HOW TO MAKE A SIMPLE VIDEO PC GAME

The main point of most homes around the world - some people often have a room just for gaming! If you like video games, why don't you make a simple one to begin with? This article will help you make a simple video game for PC easily.

STEPS TO FOLLOW

1. Figure out what program you want to use. One program is RPG Maker VX. This program isn't free but you may wish to use the 2003 version - it's free. Some simple video games may also use coding, instead of point-and-click systems. A good basic coding is Python GUI which is free and open-source from their website.
2. Install your program and gather your ideas up ready. Surely you have a rough idea about what this game is about? If not, think about your favourite games, what games sell or simply think about fantasy. Fantasy is always a good starting point for noob game makers/designers. Mainly due to the fact about 96.23% of games are indeed fantasy [Fable, Dragon Age, WoW and even Kameo et cetera].
3. If needed [for people who know what game they want to make you should make new foes or people to play as or kill. Use Photoshop, Gimp or even a Window's basic Paint tool.
4. Now make your first map or level. Have an introductory page where you name and edit your game character. The first map is usually plain and simple, don't go overboard on your first map.
5. Make more levels. If you are more adept with game design then why not try your hand at scripting? This is however, harder to do and is really not advised to new designers. Also, you really should have a, well, a point... This makes a game a game. Maybe the point of a mini game is to kill the boss via doing a quest an then going to the boss.
6. Make a game and pop it onto disk. Don't forget the credits!

TOP 10 VIRUS PROTECTION SOFTWARE

Everyone is always looking for a good anti-virus program these days with all the malicious software floating around in our email, websites, etc. You’ve probably read hundreds of “Best Anti-Virus” posts in your life, but in this post I’ll try to give you a little more meat to why you should pick one anti-virus program over another.

When it comes to anti-virus software, you want to know several aspects of the program such as detection rates, scanning speed, number of false positives, etc. All of these in combination make a difference. For example, if one program has a very high detection rate (which is good), it could be offset by the fact that it also finds a lot of false positives. A false positive would basically mean finding a virus or malicious program that really is not malware at all.

False positives can sometimes lead to more problems than actually having a real infection on your computer. Files can be deleted or removed, which could cause the operating system to become unstable or unusable. Also, I would prefer to have a program than takes longer to scan, but has a higher detection rate and a lower false positive rate.

This article will be broken down into these three sections and then we’ll conclude with trying to determine which programs are the best based on the data set.

HIGHEST DETECTION RATES

The anti-virus software with the best results in terms of detecting the latest virus and malware are as follows:

1. G Data

2. Trustport

3. AVIRA, Qihoo

4. Panda

5. F-Secure, eScan

6. Bitdefender

7. Kaspersky

8. ESET, Avast

9. McAfee

10. AVG

You can read the full detection rate report written by AV-Comparatives.org, a very cool site that performs all kinds of tests on anti-virus software. Basically, the top four have over a 99% detection rate, which is very good.

SCANNING SPEED

In terms of scanning speed, which includes opening archive files, reading large files, etc. Note that the tests performed by AV-Comparatives is assuming you would want to do a full scan with all options including advanced heuristics, scanning of all file types, etc. Here are the top 10 anti-virus programs in terms of scanning speed:

1. Avast

2. Trend Micro

3. K7

4. McAfee

5. AVIRA

6. AVG

7. Sophos

8. Bitdefender

9. F-Secure

10. Webroot

As we can already see, it’s probably better to choose the programs that show up in both lists, such as AVIRA, F-Secure, McAfee, AVG, etc. However, we should take a look the false positives before deciding.

NUMBER OF FALSE POSITIVES

One of the most important aspects to any anti-virus program is it’s ability to distinguish between clean files and infected ones. You have to use this data in conjunction with the detection rates because any program that has a large number of false alarms tends to get a higher score.

There were only eight anti-virus program that had a “low” score in terms of false alarms (listed in order from low to high):

1. McAfee

2. Kaspersky, Microsoft, Panda

3. ESET

4. F-Secure, Trend Micro

5. Bitdefender

6. Avast

7. AVIRA

8. G DATA

As you can see, there are only a few that are on all three lists, namely McAfee, F-Secure, BitDefender, Avast, and AVIRA. You can be pretty sure that installing any of those will be providing you with the best overall anti-virus program out there. Of course, if you favor detection rate over speed, you can adjust accordingly. Or if you wan the least false positives, then you can pick that program.

Either way, the best virus protection software is not as simple as which programs find the most problems on your computer. Like you’ve probably heard before, it’s better to be accurate and precise rather than just precise or just accurate.

What program are you using for protecting your computer from viruses and malware? Do you prefer one program over another? Tell us in the comments!

FREE ADVANCE PORT SCANNING TOOLS

I always am needing to know which ports are being used by my computers. Whether it is for security reasons or for debugging port accessing programs, Advanced Port Scanner is a small, quick, easy-to-use and robust port scanner for Windows.

It is multithreaded, so on relatively new machines you can scan ports in just a few seconds. You can download the latest version here: http://www.radmin.com/products/utilities/portscanner.php.
By default it shows a range of IP addresses from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.255, so you can scan this range of 255 computers. You can set a limited range if you prefer to, but if you plan to use it in your home with only a few computers, leaving this range selected is ok since scanning is very quick.

If your network is not in the 192.168.1.0 range, you can always change it whatever you like. You can always run IPCONFIG from the command prompt to see which network class you are using, i.e. 10.x.x.x or 172.x.x.x, etc.

Click the Scan button to begin scanning the IP addresses. In the example below it detected my router at 192.168.1.1.

It has descriptions for the common ports and can perform scans on predefined port ranges. You can see from below that it saw 4 open ports and 63 closed ports. It was able to detect ftp, smtp, pop3 and www-http from my router’s IP:

It will show you a list of all dead and alive computers so toggle the display by using the buttons at the upper section of the window (toggle by clicking the dead computers icon to show/hide them):

By default it uses a predefined port list so you will need to add your own set of ports that you want to scan if you want to scan other ports. To do this check “Use ports ranges list” then click the Add button:

It has a built-in HTML and text based export reporting capability but I was not very happy with it as it seems to hang during my test. It only showed this empty process bar. It should not be the case since I only have a single computer online during this test with 5 detected ports opened.

I have not been able to get the exporting of the report work. This could be a bug in this version. At the Options window you can set the number of threads that it can use as well as the port scan timeout and thread priority.

Aside from the glitch with the reporting tool, this tool is very useful for network admins and for users who want to know which ports are open on their computer.

NOMINATIONS AND TIMELINE FOR NIGERIA WEBSITE AWARDS 2011

Nigeria websites award team is pleased to announce the 2011 timeline for the Nigeria Website Awards, an award instituted to reward and encourage web presence in Nigeria.It is all about Nigeria Websites! where the Best of Industry Website is determined and recognised with an award.

The 2011 nominations start from Tuesday October 25,2011 till Friday November 18,2011. To nominate send your nominations to the email address: nomination@nigeriawebsiteawards.com.ng with the following information
Your name,Email address,GSM number,Nominated website and its Category.
Please note that nominations without the information above will not count. You can only nominate per day in the same category. You can nominate your industry website. The public are eligible to nominate. Ten people who actively participate in the Nominations and voting process will win tickets to the Awards Gala and also have opportunity to win any of the following: Ipad,Blackberry phone,Laptop+Internet Connection.

After the period of nominations, Five most nominated websites in each category are selected to compete for the Best Website in that Industry (category) through a voting and judging process.

The voting starts 22nd November,2011 till 20th December,2011

Guidelines for the voting will be released after the nominations.

The winners will be announced at the Nigeria Website Awards Gala on Saturday, February 25 at Sheraton Hotels,Lagos,Nigeria.


Categories

Advertising Industry

Airline

Bank

Blogs

Computer sales and Services (Hardware)

Computer (Software)

Consulting firm

Faith Based

Fashion

Government-Agencies/parastatals, States, Local Government

Health care Institution

Hospitality/Hotels

Insurance companies

Internet Service Provider

Legal services

Manufacturing industry

Media-Print, Radio, Television

Music

Movie

NGOs

Oil and Gas companies

Political Parties in Nigeria

Publishing Firm

Real Estate Companies

Sports-Football Clubs

Technology

Telecommunication Companies (GSM and CDMA)

Transport Companies

Universities in Nigeria.

For Further enquiries send an email to: info@nigeriawebsiteawards.com.ng

Sponsorship/partnership/advert: sponsor@nigeriawebsiteawards.com.ng

To Nominate a website simply send an email to: nomination@nigeriawebsiteawards.com.ng

BBPIN:217CEDDA

PRODUCT FAKING: HP OUT WITH MOBILE AUTHENTICATION

HP has announced that original HP ink cartridge and original HP toner cartridge packaging will feature HP’s newest-generation security label where customers can verify the authenticity of the product using HP Mobile Authentication and an internet connected device.

The launch of HP Mobile Authentication is part of HP’s wider global Anti-Counterfeit program (ACF), an industry leading initiative designed to protect customers from fraudulent printing supplies and guard against substandard performance. HP Mobile Authentication helps assure customers at the point of purchase that they’re buying the expected quality and reliability of Original HP supplies.

The announcement is in line with HP’s continued leadership in cloud based innovation. In August 2011, HP first launched Global Authentication Service (GAS), based on HP’s own sophisticated algorithm technology, to fight against global counterfeiting.

This cloud-based track-and-trace solution was originally developed by HP Labs – the company’s central research arm – and the HP Software Professional Services Cloud Services Innovation Center to monitor goods in HP’s supply chain.

HP has, in fact, designed a sophisticated back-end cloud infrastructure that aggregates all the different pieces of information, making authentication and tracking significantly faster, easier, and secure.

“HP has been making great strides to protect customers from mistakenly purchasing counterfeit printing supplies,” said Tina Rose, HP Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) ACF Marketing Program Manager.

“HP Mobile Authentication is one of many measures we have implemented as part of our wider anti-counterfeit initiative, which over the last four years has assisted authorities in the seizure of nearly nine million pieces of fake printing supplies products and components in EMEA.”

The HP Mobile Authentication enables HP customers to authenticate original HP printing supplies in a few simple steps:

• After checking the security label’s holographic properties to verify authenticity, customers can capture the new security label feature, the Quick Response (QR) code, with any internet connected device that has downloaded a QR code reader, such as a smartphone or tablet.
• Once the QR code is captured on the user’s device HP Mobile Authentication is accessed and used to validate the label.
• Valid labels send a confirmation message to the customer’s device, which indicates that the cartridge has a valid code and is in fact a genuine Original HP cartridge.
• Invalid labels generate a warning message and a link to HP’s Anti-Counterfeit program information website.

In addition to HP Mobile Authentication and other anti-counterfeit measures, HP partners with law enforcement agencies around the world to ensure the disruption of the manufacturing and distribution of counterfeit products. Through these partnerships, HP has conducted nearly 5,000 investigations in almost 90 countries over the last four years.

AFRICA MARKET IS IMPORTANT TO NOKIA

By Prince Osuagwu

Despite huge presence in African market where it scoops a lot of revenue, top mobile phone makers, Nokia has promised even more interest in the market, announcing a broad portfolio of mobile devices specifically targeted at the African market.

Just at the recently concluded Nokia World conference in London, the company’s Vice President Product Marketing, Mobile Phones, Ms Blanca Juti, announced to the world that Africa is extremely important to Nokia, considering that the continent has the highest growth and still a penetrating market with so much potential.

She noted that Nokia has designed a broad range of phone types to meet the needs of many people in Africa, particularly, that have the aspiration and the need to communicate, but can not afford a supper high phone.

According to her “ Nokia as a company has a broad portfolio which goes from the lowest to the highest range, and since Africa is an emerging market in terms of Smartphone users, the company’s focus is to design various phones to meet their aspirations,”

Nokia is a global leader in mobile communications and its products have become an integral part of the lives of people around the world. Nokia’s technological and design innovations have made its brand one of the most recognized in the world and Africa in particular.

At the Nokia World, the company introduced its first two smartphones – Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 based on Windows Phone as well as the Nokia Asha range of phones, which Juti described as showing that Nokia sees a great opportunity ahead and it’s repositioning itself to take advantage of it.

“Focusing on the new Nokia range of phones, you can see the hunger to succeed to do well in the competitive market in which we find ourselves, and to build on what we have,” Ms Juti added.

Also at the event, Nokia also showcased the Nokia Car Mode, which it announced in September this year with Internationale Automobil Ausstellung.

The Nokia Car Mode is a standalone application optimized for the in-car use of Nokia smartphones.

HOW TO KEEP YOUR LAPTOP FROM OVER-HEATING

Many laptops overheat because the fan on the bottom is blocked, and the hard drive then quickly fails. By following this simple step, you can keep your laptop cool and happy.

STEPS TO FOLLOW

• Put a small book or item (like the docking station for your iPod) under your computer's battery when sitting at your desk. This slight tilt allows a lot more air to flow under the laptop, keeping it significantly cooler. Take care not to block the bottom fan hole with this book.
• If a book doesn't help, you can try something more ugly. Try sticking four sockets from an egg tray on four corners of your laptop. Either you can stick them with a sticky tape/masking tape or use hook and loop tape for flexible design.
• Buy a laptop cooling mat. There are many brands to choose from (Thermaltake, Xion, Targus) and are available at computer stores like Best Buy or online from newegg.com.
• Maintain a cool environment. Try keeping your laptop in an air-conditioned or cool area to allow the your system to cool down and prevent it from overheating.

TIPS AND WARNING

• Simply add the spare wire grill tray from your toaster oven or even your regular oven. Balance is perfect and air circulation is just as perfect.
• Don't use your laptop on soft surfaces such as a sofa, carpeting or pillow! Any vents located on the bottom of your laptop will be blocked and airflow will be reduced causing it to overheat. Use a lap desk, tray table or even a wooden cutting board to provide a solid, flat surface to allow proper airflow.
• Use a can of compressed air on your fan once in a month so that any dust or unwanted particles get cleared for the smooth functioning of the fan. Using a vaccum may cause ESD and damage the components to your laptop.
• Be sure to clean out your laptop thoroughly once in while to avoid dust particles entering in places they are not needed.
• Never block the fan for your laptop.
Do not block the ventilation under the laptop with the tape.

ATMs: CBN SANCTIONS AWAITS DEFAULTERS

By Emeka Aginam

In order to ensure smooth implementation of new cashless society policy beginning early next year, the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) has issued a new guidelines for the deployment of off-site Automated Teller Machines, (ATMs) across the country, saying that strict sanctions would be applied in the case of non- compliance.

Banks and Independent ATM Deployers (IADs), according to a circular signed by by the acting Director, Banking and Payments Systems Department of the apex bank, G.I . Emokpae last week, would be allowed to acquire and deploy off-site ATMs.

He said that given the critical role of ATM deployment and availability in ensuring success of the cash policy, it is important for all parties to perform their required roles to the expected standards. “A comprehensive review of the ATM guidelines is in process, and shall be communicated in due course” he said in the circular.

Each party, according to the circular issued to all Deposit Money Banks, Independent ATM Deployers , Switches, among others would be free to brand the off-site ATMs acquired, and process their transactions accordingly. Each party, the apex said in the circular shall ensure provision of cash for their off-sites ATMs.

SERVICES CHARGES AND FEES

“Banks shall have the option to engage IADs to deploy, maintain and support off-site ATMs. In such case a case, the banks and the IADs shall agree on the service scope and the charges/fess” he said.

Part of the guidelines, according to him is that all transaction fees shall remain pegged at a maximum of N100 per transaction for all ATMs, adding all ATMs shall clearly display the transaction fees for card holders to accept before the transaction is communicated.

SERVICE QUALITY

Regarding quality of service of the ATMs, the following guidelines have also been issued:

• All ATMs (off-site and on-site) shall have a minimum up time of 95% going forward.
• All ATMs shall have cameras and other security measures deployed to deter and prevent fraud.
• All ATMS shall present the same set of services (menu option) to all the cards the accpet.

According to him, this will be monitored routinely, with strict sanctions applied in the case of non compliance

“The provisions of this circular shall take precedence , in event of any conflict between it and previous guidelines regarding ATM operations/ deployment” Emokpae explained in the circular.

NOKIA SMART-PHONES ARE TOO EXPENSIVE

Nokia high end smartphones are “too expensive” according to the European general manager for devices at international carrier Telefónica, Simon Lee-Smith. He told Telecoms.com that Nokia’s premium devices are “not yet at the right price point,” adding: “If Nokia wants to sell in volume, they need to bring out devices which are cost-competitive.”

Lee-Smith said Nokia was “beginning to listen” to its carrier customers and that he expected the Finnish vendor to deliver devices in the new year that are “more commercially effective”. He said the problem related to products that have been available for some time, such as the N8 and N9, as well as the recently announced Lumia800, Nokia’s new flagship WP7-based smartphone.

The vendor also used Nokia World to unveil a rejuvenated emerging market proposition based around feature phones heavy on functionality but low on price. “I hope they’re successful with that,” Lee-Smith said. “They need to be able to subsidise their high end smartphones, because they’re too expensive.”

DRAFT SOFTWARE POLICY SUBMITTED FOR APPROVAL

By Emeka Aginam

The draft national software policy has been developed and submitted to the the National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA) for review and approval, Vanguard Hitech has learnt.

The blueprint, if approved by the Federal Government, Vanguard Hitech gathered, is expected to guide Software Nigeria in the 21st century.

NITDA, the clearing house for IT projects in the Nigerian public sector had earlier set up the National Software Policy Committee, (NSPC) last year, tasked to develop a national software policy aimed at making Nigeria a competitive country in software development.

POLICY TO POSITION NIGERIA SOFTWARE'S

The policy when fully implemented will be used to explore the full potentials of the industry in a way to make software Nigeria a major player in the global software industry. Before now, the NSPC had been given terms of reference to design appropriate strategies for national research and development and also establish strategies for promoting local demand for software products and services

Chairman of the NSPC, Prof. Oluwole Akinyokun said that the draft copy would be reviewed during a stakeholders forum early this month after which it will be submitted to the Ministry of Communications for approval.

“The draft copy has been submitted to the NITDA. Part of the content of the policy will include, physical policy, strategic policy, human capital, software infrastructure, regulatory policy, among others” he said. He added that after the stakeholders meeting, the policy will be presented the federal executive council for consideration and approval by the Minister of Communication Technology.

The work plan after the approval of draft national software policy, he said will include submission of draft to the Minister of Communications & Technology for consideration and approval; and development of a strategic plan for the implementation of the approved National Software Policy.

The National Software Development Policy, if enforced , according to him is expected to tap into the resources of young, yet inexperienced IT engineers looking for employment in the job market.

POLICY OBJECTIVES

According to him, promoting software as one of the topmost critical national information infrastructure for the growth of Nigerian economy, promoting and facilitating software industry growth with a view to improving the quality and effectiveness of public service delivery, driving transparency and accountability in governance and improving standard of living of Nigerians through the use of software in all sectors, as a tool to enhance productivity, efficiency and optimum utilization of resources. among others are the mission of the national software policy.

Accordingly, software human capital, software infrastructure, software fiscal policy, software industry economics, software legislative, regulatory and institutional framework, software and national development strategy, software research, innovation and development, among others, he said are the focus areas of the national software policy.

“The Transformation Agenda coupled with the Political Will of the Federal, State and Local Governments clearly points to a successful enforcement and compliance with the National Software Policy.

SOFTWARE SWOT

“The SWOT analysis of the software Industry in Nigeria as contained in the National Software Policy documents clearly shows that the strengths and opportunities of Nigerian Software Industry outweighs the weaknesses and threats. Indeed and in truth, the weaknesses and threats rear their heads because of lack of National Software Policy over the years. Consequently, I do not envisage any challenges” Akinyokun, who is a lecture at the Federal University of Technology Akure, added.

Akinyokun said that given the existing political and socio-economic status of Nigeria in West Africa and Africa, the fundamentals exist for the emergency of Nigeria as a global competitor in the software market with ancillary beneficial impact of poverty alleviation, gender equality, wealth creation in the society.

According to the draft policy on software, he said that there was evidence that the domestic market for software products and services is huge, adding that the challenge facing Nigeria was how much of this market opportunity is linked to the emergence of a vibrant local software economy and capability as opposed to net negative capital flight and job loses to international competition.