Nurture Environment

Firstly when you consider environment how do you view it? What are your thoughts regarding it? Do you feel there is you and the environment? Or do you feel that you and the environment are one and the same? In the physical case, there is you, then there are the trees, mountains, rivers, ocean’s and animals, just to name a few. This is how we view it generally. This is how we are educated. Even in terms of our body, there is me and my body. So there is me and everything else.

The brain likes junk food but the body over time fairs poorly and conditions arise such as obesity or diabetes. We weigh convenience over health and this is the same for environment.

Now I myself do it and I wonder why? I am writing this from a perspective of questioning, not making statements or judgments. We know certain things are bad for us but we continue to do it.

In the educational system you are told or given information daily. In this type of a system the objective is to follow what you are being told. You may question but it is within that system. Yet we are faced with challenges in our daily lives. In the current system there is very little dialogue about who we are, the factors of thinking, our conditioning, the environment. What we as human beings are doing in the world. What is our relationship to the world? What is relationship as a whole?

The lack of understanding about ourselves, relationships and the challenges we face are leading to an ideological lifestyle that invariably will bring about conflict within ourselves and as a consequence environment.

An ideological way of life puts us out of touch. Ideologies are relative to conditioning. This is relative to information which is relative to a certain place at a certain time. Everyday we have ideas and those ideas judge more ideas. We are consumed with what we think.

You are not separate from your body or environment although you may think you are. If you were, you would not breathe, you would not eat, you would not need the sun. You are not separate from the water you drink that makes up most of your physical being. Take a moment to go into this for yourself. Just understand ideals for what they are. Ideals are ideals they are neither good nor bad. Take a moment to look around. Take a moment to listen to you heart beat. Life, You and environment are one and the same, so take a moment to live and nurture life.

Learn about living a healthy life in the comfort of your own home with educational Health DVDs. Learn more about Parenting baby development and baby care.

Paul Hegarty is the owner of learningfromdvds.com. Price compare Yoga DVDs, read reviews, download free E-books. Read this month’s e-book on “How To Spot A fraudulent Email”. Grab your free copy today.

Backstory Techniques

Show me an interesting character, and I immediately know the author has done her homework. Backstory will make or break a character.

So exactly what is backstory?

Backstory is the character’s past history; it’s what shapes them, and gives them personality. Without it, your character will be dull and uninteresting. It can also help you with flashbacks and internal thoughts.

I recently presented a workshop to a writer’s group, and needed to find a way to help those writers create a backstory for the character they were going to create that day. I wracked my brains for days; how could I explain it without making it sound too boring? Hmmmm.

Then I came up with what I thought was pretty creative…

Each of us has memories, whether they are good memories or bad ones is irrelevant. Thoughts of days past help to form our personalities.

Every time I smell lavender, whether that is in the form of the dried flowers, oils or lavender on the bush, it reminds me of the lavender bags my dear departed aunty Pat used to make. She had a huge bush growing near her front door, and we had to walk past it to get inside.

That was over thirty years ago, but those memories still linger as vividly as they did during that time.

I used those memories to describe Gary Bedford’s thoughts in “Saving Emma” -

“The gentle fragrance she wore drifted into his nostrils. It was familiar. Lavender? His mother had a lavender bush. Gary literally had to walk past it to get through her front door.
It was definitely lavender, he finally decided; the fragrance suited hersoft and gentle.”

Of course Lavender is not the only thing that will induce memories. I took along some bottles of essential oils. Cedarwood was one of them. I just love Cedarwood – it always gives me that feeling of being in a forest, listening to the whippoorwills and kookaburras. It’s a feeling of isolation, but also of peace. It brings back a lot of memories for me, as I spent a lot of my early years bushwalking.

Frankincense is another favourite, and another oil I took with me. This oil always gives me a sense of homeliness. Think about what that means to you, and what it could mean to your character.

It gives me a sense of belonging, of happy families, and of love. It may mean something entirely different to someone who has come from a bad background.

What does it mean to your character? How does/did their home life affect them as adults?

There are so many other items you can use to assist you in creating your character’s backstory: hats, trophies, photos, guitars, old wallet, pyjamas or other clothing from a deceased family member, favourite chair.

Remember that not every piece of information will end up in your story, but it will help build your character’s personality to a much fuller extent. ©

Cheryl Wright is an award-winning Australian author and freelance journalist. In addition to an array of other projects, she is the owner of the Writer2Writer.com website and the Writer to Writer monthly ezine for writers. (http://www.writer2writer.com) She is also the author of a series of ebooks for writers. Her romantic suspense novel “Saving Emma” was released January 2005 by Whiskey Creek Press. Visit Cheryl’s website: http://www.cheryl-wright.com

How To Have Great Ideas

Want to have great ideas? You could try waiting to see if they pop into your head someday, and they honestly might. However, if you want a more systematic method you can use today, here it is in three simple steps:

1. Get knowledge in the area in which you want the ideas.

2. Use idea-generating techniques.

3. Choose the best ideas from the results.

Great Ideas Start With Knowledge

You wouldn’t expect to come up with a new theory of relativity if you had no knowledge in physics or mathematics. You need some degree of knowledge in the area in which you want new ideas. For truly great ideas, it helps to have a great deal of knowledge.

To create a new transportation device, for example, you would want general knowledge in that field, as well as more specific knowledge. This might include knowing a little about all the current modes of transportation. You might add to that a list of things that have been tried and failed, and a list of all the things that people want in their transportation.

Great Ideas From Techniques

Ideas and inventions start in the mind, and the mind follows certain patterns and rules. This is why tools such as problem solving techniques and other idea generating techniques work so well. Consider the “concept combination” technique, for example. Tell your mind that you need a useful combination of a plane and a motorcycle, and it will search until it finds it. This mind took twenty seconds to imagine wings that expand out at high speed from a motorcycle, allowing it to glide right off the edge of a cliff.

The technique of redefining problems in many ways can open whole new areas to explore. Redefining “inexpensive homes” as “ways to help people afford homes” has lead to all sorts of new financing methods that have made it easier to buy a home even as prices have risen. If “better job” becomes “better way to make money” you open a whole range of possibilities. There are dozens of great idea generating techniques to choose from, each with it’s own advantage.

Many Ideas To Choose From

The more ideas you come up with, the more likely you are to find good ones to work with. This is why you should learn the systematic ways to produce new concepts. Finally, if “great” means “important” to you, you need to work in important areas. There’s nothing wrong with inventing a better clothes hanger, but if you want to change the world, start working on new ways to save the environment, ways to end hunger, new political processes that avert wars and other great ideas.

Steve Gillman has been exploring new ideas for decades. Visit his site for invention ideas, business ideas, story ideas, political and economic theories, deep thoughts, and to get a free course on: How To Have New Ideas (http://www.999ideas.com)

Cheap Doctorate Elementary

Graduation Gowns

Graduation Regalia

Gordon International
200 William Street
Port Chester, New York 10573
Phone: 800-352-6121

Cap and Tassel

Among the pieces that add color to what would have otherwise been a dull graduation gown are the graduation cap and tassel, which are worn on the head. The tassel is made up of multiple threads which are braided together and have dangling threads on one end and a string on the other end. The string is used to attach the tassel to the cap. The main role of the tassels is to beautify the cap. The cap and tassel usually come in matching colors and the students or the institution can choose from a large selection, the color they want their caps and tassels to be in. Some outlets which deal in graduation products choose to sell the cap and tassel separately while others sell them attached. Their prices vary from outlet to outlet and it is advisable for a potential buyer to do some price comparison before buying them.

Gordon International
200 William Street
Port Chester, New York 10573
Phone: 800-352-6121
Email: info@gordon-intl.com
Gordon International has been outfitting the world’s graduates since 1960. Customer Service, High Quality Products and Guaranteed Low Prices. Visit us on the web and see why we’re considered the #1 graduation company.

Graduation Information On The Internet

Graduation information is available all over the internet. You’ll find multiple links which can assist you in your research. Gordon International offers a lot of information which can be useful to anyone ordering graduation regalia but if you’re looking for specific history please see the link provided below.
The Following Site Offers Great Information About Graduation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_dress wikipedia provides the searcher with a great information source for any type of search. You can go to their search wiki and place an random search in the engine and you’ll come across a few useful sources & articles.

Article Writing: 7 Universal Laws for Article Writing Success

The Law of Start

When it comes to writing articles, the following statment is quite true:

“You do not have to be great to start, but you do have to start to be great.”

Don’t wait because you are not Hemingway material. Just start where you are.

The Law of You

I say this every day to my article writing mentees – You can do this. I know this because I did it, and if I can do it, you can do it. I’m the guy who never finished his dissertation for my Ph.D. because I was sure I could not write. Yet here I am in a situation where writing is part of all that I do professionally and I teach others to write as well.

The Law of Not You

At the same time, article writing is not about you. Article writing is about the reader. Write for the benefit of the reader, and to lead them through your article.

The Law of Expertise

An article is simply your expertise in print or on the computer. When you write articles, you are seen as the expert.

The Law of “Articles are Articles”

I’ve had those I mentor say to me “But I don’t write about relationships and pareting like you do.”

So what? Write about what you know. Articles are articles are articles, no matter your area of expertise. Write and market your articles well and you will get results.

The Law of Traffic

If you follow the simple formulas that EzineArticles. com teaches and the formula and techniques I teach, you cannot help but increase the traffice back to your website.

In fact, at this point in the adventure, I could not stop the traffic coming to my web sites as a direct result of articles if I wanted to. And I don’t.

The Law of Taste

Write and post several articles. Get a taste for it. I bet once you get a taste for it, you will be on your way.

Visit The Article Guy for more leading edge tips and tools for writing articles that bring you prospects, publicity and profits. You can also subscirbe to our monthly Article Empire Tips Newsletter. You are also invited to visit my Express-Start Article Writing Program for more information on the next article writing tele-seminar.

The Business of Publishing

Congratulations, you’re published! But what exactly does it mean to be “published”? Besides the fact that your work is finally in print and your college alumni has asked to interview you for their newsletter it also means fame and fortune, right? Well, ok, maybe not on the level of J. K. Rowling, but at the very least you can expect a call from Oprah, right? I hate to be the one to break it to you but you’re probably not even on her radar screen. The truth about publishing is really stranger than fiction and the truth is: getting published is only half the battle. The other half is to keep your reality check in balance so it doesn’t bounce.
While publishing is all about creative expression, it’s also about business and it’s those business savvy authors who will succeed in the end. Now you don’t have to be an MBA to be a keen business person, you simply have to understand that the choices you make relative to your books future should be based on strategies that will enhance sales not just drain your pocketbook. So, how do you do this? First, take a long, hard look at your reader. At Author Marketing Experts, we always create a reader profile for each book we promote. This reader profile will tell us where to find buyers for the books we represent. Taking this first step helps us sort through our choices when it comes to book promotion and make decisions on behalf of our authors that are sound and will help leverage sales.
There are times when it’s a waste of resources to do a nationwide radio or TV promotion. In fact, some of our programs don’t include any outreach to broadcast media. Why? Because as alluring as it might seem to appear on the Today Show, what’s the point if your audience doesn’t watch morning TV? And, if your audience isn’t watching this show, the chances are slim they’ll even consider you anyway. What? More rejection? Who needs it!
As you embark on or continue your campaign, ask yourself a few tough questions. First, what’s your ultimate goal for this book? If it’s just to give away at family reunions, that’s great! But then you’ll probably want to nix any marketing. If your book is an arm of your business and you have speaking engagements lined up through the end of the year. You probably don’t need to spend a lot on marketing since most of your sales will come from your speaking engagements (i.e. back of the room sales). On the other hand, if you wrote this book to grow your business or to leverage your credibility then you will probably want to dial yourself into your industry through enhanced media exposure.

For fiction authors this area becomes a little tricky. First, you need to determine your long term goals. By long term we mean: do you want to stay in this business or was this book just “something you wanted to do.” If it’s a hobby, then treat it as such but if this is going to be your career, then you need to keep your message out there on a continual basis, through venues such as author events, talks, signings, print and broadcast media.
Make sure the choices you make, make sense for your book and aren’t just made because you’ve always dreamt of being on Oprah. I’ve known authors lured into inappropriate marketing plans by big, flashy names and promises of stardom, wasting thousands of valuable marketing dollars and heading in a direction that wasn’t right for them. If you’re serious about your work, ready to let go of your muse and face the task at hand with some business savvy, then you’re really ready to get published. Below are some guidelines that will help further your success!

1) Reader profile: create one of these at the beginning of your marketing campaign and keep refining it as you move through the process. Refine and redefine who and where your audience is and how to get to them.
2) Time commitment: determine what you can and can’t reasonably do. If you have a full time job it probably doesn’t make a lot of sense to commit yourself to forty hours of marketing a week unless your boss is on vacation.
3) Investment: how much are you willing to invest in your future? Are you willing to invest money without seeing much in return knowing that you are building a foundation or do you want to see immediate monetary results? Most authors don’t see a return on their investment for a year or more. Are you committed enough to yourself or your project to keep this investment going?
4) Reality check: what’s realistic for the industry you’re in? Are you latching onto a fad or something with more longevity? Are you getting into a brand new market that will require lots of reader education? Or are you trying to go mainstream with a non-mainstream topic? While this is an admirable goal, it can be like swimming upstream.

5) Budget: while we encourage authors to invest in their future, we’ve also seen a number of people go into heavy debt, quit their jobs and even sell their homes just to promote their book. While that kind of dedication is certainly admirable, remember that although you have the potential to make a great deal of money it’s not going to be overnight. The lure here is of course that “If I stick with it, this next sale will make me famous.” Well, maybe or maybe not. If you’ve been plugging away for a while without any significant success get a professional to give you some honest, constructive feedback about your plan, your market, and your book. It might be that a poorly designed cover is the reason you’re not making sales, or a topic that’s fallen off of the public’s radar screen. In the meantime as you’re waiting to hit the big time you’ll still need a place to sleep and Uncle Vinnie’s couch will get old real quick.
6) Burnout: we hear this term often, even to the point of being overused. What we’re really talking about here is author burnout. We’ve found that the average author only markets their book for ninety days. That means ninety days of day and night marketing, radio interviews at 3am and a book signing every weekend. On day ninety-one they are so tired, so discouraged and so broke they quit. You can avoid this by giving yourself realistic goals and a realistic timeframe in which to complete them.
There’s nothing in the world like seeing your book in print. If approached realistically, objectively and with sound business sense, it can be one of the most exciting times in your life.

About the author:

Penny C. Sansevieri
The Cliffhanger was published in June of 2000. After a strategic marketing campaign it quickly climbed
the ranks at Amazon.com to the ##1 best selling book in San Diego. Her most recent book: From Book to Bestseller was released in 2005 to rave reviews and is being called the “roadmap to publishing success.” Penny is a book marketing and media relations specialist. She also coaches authors on projects, manuscripts and marketing plans and instructs a variety of coursing on publishing and promotion. To learn more about her books or her promotional services, you can visit her web site at www.amarketingexpert.comTo subscribe to her free ezine, send a blank email to: mailto:subscribe@booksbypen.com
Copyright 2005 Penny C. Sansevieri

You Can!

“There are only two ways of bringing brightness into your world; either change your attitude or open the closed doors of your brain”

This holds true in all our lives; we all deserve a good & peaceful life, full of happiness. Our struggle to lead a better life and to grow everyday, both professionally and personally is highly appreciable; time and again we face situations which are highly abstruse, stress building and killer of our enthusiasm and high morale.

There are many ways of handling such situations; but effective handling and analyzing is imperative to counteract, come to a conclusion which basically satisfies our conscience; the mirror of truth, further enhancing our self confidence and high esteem.

This will happen only when our attitude towards life is changed, our thinking process is towards a side which is extremely positive drawing our attention to things which we actually ignore, widening our focus to observe, understand and act accordingly.

As one of the interviewee answered to the query of the interviewer, the glass is half filled with water, rather half empty, this attitude which is challenging, positive and appreciable.

Each and every one of us are capable, skilled, knowledgeable but manier times we work emotionally rather thinking practically. If anybody can bring change in your life, then it’s you, you, and only you. Remember, nothing happens by chance, you have to take action.

Whenever you achieve or lose something important, ask your self…… why? How? Analyze? You will and you only can overcome the obstacles and tastes the success, which is sweet like honey, bringing lots of accolades ……… your way.

All the best.

Srivathshan Nagarajan
MBA,BA,Sales&Advertising Management
Product Manager
Nandan BioMatrix
India

Business Letter Etiquette

Business etiquette is fundamentally concerned with building relationships founded upon courtesy and politeness between business personnel. Etiquette, and especially business etiquette, is a means of maximising your potential by presenting yourself positively.

Writing a business letter is not simply a matter of expressing your ideas clearly. The way you write a letter and the etiquette you employ may have a significant impact on your success or failure in business.

Failure to observe correct business letter etiquette can result in you adopting an inappropriate tone, causing offense or misunderstandings, lack of clarity or purpose and hostility or soured relations.

The foundation of good business letter etiquette is ‘Think before you write’. You should be considering who the letter is addressed to, how and why? This will then influence style, content and structure.

Here we cover some of the main issues relating to good business letter etiquette:

Addressing the Letter

Always make sure you have spelt the recipient’s name correctly. It may sound simple, but you would be surprised at how many people fail to do so. The recipient’s name should include titles, honours or qualifications if deemed necessary.

Many people use the ‘Dear Sir/Yours Faithfully’ formula when addressing the receiver. Although this is acceptable for routine matters it is impersonal and should not be used when dealing with those you know, queries or complaints. With these the ‘Dear Mr…./Yours Sincerely’ formula should be adopted.

Once a certain level of familiarity is reached it is not considered bad etiquette to use phrases such as ‘Kind Regards’ or ‘All the best’ at the end of the letter.

Confidentiality

If the content of the letter is sensitive, personal or confidential it must be marked appropriately. Marking the letter ‘confidential’ will suffice in highlighting this fact. If you only want the letter read by the receiver without the interception of a secretary or PA, mark it as ‘Private’, ‘Personal’ or ‘Strictly Confidential’. If you have received such a business letter it is good etiquette to reciprocate and ensure that all future correspondence is kept at that level of confidentiality.

Style

Proper business letter etiquette requires that a consistent and clear approach, combined with courtesy, be employed. As a rule of thumb, aim to keep all business letters formal in style. Even when the receiver is familiar to you, it is advisable maintain a certain level of business etiquette as the letter may be seen by others or referred to by a third party in the future.

However, this does not mean you should use long or uncommon words to express yourself. This merely looks odd and makes the letter unreadable. It is best to read a letter first and consider whether you would speak to that person face to face in the same way. If not, then re-write it.

Letters should be signed personally. It looks unprofessional, cold and somewhat lazy if a letter is left unsigned. However, having a secretary or PA sign on your behalf is not considered a breach of business etiquette.

Humour

Humour can be used in business letters but only when the writer is completely positive the recipient will understand the joke or pun. From a business etiquette perspective it may be wise to avoid humour. This is because firstly, the letter may be read during a crisis, after receiving bad news or on a sombre occasion. Any other time the humour may have been appreciated but under these circumstances it may dramatically backfire. Secondly, the written word is open to misinterpretation. Your sarcastic or ironic remark may be taken the wrong way. Thirdly, it is possible that the letter may be read by a third party who may deem the humour inappropriate and pursue a complaint of some sort.

Responding

Good business letter etiquette calls for letters to be responded to promptly or within certain guidelines. This may normally be considered as 5 working days. If this is not possible then some sort of acknowledgement should be sent either by letter, fax, phone or e-mail.

Always use reference numbers or clearly state the purpose of the letter at the top, for example, ‘Re: Business Letter Etiquette Enquiry’. This allows the receiver to trace correspondence and immediately set your letter within a context.

When replying to points or questions the proper etiquette is to respond in the same order as they were asked.

Managing Conflict

Letters are often an arena for conflicts or disputes. Even in these circumstances there are rules of business letter etiquette that should be adhered to.

If you initiate the dispute then, 1) Explain and set out your case simply and clearly to the most appropriate person, 2) Offer information that may be required by the other party to help answer questions, 3) Indicate a time scale by which you expect a reply or the matter to be resolved.

If you are receiving the dispute then 1) inform senior colleagues who may be affected or who may be able to offer assistance, 2) Submit all replies in draft form for a senior colleague to check, 3) Stick to the facts and the merits of the case and do not allow emotions to become involved, 4) Be polite, patient and courteous.

Using business etiquette in all matters and especially in business letters will ensure you communicate effectively, avoid misunderstandings and maximise your business potential.

About The Author

Neil Payne is Director of cross cultural communications company Kwintessential – http://www.kwintessential.co.uk

Fear, Love, and Frogs

There are really only two emotions in the universe, fear and love. You’re either loving or you’re fearing, regardless of what you do. Fear leads to a very unsatisfactory experience in life, and love leads to joy, happiness and fulfillment. And, the doorway to this love is gratitude.

Isn’t it interesting that the simplest formula for happiness in life, “Look at the bright side,” is so very difficult to do? Actually, that’s why I can make a profitable living as a marriage counselor. People get so wrapped up in their fear that they can’t get along with a partner. They are afraid about what they are not getting, or what they won’t get, or they even fear feeling the bad feelings of what they did get but didn’t want. They react, strike out, and cower, and then, finally, come to see me. We then put their fear away and bring the love back out.

After we’ve worked a little relationship magic they leave with gratitude. They love their partner and they can’t believe how blessed they are. They give thanks for what they formerly missed seeing, and experience the fullness of their love.

Occasionally it takes years to help a couple do this. Why? Because they won’t give up their fear. And, as long as they are scared they have extreme difficulty counting their blessings and feeling their love.

There are so many reasons for our fear. We may have been born with a physiological nervous constitution. We may have experienced childhood abuse that programmed our expectation for further pain. Happiness may have been interrupted by a very difficult loss along the way. Or, we may have married an abusive partner. Regardless, we have deep associations of fear towards many things, including our partner. The fear is very often deeply programmed and not easily accessed for change.

So, how do we solve the fear problem? I first heard it from Stephen Covey, the writer about the habits of successful people: “Swallow a frog every morning. After that, everything else looks easy!”

The frog is a symbol for whatever we fear the most that day. Do it first! After that, the rest seems easy and we usually feel better about ourselves and everyone around us. In fact, after facing our greatest fear we usually feel gratitude for the wonder of this life all around us, and that leads to the experience of Love.

So, why does it sometimes take me years with some couples? Because I have to push, pry, manipulate, trick, convince and use a host of other methods to get people to swallow all those frogs! And some folks have a lot of them to swallow.

The lesson for you is to choose to swallow your own frogs before life forces you to do so. Face your fears! Do it on your own terms. Every day choose a fear, large or small, to face into and conquer. What is it you don’t want to do? What is it you need to do but won’t? Do it first. Don’t wait. It’s all down hill after that.

The more fears you face and conquer, the better job of loving you will do. And, that is what your relationship always needs.

Steve Roberts, “The Couples Guy,” is an experienced Marriage and Family Therapist who shares tips and real life relationship secrets from over 20 years of practice. Get Insight and Wisdom for your Relationships at: http://www.whatworksforcouples.com/

On the Origin and Evolution of Computer Viruses

Trends and industry analysts state that the efforts of the propagators will not relent. Last year marked the first ever mobile phone virus and Bluetooth technology, for example, compounds the threats to security. 35% of PCs in the US are infected while in China and India the rates hit 50%.

Experts in the field of security report the first virus was spread as early as 1981. Fred Cohen, however, wrote in his seminal paper that the first virus was conceived as an experiment on November 3rd, 1983. Since then viruses and malware have plagued and wreaked havoc among computer systems worldwide.

Risks through the Internet
With the advent of such communications advances like the Internet, mobile telephony and Bluetooth (a short range radio technology that simplifies wireless communication among devices such as computers and mobiles. It also aims at quickly and easily connect these devices to the Internet) computer viruses have spread at an alarming rate. The downside to such advances is that where before only a few computers would get infected, now thousands, if not millions, are at the mercy of virus authors.

Early Threats Disables 10% of Computers Infected
In 1987 a large network (ARPANET) used by universities and the US government was infected by a virus. Robert Morris, son of a computer security expert for the National Security Agency, sent malicious code through ARPANET, affecting about 10% of the connected computer hosts – at the time there were only 60,000 hosts connected to the network. The code reproduced itself and filtered through network computers; consequently, the size of the files filled computers’ memories, thus disabling numerous machines.

An alarming 66% of PCs today are Infected by Spyware and 35% are infected by viruses in the US.

Today, an estimated 1.21 billion people (Computer Industry Almanac) are connected to the Internet with millions of computer hosts connected chatting, exchange files, emails and communicating in general. Can you imagine how easy it is to spread a virus or malware?

One anti-spyware developer, reports that the infection rate of malicious spyware at companies is approximately at 7% and adware appears on an incredible 52% of machines. 3 to 5% of enterprise machines had keyloggers. At homes, the percentages are much higher. The same anti-spyware developer reports that 66% of the PCs scanned by its online tool were found to be infected with an average of 25 spyware entities each. If one were to define cookies as spyware than the rate will shoot up to 88%! Adware was found on 64% of the machines. Viruses and Trojans, reports the company, were found on 7% and 19% of the machines respectively.

According to Panda Software, over 50% of PCs in India and China, for example are infected with a virus. In the US and the UK, the rate is 35%. All in all, this means that many people still remain without active protection today.

Anti-virus is not enough?
In a study performed by security firm Checkbridge, the company ran 2 million email messages through three famous email scanners. None of the programs tested caught all the viruses. The success rates of the scanners varied from 97% to 64%. The CEO of Checkbridge also states that in many cases using two scanners at the same time does not guarantee pinpointing all the viruses all of the time. Similarly, many computer experts report that using two or three anti-spyware programs usually manages to delete 95%+ of spyware.

The Pillars of Security
How can you protect your system and your data in the midst of so many threats to security coming from so many different sources?

Just think, malware (malicious code) has been around for almost 25 years already. Every year, millions of people and businesses lose substantial sums of money in terms of lost and, many times, irrecoverable data. To top it all, some viruses hog system resources and Internet connections making it impossible to work or play. And this does not include the frustration and anger at not being able to pinpoint the source of the problem.

One of the very first steps to protecting your PC is to make sure that the operating system (OS) is updated. This is critical as OS manufacturers such as Microsoft Windows update security features of their products continuously to cover any potential and actual loopholes.

Secondly you should have an updated anti-virus software running on your system. Make sure to choose one of the better ones on the market today – a few dollars wont break you but a virus will. Make sure that the anti-virus software is updated frequently (sometimes even daily if needs be) with fixes to the actual engine and to the database files that contain the latest cures against new viruses, worms and Trojans. The anti-virus software must have the ability of scanning email and files as they are downloaded from the Internet to help prevent malware reaching your system.

Many users are using a third component for their home and/or computer system security – processlibrary.com. This website is a free resource library containing a comprehensive description of over 3000 that may be running on your computer. Searching for the processes is similar to using a search engine – type in the process name and processlibrary.com returns the full description including information on security threat levels if any and ways on removing the malicious code.

You should also consider installing firewall software. A good system prevents unauthorised use and access to your computer from external sources (e.g. hackers or hijackers) plus giving you additional protection against the more common Trojans and worms. A firewall on its own will not get rid of the virus problem but when used in conjunction with your OS updates, anti-virus software and processlibrary.com information, it will give you deeper system security and protection.

A fourth component for security is processlibrary.com and the Windows Task Manager. Processlibrary.com is a free website gives you information on any and all of the processes that you may be running at the moment. With this information you can immediately identify any possible new threats that may have infiltrated into your system. Processlibrary.com definitions will help you cover that window of time until your preferred anti-virus and anti-spyware software vendors update their scanners. Hit CTRL+ALT+DEL to call up the Windows Task Manager to help you identify most of the processes running on your computer. When identified just search the process within the processlibrary.com database and you’ll have an exact definition and advice on what to do.

Fighting Spyware, Adware and Other Forms of Malware
In some cases, it is not that easy to realise that spyware and related forms of malware are installed on your system.

In other cases, you will almost immediately notice changes to your web browser that you didn’t make. These changes include toolbars that you didn’t want installed, different homepage settings or changes to your security settings and favourites list.

Other signs of spyware include advert pop-ups which are not related to the website being viewed at the time. Many such adverts usually relate to pornography or emoticons or performance/security optimizers and are not displayed as they are usually shown on legitimate adverts. Adverts may also appear when you are not surfing the web. Spyware is not only annoying but it slows your system performance, causes start-up time to increase, hogs your Internet connection and on occasion will lead to system crashes.

You should install an anti-spyware software package. There are some good ones on the market and many experts go as far as suggesting installing two or three since any single package may not be powerful enough to find all the entries and changes to your registry and other files made by spyware. Such malware is installed like any other application on your system thus leaving traces of itself on the registry files of and other places with your system. Anti-spyware works by looking for these traces and deleting them.

Also beware of what you download from the Internet. Make sure that the sources that you download stuff from are know to you – and even here you have to pay extreme attention. For example, not all companies who claim their software contains adware are really offering adware only! There’s always the possibility that there is spyware disguised in the program. Make sure that you read privacy policies and licence agreements. Also firewalls should help you greatly in the fight against spyware and malware.

Kevin James Vella is the Public Relations Manager of Uniblue Systems Ltd, a global software developer. Kevin’s passion for writing and ICT has seen him publishing several articles on personal technology, software, electronic commerce and online marketing.