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I found a good little tool several weeks back called “CrypTool”. It seems to be a good tool to learn about cryptographic mechanisms for both beginners and experts. I thought I already posted this but appears I haven’t. So here it is

From: http://www.cryptool.org/

What is CrypTool?

CrypTool is a freeware program which enables you to apply and analyse cryptographic mechanisms. It has the typical look-and-feel of a modern windows application.

CrypTool contains an exhaustive online help, which can be understood without deep knowledge in cryptography, therefore no printed user manual on how to use CrypTool is provided. CrypTool is completely available in English and German. CrypTool has implemented almost all state-of-the-art crypto functions and allows you to learn about and use, modern and classic cryptography within the same environment.

1. 8085 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
http://www.coolinterview.com/type.asp?iType=91

2. BLUETOOTH INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
http://www.coolinterview.com/type.asp?iType=90

3. DATA WAREHOUSING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
http://www.coolinterview.com/type.asp?iType=1

1. Abinitio Interview Questions
http://www.coolinterview.com/type.asp?iType=14

2. Business Intelligence Interview Questions
http://www.coolinterview.com/type.asp?iType=15

3. ETL Interview Questions
http://www.coolinterview.com/type.asp?iType=16

4. General Datawarehousing Interview Questions
http://www.coolinterview.com/type.asp?iType=17

5. Informatica Interview Questions
http://www.coolinterview.com/type.asp?iType=18

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A new Roaming Favorites beta is out from Microsoft, and they’ve added a great online management feature that lets users control thier bookmarks via a web site.

http://favorites.msn.com/manage.aspx

TalkEnglish.com is a brand new site that teaches people how to speak English for free. No sign up required to study the hundreds of lessons available. This site does not teach reading, grammar, or writing. TalkEnglish focuses solely on speaking. There are a variety of lessons all with audio clips. Topics consist of Daily English, Business English, Phrases and Idioms, Interview Questions and Answers, and much more. Check it out!

The Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet adds a new ‘Color’ item to the Windows control panel, providing a single place to view and edit color management settings in Windows XP. Using it, you can install and uninstall color profiles, change color profile associations for displays, printers and scanners, view detailed properties for color profiles (including a 3D rendering of the color space gamut), and rename color profiles, keeping the filenames and “internal” names consistent.

This tool also enables Windows to automatically adjust the gamut curve of the display when a color profile containing gamut table information is set as the default profile for the display. Typically, such profiles are created by custom monitor calibration tools, such as those available from ColorVision, GretagMacbeth, and X-Rite. If a color profile has this information, it is shown with an asterisk (*) in the user interface.

Using the Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet, you can:
Install and uninstall ICC color profiles
Inspect, rename, and compare two different color profiles
View a 3D graphics plot of color profile color gamuts
Associate color profiles with devices such as printers, monitors, and scanners
Apply custom color gamut adjustments to one or more displays “on the fly”
Set up display calibration reminders at intervals you specify

Grab a copy from: Microsoft (Requires Validation)

Dimitri:

Just succeeded in setting up Sharepoint Portal Server 2003 to run on SQL 2005 September CTP and I thought, due to the huge improvement in performance (2-3 times faster depending on the task), that it may be useful to many so I decided to share the process with you here.

The task was to use the same kit of hardware and have SPS and SQL2005 on the same machine (clean install).

More info @ Dimitri’s Guide to Reinstall - Migrate SPS 2003 to SQL 2005 (September Community Technology Preview)

The Wine Project, the community of free software developers dedicated to opening Linux and other POSIX compatible operating systems to Windows applications, today announced the completion of the core architecture for Wine, an open-source project that allows Windows applications to run natively on Linux. Now available as Wine version 0.9, the tools and libraries are functionally complete and ready for commercial testing and optimization.

As one of the most anticipated initiatives in the open source movement, Wine has been long considered a key to establishing Linux as a practical desktop operating system for both personal and large-scale enterprise use. With Wine, computer users do not need to buy a Windows license to run Windows applications. The utility allows many popular Windows productivity and game applications, from Internet Explorer and Microsoft Money to World of Warcraft and Diablo II, to operate smoothly without the Windows operating system.

“Wine 0.9 marks the beginning of ‘prime time’ for Wine,” said Alexandre Julliard, lead coordinator of The Wine Project. “The application has undergone major redevelopment in recent months, reflecting the work of hundreds of developers around the world. Wine 0.9 is now a stable application with solid support for all Linux kernels. While work remains to be done before Wine can stand on its own, we are excited and encouraged by this major milestone.”

Among the most significant accomplishments reflected in Wine 0.9:

- Winecfg.With the completion of winecfg, developers no longer have to create customized configuration files for initialization and application settings;
- Separated DLLs.Wine 0.9 features a full set of dynamic link libraries, removing the need to download DLLs from Microsoft;
- Installer support.many application installers have been tested for reliable operation, making the likelihood high for a smooth install of many Windows applications.

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Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 SP2 has been released on Microsoft.com!

What Is SP2?
SP2 is a cumulative update that enhances your Exchange Server 2003 messaging environment with:

• Mobile e-mail improvements
• Better protection against spam
• Mailbox advancements

Download: Exchange Server 2003 SP2

ISO 27001 has finally been published as an official ISO standard.

ISO 27001 defines an ‘Information Security Management System’ (more usually known as an ISMS), and compliments ISO 17799. It basically defines a best practice framework for the management & maintenance of IS processes within an organization.

The two standards are aligned and interlinked, but have well defined
roles:

ISO17799
This lists the hundreds of detailed security controls, which may be used as part of the security management system.

ISO27001
This specifies the overall requirements for the management system itself. It is this, as opposed to ISO17799, against which a certification route is offered.

THE GLOBAL IMPACT
The publication of the new standard is likely to herald a rapid increase in interest in certification and compliance. Organizations already certified via BS7799-2 will take a transitional route, whereas the international status of the new standard is certain to have an impact on the overall numbers following the standard.

This effect has already started to manifest itself in terms of the record number of pre-orders for the new standard, and the recent membership increases of the online user groups.

OFFICIAL SOURCES
The new standard can be obtained at StandardsDirect (BSI):
http://17799.standardsdirect.org

It will also be available at SNV shortly:
http://www.standards-online.net/InformationSecurityStandard.htm

Finally, the support kit for the standard has also been updated to reflect the changes: http://www.17799-toolkit.com

INVITATION

Greetings from the Philippine Internet Commerce Society (PICS).

We are pleased to invite you to attend the 4th E-Commerce Congress and Exhibition on October 25-26, 2005 at Hotel Intercontinental, Makati City, Philippines.

This year’s conference theme is: “Who says the World is Round? Flattening the World Through Technology” as PICS continues to advocate the use of IT/Internet/Mobile/Wireless technology tools to do business globally.

PICS, as a private sector advocate of electronic and mobile commerce, will conduct two (2) day conference and exhibit discussing current global e-business trends and bringing technology to full use of small and medium enterprises in order to reach wider markets and do business globally.

The Philippine business community is largely composed of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), accounting 99.6% of registered firms in the country. It is the SMEs that fuel the country’s economy into the path of development and progress. The Philippine SMEs have to go global, it has to go digital! It is for this reason that we have to build the SMEs at the frontier of Philippine business and equip them with proper technology to use so they can do business globally.

Leading technology and software vendors, internet and web services providers, IT and Management consulting companies, mobile and wireless telecom companies, training institutes, software development companies, e-banking and financial institutions, content providers, and government agencies, will showcase and demonstrate the latest wireless and mobile, internet, e-commerce & e-business solutions, technologies, and innovations at the exhibit floor.

Conference Program, Topics, and Schedule

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Have you ever wondered why you can’t seem to get an accurate output from Microsoft Excel when you try to make a financial statement? Well, I definitely did

Excel will really show the figure without decimals when you format cells to show no decimals. Even if it had decimals, it would be rounded off when applicable thereby showing a figure with no decimals.

Everything seems to be fine until you make some calculations. Some percentage here, some percentage there, some subtraction here, addition there, division and multiplications everywhere. Only then will you realize that the figures you see on screen don’t seem to add up correctly. And guess what… They often don’t!

After some tinkering here and there. I discovered that even though you’ve formatted the cells, they still retain the actual value with decimals but show you a rounded off figure onscreen. Bummer!

So how did I fix the problem? Well, I asked my girlfriend to help me out on this since she is more proficient in Excel than I am. She suggested that I use the “Round” operator to force the actual value to be rounded off. Alas! It worked! But I had to add that operator to alot of other cells. Using macros could probably do the job but I told myself that there has got to be an easier and faster way to do it.

After some additional exploring with Excel’s options, I chanced upon the “WorkBook Options” which had an option of “Precision as displayed” checkbox. Voila! After a tick on the checkbox and clicking ok and then ok again on the dialog box that said “Data will permanently loose accuracy” my problem is fixed!

You can reach the “Precision as displayed” option by going to Tools > Options > Calculation > Workbook Option > Precision as displayed.

Features a clean new look, more storage, and other features- join the Beta and give your feedback to the team.

You need a hotmail account to join (you can create one if you don’t have one now)

http://test.msn.ignia.com/minisites/hotmail/default.aspx?locale=en-us

This just in today:
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Windows Data Management - Symantec BE10d and LiveState Recovery 6.0 Launch Seminar

Leader in Data Protection Meets Leader in System Recovery

Introducing a new level of hassle-free Windows ® data and system protection — with bare metal recovery — which helps you keep your businesses up, running, and growing….no matter what happens!

Fast backups or quick recovery? You need to and can have both. With Symantec Backup Exec and LiveState Recovery you can now create backups and restore to specific system recovery points with unmatched speed, to help ensure that in the event of a crash, your mission critical servers are quickly brought back online.

Find out more at the launch of Symantec Backup Exec™ 10d (leader in Windows Data Recovery) and Symantec LiveState™ Recovery 6.0 (leader in Windows System Recovery).

Join us as we outline a significant leap forward in data protection and system recovery technology!

Symantec Backup Exec (previously known as VERITAS Backup Exec ) is the Gold Standard in Windows data protection. Even the creator of Windows, Microsoft, standardizes on Backup Exec to protect critical data since 1999.

Key Highlights in Symantec Backup Exec™ 10d

• Delivers more reliable, faster, and more efficient true continuous data protection for Windows servers

• Revolutionizes data protection by eliminating backup windows and introducing the industry’s first web-based file retrieval

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Symantec LiveState Recovery ’s innovative disk-based, bare-metal system recovery delivers unparalleled freedom to restore Windows® systems anytime, from anywhere, to virtually any device.

Key Highlights in Symantec LiveState Recovery™ 6.0

• Delivers a rapid and reliable approach to recovery of critical information as well as complete bare metal systems in minutes

• Creates real-time system recovery points without disrupting server accessibility
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