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Top Internet Ready Smartphones

July 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A smartphone is typically only as good as the network it’s on. While an individual phone can be more powerful than another or have a higher resolution screen, it often comes down to how well that phone may access the Internet. If your network is poor, so is your phone, no matter how fancy it might be or how many apps it might have.

The Internet is a powerful tool, which makes the Cricket Android an equally powerful tool. Its access to the Internet is at the top tier, and its app collection is both robust and easily accessible. If you have the ability to create your own programs or alter existing ones, its open source nature is perfect to sharpen and practice your skills on. You can do incredible things with a phone like this, especially when you combine this with the power of its easy access to the Internet.

The iPhone is also a respectable phone, despite the problems some users have found with it. With a strong connection to a growing and extremely fast network, it deserves a share of respect in its own right. However, it does have a few issues related to finding and creating apps because of how Apple runs its app store. In time, the iPhone might catch up to the Android, but that day could be far off.

The answer to this problem is to choose the solution that best suits your needs. If you value a more robust and more easily customized system, the Cricket Android might be better for you.

Filed Under: General, Hardware Tagged With: , ,

Extend the Life of Your Laptop Battery

March 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Laptop batteries don’t always last a long time, but you can extend the life of your laptop battery with a few simple tips. For example, make sure that you unplug the battery when your laptop is plugged into the wall, so you don’t overcharge and/or overheat the battery. Batteries that get too hot and are overcharged can start losing their power more quickly, and they won’t last as long in the future. When you’re using the battery and you’re not plugged into the wall, it’s a good idea to let your battery run all of the way down. That reduces the number of recharges that you’ll need to do, and it also helps the battery charge properly if you let it use all of its charge before recharging it.

When you’re not using your laptop but you don’t want to turn it off completely, you can put your computer into hibernate mode instead of standby, and you’ll use a lot less power. That will also help to keep your laptop battery working longer. Following these simple tips won’t keep your laptop battery working and acting like new forever. It will eventually start running down faster as it starts to wear out. However, the more careful you are with your battery the better off you’ll be when it comes to helping it last as long as possible. That saves you aggravation, and it also saves you money because you don’t have to buy another laptop battery nearly as soon as you otherwise might.

Filed Under: Common Problems, Hardware Tagged With: , ,

Getting a New Computer

March 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When you are thinking about getting a new computer, there are a lot of things to consider. There are so many different components to a computer that it can be difficult to decide exactly what you need, and what may be too much. One thing to consider is, of course, exactly what you use your computer for. Since everyone has different needs with their computers, everyone will have different needs with what goes in it, as well.

Many people use their computers for basic things. For example, using your computer to surf the Internet, play on an Online Casino, and write emails are basic uses of computer technology. On the other hand, these activities represent what a large number of computers are used for. You may not need all the bells and whistles in your computer. For instance, currently about two gigs of RAM is considered standard in a basic computer. Do you really need more?

If you are constantly on the go, you may want to consider getting a laptop. Though all the parts are the same in a laptop and desktop computer, they tend to be smaller on a laptop. This is for one very good reason – a laptop is smaller! It is portable, and can be taken almost anywhere easily. There are even a few steps smaller than a laptop. You can get a netbook, which generally has about a 10-inch screen and a keyboard, or even a tablet PC, which has a seven-inch screen and a standard touch-screen monitor.

Filed Under: General, Hardware Tagged With: , ,

Why Doesn’t My Battery Last As Long As the Specs Said It Would

March 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Did you buy a laptop or net-book and find that today the battery only lasts a fraction of the time you were told it would? Is it important to you that you have a battery that lasts longer than the one you have seems to last? Many people buy computers only to find that the computer battery isn’t what they thought it would be. More likely the individual didn’t realize the limits of their computer.

A computer battery is often supplied to you with the information of how long it will last. It is important for the end user to understand that the time rating of your battery is based on a limit of functions. A computer that is doing a number of functions simultaneously will not last as long. If you want to run a DVD and run other applications at the same time, you are using a lot of resources of your computer. This will use more power. Even options such as brightening your monitor can increase the amount of power you are using.

If your computer battery time seems limited consider the following options for answers as to why your battery power is limited. First of all a battery is limited in life and if the battery is older it may not be able to charge to the extent that it could when you bought it. An option to increase the life is to limit the functions you use on your computer when you are using it on battery power. You can also shut the computer down during down times.

Filed Under: Common Problems, Hardware Tagged With: , ,

The Open Source Community

February 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

You have heard the term before, open source, but what is it and why should it matter to you? It is important that everyone understands that there are options out there. These options are available to everyone.

Open source is a term that refers to software programs that are available to anyone for free. Yes the programs are free and vary from games and office suites, to an operating system called Linux. It is very hard for many people to believe that something is free and that if it is it must not be as good as something you have to pay for with real money. In this case there is a real possibility for these programs to compete with the software programs that cost you money.

The reason that these software programs can compete is because of the community. There is a large population of people out there that believe that software should be available for free, but not only this. The software should be free and able to be added to and fixed by th public. This means that the software is upgraded and updated by individuals based on what they want the software to do.

A program such as OpenOffice is a stand alone program that allows you to do many of the tasks you want Microsoft Office to do. Not only is it capable of doing the same tasks it can open files and save files in the format of the other program. A program like OpenOffice can be downloaded and installed on your computer for free. All you need to do is visit the website and complete the simple installation techniques. There are many other programs available and a whole community of people ready to engage you in what you are looking for in a software program.

Filed Under: Hardware, Internet Tagged With: , , ,

External Memory

February 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Are you finding a limit of space in your hard drive on your home or office computer. Maybe you want to share files between home and office but don’t want to carry a work computer home with you everyday. Some people need a simple way to back up their files from their computer. There are a million different reasons to need some type of external memory and knowing which type to purchase means knowing what you need to do with it.

If you are looking for a way to back up your own computer or share files throughout your home network then a network attached hard-drive may be for you. These large capacity devices will connect to your home or office network allowing any computer in the network to access the drive.

There are also hard drives that connect to your computer through USB connections. These devices can range in size form mega-bites to hundreds of gigabytes. These can be very portable and very low cost. This type of device in the 1 gigabyte to 2 gigabyte size can easily be shared and passed between people.

Another type of external memory is small, often used in cameras, SD and other small memory chips. These memory cards can be as large as 32 gigabytes and are very small. These chips are more expensive but as the memory space on them grows they become more possible to store large amounts of data. Many computers now have drives that these memory chips can be plugged and played, very easily.

Another possible option, although not a device you carry around is to back your information on an internet based service. All of these options are available and it is up to you based on your budget and need for mobility.

Filed Under: Hardware, Software Tagged With: , , ,

Printers, All the Choices

February 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Narrowing down to get the best printer for you can seem difficult. So many choices and so many seemingly very different models. You need a way to decrease the option if you are going to have the time to investigate which printer company has the best choice for you. So lets take a look at how we narrow the field.

Your first and possibly hardest choice is what type of printer to buy. There are many types and each type really is meant for a different purpose. Here is a list of printer types:

  1. Ink-jet printer: These printers are what many people buy for their personal printing needs. The printers will do many different functions including printing out documents, as well as doing images in color like photographic prints. These are often the cheaper printers but be cautious as the low end models can cost you more in ink and time waiting, so consider one of the higher price ranged models
  2. Portable: These printers also ink-jet printers, but these are usually very small and can go where you go.
  3. All in One: These printers are nice for the small home office  because they contain a printer, copier, fax machine and scanner all in one device. They may not be fast or huge like the industrial office printers but for a home office that gets light use and may have issues with space these may be what you need.
  4. Laser printer: If printing text documents is what you need, and you need to do it often then a laser printer should be your choice. If you print longer text documents the laser printer will do it more quickly and should do it with less cost in ink.
  5. Photo printer: If printing photos is your thing then consider getting a printer specific for the purpose.

These are five of the main types of printers on the market.

Filed Under: General, Hardware, Internet Tagged With: , ,

Computer Solutions and Classes

January 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It is interesting that when it comes to computers many people loose their common sense in problem solving. People that understand how things work spend plenty of time scratching their head, wondering how they can fix their problem. So, the questioning is how do you fix a computer problem? The following list could be used to help you fix a computer but it also could be attributed to other questions as well. It is important to realize that a computer, although seemingly more complicated, is created with a kind of logic and if you can understand the thought process you may be able to fix the problem yourself.

The following are the steps to dealing with your computer issues:

  1. Is there really a problem with the computer system. Whether you are using a PC or a Mac, remember the most likely answer is that you aren’t sure how to use the hardware or software that you are trying to do. It can be difficult to learn new software or a computer if you have never used it before. If you are new to computers it is important to get some training. Just like learning to drive a car and you take drivers education, you need some basic information in order to use the computer. Often this can come from you child, but the problem is they may not have the patients because they don’t know how to teach you what they perceive is intuitive. So, sign up for a basic computer class at a community education program or a community college. It will help.
  2. Implement the stages of problem solving. In other words, what would you do if there was something wrong with the car or any other item. Engage problem solving steps. If your answer is that you would call the mechanic, then by all means. Set yourself up with technical support that you can call when you have issues. There are services out there that will provide you with the support you need. One can learn all they need just by asking a questions.
Filed Under: Hardware, Internet Tagged With: ,

Reclaiming Hard Drive Space

January 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Here is a simple methods that will allow you to reclaim some hard drive space. It’s so simple but many people never figure out what to do or how to do it. The big secret is to delete the software or programs you don’t use. If you already know about this move on, but if you want more space and wonder about some ways to erase or uninstall programs read on.

There are two ways to look at the list of programs that are on your computer. The first will show you a limited list of programs and is the most obvious way to find your programs. Fist click on the Start button usually in the lower left corner of your monitor. Then put your cursor just above that on “All Programs”. Now a list of programs will appear. Either in a word processor or with a sheet of paper make a list of all the programs you never use. Sometimes the computer will come with more than one word processor program or possibly you used to play a game and now it is just taking up space. The second way to see the list of programs is to go to the “Control Panel” and click on “Add or Remove Programs”. Once you have your list you are ready to start deleting.

When you are ready to delete a program it is best to use the uninstall program that accompanied the specific software, if it is available. The uninstall program can often be found in along with the program in the “Start – All Programs” menu. If you don’t find the program there, you may find it through exploring the program files under “My Computer”. The reason to do this is to completely delete the program. Never just find the program on the hard drive, and delete what you can find. Many times this will leave data on the hard drive and may mess with the function of other programs. You can also delete the program from the control panel.

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Home Computer Maintenance

December 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Periodically cleaning a home computer should be part of a computer maintenance program. Over time computers collect dust, in the keyboard and inside the computer itself. As dust inside accumulates inside the “box” it becomes harder for components to dissipate heat and heat is one of the biggest causes of component failure.

A few tools are required – a good light source, a flashlight, a small, low suction vacuum cleaner made for cleaning computers, a can of compressed air, a soft bristle brush and a wrist grounding strap. Before beginning to clean, the grounding strap should be placed on the wrist and the other end attached to a grounding post on the frame of the computer.

Turn the computer off and unplug it!

The keyboard is the first cleaning task. First, turn the keyboard over and gently shake any loose grit from in between the keys. The next step is to blow debris out of the keyboard. A can of compressed air with a low pounds per square inch rating (PSI) has enough pressure to effectively dislodge dust and most other foreign material from in between the keys. Inspect in between the keys with a flashlight to see if there is any debris remaining. Finally, clean up the debris and remove it from the work area.

Next, remove the computer cover and inspect the interior. It is surprising to see how much dust can accumulate. Gently vacuum as much of the interior as possible. Bear in mind that some areas will be difficult to reach. Then use the air to blow the remaining dust out. It may be necessary to repeat these steps again to get all the debris. Use the brush, if needed, to gently brush off dirt. Finally, inspect the computer’s fan(s) to make sure they are turning freely. Replace the cover and clean up the work area. Power up the computer and check it for proper operation. The task is completed.

Filed Under: Common Solutions, Hardware, Software Tagged With: , , ,
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