IBM Websphere Portal Interview Questions and Answers for Developers

IBM Websphere Portal Interview Questions and Answers for Developers

Below is the list of IBM Websphere Portal basic interview questions and answers. These IBM Websphere Portal interview questions and answers are meant for freshers as well as for experienced developers. So, If you going for an interview on IBM Websphere Portal,  I suggest you to must give a look at following IBM Websphere Portal interview questions. These IBM Websphere Portal interview questions are based on basic introduction to IBM Websphere Portal,  why we need IBM Websphere Portal, Dynacache, Websphere Portal Life Cycle, PortletContext, PortletSession, Websphere Portal Architecture, Trace and logging for WebSphere Portal, LDAP, ReleaseBuilder tool in WebSphere Portal, Authoring and Presentation Templates  etc. So lets have a look on following basic IBM Websphere Portal interview questions and answers.

1.What is Portal?

Portal is nothing but a web/J2EE application installed on an application server. Portal provides content aggregation, personalization, authorization and authentication.

2.What are Portlets?

Portlets are applications managed by portal container which generate fragment of portal page rather than complete page as generated by servlet.

3. Differences between a Portlet and servlet?

Portlets generate only fragment of the portal page rather than entire page

Portlets have more refined request cycle than servlet

Portlets have predefined modes and window states

Portlets are can be only invoked using portlet URLs

4.What are different phases of portlet life cycle?

Portlet life cycle has following phases

Initialization(init method)

Process action

Process event

Resource serving

Render

Destroy

5. What are the different types of Portlet URLs and their use?

There are three types of portlet URLs

Action URL- used for submitting forms

Render  URL- used for links

Resource URL – used for ajax calls and serving documents (pdf files).

6. Difference between JSR 168 and JSR 286 specifications?

The major changes in JSR 286 are events, public render parameters, resource serving and portlet filter.

7. How is the inter portlet communication carried out in JSR 168 portlet?

The inter portlet communication for JSR 168 in websphere portal can be done using dyna cache or shared library. We can create a hash map or any data structure, where we can store an object that need to be transported with unique key and retrieve it from the receiving portlet

8. Can you create a DB connection in render phase? Explain reason?

Yes we can create DB connection in render phase of portlet. But it is not suggested to create one in render phase because it will called every time any other portlet on the page is changed and may result in stale DB connections.

9. What are different modes supported by JSR 286?

Different modes supported by JSR 286 are view, edit and help. A portlet should define its supported mode is portlet.xml file.

10. What are different States supported by JSR 286?

Different  portlet states supported are normal, maximized and minimized.

11. What is Dynacache?

Dynacache is disturbed map used to store and retrieve objects from memory. IBM provides API to create, store retrieve the objects.

12. What is CSA?

Client-side aggregation (CSA) is a new method of rendering a WebSphere Portal page that moves the rendering workload from the server to the client. It is made possible by the Representational State Transfer (REST) services introduced in WebSphere Portal 6.1.

In the traditional server-side aggregation (SSA) rendering, the page and each of the portlets is completely rendered on the server, using JSPs, and returned to the client in one big response. 

In contrast, in CSA, we request only the pieces of information from the server that are required to update the page as a result of the user’s interactions with the page.

For example, if a page contains four portlets and the user clicks a link in one of the portlets, only that portlet is updated. This means the server must render only one portlet, instead of four portlets plus the theme for an interaction with a single portlet.

The REST services also take greater advantage of caching. Since each individual artifact can be independently cache-able, the client ends up retrieving a greater number of responses directly out of cache, further reducing the server workload.

13. What are different modes available in Websphere Portal?

A part for standard modes ( view, edit, help) it provides edit_ defaults and configure mode.

14. What can you do with XML access scripts?

Xml access is command line utility used for exporting and importing portal configurations. It can be used for backing up the configuration of certain environments, for loading new configurations (for new portlets or pages, for example), or for updating existing portlets when a new WAR file is provided by development. There are few samples C:\IBM\WebSphere\PortalServer\doc\xml-sample

15. What is model spi and what is it used for?

Web sphere uses different model for providing content aggregation and navigation The available models are Content model, navigation model , navigation selection model and layout model. These models are provided using model spi.

16. What is Navigation model? 

Navigation model is used to get topology of the navigation available to a user.

17. How do you solve problems related to themes and skins?

We can debug theme and skin problems by client side logging and using firebug for javascript problems

18. What is Web Content Management System (WCMS)?

Web Content management system is a software system that helps build and manage a Web entities (html pages, documents etc.) Once setup is complete it provides templates for authoring, workflow management to the content.  It is easy to use for non technical user.

19. What is syndication?

Syndication, (Web syndication in particular) is a ability to provide users updates of the content from the site. The most popular formats of web syndication are RSS and ATOM feeds.

20. What is local rendering and remote rendering?

The web content management portlets can be rendered local or remotely. A local rendering portlet displays content on the same portal as the instance where the web content manager is installed. A remote rendering portlet displays Web content on a different portal server than the instance where Web Content Manager is installed.

21. What are different steps in creating content for WebSphere portal WCM?

The following are different steps involved in creating the content for the WebSphere portal WCM

Create Library

Create Workflow

Create Site area (Sites are removed in WebSphere Portal 7.0)

Create Authoring templates

Create Presentation templates

Map authoring and presentation templates

22. What are workflows?

A workflow is a sequence of steps that are followed in creating approved content. In WebSphere portal, A workflow contains one or more stages. Every stage contains one or more actions, the following are different Workflow actions available in WebSphere Publish, Expire, Email, Scheduled Move, Custom Actions.

23. What are Authoring and Presentation Templates?

Authoring Template- This template is defined using authoring portlet, where we define the access information,  form properties and default content. It does not contain any information for presentation and The elements in this form are linked to presentation template.

Presentation Template- This allow to change the look of a page without having to update what is being displayed on a page. It will allow to define Page style, Page layout and map element to the authoring templates.

24. What is the difference between personalization and customization?

Personalization-   It means to serve the user or consumer with user specific data depending on his interests collected over a time. A real world example would be google serving ads basing on the recent search you made.

Customization-  It is ability provided to the user to change the layout, styling of the page and save it.

25. What is the difference between Application Server and Portal Server?

Application servers extend the ability of a Web server to handle Web application requests, and enables a server to generate a dynamic, customized response to a client request. A portal server extends the application server by providing a portlet container that can run portlets and to create portal a website that provides users with a single point of access to Web-based resources by aggregating those resources in one place.

26. What are the steps involved in deploying themes and skins in a clustered production websphere portal environment ?

Export the WebSphere wps.ear (Portal EAR) using wsadmin.

Use EarExpander tool to expand the exported wps.ear file.

Copy the updated themes and skins into ../themes/html, ../skins/html folder.

Use EarExpander tool to collapse the EAR directory into an EAR file.

Use wsadmin to update the wps.ear to complete the deployment of updated themes and skins.

27. What changes needs to be done to view changes to your theme and skins JSPs without restarting the portal server?

You need to enable automatic JSP loading by setting reloadingEnable property to true in ibm-web-ext.xmi file of the wps.ear.

28. What are the 3 different ways of installing a portlet application in WebSphere Portal?

Install a portlet using the portal administration page using Web Modules portlet.

Install a portlet using xmlaccess tool.

Pre-deploy a portlet as a standard EAR by installing the portlet WAR file in WAS console and then registering the portlet using xmlaccess.

29. What is the purpose of XMLAccess configuration file Export.xml & ExportRelease.xml? What is the difference & When will you use one over the other?

Export.xml exports the complete portal configuration and useful when transferring configurations between development installations.

ExportRelease.xml exports the complete portal configuration from the release domain as required by the portal ReleaseBuilder tool and useful when tranaferring different release configurations between staging and production environments.

30. List me the steps involved in building a release in WebSphere Portal?

If you have a completely new installation of the staging server and the production server:

Install the staging server, then install the production server.

Develop a release on the staging server.

Build the release on the staging server.

Empty portal contents on the production server by running the WPSconfig.sh|bat action-empty-portal task.

Import that release onto the production server. Refer to Transferring a complete configuration for information.

If you already have a production server without a staging system:

Export the release of your production server.

Install an empty staging server using one of the following two methods:

Install the staging server with the flag -W emptyPortal.active=True.

After installing and configuring the staging server, run the WPSconfig.sh|bat action-empty-portal task.

Import the production release onto the staging server. Refer to Transferring a complete configuration for information.

Develop and build a new release on the staging server.

Export that new release from the staging server.

Use ReleaseBuilder to generate the differential between the two releases.

Import the differential onto the production server.

31. What is the purpose of ReleaseBuilder tool in WebSphere Portal?

ReleaseBuilder enables management of release configurations independent of user configurations and used during staging of follow-on releases of WebSphere portals, configurations, and artifacts need to be moved between systems.

32. What are the steps involved in editing WebSPhere Member Manager (wmm.xml) files on a federated node?

On the primary node of the WebSphere Portal cluster, check out the files using ./WPSconfig.sh check-out-wmm-cfg-files-from-dmgr task.

Make any changes to the Member Manager files. The files can be edited in the portal_server_root/wmm directory on the WebSphere Portal node.

When you have completed your changes, check the files back in using ./WPSconfig.sh check-in-wmm-cfg-files-to-dmgr.

33. List different types of user registry supported by WebSphere Portal?

LDAP (includes LDAP with an optional database user registry).

Database user registry.

Custom User registry, (non-LDAP, non-database).

34. What is LDAP realm support and why would I want to use it?

A Realm allows you to group users from one or more LDAP trees of one user registry and expose them as a coherent user population to WebSphere Portal; this is also referred to as horizontal partitioning. Realms allow a flexible user management with various configuration options; for example, you can combine principals from one or more corporate LDAP tree. A realm must be mapped to a Virtual Portal to allow the realm's defined user population to login to the Virtual Portal.

35. What is an Application group and why would I want to use it?

Application groups is a concept that allows you to define user groups within the database user registry with members (users or groups) contained in the LDAP user registry you configured. 

The benefit of application groups is that you can create Groups that are only used in WebSphere Portal particularly in scenarios where there is Read-only LDAP or special group setup specific to the portal.

36. What are the two methods to install the empty staging WebSphere portal server?

Empty portal contents on the staging server by running the ./WPSconfig.sh action-empty-portal.

Install portal with the ./install.sh -W emptyPortal.active="True" option.

37. How do you stop portal traffic to the node being upgraded in 24x7 cluster upgrade process ?

Locate the cluster member being upgraded, and change the value in the Configured weight column from a value to zero and make sure the plugin config information is propagated to webserver to stop traffic.

38. How to set limits on searches for users and groups?

Setting a maximum number of search results maximumSearchResults="200" in wmm.xml

39. What portal resources are scoped for virtual portal?

Portal pages.

Portlet instances.

Portal Search Engine search services and search collections. This includes the search content sources.

40. What portal resources can't be seperated for virual portal?

Themes and skins.

Vault segments and vault slots.

Supported clients and markups.

Composite applications and templates.

Policies.

41. How do you enable temporary and extended trace logging for WebSphere Portal?

Temporary traces can be set for a temporary period by using the administration portlet Enable Tracing or the IBM WebSphere Application Server administrative console and also using the Enable Tracing portlet in the portal administration page.

To enable extended trace settings for a longer period of time, that is, for more than one session, switch them on in the WebSphere Application Server configuration, save the updates and restart the portal server.

42. What are the different states of the syndication process?

Idle: No syndication is occurring.

Pending: A request has been made to the syndicator, but it has yet to initiate a request to the syndication application.

Queued: The syndicator has sent a request to the syndication application, but syndication is not yet active.

Active: Syndication is occurring between the syndicator and subscriber.

Disabled: Syndication is currently disabled.

43. What are the two types of rendering portlets?

Local rendering portlet and Remote rendering portlet

44. Explain Portal architecture.

The core implementation of the portal is UI, hosted by a Portal server. The HTTP requests, HTML responses, and returning appropriate portal pages are handled by the Portal UI. Enterprise Web application also can be handled by the Portal Server.

The portal architecture has the following:

Automaton Server: This server performs the management of job scheduling and implementation of a portal. It accesses all remote crawlers and profile services retrieved and stored from a remote database.

Image Server: This server hosts images and other web page content used by web services and a portal. With this configuration, large static files are to be sent directly to the browser without portal server impacts.

Search Server: This server indexes and searches all the information, applications, communities, documents, web sites through portal.

Collaboration Server: Web content publication and management for portals and web applications are supported by this server. Its functionality can be accessed by a remote web services through Enterprise Web Development kit.

Content Server: Publication and management of web content for portals and web applications along with form based publishing, branding, templates, content expiration is allowed by this server.

Authentication Server: This server handles the portal authentication for users and remote services can be accessed through EDK.

Remote Servers: Web services written using the EDK are hosted by remote servers. The servers can be in different countries, on different platforms and domains. 

45. What is PortletSession interface?

User identification across many requests and transient information storage about the user is processed by PortletSession interace. One PortletSession is created per portlet application per client.

The PortletSession interface provides a way to identify a user across more than one request and to store transient information about that user.

The storing of information is defined in two scopes- APPLICATION_SCOPE and PORTLET_SCOPE.

APPLICATION_SCOPE: All the objects in the session are available to all portlets,servlets, JSPs of the same portlet application, by using APPLICATION_SCOPE.

PORTLET_SCOPE: All the objects in the session are available to the portlet during the requests for the same portlet window. The attributes persisted in the PORTLET_SCOPE are not protected from other web components. 

46. What is PortletContext interface?

The portlet view of the portlet container is defined by PortletContext. It allows the availability of resources to the portlet. Using this context, the portlet log can be accessed and URL references to resources can be obtained. There is always only one context per portlet application per JVM. 

47. How to change the default portal URI /wps/portal after installation?

Set the property WpsContextRoot to the new URI and run ./WPSConfig.sh modify-servlet-path task.

Effective SEO Blog Article and Content Writing Tips

Effective SEO Blog Article and Content Writing Tips

Are you a passionate blogger? Do you write quality content in your blog which is also search engine friendly? In this article "Effective SEO Blog Article and Content Writing Tips", I will try to gather and share some tips on writing SEO blog articles with unique and quality content. 

Your blog article content writing should be of good quality, well-researched, interesting, search engine optimized and unique. Without quality content writing, your blog can fail to engage visitors and attract repeat visits and subsequently will perform poorly within search engine rankings. So, quality content is the key to success of any blog article. 

Here are few tips for effective and search engine optimized content writing for your blog articles. You need to keep following things in mind before writing a profitable content for your blog:

1. Research your blog article theme and idea: Whenever you sit to write an article for your blog, give it proper time and interest and research your subject. You should have a great knowledge about the topic on which you are going to write a blog article. The internet is a great place to start and can inspire you and lead you into further avenues. Think of the content and search it online to know what other people are saying about that. Get idea from other people and mix your ideas in their ideas and generate an interesting story from that. You have to simply gather your thoughts together and explain them on paper. Once you have researched your subject well enough and made notes on the areas you want to focus on, you can begin to structure your blog article content. Passion and a good knowledge of any subject material is always a great starting point for any well written and delivered blog content. Consider what your research has told you, how it can be ordered into paragraphs, and what your main argument is. This will be your thesis and should drive your blog article from start to finish.

2. Analyze your blog article ideas: A good blog article will analyze the research it refers to, looking for strengths and weaknesses and forming original opinions in a clear, concise way. If you have read some interesting research that you don’t agree with, include this in your blog article argument as it’s useful to find both negative and positive points to write about, using your own insights. This is known as brainstorming and makes your essay really stand out. Convey your thesis through your paragraphs, with clear points from your plan in front of you so that you remain focused and say what you need to without losing your way! Before you start writing any article, you better understand it first. You should know what you are writing and what all is required in the article. Doesn't start writing just for the sake of writing, it would lead to a quantity but will compromise with quality? So think before you write and generate a quality article.

3. Add search engine optimization spice to your blog article content: Your blog article content should not have exaggerated amount of keywords and key phrases. This often does produce negative ‘SEO’ (search engine optimization) results. If you introduce poorly written, low value and overly keyword-stuffed blog content into your blog, ‘SERPS’ (Search Engine Results Page) will probably not return preferable page 1 listings within Google, Yahoo, Bing or any of the other major search services available. If your blog fails to show up within the first 10 pages of any search engine result for the desired terms, then it may as well be invisible. Excellent content writing always puts any blog above their badly written counterparts.

4. Try to write short blog article: Don’t write too big blog articles because nobody today has enough time to read an article of 2000 words. Keep your article simple and short and try to wrap it up in 800-1000 words. Make every word count and you’ll save time without letting quality slip.

5. Give time to your blog article: While writing if you are not getting words or not getting points to write content on the particular article, do not stress. Take break or save that article and write on it after some time. This will fresh up your mind and will help you to generate new ideas and content for your blog article.

6. Use paragraphs and bullet points: Article looks more attractive and readable when you divide it in parts. Give step by step information using bullets or numbering. This will give you more space to write a quality content and will make it easier for people to read it and understand it without wasting much of their time. This will also save lot of time for you.

7. Analyze Grammatical Errors: While writing a blog article content, keep in mind that you spell accurately, use correct grammar and phrasing. Poorly-written and low quality blog content will lead you nowhere.

Conclusion – Leave the reader with an interesting hypotheses of your own, which is in response to all the research you have carried out – or to one quote that made an impact on your blog article content. A good conclusion does more than summarize the blog article; it suggests an answer of its own.

What is DNS (Domain Name Server)

What is DNS (Domain Name Server)

DNS (Domain Name Server) is used to translate a domain name into IP address. This makes it possible for a user to access a website by typing in the domain name instead of the website's actual IP address. DNS is similar to a telephone directory.

Meaning of COM, NET, ORG etc.

COM -- commercial Web sites, though open to everyone
NET -- network Web sites, though open to everyone
ORG -- non-profit organization Web sites, though open to everyone
EDU -- restricted to schools and educational organizations
MIL -- restricted to the U.S. military
GOV -- restricted to the U.S. government
US, UK, RU and other two-letter country codes -- each is assigned to a domain name authority in the respective country

Domain Names should be unique

A registrar is an authority that can assign domain names directly and register them with InterNIC, a service of ICANN, which enforces uniqueness of domain names across the Internet. Each domain registration becomes part of a central domain registration database known as the whois database. Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI) was one of the first registrars, and today companies like GoDaddy.com offer domain registration and many domain management services.

How DNS (Domain Name Server) works?

1. If it has the domain name and IP address in its database, it resolves the name itself.

2. If it doesn't have the domain name and IP address in its database, it contacts another DNS server on the Internet. It may have to do this multiple times.

3. If it has to contact another DNS server, it caches the lookup results for a limited time so it can quickly resolve subsequent requests to the same domain name.

4. If it has no luck finding the domain name after a reasonable search, it returns an error indicating that the name is invalid or doesn't exist.

 

Registering a domain

Each domain name must have at least two name servers listed when the domain is registered. These name servers are commonly named ns1.servername.com and ns2.servername.com, where "servername" is the name of the server. The first server listed is the primary server, while the second is used as a backup server if the first server is not responding.

Name servers are a fundamental part of the Domain Name System (DNS). They allow websites to use domain names instead of IP addresses, which would be much harder to remember.

What is Parked Domain?

Using the DNS servers from your registrar or hosting company means that you have a parked domain. This means that someone else owns the computer hardware for the DNS servers, and your domain is just part of that company's larger DNS configuration.

What is Domain Propagation?

Domain Propagation is the period of time, or delay, involved in sending your domain’s address information to all the other name servers in the world. Name servers intentionally keep track of addresses for domains in their memory for a specific period of time which is defined by the administrator of the name server. This speeds up the process of looking up an address for a domain name. Unfortunately this “cached” information also stays in the name servers when it has been changed at the source of the original information (the domain’s registrar).

Name servers refresh themselves from once an hour to once a day. Generally 2-3 days time is a good estimate when a domain’s DNS information is changed at the domain registrar, after which everyone in the world can see the change.

Advantages and Disadvantages of SaaS (Software as a Service) Business Model in Cloud Computing

Advantages and Disadvantages of SaaS (Software as a Service) Business Model in Cloud Computing

Defination of Software as a Service (SaaS)

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a type of Cloud Computing. SaaS is a software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a vendor or service provider and made available to customers over a network, typically the Internet. SaaS is also known as "on-demand software". In SaaS, software and associated data are centrally hosted on the cloud. SaaS is typically accessed by users using a thin client via a web browser.

Advantages of Software as a Service (SaaS)  

1. SaaS (Software as a Service) is Cheap

Software as a Service allows organizations to access business functionality at a cost typically less than paying for licensed applications since SaaS pricing is based on a monthly fee. Unlike traditional software which is conventionally sold as a perpetual license with an up-front cost (and an optional ongoing support fee), SaaS providers generally price applications using a subscription fee, most commonly a monthly fee or an annual fee.

2. Less Hardware Required with SaaS (Software as a Service)

Software is hosted remotely, so business organizations don't need to invest in additional hardware. To support scalability, the application is installed on multiple machines (called horizontal scaling).

3. Little Maintenance Required with SaaS (Software as a Service) 

Software as a Service removes the need for organizations to handle the installation, set-up and often daily upkeep and maintenance. Initial setup cost for SaaS is typically lower than the equivalent enterprise software. SaaS vendors typically price their applications based on some usage parameters, such as the number of users using the application. So SaaS provides easier administration. SaaS does automatic updates and patch management. No compatability issues will arise by using Saas as all users will have the same version of software. SaaS reduces IT support costs by outsourcing hardware and software maintenance and support to the SaaS provider.

Diadvantages of SaaS (Software as a Service) 

1. Security Issue: As data is stored on cloud, security becomes a major issue.

2. Latency Issue: Again as data is stored in cloud far away from end user, it may take more transactional time as compared to traditional approach. So, SaaS model is not suitable for applications that demand response times in the milliseconds.

3. Total Dependency on Internet: Relying on an Internet connection means that data is transferred to and from a SaaS firm at Internet speeds, rather than the potentially higher speeds of a firm’s internal network.

4. Switching between SaaS vendors is difficult: Switching SaaS vendors may involve the slow and difficult task of transferring very large data files over the Internet.

 

Applications of SaaS (Software as a Service)

SaaS has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), management information systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), content management (CM) and service desk management.

Future of SaaS (Software as a Service)

SaaS is becoming an increasingly prevalent delivery model as underlying technologies that support Web services and service-oriented architecture (SOA) mature and new developmental approaches, such as AJAX, become popular. Meanwhile, broadband service has become increasingly available to support user access from more areas around the world.

Best Laptops and Notebook Computers and Reviews: Notebook vs Laptop

Best Laptops and Notebook Computers and Reviews: Notebook vs Laptop

Today, Laptops and notebooks are everywhere! Because of their wonderful versatility, the use of these Notebook PCs have exploded in popularity and are now found all over the world, in all walks of life. But which Laptop computer has the right technical, productive, and entertainment components to fit your needs?

That depends on what you need your Laptop Computer to do, as well as where and when you’re going to use it! Are you a casual traveler, or a frequent-flyer? Whether you’re a mobile warrior, conducting business as usual even while on the road or you just want to play around a little, we’ve got the perfect (and cheap) Notebook to fit your lifestyle.

Which Notebook Computer and Laptop Should I Buy?

When you search for a new Notebook Computer, make sure to include the industry’s finest brands and manufacturers like Sony VAIO Laptops, Systemax Laptops , HP Laptops, Toshiba Laptops, Acer Laptops, and Lenovo Laptops. Each of these reliable manufacturers offers top-tier notebook PC models in every category.

If you’re after impressive performance speeds and a comprehensive set of integrated features, look for a laptop with a fast, dual-core or better processor, large capacity hard drive with fast read/write speeds and plenty of RAM memory. 2 gigabytes is probably the minimum you can go with in a performance machine; shoot for something closer to 4 gigabytes of DDR2 memory if you’re going to be using Windows 7. This will allow you to multitask, running multiple resource-hungry programs or applications simultaneously.

If you fly frequently, then portability is going to be your main concern. Consider one of the slim, lightweight laptops from Sony VAIO. These notebook computers feature processors (or CPUs) that have been optimized for mobility. This means these notebook PCs are energy efficient as well as compact. If you notice that no notebook is mobile enough for your needs, you’ll want to check out the ultra-portable Netbook platforms. These light-use internet and computer consoles are just the thing for on-the-go computing, and they’re cheap as well.

What you can do with Notebooks?

Netbooks are not just limited to Web surfing, compiling spreadsheets, or word processing. You can offload your photos from a digital camera and edit them using a program like Adobe Photoshop Elements 9. With lots of patience, you can transcode video to another format using Windows Media Encoder 11 or edit video footage using Adobe Premiere Elements 9, or run your entire music library off of a program like Apple iTunes. A netbook can play video from sites like YouTube or a movie from an external USB drive, unmarred by distortions and lag. Businesses, too, are considering these pint-size laptops because you can run various e-mail clients, put them on a network, install a VPN client, and secure them with antivirus and antispyware suites.

What to consider while buying Notebooks?

Standard netbook batteries start with 3-cell (less than 30Wh) units, but many netbooks are now standardizing on 6-cell batteries. Our battery tests have shown that the smaller batteries will get you anywhere from 2 to 3 hours of battery life on a single charge, while the bigger ones range between 7 to 10 hours. If your activities include trips abroad and all-day classes, consider looking for netbooks that ship with 6-cell options. You'll also find two hard drive choices: solid-state drives (SSDs) and spinning hard drives. The consensus is that spinning drives offer the best gigabyte-per-dollar ratio, and most of them start with at least 250GB of storage space. While SSDs have faster transfer speeds, are durable, and have longer life spans, they command much higher premiums than their spinning counterparts.

Disadvantages of Notebooks

Because the netbooks are thin, the first such products introduced to the market had their primary internal storage in the form of solid-state drives and not hard disks, which are essential to installing very many programs. Hard disk drive technology and form factors have since been adapted to fit into netbooks.

Given their size and use of more rudimentary components compared to notebooks and subnotebooks, netbooks also generally have a smaller-capacity hard drive, slower CPU, and a lower-profile RAM capacity.

Future of Notebooks

Though the future of netbooks remains a big question mark, what with the tablet boom and full size laptops that can be had for about the same price, the demand for them has not fizzled. There's a wide selection for those who want a pint-sized laptop that won't cost them an arm and a leg.

Notebooks have taken a backseat to tablets, as the Apple iPad and countless "me-toos" have caused a lull in their production. Furthermore, full size laptops, which used to cost twice as much as netbooks, are now competing in this price range. But that doesn't mean demand for netbooks have fizzled out completely. Sure, the stakes have risen, and netbooks manufacturers are now vying for a spot in a very tight space, which is why the latest crop of netbooks have evolved to include more features, bigger screens and keyboards, and faster parts—all while slashing prices like a Walmart special.

Which Laptop is Best? Which Laptop Should I Buy?

Which Laptop is Best? Which Laptop Should I Buy? Well, these are the common questions which hit our mind when we decide to buy any laptop. So, we are going to answer this question in detail.

There are variety of laptops availabe in the market with exciting features. Best Laptop manufacturing companies are Dell, Apple, Lenevo, Toshiba, HP, Sony, Acer, Asus and Samsung.

But which laptop is best, depends upon you, depends upon your need and budget. The first thing you need to consider is what you need in the laptop. Are you looking for something to compete on the gaming grid? Then a discrete graphics card and big screen are necessary components in the laptop you choose. Are you on a limited budget? Then be on the lookout for anything under $500 that offers at least a Core i3 CPU and 4GB of memory. If a business system is what you need, then security measures like a fingerprint reader and a TPM module are must-haves. For those who spend a lot of time on the road, then an ultrabook or an ultraportable will keep back and shoulder strain to a minimum. For those who need a system meant for watching movies, a Blu-ray player is a must-have feature.

What to Look For Before Buying a Laptop?

When you're deciding which laptop is best for you, you need to determine the type of tasks you will most frequently perform with your computer. If you plan to use your laptop to check email, browse the internet and listen to music, you don’t need anything too powerful. However, if you plan to edit videos, design graphics, store many files or documents and access information online, you want a device with adequate hard-drive space, enough RAM and a strong processor.

1. Performance of Laptop

The best laptops feature a fast, powerful processor. You also need an operating system that performs well and is user friendly. If you plan play games on your computer, a powerful graphics card is essential. Be aware, though, that graphics cards in laptops are integrated, and while they are powerful enough to run the most basic graphics when playing video games, the card can't be removed if you want to upgrade it.

Look for laptops with at least 6GB or RAM (as more RAM equals quicker loading times), because you don’t want to wait around all day for files to download or applications to open. In addition, a long battery life will let you spend hours on your laptop without having to plug in. The best laptops offer up to 7 hours of battery life on a single charge, even with moderate use.

2. Design of Laptop

The main purpose of a laptop computer is portability, and each computer offers different physical dimensions, so it is vital that you make sure it is portable enough for you without sacrificing the desktop functionality. Laptops also offer a vast selection of display features, and the screens on these devices ranging from 13 inches to 17 inches. The top laptops are also Energy Star qualified, meaning they have energy-efficient features.

3. Feature Set of Laptop

The top laptops on the market generally include several connectivity options, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. These take portability to the next level. You can use the Bluetooth for listening to wireless earphones and Wi-Fi for accessing the internet in places like coffee shops and other locations with wireless connections. In addition, you will find most have options for a webcam and a built-in microphone for video chats or web conferences. Several laptop computer models also include a few extra features, such as a Blu-ray Disc drive, built-in security features or an extra HDMI port if you want to hook up to an external, high-def monitor.

4. Warranty & Support of Laptop

Wear and tear happens to electronic devices no matter how well you take care of them. Before you buy, look at the warranty for the device. Most computers feature a one-year warranty, but some may offer more, along with extended warranty options. Also, if problems occur, you need a company with customer-service representatives you can contact who will help you resolve your issues. Many manufacturers offer email, phone and live chat support to help you when technical problems arise.

If you combine all of these elements into one computing device, you will have the ultimate laptop computer. Portability, design, power, speed and hard drive space will all come together to give you the laptop that is the best fit for you needs.

What is an EXE (Executable) File?

What is an EXE (Executable) File?

An exe file (executable file) is a computer file that ends with the extension ".exe" known as an executable file. When one clicks on an exe file, a built-in routine automatically executes code that can set several functions into motion. Exe files are used to install and run programs and routines.

An executable file is a file that is used to perform various functions or operations on a computer. Unlike a data file, an executable file cannot be read because it has been compiled.

EXE File Format

An exe file is just one of several file format types that are recognized by various operating systems. Text files, which are files that do not generate code but simply display text, end in txt. Microsoft Word saves files with the doc extension, short for document. Another common file type is the compressed or zipped file, which uses the zip extension.

On an IBM compatible computer, common executable files are .BAT, .COM, .EXE, and .BIN. Depending on the operating system and its setup, there can also be several other executable files.

Precautions while downloading and opening an exe file

The exe file is one of the most useful types of files precisely because it runs programs; however, this also makes it potentially harmful. It can be used as a delivery system for viruses or other malicious routines. Outwardly, the infected exe file might seem quite benign. Clicking on it might appear to launch nothing more than an animated cartoon or simple arcade game. However, unseen code can be running in the background, infecting or compromising the computer.

If one clicks on a malicious exe file, over the next several hours or days the computer might become unstable. Often the user does not relate the problem back to the cause and attributes it to other factors, such as the need to defragment or replace a disk. Personal information or password keystrokes might be handed over to an unknown website without knowledge of the user, or the machine might delete its own files and crash altogether. Any of these scenarios and more can be set in motion by simply clicking on a 'bad' exe file.

Because of the potential harm, when downloading any exe file it's a good idea to scan it with a reputable virus scanner before clicking on it. To this end, security experts recommend setting browsers so that websites cannot load programs automatically. This gives the surfer the chance to monitor which programs get passed to his or her computer.

Exe files are generally not meant to be edited, and changing an exe's file size will render it inoperable. Since the exe file is most often a program, it is routinely protected by copyright laws, per the linked license agreement issued by its author. Hacking an exe file is illegal in this case. The exception is public domain software. Public domain software belongs to the public and can legally be altered by anyone.

As it is safest to err on the side of caution, the best defense is a good offense. Experts recommend keeping virus checkers up to date and deleting email from unknown sources. If you receive an exe file from someone you trust, scan it first before clicking on it. Even files that appear to be coming from reputable sources can be maligned by third parties without the source's knowledge.