Do you know who is snooping around your computer right now?

Author : Joe Reinbold

How secure is your computer? Most of us have virus protection
and probably feel pretty safe. But how many know that there can
be many individuals out there who may be trying to snoop (or
actually snooping) around your hard disk all day long? I would
venture that there are not many sitting at their computer right
now who have even thought about it!

High speed access to the Internet, i.e. DSL, cable and a couple
of others have opened the doors to our work areas. I had even
recorded attacks on my computer when I was using a local dial up
service. The high speed access capability is great, I know that
from personal experience. But it does open you up to extra risks
since your Internet connection is probably open all day, even
when you are not using it.

Intrusions on the Internet are common because hackers do
frequent scans looking for systems they can break into. A
typical hacker may scan thousands. He or she isn't targeting you
personally. In the hour preceding the writing of this article I
had three attacks on my computer through my cable hookup. Two
were hackers probing to see if they could get in and the other
was a hacker checking to see if I had a specific Trojan program
that might have compromised my system so that they could get in.
This is a regular daily occurrence. Luckily my system has a
software (firewall) program that detects and stops any attacks.
It also logs in the attacks so that I can see what they were.
The program is called Black Ice Defender,
http://www.networkice.com and cost me about $40. It was well
worth the price. There are a number of programs out there and
one that seems to be generally recommended along with Black Ice
Defender is ZoneAlarm http://www.zonelabs.com which happens to
be free (free for personal and non-profit use).

A while back I had read several articles in PC Magazine about
these risks and that was what made me get a copy of Black Ice.
By the way it is easy to install and use. I don't know about
ZoneAlarm but from my readings it appears it is also fairly
simple. One of the ezines I subscribe to recently had a short
article about a site called "Shields UP!" where you could go to
check your computer security for free. If you are interested go
to: https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

These tests are for Windows systems. There will be two buttons,
"Test My Shields" and Probe My Ports". These tests take a couple
of minutes each and they will give you a full report. When I was
finished, I felt pretty good for the moment since they couldn't
get into my machine. In fact they evaluated it as "appearing
that my computer didn't even exist".

You can sit there and say that you are only a little guy or gal,
who would even try? Well that may be so, but on the other hand,
do you know exactly what you have saved on your computer -
credit card numbers, account numbers, personal information...?
You would be amazed at the number of files that are saved on
your machine by windows and other programs that you aren't even
aware of.

I have had to change credit card accounts twice in the last year
due to some large well known companies who's systems were
attacked and credit card files were compromised. So it can
happen, even to the big guys. The software is out there to help
you, it can be free or relatively inexpensive. Why not feel a
little more secure?

Category : Meditation

Introduction to Satellite Digital Audio Radio service(SDARS)

Author : Jith Crs
Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (SDARS):SDAR is a satellite-based direct-broadcast radio service in which
digitally encoded audio entertainment material is broadcast to
Earth-based receivers, either directly from an orbiting satellite, or from the satellite to
the receiver via a repeater station (This is a special case in which the receiver is in a
shielded location). SDARS is a radio communication service through which audio
programming is digitally transmitted by one or more space stations directly to
fixed, mobile, and/or portable stations, and which may involve complementary
repeating terrestrial transmitters, telemetry, tracking and control facilities.
Through SDARS compact-disc quality audio is available because of digital transmition
is employed.History of Satellite Radio:Satellite radio is an idea over a decade long. In 1992, the U.S.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allocated a spectrum in the
"S" band (2.3 GHz) for nationwide broadcasting of satellite-based
Digital Audio Radio Service (DARS). Only four companies applied for a
license to broadcast over that band. The FCC gave licenses
to two of these companies in 1997. CD Radio (now Sirius Satellite Radio) and
American Mobile Radio (now XM Satellite Radio) paid more than $80 million each
to use space in the S-band for digital satellite transmission. The first satellite based radio launched by XM on Sep 25, 2001, then followed by Sirius on July 1, 2002. At this time, there are three space-based radio broadcasters:
Sirius Satellite RadioXM Satellite
RadioWorldSpace Satellite Radio Importance and significance of Satellite radio:We all have our favorite radio stations that we preset into our car
radios, flipping between them as we drive to and from work, on errands
and around town. But when you travel too far away from the source station, the
signal breaks up and fades into static. Most radio signals can only travel about 30
or 40 miles from their source. On long trips that find you passing through
different cities, you might have to change radio stations every hour or so as the signals fade in
and out. Now, imagine a radio station that can broadcast its signal from more than 22,000 miles (35,000 km) away and then come through on your car radio with complete clarity. One could drive
nearly hundreds of kilometers without ever having to change the radio station! Not
only would you never hear static interfering with your favorite tunes, but also the
music would be interrupted by few or no commercials.Satellite radio companies are comparing
the significance of their service to the impact that cable TV had on
television 30 years ago. Listeners won't be able to pick up local stations using
satellite radio services, but they will have access to hundreds of stations offering a
variety of music genres. Each company has a different plan for its broadcasting
system, but the systems do share similarities.XM Satellite Radio, Sirius Satellite
Radio and WorldSpace satellite individually provides digital-audio
radio services (SDARS), with commercial-free programming, digital-audio quality, and
countrywide coverage. Each company offers nearly 100 channels of digital music and
talk radio (many of them commercial-free or with a reduced number of commercials)
that can be received from coast to coast with no service interruption. Each
offering number of music channels, these services clearly provides programming options
not available through traditional radio.One of the main feature of SDARS is SDARS provides almost Commercial free (or Commercials are restricted) programs. And also it provides news, weather forecasts, and sports apart from
entertainment-based programs The primary application for this service is constant coast-to-coast coverage of radio for cars. We have all experienced the problem of trying to listen to radio on a long trip. Both AM and FM stations fade in and out as we drive into and out of their coverage
area. Portable full satellite radio service available now a days for
the car, home stereo and personal radio environments. Car manufacturers have been installing satellite radio receivers in some models for a few years now, and
several models of portable satellite radio receivers are available from a variety of
electronics companies.Signal reception is generally poor as well as variable in the cases of AM or FM. With the SDARS systems, radio coverage throughout the 48 continental states is solid and continuous. Unlike
for AM and FM channels SDARS signals are available in a unique formatSubscription based radio service:Because the technology requires access to a commercial satellite for
signal propagation; Satellite Radio services are commercial business
entities (not private parties), which offer a package of channels as part of their service
—requiring a subscription from end users to access its channels. Satellite
Radio Service can be subscribed at a monthly fee of $12.95 U.S. and up which
is very much worth full to the service that it gives. Future of Satellite radio: SDARS seems to get good market growth because of the following factors. Increasing
partnerships of XM and Sirius with Automobile OEM and distribution outlets made the
SDARS more popular. Introduction of more convenient hardware smaller and more
portable radios for the automobile as well as the home stereo,
computer and office and personal environments made possible at the
same time.Home and personal use Industry promotional advertising and
awareness campaigns given the SDARS more popular. Sirius and XM now
also offer subscribers the option of listening to their programming
online. Apart from all of this,
price drop of hardware making it more affordable for after market purchase.Author can be contacted through crsjith@gmail.com for more
information about SDARS.Jith is an Electrical and Electronics Engineer from southern India. Author is an expert in Avionics systems, Automobile systems and have good command over communication protocols.
Category : Computers-and-Technology:Satellite-Radio

Football fans can get to see all of the games this year

Author : Michael Hanna

The ever-increasing season ticket prices means a lot of fans struggle to watch all of their team?s matches. With the price of even just a championship season ticket being around ?400 most fans can struggle to foot the bill, even if their team isn?t in the expensive premiership. This will mean that football?s best fans wont be able to support their team, just simply because they can?t afford it.But football fans have been offered a new solution. Barclays bank (sponsor of the premiership) has offered a great way for you to buy your season ticket this year. If you purchase any football season ticket with the new Premiership Barclaycard and it costs more than ?250, you'll benefit from 0% interest for as long as it takes to pay off. The Premiership card also offers 10 pairs of tickets to be won each month during the football season, by just making a transaction on your football credit card each month to be entered into a prize draw.And with more and more clubs from the premiership making it in to Europe fans can find it even more and more expensive to support their team. But, if your club does make it into Europe, don?t you want to be there to see them! The Premiership credit card also offers help when you're abroad. You can use your credit card anywhere in the world, and if you lose your card whilst abroad, Barclays offer an emergency card replacement service, and you won't be charged a cash handling fee for the service.But with having to work all week, and enjoying the football at the weekend, who has time to go and apply for a credit card? With Barclay?s card you also have the option of ordering your credit card online, which will save you time and give you more opportunity to keep up with the football stats.With football becoming more and more about money at least we, the devoted fans, can still afford to do what matters to us ? enjoy the football and support our team.If you want to find out more information on credit cards. Author:Michael HannaAbout MichaelMichael is a keen writer, and internet marketer living in Scotland:Contact details:E-mail: samqam@googlemail.com Phone: 0131 561 2251Michael's Website: Belfast

Category : General Sports: Soccer