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speed Up HTTP Requests On Internet Explorer

To comply with current Internet standards, Internet Explorer limits the number of simultaneous downloads to two downloads, plus one queued download. This configuration is a function of the browser. However, as connection speeds increase, and the number of total connections that are allowed to Internet servers increase, the two-connection limit may be restrictive.

Please Note: Changing the maximum number of connections beyond two is a violation of Internet standards; use at your own risk!

To increase the number of simultaneous connections that are allowed, follow these steps:

1. Start the Registry Editor
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Internet Settings
3. Select New > DWORD Value from the Edit menu
4. Name the new value MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server
5. Right-click the MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server value and choose Modify
6. Under Base, click the radio button next to Decimal
7. In the Value Data: box enter the number of simultaneous connections you want to set (for example 10 is a good value), and 8. click OK
9. Repeat steps 3 - 7 using the new value MaxConnectionsPerServer
10. Exit the registry editor

Visit



http://blogs.msdn.com/nickmac/archive/2004/08/25/220001.aspx

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Moving and removing Start button

Operating System = Windows 95 Only
Annoyance level = Medium
Damage Level = 0/5

The Objective
The objective is to move the Start button around on the task bar, or to remove it completely from the taskbar.

The Steps
Click twice on the Start button so it has the dotted line around it.
Then press the "Alt" and the "-" keys simultaneously.
This will bring up the option box that allows you to move or close the Start button. If you choose move, you will have to use the arrow keys to move it around the taskbar.

NOTE: Moving it doesn't stay if you move the entire start bar with your mouse, and ending task on explorer.exe or rebooting will put it back in the corner.

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Partitioning HardDisk

Partitioning involves creating logical units on your hard drive that are then addressed as different drive letters. Not only does it help to organize your data (program files on one drive, games on another, documents on another) but also to speed up your PC. This is so because the drive head has to move a lesser distance for accessing data within one partition. You can also have different filesystems and OSs on the same hard drive.

Partitioning can be done using ‘fdisk’ in DOS/Windows 9x or ‘disk management’ in Windows 2000/ NT/XP. We will describe the procedure for fdisk, since disk management is GUI driven and the basics otherwise remain the same. While several other commercial packages like Partition Magic are available, these utilities (fdisk, computer management) are bundled with their respective OSs. You need a bootable floppy with fdisk.exe, format.com, and sys. com utilities. Before starting, decide how many partitions you want to create and their sizes. You can create one primary and one extended partition using the DOS fdisk. The extended partition can then have multiple logical partitions. Boot your machine using the bootable disk, and do the following.

Run fdisk. The utility will show you a numbered menu from where you can create, view, or delete partitions
The utility first asks you whether you want to enable large disk support. Type Y (for yes) and press enter if your hard-drive capacity is more than 4 GB. Large disk support creates a FAT32 partition, which can be greater than 2 GB
Select the first option from fdisk menu to create a primary partition. Specify the partition size in megabytes or percentage size when prompted for it
Similarly, create an extended partition. Extended partitions by themselves do not appear as drive letters. Instead, logical partitions must be created in them, which are then assigned drive letters
Exit fdisk and reboot the computer
Fdisk automatically assigns drive letters to all the partitions. You’ll need to format each partition in order to use it. Use format.com for the same
Your hard drive is now ready for taking an OS.

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Speed Up A Slow Computer

First off in the bottom right hand corner of your computer if you see alot of icons start up there when you first start your computer then this is for you if you dont know already how to get rid of em.

Press your Start Button (bottom left) and go to "run"
now type in: msconfig
now you will get a box that pops up and will tell you bunch of stuff dont mess with anything else other than what I tell you otherwise you could do something really bad (possible) go to your "startup" tab on the top right of the screen where it usually is and click it.

Now you will have a closed in box with bunch of filenames n addresses and more boxes with checks in them. Now if your like me you dont want anything startin up when you start you computer up or while your even doing anything cause it slows you down. Now unless your like me right now 1 have 1 thing starting up when my computer starts up and thats my settin for my overclocked vid card. But other than that uncheck every box and then hit apply and ok. Then window you were jus in will now close and ask you if you want to restart or wait till later to restart.

Either way when you shut it off and then turn it back on the settins will kick in

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Get Top Rank For websites

The tutorial is all about getting your site listed on top in Search Engines i.e Search Engine Optimization

First thing you need to do is find the keywords you want to optimize for.

There is great tool by Overture (/http://inventory.overture.com/d/sea...ory/suggestion/)

But I would suggest using this free tool called GoodKeywords (/http://www.goodkeywords.com/products/gkw/)

This one does the same job as Overture does but it also supports other Search Engines (Lycos and Teoma etc..)

For example if you want to optimize for the keyword "tech news", just search for the keyword in any of the tools specified above... It would show you keywords related to that and not of the searches..

Pick the keywords which are related to your site.

For example when you search for "Tech News" you'll see the following results:

Count Search Term
11770 tech news
351 itt news tech
191 high tech news
60 news tech texas
49 computer tech news
42 bio news tech
34 in itt news tech
30 news tech virginia
29 asia news tech
25 hi tech news
25 sci tech news

Now see what other terms are related to your keyword technology news

Do couple of searches like that and note down around 15-20 keywords.
Then, keep the keywords which are searched most on the top.

Now you need Title Tag for the page.

Title tag should include top 3 keywords, like for "tech news" it can be like :

"Latest Tech News, Information Technology News and Other computer raleted news here."

Remember that characters should not be more than 95 and should not have more than 3 "," commas - some search engines might cosider more than 3 commas as spam

Now move on to Meta Tags

You need following Meta Tags in web page







No need to have other meta tags like abstract, re-visit and all, most people dont read it.

Now...



This tag is tells content type is html and character set used it iso-8859-1 there are other character sets also but this is the one mosty used..



This one should have all your keywords inside starting from keyword with most counts...

keyword tag for our example would be something like :



Remember to put around 15-20 keywords max not more than that. Dont repeat keywords or dont put keywords like, "tech news", "info tech news", "latest tech news" and so on...



Provide short decription about your site and include all the keywords mentioned in the title tag.

Decription tag should be:



It can be upto 255 characters and avoid using more than 3 "," commas



This is used for search robots..following explanation will help you :

index,follow = index the page as well as follow the links
noindex,follow = dont index the page but follow the links
index,nofollow = index the page but dont follow the links
noindex,nofollow = dont index page, dont follow the links
all = same as index,follow
none = same as noindex,nofollow

Now move on to body part of the page

Include all top 3 keywords here,
I would suggest to break the keyword and use it...

For example

YourSiteName.com one stop for all kind of Latest Tech News and Computer Related information and reviews.................

Include main keywords in tags

etc..
and start with

and then move to

etc..

tag will be too big but CSS can help you there, define small font size in css for H1,H2,... tags

When done with page copy, then you need to provide title and alt tags for images and links.

Use some keywords in the tags but dont add all the keywords and if not neccessary then dont use keywords in it, basically it should explain what is image all about.

Remember to add Top keyword atleast 4 times in the body and other 2 keywords thrice and twice respectively.

Now move on to Footer Part
Try to include top keywords here and see the effect, use site keywords as links i.e.

Tech News Software News etc..

Now finally, you need to read some more stuff..may be you can all it as bottom lines...

Site Map - This is page where you need to put all the links present in your site, this is will help Search Engines to find the links easily and also provide link for site map in footer, as search engines start scanning the page from bottom.

Robots.txt - This file contains address of directories which should not be scanned by search engines.. more info can be found here : /http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/exclusion.html search engines line google, yahoo ask for robots.txt file.

Valid HTML - Your code should have valid html and doc type, Its kind of diffucult to follow all the standards but you can atleast open and close all the tags properly, you can check your page's html online here : /http://validator.w3.org/ or you can use this free software called HTML Tidy : /http://tidy.sourceforge.net/

All done now, you just need to check your site with this script, its called SEO Doctor : /http://www.instantposition.com/seo_doctor.cfm

It'll show you the report of your site with solution.

Now, correct the errors and start submitting the site :

Start with google : /http://google.com/addurl.html
then yahoo : /http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request
then move to altavista,alltheweb and other search engies..

Also submit your site to direcories like /http://dmoz.org , /http://jayde.com etc...
Dmoz is must, as google, yahoo and may more search engines uses same directory

And remember, dont try to SPAM with keywords in these directories, dmoz is handled by Human Editors

Submitted the sites, but still i cant see you site on top?

Wait for sometime may be a month or so but keep an eye on your search term, use /http://GoogleAlert.com - this will show whenever google updates for your keywords, it will mail you the new results.

And also check whether your site is listed on google..
use this tool called Google Monitor, it can be downloaded for free from : /http://www.cleverstat.com/google-monitor.htm

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Find A Remote IP

Method 1

To view someone's IP# when they send you hotmail email do this:
1) Click "Options" on the upper right side of the page.
2) On the left side of the page, Click "Mail"
3) Click "Mail Display Settings"
4) Under "Message Headers" select "Full" or "Advanced"
5) Click ok

Method 2
reg a dydns account and install the ip pointer, so each time you ping the host name you regestored

for example:
you regestor the host name myhost.dydns.com, then you keep a little software running on the target host. The little software will keep update your IP to dydns.com server.

so at your pc just start cmd, and ping myhost.dydns.com, it will give you the most updated ip address.

Method 3
neverender, what doesn't work for you? Simply type in nc -vvv -l -p 80 on your box, which will set it to listen in verbose mode on port 80. Then give them a link to your IP address (for example: 111.111.111.11) and tell them to type it in their browser. The browser should resolve the address as well as append port 80 automatically. Just make sure that your friend is not very computer literate.

Method 4
Just download a very simple server such as this one and install it on your comp. Then run it and give your ip to the person you want and tell them to connect to it through a browser. Your server will log their connection and you will get their IP.

link:http://www.download.com/Abyss-Web-Server/3000-2165-10283992.html?tag=lst-0-6


Other Ways
-www.imchaos.com and make a "spy poll" to put in ur profile, this will tell u the IP of anybody who answers ur poll
-originalicons.com there is a page for doin it (i dont like it, but it works)
-or irc


Here is a more detailed tutorial about using NetCat.

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2003/05/29/netcat.html

Windows users can download NetCat from here:

http://www.atstake.com/research/tools/network_utilities/

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Convert File System, fat - fat32 to ntfs

Open a dos prompt and give the command

convert d: /fs:ntfs

this command would convert your d: drive to ntfs.

if the system cannot lock the drive, you will be prompted to convert it during next reboot.

Normally you should select yes.

Conversion from fat/fat32 to ntfs is non-destructive, your data on the drive will NOT be lost.

Be aware that converting to ntfs will make that partition of your
drive unreadable under dos unless you have ntfs utilites to do so.

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Access Folders From Taskbar

This is an easy way to get to the folders on your system without having to open a Windows Explorer Window every time you want to access files. I find it very useful to have this feature as it allows me to access my Folders and Drives immediately and saves me a lot of time.

This works in Windows XP:

1. Right Click an empty spot on your Taskbar (Between your Start Button and your System Tray).
2. Click Toolbars.
3. Click New Toolbar.
4. A Small Window will Open that allows you to pick the folder you wish to make a Toolbar. If you want to access your Desktop Without having to minimize all your windows. Just Pick Desktop. If you want to access ONLY your My Documents Folder, Select that. Any folder will work for this.
5. Click OK.
The New Tool bar will appear at the bottom of your screen next to your System Tray.

If you find this to be not useful, Repeat Steps 1 and 2 and then check click the Toolbar you created that has a check mark next to it. And it will disappear.

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Hacking Password Protected Website's

************************
There are many ways to defeat java-script protected websites. Some are very simplistic, such as hitting
[ctl-alt-del ]when the password box is displayed, to simply turning offjava capability, which will dump you into the default page.You can try manually searching for other directories, by typing the directory name into the url address box of your browser, ie: you want access to www.target.com .

         Try typing www.target.com/images .(almost ever y web site has an images directory) This will put you into the images directory,and give you a text list of all the images located there. Often, the title of an image will give you a clue to the name of another directory. ie: in     www.target.com/images,    there is a .gif named gamestitle.gif . There is a good chance then, that there is a 'games' directory on the site,so you would then type in    www.target.com/games,   and if it isa valid directory, you again get a text listing of all the files available there.

          For a more automated approach, use a program like WEB SNAKE from anawave, or Web Wacker. These programs will create a mirror image of an entire web site, showing all director ies,or even mirror a complete server. They are indispensable for locating hidden files and directories.What do you do if you can't get past an opening "PasswordRequired" box? . First do an WHOIS Lookup for the site. In our example, www.target.com . We find it's hosted by www.host.com at 100.100.100. 1.

     We then go to 100.100.100.1, and then launch \Web Snake, and mirror the entire server. Set Web Snake to NOT download anything over about 20K. (not many HTML pages are bigger than this) This speeds things up some, and keeps you from getting a lot of files and images you don't care about. This can take a long time, so consider running it right before bed time. Once you have an image of the entire server, you look through the directories listed, and find  /target.  When we open that directory, we find its contents, and all of its sub-directories listed. Let's say we find    /target/games/zip/zipindex.html .  This would be the index page that would be displayed had you gone through the password procedure, and allowed it to redirect you here.By simply typing in the url    www.target.com/games/zip/zipindex.html   you will be onthe index page and ready to follow the links for downloading.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
(DISCLAIMER)XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The Info Above Is Lame!!!. I Dont Condone The Use Of This Document In A Malisous Manner. I Suggest That U Dont Do it But U Do What Ever U Want. I Will Not Be Responsible For Any Thing That Might Happen To U If U Use This.  :)

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Hack Windows Administrator Password

How to hack Windows XP Admin Passwords the easy way by Estyle, Jaoibh
and Azrael.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This hack will only work if the person that owns the machine
has no intelligence. This is how it works:
When you or anyone installs Windows XP for the first time your
asked to put in your username and up to five others.
Now, unknownst to a lot of other people this is the only place in
Windows XP that you can password the default Administrator Diagnostic
Account. This means that to by pass most administrators accounts
on Windows XP all you have to do is boot to safe mode by pressing F8
during boot up and choosing it. Log into the Administrator Account
and create your own or change the password on the current Account.
This only works if the user on setup specified a password for the
Administrator Account.

This has worked for me on both Windows XP Home and Pro.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now this one seems to be machine dependant, it works randomly(don't know why)

If you log into a limited account on your target machine and open up a dos prompt
then enter this set of commands Exactly:
(this appeared on www.astalavista.com a few days ago but i found that it wouldn't work
on the welcome screen of a normal booted machine)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
cd\ *drops to root
cd\windows\system32 *directs to the system32 dir
mkdir temphack *creates the folder temphack
copy logon.scr temphack\logon.scr *backsup logon.scr
copy cmd.exe temphack\cmd.exe *backsup cmd.exe
del logon.scr *deletes original logon.scr
rename cmd.exe logon.scr *renames cmd.exe to logon.scr
exit *quits dos
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now what you have just done is told the computer to backup the command program
and the screen saver file, then edits the settings so when the machine boots the
screen saver you will get an unprotected dos prompt with out logging into XP.
Once this happens if you enter this command minus the quotes
"net user password"
If the Administrator Account is called Frank and you want the password blah enter this
"net user Frank blah"
and this changes the password on franks machine to blah and your in.

Have fun
p.s: dont forget to copy the contents of temphack back into the system32 dir to cover tracks
Any updates, Errors, Suggestions or just general comments mail them to either
Estyle89@hotmail.com
jaoibh@hotmail.com

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Disable Windows Logo Key

i was recently playing games and this nasty windos logo key keep annoying me , cause i often accidently clicked it , and i start to search a solution to solve my problem, and found the following article in microsfot website, and it did work, hope this helps, thanks!

CODE
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=181348


or in other articles, u can copy the following messages into ur notepad and save as *.reg, and use it..

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,00,00,5b,e0,00,00,5c,e0,\
00,00,00,00

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Create One-Click Shutdown and Reboot Shortcuts

First, create a shortcut on your desktop by right-clicking on the desktop, choosing New, and then choosing Shortcut. The Create Shortcut Wizard appears. In the box asking for the location of the shortcut, type shutdown. After you create the shortcut, double-clicking on it will shut down your PC.

But you can do much more with a shutdown shortcut than merely shut down your PC. You can add any combination of several switches to do extra duty, like this:

shutdown -r -t 01 -c "Rebooting your PC"
Double-clicking on that shortcut will reboot your PC after a one-second delay and display the message "Rebooting your PC." The shutdown command includes a variety of switches you can use to customize it. Table 1-3 lists all of them and describes their use.

I use this technique to create two shutdown shortcuts on my desktop—one for turning off my PC, and one for rebooting. Here are the ones I use:

shutdown -s -t 03 -c "Bye Bye m8!"
shutdown -r -t 03 -c "Ill be back m8 ;)!"

Switch
What it does

-s
Shuts down the PC.

-l
Logs off the current user.

-t nn
Indicates the duration of delay, in seconds, before performing the action.

-c "messagetext"
Displays a message in the System Shutdown window. A maximum of 127 characters can be used. The message must be enclosed in quotation marks.

-f
Forces any running applications to shut down.

-r
Reboots the PC.

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Create One-Click Shutdown and Reboot Shortcuts

First, create a shortcut on your desktop by right-clicking on the desktop, choosing New, and then choosing Shortcut. The Create Shortcut Wizard appears. In the box asking for the location of the shortcut, type shutdown. After you create the shortcut, double-clicking on it will shut down your PC.

But you can do much more with a shutdown shortcut than merely shut down your PC. You can add any combination of several switches to do extra duty, like this:

shutdown -r -t 01 -c "Rebooting your PC"
Double-clicking on that shortcut will reboot your PC after a one-second delay and display the message "Rebooting your PC." The shutdown command includes a variety of switches you can use to customize it. Table 1-3 lists all of them and describes their use.

I use this technique to create two shutdown shortcuts on my desktop—one for turning off my PC, and one for rebooting. Here are the ones I use:

shutdown -s -t 03 -c "Bye Bye m8!"
shutdown -r -t 03 -c "Ill be back m8 ;)!"

Switch
What it does

-s
Shuts down the PC.

-l
Logs off the current user.

-t nn
Indicates the duration of delay, in seconds, before performing the action.

-c "messagetext"
Displays a message in the System Shutdown window. A maximum of 127 characters can be used. The message must be enclosed in quotation marks.

-f
Forces any running applications to shut down.

-r
Reboots the PC.

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Copy X Box Games

 BURNING X-BOX & GAMECUBE GAMES USEING CDRWIN
------------------------------------------------------
1) Insert your original in your CD-ROM.
2) Open CDRWin (or any other image extractor) to make an iso image of the game
on your hard disc. Click on 'Extract Disc/Tracks/Sectors'
3) Here are the settings which work for me (!):
Disc Image/Cue sheet
File-Format: Automatic
Reading-Options:
RAW, CD+G, CD-TEXT and MCN/USRC all Unchecked
Error Recovery: Ignore
Jitter Correction: Auto
Subcode Analyses: Fixed
Data-Speed: MAX
Read Retry Count: 10
Audio Speed: MAX
Subcode Threshold: 900
There are a lot of reports, that Raw reading also works, but I had problems with it enabled.
4) Click on 'Start'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RECORDING TO A DISC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Install Fireburner

2) Double click on the Cue File For The Game
3) Right Click And select burn To CD
That?s all there is record DAO, and you can try to burn it fast at 2X
Using PNY Black Diamond CDR'

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Converting Movies To Psp Format.

Hey again, this is a real quick guide for anyone interested to get a movie onto there PSP without all the fluff i have seen elsewhere. I just watched Africa the Serengeti on my PSP and heres is the lowdown.

Movie - approx 40 minutes - dvd
Saved to hard drive - 2.6GIG - using DVD Decryptor (free program) try google
Transfered to avi format - 377MB- using Super DVD Ripper (9 FREE trial uses) then you must buy
Transfered to MP4 - 37MB - using the (basically free) Image convertor 2

Average movie breakdown - using above as a guide only.
so im guessing the average movie may be 4.5gig for example
saved to 800MB
CONVERTED TO 70-80MB

Ok use DVD decryptor to save the movie to your hard drive eg. C:\africa (it will save it for you as described)
When completed find the folder c:\africa on your computer and find the vob file in that folder - generally the largest one and right click and play it with your dvd program to see what part it is. If its the correct movie part you now know thats the one you need.

Once you have located the vob file you want to transfer open DVD Ripper and go to wizard icon. There you will see an icon of VOB to AVI button. Click it and then it will ask to locate the file. Locate the file and click it. It will SCAN THE FILE(just wait till that finishes) a parameter box opens next and just click the arrow. It then askes to choose output file, click the file icon and locate the correct fob file. It then askes for file compression - choose microsoft windows media and then click ok Then press the start button. It will now convert the vob into avi format.
(there are also other opions ie;dvd to avi etc) I have only used the vob to avi for this test.

After DVD ripper has transferred the file it will save it to the same folder as the original move was in eg: c:\africa\viteots. Open the file and you will now see an AVI icon containing the movie.

Make sure you PSP is on and in usb mode then Open Image convertor 2 and press on movie / add to list. For this example i click on C:drive the found the folder Africa and opened it and there was my converted AVI file. Click the file press ok and it will be transfered to your PSP for viewing pleasure.

*****Note**** i only converted one VOB file as thatS all there was for this particular movie. If you have more then one vob file you may need to try the dvd to avi when you rip. This is just a guide i worked out to compress dvd into the smallest possible file so you can get value out of a 512 card.

QUOTE
http://www.crazyhatsoftware.com/ImageConverter2.1.exe

Image Converter 2.1 JAP translated to ENG.

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Choosing A Good Domain Name

Choosing a domain name for your site is one of the most important steps towards creating the perfect internet presence. If you run an on-line business, picking a name that will be marketable and achieve success in search engine placement is paramount. Many factors must be considered when choosing a good domain name. This article summarizes all the different things to consider before making that final registration step!


Short and Sweet

Domain names can be really long or really short (1 - 67 characters). In general, it is far better to choose a domain name that is short in length. The shorter your domain name, the easier it will be for people remember. Remembering a domain name is very important from a marketability perspective. As visitors reach your site and enjoy using it, they will likely tell people about it. And those people may tell others, etc. As with any business, word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tool to drive traffic to your site (and it's free too!). If your site is long and difficult to pronounce, people will not remember the name of the site and unless they bookmark the link, they may never return.


Consider Alternatives

Unless a visitor reaches your site through a bookmark or a link from another site, they have typed in your domain name. Most people on the internet are terrible typists and misspell words constantly. If your domain name is easy to misspell, you should think about alternate domain names to purchase. For example, if your site will be called "MikesTools.com", you should also consider buying "MikeTools.com" and "MikeTool.com". You should also secure the different top level domain names besides the one you will use for marketing purposes ("MikesTools.net", "MikesTools.org", etc.) You should also check to see if there are existing sites based on the misspelled version of the domain name you are considering. "MikesTools.com" may be available, but "MikesTool.com" may be home to a graphic pornography site. You would hate for a visitor to walk away thinking you were hosting something they did not expect.

Also consider domain names that may not include the name of your company, but rather what your company provides. For example, if the name of your company is Mike's Tools, you may want to consider domain names that target what you sell. For example: "buyhammers.com" or "hammer-and-nail.com". Even though these example alternative domain names do not include the name of your company, it provides an avenue for visitors from your target markets. Remember that you can own multiple domain names, all of which can point to a single domain. For example, you could register "buyhammers.com", "hammer-and-nail.com", and "mikestools.com" and have "buyhammers.com" and "hammer-and-nail.com" point to "mikestools.com".


Hyphens: Your Friend and Enemy

Domain name availability has become more and more scant over the years. Many single word domain names have been scooped up which it makes it more and more difficult to find a domain name that you like and is available. When selecting a domain name, you have the option of including hyphens as part of the name. Hyphens help because it allows you to clearly separate multiple words in a domain name, making it less likely that a person will accidentally misspell the name. For example, people are more likely to misspell "domainnamecenter.com" than they are "domain-name-center.com". Having words crunched together makes it hard on the eyes, increasing the likelihood of a misspelling. On the other hand, hyphens make your domain name longer. The longer the domain name, the easier it is for people to forget it altogether. Also, if someone recommends a site to someone else, they may forget to mention that each word in the domain name is separated by a hyphen. If do you choose to leverage hyphens, limit the number of words between the hyphens to three. Another advantage to using hyphens is that search engines are able to pick up each unique word in the domain name as key words, thus helping to make your site more visible in search engine results.


Dot What?

There are many top level domain names available today including .com, .net, .org, and .biz. In most cases, the more unusual the top level domain, the more available domain names are available. However, the .com top level domain is far and away the most commonly used domain on the internet, driven by the fact that it was the first domain extension put to use commercially and has received incredible media attention. If you cannot lay your hands on a .com domain name, look for a .net domain name, which is the second most commercially popular domain name extension.


Long Arm of the Law

Be very careful not to register domain names that include trademarked names. Although internet domain name law disputes are tricky and have few cases in existence, the risk of a legal battle is not a risk worth taking. Even if you believe your domain name is untouchable by a business that has trademarked a name, do not take the chance: the cost of litigation is extremely high and unless you have deep pockets you will not likely have the resources to defend yourself in a court of law. Even stay away from domain names in which part of the name is trademarked: the risks are the same.


Search Engines and Directories

All search engines and directories are different. Each has a unique process for being part of the results or directory listing and each has a different way of sorting and listing domain names. Search engines and directories are the most important on-line marketing channel, so consider how your domain name choice affects site placement before you register the domain. Most directories simply list links to home pages in alphabetical order. If possible, choose a domain name with a letter of the alphabet near the beginning ("a" or "b"). For example, "aardvark-pest-control.com" will come way above "joes-pest-control.com". However, check the directories before you choose a domain name. You may find that the directories you would like be in are already cluttered with domain names beginning with the letter "a". Search engines scan websites and sort results based on key words. Key words are words that a person visiting a search engine actually search on. Having key words as part of your domain name can help you get better results.

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A web standards checklist

The term web standards can mean different things to different people. For some, it is 'table-free sites', for others it is 'using valid code'. However, web standards are much broader than that. A site built to web standards should adhere to standards (HTML, XHTML, XML, CSS, XSLT, DOM, MathML, SVG etc) and pursue best practices (valid code, accessible code, semantically correct code, user-friendly URLs etc).

In other words, a site built to web standards should ideally be lean, clean, CSS-based, accessible, usable and search engine friendly.

About the checklist

This is not an uber-checklist. There are probably many items that could be added. More importantly, it should not be seen as a list of items that must be addressed on every site that you develop. It is simply a guide that can be used:

* to show the breadth of web standards
* as a handy tool for developers during the production phase of websites
* as an aid for developers who are interested in moving towards web standards

The checklist

1.Quality of code
1. Does the site use a correct Doctype?
2. Does the site use a Character set?
3. Does the site use Valid (X)HTML?
4. Does the site use Valid CSS?
5. Does the site use any CSS hacks?
6. Does the site use unnecessary classes or ids?
7. Is the code well structured?
8. Does the site have any broken links?
9. How does the site perform in terms of speed/page size?
10. Does the site have JavaScript errors?

2. Degree of separation between content and presentation
1. Does the site use CSS for all presentation aspects (fonts, colour, padding, borders etc)?
2. Are all decorative images in the CSS, or do they appear in the (X)HTML?

3. Accessibility for users
1. Are "alt" attributes used for all descriptive images?
2. Does the site use relative units rather than absolute units for text size?
3. Do any aspects of the layout break if font size is increased?
4. Does the site use visible skip menus?
5. Does the site use accessible forms?
6. Does the site use accessible tables?
7. Is there sufficient colour brightness/contrasts?
8. Is colour alone used for critical information?
9. Is there delayed responsiveness for dropdown menus (for users with reduced motor skills)?
10. Are all links descriptive (for blind users)?

4. Accessibility for devices
1. Does the site work acceptably across modern and older browsers?
2. Is the content accessible with CSS switched off or not supported?
3. Is the content accessible with images switched off or not supported?
4. Does the site work in text browsers such as Lynx?
5. Does the site work well when printed?
6. Does the site work well in Hand Held devices?
7. Does the site include detailed metadata?
8. Does the site work well in a range of browser window sizes?

5. Basic Usability
1. Is there a clear visual hierarchy?
2. Are heading levels easy to distinguish?
3. Does the site have easy to understand navigation?
4. Does the site use consistent navigation?
5. Are links underlined?
6. Does the site use consistent and appropriate language?
7. Do you have a sitemap page and contact page? Are they easy to find?
8. For large sites, is there a search tool?
9. Is there a link to the home page on every page in the site?
10. Are visited links clearly defined with a unique colour?

6. Site management
1. Does the site have a meaningful and helpful 404 error page that works from any depth in the site?
2. Does the site use friendly URLs?
3. Do your URLs work without "www"?
4. Does the site have a favicon?

1. Quality of code

1.1 Does the site use a correct Doctype?
A doctype (short for 'document type declaration') informs the validator which version of (X)HTML you're using, and must appear at the very top of every web page. Doctypes are a key component of compliant web pages: your markup and CSS won't validate without them.
CODE
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/doctype/


More:
CODE
http://www.w3.org/QA/2002/04/valid-dtd-list.html

CODE
http://css.maxdesign.com.au/listamatic/about-boxmodel.htm

CODE
http://gutfeldt.ch/matthias/articles/doctypeswitch.html


1.2 Does the site use a Character set?
If a user agent (eg. a browser) is unable to detect the character encoding used in a Web document, the user may be presented with unreadable text. This information is particularly important for those maintaining and extending a multilingual site, but declaring the character encoding of the document is important for anyone producing XHTML/HTML or CSS.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/International/tutorials/tutorial-char-enc/


More:
CODE
http://www.w3.org/International/O-charset.html


1.3 Does the site use Valid (X)HTML?
Valid code will render faster than code with errors. Valid code will render better than invalid code. Browsers are becoming more standards compliant, and it is becoming increasingly necessary to write valid and standards compliant HTML.
CODE
http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/sit2003/06.htm


More:
CODE
http://validator.w3.org/


1.4 Does the site use Valid CSS?
You need to make sure that there aren't any errors in either your HTML or your CSS, since mistakes in either place can result in botched document appearance.
CODE
http://www.meyerweb.com/eric/articles/webrev/199904.html


More:
CODE
http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/


1.5 Does the site use any CSS hacks?
Basically, hacks come down to personal choice, the amount of knowledge you have of workarounds, the specific design you are trying to achieve.
CODE
http://www.mail-archive.com/wsg@webstandardsgroup.org/msg05823.html


More:
CODE
http://css-discuss.incutio.com/?page=CssHack

CODE
http://css-discuss.incutio.com/?page=ToHackOrNotToHack

CODE
http://centricle.com/ref/css/filters/


1.6 Does the site use unnecessary classes or ids?
I've noticed that developers learning new skills often end up with good CSS but poor XHTML. Specifically, the HTML code tends to be full of unnecessary divs and ids. This results in fairly meaningless HTML and bloated style sheets.
CODE
http://www.clagnut.com/blog/228/


1.7 Is the code well structured?
Semantically correct markup uses html elements for their given purpose. Well structured HTML has semantic meaning for a wide range of user agents (browsers without style sheets, text browsers, PDAs, search engines etc.)
CODE
http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/benefits/index04.htm


More:
CODE
http://www.w3.org/2003/12/semantic-extractor.html


1.8 Does the site have any broken links?
Broken links can frustrate users and potentially drive customers away. Broken links can also keep search engines from properly indexing your site.

More:
CODE
http://validator.w3.org/checklink


1.9 How does the site perform in terms of speed/page size?
Don't make me wait... That's the message users give us in survey after survey. Even broadband users can suffer the slow-loading blues.
CODE
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/


1.10 Does the site have JavaScript errors?
Internet Explore for Windows allows you to turn on a debugger that will pop up a new window and let you know there are javascript errors on your site. This is available under 'Internet Options' on the Advanced tab. Uncheck 'Disable script debugging'.

2. Degree of separation between content and presentation

2.1 Does the site use CSS for all presentation aspects (fonts, colour, padding, borders etc)?
Use style sheets to control layout and presentation.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-style-sheets


2.2 Are all decorative images in the CSS, or do they appear in the (X)HTML?
The aim for web developers is to remove all presentation from the html code, leaving it clean and semantically correct.
CODE
http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/benefits/index07.htm


3. Accessibility for users

3.1 Are "alt" attributes used for all descriptive images?
Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-text-equivalent


3.2 Does the site use relative units rather than absolute units for text size?
Use relative rather than absolute units in markup language attribute values and style sheet property values'.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-relative-units


More:
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-relative-units

CODE
http://www.clagnut.com/blog/348/


3.3 Do any aspects of the layout break if font size is increased?
Try this simple test. Look at your website in a browser that supports easy incrementation of font size. Now increase your browser's font size. And again. And again... Look at your site. Does the page layout still hold together? It is dangerous for developers to assume that everyone browses using default font sizes.
3.4 Does the site use visible skip menus?

A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links.
CODE
http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12


Group related links, identify the group (for user agents), and, until user agents do so, provide a way to bypass the group.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-TECHS/#tech-group-links


...blind visitors are not the only ones inconvenienced by too many links in a navigation area. Recall that a mobility-impaired person with poor adaptive technology might be stuck tabbing through that morass.
CODE
http://joeclark.org/book/sashay/serialization/Chapter08.html#h4-2020


More:
CODE
http://www.niehs.nih.gov/websmith/508/o.htm


3.5 Does the site use accessible forms?
Forms aren't the easiest of things to use for people with disabilities. Navigating around a page with written content is one thing, hopping between form fields and inputting information is another.
CODE
http://www.htmldog.com/guides/htmladvanced/forms/


More:
CODE
http://www.webstandards.org/learn/tutorials/accessible-forms/01-accessible-forms.html

CODE
http://www.accessify.com/tools-and-wizards/accessible-form-builder.asp

CODE
http://accessify.com/tutorials/better-accessible-forms.asp


3.6 Does the site use accessible tables?
For data tables, identify row and column headers... For data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers, use markup to associate data cells and header cells.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-table-headers


More:
CODE
http://www.bcc.ctc.edu/webpublishing/ada/resources/tables.asp

CODE
http://www.accessify.com/tools-and-wizards/accessible-table-builder_step1.asp

CODE
http://www.webaim.org/techniques/tables/


3.7 Is there sufficient colour brightness/contrasts?
Ensure that foreground and background colour combinations provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having colour deficits.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-colour-contrast


More:
CODE
http://www.juicystudio.com/services/colourcontrast.asp


3.8 Is colour alone used for critical information?
Ensure that all information conveyed with colour is also available without colour, for example from context or markup.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-colour-convey


There are basically three types of colour deficiency; Deuteranope (a form of red/green colour deficit), Protanope (another form of red/green colour deficit) and Tritanope (a blue/yellow deficit- very rare).

More:
CODE
http://colourfilter.wickline.org/

CODE
http://www.toledo-bend.com/colourblind/Ishihara.html

CODE
http://www.vischeck.com/vischeck/vischeckURL.php


3.9 Is there delayed responsiveness for dropdown menus?
Users with reduced motor skills may find dropdown menus hard to use if responsiveness is set too fast.

3.10 Are all links descriptive?
Link text should be meaningful enough to make sense when read out of context - either on its own or as part of a sequence of links. Link text should also be terse.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-meaningful-links


4. Accessibility for devices.

4.1 Does the site work acceptably across modern and older browsers?

Before starting to build a CSS-based layout, you should decide which browsers to support and to what level you intend to support them.
CODE
http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/process/index_step01.cfm



4.2 Is the content accessible with CSS switched off or not supported?
Some people may visit your site with either a browser that does not support CSS or a browser with CSS switched off. In content is structured well, this will not be an issue.

4.3 Is the content accessible with images switched off or not supported?
Some people browse websites with images switched off - especially people on very slow connections. Content should still be accessible for these people.

4.4 Does the site work in text browsers such as Lynx?
This is like a combination of images and CSS switched off. A text-based browser will rely on well structured content to provide meaning.

More:
CODE
http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview


4.5 Does the site work well when printed?
You can take any (X)HTML document and simply style it for print, without having to touch the markup.
CODE
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/goingtoprint/


More:
CODE
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/support/Training/Online/webdesign/css.html#print


4.6 Does the site work well in Hand Held devices?
This is a hard one to deal with until hand held devices consistently support their correct media type. However, some layouts work better in current hand-held devices. The importance of supporting hand held devices will depend on target audiences.

4.7 Does the site include detailed metadata?
Metadata is machine understandable information for the web
CODE
http://www.w3.org/Metadata/


Metadata is structured information that is created specifically to describe another resource. In other words, metadata is 'data about data'.


4.8 Does the site work well in a range of browser window sizes?
It is a common assumption amongst developers that average screen sizes are increasing. Some developers assume that the average screen size is now 1024px wide. But what about users with smaller screens and users with hand held devices? Are they part of your target audience and are they being disadvantaged?

5. Basic Usability
5.1 Is there a clear visual hierarchy?
Organise and prioritise the contents of a page by using size, prominence and content relationships.
CODE
http://www.great-web-design-tips.com/web-site-design/165.html


5.2 Are heading levels easy to distinguish?
Use header elements to convey document structure and use them according to specification.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-logical-headings


5.3 Is the site's navigation easy to understand?
Your navigation system should give your visitor a clue as to what page of the site they are currently on and where they can go next.
CODE
http://www.1stsitefree.com/design_nav.htm


5.4 Is the site's navigation consistent?
If each page on your site has a consistent style of presentation, visitors will find it easier to navigate between pages and find information
CODE
http://www.juicystudio.com/tutorial/accessibility/navigation.asp


5.5 Does the site use consistent and appropriate language?
The use of clear and simple language promotes effective communication. Trying to come across as articulate can be as difficult to read as poorly written grammar, especially if the language used isn't the visitor's primary language.
CODE
http://www.juicystudio.com/tutorial/accessibility/clear.asp


5.6 Does the site have a sitemap page and contact page? Are they easy to find?
Most site maps fail to convey multiple levels of the site's information architecture. In usability tests, users often overlook site maps or can't find them. Complexity is also a problem: a map should be a map, not a navigational challenge of its own.
CODE
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20020106.html


5.7 For large sites, is there a search tool?
While search tools are not needed on smaller sites, and some people will not ever use them, site-specific search tools allow users a choice of navigation options.

5.8 Is there a link to the home page on every page in the site?
Some users like to go back to a site's home page after navigating to content within a site. The home page becomes a base camp for these users, allowing them to regroup before exploring new content.

5.9 Are links underlined?
To maximise the perceived affordance of clickability, colour and underline the link text. Users shouldn't have to guess or scrub the page to find out where they can click.
CODE
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040510.html


5.10 Are visited links clearly defined?
Most important, knowing which pages they've already visited frees users from unintentionally revisiting the same pages over and over again.
CODE
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040503.html


6. Site management

6.1 Does the site have a meaningful and helpful 404 error page that works from any depth in the site?
You've requested a page - either by typing a URL directly into the address bar or clicking on an out-of-date link and you've found yourself in the middle of cyberspace nowhere. A user-friendly website will give you a helping hand while many others will simply do nothing, relying on the browser's built-in ability to explain what the problem is.
CODE
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/perfect404/


6.2 Does the site use friendly URLs?
Most search engines (with a few exceptions - namely Google) will not index any pages that have a question mark or other character (like an ampersand or equals sign) in the URL... what good is a site if no one can find it?
CODE
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/search-engine-friendly-urls


One of the worst elements of the web from a user interface standpoint is the URL. However, if they're short, logical, and self-correcting, URLs can be acceptably usable
CODE
http://www.merges.net/theory/20010305.html


More:
CODE
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/search-engine-friendly-urls

CODE
http://www.websitegoodies.com/article/32

CODE
http://www.merges.net/theory/20010305.html


6.3 Does the site's URL work without "www"?
While this is not critical, and in some cases is not even possible, it is always good to give people the choice of both options. If a user types your domain name without the www and gets no site, this could disadvantage both the user and you.
6.4 Does the site have a favicon?

A Favicon is a multi-resolution image included on nearly all professionally developed sites. The Favicon allows the webmaster to further promote their site, and to create a more customized appearance within a visitor's browser.
CODE
http://www.favicon.com/


Favicons are definitely not critical. However, if they are not present, they can cause 404 errors in your logs (site statistics). Browsers like IE will request them from the server when a site is bookmarked. If a favicon isn't available, a 404 error may be generated. Therefore, having a favicon could cut down on favicon specific 404 errors. The same is true of a 'robots.txt' file.

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10 Security Enhancements

Before you spend a dime on security, there are many precautions you can take that will protect you against the most common threats.

1. Check Windows Update and Office Update regularly (_http://office.microsoft.com/productupdates); have your Office CD ready. Windows Me, 2000, and XP users can configure automatic updates. Click on the Automatic Updates tab in the System control panel and choose the appropriate options.

2. Install a personal firewall. Both SyGate (_www.sygate.com) and ZoneAlarm (_www.zonelabs.com) offer free versions.


3. Install a free spyware blocker. Our Editors' Choice ("Spyware," April 22) was SpyBot Search & Destroy (_http://security.kolla.de). SpyBot is also paranoid and ruthless in hunting out tracking cookies.

4. Block pop-up spam messages in Windows NT, 2000, or XP by disabling the Windows Messenger service (this is unrelated to the instant messaging program). Open Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services and you'll see Messenger. Right-click and go to Properties. Set Start-up Type to Disabled and press the Stop button. Bye-bye, spam pop-ups! Any good firewall will also stop them.

5. Use strong passwords and change them periodically. Passwords should have at least seven characters; use letters and numbers and have at least one symbol. A decent example would be f8izKro@l. This will make it much harder for anyone to gain access to your accounts.

6. If you're using Outlook or Outlook Express, use the current version or one with the Outlook Security Update installed. The update and current versions patch numerous vulnerabilities.

7. Buy antivirus software and keep it up to date. If you're not willing to pay, try Grisoft AVG Free Edition (Grisoft Inc., w*w.grisoft.com). And doublecheck your AV with the free, online-only scanners available at w*w.pandasoftware.com/activescan and _http://housecall.trendmicro.com.

8. If you have a wireless network, turn on the security features: Use MAC filtering, turn off SSID broadcast, and even use WEP with the biggest key you can get. For more, check out our wireless section or see the expanded coverage in Your Unwired World in our next issue.

9. Join a respectable e-mail security list, such as the one found at our own Security Supersite at _http://security.ziffdavis.com, so that you learn about emerging threats quickly and can take proper precautions.

10. Be skeptical of things on the Internet. Don't assume that e-mail "From:" a particular person is actually from that person until you have further reason to believe it's that person. Don't assume that an attachment is what it says it is. Don't give out your password to anyone, even if that person claims to be from "support."

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Who can use MSN Account

its easy really. want to have an entire family on dial-up with just one bill?

step one. purchase 20 dollar a month subscription to MSN unlimited access dial up. This will include an MSN 9 cd which you will need. With the software installed, fill up your secondary account slots with new users. Make sure you pick @msn if it gives you the choice, hotmail email addresses will not work..

say the secondary account is johnsmith@msn.com type in the Dial up connection

USER : MSN/johnsmith
PASS: ******* (whatever)

connect to your local msn phone number and the other people you gave secondary accounts to will be able to do the same, while you are connected. Its a sweet deal considering everyone is paying about 2 bucks a month for internet access, especially if you cannot get broadband. if you wanted to sell off the access to people you could actually make money doing this.. but i do not suggest it.

I used to be an msn tech and this was a little known secret even to most of the employees.

After you do this you do not need the software any more. I would suggest keeping it on to micromanage everyone else's accounts. and for the simple fact that if they don't pitch in, cut them off HEHEHE

i'm on broadband now so i dont care if i tell you my little secret. anyone else knew of this?

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