Personal Computer Tips & Tricks
There are many basics of computers that people tend to forget or not be aware of. The information provided under "Computer Tips & Tricks" is to help make your use of the computer more effective! Our goal with "Computer Tips & Tricks" is to keep it simple, yet practical. We gladly welcome new tips. If you would like to add a tip, send E-mail to Tips and Tricks
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Microsoft Windows '95 Tips and Tricks
Computer Hardware Basics
Ten key components to the computer are discussed here. These are called the processor, the memory, the Input/Output circuitry, disk storage, the software programs, the power supply, the motherboard, the bus, and the peripheral cards. Understanding the basics of your computer will greatly assist you in dealing with computer problems or when considering the possibility of upgrading to a newer system. Don't be afraid of understanding these concepts! We only give a very basic and easy to understand description of each ... enough to make you smarter and more comfortable with your beloved computer!
Processor
The processor is the brain of the computer. It is the engine of your computer. The processor carries out the instructions as directed by the software programs you install onto your computer. The processor is also the part that knows how to add and subtract and carry out logical operations. The processor is sometimes called the micro processor or the central processing unit (CPU). In the PC market, the leading processor is the Pentium processor. When purchasing a computer get the fastest processor your money can buy. To date the fastest PC computers today run on a 200MHZ Pentium processor, however processor speeds will quickly increase over time. Keep in mind that the bigger the processor MHZ rating value, the faster your computer will run! Although the Intel Pentium processor is generally fastest on the market, there other processors that are compatible with the Pentium processor. For example there are processors manufactured by AMD and Cyrex that are very competitive in speed and generally tend to be cheaper. It can be well worth your while when shopping for a PC to keep these processors in mind. Also be aware that when you compare the Intel, the AMD, and the Cyrex chips you must consider more than simply comparing the processor MHZ speeds. You must also look at benchmark comparisons before you can make a fair comparison. The processor speeds among these different manufactures are not a direct comparison. For example a 133MHZ AMD processor is not faster than a 100MHZ pentium.
Memory
A computer's memory is nothing like a persons memory, so the term can be misleading until you understand what a computers memory is and what it's used for. Memory is the computers work place, the place where all activity happens. It's analogous to the desktop of an office worker, the workbench of a carpenter, or the playing field of a sports team. Generally, the more memory you have on your computer, the faster or more efficiently it will perform. If you are running windows 3.x, or Windows 95 you will see your computer perform best with at least 16MB of memory. Although you will see it advertised that Windows 3.x or Windows require 8MB of RAM, many bench mark tests have shown that 16MB minimum will you give your computer it's best speed performance. Today memory is very cheap, so now is a very good time to buy. When you run an application such as a word processor or spreadsheet, the operating system loads as much of the program software from the disk drive into RAM as it can. The bigger your your memory space, the more of your application that can be loaded into RAM at one time. This is what's desirable since your computer runs most efficient when operating only in memory, and has to access the disk drive space less. Remember that memory is much much faster than the disk drive, and to minimize system access to the disk drive the operating system loads as much of the application from the disk drive into memory as it can, to make your computer run much much faster. This is why it so important to have plenty of memory also known as Random Access Memory(RAM).
Input/Output, or I/O
Input/Output, or I/O is how the computer takes in and sends out data. It includes what you type on the keyboard and what the computer displays on the video display screen or prints on the printer. Every time the computer is taking in or sending out data, it is doing I/O, using I/O devices which also are called peripheral devices. When you are communicating with your modem to the Internet, you computer is doing I/O.
Disk Storage
Disk storage is a very important kind of I/O. It's the computers reference library, filing cabinet, and toolbox all rolled into one. Disk storage is where the computer keeps data when it's not in use in the computer's memory. Data can be stored in other ways, but disks have been the most practical and important medium for getting the job done. Disks are where your application software such as spreadsheets, word processors video games get stored onto your computer when you perform the typical "install" or "setup" of software onto your computer. The bigger your disk storage space, the more software applications and data files you can load onto your computer. If you are buying a desktop computer today, the minimum recommended hard disk size is at least 1 Giga-Byte of storage.
One common misconception with computer users is they tend to think that if they load up more software onto their system, their computer will run slower. Simply installing more software onto your computer generally has no effect whatsoever on the performance of your computer. The disk drive does play a major role in the operation of your system, but the biggest system performance components related to your computer are the microprocessor, the memory, and the supporting cache controller.
A very important point to remember is that your disk storage is the primary place in your system where your software and data are permanently kept, even when you power your system off. If your hard drive fails, it is very likely that you may lose some or all of your stored data. There are company's out there with sophisticated software tools that may be able to recover this data, however this process can generally be time consuming and expensive. The bottom line is ... if you value your data ... and your time, then you must perform periodic system backups onto some form of backup media.
Software Programs
Programs are of course are one of the key parts of a computer. They are what bring the computer to life and make it go. Programs are the instructions that tell the computer what to do. Programs are the spreadsheets, the word processors, the mapping software, the math packages, the personal finance mangers, the childrens educational software, etc. applications that you install and run on your computer. Installing software programs onto your computer essentially takes the compressed software from the installation media such as floppy disks or CD ROMS, uncompresses them and places them onto your hard drive. As mentioned in the memory section, loading software programs onto your computer does not slow it down. The software only takes up more space on your disk drive. Filling up your System Registry with lots of superfulus, useless entries is what slows down a computer.
Power Supply
The computer is an electrical device. It needs power for all of its components to function properly. And, while you plug the computer it to a 110 volt alternating current, this is not the kind of power the machine requires. Instead, the cord from the wall attaches to a power supply , and electronic device that converts standard household current that runs your vacuum cleaner and microwave into a form the computer can use. If you look inside your computer's case, you'll find the power cord plugs into a metal box-usually silver or black-and that is where conversion of electricity from what comes out your wall sockets into the kind of power the computer uses is processed. The power supply takes in a nominal 110 volt alternating current(AC) and puts out a 5+,5-,12+, and 12- volt direct current(DC). Some newer power supplies output +/-3.3 volts for components that are designed to maximally conserve power. As a consumer you probably will deal with the power rating of the supply, expressed in watts. A watt is the measure of the capacity of a power device and is the multiplicative product of the voltage and the current supplied by the device. A 150 to 200 watt power supply can operate most personal computers today because of the low power requirements of the computer components.
Motherboard
The most defining element of a PC system unit is the motherboard. Motherboards have varied dramatically over time with new processors and expansion bus slot architectures. The motherboard is the heart of the system. It is called a motherboard because all features and peripherals must plug into it to operate. The following is a quick summary on the motherboard.
The most important item on the motherboard is the system microprocessor, sometimes called the CPU or just processor. In most today's designs that will mean an Intel Pentium processor, or compatible devices from a number of other suppliers. Most systems designs today do not solder (permanently electrically attach) the microprocessor permanently to the mother board. The processor is in a socket that permits the microprocessor's easy removal from the motherboard.The socket is designed to support several microprocessor types and speeds to enable the system to be upgraded in the future with a more powerful processor by simply replacing the old processor with a better processor.
The microprocessor needs to attach to the system's main memory to access data and instructions. The memory is often called DRAM and is physically packed on small circuit boards called Small Inline Memory Modules (SIMMs). The DRAM SIMMs are installed in sockets on the motherboard.
In high performance microprocessors, the DRAM can not keep up with the performance requirements of the processor and becomes a performance bottleneck. To overcome this performance limitation, a second smaller memory called cache memory is placed between the microprocessor and the system memory. This smaller cache memory is much faster and can keep up with the microprocessors performance requirements. Typically built using SRAMs(Static RAMS), it sore small block of system DRAM memory to create the effect that all system memory is available at the high speed of the cache memory.
The circuits that mange the filling of the cache memory from the slower DRAM is called the cache controller. The high speed cache memory is also on the motherboard and typically can be expanded in size by adding chips into empty sockets provided on the motherboard.
Bus
The Bus is located on the motherboard. It is sort of like the traffic road used to move data among all of the components attached to the computer motherboard. The bus is how the microprocessor is attached to its memory. The bus is how the peripheral devices such as hard disks, floppy disks, tape drives, and keyboards are attached to the system. It is how the expansion devices adapters such as display adapters, sound cards, CD-ROM drives, etc. are attached to there system. The faster the speed of the Bus, the faster communications can take place between the different components in the system.
Most new PC computers sold today use the PCI bus which is the fastest PC bus architecture standard used. When looking to purchase a new PC you should make sure you are getting the latest Bus technology by purchasing a PCI bus architecture. There are some computers being sold with the EISA bus, or the VESA bus, however the speed of these buses are much slower than the PCI bus!
Peripheral Cards.
The majority of the components that make up the computer are located on a single printed circuit board called the motherboard. However, there are times when you need to attach other devices to the motherboard so that they can work with the processor and other computer components. This is frequently done by plugging an expansion card into one of the bus (I/O) connectors on the motherboard such as the PCI bus. There are thousands of peripheral products available on the market such as sounds cards, TV cards, radio cards, modem cards, networking cards, etc. You name it!
Modems and Telecommunications
A modem is a device which allows your computer to "talk" to another computer. The other computer may be a friends computer, or an Internet Service Provider(ISP). For those of you on 1USA right now, you are on an ISP. Modem telecommunication has evolved over the years. "In the beginning..." the maximum BPS (Bytes of information transferred per second) was 300 BPS. Currently, modems are transferring data at speeds of up to 1.5 MegaBytes per second (1,000,000 bytes = 1 megabyte). Obviously speeds have increased with the introduction of Data Compression, Fiber-Optic cable, newer and faster Processors, and faster Hard Disks. With these advances, online services have grown and become more graphics intensive, allowing for the development of the World Wide Web, as seen on 1USA.
Today, people can use modems for a wide variety of things mostly involving the Internet : Using the World Wide Web, E-Mail, Internet Phones, Transferring Files using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) sites around the world, Advertising and Marketing, Technical Support, and the list keeps growing. Keeping up with all of the changes in the world of Telecommunications would be a full-time job. Every day, new standards are being set for speed and new programs are constantly coming out allowing Internet users to do even more without leaving their desks.
The future of the Internet is happening even today. People can already order MILLIONS of products from MILLIONS of different companies who have online ordering. Also Virtual Cities are popping up. The LARGEST of these virtual cities is on 1USA.COM. In short, the world of Telecommunications is an ever-growing world, and will always remain so. So buckle up, put on your helmet, get in 1USA, and jump on the "Information Superhighway". Unlike Rt. 61, it's always repaved and smooth.
**Copyright 1996 -- Magic Multimedia, Inc.**
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