Thursday, August 30, 2007

Search engine: Google, Yahoo, Microsoft

A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system, such as on the World Wide Web, inside a corporate or proprietary network, or in a personal computer. The search engine allows one to ask for content meeting specific criteria (typically those containing a given word or phrase) and retrieves a list of items that match those criteria. This list is often sorted with respect to some measure of relevance of the results. Search engines use regularly updated indexes to operate quickly and efficiently. Without further qualification, search engine usually refers to a Web search engine, which searches for information on the public Web. Other kinds of search engine are enterprise search engines, which search on intranets, personal search engines, and mobile search engines. Different selection and relevance criteria may apply in different environments, or for different uses. Some search engines also mine data available in newsgroups, databases, or open directories. Unlike Web directories, which are maintained by human editors, search engines operate algorithmically or are a mixture of algorthmic and human input.

History
The very first tool used for searching on the Internet was Archie. [1] The name stands for "archive" without the "v". It was created in 1990 by Alan Emtage, a student at McGill University in Montreal. The program downloaded the directory listings of all the files located on public anonymous FTP (File Transfer Protocol) sites, creating a searchable database of filenames; however, Archie could not search by file contents. While Archie indexed computer files, Gopher indexed plain text documents. Gopher was created in 1991 by Mark McCahill at the University of Minnesota: Gopher was named after the school's mascot.[1] Because these were text files, most of the Gopher sites became websites after the creation of the World Wide Web. Two other programs, Veronica and Jughead, searched the files stored in Gopher index systems. Veronica (Very Easy Rodent-Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerized Archives) provided a keyword search of most Gopher menu titles in the entire Gopher listings. Jughead (Jonzy's Universal Gopher Hierarchy Excavation And Display) was a tool for obtaining menu information from various Gopher servers. While the name of the search engine "Archie" was not a reference to the Archie comic book series, "Veronica" and "Jughead" are characters in the series, thus referencing their predecessor.

Google
Around 2001, the Google search engine rose to prominence. Its success was based in part on the concept of link popularity and PageRank. The number of other websites and webpages that link to a given page is taken into consideration with PageRank, on the premise that good or desirable pages are linked to more than others. The PageRank of linking pages and the number of links on these pages contribute to the PageRank of the linked page. This makes it possible for Google to order its results by how many websites link to each found page. Google's minimalist user interface is very popular with users, and has since spawned a number of imitators. Google and most other web engines utilize not only PageRank but more than 150 criteria to determine relevancy[2]. The algorithm "remembers" where it has been and indexes the number of cross-links and relates these into groupings. PageRank is based on citation analysis that was developed in the 1950s by Eugene Garfield at the University of Pennsylvania. Google's founders cite Garfield's work in their original paper. In this way virtual communities of webpages are found. Teoma's search technology uses a communities approach in its ranking algorithm. NEC Research Institute has worked on similar technology. Web link analysis was first developed by Jon Kleinberg and his team while working on the CLEVER project at IBM's Almaden Research Center. Google is currently the most popular search engine.

Yahoo! Search
The two founders of Yahoo!, David Filo and Jerry Yang, Ph.D. candidates in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, started their guide in a campus trailer in February 1994 as a way to keep track of their personal interests on the Internet. Before long they were spending more time on their home-brewed lists of favourite links than on their doctoral dissertations. Eventually, Jerry and David's lists became too long and unwieldy, and they broke them out into categories. When the categories became too full, they developed subcategories ... and the core concept behind Yahoo! was born. In 2002, Yahoo! acquired Inktomi and in 2003, Yahoo! acquired Overture, which owned AlltheWeb and AltaVista. Despite owning its own search engine, Yahoo! initially kept using Google to provide its users with search results on its main website Yahoo.com. However, in 2004, Yahoo! launched its own search engine based on the combined technologies of its acquisitions and providing a service that gave pre-eminence to the Web search engine over the directory.

Microsoft
The most recent major search engine is MSN Search, owned by Microsoft, which previously relied on others for its search engine listings. In 2004 it debuted a beta version of its own results, powered by its own web crawler (called msnbot). In early 2005 it started showing its own results live. This was barely noticed by average users unaware of where results come from, but was a huge development for many webmasters, who seek inclusion in the major search engines. At the same time, Microsoft ceased using results from Inktomi, now owned by Yahoo!. In 2006, Microsoft migrated to a new search platform - Windows Live Search, retiring the "MSN Search" name in the process.


Article Source : www.freewebweb.com

Your Guide To Safe Surfing At Traffic Exchanges

Everyday we are hearing more and more about identity theft, fraud and vandal hackers. Websites that have malicious scripts in them can install viruses, spyware, and adware on your computer without you even knowing it. You never really know who or what is actually behind any particular website that you are viewing and we recommend taking a few easy steps to make your surfing experiences smoother and more secure.

Virus Protection

This is, without a doubt, the most important kind of software you should install. Make sure you keep your virus definitions updated at all times. The key word here is UPDATED! Outdated virus definitions do little good at all. Some viruses actually do more damage if you are infected first and then try to install an anti-virus program. They explode like a bomb and start eating your vital memory resources and can lead to data loss. The point is, be proactive, not reactive when it comes to virus protection.

You can download the free anti-virus program, Grisoft
http://www.grisoft.com/promo/stay-protected-isw-free75cnv/

Grisoft is actually a very nice program, and does provide partial protection, but your virus protection software is not a good place to cut corners, so I recommend something more powerful.

Of course the leaders by far in terms of name recognition are:

Symantec - http://www.symantec.com/index.htm
McAfee - http://www.mcafee.com/us/

...and they definitely charge accordingly for their software.

Two less expensive alternatives that are nearly as good and will keep you well protected against harmful viruses are:

Anti Virus Protector - http://roidetect.novirus01.hop.clickbank.net/
Micro Anti Virus - http://roidetect.microa.hop.clickbank.net/

Anti-Spyware

There isn't 'one' software program that can provide you with 100%
protection, so a 'layered' approach is the best strategy.

To create layered virus protection, you should be running a stand alone anti-spyware program on your computer. You can find out about free anti-spyware programs at:

http://www.computersplus.biz/spyware.htm

In my opinion, Perhaps the best anti-spyware software ever developed is XoftSpySE. You can download a copy and get a free scan of your computer here:
XoftSpySE - http://roidetect.xoftspyse.hop.clickbank.net/

Password Managers

It is a very good idea to use a password manager so that you are not using your keyboard to type your passwords in when you login to your programs and payment processor accounts. Hackers have developed programs they maliciously place on your computer without your knowledge that can track your keystrokes. This is a real threat.

That's why it's important to use a password manager that automatically enters your ID and password information as soon as the respective login page appears. Your have essentially three choices; (1) keep a copy of all your secure info on a text document and use the copy and paste feature to login; (2) use the password management feature of your internet browser; or (3) purchase a 3rd party password management program.

The best strategy is #3. Using a 3rd party password manager for all of your important information should stop hackers dead in their tracks.

The best password manager on the market is, without a doubt:
RoboForm - http://www.roboform.com/

NEVER use your email or payment processor passwords for other things.
ALWAYS make your email and payment processor passwords difficult.

Web Browser

In my judgment, due to chronic security issues, Internet Explorer has proven not to be the best choice for surfing in general and surfing traffic exchanges in particular.

Mozilla FireFox with the NoScript extension installed is a much sharper sword when it comes to keeping your data safe.

NoScript will not allow any scripts to run on your browser unless you specifically give permission. Only allow scripts to run from websites and programs that you trust.

FireFox - http://www.mozilla.com
Firefox NoScript - https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/

If your budget allows it, there is an all-in-one solution that may be to your liking. I recommend you use Invisus, an powerful and innovative security management program that gives Norton and Mcafee a run for their money.

Invisus - http://www.invisus.com/

Summary

The combination of virus protection overlapped with spyware software using the Mozilla Firefox browser and NoScript extension combined with the use of a password manager will make your internet surfing as trouble free and secure as possible.


Article Source : www.articlesbase.com Author: Scott Badger

Internet Tips

How to Disable and Enable Cookies

If you want to enable and disable the cookies then perform the following actions.

• In the Internet Explorer go to Tools > Internet Options > Security Tab > Click Custom Level.
• Go to the Cookies section.
• To enable: Set "Allow cookie that are stored on your computer" to "Enable" Set "Allow per-session cookies" to "Enable"
To disable: Set "Allow cookie that are stored on your computer" to "Disable" Set "Allow per-session cookies" to "Disable"

How to speed up the loading of HTML pages with images

If you want to increase the image’s loading time then just add the height and width tags in the image tag. e.g. . This can increase the images web pages loading time significantly.

How to find out the location of the website?

If you want to know that where the website is physically located, what’s the associated IP address of the website and what’s the registration information of the website use the following URL.

Domaintools.com and put your web address in it.

It will display all the required information regarding the website.

Tips to avoid Internet Fraud

Some of the known internet scams are jobs scams, charity scams, Nigerian money offers, work-at-home scams, scholarship scams, bogus credit card offers, phishing, get rich scams, fake check scams and investment scams etc. The best way to avoid all these scams is to block all the scams related email addresses and not open any email attachment from unknown source.

Google Operators

Link:domain name

It shows you the incoming links to a webpage

Cache:domain name

It shows the version of the webpage that Google has in its cache

Define:

Define shows the definition of the word that you enter after it define:

Intitle:keyword

If you use this operator then Google will restrict the results to the web pages that has same title as you specified keyword.

Inurl:

If you use this operator then Google will restrict the results with searches that contain the same word in the URL.

Internet Security Tips

According to Antivirus Solutions Company Symantec that every computer, which is connected to internet can be infected in only 20 minutes if no proper security measures have been deployed on that computer. The best tips of being secure on the internet are use an up-to-dated antivirus program, anti spyware program and firewall software. Using updated antivirus program and regularly scanning your computer with it makes you secure while you get connected to internet.


Article Source : www.articlesbase.com Author: Bushra Bashir

How to Secure your Computer

According to a Software security and Antivirus company Symantec, it only takes 20 minutes for an unprotected computer to be attacked once it gets connected with the internet. Computer security cannot be compromised because if your computer is insecure then all your data, software and hardware are at risk. There are several methods that are used to combat with the security threats. The known threats to a computer are viruses, spyware, adware, malware, Trojan horses, internet security threats, accidental files deletion and data corruption, unauthorized access to compute and the hackers’ attacks. Following tips tells that how to deal with the computer security threats.

Install Up-to-dated Antivirus Program

One of the most important security step and preventive measure is to install an up-to-dated antivirus program and scan your computer regularly with it. An antivirus programs acts as protective shield for your computer against the virus, spyware and other internet threats.

Install Firewall

A firewall is a protective boundary that protects your computer from the unauthorized access and from the hackers’ attacks. If you haven’t enabled a firewall software or hardware on your gateway computer then anyone can get into your computer.

Install Anti spyware

Installing a good anti spyware program eliminates the chances of data corruption, Windows registry corruption, slow computer booting, browser’s hijack and applications failure. The combination of Antivirus + Anti Spyware + Firewall program is a very good choice.

Update your operating system with service packs and patches

Services packs and the security patches fix the security holes and other vulnerabilities in the operating systems. If you are using Windows based operating system then there is automatic update option in the control panel of the Windows and you can set schedule updates of the operating system from the Microsoft’s website.

Beware of suspicious emails and attachments

Suspicious emails and email attachments is a very common cause of the viruses. The best safety measures it not to open the suspicious emails from the unknown source.

Uninstall Unnecessary Programs

For getting the optimized performance from your computer, uninstall all the unwanted programs and delete temporary internet files. You will notice increased performance of your computer.

Deploy Encryptions

Another important security measure is to prevent your important files with the encryption. Also for protecting your important data from accidental deletion, make your files to read only.

The above mentioned tips provide the best safeguard against the known offline and online threats.


Article Source : www.articlesbase.com Author: Bushra Bashir

Mac Minis and Its Security

Apple builds some sexy hardware and software, but many people prefer to use their stuff for their work and research because it simply allows more productivity and is more pleasurable to work with.

Mac minis: Like the iMac G5 January 2006, the Intel iMac April 2006, and the Mac Book Pro May 2006, the new Mac mini includes Apple's Front Row software and the Apple Remote, which gives you the ability to control the playback of movies, photos, and music without having to sit in front of a keyboard.

The minis now have Serial ATA hard drives, which offer 1.5 times the bus bandwidth of the previous ATA drives. Apple retained the single FireWire 400 port but doubled the number of USB 2.0 ports on the back from two to foura welcome addition. Earlier models were practically unusable without adding a USB hub to gain access to extra ports.

When it comes to graphics-intensive 3-D games, our tests of the Intel-native version of Unreal Tournament showed disappointing frame rates of 12.2 per second for the Core Duo and 10.4 per second for the Core Solocompared with 14.5 and 13.9 for the 1.42GHz G4 mini and the 1.25GHz G4 mini, respectively.The Mini comes pre-installed with Apple's Front Row software. This is an extremely slick interface that lets you browse your iTunes and iPhoto libraries using the Apple remote control.

The new Mac minis take a different approach to graphics than their predecessors. Last year, Apple trumpeted the ATI Radon 9200 graphics chip with 32MB of dedicated DDR memory instead of a graphics structure that borrowed its memory from the system. But in the new minis, that's exactly what Apple uses. The mini's integrated graphics feature is a mixed bag, though, since it adds to and subtracts from the previous graphics features.

In January 2005, Apple introduced the Mac mini as a low-cost Macand it still is, even though the price of admission has increased by $100. The Mac mini Core Duo's built-in improvements and performance boost are worth the higher cost. And although the Core Solo model clearly underperforms compared with the Core Duo in almost every respect, it's still a good entry-level Mac for the money.

As computers become an integral part of everyday life, security becomes increasingly vital. Securing your Mac is obvious, but far more important is the data that it contains.

If somebody steals your Mac they can spend a lot more time trying to gain access to the data on it. The techniques that you use to deter the casual thief will generally only take a few minutes to overcome, enough to stop someone who wanders by your desk when it is unattended but not enough to be an inconvenience to you when you are using the computer.

For home users the cost of replacing a lost computer is a much bigger issue but it is still important to consider what information the thief will have access to if they manage to get their hands on an unsecured Mac.

You need to take strict security measures all of the time as it is just as easy to leave it in a taxi or have it taken from your table when you pop to the toilet as it is to have it stolen from your home or office.If you are wanted to know the everything about the Mac world that just log on to these websites.

http://www.dvwarehouse.com/

http://www.idigitals.com/

http://www.applepart.com/

The internet is the best place to buy cheap computer parts. Due to increase in demand for many parts in many suppliers find it profitable to sell their products online. The online dealers have their websites, which offer information on the various types of Mac parts available for purchase.

Article Source : www.articlesbase.com Author : Harry Johnson

Protecting your Computer and your Life Through Mcafee Internet Security Suite 2006

You can never deny the fact that the Internet is one of the most essential and one of the most important tools man uses today. Through the Internet, you will be able to chat with family and friends for free, do your groceries, shop for clothes, and through the Internet, you can also shop for real estate properties and cars.

Because of this technology, the Internet is now considered to be an important factor in life and in business. Many companies today are now using the Internet for advertising as well as a tool to sell their goods and services.

However, the Internet also has its drawbacks. Since it is connected to your computer, all your personal and financial information are exposed to other people. Having an Internet is like welcoming strangers in your own home and letting them install surveillance equipments right under your nose.

The thought of it could make anyone cringe. This is why there are companies today that develops software programs to protect you from malicious software, adware, spyware, and viruses. There are programs that even protect you from intruders that may access your personal files in your computer which may have your personal and financial information and use it to commit identity theft.

It is a fact that many people using the Internet without the proper protection from malicious softwares have been victimized by identity theft and suffered from huge financial losses and have also been involved in criminal cases that they didn’t even know they committed.

This is why you should protect your computer and yourself with an Internet security software to avoid being victimized by malicious software, hackers, identity thieves, and viruses. One kind of software that has a good reputation for fighting of this malicious software is called the McAfee Internet Security Suite 2006.

The McAfee Internet Security Suite 2006 contains all the necessary programs to protect you from malicious software circulating around the Internet. McAfee has a good reputation for warding of onlione threats and viruses.

The company has three versions of their software. One is for your Home and Home Office, the second is for small and medium businesses, and the last one is for enterprise and industries. Depending on the security level you need, you should get the software that suits your needs.

McAfee Internet Security Suite 2006 offers one of the best securities for every kind of computers. They offer automatic updates for virus and other malicious software definitions to better protect you from the new threats being created in the Internet everyday. McAfee also offer protection from the different kinds of spyware.

Other benefits of McAfee Internet Security Suite 2006 are that it’s very easy to use, and is able to provide the best Internet security available. With features that enable zero-day protection and successfully blocks spyware and malware, McAfee is definitely the choice of many people around the world when it comes to online security.

McAfee Internet Security Suite 2006 is readily available for purchase in the McAfee website. All you have to do is click on the buy now link, enter your credit card information and download the complete version of the program. Or, you can download the free demo version if you want to try it out first before buying. If you have owned previous versions of McAfee Internet Security before, you know how efficient it gets to protect you from malicious software and viruses.

Article Source : www.articlesbase.com Author : John Ugoshowa

Why Uninstall your Norton Internet Security

People use the internet on a daily basis to communicate, and transact businesses. Some people even do all their shopping online because it’s much more convenient than going out to the mall and shop there. Because of online shopping, you can buy anything you want right in the comforts of your own home.

However, the fact that the internet is being used by people for financial transactions, there are also people would take advantage of this wonderful technology to steal from other people using the internet. They can do this by simply using a spyware program.

What a spyware program does is that it would extract any kind of information in your computer including your personal and financial information. With this information, the spyware program developer will be able to use it to steal from you by committing identity theft.

There are also computer viruses circulating the internet and are aimed to destroy or corrupt your computer files and render it useless. With all the dangers in surfing the internet and downloading files from it, you would want some protection to avoid anything bad to happen to you or your computer.

By installing the latest Norton Internet Security software, you would be creating a very good defense against the invaders in the internet. It can protect you from spyware, computer viruses, adware, hackers, and other malicious software circulating the internet in a daily basis.

Norton Internet Security software is considered as one of the best internet security software available in the market today. It is integrated with several softwares in one package. Each of the software integrated in the Norton Internet Security have different tasks for different threats. For example, Norton Internet Security is integrated with an antivirus program to fight viruses, another program in Norton Internet Security is aimed to fight off spyware and adware.

There are more programs integrated in the Norton Internet Security. Each of the programs will surely be very beneficial for you and your computer.

However, as time passes, new computer viruses and new versions of other malicious software will eventually pop out in the internet. Some of these malicious software will be able to bypass your Norton Internet Security. Because of this, you will also need to purchase updated software in order to protect your computer and yourself from newer versions of malicious software.

In order to successfully install your new version of Norton Internet Security software, you have to uninstall your old version of the Norton Internet Security software first. To do this, you have to click on start; click on control panel and click on add remove programs. Choose Norton Internet Security and click on uninstall. The computer will automatically remove the software from your computer.

Once you finished uninstalling your old version of Norton Internet Security software, your computer will now be ready to be installed with the new version. Installation is easy; all you have to do is follow the step-by-step installation wizard. In a very short time, your computer will be ready again to surf the internet without you worrying about the new threats circulating the internet.

So, if your Norton Internet Security software is outdated, all you have to do is purchase the new version of the software, uninstall the old version and install the new Norton.

Article Source : www.articlesbase.com Author: John Ugoshowa