What Are the Parts of a Motherboard?

The motherboard or PCB (Primary Circuit Board) is responsible for connecting all computer devices to the microprocessor. It supplies devices with power and allows the computer to react with them, Devices that can be used by connecting to the motherboard are: Storage devices, sound cards, graphic cards and hard disks.

Devices or components that are needed to make the computer work as it should, are inbuilt within the motherboard or can be connected to it using a socket or port. Listed below are sockets and ports that are available on the motherboard for connecting devices and , what that they are capable of doing.

Filed under Computer How-To by Mike Boyds

7 Tips For Choosing the Best Spyware Removal Tool

Before we consider how to choose a spyware removal tool, let us see what the term Spyware means.

Spyware is software created with a malign intent that is installed without your knowledge on your computer. They are designed to hide itself from the average users. They will usually reside in your computer and may track keystrokes, URLs of the websites visited and the kind of products you usually buy.

In addition to spying on your personal preferences, they can also download additional programs, redirect browsers to specific sites or links.

The only way to combat the very real threat presented by spyware to your privacy is by using a spyware removal tools. These removal tools can detect and remove spyware from an infected computer or they may monitor data coming into the computer.

There are many spyware removal tools available in the market today. Both freeware and commercial. Here are some things to look for when you want to get this useful anti spyware tool:.

Filed under Computer How-To by Mike Boyds

Speed Up Vista Performance By 50 Percent With Power Saver Plan CPU Setting Tweak

Have you notice that your Vista computer does not seem to take full advantage of it's CPU processing capabilities and appears to run slower than XP?

If so, it may be because of the power plan option that Vista is using.

Unlike XP, Vista power plans include a configuration setting that can greatly effect speed and reduce performance by 50 percent, almost to the point of frustration.

Especially if you use the Power Saver plan.

Filed under Windows Vista Tips by Mike Boyds

4 CLean Up Tips To Declutter Your XP or Vista Desktop Without Deleting Anything

Are you a pack rat with your Windows XP or Vista desktop?

You know you are if your desktop looks anything like this:

clutter-desktop1

What a mess. Sure, all the icons are organized in nice neat rows and columns. But honestly, that's the only thing organized about it. What a double-vision-icon nightmare these desktops are when I have to work on people's computers.

So instead of telling them to get rid of everything, I show them a better way to clean up and organize their desktop, with out deleting anything.

Filed under Windows Tips, Windows Vista Tips by Mike Boyds

How To Find And Fix Broken Shortcuts In Windows XP Or Vista

One thing is for sure with any computer operating system, the older it becomes, the occurrence of broken or "things don't work like they used to" become more frequent.

Take shortcuts for example. You know…the ones on your desktop or in the start menu.

You click on a shortcut that you have not used in a while, and chances are, it works as expected or you get the dreaded Problem with Shortcut error warning:

fix-windows-shortcut1

So to fix it, you re-point to the new location of the source or delete it. Now you wonder, how many more shortcuts do I have that are broken?

Well you could go one by one and click on each shortcut on your desktop or start menu and fix them. But that would take a be ridiculously long time (who wants to do that anyway).

Instead there is an easier way…

Filed under Windows Tips by Mike Boyds

Display The List Of Recently Installed Packages By Date On Ubuntu

Ever have a need to show a list of what packages were installed (or recently installed) by date on Ubuntu?

Say you are troubleshooting a problem and need to back-track on when a package was installed. Or if you are a Windows user who has switch to Ubuntu and is not familiar with how to check when a package was installed.

Fortunately there are a few ways to find out. In this article, we'll look at how to view installed packages by date using Synaptics Package Manager and from the command prompt using a Terminal window.

Filed under Ubuntu And Linux Tips by Mike Boyds

Firefox Tip: Move Disk Cache To Another Location Or Second Hard Drive

With all the great features and ease of use, one item that Firefox does not include in the Options configuration menu is the capability to move the disk cache to another location or to a second hard drive.

Instead, all you can do is clear or change the allocated space that is reserve for the cache along with modifying some offline settings.. To see these settings, click on Tools \ Options from the menu, then click on the Advanced and Network tabs.

firefox-disk-cache1

This is some what surprising since there are several benefits with moving the cache location, such as better browsing performance, faster video loading, more disk space for the cache or just being able to get to the darn cache directory.

By default, Firefox cache directory is buried deep under your user profile folder. You can easily view the location by typing about:cache in the address bar (for more information, see - How To View Contents Of Firefox Cache Location).

So, how can you move the disk cache to another hard drive location?

Filed under Firefox and Internet Explorer Tips by Mike Boyds

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Recovers Disk Space With Cleanup Tool

With the recent release of Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) people are finding a nice surprise after installing the service pack.

More free disk space.

Apparently Vista SP2 includes a clean up tool (Compcln.exe) that recovers hard disk space by permanently deleting previous versions of files such as RTM, SP1 uninstall files and restore points that are being serviced by SP2.

If installing SP2 does not automatically delete these files, you can run the clean up tool manually.

Filed under Windows Vista Tips by Mike Boyds

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