Network Time Protocol (NTP) is probably the Internet’s oldest protocol. Developed at the University of Delaware, it has been in use and continually updated for the last 25 years. In short it is a protocol designed to synchronize the clocks on computers and networks across the Internet or Local or Wider Area Networks (LANs/WANS).

NTP is a multi-tiered system, each tier being called a stratum. Servers at each tier communicate with each other (peer) and provide time to lower strata. Servers at the top stratum, stratum 1 connect to an atomic clock either over the Internet or by a radio or GPS receiver while a stratum 2 server will connect to a stratum 1.

The way NTP works is relatively straight forward. NTP timestamps relay the seconds from a set point in time (known as the prime epoch, usually set at 00:00 1 January 1900 or sometimes 00:00 1 January 1970) The NTP algorithm then determines the amount to advance or retreat the clock.

The NTP program (known as a daemon on UNIX and a service on Windows) runs in the background and refuses to believe the time it is told until several exchanges have taken place, each passing a set of tests. If the replies from a server satisfy these ‘protocol specifications’, the server is accepted. It usually takes about five good samples (five minutes) until a NTP server is accepted as a source for synchronisation.

NTP can synchronise time over the Internet but it should be noted that Microsoft and others recommend that external time references are used rather than Internet based ones as these can’t be authenticated. External hardware sources use either a radio or GPS receiver to get a timing reference from an atomic clock.

NTP (currently up to version 4) can maintain time over the Internet to within 1/100th of a second (10 milliseconds () and can perform even better over Local Area Networks with accuracies of 1/5000th of a second (200 microseconds) fairly common.

A simplified version of NTP called Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP) exists that does not require the storing of information about previous communications as required by NTP. It is used in some devices and applications where high accuracy timing is not as important and is installed on older versions of Microsoft Windows. Windows since 2000 has included the Windows Time Service (w32time.exe) which uses SNTP to synchronise the computer clock. NTP is also available on UNIX and LINUX (download via NTP.org).

If you are a daily or occasionally Facebook user then you should may be aware of its common concepts like adding or deleting friends, updating statuses, walls and profile, add and explore pages & applications, etc. But there are many more things which you might not know.

Yup, there are several tips and tricks which you might not know even if you’re a regular Facebook use. So today I am going to list out 10 tips and tricks of Facebook you might not know. If you also have any tips and tricks which I have not listed here, then simply share them in comments section below.

1. How to add a dislike button to your status updates??

You can find Like button everywhere on Facebook, but what if you want to add a dislike button to your posts or status updates? You can do that by the help of Status Magic Facebook app.

2. Access Facebook via Microsoft Outlook

If Facebook is blocked in your office, then you can try this trick for using Facebook using the Microsoft Outlook Software. Try FBLook plugin and you’ll be able to access FB using your Microsoft Outlook mail client. This is the only thing you need to continuously update your Facebook status and see your friends online without ever missing a day at work.

3. How to pre-schedule your status updates??

Yup, you can pre-schedule your status updates by using a free app named Later Bro. Just sign in with your Facebook account select your time zone, type in what it is you’d like to say, set the calendar and clock to when you’d like to say it, and presto!

4. How to integrate Facebook toolbar into your browser?

To make your Facebook experience more incredible, try using facebook toolbar. But folks, this feature will work only on Mozilla Firefox. To get this helpful add-on, just click on this link and click install and you’re done.

5. How to Create an FB Photo Collage?

If you’re a photo lover, then this app is probably for you. Just go to this link and install the application and this application will easily create a photo collage of your Facebook photos.

6. Add Fantastic Magic Circles on Facebook

Though this trick is very simple, still I was not able to do it in my first try. These magic circles appearing on your facebook page will make your page very stylish. You just need to-

Press Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Enter key then press up & down.

If this trick doesn’t work in first try, then refresh the page and try again.

7. How to see your status update statistics?

Have you ever wondered how many times you’ve updated your status on Facebook? Well, there is an app named Status Statistics which will allow you to view all of this.

8. How to view status updates from around the world?

If you want to take a look at what others are saying in their updates from around the world, then this app is specially for you. By using app named OpenBook you can do this.

9. How to turn your status updates into word clouds?

By using Status Analyzer 3D application, you can turn your status updates into pretty, colorful and animated 3D word cloud.

10. How to remove Facebook Adverts

Are you annoyed by Facebook Adverts? Then this script can help you a lot. Facebook: Cleaner script removes most annoying Facebook Adverts from your Facebook Page.

Like many other social networks, Facebook also contains tons of fake profiles unfortunately. Those fake profile holders use Social Engineering tactics to attack innocent people. Facebook has almost 500 Million Users and it is not surprising to have few thousands fake profiles. Below I have mentioned some funny but true tips to check whether a profile is fake or not.

1. Profile Picture. Always be suspicious of profiles featuring photos of professional models. Most of the fake profiles, especially that of females, have only one profile picture and that too a beautiful or sexy (ahem) picture!

2. Many Males. Their friends list will contain males mostly (Well, that’s not their fault, gender issue  ). It could be around 1000s or even more than that.

3. When Did They Joined? Check when she/he joined. If they have lots of friends and have only been on the Facebook a short amount of time, it’s likely to be a fake one.

4. Tag Me! He/she would be tagged in tons of cartoon pictures than his/her own picture.

5. Apps Requests. If he/she is in your friend list, then you will get lotta application or like requests from them. I got many requests like that, some include “Can you send me a chicken?”, “Can you send a buffalo?”.. LOL.

6. Facebook Albums. Most of the fake profiles photos are open to everyone. Well, not a promising tip, but worth it. It may contain lot of pictures but they would not have tags indicating other profiles. They may also contain really tiny photos.

7. Full Filled Profile. If a profile is lengthy and detailed, then you can be sure that it is a real person. Fake Profile creators won’t have time to create long and interesting profiles.

8. Favorite Pages. Most of the fake profiles have less than 20 pages, well almost.

9. Description. Most of the fake profiles have descriptions like “Accept My Farmville Request”, “Add Me In Mafia Wars”, and many more.

10. For Boys : Girls don’t send friend requests to strangers, I mean good girls!  So if, by chance, you get a friend request from girls, don’t confirm it without verifying the details. If you are not a handsome looking guy and you got a friend request from a hot babe. Then you really need to triple check!

11. For Girls : Who said? I support boys too! But some boys usually send friend requests to girls. So it is better to confirm with others and verify. If you are not a hot babe and you got a friend request from a handsome looking guy. Then you should also really need to triple check!

12. Status Updates. Most probably fake profile’s status updates won’t get comments or likes. They may also share fake websites (Phishing attack). (Survey)

13. Celeb Request. If you are added by a celebrity!  Unless you are a celebrity please don’t add!  If they are claiming to be a model or actress or anything like that, then they will surely have professional pictures on their album.

14. Add Feeds. Fake profile’s feeds will contain only friend request adds.

I didn’t say don’t accept any strange friend requests. Trust, but verify!

So if you encounter any fake profiles, I mean if you really encounter, then you can report it to Facebook.

Did you encounter any fake profiles? Please share your experience, and at the same time, share and tweet!

Tips on how to do keyword research for search engine optimization to help ensure your site ranks well in search engines like Google.

What are RSS feeds?

RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video in a standardized format. An RSS document which is called a feed includes full or summarized text plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content quickly and automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place.

Does my website have a RSS feed?

If you are using a platform as WordPress or similar content managament system then you have,if you use static html pages then you can use some scripts to create rss feeds for your website, if you are using a php, asp or similar dynamic pages connected to database than this is a easy task to acomlish with few lines of coding.

What information you need to prepare for submission?

You need url of your main website, url of your rss feed, description of your website or service, and few keywords you try to rank your website in search engines.

How to submit?

Submmision process is easy, you need to navigate to proper category where you wish to submit your url and rss feeds.After submitting your website and feed will be reviewed by directory editor and will be approved if it is under directory submission guidelines.

Follow submission guidelines

Rss feeds and web directories have submission guidelines read them before you submit you url and rss feed to any web or rss feed directory. If you website is in adult,gambling or illegal niche you will probably be rejected. Also do not submit sites that are not finished or are under construction, the title field should have the name/title of your site, not a bunch of keywords.

How submission of rss feeds to rss feeds directory will help my site?

After a successful submission you website willl be included in rss feeds directory with all links in your rss feeds which point to pages of your website.This way your web pages will have more visibility for search engines and will better rank in major search engines like Google and Yahoo.

So Start to Submit your rss feeds to free rss feeds directory like for ex: http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-submission.htm

Unless you’ve built a website just to showcase your collection of salt and pepper shakers, you probably want to attract some visitors. If your business depends on your site attracting visitors and soliciting sales, then web traffic is essential.

Simply submitting your site to search engines is not enough. You should work with your Webmaster to implement these ten tips to increase the level of traffic to your site.

1. Content, Content, Content!
First and foremost, make sure that your site is informative! Don’t just list your services, elaborate on what you do and why you do it well. The more detailed you are in your website, the better your search engine results will be.

2. Classified Ads
Take advantage of the variety of free online classified ad websites and get the word out about your new site!Be sure to always post a working link to your website. Get help from your webmaster on the proper html coding for a classified ad post if you need it.

3. Articles
One of the best steps you can take to promote your site is to write and publish articles (just like this one!). First, an informative article helps establish that you’re an expert in your particular field. Once a reader finishes the article, they may be inclined to follow a link to your website to learn more about you and your business.

More importantly, once you’ve distributed your article to some of the many online article directories, you’ll have created additional links back to your website that search engines will see and count. More on that in a moment.

4. Local Directories
There are two basic kinds of directories that should interest you. First, there are regional directories, perhaps for your local metropolitan area, then there are industry-specific directories. These are similar to search engines in that they list other web sites, but they’re compiled and organized differently. Additionally, many directories allow you to create an online profile that will include information about your business, rather than just a link to your website.

Take a few minutes to do some searches for directories in your area and in your industry, and submit your site to any you find appropriate.

5. Newsletters
Online Newsletters or eZine’s are a great way to keep your existing and potential clients aware of news or changes within your business. If your business model can support a regular newsletter, you should encourage visitors to your website to sign up for it. You might offer them a free copy of one of the great articles you’ve already written, as a reward for signing up.

When you’re writing for your newsletter, make sure that each of your topics has a Title, a Teaser, then a link back to your website to read the rest of the topic. If your topics are interesting and timely, then you’ll ensure repeat visits to your site.

6. Forums and Newsgroups
Another way to attract new visitors is to participate in online forums and discussions. Be sure to take the time to understand what the forum or newsgroup is about, and be respectful of other members. Simply posting ads or links to your website will likely just get you banned. Instead, post comments or questions that are on point, including a simple link to your site in your signature, and you’ll be rewarded with interested responses and visitors to your site.

7. Press Releases
Many businesses forget the power of a press release. When you have something that’s newsworthy, like the opening of your business, let the press know! They’re happy to print your release if they think it will be interest to their readers. When distributing press releases, be sure to look for online PR distributors, as well as your local news media. There are sites you can post your release for free, and other sites that will distribute your release for a nominal fee.

8. Blogs, Social Networking and Social Bookmarking
Blogs are online journals, and there are a number of websites that offer free blogging accounts. With your online journal, you can post a few tips or even full-fledged articles. If you submit new posts consistently, and the topics are interesting, you’ll start to attract a variety of visitors. There are a variety of networking sites, both social and professional, that will allow you to create an online profile for yourself and your business.

Finally, you should look in to creating accounts on several of the social bookmarking sites that have cropped up. These are sites that allow you to simply bookmark and comment on other websites.

9. Reciprocal Links
It’s very important that you find other websites that are willing to put a link on their site to yours. Some of the above methods will help accomplish this, but you should also give some thought to other site options, particularly sites that are related to your business. For instance, you might see if your Chamber of Commerce has a website, and if they do, make sure you have a link by your membership name. You might also consider other businesses that compliment yours, like how a mortgage company and a title company are complimentary. When approaching these businesses, you would offer to put a link on your site to their business, in exchange for a link on their site to your own business.

Not only will visitors to these other sites see the link to your site and follow it, but as we discussed previously, these additional links to your site will help your search engine ranking tremendously. Each link on a non-directory website is like a vote of confidence in you and your website.

10. Email and Letters
There are a variety of other ways to promote your website. For instance, every piece of communication that comes from your business should include your web address. Your email can have it in the signature, your letterhead can have it in the address area, and certainly it should be included on business cards.

Make sure that your email address is from your website and not your internet service provider. Why advertise for ABC.net when you could be advertising for YourCompany.com ?

So, I hope that you’ve gained a couple of ideas on how you can promote your website, and note that none of the above methods has to cost you any money, just a little time and effort.

The abbreviation known as DNS stands for domain name servers. They are an important but invisible part of the Internet. But first let me tell you a little bit about domain names…

A domain name is what appears on the address bar of an Internet page such as www.example.com. It is the address of the website that you are visiting. Your domain name is highly important to the success of your website; for a start your domain name should reflect what your business is about. So if you are in the business of selling phones your domain name should ideally have the word phone in it. This is because if someone conducts a search for phones your website will have more of a chance of appearing if you have this keyword in the address of your website.

New domain names are usually registered through the registrar for annual terms with a minimum of one year. The maximum length of prepaid registration is often 10 years, but varies depending on the policies of the sponsoring registry of the top-level domain under which registration is sought. Registration periods may be extended, usually at any time, until the end of a grace period after the registration expiration date. Domain names should also be kept short and should be something that is easy to remember so that people will be more likely to type your websites address into their browser.

Your domain name doesn’t actually appear as words, well it does to us but the actual name of your website is a 32 bit number, for example 199.249.130.4. Every website on the Internet has a number like this, they are known as the sites IP address. As well as every site having an IP address, every computer that is connected to the Internet also has their own IP address.

The reason that these IP addresses are changed into words is simply down to the fact that words are easier to remember. It is difficult to remember IP addresses, especially with how many IP addresses there actually are. Think about all of the sites that you visit daily, if these sites were all named with numbers would you be able to remember them all? The vast majority of us certainly couldn’t!

So when you type a websites address into your browser why doesn’t it appear as numbers, how does the computer find the site you are looking for? This is where a domain name server comes in. A domain name server converts the IP address of websites into words. The flexibility of the domain name system allows multiple IP addresses to be assigned to a single domain name, or multiple domain names to be services from a single IP address.

This means that one server may have multiple roles (such as hosting multiple independent websites), or that one role can be spread among many servers. One IP address can also be assigned to several servers, as used in any cast networking.

If you are using the Internet on a daily basis, you are already aware that the majority of Internet traffic is generated by search engines and directories. You’ve probably surfed the web and spent hours looking for instructions on optimizing your web site and submitting to search engines and directories. Much of this information is confusing and overwhelming and I can hear you screaming for help.

Getting ready to submit your site to search engines and directories can be time consuming if you do it yourself but it does not have to be complicated. I have reviewed hundreds of web sites as part of my business services and I discovered ten simple steps you need to take to get prepared for search engine and directory submission.

1. Build a professional web site. Buy your own domain name and get reliable hosting. Create or purchase a simple template design that fits the theme of your site.

2. Create a clear navigation structure and site map. Decide on your navigation in advance and make sure it is easy to use and it leads to all the pages on your site.

3. Add original content written for visitors and not search engine spiders. If you feel you cannot write well then visit Guru.com or Elance.com and hire an affordable copywriter.

4. Do your keyword research. Use free or paid keyword tools to find the most popular and targeted keywords for your text, headlines and meta tags.

5. Finish your website. Although you will add new content frequently it is important to show that your existing content is finished. Never use “under construction” signs and remove blank pages.

6. Regularly check all internal and external links to make sure they are working. Search engines and directories will not list sites full of broken links.

7. Don’t hide your contact information or privacy policy. Let visitors, search engines and directories know you are accessible and professional.

8. Check your grammar and spelling. Search engines hate sloppy, unprofessional text and I bet your visitors will too. See tip #3 above if you need to hire a proofreader.

9. Choose a tracking system and learn to use it to analyze your web site traffic. Without this you will have no idea if anyone is visiting your site.

10. Check your search engine ranking and link popularity reports regularly to monitor your results. There are many web sites that offer these tools. Find and use them.

When you have gone through and finished all ten steps then you are ready to begin your submission to search engines and directories. This is a complicated and time consuming task because you have to evaluate the reputation and ranking of each site, the available web site topics, how often you need to submit, the information they require from each site and you will need to determine if submission is free or paid.

There is software available that will help you with the preparation and submission process and reduce the time you have to spend significantly. If you decide to purchase software use due diligence before spending your money and make sure it is search engine friendly and that it performs the necessary tasks. Check for references from satisfied customers and make sure the software provides various reports so you can monitor your progress.

You may be on with your first website or you are redesigning a existing website, which is not functioning well. When you begin a website, your purpose should be very clear. For example: If you are a web design firm, you want to show off your high tech services keeping a particular kind of customers / visitors in mind. Keep it as simple and as direct as the functionality and purpose of the site allows you to.

A web designer has very little control on the page display since it depends mainly on the browser. However, making a webpage look similar on various browsers is challenging as well as rewarding. While creating a site, a web designer has to keep certain things in mind such as:

1. Various browsers
2. various versions of browsers
3. Operating system used by the customer
4. screen display area
5. Availability of plugin

One thing you must remember that a website is designed keeping visitors and customers in mind. Good designers look at their website through the eyes of their visitors. For example- if you run a site, which sells a product for elderly, you should make the layout easy, the font size large and design simple.

Optimizing web pages is the most important aspect of web design. An optimized web page loads quickly on the client’s system and your web visitor can quickly get the information they had come for.

Your website should reflect what your company is all about. That is why, the color is an important aspect in portraying your company. Blues and greys are considered as good colors for professional websites. The color used in your website should complement your company website’s logo.

While thinking of font size on your web page, write only in browser compatible fonts, because what looks good in your browser may not look the same in your customer’s browser.

Simple and clean website with little color and lots of white space can be a good site. Graphics should be few. The navigation system should consist of -

1. Left-side menu
2. Site search in the top corner
3. Major categories in the dark color bar
4. Services, shopping in grey blocks
5. Recent releases.

Photos can be effective on business websites. Well-composed photos can add a touch of class to your web pages. Commercial web sites are built from templates. You should build a template that constructs each part of typical webpage with a hole at the centre for content. You can create page after page from the template. For each page, you have to insert a page title, meta tag content, a headline and text content.

What actually makes a good website? Well, some of you might say a good website must be function-riched; others might think different and says that a good website must be nicely design, or fresh contents, or info-riched, the list goes on. Apparently, we can never have clear guidelines on a good website as different people have different preferences.

Nevertheless, regardless of people’s preferences, there are five essential elements that you cannot afford to miss if you wish to server a good website to your users.

Firstly a good website should always have a consistent style of content and design. Changing font colors and tone of writing from page to page will give weird feelings to your web users. Inconsistent stance on certain and change of tone in your writing style will definitely confuse your web users and harm the site creditability.

Secondly, a good website needs a proper navigation. Imagine your website as your garden; you do not want your users to lost middle in the way unless you’re planning to build a maze. Good site navigation will assure pleasant user experience and smooth information flow from the web publisher to the users. As a common standard (but not a must) of web designs, main navigations are often placed on top or on the side of website first fold for user convenience.

Also, on top of proper designed site navigation, an on-site search function will be a huge plus. A search function allows your users to get his/her desired page faster; a search function allows your buried deep content to get on top of the surface; a search function allows web owners to keep track on what he wrote previously easily. There are tons of ways to place a search bar on your website without knowing any programming skills. Google on-site search bar is a very good tool where very webmaster should use.

Thirdly, a reliable web hosting is a must for all websites. Fast response time, reliable server uptime – all these are must have for a good website. Your website must be accessible all the time and users should not be waiting too long for the website to response. Picking up a reliable web hosting is crucial for starter websites, upgrading your hosting plans or improving your own server resources are some of the instant step you can take to improve.

Accuracy is the fourth important element for a good website. You might not have too much time organizing your website but the info served should be accurate and up to date always. Your users are there to obtain information and its no good at all if you’re serving incorrect info to them.

Last but not least, give your web visitors a chance to contact you. Unless you are trying to con your web users, else your website contacts should be displayed with extra care and attention. Make sure that you placed your contacts, such as emails and phone number, are properly displayed. This is very important so that you web visitors can contact you if they feel the need to.

Listed above are the top five elements that a good website must have. Does your website have it all? You better start working on them if the answer is no.