For many united kingdom, the rise low cost web hosting has been a great means in united kingdomof starting a website. As internet technology has advanced over the past decade, the supply of online hosting has increased exponentially, causing the large supply of low cost web hosting in united kingdom. Going forward, the supply is likely to continue to grow at a pace that is faster than demand, creating even more low cost web hosting in united kingdom, possibly even more inexpensive. For most webmasters in united kingdom, low cost web hosting is able to meet all of their needs. The size of most websites and the technical requirements that they have are all easily met by low cost web hosting in united kingdom.


Despite the clear benefits of low cost web hosting, it is not for everyone. Some people who simply have a small site as a hobby may choose a free provider instead of low cost web hosting in united kingdom. Conversely, large companies with highly sophisticated websites have needs that cannot be met by low cost web hosting and they will have to spend more money in order to get the services that they require for united kingdom. Nonetheless, low cost web hosting has found a distinct niche and will likely continue to be very successful in the future. As the price of low cost web hosting gets even lower, its potential market will increase. Furthermore, as more and more people decide that they want to have their own website, the market for low cost web hosting will also increase. These factors are sure to make low cost web hosting an even bigger industry that will have an impact on millions of people in united kingdom. While united kingdom has made a lot of great strides to keep up with the technological advances in the United States, one area of difference is still in Canada web hosting. There are some Canada web hosting companies that have been very successful on the domestic front, and even have a few high profile websites. However, the majority of united kingdom companies that require sophisticated services choose a provider in the US instead of united kingdom web hosting. For Canadian consumers, this is not a big problem as getting it from America instead of united kingdom web hosting is not a difficult task. However, for united kingdom web hosting companies, it can be a big problem for them as the lack or revenue from big clients makes it even harder for them to catch their American counterparts. Ecommerce web hosting has become one of the most crucial aspects of todayĂ¢€™s economy. Almost every business now at least has an informational website, if not something more sophisticated that can support online sales. Thus, the need for ecommerce web hosting is apparent in almost every company in the world. In order to satisfy this rapid increase in demand, there has been a corresponding rapid increase in the number of ecommerce web hosting providers that can be found. Ecommerce web hosting has quickly become one of the largest segments of the web hosting industry in united kingdom. The best way for a business in the new economy to get its website off on the right foot is to get in touch with a good web hosting service. These hosts provide a variety of website services, such as supplying web content and controlling online traffic flow. Since few businesses have these capabilities in their own facilities, they have to find a good web hosting company that can handle everything from e-commerce to bandwidth for any size companyin united kingdom. Web hosting is not necessarily expensive to use. Most web hosts offer three main services: 1. Website support and development - The cost for this depends on sophisticated your website will be. 2. Website hosting - $10 and up each month is all it takes for basic service; the fee goes up for additional capabilities in united kingdom. 3. Domain name registration - Prices range $10 to $30 annually to guarantee your domain name. Free domain names are available from certain web hosting companies. Free web space is also available from some ISPs, although this space is rarely permanent, and likely to be small with limited capabilities. Still, it's quite useful for simple websites of united kingdom. Reliability is an important issue when it comes to picking a web host, particularly if big business is involved. After all, big businesses don't want to go through lots of down time or have a site that's always under construction. A big business prefers a web hosting company who is constantly monitoring the site and using the best resources to keep the site up and running at united kingdom. Web hosts offer websites in many sizes. The more space available for a website, the more capacity for web pages and the amount of information they can contain. Since not every business has employees who know how to program pages or create intricate designs with impressively arranged graphics, many businesses seek a web hosting company that offers easy to use templates with easy to follow insertions that quickly load new information. Another resource that many people want from a web hosting company involves tracking visitorĂ¢€™s activities inside their site. For this reason, many web hosting companies sell attached web statistic packages. E-commerce is a wonderful resource needed to ensure that visitors can communicate with the vendor, ask for help, place orders or request information such as newsletter via email in united kingdom.

New bsnl 3g unlimited plan for 999

1.BSNL 3g Unlimited at 1300 Rs Only,,,

2.I pad sim can insert in data card (if you google how?)- but you heard it right from AP CSC about 1 Mbps max speed and no U/L plans- They say Rs 999+tax rs 102 /only 10 GB when I enquired in Paradise CSC in Secunderabad last week.

Ipad used in data card can be stopped anytime. In chennai they are asking to bring Ipad to lock the sim to Imei. so I pad sim in data card is a short term fix.

3. Idea launching 3G in hyderabad ina few days. So it might work in karimnagar.

4.Aircel already in Hyderaabd- Check signal in your town. Right now the best plan in Aircel is Rs 1000 /10 Gb @7.2 Mbs. They say there is a Rs 1275 U/L data plan- check with your dealer.
4.BSNL - new plans Rs 1500/15 GB/valid 30 days !! (Rs 1399+tax post paid)

welcome to reality 3G world !

5. when it comes to B & C class towns- sometimes BSNL is the only 3G. !!

BSNL 3G settings for Android Phone

NAME: bsnlnet
APN : bsnlnet
Proxy : Not set
Port : Not set
User name:Not set
Password: Not set
server: Not set
MMSC: Not set
MMS Port : Not set
MCC: 404 (will change accorge to place.will come automatically)
MNC:64
Authentication type : PAP
APN type : Not set

BSNL 3G Teracom LW272/LW273 for Linux

Here are some links for Linux users.
  1. Ubuntu users should try my PPA: https://launchpad.net/~cristatus/+archive/nm-ppa
  2. WvDial scripts are here: https://github.com/downloads/cristatus/stuffs/wv.tar.gz
The WvDial scripts can be used with any Linux distribution. The updated packages in my PPA can be used on Ubuntu/Debian/Mint (or any other Debian based distribution). The fixes have been merged upstream, so check with your favorite distribution for the latest versions of ModemManager and usb-modeswitch packages.

How to Unlock BSNL 3G teracom usb modem

step1- install your teracom data card software
step2- when your installation complete then uninstall only bsnl 3g software not modem driver
step3- install Given Setup From Following Link


Download Crack .exe

Download Microsoft Safety Scanner to Protect Your PC Windows Live One Care Safety Scanner

Download Microsoft Safety Scanner to Protect Your PC Windows Live One Care Safety Scanner
Microsoft has released a portable standalone security tool designed specifically to scan for and remove viruses, spyware and other threats. The Microsoft Safety Scanner is a free downloadable security tool that provides on-demand scanning and helps remove viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. It is rebranded from Windows Live One Care Safety Scanner by the Microsoft.


The best part of Microsoft Safety Scanner is that it works with existing antivirus software.


According to Microsoft, the Microsoft Safety Scanner expires 10 days after being downloaded. This enable user to force download a new and updated tool from the website. To rerun a scan with the latest anti-malware definitions, download and run the Microsoft Safety Scanner again.

System Requirement for Installation
  • Operating System: Windows 7; Windows Server 2003; Windows Vista; Windows XP.
  • A PC with a CPU clock speed of 500 MHz or higher, and 256 MB RAM or higher.
  • VGA display of 800 × 600 or higher.
  • 200 MB of available hard disk space.

Select Your Own custom Image As a Background picture in Gmail account

Select Your Own custom Image As a Background picture in G-mail account.
  • Log on to your GMail Account.
  • Go to the Themes tab in Settings
  • On the bottom left, select create your own theme
  • Click on the link that shows you to select your own background image
  • You can either select an image from your hard disk or you can also choose from your Picasa web album
  • Now you are done. Enjoy your new background

How to Disable Auto Save Email Address in Gmail

The feature, auto save of email address in Gmail is really useful to the people who often send large number of messages. Gmail automatically saves all the email addresses to which you send emails. Think a time when you send a email to someone and afterwards forget to add his email in the address book.
This feature not only helps you in managing your contact but also makes your contact book cluttered.


But if you dont want Gmail to add contact automatically, you can easily disabled it by using following method:

  • Go to the Gmail Settings.
  • Under General tab, you will find Create contacts for auto-complete.
  • Check I’ll add contacts myself
  • Save Settings

How to Extend Windows Server 2008 Trial Period, crack idea for windows server 2008 Edition 100% working IDEA

Well Friends Evaluating Windows Server 2008 software does not require product activation. Any edition of Windows Server 2008 may be installed without activation, and it may be evaluated for 60 days. Additionally, the 60-day evaluation period may be reset (re-armed) three times. This action extends the original 60-day evaluation period by up to 180 days for a total possible evaluation time of 240 days.

How to install Windows Server 2008 without activating it

During Windows Server 2008 Setup , when you are prompted to enter a product key for activation, do not enter a key. Click No when Setup asks you to confirm your selection.
You may be prompted to select the edition of Windows Server 2008 that you want to evaluate. Select the edition that you want to install.
When you are prompted, read the evaluation terms in the Microsoft Software License Terms, and then accept the terms.
When the Windows Server 2008 Setup program is finished, your initial 60-day evaluation period starts.

To check the time that is left on your current evaluation period, run the Slmgr.vbs script that is in the System32 folder. Use the -dli switch to run this script. The slmgr.vbs -dli command displays the number of days that are left in the current 60-day evaluation period.

How to manually extend the evaluation period


When the initial 60-day evaluation period nears its end, you can run the Slmgr.vbs script to reset the evaluation period. To do this, follow these steps:

Click Start, and then click Command Prompt.
Type slmgr.vbs -dli, and then press ENTER to check the current status of your evaluation period.
To reset the evaluation period, type slmgr.vbs –rearm, and then press ENTER.
Restart the computer

how to copy, Download complete website into your local harddisk & use it offiline use

HTTrack is a free and open source Web crawler and offline browser, developed by Xavier Roche and licensed under the GNU General Public License.


It allows one to download World Wide Web sites from the Internet to a local computer. By default, HTTrack arranges the downloaded site by the original site’s relative link-structure. The downloaded (or “mirrored”) website can be browsed by opening a page of the site in a browser.


HTTrack can also update an existing mirrored site and resume interrupted downloads. HTTrack is fully configurable by options and by filters (include/exclude), and has an integrated help system. There is a basic command line version and two GUI versions (WinHTTrack and WebHTrack); the former can be part of scripts and cron jobs.


HTTrack uses a Web crawler to download a website. Some parts of the website may not be downloaded by default due to the robots exclusion protocol unless disabled during the program. HTTrack can follow links that are generated with basic JavaScript and inside Applets or Flash, but not complex links (generated using functions or expressions) or server-side image maps.


Website : http://www.httrack.com/

Protecting USB Port, Protecting USB Device

To block all the storage device in your Windows, run registry editor by typing regedit in RUN command.
In the registry editor, at left side navigation pane, navigate to following location:


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Services > USBSTOR

Now at the right side double click on START.

To block USB storage Medias, change the value data to 4.

If you want to unblock USB storage Medias just navigate to the same location and change th value data to 3.

How to Recover Recently Closed Tabs and Windows in Mozilla Firefox 4

What I normally used to do is, search through history, scratching my mind about the website which I opened last. But now in Firefox 4, a simple Ctrl+Shift+T will recover the last tab.


And what about the entire window, if you accidentally closed an entire window, Ctrl+Shift+N will recover it.


You can also recover several tabs and windows through the History Menu.

Using SKYPE On mobile in INDIA

Well Friends the news is that...


skype till now does not give video calling service on mobile.
internet calls not possible via skype in India.

Configuring your browser For Porxy Server Like Analox

If you use Internet Explorer, on each machine you want to be able to access the
proxy on, just go into the Control Panel->Internet Options, and select the tab
'Connections'. You'll see a button called 'LAN Settings', just click on it, and
you'll see the proxy settings. For most systems, all you will need to do is
check the 'Use a proxy server' box, enter the IP address of the machine the
proxy server is running on (in the example above, this would be '10.0.0.1', and
set the Port # to 6588. Select 'Ok', launch your browser, and you should be
good to go!

If you use Netscape, go to the Edit->Preferences->Category->Advanced->Proxies->
Manual->View, whew! That's a long path! Here you'll be able to input the IP
and port address mentioned in the IE config process.

Configuring your local network For Proxy Server Analox

In order to use this on your local network, you must be using TCP/IP as one of
the methods the machines have to talk to each other (this can be found inside
the Settings->Control Panel->Network, if you see TCP/IP, you're good to go).
If for some reason it doesn't work, ie, the other machines can't see the Proxy,
the most common problem is the IP addresses you have the network configured to.
There are only a couple that are valid to use on a local network, I would
recommend you use 10.0.0.x (where x is a number between 0 and 255 that will
be specific to each machine). Try changing the IP and then using the
Proxy again. Also, just because your machines can see each other, doesn't mean
that TCP/IP is configured properly; if you are unsure of whether or not this
is set up properly, do the following: Choose 'Run' from the start menu, and
type 'ping [IP]', so if the other machine has the IP of '10.0.0.1', you would
type 'ping 10.0.0.1'. If the machines can see each other, this will say some-
thing like 'Reply from...' blah blah blah; if they can NOT see each other, this
will say something like 'Request timed out.'


Unless you have your local IP address assigned to you, there are only three
groups of IP's that are valid for you to use on a machine that's connected to
the net (that won't collide with other machines). They are:

10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255 (Class A)
172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255 (Class B)
192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255 (Class C)

So make sure your LOCAL network IP's fall within one of these three ranges, or
you're more than likely going to have problems.

If you don't know your IP address, the simplest way to get it is to choose
'Run' from the system menu, and type 'winipcfg'. Make sure you do this when
you are NOT connected to the internet, otherwise you will just end up getting
your temporary internet IP address. Another method, is to go into the network
area (as outlined above), select TCP/IP, and it's in the IP Address Tab!

If you don't have TCP configured, here's what I would recommend setting your
local IP address's to; for the server, set it's IP to '10.0.0.1' and subnet
mask to '255.255.255.0'. Then, just increment the last number of the IP by
one for each remote machine; so the next machine would be IP '10.0.0.2' and
the subnet mask would remain '255.255.255.0'. Then, on the remote machine
you would configure the Internet Options (as mentioned above) to use the proxy
server IP of '10.0.0.1' at port '6588'; and you're done!

One more thing to note about the TCP configuration; once it's completed you'll
have TWO TCP configs - one that's used for your internet connection (which you
shouldn't have to change), and one that's used for communicating across your
local network (the 10.0.0.1 example). For some reason if you use Dialup
networking, and ADD another TCP/IP protocol, Windows binds it to the modem, and
there doesn't appear to be any easy way of changing this - if this happens to
you, I normally recommend removing the dialup networking configuration, then add
everything to get the local network going, then re-install the dialup networking
configuration.

Competing with Lean Six Sigma

With every executive under the gun to improve profit sooner rather
than later, Lean Six Sigma offers advantages that are critical in today’s
marketplace. The acceleration of cost reduction in particular, and
process speed in general, allows a firm to respond to market conditions
and opportunities faster than the competition. In the June 2001 issue of
Wired, Andy Grove of Intel stated:

“The most direct way of increasing productivity is doing the
same thing in a lesser period of time—turning things faster.
And productivity is the key to everything—greater
productivity increases economic growth.”

Using Different Bindings

The previous sections showed you how to develop a WCF service to enable a piece of software such as the bug report manager system to communicate with the outside world. As discussed, every WCF service exposes one or more endpoints, each with an address, a binding, and a contract. The binding of an endpoint specifies the communication protocols through which the endpoint communicates with the outside world. In this section, you see how to enable your WCF service to communicate with different clients through different sets of communication protocols (bindings).

Wireless router

A router sends information between your network and the Internet. With a wireless router, you can connect computers to your network using radio signals instead of wires. There are a few different types of wireless network technologies, including 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g. We recommend using a router that supports 802.11g because it is fast and provides a strong wireless signal. For more information about wireless network technologies

Tips for safely using e‑mail and the web

Use caution when opening e‑mail attachments. E‑mail attachments (files attached to e‑mail messages) are a primary source of virus infection. Never open an attachment from someone you don't know. If you know the sender but were not expecting an attachment, verify that the sender actually sent the attachment before you open it.

Guard your personal information carefully. If a website asks for a credit card number, bank information, or other personal information, make sure you trust the website and verify that its transaction system is secure.

Be careful when clicking hyperlinks in e‑mail messages. Hyperlinks (links that open websites when you click them) are often used as part of phishing and spyware scams, but they can also transmit viruses. Only click links in e‑mail messages that you trust.

Only install add-ons from websites that you trust. Web browser add-ons allow webpages to display things like toolbars, stock tickers, video, and animation. However, add-ons can also install spyware or other malicious software. If a website asks you to install an add-on, make sure that you trust it before doing so.

Update Windows 7 automatically

Microsoft regularly offers important updates to Windows that can help protect your computer against new viruses and other security threats. To ensure that you receive these updates as quickly as possible, turn on automatic updating. That way, you don't have to worry that critical fixes for Windows might be missing from your computer.

Updates are downloaded behind the scenes when you're connected to the Internet. The updates are installed at 3:00 A.M. unless you specify a different time. If you turn off your computer before then, you can install updates before shutting down. Otherwise, Windows will install them the next time you start your computer.

Use spyware protection

Spyware is software that can display advertisements, collect information about you, or change settings on your computer, generally without appropriately obtaining your consent. For example, spyware can install unwanted toolbars, links, or favorites in your web browser, change your default home page, or display pop-up ads frequently. Some spyware displays no symptoms that you can detect, but it secretly collects sensitive information, such as the websites you visit or the text you type. Most spyware is installed through free software that you download, but in some cases simply visiting a website results in a spyware infection.

To help protect your computer from spyware, use an antispyware program. This version of Windows has a built-in antispyware program called Windows Defender, which is turned on by default. Windows Defender alerts you when spyware tries to install itself on your computer. It also can scan your computer for existing spyware and then remove it.

Why use desktop gadgets in windows 7 & vista?

Desktop gadgets can keep information and tools readily available for you to use. For example, you can display news headlines right next to your open programs. This way, if you want to keep track of what's happening in the news while you work, you don't have to stop what you're doing to switch to a news website.

You can use the Feed Headlines gadget to show the latest news headlines from sources you choose. You don't have to stop working on your document, because the headlines are always visible. If you see a headline that interests you, you can click that headline, and your web browser will open directly to the story.

CyberPatrol Expands Online Monitoring

Parents who want to control or monitor their children’s PC use may wish to block Web sites they deem undesirable, but they often have other concerns as well. Can they prevent their kids from sharing personal information with strangers, or keep them from gaming when they should be studying? With CyberPatrol 7, Surf Control makes an effort to address all these issues. CyberPatrol’s layered approach to blocking objectionable content proved relatively effective in our testing. Cyber- Patrol checks URLs for telltale patterns and matches them against a regularly updated list of blacklisted sites, then goes a step further by checking a page’s HTML source code and even evaluating the target of links on the page to help detect pages that might otherwise slip through the filter. Only with a concerted effort were we able to locate pages containing pornographic images that CyberPatrol didn’t block.

Where Are All the Computer Scientists?

This issue highlights lots of new technology created by smart people doing exciting work to move the industry forward. They work at big companies, small companies, and universities. Funding from venture capital firms and the government provides the incentive to pursue their ideas, but one thing is certain:
Most new technology comes from individuals who set out to learn about science and technology. The quality of U.S. educational institutions is still unparalleled. But the decline in the number of students majoring in science and engineering, and the even bigger decline of students in computer science, is alarming. The percentage of science and engineering students has been dropping for years. According to the National Science Foundation, science and engineering degrees granted in the U.S. have decreased steadily from about 35 percent in the 1960s to just under 32 percent by 2001, the last date for which the NSF has published data.time getting education visas. While I understand the need to be careful about visas for security reasons, making the process long and bureaucratic—or simply reducing the number of students allowed into the U.S.—seems short-sighted. I can’t count how many foreign nationals attended U.S. universities and then went on to start, run, or make major contributions to big tech companies here. Now, foreign nationals will study elsewhere, and when the time comes to build companies, they won’t be doing it in the U.S. Another trend is economic and cyclical. During the dot-com boom, CS students flourished, but during the bust, interest dried up. The HERI data shows a similar trend during the PC boom of the early 1980s. That too faded, but not nearly as much as it has now. In fact, the percentage of freshman CS students is lower than it has been at any time since 1976, when I was a computer science sophomore at Rensselaer.
I’m particularly concerned that recent graduates aren’t choosing computer science because they think that jobs will be outsourced to foreign countries. U.S. companies are indeed outsourcing some lower-level IT jobs. But the hype is larger than the reality. Most of the faculty members I’ve talked with say that their CS and IT graduates are having no trouble getting job offers. In fact, I know many big tech firms that are looking for new people and are having trouble finding the right candidates. Over the long term, if tech companies can’t find U.S. graduates, then they’ll hire more overseas. This trend would exacerbate the outsourcing issue and turn out to be a big problem for the U.S. A recent study from the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee states: “The global information technology–powered revolution is accelerating, but this nation has not yet fully awakened to the implications.” It argues for a bigger government role, especially in providing an infrastructure for connecting R&D centers and for redirected federal R&D priorities. But that’s only one answer.

Rich Web applications AJAX Based

An increasing number of Web applications take advantage of JavaScript, style sheets, and Dynamic HTML to make them much more robust. The buzzword for this is AJAX (which stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), and the kinds of things developers are doing with it are amazing. Consider the alternative interface that Yahoo! has been showing for Yahoo! Mail. Based on technology acquired when Yahoo! purchased Oddpost, it runs entirely in a browser, but feels like a desktop mail program. This is the most powerful Web mail interface we’ve seen so far,
but Google’s Gmail, which many people already use, is another great AJAX application. I’m also a huge fan of Google Earth (formerly Keyhole), which uses satellite data to let you find just about anything on Earth via the
Web. Its integration with Google Local is nothing short of spectacular. And now that it’s free, there’s no reason not to try it out.

Use CD or USB stick to clean up malware-infected PCs

Disinfect your PC

Start by downloading SUPERAntiSpyware Portable Scanner to your hard drive; this downloads the program and the very latest definition files so there's no need to try and update it after running the tool.

The downloaded file will be given a random filename and have a .com extension. This is normal, as it helps the program evade detection. Once downloaded, either burn this to CD or copy it to a USB flash drive. If you choose the latter option, make sure you write-protect the flash drive after doing so using a free tool called USB Write Protect, which will prevent the drive from becoming infected.

Now switch your attention to your infected PC. Reboot in Safe mode if possible, then insert the disc or flash drive and double-click the downloaded file to launch SUPERAntiSpyware Portable Scanner, which will hopefully both detect and remove the infection in question.

one out of every email sent is spam. I knew the number was high, but 124 percent

The report identifies increased competition among spammers as causing frustration for old-timers and leading to improved spamming techniques. "Competition is good for product development," says Barracuda. Male Bomber claims a three-fold increase in the effectiveness of its phishing email and five-fold for targeted marketing since early 2009 -- hence the LLC to its name. Male Bomber profits from illicit and legit (if unsolicited marketing email can be called that) spam operations.
FUCIA concedes that business is still good, just not as good for him personally as it was 24 months ago. He laughs about all the stupid "tards" who clicked on anything during the recession: "Mortgage refinancing, debt consolidation, credit card fraud warnings -- it was good phishing while it lasted."

But the recession also opened the floodgates of new spammers, who set up servers to "blast" email. "They have no class," FUCIA gripes. "There's an art to this business spammer blasters are too f*cking morons to see." Rustock rose to dominance following the 2008 global economic crisis, FUCIA claims.

"We used to worry about the cops, now our problem is competition," Barracuda gripes. That's the major reason Barracuda is glad to see Rustock gone. "No spammer should command such influence," he said. "It's bad business for everyone else."

Barracuda has called on his competitors to adopt a proposed "Code of Ethics for Spammers" that would better demarcate them from their real enemies -- law enforcement, Microsoft and peddlers of anti-malware software. "We have to work together against our real adversaries," Barracuda says. He has created a motto for the code of ethics: "I've got your back."

FUCIA believes cooperation is possible. "We all want to make money, and the Internet is big enough for us all." He alleges -- and Betanews couldn't confirm -- that three spammers, all members of the code of ethics coalition, leaked information on forums and Facebook that helped Microsoft and law enforcement bring down Rustock. "We posted first to IRC, sure that the bad guys [Microsoft and law enforcement] would get it," FUCIA says. "They didn't. LOL! And we had been all so sh*t for brains they monitored IRC. We had to dumb it down for them on Facebook. WTF?"

Recovering Images from Memory Cards

To retrieve lost photos, you’ll need image recovery software. We reviewed several such products in our recent Utility Guide Nearly all let you recover from the most common situations of erasure and data corruption for JPEGs. Two good tools are ImageRecall,our Editors’ Choice (FlashFixers, $39.95 direct, www.flashfixers.com llllm), and PhotoRescue ($29 direct, DataRescue sa/nv, www.datarescue.com lllhm). Download and install a recovery tool, select the location (or drive letter) of the flash card, and run a scan. You may be offered a standard or a deep scan. For accidentally deleted files, standard may be enough. It will list files, or show thumbnails of potentially recoverable files. Pick the ones you want to recover—“All” is the best choice—and a hard-drive location where they should go. Your odds of success are best with deleted files and second-best with corrupted disks. They are worst with an image that was being written when the card was removed or power lost. If you’re lucky, you may be able to save part of the image.

TCP PORT ATTACK IMMINENT

An ominous increase in sniffing activity on TCP Port 445 could signal an impending attack targeting a recently patched Microsoft vulnerability. Researchers at Symantec Corp.’s DeepSight Network have detected a surge in scans on Port 445, an indication that malicious hackers may have already created exploits for a flaw in Microsoft Corp.’s implementation of the SMB (Server Message Block) protocol.
In Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003, Microsoft uses TCP Port 445 to run SMB directly over TCP/IP to handle the sharing of files, printers, and serial ports, and also for communication between computers. The vulnerability, which was rated “critical,” was patched in Microsoft’s June 14 MS05-027 bulletin, and the increased noise on that port could be the first sign that a password bruteforce attack is imminent. A spokesperson for Microsoft’s Security Response Center said the company was not aware of any active attempts to exploit the vulnerability. “Port scanning is an activity that may be indicative of an attempt to discover attack vectors against any vendor product and is not an activity unique to Microsoft products,”

THE 20 GIG CREDIT CARD Holographic storage

Holographic storage promises a new generation of drives that store data as a 3D image and pave the way for supersize drives with remarkably fast access times. On a holographic disc, the data is recorded throughout the volume of the recording media. InPhase Technologies has announced it will ship a holographic drive next year that can store 300GB of data on a CD-sized disc and deliver access times of less than 200 milliseconds (see photo). Maxell will manufacture the discs. InPhase is shooting for discs with a whopping 1.6TB of capacity by 2009. The initial write-once discs will be geared for archival storage; the next generation will be rewritable. Holographic storage can achieve such massive densities that storing 20GB of data on a credit card could soon be possible.

Remote Possibilities

When relationships founder, arguments about remote controls— proliferation, complexity, who had them last—are the culprits 16 percent of the time, says a recent Cosmo survey. Actually, there is no such survey, but this conclusion is probably true.

• One way to foster domestic bliss is to buy a universal remote control. We review seven remotes here, most of them programmable via your PC. The RCA and weemote devices, though not PC-programmable, might be worth considering to supplement one of the higher-end remotes featured in this roundup. And the Gyration, while not universal, is a great addition to your PC media setup.

Linksys Wireless-G Game Adapter

The Linksys Wireless-G Game Adapter gets the job done but leaves a lot to be desired. It’s the biggest unit in this roundup, and you must configure it using a PC over Ethernet before you attach it to a PS2 or an Xbox.

The setup wizard is rough around the edges, and there’s no site-survey tool, so you’ll have to type in the SSID of your wireless LAN manually. The worst flaw, though, is that you can’t select DHCP from the setup wizard; you must use the Web-based management GUI to choose the most common method of assigning IP addresses. The adapter has an external switch to toggle between ad hoc and infrastructure modes. Configuration isn’t as easy as it should be, but once configured, the adapter connected without any difficulty to our wireless LANs, using both the PS2 and the Xbox.

D-Link DGL-3420 Wireless 108AG

The smallest adapter we reviewed, the D-Link DGL-3420 Wireless 108AG Gaming Adapter is the only one we saw that supports 802.11a as well as 802.11g. Powered by GameFuel technology, which prioritizes gaming traffic, the adapter was also the only one in our roundup that the Xbox could configure directly. If you want to use it with a PS2, you’ll have to configure via PC and Ethernet. The Web-based GUI management tool has a helpful site survey that let us select our wireless network from a list of those detected. We were unable to attach to either of our 802.11b networks (one with WEP and one without), but had no problem connecting to our 802.11g network.
One annoyance is that the Web GUI requires a username and password to log on; these are only in the PDF manual, which comes on a CD. The setup wizard makes configuration a snap, though, and firmware was easy to upgrade.