Posts Tagged ‘modern computers’
October 9th, 2009 | 
Author: There are many people who do not know that they can connect their PC to a TV. This may look remedial to a lot of people, but it is simple. There are many reasons to connect a PC to TV. Today, DVD player is a standard hardware in PC and using it will eliminate the extra expenditure on buying 50 to 100 dollar DVD player. In addition to watching cable television programs, one can watch a lot of network television programs that stream over the Internet on the TV itself. Finally, connecting PC to TV is a great way to play music during parties.
The Requirements
You can connect your PC or a laptop to TV, if the PC has Windows XP or above. There are many ways to connect a PC to a TV, all the needed is the proper cabling.
Check the TV and PC features to see exactly what is required to connect. If it is an older TV, it may have only a composite connection (three wire cable with red, yellow, white connectors). Newer TV’s will usually have HDMI, component, VGA, and/or DVI inputs. Modern computers will have VGA or DVI outputs. A lot of laptops will also have S-Video or some variant of Mini/Micro-DVI.
TV with a VGA or DVI input is the best-case scenario. In this case, an adaptor is not required but an additional audio cable is required. Check the TV for either a 3.5mm stereo plug or the white and red plugs from a composite cable associated with the VGA/DVI input. If it is the red/white composite audio inputs, the cable will have to be red/white plug on one end and a 3.5mm stereo plug on the other. The 3.5mm plug will go into the PC’s headphone/speaker output socket.
Another best-case scenario would be if the PC has an HDMI or DVI (with sound) output and the TV has an HDMI input. For this scenario all the needed is an HDMI cable or an HDMI cable plus a DVI to HDMI adaptor. For the rest of the connections suitable adaptor is required.
The PC Settings
Once the connections are made, there is just one last step to get the PC display on the TV. For this the PC display settings are to be configured. Follow the steps below -
· Go to Menu -> Settings -> Control Panel -> select Display. Select the Settings tab and click the ‘Advanced’ button.
· The options displayed in the dialog box vary based on the video graphics card.
· Find the tab that is specific to the video graphics card. It will usually have the manufacturers name on the tab.
· In the graphics card tab, see if it has options such as Clone or Dual or Multiple Display, etc.
Check the appropriate box or radio button for the desired configuration and click Apply.
Older TVs won’t display high resolution. Also, some newer TVs will only accept certain resolutions. If the display does not work right away, try changing the resolution. If that still doesn’t work, try rebooting the PC with TV connected. The PC may auto detect the display and configure it for you.
The thedailycontributor.com is a website where you can find reviews on movies, music and good places to visit. Also, we identify popular blogs on various topics for your convenience.
Article Source: How to Connect Your PC to Your TV
A computer is a complex device with hardware and software components. Although modern computers are generally pretty reliable, almost everyone will face some sort of computer problem or issue eventually.
How to Handle a Computer Problem
The following discussion applies mostly to Windows based computers
The first step in solving a computer repair issue is to find the cause of the problem. This is known as troubleshooting.
Windows computers provide an event viewer. This is a record of all errors that the system detects. You should review any error reports in your event viewer to see if they identify the problem and suggest a fix. To use the event viewer, click start->run, type eventvwr.msc and enter. Click on system and look for any error reports in the right column. If there is a link in the error report, click on it to get the details. The link will often provide you with a possible solution.
Do the same for application and the other choices on the left hand side until you find something that applies to your problem.
Your operating system also provides help from the start menu. It provides step by step guidance on a great number of problems.
A web search for the symptoms of your problems will come up with a number of sites that provide step by step guidance in determining the exact cause of your problem.
Fixing the Problem
Once you have determined what the solution is, you can decide if you want to tackle it yourself.
If you are handy, many common problems are not difficult to repair such as replacing or adding memory, replacing a DVD drive or replacing a video card.
Software problems can be fixed by downloading patches or running some repair programs.
The Most Serious Problems
The Windows operating system is the heart of your system. Just as in a human being, heart problems affect the entire body in the most serious and total way, similarly operating system problems can make your computer severely sick or totally unusable. If you have a serious virus infection, constant or crippling BSODs (blue screen of death), frequent crashes or extremely slow performance, operating system repair is probably required.
In the case of XP systems, Microsoft has provided for a repair install operation which can bring your computer back to new. The best source for information about how to do the repair is provide by Michael Stenvens Tech.
However, this process can be complicated and you may need to be somewhat technical to pull it off. If you don’t do it right, you might get your system back but you will lose all your programs and data.
There are paid programs that can automatically fix your computer without losing any of your programs or data. These can be a life saver and they are cheaper than going to a repair outlet.
Best of luck in solving your repair issue.
David Freitag
The Computer Doc
To find out all about computer repairs and service and the best way to get your computer fixed see computer repairs
If your Windows XP system needs serious help, see repair windows XP
Article Source: Computer Repairs – How to Solve Your Computer Problems Quickly and Easily
For a majority of consumers, the determining factor in purchasing a desktop computer will have to be price. However, with the myriad of different makes and models available in the market today, it would be very difficult to tell one from another especially for those who may not be too familiar with computer specs. Below is a very helpful buyer’s guide that will outline the suggested configurations for the basic types of desktop computer users.
General Use
Nowadays, a budget of $500 to $1,500 should be enough to get a system with a dual-core processor that is powerful enough to perform all the basic functions of a home desktop computer – run a majority of applications, handle music and audio files, view and edit pictures, and even install and play most of the latest games in the market. A dual-core processor is the standard for today’s modern computers so those with a budget above $500 should definitely look for a system with this particular specification on board. An Intel Core 2 Duo or and AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor should be able to do the trick.
Other important key factors should include at least 1GB of memory (DDR2), a hard drive with around 300 to 500 GB of space, and a 128-Megabyte graphics card compatible with DirectX 9 (preferably Nvidia or ATI). In terms of peripherals general users should look for a DVD burner, an LCD monitor (around 17 to 19 inches), and a 2-piece speaker set. Although Windows XP should suffice, most computers nowadays will have Windows Vista Home or Apple OS X Leopard once it’s out in October). Apple iLife ’06 or Microsoft Office 2007 should also be on board.
Power Users
In order to have a power PC that could serve as a competent gaming system or even a digital design computer, one will need to have a budget of around $2,500 to $3,000. The processor has to be one of the most important factors here. Although an Intel Core 2 Duo should be able to get the job done, most power users will be able to benefit more from say, a Core 2 Quad or a Core 2 Extreme processor. This should be teamed up with around 4GB of memory at around 1,066MHz. Most of these systems will need a lot of disk space so users may want to look at 1TB hard drives (or 2 500GB drives). Whatever graphics card is chosen, it is advisable not to go below 512MB.
Home Entertainment Systems
For those looking to use their personal computers as their own home entertainment systems, a bit more money will need to be spent. This is because most of the specifications here should be top of the line to ensure that the system will be able to satisfy the high demands of cutting edge multimedia features. Users should be looking for built-in peripherals such as an HD DVD and Blu-ray optical drive combo, a 21-inch and upwards LCD monitor, and a 5.1 speaker set. Another option is to have a direct connection from the computer to one’s actual home theater system. However, cool and quiet performance is preferred over raw power when it comes to what’s under the hood so a Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 256MB graphics card should suffice.
About the Author:
ITC Sales is a leading supplier of cheap laptops and computers including HP and Dell Laptops.
Article Source: A First-Rate Buyer’s Guide for All Types of Desktop Computer Users
Depending upon what type of data acquisition is being used, there are a number of software program types that can organize, manipulate and present information in ways that are tailored to the needs of the user. As data systems get more and more intricate, the demands made on the software grow and change in response, and modern equipment usually has embedded computers as well as the ability to interface with a wide range of external computational devices.
One factor that has dramatically changed the requirements software must meet is the increase in the number and type of sensors used by data systems. These days, sensors are used in everything from grocery stores to automobile repair shops and manufacturing facilities attach them to their machines to monitor fluctuations. Most people are aware of the airplanes black boxes, which are simple data logging devices, but the sensors within the boxes have dramatically evolved over the last few decades and the amount of data collected has increased substantially. With all the diversity in sensors, the software to manage the data has become much more specialized and the days of one generic software program being adapted for many different functions are over.
Another bit of the puzzle is the increase in processing power of computers. In the 1960’s, the IBM data machines could process a mathematical instruction in about 4 to 6 milliseconds. Modern computers can process so much faster that the comparison is nearly meaningless, and even with the streaming nature of data system’s input, most systems can easily handle a huge amount of information from a hardware and operating system point of view. This has resulted in software being streamlined and coding enhanced to provide quicker results.
The internet has also demanded more from data acquisition software. Many programs allow for results to be posted on internet websites, letting many users access information remotely. This has created the option of global level discussions about everything from medical patients to scientific breakthroughs, all supported by data results accessible via the web.
Data acquisition software is constantly evolving to keep pace with the demands made from new sensor types, better information distribution techniques and improved hardware and operating systems. It’s interesting to think of how far the software will advance in the years to come.
To get more information about data acquisition and data acquisition systems, visit Biopac.com
Article Source: Data Acquisition Means More Than Just Details
We’re quite used to the idea of insuring our homes, cars and lives, so why are we so lazy about backing up our business data and personal files online? An offsite data backup can be a life saver!
Think about the data and files that you store on your computer – addresses, emails and a whole lot more.
Businesses and private individuals alike have a huge amount of digitally-stored data that is either difficult to replace or irreplaceable If you are running a business that relies on computers, laptops, and servers for the storage and exchange of data, the loss of this information could cost your business dearly, not just financially, but in time and reputation too.
Sadly, there are a lot of things that can end up in loss of data on Macs, PCs and servers alike. Fire, flood and other disasters can endanger data that is not properly backed up. Modern computers are smaller and easier to steal – or to lose.
A computer virus can corrupt or delete important documents and files on your system. You can see from this list how vulnerable your data is if you do not run a methodical offsite data backup system.
So back up your data online with us – it’s safe, it’s secure, it’s offsite so a disaster at your premises does not effect your data. Your offsite data backup with us is in the UK, so your data is protected.
A reliable and secure online data backup solution does not have to cost the earth or take a lot of time. And yet your get full data security for you and your business.
SequreData UK Offsite Data Backup will give you this peace of mind.
Data Loss is Bad Enough – What if Your Data Falls Into the Wrong Hands?
Unauthorised use of your stolen or lost data is a nightmare you don’t want to happen to you. Offsite data backup needs to be safe. That’s why you also need to protect your data backups by encrypting them. Our data backup system means that no-one has access to your backup files apart from you. Security is a key issue with your data, so we never know your encryption details. There have been several stories in the press recently about large data loss by government and corporate bodies where the issue is one of data protection. Your data held with Sequre is just that – secure, encrypted.
Protecting Personal Treasures
We’ve talked about your business data – but what about your important personal files? Important letters and emails, family photos, home videos and music all need protecting from the potential disasters that can happen at work. Do you have these personal files available in case of theft or other crisis? Taking the time to copy these files and store them somewhere safe could save you a lot of heartache.
An offsite data backup and storage service would help you to ensure that, should anything happen to the data on your PC or laptop, it won’t be lost forever.
Insurance Against Losing All Your Business Data
What about the files, documents, and other information that your business stores on its computers and servers? The loss of important and sensitive client data could cause irreparable damage, and cost your business a huge amount of time and money. No-one wants to have to explain to a client that their confidential data has been totally lost.
Disasters like this could jeopardise your company. Performing offsite data backup on a regular basis means that all your files and other data are safe, even if the worst happens to the computers in your offices.Disasters such as fires, floods, human error or thefts are difficult enough to deal with, but knowing that you can retrieve any lost information takes some of the stress away.
It also helps to assure your clients that yours is a reliable and trustworthy business who can be depended upon to keep their important information safe.
Protect Your Data Once and For All
To make sure you don’t lose precious data to disaster, invest in an offsite data backup service. It’s not expensive and it doesn’t take very long to do, and offsite data backup can save you and your business a lot of money and time. If your data is regularly backed up to an offsite location and is encrypted and stored, your digital information is safe no matter what happens to your computers.
SequreData’s offsite data backup service is available online through SequreData.com.
Try our Free Data Backup Trial to see how simple it is to make sure that the worst doesn’t happen.
SequreData offer an easy FREE TRIAL of their Offsite Data Backup Servicethrough their website. Read more about Online Data Backup here.
Article Source: It’s No Fun, But It’s Got To Be Done: Why Offsite Data Backup Could Save Your Business From Doom
Modern computers with efficient power supplies allow you to have one or more hard drives in a single computer. The hard drive which has operating system installed on it is known as primary hard drive and the other are known as secondary hard drives. It is the best practice to use secondary hard drives to create backup of your critical data.
But sometimes when you attach the additional hard drives to your computer, the hard drive partitions become unavailable in the operating system. So, the data stored on them becomes inaccessible. Such behavior causes critical partition loss and you need to opt for Partition Recovery solutions to resolve the issue.
As a practical scenario, when you attach a SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) hard drive to your Windows computer, you may face the following situations:
Moving files from the main drive to other Windows drives does not work. No error message is shown but the process does not complete.
Copying files to other drive does not work.
You can create new files on the drive but these files can not be opened, once after you close them.
Formatting the hard drive does not work. While formatting the drive, you might come across the following error message:
“Windows cannot format this drive. Quit any disk utilities or other programs that are using this drive, and make sure that no window is displaying the contents of the drive. Then try formatting again.”
When you run chkdsk, the following error message gets displayed:
”Run chkdsk at the next startup”
At this point, you may feel that changing or accessing existing hard drive partitions and data is not allowed.
Cause
You encounter this error message due to corruption of partition structure of hard drive. It could be due to file system corruption, MFT (Master File Table) corruption, FAT (File Allocation Table) index table damage and other similar reasons. Such behavior of Windows computer requires Partition Recovery to be fixed.
It is the process of scanning whole hard drive and retrieving all the missing, corrupt, inaccessible and deleted hard drive partitions using third party Partition Recovery Software. This software can recover lost partitions in most of the partition loss cases.
Partition Recovery Software is user-friendly tools and they do not require any sound technical skills to achieve absolute recovery of your mission critical data. With read only and non destructive design, this software is entirely safe to use.
Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is the advanced and robust Partition Recovery tool to recover lost Windows partitions and volumes. It supports FAT16, FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 file systems. The software is compatible with Windows 7 (Currently in RC1), Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000.
Author has shared practical experience of partition problems and gives suggestion and solution to use partition recovery softwareWhen windows user are facing problem with secondary hard drive at the time of for partition recovery.
Article Source: Partition Recovery from Secondary Windows Hard Drive
It’s surprising just how many people buy a new set of speakers for their computer, in order to try to improve the quality of the sound, but give little thought to the sound card inside the computer. In fact, only a relatively small number of people dare to tinker with the insides of their computer, but in reality buying and installing a new sound card is really not very difficult at all. If you can use a screwdriver to remove a couple of screws, and can change a light bulb, you have all the required skills for installing a new sound card.
Older computers would have almost all of the required components needed for the computer o run, built onto one main circuit board which filled the whole of the floor of the computer itself. This main circuit board is called the motherboard, and the sound you hear used to be created by components which were a part of this main circuit board. Some modern, fairly basic computers still do manage the sound this way, but they are fairly limited in quality.
Most modern computers have a separate circuit board, called a sound card, which plugs in to the end of the motherboard. The sound card manages all of the audio for your computer./ This means more than just making sounds. Both the input, the processing and the output of any audio is managed and controlled by the sound card.
If you have ever played a favourite CD in a cheap stereo system or mp3 player, and then played the same CD in a top of the range hi-fi system, you’ll have noticed how much better the sound quality is. The sound is richer, fuller, and more detailed. The bass notes can be heard, and felt, and the higher notes are clear, rather than distorted. Louder notes are clear, rather than distorted, and overall the piece of music is much better for listening to.
The same is true with the sound on your computer. Of course if you only tend to listen to the odd beep to tell you that you have a new email, then sound may not be terribly important to you. But if you play games, listen to music and watch videos, then you are almost certainly going to prefer toe quality of sound that you are used to hearing on good stereo or hi-fi equipment.
Some people assume that computers simply aren’t capable of replicating high quality sound, as a good stereos sound system could manage. But in truth, a stereo sound system or even hi-fi equipment is little more than a basic computer. A good quality sound card coupled with high quality speakers is more than capable of competing with the very best stereo systems and hi-fi sound systems.
If you think otherwise, you clearly have been used to listening to basic sound cards or built in sound systems on motherboards, and by buying and fitting a new sound card and investing in a good quality set of speakers you’ll be amazed at the difference.
Victor Epand is an expert consultant for computer parts and suits & ties. Shop here to find sound cards, computer speakers, formal suits & ties, and computer parts in Canada.
Article Source: Sound Cards To Rival Hi-Fi Systems
Modern computers can carry out a fantastic number of calculations and processes every fraction of a second, but this incredible computing power generates a very significant quantity if heat. As software becomes ever more complex and demanding, such as video editing and high end 3D graphics, computer games and audio editing, computers are constantly kept busy. The sound you hear whilst your computer is running is largely due to the high speed fans which are helping to dissipate the heat generated by the processor.
To make matters even worse as far as heat generation is concerned, some computers not only have multiple processors, but have separate processors for high end graphics cards. These processors also need cooling, and so having multiple fans can be necessary in order to help keep the components cool.
Naturally, all of this processing requires a great deal of power, and the PSU or power supply unit generates yet more heat. This is why it is often the case that computers can have two or three cooling fans. This all adds up to a great deal of noise, and if your computer sounds quite loud, it may be the fans which are causing most of that background hum.
Another issue is the dissipation of heat away from the computer. No matter how many fans are at work inside the computer, if the vents in the side of the computer are next to a wall, or in a poorly ventilated small office or room, then the heat will simply end up being circulated within the room and back to the computer.
If a computer heats up too much, then the processors may well reach temperatures above the recommended. When this happens, it is likely that poor processing takes place, with mistakes, crashes and even unpredictable shutting down of the computer. If you are finding that your computer does feel quite hot, and crashes a great deal, and shuts down spontaneously sometimes, it could well be a problem caused by overheating.
There are a number of possible solutions to this. It is likely that the cooling fans in your computer have become clogged with dust, and if this is the case then not only will the dust be acting as an extra insulation layer, trapping the heat inside, but will also slow down the fan, or even stop it turning altogether. Cleaning this dust away using compressed air is the best way of keeping your fans working properly.
Another thing to consider is replacing the fans in your computer with proper, purpose built cooling units. With high powered, highly efficient fans built on top of cooling pipes and fins which aid the dissipation of heat, you may find that not only does your computer work more efficiently, but is also able to work more quietly. Good quality,. Modern fans can work much better, and more quietly.
If you are really in to keeping your computer cool, working effectively, and quietly, then the best possible solution is to use a liquid cooling system. These systems don’t use fans, and so are much more quiet. They work by pumping a special liquid through pipes that run across the hotter parts of your computer, drawing the heat away very efficiently.
Victor Epand is an expert consultant for computer parts and suits & ties. Shop here to find cooling fans, liquid cooling systems, formal suits & ties, and computer parts in Canada.
Article Source: Keeping Your Computer Cool And Quiet At The Same Time
The way a computer deals with time is totally different to the ways humans perceive it. We arrange time into seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years, while computers on the other hand arrange time as a single number representing the seconds that have passed from a single point in time, known as the prime epoch.
Most computers use NTP (Network Time Protocol) to deal with time and on networks many are synchronised using a dedicated NTP time server. NTP knows nothing about days, years or centuries, only the seconds from the prime epoch. This prime epoch is set (for most systems) at midnight at the turn of the century twentieth century that for a human would be recorded as something like: 00:00 – 01,01,1900.
Computers, however, count time as the number of seconds past this point. If a computer was around in 1900 its timestamp on midnight January 1 would be 0 while in 1972 at the same date the timestamp would be 2,272,060,800, which represents the number of seconds since 1900.
The timestamps restart every 136 years with the next wrap around due in 2036, this has caused uneasiness amongst some who fear a Millennium Bug type scenario, although most doubt such events would occur, however, when a wrap-around of the timestamp does happen an era integer will be added (+1), to allow computers to deal with time spans that cover more than one wrap-around. If computers and NTP need to deal with time that spans before the prime epoch a negative integer is used (for the year 1500 a -3 will be used to represent three cycles of 136 years).
Timestamps are used in virtually every transaction that modern computers are tasked to do such as sending emails, debugging and programming. Because time is linear, a computer knows that each timestamp is always greater than the previous one and therefore computers and NTP find it difficult to deal with inaccuracies in time, particularly when time suddenly appears to go backwards.
This can happen if computers are not synchronised to the same time. If an email is sent to a machine with a slower clock, it appears to the computer to have been received before it has been sent. Lack of synchronisation can serious problems and can even leave a system vulnerable to malicious attacks and even fraud.
Because of this, most computer networks are synchronised to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). UTC is a global timescale and the same for everybody worldwide it is based on the time told by atomic clocks which are highly accurate, neither gaining nor losing a second in millions of years.
Most computer networks use a dedicated NTP time server to receive a UTC time to synchronise their computers too. UTC is available from across the Internet (although unsecured), via the GPS network (Global Positioning System), or by receiving national time and frequency broadcasts via long wave.
NTP synchronises a computer by checking the received UTC time and adding to or holding a computer’s timestamp until it perfectly matches UTC. By using a dedicated NTP time server UTC can be maintained on a network to a few milliseconds of UTC time.
Richard N Williams is a technical author and specialist in atomic clocks, telecommunications, NTP and network time synchronisation helping to develop dedicated NTP clocks. Please visit us for more information about a network time server or other NTP server solutions.
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Article Source: NTP – Understanding Computer Timestamps