HowToDoThings.com Desktops

How To Make Your Computer Start-Up Faster

vinnyct88 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:35:02 -0500

OK, so this is supposed to help those who are having a bad time starting up their computers. You know the feeling--you turn it on and it takes a lifetime for you to actually do something on it. Argh!

How To Improve Your PC's Hard Disk Response

rik — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:01:05 -0500

Your PC depends on the files held in the hard disk for just about everything it can do. It needs an occasional 'tune-up', a session of TLC (tender loving care) -- or, in computer speak, a 'disk cleanup' and 'defragging'. This is best done after a housekeeping session when you give your old computer files a spring clean-out.

If you have loads of backup files on your disk and other stuff you no longer need – just as we are advised to de-clutter our homes, desks, offices, etc. – your pc needs the same sort of attention from time to time. You may also have programs and features you no longer use, and if you are sure you never will, they can be deleted too. This saves space and usually improves the performance of the hard disk drive.

The hard disk drive runs for most of the time your computer is switched on. It's an electro-mechanical device with two main operations:

How To Fix Disk Surface Errors

rik — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:45:17 -0500

Hard disk drives in your computer system use a small circular plate coated with a magnetic surface. This disk rotates at speeds in excess of 5,000 rpm. The machine's operating system uses a circular grid layout to index positions on the disk surface. The disk indexing system consists of:

Tracks, which are circular and concentric.
Disc sectors, which are radial blocks.

The overall storage size of the disk, the number of tracks and sectors explains the minimum storage block size on any individual disk, and this dictates propensity for file fragmentation. See my other HowToDoThings article on improving your computer's hard disk response. Small HDD's have smaller minimum storage blocks than larger capacity units, making storage more efficient for small data files. However, disk storage space costs progressively less with time and no one seems to bother about this.

How To Transfer Files from a Desktop to a Laptop

rik — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:46:46 -0600

More and more people must rely on using a laptop/portable PC in their ever-busy lives to keep up with their workload, and then find they have different copies of the same file on this PC and their desktop. The easiest solution is having all machines networked and storing all working files on the network's file server(s). However, if you need to work at home and other locations using multiple computers, this may not be possible.

How To Decide Between a Desktop and a Laptop

rik — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:21:50 -0600

The price of computer hardware continues to drop and more powerful machines appear to be the norm, so the laptop has become more popular. There are still some very good reasons favoring desktop machines unless your needs for a portable machine outweigh the advantages of the desktop model.

How To Understand Computer Memory

sani250 — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:50:48 -0600

The amount and type of memory that a computer possesses has a great deal to do with its general utility, often affecting the type of program it can run and the work it can do, its speed, and both the cost of the machine and the cost of processing data. There are two basic categories of computer memory. The first is primary storage, so named because small amounts of data and information that will be immediately used by the CPU are stored there. The second is secondary storage, where much larger amounts of data and information (an entire software program, for example) are stored for extended periods of time.

Memory Capacity

How To Set Up a Gaming Computer

Grantz — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:34:06 -0600

A Gaming Oriented PC is a computer which has gaming as its main objective. It needs to run the newest games, and as such, it needs to be very powerful. If you aren't careful, your rig may not be powerful enough if you make some basic mistakes when choosing the parts that will be your computer. Of course, you have the option of buying a gaming PC from some manufacturer, but sometimes that is not enough and might be expensive. So, what do you need to do?

How To Put Big Photos in Your Craigslist Ad

murry — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 16:33:50 -0600

In Part 1, How To Use ImageShack Photo Hosting for Craigslist Ads, I described what photo hosting was all about and why you want to avoid use of Craigslist's own tools for adding photos to your product listings. I discussed the virtues of ImageShack's free hosting service and its other uses, and explained that the procedures are easy to follow. In Part 2, How To Enhance and Resize Photos for Craigslist, I provided the rationale and then the steps to follow to host your photos at ImageShack. That's where they are, right? Now it's time to place them in your Craigslist ad. You are just several easy steps away from WOW.

Bring your browser on screen and go to Craigslist. In most cases, Craigslist will set up automatically for your region.

How To Enhance and Resize Photos for Craigslist

murry — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:57:01 -0600

Let's say you've decided to sell an assortment of obsolete wired networking hardware (you recently switched to wireless, right?). You've got a LinkSys router and two Netgear hubs of different sizes. With your new 8 megapixel Canon camera, you'll shoot pictures of each. You already know how to download these photos from camera to computer. You've placed the photos in a folder named C:\craigslist\NetworkHardware4Sale.

How To Use ImageShack Photo Hosting for Craigslist Ads

murry — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:52:56 -0600

To the anguish of newspaper publishers, the free listing service known as Craigslist has made serious inroads into ads for products and services as well as jobs, housing and more. Newspapers charge for ads, but Craigslist is free (with a few exceptions).

If you've ever viewed the listings (go to Craigslist to try it out), many product ads have up to four very small photos at the end of the writeup. Every once in while you'll run across an ad with huge photos in the middle of the writeup, and they show off the details. WOW! How did those photos get there, and what can you do to get WOW into your own listings?

Here's how to do it using Windows XP and either Firefox or Internet Explorer browers. Chances are good that Vista and Win2000 computers work the same, and the basics can be adapted to OS-X (Apple) or Linux. Please read the whole article, then come back and try the steps.