Protecting Your PHP/MySQL Queries from SQL Injection

SQL injection is a serious concern for webmasters, as an experienced attacker can use this hacking technique to gain access to sensitive data and/or potentially cripple your database. If you haven’t secured your applications, I implore you to get yourself familiar with the following method and grind it into your coding routine. One unsafe query can result in a nightmare for you or your client.

I’ve read through a lot of guides, and they tend to over complicate this, so I’ll be as straight forward as possible. In PHP the easiest way is to pass your data through the mysql_real_escape_string function. By escaping special characters on fields where the user can manipulate the database, you will avoid being vulnerable. Take a look below at the example of what to do and what not to do.

// This is a vulnerable query.
$query = "SELECT * FROM products WHERE name='$productname'";
mysql_query($query);
// This query is more secure
$query = sprintf("SELECT * FROM products WHERE name='%s'",
mysql_real_escape_string($productname));
mysql_query($query);
Since I primarily code in PHP, I can’t confidently provide techniques for other programming languages. The most important part of protecting yourself is stopping users from being able to pass unaltered database manipulative special characters, like single quotes

Google Analytics V2

Finally the much awaited Google Analytics version 2 was finally launched, with several new visualization tools and data sharing tools.

The package is basically an extension of Google's AdWords program, which lets site owners buy words that link to various segments of their site via contextual ads that show up on Google or associate search engine results.

The new Analytics design looks to be more user-friendly and observant. The design has a more of a Web 2.0 feel to it, more in tune with current web trends. Though it's too early to pass judgement, some features appear to be very clear-cut and versatile.

The new tools are supposed to give Web site owners a free and straightforward system to keep track of how users are accessing content of their site including of tracking of content. This includes the tracking of popular content, time spent by users and number of hits by time of day.

The new features are purported to make it easier for web site owners to find and share t data so they can make informed decisions. One thing is definite the new version does present data more clearly and is more applicable, as a single report contains all the necessary data.

New Features

Key new features are:

Customizable Dashboards

The Analytics dashboard is now absolutely customizable and has simplified data presentation. Users can relocate, add, and remove the various data widgets, in a similar fashion to that of iGoogle. The new dashboard illustrates Site Usage, visitor usage, map overlay, traffic sources overview, content overview and goal overview. No more digging through reports, in the new dashboard you can simply put all the information you need and email it to others.

Emailing of reports

One of the major weaknesses of Google Analytics was the lack of a means to email out reports. This feature has now been added to this new release. You can now e-mail or export reports as PDFs that can be scheduled to be sent out automatically every day, week, month or quarter using the in-built calendar.

Improved Segmentation Capabilities

Segmentation capabilities have been also added, which allows you to independently measure the actions of different groups of visitors. This is an awesome concept which will have a great impact on a site's SEO opportunities...... With the Trend and Date Slider you can compare time periods and select date ranges while keeping track of long term trends.

The Ecommerce Tracking lets you trace transactions to campaigns and keywords, get loyalty and latency metrics, and identify your revenue sources.

Funnel Visualization lets you find out which pages result in lost conversions and where your would-be customers go.

Site Overlay lets you see traffic and conversion information for every link as you browse your site, without any downloading.

Redesigned User Interface

The Google Analytics user interface has been redesigned extensively for greater customization and collaboration. Data summaries and improved tracking analysis complement navigational clarity and intuitive connections among related data. It is definitely more user friendly and contemporary Enhanced Map

The new Map is enhanced to allow users to target in on the individual cities of the site's visitors. The map overlay even tracks where your users are, precisely down to the city they live in. With this you can find out where your users come from and identify your most lucrative geographic markets.

Keyword and Campaign Comparison

The new keywords features is a boon for site owners, as it drives traffic through the website by dividing the entrance keywords for each page of the site and showing these keywords in a very accessible manner.

Purported Benefits

Google Analytics is supposed to uncover what keywords attract your most desirable prospects, what advertising copy pulled the most responses, and what landing pages and content make the most money for you with its.

Sophisticated Analytics

Google Analytics provides tightly integrated AdWords support, so you can view AdWords ROI metrics without having to import cost data or add keyword tracking codes.

Easy to use

Google Analytics is easy to use for novice marketers, while delivering all of the capabilities that experienced web analytics professionals expect.

Scalable for any size site

Google Analytics is a hosted service that runs on the same servers that power Google, so you can expect the consistent service for large, high-traffic corporate sites to small sites.

Integrated with AdWords

If you have an AdWords account, you can use Google Analytics directly from the AdWords interface.

Tracks all campaigns

Google Analytics tracks all online campaigns, from emails to keywords, regardless of search engine or referral source.

The new Analytics will be out over the next month. For the first month, both the old and the new versions will be available to ease the transition.

As I mentioned before it's too early to pass judgement on the Google Analytics V2, but being a Google product expectations are high. So lets keep our fingers crossed.

Brochure Design: Tips and Techniques

A brochure is known as the advertising tool that carries eye catching designs and attractive language to attract people to get its proper meaning. Brochures are used to design for the promotion of locations, events, hotels, products and services. Usually, brochures are being distributed in trade shows and through direct mail and can be used for promoting a new product.

Brochure design is considered as a tough task for a designer. Due to its importance, brochure has to be designed really very carefully. The best brochure design is that which elaborates ideas perfectly and advocates people to use products or service in which favor a brochure has been formed. So, if you are planning to make a customized brochure design, make sure it reflects your mind clearly and reaches directly to your customers. You can your brochure by yourself or hire a professional brochure designer to make a really effective brochure for your purpose.

Once you decide to make a brochure, you need to select a good brochure design sample to look really difference from the rest. You may choose something classy and distinguish to attract customers never before. In a brochure, many things need to be kept in mind before designing its structure. First thing which needs to be taken care of is its structure. Structure means what size of brochure should be made, color combination, usually attractive colors are used to clinch peoples' interest. Second is the selection of words, which is really important. Words should be easy to understand, infuses a good meaning and represents your ideology. Third is the selection of graphic designing to be used in the brochure. Graphic design brochure should be carefully done and should look professional and infuse its deep meaning.

Normally, business people need corporate brochure design to promote their products and services. It is a unique way of attracting customers and retaining old ones to gain stability and raise profit. Brochures are considered as the campaign and marketing printed stuffs to help you to expand your business aspirations beyond the boundaries. Getting brochures fro products and services, a company can invite new customers, maintaining the current ones and earning more and more profit for the business. Brochures are taken as the evidences of the company's genuine offerings and trusted services which it promises. So, till now you haven't designed a good brochure yet, go and design a customized brochure design that says more about your style and above all your mind.

Microformats vs. RDF: How Microformats Relate to the Semantic Web

This is a guest post by James Simmons of Semantic Focus

Microformats are a wildly popular set of formats for embedding metadata within normal XHTML. The primary advantage Microformats offer over RDF (including its embedded serializations) is that you can embed metadata directly in the XHTML, reducing the amount of markup you need to write (e.g. you don't have to write XHTML and additional RDF). Many people have contended that Microformats are a possible replacement for RDF, however Microformats were not designed to cover the same scope as RDF was. While both Microformats and RDF make it possible to store data about data, they simply do not work to solve the same set of problems.

A quick comparison

I don't blame the Microformats people for this confusion over what Microformats are or are not. Rather, I blame the sensationalists and know-nots that tend to jump on any new standard, format, or design pattern. Directly on the Microformats about page you are told what Microformats are and are not.

What Microformats were not intended to be:

• A new language
• Infinitely extensible and open-ended
• An attempt to get everyone to change their behavior and rewrite their tools
• A whole new approach that throws away what already works today
• A panacea for all taxonomies, ontologies, and other such abstractions
• Defining the whole world, or even just boiling the ocean
• Any of the above

There you have it, clearly stated and all. I would guess that most of the arguments made by pro-RDF people are extinguished after reading that unordered list. However some people still believe that we can create the Semantic Web with Microformats.

What RDF allows (and Microformats lacks):

• Resources are represented as URIs, allowing you to access metadata remotely
• Infinitely extensible and open-ended design
• A powerful Ontology language (OWL) that is built upon it
• The ability to utilize, share, and extend any number of vocabularies
• No reliance on pre-defined "formats" (i.e. not limited by the types of data that can be encoded)

As you can see there are a few things we can do with RDF that cannot be done with Microformats. The Semantic Web relies on the things I've listed above. These are the clear-cut reasons why Microformats will not be part of the W3C's Semantic Web vision.

Persisting the data within Microformats

Another issue I've thought about is how we are to persist the data we glean from Microformats. How do you usefully store Microformat metadata (beyond leaving it in its XHTML form)? The information stored in Microformats eventually comes out in triple form, one way or the other. Take a look at this example:

class="tel">

class="type">home:

class="value">+1.415.555.1212

 

What information can be gleaned from this example? Well, the home telephone number (of an unknown person or entity, in this example) is +1.415.555.1212. In the end we are still getting the subject-predicate-object form. In this case the subject would be the owner of that number, the predicate would be "home," and the object is the telephone number itself.

So really, we will likely require triple storage for either RDF or Microformats. In all honesty, I don't know of any Microformat-stores. If you know of some, I would like to know if they are any different from a normal triple-store.

Microformats have a place and a purpose

At this point I'd like to say that Microformats do have a number of qualities that RDF (although not necessarily all serializations) does not accommodate for, at least not in the same way:

• Designed for humans first, machines second
• Modularity / embeddability
• Enables and encourages decentralized development, content, services
• A design principles for formats
• Adapted to current behaviors and usage patterns
• Highly correlated with semantic XHTML

I've stated before that I believe Microformats will help bring about the Semantic Web by introducing "metadata sprinkling" (the act of including metadata in otherwise "normal" data) to more people. They allow for simple metadata embeddability and do not affect how an XHTML document validates. This is the kind of approach that will help normal users come closer to understanding the Semantic Web vision.

Conclusions

To me, Microformats are to RDF as HTML 5 is to XHTML; on the surface they both appear to be a solution to the same problem, but the former misses the point as to why the latter was created. On the very same about page I cited earlier there is a bullet point that suggests that Microformats will be part of the semantic web (note the lowercase letters, implying a semantic web, not the one envisioned by the W3C). I find that all competing Semantic Web development paths fall short of creating an entirely linked Semantic Web. The kind of Semantic Web that gives us a platform to stand on above the Web document layer. Microformats have their place, just not as a replacement to RDF.

The Right Logo

Logotype, commonly know as a logo, is a design, a graphic representation / image / trademark symbolizing one’s organization. Designed for instant identification, a logo can appear on company letterhead, advertising material and signs as an emblem by way of which the organization can easily be recognized.

Originating in the 19th century, after a surge in industrial manufacturing that led to an increase in output, global distribution, and the commencement of competition, logos were created to differentiate between products within the same industry. Emblems or symbols were included on products, packages and labels so buyers could easily recognize the product they preferred. Logos revolutionized the advertising world.
There was a time when only affluent organizations could afford their own crest, emblem or logo. They were, in some cases, a very detailed drawing with many objects. Cost was not an issue and more was considered better. Then, flags were used due to their larger format. They were visible from the craft fields and from long distances.
Today, successful companies continue to say that "simpler is better". Especially when the world is advancing so rapidly, you have less and less time to impress your customers. Logo designs, now, are very stylish yet remain conservative, which makes them eye-catching and easier for the brain to memorize.

Selecting the Logo Concept

The most crucial aspect of logo selection is the logo concept. You must first determine what your logo should say about your company. You may come up with an image related to a business like a house for real estate or a car for a car dealer, or your logo could be just an abstract image representing the company’s philosophy, for example, a pyramid or a blocky image for a stable, trustworthy company. A very dynamic image with orbits and swooshes, sparks, or particles might be suitable for a very young, modern, high tech company.

Not all businesses, though, can be easily associated with any particular image. For example, a programming company doesn't have many images to associate with (except a computer). In this situation, it would be recommended to concentrate on an abstract image and to represent the feel of the company's business rather than coming up with a specific image. Companies that deal with more than one business should have a more generic image, but the logo can still be made to look technological by implementing some straight lines in combination with curves, or more corporate with more proportional, symmetrical, geometrical shapes.
As a result of the expense involved in changing a logo, a "good" logo shouldn’t be too trendy, but ideally last many years before needing a redesign. You need to ask yourself if the design will be relevant in 5 or 10 years.

Once a company has established itself with a specific look, feel and image, it becomes more and more difficult to change as time goes by. Some companies have enjoyed success without ever having to change their logo design. Kentucky Fried Chicken has used Colonel Sanders in their logo since the company was founded in 1952. Aside from some updates on their marketing front, Nike would be another good example (the Nike swoosh). Pepsi took a risk in the mid 1990s by drastically changing their image and logo but did so with success. However, it could have resulted in commercial suicide. If you'll remember, in the 1980s Coca-cola changed their brand image to Coke. Pepsi then took over top seat in the market shortly thereafter. Creating a logo that can appeal to customers and consumers throughout the ages is important, considering that there will always be a risk involved with change.

If, however, you decide that your logo is in need of a face life, here are some points to take into consideration:
Does your current logo represent 3 of the key elements that make up a credible and high quality logo design?

1. Does the logo portray your company in a manner which says that you are an expert in this field?
2. Is the logo "contemporary", symbolizing a "forward-thinking" look?
3. Is the message that you are trying to convey to the consumer clear? If you answered ‘yes’ to all of these questions, then why change your logo? By revamping your company image, you may risk losing your supporters, clients that are already familiar with your products and services, your popularity, respect, as well as your market share. You can, however, clean-up your logo or update it with a lot less risk.

Tagline

When creating a tagline for your company, it is important to consider whether or not you are going to, eventually, go global. If so, create a tagline that gets your point across when translated into different languages. Here are some examples of successful companies that did not take this into consideration:

1. Kentucky Fried Chicken's tagline "finger-lickin' good" translates in Chinese as "eat your fingers off”.
2. General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, and the company was apparently unaware that "no va,” translated in Spanish meant “it won't go,” or “it doesn’t run.”
3. In Taiwan, Pepsi introduced its tagline "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation". In Chinese, the slogan translated as "Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead."

Shapes, Sizes and Types

Iconic logos: Iconic logos, one of the most common types, are represented by a single graphical element, icon or design which usually includes the company name below or to the side of the icon, for example: Nike, AOL, Micheline. When considering iconic logos, it is important to make the symbol fit any of the geometrical shapes. The best shapes to use are symmetrical geometrical shapes. They can be placed almost anywhere and still show balance and are very easy to handle.

There is no obligation as to the kind of shape used, you can use any free form shape you want, but you have to be very careful with the placement, so the logo doesn't look like it is falling apart:

When selecting the shape, you should consider how conservative and stable your company wishes to appear.

Logo Type: Logo types consist only of the company name. A unique font or unique layout style can make a great logo, for example: Sony, Kellogg’s, Coca-Cola, IBM.

Illustrative: An illustrative logo consists of a unique design; usually representing the company’s field of business. These logos are often very eye-catching, detailed and impressive. As a result of their detail and colors, illustrative logos are difficult to reproduce and therefore expensive.

Integrated: An integrated logo is the combination of a logo type and illustrative logo. These logos are even more rare than the illustrative logos because of their expense.

Less is More!

Everyone wants a cutting edge, high tech, ‘cool’ logo. Consider, however, that some of the most successful logos are simple, and most importantly, easy to remember. Think of Nike, McDonalds, Pepsi, Coca-Cola. These are all very successful images that are, at the same time, very simple. When creating your design, you can get into picky little details and it is important to take a step back, close your eyes and see if you can essentially sketch the image in your head. If it is that memorable, then you know you are on the right track. Remember that "less is more".

Colors

Keep in mind, when selecting colors for your logo, that your color scheme should be appropriate for your company. It is also useful to use pantone colors -universal colors which are used by professional print shops. Colors often have a profound impact on viewers. Red and orange are said to produce excitation, red also tends to signify danger. Dark blue portrays comfort and relaxation, and yellow tends to create a feeling of irritation. If you are creating a logo design for a nursing home or a hospital, it may be a good idea to stay away from reds and bright yellows. Exceptions are always made though, such as McDonalds (which has both red and yellow in its logo!). When choosing your color scheme, keep in mind the personality you wish to express for your business. Do you want your company to portray a professional image? Try using black, silver, and other dark colors. Do you want your company to come across and fun, dynamic, and funky? If so, try using bright and vibrant colors. Be creative.

Important Points To Consider:

• logo should:
  • Attract attention and leave an impression
  • Create a look that in unique
  • reflect the personality of the company
• Reproduction costs: The more detailed and colorful the logo design, the more difficult to reproduce, meaning a higher cost.
• The size: The prefect logo design will look great on a sign board as well as on a business card or a pen.
• Logo design companies are by the dozen. Take your time, research different companies and designers and compare packages in order to select a logo design company suited to your needs.
• Check your competition. What designs, graphics, and colors do they use? Remember that you need to be competitive.
• Trademark your logo. If your logo is trademarked, this prevents competitors and other third parties from stealing it.
• And last but not least, when in doubt, K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid).

Logo design is believed to be one of the most difficult areas in graphic design. A logo is essentially at the heart of a corporate identity. It is the face of an organization! The right logo design can be one of your strongest marketing tools. It delivers the message to the public that a company is unique, credible and professional. Make it stylish. Make it elegant. Make it an impact.

Written by Ahsan Zaidi

Web Design and the DMCA: Giving and Getting Take Down Notices

Does your client ask you to stand behind the content you create for their site? Most clients worth their salt will, and successful freelance and web design firms know enough about DMCA take-down notices to do so comfortably. Do you?

What is the DMCA?

If you get a take-down notice from your web host, client, or content publisher, you should understand the implications of taking down the content. You should also know that the DMCA (17 USC 512) does not provide liability insulation to the mere content creator or publisher.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the DMCA) is a federal statute that may stop a copyright infringement claim in the United States in its tracks if what you do fits within its definition of a “service provider.” I say “may” because the DMCA statute is very specific, and there are quite a few hoops to jump through. Simply put, the DMCA may help reduce the risk of a lawsuit for copyright infringement, but it will not stop a lawsuit from being filed in every case. What you may need to realize, however, is that the DMCA’s protections do not apply to everyone, and it’s better to find this out sooner than later.

(NB: The contents of this article are solely concerned with US copyright law. If a non-US entity writes to you about content posted outside of the US, your liability arises from laws outside of the US, and the DMCA will provide absolutely no insulation unless a claim arises under the US Copyright Act.)

The DMCA provides a mechanism for an owner of copyrightable material to send a demand—a take-down notice—to a service provider, demanding removal of copyrightable material that is uploaded or displayed without authorization. If the service provider accused of hosting or displaying the material follows the take-down requirements, it can obtain insulation from a claim for money (called a claim for monetary damages), or a claim for injunctive relief.

Does it affect me?

If you are a service provider, including a web host, content publisher, or transmitter of content, the protections of the DMCA may apply to you. The DMCA protections do not apply if you do not fall within the service provider definition.

If you are a creator of online content—or any copyrightable material—you may be required to respond to a DMCA take-down notice.

What type of content does the DMCA regulate? The DMCA uses the termmaterial to mean any copyrightable work including written text (also referred to as literary works), visual works, graphic works, or musical work protectable under the Copyright Act.

Does the DMCA cover design as well as content? The DMCA covers copyrightable works, period.

Is software code material? Yes, if it is displayed on an online service. Even code that passes between two computers is a literary work and protectable under the Copyright Act. Thus, code is material under the DMCA.

Sending or receiving a take-down notice

OK, so you’ve got online content. Or you’ve seen your content online on a site that you did not authorize or license. If you find yourself in the position of sending or receiving a take-down notice, this informal checklist will help you get it right the first time:

Follow the rules

If you get a take-down notice from your web host, client, or content publisher, you should understand the implications of taking down the content. You should also know that the DMCA (17 USC 512) does not provide liability insulation to the mere content creator or publisher. The insulation is for your web host, and the reason you should respond to their take-down request is 1) so your web host or client doesn’t terminate your contract; and 2) to avoid any further claims of damages by the party that alleges infringement.

If you put the content up—on your own web site, for example—the DMCA is not going to work for you if you receive a take-down notice, but it will dictate how you respond. So take note.

If you wonder whether you might qualify under the first prong of the DMCA for liability insulation, is the transmission of the material initiated by or at the direction of a person other than you? If the answer is yes, then you might fit into the definition of a protected service provider. (Please call your lawyer to find out why I say you might fit into the definition and have some liability insulation. It is not a complete immunity.) If you qualify and follow the rules, you—a service provider—are not liable for money damages or injunctive relief for copyright infringement.

Get your notice done right

So you don’t fit the service provider definition, but your client has sent a take-down notice to you. Now what? Is the take-down notice complete and effective? If it is not, that does not relieve you from any liability, but it may slow down the complaining party and may also slow down your web host form turning you off or from taking down your content.

To send an effective notice, the injured party must put it in writing. An irate phone call won’t work. The notice must meet the following requirements:

• Be signed by an authorized person (either the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed, or their agent).
• Identify what was infringed. Specifically, it must list or describe the copyrighted work claiming to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site.
• Identify the material that is infringing—with “reasonably sufficient” detail—to permit the service provider to locate the material.
• Include the complaining party’s complete contact information.
• Include the following statements:
  • “The complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;” and
  • “The notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.”

So, if the notice does not meet these requirements, you will be in a position to write to your web host or client—or the party that sent you the notice—to request a corrected notice. You should still begin to think about how you will defend against an alleged claim for infringement because remember, the DMCA does not insulate non-service providers.

Agent designated?

If you’re a service provider seeking insulation under DMCA you must designate an agent with the US Copyright Office. If you’re trying to track down the copyright agent, look at the Copyright Office’s DMCA agent listing. If your alleged infringer does not have an agent, this could be a mark against them.

Take reasonable steps to contact complainer with inadequate notice. If a notice comes in that substantially complies, contact the complainer promptly to maintain insulation.

Take down the content in accordance with 512(g). (Remember that this article is general info only and may not apply to your situation. Nothing substitutes for talking to a lawyer about your factually specific situation). If you are a web designer, you should carefully:

• consider taking down your content or disabling access;
• preparing a counter-notice (see below) within ten days of receipt of the original take-down notice to refute its allegations and demand that your web host replace the content;
• monitor the original posting to see if your web host did in fact replace the removed material and cease disabling in not less than ten and not more than fourteen business days after receipt of counter notice,unless the content creator has received notice from complainant that an action has been filed.

What counter-notice is needed?

Your web host sends you a take-down notice they received from a third party. Now what? Without delay, send a counter-notice to the web host’s designated agent that:

• has your signature;
• states that the content in question has been removed and disabled, along with the location where it was;
• states, “the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled”;
• includes your complete contact info and a statement that “the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriber’s address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection©(1)(C) or an agent of such person.”

If your content is taken down and you receive a take-down order, your recourse against your web host is limited.

Conclusion

If you provide content for others and are not a mere passive conduit, a web host or publisher, the DMCA may not provide protection for you from a lawsuit but it does provide a mechanism you must follow. Pay close attention to where your content is posted, hosted, and published. Look for the copyright agent registered with the Copyright Office. Follow the take-down notice specifics precisely, and do not let up until you get the proper response from your take-down notice.

The DMCA may be a tool to protect the web host and content publisher, but its effect may be to put a huge burden onto the shoulders of the content owner. If you are the content owner, knowledge of the DMCA will be an important tool in your arsenal.

By Gregory Rutchik

Common Causes for Windows Vista Crashes

Has your new Windows Vista system already started crashing? If yes, then it is important for you to know what causes system crashes and try to resolve or prevent them from happening. In this article, we are going to discuss some of the common causes of Vista crashes and how you can avoid them.

Registry problems are one of the main causes of several Windows Vista errors and system crashes. This is because the registry is a central hierarchal database repository that comprises all information related to hardware and software configuration, system setup, and user preferences. Now, whenever you install/uninstall applications, change system configuration, or perform any other activity such as browse the Web, open and create new files, and so on, information is accessed, added, or removed from the registry. In the process, quite often some unwanted information, such as outdated, incorrect and invalid entries make their way into the registry and unnecessarily corrupt, damage and fragment its files.

A damaged and fragmented registry, full of invalid and corrupt entries, tends to generate errors on your Vista system and cause frequent system freezes and crashes.

The best way to fix registry problems and restore the registry to a healthy state is by using a reliable and efficient Vista registry cleaner tool. This tool automates the process of scanning the registry for errors and repairing them. When you repair registry errors, many Vista errors, related to DLLs, drivers, and other system files are also fixed and your system is restored to a healthy state.

Registry cleaners also enable you to defrag the Vista registry. When you defrag the registry, the following things happen:

• All fragmented registry files are consolidated and reindexed, speeding up the time the registry takes to provide the required information to the programs and drivers accessing it. As a result, the performance of your Windows PC becomes better and the chances of Vista crashes are minimized.
• When you uninstall applications or when unwanted registry entries are removed when you repair the registry using the registry cleaner tool, deleted entries may leave behind their place holders or empty registry keys. These empty keys unnecessarily increase the size of the registry and make it unstable. Defragging the registry using a registry cleaner tool helps you in getting rid of these unwanted, empty entries and enables you to decrease the size of the registry.

Before you perform any registry repair task, you must make sure that you back up the Windows Vista registry first. This is possible by using your registry cleaner tool. Using the backup and restore option of a registry cleaner tool, you can both backup and restore the Vista registry with just a few mouse clicks.

Many Vista errors such as mci32 vista errors occur when programs installed on the Vista system need DLL files that are not shipped with the Vista operating system. If your system crashes or generates errors for such files, then to resolve the issue, you will first have to copy the missing DLL file to its location on the disk and then register it by running the “regsvr32 /i ” command.

3 Reasons Everyone Should Clean Their Windows Registry

Windows Vista Registry

Just like older Windows operating systems, the registry is an important component of the Windows Vista operating system. It is the central database in which your Vista operating system stores configuration information related to installed hardware and software. The registry also stores preferences of various users configured on your PC and the system setup information. Because the registry controls almost all functions that occur on your PC, the chances of registry errors are quite high.

Furthermore, because your operating system, hardware, and applications are dependent on the registry to carry out various activities, registry errors have a direct affect on the performance of your system and the way applications work on it. The top three problems caused by an unhealthy registry are discussed here.

Frequent System Errors

Overtime, a large number of unwanted data accumulates in the registry causing it to grow uncontrollably, making it cluttered and fragmented. A corrupted registry is unstable and generates frequent system errors, application errors, and causes system freezes and crashes.

To prevent these errors and system crashes, you need to regularly scan the registry for errors and get rid of all unwanted information stored in it. Doing this will help you maintain a compact and healthy registry and also prevent system errors.

Deteriorated System Performance

If you monitor the activity of your Windows Vista registry, you will see hundreds of entries being accessed, removed, and added to it within a short amount of time. Due to this constant addition and removal of information, registry files tend to get fragmented. Many times, when a key is removed, it leaves behind a place holder in the registry, which is actually an empty registry key and is of no use. These registry holes also unnecessarily contribute toward increasing registry size and making it unstable.

A fragmented and unstable registry deteriorates the performance of your Vista computer. Therefore, to speed up your PC, you need to regularly clean and defrag the Windows registry to maintain its contiguity and prevent it from growing too large.

Accumulation of Malicious Registry Keys

You know that all programs on your Vista PC have to access the registry to perform various operations. Well, the same goes with malware programs such as viruses, Trojans, spyware and adware too. If your PC is infected by any kind of malware, your registry is likely to be filled up with many malicious registry keys added by these programs. Although you may get rid of malware using antivirus and antispyware tools, a few registry keys may get left behind.

You can easily get rid of these left-behind malicious registry keys when you perform registry cleanup.

How Registry Cleaners Can Help

A large number of registry cleaner tools are available in the market today that you can use to perform registry fix and cleanup. Using a reliable registry cleaner tool you can:

• Scan and remove all unwanted information from the registry and ensure yourself an error-free PC.
• Defrag the registry to make the registry files contiguous and the registry compact, thereby reducing the data access time and boosting the performance of your PC.
• Perform a deep scan of the registry and weed out hidden malware registry keys.
• Make registry backups that you can use to restore the registry in case it fails.

To ensure that your PC is free from system errors and malware and is at its best performance, you should regularly clean your registry. The simplest and the most efficient method to do this is by using a registry cleaner utility.

CSS Controlled Web Design - Tables are for sitting at...

By now, most web designers are aware of the many benefits of using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to control the formatting and appearance of text elements within their web pages.
Indeed, if applied as outlined in one of my articles from 2006 ( CSS - Weight-Loss for your Code), Cascading Style Sheets can substantially cut down the amount of code needed to present a web page in a polished and professional manner.

What few designers realise however, is that CSS is capable of so much more than just handling a page's text formatting.

If used to its fullest capability, the Style Sheet is capable of controlling just about every aspect of page layout and presentation, even to the extent of replacing a Hyper-Text document's traditional table-based design structure.
Quite aside from saving the web developer a substantial amount of coding time, this approach also cuts down the amount of code needed to display a web page properly to an absolute minimum. So much so that in the recent redesign of one of our web sites, the use of CSS controlled HTML cut the average document size from 24kb to less than 5kb.

The key to designing CSS controlled web pages, rests in the use of DIV Tags and DIV IDs.

For example, a traditional table structure would look something like this:
Please note that angle brackets have been replaced by square brackets to display the following code correctly.

[table width="800" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"]
[tr]
[td width="560" align="left" class="one"][h1]Example Text[/h1][/td]
[td width="240" align="left" class="two"] [img xsrc="images/exampleimage.jpg" width="200" height="100" alt="Example Image"][/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

With CSS control, exactly the same look and feel can be achieved by the following two DIV Tags:

[div id="content"][h1]Example Text[/h1][/div]
[div id="image"][img xsrc="images/exampleimage.jpg" width="200" height="100" alt="Example Image"] [/div]

The DIV ID passes control of layout and appearance to the CSS, which handles it as follows:

#content {
position:absolute;
width: 560px;
height: 100px;
;top: 10px;
left: 100px;
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 12px;
font-weight: normal;
color: #000000;
background-color: #FFFFFF;
}

#image {
position:absolute;
width: 240px;
height: 100px;
top: 10px;
left: 660px;
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 12px;
font-weight: normal;
color: #000000;
background-color: #FFFFFF;
}

On the face of it, it may seem like this entails some extra work on the designer's part, but don't forget that at the same time as controlling the DIV Tag's position and appearance, the CSS also handles all text formatting, and that the above Style Sheet will only need to be written once in order to control an entire web site.
Then of course there is the fact that the above example is an immensely simple one. Imagine for a moment, the sheer amount of code which is saved by using CSS over the course of writing an in-depth web page.

The end result is an HTML document which has been stripped of all unnecessary code and is consequently extremely 'light-weight' and easily indexed by search engines.

Additionally, it is also possible to radically alter a page's appearance at the click of a button without ever changing any of its HTML code. This approach is very capably demonstrated at the CSS Zen Garden, where more information about the power of CSS controlled web design can be found.

Furthermore, like HTML, CSS is undergoing constant revisions and will doubtlessly grow to play an even more important part in web design during years to come. Therefore, now may be a good time to further acquaint yourself with the full functionality of this essential web design element.

How to Correctly Uninstall a Program

Although the front-end or the part of the Windows system you see is quite simple and user-friendly, the operating system is quite complicated behind the scenes. And, a simple error or mistake can cause severe damage to your PC. Therefore, it is important that in the process of enjoying the computing experience on your Windows computer, you take proper care of it. For instance, one of the most important tasks that many computer users fail to do is to use legitimate procedures to uninstall programs from their computers. This is a very important task, because whenever you install programs on your computer several files and registry entries are added. And if you fail to uninstall your application using the correct method, many orphan files, registry entries, and programs shortcuts may be left behind. This orphaned data unnecessarily clutters your computer, and eventually leads it toward frequent system errors, freezes, and crashes.

In this article, we are going to introduce you to the proper methods that you may use to uninstall programs from your computer and prevent uninstall errorsthat occur due to incorrect removal processes.

Method #1: Use Add or Remove Programs

Most of the programs, especially the ones installed using the Windows Installer utility, add an entry in the Add or Remove programs list. Therefore, when trying to uninstall programs, this is the first method that you must opt for.

For example, if you want to uninstall office 2007 or remove a Norton productfrom your computer, you may perform the following steps:

1. Open Start menu, and then select Control Panel.
2. In the Control Panel window, select the Add or Remove Programs link.
3. Scroll down the Currently installed programs list and select the option to uninstall Office 2007 or the Norton product you want to remove.
4. Next, select the Change/Remove button to uninstall the selected program.
5. Restart your system after the uninstallation process is complete to ensure that all registry entries and related programs are removed from the system.

Method# 2: Use Program Uninstaller

Although Add or Remove Programs is usually the most commonly used utility to uninstall programs, it is usually not efficient in performing a complete uninstallation, especially when you are trying to uninstall large applications such as Norton and Office 2007. This is the reason why separate uninstaller programs are available for these programs. For instance, you can download theWindows Installer CleanUp Utility and Norton removal tool on your computer to remove Office 2007 and Norton products from your computer.

Method #3: Use the Program Uninstall Option

Many programs do not add their uninstall option in Add or Remove Programs. The uninstall option for these programs is usually available in their program folder and a shortcut to it is usually added in the Start menu as UninstallProgram_Name. For instance, if you want to uninstall WinZip from your computer, open Start menu, point to All Programs, select WinZip and then select the Uninstall WinZip option.

Because programs add a number of files and registry entries, it is recommended that after you have uninstalled your program, you scan your registry and the hard disk for any left over information and remove it from the system. To remove unwanted and orphan entries from the registry, you may use a reliable registry cleaner tool to scan and remove these entries. Also, use the Disk Cleanup tool included in your Windows XP or Windows Vista computer to remove unwanted program files from the system.

How to Organize Email

People always want to know how I can possibly keep all of my group, business and personal email organized. This is another one of those things in life that I have learned slowly through trial and error. After a few embarrassing moments of posting personal emails to a public group, I set out to find a method that would keep everything straight for me. Remember high school when you were taking several classes? If you just threw everything into one big notebook without a method to organize it all, things could end up in a mess very rapidly. You probably used one big notebook with dividers to separate the classes or you may have even used separate notebooks for each individual class. This is similar to the method I use to organize my email accounts. To prevent posting personal mail to a group or posting to the wrong group, I set up a separate email account for each group that I am a member of. Each of my email addresses has a specific purpose and are used only for that purpose. This should also be done for your personal and business email accounts. Since most Yahoo Groups will not accept email from a different email address than you have listed for that specific group, this will help prevent embarrassing posting errors to the wrong group. Each of us has different personal preferences and email programs that we find the most effective. Most of these programs have various methods of customizing them in a manner that will keep things more organized. Take the time to read the help files for your specific program, or search Google for tutorials. If you learn how to organize email now, it will save countless hours of frustration later. I use Outlook 2003 to organize email. When I create each new email account in Outlook, I select an account name that will easily identify which group or topic the email address is associated with. The first thing I did once my email accounts were set up was to create a separate folder for every group that I belong to. I also set up separate folders for my business email and my personal email. This allowed me to easily make rules that sends each email to the appropriate folder, instead of spending countless hours sorting through my inbox. When you click on "View Screenshot" a new window will open to display the step. Create Folders to Help Organize Email Accounts STEP 1 Open Outlook. Right-hand click on "Personal Folders". Select "New Folder". view screenshot Step 2 Enter the name selected for the new folder. Click "OK". view screenshot Repeat this process for each folder you need to create. Set Up Email Rules STEP 1 In the Tools menu, select Rules and Alerts. view screenshot STEP 2 Click on the New Rule Button. view screenshot STEP 3 If it not already selected, click the circle in front of "Start creating a rule from a template" and then click on "Move a message sent to a distribution list to a folder". view screenshot STEP 4 Click on the underlined text for "people or distribution list”. view screenshot STEP 5 In the new box that opened during step 4, enter the email address you are creating the rule for, next to the "To" button. If you are creating this rule for a Yahoo group, I recommend selecting the email address of the actual group, rather than your own email address. When you click “ok” this box will close. Select "Next". view screenshot STEP 6 Place check mark by "move it to the specified folder" view screenshot STEP 7 Click on the underlined text "specified". This will cause a new box to open. view screenshot STEP 8 Scroll to the folder you created for this email address or group earlier. Select the appropriate folder by clicking on it and click on the OK button. This box will then close. view screenshot STEP 9 In the remaining window, click on the "Finish" button. view screenshot Repeat this process for each email account or individual folder you have created. Organize Your Signature for Each Email Account or Group STEP 1 In the "Tools" menu select "Options". view screenshot STEP 2 If you are setting up this account for a group it is always best to use plain text for email. This will prevent strange formatting in your signature. Use the arrow down button to select the "plain text" option. view screenshot STEP 3 In the same small window, click on the "Signatures" button. A small window will open. view screenshot STEP 4 Click on the "New" button. A small window will open. view screenshot STEP 5 Enter a name for the new signature. I select the name of the signature based on the information of the signature, or the group. Make sure there is a mark in front of "Start with a blank signature" and click next. view screenshot STEP 6 Enter the text for your signature. If you are adding a link, make sure to include the http:// in front of the URL so that it will be a clickable link in your emails. Click on the "Finish" button. This small window will close. view screenshot STEP 7 In the remaining box click on the "OK" button. view screenshot STEP 8 In the small window that remains, you can select which email signature you want used for each of your accounts. Since I use a variety of signatures in each of my groups I selected "none". This allows me choose which signature I need, based on the content of the email. Once you have made your selection, click "OK". view screenshot Repeat this process for each signature you would like to use. Inserting Your Signature in Emails STEP 1 When you have completed your email, place the cursor where you would like to insert the signature. In the "insert" menu, select "Signature". Click on the specific signature you would like to use for this email. Hopefully you named each signature in a way that will make it easy for you to identify the content of each signature. view screenshot You can also use this method to organize responses you add to emails frequently. Anything I need to add to an email frequently, I make a signature for it. Final Notes on How to Organize Email Computer Basics offers additional tips and various tutorials on how to organize email using a variety of email programs. Over time, you will discover which techniques work best for your specific situation. The methods I have described to you makes it possible for me to keep track of the emails from more than 30 accounts. Using these techniques, I can be assured that I will never miss an important business email buried within the mass of other unrelated messages. I WILL SEE YOU AT THE TOP!