Section: Hardware
February 26, 2007 by
Jason
Now that Vista is officially out, many of you are dying to run out and buy it. I know that many will upgrade without first checking system requirements or system compatibility. This article is for you. When you try to install Vista, you may quickly find out that something will need to be upgraded. Most likely it will be RAM, video or both.
First we will look at memory. I am talking about system memory or RAM. Before we go further, my associate says I need to write about something more important. That is the peripherals, things like mice, cameras, scanners, printers. For most of these, you will find that there are no Vista compatible drivers available. The chain stores are going to be pushing Vista systems, but be patient and wait for the hardware to catch up. Here is where you will do better talking with your small neighborhood tech shops to find out if your computer will work with Vista. Read More»
Posted in Hardware, Windows Vista | 2 Comments »
February 23, 2007 by
Jason Microsoft has released a tool to help administrators scan their network for computers that are capable of running Windows Vista, it scans computers running Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 Professional and Server operating systems, collects the inventory, and device information on a network of computers from one computer, the tool just wants the computers to support Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). It outputs spreadsheets that provide detailed results of the inventory and assessment and word documents that summarize the results of the inventory and assessment for all computers that are currently running a Microsoft Windows client operating system. Read More»
Posted in Hardware, Windows Vista | No Comments »
February 22, 2007 by
Jason As the neighborhood computer nerd, I end up being the recipient of everyone’s old, “broken” computers. What’s shocking is that the vast majority of the time they aren’t broken at all. While there’s nothing physically wrong with most of these computers, the software their manufacturers so graciously installed and the habits of their users have rendered them useless. By following a few simple guidelines, you can greatly extend the time between necessary reinstalls of Windows.
First, as a general rule of thumb, only put software that you will need on your computer. That Bonzai Buddy might seem like a great idea at first, but keep in mind that most free programs up for download on the Internet fall into the category of “malware,” or malicious software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer without the owners informed consent. Keep in mind what you use your computer for-most people need one office suite, one CD/DVD authoring program, one graphics editing program, Read More»
Posted in Hardware, Software, Windows Vista, Windows XP | 1 Comment »
February 20, 2007 by
Jason The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment is a tool that will find computers on a network and perform a detailed inventory of the computers using Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). Through use of the detailed inventory data, the tool will assess and report whether the computers can run Windows Vista, where to find drivers for devices on the computers, and provide recommendations for hardware upgrades, where appropriate. Read More»
Posted in Hardware, Windows Vista | No Comments »
February 18, 2007 by
Jason
I’ve featured some of these tweaks previously, in my PC optimisation guides, but some of these are new to me, particularly the tweaks to improve page file performance. The 10 tweaks are:
1. Disable Short Filenames
2. Name Your Files Appropriately
3. Use More Folders
4. Use More Partitions Read More»
Posted in Hardware | 5 Comments »
February 11, 2007 by
Jason Vista allows you to set the priority by which programs receive CPU cycles. This explains the manual way of telling vista which programs should receive the most and the least priority.
For day to day use, this is not very important. However, if you frequently have large, demanding programs running, it can be helpful to direct vista when to focus CPU cycles toward or away from the program.
For example, usually if you are rendering video, the rest of your system will be very slow as the rendering program is taking priority. However, you can push the priority of the rendering program lower which will speed up other programs trying to run during this time. Read More»
Posted in Hardware, Windows Vista | 2 Comments »
February 10, 2007 by
Jason 
The best way to protect your PC is like in the picture below but because this won’t work below are some usefull steps. Read More»
Posted in Hardware, Software | No Comments »
February 08, 2007 by
Jason 
A lot of users want to know what is the maximum temperature processors can work at, seeing that all processors currently heat up a lot and many coolers available on the market are unable to cool them down correctly.
To start off, the temperature of a processor can be gauged via a sensor on the motherboard, under the processor. Almost every motherboard comes with a program for reading this sensor; you can find on the Internet many programs for this purpose, such as Motherboard Monitor and Hardware Sensors Monitor Read More»
Posted in Hardware | No Comments »
February 08, 2007 by
Jason 
The Intel Developer Forum is still boiling, as new products pop up every hour. After the announcements from Intel, we now walk towards Nvidia’s area, where the company is unveiling the NVDVD, a new software-based DVD player/decoder. NVDVD delivers the benefits of Dolby Surround technology for users with multi-channel sound cards.
Read More»
Posted in Hardware, Software | 1 Comment »
February 06, 2007 by
Jason
We spend so much time worrying about the speed of Graphics Cards and Memory, we tend to forget about optimizing one important component of all PCS – the Hard Drive.
These 10 tips will help to speedup your Hard Drives and your file access times. The ten tips are:
Read More»
Posted in Hardware | 2 Comments »
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