Twenty Google Tools for Boosting Your Productivity

Google has extended far beyond its core search business to provide a variety of new services, including free email, Web hosting, and business applications. It only makes sense to pay attention to what Google has to offer and take advantage of the services that can help you. Go Google does not attempt to be a comprehensive examination of all of Google's online services. For one problem, a book like that would be far too large to fit on your bookshelf. But more importantly, the book would become obsolete between the time it is written and when it is delivered from the printer. That's because Google is constantly expanding its services and acquiring new technologies.

There is also the important matter of your time and energy. The truth is that if you look through all of the services and utilities made available by Google (a list that seems to grow all the time), you'll find many more than 20 tools. But in a manner of speaking, we've done a significant portion of your work for you. Rather than trying to cover everything comprehensively, this book has chosen 20 services to describe in detail. Learning to make the most of what these services have to offer can make a difference to anyone wanting to get a new online business off the ground or improve the reach and success level of an existing small- to medium-size company. Here is a list of 20 of the tools you're likely to find most useful:

1. Google's search service. Google indexes and organizes the contents of the Web in a huge database; it's this database that you use to search the.

2. AdWords. This is a paid search placement program; you create ads and bid on how much you'll pay for each click the ad attracts. Each time someone clicks on your ad, you gain a potential customer or client.

3. AdSense. This program enables blog and Web site owners to run targeted ads alongside their content; the content of the ads is intended to complement what you've published yourself.

4. Google Apps. This service provides you with a domain name (for a one-time $10 fee) and enables you to use a suite of business applications, which multiple users can access.

5. Google Docs & Spreadsheets. This exciting and easy-to-use service gives you a word processor and a spreadsheet application that you can use and access for free.

6. Google Calendar. A default calendar is created for you when you sign up for Google Apps; you can also create custom calendars and even embed calendars in Web.

7. Gmail. Google's e-mail application comes with lots of storage space and an integrated chat client to boot.

8. Google Talk. Google's chat application lets you send instant messages and even conduct real-time voice conversations through your computer.

9. Google Page Creator. This Web page editing tool lets you create your own Web site to go along with your Google Apps domain name.

10. Blogger. Google's popular, and free, blogging services lets you create your own Web-based diary, complete with an index, an archive, and a comments feature.

11. Checkout, Google Product Search, Catalogs. I'm fudging a bit and lumping these three separate Google services into a single unit. Each one can help commercial businesses sell products online.

12. Google Base. A growing number of entrepreneurs are posting merchandise, property, services, jobs, and lots of other things for sale in this Web publishing area.

13. Google Gadgets. These easy-to-implement bits of Web content can make your Web site more valuable and attract more repeat visits.

14. Analytics, Trends. These two analytical tools provide you with information about visits to your own Web site and trends in Web searches, respectively.

15. Desktop, Toolbar. These two tools help you search more effectively, both through files on your own computer and your local network (Desktop) as well as the wider Internet (Toolbar).

16. Picasa. This powerful photo viewing and editing tool automatically organizes all the files on your desktop and lets you edit them as well.

17. News, Book Search. These tools provide businesspeople with important up-tothe- minute data they need to keep on top of trends and events.

18. Google Apps Premium. This corporate version of Google Apps guarantees nearly 24/7 reliability and gives businesses the ability to write custom programs that interface with Google's services.

19. Gmail Mobile and SMS. These tools let busy professionals search Google and exchange messages when they're on the road.

20. Google Pack. This suite of applications will boost the functionality of virtually any workstation.

Source of Information : Go Google 20 Ways to Rech more Customers and build Revenue

Windows 7 Registry Keys and Settings

There are different types of registry keys and settings. They are usually stored as binary, decimal, and hexadecimal numbers.

• REG_BINARY Raw binary data for storing hardware component information.

• REG_DWORD Data represented by a 4-byte number (32-bit integer). DWORDS are used as the parameters for many settings, including device drivers and software and configuration options.

• REG_EXPAND_SZ A variable length data string.

• REG_MULTI_SZ A multiple string, for example a list of multiple values in a format that people can read. These are usually separated by commas or spaces.

• REG_SZ A fixed-length text string.

• REG_RESOURCE_LIST A resource list in a series of nested arrays. These are used by device drivers.

• REG_RESOURCE_REQUIREMENTS_LIST An array list of hardware resources required by device drivers.

• REG_FULL_RESOURCE_DESCRIPTOR Nested arrays used to store resource lists for physical hardware devices.

• REG_NONE Data without any particular type.

• REG_LINK A Unicode string that names a symbolic link.

• REG_QWORD Data that is represented by a 64-bit integer.

In the same way that 64-bit versions of Windows 7 have two Program Files folders for 32-bit and 64-bit programs, the registry contains different sections for 64-bit registry keys. You can find these in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432Node.

Source of Information : Microsoft Press - Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out 

Windows 7 Registry Sections

The registry is split into five different sections, two for the current user, two for the machine, and one for system startup.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT is a subkey of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software. This section stores all of the information for registered applications, including file associations. This key is sometimes abbreviated as HKCR. If you write a registry key to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and the key already exists under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes, Windows will use the information stored in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes as the master key instead.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
The HKEY_CURRENT_USER section contains configuration options for the current user’s profile, including the location pointers to the user’s documents folders, display options, and Control Panel settings. This registry key is sometimes referred to as HKCU.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE section of registry keys is the most commonly altered. It contains settings specific to the PC, including installed applications. It is sometime known as HKLM.

HKEY_USERS
The HKEY_USERS section in the registry contains keys that are subkeys corresponding to HKEY_CURRENT_USER. It stores information for each user profile that is actively loaded. It is sometimes known as HKU.

HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG
HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG includes information gathered at startup. Information and keys are stored here temporarily and are replaced when the PC is restarted.

Source of Information : Microsoft Press - Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out

Third-Party Rescue Tools and Services

Other Third-Party ToolsMany companies provide specialist software for rescuing data or hard disk. Here are details of packages I recommend.


O&O Disk Recovery
www.oo-software.com
O&O Disk Recovery is a comprehensive package that performs several useful functions. The most commonly used function of the software is an unerase program to help recover files and folders that have been accidentally deleted. There are also other functions within the software that can provide recovery in scenarios such as the accidental formatting of a hard disk. This can be extremely useful, as in Windows 7 it can be annoyingly simple to accidentally format disks.

This software can be useful for rescuing data or a faulty disk in your PC, and you can also remove the hard disk from your PC and plug it into another computer to run these rescue tools on it.


Ashampoo WinOptimizer
www.ashampoo.com
Although Ashampoo WinOptimizer traditionally has not been used as a tool for rescuing a hard disk or data, it now contains a small utility that can help you do just that. This tool analyses your hard disk(s) to try to find defective areas or problems with the disk(s). It contains tools that can then be used to apply automatic repairs and fix some of the more common problems that you can encounter.



Other Third-Party Services
At some point, you might reach the stage where there’s nothing more you can do with your disk. If the disk includes critical data that you must recover, you will need to go to a professional data recovery specialist.

These companies offer extremely comprehensive services, and they can be hugely successful at recovering data from damaged hard disks, but they will not be inexpensive.

You can find data recovery specialists in your area by searching in your local telephone directory online or through a search engine.

Source of Information :  Microsoft Press - Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out

What's So Great About Google?

Back in 1996, two graduate students started their own Web-based search service, which they called BackRub. By 1998, the project had gained a lot of attention, secured some investors, and turned into a corporation called Google—a Web site that made specific Web pages, discussion groups, or even individual words and phrases easy to locate. In recent years, Google has expanded its services for businesses in a dramatic way. Its Gmail and AdWords services are now in widespread use. For example, Google offers scheduling, word processing, spreadsheet, email, and other applications both separately and as part of an umbrella package called Google Apps. These days, Google is also an increasingly popular solution for small businesses that need to increase their visibility and build their brand. Google is fast becoming the most affordable and effective marketing venue for businesses.

Through its expansion into the business services space, Google itself provides you with a role model that you can follow as you develop your own business online. It all starts when you create a service that gives you a solid foundation. After a steady stream of customers are knocking at your virtual door, you can expand into new areas. Google can help you make that exciting move.

Google's search tool and other services can help businesses get organized and on the same page, often for little or no cost. The new Google Apps will let businesses take their online communications and data sharing to a new level. This book will examine ways in which businesses like yours can communicate messages and make Web sites more visible to prospective customers; it will go a step beyond what has previously been said about Google to describe how clients and coworkers can use it to communicate with one another more effectively.

These days, Google is much more than a directory of the Web's contents. It's on the verge of becoming an integral part of many small business operations. Google is itself a model for a 21st-century business.

Source of Information : Go Google 20 Ways to Rech more Customers and build Revenue

GRC SpinRite

For some years, GRC SpinRite has been widely considered one of the best, if not the best, hard disk rescue and maintenance tool available. SpinRite is a DOS program that runs from a bootable CD, DVD, or other device, such as a floppy disk or USB pen drive. Because you boot your computer into SpinRite, the software has full low-level administrator access to the hard disks on your computer.

SpinRite can perform a broad range of checks on your hard disk(s) and includes the following features.

• A real-time graphical status display, showing the health and status of your hard disk. This graph is updated in real time, displaying data and disk recovery and repair as it happens. All events are also logged so you can review them later.

• Detailed technical logs of the hard disk. Helpfully, the error information these logs provide includes clear descriptions that can help you determine exactly where errors are located and what they are. GRC boasts about the clarity of the language they use when providing reports on your hard disks, and I can confirm that the quality of the information SpinRite can give you is excellent indeed.

• The Surface Analysis Monitor uses exhaustive techniques to detect defects on the hard disk. It deliberately creates scenarios on your hard disk to try to replicate the worst types of failure that can occur. This is an extremely thorough and excellent way to check for defects.

• Extensive data recovery tools that work tirelessly to recover your data. A special tool called Dynastat appears if SpinRite has trouble reading data on a faulty hard disk. This tool provides more detailed information in real time about the software’s attempts to recover your files and data.

• Detailed information about the existing partition structure on hard disks. SpinRite also checks partitions for errors.

In all, SpinRite is an invaluable tool for diagnosing and repairing errors on physical hard disks. Its support for different drive formatting options is extensive, and it is, as I have said, held in high regard within the technical community.

SpinRite and solid state disks. Solid state disks (SSDs) operate differently from mechanical hard disks in that they store all of your data on silicon chips and include no moving parts. Therefore, SpinRite is not the best tool for diagnosing errors on these types of disk.

Source of Information :  Microsoft Press - Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out

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