CPU

An example of a CPU socket, Socket AAs installation of the different makes of CPU can differ between brands, it is generally safer torefer to the manufacturer's instructions, that are provided with the CPU. If you are using athermal paste with your CPU, follow the directions that came with them for details on how toapply it.The two things that go wrong the most often and most expensively (minimum of a killed32CPU, sometimes more) in building one's own computer are both related to the CPU and itscooler:1. Switching the computer on "just to see if it works" before adding any CPU cooling unit.Without cooling, CPUs heat up at extreme rates (a CPU heats up anywhere between ten timesand a thousand times as fast as a cooking area on your stove!) By the time you will get the firstdisplay on the screen, your CPU will already be severely overheating and might be damagedbeyond repair.2. Mounting the CPU cooler improperly. Read the instructions that came with your CPUand cooler very carefully and ensure you are using all components in the correct order andcorrect place.Make sure you get a cooler that is compatible with the CPU you have. Most brands come withmultiple mounting brackets that will suit all different chipsets, but it's best to check forcompatibility just in case.If using thermal paste, apply it only to the CPU die (the square piece of silicon in the middle ofthe CPU) and do so sparingly -- most modern CPUs take no more than a grain of rice sized dabof thermal paste. Some people do like to wipe some onto the heatsink's surface and then wipe itsmoothly off so that bits of it may get into tiny holes for better heat transfer. See Arctic SilverInstructions for more info on how to apply and remove thermal paste/grease. (It was written tobe specifically for Arctic Silver paste, but the same techniques can be applied to other brandsof thermal paste.)If using a thermal pad supplied with your cooler, make sure you remove any protective tapejust before installing and do not get it dirty - and do not combine thermal pads with thermalpaste, it's either one or the other. Then, check that you install the cooler in the right orientationand that you set it flat on the CPU die without exerting undue pressure on any edges or corners- the latter can make small pieces of the die break off, killing the CPU.One option you may consider, before installing the heatsink, is to "lap" the heatsink, whichmeans to smooth out the bottom surface. To do this, start by sanding in smooth circular motionswith a coarse grain sandpaper to smooth out the worst of the uneveness, then, as it starts to getsmoother, switch to a finer grained sandpaper (the numbers go up as the sandpaper is finer, sosomething such as 60 is coarse while 220 will be very fine.) If you get it right, it should have asurface which feels completely smooth to the touch where you can almost see a reflection in it.Some companies producing heatsinks lap the surface themselves and this will be unnecessary,but, it is very rare. A lapped heatsink is far more effective due to having better contact with thechip.Tighten the cooler using only the specified holding devices - if you did everything right, theywill fit. If they don't fit, check your setup - most likely something is wrong. After mounting thecooler, connect any power cables for the fan that is attached onto the cooler. Then, ifeverything is seated tightly and firmly, you can safely run your first test, making sure the CPUfan does run (you have a few seconds of safety margin here, but if the fan is not running, switchoff the system and check your cabling quickly.)33As an aside to the instructions above, it has been my personal experience that fitting the CPUand heat sink is best done on a supportive surface (a telephone directory on a table in my case)prior to installation, to avoid excessive flexing of the motherboard.

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RAM

Next, you will need to install your RAM. Start by pushing on the levers on both sides of theDIMM socket, so that they move to the sides. Do not force them too hard.Put the RAM module in the socket. Line up the notch in the center of the module with the onein the center of the RAM socket, making sure to insert it the right way. Force the module untilboth levers go into the notches on both sides of the module. Do not use too much force as itmay break the RAM module.Start adding RAM at "Bank 0" or "DIMM 1". If you don't start from "Bank 0" or "DIMM 1"the system will think there is no RAM and not boot.On newer motherboards with 4 slots, you'll see alternating colors. For example, slot 1 is blue,slot 2 is black, slot 3 is blue, slot 4 is black. If you were to put 1 gigabyte of ram in your pc, it'sbest to use dual channel 512MBx2 chips. Put the first 512MB chip in slot 1, and put the 2ndchip in slot 3 (the two slots that are blue) - leaving slot 2 empty. This will give you betterperformance, vs. putting 1gb in slot 1, or two 512mb chips in slot 1 and 2.

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Video Card

You may or may not have an AGP video card. Your motherboard may have a built-in videoadapter, or you might have a PCI video card. If you do not have an AGP video card, skip thissection.Install the video card into the AGP socket. This is always the top expansion slot near the backof the computer. AGP slots are often brown, but can also be strange colours such as fluorescentgreen. Check the motherboard for levers (or similar devices) that are part of the AGP slot tohelp hold the card in place. These must be retracted before insertion of the card. Check themotherboard's manual for information on how to use these devices (if your motherboard hasone.) Push the card into the socket (AGP slots are often pretty tight, don't be afraid to push ituntil it's well inserted), then screw it in at the top of the metal bracket. If it has a powerconnector, connect it to a 4-pin molex connector. If it has a pass through, do not connect it to ahard drive.

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Drives

Next install the hard drive and optical drives.Before you install IDE/ATA drives, you will need to set the drives jumpers, so that yourmotherboard knows which drive is which; consult your motherboard/drive's instructions onhow to do this. The jumpers configurations are usually either printed on the back, or on the topof the drive. Drives can be configured in 2 ways: Drive Select or Cable Select. Cable selectautomatically assigns slave/master based on the plug on the IDE cable the drive is plugged into.Put the jumper on CS. In drive select, master/slave is determined by the jumper. In this mode,configure one of the drives the master, and the other slave. If the IDE channel has only onedrive, then make that drive master.Each IDE/ATA channel can handle two drives, a master and a slave. SATA can only handleone drive, so there is no need to adjust jumpers. How a drive is installed will depend on thecase. When using an IDE cable, plug the two connectors that are closer together into the 2drives, and the third to the controller or motherboard. The connector furthest from the boardshould be attached to the Master drive. Make sure the drive that you will install your OS on isprimary master. (Note: IDE connectors are keyed, so it should be impossible to insert thembackwards. However, it doesn't require very much force to do this, and you may destroy yourmotherboard if so. Also look carefully at the drive and the cable connection before you try toconnect them. You will probably see a "missing" pin on the drive, and a corresponding blockedsocket on the connector. If you break a pin on the drive, you will probably have a worthlessdrive. Note: most parallel IDE cables have a colored stripe down one side. That colored stripesignifies "pin 1" - and usually will line up next to the molex power connection on your drive.Use this rule of thumb if your connectors aren't keyed.) Next, plug a 4 pin molex powerconnector into each hard drive and optical drive. If you are installing the power connector to aSATA drive, only install one of the power connectors. Some drives have the option of usingeither the SATA power connector (a flat about 1" wide connector) or the standard molexconnector; use one or the other, not both.If you install a floppy disk drive, the cable is very similar to the IDE cable, but with fewerwires. Floppy drives do not have master/slave. BUT the floppy disk connector is not usuallykeyed, and will go in either way up! One wire in the IDE cable will be coloured differently: thisis pin 1. There is usually some indication on the floppy drive as to which side this is. Thepower plug for a floppy is 4 pins in a line, but rather smaller than a molex one.

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Expansions and Connections

Now, install any PCI cards that you have. These generally include sound cards, network cards,video cards, and TV tuners. These fit into the white slots that are just below your AGP slot (ifyour motherboard has one).Also plug in any power cords, including the 20pin and the 4 pin cords that you haven't pluggedin yet. Before you finish up and power it up, you need to connect the power/reset buttons andfront panel lights. The plugs from the front of the case will be labeled. The pins on themotherboard may be labeled, but they will be difficult to read because they are small. See thefoldout that came with the motherboard for where to connect these connectors. The front panelLEDs are polarised: usually the positive wire is white.In addition, you can optionally connect any case-specific port if it is supported by themotherboard. Some common examples include USB ports and sound ports.Next, close the case and take your computer to where you will be using it. Plug in the powercord, mouse, keyboard, monitor, and any other peripherals you may have to the computer.

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Power Up

Then press the power button. If smoke appears (it shouldn't, unless your power supply orcooling systems are really bad), or if the computer doesn't do anything, check the steps above tomake sure you haven't missed anything. Give special attention to the cables and powerconnections. If the computer does appear to come on, but, you hear beeps, listen carefully to thebeeps and then turn it off and refer to your motherboard's manual for the meaning of the beeps.Some boards have an optional diagnostic device, usually a collection of LEDs, which whenproperly plugged in will inform you of the nature of the problem. Instructions for installing thisas well as the meaning of it's display should be in the manual for the motherboard. If it turns onbut the only thing that comes on is your power supply, turn off your computer. This probablymeans something is shorted, and leaving it on could damage the parts.At this point, you will wish to set certain options in the Computer's BIOS (usually be pressing'F1' or 'Del' a few seconds after boot.) These options will be explained in the motherboardmanual. In general, the default options are OK, but you may wish to set the computer'shardware clock to the correct time and date. The BIOS is also where you determine the defaultboot order of the system, typically Floppy, then CD-ROM, then Hard Disc.If you want a further quick test, before you install an operating system, you may find a bootableCD-ROM such as Knoppix extremely useful.

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Choosing and installing the computer's software

Once you have a working computer, the major difference between purchasing an OEMcomputer, and building your own is that you will also need to source your own software. If youmake informed decisions and select the right pieces of software you can avoid many hiddencosts that are often charged to your computer, such as the so-called "Windows Tax", charged toevery new OEM computer. Installing operating systems (OSes) and software to your ownspecifications can greatly improve performance.This section will attempt to explore the key options that you have when setting up yourcomputer for use.

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Operating System(s)

The first thing to do after you have a working PC is install an operating system. You have theoption of installing more than one, as well. The first option, and the one taken by most people,is to just install Microsoft Windows, of which the current version is Windows XP. Anotheroption is to install a GNU system (a Free Software operating system). There are many otheroperating systems to choose from as well, notably the BSDs, which are also open sourceoperating systems. Note that you also have the option of installing more than one operatingsystem in what is called a multiboot setup.If you are going to install both, install Windows XP first. This is because Windows overwritesthe software that GNU requires to start up, even if something's already there. If you installWindows before all of your other systems, you will be able to easily boot into all of them.

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Installing Windows

The installation of Windows is relatively easy. Push the button on the front of the PC, put theCD-ROM in your optical drive, and follow the on-screen instructions. Partitioning the harddisk(s) is different if you are dual-booting or going with just XP. If you are doing a plainWindows-only install, just allocate all of the hard drive to XP.If you are dual-booting, some extra considerations must be taken. NTFS, which is the defaultFilesystem that Windows uses, is not very well supported outside of Windows. GNU/Linuxsupport is up to the point where we can read, but not write, an NTFS filesystem. However, itdoes have some advantages over FAT32, in that a 4GB file size limit no longer exists.Likewise, Windows has no support for any of the standard GNU Filesystems. If you are goingto be switching between the two frequently, then it might be in your best interest to create a37FAT32 for both operating systems to use.When it comes the time to partition the hard disk(s), remember to leave space for GNU (ifyou're installing it - a good amount is somewhere in the order of a third of your total hard diskspace). You may want to have a spare FAT32 partition (of around 1 third of your disk space),on which to share documents between Windows and GNU/Linux, as Linux's support for NTFSdisks is good, but not perfect. You should also modify the table as necessary - you may notneed as much space for Windows or you may need more in your FAT32 transfer area. But youmust ensure that you leave at least 3GB for your Windows installation, since the standardinstallation of Windows takes up about 2 GB of hard drive space, and it is always wise to leavea bit extra on, to allow for any changes that may occur.Some people find that it's useful to create separate partitions for the operating system and data.This means that if something goes wrong with the operating system, the partition can beformatted and the operating system can be reinstalled without possibily losing data.If you are installing Windows on a RAID drive, or a SATA drive in most cases you are goingto have to provide the Windows installer drivers to access the hard drive on the raid controller.To do this while Windows install is at the blue screen, at the bottom it will read "Press F6 toinstall any third party SCSI or RAID drivers." Later during the install it will come up with ascreen says "Setup could not determine the type of one or more mass storage devices installedin your system, or you have chosen to manually specify an adapter." At this screen you aregoing to want to hit 'S' to "Specify Additional Device," another screen will pop up asking youto insert the floppy disk containing the drivers, followed by a screen asking you to choose theappropriate driver out of the set contained on the disk (most disks will have a for each of themajor Windows operating systems).

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Installing GNU

Before installing GNU, you need to be aware there is no single version of GNU. There aremany, each containing many different quirks of operation. The GNU distribution that is rightfor you is something only you can decide, although there are many popular ones. Some of themore frequently suggested distributions include: Suse Linux, Mandriva Linux, Ubuntu(basedon Debian), and Fedora Core Linux - since they are generally the more user-friendly ones.Distributions that tend to be more overwhelming to new-comers are: Debian, and Slackware -but they certainly have many advantages of their own.This is by no means a complete list, and there are many other distributions that you can selectfrom: for more help in picking a distribution see A Neutral Look at Operating Systems/Linuxor Distrowatch. If you are more comfortable with computers, Gentoo will arguably run fastest,but it is much harder to install.Installation instructions for GNU vary greatly between the distributions, so no instructions willbe given here, but look out for a section that installs software called GRUB or LILO. Upon38installation, you should be prompted about whether you have other operating systems (OS)(such as Windows), make sure that all operating systems on your computer are listed(otherwise you won't be able to boot them). The install for most distributions takes up about 4gigabytes of hard drive space, however this figure varies from distribution to distribution.If you are unsure as to whether GNU is for you or not, many distributions (most notablyKnoppix and Ubuntu) provide a LiveCD which boots a fully working GNU system from a CD,without affecting the data on your computer. This can be useful in evaluating whether GNU canprovide what you need. However, it must be remembered that distributions of GNU can beanything up to 5 CDs, so a single CD will not accurately reflect the breadth of softwareavailable on the platform.

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Security

After installation, your priority should be security.A newly installed Windows XP computer can be attacked within moments of being connectedto the Internet. The SANS Institute provides a PDF guide called Windows XP: Surviving theFirst Day, which explains how to update a new Windows XP box without immediatelybecoming infected by viruses and worms. To avoid having your new computer attacked, installa firewall, or activate the one that came with your OS. Both Windows and GNU have in-builtfirewalls: In some GNU distributions, it is enabled by default; in Windows XP Service Pack 2,it can be found in the program in your control panel.As soon as you are on the internet, run your operating system's update facility to fix anysecurity flaws that have been found since your CD was printed. To do this under Windows,simply click on your Start Menu, click on 'All Programs', and then click on Windows Update,and follow the instructions. If you use other Microsoft products, such as Microsoft Office, thenit can be valuable to use Microsoft Update, which covers updates for all Microsoft products.For either of these, you can also switch on "Automatic Updates" from the Security Centerprogram mentioned above.The method of updating your GNU Operating system varies greatly from distribution todistribution. For Fedora Core, simply issue a "yum update" as root on the command prompt. Itis perhaps easiest to update the OS from Debian-based distributions such as Debian, Ubuntuand Linspire, where you simply have to typeapt-get updateapt-get dist-upgradeinto a terminal window, and if your computer will be switched on overnight, it is very easy toset these programs to run automatically in the background.Programs such as Anti-Virus, Anti-Spam and Anti-Spyware of commercial quality or better canbe found quite easily: Windows programs are listed in the software section below. (Usuallytheese are not needed for GNU OS')39An important point to note is that security software is one of the more important things to be setup rather than other applications first. In one case, a freshly-assembled computer runningWindows XP with no security precautions taken was hit by the Blaster worm as soon as it wasconnected to the Internet, and has picked up a variety of spyware after only visiting a fewwebsites; forcing the owner to reformat the hard disk and redo installation of the OS

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Drivers

Now that your computer is relatively secure, you will need to install drivers for your variouspieces of hardware.Instead of installing drivers from CDs, it is generally a better idea to download drivers from theInternet (if you have a broadband connection) because these are usually more up to date, andcan be significantly faster, and can improve your computer's efficiency greatly. Even ifsomething seems to working fine, downloading new drivers may help. Your computer may beworking perfectly, but with slightly slow performance. Downloading drivers for yourmotherboard's chipset can often help. Finally, many monitors will not go above a certainrefresh rate without its driver, which may be of great concerns to gamers.If you are using Windows, you can generally find drivers for your selected hardware at itsmanufacturer's website. Most GNU computers already have all of the drivers installed, with theexception of proprietary modem and graphics drivers. If you can't find your required driver, asimple Google search will yield the best results.

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Software

Finally, load it with some good quality software. The majority of what you need will beavailable for free, on both forms of operating system, including Word Processors and Anti-Virus. The following are recommendations for each system:Windows•Web Browser: Mozilla Firefox or Slimbrowser or Opera(make sure that if you get MozillaFirefox or Slimbrowser you look into extensions)•E-mail Client: Mozilla Thunderbird•Office Suite: OpenOffice.org•Disc Tools: CD Burner XP or Burn at Once40•Instant Messenger: Gaim or Trillian•Media Player: Nullsoft Winamp or iTunes or SnackAmp•Anti-virus: AVG Anti-Virus, Free Edition or avast!Antivirus Home edition or ClamWin•Security: Spybot: Search & Destroy, Ad-Aware Personal Edition, K9 Anti-Spam,MicrosoftAntiSpyware, ZoneAlarm Free Edition•Compression: 7-Zip,IZArc,TUGZip•Desktop Search: Google Desktop Search or Copernic or Yahoo Desktop Search or WindowsDesktop Search

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GNU

Unlike with Windows, on a GNU system the majority of the software that you will want foryour computer is already included. You will probably not need to download anything. MostGNU distributions have a package manager (Portage for Gentoo, APT for Debian-based distroslike Debian and Ubuntu, etc.) For some distributions, simply download RPM files from yourdistribution's web site.If they aren't already installed by your distribution:•Web Browser: Mozilla Firefox or Opera(make sure that if you get Mozilla Firefox you lookinto extensions)•EMail Client: Mozilla Thunderbird•Office Suite: OpenOffice.org•Instant Messenger: Gaim•Media Players: Rhythmbox, mpd, amaroK (depending on what desktop environment you use)or Beep Media Player•Movie/DVD Player: Xine or MPlayer•Desktop Environment: KDE or GNOME•Windows Compatibility Layer: Wine•x86 Emulator/Virtualiser: QEMU•PPC Emulator: PearPC41

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Additional Software

For additional software some excellent sources of free and open-souce software are•Tucows http://www.tucows.com/ a downloads site with freeware, shareware, open-source aswell as commercial software. It has many mirrors all over the world for speedy downloads fromlocal servers.•SourceForge http://www.sourceforge.net/ a site featuring many OpenSource projects. You canstart your own, or get software for almost every need. Most projects have GNU and Windowsversions. The mirror system isn't as large as Tucows, but you can still usually get a mirror onthe same continent.•Table of equivalents http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/win-lin-soft-en/table.shtml can be useful ifyou want to know more about specific programs when changing from windows to GNU orvice-versa.

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Optimizing and Overclocking

OverclockingOverclocking (OC) is taking your computer components above their recommended speedsettings.(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)"Overclocking is the practice of making a component run at a higher clock speed than themanufacturer's specification. The idea is to increase performance for free or to exceed currentperformance limits, but this may come at the cost of stability."Think of the 3GHz on your new 3GHz Pentium 4 as a speed limit asking to be broken. This canbe done to several components in your computer. This often takes advantage of the fact thatmany manufacturers mark higher end components as lower in order to meet demand for a lowerend component. You will be able to get extra performance out of your components for free. It ispossible to get performance that is not possible even when using the top of the linecomponents. And you can buy cheaper parts, and then OC them to the clock speed of the higherend component.WARNING: OVERCLOCKING WILL VOID THE WARRANTY ON THE PARTSBEING OVERCLOCKED. DOING SO MAY ALSO CAUSE SYSTEM INSTABILITY,AND MAY ALSO CAUSE DAMAGE TO COMPONENTS AND DATA. BE CAREFULAND CAUTIOUS WHEN OVERCLOCKING.

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Things that can't be overclocked

Although it is possible to overclock many of the components of a computer (such as the CPU,FSB frequency and video card), it is not possible to overclock some components. For example,it is not possible to increase the read/write speed or access time of a hard disk or CD-ROMdrive. The only solution to improving the performance of these components is to use fastercomponents in the first place, or in some special cases of hard disks, change the configurationto a RAID. Many OEM computers have the CPU frequency locked. (But you wouldn't bereading this guide if you're using an OEM computer, would you?)

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Components CPU

The CPU's clock speed is the FSB clock speed (base, not effective speed) times the CPU'smultiplier. On most newer CPUs, the multiplier is locked, so you will have to adjust the FSBclock speed (However, it might be possible to 'unlock' the chip's multiplier on some older chips.See CPU Locking.) The FSB is not adjustable on a few motherboards, and many OEM systems.The FSB and multiplier, if not locked, are adjustable from within the BIOS. Note that uppingthe FSB clock speed also increases the clock speed of many other components, including RAM.When increasing the FSB clock speed, only do so in small increments of a few MHz at a time.After you do this, boot up your computer to make sure it works. If your computer successfullyboots, increase the FSB some more. If it won't boot, lower the FSB until your computerproperly boots up. Repeat until you have the highest setting with which your computer willboot up. Next test your OS to make sure it is stable with a burn application, or any applicationthat uses 100% CPU power. If a crash or reboot results, lower the FSB speed some more until itruns smoothly. On some motherboards you are also able to change the voltage of the CPU andother components in order to help stabilize the system. However, this increases the components'heat output and can harm or shorten the life of your system.Video CardTwo different parts of a video card may be overclocked, the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)and the RAM. In addition, disabled pipelines on a video card may also be enabled throughthird-party drivers, third-party software, or direct hardware modifications depending on yourvideo card type. Overclocking a video card is usually done through third-party or proprietarysoftware.Recent ATI proprietary Catalyst drivers feature an interface called Overdrive that allows fordynamic GPU frequency scaling based on its temperature and load. Increase the load, the clockrate increases for performance, but it's balanced against the increasing temperature. Sufficientfor simple increases in overall performance, but doesn't allow for the best performance increasewhich requires overclocking the memory. For this you need third-party applications or drivers.An example is ATITool. This program has many options, including GPU and memoryoverclocking, temperature monitoring, and fan control allowing for a much more completesolution to overclocking ATI based video cards. As for example drivers, for ATI there aremany, omegadrivers.net is one of them, also hosted there are nVidia drivers as well. Both ofwhich include integrated overclocking and many unlocked features, even including enhancedimage quality for nVidia-based cards. nVidia video cards can also be OCed through a hiddenfeature in the driver called coolbits.The most important thing to remember about overclocking a video card is cooling. This can't be44stressed enough. Just the same as a CPU can be damaged or have a shortened lifespan byoverclocking or excessive and prolonged heat, so can a video card. In the past year manyinexpensive and easy to install options have surfaced for cooling a video card, from adhesiveram heatsinks to attach to un-cooled ram chips, to rather expensive water-cooling solutions. Agood midpoint (both in cost and effectiveness) solution is to purchase and install a directexhaust, "sandwich" cooling solution. Direct exhaust means all air from the cooling fan isblown across the video card and directly out of the computer case, usually using the open PCIslot below the AGP (or PCIx) slot. This allows for substantially lower GPU temperatures. Asandwich cooler is two aluminum or copper heatsinks, shape formed for a particular video card,that "sandwiches" the video card in between the two and are usually connected by some kind ofcopper heat pipe which allows for the hotter side to convey heat to the cooler side fordissipation. The GPU should never surpass 60 degrees celsius for optimal performance and toavoid damaging the card. Most of the latest video cards are rated to go up to 90c, but this isNOT recommended by anyone. The optimal temperature for a video card is 40-55c for the carditself (the GPU's temperature differs depending on which you have,) but the lower you can getit, the better.One important thing to note. Many think that the option which says "AGP voltage" in theirBIOS can be used to "voltmod" a video card to get a bit more power out of it. In fact, it's usedfor something else, and raising the AGP voltage can and probably will cause damage to a videocard.

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Video Card

Two different parts of a video card may be overclocked, the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)and the RAM. In addition, disabled pipelines on a video card may also be enabled throughthird-party drivers, third-party software, or direct hardware modifications depending on yourvideo card type. Overclocking a video card is usually done through third-party or proprietarysoftware.Recent ATI proprietary Catalyst drivers feature an interface called Overdrive that allows fordynamic GPU frequency scaling based on its temperature and load. Increase the load, the clockrate increases for performance, but it's balanced against the increasing temperature. Sufficientfor simple increases in overall performance, but doesn't allow for the best performance increasewhich requires overclocking the memory. For this you need third-party applications or drivers.An example is ATITool. This program has many options, including GPU and memoryoverclocking, temperature monitoring, and fan control allowing for a much more completesolution to overclocking ATI based video cards. As for example drivers, for ATI there aremany, omegadrivers.net is one of them, also hosted there are nVidia drivers as well. Both ofwhich include integrated overclocking and many unlocked features, even including enhancedimage quality for nVidia-based cards. nVidia video cards can also be OCed through a hiddenfeature in the driver called coolbits.The most important thing to remember about overclocking a video card is cooling. This can't be44stressed enough. Just the same as a CPU can be damaged or have a shortened lifespan byoverclocking or excessive and prolonged heat, so can a video card. In the past year manyinexpensive and easy to install options have surfaced for cooling a video card, from adhesiveram heatsinks to attach to un-cooled ram chips, to rather expensive water-cooling solutions. Agood midpoint (both in cost and effectiveness) solution is to purchase and install a directexhaust, "sandwich" cooling solution. Direct exhaust means all air from the cooling fan isblown across the video card and directly out of the computer case, usually using the open PCIslot below the AGP (or PCIx) slot. This allows for substantially lower GPU temperatures. Asandwich cooler is two aluminum or copper heatsinks, shape formed for a particular video card,that "sandwiches" the video card in between the two and are usually connected by some kind ofcopper heat pipe which allows for the hotter side to convey heat to the cooler side fordissipation. The GPU should never surpass 60 degrees celsius for optimal performance and toavoid damaging the card. Most of the latest video cards are rated to go up to 90c, but this isNOT recommended by anyone. The optimal temperature for a video card is 40-55c for the carditself (the GPU's temperature differs depending on which you have,) but the lower you can getit, the better.One important thing to note. Many think that the option which says "AGP voltage" in theirBIOS can be used to "voltmod" a video card to get a bit more power out of it. In fact, it's usedfor something else, and raising the AGP voltage can and probably will cause damage to a videocard.

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Getting the few extra MHz out of a chip Cooling

When increasing the speed of any computer components you are making the components workharder and by doing so they output more heat. Heat can cause system instability so cooling isnecessary to help keep your components stable at higher speeds. Without good cooling youcould harm or shorten the life of your system. CPU temperature can usually be checked fromwithin the BIOS. However, thelse are inaccurate as your CPU is under almost no load in thebios. SiSoftware Sandra may be used within Windows to check temperature. This should bedone when your CPU has been under a heavy load for a while for optimum results.There are three types of cooling that are generally accepted for overclocking: Air, water, andpeltier.With both air cooling and water cooling some type of transfer material is needed to move theenergy away from the sensitive electronics. The deviced used for this purpose is a heatsink. Thetwo most popular heatsink materials are Aluminium and Copper. The heatsink that is stock onfactory computers by major manufacturers (Dell, Gateway, IBM) is usually made ofaluminium, which has satisfactory heat transfer characteristics. However when overclockingmore heat is being produced from the increase in power consumption and in order to obtain45lower tempertures a material with better heat transfer properties is important. For this reasonCopper is the material that offers the best ratio of price/performance.

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Power

Chips at higher speeds may need more power. Raising the vcore voltage on a CPU mightenable it to go at slightly faster speeds but by doing so you add a lot more heat output from theCPU. The vcore of a processor is the voltage at which a chip is set to run at with the stockspeed. This voltage may need to be changed when the multiplier is raised because otherwise thetransistors in the chip wouldn't switch fast enough - transistors switch faster, the higher thesupply voltage. If there is not enough voltage then the chip will begin to make mistakes andgive bad data results. Good cooling is needed to keep the system stable at higher speeds.Raising the vcore too much may harm or shorten the life of your system.Note: increasing the speed (multiplier or fsb) without changing the voltage will also increaseheat output, but not as much as when also increasing voltage. Having said that, increasing themultiplier or fsb without adjusting the voltage may make your system unstable (undervolt).

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Silencing

In contrast to overclocking, you may prefer to silence your computer. Some high-performancePCs are very loud indeed, and it is possible to reduce the noise dramatically. Note that quietercomputers sometimes run slightly hotter, so you need to monitor carefully what you do.Usually you can't overclock and silence at the same time. Main sources of noise are: Fans(CPU, case, power supply, motherboard, Graphics card), and Hard disks. One should be able tosit next to the computer, and hear birdsong from outside!

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Fans

The noisiest part is usually the CPU fan: the Intel-supplied fan-heatsinks are particuarly loud,although they do provide good cooling. Some BIOSs allow you to slow the CPU fan downautomatically when it is not too hot - if this option is available, turn it on. Also, you can get 3rdparty coolers, which are designed to be less noisy: for example, those made by Zalman. Noisypower-supplies simply have to be replaced with quieter ones. The case fans can be sloweddown by using fan-speed controllers, or resistors (but beware of ensuring sufficient cooling).Motherboard and lower-end graphics-card fans can usually be replaced with a small passiveheatsink. Large diameter (120 mm), high quality fans are much quieter than small diameterones. After a few weeks, dust and debris can accumulate on fan blades. Keep them clean toreduce noise and increase efficiency.

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Hard disk

A 'resting' hard disk is generally quite quiet compared with any fan, but increases dramaticallywhen it starts 'churning', as when you open or save a file or perform a virus scan. A goodsolution is to mount it on rubber mounts. But do ensure good cooling of the hard drive: runninga hard drive moderately hot can reduce its lifespan to under a year! Some mounts are designedto provide both extra cooling and silencing, such as the heat-pipe coolers. Spinning the HDDdown when not in use will also reduce noise, but it can reduce the life of the drive by increasingthe number of landings and take-offs performed by the read/white heads.A software tool created by Maxtor exists which can adjust a hard disk's noise/performance ratioto what your system requires. The technique is called acoustic management. However, onlycertain drives currently support this feature. You can read more on this topic here and get thetool here.Completely silent computers will need to use solid state memory like flash ram or eeprom. Thisis more expensive and has less capacity than a normal hard drive, so it can't be considered amainstream solution. At the moment, hard drives are the only practical option except in veryspecialised circumstances. However, there are plenty of options for reducing the noise output ofhard disks.

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Repair Tool for the Registry of Your Computer

The registry in your computer is crucial because it stores vital information that is needed by many programs to run properly. It also stores all of the unwanted files that are left behind by programs that you un-installed long ago. For this reason, you need to find the best computer registry repair tool out there to get rid of all the junk files in your registry without damaging the ones you still need. Be aware that anytime you do anything to your computer, a file is created to record your changes and it is stored in the registry as well. So, the more you use your computer, the larger the number of junk files that will build up. These junk files, if left long enough will start causing some errors and other problems in your processor and will impact the overall performance of your computer.
There are several choices for you to make when you decide to clean up your computer's registry. You can choose to do a manual search for the junk files and delete them yourself. All you have to do is open your start menu and type regedit.exe at the 'Run' tab. This command opens your registry-editor and will allow you to manually delete whatever files you choose. But, before you decide to do this, you had better know what you are doing because it requires a strong technical knowledge to precisely identify which files are junk and which ones you need to keep. If you accidentally delete the wrong file, you could cause potentially serious problems with your computer. So, the bottom line is that if you are not a technical wizard, don't take the chance and try to do it yourself. You will make a mistake and delete something that your computer needs to run. Even professionals that are well qualified to do this manually still make mistakes. If you decide to do this yourself, be absolutely sure that you backup your system prior to initiating the cleaning procedures.

The smartest way to repair your registry is to find the best computer registry repair software that you can. A good software program will safely and efficiently cleanup your system, remove junk files and greatly improve your system's performance. There are a number of great products on the market that you can chose from and you need to get the best one that you can. Go online and read the reviews for each product that you are considering. Look at the testimonials and feed back that are provided by users that have actually tried the product. Remember these tips before you choose a computer registry repair program so that you can be sure and get one that is best suited for your unit.

Visit my website and sign up for my FREE newsletter full of tips on how to make money filling out surveys.

Hi, my name is Debbie and I am passionate about animals. I have had dogs, cats, birds, hamsters, fish and horses in my life at some time or other. I currently have two poodles, a shi tzu, several finches and a cockatiel.

I write a variety of articles on a wide variety of topics. Check back often because I try to add at least one new article a week. I love to create websites and I have free newsletters for most of them. My websites have a lot of helpful, free tips. Be sure and check them out.

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Virus fixer

If you are using a computer system at home or office, you need no elaboration of the troubles you encounter, when your system is attacked by viruses. If we, the human beings are attacked by viruses, we are crippled for quite some time from working individually. That's all. But the virus attacks on a computer can totally paralyze the computer and cause innumerable damages. That includes complete loss of data.

The symptoms of a virus attack show up if -

· so many unwanted windows pop up on your screen · your browser acts erratically and take you to websites you did not want · sluggish operation of your commands is found daily · programs or sites you are operating vanish into thin air suddenly

These are the main outward symptoms you can notice, apart from many others inside. But thanks to technology advancements, you have ways to fix them now. For your benefit there are many virus-removal services readily available online.

All computer users are advised to be prepared to fight against such viruses, which enter your system through web browsers, when you inadvertently open a site infected with viruses; emails; attachment files etc. Although the computer is provided with anti-virus software, you should ensure that these are of dependable quality, obtained from reliable services and got updated very frequently.

However the rule of the thumb for fixing the virus infection is -
· Just check up what security measures you have in your computer. See the features are there like - antivirus software; firewall to protect; filtering of contents coming to your computer from online; and your system can detect intrusions and hawkers. · Specifically check the functionality of the anti-virus software - is it coming from a high quality resource and is updated · Check whether your system scans new files and programs for viruses, regularly · Be alert on seeing a mail from anyone unknown to you - better not to open it at all · Always have backups for your data, statistics, files and information stored inside your system, so you can immediately recover them.

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Available Software Be Leased and Financed?

Many businesses, both small and large do not realize that software can be leased or financed. Although software financing is unique in some manner, in general it has many similarities to equipment leasing.
It is also proper to ensure that right finance firm is utilized, as many lenders are somewhat risk averse to financing this asset. However, many others are looking for business in this area!

Contrary to popular opinion software as an asset in many cases has more value that a depreciating hard asset. It has also been confusing for lenders when it comes to the registration of collateral under Canadian PPSA (PERSONAL PROPERTY SECURITY ACT) legislation.
In its broadest term the financing or leasing of software that can't be transferred to another user. The business owner does also of course not own any development rights in the software. Software financing is treated as a financing mechanism, it is not a true lease per se.

Some additional key points around the technicality of software leasing/finance are as follows:

The right of a customer to use the software gives the company no right in the intellectual property surrounding the developers rights in the software code. The best example of this is when we look at our EXCEL spreadsheets that we use in finance and home matters. We use the software, but Microsoft of course owns it.

The problem in the past around the financing of software revolved around the fact that lenders did not know how to collateralize and register their security. Under current PPSA legislation intangibles and software can be collateralized. Therefore the software financing lender/lessor can be very confident that the software can be collateralized.

At the heart of the software financing issue is the true value of the software to the business owner. He runs his business on it, i.e CRM programs, office software, manufacturing software, etc. Software lease payments tend to be made since the asset is indispensable to the value and on going concern of the business. Unless companies are liquidated in total bankruptcy most lessors and finance firms recover fully on their software leasing - Source - Journal of Equipment Leasing In many business bankruptcies the software lessor or lender is treated as a secured creditor.

Also key to the software financing issue is that many software firms offer maintenance, support, and updates around their product. This enhances the lenders asset as it is used for longer lengths of time, and often constantly upgraded. Quite frankly it becomes less obsolete than computer hardware!

Many software lessors and lenders also finance the service and maintenance contracts associated with their customers software acqusition.

We do acknowledge in this article that it is more difficult to finance customized software although it is possible based on the overall credit strength of the borrower. Many customized software deals are done with only investment grade borrowers where credit risk is minimal. Many smaller ticket lessors and lenders however do now lease software. In general these transactions are full payout capital leases.
In summary, software lease financing is available and should be considered by every business owner in the same context as a capital equipment finance transaction. The computer hardware industry has grown with leasing, and the software industry is doing that also. The same considerations an owner gives to lease vs buy apply to a software finance acquisition.

Stan Prokop is the owner of 7 PARK AVENUE FINANCIAL, a Canadian firm which originates business financing and equipment and software financing for Canadian firms. During his ten year tenure at HP FINANCE he assisted hundreds of firms in financing their software needs.

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Remove out the registry errors form your PC

The Windows Registry serves as one of the most crucial components of Windows operating system. It is basically a central repository that stores and retrieves all of the information of hardware, software, and user profile configuration in your PC. Any operating system, applications, and the hardware on your system cannot perform any task without accessing the registry. The surprising number of obsolete entries and empty registry key can clutter and fragment the registry and slow down your PC. To effectively avoid the situation, you should invest in a high- engineered registry cleaner as soon as possible.

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Slow PC to change Speed- How

Are you feeling troublesome with the blue screen, system crashing or freezing are happening from time to time? Does your Internet Explorer frequently shut down when you are surfing the network in the case of encountering a mysterious system errors? Do the surprising numbers of files in your hard disk cause your system to run slowly like a crawl? If you want to make your PC run like a brand new one, please follow the steps:

1. Remove the programs you have never used or you no longer used
If you do not check the forgotten programs for a long time, your PC will run more and more slowly due to the forgotten programs have eaten up a surprising amount of space to store and retrieve themselves. To uninstall these applications, you should firstly try: Start - Control Panel - Add or Remove programs.

2. Free Up Wasted Space
Windows operating system comes with Disk Cleanup utility that can provide you with definitely professional solution to remove out the system and application localization resources, OS temp files, video format files in your hard disk which often mess up your system, or even slow your PC to shut down.

To run Disk Cleanup utility:

a. Double click My Computer icon to run it, right-click on Local Disk, and then go to Properties.

b. On the General tab, select the Disk Cleanup utility. Disk Cleanup began to run.

c. In the Disk Cleanup dialog box opens.

d. Check and select the check boxes you desired in the Files to Delete list, and then select OK. Disk Cleanup will run to clean up the disk for you.

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Max Animation Tutorial-3D Studio

The 3D Studio Max is the one of the best and most popular, edge cutting and state of the art 3D graphics software for modeling, animation, lighting, simulations, motion capture etc. Now a days there is lots of websites are providing the lots of millions of lessons, examples, guides and tutorials. There are two ways to search knowledge about 3D Max tutorial. The first search for the exact problem and the second search just step by step tutorials. They need no so professional guides with hi-end results, but tutorials with main information for beginners without complex exercises.They just want to find How to start with 3D Studio MAX.

While both types of computer animation can be accomplished by either frame by frame animation or by mathematical interpolation between key frames, the initial steps prior to animating are drastically different; the two separate processes also require different software packages. 3D animation, however, is rendered in a virtual three dimensional space,using polygons captured by various virtual cameras to film the animation. 3D animation has a variety of applications, from video games to animated films; most commonly, 3D animation is used to render many of the special effects seen in live action films, removing the need for scale model sets or staged stunts.

When you first open 3D Studio Max, it can look a little daunting, with dozens of buttons and tabs,screens and panels. But do not worry; just follow along, and we will get started on figuring out just what is what. The first tab is the Objects tab. It contains buttons that let you draw or create many of the often used basic shapes among the large repertoire of set shapes that 3D Studio Max contains, without having to find them in their usual sets and subsets in the regular areas. From left to right: Box, Sphere, Cylinder,Taurus, Teapot (no, this is not a joke, it is really a teapot), Cone, Geo Sphere, Tube,Pyramid, Plane, Hydra, Ring Wave, Torus Knot, Capsule, L-Extrusion, C-Extrusion, Prism,Quad Patch,Damper Dynamics, and Spring Dynamics.

Main tools and the create panel Geometry: Represented by an image of a sphere,selecting this subset lets you draw any three dimensional geometry. The default is Standard Primitives (box, sphere, etc), but using the drop down menu you can select Extended Primitives, Compound Objects, Particle Systems, Patch Grids, NURBS Surface, and Dynamic Objects.

Shapes: Represented by a shapes icon, this subset gives access to the drawing tools for flat, 2D objects: Splines (circles, rectangles, etc.) and curves...Lights:Subset represented by a flashlight with the tools to create light sets: Target Spot, Free Spot, Target Direct, Free Direct.The drop down menu for this subset contains only Standard types.

Cameras: Represented by a graphic of a camera, this contains the camera types:Target and Free. The drop down menu for this subset contains only Standard types. The last set of tools that we will discuss as part of the standard 3D Studio Max interface is located at the bottom of the window, stretching along the width of the working area below the multiple views.These tools help control how you view your animation,your time line, and how you view your scene.

Now a day there are lots of esteemed websites are containing lots of information regarding 3D Max lessons.Not only a text type tutorial,are video tutorials also available in the internet to learn 3D Max.

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Removers Spy ware and Adware and Stop Identity Theft

Spyware and adware are two different things. Both can cause problems in separate ways. Learning which one is little more than an annoyance and which one can serious compromise your identity is important.

Adware is the lesser of the two, in terms of potential threat. Don't get overly concerned, since adware is always being installed on your computer nearly every time you visit a site. Most big companies will have technology on their sites that allow them to find out a little about their visitors.

Spyware is not so easy to forget about, true, for the most part, spyware is usually junk software you inadvertently install by way of freeware or by visiting questionable sites but spyware can be much more than just a popup you can get rid of.

It can act as a gateway for others to use your hard drive for virtual storing space; it can record your keystrokes and browsing activity. It can even learn the details of your login information to banks, personal records and anything else you wish to keep private.

Both of them have their hazards, out of the two; spyware is much more high risk, finding the right software is a step in the right direction to keeping yourself safe.

Most adware and spyware removal programs are easy to use, easy to install and are available instantly to download. Most come with free upgrades and supports and are reasonably priced. There are free versions available but for a thorough scan, the paid choice seems to be more thorough.

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Fix Computer Errors-Windows Registry Errors

Choosing the best registry cleaner for your Windows operating system is very important. A poorly designed piece of software can actually do damage to the system. You will also need to choose a cleaner that matches your abilities and knowledge to be able to get rid of windows registry errors.

Some require technical knowledge and others are automatic. Make sure you get one that you are able to use.

There are several questions to ask yourself about this software before deciding whether to use it, or not.

1. Does is scan properly and thoroughly?

2. How long is it likely to take to do the job?

3. Can it repair errors without creating fresh ones?

4. Are there free updates available?

5. Does the software provider have a help desk in case you have a query? 6. Is there something special about it that other utilities don't offer?

Ask yourself if the answer to these queries is 'yes' and if so investigate further. Some registry cleaners do not do a deep clean of your registry and these will not find errors or corrupt files that lie deep inside the system.

The length of time it takes to complete a scan is not really important, the main thing is that the job should be done thoroughly. Sometimes you might find that one registry cleaner is much faster than the other and you might want to take this into consideration if everything else is equal.
The registry cleaner should able to find errors, corrupt data, etc and fix them without causing problems in other areas. If you run a firewall or antivirus program these may affect the registry cleaner, so it is best to disable them before you clean the registry.

Help lines and after sales services are essential requirements when purchasing registry cleaning software and it is also vital that the program is updated frequently, free of charge. If you require assistance with the program, it is essential that you get it quickly.

Some registry cleaning utilities offer extras like a special facility that takes you straight to scan disk, defrag and other built in windows system cleanup functions. These are not essential but may help you decide between alternatives if everything else seems to be equal.

The best way to test a registry cleaner is this. Download a free registry scanner from the manufacturer and run a scan to see what errors it finds. Any manufacturer who will not supply a free scanner should be avoided.
Once you have tested this by running a registry scan you can decide on which clean to use right away to fix your windows registry errors.

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desktop processors

Intel® desktop processors deliver superb computing power, performance, and reliability at home and at work. Our notebook processors let you work and play in places you never thought possible. Our server and workstation processors provide enhanced scalability, power, and performance for robust multi-processing environments. And our embedded and communications processors combine outstanding performance with scalable, power-efficient processing for a wide range of embedded applications.

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desktop processors

Intel® desktop processors deliver superb computing power, performance, and reliability at home and at work. Our notebook processors let you work and play in places you never thought possible. Our server and workstation processors provide enhanced scalability, power, and performance for robust multi-processing environments. And our embedded and communications processors combine outstanding performance with scalable, power-efficient processing for a wide range of embedded applications.

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Network Processor_Intel® IXP2805

The Intel® IXP2805 network processor is footprint- and pin compatible with the Intel® IXP28XX product line of network processors, allowing customers an easy migration path for new designs that require higher performance and lower power. The Intel IXP2805 is a highly flexible and programmable network processor with a high-performance parallel processing architecture for processing complex Layer 2 through Layer 7 algorithms, deep packet inspection and filtering, traffic management, and forwarding at wire speed.The Intel IXP2805 network processor is supported by a comprehensive development environment including a common set of development tools, libraries, and example designs that can help accelerate time-to-market and enable the addition of new and evolving services to customer applications.

Highlights

Low-power/high-performance solution for a broad range of Layer 2 through Layer 7 applications.
Up to 10 Gbps packet forwarding, policing, scheduling, queue management, and protocol inter-working.
16 fully programmable multi-threaded micro engines support 25 Giga-operations per second.

High-performance, low-power 32-bit Intel XScale® core for processing complex algorithms, route table maintenance, and control plane and system-level management functions.

64-million enqueue/dequeue packet operations per second, enabling deep packet processing of minimum 49-byte Packet-Over-SONET (POS) packets with no loss of performance.

Software- and pin-compatible with the Intel® IXP28XX product line of network processors, preserving customer investments and enabling evolution of current IXP28XX-based boards and systems.
Industry-standard Advanced Telecoms Computing Architecture*-based (AdvancedTCA*) hardware development platform for rapid product development and prototyping.

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The mobile processor Intel® Core™2 Extremer

Experience the worlds' highest-performing mobile processor. The Intel® Core™2 Extreme mobile processor delivers when you need the ultimate in gaming and multimedia performance.

The Features
Expect allthing—get it
Get the ultimate engine for extreme gaming and advanced multimedia with the world’s highest-performing processor‡1 for notebooks with 6 MB of L2 cache, 1066 MHz Front Side Bus and clock speeds of up to 3.06 GHz.
Almost Too Fact
Get accelerated, ultra-realistic game physics and artificial intelligence for a gaming experience second to none. With smoother action and more realism, you’ll be able to get the most of today’s super-complex HD games and applications.

Energy-flixible performance
Having more performance doesn’t always mean you should spend more energy. The Intel Core 2 Extreme mobile processor was engineered for extreme energy efficiency so you can pack even more gaming power into your notebook.

control
With overspeed protection removed you can tune your system for maximum performance and go where no gamer has gone before.

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The most powerful Processor -Intel® Core™2 Quad Processors

Investing in new Personal Computers with Intel® Core™2 processor family can mean big savings for your business. Delivering faster performance, greater energy efficiency, and more responsive multitasking, desktop PCs with Intel® Core™2 processor family can help your whole company be more productive.

In combining breakthrough processing speeds with advanced power saving features, desktop PCs with Intel® Core™2 processor family let you get more done in less time than ever before reducing energy costs by an average of 50 percent.¹ Processors built with Intel's unique 45nm technology offer excellent performance as well as unique energy-saving features that help PCs meet ENERGY STAR² requirements. That means reduced power consumption for desktop PCs and lower energy costs for your company.

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The powerful Processor -Intel® Core™2 Duo

Introducing the Intel® Core™2 Quad processor for desktop PCs, designed to handle massive compute and visualization workloads enabled by powerful multi-core technology. Providing all the bandwidth you need for next-generation highly-threaded applications, the latest four-core Intel Core 2 Quad processors are built on 45nm Intel® Core™ microarchitecture enabling faster, cooler, and quieter desktop PC and workstation experiences.

and, with optional of Intel® vPro™ technology, you have the ability to remotely isolate, diagnose, and repair infected desktop and mobile workstations wirelessly and outside of the firewall, even if the PC is off, or the OS is unresponsive

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Top 5 Color Laser Printers

When it comes to a color laser printer, one needs to choose the right one. Good quality and image resolution can make all the difference between mediocre and outstanding printouts. In this article, we provide reviews of the top 5 color laser printers in the market today.1. DELL 3000cnAmong all the printer reviews, this one tops the list with a good margin. This compact, 25 ppm monochrome, 5 ppm color printer has a 2400x600 dpi resolution. The DELL 3000cn measures about 16.7x16.5x17 inches and weighs approximately 53 pounds. It has excellent color laser output quality as well as expandability. It is also compatible with Windows, Mac as well as Linux systems. Even small sized fonts are easily readable due to the superior quality of print. Its starter toner print cartridges come with a speed of 2000 pages for black and white and 1000 pages for color printouts. What makes it top the list are its superior quality of text as well as good, solid graphics – all at a very reasonable price.

2. Oki printing solutions C3400nThis printer is high on speed with 20 black and white pages printed per minute and 16 color pages every minute. It has a resolution capacity of 1200x600 dpi. It has about 4 print cartridges with a capacity of 1000 pages each. What places it second on the list is its speed and reasonably good text and graphics, all of which come at a surprisingly affordable price.

3. Brother HL 2700CN This color laser printer is aimed primary for office usage as opposed to home use. It has a monochrome speed of 31 ppm and color of 8 ppm. The Brother HL 2700CN comes with starter toner print cartridges with a shelf life of 5000 pages for black and white and 3000 pages for three colors. What sets this one apart are the presence of both parallel and USB 2.0 and even 10/100TX networking ability.

4. Lexmark C510 This small office beauty prints with exceptional color and sharpness. Especially targeted at small business groups, the Lexmark C510 color laser printer provides plenty of features at a very affordable price. The printer comes in three varieties, has a mono speed of 30 ppm, 8 ppm color speed and is much faster than any other pure monochrome printers. 5. Samsung CLP500With sharpness and brilliance in its printing as well as good mono and color speeds of 20 and 5 ppm respectively, this color laser printer comes at a reasonable price. It has a color resolution of 1200x600 dpi, good print quality and is quieter compared to its counterparts. The Samsung CLP500 has a print capacity of about 600 sheets, has a 64 MB memory, has both parallel and USB 2.0. The downer for this one is its bulky appearance (it measures 20x18.5x16 inches) and heavy weight (approximately 80 pounds). It’s best suited for people for whom color quality is paramount and not so much the volume of work.

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Photo Sharing Websites

In so many consumer activities the consumer is told how to use a particular product. In the technology sector, however, this practice is almost discouraged. Once people figure out how a particular technology product works they will use it as they see fit, not how somebody else deems fit.How it was supposed to be used

One of these particular product areas is family photo sharing. A customer/user can simply upload a photo to an online photo sharing site or album service like Epson online photo albums. Once an image is posted it can be used for family photo sharing or to create a family album. This is how the process was supposed to work, and work well it did. The process, however, was not how the average user saw the process working.

How it is being used

In today’s photo sharing sites marketplace the whole process is undergoing a “fine tuning” of sorts. The online photo albums approach was nice but it did not quite appeal to the individual. The process was more family based. Although there is an ongoing evolution at work, people want an individual approach or an approach that links them up with people of like photo image interests. One particular group likes images of dog noses while another something else. But as is often the case in all other things internet people will flock together and this is what is happening in the photo sharing websites arena.

Top sites

Classifying one photo sharing site against another is difficult, but if looked at from a general numbers and user point of view, an idea of which photo sharing sites rank where can be approximated. Looking at a set of sites from a numbers point of view it is readily apparent that Photobucket is the leader among photo sharing sites. It may or may not be the leading site but in terms of the number of people using the site it is the number one site. For the most part, this ranking is attributed to its primary use as a tool on MySpace.com. Other leaders according to MySpace usage numbers include:

• Image Shack

• Tiny Pick

• Imgdump.net

• Flicker

Two worldsThe differences between a numbers leader like Photobucket and a user interface perspective is the ever changing dynamic between mainstream photo albums and the social networking aspect of photo sharing. Although Photobucket may be the photo sharing choice in the social networking category a package like Flickr can be said to be a leader in the mainstream photo sharing world. These users may be more accustom to using something along the lines of Epson online photo albums. Meet in the middleAs is usually the case in these technology oriented situations the two will come together to create a common form that all may be comfortable with. Right now, there are many ideas as to what works best. Some photo sharing sites do better in one aspect and others do better in other areas. There is, at the moment, still a flux in the market. Where it will land is not yet certain

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Review of HP, Sony, and Compaq Laptops

So do you prefer to call them laptops or do you prefer to call them notebooks. I am partial to notebooks as I never keep them on top of my lap. Jokes apart, purchasing a new notebook computer is really tough.If you were to read the ads then each computer sounds better than the cat's whiskers. But when you look close, they all look similar. At least the similarly priced ones tend to be similar. So, is there really a difference between one laptop and another? Or should I say one notebook and another?To answer this very question, I am going to look at three popular computers that are currently on sale and compare them. The read can then take this to be the starting point and evaluate many other options to find the one that works best for them.First of all, let us consider the HP Pavilion DV6426US, a machine that I powered by the Intel Core Duo Processor T2450. This multithreaded architecture based micro processor is well optimized for multi-tasking based performance. The fact that this notebook comes installed with 1 GB RAM should help run many of the contemporary popular applications at a good speed. It has a 160 GB Hard Drive which is nothing spectacular, but should do the trick in most cases. And the bundled operating system is the Microsoft Vista Premium. And I really like notebooks that come with an integrated WebCam. This HP laptop sure has one of those. In the absence of such a webcam, attempting Video IM becomes a serious pain.Second let us consider the Sony VAIO VGN-FZ140E/B. This laptop too is powered by a Duo Processor, in this case the Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7100. It beats the HP one in terms of RAM, as it comes with 2 GB RAM. Its hard disk is bigger at 200 GB. So, if Freud was right and size does matter then, well, this one has the bigger Hard Drive. The duo-core multithreading micro processor will deliver performance similar to the HP machine. This laptop comes with Microsoft Vista Home Premium.Finally let us look at the Compaq Presario F572US. Like both the previous machines, this one too has a 15.4" screen. Though it has a dual-core micro processor, the Compaq uses the AMD Athlon 64 Processor TK-53 and not an Intel based processor like the other two I wrote about. Also it has 1 GB RAM like the HP machine. Where I think it scores lower is in its hard disk capacity, a mere 80 GB. It also comes with the Microsoft Vista Premium.All in all, the machines have pros and cons. I have not listed prices here, as they would change faster than I could type them out. But, make sure to look at the prices too.

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USB Flash Drives

USB Flash Drives have become increasingly popular as promotional incentives for a number of reasons. The promotional incentives market is always receptive to new and exciting ways to reach the target audience. Traditionally promotional products have been branded with a company’s logo to leave a lasting impression with the prospect. The usability of the giveaway is a key component to its success. This is the reason why gifts such as Pens, Notepads, Clothing and general business accessories have always been popular! The USB Flash Drive has taken this to another level altogether – now you can give potential prospects a USB Flash Drive and be confident your branding will hit home. The major innovation to the promotional incentives market is the way in which the device can be manipulated to suit the needs of various organizations. For example, the USB Flash Drive can be preloaded with data prior to it being given away. This allows useful information to be at the fingertips of the recipient. This could be in the form of a PDF, PowerPoint, Video, etc. This is the ideal way for companies to make sure that when a potential prospect leaves they have a permanent reminder of exactly what the company can offer. This could be in the form of a document, a price list etc. They are typically small, lightweight, removable and rewritable storage devices. USB flash drives offer numerous advantages over other portable storage devices i.e. floppy disk. They are compact, faster; hold more data, and have superior reliability due to their lack of moving parts and durable design. In addition it has become common for computers no longer to have floppy disk drives. Conversely USB ports appear on nearly all PC and laptop’s nowadays.

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PENDRIVE BASICS

A Pen Drive is a compact, removable storage device just like a floppy disk or a CD. Instead of the floppy device or the CD ROM that are used for reading a floppy disk and CD respectively, a pen drive can be plugged into the USB (Universal Serial Bus) Port of a computer. The USB connectivity makes the pen drive easier to use and data can be transferred faster to and from the pen drive. Different Manufacturers have named Pen Drives they manufacture differently. Today, a pen dive goes by the names of thumb drive, USB flash drive, Jump Drive, Traveler`s Drive, USB key drive, USB memory stick and many others!These pen drives are small, inexpensive, almost ubiquitous and extremely handy. They are available largely in the range of 1 to 8 GB which makes them of great use and has made floppy disks and CDs look like useless storage mediums. The credit of inventing the pen drives goes to IBM. It was invented in 1988 to replace the floppy disks, but IBM never patented it.

IBM contracted in M-Systems to manufacture the Pen Drive and the patent is now owned by them. The pen drive is a modern floppy disk. The main difference is that a floppy disk has moving parts which makes the data stored on the drive vulnerable to loss. A pen drive, on the other hand is a solid state device i.e. it has no moving parts. This makes it possible to almost completely seal the pen drive making it dust-proof and the common magnetic fields. Hence, a pen drive is a much safer option for storing important data.The latest operating systems like (Windows XP, Linux and Mac OS 2) can recognize these pen drives and mount them automatically. Once it is connected, recognized and mounted by the operating system, it appears just like any other partition of the hard disk except it is named as removable storage. The pen drive can be removed any time after it is un-mounted (safely remove hardware in case of Windows) and can be re-plugged into the same or a different machine to be used again. A pen drive`s most important use is to transport data and files from one machine to another. For e.g. one can simply copy all the word processing documents, images and spreadsheets to the pen drive, carry it along and copy the files on his/her home computer and work on it at home.Some users have found the pen drive useful in moving their internet browser History, Cache, Cookies, and other transient data. This improves their privacy and security as no traces of the work done on the machine is left on the PC. Once copied to the drive, the files can be made more secured by encryption or any other method of security.The pen drives can also be used to store operating systems to boot the computer. This makes them popular for repair and diagnostic work. Instead of carrying tools and maintenance software applications on CDs, a pen drive can be used which is faster and can be manipulated easily in case the software is upgraded or is no more useful. A pen drive is one of the most economical mobile medium for data storage in terms of cost per unit storage space. They are really light-weight and robust in nature which has made it a big hit and a very important and indispensable tool for a large number of users. This article is under GNU FDL license and can be distributed without any previous authorization from the author. However the author's name and all the URLs (links) mentioned in the article and biography must be kept.

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