Im a nerd

Make a place for computers in children's world
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Computers have become an important part of our everyday lives and will be even more in the future. Knowledge about computers might become as important to elementary school children as reading and writing.

There has been a lot of debate whether computers should be used with younger children. Some educators doubt the value of modern technology with younger kids. But some researchers have found lot of positive learning benefits with the use of computers in younger kids, especially when an adult supervisor is involved. Positive impact has also been found on children with disabilities or special needs. It has been said that "Technology can change the way children think and learn."

Children are great "thinkers". Their rapidly growing brains are assimilating a lot of knowledge from their surroundings. Lot of data is analyzed and stored in the memory cells. Positive play experiences, visual and auditory stimuli give a big boost to this process.

For example; I was pleasantly surprised one day when I saw my 2and half year old twin girls playing with their toy fishes. They were holding a couple of dolphins, making jumping movements with their hands and dolphin sounds with their mouth at the same time. They were pretending that the dolphins are playing in the water. Then they picked up a whale which started talking to the dolphins. They made whale sounds with some "clicks" and "tweets". Being a mother I was fascinated and of course very proud. I learned later that they were looking at the Encyclopedia with their dad, on the earlier day and had repeatedly watched the sound clips and little video clips.

Explore, create and learn while having fun. That is a child's life. Playing is a lot more to children then just having fun. As children play, they learn about themselves and their surrounding environment. They learn social skills, learn to solve problems and also develop their motor skills. Playing enhances their creativity and imagination.

These days wonderful computer based educational games and activities are available in the market for children. There are excellent websites on the internet, which provide information and educational games for children. Parents and caregivers should find play activities fit for their children. They should be challenging, but not frustrating or overwhelming. Parents are their child's first playmates. Children enjoy a game lot more when a parent or family member is involved in the play.

Should children surf on the internet? It is "information super-highway." It has its own benefits and risks. Children using internet without supervision is a risk, but with a knowledgeable and responsible adult it could bring lot of benefits. It is just like driving a car and riding a car. Children can safely ride and enjoy the information super highway while a responsible adult is in the driver's seat.

Of course there should be a limit on how much time children can spend on the computer. As a general guideline the rules can be similar to those used for viewing TV. Anything done in excess can be harmful. Consumption of too many vitamin tablets in a day can also be harmful.

Posted by mxyzplk at 11:58 AM | 0 comments  

A Look at IT Help Desk Software
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IT help desk software can be a valuable resource for technicians to manage and resolve troubleshooting tickets. Most companies realize the benefits of purchasing help desk software since it is a reliable way to manage customer inquiries and complaints. IT help desk software is preferred by both companies and clients over a traditional call center.

In traditional call centers, customers often complain of long hold times and unreturned voicemails. Other times, the less-than-technically-savvy customer may become frustrated in his or her attempt to explain the problem. Help desk software allows an IT department to effectively manage and direct certain issues to the appropriate personnel.

Many IT help desk software programs offer the convenience of a user-friendly menu and easy-to-manage files. Customers can choose from a variety of help topics and even copy and paste error messages to send to IT. For those customers who are not technically advanced, menus can be set up to offer a variety of common questions.

HelpDesks.com is an excellent resource for extensive IT help desk software reviews and information. This site allows you to compare the leading providers of the products to find the right program for your needs. Convenient charts allow you to see various amenities offered such as whether or not the program is web-based, costs associated with purchase and upgrades and the number of users allowed for each program.

One of the most popular IT help desk software programs, according to consumer reviews, is FootPrints. On a scale of one to ten, it has a rating of 9.2 and has multiple consumer reviews. This is a web-based program, and the initial cost is around $6,000. FootPrints offers unlimited user capabilities and free upgrades with their annual maintenance contract. This program is compatible with Linux, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Unix operating systems. It also offers searchable databases, assignment of reference numbers, F.A.Q databases, billing databases and much, much more.

Posted by mxyzplk at 11:56 AM | 0 comments  

How does your printer work?
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Most people have used printers at some stage for printing documents but few are aware of how it works. Printed documents are arguably the best way to save data. There are two types of basic printers Impact and Non-impact.

Impact printers, as the very name implies means that the printing mechanism touches the paper for creating an image. Impact printers were used in early 70s and 80s. In Dot Matrix printers a series of small pins is used to strike on a ribbon coated with ink to transfer the image on the paper.

Other Impact Printers like Character printers are basically computerized typewriters. They have a series of bars or a ball with actual characters on them, which strike on the ink ribbon to transfer the characters on the paper. At a time only one character can be printed. Daisy Wheel printers use a plastic or metal wheel. These types of printers have limited usage though because they are limited to printing only characters or one type of font and not the graphics.

There are Line printers where a chain of characters or pins, print an entire line, which makes them pretty fast, but the print quality is not so good. Thermal printers are nothing but printers used in calculators and fax machines. They are inexpensive to use. Thermal printers work by pushing heated pins against special heat sensitive paper.

More efficient and advanced printers have come out now which use new Non-impact Technology.

Non-impact printers are those where the printing mechanism does not come into the contact of paper at all. This makes them quieter in operation in comparison to the impact printers.

In mid 1980s Inkjet printers were introduced. These have been the most widely used and popular printers so far. Colour printing got revolutionized after inkjet printers were invented. An Inkjet printer's head has tiny nozzles, which place extremely tiny droplets of ink on the paper to create an image. These dots are so small that even the diameter of human hair is bigger. These dots are placed precisely and can be up to the resolution of 1440 x 720 per inch. Different combinations of ink cartridges can be used for these printers.

How an Inkjet printer works

The print head in this printer scans the page horizontally back and forth and another motor assembly rolls the paper vertically in strips and thus a strip is printed at a time. Only half a second is taken to print a strip. Inkjet printers were very popular because of their ability to colour print. Most inkjets use Thermal Technology. Plain copier paper can be used in these printers unlike thermal paper used for fax machines. Heat is used to fire ink onto the paper through the print head. Some print heads can have up to 300 nozzles. Heat resistant and water based ink is used for these printers.

The latest and fastest printers are Laser Printers. They use the principal of static electricity for printing it as in photocopiers. The principle of static electricity is that it can be built on an insulated object. Oppositely charged atoms of objects (positive and negative) are attracted to each other and cling together. For example, pieces of nylon material clinging to your body, or the static you get after brushing hair. A laser printer uses this same principle to glue ink on the paper.

How Laser Printer works:

Unlike the printers before, Laser printers use toner, static electricity and heat to create an image on the paper. Toner is dry ink. It contains colour and plastic particles. The toner passes through the fuser in the computer and the resulting heat binds it to any type of paper. Printing with laser printers is fast and non-smudge and the quality is excellent because of the high resolution that it can achieve with 300 dots per inch to almost 1200 dpi at the higher end.

Basic components of a laser printer are fuser, photoreceptor drum assembly, developer roller, laser scanning unit, toner hopper, corona wire and a discharge lamp. The laser beam creates an image on the drum and wherever it hits, it changes the electrical charge like positive or negative. The drum then is rolled on the toner. Toner is picked up by charged portion of the drum and gets transferred to the paper after passing through the fuser. Fuser heats up the paper to amalgamate ink and plastic in toner to create an image. Laser printers are called "page printers" because entire page is transferred to the drum before printing. Any type of paper can be used in these printers. Laser printers popularized DTP or Desk Top Publishing for it can print any number of fonts and any graphics..

This is how the computer and printer operate to print

When we want to print something we simply press the command "Print". This information is sent to either RAM of the printer or the RAM of the computer depending upon the type of printer we have. The process of printing then starts. While the printing is going on, our computer can still perform a variety of operations. Jobs are put in a buffer or a special area in RAM or Random Access Memory and the printer pulls them off at its own pace. We can also line up our printing jobs this way. This way of simultaneously performing functions is called spooling. Our computer and the printer are thus in constant communication.

Posted by mxyzplk at 11:55 AM | 0 comments  

The Next-Generation Video Card
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Nvidia has done it again, with it's newest video card, the geforce 7800 GTX. If money is no object and you demand the best, this is the video card for you.

The 7800 GTX, which promises 600 MHz, 256 MB of 256-bit DDR3 memory and a graphics core clock speed of 430 MHz, is the absolute fastest video card, to date, that money can buy.

Despite the high clock speeds, the 7800 utilizes a single-slot cooling solution. This is made possible because of the processor size which is 20 NM smaller then their previous 8600's. Also contributing to the cooling of the card is the improved power managment system, which automatically turns off unused portions of the chip.

The 7800GTX is equipped with 24 pixel shader units and 8 vertex shader units. With over 200 GFLOP's of shading avaliable, Nvidia raises the bar, once again, on video card's graphics and performance.

This is all in just one videocard, pair them up in SLI mode and you have the best video cards in terms of speed, stability and appearance. One thing to watch however, when running dual cards in SLI mode, is that unless you have a top of the line processor, such as the FX-55 you may find your video cards waiting on your processor to catch up. In this case you may want to hold off on getting both cards untill you upgrade your processor.

Posted by mxyzplk at 11:55 AM | 0 comments  

A Brief History of Computers
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The word 'computer' originally implied a person, who, under instructions from a mathematician, performed mechanical calculations. Mechanical calculating devices such as the abacus were often put to use to aid this process.

At the end of the Middle Ages, mathematics and engineering in Europe received a considerable boost, thus leading to the invention of numerous mechanical calculating devices. The technology for clockwork was developed by the early 17th century. The period between the early 19th century and early 20th century saw the development of a number of technologies which would be vital for the development of the digital computer later on. Some examples are the punched card and the valve. Charles Babbage was the first person to design a fully programmable computer as early as 1837. However, he was unable to actually construct his computer due to a variety of reasons.

Analog computers were increasingly used in the first half of the 20th century for a number of scientific computing needs. However, they became obsolete after the development of the digital computer.

The first digital computer was the Atanasoff Berry Computer . It used a binary system of arithmetic, parallel processing, a separation of memory and computing functions and regenerative memory. Binary math and electronic circuits - both of which are used in today's computers - were first used in the Atanasoff Berry Computer.

In the 1930's and 1940's, newer and more efficient computers were continuously developed. Gradually, they came to possess the key features which are present in modern day computers - digital electronics and flexibility of programming.

Among the more important machines to be developed during this time, the American ENIAC was prominent. It was a general purpose machine, but had an inflexible architecture. Later a far superior technique known as the stored program architecture was developed. It is the foundation from which all modern computers are derived.

Throughout the 1950's, computer design was primarily valve driven. This was later replaced by transistor-driven design in the 1960's. Transistor-based computers were smaller, faster and cheaper, and hence commercially viable. Integrated circuit technology, adopted in the 1970's enabled computer production costs to hit a new low, so that even individuals could afford them. That was the birth of the personal computer, as it is known today.

Posted by mxyzplk at 11:53 AM | 0 comments  

Tips To Select Proper Hard drive
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Day by day computers are getting advanced. Capacity and performance are increasing with every passing year. This is true for the primary storage also. Latest Hard disks are getting bigger in capacity and with higher rotational speed can access the data faster. This is good news for computer users.

The digital revolution has brought with it the need to store vast amounts of data. The new Hard disks are ready to take the challenge. The good news is, these Hard disks with higher capacity are affordable. Thanks to a very competitive market and demanding consumers.

Hard disk technology is suitable for the bandwidth demands of today's applications. The 7200 rpm hard disk drives with a minimum storage space of 40 GB and above are now more common than ever before.

The demand for storage in PCs has boomed. With a lot of multimedia files being used today, including MP3, Flash files and movies—even today's entry level 40 GB hard disks aren't enough for users. On the other hand, 80 – 400 GB, 7200 rpm drives are also available and are preferred by professionals.

Depending on your need, you should select the proper hard drive. Ask yourself few questions, before going for the selection of new hard drive. This strategy will be useful in long run.

Think of the following points.

Hard drive storage capacity, speed, brand and price.

First select the Hard drive storage capacity.

1) Also what software, you will loading in your computer. 2) What type of files, you will be loading.

If you are a basic computer user, go for the 40 GB hard drive which is sufficient for OS and file storage. The text files require very less storage space however multimedia files require large storage space.

If you are a gamer or a graphic designer, go for minimum 80 / 120 GB hard drive.

If you are movie or song lover who would be storing lot of movies then go for higher capacity of 240 GB depending on your budget.

Let us select the proper speed. The most common speeds which are available in the market are 5400 and 7200 RPM. The 5400 RPM means hard disk will be rotating at a speed of 5400 revolutions per minute.

Now there is not much price difference between 5400 and 7200 rpm. It is better to go for 7200 RPM hard drive.

It is better to go for standard brand. Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital, Samsung & Hitachi are the standard brands available in the market.

The above suggestions are for your internal hard drives. If you have to carry data frequently, you can go for external hard drive. These drives can be connected to computer through USB port. There is absolutely no difference between external hard drive and internal hard drive if you consider the operation or drive mechanics. USB interface has made external hard drive installation very user friendly.

External hard drives give lot of portability. However these external hard drives have higher access time compared to desktop drive because of USB interface. But because of USB interface, CPU utilization is less in the range of 8.4 to 10. This means less load on CPU.

Iomega, Freecom, Transcend are some of the manufacturers of external hard drives. These drives require external power supply and are most suitable for desktop use. When you are selecting external hard drive, check whether the manufacturer is offering a carry bag, data cable and power supply if it is externally powered.

Also check the warranty offered by the manufacturer. Now a days, some of the manufacturers offer warranty for 3 years

Posted by mxyzplk at 11:50 AM | 0 comments  

Checking Computer Security
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Many people wonder whether or not their computer is secure. They fear that someone might be looking through their files, copying, altering, or erasing them. They are uneasy about the thought that someone might be monitoring their every move in cyberspace. These concerns come to mind when reminded of the problem of hackers, viruses, and other security risks that abound in the Internet. Fortunately it's easy to prevent these problems by following a few simple tips.

Update

Perhaps the most important step for computer security is to keep it updated. Install the latest critical updates and service packs from Microsoft's download center. This is made easy by configuring the system to utilize Automatic Updates, if available. If not, updates can be downloaded directly from Microsoft's download center. Currently, Service Pack 2 (SP2) is the most current Service Pack for Windows XP.

Firewall

The easiest way to increase the security level of a computer is by using a firewall. Firewalls monitor all activity that occurs on a connection between one or more computers. They act as a "wall" with one or more computers on one side, and one or more computers (usually the Internet) on the other. Information transfer by suspicious programs are immediately cut off, preventing them from entering the protected side of the firewall. This way denying access to anything coming from unauthorized and unknown sources prevents possible infection by viruses, worms, and other malicious codes.

Anti-Virus and Anti Spy-ware

Even if a computer is protected by a firewall it is still necessary to use anti-virus and anti spy-ware. This is because a firewall only prevents unauthorized outside access, and cannot distinguish between malicious and benign access. It is still possible to inadvertently make a request for information that is harmful, which the firewall views as an authorized transfer. Anti-virus and anti spy-ware provides another layer of armor for a computer, making it harder for hackers and their malicious programs to penetrate and control a computer. Some well-known anti-virus programs include Norton, Trend Micro PC-cillin, and McAffee. Anti spy-ware programs are also important as they reduce the chances of spy-ware getting into a computer. Spy-ware behaves differently than viruses, making it necessary to use different programs to catch it. Spy-ware can monitor any activity a computer infected with it performs, or even act as a gateway to download additional spy-ware or viruses. Hackers typically use spy-ware to obtain important information that must remain confidential like credit card numbers, social security numbers, and police records.

Protect Home Networks

It is possible for a computer owner to be unaware they are using a network at home. If more than one computer shares the same Internet connection or if wireless Internet access is being used, a home network is present. Securing a single computer is not much use if it is part of a network. The whole network must be protected as well to prevent malicious software from simply hopping from computer to computer to avoid attack. Different kinds of home networks face different kinds of risks. In the case of a wireless connection, anyone within the broadcast range of the network may be able to look at any data contained within the network.

Most networking devices employ their own security mechanisms. Using this in combination with security defenses installed on each computer's should provide enough protection to thwart attempts from hackers to hi-jack the network and use the computers connected to it. Most routers function as Network Address Translators (NAT) which makes them a safe connection to the Internet.

While no measure can guarantee total immunity from attack, these steps should increase the security of a computer or network enough to protect against any typical attack.

Posted by mxyzplk at 11:49 AM | 0 comments  

The Basis And Concept Of Intranet
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Many times the older versions of technological advancements will work to give the new versions a better foundation for work. This is the case with most of the things that work to make a business more secure within itself. In today's day and age there is a real need for security with the companies that operate all over the world. Industrial and corporate theft is at an all time high and this has made the companies of the world fold themselves into the vale of secrecy to protect the many things that will make them or break them as a whole. This is where the inter-company policies for the sharing of information have been revamped to make room for a higher security rating.

The main focus of the companies in this world at this point is to be able to share information within the company without that information being tapped into by the outside sources. Until recently they have used the internet as a way of maintaining that kind of communication by way of email and other office type communications. This was a problem because the internet is a wide open space that allows for people that are very computer savvy to break through the barriers and gain access to all sorts of information.

The hacker, as they are well known, finds a place to lay within the system where detection is nearly impossible and intercepts all of the valuable information that is send back and fourth between the employees. This is the way that the ideas and concepts from within the company are stolen and sold to the competitors all over the world. This happens even with the most sophisticated security software available on the market today. It is nearly impossible to maintain security when the system is hooked directly to the internet in one way or another.

This is why the bulk of the companies are now using the intranet features. The intranet is a concept that was developed many years ago when the internet was in its infancy. The actual basis for the intranet was developed during World War II when the allied forces were linked to one another by way of cables and telephone wires. This allowed for private communication with the other forces that could not be intercepted. The same concept is now being applied to the intranet systems that work with the companies to maintain security while still taking advantage of the computer based company communication.

In essence the intranet is nothing more than a small chunk of internet capabilities that are not hooked to the global lines. An intranet is a hook up of all computers in a company to allow for the speedy delivery of messages and other information on a computer. The safety that comes with the intranet is vast. The system is not attached in anyway to an outside system like you find with the internet. This way there is no way that a hacker can gain access to the system unless he or she is physically inside the building.

Posted by mxyzplk at 11:37 AM | 0 comments