Computers and Technology

What do you do when you are sick? You seek medical consultation and look for a doctor right? What happens if our computer becomes 'sick', is there really such a thing as a computer doctor? Surprisingly, there is! Computer diagnostics software is the equivalent of doctors and can provide for regular maintenance and can even look into the causes of the computer's problems. They can determine the true problem at hand and then provide you a solution to solve that very problem. No matter is it performance issues or loss of data, the computer diagnostics software is there to help you understand how your computer works and how to maintain it.

How important the diagnostic software are is not debatable as it can help you prevent major system errors to do with your computer before they fatally occur. If you are a person who experiences regular system instability, where you often see the blue error screens or having to reboot as it froze, it is time to pick up a computer diagnostics software ad identify your problems. The diagnostic software will start to run tests in your computer as soon as you start it and it will run by itself in the background quietly before returning a complete report of all the tasks it has done. More popular diagnostics software includes those from Symantec, TouchStone Software, TuneUp Utilities, or Network Associates software.

Sometimes, we do not really know all the useless junk that we keep in our computer until we do a thorough computer checkup ourselves. Not many people are aware of a part of your computer named the registry where both important and useless information are kept. Important information pertaining to the login users' details and which applications are allowed to access the computer are all kept here. However, viruses or time may have caused the files to become corrupted and some even have gone missing. Furthermore, false entries are made into the registries slowing down the computer even more as it has to go around those false entries to get to the right ones. Clearing your registry can be done both manually and with the help of PC diagnostic applications.

One of the most troublesome but important tasks to do is to do disk de-fragmentation. This usually takes hours as our hard drives are so large. However, de-fragmentation is essential as it tidies up the data stored in your computer and arranges it in such a way whereby all the memory is utilized properly and efficiently.

It is not a must for you to have regular computer checkups especially since computers are machines and not living and have no need for such delicate care. However, if it is not properly maintained, the chances of it being spoilt is much greater and it usually costs more to buy an entire new computer set than to maintain the old one through regular checks. It is your choice, but for those who do not wish to burn their pockets, computer checks are the way to go.

If you're on a budget, getting a refurbished gaming computer is a cheap and good way to own a gaming computer.

Refurbished means it is not new, but don't go away thinking that 'used' computers are inferior. You will be surprised to find that most of the refurbished computers can perform tasks as good as a new computer. In fact, more and more gamers are buying cheap refurbished computer and then reconstruct them by adding higher RAM and better graphics card. The result is: a gaming computer that performs, but at the price of peanuts.

There are several benefits in getting a refurbished gaming computer.

Firstly, of course, is the price. A brand new gaming computer usually lies in the range of $1500-$3000, depending on the parts you choose. For half the price, you can easily get a refurbished computer that can perform the same tasks as the brand new one. Unless you are a technology geek who goes for the latest gadgets in the market, it makes no sense to spend the extra money on something where you can get it for less.

Secondly, the refurbished computer you are getting comes with parts that are reconditioned and re-certified, which means that they have been through a series of tests to ensure that they are working perfectly. All refurbished computers and parts also come with warranty. It is really the safest way you can get a cheap gaming computer.

If you are thinking of building a budget gaming computer, you may want to follow the way of what many gamers are already doing: buy a cheap refurbished computer and reconstruct it by adding on new parts. You can easily get a cheap refurbished computer for under $200. You may need to purchase the add-on parts separately. They are mainly the computer RAM and graphics card.

In conclusion, there are thousands and one ways to get a cheap computer. Getting a refurbished gaming computer is surely one of the best ways. Hopefully, this article has helped you in making a selection.

There are several things that going on at the same time on our personal computer. Some like to watch video films on their computers while others prefer to draw different graphics. But do you know that the computer controller cards are available in the market that can be installed in the system to improve the functionality of the system. Let us know about a computer controller card in the following article.

Every one needs to find out when his computer needs a computer controller card. If you are watching a video film on your system and do not find sounds or voice recording as appealing as it should be, then you must go for the computer controller card. If you are drawing your official graphics on the system and that are not giving you satisfaction, you can go for the computer controller card.

The computer controller card is available in different varieties which include the individual controller cards for the individual purposes of the computer. You need to install only computer video controller card if you want to modify the sounds and the display of the videos. Similarly, if you want to enhance the production of the computer programming, then you can go for computer driver controller card.

However, the general working of all computer controller cards remains same. It acts as a coordinator between all the devices and the computer. It has a little memory chip that contain the software required to control and access the different programs on the computer. Internet appliances are attached to the computer controller card with the help of thin cables. The external cables are connected to the big, round cable. The cable has three layers. The innermost layer contains the sent data. The middle layer sends the commands to the device while the outermost layer of cable carries the information that approves that the data is going correctly.

As we have said earlier that there are different types of controller cards for the computer and they are available quite easily in the market. One can find them in the affordable amount. If you want to collect further information about the controller cards, then you can search Internet for the detailed information. There are different websites that will tell you about the overall working of the computer controller cards, the areas to be inspected before buying them and so on. If you are not very familiar with the concept of these cards but want to install them for better functioning, you can order them through on-line booking. They will deliver your product in merely 2-3 days and give a real demonstration about the product. So, you can settle all your queries through face to face interaction with them.

Now, do not wait and order the required computer controller card now.

Are you looking to scan and clean your computer? A computer needs to be maintained regularly; otherwise it can start to slow down very quickly. This was one of the problems I encountered with my PC before, because I did not know how to maintain my PC. Nowadays, I maintain my computer at least 2 times a week to make sure that it continues to run quickly and smoothly.

This article will discuss several ways to scan and clean your computer, in order to keep it in optimal condition.

1. Cleaning Out Your Registry

Your computer registry is probably very messy and corrupt if you have never done any maintenance on your computer before. If you have used your computer for about a year now, chances are that your computer problems are caused by the computer registry errors.

After downloading and using a registry cleaner myself, my computer has not been giving me any more error messages. If you need to get a free registry scan, you can visit my website link below to download a top rated registry cleaner.

2. Removing Spyware and Adware

This is the number 2 cause of computer errors and slow speed. Spyware are sneaky programs that hide in your computer, and are not meant for you to know that they are there. These things are usually in software that you download from the internet.

If you want to get rid of the spyware on your computer, you can use Spybot Search & Destroy, which is a free antispyware, to do the job.

3. Free Up Disk Space On Your Computer

You may have many applications and programs that you have installed in your computer that you do not use anymore. These programs are taking up extra disk space on your computer, and can cause your computer to run slower. You should look to uninstall these programs to ensure a better PC performance.

4. Delete Your Temporary Files

The files in your temporary folder may have accumulated to a large number, if you have never cleared them before. These files can be cleared by using the disk cleanup tool on your computer, or by deleting the files from your "temp" folder.

This temp folder can be found in My Computer->Local disk->Documents and settings->Username->Local Settings. This folder might be hidden. If it is, you will need to change the view settings to allow you to see hidden folders. Be careful not to delete the entire temp folder though, just the files inside the folder.

The world of technology has advanced greatly and is in the peak, so much so that the general computer seems to be a thing of the past. The range of computers and their types have expanded astonishingly. There are more convenient types of computers such as the laptop or the palmtop and mobile phones which also serve as computers.

Laptops or notebook computers are very much sought after because of their portability. Notebook computers can be carried around with ease because of their slight built. They suit your pressing demands of time and space very well. You can work on your notebook computers everywhere and at every time. The positive thing about it is that it is an extremely private equipment that you can proudly possess. This is not guaranteed by the old computers, for example.

Even if you possess a private personal computer, it is stationary. You cannot have it with you anywhere outside your home, even though you may be desperately in need of it. Notebook computers help solve these problem.

Notebook computers are a favorite gizmo for many, especially among the youth it us even more popular. As the name suggests a notebook computer works as a notebook for students. It is widely in use in many schools as students do not have to resort to copious piles of pages to make notes. Instead they can safely store all their class notes, projects, assignments, etc. in their own notebook computers.

If anyone wants more space to store more items, then a portable attachable hard disc can serve the purpose, so that, apart from storing documents one can store enormous amount of music, videos, movies by media files. And what more, this you can do anytime and anywhere.

With the advent of computers in general and internet in particular, information gaining and sharing has made the whole world a global village. With the notebook computers this task has gained more momentum and has become easier too.

The various functionality of the note book computers allow you to convert any form of files to the desired ones, compress or expand it and share it with other people. All the new generation computers are made in such a view that any latest programs, software and operating systems are compatible and it is easy to upgrade them, whenever necessary.

The new generation notebook computers have come up with various built-in features which just a few days ago would have been counted as attachable accessories. These include speakers, blue tooth, infra red, web cam, DVD writer, CD-ROM writer, microphone, battery, back up and many others.

Without exaggerating, one thing can be said that notebook computers have contributed in protecting our environment to a great extent, although indirectly. Could not place it? Well, think it this way.

If there was no notebook computer, more papers would have been used for writing and storing data and other stuff; the paper comes from pulp of tress and bamboo like plants. A large number of trees have been saved from cut down since the used of paper has been lessened by the use of the notebook computers.

All the major players in the field of electronics manufacturing and marketing have come up with their own brand of notebook computers. So, it is not a difficult task to lay your hands on one. After all, it is becoming an indispensable asset among the people of the new generation and lately is defining the trends and fashions among the youth. Notebook computers are in fact a cult in itself.

Everyone wants a fast Windows 7 computer. This is especially true of people who play games. So the question is what makes a Windows 7 computer fast? How can you speed up your Windows 7 computer without paying an arm and a leg to increase the speed.

Several things make a computer fast. The most important is keeping it clean. A new Windows 7 computer is like my 2 car garage in 1985. At that time it help 2 cars no problem. Today is holds no cars. There is no room because other stuff has been stored there.

The same is true of most computers today. When they were purchased they were fast because they were empty of software. Over time software accumulated in the computer. The most egregious software is memory resident software. Often we use programs for a short time and then never again. However, these programs often have memory resident components that slow down the computer. A clean computer is a fast computer. How to clean is computer is the focus of another article.

In this article the focus is on what makes Windows 7 fast. So the first step is to measure Windows 7 speed. There are benchmarks and diagnostic programs that measure performance and speed. While they do a good job, they are not the measure on what a computer user considers fast. To me fast is responsive. Windows 7 has a responsive measurement tool called the Windows Experience Index. It is a measurement scale ranging from 1.0 to 7.9 currently. Newly purchased computers typically score in the range of 3.4 to 4.5.

To find the Windows Experience Index, click on START, then point to COMPUTER, click the right mouse button (the other mouse button), and use the normal mouse click to open PROPERTIES from the bottom of the menu. the overall rating is displayed smack dab in the middle of the display. A click on the Windows Experience Index to the right of the overall rating number should reveal the rating for each of the Windows Experience Index categories.

The Windows Experience Index measures Processor speed, Memory speed, Graphics card desktop performance speed, graphics card 3D gaming and business performance, and hard disk transfer rate. It rates the overall performance of the computer as the lowest score in any of these categories.

Many computers today have quad-core processors running at 2.5 to 3.2 GHz with DDR3 memory. Such systems typically score in the 6.9 to 7.2 range for CPU and memory speed. Generally, CPU and Memory are not a major consideration in making a Windows 7 computer fast. My laptop running an Inter i3 dual core 2.13 Ghz CPU and memory performs in the 5.9 to 6.1 range.

Disk drives in computers are Serial AT Attachment (SATA) drives. They rotate at 7,200 rpm. This is typically twice the 3,000 rpm at which automobile engines cruse. Laptop drives may run at 5,400 rpm. High performance drives operate at 10,000 rpm. So why the focus on rpm speed. A large part of disk performance is the time it mechanically takes to move the disks read/write mechanism. Part of that mechanical performance is the rotational speed of the drive. So 5,400 rpm drives are slower than 7,200 rpm drives. Most SATA drives have a Windows Experience Index of from 5.6 to 5.9.

What remains is the graphics card performance. That is the area which makes the Windows experience index run in the 3.4 to 4.5 range.

How do we make our Windows 7 computer more responsive? Changing processor and memory are costly. They are likely the fastest components already. Changes there make no sense. With Windows XP, increasing the computer's memory size from 256 MB or 512 MB to 3 GB or 4 GB noticeably improves performance. Most Windows 7 computers today come with 3 GB to 6 GB of memory. Windows 7 64-bit Edition can use more than 6 GB. My computer has 16 GB of memory. However, application programs mostly are written to use no more than 4 GB or memory. So most of the 16 GB memory is unused. Right now my computer seems to be using 10 GB of memory. Increasing memory size in a Windows 7 computer is not likely to result in a noticeable improvement in responsiveness.

It is possible to improve responsiveness with a faster disk drive. This requires disk drive replacement. Two drives can improve performance: 1. Solid State Drives (no moving parts) and 2. High RPM drives (10,000 rpm). Both types of drives are expensive with Solid State Drives (SSD) being the most expensive. Solid State Drives also wear out over time (several years) depending upon use. The smaller the SSD, the quicker it wears out. SSD are the fastest drives because there are no mechanical parts.

One disk drive strategy is to get a small 128 MB SSD that only holds Windows 7 and the application programs and place the remaining data on another larger SATA drive. The Windows supports the Windows paging files and temporary file area. These areas are constantly used by Windows to store and retrieve data while you are working on the computer. Making that storage and retrieval process faster makes Windows more responsive. Word, Excel, Pictures and Music files stored on another slower drive do not make the Windows 7 computer less responsive because we expect some delay every time we retrieve one of those files. My computer uses a 128 GB SSD for Windows. It has a Windows experience Index of 6.8. All my data is stored on 1TB SATA drives with a Windows Experience of 5.9. I have not tested 10,000 rpm drives as yet to determine their Windows Experience Index. The Windows Experience Index is not published for any drives because it depends in part on the motherboard and CPU to which the drive is attached.

The last area is the graphics cards. Because their Windows Experience Index score is low they offer the greatest potential for improvement. Graphics cards are advertised with high performance chips (chip sets) from ATI or Nvidia typically. They have graphics memory on the card. Fast graphics chips and more memory on the card can speed up and make games more responsive. They should make the 3D business and gaming graphics Windows Experience Index higher.

In contrast a card with a high 3D performance and a low desktop performance our computer may not make our computer as responsive as we hope. Also how we use our computer can be important. In my case I run four (4) monitors each with 1920 by 1200 resolution. So having two Digital Video Interface (DVI) connectors on a graphics card is important because I need two graphics cards to support the four monitors. Configuring the cards for responsive performance requires that the motherboard of the computer have graphics card slots (Peripheral Connect Interface Express - PCI Express connectors) that run at the highest PCI Express speed (16X speed) from both slots simultaneously.

The final consideration is the graphics card memory interface. The interface can be 64-bit, 128-bit, 256-bit or higher. Here the larger number is better. If you are a gamer and get the best performing chips (chip set) on a graphics card that only has a 64-bit interface you could find the gaming performance less than expected. Not being a game player (except for Solitaire) I may be incorrect here. In the case of four monitors, a $100 card that has a 256-bit memory interface produces a Windows Experience Index rating of 6.8 for both Windows Desktop and 3D Graphics performance. Finding a good performing and moderately priced graphics card requires a look a the specifications and specifically the memory interface. Cards with a 320-bit memory interface or higher can be very expensive. Actually, some cost more than my motherboard, CPU and 16 GB of memory.

The last part of performance is the network interface. Computers with a 100 Mbps or 1 Gbps interface are common. Few if any computers operate at the original 10 Mbps Ethernet speed. The speed is not so important here. Internet speeds are typically slower. The Verizon FIOS speed is often slower than 35 Mbps. This is under the 100 Mbps of most computer Ethernet interfaces. So then what is important to understand about network performance? It is simple, when a network is not working well, a Windows 7 computer slows to a snail's crawl. With a malfunctioning network interface (or any Universal Serial Bus - USB interface) it looks like someone poured liquid nitrogen over the computer so it is frozen solid. This can also happens when the batteries in your cordless mouse die.

So a responsive Windows 7 computer is determined more by graphics card performance and memory interface, as opposed to CPU speed, Memory speed, and disk drive speed. Any network, USB or mouse problems tend to stop everything. Keeping the computer clean from unused and memory resident software helps as well.

Pete the Nerd
"Your Friend on a Technically Challenged Planet (c)"
(c) P D Moulton

With the Internet and computer technology developing every single day, you might want to give your old computer a long break it badly needs. Computer has gone a long way from being just a mere typing machine.

If you want to know whether you need to box-up your old computer or buy a new one, here's a quick checklist:

Operating system

Run only in Windows 95/98 (or older operating systems!)
Old operating systems won't allow you to add on scanners, printers, or dig cams. It also won't allow you to run newer programs.

Updated RAM

If your computer takes forever to load up, chances you need to add more RAM. Some old RAM chips might not be available in the market anymore and they don't come cheap too.

Small hard disk space

Isn't it frustrating when you come to the point that you have to delete older files to make space for your new ones? This clearly states that you badly need a new hard disk. The market now offers as much as 500 GB for personal computers.

Software doesn't run

If new software doesn't work on your computer, then it is no longer compatible with new programs in the market, and you absolutely need to change your system.

Slow processors

If you are doing some graphic works on your computer, then it suddenly bogs down, then you are in trouble. Older computers don't even come close to opening website with large graphics.

If you find yourself in the above situation, then it's high-time that you buy a new computer. Below are some quick tips that can do you a lot of help:

Tips in Buying Computers

The first thing you need to ask when buying a computer is "what would it be used for?" If you just need to type up writing assignments or do some office works, then a computer with a decent word processing program would go.

If you were using the Internet often, then you would need a computer with 128 MB of memory and at least Pentium-2 processor.

If you do some graphics, edit pictures or create videos, aside from higher RAM and larger space, you need a good video card to view your work as actual as it can be. Also check the compatibility of other devices like scanners and printers to your computer.

If you are decided to buy a new computer, then allot at least $500 of your budget. If you want a high-end computer then it definitely costs a lot more than that. Don't think that you get the best deals when you buy a computer on a cheap price. Always go for quality, it's a total headache if your computer acts up in the middle of your work.

When buying a new computer, think properly what you need before heading to a computer shop. It is also a good thing to have a chit-chat with a computer salesperson. Ask them all the things you want to know. With enough patience, the right computer for you is just one decision away. For more info you may want to visit htt://www.baytradecomputers.com

For the last couple of decades, the rapid advances in computing technology have given rise to a corresponding problem of computers becoming quickly obsolete. These days, any computer that is more than 3 years old will be noticeably slower in its performance than a computer that has been manufactured in the last few months. It has therefore become a fact of life in the information age that computers need to be updated on a regular basis in order to utilize the latest software and communications applications. This in turn has led to the problem of what one should do with the rapidly growing stockpile of old computers and other electronic equipment. A company or individual really has one of 3 choices: 1. Do nothing; 2 Donate or; 3. Recycle. This article will discuss each of the options in turn.

Before looking closely at the issue of computer equipment recycling, it is worthwhile noting why it so important to do something rather than nothing. Latest studies on the subject have concluded that only around 10-15% of old computer equipment is being recycled. The equipment that isn't being recycled is either being stored, gathering dust on the tops of cupboards or in garages, or even more perniciously is being disposed of in landfills.

Companies that are storing old computing equipment are entertaining a false economy. It is actually more expensive to continue to store old computers than it is to properly dispose of them - when you take into account the cost of storage space, the cost of securing old systems to comply with federal privacy laws and other associated administration costs. There are the also environmental concerns attached to the stockpiling of large quantities of obsolete computers. The systems can break down and leak hazardous materials into the air, soil and groundwater should they catch on fire or be subject to other natural disasters such as a floods.

The larger problem however, lies in disposing of this old computer equipment in a heedless fashion. Computer equipment that isn't taken care of by an authorized computer recycler is most likely to end up in landfills and become toxic computer waste. A computer is made up of plastic, ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals (lead, cadmium, antimony, beryllium, chromium and mercury), electronic boards (gold, palladium, silver and platinum) and glass - in short, materials (many of which are toxic) which don't break down naturally. A standard sized cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor contains more than two kilos of lead - the toxicity of which has been well known for centuries.

The best option when dealing with old computer equipment is to either donate it (computer hardware less than 5 years old can generally be donated) or to recycle it.

Individuals who are looking to recycle one or a few items of computer hardware will find that nearly all of the major computer manufacturers - Apple, Dell, Gateway, IBM, Lexmark, Hewlett Packard, Epson, NEC - are running some type of computer recycling program. These programs tend to involve the company taking back your old computer and disposing of it responsibly, at no extra cost to yourself, whenever you purchase a new computer from them.

For companies who are looking to dispose of large volumes of computer hardware (and other types of e-waste) they should really get in contact with an authorized computer recycler. The hallmark of the computer recycler's business model is that of responsible destruction. They will salvage all useful computer parts before breaking down what's left, safely removing all hazardous materials in the process. There will usually be a fee charged by these recyclers to accept old computer equipment (particularly when it comes to computer monitors) but the cost of disposal will be significantly less than the cost of not disposing of the computer hardware - both in terms of direct business costs and potential costs to the environment.

Choose the best computer model.

Many computer manufacturers, especially such computer giants as IBM, Dell, Gateway, Sony, Apple, etc. issue families (series) of computers. Models of computers in each series have either the same principle of design, or same processor, or have been given diapason of performances. The series can include a base model, and several derivative models. Usually for each type of computer, manufacturers issue series that generally can be divided into 3-4 categories: budget-friendly (at low price), mid-range (at middle price), cutting-edge and ultimate performance (at high, and very high prices). IBM, Gateway, Dell and Apple issue computer families not only for Home and Home office, but also for Small, Mid size or Large Businesses. These families can also include the network optimized series.

The needed features

First of all, you have to make a preliminary analysis of your needs to pick a type of computer, and a zone where you might search this computer, for example, for Home or for Small Business. But it is not sufficient.

To understand what kind of computer to buy, you additionally have to determine what computer performance you need: the type of processor, speed, size of memory, type of video and audio cards, type of case, and so on. You can select one from two ways: 1 - to formulate your needs in the process of searching, 2 - to compile a list a hardware requirement for the programs you might want to run

Preliminary selection:

To select a computer family, you have to choose one, which the features match your wishes. Such families can be several. Next procedures are to find the best computer family and best model of computer belonging to this family. If you know the features you need, you can identify the name of the computer family. For this goal you have to use for example, a Table of Features comparison for base models of computer families. For example, according to this Table, if you know that you need a computer only for simple text editing and emailing, your choice is Budget-Friendly Series. On the other hand, if you need for realization of your tasks a computer from Cutting-Edge series , but it is not affordable, your choice can be like a computer from Mid-range series plus a customization (perhaps, when you can better afford it).

To accelerate the search for the preliminary selection, you can find comparison information about the different types of computers with the help a comparison-shopping search engine. It allows you quickly to find the needed products sold by online stores, small businesses, and individuals in diapason of affordable prices. Search can be done by Brand, by Price, by Processor speed, etc. To find what you need, see: http://www.nextag.com/serv/cleverace/buyer/outpdir.jsp

Generally, a preliminary selection can be executed on the basis of not only cost and main functions, but also on an evaluation of convenience of use, warranties, and so on. This kind of selection you can make for computer families of different manufacturers for example, for 3 or 4 families of computer giants. Some companies, such as Gateway, gives to a buyer an opportunity to compare preliminary selected models of computers with "compare" option.

Final selection.

To find the optimal model for yourself, you may make the final selection from the preliminary chosen models. It is much easier to compare 3-4 models, than more than 5 million variants that are available on the Computer Market at the beginning of your search.

Custom built model

If you cannot find a computer with the needed performances among the available computers, you need to select a vendor and to order a custom built computer.

Discount

Keep in mind, you can find a cheaper computer for the same model on the Discount Market, because some online stores, especially the computer giants, suggest coupons; or discounts, such as $20 off, when you spend $150 or more; free shipping; free printer; and so on.

Computer security training is considered as one of the hottest programs for the new millennium. It is a major part of information technology that prepares students to protect computers and networks. Computers undergo constant attacks from various virus programs and instances of frauds that cause the loss of millions of dollars annually. Computer security training programs assist users to overcome these difficulties. Colleges and universities, technical schools and online programs are the main arenas that provide advanced computer security training.

As all other IT programs, computer security training programs also start with foundation classes. Fundamental programs offer students a comprehensive knowledge about the tools and techniques to manage risks, and to detect and prevent computer attacks. Some of the major concepts discussed are hackers, software piracy, viruses, identity theft, stalking and credit card fraud. Students learn the latest technologies for protecting systems such as securing the operating systems, audit techniques, identification and authentication, cryptography and other network security mechanisms. The security training also encompasses sessions in threat assessment, incident investigation, system security administration, risk management and online security testing. Those who look for a career in computer security technology development get advanced training in system security engineering, software design, development and testing, secure operating system design, and design and application of network security techniques.

A computer security professional has a good idea about the planning, co-ordination and implementation of security techniques to protect computers from illegal attacks. They are also trained in educating users on computer security, monitoring the network for security breaches, installing safety software and taking instant action against cyber attacks.

Online computer security training is a new trend that teaches the latest technologies to save computers from online attacks. Online certificate and degree programs are available. Recognized online training programs help to attain credentials in security training. These valuable skills are useful for marketing yourself to computer security firms.

As a mandatory technology for this century, many offices and organizations employ computer security personnel to take care of crises during their normal functioning.

PART I - INTRO & FRAGMENTATION

Many people are under the impression that a computer's performance deteriorates with age. I'd like to dispel that myth: computers are mostly solid-state technology that is largely unaffected by age. I'm not saying that older computers don't run more slowly, but once we correct the notion that the slow-down is caused by its unalterable age, the problem becomes one that can usually be remedied without buying a newer computer.

First, let's understand what doesn't cause a computer to slow down:

• Computer processors are digital electronic transistor-like switches, sealed in a hard plastic package; these are solid-state devices that either work or don't. They may get fried if exposed to a power surge, but otherwise, they don't slow down.
• Computer memory is comprised of similar components and works or doesn't work, just the same.
• A computer motherboard is nothing more than wire traces on a piece of plastic, usually with more solid-state devices plugged into it or soldered to it. Motherboards don't slow down, either.
• Computer power supplies are exposed to some of the most extreme conditions a computer experiences. That's why they burn out more frequently than most other parts, but even they don't cause performance reductions; they either work or they don't.

So what does cause a computer to slow down with age?

The biggest culprit is data storage. Imagine trying to look for something in a file cabinet if it was the only item in the drawer; it would be pretty easy to find, right? If there were even just a few items in the drawer, it would still be simple to thumb through them to find the one you wanted. What if the drawer was completely filled? It might take a little longer, right? That's what happens on a hard drive when you install an operating system, applications, and data on it. Every time you download more.mp3 songs, import more.jpg photos from your camera, or type up new word processing documents, you're stuffing more things in the file cabinet which is your hard drive.

Unlike the processor or memory, the hard drive is usually not a solid-state device; it has moving parts. Consequently, the time it takes to read or write hard drive data is on the order of 1,000 times slower than solid-state devices like RAM or a USB thumb drive. Couple that with the fact that you keep adding more and more stuff to it, and you can begin to understand the problem.

In reality, it's even worse than you imagine. When you save a document to the hard drive, it gets stored in a specific space on the drive. The computer tries to allocate hard drive space as efficiently as possible, so if more stuff gets written to the drive after that, it's stored in the next-available sequential space. (For the hard-core techies reading this, yes, I know that this explanation severely oversimplifies the process.) Unfortunately, that means that when you next edit that initial document, there isn't any contiguous space on the drive for the new data to be stored, so it ends up getting stored elsewhere, separated from the first part of the document. Later, when you try to read this document back into memory, it takes a little longer than it would for a contiguously-stored document because the computer must make a jump in the middle of reading it to find the rest of it. This is known as fragmentation. Another cause of fragmentation is when files are deleted, as that creates holes the computer tries to fill with subsequently-saved data, but the holes are almost never the right size for the new files being saved, so the newly-saved files also get broken up into noncontiguous pieces.

Don't think your use is the only force causing fragmentation on your drive, either. Virtual memory, pointers to recent files, various cache files, and updates/patches use and release hard drive space all the time, causing fragmentation, even if you never intentionally save another file to your computer. Fortunately, fragmentation is relatively easy to cure. Microsoft Windows comes with a tool that does it for us - all we have to do is use this tool from time to time, and it rearranges the files on the disk to do its best to store them all contiguously. Lucky for us, a lot of the stuff we store on our hard drives doesn't change all that frequently. Operating system files, installed applications, and even our music and photos rarely change in content or size, so once they get defragmented into less-dynamic areas of the hard drive, they should be fine.

PART II - DIGITAL HOARDING

After fragmentation, the next issue to discuss about how hard drives slow down our computers is the increasing volume of data being stored on them. If you've seen a phonograph turntable, you have a rough notion of how a hard drive operates, but imagine it spinning much faster. Instead of 33 or 45 revolutions per minute, hard drives operate at 5,400, 7,200, 10,000, or even 15,000 revolutions per minute. For even the slowest hard drive to spin around to the complete opposite side of the disk may take under 1/100th of a second, but like a phonograph turntable, rotation isn't the only motion the drive makes; the head also moves in and out, radially, and that motion is significantly slower. When a hard drive has little data on it, that data is generally stored close to the center, so the head only needs to traverse a tiny fraction of the radius of the disk, but as more and more data get stored, more of the radius of the disk is used, so the portion of the radius that the head must travel gets longer, making data reads and writes slower.

Fortunately, this type of performance degradation can frequently be mitigated, too. People tend to be terrible pack-rats about what they store on their computers. Hard drives become like black holes, collecting years of data that may never be used, needed, or even seen again. If the computer was faster when it was new, before it had all this data on it, you may well be able to restore it to that level of performance if you could clean out some of this data. There are countless ways to identify and remove unneeded data from a hard drive. Windows comes with a few tools that may help:

• Disk Cleanup searches for several categories of junk left on your drive and enables you to remove them.
• Add/Remove Programs helps you find and remove old applications and Windows Components that you no longer use or need.

Even your own old documents, music, movies, and photos can be parsed and either deleted or moved to offline storage (such as burned to CDs/DVDs or uploaded to network or even Internet storage facilities).

In extreme situations, you can also reduce some of the cache sizes, such as the System Restore cache size or even the Recycle Bin. By default, these take up 12% and 10% of your hard drive, respectively, and unless you're prone to deleting things you shouldn't have, cutting these in half frees up 1/9 of your hard drive, immediately and without undue risk.

Professionals may also be able to help you identify more ways of freeing up space, such as disabling Offline Files if the feature isn't needed, deleting old user profiles, removing old printers, reducing Internet cache settings, etc. Frequently, programs leave remnants of themselves behind on your hard drive, even after being uninstalled; these may also be deleted. Misconfigured virtual memory settings may also hog up more of your hard drive than is actually needed.

PART III - APPLICATION CREEP

Besides hard drive data storage, there is another area in which computer performance may become degraded, appearing to be due to age: increasing demands on the processor and memory. We must divide this issue into two categories, though. One may be resolvable without upgrading your computer, whereas the other likely would not be.

The resolvable category is what I refer to as "Application creep." Your computer probably came with a bunch of free and free-trial programs installed that you've never used. Most of these lie dormant on your hard drive until invoked, but some, like printer drivers, malware detectors, and hardware and software updaters load into memory every time you boot your machine. On top of these, you've probably installed more, whether you realized it or not. If you installed Adobe Reader, there's a little piece of code that probably loads up on every restart of your PC - it makes it quicker for you to open.pdf files because part of the Reader is already in memory, but what about the 99% of the time that you're not using it? Well, it still sits there, taking up resources, making other operations slower. Lots of other common applications have such components that automatically run when you boot your PC (aka "AutoRuns"), such as iTunes, Safari, QuickTime, Java, and more. Besides these AutoRuns, other unwanted programs sneak in, piggy-backed alongside programs you use. Those extra toolbars in your Internet Explorer window were the carefully-concealed payloads of lots of other programs you installed, and guess what - they use up resources unnecessarily every time IE is running. It's not a big reach to realize that when unneeded things are using up resources, desirable operations work less efficiently.

The category that's more difficult to resolve is the result of technological advancement. You bought your computer eight years ago, before Netflix ever started streaming movies, and now you expect it to do things it wasn't intended to do. You finished the games you were playing and bought newer games, even though they demand more RAM, more hard drive space, and faster processors. You had a film camera before, but now you're importing your digital cell phone photos from all of your trips, and you've started taking short videos, too!...and even if you don't actively update any of your software or increase your utilization of it, updates may be happening behind the scenes. Microsoft Windows can update itself automatically, and in fact, many Microsoft software titles can be configured to do so. Adobe, Java, Real Player, iTunes, and Quicken prompt you for updates, and you just click "OK" without even thinking about it. Bug fixes come out, updated drivers are released, and you don't want to be left vulnerable or outdated, so you accept them. Each of these updates places additional demands on your computer's resources.

Look, we don't all still carry around our first, brick-sized, analog-only, battery-guzzling cellular phones - we want the latest features, so we upgrade. At some point you have to make the decision to do that with your computer, too. Ultimately, you may find that even after thinning out your data, deleting your unwanted applications, and cleaning up your AutoRun programs as far as you reasonably can that your computer is still too slow for your taste. At that point, either upgrade or replace it. Hopefully, following the advice above will at least increase the amount of time between computer upgrades, saving you money.

PART IV - WHAT TO UPGRADE

So you've tried all the optimizing you could, and you're still unsatisfied with the performance of your computer. Now what? Maybe it's time to upgrade, but what should you upgrade? The whole system? Just some components? If time and money was no object, you'd just go buy the latest greatest system out there and hire someone else to reinstall and reconfigure all of your applications and transfer all of your data. Unfortunately, for many of us, that's not the case. When faced with limited resources, we have to make decisions about the best ways to employ them. You'd hate to spend four-digits on a whole new computer system if all the old one needed was a memory upgrade. However, you'd also hate to waste money on RAM only to find that you're still unsatisfied and still faced with the need to buy a whole new system. How can you tell what to do?

Windows comes with several tools to help us identify bottlenecks. Armed with that information, we can make better decisions about what to do to resolve them. Here's a list of several of the more common bottlenecks:

• Network Connection - a low-speed network connection will make Internet access and any other network resource utilization slower.
• Main Memory - having insufficient RAM forces the PC to use a swap file on the hard drive instead, slowing down processing, task switching, and read/write operations.
• Processor - having too slow a processor or too few processors will impact the performance of virtually all operations. Less-expensive processors also lack L1 cache, which reduces their performance further.
• Hard Drive - slower hard drives affect the speed of all read/write operations, including cache files and virtual memory. Space utilization is also a consideration; the guideline is to utilize less than 50% of any hard drive's capacity.

To diagnose these issues, first try to notice patterns. If your performance complaints predominantly pertain to the speed at which Web pages load, they're more likely indicative of a problem with the speed of your Internet connection. If performance gets sluggish when you have more applications running, you may have insufficient memory or a slow processor. If the hard drive activity indicator light stays lit frequently, it may indicate insufficient memory or too slow or too full a hard drive. Once you have your guess as a starting point, you'll want to find evidence for or against your thesis. A good place to start is the Windows Task Manager. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del, and you should see the task manager or a link to it, depending on which version of Windows you're running. The Performance tab shows processor and memory utilization and the Networking tab shows network connection utilization.

Let's start with the Performance tab; it provides lots of good information. First, the number of panes of CPU Usage History shows you how many CPU cores your system has. Utilization should normally be low unless you have a ton of stuff actively running. If any of the graphs are pegging the needle at the top of the chart, there is more demand being placed on your processor than it can handle. The PF Usage charts show how much RAM is being used. Ideally you want this to be low, too. The more applications you have running, the more RAM is required. As we mentioned, once the computer runs out of actual memory, it makes more room by moving less-frequently-used data into "virtual memory," which is actually stored on the hard drive. When it needs it back, it swaps the next-least-frequently-used data to the hard drive to make room to swap the needed data back in. All of these operations take time, so if the PF Usage is up at or near the top of your graph, you have insufficient RAM to meet your demands.

Another helpful tool to see the processor and RAM that are installed in your PC is the System Properties in the Control Panel. Press Windows-Break as a shortcut to bring that up. The Pentium-4 processor is today's standard, and if you have an older one, I wouldn't bother trying to upgrade - just replace the PC. Different operating systems have different memory requirements, but having at least 1 GB of RAM is pretty common nowadays.

Back to the Task Manager, on the Networking tab, don't be surprised if your network utilization is frequently at or below one percent. A typical desktop computer has a network interface card (NIC) capable of communicating at 100 or even 1,000 million bits per second - even older NICs could communicate at 10 Mbps. A typical broadband Internet connection (such as a cable modem, high-speed DSL, or fiber optic connection), however, operates in the vicinity of 1 Mbps, and that's only when downloading large files under perfect conditions. If you're connected to other local network resources, such as servers or network printers, you may be able to use more of your available bandwidth, but if your sole network utilization is your Internet access, the bottleneck will always be the Internet connection rather than the computer's network connection. Now that we've cleared that up, if you find the graph showing utilization at or near 100%, your network card may be too slow for your requirements, but if you're unhappy with the speed of Web pages loading despite low network connection utilization, you need to upgrade your Internet connection instead of your PC.

PART V - UPGRADING

Now that you've identified the problem, you need to decide how to deal with it. Some issues can be overcome by minor upgrades, but others aren't worth the cost or trouble, and are an ideal opportunity to replace the PC.

If you've decided that you don't have enough RAM, that's usually the cheapest and easiest upgrade you can make to your PC. Depending on how much you have and how many slots your motherboard has, you may be able to install additional DIMMs or you may need to replace existing lower-capacity DIMMs with larger-capacity ones. There are dozens of incompatible varieties of memory, so if you're not sure what you need, the best thing to do is to check the owner's manual that came with your PC when you bought it. You still have it, right? If not, either take a DIMM out and bring it with you to the store or if you're buying online, search by the make and model of your PC, rather than for the type of memory.

If you've decided that your network card is too slow, you can probably install a faster one into a card slot or even a USB port - this, too, is a relatively inexpensive and easy upgrade to perform. Most PCs built in the last 10 years have PCI slots, so you can probably look for a PCI-technology network interface card (NIC) at your local computer store or online. They come in wired or wireless varieties, depending on how you'll be connecting your PC to your network. If you'd rather not open your PC, both wired and wireless NICs come in USB varieties nowadays, too. If your Internet connection is too slow, you won't have to do a thing to your computer - just contact your ISP and discuss your options for upgrading your service to a higher bandwidth - or shop around to see what the other ISPs are charging.

If you decide that your processor is insufficient, it's usually best to just replace your PC. Motherboards are designed to work with a small range of different model processors, and even if yours was the low-end model, the cost and trouble to upgrade to the high-end processor wouldn't produce a noticeably-worthwhile improvement; trade up for a PC with more processor cores, instead. The only exception to this rule might be if your motherboard allowed you to upgrade from a processor without L1 cache (such as a Celeron) to a processor with L1 cache - that could produce a noticeable-enough improvement to warrant the cost and difficulty. If so, check your owner's manual (or specs online) to see which processors your motherboard will accommodate, and if you decide to do it, once you factor in the cost of your time and effort, it's probably best to just upgrade to the best and fastest one available - you don't want to have to do this again in a year when you outgrow a tiny incremental improvement.

Historically, when a computer's hard drive became the bottleneck, it was usually a point at which we recommended replacing the entire system. In some cases, however, the rules have changed today. Replacing a hard drive involves reinstalling the operating system and all the applications, as well as transferring all the personal files and data, so it's usually such a labor-intensive process as to make it the ideal time to upgrade the rest of the PC along with it. Today, however, with the popularity of digital photography,.mp3 music files, videos, and other space-hogging multimedia data, it's frequently possible to optimize an existing hard drive by offloaded all such personal files and data to external storage. USB flash drives are now available in 64 GB or more, and external USB hard drives exceed 1 TB (which is 1,024 GB). It's a pain in the butt to have to change the installed location of most applications and Windows components, but to move data files is significantly less trouble. In fact, to further improve performance, you could even offload your PC's virtual memory file to a second (internal) hard drive without too much trouble. As we discussed earlier in this treatise, the more stuff you have on your hard drive, the less efficiently it operates, so by moving all this type of non-system-critical data off of the hard drive that contains the operating system and the applications, you may be able to restore most of the PC's youthful performance without too much trouble.

Ultimately, all of these optimizations and upgrades are only stop-gap measures. Software patches and updates will continue to require increasingly-more space on your main hard drive, and you'll probably add more features and applications over time. Even if you're terribly miserly with space on your main hard drive, there are still increasing demands. It's also one of the few mechanical components in your PC, so its lifespan can already be expected to be shorter than any of the solid state components. At some point you're going to need a new main hard drive, and at that point, I'd still stick with my position that it's a good opportunity to replace the whole PC.

Introduction

The last 20 years has brought about a proliferation of computer use in society. Technology is in a constant state of evolution and computer based activities are becoming increasingly integrated with their users' lives. A number of years ago, it was unthought-of to conduct activities such as banking and shopping online. In addition to this, the vast communication possibilities that are now in existence are making the world a smaller place as people are using a multitude of messaging services such as MSN to stay in contact. The benefits of these highly sophisticated technologies are however, faced by numerous threats. Computers are, more than ever susceptible to malicious use in the forms of hackers, viruses and fraudulent activity. One of the reasons for this is that computers are responsible for storing large amounts of information. Aside from threats posed by malicious use, computers also face a number of issues from an architectural perspective. The vast majority of data stored on a computer is saved on the hard drive and although improvements are continuously being made in terms of their size and capacity, hard drives are always vulnerable to a great deal of stress. In turn, hard drives inevitably have a shelf life of approximately three years. A study conducted by the accounting firm McGladrey and Pullen estimates that one out of every 500 data centres will experience a severe computer disaster this year. As a result, almost of half those companies will go out of business (Peddle 2006).

The objective of this essay is to summarise the main ways in which hard drives can fail, thus incurring a loss of data or difficulty in accessibility. The essay is structured as follows; the first section provides a description of the main ways in which hard drives can fail, along with the effect that this has on the stored data. This is followed by a description of the methods that can be conducted in attempt to try and prevent failure as much as possible and culminating with a brief conclusion and summary of the essay.

Causes of failure
A hard disk drive is a digitally encoded non-volatile storage device which stores data on rapidly rotating disks with magnetic surfaces called hard disk platters (Wikipedia 2006). The read-write heads of the hard disk are used to recode and retrieve the data stored on the hard disk as the disk platter rotates at a very high speed. Hard disks operate under extreme stress and will eventually fail due to general wear and tear accrued through age or some form of malfunction or failure. The chances of failure of a hard drive therefore increase greatly over time and ironically the chances are greatly increased as hard disks improve and develop. The phenomenon of hard disk failure is raising higher and higher; as to increase the read and write speed, today we have the latest hard disk rotating amazingly faster and this immense revolving speed generates massive centrifugal force, a single adverse cause in the course of normal operation can cause severe hard disk failure (Bista 2006).

Hard disk failures can be generally classified in two categories, namely physical and logical failures. Physical hard disk failures are the type of failures in which something is physically wrong with the hard drive itself and symptoms may include a grinding or clicking sound (Posey 2006). A logical failure is the type of failure in which there is nothing physically wrong with the drive itself however, the information stored on the hard disk is in bad shape. Normally this type of failure can be repaired by using a tool such as Scan Disk (Posey 2006).

The following section outlines the main cause of hard drive failure which are as follows:

o Firmware corruption

o Electronic failure

o Mechanical failure i.e. head crash

o Circuit board malfunction

o Logical errors

o Human error

Types of hard disk failure
Firmware corruption
Firmware is the software code that controls and is embedded in the physical hard drive hardware (Data clinic 2006). It is responsible for the operations of the hard drive and its activities include configuration, management of the interaction that takes place between the other components and the safe powering on/off of the system. At start-up, a hard disk loads the service data from its firmware zone into RAM and then allows the drive to report on readiness. If there is damage to these modules, then the drive will report either it's family identity or will not detect it at all (Disklabs 2006).

In the event of such an occurrence, the computer will be prevented from accessing any data on the hard disk. The benefit to this is that it is merely an accessibility problem and a firmware failure does not automatically incur a data loss. Once the drive has been repaired, it is possible to recover the data.

Electronic failure
Data clinic (2006) describes how electronic failure usually relates to problems on the controller board of the actual hard disk. This may be due to the computer actually suffering a power spike or electrical surge that knocks out the controller board on the hard disk making it undetectable to the BIOS. This means that whilst there is an electronic failure, any data stored on the hard drive will be inaccessible until the problem is fixed. The nature of this type of problem however, is advantageous as it is a mere hindrance and data will not be lost or corrupted and is therefore fully recoverable.
Mechanical failure
Mechanical failure is generally considered to be more serious than electronic failure or firmware corruption as it often leads to data loss and even complete data loss if prompt action is not taken. There are numerous types of mechanical failure; these can range from motor problems to one of the most common types of known failures is a head crash. A head crash, as it's name implies, occurs when the read-write heads of the hard disk collide with the disk's rotating platter surface (Data clinic 2006). Often, this can cause damage to both the heads and even the hard disk itself.

The head normally rides on a thin film of moving air which is entrapped at the surface of the platter (Wikipedia 2006). The platter is coated with a magnetic layer and a crash can occur if a small amount of dust, a sudden movement of the computer or power surge causes the head to bounce against the disk and damaging the magnetic coating. Modern A head crash, as its name implies, occurs when the read-write heads of the hard disk collide with the disks rotating platter surface (Data clinic 2006). Often, this can cause damage to both the heads and even the hard disk itself.

The head normally rides on a thin film of moving air which is entrapped at the surface of the platter (Wikipedia 2006) The platter is coated with a magnetic layer and a crash can occur if a small amount of dust, a sudden movement of the computer or power surge causes the head to bounce against the disk and damaging its magnetic coating. Modern drives spin at extremely high speeds (between 5, 00 and 15,000 rpm, (Wikipedia 2006)) which means that when such a collision occurs, the damage incurred can be quite serious.

Obviously, data corruption will occur at the onset of a head crash as it will then become unreadable when the read-write head attempts to access it. Furthermore, once a head crash has occurred, this increases the probability of future head crashes, especially if there is dust in the system, for instance which means the user needs to take prompt action to rectify this in order to prevent further head crashes and risk losing all data stored on the hard disk.

Circuit Board Malfunction
The circuit board is responsible for powering and controlling the mechanical unit. It is exposed to variations in temperature and as a result, the chips that comprise the circuit board surface can develop small breaks internally which can cause circuit interruption and electrical failure. Furthermore, the failure of any of the other electrical components of the computer can result in a defective circuit board, thus causing the hard drive to fail and data access is then prevented.

Logical errors
Logical errors also differ from the other failures mentioned as it usually means that there is nothing actually physically wrong with the disk in terms of architectural faults, instead there is a problem with the information stored on it. There could be an invalid entry in a file allocation table for instance (Data clinic 2006). Logical errors are not too serious, unlike mechanical failures and can be tackled with various software tools. Caution should however be extended because if a fix utility is run inappropriately on the hard disk, the stored data can often become unrecoverable.
Human error

In a sense it is rare that a hard disk failure could be caused by a human alone. That is, of course providing that users take caution in how they handle a computer. Combined with mechanical failure, human error accounts for almost 75% of all incidents of data loss (Peddle 2006). All of the previously mentioned hard disk failures could be caused by computer misuse on the user's part. Computers are very sensitive to changes in temperature, dust and dirt etc entering the hard drive, electrical power surges and knocks and bumps which may occur. Users should therefore take extreme caution to prevent any of these circumstances from occurring as much as they possibly can.

Other problems not caused by the hard disk
Aside from problems that may occur within the hard drive itself or damage that may be incurred on the users' part, other failures can occur in other parts of the computer which can have a knock on effect to the performance of the hard disk. These problems include IDE cable malfunction, power connector problems and inappropriate BIOS configuration. Each of these problems is explained below.

o IDE cable malfunction
IDE flat ribbon cables are notoriously known to cause trouble. Often these cables can turn defective without any necessary poor treatment from the user. It is therefore a good idea to check the IDE cable if any problems seem apparent with the hard drive.

o Power connector problems
If the power connector is of a poor quality, this could mean that the hard disk is not powered properly or interruptions occur. Again, this can be easily rectified when problems seem apparent in the hard disk by trying out a different power connector of a higher quality.

o Inappropriate BIOS configuration

It is important that a computers BIOS is configured correctly because if it is not, then it may seem like the hard disk is not working properly. This can be checked by entering the BIOS setup utility and setting the hard disk type to AUTO. This will ensure that the hard disk will be detected automatically when the computer is booted.

Although these problems identified will initially make it seem like there is a problem with the hard drive and the user may feel a great deal of frustration as the cannot gain access to the data they require etc, because there is no actual problem with the hard drive no data will actually be lost.
Methods of preventing failure and data corruption
The previous section highlighted the main ways in which hard disk failure and data corruption can occur. The following section details some possible preventative measures and courses of action to take with regards to hard disk failure:
Back up data

Although this will not prevent a hard disk failure, all information should be backed up to another medium so that in the event of a failure and worse case scenario of a complete data loss, the data can always be recovered from elsewhere. Back up methods can include saving to a DVD, CD, USB memory stick etc, even to another hard disk on another computer.
Install two hard disks on the same computer

It is possible to install two hard disks on a computer and place them under a RAID configuration. The term RAID (redundant array of independent disks) means that data can be stored or replicated among the drives so that when one drive fails, the other one works and still holds the data that may have been lost should there have been only one hard drive.

General maintenance
As described in the human error section, care should be taken to ensure that computers are not exposed to extreme changes in temperature, they should be kept cool and away from any dust or other contamination that could possibly get inside and cause problems. Care should always be taken when handling and moving computers to avoid any sudden knocks etc. In addition, hard disks have a limited life span, so if the hard drive is only a few years old it would be a good idea to buy a new one.

Sometimes it may seem like the hard disk does not spin. This could be because the heads have become 'glued' to the platters; this is quite common in particular in older hard disks. If this happens, turning the computer on and off a few times can often fix the problem. Alternatively the hard disk may appear to stop running all of a sudden. If this is the case it could be a problem with the power connector or it could be more of a serious malfunction. It is therefore a good idea to check all the equipment and it may so be required that a new hard disk is required.
Conclusion

This essay has highlighted, first of all the need and importance of computers in today's society and how there is an increased pressure and stress placed computers from an architectural perspective to store huge amounts of data. The advances in technology mean that the capabilities of computer hard drives are increasing both in terms of speed and storage capacity, but these technological advances cannot unfortunately eradicate the possibility for hard disk failure, which is ultimately inevitable. The benefit is that hard disk failures can be avoided as much as possible though a good knowledge of how they work (i.e. knowing that they will need replacing after a few years of use) and taking care and caution in using them. Furthermore, the majority of hard disk failures do not automatically result in a complete data loss, often the information can be recovered by making the necessary repair or by taking quick action on the fault. Alternatively, it is not possible to completely prevent hard disk failures from occurring and in the case of severe failures such as a head crash data can be rendered completely unrecoverable. Finally, although this can result in what might be deemed as a disaster, backing up data or taking the precautions of configuring the hard drive (e.g. RAID mirror configuration) reduces the impact of the hindrance that such a failure can cause.

References

B. Posey (2006), 'Repairing Hard Disk Problems',

D. Peddle (2006), 'The human side of data loss: The reality of a hard drive crash',

Data Clinic (2006), 'Hard disk failure',
http://www.dataclinic.co.uk/hard-disk-failures.htm> (November 6 2006)

Data Labs (2006), 'Firmware data recovery',

Data Master (2006), 'Why do hard drives fail?',

Wikipedia (2006), 'Disk failure',

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_failure> (November 6 2006)

In this part of the article 'Part 2', I intend to focus on the classification of computer. It is of great important to know of the classification a particular computer system belongs, as this will help in clear differentiation among them when come across.

Classification of Computer:
In this section, we give the classification of computers by the type of data they process, Purpose and Physical Size.

Classification by Data Process:

Digital Computers:
The digital computers convert all input data into binary form; process the data in binary form but the processed information is converted back to decimal form. The output from digital computers are usually discrete values. Digital computers are very accurate; examples include desk calculators, some personal computers and adding machines. Most business applications use digital computers.

Analogue Computers:
Analogue computers represent data in continuous form using physical quantities. Their accuracy depends upon the measurement made, and so not as accurate as the digital computers. These types of computers are used for scientific or engineering purposes. Examples include petrol pumps, speedometers, voltammeters and all such instruments.

Hybrid Computer:
Hybrid computers combine the best features of analogue and digital computers. Using digitizers, hybrid computers accept analogue inputs and output digital values. They are used in highly scientific environments. The hybrid has the speed of the analogue and the accuracy of the digital computers.

Classification by Purpose
Using this basis, the two major classes are explained below:

Special Purpose Computers:
These are computers designed to carry out specific tasks. They have in-built programs, which are stored in a part of the main memory called Read Only Memory (ROM). The content of this type of memory can be accessed and executed by the computer but cannot be modified by the user. Examples are computers designed for use in digital watches.

General Purpose Computers:
These are computers that are not specifically designed or built for specific jobs. They solve various kinds of problems depending on the program or software loaded into them. Their main memory is typically, Random Access Memory (RAM). Example of these type of computers are found in business, commercial and scientific environment.

Classification by Physical Size:

Microcomputer: Microcomputer is at the lowest end of the computer range in terms of speed and storage capacity. Its CPU is a microprocessor. The first microprocessors were built of 8-bit microprocessor chips. The most common application of personal computers (PC) is in this category. The PC supports a number of input and output devices. Examples of microcomputers are IBM PC, PC-AT etc.

Mini Computer: This is design to support more than one user at a time. It possesses large storage capacity and operates at a higher speed. The mini computer is used in multi-user system in which various users can work at the same time. This type of computer is generally use for processing large volume of data in an organization. They are also use as servers in Local Area Networks (LAN).

Mainframes: These types of computers are generally 32-bit microprocessors. They operate at very high speed, have very large storage capacity and can handle the workload of many users. They are generally use in centralized databases. They are also use as controlling nodes in Wide Area Networks (WAN). Examples are DEC, ICL and IBM 3000 series.

Supercomputer: They are the fastest and most expensive machines. They have high processing speed compared to other computers. They have also multiprocessing technique. One of the ways in which supercomputers are built is by interconnecting hundreds of microprocessors. Supercomputers are mainly being used for weather forecasting, biomedical research, remote sensing, aircraft design and other areas of science and technology. Examples are CRAY YMP, CRAY2, NEC SX-3, CRAY XMP and PARAM from India.

A brand new computer will not need a computer speed test because you are sure that it will run smoothly. As you use your computer you will come to notice that its performance gradually slows down. To make sure that your computer is performing as it was indicated in the package you need to perform a computer speed test.

There are different ways on how you can conduct computer speed test:

1. Look for a software that allows you to measure the speed of the computer's CPU. This will give you an idea on how well your computer is doing. The CPU speed test application will let you compare your computer's CPU score with other ratings internationally. If your computer's measurement is in Mhz then you need to upgrade your system. Your CPU should be running not less than 1 Ghz especially when you are going to install large programs such as games or web development or programming tools.

There are also other computer speed test applications that will indicate if your computer is doing well by the color. Like for instance if the color is green the computer is functioning as stated by the manufacturer. If the color is red it means that the computer is running faster more than what was indicated in the package. For the color yellow, it means that the computer is running a bit faster.

There are also other computer speed tools that can indicate errors on the computer. Then it will provide solutions that will address the problem reported. And you have the option to push through with the repair or not.

These tools are for free so you can download several of these and compare the results you obtained from each of the application. Make sure that you uninstall the programs after use unless you decide to keep it.

2. The second method to perform computer speed test is very simple and you do not need any tool. First restart your computer and time its start up. Then take note of it. Browse through the programs that you have installed in the computer. If you have programs that you are not using then remove it.

Then remove temporary files, cookies, check the registry for corrupt or damaged files and clear the Internet cache. This can be done by using the cleanup utilities in the Microsoft Windows. This will free up space on the hard disk and memory of the computer. Then scan the computer for virus infections. Make sure that the virus/es found are deleted immediately by configuring the settings of the antivirus program,

After doing so, restart the computer and time it again. Compare the number to the first one that you took. You will notice that the computer starts faster and programs are loading smoothly.

But if the computer is still taking time to start up then your best bet will be to reformat the computer. It is safer to let a computer technician do this job. Just make sure that you have installers for the programs that you are going to need.

Computer speed tests will also evaluate the computer's registry. Detecting registry errors will help the computer run faster because it will get rid of the complications occurring in the computer. The registry is where almost all important files are stored so it is important to maintain it in a good condition.

With more advanced computer learning programs, teachers are no longer needed. This statement confronts the issue concerning the role of teachers. Although there are advantages to computer and television learning, this kind of learning is considered supplementary to teachers in the classroom.

Computer learning is an engaging tool allowing children to experiment with creative programs at their own pace without additional pressure. Children can work exclusively from their own worlds without a teacher telling them what to do. Therefore, computer learning is excellent for children's motivation and allows them to question deeply their subject matter. Also, the computer offers a creative variety of programs on different levels and so, computer learning is not entirely boring. From the moment children flick on the computer screen, they can learning Math by working out the answers through a competition match with the computer. This method of learning can be a lot more motivating and challenging than children doing Math exercises in the classroom and for homework.

Also, with computer learning, there are no outside pressures or influences. The teacher does not make personal judgments or evaluation. Computer learning allows for the evaluation to be on the process and not on the person or on the product. By not being evaluated or criticized, children engage their minds and advance at their own pace without the teacher saying, "That's not good enough" or "You could have done better on that Math test. You know the material."

Computer learning is suitable for all levels and ages. It is an organized and well structured learning tool. With the rapid pace of technological development, a computer is also a sophisticated learning tool. There are computers with touch-tone screens, computer that talk and sing, computers with three dimensional graphics, and so on. More and more emphasis is being placed on computer knowledge as a prerequisite for many jobs. Some jobs simply require a simple understanding of how a computer works but children can and should have some computer exposure at an early age to prepare for their future.

However, teachers possess fundamental and important qualities, which computers do not possess, and are essential for a child's learning process. one primary and necessary quality is personal interaction. When children cannot computer a certain math problem or they don't feel well, the teacher feels it. The teacher has the ability to attempt to help them. Although the computer has been built and programmed by human beings, a computer is still not human. A computer cannot ask why a child cannot do a Math problem and offer advice on how to tackle the problem. This basic fact still explains why teachers are still needed in the classroom.

After all, human beings are smarter than a computer they are the ones who designed it. All the computer knows has been programmed and cannot think and sort problems out emotionally and intellectually. Children still need the classroom environment because of the student-teacher interaction and the relationships with other children. Therefore, it can be concluded that computer learning is user friendly yet supplementary, and impersonal.

Teachers may not be as technologically sophisticated as computers, but they certainly can be creative within a group framework. They don't necessarily have to ask close-ended questions and bore the class to fulfill their roles as teachers. Teachers can and should allow learning to be enjoyable and stimulating like the excitement children feel when they flick on a computer. For example, a teacher has the option unlike the computer, to organize a project using several groups to ask true and false questions about the environment using the Internet to search for information. The winning team with the most points receives a prize. Not only do the children enjoy these types of mini-type research projects, but they are also benefited with knowledge about the environment as well. unlike the computer, the teacher, by working with the groups, allows for elements such as humor and teamwork together with the feeling of accomplishment and self-satisfaction to seep into the children's learning.

Although computer learning can be stimulating, fun and accessible to children of all ages, levels and interests, it is not a substitute for teachers. Teachers permit and allow for personal interaction which is essential for a child. Also, teachers can be just as creative by organizing fun learning projects for the class. Learning should be an enjoyable and enriching process and cannot be completed alone without the presence of a teacher. Computer then, are only secondary to the learning process.