Windows XP Will Not Shut Down - Try These Tips

If you are running Windows XP and it will not shut down here's a few things you can try. This is a fairly simple problem to fix. First of all let me say, I know how annoying this problem can be. I used to hate sitting there looking at the computer waiting for it to shut off.

You can pull the plug from the wall or hold your power button down for more than four seconds, but this is not the proper way to shut down your computer. Each time you do an improper shutdown you cause more damage to your system. There is a couple of reasons why XP will not shut down.

First of all you want to update your virus definitions of run a full scan. The same with your spyware cleaner. A virus or spyware running in the background can interrupt your system when you go to shut down. These stubborn programs do not want to be shut off and continue trying to run. In most cases, even the largest reason XP will not shut down is because of a corrupt registry.

When Windows tries to shut down. It references the registry to see if any settings have been changed. If it comes across corrupt entries or registry keys that are trying to reference software that is no longer on your PC, by default it will wait the full 30 seconds per program. So what you need to do is clean and repair your registry. By installing and un installing software you create registry keys. Uninstall programs never do a complete job and leave behind entries. You need to clean these out of your system.

Over time, your registry will become bloated and slow. This causes slow start ups, slow shutdowns, blue screens, slow program load times, and other annoying problems. The best way to clean and repair your registry is with a third-party program designed to do this. You can do it manually, but is not recommended. Delete or change the wrong file and your computer may become unusable or unstable.

It is much easier using software that is safe and effective and will not remove any entries that you need to run Windows. The whole process can be done in less than a minute. Running a scan on a fairly new computer rejected in over 300 errors. The PC, we ran a scan on was less than a month old. So you can imagine an older computer will have a lot more errors and bad entries.

Once you clean and repair your system it should run like it did when you first bought it. Some systems have become so corrupt that it would take over 30 minutes for the computer to shut down. Computer technicians like this problem because it is easy to fix. For service calls, they will carry repair software on a CD or memory stick, run a quick scan on the PC and repair it. Now you can purchase same software they use and save yourself the service call fee. Or a trip to the shop.

Make Goal Based Investing to Realize Your Financial Goals

Life is all about setting different goals and achieving them one after another. As Tony Robbins said setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible. When each rupee you invest has a definite purpose behind it, is called Goal based investing.

Goal based financial planning is done for long term, midterm and short term gains. Long term plans typically yield more wealth comparing the other two. A midterm plan could be buying a home where a short term plan may be having a car.

How it is Different from the Traditional Approach
Unlike the traditional approach of investing, goal based investing does not only focus on your risk profile, rather its focus remains on achieving the target. The investment plans should be designed by keeping the goal at the center.

The focal point of the traditional approach remains in selecting areas that ensure safe returns. It finds a safe and sure path to grow money. Whereas, in Goal based investing, realization of the goals defines its ultimate success. Wealth generation is not the sole target.

Goal based investment plans get designed only after doing a detailed research of the investor's net worth, level of risk-tolerance and financial goals. In case of traditional approach, first the risk quotient is calculated and according to that a pre-designed investment plane gets selected.

Benefits of Goal Based Investing

In life, each rupee you spend is a type investment that yields certain results for you. If your goal based investments are planned, well thought out and work for achieving specific goals then they do not affect each other. The benefits of making goal based investments are-
It engages you in making systematic approach towards a better money management.
It is nothing but a good habit that restricts you from making spur of the moment purchases.
Channelizes your money towards building value assets and wealth through proper financial planning.
Increases the achievability of the financial goals of your life.
You can continuously monitor and make changes to your plan in order to reach close to your desired financial goals.

How to plan a Goal Based Investing

Planning a goal based investment requires-
You have to make a list of important life goals that you need to achieve. You should prioritize them according to their importance.
Analyze your money needs. It will help you in clustering your investments according to the upcoming life events.
Cluster your investments in three sections- 1) Short-term, 2) Mid-term and 3) Long-Term.
Now choose viable investment plans and start investing.

Short Term Goal based investments are made to fulfill prerequisites that are going to arise in next 2 years. You have to choose less volatile and low risk areas to invest as you need to turn them into liquid soon.

Mid-term Goal based investments are those where you need the return in next 3-10 years. Long-term goals may include retirement and child's higher education. To meet such kind of goals, you need to accumulate large corpus. For that, you have to give good effort to identify pre-determined asset class and make systematic investment over longer period of time. During the course of time, you should stay invested in your plan irrespective of the short-term market upheavals.

If you tie your financial investments around a time frame and specific life goals, it gets a lot easier to achieve.

How to Make More Money!

Unfortunately this world does not run on Dunkin '; it runs on money. We all need it! So people go to college people play the lottery; people even try their hand at bank robberies. The bottom line is that without money life is not as fulfilling as it can be. So everyday we wake up in pursuit of financial security.

For the most part society falls into two categories!

# 1 People looking to learn ways on how to make more money to supplement their existing income.

# 2 People looking to eradicate their 9 to 5

No matter what category you fall in you need to know how to make more money. Oh not to mention to make more money with less work.

So lets talk how to make more money at home. We're the most popular ways to make money are the most consistent.

Affiliate marketing and Network marketing.

Both of these business models work but in different ways. Now what makes them worth pursuing are the residual aspects attached.

Residual wealth is my best example on how to make more money. Doing work one time and receiving benefits over and over should not be taken kindly.

So first up is affiliate marketing.

How to make more money online doing affiliate stuff? And how is it residual?

The answer is easy people buy things online and that trend alone is drastically increasing. That opens opportunities for affiliates to cash in.

Wheres the residual? Good question!

The residual is in the amount of recurring volume or traffic looking for the products you promote. So creating a well targeted sales funnel one time for that niche, will cause consistent sales aka more money each & every month.

What about network marketing? Well this is the king when it comes to residual money. This business model allows you to benefit off the efforts of others. Now when you have a team in place all working to build a high monthly income everyone benefits.The more team members in your organization the more money.

Learning how to make more money at home is not rocket science nor is it like winning the lottery.

Your chances are realistic.

But the only way to guarantee your success is to learn Internet marketing. Building this know how opens the gates for any money making approach online.

SDLC Vs DDLC

This article deals about Technical writing and discusses about how you adapt the writing process to suit the different phases of Software Development Life Cycle's (SDLC) needs and requirements.

Although there are many steps in SDLC, this article lists out only the important stages of SDLC. They are

1. Requirement Gathering
2. Analysis & Design
3. Coding
4. Code Review & Testing Phase
5. Launch (Alpha & Beta releases)
6. Maintenance

Every software project has its own customized SDLC framework.

All the proprietary framework versions are dependent upon the skeleton structure of the above SDLC framework.

Just like how every software project is dependent on SDLC, in the same way, every documentation project also is dependent on Document Development Life Cycle (DDLC). The DDLC framework is divided into the following steps.

1. Understand Product / project requirements
2. Doing Audience Analysis
3. Deciding about Output formats (.PDF, Online Help) & Documentation deliverables
4. Zeroing on Documentation & Graphic tools
5. Gathering the base or source documents
6. Template Designing
7. Time frame & Estimate
8. Identifying Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) & points of contact
9. Identifying peer, technical, and editorial reviewers
10. Creating the Documentation Plan
11. Draft Table of Contents (TOC)
12. Doing Content Development
13. Managing Review Cycles
14. Incorporating Review Comments
15. Final Output

All the precedent DDLC framework steps can be summarized into five subcategories, which in turn can be mapped to every step of SDLC. The five summarized subcategories are

1. Preparation of the Documentation Plan
2. Writing the content
3. Reviewing the content
4. Document Delivery
5. Document Maintenance

Since every Documentation project in software field depends upon the corresponding project / product, the SDLC framework of the same has to be mapped with the DDLC of the corresponding Documentation project.

Mapping of SDLC vs. DDLC

1. Analysis & Design Preparation of Documentation Plan
2. Coding Writing the content
3. Code Review & Testing Phase Review the content
4. Launch (Alpha & Beta releases) Document release
5. Maintenance Document maintenance (incorporating functionality enhancements & modifications)

As you can see from the precedenting mapping, every process in SDLC is mapped with the corresponding process in DDLC. Most of the companies, particularly product companies, want the documentation ready by the time the product hits the market.

For the companies following Agile methodology, when the product is under development stage, there will be frequent enhancements, corrections, etc, during each iteration. Just like how the changes are incorporated in the code, in the same way, changes have to be done to the corresponding documentation to keep the deliverables up-to-date as per the client / market requirements.

Computer Programming and Software Engineering Programs

Computer software engineering has become a career of choice for many people considering its dynamic nature and exciting well-paying career opportunities. It is a branch of computer science that deals with design, documentation, development and management of software. Some of the subjects that will be offered by a programming school will include internet programming, application development, database development, custom business applications and web development.

A programming school will offer basic education on how to develop a computer program that is adaptable to the peripheral needs of each user as well as a chance to do research on relevant issues that are facing this field. A software engineering research includes analysis of software processes as well as measurement and modeling of computer usage behaviors.

The study modes offered at a software engineering school involve intensive and rigorous mixture of lectures, practical classes and tutorials. Extra remedial classes can be offered to poor students to enable them catch up with their colleagues. Before conferment of the degree, diploma or certificate to the student, they have to go through thorough assessments in form of course assignments and exams. A program especially the degree would not be complete without a project whether done in a group or individually.

Computer programming courses can be offered either as associate degrees, diplomas or certificates. The higher levels will go up to the masters and PhD ranks. There is a number of software engineering schools that offer online programs which enable their students to take the course regardless of where they are located. This distance learning facility also enables people who are working but may wish to further their education to do so without necessarily quitting their jobs.

A course in a software engineering school prepares the student for a whole range of exciting career opportunities. The information technology industry is very accommodating as the graduates can get a chance to work in whiche organization that makes use of computer services. Better still a course from a good and recognized programming school will enable the student to be absorbed in the job market even without the working experience.

Mobile Apps Development Trends and the Demand of Mobile Applications

Mobile Apps development exemplifies the development of apps which work as additional features in a mobile handheld device. These apps can be downloaded by the end user and can be used in different mobile platforms which are available in the market. These applications can also be found pre-installed in different devices too.

The demand for more and more applications is on the rise as there are many smartphones which are available in the mid-priced segment in the market. Demand is in all types of mobile apps, whether simple or complex and includes games, business apps, and other utilities. Mobile software development has also provided different types of users with various benefits like regular access to his mails, chat options with friends online, social networking including Twitter, Facebook, Orkut and others, and Internet access to search online. There is no limit to what is possible with the high-end mobiles as they have integrated great tools and applications to track calls, edit photos and videos, and also track down their own location through the GPS (Geographical Positioning System).

Some of the best known mobile platforms in vogue are iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Symbian and Windows Mobile with the latest addition being the iPad platform introduced by Apple. There are no restrictions in terms of trends in the way apps are being launched today as there is an immune demand of all types of mobile apps. Most of the apps center across business, games, news, Weather information, and financial investments. There are many other categories other than this in niche areas which include live game scores, climate changes etc.

There are various offshore development companies who are engaged in offering these application development services and it includes planning, development and enablement services, SMS Push Pull up applications (mobile messaging), and other miscellaneous programming services which are based on mobile pocket PC.

Developing a mobile application is absolutely a cumbersome task and requires great skill and innovative capabilities. Mobile application developers need to be highly knowledgeable of the various platforms and create multi-platform applications which can be played as well in the Symbian as in the Android platform. There is high competition in the mobile application development field as more offshore companies are offering comprehensive end-to-end solutions.

With the coming days and the decreasing cost of smartphones worldwide, the scope of mobile application development is definitely increasing. The major challenge for companies is to retain and hire developers who are adept in creating applications in more than one platform.

Simple Origami - 8 Fun Facts About Paper Folding

Simple origami is ideal for all ages. While many may think it's just for kids, it's not! Here are eight fun facts about paper folding that you may not know ... yet!

1. There are dozens of entries for origami in the Guinness Book of World Records including most folds, smallest, biggest, fastest time for folding 100 cars, and many more.
2. If you thought origami was just for kids, think again. There is an origami airplane championship held every two years in Japan. According to an article in the Bangkok Post, the record for the longest flight indoors of an origami plane is 22.48 seconds - held by Takuo Toda, who is credited with inventing the paper airplane.
3. The smallest origami crane in the world was made by Naito Akira folding plastic film measuring 0.1 by 0.1 mm. The 82-year old uses special tools and a microscope.
4. The three largest origami cranes on record include one with a wingspan of 206.7 feet made by Akita Japan residents in August 1998. It took approximately 200 people 7.5 hours to fold the square paper which measured 212 feet per side. Wings for Peace folded an origami crane in Seattle in November 1999 with a resulting wing span of 215 feet. The latter reportedly weighed 1750 pounds. In January 2001 an origami crane with a wingspan of 256 ft 6 was folded in Odate Japan.
5. A charity in Mexico (Grupedsac) supports small farmers and indigenous people to make and sell shoulder bags, hand bags, coin purses and belts out of folded candy wrappers and other trash.
6. Origami is the theme of a play in New York called "Animals Out of Paper" in which the three main characters all are involved in the art of paper folding.
7. There are at least a dozen national origami associations throughout the world including: US, Japan, France, Netherlands, UK, Spain, Germany, Australia, Italy, Poland, Russia, and China. The British Origami Society was the first association and was founded in London in 1967.
8. Origami USA sponsors a yearly convention in New York that is said to be the largest in the world.

It's easy and affordable to get started with simple origami. You just need paper and folding directions.