An Adobe Flash CS5-Based Advertisement

After a few days learning Adobe Flash, I created this simple advertisement.

Why do we need Flash-based ads?

First of all, flash-based ads are likely to be moving, thus making it more attractive.
Secondly, you can embed it anywhere you want: on your blog, your friend's site, etc.
Last but not least, SWF(ShockWave Flash) videos are also quickly-loaded. Therefore, users won't have to wait long for your sites to load the video ads.

Adding an ad like this to your website will surely increase the site's traffic by bringing in more visitors, making your site rank better in search engines like Google.

If you are interested in having one, simply drop a comment below or send an email to me.

Cyber Frost

Disk Defragmentation - Why and How?

Computer memory contains files. These files may be in the form of PDF, Word Document, Power Point Presentation, Application, and many others. As time flows, a user will add more files as well as delete some files. Adding and deleting files will cause the magnetic field in the hard disk to be unorganized. This is called fragmentation.

Fragmentation is a state where a file is broken into pieces, thus making it harder(slower) to be accessed.

Alright, let's assume that you are feeling that your files are in this state. What should you do to settle this?

The answer is by doing defragmentation.
Disk Defragmentation, as its name said, is done to rearrange parts of broken files so that the files will be better-organized, enabling users to access the files more quickly.

In Windows Operating System (XP or higher versions), you can easily defrag your hard disks by using the built-in Disk Defragmenter utility.

Please note that I am using Windows Vista Ultimate, the steps may vary from other versions.

There are three methods:

First Method

1. Click Start>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmenter
2. A window like this will be brought up:
  
3.  Click the "Defragment now" button to proceed.
4. Wait until the process completes. It may take minutes to hours, please be patient. It's worth waiting because after the defragmentation your files will be more organized and easier to access.

Second Method

1. Click Start>Run
2. Type in "dfrgui.exe" (without quotes)
3. Click the "Defragment now" button.
4. Wait for the process to complete.

Third Method

1. Click Start>Run
2. Type in "cmd" (without quotes)
3. Type in "defrag -c"   (without quotes) and press Enter.

4. Wait for the defragmentation to finish.

You should defragment your computer at least every 4-6 months to keep your computer in good state.


Thank you for reading. Hope this helps.
Cyber Frost

Color Changing Text Animation with Flash

Here's my second animation. It changes the color of the text as it moves.

More will be posted. In the meanwhile, enjoy!

Cyber Frost

My First Flash Animation

I'm currently learning Adobe Flash CS5 Professional now. Here is my first flash text animation:

It's still a simple one. Well, not bad for a first try anyway.

I will be posting more to inspire you all.


Cyber Frost

Why Would One Become a Programmer?

A computer programmer is an extremely interesting job to do, especially if you like to learn new things and expand your knowledge over many field of studies in a fun way.

Programmers will learn many things as they create sellable programs or source codes.

Let me explain to you using an example:
A programmer is offered a project in making an accounting program which will help in making reports, calculating annual income, etc.
In order to successfully build this program, he will need to learn:
-Programming Languages(C, C++, HTML, VB.NET, Java, etc.)
-Accounting Basics
-Program Design Techniques
-Languages, in which the User Interface will be written.

So, besides earning money from the project, he will get some new experience with his programming skills, know the basics of accounting, have a better design skill as he creates more softwares, and improve himself in language usage.

See? There are tons of benefits to work as a programmer.

Some other advantages of being a programmer are:

-Easy Money
It is the era of computerization. Every company will soon use softwares  + IT Staffs instead of accountants, shopkeepers, architects, etc.
You must take an advantage of this, begin learning how to do programming now.

-Not Place-Dependent
A programmer can do his project anywhere with his laptop and a charger(perhaps with a modem, too.)
He doesn't have to stay in the office sitting for no reason. He can enjoy a cup of coffee in a mall while thinking about his projects.

Despite the benefits offered, there are of course some drawbacks, too, which are:

-Finding Projects
Projects don't come to you, you must search for them. You can do so by advertising on the internet, telling your friends about your products in social networking services such as Facebook, Twitter, etc., or simply tell your mates in a daily conversation.

-Time Consuming
Programming is time-consuming, especially for newbies. Therefore, prepare to lose some hours of sleep. You can repay those lost hours later when you have free time. Exercise when you have time to keep yourself fit. You don't want to get sick, because projects don't wait.



It's really beneficial to have computer skills in this era of computerization, everything is in process of being computerized, sooner or later employers will require you to have computer skills in order to work in his/her company. The best time to start is now.
I can guarantee you, you will not regret excelling in many fields of study and earning much money making some creative applications.


Thank you for reading.
Cyber Frost

Downloads Available

The download page is now available.
It contains home-made programs and scripts which will be explained further in my blog.

Click here to go to the Download page,

Feel free to download the programs and scripts. They are virus-free.

Cyber Frost

QR Code Implementation

A QR code (short for Quick Response) is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera phones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data. - Wikipedia.org

In simple words, a QR Code is a 2D Barcode used to navigate users to a URL, to show some text, to send an SMS, and to add a phone number to a contact.

QR Codes can only be interpreted or read by using a QR-Code Reader.
For BlackBerry Smartphones, you can download ScanLife.
Here are some other softwares for other types of phones.
For phone platforms other than those listed above, I haven't done any research, so please make a search on Google if you are interested.

Here is an example of a QR Code to navigate to my blog, simply scan it with a barcode reader and you will be automatically redirected to my blog.

Another code to redirect user to this post:

As this trick is more fun and creative to use in promoting your website or blog URL, this will likely increase the hits on your websites. Therefore, I suggest you to generate a QR Code of your web URL and post it to social networking sites, share it on forums, and put it in your blog/website.

A website I recommend in generating QR Codes is : http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

Try implementing this trick and give me some feedbacks.

P.S.: Please kindly copy the 2D Barcode above to your site to help me promote my blog.


Thanks for reading.
Cyber Frost

Finding a Website's DNS Address

What is a DNS Address? DNS (Domain Name Service) Address is a unique IP-like numbers which represents a website.

Although it is unique, some websites may share the same DNS Address.

Alright, without wasting more time, let's move on to the steps:

• Open cmd (Command Prompt)
• Type in "ping www.website.com" (without quotes)

Note: www.website.com is meant to be replaced with the web address you wish to find.
For example: ping www.google.com

• Press Enter

It will return something like this:

Click to enlarge picture

Please notice the 74.124.224.51. That is the DNS Address of Google.com.

You can apply this trick to any other website you wish to find the DNS Address of.
Simply change the www.website.com to the address of the website.


Thanks for viewing this post.

Cyber Frost

Phishing - Definition and Prevention

What is Phishing? Well, phishing can be translated into what it is read. Fishing. Yes. Exactly.
Why??
Phishing is an act of stealing usernames, passwords, and other types of personal information by using any method such as social engineering, web forgery, and many other hacking techniques.

One of these tricks, messing with links, traps unaware users that never looks into the url address bar of their browser while browsing. So, the first prevention trick would be : "Looking to your address bar whenever you browse a page."

Looking to your address bar whenever you browse a page

For instance, if your are going to http://www.facebook.com/, make sure that the browser address bar shows exactly the same as what you expect, which is http://www.facebook.com/ and not http://www.facebook.net/ or http://www.facebok.com/.

The easy way to prevent mistyping:
Bookmark the page by pressing Ctrl+D
Whenever you want to access the page, you can select it from the bookmark list to prevent mistyping which could lead to serious problems.

Now, having the first prevention method, you might ask: Is that all?

No way!

Let's see the hacker's second method:

DNS Redirection and Link Faking

DNS redirection, done by editing Windows HOSTS File, is quite dangerous too. Although you have bookmarked the page, it will still redirect you to a page with a specified DNS.

For example, you have bookmarked http://www.facebook.com/. This request will first read through the DNS list inside the Windows HOSTS File. Let's assume the content looks like this:

74.125.224.50 www.facebook.com

You will be redirected to http://www.google.com/ when you try to access your bookmarked Facebook Site.

See? Hackers are creative.

Cleaning the content of Windows HOSTS File

The Windows HOSTS File is commonly located in C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
To clean its content, simply follow this steps:

1. Open cmd
2. Type in "echo clean>C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts" (without quotes)
3. Press Enter

Now, you can browse your pages safely. But, I recommend  restarting your computer first before you start browsing again, because the changes might not have taken effect until after a restart is done.

Link Faking
Link Faking is a simple yet tricky way to trap users.
Here is an example: http://www.google.com/

Clicking that link, you expect the browser to navigate to Google. However, it will bring you to Facebook. Imagine if the redirected website has a look exactly the same as your destination website, you will end up having your personal information stolen.
My advice would be : "Always be aware of your browser address bar."


DNS Spoofing
Another method, which is the last I will tell you about, is the "DNS Spoofing". This trick can be done using some programs like Cain and Abel.

It will redirect you to a forged website, which is already prepared by a hacker, without changing your address bar. You won't notice that you are on a fake website.
This trick can't be recognized by normal users. So, simply update your Antivirus program to its latest patch.

There are more ways that I haven't mentioned, hackers are always one step ahead, so be careful and always get updated with the latest information available.

Thanks for reading.

Cyber Frost

Bloggers Needed - Category : Computing Technology

I need blogger volunteers. Requirements are :
-Having good written English.
-Owns a blog(or a website).
-having knowledge about computers and technology.

Submit your website or blog address to the comment box below for me to review before I add you as one of my my blog authors.


Regards,
Cyber Frost