How to use Google searching effectively

          Google is a search engine that many people use to find answers to any sort of question.  There are ways to search Google more effectively.  Many people spend hours and hours searching through the millions of pages of results without finding what they are looking for.  These people are making the mistake of thinking the problem lies with Google.  The relevance and quality of Google's results depends entirely on what the words typed into the box are.  If someone uses poor terms, they are going to receive irrelevant results.  There are a few tips that are great for narrowing down Google results. 

         First, use "quotes" to search for an exact phrase such as [ "write an article" ] this would return pages containing that exact phrase while searching [ write "an article" ] would return pages that contain the word write and the exact phrase "an article".  Second, if you would like to exclude a word or phrase use the "-" symbol. Example [ -write an article ] would return results that have the phrase an article but not the word write.  Third, if you are trying to search the lyrics to a song but can't quite remember the exact words, use the wildcard by including the "*" symbol, to fill in for the unknown word. Example [ Wishing on a * to find ]. This is also useful to search on specific domain's such as [ "write an article tips" *.net ]  Fourth, when searching a phrase in a specific location on the web page, my example is searching only the titles, you may input [ "write an article" "intitle:" ] This will then only search for that term in the specified locations. Other options are "inurl:", "intitle:", "intext:", and "inanchor:"(anchor meaning the text used to describe a link).  Fifth, if looking for the definition of a word simply search [ define:write ].  Sixth, if you are looking for more than one term or phrase, use the word "or" in your search [ write or draw an article ].  And last, if you can't quite recall all of this information the next time you want to search for something - use the Advanced Search link located to the right of the search bar. These tips will surely narrow your results so you can get the information you need with out filtering through thousands of unrelated articles. 

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Wireless Networking Precautions

          In a study done in December of 2004, sixty to seventy percent of all wireless networks are insecure.  If you have an unsecured wireless network in your home, anyone in close proximity can spy on your online activities.  Sometimes, someone could even gain full access to your computer's hard drive over an unsecured wireless network.  Neighbors can also mooch off your Internet connections.  This would not only deprive you of bandwidth that you are paying for, but if your neighbor conducted illegal activity while online, it could be traced back to your network.  There are very big odds for neighbors or the people around you hacking into your computer.  You should take the right precautions for making sure your network is secure.

          The first step to take for making your wireless network secure is to use encryption.  This is the most the most important thing you can do to secure your wireless network.  Almost every wireless access point has some type of encryption mechanism built in.  Use a WPA encryption because the WEP encryption can be deciphered if the person captures enough data. If your wireless hardware does not support WPA, either upgrade the hardware or turn on the WEP encryption.  The downside to using encryption is that it can be complicated to set up.  Another step you can take to set up a secure wireless connection is to not announce yourself.  Wi-Fi access points use an identifier broadcaster to announce themselves.  You already know you have a wireless network, so there is no need to announce yourself.  If your wireless access point allows you to disable the identifier broadcaster, do so. You should also change your SSID or ESSID which is basically a name that is assigned to the wireless access point.  It is important to change this because you don't want your access point to have an out of the box name.  You should also change the access point's default password.  One other thing you can do to help secure your wireless access point is to limit which computers are allowed to use it.  Every network interface card comes with a MAC address.  Most wireless access points contain a mechanism that you can use to tell the access point that only network cards with these specific MAC addresses are allowed to use the network.  Make sure to secure your wireless network. The last thing you want is for a hacker to break into your computer and spy on what your doing.

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How to Create and Use a Strong Password

            It is important to have a strong password in order to prevent criminals from hacking into your system. A password should appear to be a random string of characters. A password should be lengthy. Each character that you add to your password increases the protection more and more. A password should be more than eight characters in length. Fourteen characters is ideal. Many systems also support the space bar as a character. This is helpful in using phrases as passwords. A phrase is easier to remember than a simple word, and it is also lengthier, which makes it harder to guess. The greater the variety of characters that you have in your password, the harder it is to guess. A 15-character password composed of only random letters and numbers is a great deal stronger than an 8-character password composed of characters from the entire keyboard. If you cannot create a password that contains symbols, you need to amke it considerably longer to get the same degree of protection. An ideal password combines both length and different types of symbols. If you use the entire keyboard, your password will be much stronger. Use words and phrases that are easy for you to remember, but difficult for others to guess. The easiest way to remember your passwords and pass phrases is to write them down.

            The following six steps are helpful to developing a strong password. First, think of a sentence that you can remember. This will be the basis of a strong password. Second, check if the computer or online system supports the pass phrase correctly. If you can use a pass phrase with spaces and symbols on your computer, do so. Third, if the computer or online system does not support pass phrases, convert it to a password. Take the first letter of each word of the sentence that you've created to create a new, nonsensical word. Fourth, add complexity by mixing uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers. It is valuable to use some letter swapping or misspellings as well. Fifth, substitute some special characters. You can use symbols that look like letters, combine words (remove spaces) and other ways to make the password more complex. The last step is to check the password on a password checking website. This will check to make sure your password is secure. It is important to have a secure computer password in order to prevent criminals from hacking into your computer.

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Internet Parental Control Software

            According to Consumer Search, the top 4 best parental control software are Cyber Patrol 7.6, Safe Eyes 5.0, Net Nanny 5.6, and Windows Vista Parental Controls.  Cyber Patrol's big advantage is versatility.  It gives parent's more options than any competing product.  All parental control software lets users restrict kids' access to Internet applications like chat, file-sharing, or web browsing.  It can also restrict access to programs on the computer's hard drive, such as games or finance software.  A downside is that it can only be installed on one computer.  Safe Eyes is a good choice if your home has more than one computer because it can be installed on up to three systems.  Safe Eyes' remote changes become effective immediately.  It is also one of the few programs available in Mac version.  Net Nanny is very intuitive and smooth for parents, yet hard for kids to figure out.  It blocks peer-to-peer networks, allows remote management and provides effective filtering.  If one needs this program for more than one computer, licenses can be purchased separately.  Windows Vista Parental Controls offer most of the major features of standalone software including time limit settings, adjustable levels of site and application blocking, IM blocking, and usage logging.  Vista does not allow parents to customize time limits as well as some program and does not offer remote management, which is the downside.

            What should one look for when purchasing parental control software?  One should look for user-accessible access levels and  customizable websites.  This will allow you to tweak lists of blocked sites as well as adjust the level of restriction as kids mature.  It is also important to look for filtering of instant messaging and social networking sites.  Some of the most horrible online threats are rooted to instant messages and social networking sites.  Predators aim to contact kids through these sites and prompt the kids to give them their address, phone numbers, etc.  The last piece of advice is to look for a package that is easy to maintain and update.  As your child grows and matures, you will want to continually allow access to some of the restricted websites.  No parental controls are perfect.  Some blockage is better than none, so every parent should take a step toward parental control software.  

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Internet Monitoring, Blocking, and Tracking

          Internet monitoring and blocking is a process of testing or tracking how web-end users interact with the internet.  Monitoring is essential to ensure that a website is available to users and downtime is minimized.  No matter what age one is looking to monitor, internet monitoring is essential.  Internet monitoring is the only way for one to know what is going on. Parents can give their children some freedom with internet monitoring.  It is also important for employers to help ensure employees follow the company guidelines.  There are also many criminals on the internet, and no one can trust these people.  It is very important to keep the ones around you safe.  Unless one has a monitoring software, one cannot know for sure what is going on.  With internet monitoring, one can ensure that a child will not stumble upon sites with highly inappropriate content and teens will not be encountered with situations meeting an online buddy they are talking to.  Once a skeptical website or chat is detected, the internet monitoring program will then block the source.  Blocking is important for allowing zero access to inappropriate websites and chats.  

          Electronic passage through the internet leaves a path that can be traced.  Tracking is a process that follows the Internet activity backwards to the source.  There are many different tracking tools.  One tracking tool is cookies.  Cookies are computer files that are stored on a user's computer during a visit to a website.  The cookie is a tracking device, which records electronic movements made by the user at the site.  Commercial websites use cookies to allow a user to establish an account on the first visit to the site to avoid entering account information each time.  Cookies can be disabled.  Bugs or Beacons is another type of tracking.  It is an image that can be installed on a webpage or in an email.  Bugs cannot be disabled.  The user's IP address, email, computer's operating system, URL, and the browser that was used can be gathered by bugs.  Active X or Java Script are other trackers.  These computer-scripting languages are automatically activated when a site is visited.  This creates "pop-up" controls. Email tracking is also possible.  It is possible to trace the path of the sender to the path of the receiver.  The IP address can be used to track the true origin of an email.  Tracking is important in finding out crucial information about the computer owner's usage. 

          

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Internet Filters

An internet filter is a software or hardware product designed to prevent access to certain undesirable areas of the internet.  So how do they work? Some work by comparing site requests with a list of previously known bad URLs and preventing viewing if they are listed.  Other filters scan incoming data and blocks it if it contains undesirable keywords, file types, or other perimeters.  Sometimes the parent can control or create the list of keywords or sites filtered.  Internet filters can compare to a parental controlled Children's Browser.  A Children's Browser is a special parent controlled browser, like Internet Explorer or Netscape, which allows access only to sites that are known to be suitable for children.  A browser operates with its own set of known good sites, and will not allow access to any others.  They have email/chat filtering ability that do not allow "rude words".  A password can be set up that prevents a child from exiting and using a normal browser.  An internet filter compares to the Children's Browser because an internet filter allows general "surfing" to take place with the exception of filtered sites.  This is important for older children and parents when access to purely child safe sites would typically be too limiting.  The internet filter becomes useful because it is not possible to maintain a database of all sites that are unsuitable. 

An Internet Filter is not 100% effective.  Sometimes, an unwanted site may appear to the user if they make a concerted effort to find one that does not trigger the filtering device, or even if they are not looking for one.  There are many sites that border on obscenity depending on one's perspective.  Medical gynecology sites may be considered essential for research by some, or a religious site may be perfect for one person but offensive to another.  Many times, people's interpretations vary from one to another, so internet filters may be inaccessible if one finds it offensive.  There are two different types of filters.  One is a Client-Based filter.  This is generally a software product which runs on the user's machine at the same time as the browser that is used for internet access.  The filter is responsible for rejecting inappropriate materials before they are handed to the browser.  The other is a  Server-Based filter.  This provides the filtering component remotely to the user machine, by the internet or a network.  The filtering is done before the data is sent to the client's machine.  This way, the filtering component cannot find a way around.  it is sometimes possible to bypass a client-based filter with advanced network skills.  A Server-Based filter is usually more expensive and complicated often requires an ongoing cost for use of the remote filtering service, where as Client-Based filter is usually a stand-alone product requiring no maintenance fees.  

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Internet Parental Guidance

                  The internet is a wonderful thing, but having children search and play on the internet can be risky.  Some people promote sex, drugs, and weaponry through the internet.  Also, criminals may use the internet to find their next victim.  This is why parents need to know that there is a way to prevent their children from getting into any trouble.  A parent should be completely familiar with the internet before allowing his or her child to get involved.  Also, get involved in your child's internet activity by asking what they are doing or who they are talking to, in order to show that you are aware.  It is also very important for the parent to stay informed.  There are many parental control tools that one may use in order to keep their children from going on risky websites.  A parent may also contact their Internet Service Provider to report material that children should not be viewing.  

                  So now the question is, where can one find these parental control tools?  There are three places that a parent can find these tools.  The first place is from your Internet Service Provider.  Most service providers offer a range of free control features.  You can also find parental control tools at your computer store.  Usually you can buy "blocking and filtering" software.  These programs have similar features as the features of your Internet Service Provider.  One must install the programs from the computer store onto the computer.  One other place one might be able to find parental control tools is from their web browser, for example Internet Explorer.  A parent is also able to monitor a child's email.  A parent can route the child's email into the parent's email, reject email from a specific email address, or limit email that contains offensive language.  

                  Parents can also have control over browsing the web.  One can block access to materials such as text and pictures, identified  as inappropriate for kids.  A parent can also permit access to only materials specifically approved as safe for kids.  Each control tool determines whether materials are inappropriate or safe for kids differently.  A parent should be sure to ask what criteria the tool uses and how the evaluation process works.  A parent can also specify which materials are appropriate for the child.  A parent can also store names of sites and snapshots of material seen by the child on the computer for the parent to view later.  The internet allows parents to set different restrictions for each family.  A parent can also limit the results of an internet search to content appropriate for kids.  A parent can also enforce time limits.  There are many actions a parent can take to keep their child safe from the internet.  Keep your child safe from these racy websites. 

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