If you want to burn a mix CD, transfer songs to your MP3 player or simply listen to your favorite albums while you’re at your computer, you’ll need to transfer the files to your hard drive. Even if you’re accustomed to using your CD-ROM drive as a CD player, you’ll find that “ripping” (transferring) the files to the hard drive is easier.

The first thing that you’ll need is a media player. If you run Windows XP, you already have Windows Media Player on your hard drive. Some people don’t like this software: there are plenty of free alternatives. You can even play your CDs through song-download services like iTunes. These are also free, so download and try a few different things to get an idea of what works best for you.

Once you find the player that you like, connect to the Internet and put your CD in the CD-ROM drive. You need to be online so the player can consult Internet databases for artist, track and album information. Otherwise, you’ll probably need to manually enter all this information. Being online saves you a lot of time and effort.

Your media player should have a clearly-labeled option for ripping/transferring your files. Before you hit this button, check the program’s options menus to find out where the song files will be stored. You’ll need this information to transfer files to your MP3 player, burn a mix CD or even add the files to the player’s media library in some cases.

There is also the question of sound quality. Newer versions of Windows Media Player have a WMA file type that claims to be “lossless.” In plain language, this simply means that you won’t be able to tell any difference in the sound quality. The WMA file will sound just as good to your ears as the CD does.

That file type, however, takes up a ton of space. If you have a huge hard drive or a massive MP3 player, you might consider ripping CDs to this format.

Otherwise, you can rip the files as MP3s or WMAs. Go to the program’s “rip” menu or screen and look for options. You should be able to tell the program what file type and quality you want.

You should note, however, that not all MP3 players will handle WMA files. This is particularly true of older players and the less-expensive brands that are currently on the market. Read your player’s instruction manual to find out which file types the device can handle.

Feel free to experiment with different file types and quality levels. You can always delete the files you don’t like and rip that CD all over again.

Once the player has ripped your files, eject the CD and put it away. You won’t need the disc again unless your computer crashes or you reformat the hard drive.

Now you can listen to your favorite music without your CDs. Most media players have advanced options such as equalizer settings and playlist editors. Check the software’s help files for information on these features. They’re usually easy to use and worth the effort - especially if you have a massive CD collection ripped to the hard drive and need some help organizing the songs.

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Stop your DNS Server Civil War now

Configuration errors breed discontent. But configuration errors on your DNS servers won’t just stop there. They will continue from there and wreak havoc upon and within your organization’s Intranet, especially in a large and growing organization. More often than not, problems with Active Directory updates and replication are the cause behind those wonderful “no domain controller” errors we all so love so much and, more often than not, they can be directly attributed to cross-zone DNS errors.

Unfortunately, DNS in this Windows World of ours can be quite a complicated matter. And anything but a laughing matter, too, I might add. The complex Active Directory interaction between Global Catalog servers, Exchange servers and Domain Controllers, especially when it comes to traffic meant to cross between DNS zones, will only work properly if “everybody is on the same sheet of music.” And DNS can only furnish this music to everybody if it has been tuned properly.

Active Directory has to find its DNS servers in order to locate any of those other machines out there. And most of the problems that AD has to wrestle with usually stem from problems it is having with DNS or, to be more exact, with DNS problems which are caused by what are generally very simple-to-make and easy-to-correct configuration errors; “zoning” errors.

As I said, for Active Directory to do its job inside your organization, it needs a properly-functioning DNS infrastructure. The problem is, not every internal DNS server necessarily contains the DNS records pointing to your Domain Controllers and the other member servers. You see, most of the time DNS implementations are designed to be “seen” in the public Internet. So when it gets implemented within an organization, this “split personality” effect usually brings along with it settings which, though intended to protect your internal systems, can also prevent them from finding one another.

It gets down to this: Every DNS server within an Intranet needs to have a local copy of the DNS zone file. And this zone file will also contain the needed information for all of the other domains and zone files within your forest. In other words: If you want everything to run smoothly, all DNS servers within your intranet must be either primary or secondary DNS servers for every domain within your forest.

If when creating your company’s DNS space you decide to add an additional domain or two just to insure that your company will have room to grow in the future, you must also remember that for AD, each of these “empty” domains needs a DNS zone. You must therefore set up these domain’s servers (first servers) as primary DNS servers for their corresponding dynamic zones and have these systems use themselves as the preferred DNS servers. Repeat this process for all secondary DNS servers in each of these domains. Now that two DNS servers (and DCs) are in place, everything is in place within the forest root domain. The stage is set, so-to-speak.

Once all of this is done, the last and most critical step is still left: Always remember to put these newly-created zones on every DNS server within your Intranet. Otherwise these domain’s all-important GC servers will appear only within the DNS zone for each particular root domain and remain unreachable for everybody else.

Rip or Burn your CD and DVD Collection

Format-Shift all your CDs and DVDs

The online music revolution is now unstoppable. Legitimised by giant online stores like Apple’s iTunes and emusic.co.uk (and a raft of retailers in between), music consumers are pretty much comfortable with the realities of buying and using music from the Web.

But there’s a disconnect here, and consumers are starting to realise it.

People have been buying music CDs for years, and most of us have a collection that now spans years, even decades, of our favourite tunes.

Here’s the problem. We need different players to handle online music and physical CDs. Other than a PC there’s no gadget that plays both seamlessly, and a PC is an expensive and clumsy solution to what is really a simple problem.

There has to be a better way, right?

Sure is. There’s actually two better ways.

Rip, Rip, Rip

The first (and it’s an obvious one) is to turn your CD collection into computer files so you can load them onto your iPod or MP3 player. In other words, shift your music format from CD to MP3 files. Fortunately this is 100% legal in most countries so you can ‘rip’ (as the process is known) with a completely clear conscience.

There are plenty of software packages that will happily rip most CDs into MP3 files, and they’ll even connect to vast online databases to automatically add information like artist, track title, album name, year, genre and so on.

Burn, Burn, Burn

The second alternative is to turn your online-sourced music files into physical CDs. Again format shifting in this way is completely legal, and you do this by using ‘CD burning’ software on your PC to firstly convert your MP3 files into audio CD data, then writing that data to a blank CD-R disc. You can then use that CD just like a retail one – on your stereo, in your car, in your Walkman, wherever.

The great thing is that burning software is almost certainly already installed on your PC. It normally comes free when a CD/DVD burner is installed in your PC. Not there? No problem, there’s plenty of freeware applications to choose from, and Google will help you find one to suit.

When Things Go Wrong

Wouldn’t life be great if it was just that simple? Rip and burn, burn and rip, listen whenever and wherever you want.

Unfortunately it’s not that simple, and there are a few things that can bring you unstuck. Let’s start with CD ripping.

• It’s difficult to get a truly accurate rip using the standard CD/DVD drives that come with most modern PCs. Little-known characteristics like ‘read offset’, ‘read lead-in’ and ‘read lead-out’ all impact the quality of your rip. These may not make any audible difference – but sometimes they do.
• Audio CDs are not as error resistant as data CDs. All drives make erroneous reads of CD information and a good part of the data on the CD itself is dedicated to error correction. However errors still sometimes slip through, and this more the case with audio CDs than for data CDs.
• Some CD manufacturers purposely introduce errors into the audio CD format to trick ripping software into thinking the disc is damaged and therefore unreadable. This is a clumsy way to implement copy protection, but it does happen and can be difficult to bypass.

The end result? New CDs are most likely to give you the very best results, with MP3 files that cannot be distinguished, quality-wise, from the original. Older CDs cleaned correctly before ripping will also give great, even perfect, results. On the other hand, the results may disappoint you with stray clicks and pops from read errors that the drive could not identify and fix.

Now let’s turn our attention to CD burning.

• A great deal of music purchased online is affected by ‘digital rights management’ schemes, which serve to limit your ability to copy it between PCs and MP3 players, and to burn it onto CD media. You need to check with your music store about what’s allowed and not allowed before you purchase – it is not fun to have to sit in front of your PC to listen to music you paid good money for and can’t transport anywhere else!
• Online music comes in different formats. The most popular are Windows Media Format (wma), Apple Lossless (aac) and MP3. On rare occasions, burning software can’t convert these into audio CD data and so CDs aren’t possible.
• Standard CD/DVD burners vary widely in their ability to burn CDs readable in stereos and car players. The blank media used can make a bug difference as well.

The end result is simply that some of your online music won’t ever make it onto CD. Of course there are ways to circumvent any anti-copying scheme, but you need to know what your doing, research well, and live with the consequences if you get caught.

Your Choice, My Choice

Whether you rip or burn is your choice. Ripping is best for people who are on the move and want the portability of a small, lightweight MP3 player. On the other hand, if you simply want to listen to your music collection in your car or in different rooms, it’s best to burn CDs to play anywhere.

My personal choice is to rip first, burn second. I like it having a second copy locked away safe on my PC, and I also like being able to burn copies to play in my car rather than risk damaging the original.

There’s one other big advantage to having all your music stored on your PC. Music managers like Windows media Player and Apple iTunes do an outstanding job of grouping your entire collection in many different ways – genre, artist, year, mood, and so on. It is so easy to mix up a playlist exactly the way you want it - and you don’t have to shuffle CDs all night!

A Final Note – Legality

Most countries allow purchasers of music to format shift. They do here in Australia, as long as it’s only done to one other alternative format. As always it’s best to Google on the topic, read any commentary and check the government web sites for accurate information.

Typing Your Way to Success: QWERTY Keyboard Rules and Tips

An average Internet user’s typing skill is conceivably rather poor, as you surely know. If you are one, then you might never have drafted an article, and you are not a writer at all. So, when you perceive the title of this article, you might say, “But that’s not for me! I never wanted to learn typing, and it is not going to help me at all.” But, wait a minute, and please listen to what I have to say. How many times have you typed in some text (in a blog comment, let’s assume), and in the end looked at the screen only to realize that you didn’t actually type a single word, for the caret was off the comment box? What if you could type it quickly, without looking at the keyboard at all? Moreover, I am sure many seconds will be wasted for each ten-word comment you make. If you are an active Internet user, then you have to type something at one or other point of your life (no matter whether you are a writer or not), you have no other alternative. What if you are a blogger and in need to update your blog regularly? (There is cash in each word you type.) You can draft a decent blog article in an hour, and it will still have only about two hundred words or so. Now, do you realize how inefficient and unproductive it is?

On the other hand, if you know typing, then you can draft an article of about thousand words in twenty minutes at the most (at 50-100 WPM [Words Per Minute], which is achievable), and you will never have to look at the keyboard again. Most of you have a trivial typing speed of 10 to 20 WPM, 30 at the best. If you learn typing, then you can achieve high speeds of 50-100 WPM on a QWERTY keyboard in a month or even less time. Moreover, your friends are going to regard you more (Now, have you thought of that?). But the greatest advantage is that your efficiency will double in whichever field you work (it’s up to you to judge its effect in your competition). I am sure that all professions in one or the other stage will be in need of writing. Moreover, who knows if you cannot get a new and higher-paying job, just by learning typing?

I began my typing self-study about three months ago. Now I stand at an appreciable 60 WPM, more than twice that of most of the Internet users. Also, the ordinary man has to look at the keyboard frequently to find the letters, while I no longer have to. However, a tremendous boost to my typing came about in a month, when I actually put in time to improve it (not the three months for which I was learning). I also learned some of the professional ways in typing. Here, I have included the best methods I have found.

I work mostly in the nights, in my dark workroom. I had to look at the keyboard for every key I typed; you can imagine the trouble I might have had in the darkness of the room. I depended on my computer screen for some light to see the keyboard properly (still vague and I mostly had to hunch over to squint). Those days represent as the most unproductive time in my life, with despicable typing speeds of 10 or 20 at the most. At a two hundred words in ten minutes, it would take fifty minutes to type a thousand-word article then. In addition, my thought process would take up extra time. So, I could produce a decent writing in no less than an hour and a half (excepting the time for editing, of course). But, now I type those thousand words in a mere twenty minutes, gaining more than forty minutes in the process.

When I decided to learn typing, I downloaded the software Typing Master, which you can get free of cost. Typing Master is a gem of a program that can get your speeds to skyrocket, better than a tutor can. Even the free version of this program has immense power. I would recommend that you download this program and work with it every day. However, you just need to follow the rules and tips I retain in this article to get a high speed and accuracy.

Typing is a very simple art, and you can learn it freely by putting in one or two hours a day (it is a lot of fun as well). The rules of typing are very simple and easy to follow. However, you will have to practice everyday and consistently to get the best results.

Typing Rules

Here are the rules of touch-typing. Please follow them carefully. The rules are based on the most widely used keyboard layout, QWERTY. There is another layout, Dvorak. You will find a short description of Dvorak keyboards in the last part of this article. When you go through these rules, look at your keyboard and learn how to do it.

1. Place your index fingers on the keys: F and J. Have you noticed a projection on each of these keys? I am sure you are surprised that these projections escaped your attention all these years of poring over the keyboard. Or, what did you think these projections were for, if you had noticed them? You will notice that there is a similar projection on the number 5 on the number keypad on the right. The projections help you come back to these keys easily. And, these two keys can help you locate the other keys on the keyboard without ever looking at them.

2. The Home Row: The row with letters A, S, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, and ; is called the home row. This is where you place your fingers when you start to type, and where the fingers have to return after every keystroke.

3. Now, place all the digits from both hands on the home row: your left digits on A, S, D, F and right on J, K, L, ;. Place your thumbs on the space bar. This is the basic configuration when you start to type.

4. Type the letters on the row above the home row with respective digits. Q and P with little fingers, W and O with ring fingers and so on. The same goes for the lower row: Z and / with little fingers and so on.

5. Your index finger reaches these keys: R, T, G, V, and B, with the left index finger and U, Y, H, M, and N, with the right.

6. Your small finger on the right hand reaches “, /, [, ], and | besides P.

7. For numbers, use the respective fingers as well: 1 with left small finger, 2 with ring finger and so on. 4 and 5 should be typed with the left index finger and 6 and 7 with the right. For some new keyboards, the ergonomic design will thrust the key 6 to the left side, away from the right index finger, forming a gap. In such designs, you can use the left index finger to type it. The little finger of right hand reaches 0, -, =, and backspace.

8. Always make sure your fingers graze back to the home row after every keystroke or collection of keystrokes.

9. Always use the same thumb to press the space bar (either right or left).

10. Use the right small finger to type the Enter key.

11. In order to type capital letters, you have to follow this rule: both hands contribute to the capitals. You have to type the letter with the appropriate digit according to the rules above, and press and keep the shift key with the small finger on the other hand.

12. In order to type on the keypad, place first three digits on the right hand on the keys 4, 5, and 6 (Middle finger on 5). Place your thumb on the 0 key. Type the keys in this fashion: use middle finger to type 2, 5, and 8, index finger to type 1, 4, and 7, and ring finger to type 3, 6, and 9. Small finger can type +, enter, -, etc.

That concludes the rules section. For the special character keys (!, @, #, etc.,) follow the same rules as that of the capitals. For omitted keys, it should be easy for you to judge how to type from the basic rules themselves. Go through them and understand them fully before starting your practice.

Tips to Get Fast Results and High Speeds

1. Take some text from either websites, or any articles you can find and type it through Notepad application. Type at least one or two hours every day. Keep practicing to get the best out of it and high speeds.

2. Type accurately. Do not try irrationally to achieve higher speeds, because “Haste makes it waste.” (This is a simple mistake I did myself. Had I concentrated on my accuracy, I would have gone beyond 80 WPM by now.) When you have high accuracy, speed automatically improves. The errors you make when you try to achieve high speeds can turn into a habit, and can potentially hamper your typing speeds.

3. Follow the rules carefully and try not to deviate from them as much as possible. Some of them are very difficult to follow (the rule of the capital letters, for instance), but if you follow them carefully, then you will have great ease after you master the craft.

4. Try to remember key positions and type. At first, you will have to look at the keyboard for this, but later on, your fingers will automatically trace the correct keys.

5. It is “touch” typing you do. You should lay your fingers effortlessly on the keyboard and graze over it to type the keys. Also, be firm with your keystrokes. Each finger has to have enough force when it types, and remember to place fingers square on the keys (this is very important. It can potentially affect your accuracy if you don’t).

6. Do not be disappointed if your speed is low or stays so in the beginning, just concentrate on accuracy for a while. Speed will come in time, and it will be far greater than you expect. Practice makes it perfect. Remember!

7. Whenever you are relaxing, try to mentally picture the rows of keys and imagine typing a-z. This exercise can improve your speed drastically.

8. Collect a list of words you find difficult to type in your practice, and give them extra practice.

9. When you type, the sitting posture is very important. You should sit straight, with proper support for your back, elbows, and wrists. Keep your eyelevel slightly above the monitor level.

A little About the Keyboard Layouts

You all know about the classic keyboard layout, known as QWERTY owing to its first row of letters. The QWERTY is not the only layout out there. There is another design called Dvorak due to Dr. August Dvorak and William L. Dealey. The Dvorak keyboard layout is the most efficient, while QWERTY helps only hamper your speeds. Most people think that the QWERTY layout was designed specifically to improve ease and speed of typing, but in actuality, it was designed for lower speeds. It is the most inefficient standard human beings have (oddly so!).

The Dvorak keyboard layout, which makes typing very fast and easy is adopted by most of the fastest typists out there (the fastest among, Barbara Blackburn averages at 150 WPM with this keyboard). There are three main types of layout for Dvorak, left handed, right handed, and both handed. In Dvorak, the most used keys like E, T etc, appear on the home row itself, giving us faster access to them. The less used keys are in top row, and the least used keys occupy the bottom row. This design can take you up to a hundred WPM, while QWERTY averages at sixty to eighty at the best.

The rules described above all fall in the QWERTY design, and it is advisable that you follow only one of the layouts. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for you to master QWERTY and Dvorak at the same time. In my next article, I will expound on the Dvorak basics. For the time being, exercise your QWERTY skills, and try achieving high speeds. All the best!

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How to Enjoy your Online Presence

Have you ever experienced internet frustration? I bet you have and you are not alone. Every day there are virtually thousand of online surfers who are getting frustrated, angry, cheated on… The list goes on and on. But there are a few simple steps you can take to prevent this from happening to you again.

Firstly, when you are online (on the internet) you will need to make sure, that you are protected behind a firewall. A firewall is software that protects your computer from harmful damage from outsiders. When you are surfing the net, others can potentially download stuff from your computer to theirs and steal important information you might have stored on your local hard drive.

Generally when you buy a new computer these days, you will have a firewall installed as part of your software package and also many antivirus programs come with a firewall. If you are not sure about your computer just click on ¬> start > control panel > windows firewall. You will see there, whether you are currently protected or not. This is an essential step for you to take and if you are unsure, please contact the person who sold you your computer for help.

The second most mistake people make when browsing the internet, is to just open any email they get in their email program like outlook. If you open any email especially with attachments from third parties you don’t know, you could catch a computer virus! So be vigilant and use common sense. If you don’t know the person or company who sent you the email, trash it and delete it.

Thirdly, there are those websites, that promise instant riches and flashy banners who state something like “congratulations, you are our visitor number such and such, and have won…” Don’t click on those banners and those that say “your computer might be under potential risk of spy ware”. These kinds of web sites are exactly what could end up planting spy ware onto your computer. So do not open or click on them under any circumstances. If they don’t disappear by itself (which they normally don’t, simply click the “red x” at the top right hand side corner of the browser window in order to close it.

When you browse the internet under normal conditions, there is no threat to your computer, if you follow those simple instructions outlined above. The most important thing to remember that there is no such thing as instant riches and prices and the lot. These schemes are just trying to suck you in for god knows what purpose. And once they have your details, you will be hounded with more “crap”.
Browsing the internet can be a lot of fun, if you obey some rules and use common sense. It certainly is the easiest and fastest way to get lots of information on just about anything you can think of. There are also many helpful forums you can join for free on any given topic. Simple go to a search engine like google.com and type in “internet beginners forums” and it will spit out thousands of related web sites. You can then join any that apply to you, and learn from others who share the same interests.

If you use the internet to your advantages you will have lots of enjoyment from it. Don’t be scared, take baby steps and enjoy your new found freedom of browsing the fascinating world that’s called the internet.