Technology is gaining root in more businesses and organizations every year. With this fact comes the responsibility of knowing how computers work in relation to a business’ tasks. The information a business has needs to be maintained and controlled in a variety of ways. Many accredited online colleges and universities offer degree distinctions and training in computer information systems.

Online training in this area is vast and students have a wide range of degree options to choose from that fall under the category. Strictly speaking about this field students will learn how to design and manage systems that collect, store, process, analyze, and distribute information within the company and outside of the company. Degree options for this industry range from an associate degree to a master degree. Students who want to further their education can enroll in a doctorate program that is specifically tailored to one aspect of the industry.

Online training is highly beneficial for students who are unable to leave their current job or have too many responsibilities that prohibit them from attending a traditional college. The online programs in this area are specific to what students will be doing in the profession and offer the same level of education a student would earn at a traditional college. An associate degree program is a good choice for students who want to enter the profession quickly. Degree programs in this area will teach students how to solve minor computer problems and how to prevent problems in the future. Students will learn through coursework how to plan, develop, and maintain a company computer system. The degree program will allow individuals to gain entry-level jobs or prepare them for the coursework in a bachelor degree program.

In a bachelor degree program students will learn how to design, build, and implement computer systems in regards to any business they will work for in the future. Most online colleges will offer specific concentrations that a student will choose from to begin study in this field. Options include database management, information systems security, enterprise computing, computer forensics, and more. To gain a better understanding of what a degree program would be like lets look at the concentration database management. In this concentration students will focus on the principles and tools required to design, program, oversee, and secure database management systems. Students will gain knowledge in how to look at a company’s information and find a logical way to best store the information. A course on advanced database will teach students how to process error handling, data validation, security, record locking, and more. For a bachelor degree education requirements may have students completing around 125 credit hours and could approximately take four years to graduate. A master degree program teaches students how to manage a company’s information systems resources and work with all the computer systems to help keep that information secure and usable.

Don’t let your passion for technology and computers pass you by. Search out accredited online colleges that offer a degree program that fits your schedule and career goals. Start your education today and be one step closer to entering a fulfilling career.

When you need to get a contact phone number for a company, sometimes it takes a while to get to the right page. Bing will give you the number right on the search results page. No need to even visit the website.

If you want a preview of a web page without having to visit the website, Bing shows you the information, just scrolled over the desired search result and a preview box will appear. The text will give a short description of the web page, and shows what other links appear on the page.

GOOGLE ADVANCED NEWS SEARCHES

Google offers Advanced News Search, allows a visitor to scour headlines by date, location, exact phrases or publication. People can use it retrieve articles from more than 4,500 news outlets publishing on the Web.
Check out Googles official guidelines for quality listings. They offer a re-inclusion request option that will give your business an opportunity to appeal if a listing is removed too.

In some other Google-related news that online businesses and business with websites might be interested in, they have introduced a new Sitemap Generator.

Google is planning to include website load time as one of the Ranking factor in algorithm in 2010. This is not a done deal, but it could be a good idea to check your load speed.

WEB PAGE TRANSLATION

This feature is particularly helpful if your search has non-English results. Google offers a facility to auto-martially translate a page for you in English. Currently, Google supports Italian, French, Spanish, German, and Portuguese.

For the best information for your site or to check your competitors for persons who use Google AdWords, try out the Google AdWords Keyword Tool.

False and Misleading Advertising What’s truthful? The FTC has attempted to deal with this question by establishing the following standards:

The intention to deceive is not what matters. What matters is the perception of the public. The test of whether or not an ad is misleading will be based on the effect on the average or unsophisticated person. Your advertising may also be deemed deceptive through omission or misleading implications. The bottom-line, just the facts.

SCREEN SAVERS

If you are looking for something different remember windows has a great choice. Don’t unload any free ones from anywhere, could have bugs, and almost impossible to delete.

For windows screen savers, right click on a blank area of desktop. Click “properties”, “screen savers”. Click the arrow to the right of “screen savers” just below the monitor. Pick the one you want.

LIGHTSIDE

A teacher was getting to know the kids in her class by asking them what their father did for a living. The first kid she asked said: ” My name is John and my dad is a truck driver.” The next child she asked said: “My name is Bill and my dad is a striptease dancer.” The teacher quickly changed the subject.

Later, the teacher approached Bill privately and asked him if it was true that his father was a strip tease dancer and danced in the nude. Bill blushed and said: “No, he really is Information Director at Microsoft, but I am to embarrassed to tell anyone”.

COMPUTER WARNING, INTERNET MARKETING INFORMATION

Security company McAfee has prepared its predictions for hacker threats in 2010. It forecasts a troubling year for Adobe software, which McAfee believes will be heavily targeted in 2010.Nearly every PC and Mac in the world seems to have a copy of Adobe Reader, a necessary tool for reading portable document format files.

The prediction is not particularly surprising. Adobe itself admitted in early 2009 that it had seen attacks on its applications climb steadily in recent years.

Still, it’s not just Adobe and its many users that will need to be wary in 2010. Also steadily rising in popularity are social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

The tip on unplugging your computer from the wall outlet during a thunderstorm was sound advice. And we’re coming to the season when thunderstorms become more frequent. But let’s take that advice one small step further. Take the time to also unplug your modem from the telephone line! Surges can also pass through the telephone lines and even a small surge of static electricity can fry the delicate circuitry in your modem.

Your Clipboard can be seen by any hacker. For your protection you should not copy passwords, credit card numbers or other sensitive information. To prevent this from happening go to: Internet Explorer: Click Tools, Internet Options, Security tab, Internet section. Go down to the Security level box, and click the Custom Level button. Scroll down to Scripting, and find the entry, “Allow Programmatic clipboard access” or “Allow paste operations via script”.
Click Disable or Prompt. Click OK.

Protecting your computer against malicious software is an ongoing activity and, at minimum, all computer systems need to be regularly patched, have up to date anti-virus software, and a personal firewall installed.

Within the last several months, the FBI has seen a significant increase in fraud involving the exploitation of valid online banking credentials belonging to small and medium businesses, municipal governments, and school districts.

In a typical scenario, the targeted entity receives a phishing” email, which either contains an infected attachment, or directs the recipient to an infected web site. Once the recipient opens the attachment or visits the web site, malware is installed on their computer. The malware contains a key logger, which will harvest the recipients business or corporate bank account login information. Shortly thereafter, the perpetrator either creates another user account with the stolen login information, or directly initiates funds transfers by masquerading as the legitimate user.

You can make a difference-and help protect your own systems at home and at the office-by taking these basic steps: Change your security passwords regularly, have a firewall in place on your computer, get the latest anti-virus software, and install current security patches for your computer’s operating system.

Also, take time to visit the FBI’s cyber web page to learn more about how our cyber action teams, computer crimes task forces, Innocent Images program, and Internet Crime Complaint Centre are playing vital roles in protecting cyberspace. Can you avoid getting caught by a scam artist working the web? Not always. But prudence pays.

The FTC offers these tips to help you avoid getting caught by an offer that just may not click:

Read the fine print and all relevant links. Fraudulent promoters sometimes bury the disclosures they’re not anxious to share by putting them in teeny-tiny type or in a place where you’re unlikely see them.

Look for a privacy policy. If you don’t see one – or if you can’t understand it – consider taking your business elsewhere.

Be skeptical of any company that doesn’t clearly state its name, street address and telephone number.

The FTC has publicly Announced Its Newly Developed Cross-Border Fraud Guidelines. The FTC has joined with Hundreds of International Law Enforcement agencies around the world to form a combined force and aggressively combat what they see as the growing problem of Cross-Border Fraud.

This combined force has vowed to enforce the FTC”s Rules and Regulations on a world wide basis. They have really cracked down on Internet marketers, and actively going after those that don’t rigidly adhere to all their rules about disclosures disclaimers, terms of use, privacy and other legal documentation! They filed 45 criminal and civil law enforcement actions against Internet Marketers, in a single day.

Government agencies do not send unsolicited e-mails of this nature. The FBI, Department of Justice, and other United States government executives are briefed on numerous investigations, but do not personally contact consumers regarding such matters. In addition, United States government agencies use the legal process to contact individuals. These agencies do not send threatening letters/e-mails to consumers demanding payments for Internet crimes.

Fake eCards.
You get a message with a link to an online greeting card but, when you click it, you end up with a virus on your PC. A couple of simple rules here. Delete any messages that come from someone you don’t know or that don’t address you by name. If they come from someone you know, email that person to check that they sent it before clicking the link.

Holiday rentals. 2009 has seen a surge in ads offering bogus vacation rentals. You pay a deposit or even in full to get a key and that’s the last you hear of them.

Scammers are experts at creating phony look-alike sites where you land after mistyping an address or by clicking on a link supplied in the e mail or ad. Always type in the URL and don’t just click on the link.

DROP SHIPPERS
You can get products to sell via eBay or/and your website by using the services of a drop shipper. A reliable drop shipper will not ask you for a fee. They will allow you to copy pictures of the products they sell. Prices are about half you would pay for retail. If you have a website they will allow you to move any listing on their site to yours. You set your price on the product/s you transfer. When an order comes in place the order they will ship it out for you under your shipping label and not include any of their material.

A good way to promote is join as an affiliate, transfer a couple specials onto your site, with a link back to your affiliate page. The cost of setting up a web site is minimum. Check out my website archive for drop ship firms.

Here are some of the tips for treating your information better:

1. Backup important data to external storage devices

Imagine that if your PC is inflicted with malicious virus and beyond repairable, all your important files, such as photographs, eBooks and customer contact information etc., might be gone forever. By saving data to external storage devices, the chance of losing data saved on the external storage device is less likely should there is hardware failure or virus attack.

2. Use of centralized repository

Save files that you want to share with your family members or colleagues to a Network Attached Storage (NAS). Files access can be done through network (wireless or wired), users no longer need to save files on their own computers, thus save memory space and ensure all users are reading the same information.

3. User of FTP server

Modern NAS are not just simply providing data storage space, they can be configured to become a FTP, web and database server etc. As long as there is Internet connection available, user can remotely access their home FTP servers anytime, anywhere in the world. All information are at user’s finger tips, users do not need to save sensitive or confidential information on flash drives, which might have higher risk of information leakage.

4. User of backup and recovery software

How long would you take to reinstall and configure all software, such as Windows operating system, MS Office, Outlook and Adobe Reader etc. on a new hard disk? few hours? whole day? days? Of course it depends on number of software to be installed, but one thing is certain that it is very time consuming, boring and non-productive to do the reinstallation. There are backup and recovery software available in the market for quick restoration of the whole operating system, applications, settings and personal files. The idea is that the software will create a image of your PC platform and save the image file to storage media such as portable hard disk, NAS or DVD etc. The image file can be used for later restoration. The beauty is that you will not have the hassle of digging out all login ID/password/serial numbers to configure/activate your operating system and applications. Once you kick off the restoration process, the whole restoration could be completed within an hour without your attention.