How to Find the Best Wireless Router

Most homes in the United States have a wireless router. It is crazy to think that, because just a few years ago, many people did not even know what a wireless router was. Now not only does everyone know what it is, but most people have one.

When I was looking at new homes with my wife, one of the things in my mind was where I would put my wireless router. While that may be a bit extreme to some, it gives you an idea of just how important this is. Many people use the internet for several different things. If someone plays video games, then it is important to have the router near the video gaming system. Some prefer to even have the video game system plugged directly into the router. At the least, it must be very close to the router. Then, if you have an office, you do might not want the router too far from there. People have different demands as far as internet speed goes. For instance, I have my router downstairs and my office upstairs and have on problem with the level of speed that my internet is in my office. That said, I have FiOs internet, which is internet that is extremely fast.

So how should someone go about finding the best wireless router for their particular situation? One important thing to do is find out how far the people are going to be away from the router. The routers list how far they can provide internet away from the router. It is important to give yourself some leeway when measuring this. For instance, if the office is 75 feet away, I would advise against getting a router that provides internet for up to 75 feet. I would get one that provides internet for at least 100 feet. Sure, there will be internet for 75 feet, but in order to get better performance, I would advise to get a router that provides a little bit more than 75 feet.

Another thing to take into consideration is how fast of internet speed is needed. If someone just wants to browse Facebook with their girlfriend a few hours a week, then the important of a great router, may not be that big of a deal. If someone runs an online business and needs to make file transfers at high rates, then it is important to have a powerful router.

A wireless router is a very powerful tool and it is not difficult to find the best one for you. If you know what you want, order one online. If you are unsure, go see an expert and have them help you with your purchase.

How to Keep Your Laptop Battery in Good Health

Laptop batteries are not cheap. These are made of lithium ion, which is why they are so expensive. If you do not keep your battery healthy, you will have to replace it often because it will die long before its time. A healthy laptop battery can easily last for years on end, without incident, and might even outlive the computer itself. A sick battery, however, might be lucky to live a year or two before needing replaced. If you want to keep your battery in good health, here are some things to keep in mind:

- Always make sure that you fully drain and fully charge your battery before you use the laptop for the first time. This will give it a much healthier starting point than if you just plug it in and go.

- Use the battery. Too often, people leave their computers plugged in at all times. While this is effective enough, batteries that don't get used will be just as sickly as batteries that are used incorrectly. Like our bodies, batteries need exercise to stay strong and healthy.

- Every 2-3 weeks you should fully drain and fully charge your battery just to keep it healthy. It isn't hard to do if you use your laptop for a few hours unplugged and then give it a good charge once it dies on you.

- If you are leaving town or not going to use your battery for longer than a couple of weeks, take it out of your computer. Store it in the fridge or freezer to keep it fresh. This sounds a little odd, but it really can help keep the battery healthy for longer.

- Keep your battery out of extreme heat. Don't leave your laptop in the car or somewhere else where temperatures are extreme. Of course, the entire health of your laptop can benefit from this, but heat is very bad for the life of your laptop and its battery.

These are a few tips that will help you keep your laptop battery in good health. You should always take the time to take care of your battery. Unless you're wealthy enough to drop $100 or more every few months on a new battery, you need to keep these tips in mind so that you can make your battery last longer and stay stronger to provide you with the computer use that you need.

Notebook Battery Life

Notebook battery life is an important for the mobile computer user. There’s nothing worse than really needing to access you notebook only to have it switch off due to low battery. There are certain things that can help to prolong battery life.

The first thing to consider would be the conditioning of the battery. More namely your charging habits. The worst thing you can do for your notebook battery is always keep it on the charger or charge it while it’s only half full. This will diminish the life of the battery giving you less hours of operating time. The ideal way to charge your notebook battery would be to use it until it is completely dead and then charge it fully.

The second issue to consider would be your usage habits. Using multimedia such as movies and music will kill your battery a lot quicker. Especially doing operations that are CPU intensive. Playing games will diminish your power supply a lot quicker than say, browsing the internet.

There are also different settings that can help preserve your battery life. Windows has different functions for notebooks. For instance you can set your power usage depending on what you are doing. You can set your notebook to act like a desktop if you are near a power supply to get the full performance out of your system. On the other hand you can also set it to use power as efficiently as possible if you are on the move. These setting change things such as the amount of power the CPU uses, the brightness of the screen and so forth.

In the end it’s up-to the individual user. Some notebooks come with the option of a second battery which can double the power your notebook has at your disposal but this is often costly. Also there are more advanced batteries that can be used but again they will cost you extra.

Laptop Travel Tips

Travel laptops require more consideration on top of the usual factors involved in buying a laptop, such as performance, price and warranty. Getting a system that is light is critical. With widescreen models becoming more popular, whilst great for viewing, it just adds weight to the system. If you are not into watching movies or complex graphics, a smaller screen should be fine.

While the price of laptops compared to desktops has shrunk recently, you will still pay slightly more for a laptop. With laptops reasonably difficult to expand or upgrade, it’s a good idea to add more memory or get a bigger hard drive at the time of purchase. Your system should have at least two USB 2.0 ports, as this will be the main way of connecting to external devices.

If you are a frequent traveler and want to use your laptop while flying, there are some other design issues you might want to consider. Widescreen laptops can be a hassle if you are in the coach section, as there is hardly enough room to open the machine. A system with external controls for volume and Wi-Fi can also be good, to avoid annoying other passengers or interfering with the aircrafts navigational system. For really long flights, a second battery is probably the most cost effective way of keeping your system powered up.

As laptops are more likely to be damaged or stolen while on the road, it is a good idea to have a backup plan. Do a regular backup so if something bad does happen, you don’t lose too much data. The easiest way to do this is to buy a laptop with a built in DVD burner. One DVD disc should be more than enough to store your work data. You could also use a CD burner, but you would probably need to carry multiple discs. If you only have a small amount of files you need to backup, a USB flash drive would also do the job.

Laptops that are on the road regularly are more likely to break down. So invest in a good quality carry case to limit any potential damage in transit, and always keep your backups up to date.

Most warranties these days are only twelve months, so if there is an extended warranty available, it may be worth taking up if you are constantly on the road.

How to Sell Used Computers

Many people sell their used computers for a variety of reasons. Some sell their used computer instead of throwing them as a trash get some money from them, while others sell their used computers to buy new computers with the latest features and technology. Not only individuals sell their used computers, but also large numbers of organizations or firms sell their used computers. They do so because the computer systems may require maintenance and repairs, after some time due to the decrease in performance seen in the computers after some years. Instead of spending more money on the maintenance and repairs they sell and gain money, as there is a great demand for used computers. Such companies easily sell their used computers online through auctions or exchange for new computers with less effort in no time.

Used computers are bought by either students who do not have good savings or earnings or they are bought by educational institutions like the schools and universities. Some parents buy used computers for their children just for browsing the Internet and to play games. For this purpose, a used computer is more than sufficient than spending huge amounts on a new computer. These target segments however require used computers in a good working condition as well as for a lesser price. Most of the used computers are sold in the online market, as it attracts all sorts of buyers. There are many numbers of online classifieds or auctions or online dealers who sell used computers. Selling used computers are a better option than throwing them as trash or keeping them in a corner occupying space and collecting dust.

The first and important step is to improve the appearance of the used computer by wiping it clean free of dust and dirt. Any buyer would get impressed by the way the computer looks, looks make the first impression. The selling price of a clean used computer is always better than the one, which is full of dirt and dust.

All the software manual, operating system and other supporting discs that came with the computer should be in tact. This will add more value, when selling the used computer and also will make the buyer consider the person who is selling the used computer as a trusted seller.

The most important thing to do before selling a used computer is to erase all the personal details or information from the hard disk or drive. Instead of just putting them in the trash folder it is very important to purge all the personal data from the computer’s memory, even invisible backup files can cause danger. A tech savvy person’s help can be got if the seller does not know how to do it. If not done it may lead to accessing the bank accounts, or emails by any unknown person leading to identity theft. For that when there is a remedy. Unused scanners, printers can also be bundled with the sale of the used computer. A buyer may sometime value it. The benefits or features of the computer can be highlighted for better sales.

How to replace a power supply

The power supply is the component that powers your devices in your computer. It powers things like the hard drive, CDROM and CPU. There may come a time when you have to replace it.

Symptoms of a power supply going bad can include random reboots, random crashes the computer not starting at all.

When replacing your power supply there are a couple of thing to take into consideration. The most important thing to do is to get the right one for your computer. Your computer will most likely use the ATX form factor. You also need to make sure you get a power supply with enough power for your computer's hardware. 300-400 watts is sufficient for most computers. Make sure the power supply has enough power connections and the right types of connections.

Replacing the power supply is a pretty easy job. Make sure you unplug the power cord first! Then you can open the case and take the power connections off of the devices and motherboard. Then you can take out the four screws on the outside back of the case and pull the power supply out from the inside. To install the new one just do the opposite.

High Definition Tuners

High definition TV tuners or HDTV tuners are designed to receive high definition programs by connecting to an external antenna. HDTV tuners will not only show movies and DVD’s at high definition, but will improve the viewing of normal TV. It is because of the improved definition or color and picture quality of DVD’s and programs that make HDTV tuners very popular with viewers.

Television sets often come with HDTV tuners already built into them, these are called integrated HDTV’s. If you are considering buying an external high definition TV tuner for your television, make sure that your TV set is HDTV compatible. A separate tuner may also be needed. This can be either a cable or satellite box for watching high definition programs.

Most people have heard that there is a mandate on televisions to make integrated HDTVs. This is not entirely correct. Certain televisions that are for sale after a certain date will be required to have built in tuners. The tuners required won’t be HDTV. The mandate is actually referring to ATSC tuners. It is not even necessary that TV’s be able to display HDTV resolutions without either an internal or external tuner. This new mandate will not apply to plasma and front projectors. The mandate will not take effect for some time. Until then there will be no change in television manufacture or tuners.

It is important to ask about features of high definition TV tuners before making a choice. If you are not sure what some of the features are, ask for clarification. Make sure that your television is compatible, HDTV tuners may not work with older televisions. Ask your cable or satellite company weather they support high definition TV, as many people find out later down the road that they cannot receive HDTV programs through cable or satellite.

Ask about what kind of warranties are available and what parts they actually cover before buying. External high definition TV tuners are quite reasonably priced. Prices start at around $150. If you are on a budget, make sure not to buy cheaply made appliances. Always wait for specials or price reductions on reliable brands.

One of the most popular brands available is the Samsung SIR-T451. This one is ideal for high definition programming on any high definition TV compatible television. There are many more HDTV tuners available on the market. By doing a quick search on your favorite search engine, you will be able to find a HDTV tuner that will fit both your budget and your TV’s requirements.

Learn How To Repair Your Hard Drive Problems Fast

Since computer users are human, the user can be the primary cause of computer failure. And we operators of our computers are in most cases but that, we operate the computer but know very little concerning software and hardware components and peripherals.

Since this is the case, you should ASSUME NOTHING when diagnosing any computer problem. We diagnosed a new PC with a video display problem. After briefly looking at the video card it took a while to see that the video card was not pushed into the adapter slot completely. Even though I looked at the card, I failed to check it thoroughly. This cause me to spend more time on troubleshooting that was not needed.The thought of a hard drive failure strikes terror in the heart of every computer user. This is because a hard drive failure may lead to invaluable data loss. Here are the most common procedures you should perform when you experience hard drive failure.

General Hard Drive Troubleshooting

The hard drive can display problems such as "retry, abort, ignore" or "cannot read sectors" while operating. This is an indication that there may be bad or unreadable spots on the drive. Reformatting and reinstalling the operating system can normally correct this problem. This will cause you to loose all data on your drive so it is important to always have a good backup of yourfiles daily. There are good good utilities you can purchase that can repair hard drive problems without destroying data. The utility Spinrite is a good utility and only cost $200.00 which is a good price if you want to avoid the hassle of reformatting the drive and restoring the operating system. Here are some general hard drive problems you should start from and we'll be more specific later.

Use Operating System Utilities

First you may be able to correct those bad spots and errors from your hard drive by performing those PC maintenance in the operating system. Windows has Disk Defragment and you should run disk defragment after running Scandisk since scandisk will need to fix any problems it finds. After scanning the drive and defraging the files, run Disk Cleanup to ensure all junk files have been delete.

Check Drive cables and connections

If there is on indication that the drive is receiving power (you don't hear that familiar clicking noise or the drive light is no working) check the 4 wire connector coming from the power supply.

If the connection is secure, you can remove the power supply connector and do two things. You can check to see if there is voltage with a multimeter. But its much faster to connect another 4 wire connector to the drive to see if the drive works. There are normally extra connectors from the power supply or you can use the connection to the cdrom drive to test for voltage from the power supply.

If the connection indicates no or very little voltage (4 volts or less) from the power supply, the power supply may be going bad. Now check and double check all connections, especially if you are someone else have recently worked inside the computer.

If the drive will not boot up...?

Boot the computer with your bootable DOS disk. If you don't have one made, STOP and make one NOW by clicking on Start, Settings, Control Panel, Add and Remove Programs and Startup Disk.

Try to access drive C: by typing DIR C: and press Enter. If you see the directories on drive C: try to make the drive bootable by typing sys a: c: and press Enter. The system files should be restored and the drive may be restored to boot on its own.

If this fails, you may have to reformat and partition the drive with the setup utility that came with your drive or computer.

If the Drive boots but hangs up at boot...?

Turn the computer off, open the system unit and disconnect the ribbon cable at the motherboard end. Turn on the PC AND You will get an error message that the drive is bad and in most cases will go into your BIOS. Change the hard drive type to AUTO and shut off the computer. Reconnect the ribbon cable and see if the hard works properly. The drive settings should be restored and should operate fine. A hard drive that fails to boot up may also have a bad controller. If the controller is mounted on the hard drive, there is not much you can do except replace the drive.

How To Understand Your Computer's Random Access Memory

The System Memory is more commonly called RAM or Random Access Memory. This is the memory used by the computer to hold programs and data.This data is lost once the computer is turned off.Because demands by powerful software have skyrocketed, system memory requirements have been accelerating at an alarming pace.Random Access Memory is mounted directly onto the motherboard and transfers data by use of address and data buses. Each data bus consist of a number of circuits.

In 1985, Intel had the 386 processor with its 32 bit bus and the Pentium processor came along in 1993 with a large 64 bit bus. RAM memory is made using DRAM Chips.RAM chips are large rectangular shaped and made with memory cells with support logic that reads and writes data. These chips must be continously refreshed, that is, data is constantly sent to allow the cells to hold data.Information being transferred between the CPU Chip and RAM memory is called a memory cycle. During the late 90s, the DIMM chip was the standard RAM Chip. So just what is this DIMM chip? Let's talk about the different Ram memory chips used in the computer.

Static RAM is a type of RAM that holds its data without being refreshed, for as long as power is supplied to the circuit. This is contrasted to dynamic RAM (DRAM), which must be refreshed many times per second in order to hold its data contents.

TYPES OF RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY CHIPS

SIMM or Single Inline Memory Modules came on the scene in the early 90s. The SIMM chips first came with 30 pins. And then the 72 pin SIMM which had 32 bit data paths or buses.

DIMM or Dual Inline Memory Module replace the Simm chips. These chips had 168 pins as compared to the 72 pin Simm variety. The data bus of the 30 pin chip was 8 bits while the 72 data bus can send data on the 32 bit data bus.

DIMMs also come in a smaller form factors suitable for use in notebook computers. These SO DIMMs or Small Outline DIMMs are available in both 32-bit wide/72-pin and 64-bit wide/144-pin form factors.

RIMM came in 1999 and the connectors for this new chip fits in the same sockets as the DIMM chips. They have 184 pins as compared to the Dimm which have 168 pins The RIMM chip was to come along when DRDRAM OR Direct Rambus DRAM: a totally new RAM architecture, was introduced. A single Rambus Channel has the potential to reach 500 MBps in burst mode; a 20- fold increase over DRAM.

Computers will have DRAM for their main system memory, instead of SRAM, even though DRAMs are slower than SRAM. The reason that DRAMs are used is that they are cheaper and take up much less space. To build a 64 MB core memory from SRAMs would be very expensiveAll computers will contain a Memory Controller which,as its name implies, control the memory.It generates signals to regulate the reading and writing of information to and from the memory. The system chipset is normally where the memory controller is integrated.And just what are the chipsets? Well,they are like the traffic cops for all chips on the motherboard. They keep in check such data transfer from and to the CPU, data buses, printer, video card, and nearly all other devices.

Data flow is such a critical issue in the operation and performance of so many parts of the computer, the chipset is one of the few components that have a truly major impact on your PC's quality, feature set, and speed.

THE TYPE OF RAM MEMORY IN YOUR PC

How can you know what type of memory is right for your PC. Using a memory configurator is one quick way to solve is problem. Some memory makers will have a memory configurator on their site. The best way to determine the type of memory you use in your computer is to read the owner's manual. No owner's manual,no problem. Visit your computers motherboard web site should you need assistance.

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How To Troubleshoot Your Computer's Mouse

The Motherboard is the largest component in your PC and the Central Processing Unit is its brain. But when your input devices go on the blink, you're shut down for awhile. When Computer Mice problems come, we don't panic as fast when we cannot access our hard drive.When you grab your Mouse and either click or roll the buttons and nothing happens, your computing fun stops. Even though the mouse is a little input device, you will wish you understood its every aspect when it dies.

When input device failure occurs, the problem may lie with the computer's hardware,the mouse, the OS or Operating System. Let's take a look at what you should check when mouse failure occurs. If you need help with mouse components, http://www.ultimatepcrepair.com contains photos of every component in the computer.When the mouse dies, you should be able to perform the same functions with the keyboard. It may be a little closer but you won't be shut down completely.

NO MOUSE MOVEMENT

First...If the mouse has no movement, first look at the mouse connection at the rear of the computer.Be sure it is plugged in completely.

Second...remove the plug and inspect for connectors or pins that may be broken or bent. The connector is color coded with green being that of the mouse. If your mouse uses the USB or Universal Serial Bus connector, check the connectors for any damage and be sure it is plugged in.

MOUSE STOPPED DURING OPERATION

Should your mouse quit in the middle of computing, save your work immediately. Press the ALT key to access your program and save your work.Check the connection in the rear to be sure it has not worked itself loose.If the connection is tight, inspect the mouse components for birt. Remove the retain and trackball inside the mouse. Clean the Ball with a mild solution and be sure all residence is removed.And clean the Ball Cavity with a cotton swab. Replace the ball and secure it with the retainer.

Connect the mouse to the system unit and boot the the computer. Try clicking a program to see if the mouse wotks. If the mouse fails, check the device driver for the mouse.

MOUSE POINTER MISBEHAVING

This problem may be the result of your computer be affected by a virus. Use your Anti Virus software to scan your sysem for viruses. You can go to http://www.free-av.com to download a free version of anti virus software if you don't have anti virus software installed on your system.

A corrupt device driver can also cause the mouse to misbehave. Check the device driver by opening the Control Panel, and open the System folder. Select the device driver tab and use the down arrow key to scroll down to the mouse.Expand the mouse to see if the driver is installed.If you see a yellow icon, the mouse has a problem and you can try to re-install the device driver.First uninstall the mouse from Windows and reboot the PC.

After the system reboots, the operating system will find the mouse and re-install the driver.If you have a wireless or USB mouse, re-installing the special software may be in order. A misbehaving mouse may occur when you install another device on your system.If this happens, the mouse and new device may be conflicting with each other by using the same address.Unplug any hardware you installed and uninstall any software recently installed. See if the mouse operates properly.

Use the System Restore utility to set your computer back to a time when the mouse was working as it should. The Registry can be the culprit of the mouse behaving badly. You can connect your mouse to another computer to verify it is bad. If the mouse works on another system, check the problems mentioned in the PC's operating system.

MAINTAINING YOUR MOUSE

To keep the mouse performing at its very best,you should take the time to clean the components of your mouse.Regularly clean the mouse, both inside and out. Clean the outside of the mouse with rubbing alcohol. This solution is best since it does not leave any residue.Take the time to clean a small area first, to to certain any damage to the plastic will not occur.

The components inside the mouse to be cleaned are the Rollers, as well as the Ball.These two parts are the most important to be kept clean and always take great care in doing so. Carefully take apart the mouse by turning the retaining ring counter clockwise to unlock it. Remove the Ball and clean it with warm water and not alcohol.

The rollers inside the moise cavity can be cleaned with alcohol by dampening a Q Tip and wiping the rollers gently. With clean hands, insert the ball back in the mouse and replace the retaining ring. Now enjoy your mouse and should it cause any problems, you're armed with the knowledge of how to diagnose and repair most problems

How To Get Sound From Your Speakers

You have tried and tried to get your speakes to work. You have the sound card and the speakers; so what is the problem? The first step is to check the connections. Most people accidentally plug the speaker jack into the Line-in Jack of the sound card. Check to see if this is what you did. If you have amplified speakers, make sure that the power is on and mute is not.

Check and see if the speakers work properly before trying to troubleshoot your system. Do this by connecting the speakers to a music system or radio. If they do, the problem is definitely related to the system. Check the volume levels in the system. Check the volume controller in the system tray and also open the advanced audio controls to make sure that there isn't anything muted or at really low levels. Now use several multimedia applications to play various media files to insure that the problem is truly system related, and not limited to a particular application or file. If you find that only a certain application has the problem, such as Windows Media Player or Winamp, reinstall it.

If all this is to no avail, go to the system properties [Windows] + [Pause/Break] or right-click on My Computer and select Properties and in device manager make sure that sound card is installed properly. If you see a yellow exclamation mark, reinstall the drivers.If you have an integrated sound card that is disabled in the BIOS, then Windows will not be able to detect it. Refer to your motherboard manual, and find out how to enable it. Usually it is present under the advanced peripherals section in BIOS.

If you have access to another PC, plug the sound card into that system, and check if it is working. If the problem persists, take the speakers to a technician.

Help to choose your monitor

Making the right choice in a computer display or monitor is an important part of involving yourself in today's web-browsing and multi-media technology. Right now, you are viewing this in a computer monitor (unless you've had someone print it for you and you're reading it on paper because your monitor made it completely unreadable) and how it appears to you depends entirely on the quality of your display.

Monitors

What are the differences between an LCD screen and CRT monitors?

LCD screens are the current trendy looking; flat screen displays that are now sold with practically all bundles, whereas CRT screens are bulky older style technology. Apart from the space saving that the flat screen LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) offers, it also generates very little heat and radiation, uses considerably less power and is less reflective. LCD screens present excellent image quality. CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitors on the other hand, occupy a lot more space on your desktop, do generate heat and use more power and usually have a curved screen (although flat screen CRT monitors are available).

From a display point of view, the major difference between the two lies in how the image is created, and the resolution that the screen can accommodate. Each pixel in a LCD screen is produced by a tiny cell containing a layer of liquid crystals that bend light in response to electric energy. While they can be clearer than CRT screens, they are limited by only one optimal resolution. Setting the screen at a higher than optimal resolution reduces the overall screen image, and at a lower one causes the screen image to appear "pixelated".

A CRT screen creates its image through cathode ray emissions striking the phosphorous lining on the back of the tube glass. It offers more detail in images and colour at higher resolutions. One other difference to note is the display size. Display size is the diagonal measurement across the screen. A 17 inch (these have not been metricated yet) display is measured from one corner diagonally to its opposite. In a LCD display, this covers the entire framed display, but in a CRT monitor, the display image is usually 8%-10% smaller than the framed screen area, which means a 17" CRT monitor has to have a bigger framed screen than a LCD.

Compatibility

There are possibly two issues of compatibility to consider. One is the compatibility of the screen with your workspace and the work you want it to do. If you have a small space, then the slim features of the LCD will be a major part of your decision. It is better to buy an all-digital screen rather than one that plugs into a standard video card (which is analogue) and then translate an analogue signal to digital. An all-digital display will offer brighter images. Compatibility with your computer's video card is another consideration. You need to be sure that the video card you have in your computer will provide the screen resolution your require from your monitor and match the refresh rate.

Technical considerations

Dot Pitch. This is the distance between the same colour dots in any direction on a display. A smaller dot pitch enables easier reading of characters and better colour clarity. The maximum dot pitch you should consider for high quality graphics and text is .28 for a 17" monitor and .31 for a 21" monitor.

Screen resolution. The number of pixels a screen displays determines the resolution. A resolution of 1024 x 768 has 1024 pixels in the horizontal plane, and 768 in the vertical. The higher the resolution, the more detail is displayed. Be sure that your video card matches the resolution you require.

Refresh rate. This is the frequency at which the screen image is being refreshed to avoid flicker. A vertical refresh rate of 75 HZ (cycles per second) delivers a flicker-free environment and will reduce eyestrain and fatigue.

Cost

Of course it all comes down to what you can afford. But a good quality display is a good investment in your work environment. CRT monitors can be bought very cheaply. Digital LCDs can become very expensive. Manufacturers are now offering displays with inbuilt television receivers and speaker systems than can enhance your overall environment and improve the flexibility of your purchase. Ultimately, it depends on what you want to see on your desk as much as what youn want to see on your monitor. You can spend as little as $200.00 or well over $2,000 and you can do it all online. Myshopping.com.au offers you that special advanyage of being able to compare the specifications and prices of hundreds of different brands and vendors.

Hard Disk Clicking Sound

1. Observations

You hear clicking sounds emitting from your hard disk drive, either in a form of clicking or grinding sounds. This can happen when you power up your computer from start or halfway while working on your projects.

2. Possible Causes

The irregular clicking or chunking sound usually indicates that your hard drive is suffering from physical damage. If you use a S.M.A.R.T enabled disk, you may see a warning of a imminent disk failure when you power up your computer. This problem can be caused by the following:

- Head Crash

- Bad Sectors

- Mechanical Faults

- Virtual Memory Paging

3. Resolution

a. Head Crash

This is a physical damage of the disk platter when the head of a hard disk scratches the surface of the disk. The grinding sound is therefore observed when this occurs. Firstly, turn off your computer and do not attempt to power it up. Consult a data recovery firm immediately and avoid dismantling the disk to repair the problem yourself. Operating without the correct tools and a clean environment can result in further extensive damage which complicates the recovery process.

b. Bad Sectors

Typically bad sectors are physical damage of a span of disk area. The clicking sound happens when the head attempts to read from the same area of disk multiple times due to failed attempts. This can also occur when the head is unable to calibrate with the media servo tracks due to the gradual weakening of the magnetic domains on the platter that causes the drive to reset continuously. If the conditions of the disk is not too bad, a standard process is to perform a disk surface scan. This helps to mark all bad sectors and prevent your system from writing new data on the damaged areas of the disk.

c. Mechanical Faults

Sometimes these sounds can be a result of a defective spindle, Read Write head or loose components. If you are still able to access data on the disk, you are strongly advised to backup all your data immediately. Your disk is close to demise. If your disk stops spinning after a period of clicking sound, you may wish to send your disk to a reputable data recovery firm to recover your data.

d. Virtual Memory Paging

When your physical memory is full, the drive may perform numerous virtual memory paging at the same time maintaining the system's operation. This will result in excessive disk activity. To deal with this problem you can increase the physical memory by adding more RAM into your computer or use a secondary hard disk to contain the swap files

Checking To See If You Have Wireless Capability

Do you know if your new computer already has wireless capability? Many new computers have the built-in software and connections in order for you to set up a wireless network. These wireless networking devices are so inexpensive that the manufacturers of the computers include them as part of the package and can be found on the system specification list.

Like most people, however, you may not even know how much memory your computer has, let alone whether it arrived already wireless-enabled. This is especially true if you don't know what wireless networking is. It's easy to ignore this detail in the specifications that come with the computer and to fail to take the time to set it up and get it working. Let’s look at some things to look for if you want to check your computer's wireless capabilities.

Intel Centrino

If you own a laptop that comes with something called 'Intel Centrino mobile technology', this is what you’re looking for! Unfortunately, manufacturers of computers are not good at explaining what this technology is or does. Quite simply, it means that your laptop has wireless networking built right in; you don’t need to do a thing! Intel Centrino is a term used in marketing that stands for a combination of the Intel Pentium M processor and Intel's Pro/Wireless card.

Your computer should have an 'Intel Centrino' sticker on it somewhere if it is enabled with Intel Centrino. If you don’t see this type of sticker, you can also check the name of your processor by right-clicking the My Computer icon in the Start Menu (or on your desktop) and clicking on “Properties” from the menu. Look at the wording following the word “Computer” in this section. It should tell you if it has the wireless feature.

Intel Centrino technology has the capability of increasing the life of your computer’s battery and allows computers to be smaller in size. If you didn't buy an Intel Centrino laptop but your laptop has a free card slot, adding wireless capabilities will be no problem.

Desktop Computers

Desktop computers come with wireless capabilities, too. If you're not sure whether or not your desktop computer has a wireless connection, turn it around and look at the back of the computer. If a wireless connection is present, you can generally see a small aerial antenna sticking out of the back of the computer near the bottom of the computer.

If you don’t see anything there, it's still possible that you have a wireless device in the computer, especially if the computer is relatively new. Unless you’re a computer expert, don’t open the back of your computer to determine if it has wireless capabilities. Instead, you should probably try and figure it out using Windows.

Checking in Windows

You can easily check your computer’s wireless capabilities by going into Windows' Device Manager. You must first right-click My Computer and choose Manage from that menu. Now click on “Device Manager”.

In device manager, you will be able to see a list of the different devices you have or would be able to have on your computer. Look under 'Network Adapters'. Anything that uses the words '10/100' or 'Ethernet' is a normal network connection and isn’t related to wireless connectivity. Anything else may be a wireless device.

If you think you have a wireless device but note that it has a yellow warning sign next to its name in the Device Manager, click its name to find out what is wrong with the device. Windows should be able to let you know why the device is not working. The computer may also suggest that you go into its troubleshooter program. Try doing that before trying anything else.

The problem could be a driver problem. In that case, insert the drivers CD that came with your computer. If you can’t find the drivers CD, you can always find the drivers online. In order to do this, you should look on the website of the computer's manufacturer. From there, you can try searching for the particular name of the wireless device in Device Manager.

Unfortunately, it could turn out that you don't have a wireless device after all. That’s too bad. On the bright side, it is much better to learn that now than it would be to buy wireless equipment and then realize you couldn’t run it on your computer. In any event, even if you did find a wireless device in one of your computers, you may decide that you need even more wireless capability. Fortunately, wireless technology is getting cheaper all the time!

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CD Cleaning Solution – Making Your Own

I see the kids were eating ice cream sandwiches while they dug through the DVD collection again. With kids in the house, it’s inevitable that whenever I want to listen to a CD or watch a DVD, I have to clean the discs before they will play. Luckily, I spent several years working in a CD manufacturing support group and learned the easiest way to clean discs and get them working again. Here, as simple as it may be, is my favorite solution for cleaning discs.

- Mix a large amount of water with a few drops of dishwashing soap.

That’s it. No expensive commercial cleaning solutions and no plastic washing devices for my discs. I know it doesn’t sound complicated enough or mysterious enough, but it works. This solution works most of the time if you:

- Use a soft cloth and wipe the solution on the disc starting from the inside hub and wiping to the outside edge of the disc. Never rub hard or in a circular motion. Don’t rub around the disc because you might scratch the disc creating an un-repairable problem.

- Dry the disc with a soft dry cloth. Again, wipe the disc from the inside to the outside. Straight out. Don’t go around the disc at all because you might create scratches that are parallel with the tracks.

Why does this solution work most of the time? On most CDs, and especially rented DVDs, playability problems are caused by fingerprints. Fingerprints are oil-based and the dishwasher detergent is designed to cut through and remove oil. If this method doesn’t work, you might have a disc with sever scratch or even a scratch on the label side of the disc. Scratched discs can sometimes be repaired with CD scratch removal solutions or CD repair services.

A Checklist for Used Computers

It is very important to check a used computer thoroughly before buying it as it may lead to problems in the future. A hard drive will not show any outward signs but may be deteriorating. The same way the needle can suddenly slip and can cause scratches on the disc ultimately leading to memory loss as used computers can fail any time. If they are checked, the faults which may occur can be known. Let us first see the possible faults which may occur while purchasing a used computer.

Hard disk failures can happen due to heavy wear and tear over a period of time. The read and write heads of a hard disk are used to retrieve or recode data stored on the hard disk with the help of a disk platter rotating at a high speed. Over a period of time the risk of failure or malfunction of disk increases. Faulty sectors of the hard disks can be found out only if a full surface scan is done on the used computer. The scanning time depends on the capacity and size of the hard disk of the used computer. Many skip this procedure due to the time consuming process of scanning the whole disk and end up purchasing a used computer with a faulty sector.

Monitors need to be checked for any faults. The malfunctioning of a monitor is called a “dry joint” which results in the monitor not working after getting warmed. This can be checked only if the monitor is made to work for at least 20 to 30 minutes after switching on the computer.

Next is to look for any possibilities of the central processing unit getting freezed. Normally all the central processing units have a fan and heat sink for keeping the unit cool. Over a period of time the fans may not work properly due to the accumulation of dust and dirt resulting in over heating of the central processing unit and even leading to stopping from functioning. While buying a used computer the fan needs to be checked and if any abnormal sound is heard, it is not good for purchase.

The used computer may have a higher possibility of getting crashed and freezed due to the usage of the operating system for a good number of years. There may be a cache or RAM fault due to the over exposure leading to loss of data. To increase the performance of the computer and to avoid crashing, the operating system of the used computer can be reinstalled with a new operating system or a fresh one.

While checking the used computers for any faults, it is good to disconnect the network connection if any present before performing the tests. Also it is advisable to check the drives like the CD or DVD by opening and closing them and also playing something on the drives to see how they work. Monitors of the used computers can be checked for the resolution and brightness by trying different options of color, settings and so on. To check the hard disk size the CMOS setup can be gone through and to verify the speed of the processor, cache and RAM the pause button is pressed when it appears on the screen during the booting process. To check the booting process, the computer can be turned on and off a few times and seen how it responds. Checking should be done to see if all the passwords are erased before purchasing a used computer.

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Cheap Computer Parts

Making your own computer from cheap computer parts will not only cut your expenditure but also will be an experience you will like to cherish. The advantage here is that you get all the features you need and discard everything you consider unnecessary. If all you need to do is basic word processing, email or some Net surfing, the cheap computer parts you will require are:

1) CPU: A socket 478 motherboard and CPU will come in handy. Considering everything, this seems the best buy. As socket 478 motherboards mostly have Intel components they are very stable. 2) RAM: Although 256 megs of DDR SDRAM will suffice, 512MB DDR 333 should be ideal. DDR SDRAM is the type you would prefer for a socket 478 motherboard (with Pentium 4/Celeron CPU). 3) Hard Drive: As buying more space doesn't cost you a great deal more, an 80 GB drive should be the right choice. 4) CD Writer: Any CD writer faster than 32 speed will do. You can find one for under $30. As it is so cheap, it can be used as your CD ROM to install Windows and other applications. 5) Graphics Card: At least a 64 megabyte AGP card is better. It is important only if you want to play games. 6) Sound Card: Procure a Soundblaster Live by Creative labs. They are cheap and reliable. 7) Monitor: Buy at least a 17-inch monitor to protect your eyesight. 8) Keyboard and Mouse: Try a new optical mouse. A Logitech combination includes both a cordless mouse and matching keyboard.

Remember, although older parts can be less costly, you need to spend a lot for an upgrade. Be careful so that you don’t buy defective parts in the name of cheap computer parts. The situation now may be better due to stiff competition, but chances of finding defects still remain. It is better if you check the authenticity of the long warranties offered by the companies as well.

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Best Buy for Laptop: How to Buy a Laptop Computer

There is a wide range of laptop models available on the market today and buying the right machine can turn into a confusing mission.There are laptop computers intended for home users, multimedia, business and gaming. You can spend from $500 to $5,000.The very first step you need to do is to determine your needs.If you spend a lot of time traveling, your best option is a light laptop with a long battery life.If you are an average home user, you can easily select a low-range laptop that will cost you about $500.

If you use the Internet a lot or store photographs and videos, you choice should be a mid-range laptop that will cost you from $1,000 to $1,500.But if plan to purchase a gaming laptop, be ready to pay at least $3,000.

Look at the following categories:

Processor is the most important thing to take into consideration. Intel Pentium M, Mobile AMD Athlon 64 and AMD Turion 64 Mobile are high-powered processors. Intel's Celeron M and AMD's Duron and Sempron are processors found in low-end laptops.Avoid desktop processors in laptops because they need a lot of power and will quickly exhaust your battery.Screen sizes range from 12 to 19 inches. A laptop computer with smaller screen is great option if you do not plan to use laptop too much. A larger screen is perfect for extensive use.

Your new laptop should have at least 1 gigabyte of memory. Also, your machine should come with a dedicated video card with 128 megabytes of memory.Choose a faster hard drive with at least 60GB of space. This is sufficient for the majority of users. Gamers should get at least 100 GB hard drive

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Blu-ray vs HD-DVD - The Lowdown on the warring formats

The current aim of blu-ray and HD-DVD is to get as much public support quickly as ultimately it is the consumer who will decide which format comes out on top. With the unification talks failing it is up to you to make the decision of which format to adopt. To help you with this tough decision is the lowdown on how each format matches below.

History

The blu-ray format’s head companies are Sony and Philips with Toshiba and Hitachi heading up the HD-DVD format. This situation isn’t the first time where these two sides have gone at each other with opposing formats. The DVD format was born from the co-operation of the Multimedia Compact Disc from Sony/Philips (MMCD) and the Super Density Disc (SD) from Toshiba. Though it ended well for the consumer with the DVD format being widely adopted and becoming the new standard, it was Toshiba’s camp who came out on top in regards to royalties.

This led to the work on new formats by both sides with Sony aiming to regain some of its lost market. The two projects though had been in production but not really going anywhere at the time. Sony’s Professional Disc for Data (PDD) became the blu-ray format while Toshiba’s Advanced Optical Disc becoming HD-DVD. This leads us back to the original situation where there are two competing formats with a unification looking a lot less likely.

Technical

Both blu-ray and HD-DVD use a wavelength of 405nm however the smaller track pitch on blu-ray (see Blu-ray Disc) allows more information to be squeezed on and so gives the larger capacity. However it is the differing track pitch that makes these two formats incompatible. The surface layer of the two is different also as HD-DVD uses a 0.6mm layer similar to DVD whereas blu-ray uses a 0.1mm clear plastic layer.

This difference is the main reason why costs are higher with blu-ray. Costly production methods are needed to be able to make the discs and a hard coating must be applied to make the discs suitably resilient to dust and fingerprints.

Capacity

Blu-ray currently offers discs in 25gb for single layer and 50gb for dual layer. However TDK has started work on a 200gb disc which is 6x33gb layers.

HD-DVD comes in 15gb for the single layer and 30gb for the dual layer. Best tests so far have achieved 45gb but 60gb is the theoretical limit. This shows that the maximum for HD-DVD is only 10gb more than what blu-ray can already offer.

Codecs

Both formats use the same codecs to play video as they are both able to play standard and high-definition. This means that MPEG-2, Microsoft Video Codec 1 (aka VC1, WMV HD, etc.) and H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC are all supported on both formats.

Security

Both blu-ray and HD-DVD have to make use of HDCP encrypted output and the Advanced Access Content System (AACS). Both HDCP and AACS are mandatory for any discs with HD video.

Blu-ray also incorporates ROM-Mark watermarking technology and BD dynamic crypto which generates special keys for batches of discs.

HD-DVD uses a similar system in the Volume Identifying technology.

Support

Both formats are heavily supported in both the Consumer Electronics (CE) and Information Technology (IT) industries. However blu-ray has a better portion of the big name movie and game studios supporting it which is essential for there to be a ready amount of content at launch. See below for the list of Supporting studios

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