Peter Scheer: The Great Firewall

A milestone of sorts was passed in the first quarter of this year when China blew past the United States to become the biggest internet market in the world. At 225 million users, and still growing at double-digit rates, China's internet is a business opportunity so grand and irresistible that it can blind normally circumspect people to the moral compromises that cooperation with Chinese government authorities inevitably entails.

I experienced this first-hand when, about a year ago, I made inquiries at the China offices of a number of American law firms to ask for help in comparing internet search results for searches performed inside China--within the "Great Firewall" of government censorship, as it is called--with the same searches performed from locations outside China (and therefore outside the firewall). The law firms demurred, explaining, with commendable candor at least, that they could not risk being observed submitting to Google and Yahoo search terms like "Tiananmen Square" or "Falun Gong".

Mind you, these were American-trained litigators, the kind of lawyers who barely flinch in the face of a grand jury subpoena, and who spend their careers pushing back against the demands of government authorities. While usually immune to intimidation, they nonetheless feared the repercussions to themselves, their firms, and their clients from the mere act of typing a few search terms into an internet-connected computer. So seductive are the business opportunities in China that the risk of losing them transforms even hardened litigators into wimps.

In conversations with internet entrepreneurs and investors active in China, one often hears arguments that are more rationalization than logic. An internet CEO recently told me that freedom of speech is a "relative" value that, despite its appeal in western democracies, is not appropriate to China. Popular variations on this theme are that freedom of speech is an unaffordable luxury in a country that must be single-minded in its pursuit of economic development; that the people of China are more interested in consumer goods than personal and political freedom; and that westerners' pressure on China to be more tolerant of dissent is a form of cultural imperialism.

Let's be clear: Freedom of speech, freedom of political choice, and the rule of law are not relative values; they are absolutes. China's regime of internet censorship is, without question, a crime against individual liberty on a truly mass scale. That it coexists with a fast-modernizing economy offering its people considerable choice in the economic sphere only makes the curtailment of personal freedom more offensive because less excusable. China does not need to suppress speech to achieve its economic goals. China's leaders are more cynical than that. They maintain censorship solely to preempt challenges to their monopoly on political power.

This can be seen in the government's censorship policies. Websites based inside China are subject to content restrictions that are, by design, so uncertain and unpredictable that they force internet companies to censor themselves. Standards that are unknown and unknowable, backed by the threat of license-revocation for companies and jail for individuals, create a pervasive fear that is far more effective than direct regulation at muting opposition to the government and its policies.

Websites based outside China, meanwhile, are subject to blocking by the Great Firewall based not on their content, but on their capacity to create, inside China, large, voluntary online communities that are independent of the government. These include nearly all blogging services, wikipedia and wiki platforms generally (wikileaks included), social networking websites and peer-to-peer technologies of all kinds, including photo-sharing and video-sharing businesses. In other words, the full panoply of internet 2.0 technologies.

Websites commanding vast audiences for user-generated content are seen by authorities as a grave threat. The Chinese government's worst nightmare, after all, is a lone and anonymous Tibetan uploading to YouTube grainy cellphone videos of rioting police.

What should American internet companies do? To point out that doing business in China is morally compromising is not to say that companies must forswear the world's biggest market--hardly a realistic option, in any event, for premier internet firms like Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Amazon. And while these companies might prefer to compete in China remotely--basing their servers outside the Great Firewall--government policies force them to set up shop inside China.

Those policies manipulate the firewall to degrade the performance of websites based outside China. Because all data from foreign websites pass through bottlenecks connecting China's internet with the outside world, and because sensors at those bottlenecks further degrade transmissions across the firewall, non-Chinese websites are experienced from inside China as performing v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y.

This performance deficit is so substantial--and puts non-Chinese websites at such a huge disadvantage relative to their competitors inside China--that foreign websites must establish a presence inside the firewall. Indeed, Google, despite misgivings, established Google.cn within China in 2007 mainly for this reason, while Yahoo and Amazon crossed the firewall by investing in their Chinese domestic rivals.

American internet companies doing business in China should, for starters, acknowledge the extent of their self-censorship, not hide it or rationalize it or pretend that it is something other than the intensely unpleasant compromise that it is. Spare us the tortured and hypocritical justifications. It helps for companies to admit their complicity; to clarify that all is not as it should be or appears to be; to openly assert their disagreement with Chinese government policies (if they do, indeed, disagree); and to disclose specifics about how their content has been altered to avoid displeasing authorities.

U.S. firms also should do everything they reasonably can to protect their Chinese customers from the surveillance--and worse--of Chinese government authorities. If customer data and identifying information can be stored outside the firewall, beyond the reach of Chinese regulators and courts, they should be, even though that may involve greater costs. While this step does not assure protection of anonymous users (since control of a company's license to operate in China gives the government considerable de facto leverage, quite apart from territorial limits on subpoenas and other legal processes), it is still meaningful.

If off-shoring of confidential user information is not feasible, companies must take steps to warn their customers about the risks of using their service. And finally, where warnings are not possible or go unheeded, companies should force customers to give their real names when using their websites--which will, in turn, force users to think carefully about what they say or do online. Ironically, the barring of anonymity is the surest means of getting users to appreciate the risks of saying what the government doesn't want to hear.

Doing business on China's internet is a messy, though potentially very lucrative, activity. Some companies may be so put off by the messiness that they stay away. For most, however, that is not a viable option. They must learn to be both honest with themselves and honest with their customers.

Read more

 

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Insulting Windows Admins? by Anthony Lawrence

 

I happened to catch a blurb promoting Xandros BridgeWays Management Console. I'm not going to pick any fault with that product; I'm sure it's as grinchy as grinchy can be, but my eyebrows did raise at this:

"Generally speaking, people who administer Windows environments aren't as comfortable working at the text file level, which is more characteristic of Linux, and giving them a graphical interface to manage Linux is a huge win," open source expert Bernard Golden, CEO of Navica, told LinuxInsider. "It makes it easier for those organizations to adopt Linux."

Ah.. excuse me? To me, that sounds an awful lot like "Windows folk are too dumb to use a command line, so we're giving them this." Now, yes, I know that's not what they meant, but if I were a top-level Windows admin type, I'd be a little insulted. More than a little, actually.

You see, every good Windows admin I've known is perfectly comfortable at the command line. Of course it's Windows command line, which historically has been less fun than riding a tricycle in an Iron Man race, but still: good Windows admins know their command line. The "pretend" admins may not, but I'm sure the real Windows admins have just as much disdain for those folks as we do.

I know right now somebody reading this is thinking "Windows is SOO pathetic, dude.. whatcha defending it for?".

I'm not: I agree that Windows is an awful OS, painful to live with and even more painful to administer. That's why you and I do Unix and Linux, right? But that doesn't mean that the poor people who have to keep those systems running are incompetent boobs - actually, in many situations they have to work harder and need much more creativity and problem solving skills than we do!

So let's not denigrate our fellow admins and pretend that they aren't capable of handling Linux or Unix systems. Yes, yes, yes: I know there are a lot of "fake" admins in the Windows world, people who really don't know much of anything about the systems they supposedly are responsible for. It completely disgusts me when I run across some supposed Windows admin who doesn't know as much as I do about Windows - because trust me, I don't know much. But I also know that there are really sharp, really capable Windows admins and I don't believe for a minute that any of them would have any problem with Linux, command line or not. They are bright people, and just like us they know what's going on "underneath", so they can figure things out. They'll adjust, they'll investigate, they'll read and research, and they'll learn.

It's really insulting to imply that they wouldn't, isn't it?.

 

Reading Skills by Anthony Lawrence

 

I'm not much for visuals. I don't like video blogs, slide show blogs: I want text. I suspect that's because I have extreme astigmatism and it wasn't corrected until I was well into school; I couldn't see much of the world around me so I never really learned to appreciate visual images as much as most people do. Probably for the same reason I'd rather read a book than watch a movie.

But there's more to it. I can't stand watching video blogs because they take too much time. I can read and skim through dozens of websites in the time it would take me to watch one video.. watching videos (and slideshows are almost as bad) just isn't efficient.

Obviously some things need pictures, and some things need video. But it seems to me that a lot of what's presently blogged in a video format not only doesn't need to be that way, but shouldn't be.

However, these formats are becoming very popular. Even a few blogs that I used to read regularly have switched to video - annoying me greatly, but apparently satisfying their greater audience. So what's the deal? Is text doomed to extinction? Is it because of poor reading skills? Do the people who prefer to listen and watch actually get more of of that than they would from reading? I'm beginning to think that must be the case.. if so, it's a terrible shame.

A seller of speed reading resources says this:

The statistics speak for themselves. The average CEO in America reads 4-5 books per month and the average American reads 1 book per year! That is an extremely amazing and true statistic. Question: Did the CEO develop his habit of reading while he was a CEO or is it a life-long habit that he or she had nurtured long before?

http://www.ronwhitetraining.com/store.htm

I don't know how accurate that is, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were true. Worse, as I know at least some of us read much more, that would mean that a high percentage doesn't read at all.. scary, I think. There are other statistics at http://www.readfaster.com/education_stats.asp that don't comfort me any.. Susan Jacoby's The Age of American Unreason has quite a bit to say about American ignorance; I can't help but feel the trend toward video is strongly related.

On the other hand, I'm acutely aware that part of this is the old fogey grumbling about the youngun's ways. Humans have been doing that for centuries, maybe longer. There is no denying that video is an inefficient way of imparting information, but there is also the fact that it can be more effective and memorable. That is, it may be true that large amounts of knowledge can be transmitted more quickly through the written word, but a lesser quantity presented with video may be more easily absorbed. We have never before had the ability to provide so much information in this way, so it may be far too early to bemoan its supposed impotency. Overall, it might actually be better: if Johnny can read, but won't, imparting knowledge by video is certainly better than nothing at all.

Remarkablogger did a post recently entitled What Makes a Great Video Blog? which imbeds a number of sample videos from popular video bloggers. Some of the comments express misgivings about the time required to watch these sites, but most seem to think the trend is inevitable.

Obviously YOU can read - or you wouldn't be here. What's your feeling about the trend toward video? Do you like it, hate it, or is it just another medium, useful for some things? Do you read more than you watch or vice versa? Does functional illiteracy and ignorance worry you as much as it worries me?

 

FW: Perl Reporting by Anthony Lawrence

I often forget about Perl's reporting formats, and I suspect that a lot of people do - we're so used to Perl as a programming language that we forget it's original namesake: Practical Extraction and Report Language. Reporting was a big part of Perl's beginnings, but it's hardly ever mentioned today.

In fact, it's been so long since I have used any of these features that I had to drag out my big Camel Book to review the whole subject - I had forgotten everything. Fortunately, it's not hard, and using these capabilities can make output much easier: you don't have to keep track of lines printed so that you can generate headers on new pages or print page numbers: Perl does that for you. You can justify and center, easily handle variable width data and more. Perl Report Formats make all this easy.

Here's an example using a format suggested in the Camel book (or online at Perl Formats)

:

#!/usr/bin/perl

# a report on the /etc/passwd file

format STDOUT_TOP =

                        Passwd File

Name                Login    Office   Uid   Gid Home

------------------------------------------------------------------

.

format STDOUT =

@<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< @||||||| @<<<<<<@>>>> @>>>> @<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

$name,              $login,  $office,$uid,$gid, $home

.

$= = 20;

# sets 20 lines per page

while (<>) {

( $name, $login,  $office,$uid,$gid, $home) =split /:/;

next if not $login;

write;

}

On my Mac, running that program with /etc/passwd as its argument produces this:

                        Passwd File

Name                Login    Office   Uid   Gid Home

------------------------------------------------------------------

nobody                 *     -2        -2 Unpri /var/empty

root                   *     0          0 Syste /var/root

daemon                 *     1          1 Syste /var/root

_uucp                  *     4          4 Unix  /var/spool/uucp

_lp                    *     26        26 Print /var/spool/cups

_postfix               *     27        27 Postf /var/spool/postfix

_mcxalr                *     54        54 MCX A /var/empty

_pcastagent            *     55        55 Podca /var/pcast/agent

_pcastserver           *     56        56 Podca /var/pcast/server

_serialnumberd         *     58        58 Seria /var/empty

_devdocs               *     59        59 Devel /var/empty

_sandbox               *     60        60 Seatb /var/empty

_mdnsresponder         *     65        65 mDNSR /var/empty

_ard                   *     67        67 Apple /var/empty

_www                   *     70        70 World /Library/WebServer

_eppc                  *     71        71 Apple /var/empty

_cvs                   *     72        72 CVS S /var/empty

_svn                   *     73        73 SVN S /var/empty

_mysql                 *     74        74 MySQL /var/empty

_sshd                  *     75        75 sshd  /var/empty

_qtss                  *     76        76 Quick /var/empty

_cyrus                 *     77         6 Cyrus /var/imap

_mailman               *     78        78 Mailm /var/empty

_appserver             *     79        79 Appli /var/empty

_clamav                *     82        82 ClamA /var/virusmails

_amavisd               *     83        83 AMaVi /var/virusmails

_jabber                *     84        84 Jabbe /var/empty

_xgridcontroller       *     85        85 Xgrid /var/xgrid/control

_xgridagent            *     86        86 Xgrid /var/xgrid/agent

_appowner              *     87        87 Appli /var/empty

_windowserver          *     88        88 Windo /var/empty

_spotlight             *     89        89 Spotl /var/empty

_tokend                *     91        91 Token /var/empty

_securityagent         *     92        92 Secur /var/empty

_calendar              *     93        93 Calen /var/empty

_teamsserver           *     94        94 Teams /var/teamsserver

_update_sharing        *     95        -2 Updat /var/empty

^L                      Passwd File

Name                Login    Office   Uid   Gid Home

------------------------------------------------------------------

_installer             *     96        -2 Insta /var/empty

_atsserver             *     97        97 ATS S /var/empty

_unknown               *     99        99 Unkno /var/empty

Ever had to handle variable length data in a report? That can be annoying, can't it? Let's say we have this text file:

02/04/2008:No changes

02/08/2008:Maintenance

02/16/2008:Major problems.  Disk crash, all work lost

02/17/2008:Starting over

02/19/2008:This is just too much work.  The project is not worth the trouble. I quit.

02/25/2008:Wow! Big raise.  Guess I don't quit.

Here's a little Perl script that eats that up:

#!/usr/bin/perl

format STDOUT =

Date              Action

@<<<<<<<<         ^<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

$date             $action

~                 ^<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

                  $action

~                 ^<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<...

                  $action

.

while (<>) {

($date,$action)=split /:/;

write;

}

If we run that against our data file, we'll get:

02/04/200         No changes

02/08/200         Maintenance

02/16/200         Major problems.  Disk

                  crash, all work lost

02/17/200         Starting over

02/19/200         This is just too much

                  work.  The project is

                  not worth the...

02/25/200         Wow! Big raise.

                  Guess I don't quit.

There's a lot more to this, I just wanted to give you a taste here. You can read the docs and play with it yourself but can probably easily see how much time and trouble this could save you.

 

Shed a tear for Microsoft by Anthony Lawrence

Poor Microsoft, under attack from Google, Linux, Apple, even from their own selves (Vista). Margins falling, desperately flailing out trying to find new income sources.. what's a poor multi billion dollar corporation supposed to do?

And now this mess where they are being sued for "bait and switch" advertising? How about their promised API openness turning up a little short?

Some folks have seriously suggested that Microsoft needs to embrace open source.. open up their own code and try to compete on that playing field. After all, it's almost certainly a torturous mess of spaghetti, and releasing source doesn't mean you have to help anyone understand it, so the theory is that they'd make their money from support and customization..

Another theory has them taking BSD source and peeing in it to make it taste better - jazzing up the GUI, adding their Networking crap.. err, I meant protocols, sorry.. thereby attracting Unixy folk to their Koolaid party.

I don't think so. First, I don't think they are psychologically capable of such a move - either one. Secondly, I don't think they are smart enough. That may sound odd - after all, we are talking about an incredibly successful corporation here - but I really have never seen them as being creative, imaginative or out-of-the-box thinkers. Microsoft is buttoned down group think at its finest, mixed with a larcenous soul. Their success has not come from innovation, rather it has mostly come from cut-throat business practices. We know that, and this tiger isn't going to change its stripes. Microsoft will continue down the path to its ultimate destruction doing the same things it has always done - it's not going to change course. It couldn't if it wanted to: it's too damn big and clumsy.

So shed a little tear for the little corporation that grew up into a giant elephant and is now dancing around because mice are about to run up its nose. Shed no tears for Bill: he's gone now, and surely will be able to sell enough stock on its way down to be quite comfortable even if he won't be appearing on the "World's Richest" lists. He'll have a soft enough landing. And so will most of the employees: they'll find jobs at Apple, RedHat and the other yet to be created companies that will fill the void. Even bully Ballmer will probably land something cushy: lots of companies admire business piranhas.

But mighty Microsoft? It may not be crying time quite yet, but I think the day is fast coming.

 

How do you do "X" in Unix (Linux,Solaris..)? by Anthony Lawrence

One of the paradigm shifts Windows users (and even some Unix users) have to get by is often seen in a "How do I do X in Y?" question, for example "How do I repeat commands in Unix?". Of course that can be a perfectly legitimate question, but often the person asking is missing an important concept: Unixish systems do not tightly bind the user interface to the system. That particular question is a user interface question, and the answer is (depending upon how much of an s.o.b. you want to be) "That has nothing to do with 'Unix'" or "That depends upon what shell you are using."

For old Unix and Linux hands, the unbinding is obvious: we have choices. We can choose our shells, our windows managers, even our filesystems. Windows users have much less choice, especially "out of the box". An XP system is a tightly bound system of tools - windows work the way windows work, there's one command line shell, and while there are three possible file systems, there's no reason to use the older types unless you are dual booting some ancient Windows or have old disks that need to be accessed.

So Windows users aren't prepared for choice. The same misunderstandings apply to naive Unix users who never understood that they had choices: a csh user suddenly transported to Linux bash may cry "How do I repeat commands in Linux?", a SCO user accustomed to DEL being his INTR character will complain "I can't get ping to stop!" (and a Windows user, accustomed to "ping" quitting by itself, will make the same complaint). None of them understand that it isn't "Linux" or "OS X" that is conspiring to confuse them: it's simply default choices that can be easily changed.

For those that arrived here from some Google search, Linux bash shell repeats commands with 'up arrow' and you'd stop "ping" with CTRL-C, but those are again defaults and might be different.

Windows users (and the naive Unix users, which might include many Mac OS X users) need to adjust their view of how things work. Some time ago I wrote New to Unix. That's helpful, but it doesn't necessarily point your brain in the direction it needs to go - it's not just substituting one set of rules for another (slashes vs. backslashes), it's understanding that a lot of this can be a matter of choice.

How do you know when it's choice and when you are stuck with it? Well, really, you are almost never "stuck"; whatever you need probably can be accomplished some way. The idea is to know what's trivial and what is not, and of course the more you understand about how your system really works, the easier it is to make that judgment. When you first have that "Aha!" moment where you realize that your gui and your shell are just programs that call upon services in the Unix kernel, you have learned a lot. It may still be hard to know when something is really "Unix" and when it is not, but generally you should realize that operating systems themselves do simple things: they read and write data, and not a lot more.

In other words, the operating system doesn't get involved with complicated stuff like editing a file: it just reads the bytes some editing program wants and writes them back to the file system when the editor tells it to. Most everything in between is up to the program you are using - that editor of course calls on the OS to get keystrokes and to send things to your screen, but most of what it does has little to do with the OS itself: with some adjustments, it could work quite happily on an entirely different operating system. Even that business of reading and writing the file system is a bit outside the operating systems real control: it passes off most of the responsibility to a file system driver, which is just a program added on to the base system.. a different program could be substituted and the system would still work as it always has.

For the same reasons, your operating system isn't concerned with legal file names, whether or not you can type both "lc" and "LC", how you stop a command from running (though actually stopping it is the operating systems job) or what colors are shown as the background. I suppose I could give hundreds of other examples, but it boils down to knowing how things work: if you understand that your car is out of gas, you don't expect it to start by hooking up to another car with jumper cables, right? But why do you know that? Because you have at least a rudimentary understanding of how cars work. If you did not, you might not realize the futility of getting a "jump" when your gas tank is empty.

The same is true for operating systems. The more you understand about how they work, the more you'll understand what you should be able to control easily.

 

Wrong DNS causes interesting glitch by Anthony Lawrence

I had an interesting call a few days back. Old customer, old SCO box overdue for the graveyard but still in use. Customer needed to renumber his ip scheme and ran into a confusing situation after changing from 192.168.2.x to 10.126.10.x.

Here are the observed conditions:

"ifconfig" shows correct address, broadcast, mask.

"netstat -rn" shows correct routes.

"netstat -in" does show a high number of collisions.

Nothing funky in /etc/hosts.

Ping a local machine or the router, ping hangs.

Delete the default route and ping works.

On the face of it, this is wrong. Local LAN packets have nothing to do with the default route; it shouldn't matter whether it has a route or not - local packets don't need to go through the router..

I should have realized what this was instantly, because there is something that local packets could need the router for.. I'll give you a second to think about it..

Ok.. that's long enough. The reason I didn't hit on this instantly is because I had talked to the admin there and reminded him that he needed to change /etc/resolv.conf as part of this work. Unfortunately, he forgot it - well, he remembered that he *needed* to do it, but never actually did it. So resolv.conf still pointed at a 192.168.2 address for a nameserver.

Why does that matter? Because of reverse lookups. Every packet coming in needs to be resolved to a name if possible. The resolver looks at /etc/resolv.conf to find out how to do that, and of course it found that 192.168.2.x address. Without a default route, there would be nothing it could do with that: it can't ask the name server to resolve any ip's because it has no way to get there. Therefor it instantly gives up, and the ping works.

But with a handy default route, it's going to try to reach the name server. That might have been OK if the router knew nothing about any 192.168.2.x addresses and had said so instantly, but apparently it tried to route that.. I'm not sure where, though they do have hardware VPN's also, so that may be where it sent the packets. Whatever actually happened, the resolver requests would never be answered, so everything had to wait for a timeout.. I don't know how long that is configured for on that router, but whatever it is, it was plenty long enough to hang ping.

Putting the correct DNS server into resolv.conf solved this instantly (there's no need to reboot - the resolver notices changes to resolv.conf immediately).

I don't know where the collisions came from.. but I wasn't asked to do anything more, so I left that to the normal admin. The system worked at this point and the collisions were not increasing.

 

Don't buy a Mac by Anthony Lawrence

A month or so back one of my computerless neighbors told me that he and his wife were ready to join the Internet Age and asked if I'd be willing to give him some advice. Of course I said yes, and told him to call me as he got closer to actual purchase.

I saw him a few times after that, and about a week ago he said he was "real close". I chatted with him a few minutes about Macs and PC's, strongly recommending the Mac, and especially made a point to tell him about PC Magaine choosing Mac OS X as the best consumer OS.

On the flip side, I also know that his son works somewhere in the computer field, so I said that if his son would be helping him regularly with problems, he should ask his son which platform he'd prefer.. that makes obvious sense, I think.

Two days later I ran into him again and he said "We bought a computer. Windows". I assumed he had talked to his son and decided on that basis, but no, his wife "had used Windows at work" so they went with that. I didn't have the heart to tell him that she had probably used XP at work and that Vista wasn't going to be anything like what she was used to, but I did ask where he had bought it. "Best Buy, twelve hundred bucks".

I probably should have kept my mouth shut, but I couldn't help reacting. This guy just needs email and Internet: he doesn't need an expensive computer. I blurted out "Oh, gee, you paid too much!"

"That included a printer", he retorted. Again I should have just shut up, but I like these people and I hate seeing them get taken. "A printer is about seventy bucks", I said.

"And they are coming out to the house to set it up!" he exclaimed.

Great. There's probably two hundred of it, and totally wasted. "Aren't you getting Verizon FIOS?", I asked, knowing the answer already. He affirmed that. "Well, you need the computer set up with FIOS, but there's really nothing to it - and Verizon will do it anyway."

He stared at me for a few seconds. "Well, too late now.". This time I did shut my mouth. Of course it's not too late: he could take that right back to Best Buy and get all his money back. He could spend far less and get a perfectly good system, Apple or Windows, and he sure as heck doesn't need to pay them to "set it up".

Oh well.. I tried. But I do have to wonder: why did he even bother to ask me?

 

Anti-AD Guard 2.1.2.5

Anti-AD Guard 2.1.2.5

 

Anti-AD Guard is a powerful program that filters and blocks commercial banners from being loaded by browsers. The multistage defense system guarantees practically complete filtration of advertisements. The super powerful heuristic analyzer allows blocking even the new formats of advertisements without updating the program.

Even an inexperienced user can get rid of the ads, since Anti-AD Guard starts working right after the installation and doesn't need any additional settings.

Anti-AD Guard compatible with all popular browsers - Internet Explorer, FireFox, Mozilla, Opera and Netscape - regardless of their version.

Requirements: none

What's New: Bugs fixing; small changes

 

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Disspy Lite 3.0.0

Disspy Lite 3.0.0

 

FREE Spyware and Adware removal software. Main software features:
Scan ? Disspy scans memory, registry keys and values, cookies, files and folders for all known Data-mining, KeyLoggers, Hijackers, Dialers, Spyware, Adware, Browser Helper Objects, Spyware cookies, aggressive advertising and other tracking components.
Removal ? Disspy removes all found adware/spyware threats from your computer. Selected files can be removed permanently or backed up in restore bin.
Backup ? Disspy can backup all removed files so that they can be restored at any time, if necessary. List of backuped files is presented in restore bin.
Restore ? Disspy can restore all backuped files in case that removal made some dependent program(s) stop working. Disspy will restore files right back from where they were originally removed from. This feature makes Disspy the top class system and data crash-free software.
Exclude - Disspy enables its? users to create an exclusion list for the items that they will allow to reside on their computers.
Update ? Our experts are updating program database almost daily. By downloading latest database versions and other updates, Disspy users can be sure that they are fully protected at all times. User can choose to be alerted whenever a newer database version is available for download.
News & Tips ? Using Disspy info panel, users are able to receive all latest news related to new Disspy®?s features and other important news about spyware/adware and their removal.
On line customers support ? All Disspy users have 24 hours non-stop open support center where they can post (ticket) all their comments, problems, questions, recommendations, etc? Combined with knowledge base, also available on-line, users are sure that they will have all their questions answered.
Low hardware requirements - Disspy is not a demanding software and it is executive even on 333 MHz Pentium I computers with no more than 64 MB of RAM memory.

Requirements: 333 MHz Pentium I, 64 MB RAM

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Treating Respiratory Infections In Rats

Treating Respiratory Infections In Rats
 by: Catherine Smith

 

Unfortunately our ratty friends are rather prone to respiratory diseases and Mycoplasma Pulmonis (MP) is the most prevalent one.

Symptoms of MP

Laboured breathing, chattering, weight loss, sneezing, sniffling, squinting, rough hair, Porphyrin staining (red staining) around nose and eyes.

In more severe cases your rat may have pneumonia, infertility, miscarriage and death.

MP can also cause an inner ear infection, so watch out for head tilting in your rat.

Prevention of MP

Your rat will be more susceptible to MP if he is stressed. Try to keep his life as stress free as possible by keeping him stimulated (see toys and games page) and keeping his home clean.

Pollutants and exposure to ammonia and faecal material (pooh) will also make your rat more susceptible to MP. Keep you rat in a clean, uncrowded and well-ventilated cage with clean and safe bedding. Do not use shavings, as these will aggravate MP and may cause other diseases too.

If you get a new rat keep them in a separate cage, in a separate room from your other rats for two weeks. This is a quarantine period. As MP can spread to other rats easily.

What is Mycoplasma Pulmonis?

Are you ready for the science bit?

Mycoplasma is a PPLO (pleuropneumonia-like organism). It is different from other forms of bacteria, as it doesn't have a cell wall (this is important to remember when treating it). There are 95 types of Mycoplasma, but rats get the kind called Mycoplasma pulmonis (MP). Mycoplasma is the organism genus and pulmonis is the organism species.

MP is carried in the upper respiratory system. It causes a blistering effect on the surface of the lungs and can cause secondary infection. However genital mycoplasmosis is common in female rats and although they do not always have an infection they will have reduced fertility.

MP is very fragile outside of the host (your rat) and it is very susceptible to heat, detergents and disinfectants. This means that washing your hands with hot water will kill MP.

People can't catch MP, but we can carry it on our clothes and skin for short periods of time. Mycoplasmas live in respiratory passages and lungs, so if we sneeze we could transmit it to our rats. MP can infect an entire rat colony as they transmit it by sneezing, grooming and sexual contact.

Although MP is very delicate and has a slow rate of growth, once it takes root in a rats system it can be difficult to get rid of. MP mimics your rats antigens fooling your rat's system into ignoring the invading organism.

Rats can be more susceptible to other respiratory diseases once they have MP, as it compromises the integrity of the lung wall.

Treating MP

Not all antibiotics work on MP. This is because some antibiotics attack the invading organisms cell wall and remember MP does not have a cell wall, so these antibiotics will be useless.

You must use the correct antibiotics as soon as possible. Remember there are other pathogens that effect rats, so make sure it is MP before you begin treatment.

Good antibiotics to use are:

Doxycycline combined with Baytril. This should be given in an oral form using a syringe, or dropped in your rat's favourite liquid food (Ginger loves soy milk). Give your rat 2.5mg/pound (make sure you get an accurate weight of your rat using electronic scales). Give this twice a day for 14-30 days.

Aminophylline can be used if your rat has pneumonia to help it breathe more easily. Give 2.5-5mg/pound two times a day.

Prednisone can reduce inflammation, and can be used with other antibiotics. In the advanced stages of MP this will allow your rat to live more comfortably. Give 0.25-1mg/pound once a day. Only ever use this for a few days at a time, unless your rat is dying, in which case keep it up until he passes.

Make sure your rat is getting enough fluids. You may wish to use a syringe, or eyedropper to give water to your rat by hand. If your rat is not eating properly use a vitamin and calorie supplement, such as Nutrigel. This tastes nice, so your rat should take it easily.

Fun Games to Play With the Family

Fun Games to Play With the Family
 by: Dave Roth

 

Many families today do not spend that much time together. Life seems to get in the way, and they end up going their separate ways and doing their own things. However, there are ways to bring the family closer, and one way is through the playing of games. With that in mind, however, it is important to find games that everyone can play, so that they can all have fun and enjoy what they are doing. Without the entire family being able to play, the people that are left out will be resentful and the goal of getting the entire family involved will be lost. Fortunately, there are many fun games available.

Some of the easiest ones to play are backyard games like horseshoes and beanbag toss. These are games that do not require a lot of set-up and preparation. In addition, they have simple rules and they are games that almost anyone of any age can play. Because of this, the entire family from very young children through to the elderly grandparents and even great-grandparents can play them. When games are available for such a large group of individuals, they can really help to keep families together. Sometimes, though, the weather is bad and games cannot be played outside. It may be too hot for everyone to enjoy it, or it may be raining or cold.

When outside games cannot be played, there are family games to play inside. Most people think of video and computer games, and those can be very enjoyable, but there are other games. Many people still like board games, and putting together a puzzle can be a fun family activity, as can doing an art project, making a scrapbook, or looking at family photos. For those that want a different kind of indoor game, though, there are many options that people used to play such as hide-and-seek or sardines. Searching the Internet for these kinds of games can provide parents with a list of many fun activities that the entire family can enjoy.

Using Crm Software To Gain And Keep Clients

Using Crm Software To Gain And Keep Clients
 by: Dave Roth

 

Not all companies use CRM software, and companies that do use it often find that surprising. They know the benefits of the CRM software and how much it can do for their companies. They find that they can get more clients – and keep the ones they have – when they use it, as well. Naturally, keeping clients is vital. However, getting new ones is also something that needs to be done. By using CRM software, clients can be reassured. They are treated well, and they feel as though their opinion matters. Because of this, they often tell others of their experiences with a particular company. In doing so, word of mouth advertising spreads quickly. Those who hear about the quality of the company may then try it, and more clients will be gained.

The way that CRM keeps customers feeling secure, and the way that it brings in new ones through word of mouth work together to allow for a lot of help for companies. It is remarkable how many companies are now moving toward using this software. Generally, it is larger companies. However, this is not because CRM software is not good for smaller companies. Instead, it is because larger companies simply have more difficulty keeping track of their clients. They usually have a larger client base, and they also have more people who may need access to that information. For smaller companies, however, getting and using CRM software can be very beneficial. It enables them to be ready when they grow and their client base expands.

This is highly important for companies that feel as though they must continue to build the number of clients that they have. These companies want to be ready for whatever comes next, and this is a good idea, especially for smaller companies. Larger ones can also benefit , though, because they still want to gain new clients. Just because someone has a good client base, he or she usually still wants more. Clients come and go, and getting a steady flow of new ones will not only help the client base grow, but will also help to replace clients who may leave for various reasons. Even a good company will lose clients. This is often through no fault of their own. Clients may relocate. Some may pass away. Still others may find a better deal, a company closer to home, or something that they feel better about.

CRM software can be used for many different things. Most commonly it is used to store names and dates. However, there are many other things it can do. Companies use it to keep track of their client's purchases and returns. It is also often used to remind salespeople of important appointments and to ensure that they do not forget their clients. This can mean sending out anniversary and birthday cards, returning phone calls more promptly, and handling many other areas of life that are important to business interactions. Overall, using CRM software is one of the best choices that a company can make.

The Benefits Of CRM Software

The Benefits Of CRM Software
 by: Dave Roth

 

CRM software, often called customer relationship management software, is becoming much more popular today than it was in years past. One reason for this is that more people understand what the software is and are deciding to use it. Another reason is that the software is getting better and easier to use. It has more features and benefits than it did in the past, and it is also becoming more user-friendly, which is very important. More people today are using the Internet for their businesses. As this trend continues to grow, there will be a larger need for CRM software, but only if it is found to be useful and compatible with the needs that a business owner or manager has.

There are a lot of benefits to CRM software, as well. Managers can use this software to keep track of their customers and vendors and organize them in many different ways. It is unfortunate that so many people only think of CRM software as being a datebook or contact-recording type of software. It does handle these functions, but it does a great deal more than that, which is something that many business people fail to realize today when they are presented with CRM software. This CRM software can be used to record names and dates. However, it also keeps track of sales, returns, important dates such as birthdays and anniversaries. In addition, it can help to remind salespeople of their prior commitments. This keeps them from missing deadlines, meetings, the returning of phone calls, or anything else that will affect the perception of them that their clients have.

Naturally, not missing deadlines is vital to a good business relationship. In addition, the CRM software can help a client feel as though he or she matters to a business. When a client feels important and valued, repeat business is much more likely than it would otherwise be. This is great for the business, but it is also good for the clients, because everyone in the relationship benefits from the efficiency that CRM software helps to create. Without CRM software, there is a good chance that there will be more problems in the interactions that are needed between clients and businesspeople. This is not to say that CRM software eliminates all chance of problems, but it does reduce them.

Those who use CRM software can also be more organized, because it is easier for them to find what they need when it comes to their customers, their vendors, and anything else that they need to keep close track of. It allows them to return calls more promptly, send out birthday cards, and keep customer information stored in a database where it can easily be retrieved by anyone who has authorized access to it. The main benefit to customers is that almost anyone in the company can help them, at least to some degree, because they can get to their information. This benefit of CRM software is the most important one because of the ability to let customers know that they are important to the company.

Medical Billing Software - Make the Right Decision

Medical Billing Software - Make the Right Decision
By Matt Murren

So many choices. There are hundreds (or even thousands) of options out there. Each software vendor claims that their product is superior to the competition. Each boasts of the many features provided by their solution. So how do you know which way to go?

First and foremost, no one knows better than your own corporation what you need. Think about conducting a meeting with the billing department, the physicians, the receptionist, the board members, and anyone else with a vested interest in the software. Have a brainstorm meeting with each person discussing the features that are most important to them in terms of a software solution. Make sure before you look at the first option out there, you know exactly what is needed and in the best interest of the organization. Do you just need software to keep up with finances, or do you need an all-encompassing product that will track appointments, patient history, scheduling, prescriptions, registration, and such? These are the things that should be hashed out at the meeting.

Research Options

O.K., so you're ready to begin your search...now what? You can contact providers whom you are not in competition with and request some advice or even an on-site visit. You can also search the Internet for various vendors and read up on the different features available. Grab a notebook and write down anything you like, but don't make any hard decisions or become overly attached just yet.

Beyond the Smoke & Mirrors: Training and Support

Now the smoke has cleared and you've seen all the nifty features that can make life simpler for your office. Next, you need to feel confident that whatever dealer you select, you will also receive the support you need to use and maintain the software. Find out the answers to these questions:

• Do they provide 24/7 support? Does the software come with sufficient help documentation that I can save time finding the answer myself?
• Is the support free or do I have to pay additional for this? How about training?

Security and HIPAA Compliance

Even with good support and nice features, if the data is vulnerable to falling into the wrong hands, you risk lawsuits that could damage your company's reputation. Don't underestimate the importance of a secure solution. Be sure the software allows you to be HIPAA compliant.

Conclusion

Many healthcare providers are falling behind the pack in terms of speed, security, and service. The high number of facilities makes the field all the more competitive. It's so important to find just the right system for your particular practice. In the end, what software you choose could determine if your company will continue to succeed or lag farther behind. A good decision will leave your organization satisfied, improve efficiency, and allow you to continue to grow and prosper.

Matt D Murren owns and operates http://www.medical-billing-software-advisor.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matt_Murren

Pro Star on Demand

Pro Star on Demand
By Remy Na

This software is amongst the best on the market today. On Demand is an aggregation of software that will enhance you business and give you complete satisfaction and control over your business organization. This package offers ProStar CRM, ProStar Lead Manager and the Contact Anywhere Feature, all this on the one computer system. You have in this system the tools available to further intensify your customer service and follow ups that are sometimes missed in the hustle and bustle of customer service, which will further your business's standing in the industry.

You will have the ability to further your customer care with the customer relation programs that feature in this total package. You can inter-mingle the customer calls to in and outgoing, keep customer records and pass callers on to other departments, all this combines to make this a very useful and target related tool to have in your business.

All these features are available in real time so there are no delays in your service offerings and your staff will be up to date with all customer data. You will also be able to relate directly with them on a one to one basis. This will further your agents and your organizations standing in the business world and will put you among the leaders in your field. It will also enable you to outsource with complete confidence to be able to furnish lead production.

With an amalgamated call centre application program you will be capable of service that includes outbound predictive dialer, recordings, VOIP and inbound IVR/ ACD, making sure that the service you are providing is of the utmost high standing within your industry. You can have access to a merged CRM application program, with superior lead generation with great management as well. You can also analyze sales and merchandising metrics reporting and call announcement. You can also be able to record and more importantly this feature will allow you to monitor as well.

You will benefit also from the low cost involved in setting up the software and it's hosted program so you don't have to be concerned with expensive computer hardware to buy. And it's compatible with any telephone system, so you will be able to install and use immediately.

With this software package you are able to start a new business from scratch and get started very quickly as you only have to install the computer software and then align it with your telephone system. So it's basically a plug and play and it will save you plenty of time and will be basically hassle free. With the fantastic online help system involved with this package you can't really go wrong. It is just like hiring an expert to iron out the problems that you may have and get you on your way to success and satisfaction.

About Promero, Inc Founded in 2001, Promero http://www.Promero.com has partnered with recognized global leaders to provide innovative technology, strength, stability, comprehensive consultation, implementation and support. Founded in 2001, Promero is a leading application service provider of Internet-based call center CRM and lead management software. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Remy_Na