Computer Optimization

Computer Optimization

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 large unaffected by age. I'm not saying that older computers do not run more slowly, but once we correct the notification 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 does not 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 do not. They may get fried if exposed to a power surge, but otherwise, they do not slow down.
• Computer memory is comprised of similar components and works or does not work, just the same.
• A computer motherboard is nothing more than wire tracks on a piece of plastic, usually with more solid-state devices plugged into it or soldered to it. Motherboards do not 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 do not cause performance reductions; they either work or they do not.

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

The largest 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 typically 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 is not 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 separation. Another cause of fragmentation is when files are deleted, as that creates holes the computer tries to fill with sub -ently-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.

Do not think your use is the only force causing fragmentation on your drive, either. Virtual memory, points 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 reliably 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 does not 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 idea of ​​how 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 slow 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 is not 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 old documents, music, movies, and photos can be attributed 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, respectably, and unless you're sorry to deleting things you should not 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 is not 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

Beside hard drive data storage, there is another area in which computer performance may become degraded, looking 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 quick 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. Beside these AutoRuns, other unwanted programs sneak in, piggy-backed along programs you use. Those extra toolbars in your Internet Explorer window were the carefully-understood 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 was not 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 do not 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 do not want to be left vulnerable or outdated, so you accept them. Each of these updates places additional statements on your computer's resources.

Look, we do not 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, eliminating 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 great 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've hated to spend four-digits on a whole new computer system if all the old one needed was a memory upgrade. However, you're 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 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 predominant specifically 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 pans 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 would not 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 nowdays.

Back to the Task Manager, on the Networking tab, do not 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 network 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 uncomfortable with the speed of web pages loading a small 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 are not worth the cost or trouble, and are an ideal opportunity to replace the PC.

If you've decided that you do not 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 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're probably not open your PC, both wired and wireless NICs come in USB variants nowdays, too. If your Internet connection is too slow, you will not 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 would not produce a noticeably-worthy 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 experts 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 do not 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 typically 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 able 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 exceeded 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 miserable 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'm still stick with my position that it's a good opportunity to replace the whole PC.

Debt Management Programs - Steps For Securing Your Future

Debt Management Programs - Steps For Securing Your Future

There are a number of ways in which you can ensure that you are saving a decent amount of money of the future. Many of these involve actually taking measures and making some changes in your spending habits. While not all of them are as dramatic in terms of implementation, some do have very good results despite not making you change much in what you do. Here, it is important to identify these debt management programs so that you can implement them and recover your money before it is too late.

Going By Experience

A known way in which you can be sure that you are opting for a reliable debt management program is if you look at the past experience and ensure that the individuals that tripped this out in the past have actually succeeded in reducing or eliminating debt completely. It may seem a little too far fetched to think about debt elimination at this point, but it is a suddenless a possibility. Here, do not think that there is no way out, as almost always, there will be a legitimate way out. You might just need to look around and find the right solution to implement!

Giving It Enough Time

For any solution to produce worthy results, you might have to give it a sufficient amount of time and ensure that it is in fact changing things slowly. Here, regardless of how good the debt management programs might be, it will never really be of use if you do not place faith in it and actually try your best in ensuring that you stick to what has been recommended. Many people give up way too early when they opt in for these, effectively thinking that it never really did work like how they expected it to. Do not be one of these people and do give your new program a good amount of time before trying out something else.

Imbibing New Habits

If things are not working out in your financial situation like how you want it to, sometimes you might want to try things differently. Many of these debt management programs encourage you to take a close look at your spending habits and rectify any impulsive expenses or unnecessary purchases. You should take this advice seriously and actually look at how you might be spending your money. If you feel that you can cut back on costs in any particular area, you should go ahead and do so. Do not simply take things for granted and then worry about them later on. Remember that small drops make a mighty ocean and your debt was not bought up by some decision that you took overnight; it was a cumulative result.

Here, in this manner, taking all these things into account and then opting in for debt management programs that can help you recover over a period of time is highly recommended. Not only do you stand to gain quite a bit from doing so, but you can also be assured that you will get your credit score back and will be able to spend money like you used to in the past.

How to Make a Mobile Phone App

How to Make a Mobile Phone App

The smart phone industry is booming. One in two Americans owns one and it's popularity is growing exponentially, as is the tablet market's. Since the introduction of the iPad in 2010, Apple has sold over 25 million units. Mobile devices have become essential parts of lives and are constantly in use for different tasks. There are differences in what they are used for in distinct parts of the world, in Japan browsing is more common, whilst in the USA people tend to text more and play a lot of games on them, however apps are equally popular worldwide.

Software applications were originally intended for productivity, such as checking emails, the weather, GPS etc., however due to demand both their number and the variety of functions rose, now there are about 500 000 apps available for iOS based devices alone. The most commonly used platforms are iOS (Apple), Blackberry, Android, Windows, Amazon and Ovi (Nokia), these all have their own specifically designed apps.

Since the introduction of applications, the online market has fundamentally changed. Having a business online doesn't just mean that there's a website that can be promoted or found through search engines. It is a huge advantage if a business or brand appears in tools consumers use on a daily basis.

Making an app

Creating an app is relatively simple and doesn't consume a lot of time or money either; after it has been sprung to life there's a monthly fee that has to be paid for hosting, the price of this can range from about $10 to $100, but considering the price of other forms of advertisement, it can be called a bargain. Apps for apple are probably the easiest to create, but Blackberry and Android are close behind.

Making an application is the easiest through websites designated to host apps, there's a wide selection to choose from, a few of the most commonly used:

- Swebapps

- App breader

- Kanchoo

- BuildAnApp

- My App Creator

Key steps

The process of creating of an app can be summed up in three steps:

1. Sign up to one of these websites and create an account. This usually doesn't involve a fee, but can differ depending on the website.

2. Build the actual app. Each site has a different setup, but all of them offer a wide range of App-gadgets and opportunities for customization. Although seeking the help of a graphic designer requires a larger investment, it can greatly improve the final result.

3. The final step is when the application gets published in the appstore, after this it will be available for downloading.

This is the way to simple apps are created, more complex applications require both designers and developers, these run on fairly larger budgets.

Apps are still new to the public, it is important to realize the importance of them, which comes mainly from their popularity, this can be turned to the advantage of brands and businesses.

Computer Hardware - The Five Most Popular Computer Upgrades

Computer Hardware - The Five Most Popular Computer Upgrades

Everyone with a computer is looking to have the fastest, and most efficient computer filled with the latest computer hardware technology. But to keep up with the continual changes as technology becomes more and more advanced requires complete upgrades on your computer. But, what are the best computer upgrades available?

Memory Upgrade

A memory upgrade is one of the most popular computer hardware upgrades and one of the easiest to do to boost the performance of your pc. But before you do a memory upgrade first check the BIOS operating system to determine how much memory is already on your system.

Also to upgrade your memory it will be necessary for you to open the case of your computer to find out how many modules are currently installed and how many slots are still empty. If all the slots are already filled you may have to remove the modules and replace them with larger ones.

Now, after finding out the current memory situation, review your operating system and application programs to determine how much memory is needed to make your computer perform at its peek level. In general, these programs provide a minimum and a recommended rating. So to reach the fullest potential of your computer, the memory should meet or exceed the recommended level.

Ok, so you now have some basic information to do your memory upgrade, but hold on a second, before running out and buying more memory, check your computer manual or go directly to the motherboard to find out what type of memory is supported by the current computer operating system. If you don't check this out you will most likely get the wrong memory chips and the memory upgrade will not work.

Also keep in mind When buying a memory upgrade module, that it is best to buy the largest amount of memory with the least number of modules. This way, there is room for growth in the future. For example, instead of buying two 512MB modules, purchase one 1gb module.

Video Card Upgrade

A video card upgrade makes it possible to play all of the great games that are currently available on the market. In fact, some games are so advanced that they won't play at all without a very powerful video card.

But it can be tough choosing the right video card since there are literally dozens available. It is very important to first take a look at the motherboard to determine what type of video cards are supported by the system, you can also check your computer manual on the types of video cards your system will support. The best video cards are the ones that transfer data the fastest. In order from the fastest to slowest cards are PCI express, AGP 8x, AGP 4x, AGP 2x, AGP and PCI.

Sound Card Upgrade

The sound card improves the sound produced by the computer. This makes computer gaming more enjoyable, as well as listening to music and watching digital media.

In order to install a sound card, you need to locate an available ISA slot on the back of your computer. These slots are the longest sockets on the motherboard and there might be other cards already installed in those sockets. There are two internal openings on each of the slots at the back of the computer. So, remove the access plate at the rear of the socket to insert the sound card. Make sure the access plate on the sound card covers the hole created by removing the initial access plate. But, be sure to gently insert the sound card with a slow back and forth movement, otherwise the sound card can be damaged.

DVD Player/Burner Upgrade

With so many digital videos becoming available, many people are looking to upgrade to a DVD player and burner combo. The most powerful DVD player/burner currently available is the DVD+R/RW. These do tend to, however, be incompatible with older DVD-ROM drives and DVD players. But the current big names in the industry, such as Sony, HP, and Phillips, support these players. DVD+R/RW drives are faster than previous models and are capable of formatting while burning data to the disc.

Motherboard Upgrade

Now for those of you who are truly serious about upgrading your computer hardware, motherboard upgrades are another popular option. But of course, a motherboard upgrade is the most difficult upgrade to do and I certainly wouldn't recommend it if you don't have a strong background in computers and electronics. For those of you who can manage, however, you will certainly enjoy the freedom of never having to buy a new computer. Instead, the motherboard can be upgraded as technology advances.

In addition to eliminating the need to buy a new computer, a motherboard upgrade also makes it easier to upgrade other components on your computer. This is because purchasing a motherboard ensures receiving the most up to date technology, which is then compatible with other upgrade components.

Upgrading the motherboard, however, requires serious advanced planning and reading of your computer manual. If you don't do this correctly, your computer will be nothing more than a huge paperweight. If finished correctly, however, the computer will remain on the cutting edge of current technology.

Finding Best iPhone Repair Place

Finding Best iPhone Repair Place

If you have been facing problems with your iPhone of late, you are left with two choices to get it repaired. First, you may repair it yourself at home using iPhone repair kits and tutorials available online. Second, you can give it for repair to a skilled technician or an iPhone specialist at an authorized iPhone servicing shop. If you choose to go with the first option, you are likely to end up in a big mess as iPhone circuitry is too complicated to be handled at home. Consequently, you may end up damaging your iPhone to an amount that you will have to spend hundreds of dollars to buy a new one or get the old one repaired. It is, therefore, advisable to go for the second option. Although getting an iPhone repaired at an authorized store is expensive, it is the safest option for your iPhone. You can either leave your iPhone at the shop for repair or call the iPhone technician at home.

Having an iPhone is a matter of pride nowdays. The iPhone is considered no less than a status symbol. Moreover, with a wide range of applications that an iPhone offers, people have become so dependent on their iPhones that they find it difficult to stay away from it for even an hour. As the iPhone is highly sensitive and prone to breakage, it is necessary to hand it over to a reliable professional for repair. With the increasing popularity and usage of iPhone, there is a stiff competition in the iPhone repair market. Today, there are hundreds of stores that offer all sorts of iPhone repairs at competitive rates. In such a scenario, it becomes very difficult to find the best place or store for getting the iPhone repaired.

Finding the best place for getting an iPhone repaired is no doubtable difficult. But, if you do the necessary homework and research, it can become a lot easier for you. As every repair store claims to offer the best and the fastest service at low prices, it is not advisable to go for just any store in your locality. Refer to the online listings of all the repair stores in your locality. Shortlist the places that offer the kind of repair that is needed for your iPhone. Talk to your peers, friends, and family members, who got their iPhones repaired in the recent past. As they have already experienced the services of a few stores in the locality, their feedback will help you further shortlist a few names for getting the repair done. You may then personally visit the shortlisted places and shop around for prices. You may also call these stores or visit their websites to know more about them. If you stay too far from the store, you may request them to send their technician at your home for iPhone repair.

Thus, finding the best place for getting an iPhone repaired requires a lot of patience. Be it water damage repair, iPhone screen replacement, software update, or USB port / volume button repair, you need to find the right place for repair. Not every cell phone repair store or technician is capable of repairing iPhones. Therefore, just make sure that the place that you finally choose for your iPhone is authorized to repair iPhones and has certified iPhone specialists.

Computers - The Electronic Brain

Computers - The Electronic Brain

When the word computer is heard we at once think of the desk top PC left on the desk at home or in your office. True that it is the PC we call a computer but these electronic brains are embedded in many instruments in day to day use from toy cars to fighter jets.

The earliest computers were made in the mid 19th century. The rooms were very large. These were improved and with the advent of digital technology that improved vastly and reached the present day state.

Basically to complete a computer there are two things which should work together. They are hard ware and software. Hardware is the physical instruments you can see while software are the programs running inside the machine making it to work. In a basic computer there are three parts in the hardware. They are the input device the output device and the central processing unit. The basic input devices are the key board and the mouse. The basic output device is the monitor. The central processing unit is the real computer which does the calculation and execution of programs.

Software too has two sets. One is the operating system which makes the connection between the hardware and the programs. The other programs are the various programs used by the computer that could be word processors, spread sheets, programming software and so on.

Although the above is the basic PC previously it has developed into various branches. While basic computer has evolved into smaller laptops note books and net books the microcomputers are embedded in many instruments like the toys, games and industrial robots.

The computer is keeping on developing and soon we might be able to see a car being driven by one of these. Still the PC at home left on your desk is your faithful friend.

How To Repair The Acer D2D Recovery

How To Repair The Acer D2D Recovery

This tutorial can also help to do it on other computer brands

Disclaimer: First of all you must be aware that some of the operations to come can cause irreversible change on your hard disk, I recommend to you and I will never make it enough to make a backup of your system before launching you in any hazardous operation. Any damage and / or modification done on your system will be under your whole responsibility. The following procedures were done on a Acer Aspire 5102wlmi and some also functioned on a Dell Inspiron 9400/1705.

As you know, the Acer computers and those of other manufacturers are now delivered with a system of restoration installed in a hidden partition of your hard disk. This system launches out while pressing keys ALT + F10 simultaneously. And sometimes for various reasons this system ceases functioning.

The first cause often comes due to the fact that function D2D Recovery is disable in the bios (menu principal).

The solution : enable the function and try to press keys ALT + F10 during the starting of the computer.

The second cause: in this case hidden partition PQSERVICE was erased or damaged, or you replaced the disc and in this case it is not present.

The solution : If you did not previously make a backup of your system by making an image disc. It will not be possible to use the D2D recovery. Your only hope will be to have in your possession Acer Recovery CD / DVD.

And the third causes: The Acer Master Boot Record (MBR) was damaged or replaced by non-Acer MBR. As long as partition PQSERVICE is present or that you can put the hand on the necessary Acer files you can reinstall the MBR of Acer.

The solution :

First method : on a functional Windows system:

1 disable the D2D recovery option of the bios.

2 open a Windows session with an account administrator.

3 Download, unzip and launch partedit32 (registration required for download).

4 Identify the Pqservice partition by its size (at the bottom of the partedit window there is a partition information box) it is a small sized partition approximately 2 to 6 Go.Once made change the type of your partition into 0C and save. Restart and open a session with an administrator account, you should be able to navigate to the PQservice partition. Seek these two files mbrwrdos.exe and rtmbr.bin once localized open a command prompt and launch this command mbrwrdos.exe install rtmbr.bin, this will install the Acer MBR. Close the command prompt window restart again Windows go into the bios and reactivate the D2D recovery. Now ALT + F10 should launch Acer recovery at the starting of the computer.

Second method : On a nonfunctional Windows system.

For that you must use a Linux distribution (for me Mandriva provided all the tools necessary).

1 Boot on the Mandriva install CD / DVD the boot menu will give you the possibility to repair or to restore the Windows boot loader.

2 If that is not enough launch an installation of linux (this will be an occasion to test this terrible OS) and choose LILO as boot loader (a boot menu that allow you to choose between several operating systems) once finished the installation. Restart your computer in the boot loader menu system you will have at least 2 Windows options the first generally point to PQservice choose it and you will boot directly into acer D2D recovery.

The last solution is the simplest one, just note that during the Linux installation you will have to resize your Windows partition to create a place for a new Linux partition it is the most perilous part because irreversible, therefore take your decisions at this time.