HowToDoThings.com Laptops

How To Clean a Laptop Screen

gonzo — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:52:16 -0500

These days, people take their laptop computers everywhere – from work to home to the coffee shop down the street. Along the way, the laptop screens pick up dust and particles. Whether your screen has picked up some sticky substance or just gotten dusty, you can follow these steps to have a clean laptop screen.

Materials:
Clean water
Isopropyl alcohol
Spray bottle
Lint-free cloth

How To Extend Laptop Battery Life

bgage725 — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:07:19 -0500

In this "how to," I will explain how you can get the most out of your laptop battery. Have you ever been on the road and were in the middle of an important document when your laptop died? If so, there are numerous ways you can extend battery life and make sure this doesn't happen to you again.

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 Speed Up Windows XP Installed on Your Personal Computer

pmzlabis — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 23:15:58 -0600

Before we begin, you must understand that adjusting your Windows settings is a risk on your part. Your PC's hardware maybe be damaged due to incorrect software settings! So knowing that a risk exists, this article lets you know only those settings that are safe for your Windows XP operating system. Follow the instruction below to modify your current settings:

How To Choose a Laptop

D605 — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 23:30:00 -0600

Buying and using a laptop can be a liberating experience. You will have the ability to take your work wherever you go, take your computer to class, a coffee shop, on a trip - anywhere. You may end up spending a bit more for a laptop than you would for a desktop - after all, the individual components need to be smaller to fit in a laptop chassis - but the convenience is worth the extra cost.

How To Choose PC Power Supplies

Andy185 — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 13:00:00 -0500

A power supply unit (PSU) is one of the most critical components in your computer case. If the CPU is the brain, the PSU is the heart and if the heart fails, the system dies. Whether you are building a new computer, replacing a dead PSU, or just upgrading an underpowered one, there are several factors to consider when deciding which one to buy.