How can you prevent and fix DLL corruption problems?

Introduction
When using an application, if you receive an error message like "Illegal Operation", "Incorrect DLL Version" or similar types of errors, it could be because you don’t have the latest DLL or it could be because one of DLLs of that application was overwritten when you installed a new program. In this article, you’ll learn why DLLs are a problem and how to locate and replace the offending DLL.



What is a DLL?
In the early days, computer applications contained all their code in a single executable file. But applications quickly grew larger than the available memory on most systems. So the code in an application is divided into parts; the main executable file, and files containing functionality that could be swapped in and out of memory as needed. A part that could be swapped in and out of memory is called a Dynamically Linked Library (DLL).

Initially, the DLL of an application would be stored in the same folder as the main executable file. But application developers soon realized that rather than re-inventing the wheel, they could re-use code by sharing the same DLL between several different applications. Instead of writing new code, developers can get functionality they need by licensing a DLL from another developer. Companies were started just for the purpose of developing and licensing DLLs. Since these DLLs could be shared among several different applications, they were stored in the operating system folder (c:’Windows).

An application developer who wants to increase or improve the functionality of a DLL can create a new version. The software community agreed that if one created a new version of a DLL, along with the new functions, that DLL would continue to contain the interfaces implemented by the old functions. That way, you could overwrite the old DLL without breaking existing applications. In addition, the software community agreed that installation programs would check the system for a newer version of a DLL before it installed a DLL. That way, the installation of an older application wouldn’t break new applications.


Causes of DLL Problems
Unfortunately, since anybody can write a software application, many amateur developers created DLLs that did not implement existing interfaces correctly. When their applications where installed, existing applications broke. Many amateur developers used installation programs that did not check the version of the DLL before overwriting it. And, they thought their DLL was so wonderful that everybody in the world would want to share it, so instead of putting it in the same folder with their application, where it could cause less harm, they put it in the folder of the operating system.


Windows Installer Service
The InstallShield Corporation developed an installation program that carefully checked for newer version DLLs before overwriting them. Their installer was used by many professional application developers. Microsoft licensed InstallShield’s technology and implemented it as part of Windows Installer Service.
Windows Installer Service requires application developers to provide a special file in Windows Installer format (.inf) that describes how the application is to be installed. The Windows Installer Service will use the file to perform the installation. During the installation, the Windows Installer Service creates an uninstall log.


System File Protection
The Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems implement the Windows File Protection (WFP) feature. WFP keeps cached versions of the important operating system files. WFP runs in the background to detects attempts to replace a system file. If a program tries to replace a system file, WFP checks the digital signature of the replacement file to determine if it’s a correct version. If the file is not a correct version, WFP automatically replaces the file with a cached version of the original DLL.

The Windows Installer works with WFP when installing essential system files. It calls WFP with a request to install or replace the protected file. If the file version in the install package is incompatible with the operating system, WFP informs the user that it cannot update the system and that an update of the operating system may be required for the application.


DLL Corruption
In addition to blaming the programmers for the new drivers development mistakes, there are other reasons of DLL files get corrupted or missing. Among them:

1. Removal of an important DLL file by mistake.
   
2. Performing illegal operation during the new software install or uninstall. That might be also related to the unclean installation or un-installation process, when user is trying to exit it on the middle being frustrated by the appeared computer freezing.
   
3. Operation system damage and other problems in your hard disk.
   
4. Infection by spyware or virus.
   
5. A hardware issue exists with the computer, such as a bad hard disk drive, causing the data on the drive to become corrupt, leading to the .dll problems display.

Fixing DLL Problems
There are numerous ways to resolve DLL errors. Whenever your PC warns you of a DLL error, usually it displays the name of the specific DLL file such as xvidcore.dll, msvcr71.dll or msvcrt.dll that has become corrupt or has been deleted. You can note down the file name and perform a search for this DLL file on the internet. By downloading this file and replacing the old one, you may rectify the problem.

Another easy method to correct the DLL error may be to perform a system restore. Make sure to set the date of the system restore to the day before you started encountering this error. If the DLL error does not allow your PC to start, just restart your PC in Safe mode and start system restore.

In case you encounter a DLL error just after you have installed a new program, you should uninstall the program and see if the error goes away. If it does, you should contact the manufacturer of the program and seek technical support to resolve the issue.
Sometimes, however, a DLL file error will make it impossible for your computer to start. If that’s the case, simply start your computer in safe mode then you can run the system restore.

It is important to mention that trying to repair DLL errors can be cumbersome and even risky at times. Therefore, a popular way to repair DLL errors is to use a registry cleaner tool. This tool will help you look for invalid DLL entries in the registry and repair them.


DLL Error Prevention

1. The first DLL error prevention measure would be to NOT install and uninstall programs any more often than you have to. In other words, unless you are certain that the program that you are about to install is one that you are going to use and keep, do not install it!
   
2. Be extra careful when uninstalling programs from your machine. For example, if you have ever uninstalled programs, you have probably seen a message telling you that the program is going to uninstall ABC.dll as part of the process, after which, it asked you whether it should go ahead and do so. If it tells you that it is about to uninstall a DLL, go find out what that DLL actually does before giving the machine the go-ahead! (check out Microsoft’s own site for the answer to this question, or run a search on Google or Yahoo).
   
3. Be patient when installing and uninstalling new programs. Sometimes a very complicated setup is long and demanding extensive resources. At this time, it is not recommended to use your computer for anything else. Give your PC a rest and let it concentrate on the task. Even thou you do not touch it, it might become unresponsive for some time. Be patient and give your computer a fair chance to complete the process normally. Trust me, trying to repair the damage later will be more time and nerves consuming.

Sources and additional information:
http://bucarotechelp.com/computers/windowsts/95071401.asp
http://www.laptop-repair.info/dll_errors.html
http://www.instant-registry-fixes.org/repair-dll-errors/
http://pcperformancetools.com/30-common-dll-errors.html
http://www.dll-error.com/dll-error-prevention.php

iSkoot Extends Skype Functionality to Mobile Phones

There are more and more people, discovering Skype as a competitive and money-saving solution to cut phone bills. For some, the necessity to talk over the PC is considered a big drawback. Appearance on the market multiple VOIP Skype-compatible phones removed this obstacle. However, ability to use Skype directly from your mobile phone increases the applicability of the services use even more.

And here comes iSkoot for Skype - an easy-to-use mobile application with all your favorite Skype features. Now you can be logged in - and see who else is logged in! - even when you’re on the go. With iSkoot you can:

• Sign in automatically as a registered user
  
• See who is signed in and view their online status
  
• Manage your own online status
  
• Click to call a contact
  
• Click to chat with a contact
  
• Make low-cost calls to any phone number, anywhere in the world using SkypeOut
  
• See your SkypeOut credit balance
  
• Receive calls from Skype users
  
• Add or remove friends from your contact list
  
• Refresh your contact list automatically or on demand

At the moment, iSkoot offers network service for iSkoot for Skype in over 45 countries worldwide.
iSkoot for Skype is free to download, and there are no service charges at all. However, you might be charged by your mobile provider for airtime and for data traffic based on the type of data service plan you’ve purchased. If your mobile calling plan does not include long distance calls, your provider may charge you for long distance calls within your country.

In most cases, since iSkoot directs your call via a local access number in supported countries, you will only be charged for a local call by your mobile service provider, regardless of where your contact is located.

Here are some common usage scenarios:

• Making a Skype-to-Skype call
  When you call a Skype contact on your mobile phone, it costs the same as making a local call so depending on your mobile calling plan, normal airtime charges may apply. Once you’re connected to the Skype network, your call works like a regular voice call from your phone. (iSkoot does NOT connect the call using the cellular data channel.) iSkoot also uses a small amount of data to keep the status of your contacts updated.
  
• Making a SkypeOut call
  When making a SkypeOut call using iSkoot, the same basic costs apply as making a Skype-to-Skype call noted above (which means that normal airtime charges may apply, plus some data to keep contact status information updated). In addition, Skype charges the applicable SkypeOut connection rates to connect the call to a regular telephone line, just as they would if the SkypeOut call originated from your PC.
  
• Receiving a Skype Call
  When you receive an incoming Skype call on your mobile phone, the same basic costs apply as making a Skype-to-Skype call noted above (which means that normal airtime charges may apply, plus some data to keep contact status information updated). In addition, your SkypeOut account will be charged at Skype’s call forwarding rates for mobile numbers.
  
• Using Skype Text Chat
  When you use Skype text chat on your mobile phone, the service uses your data connection to exchange messages with your chat buddies. iSkoot’s data use is fairly small for the moderate user, but even so it i­s best to contact your service provider to determine the best data plan for your individual needs.

Please Note: Your phone number or mobile plan must be based in one of our supported countries. If you are roaming internationally or don’t live in one of our supported countries, calls using iSkoot will be more expensive. iSkoot determines your local access point based on the country code and phone number you enter when you sign in on your handset. Please be sure to enter your phone number in the correct international format: (International Country Code)-(Phone number).
Failing to enter your country code may cause iSkoot to route your calls through the wrong access point, meaning you could potentially be charged for international calls to our global servers. Please avoid this problem by entering and verifying your country code.

List of Supported Phones:



AnexTEK: moboDA 3160, moboDA 3360, moboDA 3380, SP310
Asus: P525
Audiovox: PPC-6700
BenQ: P51
BlackBerry: 8100, 8120, 8130, 8220, 8300, 8310, 8320, 8330, 8700, 8703e, 8800, 8820, 8830, 8900, Bold 9000, Storm 9500, Storm 9530
Cingular: Cingular 8125, Cingular 8500, Cingular 8525, Cingular 2125, Cingular BlackJack
Dopod: Dopod 818 Pro, Dopod 838, Dopod 838Pro, Dopod 900, Dopod C800, Dopod D810, Dopod M700, Dopod U1000, P800W, Dopod 557w, Dopod 586w, Dopod 595, Dopod C720W
ETEN: ETEN G500, ETEN G500+, ETEN M600, ETEN M600+, glofiish M700, glofiish X500
Gigabyte: g-Smart, g-Smart i, g-Smart i120, g-Smart i128, g-Smart i300
HP: iPAQ hw6910 Mobile Messenger, iPAQ hw6915 Mobile Messenger, iPAQ hw6920 Mobile Messenger, iPAQ hw6925 Mobile Messenger, iPAQ hw6940 Mobile Messenger, iPAQ hw6945 Mobile Messenger, iPAQ hw6965 Mobile Messenger, iPAQ rw6818, iPAQ rw6828, iPAQ 510 Mobile Messenger
HTC: HTC P3300, HTC P3600, HTC P4350, HTC TyTN, HTC X7500, 8900/Pilgrim/Tilt, HTC MTeoR, HTC S310, HTC S620, HTC S650, HTC S710
Kinpo: Neon, Saturn, Tin
LG: KT610
Lenovo: ET980, i921
Mitac: A701
Motorola: RIZR Z10, RIZR Z8, Motorola Q, Motorola Q Plus, RAZR V3xx, RAZR V3xxv
Nokia: 5320 XpressMusic, 5700, 6110 Navigator, 6120c, 6121 classic, 6210 Navigator, 6220 Classic, 6290, E51, E63, E66, E71, E90, N76, N78, N79, N81, N81 8GB, N82, N85, N95, N95 8GB, N96, N97, 3250, 5500, E50, E60, E61, E61i, E62, E65, E70, N71, N73, N75, N77, N80-1, N91, N92, N93, N93i
Orange: SPV M3000, SPV M3100, SPV M5000, SPV M600, SPV M700, SPV C100, SPV C600, SPV C700
Palm: Treo 700w, Treo 700wx, Treo 750v
Pharos: GPS Phone
QTEK: QTEK 9000, QTEK 9100, Qtek 9600, QTEK S200, QTEK S300, QTEK 8300, QTEK 8310, QTEK 8600
Qool: QDA Icon, QDA Lite
RoverPC: G5
SFR: SFR v1605, V1640
Samsung: IP830-w, SGH i900, i8510 INNOV8, SGH G810, SGH i550, SGH i560, BlackJack/SGH-I607, i320, i320N, SGH i600, SGH i617, SGH-i607
Sony-Ericsson: M600i, P990i, W950i, G700, G900, P1i, W960, D750, D750i, F305, K530i, K550i, K600, K600i, K608i, K610, K610i, K618i, K630, K700, K700c, K700i, K750, K750i, S302, V600, V600i, V630i, W200i, W302, W350, W380, W550c, W550i, W600c, W600i, W610i, W660i, W700i, W710i, W800c, W800i, W810i, W810iv, Z1010, Z550a, Z550i, Z555, Z558i, Z610i, Z710i, Z800, W880i
Sprint: PPC-6700
T-Mobile: MDA AMEO, MDA Compact II, MDA Compact III, MDA Pro, MDA Vario, MDA Vario II, MDA Dash, MDA Mail, SDA (US name), SDA II
Tatung: M1, M1A
Torq: N100, P120
Toshiba: G900
UBiQUiO: UBiQUiO 501, UBiQUio 601
UTStarcom: PPC5800, UTStarcom PPC6700
Verizon: XV-6700
Vodafone: Treo 750v, v1640, VPA compact GPS, VPA Compact II, VPA Compact III, VPA Compact IV, VPA Compact s, VPA IV, v1210, v1240, VDA II, VDA IV
Willcom: W-Zero3, W-Zero3 [es]
i-mate: Jamin, JAQ, JAQ3, JASJAM, JASJAR, K-JAM, KJAR, SP Jas, SP5, SP5m, SP6, SPL


Constantly updated list of supported mobile phones:
http://www.iskoot.com:/products/skype/devices


Website: http://www.iskoot.com:/products/skype

Create and Sell Tickets Online through TicketDerby.com

If you ever were responsible for organization of official, semi-official, and non-official billable events, you know how much hassle is to arrange them and to collect the money for expenses reimbursement. I bet, you not just get a huge headache, but also end up paying your own money to cover up misplaced tickets and non-paid expenses. The website TicketDerby will take all the unpleasant money-related procedures out of your hands and let you focus on more essential creative portion of your event organization. All tickets will be sold online with placing charges to the buyers’ credit card or PayPal, making this option very attractive to the participants. You just pay $1 per ticket to the site organizers, which is rather affordable sum for any tickets pricing.

You can get the funds to your account through PayPal or by check.

In addition to letting people create events and the tickets to go with them, the company offers free promotion opportunities for the advertised events, and extra services to organizers such as the rental of scanners and onsite support for large events (additional fees applied).

Registration to the site comes at no cost, and once an account has been set up you can start creating tickets for the reasonable price that is specified online.

Creating any event and promoting it is not necessarily easy. Such a task involves a great deal of time and in some cases a considerable spending on your part. A service such as this one takes care of these worries and provides some breathing space for any organizer. If you are one such individual, consider wending your way to the site and see if it can help you out of organizational chaos.

Visit website: http://www.ticketderby.com/

TicketDerby.com

What is Rootkit and how it can be removed?

Do you know, what is Rootkit? Until recently, I knew that only from theoretical perspectives. Last week, I got a great opportunity to familiarize myself with the one. Started the story from the fact, that every morning for three days in the row, my computer got frozen. I performed the experiment and left it with no open applications, and it still got stuck as before. I suspected the system corruption and attempted to run chkdsk, but my system refused to do so. And that was a big warning sign as you understand. Suddenly, I could hear a clear audio advertising broadcasted from my computer. I closed all windows and running programs, but the ads has not disappeared. To make the long story short, it was a hidden rootkit that was eventually removed, and the computer functionality has been restored. In this post, I will try to give some presentation what is rootkit, and give some ways to remove it from your computer.


What is Rootkit?
Rootkit it is a set of tools used frequently by the computer science intruders or crackers that is able to accede illicitly to a computer science system. These tools serve to hide the processes and archives that allow the intruder to maintain the access to the system, often with malicious aims.
There is rootkits for an ample variety of operating systems, as Linux, Solaris or Microsoft Windows. For example, rootkit can hide an application that it connects a console whenever the attacker connects itself to the system to traverse of a certain port. Rootkits of kernel or nucleus can contain similar functionalities.
A backdoor can also allow that the processes sent by a user without administrator privileges execute some functionality reserved solely to the superuser. All type of useful tools to obtain data of illicit form can be hidden by means of rootkits.


Which are their objectives?
They try to conceal to other processes that are carrying out malicious actions in the system. For example, if in the system there is a back door to carry out espionage tasks, the rootkit it will hide the open ports that they expose the communication; or if there is a system to send Spam, it will hide the activity of the mail system.
Rootkits, when being designed to happen unnoticed, they cannot be detected. If a user tries to analyze the system in order to see what processes are being executed, rootkit will show deception, showing all the processes except him himself and those that are hiding. That is why my audio ad was not detectable through the normal processes manager review.




Or if it is tried to see a listing of the files of a system, rootkit will cause that is that information but hiding the existence of the own file of rootkit and of the processes that it hides.
When the antivirus makes a call to the operating system in order to verify what files it has, or when it tries to find out what processes are in execution, the rootkit will falsify the information and the antivirus will not be able to receive the correct information to carry out the disinfection of the system. That is why my AVG antivirus was not able to detect the malicious elements up to the moment when rootkit was killed. Immediately, the antivirus problem reported several files infection.




Rootkit Types
There are several rootkit classifications depending on whether the malware survives reboot and whether it executes in user mode or kernel mode.


Persistent Rootkits
A persistent rootkit is one associated with malware that activates each time the system boots. Because such malware contain code that must be executed automatically each system start or when a user logs in, they must store code in a persistent store, such as the Registry or file system, and configure a method by which the code executes without user intervention.


Memory-Based Rootkits
Memory-based rootkits are malware that has no persistent code and therefore does not survive a reboot.



User-mode Rootkits
There are many methods by which rootkits attempt to evade detection. For example, a user-mode rootkit might intercept all calls to the Windows FindFirstFile/FindNextFile APIs, which are used by file system exploration utilities, including Explorer and the command prompt, to enumerate the contents of file system directories. When an application performs a directory listing that would otherwise return results that contain entries identifying the files associated with the rootkit, the rootkit intercepts and modifies the output to remove the entries.


The Windows native API serves as the interface between user-mode clients and kernel-mode services and more sophisticated user-mode rootkits intercept file system, Registry, and process enumeration functions of the Native API. This prevents their detection by scanners that compare the results of a Windows API enumeration with that returned by a native API enumeration.


Kernel-mode Rootkits
Kernel-mode rootkits can be even more powerful since, not only can they intercept the native API in kernel-mode, but they can also directly manipulate kernel-mode data structures. A common technique for hiding the presence of a malware process is to remove the process from the kernel’s list of active processes. Since process management APIs rely on the contents of the list, the malware process will not display in process management tools like Task Manager or Process Explorer.


Rootkit Removal
In spite of which it comes saying itself, rootkits can be eliminated (although not so easily). These programs are autoprotegen hiding and avoiding that no other process (as a antivirus) can detect them. But so that that process can be hidden, it must be in activated operation and in memory.


The best way to avoid than the process between in action, it is to avoid the starting of the operating system in the disc in which is rootkit, using a disc different from the one from the infected system; as it can be CD. Thus, if rootkit is well-known, it will be able to be eliminated.


Nevertheless, if rootkit is not known (that is to say, that has been developed specifically for a system in concrete), any antivirus will fail. In this case, the computer science problem is almost less important: there is a person who, deliberately, it wants to make damage to its company and it has been bothered in entering the system to harm to him.


While there are several free utilities to resolve the rootkit infection program, I will present the one that worked for me (actually, it was the first I tried). The Avenger is a fully-scriptable, kernel-level Windows driver designed to remove highly persistent files, registry keys/values, and other drivers protected by entrenched malware. It is highly effective at removing malware that is hooked deeply into the operating system itself, which is often difficult for standard tools.


While it is a very powerful tool for the software professionals, it can be used in a safe for everyone automatic rootkit detection and removal mode. Just check the "Scan for Rootkits" box and The Avenger will scan for rootkit drivers hidden from the operating system. The utility can also disable any hidden drivers found automatically. However, it is strongly recommended to examine the results of a rootkit scan before you authorize Avenger to disable anything.


Download the file from the link http://swandog46.geekstogo.com/avenger2/download.php. Note that it is absolutely portable, and no installation needed to fight your enemy.


Screen - Click to Enlarge:

The Avenger

Hot BIOS entry keys for different computer models

There are multiple reasons, why you need to enter the computer BIOS mode, mostly, for troubleshooting purposes. For example, your Hard Drive boot sector is corrupted, and your computer is just hanging up trying to access the primary master disk. You need to boot-up from DVD or USB, so the boot sequence should be altered in BIOS.

Usually, when you turn on your PC, there is a very short period, when the BIOS entrance command appears on the screen, but if you miss the moment, you will have to start all over again. If you know, what the keys combination you should use is, you need to execute it immediately upon computer reboot, and sometimes it requires multiple repetitive clicks to activate it.

The BIOS keys are different as per computer manufacturer and even as per computer model. Per you convenience, I am listing the BIOS start up keys combinations for the most popular computer models.

Acer - Aspire, Power, Veriton, Extensa, Ferrari, TravelMate, Altos

• Press Del or F2 immediately after powering on.
  
• The BIOS on the Acer Altos 600 server uses the Ctrl+Alt+Esc key and the F1 key for advanced options.
  
• Older Acer computers may use also use the F1 or Ctrl+Alt+Esc keys to access BIOS.

AST - Different models might use the following combinations: Ctrl+Alt+Esc or Ctrl+Alt+Del.



Cannon - F1.

Castex - Del.
Compaq - Presario, Prolinea, Deskpro, Systempro, Portable

• Press F10 while the cursor in the top right corner of the screen is blinking.
  
• Older Compaq computers may use the F1, F2, F10, or Del key to give access to BIOS.

CompUSA - Del.


Cybermax - Esc.


Dell - XPS, Dimension, Inspiron, Latitude. OptiPlex, Precision, Vostro

• Press F2 when the Dell logo appears. Press every few seconds until the message Entering Setup appears.
  
• Dell 400 - F1
  
• Dell Dimension - F2 or Del
  
• Dell Inspiron - F2
  
• Dell Latitude - Fn+F1 (while booted)
  
• Dell Latitude - F2 (on boot)
  
• Dell Optiplex - F2 or Del
  
• Dell Precision - F2
  
• Older Dell desktops and laptops may instead use Ctrl+Alt+Enter or Del to enter BIOS.
  
• Older Dell laptops may use Fn+Esc or Fn+F1.

Digital - F2.


eMachines - eMonster, eTower, eOne, S-Series, T-Series

• Press Tab or Del while the eMachine logo displays on screen.
  
• Other eMachine computers may use F2 to enter BIOS.

Enpower - Ctrl+Alt+S.



Fujitsu - LifeBook, Esprimo, Amilo, Tablet, DeskPower. Press F2 once the Fujitsu logo appears.

Gateway - DX, FX, One, GM, GT, GX, Profile, Astro

• Press the F1 key repeatedly after restarting the computer.
  
• Some older Gateway computers use F2 to access the BIOS Setup utility.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) - Pavilion, TouchSmart, Vectra, OmniBook, Tablet

• Press the F1 key after restarting the computer.
  
• HP Tablet PCs may use F10 or F12.
  
• Other HP computers may allow access to BIOS using the F2 or Esc keys.

IBM - PC, XT, AT

• Press F1 immediately after powering on the computer.
  
• Older IBM computers (including some laptops) may utilize the F2 key for BIOS entry.
  
• IBM PS/2 - Ctrl+Alt+Ins after Ctrl+Alt+Del.

Lenovo (formerly IBM) - ThinkPad, IdeaPad, 3000 Series, ThinkCentre, ThinkStation

• Press F1 or F2 after powering on the computer.
  
• Older Lenovo products allow access to BIOS using Ctrl+Alt+F3, Ctrl+Alt+Ins, or Fn+F1.

Leading Edge - Ctrl+Alt+S.



Micron (MPC Computers) - ClientPro, TransPort

• Press F1, F2 or Del immediately after powering on the PC.

NEC - PowerMate, Versa, W-Series

• Press F2 or F1 to enter the BIOS Setup.

Packard Bell - 8900 Series, 9000 Series, Pulsar, Platinum, EasyNote, imedia, iextreme

• Press F1, F2, or Del to enter BIOS.

Quantex - Del.



Sharp - Notebook Laptops, Actius UltraLite

• Press F2 after the computer starts.
  
• Some very old Sharp PCs require a Setup Diagnostics Disk to access BIOS.

Shuttle - Glamor G-Series, D’vo, Prima P2-Series, Workstation, X Mini XPC, Surveillance

• Press F2 or Del on startup.

Sony - VAIO, PCG-Series, VGN-Series

• Press F1, F2 or F3 after turning on the computer.
  
• Sony VAIO - (After Sony start up screen) F2 then hit F1

Tandon - Press the Ctrl+Shift+Esc keys.


Tiger - Del.



Toshiba - Portégé, Satellite, Tecra

• Press F1 or Esc after powering on to access BIOS.
  
• Toshiba Portable PC (Phoenix) - Press the F2 key while the system processes its Power
  On Self Test (POST).

If all else fails, hold down the space bar during startup. This should halt the machine and allow the customer to enter the startup key. The computer will display the BIOS key option.

How Google AdSense Detects Fraudulent Clicks?

Every webmaster devoted to Google AdSense moneymaking should be curious, how the program detects the fraudulent (invalid) clicks. While some of the detection ways seems obvious, other might be quite hidden from the public eyes. I have found on the web overview of the methods and resources Google applies during routine investigation. Please read and understand, not to look for the way to bypass these schemes and find new opportunities to cheat Google, but to prevent from accidental pattern generation that might cause your dismissal from Google AdSense for fraudulent activities.


What is an invalid Click?
Ever noticed the 0-cent-clicks on your Google AdSense statistics page? In most cases, the clicks related reimbursement is zeroed by the company, since the clicks are considered invalid.
There are several ways the fraudulent clicks might be generated on your account:

1. When the pay per click provider Google Adsense says that someone that is not interested in making business from the advertisers link, click it to generate income for you.
   
2. Also when publisher clicks their own adds (Adsense ads) to generate money for themselves, it’s a invalid click.
   
3. It’s a invalid click also when publisher asks others to click on their ads (Adsense ads) just to raise their income.
   
4. Invalid clicks also happen when some uses robots to click on their ads (Adsense ads) or automated software.
   
   Google invalid clicks definition is as follows:

• Manual clicks intended to increase publisher’s income.
  
• Clicks by robots, automated tools.
  
• Clicks generated by Third-party services.

How people try to cheat Google Adsense?
These are some basic techniques, people use to cheat Google AdSense. Among them:

• Basic Clicker Cheat: Publisher clicks on his own Adsense ads every time he has a chance.
  
• Proxy Clicker Cheat: Publisher thinks that if he/she uses anonymous proxy for browsing his/her own site and click ads, Google Adsense will not be able to trace that.
  
• Multiple Computer Clicker Cheat: He or She knows Google Adsense will detect if clicks are from same IP, so he/she asks friends, family members, neighbors and relatives to click on the AdSense ads.
  
• Software Clicker Cheat: Using automated software or robots to click on Adsense ads.
  
• Paid Clicker Cheat: Publisher will pay some amount of money per month basis to professional AdSense clickers to browse publisher’s site and click on several ads.
  
• Click-rings Cheat (clicks exchange): Group of people get together and share their site that published Adsense ads and ask click their ads while they click others ads who are in this groups. These guys will use Yahoo groups, forums and IM to form groups and communicate among members.

How Google Adsense detects click fraud?
To preserve the value of the advertising ROI (Return on Investments) for the program business partners, company is executing all the time improving strategy against the cheaters. Therefore, as you know, currently there are lots of Google Adsense publishers who were banned from Google Adsense program for click fraud. Some of them manage to get their account back, but others failed. Usually, if you are small-range personal site or blog owner, Google will refuse spending time on your activities investigation. So, most likely, you are out… forever… Since better be safe than sorry, be extra cautious and apply common sense principle that Google will not suffer loosing your site in the system, mostly you are…
Google never openly reveal how they trace invalid clicks, or any other information on the related technology behind it.
So how does Google detect these clicks and how would they know which clicks are invalid? Google AdSense team uses three powerful tools to detect invalid clicks:

• Detection and Filtering Tool: Each click on an AdSense ad is monitored by Google system. Google will record the IP of each click, the time of the click, duplicate clicks and various click patterns. Google will use these factors and filter out potential invalid clicks.
  
• Advanced Monitoring Tool: Google uses its proprietary software to monitor clicks fraud activity. They are constantly working to improve their technology.
  
• The Google Team: In addition, Google has a team that uses specialized tools and techniques to examine individual case of clicks fraud. When Google system detects potentially invalid clicks, a member of this team will examines the affected account.

AdSense Click Fraud Detection

Despite the effort that Google put in to improve their clicks fraud detection technology, there are few innocent publishers whose AdSense account has been suspended or banned temporarily for different reasons. For example, a sudden spike in your AdSense earnings would probably raise the red flag in their system and cause your AdSense account to be suspended. If your AdSense account is suspended for invalid clicks which you did not commit, Google provides you a way to make your appeal.
Following are some supposed technological ways Google Adsense may use to detect invalid clicks:

• IP Address: It is the easiest and must be recognized by everyone. If those clicks on your ads are originated from the same IP Address as the one used for accessing your AdSense account, your account is flagged.
  
• Click Through Rate (CTR): Normally, Click thru Rate should not excess 10%. Otherwise, Google will flag your account. For your information, normal CTR should ranges from 0.5% - 10%.
  
• Physical Location: Google has good tracing software and technology. They can trace traffic origin down to the small town. So, using different computers with different IP address does not secure the fraud cover up. So, don’t try to click your ads in various Internet cafes. That will not make you a millionaire anyway.
  
• Cookies: Most home users do not use static IP Address for Internet connection. In most cases just disconnect and reconnect will give you a new IP Address. But don’t forget, Google has set cookies on your computer. They can trace these cookies and see whether they originate from the same computer.
  
• Click Pattern 1: It is also suspicious when people click on their clicks and then run away immediately (hit-and-run). But normally, people will surf for a while inside your pages and then click on the ads they want.
  
• Click Pattern 2: Why this computer / IP address / person is so trigger-click-happy on this particular website but never click on the ads on other sites?
  
• Click Pattern 3: And why is it that people accessing these sites direct (type-in URL or from bookmark) tend to be very active ad-clickers compared with those referred from search engine or other sites?
  
• Other Google Services: Apart from Google Adsense, Google also provide a series of services to us. Don’t just think that it is safe if you do not log in your AdSense account and click on your ads. What other Google services do they provide to us? Here are some: Gmail (most people are using it), Google Earth, Google Calendar, Google Search, Google Toolbar, Google Talk, Google Sitemap, Google Desktop, Blogger, or even Youtube.
  
• Search Engine Ranking: Your website is not indexed on any search engine, not linked by any prominent website, but get consistently high traffic? How come people can access your website and click your ads? That will make Google to smell a rat.
  
• Webpage Design: How about the "Please click a link below" or "donate us by clicking the ads"? These kinds of encouragement are not in line with Google’s TOS. Google can use their winning search engine, or even human eyes to check your sites from time to time.
  
• Advertisers’ conversion rate: Ad click is one thing. But does it bring value to the advertisers? If none of the clicks on your site translate to conversion to the advertiser, you are in trouble. First the Smart-Pricing hits, then your AdSense account disabled.
  
• Hardware address: MAC address of the LAN card, modem, and router works almost like a fingerprint. There were several suggestions on the web, that Google can track MAC addresses. I am personally not sure if they are going this way, or not, but I have no doubt that they have all technical abilities for pursuing this way.
  
• Combo: Each of these detection methods by itself might seem rather weak. But combine them together, and not many click-frauds will be able to pass through these filters. Even the smartest clickbots will have a hard time.

It’s better to read the Google Adsense Program Policies before you start with AdSense and be careful to not to make any click frauds.

AdSense Click Fraud Detection

Free the Internet - Blog Carnival - 7th Ed.

Welcome to the 7-th, April 10, 2009, edition of the Free the Internet Blog Carnival. Some statistics: Submitted Articles - 126. Published Articles - 21. I want to thank all the authors contributing to the issue. Some articles were excluded from the review, since their topic of discussion did not match the main target of the carnival. I am sorry, that not all submissions were accepted, as some of the excluded articles carried a significant value.

Tim Grice presents SEO - Clearly Defining Black-Hat Techniques posted at Search Engine Optimisation, saying, "As an SEO consultant there is nothing strange in speaking to a potential client who has never heard of black hat seo. This is slightly worrying as many unsuspecting online business owners may fall into the black-hat trap and find their sites banned."

Tim Grice presents A Few SEO Issues posted at Search Engine Optimisation, saying, "After doing my usual SEO reading over the weekend (like a good SEO consultant should) I stumbled across a few things that a) I don’t agree with and b) provoked thought."

Wendy Limauge presents How to Find Free Swag posted at Sweeties Swag, saying, "My site is a collection of the best freebies available on the Web. This article gives the reader ideas for finding free "swag stuff."

Andrew Rondeau presents WordPress Blog - Which Plugins Do You Use? posted at We Build Your Blog, saying, "There are hundreds and hundreds of WordPress Plugins to make your blog easier to maintain and more ‘search-friendly’. Here are some you may not of heard of..."

Burak Bilgin presents Twitter Is Like Life posted at Distiller’s Corner, saying, "Twitter is like life, it’s what you make out of it. A brief introduction to Twitter."

Carole Gold presents Download Alert! posted at Carole Gold, saying, "Free advice on how your computer can teach you model how to get through the economic downturn."

Jimson Lee presents Don’t Lay-off Employees for SaaS - Go Open Source posted at CRM Help Desk Software.com, saying, "Don’t lay-off your employees in favour of SaaS. Keep them and go Open Source and support their training costs."

Sarah Scrafford presents 25 Surprising Things That Google Knows About You posted at e-Justice Blog.

Cory Threlfall presents How To Start A Blog Using Wordpress Blogging Software posted at The Blogging For Beginner Bloggers Blog, saying, "I really enjoy blogging now that I have learned the essentials of how to start a blog and keeping it updated regularly. While you can"

Jeonard Cook presents Reverse Cell Phone Lookup - A Great Way to Catch Your Cheating Spouse Or Find a Prank Callers Name posted at How to Find Phone Number.

Sarah Scrafford presents The 50 Best iPhone Apps for Relationships and Networking posted at Edu Velocity.

Erika Collin presents The Free Online Tax Filing Toolbox: 25 Sites for Tools, Printable Forms, Software and More posted at Bankling.

Winson Yeung presents Making Money With Adsense A Beginners Guide posted at Singapore Internet Marketer’s Blog, saying, "Would you like to start making money with Adsense Adsense is Googles program to place ads (known as Adwords) on individual publishers sites. These ads are contextually related meaning that wedding ads appear on wedding sites and fishing ads appear on fishing sites. If you have a website, it is not hard to start making money with Adsense."

Jim DeSantis presents YouTube: Making and Uploading Your Own Videos posted at Google Traffic Secret Free at On Line Tribune, saying, "If you are not yet a fan of You Tube, you will be if you enjoy watching free videos online, from a number of different genres. And, you might get the bug to do your own video and post it for the world to see. Here are some tips that will help you decide if you should do it."

Sarah Scrafford presents 100 (Non-Design) Blogs that Every Web Designer Should Read posted at Web Design Schools Guide.

Erika Collin presents Top 100 Librarian Tweeters posted at Best Colleges Online.

Tushar presents SEO Checklist for Creating a New Website posted at TUSHARVICKKIE, saying, "SEO Checklist, a must to know while developing the website. SEO Checklist lists all the necessary elements to keep in mind while developing the website."

Kurt Tasche presents How To Get Backlinks posted at Kurt Tasche - Online Business Mentor|Home-Based Business Expert, saying, "How To Get Backlinks - If you"

Margaret Garcia presents 100 Best Web Tools and Tips to Organize Your Inbox posted at Radiology Technician Schools.

Erika Collin presents 100 Tips, Tools, and Resources for Librarians on Twitter posted at Learn-gasm.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Where To Get Free Stuff Online: 9 Sites For Freebies, Product Samples, Coupons posted at The Digerati Life, saying, "Thanks!"

The Smarter Wallet presents Wesabe Review: A Free Online Money Management Tool posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, "Thanks!"

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of free the internet using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Find right internship to fit your career goals

Economy downturn hits hard. Who suffers most? Pre-retirement age specialists and new college graduates. When everything so gloomy and depressing, finding a good internship becomes a major issue. Why so? Many fresh grads or pre-grads are ready to get in the working carrier with no high salary demands, and in many cases, will be happy to work for free (for practical experience and employment records in resume). But lack of experience makes them unwanted figures at the workplace anyway. With massive downsizing, people do not easily volunteer to mentor and lead the new employees.

Also, there is nothing worse than having a negative first work experience. When you are young you have a whole set of ideals, and these while be replaced by others in due time. However, it is a completely different thing to have them quashed at once.

The website Internshare is dedicated to one respectful goal – helping students and new graduates to find suitable internship, a place that fit their ideas and can offer a real boost to their professional growth. The website collects together both positive and negative feedback from interns who have worked at different companies. The objective is gathering together honest opinions, and letting everybody make the right decisions. As someone once told me when I was looking for my first job, it is not just “They” that will choose “You”; always remember that “You” have to pick “Them” as well.

Choose fitting internship with InternShare

All the featured information is available on the provide career center, and it is split in the following sections: “Reviews”, “Interview Notes”, “Jobs”, “Places” and “Advice”. These go by self-explanatory names, really, and as a whole they will take care of any discrepancy between what the company truly is and what it wants to show you.

For all students and college graduates the website http://www.internshare.com/ will give a new set of ideas and facts to start the search from the more informed positions.

Get Paid for your Stored Documents with Textive!

Textive is a web site where you can store (backup) your documents. Make some of those documents public (publish them) and you can earn a share of the revenue from advertising that appears on your pages.

Think about all the good stuff you write (like trip journals and term papers), download (like whitepapers and tax forms and account statements), store on your hard drive, and share on other sites for free. That's the text that you want to share, and that you don't want to lose...so back it up at Textive. And if you do make it available for others, you will be paid as well. You can upload Word and PDF documents or simply copy and paste or write directly into the easy to use editor. In the future, they will be supporting other document types too.

You will earn 20% of the revenue from advertising on any of your documents that you make public. So the more popular your content is, the more you earn! When you have earned $20, you will get a notification email and you will be asked for your Paypal account and mailing address. Payments are sent quarterly.

You can choose if you want to make your documents private or public, but as you understand, private documents will not earn you revenue, so make as much public as you are willing to. You can upload as many documents as you want, with the following limits: 1 GB of storage, and individual files are limited to 5 MB maximum size.

Screen - Click to Enlarge:

Textive - Free Backup and Revenues

Website:
http://www.textive.com/

Dots and Pluses: Gmail Tips and Tricks

While Web-based email is nothing new, Gmail introduces some new and unique concepts. Managing email has become very easy while at the same time having powerful tools to find and review information.
We will review just two interesting features and propose the possible implications:

1. Let’s say that your email address is ‘GeorgeBush@gmail.com’, basically everything sent to any of the following email addresses will be forwarded to your primary email.

GeorgeBush@gmail.com G.eorgeBush@gmail.com Ge.orgeBush@gmail.com … … GeorgeBus.h@gmail.com

GeorgeBush@googlemail.com G.eorgeBush@googlemail.com Ge.orgeBush@googlemail.com … … GeorgeBus.h@googlemail.com

And that’s not all, you can place as many dots as you want, it can be even something like ‘G.e.o.r.g.e.B.u.s.h@gmail.com’ and you’ll still get it on ‘GeorgeBush@gmail.com’.

2. You can embed random text to your email ID using ‘+’ sign. That is to say ‘GeorgeBush+anythingyouwant@gmail.com’ can be used as your email address, as well.


Possible Uses:

1. One email for every purpose
Instead of using different email addresses for various purposes (work, school, friends, etc.) you can use different variations of your Gmail and filter incoming mails by ’sent to’ address. For instance, all incoming mail sent to ‘Name.Surname@gmail.com’ can be put to folder ‘work’, messages sent to ‘NameSurname@gmail.com’ can be put to ‘friends’, ‘N.ameSurname@gmail.com’ can be used for newsletters, and so on.

2. Track/Block spammers
When signing up for some website, say thatwebsite.com, you can add thatwebsite to your Gmail user ID (eg. GeorgeBush+thatwebsite@gmail.com). This way you can block your subscription whenever you want and even identify those websites that distribute your email address to spammers.

3. Notes Maintenance
Create a Contact with a Name of "Notes" and an Email Address of "username+Notes@gmail.com"
Next, create a new Label called "Notes". Finally, create a Filter to add the "Notes" Label any email addressed to "username+Notes@gmail.com". Also, check the "Skip the Inbox (Archive it)" checkbox.
The effect is this: When you email yourself from an email account other than your own Gmail account, address the email to "username+Notes@gmail.com". When the message arrives in your Gmail account, it will automatically be archived into your "Notes" Label view, bypassing the Inbox.