Why Is It Best To Use Free Anti-Spyware Tools?

Why Is It Best To Use Free Anti-Spyware Tools?
by Kendrick

Ever wondered why so many junk mail end up on your mailbox? Or why all of a sudden software is asking you to take a REALLY important step or to download certain software to ease your everyday work? These software products are to get themselves installed into your PC, without you even knowing it. These spywares are programmed in a way that when you browse a certain website, it will get installed into your PC. At times, a pop up window that tells you with red alert that your PC needs a scan, you click it sometimes without even knowing that this very scanning thing is a spyware!

Any web user who is familiar with the words "Adware" and "Spyware" and knows the importance of removing spyware from their PC will want to download a spyware or adware remover. There are two ways to get it. One, you buy and download an antispyware software; two, you download a free spyware remover.

Now if you are more of a "strictly follow the rules" type of guy, you will probably think that free removal of spyware is less effective and you should rather buy a dedicated spyware remover than just downloading free antispyware software to enable you free removal of spyware. However, there is nothing illegal about a free spyware remover; in fact, it is sometimes the best choice.

Free spyware removers always keep their software updated. They also let you get updated everyday, so nothing to worry about becoming outdated in terms of adware definitions. This means it is as good as any antispyware software that you pay to buy.

If you buy any antispyware, they will give you a license for about a year or more depending on how much you pay. And it will never let you forget how your time is passing and once your license has expired, you will feel like those big red letters are shouting "PAY AGAIN! PAY AGAIN!" It is annoying to see red alerts on your screen and especially something, that is asking for money. So why not use free antispyware software and enjoy free removal of spyware.

Not even with a great antivirus you can remove EVERY bit of spyware, it needs different features for complete removal, as everyday, new spywares get installed into your PC while you browse through the internet. So if you are very much concerned about the security of your PC, you will have to buy more and more. Free spyware removers are very active and they block any threat to your PC and remove it before it can cause any permanent harm to your PC.

Not all the free adware and spyware downloads are harmful though, some of them are actually useful for your PC. You can have a good guidance from people who have reviewed it, so make sure you have gone through the reviews that are available on the sites where free adware and spyware downloads are available. You can find reliable free spyware protections reviews at Yourspywareremover.com.

Some adware and spywares are really dangerous as they have the power to extract private data from your email addresses or even your credit card! So make sure you protect your pc, and save money along the way!


About the Author

Kendrick Chee is author of this article on Spyware. Find more information about Network Security here.

Great Plains or Dynamics GP ecommerce custom integration

Great Plains or Dynamics GP ecommerce custom integration
by Andrew Karasev

Microsoft Dynamics GP version 10.0 and 9.0 is open to ecommerce web programmer through its SDK eConnect. If you are C# or VB .Net Microsoft Visual Studio software developer, you should be able to program integration with such Dynamics GP objects as: customer, inventory item, employee, vendor, GL account (and more) and also be able to integrate transactions: Sales Order, Quote, Invoice, Return, Purchase Order, Purchase Receipt, Payroll transaction, AP voucher, AP payment, AR customer invoice and customer payment to give you the idea. eConnect is under substantial expansion and you may expect new objects to be covered in the future Dynamics GP versions. If you are starting ecommerce project from scratch (when you do not have legacy ecommerce application and the history of the business or franchise), then you should probably look for out-of-the-shelf products (and we would be happy to recommend you existing ecommerce add-ons). However, if you have to respect legacy ecommerce website and shopping cart, you should take custom programming approach and we offer you here technical highlights: 1. Dynamics GP Sales Order Processing connector. Great Plains Sales Order Processing module is one of the most popular and especially popular in eCommerce integrating scenarios. If you are doing Invoice and payment taking from ecommerce, we recommend you to map these transactions to SOP Invoice and Customer deposit against the invoice

2. Dynamics GP ecommerce catalogue. Catalog is the set of Great Plains Inventory control items. In GP you can have inventory items as material items (inventoried items), service and miscellaneous charges (if your business charges membership services for example) and other types

3. Catalog Price Lists. In direct eConnect you can manipulate standard Dynamics GP inventory control module price lists. If you need customer specific price formulae, please consider developing simple custom application, and then combine eConnect functionality with SQL custom stored procedures

4. eConnect Batch Posting. We recommend you Alba Spectrum Posting Server to schedule automatic batch posting directly from ecommerce web application


About the Author

Andrew Karasev, Alba Spectrum LLC, help@albaspectrum.com 1-866-528-0577, http://www.albaspectrum.com. Serving ERP and MRP community since 1994, local service in Chicago, Houston, San Diego, Atlanta. Information portal: http://www.pegasplanet.com We serve you USA and Canada nationwide from our Dynamics GP call center

Technology involved in Accounting Outsourcing

Technology involved in Accounting Outsourcing
by Priyankar Baid

Often it is considered that outsourcing requires a huge amount of investment in terms of human resources, infrastructure, and technology making it a feasible solution only for the larger companies. This is a myth that probably emanated from the fact that outsourcing experiences of only large companies are covered in popular media. This assumption has been proven consistently wrong with fast multiplying instances of small mid market companies outsourcing their back end for fruitful results. Accounting outsourcing has gained rapid popularity (the fast growing sizes of BPOs is a testimony to this). Apart from the cost savings, organizations have seen benefits in terms of accuracy, reliability and proper maintenance of their accounting books.

This transition has been aided by rapidly decreasing technology costs (computers, internet connections and email/data storage accounts) are so much cheaper now, rising reliability of remote access softwares, and ever falling communication costs(thanks to Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) among others. In this article, a brief overview of the different technology aspects related to outsourcing is covered.

There are two basic data items involved in an outsourced accounting process: a) Input Documents or Source data like bank statements, invoices, bills, check stubs etc. b) Accounting file like QuickBook , Peachtree, and MYOB file

Communication between both ends is another information item that needs to be managed well. However this article covers only the options for handling source documents and acc. files.

Technology Options for accessing the input documents:

a) Scanned Form Scanned documents can be uploaded by the client staff on a website (usually of the service provider). These are then downloaded at the service-provider delivery centre/office. Alternatively, they may also be picked from the client server or just opened remotely by the service provider' staff. Accessing scanned documents remotely though the best method in terms of data security is the least productive method. This reduction in productivity is because the scanned documents open very slowly over even the best internet connections ( just do a simple test of opening a PDF file through your browser and compare it against the time taken while storing it first on your PC and then opening it). Also please note the transmission security while you upload the data to the service provider's website or while they download it from your PC/server.

b) Faxed - data can also be electronically faxed to an e-fax number. These faxes then get emailed to service provider as electronic images

Both Scanning and faxing have their advantages. The first method gives clear and magnified images while the latter method is convenient and fast. Further in a high volume process (where the source documents run in-to hundreds), scanning is definitely the better solution in terms of reliability, image quality and even time.

Technology Options for accessing the accounting file: Primarily there are four ways by which accounting outsourcing is possible Server Based, Remote Access Based, Hosted Software Based and Online Software Based

Server Based: The accountant works on the backup copy of the accounting file and once the work has been completed the file is uploaded back to the server. The client can download the files and save the updated version of his books.

Remote Access Based: The accountant connects to the clients' computer using a remote desktop access service like GoToMyPC.com, LogMeIn, Windows Remote Desktop or Secure VPN connection.

Online Software Based: In this method, the accounting software is a web-based version. So the accountant logs in to the Online Accounting Software (eg Quickbooksonline.com, NetSuite) and updates the books and logs out. The client can login to the online accounting software via internet and see the updated books. This method is the best in terms of processing speed and reliability, however the web-based versions of popular software like QuickBooks and Peachtree are stripped down versions and do not have all the features like inventory, sales orders , complete reports etc.

Hosted Software Based: This version is a modified version of the Remote Access based version. The difference being that the accounting files of the client are hosted on a third-party hosting service provider such as Personable.com. Hence the service provider access these hosted files. This method may be more reliable and useful if the clients' current technology set-up is not robust or good.

All these options do not require a huge amount of investment or any major changes in your IT setups. Data security is one of the most important factors that come into play while evaluating your outsourcing accounting needs. It is of utmost importance that necessary steps have been implemented for data security. Encrypted technology be used to make sure there are no breaches in your private information. The remote access software should not allow for copy or transfer files from client computer to service provider systems.

Certain other steps such as signing Non-Disclosure Agreements with the service provider, using 128-bit encrypted servers for storing accounting data and having a paper-less office should be considered In sum, the plethora of different technologies- remote access, scanning, communication and document and wok-flow management helps in making outsourcing work for small businesses.

About the Author

Priyankar Baid is an experienced accountant who has consulted small businesses in US, Cananda and UK over the last few years. He also runs a firm (http://www.outsourcinghubindia.com) specializing in online accounting. He helps businesses set-up accounting systems, clean-up existing books and implement outsourcing agreements. His firm specializes in providing accounting and reporting services to small medium businesses in North America.

The Encyclopedia Britannica 2009

The Encyclopedia Britannica 2009
by Sam Vaknin

The Encyclopedia Britannica 2009 (established in 1768), both in its Ultimate (now also called "Student and Home") and Deluxe versions, builds on the success of its completely revamped previous editions in 2006-8. The rate of innovation in the last three versions was impressive and welcome. It continues apace in this rendition with Britannica Biographies (Great Minds and Leaders), Classical Music (500 audio files arranged by composer), and a great Workspace for Project Management (a kind of friendly digital den). Generous 6-12 months of free access to the myriad riches of the Britannica Online complete the package.

The Britannica comes bundled with an atlas (close to 1800 maps linked to articles and 287 World Data Profiles of individual countries and territories); the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus, augmented by a Spanish-English translation dictionary; classic articles from previous editions; eleven yearbooks; an Interactive Timeline with 4000+ indexed timeline entries; a Research Organizer; and a Knowledge Navigator (called The Brain or BrainStormer). All told, it offers a directory of more than 166,000 reviewed and vetted links to online content.

In its new form, the Britannica is as user-friendly as the Encarta. With a new A to Z Quick Search feature, monthly updates and the aforementioned 6-12 months of free access to its impressive powerhouse online Web site, it is bound to give the former tough competition.

The Britannica's newest interface is even more intuitive and uncluttered than previously and is great fun to use. It offers morsels of knowledge, some of it date-specific, appetizingly presented through a ticker tape of visuals that leisurely scrolls across the bottom of the screen plus highly edifying interactive tours of articles and attendant media.

When you enter even the first few letters of a term in the search box, it offers various options and is persistent: no need to click on the toolbar's "search" button every time you want to find something in this vast storehouse of knowledge. Moreover, the user can save search results onto handy "Virtual Notecards". Whole articles can be copied onto the seemingly inexhaustible Workspace.

The new Britannica's display is tab-based, avoiding the erstwhile confusing proliferation of windows with every move. Most importantly, articles appear in full, not in sections. This major improvement facilitates the finding of relevant keywords in and the printing of entire texts. These are only a few of the numerous alterations and enhancements.

Perhaps the most refreshing change is the Britannica's Update Center. Dozens of monthly updates and new, timely articles are made available online (subject to free registration). A special button alerts the user when an entry in the base product has been updated.

Regrettably, unlike in the Encarta, the updates cannot be downloaded to the user's computer or otherwise incorporated into the vast encyclopedia. Moreover, the product does not alert its user to the existence of completely new articles, only to updated ones. It takes a manual scan of the monthly lists to reveal newly added content.

Speaking of updates, one must not forget to dwell on the Britannica's unequalled yearbooks. Each annual volume contains the year in events, scientific developments, and everything you wanted to know about the latest in any and every conceivable field of human endeavor or nature. About 10,500 articles culled from the last 11 editions buttress and update the Encyclopedia's anyhow impressive offerings.

The Britannica provides considerably more text than any other extant encyclopedia, print or digital. But it has noticeably enhanced its non-textual content over the years (the 1994-7 editions had nothing or very little but words, words, and more words): it now boasts in excess of 22-30,000 images and illustrations (depending on the version) and 900 video and audio clips. This is not to mention the Britannica Classics: articles from Britannica's most famous contributors-from Sigmund Freud to Harry Houdini, Marie Curie to Orville Wright.

The Britannica fully supports serious research. It is a sober assemblage of first-rate essays, up to date bibliographies, and relevant multimedia. It is a desktop university library: thorough, well-researched, comprehensive, trustworthy.

The Britannica's 84-103,000 articles (depending on the version) are long and thorough, supported by impressive bibliographies, and written by the best scholars in their respective fields. The company's Editorial Board of Advisors reads like the who's who of the global intellectual and scientific community.

The Britannica is an embarrassment of riches. Users often find the wealth and breadth of information daunting and data mining is fast becoming an art form. This is why the Britannica incorporated the BrainStormer to cope with this predicament. But an informal poll I conducted online shows that few know how to deploy it effectively.

The Britannica also sports Student and Elementary versions of its venerable flagship product, replete with a Homework Helpdesk and interactive tutorials, but it is far better geared to tackle the information needs of adults and, even more so, professionals. It provides unequalled coverage of its topics. Ironically, this is precisely why the market positioning of the Britannica's Elementary and Student Encyclopedias is problematic: with Wikipedia and even the Encarta around, the Britannica's brand is distinctly adult and scholarly.

Still, the 2009 editions of both the Student and Elementary encyclopedias improve on the past in terms of both coverage and facilities: the Homework Helpdesk is a collection of useful homework resources including a video subject browse, online learning games and activities, online subject spotlights, and how-to documents on topics such as writing a book review. There are also Learning Games and Activities: hundreds of fun and interactive games and activities to help students with subjects like Math, Science, and Social Studies.

The current edition is fully integrated with the Internet. Apart from the updates, it offers additional and timely content and revisions on a dedicated Web site. The digital product includes a staggering number of links (165,808!) to third party content and articles on the Web. The GeoAnalyzer, which compares national statistical data and generates charts and graphs, is now Web-based and greatly enhanced.

The Britannica would do well to offer a browser add-on search bar and to integrate with desktop search tools from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and others. Currently it offers search results through Google but this requires the user to install add-ons or plug-ins and to go through a convoluted rite of passage. A seamless experience is in the cards. Users must and will be able to ferret content from all over - their desktop, their encyclopedias, and the Web - using a single, intuitive interface.

Some minor gripes:

The atlas, dictionary, and thesaurus incorporated in the Britannica are still surprisingly outdated. Why not use a more current - and dynamically updated - offering? What about dictionaries for specialty terms (medical or computer glossaries, for instance)?

Despite considerable improvement over the previous edition, the Britannica still consumes (not to say hogs) computer resource far in excess of the official specifications. This makes it less suitable for installation on older PCs and on many laptops. If you own a machine with anything earlier than Pentium 3 and less than 4 Gb of really free space - forget it!

The Britannica uses a new graphic and text renderer. On some systems, the user needs to modify his or her desktop settings to get rid of jagged fonts and blurry photos. The software also seriously conflicts with security applications (especially anti-virus and firewall products). This edition, though, is finally compatible with the latest QuickTime.

But that's it. Don't think twice. Run to the closest retail outlet (or surf to the Britannica's Web site) and purchase the 2009 edition now. It offers excellent value for money (less than $40, with a rebate) and significantly enhances you access to knowledge and wisdom accumulated over centuries all over the world.


About the Author

Sam Vaknin ( http://samvak.tripod.com ) is the author of Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West Lost the East.

He served as a columnist for Central Europe Review, Global Politician, PopMatters, eBookWeb , and Bellaonline, and as a United Press International (UPI) Senior Business Correspondent. He was the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory and Suite101.

Save Time With These Pieces of Software

Save Time With These Pieces of Software
by Josh Martin

Our work lives seem to keep speeding up. Fortunately so do the tools that can help us work more efficiently. Here are five great pieces of software that will help keep you organized as well as automate and speed up the pace of the things you do every day on your PC and on the web. Best of all, three of them are free.

The most important time-saver is a well-organized schedule that is simple to maintain and integrate with the other software you use on a daily basis. Google Calendar makes it easy to add events by hand, but you can also add them with just a click from many web sites as well as from gmail emails. Google calendar is searchable and let's you set reminders on your PC or have them sent to your phone. You set your own privacy level and decide how much of your calendar you want to share with others. Google Calendar is free.

RoboTask allows you to automate desktop tasks. It can run software according to a specified schedule, as well as schedule and run backups, downloads and uploads. It can trigger tasks that are dependent on the success or failure of other tasks. It can also automatically create letters and email files. It can even shut down your PC after certain tasks have finished. RoboTask costs $99.95, but you can try it before you buy with a free 30 day trial.

One time-saving tool that is often overlooked by businesses is voice recognition software. Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking is useful not only for dictation, but for data input and editing as well. You can also use it to answer emails and surf the web using voice commands. Dragon Naturally Speaking comes with a headset, and it works with a Bluetooth microphone or any other quality microphone. If you don't have a Bluetooth microphone, there is an optional hand-held device you can use when you are away from your computer. Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 Standard costs $99.99.

Download Accelerator Plus does just what its name says. It makes downloads up to twice as fast by downloading files in smaller pieces and by searching for the fastest mirrors, sometimes downloading from more than one at a time. It allows you to preview media files while downloading them. The slower your connection, the more dramatic the speedup will be. Download Accelerator Plus works with most browsers, and it's free.

Do you have a website? Link checkers help you to verify that all the links on your website are working, but some of them produce cumbersome reports that are not easy or quick to read. LinkChecker for Firefox is a tool that lets you see the state of your links with just a glance. It provides color-coded link checking that shows you quickly which links are broken or forbidden and which are OK. It gets full marks for ease of use. It only checks links that have standard HTTP headers. But you can't beat the price: it's free.

About the Author

Project management software for your business. Check it out for free.

A Guide to Free Antivirus Software on the Web

A Guide to Free Antivirus Software on the Web
by Will Spencer

There is no need to go into detail as to why your computer needs protection from viruses especially online. Fortunately, effective and free antivirus software can be downloaded on the Web. Some of the most popular ones are listed below.

Norton Security Scan

This free antivirus software has several features that new or busy computer users will like. The first is that it is very easy to use. There is only one button, labeled start. Clicking this will initiate the virus scanning process, during which the program will remove any threats that are detected in your computer.

With only a single button, users do not have to worry about configuring various settings. Another advantage of this application is that it can perform updates regularly. Also, you can set up another antivirus program if you like and there will be no incompatibility issues whatsoever.

AVG Antivirus

For those users that want to have total control over their free antivirus software, the AVG Antivirus Free Edition will be ideal. Besides scanning for viruses, the program also has a Rescue Disk which you can use to create important configuration files so in the event you are unable to boot from the hard disk, the Rescue Disk will be able to perform that function instead.

In addition, this free antivirus software provides a scanner for spotting viruses in email attachments, and a scheduler. The website updates the virus list regularly, and can quarantine a file that has a virus (you may want to do this in case you want to try and remove the virus instead of deleting it). This software can run in Windows versions from 95 up to XP.

Avira Antivir Personal

The Avira Antivir Personal is a quick and efficient free antivirus software that runs on Windows and Unix. Apart from being able to remove Trojan horses, rootkits, phising and other malicious software, the application is also noted for its speed, up to 15 to 20% quicker than most other applications.

Avast! Antivirus Home Edition

The Avast! Antivirus Home Edition is the free version of the Avast antivirus software, and comes with several features. The program regularly updates both the antivirus and software so you can be sure that any new viruses will be detected easily.

The program is also capable of removing spyware, malware, and other applications that can affect your software. Unlike other applications, these can be used with different web browsers without causing any system crashes. The software also has the Network Shield that shelters your files from any viruses and worms that may infect your computer. The appearance can also be changed with its skin selectors.

This free antivirus software can run in several types of Windows operating systems, from Windows 2000 to XP and Vista. For those with older systems, the program is also compatible with Windows ME, NT, 98 and even 95.

Sheltering your files and personal information from online hackers is a must, and with the plethora of free antivirus software on the Web, you can get the ones you need at no cost and surf at ease.

About the Author

Will Spencer is a computer consultant and Internet security expert who has written many articles such as Free Antivirus Software and DVR Software Info for Tech FAQ web site. Visit A Guide to Free Antivirus Software on the Web.

The Main Features Of Adobe Photoshop

The Main Features Of Adobe Photoshop
by Paul Abbey

Should you came across the computer software referred to as Adobe Photoshop, but you may think about who this computer software is for. You need to remember that this is a very costly software program and you just don’t buy something very high-priced if you can't even use it properly. Firstly, Adobe Photoshop is a computer software program that is ideal for graphic professionals in addition to professional photographers. Still, it is also a fantastic software program for individuals who love photography and messing around with photos. This particular computer software is loaded with important imaging facilities that will be able to allow the operator to do basic and difficult image manipulation.

The fantastic thing about Adobe Photoshop is that it can do all this with fantastic effects, in fact you won't even know which photograph was altered and which one was not. If you are the type of person who has to handle graphics, or photos, such as a web designer, poster creator, promoting, desktop publishing, and other graphic work, then this is the ideal software for you. The most recent version is Photoshop CS4, only brought out in September 2008, this specific edition has many more advanced tools|abilities] that will allow you to improve and manipulate images.

So, just what are the fundamental features that this specific variant of Adobe Photoshop, and what is it able to do? Well, there are fundamentally a lot of original things that you can do with Adobe Photoshop CS4. For instance, with this software you can paint immediately on 3D graphics, wrap two dimensional images to three dimensional objects, give a depth to text and layers, offering better printing. It also supports 3D formatting, fluid rotation of the canvas and switching gradient maps to 3D targets. Whether you are a professional photographer or a professional web designer, Photoshop CS4 can supply you with a great deal of assistance.

Of course the fantastic matter about Adobe Photoshop is that it works with other Adobe merchandise so if you have Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, or even the Adobe Image Ready software installed in your computer, it will work seamlessly with the previously mentioned computer software. Adobe Photoshop CS4 is one of the most powerful imaging and graphics computer software program for sale today and with this, you can be certain that your work as a photographer, a notice maker, adman, or as a web site developer will be better.

Naturally this software is full of fantastic features that will enable you to manipulate and manipulate pictures simply. With Adobe Photoshop CS4, you will observe that manipulating images and improving them will be as simple as a click of the mouse. If your profession requires you to adjust and improve pictures, then this computer program is definitely the software for you.

About the Author

P Abbey owns and operates http://www.makingpresentationseasy.com powerpoint web presentation