Youtube in the Classroom

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YouTube in the College Classroom:  History, Impact, and Curriculum Enhancements

By Reed Markham, Faculty, Daytona State College

   

     Peter Drucker, author of Managing the Future observed: “We live in a very turbulent

time, not because there is so much change, but because it moves in so many different

directions.” (Drucker, 1993) Effective college and university instructors have to be able

to recognize and run with opportunity to learn, and to constantly refresh the knowledge

base.”  The complexity of rapidly changing teaching technology makes it a critical

objectives for practitioners to learn about the latest tools to enhance presentations in the

classroom. YouTube has proven in the last two year to be an emerging technology with

strong potential for enhancing classroom discussions, lectures and presentations.

     The following paper discusses the history of YouTube, the impact of YouTube on

 today’s public speaking audience, and the use of YouTube to enhance public speaking

curriculum.  As part of the research 77 undergraduate students taking the introductory

speech course at Daytona Beach College (DeLand, Florida campus) were surveyed about

the use of YouTube technology in the classroom.

History

     YouTube, the latest gift/threat, is a free video-sharing Web site that has rapidly

become a wildly popular way to upload, share, view and comment on video clips.  With

 more than 100 million viewings a day and more than 65,000 videos uploaded daily, the

Web portal provides teachers with a growing amount if visual information share with a

classroom full of young multimedia enthusiasts. (Dyck, 2007)  Based in San Mateo,

YouTube is a small privately-funded company. The company was founded by Chad

Hurley and Steven Chen.  The company raised over $11 million of funding from Sequoia

Capital, the firm who also provided initial venture capital for Google, The founders

initially had a contest inviting the posting of videos.  The contest got the attention of the

masses and Google, Inc. In October 2006, Google acquired the company for 1.65 billion

in Google stock.

     Since spring of 2006, YouTube has come to hold the leading position in online video

with 29% of the U.S. multimedia entertainment market.YouTube videos account for 60%

of all videos watched online . . . The site specializes in short, typically two minute,

homemade, comic videos created by users. YouTube serves as a quick entertainment

break or viewers with broadband computer connections at work or home. (Reuters, 2006)

     .In June (2006), 2.5 billion videos were watched on YouTube.  More than 65,000

videos are now uploaded daily to YouTube. YouTube boasts nearly 20 million unique

users per month, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. (Reuters, 2006) Robert Hinderliter,

Kansas State University developed an interesting video history of YouTube.com.  The

segment can be found on the YouTube.com website.

Impact of YouTube in the classroom

     “The growing adoption of broadband combined with a dramatic push by content

providers to promote online video has helped to pave the way for mainstream

audiences to embrace online video viewing.  The majority of adult internet users in

the United States (57%) report watching or downloading some type of online video

content and 19% do so on a typical day. (Madden, 2007).  Daytona Beach College

students surveyed indicated that a majority of the students watch videos on a weekly

basis.  College instructors can capitalize on the surge in viewing online videos by

incorporating their use in the classroom.

     Communication research on using visuals as an enhancement to presentations is

supported by early researchers including Aristotle.  “Although ancient orators weren’t

aware of our currently research on picture memory, they did know the importance of

vividness.  They knew that audiences were more likely to pay attention to and be

 persuaded by visual images painted by the speaker. In his Rhetoric (Book III, Chapters

 10-11) Aristotle describes the importance of words and graphic metaphors that should

“set the scene before our eyes.”  He defines graphic as “making your hearers see things.”

 (Hamilton, 2006)

     “Today’s audiences expect presentations to be visually augmented, whether they are

communicated in the guise of a lecture, a business report, or a public speech. What’s

more, today’s audience expects the speaker to visually augment such presentations

with a level of sophistication unheard of even 10 years ago.” (Bryden, 2008)

     The use of visuals increases persuasive impact.  For example, a University of

Minnesota study found that using visuals increases persuasiveness by 43 percent

(Simons, 1998).   Today’s audiences are accustomed to multimedia events that

bombard the senses.  They often assume that any formal presentation must be

accompanied by some visual element. . . Presenters who used visual aids were also

 perceived as being more professional, better prepared, and more interesting than those

who didn’t use visual aids.  One of the easiest ways you can help ensure the success

of a speech is to prepare interesting and powerful visual aids.  Unfortunately, many

speakers either don’t use visual aids or use ones that are overcrowded , outdated or

difficult to understand. (Ober, 2006)

      “The saying “A picture is worth a thousand words” is usually true.  .  . A look at

right brain/left brain theory explains why visuals speed listener comprehension. 

While the left hemisphere of the brain specializes in analytical processing, the right

hemisphere specializes in simultaneous processing of  information and pays little

attention to details. Speakers who use no visual aids or only charts loaded with

statistics are asking the listeners’ left brains to do all the work.  After a while, even a

good left-brain thinker suffers from information overload, begins to make mistakes in

reasoning, and loses interest.  In computer terminology, “the system shuts down.” 

The right brain, however can quickly grasp complex ideas presented in graphic form.” 

(Hamilton,  2006)

     “Most people process and retain information best when they receive it in more

than one format.  Research findings indicate that we remember only about 20 percent

of what we hear, but more than 50 percent of what we see and hear.  Further we

remember about 70 percent of what we see, hear, and actually do.  Messages that are

reinforced visually and otherwise are often more believable than those that are simply

verbalized. As the saying goes, “Seeing is  believing.” (O’Hair, 2007)  The majority

of students surveyed at Daytona Beach College indicated a preference for

audio/visual supplements to oral presentations.

     YouTube videos can speed comprehension and add interest. Effectively

integrateing a YouTube video can assist in audience understanding and

comprehension of topics under discussion.  YouTube videos can also improve

audience memory. Communication research findings indicate that visual images

improve listener recall.  YouTube videos can decrease your presentation time.  An

effective use of a YouTube video can help audience members to understanding

complex issues and ideas.  Utilizing YouTube can also add to a speaker’s credibility.

Professional looking visuals can enhance any verbal presentation.

Curriculum Enhancement

     “YouTube” allows users to post videos on the site for anyone to view. Most

of the material on the side is entertaining or just odd, but some important videos have

found their way onto this site. YouTube is a great source for finding video material 

for use in speech or as background material. . . Just as with Wikipedia and other

sources where the content is not screened for accuracy, the videos you find on

YouTube are only as valid as the original source (Bryden, 2008)

     All too frequently beginning speakers fail to consider the details of using video in

a speech.  Simply because they have access to a means of showing video, beginning

speakers should consider the following issues:

*Cueing video segment before beginning the presentation

*Checking room lighting, visual distance, and acoustics

*Evaluating the time it takes to introduce, show, and integrate the video segment with the

  remaining content of the presentation

     The value of YouTube technology for public speaking courses falls into three

categories:  lecture presentations,  integrated use in student speeches, and sample

speech evaluation.

     YouTube has value for enhancing lecture discussions of various public speaking

topics and issues. 74% of the students surveyed indicated that they prefer to watch a

video during a presentation.  Public speaking instructors struggle to find timely

examples and illustrations.  I recently utilized a speech found on YouTube that was

delivered to Columbia University students by Lee Bollinger, the president of the

university.  President Bollinger gave speech introducing the President of Iran, Mahmoud

Ahmadinejad on September 24, 2007. I utilized this YouTube speech as a case study to

analyze speech ethics. President Bollinger was involved in a number of ethical issues in

the selection of a controversial speaker for the university and his use of vitriolic language

in his presentation introducing the Iran’s president.  My classes enjoyed a lively

discussion about speech ethics following his presentation.

     YouTube has value for integration in student speeches. Daytona Beach College

students were asked: “What is the greatest value of using an internet video during a

speech?  Summary responses included the following:

*It gives the audience a better visual and can help them relate to the topic.

*It makes the audience more interested.

*Some audiences need visuals to understand the topic.

*It helps you to connect to the audience.

*puts some “umph” into the speech..

*its good for proving arguments.

*can say something better than you can.

Students are required in basic public speaking classes to utilize visuals to enhance the

quality of information shared and to capture the attention of their audience.  A brief

YouTube segment can enhance the quality of a presentation. For example, I recently

listened to a speech on global warming.  The student speaker located a brief segment

on YouTube from Al Gore’s well known video “An Inconvenient Truth.”  The video

segment helped to audience to visual the impact of global warming on our environment.

YouTube has video segments on a wide array topics from Affirmative Action to Zoology.

     YouTube also has value for sample student speech evaluation.  It is challenging

for public speaking instructors to located timely sample student speeches.  Some

publishers provide instructors with DVD/CD speech samples. But these samples become

outdated quickly.  YouTube has recent speeches delivered by students for online college

public speaking courses.  Also, YouTube features speeches delivered by many

business professionals and educators.  For example, last semester my public speaking

classes viewed a speech by the Toastmasters International World Champion, Darrin

LeCroix.  The speech is more than entertaining.  The speech provided my students with

insight into effective oral delivery.

     Bill Gates observed: “The really interesting highway applications will grow out of the

participation of tens or hundreds, or millions of people, who will not just consume

entertainment and other information, but will create it, too. (Gates, 1995).  YouTube is

providing educators an opportunity to apply this technology to improve classroom

instruction.

Conclusion

     The recent Pew Foundation Internet and American Life Project observed: “Online

video has been a central feature in a growing discussion about the impact of

user-driven “Web 2.0” technologies.  YouTube and other video sharing sites are often

held up as powerful examples of both the social and monetary value of applications built

around user contributions. And as users have realized the unlocked potential of online

video, a new channel of interactive mass communication has started to emerge in daily

life.” (Madden, 2007).

     YouTube technology can assist both students and educators in developing effective

presentations. This technology can also provide college instructors with timely

 information and examples. Gardner Campbell, a professor of english at the University of

Mary Washington concluded: “We’re witnessing not just the now routine Internet

phenomenon of major new resources but also massively and unpredictable scaled

repositories of public domain materials that are vital information resources for ourselves

and our students. As the information abundance spreads, and if we are brave and curious

enough to embrace  it, we will find our own serendipity fields dramatically expanded.

(Campbell, 2007)

Bibliography

Aristotle, Works of Aristotle.  (translated by W.R Roberts) London: Oxford University Press, 1971, pp. 663-664.

Campbell, Gardner, “Have You Tried YouTube?” Education World, www.educationworld.com. May 1, 2007.

Drucker, Peter, Managing the Future. Plume: New York. 1993. p. 351

Dyck, Brenda, “Have You Tried YouTube?” Education World. . www.educationworld.com May 1, 2007.

Gates, Bill, The Road Ahead. Viking: New York City. 1995., p. 1

Hamilton, Cheryl. Essentials of  Public Speaking, 3rd edition. Thomson: Belmont, CA) 2006, p. 185.

Hinderliter, Robert, The History of YouTube. Kansas State University: Manhattan, Kansas. www.youtube.com. Spring 2007.

Madden, Online Video, Pew/Internet and American Life Project: Washington, D.C., July 25, 1007. p. 1.

Markham, Reed, “YouTube in the Classroom Survey.” Daytona Beach College. November 2007.

Ober, Scot, Contemporary Business Communication, 6th edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006. p. 505.

O’Hair, Dan, A Speaker’s Guidebook, third edition. Bedford/St. Martins: Boston. 2007. p. 282.

Reuters, “YouTube Serves Up 100 Million Videos A Day Online. USA Today, June 16, 2006.

Simons, Tad, “Study Shows Just How Much Visuals Increase Persuasiveness,” Presentations Magazine, March 1998, p. 20.

anonymous

Myths and Truths of Diagnostics

Myths and Truths of Diagnostics

Diagnostics like many other business activities have been included in a phrase and reduced to a three letter acronym IDB which stands for Information, Diagnostics and Brokerage, but what are they really about?

In their simplistic context it means provision of information and it is carried out before brokering in specialist services, however, when you dig deep it is a far richer subject with many applications and possibilities than we would originally envisage.

Business Advisors and Consultants have used diagnostic tools for years, and have done so through a mix of experience and direct questioning to ascertain and diagnose business problems.

Enterprise agencies and business support organisations are generally subscribing to on-line diagnostic tools to help new businesses understand their strengths and weaknesses and provide an action plan for their learning. This process has to fit with the time constraints on the owner manager and the business advisor and the results have to be meaningful and relevant to each individual that signs up to the experience.

There are banks who use Entrepreneurial Assessments to ascertain whether or not a new business person has the right personal skills to run a business.

But what makes a good diagnostic tool? Is it the questions and the way they are asked, benchmarking so that there is a guide for what is good and bad, the reporting process leading to action or the people intervention that has to take place to effect change.

Simply put it is all these things. A good diagnostic will be written so that it captures the information that is relevant to move a business forward, it will provide time savings which result in monetary savings and lead to a positive action.

Business Advisors and Consultants that use diagnostic tools as a substitute to personal contact should be viewed with caution. While a diagnostic process is extremely worthwhile it will only be truly successful with ongoing evaluation and personal intervention. This could be carried out by a consultant or in-house specialist in a particular field of expertise.

For a diagnostic process to be highly effective there needs to be a vision in place ensuring the buy-in of all involved. The framework, questions and process of the diagnostic should provide a practical approach to gathering information in order to move towards the vision with the stakeholders owning their personal involvement.

When diagnostics are used in this way and people work together for an end goal they are highly effective and an extremely cost effective way of gathering information to highlight strengths and weaknesses to move a business forward.

Businesses use diagnostic processes for many reasons, training needs analysis, benchmarking, SWOT, customer care, to mention a few. We at Taylored Assessments specialise in designing, developing and delivering diagnostic processes for many different types of businesses. We also provide software for our clients to use in their brranding, enabling them to develop their own questionnaires, deploy on-line and analyse results linked into reports that are generated through Word. For more information visit our website www.taylored-assessments.net or give us a call on 00 44 (0) 191 284 9273

Wendy Taylor

Common Errors in English Usage Checker © – Try it Today!

By using an advanced Common Errors In English Usage Checker we can easily improve our basic writing, editing, and proofreading skills. Many of us spend hours, everyday, on fulfilling our writing assignments including emails, articles, documents and other. It is necessary to keep it correct and professional. The following article will show you how you can easily transform your English writing accurate, rich, and professional.

Short background

Looking into this Common Errors In English Usage Checker technology we quickly notice that it enables us to check various text blocks and entire digital documents for any grammatical errors, so that they transform correct, readable and professional. The way they ‘fix’ your writing is interesting yet complicated; basically these solutions compare your sentences to their own ‘proper versions’ of similar sentences. In most cases these solutions enables us to do the following: grammar check, misspelling and typos correction, and suggesting proper punctuation.

Main benefits

Let’s quickly examine and see what is in it for us:

* Improving our basic-intermediate grammar writing skills.
* Transforming our natural writing clear and professional.
* Saves us time spent on grammar guides.
* Improving our word choices with synonyms, adjectives, and adverbs suited to our text.
* Enabling us to better express our thoughts and ideas.

There are probably many other benefits that are not covered here, as this technology constantly changes, bringing us new ideas and additional solutions that help us on improving our English writing.

Quick summary

Common Errors In English Usage Checker is based on a new technology that can help most average users on improving their English writing skills. There is no doubt that this kind of artificial intelligence can never compete with professional human editors, but it can sure help most of us with basic grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. We can only expect this important webmarketing technique to further develop itself, simply because writing is one of the most important tools that help us fulfill our daily assignments.

Gil Lavitov

How Dust Affects the Inside of Your Computer and How to Clean the Dust Out

Dust inside your Computer 

Clean out the Dust from inside your PC

Just like you have to dust your house, you also have to clean out the dust from inside your computer.  Computers attract dust inside their case and it can cause overheating of the electric parts.  When too much dust builds up inside your PC, the computer components get too hot and will burn out or not run as fast as it should.   
  

The best way to take care of this is to use Canned Compressed Air to blow out the inside of your PC.  Unplug the computer from the power source.  Open up the PC case and take it outside.  Blow out the dust and make sure you blow out the CPU and any fans you see.  Doing this about once a year is always good.  Do not use any household cleaners as they can damage the circuit boards inside your PC.   What happens to your computer is it gets so hot that the electrical components stop working like they should.  When this happens, your computer locks up and everything freezes on your screen.   

Most of the time the whole computer will lock up, not just one program.  If its just one program, you can hit Ctrl, Alt, and Delete keys at the same time.  This will bring up the Task Manager.  

Highlight the program that says "Not Responding" under the Status Column. Click "End Task" and this should close the program. If the program doesn’t close, try these steps again.   When nothing works to close the program or the whole computer locks up, then you need to just power off the PC. What you need to do is press and hold in the power button until the computer turns off. This can take 2 or more seconds, so wait until the power turns off.    

Thomas W. Shay

Outlook Express Error Codes – What They Mean and Ways to Fix Them

If you depend a lot on email for your communication with clients or colleagues, you will find that getting an error when you are expecting to get some mail is an inconvenience you would rather avoid. Most offices tend to use Microsoft’s Outlook Express as their email client, and even though Outlook Express is a very intuitive and comprehensive email client, it is still prone to errors, and you may come across some of these errors sooner or later. Remember that there is no reason to get upset if you experience these Outlook Express error codes, because the solutions to these errors are usually simple.

The first thing that you need to do whenever you come across Outlook Express error codes is to think about updates. Have you updated Outlook to its latest version? When it comes to updating, many computers merely find that they can still function quite well simply even with a lack of the most recent updates… or at least for a while. It’s common for people to neglect crucial updates, but they don’t quite understand the importance of keeping programs such as Outlook Express updated.

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One symptom that you should look out for when experiencing Outlook Express error codes is where the program refuses to start in the first place, or worse still, cause your entire computer to freeze. Error codes may come one after another, and even though it might seem as thought it’s an Outlook Express problem, it may be an indication of a more pressing issue: a corrupt registry. If you haven’t been keeping a regular maintenance of your computer, then your registry may inevitably become corrupted with bad or missing registry entries. Since the registry is where your data would have to go through for every task run, a corrupt registry would mean screw-ups with the programs it is tasked to run. Consider using a registry cleaner to clean and maintain your system registry.

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Another fix that you can use when you are looking to resolve outlook express error codes is to use the Windows Network Diagnostics tool. Use this tool to diagnose any network related issues going on with your computer. Remember, since it is a network diagnostics tool, be sure that you are connected to the internet. Sometimes Outlook Express error codes can be caused by connectivity issues, so the Network Diagnostics tool will be able to determine if that is indeed the case, so it needs to be connected to the network. The incoming and outgoing servers need to be in order before you utilize the network diagnostics tool, otherwise the tool will be of little use, unless of course the problem lies with the server itself.

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So you see, the tools to resolve Outlook Express error codes are already on hand. While it may first appear somewhat daunting to resolve, these error codes are in actuality very easy to deal with. There is no reason to lose sleep over Outlook Express error codes when the solutions are on hand. Avoiding such error codes usually means having proper and regular maintenance of your computer.

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Logan Albright

How Clean is your Pc?

Submitted by: Ryan Adams

Clean I.T Services Ltd

——————————————————————————–

How To Clean Your Computer.

In this age of technological advances the humble computer has become a battlefront for developers to protect your computer from the ever present threat of computer viruses, in the war between hackers and developers there has been a surprising new twist which has come to light, this is not a battle for control of the internal circuitry of your machine but an onslaught of airborne armies of bacteria, virus’s and organisms attempting to sabotage your machine.

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A recent survey by the BBC concluded that the humble PC contained “nearly 400 times more bacteria than your average toilet seat”.

Unfortunately in todays technology dependent environment the typical office has become a hostile arena for all I.T equipment. Malfunction, reduced productivity, lost data are all too often caused by dust and debris being trapped under keys, coating the circuitry and causing overheating in your machine. Cleaning your computer not only safeguards you from germs but also protects the computer components and peripherals from locking ,seizing, crashing and helps to prevent the build up of dirt dust and debris from becoming a major problem. The environment that your systems operates in plays a major part in determining a proper cleaning regime, the general rule of thumb is for example an office with a clean environment with not hot desking or sharing of computers should be cleaned every 5-6 months, however when PC sharing is common this should be done every 3-4 months.

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The typical computer system can be cleaned very effectively using solutions available in most hardware shops or available throughout the net.

Cleaning Tips.

1. Preferably outside, unplug your keyboard and turn it upside down, give it a vigorous shake to remove dust dirt and debris, use a soft brush or paintbrush to clean in between the keys, you can also buy a can of compressed air or use the brush attachment of your vacuum to complete the removal of all the remaining dirt.

2. The surface of the keyboard gets particularly dirty this can be removed by using a mild cleaning agent or alcohol never put it directly onto the keyboard surface put it directly onto a soft cloth and using your finger clean the keys. A cotton swab or bud can be moistened in the cleaning fluid to clean between the keys. Allow your keyboard to dry and plug back in.

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3. Computer tower and monitor can be cleaned using the same method always unplug and isolate from the mains supply. Anti – static coatings are available from almost all computer repair shops they help to reduce the build up of dust and grime so should decrease the need for intensive cleaning in the future.

It is strongly recommended that you use a Computer cleaning Company to clean and remove dust and dirt from the inside of your machine as static build up and the sensitive equipment inside needs special attention.

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For further information visit http://www.cleanitservices.co.uk

Ryan Adams

http://www.articlesbase.com/computers-articles/how-clean-is-your-pc-69622.html

Slow Computer? Moving the My Documents Folder to Help Speed Up Your Slow Computer

Moving the C:Douments folder really helps to fine tune your slow computer and improve it’s performance as you will see when you have gone through the process of moving the folder to another hard drive.

When Windows is installed on your computer, it places a folder named My Documents on the same drive as the Operating System, in most cases drive C:.

The My Documents folder is your own personal folder and there is a shortcut to My Documents in your start menu, on your desktop and it is also the default folder when you open Windows Explorer, thus making it easily accessible and manageable. It also has subfolders in it where you can store your photos, music, videos and any other personal files.

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Windows creates a My Documents folder for each user on the computer.

However, having the C:Documents folder and the Operating System on the same hard drive is not such a good idea because the personal files in the C:Documents folder is growing in size constantly while the Windows Operating System grows very little in size over a long period of time.

This has a progressively negative influence on Windows’ performance. The C: Drive is going to get filled up with this personal data and you will have to start deleting files to make more space.

The second problem that arises is it complicates backup. Your personal data needs to be backed up frequently, while the Windows Operating System only has to be backed up once and thereafter you only need to create a restore point for it.

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A third problem that surfaces is disk defragmenting. Having all this ever increasing data, the Operating System and your user applications on one drive, results in a slower defrag and may also keep your system from defragging at all.

It is, however, possible to move the whole My Documents folder if you have more than one hard drive or partition on your computer. But many PC’s have only a single partition of their hard drive; that is, their only hard drive is their C: drive.

The My Documents folder can therefore not be moved, unless you are able to partition the existing drive. In some cases it is possible to partition the existing C: drive, if the correct settings were used when the drive was originally formatted and the format used was NTFS and not FAT32.

Another thing is that there must be more free space on the second drive or partition than the size of the C:Douments folder. To find out how much space there is, click on My Computer and select Properties on the drives (usually C: and D: Not the CD or DVD drive). Make a note of the free space available on each drive. Now, while still in My Computer, right-click on My Documents and select Properties. You should see the folder sizes shown after a while. The largest figure is the amount of disk space you will need.

Now do the following:

Click Start, and then right-click on My Documents, click Properties, click the Target tab.

In the Target box, type the path to the folder location that you want, and then click OK. For example, D:My Documents.

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If the folder does not exist, the Create Message dialog box is displayed. Click Yes to create the folder, and then click OK or click Move, click the folder in which to store your documents, and then click OK twice. If you need to create a new folder, click Make New Folder. Type a name for the folder, and then click OK twice. In the Move Documents box, click Yes to move your documents to the new location.

If , for any reason you would wish to restore the C:Documents folder to its default location, follow these steps:

Click Start, and then point to My Documents. Right-click My Documents, and then click Properties. Click Restore Default, and then click OK. In the Move Documents box, click Yes to move your documents to the new location, or click No to leave your documents in the original location.

Also, if you would wish to remove the My Documents Folder from the Start menu, follow these steps:

Right-click Start, and then click Properties. Click Customize. Click the Advanced tab. In the Start menu items list, under My Documents, click Don’t display this item, and then click OK twice. The next time you click Start, the My Documents folder is no longer displayed on the Start menu. This does not remove the files stored in the target location of the My Documents folder.

Except for moving the My Documents folder to another drive there are several other things you must keep in mind when you would like to speed up your slow computer. You cannot completely speed up a slow computer by fixing only one of the problems on it

Computers become slower for several reasons:

- viruses and malware can damage your data and slow down your computer.

- too many programs are installed but not used anymore which consume resources,

- files on the hard drive become fragmented and disorganized,

- the Windows registry has too many unused entries,

- unused network connections slow startup,

- too many programs automatically run at startup

I have researched and tested several products over a period of several months and in order for me to get our slow computer ‘s performance up to speed again, I made use of not less than 17 different products, each of which is designed to do a certain task on the PC. Eventually we ended up using 11 of these apps (all freeware) on a regular basis which keeps our PC’s performing clean and error free.

In forthcoming articles I’ll explain to you in detail, how to clear out forgotten programs, unused, unnecessary and junk files and how to clean and streamline the Windows registry.

Tom Meintjes

http://www.articlesbase.com/computers-articles/slow-computer-moving-the-my-documents-folder-to-help-speed-up-your-slow-computer-719092.html

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Digeus Inc Launched New Registry Repair Utility for Windows Vista

Windows registry is one of the most vital components of the PC. It stores information about Windows system and all application programs installed on the computer. Whenever user works with computer, uses Internet or runs any application the registry is changed. Windows Registry is always under the threat of potentially dangerous records left in the registry behind by deleted programs and utilities. All corrupted registry entries can damage Windows registry and dramatically slow down performance even of the newest computer.

“Our goal is to provide our customers with the best software services that will help users to keep their PCs performing at top speed,” said John Fister, senior president and chief software architect at Digeus, Inc. “Thus we have developed Registry Cleaner that can provide users with an expert help when they perform diagnostics or try to optimize the most vital parts of their PCs.”

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With Digeus Registry Cleaner even newbie computer user can perform complex operations on Windows registry optimization by himself without having to upgrade hardware. Digeus Registry Cleaner is designed to scan, optimize, clean and repair the Windows registry quickly and easily.

Digeus Registry Cleaner quickly identifies invalid references, corrupted DLLs, orphaned startup programs and invalid system records within the registry.

The product has seen many technological improvements. Below, there are some of the advancements that make it stand out:

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Digeus Registry Cleaner scans, locates, cleans and optimizes the following registry entries:

• Missing shared Dlls, unused file extensions, files and folders that no longer point to the correct objects;
• Invalid application paths, start-up programs or missing shortcut references that take time when startup or shutdown PC;
• Invalid ActiveX & COM that no longer point to the correct controls;
• Invalid installer references that are no longer used or have been moved.

Other significant advancement of Digeus Registry Cleaner is its wide range of Windows supported platforms. Digeus Registry Cleaner for Windows Vista supports Windows 95/98/ME/NT/XP/2000/2003.

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Pricing and Availability

Digeus Registry Cleaner runs under all versions of Microsoft Windows and costs $17,99 (USD) for a single-user license. Further information on Digeus Registry Cleaner as well as a free trial copy are available free of charge from http://www.digeus.com.

About Digeus Inc, 2008

Digeus Inc was founded in 2008 by John Fister. The goal of the company is to develop products for the users of Windows platforms. The company’s consumer product portfolio includes:

• “SnapIt”, a tool for taking windows screen captures,
• “Online TV Player”, a tool for watching broadcasted TV/ Radio stations,
• “Image Resizer”, a tool for batch image size conversion, and
• “Registry Cleaner”, a software project for optimization and diagnostics of PCs.
• “Junk File Remover”, an utility used for cleaning up disk space by deleting unused junk files
• “Privacy Protection”, a software project for removing all “privacy” tracks left on your computer
• “Jet Email Extractor”, an utility used for bulk email extraction from news groups

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NOTE TO EDITORS:

Please, let us know if you have any questions or would like any additional information on “Digeus Registry Cleaner”.

A free registration key is available upon request to all editors considering a review.

Product page: http://www.digeus.com/products/regcleaner/index.html
Company web-site: http://www.digeus.com

Albany, NY 12205, USA

Katherine Poll

Hijack: Clean Your Computer

Hijack This is a program that will produce a textual output of all the applications and settings set up on your computer which could be involved in mal ware attacks, such as spy ware or BHOs. It’s frequently used by tech support staff to help diagnose software problems, and by technical computer users to solve their own problems.
Once you have downloaded and produced a Hijack This log (the easy part), you must learn how to read it. Each section in the log is designated by an identifier, a two or three letter/number combination at the beginning of the line, which tells you what the line means.

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The “R” sections (R0, R1, R2, and R3) specify Internet Explorer specific settings. Since Internet Explorer is a frequent target for Browser Hijacker Objects, this is frequently one of the most important sections. Lines beginning with R0 are related to Internet Explorer Search settings, R1 is for the “search functions,” R2 is not used, and R3 is the URL search hook for when an entry is typed in the address bar with no protocol designator.
As you move in to the “F” sections, you may see some entries you don’t understand. The majority of the “F” sections are for .in settings, which are no longer frequently used by regular software, but can still be used by spy ware to attempt to hide it’s start up time, or leverage an extra “early” control.

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N1-4 are the same as the “R” sections, except with reference to Netscape-compatible browsers, such as the popular Mozilla Firefox for more help go to www.viral-toolbar-builder.com.O1 corresponds to your HOSTS file, while the HOSTS file is a very complex and in-depth topic that could warrant an entire article of it’s own, each entry in here makes domain names act as “aliases” for IPs: this can be used to hijack popular websites, such as Google or anti-virus update domains.
O2 (and O3, to an extent) are your BHOs, “Browser Helper Objects,” frequently mislabeled as Browser Hijacker Objects, since that is what they are commonly used for. Googling these BHOs can help you identify what they are.

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O4 covers everything in the Windows Registry’s start up section. Anything in this section is run at boot time or visit to www.scripts-to-sell.com.O5-9 are security related settings such as administrative lock down.
O10 are “Winsock Hijackers,” again, a very in-depth topic that could be covered by volumes of articles, however, overall, these are “bad,” and should be looked in to.
The remainder of the “O” sections is fairly rare, as they correspond to high level settings which are not established on most systems, and rarely used by malware. You can look these sections up in the Hijack This manual.

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Qc Auditor Creates Differentiation in the Distribution Sector

No software package is complete without a debugging tool to help monitor and trace system anomalies inside the background operations. Industry experience tells us that unexpected events occur no matter how much we prepare. Therefore, we have developed a unique and dynamic debugging tool, the QC Auditor, that allows us to detect and diagnose problems quickly and efficiently, dramatically reducing any downtime that may occur.

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The QC Toolkit is a multi-purpose module within the QC Enterprise software solution. It offers all of the interface technology necessary for communicating with host Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP), Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), and lower level Material Handling Systems (MHS) as well as reports, diagnostics and statistics which are essential to operating a distribution facility.

Provided in real-time, these tools assist operators and managers to work in a proactive rather than reactive environment ensuring quality throughput and on-time delivery.

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Reports:

QC Enterprise is provided with extensive reports for managing your warehousing needs. All the necessary reports for managing orders, inventory, shipments, and transactions are integrated in your customized system. Reports can be created and customized to fit your system. All reports can be printed, and/or viewed as screen queries.

Diagnostics and Statistics:

QC Toolkit allows for a combination of both diagnostic and statistical analysis tools to monitor and troubleshoot the operational performance of your system. Work orders and cartons can be tracked throughout the distribution process:

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• overseeing carton induction

• efficiency of picking frequency

• monitoring sort, packing, and shipping rates

• work order tracking

• lane divert status

• scanner tracking

Flex Screens:

One of our most useful features of the QC Toolkit are the Flex Screens. Their purpose is to provide a highly customizable and “flexible” interface for accessing, displaying, and editing database information through the use of carefully defined SQL and XML instructions. The system is designed to allow the user the ability to define and customize Flex Screens.

QC Software is the leading provider of Tier 1 warehouse control systems to the warehousing and distribution industries. Since 1996, QC Software, utilizing state of the art technology combined with extensive research, development, and rigorous testing, has developed the QC Enterprise suite of products. Designed to be modular in nature, easily configurable, and platform independent, this highly scalable solution satisfies the needs of any size warehouse.

The solutions provided by QC Software (www.qcsoftware.com) enables companies to streamline their warehouse operations with the lowest total cost of ownership in the industry ensuring increased corporate profitability. With a commitment to total customer satisfaction QC Software is the obvious choice for warehouse control, order management, and inventory management needs.

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Thomas Cutler

http://www.articlesbase.com/technology-articles/qc-auditor-creates-differentiation-in-the-distribution-sector-85421.html

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