The Refresh Orlando Heirs

Computer Diagnostics is a need to keep a healthy operating system and vital for business productivity, where a failure can be a costly mistake. PC diagnostic software can determine hardware and software conditions and possible failures, as well as current settings and connectivity.

A PC diagnostic program can also suggest the best performance settings in order to get the most of your system according to your hardware specifications. In addition, a PC diagnostic tool can help you to identify potential problems that can damage your hard drive or any other piece of hardware.

Some companies provide troubleshooting tools to test your PC’s electronic circuits, in the form of system plug-ins or stand-alone applications. Computer Diagnostics should also be able to check other computer components such as the BIOS, serial and parallel ports, USB and Ethernet ports, etc.

Choosing the best PC diagnostic software depends on your computer related knowledge. You may find a PC diagnostic program worthless if you do not understand what a benchmark diagnosis means, or cannot make changes in the settings that the PC diagnostic tool may suggest.

Computer Diagnostics provide end user with intuitive diagnostics tools for troubleshooting while improving performance. However, some of them can be risky if you do not understand what they can do, like those including the ability to reformat any type of hard drive.

Most software developers state, “use it at your own risk” because of the lack of knowledge that can lead also to massive data loss. Although data can be recovered, it is a painful process because of the required proper software or you may have to take the hard drive to a service center that can restore and reformat your hard drive.

Even then, there are no guarantees of getting 100% of your data back, so be careful choosing software intended for Computer Diagnostics, and always read before clicking any “OK” message that may pop up.

If a PC diagnostic tool returns the parameters of the hard drive, and allows toggling the IRQ directly to determine which I/O port is at which IRQ, make sure you understand what all this means before proceeding, because the software can read, write, overwrite and edit most values.

Perhaps the best PC diagnostic software is that which can only read, generating log files or an overall detailed report of your computer including all its components.

If the PC diagnostic program cannot write, the possibilities to damage your hardware or destroy your content are very low, although other problems such as a buggy, unstable version can ruin your operating system.

Natalie Aranda writes about computer and information technology. A PC diagnostic program can also suggest the best performance settings in order to get the most of your system according to your hardware specifications. In addition, a PC diagnostic tool can help you to identify potential problems that can damage your hard drive or any other piece of hardware.

Is a data backup solution part of your computer plans? Do you have a way to protect yourself if something goes wrong with your computer or data? Computers are a useful part of our lives but we don’t always protect ourselves from their loss be it fire, theft or hardware failure.

We often don’t consider how fragile our computer data really is. Do you keep sensitive information on your computer that you would be upset if you lost it? Not sure? Consider this. If I told you that I was going to format your hard drive right now and you will lose all of the information on your computer, would you be ready? Or would you need to get a few files first… If you are in the second group, chances are you don’t have a proper data backup solution in place to help you handle disasters.

What happens if your computers are stolen?

I recently had a business colleague of mine who’s office was robbed and who had all of his computers stolen. He naturally felt helpless and victimized over the situation. What was especially frustrating was that he thought he had taken the proper measures to secure his office. He had a good security system in place, had secured his premises and yet they were still able to cut his phone lines, disable his alarm and have their way in his office. Don’t think a computer theft can happen to you? You know what? It can happen to anyone and you don’t have to own a business.

Computer hard drives do crash

If theft doesn’t get your computer, a hard drive failure certainly might. Hard drives are the devices in your computer that store the information on your computer. Your computers’ long term memory if you will. They are built with rotating mechanical parts. These parts break down. If they break down, your data can be gone. Are you prepared?

Data on a hard drive can often be recovered by expert data retrieval houses but their prices usually start at $10,000 and up. Want to avoid such costly recovering options? Establish a data backup solution.

A fire can wipe out your computers and your data

If computer theft or hard drive failure don’t destroy the data on your computers, a fire certainly might. This threat speaks to an off site backup storage solution. While the first two can be averted by simply burning a CD of your most critical data, fire can destroy your CD’s too if they aren’t stored off site. Fire is just one more reason why a data backup solution needs to be a part of your vocabulary and your action plan.

Protecting your data just makes good common sense. If you have data that you don’t want to loose – and most of us do – you owe it to yourself to protect your data. The next article in this series gives you some simple steps you can follow to protect yourself from data loss.

Joe Duchesne is the webmaster of Gotocompare.com a computer hardware information site with links to hardware drivers, manuals and lots more. Reprint freely as long as you maintain the live keyword rich links in this resource box.

Being an MCSE, or Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, can bring in some good money and give you a greater range of jobs to be obtained. To obtain an MCSE certification, you need to be able to pass six core curriculum exams, an elected exam, and a design course exam. While most will go to university for an MCSE certification, they can be obtained through online courses and by studying online guides. Taking the exam and passing with at least an eighty five percent is needed to become a certified MCSE according to an MCSE who took the actual Microsoft courses.

MCSE study material ranges from books that can be ordered and sent to you to purchased and downloaded to your home computer. A thorough knowledge of Microsoft systems is key and you’ll need to be able to know the inner workings of a computer system before you can think about taking an MCSE certification course.

Certain internet web sites contain examples of past exams as a way to prepare yourself and study for the MCSE certification exam. Whether you take the course online, through the Microsoft internet site or go to an accredited university for it, make sure that you go over the MCSE study materials thoroughly and study as hard as you can for the exam.

There are a wide range of locations of MCSE training centers. Some of these centers even have high end retreats to train you on the finer points of being an MCSE. For those who can afford it, one training center offers a forty day retreat in the Himalayan Mountains for just fewer than three thousand dollars.

This forty day, intense training session covers every single requirement needed in order to take the final MCSE certification exam and start your new career. If you can’t afford to spend three thousand dollars on flying to the Himalayas, then a cheaper way to do it is to go through a rigorous online study schedule on your own. There are online advisers in case you need help or an explanation. Once you’ve completed the courses, you can earn up to one hundred dollars an hour.

Mark Kessler - his website MCSE 411 offers accelerated training information for MCSE Certification courses, MCSE Testing Centers, MCSE Boot Camps, MCSE Online training, MCSE study material, Links, Forums and Blogs

CONSPIRACY, intrigue, bribery and influence that may go clear up the ladder to Presdient George W(eak) Bush, Lincoln Group seems to have it all. A company that seems to have materialized from out of the mist snags major DOD contracts, including one for a 100 million dollars in psyhops work. Included on their board is Christian Bailey, and Andrew Garfield who seems to be a man of many IMPORTANT hats, including a media darling talking head with strong ties to both the Republican conservative think tanks, and 10 Downing Street. How did a company started by two 30 something’s men have such a meteoric rise, how did they get Andrew Garfield on their board, and even more importantly, why in the blink of and eye did three of their board members dissappear over night? Furthermore, how is this company being able to make their trail on the Internet dissappear…several pages on the Internet have simply vanished since this whole Pentagon planted story scandal has hit the press.

These Three people were listed as key members of the board on Lincoln Group website two days ago, but have not vanished.

Huy Kameron Hoang - Director, Lincoln Innovation Lab
James Sutton - Country Manager, Iraq
Brian Swift - Project Manager, IBC
The press so far seems to be deliberating steering away from any serious investigation of Lincoln Group, though there seems to be plenty of areas ripe for the harvesting of a major story. As mentioned in other areas of this blog, Christian Bailey was listed as being intimately involved in the 2004 Republican Party National Convention held in New York City. Christian Bailey was a FOUNDING member of Lead 21, a fast moving group of young wealthy republicans, yet in the past two days, any mention of him has simply VANISHED from their website. It should be mentioned here, that some of Lead 21’s members are NOW WORKING in the Bush Administration. “These are going to be the big supporters, the big donors to the Republican Party in five years’ time,” Bailey told The New York Times in an Aug. 31, 2004, video interview during a Lead21 party at the Republican convention in New York.Wonder if my message there made some people nervious? Furthermore, the company has admitted to working with well over 300 reporters in Iraq.

Perhaps a clue is found in Andrew Garfield, who is no stranger to the news media, and who in fact could be classified as a pundit of all things which concern the military and the war on terrorists. What I find odd, is Andrew Garfield’s apparent involvements with Jihad Camp, which is a learning center to teach American law enforcement how to think more like a terrorist…I find it interesting, because this camp just happens to be on the grounds of the private security company that provided Bremmer with his security force while he was in charge over in Iraq. Is this the foot in the door that was used to give Lincoln Group such incredible access to various press sources in Iraq.

Christian Bailey said, “Iraqex began handling PR work for private entities in sectors like manufacturing and finance within the country last year and has established close ties with 300-400 members of the Iraqi media.”

This quote makes one wonder just how many stories were leaked, and in just how many newspapers as well.

This blog is not the only one that smells a rat in the Lincoln Group rise to stardom status within the beltway of Washington DC. The Project on Government Oversight was quoted as saying, “Any time we see leaders who cultivate political influence for a particular party suddenly receive major government contracts, it sends up red flags,” It is suggested, that there are a lot of red flags, and lots of explaining that is not forthcoming. For instance, Lincoln Group admits to having relationships with over 300 reporters in Iraq through their subsidiary Iragex, which has since changed its name to that of its parent company, Lincoln Group. Are those relationships far more than that? In a press release, Iraqex states they have OVER 300 EMPLOYEES in Iraq!

“Iraqex benefits from strong relationships in Iraq, the U.S. and internationally. In Iraq, it has cultivated relationships with the Iraqi national government, municipalities, tribal leaders, prominent families, and the business community. Iraqex has a thriving network of offices from Basra in the South to Zakho in the North and employs over 300 Iraqis. In the U.S., Iraqex enjoys select relationships in Congress, the Administration, OPIC, ExIm Bank, and the U.S. Department of State.”

A theory of SUPER CONSPIRACY deepens when you see that Lincoln Group has listed as a sub contractor, the Republican Power House and King maker BKSH and Associates, and organization presented a bipartisan, but is actually a part of Burso-Marstell (supposedly world’s fifth largest PR firm), which is run by world reknowned Republican strategist Charles R. Black, Jr., who served both Ronald Reagan, and the first President Bush as well as acting as a spokesperson for the Republican Party. The firms LOBBYIST specialize in the design and execution of programs to help shape public policy. Cozy relationship in light of the purported purpose and scope of the Pentagon’s 100 Million dollar contract with Lincoln Group when you consider that BKSH brags about its ability to mount US, pan-European and transatlantic campaigns. Odder still, is the fact that The New Yorker back in February of 2004 reported that Black was considering opening up an office in Bahgdad…just months before Lincoln Group(Iraqex) got their first major contract (over five million dollars) in September of 2004. Did they have inside information? His comments in the New Yorker seem rather amusing in hindsight, as Black stated:

“The problem in Iraq so far is it’s slow, and very confusing for people to figure out how to do business there … One week you go to Baghdad, and they say the decisions are being made at the Pentagon. Then you go to the Pentagon, and they say the decisions are being made in Baghdad. Only Halliburton is making money now!,” he told New Yorker. “Is there too much cronyism? I just wish I could find the cronies,”

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. In July 2005 O’Dwyers PR Daily Reported that Lincoln Group had retained the services of BKSH. This was after Lincoln Group had been retained by the United States Special Operations Command to wage psychological warfare on behalf of the Pentagon in Iraq and other hot spots.” Wondering what OTHER HOT SPOTS, and also wondering why it is today that the Pentagon cannot find any one to go up to the Hill to speak to Congress, claiming they cannot find any one who knows anything about the leaked stories. In yet another odd twist to this whole story, BKSH claims they have experience in Iraq from work done for…are you ready for this….Ahmed Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress.

As they say, this story keeps getting curiouser and curiouser.

Use of any part of this story must include an ongoing active link to my blog which is pintobeans.iblogs.com/

When you examine the Internet as a whole, it becomes clear that the World Wide Web is an integral part of the global business paradigm. That being said, employers can get in touch with computer programmers in Zimbabwe or an Internet Technology professional in Bombay with the simple click of a mouse.

This ability to reach out and hire someone has modified the way companies can conduct business. For one, it does not require them to keep a full staff of professionals, thereby reducing overhead costs. If a company needs someone with specialty in a certain area, they can just get out on the web and find that particular person. With human resources becoming such a fluid mode of hiring in certain sectors, someone needed to come up with a place where outsourcing software could be easy, convenient and accessible to everyone.

These websites have allowed people to market themselves in a variety of ways. For instance, the site www.rentacoder.com has a network of businesses that specialize in outsourcing software. There is a diverse group of freelance professionals all over the world that are ready to bid on projects. Not only does the business get to outsource a particular project, but the price can also be kept down. This leads to significant savings. If you navigate around the site you will find plenty of outsourcing software testimonials and data proving the successful nature of www.rentacoder.com.

Internet marketing is made easier with www.elance.com as well. This site makes outsourcing software easy. It is simple to navigate, enrollment costs are low and there are a variety of value-added services that come with membership. Software experts and businesses looking to employ them are plentiful.

The multipurpose website www.guru.com is another entry into the outsourcing software virtual marketplace. In fact, this site has a more diverse web of categories to choose from. Instead of just computer and software related projects, www.guru.com allows you to find writing, editing, and photography, and broadcasting, business consulting, legal, sales, marketing, and other projects. The website is well-designed and provides a ton of information on the freelance sector.

As the Internet continues to extend its reach further into the policies of American corporations, the trend of outsourcing software and other services will continue to increase. The age of information is here and it is only going to grow in size and scope.

Mary Murtha has a BLS and M.Div degress majoring in biblical studies and Ethics. Visit her site for more info about Outsourcing Software and Outsourcing Solutions at ezoutsourcinginfo.com

Are you looking for a loving, devoted, and faithful wife? Are you tired of the battle of the sexes here in the United States - that is the liberated single American women who are so busy trying to be equal to men that they have forgotten how to be a “real” woman?

Well, I have the answers for you. Look for a special single, loyal and devoted lady to spend the rest of your life with from overseas. Foreign single women make the best wives in the world. They are very loyal, devoted, and faithful and believe that husbands should be the head of the family.

I’m sure you have seen all those advertisements from foreign matchmaking companies that will introduce you to single women overseas looking for friendship and marriage to American men. This is a good option to pursue to meet and possibly marry the woman of your dreams.

You will initially get to know these women by correspondence. Listed here are some very important tips when corresponding with these women:

1. Do Not Send Money… Just like anywhere there are honest people and there are dishonest people. The point of your correspondence is to develop a special relationship with a foreign women, not to purchase one. We want you to be aware that you may contact women who will ask you for money for one reason or another. If you are asked for money it should immediately set off alarms and you should proceed very cautiously. There are instances where there may be a valid reason to send money to someone with whom you have been corresponding for some time. In that instance it is recommended that you send it via wire (Western Union).

2. Do include a photo of yourself, and not just any photo. Take some time and put some thought into it. For example, if you are the outdoors type you may want to take it while hiking or biking. The point is to give the women the best possible representation of yourself. In order to keep the costs of the photos to a minimum, you should consider choosing two or three of your best photos and have color copies made instead of developing a new picture for each reply.

3. Try including a little something extra to let her know she is special. This could consist of a pressed flower, or a picture of you as an infant or a toddler, or maybe a poem written in her native language. The idea is to try and distinguish your response from others.

4. Remember when writing your letter that this woman’s native language is not English. That doesn’t mean she will not be able to understand your letter, but by keeping it simple you will have a much better chance of successfully communicating with her. Try to avoid using four or five syllable words, instead of impressing her you will probably just confuse her. Make sure you neatly print you letter as opposed to writing in cursive. If your handwriting is difficult to read you may consider typing it.

5. Try to keep the initial letter fast paced. You certainly don’t want to be discussing things like marriage and what your children are going to look like in your first letter! You may want to tell her a little about yourself, where you were raised, and what schools you have attended. Write a little about your interests, hobbies, and likes and dislikes. Basically, just write about things that you would normally talk about on a first date.

6. Make sure you ask her plenty of questions about herself in your first letter. People like to know that other people are interested in them and their activities. By asking questions about her she will think that you are interested in her as a person and she will want to respond to you immediately.

7. You may find it useful to do some independent research on the country of origin of the woman you are interested in. Not only will it impress the woman, but it may save you from committing a gaffe. You must always remember that this woman was raised in a totally different culture than our own. Obviously, it is in your best interest to know as much as possible about that culture.

8. Should you get to the point that you want to visit the women you are corresponding with, we strongly advise to use the service of a reputable travel agency. Traveling abroad is very different from domestic traveling, and a good travel agent will make sure your trip goes as smoothly as possible. We strongly recommend that you interview at least two or three agents before placing your travel plans with one.

9. Should you get to the point of wanting to marry the woman you have been corresponding with, we strongly recommend the services of a reputable attorney who specializes in immigration law. There are various ways of accomplishing citizenship, and each must be explored to find the approach which will be optimal for your situation.

10. The last and probably most important tip of all is be patient. Consider for a moment how long you have been searching for that perfect mate, ten, twenty, even thirty years? This is an important process and the results of the decision that you make will be far reaching and long lasting. Take the time to correspond with many different women before committing to that special one. This is probably one of the most important decisions that you will ever make, so please be patient, be thorough, and most of all, enjoy the process!

This article written by Don Diebel (Americas #1 Singles
Expert). If you would like more free dating tips on how to
successfully meet, date, attract, and become intimate with
women, please visit his website at: http://www.getgirls.com.

There are many things in life that are worth protecting. Our
children, our valuables, our resources and of course, ourselves.
Only twenty years ago, if security was mentioned, you were
speaking of protecting your home. And you were most likely
discussing a security system, monitoring, watchdogs, firearms
and cameras.

With the explosion of the personal computer, and the internet’s
ease of access to information, security has now taken on
additional roles. With over 605 million people online at any
given moment worldwide, criminals are no longer bound by
geographic location. Today’s cyber criminal can hack from the
comfort of his home just by getting online.

There are software programs that do nothing but scan the
internet for un-secure ports and open networks so that they can
enter into those unprotected machines to access critical
information. There are many users who know little about internet
security and rely on their ISP to provide it for them.

To look deeper into this topic, let’s examine the qualities that
make security both similar and different. With your home, you
have a physical area that you can protect with fire and motion
sensors, cameras, glass-break detectors and decals strategically
placed to deter would-be thieves. For your computer, you protect
a virtual space usually containing sensitive information
relevant to your personal finances or key identity theft items
such as family names and social security numbers. To protect
these resources, one must install software (anti-virus, port
scanners, Trojan hunting software, firewalls) as one level of
protection. You can also add another layer of security through a
hardware firewall of connectivity to and from the internet or
network.

Both home security and computer security have maintenance costs
associated with them. Reliable home security will usually
consist of a one-time fee to install the hardware in your home,
and then an agreement to have 24-hour monitoring service for a
given length of time. Computer security will consist of buying
the software and then either a monthly or yearly subscription
fee to receive the latest information and protection from
internet threats.

One difference between the two are the methods of monitoring.
While computer security is only responsive while the computer is
active or online, home security monitoring is responsive at all
times provided the system is properly armed.

Another distinction is the method of response. In home security,
a human will respond by dispatching police, fire or EMS directly
to your home or business site. On a computer, the response is
when the software vendor becomes aware of the problem, creates a
solution, and has an update available for download.

With the advances of technology, monthly fees for home security
monitoring are reasonable for the service they provide. Be
warned: not all monitoring companies have the same capabilities
when it comes to quick response. That’s one reason why it’s a
good idea to make sure that any security company you choose has
a UL certification. This can be critical as it indicates that
the security company has met stringent standards for management
system compliance (such as a back up source of power). The same
methodology should apply for a security software provider. Just
because they say they’re the best, doesn’t mean that they are.
Due diligence is the user’s responsibility. Your information is
too valuable to be taken lightly.

Both home security and cyber security are similar to having
insurance. You have it, but you hope you never need it. And if
you do need it, you want a company or vendor that has a history
of excellent customer service.

There are those people who think that having a firearm is all
they need for protection. While that may hold true in some form,
a firearm won’t let you know if someone is trying to enter your
home through the back door while you are sleeping and notify you
or the authorities. Another common perception is that a watchdog
will alert a homeowner to intrusion, but again, man’s best
friend sleeps 10 to 12 hours a day and can’t notify the police.

There are some computer users who claim that they can detect a
virus by the email that is sent with some obvious taglines meant
for the user to open and infect the machine. Not all viruses are
in emails, although that is the most common form. They can also
be uploaded to a website, or embedded in Java Applets or Active
X controls.

Trojans, which can log all of the users keystrokes and sites
visited, are secretly downloaded in the form of free games or
free software, and are undetectable by anti-virus software. This
is the preferred method of attack by a hacker on a machine. By
not altering the performance of a machine (like a virus or worm
does), the user blissfully continues to use their machine to
make online purchases, and enter sensitive information, thinking
they are secure, while the Trojan secretly records all of the
information and will simply send all of the user’s information
at designated intervals to the hacker.

Many times a decision about security measures for your home or
computer is based on budgetary constraints. But always consider
what it is that you are protecting and how much you would pay to
get back whatever was stolen, lost or destroyed if an
unfortunate event occurred in your life.

The article summarizes the Hyperthreading technology as best as possible in just ten steps.

1. Hyperthreading (HT) is term coined by Intel for Simultaneous Multi-Threading (SMT).

2. Hyperthreading is meant for dual-core or multi-core processors like Pentium 4 with HT or Xeon MP.

3. The technology aims at better utilization of execution units in a processor which otherwise would be idle.

4. This technique is better than its predecessor Multithreading and Superthreading in the sense that in each instruction cycle, a processor can execute instructions from mutliple threads.

5. Hardware implemetation of Hyperthreading is not very complex as reported by Intel “Implementing HT took only 5% more die space in Xeon”.

6. Implemeting HT needs hardware resources to be divided into Replicated(e.g. Instruction Pointers), Partitioned (e.g.Queues) and Shared (e.g. Caches)

7. For actual performance gain, your applications have to hyperthreaded i.e. you have to parallelize your code.

8. Hyperthreaded applications use Shared Memory Programming Model. Most famous Shared Memory Programming standard is OpenMP (Open specifications for Multi-Processing), an effort initiated by Silicon Graphics Inc. and now supported by major industry players. OpenMP library is available for C,C++ and Fortran on both Windows and Unix platforms. OpenMP programming constructs consists of few compiler directives for parallelizing the code.

9. There are compilers and other automating tools that support shared memory parallel programming libraries like OpenMP. Some examples are Intel C++ Compiler, Intel VTune Performance Analyzer and High-Level tools from KAI Inc.

10. Hyperthreading does not necessarily increase performance. With wrong mix of code, it can even decrease performance.

Syed Feroz Zainvi has obtained M.Tech. (Comp Sc & Engg) degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (INDIA). His areas of interests are distributed computing, computer graphics and Internet Technologies. Currently, he is involved in Software Project Planning, Development and Management. His other interests include writing for magazines and contributing utility softwares on Magazine’s CDs. He also have flair for teaching computer science with new teaching methodologies.

His web-page URL is http://www.zainvi.tophnors.com

We live in an age of technology and as such we are always looking for ways to make life easier or ways to make things look better. In the home or office (or even the home office) making things look better involves getting rid of clutter. This is where the wireless desktop comes into play. No wires means less clutter and because when using Bluetooth wireless devices line of sight is not needed, you can use your desk space to its optimum with no worries.

There is more to the wireless desktop than you might think as well. You will all be aware that you can get a wireless keyboard and mouse. But wireless technology and Bluetooth in particular stretches much further than that. Your mobile phone if a recent one will probably have Bluetooth technology built into it. This means that you can easily connect it to your PC. Companies such as Logitech offer software that really gets your mobile phone and your PC working together. Synchronization is just one aspect of this, but how about being able to type an SMS text message on your keyboard and send it without having to touch your phone. This is all possible with the power of Bluetooth. Communication with your mobile phone is not the only method of contact with Bluetooth. You can also get Bluetooth headsets that work with Microsoft Messenger so you can add an easy chat functionality to your desktop. As new products come on the market Bluetooth becomes more and more popular. Peripheral devices such as Printers and Scanners can now be found.

The Wireless Keyboard and Mouse

This is the first device that you will probably buy for your wireless desktop. This is the basic starting point and probably the most effective. The keyboard and mouse wires cannot be hidden away from sight as they have to be straight in front of you. plus limiting the mouse wire can mean limiting the mouse movement as well. So A wireless keyboard and mouse will give you a better looking desktop as well as freedom to move your keyboard where you want it. You can have it on your lap or anywhere else in range. Having a wireless mouse will also help in gaming. Most wireless mice are just as responsive as corded ones and your wire wont snag at that vital moment when online gaming.

Wireless Printers

While printers are not being produced as wireless as yet. The idea is very much being worked on. Currently what you can by for your USB connected printers is a two small connecters that plug into your printer and USB port which connect together like a wireless network. Its almost a wireless USB connection if you like. I doubt that is how it will be described though. The advantages of the wireless printer as well as the lack of wires behind your PC is the range can be increased as well as you being able to place your printer in a place where a USB cable would be unsuitable to travel. A second advantage would be that connecting your printer to a wireless network for sharing will be much easier.

Wireless Networking

I think the biggest advantage of wireless technology has to be Wireless Networking. While Bluetooth technology is does not have the range in which to be affective at networking computers together. RF technology is still used however and is very easy to setup. For a simple network (peer to peer) on two computers all you need is two wireless networking cards setup to the same channel. More complex networks can also be setup using a server and workstations. Anything you can do with a wired network you can do with wireless technology.

While we keep saying that the main advantage of wireless technology is that you don’t have wires lying around everywhere, this is more true than ever when we are talking about wireless networking. When your computers are likely to be located in different room, the last thing you want is for wires to be laid around your home or office being an eyesore. Plus should you wish to move your computer at anytime, you don’t have to re-route the wires connecting your network together.
Security on Wireless networks is set by adding a name for your network which all computers on that network must be assigned to connect to, plus then you can add a password to keep unwanted intruders out from your files. Software firewalls are also recommended on wireless connections (as well as wired) just for added security against unwanted virus’ or Adware/Spyware.

Wireless Headphones / Microphone

Wireless headphones are readily available from many manufacturers. These are really one of the most practical uses of wireless technology behind the networking. Wireless headphones allow you to freely listen to your music, game or whatever noise your PC is making anywhere in your room without the restriction of wires. Even if your wires are long enough they will still be a little dangerous stretched across the room. And we all know you like to dance around your room listening to your favourite tracks. A set of wireless headphones could save you a few quid on broken items that your headphone wires have snagged on and brought crashing down to the floor :).

Wireless Speakers

Wireless speakers are poking out of the woodwork and those of you that have a 5.1 or above sound system will just how many wires are involved in that setup. Not only do you have connection to the computer but each speaker is connected to the sub / power box and and you also have the volume control to deal with. At time of writing this the US seem to have a decent supply of wireless speakers where as only a few can be found in the UK. I am very sure that wireless speakers will become a lot more popular in the UK over the next couple of months. Wireless speakers will remove loads of wires from the back of your computer. Using a 5.1 wireless system will allow you to place your speakers in the perfect position without any restrictions or ugly wires running along your walls or floor.

Stephen Orgill
Editor - www.pantherproducts.co.uk
Computer related hardware articles and component reviews

DBxtra is a powerful query and reporting tool that hides many of the complexity and technical expertise required for creating connections to disperse data sources, building queries, designing reports, and delivery information throughout an enterprise or to your customer base.

With the ability to connect to multiple databases or data sources at the same time, DBxtra allows for cross platform data aggregation and the ability to answer questions that would typically take IT time to migrate data into a single reporting database. Through powerful query and filtering mechanisms users have the ability to browse and achieve fine grained retrieval of data to answer detailed business questions.

DBxtra uses a project level approach and Explorer type tree structure to categorize database and DBxtra objects that facilitates the production queries and reports. This explorer tree structure drastically improves the reusability of objects, speed in access to information, and reduces the man-hours required to design and produce subsequent reports.

The production of reports can be produced in a variety of formats including HTML, Microsoft Excel, CSV, XML, or PDF with the option to be merged into personalized E-mails. Also available is a visual report designer where your choice of formatting options can be employed to produce just the right look for your report.

DBxtra comes very close to their goal of “no programming or database knowledge required”. All the while creating a new breed of power end-users.

Getting familiar with DBxtra

How a product “feels” is always a big concern when delivering a product that will actually improve the productivity of end users and reduce the burden on IT. I personally like to try a product without reading the documentation. While I have years of experience as a DBA, analyst, developer, and data modeler I honestly try to block all that information out of my mind to “feel” what it would be like to operate under limited expectations. The only mind-block I needed to get over was double clicking on objects to activate their usage. Honestly if I would have read the help on the top and bottom of the screens this could have been eliminated.

DBxtra has a very nice step by step approach, almost like an Install Shield approach, that drives you through creation of queries and reports. Once getting use to clicking through this stepwise approach I was building queries and reports quicker than I could think of examples to model. All of which I didn’t need to know anything about data models other than identification of which database my tables where. The only database modeling concepts that end users need to understand are tables, columns, joins, filters, sorting, and aggregate functions. All of which are very teachable and most end users understand a large subset of these concepts.

DBxtra comes with a load of documentation including tutorials and video streams. All of which are very helpful and will walk you through the major features of this product. I watched all the tutorial videos and picked up some valuable hints on how to use the product. It is very unusual for vendors to go to this length to educate their end users. I read this as a true commitment on the vendor’s side to make sure you are able to use the product and it not to become shelf-ware. Very admirable!

Another training aid is the shipment of a sample data source, with queries, reports, and schedules. This allows you to quickly dive into the product and get a good feel for the product without ever touching your data sources. Of course you will eventually want to produce some queries and reports against your databases as there is nothing better for determining the effectiveness and usefulness than seeing your own data.

Corporate Profile
Quanticus S.A. de C.V. is a software developer located in Querétaro, México.
We have more then 10 years experience in developing database software tools and ERP software for the small and medium sized company.
Our staff includes 4 administrative, 8 sales, 6 support and 12 developers people.
The company was established about 4 years ago.
The product DBxtra was released November 2004.
Morelos 166B
Col. Centro
Querétaro, Qro. C.P. 76000
México
Tel.: +52 (442) 215 44 96
USA: (201) 399 22 18

Problems Solved

Can your end users get to the data they need? How often do they need to wait for a developer to provide assistance in the extraction of vital information? It does not matter if you are part of the executive team or an end user. Often times when you want to get to information from a database or restricted system you need to request work to be done on your behalf. You are at the mercy of your IT staff and in particular developers, data analysts, data administrators.

With DBxtra end users are liberated from the ever-increasing queue that is experienced every time they need IT staff to produce reports or extract data. DBxtra allows users to access multiple data sources in disperse database systems and pull information from these sources in a systematic pint and click fashion. The ease in which it is to produce reports, and more importantly alter reports when business rules change, will have a drastic impact and increased productivity for your end users while also reducing the burden on IT.

Since DBxtra can connect to most any database or data source, you can provide a tool the is truly cross-platform independent. This actually reduces the toolset required, provides a single access point to data, and reduces training requirements.

Who should use it

Anyone who wants to produce quality reports or just query data in an ad hoc manor can benefit from DBxtra. With a powerful toolset DBxtra assists end users as well as the IT staff. in the categorization and processes around defining where information is, how it is retrieved, and who needs the information. Developers, analysts, and DBAs will benefit from this tool as they interrogate data across multiple systems.

Working with DBxtra

Below is presented with my experiences working with the DBxtra product. While the demos and tutorials take you through many of the feature set it is highly recommended you use the product to see how it works in your environment.

When you first start up DBxtra you are prompted to accept the license agreement and then need to create a DBxtra database for housing reports. Within the directory you supply to house the DBxtra database a new directory will be created along with a .mdb (Microsoft database) file. While using DBxtra additional directories and files may be created in this directory. I was then prompted to create an administrator password for the Microsoft database and then required to login. These few setup procedures and only need to be done once and were not time intensive.

All work is done through projects and you will need to create one before producing any report or querying any data. After you have defined a project you can define the connections to databases and add database objects to use within the newly created project. I was very happy to experience an error free mechanism for creating connections to Oracle, SQL Server, and Microsoft Excel.

After defining a project and adding database objects to it you are then put into the Data Explorer. The Data Explorer is the heart of the organizational system for DBxtra where you access and place objects such as database objects, reports, and queries. Data Explorer is a tree structure that, as you get familiar with the toolset, allows for easy retrieval and quick access to previously defined objects. At this point it is a nice place to click the “Show Data” option and prove to yourself the ease at which DBxtra can extract information from different data sources. You may also at this point get familiar with one of the more powerful filtering mechanism through the “Show field values” option. With this feature you can extract values for an object that can be used in equality matches on columns. Just click the “Show field values” box, select a field for the equality operation, and magically you can use the drop down list and assign a value for the equality. Powerful and very user-friendly. Now just hit the “Show Data” button to return the filtered result set.

Query Builder allows for the definition and saving of queries within the Data Explorer tree structure. Defining a query is accomplished through naming the query, selecting data sources, selecting objects for the query, building relationship and filters where necessary, and then possibly sorting the data. As you use DBxtra you will soon notice that tabs across the top of the screens present the order in which you should follow. It is an easy approach to define the object or procedure you are building and very intuitive at the same time. I personally like things that have a definite flow and DBxtra provides that for me.

Building reports where again just as easy. Just follow the script presented in the tabs on the screen. Reports have the ability to be exported to text, XML, PDF, Microsoft Excel, and HTML. A unique feature of the DBxtra is to export the report to a Microsoft Excel pivot table and chart where the Excel spreadsheet is pre-built with a constant connection to the data sources. Whenever the database is updated and the user of the Excel report presses the refresh button the data in the spreadsheet is also updated.

Other options that I did not try were the E-mailing and scheduling of reports. I did watch the demos and looked at the screens. Again the common thread of the step by step tabular approach existed in these options and thus presented no surprises. An interesting feature was the ability to write a simple e-mail merge operation that allows for the sending of a report in an email while tailoring the e-mail on merge fields for personalization.

Hardware / Software Requirements

• Processor 600Mhz
• 128 MB RAM
• 25 MB available space on hard disk drive
• Microsoft Windows 98 SE or later
• Microsoft Excel 97 & Outlook 97 for higher level features

Download and Installation

You can get a free 15 day trial off DBxta’s web site at http://www.DBxtra.com/DBxtra/registro.asp

If you would like to keep in touch with DBxtra and receive some free support and other valuable information about using the product while you are in trial then you should give them your name. But name registration is not required for the free trial. As an interesting feature to the download, if you decide to not purchase by the end of the trial the product deprecates itself from the Professional Edition into the Free Edition. I have never seen this before and like the concept because you don’t need to worry about removing the product. Plus at the end of the trial you still have a product that is usable. The download and installation went very swiftly with a clean and very few clicks to install the software.

License

There are three distinct products for DBxtra that include a standard, professional, and report viewer. After a trial period of 15 days the product deprecates to a free version. Pricing is currently available for a single concurrent user and you are given price breaks as the number of concurrent users increase. This ranges from around 25%-33% depending on how many licenses you buy. Also to note is that the license is for concurrent users and not for installed copies of DBxtra. This means that you can install everywhere and use where you like. The pricing is very reasonable in my opinion and depending on the number of licenses you purchase you can put the power of data extraction into end users for less than $150 USD. Support is free as are upgrades for year 2005.

Rudolf Vanek

See more information: http://www.dbxtra.com