10:06 PM

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remove W32.Downadup and W32.Downadup.B with tool from Symantec

  • If you are on a network or have a full-time connection to the Internet, such as a DSL or cable modem, disconnect the computer from the network and Internet. Disable or password-protect file sharing, or set the shared files to Read Only, before reconnecting the computers to the network or to the Internet. Because this worm spreads by using shared folders on networked computers, to ensure that the worm does not reinfect the computer after it has been removed, Symantec suggests sharing with Read Only access or by using password protection.

    For instructions on how to do this, refer to your Windows documentation, or the document: How to configure shared Windows folders for maximum network protection.

    For further information on the vulnerability and patches to resolve it please refer to the following document:
    Microsoft Windows Server Service RPC Handling Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

  • If you are removing an infection from a network, first make sure that all the shares are disabled or set to Read Only.

  • This tool is not designed to run on Novell NetWare servers. To remove this threat from a NetWare server, first make sure that you have the current virus definitions, and then run a full system scan with the Symantec antivirus product.

How to download and run the tool

Important: You must have administrative rights to run this tool on Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or Windows XP.

Note for network administrators: If you are running MS Exchange 2000 Server, we recommend that you exclude the M drive from the scan by running the tool from a command line, with the Exclude switch. For more information, read the Microsoft knowledge base article: XADM: Do Not Back Up or Scan Exchange 2000 Drive M (Article 298924).

Follow these steps to download and run the tool:

  • Download the FixDownadup.exe from here.

  • Save the file to a convenient location, such as your Windows desktop.

  • Close all the running programs.

  • If you are on a network or if you have a full-time connection to the Internet, disconnect the computer from the network and the Internet.

  • If you are running Windows Me or XP, turn off System Restore. For instructions on how to turn off System Restore, read your Windows documentation, or read from here

  • Locate the file that you just downloaded.

  • Double-click the FixDownadup.exe file to start the removal tool.

  • Click Start to begin the process, and then allow the tool to run.
    NOTE: If you have any problems when you run the tool, or it does nor appear to remove the threat, restart the computer in Safe mode and run the tool again.

  • Restart the computer.

  • Run the removal tool again to ensure that the system is clean.

  • If you are running Windows Me/XP, then reenable System Restore.

  • If you are on a network or if you have a full-time connection to the Internet, reconnect the computer to the network or to the Internet connection.

  • Run LiveUpdate to make sure that you are using the most current virus definitions.



When the tool has finished running, you will see a message indicating whether the threat has infected the computer. The tool displays results similar to the following:

  • Total number of the scanned files

  • Number of deleted files

  • Number of repaired files

  • Number of terminated viral processes

  • Number of fixed registry entries
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9:19 PM

(1) Comments

Ads blocking in Opera

james

,

How to Blocking advertisement in Opera Web browser

Opera has built in popup blocker and an adblocking feature as well.Using
the adblocking feature is as simple as downloading a text file and putting
in the right folder.Opera's ad blocking works by referring to a file called
url-filter.ini.There are many users who keep regularly maintained list of
ad hosts and domains.

There is two way or method to block ads in Opera Browser.

First method for Blocking ad in Opera Web Browser..
- we use Add on Fanboy's Adblock list(www.fanboy.co.nz/adblock/) Click on the install now link or visit www.fanboy.co.nz/adblock/opera/urlfilter.ini.
- Save the file as it is to a folder
- move it to C:\document and settings\Your_User_ID\Application Data\Opera_folder\profile.
Linux users must copy to the opera folder.
- resart the browser and ad blocking will be enabled.
- To Update it.. oftenly visit the site

Second method for Blocking ad in Opera Web Browser.

1. Locate your Opera CSS directory; Go to Opera menu, Help, About.
IE: User CSS directory, /home/orakk/.opera/styles/user/



2. Close Opera. In the css directory create a blank file called "adblock.css" or anything else you'd like to name it .



3. Now go to Ad Blocking FiltersetP at userstyles.org, click the button "Show Code" and copy everything into "adblock.css" Save and close the file.

4. Open Opera and then select "View-->Styles-->adblock.css" Read mOre Guys...

12:27 AM

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ESET Smart Security 4.0

ESET may not be a household word in the U.S. the way it is in Europe, but its presence is increasing. The company's growth is burgeoning, with 70 million users hitting its update servers every day. Its latest security suite, ESET Smart Security 4.0 ($89.99 direct for three licenses), aims to be speedy and light on system resources. To that end it omits many of the extras, such as the antiphishing, parental control, and privacy components common to most suites. Instead it focuses on essential elements: antivirus, antispyware, personal firewall, and spam filter. As a result, it's easy on system resources. Unfortunately, it doesn't fare as well on basics. Its firewall is merely adequate, and it's not the best at spyware protection and cleanup.


The previous edition, ESET Smart Security 3.0, introduced a simplified user interface that hides all of the program's complexity while keeping the more advanced features available if needed. The suite's appearance hasn't changed much in version 4.0. The main window shows overall protection status and lets you scan the system, launch a manual update, or make very simple configuration changes, like temporarily turning off the firewall. As with most modern suites, if ESET isn't configured properly for maximum protection, the protection status icon turns red and the program offers a link to correct the configuration problem.

Switching the user interface to advanced mode reveals an additional menu of tools and adds choices to the existing simple protection categories. Protection status gains three new sub-items that graph file/network activity, list active network connections, and display protection statistics. Advanced mode offers more configuration choices as well. Among other changes, instead of just being able to turn off the firewall temporarily, you can change its filtering mode.

Even advanced mode is simple compared with the full, advanced setup dialog. This dialog's tree-structured feature list lets you tweak just about every detail of the program's operation. Expert users will revel in the power, while novice users will find they can do just about anything they need to without digging this deep
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12:25 AM

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What is DropBox?

james

, ,

Dropbox is the simplest, most elegant file-synchronization tool I've ever used. Dropbox Basic provides 2GB of storage free, and Dropbox Pro gives you 50GB for $9.95 per month or $99.95 per year. The service stores files with strong encryption on multiple servers in Amazon's S3 service and works equally smoothly on Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs. If you prefer to synchronize folders you already have on your system, or if you want to keep several folders fully synchronized between multiple machines, Dropbox may not be for you. It synchronizes only files stored in a single dedicated folder. But its smooth and hassle-free operation make it our Editors' Choice.

You start by signing up on Dropbox's Web site, then downloading and installing the client program. This creates a new folder called "My Dropbox" in your Documents folder (you can move it later) and a system tray icon that lets you open it with just a double click. From this same icon, you can also reach other preference settings, such as the folder's location and throttles on upload and download speeds. Another nice option on the pop-up menu is the "Forums" item, which opens a browser window on Dropbox's user support forum; you'll find the dialogue between users and developers livelier than on most competing services' sites.

Like its rival services, Dropbox stores synchronized files in the cloud so they're available at any machine on which you've installed Dropbox. You can also reach your files through a Web interface from any Internet-connected system. Dropbox's storage preserves copies of earlier versions of the files in My Dropbox, so you always have the most current copy on your computers. I liked that you can still access older versions (or files you deleted or moved) with just an Internet connection. One attractive feature (also available in SugarSync) is Dropbox's bandwidth-saving ability to upload and download only the parts of files that change during revisions. This isn't always possible, but I've made frequent changes in a 125MB file I synchronize and sometimes found that Dropbox needed to transfer only 2 to 3MB of data to update the file. That's a decent bandwidth savings.

When the installer creates the My Dropbox folder, it also creates a subfolder called Public. Files placed there aren't immediately visible to anyone, but by right-clicking on one and choosing the Copy Public Link, you create a Web address of a permanent, public link to the file that you can publish on the Web or send to friends or colleagues—even if they don't use Dropbox. (You should use this feature only for files you don't need to restrict to specific users, because there's no password protection.) I even built a small Web site in my Public folder by filling it with an HTML file and images and sending the link to friends so they could open it in their browsers. A similar feature with another subfolder called Photos lets you send a link to a Public Gallery that anyone can use to view any photos you've copied into it.

A slightly different feature uses invitation-only shared access to folders you create anywhere in My Dropbox. Right-click the icon of the folder you want to share, then choose an option to share the folder. The Dropbox Web interface opens, and you can send invitations to friends and colleagues that let them add, edit, or delete the files in the folder. They'll need a free Dropbox account, but they won't need to install the client if they're satisfied with accessing the folder over the Web. If they do install the Dropbox client, the shared folder will automatically download to their My Dropbox folder.

One major plus for Dropbox is its clean, intelligent design. When you right-click on a file in My Dropbox, you can choose the "Revisions…" option to start the Web interface and see a list of changes for that file. This is far more convenient than anything offered by SugarSync or Syncplicity, which force you to hunt down files you want in either a Web interface or a separate program and then choose to see revisions made to them.

The Web interface is clean and efficient—it looks a bit like Facebook without the clutter. At the top is a collapsible list of Recent Events listing files you've recently edited, added, or removed from Dropbox. You can even create an RSS feed of these recent changes, so you can be alerted to changes friends or colleagues make to shared files. Beneath the Recent Events is a list of your files, complete with icons for downloading earlier revisions of current files or deleted files, or removing files entirely.

I said earlier that Dropbox can sync only files in its Dropbox folder, but expert users can overcome that limitation fairly easily. On Vista (but not XP), Mac, or Linux, you can create a symbolic link inside My Dropbox to any file or folder anywhere on the system, and those files or folders will be synchronized as if they're actually in My Dropbox. Dropbox promises to add a "Watch Any Folder" feature in the future that will make it work in the same way its rival products do.

Dropbox is an example of software that gets virtually everything right—including automatic updating of itself when a new version appears. When the "Watch Any Folder" feature arrives, Dropbox will be all the more useful. Even without that ability, however, I was impressed enough to buy a year's subscription after testing it for this review. Dropbox is our Editors' Choice for file-synchronization services.
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10:06 PM

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review HP LP2275w

james

, ,

Deep, rich color reproduction, a flexible stand with pivot capabilities, and excellent viewing angles are all good reasons to consider the HP LP2275w ($349 direct) for your next business display, but there's more. This versatile 22-inch LCD delivers very good grayscale and small-text performance and has a built-in USB hub. It offers some nice business features as well. Its relatively slow pixel response will likely disappoint the gaming crowd, though.

A superthin (0.5-inch) bezel surrounds the wide-gamut S-PVA (Super Patterned Vertical Alignment) panel, which has a resolution of 1,680 by 1,050 pixels and features an anti-reflective matte coating that reduces glare. The stand consists of a rectangular base with a small tray that can be used to store your keyboard, and a telescoping arm that provides tilt, swivel, and height adjustability. It also supports pivoting, which lets you rotate the panel 90 degrees (clockwise) for viewing images in portrait mode. The pivot feature is particularly useful for working with large documents, and it allows you to view Web pages with minimal scrolling. Unlike the Lenovo ThinkVision L220x, which features an auto-rotation sensor, the LP2275w requires that you manually change image orientation when switching between portrait and landscape modes. However, it does come with Portrait Displays' Pivot Pro software, a one-click utility for rotating the image without having to access your graphics card's control panel.

At the rear of the display are DVI, VGA, and DisplayPort inputs, as well as three USB connectors (one upstream and two downstream). Two additional downstream USB ports are conveniently mounted on the left-hand side of the monitor, making it easy to plug in peripherals such as keyboards, mice, and USB drives. A power switch located on the screen's lower bezel sits alongside four clearly marked function buttons that allow users to tweak image settings using the on-screen display (OSD) system. Color temperature, brightness, clock and phase, and contrast levels are easily adjusted via the intuitive menu structure. There's also a sleep timer; this puts the monitor into standby mode, where it draws just 3 watts of power, as opposed to 52W while in full operating mode, as measured by my Kill A Watt meter from P3 International. The LP2275w is Energy Star qualified, has earned an EPEAT Silver ranking, and is covered under HP's aggressive Hardware Recycling program (www.hp.com/recycle), which provides recycling services to businesses for a nominal fee (approximately $6 per monitor). Thanks to these credentials, it earns our GreenTech Approved seal.

The LP2275w comes with HP's Display Assistant software, which gives users the ability to change image settings with their keyboard and mouse instead of having to use the function buttons. The software includes handy business features such as an Asset Management tool that allows IT personnel to collect information about the monitor (serial number, network domain, host PC name) and control specific functions (power up/down, sleep mode) from a remote location. There's also a theft-deterrent feature that requires users to enter a PIN code to activate the monitor if it has been disconnected from its host PC without prior authorization. IT administrators will also appreciate the LP2275w's three-year parts-and-labor warranty that includes on-site service and 24-hour telephone support.

I was impressed with nearly every aspect of the LP2275w's image performance. Primary and secondary colors were bold and well defined without appearing oversaturated, while swatches from the DisplayMate (www.displaymate.com) Color Scales test scaled evenly from dark to light. The panel had no trouble reproducing the darkest shades of gray on the 64-Step Grayscale test, and it did a very good job with light grays as well, although there was a tiny bit of fading at the very high end of the scale. Such impressive grayscale performance is rare for a monitor in this price range, but not unprecedented—the Dell SP2208WFP and Lenovo ThinkVision L220x also handled grays with aplomb.

Any business monitor worth its salt should be able to display extremely small text clearly, and the LP2275w did not disappoint. I had no trouble reading Arial fonts set to 5.3 points, the smallest setting available on the DisplayMate tests. I was also impressed with the panel's viewing angle performance, which lived up to HP's claim of 178 degrees (horizontal and vertical).

Not surprisingly, the LP2275w struggled while displaying fast moving images. Moderate smearing (motion blur) was evident during a round of F.E.A.R., and again when I watched the DeNiro/Pacino thriller Righteous Kill on DVD. The panel's 16-millisecond (black-to-white) pixel response rate is the culprit here, but since this monitor is designed for business users motion performance should not be much of an issue. Gamers and video enthusiasts may want to consider a faster TN+ panel such as the ASUS LS221H, which does a much better job with fast action sequences.

Despite its less-than-stellar motion performance, the HP LP2275w is an excellent choice for image editors, photographers, and anyone who requires accurate grayscale and color reproduction. Its ability to display very small text will appeal to users who spend a lot of time viewing large documents and spreadsheets, while IT administrators will appreciate its asset tracking and remote management features. All this earns it our Editors' Choice for 22-inch business displays.

taken from www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2343785,00.asp
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10:04 PM

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Facebook (Spring 2009)

james

,

There's been a lot of chatter in the tech press about Facebook's recent interface update, the backlash to it, and the partial retreat on some of the changes to the popular social-networking site. Among other complaints was the accusation that Facebook was trying to emulate Twitter. In fact, in some ways the new Facebook is less like Twitter. It displays some content non-chronologically, include comments, filtering, and multimedia. Tech news articles report that 1.7 million users have joined the group "Petition against the new Facebook" but fail to mention that that group was started in July 2008. The site actually polled its users, and Christopher Cox, the site's Director of Product, indicated on the site's official blog that the company would roll back some of the changes. Are the changes all wonderful? Hardly. But many bring much-needed improvements.


Here's what the post on Facebook's official blog says regarding three areas of particular urgency in re-redesigning Facebook.

* Live updating: One of the most common requests is the ability to see your stream update automatically. We will be adding the ability to turn on auto updating in the near future so you no longer need to refresh the page.
* Photo tags: In order to surface more photos you might like to see, we'll be adding photos tagged of your friends to the stream. This will happen in the coming weeks.
* More choices for applications: We've heard feedback that there is a lot of application content appearing in the stream. We will be giving you tools to control and reduce application content that your friends share into your stream.

The company has also promised to address (or already addressed) several other complaints. Those include making the right-column Highlights update more frequently, moving friend requests to the top of the same column (already done), and making Friend-list creation easier. The first doesn't make much sense to me, since the central panel is for the latest updates, while the side highlights are more for events, very popular videos, and the like that have a longer timeframe. The new left column already has an easier way to create friend lists, and it's more than welcome (though it oddly alphabetizes by first name).

I think a lot of the backlash grew from misunderstandings. Since long before this redesign, Facebook has employed an algorithm that decides what to show in the newsfeed. Even an Ars Technica reviewer mistakenly claims that before this latest redesign, users saw everything friends shared, which just isn't true. In fact, the latest redesign brings all friend activity into the feed: Before, my home page was about two pages deep. Now it's seven. Previously, users complained about the weeding out of content. Now, that there's no algorithm, I'd like to see some weeding out, and, clearly, others share my wish. Do I really need six separate consecutive entries from one person containing photo upload sets?

One misconception involves the news feed. A user I talked with complained that it's no longer chronological, which clearly isn't the case—each entry in the feed includes a relative time indication, such as "13 minutes ago" or "2 hours ago." Most likely, the upset user was thinking of the new Highlights column, which isn't in chronological order. I actually like this change, though, because it brings up more content that users previously wouldn't have seen in their main feed—for example, photos or videos that a lot of Friends have commented on, invitations, and other less-immediate content. One problem with this new space, though, is there's no way to delete an item you don't care about.

I'm also dubious about the allegation that Facebook is trying to emulate the much-hyped Twitter, which claims a paltry 7 million users compared with Facebook's 175 million. Personally, I welcome Facebook's filtering capability (not to be confused with the deceased feed-weed algorithm) that lets you reduce the high noise-to-signal ratio of Twitter. In any case, the two services fulfill different purposes: Twitter is meant to be one person publishing to the world, and Facebook exists to keep a mutually agreed-upon group of friends apprised of each others' doings.

That said, I can see how users would look at the prominence now given to the update box on the home page as an emulation of Twitter. Facebook also got rid of the "User name is" before the entry box, making the service look more like Twitter. But previously, users were often puzzled about the need to speak of themselves in the third person. I also like how the icons for adding Links, Photos, Videos, Music, and apps slide open only after you click in the update box, for a less cluttered look. And since most people go to their home page more often than their own profile page, it makes sense having the updater on the home page.
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9:41 PM

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Sending Fax using computer

james

,

step 1
Open your fax software (Microsoft Fax, Microsoft Exchange or other faxing software that you may be using).
Step2
Locate an icon or menu command that allows you to receive faxes (Receive, Incoming, etc.).
Step3
Click on the icon or menu command that sets your computer to receive.
Step4
Avoid lifting the telephone receiver when you hear the incoming ring.
Step5
Click on Answer Now. The fax will begin downloading.
Step6
When the incoming fax is received, go to the Inbox to open, read or print your fax.

Receive a Fax Automatically

Step1
Open your fax software (Microsoft Fax, Microsoft Exchange or other faxing software that you may be using).
Step2
Locate an icon or menu command that allows you to receive faxes. Look for an option that allows you to receive faxes automatically. Set that option.
Step3
When there is an incoming fax, the phone will ring. If the receiver is not lifted, the fax will download onto your computer. You will not have to click Answer.
Step4
Retrieve received faxes from your software's Inbox Read mOre Guys...

9:39 PM

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10 Ways to Boost Immune Health, Stop cold, flu & depression in their tracks - before you get sick

What if, this winter, you discovered a simple way to boost your immune
system so you won't get sick? What if there were ten?

The weather changes in autumn, cold temperatures set in, and runny noses
and sniffles start to seem like an epidemic. Around Hallowe'en, the first
snowfall combines with the sugar rush of October 31 to set most of us up
for a spate of colds and flu that come and go through the winter. What if,
this winter, you discovered a simple way to boost your immune system so
you won't get sick? What if there were ten?

People who pick three or more of the suggestions from this list - and
stick to them - will substantially improve their immune strength, increase
their ability to stay sane and healthy through dreaded cold and flu
season, and keep their health and happiness up through the darkest months
of the year!

1. Drink your lemons. Lemon is the ideal food for restoring acid-alkali
balance. Drinking freshly squeezed lemon juice in water, or adding it to
tea, salad dressings (in place of vinegar), baking or cooking, helps
maintain the body's internal "climate" at a pH which supports healthy
bacteria instead of the viruses and harmful bacteria which thrive in more
acidic environments. Apple cider vinegar is another great way to improve
your body's alkalinity, but the taste of lemons is much more pleasant!

2. Give your body an herbal boost. Hundreds of herbal supplements and
tinctures exist to give the immune system additional support during the
winter. I recommend essential oils (especially my favourite winter blend,
Thieves) as an excellent source of immune-stimulating compounds, and the
rawest and most natural form of any medicinal plant, but there are other
supplements which can be effective. Fresh herbs and whole food remedies
are always preferable over packaged herbs or supplements, since they have
a much higher potency and frequency and your body absorbs more of their
value. See also Essential Oils Fight Cold and Flu.

3. Get a full night's sleep. Everybody's different: your body may need
anywhere from 6 to 10 hours of sleep each night. Whatever your personal
sleep requirement is, get it! Sleep has been linked to balanced hormone
levels (including human growth hormone and the stress hormone, cortisol),
keeping weight down, clear thinking and reasoning, improved mood, and
vibrant, healthy skin.

4. Eat plenty of protein. Protein is a building block for a healthy body,
mind, and immune system. Diets low in protein tend to be high in carbs
which convert readily to glucose, spiking blood sugar and stressing the
pancreas and the immune system.

5. Drink plenty of water. This is almost, but not quite, a given; most
headaches occur because despite the number of reminders, people still
aren't getting enough water! Headaches and thirst are both signs of
dehydration. You should be drinking, in daily ounces, half your body
weight in pounds. (i.e. Body weight in pounds, divided by 2 = number of
ounces of water per day.) Click here for detailed guidelines - how much
water do you need daily?

6. Stop drinking coffee. Contrary to recent marketing as a source of
antioxidants, chocolate and coffee are two of the worst things you can do
for your immune system and your health. Caffeine robs your body of
minerals and vitamins, and it dehydrates you. If you drink coffee, make
sure you add an additional two glasses to your water intake per cup of
coffee. A mineral supplement helps to offset caffeine's damage, too.

7. Worse yet is the impact of refined white sugar. If you do only one
thing to boost your immune system, eliminating sugar will do the trick.
You will see noticeable results in your energy levels, weight
distribution, immunity and your ability to think clearly when you break
the cravings and stop eating refined sugar. Many holistic nutritionists
consider sugar a drug for its impact on the human body; I have known
practitioners to prioritize eliminating sugar from the diet over
recommending that people quitting smoking. Healthier sugars such as agave
and stevia do exist, but I avoid artificial sweeteners; they are more
toxic than cane sugar.

8. Stock up on raw fruits and vegetables for their antioxidants, vitamins,
minerals, fibre and enzymes. The nutritional content that you receive from
raw fruits and veggies is unparalleled. Many vitamins, including C, are
antioxidants and will protect cells - including those of your immune
system - from damage by toxins in the environment. Dark-coloured produce
(berries, kale, broccoli) tends to be higher in flavonoids, polyphenols
and other antioxidants. The perfect source of minerals is seaweed, which
is sold dried, but can often be found raw (dried at low temperatures to
maintain most of the enzymes and nutrients) in health food stores.

9. Spend some time out in the cold. Snowball fight, anyone? Exercise can
make a noticeable difference to your health and happiness by releasing
endorphins. Most of us spend 90% of our lives indoors, inhaling dubiously
filtered air and other people's germs, so I take any opportunity I can to
get outside. Time spent outdoors in the cold also stimulates the thyroid
gland.

Finally...

10. Nurture yourself. Make sure you take time to yourself, spend some time
with friends, and indulge yourself in a massage, a hot bath, or an energy
work session when you want one. Our bodies respond to our emotions - if
you're feeling harassed and anxious, it can manifest in a sore throat or a
cold. Create a space within yourself and your living environment for
harmony, self-love and joy (giving thanks, prayer and blessing the
abundance in your life and of the world around you helps). Pay attention
to warning signs of sore throat or exhaustion so you can keep them from
getting worse. I advise taking a "mental health day" every few months to
make sure your emotional needs are met. When you're happy, you're far less
likely to get sick.

The copyright of the article 10 Ways to Boost Immune Health in Natural
Medicine is owned by Victoria Anisman-Reiner. Permission to republish 10
Ways to Boost Immune Health in print or online must be granted by the
author in writing.


Read more: "10 Ways to Boost Immune Health: Stop cold, flu & depression in
their tracks - before you get sick" -
naturalmedicine.suite101.com/article.cfm/10_ways_to_boost_immune_health#ixzz0AHF2roJG
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7:55 PM

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13 Reasons to Drink Coffee

james

,

1. Coffee may reduce the memory losses associated with age in women. (Karen Ritchie, French National Institute for Health and Medical Research, Montpelier, France 2007 American Academy of Neurology)
2. Coffee may reduce the risk of stroke in men who smoke by as much as 23%. (Stroke, June 2008)
3. Coffee seems to reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. (2004, Harvard/Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Annals of Internal Medicine)
4. People who drink 2 cups of coffee or more per day have less risk of developing high blood pressure.
5. Men who drink four or more cups of coffee per day reduce their chance of developing gout by 59%. (Hyon K. Choi, Harvard, Arthritis Research Centre of Canada, University of British Columbia in Canada)
6. Coffee may help fight cancer. Chemical analysis shows that freshly brewed coffee contains the same amount of antioxidants as three oranges.
7. Coffee seems to reduce the risk of ovarian cancer (January 2008).
8. Women who drink 2-3 cups of coffee per day are 25% less likely to die of heart disease than women who don’t drink coffee. (Garcia-Lopez, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, 2008 , Annals of Internal Medicine)
9. Women who drink 2-3 cups of coffee per day are 18% less likely to die of any cause during middle age. Yes, the study headline read “Coffee Reduces Risk of Death”. (Garcia-Lopez, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, 2008, Annals of Internal Medicine)
10. Men who drink at least 2 cups of coffee a day reduce their risk of developing gallstones by 40%.
11. Athletes who drink coffee two hours before an event improved their cycling and marathon trial times significantly.
12. Athletes who drink coffee also recover glycogen faster after vigorous exercise. (Pederson et al., American Physiological Society, Journal of Applied Physiology)
13. The best reason of all to drink coffee - the taste!

http://coffeebreak.today.com/ Read mOre Guys...

9:37 PM

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Microsoft's IE8 Catches Most 'Social Malware'

james

,

A study by NSS Labs of 6 major web browsers shows a large difference in their ability to block "socially engineered malware."

NSS Labs is an independent entity with business in many areas unrelated to this, but it's important to note that the study was funded by Microsoft.

That said, and even though the study shows IE8 and it's new SmartScreen filter head and shoulders above all other browsers, the funding does not make the study illegitimate. "Socially engineered malware," as they put it, is arguably the most important form of malware these days. We've reported on it many times in the last year, with recent examples here , here and here . The basic idea is that the user is enticed into visiting a web site and downloading malware believing it to be something else.

The recent generation of web browsers has approached this problem with reputation services, just as they have with phishing. Just as phishing sites are often initially blocked by browsers ("...this is a reported phishing web site") based partly on blacklists of domains and IP addresses, so are malware sites being blocked.

NSS Labs' tests came up with these results overall:
Browser Malware Catch Rate









IE8 (RC1) 69%
Firefox 3.07 30%
Safari v3 24%
Chrome 1.0.154 16%
Opera 9.84 5%
IE7 4%

You don't have to think ill of NSS Labs to realize that it's hard to take the results completely seriously until they are confirmed by a source not funded by Microsoft. They didn't publish the exact sample URLs so an exact replica can't be performed, and in any event such sites are highly transient. But replicating the basic idea of the test is an excellent idea for anyone with access to enough malware and a decent lab.

The other important take-away from this is that even the best numbers from IE8 are low. Protection such as this is a good defense-in-depth measure, but it's no substitute for a good anti-malware program and other protections, such as least-privileged access.
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9:14 PM

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Can You Safely Revert to the 'Old' Facebook?

james

,

Do you hate the new Facebook?

You're not alone, but is there a safe way to roll back the latest update and use the old Facebook? And on a site with more than 175 million users, do protests from less than a million of those users really warrant any action?

Facebook started rolling out revamped homepages earlier this month. Homepage tabs were cut in favor of combined status updates and news feed activities, while "highlights" from friends' profiles were put in a separate section on the right-hand side.

Some said the changes made Facebook look more like Twitter, a notion that Facebook denied.

But is there a way back to the promise land of "old" Facebook? Amidst the grumpy status updates from angry Facebook users, blogs reports surfaced this week that with a few clicks of your mouse, new Facebook would be gone forever.

An allfacebook.com post, for example, pointed to a Facebook group called "I WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO GET THE OLD FACEBOOK BACK!" The group provided a detailed work-around that would allegedly restore the old Facebook template.

Some of the comments, however, were from 2008, suggesting that the group was actually created for the last Facebook revamp in summer 2008. Other more recent posts said they were too lazy to go through all the steps, while others wondered if the solution was simply malicious software.


Though it was available earlier this morning, it appears that that group has since been deleted. Most of the other "Give us back old Facebook"-type groups only contain petitions or requests for boycotts rather than technological solutions.

Facebook did not respond to questions about whether there was a safe way to restore the old profiles, or whether users were any more outraged over this revamp than the last.

Reports surfaced yesterday that 94 percent of Facebook users were unhappy with the change. The data stemmed from a poll app created by a Facebook user that asked users to rate the changes via thumbs up or thumbs down. As of 4 P.M. Eastern time, the thumbs-down corner had 981,142 votes, while the thumbs up category had 60,363 votes.

That may be 94 percent of users who voted, but among the 175 million total Facebook users, are these people activists for the Internet age or just whiny users who can't handle change?


And what are people so worked up about? The most cited problem appears to be the revamped news feed, which users say is too confusing and omits valuable gossip.

"I miss being able to get more than status updates on the news feed," Lisa wrote.

"I liked the old home page layout. It was easier to tell the difference between types of posts. Everything was listed by time and easy to tell the difference between types (in case I wanted to skim over status updates and just read wall posts, notes, and videos)," wrote an anonymous user.

"Mixed reaction here, I like how it is easy to post web pages and easier to control some of your friends content," Mike wrote. "The bad is the stupid applications take up too much of the newsfeed."

Dissention in the ranks is nothing new when it comes to Facebook overhauls. The social networking site revamped the site last summer, introducing tabbed profiles, streamlining what people saw on the newsfeed, and integrating Wall posts, status updates, and any other activity into a single stream on peoples' pages.

For that update, Facebook did a phased transition- allowing users to retain their old profiles until September. But people were just as annoyed with the changes then as they are now, suggesting that regardless of what Facebook does, there will also be those who hate it and feel the need to join a group and vocalize their anger.

Last time, however, users did not have the option of putting up the changes to a vote. Last month, Facebook introduced its new "democratic" process, which lets users vote on Facebook changes that have a lot of feedback from users.

If a particular topic garners more than 7,000 user comments, users will be given the opportunity to vote on the issue. A vote will be binding if more than 30 percent of all active registered users vote.

No word on whether the redesign will go up for a vote. The issue could likely gather at least 7,000 user comments, but can it get 30 percent--or 52.5 million--of its users to vote on it? Stay tuned.
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5:27 AM

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No Office 14 until 2010, 'Netbook' Server Planned

Microsoft will not release its next-generation Office 14 suite in 2009, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer confirmed during a Tuesday "strategy update" Webcast. A "netbook"-like version of Windows Server is also planned.

Ballmer offered a midquarter update to Wall Street analysts, focusing primarily on the impact of the economy on the company's business. Microsoft is using RCA as a model, Ballmer said; RCA continued to invest during the Depression, then went on to dominate the television industry.

"And that's kind of the mindset that we have relative to the economic situation," Ballmer said. "You don't beat it, you manage in this environment; you don't think about it as a short term, you think of it as a reset that may take several years."

Ballmer said that he was still interested in talking to Yahoo about some sort of a search partnership, and with the company's new chief executive, Carol Bartz. Ballmer expressed a desire to not end up like the company's former chief executive, Jerry Yang, apparently implying he was ineffective.

Ballmer offered little explanation or context for the Office 14 delay, although he did say that the free OpenOffice suite had caused the company to lower the worldwide price of the suite. Both Microsoft Office and Microsoft Windows are heavily pirated; in fact, Ballmer named both pirated versions as key competitors.

Ballmer's disclosure of the delay was actually made in passing.

"From a strategy perspective, the next big innovation milestone is Office 14, our next Office release, which will not be this year, there's a version of Sharepoint, there's a version of Exchange, there's a new version of Office Live," Ballmer said.

A Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed the delay, but declined to offer further details. "We can confirm, as Steve Ballmer shared this morning during his meeting with financial analysts, that the next version of Office will be available next year," she wrote in an email. "We have nothing additional to share at this point."

Office 14 is the successor to Windows Office 12, also known as Microsoft Office 2007. The market originally expected Office 14 in the first half 2009. However, Microsoft also released the two versions of Windows Vista and Office 12 within a few weeks of one another, a strategy that some have speculated Microsoft hopes to repeat.

Ballmer also confirmed that Microsoft will make available a low-cost version of Windows Server, to take advantage of OEMs that want to design cheap or "netbook"-like hardware. That software will apparently be the Windows Server Foundation Edition.

"From a revenue perspective, we are introducing a new low-cost, low-price, low-functionality Windows Server SKU," Ballmer added. "If you take a look at it, as server prices, hardware prices have come down, we don't have exactly a netbook phenomenon but if somebody can buy a $500 server they're a little low to spend $500 for the server operating system that comes with it. So we have something akin to a netbook at the server level and we will be introducing our Foundation Edition over the next month or two."

Ballmer also reiterated that Microsoft did not have plans to make its own phones. "Windows and Windows Mobile will become closer," he said, although there still will be a distinction between Windows and phones.

But as some have speculated, Ballmer said that Microsoft expects Google to be a direct competitor. "I assume we're going to see Android-based, Linux-based laptops in addition to phones," Ballmer said. "We'll see Google more of a competitor in the operating system more than we have ever seen before."

Microsoft has also lost market share in the browser space, something that the company hopes to fix with the release of Internet Explorer 8, Ballmer said.
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5:23 AM

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Facebook Began to Democratize Its Terms of Service

james

,

Facebook is doing something unheard of, announcing at a press conference on Thursday that it is giving its users the right to weigh in on changes to its policies and Terms of Service (ToS), in effect creating what some have called a virtual "Bill of Rights."

You probably remember the massive explosion that happened when Facebook modified its Terms of Service (ToS) such that it implied Facebook owned all your content, forever. They eventually backed down, reverting to the prior ToS, but the damage was done.

Out of that fiasco has come a new initiative, though, one never before seen. In their press release, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook said:


"As people share more information on services like Facebook, a new relationship is created between Internet companies and the people they serve. The past week reminded us that users feel a real sense of ownership over Facebook itself, not just the information they share.

"Companies like ours need to develop new models of governance. Rather than simply reissue a new Terms of Use, the changes we’re announcing today are designed to open up Facebook so that users can participate meaningfully in our policies and our future."

Nicely, Facebook even had a privacy advocate chime in on their press release. In fact, no less than Simon Davies, Director of Privacy International.

"This is an unprecedented action. No other company has made such a bold move towards transparency and democratization. The devil will be in the detail but, overall, we applaud these positive steps and think they foreshadow the future of web 2.0. We hope Facebook will realize these extraordinary commitments through concrete action and we challenge the rest of the industry to exceed them."

Here is the list of the Proposed Facebook Principles:

1. Freedom to Share and Connect


People should have the freedom to share whatever information they want, in any medium and any format, and have the right to connect online with anyone – any person, organization or service – as long as they both consent to the connection.

2. Ownership and Control of Information

People should own their information. They should have the freedom to share it with anyone they want and take it with them anywhere they want, including removing it from the Facebook Service. People should have the freedom to decide with whom they will share their information, and to set privacy controls to protect those choices. Those controls, however, are not capable of limiting how those who have received information may use it, particularly outside the Facebook Service.

3. Free Flow of Information

People should have the freedom to access all of the information made available to them by others. People should also have practical tools that make it easy, quick, and efficient to share and access this information.

4. Fundamental Equality

Every Person – whether individual, advertiser, developer, organization, or other entity – should have representation and access to distribution and information within the Facebook Service, regardless of the Person’s primary activity. There should be a single set of principles, rights, and responsibilities that should apply to all People using the Facebook Service.

5. Social Value

People should have the freedom to build trust and reputation through their identity and connections, and should not have their presence on the Facebook Service removed for reasons other than those described in Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

6. Open Platforms and Standards


People should have programmatic interfaces for sharing and accessing the information available to them. The specifications for these interfaces should be published and made available and accessible to everyone.

7. Fundamental Service

People should be able to use Facebook for free to establish a presence, connect with others, and share information with them. Every Person should be able to use the Facebook Service regardless of his or her level of participation or contribution.

8. Common Welfare

The rights and responsibilities of Facebook and the People that use it should be described in a Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, which should not be inconsistent with these Principles.

9. Transparent Process

Facebook should publicly make available information about its purpose, plans, policies, and operations. Facebook should have a town hall process of notice and comment and a system of voting to encourage input and discourse on amendments to these Principles or to the Rights and Responsibilities.

10. One World

The Facebook Service should transcend geographic and national boundaries and be available to everyone in the world.

Facebook is planning virtual town halls to discuss their new policies. They are also going to create a user council to address matters in the future. At the same time, there's also a group where you can comment. It's called Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.

Finally, voting on the The Facebook Principles and the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (formerly their ToS) will only be available for users who were active by Feb. 25th, 2009. Likely they will use the same formula going forward; you will have to be active prior to the posting of an initiative to vote. At least 30% of eligible users must participate for the vote to be valid.

Facebook has summarized the feedback received at the group so far here:

"Forever" won’t work: Facebook’s use of our content has to have clear limits.

* If I do not wish any of my content to be used for commercial purposes, or submitted to 3rd parties, I should be able to select this in my Privacy settings. Also, I should always be informed what 3rd parties my content is sent to.

* Facebook’s use of my content should be subject to an easy-to-understand license, like Creative Commons, which lets me maintain ownership and control.

* If I post or upload any piece of content to Facebook, their license to use that content should expire the moment I delete it. If I close my account, all of my content should be deleted off of Facebook’s network.

Opt-in only: Facebook can't just change the terms whenever they want.

* If Facebook updates its Terms of Use, it should be done in a way that’s open, obvious and highly visible to everyone. Post it at the top of the site and/or send an e-mail... updating a blog on an obscure part of the website doesn't work.

* Users should be notified of changes to the ToU ahead of time, so they can decide whether they want to continue to use Facebook or to close their account.

* If Facebook really wants to test user response to any new policy changes, they should submit them to a vote before implementation.

Write it in English: No legalese (or Latin!) please.

* Facebook’s previous Terms of Service included highly technical legal language and even Latin. This needs to be changed. I’m not sure what "forum non conveniens" means and I shouldn’t have to.

That last complaint though is fairly typical. Everyone uses legalese. If Facebook truly follows through on this, it will be a new day in the ToS world.
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5:17 AM

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Facebook halts rogue app, MySpace plugs hole

james

,

Just in time for the weekend, social networks Facebook and MySpace were dealing with several new security issues on Friday that could expose personal information and communications from friends.



This screenshot shows the notification that popped up with the latest rogue Facebook application.

(Credit: Trend Micro)

Facebook said it had removed a new rogue application that was spamming users and exposing their information. Before it was halted, the application sent messages claiming that a friend had reported the recipient for violating Facebook's terms of service and offered a link to click to find out more information.

Users who clicked on the link were providing the app access to their profile and personal information as well as unknowingly forwarding the message on to everyone in their Facebook contact list, according to Graham Cluley's blog for Sophos.

"Our team disabled this application for violating the Facebook Developer Terms of Service," Facebook spokesman Simon Axten said in an e-mail. "Some additional versions of it have sprung up, and we've disabled these as well. We're actively monitoring the site for others and are working to block the application completely."

Cluley said Facebook should do more to prevent such rogue applications from spreading in the first place than just shutting them down on an isolated basis.

"One of the problems is that Facebook allows anybody to write an application, and third-party applications are not vetted before they are made available to the public. So, even as Facebook stamps out one malignant application, it can pop up in another place like a poisoned mushroom with a different name," Cluley wrote.

"It sounds like this could be a new favoured trick being used by spammers and identity thieves to build up their databases of intended targets," he wrote. "My advice to Facebook users is to think very carefully before adding any new applications."

The problem prompted a Facebook user to create a Facebook group for victims of the scam, noted Trend Micro in its anti-malware blog.

The rogue app surfaced less than a week after the spread of a similar app dubbed "Error Check System" that falsely warned users that their friends were having problems viewing their profiles.

"Surely these two events in just a single week mean that it's about time that Facebook reviews its application hosting policy," the Trend Micro blog said.

What that quote suggests is akin to saying, 'there have been two robberies, we need to implement martial law in the city,'" said Facebook spokesman Axten. He noted that there are more than 660,000 developers and the "vast majority" of Facebook applications are not "nefarious."

The company makes it easy to be a Facebook developer--asking only for a valid e-mail address to get an application key--to foster innovation, and has a dedicated Developer Operations team that investigates applications that show "anomalous activity," Axten said.

"In this case, we responded quickly to user reports and disabled the application before too many people were affected," he said.

Meanwhile, over at MySpace, a spokeswoman said the company fixed a vulnerability on Friday that enabled strangers to view MySpace users' private comments. As with the other privacy holes that have been reported on, someone would have to know the exact URL and insert the correct user ID to exploit the weakness.
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5:16 AM

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OpenOffice.org: 7 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do

OpenOffice.org 3.0 costs absolutely nothing but comes closer than anything else to letting you delete your copy of Microsoft Office (which probably cost you a lot). Even though OpenOffice.org—which is, yes, an application suite, not just a Web site—can't do everything Office can, it can do a lot, and it has some of its own tricks that even Office can't manage. Here are a few that may not be obvious, as well as a few ways to make OpenOffice.org less annoying out of the box.

1. Edit two or more parts of a document at the same time.
Microsoft Word has a nifty split-window feature that lets you divide the current window into two panes, so you can edit page 5 of your document in the top pane and page 505 in the bottom. To switch from one pane to the other, you don't have to waste time scrolling back and forth—you simply click in the other pane. OpenOffice.org doesn't let you split a window into two panes, but it offers an even better feature. Click the Window menu, then New Window, to open a new window that displays the same document you're working on. You can open as many windows as you want, each at a different place in your document; any change you make in one window immediately appears in all others. You can reduce screen clutter by turning off toolbars in one or more windows (use View | Toolbars), and you can tile or cascade the windows by right-clicking on the OpenOffice.org button on the Windows taskbar.

2. Use OpenOffice.org to open legacy documents.
Years ago, older versions of Microsoft Office could open documents created by almost any of the myriad word processors and spreadsheet programs that were widely used before Microsoft monopolized the market. Recent versions of Office can't open many of those older formats—including old Microsoft Word versions such as Word 6.0. By contrast, OpenOffice.org continues to open Word documents dating back to Version 6.0. OpenOffice.org also opens WordPerfect documents, including files created in WordPerfect for the Macintosh 3.5 Enhanced, which not even WordPerfect for Windows tries to open.

By the way, there's something confusing about OpenOffice.org's claims. The product purports to support at least one format that never existed: The list of supported file types in its File | Open dialog includes "Microsoft WinWord 5.0," even though there never was such a version. Word for Windows skipped from 2.0 to 6.0 in its version numbers.

3. Play a vintage Space Invaders game.

Remember the days of software "Easter Eggs"? They were not-very-secret keystrokes or mouse clicks that brought up silly graphics in some programs and games in others. Even Microsoft Excel used to have a secret game built in before Redmond lost its sense of humor. OpenOffice.org's Calc spreadsheet program still includes a 1990s-era shoot-'em-up Space Invaders game. Open the Calc app, and in any cell enter:

=GAME("StarWars")

Make sure to copy the capitalization shown here. Calc will open a StarWars game in which you shoot down a fleet of evil alien ships. The explanatory text is in German (the original version of OpenOffice.org was written in Germany), but you don't need to know even English to play the game. Calc has a slightly Teutonic attitude toward fun-and-games, however: After you quit the game, you'll need to shut down Calc and start it up again before you can play a second time.

4. Turn off the blinking light bulb.
By default, a light-bulb icon appears in a tiny window whenever OpenOffice.org does anything that isn't exactly what you typed—for example, when it replaces two hyphens with a dash. It doesn't exactly blink, but after the third or fourth time it opens, you may think of it as "that blinking light bulb" (you might use a word other than "blinking"). To turn it off permanently, go to Tools | Options, and then, in the left-hand pane, expand the menu tree by clicking the plus sign next to OpenOffice.org. In the General dialog, remove the check mark next to Help Agent.

5. Save files in Office formats by default.
By default OpenOffice.org saves files in its own format, which most Microsoft Office users can't open. You can save individual files in Office format by using OpenOffice.org's File | Save as… menu and selecting a Word format from the Save as Type dropdown. But you can tell OpenOffice to save in Office formats by default by choosing Tools | Options, then find the Load/Save category, and the General subcategory. In the Document Type dropdown, choose Text Document, and in the Always Save As dropdown, choose Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP. Then, in the Document Type dropdown, choose Spreadsheet, and in the Always Save As dropdown, choose Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP. These choices will create files that can be read by any modern word processor or spreadsheet.

6. Automate actions easily.
Many advanced Microsoft Office users take advantage of macros that run automatically when you open, print, or close a file, but Office's interface doesn't provide built-in clues for creating an AutoClose macro that will run whenever you close a document. OpenOffice.org goes Office one better by providing a menu-driven interface that lists all the actions that can automatically trigger macros—and these include a wider range of actions than the ones that can be automated easily in Office. For example, you can create a macro that is triggered every time the number of pages in a document increases and that inserts a header with a page number if the number goes above, say, two. Other actions that can automatically trigger macros include saving a document under a different name and running a mail merge. To use this feature, record the macros you want to use, then go to Tools | Customize | Events and assign your chosen macro to specific events.

7. Fix those single quotes.
By default, OpenOffice.org Writer creates good-looking, curly "typographic" double-quotation marks as you type, but when you type a single quotation mark (or an apostrophe) it uses a vertical line, as if you were still using your grandfather's manual typewriter. Fix this by going to Tools | AutoCorrect…, then go to the Custom Quotes tab and, under Single Quotes, add a check mark next to Replace.
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5:14 AM

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backup Gmail mail messages using Thunderbird

Step1
Login to Gmail and inside it click on settings in the top right corner.
Step2
Click on the Forwarding and Pop link\tab.
Step3
Click on Enable Pop for all mail.
Step4
Click on step number 2 of that window and click on Keep Gmail's copy in the inbox from the drop down menu.

Step5
Click the "Save Chages" button.
(Great you just told Gmail it is allowed to send your emails to another mail client!) Don't worry your mail is still protected by your account password and username.
Step6
Download Thunderbird at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/
Step7
Double click on Thunderbird Setup X.XX (Where X is the version number)
Step8
The first screen is the welcome screen of Thunderbird setup, click Next.
Step9
Read the agreement on the next screen, click I accept and then click Next.
Step10
Click next again.
Step11
Click Finish (leave the "Launch Mozilla Thunderbird now" checked)
Step12
If you have Microsoft Outlook on your computer, you will have an option to import those settings, choose yes if you would like to and then click next.
Step13
Just choose next and ok for the rest of these screens. I recommend not changing your current default RSS and mail settings when prompted, unless you plan to use Thunderbird for your regular mail and rss reader.
Step14
Once inside the Thunderbird mail window go to Tools > Account Settings.
Step15
From the left side click the button that says Add Account.
Step16
Click Email Account and click next.
Step17
Fill in your name and your full Gmail address and then click Next.
Step18
Choose POP and type in pop.gmail.com for your incoming server. If you like you can fill out the outgoing server, but it is not necessary for using this as a Gmail backup.
Step19
Click Next.
Step20
Type your full Gmail email address as your incoming and outgoing email address, and then click Next.
Step21
Click Next, and click Finish.
Step22
Click in the left pane the section that says “Server Settings” If you do not see server settings expand each collapsed entry on the left until you do see those words.
Step23
On the right side of the new pane choose SSL and type in 995 for your port, the other options are semi optional.
Step24
Click Get mail, from Thunderbird. Thousands of messages will take you several days to get a complete backup, when it is finally caught up it will be really fast for future emails. You don’t have to leave the computer on just have Thunderbird open for a bit every time you have the computer on to allow the backup, and then close it when you get off.



Tips & Warnings

* If you want to use Thunderbird as a full mail client you can follow the directions here for fully setting up your outgoing server: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=38343 However since this is a tutorial on backup we only intend to show you how to copy your current Gmail inbox. The instructions provided for Gmail to Thunderbird are dated so all screen shots they provide will be slightly off as of this writing.


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8:15 AM

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11 Kind of good food

Nutritionist and author Jonny Bowden has created several lists of healthful foods people should be eating but aren’t. But some of his favorites, like purslane, guava and goji berries, aren’t always available at regular grocery stores. I asked Dr. Bowden, author of “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth,” to update his list with some favorite foods that are easy to find but don’t always find their way into our shopping carts. Here’s his advice.

1. Beets: Think of beets as red spinach, Dr. Bowden said, because they are a rich source of folate as well as natural red pigments that may be cancer fighters.
How to eat: Fresh, raw and grated to make a salad. Heating decreases the antioxidant power.
2. Cabbage: Loaded with nutrients like sulforaphane, a chemical said to boost cancer-fighting enzymes.
How to eat: Asian-style slaw or as a crunchy topping on burgers and sandwiches.
3. Swiss chard: A leafy green vegetable packed with carotenoids that protect aging eyes.
How to eat it: Chop and saute in olive oil.
4. Cinnamon: May help control blood sugar and cholesterol.
How to eat it: Sprinkle on coffee or oatmeal.
5. Pomegranate juice: Appears to lower blood pressure and loaded with antioxidants.
How to eat: Just drink it.
6. Dried plums: Okay, so they are really prunes, but they are packed with antioxidants.
How to eat: Wrapped in prosciutto and baked.
7. Pumpkin seeds: The most nutritious part of the pumpkin and packed with magnesium; high levels of the mineral are associated with lower risk for early death.
How to eat: Roasted as a snack, or sprinkled on salad.
8. Sardines: Dr. Bowden calls them “health food in a can.” They are high in omega-3’s, contain virtually no mercury and are loaded with calcium. They also contain iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese as well as a full complement of B vitamins.
How to eat: Choose sardines packed in olive or sardine oil. Eat plain, mixed with salad, on toast, or mashed with dijon mustard and onions as a spread.
9. Turmeric: The “superstar of spices,” it may have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.
How to eat: Mix with scrambled eggs or in any vegetable dish.
10. Frozen blueberries: Even though freezing can degrade some of the nutrients in fruits and vegetables, frozen blueberries are available year-round and don’t spoil; associated with better memory in animal studies.
How to eat: Blended with yogurt or chocolate soy milk and sprinkled with crushed almonds.
11. Canned pumpkin: A low-calorie vegetable that is high in fiber and immune-stimulating vitamin A; fills you up on very few calories.
How to eat: Mix with a little butter, cinnamon and nutmeg.

You can find more details and recipes on the Men’s Health Web site, which published the original version of the list last year.

In my own house, I only have two of these items — pumpkin seeds, which I often roast and put on salads, and frozen blueberries, which I mix with milk, yogurt and other fruits for morning smoothies. How about you? Have any of these foods found their way into your shopping cart?
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1:55 AM

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No Office 14 until 2010, 'Netbook' Server Planned

james

,

Microsoft will not release its next-generation Office 14 suite in 2009, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer confirmed during a Tuesday "strategy update" Webcast. A "netbook"-like version of Windows Server is also planned.

Ballmer offered a midquarter update to Wall Street analysts, focusing primarily on the impact of the economy on the company's business. Microsoft is using RCA as a model, Ballmer said; RCA continued to invest during the Depression, then went on to dominate the television industry.

"And that's kind of the mindset that we have relative to the economic situation," Ballmer said. "You don't beat it, you manage in this environment; you don't think about it as a short term, you think of it as a reset that may take several years."

Ballmer said that he was still interested in talking to Yahoo about some sort of a search partnership, and with the company's new chief executive, Carol Bartz. Ballmer expressed a desire to not end up like the company's former chief executive, Jerry Yang, apparently implying he was ineffective.

Ballmer offered little explanation or context for the Office 14 delay, although he did say that the free OpenOffice suite had caused the company to lower the worldwide price of the suite. Both Microsoft Office and Microsoft Windows are heavily pirated; in fact, Ballmer named both pirated versions as key competitors.

Ballmer's disclosure of the delay was actually made in passing.

"From a strategy perspective, the next big innovation milestone is Office 14, our next Office release, which will not be this year, there's a version of Sharepoint, there's a version of Exchange, there's a new version of Office Live," Ballmer said.

A Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed the delay, but declined to offer further details. "We can confirm, as Steve Ballmer shared this morning during his meeting with financial analysts, that the next version of Office will be available next year," she wrote in an email. "We have nothing additional to share at this point."

Office 14 is the successor to Windows Office 12, also known as Microsoft Office 2007. The market originally expected Office 14 in the first half 2009. However, Microsoft also released the two versions of Windows Vista and Office 12 within a few weeks of one another, a strategy that some have speculated Microsoft hopes to repeat.

Ballmer also confirmed that Microsoft will make available a low-cost version of Windows Server, to take advantage of OEMs that want to design cheap or "netbook"-like hardware. That software will apparently be the Windows Server Foundation Edition.

"From a revenue perspective, we are introducing a new low-cost, low-price, low-functionality Windows Server SKU," Ballmer added. "If you take a look at it, as server prices, hardware prices have come down, we don't have exactly a netbook phenomenon but if somebody can buy a $500 server they're a little low to spend $500 for the server operating system that comes with it. So we have something akin to a netbook at the server level and we will be introducing our Foundation Edition over the next month or two."

Ballmer also reiterated that Microsoft did not have plans to make its own phones. "Windows and Windows Mobile will become closer," he said, although there still will be a distinction between Windows and phones.

But as some have speculated, Ballmer said that Microsoft expects Google to be a direct competitor. "I assume we're going to see Android-based, Linux-based laptops in addition to phones," Ballmer said. "We'll see Google more of a competitor in the operating system more than we have ever seen before."

Microsoft has also lost market share in the browser space, something that the company hopes to fix with the release of Internet Explorer 8, Ballmer said.
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1:52 AM

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Configuring a DSL Modem

Manually configuring your own DSL Internet connection is a fairly simple process. However, if you don't do it properly, you will end up with many problems. As long as you know exactly what type of DSL service you have, the process of setting up your modem should go very


Types
The most common type of DSL service is asymmetric DSL (ADSL). ADSL has faster download speeds than upload speeds. This differs from symmetric DSL (SDSL), in which download and upload speeds are equal. There are also many different types of DSL modems. Some come with a built-in firewall or a wireless router. Some have only Ethernet connections, whereas others have a USB port as well. If you're buying your own modem, be sure to contact your service provider to determine which type to get.

Features
Most DSL modems come with a power adapter, a telephone cable, a phone filter and an Ethernet cable. You must have a network card on your computer to connect the Ethernet cable. If you don't have a network card, you may be able to attach your modem by USB. Follow the modem manufacturer's instructions for physical installation of the modem before attempting to configure it. Also speak to your service provider in advance to determine which type of connection you have and to get your username and password. In Windows, click Start > Control Panel. Select "Network and Internet Connections." Then select "Network Connections." Under "Network Tasks," click "Create a New Connection." The "New Connection Wizard" will open. Click "Next." Under "Network Connection Type" select "Connect to the Internet." Click "Next" again. In the next screen, select "Set up my connection manually." Continue to the next screen. Select whether or not your connection uses a username and password. Enter the name of your connection, username and password in the next two screens if necessary.
Function
DSL operates on frequencies that are unused in telephone transmissions. Make sure that you install the phone filters not only on the telephone line that you use to connect to your modem, but also on all other phone outlets in your home or office. A common type of DSL connection, Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE), uses a username and password to log you onto the Internet.

Benefits

If you don't want to install the software that came with your Internet service, configuring your DSL manually is a must. If the service provider's software is causing serious problems on your computer, you can completely uninstall it without losing your connection. This will free up your memory to run other applications, since the ISP's software will no longer be loaded every time you start your computer.

Considerations

Even though you log in to your connection with PPPoE, it will probably be on all the time. For this reason, you should make sure that your firewall is active at all times and that you have current anti-virus software installed. Also, if you plan to install a local area network (LAN) you will have to re-route your Ethernet connection. Properly connected, the DSL modem will connect to your network router, which will attach directly to the Ethernet port of your computer.
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1:46 AM

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Facebook and Yahoo: Power to the People

james

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Yahoo's Carol Bartz are pioneering a new era in business, one that puts you in charge.

In the space of a few hours, Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, and Yahoo's new CEO, Carol Bartz, each announced new ways for their users to steer the policies and directions of their respective companies, treating customers not like passive consumers but active stakeholders. When did the people get so powerful?

Clearly, we've entered a new era of business and corporate policy. I'd call it the democratization of business. Zuckerberg took pains to make clear that his site's new rights and responsibilities document is "about policy and not product." Still, a big part of Facebook's plan includes putting terms of service (TOS) changes to a vote. This would not just be an internal vote. It would include any one of Facebook's 170 million members who took the time to comment on proposed changes.



At Yahoo, the inclusion of the consumer in corporate policy and direction is far less pronounced. The company's new Customer Advocacy group will be tasked with listening to and supporting customers. The fact that Bartz makes mention of it in her first blog post as Chief Executive is telling.

So what's going on here?

For his part, Facebook's Zuckerberg probably felt like he had little choice. The company faced a fusillade of criticism last week when the consumer advocacy blog Consumerist outlined controversial changes to Facebook's existing TOS. In the new version, Facebook indicated that it owned and could use your content, even after you left the site. I haven't read the TOS for every similar social network, but I will say that MySpace's TOS states clearly that it doesn't own or retain rights to anything you post, and once you leave, it gets rid of all your content as soon as possible. Twitter does the same. As you can imagine, the Consumerist's piece set off a firestorm. Facebook's social network did what it does best, and word of the change and outrage over it spread fast. The NYTimes.com reported that Zuckerberg and Facebook initially balked at making changes to the new TOS, but soon after, the company reinstated the original TOS.

Now, however, Facebook wants to run each and every TOS change by every Facebook user. No one has to respond, but everyone can. If enough people comment then Facebook puts the change to a vote. This isn't lip service and, if you believe Zuckerberg, the power afforded consumers is real. "This isn't just a contract we have with individuals on the site," said Zuckerberg, "this is the governing document for the site."

Facebook is a business, right? It has some big investors like Microsoft. How does it feel about this? I cannot imagine Microsoft putting anything it does to consumer vote. Most companies wouldn't consider it because they're businesses not democracies. There is also a fear, a legitimate one I think, that involving members/consumers in site policy making could slow Facebook down as a business. Zuckerberg's assertion that there's a clean separation between site business and the site's Terms of Service does not entirely assuage those concerns. In many meaningful ways, Terms of Service ARE the business.

When I saw Bartz's note, I realized that we're probably right at what author Malcolm Gladwell calls a "tipping point." This is the perfect moment for customers to seize control. Companies are scared, hurting, low on funds, and facing a very difficult 2009. They can no longer afford to tell customers what they should like or dictate the terms of the costumer-business relationship. They need consumers to feel engaged and committed to products and brands—like stakeholders. Membership to a site like Facebook or a destination like Yahoo means you get a seat at the table. It also means you have something to gain or lose if the company changes, succeeds, or fails.

I expect that what Zuckerberg and Facebook and, to a lesser extent, Bartz and Yahoo have started will be repeated in markets and at companies across the Internet and, eventually, around the world.

Power to the people.


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1:35 AM

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Multiple Login id with single Browser (Firefox)

james

Download CookieSwap Firefox add-Ons in here :
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3255

you'll see this screen


install ( add to firefox ) then restart firefox

after u open firefox again
1. login with id 1


2. Change profile 1 with profilw 2 with CookieSwap
Right Click in the logo CookieSwap (Profile1)



Cookies Profile2 now using by Firefox



then Log Out id to profile 1:





mow Login with id 2:



Cookies id in 2 saved by Firefox




for Profile3 repeat step above
so Profile1= id ke 1 ; Profile2= id ke 2 ; Profile3= id ke 3

if we wanto to switch ID, select Profile CookieSwap we saved .
then press F5 (refresh Page), active ID will be same with profile u choose
nothing more about login and logout
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