Choose a Projection Screen

Whether you are setting up a home theatre system, using your screen with a computer for business meetings or even in a stadium environment, there are certain things to take into account when purchasing a projection screen which can affect the efficiency of the product as well as the reliability of the product.

First determine if you need a front projection or a rear projection screen based on your projector and space requirements.

The screen surface affects the brightness and sharpness of the projected images. Lighting and intent of use are the most important factors. Matte finishes, the most common, provide good definition for text and color slides (best for use with computer applications). Smooth silver and white pearlescent finishes are good for most applications, but are subject to hot spotting. Lenticular surfaces are ideal for movies or other video applications and work well for rooms with side lighting such as living rooms.

The screens gain has to do with how much light is emitted from the screen when projected upon. A high gain will allow you to keep the lights on without sacrificing the ability to see the images on the screen. Gain is in direct opposition to the width of the viewing angle, so a high gain could hinder your ability to see the screen from the sides of a room.

The flatness of the screen can be more or less important based on your application, so when purchasing a screen a tensioning system may prove to be useful.

Black borders can be very helpful as they will provide a boundary around the edges of the projected image providing a cleaner, more professional look. Some also believe it tricks you into thinking that it a crisper picture as well.

Large screens often will have a seam down the center. Depending on your application and the distance that the audience will view the screen from, this could be more or less important. If this is a stadium scenario, the seam is less important, however if it is a small in home theatre, it may be distracting.

Specifically for motorized screens, check product reviews for reliability information. Screen repairs can be pricy.

choose a graphics or video card for your pc

When choosing a video or graphics card, you must first know the needs for upgrading such a piece of hardware. This is mainly for users that play video games a great amount or for use with graphics development. Choosing the right graphics or video card can be quite easily if your an experienced game player. However, for a graphics artist it can be quite a hassle.

The first step on deciding which graphics or video card is best for our needs. Since we are mostly going to be playing mostly online games, a video card would be best suitable for our needs because one, the memory made available to video rendering is great. Gigabyte video cards are essential for online gaming which is at least a gigabyte of video that is made available to our already capable computer that we have. Most computers today can run any late model video card without really any upgrades. However, the more R.A.M (Random Access Memory) we have in our computer, the better. Though anything of or better than 512 Megabyte's of R.A.M. especially of D.D.R. 1 through 5( Double Data Rate) is more than sufficient.

Now that we have figured out the type of video card we will be using, we need to know where to purchase this piece of hardware to give our graphics area a better view. Normally we can get them at a local Wally World or if your wanting to get really into it, you can go to any computer outlet and buy a high end video card made especially for online or offline game play. This way you get what you pay for and you know what your getting especially if it came from a computer outlet. While at the computer outlet, if your not a handy person on knowing where to put your new video card, ask them to install it for you and should not take any time at all, and they might even do it for free.

Now we can take our new computer with our newly installed video card and test it out with the games that we have wanted to play. This way we will know whether it works the way we wanted it to. Also the video card will give some extra added stability to our system and possibly make it run tremendously better.

Check How Much RAM is on Your Computer

Check How Much RAM is on Your Computer
Random Access Memory (or 'RAM' for short) is the memory your computer uses to operate programs. The more things you have running at once, the more RAM you require. Having too little RAM will also cause your computer to run slowly.

Open your Control Panel

Open 'System Tools'

Open 'System Information'

Look for 'Total Physical Memory' and 'Available Physical Memory'.

Consult with a professional or someone knowledgeable to discover if your computer would benefit from having more RAM installed or not. It's easy to install more and relatively inexpensive.

How to Be a Team Player at Work

Work. It's something most of us have to do to sustain our way of life. Putting yourself in a position to be a team player at work is beneficial in many ways. Being a team player at work can make the 40+ hour work week appear much shorter and alot more easy to endure.

When you and a work colleague have a disagreement on an issue, take the high road and compromise to find an answer to the problem. By taking the high-road on an issue, you can be a team player at work. You can also impress your bosses when there is a problem between you and a coworker and you sacrifice yourself to find a solution to a problem.

At times we find ourselves giving 120% on a job, and think we can't give anymore of ourselves to the cause. Then a coworker calls off work. This really sets you back with your deadlines. So when you boss comes up to you and asks you to work overtime to cover for that person, you stop yourself and think for a moment "this isn't my responsibility, I'm mentally and physically tired and I don't need the overtime money". Take the extra moment when you are thinking about all this and fight the mental and physically tiredness. Say yes. This will get the job done, help out your boss, put some extra money in your pocket (perhaps you can use that for a massage after work to help those tired muscles) and remind your boss just how much of a team player at work you are.

You have built up 20 years of time at your workplace. You have attained 4 weeks of vacation. So for the past 10 years, you have taken Christmas week off to spend more time with your family. Your workplace has hired some new people in the last year, and they will only get a few days off for vacation time. Instead of taking off your regular Christmas week, sacrifice your week off and let some of the people with less time use their time during Christmas. This will show you as a team player at work, because seniority would work in your favor and would give you the right to take that time at Christmas. You will also lead by example - years to come, when your coworkers are older with more seniority, they may think back to your kindness and do the same for those younger than them at your workplace.

It's your birthday and you'd much rather have off from work than to have to drag yourself into work. But you've used up all your personal and vacation time for the year. Make this day one to enjoy, not to dread, by baking cookies or cupcakes the night before your birthday and take them into work so everyone can enjoy your birthday. The break you take to eat your birthday treat will be a good time shortener to your workday. Your coworkers will see what a team player you are by your generous gesture.

How to be a Phone Actress

Do you have a sexy voice and a vivid imagination? Do you like talking on the phone? Can you transform yourself into someone else to play a part? If so, you may enjoy this unique work at home opportunity.

Realize that you must talk in a sexual manner. If you are too shy or this goes against your values then this job will not be for you.
Have at least one regular land line phone. Most companies don't allow you to use cell phones or cordless phones. Some require that you just have basic service--no call waiting or anything like that.

Create a realistic character. Use a name that is not your name but is believable like Amy or Julia.

Be flexible when you create your character because callers will want to speak to people of various ages and ethnic backgrounds so make your character general.

Keep an open mind. Be willing and able to transform your chanracter to satisfy the desires of the caller.

Find a company to work with like usachatline. Sign up with them as a call agent. You will be required to complete a short application and possibly an interview.

Have stories to tell your callers, be specific. Show don't just tell. Paint a vivid picture in their mind of what is going on. Your goal is to keep them on the phone for as long as you can. Your pay will usually be based on the # of minutes you average per call.

Be willing to work the hours people call in. Log in at various times and decide which is the busiest.

Take care of your taxes. Most places hire you as an independant contractor and do not take taxes out of your money so be sure you do.

Have fun with it!

How to Be a Pharmaceutical Sales Rep

Being a pharmaceutical sales representative is a highly coveted job that can be extremely fun and lucrative. The position involves interaction with every aspect of medical staff, including highly trained doctors in their field, extensive product knowledge training, travel, sales, and freedom. The field can be hard to break into but, with a little luck and a lot of skill, you can turn yourself into a top-notch pharmaceutical sales rep.

Networking is key to finding a position in pharmaceutical sales. Most positions are filled by referrals from other reps. Ask around and see if anyone knows any other drug reps. Ask your doctor's office for reps' cards and contact them.

Be prepared and have your resume ready. When you do make contact with another rep, make sure to have your resume up-to-date and written to emphasize your sales and marketing skills. The rep will hopefully pass your resume on to his/her manager.

Market. In the past, prior medical experience/knowledge was essential to selling pharmaceuticals, now the emphasis is more on marketing. When you score an interview with a pharmaceutical sales manager, dress professionally and wow them with your abilities. You will most likely be asked to "sell" the manager something, such as a pen. Describe the object's features (black ink, click on/off) and the benefits of the object (black ink shows up clearly, keeps pocket cleaner).

Train. Once you land a pharmaceutical sales job, you will be sent to training at corporate headquarters. You will be given the medical materials to learn. Study them well because you will be expected to have learned everything prior to training.

Behave. When you arrive at training, make sure you display professional behavior at all times. It can be tempting to go party with other reps and "let loose" from the pressure of sales training, but your manager will be informed of your behavior and you do not want to embarrass your manager. Reps have gotten fired from training based on their behavior.

Study hard and do your best. If you need help, ask the instructors. They are experienced former reps who know the business well. Your test scores will follow you throughout your career on performance evaluations, so work hard.

Set up your storage unit of samples and promotional materials and keep it well organized once you have finished training. Pharma companies constantly revise marketing materials and you want to be sure you're giving doctors the latest information.

Organize your time. Pharma sales is very flexible with a lot of freedom. Don't be tempted to cut corners to shorten your day. Get the job done.

Plan your work and work your plan. Make detailed lists of the doctors you need to see; their prescribing information; locations and sample cards. Load your car with fresh supplies every day. Planning your work in advance will allow you to complete the day much more easily (and earlier).

Communicate with your colleagues. Most pharma reps work in teams and call on many of the same doctors. Coordinate your efforts with other reps and share notes on the offices so that each rep can achieve maximum exposure to medical staff.

Think outside the box. Doctors see a zillion drug reps, so find a creative approach to getting the doctor's attention. Make sure your efforts are in total compliance with the selling guidelines established by the FDA and your pharma company.

Stay on marketing message. Companies spend a lot of time and money developing marketing materials and ensuring that everything is legal. Reps can get fired for changing the marketing message and the company can be fined large amounts of money.

Provide food. Many drug reps get time with doctors by bringing lunch to their office. Lazy reps bring pizza. Skip the pizza and do something out of the ordinary. Get something that they don't often have and will like. When booking a lunch with a medical office, find out if there are vegetarians or those with food allergies.

Take care of your receipts. Pharma reps often have big expense accounts, but that means a ton of paperwork at the end of each month to submit your expense report. Keeping track of receipts will help you avoid the last minute track-down of lost receipts and avoid getting stuck for the expense out-of-pocket if you can't provide a receipt for.

Be a Great Job Candidate

Competition for the best jobs with top companies is tougher than ever before. Don’t get lost in the sea of mediocrity. Today, you really need an edge to get noticed and hired into the job you want. What is special about you and your skill set? How can you make yourself sparkle in a big crowd of other equally qualified people? Read on for some ideas on highlighting your job candidacy and being a great job candidate.

Find and define your own employment niche. Look at all your skills and abilities. Identify the particular skill set that meets your dream job’s requirements. Then, see if you are lacking in some area. For example, if you an AS degree instead of a BS, start working toward the higher degree. You should have evidence to support the fact that you are moving toward a particular skill goal.

Research companies that offer the job you are seeking. Ideally, you should come up with a top ten list of companies that are close enough to you geographically, so you can make contact with them, meet with a representative or can apply directly for job openings.

Learn the inside scoop on the company. You can often befriend someone in either the HR office or through a professional association within your field of specialization. When you later get the chance to talk with a representative, you will have an inside track about what is happening there. Perhaps they just had a celebratory milestone or landed a big contract. Use this information as an icebreaker when you talk to someone in management and they will know you have really done your homework.

Attend events where the company has a strong presence (business after hours meetings, professional associations and trade shows) and meet some of their employees. Ask questions about the company, where they are focused, what he likes or dislikes about the job and if any job opportunities are in the works. Get names, titles and business cards of any contacts.

Send a letter to the President or General Manager. Express the fact that you have done research and want to work for them in the future. Tell him you would like to be considered for a particular job the next time an opening is available. Further, ask if you may meet with him for a few minutes in an informational interview. He may delegate this to another member of the management team or HR.

Recite your job search script that includes a synopsis, in about five minutes, of the highlights of your professional experience to date, to whoever you ultimately meet with at the company. Cover your education, years of experience in the key areas they are likely to be interested in and any major awards or distinctions.

Impress the company representative by dressing your best, demonstrating your impeccable interpersonal skills and presenting them with your flawless resume. If no positions are available or expected to be available within the next year, ask her where she would suggest you try to apply for a similar position. Listen carefully and take names.

Follow up with your contacts and be sure to send a thank you letter to anyone who meets with you. Make sure that the letter is grammatically perfect and shows your appreciation and enthusiasm. The letter should close with a statement about how excited you are about the possibility of working with him in the future.

Repeat this process until you hit on the right place at the right time. It will happen. Practice your job search script and carefully memorize it. Each time you go through this process you will get better at it and be more polished and smooth.

Assert Yourself on the Job

There is a fine line between assertiveness and aggression. It is seldom in your best interests to be labeled as aggressive, but assertiveness is a compliment and implies an ability to be tactful in achieving what you want. Read on for ideas on how to be assertive in your job.

Know what you want and need from others. Before you can objectively ask for help, you need to be clear, detailed and concise when asking for assistance or delegating to others working for you.

Encourage people to ask questions and get clarification on your requests. This means that you will assume there are questions and perhaps even answer things that you anticipate someone may ask. Be firm but as emotionless as possible when directing others on what to do and how to do it. Ask open-ended questions. Instead of “Do you have any questions?” say “What questions do you have about anything we have discussed?”

When someone becomes emotional for whatever reason, take the person aside and probe to find out what is going on and why. If you can provide help or guidance, do so. Try to give the person time to vent or discuss their preoccupation so they can get it out of the way and get back to the job.

If someone questions you in a negative way, deal with the objections rationally and as quickly as possible. Direct them back to performing the tasks of the job. If one person, “the troublemaker,” becomes belligerent, take him aside and review his responsibilities and priorities as needed. Be firm, direct and logical. If he is unwilling to perform a task that is important to his job, and continues to be insubordinate, you need to get others involved and give discipline as warranted by your company policy)

There are certain people who just have a knack for getting under your skin and becoming an annoyance. When you see this happening, try to break the usual pattern of communication and surprise them by being nice or joking with them or acting in an unusual but socially acceptable way. If you don’t let them get to you, they can’t do it.

Keep your objectives in mind at all times and have your own work priorities set in your mind. Sometimes you will have to push others a little to get the best out of them. Be willing to push or challenge them. You may be surprised to discover that something you said motivated them to go beyond the norm and produce a better, faster or more efficient result.

Encourage others to believe in themselves because you believe in them. Help them build self-confidence and reward them for a job well done. Even if you are not a direct supervisor or member of management, you can praise others or take them out for coffee if they have helped you achieve company goals.

Save Yourself Before Your Computer Crashes

The best way to retrieve your data after a computer crash is to save it all before anything catastrophic happens. A solid and redundant backup plan will ensure you don't lose a thing (or lose as little as possible) when your computer decides to kick the bucket. Here are some basic steps to keep your data safe. This article will teach you how to perform these steps manually, although there are some programs available do to the majority of your backup activities automatically.

Pick a day of the week to perform your backup activities. Set aside about a half hour to backup your computer.

Identify the data you want to back up. This may include work documents, photos, music and the like.

Create a folder on your external storage device or hard drive and label it with the date and "Backup." For example "04152007Backup".

Copy all the important folders you identified in Step 2 over to this folder on your external hard drive.

Insert a recordable CD or DVD into your computer's disk drive.

Using your favorite disk burning program, burn the folders you identified in Step 2 to the CDs or DVDs using the "Create Data Disk" or similar feature of your program.

Label the CD or DVD with the date and "Backup" using a label or a CD/DVD-safe permanent marker and store in your CD/DVD folder or other media storage.

Sign up for your choice of online storage sites.

Back up all the folders you identified in Step 2 to your online storage site.

Do this weekly.

Rename Digital Photos Automatically

You have a collection of digital photos which you want to rename. It will be difficult for you to rename each and every photo serially or in identifiable groups. There is a very simple way to rename photos. Perform this method to rename all or some photos automatically.

Download ‘FastStone Photo Resizer 2.5’ from www.download.com or any Software Web Site. It is a Freeware. Open it by double clicking its Shortcut. Read ‘Help’.

After it opens, click ‘Batch Rename’. A list of the folders etc will appear in the left panel. Select the folder in which your photos are stored. Double click it. The list of photos will appear in the left panel.

Select the photos, you want to rename. Click ‘Add’ button. A list of the selected photos will appear in the right panel.

Batch Rename Read ‘Tips’ given below the right panel. Write the name and the symbols in the ‘Rename As’ box.

Click ‘Rename’ button and confirm the action. The selected photos will be renamed and saved in the same folder. (Previous names will be replaced by new names).

If you want to rename all the photos of the folder, highlight the folder, click ‘Add’. The selected folder will appear in the right panel. Click ‘Rename’ button and confirm the action. All the photos of the folder will be renamed serially.

Recover a Lost Administrator Password

Have you ever forgotten or lost your login password? Then this article or how to is for you. NOTE: This process will only work with Windows XP Home and Pro Editions.

When you are booting up your computer, you need to press F8 in order to get into the per-windows start-up.
Once you are in this stage , you will need to boot your computer into safe mode. This will give you access to the basic programs of Windows XP.

Once you have booted into safe mode. You will have to access the administrator account and create a new account or you can reset your admins password from this location.

Prevent Your Computer from Being Hacked

Today more and more people are using their computer for everything from education to online bank accounts. It would be great if there were no risk online, but there are! Hackers are a major problem when it comes to your personal computer files, follow these steps to make sure your safe!

Always make backups of your files and folders and store them in a separate place than your computer.

Make sure you have a good firewall. This will prevent worms, Trojan viruses and spy ware from infecting your system. Some applications require that you disable your firewall, so use good judgement.

Review your browser and email setting for security. Make sure to constantly erase your "cookies" folder. Cookies pose almost no threat for damaging computers however; they do track your daily actions online. Set your "internet zone" for high and your "trusted sites" for medium low security.

Watch out for Active-X and JavaScript files as hackers can plant viruses and other harmful elements in your programs.

Norton is the way to go! Install some kind of anti virus software and make sure to set it for automatic updates. New viruses are found everyday, so make sure you update regularly.

Don't open attachments! Don't open unknown email attachments, many of these contain viruses and allow hackers to get into your system.

Only run and download programs from places you trust. Never send these files to friends and co-workers due to the high virus risks.

Turn off your computer and disconnect from the internet. Hackers can't get into your system if your computer is off.

Choose an Excellent Computer or Laptop

It is not too hard to choose a computer or laptop when you know what you are going to use the computer for. That is the key, knowing yourself, and knowing the use you intend to give the laptop. Here is the email box and comment box; please do leave at least one comment. Let me know that you are reading here? And then there are the tips and warnings at the end.

There are some things that you need in a laptop or computer --that are considered necessities rather than luxuries.

If you shop around at a store, the salesperson there will point you to the computers that he or she wants to sell. So, you are not getting an unbiased opinion of which computer to purchase.

In this article, I give some helpful hints and suggestions to those who are going to choose computers today, this month or next month.

First decide how you will use your computer. Most people use it this way--either for everything or for practically nothing. You decide how much you use your computer.

If you use it for practically nothing, that means you might check email, send email and maybe do a little of the net surfing (shopping, browsing, and checking out the news or weather online). If this is your computer profile, then you need basics and can get by with almost any brand new computer there is on the market today.
Step2
However, if you want to do a little more with your computer. You want to browse, surf, send email. You want to send pictures or scan pictures into your computer from a scanner. Or perhaps you want to put pictures onto your desktop (on your computer) through a cellular phone or through an external camera. Then you need a little bit more than basics. Sometimes you might want to transfer pictures to a disk ( a cd), and or other times you might want to download music to a disk or to your computer. The more and more that you intend to use your computer, the more features you need.

If you want to use your computer for all those activities and tasks and more, and if you want to compose documents with your computer and use other graphic or word-processing programs, then you will need these at the very least:

1. Laptop (preferable but a desktop is acceptable)
2. USB ports (preferably three or four of these, though one might be acceptable--depending on use).
3. CD and DVD-Writer (Now, you can transfer files, music, pictures plus videos right onto a disk. You can take almost everything off your hard-drive and keep it safe on disk. I recommend doing duplicates, just in case. You will always have your important files and pictures that way).
4. You might want an extra or a long-lasting battery for your laptop. If you intend to travel with it, or even use it on the road locally , a lot, then you would want to purchase that long-lasting battery, or that extra battery. Sometimes these can range about two or three hundred dollars depending on the laptop.
(Some batteries last two hours while there are rare few that promise to last five hours. Obviously, if yours lasts five hours, you might not need two batteries).
5. If you live in an area that is stricken with tornados, earthquakes and blackouts on a regular basis, an extra investment in that extra battery might be quite helpful to you--especially if you work from your home computer.

6. Security programs: Most modern, brand-new computers have some security programs built right in. For example, most have "McAffee" or "Norton" with a free three-month trial basis. Personally, I do not like either of these two programs. You can try out an awesome program online--for free, called, "Zone Alarm". This is a very cool security program which actually captures offending ISPs and also keeps logs of everything. There is just something about Zone Alarm. I believe it is quite a helpful program.
Step3
Recommendations are helpful. And, in keeping with that statement of fact, I recommend ACER. Acer is a very cool computer company. I have used their computers for a number of years. I am very satisfied with the company.

I found an advertisement once in a magazine and thought, "I have never heard of that company". But, I decided to take a chance and try it (since it was on sale, anyway). I am so happy that I took the chance and tried Acer.

Probably, other than Apple, I would not choose another company for computers other than Acer.

Compaq is a great computer company also. A number of years ago, I used their customer service and I was completely satisfied with their company.