Limited to 3 last days

07/30/10

Permalink 03:03:23 pm, by n3r0x Email , 437 words   English (US) latin1
Categories: Servers, Computers, Security

Fix and Recover Corrupted DBF Databases Automatically

Heavy-load workstations and busy environments are home to most database applications. A system crash or a power failure can easily damage an open database, causing loss of data and corrupted database structures. Once the problem is fixed and the workstation rebooted, the corrupted database will fail to open.

What would you do when pressured to get the database up and running right away? Reach for a backup just to discover it's a week old, or attempt to recover the database, risking causing irreparable damage to what's still left?

Don't panic! If your database uses DBF files, your chances to get back all of the original data are extremely high if you use the right tool. Even if you don't know anything about the internal structure of DBF files, you still can get it fixed easily and automatically.


DBF Repair tool by www.dbf2002.com/dbf-recovery/ recovers damaged and corrupted DBF files completely automatically. You can be a professional database manager or a complete novice - DBF Recovery will repair the broken database regardless of your experience. With DBF Recovery, you simply select the corrupted file, and the program does the rest completely automatically.

Why paying for DBF Recovery instead of just using any of the numerous recovery tools that claim to repair your database in a matter of minutes? While DBF Recovery may not be as fast and as cheap as its freeware competitors, it does a much better job in correctly repairing the corrupted database structures and data records. Unlike many free database repair tools, DBF Recovery does not limit its operation to just the headers. The newly developed database recovery engine automatically detects the exact file format and database that created a DBF file, and thoroughly analyzes and repairs the structure of the database as well as all data records, resulting in the most comprehensive and quality recovery.

Have more corruption in supporting files? DBF Recovery fixes memo-files such as DBT and FPT in addition to DBF.

While new database administrators will certainly appreciate the unprecedented level of automation and the ease of use provided by DBF Recovery, expert users will enjoy the advanced features that provide even more automation to the database recovery process. Comprehensive command line parameters and batch mode support allow using DBF Recovery to process multiple databases automatically, or to fix certain database files on Windows startup.

Novice database users and advanced system administrators will appreciate the time savings provided by DBF Recovery. Supporting all DBF databases, including Dbase III and IV, FoxPro and Visual FoxPro, DBF Recovery is the perfect choice for a concerned database administrator. Download a free evaluation version of DBF Repair and rescue your DBF databases after corruption!

07/29/10

Permalink 07:39:34 am, by n3r0x Email , 501 words   English (US) latin1
Categories: Computers, Hardware

How to Avoid Hard Drive Overheating

Even though the hard drive stores data, it isn’t perfect by any means. Hard drive failure is very common with all computers, with no real way to prevent it. Although there are several different reasons why a hard drive can fail, the most common is overheating. Viruses and crashes are common as well, along with theft and accidental deletion.

With the older style and mechanics of hard drives, the RPM speed was low, meaning that the drives wouldn’t overheat. The hard drives we use now days, have speeds between 7,200 and 10,000 RPM, meaning that they can get quite hot when they start working. Computers of this day and age come with fans to cool everything down, with most hard drives including temperature sensors as well, so you can keep track of just how hot your hard drive becomes.


With hard drives today, overheating is a very common problem. The faster hard drives come with speeds of 10,000 RPM, which can make the temperature soar above 70 degrees F, really heating things up inside the drive. The mechanics on the inside are built to withstand the heat, although if things become too hot, you’ll encounter problems. If a drive becomes too hot and ends up losing the data, it may be next to impossible to retrieve the information - no matter how good your data recovery specialists may be.

One area that suffers from the drive overheating is the platters, which are magnetic media. Platters are what carry the data throughout the hard drive. Platters are constructed from optical glass, aluminum, or ceramic and normally coated with a layer of magnetic material. Once the hard drive begins to heat up, the platters will start to expand, which changes their size. When this happens, the magnetic surface on the platters will get destroyed, which results in a loss of data. If the physical area of the platters are damaged, it will result in unreadable sectors.

Other areas of the hard drive that can be damaged due to overheating are the read and write heads, head actuator, and the controller chip. Hard drives are very sophisticated pieces of hardware, and can’t handle overheating. The read and write heads are a common example, as they can easily render the drive useless if they become damaged.

To prevent your hard drive from overheating, you should always make sure that it is cooled properly and well ventilated. You can always get additional fans and coolers, which will improve both ventilation and the flow of air in your computer. You can buy fans and coolers at very affordable prices, which makes them an ideal investment for keeping your hard drive or hard drives cool.

You can also get software that monitors the temperature of your hard drive as well. Whether it’s software, or additional fans, you should always ensure that your hard drives are kept cool. By keeping them cool, you’ll greatly reduce the amount of crashes. You’ll also increase the stability of your hard drive as well, which will make your entire computer perform much better.

07/28/10

Permalink 06:00:46 am, by n3r0x Email , 826 words   English (US) latin1
Categories: Software, Security

Are computer viruses spread by the media?

If you believe what you hear in the media, there are an awful lot of viruses going around. No, I'm not talking about the make-you-sick kind of virus, though they get plenty of airtime, too. I'm talking about the kind of virus that enters via your internet connection rather than your nasal passages.

What the mainstream media often don't tell you--at least, in most radio and television newscasts and in the crucial headlines and opening paragraphs of newspaper articles-- is that many of these "viruses" are not viruses at all.

What Computer Viruses Really Are

The main reason the mainstream media always are in alarm over viruses is that they tend to call any malicious computer program a virus. In reality, there are at least eleven distinct types of malicious software, or malware, commonly affecting computers today. The most common of these are worms, Trojans, and spyware.

So, what's the difference between computer viruses and the other types of malware? The difference is that computer viruses are just about the only ones that regularly shut down computers and cause other obvious damage. The most common of the other kinds of malware--worms, Trojans, and spyware--are usually only detectable with a special scan.

The Real Danger of Computer Viruses

If the other types of malware are so unobtrusive that they can only be detected with a special scan, then what's to worry about? For starters, these programs are called malicious for a reason: they are designed to cause some kind of damage, if not to your computer, then to someone else's.

Worms are most famously used to damage, destroy, or disrupt other computer networks than the one on which the host computer is located. For instance, worms have been used by website owners to shut down rival websites by sending overwhelming numbers of requests to the computer that hosts that website. Worms have also been used to send out viruses to other computers, often without infecting the host machine--after all, what would it benefit the worm to shut down its host computer?

Trojans, in turn, are often used to insert worms and other malware on your computer, even if the Trojan itself does no damage.

But even if you don't care what happens to anyone else, you should still be concerned about one kind of malware: spyware, a kind of malware that, true to its name, collects data from your computer and sends it back to a remote host.



Most spyware is only interested in monitoring your internet usage so it can tell other programs, called adware, what advertising to popup on your computer. However, there are criminal spyware programs that steal financial data, or perform a thorough identity theft. Don't think you have personal or financial data on your computer? Some spyware programs contain a keylogger, which is a program that copies whatever you type, usually in order to snatch passwords. Even if you keep no financial information on your computer, if you ever buy anything over the web, the keylogger would allow its owner to buy stuff using the same information you typed in to buy stuff yourself.

Why Blame the Media?

Given the danger of all these different types of malware, isn't it a good thing that the mass media are becoming hysterical about it? And can't they be forgiven the sloppy reporting of calling Trojans, worms, spyware, and other malware "viruses"?

No, no, no.

This is a classic case of bad reporting doing more damage than no reporting at all. In this case, the damage bad reporting has done is to promote a common myth that goes something like this: "The only malicious software is a virus. Viruses damage your computer. Therefore, if my computer is working OK, my computer has no malicious software. I only need to scan my computer for problems when there is a sign of problems."

Thanks to this myth, many people complacently let their antivirus software go months out of date, not wanting to be bothered with scheduling an automatic update. Just as bad, many people don't have any extra software to combat the other types of malware that may not be covered by antivirus software.

In fact, it's not uncommon for people who have found malware on their computers after a scan to say, "but I never had malware on my computer before!" But how would they have known if they had never scanned!

Until the biggest mainstream media--and especially television--start educating the public about the need to have their computers automatically scanned at least daily, the world will continue to have major, drawn-out problems with malware that could have been wiped out as soon as soon as the anti-malware software makers discovered it.

And until that day, the mainstream media will have many more opportunities to run hysterical stories about "viruses," thereby forcing them to sell more newspapers and broadcast to even larger audiences of people who suck at the information trough yet somehow never become full.