Archive for July, 2009

Excellent Example of Electronic Evolution

No one had a clue during the early days of television the incredible impact that this device would have over people and their daily lives nearly a century later. I can hardly believe the difference between the television offerings of my childhood and the vast number of quality shows, channels, and information that is available by simply turning on the television. In addition to that, the quality of sound that can be achieved through the simple act of adding a receiver and surround sound speakers to your television is day and night when comparing before and after.

I do not think for one second anyone could have possibly anticipated the global impact that televisions have introduced. Add to that the entertainment value and the fact that we are now using our televisions for much more than simply watching and you have opened up a whole new world of entertainment. Surround sound not only works wonders with movies and (some) television shows but is also an excellent enhancement for video games and even music.

Televisions are also being used for more purposes now than ever before. With each generation of video game system there are new features added that require more from the televisions and speaker systems we spend so much of our time enjoying. From the days when people first gained the ability to check their email on their television sets, the technology seed has been planted for greater things to come. Each year new televisions and new surround sound and home theater systems hit the market with amazing success among consumers. We all want more sound, better pictures, and more functionality from a piece of technology that is not yet a century old. It’s amazing the progress that has been made already and the rapid rate at which this technology continues to evolve.

Surround sound is only one example of the great possibilities that exist in the entertainment industry, it simply happens that this is one piece of the technology puzzle that enhances so many other of the things that we enjoy so much on a daily basis. From gaming to music to movies, all are enhanced by the technology and premium sound that a good surround sound system with high quality speakers can provide. When purchasing speakers for your surround sound system, be sure to make sure that they are THX certified in order to assure that you are getting top quality speakers for your surround sound system or home theater.

You will find as you sort through the various surround sound systems in the market today that there are many options available to you. I hope that you will take the time to find the one that you like best and keep an open mind when you bring it into your home. It is important to remember that you may find the system doesn’t sound as good in your home as it did in the store (acoustics are going to be different). If this is the case with your system, make a note of the differences that you find troublesome, and return the kit to the store, then ask for recommendations on systems that might work better in your home. You should also include things like the size of the room, the types of walls and flooring you have (all of these things affect the acoustical quality of your room). Most importantly, make the most of the advances that technology has allowed and enjoy.

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Disable Your Computer’s Parasites

An individual who uses a computer with an Internet connection pretty much practices caution when downloading programs from the Internet and email because of the threat of viruses and worms. These malicious program codes and programs can cause your system to become unstable and worse yet, after it has spread within your system, it further infects other systems connected to yours.

This is why any sensible computer user has anti virus programs installed in one’s computer for protection against attacks from viruses and worms that proliferate the Internet. The good thing about viruses and worms is the fact that it is easier to spot them trying to get into your system. For instance, a virus or worm can try to enter your system through a suspicious attachment usually from an unknown source. By now, most Internet users know better than to open suspicious attachments. Also, rigorous anti virus programs can scan attachments before you can open them so that your risk against viruses and worms are properly managed.

However, as an Internet user, you have more to worry about than viruses and worms. Unfortunately, anti virus programs are not designed to detect other types of threats and if you are not careful, you may unwittingly install adware and spyware into your system and once this happens, uninstalling these programs can become problematic. For one thing, most spyware can go undetected in your system. You will continue on your regular computer and Internet habits without realizing that your privacy is immensely violated and your security is greatly hindered.

Since spyware can go undetected and you can continue to use your computer and the Internet as usual, there is no need to worry about uninstalling spyware, right?
Wrong.

Spyware in mild cases infringes on your privacy because it can track and take note of your usage patterns and these information are reported back to the company that created the spyware so that they can build marketing profiles. More than that though, some spyware have the ability to register and take note of key strokes, scan documents within your computer’s hard drive, and can steal your passwords and other sensitive information that can make you the victim of identity theft and other situations where your personal information can be used to compromise your security http://www.tactics1.com

On the other hand, adware is used by companies to infect your computer with unsolicited ads. The most problematic kinds are the ones that indiscriminately pop ads on to your screen even if you are not viewing their site or using the parent program that launched the adware. In fact, in some cases, adware continues to work into your system long after you uninstalled the program it came bundled with.

Given the security risks, the invasion of your right to privacy, and the annoying effects of spyware and adware, you will be wise to uninstall these programs from your computer. However, to uninstall adware and spyware from your system is not such a simply task.

For one thing, companies that proliferate the Internet with spyware and adware go to great lengths to ensure that uninstalling them from your system can be difficult. For instance, in most cases, you will be unable to use legitimate software if you attempt to uninstall the adware or spyware it comes bundled with. Adware and spyware are usually bundled with legitimate freeware or shareware and cannot run independently of each other.

Bayesian Filter: Technology And Advantages

Not a long time ago, most anti-spam products simply used a list of keywords to identify spam. A good set of keywords could catch much spam. However, a keyword-based anti-spam filter requires manual updating and can be easily fooled by tweaking the message a little. Spammers simply examine the latest anti-spam techniques and find ways to bypass them. At the result you’re left with a high number of false positives.

The need in a new effective technique to fight against spam stood up. The experience showed that this new method might adapt itself to the spammers’ tactics that would change with time.

The Bayesian filtering is based on the principle that most events are dependent and that the probability of an event occurring in the future can be inferred from the occurrences of this event in the past. This approach is used to identify spam. If some piece of text occurred mostly in spam emails but not in legitimate mail, then it would be reasonable to suppose that this email is probably spam.

To filter mail using the Bayesian technology, you need to generate a database of words collected from spam and legitimate mail. Then a probability value is assigned to each word; the probability is based on the calculations that take into account how often that word occurs in spam as opposed to legitimate mail.

After the legitimate and spam databases are created during an initial training period, the word probabilities can be calculated and the Bayesian filter is ready for use. When a new mail arrives, it is broken into words and the most significant words are singled out. From these words, the Bayesian filter calculates the probability of a new message being spam or not. If the probability is greater than a spam threshold, say 0.9, the message is classified as spam.

Tip! G-Lock SpamCombat allows you assign the hot keys to the common operations. For example, you can assign F8 to Mark Message as SPAM function and F9 to Mark Message as Clean. Next time when you train the Bayesian filter you can simply use two keys on your keyboard F8 and F9.

It is important to note that the analysis of spam and legitimate mail is performed on the mail the particular user (organization, company, etc.) receives, and therefore the Bayesian filter is adjusted to this particular person, company, or organization. For example, a financial institution may receive a lot of emails with the “mortgage” word and would get a lot of false positives if using an outdated anti-spam filter. The Bayesian filter analyzes the entire message with the word “mortgage”, and concludes whether this email is spam or legitimate basing NOT only on a single keyword “mortgage”. The Bayesian approach to filter spam is highly effective – spam detection rates of over 99.7% can be achieved with a very low number of false positives!

Let’s summarize what benefits we get using the Bayesian filter to catch spam:

1) Much more intelligent approach because it examines all aspects of a message, as opposed to keyword checking that classifies a mail as spam on the basis of a single word.

2) Self-adapting – constantly learning from new spam and new valid inbound mails, the Bayesian filter evolves and adapts to new spam techniques.

3) Sensitive to the user ? it learns the email habits of the company and understands that, for example, the emails with the “mortgage” word are not always spam.

4) Multi-lingual and international – being adaptive it can be used for any language. The Bayesian filter also takes into account certain languages deviations or the diverse usage of certain words in different areas, even if the same language is spoken.

5) Difficult to fool, as opposed to a keyword filter – an advanced spammer who wants to trick the Bayesian filter can either use fewer words that usually indicate spam, or more words that generally indicate valid mail (such as a valid contact name, etc). Doing the latter is impossible because the spammer would have to know the email profile of each recipient – and a spammer can never hope to gather this kind of information from every intended recipient.