Information Technology Stuff..

New syntax for Html Encode

2011-10-31T00:51:00.000+05:30

Html Encode method encodes a particular string to be displayed in a browser. It is important to encode strings prior it’s rendering in the page, mainly to avoid cross-site script injection (XSS) and HTML injection attacks. However, developers so often forget to call the encode function.

In previous .NET versions, Server.HtmlEncode() or HttpUtility.Encode() methods has been used for string encoding as shown in the following example.

<%=Server.HtmlEncode(Content)%>

ASP.NET 4.0 introduced new code expression syntax for encoding a particular string. While the syntax will render the output it also encodes the relevant string as shown below. Note “:” character after opening tag (“<%”).

<%:Content%>

The new encoding syntax provides an easy and concise way of encoding a particular string.

Cheers

New Year, New Start

2011-10-28T22:48:00.000+05:30

Shift Your Awareness.

A New Morning, A new start, A new thoughts today. Just thought to move my INTEREST of Blogging in to FACEBOOK wall Post as well as TWITTER Micro-Blogging. which is now a days fastest Medium to share Information.

My All information will also be available on my Page Link given Below.

My New Page : https://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Thoughts-on-Technology/132161566888594
My Information : https://www.facebook.com/tarak.vandara

Please let me know your thoughts on improving information sharing with ease.

Cross-Browser Testing Tools

2011-08-18T14:04:00.002+05:30

Used cross-browser testing tools like Adobe BrowserLab, Browsershots & Expression Web SuperPreview but didn't know there were a dozen more.

Smashing Magazine has done an exhaustive review of all available cross-browser testing tools with a nice tabular summary at the end for easy comparison. It covers the following list of tools -

Free:

Adobe BrowserLab
Browsershots
Expression Web SuperPreview (free and commercial)
Lunascape 6
IETester
IE NetRenderer
Spoon
Sauce Labs (free and commercial) - 200 free minutes/month
Browsera (free and commercial)
Browserling (free and commercial)

Commercial:

Mogotest
Cloud Testing
BrowserCam
Multi-Browser Viewer
CrossBrowserTesting

Source : http://mvark.blogspot.com/2011/08/cross-browser-testing-tools.html

હું તારી HARD DISK ને તું મારી RAM

2011-08-04T12:47:00.004+05:30

હું તારી HARD DISK ને તું મારી RAM,
તને કરું છું ERROR વગર નો પ્રેમ ,
તું શુકામ કરે છે મને HATE,
હું કરું છું SAVE ને તું કરે છે FORMAT..
મારી દિલ ની લાગણી નો તને કરું EMAIL,
તારા તરફ થી કેમ આવે DELIVERY REPORT FAIL;
DOWNLOAD થાય છે દિલ માત્ર તારી જ FILE ,
અને તું જ છે જે HIDE કરે છે તારી PROFILE.
મારા MEDIA PLAYER માં તારા જ ગીતો વગાડું .
આ લાગણી ની PEN DRIVE તને કેમ કરી પહોચાડું .
હા પાડી ને HACK કરી લે મારા દિલ ની SITE,
તારા વગર થઇ ગયો છું BIT વિના ની BYTE.
તારા પ્રેમ નો VIRUS મને કેવો નચાવે
કરું હું DELETE તો ફરી પાછો આવે .
તારા વિના PROCESSOR માં ‘હોશ’ ક્યાંથી આવે ,
DUAL CORE ના જમાના માં P- 1 થી કામ ચલાવે!..''

The Lost Origin of Twitter

2011-05-18T09:47:00.000+05:30

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey had a background in messenger culture. He had even launched a dispatch software startup called D-Net, back in 1999. He was also captivated by his friends status messages on AOL Instant Messenger. He wanted to combine the two. And in an era when AIM was king, he did just that.
"I loved seeing at a glance my friends status updates. But I also really appreciated at the same time the dispatch aspect, where you're out in the world doing something away from the keyboard and IM did not allow that," said Dorsey. "I had a RIM pager, the 850, the first email device. I programed a system where I could fire off an email from that and set my status from anywhere. And it worked! And I was able to also at a regular interval pull my buddy list and get those updates sent to my email address. It was awesome! But the number of people who had those mobile devices was so minimal that the timing was just not right. This was 2001."

In 2006, when he was working for Evan Williams at Odeo, Dorsey resurrected the idea. He combined the timeline aspects of LiveJournal with the status updates of instant messenger and the concept of dispatch software that delivers them all remotely. Boom. That's Twitter.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5802293/the-lost-origins-of-twitter

2011-05-15T09:38:00.002+05:30

Successfully passed 70-667 SharePoint 2010 Configuration Certification...

Easy workarounds.. just you need to understand the server fundamentals properly

iTextSharp | Download iTextSharp software for free at SourceForge.net

2010-07-16T11:33:00.000+05:30

Was just searching for the good option for generating PDF and came to know about the following..

checkout for more information

gives option for formatting PDF with header footer and all such functionality

iTextSharp | Download iTextSharp software for free at SourceForge.net

Enjoy..!!

New Feature learned about VS 2010 and ASP.Net 4.0- Microsoft Tech Ed 2010 (Bangalore)

2010-04-12T23:42:00.001+05:30

Latest Tools Current

Minimal Web.Config

Changes with use of XDT transformation or replaced for different build option

URL Rewrite with ASP.NET 4.0 (RouteMap)

QueryExtender for the GridView

XHTML 1.1 Strict model

Friendly Control Naming

ClientIDMode for Controls = {"Auto", "Predictable" ,"Static"}

ClientIDRowSuffix – For DataGrid column name specification

Caching (Multiple stage)

In Memory and Disk Output Cache

Team Foundation Server

Free with Studio 2010 and Microsoft Subscription.

No need for CAL Licenses

Agile Development Model (Supports other models)

Support Bug and other task reports

Task assignments

Branching and Merging Code Branches

Break Build

Overnight Build

Gated Build (Checks in if code runs well with the server version)

Project timelines and Resource reports.

Test Automation

Recording Video for the Bug reports with live Stack Trace information with old inputs

SharePoint Office Development 2010

Easy to integrate the task pane and the Ribbon Control

From 17 step Procedure to One click deployment

SharePoint DeveloperDashboardSetting (to do the stack trace and the Calling history from SharePoint webapplication)

SharePoint Working on the 3.5 FrameWork only

Application Deployment

Publish/Deploy

SQL Deploy

WhatIf scenario for the Application Deployment

Deploy Configuration (Deploy, Release, Testing, StaggingServer, Etc..)

Team Build with the TFS and the Overnight Triggered Build facility

Multiple Web.Config for each Build Configurations

Changes with use of XDT transformation or replaced for different build option

A good Lesson

2009-09-05T18:08:00.000+05:30

Hi all,

મેનેજમેન્ટના વિદ્યાર્થીઓને તાલિમ દરમ્યાન એક થાંભલાની ઊંચાઈ માપવાનું કહેવામાં આવ્યું.
નિસરણી અને માપપટ્ટી લઈને તેઓ મંડી પડ્યા થાંભલાની ઊંચાઈ માપવા. ક્યારેક માપપટ્ટી પડી જાય તો ક્યારેક નિસરણી હટી જાય!
એક એન્જિનિયર આ ખેલ જોતો હતો તે આવ્યો અને તેણે થાંભલાને આડો પાડી, જમીન પર સુવડાવીને માપપટ્ટીથી માપ લીધું અને ફરી થાંભલાને તેની જગ્યાએ ગોઠવીને મેનેજમેન્ટના વિદ્યાર્થીઓને કહ્યુ જુઓ આમ થાય!અને પોતાને કામે લાગી ગયો.
એન્જિનિયરના ગયા પછી એક મેનેજમેન્ટનો વિદ્યાર્થી બીજા ને કહે છે જોયું, આવ્યો મોટો એન્જિનિયર!; જોર જોરથી હસતાં હસ્તાં..
ડફોળને એટલી ખબર પડતી નથી કે અહીં ઊંચાઈ માપવાની હતી અને તેણે લંબાઈ માપી!
બોધ: એન્જિનિયર ગમે તેટલું સારું કામ કરશે, મેનેજર તેમાંથી ભૂલો જ કાઢશે!

Enjoy..!!!

2009-08-21T12:41:00.002+05:30

Hello everyone....

i was just surfing through the web for searching content inside the SQL Server Stored Procedure or Trigger..

I got 2 Results fo the same , which I would definately like to share with you all

select *
FROM   INFORMATION_SCHEMA.ROUTINES
WHERE  OBJECTPROPERTY(OBJECT_ID(SPECIFIC_NAME),'IsMSShipped') =0
       and OBJECT_DEFINITION(OBJECT_ID(SPECIFIC_NAME)) like '%search term here%'
       AND ROUTINE_TYPE='PROCEDURE'

Don't use INFORMATION_SCHEMA.ROUTINES. It cuts off at 4000 characters. Get it from sys.sql_modules instead.
  SELECT o.type_desc AS ROUTINE_TYPE
        ,o.[name] AS ROUTINE_NAME
        ,m.definition AS ROUTINE_DEFINITION
FROM sys.sql_modules AS m
INNER JOIN sys.objects AS o
    ON m.object_id = o.object_id
WHERE m.definition LIKE '%search term here%'

Enjoy....!!

Put your comments if u like the same..

Silverlight 3 Launched

2009-07-11T08:54:00.002+05:30

Kudoes Programmers

Silverlight 3 Launched... With 3d Effects...

For More information on that pls visit...

http://silverlight.net/getstarted/silverlight3/default.aspx

checkout what ScottGu says...

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2009/07/10/silverlight-3-released.aspx

tutorials, downloads and forums where you can get help

www.silverlight.net

Regards,

Er. Tarak

ASCX publishing problem Resolved

2008-11-05T15:38:00.001+05:30

I just came across the problem while publishing web site for one of my client in which I used "Web User Control" ASCX control and that was giving me the "ASP Namespace Not Found Error".

Reason for the Error:

your ascx control is being converted to the DLL which won't be able as it is after the publishing.

(I was unable to resolve the ISSUE for 2 Days)

Resolution for the Problem

for this you try to Publish the same website with the following Command (which I used) and I got the things working after publishing the website.

aspnet_compiler -p <Project Name> -v myApp -fixednames <Destination Folder path>

Resolution idea retrieved from :

http://blogs.msdn.com/davidebb/archive/2005/10/30/487160.aspx

Feel free to query me for other issues i will be posting that to my website..

Put on the comments if You got your problem solved with the same solution.

Thanks and Regards.

Managing and Motivating Developers: Tips for Management Cluefulness

2008-06-25T10:36:00.000+05:30

– Esther Schindler, CIO

June 24, 2008

In many ways, managing a developer is just like managing any other employee. Developers want managers who'll help them solve business and technical problems, who'll protect them from unnecessary office politics and who will help them meet their personal career goals. But programmers are...different. Like musicians, these creative folks can alternate between big-picture thinking and persnickety detail in a heartbeat. They can be sidetracked by silly toys, and convinced to work overtime by the promise of pizza and a T-shirt. Trying to understand and motivate these people can drive managers—particularly nontechnical managers—to distraction.

Trust Developers to Do Their Jobs

Some managers act as though developers, left to themselves, would never write a line of code, and instead would spend all day playing computer games. That just isn't true. The primary wish among developers who responded to my question was that managers recognize their own and their team's abilities, and trust them to get the work done. ("Try and challenge me. I'm so much more than what you use me for," wrote one anonymous developer via Twitter.)

"All motivation comes from within," says SQL consultant Rudy Limeback, who was a developer for 30 years. "Developers need to be allowed to develop because that's what they love to do," he says.

Managers can appeal to the pride a developer feels in his work. "Find out what the developers like to do, and find a way to let them do it so that it benefits the company," suggests Ilja Preuß software developer at disy Informationssysteme GmbH. "The most motivated people are those who do what they like doing."

"I want my IT manager to understand that I care about the quality of my work," says Bruce Lindman, senior database consultant for Quick Solutions in Columbus, Ohio. "I comment my code with my name, and thus 'sign' every script or procedure I write. Nothing frustrates me more than having to do a shoddy job or compromise quality."

You can't appeal to developers' creativity unless you give them the time and space to think and create. "Techies need time to think as well as doing the code," says Lotus Notes guru Ben Poole.

"Developers, as a general group, are highly competent individuals," wrote Paul Danielson, IT director for a newspaper publishing company. "They need to be given room to develop solutions on their own (although perhaps subject to peer reviews to some extent) without being hand-fed work and methodology by management—especially at the CIO level. Nothing quashes the spirit of a good developer quicker than being given a task and then told how he/she must accomplish it."

Nor should managers expect software to be cranked out by factory methods. Software development is not a Six Sigma activity. "You're discovering, not producing widgets," wrote James, a senior developer.

Instead, give developers the big picture. "The more work I am assigned in advance, the better," wrote one via Twitter. "I can see the endgame on my own instead of having it fed to me by someone else."

Don't Ask Developers to Deal With Nondevelopment Stuff

Most developers want to focus on creating good code. And just about everything else is irrelevant to them.

To many, the manager's most important role is to protect developers from office shenanigans. Developers want and expect their management (including the layers between themselves and the CIO), Limeback says, "to take care of all the corporate crap, useless meetings, paperwork and other time sinks."

Leading that list is the marketing department, or whoever decides on arbitrary ship dates. Says Jim Pensyl, a senior performance engineer, "The more you cave to marketing time lines and avoid realistic estimates, the more you set yourself up for a project that will extend beyond marketing's promised date."

Other developers complain about managers who remind them about pending and late deadlines several times a day. They resent managers who tell them to serialize their tasks. "Give me a priority queue of tasks and let me get stuff done," wrote one developer via Twitter. "Get out of my way. I know what I'm doing." Many developers say they work best with people who give them problems to solve and do not interfere with how the individual solves them.

Listen. Respond. Praise.

Developers don't necessarily expect that the boss will understand what they're doing. They do, however, want the boss to listen and respond to her staff before making decisions. "Chat with the people who do the work once in a while. See what motivates them, and perhaps even get an idea of what it takes at their level to complete a project," IT professional Michael Furmaniuk recommends. "Motivation can start at the top and bottom, but if they never directly communicate, there is no real understanding."

"Listen actively, speak openly" is an important goal for Jason Trebilcock, a self-described BrickHead from Minneapolis. "Thankfully, our CIO does just that." But, Trebilcock adds, "It doesn't just apply to CIOs. It should apply to everyone across an organization... Without open and honest communication, you set yourself up for a lot of heartache." Be specific; subtlety is often lost on developers who are very cause-and-effect oriented. "Non-directive" suggestions aren't helpful, since a developer may not have any idea what you're hinting at.

Communication doesn't mean only the accurate exchange of information. It also means giving feedback and praise to developers—especially if you want to motivate them. "Verbal praise works for me," wrote one anonymous developer via Twitter. "Even if I'm not the best, I still need some positive talk to move me."

But feedback isn't always about telling developers how good they are. It's about setting expectations and being both consistent and fair. Here are four verbatim responses from Twitter (for which I must acknowledge the help of Michael Lopp, who was kind enough to ask his followers for 140-character-or-less input):

I'd take harsh but consistent and fair over nice but wishy-washy any day.
Passive-aggressive put-downs even though clear goals and expectations were not set. Snide personal remarks about your qualifications.
Give me criticism and my perfectionism will make me work harder. Within reason; I'm not a workaholic.
Acknowledging and leveraging my skills and talents to make good use of me.

QA specialist Joe Strazzere emphasizes the CIO's need to communicate. "While there may be an 'I' in the middle of your title," he writes, "At the root, all problems are people problems. Consider the people first, and the technology second."

The Difficult One: Pay Developers a Lot of Money.

When I asked developers what motivated them, I expected most of the answers you read above. Most people want to be appreciated for the skills they bring to the table, to be trusted to deliver their best work, and to be given honest and useful feedback. But I didn't expect that several responses would be utterly mercenary.

For example, one developer's response to the base question "If you could get your CIO (or IT manager) to understand one thing about managing and motivating developers, what would it be?" was a single word: Money. And to the automatic follow-up question, "Why did you pick that?"—"Chicks dig it."

I did laugh aloud at that response, but other developers (who remain anonymous for obvious reasons) repeated the sentiment. "As far as motivation goes, if I am not getting paid, I am not getting out of bed," wrote one. "That simply saying I'm the exceptional one who can do this amazing thing doesn't motivate if I'm not being paid exceptionally," said another. "Money is the main motivator for any job; get it right and you will have a happy employee," added a database administrator, who recommended that CIOs keep an eye on what the job market is doing for his role, and make reasonable adjustments to ensure the staff is within the comfort zone for their pay scale.

You and I could take this at face value. Developers are trained professionals who expect to be well compensated for their experience and skill. Certainly, one way to give feedback to developers, especially the ones you value most, is by showing your appreciation on the paycheck.

But surely that isn't the whole story. Every one of us could describe a job about which we'd say, "There's no amount of money you could pay me to do that," and most of us can cite jobs that paid relatively poorly in income terms, but from which we gained a great degree of personal satisfaction. Perhaps I'm wrong in this conclusion (as a confirmed hippie who believes that all work should come from personal passion, and the money will follow), but I don't think so. Given a choice between a high-paying dead-end job and a rewarding one (for slightly less money) that generates personal pride and a sense of accomplishment—well, I have a hard time believing that most developers would choose the former.

My interpretation of the mercenary answer is that most developers don't really know what motivates them... which means that their managers have to make individual judgments about the people who report to them. "Money" is an easy response—too easy—because we all like to be paid a lot.

Developers, however, are not necessarily introspective. Unless they personally have a tropism toward team (if not upper-level) management, they may not give much thought to the things that bosses can do to motivate them to do their best work. That task, then, remains firmly in your lap. In which case, it probably will help to apply the advice given above by the developers who do know what they want.

A Purr-fectly Reasonable Analogy

It may be helpful to think of good IT people like cats, wrote Pat Phelan, a database administrator who specializes in PeopleSoft technologies. "If you treat them well, offer the occasional special treat, and discipline them fairly, it can be done and done well. If you miss a point or two now and then, they'll adjust," he says. "If you miss any of these points consistently for too long, the really good ones will start to wander off in search of better opportunities."

And managing them is a lot like herding cats. The corollaries apply, too, says Phelan. For example, micromanaging a cat is pointless; the results are frustration for both you and the cat. "Make sure that the cat understands what you want. If you've done a halfway good job of handling the cat, it will consistently surprise you by doing a better job than you can imagine, and often in ways that you would never have thought of and couldn't explain if you had thought of them!" he says. Plus, trying to understand a cat is highly educational, but rarely profitable because, after all, cats do what cats do. It is a bad idea to either over- or underfeed a cat, Phelan advises. "Overfed, they get lazy. Underfed, they'll do things you don't want them doing. Find the appropriate level for each cat. Always leave room for the occasional treat (some earned, and now and then one 'just because')."

Do not abuse the cats, he adds. They'll do things to get even that you'll never think of. Remember, too, that cats learn a lot by playing. Always try to leave them time to play. The exercise is good, the team building is good, and you often end up with better-behaved cats.

Move Over, AJAX, ARAX Is Here

2008-06-06T13:57:00.000+05:30

By Darryl K. Taft
2008-06-05

Microsoft promotes Asynchronous Ruby and XML development.

Move over, AJAX; Microsoft is pushing a different scenario, known as Asynchronous Ruby and XML, or ARAX.

At the RailsConf conference for Ruby on Rails developers in Portland, Ore., on May 30, John Lam, creator of the IronRuby project at Microsoft, told eWEEK that as Microsoft's Silverlight rich Internet application environment takes off it will provide Ruby developers with a way to deliver AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML)-style applications without having to use JavaScript.

"If you're a Ruby programmer and you like Ruby as a language, context-switching into JavaScript is just something you have to do," Lam said. "It's a tax. You're trading productivity away arbitrarily because that's just what runs in the browser. And it's much more interesting when you can run the same language on both sides [the client and the server] so you don't have to do that context switch."

In essence, using ARAX, Ruby developers would not have to go through the machinations of using something like the RJS (Ruby JavaScript) utility, where they write Ruby code and RJS generates JavaScript code to run on the client, Lam said. "Sure, you could do it that way, but then at some point you might have to add some JavaScript code that adds some custom functionality on the client yourself," he said. "So there's always that sense of, 'Now I'm in another world. And wouldn't it be nice if I have this utility class I wrote in Ruby…' Today if I want to use it in the browser I have to port it to JavaScript. Now I can just run it in the browser."

According to Lam, the scenario is that people agree that HTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) are standard. "It's a known thing and people understand this technology," Lam said. "The part that [is important], at least as far as Rails programmers are concerned with, is they would like to be able to do some Ruby on the client. JavaScript is no longer the ugly stepchild that it used to be, but it's quirky in certain ways. That's not to say that Ruby isn't, but Ruby has more 'oohs and ahs' about it than JavaScript does."

Moreover, "If we do our jobs right and we get Silverlight to play very widely, then all of a sudden for folks that are interested in doing some ARAX, they can. They have to ask, Do we want to take a dependency on this thing? It's pretty brain-dead to take a dependency on Flash, because Flash is everywhere already. So this becomes a more compelling scenario over time," he said, noting that as Silverlight adoption grows the opportunity for ARAX development increases.

Ben Galbraith, co-founder of Ajaxian.com, said of ARAX: "If this is about using Silverlight to host client-side browser scripting in Ruby, it's definitely an appealing notion, but the problem will always be about Silverlight being a Microsoft technology."

Indeed, Galbraith said, "As long as Windows/Office dominates Microsoft's balance sheet, these cross-platform Microsoft plays always feel a bit like the story of the boy who upon encountering a rattlesnake picks it up after it promises not to hurt him, upon which the snake promptly bites. After the boy protests, the snake says: 'You knew what I was when you picked me up.' No matter what capabilities Silverlight may have, I think most of us in the community simply wouldn't dream of embracing architectures dependent on Microsoft's goodwill to support other OS vendors."

Dion Almaer, the other co-founder of Ajaxian.com, said, "It is interesting to note that you have been able to use JRuby to run Ruby in the browser for quite some time ... IronRuby is great. Getting more languages into the browser is great."

In a blog post, Troy Taft, principal consultant and founder of Troy Taft Consulting, a software development firm, said: "Silverlight and the plug-in RIA wars ... caught me by surprise. I didn't expect Ruby to have a chance at the client. This may make ARAX become more popular than AJAX because you can actually write client-based applications in Silverlight with Ruby in the near future if everything goes well."

And although Taft (no relation to this reporter) said he considers himself a "JavaScript promoter," he wrote: "Why do I think that Ruby is better than JavaScript? Mostly because it expresses objects more respectably and it has a cleaner syntax that works in an obvious way to me as developer. This makes the code very readable and easy to use."

Meanwhile, in a session at RailsConf, Lam showed IronRuby running Ruby on Rails code.

"Our goal was to show that Rails guys could use Silverlight as well," Lam said. "And if you wanted to use Ruby to do some HTML stuff, if you want to do ARAX on the client, awesome. Knock yourself out."

With IronRuby, Lam said he demonstrated that Microsoft could dispatch simple Rails requests. "So we can dispatch these static page requests," he said. "We showed some dynamic stuff happening—we demonstrated we could dispatch to a controller, which will render using a view. And then we showed we could use ActiveRecord to round-trip from SQL Server and return like a single row. So we could demonstrate we could go through the Active Record path. So we can read from database, we can create databases; I don't think we can update or delete or any of that stuff yet. But that's coming. This was a demonstration of our commitment to building a Ruby that runs real Ruby programs."

Lam said he is under no illusion that Rails developers will move in droves to IronRuby.

"Look around at the Rails conference, everybody's carrying a Mac here," Lam said. "And this community is a very 'Unix-y' community. There are just no if, ands or buts about it. So for us coming here and showing IronRuby running Rails, we weren't under any illusions that people would convert to us simply because of that. So what we wanted to show was something new, something different. We allow people to run Ruby in the browser in a cross-platform way with a very lightweight download."

And IronRuby's support for Ruby on Rails will only get better as the team has more time to work on it, Lam said. Already, he said, he believes IronRuby is further along in its Rails support than either the JRuby or Rubinius projects were at the point when the same amount of time had been put into their efforts.

Ruby on Rails creator David Heinemeier Hansson offered praise for the IronRuby effort.

"It's great to see Microsoft making progress on IronRuby," Hansson said. "Just like JRuby provides people who are stuck with an inventory of Java infrastructure and programs an easy way into Ruby, so does IronRuby for those who are still sitting on a Microsoft stack."

He added, "As with JRuby, though, I don't expect a lot of Ruby programmers with no existing connection to Microsoft to go gaga over it."

An IT manager's guide on how to be better at what you do, no matter how experienced you are

2008-06-03T10:32:00.002+05:30

By Richard Casselberry

June 02, 2008

On MSN the other day, I noticed an article called "75 skills every man should master." It included some skills I have and some I don't. For example, I can tie a knot and hammer a nail, but frankly I can't recite a poem from memory, and bow ties still confuse me.

It was an interesting read and made me realize I could be more well-rounded than I am. To be honest, we all could be.

So in the spirit of personal growth, I developed a list of skills every IT person should have.

1. Be able to fix basic PC issues. These can be how to map a printer, back up files, or add a network card. You don't need to be an expert and understand how to overclock a CPU or hack the registry, but if you work in IT, people expect you to be able to do some things.

2. Work the help desk. Everyone, from the CIO to the senior architect, should be able to sit down at the help desk and answer the phones. Not only will you gain a new appreciation for the folks on the phones, but you will also teach them more about your process and avoid escalations in the future.

3. Do public speaking. At least once, you should present a topic to your peers. It can be as simple as a five-minute tutorial on how IM works, but being able to explain something and being comfortable enough to talk in front of a crowd is a skill you need to have. If you are nervous, partner with someone who is good at it, or do a roundtable. This way, if you get flustered, someone is there to cover for you.

4. Train someone. The best way to learn is to teach.

5. Listen more than you speak. I very rarely say something I didn't already know, but I often hear other people say things and think, "Darn, I wish I knew that last week."

6. Know basic networking. Whether you are a network engineer, a help desk technician, a business analyst, or a system administrator, you need to understand how networks work and simple troubleshooting. You should understand DNS and how to check it, as well as how to ping and trace-route machines.

7. Know basic system administration. Understand file permissions, access levels, and why machines talk to the domain controllers. You don't need to be an expert, but knowing the basics will avoid many headaches down the road.

8. Know how to take a network trace. Everyone in IT should be able to fire up wireshark, netmon, snoop, or some basic network capturing tool. You don't need to understand everything in it, but you should be able to capture it to send to a network engineer to examine.

9. Know the difference between latency and bandwidth. Latency is the amount of time to get a packet back and forth; bandwidth is the maximum amount of data a link can carry. They are related, but different. A link with high-bandwidth utilization can cause latency to go higher, but if the link isn't full, adding more bandwidth can't reduce latency.

10. Script. Everyone should be able to throw a script together to get quick results. That doesn't mean you're a programmer. Real programmers put in error messages, look for abnormal behavior, and document. You don't need to do that, but you should be able to put something together to remove lines, send e-mail, or copy files.

11. Back up. Before you do anything, for your own sake, back it up.

12. Test backups. If you haven't tested restoring it, it isn't really there. Trust me.

13. Document. None of the rest of us wants to have to figure out what you did. Write it down and put it in a location everyone can find. Even if it's obvious what you did or why you did it, write it down.

14. Read "The Cuckoo's Egg." I don't get a cut from Cliff Stoll (the author), but this is probably the best security book there is -- not because it is so technical, but because it isn't.

15. Work all night on a team project. No one likes to do this, but it's part of IT. Working through a hell project that requires an all-nighter to resolve stinks, but it builds very useful camaraderie by the time it is done.

16. Run cable. It looks easy, but it isn't. Plus, you will understand why installing a new server doesn't really take five minutes -- unless, of course, you just plug in both ends and let the cable fall all over the place. Don't do that -- do it right. Label all the cables (yes, both ends), and dress them nice and neat. This will save time when there's a problem because you'll be able to see what goes where.

17. You should know some energy rules of thumb. For example: A device consuming 3.5kW of electricity requires a ton of cooling to compensate for the heat. And I really do mean a ton, not merely "a lot." Note that 3.5kW is roughly what 15 to 20 fairly new 1U and 2U servers consume. One ton of cooling requires three 10-inch-round ducts to handle the air; 30 tons of air requires a duct measuring 80 by 20 inches. Thirty tons of air is a considerable amount.

18. Manage at least one project. This way, the next time the project manager asks you for a status, you'll understand why. Ideally, you will have already sent the status report because you knew it would be asked for.

19. Understand operating costs versus capital projects. Operating costs are the costs to run the business. Capital equipment is made of assets that can have their cost spread over a time period -- say, 36 months. Operating costs are sometimes better, sometimes worse. Know which one is better -- it can make a difference between a yes and no.

20. Learn the business processes. Being able to spot improvements in the way the business is run is a great technique for gaining points. You don't need to use fancy tools; just asking a few questions and using common sense will serve you well.

21. Don't be afraid to debate something you know is wrong. But also know when to stop arguing. It's a fine line between having a good idea and being a pain in the ass.

22. If you have to go to your boss with a problem, make sure you have at least one solution.

23. There is no such thing as a dumb question, so ask it ... once. Then write down the answer so that you don't have to ask it again. If you ask the same person the same question more than twice, you're an idiot (in their eyes).

24. Even if it takes you twice as long to figure something out on your own versus asking someone else, take the time to do it yourself. You'll remember it longer. If it takes more than twice as long, ask.

25. Learn how to speak without using acronyms.

26. IT managers: Listen to your people. They know more than you. If not, get rid of them and hire smarter people. If you think you are the smartest one, resign.

27. IT managers: If you know the answer, ask the right questions for someone else to get the solution; don't just give the answer. This is hard when you know what will bring the system back up quickly and everyone in the company is waiting for it, but it will pay off in the long run. After all, you won't always be available.

28. IT managers: The first time someone does something wrong, it's not a mistake -- it's a learning experience. The next time, though, give them hell. And remember: Every day is a chance for an employee to learn something else. Make sure they learn something valuable versus learning there's a better job out there.

29. IT managers: Always give people more work than you think they can handle. People will say you are unrealistic, but everyone needs something to complain about anyway, so make it easy. Plus, there's nothing worse than looking at the clock at 2 p.m. and thinking, "I've got nothing to do, but can't leave." This way, your employees won't have that dilemma.

30. IT managers: Square pegs go in square holes. If someone works well in a team but not so effectively on their own, keep them as part of a team.

obtained from:here

Visual SourceSafe: Microsoft's Source Destruction System

2008-03-28T11:07:00.001+05:30

by Alan De Smet

There are many fine solutions for revision control systems. SourceSafe isn't one of them.

I used SourceSafe for five years though spring 2002 . It has consistently been an unpleasant experience. New versions failed to improve anything of import. I hope to dissuade you from using SourceSafe, sparing you the bad experiences I have had.

Missing Features

SourceSafe lacks usable branching support

A revision control system should provide powerful branching support. With strong branching support, developers can easily make minor revisions of old versions while work toward the next major release continues. Highly experimental code can be checked into a branch, keeping it separate from mainstream development but backing it up and making it available to other developers. If the project is "frozen" while a milestone or final release is built, a developer can continue development toward the next version on a branch. (Or more commonly, a new branch can be created for the freeze while general development continues on the main branch. When the release is done, changes on the frozen branch can be merged back into the main branch.) SourceSafe's branching support fails to effectively support any of this.

With powerful branching, a revision control system must also provide strong merging support to reconcile different branches. At the least, the system must allow a developer to examine the differences between two branches, modify them to create a merged version, and when satisfied check them in. SourceSafe's merge support is tightly integrated with checking in, making it difficult to examine differences and test the proposed merge before checking it into the tree. With this weak level of support, it's easy to check non-functioning code into the revision control system.

SourceSafe cannot be safely extended

It should be possible to easily extend your revision control system with additional functionality. The ability to send out emails summarizing check-ins is essential. When working with a team, regular email messages listing files checked in and the check in messages associated with them really help keep everyone up to date with recent changes. You might also want to add filters to prevent check-ins of code that doesn't meet certain requirements (standard copyright statements or doesn't compile). SourceSafe barely supports this. While is possible, every single client needs to have the additional functionality installed. If a single client lacks the extension, it will quietly fail to behave as expected. (For details, see Visual SourceSafe 6.0 Automation. Check the section "Trapping SourceSafe Events?An Overview".) You can pay even more for a third party solution, but does it make sense to invest more money in a fundamentally broken product?

SourceSafe silently leaves stale files on your local system

When updating your local workspace to match the server, files which were deleted on the server should brought to your attention. (Or deleted, since the old version can be retrieved from the revision control system.) Failure to do so risks out of date files being used in your project, often causing problems. I've frequently run into this problem when an out of date header file is incorrectly included into my project. SourceSafe fails to delete the out of date file or provide any warning.

SourceSafe badly handles slow networks and the public internet

SourceSafe is unusable over slow network connections. It's effectively unusable over the public internet. In addition, because SourceSafe works over network shares, if you place a SourceSafe server on the internet, you're exposing any weaknesses in your servers file sharing implementation to the entire world. Of course, if you're willing to invest more money in your ineffective revision control system, you can buy a third party product to solve this problem.

Managing third party modules is difficult with SourceSafe

It's not uncommon for a developer to use third party modules in your project to quickly add required functionality. For example, you might use Codejock Software's Xtreme Toolkit. It's natural to check these third party modules into your revision control system. This way, when you step backward in time to examine a previous revision, you can get the same versions of supporting libraries and third party modules that were used to build your code at this time.

Unfortunately, SourceSafe makes tracking a third party module extremely difficult. Initially checking the first version in isn't hard. Checking a new version in requires a good memory and attention to detail. To add a new version, you first recursively check the folder holding the module out. Now delete the directory on disk and replace it with the new version. Check in new version in. You now need to identify any files or directories added in the new version. Right click on the module's folder in SourceSafe and use "Show difference" to recursively generate a list of files which have been added. Note which directories hold files which have been added and which directories have been added. Now close the report of differences (the report is modal, preventing you from using SourceSafe while visible). Add the new directories as you would normally add directories. To add the new files, visit each directory holding new files and use File > Add Files to add them. Again, use the "Show difference" command to recursively generate a list of files which have been removed. Note these files and close the the report of differences again. Now delete each of these files in SourceSafe.

If you've actually tweaked the third party module, SourceSafe provides no particular help in tracking down the differences and merging them into the new version.

(For comparison, to check in a new version of a third party module using CVS, you would simply run the command "cvs -q import -m 'Import of Xtreme Toolkit 1.9' xtremetoolkit Codejock XT_1_9". That's it. If you've made changes to the module that need to be integrated, you would use "cvs checkout -j XT_1_8 -j XT_1_9 xtremetoolkit". That will give you a local copy of the merged changes which you can immediately check in if satisfactory.))

Viewing and retrieving historical versions is extremely slow

It's not unusual to need to get a historical version of the source code. You might need an older version to investigate a bug report, or the current code is malfunctioning and you need to get a functioning version. SourceSafe supports this, but it's extremely slow for non-trivial projects. To get a historical version, you first need to generate a history for the entire project you're interested in. On a project with hundreds of files and just over one year of history, this can easily take over five minutes (even if you restrict the actual search to the last 48 hours of changes). Once this history is generated, you specify the version to get by selecting the last check-in to accept. The slow speed at which this process is completed discourages developers from examining previous versions, defeating much the purpose of a revision control system.

Difficult to maintain multiple local copies of one project

While making extensive changes to a copy of the project, you may be asked to make a small change to the project. The most efficient and safest way to do this is to get another copy of the project to make the change on. SourceSafe presents two problems in doing so. First, SourceSafe only recognizes a single copy of the project on your system. You'll need to either move the project directories back where SourceSafe expects the canonical copy, or you'll need to reset SourceSafe's notion of where the canonical copy exists. Using either technique, it's easy to accidentally point SourceSafe at the wrong project and check the wrong versions of files in. Secondly, SourceSafe's weak merging features mean that if you need to change the same file in both copies of the project, you'll need to be very careful that changes to one project don't destroy changes in the other.

Safety

SourceSafe degrades on large projects

Microsoft recommends that your database not exceed 5 GB. (Source: Microsoft Best Practices) While this is a large database, it's not unreasonable for a large project, especially if you check in large binary files (like Microsoft Word documents).

SourceSafe integration can crash Visual Studio

SourceSafe can hang or crash when your system loses connection to the SourceSafe database. While this is irritating for Visual SourceSafe, this can cause you to lose work when Visual Studio is using SourceSafe integration. Simple having a SourceSafe managed project open in Visual Studio is enough to open yourself to the risk. To minimize this risk (and speed up ClassView), I suggest you follow Microsoft's directions on disabling SourceSafe integration.

SourceSafe relies on dangerous file sharing

SourceSafe doesn't really run as a server, but as a set of files shared over SMB. As a result, you're relying on each individual client to not misbehave. A single misbehaving computer can destroy the database. A problem in the file sharing implementation on your operating system can damage the database. Users only needing read-only access to the revision control system need write access to the server, increasing the risk (Required Network Rights for the SourceSafe Directories).

SourceSafe should be scanned for corruption weekly

Of course, with this high risk of corruption, Microsoft recommends that you run the Analyze diagnostic program weekly. (Source: Microsoft Best Practices) While Analyze is running all of your developers are locked out of the system (I hope everyone remembered to quit from SourceSafe first!). My experience with SourceSafe shows that a 2 gigabyte system running under Windows 2000 takes several hours to check if run weekly.

SourceSafe handles multiple time zones badly

If you have teams using the same SourceSafe repository in different time zones, you're likely to have problems. (See Microsoft's details on the time zone bug.) The only solutions Microsoft provides are to incorrectly set the clocks of the computers to a single time zone, or to purchase a third party product.

Relatedly, this is a potential problem if any of the client computers using SourceSafe fail to have synchronized clocks. Differences of several minutes between computers can cause strange behavior from SourceSafe with it tries to reconcile information that appears to come from the future.

SourceSafe becomes corrupted

Your revision control system must be trustworthy. You're entrusting your hard work to your revision control system. If your data is corrupted, the system is worthless. SourceSafe's fundamental design assumes that clients are trustworthy, always function correctly, and that nothing interferes with the communication causing corrupted data. As a result, SourceSafe is fragile and untrustworthy. I have worked with SourceSafe at three different jobs. In each case, eventually the SourceSafe database became corrupted. Data has been corrupted, work has been lost, time has been wasted on the problem. Speaking with other developers, I have learned that my experiences are not unique.

Irritations

Minor actions like changing the directory erase the entire contents of the output window, making it difficult to examine past actions.
Comparing your local version to the remote repository is clumsy. You select the directory you're interested in SourceSafe and select Compare Differences. The resulting report is modal, preventing you from working with SourceSafe while examining the report.
When getting the latest version of files from SourceSafe, each file changed locally causes a dialog to pop up to confirm the update. The update action entirely stops while the dialog waits for your response. This is particularly irritating if you get the latest version, step away from your computer for a while, then return to discover that SourceSafe is only 10% done and waiting for your response. You can prevent the dialog from returning in several ways, but in doing so you get no indication that any such files were encountered. So when you return to the finished update, you will have no idea that SourceSafe encountered potential problems. SourceSafe should note these files in the output window when encountered, making it easy to scan the output window for files to be investigated.

Conclusion

If you're considering SourceSafe, consider something else. If you're using SourceSafe now, migrate away as soon as possible. Here are just a few.

If you simply must use SourceSafe, definitely take the time to look at Microsoft's list of bugs in Visual SourceSafe 6.0 and list of fixed bugs in Visual SourceSafe 6.0 so you know what to expect. (These links were originally taken from Microsoft's Bugs page. This page may be useful if you have a different version of SourceSafe or the above links fail.)

Other Resources on the Web

Visual SourceSafe Version Control: Unsafe at any Speed?

(Update 2007-01-08: Updated link to "Unsafe at any Speed." Thanks to R.H. for letting me know.)

(Update 2007-05-12: Moved list of control systems to own page.)

Obtained from: http://www.highprogrammer.com/alan/windev/sourcesafe.html

Best Regards,

Tarak - Your Friend

A Map for .net Framework 3.5

2008-01-26T12:47:00.000+05:30

Hi Friends...

I was finding for the technology update for the Microsoft .net 3.5 framework and i got the Amazing thing for you People..

go through that and let me know your reviews about this.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=7B645F3A-6D22-4548-A0D8-C2A27E1917F8&displaylang=en

this poster is a basic tool all of us needs, right??

Tarak
(Your Friend & Well-Wisher)

Articles : How to hack a website

2007-11-26T11:14:00.000+05:30

I want to show you just one way that hackers can get in to your website and mess it up, using a technique called SQL Injection. And then I'll show you how to fix it. This article touches on some technical topics, but I'll try to keep things as simple as possible. There are a few very short code examples written in PHP and SQL. These are for the techies, but you don't have to fully understand the examples to be able to follow what is going on. Please also note that the examples used are extremely simple, and Real Hackers™ will use many variations on the examples listed.

If your website doesn't use a database, you can relax a bit; this article doesn't apply to your site — although you might find it interesting anyway. If your site does use a database, and has an administrator login who has rights to update the site, or indeed any forms which can be used to submit content to the site — even a comment form — read on.

Warning

This article will show you how you can hack in to vulnerable websites, and to check your own website for one specific vulnerability. It's OK to play around with this on your own site (but be careful!) but do not be tempted to try it out on a site you do not own. If the site is properly managed, an attempt to log in using this or similar methods will be detected and you might find yourself facing charges under the Computer Misuse Act. Penalties under this act are severe, including heavy fines or even imprisonment.

What is SQL Injection?

SQL stands for Structured Query Language, and it is the language used by most website databases. SQL Injection is a technique used by hackers to add their own SQL to your site's SQL to gain access to confidential information or to change or delete the data that keeps your website running. I'm going to talk about just one form of SQL Injection attack that allows a hacker to log in as an administrator - even if he doesn't know the password.

Is your site vulnerable?

If your website has a login form for an administrator to log in, go to your site now, in the username field type the administrator user name.

In the password field, type or paste this:

x' or 'a' = 'a

If the website didn't let you log in using this string you can relax a bit; this article probably doesn't apply to you. However you might like to try this alternative:

x' or 1=1--

Or you could try pasting either or both of the above strings into both the login and password field. Or if you are familiar with SQL you could try a few other variations. A hacker who really wants to get access to your site will try many variations before he gives up.

If you were able to log in using any of these methods then get your web tech to read this article, and to read up all the other methods of SQL Injection. The hackers and "skript kiddies" know all this stuff; your web techs need to know it too.

The technical stuff

If you were able to log in, then the code which generates the SQL for the login looks something like this:

  $sql =
    "SELECT * FROM users
    "WHERE username = '" . $username .
    "' AND password = '" . $password . "'";

When you log in normally, let's say using userid admin and password secret, what happens is the admin is put in place of

$username

and secret is put in place of

$password

. The SQL that is generated then looks like this:

SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = 'admin' and PASSWORD = 'secret'

But when you enter

x' or 'a' = 'a

as the password, the SQL which is generated looks like this:

SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = 'admin' and PASSWORD = 'x' or 'a' = 'a'

Notice that the string:

  x' or 'a' = 'a 

has injected an extra phrase into the WHERE clause:

 or 'a' = 'a' 

. This means that the WHERE is always true, and so this query will return a row contain the user's details.

If there is only a single user defined in the database, then that user's details will always be returned and the system will allow you to log in. If you have multiple users, then one of those users will be returned at random. If you are lucky, it will be a user without administration rights (although it might be a user who has paid to access the site). Do you feel lucky?

How to defend against this type of attack

Fixing this security hole isn't difficult. There are several ways to do it. If you are using MySQL, for example, the simplest method is to escape the username and password, using the mysql_escape_string() or mysql_real_escape_string() functions, e.g.:

$userid = mysql_real_escape_string($userid);
$password = mysql_real_escape_string($password);
$sql =
"SELECT * FROM users
"WHERE username = '" . $username .
"' AND password = '" . $password . "'";

Now when the SQL is built, it will come out as:

SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = 'admin' and PASSWORD = 'x\' or \'a\' = \'a'

Those backslashes ( \ ) make the database treat the quote as a normal character rather than as a delimiter, so the database no longer interprets the SQL as having an OR in the WHERE clause.

This is just a simplistic example. In practice you will do a bit more than this as there are many variations on this attack. For example, you might structure the SQL differently, fetch the user using the user name only and then check manually that the password matches or make sure you always use bind variables (the best defence against SQL injection and strongly recommended!). And you should always escape all incoming data using the appropriate functions from whatever language your website is written in - not just data that is being used for login.

There's more

This has just been a brief overview. There are many more hacking techniques than SQL Injection; there are many more things that can be done just using SQL Injection. It is possible to directly change data, get access to confidential information, even delete your whole database — irrespective of whether the hacker can actually log in — if your website isn't set up correctly.

If you are hungry for more, this detailed article from SecuriTeam explains other techiques hackers might use, as well as some of the methods hackers use to work out the structure of your database, the userid of the admin user, gain access to your system's configuration, etc.

Have a nice weekend!

Article Obtained from
http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?id=76050

A Preview of What's New in C# 3.0

2007-11-19T17:54:00.001+05:30

On the heels of the Visual Studio 2005 and C# 2.0 releases, Microsoft has given a sneak preview of what to expect in the version after the next: C# 3.0. Even though C# 3.0 is not even standardized yet, Microsoft provided a preview release at its Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in September so eager developers could try out some of the expected features. This article discusses the following major new enhancements expected in C# 3.0:

Implicitly typed local variables
Anonymous types
Extension methods
Object and collection initializers
Lambda expressions
Query expressions
Expression Trees

Implicitly Typed Local Variables

C# 3.0 introduces a new keyword called "var". Var allows you to declare a new variable, whose type is implicitly inferred from the expression used to initialize the variable. In other words, the following is valid syntax in C# 3.0:

var i = 1;

The preceding line initializes the variable i to value 1 and gives it the type of integer. Note that "i" is strongly typed to an integer—it is not an object or a VB6 variant, nor does it carry the overhead of an object or a variant.

To ensure the strongly typed nature of the variable that is declared with the var keyword, C# 3.0 requires that you put the assignment (initializer) on the same line as the declaration (declarator). Also, the initializer has to be an expression, not an object or collection initializer, and it cannot be null. If multiple declarators exist on the same variable, they must all evaluate to the same type at compile time.

Implicitly typed arrays, on the other hand, are possible using a slightly different syntax, as shown below:

var intArr = new[] {1,2,3,4} ;

The above line of code would end up declaring intArr as int[].

The var keyword allows you to refer to instances of anonymous types (described in the next section) and yet the instances are statically typed. So, when you create instances of a class that contain an arbitrary set of data, you don't need to predefine a class to both hold that structure and be able to hold that data in a statically typed variable.

Anonymous Types

C# 3.0 gives you the flexibility to create an instance of a class without having to write code for the class beforehand. So, you now can write code as shown below:

new {hair="black", skin="green", teethCount=64}

The preceding line of code, with the help of the "new" keyword, gives you a new type that has three properties: hair, skin, and teethCount. Behind the scenes, the C# compiler would create a class that looks as follows:

class __Anonymous1

{

private string _hair = "black";

private string _skin = "green";

private int _teeth = 64;

public string hair {get { return _hair; } set { _hair = value; }}

public string skin {get { return _skin; } set { _skin = value; }}

public int teeth {get { return _teeth; } set { _teeth = value; }}

}

In fact, if another anonymous type that specified the same sequence of names and types were created, the compiler would be smart enough to create only a single anonymous type for both instances to use. Also, because the instances are, as you may have guessed, simply instances of the same class, they can be exchanged because the types are really the same.

Now you have a class, but you still need something to hold an instance of the above class. This is where the "var" keyword comes in handy; it lets you hold a statically typed instance of the above instance of the anonymous type. Here is a rather simple and easy use of an anonymous type:

var frankenstein = new {hair="black", skin="green", teethCount=64}

Extension Methods

Extension methods enable you to extend various types with additional static methods. However, they are quite limited and should be used as a last resort—only where instance methods are insufficient.

Extension methods can be declared only in static classes and are identified by the keyword "this" as a modifier on the first parameter of the method. The following is an example of a valid extension method:

public static int ToInt32(this string s)

{

return Convert.ToInt32(s) ;

}

If the static class that contains the above method is imported using the "using" keyword, the ToInt32 method will appear in existing types (albeit in lower precedence to existing instance methods), and you will be able to compile and execute code that looks as follows:

string s = "1";

int i = s.ToInt32();

This allows you to take advantage of the extensible nature of various built-in or defined types and add newer methods to them.

Object and Collection Initializers

C# 3.0 is expected to allow you to include an initializer that specifies the initial values of the members of a newly created object or collection. This enables you to combine declaration and initialization in one step.

For instance, if you defined a CoOrdinate class as follows:

public class CoOrdinate

{

public int x ;

public int y;

}

You then could declare and initialize a CoOrdinate object using an object initializer, like this:

var myCoOrd = new CoOrdinate{ x = 0, y= 0} ;

The above code may have made you raise your eyebrows and ask, "Why not just write the following:"

var myCoOrd = new CoOrdinate(0, 0) ;

Note: I never declared a constructor that accepted two parameters in my class. In fact, initializing the object using an object initializer essentially is equivalent to calling a parameterless (default) constructor of the CoOrdinate object and then assigning the relevant values.

Similarly, you should easily be able to give values to collections in a rather concise and compact manner in C# 3.0. For instance, the following C# 2.0 code:

List<string> animals = new List<string>();

animals.Add("monkey");

animals.Add("donkey");

animals.Add("cow");

animals.Add("dog");

animals.Add("cat");

Now can be shortened to simply:

List<string> animals = new List<string> {

"monkey", "donkey", "cow", "dog", "cat" } ;

Lambda Expressions: The Espresso of Anonymous Methods

C# 1.x allowed you to write code blocks in methods, which you could invoke easily using delegates. Delegates are definitely useful, and they are used throughout the framework, but in many instances you had to declare a method or a class just to use one. Thus, to give you an easier and more concise way of writing code, C# 2.0 allowed you to replace standard calls to delegates with anonymous methods. The following code may have been written in .NET 1.1 or earlier:

class Program

{

delegate void DemoDelegate();

static void Main(string[] args)

{

DemoDelegate myDelegate = new DemoDelegate(SayHi);

myDelegate();

}

void SayHi()

{

Console.Writeline("Hiya!!") ;

}

In C# 2.0, using anonymous methods, you could rewrite the code as follows:

class Program

{

delegate void DemoDelegate();

static void Main(string[] args)

{

DemoDelegate myDelegate = delegate()

{

Console.Writeline("Hiya!!");

};

myDelegate();

}

Whereas anonymous methods are a step above method-based delegate invocation, lambda expressions allow you to write anonymous methods in a more concise, functional syntax.

You can write a lambda expression as a parameter list, followed by the => token, followed by an expression or statement block. The above code can now be replaced with the following code:

class Program

{

delegate void DemoDelegate();

static void Main(string[] args)

{

DemoDelegate myDelegate = () => Console.WriteLine("Hiya!!") ;

myDelegate();

}

Although Lambda expressions may appear to be simply a more concise way of writing anonymous methods, in reality they also are a functional superset of anonymous methods. Specifically, Lambda expressions offer the following additional functionality:

They permit parameter types to be inferred. Anonymous methods will require you to explicitly state each and every type.
They can hold either query expressions (described in the following section) or C# statements.
They can be treated as data using expression trees (described later). This cannot be done using Anonymous methods.

Query Expressions

Even though further enhancements may be introduced in the coming months as C# 3.0 matures, the new features described in the preceding sections make it a lot easier to work with data inside C# in general. This feature, also known as LINQ (Language Integrated Query), allows you to write SQL-like syntax in C#.

For instance, you may have a class that describes your data as follows:

public class CoOrdinate

{

public int x ;

public int y;

}

You now could easily declare the logical equivalent of a database table inside C# as follows:

// Use Object and collection initializers

List<CoOrdinate> coords = ... ;

And now that you have your data as a collection that implements IEnumerable<T>, you easily can query this data as follows:

var filteredCoords =

from c in coords

where x == 1

select (c.x, c.y)

In the SQL-like syntax above, "from", "where", and "select" are query expressions that take advantage of C# 3.0 features such as anonymous types, extension methods, implicit typed local variables, and so forth. This way, you can leverage SQL-like syntax and work with disconnected data easily.

Each query expression is actually translated into a C#-like invocation behind the scenes. For instance, the following:

where x == 1

Translates to this:

coords.where(c => c.x == 1)

As you can see, the above looks an awful lot like a lambda expression and extension method. C# 3.0 has many other query expressions and rules that surround them.

Expression Trees

C# 3.0 includes a new type that allows expressions to be treated as data at runtime. This type, System.Expressions.Expression<T>, is simply an in-memory representation of a lambda expression. The end result is that your code can modify and inspect lambda expressions at runtime.

The following is an example of an expression tree:

Expression<DemoDelegate> filter = () => Console.WriteLine("Hiya!!") ;

With the above expression tree setup, you easily can inspect the contents of the tree by using various properties on the filter variable.

One to Grow On

C# 3.0 offers incredible new features that make your work as an application developer and architect a lot easier, and yet it remains a programming language that lends itself to stricter and cleaner architecture.

C# 3.0 is in its infancy right now and it will mature in the coming months, but given the sizable impact its changes will have on the surrounding .NET Framework, its recommended architecture, and design patterns, definitely keep your eye on it.

20 Tips to Improve ASP.net Application Performance

2007-11-11T16:47:00.000+05:30

Not a .net Developer?

Are you an asp.net developer? If you aren't don't worry, we have similar posts in the works for Ruby, PHP, and other developers out there. If you are an ASP.net developer, listen up!

Get Ready for Massive Gains

There are certain things you should take into account when you are developing your applications. Over the last 12 years or so of working with asp and asp.net, I have learned to avoid and do certain things that increase your application performance by a massive amount! Below are my top 20 tips to improving ASP.net application Performance.

Disable Session State
Disable Session State if you're not going to use it. By default it's on. You can actually turn this off for specific pages, instead of for every page:
```
<%@ Page language="c#" Codebehind="WebForm1.aspx.cs"
AutoEventWireup="false" Inherits="WebApplication1.WebForm1"
EnableSessionState="false" %>
```
You can also disable it across the application in the web.config by setting the mode value to Off.
Output Buffering
Take advantage of this great feature. Basically batch all of your work on the server, and then run a Response.Flush method to output the data. This avoids chatty back and forth with the server.
```
<%response.buffer=true%> 
```
Then use:
```
<%response.flush=true%> 
```
Avoid Server-Side Validation
Try to avoid server-side validation, use client-side instead. Server-Side will just consume valuable resources on your servers, and cause more chat back and forth.
Repeater Control Good, DataList, DataGrid, and DataView controls Bad
Asp.net is a great platform, unfortunately a lot of the controls that were developed are heavy in html, and create not the greatest scaleable html from a performance standpoint. ASP.net repeater control is awesome! Use it! You might write more code, but you will thank me in the long run!

Take advantage of HttpResponse.IsClientConnected before performing a large operation:

if (Response.IsClientConnected)
      {
          // If still connected, redirect
          // to another page. 
          Response.Redirect("Page2CS.aspx", false);
      }

What is wrong with Response.Redirect? Read on...

Use HTTPServerUtility.Transfer instead of Response.Redirect
Redirect's are also very chatty. They should only be used when you are transferring people to another physical web server. For any transfers within your server, use .transfer! You will save a lot of needless HTTP requests.
Always check Page.IsValid when using Validator Controls
So you've dropped on some validator controls, and you think your good to go because ASP.net does everything for you! Right? Wrong! All that happens if bad data is received is the IsValid flag is set to false. So make sure you check Page.IsValid before processing your forms!
Deploy with Release Build
Make sure you use Release Build mode and not Debug Build when you deploy your site to production. If you think this doesn't matter, think again. By running in debug mode, you are creating PDB's and cranking up the timeout. Deploy Release mode and you will see the speed improvements.
Turn off Tracing
Tracing is awesome, however have you remembered to turn it off? If not, make sure you edit your web.config and turn it off! It will add a lot of overhead to your application that is not needed in a production environment.
```
"false" pageOutput="false" />
"false" requestLimit="10" pageOutput="false" traceMode="SortByTime" localOnly="true"/>
"false" />
```
Page.IsPostBack is your friend
Make sure you don't execute code needlessly. I don't know how many web developers forget about checking IsPostBack! It seems like such a basic thing to me! Needless processing!
Avoid Exceptions
Avoid throwing exceptions, and handling useless exceptions. Exceptions are probably one of the heaviest resource hogs and causes of slowdowns you will ever see in web applications, as well as windows applications. Write your code so they don't happen! Don't code by exception!
Caching is Possibly the number one tip!
Use Quick Page Caching and the ASP.net Cache API! Lots to learn, its not as simple as you might think. There is a lot of strategy involved here. When do you cache? what do you cache?
Create Per-Request Cache
Use HTTPContect.Items to add single page load to create a per-request cache.
StringBuilder
StringBuilder.Append is faster than String + String. However in order to use StringBuilder, you must
```
new StringBuilder()
```
Therefore it is not something you want to use if you don't have large strings. If you are concatenating less than 3 times, then stick with String + String. You can also try String.Concat

Turn Off ViewState
If you are not using form postback, turn off viewsate, by default, controls will turn on viewsate and slow your site.

public ShowOrdersTablePage()
{
  this.Init += new EventHandler(Page_Init);
}

private void Page_Init(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
  this.EnableViewState = false;
}

Use Paging
Take advantage of paging's simplicity in .net. Only show small subsets of data at a time, allowing the page to load faster. Just be careful when you mix in caching. How many times do you hit the page 2, or page 3 button? Hardly ever right! So don't cache all the data in the grid! Think of it this way: How big would the first search result page be for "music" on Google if they cached all the pages from 1 to goggle ;)
Use the AppOffline.htm when updating binaries
I hate the generic asp.net error messages! If I never had to see them again I would be so happy. Make sure your users never see them! Use the AppOffline.htm file!
Use ControlState and not ViewState for Controls
If you followed the last tip, you are probably freaking out at the though of your controls not working. Simply use Control State. Microsoft has an excellent example of using ControlState here, as I will not be able to get into all the detail in this short article.
Use the Finally Method
If you have opened any connections to the database, or files, etc, make sure that you close them at the end! The Finally block is really the best place to do so, as it is the only block of code that will surely execute.
Option Strict and Option Explicit
This is an oldy, and not so much a strictly ASP.net tip, but a .net tip in general. Make sure you turn BOTH on. you should never trust .net or any compiler to perform conversions for you. That's just shady programming, and low quality code anyway. If you have never turned both on, go turn them on right now and try and compile. Fix all your errors.

There are hundreds more where these came from, however I really feel that these are the most critical of the speed improvements you can make in ASP.net that will have a dramatic impact on the user experience of your application. As always if you have any suggestions or tips to add, please let us know! We would love to hear them!

Have web development!

Post from The MS Word 2007… It’s Too Fast Too Furious….

2007-07-06T16:57:00.001+05:30

Security certifications are hot. While some IT accreditation paths have cooled, others are attracting attention. In many cases, the accreditations drawing uncommon interest are security-related.

Microsoft offers security-focused versions of its Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer accreditations, while Cisco offers a security version of its CCIE certification. Still others--including CompTIA, the International Information System Security 2 (ISC)2, the Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC) and the Security Certified Program--all offer popular security accreditations.

Here's a rundown of the top vendor-independent security certifications.

CompTIA Security+

Candidates seeking CompTIA Security+ certification need pass only a single (SY0-101) exam. The CompTIA exam, consisting of 100 questions, tests candidates' security expertise in five areas:

General Security Concepts
Communication Security
Infrastructure Security
Basics of Cryptography
Operational/Organizational Security.

General security concepts tested include knowledge of authentication protocols, common vulnerabilities and attack strategies and social engineering risks. Communication security issues candidates must master include remote access security technologies and e-mail security, as well as strategies for hardening wireless networks. Infrastructure topics covered include firewall, router, switch, modem, VPN and telecom security, issues associated with protecting such media as common Ethernet cabling and intrusion detection strategies.

CompTIA's Security+ exam also explores cryptography. Candidates must demonstrate knowledge of common cryptographic algorithms, digital signatures, and public key policies.

The Security+ test also covers operational and organization security issues. From protecting backup data to designing effective security policies and implementing effective incident response strategies, candidates must prove a wide range of operational and organizational security expertise.

The Security+ exam is well known. In fact, the certification is so well respected that Microsoft accepts Security+ certification as credit toward its MCSE and MCSA certifications (eliminating the requirement for candidates to pass other exams).

(ISC)2 - SSCP and CISSP

The International Information Systems Security Consortium, known as (ISC)2, maintains what it calls the (ISC)2 CBK. The so-called Common Body of Knowledge tracks best practices for securing information technology. The (ISC)2 awards four certifications: CISSP, SSCP, CAP and Associate of (ISC)2.

The Certification and Accreditation Professional, or CAP credential, is a little different than traditional certifications. The CAP certification measures ones understanding of the certification process and targets those IT professionals who must determine processes for assessing security vulnerabilities and implement security protections. In addition to testing knowledge of certification's purpose, CAP candidates must demonstration knowledge of the certification and accreditation processes and post-certification monitoring.

The Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP) certification targets IT professionals responsible for network or systems security. The SSCP tests a candidate's knowledge in seven areas: access controls, analysis and monitoring, cryptography, networks and telecommunications, malicious code, risk, response and recovery and security operations and administration.

The CISSP certification is aimed at IT managers seeking executive-level security positions. The CISSP exam tests candidates' knowledge of (ISC)2's 10 CBKs: access control, application security, business continuity and disaster recovery planning, cryptography, information security and risk management, legal, regulations, compliance and investigations, operations security, physical security, security architecture and design and telecommunications and network security.

The Associate of (ISC)2 status, meanwhile, targets those IT professionals who possess the expertise required to earn CISSP or SSCP accreditation but don't boast commensurate years of practical field experience. SSCP candidates are expected to have one year of security field experience, while those sitting for the CISSP credential are expected to possess four years of such practical experience (although a Master's Degree in Information Security from a National Center of Excellence subtracts one year from that requirement). SSCP and CISSP candidates must also pass professional, criminal and background history checks.

GIAC--GISF and GSEC

The Global Information Assurance Certification arm of the SANS Institute exists to confirm real-world information technology skills. The organization maintains some 19 security-focused and job-specific certificates and certifications.

GIAC certifies candidates in five subject areas (including Security Administration) and at several levels (including Silver, Gold and Platinum). The organization offers both certificates and certifications. Certificates typically are based on material covered in a one- or two-day SANS training course and encompass a single exam. Certifications, however, tend to be based on weeklong courses and usually require passing two exams that require renewal every four years.

The entry-level GIAC security accreditation--the GIAC Information Security Fundamentals (GISF)--targets IT managers, security officers and administrators. The exam measures candidates' understanding of the threats that challenge information resources and tests the ability to identify best security practices.

The next highest GIAC security accreditation is the Security Essentials Certification (GSEC), which targets such technology professionals as hands-on managers, staff new to the field and others. The two exams test security essentials and helps ensure individuals possess solid baseline security knowledge.

Additional GIAC security certifications include the Certified Firewall Analyst (which confirms the knowledge, skills and abilities required to design, configure and monitor routers, firewalls and other perimeter devices), the Certified Intrusion Analyst (which gauges one's knowledge configuring and monitoring intrusion detection systems), Certified Incident Handler (which confirms the candidate's ability to manage incidents and attacks) and Certified Forensics Analyst (which measures one's ability to effective manage formal forensic investigations).

Security Certified Program--SCNP

The Security Certified Network Professional (SCNP) certification is maintained by the Security Certified Program (SCP). SCP develops and maintains its vendor-neutral certifications with the goal of awarding accreditations that measure real-world security skills.

In order to sit for the SCNP exam, candidates must first earn Security Certified Network Specialist (SCNS) standing. SCNS certification requires than an IT professional pass the organization's Tactical Perimeter Defense (TPD) exam that tests network defense fundamentals, advanced TCP/IP use, configuring routers and access control lists, firewall and VPN design and configuration and intrusion detection system administration.

To earn SCNP accreditation, candidates must pass the Strategic Infrastructure Security (SIS) exam. The SIS test measures candidate's understanding of cryptography, Linux and Windows hardening, ethical hacking, risk analysis, security policies and other facets of Inernet security. Recertification is required every two years.

Summary

As with any certification, these security certifications provide baseline measurements of an individual's knowledge, skills and expertise. IT certifications should not be interpreted as indicating the holder mastered each of the technologies covered, as even veterans boasting years of field experience rarely master every facet of a specific discipline.

Acer Ferrari 5000 Arrived

2007-07-03T13:31:00.000+05:30

Acer's tie up with Ferrari has proved very fruitful for the computer company and presumably also for the car company, since they've just repeated the exercise with a new pair of style-rich notebooks. The top-end machine, reviewed here, is the Ferrari 5000, and will set you back just under £1,700. It needs more than a couple of red flashes to justify that price tag.

It's a big machine; think plastic document wallet and add a centimeter all round to get to its footprint on the desk. It's dressed in a lightweight carbon-fiber case, in glossy black with a thin Ferrari-red stripe on the lid and in flashes down both sides.

Open it up and there's a swiveling Web-cam along the top edge of the lid and a keyboard laid out in a shallow crescent below - that should make typing easier on your wrists. In front of that is a wide-angle touchpad and mouse buttons, but if you don't like touchpads, you can use the bundled, Ferrari-liveried, Bluetooth optical mouse instead.

A quick trip around the edges of the machine reveals a letterbox-style DVD rewriter, a PC Card slot and sockets for Ethernet, modem, audio, Firewire and four USB 2 slots. There are also more specialist sockets, like an HDMI for HD video and a multi-format memory card slot. The machine's equipped with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and infra-red, and bundled with the laptop is a Bluetooth PC Card to enable VoIP calls from any Bluetooth mobile.

The hardware spec is just as impressive. Starting with an AMD Turion 64 X2, a dual-core 64-bit chip running at 2GHz, it adds 2GB of main memory with another 256MB attached to the ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics processor. There's a 160GB SATA hard drive inside and a hunky Lithium-Ion battery which runs the whole thing for three and a half hours and recharges in two.

Running 3DMark 2006 at a screen resolution of 1,280 x 1,024 returned 2,091, a very respectable score for a notebook, though at this resolution some of the game segment frame-rates dropped below 5fps, which isn't so good. Although the native resolution of the 15.4-inch screen is an impressively wide 1,680 x 1,050 pixels, it may be as well to play resource-intensive games at 1,024 x 768.

The only other negative is a distinct swish from the cooling fans, even when the machine is lying idle. Probably not enough to get you ejected from a library, but audible in a home office and even in quiet scenes in movies.

Talking of sounds, the small, twin speaker apertures in the front edge of the machine do a surprisingly good job of reproducing music and soundtracks. While there's little bass to speak of, middle and treble frequencies are comparatively clear and precise.

Web 2.0

2007-05-18T22:20:00.000+05:30

Web 2.0, Part 2: Serious Business Tool or Silly Waste of Time?

By Erika Morphy
E-Commerce Times
Part of the ECT News Network
04/25/07 4:00 AM PT

"Web 2.0 is about service providers exposing their business services on the Web -- bringing them together in a common view for the employee and under a common management umbrella for the corporation," says Rearden Commerce CEO Patrick Grady. "Web 2.0 is Web 1.0 for dummies," counters Miki Dzugan of Rapport Online.

How do you suppose a professor of computer science and engineering might use Web 2.0 tools? Assisting students to manage an intramural sports league online is probably not the first thing that would come to mind. That, though, is exactly what Yannis Papakonstantinou, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, does.

He recently helped to launch a new application called app2u.org, which allows people to use their browser to build their own custom, interactive Web applications where they can collaborate and exchange information. All they have to know is what the Web interface will look like -- back-end development is automatic.

"For example, one can easily build applications to track sales leads, manage employee recruiting and hiring -- or set up intramural sports leagues," Papakonstantinou told the E-Commerce Times.

As for his definition of "Web 2.0": It "refers to Web-based services that emphasize online collaboration and information exchange by user communities."

Different Themes, Definitions

Nailing down the meaning of "Web 2.0" has proven to be an exercise in dealing with the unexpected. Part 1 of this two-part series offers definitions gleaned from an informal survey of tech and content executives. They touched upon such issues as community, personalization, customization and editorial control.

They mentioned the tools behind Web 2.0 as well. "Two of the hallmarks [of Web 2.0] are more fluid desktop-type interfaces and emphasizing online collaboration among users," said Paddy McCobb, creative director for Boston-area branding and design studio Corey McPherson Nash.

To that end, he told the E-Commerce Times, a number of technologies are widely used, such as wikis, RSS (really simple syndication) feeds, Web APIs (application programming interfaces) and Ajax.

The execs surveyed also commented on the functionality these tools ultimately provide to end-users.

"Web 2.0 is about service providers exposing their business services on the Web -- bringing them together in a common view for the employee and under a common management umbrella for the corporation," Rearden Commerce CEO Patrick Grady told the E-Commerce Times.

"It's a 'best of both worlds' scenario, where employees or customers have all the useful features in one place that they need to do their jobs more effectively and make smart choices," he remarked, "but where the corporation still has the ability to control and manage what's being offered."

Gone are the days when you had to wait weeks or months for new features to be added into an application, Grady continued.

"It took Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) more than five years to develop Vista, yet the software was already obsolete within weeks of delivery," he claimed. "An advanced Web 2.0 architecture provides the opportunity to add or remove services and vendors on a fluid, real-time basis with just a few clicks of a mouse."

Mind Candy?

The survey also brought out the lighter side of Web 2.0 -- or, at least, indications that the term is becoming overused and overhyped.

"Web 2.0 is a waste of time," contended Kevin Walker, CEO of SimpleTuition, which provides online tools to research, review and compare multiple loan options from a variety of lenders.

"More specifically, it's about wasting time," he told the E-Commerce Times. "A lot of people killing time watching inane videos. A lot of people killing time with dumb-dumb blog entries. A lot of people killing time complaining about their stay at some random Holiday Inn."

It's also about a modern look: "Oversized type in gray or gray-scale colors. Self-contained widgets that fancy up a site. User-generated ratings. Ajax platforms. These are the sorts of characteristics that just scream '2.0,'" said Walker.

"I'm all for mind candy and the occasional rant from some random person, but life's too short," he complained. "Let's move on to Web 3.0 -- where entrepreneurs and techie creatives and the press and consumers focus on ways to conduct business online that is productive, not a waste of time."

Miki Dzugan of Rapport Online was only slightly less harsh. "Ever since the term was coined, I've been inclined to say, 'Web 2.0 is Web 1.0 for dummies,'" she told the E-Commerce Times.

The first Web sites included discussion groups and personal journals known as "Web logs," she explained. Then came corporate Web sites and advertising agencies -- all with print or broadcast media background trying to run the Web like a broadcast medium.

"They fell on their butts, and the Internet boom turned to bust," Dzugan wryly observed.

"With more broadband capability, bigger PC capacities and better tools for content management [such as] blog software and photo/video sharing tools, online sharing is bigger than ever. Agencies have finally discovered this 'new' idea that the Web is a place for consumer-generated content, and they call it 'Web 2.0,'" she said.

"Maybe someday soon they will discover that advertising that is consistent with how a Web site is being used is more effective than the print or TV-style interruption advertising. They'll probably call that 'Web 3.0.'"

The term is becoming grossly overused, agreed Tim Shisler, a marketing executive based in Los Gatos, Calif. -- and who better to know? He can't resist taking pot shots at the worst cliches.

"Web 2.0 is the phenomenon where everyone thinks they are important, sorority girls post picture of themselves in thongs, high school boys take bong hits out of Apples on YouTube , and kids are stupid enough to 'fall in love' with Imreally13 on AIM," Shisler sneered.

On second thought, professor Papakonstantinou's online intramural soccer team sounds like a perfectly sober example of Web 2.0 at work.

Malware News

2007-05-18T21:59:00.000+05:30

Net's Malware Infection: Growing by 5,000 Sites Per Day

By John P. Mello Jr.
TechNewsWorld
05/18/07 4:00 AM PT

Just how pervasive the problem of malware has become was revealed in a study released at the HotBots conference held in Cambridge, Mass., last month. One out of every 10 sites on the Web, the research found, is infected with "drive-by" malware -- malware that automatically installs itself on a computer when it visits a site.

With e-mail's value as a malware delivery agent on the decline, writers of malicious software have boosted their efforts to infect Web sites with their nasty payloads.

Thousands of malicious Web sites are created on a daily basis to steal information from unsuspecting visitors or plant insidious software on their computers without their knowledge, according to security experts interviewed by TechNewsWorld.

On average, 5,000 new malicious Web sites are created daily on the Internet, estimated Ron O'Brien, a senior security analyst in the Burlington, Mass., offices of Sophos , an international network security company. That number hit a peak of 8,000 in April, he added.

Infected E-Mails Dropping

In the past, malware mongers could count on e-mail attachments to deliver their electronic effluent to their victims, O'Brien explained, but as users became wiser to the ways of the spam artists, that method's virility shriveled.

A year ago, he recalled, one out of every 40 e-mails traveling through the Internet contained a virus; now that number is one in 300.

"The malware writers, in order to increase their rate of success, have taken to putting URLs in their spam because you're much more likely to click on a link to a Web site than you are to click on an attachment," he explained.

"So as a method of delivery," he added, "e-mail infected with viruses are down, but it has been replaced by e-mails that contain links to Web sites that are hosting malicious content."

The 10 Percent Problem

Just how pervasive the problem has become was revealed in a study released at the HotBots conference held in Cambridge, Mass., last month.

One out of every 10 sites on the Web, the research found, is infected with "drive-by" malware -- malware that automatically installs itself on a computer when it visits a site. The study was conducted by Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) researchers Niels Provos, Dean McNamee, Panayiotis Mavrommatis, Ke Wang and Nagendra Modadugu.

Of some 4.5 million URLs analyzed by the researchers, about 450,000, or 10 percent, were engaging in drive-by downloads.

Hype Factor

While the number of infected Web sites is high, that doesn't mean Net surfers should put their surfboards in the closet, asserted Randy Abrams, director of technical education at antivirus software maker ESET in San Diego, Calif.

"That one-out-of-10 doesn't mean one out of 10 sites that the average user is likely to encounter," he explained. "Oftentimes, the only way you're going to find one of these sites is by clicking a link in a spam or getting redirected from a questionable Web site.

"If the only way you can get to a site is by clicking a link in a spam for Viagra," he argued, "people with spam blocking never see that, people who delete their spam never see that, so there's a ton of sites with malicious code on them that most people are never going to see.

"There's a definite hype factor in that 10 percent number," he added.

However, he acknowledged that malicious Web sites can be a huge headache when they're linked to high-traffic sites, like the Super Bowl Web site.

Show Me the Money

It shouldn't be surprising that information highwaymen are turning to infected Web sites as distribution points for their banditry, observed David Marcus, security research and communications manager for McAfee Avert Labs.

"Most people start off their computer usage in some way, shape or form with a Google search or some kind of Internet session," he explained.

"They're doing more research online, they're doing more searching online, they're doing more transactional buying online," he continued. "When you consider that, it only makes sense for the malware writer to leverage that kind of behavior to push out their malware.

"Malware follows money," he added, "and where there's money to be made or transactions, credit card numbers or identities to be stolen, there's going to be malware."

Windows Vista

2007-03-29T11:48:00.000+05:30

Fact Sheet

January 2007

Windows Vista™ makes it easier, safer and more entertaining to use the PC virtually anytime and anywhere.

One look at Windows Vista shows the difference, with a breakthrough design, easy-to-use search and organization tools, and a safer online experience. The built-in Windows^® Media Center¹ and new mobility features give users more ways to enjoy their favorite digital entertainment at home or on the go.

Windows Vista represents the highest-quality and most responsive Microsoft^® operating system release ever due in large part to unprecedented collaboration between Microsoft and its customers and industry partners. Windows Vista is the focal point for a huge wave of new PCs, applications, hardware and devices. Users can tap into this ecosystem and experience personal computing like never before.

Windows Vista can be experienced today at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista, and on Jan. 30 consumers and small businesses will be able to experience it firsthand.

The Digital Lifestyle Made Easy

Windows Vista helps make everyday PC tasks, such as starting up a computer and finding files, faster and easier:

· Finding stuff fast. Instant Search helps users locate any document, photo, e-mail message, song, video, file or program on their PC with ease. Live Icons, which display a thumbnail of the contents of each file, help users find what they are looking for at a glance. Windows Flip 3D, available in Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate, gives users a new way to find the window they want by quickly flipping through all open windows in a 3-D stacked view.

· Staying organized. Users can add personal “tags” to their files to make them easier to find. They can store, organize and retrieve information in ways that make the most sense to them — not just in traditional file folders.

· Quick access. New technology in Windows Vista makes the PC significantly more responsive when performing everyday tasks. Improved startup and sleep performance helps desktop and mobile PCs get up and running more quickly and turn off and on in a snap.

· Consistent responsiveness. Inconsistency in PC performance can be frustrating. Windows Vista provides innovative technologies including a new memory management system called Windows SuperFetch that enables applications to launch much more quickly when users start their machines and ensures that these applications will continue to be responsive when it matters most.

· Keeping an eye on what’s important. Users can see the information they care about right away with Windows Sidebar, which brings real-time information such as weather and news directly to the desktop as easy-to-use programs called gadgets. On mobile PCs with exterior screens, Windows SideShow™ technology, available in Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate, enables Windows Vista to extend information form the PC onto a wide range of devices.

· Focus on tasks. Available in the Home Premium, Business and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista, the new Windows Aero™ user experience provides a translucent computing surface. Graphics, pictures and other content spring to life on the glasslike windows, which also remove distracting on-screen clutter, making it easier to focus on information.

· Innovative hardware. A whole new wave of cool and innovative Windows Vista-based PCs from many PC makers will be available Jan. 30, including these:

– The HP TouchSmart PC introduces the convenience of the touch experience to desktop computing, serving as a fast and easy-to-access information, communication and entertainment hub for the kitchen, family room or living room.

– Toshiba PORTÉGÉ R400 is a mobile PC featuring Windows tablet technology that includes a display on the front edge to provide an up-to-date view of e-mail and appointments via Active Notifications, built on Windows SideShow technology.

– Sony^® VAIO^® VGX-TP1 is a stylish PC delivering a high-performance entertainment experience; users can enjoy their favorite live and recorded TV and movies or surf the Web from their sofa using the wireless keyboard or remote control.

– Medion UMPC is an ultra mobile PC that provides multiple input options including a keyboard, a pen and touch capabilities. It features the new Origami Experience, a user interface that optimizes entertainment and communications on the smallest class of personal computers running Windows Vista.

Safer and More Reliable

Windows Vista is the most secure and reliable version of Windows that Microsoft Corp. has ever shipped, providing an unprecedented level of confidence and control when users browse the Web or engage in other online activities. Now every member of the family can have a safer, more secure online experience:

· Layered security. Windows Vista offers multiple layers of defense that work together, including strong default protections, such as Protected Mode in Windows Internet Explorer^®7 in Windows Vista. Protected Mode helps prevent silent installations of malicious code. To help further reduce identity theft and increase user confidence in Web transactions, the Internet Explorer 7 Address Bar will display a green highlight when it detects that a user is visiting a safe Web site with a new Extended Validation Certificate.

· Thorough testing. Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system are products designed with the help of millions of customers around the world, resulting in the highest-quality and most responsive releases Microsoft has ever released. More than 5 million beta versions of the products were downloaded and tested worldwide.

· Protection against malware. Windows Defender monitors key system locations and watches for changes that signal the presence of malware or other unwanted applications. If a problem is detected, Windows Defender offers straightforward and thorough spyware removal tools to help return the user’s computer to normal.

· Protection against phishing. Windows Vista helps block “phishing” Web sites that try to trick people into divulging personal information. The Microsoft Phishing Filter combines client-side scans for suspicious Web-site characteristics with an opt-in online service that is updated several times an hour with the latest industry information about fraudulent Web sites, enabling it to warn users about suspicious sites quickly.

· Family Safety Settings. Windows Vista provides parents with a new level of control over their children’s computer use. If they choose to, parents can do the following:

– Set limits on what time of day and for how long children can use the computer

– Limit the Web sites that children can visit and the applications they can use

– Restrict PC games based on title, content or Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rating

– Create reports that detail their children’s online activities and other computer use

More Entertaining

Windows Vista redefines digital entertainment, making it easier for people to manage and enjoy their growing collections of digital music, photos, movies and other entertainment:

· Easily managing music. Within Windows Media^® Player 11, the same advanced search technology that hunts down documents and programs helps people locate music. Customizable album art and stacking views allow people to browse their digital music in much the same manner as their CD collections, while the lightning-fast Wordwheel search tools help quickly scan through large music collections. In addition, Windows Media Player 11 works with more than 200 portable players and home networking devices. The advanced integration between Windows Media Player 11 and MTV Networks’ URGE music store provides access to more than 2 million songs.

· Making digital memories. In Windows Vista even nontechnical people can create digital memories by blending photos and home videos with music, titles and creative transitions. The new Windows Photo Gallery and an enhanced Windows Movie Maker make it easy to upload, fix and transfer photos and videos to DVD² or a portable device for easy sharing.

· Playing at a new level. Only Windows Vista can play games that offer the more realistic graphics and complex environments and characters made possible by the new DirectX^® 10 technology. The new Games Explorer and Game Folder make it easier to find and access games, and gamers can use the same controller on their PC as they do with their Xbox 360^® console.

· Unique content. Windows Vista offers unique content in an integrated package through Windows Media Center, available in Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate. For example, Windows Media Center SportsLounge in conjunction with FOX Sports offers the latest sports news, scores, statistics and video coverage in a 10-foot viewing experience. Other new sources of content will be available in Media Center after the launch of Windows Vista, including MSN^® Soapbox interface for Media Center, NASCAR Motorsports content portal, Showtime Interactive, TurboNick from Nickelodeon and Vongo subscription movie service from Starz Entertainment.

· Ultimate extras. Users can take full advantage of all the digital lifestyle has to offer with Windows Ultimate Extras, cutting-edge programs that provide a richer computing experience exclusively for users of Windows Vista Ultimate. For example, Windows DreamScene™ transforms the desktop from the familiar static background wallpaper into a full-motion, personal video canvas. In addition to the new and improved in-box Windows Vista games, Windows Vista Ultimate customers can play exclusive games, such as Hold ’em, the Windows Version of poker’s most popular variant, “Texas Hold ’em”.

Better Connected

Windows Vista lets people enjoy their digital entertainment and other resources virtually wherever they may go:

· Extending the experience. Windows Media Center³ in Windows Vista lets people share their digital music, TV, pictures and other entertainment throughout the home or stream it to an Xbox 360 console. Users can crank the volume and control the fun from the comfort of their couch using the Media Center Remote Control.

· Hitting the road. Tablet PC features⁴ in Windows Vista let people take their entire computing experience with them wherever they go — and eliminate many of the challenges typically associated with mobile computing. Users can work without a keyboard and easily keep information synchronized between home, office and mobile devices. They can watch a TV show, review their photo collection, or even edit a home video on their mobile PC.

· Origami Experience. Ultra-mobile PCs combine the full functionality and power of Windows Vista with lightweight, carry-everywhere hardware designs to offer additional choice for the connected digital lifestyle. Many new ultra-mobile PCs take advantage of Microsoft’s software innovations such as the Origami Experience and Windows tablet and touch technology to make it easier to connect, communicate, accomplish tasks and stay entertained while on the go.

Other Helpful Resources

Windows Vista home page: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/default.aspx

Windows Vista Ultimate Edition: http://www.WindowsUltimate.com

#####

¹ Window Media Center is only included in Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate.

²Windows DVD Maker is available in Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate.

³Windows Media Center is available in Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate. TV playback and recording features require an integrated or external USB TV tuner. Supports up to two TV tuners in all supported regions subject to Windows Vista’s compatibility with local TV standards; additional DTV/HDTV tuner support is available in the U.S. and South Korea with compatible hardware. To enjoy all the benefits of Windows.

⁴ Tablet and touch technology are available in Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate.

Microsoft, Windows Vista, Windows, SideShow, Aero, Internet Explorer, Windows Media, DirectX, Xbox, Xbox 360, MSN and DreamScene are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

New Book LINKS

2007-03-23T09:55:00.001+05:30

Here with I am Submitting A collection of FRESH Links for the books...

Please note that I have no control over these links and other e-book items in these folders.

If there is any password given please note it down.

UNIX LINUX BOOKS

Don' Forget to leave your comments....... so that I can make it better for YOU....

Toll Free Service Numbers in india

2007-03-23T09:40:00.001+05:30

Airways

Indian Airlines - 1600 180 1407

Jet Airways - 1600 22 5522

SpiceJet - 1600 180 3333

Automobiles

Mahindra Scorpio - 1600 22 6006

Maruti - 1600 111 515

Tata Motors - 1600 22 5552

Windshield Experts - 1600 11 3636

Banks

ABN AMRO - 1600 11 2224

Canara Bank - 1600 44 6000

Citibank - 1600 44 2265

Corporatin Bank - 1600 443 555

Development Credit Bank - 1600 22 5769

HDFC Bank - 1600 227 227

ICICI Bank - 1600 333 499

ICICI Bank NRI - 1600 22 4848

IDBI Bank - 1600 11 6999

Indian Bank - 1600 425 1400

ING Vysya - 1600 44 9900

Kotak Mahindra Bank - 1600 22 6022

Lord Krishna Bank - 1600 11 2300

Punjab National Bank - 1600 122 222

State Bank of India - 1600 44 1955

Syndicate Bank - 1600 44 6655

Cell Phones

BenQ - 1600 22 08 08

Bird CellPhones - 1600 11 7700

Motorola MotoAssist - 1600 11 1211

Nokia - 3030 3838

Sony Ericsson - 3901 1111

Computers/IT

Adrenalin - 1600 444 445

AMD - 1600 425 6664

Apple Computers - 1600 444 683

Canon - 1600 333 366

Cisco Systems - 1600 221 777

Compaq - HP - 1600 444 999

Data One Broadband - 1600 424 1600

Dell - 1600 444 026

Epson - 1600 44 0011

eSys - 3970 0011

Genesis Tally Academy - 1600 444 888

HCL - 1600 180 8080

IBM - 1600 443 333

Lexmark - 1600 22 4477

Marshal's Point - 1600 33 4488

Microsoft - 1600 111 100

Microsoft Virus Update - 1901 333 334

Seagate - 1600 180 1104

Symantec - 1600 44 5533

TVS Electronics - 1600 444 566

WeP Peripherals - 1600 44 6446

Wipro - 1600 333 312

xerox - 1600 180 1225

Zenith - 1600 222 004

Couriers/Packers & Movers

ABT Courier - 1600 44 8585

AFL Wizz - 1600 22 9696

Agarwal Packers & Movers - 1600 11 4321

Associated Packers P Ltd - 1600 21 4560

DHL - 1600 111 345

FedEx - 1600 22 6161

Goel Packers & Movers - 1600 11
3456

UPS - 1600 22 7171

Education

Edu Plus - 1600 444 000

Hindustan College - 1600 33 4438

NCERT - 1600 11 1265

Vellore Institute of Technology - 1600 441 555

Healthcare

Best on Health - 1600 11 8899

Dr Batras - 1600 11 6767

GlaxoSmithKline - 1600 22 8797

Johnson & Johnson - 1600 22 8111

Kaya Skin Clinic - 1600 22 5292

LifeCell - 1600 44 5323

Manmar Technologies - 1600 33 4420

Pfizer - 1600 442 442

Roche Accu-Chek - 1600 11 45 46

Rudraksha - 1600 21 4708

Varilux Lenses - 1600 44 8383

VLCC - 1600 33 1262

Home Appliances

Aiwa/Sony - 1600 11 1188

Anchor Switches - 1600 22 7979

Blue Star - 1600 22 2200

Bose Audio - 1600 11 2673

Bru Coffee Vending Machines - 1600 44 7171

Daikin Air Conditioners - 1600 444 222

DishTV - 1600 12 3474

Faber Chimneys - 1600 21 4595

Godrej - 1600 22 5511

Grundfos Pumps - 1600 33 4555

LG - 1901 180 9999

Philips - 1600 22 4422

Samsung - 1600 113 444

Sanyo - 1600 11 0101

Voltas - 1600 33 4546

WorldSpace Satellite Radio - 1600
44 5432

Hotel Reservations

GRT Grand - 1600 44 5500

InterContinental Hotels Group - 1600 111 000

Marriott - 1600 22 0044

Sarovar Park Plaza - 1600 111 222

Taj Holidays - 1600 111 825

Insurance

AMP Sanmar - 1600 44 2200

Aviva - 1600 33 2244

Bajaj Allianz - 1600 22 5858

Chola MS General Insurance - 1600
44 5544

HDFC Standard Life - 1600 227 227

LIC - 1600 33 4433

Max New York Life - 1600 33 5577

Royal Sundaram - 1600 33 8899

SBI Life Insurance - 1600 22 9090

Mattresses

Kurl-on - 1600 44 0404

Sleepwell - 1600 11 2266

Investments/ Finance

CAMS - 1600 44 2267

Chola Mutual Fund - 1600 22 2300

Easy IPO's - 3030 5757

Fidelity Investments - 1600 180 8000

Franklin Templeton Fund - 1600 425 4255

J M Morgan Stanley - 1600 22 0004

Kotak Mutual Fund - 1600 222 626

LIC Housing Finance - 1600 44 0005

SBI Mutual Fund - 1600 22 3040

Sharekhan - 1600 22 7500

Tata Mutual Fund - 1600 22 0101

Paints

Asian Paints Home Solutions - 1600 22 5678

Berger Paints Home Decor - 1600 33 8800

Teleshoppin

Asian Sky Shop - 1600 22 1600

Jaipan Teleshoppe - 1600 11 5225

Tele Brands - 1600 11 8000

VMI Teleshopping - 1600 447 777

WWS Teleshopping - 1600 220 777

Travel

Club Mahindra Holidays - 1600 33 4539

Cox & Kings - 1600 22 1235

God TV Tours - 1600 442 777

Kerala Tourism - 1600 444 747

Kumarakom Lake Resort - 1600 44 5030

Raj Travels & Tours - 1600 22 9900

Sita Tours - 1600 111 911

SOTC Tours - 1600 22 3344

UPS

APC - 1600 44 4272

Numeric - 1600 44 3266

Others

Consumer Helpline - 1600 11 4000

L'Oreal, GARNIeR - 1600 223 000

KONE Elevator - 1600 444 666

Indane - 1600 44 51 15

Aavin - 1600 44 3300

Pedigree - 1600 11 2121

Kodak India - 1600 22 8877

Domino's Pizza - 1600 111 123

World Vision India - 1600 444 550

Telecom Monitoring Cell - 1600 110 420

PS3 v/s XBOX 360

2007-03-08T09:59:00.000+05:30

Hey People i just got this news from one of the forum site....
http://forums.invisionpower.com
U can go there and read more stuff too......
which to buy and which to not is depends on you ... but here is the pros and cons for the both... hope you will enjoy this.....

PS3

Physical - Console Design

Pros ->
Blu-Ray Support - Players cost more than a PS3
4 USB ports in the front - You can charge your cables all at the same time.
SD Card Support - Game saves, pictures, etc...
Built in Wireless Lan.
Slot CD-Rom - If console is on it's side it's better on the disc than with a tray.
HD Graphic Support *yawn*
Cons ->
No component video support (HD)? Is there a special cable for that? Just HDMI for HD?
Uhhh... (not sure) ->
It doesn't have any buttons. It has a sensor of what the "button" is supposed to do and you simply run your finger over it. You don't press anything down... Where this is cool I was a bit frustrated trying to turn the console off. I think there might be an option to turn it off on the console itself, but I haven't found it yet.

Software - Console Design

Pros ->
Web Browser - Fully functional. You can watch YouTube video's on it!!
Supports a standard USB keyboard and mouse. Plugged in a wireless one from my dad's broken HP and it works great!
Free Online Service (or seems to be) - Can download demo's from the store (free) and buy content.
A ton of "media" related things built in - Photo's, music, etc...
Nice, and understandable, menu layout. Is a bit deep though, but I like it good enough. I like the 360's as well though. Guess I'm not as picky. Just as long as it's not obviously horrible I'll be fine.
Cons ->
Can't do anything while something is downloading - This by far is the WORST part of the design. While downloading a demo or update you cannot do anything with it but stare at the screen and wait. Downloaded a racing game demo and it took 2-3 hours for something a little over 500 MB. I mean... what the hell? What do they expect me to do? Switch to my XBOX 360 and play that while I wait for it to download? Damn strait! At least with the 360 it downloads things in the background and you can go on with something else and it will tell you when it's done.
Maybe I haven't gotten to far into it but... There doesn't seem to be much of a developed community system in it like the XBOX has. Maybe I just haven't gotten to far into it yet?

Controller Design

Pros ->
Light weight
Built in chargeable battery - No optional kit you have to buy
Mini-USB port - Universal cable hookup (to-console)
Same controller design - Stay with what people are used to
Tilt control - Cool... I guess...
No security thing preventing you from plugging in other controllers or other manufacturers from making their own easily.
Cons ->
Same controller design - Never liked the original design in the first place. Reminds me of the flat super Nintendo controller, but with fat grips that almost go strait down. Doesn't really fit in my hands very well. Seems to be better for smaller hands. Also both joysticks are at the bottom... I mean... Don't most games use joysticks rather than the manual directional keys? One of those should be switched around with the directional pad so it's closer to your left thumb... You'd figure they would learn from what all the other companies are doing.... Guess they just need to feel special... As I said before the best thing going for their design is it really hasn't changed since the first play station... Mostly tweaks to the original design.
Having the batteries being internal is a cool feature.. But what happens if they go out? Do I have to spend $50 for another controller? Crap... Hope they last forever!
No indicator to tell you when it's done charging (on the controller)? Thank goodness you can find that out on the console by holding down a button on the controller. The cool thing is it tells you accurately how much battery life you have... But I want to know that while I'm playing. I don't want to interrupt my buddies while we're playing to find that out. To give Sony the benefit of the doubt neither does XBOX 360 (on the controller). They have the indicator on the cable itself (green or red). Oh well...

XBOX 360

Physical - Console Design

Pros ->
You can play DVD's! Ooooo... Ahhhh... *cough*
Component video cable (that you have to buy)
Wireless lan! (If you buy the antenna)
Tray CD ROM - You can put in Mini-CD's. How many of those do I have again?
HD Graphic Support
There's this controller indicator of what players are connected. I'm not 100% positive on this or not... It seems to know if it is on its side or standing up because the lights always seems to match the ones on the controller. I thought that was rather cool!
Easily accessible external hard disk.
Cons ->
2 USB Slots - Why isn't there 4?
Heats up pretty good - Needed a 3rd party fan. Not sure how much the PS3 heats up (if at all). I haven't really checked yet.
Tray CD Rom - Not good while standing up. Console doesn't like to be touched when it's standing up. I had to send my XBOX into the repair center because it would flash red lights and not do anything. It was either because of this or a heat issue. If heat, it's my brothers fault. It's in a cabinet (or was) and he left the door closed.

Software - Console Design

Pros ->
Nice, and very understandable menu layout. Not as deep on the surface, but simple. Not to common for something that is Microsoft!
Great online community integration and store.
You can download things in the background (multiple things) and do something else. It tells you when it's done!
Tells you when you friends come online and when you get messages. Saw a "friends" thing on PS3, but I'm not sure how well that works yet.
Cons ->
At first lack of support for XBOX non-360 games. A ton of them work not, but not all titles will work.

Controller Design

Pros ->
Moderate weight - Feels like I have something in my hand!
Design seems to fit the curves of my hand. I really like how it feels. I wasn't a big fan of the original XBOX controllers either... The 360 ones are a big improvement.
"Clickable" joysticks. Great for scope in "shooter" games.
Charger kit had battery indicator on cable hookup.
Cons ->
Have to buy separate kit to have chargeable capability. ($50 + $20) X 4
Security feature (I curse Microsoft for this). Basically... They have a special chip inside the controller that authenticates the controller with the 360. 3rd parties have to buy this chip from Microsoft to make their own controllers for the system... Microsoft gets to approve what can and cannot be a controller on the system, and they make money off of it! More expensive controllers, not XBOX to XBOX 360 adapters... I can't use my XBOX DDR pad... !@#$%^&*()!!!

My conclusion? Both consoles have big pro's and big con's. There doesn't seem to be any one console that is "the best" because they both have strong points and week points. My preference is the XBOX 360 even though the PS3 has some very strong pro's and with Microsoft you always have to buy "another kit" to do stuff. The 360 is great for games, especially if you play them online. The PS3 is a rather good media center, and can be good for games, especially the single player or split-view games.

As far as games themselves go: What really aggravates me is when you hear about a game that is going to be completely awesome but it's exclusively for a particular system. One of your favorite games is on one console, whereas the other is on the other console. If you want to play both games you have to have both consoles... That doesn't happen all the time, but when it does it can be frustrating.

I'm sure I've left out some pro's and con's on both sides. When it comes down to it both are great systems.

What about the Nintendo Wii? Haven't had the opportunity to play one yet... But even if I did I would consider it to be in a different classification of gaming because of the difference in player input. We already know that it can't compare as far as graphics go... but with that put aside I believe it is a great system.

Google Tips

2007-03-02T17:14:00.000+05:30

Google Tips

1.Phrase your question in the form of an answer. So instead of typing, "What is the average rainfall in the Amazon basin?", you might get better results by typing "The average rainfall in the Amazon basin is."

2.This is an old one, but very important: Put quotes around phrases that must be searched together. If you put quotes around "electric curtains," Google won't waste your time finding one set of Web pages containing the word "electric" and another set containing the word "curtains."

3.Similarly, put a hyphen right before any word you want screened out. If you're looking up dolphins, for example, you'll have to wade through a million Miami Dolphins pages unless you search for "dolphins - Miami."

4. Google is a global White Pages and Yellow Pages. Search for "phonebook:home depot norwalk , ct," Google instantly produces the address and phone number of the Norwalk Home Depot. This works with names ("phonebook:robert jones las vegas, NV") as well as businesses.

5. Don't put any space after "phonebook." And in all of the following examples, don't type the quotes I'm showing you here.

6.Google is a package tracker. Type a FedEx or UPS package number (just the digits); when you click Search, Google offers a link to its tracking information.

7.Google is a calculator. Type in an equation ("32+2345*3-234=").

8.Google is a units-of-measurement converter. Type "teaspoons in a gallon," for example, or "centimeters in a foot."

9. Google is a stock ticker. Type in AAPL or MSFT, for example, to see a link to the current Apple or Microsoft stock price, graphs, financial news and so on.

10.Google is an atlas. Type in an area code, like 212, to see a Mapquest map of the area.

11.Google is Wal-Mart's computer. Type in a UPC bar code number, such as "036000250015," to see the description of the product you've just "scanned in." (Thanks to the Google Blog,
http://google.blogspace.com , for this tip and the next couple.)

12. Google is an aviation buff. Type in a flight number like "United 22" for a link to a map of that flight's progress in the air. Or type in the tail number you see on an airplane for the full registration form for that plane.

13.Google is the Department of Motor Vehicles. Type in a VIN (vehicle identification number, which is etched onto a plate, usually on the door frame, of every car), like "JH4NA1157MT001832," to find out the car's year, make and model.

14.For hours of rainy-day entertainment, visit http://labs.google.com . Here, you'll find links to new, half-finished Google experiments-like Google Voice, in which you call (650) 623-6706, speak the words you want to search for and then open your browser to view the results. Disclaimer: It wasn't working when I tried it. (Ditto a lot of these experiments.)

Debating on .Net Vs J2EE

2007-02-28T09:54:00.000+05:30

When Microsoft launched .Net, IT arena was flooded with questions and debates as to which technology is superior to other. The .Net vs. J2EE debate is still around. Both .Net and Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) are development platforms to create web applications.

However, the developer will prefer .Net Framework because it takes very short time in it to develop web applications. In J2EE, if any modification is required in Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) the entire application had to be repackaged and redeployed. In some cases, you may not repackage the application but it is necessary to redeploy the whole application.

Another advantage of .Net over J2EE is that all the components of .Net are in compact. In J2EE there is hardly any ease to choose and pick a component. The design patterns of .Net are very user friendly comparing to J2EE. Moreover, with regard to functionality or performance also .Net overtakes J2EE.

The biggest advantage of J2EE over .Net is cost. J2EE is favored over .Net when applications have to be run on systems other than Windows platform such as IBM Mainframe and Sun Solaris. Even in organizations where there is already a large implementation of UNIX platform, it is most likely that the organization will prefer J2EE. Moreover, organizations, which already have in-house skills in J2EE development will most probably, favor J2EE. But soon this picture is also going to change with Microsoft launching Common Language Runtime (CLR) engine for all the platforms. At present CLR engine works only on Windows platform.

.Net platform now support over 20 different programming languages. Moreover, web services that is going to be the significant part of any application-development environment is easy, fast, and cheap to develop and deploy in .Net rather than J2EE. The open standards for web services such as eXtensible Markup Language (XML), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Universal Description Directory and Integration, and Web Services Description Language (WSDL) favor .Net than J2EE.

Article was found at www.dotnet-guide.com

Enjoy this too..

2007-02-21T18:32:00.001+05:30

ASP.NET 2.0 Hosting plan:

Free ASP.NET hosting at Host My Site http://hostmysite.com/aspnet/index.shtml **
- This the the instructions for uploading your assignments via ftp software and how to test your assignments.
Free ASP.NET hosting http://www.hostbasket.com/dotnet2.shtml
Free hosting plan (with $1 setup fee) at http://www.hosting.com/aspnet2.0/

ASP.NET Hosting (may not support 2.0)

Brinkster at http://www.brinkster.com/Hosting/Educational.aspx

Web site for download: http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/express/vwd/

for visual Studio Developer

Download directly from here: http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/A/0/3A017815-B515-4807-87E5-F2DC57191C97/vwdsetup.exe
Order the Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition Resource Kit DVD Online at
- http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net/beta2/default.aspx (you need to pay shipping and handling charge)
Online learning resources:
- http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net/beta2/multimedia/default.aspx

Techology Competition News

2007-02-05T10:13:00.000+05:30

Hey Guys, checkout here what technologies are in top 5 and in the competition who WINS in developer.com competition... ...

I have got a wonderful Issue for u this time.. and it is for sure that U will definately get something out of that.....

http://www.developer.com/db/article.php/3653956

Hope U will Enjoy It .... Please don't Forget to post your feedback....

HOT NEWS LINK.....(Must Visit)

2007-02-03T12:33:00.000+05:30

We've designed this site to help you quickly develop ASP.NET applications that run on Linux and other Java-enabled platforms, without having to learn a new development language. Here you'll find Grasshopper, a free Visual Studio .NET IDE plug-in, which enables you to develop applications in C# or Visual Basic .NET and deploy your applications natively on Tomcat.

You will also find a growing number of code samples, how-to articles, and forums that can help you build pure Java solutions that interoperate cleanly with existing applications and portlets.

CHECK OUT MORE ON FOLLOWING LINK...

AUTHENTICATED WEBSITE
http://dev.mainsoft.com/

My Online Library

2007-02-01T22:01:00.002+05:30

New Arrival......

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Unix/Linux 65 books
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http://more-csharp.blogspot.com
PhP 25 books
http://more-php.blogspot.com
DotNet 20 books
http://more-dotnet.blogspot.com
Compilers 20 books
http://more-compiler.blogspot.com
Shell Programming 20 books
http://more-shell.blogspot.com
Database (oracle, mssql, mysql, db2) 40 books
http://more-database.blogspot.com
Networks 30 books
http://more-networking.blogspot.com

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Till that time ....u check out the following links..

W3Schools Online Web Tutorials ::: www.w3schools.com/
The Official Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 ::: www.asp.net/
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