Infographic on Disaster Recovery

Having a disaster recovery plan (DRP) in place is essential to the survival of all businesses. Without a DRP, businesses are subject to the loss of data, revenue, and customer base during a disaster or downtime, which can be catastrophic. Many different DRP options exist, such as adjusting your in-house infrastructure, backing up data through a secure cloud hosting service, and adding redundancies to your servers so that there is little to no downtime in the event of an unforeseen circumstance. By having a proper DRP, you can ensure that your data is safe and your business will continue to operate even amidst a disaster.

Are You Textually Active? What Are You Really Saying on Text Message

Text messaging has greatly grown in popularity even within the last ten years. Today, over 90% of people who have smartphones use text messaging via SMS, or short message service. However, there is a surprising divide between male and female messengers.

Although most people believe that females always have more to say than males do, this is not necessarily the case with texts. In fact, males generally send more texts each day with an average of 17 regular contacts with whom they stay in touch. On the other hand, women tend to stay in touch with about 13 contacts. There is a difference in the style of men’s and women’s text messages though. Men usually send shorter messages that are to the point; women are more likely to send longer messages and to express feelings of love and affection via SMS. Although women realize that texts alone do not keep a relationship alive, many men believe that texts are a valid form of daily communication.

There is also a gap between age groups. Those who are younger tend to send more texts than those who are older. This infographic shows more surprising data about this texting phenomenon.

This infographic was produced by Scratch Wireless. You can find unlimited data plans from Scratch Wireless.

A Walk Through Amazing Games For Android Users

Gaming continues to remain one of the most cherished activities among people of all age groups. With the growing popularity of smartphones, gaming freaks have started accessing games via their hand-held internet-enabled devices. Android is one such mobile operating system that has become a hub of globally recognized games. Well, it goes without saying that the world’s best games are available on Android. You can easily have a great gaming experience on Android without the need for learning any technicalities. Today, I’ve written this blog to make you familiar with some amazing games that are tailor-made for Android users.

Game#1- Virtua Tennis Challenge

Virtua Tennis Challenge is a perfect match for all tennis lovers. This Android game enables you to create your own player and establish a successful career by beating more and more skilled tennis players. You can opt for playing a tournament by choosing from over five different playing modes. Backed by realistic sound and graphics, Virtua Tennis Challenge is definitely an addictive game, cherished by tennis lovers of all age groups.

Game#2- Cut The Rope

Cut The Rope is a cute Android game wherein you have to feed candy to the little monster named Om Nom. This game has witnessed 400 million downloads till date and comes with 375 and more levels to cross. All through the game, you need to collect gold stars, unlock new levels and discover hidden gifts/surpises. Adorable Om Nom makes the game a cute adventure trip.

Game#3- Subway Surfers

Subway Surfers is the game for all fast movers. In this game, you need to dash as fast as you can. Through the course of game, you need to dodge trains and avoid facing the grouchy inspector and his dog. You can easily use the swipe feature to make the character move from right to left, roll and jump. On attaining a good(high) score, you may also choose to share it on Facebook. Vivid HD graphics and power-packed swipe acrobatics make the game a complete fun experience.

Game#4- Battle Nations

As an award-winning epic strategy game, Battle Nations currently exists in version 2.3 and higher. In this game, you’re in complete command of the Imperial Army and need to complete missions across the great Frontier Assemble. As the game progresses, you get a chance to build an efficient Outpost to keep your empire safe.

Game#5- Muffin Knight

An action-packed game, Muffin Knight comes with amazing visuals and a set of fairytale characters that keep on gaining strength as you progress from one level to another. In this game, you need to fertilize a forest with unicorn, flood the world with candy and cover the sky with black holes. Some of the enticing features Of Muffin Knight include ability to play as 18 different characters, epic boss battles, 2.5D graphics, cross-platform compatibility and many more features.

Game#6- Rayman Fiesta Fun

If you’ve been an avid follower of Rayman Jungle Run, then you’ll surely love Rayman Fiesta Fun. This new wacky Android game comes with more than 75 levels and you need to beat all the 3 epic bosses to reach the Land of the Divine Dead Island. Through the course of game, you need to collect Lums to grab rewards.

Conclusion

Now that you’re well acquainted with the best Android games, hope picking up your best fit would become easier. Do install these games into your Android smartphones and I guarantee you’ll never get bored out of your mobile device. Prior to installing a game, make sure to cross-check its bug-free status because it shouldn’t be the case that in the wake of playing a new game, you tend to mess up all the other functionalities in your smartphone. So, make a good and an intelligent choice.

Please don’t forget to drop in your views/opinions on the above post using the comments box below.

Author Bio:

Liza Williams is a web developer by profession and a writer by hobby and works for OSSMedia Ltd company. He loves sharing information regarding wordpress, Majento, Drupal and Joomla development tips & tricks. If you are looking for Magento Theme Programmer then just get in touch with him.

What To Do If Your Hotmail Account Gets Hacked ?

Have you been receiving a lot of junk mail lately ? Have your email contacts reported receiving an email from you that you have absolutely no recollection of sending ? Or have they reported getting an instant message from you which you have never sent ? If the answer to any of these questions is a 'yes', then it is very likely that somebody has hacked your Hotmail account or stolen your Hotmail password. This is a very serious situation, and it is possible that this hacker may make use of your Hotmail account for illegal and even criminal purposes.

Steps To Be Taken By You Once You Find Out Your Hotmail Account Is Hacked :

Now that you have a strong idea that your Hotmail account has been hacked, you shall need to take immediate steps to retrieve the situation. We present a list of immediate actionable steps to be taken by you. However, before we go into the details, in case of any confusion in following the instructions given by us, we advise you to please use the Hotmail customer service contact number and get the help of the Microsoft service team to help deal with the problem.

Step 1 : Free Your PC From Malware Or Virus

Download and install a reputed anti-virus and anti-malware system such as the Microsoft Security Essentials (for a Windows 7 operating system) and Microsoft Defender ( for a Windows 8 operating system). Make certain of running a full scan of your system. And only after that, change your Hotmail account password.

Step 2 : Reset Your Hotmail Account Password

Once you have fully completed the scanning of your system, log in to your Hotmail account and reset your password. While selecting a new password, you shall need to make completely sure that you use something that is totally different from the old one. Please do not use any of the commonly used passwords that may be found in many accounts, such as "passwd" or "admin". Use something much more complicated. Make use of capital letters, symbols, lower case letters and numbers. But do make sure that this new password may be easily remembered by you. Run your password through Microsoft's password checker to make sure it has never been used before by anyone. And once set, make sure of changing your password at regular intervals.

Step 3 : Change Your Account Settings

Make sure of resetting your Hotmail account settings. Click on the "more mail settings" field in the "Options" tab and follow the instructions given on how to reset the various options available in your Hotmail account.

Step 4 : Get Back The Deleted Mail

One of the most important signs that your Hotmail account has been hacked is the sheer number of deleted mail. Once the Microsoft mail server has an inkling that your account is being hacked, it saves all the deleted mail in a special "Deleted" folder. Click on this folder, and opt for for "restore deleted mail" option. Now you are good to go!

Summary:

Hacking of the Hotmail account of private individuals is a serious problem that has become very common of late. The first step in dealing with it is to check for the signs that tell you whether your Hotmail account has been hacked or not. Then the instructions given in this article should be followed step by step to help in retrieving the situation.
Image Credit: Stuart Miles

Author Bio:

Smith is a professional programmer from NewYork , who has often been the victim of a Hotmail hack, and has found using the Hotmail customer service contact number a mighty useful way to deal with this mini-crisis. Besides helping out people who are under attack from dangerous hackers, He dabbles in photography and hates global warming.

How to Safeguard Your USB Drive - 10 Easy Steps!

USB drives are a fantastic way to share information from computer-to-computer. While many people use email to send documents, USB drives can take just about anything that your computer has and move it to another system with minimal effort. Plus, USB drives can be used to share information without actually putting it in someone’s possession. Doing so can keep sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands. If you have a USB drive, though, there are still extra measures you should take to secure its contents. Continue reading for 10 easy steps that you can take to safeguard your USB drive.

Proper Password Management Protects Your USB Drive

First, let’s make sure that if anyone gets a hold of your USB drive, they won’t be able to use it.

• Insert your USB drive into your computer.
• Find the USB drive in your computer’s “Devices with Removable Storage” section or similar area.
• Right click on it and choose, “Turn on Bitlocker.”
• Once you choose this, Wizard will open up, and you’ll see the option to “use a password to unlock the drive.”
• Type in the password that you would like to use for your USB drive and click next.
• You’ll be asked how you’d like to “back up Recovery Keys.” Simply choose from the menu.
• Next, you’ll be asked to confirm whether or not your USB drive is already being used or if it’s brand new.

Encrypt Your USB Drive

Now you’ll want to encrypt the information that is found on your USB drive. This is a further measure that will make sure that your drive is protected from prying eyes, no matter how badly they want your information. After the above 7 steps, Wizard will ask you how much of your drive you’d like to encrypt.

• You’ll be given the option to encrypt the entire drive, which is best for those that are already in use, or just the used disc space, which is preferable for a new drive. The former option will take longer.
• After you make your choice, the encryption process will start.
• When the encryption process is complete, you can remove your USB drive, confident that its contents are now safe.

Going forward, whenever anyone wants to use the USB drive, they’ll be prompted to enter your password first. You can follow the same steps to change the password, as well, if you should so choose.

Keep in mind it’s also important to store your USB drive in a safe place at all times. Even if someone doesn’t have your password, possessing your USB drive can still be damaging, as you no longer have access to the data, either. If the USB drive contains information related to your company, check with human resources or your management. There are often official guidelines specific to securing USB drives that carry company data.

While USB drives are extremely convenient, they can easily expose you to information leaks if not controlled properly. Maintain your USB drive in a secure place at all times, and use the above 10 steps to encrypt the information and protect it with a password.

Source:
http://geekofreak.com/2013/03/encrypt-and-password-protect-your-usb.html

Cloud Survey Reveals: Performance Becomes a Burning Issue

Cloud computing technology spread around the globe rapidly and its adoption introduced different types of innovation in business environment. However, ever since the buzz around cloud-based tech solutions has started, the world’s eyes were set upon potential problems.

Over the last few years, the top concern for companies planning to move to the cloud has been security but as the cloud develops, new issues emerge. The recent survey carried out by Internap Network Services Corporation revealed some fresh pieces of information related to public cloud infrastructure. The survey polled almost 250 Internet infrastructure decision makers worldwide to give us a new insight into the state of public cloud adoption and usage.

Security is still a top concern

Just like many other surveys did over the last several years, Internap confirmed that modern businesses (unjustifiably) fear security threats in the cloud. Even though only 15% of companies that already use cloud services regarded security as a challenge, 40% of those that still haven’t adopted the cloud find security a major concern. These digits point out that security risks may be highly overestimated, considering the fact that most organizations that actually use the cloud don’t experience major problems in this respect.

Performance issues on the rise

While security remains the top concern for organizations that are not using cloud services, performance seems to be a major problem for those that do. The survey reports that 30% of cloud-wise organizations faced performance issues, along with 59% of those that use the cloud to host big data applications. In reference to this issue, Gopala Tumuluri from Internap notes:

“The survey data clearly indicates that big data applications – such as those that enable personalization and targeting through customer insights, social analytics and location mapping – are pushing the performance limits of virtual public cloud environments at price-points that don’t make business sense”.

Public cloud and virtualization

Among other things, the survey revealed that an important number of organizations (66%) mistakenly relate virtualization to public cloud. Most respondents have cited virtualization as “a defining characteristic of the cloud” which confirms that they still have a lot to learn about these innovative technologies. Namely, public clouds don’t have much to do with virtualization, even though they may share some similar features. Therefore, it is clear that despite the buzz surrounding the cloud for years, its definition remains vague to both companies that use it and those that don’t.

Conclusions

Public cloud systems are now widely used in companies of all sizes and they certainly represent one of the most efficient forms of IT infrastructure innovation. Infant trend as it is, cloud computing may still appear confusing, which is why companies are likely to have some impossible expectations from it. Here security is obviously an important yet overestimated factor, while virtualization is obviously not well understood. The findings of the survey help general public get a better insight into predominant issues in the cloud, and it’s up to individual organizations to develop their own strategies with cloud-based systems.

Author Bio:

Leana Thorne is a devoted blogger and a regular contributor to several tech blogs. She enjoys exploring new internet technologies and sharing newly found information – currently about cloud and reseller hosting and is always happy to be of help.

7 Easy Ways to Restore Your Computer’s Health

Is your PC under par? Does it take longer to log on and load websites then it used to? Are your programs crashing more often then Evil Knieval used to?

If the answers yes to all of these questions, then it’s time to give your computer a new lease of life. But we’re not talking drastic measures like buying a new one, as there are a few fixes you can do yourself (or with the help of an expert) that will restore your computer to its former glory. Here’s how you can perk up your PC.

1. Install tune-up software

The quickest and easiest way to restore your PC to health is to install a free registry cleaner that’ll tune things up. In fact, some programs won’t just return your computer to its regular speed; they’ll even turbo-charge it for you so you’ll have a boost of power when you need it the most.

As well as running at normal speed, your system will crash less and have more disk space available. You’ll probably even notice improvements in battery life too.

2. Back up your computer

Before you carry out any maintenance or make any changes to how your computer works, back it up first. Backing up is when you create a copy of your current system onto an external device or disk, such as an external hard drive or a writable DVD or CD.

As well as backing up before making any changes to your system, it’s wise to regularly make a copy of your files. After all, some of the information on your computer, like family photos, may be impossible to replace if it was deleted. After you’ve backed up, you can then remove any large files that you don’t use regularly (like mp3 files or high-res images), this should help free some disk space and speed up your system.

3. Uninstall programs you no longer use

Another easy way to free up some space on your hard disk is to uninstall programs that are out of date or that you never use. This could include pre-installed software or trial versions of programs you no longer use. If you browse online with Chrome or Firefox you might also consider removing Internet Explorer too.

To check for programs you don’t need, firstly click on the Start button and choose Programs and Features. Google any program names that you don’t recognise. After all, you don’t want to delete anything that’s vital for running the system. Removing the icon from your desktop does not delete the program. You’ll need to uninstall it via the Programs and Features menu you navigated to above.

4. Clean up your hard disk

Deleting large files you’ve backed up and programs you don’t use will provide you with extra space on your hard disk, but you can probably clear even more junk than that. Cached and temporary files, for example, will also be using up valuable chunks of memory.

Fortunately there is a program already installed on your PC that can clear these for you. Disk Cleanup will search your drive for unwanted data and then either remove it, or simply identify it so you can decide whether or not to get rid of it. If you use your computer a lot, it’s a good idea to run Disk Cleanup regularly. Set it as a weekly scheduled task and prevent your computer from slowing down drastically again in the future.

5. Update your software

Older versions of software or operating systems will make your computer run slower as additional security fixes (often called patches) and add-ons reduce computing speed. Updating to newer versions should help to improve the speed of your PC, as well as the security of your set-up too.

If you’re running Office 2003 or Windows XP, then you should definitely consider upgrading to a newer version. From 8th April 2014, these programs will no longer be supported by Microsoft, leaving users more open to risks from hackers than before.

6. Scan you computer for viruses

Viruses and malware (malicious software) may well be to blame if your computer’s running slowly or performing strangely. As well as preventing your computer from working as normal, they could be gathering your information or even planning to steal your identity.

Running anti-virus software will not only identify and get rid of any viruses you’ve managed to pick up; it’ll also help to keep your computer clean in the future. So both your computer and the information on it will be safe from harm.

7. Defrag and check for disk errors

If you’ve done all of the above and your computer’s still not performing as it should, then it may be necessary to defrag the hard drive and then check it for disk errors. Both of these tasks are slightly more complicated however, and you’re only advised to carry them out if you’re a competent PC trouble-shooter. If you’re not, then this is the time to call in the experts.

Image Credit: Boians Cho Joo Young