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10 Common causes of computer stress.
1. Failing to Anticipate Problems
Many stressful problems computer users experience can be prevented. Yes, power outages do occur, but equipment and software controls are available to keep you from losing data. Theft or damage from children, natural disasters, viruses, intruders, and hard disk failures may not always be avoidable. But adopting a regular backup schedule and keeping a recent backup in a second location can make such losses easier to bear. Software bugs are common in many types of programs, especially new releases such as Windows 95. So if one is uncomfortable dealing with such problems, it may be better to wait before making a purchase.
The point is there are many potential computer-related nightmares, but they can be anticipated and steps taken to either prevent a disaster or at the very least to significantly soften its blow.

2. Trying to Get By on the CheapSometimes we invite disasters by trying to do things on the cheap. That less expensive modem or graphics board you could pick up at a computer show may save you a hundred dollars or more, but are the potential headaches worth the risk? Sure you can save some money if you don't upgrade to a Pentium processor, but are the savings really worth all the frustration and anger you may experience when your slower CPU can't keep up with the latest software? Or how about building a system on your own. If you're not really experienced, it's probably better (and less stressful) to pay a little more and get a system assembled by a pro.

3. Failing to Ask for Help
Many novice computer users (and some veterans too), are reluctant to ask other people for help. This can lead to an incredible amount of stress, most of which is totally unnecessary.
When you are just starting out learning to use your computer, nothing can beat having one or two experienced computer users in your life whom you can call whenever you run into a problem. It also may help to visit your local bookstore and purchase a supplemental training or tutorial guide. And don't forget the many on-line sources of help for all levels of users. Hardware and software forums can be found on AOL, Compuserve, and other popular services.

4. Failing to Relate to Stress as Feedback
Whether you get angry, frustrated, or impatient with your computer from time to time, or whether you worry about some computer disaster befalling you, the very best way to deal with any type of stress in your life is to view it as personal feedback.
Instead of blaming your computer, blaming software developers and manufacturing companies, or blaming life itself, take the viewpoint that any type of stress in your life may have something to do with your own thinking and behavior.
Whatever type of computer stress you might be experiencing, look for your own hidden thought patterns and behavior patterns lurking in the background. If you're not familiar with how to do this, there are several excellent self-help references available.

5. Trying to Cut Corners
In addition to cutting financial corners, there are many other ways computer users get themselves into trouble by trying to skip important or critical steps. Trying to use hardware or software without reading the manuals or doing the basic tutorials is one very common cause. Unfortunately, the new "Plug and Play" mentality fosters this behavior. Many Plug and Play users, on the other hand, have found out that they still need to understand how their new equipment works (and installs) to get it up and running smoothly.
Attempting to use powerful software programs such as word processors, spread sheets, relational database programs, web page designers, graphics illustrators, and many others right out of the box is another preventable cause of computer related stress. While many of these program are relatively easy to learn and operate at a very basic level, most users could benefit from additional training and tutoring.
The usual excuse for skipping these steps is time. Many people feel that they just don't have the time to sit down and study their manuals, read an additional book, attend a class, or hire a professional trainer. Unfortunately, when you don't put in the time to learn what you are doing on the front end, you usually end up spending much more time (and sometimes money) in the long run.

6. Unrealistic Expectations
Much of our stress in life is caused by our own unrealistic expectations. Many of these expectations are quite silly when examined in the open. But they often lurk in the background of our thinking, causing mischief and stress in ways that we may not always be consciously aware of.
Take the common experience of frustration associated with computers. Much of this frustration comes from expecting ourselves or our computers to function perfectly all the time. While this is a laudable goal, it is not very realistic. From time to time, computer problems will occur. The file we are working on may have appeared to disappear! (Don't worry, it's usually still there--somewhere.) Heavy traffic on our on-line service may preclude us from being able to connect when we want or may cause a system slow down just at the moment we need things to be fast.
Others will send you unsollicited e-mail or will flame you repeatedly for making a beginner's mistake. And then there are all the vendors, sales people, repair technicians, receptionists, tech support people and many others who repeatedly fail to live up to our personal standards for how people should behave.

7. Beating Up On Yourself Unnecessarily
Along with the expectations of perfectionism and universally faultless performance comes the very common behavior pattern of beating yourself whenever you do something wrong or make a "dumb" mistake.
Mistakes in the computer world are very common. All it takes is entering one incorrect letter, number, or symbol and your whole operation can grind to a halt. Deleting the wrong file (or a whole directory of important files!) happens to the very best of us. And when it comes to operating complex software applications or coordinating the installation of complex hardware or networking systems, errors are common, and you should not feel too bad or demean yourself when they occur.
Forgiveness and compassion are what you need to deal with the many intracacies and pitfalls computer usage entails. If you find yourself engaging in their opposites, stop this at once. There is nothing to be gained from continuing.

8. Conflicts With Other People
Much of our stress in life comes from conflicts and interpersonal difficulties we encounter with other people. While the computer world may give you the illusion of working alone and isolating yourself from others, this is not really the case.
Both at home and at work, many different types of computer related conflicts and resultant stress can arise. At home, there may be issues of sharing usage between family members, exposure of children to outside influences, increased financial burdens, conflicts over the amount of time spent at the terminal (or not being spent elsewhere) and many others. These types of conflicts require strong communication, relationship building, and negotiation skills.
And both at home or at work, there are vendors, customers, other computer users and their networked virtual communities, and many other people you might interact with, both on-line and in person. Some of these interactions can sometimes be stressful. Because computers expand our capabilities for social interactions, and because such interactions are often beyond our direct personal control, computers tend to increase our stress in this very important and difficult area of living harmoniously with other human beings.

9. Failing to Do Your Homework
Another common cause of computer stress is failing to do your homework. In some ways this is similar to Cause #5 (Trying To Cut Corners). It too is done mainly to save time. But many problems computer users experience could have been prevented had they researched products or companies more thouroughly or had they spoken to experienced experts before making a purchase.

10. Compromising Your Own or Others' Integrity
When you do something you know is wrong, you don't have to get caught to suffer consequences. Your unconscious will take over and make sure you are punished.
Since no one is actually watching, many computer users feel safe about accepting copied software, using shareware without paying registration fees, giving copies of non-free software to others, or using purchased software programs on multiple machines. But these minor transgressions do add up. And they can be subtle causes of later "accidental mishaps."

10 Solutions on what to do if you are addicted to computer.
* Playing a sport with friends
* Going out the the mall/cinema
* Eating at a restaurant
* Getting involved with a local sport or recreational group
* Drawing
* Playing an instrument
* Television
* Radio
* Reading (try to find a suitable genre, not some nursery rhyme)
* Getting a job (this is actually a really good option, you gain life experience and money)

Ways to avoid spam:

Tips to Stop Spam

*Personal insight
In my personal view, spam is wrong because first and foremost it reduces the integrity and honesty in online businesses and transaction. Spam destroys the trust of the people in online operation for they hide their identity and force to send email to a person who doesn’t want to receive/ request it.


5 tips to stop spam

1.) You should have a least two types of email address and possibly three.
Lots of ISPs provide free e-mail addresses. So you can make two e-mail addresses, one for personal use for friends and colleagues and use the other one for disposable email accounts which will implies, those you can throw away at any time. They're used mainly in public postings, chat programs, and web forms. If you have a more complex e-mail address, it is less likely to receive spam than one that could be easily dictionary-atta


2.)Don't Reply or try to Unsubscribe from a Spammers List
You may receive an e-mail message which tells you to reply to unsubscribe from a list. Don't reply because If you reply the spammer now know that your mail address is active and you can expect to receive more not less spam. The best way to avoid spam is to never respond, and eventually they will give up. This can take a while but it works. Don't forget to put them on your blacklist also.

3.)Change your email address
If you are constantly getting too much spam to your present account and it doesn't look like it's going to go away then it may be better to get a new email address.
Consider to replace it with a new address and informing your contacts of the new address. Once you are on lots of spammers' mailing lists, it is likely that the address will receive more and more spam.

4.)Check those Checkboxes
When you sign up for something on the Web make sure that you check what check boxes are ticked and which ones are not on the Web. There is often innocent looking text at the end of the form quite often, the checkbox next to that text is already checked and your email address will be given to you don't know who. So it is best to read the description carefully as sometimes the box needs to be checked to stop your email address from being used and sometimes it need to be unchecked.

5.) Never buy any goods from spammers.
The spammers rely on very small percentages of people responding to spam and buying goods. If spamming becomes unprofitable and takes lots of effort for little return, spammers have less incentive to continue spamming. Never risk giving your credit card details to an unknown and unrepeatable source.

Ethical Evaluation of Spamming

Is it wrong to send a spam?

*Kantian Evaluation
Spam is unethical to Kantian views because it use the people as a means to an end which is wrong.
Universally, it allows everybody to use others resources against their will. In addition, few recipients are interested in the product/ services offered.


*Act Utilitarian
In act utilitarian it is safe to say that spamming is wrong. Although it provides high income to those who send spam still it annoys probably about 99.9 percent of the population which makes this people unhappy. The majority of the people will be unhappy sa a result of spam.


*Rule Utilitarian
Sending spam would benefit some in terms of income but it would also aggravate the recipients. Spam is bad because it will produce unhappiness than happiness to receipient. In the same way, receipient may suffer from recieving unsolicited, bulk email and would irritate her/him also.


*Social Contract Theory
In Social Contract Theory spamming is not right because spammers hide their identity and force people which make it unethical. Even though everyone have the right to choose what they want, spamming would be bad because it eliminates the right of others especially their right in terms of privacy. Spam would be ethical if they would be for marketers to use correct return addresses, give their messages accurate subject lines, and send emails only to those who request it.

Catalyst for Change

1.) Who were the computers during the Victorian era? What were the implications of their work during that time?
The computers during the Victorian era used to describe those human beings (women) whose job is was to perform the repetitive calcultions required to compute such thins as navigational tables, tide charts, and planetary position for astronomical almanacs. The implications of their work during that time is to answer those question they always asks. It also compute multiplications and boredom would quickly set in, leading to carelessness, leading to mistakes. And even on your best days you wouldn't be producing answers very fast.
2.) Who was Charles Babbage and what was the significant contribution he made during his time? If his computer was made, what ethical considerations could have been addressed? Re: WWI, Hindenburg, Titanic to have a few?
Charles Babbage, was an English Mathematician, Philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of a programmable computer. The significant contribution he made during his time is the advantages with division of labour. It help us work faster and to compute very well. If Charles Babbage's computer was made, problems such as the existence of WWI could have been addressed. WWI was a global war which took place primarily in Europe from 1914 to 1918. Over 40 million casualties resulted, including approximately 20 million military and civilian deaths. Over 60 million European soldiers were mobilized from 1914 to 1918. If computers existed and were fully developed during Babbage's time, they could have probably determined the real causes of the attack or, seen everything that has taken place at a glance. On the other hand, the Hindenburg disaster, which killed 35 people out of the 97 persons on board, could have possibly been prevented if modern aircraft aviation machines or techniques had been developed ever since then. In addition, another historical rampage, which was the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912 which wasted almost 1,517 lives must have been halted if the men who were responsible in the construction and maintenance of the ship had some enough knowledge or high-technology machineries that properly led the ship to its destination. Lastly, if modern computers have been made in that time, they could have created life-saving machines that would prevent such tragedies.
3.) What computer was developed during WWII and who made it possible? Name the two major players and how did they contribute to the war effort? What happened to them after the war?
The Colossus machines were electronic computing devices used by British code breakers to read encrypted German messages during World War II. These were the world's first programmable, digital, electronic, computing devices. They used vacuum tubes (thermionic valves) to perform the calculations.
The two major players are Tommy Flowers and Alan Turing. Tommy Flowers was an English engineer who designed to Colossus Flowers's first contact with the wartime codebreaking effort came when he was asked for help by Alan Turing, who was then working at the government's Bletchley Park codebreaking establishment 50 miles north of London. Alan Turing was an English Mathematician, Logician and Cryptographer. Turing is often considered to be the father of modern computer science. He provided an influential formalization of the concept of the algorithm and computation with the Turing machine.
4.) What are AI, Robotics, and Cyborgs? What ethical issues can be derived from this invention?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science which aims to create it. It is "the study and design of intelligent agents, where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions which maximize its chances of success. Robotics is the science and technology of robots, and their design, manufacture and application. Robotics Engineers also study electronics, mechanics and software. A cyborg is a cybernetic organism (an organism that has both artificial and natural systems). The ethical issues is how the human mind affected and challenged because of this 3 inventions. It enhanced abilities due to technology that make our lives easier because human is intellegent he can create things that can manipulate others and became our lives convenient.
5.) What is the real threat that the IT world would face in the future (it’s not Nuclear)?How could this happen and what is its effect to our world?
The threat that the IT world would face in the future is not the nuclear but the viruses and those who are hackers that affect our own privacy. With this threat can in the IT world that we would be facing is nevertheless rampant and is clearly observable today. By this rapidly widespread of computer virus there were no confidentiality of data and security that can destroy our feild and system. It is very alarming for us IT people even though we have some idea to stop this but we must be aware of what is happening to us right now.

The Facebook Controversy

Reaction: The Facebook Controversy

Facebook is the means of data mining. According to the policy, "We may use information about you that we collect from other sources, including but not limited to newspapers and Internet sources such as blogs, instant messaging services and other users of Facebook, to supplement your profile."

For me, facebook controversy is affecting the data application of users. It’s not having the privacy that the users want it’s the socializing and trying to connect with old friends that people want a facebook account. Some question that are being ask or required are too personal and others may use this data against you or they could pretend to be somebody.

Personal data are being displayed on the profile and people have free access on this thus others’ privacy are being invaded. Write-ups of people may be given meaning or it may cause conflicts. Some use facebooks to air-out their feelings through shoutouts and blogs and readers may find it insulting or interesting. For some of the people that using the words against you may cause insult and those flowering words may influenced them to open or give them interest for copying it.

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