Archive for September, 2007

by Andrew Stratton
Businesses nowadays heavily rely on computers to keep track of their records. Transaction data and other crucial information are held on computer servers.

The digitalization of transaction and other types of records has been a good thing because it has allowed companies to easily keep their records organized. However, even though this way of handling information is more efficient than previous other ways, it is still not fool-proof. That is because the files can still be lost forever if something happens to the server.

There are ways of protecting many other aspects of your business, and information is no different. Online backup solutions are an ideal choice if you want to ensure that your records are safe regardless of what happens.

These advanced solutions allow companies to back up their documents in a couple of different ways. In the event of something happening to the original copy, your business is still safe because there is a second copy you can fall back on. That is the beauty of this service: it keeps you from permanently losing important files.

There are various ways of backing up information. The type that you choose will be dependent on what your needs are.

Online backup service is a popular choice for those that deal with a lot of e-commerce. These businesses seek to protect their online transactions from being stolen by hackers or destroyed by viruses.

If something were to happen to your local files, the business could simply use the internet to access the designated web site and access the files again.

Usually banks, other financial institutions, and stores use this service because of the nature of their commerce. If you work with electronic data in any form, backing up your files digitally via the internet is a reasonable move.

Offsite backup solutions include any form of record keeping you have off the premises of the office. For some this is tape backup cassettes brought home every evening by a manager.

After Hurricane Katrina, you remember that countless businesses lost their offline records because the flood waters inundated countless stores, offices and homes. They were completely ruined by that.

Offsite backup can also be holding copies of your data at a remote storage location via the internet.

So, if something were to destroy your building and everything inside of it, you would not have to start all over because there would still be a remote copy of the files with your online backup service provider.

Instead of a tape, the copy is completed online, and the data is kept at a remote server in another city, another state, or even another country.

It should seem pretty obvious by now why it is so important to have an offsite backup solution protecting your records. Failure to have either can result in the potential loss of data.

It is very difficult for many businesses to overcome the loss of files, so it’s really in your best interest to get protection for your files. Otherwise, you could end up like the many businesses that have suffered irreparable damage due to information loss. That’s something you definitely don’t want, so prevent it from happening in the first place.

It is necessary for businesses to protect their data with the advent of e-commerce and information exchange. Losing data in a disaster can destroy a business. Be prepared with an online backup solution. Visit Global Data Vault to learn how to secure your data. http://www.globaldatavault.com

Article Directory: Article Dashboard

by Andrew Stratton
Over the past 20 to 30 years, most business data has been converted to digital form. Previously businesses would keep records on reams of paper. Now it is common to keep documents strictly on a server.

This practice is effective because it allows the business to keep records organized while also being practical.

But what happens if the information stored on the server is somehow lost? There are two possible conclusions.

The first is that the files were not backed up and is therefore lost. This is a devastating situation for the owner.

The other conclusion is that the business had its files backed up and can use the backup information now. The latter is obviously the more appealing ending, but why? And what is offsite data storage in the first place?

Basically, offsite data storage is a means of storing important information in a remote location. Suppose you have all of your information stored on your own web server. If something were to happen to the server, the information is gone, unless, of course, it has been backed up at a remote location.

To use remote electronic file storage is to ensure that there is a readily available second copy of your files should something happen to the original.

The concept sounds nice, but is there really a reason to use offsite data storage? The answer is a resounding yes! It is, by far, one of the best things you can do for your company.

It is absolutely crucial to have an offsite backup, as not having one can result in having to start over from scratch when you lose the original files. An online backup service provides the best means of remote storage.

An obvious reason for storing your files offsite is that it provides you with peace of mind.

Have you ever spent time worrying about the potential of losing all electronic information your business has collected? It is pretty likely you have, as it is a major concern among business owners.

Offsite data storage provides you with the opportunity to back up your documents in a secure location so that, should something happen to your server, you will still be covered.

Purchasing a back up web server to store all of your necessary information can be very expensive. It can cost a business thousands of dollars, not to mention the fact that you will have to hire more people to take care of the additional web server and keep it from failing.

Even if you have a good web server and skilled employees taking care of it, there is no guarantee that all your files are fully backed up.

That is a clear disadvantage to managing your own backup, which is why it is a great idea to use an expert online service instead. You will be saving money and getting more secure data storage than you would be able to create on your own.

The barrage of storms in recent years that have destroyed many homes and businesses has shown many that it is vital to back things up. Disasters can completely destroy all of your documents and leave you with no way to recover essential information.

When you get your files backed up at a remote location, you are disaster-proofing your business. Should a storm, natural disaster, or some human action occur that devastates your company, you will still have your files to access via the internet.

Natural and manmade disasters have the potential to destroy a business. Past experiences have proven that offsite data storage can jump start the recovery process. Visit Global Data Vault for ways to protect your business from disaster. that http://www.globaldatavault.com

Article Directory: Article Dashboard

by Dennis Jaylon
Babies are dependent on parents or caretakers. They cannot react to any kind of disturbances or dangers in a way that one can notice from a distance. This makes it necessary to track them round the clock to make sure that they are safe. Now, it is not possible for parents or caretakers to keep an eye on the baby every moment, particularly when it is sleeping.

Even if they attend it always, they will have to sacrifice lots of other works. This way, the smooth functioning of their daily lives will get disturbed. In order to get rid of this difficulty, mothers who are in charge of taking care of the baby can use baby monitors. This device will help them keep track of the little one when it is sleeping. And for that they will not have to be in front of the baby.

Baby Monitors have a transmitter and a receiver. You put the transmitter near your baby and keep the receiver with you. Whenever there is any problem to the baby, such as stopping of the breath or making no sound for couple of minutes, you will be alerted. So, if you are not there in the baby’s room, even then you will know that it is having some problem and needs your help.

From very simple to highly sophisticated, baby monitors are available in various forms. While some monitors let you listen to the baby only, with some others you can respond to them. Also, there are video monitors now that allow you to practically watch the baby when you are out there in the lawn or in the kitchen. Regarding design and style, you have a plethora of options available on baby monitors. You may also get them with handy features or pre-loaded lullabies in them.

Dennis Jaylon is a renowned business writer who has years of experience in writing technical reviews, product descriptions and product feature analysis of technical gadgets and gizmos. He has won appreciation especially for enlightening people about the latest communication gizmos…the baby monitors

Article Directory: Article Dashboard

by James Walsh
Hard drives have come a long way. Unlike other data storage media such as tapes, the hard disk continues to remain a favourite amongst the businesses as well as the home and home business users.

One of the most critical factors that can be attributed to the success of the hard disk is its adaptability with the changing consumer needs. A hard disk has evolved tremendously since its inception and it continues to challenge the other data storage devices.

Consumers’ data needs have changed immensely in the past decade. We create new data on an everyday basis and we want to store most of this data. Therefore, data storage plays a very important role in our lives today. It is almost hard to believe that when the hard disk was introduced in the market in the 1950s, its capacity was only 5MB!

With technological improvements, a hard disk’s capacity increased to 100MB in the 1980s. This improvement was widely applauded by the consumers at that time. However, if we think about the times today, this storage capacity would hardly seem worthy of appreciation, considering that 100MB storage space will not even be able to install an operating system on your computer!

Today, hard drive capacity ranges from 1GB to 500 GB, and the latter figure is still on a rise. You would think that high storage capacity of a hard disk would be accompanied by high prices. However, the actual fact is quite a contrast. As the capacity of a hard drive has increased, the price per MB has reduced significantly.

This decrease in price is primarily due to the improved aerial density levels of the hard disk. In addition, the performance of the hard disk has increased extensively. It is surprising to note that even though the technological advancements have made many previous technologies practically redundant, the hard disk has held its ground firmly.

The hard disk continues to remain the preferred data storage media on all computers because it is very easy to use. This benefit of a hard disk is derived due to its random access file structure. The random access file structure also enables the hard disk to perform faster than other backup media because the random file structure reduces the cataloguing process as well as the restoration time.

A hard disk can serve a wide variety of applications, interfaces, and connections, thereby making it almost ubiquitous. The users are increasingly demanding new applications that are more robust and the hard disk technology has responded to the changing consumer needs extremely well. A hard drive now has high spindle speeds, increased capacity, and an additional onboard cache.

The hard drive technology has also responded extremely well to the changing business needs. A 2.5-inch hard drive produces faster seek times, which is extremely useful when you want the applications to read and write numerous small files. The consumer electronics market has seen a significant growth in the past few years.

The issue of storage has become very important in hand-held consumer electronic devices and the users are demanding more and more storage to satiate their needs. Therefore, these devices need to support more functions and applications in order to store more data. Hard disks are playing an important role in the consumer electronics market as well.

Hard drives are replacing flash memory in digital cameras and portable music players because a 1-inch hard drive delivers up to ten times lower cost per megabyte than a flash memory. Home entertainment market is also experiencing huge growth. The digital video recorder has changed the way people watch television nowadays. Hard disk improvements are hugely responsible for this change.

Hard disks are now being designed in a way that gives consumers, content-providers, as well as the manufacturers the performance and features desired by them in the most cost-effective manner. The consumers can now enjoy high quality video because the hard drive features allow the streaming of the video in a way that enhances its video quality.

The media-rich mobile phones are also using the hard disk technology to support the various features and applications on the phone. Samsung introduced the first mobile phone with an 8GB hard disk in 2006. The phone allowed the users to store up to 2000 songs! The phone also offered USB 2.0 and Plug and Play feature that allowed the phone to be used as an external removable hard disk.

James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you are concerned about data loss and would like more information on Data Recovery see http://www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk

Article Directory: Article Dashboard

by Arthur Raise
Websites are like spider webs they grow and grow within a short time and before you are even aware you may find that the website has become unwieldy and hard to manage. A website is an on going process and needs efficient management. If your website has a lot of content in the form of data, articles, blogs, news items and so on you would need to consider implementing automated dynamic content systems.

CMS systems are essential for content heavy websites. If your website has over 1000 pages of content, the content evolves and changes constantly; there are systems like news feeds or RSS feeds that need minute to minute changes and there are over 30 contributors uploading content daily, weekly, or fortnightly.

Here are a few tips for experts who have spent a lifetime managing websites and learning from their own mistakes too:

1. Use a content management system that is simple. Never invest in any software that is rigid and does not have efficient systems and growth potential. If you are investing in an automated system think about future growth/adaptations, changing trend on the internet content, changes in web technology and so on.

2. Keep the management system simple and involve the human. Pick a CMS that has a good interface and get a team who has handled several different websites to design and implement yours. Keep the engineering simple and uncomplicated.

3. When selecting a CMS system ask about support systems. You will need this to deal with constant changes in content formats and changing trends on the World Wide Web. The internet is a thriving marketplace that evolves by the minute and to be ahead you will need an adaptable content management system with support that is on call. The CMS people will need to give instructions and training on a need to basis.

4. Before implementing the CMS system create a efficient content organization system. Consider aspects like taxonomy, navigation, user needs, and so on.

5. Be a professional and before you implement the system do a “test run” this will help you study efficacy and work out any kinks there are.

6. Create a CMS manual and conduct in house training sessions. This will ensure smooth functioning of the system. Never let one person be the CMS expert. Create a team will hierarchy so that the system will function irrespective of who is handling what.

7. When planning the content management system think beyond articles. Take into consideration other aspects like e-mails, search engines, customer feedbacks, RSS feeds, and so on.

Any efficient CMS system needs holistic efforts so think about analytics, reporting systems, up gradation and so on.

Arthur Raise is a writer for Content Management Systems , the premier website to find content management system, web content management systems, open source content management systems, comparison of content management systems, learning content management systems, free content management system and many more.

Article Directory: Article Dashboard

by Adrian Breslow
The World Wide Web is the marketplace of the present and future. Unfortunately not all merchants are honest or reliable. So, a cyber space shopper has to take care when choosing an online ink cartridge supplier. Before you even think of buying do some research and ask others you know to make recommendations. In case you are going to buy a branded ink cartridge most manufacturers have websites online. Word of mouth recommendations are what will guide you best when you need to find a reliable online website that sells computer peripherals.

• The first step is to know your needs. Kind of ink cartridge as well as specifications.

• Then, read all about the different kinds of ink cartridges available and decide whether you want a branded cartridge, a refill, or a compatible cartridge.

• Know the pros and cons and then surf the internet of websites that sell ink cartridges online.

• Short list a few online merchants who deal in computer peripherals and determine which one is reputed.

• Find out how long the website has been operational, whether the owners are listed, whether the website gives accurate contact details.

• Do a thorough background check on the website you plan to purchase ink cartridges from. Ensure they have no cases or complaints registered against them with the better business bureau.

• Never buy from a site that asks for money orders or cash payments.

• Avoid websites that request for details like bank account numbers or passwords.

• Check whether the online ink cartridge merchant has a reliable and secure payment gateway.

• Reliable online merchant will clearly state the rules and regulations of sale and give details like shipping costs, guarantees, and so on.

• Always check what the shipping policy is and how long the product will take to reach you.

• On your part protect yourself by reading the fine print and requesting for a receipt of purchase.

Reliable online ink cartridge merchants will have nothing to hide and will partner manufacturer’s of original ink cartridge brands as well as other reliable ink cartridges. Always check the World Wide Web for new warnings against online merchants.

Most reliable vendors offer a money back guarantee of 90 days to 365 days. The extended warranty is because most customers will not use an ink cartridge immediately on purchase.

If you are careful you can buy ink cartridges online and save money.

Adrian Breslow is a retired Ink Cartridge Agent and a writer for Cheap Ink Cartridges , the premier website to find free search for printer inks, bulk ink, ink cartridge recycling services, cheap ink cartridges, refill kits, ink cartridge, quality inkjet printer cartridges, printer ink cartridge, discount ink cartridges and many more.

Article Directory: Article Dashboard

by Davide Guolo
Introduction: This article explains how to speed up printing from DOS to a DOS compatible printer on Windows.
If you need to print from DOS to a Windows printer which is not DOS compatible, like a Windows-Only (GDI) USB printer or a virtual printer (WinFax, PDF writers, etc.), please see “How to print from DOS to Windows-Only printers”

The Problem: If you run a DOS application on NT-based Windows systems (Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista), you may find that your print jobs are spooled after many seconds, sometimes minutes, especially when printing to a network printer. It may even happen on Windows 95/98/ME machines.

The problem has two main causes:

1. How the DOS program manages the printing device
2. How the DOS program uses the CPU on the machine

1) Managing the DOS printing device
———————————–
In the age of DOS, most of the printers were dot-matrix and connected to a parallel port (LPT1:, LPT2: or LPT3:)

A typical DOS program sends binary data (characters) to one of these ports (usually LPT1:). A dot matrix printer can start printing that data as soon as it’s sent to the port and before all the data has been sent by the program.

A DOS programmer did not need to close the printing device (port) when the print job ended, because the printer had already finished its job.

Under Windows things are different. Laser and other graphical printers need to receive an entire page before rendering it on paper. Additionally, multiple applications running/printing on the same machine introduced the need for a printing queue, especially with network printers.

So, if the DOS program does not close the printer port at the print job end, then Windows does not know the job is really finished. It waits for a timeout value to expire before deciding to finally spool the next job.

If you’re in this situation, you can close the DOS program as soon as it finishes printing. You’ll see your print job start immediately because all the DOS handles will be closed by the Operating System itself, including the printer port.

The best solution for this problem should be to fix the DOS program, if you are the original programmer. In other articles I show you how to do this with popular DOS programming languages, like Basic and Clipper.

If you’re not a programmer, you can change the Windows timer above, to make the delay shorter. Do not set the value too low or the printer could start printing before the DOS program has really finished creating the job.

1) If you’re running an NT based Windows system (2000, XP, Vista)

The timeout value is stored into a Registry entry. TAKE CARE using RegEdit. It could be rather dangerous. If you’ll perform the wrong actions, your machine could even refuse to reboot.

In REGEDIT ( START -> RUN -> REGEDIT )
click : HKey_Local_Machine
then click : System
then click : CurrentControlSet
then click : Control
then click : WOW

here you’ll find the LPT_timeout property. Double clicking the value you can choose how many seconds you prefer, then reboot your machine to apply the change.

2) If you’re runnign an older Windows OS (9x/ME)

Search your C drive for the SYSTEM.INI file and open it with NOTEPAD (don’t use Ms-Word or other word processors)

in the [386enh] section search [Network] if it does not exist enter the following:

[Network]
PrintBufTime=10
[IFSMGR]
PrintBufTime=10

This will set the timeout to 10 seconds. Reboot your machine to apply the changes.

2) DOS CPU usage
—————-
Unlike Windows, MS-DOS was a single-user operating system. You could only run a single program at a time, which could even keep the entire CPU for itself, to work as fast as possible.

This causes a common problem for DOS programs running on recent Windows machines: the CPU hogging.

Typically, when polling the keyboard (during a wait state), the DOS program performs an infinite loop, to check it as fast as possible. In DOS this did not cause any troubles at all, but on Windows, the system might be so “busy” that no other tasks can be performed (including the print spooling process, which usually starts when the DOS program has finished printing and is waiting for user input, typically on a menu).

To check if your own DOS program is actually hogging the CPU, please try to leave the Task Manager opened while it’s on execution.

Press CTRL+ALT+DEL
Click the “Performance” tab

If the CPU usage often go to 100% while using your DOS program, then you’re experiencing this problem.

A DOS programmer cannot do much for this problem because the keyboard polling routine is usually implemented in a low level routine inside the DOS compiler itself. Fortunately some patches has been released for popular DOS compilers to include a “release CPU” command inside that loop. See below.

If the solutions in that page above does not apply to you, you may want to try TameDOS as a replacement for the Windows Command Prompt, which is supposed to solve this problem.

How to print from DOS to Windows-Only printers: http://www.printfil.com/article/print-from-dos-to-windows-only-printers.htmDOS 100% CPU patches at the Citrix website: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX846521If you want to know more about DOS, Unix, host printing to Windows printers, visit: http://www.printfil.com

Article Directory: Article Dashboard

by Andrew A Karasev
If you remember ERP players in 1990th, you would probably remember the technology trends and stakes: nobody could really say which OS will win: MS Windows, MAC, SUN Solaris, UNIX; plus nobody could also predict which DB platform will stay: MS SQL Server, Sybase, IBM DB2, Oracle, or somebody else. This was the IT environment, when Dex was designed and introduced as Great Plains Software Dynamics development environment, programming language (Sanscript) and customization technology. Addressing computer industry challenges, it was built on the following principles: OS and DB platform independence and as the proposed subsequence — longevity. Microsoft Dexterity currently is the basis for Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0, the latest version, it absorbed new technological features and trends: COM objects, ability to be integrated with Sharepoint, SQL Server Stored Procedures calls, and others

1. Programming in Dexterity. Dex is not technically Object Oriented language, so it is really hard to program Dex by example, as you would expect in the case of C# or VB.Net. Plus Dexterity is associated with Microsoft Great Plains architecture, this is why programming Dexterity requires several years of GP technical support experience, including GP data fixing with SQL scripts, data conversion, where you feed data from legacy MRP system to GP tables. You should also be familiar with major GP screens: SOP entry, GL transaction, POP Purchase Order, Inventory item maintenance.

2. DYNAMICS.DIC. This is Dexterity built dictionary, please be assured, that Dexterity source code is stripped out and as a programmer you will not find there procedures and functions scripts. In order to analyze Dex power and functionality, please review Dexterity manuals, available on Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 CDs

3. Custom and Alternate Dynamics forms. Dexterity architecture allows you to build new forms, as well as modify existing ones. Alternate forms are typically the issue in GP version upgrade, so we recommend you to avoid existing form modification option. Instead you should consider Dex triggers to work with existing forms and modify logic with the trigger

4. Extender. eOne version of extender allows you to deploy Dex power not being Dexterity developers, however you should expect limitations

Andrew Karasev, Alba Spectrum Group: http://www.albaspectrum.com help@albaspectrum.com 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918, serving Microsoft Dynamics GP Great Plains customers in USA/Canada nationwide. Local service is available in Houston, TX: Richmond, Sugar Land, Katy, Rosenberg, Missouri City, Pearland, Friendswood, Meadows, Mission Bend, Jersey Village; Chicago, IL: Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook, Romeoville, Joliet, Wheaton, Lisle, Downers Grove, Schaumburg, Elk Grove, Lombard, Woodridge

Article Directory: Article Dashboard

by Prabhash Bhatnagar
One on the biggest problems in the hospitality business is that you never have time. It’s nearly impossible to develop all the policies and measures to make your business run more smoothly. Not that it is easier in any other business, but by its very nature the hospitality business is very demanding. You have to be a veritable octopus to handle its various departments.

Since none of us are octopuses’ high-quality hospitality based software can provide a reprieve as well as a solution.

Hospitality software’s

Hospitality software’s are extensive software packages specially designed to help you manage your hotel. They can be used in hotels, motels, inns, resorts, lodges, hostel, military guest houses, ranch, suites, apartments and bed & breakfast. This type of software is also called Property Management System in the hospitality industry. They are created specially for the hospitality industry.

Hospitality software’s tend to have hotel specific spreadsheets, templates, forms, marketing promotions, training programs, menu analysis tools and financial tracking tools. The have many modules like: Hotel administrations, Hotel Front Desk Management, Hotel housekeeping, and Hotel accounting.

Modules of hospitality software

Hospitality software is divided into modules according to the different hotel departments

Administration- This module allows for the set-up and customization of the hotel. Creation of room types and features, season dates for multiple years, rates by room type and season, store inventory set tax rates, add, edit and disable employees as well as assign permission status, and form of payment all come under the umbrella of the administration module.

Front Desk- The front desk module is where most of the daily operation of the application will come from. Creating reservation, accessing report of guests scheduled to arrive/depart for a specific date, print check-in cards for all/selected guest for a specific date, check-in guests as the arrive, edit reservations, add charges to the rooms gift shop, spa and restaurant charges, checkout guests including billing details, work shift opening and closing functions including accounting for financial transactions are all a part of this module.

Housekeeping- This module allows the housekeeping, maintenance and front desk staff to stay in communication with each other. Daily Housekeeping reports: Staff accesses daily check-ins, checkouts, occupancies, vacancies, and maintenance notes as well cleaning instructions.

POS-Purchase of sale is an important module. It allows the sale total along with taxes updated as each item is added or deleted from the sale in the inventory. Payment information can either be entered to complete the transaction or assigned to a guest’s room for payment at a later date. Also Purchase details are  stored and saved for future reference.

Web Reservation- This module allows guests to book online and view rooms, pricing and room availability and receive a confirmation email when complete. Guests can also add specific requests.

Reports- This module provides daily reports on Reservations: check-ins and checkouts for the specified day, Close-out: Revenue by type: Cash, check, MC, Visa etc, Occupancy revenues, POS revenues, Housekeeping etc.

Characteristics of hospitality software

In order to be successful hospitality software should have
User Defined Fields for high flexibility.

High-quality graphical representation of rooms.

Real-time statistics.

100% web based application.

All of the modules should work closely together pulling from the same data without latency.

Maintain the website flow while maintaining the activities of the key departments by the hotel staff.

Prabhash Bhatnagar is Manager of Sales & Marketing, maker of hotel management software, and Resort management software handles the key aspects of the running of client’s business, including bookings & reservations, Housekeeping, Spa and POS and generating reports.

Article Directory: Article Dashboard

by Janis Elsts
Like the more popular ZIP archives, files with the .rar file extension are “archives” that contain one or more files or folders in a compressed form. These files are produced by file archiving software, the most common example being WinRar. Like most common archive formats, RAR employs lossless compression. This means that when you extract a file from the archive it will be exactly the same as it was before archiving. There also exist lossy file formats that discard some of the information in a file to compress it more efficiently. Most multimedia files (MP3, AVI and so on) that you’re likely to encounter are already compressed using lossy compression, so compressing them with RAR won’t produce a significantly smaller file.

Initially file archiving was used mainly to decrease the amount of disk space necessary to store a file. However, with large hard disks becoming more available and cheaper, compressed files are now rarely used for this purpose. Instead, .rar archives are now widely used when putting files online. There are several reasons for this :

* Compressed files lead to smaller download size and faster downloads. The RAR file format offers better compression than ZIP files, so the .rar archives are often smaller than .zip.

* One can put several files in one RAR archive, so the user only has to download a single .rar file.

* Multi-volume archives allow you to split a huge file (like a video) in smaller chunks that can be downloaded separately.

* Password protection - since anything you put online is typically accessible by anyone, the built-in password protection feature is needed to give a certain level of control over who can open the downloaded file.

Aside from downloadable files, the RAR file format is also used for backups, though this use isn’t as widespread.

As I mentioned before, the most common software for handling .rar files is WinRar. WinRar is shareware, but there are numerous free RAR extractors available that can open RAR files. Note that since the .rar file format is proprietary, none of the freeware alternatives can actually create RAR archives. Nevertheless, I still recommend you get a RAR extractor, because you’re going to encounter the .rar file extension sooner or later if you download files often.

This article about the .rar file extension was brought to you by Janis Elsts, an experienced computer programmer. Janis has put together a list of free RAR extractor software that you can use to open .rar files.

Article Directory: Article Dashboard