Understanding Your Motherboard - The Whats and Hows of the Motherboard

May 28, 2008 at 01:22 AM by admin

Understanding Your Motherboard - The What’s and How’s of the Motherboard

Most of us are familiar with the basic parts of the computer. Those who are not as adept in operating a personal computer at least know what and where the monitor, the keyboard and the processor are located. But one thing that we tend to overlook is where everything is plugged into.

The ‘great’ motherboard

The motherboard(mobo) is the central board making up any electronic system or device. Simply put, it’s that part of the computer which holds everything and where pretty much everything is plugged into. It allows all the parts of the computer to receive power and communicate with one another by holding the computer’s microprocessor chip and letting everything else connect to it. A typical mobo has a lot of slots where the different individual components of the computer go. Its form factor (layout) can affect where the various parts of the computer will go and the general shape of the computer’s case.

Choosing a motherboard

In selecting your motherboard, you need to verify what kind of processor you are using. Compatibility is important as not all mobos can support all CPU’s. Also make sure that the mobo can support the speed of your processor since this particular detail varies across different labels and models.

Another detail to consider is the chipset. The chipset is the main controller on the mobo. In relation to this, don’t forget to make sure that it supports the type and amount of RAM you’re using. To play safe, you can opt for a chipset that supports a higher memory so that your system can function efficiently.

Since the mobo is the part of the computer to which everything is plugged into, the number of expansion slots and connectors on it is important particularly when you are planning to plug in a lot of things into the PC. So you better check if your motherboard has more than enough PCI slots to hold each one of your peripherals.

Beginner’s guide to motherboards

A complete Guide to MOTHER BOARDS is available in Picky Guide, one of the fastest growing online magazines giving free consumer advice and product information.

Tips On Digital Camera Printers

May 27, 2008 at 01:09 AM by admin

Tips On Digital Camera Printers

OK, so you’ve full tons of films, and except you sketch on looking at them evermore on your PC you’ll eventually will want to typeset them out. I know you’re asking “can’t I just take it to the regional one hour photo stow?” The answer to that problem is an absolute “Yes!” But there are other options should you require.

One of those options is to get manually a digital camera typeseter. And just like every other artifact that I encompass on this web-situate, you are vault to have a gathering of excellents at your regional electronics stow. Some of the more joint brands embrace HP, mortar, and Epson. I also personally think that they are some of the better typeseters as well.

You ought to know that digital camera typeseters come in three types; 4-influence typeseters, 6-influence typeseters, and 8-influence typeseters. As you may have guessed already the high the number of influences, the superior feature your typesets will seizure out! Not surprisingly, the superior the number the superior the cost mostly goes.

The next thing you ought to understand is the manner by that digital camera typeseter uses to start the photos. Right now on the promote there are two manners, ink-jet, and thermal. Ink-jet is worn for a kind of purposes in broad typeseting. So if you’re a novice photographer then this is doubtless the way to go. However, if you want something that is more professional then thermal is the excellent. The prevalent difference between the two options is that thermal adds waterproof coat to the aura which encertainlys that the photos will not wilt for a very long time.

The ultimate think that you ought to know about digital camera typeseters is the feature of paper that you will be with. This is where I say that even for a novice photographer, you truly ought to invest in some good feature paper. Get some think glossy paper that you can use. You can buy this at just about any company stow like an personnel terminus or Staples.

lastly typeseters in broad can be sometimes tough to work with. I incite you to play around with your digital camera typeseter to educate manually as to how the thing workings. Breakdowns are joint I’m scared, so make certainly that you get your typeseter from a sound stow and even think about receiving manually an wholesale warranty if the typeseter doesn’t already have a good benchmark warranty.

Timothy Cashman is an independent critic on artifacts & navy. You can find spread information at http://tipsondigitalphotography.com/Digital_Camera_Printers.html

You may also stay the web situate “Tips on Digital Photography” at http://www.tipsondigitalphotography.com

The websituate is maintained by Timothy Cashman.

From Rolls Royce to Trabant - What To Do When Your Desktop or Laptop Goes Slow

May 26, 2008 at 02:27 AM by admin

From Rolls Royce to Trabant - What To Do When Your Desktop or Laptop Goes Slow

So you made an investment a few years ago on a decent laptop/desktop and were in seventh heaven as your machine purred beneath your fingertips and mouse clicks. But that was then and this is now, and your former “pride n joy” is operating at the speed of a Trabant and you’re not sure why?

The reality is that just like cars, PCs/laptops need servicing from time to time. Despite starting of technically similar (obviously with different specifications), they develop unique characteristics and “personalities” that are dependent on their history of use. So day to day events such as installation and removal of programs, recovery from occasional crashes, virus and spyware attacks and recovery, creation and deletion of files and how they are saved on your harddrive, operating system inefficiencies etc all take their toll and eventually leave your machine needing a little TLC.

So for the technically adventurous, here are a few simple tips to help bring the zest back into your machine:

● Before starting the service, ensure that all your important data files and emails are backed up safely!

● Check how much memory the system has. Nowadays with Windows XP and more demanding software programs it is worth having at least 512Mbytes of Ram. If you have less then it may be well worth investing in more. The more memory you have the better.

● Delete any legacy printer installations and mapped network drives that no longer exist.

● Run a full anti-virus and anti-spyware scan on your system and drives. Use AntiVirus and AntiSpyware software that is not system resource hungry. By resource hungry I mean programs that use a lot of the machines processing power and memory. For example I personally avoid Norton AntiVirus because it tends to turn ones PC/laptop into a big AntiVirus/Spam machine, incapable of doing much else.

● Delete “deleted” files from your email program’s folders. Often these are moved to a “Delete folder” for example as in Microsoft Outlook. If you don’t do this your email’s database file will get larger and larger and become cumbersome for your mail program to manage.

● Ensure you have at least 1 Gigabytes of disk space available on your main harddrive. If not uninstall programs you don’t need and delete all unnecessary files (usually files ending in *.tmp, *.avi, *.mpg or *.wmv). You could use an utility tool such as Win XP Manager (assuming you are using Windows XP) to assist with the removal of these files. Even if you have more than 1 Gigabytes of space available it is well worth removing unnecessary files that “clog” your system..

● Backup legacy documents onto a separate drive/cd.

● Run Microsoft Scan Disk and Microsoft Defragmenter. Both these are built into your Windows operating system.

● Check and clean up your operating systems windows registry using XP Manager. Note be very careful when working with windows registry and ensure you make a copy of your systems registry before doing any tweaks. XP Manager has a user friendly wizard to help you do this process automatically annd safely.

● Use XP Manager to remove unnecessary start up programs that “eat away” at your system’s memory. For example when you install HP printers, they often also install programs that run at your PCs/laptops start up, and which most people don’t need. Again XP Manager will allow you to identify and remove these programs. However before you remove any start up programs, ensure that you understand what you are removing.

● Further tweak your PC’s hardware and software settings using XP Manager. The wizard will help you with most of these.

Hopefully after this “do-it-yourself” service, your PC/laptop will be back to some of its former glory.

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