Portable Disk and File Utilities

I love flash drives, whether it’s a jump drive or a flash memory MP3 player, it seems that I always always at least one connected to the system I’m working on. So, I’m always excited when I see a cool new trick or program that I can use my flash drive for. I’m all over it! Portable programs are applications that actually run in place. For example, from the folder or drive in which they are located. These programs may install a couple of registry entries, but nothing significant or potentially revealing. Due to the fact that these programs run in place and are usually small in size marks them as great applications that can be used on a flash drive. I ran a couple of download articles awhile back concerning portable programs that could be useful if ran from a flash drive (Portable Firefox, Thunderbird and Sunbird), which I myself have found great use for. It has been awhile however, since I have checked back with the community to see if anything new has come along in the area of portable programs. Well, I should have a long time ago, because there are some really cool programs out there. For today’s Download of the Week, I’m actually going to showcase a program that I believe will really impress you. It is called Process Explorer. This is actually a program that Steve himself asked me about awhile ago. He sent me an e-mail concerning an article or program that could more easily describe what certain processes are doing in your system. I thought this would be a good idea and spotted this little fella, and I knew immediately that fate had brought us together. Process Explorer is a process viewer to the tenth degree. You can easily view and identify, not only processes, but also services and DLLs. Process Explorer’s list of features: · Process suspend/resume · Thread details including stacks · Job object information · Start time and CPU time process columns · Option to hide the lower pane · Kill process tree · Accurate registry key names for profile unload debugging · Extensive help file · Service descriptions on services tab of service process properties dialog · You can configure custom column selections and save them as easy-to-access column sets · Image verification option now verifies images in the background · Process menu includes restart item to kill and then restart a selected process · Can suspend individual threads on threads page of Process Properties dialog · The find Window target moves Process Explorer's main window to the back to get it out of the way · Close Window command uses same End Task functionality as Task Manager · Show New Processes option scrolls display to make new processes visible, heuristics to detect more image packers · User name of account in which Process Explorer is running is shown in the title bar · Services can be stopped, resumed and paused from the Services tab of the Process Properties dialog · The DLLs that host SvcHost processes are listed in the Services tab of the Process Properties dialog · Services running within a process display on the process' tooltip · As a parallel to the CPU Usage History column, there's now a Private Bytes Usage History column · The Process view includes columns that show the working set breakdown of the process in shared, shareable and private pages · New delta private-bytes column to show changes in private virtual memory usage · Can copy lines from the Process, DLL and Handle views to the clipboard · Option to show pagefile-backed (unnamed) sections in DLL view · DLL and handle searching consolidated · The DLL view includes columns that show the working set contributions in shared, shareable and private pages · The DLL a Rundll32 process hosts is shown in its process tooltip · Packed DLL highlighting in DLL view · Image signing verification available for DLLs · Better DLL properties dialog · Object address shown in Object Properties dialog · File object share flags column for Handle view · CPU history in tray icon · CPU history column · I/O delta column · Process security editing · Reports loaded 32-bit DLLs on Windows 64-bit · Support for Windows Vista · Opacity settings · Tray window context menu options · More performance information on process properties dialog · Lock option in shutdown menu · Reconfigured menu items and highlighting configuration · Status bar column options · Status bar information is configurable to show CPU usage, commit charge, # of processes and more · Can terminate individual threads · Shutdown menu for logging off and shutting down the system · Only allow one instance option · Auto-open of lower pane when a find result is clicked · .NET tab for .NET processes that shows AppDomains and .NET performance counters · x64 and x86 executables are in a single binary · New Verified Company column shows image signer information · Strings tab in process properties dialog has in-memory image scan option · Highlighting for images that are packed (have compressed or encrypted code, which is common in malware) · System information dialog has per-CPU graph option with hyperthreaded and NUMA processor information · A Users menu duplicates the functionality of Task Manager's Users tab, showing Terminal Services session information and supporting logoff, disconnect, and sending messages · On XP SP2 and higher, the TCP/IP tab displays the thread stack at the time an endpoint was opened, the tray icon context menu includes the shutdown menu · Search engine option to use Google or MSN Search · Object address column is available for the handle view · Image signatures can be checked on-demand in the process properties dialog · Process explorer is digitally signed with Sysinternals' Verisign Class 3 signing certificate · Data Execution Protection (DEP) status on process image tab and as column · Copy-to-clipboard from process environment variable and strings dialogs · Can select and copy text strings of process image properties page · Multi-row tabs on process properties dialog · Image signing verification on process image properties dialog · Mini-CPU usage graph on toolbar · Command-line option for specifying Process Explorer priority · Manual refresh (F5) forces recheck of job and .NET process status · Single-clicking on tray icon minimizes and restores main window · Finder tool for identifying the process that owns a selected window · Strings listings for process and DLL images · Google menu item for searching process and DLL information · Tray tooltip shows highest-CPU consuming process · Window status column (like Task Manager's Status column on the Applications tab) · DLL view for System process shows list of loaded device drivers · TCP/IP process properties page shows active TCP and UDP endpoints · 64-bit version shows which processes are 64-bit on process properties and adds · 64-bit process column · Runs in non-admin account · Tree view functionality to collapse and expand process subtrees · Can bring process-owned window to the foreground · System CPU graph shows timestamps and most active process for any given point, Per-process graph data tracked even when main window is minimized to tray · Per-process graph data displays timestamps · Can set process CPU affinity · Process tooltip no longer between mouse pointer and process name · Ability to add a comment to processes and new comment column · Can open multiple process properties dialogs simultaneously · System information dialog CPU and memory usage graphs like Task Manager · Per-process CPU and memory graph tab in process properties · Option to only show your own processes · System Information dialog showing the same memory counters as Task Manager (when symbols are configured, also shows maximum paged and nonpaged pool values) · Tray icon for CPU usage that's yellow when usage is > 70 percent and red when > 90 percent · Highlight color configuration dialog · Context switch and context switch delta columns · Run processes using the system Run dialog from the File menu · Replace task manager option so that when you run Task Manager Process Explorer runs instead · Only non-zero CPU usage, .NET counters and context switch values are displayed to clearly highlight process activity · Search for DLLs or handles regardless of what mode the lower pane is in · Correct icons for MMC windows · Mouse hover over process names and DLL names shows full path of executable or DLL Other Process Explorer features include: · Support for full handle viewing on Win9x/Me (with the exception of registry key handles) · Process icons · Service process highlighting · Process tree display · Configurable refresh rate · Refresh highlighting: new entries in the process, handle and DLL views are green and deleted ones red · DLL descriptions in the DLL view · Highlights relocated DLLs · Jump-to-entry in the find dialog · Lists all process owners, even on Terminal Server systems · Column selection and a wide variety of configurable process, DLL and handle columns · Asynchronous updates of all views · Configurable refresh highlighting effects · Save function saves process view and current bottom view (handle or DLL) This is one cool program, and the fact that it’s portable (runs from a flash drive), makes it a must see. Trust me, you’ll never use your Task Manager again. You can download Process Explorer here. If you would like to see some of my earlier articles showcasing other great portable software, use the links below: Portable Firefox and Thunderbird: http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/1913 Portable Sunbird: : http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/1934 Portable Antivirus: http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/1917

Other Eject Options

I'm sure many of you have read our tips on how to eject a stuck CD from your computer, but even after going through all those steps, are you still having trouble getting that stubborn CD to come out? Sometimes those things can be so frustrating and after you mess with it for awhile, you probably just feel like throwing your whole computer out the window. Am I right? Well, before you go that far, give these alternative tricks a try. They may be just what you've been waiting for! First, try adding something to the CD. If you put an extra file or another song on it, that might be enough to coax it out. Also, when you're using a CD, make sure you eject it before you start up another program. If you leave the CD in its tray while you use other programs, it could cause some problems. Another thing to try is a simple reboot. Sometimes when you shut down your computer and then turn it back on, the CD will eject. Now, while all of those are good suggestions, they still might not work for you. So, if that's the case, you may want to try those other tips I mentioned in the first paragraph. One of them tells you to try the traditional method of right clicking your CD drive and choosing Eject. I know this is the problem you're having, but if you try it more than once, it could finally open. You never know! The other tip we have tells you how to use a paperclip to get your CD out. You can read all about that here. Either way you go, I hope you are finally able to get your CD out so you can enjoy your life in happy CD bliss once again!

USB Becomes Read Only

In the corporate world, a lot of time is spent on locking down computers to minimize the risk of confidential information leaving the company. With the popularity of USB storage devices growing in recent years, the problem for large corporations has exploded. Almost all users want to use USB storage devices to move data around, but with the size of USB storage devices increasing so much in recent years, the risk is ever growing as more and more data could possibly be stolen or lost accidentally. Within companies, USB storage devices have been banned completely and disabled from use on company computers. In Windows Vista though, there is an alternative that will allow corporate users to be able to read from USB storage devices, but not write any data to them. This will effectively turn on USB storage devices for all users and they'll be safer to use because of the read only feature. This way, users can still read information off of USB storage devices that a third party vendor may provide data on, while preventing the employee from writing any data back to the it. To set up a read only USB storage device operation, just follow the steps below. Now, this tip does require you to work within your registry editor. Be extremely careful while you're doing this. The registry is not difficult to use if you follow the directions exactly, but if you're not 100 percent sure you can do it, please ask someone else for some help. If you make a mistake in your registry, it could cause you more problems down the road. Okay, now that all of that is said, let's get started. 1.) In Vista, click on the Start button and type "regedit" in the search box and then hit Enter. 2.) Navigate through to this location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control. 3.) Right click on Control and select New, then Key. Call the new key "StorageDevicePolicies." 4.) Right click on StorageDevicePolicies and select New, then Dword. Call the new Dword "WriteProtect." 5.) Right click on WriteProtect and select Properties. Then set the value to 1 and hit OK. Your computer is now configured to disable any writing to USB storage devices. They will all be read only from now on. Note: Although this tip talks about corporate computers the most, this same configuration can be made for individual desktops for home PC users as well (that's you!) It's just another way to keep yourself safe with the new Windows Vista operating system. I'm lovin' it, aren't you?!

how to fix your flash drive????

I'm sad to report that one of my flash drives suddenly died today. Has that ever happened to you? It all happened when my Windows XP suddenly froze for some reason. After rebooting my computer, the device was dead. It just simply would not work anymore. XP detected it as a 0 MB device (and attempted to format it as such), but nothing worked. What could I do besides go and buy a whole new flash drive? Well, luckily, after a little research, I was able to revive my flash drive! And that's exactly what I'm going to show you how to do today. Here’s the procedure: 1.) First, you'll need to download and install the HP Drive Key Boot Utility, which can be found here. 2.) Once you have it downloaded, double click on the desktop icon and select the correct flash drive you want to repair under the Device section. 3.) Next, select the file system you want to format the drive to (FAT, FAT32 or NTFS). 4.) Checkmark Quick Format. 5.) Click Start. After the download and the installation, this utility will place a shortcut of "HP System Tools" in your Programs Start menu folder. To make your drive key bootable and/or capable of flashing firmware: Place your HP USB drive key in an available USB port. Select the HP Drive Key Boot Utility shortcut under the HP System Tools folder. Follow along and complete each step presented by the application. During the interview process, when asked to select the drive letter your key is using, if the drop down box is unpopulated, please note that the drive key is either not properly connected to the system or it is of a drive type called "fixed disk." To determine the type of USB mass storage device your drive is, double click on the My Computer icon on your desktop, right click on the USB Drive Key and choose Properties. The drive type will be displayed in the Properties pane. If the drive is labeled "fixed disk" or "local disk," the following steps must be followed to assign a drive letter to the USB drive key, prior to running the HP Drive Key Boot Utility. Insert the Drive Key. Log in as the Administrator. Select Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management. Select Computer Management (local), Storage, Disk Management (local). Select "Change/Add Drive Letter" for the disk to map the Drive Key to. Choose a drive letter. Officially, this software (HP Drive Key Boot Utility) is meant for HP disks, but unofficially, it seems to work fine with formatting most flash media and even digital camera cards. I hope you enjoy your newly repaired flash drive

tips for your Lost Documents

Have you changed your Internet Service Provider (ISP) lately? If so, during the transition, did you happen to lose some e-mails you wanted to keep? Or, how about this: you downloaded or saved a document and for the life of you, you can’t find it on your PC. Either way, don't panic, because all is not lost! Actually, nothing is lost, because your documents are there somewhere. It’s just a matter of knowing how and where to look for them. Awhile back, my daughter did not come home from school at her usual time. I called the school, which called her bus and they reported that she had never gotten on the bus. She was missing. So, in working with the school and the local police department, we started looking for her in the places where she ought to be (for example, the school, our street, etc). We then expanded our search to places she was not expected to be, but might have wound up for some odd reason (like the recreation center). Now, please note that I only use her as an example here, because she did in fact arrive home safe and sound later on. This relates back to your documents (be it an e-mail, a document you downloaded from the Internet or an e-mail you received) in that neither my child nor your documents have vanished off the face of the earth. Sometimes documents (and people) just wind up in odd places! Unless you're using a Web based e-mail account (like Google, Hotmail or Yahoo!, for example), you probably have a POP (Post Office Protocol) e-mail account. There are tons of wonderful technical explanations in books and on the Web about how this works, but all you really need to know for our purposes here is that if you use a Web based account, your messages are stored on the Web, whereas with a POP account, they are probably stored on your PC. That way, you can still view them offline. This also means that they are still somewhere on your PC, even if you change your service provider. For example, when I switched from Infinet to Time Warner Cable, I wasn't readily able to see my old e-mails from the Infinet account anymore. And that became a big problem when years later, I needed something from them. The method for recovering lost POP e-mails is the same as the method for recovering missing documents, so let’s address that first. I used this method when a spreadsheet a co-worker had created for tracking certain statistics at work was saved, but no one could find it. Now, when my daughter went missing, we started looking in the places we thought she ought to be and you do much the same with a missing document. Did you save it in your My Documents folder? Did you save it on your desktop? Did you save it on the C: drive? Is it on an auxiliary storage device, like a flash drive or CD ROM? Once you’ve ruled out the places it could have gone, you’ll have to expand your search, but just like it wasn’t practical for the people looking for my daughter to ask every single girl in every single business in town if she was my daughter, you don’t want to start opening every single folder on your hard drive. Some of them aren’t even easy to find. They’re just in strange places, like subfolders of subfolders and with names like “XZH67FGHY.” Don’t ask me why! I had to give the police a description of my daughter (height, hair color) so that they would know what to look for. You also have to give your computer a description of what you’re looking for. Luckily, there’s a place to do that and an easy way to do that. Let's check it out! Click on Start and choose Find (or it might say Search). Next, choose Files or Folders. You should then get a screen that looks like this: Patience will be a virtue here. Unless you remember the exact name of your document, you’re going to have to employ a few ways of describing your document. Let’s start by assuming you are looking for a Word document. First, check the Look in field to make sure it’s set to search the entire hard drive (C:), just like above. If it’s set for the A: drive (floppy) or Documents, for example, your computer will only look in those places and you’ve already looked there, so it would just be wasting your time. In the Named field, you really don’t have to have the exact name of your document. For example, I’ve called this document “Wherefore Art Thou,” so let’s look for anything with “Wherefore” in the title. But, and this next part is important, since you’re not searching for an exact title, you want the computer to find anything that has that word in the name. This is critical when you’re looking for a document with a name you’re unsure of. You do this by adding *.* at the end of your search term. This tells the computer to search for anything that has this word anywhere in the document name. Let’s try to find this document. Notice how I’ve typed the description into the Named field. Next, click Find Now. Looky there! It found it. You can now open that document by double clicking on its name. Now, what if you don’t know the name of the file? What if you're looking for an Excel spreadsheet that was saved before it got a proper name or maybe it was downloaded from an e-mail and you don’t know where it went? Well, you can find types of files by using the same Named field, but instead of putting in a description of the document name, you can put in a description of the document type. You can do this by clicking on the Advanced tab in the Find All Files box and choosing your file type from the drop down menu. Let’s see if I have any kicking around. Quite a few, it turns out! It’s just a matter of checking the most likely ones out to see where the one you want is. Now, it’s time to find a lost e-mail. Let’s say I was looking for an old Infinet e-mail (which had the extension of “infi.net” from my friend Sam). This time I’ve chosen E-mail File from the drop down list: I’ve also gone back to the Name and Location tab and entered “Sam” into the Containing Text field, because more than likely, the e-mail is probably not named “Sam,” but it will have his name in it. Let’s see what we get! I got nothing! Okay, I know they’re on there somewhere, so it's time to expand the search some more. To make a long story short, you will need to keep expanding your search until you start getting some hits. They are there, I promise! I finally just searched all file types for my old Infinet e-mail username “nealshaw” and take a look at what I found: Seventy files! Most of them are cookies, but several are folders in which the e-mail I'm looking for probably lies. Here’s what I found in my Netscape Users folder: Mail files, including the Sent ones, the Trash ones (the ones I thought were gone!) and of course, my old Inbox. When I double click on one of those, it will ask me which program I want to use to open them. There are a ton of e-mails stacked in there, it turns out, so I chose to use WordPad or Word. Please keep in mind that this can be a time consuming process, especially if you have a lot of files, etc. on your PC and have been using it for years, like I have. But, all in all, the files are there. If I still haven’t found “Sam” at this point, I can wait until the e-mails are all converted to a Word or text file and search the document with Ctrl + F. (They were in there, by the way!) One final note: With all the stuff you’ve found in your search, it might also have occurred to you that there are some files you really want, but are gone. I’m sure you’ve heard by now that deleted files don’t just disappear, they get relegated to some far corner of your PC until they are overwritten. It’s sort of like if you have a CD ROM of embarrassing pictures you can’t stand, but your kids think are hilarious. You can’t just throw it away and hope they don’t find it before the trash pick-up day. You need to drive over it with your car a few times until it’s broken into small pieces! If you find a file of old e-mails or other items you want to be truly gone, you will need to ensure that it gets overwritten multiple times. If that's what you're looking for, check out this Web site. A program called Scar 5 will overwrite your specified files about 25 times. It’s pretty near impossible to recover them after that! Do use this with caution, however. This is a case where you need to be very specific, because carelessness here could wipe out your hard drive. My daughter was safe and sound on the bus she was supposed to be on. (The driver just hadn’t seen her). She didn’t drop off the face of the earth and neither did your files or e-mails. We found the Excel file at my job by doing a search for all Excel files and it tuned up in a folder with some name none of us had ever heard of before! When you do download or save files, it pays to really pay attention where you are putting them. Downloads often wind up in temporary folders, which you can track down by searching files with “Temp*.*”, but it's good to be a little more specific. You can also practice by trying to find all the pictures on your PC sometime by using the File Type drop down for JPEGs. Just a thought. Happy computing!

Google Docs Redesign

Are you an avid Google Docs and Spreadsheets user? (If you're not sure what Google Docs is, you can read here for a complete explanation). Well, if you are, you probably already know about the redesign that took place a couple months ago, right? But, just in case it's been awhile since you've used the program, I thought I would give you a heads up on what you might see the next time you open it up. Now, before I go any further, I'm just going to tell you that the new design looks absolutely fantastic. If you want to know more, you've got to continue reading! First of all, Google has given their Docs and Spreadsheets program a whole new interface and it's easier to use than ever. The redesign of the interface has really keyed in on some of the issues people (and maybe you) were having with it before. For one thing, the new interface is much faster than it was before and it really just pulls you in to use it. This is one interface you'll really enjoy working with. On another note, Google has also added a new drag and drop feature to the program, which is always very helpful. Along with that, there is a whole new folder layout. Google finally got rid of the "tag" feature and replaced it with folders. So, if you ever had trouble figuring out how to make folders in Google Docs, that will never happen again! One more very cool feature that has been added to the new Google Docs has to do with the Search box. From now on, when you're performing a search, Google Docs will give you some suggestions for what they think you're searching for, all before you even finish typing. It's a lot like the Google Suggest option you can use for a regular Google search as well. So, how does all of that sound? If you're big into using Google Docs, I think you're going to find that these new features are very helpful and easy to work with. No doubt about it!

COMPUTER-BASED RATING SYSTEM HAVING MULTIVARIATE, HIERARCHICAL DATA-MANAGEMENT INTERFACE

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 11/071,978, filed on March 3, 2005, titled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GRAPHICAL DISPLAY OF MULTIVARIATE DATA," and claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 11/071,981, filed March 3, 2005, titled "TIERED ACCESS TO INTEGRATED RATING SYSTEM3" and claims the benefit of. U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 11/071,980, filed March 3, 2005, titled "ZOOM INTERFACE COMPONENT FOR INTEGRATED RATING SYSTEM5" each of which is hereby incorporated by reference is its respective entirety. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a computer-based rating system, and, more particularly, to a hosted rating system that is configured to manage transformations and presentations of multivariate, hierarchical data to users at client machines through an interface. Background of the Invention As increasing quantities of data are gathered, correlated, and derived regarding almost anything on which data can be gathered, displaying this data in a form which can be easily and visually comprehended also increases in difficulty. A system for presenting this data so as to allow for the rapid absorption and processing of multiple categories of inter-related data is needed. Practitioners have generally succumbed to the use of multivariable tables and discretized charts to represent multiple data points. These systems fail to adequately represent multivariate data in a single rendering. It is difficult to correlate the data presented in a multi-column table without studying each column. Frequently, the data presented in such charts and tables is comprised of meta-data or intermediate transformations of underlying data. The number of tables or columns in a table rapidly multiplies as more and more underlying data, meta-data, and intermediary calculations are incorporated into such charts and tables. Likewise, the ability of a user to reference multiple tables or columns in order to explore data underlying a calculation is complicated when hierarchical calculations of data and meta-data are involved. Similarly, a discretized chart, such as a bar chart, does not truly provide a single integrated visual representation, but rather requires each bar in the chart to be individually examined. Cartesian graphs are severely limited because only three dimensions can be meaningfully rendered in two dimensions, and even a three-dimensional rendering in two dimensions creates distortions in the user's perception of the data being displayed on a monitor attached to a computer. Other coordinate systems, such as spherical or cylindrical coordinates, are inadequate because the average person is not familiar enough with the them to quickly and meaningfully extract the data being presented, particularly when more than three variables are being plotted. One example of the voluminous data being gathered, correlated, and generated can be illustrated by examining business entities. This data has expanded beyond mere financials to include regulatory, environmental, social, and financial influences. One instance of this that the business world more than ever is demanding a higher level of transparency in its statements and reports to the investing public, their executive management and board members and to the asset management industry. In part, this is due to the debacles caused by corporate scandals of major enterprises such as Enron, Worldcom, Parmalat and others in which investors and pension funds participants lost billions of dollars. Legislation has been passed in many countries to mandate guidelines for corporate governance and accounting. A notable example in the United States is the passage of the Sarbanes Oxley Act. The world has become an instant global village where everybody knows everything — and nothing. According to Morgan Stanley (January 2005), there are now more than 850 million people participating twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week in the Internet economy. Also, the number of mobile phones in use has increased to more than 1.6 billion users worldwide. Of these mobile phones, more than 20% are said to be real-time instant Internet devices. Microsoft and its competitors report that they have more than 350 million instant message users signed up to their Instant Message platforms. Due to the rate of information transfer, companies are pressed to provide a more detailed level of transparency and "good behavior." Value takes years to generate in the corporate world but can be destroyed within hours. Many companies make use of their corporate websites to provide information to investors, analysts and the press. Based on the information provided, the performance of a company can be "benchmarked" relative to their peers. However, benchmarking in this manner is subjective, subject to human bias and is therefore cannot be applied across many companies in a precise manner. Neither are tools available for ready, objective benchmarking using prescribed or user-established criteria. Over the past eight years or so, the Swedish company Hallvarsson & Hallvarsson has measured the public performance of the Internet appearance for Europe's top 150 listed companies and the clear indication from their data is that above-average share performance is directly linked to good corporate behavior and true information sharing. It would be an improvement in the field to provide board members and executive management teams with an integrated view of companies of interest. Both from a legal perspective and from a public point of view, companies are under pressure to provide trust, transparency and right decision making. The classic reliance on short term and mostly static economic (financial) data is insufficient. What is needed is more than a company centric view. Within the asset management industry it is acknowledged that about 30% of a company's value is based on financial data and 70% is based on soft data. The present invention addresses these and other needs. Summary of the Invention In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a computer-based system provides tiered-access to rating data for users at respective client machines who are connected to a distributed computer network. The system includes a host machine in communication with a database configured to store data that is utilized by software on the host machine to transform the data into a rating. Such a computer-based system can comprise a rating system for rating companies or companies in relation to a sector, industry or other benchmark(s), and can be publicly accessible by plural client machines through a distributed computer network. A host machine having a processor communicates with a database that is configured to store plural indicators, a first portion of which relate to financial data and a second portion of which relate to non-financial data. The processor of the host machine executes software configured to transform prescribed ones of each of the first and second portions of the indicators from the database into a respective integrated rating of a single value for each of the companies. A first interface component that is accessible to all users at respective client machines through the network and is configured to present at least one company name in association with a respective integrated rating at each respective client machine. A second interface component is also accessible to a subset of users at respective client machines and is configured to enable any one of the subset of users to impart an influence to the software that causes the first interface component at only the client machine of such user to present a modified value for the integrated value of the integrated rating. When implementing such a system, an integrated rating for a company is computed by applying a formula to plural discrete indicators concerning a particular company. The indicators can be retrieved from a database and among them there is a first portion which relate to financial data and a second portion which relate to non-financial data. Users at their respective client machines are presented with a name of the particular company in association with the computed integrated rating through a first interface component that is accessible through the distributed computer network. A subset of the users is selectively permitted to interact with prescribed indicators from which the integrated rating is derived. In a related yet further aspect of the invention, a system for rating an entity is publicly accessible by users at respective client machines through respective connections to a distributed computer network. At least part of the rating system executes on a host machine with reference to indicators in a database. The system includes a first interface component, such as a query-result component, which is accessible through the distributed computer network. The first interface component is configured to present to the client machine at least one company name in association with a respective integrated rating. A processor is configured by software to compute each respective integrated rating as a single rating value which is derived by application of a first formula to prescribed ones of plural discrete indicators contained in the database. As noted above, a first portion of the discrete indicators relates to financial data whereas a second portion of the discrete indicators relates to non- financial data. A second interface component (such as an authentication-interface component) is configured to permit only selected users to interact with the prescribed indicators from which the single rating value is derived. In more particular aspects, the computer-based rating system can include a software module at the host machine as the second interface component which is configured to test any cookie passed from the client machine upon connection to the host machine. As well, the inventive rating system can include a software module at the host machine configured to process user identification information received from the client machine and to include among the selected users any user whose received identification information satisfies at least one prescribed criterion. In further more particular aspects, the rating system can include a third interface component accessible through the distributed computer network at respective client machines that enables users to query the system for specific information.. In particular ,the third interface component can be configured to provide to the host machine a user-input query and to cause the first interface component to present at least one company name in association with the respective integrated rating as search results in an organized arrangement. In yet another aspect of this invention software executing on a computer system is configured to construct and output a multivariate geometrical rendering of a plurality of variables. An axis is defined for each of the variables being displayed, and a point is defined on each axis corresponding to the value of the respective variable for that axis. Preferably, the axis are generally equidistant. Interpolated segments are generated between the defined points of each pair of adjacent axes such that each segment is spaced from the origin. Collectively, the segments circumscribe the origin, and do not necessarily form a closed path around the origin. In more particular aspects of this system, each axis extends from the origin in the same plane. Optionally, the software is configured to connect the interpolated segments with the plotted points to form a closed path around the origin. The interpolated segments may further comprise segments of a polygon. In yet a further aspect of this computer system, benchmark data may be superimposed on the display for at least one of the variables defined on each axis. One application of this computer system provides a method for multivariate presentation of variables concerning a company's performance includes defining on a display screen an origin having a first value, extending from the origin at least three axes on the display screen, the axes being generally equidistant from each other and representing a respective variable, plotting on the display screen a value of each variable concerning the company as a point on a respective axis, and using the plotted points to interpolate first segments between the axes on the display screen. In more particular aspects of this method for visually presenting a company's performance the first segments can extend to the axes and connect to one another to define polygonal or curved shapes. Also, benchmark information which is extrinsic to the company can be obtained and plotted on the display screen together with the company's performance for ready visual comparison of the company's performance to the obtained benchmark. In a related aspect, a mulitvariate graph of variables concerning a company's performance comprises an origin having a first value, at least three axes extending from the origin, the axes being generally equidistant from each other and representing a respective variable concerning the company, a point plotted on each axis corresponding to a value of the respective variables, and a first segment extending between each axis so as to interpolate the plotted points, wherein the origin, axes, plotted points and the first segments are displayed on a display screen. As noted above, benchmark information which is extrinsic to the company can be plotted together with the company in way that the benchmark information is distinguishable from the first segments of the company's performance graph. In still a further aspect of the invention, software executing on a computer system is configured to expose the parameters and data that are transformed by a hierarchical ratings system into one or more ratings and to output the rating and exposed hierarchical levels through an interface. The interface thus permits a user to zoom in and out to different levels of detail of the underlying hierarchy. Specifically, the software is configured to present an interface having a button, and, in response to user interaction with the button, expose a next hierarchical level of parameters included in the integrated rating. As applied to the example of the financial sector, this aspect of the invention comprises a computer-based navigation interface to a hierarchical rating system for rating companies or companies in relation to sector, industry, or other benchmark(s). The navigation interface comprises a database of parameters having a hierarchy and data within the database which is associated with at least one of the parameters, and software, executing on the processor of the computer, configured to control the interface. The software is configured to transform the data within the parameter hierarchy into a rating value at a first hierarchical level by applying at least a portion of the parameters to a predetermined formula, output the rating value on the display, respond to user interaction with a first virtual button rendered on the display, in response to interaction between the input device and the first virtual button, expose a second hierarchical level comprising each parameter in the portion of parameters included in the rating value, and output at least one parameter in the portion of parameters included in the rating value on the display. The navigation interface thus allows the user to explore the prescribed indicators from which a rating is derived, present at differing depths in a hierarchy of indicators the multivariate relationships among the variables, and permit interaction with the prescribed indicators as noted above. In yet still further aspects of the invention, users can be alerted of any changes in the integrated rating value that is computed using the hierarchical data system or in the value of any underlying parameters and data in the hierarchical data system. Each alert can comprise electronic message sent to a user address, and can be conditioned upon satisfying a threshold- change in value. These and other features, aspects and advantages of the invention can be appreciated from the following Description of Certain Embodiments of the Invention and the accompanying Drawing Figures. As used herein, "button" refers to a control that can be actuated by a user through the interface such as by a single click of a mouse button, hovering over an active region on the display (which is a "virtual button"), or by pressing a particular key or combination of keys on a keyboard. Within the meaning of plotting a point "on the axis" is the visual presentation of indicia "adjacent to" the axis so long as the user perceives the value of the variable in relation to the axis. Brief Description of the Drawing Figures Fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary home or start page in a user interface constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary search results page in a user interface constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary rated-company page in a user interface constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Fig. 4 illustrates further information that can be included on the page of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 illustrates an exemplary page in a user interface constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention showing certain parameters and their respective values that govern a rating that has been calculated for a component of the integrated rating in Fig. 3. Fig. 6 illustrates an exemplary further page in a user interface which shows data further down in a hierarchy that underlies the integrated rating in Fig. 3. Fig. 7 illustrates a page providing a different perspective on a rated-company than that of Fig. 3 which may be provided in an interface constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Fig. 8 illustrates an exemplary further page in a user interface which shows data further down in a hierarchy that underlies the rating in Fig. 7. Fig. 9 illustrates a personalized page which may be provided in an interface constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Fig. 10 illustrates a portion of a My Ratings page that permits users to select among existing personalized rating criteria or to create new rating criteria. Fig. 11 illustrates details for editing a particular, existing My Rating. Fig. 12 illustrates a selection of My Alerts presentable in an interface constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention to permit users to alter personal alerts. Fig. 13 illustrates details for editing a particular, existing My Alert. Fig. 14 illustrates a raw data underlying a particular integrated rating. Fig. 15 illustrates a hierarchy of variables and their organization in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention. Fig. 16 illustrates a hardware and software arrangement that is useful in implementing an embodiment of the invention. Description of Certain Embodiments of the Invention By way of overview and introduction, the present invention provides a configurable computer based user interface to a ratings system which presents integrated ratings of multiple sources of data regarding entities of interest. The integrated ratings are calculated using data and formulae that the user can inspect. The methodology, framework and interface presents an advance in the art by enabling users to explore complex, multivariate data, optionally in relation to the specific categories or in relation to other benchmark(s). In addition, the user can alter or filter the underlying data and formulae to arrive at ratings that take into account the user's preferences, perceptions, or hypotheticals. The illustrated embodiment is described in connection with a ratings system that is hosted by a host machine (e.g., a web server) and publicly accessible to users at respective client machines through a connection to a distributed computer network; however, the invention is not so limited in application. The executables that comprise the rating system can run on a stand-alone system and can be provided in a transportable format for local installation by a user, e.g., as a CD-ROM or in some other high-density storage medium. Likewise, the database can be maintained locally, and the local copy can include information on any companies, sectors or industries that are of interest to a particular user codified as "indicators" and arranged in a hierarchical structure within the database. At least one processor is configured by software to access the database and compute ratings by applying prescribed ones of plural, discrete indicator values to at least a first ratings formula. This results in at least an integrated rating having a single value. This arrangement is particularly amenable to a pay-as-you go model in which users are charged for each company that they wish to inspect, though that same model can be used in a remote, hosted embodiment. The ratings system, regardless of where it resides, preferably is in communication with an update software module that provides or can obtain electronically current information on the companies being watched, and current, pertinent benchmark information, and news alerts, if desired. Figures 1-16 represent one possible application of this invention applied to the financial sector. The example embodiments include the consideration of financial and non- financial data concerning a company, business sector, or industry. Specifically, as applied to the financial sector, a company's economic, environmental, social, and corporate governance performance, as well as statistics relating to one or more of these four "pillars," can be objectively analyzed. Referring now to Fig. 1, users of an interface constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention can be presented with an authentication-interface component on a page 100 which permits the visitor to login can comprise suitable boxes for entering an account identifier 102 and a password 104 and then pressing a submit button 106. Alternatively or in addition (that is, for subsequent connections from a particular registered- user's client machine), the authentication-interface component can include a software module that tests a cookie passed from the client machine upon connection to the host. Cookie technology is well understood in the art and is not described herein. This interface component sets or establishes users as "registered" users once they or their machines have satisfied at least one prescribed criterion. The "registered" status of a user enables the software of the rating system to control access through the interface by permitting only selected users to interact with indicators in the manner described hereinbelow in connection with Figs. 3-14. For visitors that do not have accounts, further buttons can be provided on the page 100 to initiate a new-user registration. A query-interface component can comprise a search-query text box 108 for entering a search query and a search submit button 110. This interface component can be provided on the page 100 that permits visitors to enter searches and receive limited information in response. Preferably, registered users have access to more information and reports than do visitors because their identification information has been processed by the authentication-interface component software. The page 100 preferably is a home page served from a host server that manages the rating systems to multiple, geographically distributed, compliant client machines used by respective users. More preferably, page 100 is a web page constructed using HTML and/or DHTML, and optionally includes active elements such as ActiveX controls or Applets to provide a rich and dynamic presentation of ratings and relevant information and to include at least a portion of the executable code of the rating system as code resident for execution at the client machine . The page 100 preferably includes links 120 to direct users to further web pages that convey information to the user such as: the analytics and variables utilized in rating companies; information about the host provider (herein, referred to as the "Independent Rating Company" or "IRC"); investor relations information; and pertinent news articles. The remainder of the page can include text and graphics 130 that inform the user of the capabilities or features of the ratings system. In the event that a user enters a search query in text box 108, search results are provided at the client machine by a Q-results interface component in a search results page 200 as shown in Fig. 2. For all users, whether registered with the host provider or not, searches can be permitted that present integrated ratings for companies that satisfy the search criteria. For example, the search query "office" may result in one-hundred matching companies including, among others, "3M" and "ABB." The search query is presented in title line 202 and the results including the integrated rating for each company in association with the company name are displayed in an organized arrangement, such as shown in table 204. For example, the company names and ratings can be associated in the same row of the table 204. A preview pane 206 can be provided to provide an abbreviated story or headline on a recent news item. The preview pane can be configured as a pop-up alert or dialog box which the user can select or close, and which can close automatically if not selected within a period of time. Visitors, and more preferably registered users, can be permitted to select (e.g., click) the preview pane and be directed to the complete story. Preferably, only registered users are able to explore the search results in table 204 beyond what is presented in page 200, e.g., to review the four pillars that comprise the integrated rating or the indicators that underlie the pillars. Thus, visitors can be presented with an integrated rating expressed as a single rating value in an alphabetic format. Also, preferably, only registered are permitted to establish their own ratings (MyRatingl 208, MyRating2 210, etc.) and enter and record notes 212. A detailed discussion of customized ratings that are displayable through the present interface is provided in U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 10/708,441, filed March 3, 2004, entitled "Sustainability Ratings For Legal Entities," and in particular in connection with Figures 13A through 13F, which application is hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth in its entirety herein. Briefly, registered users can alter coefficient values and/or weightings ascribed to the indicators that are utilized in arriving at the single value rating, and these altered values/weightings are then used by a now different ratings formula to compute customized ratings, including integrated ratings, component ratings in each of the four pillars of economic, environmental, social, and corporate governance, as well as with regard to categories that concern those pillars. The customized ratings result from a formula that differs from the rating system formula in the value or weighting (collectively referred to as "value") of at least one coefficient and this "different" formula can be applied in lieu of the rating system formula that is utilized in computing single rating values for non-registered visitors. Each user can compute a personalized score that expresses his or her own ideology or institutional preference/perspective, and these customizations can be saved under one or more "MyRatings" tabs. For those selected users who are permitted to inspect the data behind the integrated rating, a rated-company page 300 can be served to the client machine in a number of ways, including by selecting an entry in the table 204 or by selecting an entry in a My Companies list 910, as described below in connection with Figure 9. A variety of features are available to the registered users that enable various interactions between the user and the indicators from which the single rating value is derived. In the following discussion, the interface component software permits interaction based on the status of the user as "registered," and as such the features described in connection with Figs. 3-14 are responsive to permissions established by the authentication component. The rated-company page 300 provides certain basic information 302 about the company being rated including its name, sector, industry, and base country in which it has its headquarters of operation. (The sector and industry that a particular company belongs to can be determined from the Global Industry Classification Standard ("GICS") code for that company.) This basic information 302 is provided in the first four columns of table 204 to all visitors. There are also links to a corporate web site 304 and to stock information 306 concerning the company. The rating for a company displayed on page 300 (in this case, "3M") is for a specific period, and as can be appreciated, a company's rating can vary depending on the window of time under analysis. A user can select a period for analysis using pull-down list 308, and the ratings for the company are refreshed to coincide with the selected time period. The user has other options available for selection, such as to send the present page to a printer (button 310), to add the company to the My Companies list (button 312), and to set alerts for this company (button 314). The rated-company page also includes a general description 316 of the company and its industry. The rated-company page 300 includes an integrated rating of the company's extra- financial performance, which is expressed and displayed both as a letter grade 320 and also as a numeric grade or scale 322. The integrated rating is computed by the rating system on the basis of inspectable coefficients and weightings that are applied to the underlying data. Integrated ratings based on other settings established by registered users can be presented under the My Ratings tab 324, such as in the My Ratings table 326 which shows a higher performance rating ("A") as compared to that computed by the rating system ("C"), as shown at 320. The integrated rating 320 is preferably computed from individual ratings in four principal areas of corporate endeavor, namely, economic (which includes conventional financial data such as earnings per share, revenue, profit/loss, as well as more long term oriented qualitative information such as brands, consumer complaints, accounting practices, etc.), environmental (which includes emission levels, regulatory compliance, etc.), social (which includes workforce issues such as labor, gender and non-discriminatory corporate practices, etc.), and corporate governance (which includes board composition, written policies, management , etc.). These so-called "pillars" are preferably computed as component ratings and are thereafter combined in a prescribed manner (as described in the aforementioned co-pending application which has been incorporated by reference) to define the integrated rating. In the rated-company page 300, the pillars each have a letter grade 330, and any change 332 upward or downward in that component's rating and the date 334 of such change are preferably shown. The significance of each pillar can be explained on the rated-company page 300 or on a separate page. Fig. 4 illustrates further, optional information that can be displayed to the user to explain the pillars. Briefly, the Economic Performance rating concerns a company's capacity to generate high returns on investments. The rating system utilizes indicators that focus on long term revenue growth and margin improvements through tangible and intangible elements that do not systematically appear in financial statements. This pillar includes financial data and no non-financial data whereas the remaining pillars concern non-financial data, optionally in combination with financial data. The Environmental Performance rating concerns a company's impact on living and non-living natural systems, including ecosystems, land, air and water. Certain environmental aspects are associated with a company's competitiveness and financial performance (e.g., level of CO2 emission) and the rating system utilizes indicators that are relevant to these factors. The Social Performance rating concerns a company's impact on the social systems within which it operates. Social performance can be gauged through an analysis of the company's impact on stakeholders. The main stakeholders addressed in the social pillar are the workforce, the society as a whole and of course the customers, as reflected by the selected indicators used by the rating system. In some cases, social indicators influence the company's intangible assets, such as its human capital and reputation. The Corporate Governance Performance rating examines indicators relating to the systems and processes that a company has in place to ensure that a company's directors and manager act in the interests of a company, its shareholders, and other stakeholders, and to ensure the mechanisms are in place so as to hold managers accountable to investors for the use of assets. Each of the pillars is a variable composed of one or more categories of indicators that can be manipulated through weightings, coefficients or mathematics to influence their impact on the numerical grade 322 of the integrated rating. Likewise, each of the pillars and most of the variables used in the rating system comprises a calculation that is based upon values or settings of two or more underlying indicators whose values/settings can be inspected by the user. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the underlying parameters that are transformed into the rating can be displayed in the computer interface by selecting a button (e.g., a virtual button) associated with the rating. In response to user interaction with the button, the second hierarchical level of parameters used in computing the rating can be displayed. The software can further be configured to present a second virtual button associated with one of the parameters of the second hierarchical level exposed by interacting with the first virtual button. Navigation of the hierarchy in this manner can also expose the underlying data associated with each parameter. Repeated interaction with the interface permits a user to view the integrated rating and meaningfully navigate the hierarchy of parameters and data that is utilized in computing the rating down to the most fundamental data elements that comprise the rating. As applied to the previously discussed example of the financial sector, the components that lead to the calculation of each pillar can be displayed by selecting a pillar from the page 300. This causes the hierarchy of parameters that comprise the value of each pillar to be displayed with each successive selection until the basic source of data for a given parameter has been displayed. In this way, a user can "drill down" and inspect the data underlying a rating, and can alter the value or weighted importance of a given indicator for display as a My Rating. For example, the user can select the Environmental Performance pillar 360 by clicking on that portion of the display and be presented with further details on the data underlying that rating, as discussed in connection with Fig. 5 below. From the foregoing, it should be appreciated that the interface can permit dynamic interaction with a hierarchical data set. The interface preferably allows a user to expand the data corresponding to meta-data or parameters (e.g., a company's environmental pillar rating) utilized in computing the integrated rating. Traditional systems have required massive spreadsheets or multiple charts to navigate through underlying information concerning a rating create substantial difficulties in their logistical representation and dilute a user's contextual understanding of how the current level of hierarchical data fits into the overall computation of a rating. An interface in accordance with this aspect of the invention can preserve this context by presenting an easily navigable interface for "drilling down" into the underlying data, through which the user will know the level of the hierarchy being presented and how the user arrived at this level. Simultaneously, the user can be provided with the formula used to arrive at the rating and optionally with the ability to change the formula so as to influence the transformation of data and metadata into a rating. In accordance with another aspect of this invention software executing on a computer system is configured to construct and output a multivariate geometrical rendering of a plurality of variables. An axis is defined for each of the variables being displayed, and a point is defined on each axis corresponding to the value of the respective variable for that axis. One or more additional axes can be used to represent a transformation of the underlying data into a statistical parameter or another calculated value. Preferably, the axis are generally equidistant. Interpolated segments are generated between the defined points of each pair of adjacent axes such that each segment is spaced from the origin. Collectively, the segments circumscribe the origin, and do not necessarily form a closed path around the origin. Figure 3 illustrates this aspect of the invention as applied to the financial sector. The integrated rating 320 and the four pillars 330 are displayed together in a multi-axis graph 350. The graph 350 has one axis for each of the four variables that comprise the pillars, and, preferably (as shown), an additional axis for the integrated rating which comprises a statistical parameter. In this example the statistical parameter is derived from each of the pillar-variables. The axes are preferably equidistantly spaced and extend from a common origin having a first value, which value can be defined to be zero if the rating values are on a scale that starts at zero. The numeric grade 322 of the integrated rating is plotted on the axis labeled "Overall," and the numeric grades that correspond to each of the pillars is plotted on a respective axis of the graph. Preferably, segments are plotted that interpolate between the plotted points on each of the axes. In one arrangement, linear segments connect the plotted points, as shown, to present the multiple variables being plotted as a polygon 352 representative of the company's EESG performance. In other arrangements, arcuate segments can extend between the plotted points or segments can be plotted on the graph and remain unconnected to the plotted points. With regard to the illustrative example of 3M, an "A" rating under corporate governance results in a point plotted far from the origin and causes an expansion and stretching of the visual polygon image 352. Within the meaning of plotting a point "on the axis" is the visual presentation of indicia "adjacent to" the axis so long as the user perceives the value of the variable in relation to the axis. It can be seen from Figure 3 that the axis of the multivariate display are rendered in the same plane, so that the information contained therein can be comprehensibly displayed on a two-dimensional computer display. A three-dimensional projection onto the two- dimensional computer screen may be used as well. However, in this scenario, the axis of the graph which would project out of the plane of the computer display, and the data represented on that axis, would be distorted, thereby detracting from the ease with which the invention conveys multivariate data to the user. Additionally, if the values of more than three variables are rendered by the multivariate graph the difficulty of meaningfully representing more than three axis in a two dimensional plane is compounded. A three-or-more-dimensional display would only increase the distortions of the data. It should be noted that the geometrical rendering of the polygon is somewhat arbitrary. Specifically, because the axes can be defined in any order, clockwise or otherwise, about the origin, the precise shape of the polygon for a particular set of values will depend on the order of the axes. To manage the somewhat arbitrary nature of the polygon shape, the software can further be configured to order the axes based rules or user preferences. For example, as illustrated in Figure 3, the axes can be arranged in view of the magnitude of the value of each variable to form a generally convex polygon, minimizing the occurrence of segment intersections that have an interior angle greater than 180°. Alternatively, if the variables represented by the axes are related in some way, such as by category, time, or user emphasis, the software can arrange the axes to group categories together or order by time or importance. In accordance with a salient aspect of the invention, the software is configured to overlay multiple data on the multivariate graph thereby aiding in the comparison of multiple data sets. The overlaid data may include benchmark data. As applied to the financial sector, benchmark information is coordinated with the company rating to provide the user with insight as to the relative performance of the company. The benchmark information can concern a competitive company, a sector or an industry, but in any case the benchmark information is extrinsic to the company meaning that it is information that is not the same in many if not all respects to that which is used to rate the company. The rating system obtains the benchmark information from a database, for the relevant time period set in box 308, and preferably superimposes on the graph 350 the benchmark performance for each of the variables that is plotted for the company. Preferably, points are plotted for each of the variables (e.g., the overall and E, E, S, and G variables) in the graph 350, and the space between the axes is interpolated or interconnected to form a polygon (or closed-curved object) 354 in a manner that permits the company's performance to be readily distinguished and compared to that of the benchmark data by the user. A legend 356 informs the user which color, tick-mark, lines, or shapes are associated with the company under analysis and which is associated with the benchmark. The benchmark can be compared with the company's performance in other ways, such as by way of bell curves; however, the graph 350 provides a two-dimensional visual representation of the comparative performance in each of the variables that are presently under inspection. Thus, at the integrated rating or top-level, the graph 350 shows comparative performance with respect to each of the four pillars and the overall rating, whereas at a lower-level, such as discussed in connection with Fig. 5 below, the comparative performance can visually represent particular variables that underlie the integrated rating. A great number of benchmarking possibilities can be presented to the user for comparing the performance of a company against extrinsic information. A non-limiting set of possibilities includes a comparison to the universe of all or selected companies in the database, to all or select companies from a chosen country, to all companies from a chosen industry (even an industry different than the company's GICS classification), to a specific company or companies, to the best in the class of the company being inspected, to personal benchmark criteria, to other companies being tracked by the user in the user's My Companies list 910 (discussed below), in relation to one or more of the user's personalized My Ratings, and to combinations of these possibilities. Figure 5 illustrates a page 500 which includes further details concerning one of the pillars, including the variables that resulted in the Environmental rating "E." The page 500 can include other information such as the basic company information 302, etc., but has been abbreviated in order to focus on the additional features added by this page. In Fig. 5, details of the Environmental Performance are shown, for example, as a result of click-selecting pillar 360 from page 300. Preferably, the variables being inspected in the hierarchical list 510 are distinguished from higher-level variables, for example, by indenting the variables being displayed on the remainder of the page. The integrated rating 320 is at the top of the hierarchy, followed by the pillars, and then categories and downward to the basic indicators. Thus, Environmental Performance 562 is indented in the hierarchical list 510. The Environmental performance of the company is shown as a letter grade 520 in the title line and also as a numeric grade 522. The performance is also illustrated in a table 570 which shows the company's score in each of eight categories of information that is used in the grades 520, 522 (and hence integrated rating grades 320, 322). The table 570 further shows comparative performance of the company to the grades received in its industry and sector. The numerical grades set forth in the table are used as values in a graph 550 which plots the company's performance 552 in correlation with the industry average 554, as described above in connection with graph 350. In the graph 550, there are nine axes, one for each category being plotted as a variable, and another for an overall rating which is a statistic derived from the other variables. As noted above, a registered user can inspect and optionally alter the numerical values for any one or more of the categories/indicators or change their respective influence on the overall Environmental Performance calculation. For instance, if energy, water and transport parameters are not perceived as pertinent to a particular user, then the resulting rating for the company would compare substantially more favorably to the relevant industry in the illustrated example. The user can be permitted to experiment with alterations to the quantified data for a given company to see how such changes affect the ratings, without disrupting the real data in the database used by all users. The user can get a "sandbox" version of a company, e.g. by clicking an icon on a report page. This action causes a copy all the quantified data from the company to the "sandbox," which the user can then play with by changing the data values. A sandbox company is user-specific and can only be seen and modified by the user who created it. Figure 6 illustrates a page 600 showing a lower level in the hierarchy which provides the user with data on certain indicators within the category of biodiversity 662, namely the "EN24" family of indicators 664. The EN24 indicators are a subset of indicators derived from the Global Reporting Initiative ("GRI") framework; thus, reference can be had to the GRI framework of indicators; however, a preferred embodiment utilizes a different set of fewer indicators, as described herein. Which particular indicators are included in a category is decided by the rating system provider, but can be edited by the user through My Ratings. Exemplary categories and indicators are listed in the table below. The page 600 provides a letter grade 620, a numerical grade 622, a table 670 comparable to grades 520, 522 and table 570, except of course now relating specifically to the EN24 indicator in this illustrated page. Optionally, the data in the table 670 can be charted. For example, the EN24.1 and EN24.2 values can be charted, as previously described, on separate axes and the overall composite of those parameters can be charted on an additional axis, if desired. However, a visual presentation of multivariate data is perceived as being more helpful to users when the number of parameters is greater, as in Figs. 3 and 5. With reference now to Fig. 7, the performance of a company is expressed from the point of view of what is perceived to drive its value. Three principal value drivers that are believed to be influenced by the information that underlies the integrated rating 320 that a company receives through the rating system are its risks, opportunities and intangibles. In Fig. 7, a page 700 provides one additional or alternative perspective to the integrated rating page 300 discussed above, and can serve as a home page for a given user who prefers this perspective (e.g., the page presented upon selecting the home key from page 100 or upon selecting a search result from table 204). The value drivers are those aspects of EESG information that are material to the performance of companies which are included in the database. Financial analysts, asset managers, issuers, CFOs and others can use the value driver tools which permit selection of parameters as a complementary overlay to existing financial services that they receive. The EESG information of the company relating to risks, opportunities/EPS (earnings per share) and intangibles can reside in several categories, including: reputation risk, product risk, regulation risk, crisis management systems, non- compliance, stakeholder defection, and resource dependency. There are also sector-specific risk categories, sub-groups and user-defined categories that can be utilized to define the parameters that govern the contents of a value-driver report that the user can extract from the rating system. The value drivers can be benchmarked to industry, sector, etc., as described above. Referring again to Fig. 7, a hierarchical list 710 of the value drivers of risk, opportunity and intangibles permits a user to select a list member and inspect the parameters that result in that member's rating. The Value Driver Performance rating is expressed, as before, both as a letter grade 720 and as a numerical grade 722. The time period under analysis, 308 and a general description 316 of the company and its industry are preferably provided on this page, as is a multivariate chart 750 of the three principal variables and their overall rating of the company 752 in coordination with, but distinguished from, the industry average 754 (with a suitable legend 756 identifying what has been charted). In Fig. 8, the parameters that underlie the Risk variable are provided in a page 800. In this page, the Risk variable 860 has been selected (from page 700) and is shown expanded to reveal the Crisis Management Risk category 862 which is computed from nine variables to have a Crisis Management Risk Performance letter grade 820 and a Crisis Management Risk Performance numerical grade 822. A chart 850 has each of these variables as an axis extending from a common origin; however, in contrast to previously described charts, the chart 850 does not include a plot of any statistics apart from the eight variables. A table 870 includes the numeric and letter grades of the company, its industry, and its sector, and the numeric grades provide values for coordinating industry or sector performance with that of the company. Referring now to Fig. 9, a personalized page which may be provided in an interface constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The personalized page 900 includes navigation keys 120, search box 108, and further includes three principal features: a My Companies list 910, a My Alerts list 920 and a My Ratings button 930. The My Companies list provides a summary of the integrated ratings for a selected list of companies. A full view button 912 provides further details on the selected companies, for example, in a format similar to that shown in table 204 (Fig. 2). The My Alerts list 920 provides a summary of the user-alerts that have been established for particular companies by the user, and a full view button 922 provides a more detailed view of the general settings of each alert, and can be in the format shown in Fig. 12, for example. The My Ratings button 930 presents a page or frame to the user, as shown in Fig. 10, which allows the user to select from existing personalized ratings criteria or to create new criteria. As described in the aforementioned pending application which has been incorporated by reference, users may wish to define their own ratings criteria to apply to particular companies, industries, or sectors to suit their preferences, beliefs and perspectives. By selecting a report from the report list 1010 in Fig. 10, the user can revise a particular one of his or her My Ratings, and such changes are then available to the user simply by selecting the desired My Rating from table 326 (which appears on a number of pages in the user interface). If one of the My Ratings is selected from the report list 1010, then a web page or frame is presented to the user which is populated with the existing My Rating information for the selected My Rating. The user can then edit that data by changing the existing data in the fields 1110, 1120, 1130 of the data record, or change the formula that governs the rating calculation (see, again, the co-pending application for discussion on formula editing) by clicking on the proceed to formula editor button 1140. Alternatively, the user can delete the data record using the remove button 1150, or cancel the operation using the cancel button 1160. With reference again to Fig. 9, if a full view of the My Alerts list 920 is selected or if another appropriate button is actuated, the user can be provided with an alert report page or frame with information such as shown in Fig. 12. The alert report page itemizes by alert name the companies that have user-established alerts associated with them, the basis upon which to generate an alert message (e.g., based on ratings change activity in environmental performance, EN24.2, or any other parameter in the ratings system), and the trigger for the alert (any change, only when there has been an upgrade, only when there has been a downgrade). There is also a status 1210 for each company that is in the alert report watch list which can be an animation advising the user whether he or she has an unread alert, and a notes section 1220. Preferably the alert name, company name, report item, alert type, status, and notes are combined into data records that are managed by the ratings system and stored in a database, and, more preferably, a central database. Fig. 13 shows a checklist that can be completed in order to set parameters for a user- established alert, including how and to where the alerts are to be sent. As show, check boxes permit entry of the trigger type and threshold values that must be satisfied, whether as a grade change (namely, a numerical amount, say, a change from 0.0 to 0.1 or from 0.1 to 0.3) or a rating change (namely, an alphabetical grade change, say, from A downgraded to B or from E upgraded to D), and check and text boxes for selecting the format for the alert and providing a destination address (e.g., an email or phone number). Fig. 14 shows raw data underlying the integrated rating of a company, which in the illustrated case is "3M." The raw data page identifies for a selected period of time a particular indicator 1410 and an explanation of what it represents, a source 1420 for the value or setting used by the rating system (e.g., a corporate web site), textual data 1430 explaining significance (e.g., whether this indicator bears on one of the value drivers), comments, files, data status and the quality of the information. To the extent that this information can be gathered and reported, it is included in the rating system database and is publicly inspectable at this fundamental level through the raw data page or by exporting to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or the like. Raw data for a company can be established in the rating system database using a raw data tool which provides a structure for the data and content of the information of concern. For example, the information structure can be a data record organized as shown follows: Number: LA91 Field: Social Performance Category: Labor practices/decent work Aspect: Training/Education Indicator type: Core Indie, desc: Average hours of training per year per employee by category of employee Indie. Name: Average hours of training per year per employee The raw data concerning a particular company (Roche) that comprises the content for such a record might read as follows: Raw Data: "In 2003, Roche employees spent an average 23 hours on training, which represents more than three days of training ..." Source: Sustainability Report 2003 Page: 37 Publisher: Company Author: not relevant Date: 2004 Scope of Relevance: Worldwide Quality of info: Reliable As can be appreciated from the table below, on the order of about 250 to about 300 indicators are preferably used in the determination of an integrated rating using the four pillars EESG. The indicator data consists of raw and quantified data. Raw data consists of textual information about the indicators such as shown in the above excerpted statement in the example of a Roche accounting report. Quantified data comprise numeric or yes/no values, which can be manually derived from the raw data or from its status if the data is incomplete. In the case of yes/no indicators, a rating can have a predefined value or a calculated value from related indicators. For example, one indicator question might be "Does the company publish information about CO2 emission?," and if the answer to this is "yes" some other indicators about CO2 will count in the rating; otherwise, the rating is accorded the predefined value . Fig. 15 shows a hierarchical relationship among the parameters that are combined into an integrated rating. At the top of the hierarchy is the integrated rating 320, 322. The integrated rating is calculated using a formula provided by the rating system, as may be optionally modified by the user. The four pillars provide the principal variable values which are combined by the formula into the integrated rating. For simplicity, Fig. 15 shows one of the pillars. Each pillar receives parameters from one or more categories, though only one category is shown, again for simplicity. In the preferred embodiment, there are four pillars and eighteen categories, under each of which are prescribed indicators, as shown in the table below. The categories, in turn, are an amalgam of variables, some of which are "outcome" parameters which have values associated with them, and others are "driver" parameters which have a yes/no state setting associated with them. Outcome and driver parameters receive their values from indicators. Driver indicators (always yes/no) are about the policies, management systems and tools employed by the company's management with the intent to improve an issue (which is codified in the rating system as a "category"). Driver indicators measure the company's real intentions and commitments. Outcome indicators (Value or yes/no) measure if the company has successfully achieved an improvement on a particular issue. Outcome indicators measure observable results which provide indications on the company's standing in respect to a specific issue (again, which is included as a "category" in the rating system). The rating system uses a set of indicators to arrive at the integrated ratings described herein. The type of indicators that have been selected for use in a preferred embodiment of the present rating system are described within their respective categories as follows: significant air emissions, waste, hazardous waste, water discharges or spills); impact on biodiversity; Partnering with NGO's, Industry organizations or Supra-governmental organizations for environmental improvement or community goodwill. Product Indicators show: general commitment towards Innovation environmental products/services innovation; environmental efficient products (eco-design, life cycle assessment-LCA, dematerialization, extended durability, emission reduction by product use, etc). Social Workforce/ Indicators show: general commitment towards employment Employment and job conditions: employment benefits (salary, profit Conditions sharing, pension plan, health care, other insurances and other benefits); commitment to long term employment security (Net employment creation, avoidance of lay-offs, turnover limitation, promotion from within, maintenance of general relations with trade unions, etc.) Workforce/ Indicators show: general commitment towards job health & Health & safety: Health & Safety in the broad sense, encompassing Safety physical and mental health, stress and well being of all employees; Compliance to the ILO Code of Practice on Recording and Notification of Occupational Accidents and Diseases or the ILO Guidelines for Occupational Health Management Systems; Quality management systems like OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health & Safety Management System) Workforce/ Indicators show: general commitment towards training and Training and development (education); developing skills and Development competencies (occupational, human or social relations and communication), encompassing programs to support the career development and continued employability of employees and to manage career endings. Workforce/ Indicators show: general commitment towards diversity and Diversity and opportunity: promoting an effective balance between Opportunity personal (family-friendly policies, vacations, part-time, flex- time, career breaks, maternity leave, sabbatical etc.) and professional development (career planning); promotion of diversity and opportunity (equal treatment between women and men) and tackling other forms of discrimination or harassment as in the case of unfair treatment of people with disabilities, or because of age, ethnicity, 'race', nationality, religion, or sexual orientation. Society/ Indicators show: general commitment towards the Human Rights Fundamental Human Rights convention of the ILO relevant to operations (workforce, suppliers, supply chain management and contractors) or SA8000 (standard and verification system for humane workplaces); Freedom of association universally applied independent of local laws; Exclusion of child, forced or compulsory labor. Society/ Indicators show: general commitment towards maintaining The indicators noted above, once a set has been selected for a given rating system, can be accorded a naming convention for access, updates and other manipulation by the software of the rating system. For example: , in which pp is the pillar short abbreviation (So=Social, En=Environmental, Ec=Economic, CG=Corporate Governance), next is the top -category name (2 letters) followed by the category (again 2 letters) and finally a "D" for driver or "O" for outcome followed by a number. For example, the category can be characterized as Workforce/Health & Safety (xx="W0", yy="HS"). This can be the default tree structure for the data records from which all indicators can be accessed. Each category starts off with the same 4 driver-indicators: Policy, Implementation, Monitoring, Improvements). The rest of the indicators in a category are outcome indicators and can be yes/no questions or double questions or amounts, ratios, etc. An outcome indicator's value can be Not Available ("NA") or Not Relevant ("NR"). NA means that there is no answer to the value for the question. NR means there is a value but it is not relevant (e.g. CO2 emission by a banking entity which is not particularly relevant since this is not a manufacturing entity, but still is reported by some banking entities). In the case of outcomes, the rating system calculates the performance, the transparency, the changes over time ("delta"), and the exposure due to particularly lagging performances ("relative standing") of the data in the indicator. The underlying data that is sought from a company to populate a given indicator will either be relevant or not relevant. If relevant, the question remains whether there is information or not to populate that indicator. If there is relevant information, then the performance value will go up or down depending on the data itself, and the transparency value will go up because there is public reporting of a relevant datum. If the relevant information is not available, there is no change to the performance value as there is no data upon which to base a change, but the transparency value will go down because there is no public reporting of a relevant datum. On the other hand, even if the information is not relevant, the content of the data itself can impact the performance value, and the transparency value goes up because the data, though not relevant to this company or sector or industry, is reported. If the information is not relevant and not available, there is no impact on the values of performance or transparency. The outcome calculation can include the delta and relative standing parameters or these can be calculated separately. "Delta" is the measurement of changes (improvements or deterioration) of the performance of that indicator over time. If a company has increased its performance over the past year then it gets a bonus in terms of an improved score for doing so. Conversely the company is penalized if its performance has deteriorated. Finally, the "relative standing" component of the algorithm preferably operates to penalize companies that show particularly bad performance in individual indicators as compared to a benchmark. Therefore, the high exposure that a company can face due to having the worst performance in individual indicators is also taken in account in the outcome grade of a category because if a company is in, say, the lowest 1-5% quartile for a certain indicator, that is indicative of potentially higher risk exposure. Fig. 16 shows a hardware and software arrangement that can be used to implement a hosted rating system as described herein. One or more users can access the rating system through a portal 1610 which preferably includes the interface pages described above and is therefore web-browser compliant, and, more preferably, compatible with Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6.0, and the Firefox LINUX Web browser. Communications proceed through a secure socket connection from remotely distributed client machines at the portal through a firewall 1620 to a Web server 1630. The web server communicates with an application server 1640 (e.g., a Tomcat server that supports JSP/Services) through standard protocols, and preferably exchanging rich text using XML structures. In turn, the server 1640 communicates with a central database 1650, e.g., a Sequel database, through JDBC. In operation, users access the portal 1610 through a standard client machine such as a personal computer, personal digital assistant, or other device compliant with the web server 1630. User authentication and validation services can take place after which the user is permitted to inspect data underlying ratings for one or more companies, create use and store alerts and rating criteria and export data to their local machine. Ratings can be presented numerically, alphabetically, or alpha-numerically. The system can be configured so that visiting, non-registered users, are presented only top-level integrated ratings , if even that. The system can also be configured to allow such a subset of users or a different subset of users to impart an influence to the software that results in a modified value for the single value of the integrated rating to be presented to that user. For example, a user that is a member of the prescribed subset can be permitted to impart a change to one of the indicators (or to a coefficient value in a formula that operates upon such indicator in computing the rating), and only that user will be presented with the resulting integrated rating. Moreover, for a subset of users, the system can accept and utilize a user- selected formula to transform the indicators into the single value integrated rating. Selected users can further provide the system with or simply select/establish at least one benchmark criterion. In response, the system can be configured so as to present, for at least one of the companies presented to the client machine, a respective integrated rating in coordination with the benchmark criterion. At the back end, requests received through the portal are transferred over to the server 1640 at which calculations of ratings are performed for the requested/prevailing time period, for the company or companies that are in the scope of the user's request (e.g., the companies in any search results or the companies in a My Companies list). In the event that the user has selected My Ratings criteria, the server 1640 retrieves stored criteria from the database 1650 and applies that criteria to stored data for the company or companies that are in the scope of the user's request. The server 1640 also manages any other personalization (including any alerts) that the user may have set, so that messages can be sent (or be attempted to be sent) to the user regardless of whether the user is presently logged onto the rating system. In certain implementations, the charts and rating calculations can be performed at the client machine through an Applet, ActiveX component, or by executing a stand-alone application or XML within the client's local machine environment. Such distributed computation will reduce the load on the host machine, thus allowing the system to service a greater number of users and larger quantities of data. In other implementations, these activities are performed by the server 1640 and forwarded through the web server 1630 to the client machine for presentation through the user interface. Optionally, a "My Key Numbers" button or selection list can be included on one or more pages of the interface. For example, "My key numbers" can be a pull-down list provided on the home rating page of each company accessed by the user. The user can define certain indicators, categories, or ratings for inclusion in this list or for that particular company. Thus, the user could select CO2 emissions, the Social pillar, and the category "human rights" for GM Corporation while the same or different selections can be stored as the key numbers for other companies. Preferably, all textual data is stored in Unicode, a text format that provides a unique number for every character across platforms, programs and languages. Preferably, all time data is stored in the UTC time format, all pixel-based graphical data is stored in PNG, and all image (photographic) data is stored in JPEG. Preferably, all data creation, modification and deletion in the system is logged with timestamp, user, original data, etc. to enable tracking of any activity in the rating system. This information can also be used for user-access control and billing. The rating system can provide reports to the user which concern a single company or a group of companies - e.g., within an industry, country, etc. The time frame for a given report can be for a current year or other time windows of longer scope depending on values entered into the period box 306. Reports and charts can be exported for use in other applications such as Microsoft Excel or Adobe Acrobat (i.e., in pdf format). Depending on the permission level accorded to a given user, the report can include either detailed or summary information, archival data including historical ratings, and possibly also some or all of the raw data. From the foregoing, it should be understood that all or part of the database 1650 can be exported, including raw and quantified data and calculated values. While the invention has been described in connection with a certain embodiment thereof, the invention is not limited to the described embodiments but rather is more broadly defined by the recitations in the claims below and equivalents thereof.