Cloud Computing Concerns

Perhaps the biggest concerns about cloud computing are security and privacy. The idea of handing over important data to another company worries some people. Corporate executives might hesitate to take advantage of a cloud computing system because they can't keep their company's information underlock and key.

The counterargument to this position is that the companies offering cloud computing services live and die by their reputations. It benefits these companies to have reliable security measures in place. Otherwise, the service would lose all its clients. It's in their interest to employ the most advanced techniques to protect their clients' data.

Privacy is another matter. If a client can log in from any location to access data and applications, it's possible the client's privacy could be compromised. Cloud computing companies will need to find ways to protect client privacy. One way is to use authentication techniques such as user names and passwords. Another is to employ an authorization format -- each user can access only the data and applications relevant to his or her job.

Some questions regarding cloud computing are more philosophical. Does the user or company subscribing to the cloud computing service own the data? Does the cloud computing system, which provides the actual storage space, own it? Is it possible for a cloud computing company to deny a client access to that client's data? Several companies, law firms and universities are debating these and other questions about the nature of cloud computing.

How will cloud computing affect other industries? There's a growing concern in the IT industry about how cloud computing could impact the business of computer maintenance and repair. If companies switch to using streamlined computer systems, they'll have fewer IT needs. Some industry experts believe that the need for IT jobs will migrate to the back end of the cloud computing system.

Another area of research in the computer science community is autonomic computing. An autonomic computing system is self-managing, which means the system monitors itself and takes measures to prevent or repair problems. Currently, autonomic computing is mostly theoretical. But, if autonomic computing becomes a reality, it could eliminate the need for many IT maintenance jobs

Read More

Application of Cloud Computing

The applications of cloud computing are practically limitless. With the right middleware, a cloud computing system could execute all the programs a normal computer could run. Potentially, everything from generic word processing software to customized computer programs designed for a specific company could work on a cloud computing system.

Why would anyone want to rely on another computer system to run programs and store data? Here are just a few reasons:

• Clients would be able to access their applications and data from anywhere at any time. They could access the cloud computing system using any computer linked to the Internet. Data wouldn't be confined to a hard drive on one user's computer or even a corporation's internal network.
• It could bring hardware costs down. Cloud computing systems would reduce the need for advanced hardware on the client side. You wouldn't need to buy the fastest computer with the most memory, because the cloud system would take care of those needs for you. Instead, you could buy an inexpensive computer terminal. The terminal could include a monitor, input devices like a keyboard and mouse and just enough processing power to run the middleware necessary to connect to the cloud system. You wouldn't need a large hard drive because you'd store all your information on a remote computer.
• Corporations that rely on computers have to make sure they have the right software in place to achieve goals. Cloud computing systems give these organizations company-wide access to computer applications. The companies don't have to buy a set of software or software licenses for every employee. Instead, the company could pay a metered fee to a cloud computing company.
• Servers and digital storage devices take up space. Some companies rent physical space to store servers and databases because they don't have it available on site. Cloud computing gives these companies the option of storing data on someone else's hardware, removing the need for physical space on the front end.
• Corporations might save money on IT support. Streamlined hardware would, in theory, have fewer problems than a network of heterogeneous machines and operating systems.
• If the cloud computing system's back end is a grid computing system, then the client could take advantage of the entire network's processing power. Often, scientists and researchers work with calculations so complex that it would take years for individual computers to complete them. On a grid computing system, the client could send the calculation to the cloud for processing. The cloud system would tap into the processing power of all available computers on the back end, significantly speeding up the calculation.

Read More

Architecture of Cloud Computing

When talking about a cloud computing system, it's helpful to divide it into two sections: the front endand the back end. They connect to each other through a network, usually the Internet. The front end is the side the computer user, or client, sees. The back end is the "cloud" section of the system.

The front end includes the client's computer (or computer network) and the application required to access the cloud computing system. Not all cloud computing systems have the same user interface. Services like Web-based e-mail programs leverage existing Web browsers like Internet Explorer or Firefox. Other systems have unique applications that provide network access to clients.

On the back end of the system are the various computers, servers and data storage systems that create the "cloud" of computing services. In theory, a cloud computing system could include practically any computer program you can imagine, from data processing to video games. Usually, each application will have its own dedicated server.

A central server administers the system, monitoring traffic and client demands to ensure everything runs smoothly. It follows a set of rules called protocols and uses a special kind of software called middleware. Middleware allows networked computers to communicate with each other. Most of the time, servers don't run at full capacity. That means there's unused processing power going to waste. It's possible to fool a physical server into thinking it's actually multiple servers, each running with its own independent operating system. The technique is called server virtualization. By maximizing the output of individual servers, server virtualization reduces the need for more physical machines.

If a cloud computing company has a lot of clients, there's likely to be a high demand for a lot of storage space. Some companies require hundreds of digital storage devices. Cloud computing systems need at least twice the number of storage devices it requires to keep all its clients' information stored. That's because these devices, like all computers, occasionally break down. A cloud computing system must make a copy of all its clients' information and store it on other devices. The copies enable the central server to access backup machines to retrieve data that otherwise would be unreachable. Making copies of data as a backup is called redundancy.

Read More

Introduction to How Cloud Computing Works

Let's say you're an executive at a large corporation. Y may be an alternative for executives like you. Instead of installing a suite of software for each computer, you'd only have to load one application. That application would allow workers to log into a Web-based service which hosts all the programs the user would need for his or her job. Remote machines owned by another company would run everything from e-mail to word processing to complex data analysis programs. It's called cloud computing, and it could change the entire computer industry.

In a cloud computing system, there's a significant workload shift. Local computers no longer have to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to running applications. The network of computers that make up the cloud handles them instead. Hardware and software demands on the user's side decrease. The only thing the user's computer needs to be able to run is the cloud computing system's interface software, which can be as simple as a Web browser, and the cloud's network takes care of the rest.

There's a good chance you've already used some form of cloud computing. If you have an e-mail account with a Web-based e-mail service like Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail or Gmail, then you've had some experience with cloud computing. Instead of running an e-mail program on your computer, you log in to a Web e-mail account remotely. The software and storage for your account doesn't exist on your computer -- it's on the service's computer cloud.

What makes up a cloud computing system? Find out in the next sectionour particular responsibilities include making sure that all of your employees have the right hardware and software they need to do their jobs. Buying computers for everyone isn't enough -- you also have to purchase software or software licenses to give employees the tools they require. Whenever you have a new hire, you have to buy more software or make sure your current software license allows another user. It's so stressful that you find it difficult to go to sleep on your huge pile of money every night.

Read More

How to Hide Application Icon in Windows 7 Taskbar

Microsoft Windows 7 comes with a taskbar that has never before been witnessed in its predecessors. The Windows 7 taskbar features a dock-type appearance and utility tools like launching a program or running an application. Undoubtedly, the Windows 7 taskbar helps the user to an extent more than what meets the eye.

Here, we unveil a new utilization feature of the Windows 7 taskbar. Often, some programs and shortcuts to various applications are pinned to the taskbar for easy accessibility. However, sometimes for reasons concerning privacy and confidentiality, the user may want to hide these icons so that other users logging into his computer do not have access to his private applications or programs. We’ll now plow on the process to achieve this useful tweak.

To start with, the icon that needs to be hidden should remain invisible at the taskbar with only the creator knowing its perfect location and the authority to view and access it. We, here, take Mozilla Firefox as an example to the program that requires to be hidden. On completing the following procedure, your taskbar will contain Mozilla Firefox as a launch up program while keeping it invisible to anyone who logs on to your computer.

Making a program icon invisible

To make a program icon invisible, you need to use software called “Resource Hacker”. Download this freeware to start the process. The downloaded file is a “.zip” file. No installation is required to use this software.

On extraction, locate the file “ResHacker.exe” in the extracted folder. Right click on this file and select to “Run as Administrator”. Confirm on request to open Resource Hacker.

1. After the software opens, go to “File” menu (or simply press Alt+F). Select “Open” and navigate to the location where the Mozilla Firefox execution file is present. (It should be in the folder “Mozilla Firefox” in the “Programs” folder of the directory where Mozilla is installed). Select the file “firefox.exe” file and click “Open”.

2. The Resource Hacker wizard opens up. Select “Icon” and then click on the “Action” tab on the menu-bar. Select “Replace Icon“.

3. The “Replace Icon in” window appears. Select “1″ in the right pane of the window under the tag “Select icon to replace” and then click to “Open file with new Icon…“.

4. Navigate to “C:\Windows\System32\” and click on “shell32.dll” to open it.

5. On clicking “Open” a list of icons appear under the tag “Select new icon“. Select the icon number 52. Then click to “Replace”.

You will be notified that the icon has been replaced.

To proceed, you have to replace a second set of icons. Select “Open” under “File” menu. On asking whether to save your work, select “NO“, as the task is not completed yet. Follow the steps 1 to 5 once again with the exception that in step 3, this time, Select “32512″ in the right pane of the window under the tag “Select icon to replace”. Follow the remaining steps as you have done previously.

Save the file you have just created by pressing Ctrl+S to the installed program folder of Mozilla Firefox (in the folder “Mozilla Firefox” in the “Programs” folder of the directory where Mozilla is installed).

Exit Resource Hacker.

The new file created “firefox.exe” can be visualized when you open the folder where Mozilla is installed. This file does not have an icon, or more technically, the icon of this file is invisible. The original Firefox execution file still remains within the folder with it being renamed to “firefox_original.exe”. Now, right click on the file “firefox.exe” and select “Pin to taskbar”.

To the right of the pinned programs on the taskbar, appears a section which, on hovering your mouse pointer over it, displays “firefox.exe – Shortcut”. You have just created a secret invisible icon in your Windows 7 taskbar. Drag this section to the extreme left of the taskbar to the right of the “Start” button.

Your taskbar remains just as it was before you created this invisible icon. None, but you know the exact location of this icon. Your privacy gets boosted up with an increased accessibility option.

Read More

Windows 8 To Feature A Lot More MinWin Technology

First off, what is MinWin? Basically it’s the very basis of Windows, you need to think of it as the core of Windows. MinWin contains pretty much everything that Windows needs to boot and run independently, such as the Windows NT Kernel, memory manager, networking and drivers etc…


So what’s the big deal about this MinWin technology? Well we first started seeing MinWin playing a prominent part in Windows 7, but now it appears that it’s going to be playing an even bigger role in Windows 8. Windows 8 appears to have in excess of 6,000 references to MinWin, which is 60 times more than the 100 references or so that can be found in Windows 7.


MinWin is Microsoft’s effort to create the smallest possible standalone, bootable, core of Windows. MinWin has no dependencies outside of itself or at least it didn’t in Windows 7 so I’d expect Windows 8 to be the same. Microsoft are probably going to continue relocating APIs inside the Windows 8 core, so as to have MinWin completely operated from the rest of the operating system.


Microsoft have probably also managed to lower the size of MinWin in Windows 8. While it isn’t a particularly large file in Windows 7 – 40 MB , it could be down to 30 MB or so in Windows 8.


So this all sounds very technical and complicated, but what does it mean for the end user of Windows 8?


To be honest not that much, but I’d expect it to help Windows 8 run on more hardware limited resources such as tablets and such. But probably the main role this will play is in client virtualization, particularly with Hyper-V.

Read More

How To disable Coping/Writing To USB Drives in Windows XP

USB drives are extremely handy tools, but in some instances it might not be a good idea to allow users to write onto these devices from their PCs. This is especially true when working with highly confidential data or intellectual property at work. Users of Windows XP with service pack 2 installed can disable writing to USB devices.

To perform you have to pass from following steps :

• Open the Registry Editor click by clicking on START button on task bar and then click on Run and type "regedit" and click on OK to start regedit utility.
• Follow the following sequence HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\ Control.
• From there right click and create a new key and name it “StorageDevicePolicies”.
• In the window on the right then create a new DWORD value and label it WriteProtect, give it a value of “1″ and users can no longer write to USB drives.
• To re-enable this option change the value to 0 and users are again allowed to write.
• The modifications you made will be in effect after you reboot your PC.

Read More

Enable Windows 7's Hidden "God Mode"

Windows 7 has many features but some of that will be hidden. Today I am going to introduced one of them in front of you.

It's Name is "GOD MODE". This functionality is contains most of the OS task such as Default Program, Autoplay, Desktop Gadget, Admin Tools etc. are included in one folder.

It provides users with a centralized Control Panel for all of Windows' settings, from changing your desktop background to setting up a VPN or partitioning your hard drive. In all, there are nearly 50 categories and most have several entries.

Just Create a New Folder and rename it by following...

God Mode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
"God Mode" is the name of folder which is desirable.
Automatically Folder Logo will becomes like following image.

Read More

Mobile Tracking – How To Track Any Mobile Phone

Are you looking for Mobile Phone Tracking options so you can easily monitor your partner’s, child’s or employee’s mobile phone activities?

If you do want to track a mobile phone, but you have no clue how to do this, then I will tell you exactly what you need to do in order to successfully do this without getting caught by the owner of the mobile phone.
How To Track Any Cell Phone Without Getting Caught By The Owner.

While many people think that tracking a mobile phone is simply spying on the phone manually, they’re wrong. You see, these days the technology has reached a level where you can now install a simple yet effective software program on to your computer, and track a mobile phone from there on.
 
This is a lot easier and safer since it’s undetectable unless you say that you’re tracking his or her phone. However, keep in mind that this sounds pretty good, and it is, but there are many of these programs around that are simply scams, fake and not working.
 

Therefore, if you want to make sure that you actually get yourself a working mobile phone tracking program, then you should keep an eye on 2 things. The program should have obtained a high reputation, and many great feedback.
  

What Software Program To Use When You Want To Start Tracking A Mobile Phone...
A great program which has received many great feedback, and which has obtained a high reputation is called Spybubble. With Spybubble you will be able to record mobile phone activities without the owner knowing that you’re tracking him or her.

This is what Spybubble will help you to do:
* Records mobile phone events.
* Spy on SMS text messages. (Spy on received and sent messages.)
* Spy on web browser activities.
* Call logs (inbound and outbound).
* Location tracking by GPS so you can see exactly where the owner is.
* Full phone book access.
* Works from all over the world.
* 100% undetectable and you can spy on unlimited mobile phones.
Why don’t you take a look at this undetectable mobile tracking program? Visit: Spybubble
So, in order to track a mobile phone without getting caught, you can only do 1 thing. You use an undetectable software program which has obtained a high reputation and which has received many great feedback.
A great program is called Spyubble, which is highly recommended to get since it’s working and easy to use.

What Is Spybubble

Spybubble is a software program which has been designed to help people to find out the truth about their child, employee, partner or anybody else by spying on all cell phone activities made.

This program works 100% automatically after the installation process, it’s undetectable and it’s 100% safe and legal to use either.

This Is What Spybubble Can Do For You:

• Track Calls. You can view all incoming and outgoing calls, the mobile numbers, frequency, duration of each call and the conversation itself.
• Track Messages. You’ll get to read all incoming and outgoing messages, even if the user deletes them. Find out who the text mates of your child are or if your employee is using the company phone for other matters.
• Track Location. It’s amazing how you can also track the exact location of the mobile phone using Google Maps. That would definitely erase any doubts as to the whereabouts of your child or employee. Is your daughter really at her friend’s house? Is your employee really at home sick?
• Access Phone Book. You will also be able to view all contacts stored in the mobile.

• It’s Undetectable! You can do all these spying without being detected! There is no sound, icon or anything at all in the target phone that would tell the user that SpyBubble is installed.
• Spy On Unlimited Phones. You can also follow multiple mobile phones at a time.
• SpyBubble Is Compatible With: Blackberry, Android, Symbian S60, Nokia, Bluetooth,Windows Mobile And Iphones. it works with almost any smartphone.

How Does Spybubble Work?

SpyBubble makes use of state-of-the-art technology that records all the activities in the mobile phone, be it SMS or a phone call. It then sends the information to a remote server that stores the information for you to view from your own computer or mobile phone.

All you really need to do is create an account and log in.

Once logged in, you´ll have to install Spybubble into the target mobile phone as follows:
• Step 1: Complete registration on Spybubble´s website.. For this step, you will need the phone’s IMEI number, which you will easily find in the battery compartment.
• Step 2: Go to the target phone’s Settings Menu >>> Choose Applications >>> Enable the “Unknown Sources” box
• Step 3: Open the phone’s web browser and download the application on the mobile phone.
• Step 4: Install the SpyBubble application by following the instructions.
• Step 5: Reboot the phone.
• Step 6: Log in to your account on spybubble.com and experience the magic!

You´ll also get a step by step installation guide with screenshots and photo´s so you can see exactly how to install and how to use the program.

So, once you´ve properly installed Spybubble on the targetted moible phone, then you´ll now be able to spy on the activities made on that mobile phone. On the screenshot below you´ll see where the activities made are visible.

Use Spybubble To Legally Find Out The Truth…

• Records SMS phone events.
• Spy on SMS text messages. (Spy on received and sent messages.)
• Spy on web browser activities.
• Call logs (inbound and outbound).
• Location tracking by GPS so you can see exactly where the owner is.
• Full phone book access.
• Works from all over the world.
• 100% undetectable and you can spy on unlimited SMS phones.

If you’re looking for a legal, safe and an undetectable way for you to spy on either your child’s, partner’s or employee’s mobile activities, then it’s highly recommended to start using Spybubble because it simply works like a train.

Read More

AJAX Extensions on Microsoft Visual Studio 2008

AJAX is a new trend in web development where it gives very smooth functionality for your website. In simple term we can use AJAX technology to refresh individual parts of the web page without refreshing whole page. This feature will increase the efficiency of your web page, smooth operation and enable more description web page design.
What is AJAX?
AJAX = Asynchronous JavaScript and XML.
AJAX is not a new programming language, but a new way to use existing standards.
AJAX is the art of exchanging data with a server, and update parts of a web page - without reloading the whole page.
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 is coming with rich collection of AJAX controllers built in. AJAX is based on Java and JavaScript so it is nothing to do with .NET or Visual Studio. But most importantly we can easily use AJAX with most of the web development project. With AJAX Extensions of Visual Studio 2008 we can use AJAX with the visual studio development environment. This is really easy and fun. Let do it with a small project, so that you can easily understand the concept.
In this project I will show you how to develop a web page that will display current server time stamp without refreshing web page again and again. To get server time web page should send request, get response and display it. In this basic example I am using ScriptManager and UpdatePanel controllers. ScriptManager is a highlevel controller define with respect to the web page. But you can have one or more UpdatePanel for a given web page. Those UpdatePanel s can be individually update based on deferent events. So you should understand that we can perform several functions on the web page at a given time synchronously using multiple UpdatePanels.

Fig 1: AJAX Extensions Toolbox

AJAX toolbox contains ScriptManager, ScriptManagerProxy, Timer, UpdatePanel and UpdateProgress controllers. More frequently we use ScriptManger and UpdatePanel. Update panel we use to place controllers that need to get update with the page events, but without page refresh. In this example you can see I have add ScriptManger and UpdatePanel. Within UpdatePanel there is ContentTemplete, inside that you can I have placed two buttons and one label. Once you click on one button it will display the current server time on the label and click on other button will execute javascript method "test".

Fig. 2: AJAX ScriptManager

        

Fig 3 : AJAXUpdatePanel
(How to use)

The final step is to write code for server side operations. Write respective server side code inside the particular controllers' (Eg: button, menu...) event handling methods same as you do in normally applications. But here different is this server side code will execute on server and send results to corresponding controller but no page refresh.

  Fig 4: How to do ServerSide Coading in AJAX

Read More

Google Chrome OS has new way to Compute..!!

Google has got it's hype for it's OS even before it's ready, i would say just in it's intial stages. Google announced that they would be making their OS open-source which means any tom, dick n harry can access the main code. The Chromium OS project includes current code base, user interface experiments and some initial designs for ongoing development. Google going open-source is going to give many app developers a very good opportunity.
The Chrome OS is not going to be an OS like windows or mac. The entire OS is going to be weaved as a browser. Yes, all the apps are going to be web apps. So you don't have to deal with installing or updating these apps. All these apps will be inside the browser and every time you run an app it's going to be runned in a sandbox making it tough for hardware, malware and hardware to interfere . One more great feature is that whenever you open the OS, the code will be checked if it has been compromised, your computer will reboot and auto-fix the problem.
Since Google's obsession with speed was quite significant with the release of it's browser, the obsession is going to carried forward in the OS too. With unnecessary processes being removed
and operation optimized you'll experience the speed . Since a good combination of hardware is needed to run a fast OS, the hardware components required will be specified later.
Microsoft got it's first shock after Firefox and chrome took a share of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Microsoft is now gonna be shaken with the release of Google Chrome OS. It's expected in early 2011. Looks like the windows domination is coming to an end. For more on the Google CHROME OS keep coming back and do give any feedback, because criticism or appreciation is always welcome.

Read More