Passing the BCMSN exam and getting one step closer to the CCNP certification means learning and noticing details that you were not presented with in your CCNA studies. (Yes, I know – you had more than enough details then, right?) One protocol you’ve got to learn more details about is VTP, which seemed simple enough in your CCNA studies! Part of learning the details is mastering the fundamentals, so in this tutorial we’ll review the basics of VTP.

In show vtp status readouts, the “VTP Operating Mode” is set to “Server” by default. The more familiar term for VTP Operating Mode is simply VTP Mode, and Server is the default. It’s through the usage of VTP modes that we can place limits on which switches can delete and create VLANs.

In Server mode, a VTP switch can be used to create, modify, and delete VLANs. This means that a VTP deployment has to have at least one switch in Server mode, or VLAN creation will not be possible. Again, this is the default setting for Cisco switches.

Switches running in Client mode cannot be used to create, modify, or delete VLANs. Clients do listen for VTP advertisements and act accordingly when VTP advertisements notify the Client of VLAN changes.
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Having enough FFXI Gil is the most essential aspects of the game. Gil the major currency used when purchasing or trading items. To be a good player you will need allt he Gils you can get. No matter how great your game skills are you will need the Gils to get your equipments, armors, weapons and other items. Having the gears early in the game will help you advance to higher levels at a faster pace than others can. Here are some good tips to start your career in Final Fantasy XI.

Warp Quest
This method can get you about 10k gil within an hour. You need to start with 1k to purchase a slime oil. After you’ve purchased the slime oil, bring it to an NPC named “Unlucky Rat” in the Metal district of Bastok in exchange for a warp scroll. The scroll sells for about a good 7-10K. Seems easy? Well slight problem with this method is that you will need to have enough fame built up before the NPC will take your slime oil. You will be required to run around town doing low level missions to get your fame up. This is where it gets a little time consuming but 10k gil an hour for a lowbie is really good. You can also redo this quest by creating a mule account and transfering 1k gil to that character.

Just Badge Quest
The Justice Badge quest is located in Winhurt and will require 1 rabab tail and 4 onions to complete. you can buy the stack of rabab tail in the auction house for 50-100gil. Easy to do at low level. In the docks of Winhurst you will find an NPC that you can give the rabab tail to. He will give you the Justice Badge which sells for 500-2000 gil in the auction house. After receiving the bad, give him 4 wild ionions and you’ll receive a scroll that sells up to 5000 gil. You can repeat this quest by using a mule.
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Filled Under: Communications

Bob pushed the shutter release button and…NOTHING HAPPENED. The football passed into his son’s hands and the actual photo he took was one of a cheerleader’s pom-pom. Bob missed the touchdown too. He resisted an insane urge to slam the camera to the ground and jump on it.

This was his first digital camera, and Bob had just experienced an unpleasant surprise. He had used film cameras all his life, but when his Yashica went into the shop a friend loaned him a digital camera. He naively decided to take some action shots and discovered the most maddening “feature” of digital cameras – the shutter delay.

MADDENING AND FRUSTRATING

Articles on this subject have attributed shutter delay to:

1. The camera’s focus system

2. The time it takes the camera to digitally process the image

3. Reaction time of the photographer

Numbers one and three are lag times that most people using digital cameras are accustomed to. Most have used a film camera and know it needs a few milliseconds to focus.

The no-brainer solution is to reduce the aperture of the lens to increase depth of field, or aim the camera at the object you wish to be in focus and depress the shutter button half way in order to “tell” the camera what to focus on, then move the camera to center the image and depress it the rest of the way.
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Achieve the most from digital photography and enhance digital pictures with SnapTouch.

A digital camera is only as good as the pictures it takes. Experienced photographers spend hours touching-up images to achieve the best visual results and preparing the pictures for printing. Digital photographers make countless choices deciding which camera and settings to use to take a picture, and what software and which tools to use to enhance the picture afterwards. At each post-processing step, the tools you use to enhance the picture affect the image, enhancing or degrading the result.

Regardless of your choice of photographic software, one thing is certain. The computer and image editing software are an essential part of the digital workflow. Computer-edited digital pictures appear in newspapers and glossy magazines, billboards and advertisements. If you have just one image, spending an hour in Adobe Photoshop to get the perfect print makes sense. If you take hundreds of images, however, taking care to enhance each individual image consumes so much time and effort that many prefer to forget the whole idea. But what if you had a proper tool to make your digital workflow simple, quick and effective?

SnapTouch (www.snaptouch.com) takes care of the entire digital workflow quickly and efficiently. SnapTouch takes care of every step after you take a picture from helping you transfer pictures from the camera into the computer to preparing already enhanced images for printing.
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Filled Under: Software

The traditional approach to implementing an intranet is to purchase a software package, modify it for your needs, and install it on your system.

Over the past few years, another option has grown in popularity – the implementation of a web-based solution.

As you consider the choice between installed software and a web-based intranet, here are some considerations:

1. The most important requirement of any intranet is that everyone uses it.

To assure broad-based participation, the intranet must be easy to implement, simple to use, cost-effective to maintain, and offer each individual user the power to post, access and use content in a way that serves their specific needs. In short, the intranet must have value to everyone.

Web-based intranets are designed around this concept. The interface and navigation are consistent with their use of the web – an environment in which they feel in control, using familiar tools.

In contrast, the business world is littered with countless elegant and feature-rich soft-ware based intranets that have failed. Why? Because they represented an alien environment into which the user was expected to venture. Few employees had the time or the interest (or courage) to enter, rendering the intranet impotent, with the powerful tools unused.

This is the plight of traditional, out-of-the-box software solutions. Unlike web-based intranets, they force users into a constrained environment requiring in-depth training, built around rules designed for the group, rather than the individual.
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Filled Under: Network

Many people, especially beginners, struggle in finding drivers for their laptops. In this article, I will illustrate two ways to help you find your laptop drivers quickly, and easily.

The first method we will consider is to visit a company’s website, and attempt to find a ‘Drivers’ or ‘downloads’ link. If a similar link is not immediately apparent, look for a search box. Most laptop companies have a search box somewhere on the homepage of their website. Type the model number of your laptop into the search box and click search. Typically, you will be sent to an overview of the model you have entered. Look for ‘Downloads’ or ‘Drivers’ links. Hopefully, if this link is available, you can follow it to find the necessary drivers for your laptop.

For example, say you have a Dell Latitude D600 laptop, for which you wish to locate updated drivers. The first step is to visit Dell’s website. From the first page, click on the ‘Drivers and Downloads’ section.

After clicking on the ‘Drivers and Downloads’ link, we choose the required model. In our example, it is Latitude. Then we enter the model number (D600), followed by selecting our operating system. The Dell website will show a list of available drivers and software updates for your model. Select the driver you wish, and click ‘Download’. What if you do not know the website of your laptop’s manufacturer? Or, perhaps when visiting the website, you couldn’t find the ‘Downloads and Drivers’ section? A second method for locating laptop drivers would be to visit Google (www.google.com), and entering, “Download (manufacturer) (model name and number) [type] driver” or “[type] driver for (manufacturer) (model name or number)” into the query box, substituting your own manufacturer, model name and number.
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Filled Under: Hardware

Data backup is rarely a part of a home computer user’s or business IT administrator’s plans, we all say it will never happen to me or my company, but in reality we are just mentally preparing for the time we lose our data. Its like trying to stop smoking, we all know we should do it but will find every excuse not to. So be honest with yourself and ask yourself the question, do you have a backup plan for your data, or more importantly, do you have a restore plan which will protect your business should something go wrong? All business leaders and owners will now tell you that computers are way past being a useful part of our lives, but now they are an absolute necessity. We acknowledge the data which resides on our computer infrastructure is the most important asset of any organization. I ask again, what would happen if you lost your data and what are you doing to protect it?

The reasons for data loss are endless, human intervention, hardware failure, software failure, natural disaster, loss, theft, we can go on, but we can be sure of one thing, as time goes by the list will get longer and longer.
Ever had anything stolen or lost anything before?

I have been in the IT industry for some 25 years now, and as you can imagine, I have heard some bizarre stories of how computers and servers have been stolen. Laptops stolen from back seats of cars (data lost), a colleague forgot he left his laptop on the roof of his car; problem is he realized when he was 160 miles down the road (lost data). My friend’s office was broken in twice in two nights, first time resulted in loss of desktop computers and totally trashed alarm system (some data loss), and second night was to take the servers along with the backup device and media! Apparently the heavy stuff was stolen the second night as the thief’s had more time due to the alarm not being repaired quickly enough (total data loss and company ceased trading within 8 months). Save yourself money; prevent data loss in the first place by implementing a data backup plan.
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Filled Under: Games