1. USB (USB 1.1 = 12Mbps, USB 2.0 = 480Mbps) = for keyboards, mice, modems, printers, digital cameras, joysticks, scanners, etc.; hot swappable; using multiple USB Hubs, can daisy chain up to 127 devices
2. FireWire/IEEE 1394 (480Mbps) - hot swappable; can connect as many as 63 devices
At the end of the day, what to do?
TURN IT OFF? Risk wearing out your hard drive prematurely.
LEAVE IT ON? Electricity costs about $1/day for PC & monitor running 24 hours/day. Turn it off at night, and save about $120/year! CRT (cathode-ray tube) monitors account for 2/3 of that energy. LCD (liquid-crystal display) monitors require ½ the energy of a CRT monitor.
THE ANSWER: It all depends. You can set your system to automatically shut down your monitor after 15 minutes of inactivity and shut down your PC only if you are leaving for an extended period of time (e.g more than a day).
CD (Compact Disc) – used to store data files and audio files. Can hold 650-700 MB of data (e.g. about 300,000 pages of text) or more. Equivalent to 700+ floppy discs:
* CD-ROMs (Read-Only Memory): you can only read data or audio from these discs (e.g. you can’t write to them, and you can’t erase them); most software that you buy, comes on CD-ROMs.
* CD-Rs (Recordables): you can record data or audio on to these discs, but you can only do it once; very good for creating backups of your important files.
* CD-RWs (Rewritables): you can record data or audio, you can erase, you can re-write – just like a “regular” disc drive or floppy disc.
BURNING CDs: Your CD-RW drive can read & write data at speeds designated by a number followed by the letter “X” where “X” represents a speed of 150KBps (kilobytes per second). For example, 48X means your CD-RW drive can burn data at 7,200KBps. To take maximum advantage of this, you should buy CDs with ratings that match this speed. If you have CDs with lower ratings, most programs allow you to lower the write speed to match the CD-R/RW’s speed rating.
CD-Rs are CHEAP! Many times you can get 50 CD-Rs with a REBATE offer that can essentially make the final cost FREE!
What are CD COASTERS? Sometimes you might make an unusable or badly written CD, these are called “coasters”, because that’s all they’re really good for!!
DVD (Digital Video Disc) – used to store data files, mostly used for storing video files. Can hold 4.7GB of data or more on each side of the disc (e.g. about 133 minutes of video on each side of the disc). DVDs may eventually replace CDs, VHS videotape, and laser discs.
1. Operating System:
“Windows XP Home” is pretty standard;
“Windows Vista” was just released earlier this year
2. Memory:
“512 MB” is pretty standard;
If you can afford it, get 1 GB or more
3. DVD-ROM:
If you want to watch DVD videos on your PC
4. CD:
“CD-R”
Allows you to install software on PC;
Allows you to play music CDs;
Allows you to put your favorite songs on a CD;
Use for doing backups“CD-RW”
Allows you to write & ERASE data on the CD
5. Processor:
“Pentium”, “Celeron”, “Athlon”, “Sempron”;
All of these are fine for basic computer usage
(e.g. Email, word processing, & internet)
6. USB Ports:
For connecting printers & digital cameras to PC;
Can also connect additional disk storage to the PC;
Most PCs will come with “2-6 USB ports”;
If you need more, buy “4-port USB Hub” with Power Adapter
7. Hard Drive:
Typical size is “80-200 GB”;
All of these are fine for basic computer usage
(e.g. Email, word processing, & internet);
Get at least 60 GB capacity or more if you can
8. Color Monitor:
Low cost monitors are typically “15 or 17 inches”;
Flat screen monitors are nice, but expensive
9. Printer:
“Photo quality color printers” are inexpensive;
Ink cartridges are fairly expensive ($25-40);
For black & white printing consider low cost laser printer
10. Modem:
For connecting to the internet (over a phone line); Typically “56Kbps”; usually standard with PCs
11. Network Card (10/100 NIC):
For connecting to the internet with DSL or CABLE;
Usually standard with most PCs
12. Wireless network card
Used for connecting to wireless networks in coffee shops & homes;
Usually standard in new laptop PCs
13. Printer cable:
Typically needs to be purchased separately;
“USB Printer/Device Cable” costs about $30;
Typically comes in 6 or 10 foot lengths (depending on how close you can put your printer to the PC)
If you are buying a PC, you should ask yourself the following
questions, as the answers will effect what you should buy:
1. Are you buying the PC primarily for email, word processing & internet?
2. What will you use the PC for?
a. Email?
b. Typing & sending letters?
c. Viewing & storing pictures from a digital camera?
d. Watching DVD videos?
e. Listening to music on CDs?
f. Making your own CDs with your favorite songs on them?
3. How long will you spend using your computer each day?
4. What will you want to print on your printer?
5. Do you want to print email & letters in black & white or color?
6. Will you want to print color photos?
7. Do you want to create & print birthday cards or party announcements?
8. What software will you want to buy & use?
Acronis True Image 10 Home ($49.99) is a great software package for doing PC backups.
Backing up is easy to do!
Acronis True Image 10 Home creates an exact copy of your hard disk and allows you to instantly restore the entire machine including operating system, applications, and all the data in the event of a fatal system crash or virus attack — no reinstallations required! Doing a backup typically takes less than 1 hour!
To defragment you hard disk drive (e.g. check every month or two):
1. [LEFT double click] on MY COMPUTER icon (on your desktop)
If icon not on your desktop, do the following:
a. On your desktop, in a blank area, [RIGHT click]
b. [LEFT click] on PROPERTIES
c. [LEFT click] on DESKTOP
d. [LEFT click] on CUSTOMIZE DESKTOP
e. [LEFT click] on the blank box just to the left of MY COMPUTER
f. [LEFT click] on OK
g. [LEFT click] on OK (again)
2. [RIGHT click] on the C: disk drive icon
3. [LEFT click] on PROPERTIES
4. [LEFT click] on TOOLS
5. [LEFT click] on DEFRAGMENT NOW
6. [LEFT click] on the Volume called C:
7. [LEFT click] on ANALYZE (this may take a few minutes)
8. If it says “You do not need to defragment this volume.”, then:
a. [LEFT click] on CLOSE
b. [LEFT click] on FILE (upper left corner)
c. [LEFT click] on EXIT
d. [LEFT click] on OK
9. If it needs to be defragmented, then:
a. [LEFT click] on DEFRAGMENT
b. This will take a while, but you can continue to do other things on your PC, however the PC may perform sluggishly while it is defragging.
c. When it has completed the defrag, you will get a message: “Defragmentation is complete for C: — Some files on this volume could not be defragmented. Please check the defragmentation report for the list of these files.”
d. [LEFT click] on CLOSE
To do error-checking on your hard disk drive – this may take several hours to run, so do it when you don’t need to use your PC for the rest of the day (do every month or two):
1. [LEFT double click] on MY COMPUTER icon (on your desktop)
If icon not on your desktop, do the following:
a. On your desktop, in a blank area, [RIGHT click]
b. [LEFT click] on PROPERTIES
c. [LEFT click] on DESKTOP
d. [LEFT click] on CUSTOMIZE DESKTOP
e. [LEFT click] on the blank box just to the left of MY COMPUTER
f. [LEFT click] on OK
g. [LEFT click] on OK (again)
2. [RIGHT click] on the C: disk drive icon
3. [LEFT click] on PROPERTIES
4. [LEFT click] on TOOLS
5. [LEFT click] on CHECK NOW
6. If disk option boxes are blank, [LEFT click] on each box to select them
7. [LEFT click] on START
8. After a few moments, you will probably get an error message:
“The disk check could not be performed because the disk check utility needs exclusive access to some Windows files on the disk. These files can be accessed only by restarting Windows. Do you want to schedule this disk check to occur the next time you restart the computer?”
When you get this error message, [LEFT click] on YES
9. [LEFT click] on OK
10. Restart your PC – when it starts up it will do a Scandisk before loading Windows
To create a folder on your desktop:
1. On your desktop, in a blank area on the far right side of your desktop, [RIGHT click]
2. [LEFT click] on NEW
3. [LEFT click] on FOLDER
4. Type the name you want for the folder (e.g. Vacation Photos), and then HIT the “Enter” key on the keyboard
To remove a program from you PC:
1. [LEFT click] on START button (e.g. lower left corner of your desktop)
2. [LEFT click] on SETTINGS
3. [LEFT click] on CONTROL PANEL
4. [LEFT double click] on ADD OR REMOVE PROGRAMS icon
5. [LEFT click] on the program you want to remove
6. [LEFT click] on CHANGE/REMOVE button and follow instructions
