscribers due to blacklising. Your email could be the most legitimate message ever sent, but if one person forgets they signed up or decides to complain, you could be blacklisted. And for your business, the resulting slump in sales can be devastating.

What is a blacklist, exactly? A blacklist is a database of known Internet addresses (or IPs) used by individuals or companies sending spam. Various ISP's and bandwidth providers subscribe to these blacklist databases in order to filter out spam sent across their network or to their subscribers. Companies like AOL, MSN, and Yahoo all have very strict policies on spam, so many well-intended, legitimate emails never get through.

So how can you be sure you haven't been blacklisted? Unfortunately, you really can't be 100% sure. You may be on someone's black list and not even know it, and be added to and removed from black lists at the drop of a hat. The only way to prevent being blacklisted unfairly is to use today's technology to keep track of it all. There is cutting-edge software technology available that checks all the major black lists like Spamcop, MAPS, and SPAMHaus to ensure your domain or ISP hasn't been added.

Taking a few moments to understand and solve your potential blacklisting problem can mean a world of difference in your bottom line.

Internet News Services Explode Online

It seems no matter how much information comes available online, people thirst for more.

To illustrate this point, just take a look at all the online news services sprouting up on the web like garden weeds.

With the click of a mouse you can instantly search thousands of news sources for specific and timely information on virtually any topic you choose.

Heck, if you're a real news junky, you can even get up-to- the-minute news emailed straight to your desktop!

Now, I'm the first one to say that nothing beats a good old-fashioned newspaper you hold in your hands.

Few things rate as relaxing as a cup of coffee, a quiet morning, and today's newspaper ready for my inspection. In fact, my day doesn't officially start until I walk to the end of my driveway to retrieve the paper (occasionally from under a bush).

But as much as I love the paper, it rarely contains stories on highly-specialized subjects such as the latest email marketing laws, html parsing, and search engine promotion.

Of course, it doesn't make sense for virtually any local newspaper to carry news about email marketing laws (other than how they affect consumers) because the market demand simply doesn't exist on that level.

However, around the world, thousands of people just like me want to know the instant a news story breaks on the latest "Can Spam" legislation, and that's where online news services come into play.

Log on to http://news.google.com, http://news.yahoo.com and www.news.com to search thousands of different news sources from around the world.

On these sites you can dig up information on anything from current world events and your favorite Spanish soccer team, to cattle tagging regulations in Argentina (no kidding) and the exploding online auction markets in mainland China.

News from around the world on virtually any subject waits literally just a few keystrokes and a mouse-click away.

An incredibly useful feature offered by many of these sites includes email notification based on your keyword search criteria.

So instead of paying a "clipping" service to find articles and send them to you, these websites will do it free.

Now how could you use this type of news notification service?

Well, imagine you own stock in a specific company. You could subscribe to a number of different news services and have them send you breaking stories about the company, CEO, affiliated companies and anything else you choose.

Or, let's say you deal in a very specific industry, such as real estate investment publishing.

You could sign up to get notified any time a news story gets published about changing regulations, interest rates or other factors affecting your business.

All this online news certainly does not rate a substitute for morning coffee, local and national news, and an important ritual to start the day, but it has a place, especially for extremely specialized areas of interest, hobbies, or business news.

Watch for many new services, software, and opportunities to arise from this growing and dynamic area of online publishing.

How To clean your Case

There is nothing wrong with leaving spills, dirt, and stains on your computer case. After all isn't that what the case is for, to protect the electronic components inside from spills and dirt? This is true, but there are still parts of the case that need to be cleaned and checked if you want your computer to live a long and prosperous life.

Unless you like looking at dirt everytime you look at your computer, you should go ahead and clean those spills, stains, and dust off of the case. You can do this with just about any cloth and cleaner. Do not use highly abrasive cleaners that might ruin or mar the surface and do not use solvents on plastic. A wet sponge will even work. Just make sure that the cleaner or any liquid does not seep into the inside through cracks and vents. If there is any possibility that you are going to get that messy, turn off and unplug the computer first and wait to turn it back on until any liquid has had a chance to fully dry.

After you have wiped off the outside, it is time for a little inspection. Look at the blades of the fan in the back of the computer. Also look at any vents. Is there dust there? Is there a lot of dust and grime caked on to it? If so, that is an indicator that the inside also needs to be cleaned (I will tell you how to do that in next week's article - How to Clean your Motherboard).

Some clean environments never have to have the inside cleaned. Some need it cleaned monthly. When I lived in Russia, even though I didn't notice it, the air was not clean. The fan on the computer would cake up with dirt and grime after about a month of use. And so I would have to clean the fan, vents, and inside monthly. If I had let it go for several months without cleaning, the fan would have stopped working and the computer would have overheated. Where I now live in the US, the air is clean and I have gone years without having to clean it. Again, the indicator of this is the blades of the fan and the vents. If they are dirty, they need to be cleaned.

You can do some of the cleaning from the outside. First, turn off the computer. Then get out the vacuum sweeper and using the hose, vacuum out the vents and the fan(s). If you have compressed air (you can purchase compressed air from your computer store), you may want to blow air in through the vents (or intake fan if you have one) to loosen the dust and suck it out using the vacuum. If there is still dust or dirt in the vents or on the blades of the fan, you can use a Q-tip to clean them.

If you do not have a vaccum, you can use compressed air alone. Always use short bursts to avoid moisture buildup. Start with the computer off and blow into every hole and vent. Then turn the computer on and blow everything except for the exhaust fan once again.

With the case clean, your computer will look nicer and with the fan and vents cleaned out it will breathe easier and run cooler.

Cache In Your Chips And Get A Bus!

Computer related terminology could sometimes be daunting to newcomers. These are relatively new words or hybrids of words, already in existence. Someone with a degree in English, for example, could not necessarily guess, the function of a particular devise, by its name. This is because such a devise never existed in history or in the history of the English language.

Tolerance and patience is required.

If you work in the field of computers, these “new” words must be learned. However, P.C.’s are designed for use by ordinary people, and the gritty details regarding their construction, can be largely ignored. A journalist, typist, builder or bookkeeper doesn’t need to know what an EIDE or SCSI is, or indeed isn’t.

Hard drive description is not relevant to the majority, as long as the devise is functional.

A “BUS”, though, could be guessed by some, as it carries something, not unlike a conventional bus. In this case, it carries current/electrons/data, and is simply a conductor. A bus conductor, if you like. For now, buses are made of copper with experiments underway to utilise other materials. I read recently that “prions”, which are a type of protein, are been considered as conductors. Will some of our computers’ components be organic? We shall have to see!

Fibre optics, which are, basically speaking, glass pipes around four thousands of an inch (0.1 mms.), in diameter, employ the speed of light, for signal/data transfer. A light (diode), is on or off, at one end, and a photo-resistor at the other end registers its state. Now, wasn’t that simply put! These glass pipes are coated to reflect the light inwards, meaning that light can be “bent” around corners, while within its container/pipe. Heat generation is minimal and electrical resistance is redundant.

It is heat generation and resistance that brings your “fan” into play, keeping everything cool, and electron transfer at a controlled level.

Low resistance= high current. Your starter motor for your car has really thick cables allowing electrons from the twelve volt power source (battery) to do their job in turning over you engine, which is a considerably difficult task. A smaller cable would have a higher electrical resistance, causing it to overheat, and eventually, melt. Keep listening for that “fan”.

It is your computers first line of defence.

In fact, it is the principle of electrical resistance that is employed by electrical heaters.

CACHE is not legal tender in most countries, but a type of memory that your CPU (central processing unit ) first looks for. It does this, not to be awkward, but more because it is the fastest route, from a users point of view.

How to clean your Mother Board

If you have not done the inspection mentioned in the previous article - How to Clean your Case, now is the time to do so. Look at the blades of the fan in the back of the computer. Also look at any vents. Is there clusters of dust there? Is there grime caked on to it? If so, the inside needs to be cleaned. If the fan blades are clean but it has been several years since you have cleaned the motherboard or if the computer is around cigarette smoke, it probably should be cleaned anyway. Dust and particles in the air (like cigarette smoke) can build up on the circuitry of the motherboard and cause it to heat up and/or corrode.

The first thing that you need to do is unplug your computer. Then open up the case to get access to the motherboard. Cases open differently. If you don't know how to open your case, look on the back of your computer along the edge for some screws. These screws may hold on side panels or an upside down U shaped panel that covers the sides and top. Removing the screws will allow you to take off the cover. Other cases have the screws on the front of the computer. To get access to these screws, you must first remove the front panel by pressing a hidden latch. The cover is there to give easy access to the inside of your computer, so if you look hard enough, you should be able to figure out how to remove it.

Remember that if you touch anything on the motherboard, you should be grounded by either touching the metal frame of the computer with your other hand or by wearing a special grounding device.

The goal of cleaning the motherboard is to remove all dust and debris from the motherboard and all components inside of the case. This can be done using one of three methods.

The preferred method is to use a can of compressed air to blow it out. Always hold the can in an up-right position to prevent the propellent chemicals which can damage or corrode components from coming out. Dust and dirt should be blown away from the motherboard and out of the case.

Another way to remove dust is to use a vacuum. The common advice is to only use a battery operated vacuum because an AC powered vacuum causes static and static can ruin the motherboard. I have used an AC powered vacuum (before I knew that it was not recommended) to clean my motherboard many times and it has never caused any problems, but I may have just been lucky. When using the vacuum, keep the nozzle a couple of inches away from the motherboard or any other components so that it does not come in contact with them and so that any small parts are not sucked into the vacuum.

If you do not have a can of compressed air or a vacuum, you can use a dry cloth and brush to clean the motherboard. Be careful not to dislodge or break anything using this method.

While cleaning the motherboard, be careful not to unplug any cables or connections or to dislodge any loose components, such as, jumpers.

Methodically clean the whole inside of the case going over all of the motherboard from one end to the other and all other components. Don't forget to clean the fans and heat sinks. Do not open up the power supply box or stick anything in it beyond the fan. If you do, you could get a shocking surprise and ruin your computer.

If your computer does not work when you put it back together, something was obviously dislodged during the cleaning. Open the case back up and push all connections and cards into their slots. Look for anything that may have become disconnected.

Cleaning the motherboard is probably the most dangerous form of cleaning but it is necessary to prevent an early death of your computer.

What To Expect At The Cisco Testing Center

Candidates can register for the CCNA exam (640-801 exam or 640-821 INTRO or 640-811 ICND ) at Pearson VUE or Prometric testing centers.

In order to do their best, candidates should know what to expect at the testing center for the Cisco CCNA certification exam. Since testing center guidelines may vary from one center to another, we recommend that the candidates call the local testing center to check about the guidelines. Here are some points providing information on what you can expect at the exam center:

Re-certification: If you have taken a Cisco CCNA certification exam before, find out your Cisco ID and specify it before you start with your registration. This will ensure that you get proper credit for the exam and will help avoid any duplicate records.

Reach before time: We strongly suggest reaching the test center before time. Failure to do so may result in cancellation of the appointment.

Sign the logbook: You may be asked to sign-in the logbook upon arrival as well as upon departure. Do check on this.

You must carry your identification: You will be required to show a valid identification (ID), perhaps including a recent, recognizable photograph. If the supervisor questions your ID, you may be required to show another ID. You should check the testing center guidelines on identification and take all supplemental identification documents with you.

Generally Accepted Identification:

Passport

Photobearing driver's license with signature

National/Military identification card

The following MAY not be accepted as valid ID:

Credit Cards (Please check with test center)

Private identification cards

Any expired ID

Read the testing center regulation form carefully: You will be provided with a Testing Center Regulation form by the supervisor. Read the regulations carefully and comply with them during the test.

Sign the confidentiality statement: The supervisor is responsible for asking you to sign the confidentially statement at the test center indicating that you will not reveal exam questions to other students after the test.

Supervisor sets up your test computer: The supervisor will ensure that the Cisco certification test displays on screen before handing over the machine to you.

Ask for sheets for scratch work: Scratch papers will be provided to you at the testing center. These are sometimes only available on request. Ask for some blank scratch sheets to do calculations and rough work. Jot down important points and tables (such as powers of 2, binary representation tables etc) before exam starts. This can be a big time saver. Do not take the scratch paper out of the testing room on completion of exam.

Items not allowed in the testing room: The candidate is not allowed to bring in the testing room personal items such as:

Books, revision sheets or notes: The exam is closed book

Cellular phones & alarms

Food or drinks may not be allowed

Calculators

Your session may be audio and video taped: Do not attempt to talk or communicate in any form to anybody in the testing room. Your session may be taped and can lead to immediate disqualification .

On exam completion: You will be explained by the supervisor what to do when you complete the exam. If not, or if you are unclear about what you should do, ask it yourself before beginning the exam.

Do not take with you the the testing material from the testing room: Return all of your testing materials, including the scrap paper, on the completion of your exam to the supervisor.

Certified copy of the exam result: Your supervisor will give you a certified copy of the exam report on completion of the test. This will list your score indicating strengths and weaknesses in the various test areas. Ask the supervisor for the certified copy, if you do not get it.

CCNA 640-801 Preparation & Exam Review

The CCNA certification equips you with networking skills to design, plan, install, configure and operate small to medium size computer networks. CCNA certified professionals can install, configure, and operate LAN, WAN, and dial access services for small networks (100 nodes or fewer), including but not limited to use of these protocols: IP, IGRP, Serial, Frame Relay, IP RIP, VLANs, RIP, Ethernet, Access Lists.

The CCNA certification has grown significantly in popularity over the last few years. It is a worthwhile addition to the resume of any networking professional.

CCNA Exam Tracks

There are two tracks that can be followed in achieving the CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) certification.

Track 1: Single Exam Path

Passing the 640-801 CCNA exam.

Track 2: Dual Exam Path

Passing the 640-821 INTRO exam and 640-811 ICND exam.

Topics On The Test

List of recommended topics is given below. Please note that related topics not listed below may also be asked on the exam.

Planning & Designing

Design a simple LAN using Cisco Technology

Design an IP addressing scheme to meet design requirements

Select an appropriate routing protocol based on user requirements

Design a simple internetwork using Cisco technology

Develop an access list to meet user specifications

Choose WAN services to meet customer requirements

Implementation & Operation

Configure routing protocols given user requirements

Configure IP addresses, subnet masks, and gateway addresses on routers and hosts

Configure a router for additional administrative functionality

Configure a switch with VLANS and inter-switch communication

Implement a LAN

Customize a switch configuration to meet specified network requirements

Manage system image and device configuration files

Perform an initial configuration on a router

Perform an initial configuration on a switch

Implement access lists

Implement simple WAN protocols

Troubleshooting

Utilize the OSI model as a guide for systematic network troubleshooting

Perform LAN and VLAN troubleshooting

Troubleshoot routing protocols

Troubleshoot IP addressing and host configuration

Troubleshoot a device as part of a working network

Troubleshoot an access list

Perform simple WAN troubleshooting

Technology

Describe network communications using layered models

Describe the Spanning Tree process

Compare and contrast key characteristics of LAN environments

Evaluate the characteristics of routing protocols

Evaluate TCP/IP communication process and its associated protocols

Describe the components of network devices

Evaluate rules for packet control

Evaluate key characteristics of WANs

Review Of CCNA 640-801 Exam Specifics

Pre Requisites: The CCNA exam has no pre requisites.

Time Allotted: 90 minutes

Total marks: The exam is marked from 300 to 1000. Minimum marks is 300.

Passing Grade: Cisco revises the ccna passing score periodically. Last known pass mark is 849/1000.

Score Report: Delivered immediate on test completion.

Certification validation period: 3 years

Number of Questions: Not fixed. In general the questions range from 55 to 65 in number.

Exam Pattern: The pattern may vary from exam to exam, depending on how many questions are there to be answered. The question types found on the CCNA exam are:

Multiple Choice with Single answer: Student is required to select a single answer from a range of options (generally 4-5) by clicking on a radio button.

Multiple Choice with Multiple answer: Student is required to select a range of options. The number of options to select is specified. The selection is made by clicking on a checkbox. A “v” appears against selected checkboxes.

Drag And Drop: These questions are graphical in nature. Student is required to drag options to different drop areas.

Fill in the Blank: Student is required to type in the missing text to complete the sentence.

Router Simulation: Router simulation questions test knowledge of Cisco IOS in simulated environment. All of Cisco IOS commands are not supported by the simulator, however the task can be performed with the available commands in the simulator. Do note that the exam engine may be slow when switching between the simulator-based questions and the standard multiple-choice questions.

Cisco Certification: Cabling Cisco Devices

Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) is a cable that has four pairs of wires twisted inside it to eliminate electrical interference. UTP cables are connected using RJ-45 connectors that have eight connector pins. The data equipment that is used for internetworking is classified as Data Terminal Equipment (DTE e.g. router interfaces) and Data Communication Equipment (DCE e.g. A WAN connects DTEs through DCE network).

UTP cables are used in many configurations and for different purposes, to form an internetwork including:

Straight-through

Crossover

Rollover

Applications of UTP include:

Serial transmission

Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN) connections

Console connections

Modular and fixed interfaces

These configurations and applications are discussed below.

Straight-Through Cable

A straight-through cable is the standard network cable connection and is used to connect the source and destination computers through an internetworking device. Specifically, you can use it to connect a host to a hub or switch

Crossover Cable

In a crossover cable, the standard RJ-45 cable between the source and destination computers is cross-connected. A crossover cable can be used to connect:

Two computers

Two hubs

A hub to a switch

A cable modem to a router

Two router interfaces

Rollover Cable

These Cisco proprietary cables used to connect to a router or switch console port. In a rollover cable (8 pins), RJ-45 connectors are usually present at each ends and are used to connect router and computer ports. Pin 1 on one end of cable connects to Pin 8 at the other end of the cable, similarly, Pin 2 connects Pin 7, and so on.

Serial Transmission

All WANs use serial transmission, which can pass one bit at a time over a single channel. Cisco provides a 60-pin serial connector for one end of the cable while other end of the cable may be EIA/TIA-232, V.35, EIA/TIA-449, X.21 or others;

ISDN Connections

ISDN refers to a collection of standards that define a digital architecture that can carry integrated voice and data, using the public-switched network. ISDN BRI (Basic Rate Interface) is a two 64 kbps Bearer channels (2B) plus one 16 kbps Data channel (D) service. ISDN BRI terminates at the customer premise with the U interface.

Console Connections

A console is a type of DTE through which commands are entered into the host device. Most Cisco devices support the RJ-45 console connection. A rollover cable with an RJ-45 connector is used to connect the PC or terminal to the console port of the Cisco device.

Modular and Fixed Interfaces

Unlike a fixed interface router, a modular interface router allows you to add new interface cards without buying a new router.

In the fixed interface series, you refer to the interfaces as:

interface_type interface_number

For example, the first serial interface on a Cisco 2503 router would be referred to as serial 0. Higher routers have modular interfaces that allow you to change the interfaces as and when required. Here, the interfaces are referred to as:

interface_type module_number/interface_number

To practice such commands you can download a free CCNA router simulator from SemSim.com and proceed to the troubleshooting 1 exercise that configures ethernet 0 interface.