Computer Care - Clean the Computer Fan regularly

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We all take care of our household items, our kids, pets, furniture, car and a host of other things, but forget taking care of our computers. Taking care of our computer is probably the last thing we do. However, one thing we should remember that without a regular maintenance schedule, our computer may soon become a financial burden and we may have to replace it.

Let's talk about maintaining hardware. So much emphasis is put on maintaining a computer's operating system that we sometimes forget how important it is to maintain a computer's hardware components. Since there can be quite a few components to take care of, let's talk about the most important one.

The most important component of a computer's hardware system is its fan. The fan is located on the computer's CPU unit and when that thing gets clogged with dirt and dust, it can run down a computer faster than you can say, "Something's wrong with my computer and I don't know what it is!" In short, the fan is responsible for keeping a computer's motor cool and this motor is what keeps the computer's hard drive and peripherals functioning the way you need them to, which translates to "fast."
A dirty fan doesn't rotate fast enough to keep that motor cool and a completely clogged fan just stops rotating altogether. This causes the computer's motor to work harder - and a harder working motor can raise the electric bill! Worst case scenario: the motor can overheat and stop working as well. No motor equals no computer.

Keep your computer's fan clean by preventing the fan from getting dirty or dusty in the first place. Use the computer in a dust-free environment and never smoke around it. Nicotine and tar mean certain death when it comes to computer fans, however should you find a need to clean the fan, do so with extreme care.

It's quite easy to cause more damage from cleaning so if you're not comfortable with cleaning your PC yourself, take it to a shop for servicing. Otherwise, you can unplug and disassemble the computer to do it yourself.

You'll need a can of compressed air and an anti-static rag to remove stubborn clumps of dust. Hold the can perfectly vertical and spray the fan being careful not to spray the dust off the fan onto other sensitive parts of the computer like circuit boards or inside the motor casing. Wipe up remaining dust with your anti-static rag and then reassemble the computer.

One thing that you certainly don't want to use to remove computer dust is a vacuum cleaner. Although using a vacuum cleaner seems to make more sense, the strong suction of a vacuum cleaner can actually spark damaging static electricity or dislodge loose cables. You also don't want to use oil-based cleaners. Although Pledge may dust your wooden tables and cabinets to a perfect shine, the oil inside a cleaner like this will erode sensitive computer parts. Stick to a liquid-free dusting method and your dusting routine will be safe enough to repeat as often as you need.

As previously mentioned preventing dust from entering the computer is extremely important and will reduce the need to open and dust your system in the first place. The severity of outside elements (smoking, humidity, pets, etc.) will ultimately determine how often you'll need to de-dust your machine. But as an average, you shouldn't need to perform this procedure any more than once or twice a year.
The entire exercise should take no more than twenty minutes tops and once complete, you'll immediately see and hear the difference in your machine. The computer's keyboard and mouse will run more smoothly, hardware won't take as long to connect, and the entire machine won't be as loud as one that's corroded with ugly dust bunnies.

K3000ST nano

Introducing the new Soundtraveller K3000 ST! Editor’s Choice winner - MacWorld, Feb 08 and Editor’s Choice, iPodUser, July 08!

The big brother to the original Soundtraveller, the K3000 ST has all the style and portability of its smaller companion but is miles ahead in terms of sound reproduction. The K3000 ST pumps out a massive 6 watts of music power, amazing volume from such a small unit!....Read more

Blackberry Gemini 9300 - The Dark Knight!

Recently specs and images of the new Blackberry Gemini have been leaked on the web and it sure looks amazing. Judging from the images it looks like an advanced version of Blackberry Bold 8900. Here are the rumored details:

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and Tri-band UMTS/HSDPA

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How to Repair your PC

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If you're similar to me, you probably have had in all likelihood a couple of PCs. In that case you're certain to have experienced the casual trouble, and hurried the machine off to the mechanic’s workshop. At the time, the price of fixtures might have appeared a little high corresponding to the original monetary value of the machine, and you may not have been rather certain what were really performed.

You can learn to do your own diagnosis and repair work. It is worth while knowing what is going on inside the box, even if you do not do the work yourself. With a good understanding of the likely causes of the hardware problems, you can be a lot more confident that the repairs carried out were reasonable and necessary.

To begin with, a good source of technical information is necessary. You can always ask at your local electronics shop, but if you really don’t know what you are talking about, the embarrassment can be a big turn off. There is an excellent book available called ‘Upgrading and Repairing PCs’ written by Scott Mueller. This is the most complete and most readable ‘how-to’ book I have found, and if you only buy one book on the subject, Scott’s is the one to get you hands on.

The next step is to choose a few projects to get familiar with the hardware. The best way to begin building up your skills is to pull a computer completely apart, and then put it back together. If it still works after that, then you have made a pretty good start. At this stage, you may be thinking ‘hang on a minute, I paid a lot of money for my system - No way am I going to risk messing with that baby’.

No, as a beginner, you definitely should not. You can get hold of some old computers to tear apart and rebuild. Old computers are seen as worthless, and you will find Pentium 1 and 2 machines being discarded as rubbish, even though they are still in good working order. Even a Pentium 3 can be bought very cheaply, and most of these are pretty good performers. A word of warning – be careful how widely you spread the news of you new interest in old computers. You will be surprised how many 486s and older are sitting in cartons in garages and basements; your friends and family will really be delighted to give you an amazing collection of electronic junk.

Get familiar with the various parts, and how they fit together. Learn to identify the different styles of processor chip, RAM, disk drives and other components.

As always, safety is paramount. The computer components themselves operate at low voltages, but you still have the mains strength voltage coming into the back of the computer. Always power off and unplug when you are working on the computer, and be suspicious of any signs of overheating or of burning smells. Enjoy your tinkering.

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Smartphone app monitors power consumption

A new application for the Android smartphone shows users and software developers how much power their applications are consuming. PowerTutor was developed by doctoral students and professors at the University of Michigan. Battery-powered cell phones serve as hand-held computers and more these days. We run power-hungry applications while we depend on the phones to be available in emergencies. "Today, we expect our phones to realize more........Go to the Cell-phone-blog

About Microsoft Access Tutorials

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Computers have become common all over the world. In fact it is one of the most important piece of equipment in our daily use. Thus many people have started to learn about basic computer operation. In addition to Microsoft Word, Excel which are very common, there is another program known as the Microsoft Access. Access has also become very common in our daily use and many people would love to learn it. However the current info about Access tutorials is not always the easiest thing to locate. Fortunately, this report includes the latest Access tutorials info available.

Some computer programs are more useful than others, and some are easier to use than others. What you have to use might just depend on where you work and what you like to do at home. One program that can be very useful, but is also somewhat hard to master is Access by Microsoft. This is many great business applications, but unless you own your own business, you may never have a need to use this at home. However, if you do use it, and you are having a hard time figuring it out, you can find an Access tutorial to help you learn the ins and outs of the program.

I learned Access when I went to business school. I found that this could be very useful for many reasons, but I also had a hard time learning how to use it correctly. I did well in all of my other classes, and even made honors, but this was one class that gave me a lot of trouble. When I talked with my instructor about my troubles, she suggested that I might find the Access tutorial they had on some of their computers helpful. She was right. Once I got through the Access tutorial, suddenly a lot of what I was doing made sense to me.

The information about Access tutorials presented here will do one of two things: either it will reinforce what you know about Access tutorials or it will teach you something new. Both are good outcomes.

I was just about the only one in my class that was having a problem and needed to use the Access tutorial, so it wasn’t her teaching style that was the problem. For the most part, it was my learning style that caused issues for me. I am more of a hands on learner, which means I learn by experimentation and doing something, rather than reading and then doing the exercise. The Access tutorial let me learn as I did the various things that the program could do and that allowed me to master the basics rather easily, and the rest can to me naturally.

If you think this might be something that would benefit you, or even your employees if you are thinking of getting this program, you can find some great Access tutorials that will allow them to learn as I did. You can find some online, and the program should also come with some. You may want to invest in a simple one you can get before you install the program so that everyone is somewhat ready to go when you finally put it into use. You may find it to be a great program for your business, as long as everyone knows how to use it.

Now you can understand why there's a growing interest in Access tutorials. When people start looking for more information about Access tutorials, you'll be in a position to meet their needs.

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How to Protect Your Information

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If you use the computer and the internet, then you should know the basic rules for keeping your computer safe and free from viruses, Trojans, malwares and malicious programs that are being bombarded every day to your computer through the internet. Today it has become very easy for stealing your information that you store in your computer. When this information is being stolen, there is every chance for damage to your computer’s hardware or software or theft of software. All users both at home and in business are equally at risk of information theft.

One example is a malicious individual stealing credit cards so they can make unauthorized purchases on another person’s account. If information is transmitted over a network then it has a very high chance for malicious users to intercept the information. Every computer in the path of your data can see what you send, and they can also see what you send. A lot of companies try to stop information from being stolen by applying some user identification and authentication controls. These constraints are best for protecting computers along a company’s premise. However, to protect information on the Internet and on networks, companies use a handful of encryption methods.

Encryption refers to the process of converting data into an unreadable form. One type of encryption software is Obfuscated code which is a programming language that is extremely hard to read. Encrypted data is like any other data because you can send it through a lot of options, but to read it you must decrypt or decipher it into a more readable form. Throughout the encryption process, the unencrypted data or input is known as plaintext and the encrypted data, or output is known as ciphertext.

To encrypt information, the programmer converts the plaintext into ciphertext using some type of encryption key. An encryption key is the programmed formula that the person who receives the data uses to decrypt the ciphertext. There are a variety of encryption or algorithm methods. However, with an encryption key formula, you will be using more then one of these techniques. Some business use available software, while others develop their own. When an individual send information online such as through an email for example, they will never know who might intercept it, or to whom it could possibly be forwarded to. That’s why it’s not such a good idea to send confidential information online. However, an individual can help protect themselves by encrypting the information, or signing it digitally.

Some very popular email encryption software is known as Pretty Good Piracy (PGP) and Centurion Soft Secure Protection. Pretty Good Piracy is known as freeware, which means that individuals can use it for their personal needs but not for commercial purposes. You can download this for no cost. A digital signature is a type of encrypted code that a individual, website, or company pastes to an electronic document to make sure that the individual is who they claim to be. The code will most likely consist of the user name and a hash of usually part of the message.

A hash is a type of mathematical formula that generates content from a specific message, so it is different from a message. The recipient will have to generate a new hash from the received message and compares it from the one with the digital signature to make sure that they match appropriately. The main purpose behind using digital signatures is to make sure that it’s not a deceiver participating in the transaction. So, digital signatures help narrow down e-mail scams. A digital signature can also make sure that contents of a message have not been changed. A lot of web browsers use encryption that is regarded as 40 bit encryption, and this is a very low level. A variety of browsers also offer 128 bit encryption which has a higher level of protection because the encryption key is longer. Some important places that require extremely hire security like banks, and online retailers needs at least 128-bit encryption.

A website that successfully uses encryption methods to secure information is known as a secure site. A secure site uses digital certificate with security protocol. The two most popular security protocols are secure sockets layer, and secure HTTP.

A digital certificate is a notice that verifies that a user or a website is for real or not a scam. A lot of ecommerce websites will usually have digital certificates. A certificate authority (CA) is an authorized company or individual for that matter that has the ability to issue and verify digital certificates. There are several of websites that offer a digital certificate. Some popular ones are Verisign, Godaddy, Digicert ,and Thawte.The digital certificate will usually contain information such as the username and the serial number of the certificate. By the way, the information in the digital certificate is also encrypted.

Next, the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) provides encryption of every detail that passes between a server and a client. SSL also requires the client to have a digital certificate, so the web browser can communicate securely with the client. The web pages that use SSL will usually begin with https as opposed to http. SSL is available in 40 and 128-bit encryption. Secured HTTP (S-HTTP) allows individuals to choose encryption for data that pass through a client and a server. When using S-HTTP, the client and the server must have a digital certificate. This makes S-HTTP more difficult to use then SSL, but on the other hand, it is more secured. Companies that have to use verify a client such as online banking companies use S-HTTP. Also, mobile users can also access computer networks through a virtual private network. When mobile users successfully logon to a main office using some type of standard Internet connection, a virtual private network (VPN) allows the mobile user to secure the connection.

VPNs encrypt data as it passes from a notebook computer or any other mobile device so it won’t be intercepted. Regardless of your security method, I will highly recommend using the most powerfulness safeguard which is a backup. It prevents data loss from several of sources such as system failure for one. A backup is simply a backup of a file, program, or desk that can be used in place of the original if its loss, destroyed, or corrupted. If the files are destroyed, then you can replace them by restoring it, which copies the backed up files into their original position in the computer.

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