The solution is to manually add the applicationName attribute to the <providers> node of your web.config file and give it a value. By default ASP.NET auto generates the applicationName using your project’s root directory path if the applicationName attribute isn’t declared in your web.config. The applicationName is important because your ASP.NET Application Service database uses it in a number of tables. The applicationName is a relatively long string of characters and will look similar to: cea2acdb-97b7-4b58-ad12-22efg3bd582q.

If you move your project to any other directory either local or remote, a new applicationName string will be auto generated and added to your ASP.NET Application Service database. Any new users, roles, or profiles you create will be tied to the new applicationName. Once you move your application to a new directory, any users, roles, or profile information you created while your project resided in your previous directory will not function or throw the following error: “Validation of viewstate MAC failed. If this application is hosted by a Web Farm or cluster, ensure that <machineKey> configuration specifies the same validationKey and validation algorithm. Auto Generate cannot be used in a cluster.” Each time you move your project to a different directory you’ll run into this problem.

To solve this, first go to the Server Explorer in Visual Studio and open the database containing your ASP.NET Application Service database. Right click on the table named aspnet_Applications (dbo) and select “Show Table Data”. Look to see what your ApplicationName and LoweredApplicationName fields are named. It should be “/”. If it’s named anything other than “/”, rename both fields “/” as shown below.

Next open your web.config file. Add the applicationName attribute to your provider declaration(s). You should set the applicationName attribute equal to “/” to match the “/” fields in your aspnet_Applications (dbo) table. An example is provided below:

<roleManager enabled=”true” defaultProvider=”CustomizedRoleProvider”>
<providers>
<add name=”CustomizedRoleProvider”
type=”System.Web.Security.SqlRoleProvider”
connectionStringName=”MyConnectionString”
applicationName=”/”
/>
</providers>
</roleManager>

<membership defaultProvider=”CustomizedMembershipProvider”>
<providers>
<add name=”CustomizedMembershipProvider”
type=”System.Web.Security.SqlMembershipProvider”
connectionStringName=”MyConnectionString”
applicationName=”/”
minRequiredPasswordLength=”5″
minRequiredNonalphanumericCharacters=”0″
/>
</providers>
</membership>

Make sure you add the applicationName attribute to all your users, roles, profile, and/or any other <providers> nodes in your web.config or you’ll run into problems. In the example above I’m using both the Role and Membership providers so I added it to both declarations.
Once you declare the applicationName attribute, ASP.NET will always use that application name when writing and connecting to the ASP.NET application service database regardless of where your application resides.

Steve Kozyk
CEO/Founder ITegrity
skozyk[at]itegritygroup.com
www.itegritygroup.com

Privacy policies usually contain details about what types of personal information are collected, how the personal information may be used, the persons or parties to whom the information may be disclosed and the security steps taken to protect the personal information.
Why is it importance for me to have a privacy policy for my website?

1. A privacy policy enables you to provide full disclosure to the users visiting your website with regard to the collection and use of their information as outlined in your privacy policy.

2. Having a clear and simple privacy policy can make your site appear more trustworthy to your visitors, which can lead to a higher conversion rate and more sales!

3. A well crafted privacy policy convinces visitors that their personal information is safe with you reassuring them that they can trust you.

4. If you are using Google Adwords, a privacy policy can help improve your Quality Score, especially if you are collecting visitor names, email addresses and phone numbers via an opt-in subscriber box. And for Google AdSense publishers, Google now requires you to display a privacy policy on all websites that display AdSense ads or search boxes.

How do I generate a private policy for my website?

A simple and easy way to quickly generate a privacy policy is to use an online website privacy policy generator. An online website privacy policy generator asks you questions about your website and how you collect and use any information you may or may not gather about your site visitors. It will walk you through all the steps involved in creating a privacy policy and when finished, produce a formatted, customized HTML file containing your website’s privacy policy. A popular, no-strings attached and free online website privacy policy generator can be found on DMA’s website: http://www.dmaresponsibility.org/PPG/
If you use the WordPress blogging platform and self host you can install a privacy policy plugin from http://www.synclastic.com/plugins/privacy-policy/ that will automatically generate a privacy policy for your website and provide you options to customize it.

Whether you choose to use an online website privacy policy generator or write one from scratch yourself, follow the 7 steps mentioned below as a guideline to generate your own privacy policy:
1. Make use of simple language so that the privacy policy is easy to understand, read, and easy to find on your website. Always create a link to the privacy policy page on your site.

2. Review and update your privacy policy from time to time to keep pace with changing rules, regulations and security standards.

3. Give a brief description about your company, and any special information that your website has. If your website does have special conditions for collecting information from certain types of visitors, you should state them clearly in your privacy policy.

4. Provide details about the information collected from users visiting your website. Visitors have a right to know what information you are collecting. For example, are you collecting personal details by asking them to complete an information request form or service application? You should also disclose whether your servers log visitor information such as hostnames and IP addresses.

5. Present the method(s) you use to collect information and whether the information you collect is automated. This type of information will provide your visitors a more complete idea of how you collect information.

6. It’s important for your visitors to understand how their information is stored by your company. They need to know where their information goes after it is collected and receive assurance that their personal information will be handled in a safe and secure environment.

7. If your company makes use of cookies or other tracking systems, your visitors must have a full explanation of which tracking systems are being used and the purpose of these systems.
Your online privacy policy should provide answers to all the questions pertaining to information you collect from your website visitors. They should be assured that there are appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures implemented to safeguard and help prevent unauthorized access, maintain data security, and correctly use the information you collect online.

Having a clearly worded and thorough privacy policy will help improve your company image and make your website appear more trustworthy to your visitors, which can lead to better rankings on search engines and increased sales.

*Special note for California web site owners:

Effective July 2004, the California Online Privacy Protection Act requires operators of a commercial Web site or online service that collect Personally Identifiable Information from California residents through the Internet to conspicuously post a privacy policy on their Web site that complies with prescribed disclosures. The privacy policy must:

(1) identify the categories of Personally Identifiable Information that the operator collects through the Web site or online service and the categories of third-party persons or entities with whom the operator may share Personally Identifiable Information;

(2) describe how a consumer can review and make changes to his or her personally identifiable information, if the operator allows such review and changes;

(3) describe how consumers can learn of changes in the operator’s privacy policy; and

(4) identify the effective date of the privacy policy.

Steve Kozyk
CEO/Founder ITegrity
skozyk[at]itegritygroup.com
www.itegritygroup.com

When used correctly, your business website can be a very effective tool in marketing your business on the World Wide Web and converting visits to your website into sales for your business.

Going past just survival, if you want your business to thrive and establish itself as a market leader, be forward thinking and make your business stand out by building a presence on the Internet. Having a brick and mortar presence in your market is just not enough in today’s world. Each year a greater percentage of the population uses the Internet to make purchases and shop. They are also increasingly using the Internet to research and locate businesses. More people today are even discarding traditional hard copy phone books in favor of using online phone books to look up businesses. Is your business listed in the most popular online phone books like yellowpages.com and superpages.com?

Below is list of 9 critical reasons to have your business website on the internet.

1. Gain an Edge Over your Competitors.

The Internet is a necessity of modern business life. Businesses that have a website are already at a huge advantage over their competitors. They not only have a wider customer base but they are also considered more professional.

2. Cost Effective Marketing.

A business website has the potential of reaching millions of customers throughout the globe without spending or investing huge amounts of money. The number of potential customers contacted via your website and the costs involved puts the return on investment of a website on higher scale when compared to other marketing techniques, such as traditional advertising and on the road sales representatives.

3. Provides Complete Business Information.

A business website can easily provide complete business information including your business policies, terms and conditions, phone and fax numbers, business address, directions, maps and special offerings. People can get all the pertinent details about your business just by visiting your company website.

4. Eliminate Time Constraints.

A prospect can visit your website at their leisure without time pressure. This is one of the biggest advantages that web advertising has over other media. It allows unlimited time for a potential customer to explore your company and its products.

5. Continuous 24/7/365 Days Advertising.

A website can be viewed any time 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. To have a business website means 365 days continuous advertisement of your products and services. It helps to keep your existing and potential customers updated with latest information about your business.

6. Creates A Global Presence.

A website has no geographical boundaries which enables people from all over the world to look at your products. This gives your business a global presence and an ability to drive more sales and make more money.

7. Best Media to Showcase your Products.

A business website enables you to post photographs of all your products and services along with technical details such as pricing, quantity discounts, color, size availability, delivery, shipping, scope, etc. This will give your website visitors a general idea and a sense of your business and range of products and services you’re offerings.

8. Ability to Attract New Suppliers.

Your website will not only be visited by potential customers, but also by motivated suppliers who are looking for more customers who might approach you to sell their products at lower prices which gives your business the opportunity to expand. Adding new suppliers can help you to offer your customers a wider variety of products at lower prices.

9. Create a Professional Image of Your Business.

A website helps you to create a professional image of your business giving an impression that the company is credible and trustworthy. A professionally designed website can not only attract visitors (prospects) but can help convert them into buyers or paying customers.

Any one of these factors alone would help your business to expand and increase sales, but by having a website for your business you are acquiring the benefits of all for an exponentially lower cost than you could by traditional means. Creating an online presence for your business on the Internet can be easily achieved by a professionally designed business website. Many reputable web developers can be found online by doing a little research, for example using a Google web search for “web developers”. Best of luck with your new website and online business!

Steve Kozyk
CEO/Founder ITegrity
skozyk[at]itegritygroup.com
www.itegritygroup.com
Web Site For Your Business- 9 Critical Reasons to Build a Web Site

It’s a worldwide accepted fact that Google is the most popular search engine amongst thousands of Internet search engines. But if you have to pull up Google’s home page every time you run a search, you’re wasting time. Google Toolbar was designed as a tool to make the Internet surfing easier and help people find the information they are looking for as quickly and easily as possible.

Google toolbar offers major benefits and other miscellaneous useful features, which are listed below:

Google Search Window: Take Google’s search window with you anywhere you go on the Internet. This built-in search window makes it incredibly easy to make a quick and efficient search regarding anything you happen to be reading. It helps people find the information they are looking for as quickly and easily as possible.

Pop-Up Blocker: Pop-up ads – the little advertisement windows that sprout like weeds in your garden that “pop up” in your browser window and are a real impediment to productivity. It’s best to use a pop-up blocker, which prevents these annoyances from opening as you surf the web. The Google toolbar has a built-in pop-up blocker that provides relief from this perpetual pest.

Auto Fill: The Google toolbar’s auto fill function can save you scads of time filling out order forms and other pages on the Web. The feature lets you store your name, address, and other information in one place securely on your computer. This allows you to automatically have any form filled in based with your saved personal information and drastically speed up the process of filling out forms and applications online.

Additional Features: Google is continuously making updates and upgrades to the functions represented on the Google toolbar. Now they have options for spell check, a word translator and an autolink feature that instantly provides a map of a given location, bookmarks, a VIN number that gives a vehicle’s history, ISBN numbers to book history, etc.

Google Toolbar for Internet web browsers is a feature provided by Google Inc. and it can be installed in almost any browser including Internet Explorer (IE) and Firefox. It provides you a Google search bar directly in your browser window. To install Google toolbar in your browser, first you must make sure you have an eligible operating system like Windows. It can be installed by navigating to: http://toolbar.google.com and following Googles installation instructions.

After you’ve installed Google Toolbar, you will notice it has a shortcut to the Google Bookmark page and Page Rank indicator. The Page Rank indicator denotes a web pages importance according to Google. Website pages are ranked on a scale of 0-10. Zero being the least important and ten the most important. Google Toolbar also has a feature that allows you to login quickly to your blog or Gmail account.

Google is also offering a new version of the Toolbar for enterprise environments. With this new version, a business can distribute customized toolbars to their users pre-loaded with custom buttons for Intranet sites, employee directories, and frequently used information sources.

These are just a few of the useful features provided by Google toolbar. It should be clear that Google Toolbar is a must for anyone who uses an Internet browser on a regular basis for faster and more efficient Internet surfing experience.

Steve Kozyk
CEO/Founder ITegrity
skozyk[at]itegritygroup.com
www.itegritygroup.com
Google Toolbar- How to Add it to Your Browser and Why You Want to Do It

ASP.NET is not limited to script languages, it allows you to make use of .NET languages like C#, J#, VB, etc. It allows developers to build very compelling applications by making use of Visual Studio, the development tool provided by Microsoft. ASP.NET is purely server-side technology. It is built on a common language runtime that can be used on any Windows server to host powerful ASP.NET web sites and technologies.

In the early days of the Web i.e. before the release of Internet Information Services (IIS) in 1997, the contents of web pages were largely static. These web pages needed to be constantly, and manually, modified. There was an urgent need to create web sites that were dynamic and would update automatically.

Microsoft’s Active Server Pages (ASP) was brought to the market to meet this need. ASP executed on the server side, with its output sent to the user’s web browser, thus allowing the server to generate dynamic web pages based on the actions of the user.

These server-side technologies are important contributions to the development of the Web. Amazon.com, eBay.com, and many other popular web sites use ASP.NET as the framework for their site; without ASP.NET it would not be possible.

12 important advantages ASP.NET offers over other Web development models:

1. ASP.NET drastically reduces the amount of code required to build large applications.

2. With built-in Windows authentication and per-application configuration, your applications are safe and secured.

3. It provides better performance by taking advantage of early binding, just-in-time compilation, native optimization, and caching services right out of the box.

4. The ASP.NET framework is complemented by a rich toolbox and designer in the Visual Studio integrated development environment. WYSIWYG editing, drag-and-drop server controls, and automatic deployment are just a few of the features this powerful tool provides.

5. Provides simplicity as ASP.NET makes it easy to perform common tasks, from simple form submission and client authentication to deployment and site configuration.

6. The source code and HTML are together therefore ASP.NET pages are easy to maintain and write. Also the source code is executed on the server. This provides a lot of power and flexibility to the web pages.

7. All the processes are closely monitored and managed by the ASP.NET runtime, so that if process is dead, a new process can be created in its place, which helps keep your application constantly available to handle requests.

8. It is purely server-side technology so, ASP.NET code executes on the server before it is sent to the browser.

9. Being language-independent, it allows you to choose the language that best applies to your application or partition your application across many languages.

10. ASP.NET makes for easy deployment. There is no need to register components because the configuration information is built-in.

11. The Web server continuously monitors the pages, components and applications running on it. If it notices any memory leaks, infinite loops, other illegal activities, it immediately destroys those activities and restarts itself.

12. Easily works with ADO.NET using data-binding and page formatting features. It is an application which runs faster and counters large volumes of users without having performance problems

In short ASP.NET, the next generation version of Microsoft’s ASP, is a programming framework used to create enterprise-class web sites, web applications, and technologies. ASP.NET developed applications are accessible on a global basis leading to efficient information management. Whether you are building a small business web site or a large corporate web application distributed across multiple networks, ASP.NET will provide you all the features you could possibly need…and at an affordable cost: FREE!

Steve Kozyk
CEO/Founder ITegrity
skozyk[at]itegritygroup.com
www.itegritygroup.com
What is ASP.NET? -Top 12 Advantages of ASP.NET

Click on the ORDER button next to ASP.NET. On the next page click the ORDER button for BASIC hosting.

Fill out the form as shown above and choose your payment method. Click Continue and fill out the form on the next page. Choose any password and record it. Next enter your payment info. Once you’ve completed the sign up process, Hostek will email you your hosting account setup information including FTP credentials allowing you to get started with your website right away.