Monday, June 15, 2009

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Business Consultancy Services

‘Stride Consultancy Group’ along with its services at http://www.strideconsultancyuae.com  has been prearranged to offer a comprehensive series of Services which would append significance to the managing of an Organization. These services are present through a committed group of professionals with wide-ranging industry experience and backgrounds, in order to adapt and set free organization specific solutions to our consumers, with an aim of providing a ‘ONE-STOP Exceptional Solution’ for our clients towards running their big business in an enhanced way. 

 We are offering following types of quality services.

» Business Consultancy :

Stride Consultancy Services Group is one of the knowledgeable, proficient and self-governing service provider firms who work separately to resolve business troubles. Stride has their own superiority oath coordination so that customers can believe positive in the services. We at Stride offer which we are committed to the permanent proficient enlargement of our consultants.

We are stay in Dubai, UAE present consultancy, training and advice to business professionals in Dubai and nearby countries. 

» Accounting - Auditing Services :

Stride Business Consultancy Services furnish complete Accounting – Auditing – Bookkeeping Management which is premeditated to entire daily monetary record-keeping responsibilities as well as your month-end closing responsibilities, followed by preparation of your monthly financial reports and examination of your production.

Stride wishes you to think secure that your bookkeeping structure precisely replicates your in progress circumstances so that you can focus on management of your trade. The Process starts from basic bookkeeping which can be irresistible depending on the volume of your trade and the amount of dealings. Stride will deal with your business investments and stay you on the correct pathway. 

» Company Incorporation :

Stride Consultancy provides company incorporation services along with formation, applications, online registration. We are deliver services to UAE and all types of worldwide companies. We guide the clients about how to setup a company along with incorporation procedure with legal forms and formula. We are highly experience in the business with cheap price structure for all type of services.  If you are forming a Company and wish to register company’s incorporation, we are here to help you out with fast, efficient, economical and accurate process.

Site : www.strideconsultancyuae.com

PO box 31303

Level 41, Emirate tower, Sh.Zayed Road.

Dubai(UAE)

Tel: + 971 4 3199030

Fax : 971 4 3199031

Mobile: +971 50 3787241


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SES London
So we've decided to pop along to the search engine strategies event tomorrow at the Expo centre. Looks like a tiny line up of speakers compared to the usual but from the looks of it, it's just a small scale event that's been pinned onto the a4uexpo event.
Still, they're always good learning opportunities and a good chance to get re-enthused about SEO in general so off we go!
I'll blog an update on Monday

Is combining PPC with SEO the most effective form of online marketing?
Pay per click (PPC) campaigns and natural Search engine optimisation (SEO) have long been segregated by the search engine optimisation industry.
Search engine optimisation purists have tended to add the management of PPC campaigns as an afterthought or even avoided it alltogether when advertising their services or speaking at search engine events. This is probably due to the widely held misconception that a PPC campaign requires little skill or knowledge. This is untrue. Managing a succesful PPC campaign can involve just as much effort as managing a successful SEO campaign, reducing spend and increasing profits is an art in itself.

Despite the above statement, the two forms of online marketing have never been natural bedfellows however, a small number of SEO companies including ourselves have long realised the benefits of combining the two disciplines to potentiate the eficacy of our clients campaigns.

To show how this works I've provided three examples below, each demonstrates the typical course of the relationship between client and SEO firm. The first scenario is based on a PPC campaign, the second on a natural SEO campaign and the third on our combined approach.

Scenario 1 - PPC campaign:

The client

Typical client needs leads fast! The client is impatient for results and doesn't have the time to explore the benefits of a well managed long term SEO strategy, they want to be number 1 in Google and they want it yesterday!

The results

Client signs off the invoice wearily, not too trusting (quite rightly) of the profits he may reap but willing to try anything at this point. The campaign then goes one of two ways:

A - The clients website is a converter and gets him / her a good few leads in the first trial period, client is incredibly happy with you and asks you to keep running the campaign. A good few months down the line, the client is still doing well but the accountant isn't happy!

"What's all this money we're spending on Google then?" they ask.

By this time the client has forgotten the fact that although they're spending £X on Google, theu're actually making £XXXXX out of it. hey agree with the accountant that they should cut costs and give you a call to reduce the spend or cancel the account altogether. You oblige, sales drop off and then they think it must be because of the colour of the website so they go out and spend thousands (with another company) on getting a re-design and still no visitors. They can be heard down the pub moaning that they "tried internet marketing for a while but it didn't work out/the firm I hired stopped getting me leads/people stopped searching for my product on the internet"

B - They website couldn't convert a desperate shopaholic (as you tried to warn them subtly whilst their son/brother/cat who designed the site was sat in the meeting) and nothing happens ... que excuses of outcome A

Scenario 2 - SEO campaign

The client knows a little about search engines and how they work, they are keen to get someone to have a go at it for them but shocked at the amount of time (money) is involved in getting them to the top of Google for a competetive (profit making) keyword. They then either:

A - Kick you out of the door and go with a company down the road who promises to get them to number 1 in a week for £300 (for the highly competetive keyword "blue trainers for sale in west bromwich on tuesday afternoon".
Perversely the client is extremely happy with this and spends countless hours contacting freinds, familly, clients etc boring them to tears with how his website is number 1 in Google for "blue trainers for sale in west bromwich on tuesday afternoon" and gets cross when they type in trainers and his site ranks on page 1, 567

B - They glumly agree to the campaign and spend the next three months constantly on the phone to you asking why they aren't at number one for obscure phrases or their best friends cat"s name even though you've spent hours carefully selecting profitable keywords that will shortly make them rich beyond their wildest dreams and had explained that it would take a good long time for results to show. If they do stick with you for long enough for the results to show, the increased sales are inevitably put down to the fact that they changed their profile picture on the about us page to capture their kindly aspect and not to the fact that you've spent the last few months slaving away at their on and offsite SEO using the most up to date techniques gleaned from detailed analysis of hidden codes in Matt Cutt's blog and a few sneaky secrets only you and your close companions know of.

Scenario 3 - SEO & PPC combo!

Well, if you've read the last two scenarios then you can guess where this is probably heading. For those clients smart enough to take the combined approach, the rewards are plenty. Instant traffic and leads followed up with free traffic three months down the line when they start to get fidgety at the amount they're spending on "internet advertising" something they neither know or trust even after it's made them a small fortune in increased profits and established them on the map. They early profits take the sting out of paying for the natrual SEO campaign and everyone's happy, especially us, the SEO firms as we get to use the data from the PPC campaign as real time statistics which help us immensely with creating a brilliant natural SEO campaign.

Summary

Although this post seems alittle cynical, it is intentionally so to bring a bit of light humour to an otherwise dry and frustrating subject of SEO. Of course not all clienjavascript:void(0)ts fall into the categories above and the vast majority of our clients appreciate our work. I'm hust empahasising the negative thoughts that must (reasonably) cross their minds when they hand over their website and monthly purchase orders to a firm they know little about that performs a service they know of even less.


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Financial Services UK | Financial Planning Services UK | Online Financial Analysis UK
Financial Services UK - A complete online financial analysis on small business financial analysis, financial planning services UK, statement analysis and financial statement preparation UK.

Mortgage Loan Modification Vermont
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Mortgage Loan Modification Tennessee
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'Spam king' could face criminal charges in Facebook case

Sanford Wallace in 1997, around the time he dubbed himself the king of spam.

(Credit: CNET News)

In a move that could land Sanford Wallace in jail if convicted, a federal judge on Friday referred a lawsuit Facebook filed against the "spam king" to the U.S. Attorney's office ...

Originally posted at News - Security




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Names & Faces


Clean the Air With Higher Gas Prices
Dear President Obama:



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Bells, chants launch Bhutan's first daily newspaper
THIMPHU, Bhutan (Reuters) - Buddhist monks prayed for the success of Bhutan's first daily newspaper, which was launched Thursday but could take a week to reach remote areas of the tiny Himalayan nation carried on ponies and on foot.



Catholics and Muslims to fight terror and defend faith
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Catholic and Muslim leaders at unprecedented Vatican meetings vowed on Thursday to jointly combat violence committed in God's name, to defend religious freedom and to foster equal rights for minority faith groups.



Rough and Ruddy: A question of style for Australian leader
    By Rob Taylor      “43 percent nasty” read posters dotting the press wing of Australia’s parliament this week under a photo of a beaming Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, pointing readers to a more benign 5 percent-strength beer on sale at a nearby news studio.     The quip drew on a poll finding near one-in-two voters believe the [...]
    By Rob Taylor
  
  “43 percent nasty” read posters dotting the press wing of Australia’s parliament this week under a photo of a beaming Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, pointing readers to a more benign 5 percent-strength beer on sale at a nearby news studio.
    The quip drew on a poll finding near one-in-two voters believe the boyish-looking Rudd has a nasty side, echoing other recent surveys showing the centre-left leader’s meteoric popularity is sliding back from a year of levels “with the gods” .
    The beer plug perhaps helps explain a bizarre and sudden switch in Rudd’s technocratic speaking style to a bush slang which has left even Australians bewildered as, with his usual obsessiveness, Rudd works hard to reconnect.
  
Photo: Rudd at the Asia Security Conference in Singapore, May 29, 2009/Reuters 
   
 "Fair shake of the sauce bottle, mate . . . It's chalk and cheese . . . Fair shake of the sauce bottle, mate . . . Well, again, fair shake of the sauce bottle, mate," the Mandarin-speaking former diplomat said with “ticking clock” monotony in a television interview this week which raised eyebrows nationally.
    Compare that to equally incomprehensible, but slang-free, comments by Rudd in Britain last year while meeting foreign leaders over climate change.
    "The parallel ideological synergies, vis-a-vis the development opportunity momentum in our own constituencies … that's where the low-hanging fruit lies," he said as attending journalists shook their heads.
    In the United States, Rudd spoke at the prestigious Brookings Institution of “a complimentarity that could be developed further in the direction of some short of conceptual synthesis”.
    Australians can be forgiven for wondering who their prime minister really is, with the question having added resonance amid a swirl of talk that Rudd could call early elections to overcome an upper house Senate currently giving Labor nightmares.
    “Will the real Kevin Rudd please stand up,” former conservative opposition leader John Hewson demanded on national television on Friday.
    Rudd was a virtual unknown outside the corridors of parliament when he led his Labor Party out of near 12 years in opposition and chronic leadership instability to a sweeping election triumph in November 2007.
    Rudd came to lead then-opposition Labor in late 2006 as almost last leadership man standing and since election his popularity has been at record highs. His standing belies the “Dr Death” nickname Rudd earned while cutting a swathe through staff numbers as a top bureaucrat in Queensland state in the early 1990s.
    But that began to downshift in April when stories emerged of Rudd’s temper and control obsession -- which political insiders have known of for years – boiling over at a air force stewardess he reduced to tears over food choice while on a VIP flight.
    Since then Rudd’s popularity, while still strong, has fallen from high 70s to around 58 percent in the closely-watched Newspoll series.
    “Rudd's whole life is an artifice. With his blond hair, round face, round glasses
and wholesome values, he would have us believe he's the Milky Bar Kid,” senior writer Ross Fitzgerald wrote in the Australian newspaper this month, comparing Labor’s star to a popular children’s chocolate bar character.
    “As the public is starting to realise, the real Rudd has more in common with Dr
Death than the carefully-crafted public persona of the Milky Bar Kid,” Fitzgerald said.
    “Strewth! There is now a Kevin Rudd for every occasion, and the only version of the Prime Minister that's missing is one that's real,” wrote conservative Herald Sun newspaper columnist Andrew Bolt after Rudd’s stream of sauce bottle slang.
    Speech experts have blamed Rudd's chameleon switch on his advisors trying to better reach ordinary voters, particularly swing-vote workers in crucial regional seats and suburban fringes, often ill at ease with Rudd’s natural intellectualism.
    But commentators, and the public, see the transition as far from smooth, raising questions on if it could actually harm Rudd in future opinion polling, and ultimately an election.
    Others say its shows a country and its leader unsure of their identity, torn between sophisticated city dwellers and a more insular retreat to nationalist symbols and protectionism among voters in regional areas.
    “While some of us have drifted off to lattes, designer wear and a taste for cosmopolitan things, others have retreated to the comfort of flags on our utes (SUVs) and Southern Cross tattoos,” the Courier Mail newspaper said.
    “In all fairness, it must be hard for any moderately intelligent Australian political leader to hit exactly the right note with his or her public persona in this shifting landscape that is our national character,” the paper said.
    So far Rudd is not retreating from the barrage of criticism and has even poked fun at himself and protagonists at a business power lunch in Sydney on Thursday, drawing laughter from those assembled.
    Channeling his inner aussie once more, Rudd called on media commentators to give him a "fair crack of the whip" and not "come the raw prawn".
     Does that leave you confused? Then spare a thought for wondering Australians as they await opinion testing of Rudd new style during a bruising parliamentary session over the next fortnight that could yet lead to surprise early elections!



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Changes to The Rational Walk
I have decided to make some changes to the focus and mission of The Rational Walk. After close to four months of posting fairly regularly and focusing mostly on original content, I have decided to modify my approach in a few important ways. Rather than simply making these changes without comment, I thought that it would make more sense to outline the rationale behind the change in focus.
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I have decided to make some changes to the focus and mission of The Rational Walk.  After close to four months of posting fairly regularly and focusing mostly on original content, I have decided to modify my approach in a few important ways.  Rather than simply making these changes without comment, I thought that it would make more sense to outline the rationale behind the change in focus.

Article Frequency and Content

While I enjoy writing original content, the process can be time consuming in many ways.  Everything from topic selection to research to putting together an article requires focused attention and time.  While this is an activity I enjoy pursuing, my primary occupation is to research investments for my own portfolio and to make intelligent decisions regarding capital allocation.  Sometimes the research for articles coincides with investment research but more often the activities are not exactly aligned.

Time commitments to writing can be reduced by lowering article quality, reducing frequency, or some combination of the two.  I don’t believe in compromising on quality so the frequency of original article content must be reduced.  I do not have any specific frequency in mind at the moment but anticipate that, on average, I will post an original article of some substance on a weekly basis.  This will be based more on when I find something interesting to write about than the passage of time on the calendar so articles may appear in a “lumpy” manner rather than being evenly spaced each week.

While I will be reducing original article frequency, I will continue to post videos or links to interesting articles since the time required to do so is relatively small.  From the statistics on this site, I have found that in many cases such videos are actually more popular than original content!

Investment Coverage

While I spend much of my time making investment decisions and allocating capital, for some reason I have never been entirely comfortable with saying or writing anything that could be construed as “investment advice”.  I do not mean this in a legal sense since I have all the necessary disclaimers on the site.  However, I am asked for advice from readers fairly often and particularly when I make a statement regarding a particular investment.

It is one thing to make a decision that adversely impacts my account and quite another to influence someone else in a way that results in a poor outcome.  I am simply not comfortable with it.  As a result, I will no longer post specific buy or sell decisions regarding securities in my own portfolio nor will I generally make any statements regarding securities I am researching.  I will make one exception for Berkshire Hathaway.  I will continue to cover Berkshire in detail and will post my estimation of intrinsic value from time to time.

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The Mustache Rangers: Episode 18
The Mustache Rangers are many things. Many many things, in fact. They are more things than they are not. For example, the Mustache Rangers are flesh and blood. The Mustache Rangers are made of stone. The Mustache Rangers were born of a man and a woman and another woman with another man in there. The [...]

The Mustache Rangers are many things. Many many things, in fact. They are more things than they are not. For example, the Mustache Rangers are flesh and blood. The Mustache Rangers are made of stone. The Mustache Rangers were born of a man and a woman and another woman with another man in there. The Mustache Rangers are not red.

We hope that this clears your mind of any misconceptions. Enjoy this week’s episode.



The Mustache Rangers: Episode 55
The great beyond may not be all that great. Or, now that we’ve had a chance to think it over, all that beyond. Thank goodness there are those out there who will pretend to communicate with your loved ones for monies. They are truly beyond great. The Mustache Rangers take death, for instance, in this week’s [...]

The great beyond may not be all that great. Or, now that we’ve had a chance to think it over, all that beyond. Thank goodness there are those out there who will pretend to communicate with your loved ones for monies. They are truly beyond great.

The Mustache Rangers take death, for instance, in this week’s interpod netcast. Enjoy it while you can.



Where to Find the Mustache Rangers
The Mustache Rangers are having a very big year, and want to make certain you are connected to all the bigness that is going on. This here is a handy guide to keep you updated. The Mustache Rangers have a mountain full of live performances coming up this year, and there are many places you can [...]

The Mustache Rangers are having a very big year, and want to make certain you are connected to all the bigness that is going on. This here is a handy guide to keep you updated.

The Mustache Rangers have a mountain full of live performances coming up this year, and there are many places you can find out about it. One option is to look towards the right sidebar of this very website. There you will find a Google Calendar that lists all of the upcoming Mustache Rangers shows. You can even use it to add reminders to your own Google Calendar. It is futuristic and beautiful.

The second option is to click on the live link at the top of the Mustache Rangers website. There you will find another list, but not as futuristic and debatably less beautiful.

Finally, if you are a Facebook user, you can sign up for the The Mustache Rangers Appreciation Society. Here you can interact with other Mustache Rangers fans, and get updated whenever a Mustache Rangers performance is coming up.

You see? There is really no excuse for you to be ill informed. If you are ill informed, you have only your own obstinance to blame.

So get informed, drop us a line, and tell some of your friends about the Mustache Rangers. We are happiest when you are happy, if it makes us happy. If your happiness is unrelated to our happiness, then we don’t see why we should have to go around smiling. It is exhausting.



The Mustache Rangers Correct: Episode 111
The spine is a mystery. It isn’t, really. But it can certainly be a sticky wicket at times. It is inside the body, which is the first problem. Fixing the spine isn’t like getting an eyelash out of your eye. There are few advantages to having an exoskeleton, but easy spine fixing seems like one [...]

The spine is a mystery. It isn’t, really. But it can certainly be a sticky wicket at times. It is inside the body, which is the first problem. Fixing the spine isn’t like getting an eyelash out of your eye. There are few advantages to having an exoskeleton, but easy spine fixing seems like one of them. Easy spine chewability seems to cancel out that advantage.

The Mustache Rangers deal with the human spine in this week’s podcast episode. Enjoy it at your own risk. Risk of enjoyment.




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Is Your 401(k) now a 201(k)?
Is Your 401(k) now a 201(k)? Did you miss this week’s show? Doug Andrew discussed the following: We have four goals for each of you listening to Missed Fortune Radio.  1) Increase your money supply. 2) Create more and better benefits for you. 3) Eliminate unnecessary tax.  4) Be able to do all of this without [...]

Missed Fortune Radio

Is Your 401(k) now a 201(k)?

Did you miss this week’s show? Doug Andrew discussed the following:

We have four goals for each of you listening to Missed Fortune Radio.  1) Increase your money supply. 2) Create more and better benefits for you. 3) Eliminate unnecessary tax.  4) Be able to do all of this without increasing your cash outlay one dime.

How many of you saw your qualified plans go down in value these last couple of years?  These plans for retirement use investment vehicles such as 401(k)s, IRAs, 457s, pension plans, profit sharing, 403(b)s, and tax sheltered annuities.  Many of these plans are now half the value that they once were.  Traditional financial planning is giving the same old advice and strategies that they always have and we all know the kind of “results” this advice has produced.

Attend our Weekly Internet Seminar/Webinar: Don’t miss your chance to understand how to protect your money during economic crisis but get competitive rate of returns during the good years.  This strategy is called indexing and you need to know all about it.  Call 888-76-Radio (888-767-2346) to register for either our 11am or 6pm Pacific event.

New FREE Missed Fortune E-book: Baby Boomer Blunders. THE PROBLEM? The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement (which means many have less than that), primarily due to bad habits and having money invested in the wrong places where economic downturns can diminish their nest egg. Download at www.babyboomerblunders.com




Is anyone any minding the store at the Federal Reserve?
Is anyone any minding the store at the Federal Reserve? Did you miss this week’s show? Doug Andrew discussed the following topic: On May 8, 2009, Rep. Alan Grayson asked the Federal Reserve Inspector General about the trillions of dollars lent or spent by the Federal Reserve and where it went and the trillions [...]

Missed Fortune RadioIs anyone any minding the store at the Federal Reserve?

Did you miss this week’s show? Doug Andrew discussed the following topic:

On May 8, 2009, Rep. Alan Grayson asked the Federal Reserve Inspector General about the trillions of dollars lent or spent by the Federal Reserve and where it went and the trillions of off balance sheet obligations. Inspector General Elizabeth Coleman responded that the IG does not know and is not tracking where this money is. If you want view this five minute shocking interview, go to this video at the Missed Fortune SuperBlog.

This direct interview is unbelievable because the IG doesn’t even understand the question, nor is capable of answering it. How did she get to that position? I should be surprised, but I’m not!

Attend our event live over the internet on Tuesday June 16th or in person in SLC, UT at 6:30 Mountain/5:30 Pacific: Don’t miss your chance to understand how to protect your money during this economic crisis but get competitive rate of returns during the good years. This strategy is called indexing and you need to know all about it. Call 888-76-Radio (888-767-2346) to register for either the national internet broadcast or the live event in Salt Lake City, UT.

New FREE Missed Fortune E-book: Baby Boomer Blunders. THE PROBLEM? The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement (which means many have less than that), primarily due to bad habits and having money invested in the wrong places where economic downturns can diminish their nest egg. Download at www.babyboomerblunders.com



IRAs and 401(k)s Proving Not to Be Best for Secure Retirement
If you’re like many Americans, you may have seen 30, 40 or 50 percent losses on the value of your 401(k)s or IRAs in the last few years. But I predict the worst hit is yet to come-and it’s not what you think. As it is, recovering from losses can be tough. For example, when an [...]

If you’re like many Americans, you may have seen 30, 40 or 50 percent losses on the value of your 401(k)s or IRAs in the last few years. But I predict the worst hit is yet to come-and it’s not what you think.

stock-market-down-300x113 IRAs and 401(k)s Proving Not to Be Best for Secure RetirementAs it is, recovering from losses can be tough. For example, when an account loses 50 percent of its value, the account has to experience a 100 percent gain just to get back to the break even point. Say you had $100,000 in a 401(k) two years ago that is now worth $50,000. Your account would need to double to get back to its original value. In this volatile economy, that could take years.

Also, retirement accounts  that were once worth twice as much and generated interest income of 7, 8 or 9 percent, are now worth half as much and are only generating 2, 3 or 4 percent.

But that’s not all to be worried about.

Despite all the recent losses, I predict it will pale in comparison to the tax hit retirees will experience the day they begin withdrawing their money from their qualified retirement plans.

I had a school teacher who came to me several years ago for financial planning. She knew she would only be receiving 60 percent of the income she had when she was teaching (2 percent for every year of 30 years of service). Thus, she had socked away money faithfully in the state’s 401(k), 403(b), and in tax sheltered annuities (TSAs) to supplement her retirement.

But when she retired, she found herself in the highest tax bracket she had ever been in, even though she was not working. Why? Her house was paid off; she was not contributing to these accounts anymore; and she had no dependents. Her tax deductions were all gone.  On top of her pension and social security, at age 70½ she was forced to withdraw the minimum distribution from her tax-deferred accounts. Her taxable income was $80,000 a year, with hardly any deductions.  All that money she had saved in taxes during her 30 years of contributions-she essentially paid it back to Uncle Sam during the first two years of retirement, and every two years thereafter!

You see, the government has a permanent tax lien on your IRAs and 401(k)s.

One thing is certain: Future taxes will be going up. For this reason, I don’t own an IRA or 401(k)-never have, never will! There are better ways to save and have tax-free income in retirement.

If you’re feeling confused and powerless because your IRAs or 401(k)s lost 20-50 percent during the last couple of years, leaving you frustrated-even feeling paralyzed-there are safe strategies and solutions that will help you get unstuck and get your future back!

Doug Andrew

Photo by mujitra




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Five Free Security Hacks
Let's talk about security hacks—simple yet clever ways to protect yourself in the physical and cyber worlds that cost little or nothing.
The premise behind tricks like this is not that any one—or even all—of them is guaranteed to protect you thoroughly, but rather that each of them will make stealing your system or data difficult or unappealing. It should go without saying that neither one nor all of these can replace good, up-to-date antivirus and firewall protection.
The classic non-tech security trick is using motion detection spotlights or lights on a timer—even fake video cameras or surveillance warning signage—to give the impression that your home or business is occupied. No thief actually wants to be seen, and few want to chance confrontation. Along similar lines, there are easy and free ways to make your computer and data less available to thieves.
  1. A surprisingly effective PC security trick is simply to remove the keyboard and mouse. I discovered this when the keyboard on my laptop died and I had to use an external keyboard for a while. It's highly unlikely that a snoop will carry an extra keyboard and mouse with him. This will slow someone down but is far from foolproof, and it should go without saying that every computer should be physically locked to a sturdy object and secured behind a strong password.
  2. To protect from podslurping (the connecting of an unauthorized USB device and its use to steal data), disable your USB ports. Or—and we borrowed this one directly from the U.S. military—epoxy over the USB ports. Too permanent? A slightly more elegant solution is to open the PC case and disconnect (or cut) the wires running from the motherboard to the USB ports.
  3. Traveling with a laptop? Try not to advertise that you're carrying a valuable piece of equipment: Use a computer bag that doesn't look like a computer bag, or use a neoprene sleeve inside a regular backpack. If you nap at the airport, wrap the shoulder strap around your arm or leg so you'll be alerted if someone tries to walk away with your bag.
  4. Here's an easy way to hide your Windows PC on a network while maintaining access to network resources. (This also works when you want stealth but still want to let others access your shared resources.) At the command prompt, type Net config server /hidden:yes. Now you're still a member of your network neighborhood but your PC won't show up when others browse for it. Make sure your software firewall is turned on, and block incoming ICMP traffic. This will prevent a network intruder from scanning for your PC using a ping sweep.
  5. Once you are hidden on the network, you can spend some time trying to figure out who—if anyone—is connecting to your PC and to whom your PC is connecting. To accomplish this, you'll use the command-line tool Netstat and the Task Manager. Get to the command prompt and type netstat –ao. A bunch of info will flash by on your screen listing the type of connection, the IP addresses of remote hosts, the protocols, and the process identifier, or PID. If there's something here you don't recognize, write down the PID. Now, open the Task Manager and add the PID column by opening the View menu and clicking on Select Columns. Check the box next to PID. Now match the PID from Netstat and the PID from Task Manager to learn which applications are holding which ports open. A well-secured machine should have ports open only for authorized apps.
  6. One last idea: Enabling secure log-on in Windows XP and Vista will protect your system from malware that attempts to impersonate a log-on screen to steal system passwords. This forces anyone trying to log on to press Ctrl-Alt-Del first. In Windows Vista, open the Run command, type netplwiz, and clickContinue when prompted by User Account Control. In the Advanced User Account window, click the Advanced tab, then select the box that says Require users to press Ctrl-Alt-Delete. In Windows XP, go to the Control Panel's User Accounts applet. In the Advanced User Account window, click the Advanced tab, then select the box that says Require users to press Ctrl-Alt-Delete


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Get em quick!!
Facebook usernames to be released
Facebook page
New Facebook usernames will be available from 5am on Saturday

Social networking site Facebook is giving users the chance to create their own, personalised web address.

From Saturday morning, anyone using Facebook will be able to sign up for a username using their name and surname.

The changes will be available to members from 5am on 13 June but users will have to get up early as it'll be on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The company says the new Facebook URLs will make it easier for people to search for common names on the site.

Facebook users have always used their real names for profiles within the social networking site, but this is the first time URLs will contain the same information.

Instead of a jumble of numbers at the end of a user's URL it will read, for example, www.facebook.com/joe.bloggs.

The social networking site says usernames will still have the same privacy settings as profile names when using the site's search tool.

If users signed up for a Facebook page after 31 May this year or a user profile after Wednesday at 8pm, they may not be able to sign up for a username immediately.

That's to stop abuse or "squatting" on names.

A Facebook blog on the username changes said: "We're planning to offer Facebook usernames to make it easier for people to find and connect with you.

"When your friends, family members or co-workers visit your profile or pages on Facebook, they will be able to enter your username as part of the URL in their browser.

"This way people will have an easy-to-remember way to find you.

"We expect to offer even more ways to use your Facebook username in the future.

"Your new Facebook URL is like your personal destination, or home, on the web."

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Shivering with Anticipation

Microsoft to give away anti-virus

Microsoft is poised to start giving away security software.

The company is reportedly trialling free anti-virus software internally and said the beta version would be released "soon".

Called Morro, the software will tackle viruses but lack the broader range of utilities, such as parental locks, found in paid-for security suites.

Morro will be Microsoft's second venture in the highly competitive security market.

Microsoft's first attempt revolved around the Windows Live OneCare service that did not succeed in turning many customers away from rivals such as Symantec and McAfee.

Microsoft plans to discontinue Live OneCare once the Morro software is ready.

No specific date has been given for when Morro will be released, but in the past Microsoft has said it would be out by the end of 2009 at the latest.

Microsoft said Morro would tackle viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans.

Janice Chaffin, Symantec's president of consumer products, said customers wanted more than just basic protection.

"A full internet security suite is what consumers require today to stay fully protected," she said.

Security software for home PCs typically cost around £30-40 and often allow users to install protections on more than one computer.

Other companies, such as AVG and Alwil already produce and distribute free anti-virus products.

Fake help

In its latest update, Microsoft added code that detects and deletes the widespread Internet Antivirus Pro family of fake security software programs.

Such programs, also known as scareware, have been proving more popular with hi-tech criminals in recent months.

The Anti-Phishing Working Group estimated that there were 9,287 bogus anti-malware program in circulation in December 2008 - a rise of 225% since January 2008.

The US government has moved to shut down some companies peddling the programs that falsely claim to find malicious software on PCs and then charge for the non-existent threats to be removed.

In addition, the Internet Antivirus Pro software displays fake Windows security messages to try and trick people into thinking the product is legitimate. The software also contains a password stealer that watches where people go online and grabs login data.

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