I am often asked the question: How do I change my home page to google? It is a very simple process to change your home page on your browser. Most people use either Internet Explorer or Firefox, now, so the following steps will help you change your home page in either browser you are using to Google.

If you are using Internet Explorer:

1. Launch Internet Explorer
2. Click on the "Tools" tab. For IE 7, it is now located on the right hand side of the screen
3. A pop up window will open
4. Click on the "General" tab
5. Where it says "Home Page", then type in the Google website address
6. Click OK

If you are using Mozilla's Fire Fox:

1. Launch your Fire Fox browser
2. Click on the "Tools" tab. It will be at the top of the screen
3. Scroll down and click on the ?Options? button
4. A pop up window will open
5. Click on the "Main" tab
6. At the top of the window, you will see a "Start up" section
7. Ensure the section: When Firefox starts ? says "Show my home page"
8. In the blank below, then type in the Google website address
9. Click OK

The above method is what I do if I want to change my home page to Google. And this can actually go for any other website as well. Just follow the same steps, and change the website to whatever website you want. Now, if your home page changes unexpectedly, then you have spyware or some other program on your computer making this happen. Only you should be the one to change your browser home page.

If you have a PC, then you have most likely suffered from computer problems. Most people have accepted that there PC will eventually crash due to a virus or some massive error. However this is a myth. Your PC is built to last more than a decade. However you must keep well tuned for it to make its third birthday. Nevertheless, most people would rather buy a shiny new PC rather than spend an hour trying to fix computer problems on there 2 year lap top or desktop. After another two year after their purchase lack of maintenance will cause their new PC to lose its performance speed. Whats next you guess, $3000 Windows Vista Ready PC. This is known as the consumer vicious cycle.

Why have does your computer have problems?

Well, the biggest problem that your computer has is its owner. More than 80% of computer problems stem from neglecting to perform simple maintenance task such as cleaning your registry, emptying your cache files and updating software regularly. If these task a perform diligently. You would be reading this article from a five year old machine running on Windows 98 operating system. So, lets take a look at the top five computer problems and how to avoid them.

1. Computer has performance has slowed.

This is the number one complaint from most users. There are several reason why this has occurred. However, most can attributed to lack of maintenance. Fragmented data, corrupted registry, spyware, and load of unnecessary programs and services running can all eat away at your PC speed and performance. Manage your programs and cleaning your registry would easily award you a 30% gain in performance speed. Check out The 4 ways to speed up my computer

2. Lockup, freezes, and blue screens of death.

This is a another common computer problem. However, this particular issue is a bit more serious; therefore, it needs a few diagnostic steps. In most cases this problems are caused by spyware. To avoid this problem update your anti-spyware program daily. Having the most up to date signatures will help you avoid having a serious spyware problem. However, if you have concluded that your PC is spyware free. You should update your hardware drivers. The computer cannot communicate with various hardware components without an up to date driver. When it cannot find a driver, the CPU locks up. Also, increasing your virtual memory can also help to avoid freezes. Virtual Memory will allow to you get more use out your computer's RAM. Check the resource box for more info on the subject.

3. The computer spontaneously reboots or turn itself off.

This computer problem can be usually attributed to a hardware issue. Usually its the power supply is dying or in most cases a dirty or defective cooling fan. The computer trying to cool itself by automatically switching off. So, if you feel a bit of extra heat coming out the computer. Clean the fan and make sure it running properly. If your fan is functional, check your power supply. Also, you will be surprised how many people fail to make sure the cables are attached tightly. This be the cause of this particular computer problem.

4. Strange noises and vibrations.

This is almost totally a hardware issue. You computer is made up of thousands of parts. Its not unheard of that one of them can become unhinged. Overheating can cause expansion of wires and melt some sensitive. High pitch noises such as squealing or whining sounds can be cause electronic components. Whatever the reason, you conduct a small investigation. Remove the case and run the computer to discover the origin of the computer problem. If its not a simple matter such as a loose wire or fan issue, it may be time to call a computer tech.

5. Your home page, default search engine, or web browser has changed itself.

This is also known as "high-jacking". Spyware has been installed on your computer via social networking or from email link. This action has allowed spyware to install a java script into your web browser. The spyware then sends a message to your browser to change your user settings. For example change your home page to another web page.

As you have discovered from reading the article, the most common computer problems can be handle quite easily by simple maintenance of your PC. Net time you are suffering from computer problems. Take a few minutes to run some diagnostic test before rushing out to computer technical center claiming your PC is broken. When all you need to do was just make sure it was plugged in.

If you have ever had your internet browser home page setting change unexpectedly, then you have some sort of a malicious program on your computer. There are websites out there, which can install software on your computer and change settings such as your home page. The reason they do this is strictly for a monetary reason for them. If your home page is changed to their home page, it can give them extra website visits, and maybe you even buy or click on something from their site. Or, they can actually be tracking all of your internet movements now. So, if your home page setting changed unexpectedly, then you need to change it back.

Normally, spy ware being downloaded on your computer is what initially causes this. This little script of code will go into your computer and start changing settings, and basically hijacks your computer. It now will know what you are looking at, what words you are typing on your keyboard, and which websites you are visiting. You need to get rid of this stuff. But getting rid of this might not change your home page setting.

The spy ware will get into the registry files, and change this homepage setting without you knowing. You will then need to get into the registry files and get this fixed as well. I would first start with the registry files, and get these corrected back to their normal settings. If you have anything wrong with your computer, or it just does not act the way it used to, you have a problem in the registry files.

Registry files tell the computer how to act. So, if they are messed up, or changed, the computer starts acting wrong, or different. In order to correct these errors, you need to scan the registry files and find these errors. Then get these errors fixed. If you can do this at least once a week, you will keep your computer running fine, and error free.

Since you browse websites on the internet, and even download software and music, chances are you will have your home page setting change unexpectedly. If this happens, you need to find and fix these errors in your registry. This is the only way to get your computer back.

The good news is that it is relatively easy to delete the search history which is stored by your web browser on your computer. There are 2 types of information which need to be cleared to delete your searches:

1. Form History - the web browser recognizes the search box you type your search query into as a "form." Both Internet Explorer and FireFox store this information for a set number of days.

2. The search history in any web browser toolbar, like the Google toolbar, you use.

Here is how you delete your search history stored in "forms" in the most popular browsers.

Internet Explorer: Select Tools>Internet Options>Content>Click "AutoComplete">clear "Clear Forms"

Internet Explorer 7: Select Tools>Internet Options>General>in "Browsing History" click delete. Please note that this action also clears temporary internet files, URL history, cookies and passwords which is highly recommended.

Mozilla Firefox: Select Tools>Options>Click on the "settings button" in Private Data>select "Saved Forms Information"

To delete searches in the Google toolbar you need to click on the Google Icon and select "clear search history." To delete search history in other toolbars please refer to the help menu.

Another important thing to consider doing (aside from Internet Explorer 7 which does this for you when you delete "Browsing History") is to clear the URLs you visit from the address bar on your browser. If you are really concerned about someone seeing which sites you visit then you should also take this clearing out one step further by deleting the cookies and temporary internet files or cache.

Given how much information you need to be careful of it is much easier and takes less time to use a good software product to clean out your sensitive web browsing data and delete searches. My recommendation is below. Try a free scan and see what potential privacy risks from your web browser, instant message chats and other files are lurking on your computer.

Most people enjoy watching movies, but few know what to look for in a DVD player. From basic beginnings to important features, this will help you decide what DVD player is best for you.

DVD players have three important parts?the drive motor, a laser and lens system, and a tracking mechanism. The DVD is made up of information spiraled in a pattern of incredibly tiny ?bumps? which can be read by the DVD player. The drive motor of the DVD player spins the DVD at a specific speed?between 200 and 500 rotations per minute. Meanwhile, the laser and lens focuses on and ?reads? the bumps on the DVD. Meanwhile, the tracking mechanism makes sure the laser follows the spiral track of bumps. As these parts work together, the video and audio is projected onto your screen for viewing.

Different DVD players have different features. Most play DVD movies, music CDs and video CDs (such as music videos). The player uses various types of decoder, depending on what kind of DVD player you own. Some DVD players simulate surround sound, makig it seem that you have surround sound even though you might have only two speakers.

Computer-operated DVD players are often very easy to use, with many extra features. Parental control features let you decide what types of movies your children are watching. You can take pictures from different movies and save it as an image, and a few types of DVD player software lets you set the movie as your desktop. The movie plays as a background so you can watch the movie while working on other areas of the computer. Some let you bypass region codes, meaning you can watch movies from all parts of the world.

When choosing a DVD player, it is best to consider the types of features it has. Are parental controls necessary? Do you want to be able to watch different types of movies? Often, the more features available, the better.

Features:

Check to see how easy it is to use the DVD player. If it is too complicated, you?ll never want to use it. A good DVD player is simple to understand, and installation a breeze. Make sure you check that the software doesn?t conflict with other programs on your computer.

Check audio and video quality. These should be customizable so you can choose the best settings for your location. The video should be colorful and easy on the eyes, and the audio should be clear.

Yet another important aspect of the DVD player is the help section. If you have a problem, you should be able to find and understand the help document without being overwhelmed by technical terms and jargon.

Though there are many DVD players to choose from, just taking a little amount of time will let you find a great DVD player that you will enjoy for years.

Top DVD Player Software

1. WinDVD

2. PowerDVD

3. MyDVD Studio

So, you have all kinds of videos that you would like to play on your iPod but you have no idea how to do this? Well, luckily there is software available online that can help you do this.

The first software package is called Free iPod Video Converter. This program will provide you with an easy, complete way in which to completely convert all of your popular video formats to iPod video, which can also handle batches of material at the same time. So, if you have DVD or VHS video to convert, this program will work well for you. The best part is that this program is free and does not contain any spyware or ads of any kind. Your iPod video will both look and sound great thanks to this program, its wizard and detailed HTML help file. It is also great that you can both install and uninstall this software.

Your other option is to use Videora iPod Converter, which is also a free program. It will allow you to convert any of the regular video files that you have on your computer into the iPod format. The company who owns the copyright to this software also has a program that is called Videora, which allows you to automatically download, convert and copy video. It is based on BitTorrent and RSS technology. The entire program is only 6.37MB and it is freeware.

For this reason, they do request that you give them a small donation to help support the development of this program. Of course, they do not force you to do this but it is an option that they request for you to consider. They do offer you good customer support though. You are also asked to report any bugs in the program or give them ideas for features that you would like to see them include in future versions of this program. There are special areas in their forums for this. Otherwise there is a link that you must use if you need anything because they plainly tell you that they are not going to answer an emails.

Forwarding Emails: Do Your Homework!

Every day I see email forwarded by someone trying to warn me of some new threat or with some ?interesting news?. Unfortunately most of these types of forwarded emails are false. In most cases it is harmless forwarding of emails with the only drawback being extra junk in your inbox and floating around the Internet.

In other cases, these emails themselves are a threat. Some emails will inform you of a ?threat? and give you steps to take to ?fix? your computer or ?remove? the threat. Following the ?advice? in these emails can cause problems in some cases.

Please do NOT forward these types of emails or follow the instructions in them without first doing your homework.

Do a search on the ?information? you received. Below are a few good links to sites with information on hoaxes, myths and real threats. There are many sites that will help you find the truth about the emails you get, I like these ones.

TruthOrFiction.com

This site lists emails and topics and gives you ?Truth? or ?Fiction? information from their research. It can be quite amusing to just browse some of the information they have.

This site is well organized so you can select topics or just do a simple search.

http://www.truthorfiction.com/

F-Secure

F-Secure is a European based international computer security company. The information and tools available are very useful for your security.

Hoax Search:

http://www.f-secure.com/hoaxes/

?Phishing?

What is ?Phishing?? It is like fishing in the sense that criminals send out mass emails ?bait? hoping someone bites. The bait is an e-mail out falsely claiming to be a legitimate organization like a bank, credit card company, online payment service, or any service, company or website they think people will trust in an attempt to trick people into giving private information that can be used for identity theft, theft from your bank, online account, etc. The e-mail will direct the unsuspecting person to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as user names, passwords, credit card information, and bank account numbers, which the legitimate organization already has. This Web site, however, is spoofed and was set up only to steal information.

Link manipulation/spoofing

Most methods of phishing use some form of technical deception designed to make a link in an email (and the spoofed website it leads to) appear to belong to the spoofed organization. Misspelled URLs or the use of sub-domains are common tricks used by phishers. Another common trick is to make the anchor text for a link appear to be a valid URL when the link actually goes to the spoofed site.

Website forgery/spoofing

Some phishing scams use JavaScript to alter the address bar to make it seem legitimate. This is done by placing a picture of the legitimate company?s URL over the address bar, or by closing the original address bar and opening a new one containing the legitimate URL.

In another method of phishing that is quite popular, an attacker uses a trusted website's own scripts against the victim. These types of attacks (cross-site scripting) are particularly nasty, because they direct the user to sign in at their bank or service's own web page, where everything from the web address to the security certificates appears correct. This attack is very hard to spot as it is the link to the website is crafted to carry out the attack.

Damage caused by phishing

The damage ranges from loss of access to email and other online accounts to loss of money, investments, etc. Phishing is becoming more popular, because of the number of unsuspecting people who are easily tricked into divulging information to phishers. The collected information includes credit card numbers, social security numbers, and mothers' maiden names. It is also possible that identity thieves can add more information to what they have gained through phishing simply by accessing public records. Once this information is acquired, the phishers may use a person's details to create fake accounts in a victim's name, ruin a victim's credit, or even prevent victims from accessing their own accounts. As you can surmise the result can be a destroyed life. That is why it is extremely important everyone learns to recognize phishing and avoid being caught.

Recognizing Phishing and test your Phishing IQ

To help people learn more about phishing and to improve their ability to recognize it there are sites with information and tests you can take.

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/email/phishing.mspx

http://www.sonicwall.com/phishing/

The best advice is to learn to recognize phishing and spoofing. Please check and use the sites above. The next best is to use a browser and email program that help you to recognize phishing and spoofing. Browsers and email programs are adding some protection. I recommend using Firefox for your browser and install an anti-phishing and anti-spoofing add-on. Once you have installed Firefox go to tools, add-ons, hit ?get extensions? and search for the add-ons you want. Use Thunderbird for your email. Both are free and both are more secure than the Microsoft products. Get them here:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/products/?flang=en-US

Finally: Read Your Messages in Plain Text

Most e-mails written in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language: the authoring software language used on the Internet) is harmless. However, others contain malicious code. It is safer to set your e-mail program to only show messages in plain text format (often in the options or settings section of the software). This will prevent malicious code from running.

1. Clean the inside

Over the course of time, the insides of computers can become filled with dust and dirt that will eventually cause hardware failure. Dust especially gathers around fans and the motherboard. Cleaning every 2-3 months will work wonders.

2. Clean the outside

If you dust and wipe down the outside of your computer, many times it prevents some of the dust and dirt from getting inside. Many times the dust sits on the exterior of the machine and finds its way inside over time.

3. Get proper maintenance

I would compare computers to cars in this area. Would you own a car for 3-4 years and never get the oil changed? I didn't think so. The same thing should be true of a computer. If you're not tech savvy, you need to have a computer professional or someone who is more computer literate run some scans and inspect your computer.

4. Get to know your computer

Many times errors can be prevented by becoming aware of what your computer can and can't do. It helps if you know how much hard drive space you have, how much memory you have, what operating system you have, etc.

5. Stay in the loop

Working with clients has taught me a very important lesson. If you are not continually learning about new technologies and trends, you may miss some money-saving tips or alerts that IT professionals may know about. Reading technical articles, joining computer newsletters, and having your computer regularly audited can keep you in the loop.

6. Use the internet wisely

It is a dangerous world out there and everyone is not on the internet for the same reasons as you. Identity theft is a growing crime and there are many other users who intend to steal from you. If something doesn't seem right, follow your gut instinct and avoid the situation. Also, viruses can destroy your computer hardware and cause you to incur more expenses than necessary.

7. Ask questions

Many mistakes can be avoided by asking questions. We have all heard it hundreds of times, "No question is a stupid question". This holds true, especially in the ever-advancing world of computers and technology.

The internet privacy software industry is growing astronomically due to people?s need to keep their search and download history secret. One of the biggest concerns of the common user is deleting adult content from their family computer. However this task is a lot harder than internet users assume.

Internet privacy software primarily deals with ?shredding? or deleting history collected via internet such as viewed websites, downloads and cache files. Using internet privacy software will certainly aid users in erasing that data. However, it will not stop your PC from collecting it. This is invariably why most internet privacy software is not really worth your money.

Internet Privacy software offers an off-line solution to an online problem!

In order to permanently delete your internet history you must perform a secure delete. This process involves encrypting your data and then deleting. This is not part of most internet privacy software technology. The majority simply flush the old data using traditional deletion methods.

However, if a secure delete is not perform, the deleted information can be recovered quite easily using a few software tricks. Also, Windows index.dat files re-record the information secretly.

To stop your computer from collecting a mound of internet evidence you must stop it from logging the information while you are online. This strategy needs a combination of techniques and software.

An simple online strategy should mirror the one below:

1. Instruct your web browser to forget your history automatically
2. Avoid hazardous ?cookies?.
3. Stop ?DNS leaks? from collecting information while online without your knowledge.
4. Protect your IP address from being hijacked and tracked by unsavory hackers and spammers.
5. Perform a secure deletion of your data.

Most internet privacy software only performs the last technique. So, if you want to shell out hundred of dollars for no protection, go right ahead. It?s best to be informed on how to really protect yourself online. One of the best solutions is to purchase a handbook on the subject. If you are a starter, the best book on the market is Cover Your Web Tracks This book will you show you how to tweak you system and get the best internet privacy software for free.

Blu-ray Protection

Blu-ray discs are here to supersede DVD in every way, be it quality of picture (1080p), interactivity (BD-J), size (50Gb) and now protection.

CSS

Conventionally the DVD used CSS (content scrambling system) as its encryption, although mediocre, the development of a new encryption would have been time consuming and would have caused delays. Hackers decrypted the system in little time inducing a loss of billions. The main decryption known today is DeCSS created by Jon Lech Johanssen (alias DVD jon), who proclaims in his defense that he simply wanted to back up his own collection of legally purchased DVD.

Blu-ray

Initially Blu-ray was introduced by Sony as a larger recording media for back up purposes but as there was demand for high definition movies that required high capacity media, the amalgamation of the two was inevitable. Having learned from the mistakes of CSS a better encryption method was needed.

AACS

AACS (advanced access content system) jointly developed by Sony, Toshiba, Warner, Panasonic, IBM, Microsoft and Intel will be used with both HD-DVD and Blu-ray. This system can stop a device from playing any more movies causing it to be useless. This is done if the machine is hacked to perform an illegal rip. What AACS can do is disable the decryption keys unique to that device. AACS also incorporates an image constrain token (ICT); this applies to analogue video outputs downgrading the HD video signal to a maximum resolution of 960 x 540. ICT is only an option for the video content owner. An audio watermark is another feature of AACS again being optional to the video content owner which is an inaudible signal inserted into the audio track.

ROM-MARK

In addition to AACS the Blu-ray association have decided to add another two layers to the BD-ROM the ROM-Mark and the BD+. The latter is something we will discuss later.

The ROM-mark is another layer added to the protection of the disc from pirates. It is an analogue level mechanism of bit-by-bit copy protection and will be embedded in pre-recorded ROM media such as movies, music and games. The ROM-mark is invisible to the consumer and requires special Blu-ray manufacturing equipment to be created.

BD+

BD+ is a variant of a technology called self-protecting digital content (SPDC). This provides dynamic renewable protection. Title specific code is extracted from the disc and embedded into a virtual machine, security software checks are done by the disc to secure its own playback. Inevitably what this does is allows video content providers to renew content protection on BD-ROM players which have been hacked.

Conclusion

The future of Blu-ray protection is important and imperative in an age of hackers. Their philosophy at getting back at the big movie corporations and their rip-off to consumers not surprisingly has the majority vote with people who want to pay less. Whether this protection will suffice in this day and age is difficult, we must remember that hackers have a lot of time and resources to achieve their goal; however this time round the developers of Blu-ray protection have been working on a better time schedule to come up with something water tight. Unfortunately I believe it will only be within a year before some technique is found to copy Blu-ray movies as very feasible ideas have already been posted on the internet.

Over the years, large-scale peer-to-peer networks such as Kazaa and eMule have enjoyed significant popularity, as users scrambled to download the latest Madonna and Metallica albums without paying a penny. More recently, "Torrents" have also appeared, adding a similar system to the downloading craze, with music and movie fans enjoying free content with just a few clicks.

All of this, though, has resulted in swift protest by armies of lawyers representing both music interests (the RIAA most notably) as well as Hollywood's top movie studios. Individual consumers, "downloaders" of illegal (free) content, have been hit with lawsuits, and have been resigned to pay significant fines as a result of their use of peer-to-peer. Many of these claims have been as high as $5,000.

Now, though, the cat and mouse game appears to be headed for a dead halt as consumers have discovered a new breed of peer-to-peer systems that encrypt all exchanges. This means that not even an ISP can identify the content that's being exchanged, and so intellectual property owners will be unable to enforce the laws that protect copyright owners.

An example of such an application, GigaTribe, has taken Europe by storm and is now poised to become one of the most common P2P solutions in the US. Unlike other software applications, with GigaTribe users don't exchange files with millions, they exchange and share files with small communities of friends and family. However, this new application lets users select specific folders on their harddrives that they want to share, and friends in the network can browse through these folders, and download large files (even entire folders) with ease. Also enticing, is the fact that members of a private network, where people more or less know each other, are unlikely to be sharing corrupted, or "fake" files, such as those injected into file sharing networks by record companies. A number of other companies have followed suit, and have launched similar offerings.

This sort of private P2P business is also redefining the way individuals communicate, as it eliminates the need for complicated FTP applications when users need to send someone a large file. Chat features are also common, and allow users to describe where to find certain files, as well as what files are available on a user's harddrive. Users can also set up these applications to access their own computers from remote locations.

Amidst all of these developments, it is unclear how the record companies and movie studios will respond. It is especially unclear whether they can respond at all, considering that it is technically impossible to "crack" encrypted exchanges and that any attempt to invade the privacy of small communities will be met with vehement protests, and possible boycotts of cultural products. Perhaps these new (and private) peer to peer systems will become as acceptable as, say, lending a CD to a friend down the street.