Step By Step Configuration for a Home or Small Business Network

July 31, 2012

Configuring a general small network for home office or small office.  If you are a home business owner, you may need a network in your home office or for your family.  These instructions are general setup instructions and do not cover all possible variations of networks or computers.

Please note that though the figure displayed below has a server and switch, your network may not have these device.  Ignore the devices if not present.  Small business networks often have switches and servers.  Consult the vendor or a computer consulting company for specific instructions about server and switch setup and configuration.

Note: This configuration works for either DSL or Cable Internet providers and accounts for wireless devices

Carefully unpack and verify all devices are present.

  1. Wireless router
  2. Laptop(s) and/or workstations
  3. Power adapters for outlet connections
  4. Surge suppressor/power strip
  5. DVD with network configuration software
  6. Cat 5 or 5e cables with RJ45 connectors (similar to but larger than a phone connection)

Electronic devices are sensitive to damage and electric or magnetic charges.  Handle with care.

An Internet service provider (ISP) is responsible for providing a pre-programmed Cable or DSL modem.  Contact the ISP with questions or concerns about missing or damaged modems.

Choose a name and SSID (or security ID) for this network.  Names are not case-sensitive and may be any length.  SSIDs must be either 8 or 13 characters in length and can contain numbers, letters or special characters like an ‘&’ or ‘$’.  SSIDs are case-sensitive and should be documented and kept in a secure location.

From the outside wall, a cable will lead to the ISP modem.  Multiple modem lights should be blinking.  If not, unplug the device, wait 30 seconds, and plug it back in.  This resets the modem’s connection to the ISP.  If the no lights are seen, contact the ISP for assistance.

Connecting Network Devices

Note: See Figure 1 for example network layout design

Unpack the wireless router.  It is a rectangular box labeled with Wireless Router.  Do not connect the wireless router to the power outlet.

  1. Plug one end of a Cat5 cable into a port marked LAN (or local area network) on the Cable or DSL modem.
  2. Plug the other end of the Cat5 cable in step 1 into the Wireless Router port marked Input.
  3. Plug one end of a Cat5 cable into port 1 on the wireless router.
  4. Plug the other end of the Cat5 cable in step 3 into the network port on the back of the computer.  There is only one network port on most computers and the cable will plug in with a ‘click’..

Figure 1. Typical Small Network Design.  The typical small network design includes wireless workstations connected to a switch and router.

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Don’t Use These Passwords For Computers

July 26, 2012

A recent article by antivirus provider ESET via ZDNet revealed the 25 most commonly used passwords for email, Facebook, user accounts, and more.  These passwords are very common – many are dictionary words – and can easily be hacked.  We strongly suggest that home business users and individuals stay away from these top 25 passwords and use stronger passwords instead.  Homepreneurs discussed strong passwords in an earlier article about hacked Yahoo email accounts.

Here are the top 25, as extracted by antivirus solution provider ESET. Is yours one of them? If so, it’s safe to say you should consider changing it to something stronger immediately.

  1. password
  2. 123456
  3. 12345678
  4. 1234
  5. qwerty
  6. 12345
  7. dragon
  8. pussy
  9. baseball
  10. football
  11. letmein
  12. monkey
  13. 696969
  14. abc123
  15. mustang
  16. michael
  17. shadow
  18. master
  19. jennifer
  20. 111111
  21. 2000
  22. jordan
  23. superman
  24. harley
  25. 1234567

DON’T USE THE ABOVE PASSWORDS!  Stronger passwords are easy: substitute ’0′ for ‘o’ and ’3′ for ‘e’ and ’1′ for ‘I or L’.  Create your own strong series of passwords and avoid the hackers of the world.

By Dion D. Shaw

Dion D. Shaw is the founder and owner of Homepreneurs

Homepreneurs.  New Day.  New Opportunity.

Disclaimer

Homepreneurs does not endorse nor have any relationships with any of the services listed.  Homepreneurs receives no compensation or consideration for its suggestions.  Homepreneurs strongly urges all interested parties to conduct research and accepts no responsibility for any losses incurred.

© Homepreneurs 2010 – 2012, All Rights Reserved

source article here: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/25-most-used-passwords-revealed-is-yours-one-of-them/12427

image source here: wcizmowski @ http://morguefile.com/archive/display/16328

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Making Money From YouTube Videos

July 24, 2012

Homepreneurs is all about making money from home.  This includes work at home jobs, home business ideas, and assorted other areas such as surveys, blogs, and in this post, YouTube videos.  The Internet provides many ways for people to make money from home from anywhere in the world.  Research the idea, do your homework, and give it a try.

Simply, one makes money on YouTube by becoming a YouTube partner, which allows you to display ads on your videos.  When viewers click on those ads, you then earn a percentage of the revenues generated by clicks on those ads, similar to Google’s AdSense.  How much money can you make?  We’ve heard numbers anywhere from $3 up to $10 per 1,000 video views, but this is privately held Google/YouTube information.

Becoming a YouTube partner is not as simple as signing up for and embedding code for Adsense.  Please find below a step by step process to setting up a YouTube partner relationship.

1. Sign up for an Adsense Account

The process of displaying ads on YouTube videos is different, but earnings and statistics go with an Adsense account, so you must have one.

In theory, one could set up a YouTube partner account first and then an Adsense account – via application.  The process is simpler if the Adsense account is created first, then the YouTube partner account.  It is possible to have a YouTube application rejected, so start with something small and grow from there.

2. Create and Grow an Audience on YouTube

One major factor the YouTube team will use to evaluate your application is the size audience you reach on YouTube. Numbers aren’t revealed of course, but some ballpark numbers suggested by others are:

- At least 1,000 subscribers

- At least 1,000 views on all your videos

- At least 10,000 channel views

These are probably minimum numbers.  If you want to have your application approved, you’ll probably need 5,000 subscribers, 50,000 channel views and over 1,000,000 total upload views total.

Channel views are the number of times that someone, anyone, even yourself, looks at your channel. The number itself is not in real time, and may jump suddenly from day to day.
The Total Upload Views is an accumulated total of all the views on all your videos.

3. Post Videos Regularly

YouTube looks for people that will be with long-term contributors.  If you only have a handful of videos – even if they went viral – your chance of acceptance is low.

Much like blog posts, frequent and fresh video content is preferred.  Someone with a new video every day is more likely to be accepted as a YouTube partner than someone who uploads once a week or every couple weeks.

Have dozens of videos uploaded – at least 50 – before applying for a partnership.

4. Develop a Brand for your Videos

Though not essential, this adds to your professional image.  A computer is not making the decision about your application, a person will do that.  Once you meet the technical requirements, that person will decide if you are YouTube partner material.  Presenting yourself as a professional is part of that process.

Some tips for creating a professional brand include

- A website to host your videos and get viewer feedback

- Develop a logo and tagline to use with your product

- Use a watermark for protection on your videos

- Consider employing a professional to create an introduction for your videos

5. Absolutely No Copyrighted Material

Copyright infringement puts YouTube at risk for legal action.  Any copyright violation will get you rejected immediately.  This includes logos, audio snips, video clips, and even background music that you have no permission to use.

6. Fill Out the YouTube Partner Application

Becoming a YouTube partner is not a simple process as noted in the steps above.  Once the above 5 steps are done, fill out an application via the official YouTube Partner Program page. It might take a while to get your application reviewed because of sheer numbers, but once accepted you’ll be able to start displaying ads on your videos right away and hopefully making some serious money from home!

By Dion D. Shaw

Dion D. Shaw is the founder and owner of Homepreneurs

Homepreneurs.  New Day.  New Opportunity.

Disclaimer

Homepreneurs does not endorse nor have any relationships with any of the services listed.  Homepreneurs receives no compensation or consideration for its suggestions.  Homepreneurs strongly urges all interested parties to conduct research and accepts no responsibility for any losses incurred.

© Homepreneurs 2010 – 2012, All Rights Reserved

Image Credit: Mzacha @ http://morguefile.com/archive/display/638516

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Timely Reminder to Back Up Critical Data on Computers

July 18, 2012

I subscribe to a number of online technical magazines and noted a question posed by a reader today: “In my laptop, i was stored some important official work stored, but due to any kind of reason, I can’t open my files which is crucial for me!  So plz help me…  How can i recover Windows hard drive data?  Please provide me appropriate suggestion …??”  If you are a home business owner, small business executive or individual, data backup is critical to many operations and can’t be stressed enough.

Some immediate issues to help this user:

1) Technicians need more defined information to assist you.  Is the hard drive dead, not spinning at all or making grinding noises?  This indicates a physical error like a platter crash or read-write head crash.  Many of these issues require special equipment and recovery services.  Most IT departments do not have the equipment needed.

2) Are you receiving an error on boot, such as “system disk not accessible” or “operating system not found” or a blue screen of death (BSOD).  These errors are typically caused by the operating system, drivers, or application errors.

We can recover data from the drive in #2 using potentially either a Linux run-time disk (I’ve used Puppy Linux successfully several times) or connecting the hard drive to an Apricorn universal hard drive connector.  The USB hard drive connector can transfer data from the troubled drive to a new or different drive.

3) Do you have a backup of your data?  If not, why not?  As mentioned in a previous article here on Homepreneurs: IF YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE THE DATA, BACK IT UP!!!!  Use an external USB drive, a little flash drive or via your company backup policy.  If the company you work for doesn’t have a backup policy, suggest one!

Mission-critical data should never be lost.  There are far too many simple and inexpensive backup solutions for individuals and companies for that to happen.  A 32 GB flash drive – plugs into USB port – from Amazon.com is $13.79 today.  Please be smart andBACK IT UP!

By Dion D. Shaw

Dion D. Shaw is the founder and owner of Homepreneurs

Homepreneurs.  New Day.  New Opportunity.

Disclaimer

Homepreneurs does not endorse nor have any relationships with any of the services listed.  Homepreneurs receives no compensation or consideration for its suggestions.  Homepreneurs strongly urges all interested parties to conduct research and accepts no responsibility for any losses incurred.

© Homepreneurs 2010 – 2012, All Rights Reserved

image credit: Jusben

image source: http://morguefile.com/creative/Jusben

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Set Up An Etsy Shop

July 16, 2012

Etsy is an e-commerce website with an emphasis on handmade or vintage items, and art and craft supplies. The listed items cover a wide range including: art, photography, clothing, jewelry, food, bath and beauty products, quilts, knick-knacks, and toys. Many individuals also sell craft supplies such as beads, wire, and jewelry-making tools. Vintage items must be at least 20 years old. Etsy follows in the tradition of open craft fairs, giving sellers personal storefronts where they list their goods for a fee of $0.20. Etsy also charges 3.5% per sale; most of its listed items are between $10 and $20 dollars.

Though popular as a side business, some professional artists consider maintaining their personal storefronts as a full-time job.  Etsy has over 17 million users, 800,000 active shops, and 2011 sales of more than $525 million dollars.[i]  With these statistics and defined market niche, Etsy is a crafters and artist’s paradise.

How to Begin

Set up an Etsy account:

On Etsy’s home page, click on ‘Sell’ and ‘Open An Etsy Shop’

Either sign up with a Facebook account or enter name, email address, password, etc.

You will need to confirm your email name through your email account later.

Select a user name for your store.  This is not a store name and may be anonymous.

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