Are you ready for 2009! We are...


No doubt the current economic situation has seriously impacted ad revenue for bloggers and developers across the board. There is no reason to get discouraged though, there are still plenty of ways to earn revenue online and we will set out to find the most profitable areas of generating revenue in 2009.

Have fun...stay safe and be sure to check back during 2009 to see what's new!
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Too many times we get a call from someone asking about a virus problem! Most of the time these problems can be avoided pretty easily.

One of the first steps I would recommend is to NOT run your computer as Administrator! I can't tell you how many times I have removed viruses from computers in which the owner was running the machine as admin (the Windows default set up). When you run your computer as administrator ANY code you run will run with administrative privileges i.e. It can do anything it wants!


Now, If you are running your computer as a limited user, the bad code can only infect/damage your files...not the system files. So, not running your computer as admin is step one!

Step two is to have AV (AntiVirus) software running locally on your machine. Many times people will rely on the email servers AV to protect them. For instance, they use a Yahoo email account and Yahoo scans email attachments. So if the Yahoo scan says its no threat, they will open it anyway.

We will attempt to show you some basic virus writing tactics in order to help you better protect yourself. We will be using some older viruses we wrote ourselves using VBS. These are 5 years old now and should be of no harm to any modern patched computer.

These example viruses are located here:

Sample virus code
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Today we released a new comment box widget. This is an update to the older guestbook gadget. Soon we will also offer personalized versions of the new widget.


Since the iGoogle layouts changed we are making newer and better versions of many of our popular widgets. Over the next month we will be releasing many new updates.

The new comment box widget can be found here:

New comment box widget

Enjoy :)
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Recently Tropical PC Solutions was listed as a 'top developer' over at widgipedia.com!



Widgipedia.com is a great widget resource and we recommend them highly.
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Recently iGoogle changed the layout of their homepage. They placed the tabs down the side of the screen which eliminates some of the viewing space previously used for widgets. See screenshot:





Notice the red outlines...the gadgets now show a lower scroll bar. I will be fixing these gadgets over the next two weeks, and ALL new widgets will take into account the new iGoogle layout.
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Today Tropical PC Solutions is proud to announce the release of a new eBook. Whether you are looking for some extra cash on the side or you want to quit your day job and work from home full time, this eBook will surely help you out.


We have thrown in a free eManual and website template too!

So you may be asking what you have to do to get this offer...simply sign up for our TPCS newsletter and your eBook will be mailed out to you! That's it :)


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Would you like to run your own server and offer web hosting to your friends? If so this program might help you out.....

When I was in college studying computer science I took a Linux course. Towards the end of the course we were given the option to come up with an extra credit project. I decided to build my own web hosting service.


What this code does: It allows people to log into your server via SSH and set up a personal account. The program will automatically check their requested username against all existing system usernames and set up their web space for them. Once they have placed their web documents on the server, their content is available over the web. For instance, if your website is www.example.com and your friend creates the account "foobar", then their webpage will be located at www.example.com/foobar.

The professor asked me if I could add some MySQL functionality, so I added some SQL code. It is pretty basic and leaves a lot of room for you to grow and customize your visitors experience.

What you need to run program: Linux computer (or Windows with cygwin might work), Apache web server, SSH service running. If you want to save data to a database, you will also need to set up the MySQL program.

What this program needs: A web interface! I was going to build a PHP doc to handle the basic commands from a web interface, but hey, it was only an extra credit project! If you build a web interface for this I would really love to see it!

If this sounds like an interesting project to mess around with, you can get it here.

Take it easy,
Dave
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Today TPCS released 5 new widgets!


Diet and weight loss tips
Get daily diest and weight loss tips.

The Daily Buddha
The Daily Buddha. Get a new quote from Buddha each day.

Bikini Model
Vote on a new bikini girl each day.

Windows Live
Log into your windows live account.

Google Talk
Log into your Google talk account.

Take it easy,
Dave from TPCS
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Tropical PC Solutions was listed as a featured widget developer!



We are proud to announce that we have been listed as a 'Featured Developer' over at Widgiland! Widgiland is a great widget site and we highly recommend them.
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Tropical PC Solutions released a new widget today. Click the below image to visit the widgets homepage.




This widget can also be found at clearspring:
Dictionary Search widget
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TPCS just released a new optical illusions widget. These illusions vary from clever artwork to real eye tricks.

This widget can be found here
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Today TPCS released a new widget: Confucius Daily Quotes.

This widget can be found here
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Web widgets are becoming quite popular and visitors like to get widgets for their homepages or blog. To help make it easier for you and your visitors we built a web widget gallery that you can run off of your site or blog.


Example:

To add this gallery to your site or blog simply embed the below code. You can adjust the width of the gallery by changing the table width value (table width="600").

<table width="600"><tr><td> <div id="tpcs_gallerydiv"></div> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pub.widgetbox.com/api/cgallery/1.0.1/gallery.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript">var gallery_tpcs = WBXGALLERY.GalleryManager.loadGallery('tpcs');gallery_tpcs.render('#tpcs_gallerydiv');</script> </td></tr></table>

To see a full page gallery click here.
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Recently I have began to delve into widget/gadget development. I started out just wanting to make personalized gadgets for my iGoogle page. Without having to learn too much about the open social set up I was able to quickly create XML based web widgets that load my remote HTML content.


The great part about this is you can take that XML file and submit it to a number of directories and social networking sites. Most of these sites are now open social compliant (more or less) .

So what is the big deal?

Anyone (especially web designers and coders) can easily create a container for a web page and that container is portable and easy to install for regular web users. This can potentially mean a lot of traffic!

So what is the problem?

Most of these widget sites are built off of the open social project and all you need to submit your widget/application is your XML file. But not all sites will accept your XML and some of these sites offer some great features.

Example: NetVibes is a great widget resource but they only accept UWA files. You don't need to rebuild your apps or alter any code. An easy way to get your widget into NetVibes is to upload it to ClearSprings. Once you have submitted your HTML file to ClearSprings you can have them auto-submit your widget to both Live and NetVibes. Plus, ClearSprings will also create the necessary .widget archive file in order for you to get your widget into the Yahoo directory.

Bottom Line...

Open Social apps (widgets/gadgets) are great and an easy way to reach a lot of people. But they don't all use the same platform to display your widgets. Generally you will create an XML file and thats all you need. In some cases, without the services of sites like ClearSprings you would potentially miss a good deal of traffic!

If you are a widget/gadget developer or if you have ventured into porting your widgets into social networking applications then you will certainly find the following links of interest:

Widget resources:

http://igoogle.com/
Accepts XML

http://widgiland.com/
Accepts XML

http://www.googlemodules.com/
Accepts XML

http://www.widgipedia.com/
Accepts HTML (no problem if your XML loads remote HTML)

http://www.clearspring.com/
Accepts HTML (creates .uwa and .widget files for NetVibes and Yahoo)

http://eco.netvibes.com/widgets
ONLY Accepts .uwa (submit via ClearSprings)

http://widgets.yahoo.com/
ONLY Accepts .widget (get this file from ClearSprings)

http://www.widgetbox.com/
Accepts XML (will build apps and submit to Bebo, FaceBook, hi5)


Social Networking Sites that allow apps with ads:
http://www.bebo.com
http://www.friendster.com

If you know of any other good widget resource sites or places that help a developer port their widgets into different formats please leave a comment and a link for me and others to check out. Also, if you know of any good social networking sites that allow ads in submitted applications be sure to drop me a line and let me know!

Thanks and take it easy,
Dave
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Today Flash technology is everywhere! It can be useful to know how to protect your code or alter some pre-existing code.

Today, Tropical PC Solutions published a brief article on how to decompile/convert existing .swf files into .fla then how to convert/export them back into .swf.


This article can be found here: How to convert .swf to .fla and back into .swf tutorial
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Recently we have been doing a lot of work getting established within the widget community. We have released over 30+ widgets and now we have set up a section to cater to Friendster applications.


New Widgets:

Silly Animal Photos Widget

MapQuest Driving Directions widget

Read the Bible in a Year widget

Search Ebay widget

Our Friendster section is located here at our Friendster apps page

At first we will adjust some of our existing widgets to better fit the Friendster interface.
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TPCS released 3 new widgets today!


Quick Gmail widget

Name that Musical Note widget

911 Flight Paths
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Finally, our widgets domain is up and running. We will continue to host all previous widgets off of our scripts domain but all new releases will by hosted off of our widgets domain.


What else is new?

We have released a couple of new widgets which can be found at our widget directory.
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TPCS just released a new gadget. If you own a pool or spa or service pool and spas you might find this gadget useful. This gadget will calculate the overall volume for various sized and shaped pools.

You can get this widget at our widget directory.

Take it easy
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Always be sure to use strong encryption algorithms. Today we released some code used to crack the XECryption algorithm.


This code can be found here.
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TPCS just released a new gadget: The LigoWave wireless Link calculator. This gadget is sure to come in handy for those in the wifi industry.

Direct Link: LigoWave Wireless calculator
More from Ligowave: LigoWave WiFi Products
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If you run a website and run PHP, CGI or other server side scripts you should seriously look into the security of said script.


Poorly written scripts can allow attackers remote access to your server!

Today we published a short article explaining how attackers use poorly written code to gain access to web servers and other machines running in the vicinity of the exploited server.

The article can be found here.

Dave from TPCS
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How to hide a virus within a normal media file. In this example we will be hiding a virus inside what appears to be a normal media file. When the file itself is ran, the media file will open as usual but the virus file will be launched secretly in the background.

Your Ad Here

Today Tropical PC Solutions has published an article on how to hide a virus file within a normal media file. Today Viruses are everywhere! Malicious code is a huge problem and it isn't going to go away. People must learn how to secure their machines from such code.

This article is located on our main site: How to hide a virus file
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TPCS releases a new gadget for iGoogle or your homepage or blog! This widget is called "Bikini Babe of the day!"


Thong bikini of the day gadget/widget:

You can get this widget at our widget directory
.
Enjoy :)
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You are setting up your web page and you have decide on what META keywords you want to use.

So, you have your web site up and running. Now it's time to place some ads and see if we can generate revenue. When using a targeted ad network such as Google Adsense one thing that really should be considered is what META keywords you use in your pages. The ad network will spider your site and look at your META tags to help it see what your site is about. So far so good right...

Have you considered how your various keywords will effect your Adsense ad relevency?

Sometimes your keywords can produce some interesting results! For an example of improper keyword usage and the misplaced ad that resulted click here.

Take it easy,
Dave from TPCS
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So you are running a website and you could use a bit more traffic. There are many ways to boost your traffic but the most effective is good advertising. You would be surprised to see what a little targeted advertising can do for you.


TPCS has written a small article on this which subject can be found here: Get FREE targeted traffic

Sign up for a free account and start receiving your $20 in FREE advertising and traffic today! Click the button below!





Thanks and take it easy,
Dave from TPCS
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TPCS published a new PHP script today. This script will allow you to run shell (system) commands via a web interface if you run an Apache server (Linux).

<?php
$register_globals = (bool) ini_get('register_gobals');
if ($register_globals) $svr = getenv(SERVER_NAME);
else $svr = $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'];
?>
<html>
<head>
<title>Published at scripts.tropicalpcsolutions.com</title>
</head>
<body>
<form enctype="multipart/form-data" method="POST">
<br>
[webshell@<?php echo $svr ?> /]#
  <input type="text" name="cmd" value="">
  <input type="submit" value="Enter">
</form>
<br>
<hr width="75%" align="left">
<br>
</body>
</html>
<?php
$cmd = $_POST['cmd']; if($cmd) {
echo '<pre>'; echo $last_line = system($cmd); echo '</pre><br>';
}
?>

Direct link: Web based shell commands

Thanks and take it easy,
Dave from TPCS
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Web publishers, sign up for a FREE account!

So you want to make money off of your website but you don't want to put all your ads in one basket. This is a common occurrence in the web publishing world. You probably have a Google Adsense Account set up already...this is good. But you need at least one viable alternative!


Bidvertiser is a good alternative!

I have written an article at the main TPCS website regarding this topic. If you are a small time web publisher then you owe it to yourself to at least check it out! It's FREE to sign up and try it. What are you waiting for?

Adsense alternative article

Thanks and take it easy,
Dave from TPCS
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TPCS released a new gadget/widget today. This gadget will show you a live weather report from weather.com. You can change the ZIP codes to see weather in different parts of the country.


Does it remember my ZIP preference?

If you would like the gadget to remember your ZIP code choice then click the "Remember ZIP" link on the bottom of gadget. The next time you use it it will auto fill in your ZIP code :)

If you would like to get this weather report gadget/widget there are a few options:

1) TPCS Gadget page: Weather report gadget / widget
2) Google Modules: Weather report gadget / widget
3) Widgibox: Weather report gadget / widget
4) WidgiLand: Weather report gadget / widget

Thanks and take it easy,
Dave from TPCS
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We have recently converted our iGoogle gadgets into Facebook applications. If you are into the Gadget/Widget scene then please check out our Facebook apps at the below addresses.


Facebook applications converted from iGoogle gadgets.

http://apps.facebook.com/babe_of_the_day/
http://apps.facebook.com/daily-wisdom-proverb/
http://apps.facebook.com/clock_of_nines/
http://apps.facebook.com/mayan_countdown/
http://apps.facebook.com/say_hello_guestbook/

We do have plans to convert or build widgets for Myspace. I don't know if the guestbook widget / gadget will be made available for Mysapce but others should.

Take it easy,
Dave

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TPCS has posted 4 new scripts on our scripts domain. These scripts are...


PHP scripts:
Military government computer sniffer
Anonymous emailer script

Perl scripts:
Remote log file searcher program
Automaticlly block IP addresses on IIS
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So, you finally got your website off the ground, managed to get a few people to visit and now you're ready to make money online. Great! You sign up for your Google Adsense account and wait. You want to make sure your ads are relevent to your site content but not a competitor, so you click on them JUST to see who is running the ad.


So what's the problem?

One day you log into your Adsense account to see your current earnings and you get a notice informing you that your account has been canceled and your funds returned to the advertisers. What happened???

Google removed your account for 'click fraud'! Yup, you heard right, FRAUD. How so, you ask. Well, advertisers are paying you to send traffic to them. When someone clicks an ad on your site and get directed to the advertiser you get credit for sending them traffic. This MUST be genuine traffic (not you or your friends).

How does a publisher easily check their adsense ads and find the url of the advertiser?

There are a few ways I am sure but first off is Google's option. they provide a service do do this but there are steps involved...this is no good if you are borderline lazy like me. So how else can this be done? There is a full tutorial with screenshots here:

Find the advertiser url in Google adsense ad

I hope someone finds this info useful. If you want to link to this info please link to the above URL and not this blogger URL!

Thanks and take it easy,
Dave
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TPCS just released another cool Google Gadget called "Bible Proverb of the Day". This Google Gadget will show you a Bible Proverb from wise King Solomon for each day of the year.

To add the Gadget to your iGoogle homepage just click the Google button on the bottom of the gadget. To load the "Bible Proverb of the Day" gadget via 3rd party sources use the links below:
Google Modules or Widgiland.

   

You can add this Gadget to your website or blog using the below code:

<script src="http://gmodules.com/ig/ifr?url=http://scripts.tropicalpcsolutions.com/html/gadgets/daily-wisdom/proverbs.xml&up_Daily_Proverb=0&synd=open&w=280&h=230&title=Bible+Proverb+of+the+day&border=%23ffffff%7C3px%2C1px+solid+%23999999&output=js"></script>
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TPCS has posted an XOR encryption programs source code. This is a simple XOR encryption program that uses a one character key supplied by user to encrypt plain text data. This program will be updated soon with multi layers of XOR encryption.


This program can be found here: XOR encryption source code
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Today TPCS released a new Guestbook (comment box) Google gadget / widget. This Guestbook gadget / widget will allow anyone who uses it to leave messages to anyone else who uses this gadget. A pretty nifty idea really.


Guestbook Google Gadget direct link:

Guestbook (comment box) Google gadget

You can get these Gadgets via 3rd party sources below:

To add the above gadget to your iGoogle homepage then click the Google button below the gadget. You can also see all the TPCS Google gadgets located at the Google Modules website and Widgiland.




To add this gadget to your webpage or blog use the below code:
<script src="http://gmodules.com/ig/ifr?url=http://scripts.tropicalpcsolutions.com/php/gadgets/guestbook/guestbook.xml&synd=open&w=280&h=235&title=Guestbook+Gadget&border=%23ffffff%7C3px%2C1px+solid+%23999999&output=js"></script>
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Today we announce the addition of our new scripts section. We will be adding new scripts from time to time and when we do we will post a notice about it here.


New Font text resize JavaScript added to TPCS!

This week we added the: Font text resize Javascript written by lixasolutions.com. This is a very handy script which allows your visitors to change the font text size of your web page to suit there needs. This is a very useful JavaScript for those readers who may be somewhat visually impaired.

Download link: Font text resize Javascript

Be sure to subscribe to our blog to be aware of the latest releases from TPCS and friends.
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What is going on over at McAfee? The concept behind their SiteAdvisor browser-plugin is a good one. But I don't think the logic behind it is worth its weight in salt!


What's the deal with Mcafee SiteAdvisor?

SiteAdvisor is browser plug-in that shows you a color coded status of each webpage you visit or view in search engines. A site can have three possible ratings once viewed by SiteAdvisor. A Green rating indicates all downloads are good, no spam is sent out and no links to bad websites. An orange/yellow rating warns visitors of potential harm. And the red rating is for "bad sites". Now, as I mentioned earlier, this in itself is not a bad thing, it's a great idea.

So what's the problem?

McAfee has very poor standards on how it rates other sites. I personally had a website red flagged for ONE LINK to a site McAfee didnt like. At the same time McAfee has sites in its database(s) that contain bad downloads that are only rated orange/yellow! Another example is Bidvertiser.com. McAfee has red flagged this site for "spam" among other offenses. Now, I have an account with them and I can tell you I have NEVER received any spam at all! How can they be so quick to label a site as "bad"? Do they not know what drastic effects this can have on search engine referrals and business in general?

* UPDATE, I see McAfee recently reversed their red rating of Bidvertiser.

So what's going on over at McAfee?

I don't know...I was hoping you could tell me! Do you know of any McAfee SiteAdvisor stories that you can share with the rest of us? If so please let me know of your experience in this area.


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Google has come up with a great idea, gadgets. Google allows users to customize a Google homepage at www.google.com/ig. To populate your new iGoogle homepage you will add multiple tabs and fill these tabs with gadgets that perform various tasks from telling you a quote of the day to showing you the weather. Really you are only as limited as your imagination.


Why should you be interested?

Google gadgets do more than provide a service to iGoogle end users. They provide a valuable service to you (a web publisher) also. For instance, in each gadget you attach a link to your site and you can also place an Adsense ad in there. The more people add your gadget to their homepage the more return visitors you will get and possibly more revenue via the ads.

TPCS iGoogle gadgets

Here at TPCS we have begun to build some gadgets for iGoogle users. Our gadget/widget page is located at http://widgets.tropicalpcsolutions.com.

If you would like to learn more about how to make a Google gadget then sign up for our newsletter and you will receive a free eBook that walks you through the process!
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UPDATE: As of March 25th the Bidvertiser ads have not generated 1/100 of of what the Google ads have. I know it's too early to tell but I really don't think Bidvertiser is a good of service as Google Adsense is.


Like many webdesigners who have ventured into the world of Google Adsense, I have begun to look for alternatives. Why? Let's face it, it's never a good idea to put all your ads in one basket ;)

What's wrong with Google Adsense?

Nothing! But many webmasters have reported some disturbing actions on the part of Google. For instance, Google has removed many accounts for actions which are beyond the control of the webmaster, such as third parties (competition) using robots to click the Adsense links multiple times and red flagging the innocent webmasters domain.

But, this post isn't about bashing the guys and gals at Google, even if their actions should be a concern for all members of the Google Adwords/Adsense programs. This post is about viable alternatives.

Viable alternatives.

When thinking about alternative sources of income it is easy for a small site owner to get discouraged. Many places don't want to do business with you if you're not already a major player on the scene. But we're here to help you out...hold you're hand if you will. Now, below are some recommended sites for anyone to get started publishing ads:

1) Bidvertiser

2) Text Link Ads (InLinks)

If you know of any other viable Adsense alternatives please drop a comment and link (affiliate link ok).

Dave
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If you spend much time on the Internet you will see a number of good sites built by regular people. The type of websites one can build is endless, from content or information sites to just a simple homepage. Maybe you sell a product or service,that's great, but most of us don't. So what's my point?


You can get targeted traffic and make money off your websites for no cost!

How? There are a couple of things to consider:

1) You need to build the site with search engines (SEO) in mind.
2) You need to get your site listed on search engines such as MSN, Google and Yahoo.
3) You can now start to monetize by signing up with Google adsense.

How does Google adsense work? Companies pay Google to display their advertisements. Google in turn will pay you a portion of their earnings to display these (mostly relevant) ads on your sites.

Don't publish junk...it's pointless!

In an effort to make a quick buck many folks have made crappy websites with little appeal and loaded them down with ads. Please don't do this! Not only will you not really see any profit, you will just annoy people. Make sure your content is complete and interesting to others (not just about you or your pet!). Another thing to avoid is making sites that are about everything. Try to keep each site focused on a particular topic, example:

If your main website is http://www.tropicalpcsolutions.com then you can build a section about javascripts at http://scripts.tropicalpcsolutions.com and so on.

Create different ad units at Google for each domain and set up the proper channels to differentiate the ads on each sub domain. This is useful for many reasons but one in particular is Google will search your domains to see what content they contain and will try to match the ads available to the content on your site. So if your site is about "javascripts" then it should display ads related to Javascript, programming etc...

Don't quit your day job!

Yes you can make a few bucks through Google adsense but if you are looking for a get rich quick scheme then look elsewhere. It takes time and work to get things rolling, but once it is you'll be sure to enjoy receiving your monthly Google check :)

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