Buying A New Computer

Purchasing a home computer can be one of the most nerve-wracking experiences if you don’t do your homework first. Since most of us are non-technical, wading through all of the specifications and deciding what is right can be overwhelming.
While price is important, there are many other factors that should be considered when purchasing a computer. Doing research before entering your local office supply or computer store will help you from spending more than you wanted to and also get you the best deal on the quality that you need.
Spend some time thinking about how your computer will be used. Make a list of what needs that this computer will need to fill.
What software is an absolute necessity?
Will you need non-standard hardware like a scanner or fax in addition to your computer?
Are you more interested in word processing or gaming or both?
Thinking about what function your computer serves for all the members of your family will help you narrow down your choices.
After you’ve determined what function your computer serves in your life and the life of your family you will want to consider the speed of your new computer.
The Central Processing Unit or CPU is the brain of your computer. The CPU is the largest contributor to the overall speed of your computer. It controls all of the functions and capabilities that your computer will have.
The newest computers come with CPUs that range from 1.6 GHz to 3.2 GHz. If you are involved in graphics or want to play high-resolution computer games, you need the highest GHz that you can afford.
Another consideration is the memory or virtual storage space of your new computer. While computers are available with 128 MB of memory, you’ll want to have at least 256 MB on your machine. Memory is essential to achieving maximum speed and performance from your computer. It is recommended that you purchase your new computer with as much memory as you can get for the best price.
Memory upgrades can cost as little as $30, so if you need to build your system slowly over time it is certainly a viable option. You can always add more memory, but you can’t replace the CPU and increase your processing speed. If you have to choose between the two, go with a higher GHz processor and add more memory as you can.
The monitor can make a big difference in your enjoyment of your new computer. Although most people just accept whatever monitor comes with a computer package. However, it really does deserve more consideration.
Size is the most important factor. If you go any smaller than 17 inches, you may end up spending most of your time squinting and causing yourself unnecessary eyestrain. If you can upgrade your monitor to something larger, go for at least a 19-inch monitor.
Another option you may want to consider is getting a wireless mouse and keyboard. Going wireless with these necessary pieces of equipment will help to pare down the cords beneath your computer desk.
There are a ton of other options you need to consider when purchasing a new computer. It’s a good idea to ask people you know what types of options have worked well for them. Also, you do not need to purchase the very latest in computers. The best value is usually found with a computer that was brand new and the fastest thing going 6 months to one year ago. That is where you are likely to get the most bang for the buck. I hope this little guide has been helpful to you for buying your next computer.
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What You Need To Know About Data Recovery

At some point in time, everyone who owns a computer will experience the trials and tribulations of hard drive failure. The reasons behind it vary, and could include everything from a human error to damages resulting from flood or water. Viruses can play a role as well, along with many other factors. For many years, the need to recover data that has been lost or destroyed has made data recovery such a very valuable asset.
Almost all hard drives can be recovered. Normally, if the drive is making a ticking or a scratching noise, you can use certain software programs to recover the data. Sometimes, due to age or bad parts, the aperture arm in the hard drive can fail, or the platters can become damaged and lose the data that they hold. If you can’t recover the information with software, you’ll need to send the hard drive off and have it either rebuilt or have technicians recover your data.
Data recovery is always an option, from hard drives that are 2 GB in size to the largest of over 300 GB or more of data. No matter what size hard drive you have, the data can generally be recovered. Keep in mind that if you’ve had a computer crash, you’ll need to send the hard drive off to have the data recovered by technicians.
One of the key benefits of data recovery is the fact that information can also be retrieved from the recycle bin as well. Partition recovery, and even information that has been lost somewhere on the disk can be retrieved as well. Even though it may seem like your data is gone forever - the technicians that specialize in data recovery can retrieve it.
From Windows to Mac, everything can be recovered. There are different filing structures and formats, including NTFS and FAT32. These are common Windows filing structures, and hold all of the information for your hard.
Those of you who have multiple hard drives in your computer, can rest assured that RAID configurations can also be recovered. If a single hard drive on the RAID configuration fails, the RAID setup will absorb the blow and there won’t be a loss of data. On the other hand, if the entire RAID configuration crashes, it will crash big time. Whenever this happens, you’ll need to send it off and have technicians restore both the RAID hardware and software.
Anytime your hard drive happens to crash or malfunction, data recovery is there to help you get back your files. Whether they are personally files or very important files that are need for business - you can put your trust in data recovery and know that you’ll get everything the back the way it was.
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What You Need to Know About Networking

Because networking is a relatively young science, it borrows language from other disciplines. Many networking terms come from the realm of physical transportation—terms such as bridge, hub, port, routing, and switching. That borrowing is apt. Just as the transportation revolution, and especially the advent of the railroad, was an economic catalyst of the Industrial Age, networks are the economic catalysts of the information age. And just as railroads need a solid infrastructure, so do networks. The foundation technologies of networks are routing and switching.
The Basics
In its most basic form, a network consists of two pieces of electronic equipment that communicate data back and forth, connected by a third piece of equipment that enables that communication. A printer attached directly to a computer via a parallel or USB cable does not comprise a network; it becomes a network if the printer and computer are both attached to a switch or router. The Internet provided the impetus for most companies to adopt a network infrastructure. Even the smallest businesses need network-enabled Internet connections to send and receive e-mail, advertise and sell products and services online, interact with customers, and connect with suppliers. Moving to a networked environment opens new possibilities, including online business applications and collaboration opportunities. Data security also becomes a central consideration with a network. While switches and routers have evolved and the lines between them may seem blurred, one simple distinction remains: Switches reside within a local-area network (LAN), while routers are needed in a wide-area network (WAN) environment. It's analogous to an old-fashioned office phone: Switching is like dialing a four digit extension to reach someone in your building, while routing is like dialing 9 to get an outside line, and then dialing a seven- or ten-digit phone number.
Systems-Based Solutions
Growing companies, especially those opening new offices, can opt for integrated foundation solutions that are secure, solid, and compatible with future technologies. Rather than purchasing separate products for individual functions such as routing, switching, security, and Internet gateways, companies can choose a "systems-based" solution that provides everything a business unit needs to fully and securely connect to the Internet and the company as a whole. A systems-based approach to routing and switching lets all workers, even those at different sites, have the same access to business applications, Internet Protocol (IP) Communications, and videoconferencing as their colleagues at headquarters. Networking solutions for satellite offices tend to be modular in nature, allowing you to install just the features you need for a particular office. Modularity also enables you to upgrade equipment (rather than replace it altogether) when needs change or an office expands. An added benefit of this systems-based approach is that technical staff at headquarters can centrally manage the network, which keeps staffing counts low while providing reliable service to employees in all locations.
What to Watch For
Several trends in routing and switching are of particular interest to SMBs:
• Increasing need for Internet connections: Fully 70 percent of North American SMBs were planning to increase Internet connectivity and bandwidth during the next year, according to an April 2004 Forrester report.
• Improvements in routing and switching gear: For example, switches with in-line power, which allow placement of wireless LAN access points and IP phones anywhere there's a network jack, without external power.
• Managed networking technologies (especially switches): A managed switch allows the user or administrator can access it, usually via the network itself, to adjust or monitor its operation.
Bottom-Line Benefits
Routing and switching technologies can have a positive impact on your company's financial outlook. The Net Impact Study 2003, sponsored by Cisco Systems and conducted by Momentum Research Group found that companies that combined sophisticated network infrastructures with network-based business applications, and were willing to reengineer their business practices to take best advantage of the technology and actively measure the results, reduced their annual operating costs by more than 20 percent. What's more, they measured a 20 to 25 percent increase in customer satisfaction. Making informed purchase decisions about networking technologies can also save money in the long term. For example having a network that can support advanced technologies such as IP communications can deliver savings to SMBs in several areas:
• You can install a single network for both voice and data.
• You need to purchase and maintain only one set of equipment.
• You can reduce or eliminate toll charges between network sites
What To Do Next
Chances are good that you already have some networking technologies in place. The next step, then is to determine whether you have the right foundation for your company’s needs, both today and in the future. What you plan to do with the your network should drive your equipment purchase decisions. For example if you intend to run IP telephony, you need to buy routing and switching equipment that can support it.
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How Do Wireless Networks Work?

Wireless networks work using radio waves instead of wires to transmit data between computers. That's the simple version. If you're curious to know what's going on in more detail, then it's all explained in this article.
I'm sure you know that computers transmit data digitally, using binary: ones and zeros. This is a way of communicating that translates very well to radio waves, since the computer can transmit ones and zeros as different kinds of beep. These beeps are so fast that they're outside a human's hearing range -- radio waves that you can't hear are, in fact, all around you all the time.
The way it works is a lot like Morse code. You probably already know that Morse code is a way of representing the alphabet so that it can be transmitted over radio using a dot (short beep) and a dash (long dash).More importantly for this example, though; it is a binary system, just like a computer's ones and zeros. You might think of wireless networking, then, as being like Morse code for computers. You plug a combined radio receiver and transmitter in, and the computer is able to send out its equivalent of dots and dashes (bits, in computer-speak) to get your data from one place to another.
You might wonder how the computer could possibly transmit enough bits to send and receive data at the speed it does. After all, there must be a limit on how much can be sent in a second before it just becomes useless nonsense, right? Well, yes, but the key to wireless networking is that it gets around this problem.
First of all, wireless transmissions are sent at very high frequencies, meaning that more data can be sent per second. Most wireless connections use a frequency of 2.4 gigahertz (2.4 billion cycles per second) -- a similar frequency to mobile phones and microwave ovens. As you might know, though, a frequency this high means that the wavelength must be very short, which is why wireless networking only works over a limited area.
In addition, wireless networks make use of a technique known as 'frequency hopping'. They use dozens of frequencies in the range they are given, and constantly switch between them. This makes wireless networks more immune to interference from other radio signals than they would be if they only transmitted on one frequency.
The final step is when it comes to all the computers on a network sharing Internet access. This is done using a special piece of wireless equipment called an access point. Access points are more expensive than wireless cards for one computer, as they contain radios that are capable of talking to around 100 computers at the same time, and sharing out access to the Internet between them. Dedicated access points are only really essential for larger networks, though -- if you only have a few computers, it is possible to use one of them as the access point, or you could just get a wireless router.
That's all well and good, then, but how does wireless equipment made by entirely different companies manage to work together when this is all so complicated? Well, the answer is that there are standards that all wireless devices follow. These standards are technically called the 802.11 standards, and are set by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). It is thanks to people sticking to their standards that wireless networking is so easy and cheap to use today.
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Hard Drives Size Does Matter

The hard drive disk of a computer is the primary storage device of the computer. It is a non-removable device that retains all the information when the computer is turned off. A fast hard drive supplies the computer with data as fast as it needs. Hard drives are measured in Gigabytes (GB) and the larger the number, the more storage the computer has. When looking at purchasing a new home computer or laptop, it is important to understand how the hard drive works with your computer and how much storage capacity you will need.
When saving information on your computer, the application is recorded on a magnetic platter inside the hard drive. Most hard drives have several platters that allow them to spin up to 15,000 times per minute. The amount of hard drive space the computer has will affect how much data that can be saved. The data on a hard drive can be deleted or erased from the memory at any time and does not need a constant power supply to save the information.
It used to be that hard drives were small and had a capacity of no more than 5 MB, now most new computers and laptops have no less than 40 GB. Some hard drive capacities can exceed 120 GB. Today, computers with these capabilities can store a massive amount of information, videos and photos without getting bogged down.
Choosing a hard drive can be confusing if you are not familiar with what to look for. Hard drives can have a very high capacity and they can be very small. It is important when looking at hard drive for your computer or laptop to know what you need. Performance in a hard drive can vary dramatically. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to save information and learning your hard drive is full. If you plan on using your hard drive to store a minimum amount of information, you may not need to spend the extra money on a bigger hard drive.
For storing large files, videos, music and pictures, your computer will need to be equipped with a larger amount of hard drive space. You can purchase 160 GB and bigger of hard drive space on most computers. The general rule of thumb for purchasing hard drive space is to purchase the largest amount of space you think you will need and that you can afford.
Price is another factor when choosing the right hard drive size. The most common size of hard drive for the money ranges from 60 to 80 gigabytes. These hard drive sizes are readily available on most operating systems. They are a good economical choice for computer users needing the computer for everyday storage and use.
Besides the size of the hard drive and purchase price consider access times and transfer rates when looking at hard drives. The transfer rate is how much data can be transferred per second. This can vary though, depending on the condition of the computer. A computer that is nearly full may have a much slower transfer rate.
Transfer rates come in either internal or external. The internal transfer rate is how fast the hard drive can read the data. The external transfer rate is how fast the drive can speed data to whatever it is connected to. Usually, the transfer rate will be a little slower than listed, so it is best to get a faster transfer rate. The external rate is link to the type of hard drive that the computer is using.
Be aware that hard drive speed is affect by the computer’s capabilities. If your computer is slow, a bigger and faster hard drive will do you little good. Also, if your computer is operating slowly, a bogged down hard drive may be the problem. If your computer system is running slow, deleting unnecessary files from the hard drive. Defrag is another option used to optimize slow hard drive systems.
Fragmentation of the hard drive occurs when the operating system breaks a saved file into separate pieces and stores them in other places. This usually happens when there is not enough room to store all the date. Defrag takes those stored file fragments and pieces them back together again. The process can be time consuming, but is a good way to optimize hard drive space and the speed of the computer.
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