Looking for a way to protect your Web servers from unauthorized access?

Microsoft has a utility called URLScan that can be used to filter out suspicious requests such as those that are very long or use an alternate character set. You can download this utility by going to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/cc242650.aspx.

Before you use this utility, though, keep in mind that you’ll need to have installed the latest Service Pack and any subsequent hotfixes on your server. You can make sure that your server has the latest updates by going to the Windows Update site at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com.

A common misconception, especially among some folks with little XML experience, is that once you specify a DOCTYPE for a data set, that is the one you must always use, even if you're working with a subset of the document. This often leads to extracting the subset you want, adding upper level wrappers to match the DOCTYPE, and finagling things to get it to parse. Others will write custom DTDs to handle the subset.

It isn't necessary to jump through these hoops. Remember that the DOCTYPE declaration names the root element and points to the cooresponding DTD. The key here is that it points to the root element of the *document*, not the first element defined in the DTD.

For example, a journal DTD may define its upper content model like this:


So the DOCTYPE for the full data set would be:



However, say you want to send just a single article to a customer, but they want to be able to validate it against the DTD. You don't need to modify the DTD or add upper level wrappers to the article; just change the DOCTYPE from "journal" to "article".



It reads the same DTD, but only those elements which fall within the given DOCTYPE. It ignores the rest. That's all there is to it. This is true even if you include the DOCTYPE in the DTD itself; you can still specify a specific element to start parsing from.

If you aren’t seeing a flood of online shoppers at your website on Monday afternoons, you should be. A recent study reveals that Mondays are the busiest online shopping days for the third year in a row. The study, conducted by Atlas Solutions, looked at consumers’ online shopping behaviors at 96 leading eCommerce sites during holiday seasons.

The study concludes the following best practices for online marketers:

• Create a Monday afternoon campaign online to match the previous weekend’s in-store promotion.
• Target the workweek lunch hour (noon to 3 p.m. EST) because that is typically when consumers buy.
• Anticipate higher click volumes during Monday afternoons and be sure that any related marketing campaigns remain focused on converting browsers to buyers.

New Horizons Webinars are a great opportunity for business decision-makers, training professionals, developers, engineers and project managers to see the real value these new technologies can bring to your organization. With new topics every month, there's something for everyone.

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• Refer to documents on the spot by embedding them in you spreadsheet
• Supercharge your browser security plan with Vista's protection enhancements
• Open career doors when you transform systems administration into a service

New Horizons' goal is for our students to become more productive and successful in their daily activities. With this in mind, we have created Elevate, a newsletter specifically created for New Horizons students. In this free monthly publication, you will read articles on how to put what you learned at New Horizons into action.

Simply click on the following link to access the September issue of Elevate.
www.newhorizons.com/uploadedFiles/ElevateNewsletter/Elevate_Sept2008.pdf

Good luck on your path of lifelong learning.

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Join us from the comfort of your own office… on the Web! Webinar events are quick and convenient. New Horizons Webinars are a great opportunity for business decision-makers, training professionals, developers, engineers and project managers to see the real value these new technologies can bring to your organization. With new topics every month, there's something for everyone.

2007 Microsoft Office System and Windows Vista:
Working Better Together
enroll @ www.newhorizons.com/webinars

See how the Windows Vista operating system and the 2007 Microsoft Office system work together, providing an integrated solution for creating, managing and sharing documents. Learn about the capabilities that make searching, retrieving and examining all of your e-mails, documents, and data fast and efficient. See how the XML Paper Specification (XPS) document format allows users to easily share content, without specific applications. We also discuss Windows Internet Explorer 7 and how it works with Web-based content and Web sites. Discover how Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 enable you to focus on analyzing data and creating documents, without worrying about which tools you need.

Presenter: Andy Reed, Senior Training Specialist, Microsoft Corporation
Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2008
10 am Pacific; 12 pm Central; 1 pm Eastern

Sensational CS3: Top 10 New Features in Adobe CS3
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Explore the best new features in the latest version of Adobe’s Creative Suite. Master the new interface and experience the seamless integration of the CS3 applications. Learn time-saving features in Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver and Flash. (Beginning to intermediate level).

Presenter: Mike Katip, A+, ACE, ACI, MOS, instructor at New Horizons of Pittsburgh
Date: Tuesday, September 23, 2008
10 am Pacific; 12 pm Central; 1 pm Eastern

Enroll in all New Horizons Computer Learning Center Webinars and View Our Extensive Archive: www.newhorizons.com/webinars

Elevate Newsletter - July 2008

Microsoft Office Productivity:
Pinpoint the text you need with help from line numberingWhen you’re reviewing a long document with a colleague, you don’t want to tell him to check the “tenth page, third paragraph, second line.” We’ll show you how Word’s line numbering can give you easy-to-follow line references.

Information Systems Protection:
Get a grip on Vista changes to this essential IT pro toolAs an IT pro, you spend significant amounts of time using the System Properties dialog box—to quickly determine the OS, Service Pack, and basic system specs, or to configure domain membership, Automatic Updates, and much more. Previously, you could open System Properties by right-clicking on My Computer, but in Windows Vista, your right-click trick opens Vista’s new System window. We’ll show you what Vista’s System window offers as well as everything you need to know about the System Properties dialog box—and how to get to it fast.

Business Skills:
Tackle unfamiliar projects with confidence and easeHave you ever felt a little lost at the start of a project, pushed outside your comfort zone by a new subject, tool, technology, or process? Maybe you juggle multiple projects. Perhaps you’ve started a different position that requires quick adaptation to the new environment. Diversifying your skills can improve your job security and enrich your professional offerings.

Click here to access the July 2008 issue of Elevate.