Things about computing, the web or just things

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Supercharge your PC’s Internet Browsing Speed

Getting on the Internet is usually an everyday experience. We will no longer tolerate dial up seed connections that are sluggish. Nevertheless, numerous people are stuck dealing with constant slowdowns and big breaks in the way their computer functions owing to many different difficulties with their PC. No more do we tolerate dial up speed connections or sluggish operations from our browsers. Nevertheless, a number of people are stuck coping with constant slow down and breaks in operations of their computers as a result number of difficulties with their PC.

However, it's not necessary to endure the slow under-performing speed of your Internet browser. You will be able to speed it up and prevent your machine from locking out each and every time you attempt to load videos. Here are a few fast and simple speed boosting tips:

Clean out Your Cache Daily

Your PC keeps local copies of a large number of files that may slowly start to develop and utilize space on your hard drive. One of the most telling of these temporary files would be the ones inside your web browser’s cache. The most effective way to process them is to get rid of them for nearly all browsers and doing so will help you to increase your browsing significantly.

You will find there's a catch though. In the event you delete the cache daily, you'll find sites which will seem to load slower. The reason being your PC will not have the ability to make use of the cached files to pre load a web page, something which most contemporary browsers do today to quicken things.

Select a Faster Browser

Let’s face the facts – Internet Explorer just isn't the ideal solution anymore. The outdated, bulky old browser is slow, filled with unwanted fluff and does not work very well on most style sites. So, opt for something faster. The most effective bet for all around usefulness is FireFox. However, you will discover that Google Chrome and Opera are both faster browsers. The only issue with the two latter is they do not really work as well for everything as they aren't as well developed or supported as FireFox.

Install Protective Software

Adding some protective applications on your PC can perform wonders. Use a firewall, in addition to some simple virus protection and ad ware protection. You can get free versions of all three on the Internet easily or else you can choose more costly suites of software. However, the latter may become bulky and slow your PC down more with its excessive operations.

The final outcome here is you will want something to prevent you from visiting sites packed with mal-ware and viruses also to live from getting bogged down by outside operations. A variety of unwanted, outside interlopers can severely slow down your progress if you're not careful, which could become a significant strain on your own computing power.

For proper care of your PC and the web browsing software you utilize on it, you ought to rarely, if ever notice the type of slow down that currently plagues you each time you attempt to check your email or read the news. Be sure to update often, continue to keep protective software active, and don’t visit sites that aren't familiar or checked by a 3rd party program.

Be sure to update often, continue to keep protective software active, and don’t visit sites that aren't familiar or checked by a 3rd party program.

www.computerrepairplus.com

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Selecting Editing Software

When you are about to engage in video editing, you must answer this question first – What do you want to do? There are so many video editing tasks but you can’t possibly do everything unless you’re a pro. Most of today’s videographers prefer to do certain editing tasks but not all of them. So when choosing the best software, you must consider the things that you’re planning to do; this is the only way of getting the best software for you to work with.

It’s ordinary to see a lot of attractive promos when you’re shopping for the best software, online and offline. There are even programs that come with a free camcorder; don’t be fooled by these things. Stick to your needs and get the appropriate software if you want to end up with a software program that’s useful.

Firstly, you need to look at the format. What is the format that you’re currently working on? Do you want to create a final video or movie of the same format? The input is largely determined by the material you’re using – a DVD recorder, camcorder, etc. The input may be standard definition or high definition. The output can be in DVD wherein MPEG2 files are written on the DVD, in HDD, Blue Ray Disc, handheld devices, computer viewing, and many other formats.

Focus on the source of your files because the output will be mostly of the same format. Choose software that ensures ease of work with the particular input format so that you will not encounter any difficulty.

Sellers of various software programs see to it that their products are ‘attractive’ to the eyes of customers. Even if the program is not what you want, the seller can make it something that you want and so you’re tempted to purchase the program.

The next thing that you need to consider is transition. When a scene changes, you should insert transitions between the clips. Transitions can be straight cut or cross fade and there are still others that you can use. You see, each software program usually offers about 50 different transitions.

Overlay tracks is another great feature of editing software programs. You can see this effect on movies and TV shows. A very good example is the news wherein you can see the station logo, tape readout, and a video of the reporter on a particular scene. Controlling the overlay tracks is important so that you won’t make a mess on the video output.

The audio control feature is limited in most consumer video editing programs. Just as the word suggests, the software is used mostly for editing videos and not audio. If you want to have maximum audio control, get advanced software packages used by pros.

DVD authoring is another feature that attracts videographers. You can use this if you have high definition materials. Make sure that it provides 10-20 menu templates for full customization.

Rendering is one of the most important features. The file is not finished until you render it; all the changes you’ve made on the video material are virtual. After rendering, the final video material is saved in viewing format.

Still looking for the best software in video editing? Focus on your needs and wants. If you know the video editing tasks that you’re about to do, then you can easily purchase the right software.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Computers and Video Editing

Computers and Video Editing

Many years ago, it would have been impossible to edit videos at home because it can only be done in exclusive editor suites. But now, things are quite different. If you have a desktop computer with enough disk space, CPU power, and FireWire or USB port, you can now edit cherished videos to create good quality videos with all the effects you see in modern professional movies.

When you’re editing videos, huge CPU power is being used as you move lots of data to and from the disk. Having a fast machine allows you to write and render in a few minutes but if you’re using a slow computer, the task will take several hours.

If you’re doing a lot of writing and rendering files, Pentium Quad Core computers are great or even a Mac model with a minimum 2GB of RAM (Random Access Memory). Pentium 3 machines can handle data stream but when you’re using other applications, the video editing software will not function.

In order to edit videos, you must also choose good quality software. If you have Windows XP, there is already built-in software that lets you edit raw footages. The same thing is true with Apple computers.

Why is it that many video editors use Adobe Premier? The reason why many people use Adobe is because it provides free demo versions and it can be used on Macs and PCs. Adobe’s software is also well respected and full featured so you can do various editing tasks. If you don’t want to spend money on new editing software, you can always use the WMM (Windows Movie Maker) and IMovie.

Aside from the CPU, RAM is another crucial element in video editing with computers. Even if the CPU is fast, the machine will still remain sluggish without enough RAM. The recommended minimum RAM is 2GB although most new computers come with only 1GB. So if you’re using 2GB of RAM, you can browse and use more than two files with ease. Here’s a good example. When the CPU needs a file, the file will be delivered to the RAM from the hard disk for greater speed manipulation. If another file is requested, you can get both files successively. Now this is possible only if you’re using enough RAM but if you’re using less than 2GB, the computer will work slower.

If you currently have 1GB, add more especially if you plan to do a lot of video editing tasks. You must be aware that Windows XP requires 1GB (RAM) and when you load other applications, it will need additional RAM to remain fast and responsive. For starters, you can settle with 1GB or if you want to invest more on video editing, you can increase the RAM to 2GB or even 4GB providing your computer will allow the 4GB upgrade. Check the specifications to see if it will. Make sure that you get the appropriate RAM for your computer’s motherboard. Check with the manufacturer or a certified technician.

Happy editing and good luck

Monday, January 4, 2010

What are Botnets?

What are Botnets?
"A botnet is comparable to compulsory military service for windows boxes" - Stromberg (http://project.honeynet.org/papers/bots/)

Botnets are networks of computers that hackers have infected and grouped together under their control to propagate viruses, send illegal spam, and carry out attacks that cause web sites to crash.

What makes botnets exceedingly bad is the difficulty in tracing them back to their creators as well as the ever-increasing use of them in extortion schemes. How are they used in extortion schemes? Imagine someone sending you messages to either pay up or see your web site crash. This scenario is starting to replay itself over and over again.

Botnets can consist of thousands of compromised machines. With such a large network, botnets can use Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) as a method to cause mayhem and chaos. For example a small botnet with only 500 bots can bring corporate web sites to their knees by using the combined bandwidth of all the computers to overwhelm corporate systems and thereby cause the web site to appear offline.

Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service on January 19, 2006, quotes Kevin Hogan, senior manager for Symantec Security Response, in his article "Botnets shrinking in size, harder to trace", Hogan says "extortion schemes have emerged backed by the muscle of botnets, and hackers are also renting the use of armadas of computers for illegal purposes through advertisements on the Web."

One well-known technique to combat Botnets is a honey pot. Honeypots help discover how attackers infiltrate systems. A Honeypot is essentially a set of resources that one intends to be compromised in order to study how the hackers break the system. Unpatched Windows 2000 or XP machines make great honeypots given the ease with which one can take over such systems.
A great site to read up on this topic more is The Honeynet Project (http://project.honeynet.org) which describes its own site's objective as "To learn the tools, tactics and motives involved in computer and network attacks, and share the lessons learned."