Sharing internet connection using a broadband router

A dedicated broadband router is a much better approach than the one above when more than two computers need to share one broadband internet connection. With this method, all computers on the network are connected together using a switch (or hub), and the switch is connected to the broadband router. All the computers can then connect to the internet using the router as a gateway (see Figure 3). The router would normally be left on; it has no moving parts, is low voltage and silent. This means that any computer on the network can connect to the internet at any time without delay.

All routers provide a degree of network security through a technology called Network Address Translation or NAT. NAT means that computers on the internet can only see your router, and they cannot gain direct access to your own computer.

Broadband routers usually have no moving parts in them (i.e. a disk or fan), so they are silent in operation and hardly ever fail.

Setting broadband routers up is usually a straight-forward process too. Most will automatically detect the necessary settings, and they will usually set up your home network for you too (using a technology called Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol or DHCP).

Why use this approach?

When more than two computers need to share an internet connection. When the uptime of the main 'gateway' computer cannot be relied upon (as is the case with Microsoft ICS). When you don't want your own computer connected directly to the internet for security reasons. When the additional security features of a router are desirable.

1.      Broadband Internet connection sharing using a hardware router

Hardware Requirements for connection sharing using a broadband router

1 x network card and network cable per computer

Each computer must have an Ethernet Network Interface Card (NIC) installed, and must be connected to the router with Ethernet cable.

1 x broadband router

It is the router that allows multiple computers on a network to use the same internet connection. Broadband routers typically perform multiple tasks, and those suitable for home and small office use will often have a built in four port switch, router (and firewall), and either a cable or ADSL modem. It is usually preferable to use an all in one solution than three separate devices.

1 x switch (if not included with the router)

If the broadband router does not have a built in switch, then a separate one will need to be purchased. You must make sure the switch has enough ports to connect all the computers and the router together.

1 x broadband modem (if not included with the router)

If the broadband router does not have a built in modem (either a cable or ADSL modem), then you will have to purchase a separate modem. Most routers will require that the modem has an Ethernet port to connect to. However many broadband modems are either PCI (internal cards) or external devices with USB connections. These types of modems will not work with typical routers, so care should be taken when making a purchasing decision.


2.      Broadband Internet connection sharing using a hardware router with separate switch and modem.

~pctech

Tips against PC Virus

When your computer gets infected with a virus it can be a devastating experience. A virus can consume your precious computer files and even damage your computer hardware. Is this worth ignoring? Anything you can do to avoid a computer virus has to be a good thing and is well worth spending your time on. We all know prevention is better than a cure, sharing the tips on how to protect you’re pc against computer viruses.

The first thing that recommend is to research and become knowledgeable about viruses.

 How can you protect your computer from viruses if you don’t even know what they are. Here are some previous tutorials I have written about viruses.

Arm yourself with the best Antivirus software to suit your needs.

Not everyone can get away with using free antivirus software because it depends what you do on your computer. It depends on factors such as if you download files or not, if you open email attachments, and if you surf suspicious websites. See my reviews for the best Virus Removal Software. Let’s face it, if you do not have protection against viruses installed on your computer, you will without a doubt, get a virus within the first hour of surfing the internet. It is that easy.

Having a great Antivirus program installed on your computer to protect you against viruses is great. However, if you do not regularly update the virus definitions, then the program is useless. New viruses are produced daily and this is why we constantly have to update the virus definitions and stay ahead of the bad guys.

When surfing the internet avoid websites.

Be aware of websites that contain illegal software downloads, sexual references, free screensavers, cracks or serials, etc.  It’s sure you get the picture. If you go near these sites you are immediately asking for trouble.

Always update Windows.

 These updates contain security updates that will help in your fight against viruses. If you do not perform regular Windows updates you are leaving your computer in a vulnerable state.

Be careful when opening emails.

There are obvious emails that you know you shouldn’t open, however what about the ones you get from people you know? What if your friend has a virus and it is spreading itself through emails? An email cannot be important enough to risk getting a virus. Delete the email and send a fresh email to your friend asking them if they actually did send you the email.

If you are really serious about protecting your computer you can change your email settings and receive text emails only. You can also disable the ability to open email attachments. Virus travel in HTML enabled emails and file attachments. They cannot travel in text email messages.

Do not use peer to peer (p2p) file sharing programs.

These include programs such as Limewire, Bearshare, Gnutella, Morpheus, Torrents, etc. These programs let you download files from other computer users connected to their program network. You have no way of knowing what you are actually downloading until it is on your computer. Even if you share files from a cd from a friend, it may have a virus.

Do not download files from websites.

Again, there is no way of knowing what you are downloading. The file can appear to be named like the file you want, however it could be anything. Most of the time, this is how a virus is unleashed, it usually seems like a harmless, familiar object.

Make sure you have a firewall enabled on your computer.

Windows comes with an inbuilt firewall or you can use a third party firewall program like Zone Alarm. Either way, make sure the firewall is on…To check the Windows Firewall go to the security settings in your control panel.

If you are careful and are serious about protecting your computer from invading viruses, it is possible to stay safe. This tips will help you keep your computer running smoothly, and virus free.

PC Maintenance Reminder

Computer maintenance is a part of everyone’s lives now, much like owning a car and getting it serviced, it just has to be done. Computers are the same, needing regular maintenance, as they get clogged up with truck loads of hidden files.

Most of the time the average computer user has no idea that they are actually messing up a computer just by using it. Do you surf the internet, read file attachments from your email, or simply write a Word document?

Without even personally saving a file on your computer, there are hundreds of different files save automatically each time you do anything on your computer. For example if you receive an email with a Word document attached to it and open it to read instead of saving it first, the document Will be temporarily saved in the Windows Temp folder.

Imagine after reading this Word document, you try to save it to your computer without looking where you are saving it.

If you do not choose where to save this file it will be saved in a temporary folder. Eventually this temp folder becomes quite large in size without you even realizing.

USB Portable Programs

This stuff can be installed on any portable drive, i.e. USB thumbdrive, PDA or an iPod. You can use them at work, school, or any other place where you can plugin your device. Check them out, you can either scroll-down for relevant category, i.e office software, email tools, messengers, games, etc. or get a ‘all-in-one’ package (all essential tools) . While there are more apps for windows users, I tried to include a mac version for each essential tool.

What is a portable program ?
A portable program is a piece of software that you can carry around with you on a portable device and use on any other computer. It can be your email program, your browser, system recovery tools or even an operating system. The coolest part about it, is that all of your data and settings are always stored on a thumbdrive so when you unplug the device, none of your personal data is left behind.

Transporting your data is probably the most common use for a USB flash drive. But there’s a world of other things you can do with these handy pocket-size drives. Here are 10 ways you can use that USB flash drive to do more than just move data.

Run portable applications

In addition to storing your data, you can run portable applications from a USB flash drive. For example, OpenOffice, which is a complete office suite that includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, drawing package, and database, is available as a portable application. Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird are also available as portable applications. When you combine the office suite with the ability to surf the Web and check email, you’ll be able to take your most vital computing applications with you wherever you go — right in your pocket.

If that’s not enough, you can choose other applications to install on your USB flash drive from PortableApps.com (Figure A). You can even install an entire prepackaged suite of applications that includes such things as an audio player, games, an antivirus utility, and a handy menu system.

Figure A

 

The PortableApps.com suite comes with a menu system to allow you to easily access your portable applications.

Boot an operating system

If you want to do more than just run your own applications, you might want to consider booting an entire operating system from your USB flash drive. You can boot either Windows or Linux from a USB flash drive; however, the process is not an exact science and you may be in for a technical adventure.

Fortunately, there are some guides you can follow. To learn how to boot Windows XP from a USB flash drive, see the article Creating a bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP. To learn how to boot a version of Linux from a USB flash drive, see the article Puppy Linux teaches an old dog new tricks.

Connect to a wireless network

If you have a wireless network, you can use the Wireless Network Setup Wizard in Windows XP or the Windows Connect Now (WCN) feature built into Vista to save wireless network configuration information to a USB flash drive. You can then use your drive to quickly and easily connect another computer or a WCN-compatible device, such as a router or printer, to your wireless network. To learn more about using the Wireless Network Setup Wizard, see the Help And Support Center, which is accessible from Windows XP’s Start menu. To learn more about using the Windows Connect Now feature, see Windows Help And Support, which is accessible from Windows Vista’s Start menu.

Create a password reset disk

A password reset disk can really come in handy if you forget the password to your user account on a Windows system that is not a part of a domain. If you find yourself in that situation, you can use the password reset disk to reset your password and quickly get back into your user account. In Windows Vista, you can use USB flash drive rather than a floppy disk as a password reset disk (Figure B). For details on how to do so, see the article Create a Vista password reset disk using a USB flash drive.

Figure B

  

You can use your USB flash drive as a password reset disk.

Boost performance

If you’re running Windows Vista, you can use a USB flash drive to speed up your system with the ReadyBoost technology. ReadyBoost can use the storage space on a USB Flash drive as an additional memory cache to aid the memory cache on your hard disk. And because flash memory is more responsive than a hard disk, with its physical moving parts, the memory cache provided by ReadyBoost can significantly improve system responsiveness.

Using ReadyBoost is easy. You just insert your USB flash drive into your Vista system and follow the onscreen prompts to configure and use ReadyBoost. If you want more details, check out the article How SuperFetch and ReadyBoost work together.

Manage it

If all you really want to do with your USB flash drive is transport data, and you’re running Windows XP, you can do so more efficiently with the Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager (Figure C). Once you have installed this manager, you can easily copy files to and from your drive, back up and restore the entire flash drive to and from your hard disk, change the drive label, and even create an autorun.inf file to launch Drive Manager automatically when you plug in the drive. To learn more about and download the USB Flash Drive Manager visit the Microsoft TechNet Magazine site.

Figure C

The Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager provides you with a host of features, such as drive backup.

Use it as an MP3 player

Would you like to be listening to music when you’re using a computer at the office, but you don’t have an MP3 player? If so, you can use a USB flash drive as an MP3 player along with Windows Media Player and a set of headphones. Just copy your MP3 files to your USB flash drive, plug it into your computer, and direct Windows Media Player to build a library of the songs on your drive. You can use all of Windows Media Player’s playback features, such as playlists and favorites, to easily customize your music listening experience. And best of all, you won’t have to worry about running low on battery power.

Password-protect it

If you use a USB flash drive to transport sensitive data that you would prefer to protect from prying eyes, should you lose the drive, Rohos Mini Drive (Figure D) can safeguard that data. This security tool allows you to create a secret partition on the drive and then password-protect/encrypt that partition, thus protecting any documents you copy to that partition via the utility’s file manager. You can download (and read a review of) Rohos Mini Drive at Download.com.

Figure D

Using Rohos Mini Drive, you can secure sensitive files on your USB flash drive.

Run a Web site from it

If you are a Web developer, you may be interested to know that with Server2Go, you can easily run a Web server that supports Apache, PHP, MySQL, and Perl right from a USB flash drive. You can use Server2Go right out of the box without any installation. It runs on all versions of Windows, supports most common browsers, and is completely free. To a developer, the benefits of having a portable Web server on a USB drive are numerous. For example, imagine being able to carry a live Web site demo into a sales pitch meeting. For more information about this package, visit the Server2Go site.

Lock your PC

Have you ever seen a movie in which a person in some secret government installation simply inserts and removes a card to log in and log out of a PC? If you thought that idea was cool, you’ll definitely want to investigate Predator (Figure E). Once installed and configured, this little freeware utility will allow you to turn a USB flash drive into a key you can use to lock and unlock your computer.

Figure E

With Predator, you can use a USB flash drive as a key to lock and unlock your computer.

While the USB flash drive is connected to your computer, everything works as it normally would. Once you remove the USB flash drive, your computer is locked down — the keyboard and mouse are disabled and the screen darkens. To unlock your computer, you just plug in the USB flash drive and the computer will be unlocked and you can begin using it. To learn more about Predator, and/or to download it, visit the developer’s Web site.

~Greg Shultz

Kapatid "luha"

In existence for over four years, Kapatid has always been influential in the music scene with their ever-evolving yet likeable tunes. Their sound has educated the audience with a new perspective far from the traditional and stereotypical style.

It was, in a sense, a whole new genre of music.

Through the years, the band has tackled major trials and events. But this never stopped them from writing and playing what they want. Now with new material, Kapatid is ready to take the scene to even newer heights. 

Entitled “Luha”. This sophomore release contains the band’s most intimate and personal experiences. Twelve new tracks containing coherent concepts that span a wide reach. The carrier single – spearheads the album release with an aggressive groove but positive message. And the song speaks more melancholic with a tune and lyrics that compliment. The funky hanging out sets a laid-back atmosphere with an R&B feel to it. And there with very heavy emotion that sticks out for both its sound and words. It is these songs (as well as others in the album) that you grow more and more fond of after each listening. And it is these songs that define Kapatid today.

Today, Kapatid is, more than ever, a musical force to be reckoned with. Joining the inimitable Karl Roy is veteran musician and bassist Philippe Arriola (Weedd) causing the group to reach a new level of maturity balanced perfectly by gifted young bloods guitarist Anjones Elemos and drummer Paolo Rosal (Queso).

Members: 

Karl Roy – vocals

Paolo Rosal- drums

Philippe Arriola – bass

Anjones Elemos – guitars

~bsanchez

Galit ka nanaman, dala ng kalbaryong buhat mo

Kung kailangan mo ng tulong

H'wag kang lumayo nandito lang, dito lang ako

Sa bawat luha sa bawat sandali

Di mo lang alam, di naanan ko narin

Sa hirap ng buhay tamis at bigo woohhh

Di mo lang alam akoy kasama mo

Hanngang sa dulo ng mundo

Naalala ko pa, muntik ka ng sumuko

Anong bang nararamdam ng puso mong mammon

Solo trip ka dyan mag isa, di mo lang alam akoy kasama mo

Hanggang sa dulo ng mundo'.

Sa bawat luha sa bawat sandali

Di mo lang alam, di naanan ko narin

Sa hirap ng buhay tamis at bigo woohhh

Di mo lang alam akoy kasama mo

Hanngang sa dulo ng mundo

Di mo lang alam kami'y kasama mo

Hanggang sa dulo ng mundo

~networld