Things parents can do to help reduce the costs of car insurance for teens:

According to a 2004 study released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), nearly a third of all traffic-related fatalities are represented by teenagers. Further studies have shown that teen drivers are far more likely to commit errors behind the wheel, make poor decisions, and drive at unsafe speeds than any other age group. This is the main reason why car insurance companies attach high premiums to teen policyholders. Their business model is based upon risk management strategies, and teenage drivers clearly represent a significantly higher level of risk.

Fortunately, there are steps that parents can take in order to reduce their teen’s auto insurance rates. Below, you’ll learn 5 ways to control the costs of car insurance for teens while helping to ensure that your teenager also remains safe on the road.

#1 – Watch Their Grades

Auto insurers use profiles to determine the potential risk of underwriting a policy. Good grades usually reflect responsibility and good decision-making skills. As a result, carriers often reward teens – and their parents – with a rate reduction. Each insurance company has varying guidelines regarding discounts on premiums for good grades. Ask your car insurance company about their GPA requirements.

#2 – Encourage Traffic School

Teenage drivers tend to speed, attracting more than their fair share of traffic tickets. Unfortunately, traffic tickets cause their insurance rates to rise. The good news is that their driving record can remain clean if they agree to attend traffic school (if/when the judge offers them the option). However, left to their own devices, a lot of teenagers will avoid spending an entire Saturday in class. Make sure they attend. Not only will it give them the opportunity to reflect on their mistake, but a clean record helps keep premiums manageable.

#3 – Choose A Practical Car

Your 16-year-old son may want a red Corvette, but buying one for him will likely cause his insurance rates to rise. Car insurance companies consider teenagers with sports cars to represent a higher potential risk than otherwise. Opt for a 4-door vehicle that is safe to drive, fuel efficient, and comes equipped with safety features (i.e. airbags). Your teenager’s insurance premiums will be lower.

#4 – Add Them To Your Policy

It’s usually more cost-effective to add your son or daughter to your family car insurance policy than it is to open a new policy for them. If you can have them categorized as a “part-time” driver, you’ll enjoy lower rates. Carriers consider full-time teenage drivers as a higher risk; the premiums will reflect that increased risk.

#5 – Cultivate The Right Attitude

Despite what a lot of parents think, their teenagers often become involved in traffic collisions because of their attitude toward driving, not a lack of skills. Young adults develop a sense of invulnerability. As a result, they often neglect to drive safely. This lack of concern while behind the wheel leads to traffic tickets and accidents.

Ride along with them. Take note of their driving skills, decision-making ability, and attitude. If you can nurture the right perspective in your son or daughter, they’re more likely to drive safely and keep their record clean. And remember, a clean driving record leads to lower car insurance premiums.

Parents, Teenagers, and Premiums

Teenage drivers are at an immediate disadvantage. They’ve already been profiled by auto insurers as a high-risk group and are instantly saddled with higher insurance rates. That said, parents can take a few savvy steps in order to help manage the costs. By encouraging good grades, traffic school (when available), buying a practical car, and adding them to a family policy, they can keep the premiums at a reasonable level. Finally, they should invest time to cultivate the right attitude toward driving. By doing these 5 things, parents can significantly lower their – and their kids’ – auto insurance rates.

Kade Phillips
http://www.articlesbase.com/insurance-articles/car-insurance-101-for-teenage-drivers-and-their-parents-1087958.html

Platter Scratch Repairing:The critical step into data recovery from crashed drives

Hard Disk Drive Crash

Take the case of computer systems. We become so used to working on the computer on a regular basis that we are rarely ready to face the consequences if things go wrong. This is truer of a computer hard disk drive crash than of anything else. Hard drive malfunction can be divided into two types: one is the so called Firmware Level malfunction that can be repaired using relating software or factory commands; the other one left is the Physical Level malfunction caused by physical hard drive components damage. As to the latter Physical Level crash, the typical case in data recovery practices is that the head crash and serious platter scratches caused by direct contact between the head and the platter surface; such drives manifest themselves as undetected, staying BUSY, besides an ominous scratching sound may start to emanate from the disk. This is a serious problem. It is indicative of nothing less than a crash of the hard disk drive.

Functioning of a Hard Disk Drive

In order to understand the problem of a hard disk drive crash, it is important to first understand the mechanism of a hard drive. Only after knowing how the disk drive functions can one understand the nature of the problem.

Components

Read-Write Head: The read-write heads of the hard disk drives are those mechanisms that, as the name suggests read or write the data from the magnetic fields of the platters.
 
 
Hard Disk Platter: A hard disk platter is a circular disk within the hard disk drive. It is circular in shape and the magnetic media of the disk drive is stored on it. Generally multiple platters are mounted on a single spindle of the hard disk drive.
 
Lubricant Layer: This is the topmost layer of the platters and is made of a substance similar to Teflon.
Carbon: There is a layer of sputtered carbon just below the lubricant layer.
Magnetic Layer: This is below the layer of carbon.

Functioning

The magnetic layer of the hard disk drive stores all the data. The two layers of carbon and the lubricant like material saves this magnetic layer from coming into accidental contact with the read-write head of the disk, we can say they exist as the protection layer of the magnetic layer (of course, another important function of them is to maintain the stability of the flying read-write head)

The platters move at an exceptional speed and the data is read from, or written on to, the magnetic layer by the read-write head which flies above the surface of the platter. As the read-write head flies over the platter surface its height is controlled by a thin film or layer of air entrapped between the platters and the slider surface of the read-write head. That’s why we mentioned that one of the functions of the protection layer is to maintain the stability of the flying read-write head: the film of air floats the head over the surface will be generated only when the surface of the platter maintains flat and smooth.

If the read-write head comes into direct contact with the surface of the disk platters then the head can scratch through the protective layers of sputtered carbon and the lubricant material, leaving a circle scratch area to the platter. This is called a head crash or a hard disk drive platter crash.

Cause of a Hard Disk Drive Crash

The cause of a head crash can be a minute particle causing the read-write head to bounce against the platter disk. The head is made of hard materials that can scratch through all the protective layers. If the head bounces against the platter while the latter is rotating at a speed equivalent to thousands of revolutions per minute then the head is bound to scratch the platter surface. This destroys the magnetic layer of the platters. If the head begins to drag over the platter then the data loss can be tremendous. Besides this the head will end up overheating or physical damage making the hard disk drive stop functioning properly. Even the possibility of further head crashes increases as particulate freed on account of one head crash are scraped on to the platter surface, leaving more scratches to the platter each time you power up the drive.
 
Data recovery from drives with physical scratches

For data recovery from physically damaged (head crash/platter scratch) hard drive, currently the best and the only solution is to open the HAD in a proper environment (such as a clean room) to replace the damaged physical head stack, meanwhile to clean up the particles on the platter, then working for data recovery from the postoperative drive. However this technique will not work for all the cases, especially when there are severe scratch area on the platter which is caused by the head crash – besides a failed head swap, the scratch area will also be an obstacle for your successful data recovery: even after you swap the crashed head stack faultlessly, it will crash immediately on power up, making the scratch issue worse and there is no way for users to read any data (even the data locate on good area of the platter) out of the drive. The reason for this situation is that when the head flies over the scratch area (it does not matter if it is trying to read from that area or not), due to the breakage of the protective layers, the head can no longer maintain its floating status when it comes to the scratch area, but makes directly contact with the platter again, the head will end up overheating or physical damage (crash or short circuit). The point of how to recover data from the patient drive becomes the point of how to make sure the head passes the scratch area smoothly.

Platter Scratch Restoration Solution

What is Platter Scratch Restoration Solution?
The Platter Scratch Restoration Solution is the unique technology developed under joint effort of SalvationDATA, Computer Institution of CAS, Chemistry Institution of CAS and Physics Institution of CAS, which takes over two years of time and hundreds of thousands of dollars for R&D, integrating interdisciplinary achievements of multiple fields like chemistry, computer application and physics. It is the perfect solution for the current corner of data recovery from drives with severe platter scratch; empowering data recovery professionals who have been working on physical data recovery a deeper and more comprehensive capability.

Basic principles of operation:
SalvationDATA Platter Scratch Restoration System includes the following major parts:

1. High precision scratch positioner
2. High pressure cleaner
3. Nanometer filling materials spray arm
4. Master program controller

The system will first clean up the target platter using the high pressure air cleaner; then scan the platter with the optical scratch positioner to locate scratch area and label its size and depth; finally the spray arm contains the nanometer filling materials will fill the scratch area with the donor materials under the management of the master program controller, so as to restore the scratches and make the scratch area revert to flat and smooth, thereby allows the head to pass the scratch area in a stable floating status so that data recovery from the good area can be achieved. The scratch positioner carries out analysis and positioning towards the tiny scratches using optical imageology technology; by sending the scan report back to the master program controller, a repairing instruction flow will be generated and sent to the spray arm controller for implementation. The nanometer filling materials and the high precision nozzle controlled by the master program controller ensures 100% accuracy of the restoration; meanwhile the filling materials have been improved by trial and error, it won’t cause any chemical reaction with the materials of the different layers.

As for drives of multiple platters, the system will record the platter alignment by using optical image before separating the target platter from the platter assembly; so that the platter alignment can be easily restored after the scratch restoration. The entire restoration process will be carried out by the master program controller and the full angle robot arms under its control without user’s intervention, ought to be the fastest and safest solution for platter scratch restoration available; what’s more, the estimated price of the system would be around $5,000 only, making it the most adoptable and popular equipment.

Support List

The system includes robot arms and workstations designed for standard platters of 3.5-inch, 2.5-inch and 1.8-inch hard drives of different manufacturers; fully satisfies the platter restoration needs towards the hard drive types mentioned above. (As to those platters contains special manufacturing process and technology, such as the glass platter technology is being worked on, and hopefully it will be announced on initial launch day plus 6 months).

A Final Note

What we do using this system is to carry out a padding restoration to the platter scratch using alternative materials; therefore data locate on the scratch area will be lost beyond recovery even after the platter restoration. The significance of this solution is that to ensure the read-write head pass the scratch area smoothly, so that the head continues to work for reading data from the subsequent good area.

Zoe
http://www.articlesbase.com/data-recovery-articles/platter-scratch-repairingthe-critical-step-into-data-recovery-from-crashed-drives-685090.html

I’m looking for software that will make my computer faster for gaming and that will also clean up unnecessary memory off my C drive. Is there any software that will help me do this?

Thanks!

Hey! A lot of people ask this question and after many years the one I think is best is Advanced SystemCare 3 by Iobit. This program is best for a long term solution as it contains programs that can optimize your registry, speed up network, find clone files on your drive, prevent attacks, clean junk files, etc.
If you want a nice quick fix but one that still can remove a lot of cluttered temporary junk that may exist in older PC’s than I would go for CCleaner by Piriform.
Heres the free version of SystemCare: http://www.iobit.com/advancedwindowscareper.html
And here is CCleaner: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download
Both are free sharewares and I recommend you download both to get your PC almost new again.
Hope that answers your question.

Things parents can do to help reduce the costs of car insurance for teens:

According to a 2004 study released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), nearly a third of all traffic-related fatalities are represented by teenagers. Further studies have shown that teen drivers are far more likely to commit errors behind the wheel, make poor decisions, and drive at unsafe speeds than any other age group. This is the main reason why car insurance companies attach high premiums to teen policyholders. Their business model is based upon risk management strategies, and teenage drivers clearly represent a significantly higher level of risk.

Fortunately, there are steps that parents can take in order to reduce their teen’s auto insurance rates. Below, you’ll learn 5 ways to control the costs of car insurance for teens while helping to ensure that your teenager also remains safe on the road.

#1 – Watch Their Grades

Auto insurers use profiles to determine the potential risk of underwriting a policy. Good grades usually reflect responsibility and good decision-making skills. As a result, carriers often reward teens – and their parents – with a rate reduction. Each insurance company has varying guidelines regarding discounts on premiums for good grades. Ask your car insurance company about their GPA requirements.

#2 – Encourage Traffic School

Teenage drivers tend to speed, attracting more than their fair share of traffic tickets. Unfortunately, traffic tickets cause their insurance rates to rise. The good news is that their driving record can remain clean if they agree to attend traffic school (if/when the judge offers them the option). However, left to their own devices, a lot of teenagers will avoid spending an entire Saturday in class. Make sure they attend. Not only will it give them the opportunity to reflect on their mistake, but a clean record helps keep premiums manageable.

#3 – Choose A Practical Car

Your 16-year-old son may want a red Corvette, but buying one for him will likely cause his insurance rates to rise. Car insurance companies consider teenagers with sports cars to represent a higher potential risk than otherwise. Opt for a 4-door vehicle that is safe to drive, fuel efficient, and comes equipped with safety features (i.e. airbags). Your teenager’s insurance premiums will be lower.

#4 – Add Them To Your Policy

It’s usually more cost-effective to add your son or daughter to your family car insurance policy than it is to open a new policy for them. If you can have them categorized as a “part-time” driver, you’ll enjoy lower rates. Carriers consider full-time teenage drivers as a higher risk; the premiums will reflect that increased risk.

#5 – Cultivate The Right Attitude

Despite what a lot of parents think, their teenagers often become involved in traffic collisions because of their attitude toward driving, not a lack of skills. Young adults develop a sense of invulnerability. As a result, they often neglect to drive safely. This lack of concern while behind the wheel leads to traffic tickets and accidents.

Ride along with them. Take note of their driving skills, decision-making ability, and attitude. If you can nurture the right perspective in your son or daughter, they’re more likely to drive safely and keep their record clean. And remember, a clean driving record leads to lower car insurance premiums.

Parents, Teenagers, and Premiums

Teenage drivers are at an immediate disadvantage. They’ve already been profiled by auto insurers as a high-risk group and are instantly saddled with higher insurance rates. That said, parents can take a few savvy steps in order to help manage the costs. By encouraging good grades, traffic school (when available), buying a practical car, and adding them to a family policy, they can keep the premiums at a reasonable level. Finally, they should invest time to cultivate the right attitude toward driving. By doing these 5 things, parents can significantly lower their – and their kids’ – auto insurance rates.

Kade Phillips
http://www.articlesbase.com/insurance-articles/car-insurance-101-for-teenage-drivers-and-their-parents-1087958.html

Things parents can do to help reduce the costs of car insurance for teens:

According to a 2004 study released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), nearly a third of all traffic-related fatalities are represented by teenagers. Further studies have shown that teen drivers are far more likely to commit errors behind the wheel, make poor decisions, and drive at unsafe speeds than any other age group. This is the main reason why car insurance companies attach high premiums to teen policyholders. Their business model is based upon risk management strategies, and teenage drivers clearly represent a significantly higher level of risk.

Fortunately, there are steps that parents can take in order to reduce their teen’s auto insurance rates. Below, you’ll learn 5 ways to control the costs of car insurance for teens while helping to ensure that your teenager also remains safe on the road.

#1 – Watch Their Grades

Auto insurers use profiles to determine the potential risk of underwriting a policy. Good grades usually reflect responsibility and good decision-making skills. As a result, carriers often reward teens – and their parents – with a rate reduction. Each insurance company has varying guidelines regarding discounts on premiums for good grades. Ask your car insurance company about their GPA requirements.

#2 – Encourage Traffic School

Teenage drivers tend to speed, attracting more than their fair share of traffic tickets. Unfortunately, traffic tickets cause their insurance rates to rise. The good news is that their driving record can remain clean if they agree to attend traffic school (if/when the judge offers them the option). However, left to their own devices, a lot of teenagers will avoid spending an entire Saturday in class. Make sure they attend. Not only will it give them the opportunity to reflect on their mistake, but a clean record helps keep premiums manageable.

#3 – Choose A Practical Car

Your 16-year-old son may want a red Corvette, but buying one for him will likely cause his insurance rates to rise. Car insurance companies consider teenagers with sports cars to represent a higher potential risk than otherwise. Opt for a 4-door vehicle that is safe to drive, fuel efficient, and comes equipped with safety features (i.e. airbags). Your teenager’s insurance premiums will be lower.

#4 – Add Them To Your Policy

It’s usually more cost-effective to add your son or daughter to your family car insurance policy than it is to open a new policy for them. If you can have them categorized as a “part-time” driver, you’ll enjoy lower rates. Carriers consider full-time teenage drivers as a higher risk; the premiums will reflect that increased risk.

#5 – Cultivate The Right Attitude

Despite what a lot of parents think, their teenagers often become involved in traffic collisions because of their attitude toward driving, not a lack of skills. Young adults develop a sense of invulnerability. As a result, they often neglect to drive safely. This lack of concern while behind the wheel leads to traffic tickets and accidents.

Ride along with them. Take note of their driving skills, decision-making ability, and attitude. If you can nurture the right perspective in your son or daughter, they’re more likely to drive safely and keep their record clean. And remember, a clean driving record leads to lower car insurance premiums.

Parents, Teenagers, and Premiums

Teenage drivers are at an immediate disadvantage. They’ve already been profiled by auto insurers as a high-risk group and are instantly saddled with higher insurance rates. That said, parents can take a few savvy steps in order to help manage the costs. By encouraging good grades, traffic school (when available), buying a practical car, and adding them to a family policy, they can keep the premiums at a reasonable level. Finally, they should invest time to cultivate the right attitude toward driving. By doing these 5 things, parents can significantly lower their – and their kids’ – auto insurance rates.

Kade Phillips
http://www.articlesbase.com/insurance-articles/car-insurance-101-for-teenage-drivers-and-their-parents-1087958.html

Things parents can do to help reduce the costs of car insurance for teens:

According to a 2004 study released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), nearly a third of all traffic-related fatalities are represented by teenagers. Further studies have shown that teen drivers are far more likely to commit errors behind the wheel, make poor decisions, and drive at unsafe speeds than any other age group. This is the main reason why car insurance companies attach high premiums to teen policyholders. Their business model is based upon risk management strategies, and teenage drivers clearly represent a significantly higher level of risk.

Fortunately, there are steps that parents can take in order to reduce their teen’s auto insurance rates. Below, you’ll learn 5 ways to control the costs of car insurance for teens while helping to ensure that your teenager also remains safe on the road.

#1 – Watch Their Grades

Auto insurers use profiles to determine the potential risk of underwriting a policy. Good grades usually reflect responsibility and good decision-making skills. As a result, carriers often reward teens – and their parents – with a rate reduction. Each insurance company has varying guidelines regarding discounts on premiums for good grades. Ask your car insurance company about their GPA requirements.

#2 – Encourage Traffic School

Teenage drivers tend to speed, attracting more than their fair share of traffic tickets. Unfortunately, traffic tickets cause their insurance rates to rise. The good news is that their driving record can remain clean if they agree to attend traffic school (if/when the judge offers them the option). However, left to their own devices, a lot of teenagers will avoid spending an entire Saturday in class. Make sure they attend. Not only will it give them the opportunity to reflect on their mistake, but a clean record helps keep premiums manageable.

#3 – Choose A Practical Car

Your 16-year-old son may want a red Corvette, but buying one for him will likely cause his insurance rates to rise. Car insurance companies consider teenagers with sports cars to represent a higher potential risk than otherwise. Opt for a 4-door vehicle that is safe to drive, fuel efficient, and comes equipped with safety features (i.e. airbags). Your teenager’s insurance premiums will be lower.

#4 – Add Them To Your Policy

It’s usually more cost-effective to add your son or daughter to your family car insurance policy than it is to open a new policy for them. If you can have them categorized as a “part-time” driver, you’ll enjoy lower rates. Carriers consider full-time teenage drivers as a higher risk; the premiums will reflect that increased risk.

#5 – Cultivate The Right Attitude

Despite what a lot of parents think, their teenagers often become involved in traffic collisions because of their attitude toward driving, not a lack of skills. Young adults develop a sense of invulnerability. As a result, they often neglect to drive safely. This lack of concern while behind the wheel leads to traffic tickets and accidents.

Ride along with them. Take note of their driving skills, decision-making ability, and attitude. If you can nurture the right perspective in your son or daughter, they’re more likely to drive safely and keep their record clean. And remember, a clean driving record leads to lower car insurance premiums.

Parents, Teenagers, and Premiums

Teenage drivers are at an immediate disadvantage. They’ve already been profiled by auto insurers as a high-risk group and are instantly saddled with higher insurance rates. That said, parents can take a few savvy steps in order to help manage the costs. By encouraging good grades, traffic school (when available), buying a practical car, and adding them to a family policy, they can keep the premiums at a reasonable level. Finally, they should invest time to cultivate the right attitude toward driving. By doing these 5 things, parents can significantly lower their – and their kids’ – auto insurance rates.

Kade Phillips
http://www.articlesbase.com/insurance-articles/car-insurance-101-for-teenage-drivers-and-their-parents-1087958.html

He’s willing to sacrifice the freedom, the financial independence, a few hundred, thousand jobs, and the moral superiority of the American people. Oh wait, he’s already doing that. I guess he doesn’t feel the need to speed up the clean up.

It’s Broke Hussein Obummer’s friends in the middle east (The ones he bows to, and the ones who are at war with the US) that will have to sacrifice if US oil production increases.

So far I have ccleaner, but I was wondering what are some other really good ones.

Disk Check and Disk Defragmenter. These should be the very first things to run on a computer which has lost its performance. Open My Computer and right-click the C: drive, select Properties, select Tools. Don’t underestimate these two utilities!

After that, clean out your temporary internet files. You pay also want to delete your prefetch items if it’s slow when booting (google for instructions for your version of windows).

You can also use msconfig (click Start->Run->type in MSCONFIG and press OK) and clear unneeded programs from the startup tab (things like Java, Google Updater, ITunesHelperApp, any HP software, etc).

You may also want to uninstall any old programs you do not use anymore.

You can regain lost performance by using nothing more than Windows’ built in utilities. CCleaner is good for removing orphaned registry entries, which is the only thing I use it for, and I recommend doing this as well.

Jules Verne would be right at home with today’s emerging car technology. Although compressed air technology was used in pneumatic locomotives and trams in the late 1800s, widespread commercial use in cars was partially blocked by pressure from the oil industry by the 1930s. This is of course should not come as a surprise to the reader since new information about GM’s electric car of the 1980s has recently surfaced (but that’s another article). With the race on to find eco-friendly fuel alternatives, air cars rate up high on the efficiency vs. clean fuel alternative ratio. Although in the past people have bantered around the idea of an air car, the ultimate clean air car may be closer than you think. 

How does it work?

An electric pump compresses air into a tank at high pressures and stores energy. As the air escapes, it pushes against the pistons, similar to a combustion engine. Compressed air is stored in large cylinders underneath the car, and the only emission into the environment is cold air. In fact, the tailpipe air emissions will be cleaner than the air going in since the air is run through carbon filters to remove dust, dirt and other impurities that could curb engine performance. This makes the car especially attractive to emissions activists, worried over global warming. Not only that, but the energy it does use is minimal compared to other future cars such as hybrids or bioethanol, which employ still controversial energy conversion techniques that can have an adverse effect on the environment and economy. 

Zero Pollution Motors, the U.S. licensee of Luxembourg-based Motor Development International, has an air car scheduled for production in the U.S. in late 2009 or early 2010. To fill up, just stop by your local compressed air service station for a few minutes, or plug into an electrical outlet at home for four hours. At speeds over 35 mph this particular air car uses small amounts of fuel to heat air inside a heating chamber and allows the car to get to an estimated top speed of 96 mph. 
Infrastructure.

No major infrastructure is necessary to support the air car, other than a high pressure recharger around 300 psi. This of course makes the Air Car very attractive since most of our stumbling blocks when it comes to finding an alternative to petroleum are infrastructure changes. Clearly, service stations could change system configurations to accommodate widespread needs for compressed air. While fossil fuels are still needed to generate electricity to recharge, there will still be a net energy savings and reduction in CO2 emissions and pollutants.  Of course as wind and solar energy are used more and more as primary energy generators then the electricity used to run the car’s electric pump will also be from clean sources.

Air cars have a promising future and are one of the major hopes for an easier than expected transition into a new clean fuel era. It is going to be exciting to watch these early air car prototypes transform and grow into viable vehicles for the 21st Century.

Andrew Beckers
http://www.articlesbase.com/automotive-articles/air-cars-fuel-for-free-well-almost-536966.html