Computer Network basic

In today’s age and time, the computer network has evolve into a system that has integrated every available devices capable of plugging itself therefore becoming part of the bigger collection of computer devices that has been connected.  But before we proceed let go back to the basic of computer network. What is computer network? Better yet what is the proper term to describe a computer network.  There are three correct and right term to describe a computer network. Yup there are three, this is because the location or land area where the network is very important in describing the kinds of network.

Local Area Network

For a computer network located on a single building big or small, it doesn’t matter how many floor’s are there as long as it is in one building then it can be classified as a LAN or Local Area Network. Now the word LOCAL is pretty straight forward you already know what it means. Before we go into the other two types of network we will focus on this network the LAN. What basically is a LAN, as the name implies it is a network located on a small area typically a building whether large or small but one single building only. Remember scope of the location for a LAN is one single building only. If there are two or more building then it is no longer a LAN but the next type of network called a MAN or Metropolitan Area Network.

 But let’s focus on the LAN. What are the components of a LAN? The basic components of a typical LAN are the workstation, server and network component such as HUB, SWITCH and ROUTER. This is the BASIC components, which mean there are other computers of a more highly developed LAN. But the first two basic component of a LAN is the workstation and the server. What are they and how do they function in a LAN. First the WORKSATION, well it one can also be called the client, terminal, node and other term that a person uses to gain access the information stored on a server. Those terms that have been mentioned all describe the function of the computer that a person uses to do his/her work, process job, access data, store’s data from the or to the server. A basic example of this is the LAN in an internet café where. People paid for certain length of time to use the computer on that internet cafe to play network games, do a typing job, read the online version of their favorite news paper, read their emails, chat or talk online with their family or friends. Still other do documents printing, image capture or scanning an image to upload it online via your favorite social site. Look for jobs, watch a favorite movie or video or download all kinds of stuff from the internet or just simply looking for information.

 

This Image is from morguefile.com

All of the things mentioned above and much more cannot be achieve or it cannot be done without using a workstation, client or a terminal.  So basically it is a computer that a real person uses to get information or do a job in a LAN or network. Now for the server which located at the other end of the communication line. The server is basically a computer that holds all the information. A person needs to use a client or workstation to access this information located on the server computer. Imagine if in an typical office where there are ten worker that need different types of information and as stated before all this kind of information is located on the server, but they do not have a network. So getting that different type of information will take time because each worker will to take in turns to use the server. But with a network and each ten worker has each own computer to access the server simultaneously as compare to individually using the same computer directly. Then more time is save and more job is done is a short possible time consumed.

That is the basic function and role of these two kinds of computer on a LAN or network. Yes they both computer’s but the hardware and software component is very different, the server is the more stronger or powerful one because simply put it, it need s to be because it function require it to accommodate simultaneous job request from the workstation or client computer. It has more memory; larger hard drives faster processor and a bit different set of software installed in it compare a more user friendly software installed on a workstation or client computer. Not all people in a company can used or has access to the server directly, only one or two person is allowed direct access or usage of the server computer, compare to a workstation or client computer where almost all employee in the company can use these type of computer. More on this topic on my next post.

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The Random Access Memory (RAM)

Ever heard of the term RAM or Random Access Memory, If have used a computer then chances are you have heard of it.  How about the following, SIMM, DIMM, DDR and many others, well they may sound different but when we asked an ordinary person on the street, they won’t know what those terms will mean. Simple put it the SIMM, DIMM and DDR have something in common, they are all RAM.  Now what is RAM and how does it work? Well let’s put it this way, without the basic RAM or memory, your high tech devices will not work, those devices include, computers, laptop, phones, and the like that need a specific minimum amount of memory to function properly. The RAM or memory has one important feature that makes it very useful and has been adapted to all almost computer based devices. The size or the amount or space for the data that can be created on a small package.  

Take a look at today’s latest Smartphone and gadget. Most of them have more RAM than high end gaming computer and to think that they smaller devices compare to a regular size computer. Most high end phone has 8, 16, or 32 Gig of expandable memory installed on them. The actual size of the memory package for these devices has become much smaller compare to a memory for a regular desktop computer.

Now how does a memory work, let’s take a regular desktop computer for example purposes. Let’s say that this computer has 1GIG of memory installed in it. Now this 1 gig of memory space may be compose of 2 or more memory module package just like in the fast or for new memory module package the 1 gig memory amount is now contained within a single memory module or package. Who uses the memory amount inside a computer? Well there are a lot of users who need the memory for them to work properly. All computer software needs the space provided by the memory to work properly. Computer software includes the Operating system and the Application program.

The operating system like windows, MAC or any other OS is the first to use the memory space available to it. In pact it manages the memory space available so that not one application program has the monopoly of using the memory space. The operating system warns the user if the available memory is not enough for multiple programs being run simultaneously by the user. It’s like this, if the memory is near capacity a warning will be given and additional program will no longer be permitted to work. The OS will ask the user to close program not being use to make way for other program to use the memory resources vacated by the previously closed program.

To cope with this problem, the most common solution is add more memory module to increase the  amount space available in a particular computer so from 1 gig it can be expanded to 4 gig maximum for 32 bit system. Wait a minute what is that? Yes there is a limit to how many can be added to a regular computer notice the maximum slot available for most computer in the 32 bit architecture is 2 up to 4 slots per motherboard. This was by design way back when it was costly to produce a memory module. They design it thinking the limit for the 32 bit architecture will not be reach yet. But since the computer technology development and evolution is very fast, the 64 bit which is use initially for big business is being push for use on the regular market.

Now let’s go back to the memory, there’s a saying the bigger memory the better yes this is true, but this will also cost a lot. The more memory a computer has the more the number of program it can use simultaneously. And for single program user the more memory the faster the program will run and work for you. Example of this when playing your favourites games, or watching a movie on your computer, or listening to music while typing a document, or using editing software that requires a lot memory to work fast and effectively. In the end it’s all about what you require will determine how much memory amount you will need to satisfy that requirements

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Computer Network Basic Part 2

On the previous post we explained the function of the client or workstation computer and server computer. To complete our basic computer network a third component is needed and these is where the Hub or Switch come in. The basic look for this two network component is a rectangular size box with lots of square shape holes in the front face. This square shape holes is called PORT. The function of these ports is to connect the patch cable from your client computer and or the server computer. Normally these ports come in even numbers from 4, 8, 16, or 32 ports per devices. They also have lights per port to indicate proper connection and data collision. If the lights of the port that has a patch cable connected to it is blinking then it means there is flow of data from the ports to the client computer or form the server computer and vice versa.

Basic Network Component

Normally an orange light is use to indicate collision in a network. The function of the Hub or switch is to link the client computer and server computer. They also see to it that a data does not get lost during the transmission from the server to the client that is requesting it. In today’s most demanding LAN a more evolve Switch is being used rather than a simple hub. Switch has more brains packed into its circuit compare to a normal hub. But a hub is less costly than a Switch. If your network is a corporate type then a switch is more suitable to do the job. For a less demanding network like a internet cafe network then a hub is well suited for this job in terms of function and cost.

Now earlier I mention the word Patch Cable. Now what is that and how does it function in a network. The term Patch cable simply refers to the standard twisted pair cable plus the RJ45 plastic connector. The cable is so called twisted pair because when you open up the inside of the main rubber like cover of the cable you will see five pairs of smaller wire which has a color code twisted by two. So there are five pairs of twisted wire that comprises the main twisted pair cable. Also the RJ45 connector has ten small teeth like metal wherein a crimping tool is needed to force these small teeth like metal to bite those individual pair of cable inside a twisted pair to complete a patch cable. But I say but you cannot just connect those small cable with the RJ45 connector in any fashions there is a proper way of doing it. This proper way is called standard cabling. In this standard cabling there is a set of color code that we need to follow in order for the patch cable to work. Also you have to make sure that the code is correct and that the wire inside the RJ45 is properly and tightly crimp. Otherwise we risk the network not work properly and wasting the RJ45. Once the twisted is crimp onto the RJ45 there is no way to removed it other than cutting the cable and the RJ45 can no longer be used.

We will not go into the color coding of each cable here.I did a small explanation regarding on how assemble a patch cable so that we would have the basic understanding on how it works in the network. But there are far more concept and information regarding your computer network than compare to what we have talk about in this blog. We haven’t touch on the type of Topologies involve, type of LAN involve whether it is a peer-to-peer network of a client-server network. Another thing is in a common corporate LAN of today, there are more than two server’s involve. To name a few there’s the common File server, the Domain controller which usually comes in two then there’s the Print Server where all the printer resources is located. 

Then there the Exchange Server for all the emails and there the Application server. There is no fixed number of servers that a corporate LAN can have. It can be two or more depending on the needs of the company. The entire server mentioned above has each own function in a network. They several of this to handle specific jobs for the network. It would troublesome if only one computer server is assign to do the entire task mentioned above for a server. Imagine one person doing five or more works simultaneously. So the need for each specific server to do each specific job assign or program to it. More network component as the network goes bigger and wider from LAN to MAN to WAN or the Ultimate WAN the INTERNET.

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Mac Data Recovery

This article has been contributed by David Ritchie. David is a software developer and technical writer with over 10 years of professional experience. He is currently interested in Mac data recovery software.




As a Mac computer user, you pride yourself over the benefits of this platform than that of the PC.  However, whether you are a Mac computer novice or veteran, you will find that losing data on the Mac is no fun.  Worse, the Apple provides very little support for data recovery once files are deleted and overwritten from the trash bin.   Your ally in this regard are third-party software tools specific for Mac Data Recovery.

If you have not yet had the misfortune of data loss from your Mac, you are wise to be reading this article.  In addition to sudden power outage events, data loss can occur while performing files transfers to or from the Internet.   A poorly formatted file, a server failure, or your ISP provider's connection can be the reasons for data loss during Internet file transfers. 

Signs of impending data loss can associate with an oncoming hard disk failure.  If you notice your Mac slowing down you can certainly check the health of your hard disk using the installation CD or DVD to run the Disk Utility program. 

When data loss is known, third-party tools such as MacKeeper and other Mac Data Recovery tools can help you find particular files for recovery.   Finding the data recovery tool that works for you requires two things; your understanding of the operating system you have with your Mac and the file types familiar to you that will need recovery.  A bit of web research or research at an electronics store will help you determine which program would work to your greatest advantage.  Read a few product and user reviews to ground yourself in others' perspectives of one tool over another. 

Generally, Mac data recovery tools operate by doing a deep scan of your hard drive for lost file fragments with header information that is pulled together in a list for you to determine which files you wish to recover.  Common graphics, text, audio, video, and photo file formats are searched. Some Mac data recovery tools will also allow you to preview the recoverable file.  The recovery operation is then called by you for the files you wish to recover. 

Proactive steps to investigate and purchase Mac data recovery software before you need it puts you in the best position to deal with the situation when needed.   Also, you are wise to record any error messages displayed while using your Mac and do a bit of research on what each message means to ward off potential hard disk issues and data loss.   

Mac Data recovery tools often include hard disk troubleshooting and recovery utilities. That can be especially helpful if you do not have the original installation CD/DVD for your Mac and your hard drive is inaccessible.   Emergency boot-up software will allow you to start  your Mac from the external media to your hard drive and then determine if you can recover your hard disk.   




This article has been contributed by David Ritchie. David is a software developer and technical writer with over 10 years of professional experience. He is currently interested in Mac data recovery software.

Other work of David Ritchie is posted on the link below.

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Maintaining and keeping your laptop from unwanted Abuse Part 2

Good day to all I hope you’re having nice weekdays and weekends which is just around the corner. To continue, I have blog about the important of having your laptop battery fully charge whenever and wherever possible if you’re preparing for an important event that will require you to use the mobile computer. Also this will greatly help your laptop battery to have more life on it. As also previously mentioned this is my number ONE (1) rule. Now let’s go to my number TWO (2) rules which are to always make sure that your laptop is properly protected from the element and un-warranted physical hits via falling from the floor or being accidentally hit by any object. Unless your laptop is design to take such punishment. But to those of us who can only afford the regular to mid-range laptop. We should always bear in mind that our laptop are not design to take physical punishment like being dropped on the floor even if inside your case or bag. Maybe once or twice in accidental manner is enough but to do it on a regular basis then might as well get a hammer and pound your laptop. Dropping is not the only physical punishment your laptop will encounter, there is the hitting of different type of objects that the user can came across with. Another is just simple putting your laptop on the table but in a very rude or angry way. Another punishment that your laptop can encounter is liquid abuse, via the drinking water, coffee, soda and all other human consumable liquid form. One of the most dangerous habit that we have develop over the years of using our laptop is the of habit and eating and drinking with it during at work and while at school or at home.

How do we abuse our laptop physically? Well as I mentioned above aside from being dropped accidentally on the floor, there is also the spilling of liquid into the laptop. Liquid and electricity do not mix together. Spilling liquid into your laptop will certainly short-out the electronic inside. Remember your laptop contains electronic devices that are very sensitive to so. The connections of each circuit inside your laptop are very sensitive. Once enough force is applied to disrupt that connection, the flow of data and electricity will also greatly be affected thereby resulting to a malfunction system. There are only a few screws that held your laptop together. Unlike in the desktop category wherein almost all components can be tightly fixed unto a position by a screw or a locking pin. There is only a minimal of this to maintain the portability of the laptop. Ever notice why only the screw is fixed outside the laptop casing. All system are built-in the motherboard of the laptop. Applying enough force on the laptop will certainly disrupt that physical connection inside.

Also spilling a little amount of liquid will short-out electronic inside your laptop. Also another result of all this physical punishment is that the outside makeup or appearance of your laptop will not be appealing most especially to the user. A friend of mine asked to check on his laptop because some kid was able to hit his laptop with the bare hands for several times. Before she could stop the hitting it was already to late. The laptop would not operate normally only DOS both sequence would be initiated and after that nothing follow. The kid that did the hitting was a toddler. The intention was to play or press that keyboard. Another aspect of keeping your laptop from being physically abuse is the cost that comes with the repair. Laptops are not cheap to buy and so is the repair. Doing a major repair on a laptop will always cost more, sometimes those the technician will advice you that it is better to buy a new one that to repair the current laptop. Some of the reason for this is the replacement parts is more than half of the original cost of a brand new laptop.

Also it will take weeks and even a month to get your laptop back from the Service Center.  Also there is a lot of lousy costumer support on some service center. They will charge you without explaining what those charges are or they may have explained it but there is hidden charge not included in you billing. Another very important thing if your laptop goes south is all that data inside the hard drive of your laptop will also cost if what them retrieve properly and transferred to a new laptop. More headaches is the usual side effect of not taking care of your laptop properly and keeping them away from UN-warranted physical abuse ad mi-used. So next time you’re using your laptop at work, home, and school or in public places be sure to always on the alert for possible physical abuse it may encounter.

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Maintaining and keeping your laptop from unwanted Abuse.

Hello again, wow this is my second article for this month. Pardon me, I'm just happy to be back blogging. As i mention on my previous blog, last year i just acquire my very first laptop. I've been using it to monitor and manage this blogs site. Having  my own laptop is very handy indeed. Whenever I am able to use it, I'd take the chance. Also i  have to keep in mind that having a laptop also comes with responsibility of maintaining and keeping it safe from un-wanted abuse and mis-use as I go about me daily routine. Yup if i want to make my very first laptop in top condition for a long time then i have to always keep in minds several ways to make that happen. I have come up with some very basic rule on how to maintain and keep my laptop in top form. I have come to develop this simple rule based on years of experience of talking and observing other real life people who have their own laptop.

Okay here we go my number one (1) rule is When in use always make sure that the battery does not run out of charge. In the past some of my friends and a lot of other people would ask me to check there computer there desktop computer. While doing it then they would ask me to also do a check on there laptop and based on this most the time the problem i encountered is battery failure, especially if the laptop is more than a year old. Now how come this is always the problem with laptop. This is also the problem with mobile phone, I don't care how advance your mobile phone is, If it has a battery then chances are that battery will be one of the most abuse part of your mobile phone. Why well the main way to abuse a cellphone over charging. Keeping plug-in the whole day or night when two to three hours should be enough. In laptop if over charging is also possible but the main causes of battery abused is under charging. Since the laptop is supposed to be a mobile computer a lot of people really take it the hilt that they tend to forget that the battery of most laptop when not connected to an electrical outlet has a limited charge. They keep om using it and ignoring warning that it's about time to charge the battery. I know how busy we are, but that is not an excuse to just abused the battery of our very handy mobile computer. Always keep in mind to monitor the electrical charge percentage of you battery to make sure it does not run-out on you when you will need it the most let's say during office meeting with your boss and co-worker. Take time to watch the charge percentage and do a little calculation on your own.

I mean you know your own schedule make sure that before it start, charge the battery of your laptop or better still plug it to the nearest electrical outlet the whole duration your meeting. Always under-chr\arging the battery of your laptop will using will shorten the life-span of the battery. Another unseen cause of laptop not functioning properly is the heat generated by the battery is it not plug in while in use. Since the battery is functioning and giving out its stored electrical supply to the laptop then more heat heat is generated as it is being use compare to that when the laptop is plug on an electrical outlet while also in use. Notice also that some major application needs more power than others. This will really lessen the staying power of your battery when not plug-in.The heat generated by the battery when in used can affect those micro-circuit inside the laptop. This will cause them to wear faster by over-heating and in the long run this will cause the affected circuit not to function properly and in the long run will affect the performance of your laptop. It's better to take the necessary measures now or to see yourself always in the service center and paying the technician for service which in the first should have been avoided if did the right thing of taking care of the battery and using it properly.

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Unable to Change the Desktop Picture in Windows 7 Starter

Hello again world, after more than a month of not updating this blog, I have finally found the inspiration to update it. This will be my seventh blog article for 2011 and the first for the month of March. I have no article for the month of February. Hopefully I could follow this one with many more to come. Do you like personalizing your gadget? Like your computer, phones and other devices that allow user level customization without going very technical about it? Today being personal about how your devices appear is very nice. On the internet email provider such as Google allows user to change their Gmail background picture for a more personal appeal. The same is true with their Browser the Google Chrome; you can now change the picture or put a picture that you like on your Chrome browser whenever you create a new tab or windows. This is also true for personal computer such as your desktop and laptop. For me personally one form of customization is changing the picture of the desktop on my computer, laptop or phone. Just like the background picture of my Google Chrome browser below.

Just last year to be exact November 2010, I bought my very first laptop and I also bought a new operating system with it the Microsoft Windows 7 Starter version. The reason I bought this version is because it’s the cheapest version of the current new Windows 7 series from Microsoft. This is version lack the basic featured that comes with all previous windows software that has been release. For one thing i cannot change the background picture of this version to make my laptop more personal. I’ve search for article regarding this feature on the internet and finds that to change the background picture of the desktop i need to do a lot of tinkering with the registry and some files that is related to the background picture. There is no article that says the background picture can be change via the normal way of just selecting the desired picture and pressing the OK button. I mean the usual way of changing the background picture of my desktop at any point in time that I like to do.

If your just a regular guy who uses the computer and do not care much about the technical stuff the goes on inside. I recommend not touching your registry just to change a background picture. You see the registry is the most sensitive part of any computer meaning you need to know what you are doing very precisely in order not to harm your computer. If you search the internet on how to change the background picture of the desktop in Windows 7 starter. You’ll notice that they all point to editing a little part of the registry and renaming some files associated with background picture or they say use a third party software to have a personalized desktop. The problem with this is all program uses memory amount and space to work if you have tons of installed programs in your computer then another one will be added in the sharing of the precious memory resources. If your computer has a big amount of memory let say like 4 GIG and up then there is no problem but if your computer has a common 2 Gig amount then adding another program just for changing the desktop picture of your computer is simple not worth it.

I personally would like to make my gadget look very mine and changing the background of my laptop is one way of expressing myself through my very first laptop. In order to change my background picture on the desktop I need to upgrade my Windows 7 Starter to any higher version and my problem will be solved.

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The ABC of File attachment and Transfer via your email or using Web Based Free Services.

Today I'm going blog about using the internet to send all types of files from you to your friend or simply just uploading them to your favorite social network or free on-line file storage website. Let's face it the internet has become an integral part of our daily work routine. Flash drive and external drive are simply not enough for some of us. We always want to access our file or at least a copy of it using the internet or move it from one location to another. Sometimes we are confused on what to use to accomplish all our desired goal of moving or more commonly called file transfer or file upload and download. Now how do we accomplish this task? Well there are several ways on how to go about it. First there your standard free email account from different email provider. Yup every kind of email account has function for transferring your desired file to your friend, work place and family email account. Let's your friend is asking for a copy of the birthday picture you have taken from yesterday's birthday. They requesting for copy to be printed. Instead of doing it yourself or giving the memory card to your friend which would require you to physically move around from your place to his/her place say you need to transfer picture stored on your computer to give them the copy. Why not use your email account to this. Just simple login and create or compose a new letter and after typing all the detail and message you are now ready to attach the requested picture by your friend. But wait do not attach the entire picture at once. Every email has this feature but this feature has a limit. Yup there a limit to how many you can send and attach per email. Also the process of attaching files to your email is also dependent on the speed that your computer is connected to the internet. Oh also file attachment speed is also dependent on how large each individual file and or how many file your going to attach to a single email.

 

You say, but my friends are requesting a whole bunch of picture that i have taken during the birthday party. Yup those are the reality of attaching picture thru your email free account. The size, number and the internet connection speed. All of this will determine how long you will take to upload those entire pictures and send them to your friends. One or two files you have no problem, but more than that and if each file has a large size then think of another way of transferring them via the internet. Okay how about we use free online storage system. There are a lot of them in the internet, hey that a great idea, they are much faster than on ordinary email file attachment plus you do not have to send the file always whenever your friend requested a copy. They can just copy or save the picture as they view them one by one. Well they one catch to this type of on-line storage, the number of file you can store is limited. Some of them offer up to 15 or 20 files per account. Also you need to sign-up or create an account with them in order to have your picture stored in this web based storage service. The same is true with your favorite social networking site. Creating an account is a requirement in order to use the services also every time you use the service you need to log in to use it. Well i guess is not a bad thing, it is also for security reason why you need to have an account with them. Yup they have limitation but this should not discourage you in using this kind of free file transfer services.

Filecatalyst.com Home Page

Okay i will ask a question is there a web based free service that you could use to transfer your file without having to create an account and log on every time you need to transfer file? Well there is such such and they call their company File Catalyst and their website is http://www.filecatalyst.com/ just click on the link to go to their website. But wait let's make things clear first, I am not in any way related to them, i am just sharing this things because it may help you and me at some point in time. I am sharing this as an alternative means to transfer your files. It is up to you if you're going to use the free Fast File Transfer that they are offering a free service to transfer your file via the internet. Also if ever you're going to use their free services make a research of the company background and other stuff that are related to them. Everyone is free to make his own choice on what to use. Another thing when it comes to sending large files don't even attempt to send them through your standard email server. The file size is generally too large for the basic email server and it will usually exceed the limit. A great alternative is FileCatalyst, they have a free service where you can use their fast file transfer software for sending files quickly and easily, no login or registration necessary. Although you have to input your name and email address so they could notify you if the file transfer has been completed. They also offer several services including Managed File Transfers, FileCatalyst workflow, and many others. You can also always tell a company's success by their client list...check it out. To access the FREE file transfer service you can go to their products page at: http://www.filecatalyst.com/products.

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Un-hiding All Hidden Files after a Virus Infection

Is your USB Flash disk ever been infected by a virus and the result is all you files and folder are gone? But wait when went to the technical support personnel in you workplace they says that it is not gone all your files and folder are still there. Feeling confused, you may say but when i check my USB flash drive i cannot see all my files and folder? But if did a deeper probe, by checking the properties of your USB flash drive, you can see that it indicates that your USB flash drive is half full or almost full depending on how many files it contains before the virus infection. Still confuse, well do not be. Here is what happens, when your flash drive got infected by the virus, it hides all your files and folder and then creates a copy of itself. But that copy of itself is not going to look like a virus, it will look like a regular folder inside your flash drive. The moment you click it, it will even more infect all the other files and folder in your flash drive. Ever seen a folder that when you tried to open it via the double click method, it did not open instead nothing happen, there is no reaction from the folder. A closer will reveal that it is not really a folder it is an application. Take a closer look at the screenshot below.

 

You can see that a folder is identified as folder and an application is identified as an application in a non-infected drive. To get this kind of view, please select the detail option when displaying the content of your flash drive. Now after the infection happened. All your folder and files is hidden not deleted or erased. You are left with an application that looks like a folder, but when you view it like this you can see that the folder has been classified as an application. When you see a folder that has been classified as an application then definitely it is a virus. Have your flash drive scan immediately to avoid the virus from infecting other places in your flash drive or drive or any type of container. DO NOT click or double click it. Now how do you recover your files if it has been hidden after a virus infection? Well first make sure that you have scanned and cleaned your flash drive. Next attach it to a clean computer, a computer that has not been infected by the same virus. After is has been recognized by the computer. Follow this step very carefully. First look for a utility or program called FOLDER OPTION. The FOLDER OPTION has three tabs they are the GENERAL, VIEW and SEARCH. Please see the screen shot below.

From the screen shot above the three tabs can be seen. The next step selects the VIEW tab. Please see screen shot below. This is where you're going to make the hidden files from your flash drive visible again. For the nest step please select the Show Hidden files, folders and rive option and unchecked all the check boxes for the three following option. The Hide empty drives in the computer, Hide extension for known file types and Hide protected operating system files then clicks the OK button. But wait before you go any further a word of caution, make sure to go directly to the flash drive and do not do to the main hard drive which contains the system files. The system files are hidden by default to protect against accidental erasure. Now that you un-hide it, it is now very open for such an accident. Whatever you do, go directly to the flash drive to get all your files. Now that we have cleared that the next step is to proceed to your flash drive and view it again. After editing the folder option, you can now see your folder. They are now safe to open via the double click. Do not copy the folder because they will be invisible after you redo the folder option. Open the entire folder individually and move all the files inside them to a newly created folder and all your folder will accessible to your once again. Now after recovering your files from the entire affected folder. The entire affected folder can now be deleted from your flash drive. Now for the last part go back to the FOLDER OPTION and put the check mark on all the boxes that you have unchecked earlier and select the other option to return all folder to their normal state. All system files must be hidden the same as before and press the OK button and close the FOLDER OPTION.

Remember when ever a virus has infected your flash drive. It will try to fool you by making you think that all your files have been deleted. Do not be fooled by this kind of virus infection. Make sure that you scan your flash drive and have the virus removed and make a deeper probe to see if all your files is still there. Do not format the flash drive as soon as you see that it appears to empty. Remember you smarter than any virus. 

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Keeping your Computer Safe from Viruses and Other Threats P-2.

On my previous post, I emphasized on the self practice of safe browsing. Meaning do not just surf anywhere but be objected, think first of what you really need to do to get before surfing the internet that way you'll be able to get the information the you want at much faster time and less hazardous to your computer. Another thing about practicing self safe browsing technique is do not just click on the link or any link, there are a lot of link out there that once click will open the box of bad news for your computer. Also email, your email is one another source of those potentially harmful threats. The safe practice for avoiding virus from email is that avoid opening email that you do not know. Meaning if an email has been sent to you and the sender is a total stranger to you. DO NOT Open or click it, for once you click it then if it contains viruses those viruses will be let loose in your computer even if you have a anti-virus. Is that possible, my computer being infected even if i have an anti-virus installed? The answer is very big yes. Not all anti-virus can detect all viruses especially those new type and variants of viruses, especially if your anti-virus database is not updated regularly. Wait what do you mean Anti-virus database? Well you see all anti-virus as a list of virus and there corresponding mark. The terms for this are virus definitions files or database. Yup each one has this list of threats and only the virus listed on that threat and all its variants is the only detectable virus for the anti-virus. You will need other type of anti-virus to detect others. But there are anti-virus who offers complete detection from regular virus to, malware, ad-ware and spyware. This anti-virus suite does not come free. You have to buy them. Most free version can only scan and protect your computer for a certain degree that why is it recommended to practice safe browsing and opening of email on a regular basis. It's better to be safe than to be sorry.

 

Another potential source of virus is the very useful USB flash drive that rights that very small but very big container that is very easy to use. You just plug it in and presto you have an additional storage space. This is also their weakness, if this Flash disk contains an infected file or itself is infected with a virus, chances are when you plug it into your computer your anti-virus will detect and remover the threat or it will do nothing and will allow the virus to load itself onto your computer's hard drive. Some virus the commonly infect this type of devices, create a replica of itself but the picture is a folder or a file. When the user click on thinking it was the file or folder, presto there goes all your files and folder. Imagine a virus that looks like a folder. You can verify this by viewing the directories in detailed mode. A folder does not have an extension name correct. In an infected folder it has a DOT EXE as an extension name and it is not a folder but an application as verified by the directories listing. What happen to the real files? Well it's there; you just can't see it because it is hidden. To view it you need to unhide all system files and hidden files using the file view option in the control panel. But this is dangerous you. All system files and protected system folder are hidden for their protection. Un-hiding the greatly exposes each item of being deleted or manipulated so be very careful. A word of CAUTION and WARNING do not do the things mentioned above if you are new or not familiar with the procedure, it may cause more harm than good to you computer system. I try to provide with a step by step procedure in how to it complete with picture on my future blog. So before you plug one of these handy devices to your computer make sure you scan them first thoroughly and properly. Also if you one of this does not just plug it anywhere and everywhere, this will minimize it from being infected by viruses. So practice self know and restrained in using these devices. And lastly but not the list make sure to update your anti-virus database or virus definition file regularly. This at least will help you in keeping the most common virus away from your computer.

Another potential source of infection is chatting; yup your computer could also be infected via this avenue if you are not careful and vigilant. What even in chatting? Yup that correct, how is this so? Well there are a lot of ways where you talk or chat with friends on the internet. Also a lot of programs that offers this kind feature and much more.. More than that in chatting sometimes you talk about a lot or you request a file to be sent to you, not via email, but who want it sent through the chatting software that you are using. If that is possible so the virus being sent thru is also possible, disguise as an important file or picture from a supposedly friend of yours, when you click on it to download it. It will immediately activate and infect your computer. So while chatting with friends practice being vigilant to avoid unnecessary problems with virus infection in you computer. Whenever your computer is connected to the internet and attaching devices to your computer, being vigilant and thorough will help keep your computer from being infected and therefore more productive time and usage from your machine.

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Keeping your Computer Safe from Viruses and Other Threats.

People get sick, the most common sickness is the common cold and it’s relative running noise, flu and head-ache. We get sick because we caught the virus that causes this sickness from other people in our home, work and other places where there are sick people. But this sickness is not life threatening except maybe for a few who has complication from this sickness. But this common sickness can be treated by much home based medicine or at least get our body to use its natural ability to fight off this viruses. Some just need to rest and drink a lot of water to let the body heal itself. Still others buy medicine for this type of sickness especially if the young one or children is sick. These viruses spread themselves thru air or sharing of things with the sick person.  Well there is another kind of virus that is not dangerous to people but is very deadly to the things people use like the computer and its entire relative.

Ever since the computer was invented and created, viruses have been one of the main threat to its healthy and useful existence. Just like the original organic virus to which it was pattern by its early creator, this viruses has already change from just being annoying to become a real threat to all computer devices. It has already metamorphosis to several different kinds to Trojan Horses, Malware, Adware, Spyware and other type which attack different type of files in our computer. I don’t need to get into the detail of what they do inside your computer. Where going to focus on the basic of keeping your computer devices free of these dangerous programs. Well how does a computer get infected by these viruses? Well first of all there’s the internet, it one of the main source of computer infection and chances are your computer is online for most of the time, then the percentage of getting infected by these virus and its cousin is very high. In this age and time, people can no longer afford not to use the internet so the viruses have become very abundant.

Okay now how do you protect your computer from being infected by this malicious and dangerous program from the internet? Well the common ways of protecting yourself is to use an anti-virus. This anti-virus is a program that detects the virus before it can infect or spread itself inside your computer. There are free type and paid type of anti-virus out here. Use any one of them or better yet use two if you know how to configure each so that they will both work in harmony not getting in the way of another. The most common way is installing one of these programs to keep an eye on your computer while you work. Now that’s done you have an anti-virus installed in my computer, my computer is safe now. I can surf to all of my heart content. Woo hold on there, your computer not totally secure yet from viruses and its cousin. You just can go to any website or location on the internet because even if you have anti-virus chances are it will not be enough to combat viruses if you keep going to the those site which has a lot of viruses or contain viruses and other deadly program whose intentions is just to destroy your files and computer. Yes folks this site is really and they don’t offer anything but virus and its cousin. So need to practice safe browsing and downloading habit to help make your computer safe from all type of viruses.

I still remember the experiment that i did way back then. The experiment was i used a computer where only the Operating system and anti-virus programs is installed only. I updated the virus definition of the anti-virus and make sure every thing is working as they should be. Then after this i connect that computer to the internet and surf away. I jump from site to another click on all kinds of links that lead from site to another and then when i thought that it was okay and my computer is still working and the anti-virus is doing its job from getting my computer infected, WHAMMM i run onto a brick wall or website that is full of viruses that the moment my computer made contact, they overwhelm my anti-virus and the computer has stop working. It has been paralyzed by the viruses that attack it. The good news is this is just an experiment. Well i quickly reformatted my hard drive not once but twice and have it scanned by an antivirus software just to make nothing is left from my previous encounter. The result of my experiment clearly shows that even with an anti-virus installed on your computer. You still need to practice safe browsing technique while connected to the internet. More on my next post.

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The Danger of Static Electricity to your computer

Have you heard of the words Static Electricity? Okay, maybe yes or maybe no, not clear? static electricity is not dangerous to humans or people like us but it is dangerous to the internal component of your computer, especially does inside your system unit, the motherboard, hard drive, memory and all those electronic component that you see inside when you open your computer casing. Now where do we get this static electricity? You'll probably surprise that it's fairly simple to acquire or build -up your bodies static electricity. Our body has always static electricity in very small amount of charge. Building them up also is very simple, by just walking in or on object like carpet or electrical charge object we can build up our static charge. The discharge process is also simple just touch a metal object connected to the ground and the static electricity is gone from your body, well not of all of it.

Now it is not dangerous to people like us, but this static electricity is very dangerous to the component inside your computer or electronic devices. Do not try touching the inner working of your computer if you feel that you have not touch a metal object connected to the ground. A simple precaution not to damage the inner parts of your computer is Do Not Open the Computer Case Unless you have a very valid reason to do so. One simple discharge from your body to that component that you touch on the inside of your computer and that component is toast. Electronic component is very susceptible to  static electricity. They are made of microscopic circuit that small amount of static electricity can really destroy or damage that electronic component. But if you cannot avoid opening and touching the inner parts of your computer, try to keep in mind to first touch a metal object that is connected to the ground to discharge the static electricity stored in your body, at-least try to minimize the damage that you can do to your computers's inner working.

Since the entire component inside your computer is made up of micro circuit, meaning they cannot be seen by the naked eye. You need a special device to see this circuit inside those complex integrated circuit found on every computer motherboard. Oops did I mention integrated circuit.  IC is the short term for them they looked like a square or rectangular piece of black colours things that is attached to every motherboard. Also they have a lot of metal feet connected to their side. They are called pins and they are use to connect the micro circuit in every one of them to the main system and to each other. Each pin is also numbered according to their design. Take a look at every IC inside you computer they are small right. But on every IC contains thousand of component that forms that micro circuit. They are very-very small. How can a static electricity affect damage or destroy those micro circuit and component?

Let’s put it this way, the micro circuit is the big city or town and the component on those micro circuit is the building and houses. Therefore you got a picture of a highly dense city or town. Also the static electricity is represented as the biggest and strongest storm which is depending on the charge of the static electricity. If you put them together guess what will happen. The city or town will be in ruin, there will chaos and all sort of things. All basic services will cease to function. We have seen this scenario played out in our present day. And since the static electricity has damage the inner working of your computer, then it will no longer function properly or if the damage is worst then it the end game for your computer. A word of precaution, whatever you do, leave the inside parts of your to the professional.

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Upgrading your old Computer or Buying a New Computer

Happy New Year to all, this is my first blog for this year 2011. I’ve been very busy in the last part of December and during the first week of January on my family and my home business. That why I’ve been missing in action this past weeks. Since this is a new year for all of us, new beginning and a new time to get going on something for each in everyone of us. In a more personal manner if we own a computer this time around a questioned comes to mind, is my computer needs upgrading or do I buy a new one? Of course this is only for those whose computer is at least 6 months to one year old. Because by this time you’ve pretty much know how your computer works. How fast it is or it has become a lot slower in all about its performance. With all those new computers being advertise these past months. One would be very tempting in having them in parts or as a whole unit.

Now here comes the al important question. Do I upgrade or do i need to buy a new one? This question comes because I’m no longer satisfied with the performance of my old computer. It seems the more I use it, the more my dissatisfaction grows towards its performance. But first before doing any upgrading or buying. You need to check if your computer really needs to upgrade or where just being swayed by all of those thoughts that most of my friends and their friends has in part upgraded their computer or has bought a new one. You need to know what wrong with your computer. What part seems slow. To do this you need to have it check by qualified service personnel but you as the owner of the computer must be present during this activity. You must explain it to the technical guy what’s wrong with your computer, why are dissatisfied with its performance. What part is slowing down as its get older? You must describe you problems in detail to the service technician so he can know exactly what to do as not to waist both of your time while the technician or engineer figures outs what wrong with your computer and the solution needed to fix it.

Most of the time we brought our computer to the service centre then tells the service guy there its broken and need to be fix then off we go. Leaving the service personnel clueless on what is the real problem with the computer. The result of this is longer time to detect and fix the problem. The hours will become day sometimes will turn into weeks before one is reunited with the computer. Most of us has the wrong notion that all computer service personnel know what wrong with your computer the moment we brought it in for repair and maintenance. Well guess what, where wrong, this only makes the work for them a lot harder and more time consuming because they don’t know where to begin. So next time you walk in and have you computer with for repair or maintenance make sure to really explain it all to the technical guy in detail and don’t leave it there alone, be there during the process, because questioned may needed to be to the owner and the answer to that is always the solution to the problem.

Now after having it checks by a qualified technician. He will advised you on what to do with your computer, whether to upgrade some of its part or if your computer is very-old and you want to use newer software version of your old software then rather than upgrading some parts only. You must buy a new complete set of it. But how about all my information on my old computer? Well don’t panics, all of it can be transferred to the new computer and it can be erased from the old computer. You can also ask to service to do the whole job of configuring the new and transferring all of your data into the new computer from the old ones. But only consider this option if your computer is really very old or new but has been damaged by wear and tear that repairing or upgrading parts will cost more than buying a new one. It is always up to you the owner of the computer to decide which path you will take. You will have the final say in all of this, because you will be the one to pay for it literally and use it every minute, hour and day in most your activity. So remember to always carefully weigh all the information and facts before your decide what option to take regarding the improvement and maintenance of your computer.

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Installing a Printer on your Computer

Why? Well does everyone know how to install a basic printer? But there is the printer manual on how to install one. Every new printer that is bought off the shelf comes with one manual. Yes that true but does everyone really read those manual or do take time to understand them. To most of user installing a printer on their own is simply hard to do. If something's go wrong during the installation process they easily give up and ask a tech supp guy to do it for them with payment of course.

Most printers' installation is the same and they use the same cable connection with the computer Universal Serial Bus cable. Let's do a quick checklist on what we need to install a newly bought regular printer. The printer itself, CD driver, USB cable and the power cable. All of them must be present to be able to install the printer on to the computer. Most common mistake by people installing their printer is plugging the printer first to the computer then waiting for it to install itself. This will only work if your computer's operating system is regularly updated on all its driver and software front. Also even if you successfully installed the driver of today printer most of its monitoring software will not be included. This monitoring software is also important in the day to day operation of the printer.

When you're going to check for the ink level of your printer this additional software. Another function of this software it the maintenance side of it. Which we will not go into details here. To get started first put the CD or DVD driver into your CD/DVD ROM drive and let the auto play or if the auto play ask to allow it to run then go ahead and click the okay button. Then after clicking the button wait for it to display the welcome screen or the menu asking you to choose what kinds of installation would you like. Now to make this simple if you see an option to install all items then go ahead and check the box beside it or check all the box besides all the item listed including the driver. This make take a little longer to install but at least will you can be sure that all features of your printer are taken care of. Now click the next button to continue. Wait for the installation program to ask for you to connect your printer.

When the program ask you to connect your printer make sure that you connect the printer properly on the USB port of your computer and turn it on and wait for the program to detect your printer and to continue installing it and the rest of the software package that goes with it. Remember to wait for it finishes the installation routine. A screen will display that the installation is done and you will know it.

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Parts that Affects the Over-All Computer System Performance. Part-2

Another part that directly affects the over-all performance of the computer is the amount of memory installed in relation with the software requirement of the user. For most standard computer the minimum amount installed should be 2 Gigabytes but this is only for standard user. This amount of memory my vary depending on the software requirements of the user. For any professional user that uses software intensive application then it should be more than 4 gigabytes. Another type or requirements is for the gaming industry. Games that needs vast amount of memory should have more memory preferred for it. The more memory there is available for the software the better. Remember the Operating system like MS Windows or MAC OS first and foremost is the first who uses this memory to function properly.

Each of this Operating System software requires each minimum memory requirements to function properly. All software requires being loaded into the memory to before being able to function normally. To verify the amount of memory installed into your computer, use the DXDIAGNOSTIC Tool or just check the system information of your computer via the control panel or by accessing the properties of the my computer and viewing the system information.

Another parts that contribute to the overall performance of the computer is the bus speed of the motherboard and the seek time of the hard disk. For the seek time I have already mentioned this on the older post on this blog. For the system bus it is where the data travel from one component to another during the processing of information. It all starts from the input to the processing to the output. The bus is like a road or system of road wherein the data is the put into a carrying signal that acts like a vehicle the data is the person going from one place to another. In order for them to reach its intended destination they must use the road or system bus. Wider system bus or more data it can handle in a given cycle the faster the information is process the better. Simply put it if a slow bus rate is use to transfer huge amount of data for each given time then you have a slow processing function and a slow output even if you have a fast processor, large amount of memory and fast hard drive. The same is true with all the other aspects they must be all fast in order to complement each other for the over-all performance of your computer.

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Parts that Affects the Over-All Computer System Performance. Part-1

Processing speed, Booting speed and over-all performance of your computer. This is always what we wanted from our computer, from desktop to laptop. What ever the model or kind of computer that we have we need speed in it's performance. My processor has 2 or 3 GHz of computing power but still it seems slow to react to all my task. Well yup your processor is fast, but it just one of the many factor that affect the over-all speed performance of the computer. But they say that if you have a very fast processor then it good enough to make your computer fast also in processing. Partly true and wrong. That just sales talk, most sale person will talk about a lot of things even magnifying feature that should be standard in every computer. Especially if they know that the person buying does not possesses the technical knowledge to see thru what thy saying. Let's see there are at least four parts of the computer that needs to be attune with one another to really know if your system is fast enough for you. 

First there is the processor, which should be in quad core technology by now. The what? Quad core processor meaning your computer should have at least FOUR processor in it. But how do I determine if my processor has four processor in it, inst that technology suppose to be for super computer? Well yes it's true back then and more than four is needed for super computer. Do not bother with dual core processor, the standard for today's processor is four processor or Quad Processor. Now how do we determined that the computer that I am going to get has four processor. Please see screenshot below.

As you can see from the picture above the illustration of the Quad technology with four processor. Now how did you get there, can I as a regular guy know this. Yes everyone can do this display how many processor there computer has. Now wait a minute here, there is only one processor every time i look inside a new computer, the motherboard contains only one, how come there is four of them there? Yup your correct there is only one  package inside every computer. It's like this everybody knows that the normal is there is one  main building big or small right. But inside this main building there are several rooms, especially the really big one. The same is also true for all new quad core processor. There is only one package but inside this package there can be four processor inside instead of the regular one. Now designer and engineer's where able to implement that design it all started with the dual core processor. They say two is better than one, but four or more is much much better. Now that quad processor is becoming or is already a standard in computing then you need to know how to verify it. To display the screen-shot above just follow this simple step.

Windows 7 Control Panel

Click the start button and find and click on the control panel menu. Then the screen-shot above will appear. On the control panel please select the system and security sub-menu highlighted above. Then the screen-shot below will appear.

From the screen shot below please click on the Device Manager Link and the Device Manager that contain all the hardware information on your computer will appear just like on the screen shoot below.

 

On the device manager just click on the processor tree to display how many processor is there on your computer. It will show just how many there are. Just like on the first screen shot. More on my next post.

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Using the DXDiag tool to know more about your Computer

Have you ever heard of the DXDIAG? Do you know what it's look like and where it is located or how to activate this free software? This free software is one of the most ignored software or unknown software tool in windows system. If your ask an a person regarding this tool, chances are you'll get a mixed reactions in there faces. In the first place why is it there if no one ever used it or cared to know more about this free tool. Well for one the content of this tool can be pretty intimidating to most user who does not have enough technical background. First how do we activate this tool to know what inside our computer. To activate this tool please see picture below.

To activate the DXDIAG tool press the start button then on the search bar type the word dxdiag and hit the enter key. The picture below will appear, but if it is your first time to activate this tool a question will appear first to ask you whether to allow dxdiag to check for digitally sign driver. Just press the YES button to continue loading the DXDIAG tool which should look like the picture below.

DXDIAG Tool

Notice there are several tab to this tool, they are the system, display, sound and input tab. Clicking on each tab will display there content. The first tab is contains the most common information about your current computer system, the hardware and the software. As you can see from the picture above the computer name, operating system, language, system manufacturer, system model, BIOS, processor, memory page file and the direct X version are all listed here. You may ask, So  what I'm i going to used this for. Well this figure and data may not be useful to an average person but to a technical support person, this is valuable information. This first tab indicate how many memory are installed into your system, what type of processor is there and most of all the computer model is indicated. Which should be useful for warranty information if you system is new and what to verify it's content of the manufacturer's websites or on the vendor's website. This tool can help you verify if the vendor is telling the truth regarding the machine he or she is selling. Remember to access the tool just go to the start button and on the search bar type the word DXDIAG and press the enter key to activate the free software tool.

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Parts on the Outside Part-2

Now the CPU or the Central Processing Unit or System Unit contains the main inside hardware parts of the computer. Let see there the motherboard, the memory module(s), the CPU chip, the hard drive, DVD RW drive, the Power Supply Unit, the cooling fan and heat sink on top of the CPU. Lets see did i miss anything, well the motherboard contains all the connecting point of all the hardware devices mentioned above. Ah h theres the graphics card or video card, the sound card for high end users and the network or LAN card optional for others.

Inside a typical CPU

Today's motherboard comes with a built-in S/V/L, wait what an S/V/L. It stand for Sound, Video. and LAN. The only thing missing if your purchasing a new motherboard is the CPU and it cooling system and the memory module which is sold separately. But if your purchasing a whole computer set then that not applicable. Okay lets focus on the motherboard that is found inside every computer. The motherboard is where it all connects. The monitor using its cable is plug into the video card port which is connected or built-in the motherboard. The same is true for the mouse and keyboard, they connects via the PS2 or USB port which is usually built-in into the motherboard. The same is true to all external devices that we can connects to the computer, your Web cam, Mic, Speaker system, your smartphone, printer, scanner, external drive and a host of other devices. The most common port used in interconnection for today devices is the USB port. Your supposed to just plug it in and let it connect to your computer.

USB, LAN, PS2, MIC and Speaker port

Okay where suppose to blog about the external parts not the inside parts, but i thought i should give you a sneak preview of my nest post. Back to the external parts. The CPU Case is also important not just for appearance but also for the cooling system it can provide to your CPU unit. You should know where are those FAN located so would not be able to block them when placing your computer on tight spot. Also it should be strong enough to handle the daily grind that it would experience. The air should be able to get in and out of your CPU Case with the aid of those cooling fan properly positioned in your case design. The CPU is where all the work is done, the input, processing and output is done all in there. Make sure to also check on your CPU regularly so that dust build up and other stuff like small insects should not make your CPU there permanent abode. It should be check regularly, lets say weekly to maintain it in top form.

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Parts on the Outside Part-2

Now the CPU or the Central Processing Unit or System Unit contains the main inside hardware parts of the computer. Let see there the motherboard, the memory module(s), the CPU chip, the hard drive, DVD RW drive, the Power Supply Unit, the cooling fan and heat sink on top of the CPU. Lets see did i miss anything, well the motherboard contains all the connecting point of all the hardware devices mentioned above. Ah h theres the graphics card or video card, the sound card for high end users and the network or LAN card optional for others.

Inside a typical CPU

Today's motherboard comes with a built-in S/V/L, wait what an S/V/L. It stand for Sound, Video. and LAN. The only thing missing if your purchasing a new motherboard is the CPU and it cooling system and the memory module which is sold separately. But if your purchasing a whole computer set then that not applicable. Okay lets focus on the motherboard that is found inside every computer. The motherboard is where it all connects. The monitor using its cable is plug into the video card port which is connected or built-in the motherboard. The same is true for the mouse and keyboard, they connects via the PS2 or USB port which is usually built-in into the motherboard. The same is true to all external devices that we can connects to the computer, your Web cam, Mic, Speaker system, your smartphone, printer, scanner, external drive and a host of other devices. The most common port used in interconnection for today devices is the USB port. Your supposed to just plug it in and let it connect to your computer.

USB, LAN, PS2, MIC and Speaker port

Okay where suppose to blog about the external parts not the inside parts, but i thought i should give you a sneak preview of my nest post. Back to the external parts. The CPU Case is also important not just for appearance but also for the cooling system it can provide to your CPU unit. You should know where are those FAN located so would not be able to block them when placing your computer on tight spot. Also it should be strong enough to handle the daily grind that it would experience. The air should be able to get in and out of your CPU Case with the aid of those cooling fan properly positioned in your case design. The CPU is where all the work is done, the input, processing and output is done all in there. Make sure to also check on your CPU regularly so that dust build up and other stuff like small insects should not make your CPU there permanent abode. It should be check regularly, lets say weekly to maintain it in top form.

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Parts on the Outside Part-1

Hello I hope your day is going fine, hope your in good health. Okay we will start on a blog series that will tackle on the computer hardware parts on the outside and on the inside. a lot of people who uses computer for almost everything don't have the time to know what's on the outside and what is on the inside of this very important machine.First of all i assume everyone knows what a computer look's like. Lately it has taken on a lot of very different shape and sizes and function but on this series of blog we will focus on the Desktop Computer, the first computer which was tailored made for offices, leisure spot, activity center and many more and of course your own home sweet home. Still remember your first computer, what was the specification of that? how big is the Monitor. What was the speed of the processor, how large was the hard drive and the memory. What was the color. How did you feel when your parents bought you your first computer. I'm sure you have a lot of memories regarding that time.

To start with the computer is made up several key component during it early years. They are the Monitor, Central Processing Unit, the keyboard, the mouse (pointing device) and also we have the printer. This was the basic parts ohhh I almost forgot, the speaker and microphone. The Monitor is your basic output devices, this is where we see what we are doing. The monitor is our windows to the uses and function of the computer. From CRT technology to thin LCD upto LED and HD technology monitor of today.The main basic difference of the monitor today than its ancestor is the size, another is the power consumption. Your old CRT monitor eats a lot of power when in use. But todays, LCD and LED screen eats smaller electricity even on if left open for a long time. Another big savings for the LCD/LED screen is the space the old CRT uses. Just imagine a 19" inch Desktop CRT of even bigger and compare it to the space needed for the LCD/LED screen.

Keyboard

Numeric Keypad

Now let's go to the keyboard, there not much difference from the keyboard of the old days to the keyboard of today.It's basically the same design from the old model up to the new and latest model. There may be a few enhancement here and there, soft keys, hand rest to name a few enhancement. But still it is the same keyboard even if the wireless model and folding keyboard. The keyboard is the main input devices that is attached to the computer. It's like a type writer without the loud sounds. This is what we used to type documents and fill-out electronic forms online. This is also were we controlled our computer if it hangs, we pressed three keys to restart it. To access CMOS setup content and menu we press certain during the boot-up process. If your want to view process on your computer under windows we press certain key combination. For editing of document we also access the keyboard, especially for the people who uses the shortcut method of accessing all the function of the word processing software. The most ordinary keyboard will not function properly if water or liquid is poured into it. Buy some high-end type have built in protection for this kind of substance if accidentally spill into it.

Mouse with a lighted Scroll Wheel

Next is the Mouse or you pointing device. Just like the keyboard the mouse has changed little ever since it was introduced in it's early days. From mouse with balls used for arrow movement to the infrared and scroll mouse of today. Basically it's the same design even the wireless one. There are also other type of pointing device used in computer, the track ball which has the ball on the upside not under. all mouse are still susceptible to the wear and there of the parts inside it just like the keyboard. If a key is used more often than the other chances are that key will be the first to be depressed.

Infrared Mouse tracker

The nest item is the CPU or the Central Processing Unit, or the System Unit. It's be called by a lot of names. But we been referring to the same thing when it come to the computer. Well its better to talk about it on my next post. I'll be adding a couple of picture here as soon as i can.

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