Set Up Your Own Wireless Router

Routers can be connected to a PC or Laptop via a wireless connection or a LAN cable (ethernet cable). Wireless routers are straightforward to set up when the laptop or PC has a wireless network adapter installed and an Internet connection, preferably high-speed. Routers can be set up using the software provided with the router specific to that make and model, or by going online to the manufactures support website.

There has never been a better time to buy a wireless router, with prices being so low from all the major manufactures. You can make even bigger savings if you shop online, as coupon deals are giving saving of over 50%, or more, and are offering free shipping.

Router set up using software

1. First the router must be disconnected from the computer and power source.

2. Insert the disc that came with the router, or download the router specific software from the manufactures support page.

3. The software will take you through step by step instructions on how to install. A wireless network name and password is created, and part of the instructions may ask you to connect the router to the computer using an ethernet cable at first. This cable is usually included with the router.

Router set up manually

1. Connect the wireless router to the modem or land line connection using a LAN (ethernet) cable.

2. Connect the wireless router to the power outlet and wait a few moments for it to set.

3. Using an ethernet cable connect the router to the computer.

4. Open a browser and log into the router's Web interface and add the IP address to the address bar. The IP address can be found with the literature provided with the router, or on the back of the router itself.

5. On the back of the router, or within the documentation will be the default password and user-name, now enter these.

6. Via the web interface, set up a password and network name.

7. You should now be ready to disconnect the LAN (ethernet) cable and connect by the wireless connection.

Wireless router set up for windows 7

1. Connect the wireless router to the modem, or land line connection using a LAN (ethernet) cable.

2. Connect the wireless router to the power outlet and wait a few moments for it to set.

3. At the bottom of your computer on the notification bar there is an icon that looks like a stairway or a collection of bars racking upwards, click on this.

4. The window will show a selection of visible networks, choose your network and click on it and connect, this will ask for the network name and password, which is default and came with the documentation, or is written on the back of the router.

Wireless routers send and receive signals to and from a computer making them vulnerable and easily tracked. Using encrypted signals, or noise, can stop 3rd party hackers from receiving your personal data, and stopping unauthorized use of your network. It is important to stop anyone from hacking into the network through your IP, and causing damage by accessing sites that could create a legal issue or embarrassment.

There are a lot of different brands of routers and they use different methods of encryption. WPA2 is one of the most advanced and secure. WPA (WiFi Protected Access) is next followed by WEP (Wireless Encryption Protocol) which is the oldest.

If you are worried about the neighbour's kid breaking the code and stealing bandwidth or personal data, then it would be prudent to change the password on a regular basis and include combinations of alpha-numeric characters.

Once the wireless router is set up care should be taken when positioning the unit. Signals can suffer from interference from household appliances. Routers should be centralized and kept away from large metal objects. Performance can also be affected if too many computers share the same wireless unit.

Best places in London for relaxation

People have different ideas when it comes to holidays. Some try to cram in as much as they possibly can, which can result in needing another holiday to get over the last one, and some treat the holiday as a break from their usual environment and spend it relaxing. London is a vibrant fast-paced capital city and has gone to great lengths to provide contrast for its inhabitants and visitors with a vast range of relaxing, interesting and fun things to escape to.

What constitutes relaxation for some may be different from others, but pampering is high on the lists of those escaping a stressful lifestyle. Spas offer great pampered relaxation and London has numerous high quality spas which can be found in the city's top hotels and famous department stores. One of the top spas in London is the Thai Square Spa, Shelton Street Covent Garden.

Places to go in London to relax for free

The Royal Parks achieve numerous green heritage and green flag awards. They are recognised as some of the best landscapes in the country and are popular places for visitors which are completely free.

Hyde Park covers 350 acres and is open all year round. You can enjoy swimming and boating, exhibitions and concerts. There are parking areas, with tubes and buses stopping at several places around the park.

Kensington Gardens are open from 6 am and can be reached by public transport. It includes many picnic areas. Visit the Arch by Henry Moore, Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk and Memorial Playground, and spend hours immersed in the beauty of the Italian Garden, which is a 150 year old ornamental water garden. Kensington Gardens are also home to London's most ornate and prized monument, the Albert Memorial.

Richmond Park is a national nature reserve especially for those with interest in science and wildlife conservation; it includes ancient oak trees. Outdoor sports are popular here with fishing, cycling, horse riding, golf, fitness and personal training groups, rugby and power kiting.

Bushy Park is north of Hampton Court Palace and comprises of a canal, cascades, Baroque-style collection of pools and upper lodge water gardens; access is by train or bus, and the park is open 24 hours for pedestrians.

Brompton Cemetery, also part of the royal parks, is a crown cemetery located in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It has 16.5 hectares with guided walks and is definitely a place you can come to if you seek peace and quiet.

Some people's idea of relaxation can include motion, but at their own pace. The Thames path walk is one of the best ways to achieve this while taking in magical parts of London that stretch along both sides of the river for 40 miles (64 km), passing bustling boatyards, working wharves, marinas and old riverside pubs. Leaflets and route maps with points of interest and historical places can be downloaded, and they identify walks in sections giving a large and varied choice.

A great place to see while visiting London that has a relaxing atmosphere and features an awe-inspiring building is Westminster Abbey. It is free to worshippers, and they have Evensong, a service with the Abbey choir. Founded in AD960 as a Benedictine monastery, it is still a working church today.

One way to experience London life is to get a one-day bus pass, and travel the city, passing many world-famous tourist attractions; all this for the price of a drink in the many diverse café bars and eateries that London has to offer. This is another great way to relax away from hectic crowds.

Services - Web - website content

Ipage, Go Daddy and Hub are some of the best web hosting companies in the world delivering quality and at affordable prices; they offer no set limit on disk space, unlimited bandwidth, domains, and MySQL databases. Other features include free online stores, money-back guarantee, online support system, Chat, email and phone support. When looking for a website template the control panel is important and must be custom-built and flexible; preferably with a drag and drop site builder feature and step-by-step tutorials.

Companies or individuals looking for a strong presence on the internet and a unique looking website should consider a bespoke web design package. Bespoke web design means that every aspect of your website can be tailored to individual needs and tastes, and optimised for maximum impact. High on the list of priorities is search engine ranking and usability.

One of the best ways to optimize a websites and maximize potential ranking, moving up the page ladder, ultimately being on the first page, and eventually being number one, is (SEO) search engine optimization. Content is paramount in SEO, potential clients search for products and services using keywords. The website's content needs to have these keywords strategically placed allowing for search engine spiders to find those keywords, and also differentiate between spam and good quality content.

Great content on websites should be easy to read, clearly get the message across, and be reader friendly. For example, lots of spaces, bullet lists, and content broken up into paragraphs, are all reader friendly and helpful. Attracting visitors to a website is a priority, especially when selling products and services. Content must be fresh with up-to-date keywords to improve visibility on (SERP) search engine result pages.

SEO as a marketing tool can considerably improve a website's capacity to reach its targeted niche audience. Search engines regularly update their algorithms and rules, this can affect the ranking positions of past efforts to optimise. Therefore, strategies in regards to SEO also have to change accordingly as the process evolves constantly, and websites need updating regularly in order to benefit.

Initially the design process of a website should take into consideration several key areas, its color sets, typography, page layout, how to attract website traffic, and what marketing techniques are to be utilized. If the website is representing a company that is looking to sell its products or services on the internet will social media advertisement be a benefit? If so, pay-per-click advertisement should be compared for example, Google versus Facebook and which would best target the particular niche audience.

Companies that run on business processes daily including, customer services, sales or specific operations would benefit from a web portal to help streamline their operations. Workflow automation software aligns the needs and wants of both customer and service provider making the process more effective, efficient and successful, leading to more profitability.

The possibilities of using corn as fuel

Corn stoves are becoming popular for heating out-buildings, commercial premises and homes. There are more and more corn fueled stoves being produced to meet the high demand. For example, hot water furnaces, boilers and stoves with companies offering specifications tailored to individual's needs. In order to ensure safe, efficient operations of corn-burners, regular cleaning of ash residue and constant filling of the fuel is needed, reminiscent of an old wood burner from years gone by.

Corn-burning stoves can be complex or very simple. The more complex systems can have a corn delivery system and a combustion air fan; whereas, in standard wood stoves these are not a requirement. The fuel hoppers are usually located at the back of the stove and can be fed by an old coal scuttle.

Why use corn for burning?

Corn is an attractive heat source and is in abundance. Lower corn grades can be used and preferably that of none food grades; it also has a high heat energy content per unit weight. The quality requirements of corn as a fuel include:

Shelled corn should be checked as they must be dirt free, because dirty corn has a lot of lose fragments and cob pieces, these can cause problems by clogging up the fuel delivery system.

Shelled corn's heat content is based on its weight and moisture content. Corn high in moisture has a lower heat value per unit of weight delivering lower quality heat efficiency, so shelled corn should be dry, at least 15% moisture content or less.

Corn cannot be burned on just any stove or outdoor furnaces. There have specific design requirements in order for it to burn efficiently; similar to pellet-burning stoves. Clinker (ash residue) from the corn must drop away from the area where the corns are delivered and burned, which means that the clinker has to be shoveled away on a regular basis.

Shelled corn must be aided in burning with a combustion chamber that is fan assisted blowing in oxygen. The whole process is systematic from the corn delivery via a storage chamber, which is regulated, to enabling the amount of fuel to be burnt and the level of heat delivered. Ignition systems can be manual or automatic, wood pellets are burned to get the corn burning in the manual operation and the automatic method involves a fuel rod, which ignites the corn.

Heat exchanges do the job of separating flue gasses from the heat as a larger fan pushes air from the room through the stove and out again as heated air. This system must rely on electricity for it to operate. If the electricity supply is interrupted, a backup battery supply kicks in. The stove will need manually starting as a safety feature when there has been a power outage.

There are other types of corn stoves that do not use the systems above and burn at the bottom of a hopper. Multi-fuel systems are also an option and have the advantage of being able to burn shelled corn, cherry pits, wood pellets and more, giving a choice of fuels if one becomes in short supply.

Prevent Your Child's Myopia From Worsening

Myopia is a very common eye condition and sometimes referred to as nearsightedness or short-sightedness because objects in the distance become blurry and closer objects are perfectly clear. Myopia comes in several forms of severity, from mild, which may not need treatment, to serious cases that affect the vision substantially. An appointment with the optometrist should be made if distant objects become slightly fuzzy or you have trouble bringing objects at a distance into focus.

School myopia develops in adolescence around the school age, hence the term, this problem can stabilize in the teen years. Adult onset myopia commonly starts around puberty slowly worsening until the eye is fully developed. Late onset myopia happens in adults around the age of forty and onwards. Myopia affects over 128 million North Americans and 1.6 billion people globally, and still rising.

What is the cause of myopia?

A refractive eye condition is when the structure of the eye has errors which cause how light rays enter the eye. The eye grows with the rest of the body and sometime the back of the eye can grow too long, which stops light rays reaching the retina and causing distant objects to blur. Myopia is associated with genetics or several environment factors.

Environment factors causing myopia in children include: 

Excessive close up work

Poor quality illumination

Lack of outdoor activity

Font size in print books

Very poor eye care

Uncorrected refractive errors

Unhealthy diet

Children should be encouraged to participate in more outdoor activities, giving them longer breaks, more often from close work, which could help prevent the onset of myopia.

The IMPA (International Myopia Prevention Association) suggest that if children start to wear reading glasses for close work as soon as the first signs of myopia appear, it could prevent the problem from deteriorating further. Equally, new studies from a distinguished vision scientist called David Troilo, has proposed the introduction of contact lenses that can be used to aid the growth of children's eyes using multi-zonal lenses with alternating rings of negative and positive focal lengths. This, he suggest, can stop the progression of myopia in young adolescence.

Burgundy Heart of France

Burgundy typifies the soul of a French wine region, steeped in history and culture; it is the area home to Mâcon, on the Saône River. The town is the destination of the annual, Beaujolais Nouveau wine run, which starts and finishes in the UK. Dijon is the ancient capital of the province and has a lot more to offer than strong condiments as a sightseer’s haven, with museums, restored medieval stone houses and cobblestone streets.

More to offer

Follow a pilgrim's trail through picturesque villages and verdant landscapes. Holiday properties in Burgundy range from opulent 17th century mansions, surrounded by vineyards, and charming 18^th century town houses, to stone cottages nestled in the countryside.

Burgundy has a secret, not just its famous, scrumptious wines or its flavoursome cheeses and delicious Burgundian dishes, but its people. Feel the warmth of a friendly smile and sometimes a chuckle when trying their language. Holiday rentals in Burgundy offer several choices from a city or country side experience with a vast range of outdoor activities including, canal barging, horse riding, hot air ballooning and underwater caving.

With more and more holiday property rentals in Burgundy, wine enthusiast can taste their way around Beaune, the wine capital of the province and attend the world famous wine charity auction.

Weather and travel

Bourgogne (Burgundy) as it is known by the French people has an oceanic climate with a half-continental tendency; this is what makes it possible for the areas wealth of vineyards, with averages temperatures in the Winter 1.6°c and summer: 19.6°c. Travelling to the heart of France from Paris by car can take up to 3.5 hours and half that time by high-speed Train (TGV).  

Top Managed Hosting Companies

A strong web presence is important to any business in this competitive world, so creating a great website with minimal hassle is also important. Finding the best host is integral to the process. Below are the five top companies providing web hosting, focusing on popular opinion, price, customer service and usability.

Go Daddy

Go Daddy is one of the most well-known web-hosts, with affordable prices, and when it comes to features they are ranked high. Go Daddy's popularity and web presence is down to the fact that they are the world's leading domain name registrar. Their host service has over ten million customers, so that speaks for itself. Whatever price you pay with Go Daddy, you always get superb customer service and value for your money.

Features

Basic: Bandwidth - unlimited 10 GB of disk space - 24/7 FTP access - 10 MySQL databases - 100 email accounts - Linux and Windows hosting - Daily backups.

Included: Free setup - More than 50 applications - 24/7 customer support -Website statistics - Free search engine ad credits.

Control Panel

Their control panel offers a high degree of control over your website, but you will need some time to learn how to navigate the number of screens.

Go Daddy has the best customer service with many support options; you can contact them through the web, email, or via phone and you will always be greeted with a helpful response.

Price

Go Daddy has three different pricing options for their 4GH (4th generation hosting) platform: Ultimate, deluxe, and economy. The most popular is the deluxe plan, offering 150GB of disk space 25 MySQL database and 500 email addresses for $5.94 per month. The ultimate package is $8.49 per month and the economy $4.24 per month.

iPage

iPage is an award winning global webhosting company with over ten years of experience, delivering quality at affordable prices. Reliability and flexibility are high on the list of priorities for iPage when it comes to their customers. iPage offers host websites for business and personal use, social and non-profit websites, serving over a million websites, and has over 1,500,000 domains under their management.

Features

Basic: Disk space - no set limit Bandwidth - unlimited Domains - unlimited MySQL Databases – unlimited.

Included: Free online store Money-back guarantee Online support system Chat, email and phone support.

Control Panel

The control panel is custom-built and flexible to control, and has everything you will want and need. It also includes a drag and drop site builder and step-by-step tutorials.

iPage supports a vast range of platforms such as Frontpage, Expressions and Dreamweaver, to name a few. Security is high level, protecting both visitors and you, with anti-spam scanning, SiteLock technology, malware scans, and domain verification.

Price Ipage price package includes all the features on offer for $3.50 a month including marketing tools.

HUB

Hub has been around for over ten years providing web hosting services to businesses, individuals and non-profits. Hub offers free features in a build-it-yourself style DIY service, which means it is fast and you can have a web presence in minutes.

Features

Basic: Free domain registration/transfer Disk space - unlimited Bandwidth - unlimited - Free blogging software - Subdomains – unlimited - parked domains – unlimited - FREE Premium Web Builder MySQL - databases – unlimited.

 Included: 90-day money-back guarantee - 24/7 US-based in-house support - CGI support - $75 in Google Adwords Credits - $75 in Microsoft advertising ad-center Credits

Control Panel

Hub offers their customers cPanel, the most popular and best control panels on the market today. cPanel comes with a lot of features: 1 click software installer, email protection, spam prevention, and easy file management.

Customer support can be reached by the web, email or telephone, and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Price

Hub offers advanced features with e-commerce tools, secure mail, and 90 day full money back guarantee and more, for a starting price of $3.95 per month currently, down from $6.95 per month.

JustHost

Uptime, reliability and customer service places JustHost up there with the best web hosts in the world. Uncomplicated web hosting makes it easier for newbie webmasters with in-depth tutorials and a FAQs section to source answers to questions fast.

Features

Basic: Free instant activation -- Disk space – unlimited -- Bandwidth – unlimited -- Number of domains – unlimited -- Sub-domains – unlimited -- Unlimited FTP accounts -- Free for life domain name.

Included: Any time money-back guarantee -- Live support 24/7 -- Guaranteed 99.9% uptime -- Free search engine and social network ad credits.

Control Panel

JustHost uses the best control panel, the cPanel, which is easy to use with graphic icons and well organized display panel. As with the other top web hosts, JustHost offers superb customer service that can be contacted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week all year round, via email, the web, and telephone.

Price

JustHost is offering an affordable option at just $4.45 per month giving you access to all the features that are listed above.

FatCow

FatCow endeavours to simplify web hosting, and is ranked number 1 for small businesses. FatCow offers a domain hosting service called the MiniMoo plan. The company likes to inject a sense of humour into naming its products. This service cost $5 a year and includes, 1 email address, and domain parking.

Features

Basic: Free domain name -- Disk space – unlimited -- Bandwidth – unlimited --Pop mailboxes – unlimited.

Included: 24/7 customer support -- Search engine and social network credits -- 30-day money-back guarantee.

Control Panel

Fatcow, rather than using cPanel, has a feature-rich custom control panel that is easier to use than cPanel, and more powerful, helping the customer to build a quality website. Customer service can be contacted through a chat style window on the web, by telephone, or email, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is also a FAQs section to obtain answers fast.

Price

FatCow still has the original FatCow plan web hosting package, which is on offer from $3.67 a month.

Lead Paint Safety in the Home

Federal law passed on the 22 of April, 2010, is there to protect people from being contaminated by lead paint. The law requires contractors and home owners, who work on homes built before 1978, to risk assess the work and include activities that disturb more than six square feet of existing paint.
 
This law also applies to schools and child care facilities. There have been set protocols for contractors to follow, when faced with a program including the above hazard. Removal of lead-based paint is highly hazardous to the persons doing the abstraction, and persons in close proximity. If lead poisoning goes untreated it can lead to brain damage and  in extreme cases death. Young children, especially pre-schoolers, are more susceptible to lead poisoning.

Houses pre-dating 1978 where often painted with lead based paint and house owners must disclose information regarding known lead-based paint to potential buyers or those seeking to lease the property.

If lead is present in paint, it must be dealt with by professionals, as paint chips or dust from the paint are considered highly hazardous to health. Lead that has been in paint and allowed to deteriorate over time can also contaminate the soil under and around a property, which can be played in by children and walked into the home and should also be tested to determine what action necessary to be taken.

High lead paint hazardous areas in the home

Lead base paint is at its most hazardous when chipped, cracked, peeling, chalking and worn from high traffic areas where an area has high contact rate and therefore, is vulnerable to damage. Particular attention should be given to areas where it is likely that children can access, as they often can chew and peel away painted areas including:

• Window frames and window sills.
• Doors frames, architraves and doors.
• Stair banisters, risers, steps and skirting.
• Porches, decking and fences.

There are home test kits to see what areas are hazardous but it is not recommended as a sole reliant source when thinking about renovation work. A test should be done by a qualified and certified professional. If the presence of lead-based paints in the home is suspected there are steps that can be taken immediately to alleviate this hazard to household members. Clean up any paint flakes and chips and seal them in a bag or container for disposal. Curtains, sofas and other furniture should be covered up before the clean-up process.

Use a mop with a general surface cleaner to wash down the surfaces, including floors, window sills, frames and door panels, all those surfaces that are suspected of being contaminated, on a weekly basis. The cleaning tools, like the mop head, should be thoroughly cleaned and rinsed out after use. A mob is a preferred in the absence of a high powered commercial vacuum cleaner, as they will not kick up dust particles causing them to become airborne and contaminate other areas of the home.

It would be prudent to wear washable or disposable gloves for the cleaning operation. Children's hands should always be washed before they eat food and go to sleep. Children should be stopped from chewing all those areas suspected of being contaminated. Toys or anything the child comes into contact with should be cleaned regularly.

Shoes need to be removed before entering the home and also cleaned if soiled. Children who eat nutritious diets can absorb less lead. These are all temporary actions whilst the removal of the hazardous paint is being programmed.

Painting over lead-based paints is not a solution as it can still be chipped and damaged, causing flakes that can be consumed. Ideally all hazardous paint should be removed by a professional certified "abatement" contractor. The contractor can also advise if certain section can be sealed or covered over with specialist products. The National lead information centre (NLIC) has lists of approved contractors that cover various areas and also have in place financial assistance packages.

Lead Poisoning Effects

Lead poising symptoms vary and can be non-specific symptoms like loss of appetite, sleeping deficiency, stomach pains and constipation or in some people no physical symptoms occur

.

Children that do not complain of any symptoms but may have poisoning can suffer brain damage over a certain time period. If a child shows difficulty in walking or weakness following the suspicion of exposure to lead-based paint poisoning; medical attention involving a blood test, to check the levels of lead, should be sort immediately.

Pets can also show symptoms of  poisoning from lead-based paint and usually before humans, this is another way of detecting the problem, all be it an unwelcome one.

If lead-based paint is suspected in a home and there is no information on the history of the house. Rather than leaving things to chance, especially if the paintwork is chipped and chalking. Certified professionals should be called in to test it. First they will do a visual test to establish the condition and the location of the paint, then they can then use a (XRF) a portable x-ray fluorescence machine. Finally samples are taken to a lab for further testing.

How Requesting Financial Aid Affects College Admissions Decisions

Thinking about and applying for a college placement can often be one of the most stressful times in a student's life. That's why it is important for a student and their family to understand the admissions process, especially in regards to applying for financial aid. Each college has their own way of managing their budgets and administrative decisions.

A decision about student applications and whether or not their financial status is taken into consideration varies depending on the college. Yet, the majority will adhere to the same review guidelines, and committee members who are tasked with reviewing applications are not aware of the details of any students requesting financial aid.

Some institutions may be influenced by a student's financial needs, and take into consideration the level of talent and academic credentials, with the level of finance needed. Those students requesting a high level of financial assistance, with mediocre credentials, will almost certainly find themselves at the bottom of the administration's pile. A student's ability to pay full tuition and his or her high level of academic flare are all factored in to the decision; he or she is often given a greater advantage.

Some institutions, which consider applications on a need-blind basis, ignore the ability of an application to pay their tuition and are all processed from a purely academic and talent based point of view. The financial situation of a student is generally worked out after they have been accepted.

If a student is worried about how requesting financial aid affects college admissions decisions, they may be able to gain the edge over other applicants by becoming categorized as a highly desirable or deserving student. In general, those in this category would show stronger academic credentials, exceeding average test scores or possessing some special talents, and in the past have shown that they are a hard working student.

Paying top dollar in recent years has proved a sure way of gaining access to some of the top state universities; even the number of foreign applicants, flashing their cash, has tripled. This is good news for those from wealthier families, but not so good for those in lower income homes. Some of the top, more selective colleges in the country are eliminating loans from financial aid packages, offered to students, and have adopted a policy of only offering loans to those that are in a certain family income bracket.

Institution's admissions administrators are now having to compare potential students, who are more or less identical applicants, and those that need financial assistance are being moved aside for the students who can pay for their own tuition.