Browser Helper Objects
by Richard Lowe, Jr

About a year ago I started having problems with my computer system. Naturally, since I am an MIS professional, I don't follow the advice that I give everyone else: install one thing at a time so you know what to uninstall when there is a problem.

Following this procedure makes it easy to troubleshoot problems when they occur - with Windows, bluescreens and application issues are almost always the result of the last install. This is especially true if the system was stable before any new programs were added.

No, I'm so smart that I don't need to follow my own advice. What do I do? I get a new computer and install Windows NT with service pack 5 and Office 2000. So far so good (that's what I had before).

Now I install my usual set of programs and everything is fine, then I have to go and add over two dozen new applications. The system appears to be stable, so I don't think much about it.

Over the next few months, I noticed that Windows Explorer was crashing occasionally. This causes all browser windows to close and all of the tray icons to disappear. At this point I found I needed to log out and log back in. The system would remain stable for a while, then the same thing would occur. There was not a pattern to the failures that I could find.

After a while I had the bright idea of upgrading to Windows 2000 as it is a much more stable, clean operating system. I also acquired a brand new machine (933mhz) with a lot more disk space. I realized that Windows 2000 definitely lived up to the hype - very clean, extremely fast and wonderfully full featured. I must admit that I fell in love with this operating system immediately and will never go back to Windows NT, 98 or 95 (I never used ME).

Except for one thing - Windows Explorer still crashed in exactly the same manner. Every once in a while (generally no more than once per day) all of my Internet Explorer windows would close, the tray icons would disappear and the desktop would be refreshed.

At first I thought it was Internet Explorer 5.5, so I installed the earlier 5.01 version. The problem still occurred, but not as often.

I had already tried everything that I could think of. I had removed and re-installed as many applications as I dared. I had reinstalled the operating system, changed operating systems and even changed hardware. I searched TechNet (Microsoft's knowledge base) and found nothing. I questioned other experts and they all came up blank.

I was frustrated up until last week.

I stumbled across an article about Browser Helper Objects (also known as BHO). This is the first and only time that I have heard this term, although I had been unknowingly using these little critters for years. A BHO is a piece of code which is installed in a special place known to Internet Explorer which adds additional features. Microsoft has kindly provided this function to allow third party companies to extend the browser without needing to provide access to the source code.

I'm absolutely sure that most of the readers of this article use at least one BHO at least occasionally. Some examples include Alexa, Gator, Flyswat, GetRight, Gozilla, RealDownload and Yahoo Companion. There are many, many more which are often made available for free in return for a name and demographic information.

I'll bet that you have at least one of these installed on your system right now. All of these applications are extremely useful, and all of them extend the functionality of Internet Explorer. Each has been produced by a different company with different development, coding and testing standards.

Once I read the article something clicked and I went through my add/remove programs control panel and deleted the most useful BHO of them all - Gator. I love this application, but I had to see if this was the problem.

Well, it's been a week and my system has remained 100% stable. Not one application freeze. Not one Windows Explorer crashes. Not one problem of any kind.

I relearned something. Be conservative on the installs of new applications onto your computer. And once you're sure you've got a stable Windows system which does what you need, then by all means stop installing things.

When you do install something that modifies the behavior of Internet Explorer, remember this article. Perhaps you've added a Browser Helper Object. I would recommend that you go ahead and install it, then watch your system carefully for a week before making any other changes. This is the only real way to be sure of where the new problem came from.

Richard Lowe Jr.   is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets. This website includes over 1,000 free articles to improve your Internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge.
http://www.internet-tips.net

*************************************************

Today's Motivational Reading

The One-Minute Tip  by Philip E. Humbert

Winners are continuously honing their craft. They keep learning, trying new ways and new ideas. They take risks, and they generously share their "secrets", their profits and their wisdom. This week, commit to reading or hearing something new. Commit to taking reasonable risks to achieve your dreams. And then, reach out and help someone else along the way.

************************* Philip E. Humbert, PhD  is a coach, author and popular speaker. For a limited time, he is available to speak to your group or organization for NO professional fee! For information, visit http://www.philiphumbert.com

*************************

Subscribers' Corner:

How To Create and Market Your Own E-Book By Michael Southon

The Internet presents an amazing opportunity for anyone who knows how to research and write.

There's masses of free information on the Web - all you have to do is gather it together and package it, and you have an E-Book that people will pay for.

"But if there's so much free information on the Web, why would anyone pay for my E-Book?", you may be wondering.

The answer? Convenience!

They'd rather buy your E-Book and save themselves the hours, days and weeks that you spent researching it and putting it all together.

--- STEP 1: Writing Your E-Book ---

Pick a Topic. It could be 'How to accept Credit Cards on the Web without having a Merchant Account'. Or it could be '25 Free Resources For Getting More Traffic', or it could be about Cooking, Gardening, Dog Breeding, etc.

Write down the Title of your E-Book in the center of a blank page and circle it. If you can't think of a title yet, just write down the subject that your E-Book will be about (e.g. Dog Breeding).

Then jot down 8 or 10 Basic Ordering Ideas (BOIs) in a radius around your E-Book title or concept.

If you're having trouble coming up with BOIs, hold in your mind the title or concept of your E-Book and then ask yourself these questions: WHO, WHAT, WHERE, HOW and WHEN.

Now connect the Basic Ordering Ideas to the E-Book title with outward-pointing arrows, like the spokes of a wheel.

Under each BOI, draw a vertical line and against that line, jot down the sub-ideas that belong under that Basic Ordering Idea.

Now turn your Mind Map into an outline. Take the Basic Ordering Ideas from your Mind Map and order them, 1 to 10 (or 1 to 8, 1 to 12 etc); These are your Chapter headings. Now take the sub-ideas and write them down under each BOI; these are your Chapter sections.

I recommend you write the text of your E-Book as a single Microsoft Word document. This allows you to get a feel for the overall structure of your E-Book, and it also makes spell-checking much easier.

---- STEP 2: Creating Your E-Book ----

Now divide your Word document into single pages; these will become the HTML pages of your E-Book.

There are well over a dozen different E-Book compilers on the market.

Here are two compilers that are free:

SbookBuilder

eBookIt

However, if you want to make a good impression with your customers, I highly recommend that you use a commercial E-Book compiler.

Here is a list of commercial E-Book compilers:

Activ EBook Compiler

Document Publisher

EBook Pro Compiler

EbookPaper

E-Publisher Gold

ePublish Now

FlipBrowser V. 1.0

ExeBook

HyperMaker HTML 2000

NeoBook V. 4.0

WebCompiler

WebExe 1.3

WinEbook

---- STEP 3: Formatting Your E-Book ----

There are many sites that offer ready-made E-Book templates, some free, some you would have to pay for.

Here is a site where you can buy ready-made templates:

eBook Templates

If you decide to create your own format, here are some basic formatting tips. Your E-Book should contain:

(i) an Index page that serves as the entry point to your E-Book. It should contain a Welcome message, your copyright statement, and a link to the 'Contents' page of your E-Book.

(ii) A 'Contents' page. This should be a list of all the chapters in your E-Book, with Section titles for each chapter. The Chapter titles should be hyper-linked to the first page in that chapter, and the Section titles should be hyperlinked to the first page in that section.

(iii) A link at the top of each page of your E-Book that says 'Contents' and which takes the reader back to the 'Contents' page.

(iv) The Chapter title at the top of each page, so that the reader knows which Chapter they are reading.

(v) A set of links at the top of each page that allow the reader to jump back and forth between the different sections of the Chapter.

(vi) Forward and Backward arrows (hyperlinked) at the bottom right of each page which take the reader back one page or forward one page.

---- STEP 4: Selling Your E-Book ----
There are basically 2 ways of selling your E-Book: either you have a merchant account and accept credit cards yourself, or you use a '3rd Party Credit Card Processor'.

Here are two 3rd Party Credit Card Processors that I recommend. Neither of these 2 companies charges monthly fees.

Each has advantages and disadvantages, which I have summarized below:

---- (i) Clickbank ----
- To sell your E-Book through Clickbank, you will have to pay a one-time joining fee of $49.95

- Clickbank charges 7.5% per sale plus $1

- With Clickbank you will only be able to offer payment via Credit Card.

- if you use Clickbank to sell your E-Book(s), you also have a ready-made affiliate program. Clickbank will track your affiliate sales and send out checks every 2 weeks to your affiliates.

- Clickbank will send you an automatic email every time you (or one of your affiliates) make a sale.

- Minimum amount before a check is issued is $5

---- (ii) Ibill (Internet Billing Company) ----
- ibill does not charge a joining fee.

- ibill charges 15% per sale (more for telephone billing).

- ibill allows your customers to pay in a number of different ways, such as online check, telephone billing, or credit card. Many people don't have a credit card, so offering your customers alternative ways of paying can significantly increase your volume of sales.

- ibill doesn't operate an affiliate program.

- ibill doesn't send you an email every time you make a sale.

- Minimum amount before a check is issued is $150

The possibilities with E-Books really are endless - you're only limited by your own imagination.

And remember: how ever obscure you think your E-Book concept is, there will be a market for it. In fact, that's the essence of 'niche marketing': the more narrow your focus, the more customers you will find.

Wishing you every success!

Michael Southon

****************************************
Michael Southon is the author of the popular new E-Book, 'Ezine Writer!' He shows webmasters how to use Ezine Marketing to get more Traffic and more Sales: http://www.ezine-writer.com/

****************************************

Today's Tip On the Site worth visiting:

Planning to publish YOUR E-Book?
http://www.ebookapprentice.com/

Today's Tip On the Book worth having:

Only For Web Lions Community Members. You can join at the below address.

1) 40 Ways To Influence People by Dough Staneart. Download here, pwd: leadersc. 40 Principles to help you to gain more sales
http://www.thecassiopeia.com/WebLions

2) As A Man Thinketh by James Allen. Download here
http://www.thecassiopeia.com/WebLions

3) Want to read more about the books before you download or study online? http://www.thecassiopeia.com/WebLions

Today's Tip On Software:

Need FREE Scripts? The Best On the Net?
http://www.worldwidemart.com/

Today's Tip On Learning:

Learn More, Gain More, Give More http://www.nutrocker.co.uk/freecourses.html

***************************************************
One of the most difficult things everyone has to learn is that for your entire life you must keep fighting and adjusting if you hope to survive. No matter who you are or what your position is you must keep fighting for whatever it is you desire to achieve.   George Allen

***************************************************
If you like our Ezine, click the button to recommend us, your ad will get a higher exposure and you can also win $10,000:

Administration

I very much appreciate your feedback, your questions, problems, ideas, articles, ads, site review requests - whatever you need or wish. It's your ezine, and I would like you to enjoy it fully and make full use of it. We try to bring you the top information on all the topics closely related to achieving success the fastest and most effective way and keep you up-to-date on interesting items.

Looking Forward To YOUR Success.

Sincerely,

Irena Whitfield

***************************************************** The articles published here may be reprinted or used freely as long as it is in its entirety incl the resource box of the author *****************************************************