What is Linux?

Linux is an operating system that is now gaining popularity and competing against the Operating System giant, Microsoft. In 1993, a student in Finland, Linus Torralds, created Linux. Both home PCs as well as network Computers need an Operating System to function. Both home users and companies spend millions of dollars in purching these operating systems such as Microsoft Windows or Unix. How nice it will be if we can get a free Operating System. Well, Linux is a free open source Operating System that anybody, home user or companies can download and use it freely.

Linux is based on the Unix operating system. Linux solves all your needs. You can linux in a single computer or in a networked enviroment where there are thousands of computers.
But home users still have many doubts and questions about Linux. In this section we will see some of the frequently asked questions about linux.

There are many advertisements selling Linux. Isn't Linux Free?

Linux is totally FREE. You can download Linux from Internet. But if your internet connection is slow, then it may take several hours or even days to download linux and its related applications using your dial-up connection. Just calculate the phone charges and the internet connection charges for this time. If you have a high speed broadband then you will find no problem to download linux from the internet directly.

But to solve the issue for 'dial-up' users many companies download linux and copy it into CDs and sell them. The cost of the CD disk, the cost for sending the CD to your house, and for the service they provide, these companies may charge a meagre amount for the Linux CD. But if you directly download from Internet, it is totally free.

What is Redhat, SuSe?

These are names of companies that market and sell Linux. The heart of the Linux OS is its Kernel. These companies add many utilities and applications based on this kernel and sell it. There are many such companies such as RedHat, Mandrake, Debian, SuSe etc. The linux offered by these companies are called Linux Distributions or simply 'Distros'. The Kernel in all these Distros will be the same. But the utilities and applications may be different in different distros.

Can I copy the linux CD from my friend and install it in my computer?

By all means, Yes. You can make as many copies of the Linux CD of your friend. It is legal.

Is it very difficult to use Linux?

If you learn and know the linux commands then it is easy to operate your computer. The Character User Interface in Linux requires you to know and remember the commands. But using the 'Graphical User Interface' of Linux, anybody can use Linux without the need to learn and remember the commands. You can use desktop environments such as 'Gnome' or 'Kde' to get the graphical user interface. This GUI environment will be similar to the Windows environment.

Do all hardware work with Linux?

Some old hardware may not work with linux. But all the recent and new hardware works well in linux. A common hardware problem is with the 'winmodem'. If you are using this type of internal winmodem, then you may have to buy the latest modem.

Are there applications for Linux? Are they free?

There are plenty of applications for linux. Most of them are free. Open Office, GIMP, Real Player, MTV, Doom are some examples.

I do not want to stop using Windows. Can I still use Linux?

Yes you can. This is called Dual booting or Multibooting. You can install linux in a separate partition. Whenever you boot, you can select whether you want to boot from windows or linux.

Source:- http://www.allpctips.com/software/what_is_linux.htm

Read More

What is Multibooting?

Multibooting is the ability to install and use more than one Operating System in the same computer.

Generally most of us use just one operating system in our computers such as Windows or Linux. But there are people who install and use more than one operating systems in their computers. Some of the people who do this are:

• Computer students
• Computer teachers
• Programmers and developers who would like to test, how their application will behave in different operating systems
• Testers

Such users who have installed more than one operating systems in their computers will see a menu with a list of operating systems that they have installed. They can choose the operating system with which they want to boot from the list. Likewise they have switch between different OS by rebooting and selecting the OS. This is called multibooting.

How to install more than one Operating Systems in one computer?

1. Disk Partitioning

If your computer has two hard disks and they are not partitioned then you can two different Operating Systems on each of this hard disks. If you have only one hard disk and it is partitioned then you can install different OS on each of these partitions. Each OS needs to have a separate partition.

You can use FDISK to partition the harddisk in windows. This is not an easy tool to use. While partitioning, the data in the harddisk will be lost. Therefore you need to backup the data before partitioning.

If you are not so sure about using this command, there are other more user friendly applications available for partitioning. 'Nortan Partition Magic' is one such tool. You can get this tool, This is not a free tool. 'Ranish partition manager' is a free tool but it is a bit difficult to use.

If you like to use windows and linux in your computer, then install Windows first and partition your hard disk and then install Linux in the other partition.

2. Virtual Machine (VM)

Those who want to use multiple OS in their computers can use Virtual Machines. VM is now very popular. By the use of software, VM creates a Virtual environment for different OS. You have installed many applications in your computer. VM is another application. To switch between one OS to another, run the VM application first and then switch to the other OS. Then the VM will generate a virtual environment for the other OS. The other OS will then think that it is using the computer entirely by itself.

Using the Multibooting method only one OS can be run at a time. The selection is done while booting.

Using VM, more than one OS can run simultaneously. Each OS will run without knowing the existence of the other OS. But this will reduce the computer speed and performance. Some of the popular VM are Microsoft Virtual PC (www.microsoft.com) and VMware Workstation (www.vmware.com)

3. Emulators

Sometimes you may not need the full fledged OS. But you may want to use a specific feature of an OS. For instance you may not want the full 'Linux' OS but you want the base shell of Linux to run linux based applications on your computer.

In Windows, you may want to see the look and feel of 'Linux' and you want to run 'Linux' commands on the windows OS. For this there are emulators available for different OS.

For example, you can use Cygwin which is a free tool to emulate the Unix OS under windows. You can download this tool from (www.cygwin.com).

Source: - http://www.allpctips.com/software/whatis-multibooting.htm

Read More

Tutorial to Hide visited websites from others

We search for lots of information on the internet. But it is not necessary that others know about this. Whenever you visit any website this information is captured and stored in your computer in the form of 'cache', 'cookie', 'history', and 'windows registry'. There is a danger due to this. Whoever uses the same computer after you have used can find out which websites you have been visiting. If you have a personal computer that no one else will ever use, then you don't have to worry much about this. But if your home or office computer is shared then you better clear this history. In this tutorial let us see how to completely remove the recently visited websites from your computer.

1. Cache Folder
   
   Every time you visit a website, every browser has the functionality to store the images, websites, urls etc in your hard disk somewhere in the temporary folders. This is useful to save bandwidth. When you visit the same website again, instead of downloading all the images again, the browser will retrieve them from the temporary folders from your hard disks and therefore increasing the speed and saving internet bandwidth. So when you finish browsing you can clear these temporary folders. This temporary folder is usually referred to as Cache. The exact location of this folder will differ based on the browser you are using. For instance if you use Internet explorer then this cache is located in the 'Temporary Internet Files' folder under your c:\Windows folder.
   You can either delete from this folder or you can delete it from your browser. Goto Tools-> Internet Options. Under the General tab click 'Delete Files' button.
   

2. History
   
   All the browsers also store the urls of every website you visit. This is used to show the address of the site on the 'Address Bar' when you start typing the first few letters of the websited address, the browser will take from the history and prompt you for the full address. This makes your job easier so that you need not type the full address every time. But if you want to hide the sites you visit then you have to remove this history also. Internet explorer stores this history in a folder called 'History' under c:\Windows folder.
   
   Or you can delete history from your browser. Goto Tools-> Internet OPtions. Select the 'General' tab and click on 'Clear History' button. In the confirmation dialog box select 'OK'. This will clear your history.
   

3. Cookies
   
   Whenever you visit websites, some information about you and some information about that website is stored in your computer's hard disk. When you visit the same site again, the information stored in this cookie file will be read to identify you. This is especially useful for sites that can personlize the site for you and displays messages such as 'welcome your_name' etc. But this cookie also stores the name of the site you visit so you should also delete these cookies if you want to hide the sites you visited.
   
   To delete cookies, goto Tools->Internet Options. And click on 'Delete Cookies' button. Or you can choose the security tab and click on 'Custom Level' button to disable or enable cookies.
   

4. Registry
   
   Another place in which the websites you visited are stored is the windows registry. It is not advisible to modify registries if you are not sure how to use them. Only those who are confident and willing to take risk should touch the registry. Click on 'Start->Run' and type 'regedit' and press enter. The windows registry will open. Now click on 'Edit->find' and type 'URL History'. In the right hand side you can see a list of website addresses that you visited. You can select them one by one and delete them. programs, viruses and hackers.

Source: - http://www.allpctips.com/internet/hide-history-of-websites-you-visited.htm

Read More

What is Web Promotion? Web Promotion tutorial

Consider you have created a personal website with some useful information for others to see. This website will be useful only if other people visit your website. How to make other people visit your site. This article discusses about how to promote your site.

How can you make your website address known to everybody. To your friends and relatives it is possible to tell your website address directly to them. You may even distribute notices in your town. But how to tell your website address to the whole world. This is where the Search Engines come in handy.

Almost everyone uses Search engines to search for information or products in the Internet. Then the search engine will display a list of website results based on the searched keyword. If your website is in this result returned by search engines then people will visit your website from around the world.

There are at present billions of websites today. In each website there will be atleast ten pages. Some websites will have many pages. So the website you create is just one of these so many websites.

Therefore when the search engine returns results, if your website is not listed in the first four pages of the results then chances of people visiting your site is less. So you have to create your site such that it appears in the first four pages of the search engine results. For this you need to optimize your website for search Engines. This is called SEO (Search Engine Optimization). To learn SEO techniques, first you need to understand how search engines operator.

How does Search Engines identify and index your website.

Search engines use programs such as Spider, Web Crawlerm Robo, Bot etc for finding and indexing websites. These programs will keep searching for new websites and read the content of the pages in the websites and understand what these pages are about and index those pages accordingly.

It may take some time for the search engines to find your website. If you cannot wait for the search engines to find you then you can tell the search engines about your website and the search engines will send its spider program to crawl your site and index your pages based on their content.

Use of Meta tags in your web pages is one of the most easiest and effective method to tell search engines about your webpage and its content. Those who know HTML language will know about HTML Tags. If you are not familiar with thest tags then below are some tips on using meta tags in your web pages

How to use Meta tags?

The meta tags contain attributes such as 'Name', and 'Description'. The Name attribute can take values such as 'Description' or 'Keywords'. While the 'Description' attribute will have details about keywords and description.
Assume that you do Real estate business and you have created a webpage regarding this. The tips given below will explain how you can effectively use the Meta tags in your webpage.

<META NAME=Description Content="Singapore Flat Sales, Flat at Singapore in reasonable price, the best flat seller in Singapore, Most reliable Flat seller in Singapore, CDMA approved flats in Singapore, Individual Luxury Duplex Bungalows in Singapore, Luxury Type Independent House in Singapore, Uniquely Designed House in Singapore, Independent House designed by experienced Architect">

As you can see the description tag uses the most relevant keywords of your webpage and describes the content of the page for search engines to describe your webpage in search results and also for indexing.

<META NAME=Keywords Content='' Flats, Houses, Bungalows, Chennai''>

The keywords meta tag is to list the keywords in your webpage.
You can add your website for search engines to crawl your site. For this you need to submit your site details to search engines. Some of the most popular search engines are Google, Yahoo and MSN. You can use the links given below to submit your website.

Yahoo: http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request

Google: www.google.com/addurl.html

MSN: http://submit.bcentral.com/msnsubmit.htm

Other than search engines, you can also submit your site to directories such as DMOZ and Yahoo directory. You can visit www.dmoz.org to list your site under appropriate directory.

You can also generate money from your website. Now the easiest and hottest internet marketing method is by using google adsense.

 

Source: http://www.allpctips.com/internet/webpromotion-tutorial.htm

Read More

Different types of Internet connection and their advantages and disadvantages.

Which Internet Connection plan to choose?

Internet has become part and parcel of our lives. Not only for individuals but even for a country's economic growth, scientific growth, organizations' success, Internet is very essential. The companies that offer these internet connections are called ISPs (Internet Service Providers). These ISPs offer many different internet connection plans. How to select the best connection plan for home use or for offices? The following tips will give you an overview of different types of internet connections, their advantages and disadvantages.

PSTN Dialup

Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) dialup uses your phone connection to connect your computer to the internet. You need a modem, phone line and a computer for a PSTN dial up connection.

Advantages of PSTN dial up

1. This is the basic internet connection and all the ISPs provide this type of dial up.
2. To install PSTN dialup and to use it is very cheap and affordable.

Disadvantages of PSTN dial up

1. The speed of a typical PSTN modem is 56KBPS. Therefore the speed of the internet connection will be slower than this.
2. During the time you are connected to the internet, you have to pay the telephone charges.
3. While you are connected to the internet you cannot use your telephone to call anyone because you are using that phone line for connecting to the internet. You also will not receive any calls from outside during this time.

ISDN dialup

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) dialup uses a higher end digital telephone line to dial up. To use this type of connection you need ISDN telephone line, computer and a 'Terminal Adapter'.

Advantages of an ISDN dialup

1. While you are connected to internet using ISDN dialup connection you can use your ISDN phone to make phone calls simultaneously.
2. When you are making phone calls while connected to the internet then the speed of internet will be 64KBPS.
3. If you are using the ISDN phone line just for internet then the speed of internet will be 128KBPS.

Disadvantages of ISDN dialup

1. Not every place has ISDN connection.
2. Even if your place has this facility, it is expensive to get an ISDN dialup connection from your ISP.
3. Not all the ISPs provide ISDN dialup plan.

Leased Line Internet Plan

In both ISDN dialup and PSTN dialup you need to dial up from your computer before getting connected to the internet. And you close this connection when you no longer need internet connection. If you need a continuous connection 24 hours of the day and 7 days a week then you need a 'Leased Line' also known as 'dedicated line'. This type of permanent connection is called 'Always On'.

Advantages of Leased Line

1. You get 'Always on' connection 24 hours every day.
2. The speed of the internet ranges from 2.4 KBPS to 2G based on your subscription.

Disadvantages of Leased Line

1. The disadvantages of a leased line is that it is very expensive.
2. Since your computer is always connected to the internet your computer is exposed to many vulnerabilities such as viruses and spywares. So you may need to secure your computer using firewall and Antivirus software

DSL

1. Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) also uses a normal PSTN phone line. But using DSL you can use both internet and phone simultaneously. Therefore many prefer DSL to PSTN dial up.

Advantages of DSL

1. The speed of DSL connection is fast. 64 KBPS, 512 KBPS, 1.5MBPS and higher speed can be achieved in DSL connections.
2. DSL also provides 'Always On' connection 24 hours a day always.
3. You can also use your phone while using internet

Disadvantages of DSL

1. More expensive
2. You need an ADSL modem to connect but the distance between this modem and your computer cannot be more than 18,000 feet.

Source: - http://www.allpctips.com/internet/adsl-leased-line-dialup-isdn-pstn-internet-connection.htm

Read More