10 of Google's Free Tools for Keyword Research

Choosing the just the right keywords for your site is truly the key to successful SEO. They define your whole Internet marketing campaign – it revolves around keywords. Thus, if you really want to hit the bull’s eye with your SEO efforts, performing a thorough keyword research is where you’d start.

There is a gazillion of keyword tools out there that help you research keywords from various perspectives. But today we’ll talk about free Google tools that allow you to get valuable keyword intelligence without spending a penny. Some of them you probably heard of, while some names might not ring a bell. In any case, the more keyword research methods you use, the better targeted your search terms will be. So, it won’t hurt to add these Google keyword tools to your SEO toolkit.

1 - Goolge Adwords Keyword Tool

This keyword tool is well-familiar to most SEOs and Internet marketers. It was initially intended to assist Google Adwords advertisers with getting the highest-paying keywords for their PPC campaigns. And it has become a truly indispensible source of keyword ideas for almost every SEO professional.

The app will suggest keywords based on the initial list of search terms you provide or based on your website’s content. It will also tell you the competition rate for each keyword, as well as the number of searches it gets on Google per month.

A keyword’s search volume (aka search popularity) may vary depending on the match type you specify. The tool offers 3 match types – broad, [exact] and “phrase”.

- Broad match will bring you all the phrases that contain your keyword plus synonyms. For example, “designer sunglasses” will be considered a synonym for “designer shades”.

- Exact match will show the number of searches for an exact term, excluding synonyms or longer phrases with that keyword. For instance, it will tell you how many times the exact phrase “designer shades” was looked up on Google.

- Phrase match will also include longer phrases that contain the initial key phrase you specify. For example, ‘buy brand-new designer shades’ and ‘designer shades in different styles and shapes’ will be considered matches for the phrase “designer shades”.

Google Adwords Keyword Tool also groups suggested keywords into appropriate categories, which helps you easier find the ones that are more suitable for your website.

2 - Google Suggest

You must have seen this many times. Once you start typing a search term on Google, you get suggested how to complete your key phrase. These suggestions are not random – they are based on popular terms people search for on Google. To get some unique keyword ideas for you site, start typing your initial keyword and copy the suggestions that appear. You can make a screenshot and convert it into a different format later. Or you can simply write down suggested keywords on a piece of paper – up to you.

The downside of this method is that it’s not very convenient to switch between windows and programs or to take notes manually. Besides, you have to type in each keyword that you want to get ideas for.

3 - Related Searches

The Related Searches section on Google is yet another valuable source to tap into for more keyword ideas. Related searches normally appear at the bottom of a page when you google something up and look like this:

To get even more out of the Related Searches section, hit the More search tools link in the menu on the left and choose the Related searches mode. This time, an extended list of related searches will get displayed at the top of search results:

Besides, each of these prompted terms is clickable. If you click on it, a list of keywords associated with this particular term will be produced. Thus, you get an almost never-ending string of keyword ideas.

Besides, the Related Searches method can also be used inside Rank Tracker, if you choose.

4 - Google Wonder Wheel

Google Wonder Wheel is yet another option you can use to get more keyword tips. It is located right below the Related searches button in the All results menu. Wonder Wheel is a way to graphically present keywords that are related to one another. It is not much different from the Related Searches option, but presents data in a more fun and refreshing way:

The wheel in the center contains your initial search term and is surrounded by related terms. If you click any of those associated keywords, another thematic wheel will appear, with the word you clicked on in the center. This method allows you to easily group words into thematically-related clusters and makes your keyword research easier, not to say, more fun.

5 - Google Sets

Google Sets is a not-so-well-known keyword app by Google that produces sets of things based on the initial terms you enter. You can choose to get suggested a large or a small set of related terms. But even after it has been generated, you can opt to grow the set or shrink it.

6 - Google Trends

Google Trends allows you to see how the popularity of different search terms changes over time. It reflects seasonal fluctuations in certain keyword’s search popularity, and allows you to see which one of your targeted keywords is looked up more often in comparison with a synonymous term. It basically helps you predict seasonal traffic changes and prompts you when a keyword becomes more or less “trendy”.

Besides, it will show what countries certain search terms are most popular in. You can get info on up to 5 words within one single graph that allows you to easily compare them.

Please, note that the table does not show exact search volumes of words. It shows the relation to one another and uses the first keyword you enter as a starting point.

Another valuable insight this tool provides is top 20 most searched for terms on the Web. This way you can define hot topics to write on and discover keywords that will help you optimize your site or blog for Google News.

7 - Google Trends for Websites

Using Google Trends for Websites you can see how the amount of traffic to a particular site changes over time, what other sites those who visit the site you’re analyzing also go to, and what related keywords they look up. The app provides the following statistics:

- The number of visitors to your site and seasonal traffic fluctuations
- The websites those who came to your site also visited
- The keywords those who came to your site also looked up
- The countries your visitors came from

This way you can analyze traffic to your own website or get insight into what’s going on your competitors’ sites. Not to mention this tool is sure to bring you some totally unique key terms your target audiences really search for.

8 - Google Insight for Search

Google Insight for Search is quite similar to Google Trends but provides a wider range of analytical data.

It also shows how keyword trend change over time, tries to predict searchers’ behavior and displays search tendencies in different countries.

It gets you the following statistics:

- Relative popularity of up to 5 search terms and how it changes over time
- Top 10 most popular related searches
- Top 10 fastest-rising searches
- Top 10 countries where the search term is most popular
- Search popularity forecast for 1 year

Before you analyze your keywords, you can set a certain region, timeframe and the span of the Web (Web Search, Image Search, News Search, Product Search) you would like to get analytical data for.

9 - YouTube Keyword Tool

Nowadays a lot of Web marketers employ YouTube immense capabilities to promote their businesses online. YouTube Keyword tool will pinpoint the most popular terms that YouTube users search for. It is very much like Adwords Keyword tool. You can get keyword ideas based on (1) the initial list of keywords you specify, (2) you video’s URL or (3) different user parameters that you specify, such as, age, gender, geographical location, interests, etc.

Just like with Adwords Keyword tool, you can see how many searches a term gets per month. Again, beware of different match types that may influence search popularity statistics.

10 - Google Analytics

And, finally, good old Google Analytics. In case you are just starting a website and do not use Google Analytics yet, you might not know what I’m talking about. Google Analytics is a popular free Web marketing tool that allows you to track your site’s performance and provides diverse analytical data regarding your site.

It also shows keywords that visitors actually used to arrive at your website. Such data is helpful for 2 reasons:

- You can see what keywords on your site bring the most direct traffic
- You can get some more keyword ideas you might have been missing out on

In order to see keyword-related statistics, go to Traffic Sources in the left-hand side menu in your Google Analytics, then choose Search Engines and add the Keyword column to the analysis table.

SEM Blog - Search Engine Marketing Blog

10 of the Best Link-Building Tips for an E-Commerce Websites

High-quality and abundant backlinks are by far the sure-fire way to drive your website to the top of search engine organic listing. No matter how Google updates its algorithms further, backlicks will always be the main ranking factor (unless social media push them back).

However, quality backlinks are not that easy to get if your website is a 100% e-commerce store. But the more challenging the task is, the more attractive it is.

Here are 10 of the Best Link-Building Tips for an E-Commerce Websites.

1 - Start blogging

Corporate blogging is an awesome opportunity to be more human and personal to your customers and create quality content people will be willing to link to. Once you start blogging, other people in your industry will comment on your posts, share them in social media, thus adding you backlinks and spreading the buzz about your e-commerce store’s blog around.

2 - Post on niche forums

We’re not talking about spam here. As an owner of an e-commerce store, you’re an expert at what you sell, so you can provide value to people by answering their questions. A link to your website in the forum signature section will be a bonus for your efforts.

3 - Get involved in niche organizations and local business associations

Thus you’ll be able to establish good business contacts offline, sharing experience and getting new ideas, partners, customers and friends.

4 - Donate to local charities and nonprofit organizations

Find charities and nonprofit organizations which link to their donor’s websites.

5 - Sponsor/organize contests and giveaways

Organizing contests or just sponsoring them is another great way to attract some links. Search for bloggers who actively organize contests for their readers.

6 - Create a coupon code

Coupons are very popular, and almost every buyer tries to find a coupon code of a store before doing a purchase from it.

7 - Offer products for review

Search for influential websites owners in your niche who write about different product and service providers, and submit your product for review.

8 - Issue news releases

Submit news/press releases to online press release distribution services. You’ll be amazed at how quickly your news item with a link to your website will spread around the web!

9 - Submit your online store to directories

Spread the word about your website in search engine directories (e.g. Yahoo! Directory), social shopping websites and other directories that provide thematic grouping of e-commerce websites.

10 - Plan and track your link-building efforts

At the end of the day, your link-building campaign will be successful only if you plan it carefully and further track the results. There’s special SEO software that can assist you in your link-building efforts.

• Reference/Source: 10 Link-Building Tips for an E-Commerce Store

SEM Blog - Search Engine Marketing (SEM) blog.

10 of the Best Digital Cameras in the Market (Top Picks 2012)

There are few better ways to ensure that a memory is never lost than taking a photo, but what are the best options on the market today for digital cameras? Choosing a camera can be a difficult task because there are so many factors to consider, such as price, image quality, battery life and many more.

Where will you use your digital camera? There are different options based on the type of photography that you hope to participate in from professional quality cameras all the way down to devices more designed for hobby users.

When it comes down to actually making the decision on which camera to buy, consumers must consider which camera will best suit their needs and FindTheBest has created a top ten list to help them do just that.

10 - Nikon D90, Nikon

9 - Sony HX1, Sony

8 - Nikon D3X, Nikon

7 - Nikon D3S, Nikon

6 - Sony HX1, Sony

5 - Pentax K-7, Pentax

4 - Canon EOS-1D Mark III, Canon

3 - Canon PowerShot G11, Canon

2 - Nikon D3, Nikon

1 - Nikon D700, Nikon

FindTheBest, a powerful tool for making quick and informed decisions on everything from smartphones to tablets to electronic pianos.

10 Out-of-the-box Reasons Why These Link Bait Ideas Worked

What on earth is Link Bait? Well, according to Wikipedia, Link bait is any content or feature, within a website, designed specifically to gain attention or encourage others to link to the website. Matt Cutts defines link bait as anything "interesting enough to catch people's attention."

Some of these link bait pieces started as TV marketing campaigns and then grew into effective link bait, which is not really important. What they all have in common is a fresh, original, outstanding idea ingrained into each of these pieces that we would like to share with you. May they be your inspiration and help you create something stunning on your website as well!

1 - Compare the Meerkat (comparethemarket.com), Humor

Why it worked: The association between "market" and "meerkat" is so obvious, that you can't but remember the site's name automatically. Plus, the idea itself is fresh and unusual - by the time you figure out what this meerkat is talking about, you are hooked. Oh, BTW, did I tell you he speaks with a foreign accent?

2 - Zombie Harmony (mingle2.com), Humor

Why it worked: Lots of people are horror movie fans, like to play zombies or just don't want to be like everybody else. So, people get naturally inspired to share something like Zombie Harmony site with others for kicks.

3 - ElfYourself (OfficeMax), Humor

Why it worked: First of all, the whole thing is extremely hilarious. Second of all, it's not just SOME funny little elves dancing to Christmas music - it's you and your best friends in elf costumes doing the moves you never knew you were capable of!

4 - Old Spice Man (Old Spice), Humor and Sex Appeal

Why it worked: The commercial is basically shot in one uninterrupted take, including some special effects. Plus, the idea of a commercial replying to your post or twit is just so wild - no wonder the Internet community jumped at it.

5 - One Red Paperclip (Kyle MacDonald), Free stuff and a know-how

Why it worked: Were Kyle trading equally valuable things, the story wouldn't get even a tiny share of the attention it got. It was all about pursuing your dream, going up the ladder of success, and everybody was really curious how this would end.

6 - Will it Blend? (Blendtec), discovery/experiments

Why it worked: How often do you see a laptop blended into a pile of dust? Besides, it's a new object every time. And the guy is so funny, asking his usual "but will it blend?" question in a serious tone.

7 - How sexy is your town? (LoveHoney), top-things list and curious facts

Why it worked: The UK Sex Map is a good opportunity to get some unique statistics. Just think about it, what other ways are there to find out how many people buy sex toys in your town?

8 - My Starbucks Idea (Starbucks Cafe), education/ego play

Why it worked: "My Starbucks Idea" creates a perfect opportunity for people to express themselves. Each idea is given a status, like "launched" or "under review", which shows that it's not merely sitting on the site.

9 - Entrepreneurs Can Change the World (Grasshopper), inspirational

Why it worked: People share inspirational videos a lot. Besides, even though the video is supposedly on entrepreneurs, it's pretty much of a universal nature.

10 - Man in Jeggings (Asylum.com), humor and experiment

Why it worked: Funny piece of writing, funny pictures, besides, these are not just mere speculations, it's a real life story.

Now, folks, I'm sure you've come across even more jaw-dropping, astounding links bait pieces online and must be wondering why they're not our list. If that's the case, hit me with rotten tomatoes, if you wish, but then take a minute to post a link to your favorite one on this blog. It well deserves a link, I think, - it's link bait after all!

• Reference/Source: Alesya - Link-Assistant.Com, SEM blog, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) blog

10 of the Best Tablet PC in the Market (Top Picks 2011)

Tablets – because of the hit and craze that these gadgets in our modern times posses, the only question that stands out, which Tablet Pc is the Best in the market or even to avid fans? I know you’ve been so craze about this tablet-techno stuff and it’s really hard to choose when you know that there are many options to choose and both have something unique to offer.

Though, after purchasing the Best Tablet Pc that we know - all other tablets around us looks cooler than what we have end up with saying that, “Ops, I have taken a mistake in buying the wrong Tablet for me” Ugh… which means I end up buying two’s or more than what a person could have because of the dissatisfaction and wrong information that I acquired before buying one.

The main roots and lines here is that everyone would like to buy the Best Tablet PC which suits the needs of each user such as Gaming, Business, Blogging, and Entertainment and just for self fulfillment prophecy.

Well so much for thoroughness – here’s Top Picks by findthebest.com for 10 of the best Tablet PC in the Market. Is the iPad or Galaxy Tablet on the list? Check them out!

10 - Amazon Kindle Fire, Amazon

9 - Dell Inspiron Duo tablet PC, Dell

8 - iiView M1Touch with Wi-Fi + 3G, iiView

7 - Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101, ASUS

6 - Acer Iconia Tab A500, Acer

5 - Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Samsung

4 - T-Mobile G-Slate, T-Mobile

3 - Asus EEE Slate EP121, Asus

2 - Apple iPad 2 with Wi-Fi + 3G, Apple

1 - Samsung Galaxy, Samsung

Findthebest.com is a useful resource to compare everything from antivirus software and smartphones, to cars and ski resorts.

10 of the Best Smartphones (Top Picks 2011)

"With millions of smartphones and tablets expected to be sold in 2011, wireless technology is hot." - Forbes.com

I’m not a techie type when it comes to choosing what kind or brand of smartphones to purchase. Well, a time comes and I need to buy one not just for enjoyment kind-of-thing but also to ease my blogging activities when I’m on mobile mode like out of town or alike. From the succeeding months, a huge amount of smartphones with poor quality has been circulating throughout the market – which is the main topic of this post. Despite the amounting number of this stuff, few of them excel with their showcase of good performance and reliability to users.

I’ll be in agreement that prices are much lower than the chief smartphones in market. Ok, enough with this nonsense bubbling about these because as I’ve said I am not a techie guy. So order to compile this list, my friends from Findthebest.com is here to show their comparisons about the best smartphones in the market 2011.

10 - HTC myTouch 4G, HTC

9 - T-Mobile G2x, T-Mobile

8 - Motorola DROID X, Motorola

7 - HTC DROID Incredible, HTC

6 - Samsung Epic 4G, Samsung

5 - HTC Sensation 4G, HTC

4 - Apple iPhone 4 8GB, Apple

3 - Apple iPhone 4S, Apple

2 - Motorola DROID RAZR, Motorola

1 - Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Samsung

Compare All Smartphones! Check out these other comparisons like Tablets, HDTVs, Laptops, Headphones, and look for a detailed top 10 coming to Always10 - Top 10 List Collection soon!

10 of the Best Twitter Tips To Promote Your Website

Twitter is one of the best promotional tools online to attract people to your website. You can use it to raise your profile within your niche, find targeted followers, advertise your products/events, alert people to new posts on your blog, etc.

The following is a list of 10 Twitter tips that you can use to help promote and drive targeted traffic to your website.[A guest post by Matt Smith of OnlineIncomeTeacher]

1 - Drive Traffic To Your Website

Millions of people across the world use Twitter everyday. That's a lot of people, but obviously most won't be interested in what you have to say. The key is to find the people that ARE interested!

Search for people who tweet about the same things as you, post links to similar content to your site, talk about subjects that you talk about. These are the people who you want to be targeting. When you find people like this, make sure to follow them and try engaging with them. Once they realise that you are of interest, they will follow you back.

Your aim is to grow your followers with people who are specifically interested in your website niche. Then, when you Tweet about your new content, you are more likely to get a response/get people to click through to your website.

2 - Blogging & Twitter Go Hand-In-Hand

If you run your own blog or website, then Twitter is the perfect marketing tool to promote your site on. Now, there are a few ways to do this;

One of the best and easiest ways is to place a visible link to Twitter on your homepage or sidebar, perhaps via a Twitter button or “Follow Me” icon. This will direct targeted traffic to your Twitter account page, allowing people to follow you and keep up to date with your latest tweets.

You can display a 'Recent Tweets' box on your website as well. This is a great way to display your most recent tweets to visitors of your site. As well as being able to see any useful tweets/links, they can also see that your site is active.

Another excellent way to utilise Twitter on your site is to display sharing links on your posts. As you can see, at the top of this page and to the left of the post, there are links to Twitter (and other social media sites) allowing people to share the post with their online community.

Don't forget to Tweet this very post!!!

3 - Self Promotion On Twitter

There are a lot of people on Twitter, so it's important that you try to make yourself stand out from everyone else. This is where creating your own brand identity is needed, which in the long-run will benefit your site.

To start with, you need to write a short 'bio' about yourself, which will appear on your Twitter profile. This 'bio' helps people understand who you are, or in the case of a website, what the website is about. This may sound really simple, but you need to spend time thinking this through carefully. You have a limited amount of space to write your description in, so it's vital that you get all the information that you need in.

The key to self promotion is to (surprisingly) self promote! Tweet regularly about your site, new posts, news, related products, promotions, etc. and keep your followers up-to date with what is happening.

A good tip would be to Tweet about other people's content within your niche, as well as your own. This way, your followers see you as a source for valuable information instead of only being interested in yourself.

4 - Get To The Point!

You only have 140 characters to Tweet with. This means that you need to get to the point of what you are saying.

This is easier said than done, but the more Tweets you send, the better at it you get. Try to always provide the most vital bits of information and keep everything simple and short, whilst being easy to read.

Remember that you need to allow room for links and hash tag categories (i.e. #blogging) within your 140 character limit. Shorten your links with URL shorteners such as bitly.com and don't use too many hash tags.

5 - Be Social

Twitter has a huge active community of people on it, so interact with people and get your name out there. Whatever your niche, get involved with the people interested with it. Make friends, ask questions, chat, share ideas, re-tweet others, etc. You can't expect to grow your number of followers without being social.

It always amazes me when I get followed by someone that has never tweeting anything! They may be following several thousand people, but have never bothered to interact with any of them. Now this is fine if you only have a small interest in Twitter, but for someone who is promoting there own website/business, this is like shooting yourself in the foot.

You can not expect to grow followers and build a brand without interacting!

6 - Listen To What Your Followers Are Saying

I love Twitter for all the reasons on this list, but by far my favourite and probably most useful is how it can be used to improve your existing business. Think of it as an amazing tool for conducting market research with millions of users, and its all completely FREE!!!

You can get instant reaction from your followers, so you can see what is working and what isn't. Ask them what they like about your website, what they don't like, what they would like to see in the future, etc. What ever aspect you want to learn about, you can ask your followers.
Just make sure you listen to what they say! After all, it's pointless getting all this valuable information if you don't intend on acting upon it.

7 - Talk To People

Sounds simple... and it is, but you would be surprised how many don't do this. Twitter is full of people having conversations, with plenty of useful information. The key is to get chatting to people, ask questions, respond to other peoples questions, and generally interact with others.

8 - Be Open & Honest

Whether talking about your business or life in general, honesty is always the best policy. People are smart, it's easy to tell when someone is talking a load of nonsense, or trying to sell you something “vital” that clearly you don't need. This only results in loosing business.
Be open and honest about your business. Be honest about who you are and what you are talking about. Trust is a vital part of life, if people have trust in you they are much more likely to listen to what you have to say and do business with you.

Always be honest whilst on Twitter. If you happen to find something that you found interesting, or which you think your Twitter followers would like, then Tweet it and tell them about it. Similarly if you find something that you dislike, then again tell people about it. Your followers may not agree with everything that you say, but in the end they will value your open and honest opinions, which is much better in the long run!

9 - Customise Your Twitter Background

You can upload a customised Twitter background for your profile. This lets anyone that visits your Twitter profile to see your customised background.

This can help you stand out from the crowd. Include your website logo, URL address, product promotions, event dates, etc. Check out my custom Twitter background @matt_oit

10 - Useful Twitter Tools

As I have said, Twitter is a great tool for promoting your website, but you need to remember to spend time working on your site and not spend all day Tweeting. Thankfully there are plenty of tools that you can use to make life a little easier.

You can use online tools to automate things like following & un-following people, scheduling Tweets, thank people for following you, etc. Some of the best that I use are 'Tweet Adder', 'HootSuite' & 'MarketMeTweet'

I find that scheduling a few tweets at night helps to promote my site to people on the other side of the world. Just think of all the people online who could be reading your valuable content whilst you are asleep!

This is a guest post by

Matt Smith

Matt runs his own blog 'OnlineIncomeTeacher' which teaches people how they can earn money online and set up their own website/blog. You can follow him on Twitter @matt_oit

10 of the Best Ways to Protect Your External Devices from Viruses

In this modern era where everyone uses computers, you cannot assure that you are always safe. If you're still not familiar with the term Virus then this is your time to know them.

VIRUS or Vital Information Resources Under Siege is a harmful computer program that replicates itself to spread to other computers. One of the most common ways of diffusing them is through removable storage devices such as USB keys, External Hard Disks, CDs, VCDs, DVDs and similar things. VIRUS creates a copy of them in storage devices and is launched, usually at auto-play, to infect the next computer.

In this case, there are lots of ways to protect yourself from this harm:

1 - Install an Anti Virus

Making sure that you have an UPDATED Anti Virus installed in your computer is one way to make sure that your computer is safe. Just make sure than other than being updated, your AV must scan removable devices automatically on the time it is inserted.

2 - Online Back-up

Always make sure that you have back-ups of files that you have saved in your USB drives or external HDDs. This is would be very useful in times of "worst case scenario", wherein you would need to re-format your disks. Online Back-ups are advisable during this cases.

3 - Turn-off your Auto Play

Virus usually hacks the auto-play to run a certain program. This is activated when you open a folder or a drive. Most viruses use this method to infiltrate and re-copy themselves on the victim system. To disable it on windows:

XP users:

a) Click Start], click [Run], type [gpedit.msc], and then click OK.
b) Under [Computer Configuration], expand [Administrative Templates], and then click [System].
c) In the [Settings pane, right-click [Turn off Autoplay], and then click [Properties].
d) Click [Enabled], and then select All drives in the [Turn off Autoplay] box to disable Autorun on all drives.
e) Click OK to close the [Turn off Autoplay Properties] dialog box.
f) Restart the computer.

For Vista and Win7 users:

a) Click [Start], type [gpedit.msc] in the Start Search box, and then press enter.
b) If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.
c) Under [Computer Configuration], expand [Administrative Templates], expand [Windows Components], and then click [Autoplay Policies].
d) In the [Details pane], double-click [Turn off Autoplay].
e) Click Enabled, and then select All drives in the [Turn off Autoplay] box to disable Autorun on all drives.
f) Restart the computer.

4 - Know your files well

Make sure that you know all the files installed on your external devices. When I said all, I mean ALL files including archived, hidden and system files. This is pretty handy on inspecting your devices on searching for potential viruses.

Usually, a USB key would only have all your normal files saved (not unless you saved a hidden file in your key). On the other hand, External Hard Disks (HDD), have system files installed in them like RECYCLER which is a directory used for Recycle Bin.

5 - Always use Right Click when Clicking

Avoid using double left click when opening external devices. Using the double-click to open a file, directory or drive, is like activating the auto-play. Usually when you hit the right click the options might be different when the file or folder is infected.

By default, folders and drives should have "Open" and "Explore" as options respectively, files on the other hand should have "Open" as the very first option. Also don' be fulled by the ICON, usually viruses show themselves as folders.

6 - Know the function and how to remove autorun.inf

Virus most of the time creates autorun.inf file in your USB key that usually have [system file] and [hidden file attributes]. This way you may not notice them initially.

Autorun.inf is an instruction file associated with the Autorun function. It is a simple text-based configuration file that tells the operating system which executable to start, which icon to use, and which additional menu commands to make available. In other words, it is tells Windows what to do when opening a drive. Take note that not all autorun.inf are dangerous. But most of the time they are especially if they are hidden.

To detect this without opening the drive, you can try this:

a) Run the command prompt or cmd. (All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt)
b) Type [dir [DRIVE-PATH] /a:h] Example: dir f:/
- This should list all hidden files inside your drive.
c) Type [dir [DRIVE-PATH] /a:s] Example: dir f:/
- This should list all system file inside your drive.
d) If in both steps b and c, an autorun.inf file appears then it's time to worry especially when it comes also with a suspicious exe or folder.

To delete it: NOTE: Make sure that the autorun.inf and the exe file is virus before deleting it, usually an external hard disk may have such files too that is required for it to run.

a) Run the command prompt or cmd. (All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt)
b) Type [attrib -r -a -s -h [AUTORUN-INF PATH]] Example: attrib -r -a -s -h f:/autorun.inf
c) Delete it by [del [AUTORUN-INF PATH]] Example: del f:/autorun.inf
d) It is advisable too to remove the suspected exe file using the same commands, just replace the [AUTORUN-INF PATH] with the path of the exe file.

7 - Insert On Trusted System only

Very self explanatory, never insert your external device to systems you don't trust

8 - Enable Write Protection to your External Devices

There are different ways to do this, one is to buy a USB key storage that has an external toggle switch that can do it. Another is to use a software that can temporarily lock your storage devices.

When you disable writing in your external devices, virus cannot copy themselves onto your device. The cons for this one is that you too cannot copy nor write to your storage key too.

9 - Learn How to Search! Know the Virus Trend!

My first attempt on virus removal was when I was blamed after a virus spread during my college years. Being curious on the virus' name, i did some searching and find out how to remove it. This curiosity turns into knowledge and a hobby for me to know or dissect a virus. Basically, having a knowledge on how a virus act is one way to avoid being affected. :)

10 - Think Before You Click Policy

This is a new policy that is being noted worldwide. It's as simple as think before clicking. This is not just applicable to social networking sites but also in virus protection. Even if you already pass the items above, it is still important to think before opening or running applications coming from external drives (or even in a system).

The list above are all based on my experience. Proof to say that experience is the best teacher! Cheers!

About Beneath The Tree A collection of algorithm, code and other programming methods. Includes programmers' point of view, interests and game reviews.
About Aj Banda, the author
a software developer and a blogger. I used my blogs to share my knowledge to the world but most of the time it serves as a reference of my previous algorithms and source codes.

10 of the Must-Read Articles to Find Design Resources

Staying up-to-date on the current web design news is very important for every different kind of designers as it will play a vital role in developing their own skills. If you are not up-to-date on the latest and most probably the important news and resources, then you are not going to be able to provide professional people with what they are looking for. Of course they will go somewhere where they will find what they are looking for in case you can’t provide what people are looking for.

Finding inspiration is not always as simple as it sounds, whether you’ve been designing for years or only weeks but because of different motivated people who are not stopping to compile different websites that will serves as a guide for every one of us, looking for resources become handy. Being a motivated one, I always find a way to collect all the best resources to help every individual to easily get started on their journey. In today's post, we have composed the most comprehensive list of places where you can find design resources with different categories such as PSD, Business Cards, Logo, Brushes, Patterns, Textures, Infographics and more. These lists are part of the session "Web Resources Compilations" made by me on my blog. It is an excellent list of categorized places or websites where you can find different great sources of Design Inspirations and Resources.

The primary focus of this list is resources to help different designers whether they are PRO or Beginner in their workflow. This will cover most of the aspects in designing that will allow you to manipulate your own design journey. Good Luck!

1 - 25 Sources to Download High Quality Free PSD Files

Working with the Photoshop PSD files as source for design elements like Photoshop text effects can help you get a quicker and more effective start. It also reveals the techniques used on a specific design and most of the time there is something new we can learn from it. This entry will show you the 25 Sources to download high quality and professionally designed Photoshop .PSD files.

2 - 20 Sources to Download Free Photoshop Brushes

Brushes enhance your art for making it possible for you to add awesome graphic elements to your image and of course, save you a lot of time. But finding great brush sources is not as easy as it seems. You have many websites, but only a few are well organized and have easy to find brushes. That is what we will try to bring you with this post that will show you the list of websites where you can find free download of Photoshop Brushes.

3 - 20 Sources to Download Free Photoshop Patterns

Photoshop Patterns can help to create attractive and beautiful website backgrounds with very little effort. That's why we listed a bunch of sites where you can download Free Photoshop patterns. This list of sites can be very good sources of Free Photoshop Patterns that you can incorporate to your designing process and hopefully will speed up your workflow.

4 - 20 Sources to Download Free High Quality Textures

Texture plays a vital role in giving a little bit of depth that every designer is looking for to make the image pop. With just a little tweak of imagination and creativity, they can already create good design artworks with it. That is why we compiled the top places or websites to download free high quality textures.

5 - 15 Massive Collection of Logo Design Resources Site

Logo is one of the very important elements of one’s company as it symbolizes the image of the team as a whole. Every company wants their logo to look unique so that it makes the company stand out from their competitors. This entry won't show you any compilations of logo designs that are visually extraordinary to make you inspire but we are compiling the list some of the top websites where you can find the best sources to get Logo Design Inspirations and Resources.

6 - 10 Ultimate Lists of Top Infographics Resources Site

Instead of poring over figures and long reports to decipher data, an infographic can immediately explain what the data actually means. This could help to quickly and clearly provide us with information that might be complex or hard to understand. In this entry, we compiled the list some of the top websites where you can find almost all of the top infographics around the web.

7 - 20 Collection of Business Card Resources Site

Here we provide a list of useful websites where you can find inspirations and resources related to business cards. This will help you to find the best website suited for you to have your own business card. It is important because this will leave a good impression about your company and yourself in the minds of those whom you hand over the card.

8 - 20 Excellent List of Free Fonts Resources Site

Good typography is not just about the size and style of a font, but also it's about helping to establish a high level of visual hierarchy. It is very important element of a designing whereas it adds finishing touch to a design to give it the best look. In this entry, we compiled different websites where you can download free Fonts to get you started in your designing career.

9 - 20 Helpful Websites to Submit Your Design News

Traffic is one of the main goal and may be one of the reason why people blog. Every individual have their own reason why they are blogging but the common denominator is "Traffic". That is why we compiled the 20 websites where you can submit your post for free to generate traffic. But sad to say, they only allow design related news. But for designers, this is a good start to have some exposure in design world.

10 - 30 Marketplaces To Buy and Sell Stock Images

Photographers, this is your turn. This entry is a roundup of different marketplaces for stock photos that offers buy and sell of different arts. These virtual places are created to help buyers and sellers to save time and money.

About Designers Hub (formerly Photoshop PH) is a huge directory of the best free Photoshop Resources from all over the web. The ultimate list with different kinds of Photoshop Resources such as PSD, Brushes, Styles, Patterns, Gradients, PNG, Tutorials, Inspirations and many more. We also provide design compilations, web development and art-oriented articles and we promote the works of talented artists from all over the world. Founded in July 2011 by Manuel Garcia from Philippines.

About Manuel Garcia, the author

He is currently a 3rd year student taking up Education Course and the founder of Designers Hub. He launched Designers Hub to help the Design Community in providing high quality design resources and inspirations.

10 of the Must-haves Construction Drilling and Cutting Tools

Having your own tools for construction (Drilling and Cutting) is important since it may lessen the budget for a certain projects and will also help shorten the time frame of the construction project. Now, do you know what are the best construction tools in the market such as drilling concretes and masonry (boulders, granites, lime stones,bricks and other masonry stuff) as well furnishing and finishing gadgets?

In finding great tools means consulting a top of the line experts (professional in terms of handy matters) that are well experience like Gilatools.com. I created a 10 list construction tools and devices for Always10 that a handy man should have. These are the tools that you can't stop yourself from telling your friends and end up buying them for your work crews or co-workers - in short, tools for getting your building homes easier.

1 – Diamond Core Bits and Drilling Machine

Diamond Core Bits

A perfect circle is never created by chance or by luck, and this holds true most especially in the world of construction. While in the past, spear-point bits worked wonders in creating holes, these old-fashioned tools can no longer penetrate through new types of materials. Enter diamond core bits, a diamond tool used for drilling concrete, blocks, bricks, tiles, granite, marble, porcelain, stone, and other hard aggregate materials. A perfect circle or a perfect core can be seamlessly created through top-grade diamond core bits.

Core bits are designed with a high diamond concentration for superior cutting performance, enhanced productivity, and longevity. Because of its hollow center, core bits can easily bore a circle in any aggregate material to create a hole. The result is a hole the size of the drill and a smaller “core” coming from the center. The core holds the material in place, allowing the diamond core bit to cut a clean hole all throughout the material.

2 - Wet Concrete Core Bits

Wet Concrete Core Bits

You may need a specially formulated professional quality segments that provide fast cutting and long life in a variety of materials including cured concrete and reinforced concrete. It should be full range of sizes for virtually any job. This type should be use on core drilling machines and hand-held drills.

3 - Dry Masonry Core Bits

Dry Masonry Core Bits

These are counterpart of wet concrete core bits with laser-welded individual segments to hold up under extreme heat and cutting pressure. A barrel vents increase air flow to dissipate heat and cool the core bit and is specially formulated professional quality segments provide fast cutting and long life in a variety of materials including concrete, reinforced concrete, brick, block and masonry. This core bit is intended for drilling on a variety of soft brick and concrete block.

Caution: not recommended on concrete and reinforced concrete.

4 – Diamond Cup Wheel

Diamond Cup Wheels

Even when you think you have encountered the toughest compound around, there is always a tool available that can tame it. In the world of construction, individuals are faced with a countless number of materials and surfaces that seem almost impossible to penetrate. But remember, with the right tools, nothing is impossible. This is when a diamond cup wheel come in handy. Diamond cup wheels are diamond tools that are used for cutting, grinding, polishing, finishing, shaping, flattening and smoothing extremely hard surfaces and materials.

A diamond is one of the hardest and toughest types of material to crack. That being said, a diamond cup wheel is a grinding wheel bonded with industrial diamonds on its periphery. The main feature of these industrial-strength cup wheels is its turbo style arranged segments, best used for faster grinding. Additionally, diamond cup wheels also have big holes for efficient dust collection. Known for its strength and agility, a cup wheel is able to withstand the pressure it gets from its revolutions, providing remarkable results.

5 - Concrete Saws

Push Concrete Saw

According to wiki, a concrete saw (often known as a consaw or road saw) is a power tool used for cutting concrete, masonry, brick, asphalt, tile, and other solid materials. It can be a small hand-held cut-off saw, a big walk-behind saw or other styles, and it may be powered by gasoline, hydraulic or pneumatic pressure, or electric motors.

The saw blades (see also Wood Blade) used on concrete saws are often diamond saw blades to cut concrete, asphalt, stone, etc. Abrasive cut-off wheels can also be used on cut-off saws to cut stone and steel. The significant friction generated in cutting hard substances like concrete usually requires the blades to be cooled to prolong their life and reduce dust.

6 – Safety Goggles

Safety Goggles

Goggles or safety glasses are forms of protective eye wear that usually enclose or protect the area surrounding the eye in order to prevent particulates, water or chemicals from striking the eyes. They are used in chemistry laboratories and in woodworking.
Goggles are often worn when using power tools such as drills or chainsaws to prevent flying particles from damaging the eyes. Many types of goggles are available as prescription goggles for those with vision problems.

7 - Low Angle Block Plane

These angle block planes are arguably the single most useful hand tools in the woodworking shop. Handy for trim work, end grain planing, fine surfacing of difficult woods and much more. The compact size of these planes makes them perfect for one handed work where a full size tool would be bulky and awkward. Accurately machined from fine cast iron with brass adjusting knobs.

8 - Retractable flexible rule or tape measure

Tape Measure

Rulers have long been made of wood in a wide range of sizes. They are not however all wood. Plastics have been used since they were invented; they can be molded with length markings instead of being scribed. Metal is used for more durable rulers for use in the workshop; sometimes a metal edge is embedded into a wooden desk ruler to preserve the edge when used for straight-line cutting.

9 – A complete Wet Stone or Masonry Saw Set

Wet Stone or Masonry Saw Set

This wet stone cutter is powerful to cut through hard materials like engineered stones and has built-in water feed system that eliminates the harmful dust particles which are common in dry cutting applications. It also has a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter safety feature which GFCI goes off when water enters inside the tool's housing preventing the operator from receiving electric shocks and sides handle for more stability and control.

It is able to provide perfect straight cuts which is required for quality fabrication and installation which can be use a contour/concave blades which for curve cutting operations.

10 - Stone Core Bits

Stone Core Bits

This tool is specially designed supreme quality segments provide smooth and clean cutting in granite, marble, stone, tile, porcelain and similar materials and is used for wet drilling only. Of course, this tools is applicable on core drilling machines and hand-held drills for granite, marble, porcelain, artificial and natural stone.

• Reference/Source: Images used in this post courtesy of Gilatools.com and Wikipedia.org

About Adrix Merkado, the author
I'm Adrix or call me Drix from Manila, Philippines. I work for a Construction Firm's Service Quality Control Dept. Somewhere in Makati City. I am also a blogger (Newbie) and my blog Core Bit Drills is all about construction tips and tricks.