Adobe Dreamweaver has brought the business of web development within the reach of everybody. However, it is still a sophisticated piece of software with numerous floating palettes which can be a little off-putting for the new user. So, in this article, we aim to show you how to find your way through the maze of features and create a basic Dreamweaver web site.

Before you start, you should have a clear idea of what information you want to display in your web site and the options that will be available to visitors. It’s best to start with an achievable goal, a project that you can bring to a satisfactory conclusion. Don’t attempt an “all singing, all dancing” e-commerce site as your first project.

Another step you should complete before you even go into Dreamweaver is to create a folder to hold all of the files which will comprise your site: the “local root folder”, as Dreamweaver calls it. Don’t put anything in this folder but the files relating to your site. Once you have completed your project, it will mirror the live version of your site.

You should also add an images folder inside the “local root folder”. It can have any name you like but later, when you set up the Dreamweaver site, it will be designated as the default images folder and will help to ensure that your visitors don’t see any blank image icons on your pages.

Now, finally, we launch Dreamweaver and create a new web site by choosing New Site from the Site menu. Click the Advanced tab (”Advanced” here simply means manual, so don’t be intimidated.) You will notice a series of categories on the left of the screen. Only the first two categories need to be completed: Local Info and Remote Info.

In the Local Info window, enter a name for you new site then specify the location of the local root folder and default images folder you created earlier. The easiest way of doing this is to click on the browse icons next to each of these two boxes (the yellow folder icons).

The second piece of information is Remote Info. In this section, you tell Dreamweaver how to connect to the server hosting your web site. Set you Access Method to Local/Network if you are working on an intranet site then browse to locate your intranet server. Choose FTP if you are working on a public website for the internet and enter your FTP login details in each of the boxes. This information will be supplied by your web hosting company.

Before actually putting any content in your pages, you should ensure that all the pages you mapped out in your original plan have been created and saved. So, instead of creating and completing a page at a time, you create and save every single page. This will prevent the creation of links that don’t work properly because, when you come to create a link, the page you are linking to will already exist; you point to it and ask Dreamweaver to create the link.

There’s still one more step that you should do before you are ready to actually start work on the page content; you should create at least one template. Templates allow you to maintain a consistent look and feel throughout the site. It consists of fixed elements, such as logo and navigation links and what Dreamweaver calls “Editable Regions”. These are the areas of the page which can be altered each time you use the template.

Having finished your template or templates, you are ready to build the web pages that will constitute your site. Simply open each page, choose Modify - Templates - Apply Template to Page and then add the text, images etc. that make up the page.

In running an Internet business, the type of E-Commerce system that you have in place can make a big difference between being a business breaking even and living from month to month and being one of the internet heavyweights in your retail field. But, in order to ensure that your system is up to snuff, you should ask yourself: What are 7 things to make sure that my ecommerce system has before I buy?

You might suppose it matters on what part of business your are doing over the web, or how much that you can afford to spend, but in reality there are things that you must have no matter which thing you are doing. It other words these items should be automatically presumed necessary.

The first answer on the list answering that question \”What are 7 things to make sure that my ecommerce system has before I buy?\” should be scalability of the system. You need to be able to grow your business as the customer base grows, and you need to have a system that pays attention to how your business is trending and is able to react in response. Failure to address this need properly can result in your business suffering growing pains or being held back from natural growth.

Another one of the top answers on that list addressing \”What are 7 things to make sure that my ecommerce system has before I buy?\” is integration capabilities. The system has to seamlessly mesh with other systems, such as inventory and payment, without an issue. Additionally, the system needs to be able to add functionality integration as necessary to ensure that as your business grows, the system matures.

Next you need to be aware of proper and efficient content management for your system. Proper content management speeds up your production by cutting down on confusion. If you aren’t careful about this particular aspect of your new system you will find yourself having trouble in keeping up with your sales, among other less than desirable calamities.

A fourth ecommerce system need is great security. A good system is only good if it can provide enough security to both keep the customer’s safety in find at the time of purchase as well as keep information safe once the transaction has been made. The system you choose needs to keep info safe at all levels, as poor security in any area can lead to your business becoming disreputable.

Fifthly, a good checkout system for customers making purchases using the system is essential. If the customer has a quick and easy shopping experience, the chances of their repeating as customers increases substantially. A number of resources provide a shopping cart software review for many systems, and shopper feedback information is available everywhere for perusal. As a result, this should be one of the more researched aspects of your ecommerce system search.

The sixth desirable characteristic of a good operating system, worth your investment, is the customer service offered by the company that you purchase it from. What good will it do if you have a heavy customer database dependent on it, and it fails on you somehow, and you can’t contact the person you purchased it from for advice or replacement?

The analytical software that is included in the systems software packages with these systems is very important. It is these tools that tell you who your customers may be, and, what they are buying, in addition to what they want from your business. This will help the business owner apply his marketing skills in the most efficient ways.

What is Spyware?

Spyware is a scourge on the internet, spyware is malicious software designed to be installed on a person’s personal computer often without their knowledge; where it runs silently, collecting information about your behavior and then using your computer to transmit this valuable behavioral data back to the originating company. Many forms of spyware also launch pop-ups, modify search engine results pages and use other forms of ‘trickery’ to get advertising in front of the computer’s users.

How is Spyware Spread?

Spyware does not usually self-replicate. That means that in order for your computer to become infected by most spyware applications, you have to perform some action such as installing a plug-in to view a web site or installing some other software for your computer.

Most of the spyware that infests people’s computers comes silently bundled with another piece of desirable software such as a toolbar, weather and time program, or one of many other free downloads. Some companies that develop free software such as Weatherbug (A weather forecasting tool) and Kazaa (a file-sharing tool) are paid by advertisers to hide spyware in with their ‘free’ software, installing the unwanted advertising software on millions of computers without the consent of the end-user.

Following is a list of some of the most common spyware-laden ‘free’ applications and software packages. Look familiar? If so, read on and learn how to get rid of these craplications.

* Weatherbug * Realplayer media player * MyWebSearch Toolbar * Comet Cursor * Cool Web Search * Internet Optimizer * 180 Solutions * HuntBar / WinTools * Grokster * Kazaa * Download Accelerator Plus * FlashGet * GoZilla * NetAnts * Any “Gator” or “GAIN” products

Spyware and System Performance

One or two pieces of spyware usually aren’t noticeable unless they spawn pop-ups or other forms of advertising. Problems normally only begin to manifest as the number of active spyware programs increases, causing a greater drain on your system resources. A major problem with many forms of spyware is that they are very poorly designed, making the code inefficient and often buggy - If you have spyware on your computer and you experience unexplained ‘crashes’, ‘lock-ups’ or critical errors, it’s likely that the cause is a buggy piece of spyware hiding in your computer and crashing things as it tries to spy on you.

How to Get Rid of Spyware FREE

Here I will introduce you to some of the best FREE products on the market for getting this nasty spyware off of your computer. I keep capitalizing the word ‘free’ to emphasize that I am not trying to sell you something here. All of the programs I am about to recommend to you are absolutely free, and the best at what they do. In fact, most of these free spyware-removal utilities are better than the crap many other sites try to sell you. In fact, there are dozens of anti-spyware programs that not only cost your hard earned money, but are complete frauds and do nothing to remove spyware from your machine. Beware!

I will begin with an overview of the least technical solutions and then move on to more advanced programs. Chances are you will only need to use one of the next two programs to take care of 99% of your spyware problems.