Talking about  new hardware, new operating systems, new interfaces, new protocols, old dos and more.

Getting/putting latest or greatest parts together gets the jobs done faster and smarter.

Everyday  you  use   software applications in doing certain class of work such as: generating textual documents using ms word,  arranging huge amount of data using ms excel /ms access, managing graphical images using photo styles/ photoshop.

What  components and items you need in your pc depends on the job you want to accomplish .  You can do the job faster and smarter way by getting to know your pc , all its components and items that work together. And how your pc thinks ,stores and displays information.

 With  developments in hardware and software we find following items are very popular/widely used nowadays.

High performance audio, video using cd, midi(musical instrumental digital interface, dvd (digital video disk) devices. Items for running 3d games, watching dvd movies and seeing video websites.

For high quality video and audio performance video cards ,adaptors are available. Video adaptors come with their own memory(may be with a graphic processor), in which graphic images are stored and processed   and sent to your screen. High resolution makes graphs and pictures sharper.

A sound card is an adaptor(or electronics on your pc mother board) that does the job of converting digital data back into audible sound. The sound we hear is analog. Digital sound is created when the analog sound source is sampled and encoded into numbers that can be stored.

 A sound card also includes a midi(musical instrumental digital interface) synthesizer that can play instrumental music.

Networking  is new form of communication . It allows you to view and exchange information using  the software like  internet explorer, outlook express and frontpage express.

Following terminology are used very frequently while using internet.

1)Modem (Modulator/Demodulator): Device that enables a computer to transmit data over telephone lines .The speed of transferring data in second is bits per second.

2)Network: Group of computers connected to each other for communicating and sharing resources.(ex: local area network(lan), wide area network(wan).

3)Client: A computer or program that requests a service of another computer or program.

4)Server: A computer or program that provides services to other computers or programs.

5)TCP/IP( Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol): Standard set of rules followed by all computers. This enables different type of operating systems to communicate efficiently.

6)HTTP(Hyper Text Transfer Protocol): The world wide web client and servers use to communicate.

7)URL(Universal Resource Locator): A standardised way of referring different media and network services on the world wide web( ex: http://www.---  /)

Number of utility programs  are used for performing various types of computer house keeping. Ex: utilities for defragmenting your hard disk ,detecting and removing viruses, file compression, uninstaller, disk scanner, screen saver.

Operating System software serves as the interface between the user, the application software and the computers hardware such as accessory devices for communications, modems, printers, readers, displays, keyboards etc. When an application needs the operating system to do something uses API calls(application programs interfaces). Windows xp uses fat32 file system(file allocation tables(fat) on  hard disk.

Before to Windows-95, ms-dos was the operating system used in most personal computers. In this operating system, all commands were given with the help of the key board and it become very difficult for the users to remember all the commands. However subsequently, by using graphic interface in the windows operating system, a computer has become more user-friendly.

Using advanced items like universal serial bus(usb)you can easily add and remove devices on your computer.

Every piece of software you run, including your operating  system has a set of minimum system requirements(msr): a list of the resources your pc must have for the product to work. Because the pc uses memory to store everything it is working on, you need to have enough memory to match the power of your cpu.

If an operating system does not properly allocate memory to applications they won’t run well. Further if the memory a program is using is not released when the program exists, other programs can not use that memory. So you could end up with plenty of memory installed and no application running.

For memory management windows provides a solution virtual memory. Virtual memory allows the pc to use blank space on hard disk. In other words space on your hard disk becomes an extension of your pc’s ram.

A program called the bios(base input/output system) is   permanently stored on the mother board in a special chip that retains its contents even when power is off. What little your computer knows how to do when you turn it on comes from this program.

The program in turn needs to get some configuration settings, such as the essential information it needs about your hard disk, before it can do anything. The configuration information is stored in cmos-memory that uses a battery to maintain its contents when the power is turned off. If the cmos settings are wrong your computer may not boot properly at all.

To protect the configuration settings getting disturbed  use:

1) A surge protector(minimum) or uninterruptible power supply(ups) best.

2) Check for any loose connections which may be creating trouble. Check for faulty capacitor in the circuit which may be responsible for power fluctuations resulting in configuration changes of windows.

3) Don’t remove floppies or other removable disks from a drive until the light goes off.

4)Don’t connect or disconnect anything while the computer is on or unless you have specific instructions that it okays to do it.

5) Never cover cooling vents.

6)If a message like missing dll(dynamic link library) file is reported during booting then press a key windows will continue to load. You can search same dll  file and copy. DLL actually a library of programming code that other programs can dip into and use.

7)Over time due to installing and uninstalling of programs and down load  of strange and temporary files while using internet the registry gets bogged down and conflicts emerge. Your system may become very slow and may crash more frequently due to these junk files.

8)Clean and defragment  your registry for a quicker pc.

9) Update drivers for optimal speed and stability.

10)Delete temporary files downloaded to your pc while you surf the internet.

11)Delete files in your recycle bin that have not yet been permanently deleted.

For sorting out memory and storage options you can use  recommendations given in books/manuals   on windows by deciding the applications you will want to run simultaneously. Ex: the msr for ms office xp, running under xp, is 128 mb of ram plus a minimum of an additional 8mb of memory for each program you are running. Popular video games often requires 64 mb of ram each. Experience great digital video and sound. Tune existing setup so it runs more efficiently.