Firstly go to : > Run, type and hit enter.

Now navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\App Paths

Right-Click on App Paths and select> New> Key

Title the new key the name of the application, in this case; Opera.exe

Right-Click the default string value and click Modify.

Change the value to the path of the executable you want to run. E.g. C:\Program Files\Opera 9\opera.exe

Now, in the white space below right click anywhere and select New> String Value.

Name it Path and enter the value as C:\Program Files\Opera 9\opera.exe

That’s it, the two keys should like above, now close the registry editor. Go to start> Run> type your run command and hit enter. In the above case its Opera.exe. Opera will launch within seconds.

You can do this for any application. All you need to do is enter the path of the application you want to open and also make sure that you remember the name of the key that you give as you have to enter it to launch it.

Follow these nine top tips which will your browsing experience silky smooth!

-Requirements -
***FireFox (Windows)***
***FireFox (MAC)***

1. Open firefox and type the following in the address bar: about:config

This image has been resized.Click to view original image

2. Right click> New> integer

This image has been resized.Click to view original image

3. a window will come up name it: layout’s.initialpaint.delay

This image has been resized.Click to view original image

(After this, click the ok button)

4. Another box will come up change that to: 0

This image has been resized.Click to view original image

Now, in the filter box which is located just below the addressbar and tabs, is something called the filter bar. It’s role is to sort out the text and it narrows down what you type in the box

5. Type the following in the filter bar: network.http.proxy.pipelining
once located double click so it is then set to true and not false

This image has been resized.Click to view original image

6. Do the same to: network.http.pipelining

7. Now, you will see both are set to true

8.  Try to find network.http.pipelining.maxrequests
Double click on that and a window will come up, then change that to around “1000″ though you can go higher (some people say 30) i just havent tried it yet but sometimes if you do go higher it doesnt go as fast but “1000″ loads really abruptly.

This image has been resized.Click to view original image

9 ok now that that is what step 5-8 should look like

This image has been resized.Click to view original image

^^EXTRAS^^^^
**NOTE::**
–If your pc is already abnormally quick and you have a fast internet service provider (ISP), then you probably will not notice much difference in browsing speed. However, with these tips who know’s how fast your browsing speed can become!

– In addition, if you would like to increase the speed of your virtual ram, use these instructions below:

1) Go into your Control Panel

2) Go to Performance and Maintenance

3) Click on the Advanced tab

4) Under the Performance panel, click Settings

5) On the window that pops up, you should be on the “Visual Effects” tab…navigate to Advanced

6) On the bottom panel where it says “Virtual Memory,” click change

7) Change the initial size to about 3000 and change the max to 4096

Did you find this article useful? Are there any other tips you’d like to add? Please feel free to comment below!

For example, I like to partition my hard drive to separate the Windows System from Programs and my Files, so instead of using the default location (usually under C:\Program Files\) I will be installing Apache on drive D: and keeping the local copy of my website(s) on drive E: …

INSTALLATION

1. Download Apache 2 [ http://httpd.apache.org/ ] & Run the Installer

2. At the “Server Information” page:

* enter “localhost” for Network Domain and Server Name
* and anything for Administrator’s Email Address
* leave the default setting “for All Users, on Port 80, as a Service” as it is

3. At Setup Type, select “Typical”

4. At Destination Folder

* select where you want the Apache program to be installed, e.g. D:\Apache2.2\

CONFIGURATION

1. In Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services -> “Apache2″

* stop the service (nb. you cannot edit the configuration file while Apache is running, so the service MUST be stopped before the next step)
* and change the startup type to “Manual”

2. Use a basic text editor (e.g. notepad) to open the file “httpd.conf” in the folder “%Apache2%\conf\” (where %Apache2% is the path you set in step 4 above i.e. D:\Apache2.2\conf\httpd.conf)

3. Search for the text “server-side includes” and delete the hashes at the beginning of these following lines:

#AddType text/html .shtml
#AddOutputFilter INCLUDES .shtml

Thus, they should read like this:

AddType text/html .shtml
AddOutputFilter INCLUDES .shtml

4. Search for “DocumentRoot” and edit the following line:

DocumentRoot "%Apache2%/htdocs"

to point to the path where you want to save your website(s), e.g:

DocumentRoot "E:/home"

5. and just below that you will find the line:

<Directory />

Do not edit it, but look below that you will find the same line again. Edit:

<Directory />

to read:

<Directory "E:/home">

6. a few lines further down you should find:

Options Indexes FollowSymLinks

Edit it so it reads like below:

Options Indexes FollowSymLinks Includes ExecCGI

7. Search for the following line:

#AddHandler cgi-script .cgi

and delete the hash so it reads:

AddHandler cgi-script .cgi

8. a few lines below that you will find:

#AddType text/html .shtml
#AddOutputFilter INCLUDES .shtml

delete the hashes so these lines read:

AddType text/html .shtml
AddOutputFilter INCLUDES .shtml

9. Scroll to the end of the file and add these lines, one group tailored for each of your local websites (note each must have a unique URL 127.0.0.xxx):

<NameVirtualHost 127.0.0.1
<VirtualHost 127.0.0.1>
DocumentRoot "E:/home/georgedillon.com"
ServerName georgedillon.com
ErrorLog "E:/home/georgedillon.com/logs/error.log"
CustomLog "E:/home/georgedillon.com/logs/localaccess.log" common
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "E:/home/georgedillon.com/cgi-bin/"
</VirtualHost>
<Directory "E:/home/georgedillon.com/cgi-bin">
Options +ExecCGI
</Directory>

<NameVirtualHost 127.0.0.2
<VirtualHost 127.0.0.2>
DocumentRoot "E:/home/stevenberkoff.com"
ServerName stevenberkoff.com
ErrorLog "E:/home/stevenberkoff.com/logs/error.log"
CustomLog "E:/home/stevenberkoff.com/logs/localaccess.log" common
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "E:/home/stevenberkoff.com/cgi-bin/"
</VirtualHost>
<Directory "E:/home/stevenberkoff.com/cgi-bin">
Options +ExecCGI
</Directory>

IMPORTANT: The 2 log files ErrorLog and CustomLog MUST EXIST for EVERY website listed here, or Apache will crash when it starts

10. Save the file and close the text editor

TESTING:

1. Right click on the Apache Service Monitor icon in the Taskbar and click ‘Start’
2. If you have followed the steps above correctly, in the upper (Service Status) window the icon next to Apache 2.2 will turn green and in the lower window you will see the message “The Apache2.2 service has started.”
3. Open a browser and type in the address bar http://127.0.0.1/ and your website will appear
4. IF Apache does not start correctly, then check that you have followed all the steps above accurately, that all paths are correct and that the log files exist for each virtual host.

Spot any mistakes? We are always open in improving our ways so feel free to comment below!

Use these tips to speed up your computer's tortoise!

Over time, the speed of computers with Microsoft Windows can decrease. This appears as the system taking more time to respond to a user’s actions like opening files, folders, surfing the Internet and other tasks. However, there are things you can do to speed up your computer.

The following is a list of ways you can improve your computer’s performance. These steps are intended to be used in order. The key is to do the simplest and least invasive thing first until your system starts responding better.

Golden Rule: Do No Harm

If you want to improve the speed of your computer, that’s great. However, above all, do no harm and beyond the scope of this Windows forum, ask for help from those you know if you get in over your head. Remember: you have time. You can stop most processes I discuss without causing harm. Caution and common sense go a long way when working with computers; problems are often much easier to fix than they appear.

Steps to Speed Up Your Computer’s Performance

1. Make Sure Your Hardware is Sufficient

Above and beyond everything you can do with software to optimize the function of your computer, making sure you have the proper hardware to support Windows is critical. Here are minimums that I recommend:

* For XP – A computer with a Pentium processor, at least 512MB of RAM (operating memory), preferably 1 to 2 GB of memory and an 80GB hard drive or larger.

* For Vista – A computer with any dual-core processor, 2 to 3 GB of RAM and a 160 GB or larger hard drive.

These hardware configurations will minimize Page Filing (swapping programs in and out of memory and onto the hard drive) and assure that your computer has enough horsepower to run the operating system. Upgrading memory (RAM) is the cheapest and easiest thing you can do to improve the performance of your computer.

2. Clean Your Desktop

Is your Windows Desktop dotted with files? Have you noticed that your computer has been running slower and slower? Do you see the hard drive light often flashing while you wait for the computer to respond to an action? There are steps you can take to fix it. Read this article.

3. Scan Your Windows System for Errors

An operating system is a collection of files that perform different functions. It is possible, over time, that one or more of these system files has changed or become corrupted. If this happens, the speed of your system may decrease. By using a utility called “System File Checking”, it will inspect these files and correct any problem it finds.

4. Scan for Viruses, Spyware and Adware

Every Windows computer is vulnerable to viruses. Viruses are nasty little programs that cause both major and minor problems for users.

Spyware and Adware are programs created by companies to find out more information about customers, so they can better market products to them. Usually these programs are not created for malicious purposes. Spyware and Adware can load into computer memory and slow it down.

Periodically scanning and removal of Viruses, Spyware and Adware is a great way to improve computer performance.

5. Uninstall Unused Programs

Over time, you may have accumulated programs on your computer that you do not use. When a program is installed, it creates connections between the program and the operating system. Even if you don’t use these programs, they can slow down your system. If you have the original program’s installation disk or file, removing programs will free up space on your computer and may speed up your system’s performance.

6. Adjust Visual Effects for Better Performance

Windows provides a number of interesting visual effects including animated windows and fading menus. If you do not have enough operating memory (see above number 1), these effects can slow down your computer. Adjusting or reducing visual effects can make a difference.

7. Don’t Automatically Start Programs

Programs use operating memory (RAM, also called system resources). Unless you always use these programs, you can keep them from loading at Windows startup and speed both the booting of your computer and its performance.

Drefragging you hard drive can be suicidal if done wrong.

8. Defragment Your Hard Drive (After you have tried everything else)

The more information and programs you have on your computer, the more it is likely that Windows has placed parts of the same file in different locations on your hard drive. It may do this for hundreds of files and programs, depending on how much space is available. Defragmenting the hard drive places all information for each file in one place. The result can be a faster computer experience.

Important Note: Before you even try this, backup all your work onto a different computer, hard drive, CD or disk. Also, you should only do this if you have a reliable source of power for your computer. Doing this when there is a brown out or power problem in the neighborhood, is not a good idea. If a computer turns off while it is defragmenting a drive, it will create more problems than not defragmenting it in the first place.

Are there are any others to speeding up your computer that isn’t here and is very important? Please feel free to comment below

Tips including mouse gestures, widgets, gnu aspell and much more!

Opera is a browser which people do not really pay much attention to since it only became an open source suite just four years ago, whilst rival browsers such as IE and Firefox were battling against each other for the number one spot. However, the pioneer of web browsing still caters for over 25 million users worldwide. One feature that stands out for me is the loading time, no other comes even close to touching the sheer speed of the browser’s speed.

We have a lot to thank Opera for since it shows off an authentic interface and before any other browsers did so. In addition they enabled bookmarking space and one-click links. Like Firefox they have an add-on system but Opera’s tend to be made by coders. Plugins include a download helper, audio and visual downloads, bookmark managers, in built mail feature, personal organiser, support for existing widgets and much more!

There are countless numbers of handy tips that are on offer when discussing the open source browser, all of which will improve your online experience dramatically and perhaps persuading you to change from Firefox 3.5 to Opera 9.64 or Opera 10 beta. Now, I will show you the top 10 tips to making your web experience more effective with a few little tweaks.

Check your mail with Opera’s built-in email client.

Opera’s built-in email client allows you to open all your email addresses from one application, deleting the need for another running application thus saving bandwidth and time! In order to get the client started simply follow these instructions:

• Firstly, you will be required to sign up for an account with Opera by going to the Tools Menu>>Mail and Chat accounts.
• Once at the set-up wizard, you have to select what kind of account you’d like to create whether it be e-mail, newsgroups or IRC chat.
• As with any other registration, you will be prompted to give your name and email address as well as an additional IMAP account set-up.
• Having triumphantly set up your account, you can see your mails inside your browser by using the panel and Mail menu that arises. In addition to the panels, the email application comes like a normal webpage with the flexibility of being able to arrange specific emails into particular folders.

Access your favourite websites via Speed dialling.

Speed dialling is possibly the most unique and effective feature that Opera specialises in. It allows you to initally choose a preferred webpage and then link it to that thumbnail ranging from 1-9. Opera either chooses your dials automatically by selecting your most visited sites or you can edit each dial manually! Each time you create a new tab, this speed dial will appear and you will be able to access nine different webpages with just one click!

The Speed dial feature is unique to Opera and has been around since 2007, thus other rival browsers such as Chrome have emulated the easy to use, time saving feature. Even Firefox have created an add-on for speed dialling. Thus, when using Opera, speed dialling is a must!

Opera’s widgets and little gadgets making your online experience awesome!

Opera also offers a widgets feature which gives you the option to have small, useful gizmos either on your browser or desktop. These widgets are available here.

All of the widgets are ordered into particular sections according to ones that are the highest-rated, ones recomended by peers, most downloaded and the newest widgets which are coming in all the time. In addition there is a category list down the left hand side giving you widgets for updating your facebook/twitter accounts, analog clock, google translator and many more! This effectively acts as firefox’s add-ons but for Opera. Extremely useful and almost knocks off the need for Firefox since their forte is their add-ons.

Have a bad time remembering login details? Never fear, Magic Wand is here!

Being a login invalid, I despise entering all my details to every site I go on a daily basis. Opera’s wand feature gives a password manager to all of the site you please, though if you do not agree with pop-ups, you will have to select yes for Wand to function properly.

If you want conifgure options which allow you to remember details for particular sites by going to Tools>>Advanced Options>>Wand Passwords. I favour this little tip it is secure, saves time and does not require too much effort.

Set-up Opera’s spell checker… GNU Aspell

In order to install the spell checker which surprisingly isn’t already in-built, you should first download GNU Aspell. Next, you should install this application via restarting the browser. From the same page you have to then install some Aspell dictionaries, all you need to do is find the English package, which don’t worry is FREE! Install the dictionaries and then restart the browser. Now on each webpage/webdocument, you can edit anything that is gramatically wrong, again making your life a whole lot easier since otherwise you would of had to copy/paste into word and then spell check it!

Manage your bookmarks effectively with Opera’s Bookmark Manager

Opera seems to be one of the very few browsers which thinks bookmarks are a really important part of making a complete online browsing experience. Thus, you should go to Bookmarks>>Manage Bookmarks where you can open new tabs showing your current favourites. In addition, you can:

• Add new addresses to your huge ongoing list.
• Create new folders so that your bookmarks stay organized.
• Arrange your personal favourite bookmarks below your address bar.

A very useful feature to have since there are over ten million sites which you cannot remember but you need in the future!

Is your download slow? Install Opera’s download manager

Many of you may have been downloading an application such as iTunes or an update for some software, and found it has either crashed or paused. Opera’s transfer panel ( available by going to Tools/Transfers) allows you to see all of your downloads in your history. Also, if one download has crashed, simply right click it and use the restart transfer option via the menu, making everything seem normal!

Command easy browser functions with Mouse Gestures.

Mouse gesture allows users to do simple browser functions with tiny,quick mouse movements. When you first use a gesture, you will be asked to turn the feature on, so beware of not selecting yes! Mouse gesture features include:

• Navigation gestures such as going to homepage, previous/next page in history.
• Link gestures such as opening link in foreground/background.
• Windows gestures like reloading, minimizing, opening/closing documents and duplicating windows.
• Wheel gestures like scrolling up/down and zooming in/out.

Customize your browser’s appearance by changing the skin.

If you do not like Opera’s interface or are just plain bored of it, you can change the appearance of the browser. In order to change the skin, go to Tools>>Appearance>>Find more skins. Are you not satisfied by just changing the colour scheme, remember you are able to edit various buttons and toolbars at the top.

Close a browser tab accidentally? Don’t worry, Tab trash is there!

Did you close a browser tab without noticing? Don’t worry because the tab trash can will definitely have it. The trash can is located in the top right hand corner and all you need to do is click on it, then all your recently closed tabs are there at your pleasure.

This concludes my post. Have you got any additional tips encouraging users to use Opera over other browsers? Please feel free to comment below!

Windows as of late seem to be focusing on safety but the tools they have implemented to do this cripple the OS, for example UAC (User Access Control) it’s there to keep you safe but just become an annoyance, so the first thing we are going to disable is UAC, now if you have decent internet security on your machine (not Norton or McAfee) then chances are it’s safe to turn it off.

Second thing we are going to turn off is the Search Indexer, it is there to speed up file finding but if you keep everything tidy in the first place then it’s not needed and can be disabled to free up some memory.

Third Thing you can do if you have a small amount of total memory is use vista’s and windows 7′s “Ready Boost”. This allows you to use any old pen drive you have lying around as RAM. Any size will do 128mb all the way up to 8Gb.

Forth thing to do is turn off Aero if it’s crippling you system. Aero is the flashy yet resource heavy theme that comes with Vista and Windows 7, if you have small memory and/or an old graphics card then it may improve system performance to turn it off and use the Basic theme.

Fifth thing to do is tell Vista or Windows 7 to use more than one core and more memory on start-up this can be done by typing msconfig in the search bar and going into the boot section then advanced options, there you will have the option to use 1 to #cores you have and the amount of memory it can have. The best option to use it all the cores you have and half the memory (don’t worry it wont use half all the time, just at boot-up)

Sixth thing to do is get rid of unwanted start-up programs anything like messenger or MS office. Stopping these speeds up the login and desktop loading times.

Lastly if you have Norton or McAfee as your internet security I strongly urge you to uninstall it and get something like Kaspersky (if you want to pay for it) or AVG/Avast Free edition. The main reason is Norton and McAfee use up an un-needed amount of memory and CPU resources.

Now we dive into special programs that do all the hard stuff for you, the program we are going to use is TweakNow WinSecret. This program is free and very easy to use but I will still be using some visual tools to smooth the process.

The first thing you will need to do on Windows 7 is put it into compatibility mode for Vista SP2 because for some reason even though Windows 7 is supported it can’t read the memory and bottle’s out.

First thing you’ll want go into is the Windows Core area which is shown below:

Then you’ll have a new window with the following options:

Windows Prefetch – you’ll want to leave that alone and just empty the prefetch using the button at the bottom.

Windows Time Out – You can set the number to whatever you feel but the best option is clicking the “Recommended” button at the bottom.

Cache – This gives you the option to keep data in the RAM rather than the Page File, this is supposed to speed things up but I found it hogs a lot of memory on long uses, nearly filling my 6Gb, so we leave this option alone.

Miscellaneous – This gives you three options Automatic Restart, NTFS File System and Library files. We leave the first two alone and just check the “Force Windows to unload DLL’s after program close”

Security – This gives you the option to unload the page file on shut down, this doesn’t do much other than make your PC shut down take 3 times as long so we leave that unchecked.

You then save and close the sub window.

We now go onto the Network and Internet Button back on the main screen.

We are now met with 3 sub-tabs.

On the “General” Tab just check the “SACK” option.

We leave the “MTU” tab alone

We then go to the “Others” Tab and check the MTU Auto Discovery box as well as putting the number of connections of HTTP 1 and 1.1 to 10. Save and then close the sub window.

Well that’s it for this article, if there is any other tips you have and want me to add just drop a comment and I’ll put it in.

Meaning of svchost.exe

Microsoft help and support deem svchost.exe to be a “generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries (DLLs.)” Ok, well in simpler and english terms, the history behind it is that Microsoft transferred all of the files from the internal Windows services to .dll files, without actually using .exe files. This was deemed as a huge mistake because it means that each user are unable to open a .dll file from Windows as it has to be opened through a .exe file. Hence, the svchost.exe was programmed.

*Note .dll means dynamic link library and .exe is a file name extention meaning an executable file.

Why are there fourteen of these svchost.exe files running simultaneously?

Here, you can see all the services running and which ones are needed or not and be sure that the show processes from all users box is ticked.

Well, there are many of these similar programs running because if you think about it, your operating system, Windows, has many services that are important to run and thus if there was one huge svchost.exe file and it failed, the whole system would fall. Therefore, having indivisual files for these services would prevent any failures. You may be wondering what the services are for. It’s really quite simple. The services are ordered into congruent groups and each of these svchost.exe files are made for each specified group. For example one svchost.exe could be for the UI ( User Interface.)

Your role

As an admin of your PC/Laptop, you are able to stop unecessary services by disabling them. The key problem seem to have is finding which services are needed for each svchost.exe file. You can do this by the tasklist command or go-to-service tab which will be explained further down.

In addition, users may find they have a high CPU usage one indivisual svchost.exe file and if you know it is definitely an anomoly, you can restart the services under that name without anything being affected in the system.

Identifying and checking particular svchost.exe files from the Command Line – For Vista and XP.

To check which services are being hosted by specific svchost.exe files, you can use the tasklist command from the command prompt using the command:

tasklist /SVC

However, users tend not to use this command as the services that occur are unclear to the human eye.

Checking through Task Manager – Vista Only

In task manager, you can right-click on any svchost.exe file and then select the “Go to Service(s)” option. Thus, this will direct you to the Services Tab and highlight the services running under that svchost.exe file as seen below.

Using this option, it enables you to see the proper name under the Description heading, thus making it even easier to choose which services to cancel.

Disabling services via Control Panel – for all platforms.

In order to disable some unwanted services you should either go to

Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Services or

Start/Run/services.msc.

Once you are at Services, you should identify a useless service and then right click on it and select properties, as displayed below.

For the second part of disabling a particular service, change the Startup Type to Disabled and then click the stop button for full effect to take place as you can see below.

Lastly, you could utilize the command script to disable the service instead of using the control panel if you please. For example, in this service the command would be Apple Mobile Device. Thus the command would be as follows,

sc config applemobiledevice start= disabled

This concludes the tutorial on svchost.exe and I hope this has helped you with the puzzling svchost.exe file. I have explained what it is, why there are so many of these running and what you can do about it. If there are any unanswered queries about the confusing svchost.exe, please feel free to comment below.

Jailbreaking is straightforward when you know which software is best to use...

With the release of the new iPhone’s OS 3.0, some apple users have already taken the initiative and upgraded to the new device. For some, this is an easy process and for others it is one of those you have to follow step by step instructions to get a grasp of it. Here, we plan to equip you with essential guidance to successfully jailbreaking your iPhone.

Redsn0w, PwnageTool and Ultrasn0w

These tools may seem completely alien to you but don’t worry, if you just want to jailbreak your iPhone and get off your computer and straight onto your iPhone, Redsn0w is the tool for you! In this tutorial, I will go in easy numerical steps so it not hard to follow.

Step 1 : Back up your iPhone

To back up your iPhone follow these steps:

Step 2: Download Redsn0w

To download the file, you can see the places where you can get the file from the dev team’s blog. Here, you can decide which file suits your PC/laptop which could depend on whether its Windows or a Mac. After you have downloaded the file extract it to a folder, which you could make beforehand.

Step 3: Launch the Redsn0w.exe file

Now you can launch the .exe file as soon as iTunes has finished updating.

Step 4 : Browse for your “IPSW” file

As seen below on the first start up screen, select browse and find your IPSW file which is an Apple firmware file. *HINT* The correct one is always the one that has been saved recently.

If you’re using the conventional Windows XP, your IPSW file will be located here:

C:\Documents and Settings\<login name>\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPhone Software Updates

OR

for Windows Vista/7 users it will be located,

C:\Users\<login name>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPhone Software Updates

Note: login name should be replaced by your actual login name so for example it could be “admin.”

When this screen pops up, find your IPSW which can simply be found by searching the contents of the folder you made previously.

Step 5: Select Next when Redsn0w is verified successfully

So, as soon as your IPSW is found, you can then select “next” continuing onto the closing stages of jailbreaking, as seen below.

Press "Next" once firmware is verified correctly

Step 6: Make sure you select “Install Cydia” option

This is probably the most important step as the “Cydia” app allows you to download apps that have been jailbroken. It will appear just as a small box at the bottom, so don’t ignore it!

Step 7: Plug iPhone into Computer only when device is off.

You may now plug in your iPhone but read the instructions telling you to hold the button down on top of the phone and wait til the “slide to power off” option appears, as it shows below.

Plugin your iPhone but wait until it is definitely turned off before selecting "next."

Step 8 : Follow the instructions on screen promptly

RedSn0w will now give you instructions to follow, but let me break them down more easily for you.

• Firstly, you have to hold down the power button, which is at the top of your iPhone, for an alloted time slot. Don’t worry because the software will tell how long left before you can let go!
• Next, while still holding the power button down, you’ll press the “Home” button (the round button at the bottom) for the alloted time.
• Now, while holding the “Home” button down still, release the power button for the allotted time.

Almost there…. your iPhone will have a few crashes through the process but don’t worry, it’s normal!

Step 9 : Automatic iPhone Restart and RAM disk upload

Wait for the iPhone to reboot and after, when it is loaded, the software will upload a new RAM disk. So just leave it alone!

Step 10: Finished! Wait for iPhone to restart and then it will be jailbroken, with the help of Cydia!

Now after the restart, you will now have a fresh new app on your springboard concerning Cydia, where you can discover millions of jailbroken apps you can use and play with!

There are also other jailbreaking software files which you can use such as PwnageTool and UltraSn0w. PwnageTool tends to only be used on Macs as it is the only platform which it works properly in. UltraSn0w can be used after you have jailbroken your iPod for effectively connecting to other networks.

Have you had any strange troubles with jailbreaking your iPhone? Or have you had great success in doing it? Feel free to comment below.

Do not expose your network otherwise hackers will get a hold of it and do all sorts with your private data. Keep it safe, Keep it secure!

We have all heard of hackers, and what they are capable of doing, the simple way to prevent them is not to give them anything to feed off. If you are not familiar with the term “hacker”, an example in the tech industry is the Mikeyy worm (hacker name: Michael Mooney) who breached the popular micro-blogging service, Twitter.

You would be quite amazed at how easily you can be compromised, lots of computer networks tend to be vulnerable and are so easily hacked.

You would have thought that, the way technology is advancing, the networking region would have become more efficient and safe. But you would be mistaken. A few years ago, only people who were advanced and cautious about their computer networking and had sufficient know-how, would set up networks. Therefore, they could keep to keep any hackers at bay, at least from their network.

Nowadays, anyone and everyone set up home networks. There are now, many more “newbie’s” in comparison to advanced networkers. People tend to go through the network installation process ignoring any software/hardware protection; likely to be using a basic set-up which, as we know can be their biggest downfall. Another 10 minutes of a user’s time, exploring how to secure their network, is the defining moment which makes your network hack-proof or not.

What would happen if you are compromised? It isn’t too bad, is it?

Your unguarded network could lead to:

- Crackers (expert hackers) can connect to your private data.

- Offenses that you didn’t even comit, as hackers can make it look like it was you. Violating the  DDoS (distributed denial of service attack.)

- Someone could download off your network constantly, making you exceed your download limit, thus being charged excessive amounts of money by your Internet Service Provider.

Well, that’s a small list of ways of how badly things could turn out for you, as a result of being hacked. Let’s move onto  a more positive note, and address how to stop this from occuring!

Home Networking – Hardware Security

“Home networks” often refers to more than two devices, one directly connected to the internet, the other part of the network.  These devices could be associated with your network as well as many others,

• Cable or DSL modems

• Printers

• Routers

• Firewalls

• Smartphone

• VoIP (Voice over Internet protocol) phones

• Games Consoles (PS3, Xbox, Wii)

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a strong, unique password. You will be less likely to be hacked if your password is secure (i.e. contains different types of characters and is 9+ characters long. When setting up a password, do not make it about a place, name or any other common words, as people will try to guess them and may end up guessing correctly. In any case, if you choose such a password, it probably won’t have be complex enough and can be hacked easily.

Take the time to choose a contrasting password for each piece of hardware, as it will keep your network security levels sky high!

Firewalls and Routers

Firewalls are remarkably useful in protecting your home network. They are part of the network, which aids in you in tracking the events between your internet connection and network. It has the ability to block any permitted access in an attempt to stop people breaching your network. Firewall security settings are genuinely there to help you, not irritate you, so the more the settings that are limited, the more protected you are from hackers, though many users find it quite aggravating as it can block your favourite and frequently used sites from time to time.

Routers are the most important fragment of hardware you need to configure, in order to have an impenetrable home network. You must set a healthy, unthinkable admin password and, remember to enable encryption. Generally, conventional routers have two encryption options, WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) and WEP ( Wired Equivalent Privacy.) If given the choice, always go for WPA as it is more secure.

Home Networking- Software Security

In order to maxmize protection, we recommend you take a look at a couple of software applications,

• Anti-virus software such as AVG
• Anti-spyware programs such as Ad-Aware

Anti-Virus software helps avert and remove all kinds of dangerous malware such as Trojans and Worms, which you could really do without However, do not go over the top with these applications meaning you shouldn’t have more than one antivirus program installed, as it will slow down your computer speed  and will install unnecessary updates.  To keep on top of your home security, make sure you run a full-scan every couple of days to ensure there are no viruses and hackers lurking.

An appealing fact was published in an article I read saying that hackers, tend to go for Windows Operating Systems as the majority of the public use Windows, so if you’re a Mac or Linux user you are , to some degree, less in danger, but Windows users, please make sure you have an anti-virus running at all times.

Web Browser Security Settings

Yet another way to boost your security, is to disable cookies and java applications which for many people, soon becomes malware in their web browsers. Though, some sites will be blocked as the administrative settings do not think it is suitable, but you should abide by them, as it will still block other sites which are harmful to you.

Lastly, if you tend to go away on business trips or holidays out of town, it is a good idea to turn off your internet router in your absence, because it will not show up on any hacker radars so your data is safer than it could be, and so there is no method of you being breached in that time period. Good idea, with minimal effort giving great results

I know that all these home networking remarks may be evident to most, but it is very surprising that many people forget these basic tips. These are not hard to do and to keep on track, but it may slip to the back of a computer user’s mind and will result in malware or possibly,a gap for a hacker to fill.

Thank you for reading!Please feel free to post any feedback concerning this tutorial, and any additional tips on how to protect your home network!