A guide of Windows XP optimization

Most likely, the main reason your system is dragging the ground is because of all the junk that runs in the background that you don't see. These are applications you may have installed over time. To optimize the startup process you should follow the following steps. You can free up hard drive space by deleting files and applications you don't use often. Running scandisk and Defragment are crucial to pc preformance. And try third party memory management programs. Running scandisk will find and attempt to correct errors on your hard drive. System Defragment will free up hard drive space by re-arranging files in an orderly manner. This allows the CPU to find files much faster and not have to roam all over the hard drive to load files into memory. Windows operating system have a utility named Msconfig that can display programs that bootup and instantly run on your computer. To start Msconfig, select Start - Run, and type "msconfig" in the Run dialog box. Msconfig does not show all programs running in the background however. If you have Windows XP as your operating system, try to delete all files in the prefetch directory. Windows XP Professional monitors files that are used when the computer starts and when you start programs. When Windows XP Professional monitors these files, it prefetches them. Prefetching data is the process whereby data that is expected to be requested is read ahead into the cache. Prefetching boot files and applications decreases the time needed to start Windows XP Professional and start applications. Try to check to see if your computer and the CPU Chip are not overheating. Excessive heat will cause your system to perform much closer. Make sure your computer is well ventilated A free evaluation copy of RAM Booster Expert can be found at: http://www.bodrag.com/ram-booster.html

SharePoint 2007 - Office 2007 Solutions: Encodex Technologies

Portland, Oregon 1 Aug, 2006: Encodex Technologies, A Microsoft Gold Certified Partner is a Global Software Development and Information Technology outsourcing company, providing offshore outsourcing solutions to enterprises worldwide. Encodex technologies team members are constantly upgrading their technology platform. With the release of Office SharePoint Designer 2007, Encodex can deliver compelling and highly integrated SharePoint web portals and deliver workflow-enabled applications and reporting tools on the SharePoint 2007 platform.. “With the availability of the next generation of Microsoft SharePoint and Office Technologies we will develop more applications to manage business processes and the work of dispersed teams. These Knowledge Management Applications build on SharePoint Portal 2007 can store extensive information that is needed to generate reports in a variety of flexible ways. We ensure that all our customers will be benefited by adapting to this technology.” Arun Joshi, CEO, Encodex Technologies India. Encodex, because of its GOLD Partner Status, got early access to the beta version of SharePoint 2007 and Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 . "We enjoyed a new level of support for creating and customizing next-generation SharePoint Web sites and technologies. Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 has deep editing support for the technologies underlying Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services technology, such as ASP.NET 2.0, cascading style sheets, and Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation Office SharePoint Designer 2007 supports creating and editing ASP.NET pages. It provides the same level of support as Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 for ASP.NET such as control hosting, property editing, toolbox, and Microsoft IntelliSense technology in Code View. This is certainly going to be the most important tool in our future development ". Prashant Pawar, Director of Engineering, Encodex Technologies India. About Encodex Technologies: Encodex provides software development and information technology outsourcing solutions to enterprises worldwide. Our winning outsourcing model can help the clients leverage high-quality offshore software engineering and programming talent. Our software development center in India is state-of-the-art. For more detailed information, feel free to visit the website at www.endoexindia.com

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Unlocking the Mysteries of 'Svchost.exe'

Svchost.exe can, and usually does, run several instances of itself at any given time, each instance running several associated services. How do you find out what these "services" are? More…

Test Your Computer's Vista-Compatibility

Microsoft has a Band-Aid solution for people who want to know whether their Windows XP-based PCs can run Vista: the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor RC Release, which can be found at the URL below. Upgrade Advisor is a small tool that scans your computer, reports any compatibility problems, and recommends ways to fix them. More…

What To Do When Windows Won't Boot

When Windows fails to boot it is normally caused by you installing a program or device and it has caused a conflict with one or more other programs.
This will no doubt give you plenty of heartaches if you're not certain which program caused Windows to not boot up.
If you recently installed a program or application and know where it was installed,you may be in much better shape as for as correcting the error.
Here are common ways to correct the problem of your computer not completely booting up or not booting up at all.
If your computer will not boot-up at all,hopefully you have made a good emergency boot disk. You can always make a windows startup disk by creating one from another computer running Windows 98 or Me.Perform the following if your computer won't Boot-Up At All.
FIRST......Put your boot floppy disk in the floppy drive and turn on the PC.On some computers, you may have to access the bios and select the Boot priority to your A: drive.
Save any changes and select "Start Computer without CDROM support" and press Enter.Once you are at the A prompt,type dir c: and press enter.
If your programs and other files are present,try restoring your system Registry by following the steps below.This may repair Windows,the Config. Sys and autoexec.bat files to where the PC may boot up normally.When the files are present,its a good indication of a good hard drive.
SECOND......To correct the problem of your computer not booting up,type in "fdisk /mbr" and press Enter to restore your master boot record.Type "Scandisk C:" to check the hard drive for errors that have occurred. You can also type "Sys C:" to hopefully restore files needed to boot up your computer.
THIRD......If the above procedures fail to repair your computer,you can repeat the first part of step one above and select "Start Computer With CDROM Support" re-install Windows.
Making A Windows XP Bootable Floppy
Windows XP users should create a boot disk now by placing a formatted blank diskette in the A: drive, open Windows Explorer to the C:,select Tools,Folder Options ,show Hidden files and and folders,then View Tab.
Now you uncheck "Hide Protected Operating System Files (recommended).You will see a warning and click Yes and click OK.Copy the files ntldr,ntdetect.com and boot.ini onto the disk.Remove the disk and label it the Windows XP Boot Disk.
After making your boot disk,recheck "Hide protected operating system files and folders (recommended)" in the Folder Options dialog box.
To use the disk when Windows XP won't boot,place the disk in the drive,and then re-boot,the computer, Windows simply bypass the basic boot files on the hard drive and continue to boot up.
If The PC Won't Boot Pass Windows
FIRST......If your Operating System is Windows Millennium,turn on the computer and immediately press and hold down the CTRL key.Once the startup options appear,release the CTRL key. Select Safe Mode and press Enter.You are now in Windows limited version.If you know what caused your computer not to boot,you can now either change or delete that program.
SECOND....Repair your Registry by selecting Start,Run and typing "scanregw /fix" and press enter.This will fix any damage done to the Registry. You can also restore your registry which replaces your current registry with an earlier copy that was backed up by your computer.Click on Start,Run and type "scanregw /restore and press Enter.
To repair your Windows 98 Registry,hold down the CTRL key as you start the PC and select "Command Prompt Only".Type "scanreg /fix" and press Enter and "scanreg/restore" to restore a previousely saved copy of the Registry.
If you have Windows XP,press F8 after rebooting the PC should Windows freeze while booting up. You can select "Last Known Good Configuration" after rebooting to allow the computer to boot the last backed up files.And you can choose "Safe Mode" to remove any files you know caused the operating system to hang up.
Be prepared when your operating system fail. It would be a great idea to go over this article a few times and print it.Make yourself s notebook and place this and all related articles there.
If your computer fails to boot or begins to become unstable,you can refer to these articles to make corrections that are needed.Learn these steps from your television set with the PC Super Pack at http://www.ultimatepcrepair.com
Be sure to note any changes you make to your Registry and if you're not sure,its best to find a friend that's pc savvy first.Above all,be certain you back up your registry before making any changes and know how to restore as well.
About The Author
Otis F. Cooper is solely dedicated to boosting the knowledge and confidence of every computer user that is serious about knowing computers.Use his informative articles and videos to understand every aspect about the PC. Read more about his formula for pc training at http://www.ultimatepcrepair.com
allaboutpc@juno.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Otis_F_Cooper

How to Make Money with Adobe Photoshop

You probably already know that Adobe Photoshop is great for making your digital and online pictures look more professional. But do you know how to make money with photoshop? Learn how to use photoshop to make a profit.
Any photoshop tutorial will tell you how to edit your images, how to add attractive framing and borders, and how
to work with layers and masks to give your images that perfect professional look. What standard tutorials don’t tell you is that you can actually use photoshop to generate some personal income. How to make money with photoshop is one of the best-kept secrets that adobe photoshop tutorials won’t teach you.
Have you ever heard of a photoshop freelancer? Once you hear about freelancing with photoshop once, you’ll start to notice references and resources for photoshop freelancers all over the web. Not mentioned in photoshop tips and tutorials, many photoshop freelancers have learned how to make money with photoshop – and now you can, too.
Graphic design is one of the hottest new trends in the online market. As web site competition heats up, everyone is looking for their own personalized graphics and logos for web pages, and this is how photoshop freelancers make their money. Because there is a huge demand for unique, stylized graphics and logos, adobe photoshop has suddenly become a viable money-making tool for those interested in doing a little freelancing. Logo design is very much in need by corporations and companies looking to personalize their web pages and set themselves apart from other businesses and web sites. Graphics that look great online are very much in need, and photoshop is the perfect tool for create logos that businesses will love.
A photoshop freelancer can find plenty of work on the web, where very few people know the ins and outs of graphic design. Even those who know how to use photoshop often don’t know how to use photoshop to its full potential despite the amount of tutorials they may take. Someone who can create unique logos and images using photoshop can find a new career path open to them by using their skills to become a photoshop freelancer. This can be a highly lucrative choice in today’s highly modernized world, where so much is happening in the online world. Adobe photoshop is not only great for improving your digital images, but can also open a new door in your freelancing career. Graphic designers, and those who know how to use photoshop well, are always highly in demand.
It’s an aspect of using photoshop that tutorials won’t teach you, no matter how many adobe photoshop tutorials you may take. But now that you’ve heard about freelancing with photoshop, you’ll find much more information on the Internet than you ever knew existed about this exciting career path. Photoshop, an easy software package to use, can turn anyone into a photoshop freelancer and experienced graphic designer. Though it may not be mentioned in photoshop tips, it is one aspect of adobe photoshop that some freelancers have learned to use to the fullest advantage.
It doesn’t end with logo design, either. Photoshop freelancers may be called upon to polish web site images or pictures taken by digital camera. Many businesses
like to post real pictures on their web sites, and the services of a photoshop freelancer can be used to make those pictures look great. The skills of a photoshop freelancer are needed all over the web, and you’ll find many opportunities to put your photoshop skills to good use.
Freelancing can be your key to self employment, and you’ll find that you can turn a quick profit by doing a little photoshop freelancing. When your skills can be used by many businesses and web sites on the Internet, why not share your knowledge and benefit a little from your photoshop expertise? Working for yourself can be a very enjoyable and financially beneficial experience, and all you need is a working knowledge of adobe photoshop to get your foot in the door of this career path.
You’ll find many resources for photoshop freelancers on the web. Everything from adobe photoshop tutorials and tips, to discussion pages, chat rooms, and forums are available to help you perfect your photoshop skills.
This article was written by Kevin M. Sugrue the creator of FreePhotoshopZone.com! Free Photoshop Zone offers free photoshop tutorials and free photoshop articles! To visit our site go to http://www.freephotoshopzone.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_M._Sugrue

Shopping Cart Software - 5 Popular Choices to Consider

Shopping cart software is a key ingredient for any web-based business wanting to make direct sales through a website. But with so many choices out there, where do you even begin to shop?
The purpose of this article is to present to you five of the most popular shopping cart software. This article is a good starting point from which you can learn more about these (and other) shopping cart software packages. For each software, I will also list a website where you can learn about that particular product.
This is Not a Promotion or EndorsementPlease note: I am not promoting or endorsing any of the software products that follow. I am simply presenting some of the industry-leading applications for your further research and consideration. This article is meant to educate, not persuade or promote.
With that said, here are five of the most popular shopping cart software applications.
ShopSite Pro 7.0ShopSite is described by its manufacturers as "an electronic commerce software for the small to medium-sized business." This software is top-rated by many software authority publications. With ShopSite, there is no HTML to learn, making the product accessible and usable to a large number of website owners.
This latest version of ShopSite Pro also adds some new customer intelligence features. Here's how the company describes it in a recent press release:
"The new ShopSite Pro 7.0 software introduces the ability to manage customer registration. With ShopSite, an Internet store will remember the customer, including their preferred forms of payment and any previous 'ship to' addresses."
* Where to learn more: www.shopsite.com
MerchandiZer ProThis popular software won the silver award for shopping cart software at TopTenReviews.com. The manufacturer says their product allows webmasters to "quickly and inexpensively build a secure storefront to merchandise their products, take orders online, process payments, and distribute products over the World Wide Web."
One particular feature that makes it stand out is that customers can review their orders in detail prior to submitting the order. There's also a useful login page for customers that gives them the power to view their order history and update their personal details.
* Where to learn more: www.merchandizer.com
Monster Commerce ProThis server-based shopping cart software won the bronze award for its class at TopTenReviews.com. Because the tool is server-based, there is nothing to download or install. This is a big plus for site owners without advanced technical knowledge.
The manufacturer says their product "enables clients to cost-effectively deploy powerful ecommerce stores while avoiding the expensive, time-consuming development process."
* Where to learn more: www.monstercommerce.com
StoreFront 6 AE StoreFront needs to be run in conjunction with Dreamweaver or FrontPage (at the time of this writing). So if you use either of those programs regularly, this tool might be worth a look. This shopping cart software also offers some nice relationship-building features. For example, you can set up price groups and assign individual customers to certain price groups (for incentive programs, customer loyalty programs and the like).
This software is sold by LaGarde, Inc., who describes StoreFront 6 as a "secure, feature-rich ... e-commerce shopping cart solution for multi-channel online sales, featuring integration with leading Accounting, Point of Sale, and Fulfillment systems..."
* Where to learn more: www.storefront.net
Mercantec SoftcartMercantec Softcart is also a server-based shopping cart software. There's nothing to download or install, and you can access your account from anywhere through a regular Internet browser. This tool offers some nice reporting features, allowing you to generate a variety of reports configured the way you want them.
* Where to learn more: www.mercantec.com
Copyright 2006, Brandon Cornett. You may republish this article if you retain the byline, author's note, and the active hyperlinks.
About the AuthorBrandon Cornett manages the Software Learning Center, a holy shrine for software geeks looking for independent software reviews and articles. Online at: http://www.LearnAboutSoftware.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brandon_R._Cornett

Improve The Performance Of Your MySQL Server

MySQL is a rock solid, lighting fast database server which has been designed for two factors speed and performance. It is the Ferrari of databases: Light weight, fast and Built for the high speed tracks!
I still hear an awful lot of stories from owners whose databases are running two slow. In my experience, the three main places to look for problems are:
1. Faulty Database Design2. Bad Queries3. Server factors
Faulty Database Design
Proper database design is the single most important factor for the ensuring performance and maintainability of the database. Here is what you need to answer when designing a table: Can I reduce the size of data that each row will have? Here is what you can do:
1. Use unsigned numeric values when the application will not store negative numbers. Like the “quantity ordered” of an item in an ecommerce application is never going to be -$125.
2. Use Variable length values instead of fixed length value i.e. used varchar instead of char.
3. Do not use unnecessarily large field sizes. For most ecommerce application “unsigned smallint” is more than enough to store inventory count. A field described as “unsigned smallint” can store a max value of 65535.
4. Don’t ignore normalization; its helps prevent unnecessary repetition of data. The part B of this is, don’t overuse normalization. If the table will not grow in size significantly, there is no point in normalization. For example, if the user table has just 20 rows (i.e. 20 employees in a company), all attempts of normalization are wasted.
5. Use Keys. Don’t decide keys by “The customer id has to be indexed in the order table”. If the order table is being searched 90% of the times by “order date”, it makes more sense to index “order date”.
Remember, how a table will be used should determine how it is designed. Spending time here will save years of frustration.
Bad Queries
It sounds too good to be true but you wont believe the number of developers out there who completely suck at writing queries. There are two types of bad queries:
a) Unnecessary Queries: These are the queries that shouldn’t have been made in the first place. The only way to avoid this is asking, “Do I really need this data?”
b) Inefficient Queries: These are the queries that do not use the underlying table structure or MySQL functions in the correct way.
Here is a starting point to start looking at problem areas:
1. Unnecessary usage of “Select * “statements when the entire processing is being done on a single column. The more data is fetched from the server the more work MySQL has to do and more bandwidth it takes.
2. Using sub-query instead of a join. On a properly designed database, joins are incredibly fast. Using sub-queries just shows a lack of knowledge.
3. Improper use of Keys. This is especially valid for range checks. Remember to use the “Explain” statement to check the usage of keys and then use the “use key” statement in your “where” clauses to force key usage.
Server Factors
Everything done correctly, there still may be some server factors that may be causing the system to be slow. These are:
1. Hardware related2. Server configuration related
Here is what you can do about the hardware:
1. The more RAM is on the system the better it is. MySQL frequently fetches data from the RAM and more the RAM is on the system, the better it is.
2. Buy the fastest possible RAM! A slower RAM is just irony.
3. Once you are settled with the RAM size and speed, look for processing speed. MySQL can use multiple processors.
Once you are satisfied with the hardware, there are a set of variables in “my.cnf” that you must look at:
a) key_buffer_size: This describes the memory available to store the index keys. The default is 8 MB but you can set it to 25% of the RAM.
b) query_cache_size: This value is by default 0. if you have a lot of repeating queries like in reporting applications etc, make sure you set this value high.
c) table_open_cache: This determines the number of table descriptors that MySQL will keep in the cache. The default value is 64. But, if you have 100 users accessing a table concurrently then this value should atleast be 100. You also have to take into considerations joins etc. Thus, this value should also be kept high.
I hope this article will take one step further in unlocking the mystery of slow servers and help solve some of the problems.
Mukul Gupta is the CMO of Indus Net Technologies, an India based Internet Consulting firm which specializes in Opensource solutions. You can reach him at script@script2please.com or visit www.script2please.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mukul_Gupta

XSitePro Review: Full of Features and Ready to Grow

In this XSitePro review, we found that XSitePro is gaining an ever larger market share when it comes to website building products. Of course, when a product is found to be taking off as is XSitePro, people wonder what the cause of the interest and market share increase actually is at a given point in time.
There are two significant reasons why XSitePro continues to gain in the website building marketplace -- even at a time when many Internet marketers are cutting back on their software purchases.
We found that two of the primary reasons why XSitePro was gaining in the market were the fact that XSitePro is full of features and, further, because XSitePro is designed to work with you as your business and your website grows and develops.
When it comes to the features, XSitePro includes a good selection of professional templates that are attractive and appealing. In addition, XSitePro includes easy to use site layout tools, including those to assist an Internet marketer in creating and developing the perfect homepage layout for any imaginable business venture.
XSitePro allows a person interested in developing a website the ability to automatically do things that otherwise would have to have been done manually. For example, XSitePro allows a user the ability to do content formatting, sitemap creation, navigation menus and even keyword editing automatically. These are all tasks that traditionally had to be done manually by a person who was creating a website.
Beyond containing a comprehensive set of tools and applications, it is also apparent that XSitePro is a product that has been created for the long term. By this it is meant that XSitePro has tools and applications that are necessary to allow a person the ability to adapt and change an Internet website over time.
Many website building programs are static and simply do not allow a person the ability to alter and change a website appropriately over time. Understanding this, XSitePro breaks that mold. XSitePro is a website building software program that grows with an Internet business enterprise and that can help an Internet businss venture adapt and change adequately with the times and with the market.
Visit XsitePro Reviews today and see just how easy it can be to build your own website. While you're there be sure to pick up your free copy of Search Engine Optimization Made Easy ebook.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jas_Smith