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This article will look at the importance of website performance and how to make sure your website is performing well. Website performance is the measure of how quickly a user can access a web page on your site. There are many factors that affect website performance, including: server latency, network connectivity, browser capabilities, and more. It’s also about the layout of the page and how it functions when the user is engaging with it.  Basically website design is important because it can have a dramatic effect on the user experience.It’s important that users can access the information they want quickly and that they don’t get frustrated with your site.

When it comes to your website, extra attention should be paid to every minute detail to make sure it performs optimally to serve its purpose. Here are five important rules of thumb to observe to make sure your website performs well.

1) Do not use splash pages

Splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very beautiful image with words like “welcome” or “click here to enter”. In fact, they are just that — pretty vases with no real purpose. Do not let your visitors have a reason to click on the “back” button! Give them the value of your site up front without the splash page.

2) Do not use excessive banner advertisements

Even the least net savvy people have trained themselves to ignore banner advertisements, so you will be wasting valuable website real estate. Instead, provide more valuable content and weave relevant affiliate links into your content, and let your visitors feel that they want to buy instead of being pushed to buy.  Making the experience better will result in more click throughs.

3) Have a simple and clear navigation

You have to provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. Stay away from complicated Flash based menus or multi-tiered drop down menus. If your visitors don’t know how to navigate, they will leave your site.

4) Have a clear indication of where the user is

When visitors are deeply engrossed in browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at that moment. That way, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily. Don’t confuse your visitors because confusion means “abandon ship”!

5) Avoid using audio on your site

If your visitor is going to stay a long time at your site, reading your content, you will want to make sure they’re not annoyed by some audio looping on and on on your website. If you insist on adding audio, make sure they have some control over it — volume or muting controls would work fine.  It can be annoying to have audio starting when you are trying to access information – your visitor may not be in a place or situation where they can use sound.

Outsourcing software jobs to countries like India, China, and Philippines is a common practice for companies who want to cut costs. But it is important for them to keep in mind that cultural differences can have an impact on the quality and productivity of their outsourced developers.

There are many precautions that companies should take before outsourcing software jobs. They should have a clear understanding of what they want out of the project, know who they are going to hire, and set up a set of guidelines for the project. The company should also make sure that the person they are going to hire has experience with similar projects in the past.

Outsourcing software jobs is certainly a viable business solution for all types of industries. Software plays an integral part in many different industries and because software is constantly evolving and developing it isn’t always feasible to employ an in-house software staff capable of meeting complex software needs. Companies may find the ability to outsource software projects while still maintaining a certain degree of profitability; however, there are a few caveats to doing this. Outsourcing software jobs is a sound business practice but care should be taking to avoid certain pitfalls often associated with outsourcing work. Taking a few precautions can prevent the company from making mistakes while outsourcing such as outsourcing the work to individuals ore companies who lack necessary qualifications, making fatal scheduling errors and spending too much money to outsource the project.

Properly Screening Outsourcing Candidates

One of the most common mistakes made in outsourcing software projects is delegating the project to an individual who lacks the necessary qualifications and capabilities to complete the project efficiently. Companies who regularly outsource work may establish working relationships with individuals they are confident will perform well but before these types of relationships are established it will be necessary to carefully screen each potential candidate before outsourcing a job.

There are precautions companies can take when they are considering outsourcing a software project to ensure the candidate they select is well qualified to complete the project. The following are a few of the basic precautions companies should take:

* Describe the project sufficiently in job advertisements

* Review applications and resumes carefully

* Schedule interviews with qualified candidates

* Ask interview candidates to provide a list of work references

* Verify each reference and check the validity of work history

Establishing Schedules When Outsourcing

Another mistake often made by companies who outsource is to fail to establish a firm schedule. This may not be especially harmful when the schedule of the project is flexible but it can be a serious mistake when the schedule of the project is not flexible.

Finding a candidate who is qualified to handle outsourcing work is important but it is also important to find a candidate who is available when you need someone to complete the work. This is a significant point because some candidates may be well qualified but if they are not available when you need them they are not an ideal candidate to complete the project.

It is best to discuss scheduling upfront when screening outsourcing candidates. This is important because it can be costly to spend time finding a candidate only to find out they are unavailable towards the end of the screening process.

Spending Too Much Money on Outsourcing

One final mistake companies often make when outsourcing is spending too much money on outsourcing. This includes money paid to the individual or firm to complete the work as well as money invested in finding the most qualified candidate.

One precaution to take when considering outsourcing is to investigate all of the costs associated with outsourcing and establish a budge for having a particular project completed as an outsourcing endeavor before beginning to search for potential candidates. Doing this will enable companies to evaluate whether or not outsourcing is a wise decision from a financial standpoint before they invest too much in the process.

When evaluating the costs associated with outsourcing a software project it is important to consider a number of factors. First evaluate the amount the client is paying for the completion of the project. Next assess the in-house effort which will be required for this project including management and recruiting candidates to complete the project. Determine the percentage of the budget which will be consumed by these efforts. Now it is time to look at the remaining budget and determine how much can be invested in outsourcing the project while still remaining profitable. The fees paid to the independent contractor or consulting firm should not be so high that they do not enable the company to profit from the project.

Outsourcing software development is a common business strategy to reduce costs and manage risk. It also helps increase product quality and speed of delivery. Outsourcing software development has been around for a long time. It is a process of taking on the responsibility of developing your software by outsourcing it to a third party.

However, outsourcing can come with its own set of challenges. For example, there are cultural differences that make it difficult to communicate with the outsourced team. And there are the challenges of managing a remote team which can be difficult for those who have never done it before.

Determining whether or not outsourcing is the answer to your software problems is not necessarily a difficult question but it is a question which involves careful consideration. There are a series of questions which should be asked to help determine whether or not outsourcing is a wise decision in a particular case. Examples of some of the questions which should be asked are:

* Are there in-house employees capable or resolving the software problem?

* Do current workloads allow in-house employees to work on this problem?

* How expensive will it be to outsource the task?

* What are the benefits of outsourcing the problem?

This article will take a look at each of these questions and provide insight into how these questions can be used to help make this important decision.

The Capabilities of In-house Employees

Some software problems require highly specialized training to resolve the issues. It is often the case that a company’s in-house employees do not have the capabilities of resolving these software issues. When this occurs outsourcing the problem to a specialist is the obvious choice. However, in situations where the in-house employees are qualified to resolve the problem, the issue of whether or not to outsource becomes more complicated.

Those tasked with making the decision often weight the options by considering the cost of outsourcing versus the speed at which the problem would be resolved in both cases. If there is an expert readily available to tackle the problem it will likely be resolved relatively quickly. However, if in-house employees are currently overburdened, they may not be able to make this problem a priority.

The Workload of In-house Employees

The workload of in-house employees often comes into question when considering whether or not to outsource a specific software related task or tasks. In the previous section we discussed the importance of outsourcing when the in-house employees are not qualified for certain tasks. However, this is not always the case. Often in-house employees are fully capable of completing a task but they are unable to do so because of their current workload. In a situation when all of the in-house employees are unavailable to take on additional tasks, outsourcing again becomes a viable option.

Will Outsourcing Save Money

One of the main factors company’s consider when they contemplate outsourcing is whether or not they will save money by outsourcing. Hiring an expert on a contract basis can certainly be expensive but it is often a worthwhile investment especially for highly specialized work. The cost of outsourcing is usually higher in terms of the hourly rate of the employee but overall the costs may be reduced. When considering work performed by in-house employees it is important to realize the cost of the work includes the employee’s hourly rate, the cost of benefits such as social security, Medicare and workers’ compensation and resources such as office space, hardware, office supplies and other incidentals. After factoring in all of these costs it becomes clear that outsourcing isn’t always the more expensive option.

Another factor to consider when calculating the costs of outsourcing a software problem is how quickly the problem can be resolved by outsourcing as opposed to handling the problem in-house. This will depend on the capabilities and availability of the in-house staff. If there is not a capable staff member available it may take significantly longer to handle the problem in-house.

The Benefits of Outsourcing

Finally, the benefits of outsourcing should be considered in deciding whether or not to outsource particular tasks. We have already touched upon some of the benefits of outsourcing but for the sake of completeness we will include a list of some of the most significant benefits below:

* Decreased labour costs

* Access to industry experts

* Flexibility in scheduling

* Increased manpower

With so many benefits it is clear that outsourcing can be a viable solution to many software problems. The bottom line in determining whether or not to outsource a particular software problem often involves comparing the benefits of outsourcing to the costs of outsourcing.

 

Hackers are not just interested in stealing your data. They also want to control your computer and use it for their own purposes. They can do this by installing malware that is difficult to detect and remove, or by exploiting a vulnerability in the operating system.

The most common types of malware are ransomware, spyware, and key loggers. Ransomware encrypts the victim’s files and demands payment in exchange for a decryption key. Spyware gathers information about the victim’s activities on their computer while key loggers record everything they type on the keyboard.  Understanding what happens when your computer is under attack can help you avoid problems.

Your PC has many “ports” which are vulnerable to attack from a hacker. These ports are used to communicate internally with your monitor or printer or externally to the internet. For example, Port 25 is used for receiving incoming email and Port 80 is used to connect to the internet.

In addition you have a unique IP number which is assigned to your computer by your Internet Service Provider which is required for you to use the internet. This is how you send and receive information. It also serves as your computer’s “address”. The IP number looks like this – <i>106.185.21.243</i>.

If you have a broadband or DSL connection your IP address rarely changes which make your computer more vulnerable. If you connect to the internet via dial up then you typically are assigned a new IP address every time you log on, but this doesn’t been you are not vulnerable to attack! Another issue is that with broadband connection you are likely to be on line for longer periods of time giving hackers more opportunity to attack you.

Hackers use “port scanning” software to hunt for for vulnerable computers with open ports using your computer’s IP address. They will then send malicious programs through these open ports onto your computer.

Another common way that hackers use to gain control of your computers is by sending out Trojan Viruses disguised as email attachments. Hackers typically send out these messages to thousands of users with enticing headings and an attachment which they are hoping you will open. When the attachment is opened the virus loads itself onto your computer and allows the hacker to control your computer.

Hackers also bundle Trojan viruses into free downloads like screensavers which are commonly installed on home user’s machines. Illegal P2P networks also circulated large numbers of infected files.
Here are some steps you can take:

1) Make sure you are receiving the latest Window’s updates.
2) Have a good firewall installed.
3) Install a spyware removal tool get the spyware definitions up to date. Run a scan at least once a week or after being on line for a long period of time.
4) Install an anti virus program and keep the virus definitions up to date. Carry out a virus scan a least once a week.
5) Use a Spam Filter to stop dangerous email

Further actions you can take:
– Don’t open suspicious looking email messages especially if they have attachments.
– Be careful what free software you download. Only download from reputable sites like CNet’s Download.com.
– Remember to switch off your broadband connection if you are away from your computer for a long period of time. Get into the habit of switching your computer and broadband connection off at night time. This is especially relevant for wireless network users.