How to change the serial number used in Windows XP

Valid for XP Corporate
Step 1
Open Start/Run... and type the command:
regedit and click "OK" (or press ENTER).

Go to
Code:
HKey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Current Version\WPAEvents,on the right double click on "oobetimer" and change at least one digit of this value to deactivate windows.

Click "OK" and close the Registry Editor.

Step 2
Open Start/Run... and type the command:

Code:
%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a and click "OK" (or press ENTER).

This will bring up the "Activate Windows" window.

Check the option for "Yes, I want to telephone a customer service representative to activate Windows" and click "Next"


Step 3
Then click "Change Product Key" (don't enter any information on that screen)


Step 4
Type in the new key and click "Update"


The activate Windows by phone window will reappear at this point, just close it by clicking the X in the upper right hand corner

Step 5
Reboot your system and Open Start/Run... and type the command:

Code:
%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a and click "OK" (or press ENTER).

If you see "Windows is already activated" then everything is OK.

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Low Cost Options for High Tech

Everybody wants the latest and greatest. We all see the ads and read the reviews of the newest, most spectacular electronic devices on the market. Unfortunately, most of us simply do not have the money to buy every new gadget that comes out. Most of us don’t even need all the features of these hot products. What can we do? There are a lot of products available that may not be the absolute best, but are still extremely good products. In most cases, they will do the job that most of us need them to do, and they will do those jobs extremely well. Let’s take a look at a few.

Smartphones:
The iPhone is one of the most popular smartphones on the market. With so many features and add-ons it appeals to many consumers for various different reasons. However if you are looking for a comparable alternative to save a little cash, the Android powered phones offer many of the same features. With a vast library of apps available for Android powered phones, you can still utilize versatility while saving some of your hard earned cash.

Tablets:
The iPad is leading the way in tablet computing. Their innovative technology has been the standard in which the other companies follow. However, some may want the mobility, versatility and functionality of the iPad without the high price. HP and Samsung both make tablets that give users many of the functions they are looking for without the expense. With downloadable apps, each tablet offers an array of customizable functionality that gives a great user experience. Though their tablets may not compare to the iPad, if you are looking to just surf the net, complete a few tasks and enjoy the portability, they may be the better choice for you.

Remote Controls:
Logitech makes several different Harmony Remote Controls. A national electronics retailer sells the Harmony 1100 for $349.99. This remote controls 15 devices, and has a 3-1/2″ color touch screen. It also has rechargeable batteries and a charging station. It is definitely a pretty impressive remote control. Samsung makes the RMC30C2 3, a similar remote for $150. It has the same functions, a touch screen, and an attractive sleek design.

Having the latest and greatest gadgets are cool. But you can save a lot of money and get pretty much the same results with some still very, very good lower priced gadgets. In a world of indulgence, sometimes we should get what we need, instead of what is hot.

Author Thomas Hathaway is a financial consultant and suggests there are times when a payday loan may come in handy when you have financial urgency prior to your regular pay date.

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US calls out Russia and Chinese over hacking attacks

US GOVERNMENT REPORT has come out swinging at Russia and China, and accused the countries of hacking and spying.

The report titled "Foreign Spies Stealing US Economic Secrets in Cyberspace" is dated October and comes from the Office of Counter Intelligence. It says that hacking attacks are increasing on government and financial institutions. A graphic in the report shows the Wall Street sign and some Chinese currency, just in case we were in any doubt of where it was going.

Although Russia is a player on the battleground of US computer systems, China and its attacks dominate the US report (pdf). That country, though its government has always vehemently denied suggestions of hacking, is not spared in the report, which suggests that Chinese hackers are behind an "onslaught" of attacks.

The report is the latest in a series of scare stories that seemed to culminate in London this week with a cyber security conference where the spectre of hacking attacks from every angle was raised and discussed repeatedly.

With this report the US seems to be upping its game however, and if you were looking for accusations being thrown at other countries you got them.

"We judge that the governments of China and Russia will remain aggressive and capable collectors of sensitive US economic information and technologies, particularly in cyberspace," it says as its looks towards its own country's future.

It also says that attacks that happened between 2009 and 2011 and were attempts to steal proprietary information worth millions of dollars from US firms, and lose them profits as a result, "[appear] to have originated in China."

"China and Russia view themselves as strategic competitors of the United States and are the most aggressive collectors of US economic information and technology," it says.

Repeated statements suggest that the report is trying to encourage businesses and organisations to come forward with information on attacks as soon as they happen, rather than leaving them to come to government attention later.

"Attribution is especially difficult when the event occurs weeks or months before the victims request intelligence community (IC) or law enforcement help," it says.

"Chinese actors are the world's most active and persistent perpetrators of economic espionage. US private sector firms and cybersecurity specialists have reported an onslaught of computer network intrusions that have originated in China, but the IC cannot confirm who was responsible."

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Oracle, Dell, EMC and VMware want it to be in the server

There is a battle going on behind the scenes over the location of storage's soul: the controller hardware and software. Oracle, Dell, EMC and VMware want it to be in the server, while NetApp and HDS want it to be in the array, an array operating with servers but distinct from them.

The picture is not as clear-cut as this on the surface – NetApp is working with Oracle for example – but this is my take on what is happening down in the development depths, among the strategists and engineers with multi-year product horizons.

The modern storage industry, the one shipping networked external storage arrays, has been built on two foundations. One is EMC's establishment of a market for third-party external, block-addressed storage arrays distinct from the server suppliers of the time: HP, IBM, Digital Equipment, etc.

The other was the invention and establishment of file-addressed network-attached storage (NAS or filers). NetApp is the single most effective proponent of that, although EMC grew to ship more filers than NetApp. EMC and NetApp represent the twin peaks of the external storage array.

A storage array comes in two flavours. It is either monolithic, with multiple controllers or engines and some fancy interconnect hardware to link these to the storage shelves – think Symmetrix, latterly VMAX – or modular. Modular arrays have two controllers linked – by simpler Fibre Channel or latterly SAS – to the storage shelves. NetApp's FAS arrays and EMC's CLARiiON are classic embodiments of this idea.

Applications in servers sent SCSI block requests or file access requests to these arrays, which presented themselves, logically, as a single pool of storage, separated into dedicated logical disks (LUNs) for the server apps, or sharable filestores.

Andy Bechtolsheim
This long-lived storage concept is now being discarded, and the first nail in its coffin came from Sun and the inventive Mr Andy Bechtolsheim.
Honeycomb upsets the storage hive

Bechtolsheim's idea was that co-locating servers and storage in the same overall enclosure would speed server apps dependent on lots of stored data. Thumper, a server-rich NAS device delivered as the X4500, was one result of this and Honeycomb another.

Neither set the world on fire but they did show the way to getting more data into servers faster. Then Oracle bought Sun in 2009 and suddenly Bechtolsheim's idea got a rocket boost from the Exadata product, a set of server resources running Oracle software with their own storage resources. This is setting the Oracle World on fire, with much encouragement from Oracle marketing because its own bunch of modular arrays was pretty second-rate.

Exadata Database Machine
What Sun invented and Oracle extended is the NoSAN server. EMC has seen this idea and responded by devising an opposite of this, the No-Server SAN, a kind of reverse engineering in its way.
EMC brings the servers to the array

EMC is trying to have it both ways. VMAX, VNX and Isilon arrays are going to be able to run application software in server engines in the array controller complex. There is a natural fit with VMware's ESX running the whole shebang and VMs being loaded to run storage controller software and applications that benefit from low-latency access to buckets of data. These array-located app servers use the array's own internal network or fabric, VMAX's Virtual Matrix for example, instead of the normal Ethernet or Fibre Channel fabric. This isn't SAN access as we know it.

EMC also has its Project Lightning to have its arrays manage the loading and running of flash caches in servers, PCIe-connected flash. That's a step on the road along which Dell appears to be further along. The Round Rock company is also going to build servers with flash, but this is a storage tier and not cache. This tier zero storage is logically part of the entire array controller-managed storage pool with automatic data movement.

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LIST OF BEST AND RELIABLE WEB HOSTING COMPANIES

LIST OF BEST AND RELIABLE WEB HOSTING COMPANIES Top Hosting Companies in United States

Rank	Hosting Company	Market Share	Total Domains
1	WILDWESTDOMAINS.COM	39.1365 %	29,960,442
2	ENOM.COM	4.2759 %	3,273,399
3	NETWORKSOLUTIONS.COM	3.877 %	2,967,984
4	ONEANDONE.COM	3.5808 %	2,741,201
5	DSREDIRECTION.COM	3.1821 %	2,436,043
6	YAHOO.COM	2.4686 %	1,889,794
7	HOSTGATOR.COM	2.0833 %	1,594,862
8	REGISTER.COM	1.8347 %	1,404,504
9	BLUEHOST.COM	1.7548 %	1,343,332
10	DREAMHOST.COM	1.4881 %	1,139,169
11	CASHPARKING.COM	1.4707 %	1,125,885
12	WEBSITEWELCOME.COM	1.2635 %	967,261
13	BUYDOMAINS.COM	1.2133 %	928,803
14	HOSTMONSTER.COM	0.966 %	739,485
15	REGISTRAR-SERVERS.COM	0.7381 %	565,020

Top Hosting Companies in United States

Rank	Hosting Company	Market Share	Total Domains
16	PARKED.COM	0.5887 %	450,705
17	MEDIATEMPLE.NET	0.5564 %	425,939
18	RACKSPACE.COM	0.5435 %	416,106
19	DOTSTER.COM	0.4966 %	380,196
20	ATT-WEBHOSTING.COM	0.4613 %	353,125
21	SMARTNAME.COM	0.4453 %	340,884
22	DIRECTNIC.COM	0.4172 %	319,402
23	IXWEBHOSTING.COM	0.4144 %	317,261
24	FASTPARK.NET	0.4125 %	315,811
25	IPOWERWEB.COM	0.4093 %	313,340

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