Importance of Education

A breif detail about Virus, Worms and Trojan Horses

2009-03-03T19:58:00.000-08:00

The most common blunder when the topic of a computer virus arises is that people will often refer to a Worm or Trojan Horse as a Virus. While the words Trojan, worm, and virus are used interchangeably, they are not the same. Viruses, worms, and Trojan Horses are all malicious programs that can cause damage to your computer, but there are differences between the three, and knowing those differences can help you to better protect your computer from their often damaging effects.

A computer Virus attaches itself to a program or file so it can spread from one computer to another, leaving infections as it travels. Some viruses cause only mildly annoying effects while others can damage your hardware, software, or files. Almost all viruses are attached to an executable file, which means the virus may exist on your computer but it cannot infect your computer unless you run or open the malicious program. It is important to note that a virus cannot be spread without a human action, (such as running an infected program) to keep it going. People continue the spread of a computer virus, mostly unknowingly, by sharing infecting files or sending e-mails with viruses as attachments in the e-mail.

A Worm is similar to a virus by its design, and is considered to be a sub-class of a virus. Worms spread from computer to computer, but unlike a virus, it has the ability to travel without any help from a person. A worm takes advantage of file or information transport features on your system, which allows it to travel unaided. The biggest danger with a worm is its ability to replicate itself on your system, so rather than your computer sending out a single worm, it could send out hundreds or thousands of copies of itself, creating a huge devastating effect. One example would be for a worm to send a copy of itself to everyone listed in your e-mail address book. Then, the worm replicates and sends itself out to everyone listed in each of the receiver's address book, and the manifest continues on down the line. Due to the copying nature of a worm and its ability to travel across networks the end result in most cases is that the worm consumes too much system memory (or network bandwidth), causing Web servers, network servers, and individual computers to stop responding. In more recent worm attacks such as the much talked about Blaster Worm, the worm has been designed to tunnel into your system and allow malicious users to control your computer remotely.

A Trojan Horse is full of as much trickery as the mythological Trojan Horse it was named after. The Trojan Horse, at first glance will appear to be useful software but will actually do damage once installed or run on your computer. Those on the receiving end of a Trojan Horse are usually tricked into opening them because they appear to be receiving legitimate software or files from a legitimate source. The Trojan horse itself would typically be a Windows executable program file, and thus must have an executable filename extension such as .exe, .com, .scr, .bat, or .pif. Since Windows is sometimes configured by default to hide filename extensions from a user, the Trojan horse is an extension that might be "masked" by giving it a name such as 'Readme.txt. exe'. With file extensions hidden, the user would only see 'Readme.txt' and could mistake it for a harmless text file. When the recipient double-clicks on the attachment, the Trojan horse might superficially do what the user expects it to do (open a text file, for example), so as to keep the victim unaware of its real, concealed, objectives. Meanwhile, it might discreetly modify or delete files, change the configuration of the computer, or even use the computer as a base from which to attack local or other networks - possibly joining many other similarly infected computers as part of a distributed denial-of-service attack. When a Trojan is activated on your computer, the results can vary. Some Trojans are designed to be more annoying than malicious (like changing your desktop, adding silly active desktop icons) or they can cause serious damage by deleting files and destroying information on your system. Trojans are also known to create a backdoor on your computer that gives malicious users access to your system, possibly allowing confidential or personal information to be compromised. Unlike viruses and worms, Trojans do not reproduce by infecting other files nor do they self-replicate.

Added into the mix, what is called a blended threat? A blended threat is a sophisticated attack that bundles some of the worst aspects of viruses, worms, Trojan horses and malicious code into one threat. Blended threats use server and Internet vulnerabilities to initiate, transmit and spread an attack. This combination of method and techniques means blended threats can spread quickly and cause widespread damage. Characteristics of blended threats include: causes harm, propagates by multiple methods, attacks from multiple points and exploits vulnerabilities.

To be considered a blended thread, the attack would normally serve to transport multiple attacks in one payload. For examplem it wouldn't just launch a DoS attack — it would also install a backdoor and damage a local system in one shot. Additionally, blended threats are designed to use multiple modes of transport. For example, a worm may travel through e-mail, but a single blended threat could use multiple routes such as e-mail, IRC and file-sharing sharing networks. The actual attack itself is also not limited to a specific act. For example, rather than a specific attack on predetermined .exe files, a blended thread could modify exe files, HTML files and registry keys at the same time — basically it can cause damage within several areas of your network at one time.

Blended threats are considered to be the worst risk to security since the inception of viruses, as most blended threats require no human intervention to propagate.

Combating Viruses, Worms and Trojan Horses :

The first steps to protect your computer are to ensure your operating system (OS) is up-to-date. This is essential if you are running a Microsoft Windows OS. Secondly, you should have anti-virus software installed on your system and download updates frequently to ensure your software has the latest fixes for new viruses, worms, and Trojan Horses. Additionally you want to make sure your anti-virus program has the ability to scan e-mail and files as they are downloaded from the Internet. This will help prevent malicious programs from even reaching your computer. If this isn't enough protection, then you may want to consider installing a firewall as well.

A firewall is a system which prevents unauthorized use and access to your computer. A firewall can be either hardware or software. Hardware firewalls provide a strong degree of protection from most forms of attack coming from the outside world and can be purchased as a stand-alone product or in broadband routers. Unfortunately, when battling viruses, worms and Trojans, a hardware firewall may be less effective than a software firewall, as it could possibly ignore embedded worms in out going e-mails and see this as regular network traffic. For individual home users, the most popular firewall choice is a software firewall. A good software firewall will protect your computer from outside attempts to control or gain access your computer, and usually provides additional protection against the most common Trojan programs or e-mail worms. The downside to software firewalls is that they will only protect the computer they are installed on, not a network.

It is important to remember that on its own a firewall is unable to get rid of your computer virus problems, but when used in conjunction with regular operating system updates and a good anti-virus scanning software, it will add some extra security and protection for your computer or network.

Spam Report

2009-01-22T20:13:00.000-08:00

Spam Evolution: November 2008

Spam in mail traffic

Spam on the Russian Internet in November 2008

The closure of US hosting provider McColo, which hosted the command and control centers of a number of large botnets, resulted in a sharp decline in the amount of spam in November. However, the decline was short-lived and within a few days botnet activity had resumed (e.g. spam made up 83.4% of mail traffic on 16 November, close to the maximum figure for the month).

The graph shows several peaks and troughs mid-month following the closing down of McColo on 13 November. The first of them coincided with www.theregister.co.uk renewed botnet activity on 15-16 November when McColo made use of its backup arrangement with the Swedish ISP TeliaSonera AB. Less than two days later, TeliaSonera AB cut off McColo’s access resulting in a fall in the amount of spam on 17-18 November. A subsequent increase in the amount of spam on 25 November can be linked to an attempt by the operators of the Srizbi botnet to transfer www.pcworld.com their command and control centers to the Tallinn-based Starline Web Services.

The closure of McColo had a clear effect on the volume of spam in November. Spam accounted for 73.7% of mail traffic on the Russian Internet in November, compared to 79.9% in October. A monthly low of 50.5% was recorded on 13 November, two days after the hosting provider was shut down.

Spam by category

Top five spam categories in November:

Adult content spam – 24%
Medications, health-related goods and services – 21%
Education – 10%
Travel and tourism – 9%
Fake designer goods – 5%

The amount of Medications, health-related goods and services spam rose significantly from 12.5% in October to 21% in November. The Fake designer goods category replaced Spammer services in fifth place. There were no other changes to the top five categories: Education remained in third place and Travel and tourism in fourth (mainly due to offers relating to the upcoming winter holiday season).

Spammers on politics and the economy

The promotion of various goods and services in November purportedly originated from spammers’ desire to help users weather the global economic storm.

One mass mailing contained links to a lengthy article on how to avoid losing money during the crisis. The spammers’ aim became clear towards the end of the article which expounded the financial benefits of investing in a building project on the Black Sea coast.

Spammers exploited the US presidential elections less than the economic downturn, but some mass mailings did reference the elections, with the winner’s name being used to advertize services. One advert for a seminar in Ukraine proudly announced that “Barack Obama trusts professionals!”

Some English-language mass mailings also offered users the opportunity to purchase coins issued in honor of the new president.

Warning – fake!

The amount of Computer fraud spam rose compared to last month, averaging 3% in November against 2.2% in October.

Scam messages purportedly sent by the popular email service Mail.Ru were among the tricks used. Such messages asked recipients to send an SMS to a premium number either in order to win a lottery or to prevent their accounts from being hacked.

Users also received messages allegedly sent by the SMSexpress payment system demanding compensation for “breach of contract”.

Sometimes it may not be clear if an email is genuine or fake. In order to resolve such issues, open the company’s site by typing the address into the browser (not by clicking on a link in a message) and contact the administrator using the contact details given on the site.

Spammer tricks

In November, spammers used a new technique to disguise contact information: the address of the site being advertized was presented in a vertical column. Spammers seemed to think this would make it more difficult to block spam messages, but it also meant that recipients had to memorize the address and type it into the browser in order to view the site.

Hello,
Who do you consider to be the embodiment of style? You can be too:
You’ll look 100%, spending less than everybody else
Have a nice day!

Another tactic was the use of HTML tags to mask key words. The names of the goods being advertized were put in a table intermingled with random symbols in a less legible font. These pale random symbols alter the way the text is perceived by spam filters but the names of the goods can still be clearly seen by recipients.

Conclusion

Autumn has not been easy for the spammers. In addition to the worsening economic situation, November saw the closure of the hosting provider McColo, which was used to as the command and control center for a number of botnets. The fact that the amount of spam on the Russian Internet fell by two thirds immediately after McColo was shut down suggests that the US provider was widely used by spammers targeting the .ru domain with their mass mailings.

Next month there are likely to be changes in the type of spam being distributed. With the holiday season approaching, adult content messages will probably be displaced by messages advertising party services and fake designer goods.

Recent trends

With the closure of McColo, whose servers hosted the control centers for a number of botnets, the amount of spam in mail traffic fell 7.2% compared to October and averaged 73.7%.
Malicious files were attached to 2.28% of all emails, 0.2% more than in October.
Links to phishing sites were found in 0.76% of all emails.
Graphical spam amounted to 9%.
Fraudulent emails increased by 0.8% to 3%.
Spam offering fake designer goods re-entered the top five leading spam categories.
In order to ensure messages evade spam filters, spammers modified their use of HTML formatting.

Disclaimer: - These are the reports taken from the Kaspersky virus report

How Hard Disk Recovery Works

2009-01-09T20:03:00.000-08:00

How does Hard Drive Recovery work?

Hard drives, like all mechanical devices, eventually break down or some of them are caused some of the Hard DIsk will crashed because of the Manufactures itself. Here are some basic possible errors.

Common hard drive problems include:

* User errors
* Software errors
* Hard drive electronics failures
* Hard drive arm failures
* Hard drive platter failures

User Errors

User errors include accidentally deleting or overwriting files (these overwriting files can't be recovered) and accidentally formatting a or deleting a partition.

User errors can sometimes be resolved through the use of off-the-shelf data recovery software.

Software Errors

Software errors usually result from software writing data to the wrong part of the disk.

Errors cause by software are generally much more difficult for off-the-shelf data recovery software to correct. This task may require the services of a data recovery specialist. Some software can crash your Hard Disk because of the basic system requirements of the systems. So read carefully before you install the Software (For Exp. The Anti Virus Software)

Hard Drive Electronics Failures

When a hard drive physically fails, sometimes the mechanical parts of the hard drive remain undamaged. This can happen, for example, if the hard drive is subject to a power surge or a discharge of static electricity.

In these cases, it is usually possible to take the mechanical parts out of the hard drive assembly and place them into another identical hard drive unit. This should be done in a clean-room environment, to prevent dust from damaging the hard drive.

Hard Drive Arm Failures

Hard drive arm failures are very common. When the hard drive arm fails, there is a very good chance that it will damage the hard drive platters.

When you hear the clicking noises from your hard drive which signal a hard drive arm failure, back up all necessary data immediately and power the system down as soon as possible.

If the hard drive platters have not been damaged, a data recovery specialist may still be able to recover data from a hard drive with a damaged hard drive arm.

Hard Drive Platter Failures

No drive platter is manufactured perfectly. There will always be some bad spots on the platter surface. Modern hard drives automatically mark those bad spots as unusable and do not store data there.

Sometimes bad spots will develop during the life of the hard drive. The hard drive will mark that spot bad and attempt to move the data to a good spot on the hard drive. This may, or may not, result in the loss of some data.

Serious hard drive platter failures can occur as a result of hard drive arm failures. In these cases, the hard drive platters are being scratched. Your data is being scratched right off the surface of the platters! You can often hear this damage occuring. These failures are very expensive or impossible to recover.

The Solution to Hard Drive Recovery: Backup

The best method of hard drive recovery is to throw away the failed hard drive and restore your data from backup to a brand new drive.

Backing up your data is a critically important preventative maintenance task. Don't put yourself at risk by not properly backing up your data.

So the best way to escape from the crash is to Backup your weekly processes.

Disclaimer:- What written above is my personal experience. Please forgive me if it hurts anyone.

Tips to Speed up the PC

2009-01-07T01:35:00.000-08:00

Follow
These tips and you will definitely have a much faster and more reliable PC! Most of the below tips works for windows XP.

1. Wallpapers: They slow your whole system down, so if you're willing to compromise, have a basic plain one instead!

2. Drivers: Update your hardware drivers as frequently as possible. New drivers tend to increase system speed especially in the case of graphics cards, their drivers are updated by the manufacturer very frequently!

3. Minimizing: If you want to use several programs at the same time then minimize those you are not using. This helps reduce the overload on RAM.

4. Boot Faster: The 'starting Windows 95/98' message on startup can delay your booting for a couple of seconds. To get rid of this message go to c:\ and find the file Msdos.sys. Remove the Read-Only option. Next, open it in Notepad or any other text editor. Finally, go to the text 'Options' within the file and make the following changes: Add BootDelay=0. To make your booting even faster, set add Logo=0 to remove the Windows logo at startup.

5.. Restart only Windows: When restarting your PC, hold down Shift to only restart Windows rather than the whole system which will only take a fraction of the time.

6. Turn Off Animations: Go to Display Settings from the Control Panel and switch to the Effects Tab. Now turn off Show Windows Content While Dragging and Smooth Edges on Screen Fonts. This tip is also helpful with Windows XP because of the various fade/scroll effects.

7. Faster Start-Menu Access: Go to the Start menu and select Run. Now type Regedit and hit Enter. The Registry Editor will appear on the screen. Now, open the folder HKEY_CURRENT_ USER\Control Panel\Desktop. You should see a MenuShowDelay value. If you don't then do the following: right click on a blank space in the right pane and select New\String. Change the name in the new value to MenuShowDelay. Now that we have the MenuShowDelay value, double click on it and enter 0 in the value data field. This sets the start menu delay to 0 milliseconds.

8. Resolutions: If you are willing to do anything for faster performance from your PC, then try lowering your display resolution. The lower it is, the faster your PC.

9. Turn off Active Desktop: Go to your Display Properties and switch to the Web tab. Uncheck View My Active Desktop As a Web Page. Since the Active Desktop option under Windows 98 uses a lot of system resources, this option can have a dramatic effect on the speed of the whole system.

10. Defragment Often: Windows 98's Defrag tool uses Application Acceleration from Intel which means that when you defragment your drive, data is physically arranged on the drive so that applications will load faster.

11. Take your PC to Bed: Using the Advanced Power Management feature under Windows 98 gives you the option to use the sleep command. That way, you can send your PC to sleep instead of shutting it down and then restarting it. It's as simple as pressing a button and then pressing the same button to wake it up. You can tell Windows after how many minutes/hours of inactivity to automatically sleep the machine in the Advanced Power Management section of the Control Panel.

12. Faster Internet Access: If you use the Internet for reference and the sites you visit are rarely updated then try the following. In IE (the same can be done in Netscape) go to Tools, Internet Options. Next, click on Settings... In the Temporary Internet Files section. Finally, select Never for the first option and double the amount of storage space to use, click OK!

13. Benchmarking: Benchmarking can be very useful when run frequently. It can tell you how your PC's components are performing and then compare them to other machines like yours. For example, when you overclock your PC, you want to know how much more speed you have and whether it is stable. All this and more can be discovered using benchmarking. An excellent piece of software for doing this job is SiSoft Sandra which can be found in the Downloads File Archive!

14. Refresh the Taskbar without restarting: If you in some way change the taskbar, either in Regedit or elsewhere, you can refresh the task bar without restarting. Hold down Ctrl Alt Del, and double click on Explorer. Say Yes to close Explorer, but no to closing Windows. This will refresh the Taskbar and system tray.

15. Quick CD Eject: Instead of pushing the button on your drive, right-click your CD drive letter in My Computer and click on Eject. This will also remove any icons that have become associated with the CD drive.

16. Start Up Programs: Windows can be slowed down when programs run on start up. To eliminate this, check your Start up folder. You can access it from the start menu: Start, Programs, Start Up. Another way to eliminate programs from loading even before Windows actually starts is by doing the following: Click on Start, then Run. Type msconfig. It will take quite a long time for this program to load, but when you finally see it on your screen, explore the different tabs. They all have to do with how quickly your PC boots, so select what you want, and uncheck what you don't want!

17. Fonts: When Windows starts, it loads every single font in the Fonts folder. Therefore, the more fonts you have, the slower the booting process. To get rid of unwanted fonts, simply go to the Fonts folder under c:\windows and remove whatever you don't want. Fonts that have a red letter 'A' as their icon are system fonts, so don't delete them.

18. Stretching Wallpapers: Don't "stretch" your wallpaper in Windows 98 since it actually slows Windows down when you drag icons around on the desktop.

19. RAM Matters: If you have less than 32MB then you should seriously think of upgrading it to at least 64MB. Windows runs much more smoothly with 64MB or higher and tends to use less hard disk space for virtual memory.

20. Partitioning: A very nice little thing you can do to boost system performance. By partitioning your hard drive, splitting one physical drive into several logical ones, you can gain several advantages. 1. If you get a virus or you accidentally format a drive, not all will be lost. 2. By placing the swap file (Win386.swp) on a separate drive, The swap file will be less fragmented and thus, faster. 3. Place Windows on a separate drive and whenever you need to reinstall it, you rest assured that your data is safe on a separate drive. Partitioning can be done using a few programs such as FDisk which comes with DOS. However, FDisk formats everything on the hard disk before partitioning. Alternatively, you can use Partition Magic from
Power Quest to partition your hard disk without losing your data.

Complete list of Engineering Colleges in MUMBAI

2008-12-29T21:27:00.000-08:00

These are some list of Engineering Colleges in Mumbai India.

Engineering Colleges In Mumbai
Name & Address	Activity	Phone & Email	Course offered
Dwarkadas J. Sanghvi College of Engineering Plot No. U-16, JVPD Scheme, Bhaktivedanta Swami Marg, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai-56	Engineering	Ph: 022-26107010, 26107461 Email: djscoe94@rediffmail .com Web: www.djscoe.org	Degree Courses: Bio-Medical Engg. (30), Prod. Engg. (60), Electronics Engg. (60), Chem. Engg.(60), IT, Computer Engg., Electronics & Telecomm. Engg.
Jawahar Education Society's Annasaheb Chudaman Patil College of Engineering Kharghar, New Mumbai	Engineering	Ph: 022-27575722 Web: www.acpcc.org	Electrical Engg., Electronics Engg., Instrumentation Engg., Computer Sc., IT, Electronics & Telecomm. (60 seats each)
Mumbai University University Deptt. of Chemical Tech., Mumbai	Engineering	Ph: 022-4145616 Web:www.udct.org	Degree Courses: B.Chem Dyes (14), B.Chem Foods (11), B.Chem Oils (11), B.Chem Paints (11), B.Chem Pharma (12), B. Chem. Plastics (11), B.Textiles (25), Chem. Engg. (53)
Nagar Yuvak Shikshan Sansthan's Datta Meghe College of Engineering Airoli, Navi Mumbai	Engineering	Ph: 27691662	Degree Courses: Civil Engg. (90), Chemical Engg. (60), Computer Engg. (120), Electronics Engg. (120), Mechnical Engg. (60), IT (60)
PADMB. Vasantdada Patil Pratishthan' s College of Engineering Estern Express Highway, Sion, Mumbai-22	Engineering	Ph: 24021526, 24070547 Web: www.pvppcoe. ac.in	BE Courses: Computer (60), Electronics (60), Electronics & Telecom Engg. (40), IT (40), Marine Engg.
Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Tech. Juhu Varsova, Andheri West, Mumbai	Engineering	Ph: 022-26707025 Web: www.rgitm.org	Degree Courses: Elect. & Tele-Comm. Engg. (60), Inst. Engg. (60), Mech. Engg. (60), Computer (120), IT (60)
Saraswati Edu. Soc.'s Saraswati College of Engineering Ploat No. 46/46 A, Sector-5, Kharghar Navi Mumbai-10	Engineering	Ph: 022-30990422, 27861147 Web: www.saraswatiengg. org	Degree Courses: Electronics and Tele-Comm. Engg. (60), Mech. Engg. (30), Computer Engg. (60), Civil Engg. (60)
A.C. Patil College of Engineering Sector-6, Koperkhairane, Navi Mumbai-09	Engineering		Electronics, Instrumentation, Electrical, Computer & IT

Below mentioned is the list of Mumbai Engineering Colleges-

Engineering Colleges In Mumbai
Name & Address	Activity	Phone & Email	Course offered
Agnel Polytechnic (Agnel Charities Polytechnic) Sect 9/A, Vashi, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to SBTET, Maharashtra		Fabri. & Erection Engineering (Sandwitch)
Angel Polytechnic (Fr. Agnel Jr. Technical College), Bandra, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to SBTET, Maharashtra		Production Engineering
Anjuman-I-Islam' s M.H. Saboo Siddik Institute of Engineering & Technology 8, Shepherd Road, Byculla, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to SBTET, Maharashtra	Ph: 02342-241107 Email: bptvsh@rediffmail. com Web: www.mhss.edu	BE Courses: Prod. Engg. (60), Automobile Engg. (60), Electronics Engg. (60), Computer Engg. (60), Civil Engg. (60), IT (30)
Annasaheb C. Patel College of Engineering Sec 6, Kopar Khairne, New Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University		Electrical Engineering
Atharva College of Engineering Borivali (W), Mumbai-92	Engineering	Ph: 28644100, Ext.-107 Web: www.atharvaeducatio n.com	BE Courses: CSE (45), Electr. & Telecomm. (90), IT (45)
Bharati Vidyapeeth's College of Architecture Sector 8, CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai-14	Engineering		BArch. (40)
Bharati Vidyapeeth's College of Engineering Bhelpada, CBD Sector-7, Opp. Konkan Bhavan, New Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering	Ph: 022-27571074 Web: www.bvcoenm. org	Degree Courses: Electronics and Telecomm. (60), Instrumentation (60), Mech. Engg. (120), Comp. Engg. (60), Chemical Engg.(60), IT (60)
Bhavana Trust's Shah & Anchor Kutchi Polytechnic Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Chowk, Waman T.P. Marg, Chembur, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to SBTET, Maharashtra		Information Technology
Directorate General Factory Advice Service & Labour Institute N.S. Manikar Marg, Celabins Matunga, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to SBTET, Maharashtra		Advance Diploma in Industrial Safety
Don Bosco Institute of Technology C/o St. Joseph's Technocal Institute School Premier Automobile Road, Kurla, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to University of Mumbai		Electronics & Tele Communication Engineering

Engineering Colleges In Mumbai
Name & Address	Activity	Phone & Email	Course offered
Father Conceicao Rodrigues College of Engineering Father Angel Ashram, P.B. No. -6656, Bus Stand Bandra(W), Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University	Email: agnelt@vsnl. com Web: www.frcrce.ac. in	Degree Course: Computer Engg. (60), Electronics Engg. (60), Prod. Engg. (60), IT (40)
Government Institute of Printing Technology Dr. Dadabhai Naoroji Road (Sir J.J. School) of Arts Compound, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to SBTET, Maharashtra		Litho Offset Printing
Government Leather Technology Institute 49, Kherwade, Aliyavar Jung, Marg, Bandra (E), Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to SBTET, Maharashtra		Leather Goods & Footwear Mfg.
Government Polytechnic Bombay 49, Kherwadi, Bandra (E), Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to SBTET, Maharashtra		Mechanical Engineering
Hyderabad (Sind) National Collegeiate Board Bombay Institute of Technology 47, Dr. R.C. Thadani Marg, Worli, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to SBTET, Maharashtra		Computer Technology
K. J. Somaiya Institute of Engineering & Information Technology K. J. Somaiya Trust, C.S. No. 2 and 2/2, F/W Ward Sion Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to University of Mumbai		Information Technology
K.J. Somaiya College of Engineering Vidyanagar, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University	Ph:-25147265, 25092006 Email:-kjsbsp@rediffmail. com	Mechanical Engineering
K.J. Somaiya Polytechnic Vidyanagar, Vidya Vihar, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to SBTET, Maharashtra		Mechanical Engineering
Kiran Patel Education Trust's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Polytechnic S.V.P. Vidyalaya Plot No. 942-A, I.C. Colony Link Road, Borivli(W), Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to SBTET, Maharashtra		Industrial Electronic & Telecommun-ication
L & T Institute of Technology C/o Larsen & Toubro Limited, Post Box No. 8975, Saki Vihar Road, Powai Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to SBTET, Maharashtra		Mechanical Engineering

Engineering Colleges In Mumbai
Name & Address	Activity	Phone & Email	Course offered
Lokmanya Tilak Jankalyan Shikshan Sanstha's College of Technology Vikas Nagar, Sector-4, Koparkh Airane, New Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University		Electrical Engineering
Mahatma Gandhi Mission's College of Engineering Kamothe, Navi Mumbai	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University	Ph: 27423403 Web: www.mgmmumbai. ac.in	Degree Courses: Bio-Medical Engg. (60), Chemical Enging (60), Civil Engg. (60), Computer Engg. (90), Electronics & Tele-Comm. Engg. (60), IT (40)
Mahavir Education Society's Shah & Anchor Kutchi Engineering College Shivaji Maharaja Chowk, Waman Tukara Patil Marg, Chembur, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University	Ph: 022-25580854 Email: mail@shahandanchor. com Web: www.shahandanchor. com	Computer Science & Engineering
Manjara Charitable Trust College of Engineering Sector-4, P.B. No.-14, Airoli, New Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University		Computer Science & Engineering
Manohar Pahalke Memorial Foundation's Polytechnic Eastern Express Highway, Sion-Chuna Bhatti Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to SBTET, Maharashtra		Information Technology
Maratha Mandir's Babasaheb Gawde Institute of Technology Maratha Mandir Building, IIIrd Floor, Mumbai Central, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to SBTET, Maharashtra		Information Technology
Multipurpose Education Society's Radio Electrical Institute Lamington Chambers, Bhadkamkar Road, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to SBTET, Maharashtra		Electronics & Video Engineering
Nagar Yuwak Shikshan Sanstha's College of Engineering Plot No. 98, P. B. No -15, Sector -III, CIDCO Colony, Airoli, New Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University	Ph: 27691662	Civil Engg. (90), Chemical Engg. (60), Computer Engg. (120), Electronics Engg. (120), Mech. Engg. (60), IT(60)
Ramarao Adik Education Society's Ramarao Adik Institute of Technology Phase-1, Sector-7, D.Y. Patil Vidyanagar, Nerul, Navi Mumbai, District - Pune Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University	Ph: 022-27709505/ 574 Web: www.dypatil. com	Degree Courses: Instrumental Engg. (60), Elect. and Telecomm. (90), IT (60)
Rizvi Education Society's Rizvi College of Engineering Rizvi House, 1st Floor, On Off Hill Road, St. Martin Road, Bandra(W), Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University		Electronics Engineering

Engineering Colleges In Mumbai
Name & Address	Activity	Phone & Email	Course offered
Shri Vile Parle Kelvani Mandal's College of Engineering Plot No. U-15, J.V.P.D. Scheme, Bhaktivedanta Swami Marg, Vile Parle(W), Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University		Electronics & Communication Engineering
Smt. Indira Gandhi Engineering College, CIDCO, Sec-16, Koper khairane, New Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University	Ph: 022-27543608 Web:www.sigce.net	Degree Courses: Computer Engg. (60), Electrical Engg. (60), Electronics & Tele-Comm. Engg.(60), Instrumentation Engineering (60)
St. Francis Institute of Technology Mt Poinsur Borivili (West), Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University	Ph: 28928585, Fax:28924787 Email: sfitlib@vsnl. com	Computer Science & Engineering
Terna Engineering College CBD, Sector-12, Phase-II, Nerul, New Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University	Ph:-022-27718134 Web: www.terna.org	Degree Courses: Computer Engg. (90), Electronics Engg.(60), Electronics & Telecomm. (90), IT (60)
Thadomal Shahni Engineering College 32nd Road, T.P.S. -III, Bandra, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University	Email: -tsec@tsec.edu	Chemical Engineering
Thakur College of Engineering & Technology Thakur Village, East of Western Express Highway Kandivali(E) , Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to University of Mumbai	Ph: 28461891, Email:- tcet@thakureducatio n.org Web: www.thakureducation .org	BE Courses: Computer (60), Electronics & Telecom (60), IT (120)
University Department of Chemical Technology Matunga, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University		Textile Chemistry
V.J.T. Institute H.R. Mahajani Marg, Matunga(East) , Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University	Ph: 022-4146972, 73747576 Email: principal@vjti. ac.in Web: www.vjti.ac. in	BE Coures: Civil (60), Electronics Engg.(60), Mech. Engg. (60), Prod. Engin. (40), Textile Engg. (20)
Vidyalankar Institute of Technology Indian Home Pipe Road, Antop Hill, Wadala (E), Mumbai-37	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University	Ph: 24761126 Web: www.vidyalankar. ac.in	BE Courses: Compute (60), Electronics (60), IT (60)
Vivekand Education Society's College of Engineering Chembur, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University	Ph: 022-5227638, 5227864 Web: www.vesit.edu	Degree Courses: Comp. Engg. (60), Electronics Engg.(60), Electronics & TeleComm. Engg (60), Instrumentation Engg. (60), IT (60)

Engineering Colleges In Mumbai
Name & Address	Activity	Phone & Email	Course offered
Watumal Institute of Electronics Engineering & Computer Technology 47, Dr. R.G. Thadani Marg, Worli, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering Affiliated to Bombay University	Ph: 24935281 Web:www.watumull. edu	Degree Courses: Electronics & Telecomm. Engg. (60), Computer Sc. Engg. (60), Instrumentation Engg.(30), Biomedical Engg. (60)
Naval Institute of Technology 4 Pasta Lane, Colaba, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering SBTET, Maharashtra		Electronics & Tele Communication Engineering
Navjeevan Education Society's Polytechnic Ganesh Nagar, Ganesh Path, Bandup, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering SBTET, Maharashtra		Information Technology
Premlila Vithaldas Polytechnic S.N.D.T. Women's University, Sir Vithaldas Vidya Vihar, Juhu Road, Santacruz(W) , Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering SBTET, Maharashtra		Optholmic Technology
Shri Vile Parle Kelvani Mandal's Shri Bhagubhai Mafatlal Polytechnic Irla Juhu Road, Vile Parle(W), Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering SBTET, Maharashtra		Plastic Engineering
Silk & Art Mills Research Ass. (Sasmira's) Institute of Man-Made Textiles Dr. A.B. Road Worli, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering SBTET, Maharashtra		Manmade Firbe Manufacturing
Sophia Shree Basant Kumar Somani Memorial Polytechnic Bhulabhai Desai Road, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering SBTET, Maharashtra		Dress Making & Designing
St. Xaviers Technology Institute Mahim Casueway Road, Mahim, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering SBTET, Maharashtra		Electronics & Video Engineering
Terna P. Charitable Trust Terna Polytechnic Sector-1, Kopark-Hairane, Thane Belapur Road, Navi Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering SBTET, Maharashtra		Electronics & Tele Communication Engineering
Vivekanand Education Society's Polytechnic Sindhi Society, Chembur, Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering SBTET, Maharashtra		Electronics & Video Engineering
Zagdu Singh Charitable Trust's Polytechnic Ashok Nagar, Kandivili (E), Mumbai Maharashtra	Engineering SBTET, Maharashtra		Mechanical Engineerin

Start Programs using Run Commands

2008-12-28T20:02:00.000-08:00

These are some tips to run the program quickly. This commands will work in Start -> Run. Open the Run and type these commands to get start your programs quickly.

Run Commands

Appwiz.cpl -- Used to run Add/Remove wizard

Calc --Calculator

Cfgwiz32 --ISDN Configuration Wizard

Charmap --Character Map

Chkdisk --Repair damaged files

Cleanmgr --Cleans up hard drives

Clipbrd --Windows Clipboard viewer

Control --Displays Control Panel

Cmd --Opens a new Command Window

Control mouse --Used to control mouse properties

Dcomcnfg --DCOM user security

Debug --Assembly language programming tool

Defrag --Defragmentation tool

Drwatson --Records programs crash & snapshots

Dxdiag --DirectX Diagnostic Utility

Explorer --Windows Explorer

Fontview --Graphical font viewer

Fsmgmt.msc -- Used to open shared folders

Firewall.cpl -- Used to configure windows firewall

Ftp -FTP.exe program

Hostname --Returns Computer's name

Hdwwiz.cpl -- Used to run Add Hardware wizard

Ipconfig --Displays IP configuration for all network adapters

Logoff -- Used to logoff the computer

MMC --Microsoft Management Console

Msconfig --Configuration to edit startup files

Mstsc -- Used to access remote desktop

Mrc -- Malicious Software Removal Tool

Msinfo32 --Microsoft System Information Utility

Nbtstat --Displays stats and current connections using NetBIOS over TCP/IP

Netstat --Displays all active network connections

Nslookup--Returns your local DNS server

Osk ---Used to access on screen keyboard

Perfmon.msc -- Used to configure the performance of Monitor.

Ping --Sends data to a specified host/IP

Powercfg.cpl -- Used to configure power option

Regedit --Registry Editor

Regwiz -- Registration wizard

Sfc /scannow -- System File Checker

Sndrec32 --Sound Recorder

Shutdown -- Used to shutdown the windows

Spider -- Used to open spider solitaire card game

Sfc / scannow -- Used to run system file checker utility.

Sndvol32 --Volume control for soundcard

Sysedit -- Edit system startup files

Taskmgr --Task manager

Telephon.cpl -- Used to configure modem options.

Telnet --Telnet program

Tracert --Traces and displays all paths required to reach an Internet host

Winchat -- Used to chat with Microsoft

Wmplayer -- Used to run Windows Media player

Wab -- Used to open Windows address Book.

WinWord -- Used to open Microsoft word

Winipcfg --Displays IP configuration

Winver -- Used to check Windows Version

Wupdmgr --Takes you to Microsoft Windows Update

Write -- Used to open WordPad

Please use these commands if you know what you are going to do

How to configure LAN

2008-12-21T20:13:00.001-08:00

Hi,

Greetings from your friend. I am going to tell you how to configure the LAN settings in various Operating Systems. First how to configure in Windows 98 and in Windows NT and then Windows XP. This will help you to configure in your Office or in your Home.

First in Windows 98.

1. Click Start the Control Panel via the Start menu.

2. Open the "Network" Control Panel.

3. This is the Network Control Panel window. You may have many more items showing. Look for this one:

PCI Ethernet DECchip 21041 Based Adapter" width="284" height="18">

If not, look for this one:

If you don't see either of them, click the [Add...] button and read on.

4a. If you don't have the PCI DECchip 21041 Based Adapter, select "Adapter" and click [Add...] in this window

4b. Select "Digital Equipment" in the left column, then "PCI Ethernet DECchip 21041 Based Adapter" in the right hand column. Click [ OK ].

5a. You're back to this window. Now that you have the DECchip 21041 adapter installed, select "Protocol" and click [Add...]

5b. Hold your nose, select "Microsoft" in the left column, then "TCP/IP" in the right. Then click [ OK ]. Now you can breathe again.

5c. You will notice that there is now a TCP/IP protocol for every adapter. You want this one

PCI Ethernet DECchip 21041 Based Adapter" width="284" height="18">

but there's one other setting to check before you work with it. Read on...

You may be able to delete the others, but you do so at your own risk.

6. Click on

then click [Properties]

Be careful what you click! You must select the adapter itself, not its protocol, for this step!

6b. Select the |Bindings| tab, make sure the box shown is checked, then click [ OK ].

7. Select

PCI Ethernet DECchip 21041 Based Adapter" width="284" height="18">

then click [Properties]

Yeah, Windows is just like a Mac. Sure.

If you have a TCP/IP Address give it in under the option called Specify an IP address on clicking this the two text box will be enabled under this you can type the IP address and Subnet Mask.

This is the simple procedure to configure the LAN in Office or in your Home. I hope this information will help you configure the LAN.

AIX Fast Connect

Configuring Client PCs

Use the information in this chapter to connect a PC client to the AIX Fast Connect server.

TCP/IP Configuration

To access the AIX Fast Connect server, each client PC must be configured for NetBIOS over TCP/IP (RFC1001/1002), or must support direct hosting of SMB over TCP/IP (see Microsoft® Knowledge Base article 204279). Also, each client PC needs to have Client for Microsoft Networks installed. This can be accomplished for the various clients as shown in the following sections.

Windows 98 Clients

To configure Windows® 98 clients to access the AIX Fast Connect server, follow these steps:

From the Start button, select Settings -> Control Panel -> Network.
On the Configuration tabbed panel (initially shown), verify that the following entries exist:
- An entry for your networking-card (hardware driver)
- TCP/IP (protocol)
- Client for Microsoft Networks (client)
If any entry is missing, add it from your Windows installation media.
Click the TCP/IP entry and select Properties.
The TCP/IP Properties dialog box has several tabbed panels. Verify the following:
IP Address panel
Configure as needed. (For initial testing, you might want to disable DHCP and manually specify unique IP addresses for each PC.)
Bindings panel
Select Client for Microsoft Networks.

Additionally, you might want to enable WINS support, DNS support, or gateway support for each client. If so, configure each as needed.
Test the client TCP/IP configuration by pinging (by IP address) from the PC client DOS prompt to the AIX Fast Connect server, and in reverse.

Windows NT Clients

To configure Windows NT® clients to access the AIX Fast Connect server, follow these steps:

Note:

You must be logged in as an Administrator.

From the Start button, select Settings -> Control Panel -> Network.
On the Adapters tabbed panel, verify that you have a correctly configured entry for your networking card (hardware driver).
On the Services tabbed panel, verify that there are entries for the following services:
- Computer Browser
- NetBIOS Interface
- Workstation
If any entry is missing, add it from your Windows NT CD.
On the Protocols panel, add TCP/IP (if missing), then select Properties.
The TCP/IP Properties dialog box has several tabbed panels. Verify the following:
IP Address panel
Configure as needed. (For initial testing, you might want to disable DHCP and manually specify unique IP addresses for each PC.)

You might also want to configure DNS, WINS Address, and Routing.
Test the client TCP/IP configuration by pinging (by IP address) from the PC client DOS prompt to the AIX Fast Connect server and in reverse.

Windows XP, Windows 2003, and Windows 2000 Clients

To configure Windows 2000/XP/2003 clients to access the AIX Fast Connect server, follow these steps:

Note:

You must be logged in as an Administrator.

From the Control Panel, open Network and Dialup Connections (Windows 2000) or Network Connections (Windows XP/2003).
Right-click on the Local Area Connection icon of the network adapter to be configured. Select Properties.
On the General tabbed panel, verify that there are checked entries for the following components:
- Your networking card entry (Windows 2000)
- Client for Microsoft Networks
- Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
If any entry is missing, add it from your Windows CD.
Select the TCP/IP entry, then select Properties. Configure as needed.
(For initial testing, you may want to disable DHCP and manually specify unique IP addresses for each PC.)
Test the client TCP/IP configuration by pinging (by IP address) from the PC client DOS prompt to the AIX Fast Connect server and in reverse.

NetBIOS Name Resolution

In addition to being able to ping the AIX Fast Connect server over TCP/IP, each client PC also must be able to resolve the NetBIOS name of the AIX Fast Connect server (the AIX Fast Connect servername) to an IP address. This can be done using UDP-Broadcast, LMHOSTS files, DNS, or WINS.

UDP-Broadcast (B-node)

The simplest NetBIOS name resolution (both in terms of setup and functionality) is UDP-Broadcast (B-node name resolution). No additional setup is required on the PC client as long as the client is on the same physical network segment (such as Ethernet or Token Ring) as the AIX Fast Connect server. The PC client broadcasts a UDP NetBIOS query to the local network, to which the AIX Fast Connect server responds.

Note:

This mechanism does not work across TCP/IP routers, or gateways. Larger networks typically use DNS or WINS.

LMHOSTS files

Windows PCs can provide local LMHOSTS files for resolving NetBIOS names. Similar to /etc/hosts on AIX, each PC can have an LMHOSTS file to statically resolve NetBIOS names to IP addresses. (This mechanism might be unsuitable for DHCP environments or networks with many client PCs, because every LMHOSTS file must change whenever the AIX Fast Connect servers' IP addresses change.)

The following is an example of editing an LMHOSTS file on Windows 98 from the DOS prompt:

C:\>  cd \windows
C:\>  edit lmhosts     (LMHOSTS.SAM is included with Windows as an example.)

On a Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows 2003 machine, do the following:

C:\> cd \winnt\system32\drivers\etc
C:\> edit lmhosts

After editing the LMHOSTS file, run the Windows PC command nbtstat -R.

DNS

If your network is running the domain name service (DNS) for TCP/IP and your AIX Fast Connect servername is registered in the DNS, each client PC can be configured to use DNS for NetBIOS name resolution. (This must be enabled under TCP/IP Properties for Windows NT.)

During installation, the AIX Fast Connect servername defaults to match the AIX hostname.

WINS

Your Windows network might use Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) for NetBIOS name resolution. Similar to DNS for TCP/IP, WINS allows NetBIOS service names to be resolved to IP addresses across multiple LAN segments. When this is the case, each Client PC is configured to use the WINS server under TCP/IP Properties.

Additionally, use the SMIT fast path smit smbcfghatt to set the WINS Address entry and Backup WINS Server for the AIX Fast Connect server. The AIX Fast Connect server uses these IP addresses to automatically register its NetBIOS server name with the WINS servers.

You can configure one or more AIX Fast Connect servers to act as NBNS/WINS servers. For more information, see NetBIOS Name Service (NBNS).

At this point, if you have LMHOSTS, DNS, or WINS correctly configured, you can ping from the client PC by using the NetBIOS server name.

Workgroups, Domains, and User Accounts

AIX Fast Connect supports several different types of user authentication/access mechanisms. (See User Administration and Basic Server Administration.) Each client PC should be configured to match the AIX Fast Connect user-access method you have chosen for your network.

For ease of use, client PCs should be in the same Windows domain as the AIX Fast Connect server (the reverse is also true). Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP all use WORKGROUP as a default workgroup name, and AIX Fast Connect server also initializes itself to use WORKGROUP. If your network uses NT domain login authentication, you can configure the AIX Fast Connect server to verify AIX Fast Connect access using the NT domain authentication servers.

Whether you use Workgroups or NT domains, access to AIX Fast Connect is managed by user security. You must set up AIX user accounts for each Windows user who is accessing AIX Fast Connect. It is easiest to use if the user accounts (and passwords) on AIX match the Windows or NT domain user accounts (and passwords).

On the AIX Fast Connect server, use the SMIT fast path:
```
smit smbcfghatt
```
Within the SMIT panel, do the following:
- To use Workgroups, type the workgroup name in the Domain Name field.
- To use NT domain validation, type the IP addresses for the NT domain authentication server(s) in the Passthrough Authentication Server and Backup Passthrough Authentication Server fields.
On PC clients running Windows 98, do the following:
1. Select Start button -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Network.
2. On the Identification panel, type the computer name for that PC.
3. Configure the domain:
  - To use workgroups, type the workgroup name in the Workgroup field.
  - To use NT domain validation,
    1. On the Configuration tabbed panel, select Client for Microsoft Networks, and click Properties.
    2. Check the NT domain checkbox, and type the NT domain name. (To join an NT domain, you must have Domain Administrator privileges.)
On PC clients running Windows NT, make sure you are logged in as Administrator. Then:
1. Select Start button -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Network.
2. On the Identification panel, select Change... .
3. Type the Computer Name for that PC.
4. Type the appropriate workgroup or domain name. (To join an NT domain, you must have Domain Administrator privileges.)
On PC clients running Windows 2000, make sure you are logged in as Administrator. Then:
1. Select Start button -> Settings -> Control Panel -> System.
2. On the Network Identification panel, select Properties.
3. Type the Computer Name for that PC.
4. Type the appropriate workgroup or domain name. (To join an NT domain, you must have Domain Administrator privileges.)
On PC clients running Windows XP or Windows 2003, make sure you are logged in as Administrator. Then follow these steps:
1. From the Control Panel, choose System.
2. On the Computer Name panel, select Change.
3. Type the computer name for that PC.
4. Type the appropriate workgroup or domain name. (To join an NT domain, you must have Domain Administrator privileges).

Enabling Windows Clients for Plain Text Passwords

For security reasons, Microsoft has disabled support for nonencrypted (plain text) network passwords in all supported versions of Windows. If you want to use plain text passwords on your network, these clients must be upgraded with the following Registry patches.

Note:

Microsoft has recommended the current System Registry be saved as a backup before any manual changes are made to it. For details, see Microsoft's technet web site.

To enable plain text passwords on Windows 98, complete the following:
1. Use your favorite text editor to create the following text file, named W98plain.reg, as a local file on the Windows 98 machine:
```
REGEDIT4

; Registry file to allow plaintext passwords on Windows 98

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\VNETSUP]
"EnablePlainTextPassword"=dword:00000001
```
2. Using Windows Explorer, double-click the W98plain.reg file name in the directory where you saved it. This action will update the Windows Registry for that client to allow plain text passwords.
3. Shut down and restart the Windows 98 machine. (Shut down and restart is required for this patch to take effect.)
To enable plain text passwords on Windows NT 4.0, log in as Administrator. Then:
1. Use EDIT or the NOTEPAD accessory to create the following text file, named NT4plain.reg, as a local file on the Windows NT machine:
```
REGEDIT4

; Registry file to allow plaintext passwords on Windows NT 4.0

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Rdr\Parameters]
EnablePlainTextPassword=dword:00000001
```
2. Using Windows NT Explorer, double-click the NT4plain.reg file name in the directory where you saved it. This action will update the Windows Registry for that client to allow plain text passwords.
3. Shut down and restart the Windows NT machine. (Shut down and restart is required for this patch to take effect.)
Note:

Even with the previous patch installed, all Windows NT 4.0 clients still require users to type their password every time the user first connects to the AIX Fast Connect server (by browsing, mapping drives, and so on). After the user is successfully connected, additional browsing or drive-mapping operations proceed successfully. The initial Password Invalid message occurs because Windows NT 4.0 attempts to use encrypted passwords rather than plain text passwords, while connecting to AIX Fast Connect server.
To enable plain text passwords on Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003, log in as Administrator. Then:
1. From the Control Panel, open Administrative Tools, then open Local Security Policy.
2. On the Tree view, select Local_Policies -> Security_Options.
3. On the Policy list (right-hand panel), enable the entry Send unencrypted password to connect to third-party SMB servers.
4. Shut down and restart the Windows machine

Browsing the Network

AIX Fast Connect supports browser operations such as NET VIEW and Network Neighborhood (renamed My Network Places on Windows XP and Windows 2000). These operations show the user a list of file shares and printer shares exported by each server.

Network Neighborhood can also be used to map drives. To do this, right-click on a file share name, then select Map Network Drive from the menu.

Note:

Network browsing has the following limitations:

To see the AIX Fast Connect server in Network Neighborhood, a client PC needs to be able to see the Master Browser for the workgroup or domain for which that AIX Fast Connect server is configured.
Network browsing generally works best if the client PC and the AIX Fast Connect server are in the same workgroup/domain.
The browse list database that is maintained by the Master Browser is not always up-to-date. The list can show AIX Fast Connect server names for servers that are currently down, off, physically disconnected, or otherwise unreachable. The Master Browser does not delete a server from the browse list until that server name's refresh timeout has expired, which can take several days. However, if a user tries to access that server name (by browsing share names, mapping drives, and so on), a disconnected AIX Fast Connect server is detected as unavailable.

Mapping Drives

Normally, PC clients must define drive mappings to use the AIX Fast Connect exported file shares. These drive mappings can be done from Windows or from the DOS command prompt.

You can use the following mechanisms to define or undefine mappings between PC drive letters and AIX Fast Connect file shares. For the following examples, assume that the NetBIOS server name is cifs01, and that file share apps is defined.

From DOS:

DOS> net help                     (help info for DOS)
DOS> net use H: \\cifs01\home     (pre-defined AIX Fast Connect share)
DOS> net use F: \\cifs01\apps
DOS> copy F:\oldfile H:\newfile   (uses the mapped drives)
DOS> net use F: /delete           (delete the drive-mapping)

From Windows:

In the Map Network Drive dialog box:
- Select Windows Explorer -> Tools -> Map Network Drive.
  -or-
- Right-click on Network Neighborhood and select Map Network Drive.
Select the drive from the Drive: drop-down list, then:
- Enter the path: (for example, \\cifs01\apps).
  -or-
- Use the Shared Directories (browse tree) panel to select the network share.

Using AIX Fast Connect Printers

For printing, DOS and Windows mappings are somewhat different. For the following examples, assume that AIX Fast Connect server cifs01 has print shares netprint1 and pscolor defined.

For DOS applications, the following simple device-mappings can be used:

DOS> net use LPT1: \\cifs01\netprint1
DOS> net use LPT2: \\cifs01\pscolor

To test these DOS printer-mappings, use the following:

DOS> COPY text_file LPT1:
DOS> COPY Postscript_file LPT2:

Note:

During print-spooling, neither DOS nor AIX Fast Connect auto-convert Postscript to text, or in reverse. However, this auto-detection/auto-convert feature can be enabled using AIX print-spooling options.

For Windows applications, install a Windows printer driver and map it to the network printer, as follows:

Select Start -> Settings -> Printers -> Add Printer.
Select Network Printer.
Enter the AIX Fast Connect print share name (for example, \\cifs01\netprint1) or use the browse list to select the print share.
Select the correct Windows printer driver for that network printer (for example, IBM® 4039 Laser Printer PS), which is installed from your Windows installation disks.

Test Windows printer-driver functionality by printing a test file from any Windows application (for example, Notepad), or by using the Print Test Page feature as follows:

Select Start -> Settings -> Printers.
Select the printer driver (for example, pscolor).
From the Menu Bar, select File -> Properties.
From the tabbed panel labeled General, select Print Test Page.

Note:

For windows 98 and NT clients, AIX Fast Connect supports displaying the full name of the document being printed (in the client's print status window). For other clients, a generated name will be displayed.

Support for Windows Terminal Server

AIX Fast Connect is compatible with the Windows Terminal Server program. This program allows multiple PC clients running Windows Terminal Client software to log in to the Windows Terminal Server and establish a remote console session. Any network drive (or network printer) mapping made within that console session is forwarded by Windows Terminal Server to other NetBIOS servers, as required.

Windows Terminal Server (and other similar terminal-server programs) must accommodate multiple net mappings by multiple user names coming from multiple client PCs. Windows Terminal Server (and other terminal servers) can multiplex these requests to AIX Fast Connect using the following mechanisms:

Multiple TCP/IP sessions (from a single Windows Terminal Server PC) to AIX Fast Connect
Multiple SMB sessions multiplexed into a single TCP/IP session

To enable Windows Terminal Server support, set multiuserlogin=1.

If either Network Logon support or NT-passthrough authentication is enabled, Windows Terminal Server is not supported.

For specific information about setup and use of Windows Terminal Server and Windows Terminal Client, see your Windows Terminal Server documentation.

Support for Windows Active Directory Server

AIX Fast Connect can use the AIX LDAP client (ldap.client.rte) to access a Windows Active Directory Server. The cifsLdap command allows AIX Fast Connect to register and unregister its file share names and print share names into the Windows Active Directory. For more information, see the cifsLdap command.

Configuring LAN Manager authentication level

By default, AIX® Fast Connect supports the LM (LAN Manager) authentication only. AIX Fast Connect can be configured to support NTLM (NT LAN Manager) authentication instead by enabling the lm_encryption_level parameter (For details, see Appendix B. Configurable Parameters for the net Command). Most Windows clients will support either LM or NTLM authentication methods by default.

Windows 2003 clients must be specifically configured to support LM authentication.

From the Control Panel, open Administrative Tools, then open Local Security Policy.
On the tree view, select Local Policies -> Security Options.
On the Policy list (right-hand panel), set the LAN Manager authentication level to Send LM & NTLM responses.
Shut down and restart the Windows machine

Hope this will help you to Configure in AIX

Cloning with Linux

2008-12-19T20:20:00.000-08:00

These are the simple tips for Cloning with Linux and this tips helps you to configuration with Command-line switches.

This chapter includes the following topics:
■ Supported configurations
■ Position of disk
■ Boot configuration
■ Norton Ghost utility support

Supported configurations

Norton Ghost can copy or clone many different Linux distributions successfully.
However, Norton Ghost is sensitive to any possible changes in Ext2/3 file system
and LILO specifications. If changes are made to these specifications, Norton
Ghost may no longer support the Linux distribution. Symantec attempts to
release new builds of Ghost promptly to address such changes.

Norton Ghost is not sensitive to kernel versions. Use the -ial and -nolilo
command-line switches to resolve problems with any incompatibilities.

What is Command- line switches

Command-line switches
Using Norton Ghost with swtches

Norton Ghost can be run in the following ways:

■ Interactively with no command-line switches
■ Interactively with selected switches
■ Automated in batch files (batch mode)

The Norton Ghost command-line switches are used to alter Norton Ghost
behavior and automate procedures.

If you are adding switches from the Advanced Options dialog box, some of these
switches, for example, the -clone switch, are not applicable to your task. Because
you are already performing a backup, restore, or clone operation, the -clone
switch is redundant.

To list Norton Ghost command-line switches

◆ In the Ghost directory, type one of the following:

■ ghost.exe -h
■ ghost.exe -?

A hyphen (-) or a slash (/) must precede all switches except @. Switches are not
case sensitive. They can be entered in upper, lower, or mixed case.

Command-line switches

@filename

Specifies a file that contains additional command-line switches that Norton Ghost should
read. Filename indicates the path and file name of the command-line switch file. The
command-line switch file can include any Norton Ghost command-line switch, except for
-afile and -dfile. The Norton Ghost command-line switch file must be a text file with each
switch on a separate line. This feature lets you exceed the DOS command-line limit of 150
characters.

For example, for the following command line:
ghost.exe @ghswitch.txt

The file Ghswitch.txt would read:

-clone,mode=pcreate,src=1:2,dst=g:\part2.gho

-fcr

-sure

-afile=filename Replaces the default abort error log file name, Ghosterr.txt, with the
directory and file given in filename.

-auto Automatically names spanned image files during creation. Using this switch avoids the
user prompt that asks for confirmation of the next destination location for the remainder
of the image file that is being loaded. This switch is the default behavior for Norton Ghost.

-batch Batch mode switch. Prevents abort messages from waiting for user
acknowledgment, and removes user interaction prompts. The return value of Ghost.exe
must be checked to identify whether the operation was successful. Norton Ghost returns 0
on success and 1 or higher on failure or error.

-bfc Handles bad FAT clusters when writing to disk. If this switch is set, and the target
partition is FAT, Norton Ghost checks for and works around bad sectors. This option may
slow Norton Ghost operation substantially.

-bootcd When writing an image directly to a CD/DVD writer, makes the CD/DVD bootable. You
need a bootable floppy disk in drive A. If you use the -sure switch with -bootcd, and a
floppy disk is not in drive A, then a non-bootable CD/DVD is created.

-buffersize=x Ghost creates an image file using a small buffer where x = number of KB. The size
of the buffer is automatically calculated by Norton Ghost. The buffersize switch lets you
override this size. You can set the buffer size value from 1 to 32.

-chkimg,filename Checks the integrity of the image file indicated by filename.

-clone Ghost.exe operation switch. This switch allows automation of Ghost.exe operations and
has a series of arguments that define the operation parameters.
See “Clone switch usage” on page 166.

-cns Reverts the naming of spanned files to the system used by versions of Norton Ghost prior
to Symantec Ghost 6.5. If this switch is not used, then the naming of spanned files
conforms to Microsoft application guidelines. You do not need to use this switch when
reading an existing file. Use this switch when the first five characters in a file name must be
unique. For example:

With -cns Without -cns

Filename.gho Filename.gho

Filename.001 Filen001.ghs

Filename.002 Filen002.ghs

-CRC32

The -CRC32 switch lets you make a list of the files on a disk or partition or create an
image file with CRC values and then verify the list against the original or a copy. The
purpose is to allow both quick listing of the contents of an image file and verification that
a disk created by Norton Ghost contains the same files as the original.

-crcignore

Ignores CRC errors. CRC errors indicate data corruption. This switch overrides the CRC
error detection and may let a corrupted image file be used. Using this switch leaves the
corrupted files in an unknown state. You can use this switch to help you extract files from
a corrupted image file.

-cvtarea

Creates a file, Cvtarea.tmp, that is the location of the MFT when the FAT32 partition is
converted to NTFS. This switch operates in a similar manner to the cvtarea program that
Microsoft provides in Deploy.cab on the Windows XP installation CD.

For more information, see the Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/tech/storage/ntfs-preinstall.asp

The file is created in the root directory of the partition during a partition or disk restore
and is created as a contiguous space on the disk. The largest size allowed is 4 GB. If the file
is larger than this, it is truncated to 4 GB.
The syntax for this switch is as follows:

-cvtarea,

filename=xxx,size=yyy{%disk,%free,KB,MB,GB},
firstcluster=zzz{%disk,%free,KB,MB,GB}
filename cvtarea.tmp
size 12%disk
firstcluster 1|3 GB|33%disk

Defaults to:
■ 1/3 of the partition size if the partition size is less than 2 GB
■ 1 GB if the partition size is less than 6 GB
■ 3 GB if the partition size is equal to or greater than 6 GB

-dd

Dumps disk metrics information to the dump log file, Ghststat.txt. The file location can be
altered using the -dfile=filename switch.

-dfile=filename Changes the path and file name of the dump log file created using the -dd switch.

This switch cannot be included in the @ Ghost switch text file
Command-line switches 157
Command-line switches

-dl=number Specifies the number of hard disks present. Valid numbers are between 1 and 8. This may help when the BIOS does not report the number of drives correctly.

-dlist=drives Specifies a list of drives to search for span files. If a span file cannot be found, then the drive letters in dlist are substituted one by one to look for the file on other drives.
For example, the command ghost -dlist=CDEFG instructs Norton Ghost to look for files
on C, D, E, F, and G drives. The path remains the same.

-f32
Lets Norton Ghost convert all FAT16 volumes to FAT32 volumes when the destination
partition to convert is larger than 256 MB in size. Ensure that the installed operating
systems can access the volumes that will be converted to support FAT32.

-f64
Lets Norton Ghost resize FAT16 partitions to be larger than 2047 MB using 64 K clusters.
This is only supported by Windows NT and Windows 2000. Do not use on computers
with other operating systems

-fatlimit

Limits the size of FAT16 partitions to 2047 MB. Useful when Windows NT FAT16
partitions are present on the disk and 64 K clusters are not wanted

-fcr

Creates a CRC32 file, Ghost.crc, while creating an image file.
See “-CRC32 switch usage” on page 172.

-fdsp

Preserves the signature bytes on the destination disk when performing a disk-to-disk or
image-to-disk cloning operation

-fdsz

Clears the signature bytes on the destination disk when performing a disk-to-disk or
image-to-disk cloning operation.

-femax

When an extended partition is created in a disk-to-disk or image-to-disk operation, the
femax switch ensures that the extended partition takes up all free space.

-ffatid

Forces the FAT partition id. This switch changes the partition id to the recommended
partition id for the FAT partition within the destination image file or the destination
partition table. This switch only takes effect if the source is a disk or partition, not an
image file.

For example, if you are cloning a partition of type 0xA0 (some unknown partition id), and
Norton Ghost sees it as a valid FATx (FAT12/FAT16/FAT32) partition, then the partition id
is changed from 0xA0 to FATx.

This was default Norton Ghost behavior before Symantec Ghost 7.5. This switch allows
for backward compatibility.

-ffi

Prefers the use of direct IDE access for IDE hard disk operations. This switch does not
have any effect when running Norton Ghost in Windows 98.

-ffs

Prefers the use of direct ASPI/SCSI disk access for SCSI hard disk operations.

-ffx

Prefers the use of Extended Interrupt 13h disk access for hard disk operations.

-finger

Shows the fingerprint details written on a hard disk created by Norton Ghost. The
fingerprint details include the process used to create the disk or partition and the time,
date, and disk on which the operation was performed.

-fis

Uses all available disk space when creating partitions. By default, Norton Ghost often
leaves a small amount of free space at the end of the disk. Because partitions must be
aligned to cylinder boundaries, Norton Ghost may leave up to 5 MB free even when -fis is
specified.

-fni

Disables direct IDE access support for IDE hard disk operations.
This switch has the same functionality as the -noide switch.

-fns

Disables direct ASPI/SCSI access support for SCSI hard disk operations.
This switch has the same functionality as the -noscsi switch.

-fnx

Disables extended INT13 support for hard disk operations.

-fro

Forces Norton Ghost to continue cloning even if the source contains bad clusters.

-fx

Causes Norton Ghost to exit to DOS after operation completion. By default, Norton Ghost
prompts the user to restart or exit when the operation has finished. If Norton Ghost is run
as part of a batch file, it is sometimes useful to exit back to the DOS prompt after
completion so that further batch commands can be processed.

-ghostoncd

Includes Ghost.exe on a CD/DVD when writing an image to a CD/DVD.
-h or -? or -help Shows the Norton Ghost command-line switch Help page.
-ia The image all switch forces Norton Ghost to perform a sector-by-sector copy of all
partitions. When copying a partition from a disk to an image file or to another disk,
Norton Ghost examines the source partition and decides whether to copy just the files and
directory structure, or to do a sector-by-sector copy. If it understands the internal format
of the partition, it defaults to copying the files and directory structure. Generally this is the
best option. However, if a disk has been set up with special hidden security files that are in
specific positions on the partition, the only way to reproduce them accurately on the
target partition is through a sector-by-sector copy. If you use this switch to create an
image of a dynamic disk, then the image must be restored to a disk with identical
geometry.

-ial

Forces a sector-by-sector copy of Linux partitions. Other partitions are copied as normal.

-ib

The image boot switch copies the entire boot track, including the boot sector, when
creating a disk image file or copying disk-to-disk. Use this switch when installed
applications, such as boot-time utilities, use the boot track to store information. By
default, Norton Ghost copies only the boot sector, and does not copy the remainder of the
boot track. You cannot perform partition-to-partition or partition-to-image functions
with the -ib switch.

-id

The image disk switch is similar to -ia (image all), but also copies the boot track, as in -ib
(image boot), extended partition tables, and unpartitioned space on the disk. When
looking at an image with -id, you see the unpartitioned space and extended partitions in
the list of partitions. The -id switch is primarily used by law enforcement agencies that
require forensic images.

When Norton Ghost restores from an -id image, it relocates partitions to cylinder
boundaries and adjusts partition tables accordingly. Head, sector, and cylinder
information in partition tables is adjusted to match the geometry of the destination disk.
Partitions are not resizeable. You will need an identical or larger disk than the original.
Norton Ghost does not wipe the destination disk when restoring from an -id image.
Geometry differences between disks may leave tracks on the destination disk with their
previous contents.

Use the -ia (image all) switch instead of the -id switch when copying partition-to-partition
or partition-to-image. An individual partition can be restored from an image created with

-id.

-imgdesc

Adds a single-line image file description to the image file. This has the following
restrictions:

■ Cannot include any new lines
■ Cannot be used with -imgdescfile
■ Must be used with the clone switch
■ Clone switch mode must be create, dump, prcreate, or pdump

-imgdescfile

Specifies a text file that contains an image file description to be added to the image file.

This has the following restrictions:
■ Cannot be used with -imgdesc
■ Must be used with the clone switch
■ Clone switch mode must be create, dump, prcreate, or pdump

-ir

The image raw switch copies the entire disk, ignoring the partition table. This is useful
when a disk does not contain a partition table in the standard PC format, or you do not
want partitions to be realigned to track boundaries on the destination disk. Some
operating systems may not be able to access unaligned partitions. Partitions cannot be
resized during restore and you need an identical or larger disk.
-jl:x=filename Creates a log file to assist in diagnosing problems with TCP/IP connections. The amount of information logged is set by the log level, x. The log level x can be E (errors), S
(statistics), W (warnings), I (information), or A (all), in increasing order of logging detail.
The file name indicates the path and file name of the log to be created. In general, the error
and statistic levels do not affect session performance. All other levels may reduce
performance and should be used for diagnostic purposes only.

-lockinfo

Shows the type code and information stored in the BIOS or the Pentium III Processor ID.
For example:
160 Command-line switches
Command-line switches
Type Based On Value
M Manufacturer Compaq
P Product name Deskpro EN Series SFF
V Version Award Software
S Serial number H925CKH60020
U UUID 2DA9379B4707D31185E8C800A4F232BC
C M&P combined Compaq Deskpro EN Series SFF
I PIII ID 0000067200028E72A6994A20

-locktype=

Type Lets you lock an image file for use with a specific set of computers defined by the type
chosen and the source computer.
For example, ghost -locktype=P creates an image that can be used only on systems that
have the same product name type as the source computer.

-lpm

The LPT master mode switch causes Norton Ghost to automatically go into LPT master
mode, and is the equivalent of selecting LPT Master from the main menu.

-lps

The LPT slave mode switch causes Norton Ghost to automatically go into LPT slave mode,
and is the equivalent of selecting LPT Slave from the main menu.

-memcheck

Activates internal memory usage checking for Technical Support.

-noauto

Disables the automatic naming of spanned image files during creation. The user is
prompted for confirmation of the next destination location for the remainder of the image
file that is being restored.

-noautoskip

Includes the hibernation and skip files in the image file. These files are excluded by
default.See “Hibernation and swap files” on page 69.

-nofile

Disables the Image File Selection dialog box. Useful when opening directories with large
numbers of files and slow links.

-noide

Disables access to IDE devices.

-noindex

Prevents Norton Ghost from creating an index when creating an image file. This slightly
reduces the size of the image file and saves memory but Ghost Explorer is much slower in
reading the image file. This switch is useful if you are saving an image file from a large disk
with very little memory.

-nolilo

Does not attempt to patch the LILO boot loader after a clone. If you use the -nolilo switch,
you need to start from a floppy disk after the clone and then run /sbin/lilo as the root user
to reinstall LILO.

-noscsi

Disables access to SCSI devices using ASPI.

-ntc-

Disables NTFS contiguous run allocation.

-ntchkdsk

Sets the CHKDSK bit set on a copied NTFS volume. This causes Windows NT to check the
integrity of the volume when it is started.

-ntd

Enables NTFS internal diagnostic checking.

-ntic

Ignores the NTFS volume CHKDSK bit. Norton Ghost checks the CHKDSK bit on an
NTFS volume before performing operations. When Norton Ghost indicates that the
CHDSK bit is set, you should run CHKDSK on the volume to ensure that the disk is in a
sound state before cloning.

-ntiid

By default, Norton Ghost copies partitions participating in an Windows NT volume set,
stripe set, or mirror set using image all sector-by-sector copying. This switch forces Norton
Ghost to ignore the Windows NT volume set partition status and image the partition as if
it were an NTFS partition to let it be intelligently imaged on a file-by-file basis. Take care
when using this switch. Do not use the -ntiid switch with volume sets and stripe sets.

To clone mirrored partitions (also known as Windows NT software RAID partitions)
1 With Windows NT disk administrator, break the mirror set.
2 Using the -ntiid switch, clone one of the mirror partitions.
3 Resize as desired. Partitions can only be resized by Norton Ghost during a disk
operation. When performing a partition operation, the target partition size must
already be established.
4 After cloning, recreate the mirror set using the Windows NT disk administrator. The
disk administrator creates the partitions in the mirror set.

-ntil

Ignores NTFS log file check (inconsistent volume).

-or

The override switch allows the override of internal space and integrity checks and lets you
put a very big image into a small partition. The operation fails if it is unable to write to the
limited partition size. This switch lets you override spanning, which fails if there is limited
space. Avoid using this switch.

-pmbr

Specifies that the master boot record of the destination disk is to be preserved when
performing a disk-to-disk or image-to-disk cloning operation.
-pwd and -pwd=x Specifies that password protection be used when creating an image file.
x indicates the password for the image file. If no password is given in the switch, Norton
Ghost prompts for one. You can enter a maximum of 10 alphanumeric characters.

-quiet

The quiet mode switch disables status updates and user intervention.

-rb

Restarts after finishing a restore or copy. After completing a restore or copy operation, the
target computer must be restarted so that the operating system can restore the new disk/
partition information. Normally, Norton Ghost prompts the user to restart or exit. -rb tells
Norton Ghost to restart automatically after it completes the restore or copy. This is useful
when automating Norton Ghost in a batch command file.

-script

Allows you to specify a series of commands (one per line) that Norton Ghost will execute
in sequential order.

For example:
ghost -script=script.txt
Following is an example of script.txt:
-clone,mode=create,src=2,dst=c:\drv2.gho
-chkimg,c:\drv2.gho
-clone,mode=create,src=2,dst=c:\part2.gho
-chkimg,c:\part2.gho

-skip=x

The skip file switch causes Norton Ghost to exclude the indicated files during a create or
restore operation. A skip entry can specify a single file, a directory, or multiple files using
the * wildcard. File names must be given in short file name format and all path names are
absolute. Only FAT system files can be skipped. It is not possible to skip files on NTFS or
other file systems. The skip switch may only be included in the command line once. To
specify multiple skip entries, they must be included in a text file indicated using
-skip=@skipfile. The format of the skip text file, skipfile, matches the format used with the
CRC32 vexcept option.

For example:
■ -skip=\windows\user.dll
Skips the file User.dll in the Windows directory.
■ -skip=*\readme.txt
Skips any file called Readme.txt in any directory.
■ -skip=\ghost\*.dll
Skips any file ending with .dll in the Ghost directory.
■ -skip=\progra~1\
Skips the program files directory (note the short file name).
■ -skip=@skipfile.txt
Skips files as outlined in Skipfile.txt. For example, if Skipfile.txt contains:
*\*.tmt
[partition:1]
\windows\
*\*.exe
[Partition:2]
*\*me.txt

This would skip all *.tmt files on any partition, the Windows directory, all *.exe files
on the first partition, and any file that ends with me.txt on the second partition.

-span Enables spanning of image files across volumes.

Do not use this switch if you are running Ghost.exe to write an image file directly to a CDR/
RW. Ghost.exe automatically spans CD-R/RW disks if required.

-split=

x Splits image file into x MB spans. Use this switch to create a forced-size volume set. For
example, if you want to force smaller image files from a 1024 MB drive, you could specify
200 MB segments.

For example:
ghost.exe -split=200
This divides the image into 200 MB segments.
-sure Use the -sure switch in conjunction with -clone to avoid being prompted with the final
question “Proceed with disk clone - destination drive will be overwritten?” This command
is useful in batch mode.

-sze

Sets the size for the destination partitions for either a disk restore or disk copy operation.
When numbering partitions in the -sze switch, do not include the hidden Ghost partition.

-szee

Forces Norton Ghost to keep the sizes of all destination partitions the same as in the source
partition (no resizing).

-szef

Forces Norton Ghost to keep the sizes of all destination partitions, except for the first one,
the same as in the source partition. The first partition uses the remaining disk space.
This switch can be used with or without the -clone switch.

-szel

Forces Norton Ghost to keep the sizes of all destination partitions, except for the last one,
the same as in the source partition. The last partition uses the remaining disk space.
This switch can be used with or without the -clone switch.

-tapebuffered

Default tape mode. Sets the ASPI driver to report a read/write as successful as soon as the
data has been transferred to memory. Useful when using older or unreliable tape devices or
sequential media.

-tapeeject

Forces Norton Ghost to eject the tape following a tape operation. If the tape drive does not
support remote ejection you must eject and insert the tape manually before further use.
Earlier versions ejected the tape by default. By default, Norton Ghost does not eject the
tape. It rewinds the tape before exiting to DOS.

-tapesafe

Sets the ASPI driver to report a read/write as successful only when the data has been
transferred to the physical medium. Useful when using older or unreliable tape devices or
sequential media.

-tapebsize=x

Specifies the tape block size in units of 512 bytes, where x is 1 to 128.

-tapespeed=x

Allows control of tape speed, where x is 0 to F. 0 is the default. 1 to F increase tape speed.
Only use this when the tape does not work correctly at the speed used by Norton Ghost.

-tapeunbuffered

Sets the ASPI driver to report a read/write as successful only when the data has been
transferred to the tape drive. (It is possible that this occurs before the data is physically
written to the medium.)

-tcpm[:slave IP address]

The TCP/IP master mode switch causes Norton Ghost to go into TCP/IP master mode
automatically, and is the equivalent of selecting TCP/IP Master from the main menu. The
IP address of the slave computer may be specified.

-tcps

The TCP/IP slave mode switch causes Norton Ghost to go into TCP/IP slave mode
automatically, and is the equivalent of selecting TCP/IP Slave from the main menu.
See “Peer-to-peer connections” on page 178.

-usbm

The USB master mode switch causes Norton Ghost to go into USB master mode
automatically, and is the equivalent of selecting USB Master from the main menu. This
switch should precede the -clone switch. For example,
ghost.exe -usbm -clone,mode=dump,src=1,dst=1:1\image.gho

-usbs

The USB slave mode switch causes Norton Ghost to go into USB slave mode automatically,
and is the equivalent of selecting USB Slave from the main menu. This switch should
precede the -clone switch. See “Peer-to-peer connections” on page 178.

-vdw

If this switch is set, Norton Ghost uses the disk’s verify command to check every sector on
the disk before it is written. This option may slow Norton Ghost operation substantially.

-ver

Shows the version number of Norton Ghost.

-z

Runs compression when saving a disk or partition to an image file. The greater the
compression, the slower the transmission.
■ -z or -z1: Low compression (fast transmission)
■ -z2: High compression (medium transmission)
■ -z3 through -z9: Higher compression (slower transmission)

-

Continution of Supported configurations

Norton Ghost copies or clones any x86-based Linux system with full support for
Ext2/3 file systems (type 0x83) containing 1 KB, 2 KB, or 4 KB block sizes. Other
file systems, such as reiserfs, are cloned on a sector-by-sector basis and cannot be
resized during cloning.

Linux systems that use LILO as their boot loader in the MBR or in the active
Ext2/3 partition are supported with some exceptions. Any references to a disk
other than the first hard disk in the system (/dev/hda or /dev/sda) are not
supported. The /boot and root file systems must be on the first hard disk. /boot
can be a directory within the root file system.

Norton Ghost supports type 0 and type 1 Linux swap file systems (type 0x82).

Norton Ghost partially supports Linux extended partitions (type 0x85). It copies file systems inside these extended partitions, but restores them as DOS extended partitions. This is not known to cause problems with Linux systems after cloning.

Position of disk

Linux is sensitive to the position of the disk in hardware. A system running on the
primary master disk does not run if the disk is mounted as the primary slave or as
the secondary master. Norton Ghost does not resolve this issue.

Boot configuration

Norton Ghost uses the file /etc/lilo.conf to determine the boot configuration. If
this file does not match the boot configuration, Norton Ghost may be unable to
patch LILO during cloning. The keyword, default, is not supported in Lilo.conf,
so the first target specified should be the default target.

If a different boot loader, such as grub, is used, or the preceding conditions are
not met, Norton Ghost clones the system but the new disk probably will not boot.
The system should be started from a floppy disk or CD, and the boot loader
should be reinstalled by running /sbin/lilo or an equivalent.

Warning: Always have a boot disk available in case of problems starting a Linux
system after cloning.

Norton Ghost utility support

Ghost Explorer substantially supports Ext2/3 file systems within image files,
including the restoration, deletion, and addition of files within these file systems.
Problems arise when files that have names that are illegal on Windows are
manipulated. Ghost Explorer cannot manipulate device files or symbolic links.
Sparse files are expanded on restoration, and hard links are broken.

GDisk does not create any Linux file systems or recognize any partitions within a
Linux extended partition.

Disclimar :
These are the tips taken from the Symentec and work with your own risk.

How to Partition the External Hard Disk Drive

2008-12-18T20:38:00.000-08:00

These are the simple steps to Partition your Hard Disk and this step by step helps you both in Ms-Dos as well as in Windows also.

Using Disk Management under Windows 2000/XP

Note: The external hard disk drive cannot work with the “Dynamic” disk type. Do not upgrade the external hard disk to drive “Dynamic” disk type, always use it with “Basic” disk type. This partition is used only for windows 2000/XP.

1. To partition the external hard disk drive under Windows 2000 or Windows XP, please plug in the external hard disk drive and make sure it is recognized and then:
♦ In Windows 2000: click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management, then the “Computer Management” window will be opened.
♦ In Windows XP: click Start -> Control Panel -> Performance and Maintenance -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management, then the “Computer Management” window will be opened.

2. Click on “Disk Management” on the left part of this window, all connected disk drives will be listed in the right part. Find out the Disk # that indicates the external hard disk drive, for example, on the following picture, “Disk 1” is the external hard disk drive. On the right side of the “Disk 1” is the status of the partitions of this drive, you can create a new or delete an existing partition by right-clicking on this area.

The following steps will describe how to create a new partition on this external hard disk drive.

Note:

If the hard disk drive in the external enclosure is a new unpartioned drive, a “Stop” mark will
indicate this drive is an “Unknown” type of disk (refer to the figure shown on the right side)
when “Disk Management” is opened. In this situation, the Windows system will not allow you to
create a partition with this drive. In this case, you can:

♦ In Windows 2000: Windows will start up the “Write Signature and Upgrade Disk Wizard” immediately. You can use this wizard to initialize the hard disk drive to the “Basic” disk
type and can then create partition in the drive.

♦ In Windows XP: you can right-click on the “Stop” mark, and then click “Initialize disk” to
initialize the hard disk drive to the “Basic” disk type and can then create partition in the
drive.

3. If the type of the hard disk drive is “Dynamic”, you must change it to the “Basic” type. To do this, rightclick on “Disk 1”, and then click “Revert to Basic Disk” from the options. Wait for a few seconds, the type of the hard disk drive will be then changed to “Basic” type.

4. To create a new partition in the hard disk drive, right-click on the partition area (right area) of “Disk 1”, then click on “Create Partition…”, the “Create Partition Wizard” appears, click Next.

5. Select “Primary partition”, click Next.

6. Specify the size that you want this partition to be, click Next.

7. Assign a drive letter for this partition, please use the default value, and click Next.

8. Refer to the figure shown below, select “Format this partition with the following settings”, choose the file system, and specify a name for the volume label, select “Perform a Quick Format”, then, click Next.

9. Click Finish to start the formatting, after the process is done, the “Disk Management” window is changed as below. Make sure the status of the partition is “Healthy”.

10. Now, a partition is created in the external hard disk drive, data can now be written to it. If desired, one or more partitions can be created in the same drive. For this, just repeat the steps above.

Using FDISK under Windows 98SE/Me.

FDISK is a program to create one or more partitions in the hard disk drive. (Data can only be written to the drive after this is partitioned and formatted.) To partition the external hard disk drive, you must execute FDISK under the MS-DOS mode under Windows 98SE/Me, please follow these steps:

1. Boot-up the computer into Windows 98SE/Me system. Plug the external hard disk drive to computer, and make sure it is recognized.

2. Go into the MS-DOS mode by click on Start -> Programs -> MS-DOS Prompt.

3. At the DOS prompt, type “FDISK” and press Enter.

4. In the first screen of FDISK, answer the question: “Do you want to enable large disk support?”

Y if you want to create a partition larger than 2GB (FAT32).
N if you want to create a partition small than 2GB (FAT16).

5. The next screen is “FDISK OPTIONS”. You must type 5 on this screen to change the current fixed disk drive, the default fixed drive set by FDISK is the internal hard disk drive. If you do not change it to the external hard disk drive, the data of internal hard disk drive will be destroyed.

If the option 5 does not appear on this screen, it means the external hard disk drive is not installed properly, please check the software installation.

6. In “Change Current Fixed Disk Drive” screen, type the disk drive number that is assigned to the external hard disk drive (usually, the external hard disk drive is the fixed disk drive number 2).
7. Back to “FDISK OPTIONS” screen, type 4 to display the content of the fixed disk drive, check the content to make sure the current drive is the external hard disk drive.

8. Now you can create (type 1) or delete (type 3) the partition of the external hard disk drive.

9. After you finish FDISK, reboot computer to activate the changes.

Use it in your own risk.

Problems With Flat Panel Monitor in Dell Laptop

2008-12-14T20:04:00.000-08:00

These are the basic steps which is very useful for you and i think this will solve your problem.
The following Troubleshooting Wizards will help you to resolve a problem with a blank screen on your LCD or flat panel monitor. Examples of this type of problem include:

* Nothing is displayed on the monitor.
* You are unable to see Windows®, but lights or sounds from your computer indicate it is booting.
* You saw the screen flicker briefly, but then it went blank and now won't show anything.

STEP: Is There a Video Problem On the Monitor?

Additional Information

Determine if the problem is how video is displayed on the monitor, or if there is a problem with an accessory or other feature.

Video problems include:

Nothing is dislplayed on the screen
Images are distorted or corrupted.
There are bright or dark dots.
There are horizontal or vertical lines.
The screen is too bright, too dim or discolored.
The screen is shaky or jittery.

Non-video problems include:

Unusual noises are coming from the monitor.
The monitor's buttons are not working.
The built-in webcam or card reader is not working.
Difficulty adjusting an attached accessory such as speakers or the monitor stand.

LCD Monitor is Too Bright or Too Dim.

The following Troubleshooting Wizards will help to resolve a brightness problem with your LCD or flat panel monitor. Examples of this type of problem include:

Everything on the screen is very bright or all white.
The screen is dim but has a faint image.
The screen looks blank, but you noticed that if you are at an angle, you can barely see an image.

USB Ports on an LCD Monitor Do Not Work.

The following Troubleshooting Wizard helps resolve problems with the USB ports on your LCD or flat panel monitor. Examples of this type of problem include:

One of the USB ports does not work, but the others do.
The USB ports do not recognize a device when you plug it in

Blurry Image on an LCD Monitor.

The following Troubleshooting Wizards and articles help to resolve a focus problem on your LCD or flat-panel monitor. Examples of this type of problem include:

The entire image is blurry or fuzzy.
The image looks slightly out-of-focus.
Pictures are not crisp, and text may appear smudged.

Lines on an LCD Monitor.

The following Troubleshooting Wizards help to resolve a problem with lines on your LCD or flat-panel monitor. Examples of this type of problem include:

Left-to-right lines that appear over anything on the screen.
Unusual up-and-down lines on the screen.
Shimmering lines that block out parts of the screen and do not go away.

Blocky or Distorted Images on an LCD Monitor.

The following articles discuss the problem of blocky images on an LCD or flat panel monitor. Examples of this type of problem include:

Parts of text and images appear jagged or blocky.
An image may appear stretched or distorted.
Straight lines are crisp, but curved lines appear broken up.

Color Problems on an LCD Monitor.

The following Troubleshooting Wizards help you to resolve a color problem on your LCD or flat-panel monitor. Examples of this type of problem include:

The image on the screen is all one color.
The colors look odd or unusual.
The image is discolored.

Try this Steps which was useful for you and try with your own risk.

The Basic Toubleshooting with Beep Sound

2008-12-12T23:30:00.000-08:00

These are the Basic Beep Sounds you can find with your Desktop Systems and their Solutions.
Do this with your own risk.

Example beep code:	Description of beep sounds at bootup:
1-2-X	One beep (Machine is Ok) A pause (or break) Two beeps (Check your BIOS) A pause (or break) Any number of beeps
4	Four continuous beeps (Check your Video card is plugged correctly or plugged loose connection.

Beep error code:	Action / Run diagnosics on the following components:
1-1-3 CMOS read/write error	1. Run Setup 2. System Board
1-1-4 ROM BIOS check error	1. System Board
1-2-X DMA error	1. System Board
1-3-X	1. Memory Module 2. System Board
1-4-4	1. Keyboard 2. System Board
1-4-X Error detected in first 64 KB of RAM.	1. Memory Module 2. System Board
2-1-1, 2-1-2	1. Run Setup 2. System Board
2-1-X First 64 KB of RAM failed.	1. Memory Module 2. System Board
2-2-2	1. Video Adapter (if installed) 2. System Board
2-2-X First 64 KB of RAM failed.	1. Memory Module 2. System Board
2-3-X	1. Memory Module 2. System Board
2-4-X	1. Run Setup 2. Memory Module 3. System Board
3-1-X DMA register failed.	1. System Board
3-2-4 Keyboard controller failed.	1. System Board 2. Keyboard
3-3-4 Screen initialization failed.	1. Video Adapter (if installed) 2. System Board 3. Display

3-4-1 Screen retrace lest detected an error.	1. Video Adapter (if installed) 2. System Board 3. Display
3-4-2 POST is searching for video ROM.	1. Video Adapter (if installed) 2. System Board
4	1. Video Adapter (if installed) 2. System Board
All other beep code sequences.	1. System Board
One long and one short beep during POST. Base 640 KB memory error or shadow RAM error.	1. Memory Module 2. System Board
One long beep and two or three short beeps during POST.(Video error)	1. Video Adapter (if installed) 2. System Board
Three short beeps during POST.	1. See "System board memory" on page 62. 2. System Board
Continuous beep.	1. System Board
Repeating short beeps.	1. Keyboard stuck key? 2. Keyboard Cable 3. System Board

No beep symptoms

Notes:

Machine types 6268, 6278, 6288, 6338 default to come up quiet (i.e. No beep and no memory count and checkpoint code display) when no errors are detected by POST.
To enable Beep and memory count and checkpoint code display when a successful POST occurs, set Power-on Status to Enable in the F1 Setup Utility program.

No beep symptom:	Action / Run diagnosics on the following components:
No beep during POST but computer works correctly.	1. System Board
No beep during POST	1. System Board 2. Memory Module 3. Any Adapter or Device 4. Riser Card 5. Power Cord 6. Power Supply

Hope this helps you to find the problem with your computer.

Virus Alert in Desktop Toolbar?

2008-12-10T04:18:00.000-08:00

Before one month ago i meet a same problem with Virus Alert in Desktop toolbar and showing the military timing, and the same Virus Alert in System Properties so on...

Here i am giving a step by step solution for this problem.

Step 1.

Download a Kaspersky Internet Security from http://www.kaspersky.com/trials. After installing this and the script which i got from Kaspersky lab and this is a script

----------------------------------------------------------------

begin
SetAVZGuardStatus(True);
SearchRootkit(true, true);
QuarantineFile('C:\WINDOWS\system32\MicroAV.cpl','');
QuarantineFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR124.exe','');
QuarantineFile('C:\Windows\system32\YURC.exe','');
QuarantineFile('C:\Windows\system32\YURB.exe','');
QuarantineFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR9.exe','');
QuarantineFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR8.exe','');
QuarantineFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR5.exe','');
QuarantineFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR19E.exe','');
QuarantineFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR18.exe','');
QuarantineFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR17.exe','');
QuarantineFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR16.exe','');
QuarantineFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR15.exe','');
QuarantineFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR12A.exe','');
QuarantineFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR123.exe','');
QuarantineFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR122.exe','');
QuarantineFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR121.exe','');
QuarantineFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR1.exe','');
QuarantineFile('C:\Program Files\MicroAV\MicroAV.exe','');
DeleteFile('C:\Program Files\MicroAV\MicroAV.exe');
DeleteFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR1.exe');
DeleteFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR121.exe');
DeleteFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR122.exe');
DeleteFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR123.exe');
DeleteFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR124.exe');
DeleteFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR12A.exe');
DeleteFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR15.exe');
DeleteFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR16.exe');
DeleteFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR17.exe');
DeleteFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR18.exe');
DeleteFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR19E.exe');
DeleteFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR5.exe');
DeleteFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR8.exe');
DeleteFile('C:\Windows\system32\YUR9.exe');
DeleteFile('C:\Windows\system32\YURB.exe');
DeleteFile('C:\Windows\system32\YURC.exe');
DeleteFile('C:\WINDOWS\system32\MicroAV.cpl');
DeleteFile('C:\Program Files\MicroAV\*.*');
DeleteDirectory('C:\Program Files\MicroAV\');
BC_ImportDeletedList;
ExecuteSysClean;
BC_Activate;
RebootWindows(true);
end.

------------------------------------------------------------

Step 2.

Copy this script and right open the kaspersky software and you can see the SUPPORT under license, a new window will open under that there is a support tools, again new window will open on that their is a Execute AVZ script on that paste this script and executive.

Step 3.

Then post a combofix log:
Download it here -> http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/sUBs/ComboFix.exe

Now, please make sure no other programs are running, close all other windows and pause Kaspersky (if still active) until after the scanning and removal process has taken place.

Now, please double click on the file you downloaded. Follow the onscreen prompts to start the scan.
Once the scanning process has started please DO NOT click on the combofix window or attempt to use your computer as this can cause the scanning process to stall. It may take a while to complete scanning and this is normal.

You will be disconnected from the internet and your desktop icons/toolbars will disappear during scanning, do not worry, this is normal and it will be restored after scanning has completed.

Step 4.

now this one in kaspersky under Executive code

CODE
----------------------------------------------

begin
QuarantineFile('C:\WINDOWS\fbxrqtwn.exe','');
DeleteFile('C:\WINDOWS\fbxrqtwn.exe');
end.

----------------------------------------------

then go into start>run and type in combofix /u and press ok, to uninstall combofix.
I think the problem has solved mostly except the Virus Vault in System Properties you can solve this by typing regedit on that choose the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE -> Microsoft -> Windows NT -> Current Version -> on selecting this you can PRODUCT ID on the right side and it will be named as Virus Alert rename this and then the problem has solved completely.

All Nokia Codes

2008-12-07T21:31:00.001-08:00

NOKIA
Nokia Universal Codes
Code Description :
These Nokia codes will work on most Nokia Mobile Phones

(1) *3370# Activate Enhanced Full Rate Codec (EFR) - Your phone uses the best sound quality but talk time is

reduced my approx. 5%

(2) #3370# Deactivate Enhanced Full Rate Codec (EFR) OR *3370#

(3) *#4720# Activate Half Rate Codec - Your phone uses a lower quality sound but you should gain approx 30%

more Talk Time.

(4) *#4720# Deactivate Half Rate Codec.

(5) *#0000# Displays your phones software version, 1st Line : Software Version, 2nd Line : Software Release

Date, 3rd Line : Compression Type.

(6) *#9999# Phones software version if *#0000# does not work.

(7) *#06# For checking the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI Number).

(8) #pw+1234567890+ 1# Provider Lock Status. (use the "*" button to obtain the "p,w"
and "+" symbols).

(9) #pw+1234567890+ 2# Network Lock Status. (use the "*" button to obtain the "p,w"
and "+" symbols).

(10) #pw+1234567890+ 3# Country Lock Status. (use the "*" button to obtain the "p,w"
and "+" symbols).

(11) #pw+1234567890+ 4# SIM Card Lock Status. (use the "*" button to obtain the "p,w" Go to Top
and "+" symbols).

(12) *#147# (vodafone) this lets you know who called you last.

(13) *#1471# Last call (Only vodofone).

(14) *#21# Allows you to check the number that "All Calls" are diverted to

(15) *#2640# Displays security code in use.

(16) *#30# Lets you see the private number.

(17) *#43# Allows you to check the "Call Waiting" status of your phone.

(18) *#61# Allows you to check the number that "On No Reply" calls are diverted to.

(19) *#62# Allows you to check the number that "Divert If Unreachable (no service)" calls
are diverted to.

(20) *#67# Allows you to check the number that "On Busy Calls" are diverted to.

(21) *#67705646# Removes operator logo on 3310 & 3330.

(22) *#73# Reset phone timers and game scores.

(23) *#746025625# Displays the SIM Clock status, if your phone supports this power saving feature "SIM Clock Stop

Allowed", it means you will get the best standby time possible.

(24) *#7760# Manufactures code.

(25) *#7780# Restore factory settings.

(26) *#8110# Software version for the nokia 8110.

Go to Top

(27) *#92702689# Displays - 1.Serial Number, 2.Date Made, 3.Purchase Date, 4.Date of last repair (0000 for no

repairs), 5.Transfer User Data. To exit this mode you need to switch your phone off then on again. ( Favourite )

(28) *#94870345123456789 # Deactivate the PWM-Mem.

(29) **21*number# Turn on "All Calls" diverting to the phone number entered.

(30) **61*number# Turn on "No Reply" diverting to the phone number entered.

(31) **67*number# Turn on "On Busy" diverting to the phone number entered.

(32) 12345 This is the default security code.

press and hold # Lets you switch between lines

NOKIA5110/5120/ 5130/5190

IMEI number: * # 0 6 #
Software version: * # 0 0 0 0 #
Simlock info: * # 9 2 7 0 2 6 8 9 #
Enhanced Full Rate: * 3 3 7 0 # [ # 3 3 7 0 # off]
Half Rate: * 4 7 2 0 #
Provider lock status: #pw+1234567890+ 1
Network lock status #pw+1234567890+ 2
Provider lock status: #pw+1234567890+ 3
SimCard lock status: #pw+1234567890+ 4
NOKIA 6110/6120/6130/ 6150/6190
IMEI number: * # 0 6 #
Software version: * # 0 0 0 0 #
Simlock info: * # 9 2 7 0 2 6 8 9 #
Enhanced Full Rate: * 3 3 7 0 # [ # 3 3 7 0 # off]
Half Rate: * 4 7 2 0 #

NOKIA3110

IMEI number: * # 0 6 #
Software version: * # 0 0 0 0 # or * # 9 9 9 9 # or * # 3 1 1 0 #
Simlock info: * # 9 2 7 0 2 6 8 9 #
NOKIA 3330
*#06#
This will show your warranty details *#92702689#
*3370#
Basically increases the quality of calling sound, but decreases battery length.
#3370#
Deactivates the above
*#0000#
Shows your software version
*#746025625# This shows if your phone will allow sim clock stoppage
*4370#
Half Rate Codec activation. It will automatically restart
#4370#
Half Rate Codec deactivation. It will automatically restart
Restore Factory Settings
To do this simply use this code *#7780#
Manufacturer Info
Date of Manufacturing *#3283#
*3001#12345# (TDMA phones only)

This will put your phone into programming mode, and you'll be presented with the programming menu.

2) Select "NAM1"
3) Select "PSID/RSID"
4) Select "P/RSID 1"
Note: Any of the P/RSIDs will work
5) Select "System Type" and set it to Private
6) Select "PSID/RSID" and set it to 1
7) Select "Connected System ID"
Note: Enter your System ID for Cantel, which is 16401 or 16423. If you don't know yours,
ask your local dealer for it.
8) Select "Alpha Tag"
9) Enter a new tag, then press OK
10) Select "Operator Code (SOC)" and set it to 2050
11) Select "Country Code" and set it to 302 for Canada, and 310 for the US.
12) Power down the phone and power it back on again

ISDN Code
To check the ISDN number on your Nokia use this code *#92772689#

How to Unlock Your Nokia Cell Phone?

2008-12-07T21:24:00.000-08:00

Typically when you purchase a cell phone, the company that sold you the phone 'locked' the phone before you bought it, so you can only use it on their network. This means that you can't use your phone on any other network, even if you change the SIM (which is an abbreviation for Subscriber Identity Module) card. The SIM card is the little piece of plastic that identifies your phone to the cellular network. Changing your SIM card to have your phone work on another network is useful especially if you want to travel to another country and want to buy a pre-paid SIM card so you can have cell phone access without roaming charges. There are services that offer to provide unlocking capabilities for a fee, but don't pay for them! You can do it yourself for free, which is the perfect price.

Steps

1. Before trying anything else, contact your service provider and ask for an unlock code. Usually, if you've been a customer of theirs for some time, they will provide you with an unlock code for free. This is, by far, the best way to get your phone unlocked.

2. Download software to generate the unlocking code. Software is available on some websites for free and some pay websites that also offer support if things go wrong. See external links below.

3. Find the Serial number of the cell phone, also known as your IMEI number. This can be done by either removing the back of your cell phone and looking underneath the battery, or simply by typing in *#06# into your cell phone. It should be something like: 030057361439976/ 05429508118

4. Using the software you have downloaded, enter in your Manufacturer (which is in this case Nokia), your model number, and your IMEI number. Also enter your country and the Network. Calculate the code, this may be different depending on which software you are using. If your phone is the Nokia 3390 phone, select the model 3310, they are the same phone.

* #pw+403927744443466 +7#

5. Remove the SIM card from your Nokia phone. This is typically done by removing the back cover of the phone and removing the battery and sliding the card out. Put the battery back in and power the phone on.

6. You will see a message "Insert SIM Card". Enter all of the characters you see in your code, including the # symbols. To get a 'p' press * 3 times, to get a '+' press the * key 2 times, to get a 'w' press the * key 4 times. Disregard any spaces in the code.

7. In order to unlock your phone you generally need to enter only one code. Start with the first one. If your phone is not unlocked by typing the first code (MCC+MNC), use code "7" (Multilock)

8. Once you have finished entering a code that works you should see a message that says "SIM is not restricted" or "Restriction off" message depending on your model. If not, try entering another code. Message "Cannot undo restrictions" means the phone is "hard-locked" and cannot be unlocked by code.

Tips

* Unlocking only applies to GSM phones, phones using other cellular technologies, cannot be unlocked without special software and hardware.

* Switch off the phone. Hold the keys "3", "*" and "Call" and switch the phone on. Keep the buttons held down till you see the word "Formatting. .." on the screen. Make sure that the battery is full charged before you attempt this. This should reset the phone lock code.

Warnings

* Attempting to unlock your phone is done at your own risk. Although unlocking your phone is legal, some cell phone operators might choose to void your warranty should you unlock your phone (then again, some cell phone operators won't mind).

* Most phones only allow you to try a certain number of unlock tries, Nokia phones have a limit of 5 tries. After that, the phone becomes "hard-locked" , meaning it cannot be unlocked without using special equipment.

* Most of the newer phones will not work with the codes generated by the free unlock programs.

Trouble Shooting Personal Computer

2008-12-06T02:02:00.000-08:00

Basic Tips

1. Introduction

This document gives some basic advice about troubleshooting your personal computer system. It is not intended to be a complete guide to all possible problems. However, even if you are a non-technical person, there are some simple steps you can take to try and diagnose a problem. Even if you don't manage to solve a problem yourself, hardware and software suppliers and help desk staff will be in a much better position to help you if you have managed to perform some basic troubleshooting procedures before you contact them.

2. Step 1 - Don't Overlook the Obvious!

Many computer problems have very basic, simple causes. Always check the obvious before assuming it must be a complicated and obscure problem. Some examples of this are:
2.1. Cables

Some of the most common problems are caused by cables which are loose, faulty, or which were strained/unplugged by the office cleaners, or borrowed by the person in the next room while you were on holiday. This can result in equipment that appears dead, screens that are blank or have strange colours, or workstations that can't contact the network. For example:

* The power cable(s) have been unplugged from the mains, or are not pushed in firmly enough into the back of the unit.
* The data cable between the display and computer is loose or unplugged.
* The cable between the computer and the network socket is loose or unplugged.
* The cable between your modem and the phone socket is faulty or of the wrong type for the UK.
* A vital cable is missing or plugged into an incorrect socket.

If a faulty cable is a possibility, try out a substitute if one is available - ideally one that is known to be working.
2.2. Controls

The various controls on the computer, display, sound system etc. may have been changed by another user. For example your screen unit may power up and the cables are all OK but there is still nothing on the screen. The cause could be that the monitor's brightness and/or contrast control have been turned right down and just need re-adjusting.

Another (real-life!) example: many computers provide the mains power for their accompanying display - this means that the display's own power switch normally can be left in the "on" position and the computer's own power switch used to turn both computer and display on or off. Someone else using such a computer might "helpfully" turn off the display's power switch so that when the system is next turned on, the display appears dead until someone notices that the display needs switching on.
3. Step 2 - Narrow Down the Problem

The next step in diagnosing a problem is to try and narrow down the location of the problem and the context in which it occurs. For example it may only happen with a particular program, or with a particular user, or when processing a certain document, or at a particular location or at a certain time of day. Examples of narrowing down the problem in some common scenarios are illustrated below.
3.1. Scenario A - A Printing Problem

You can't access your printer - does the fault lie in the computer or the printer or the cable in between?

* Does a different cable (preferably one know to work elsewhere) fix the problem?
*
o YES - your original cable was faulty or not connected properly.
o NO - then...
* Does the printer work with a different computer?
*
o YES - the problem is probably within the computer
o NO - the problem is probably within the printer.
* Does a similar printer work with your own computer (using the same printer driver)?
*
o YES - the problem is probably with the original printer
o NO - the problem is probably within the computer.

If the problem seems to be within the computer:

* Is the problem confined to just one application?
*
o YES - the problem is with the installation/configuration of that particular program.
o NO - then...
* On a PC Windows system, is printing possible from the MS-DOS command prompt (e.g. via a command such as: COPY C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT LPT1: )?
*
o YES - the hardware is OK and the problem may be in Windows printer-driver installation/configuration.
o NO - there may be a problem with the computer's printer port.

If the problem seems to be with the printer:

* Does it print its internal test page?
*
o YES - there may be a fault with the printer's communication port
o NO - the printer may have its paper/ink/toner incorrectly inserted or may have more serious internal problems.

3.2. Scenario B - A Communications Problem

You are running Netscape Communicator on a workstation connected to a college ethernet socket. You can't access a particular web page, for example one at a site in the United States. The problem could be in:

* Netscape Communicator installation/configuration
* Workstation's communication software installation/configuration
* Workstation's communication hardware
* Cabling between workstation and local network point
* Cabling between local network point and network hub
* Communications link between local college/departmental network and local central network
* Communications link between local central network and external UK national network
* Communications link between UK national network and US national network
* Communications link between US national network and remote US site
* The server at the remote US site

Although some of these factors are clearly outside your control, it should still be possible to narrow down the problem. For example:

* Can you access other US sites successfully, e.g. http://lcweb.loc.gov/
*
o YES - the problem is at the remote site
o NO - then...
* Can you access any UK sites, e.g. http://www.bbc.co.uk/
*
o YES - the problem may be with the transatlantic link (or with the web-cache if you have a Netscape proxy configured for non-UK sites)
o NO - then...
* Can you access any local sites, e.g. http://www.ox.ac.uk
*
o YES - the problem may be with the link between the local central network and the UK national network.
o NO - then...
* Can you access any sites within your department, e.g. a departmental web server? If you have Windows 95/98/NT, can you browse the Network neighbourhood and see other local machines listed?
*
o YES - the problem may be with the link between your college/departmental network and the local central network.
o NO - then...
* Can you successfully use other communications such as Telnet, FTP, or a different web browser.
*
o YES - the problem may be a Netscape configuration setting
o NO then...
* Does your machine work if you use a different cable or network socket which are known to be OK?
*
o YES - you have a faulty cable or network socket.
o NO - then the problem is probably with your communications software installation or configuration. How you proceed from here depends on what type of system you have. For example...
* If you have Windows 95/98/NT, does the System Control Panel's Device Manager entry for your network adapter report a problem?
*
o YES - there is a problem with your network adapter.
o NO - then...
* Does the Network Control Panel have a TCPIP protocol entry and are its properties configured correctly?
*
o NO - Add a TCPIP entry and configure its properties using the address information obtained from your unit's IT Officer.
o YES - then...
* Use the Start/Run option and enter the command: WINIPCFG - does this display all your address information correctly?
*
o NO - there is a problem in your TCPIP configuration. You could try removing the TCPIP entry from the Network Control Panel and re-adding/re-configuring it.
o YES - seek help!

3.3. Scenario C - An Email Problem

If you have a problem using your email client, the fault could be in your workstation's email client configuration, or in its general communications setup, or with your account on the remote mail host, or even a general problem with the mail host itself.

* Do other communications programs such as Netscape or Internet Explorer work?
*
o NO - you probably have a general communications problem.
o
+ If you are connected to the campus ethernet system, see the last 4 steps of the previous section.
+ If you are a dial-up user, check your dial-up configuration. If you have a new or recently changed password, your dial-up configuration may need updating to include this information.
o YES - then..
* Is the problem only with sending mail?
*
o YES - then...
o
+ check the SMTP host on your email client's configuration screens - set it to smtp.ox.ac.uk
+ check your own email address on your email client's configuration screen. It should be of the form: firstname.secondname@unit.ox.ac.uk e.g. John.Smith@oucs.ox.ac.uk - it must not contain spaces, accented characters etc. If your client allows you to define a "Return address" this should normally be left blank.
+ Check the recipient's email address carefully. Try sending a message to yourself.
+ Check your time-zone is set correctly - on Macs, use the Map control panel; on Windows 3.x add the line SET TZ=GMT0BST to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
o NO - then...
* Is there a problem with both sending AND receiving mail?
*
o YES - then...
o
+ Check your mail-host and SMTP entries on your mail client's configuration screen.
+ Check the status of your mail host.
o NO - then...
* Is the problem only with receiving mail?
*
o NO - then your problem is outside the scope of this example.
o YES - then...
* Is your email account name correctly entered on your email client's configuration screens? Your account name (e.g. cher0123) is quite different from your email address (e.g. John.Smith@oucs.ox.ac.uk).
*
o NO - then enter your correct email account name.
o YES - then...
* Does your email account have a new or recently changed password?
*
o YES - if your email client stores your email account's password, check that its configuration has been updated to use the new password.
o NO - then...
* Is your account over quota? You may have received an email message from OUCS informing you about this.
*
o YES/DON'T KNOW - see the OUCS "Over Quota" web page.
o NO - then...
* Is your mail host machine running normally? (Check the OUCS "System Status" web page.)
*
o NO - wait for the host problem to be resolved.
o YES - then...

3.4. Scenario D - Erratic Freezing, Hanging, Crashing and Bombing
Freezing, hanging, crashing and bombing are all terms that people use to describe a computer that suddenly stops working while in use. These terms are not totally consistent in how they are used but broadly speaking:

* Freezing - usually describes a system that has suddenly become completely inactive whilst running. There are no error messages on the screen, the mouse pointer does not move, and pressing keys has no effect whatsoever - not even producing beeps etc.
* Hanging - usually describes a less severe form of freezing. Things have ground to a halt, there are no error messages, but the machine is not completely dead. The mouse pointer may still move and, on a PC system, pressing the Ctrl/Alt/Del key combination produces a response.
* Crashing - usually describes a situation where a program has terminated abnormally, often with some kind of error message. The machine may still be usable.
* Bombing - the Macintosh equivalent of hanging/crashing. A message (accompanied by a picture of a bomb!) appears. Usually the system needs restarting.

Freezing is usually symptomatic of a hardware fault, or of a non-Plug-and-Play device that is internally misconfigured. If it occurs erratically, the problem may be due to a component that fails when it gets warm after the machine has been in use for a little while. If you turn the machine off and let it cool down, it may work normally for a while. Keep a log of its behaviour and how soon after switch on it misbehaves.

Hanging, crashing and bombing are generally more likely to have other causes which can be investigated further. If you suffer from these, then note whether the problem always occurs at precisely the same point, or only with certain documents, or only after having run certain other software etc.
4. Step 3 - System-specific Diagnostic Tools and Techniques
4.1. Windows 95/98 System Troubleshooting

The Windows 95/98 onscreen help system (accessed via Start->Help->Contents->Troubleshooting) has a interactive troubleshooting section covering some of the most common problems.

Chapter 35 of the Windows 95 Resource Kit, and Chapter 27 of the Windows 98 Resource Kit also give a good introduction to Windows troubleshooting. Information on these and other resources are included below in Step 4.
Some of the most common causes of Windows 95/98 problems are:

* Insufficient resources - insufficient memory (RAM) or free disk space can cause some software problems. If an application runs fine on its own, or when processing small documents, but misbehaves when running at the same time as another program, or when handling large documents, then this could be your problem. Another symptom of insufficient memory, is a high level of disk activity all the time you are using the machine. The solutions are to add more RAM to your system and/or to do some disk "housekeeping" to try and free up disk space. The Resource Meter (accessed via Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools) can be used to monitor various aspects of your system's memory usage.
* Faults in Specific Software Modules - these may often be remedied by installing a relevant update or "service pack" from Microsoft or other software manufacturer.
* General Protection Failures (GPFs) - occur when Windows encounters a problem it cannot handle in an orderly way. Insufficient resources and faults in software modules are common causes of GPFs.
* Problems with Device-drivers and Configurations - each hardware device connected to your machine has a software device driver to control it. Device drivers are installed and configured via the appropriate Windows control panel. On "Plug-and-Play" systems, Windows will automatically and detect Plug-and-Play devices. However, with older systems or devices which are not Plug-and-Play, some manual configuration of the device may be required. Alternatively, a device-driver may have problems which can only be cured by obtaining an updated version from the manufacturer.

Windows Safe Mode If a serious Windows problem occurs, such as a badly misconfigured device, you may need to use Windows safe mode. This runs Windows in a mode where device drivers are not activated and therefore cannot misbehave. Sometimes in such situations, Windows automatically starts up in safe mode. If it doesn't, you can request this - press the key as soon as you see the "Starting Windows" message during system startup; you should be presented with the system's Boot Menu which should include at least the following options:

* Normal
* Logged (Bootlog.txt)
* Safe Mode
* Step-by-Step Confirmation
* Command Prompt
* Safe Mode Command Prompt Only

Choose the Safe Mode option to run Windows in safe mode. There are occasions on which you might also wish to use the Command Prompt option - this takes you to an MSDOS-type command prompt.

In safe mode, you can use the various Windows Control panels to add, remove, re-install or re-configure device drivers via the Windows Control panels. If you restart the system in its normal mode, use the Device Manager section of the System Control panel to check the status of any device.

ScanDisk

The ScanDisk utility included with Windows 95/98 is a powerful disk-fixing utility. If Windows is closed down improperly, ScanDisk normally runs automatically. However, you can also run it by starting up your system in Command Prompt mode (see previous section) and typing the command SCANDISK at the command prompt.
4.2. Apple Macintosh System Troubleshooting

The Macintosh onscreen help system (accessed via the Troubleshooting topic on the ? or Help menus) has a interactive troubleshooting section covering some of the most common problems.
The most common errors on Macintosh systems are Finder Errors, Bus Errors, and Bombs. Common causes of these are:

* Corrupt/outdated Application Software - Bombs and Finder Errors can be caused by a corrupted application program one of its associated files. This is the likely cause if these errors have started to occur only when using the same piece of software. If this happens a reinstallation of the software in question will often fix the problem. However, a good starting place BEFORE reinstalling the system is to remove any preference files for the application from the System Folder/Preferences folder. Sometimes, older versions of an application will not work with a new machine or system software version. In this case, an updated version of the application will be needed.
* System Extension Conflicts - If the errors do not seem to be linked to a particular application, or occur during system start-up, then it is possible that two or more system extensions are conflicting. In version 7.5 and later of the system software, this can be tested by using the Extensions Manager Control Panel. By saving the current (non-working) set of extensions and then turning off the loading of different extensions until the problem disappears, it should be possible to deduce the extension that is causing the problem.
* If your system does not start up correctly you can switch off all the extensions by holding down the key during the initial startup process - you should see a message Extensions Off on the Welcome to Macintosh startup screen. If the machine starts correctly without the extensions then you can use the process above to turn on extensions selectively until the problem starts again.

If you find you are experiencing a number of errors it may be worth reinstalling your system software - but before doing so try removing the Finder Preferences file. A fresh 'clean' set of preferences will be generated on startup and this can help in resolving system problems.

Handy Keys for Troubleshooting

Here are some key combinations which may be useful when troubleshooting Macintosh Problems

* Switching Off Extensions on Startup - To prevent extensions loading on startup hold down the key while the system starts up. You should see a message "Extensions Off" as the system starts up. This can aid in troubleshooting problems caused by extension conflicts.
* Rebuilding the Desktop - To rebuild the Macintosh's hidden Desktop file, hold down

The Top 10 Ways to Speed Up Your Windows PC

2008-12-05T00:45:00.000-08:00

All Windows computers slow down over time – this is simply a fact of life, but that
doesn’t mean that you have to live with it. Contrary to what the computer industry as a whole would have you believe, you do not have to upgrade your hardware every few
months to keep your computer fast and responsive to your requests – you just need to
clean up after it once in a while.

The top ten things that you can do to speed up your computer right now are:
1) Remove Unused Applications
2) Stop Un-needed Programs From Running at Startup
3) Defragment Your Hard Drive(s)
4) Run the Hard Drive Cleanup Utility
5) Download and Run a Registry Cleanup Tool
6) Delete Temporary Internet Files
7) Run a Spyware Removal Tool Regularly
8) Turn Off Any Un-needed Services
9) Turn Off Fancy Animations
10) Change the Number of Colors in Your Display

There are countless software programs available on the Internet today that will perform
most of these tasks for you, but they usually come with a price tag attached. These tasks
can be accomplished completely for free; it just takes a little more effort.

We are going to go through each one of these items in the next few pages, step-by-step,
to make sure that your computer is running at its’ full potential. The key to keeping your
computer running as smoothly and quickly as possible is to perform these tasks on your
computer regularly. We offer you a free tool for making this easier at the end of this
guide

It is HIGHLY recommended that you create a backup of your computer before
undertaking any of these steps. This will help insure that you can go back to a previous
working version of your system if you make a mistake. The easiest way to do this is to
create a system restore point. For instructions on doing this, press F1 on your computer
and search for “Create Restore Point.”

Remove Unused Applications
This one item will probably remove half of your problems right away. Think about it, do
you really need that video game that your kids installed two years ago? Removing the
programs you don’t use will free up space on your hard drive, giving your computer more
room to work with.

Here are the steps:
1) Click Start, click on “Control Panel” in the Start Menu.

2) Double-Click on “Add or Remove Programs” in the window that opens.

3) A new window will open, listing all the programs you have installed on your
computer.

4) Scroll through the list of programs, look for anything that you do not recognize or
that you have not used in a while and don’t need.

5) Click on the name of a program that you would like to remove; it will expand and
show more details about the application.

6) On the right side of the highlighted application, there is a button labeled
“Remove”, click it.

7) You will be asked to confirm that you would like to remove the selected
application. Click on the ‘OK’ or ‘Yes’ button.

8) Each application is different, so you may be presented with an uninstall wizard. If this happens, follow the directions on the wizard and you should be through in no
time.

9) Once the application has been removed, you may be prompted to restart your
computer. Click ‘NO’ or ‘Restart Later’ – you want to keep uninstalling
programs until you are down to the applications that you use on a regular basis.

10) You should be presented with the list of installed applications again, but with the
application you previously selected removed from the list. You can now repeat
steps 4 through 9 until you have removed all the applications you no longer need.

As a general rule, try to leave anything that reads “Microsoft” or “Windows” alone.
There are several utilities on this list that Windows needs to function properly, so it is
best just to leave those alone unless you know for sure that you can remove them from
your computer safely.

Stop Un-needed Programs From Running at Startup
One of the biggest problems that most users don’t even realize they have is they are running too many programs when their computer starts up. This is not their fault, manytimes the tools they use on a regular basis will add programs to the startup sequence without ever asking the user.

These programs pile up and eventually cause the computerto begin crawling along, barely able to perform the simplest of tasks. Fortunately, there
is a simple way of fixing this:

1) Click Start, then Run.

2) On the window that opens, type “msconfig” without the quotes, click OK.

3) The System Configuration Utility will open, click on the ‘Startup’ tab along the
top – DO NOT change anything on any of the other tabs.

4) On the Startup tab you will find a list of applications that run at startup along with
check-boxes along the left hand side

5) DO NOT start un-checking everything on this list. There are programs on the list
that Windows requires to run correctly, such as Explorer.

6) You can uncheck anything that has a location of “Startup”, which is the user
defines startup folder. You can also remove anything with a name that you
recognize as a program that was previously uninstalled or something that you
don’t need to run when your computer starts. Common suggestions are qttask,
iTunesHelper, jusched, and anything with the word “tray” in it.

7) When you are finished unchecking the programs that you do not want to run at
startup, click OK. You may be prompted to restart your computer – select ‘No’ or
‘Restart Later.’ **
**Please note that if you have made any changes to the startup configuration, you will be notified of these changes when you do finally restart your computer. You will also be given the option to run the system configuration utility again – you should decline when you are given the option.

Defragment Your Hard Drive

This is one of those things that most people do not think about or even know about their
computer doing. As time goes by, you hard drive starts to fill up. After a while your
computer tries to make the best use of the space that is available by breaking your files
into small chunks and fitting them next to other files that don’t fill up all their available space. After a while, your computer has to go to several different parts of your hard drive just to open up a single file. This is called fragmentation, and it can really slow down your system.

Fortunately, there is a solution – the Windows Disk Defragmenter tool. This tool scans your hard drive looking for files that have been split up and tries to place the pieces next to each other on the hard drive. This can take quite a while to run, so it is something that you would generally do while you take your lunch break or just run it over night.

1) Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, then Disk Defragmenter.

2) You will see a window listing all of the hard drives on your system, but typically
you will only see one.

3) Make sure your primary hard drive (the one where Windows is installed) is
selected and click the ‘Defragment’ button.

4) Walk away, take a nap, grab something to eat, come back in a couple of hours.

5) When the process is complete, you will see two displays, on your screen – before
defragmentation and after defragmentation. The continuous files will be marked
in blue, the fragmented files in red. Hopefully there is a lot of blue on your
screen. **

** Not all files can be defragmented – some system files will always be locked, so they can’t be changed. The only way to completely defragment a primary hard drive is to
remove it from the computer and defragment it with another computer.

Run The Hard Drive Cleanup Utility
The hard drive cleanup utility is another one of these tools that takes a while to run. In
general, it checks to make sure that your hard drive is healthy and repairs any bad blocks
that it find. It also attempts to remove any unneeded files from your drive – old drivers,
temporary Internet files, and files that you haven’t used in a while.

1) Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, then Disk Cleanup.
2) You will be asked to select which drive you want to cleanup, choose your primary
drive and click OK.
3) You will now see a progress bar on your screen – the tool is trying to determine
how much space it can free from your hard drive. After a few minutes it will
offer you a list of types of files that you will be able to remove from your
computer, and how much space can be gained by removing them.
4) Select which files you would like to remove – but be careful, you may actually
need something. Your best bets are usually anything that has the words
“Temporary Files” in it.
5) When you are ready to delete the selected files, click ‘OK’
6) Once again, walk away and let the system run. With this tool, it is recommended
that you let it run overnight.

This tool is most useful for removing the files that you would generally be unable to find.

Download and Run a Registry Cleanup Tool
A registry cleanup tool is a program that runs through your registry (a fancy name for a
configuration file) looking for errors and correcting them. There are several very good
ones on the market that offer you a trial, but some of them do require you to purchase the
entire package before getting full functionality. We have found no free tools that perform
a decent job of cleaning your registry, but there are a couple of full features trials that will
work nicely the first time, which is generally all you need.

The registry cleaner that we recommend is again from Ace Utilities: it is called Registry TuneUp. At the time of this writing, the trial version lasts for about 30 days, they may have changed it by the time you read this. Not only does it actually clean the registry for you, it will tell you why each registry entry that it removes is not needed. There are several features available for advanced users, but you will generally not need them.

When you first run Registry TuneUp, you will be asked to create a system restore point – this is HIGHLY recommended. In general, it is always a good idea to create a restore point because if something goes wrong, you can always go back to a configuration that works – a very good thing.

You will also be asked if you would like to run in expert mode – decline. Click on
Finish, and you will be presented with the main Registry TuneUp window. From here,
follow these steps:

1) Click Scan – you will see a Registry TuneUp running in the background with a
small window asking you to wait.
2) When the application is finished, you will be presented with a dialog asking you
to delete all the bad entries that the tool found. Click ‘Remove’
3) There is no step three – you’re done!

Delete Temporary Internet Files
As you browse the Internet, you look at pictures, download music, videos, and web
pages. Image how slow the Internet would be if you had to download those files every
time you went to a web page – it would be almost unusable. To prevent this from
happening you computer stores some, if not all, of these files locally on your hard drive where it can access them quickly if it needs to. Every so often your computer will get rid of these temporary files to make sure that you are seeing the most up to date version of the web page you are looking at. This is a process called caching, and it is the Internet users’ friend.

However, even your closest friends can bring unexpected guests to your party. If you
only look at a web page once and never return, the cached files on your system will never be removed because the browser you used never needed to refresh them. These files can build up over time casing your computer to slow down.

Most of these files would have been removed when you used the Disk Cleanup tool as
described above, but if you use a web browser other than Internet Explorer (Firefox, for example) you will need to remove these files yourself. We have included instructions for removing these files in both Internet Explorer and Firefox:

Internet Explorer:
1) Click on the ‘Tools’ menu, then on ‘Internet Options’
2) On the first tab that opens, you will see a section called ‘Browsing history’. In
this section there is a button labeled ‘Delete’, click it.
3) A new window will open listing the different types of files that the browser
tracks. You can delete the Temproary Internet Files, Cookies, and History
without much worry. We generally do not recommend that you delete Form Data
or Passwords as these are usually very useful to have automatically populated for
you.
4) When you are done deleting files, click ‘Close’
5) Click OK, you are done.

Firefox:
1) Click on the ‘Tools’ menu, then on ‘Options’
2) Click on ‘Advanced’ along the top, then click on the ‘Network’ tab.
3) In the section labeled ‘Cache’, click the button that says ‘Clear Now’
4) Click OK, you are done.

Run a Spyware Removal Tool Regularly
If you are not aware of this by now, then consider this your wake up call. There are
people and companies that give away free games and applications to you just to keep
track of what websites you look at, what forms you fill out, and who you talk to. This
information is used to create a profile of what kind of shopper you are so they can more
effectively market to you. These types of applications are known as Spyware – aptly
named because they spy on your every move and use your computer against you. The
bad news is that these tools can also be used to market to other users, and possible get
you into major trouble – not to mention slowing down your computer.

The best thing that you can do to prevent these types of applications off your computer is
to run a Spyware removal tool regularly. One that we use and recommend is Ad-Aware®
from Lavasoft, which is another completely free tool that you can download at
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad_aware_free.php. Once you have it installed,
you can follow these steps to scan and remove any recognized Spyware from your
computer:

1) The first time you run Ad-Aware®, it will ask you if you want to register or use
the free version, click ‘Use Free’.
2) On the right hand side of the main window that comes up, click the button that
says ‘Scan Now’.
3) In the next window that is displayed, click ‘Scan’. A progress bar will be
displayed along with statistics about which problems Ad-Aware® finds along the
way. The scan may take while depending on the speed of your computer and the
amount of information it has to process. When it is finished, you will hear a
sound – so there is no need to hang around while it is running.
4) Next, Ad-Aware® will display statistics regarding which problems it found and
ask you what you would like to do about them. In the latest version, there are
different tabs available for each type of problem. Select all of the problems with
the ‘Select All’ link and click ‘Remove’.
5) When you have removed all of the offending files, click ‘Finish’. You will now
see a summary page with details about your latest scan – you can ignore these
unless you are interested – you are done.

Turn Off Any Un-needed Services
Services are programs that run in the background of your computer while you are
working. There are many services that your computer requires to be running to allow it
to function properly, so you need to be careful when you start turning things on and off.

If you have never done this before, we highly recommend that you create a system restore point before making any changes to your configuration. We also recommend that you consult a professional before making any changes to your configuration as it is possible to make your computer completely unusable by disabling a service that is required for Windows to run properly.

To get to the list of services that your computer is running, follow these steps:
1) Click Start, then Control Panel.
2) Double Click on Administrative Tools
3) Double Click on Services
4) A window will open displaying all of the services your computer has available
and their current status.

At this point, we are going to refer you to an external list of the services that are available on Windows XP and what their settings should be for optimal performance. This list is generally referred to as the standard source for all users wishing to optimize their computer for the most efficient performance available. The list of services may be found at http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm. We recommend that you use the ‘Safe’ configuration for the services on your computer, as this provides the best balance of performance and functionality. We also recommend that you only make a few changes to your service configuration at a time to minimize the amount of guesswork required to fix your configuration if anything happens to go wrong.

Turn Off Fancy Animations
When you first got your computer, Windows came with a lot of fancy animations and
special effects that make their interface look nice, and appear user friendly. These
animations and extras are meant to improve your user experience from previous versions.
However, this “warm and fuzzy” feeling from the UI comes with a pretty high price –
performance.

Let’s get real here; you don’t need to see the menus fade in and out, to show the windows as translucent while you drag them, or a lot of other fancy options. You just need it to work as quickly as possible so you can get your work accomplished in the shortest amount of time. Here is how you go about turning off the un-needed special effects that are robbing your computer of its performance while still making your computer look nice:

1) Click Start
2) Right click on ‘My Computer’
3) Select Properties – a dialog box will open
4) Click the ‘Advanced’ Tab
5) In the section labeled ‘Performance’ click the ‘Settings’ button – a new dialog
box will open
6) The ‘Visual Effects’ tab will be open by default – select ‘Custom’
7) Uncheck all the boxes in the list of effects except for these:
a. Smooth edges of screen fonts
b. Use common tasks in folders
c. Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop
d. Use visual styles on windows and buttons

Click ‘OK’, then ‘OK’ again. You are done.
Depending on which Service Pack you have installed you may be asked to restart your
computer – decline for now.

Change the Number of Colors in Your Display
This last technique will require some technical explanation to demonstrate why it is an effective method of speeding up your computer. Don’t worry, we will keep it simple.

Everything you see on your computer screen is stored in a special area of your
computer’s memory called the video buffer. Every dot on your screen makes up a spot in this memory, which constantly has to be refreshed and re-displayed on your monitor.

The more colors you use in your display settings, the more information has to be stored in the video buffer to display information correctly. This method of improving your computer’s speed uses this fact to your advantage. By changing the number colors that your computer uses for your display, you can reduce the amount of information that is stored in the video buffer by at least 50%. Your computer only takes half the time to update your display – thus improving performance. Unless you are a graphic designer or a high end gamer, you will probably not miss the extra colors – and you can always turn the color setting back up if you do. Here is how you change the number of colors used for your display:

1) Right click your desktop, select ‘Properties’
2) In the dialog that opens, select the ‘Settings’ tab
3) In the ‘Color quality’ area of this tab, observe your setting. The default is usually set to ‘Millions of colors’ or ‘Highest (32 bit).’ If this is the case, choose the color option that is one setting below this. It should be ‘Medium (16 bit)’ or ‘Thousands of Colors.’
4) Click ‘Apply’ – your display will go blank for a moment, then return.
5) Click ‘Yes’ when your computer asks if you want to keep these settings.
6) Click ‘OK’ – You are done.

If you have a high end graphics card, one used for gaming, you may not notice any speed increase. This technique will provide the most benefit to those people that use the default graphics card that came with their computer.

Keeping your computer running fast
Now that you have got your computer up to speed, there are several things that you need to do on a regular basis to keep it running as fast as possible. The good news is that they are all contained in this guide! You just have to repeat them every couple of months and your computer will continue to run at top speed.

Here is your list of tasks for keeping your computer running as fast as possible:
1) Remove unused applications – Once every 2-3 months
2) Defragment your hard drive(s) – Once every 2-3 months
3) Run the hard drive cleanup utility – Once every 6 months
4) Delete temporary Internet files – Once every month
5) Run a Spyware removal tool – Once every month

If there is any question on this please reply me.

Thanks for spending your valuable time,

Central Processing Unit

2008-11-27T01:16:00.000-08:00

"CPU" redirects here. For other uses, see CPU (disambiguation).

A Central Processing Unit (CPU) is a machine that can execute computer programs. This broad definition can easily be applied to many early computers that existed long before the term "CPU" ever came into widespread usage. The term itself and its initialism have been in use in the computer industry at least since the early 1960s (Weik 1961). The form, design and implementation of CPUs have changed dramatically since the earliest examples, but their fundamental operation has remained much the same.

Early CPUs were custom-designed as a part of a larger, sometimes one-of-a-kind, computer. However, this costly method of designing custom CPUs for a particular application has largely given way to the development of mass-produced processors that are suited for one or many purposes. This standardization trend generally began in the era of discrete transistor mainframes and minicomputers and has rapidly accelerated with the popularization of the integrated circuit (IC). The IC has allowed increasingly complex CPUs to be designed and manufactured to tolerances on the order of nanometers. Both the miniaturization and standardization of CPUs have increased the presence of these digital devices in modern life far beyond the limited application of dedicated computing machines. Modern microprocessors appear in everything from automobiles to cell phones to children's toys.

History of CPUs

Main article: History of general purpose CPUs

EDVAC, one of the first electronic stored program computers.

Prior to the advent of machines that resemble today's CPUs, computers such as the ENIAC had to be physically rewired in order to perform different tasks. These machines are often referred to as "fixed-program computers," since they had to be physically reconfigured in order to run a different program. Since the term "CPU" is generally defined as a software (computer program) execution device, the earliest devices that could rightly be called CPUs came with the advent of the stored-program computer.

The idea of a stored-program computer was already present during ENIAC's design, but was initially omitted so the machine could be finished sooner. On June 30, 1945, before ENIAC was even completed, mathematician John von Neumann distributed the paper entitled "First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC." It outlined the design of a stored-program computer that would eventually be completed in August 1949 (von Neumann 1945). EDVAC was designed to perform a certain number of instructions (or operations) of various types. These instructions could be combined to create useful programs for the EDVAC to run. Significantly, the programs written for EDVAC were stored in high-speed computer memory rather than specified by the physical wiring of the computer. This overcame a severe limitation of ENIAC, which was the large amount of time and effort it took to reconfigure the computer to perform a new task. With von Neumann's design, the program, or software, that EDVAC ran could be changed simply by changing the contents of the computer's memory.

While von Neumann is most often credited with the design of the stored-program computer because of his design of EDVAC, others before him such as Konrad Zuse had suggested similar ideas. Additionally, the so-called Harvard architecture of the Harvard Mark I, which was completed before EDVAC, also utilized a stored-program design using punched paper tape rather than electronic memory. The key difference between the von Neumann and Harvard architectures is that the latter separates the storage and treatment of CPU instructions and data, while the former uses the same memory space for both. Most modern CPUs are primarily von Neumann in design, but elements of the Harvard architecture are commonly seen as well.

Being digital devices, all CPUs deal with discrete states and therefore require some kind of switching elements to differentiate between and change these states. Prior to commercial acceptance of the transistor, electrical relays and vacuum tubes (thermionic valves) were commonly used as switching elements. Although these had distinct speed advantages over earlier, purely mechanical designs, they were unreliable for various reasons. For example, building direct current sequential logic circuits out of relays requires additional hardware to cope with the problem of contact bounce. While vacuum tubes do not suffer from contact bounce, they must heat up before becoming fully operational and eventually stop functioning altogether. Usually, when a tube failed, the CPU would have to be diagnosed to locate the failing component so it could be replaced. Therefore, early electronic (vacuum tube based) computers were generally faster but less reliable than electromechanical (relay based) computers.

Tube computers like EDVAC tended to average eight hours between failures, whereas relay computers like the (slower, but earlier) Harvard Mark I failed very rarely (Weik 1961:238). In the end, tube based CPUs became dominant because the significant speed advantages afforded generally outweighed the reliability problems. Most of these early synchronous CPUs ran at low clock rates compared to modern microelectronic designs (see below for a discussion of clock rate). Clock signal frequencies ranging from 100 kHz to 4 MHz were very common at this time, limited largely by the speed of the switching devices they were built with.

Discrete transistor and IC CPUs
CPU, core memory, and external bus interface of a DEC PDP-8/I. made of medium-scale integrated circuits

The design complexity of CPUs increased as various technologies facilitated building smaller and more reliable electronic devices. The first such improvement came with the advent of the transistor. Transistorized CPUs during the 1950s and 1960s no longer had to be built out of bulky, unreliable, and fragile switching elements like vacuum tubes and electrical relays. With this improvement more complex and reliable CPUs were built onto one or several printed circuit boards containing discrete (individual) components.

During this period, a method of manufacturing many transistors in a compact space gained popularity. The integrated circuit (IC) allowed a large number of transistors to be manufactured on a single semiconductor-based die, or "chip." At first only very basic non-specialized digital circuits such as NOR gates were miniaturized into ICs. CPUs based upon these "building block" ICs are generally referred to as "small-scale integration" (SSI) devices. SSI ICs, such as the ones used in the Apollo guidance computer, usually contained transistor counts numbering in multiples of ten. To build an entire CPU out of SSI ICs required thousands of individual chips, but still consumed much less space and power than earlier discrete transistor designs. As microelectronic technology advanced, an increasing number of transistors were placed on ICs, thus decreasing the quantity of individual ICs needed for a complete CPU. MSI and LSI (medium- and large-scale integration) ICs increased transistor counts to hundreds, and then thousands.

In 1964 IBM introduced its System/360 computer architecture which was used in a series of computers that could run the same programs with different speed and performance. This was significant at a time when most electronic computers were incompatible with one another, even those made by the same manufacturer. To facilitate this improvement, IBM utilized the concept of a microprogram (often called "microcode"), which still sees widespread usage in modern CPUs (Amdahl et al. 1964). The System/360 architecture was so popular that it dominated the mainframe computer market for the decades and left a legacy that is still continued by similar modern computers like the IBM zSeries. In the same year (1964), Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) introduced another influential computer aimed at the scientific and research markets, the PDP-8. DEC would later introduce the extremely popular PDP-11 line that originally was built with SSI ICs but was eventually implemented with LSI components once these became practical. In stark contrast with its SSI and MSI predecessors, the first LSI implementation of the PDP-11 contained a CPU composed of only four LSI integrated circuits (Digital Equipment Corporation 1975).

Transistor-based computers had several distinct advantages over their predecessors. Aside from facilitating increased reliability and lower power consumption, transistors also allowed CPUs to operate at much higher speeds because of the short switching time of a transistor in comparison to a tube or relay. Thanks to both the increased reliability as well as the dramatically increased speed of the switching elements (which were almost exclusively transistors by this time), CPU clock rates in the tens of megahertz were obtained during this period. Additionally, while discrete transistor and IC CPUs were in heavy usage, new high-performance designs like SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) vector processors began to appear. These early experimental designs later gave rise to the era of specialized supercomputers like those made by Cray Inc.

Microprocessors

Main article: Microprocessor

The integrated circuit from an Intel 8742, an 8-bit microcontroller that includes a CPU running at 12 MHz, 128 bytes of RAM, 2048 bytes of EPROM, and I/O in the same chip.
Intel 80486DX2 microprocessor in a ceramic PGA package.

The introduction of the microprocessor in the 1970s significantly affected the design and implementation of CPUs. Since the introduction of the first microprocessor (the Intel 4004) in 1970 and the first widely used microprocessor (the Intel 8080) in 1974, this class of CPUs has almost completely overtaken all other central processing unit implementation methods. Mainframe and minicomputer manufacturers of the time launched proprietary IC development programs to upgrade their older computer architectures, and eventually produced instruction set compatible microprocessors that were backward-compatible with their older hardware and software. Combined with the advent and eventual vast success of the now ubiquitous personal computer, the term "CPU" is now applied almost exclusively to microprocessors.

Previous generations of CPUs were implemented as discrete components and numerous small integrated circuits (ICs) on one or more circuit boards. Microprocessors, on the other hand, are CPUs manufactured on a very small number of ICs; usually just one. The overall smaller CPU size as a result of being implemented on a single die means faster switching time because of physical factors like decreased gate parasitic capacitance. This has allowed synchronous microprocessors to have clock rates ranging from tens of megahertz to several gigahertz. Additionally, as the ability to construct exceedingly small transistors on an IC has increased, the complexity and number of transistors in a single CPU has increased dramatically. This widely observed trend is described by Moore's law, which has proven to be a fairly accurate predictor of the growth of CPU (and other IC) complexity to date.

While the complexity, size, construction, and general form of CPUs have changed drastically over the past sixty years, it is notable that the basic design and function has not changed much at all. Almost all common CPUs today can be very accurately described as von Neumann stored-program machines. As the aforementioned Moore's law continues to hold true, concerns have arisen about the limits of integrated circuit transistor technology. Extreme miniaturization of electronic gates is causing the effects of phenomena like electromigration and subthreshold leakage to become much more significant. These newer concerns are among the many factors causing researchers to investigate new methods of computing such as the quantum computer, as well as to expand the usage of parallelism and other methods that extend the usefulness of the classical von Neumann model.

CPU operation

The fundamental operation of most CPUs, regardless of the physical form they take, is to execute a sequence of stored instructions called a program.The program is represented by a series of numbers that are kept in some kind of computer memory. There are four steps that nearly all von Neumann CPUs use in their operation: fetch, decode, execute, and writeback.

The first step, fetch, involves retrieving an instruction (which is represented by a number or sequence of numbers) from program memory. The location in program memory is determined by a program counter (PC), which stores a number that identifies the current position in the program. In other words, the program counter keeps track of the CPU's place in the current program. After an instruction is fetched, the PC is incremented by the length of the instruction word in terms of memory units. Often the instruction to be fetched must be retrieved from relatively slow memory, causing the CPU to stall while waiting for the instruction to be returned. This issue is largely addressed in modern processors by caches and pipeline architectures (see below).

The instruction that the CPU fetches from memory is used to determine what the CPU is to do. In the decode step, the instruction is broken up into parts that have significance to other portions of the CPU. The way in which the numerical instruction value is interpreted is defined by the CPU's instruction set architecture(ISA). Often, one group of numbers in the instruction, called the opcode, indicates which operation to perform. The remaining parts of the number usually provide information required for that instruction, such as operands for an addition operation. Such operands may be given as a constant value (called an immediate value), or as a place to locate a value: a register or a memory address, as determined by some addressing mode. In older designs the portions of the CPU responsible for instruction decoding were unchangeable hardware devices. However, in more abstract and complicated CPUs and ISAs, a microprogram is often used to assist in translating instructions into various configuration signals for the CPU. This microprogram is sometimes rewritable so that it can be modified to change the way the CPU decodes instructions even after it has been manufactured.

After the fetch and decode steps, the execute step is performed. During this step, various portions of the CPU are connected so they can perform the desired operation. If, for instance, an addition operation was requested, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) will be connected to a set of inputs and a set of outputs. The inputs provide the numbers to be added, and the outputs will contain the final sum. The ALU contains the circuitry to perform simple arithmetic and logical operations on the inputs (like addition and bitwise operations). If the addition operation produces a result too large for the CPU to handle, an arithmetic overflow flag in a flags register may also be set .

The final step, writeback, simply "writes back" the results of the execute step to some form of memory. Very often the results are written to some internal CPU register for quick access by subsequent instructions. In other cases results may be written to slower, but cheaper and larger, main memory. Some types of instructions manipulate the program counter rather than directly produce result data. These are generally called "jumps" and facilitate behavior like loops, conditional program execution (through the use of a conditional jump), and functions in programs. Many instructions will also change the state of digits in a "flags" register. These flags can be used to influence how a program behaves, since they often indicate the outcome of various operations. For example, one type of "compare" instruction considers two values and sets a number in the flags register according to which one is greater. This flag could then be used by a later jump instruction to determine program flow.

After the execution of the instruction and writeback of the resulting data, the entire process repeats, with the next instruction cycle normally fetching the next-in-sequence instruction because of the incremented value in the program counter. If the completed instruction was a jump, the program counter will be modified to contain the address of the instruction that was jumped to, and program execution continues normally. In more complex CPUs than the one described here, multiple instructions can be fetched, decoded, and executed simultaneously. This section describes what is generally referred to as the "Classic RISC pipeline," which in fact is quite common among the simple CPUs used in many electronic devices (often called microcontroller). It largely ignores the important role of CPU cache, and therefore the access stage of the pipeline.

Design and implementation

Main article: CPU design

Prerequisites
Computer architecture
Digital circuits

Integer range

The way a CPU represents numbers is a design choice that affects the most basic ways in which the device functions. Some early digital computers used an electrical model of the common decimal (base ten) numeral system to represent numbers internally. A few other computers have used more exotic numeral systems like ternary (base three). Nearly all modern CPUs represent numbers in binary form, with each digit being represented by some two-valued physical quantity such as a "high" or "low" voltage.
MOS 6502 microprocessor in a dual in-line package, an extremely popular 8-bit design.

Related to number representation is the size and precision of numbers that a CPU can represent. In the case of a binary CPU, a bit refers to one significant place in the numbers a CPU deals with. The number of bits (or numeral places) a CPU uses to represent numbers is often called "word size", "bit width", "data path width", or "integer precision" when dealing with strictly integer numbers (as opposed to floating point). This number differs between architectures, and often within different parts of the very same CPU. For example, an 8-bit CPU deals with a range of numbers that can be represented by eight binary digits (each digit having two possible values), that is, 28 or 256 discrete numbers. In effect, integer size sets a hardware limit on the range of integers the software run by the CPU can utilize.

Integer range can also affect the number of locations in memory the CPU can address (locate). For example, if a binary CPU uses 32 bits to represent a memory address, and each memory address represents one octet (8 bits), the maximum quantity of memory that CPU can address is 232 octets, or 4 GiB. This is a very simple view of CPU address space, and many designs use more complex addressing methods like paging in order to locate more memory than their integer range would allow with a flat address space.

Higher levels of integer range require more structures to deal with the additional digits, and therefore more complexity, size, power usage, and general expense. It is not at all uncommon, therefore, to see 4- or 8-bit microcontrollers used in modern applications, even though CPUs with much higher range (such as 16, 32, 64, even 128-bit) are available. The simpler microcontrollers are usually cheaper, use less power, and therefore dissipate less heat, all of which can be major design considerations for electronic devices. However, in higher-end applications, the benefits afforded by the extra range (most often the additional address space) are more significant and often affect design choices. To gain some of the advantages afforded by both lower and higher bit lengths, many CPUs are designed with different bit widths for different portions of the device. For example, the IBM System/370 used a CPU that was primarily 32 bit, but it used 128-bit precision inside its floating point units to facilitate greater accuracy and range in floating point numbers (Amdahl et al. 1964). Many later CPU designs use similar mixed bit width, especially when the processor is meant for general-purpose usage where a reasonable balance of integer and floating point capability is required.

Clock rate

Main article: Clock rate

Most CPUs, and indeed most sequential logic devices, are synchronous in nature. That is, they are designed and operate on assumptions about a synchronization signal. This signal, known as a clock signal, usually takes the form of a periodic square wave. By calculating the maximum time that electrical signals can move in various branches of a CPU's many circuits, the designers can select an appropriate period for the clock signal.

This period must be longer than the amount of time it takes for a signal to move, or propagate, in the worst-case scenario. In setting the clock period to a value well above the worst-case propagation delay, it is possible to design the entire CPU and the way it moves data around the "edges" of the rising and falling clock signal. This has the advantage of simplifying the CPU significantly, both from a design perspective and a component-count perspective. However, it also carries the disadvantage that the entire CPU must wait on its slowest elements, even though some portions of it are much faster. This limitation has largely been compensated for by various methods of increasing CPU parallelism (see below).

However architectural improvements alone do not solve all of the drawbacks of globally synchronous CPUs. For example, a clock signal is subject to the delays of any other electrical signal. Higher clock rates in increasingly complex CPUs make it more difficult to keep the clock signal in phase (synchronized) throughout the entire unit. This has led many modern CPUs to require multiple identical clock signals to be provided in order to avoid delaying a single signal significantly enough to cause the CPU to malfunction. Another major issue as clock rates increase dramatically is the amount of heat that is dissipated by the CPU. The constantly changing clock causes many components to switch regardless of whether they are being used at that time. In general, a component that is switching uses more energy than an element in a static state. Therefore, as clock rate increases, so does heat dissipation, causing the CPU to require more effective cooling solutions.

One method of dealing with the switching of unneeded components is called clock gating, which involves turning off the clock signal to unneeded components (effectively disabling them). However, this is often regarded as difficult to implement and therefore does not see common usage outside of very low-power designs. Another method of addressing some of the problems with a global clock signal is the removal of the clock signal altogether. While removing the global clock signal makes the design process considerably more complex in many ways, asynchronous (or clockless) designs carry marked advantages in power consumption and heat dissipation in comparison with similar synchronous designs. While somewhat uncommon, entire asynchronous CPUs have been built without utilizing a global clock signal. Two notable examples of this are the ARM compliant AMULET and the MIPS R3000 compatible MiniMIPS. Rather than totally removing the clock signal, some CPU designs allow certain portions of the device to be asynchronous, such as using asynchronous ALUs in conjunction with superscalar pipelining to achieve some arithmetic performance gains. While it is not altogether clear whether totally asynchronous designs can perform at a comparable or better level than their synchronous counterparts, it is evident that they do at least excel in simpler math operations. This, combined with their excellent power consumption and heat dissipation properties, makes them very suitable for embedded computers (Garside et al. 1999).

Parallelism

Main article: Parallel computing

Model of a subscalar CPU. Notice that it takes fifteen cycles to complete three instructions.

The description of the basic operation of a CPU offered in the previous section describes the simplest form that a CPU can take. This type of CPU, usually referred to as subscalar, operates on and executes one instruction on one or two pieces of data at a time.

This process gives rise to an inherent inefficiency in subscalar CPUs. Since only one instruction is executed at a time, the entire CPU must wait for that instruction to complete before proceeding to the next instruction. As a result the subscalar CPU gets "hung up" on instructions which take more than one clock cycle to complete execution. Even adding a second execution unit (see below) does not improve performance much; rather than one pathway being hung up, now two pathways are hung up and the number of unused transistors is increased. This design, wherein the CPU's execution resources can operate on only one instruction at a time, can only possibly reach scalar performance (one instruction per clock). However, the performance is nearly always subscalar (less than one instruction per cycle).

Attempts to achieve scalar and better performance have resulted in a variety of design methodologies that cause the CPU to behave less linearly and more in parallel. When referring to parallelism in CPUs, two terms are generally used to classify these design techniques. Instruction level parallelism (ILP) seeks to increase the rate at which instructions are executed within a CPU (that is, to increase the utilization of on-die execution resources), and thread level parallelism (TLP) purposes to increase the number of threads (effectively individual programs) that a CPU can execute simultaneously. Each methodology differs both in the ways in which they are implemented, as well as the relative effectiveness they afford in increasing the CPU's performance for an application.

Instruction level parallelism

Main articles: Instruction pipelining and Superscalar

Basic five-stage pipeline. In the best case scenario, this pipeline can sustain a completion rate of one instruction per cycle.

One of the simplest methods used to accomplish increased parallelism is to begin the first steps of instruction fetching and decoding before the prior instruction finishes executing. This is the simplest form of a technique known as instruction pipelining, and is utilized in almost all modern general-purpose CPUs. Pipelining allows more than one instruction to be executed at any given time by breaking down the execution pathway into discrete stages. This separation can be compared to an assembly line, in which an instruction is made more complete at each stage until it exits the execution pipeline and is retired.

Pipelining does, however, introduce the possibility for a situation where the result of the previous operation is needed to complete the next operation; a condition often termed data dependency conflict. To cope with this, additional care must be taken to check for these sorts of conditions and delay a portion of the instruction pipeline if this occurs. Naturally, accomplishing this requires additional circuitry, so pipelined processors are more complex than subscalar ones (though not very significantly so). A pipelined processor can become very nearly scalar, inhibited only by pipeline stalls (an instruction spending more than one clock cycle in a stage).
Simple superscalar pipeline. By fetching and dispatching two instructions at a time, a maximum of two instructions per cycle can be completed.

Further improvement upon the idea of instruction pipelining led to the development of a method that decreases the idle time of CPU components even further. Designs that are said to be superscalar include a long instruction pipeline and multiple identical execution units. [Huynh 2003] In a superscalar pipeline, multiple instructions are read and passed to a dispatcher, which decides whether or not the instructions can be executed in parallel (simultaneously). If so they are dispatched to available execution units, resulting in the ability for several instructions to be executed simultaneously. In general, the more instructions a superscalar CPU is able to dispatch simultaneously to waiting execution units, the more instructions will be completed in a given cycle.

Most of the difficulty in the design of a super scalar CPU architecture lies in creating an effective dispatcher. The dispatcher needs to be able to quickly and correctly determine whether instructions can be executed in parallel, as well as dispatch them in such a way as to keep as many execution units busy as possible. This requires that the instruction pipeline is filled as often as possible and gives rise to the need in superscalar architectures for significant amounts of CPU cache. It also makes hazard-avoiding techniques like branch prediction, speculative execution, and out-of-order execution crucial to maintaining high levels of performance. By attempting to predict which branch (or path) a conditional instruction will take, the CPU can minimize the number of times that the entire pipeline must wait until a conditional instruction is completed. Speculative execution often provides modest performance increases by executing portions of code that may or may not be needed after a conditional operation completes. Out-of-order execution somewhat rearranges the order in which instructions are executed to reduce delays due to data dependencies.

In the case where a portion of the CPU is superscalar and part is not, the part which is not suffers a performance penalty due to scheduling stalls. The original Intel Pentium (P5) had two superscalar ALUs which could accept one instruction per clock each, but its FPU could not accept one instruction per clock. Thus the P5 was integer superscalar but not floating point superscalar. Intel's successor to the Pentium architecture, P6, added superscalar capabilities to its floating point features, and therefore afforded a significant increase in floating point instruction performance.

Both simple pipelining and superscalar design increase a CPU's ILP by allowing a single processor to complete execution of instructions at rates surpassing one instruction per cycle (IPC). Most modern CPU designs are at least somewhat superscalar, and nearly all general purpose CPUs designed in the last decade are superscalar. In later years some of the emphasis in designing high-ILP computers has been moved out of the CPU's hardware and into its software interface, or ISA. The strategy of the very long instruction word (VLIW) causes some ILP to become implied directly by the software, reducing the amount of work the CPU must perform to boost ILP and thereby reducing the design's complexity.

Thread level parallelism

Another strategy of achieving performance is to execute multiple programs or threads in parallel. This area of research is known as parallel computing. In Flynn's taxonomy, this strategy is known as Multiple Instructions-Multiple Data or MIMD.

One technology used for this purpose was multiprocessing (MP). The initial flavor of this technology is known as symmetric multiprocessing (SMP), where a small number of CPUs share a coherent view of their memory system. In this scheme, each CPU has additional hardware to maintain a constantly up-to-date view of memory. By avoiding stale views of memory, the CPUs can cooperate on the same program and programs can migrate from one CPU to another. To increase the number of cooperating CPUs beyond a handful, schemes such as non-uniform memory access (NUMA) and directory-based coherence protocols were introduced in the 1990s. SMP systems are limited to a small number of CPUs while NUMA systems have been built with thousands of processors. Initially, multiprocessing was built using multiple discrete CPUs and boards to implement the interconnect between the processors. When the processors and their interconnect are all implemented on a single silicon chip, the technology is known as a multi-core microprocessor.

It was later recognized that finer-grain parallelism existed with a single program. A single program might have several threads (or functions) that could be executed separately or in parallel. Some of earliest examples of this technology implemented input/output processing such as direct memory access as a separate thread from the computation thread. A more general approach to this technology was introduced in the 1970s when systems were designed to run multiple computation threads in parallel. This technology is known as multi-threading (MT). This approach is considered more cost-effective than multiprocessing, as only a small number of components within a CPU is replicated in order to support MT as opposed to the entire CPU in the case of MP. In MT, the execution units and the memory system including the caches are shared among multiple threads. The downside of MT is that the hardware support for multithreading is more visible to software than that of MP and thus supervisor software like operating systems have to undergo larger changes to support MT. One type of MT that was implemented is known as block multithreading, where one thread is executed until it is stalled waiting for data to return from external memory. In this scheme, the CPU would then quickly switch to another thread which is ready to run, the switch often done in one CPU clock cycle. Another type of MT is known as simultaneous multithreading, where instructions of multiple threads are executed in parallel within one CPU clock cycle.

For several decades from the 1970s to early 2000s, the focus in designing high performance general purpose CPUs was largely on achieving high ILP through technologies such as pipelining, caches, superscalar execution, Out-of-order execution, etc. This trend culminated in large, power-hungry CPUs such as the Intel Pentium 4. By the early 2000s, CPU designers were thwarted from achieving higher performance from ILP techniques due to the growing disparity between CPU operating frequencies and main memory operating frequencies as well as escalating CPU power dissipation owing to more esoteric ILP techniques.

CPU designers then borrowed ideas from commercial computing markets such as transaction processing, where the aggregate performance of multiple programs, also known as throughput computing, was more important than the performance of a single thread or program.

This reversal of emphasis is evidenced by the proliferation of dual and multiple core CMP (chip-level multiprocessing) designs and notably, Intel's newer designs resembling its less superscalar P6 architecture. Late designs in several processor families exhibit CMP, including the x86-64 Opteron and Athlon 64 X2, the SPARC UltraSPARC T1, IBM POWER4 and POWER5, as well as several video game console CPUs like the Xbox 360's triple-core PowerPC design, and the PS3's 8-core Cell microprocessor.

Data parallelism

Main articles: Vector processor and SIMD

A less common but increasingly important paradigm of CPUs (and indeed, computing in general) deals with data parallelism. The processors discussed earlier are all referred to as some type of scalar device. As the name implies, vector processors deal with multiple pieces of data in the context of one instruction. This contrasts with scalar processors, which deal with one piece of data for every instruction. Using Flynn's taxonomy, these two schemes of dealing with data are generally referred to as SISD (single instruction, single data) and SIMD (single instruction, multiple data), respectively. The great utility in creating CPUs that deal with vectors of data lies in optimizing tasks that tend to require the same operation (for example, a sum or a dot product) to be performed on a large set of data. Some classic examples of these types of tasks are multimedia applications (images, video, and sound), as well as many types of scientific and engineering tasks. Whereas a scalar CPU must complete the entire process of fetching, decoding, and executing each instruction and value in a set of data, a vector CPU can perform a single operation on a comparatively large set of data with one instruction. Of course, this is only possible when the application tends to require many steps which apply one operation to a large set of data.

Most early vector CPUs, such as the Cray-1, were associated almost exclusively with scientific research and cryptography applications. However, as multimedia has largely shifted to digital media, the need for some form of SIMD in general-purpose CPUs has become significant. Shortly after floating point execution units started to become commonplace to include in general-purpose processors, specifications for and implementations of SIMD execution units also began to appear for general-purpose CPUs. Some of these early SIMD specifications like Intel's MMX were integer-only. This proved to be a significant impediment for some software developers, since many of the applications that benefit from SIMD primarily deal with floating point numbers. Progressively, these early designs were refined and remade into some of the common, modern SIMD specifications, which are usually associated with one ISA. Some notable modern examples are Intel's SSE and the PowerPC-related AltiVec (also known as VMX)

Burton Smith

2008-11-27T01:15:00.001-08:00

Burton J. Smith is one of the world's leading computer architects. From 1988 until 1999, Smith was the chief scientist and member of the board of directors of Tera Computer Company. Smith received the 1991 Eckert-Mauchly Award and the 2003 Cray award for computer architecture.

In December, 2005, Smith was hired by Microsoft as a Technical Fellow.

Burroughs large systems descriptors

2008-11-27T01:14:00.002-08:00

Descriptors are an architectural feature of Burroughs large systems, including the current (as of 2006) Unisys Clearpath/MCP systems. Apart from being stack- and tag-based, a notable architectural feature of these systems is that it is descriptor-based. Descriptors are the means of having data that does not reside on the stack as for arrays and objects. Descriptors are also used for string data as in compilers and commercial applications.

Details

Descriptors describe data blocks. Each descriptor contains a 20-bit address field referencing the data block. Each block has a length which is stored in the descriptor, also 20 bits. The size of the data is also given, being 4-, 6-, 8- or 48-bit data in a three bit field.

The first computer with this architecture was the B5000. in that implementation, the meaning of the various status bits was:

* Bit 47 — The presence bit (P-Bit)
* Bit 46 — The copy bit
* Bit 45 — The indexed bit
* Bit 44 — The paged bit
* Bit 43 — The read only bit

In later implementations these status bits evolved to keep up with growing memory sizes and gained insights.

Bit 47 is probably the most interesting bit in the system – it is the way the architecture implements virtual memory. Virtual memory was originally developed for the Atlas project at the University of Manchester in the late 1950s. Keen to see this used in commercial applications, they invited engineers from several computer companies to a seminar, including those from Burroughs and IBM. The Burroughs engineers saw the significance of virtual memory and put it into the B5000. The IBM engineers weren't interested and IBM did not "invent" virtual memory for another ten years.

When a descriptor is referenced, the hardware checks bit 47. If it is 1, the data is present in memory at the location indicated in the address field. If bit 47 is 0, the data block is not present and an interrupt (p-bit interrupt) is raised and MCP code entered to make the block present. In this case, if the address field is 0, the data block has not been allocated (init p-bit) and the MCP searches for a free block the size of which is given in the length field.

Usage in compilers

In ALGOL, the bounds of an array were completely dynamic, could be taken from values computed at run time, which was unlike Pascal where the size of arrays was fixed at compile time. This was the main weakness of Pascal as defined in its standard, but which was removed in many commercial implementations of Pascal, notably the Burroughs implementations (both the University of Tasmania version by Arthur Sale and Roy Freak, and the Burroughs Slice implementation by Matt Miller et al.)

Note that in a program in the Burroughs environment, an array is not allocated when it is declared, but only when it is touched for the first time – thus arrays can be declared and the overhead of allocating them avoided if they are not used.

Also note that low-level memory allocation system calls such as the malloc class of calls of C and Unix are not needed – arrays are automatically allocated as used. This saves the programmer the great burden of filling programs with the error-prone activity of memory management, which is crucial in mainframe applications.

When porting programs in lower-level languages such as C, the C memory structure is dealt with by doing its own memory allocation within a large allocated B5000 block – thus the security of the rest of the B5000 system cannot be compromised by errant C programs. In fact, many buffer overruns in apparently otherwise running C programs have been caught when ported to the B5000 architecture. C, like Pascal, was also implemented using the Slice compiler system (using a common code generator and optimizer for all languages). The C compiler, run-time system, POSIX interfaces, as well as a port of many Unix tools was done by Steve Bartels. An Eiffel compiler was also developed using Slice.

For object-oriented programs which require more dynamic creation of objects than the B5000 architecture, objects are best allocated within a single B5000 block. Such object allocation is higher level than C's malloc and is best implemented with a modern efficient garbage collector.

The last p-bit scenario is when bit 47 is 0, indicating that the data is not in memory, but the address is non-zero, indicating that the data has been allocated and in this case the address represents a disk address in the virtual memory area on disk. In this case a p-bit interrupt is raised and it is noted as an 'other' p-bit.

Thus the B5000 had a virtual memory system integrated into the hardware – a virtual memory system that has to this day been unsurpassed, since all other systems must build virtual memory on top of lower-level hardware. ALGOL and the B5000 also represented a significant advance on the low-level, error-prone, and programmer intensive 'malloc' mechanisms of later systems.

Integration in memory architecture

The address field in the B5000 was only 20 bits, which meant that only 1 Meg words (6MB) of memory could be addressed by descriptors. This was a significant restriction of the architecture. To overcome this, two solutions were implemented:

1. Swapper – this solution actually implemented another layer on top of memory management, moving large clusters of related data in and out of memory at once.

2. ASN – this solution allowed physically more memory to be configured in a system, divided into separately addressable chunks. This architecture became known as ASN (Address Space Number) memory. Memory was logically divided into two areas, allocating low memory addresses to a Global address space for the operating system and support software and high memory addresses to several parallel Local address spaces for individual programs. Address spaces were numbered, zero indicating Global, 1..n indicating the local address spaces. Programs sharing data were automatically placed in the same address space.

No program code modifications were necessary for these features to be utilized. Both solutions could even be combined, but eventually the MCP memory requirements and program data sharing requirements outgrew the maximum size of the address spaces itself.

With the advent of the A Series in the early 1980s, the meaning of this field was changed to contain the address of a master descriptor, which meant that 1 Meg data blocks could be allocated, but that the machine memory could be greatly expanded to gigabytes or perhaps terabytes. This architecture was named ASD (Advanced Segment Descriptors) memory. This required a new common microcode specification, referred to as Beta. The main visionary behind ASD memory is Bill McClintock. Later the 3-bit memory tag was increased to a 4-bit specification, allowing the segment descriptor to grow from 20 to 23 bits in size, allowing even more memory to be addressed simultaneously. This microcode specification became known as level Gamma.

Memory management

Another significant advantage was realized for virtual memory. In the B5000 design, if a data block were rolled out, all descriptors referencing that block needed to be found in order to update the presence bit and address. With the master descriptor, only the presence bit in the master descriptor needs changing. Also the MCP can move blocks around in memory for compaction and only needs to change the address in the master descriptor.

A difference between the B5000 and most other systems is that other systems mainly used paged virtual memory, that is pages are swapped out is fixed-sized chunks regardless of the structure of the information in them. B5000 virtual memory works with varying-size segments as described by the descriptors.

When the memory is filled to a certain capacity, an OS process called the 'Working Set Sheriff' is invoked to either compact memory or start moving segments out of memory. It chooses code segments first, since these cannot change and can be reloaded from the original in the code file, so do not need writing out, and then data segments which are written out to the virtual memory file.

P-bit interrupts are also useful to measure system performance. For first-time allocations, 'init p-bits' indicate a potential performance problem in a program, for example if a procedure allocating an array is continually called. Reloading blocks from virtual memory on disk can significantly degrade system performance and is not the fault of any specific task. This is why many of today's computers may gain increased system performance by adding memory. On B5000 machines, 'other p-bits' indicate a system problem, which can be solved either by better balancing the computing load across the day, or by adding more memory.

Thus the Burroughs large systems architecture helps optimization of both individual tasks and the system as a whole.

Buffer overflow protection

The last and maybe most important point to note about descriptors is how they affect the complementary notions of system security and program correctness. One of the best tools a hacker has to compromise operating systems of today is the buffer overflow. This is particularly easily done in C and with a little more effort in assemblers. C, in particular, uses the most primitive and error-prone way to mark the end of strings, using a null byte as an end-of-string sentinel in the data stream itself.

Pointers are implemented on the B5000 by indexed descriptors. During indexing operations, pointers are checked at each increment to make sure that neither the source not the destination blocks are out of bound. During a scan or replace operation, the mechanisms used to read or copy large blocks of memory, both source and destination are checked at each word increment for a valid memory tag. Each memory segment is bounded by tag 3 words, which would make such an operation fail. Each memory segment containing integrity sensitive data, such as program code, is stored in tag 3 words, making an uncontrolled read – let alone modification – impossible. Thus a significant source of program errors can be detected early before software goes into production, and a more significant class of attacks on system security is not possible.

Bridging model

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In computer science, a bridging model is an abstract model of a computer which provides a conceptual bridge between the physical implementation of the machine and the abstraction available to a programmer of that machine; in other words, it is intended to provide a common level of understanding between hardware and software engineers.

A successful bridging model is one which can be efficiently implemented in reality and efficiently targeted by programmers; in particular, it should be possible for a compiler to produce good code from a typical high-level language. The term was introduced by Leslie Valiant's 1990 paper A Bridging Model for Parallel Computation, which argued that the strength of the von Neumann model was largely responsible for the success of computing as a whole. The paper goes on to develop the bulk-synchronous parallel model as an analogous model for parallel computing.

Application-specific instruction-set processor

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An application-specific instruction-set processor (ASIP) is a component used in System-on-a-Chip design. The instruction set of an ASIP is tailored to benefit a specific application. This specialization of the core provides a tradeoff between the flexibility of a general purpose CPU and the performance of an ASIC.

Some ASIPs have a configurable instruction set. Usually, these cores are divided into two parts: static logic which defines a minimum ISA and configurable logic which can be used to design new instructions. The configurable logic can be programmed either in the field in a similar fashion to an FPGA or during the chip synthesis.

Anti machine

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In computer science, anti machine refers to the basic machine paradigm for reconfigurable computing that is the counterpart of the von Neumann machine. The difference between an anti machine and a von Neumann machine is that the anti machine is data-stream-driven and is therefore sequenced by data counters. The von Neumann machine, in contrast, is is instruction-stream-driven and is therefore controlled by a program counter. Another key difference is that the anti machine usually has multiple data counters, whereas the the von Neumann machine can have only a single program counter. The data counters are located within auto-sequencing memory blocks, which are programmed from flowware sources. An anti machine does not have a central processing unit, but rather one or several data path unit(s), also known as DPU(s).

Auto-Sequence Memory

The Auto-sequencing memory (ASM) is an essential part of the anti machine paradigm. It is part of the instruction sequencer and is co-located with the datapath. Traditionally this block, including the datapath unit (for example, an ALU) and the instruction sequencer, is called the CPU. The ASM is a key component of the paradigm shift from instruction-stream-based computing to the Reconfigurable Computing paradigm.

ASM use is a fundamental issue because in homogenous Reconfigurable Computing Systems, there is no instruction fetch at run time, since in a reconfigurable array (rDPU or a FPGA), the datapath units (DPUs) are connected to form a pipe network, where execution is transport-triggered - for example, upon arrival of data items coming along with the data streams driven through the array. For this reason instruction sequencers are not needed here. But a machine paradigm needs a sequencing mechanism - data counters are used.

An Auto-sequencing memory block (ASM block) is a RAM memory unit that includes a data address generator with the data counter (a data pointer) used as a data address register for implementation of a data stream. The direct memory access (DMA) unit is an example of such an address generator for an ASM. Another example is the generic address generator (GAG), a generalization of the DMA. In Reconfigurable Computing systems ASMs play an important role for massive speed-up by minimizing or avoiding memory cycle overhead for complex address computations.

Generic Address Generator

The Generic Address Generator (GAG) is a generalization of the direct memory access (DMA) method for the transfer of blocks of data or of data streams between memory and processing resource without the need to individually address each data item by a CPU instruction. The GAG is a reconfigurable address generator. The GAG is also a highly efficient implementation of the data sequencer for auto-sequencing memory (ASM) blocks. At run time after having been configured for a particular addressing pattern, the GAG does not need any memory cycles (except for fetching or storing the data item), even for highly complex address computations. Depending on the application, using a GAG instead of the addressing features of a classical CPU can yield speed-up factors of one order of magnitude or more. Without needing any memory cycles for address computation, the GAG methodology supports, for instance with a 2-dimensional address space, a wide variety of generic address sequences like video scans, slanted, sheared, triangular, or rotated video scans, shuffle of butterfly addressing patterns, spiral- or zigzag-shaped address sequences and much more, and, can be used to optimize storage schemes for image processing and massively parallel computing.

The GAG is also an important ingredient of the anti machine methodology, Note, that using Auto-sequencing memory is a fundamental issue distinguishing the anti machine paradigm of reconfigurable Computing from the von Neumann machine paradigm.

Data Counters

Data counters in an anti machine are used instead of a program counter by the reconfigurable computing systems. A computing machine paradigm needs a sequencing mechanism. The instruction-stream-driven von Neumann architecture paradigm uses a program counter for sequencing the instructions, according to software programming sources. Because the Anti machine is, however, data-stream-driven, it uses data counters which are programmed from Flowware sources. According to the Anti machine model the data counters are parts of address generators like DMA or GAG units, located in auto-sequencing memory blocks for data. Instead of a CPU, the anti machine uses DPUs.

Addressing mode

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Addressing modes are an aspect of the instruction set architecture in most central processing unit (CPU) designs. The various addressing modes that are defined in a given instruction set architecture define how machine language instructions in that architecture identify the operand (or operands) of each instruction. An addressing mode specifies how to calculate the effective memory address of an operand by using information held in registers and/or constants contained within a machine instruction or elsewhere.

In computer programming, addressing modes are primarily of interest to compiler writers and to those who write code directly in assembly language.

Caveats

Note that there is no generally accepted way of naming the various addressing modes. In particular, different authors and computer manufacturers may give different names to the same addressing mode, or the same names to different addressing modes. Furthermore, an addressing mode which, in one given architecture, is treated as a single addressing mode may represent functionality that, in another architecture, is covered by two or more addressing modes. For example, some complex instruction set computer (CISC) computer architectures, such as the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) VAX, treat registers and literal/immediate constants as just another addressing mode. Others, such as the IBM System/390 and most reduced instruction set computer (RISC) designs, encode this information within the instruction. Thus, the latter machines have three distinct instruction codes for copying one register to another, copying a literal constant into a register, and copying the contents of a memory location into a register, while the VAX has only a single "MOV" instruction.

The term "addressing mode" is itself subject to different interpretations: either "memory address calculation mode" or "operand accessing mode". Under the first interpretation instructions that do not read from memory or write to memory (such as "add literal to register") are considered not to have an "addressing mode". The second interpretation allows for machines such as VAX which use operand mode bits to allow for a literal operand. Only the first interpretation applies to instructions such as "load effective address".

The addressing modes listed below are divided into code addressing and data addressing. Most computer architectures maintain this distinction, but there are, or have been, some architectures which allow (almost) all addressing modes to be used in any context.

The instructions shown below are purely representative in order to illustrate the addressing modes, and do not necessarily reflect the mnemonics used by any particular computer.

How many addressing modes?

Different computer architectures vary greatly as to the number of addressing modes they provide. At the cost of a few extra instructions, and perhaps an extra register, it is normally possible to use the simpler addressing modes instead of the more complicated modes. It has proven[citation needed] much easier to design pipelined CPUs if the only addressing modes available are simple ones.

Most RISC machines have only about five simple addressing modes, while CISC machines such as the DEC VAX supermini have over a dozen addressing modes, some of which are quite complicated. The IBM System/360 mainframe had only three addressing modes; a few more have been added for the System/390.

When there are only a few addressing modes, the particular addressing mode required is usually encoded within the instruction code (e.g. IBM System/390, most RISC). But when there are lots of addressing modes, a specific field is often set aside in the instruction to specify the addressing mode. The DEC VAX allowed multiple memory operands for almost all instructions, and so reserved the first few bits of each operand specifier to indicate the addressing mode for that particular operand.

Even on a computer with many addressing modes, measurements of actual programs[citation needed] indicate that the simple addressing modes listed below account for some 90% or more of all addressing modes used. Since most such measurements are based on code generated from high-level languages by compilers, this reflects to some extent the limitations of the compilers being used.

Useful side effect

Some processors, such as Intel x86 and the IBM/390, have a Load effective address instruction. This performs a calculation of the effective operand address, but instead of acting on that memory location, it loads the address that would have been accessed into a register. This can be useful when passing the address of an array element to a subroutine. It may also be a slightly sneaky way of doing more calculation than normal in one instruction; for example, using such an instruction with the addressing mode "base+index+offset" allows one to add two registers and a constant together in one instruction.

Simple addressing modes for code

Absolute

+----+------------------------------+
| jump| address |
+----+------------------------------+

(Effective address = address)

The effective address for an absolute instruction address is the address parameter itself with no modifications.

PC-relative

+------+-----+-----+----------------+
|jumpEQ| reg1| reg2| offset | jump relative if reg1=reg2
+------+-----+-----+----------------+

(Effective address = next instruction address + offset, offset may be negative)

The effective address for a PC-relative instruction address is the offset parameter added to the address of the next instruction. This offset is usually signed to allow reference to code both before and after the instruction.

This is particularly useful in connection with conditional jumps, because typical jumps are to nearby instructions (in a high-level language most if or while statements are reasonably short). Measurements of actual programs suggest that an 8 or 10 bit offset is large enough for some 90% of conditional jumps[citation needed].

Another advantage of program-relative addressing is that the code may be position-independent, i.e. it can be loaded anywhere in memory without the need to adjust any addresses.

Register indirect

+-------+-----+
|jumpVia| reg |
+-------+-----+

(Effective address = contents of register 'reg')

The effective address for a Register indirect instruction is the address in the specified register. For example, (A7) to access the content of address register A7.

The effect is to transfer control to the instruction whose address is in the specified register.

Many RISC machines have a subroutine call instruction that places the return address in an address register -- the register indirect addressing mode is used to return from that subroutine call.

skip

+------+-----+-----+
|skipEQ| reg1| reg2| skip the following instruction if reg1=reg2
+------+-----+-----+

(Effective address = next instruction address + 1)

Skip addressing may be considered a special kind of PC-relative addressing mode with a fixed "+1" offset.

Unlike all other conditional branches, a "skip" instruction never needs to flush the instruction pipeline.

The "condition code" used in the ARM architecture can be considered a kind of skip addressing mode.

Simple addressing modes for data

Register

+------+-----+-----+-----+
| mul | reg1| reg2| reg3| reg1 := reg2 * reg3;
+------+-----+-----+-----+

This "addressing mode" does not have an effective address and is not considered to be an addressing mode on some computers.

In this example, all the operands are in registers, and the result is placed in a register.

Base plus offset, and variations

+------+-----+-----+----------------+
| load | reg | base| offset |
+------+-----+-----+----------------+

(Effective address = offset + contents of specified base register)

The offset is usually a signed 16-bit value (though the 80386 expanded it to 32 bits).

If the offset is zero, this becomes an example of register indirect addressing; the effective address is just the value in the base register.

On many RISC machines, register 0 is fixed at the value zero. If register 0 is used as the base register, this becomes an example of absolute addressing. However, only a small portion of memory can be accessed (64 kilobytes, if the offset is 16 bits).

The 16-bit offset may seem very small in relation to the size of current computer memories (which is why the 80386 expanded it to 32-bit). It could be worse: IBM System/360 mainframes only have an unsigned 12-bit offset. However, the principle of locality of reference applies: over a short time span, most of the data items a program wants to access are fairly close to each other.

This addressing mode is closely related to the indexed absolute addressing mode.

Example 1: Within a subroutine a programmer will mainly be interested in the parameters and the local variables, which will rarely exceed 64 KB, for which one base register (the frame pointer) suffices. If this routine is a class method in an object-oriented language, then a second base register is needed which points at the attributes for the current object (this or self in some high level languages).

Example 2: If the base register contains the address of a composite type (a record or structure), the offset can be used to select a field from that record (most records/structures are less than 32 kB in size).

Immediate/literal

+------+-----+-----+----------------+
| add | reg1| reg2| constant | reg1 := reg2 + constant;
+------+-----+-----+----------------+

This "addressing mode" does not have an effective address, and is not considered to be an addressing mode on some computers.

The constant might be signed or unsigned. For example move.l #$FEEDABBA, D0 to move the immediate hex value of "FEEDABBA" into register D0.

Instead of using an operand from memory, the value of the operand is held within the instruction itself. On the DEC VAX machine, the literal operand sizes could be 6, 8, 16, or 32 bits long.

Andrew Tanenbaum showed that 98% of all the constants in a program would fit in 13 bits (see RISC design philosophy).

Implicit

+-----------------+
| clear carry bit |
+-----------------+

The implied addressing mode, also called the implicit addressing mode, does not explicitly specify an effective address for either the source or the destination (or sometimes both).

Either the source (if any) or destination effective address (or sometimes both) is implied by the opcode.

Implied addressing was quite common on older computers (up to mid-1970s). Such computers typically had only a single register in which arithmetic can be performed -- the accumulator. Such accumulator machines implicitly reference that accumulator in almost every instruction. For example, the operation can be done using the sequence -- the destination (the accumulator) is implied in every "load" and "add" instruction; the source (the accumulator) is implied in every "store" instruction.

Later computers generally had more than one general purpose register or RAM location which could be the source or destination or both for arithmetic -- and so later computers need some other addressing mode to specify the source and destination of arithmetic.

Many computers (such as x86 and AVR) have one special-purpose register called the stack pointer which is implicitly incremented or decremented when pushing or popping data from the stack, and the source or destination effective address is (implicitly) the address stored in that stack pointer.

Most 32-bit computers (such as ARM and PowerPC) have more than one register which could be used as a stack pointer -- and so use the "register autoincrement indirect" addressing mode to specify which of those registers should be used when pushing or popping data from a stack.

Some current computer architectures (e.g. IBM/390 and Intel Pentium) contain some instructions with implicit operands in order to maintain backwards compatibility with earlier designs.

On many computers, instructions that flip the user/system mode bit, the interrupt-enable bit, etc. implicitly specify the special register that holds those bits. This simplifies the hardware necessary to trap those instructions in order to meet the Popek and Goldberg virtualization requirements -- on such a system, the trap logic does not need to look at any operand (or at the final effective address), but only at the opcode.

A few CPUs have been designed where every operand is always implicitly specified in every instruction -- zero-operand CPUs.

Other addressing modes for code or data

Absolute/Direct

+------+-----+--------------------------------------+
| load | reg | address |
+------+-----+--------------------------------------+

(Effective address = address as given in instruction)

This requires space in an instruction for quite a large address. It is often available on CISC machines which have variable-length instructions, such as x86.

Some RISC machines have a special Load Upper Literal instruction which places a 16-bit constant in the top half of a register. An OR literal instruction can be used to insert a 16-bit constant in the lower half of that register, so that a full 32-bit address can then be used via the register-indirect addressing mode, which itself is provided as "base-plus-offset" with an offset of 0.

Indexed absolute

+------+-----+-----+--------------------------------+
| load | reg |index| address |
+------+-----+-----+--------------------------------+

(Effective address = address + contents of specified index register)

This also requires space in an instruction for quite a large address. The address could be the start of an array or vector, and the index could select the particular array element required. The processor may scale the index register to allow for the size of each array element.

Note that this is more or less the same as base-plus-offset addressing mode, except that the offset in this case is large enough to address any memory location.

Example 1: Within a subroutine, a programmer may define a string as a local constant or a static variable. The address of the string is stored in the literal address in the instruction. The offset -- which character of the string to use on this iteration of a loop -- is stored in the index register.

Example 2: A programmer may define several large arrays as globals or as class variables. The start of the array is stored in the literal address (perhaps modified at program-load time by a relocating loader) of the instruction that references it. The offset -- which item from the array to use on this iteration of a loop -- is stored in the index register. Often the instructions in a loop re-use the same register for the loop counter and the offsets of several arrays.

Base plus index

+------+-----+-----+-----+
| load | reg | base|index|
+------+-----+-----+-----+

(Effective address = contents of specified base register + contents of specified index register)

The base register could contain the start address of an array or vector, and the index could select the particular array element required. The processor may scale the index register to allow for the size of each array element. This could be used for accessing elements of an array passed as a parameter.

Base plus index plus offset

+------+-----+-----+-----+----------------+
| load | reg | base|index| offset |
+------+-----+-----+-----+----------------+

(Effective address = offset + contents of specified base register + contents of specified index register)

The base register could contain the start address of an array or vector of records, the index could select the particular record required, and the offset could select a field within that record. The processor may scale the index register to allow for the size of each array element.

Scaled

+------+-----+-----+-----+
| load | reg | base|index|
+------+-----+-----+-----+

(Effective address = contents of specified base register + scaled contents of specified index register)

The base register could contain the start address of an array or vector, and the index could contain the number of the particular array element required.

This addressing mode dynamically scales the value in the index register to allow for the size of each array element, e.g. if the array elements are double precision floating-point numbers occupying 8 bytes each then the value in the index register is multiplied by 8 before being used in the effective address calculation. The scale factor is normally restricted to being a power of two, so that shifting rather than multiplication can be used.

Register indirect

+------+-----+-----+
| load | reg | base|
+------+-----+-----+

(Effective address = contents of base register)

A few computers have this as a distinct addressing mode. Many computers just use base plus offset with an offset value of 0. For example, (A7)

Register autoincrement indirect

+------+-----+-------+
| load | reg | base |
+------+-----+-------+

(Effective address = contents of base register)

After determining the effective address, the value in the base register is incremented by the size of the data item that is to be accessed. For example, (A7)+ would access the content of the address register A7, then increase the address pointer of A7 by 1 (usually 1 word).

Within a loop, this addressing mode can be used to step through all the elements of an array or vector. A stack can be implemented by using this mode in conjunction with the next addressing mode (autodecrement).

In high-level languages it is often thought to be a good idea that functions which return a result should not have side effects (lack of side effects makes program understanding and validation much easier). This addressing mode has a side effect in that the base register is altered. If the subsequent memory access causes an error (e.g. page fault, bus error, address error) leading to an interrupt, then restarting the instruction becomes much more problematic since one or more registers may need to be set back to the state they were in before the instruction originally started.

There have been at least two computer architectures which have had implementation problems with regard to recovery from interrupts when this addressing mode is used:

* Motorola 68000(address is represented in 24 bits). Could have one or two autoincrement register operands. The 68010+ resolved the problem by saving the processor's internal state on bus or address errors.
* DEC VAX. Could have up to 6 autoincrement register operands. Each operand access could cause two page faults (if operands happened to straddle a page boundary). Of course the instruction itself could be over 50 bytes long and might straddle a page boundary as well!

Autodecrement register indirect

+------+-----+-----+
| load | reg | base|
+------+-----+-----+

(Effective address = new contents of base register)

Before determining the effective address, the value in the base register is decremented by the size of the data item which is to be accessed.

Within a loop, this addressing mode can be used to step backwards through all the elements of an array or vector. A stack can be implemented by using this mode in conjunction with the previous addressing mode (autoincrement).

See the discussion of side-effects under the autoincrement addressing mode.

Memory indirect

Any of the addressing modes mentioned in this article could have an extra bit to indicate indirect addressing, i.e. the address calculated using some mode is in fact the address of a location (typically a complete word) which contains the actual effective address.

Indirect addressing may be used for code or data. It can make implementation of pointers or references or handles very much easier, and can also make it easier to call subroutines which are not otherwise addressable. Indirect addressing does carry a performance penalty due to the extra memory access involved.

Some early minicomputers (e.g. DEC PDP-8, Data General Nova) had only a few registers and only a limited addressing range (8 bits). Hence the use of memory indirect addressing was almost the only way of referring to any significant amount of memory.

Obsolete addressing modes

The addressing modes listed here were used in the 1950–1980 time frame, but are no longer available on most current computers. This list is by no means complete; there have been many other interesting and peculiar addressing modes used from time to time, e.g. absolute-plus-logical-OR of two or three index registers.[citation needed]

Multi-level memory indirect

If the word size is larger than the address then the word referenced for memory-indirect addressing could itself have an indirect flag set to indicate another memory indirect cycle. Care is needed to ensure that a chain of indirect addresses does not refer to itself; if it did, you could get an infinite loop while trying to resolve an address.

The DEC PDP-10 computer with 18-bit addresses and 36-bit words allowed multi-level indirect addressing with the possibility of using an index register at each stage as well.

Memory-mapped registers

On some computers, the registers were regarded as occupying the first 8 or 16 words of memory (e.g. ICL 1900, DEC PDP-10). This meant that there was no need for a separate "Add register to register" instruction — you could just use the "add memory to register" instruction.

In the case of early models of the PDP-10, which did not have any cache memory, you could actually load a tight inner loop into the first few words of memory (the fast registers in fact), and have it run much faster than if it would have in magnetic core memory.

Later models of the DEC PDP-11 series mapped the registers onto addresses in the input/output area, but this was primarily intended to allow remote diagnostics. Confusingly, the 16-bit registers were mapped onto consecutive 8-bit byte addresses.

Memory indirect, autoincrement

On some early minicomputers (e.g. DEC PDP-8, Data General Nova), there were typically 16 special memory locations.[citation needed] When accessed via memory indirect addressing, 8 would automatically increment after use and 8 would automatically decrement after use. This made it very easy to step through memory in loops without using any registers.

Zero page

The Motorola 6800 family and MOS Technology 6502 family of processors were a register poor series of CISC microprocessors. Arithmetic and logical instructions were mostly performed against values in memory as opposed to internal registers. As a result, instructions were generally required to include a two byte (16-bit) location to memory. Given that opcodes on these processors were only one byte (8-bit) in length, memory addresses could make up a significant part of code size.

Designers of these processors included a partial remedy known as "zero page" addressing. The initial 256 bytes of memory ($0000 - $00FF; a.k.a., page "0") could be accessed using a one byte absolute or indexed memory address. This reduced instruction execution time by one clock cycle and instruction length by one byte. By storing often used data in this region, programs could be made smaller and faster.

As a result, the zero page was used similar to a register file. On many systems, however, this resulted in high utilization of the zero page memory area by the operating system and user programs. This limited its use since free space was limited.

Direct page

The zero page address mode was enhanced in several descendants of the MOS Technology 6502, including the WDC 65816 and the MOS Technology 65CE02. The new mode, known as "direct page" addressing, added the ability to move the 256 byte zero page memory window from the start of memory (offset address $0000) to a new location within the first 64KB of memory.

The MOS 65CE02 allowed the direct page to be moved to any 256 byte boundary within the first 64KB of memory by storing an 8-bit offset value in the new B (block) register. The WDC 65816 went a step further and allowed the direct page to be moved to any location within the first 64KB of memory by storing a 16-bit offset value in the new D (direct) register.

As a result, a greater number of programs were able to utilize the enhanced direct page addressing mode versus legacy processors that only included the zero page addressing mode.

Scaled index with bounds checking

This is similar to scaled index addressing, except that the instruction has two extra operands (typically constants), and the hardware would check that the index value was between these bounds.

Another variation uses vector descriptors to hold the bounds; this makes it easy to implement dynamically allocated arrays and still have full bounds checking.

Register indirect to byte within word

The DEC PDP-10 computer used 36-bit words. It had a special addressing mode which allowed memory to be treated as a sequence of bytes (bytes could be any size from 1 bit to 36 bits). A one-word sequence descriptor held the current word address within the sequence, a bit position within a word, and the size of each byte.

Instructions existed to load and store bytes via this descriptor, and to increment the descriptor to point at the next byte (bytes were not split across word boundaries). Much DEC software used five 7-bit bytes per word (plain ASCII characters), with 1 bit unused per word. Implementations of C had to use four 9-bit bytes per word, since C assumes that you can access every bit of memory by accessing consecutive bytes

Index next instruction

The Elliott 503, the Elliott 803, and the Apollo Guidance Computer only used absolute addressing, and did not have any index registers. Thus, indirect jumps, or jumps through registers, were not supported in the instruction set. Instead, it could be instructed to add the contents of the current memory word to the next instruction. Adding a small value to the next instruction to be executed could, for example, change a JUMP 0 into a JUMP 20, thus creating the effect of an indirect jump via self-modifying code.

Address space

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In computing, an address space defines a range of discrete addresses, each of which may correspond to a physical or virtual memory register, a network host, peripheral device, disk sector or other logical or physical entity.

A memory address identifies a physical location in computer memory, somewhat similar to a street address in a town. The address points to the location where data is stored, just like your address points to where you live. In the analogy of a person's address, the address space would be an area of locations, such as a neighborhood, town, city, or country. Two addresses may be numerically the same but refer to different locations, if they belong to different address spaces. This is similar to your address being, say, "32, Main Street", while another person may reside in "32, Main Street" in a different town from yours.

Example address spaces:

* House numbers in street addresses
* Street addresses in towns
* Main memory (physical memory)
* Virtual memory
* I/O port space
* Network
o IP addresses in particular
* The cylinder-head-sector scheme for hard drives

Specific examples for the Linux kernel:

* Kernel virtual address space
* User virtual address space, accessed by the kernel through copy_to_user(), copy_from_user() and similar functions
* I/O memory, accessed through readb(), writel(), memcpy_toio(), etc.

Address translation

In general, things in one address space are physically in a different location than things in another address space. For example, "house number 101 South" on one particular southward street is completely different from any house number (not just the 101st house) on a different southward street.

However, sometimes different address spaces overlap (some physical location exists in both address spaces). When overlapping address spaces are not aligned, translation is necessary. For example, virtual-to-physical address translation is necessary to translate addresses in the virtual memory address space to addresses in physical address space -- one physical address, and one or more numerically different virtual addresses, all refer to the same physical byte of RAM.

Memory models

Many programmers prefer to use a flat memory model, in which there is no distinction between code space, data space, and virtual memory -- in other words, numerically identical pointers refer to exactly the same byte of RAM in all three address spaces.

Unfortunately, many early computers did not support a flat memory model -- in particular, Harvard architecture machines force program storage to be completely separate from data storage. Many modern DSPs (such as the Motorola 56000) have 3 separate storage areas -- program storage, coefficient storage, and data storage. Some commonly-used instructions fetch from all three areas simultaneously -- fewer storage areas (even if there were the same or more total bytes of storage) would make those instructions run slower.

Memory models in x86 architecture

Early x86 computers used addresses based on a combination of two numbers: a memory segment, and an offset within that segment. Some segments were implicitly treated as code segments, dedicated for instructions, stack segments, or normal data segments. Although the usages were different, the segments did not have different memory protections reflecting this.

Now, many programmers prefer to use a flat memory model, in which all segments (segment registers) are generally set to zero, and only offsets are variable.

Abstraction layer

2008-11-27T01:05:00.000-08:00

This is about the concept in computer science, for the concept in grouping, see Principle of abstraction.

An abstraction layer (or abstraction level) is a way of hiding the implementation details of a particular set of functionality. Software models that use layers of abstraction include the OSI 7 Layer model for computer network protocols, the OpenGL graphics drawing library, and the byte stream input/output (I/O) model originated by Unix and adopted by MSDOS, Linux, and most other modern operating systems.

In the Unix operating system, most types of input and output operations are considered to be streams of bytes being read from a device or being written to a device. This stream of bytes model is used for file I/O, socket I/O, and terminal I/O in order to provide device independence. In order to read and write to a device at the application level, the program calls a function to open the device which may be a real device such as a terminal or a virtual device such as a network port or a file in a file system. The device's physical characteristics are mediated by the operating system which in turn presents an abstract interface that allows the programmer to read and write bytes from/to the device. The operating system then performs the actual transformation needed to read and write the stream of bytes to the device.

Most graphics libraries such as OpenGL provide an abstract graphical device model as an interface. The library is responsible for translating the commands provided by the programmer into the specific device commands needed to draw the graphical elements and objects. The specific device commands for a plotter are different from the device commands for a CRT monitor but the graphics library hides the implementation and device dependent details by providing an abstract interface which provides a set of primitives that are generally useful for drawing graphical objects.

In computer science, an abstraction level is a generalization of a model or algorithm, away from any specific implementation. These generalizations arise from broad similarities that are best encapsulated by models that express similarities present in various specific implementations. The simplification provided by a good abstraction layer allows for easy reuse by distilling a useful concept or metaphor so that situations where it may be accurately applied can be quickly recognized.

A good abstraction will generalize that which can be made abstract; while allowing specificity where the abstraction breaks down and its successful application requires customization to each unique requirement or problem.

Frequently abstraction layers can be composed into a hierarchy of abstraction levels. The ISO-OSI networking model comprises seven abstraction layers. Each layer of the OSI ISO networking model encapsulates and addresses a different part of the needs of much digital communications thereby reducing the complexity of the associated engineering solutions.

A famous aphorism of Butler Lampson goes: All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection; this is often deliberately mis-quoted with "abstraction" substituted for "indirection". Kevlin Henney's corollary to this is, "...except for the problem of too many layers of indirection."

The Meaning of Education

2008-11-07T20:31:00.000-08:00

The Meaning of Education or Why Do We Do What We Do?
Caleb Rosado*
Far too often the function of articles in a professional journal such as this one is toprovide answers to our burning concerns regarding education, our profession. I will takea different methodology in this article. I am not going to give answers, but just raisequestions. Call it the Socratic method or the way Jesus taught, but often we accomplishmore by raising questions than simply providing answers. Questions force us to think,answers merely leave us in a take-it-or-leave-it mode.
The focus of this article is on the human quest for meaning—for purpose, for
significance, for worth—perhaps the most persistent pursuit in the drama of human life.

The rapid changes in our society at the speed of nanoseconds, the social earthquakes thatundermine the very ground of our security, the pursuit for purpose beyond the palpable,are pushing the parameters of our thinking that cause us to question who we are, why arewe here, and why we do what we do. This is the realm of meaning.

What Is Meaning?
Let me give right at the outset my definition of meaning. It is very simple, yet on
reflection quite profound. Meaning is the Why behind the What. Most people know the
what—what they do, what they experience, what happens to them, what they see, sense,
sacrifice, and savour. But why? What is the meaning to these different "whats"? Where
lies the understanding that enables us to make some semblance of sense to our very being and existence? Here lies the realm of meaning, the why behind the what.
Meaning is the spiritual "glue" that bonds and holds together the four dimensions
of life—the physical, the social, the mental, and the spiritual—giving it a sense of
worthful purpose, value, and significance. "Meaning in life is the spiritual fuel that drives the human machine. Without it we are indifferent and bored; there is no ambition to work, we are inspired by no concern or sense of significance, and our powers are unstirred and so lie idle. Without ‘meaning’ we are undirected and a vulnerable prey to all manner of despair and anxiety, unable to stand firm against any new winds of adversity" (Langdon Gilkey, Shantung Compound. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1966).

Without meaning we become unglued, life falls apart into bits and pieces, we descend
into the abyss of nothingness. Here lies the source of burnout a malady that plagues many in education.

Burnout:
Burnout occurs when people have lost their sense of purpose to what they do.
They began their careers with great hopes, great expectations, great dreams of changing the world, or at least making a difference in society, the world around them, or the lives with whom they daily come in contact. For some the dreams were small; for others the dreams were much bigger. But for both there was a sense of purpose to what they did, there was value to their work, there was significance to their lives. They had meaning in their lives and careers—they understood the why to what they did. There was joy in getting up in the morning and going to work. At the end of the day, though tired, there was a sense of satisfication with things accomplished. Yet not total satisfaction, since there was much still to be done. But the prevailing challenges only made the work that much more meaningful, purposeful, and significant.

Their lives had a sense of bouyancy, a quickness to their step, an alertness to their mind, and an unending well of ideas and plans that made each day something to look forward to with great anticipation.

But then it happens. When? No one really knows as it is different for each person.
But the flame of dreams and ideas begins to flicker. Maybe due to some insensitive
colleague, family member or administrator, who dampened the dream one too many
times. Maybe it was illness or some physical setback, or some circumstance such as a
severance of attachments in one's life, but the results were the same. The seeds of doubt were planted; the spiritual watering of the life and of the ideas slowly ceased. And then one day, one wakes up out of gas, out of spiritual fuel, with no desire to getting out of bed and facing life. "Oh, what's the use. No one really gives a damn anyway." The gage of spiritual fuel is on empty, and life has come to a grinding halt. Burnout is a state of purposelessness in life that results from the extinction of one's spiritual fuel, giving rise to a loss of motivation, meaning and significance to what one does. The effects can be temporary or long-term, depending on the remedies taken.

It is here where people have to take spiritual inventory to what they do. They need
to question their existence, their actions, their attachments, not necessarily their dreams.

What can turn people around are many things: a period of reassessment, a vacation, a
change of lifestyle, a change of careers, a change of significant others, a recovery or discovery of spirituality—that state of interconectedness to the Other resulting in a life of worhtwhile purpose. Whatever it takes, the result is a recovery of meaning in the life— the why behind the what. This is because meaning gives our actions and life's experiences full worth, significance, and value. Without these ingredients, life and our work become boring, blue, and blah. Part of the reason for this is as one of my students at Humboldt State University once declared in an analytical paper. "People seem to find their identities in things that are much more fragile than they would like to believe.

Their ideas of self are tied up to things like careers, social status, wealth and their power to influence others. When these things are taken away, people often lose their sense of meaning and purpose in life" (Jaime Perry). The result is burnout—that state of spiritual exhaustion, where life or what one does no longer has any meaning or purpose. It is at such moments when true character—the stuff we are made of—is revealed. Character is the moral imprinting of the soul—mind, will, and emotions—with personal integrity and consistency in word and deed, means and ends, beliefs and behaviours. It is developed through the power of choice in the wise decisions we daily make.

What is the Meaning of What You Do?
Why do we do what we do? This question lies more in the realm of Social
Psychology, the discipline that seeks to answer the question; "Why do people do what
they do?" Yet it is a question that we have to address, for behind it lies a life of worthful purpose.

Internationally renowned psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl, who died in 1997, in his
most important work, Man's Search for Meaning, describes the human drive not just to
stay alive, but to derive a sense of meaningful existence and purpose behind living.

The book is his autobiographical account of his enduring years of unspeakable horror in Auschwitz and other Nazi death camps. He describes not just the horror of what he and other people went through, but how through a drive to discover meaning to his
experience he was able to maintain sanity and a sense of purpose to his life. The result was his theory of logotherapy. at the core of which is the belief that humankind's primary motivational force is his search for meaning. For Freud it was sex, for Adler it was the drive for recognition, but for Frankl it was a meaningful existence. I side with Frankl, because better than the other two, our perennial quest for meaning best answers the question, why are we here? And thus, Friedrich Nietzsche was correct when he declared:

“If a person has a why to live, he can handle almost any what!”
Let me frame this with a story. One afternoon a man came home from work to
find total mayhem in his house. His three children were outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard.

The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door. He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she may be ill, or that something serious had happened. He found her lounging in the bedroom, still curled in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went.

He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?"
She again smiled and answered, "You know every day when you come home
from work and ask me what in the world did I do today?"

"Yes?" was his incredulous reply.

She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it!"
What does it mean as a mother to get up every morning and attend to the needs of
your family? What is its significance and purpose? What does such action mean to the
husband? How much is it valued? What is the significance to the wife and mother when it is not ? How does this affect her sense of self, self-worth, dignity, and appreciation?

What does it say about her values? What about his? These are all questions of weaning—the why behind the what.
We know what she does, but why does she do it? Does the husband even know
what she does? This is the assumption behind his question, "What happened here today?"
He is clueless. No wonder she resorts to such drastic measures to dramatize the point of what she actually does from 8 to 5 on a daily basis.
I suggest that because such action is not understood by either spouse, but
especially husbands, that this is one of the reasons why marriages decline and often fall apart after children enter the relationship. It is in the realm of meaning where we find the spiritual glue that holds a marriage together.
What does it mean to get up every morning and go to work? We know what we
do. We get up, put on all of our props, get in our car or public transportation, struggle with all the congestion, and every morning arrive on time. What is the meaning of all this? Why do we do it? What would happen if we stopped doing it? What difference would it make? to us? to others around us? Why? Can you answer these questions? Do they disturb you? Good! I hope they make you squirm! Do you know why you exist in this world? In the job that you occupy? In the family that you are a part of? If not, then you are taking up valuable space and resources? Get a life! And in getting it, get real!

Let me take it deeper to shift you out of neutral. What does it mean to take off
your clothes every night and get in bed naked with another human being—your spouse,
your partner? Do you understand the significance of that? What is the purpose behind it?

How does this impact your relationship with this other person? Are you naked of body,
but not of soul (your mind, will, and emotions), not of spirit (your heart), not of the social dimension (your voice. Has it been silenced)? Do you have the foggiest idea of what I am talking about?

What is the meaning of the right to vote? Do you care? What is the why or
meaning to your life? Do you right now know why you do what you do as an educator?
Let me illustrate this with a story.

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican
village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were
several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, "Only a little while."

The American then asked, "Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more fish?"

The Mexican said, "With this I have more than enough to support my family's
needs."

The American then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take
siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life."

The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should
spend more time fishing; and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat: With the proceeds
from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor; eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles and eventually New York where you will run your ever-expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?"
To which the American replied, "15 to 20 years."

"But what then?" asked the Mexican.

The American laughed and said that's the best part. "When the time is right you
would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich,
you would make millions."
"Millions?...Then what?"

The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing
village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

The point of this anecdote is that if you do not understand the why behind what
you do, the what will grind you into nothing! Thus, while we must open our arms to
change, we must never let go of our values.

The Meaning of Education:
What is the meaning of education? Why are you a teacher? What is education
anyway? What does it mean to educate another human being, especially a child? All
these are important questions. The word "educate" comes from the Latin educare,
meaning "to lead out," "to bring out." To educate means to bring out of the child, the student, that spirit of learning and wonder, the desire to know, that thirsts for knowledge.

We must do this before it gets crushed by teachers who have lost a sense of meaning to their existence and have stopped being teachers, because they have ceased being students.

Inspiring teachers are students first, teachers second. Any teacher that ceases being a student before long also ceases being a teacher and becomes a tyrant in the classroom.

What is education? True education is the harmonious development of the
physical, mental, moral (spiritual), and social faculties, the four dimensions of life, for a life of dedicated service. If this is true education, then what does it mean to educate another human being? Is not education the process of awakening in another human being a thirst for knowledge and a desire to develop all of one's capacities? And if this is so, then why do we do it? One possible response is in order to create in another human being the desire to be a whole, meaningful person.

Take, for example, the need for literacy, the process whereby we enable people to
learn how to read. Why? What is so important about knowing how to read? Why should
we care? Do you care?

Alvin Toffler, the renowned futurist, says: "The illiterate of the 21st century will
not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and
relearn." Benjamin Barber adds, "I don't divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes and the failures, those who make it or those who don't I divide the world into learners and non-learners."

Sociologist Rodney Stark declares that "Education is the cheapest, most rapid, and
most reliable path to economic advancement under present conditions."
Derek Bok, former p resident of Harvard University, was the one who declared
the famous lines: "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." Or as my former roommate from college, Samuel Betances, often declares: "Everything from the neck down is minimum wage. Therefore, we have to develop everything from the neck up."

So, why is literacy important? What is the meaning, purpose, significance of
engaging in such efforts? If education is the door to economic, social, and personal
advancement, then literacy—the ability to read—may very well be the KEY to that door!
There are different size doors to different size rooms. And thus, there are different
size keys to those different doors. Teachers stand as the gatekeepers to the doors of
education, and ultimately to the doors personal advancement and of the well-being of
society and the nation. Teachers early in a student's life hold the power! As a teacher you can lock some kids out, and you can allow others to get in.

Whom do you decide? It depends on how you see yourself. In 1841 Fredric List declared: "It is a rule of common prudence, when one reaches the pinnacle of greatness, to pull up the ladder by which one reached the summit, in order to deprive others of the means to rise." And Leonard

Harman Robbins adds:
How a minority
Reaching majority,
Seizing authority,
Hates a minority!

We have far too many people who will sell their own out for the sake of gain. One
of the most eye-opening proverbs I have ever read is this one in the form of an allegory:
"When the axe entered the forest, one of the trees was overheard saying, 'The handle was one of us'."

Ultimately, it all depends on the meaning of your life. What is the purpose of your
living? If there is no purpose, then why should you care about anyone else? And this is the reason why in most institutions, whether schools, corporate offices, churches or government agencies, many persons just function by rote, on automatic pilot, with no sense of enthusiasm or creativity for their jobs. Seldom do people inconvenience
themselves for anybody else. The operative attitude is: "Hey, don't ask me, I just work here." In other words, "Don't bother me, I am just surviving till 3:00 o 5:00" depending on where you work. This is language of people who have lost their purpose for working, the burned out ones. They just punch in the clock; no excitement, no enthusiasm, no creativity, they are just burping along with boredom as a result of burnout.

Question. What spiritual glue holds your life together, giving you a sense of
worthful purpose to your very being? Do you attend conferences because of a strong
desire to learn, or just because it affords you a day off, a day away from the routine? At conferences participants often attend worshops. Next time you take one do something disturbing. Ask the facilitators one question. "Why are you doing this?" They may know what they are doing—at least let's hope so. Now ask them why are they doing it. And don't accept superficial responses. Your time is far too valuable for that.

Empowerment:
All of us must understand the reasons why we are here in this world as educators.
It is to enable people, by means of a self-critical awareness of their own biases and
ineptness, in connection with allied support, to be strengthened to achieve and deploy their maximum potential. This is my definition of empowerment. Empowerment is more than just doing for people. It is helping people to be self-critical of their own biases and ineptness. All the available opportunities in the world, will be of no help to me, if I do not seize them, and take advantage for myself, doing for myself what no one else can do, no matter what they do. For ultimately, I am the one who has to take the initiative.

So, how do we bring about change in children? Carl Jung said it best: "If there is
anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves."

This is the legacy we pass on to our children, a sense of meaning and worthwhile
purpose for living. What meaning of life are we leaving to our children? Let me close
with a story.

World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Butch O'Hare. He was a
fighter pilot assigned to an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific. One day his entire squadron was sent on a mission.

After he was airborne, he looked at his fuel gauge and realized that someone had
forgotten to top off his fuel tank. He would not have enough fuel to complete his
mission and get back to his ship. His flight leader told him to return to the carrier.

Reluctantly he dropped out of formation and headed back to the fleet.

As he was returning to the mother ship, he saw something that turned his blood
cold. A squadron of Japanese Zeroes were speeding their way toward the
American fleet. The American fighters were gone on a sortie and the fleet was all
but defenseless. He couldn't reach his squadron and bring them back in time to
save the fleet. Nor, could he warn the fleet of the approaching danger.
There was only one thing to do. He must somehow divert them from the fleet.
Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he dove into the formation of
Japanese planes. Wing-mounted 50 calibers blazed as he charged in, attacking one
surprised enemy plane and then another.

Butch wove in and out of the now broken formation and fired at as many planes
as possible until finally all his ammunition was spent. Undaunted, he continued
the assault. He dove at the Zeroes, trying to at least clip off a wing or tail, in
hopes of damaging as many enemy planes as possible and rendering them unfit to
fly. He was desperate to do anything he could to keep them from reaching the
American ships.

Finally, the exasperated Japanese squadron took off in another direction. Deeply
relieved, Butch O'Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier. Upon
arrival he reported in and related the event surrounding his return. The film from
the camera mounted on his plane told the tale. It showed the extent of Butch's
daring attempt to protect his fleet. He was recognized as a hero and given one of
the nation's highest military honors. And today, O'Hare Airport in Chicago is
named in tribute to the courage of this great man.

Now let me share with you another story.

Some years earlier there was a man in Chicago called Easy Eddie. At that time, Al
Capone virtually owned the city. Capone wasn't famous for anything heroic. His
exploits were anything but praiseworthy. He was however, notorious for
enmeshing the city of Chicago in everything from bootlegged booze and
prostitution to order. Easy Eddie was Capone's lawyer and for a good reason. He
was very good! In fact, his skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a
long time.

To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well. Not only was the money
big; Eddie got special dividends. For instance, he and his family occupied a
fenced in mansion with live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day. The
estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago city block. Yes, Eddie lived the
high life of the Chicago mob and gave little consideration to the atrocity that went
on around him.

Eddy did have one soft spot, however. He had a son that he loved dearly. Eddy
saw to it that his young son had the best of everything; clothes, cars, and a good
education. Nothing was withheld. Price was no object. And, despite his
involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach him right from
wrong. Yes, Eddie tried to teach his son to rise above his own sordid life. He
wanted him to be a better man than he was. Yet, with all his wealth and influence,
there were two things that Eddie couldn't give his son. Two things that Eddie
sacrificed to the Capone mob that he could not pass on to his beloved son . . a
good name and a good example.

One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. Offering his son a good name
was far more important than all the riches he could lavish on him. He had to
rectify all the wrong that he had done. He would go to the authorities and tell the
truth about Scar-face Al Capone. He would try to clean up his tarnished name and
offer his son some semblance of integrity. To do this he must testify against The

Mob, and he knew that the cost would be great. But more than anything, he
wanted to be an example to his son.
He wanted to do his best to make restoration and hopefully have a good name to
leave his son. So, he testified. Within the year, Easy Eddie's life ended in a blaze
of gunfire on a lonely Chicago street. He had given his son the greatest gift he had
to offer at the greatest price he would ever pay.

Now I know what you're thinking.

What do these two stories have to do with one another?

Well you see, Butch O'Hare was Easy Eddie's son.

Why are you here, on this earth? That is a question only you individually can answer! But in seeking to answer this question, do not forget the words of Sir Lawrence Olivier, who, as the voice of Akash in Dave Clark’s rock opera Time, declares: "If you truly want to change your world, my friend, you must change your thinking."

AICTE Public Notice for the Students University

2008-11-07T00:08:00.000-08:00

Hi all welcome back to my blog

This is the public notice for the students from the AICTE for Technical Students seeking for the university. Please read it, and it has taken from the AICTE website.

Public Notice

FOR THE ATTENTION OF STUDENTS SEEKING ADMISSION TO TECHNICAL COURSES OFFERED BY INSTITUTIONS (OTHER THAN UNIVERSITIES INCLUDING DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITIES, IITs AND IIMs)

As per the AICTE Act (52) of 1987 and the Regulations laid down there under, approval is mandatory for any institution offering Technical Education Programmes in Engineering & Technology, Management, Computer Applications, Architecture & Town Planning, Pharmacy, Hotel Management & Catering Technology, Applied Arts and Craft, in India with or without Foreign University Collaboration.

It has come to the notice of the Council that several institutions are offering courses in the field of Technical Education without obtaining mandatory approval from AICTE. The Council has been collecting information through newspapers, websites, complaints received from students and general public and other sources, about such institutions conducting courses in the field of Technical Education without obtaining mandatory approval from AICTE.

As per the information available till date, 169 institutions are found to be conducting courses in the field of technical education without obtaining AICTE approval. 104 institutions are conducting technical education programmes in collaboration with foreign Universities without AICTE approval. The list of such institutions along with the courses being offered without AICTE approval is available on the AICTE website "www.aicte.ernet.in". The list may not be exhaustive. The list of AICTE approved institutions and programmes is also given at the same website which can be used to check if a particular institution has got the mandatory approval or not.

Students are advised not to take admission in technical education courses run by any institution which has not been approved by AICTE. They are cautioned that joining unapproved programmes can have serious consequences in terms of eligibility for employment, higher studies etc. Students desirous of joining any technical programme of any institution must confirm the status of approval either through the AICTE website "www.aicte.ernet.in" or directory of approved institutions and programmes or from "Information and Facilitation Centers" at AICTE Headquarters, New Delhi and Regional Offices located at Bangalore, Bhopal, Chennai, Chandigarh, Kanpur, Kolkata and Mumbai.

Member Secretary

Anotherised University

2008-11-06T23:58:00.000-08:00

Hi,

Thanks for comming back,

This is my third post, and i am going to tell about the unauthorised private universities around the world.
This kind of university main aim is to suck the money from the student and their main aim is MONEY. Don't go with this kind of university. Before choosing where to study please check that the university is authorised and it is giving you a vallid certificate for you and mainly authorised by AICTE (All India Council For Technical Education) this is only for the technical education.

For the arts colleges (Non Technical) please check that university is comes under UGC commission. This is best way to choose your college or university. According to me i will tell you that you can go with Government university this is the one of the best to go with.

Thanks for spending your valuable time.
See you again

This is my second post about the distance education

2008-11-06T23:56:00.000-08:00

Hi greetings for the day.

Welcome to my BLOG. My blog is about the education center's and the way you want to study in distance education.

I first of all want to start with DISTANCE EDUCATION.

The distance education its the option which you want to choose at the last stage. Please don't go with distance education for Under Graduate, why i am saying is i am the one who was struck with this distance education.

Please choose the regular course for your Under Graduate. It's the good for your career and if you want to study in distance education you can choose it for the post graduate.

This is my first post

2008-11-06T23:46:00.000-08:00

Honestly, I don't know that to post. But, what the heck.
This is my first post, and I am happy as it is.