Friday, December 8, 2006

Why Google advertising on Adwords

Recently in alot of blogs and sites they comment that Google is advertising its own products and services in google AdWords. In the Google Groups named inside-adwords they have posted the comment given by Walter H., from Google Marketing,

Being rather proud of AdWords as a means to effectively advertise one's products or services, it seems natural to use it ourselves. Since it's a common practice across the industry for companies to promote their own products and services through their own web presence, there is much precedent to do this.

It's important to note, however, that our ads are created and managed under the exact same guidelines, principles, practices and algorithms as the ads of any other advertiser. Likewise, we use the very same tools and account interface.

As does any advertiser, we aim to give our campaigns a budget which is in line with their value to us in terms of the increased traffic we might see. We actively monitor and manage the success of our ads by adjusting ad copy, keywords, bids, and so forth in the same way any advertiser who is concerned with their account performance would.

That said, there are no special buttons to push or levers to pull that give our internal account managers special treatment or leverage. Quality Score is automatically evaluated in the same way for our keywords as it is for any advertiser's keywords. Likewise, the potential to show up in the top spots above the search results is the same for Google's ads as it is for any other. We rely on the AdWords system to let relevancy and usefulness to our users be the driving force behind our ad placement. As such, we do not intentionally try to secure a top position. In fact, we generally aim for a more 'conservative' position.

As was already mentioned, there are no algorithm changes to 'smooth the way' for Google's ads -- and the accounts of 'competing' advertisers (should there be any for particular keywords or Ad Groups) are never referenced in any way.

We're quite proud of the advertising platform we've built and it simply makes sense for us to use it. At the same time, the trust of both our users and our advertisers is of paramount importance. We honor that responsibility, and work hard to earn and keep that trust.

I hope now everybody stop commenting on this issue anymore. Thanks for Blake, Inside AdWords crew who posted in that group.

Wednesday, December 6, 2006

MySpace to Purge Sex Offenders

MySpace announced today it will begin searching its 100 million-plus user list for people listed in a national database of sex offenders.

About MySpace.com

MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering popular culture and making a positive impact on the world. By integrating web profiles, video, mobile communications, instant messaging and more, MySpace has created a connected community with a wide array of communication choices. As the second-ranked web domain in terms of page views(a), MySpace is the world’s most widely-used and highly-regarded site of its kind. MySpace’s global network includes localized community sites in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Germany, Australia and Ireland.

MySpace.com, the leading social networking and lifestyle portal, and Sentinel Tech Holding Corp., the leading online identity and background verification company, announced today a joint effort to build Sentinel Safe, a technology that will allow the company to block convicted sex offenders from accessing the popular website. Through this landmark partnership, MySpace will be able to search existing state and federal databases to identify and delete the profiles of registered sex offenders.
To read more about this story visit the press release.

Cheapest Web Hosting Service

Nowadays alot of people is offering very good hosting service for affordable price.  So far no one beat this hosting companies price. I have hosted three websites with them and their support and service is best. So I thought of suggesting this website to my visitors. They have 5 packages according to the customers convenient.
They provide
  1. 100MB space, 10 GB monthly bandwidth, Parked Domains 1 and charging US$12 for one year.
  2. 400 MB space, unlimited monthly bandwidth, Parked domains 2 so you can host three websites under one account and charging US$33 for one year if you signup for annual billing plan.
  3. 800 MB space, unlimited monthly bandwidth, Parked domains 4 so you can host five websites under one account and charging US$55 for one year if you signup for annual billing plan.
  4. 2 GB space, unlimited monthly bandwidth, Parked domains 9 so you can host ten websites under one account and charging US$88 for one year if you signup for annual billing plan.
  5. 5 GB space, unlimited monthly bandwidth, Parked domains 5 so you can host two websites under one account and charging US$44 for one year if you signup for annual billing plan.
For more details and to signup visit this hosting service 3ix.

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Windows Environmental Variables

Environment Variables are stored in a small area of memory available to all programs running within or on top of the DOS environment (including Windows). They are called “variables” because they can be changed. In fact, some variables need to be reestablished after every reboot.


Variable names are NOT case sensitive.















VariableSample Typical Value
%SystemDrive%C:
%SystemRoot%C:\WINNT
C:\WINDOWS
%SystemDirectory%C:\WINNT\System32
C:\WINDOWS\System32
%WinDir%C:\WINNT
C:\WINDOWS
____C:\WINNT\Program Files
%ComSpec%C:\WINNT\system32\cmd.exe
%Temp%
%Tmp%
C:\DOCUME~1\Usr\LOCALS~1\Temp from

C:\Documents and Settings\Usr\Local Settings\Temp
%HOMEDRIVE%C: The drive letter associated with the user's home directory
%HOMEPATH%The path to the user's home directory (excluding drive):
\Documents and Settings\Guest
%OS%Windows_NT
The operating system the user is running
%USERDOMAIN%The name of the domain that contains the user's account
%USERNAME%The user's name


These Environment Variables are automatically created by Windows upon boot-up.
Dont think the list is only few. Still have alot. Look at this website for more variables. http://www.wilsonmar.com/1envvars.htm

An Error (-5099 : 0x8002802b) has occurred while running the setup

While you are running the setup for a program which uses Install Shield you can get this error mentioned below

An Error (-5099 : 0x8002802b) has occurred while running the setup.
Please make sure you have finished any previous setup and closed other applications. If the error still occurs, please contact your vendor: Your-Vendor name here.
To resolve this problem you do the following steps:
This occurs when there are multiple instances of the setup installer running at the same time. Resolve this issue by following the steps below to rename the InstallShield directory.
  1. Right-click Start, then left-click Explore. Windows Explorer opens.
  2. Click the Program Files folder. The Program Files folder expands.
  3. Click the Common Files folder. The Common Files folder expands.
  4. Click the InstallShield folder. The InstallShield folder expands.
  5. Click the Professional folder. The Professional directory expands.
  6. Click the Runtime folder. The Runtime directory expands.
  7. Right-click the 0700 folder and left-click Rename.
  8. Type 0701 and press the Enter key on the keyboard.
  9. Run the Installation program again.

Cpanel/WHM Account Creator PHP Script

I was searching for a php script to create run time new sub domain in php. On my website any user can select new template and I can display user's company name as subdomain like (www.mywebsite.com/usercom) on my site. While searching for this tool I got it at a website www.zubrag.com. The requirement for this script is CPanelWHM.
Features:
  • Quick and easy setup: just download it, unzip, open in your favorite plain text editor (like Notepad for Window, or vi for Unix, etc.), update script with your WHM account login data (YOUR WHM LOGIN DATA block), and save it somewhere on your server.
  • No need to login to your WHM each time you need to create new user account. You will provide only new user account settings.
  • Script can be executed either from browser, or run from your existing PHP script.
  • All options for new account can be tuned by passing parameters to the script.
  • You can password protect it from cPanel, or using simple password protection script.
Accepted parameters:
  • domain - domain or subdomain to be assigned to new account. Sample domain: reseller.com, Sample sub-domain: newuser.reseller.com
  • user - new account username
  • password - password for new account
  • package - hosting package (plan) for the user. Package needs to be setup already using WHM. Quota is controlled in package
Sample usage (3 possible options):
  • Enter script's url in the browser, fill the form data, and press Create Account button
  • Create account by passing all parameters via url.
    http://domain.com/auto/create-whm-account.php?domain=reseller.com&user=hosting&password=manager&package=unix2
  • If you want to execute it from existing php script then add following code
    $user_domain = "userdomain"; // new account domain
    $user_name = "username"; // new account username
    $user_pass = "password"; // new account password
    $user_plan = "hosting_plan"; // new account hosting package (plan)
    include ("create-whm-account.php"); // this will create domain / subdomain
You can download the script from http://www.zubrag.com/scripts/create-cpanel-whm-account.php

Ebay tool that automatically places a higher bid

I hope everyone knows about Ebay, auction website. Once the ebay booms up in the market our software professionals comesout with softwares related to Ebay. One such tool that automatically places a higher bid when you are away from the computer. These tools for eBay that automatically posts a higher bid when you get outbid and if you are away from your computer and want to make sure you win the auction per say.
Some are:

eSnipe - http://www.esnipe.com/
Auction Sniper - http://www.auctionsniper.com/
Bidnapper - http://www.bidnapper.com/
Powersnipe - http://www.powersnipe.com/
BayGenie- http://www.baygenie.com/

This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device error 31

Cannot Access CD-ROM and "Code 31" Error Message in Device Manager After You Remove Adaptec Easy CD Creator from Your Computer
SYMPTOMS
After you remove Adaptec Easy CD Creator versions 5.01 and earlier or DirectCD version 3.01 or 3.01c from your computer, your computer may experience the following behavior:
• You are cannot access your CD-ROMs in My Computer.
• In Device Manager, the following error message occurs with all CD-ROM devices connected to your system:
The device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device (Code 31).
• The Device Manager displays the following error code message:
A driver for this device was not required, and has been turned off (Code 32 or Code 31).
NOTE: You may also receive an error code 39 message that indicates that the driver is corrupted.

• The Device Manager displays the following error code message:
Your registry might be corrupted. (Code 19)
This code means that the registry returned an unknown result.

Method One

1.Remove the Upperfilters and Lowerfilters values completely from the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
NOTE: If you are getting a code 39 message, it may be that additional third-party filter drivers were added to UpperFilters and LowerFilters values in addition to Adaptec filter drivers. In that case, you may try to remove the non-Adaptec filter drivers first, leaving the Easy Creator filters in place to see if the Code 39 goes away. If you still receive an error code 39, 32, or 31 message, remove the Upperfilters and Lowerfilters values completely in the preceding key.

2.Restart your computer.

Method Two

If the above method does not resolve the code 31 error message and restore access to your CD-ROMs, if you also have Media Player version 7.0 installed, you can uninstall Media player version 7.0 and download and install the latest release posted at the following Microsoft Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia
Source : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/270008

Entering one's PIN in reverse at any ATM will summon the police.

I just found out that should you ever be forced to withdraw monies from an ATM machine, you can notify the police by entering your Pin # in reverse. The machine will still give you the monies you requested, but unkown to the robber, etc, the police will be immediately dispatched to help you.


The broadcast stated that this method of calling the police is very seldom used because people don't know it exist, and it might mean the difference between life and death. Hopefully, none of you will have to use this, but I wanted to pass it along just in case you hadn't heard of it. Please pass it along to everyone possible.


The above is the email which I got today morning from one of my collegues. So I checked in the internet whether this email is true or not. While surfing and searching I found a interesting website where we can check whether the email message is true or not. I thought of sharing the website with you all. The url is http://www.snopes.com/. To check the above message is true or false visit http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/pinalert.asp

How to remove Malware Brave Sentry

Brave Sentry is a parasite that hijacks the web browser, changes the desktop background and displays an icon in the system tray. This icon shows a message, which says that the compromised computer is infected with dangerous spyware parasites and asks the user to download and install a removal program, which actually is Brave Sentry, corrupt illegally distributed spyware remover. Once the user clicks on such message, the trojan opens a web site distributing Brave Sentry. It may also try to secretly download the application and install it without user knowledge and consent. Brave Sentry, the corrupt spyware remover uses false positives. It does not actually detect parasites, but targets harmless system and software objects as threats in attempt to trick the user into purchasing the full version of Brave Sentry. It is a clone of the infamous SpySheriff program and similar rogues such as SpywareNo!, SpyDemolisher and Pest Trap. The Brave Sentry parasite runs on every Windows startup.
Brave Sentry properties:
  • Changes browser settings
  • Shows commercial adverts
  • Connects itself to the internet
  • Stays resident in background
To remove this malware visit http://www.2-spyware.com/remove-brave-sentry.html

Monday, December 4, 2006

A utility to open Internet Explorer 7.0 window as being Internet Explorer 6.0.

A utility that opens an Internet Explorer 7.0 window that is configured to report its identity to websites as being Internet Explorer 6.0.

Overview

Whenever Internet Explorer releases a new major version, Microsoft makes every attempt to coordinate the change with major web site owners so that users who upgrade to the latest version can take advantage of new features available on the upgraded browsing platform. A character string called the “User Agent String” identifies the major version of the browser to web sites so that the sites can offer certain functionality on particular browser versions. In some cases, websites might misidentify a new version of IE as an outdated version, with results ranging from rendering and behavior issues to total rejection of the user. This utility changes certain registry keys on an IE 7.0 installation to allow a user to emulate an IE 6.0 installation as a simple workaround until problematic sites update their code. It also offers users the option to report these problematic sites to Microsoft.
This utility is released by Microsoft for more details visit
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9517db9c-3c0d-47fe-bd04-fad82a9aac9f&displaylang=en#QuickInfoContainer

IE 7 iertutil.dll is corrupted or missing

After installing IE7.0 beta version some webpages are not shown properly in the IE7.0. So peoples tried to uninstall it and go back to IE6.0. But when they try to do it they have problem saying iertutil.dll is missing or corrupted and cannot load any program. To overcome this problem a software named IEFix is introduced in the market.

IEFix - is a general purpose repair utility for Internet Explorer which repairs Internet Explorer by registering it's core DLL files and reinstalls using the IE.INF file. More Information is given below. Suitable for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP systems.

Requires Microsoft VB6 runtimes for Windows 98/ME systems.

Download: IEFix ( Zip ~14Kb)
Source : http://windowsxp.mvps.org/IEFIX.htm

Free FLV Coverter Softwares

Once the youtube is very popular alot of peoples searched for softwares to download the youtube videos. You tube videos are published in .flv formats which is a file extension for Adobe Flash software. Once people got the you tube video grabber software, they started to hunt for free flv converter softwares because they want to burn the videos in the CD. Here I am publishing some free flv converter softwares for you.
1) SUPER :
SUPER, Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer. A GUI to ffmpeg, mencoder, mplayer, ffmpeg2theora & the theora/vorbis RealProducer plugIn. If you need a simple, yet very efficient tool to convert (encode) or play any Multimedia file, without reading manuals or spending long hours training, then SUPER © is all you need. Supports most video formats and also portable formats for PSP, iPod, PocketPC and NEC, Nokia, Siemens, SonyEricsson mobiles.
You can download it from here.
2) RivaFLVencoder :
RivaFLVencode
which is freeware and it’s based on the FFMPEG encoder (normally it is used to create .flv files from .avi or .mpg, but it can do the reverse too). You can download it from here.
source : http://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/t259578.html

Sunday, December 3, 2006

Online Video Sharing quality comparison

Once YouTube and metacafe became very popular for sharing videos Yahoo also introduced 
their new videos section. There is a site lifegoggles which compares all Online Video Sharing websites like Youtube, Google video, Metacafe, Soapbox, Revver, Blip.tv, My Heavy, vimeo, Uncut, Myspace, Divx, Kewego,Yahoo Video, Vidilife, Dailymotion, Ning. Hmmm I have given all the list of online video sharing websites lisitings also. You can view the video at http://www.lifegoggles.com/online_video_comparison.html

Free hugs we all need one

Free Hugs we all need one is their slogan. This message from Jason Hunter the founder of this company says
"FREE HUGS will be the company that will always promote our two most sought after possessions, happiness and our sense of belonging. FREE HUGS will always consist of excellence in the development of leaders, action in the community, and service to customers." 
They have done this FREE HUGS in all around the world. Recently in Singapore on November 22nd two peoples did this FREE Hugs. You can watch the video below.

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=d7331927b71bdd52124b1f92e3cf88fd.1290850&cache=1