Kaspersky Internet

There is no doubt that “how-to articles” have become a separate genre. One can find such an article about almost anything; there are even some entitled “How to Write a How-To Article”. And, of course, the Web is swarming with the ones like “10 Steps to Protect Your PC from Spyware”(if not 10, any number will do; odd ones like 5,7,9 are most popular) or “How to Forget About Spyware For Good”. Please don’t accuse me of being sarcastic — I am not; all these articles by all means are informative and so very useful. They all include really handy tips to protect you from this recently emerged plague called spyware. Butโ€ฆ

A typical how-to article is short and snappy, with all unnecessary particulars carefully avoided. An ideal one is a clear scheme of what to do and how (because it is a how-to article). Some essential facts will surely be omitted just for the sake of brevity. Let’s look into the author’s “trash bin” for info ruthlessly (and maybe baselessly) thrown away.

Hint one: What on earth is spyware?

When you decide to apply “anti-spyware protection”, you’d better realize what you want to be protected against. Unfortunately, there is not such thing as complete security. Andโ€ฆ

“There is no such thing as spyware in itself”– you are perplexed, aren’t you? I bet you are; what’s more, it was Kaspersky who recently expressed this opinion. “The term spyware is basically a marketing gimmick,” wrote Kaspersky in the company weblog on March 03, 2005. “Just to separate new ersatz-security products from traditional ones, just to push almost zero-value products to the security market.”

This quote (extremely curtailed and out of the context) have already spread all over the Internet, but it is very useful to read the whole posting to see the whole picture, so visit http://www.viruslist.com/en/Weblog?Weblogid=156679222

Few definitions caused so much controversy and confusion as did “spyware”. Eugeny Kaspersky blames marketers for having coined this term–and partially he is right. But only partially.

As a professional, he classified various malicious programs according to their structure and characteristics; in this classification there is indeed no place for “spyware”, which is too vague term to exactly denote anything with a particular structure.

On the other hand, marketers and journalists needed an expressive, easy-to-remember word to name existing (!) information-stealing programs to tell users (who may be not so versed in software as its developers) how to protect their computers.

What is “spyware” then? Spyware is a commonly used general term for any type of software that gathers personal information about the user without his or her knowledge and transmits it to a destination specified by the author of the program. Spyware applications are frequently bundled in other programs–often freeware or shareware–that can be downloaded from the Internet.

So, the term is very general and doesn’t reflect either structure or characteristics of such software. After all, it is only a conventional word for programs that steal information.

According to Kaspersky, programs which are now called spyware, have existed for years. It’s true. Who disagrees? Password-stealing Trojans were actually known as far back as in 1996. But it’s also true that most dangerous information-stealing programs are on the rise. Spy Audit survey made by ISP Earthlink and Webroot Software (the survey lasted for a whole year 2004) showed–16.48% of all scanned consumer PCs in 2004 had a system-monitor, 16.69% had a Trojan.

Another bitter truth is that some unscrupulous producers now are jumping at the chance of making quick money. There are lots of suspicious, low-performing, or adware-installing products. See, for example, the list at http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm But saying that all the dedicated anti-spyware solutions are like thatโ€ฆTo put it mildly, it’s a bit too much.

Hint Two: Too Many Promises Made — Is it Possible to Keep them?

There are loads of software programs nowadays created for fighting spyware. An ordinary consumer tends to get lost in plenty of information and lots of products, which are supposed to help him get rid of spyware. If all the advertising claims were true, it would have been easy. In reality it isn’t.

Anti- spyware and anti-viruses work almost the same way. The efficiency of most anti-spyware programs is determined (and restricted, too) by signature bases. The more code clips (i.e. signatures) there are in the base, the more effectively the program works โ€“ it means the more spyware programs it can identify. Only programs from the signature base are recognized as spyware; all other spy programs will be running unnoticed and unstopped.

So, absolutely all the signature- basis- containing programs are pretty much the same, whatever their ads say. They all rely on the same “match pattern”; the difference is only how many signatures each of them contains.

What conclusion we can make here? The bigger the signature base, the more reliable the product is, no matter whether it is anti-spyware or an anti-virus. If the software applies signature base, it’s better to choose a product from a big company, which can afford spending plenty of money on research and updates.

Another conclusion we can make is that all such software without constant updating pretty quickly becomes useless and even dangerous, because users still expect it to protect their PCs. New spyware is constantly being developed, and anti-spyware developers have to catch up with it all the time. This race started when very first malicious programs appeared, and it is impossible to say whether it will ever end.

Alexandra Gamanenko currently works at Raytown Corporation, LLC–an independent software developing company. Software, developed by this company, does not rely on signature bases. Its innovative technology is capable of disabling the very processes of stealing information,such as keylogging, screenshoting, etc. Learn more — visit the company’s website: http://www.anti-keyloggers.com

XP icons were a great advance from the classic look of those developed for previous releases of Windows. This time, Vistaโ„ข allows the implementation of 256 x256 icons, with fading shadows, which can have a lot more of details and interesting graphic options. However, in order to make an appropriate Vistaโ„ข icon that has seamless unity with the general look of other icons, there are some facts about lights and shadowing that you must keep on mind.

As long as several icon images are to be presented with perspective (a kind of low birds-eye view) you need to visualize the correct source of light. The standard for Vistaโ„ข is a parallel light that comes from the front-left side of the object. The idea of placing the light that way is to enhance the feeling of a solid object standing on the screen. Now this same source of light calls for a natural shadow that sets the object into its surroundings.

A convenient way to achieve such effect is to take the overall shape of the object, filling it with black, and then skewing it until you get the same angle of the right side vanishing point. Next, fade the shadow just as it happens in real world: closer to the object the shadow is heavier, and the far part of the shadow smoothly dissolves to transparent.

It is also important to consider that the shadow should not be cut out at the border of the whole icon, so make the object a bit smaller than the canvas if tends to be voluminous. The correct way to adjust the length of the shadow is to shorten it without changing the angle of the perspective. About the opacity of the shadow, it is recommended to use values between 30-50%. Objects with overlapping parts need to have its respective inner shadows as well as floating parts also will project shadows at the “floor” level of the perspective. Due to this, don’t forget to make a proper adjustment of the size of the object in order to have enough space in the canvas for shadows.

Finally, in the case of flat objects (such as those intended for depicting different types of files and documents) a drop shadow layer effect (with an upper-left light source, at 130 degrees) will be enough to give the appealing sensation of spatiality.

Another smart way to get the best results for icons to be used in Vistaโ„ข is to visit the huge imagery available at www.iconshock.com where you can find professionally made icons or request the creation of custom ones.

Iconshock Professional Icons for software and web applications

So you think you have some form of malware. This can be a scary thing for many people. The good news is many of these unwelcome guests can be quarantined and/or removed simply by performing a virus or malware scan. Of course, they aren’t all so easily defeated. For this reason, we will look at a few possible scenarios for their removal. We will start with simple fixes and move up to more extreme measures. It is recommended you follow these in order and not start with anything too drastic.

Step One: The Basic Virus

Your computer is acting a bit wonky and you believe there is an unwelcome visitor. First thing first, let’s see if a good anti-virus such as avast! or Avira recognizes anything. These can be downloaded free from their respective websites. As always with these articles, Google is your friend. Download and install the anti-virus program (or use one you already have loaded on your system), then perform a scan. This could take a while, so you might want to find something to do in order to occupy some time. The scan may interrupt itself to tell you it found a virus. If this is the case, try to quarantine the virus and, after the scan has completed, restart your system. Play around with it a bit and make sure everything works. If your system is no longer acting strangely, you may have fixed the problem. It is recommended you keep the quarantined files as they are and not delete them until you are certain they are not important files. If it would make you feel safer, do another scan or get another anti-virus and scan again to make sure everything is gone. A good scan with something like Ad-Aware or SuperAntiSpyware could also be beneficial. If this worked, congratulations. You have just repaired your system. Skip ahead to Step Five. If not, continue the process below.

Step Two: Beyond The Basics

If the above steps have failed, there may be a fix almost as simple as running an anti-virus. It is possible you have a clever virus (not clever enough to outsmart you for long, though). There are a few things this could be. You could have a web browser hijacker on your hands. This isn’t as big of a problem to get rid of as it sounds, but it is something you very much need to take care of. By downloading a file called CWShredder, you can see if this is the case. Download the file and run it. Do as it says. This program removes CoolWebSearch, a very stealthy web browser hijacker. If this doesn’t yield any positive results, try downloading McAfee’s Stinger. Run this, following any prompts it gives you. This searches for some nastier viruses that some anti-virus programs might miss. Hopefully this has solved your problem. If not, you either have a very tricky virus, or there is another problem entirely. If neither of these steps have returned a message saying you are infected, you might want to enlist the help of a professional. It is advised that you contact your local computer repair shop and tell them the steps you have taken. Typically, a computer repair technician can get to the bottom of problems you are unable to solve yourself. It may be a good idea to take your system to a repair shop even if you have been alerted that you have a virus, but have been unable to repair the problem. If you are inclined to do so, there is one more step a user can take without too much expertise being required. After the next step, though, I will strongly recommend that you take your system to a shop if you have not solved your problem.

Step Three: Getting Serious

If you are about ready to scream at this point, you are not alone. This step is not recommended for those who are unsure what they are doing, but can help if you have at least a general idea of what is going on. Download a bootable antivirus software such as the one provided by Kaspersky, Avira or BitDefender. Also download a program such as Free Easy Burner and burn the .iso file you have downloaded to a CD. Insert the CD and restart your computer. Your system will boot up to the CD and give you an interface different to the Windows interface. This allows you to scan for viruses without loading Windows. This is useful if the virus uses Windows to load and hide itself in your system. If so, this can remove it with no problem. Do this scan and see if you get any results. If so, clear the virus. If not, it is strongly recommended that you take your system to a computer repair shop. The next step can be done if you really want to, but it is not recommended. you may not even have a virus. If you don’t it would be a very bad idea to do the next step. At least consult a computer repair technician before doing this in order to get a second opinion, even if you don’t get it repaired by that person.

Step Four: Waging War

This little bugger has to die, right? Well, as I said this is not recommended for the inexperienced user, but will work almost 100% of the time if you are dealing with a virus. The dreaded word: reformatting. Basically, you will wipe your hard drive clean and start over. This is undesirable because you will lose all the files you haven’t backed up. To begin with, make absolutely certain you have backed up every file you would like to keep. Also, make sure you have your Windows installation media as well as the media for every other program you want to reload. Equally as important, make sure you have your Windows Product Key (in more recent systems, these are likely on a sticker on the side of the system). Now insert your Windows installation media into your system and reboot. Install Windows using the prompts the installer gives you. Afterward, you will have a clean, empty system. The virus will be gone, but so will everything else. As I have said, this is not recommended if you are unsure what you are doing as you can seriously mess yourself up and lose all your important files and pictures. It is strongly recommended that you consult a professional before doing this. Now, on to steps to keep this from occurring again.

Step Five: Never Again

There are some steps you can take to greatly reduce your risk of this happening to you. follow these five simple steps and you will be as protected as possible from this happening again (or for the first time):

• Protect yourself with an anti-virus. There are some excellent free programs out there such as avast! and Avira. There are also some excellent paid subscriptions such as Kaspersky and AVG. A good antivirus provides real-time protection from any threats. Along with a good firewall (mentioned next), you will be well-protected from all accidental infections.
• Use a good firewall. There are some excellent firewalls such as ZoneAlarm and Comodo that are free of charge. A firewall tracks all programs from your system trying to communicate with outside systems and vice-versa. A good firewall is often overlooked, but can be a great security measure on any system.
• Keep all your programs up-to-date. A program like an anti-virus or firewall can not run as smoothly or effectively if it is out of date. For this reason, keep your virus definitions up-to-date with the program’s auto-update feature. This will likely save you some grief. Also,Windows users, keep Windows updated with the most recent Windows Updates; they are there for a reason.
• Actually utilize the anti-virus and firewall you have installed. No program does you any good when it isn’t utilized. Run regular virus scans and always leave your firewall on. This will ensure you excellent protection.
• Don’t download anything you don’t need. Sometimes there is a nifty-looking toolbar you want to download or a pop-up tells you that you have a virus on your system. Well, you don’t need the toolbar and the virus isn’t actually there. The toolbar may be legitimate, but many have tracking tools or viruses bundled with them. The virus warning is actually, ironically enough, trying to get you to download a real virus. It is a clever trick, but no less dangerous for it. Better safe than sorry in all cases.

Hopefully this article has been helpful and informative. You may have removed your first virus or you may have learned how to secure your system after its removal. It is wise to remember professional computer repair technicians are available in most areas for anything you feel is over your head. We are here to help and love helping those who are unable to solve problems like these. Do shop around for a good repair technician, even if only for your peace of mind.

Drew Meigs has years of computer repair and maintenance experience and is the owner of Meigs IT Services, which can be located on the web at http://meigsit.com. Working manly with home-users and small businesses, he specializes in computer repair, virus removal, security solutions and has partners who excel with data recovery and off-site backup services. He is based in Carrollton, GA.

When internet users have their hackles up waiting for a cyber attack, they often expect the attackers to sneak in through the proverbial back door, sneaking in a stealthy, covert, and hidden manner. But in cyber space, nothing is certain. While the victim is busy looking over his shoulder, the attacker may just run up and whack him over the head โ€“ metaphorically, of course.

The threat of ransomware is a good example of a direct attack. Unlike a stealth attack such as keylogging, in which the victim is extorted via logged keystrokes that capture passwords, account numbers, and other personal and financial information without their knowledge, ransomware is more direct. Ransomware is an attack in which perpetrators use malicious code to hijack the victimโ€™s computer files and encrypt them, rendering them unreadable and useless. For the kicker, the attackers then contact the victim, demanding a ransom in the form of a payment or online transaction in return for a decryption password.

Ransomware has not been a very widespread issue, but as hackers and users both become more sophisticated, it may be used to blindside more and more people who are only worried about phishing or keyloggers. Luckily, the same techniques used to prevent users from falling victim to those widely known scams are the same:

1. Do not open email or attachments from unknown sources.

2. Do not follow links to unknown sites.

3. Do not download games, files, or software from unknown sources.

4. Install antivirus and anti spyware software and update it daily.

5. Install a firewall and popup blocker and keep them turned on.

6. Make sure all browsers and system software is updated regularly.

7. Back up all system files and computer files on a separate machine, online, or on disk, so that the hard drive can be wiped if necessary without sacrificing important files or programs.

When faced with the loss of their computer data, some people may panic and instinctively hand over the payment. However, many may find that they paid for no reason at all. One ransomware program, known by the moniker Ransom.A, is actually not destructive โ€“ on the contrary, it relies on empty threats to extract payment. In addition to randomly activating pornographic popups on the userโ€™s computer, Ransom.A threatens to destroy a file every 30 minutes until the user wires a conveniently low payment of $10.99 to the attackers in return for an โ€œunlock code.โ€ But Ransom.A does not have the ability to delete or encrypt files; all it does is rely on the userโ€™s need for a fast, cheap fix to what is, essentially, not a real problem.

There are, however, ransomware programs that actually will do harm, such as Trojan.Archiveus, which, according to antivirus company Kaspersky Lab, copies, scrambles, and deletes all the files in the userโ€™s โ€œMy Documentsโ€ folder. A ransom note is then sent to users offering the decryption password in exchange for a purchase from an online Russian pharmacy. Drive-by downloading is thought to be the main way Archiveus is spread. However, according to Symantec Corp., the password to unlock the encryption is: mf2lro8sw03ufvnsq034jfowr18f3cszc20vmw โ€“ apparently, the decryption password was found in the code, offering an example of the fact that hackers are as susceptible to human flaw as the most inexperienced user.

Though the threat of ransomware is relatively low, it is still a good idea to back up all computer files and take the necessary steps to prevent receiving one of the nasty little notes. And, if you should find yourself in that position, contact law enforcement officials before making any payments to your attackers.

http://home.stopsign.com

We are providing you with a list of top rated Antivirus Softwares that will smartly fulfill your needs in next year. As its better to move to a new Antivirous program before any new Viruses make you learn this lesson.

virus-alert

1: Shield Deluxe – Antivirus Protection

antivirus-pc-protectionSecurity Shield 2010 as powered by BitDefender, currently protects tens of millions of home and corporate users across the globe. The features that make it worth considering is that it not only guard your PC against Viruses but will protect your PC and personal data from theft.

For secure gaming at top speed Security Shield 2010 reduces the system load and postpones updates. It spyes activities and programs in RAM to prevent accidental system crashes and shut-downs. It also provides real time web traffic scanning. Some other advance features include

1. Advance maintenance tools.

2. Complete virus and spyware protection.

3. Intelligent Scanning with best security decisions to take.

4. Parental Control and Stealth web-browsing

5. Minimum and efficient system recourses utilization.

6. Proactive Protection.

Last but not least, Security shield 2010 is provides with no hidden charges and after sale services are provided free of cost, which you would hardly find in any other antivirus program.

2: Norton Antivirus 2010

norton-antivirus-2010-screenshotThis new Antiviru from Norton is a great tool for effective, fast and reliable protection from all kind of malicious programs. It is developed using a combination of multilayer technologies to achieve best performance and security of your system against all viruses and malicious files. Norton Antiviru 2010 comes with features including

1. Best Proactive Protection.

2. Web attack defense and automatic updates even after every 15 minutes.

3. Two way firewall with advance virus detection.

4. Mapping of all small wireless networks.

5. Automatic storage of important files and personal date.

6. Auto fix Technology

7. Monitoring all registry and process changes.

Besides all these options Norton Internet Worm Protection keeps your system safe while you use internet, as it blocks all sophisticated viruses before they enter your system.

3: Panda Antivirus Pro 2010

personal_antivirusPanda Antiviru 2010 is the most expencive in my list but is most efficient antivirus program because of its new ultra-fast engine. With its SmartClean technology, it as estimated that this Panda release is about 30% more faster than its predecessors and is a good antivirus for Windows based systems. Its key features include

1. Impressive interface.

2. Anti-Malware engine with auto virus detection and elemenation.

3. Intrusion prevention feature enables safe and secure internet browsing.

4. Identity protection with anti-banking trojans engine.

5. Personal Firewall provides safety against hacker attacks and internet borne worms.

6. Web-Filter for internet security.

With new user interface and registeration process Panda provides better customer support and after sale services.

4: ESET NOD32 Antivirus

nod32-antivirus-2009This new release from NOD Antivirus is one of the reliable tool for home and small office users. Whether you have to deal with common viruses, trojans, worms, adware, spyware, phishing or any other malicious files ESET NOD 32 is the one stop shop. Besides sommon features some other important ones are

1. Security against collecting and forwarding confidential data.

2. Best protection against zero-day attacks and threats.

3. Accurate, Fast and Efficient protection without compromising reliability.

4. Layered approach of protection with email scanning.

Some intelligent malicious files disable your system security before attack, ESET NOD 32 with its built-in self defense technology smartly handles such malicious activities. But all this comes at the expanse of your system recourses as it comparatively consumes more recourses, but looking at the extra features it provides, allocating some part of your available system recourses is not a bad deal.

5: Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010

kaspersky-anti-virus-2010Kaspersky is among top antivirus programs is a good solution for protection against all kinds of threats, malicious data files and monitors users activities to prevent any threating activity by any user application. Along with all top of the line features provided in previous releases Kespersky 2010 provides

1. Self protection with intelligent analyzer.

2. Automatic Scanning of local files and network traffic.

3. Improved User Interface with customize option.

4. Built-in system restore option.

5. Support for email NNTP and IMA protocol checking.

6. Support for windows Xp and Vista.

Kespersky like other antivirus programs, provides email, chat and toll free calling access for live technical support.

Read more: http://scitechie.com/?p=215#ixzz0XMt98INf

For more information about author Visit http://scitechie.com

This is a story about how my PayPal account got hacked and how I got it back. I had an unlucky day but with a little tinge of lady luck’s blessings which helped me to get back to square one. This story gives a good advice for all the PayPal account holders on earth.

Day 1 – 8.30 PM IST

I just logged in into my gmail account to check the emails, I was shocked to see 4 emails from PayPal. 1. Password Changed, 2. Payment sent to some email address 3. Bank accounts removed 4. Primary email address changed. Oh my God!, I had $X,XXX in PayPal balance. While I was seeing these emails my gmail also got logged out. When I tried to login again, it did not. The hacker watched my every move. My primary email ID was the one which I used for all my business and personal contacts and it had 14000 archived emails and chat conversations.

I was feeling like blindfolded and left in a unknown forest. I just could not believe that this had happened to me. I had Norton anti virus + norton internet security and Spyware doctor, both of them licensed versions!! I know all about fake emails and phishing stuffs, I never clicked on suspicious links.

I realized that… “You are safe only if no one targets to attack you.”

After a few minutes, someone added me to Yahoo messenger and said ‘Hi’. I guessed that it was the hacker and it was. The very first sentence he told me was ‘Hi, don’t worry, you will get back everything within 7 days’ .. He told me that he was a good guy and this is the first time he hacked someone. He also told me that he was in real need of the funds and would return my funds within 7 days. I almost believed him. I told him to give back my gmail account and told him that it was very important to me, and to my surprise he gave it back. He asked me what password I needed for the new account and he set it. I logged in and changed the password again. I was happy that I got back my gmail but was still very uncomfortable about the feeling that someone had watched me for so long!!

I was late in the night, I was sleepy but I had to hold on. I backed up all my files in my iPod and did a system recovery. After 45 minutes, my PC was as good as new. I again changed all the passwords and got back to sleep at midnight.

Day 2 – 6.00 AM IST

I saw my friend was online. I chatted with him and told him the entire story. He scolded me that I have not responded in timely fashion. He was so sure that the hacker was no good and chatted with me to make sure I don’t call PayPal. The hacker did not achieve that but however he delayed me by 10 hours. I spent nearly 30 minutes waiting for PayPal representative and then some one showed up. I told PayPal, the entire story and they listened carefully. They assured me that ‘I will not be held responsible for unauthorized payments sent from my account’. I felt good but not very good, I was not so sure that I would get back the money. I did what I could have done and I needed to relax. I took rest from this issue.

Day 3 – 7 PM EST

I called PayPal again. It needs a ton of patience to get connected with them. It took a few minutes to spot my account. They told me that “Your fraudulent payments were reversed, did you check your account”. I just jumped right there and was so happy. But I COULD NOT LOGIN into my PayPal because the password was not with me!

I was not able to reset my password because the hacker also changed the security questions! They advised me to send all the documents and they will help to recover the password.

After a few minutes the hacker came online again. And LOL what nerves he got!!.. He asked me to send the documents to him because he said my account got limited and needs to be unlocked!! I refrained myself from talking abusive words and just managed the situation and logged out.

Day 4 – 6 PM EST

I logged in into yahoo messenger and I saw that the hacker had left me an offline message. Wow! he got frustrated I guess. He left me the PayPal email and password. I logged in and viola! I went inside my PP. Lovely moment it was.. The balance was intact. The four fraudulent payments were reversed. The account was limited though. I just printed the fax cover sheet and sent them the docs.

Day 4 – 3 PM IST

I got an email that my PayPal account has been restored. I immediately went in and sent 4 big payments to my friends and family members. I could breathe now again!

Now whats next?.. everything is back to square one! Now that I have learnt a good lesson. If we think something like “This can never happen to me” you actually attract that situation and within a few days you realize it… the dream comes true.. even though its a bad dream in this case.

I contacted me friends and everyone told me that I need to kick out Norton and Spyware Doctor and buy Kaspersky because thats what is best in the market. I went to that site and reviewed their products. They had anti virus and Internet Security 7.0. The anti virus comes inbuilt within Internet Security and hence its enough to buy the latter one. For one year it costs around $60 and for 2 years its around $95. I just bought it right away and installed it, activated it. Again I changed all my important passwords.

Bottom line: If you think it wont happen to you, one day it will happen, and you will think about the day when you thought that it won’t happen to you.

Now that I got my money back, but it may not happen all the time to all the people. You just need to be on top of it.

Good Luck!

[http://www.CyberSafety.in] – Protect you PC. Prevent Hacking and Password theft.

To optimise your inventory, you need to know what you have, decide how best to move it around, and find out how well you are doing it.

That previous act – analysing your inventory performance – is difficult enough considering the many variables that have to be considered. But analysing your inventory performance, let alone good inventory management overall, is made more complicated by the range of stock-keeping units (SKUs) that are involved. It would be simpler – in every respect – if you only had one item to keep track of. But some industry inventories encompass hundreds, thousands or even hundreds of thousands of different objects, and each needs to be taken into account. Size, number, difficulty of storing and shipping, priority – all have different values.

But you shouldn’t have to worry equally about all of them. The Pareto principle says that 80 per cent of your work revolves around 20 per cent of the items. This means that some items are more important than others, particularly as some are shifted more frequently in higher numbers than others.

Each product line or SKU has to be treated differently. This means that your next step in optimising inventory is to classify your products and define your strategy. The whole purpose of this step is to help you focus on the items that are the most important, and let the system handle the less important ones more-or-less automatically. Typical classifications you can use for products include:

• High/slow movers
• High/low values
• Long/short lead-time
• Strategic/not strategic products
• Profitable/not profitable
• Bulky/non-bulky products
• Dangerous goods

Products can also be cross-classified by where they sit in the supply chain and what priority they have:

• Item and warehouse
• Item group
• Supplier
• High or low volume
• High or low frequency
• Strategic
• Base default

Once products are classified, you can develop a strategy for each product segment. You will need to base this on a range of decisions, such as what should be kept in stock, what items you should focus on and what inventory policies should be used so that you can calculate the forecasts that ensure the best service level and order quantities. Product segments (as opposed to individual product items or SKUs) can be used as the basis for policy and strategy development, as this increases efficiency.

Typical questions that need to be asked when defining strategy per product segment include:

• What do we keep in stock that we shouldn’t?
• What items shall we focus on, to make the greatest impact?
• What inventory policy to use in order to calculate forecast, get optimal service level, order quantity, safety stock?

This combination of classifying and developing a relevant strategy allows you to impose different rules for different segments. It also means you should be able to simulate the effect of such actions. You should also be able to simulate and adopt more advanced calculation rules for strategic item segments. Doing this, you are constantly improving performance over time while making sure that the focus is maintained where it matters.

This is a complex procedure. You will need a system that will accurately and quickly produce exception reports for review and auto-adjust for variances across a large number of products. It should calculate proper safety stock levels, determine economic order and best discount quantities. It will automatically get the right products to maximise line buy minimums. And, importantly, it should provide complete visibility of changes throughout the supply chain, from manufacturing through to end consumer.

This will allow you to make quick reactions to changes in the supply and demand, service your customers in pre-determined priority sequences, set service levels based on sound financial judgment, invest in inventory that will maximise returns and analyse and react to exceptions and reduce dead inventory.

The result is a fully – or at the very least largely – automated system that reacts to changes in the operating environment using pre-set priorities and data. This will help you make clear decisions rather than confuse you with complexity.

In other words, the result is an end to the sort of seat-of-the-pants decision-making that often proves at best to be costly, or at worst to be disastrous.Once you have analysed your performance, classified your inventory and set appropriate strategies, the next step is use the information you’ve gathered and the control you’ve put in place to calculate your forecasts – the basis for action in optimising inventory.

IBS Australia develops ERP solutions and business management supply chain software for inventory management systems, manufacturing ERP software, business intelligence systems and integration ERP software. The IBS ERP system is fully integrated and includes collaborative sales, procurement, customer service, order management, demand-driven manufacturing, inventory management, business performance measurement and financial control.

Peter Clarke will present The Secret To Maximising Your Profits By Optimising Inventory at the GS1 Impetus 2008 Expo, 23 October to be held in Melbourne, Australia

http://supplychainsecrets.com.au/

http://www.ibs.net/au/solutions/inventory-management/

Although computers are getting more powerful every day, millions are still running slower and slower as time passes. This is a problem that has affected PCs all over the World for many years, and is still a major issue today. Fortunately, there’s are several simple and effective ways to increase the speed and efficiency of computers, and here they are:

• Boost The RAM: “RAM” (Random Access Memory) is the memory inside your computer that allows it to save & recall a number of different settings for your PC. When you do things like “Copy & Paste”, or have different Windows open, the RAM is responsible for helping Windows remember it all. A quick way to boost the capacity of your PC is to increase the amount of RAM you have in your system, which will allow you to run more programs at once.
• Clean Out Unwanted Files: Many people end up downloading lots of files to their PC, and this is one of the main causes for it to run slowly. Each time you boot up your computer, it “indexes” the files on your hard drive, making a list of them to speed up searching. This means that the more junk files you have on your system, the longer it’s going to take to boot up, so it pays to get rid of the files you don’t want / need.
• Defragment The Hard Drive: This is a relatively unknown problem, which is also a big player in making your computer run slow. The problem is that the hard drive of Windows is often filled up with files that are saved in the wrong way. Whenever your computer saves a file, it has a “space” to put it; but the problem is that often, these “spaces” are filled up before the whole file can be put in it, forcing Windows to move the file somewhere else. This splits the file up and “fragments” it, leading your PC to take longer to read the files it needs again.
• Uninstall Unwanted Programs: Many people install programs that they don’t need, which not only takes up precious hard drive space, but also makes your system run slower. Many programs actually run in the “background” (out of view), meaning that whenever you use your computer, they could be making it run extremely slowly. To fix this problem, you should try uninstalling the programs you don’t want / need.
• Find A Different Antivirus: If you have Kaspersky or Norton Antivirus, then it’s recommended you find a different program, because many of these tools actually take up a lot of memory, making your computer run slower and slower. You should try using AVG Free or a similar tool, which will not slow your computer down as it does not used as many resources.
• Keep Windows Updated: Microsoft often releases update patches to help improve the efficiency and speed of Windows. You should try and keep your system as up-to-date as possible, allowing for your computer to run as smoothly and efficiently as Microsoft intended. This is actually an overlooked way to boost the speed of your system without having to do much work.
• Clean Out The Registry: This is a big tip – the registry is one of the main causes for computers running slow, and therefore, it’s important that you fix any issues that are inside it. The registry is a database that stores all the settings and options for Windows, meaning that if there are too many corrupt / damaged parts of the registry, your computer could be running extremely slowly because of it. Fortunately, there’s a way to fix this, by using a ‘registry cleaner’. You just need to download one of these registry cleaner tools and then let it scan through your system, fixing any corrupt or damaged registry files as it goes. This can dramatically boost the performance of your system.

In order to Speed Up PC, you need to be able to fix the problems that are causing the issue in the first place. You should Click Here to see the best method to make your computer fast again.

Your computer is as good as the software on it. So, what are the best choices? What software would an average user need on his Windows computer? What basic needs should be covered?

1. Security. Any Windows computer should have an anti-virus and anti-malware software, a firewall (if possible, a complete security suite). There are lots of programs to choose from, with names like BitDefender, AdAware, Zone Alarm, Kaspersky and the likes being some some of the most well known. You also need a good and secure browser (Firefox or Opera should be on your computer instead of Internet Explorer).

2. Multimedia players. I am sure everyone uses the computer to watch movies or listen to the latest music hits. So, you need good players for both of these, you need a streaming player also a.s.o. Among them, BSPlayer (movies), PowerDVD (DVDs), WinAmp (music), RealPLayer (streaming & online TV), QuickTime (movies) are some of the best choices.

3. Codecs. The codecs are necessary for your players to play movies. Usually, you should choose a codec pack, but which one is really a matter of taste. Some use the Ace Mega Codec Pack, which is a huge pack, I personally choose KLite codec pack, which is much lighter and convenient.

4. Archive utilities: Of course, WinZip and WinRar. Both of them are great and should be on your computer.

5. Document readers: You should have an office solution and a PDF reader (Adobe Reader).

6. Other software: You might want to write some CDs and DVDs, you might want to see some images from your camera and more.

There are a lot more needs you might need to cover, but all of the above are common uses for a computer, so we will just cover the basics.

At http://www.Softdistrict.com you can find more software reviews and you can make an informed decision on what you should use on your computer. Softdistrict is part of the SoftSupplier.com network.

What are online coupons and why are they so popular? Coupons are becoming more and more popular. With the current economic state, they are coming back in vogue. You can find them arriving in your mailbox, on the numerous websites and in daily newspapers. They offer discounts at local shops, restaurants and on various services.

According to research done by the New York-based Promotion Marketing Association’s (PMA) Coupon Council, approximately $350 billion of coupons are offered yearly. About 89% of American citizens use online coupons when doing their everyday shopping. It is a convenient way to save, particularly in recession times, when people want to keep as much money in their pockets as possible. The PMA estimates that by spending only three minutes daily on cutting coupons, one can save up to $1000 yearly! The average American family saves between $5.20 and $9.60 weekly by using coupons. That may not sound like much, but if you put that in the bank, it really adds up.

What can you save on?

Online coupons are very helpful for Internet shoppers who tend to seek the most discounted products. They can offer free-shipping deals, promotion codes and many other money-saving opportunities. Online coupons aren’t just for getting discounts on Internet products and services. You can save offline as well-on everything from movie, sports, and concert tickets to everyday services like dry cleaning, house cleaning, and house painting.

Restaurant coupons offer every kind of cuisine imaginable – pizzas, American, Indian, Chinese, BBQ – at a promotional price. You an also find vehicle coupons for car parts (tires, mirrors) and services like car washes. There are real estate coupons offering bargains connected with buying or renting a house or apartment. You can even get a discount on plastic surgeries!

Visit PennySaverUSA.com to check thousands of online coupons – new ones added daily.