Hello all, I'm back again.
I am dedicating this post to every reader who at sometime or the other have experienced difficulties uploading photographs to the Internet. This in many cases I've seen is due to the file size of the picture and the low bandwidth of the Internet connection being used.
The solution I am providing to you now will drastically reduce the file size of the picture without making the picture look smaller.
Materials Required
1. Microsoft Office Picture Manager
2. Microsoft Windows Paint
The Microsoft Office Picture Manager comes with the Microsoft Office Suite and the Microsoft Windows Paint is installed by default with the Windows Operating System.
Now, let get to work!
1. Locate the picture you intend to compress
2. Right Click on it. From the drop down menu, point to Open With and select Paint
3. When the picture opens in Paint, simply select File and the click Save.
Now the First step is complete.
Second Step!
1. Right Click the picture again, point to "Open With" and select "Microsoft Office Picture Manager"
2. On the top Pane of Microsoft office Picture Manager, select "Edit Pictures..". A list of Command options appear on the right of the screen.
3. Click on the last which should be "Compress Picture". Four (4) options appear, "Don't Compress", "Document", "Web Pages", "E-mail messages".
4. Click on the option for "Document" then click "OK"
5.Click File, then Save.
Now the file is lean enough for you to easily move about on the Net yet large enough for easy viewing. You may want to monitor the file size before and after the action. You will notice a huge difference.
This process can help you save a lot of space on your Hard disk if you have to store a whole lot of pictures on you computer. I'm currently in the process of developing a script that will automate this process.
I hope you found this post interesting. Thanks for reading.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
How Firewalls Work
If you have been using Internet on a regular basis or working in a large company and surf the Internet while you are at work, you must have surely come across the term firewall. You might have also heard of people saying “firewalls protect their computer from web attacks and hackers” or “a certain website has been blocked by firewall in their work place”. If you have ever wondered to know what exactly is this firewall and how it works, here we go. In this post I will try to explain “How firewalls work” in a layman’s terms.
Firewalls are basically a barrier between your computer (or a network) and the Internet (outside world). A firewall can be simply compared to a security guard who stands at the entrance of your house and filters the visitors coming to your place. He may allow some visitors to enter while denying others whom he suspects of being intruders. Similarly a firewall is a software program or a hardware device that filters the information (packets) coming through the Internet to your personal computer or a computer network.
Firewalls may decide to allow or block network traffic between devices based on the rules that are pre-configured or set by the firewall administrator. Most personal firewalls such as Windows firewall operate on a set of pre-configured rules that are most suitable under normal circumstances so that the user need not worry much about configuring the firewall.
Firewalls use one or more of the following methods to control the incoming and outgoing traffic in a network:
1. Packet Filtering: In this method packets (small chunks of data) are analyzed against a set of filters. Packet filters has a set of rules that come with accept and deny actions which are pre-configured or can be configured manually by the firewall administrator. If the packet manages to make it through these filters then it is allowed to reach the destination; otherwise it is discarded.
2. Stateful Inspection: This is a newer method that doesn’t analyze the contents of the packets. Instead it compares certain key aspects of each packet to a database of trusted source. Both incoming and outgoing packets are compared against this database and if the comparison yields a reasonable match, then the packets are allowed to travel further. Otherwise they are discarded.
Firewalls can be configured by adding one or more filters based on several conditions as mentioned below:
1. IP addresses: In any case if an IP address outside the network is said to be unfavorable, then it is possible to set filter to block all the traffic to and from that IP address. For example, if a cetain IP address is found to be making too many connections to a server, the administrator may decide to block traffic from this IP using the firewall.
2. Domain names: Since it is difficult to remember the IP addresses, it is an easier and smarter way to configure the firewalls by adding filters based on domain names. By setting up a domain filter, a company may decide to block all access to certain domain names, or may provide access only to a list of selected domain names.
3. Ports/Protocols: Every service running on a server is made available to the Internet using numbered ports, one for each service. In simple words, ports can be compared to virtual doors of the server through which services are made available. For example, if a server is running a Web (HTTP) service then it will be typically available on port 80. In order to avail this service, the client needs to connect to the server via port 80. Similarly different services such as Telnet (Port 23), FTP (port 21) and SMTP (port 25) services may be running on the server. If the services are intended for the public, they are usually kept open. Otherwise they are blocked using the firewall so as to prevent intruders from using the open ports for making unauthorized connections.
4. Specific words or phrases: A firewall can be configured to filter one or more specific words or phrases so that, both the incoming and outgoing packets are scanned for the words in the filter. For example, you may set up a firewall rule to filter any packet that contains an offensive term or a phrase that you may decide to block from entering or leaving your network.
Firewalls provide security over a number of online threats such as Remote login, Trojan backdoors, Session hijacking, DOS & DDOS attacks, viruses, cookie stealing and many more. The effectiveness of the security depends on the way you configure the firewall and how you set up the filter rules. However major threats such as DOS and DDOS attacks may sometimes manage to bypass the firewalls and do the damage to the server. Even though firewall is not a complete answer to online threats, it can most effectively handle the attacks and provide security to the computer up to the maximum possible extent.
Firewalls are basically a barrier between your computer (or a network) and the Internet (outside world). A firewall can be simply compared to a security guard who stands at the entrance of your house and filters the visitors coming to your place. He may allow some visitors to enter while denying others whom he suspects of being intruders. Similarly a firewall is a software program or a hardware device that filters the information (packets) coming through the Internet to your personal computer or a computer network.
Firewalls may decide to allow or block network traffic between devices based on the rules that are pre-configured or set by the firewall administrator. Most personal firewalls such as Windows firewall operate on a set of pre-configured rules that are most suitable under normal circumstances so that the user need not worry much about configuring the firewall.
Firewalls use one or more of the following methods to control the incoming and outgoing traffic in a network:
1. Packet Filtering: In this method packets (small chunks of data) are analyzed against a set of filters. Packet filters has a set of rules that come with accept and deny actions which are pre-configured or can be configured manually by the firewall administrator. If the packet manages to make it through these filters then it is allowed to reach the destination; otherwise it is discarded.
2. Stateful Inspection: This is a newer method that doesn’t analyze the contents of the packets. Instead it compares certain key aspects of each packet to a database of trusted source. Both incoming and outgoing packets are compared against this database and if the comparison yields a reasonable match, then the packets are allowed to travel further. Otherwise they are discarded.
Firewalls can be configured by adding one or more filters based on several conditions as mentioned below:
1. IP addresses: In any case if an IP address outside the network is said to be unfavorable, then it is possible to set filter to block all the traffic to and from that IP address. For example, if a cetain IP address is found to be making too many connections to a server, the administrator may decide to block traffic from this IP using the firewall.
2. Domain names: Since it is difficult to remember the IP addresses, it is an easier and smarter way to configure the firewalls by adding filters based on domain names. By setting up a domain filter, a company may decide to block all access to certain domain names, or may provide access only to a list of selected domain names.
3. Ports/Protocols: Every service running on a server is made available to the Internet using numbered ports, one for each service. In simple words, ports can be compared to virtual doors of the server through which services are made available. For example, if a server is running a Web (HTTP) service then it will be typically available on port 80. In order to avail this service, the client needs to connect to the server via port 80. Similarly different services such as Telnet (Port 23), FTP (port 21) and SMTP (port 25) services may be running on the server. If the services are intended for the public, they are usually kept open. Otherwise they are blocked using the firewall so as to prevent intruders from using the open ports for making unauthorized connections.
4. Specific words or phrases: A firewall can be configured to filter one or more specific words or phrases so that, both the incoming and outgoing packets are scanned for the words in the filter. For example, you may set up a firewall rule to filter any packet that contains an offensive term or a phrase that you may decide to block from entering or leaving your network.
Firewalls provide security over a number of online threats such as Remote login, Trojan backdoors, Session hijacking, DOS & DDOS attacks, viruses, cookie stealing and many more. The effectiveness of the security depends on the way you configure the firewall and how you set up the filter rules. However major threats such as DOS and DDOS attacks may sometimes manage to bypass the firewalls and do the damage to the server. Even though firewall is not a complete answer to online threats, it can most effectively handle the attacks and provide security to the computer up to the maximum possible extent.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Phone Number Generator
Hello everyone!
This is a screen shot of a program that I just developed, though its still undergoing evaluation and testing.
Its a program that can generate as many phone numbers as you desire, working with a specialized algorithm. By the time the program is complete it will be able to test numbers for their validity, to ensure that all numbers generated are fully functional.
Watch Oout!
This is a screen shot of a program that I just developed, though its still undergoing evaluation and testing.
Its a program that can generate as many phone numbers as you desire, working with a specialized algorithm. By the time the program is complete it will be able to test numbers for their validity, to ensure that all numbers generated are fully functional.
Watch Oout!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Hiding Files and Folders
Hello everyone!
I'm going to show you an easy way to hide files, folders documents, pictures, videos, whatever it is, in your computer so that only you know its there.
First, determine the file or folder you intend to hide.
Next, Right Click on the item (Picture, Video, Folder etc), a menu pops out. Select Properties.
Here we see the properties of the item that we selected. At the bottom of this Tabbed Property Sheet, select the box beside Hidden and click Apply then Ok.
Notice that the item selected blurs out a little. This is how you identify a hidden item in Windows.
That's it!
Now the simple part.
For you to see your hidden files again, we must visit the Control Panel.
Click on the Start Button and select Control Panel.
Double Click on the Folder Options Icon
On the View tab
, select the Radio button beside Show all hidden files and folders.
Return to the location of the file and you'll find it right there unharmed.
Do not fail to go back to the Control Panel and select Do not show all Hidden Files and Folders.
I'm going to show you an easy way to hide files, folders documents, pictures, videos, whatever it is, in your computer so that only you know its there.
First, determine the file or folder you intend to hide.
Next, Right Click on the item (Picture, Video, Folder etc), a menu pops out. Select Properties.
Here we see the properties of the item that we selected. At the bottom of this Tabbed Property Sheet, select the box beside Hidden and click Apply then Ok.
Notice that the item selected blurs out a little. This is how you identify a hidden item in Windows.
That's it!
Now the simple part.
For you to see your hidden files again, we must visit the Control Panel.
Click on the Start Button and select Control Panel.
Double Click on the Folder Options Icon
On the View tab
, select the Radio button beside Show all hidden files and folders.
Return to the location of the file and you'll find it right there unharmed.
Do not fail to go back to the Control Panel and select Do not show all Hidden Files and Folders.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Formatting a Pen Drive
I am going to introduce you to another command line utility as offered by the Windows Operating System. It is the format utility.
I have in time past tried to format an old removable media using the default format utility in My Computer, but to no avail. Not until a friend introduces me to this method.
Remember how we fire up the command line interface? I case you've forgotten, this is it.
To start with, we'll see how we call up the command line interface on your Windows Operating System.
1. Click Start then select Run. Alternatively, hold down the Windows Key and then press R
2. Type in the space provided "cmd" and press the Enter key.
Congratulations! You have entered the command line interface.
One this interface type format /?. The computer will display for you the function of the format utility as well as the switches you can use with it.
To format the drive, simply type
C:\> format [drive letter]:
f
For example:
C:\> format H:
You can find out the letter for the drive you intend to format by opening My Computer then check the letter assigned to the drive.
Some interesting switches I'll like us to look at are
1. /FS:filesystem - this enables you to specify the file system you want on the drive. For pen drives, flash drives, memory cards, we could use the FAT32 file system which is the default filing system used for formatting.
2. /X - this switch allows the forceful dismount of the drive so that it can be opened for formatting. This switch is what you can use to revive a dead or dying drive.
Put these few into practice and get back to me if you have any issues.
I have in time past tried to format an old removable media using the default format utility in My Computer, but to no avail. Not until a friend introduces me to this method.
Remember how we fire up the command line interface? I case you've forgotten, this is it.
To start with, we'll see how we call up the command line interface on your Windows Operating System.
1. Click Start then select Run. Alternatively, hold down the Windows Key and then press R
2. Type in the space provided "cmd" and press the Enter key.
Congratulations! You have entered the command line interface.
One this interface type format /?. The computer will display for you the function of the format utility as well as the switches you can use with it.
To format the drive, simply type
C:\> format [drive letter]:
f
For example:
C:\> format H:
You can find out the letter for the drive you intend to format by opening My Computer then check the letter assigned to the drive.
Some interesting switches I'll like us to look at are
1. /FS:filesystem - this enables you to specify the file system you want on the drive. For pen drives, flash drives, memory cards, we could use the FAT32 file system which is the default filing system used for formatting.
2. /X - this switch allows the forceful dismount of the drive so that it can be opened for formatting. This switch is what you can use to revive a dead or dying drive.
Put these few into practice and get back to me if you have any issues.
WindowsTask Manager
In my previous post, I showed you how to use the dir command to list the content of a directory.
In this post, we are going to look at something different that I expect will be more useful to you.
Sometimes while working on your computer, a running program may develop an error and the machine comes to a stand still. Everything seizes to work. Most users are patient enough to wait till the error resolves itself, but in some cases it may seem like you are waiting forever.
When you are faced with an issue like this, this is what you have to do. There is a key combination know as Ctrl + Alt + Del (pronounced as Control, Alternate, Delete).
With this key combination you will be able to access a portion of your Operating System known as the "Task Manager".
With the Task Manager you can see all currently running programs and their status. If you use Windows XP or earlier OS, the Task Manager pops out as a tabbed interface but for users of Windows Vista and Windows 7, a page appear containing Five options, the last of which is "Start Task Manager". Click on it.
When you identify the non-responsive program, Right Click on it and select from the pop-up menu, "Go to Process".
The Process Tab opened with the process controlling the non-responsive program selected. At the base of the interface, you'll see a button on which is written "End Process", clicking on this button will force the non-responsive to end.
Note: All unsaved data on the closed program will be lost.
In this post, we are going to look at something different that I expect will be more useful to you.
Sometimes while working on your computer, a running program may develop an error and the machine comes to a stand still. Everything seizes to work. Most users are patient enough to wait till the error resolves itself, but in some cases it may seem like you are waiting forever.
When you are faced with an issue like this, this is what you have to do. There is a key combination know as Ctrl + Alt + Del (pronounced as Control, Alternate, Delete).
With this key combination you will be able to access a portion of your Operating System known as the "Task Manager".
With the Task Manager you can see all currently running programs and their status. If you use Windows XP or earlier OS, the Task Manager pops out as a tabbed interface but for users of Windows Vista and Windows 7, a page appear containing Five options, the last of which is "Start Task Manager". Click on it.
When you identify the non-responsive program, Right Click on it and select from the pop-up menu, "Go to Process".
The Process Tab opened with the process controlling the non-responsive program selected. At the base of the interface, you'll see a button on which is written "End Process", clicking on this button will force the non-responsive to end.
Note: All unsaved data on the closed program will be lost.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
DOS Commands
Have you ever tried formatting a pen drive from your computer GUI, that is Graphical User Interface and were unable to do so? Have you also tried stopping a program that had become unresponsive, to no avail? Then it is time you learn some things about your computer back door.
The DOS environment is a Command Line Interface where all transactions are done via typed commands. I will introduce you to some of the commands that will be most useful to you in your day to day activities.
To start with, we'll see how we call up the command line interface on your Windows Operating System.
1. Click Start then select Run
2. Type in the space provided "cmd" and press the Enter key.
Congratulations! You have entered the command line interface.
The first command we will examine is the "dir" command. This command list the content of the directory that you are currently within. It has a number of switches that it works with. Switches help to make the work of the command more precise.
To view all available switches that can be used with the dir command, simply type at the prompt
C:\dir /?
A list of available switches will be displayed alongside their functions.
Tomorrow we will be taking a closer look at these switches and how they can be effective in real life computing challenges.
The DOS environment is a Command Line Interface where all transactions are done via typed commands. I will introduce you to some of the commands that will be most useful to you in your day to day activities.
To start with, we'll see how we call up the command line interface on your Windows Operating System.
1. Click Start then select Run
2. Type in the space provided "cmd" and press the Enter key.
Congratulations! You have entered the command line interface.
The first command we will examine is the "dir" command. This command list the content of the directory that you are currently within. It has a number of switches that it works with. Switches help to make the work of the command more precise.
To view all available switches that can be used with the dir command, simply type at the prompt
C:\dir /?
A list of available switches will be displayed alongside their functions.
Tomorrow we will be taking a closer look at these switches and how they can be effective in real life computing challenges.
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