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Analytic Hierarchy Process

The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) enables decision makers to structure decisions hierarchically with the overall goal of the decision at the top of the model, strategic objectives in the higher levels, evaluation criteria in the middle levels, and alternative choices at the bottom.

The AHP provides a structured framework for setting priorities on each level of the hierarchy using pair-wise comparisons, a process of evaluating each pair of decision factors at a given level on the model for their relative importance with respect to their parent.

The consistency of the judgments is tracked using the rigorous math analytics behind the AHP to validate the decision process. In cases where inconsistency is above 10% it is recommended that the criteria and judgments be revisited.

Decision makers are then able to create a model of their priorities where the weight of the decision is distributed from the goal downwards.

If a user increases the weight of a criterion, the alternatives that performed well on that criterion will always get higher scores. This sensitivity analysis is portrayed graphically in the Decision Lens software products and is extremely valuable for testing the impact of changing priorities on alternative business decision choices.

In Decision Lens, the AHP is integrated with a linear programming optimizer to enable decision makers to define business rules for budget allocation. They can then allocate resources across investment alternatives to maximize business value. Using this optimization capability, organizations can effectively manage investments in projects and people using a true portfolio-based framework rather than a project-based framework.

An Education in Saving on Textbooks

Every year students flock to the college bookstore to purchase the various textbooks that they require for their classes. Little do these students realize that, in doing so, they are throwing good money away. As unbelievable as it may seem textbooks, in some cases, actually cost as much, if not more, than tuition.

On the surface the college bookstore may seem like a convenient source for textbooks. Titles are usually in-stock and students may purchase new textbooks or opt for the cheaper alternative of used books. In truth the money saved by purchasing used textbooks from the college bookstore is only a fraction of the amount that students could be saving if they shopped online.

More and more online booksellers have begun selling textbooks at a considerable discount off of the cover price. In fact, many major booksellers now have special areas of their web sites that are devoted to selling nothing but textbooks. Online used bookstores are another source for college books as they stock a large number of textbooks, which means sizable savings for students. There are also web-based retailers whose inventory is entirely devoted to college books.

Students should avoid purchasing their textbooks at the first store that they browse. Instead, they should investigate the alternatives offered by other online booksellers. Price isn't the only factor to consider when making an online purchase. Students should also factor in shipping costs and delivery time when making their buying decision.

Online auctions are another option for students seeking a bargain. This option, however, has its pros and cons. A plus is that students can get incredible bargains when obtaining books via online auctions. One downside is that established retailers have channels in place to ensure that you receive your order within a reasonable amount of time. With an auction purchase, however, you are at the mercy of the auction seller's timetable.

One way that students can really save is by obtaining books for free. Project Gutenberg is one resource that English majors will find invaluable. At this site students can peruse a vast collection of classics that have entered the public domain. In the past students seeking assistance with their studies had to pay for the privilege of that help by purchasing study guides. Today that is no longer the case. Cash-strapped students can now visit Spark Notes for free downloadable study guides as well as free downloadable classics.

Students who elect to buy online will no longer be able to resell their books to the college bookstore at the end of class, but that doesn't mean that they are stuck with the textbooks. Many web sites that sell textbooks also offer students the option of selling their books to fellow bargain-seekers. This allows students to easily recouping a portion of their money.

Textbooks normally consume a major portion of a student's budget, but that doesn't have to be the case, because while the cost of tuition may be set in stone the price of textbooks isn't. By taking the time to do a little research on the best textbook values available college students can save money now rather than acquiring debt to be paid back later.

Copyright © 2004 Heather Wallace

Heather Wallace is founder of http://www.BargainMartian.com Visit to take advantage of the out of this world bargains from leading merchants found in this comprehensive directory of deals, rebates, bargains, coupons, and money-saving offers.

Four Common Myths About Backup Software

Four Common Myths About Backup Software
by Alexey Spiridonov
 
  
Computers affect the way we live, communicate, work, and entertain today more than ever before. So, the information stored on them becomes very significant. Loosing data from your hard drive is at least unpleasant, but in some cases also very expensive. At the same time, not all of us take measures to protect their data. Moreover, day after day we hear about alarming accidents of data loss. But why reliable backup strategies are not as much widespread as data crash accidents? – Perhaps, because people have some wrong notions about backup software and about the problem of data loss in general.

Precious personal and work data is stored in a computer's hard disk, but no hard disk is perfect. Sometimes they die, and so does the information stored. Furthermore, viruses, human errors and even natural disasters or theft can take away your data without any chance of restoring. One reliable solution for the problem of data loss is backup software that makes reserve copies of your critical data automatically. There is a great variety of such data-safe program to choose from. But why do people still ignore this software?

In this article we'll try to denote some possible reasons of ignoring backup software and to destroy some myths about backup preventing people from using it. We have summarized these notions in four common «myths» and will try to expose them.


• Myth 1: The risk of data loss is insignificant

Some people believe that data loss is not their problem. Why don't they care? Because they just know nothing about possible crucial hardware faults and destructive effect of such faults on the stored information.

Actually, there are high risks of data loss. According to the survey conducted by Verio (Global Premier Provider of Online Services), fifty-three percent of respondents have already experienced an actual loss of information that was stored on a PC. Six percent of PCs will suffer an episode of data loss in any given year. 31% of PC users have ever lost all of their files due to events beyond their control.

The reasons of losing data may vary greatly – power faults, short life of the hardware, viruses or hacker attacks… The fact is: you can irretrievably lose the information stored on your home or work computer (i.e. project data, email correspondence, personal information, irreparable and urgent documents) if the hard disk crashes.

Learn by others' mistakes: thoughtless attitude toward data backup has fatal consequences. Most people and organizations come to understand this only after losing their crucial data accidentally. With special backup software your data is more likely to be always on hand.


• Myth 2: Copying files manually is more effective

Some people are aware of the risk of data loss and try to deal with this problem without special backup software. These people protect the data on their own.

Common practice for such people is copying data to digital media occasionally. In other words, they copy their data without any backup software. Of course, it is better than nothing. But is it enough for guaranteed data protection? You can simply forget to make a backup before a hard disk fault, and your previous backup work will become sheer waste of time. Moreover, you can forget to copy some files which you may need most of all after data loss.

With special backup software you can use automated procedures for regular backup and synchronization under your own schedule. Backup software will do all the routine work on copying files for you, you only need to set what, when and where you wish to backup.

In other words, manual copying of files is not as reliable and comfortable as using special data backup software.


• Myth 3: Backup software sufficiently slows down computer performance

Some people think that backup jobs require too much hardware resources (space on a disk and CPU time) and it is tiresome to run them often. They suspect that backup software will impede using computer for work, entertainment or other purposes.

In fact, most backup programs are not resource-consuming. A typical backup program requires only operation system installed and about 5 Mb free disk space for program files. So, if your computer meets these requirements you have nothing to worry about. In other words, if you computer can have an operation system running, it will easily run a backup program.

Moreover, with a scheduler you can set your backup operations execution on the most convenient time. For example, during lunch time or when you sleep. Moreover, some backup programs can run in service mode. In service mode, the backup is independent from the currently logged in user. The benefit is that your backup tasks are processed even if somebody else is using the system at the moment or if nobody is logged in at all.

As you see, with a good backup program you can perform reserve copying operations in any time you wish. It means that you can have backups running when you are idle, and they will not interfere with your work.


• Myth 4: Using backup software is difficult, time-consuming and expensive

Imaginary difficulties of data backup procedures make users think about backup as a waste of time and money and as the result refuse it, hoping for the best. We are busy at work, family and friends fill our days and leave us little time for boring things like computer maintenance. But backing up data is much easier than it seems.

Please forget fairy tales about baffling complexity of backup programs! Most of backup programs have Wizards with intuitive user interface which let you configure your backup task with ease. A typical backup program can be installed within several minutes. Setting a backup task takes several minutes more. That's all. Then the backup program will take care of your crucial data.

After all, the price of such a program (30-70$ for single license) is far less then the costs of data loss.


We have tried to expose some myths about backup and to mark some positive abilities that backup software gives us. Today's backup software offers comfortable way to make reserve copies of your crucial data. As more people get familiar with automated backup solutions, they tend to become must-have software, along with e-mail clients, word processors and anti-virus programs.

   

Copyright © Alexey Spiridonov
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About the Author:
Alexey Spiridonov is a staff writer for SoftLogica covering personal technology. He studies Sociology at Novosibirsk State University in Russia.
Author's website: http://www.BackupRepublic.com/

Article Source: http://activeauthors.com

5 Steps To Easily Keep Your PC Running Smooth And Fast

5 Steps To Easily Keep Your PC Running Smooth And Fast
Source: Trever Soutter
 
   
Most people who use computers today use them for work, games, research or socialization. With more and more people trying to begin home businesses, the computer has become the essential tool for their business startup and operation. People want to optimize their computers so that they will be as efficient as possible; however, there are many factors associated with the performance output of a personal computer.

In order for a computer to reach and maintain maximum performance, many factors must be considered. On the hardware side of the equation, one must consider their processor speed and system memory. With regards to the software side of your computer, you must be aware of your computer's privacy protection, system security, and anti-virus software. Additionally, you should do your best to take care of your Windows operating system - such as Windows XP or Windows Vista – including its registry and the files cleanup process.

To keep a PC running smoothly and error-free, there are some basic steps that anyone can follow. Fortunately, none of these steps are really at all difficult. Anyone can do these tasks, with a little bit of basic education. Keep this article around for future reference, just in case you need it again.


Shut-Down Processes

First off, it is important to understand that programs need to be given the proper signals to shut down. It is strongly recommended that you never simply unplug your machine to turn it off. Please go through the normal shut down procedures, no matter how long those processes might take.

If you lose power, it really is an unavoidable event. Microsoft has done a good job at helping Windows know when it was shut down improperly, so the next time you start up your computer, your operating system might repair itself. Typically, when you restart your computer after an improper shut down, it might take a few minutes longer to boot up than usual. Let Windows do its long boot up after it has unexpectedly shut down. The longer boot up process is Windows attempt to repair any corruptions caused by the unexpected shut down of your computer's operating system.

If you need to shut down your system more quickly than usual, we strongly recommend that you utilize the Control-Alt-Delete key combination, and then select Shut Down from your Windows Task Manager window. By utilizing this shut down method, Windows will make appropriate notes to itself that it will need to do some cleanup on its next boot up sequence.

If Windows is not allowed to clean up after itself, you run the risk of corrupting the operating system or different programs you have loaded on your computer. Corruption of programs may force you to reinstall those programs. Corruption of your data files is the worst-case scenario – you could lose hours or years of work in a single moment, as a result of your impatience. Don't be impatient; let your computer do what it needs to do to repair and protect your system files.


Unnecessary Applications Running In The Background

The "background" is not the image on your desktop. "Running in the Background" is a reference to programs that are running on your system in invisible mode. In some cases, they are completely invisible, and in other cases, the only indication that they are operating is their icon in your System Tray, next to your clock.

Certain programs think that they need to be operating in your System Tray at all times. QuickTime, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger are three of these types of programs. Microsoft Office even thinks it should be loaded and running in your background. If you use these applications frequently and need access to them almost instantaneously on a frequent basis, then yes, you probably should let them run in the background. But, most of us only use those applications on an infrequent basis.

The theory of having those applications running in the background is that it prevents you needing to wait thirty seconds while the software loads, when you need access to those applications. But, there is a significant amount of trade-off for thirty seconds of reduced wait time. That trade-off is a less-responsive computer. In worst-case scenarios, the thirty seconds saved at program start-up could trim minutes of productivity from your full workday.

While your system is operating, you can right-click on any icon next to your clock and most programs will allow you the option to select Close Application. By closing unnecessary applications, you can literally speed up the Windows operating system.

With most versions of Windows, you can also go to Start – Run and then type in "msconfig" and click OK. Once the Windows System Configuration Utility opens, click the tab that reads Startup. You can review the list and deselect items that you will not want to open when your computer boots up. It is important to note here that you should only close applications that you recognize and know that you can live without. Don't turn off an item in the Startup window, unless and until you know what that file really does. A quick search for that file name on the Internet will generally turn up lots of pages explaining what those files do in your Windows operating system environment.


Mean Kids On The Internet

Mean kids, who are also computer nerds, frequently grow up to be computer programmers who create Viruses and Spyware applications.

The mean teenagers of the programming world get their kicks from turning our lives upside-down, with viruses that create a multitude of problems on whatever machines they can get their software installed. Virus writers with a criminal history frequently grow up to be people who write Trojans and Spyware applications that seek to steal our private information

A Trojan is a malicious program that pretends to be a screensaver or some other non-threatening and fun kind of thing. When you execute it on your computer, it installs malicious software and then it does its dastardly deeds.

Trojans and Spyware typically try to harvest private information from your computer for the financial benefit of its creator. Most of these kinds of computer programs only want to shove their advertising in your face (Adware) or track your Internet usage habits, so they can sell that information to other businesses; but the really ugly versions try to steal your credit card data and other financial data from your computer.

For some people, Trojans and Spyware computer programs are responsible for as much as a 60% deterioration of a computer's performance capability.


Forgotten Programs On Your Computer

Do you remember some of those 30-day free trial software applications that you tried once or twice, but never used again? Some of these applications may be running in the background of your computer. All of these programs are also still taking up space on your hard drive.

Never go into your Windows Explorer and simply delete folders that contain the software programs you will never use again.

Instead, every two or three months, you should utilize your Add / Remove Programs procedure, which can be accessed by going to Start – Settings – Control Panel - Add or Remove Programs, and remove old computer programs that you no longer use. This can frequently free up a lot of extra space on your hard drive. It can also free up some extra memory in your computer, if the program had been running in the background of your operating system at startup.


Final Closing Thoughts

If you still encounter problems after following the above suggestions, you may wish to try out "Advanced Windows Care v2 Personal". It has been designed to help you perform all of these essential protection and maintenance processes for your computer, enabling you to get on with more important tasks like making more money. This software can remove Adware and Spyware programs from your computer system, protect your privacy, prevent security threats, fix registry errors, and much more.

This program is an all-in-one systems utility that only requires a single click each day for proper computer maintenance, optimization and protection. It is free, so try it out. Remember, if you don't like the software, we have already taught you how to remove it, if you ever wanted to do so. If you want to keep the software, that is fine too.

  

Copyright © 2007 Trever Soutter
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About the Author:
Trever Soutter writes about computer software and system maintenance and optimization. If you find that your personal computer is starting to run slower and slower, then it is time for you to do some serious system maintenance. The "Advanced Windows Care Personal" software will clean and optimize your system for maximum Windows performance, enabling you to speed up Windows by as much as three times. Learn more and get the free download here: