You as a software programmer, has done everything possible to make your software as good as possible. Now you want to distribute your program. You cannot afford the installer of your software to be bugged or having problems.
The installer you choose will be the first experience of a user with your application. Now, just imagine what a person running your setup sees that it is bugged or has other problems. This makes the user have a bad outlook on the software. Slow or unsuccessful software installation are the most irritating computer problems. Having waited for some time for your software to download only to find the the setup is bugged is just maddening for anyone.
Therefore a quick and user-friendly software installer is the key for the success of your software. What are the other features a good installer should have? Well, to start with, an installer needs to place a small overhead (the size of the installer software) over your existing size of your software files. There are many installers available on the market which provide you with very small overheads.
You installer software need to be compatible with all major Windows versions. Just think how stupid that would be if you create a software which works on all Windows platform only to notice that your installer works only on Windows XP. This would limit your software audience and make you feel you have wasted effort in creating a software which works on all Windows platform.
Similar to the requirement of your installer to be able to work on all major Windows version, your setup should also be multilingual if your software is. What's the use of creating a multilingual software if your setup is in English only and the foreign-languaged user cannot go beyond the first page of your installer due to language barriers.
Another feature which is important in an installer software is its support for many compression formats. This will enable you to choose which format you want to use to compress your software files.
If you are creating a software which will update itself very often, you might want to make your installer check for new updates during the install and download them. This might be very useful in situation where your software is an anti-virus or any other sort of software. Your installer might also posses the ability to download patches and apply it to existing installation of your software.
Other things which your software installer should have might be self-contained executable installers. This means that all files are packed and made into an executable. This is useful for web distribution of your software. You might also want to add custom pages to your installer, letting users choose the components they want to install, having an installer integrity check, make huge sized installers, and more.
To conclude this article, I would like to advise you to really spend some time over choosing your software installer if you do not want to be disappointed with it. This will ensure the success of your software.
Hirvesh Marshall maintains a web page on FREE Free Setup Makers/Builders/Utilities (Application Deployment) (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc/freesetupmakers.html) at Codefusion Lab. Codefusion Lab is a site dedicated to provide free and useful software to other persons. You can get more software at Codefusion Lab: Free PC Tools and Webmaster's Resource (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc).
Thursday, July 17, 2008
How To Effectively Immunize Your Computer Against Viruses
Many newbie computer users have a hard time keeping their computer free of viruses. This is because they do not know what to do to immunize their computer in first place when it newly bought. One of the first thing you do when you buy your computer is activate your antivirus software.
If you have a firewall, activate this one also and give only the antivirus permission to access the Internet. Then, click on the option in your antivirus to update itself. If you do not know how to do this, check your antivirus' manual.
While updating the antivirus, do not allow any other program to access your computer from the Internet, nor let any software access the Internet from your computer (except trusted ones).
When updated, disconnect from the Internet (not mandatory) and do a scan of the whole of your computer. What I mean by the whole of it is that you need to scan your memory (if the antivirus has the option), all your hard drives and removable media.
Now, if your antivirus software has an option of scanning all external storage media when they are being inserted, allow it for if you do not scan your incoming files from external sources, you might get infected.
Make sure your antivirus' auto-update option is on to enable it to get the latest virus definitions from the maker of the software.
If you use an email client like Thunderbird, make sure your antivirus scans incoming email so that you are not surprised with any virus here again.
If you are downloading files from the Internet, make sure you scan them before running them - they might contain viruses.
If your antivirus cannot remove a virus, make sure you ask the antivirus to quarantine it. Quarantining a virus is something like putting a criminal into prison.
Always run regular virus scans on your computer - you might never know when you might find a virus.
If you cannot install an antivirus software on the computer due to access/administrative rights, make sure you are virus-free by running an online virus scanning software.
Finally, make sure you get a reliable antivirus solution. You can get many of them for free on the Internet.
Hirvesh Marshall maintains a web page on FREE Antivirus Software (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc/freeantivirus.html) at Codefusion Lab. Codefusion Lab is a site dedicated to provide free and useful software to other persons. You can get more software at Codefusion Lab: Free PC Tools and Webmaster's Resource (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc).
If you have a firewall, activate this one also and give only the antivirus permission to access the Internet. Then, click on the option in your antivirus to update itself. If you do not know how to do this, check your antivirus' manual.
While updating the antivirus, do not allow any other program to access your computer from the Internet, nor let any software access the Internet from your computer (except trusted ones).
When updated, disconnect from the Internet (not mandatory) and do a scan of the whole of your computer. What I mean by the whole of it is that you need to scan your memory (if the antivirus has the option), all your hard drives and removable media.
Now, if your antivirus software has an option of scanning all external storage media when they are being inserted, allow it for if you do not scan your incoming files from external sources, you might get infected.
Make sure your antivirus' auto-update option is on to enable it to get the latest virus definitions from the maker of the software.
If you use an email client like Thunderbird, make sure your antivirus scans incoming email so that you are not surprised with any virus here again.
If you are downloading files from the Internet, make sure you scan them before running them - they might contain viruses.
If your antivirus cannot remove a virus, make sure you ask the antivirus to quarantine it. Quarantining a virus is something like putting a criminal into prison.
Always run regular virus scans on your computer - you might never know when you might find a virus.
If you cannot install an antivirus software on the computer due to access/administrative rights, make sure you are virus-free by running an online virus scanning software.
Finally, make sure you get a reliable antivirus solution. You can get many of them for free on the Internet.
Hirvesh Marshall maintains a web page on FREE Antivirus Software (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc/freeantivirus.html) at Codefusion Lab. Codefusion Lab is a site dedicated to provide free and useful software to other persons. You can get more software at Codefusion Lab: Free PC Tools and Webmaster's Resource (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc).
How To Compress Your Executables and DLLs, And Be Able To Run/Use Them Without Decompressing?
What we will be discussing in this article is executable (files with .exe extension) and dll (files with .dll extension) compressors/packers. What is this type of software, where can they be used and how can they be useful. What are their advantages? All of these questions will be answered here.
The packers, as we call them, are special software designed to compress executables and dll on your operating system so that you can save in disk space while maintaining program integrity and moreover be able to run them without the need of manual decompression.
How does this work? The packer compresses your executable. When you run the executable, it will run exactly as before, with nothing to indicate that it has been compressed, except in loading speed.
How can compressing my executables and dlls decrease my program's load time? What is meant by load time here is the time taken to load the application into the computer's memory (RAM). When you compress the executable or dll's size, the latter decreases. A small size means that the hard disk (which is mechanical) has to do a lot less of work to load it into the memory. Then once in the memory, the computer decompresses it. Now, you might be asking yourself the decompression time might take time. However, you need to know that the computer memory (RAM) is electronic. This means that all of the actions are done very quickly compared to the hard disk. This means that overall, executable/dll loading speed is decreased if they are compressed.
Now, what are the advantages?
- Saves up disk space
- Decreases executable/dll load time
- Decreases download time if executable/dll is being downloaded from the Internet
- If you are launching the application over a network, the application load time is reduced.
- Bandwidth is saved if you are offering the executable/dll for download
- Other distribution and storage costs is reduced
There is no reason for you not to compress your executables and dlls. Compressing your executables and dlls is advantageous for you.
Hirvesh Marshall maintains a web page on FREE Executable And DLL Compressors and Archiving Utilities (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc/freefilecompressorsarchivers.html) at Codefusion Lab. Codefusion Lab is a site dedicated to provide free and useful software to other persons. You can get more software at Codefusion Lab: Free PC Tools and Webmaster's Resource (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc).
The packers, as we call them, are special software designed to compress executables and dll on your operating system so that you can save in disk space while maintaining program integrity and moreover be able to run them without the need of manual decompression.
How does this work? The packer compresses your executable. When you run the executable, it will run exactly as before, with nothing to indicate that it has been compressed, except in loading speed.
How can compressing my executables and dlls decrease my program's load time? What is meant by load time here is the time taken to load the application into the computer's memory (RAM). When you compress the executable or dll's size, the latter decreases. A small size means that the hard disk (which is mechanical) has to do a lot less of work to load it into the memory. Then once in the memory, the computer decompresses it. Now, you might be asking yourself the decompression time might take time. However, you need to know that the computer memory (RAM) is electronic. This means that all of the actions are done very quickly compared to the hard disk. This means that overall, executable/dll loading speed is decreased if they are compressed.
Now, what are the advantages?
- Saves up disk space
- Decreases executable/dll load time
- Decreases download time if executable/dll is being downloaded from the Internet
- If you are launching the application over a network, the application load time is reduced.
- Bandwidth is saved if you are offering the executable/dll for download
- Other distribution and storage costs is reduced
There is no reason for you not to compress your executables and dlls. Compressing your executables and dlls is advantageous for you.
Hirvesh Marshall maintains a web page on FREE Executable And DLL Compressors and Archiving Utilities (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc/freefilecompressorsarchivers.html) at Codefusion Lab. Codefusion Lab is a site dedicated to provide free and useful software to other persons. You can get more software at Codefusion Lab: Free PC Tools and Webmaster's Resource (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc).
Hard Disk Encryption Software Provides Better Security!
As a regular computer user or business person, you might notice that you have a lot of confidential data stored on your computer. Imagine this scenario: someone breaks into your office or your home and steals your computer. Now, if you have personal information stored on that computer and if the bugler is intelligent enough to to know the value of the data, he can make severe misuse of it. You might be thinking that stealing a computer from a building, which is locked, might be far-fetched. How about the thief going for your laptop? This is a very possible scenario and can happen to you any time.
This is why you need to protect your data using a proven method. The question now is: which method? Using password protection on your operating system is pretty useless nowadays. The thief only has to unmount the hard disk from your computer and plug it into his one and access your data using his operating system. If you are thinking about using password protection features of popular office packages or zipping tools, you might as well know it now that these passwords can easily be recovered using any of the numerous password recovery tools availbe on the internet for these types of software.
So the obvious anwser to this problem is encrypting your data. However, not all types of encryption methods will be good for every use. You need to choose one which will make your life easy. If you decide to use single file encryption, then you might be heading for a frustrating method. If you have to access 10 files on a day, you will need to provide the password 10 times! You can see how stressing this can be, especially if you choose a long password for security reasons.
So the most appropriate method of encrypting your data is to use a hard disk encryption utility, which are also known as OTFE (On The Fly Encryption). These software can encrypt your files in three possible ways which are very similar.
The first way to encrypt your files is to use the tool and encrypt your whole hard disk. This means that whenever you want to access the files on that drive, you will need to provide your passowrd or whatever means of identification (figerprint, iris/voice recognition, keys, etc). However, there is one major problem with hard complete disk encryption. If you encrypt the whole hard disk, you encrypt the boot sector of the drive. If the boot sector of the drive is encrypted, the operating system cannot load the drive. Thus you cannnot access your files and a reformatting is required. There may be work-arounds to this problem but I do not recommended complete hard disk encryption.
The second way is to encrypt specific folders using the disk encrypion tool. This might work okay but if you encrypt too many folders, you might have the original problem of sinlge file encryption unearthed again. What I means here is that you will need to re-enter your passwords for each folder you have encrypted.
The final and best method is to create a virtual hard disk or encrypted container as they call it. This will create a file which you will be able to mount as a virtual drive, of course after providing necessay identifications. Then you will see a hard disk appear alongside your other hard disk in your computer, You can then use it as a regular one. After using it, you can unmount it and have your file safeguarded since nobody can access the container witohut the proper identification.
To conclude this, I would like to ask you to choose a good password. Choosing a good password is vital since if you choose an easy to crack password, encryption of data will be futile.
Hirvesh Marshall maintains a web page on FREE On The Fly Disk Encryption Software (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc/freeontheflydiskfileencryption.html) at Codefusion Lab. Codefusion Lab is a site dedicated to provide free and useful software to other persons. You can get more software at Codefusion Lab: Free PC Tools and Webmaster's Resource (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc).
This is why you need to protect your data using a proven method. The question now is: which method? Using password protection on your operating system is pretty useless nowadays. The thief only has to unmount the hard disk from your computer and plug it into his one and access your data using his operating system. If you are thinking about using password protection features of popular office packages or zipping tools, you might as well know it now that these passwords can easily be recovered using any of the numerous password recovery tools availbe on the internet for these types of software.
So the obvious anwser to this problem is encrypting your data. However, not all types of encryption methods will be good for every use. You need to choose one which will make your life easy. If you decide to use single file encryption, then you might be heading for a frustrating method. If you have to access 10 files on a day, you will need to provide the password 10 times! You can see how stressing this can be, especially if you choose a long password for security reasons.
So the most appropriate method of encrypting your data is to use a hard disk encryption utility, which are also known as OTFE (On The Fly Encryption). These software can encrypt your files in three possible ways which are very similar.
The first way to encrypt your files is to use the tool and encrypt your whole hard disk. This means that whenever you want to access the files on that drive, you will need to provide your passowrd or whatever means of identification (figerprint, iris/voice recognition, keys, etc). However, there is one major problem with hard complete disk encryption. If you encrypt the whole hard disk, you encrypt the boot sector of the drive. If the boot sector of the drive is encrypted, the operating system cannot load the drive. Thus you cannnot access your files and a reformatting is required. There may be work-arounds to this problem but I do not recommended complete hard disk encryption.
The second way is to encrypt specific folders using the disk encrypion tool. This might work okay but if you encrypt too many folders, you might have the original problem of sinlge file encryption unearthed again. What I means here is that you will need to re-enter your passwords for each folder you have encrypted.
The final and best method is to create a virtual hard disk or encrypted container as they call it. This will create a file which you will be able to mount as a virtual drive, of course after providing necessay identifications. Then you will see a hard disk appear alongside your other hard disk in your computer, You can then use it as a regular one. After using it, you can unmount it and have your file safeguarded since nobody can access the container witohut the proper identification.
To conclude this, I would like to ask you to choose a good password. Choosing a good password is vital since if you choose an easy to crack password, encryption of data will be futile.
Hirvesh Marshall maintains a web page on FREE On The Fly Disk Encryption Software (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc/freeontheflydiskfileencryption.html) at Codefusion Lab. Codefusion Lab is a site dedicated to provide free and useful software to other persons. You can get more software at Codefusion Lab: Free PC Tools and Webmaster's Resource (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc).
Do Use Internet Explorer As Your Browser? The Grass Is Greener Elsewhere!
Who does not know Internet Explorer? Internet Explorer (abbreviated IE) is a well-know web browser created by Microsoft. During the early days of Internet, IE and Netscape browsers were locking horns to capture the bigger share of the web browser market. With newer technologies, both browsers evolved. Microsoft IE was now being shipped with the Windows operating system. This meant that the commercial Netscape browser was doomed. IE dominated the browser world for some years before other free alternative browsers came on the market.
However, with age IE was starting to look vulnerable to attacks, hijacking and more. The vulnerability was more pronounced due to IE's tight integration with Windows and its supports for ActiveX. ActiveX is a technology from Microsoft which allows web applications to have more power than simple script-based ones. ActiveX applications can have really unrestricted access to your files. This means that you have to be really careful about which ActiveX applications you accept.
To help you know which ones are trustworthy, some of the ActiveX applications are signed and some are unsigned. An unsigned ActiveX application should never be trusted. Even some of the signed ones cannot be trusted. You have to exercise a high level of caution when dealing with ActiveX.
A browser hijacker, on the other hand is another program using ActiveX technology to edit registry settings to change IE's homepage and search pages. You usually detect this kind of program, when you notice that your homepage has been changed without you doing anything. Some browser hijacker even restore the registry setting on each Windows session. This means that even if you restored your default homepage in your browser, it still gets changed to the hijacked one every time you start Windows.
Another area in which Internet Explorer is very vulnerable is when BHOs (Browser Helper Objects) are installed as extensions to IE. You might see some BHOs being toolbars added to Internet Explorer. The toolbar might be helpful to you, but it might also contain some hidden functions. These functions can redirect you to advertisings instead of the page you want to see.
If you need a clean and safe Internet browser, I recommended you to move away from Internet Explorer. Even though the latest version of Internet Explorer might contains additional safety features, it will still have vulnerabilities due to its support for ActiveX and its tight integration with Windows.
Hirvesh Marshall maintains a web page on FREE Web Browsers (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc/freewebbrowsers.html) at Codefusion Lab. Codefusion Lab is a site dedicated to provide free and useful software to other persons. You can get more software at Codefusion Lab: Free PC Tools and Webmaster's Resource (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc).
However, with age IE was starting to look vulnerable to attacks, hijacking and more. The vulnerability was more pronounced due to IE's tight integration with Windows and its supports for ActiveX. ActiveX is a technology from Microsoft which allows web applications to have more power than simple script-based ones. ActiveX applications can have really unrestricted access to your files. This means that you have to be really careful about which ActiveX applications you accept.
To help you know which ones are trustworthy, some of the ActiveX applications are signed and some are unsigned. An unsigned ActiveX application should never be trusted. Even some of the signed ones cannot be trusted. You have to exercise a high level of caution when dealing with ActiveX.
Dialers and hijackers use ActiveX to cause havoc on your computer. A dialer program is a small application, which is installed on the host computer using an ActiveX component. A dialer often is described as a program which will give you access to commercial software, free cracks, free games and unlimited porn. However, you need to know that once a dialer is installed on your computer, it connects you to Internet services with high cost rates. Many of the unfortunate users do not know how much they will be paying until they receive their next telephone bill.
A browser hijacker, on the other hand is another program using ActiveX technology to edit registry settings to change IE's homepage and search pages. You usually detect this kind of program, when you notice that your homepage has been changed without you doing anything. Some browser hijacker even restore the registry setting on each Windows session. This means that even if you restored your default homepage in your browser, it still gets changed to the hijacked one every time you start Windows.
Another area in which Internet Explorer is very vulnerable is when BHOs (Browser Helper Objects) are installed as extensions to IE. You might see some BHOs being toolbars added to Internet Explorer. The toolbar might be helpful to you, but it might also contain some hidden functions. These functions can redirect you to advertisings instead of the page you want to see.
If you need a clean and safe Internet browser, I recommended you to move away from Internet Explorer. Even though the latest version of Internet Explorer might contains additional safety features, it will still have vulnerabilities due to its support for ActiveX and its tight integration with Windows.
Hirvesh Marshall maintains a web page on FREE Web Browsers (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc/freewebbrowsers.html) at Codefusion Lab. Codefusion Lab is a site dedicated to provide free and useful software to other persons. You can get more software at Codefusion Lab: Free PC Tools and Webmaster's Resource (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc).
Dangerous Things You Might Not Know About Spyware
The term Spyware was first coined in the year 2000 by Gregor Freund, founder of renowned security software company, Zone Labs. Many persons ignore the term Spyware. In this article, I will try to shed some light on this type of software.
Spyware is software which is installed clandestinely on your computer to intercept or take fractional control over the user’s interaction with the machine without the user knowing it. Spyware is a somewhat a new kind of computer threat, which is putting our computer security at risk. Spyware are more often than not small added extras to a focal product you are installing. Many people do not read the EULA (End User License Agreement) before installing software. Usually in these EULAs, there is a part, which tells you about those add-ons, but not many of us care to read so long agreements.
You can also become infected with Spyware by downloading shareware or through auto-downloads which start when you click advertising on the net.
The symptoms of Spyware presence usually is slow network traffic, unusually high level of disk usage, alarming levels of CPU activity and more. You can also notice system crashed and alien processes running in background on your computer. If you are surfing the Internet, you will also notice things like slow Internet speed, auto-redirecting to other pages or a change in your homepage.
Unlike viruses, Spyware does not spread by itself. It resides in the infected computer, unless it is purposely moved to another computer. They remain on the computer collecting personal information to send to the makers of the Spyware, which sell it to other companies for marketing purposes.
Old anti-virus software does not have the ability to handle these security threats and newer ones are not able to fully cope with the problem.
You need an anti-spyware solution to root out this trouble-making software. You will find many commercial anti-spyware solutions on the Internet, however, some of the best anti-spyware software are FREE and out-perform even the commercial ones.
Spyware is software which is installed clandestinely on your computer to intercept or take fractional control over the user’s interaction with the machine without the user knowing it. You need to know all the truth about Spware and how to counter them. You also need to know what are the best FREE anti-spyware software on the market. Get on the safe side now.Hirvesh Marshall maintains a web page on FREE Anti-Spyware Software (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc/freeantisypware.html) at Codefusion Lab. Codefusion Lab is a site dedicated to provide free and useful software to other persons. You can get more software at Codefusion Lab: Free PC Tools and Webmaster's Resource (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc).A Hard Disk In Good Condition Can Make The Difference
Everybody knows that a computer stores its data primarily on a hard disk, also know as a hard drive. The hard disk is vital for a computer to run. Unless the hard disk is replaced by something more effective in the future, I cannot see why you would not care to know how to maintain your hard disk at home.
The hard disk consists of one or more disk platters, each having a specific number of concentric circles called tracks. Each track is then divided into sectors which store the data. When you format a hard disk, all the tracks and sectors are erased and new ones are written. This also erases the data on the drive.
Now, when loads of data is stored on the surface of the drive and you request for something to be opened, the hard disk heads have to sift through all the data to find the one you asked for.
If the data were arranged in a continuous pattern, meaning that a file is stored in one whole piece on the drive, then it is very easy and quick for the drive to fetch the file. However that is usually not the case.
Suppose you have 5 different files of 25 KB stored on your hard disk in a continuous pattern. You delete the first file, leave the second, delete the third, leave the fourth and delete the fifth. The total space freed up is 75 KB. Now you ask for a new 75 KB file to be stored on the hard disk. The computer will not find a new block of 75 KB to store the new file, but split the latter into blocks of 25 KB and store them in the different places on the hard disk.
If you request the new file to be read, the hard disk has to read the first 25 KB from the first location, then the second 25 KB from another location, and finally the remaining 25 KB from another location, join the three parts up and show you the file. This decreases the performance of your hard disk. The splitting of the file is called fragmentation in computer slang. You need to 'defragmment' your hard disk to make the stream of data continuous. If you avoid this step (defragmentation), you will hear your hard disk making a lot of noise while reading file. This is called thrashing. To reduce the noise, do a disk defragment.
Hirvesh Marshall maintains a web page on FREE hard disk tools (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc/freedisktools.html) at Codefusion Lab. Codefusion Lab is a site dedicated to provide free and useful software to other persons. You can get more software at Codefusion Lab: Free PC Tools and Webmaster's Resource (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc).
The hard disk consists of one or more disk platters, each having a specific number of concentric circles called tracks. Each track is then divided into sectors which store the data. When you format a hard disk, all the tracks and sectors are erased and new ones are written. This also erases the data on the drive.
Now, when loads of data is stored on the surface of the drive and you request for something to be opened, the hard disk heads have to sift through all the data to find the one you asked for.
If the data were arranged in a continuous pattern, meaning that a file is stored in one whole piece on the drive, then it is very easy and quick for the drive to fetch the file. However that is usually not the case.
Suppose you have 5 different files of 25 KB stored on your hard disk in a continuous pattern. You delete the first file, leave the second, delete the third, leave the fourth and delete the fifth. The total space freed up is 75 KB. Now you ask for a new 75 KB file to be stored on the hard disk. The computer will not find a new block of 75 KB to store the new file, but split the latter into blocks of 25 KB and store them in the different places on the hard disk.
If you request the new file to be read, the hard disk has to read the first 25 KB from the first location, then the second 25 KB from another location, and finally the remaining 25 KB from another location, join the three parts up and show you the file. This decreases the performance of your hard disk. The splitting of the file is called fragmentation in computer slang. You need to 'defragmment' your hard disk to make the stream of data continuous. If you avoid this step (defragmentation), you will hear your hard disk making a lot of noise while reading file. This is called thrashing. To reduce the noise, do a disk defragment.
Hirvesh Marshall maintains a web page on FREE hard disk tools (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc/freedisktools.html) at Codefusion Lab. Codefusion Lab is a site dedicated to provide free and useful software to other persons. You can get more software at Codefusion Lab: Free PC Tools and Webmaster's Resource (http://www.codefusionlab.co.cc).
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)