What You Can Do with Google

The World Wide Web was developed to bring order to the chaotic Internet, which academia and the government had been using since the 1960s. Because people regarded the Internet as primarily an information source — more than an entertainment medium or a community space — it was natural to imagine the quick construction of a universal, all-inclusive online library. Through the years, I often heard people mistakenly speak of the Internet as an information realm in which one could find anything, read any book, and access all knowledge.

But the truth splintered away from that ideal. First, the Web became a distinct and autonomous entity with its own content. Second, regular folks who stormed into the new virtual playground were interested in other, more recreational pursuits than learning. I’m not going to tell you that Google single-handedly presents an Alexandrian library of human knowledge. (Yet.) However, because Google search results are so accurate, Google offers an amazing scope of knowledge. Want to know something? Google is the modern recipe for discovery in this informationsaturated age.

Find all sorts of stuff

In addition to traditional Web searching, Google offers refined areas that you can search by using the same basic keyword process. The Google home page offers the following additional tabs to the right of the Web tab:

• Images:  you can search for photographs and drawings on Google.
• Groups: Google is searching more than 30,000 newsgroups. Through Google, you can establish an identity and post messages to newsgroups, all through your Web browser.
• Directory: Google presents a topical directory for browsing, and you can search it separately from the basic Web search.
• News: Google News presents continually updated links to established news sources in dozens of countries.
• Froogle: Froogle (the word is a pun on “frugal”) is a shopping directory that can be searched by keyword.

Explore the hidden strengths of Google

You might be surprised to find what Google can be for you. Google is all of the following things:

• A shopping portal: Google offers two main shopping services: Google Catalogs and Froogle. Use Froogle to find shopping bargains. Google Catalogs offers a paper-free ability to access the mail-order universe.
• A document repository: Most people, most of the time, search for Web pages. But many other types of viewable (or listenable) pieces of content are available on the Internet. For example, almost every modern computer comes with the ability to view PDF files. Google includes documents other than Web pages in its general search results and also lets you narrow any search to a specific file type.
• A translator: Google is multilingual. You can dump foreign text into an on-screen box for instant conversion to the language of your choice.
• A government and university tracker: Google reserves distinct portions of its search engine for university domains and for government domains.

Get answers from real people

One problem with the Web as an information resource is the question of authenticity. Anybody can put up a Web site and publish information that might or might not be true. True expertise is difficult to verify on the Web.

Google Answers is . . . well, the answer. Staffed by a large crew of freelance researchers in many subjects, Google Answers lets you ask questions and receive customized answers — for a price. How much? That’s up to you; Google Answers uses an auction system whereby you request an answer for a specified price and individual researchers either take on your question or not.


Take Google with you

Doesn’t everyone deserve a personal hard-working search engine? You can rip the Google engine right out of its site (so to speak) and take it with you while traipsing around the Web in two ways:

• Google Toolbar: If you’re aware of the Google Toolbar, you’re probably using it. If not, you’re missing out. The Google Toolbar bolts right onto your browser, near the top where your other toolbars reside. It enables you to launch a Google search without surfing to the Google site.
• Google browser buttons: Perhaps even snazzier than the Google Toolbar, the browser buttons attach to your browser’s existing toolbar, where they inscrutably await your mouse clicks.

The Greatness of Google

I serve a sample platter of Google’s buffet of services. But one central question remains: What makes Google so great in the first place? How did it become so rampantly popular that it nearly eradicated other general search engines? Google’s success depends to some extent on the size of its index, which has long passed the billion-page mark — Google claims to have the largest Web search index in the world.

But the big index is hardly the entire story. More important is a certain intelligence with which the index interprets keywords. Google’s groundbreaking innovation in this department is its capability to not only find pages but also rank them based on their popularity. The legendary Google page rank is determined largely by measuring how many links to a page exist on other sites all over the Web. The logic here is simple and hard to refute: Page A links to page B for one reason only, and that is because page B contains something worthwhile. If pages C, D, E, F, and G also link to page B, odds increase that page B has something important going for it. If 500,000 pages link to page B, it is without question truly important in some way. The use of back-links logic is the advantage that makes Google search results so fantastic.

Every day, Google answers more than 200 million search queries. Google calmly digests keywords in almost 90 languages. At this writing, only a third of Google’s search requests come from the United States. Googling is the one activity that unites the entire Internet citizenry, and Google has forever altered the Internet landscape.

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Ten Big Network Mistakes

Just about the time you figure out how to avoid the most embarrassing computer mistakes (such as using your CD drive’s tray as a cup holder), the network lands on your computer. Now you have a whole new list of dumb things you can do, mistakes that can give your average computer geek a belly laugh because they seem so basic to him. Well, that’s because he’s a computer geek. Nobody had to tell him not to fold the floppy disk — he was born with an extra gene that gave him an instinctive knowledge of such things.

Here’s a list of some of the most common mistakes made by network novices. Avoid these mistakes and you deprive your local computer geek of the pleasure of a good laugh at your expense.

Skimping on Cable

If your network consists of more than a few computers or has computers located in different rooms, you should invest in a professional-quality cable installation, complete with wall-mounted jacks, patch panels, and highquality hubs. It is tempting to cut costs by using the cheapest hubs and by stringing inexpensive cable directly from the hubs to each computer on the network. But in the long run, that approach will actually prove to be more expensive than investing in a good cable installation in the first place.


Here are just a few of the reasons it pays to do the cabling right in the first place:

• A good cable installation will last much longer than the computers it services. A good cable installation can last 10 or 15 years, long after the computers on your network have been placed on display in a computer history museum.
• Installing cable is hard work. No one enjoys going up in the attic, poking his or her head up through ceiling panels and wiping fiberglass insulation out of his or her hair, or fishing cables through walls. If you’re going to do it, do it right so you don’t have to do it again in just a few years. Build your cable installation to last.
• Your network users may be satisfied with 100Mbps networking now, but it won’t be long before they demand gigahertz speed. And who knows how fast the next wave of networking will be? If you cut costs by using plain Cat5 cable instead of more expensive Cat5e cable, you’ll have to replace it later.
• You might be tempted to skip the modular wall jacks and patch cables and instead just run the cable down the wall, out through a hole, and then directly to the computer or hub. That’s a bad idea because the wires inside the network cable are solid wire, which is designed to last for a long time — provided it doesn’t get handled much. If you run olidwire cable directly to a computer, the wire will be stressed each time someone unplugs the cable.Even just dusting behind the computer (which some people actually do) can jostle the cable. Sooner or later, one of the wires inside the cable will break. Patch cables are made with stranded rather than solid wire, so they can tolerate a lot of handling without breaking. And if a patch cable does fail, you can replace it yourself for just a few dollars.

Turning Off or Restarting a Server

Computer While Users Are Logged On The fastest way to blow your network users’ accounts to kingdom come is to turn off a server computer while users are logged on. Restarting it by pressing its reset button can have the same disastrous effect.

If your network is set up with a dedicated file server, you probably won’t be tempted to turn it off or restart it. But if your network is set up as a true peerto-peer network, here each of the workstation computers — including your own — also doubles as a server computer, be careful about the impulsive urge to turn your computer off or restart it. Someone may be accessing a file or printer on your computer at that very moment.

Before turning off or restarting a server computer, find out whether anyone is logged on. If so, politely ask him or her to log off. Also, remember that many server problems don’t require a server reboot. Instead, you can often correct the problem just by restarting the particular service that’s affected.

Deleting Important Files on the Server

Without a network, you can do anything you want to your computer, and the only person you can hurt is yourself. (Kind of like the old “victimless crime” debate.) Put your computer on a network, though, and you take on a certain amount of responsibility. You must find out how to live like a responsible member of the network society.

That means you can’t capriciously delete files from a network server just because you don’t  need them. They may not be yours. You wouldn’t want someone deleting your files, would you?

Be especially careful about files that are required to keep the network running. For example, some versions of Windows use a folder named wgpo0000 to hold e-mail. If you delete this folder, your e-mail is history. Look before you delete.

Copying a File from the Server, Changing It, and Then Copying It Back

Sometimes working on a network file is easier if you first copy the file to your local hard drive. Then you can access it from your application program more efficiently because you don’t have to use the network. This is especially true for large database files that have to be sorted to print reports.

You’re asking for trouble, though, if you copy the file to your PC’s local hard drive, make changes to the file, and then copy the updated version of the file back to the server. Why? Because somebody else may be trying the same thing at the same time. If that happens, the updates made by one of you — whoever copies the file back to the server first — are lost.

Copying a file to a local drive is an okay thing to do, but not if you plan on updating the file and copying it back.

Sending Something to the Printer Again Just Because It Didn’t Print the First Time

What do you do if you send something to the printer and nothing happens? Right answer: Find out why nothing happened and fix it. Wrong answer: Send it again and see whether it works this time. Some users keep sending it over and over again, hoping that one of these days, it’ll take. The result is rather embarrassing when someone finally clears the paper jam and then watches 30 copies of the same letter print.

Unplugging a Cable While the Computer Is On

Bad idea! If for any reason you need to unplug a cable from behind your computer, turn your computer off first. You don’t want to fry any of the delicate electronic parts inside your computer, do you?

If you need to unplug the network cable, you should wait until all the computers on the network are off. This is especially true if your network is wired with Thinnet coax cable; it’s not such a big deal with twisted-pair cable.

Note: With Thinnet cable, you can disconnect the T-connector from your computer as long as you don’t disconnect the cable itself from the T-connector.

Assuming That the Server Is Safely Backed Up

Some users make the unfortunate assumption that the network somehow represents an efficient and organized bureaucracy worthy of their trust. Far from the truth. Never assume that the network jocks are doing their jobs backing up the network data every day, even if they are. Check up on them. Conduct a surprise inspection one day: Burst into the computer room wearing white gloves and demand to see the backup tapes. Check the tape rotation to make sure that more than one day’s worth of backups are available.

If you’re not impressed with your network’s backup procedures, take it upon yourself to make sure that you never lose any of your data. Back up your most valued files to floppy disks frequently — or, better yet, to a CD-RW disc.


Connecting to the Internet without Considering Security Issues

If you connect a non-networked computer to the Internet and then pick up a virus or get yourself hacked into, only that one computer is affected. But if you connect a networked computer to the Internet, the entire network becomes vulnerable. Therefore beware: Never connect a networked computer to the Internet without first considering the security issues. How will you protect yourself and the network from viruses? How will you ensure that the sensitive files located on your file server don’t suddenly become accessible to the entire world? How can you prevent evil hackers from sneaking into your network, stealing your customer file, and selling your customer’s credit-card data on the black market?


Plugging in a Wireless Access Point without Asking

For that matter, plugging any device into your network without first getting permission from the network administrator is a big no-no. But Wireless Access Points (WAPs) are particularly insidious. Many users fall for the marketing line that wireless networking is as easy as plugging one of these devices into the network. Then, your wireless notebook PC or hand-held device can instantly join the network.

The trouble is, so can anyone else within about 1⁄4 mile of the wireless access point. That means that you must employ extra security measures to make sure hackers can’t get into your network via a wireless computer located in the parking lot or across the street.

If you think that’s unlikely, think again. Several underground Web sites on the Internet actually display maps of unsecured wireless networks in major cities.

Thinking You Can’t Work Just Because the Network Is Down

A few years back, I realized that I can’t do my job without electricity. Should a power failure occur and I find myself without electricity, I can’t even light a candle and work with pencil and paper because the only pencil sharpener I have is electric.

Some people have the same attitude about the network: They figure that if the network goes down, they may as well go home. That’s not always the case. Just because your computer is attached to a network doesn’t mean that it won’t work when the network is down. True — if the wind flies out of the network sails, you can’t access any network devices. You can’t get files from network drives, and you can’t print on network printers. But you can still use your computer for local work — accessing files and programs on your local hard drive and printing on your local printer (if you’re lucky enough to have one).

Always Blaming the Network

Some people treat the network kind of like the village idiot who can be blamed whenever anything goes wrong. Networks do cause problems of their own, but they aren’t the root of all evil.

If your monitor displays only capital letters, it’s probably because you pressed the Caps Lock key. Don’t blame the network.

If you spill coffee on the keyboard, well, that’s your fault. Don’t blame the network.

If your toddler sticks Play-Doh in the floppy drive, kids will be kids. Don’t blame the

network.

Get the point?

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Desktop PCs versus Laptop PCs

“So should I buy a desktop or a laptop PC?” Naturally, if the portability of a laptop PC is a requirement for you — if your job or your lifestyle demands plenty of travel every year — you really have no choice but a laptop computer. Luckily, today’s laptops are virtually as powerful as desktop PCs, so you no longer have to feel like a second-class citizen, even when it comes to features such as high-resolution graphics, larger hard drives, and CD/DVD recording, which used to be very expensive options in the laptop world.

However, if you’re sitting on the fence and portability is a lesser requirement, I generally recommend a desktop system for the following three reasons:

• Laptops aren’t as expandable as desktops. Although you can hang plenty of peripherals off a modern desktop (using USB and FireWire ports), desktops are just plain easier to expand and upgrade (especially the processor and your graphics card, which are practically impossible to swap on a laptop).
• Laptops are much more expensive. My friend, you’ll pay dearly for that portability. So if you don’t need it, jump to the desktop side of the fence. It’s as simple as that.
• Laptops cost much more to repair. If the sound card fails in your desktop, you can replace it yourself with a new, relatively inexpensive adapter card. However, if the sound hardware fails in your laptop, it’s time to pull out your wallet because you can’t fix it yourself, and the entire motherboard inside the unit will probably need to be replaced. (Remember, part of that portability stems from the fact that laptop manufacturers tend to put all the graphics and video hardware on the motherboard to save space.)

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Ten Myths about Computer Viruses

1. My Computer Stopped — I Must Have a Virus
If your computer stops, it could be because of a virus, but I doubt it. Bottom line: It’s in a virus’s best interest to let the computer continue to operate so the virus can continue to use the computer to spread itself to other computers. The “best” biological viruses in nature (what a concept) are like this, too.If they kill their host too quickly, there goes their opportunity to spread. A “better” biological virus — like a computer virus — will perhaps just make its host sick, but still well enough to keep spreading the virus. That said, a virus writer could construct a virus that caused severe data damage only after it had been on the computer for an extended period of time. However, there is the risk (to the virus writer) that the virus might be detected and eliminated by antivirus software prior to the time it is programmed to inflict damage. If my computer stopped, I’d suspect hardware or Windows, in that order. I keep my antivirus program, firewalls (hardware and software), and antispyware software in good working order, so I’d suspect a virus last of all.
2. I Have Antivirus Software, So My Computer Can’t Get a Virus
   
   Wrong answer. Even with antivirus software, several different factors can still mean that a virus can get in and/or hide in your computer:
   
   
   • If you fail to keep your antivirus signatures up to date, then any new virus may be able to get inside your computer. * If the “real-time” antivirus mechanism in your antivirus software is turned off or deactivated (this can and does happen in the real world from time to time), then the virus can walk right into your computer while the antivirus program is sleeping.
   • A brand-new virus can get into your computer even if you keep your antivirus signatures up to date. Remember, it can take a few days or longer for the antivirus software companies to detect, capture, and dissect new viruses before they can update their signature files. Even then, your computer will be protected only after it downloads the new signature file from the antivirus software company.
   • If you’ve been running your computer prior to getting antivirus software and you’ve put any files on it from any outside source — even if you’ve never connected to the Internet — there could already be a virus on your computer. If you don’t follow the installation procedures and skip the all-computer scan that most antivirus programs want to do when they’re first installed, it’s possible that a virus that you caught earlier is still be lurking in there.
     
     
3. All Viruses Are Destructive
   
   I disagree with all statements that say all. (Well, most of them anyway.) Okay, word games aside, some viruses exist only to replicate themselves, and other than that, they do nothing harmful.
   
   But a purist would say that even these are harmful, because they upset their computers’ feng shui. A system with even a benign virus is tainted, and there could someday be some unintended consequence of that.
   
   Bottom line: This one’s arguable either way. Wanna have some fun? Get a couple of cyber- philosophers in a room and watch them argue this one for a couple of hours.
   
   
4. Viruses Can Damage Computer Hardware
   
   I know I’m going to get into trouble with this one. Some expert out there is going to have a good counter-argument, but for the most part, this fear is false.
   
   Here’s how it looks from the virus writer’s perspective: Why aim for the hardware when there’s so much brittle software that can be damaged? Go for the easy target first. Besides, if the virus hurts the hardware, how’s it going to spread itself any further?
   
   The purist would argue that a virus can damage computer hardware by giving it instructions that make the system misuse some part of itself (for example, by writing excessively to the hard drive), but few such hardware-eating viruses have been released. This is partly because there are so many different types, makers, and formats of computer hardware that one virus would be hard put to trash all of them. Besides, nearly all computer hardware has built-in safeguards that prevent any real damage.
   
   
5. Viruses Can Hide inside Data Files
   
   Hmmmm, well, this is theoretically possible, but I have not heard of such a virus. Yet. For now, viruses hide inside computer programs — and in the places where programs normally hang out (such as the boot sector of a floppy disk or a hard drive).
   
   By definition, data files aren’t executable, and viruses have to be executed. It’s safest to say that viruses hide only in executable program files. But wait. . . .
   
   Macro viruses are found in Word and Excel documents, so if this is what you mean by data files, then you’re correct. Other than this, generally viruses do not live inside data files.
   
   
6. Pictures Can Give You Computer Viruses
   
   Nope. Well, not yet. Pictures are just data files that are read by special programs. But, someday, someone may come up with a picture file format that accommodates the inclusion of computer instructions — for whatever purpose someone dreams up.
   
   Are you thinking “macro virus” right now? So am I. Anytime someone comes up with a way to store data that includes a place for simple computer instructions (like Microsoft Word and Excel do), then the risk of malicious instructions becomes a real risk.
   
   
7. I Need More Than One Antivirus Software Program to Be Fully Protected
   
   No, and no. Here’s what I mean. As long as you stick with one of the ten or so well-known brands of antivirus programs, you’ll find that they all develop new virus signatures at about the same time. So if you’re thinking of switching from <Brand A> to <Brand B> because you think that <Brand A> gets their virus definitions out sooner, I personally wouldn’t waste my time. For most of us, any of the top ten are fine.
   
   If you’re wondering whether this myth means having two different antivirus programs on your computer, don’t even try it. Because of the way they work, you can only have one antivirus program running on your computer. Anymore, the antivirus install programs won’t even install an antivirus program on a computer if it even suspects that there is one there already. The install program is trying to avoid a fight, and you should too.
   
   
8. You Can’t Get a Virus from an Official Software CD
   
   I wish. It’s rare, but it has happened, and it very well could happen again. The big software companies have very good and almost byte-tight procedures that eliminate the possibility that a virus can sneak into a software development lab and from there to a CD master.
   
   It can happen. I wouldn’t laugh at you if you scanned CDs for viruses before installing software from them. Promise.
   
   
9. Antivirus Software Companies Create Viruses
   
   To put it kindly, I don’t think so. Do the math: The antivirus companies have enough business trying to keep up with viruses “in the wild” that they’d be idiots to risk causing trouble for themselves.
   
   This sounds as crazy as Microsoft and Intel being in cahoots to keep us buying newer computers! Makes an entertaining (if trite) premise for a movie, maybe; doesn’t hold up so well in reality.
   
   
10. Some Countries Sponsor Virus Writers and Hackers
    
    Gotcha. This one’s actually true. Three or four countries do have state-sponsored hackers. I shouldn’t name these countries by name, but many of them are known to be hostile to the United States in other ways. Some of these same countries sponsor hackers in order to give us a little trouble.
    
    Official attempts to disrupt and break into foreign information technology go back at least as far as the British code breakers who figured out the Nazi “Enigma” encryption machine in World War II. The adversaries have changed over the years, but their struggle has kept pace with the development of cyberspace, and it continues today.

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What is Windows Vista?

Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft  for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs. Prior to its announcement on July 22, 2005, Windows Vista was known by its codename "Longhorn." Development was completed on November 8, 2006; over the following three months it was released in stages to computer hardware and software manufacturers, business customers, and retail channels. On January 30, 2007, it was released worldwide, and was made available for purchase and download from Microsoft's website. The release of Windows Vista came more than five years after the introduction of its predecessor, Windows XP, the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft Windows desktop operating systems. It was succeeded by Windows 7 which was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and for the general public on October 22, 2009.

Windows Vista contains many changes and new features, including an updated graphical user interface and visual style dubbed Aero, a redesigned search function, multimedia tools including Windows DVD Maker, and redesigned networking, audio, print, and display sub-systems. Vista aims to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network, using peer-to-peer technology to simplify sharing files and media between computers and devices. Windows Vista includes version 3.0 of the .NET Framework, allowing software developers to write applications without traditional Windows APIs.

Microsoft's primary stated objective with Windows Vista has been to improve the state of security in the Windows operating system. One common criticism of Windows XP and its predecessors is their commonly exploited security vulnerabilities and overall susceptibility to malware, viruses and buffer overflows. In light of this, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced in early 2002 a company-wide "Trustworthy Computing initiative" which aims to incorporate security work into every aspect of software development at the company. Microsoft stated that it prioritized improving the security of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 above finishing Windows Vista, thus delaying its completion.

While these new features and security improvements have garnered positive reviews, Vista has also been the target of much criticism and negative press. Criticism of Windows Vista has targeted its high system requirements, its more restrictive licensing terms, the inclusion of a number of new digital rights management technologies aimed at restricting the copying of protected digital media, lack of compatibility with some pre-Vista hardware and software, and the number of authorization prompts for User Account Control. As a result of these and other issues, Windows Vista had seen initial adoption and satisfaction rates lower than Windows XP. However, with an estimated 330 million Internet users as of January 2009, it had been announced that Vista usage had surpassed Microsoft’s pre-launch two-year-out expectations of achieving 200 million users. At the release of Windows 7 (October 2009), Windows Vista (with approximately 400 million Internet users) was the second most widely used operating system on the Internet with an approximately 18.6% market share, the most widely used being Windows XP with an approximately 63.3% market share. As of May 2010[update], Windows Vista's market share estimates range from 15.26% to 26.04%.

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What is Windows 7?

Windows 7 is the latest release of Microsoft Windows, a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft  for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablet PCs, and media center PCs.  Windows 7 was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and reached general retail availability on October 22, 2009, less than three years after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista. Windows 7's server counterpart, Windows Server 2008 R2, was released at the same time.

Unlike its predecessor, Windows Vista, which introduced a large number of new features, Windows 7 was intended to be a more focused, incremental upgrade to the Windows line, with the goal of being compatible with applications and hardware which Windows Vista was not at the time. Presentations given by Microsoft in 2008 focused on multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows shell with a new taskbar, referred to as the Superbar, a home networking system called HomeGroup, and performance improvements. Some standard applications that have been included with prior releases of Microsoft Windows, including Windows Calendar, Windows Mail, Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Photo Gallery, are not included in Windows 7; most are instead offered separately at no charge as part of theWindows Live Essentials suite.

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What Are Windows and Windows XP?

Windows is just another piece of software, like the zillions of others lining the store shelves. But it’s not a program in the normal sense—something that lets you write letters or lets your coworkers play Bozark the Destroyer over the office network after everybody else goes home. Rather, Windows controls the way you work with your computer.

Years ago, computers looked like typewriters connected to TV sets. Just as on a typewriter, people typed letters and numbers onto the computer’s keyboard. The computer listened and then placed those letters and numbers onto the screen. But it was ever-so-boring.

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