Here at PC User How To you will find links to useful software, in our Featured Links section, that will clean up, speed up and generally fix up your computer.
You will also find helpful hints for protecting your computer and securing your home network. This weeks article "Spring and the Bugs are out."
Also there are links to many useful articles on various topics relating to the internet, internet marketing and technology.
It's Spring and the bugs are out
The biggest mistake that people make is not having the right protection for their computers, especially business travelers. With all the Wi-Fi hot spots you can connect to with your laptop you must make sure that you are protected against the latest threats. You wouldn't go to a foreign country without the latest inoculations, so why should your laptop?
The first line of good defense for your computer is to have an anti-virus program. I bet you are scratching your head and saying well yes I have anti-virus, I think. Well do you feel lucky punk? There are several websites were you can go to pick up a virus to test your computers protection, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Look at your pc and by the clock in the right hand corner you should see your anti-virus program running (hover the mouse over the icons will tell you what they are and one of them should say ...resident anti-virus program). Now is it up to date, again look at the icon. If it is green then it is running and has no errors, also with most major anti-virus programs you can double click on it and it will pop up the control panel for your anti-virus and will tell you that it is happy or not. If it is not happy all good anti-virus programs will tell you why they aren't happy and how to fix them.
Updates are a key to all good anti-virus protection. You should be getting at least daily updates from your anti virus protection to make sure you are up to date against the latest and nastiest things that your computer can catch on the internet. Again if you double click on the icon near your clock you will be able to get into the controls for your anti-virus and check the frequency of updates. If it is anything greater than daily you should change it.
So where do you get anti-virus software? Well now a days you pretty much can't open a web page with out getting inundated with ads for the latest and greatest anti-virus programs. So how do you know which ones are good and which ones are junk. Well you could take our word for it that the ones listed in the featured links area are good, or you can do the research yourself and then come back here (when you do come back, we promise not to say "we told you so.")
The best place to check out reviews is any of the major magazines like PC WORLD or just do a search for reviews of anti-virus software.
Also you can find several programs that are free - now be aware that usually the free versions require you to update them manually, so it probably is better to spend a few dollars (yen, francs, pounds, euros / hey the internet is an international community so might as well include our foreign visitors in the fun) to get the full version and the peace of mind that comes with it.
Again check our featured links section for several free versions of anti-virus software.
One other note, if you think you have a virus trend micro has an online scanner for your computer to allow you to check for viruses and other infections on your computer. The program is called House Call
Next time we will discuss Firewalls, and if you don't know what one is you better tune in for that one.
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5 New Internet Marketing Opportunities Through RSS
Copyright 2005 Rok Hrastnik
When it comes to new internet marketing opportunities for your business, RSS just might be the answer you were looking for. Here are just some of the new opportunities it can provide you with .
1. PODCASTING AND VIDEOCASTING
Podcasting (delivering internet audio content) and Videocasting (delivering internet video content) allow you to communicate via rich media messages, not only making your content more attractive and powerful, but also enabling a more personal »conversation« with your audiences.
Up until know, the internet was predominantly a textual channel. Adding audio and video to the mix, delivering both via RSS, goes beyond the basic capabilities provided by »traditional« internet content delivery channels. Rich media personalizes the internet experience and gives your company a distinguishable face, while at the same time providing you with a media platform to convey your message so that it is easier to understand, see and feel.
Think about ...
--> Delivering press releases in audio or video
--> Sending your customers a personal video message from the CEO
--> Doing audio interviews to expand your reach and provide more content to your visitors
--> Delivering video demonstrations of your products
--> Using video and audio to demonstrate how your customers and readers can easily resolve various issues that you are helping them with
--> Delivering important messages to your readers, customers and business partners via a more personal audio experience, instead of using impersonal e-mail communications
--> And so on ...
In addition, Podcasting and Videocasting form the basis of new business models, giving you the opportunity to expand your product base to include these formats with higher perceived value.
Customer education & support are improved as well, since you can now demonstrate key product usage points via online video ? providing customer support content in a format, which can easily demonstrate everything you need to convey to your customers.
2. HIGH FREQUENCY CONTENT UPDATES
High frequency content updates, even on a daily or hourly basis, are now finally possible with RSS. No more need to hold on your important messages, news and other content for a week or even a month to include it in your e-zine --- with RSS you can update your content as often as you want/need, and your subscribers won't mind.
3. APPCASTING
Appcasting goes one step further, giving you the ability to deliver critical software updates and patches to your existing clients, without them having to visit your web site every week to see if the much needed update is already available or not.
4. PRODUCT NEWS, RELEASES AND UPDATES
Product news, releases and updates are now finally possible in an easy-to-consume way. Using RSS, you can provide your customers or prospects with simple tools to create their own »product feeds«, through which they'll be immediately notified when new products that precisely match their interests are available.
As soon as your product portfolio changes, so does the content in the RSS feeds that your customers are subscribed to.
Just think of the following possibilities ...
--> The search tool is one of the most often used in larger web stores, giving your visitors an easy way to find the products they are interested. But the same search results can be delivered via RSS as well. Imagine your customer doing a search for one of your product categories, and then also receiving a link to the RSS feed for those very same search results, to find out immediately when a new product matching his terms is released or available for order.
--> This works for complex searches as well. If your customers are in the habit of searching for specific product categories, but only in a specific price range, you can deliver those very same results to them via RSS, but with a small twist ? as soon as a new product matching their terms, including the desired price, is launched, they are notified about it via RSS instantly. No need to visit your site again to do the time-consuming search; the release comes directly to them.
--> Of course, the same approach that many are already using for e-mail alerts can be used for RSS. Give your visitors a simple form using which they enter their criteria, and then give them access to an RSS feed bringing them product updates based exactly on their criteria. Why not just use e-mail? Because no one really wants more e-mail messages in their inboxes and no one wants to give away their personal information, while RSS is anonymous, doesn't require an e-mail address and is read when the customer decides he has the time.
5. PERSONALIZED CONTENT SERVICES
Personalized/customized database listings are quite similar to product updates, but relate to any kind of complex information you provide to your visitors, such as .
--> Job listings
--> Dating
--> Real estate
--> Etc.
Using RSS, your visitors can decide exactly what kind of »content« (in this case, an individual content item could be a new job listing) they are looking for and then have that content delivered directly to them, via their own personalized RSS feed.
And yet, all of these are just some examples of what you can do with RSS. The possibilities for new content delivery & business development models are quite endless.
For example, some companies are already giving their visitors the opportunity to track their FedEx, UPS and other packages via RSS feeds. Yet others are creating new services that allow you to receive critical information from an RSS feed to your mobile phone via SMS (such as getting an SMS notifying you that a new job matching your criteria is available). Yet again other sites enable you to keep track of when you need to return your library material, and even when your holds are ready and when they are about to expire, all this using RSS.
All of these are new business opportunities made possible with RSS, and each of them in a way improves lives of end-users, without placing a larger burden (more e-mail messages) on them.
About the Author Rok Hrastnik is the author of »Unleash the Marketing & Publishing Power of RSS«, acclaimed as the best and most comprehensive guide to RSS for marketers by leading RSS experts. The complete guide on RSS for marketers: http://rss.marketingstudies.net/index.html?src=sa8
