From this week onward I’m going to begin the process to make my other blog, shazzalive.com, active.

I’m in two minds about this: Firstly I was going to get shazzalive going full-tilt and eventually abandon this blog. I came to this decision after much contemplation, mainly for the following reasons: -

1) This blog was started along with the very start my blogging career, such that it is. – In fact, forget the word “career”; this blog was started along with the very start of my blogging. As I explained in the post I made on Wednesday; “Heads-Up on the Future of This Blog: Public Newsletter”, there has been a lot of major editing going on – possibly within files that should never have been edited by a newbie to php and blogging – and a lot of boobs have been made doing so: Not all of these boobs appear to have been satisfactorily remedied; therefore errors remain: Such as the “@@@marker@@@ @@@marker@@@” which appears on every page and post on this blog; and which I cannot yet for the life of me understand what is causing the unwanted text to appear.

2) Because I was so unbelievably green when I started out I chose probably the worst theme I could have chosen for the purpose. – That was the arty-farty part of me over-ruling the technical logical side of me: Yes I customised the hell out of it – in the most ill-informed manner, and almost ruined the entire blog in the process at times. Over an entire year’s work and experimentation has eventually produced a somewhat satisfactory result. – I hope: But the underlying php structure of the theme has hardly been changed at all: It’s much the same as it always was; just now mutton dressed as lamb, and still basically crap. (I don’t mean to offend the theme’s original writers here: If I were doing a personal blog on what make-up I wear every day then it would have been ideal. – But for a blog that was intended to be commercial and informative it was crap. – OK I’ll rephrase that: My choice of theme for the purpose was crap.) I’m still using the same theme. Why don’t I change it? Because this theme is constructed a little differently from others to some extent; and the amount of work I’d have to do having changed themes would be colossal. In the meantime my readers will be wondering why it looks worse than it did; if such were possible.

I made the decision to slowly abandon this blog and get shazzalive running. Initially I also made some grandiose plans of transferring all the articles that were worth anything over to shazzalive.com too : I announced what I was going to do; but when I started it I realised that it was going to be one heck of a load of work to undertake.

So for an update on the latest developments: I am still seriously intending to make shazzalive.com my new active blog; but I’m not going to doom this blog yet. It will slowly become inactive and a reference-source only; but it’s not going to disappear completely or be stripped of its content.

Shazzalive.com needs a lot of work done on it yet before it’s ready to start taking newly-created content: I don’t intend to make any of the major gaffes I’ve made first time around: This time; if I’m building an online premises, I’m going to build it solidly and safely before I start using it for business and/or accommodation.

I’m still not 100% sure of exactly what I’m going to do; but I’ll scrub round it and/or make it up as I go along no doubt. (I did that last time; but this time around I have a lot more idea of what I’m doing; plus I have the expert tuition of David Risley in his Blog Masters Club.) I’ll report anything major that happens and/or is going to happen.

Moving on; and the week has seen the affirmation of MicroHoo: The new Microsoft/Yahoo partnership that’s been on the table for over a year by all accounts, and which intends to put Google into second place. Whether or not it will do so remains to be seen: I have my doubts, but I’m not a prophet.

On kkomp.com, since the last official newsletter we have 4 posts including my impromptu midweek newsletter.

These are, in no particular order: -

How to Install/Change a Hard-Drive

A fairly easy subject, unless you happen to be a newbie to computer building/repair; however not the easiest or quickest of posts to write, as the subject matter had to deal with fitting both IDE (PATA) and SATA drives. SATA is pretty much a doddle; while PATA drives had to mention the jumper settings; which was the major part of the text.

Is It Worth The Risk of Running Pirated Software?

Believe me; you do not want to run pirated software if you can help it, and if you can’t help it then you’re either tight, insane, or bankrupt. – I kid you not; it’s more trouble than it’s worth, which isn’t a lot, and it plays havoc with your machine.

Heads-Up on the Future of This Blog

…Was the unofficial, or at least unscheduled newsletter, where I announced all of my plans for this blog, before rethinking them.

How to Adjust the Size of Your Paging File in Windows XP

- Gives some good advice and how-to, about, would you believe, adjusting the size of your paging file in Windows XP; should you wish to do so.

Decisions decisions. The coming weekend will be a busy one for me no doubt. If I go at it hard enough I might well get ahead of schedule. Therefore yet once again I provide friction for my konk by applying my nose to the grindstone yet again.

For your part enjoy the weekend and the coming week, whether you should be coming or going – And I shall endeavour to provide more facts and advice to titillate your ever raging thirst for knowledge.

  Namaste’

Err – namaste’ translates as “I bow to you”, not “I worship you”.

- Anyway don’t let me stop you enjoying yourselves: Carry on regardless.

I really don’t mind. 

There’s quite a lot of information below: Some of it might be applicable to you, some might not. I’ve tried to cover this matter as comprehensively as I can; but if you do run up against problems and obstacles that aren’t covered herein; there are many more similar resources online which may or may not deal with your particular issue(s).

I’ve collected data on this subject from a number of leading online resources, as well as contributing to it myself from my own experience. I hope that this article has all the information that you’ll need contained within it. It was quite an effort to collate, write, adapt, and update all of the info from my sources, and I hope I’ve done the subject justice.

The physical act of installation in itself is actually quite easy. It’s the preparation and getting the thing ready for use that may take a little longer; particularly if it’s an IDE (PATA) drive.

If you’re installing an IDE (PATA) hard drive then you’ll first need to set the jumpers on the drive so that it works correctly with your current hardware. IDE hard drives have settings for master, slave and cable select. This is because of the multi-drive-connected ribbon-cable used: The drive has to tell the controller on the other end of the cable how it’s been connected; otherwise confusion will reign. For Serial ATA drives (SATA), you don’t need to worry about jumpers as there aren’t any: SATA drives have a single cable running to a single corresponding port for each drive cable. See your motherboard’s manual if you’re using SATA for more details on how the drives should be connected and if there is a particular special sequence of connections pertaining to certain drives. – More on IDE drives and their jumpers and connections below.

Next: -

Before you do anything else, take a look at the inside of the computer’s case and work out where you want the drive be positioned. If you’re using an IDE hard drive, it would be best to connect the drive on a different IDE channel than your DVD/CD drives if at all possible. Some (older) motherboards have two IDE channel connectors, but most modern motherboards have only one. If you can do so, it’s a better idea to connect your disc drives to IDE2, and connect your hard drives to IDE1.

SATA drives are totally different. Each SATA drive has it’s own channel. It’s usually fairly straightforward to work out the connections; but if in doubt check your motherboard’s manual. Now that SATA optical drives are fairly commonplace, you might not even require an IDE connector, even if your motherboard has one or maybe more: – Providing, of course, that it has SATA capability. If it doesn’t then it’s getting well past its prime anyway, to be perfectly frank, and you may consider changing it: This operation will probably entail, by necessity, also upgrading the RAM and processor too. – So if you do feel that you’d like to have a change of motherboard, then you might consider building or purchasing a new computer. If not; and you’re happy with your existing motherboard, then you’ll probably get anything between 5 minutes and 5 years of life from it yet. – Just don’t expect it to have the capabilities of more modern components.

Back to the subject at hand; and let’s take a look at the materials required: –

• You’ll obviously need a hard drive to fit to your machine.

• You might need a copy of the hard drive manual if you need to set jumpers on an IDE drive: This can be downloaded if your drive didn’t come with one or you’ve lost it.

• You might need a controller card if you’re fitting an IDE drive but don’t have a spare connector on the motherboard, or space on an existing ribbon cable to connect your drive to.  You can also purchase a SATA controller card if necessary. These controller cards will usually fit into a spare PCI slot; although you may find some that fit into a PCIe x 1 port.

• You’ll need a data cable for the drive; unless you’re installing an IDE drive as a slave-drive on an existing cable.

• You might also need a power cable Y-splitter if you don’t have a spare power connector. There are 2 types available; the 4-pin “Molex” connector, and also the standard SATA power connector. Which one you use will depend upon the type of power connector on the drive you’re installing. (If you only have 4-pin Molex connectors, but require a SATA power connector; you cab buy an adapter which is satisfactory for most cases.)

• Drive-cloning software for if you want to clone your old hard drive to your new one, or a recent drive backup of your old drive if you only want to copy some of the files off the old drive.

Whichever drive you’re replacing, if you are indeed replacing a drive, make sure that you back up any data you want to save before you start, or you could well be sorry at a later time. If you don’t want to have to go through the laborious process of reinstalling Windows, you can clone the contents of your old hard drive to your new one using the setup utilities that hard drive manufacturers provide, or you can use any of the specific cloning programs available online. If you intend to reinstall Windows; make sure you have discs for Windows, all your drivers, and all your programs. This will prevent frustrations at a later point in time.

(At least one leading online publication recommends using the “Ultimate Boot CD”in this process. I don’t personally recommend using this, as I’ve had some bad experience with it. (Neither am I going to link to it.) – However if you want to use it then go right ahead. – That’s your prerogative.)

If you’re simply installing a secondary hard drive for storage then there’s no need to make any changes to the configuration of your current hard drive. If, however, you’re installing a second IDE drive, it is possible that you will need to alter the jumper configuration of your primary hard drive. If your current hard drive is set as “Cable Select” (meaning it is the only drive on the channel), then you may need to change it to “Master” which will allow you to add the second hard drive as a slave (see below).

Setting the Jumpers on IDE Drives (if using IDE)

IDE can accommodate two drives per channel. Some computers may have two channels available on the motherboard; but most modern boards will have only one. The primary drive on a single channel is called the Master, and the secondary one is called the Slave. If there are 2 IDE channels on your motherboard, then they’re labelled as Primary (or IDE1) and Secondary (or IDE2). The hard drive that the system boots from is usually the primary master. Generally, if you’re adding a second hard drive you’d set it up as the primary slave. (The secondary master and slave are usually used for optical drives, although they can accommodate hard drives if needed.)

Most IDE drives arrive pre-set to be used as masters: If you want to use one as a slave, you’ll have to change the jumpers, which are located between the power connector and the IDE connector. Each manufacturer has different jumper settings, so you’ll either have to read the diagram on the top of the drive telling you how to set the jumpers, or the instructions in your hard drive’s manual – Which you can download from the manufacturer’s website if your hard drive didn’t come with one.

If you have an 80-conductor ribbon cable, you can use Cable Select as a jumper-setting:  With both drives set to Cable Select, the computer will recognize the drive hooked up to the black end connector as the master and the one hooked up to the middle gray connector as the slave. – Just be sure that the drives are connected to the right connectors if you use this setting.

…And now – having done all the preliminary checks and adjustments; let’s get into actually physically fitting the thing: Here we go: -

Turn the computer off and switch off the power supply’s switch. You might not want to unplug it if you are using a 3-pin plug to plug it in to the AC household electrical supply: Why not? Because the case is earthed properly if you leave the 3-pin plug plugged in to the household supply power socket. – You might want to use the earthed case to discharge any static electricity in your body from time to time, and/or you might want to wear an antistatic wrist strap just to be on the safe side, (*Technician’s Tip: It’s always a good idea to wear an antistatic wrist strap whenever you do anything inside a computer. There are some companies that will sack people for failing to do so.) which you can connect to the computer’s earthed case or its chassis.  Now remove the side-panel and any other panels that you wish to remove. (It might be an idea to take digital photographs of everything inside before you start; especially if you’re new to this. If anything goes wrong at any stage or you forget what goes where, you can refer to these photographs for guidance.)

If you’re replacing an old hard drive, unplug all the cables from the old drive. You will see either a ribbon cable and a small (white) Molex power plug, or a small data connector and a larger power connector in the case of a SATA drive Do not force their plugs out: The ribbon cable connector on an IDE drive is usually fairly easy to remove, as are all connectors on a SATA drive. Sometimes the Molex power connector on an IDE drive (Occasionally on a SATA drive.) can seem hard to budge. Just rock it back and forth (Lengthwise, along the narrow side of the drive), taking care not to rip the connector off the drive (Which can happen.).

Once all the cables are disconnected, remove the mounting screws that hold the drive to the case frame. You might find that you need to tip the case or get into some strange positions to reach all the screws. You may find that the hard drive is mounted in a cage that you’ll be able to take out. Now remove the old drive from the case.

If you’re replacing the old drive, slide the new drive in the slot from where the old one came out. If you’re adding a second drive then just pick an empty drive bay, but remember that hard-drives produce heat; so try not to mount them too close together with other drives if at all possible. If you’re installing an IDE drive than a slot a bit below the current drive might work best, because it will make it easier to route cables. If you’re installing a 3.5″ drive into a 5.25″ drive bay, you may need to add an adaptor or a mounting bracket to make it fit. Screw the drive into place, making sure the screws aren’t going in crooked and cross-threading as a result.

If you need a separate controller card, install it now into a spare motherboard PCI or PCIe slot. You probably won’t need to worry about this; It’s usually only necessary to add a controller card if you want to add more IDE or SATA drives than your computer’s motherboard will support with it’s existing ports. If you are using SATA, your motherboard will probably have enough SATA ports, unless you’re running some huge RAID configuration. If there aren’t enough ports available, however, you should fit a controller card.

Attach the cable plugs to the hard drive, as well as to the motherboard and/or controller card if necessary. There are two cables: There’s the ribbon cable if the drive is IDE, or SATA data cable if the drive is SATA, and the power cable. The ribbon cable goes from the controller to the drive. Most cables are keyed to the connector so they only go in one way; if the cable isn’t going in, try flipping it over. The SATA data cable’s plug also only connects one way round, as does a SATA power plug and a Molex power plug. – Whether or not it appears to be going in – don’t force anything, or you’ll possibly end up in tears.

If you’re adding a second IDE drive, simply choose an unused connector on the same ribbon cable. Most IDE ribbon cables come with three connectors: one on the end (usually black) and one mid-way (usually gray), then one further away on the other end which connects to the motherboard (usually blue, green, or red). In general, the master drive should use the black connector on the end and the slave should use the gray connector in the middle, but if each drive is set either as master or slave, the position is not as important. (With SATA you have only 1 choice: Plug a new cable into a socket on the SATA controller on the motherboard and plug the other end into the SATA data socket on the drive.)

Now check that everything is as it should be, switch the switch on the power supply at the back of the computer on, and power up. It’s best to leave the case cover off for now in case you need to fiddle with something or troubleshoot the installation.

Your new drive may be instantly recognised by the system; but if not try the following: If you didn’t use a controller card, enter the BIOS (usually by pressing the F1, F2, F10, F12, or Delete key when you see the Power-On Self-Test or the manufacturer logo). Check the BIOS to make sure that the drives are all being recognized. If you installed a drive on an IDE connector that was not in use, you may have to set the corresponding drive to “Auto.” If your BIOS has an auto-detect feature, you can use that as well. If you did use a controller card, it will pop up a screen showing the name of the card and any drives it has detected.

If the drives are not being recognized, check that both power and data cables are in tightly (including the motherboard end for the data cables), and that the jumpers are set correctly. Windows may be able to see the drive but may need some help to display it. A reboot may be needed after Windows finds and installs drivers, or if that doesn’t work a little software coaxing may help – But some of that’s beyond the scope of this article.

If everything looks right and is working properly then proceed>.

Finally…

Now that your new drive is installed you can add data to it. If you’re replacing your current drive and cloning it to your new drive, you’ll need to connect both drives. If you’re using IDE drives only, change any necessary jumpers (see above) so that both drives as well as a CD drive are recognized. At this stage it is not important to screw in your old drive; you can just rest it somewhere convenient, but it’s not advisable to leave it hanging in mid-air. Now clone your old drive to the new one and disconnect the old one, reset the jumpers as appropriate if you’re using IDE drives.

If you’re replacing your current primary drive but you’ve no intention of cloning its contents to the new drive, put your operating system’s CD in the drive and boot from it. You’ll be prompted during the first part of setup to partition and format your drive. If you’re installing Windows XP,Vista, or 7; make sure to use the NTFS file system: it’ll make life so much easier for you as compared to FAT32.

If you’re installing a secondary drive for storage purposes, your operating system won’t see your new drive until you format it. To format the drive in Windows XP, right-click on My Computer and go to “Manage”. In the window that comes up, click Disk Management in the left pane. Once it loads, you should see an “Initialize Disk” wizard pop up. Partition and format the disk to your liking, but make sure not to convert it to a dynamic disk, as doing so will probably end in tears eventually.

Other operating systems may vary, but I can’t cover every possible operating system in this article.

That’s about it for this article: You now have a new working hard drive installed. Please see my other articles for more advice on what you can do next. You’ll find a chronological listing of articles on the page called “Blog Contents”, which you can access from the menu at the top of every page and post on this blog. In the same menu you’ll also find “Posts Listing: Computer Hardware” and “Posts Listing: Computer Software Help”; both of which could have an article or two listed on them with regards to what to do next, if you’re looking for ideas.

For more tips, tricks, products, and new content updates, please request to join the mailing list by entering your email address into the appropriate box. – You’ll then be eligible for regular content updates as well as my free members-only updates and newsletters.

A paging file in Windows is an area of the hard-disc that the Windows operating system reserves for operations that it would otherwise carry out using the system’s RAM. The actual amount of this area that Windows uses depends upon 2 major factors: How much of the processor’s capability you are currently using, combined with how many programs you have running, and how much RAM you have fitted to your computer’s motherboard.

With a 32-bit operating system there’s probably always going to be at least a tiny part of the reserved space used, as the maximum amount of RAM that a 32-bit operating system can see at any given point is 4 gigabytes. In practice, owing to operating tolerances as well as taking into account various system hardware caches, the actual amount of RAM that a 32-bit operating system will recognise is around 3.5 gigabytes. – It’s a fair bit of RAM, and enough for most applications, but not many computers running a 32-bit operating system have more than around 2GB RAM. With a 64-bit operating system you can fit up to several exabytes of RAM, so therefore the more RAM you have fitted the less the paging file is used, to a certain extent anyway.

Having said all that, though, I do know that people have turned off their paging file completely whilst running XP Pro 32-bit with a gigabyte of RAM, and as far as I am aware their computer ran something like normally. I don’t suggest you try it for yourself, though.

So why would you want to adjust the size of your paging file? To be honest the only reason I can think of, other than trying your computer out to see if it runs without a paging file, or changing its size following installation of more RAM, (which isn’t compulsory.) is in a case where you’re running so low on disc space that Windows won’t work properly; and you need just that little bit extra before you can get the C: drive to a state in which you can fit a larger hard-drive and all that it entails without Windows going tits-up somewhere in the process. – Therefore you cut down the System Restore area and the paging file allocation on C: to make that bit of extra room, cross your fingers and everything else, pray if you’re religious, and begin.

Without going too far off track; here’s how to get to the necessary adjustments that Microsoft have cleverly buried in XP: -

Right-click on the “My Computer”icon and click “Properties”. In the Performance section at the top of the dialogue box, click Settings. Click the Advanced tab, and click the Change button in the Virtual memory section.

…And you’ll see something very much like this: -

Normally, as you’ll note from the pic, I leave it to Windows to decide the size of it: Windows knows what it’s doing – more or less – and has a rough idea what size paging file it needs. My C: drive on this particular computer is about 79.5 GB in size, and is partitioned off from the rest of the drive. Windows uses a few MBs of that for the paging file and I don’t really worry about it that much if at all. I only have a paging file on C: drive. It’s set to “No paging file” for all the other drives; which means that it’s turned off on all other drives.

You may want to set the size of your paging file however. Indeed it may already be set to some limit. If you get problems with paging file size then you might like to set it as I have done; then if Windows has issues with its current size it’ll pop up a notice on-screen telling you that it’s enlarging the paging file, and do so.

To set your paging file within custom parameters; select “Custom size” by putting a . in the appropriate radio button, and typing in the size you want. There are all kinds of advisories that tell you what size you should set it to; some of which have conflicting advice. – Which is why I let the operating system handle it.

If you select the drive letter by highlighting it, you can set a paging file size for most drives; other than removable drives for obvious reasons. I’ve tried putting the paging file on other drives than C:, on other drives as well as C:, even partitioning a separate drive specially for the paging file alone: In my experience nothing seems to be better than having it on C: drive only and letting Windows manage its size.

Do you have different experiences? If so then please do comment.

- Other than that; that just about rounds it off.

Some computer users go overboard in trying to save money: Fact.

- ‘Not that there’s anything wrong with trying to save money: After all, why should you pay more than you need to with one retailer if you can get exactly the same product cheaper elsewhere? I myself am always looking for ways to reduce costs; especially when it comes to building computers, both for myself and for my customers. Let’s be realistic about this; whatever it costs me will be passed on to the customer.

I’m starting to wander off the point here; so back on track: There’s saving money and there’s theft. Running pirated software, which is a common way of saving money, is theft. – There it is in black and white. – But hey I’m no moralist or divine authority who has any right to tell you not to do what you may or may not be doing. That’s your choice and your responsibility if you wish to run illegal pirated software: You accept the consequences if you get caught. that’s between you and the law-enforcement authorities. – ‘Not my concern; ‘not my problem.

I’ll tender a little advice on the matter, though, from my own experiences: -

Somebody contacted me because their computer wasn’t working properly and wanted me to overhaul their software. They said that someone had upgraded their box to Vista during a hardware upgrade, in which this person had fitted a dual-cored processor and changed the graphics card. Since then their box had never been right and was getting progressively worse.

I took their box in and had a look at it: Firstly I noticed that they didn’t have a graphics card. – The machine was running on the motherboard’s onboard graphics. They also still had the original single-core processor fitted which had never  been replaced since the DDR motherboard was new.

To cut a long story short I got the order to rebuild the box and install XP in place of Vista. Using the original case, PSU, and hard-drive, I rebuilt the box; fitting a new and better motherboard with a better onboard graphics capability, new dual-core processor, DDR2 RAM, all professionally put together and delivered. Normally I don’t do rebuilds – I usually only build new. Normally I don’t do software overhauls either; but in this case I did. – Well I completely wiped the hard-disc and installed XP. – As this box was the worst bodge-job of pirated-software I’d ever seen and I wanted the chance to examine it. – Yes the Vista installation was pirated, as was almost every installed program bar the free software.

The hard-drive was crawling with viruses and malware too. – Because they were unable to install any patches and updates. They were actually running as an active member of at least two botnets, and I was surprised that they still had any identity or bank balance to themselves. Antivirus was installed, numerous times, all of which had reported thousands of malware incidences in various coloured boxes at the foot of the screen, and were asking ridiculous sums in payment to clean up the damage caused. Vista crashed regularly, behaved slowly and oddly, and half of the programs either didn’t run at all, or only partially worked.

What flabbergasted me most, though, was the fact that they’d payed some “technician” (hacker) to set up their computer so that they could have free computing: Several hundred pounds for a graphics card that didn’t exist, a dual-core processor that was the original single-core processor, and installation of pirated software which put their machine, their bank balance, and their identity, in danger of being stolen. – Also the privilege of being recruited into a number of botnets so that they could participate in a distributed-computing initiative too! If they’d paid for their software rather than tried to get something for nothing then they’d probably never have had to pay me to put the damage right in the first place. They now run a legitimate copy of XP, purchased via myself. I installed free and open-source alternatives to most of their pirated software, and I now have another happy customer.

Look at it this way: You buy a car; a diesel. It’s new. Would you top up the engine oil with used cooking fat to save money? Would you fill up the tank with cheap red diesel (Illegal in the UK for road vehicles, as well as corrosive on the engine.)? When the time came to service it; would you take it to a notorious criminal firm who run a breaker’s yard?

If you answered “Yes” to any or all of the questions in the last paragraph above, then you’re either insane, a redneck, or a fugitive from justice.

- So why would you want to run hacked software on the computer you payed for that instantly renders your computer unsafe? Hacked and cracked software is supposedly free; but it’s full of security holes, unpatched vulnerabilities and known exploits, added to which it’s illegal and you run the risk of prosecution. It’s full of unresolved bugs that will affect the running of your machine; plus the fact that poorly-written malware routines are often used to defeat the keycode on installation.

It’s just not worth the hassle; yet people are doing it nevertheless. Perhaps you’re one of those people? Here’s the bottom line: If you run pirate software it’ll save you money in the short term; but in the long run it’ll end up costing you more than if you’d bought legitimate software in the first place. – And if you get busted and fined for running pirate software it’ll cost you even more than that.

Is it really worth it? You decide.

My how time flies: The summer seems almost over already! Only a few weeks to go and it’ll be Autumn (Fall in the USA.).

Windows 7 is officially launching on 22nd October don’t forget. If you’re in the UK then you can order your copy at a large discount currently. As it says; quantities are limited, so order your copy today if you haven’t already done so. Time is running out.

I ordered mine from Staples and they had the nerve to charge me an extra £1.xx as it was my first online order from them. – ‘Cheeky f—ers! – ‘You see why I’m so cynical about British business: (Yes I know it’s the British arm of a multinational.) They’re generally out to profit any way they can at the customer’s expense, regardless. If they’d have said that they were going to levy a fee because it was my first online order from them I’d have gone elsewhere: I should have stuck with my gut instinct and ordered from ebuyer, who I buy from rather regularly anyway. As it was they either didn’t tell me about this, or they hid it somewhere in some tiny print on an obscure page.

Despite my cynicism with regard to British businesses, I have found one British business that appears to be rather ethical as far as I can tell. Their name is Daily and they’re a web-hosting company. Read all about them here.

While I was examining a number of companies earlier; some multinational, I took a look at dabs.com: Now usually I have my typical suppliers and I don’t go outside of my favoured supplier clique as a rule. Dabs.com, however, made me look twice, and some of their deals were so good that I even included them on my regular supplier list. Take a look for yourself. – Treat yourself to that new piece of hardware or peripheral that you’ve been meaning to get for so long why not?

You’ll now notice that the logo in the header has been redesigned; which can only be good: The old one was too big and too brightly-coloured; which distracted from the blog’s content.

What other goodies have I produced this last week? Ah yes: Yesterday I showed you how to get all your media files played by Windows Media Player 11. I’ve come up against this several times in the past where one of my customers has phoned up in desperation having just added Nero to find that most of their media files are now opening in Nero Media Player and half of them won’t play. The fix is very simple, and is in the article: -

Claim Back Files Hijacked by Other Media Players

Next some more electronics: I’m not going into details here. Read the article and see for yourself: –

The Dual Balanced Power Supply

That was fairly short and sweet. – Having said that; 4 articles a week, plus a newsletter, is my normal output. It just happened that 2 of the articles were advertising articles this time.

On that theme; I believe that I stated this in a membership-list mailing already. – But I’ll go for it again in a public article, namely this one: I’m thinking of adding podcasts to some of the longer articles, so that they can be listened to as well as read. I need to know if it’s worth my doing so: I don’t want to create podcasts that nobody listens to. Would people please give me feedback on this as to whether they’d like me to include a downloadable audio file or not. Leave a comment in the comments section below. If I get a decent amount of generally positive feedback I’ll certainly consider doing so.

I have a lot of things to get done right now; so I can’t really keep writing any longer. (I have to find and edit pictures from my library for this article too, before adding and positioning them.) Do have a great weekend, and stay tuned during the coming week for more articles from kkomp.com.

Blessings.

Shazza. x

Some people like to use Windows Media Player as their default player. – However sometimes it’s necessary to play a file that WMP just isn’t able to play: It doesn’t have the codec, and the codec isn’t downloadable either. – So the user is forced to download and install a different media player just so that they can play that one file.

When they open other files that used to open in Windows Media Player, though, they open in the new player, and to add insult to injury a lot of them won’t even play in the new player. Nero Media Player supplied with Nero 7 is one such player that claims all your media files as its own on install and nominates itself as the default media player. Real Player used to be guilty of this too; but lately it asks what file types it’s allowed to play when installed.

What if this happens to you; and suddenly you find that, having installed an alternative media player, it’s set itself up as the default media player and won’t play a lot of your files having done so? – Well if your normal default media player is Windows Media Player (11) you can tell WMP to take the files back under its control.

Open Windows Media Player 11 and click on “Tools”. Click on “Options” in the drop-down box, and then click the “File Types” tab. About 3/4 of the way down on the right-hand-side of the grey box you’ll see a button marked “Select All”. Click that button and then click “Apply”: All media file types that Windows Media Player knows how to play will now open in Windows Media Player by default. You’ll notice that most media files now bear the Windows Media Player 11 icon.

Target neutralised.

The other media player that you recently installed should now only attempt to play files that WMP11 is unable to play. If it should by any chance happen to reclaim the files from WMP and attempt to set itself up as the default media player again without you telling it to do so; then you have a malicious media player, and you should uninstall it forthwith, before scanning your computer for any malware that it may have left behind on your system.

Earlier, in the article How to Change Alternating Current into Direct Current and Supply DC Electronic Circuitry With Power, I wrote about supplying power to electronic equipment by transforming AC household mains electricity into a low voltage stabilised DC supply with which to run the circuitry incorporated in the device. In that article I mentioned the transformer – which transforms the high-voltage AC into low-voltage AC current, the rectifier – which changes AC electricity into a crude type of DC current, and the smoothing capacitors/inductors plus the voltage regulator chips – which stabilise and regulate the waveform before the final product is outputted to the electronic circuitry which it powers.

What I touched upon there was a single-supply, with a negative and a positive output: Straight DC, no frills. Sometimes; however, more than one supply of power is needed in order to power more than a single circuit, and/or to maintain separation between two parts of a single circuit; such as in a stereo amplifier, for instance: if both channels were supplied by exactly the same power feed then there would be a loss of separation and significant bleedover between the two channels. To avoid this a dual balanced supply is used.

A dual balanced supply is, basically, a mirrored supply: Think of the zero-volt or ground line as the mirror. Since the mirror is reflecting +V and 0V, then the reflection is the negative of that; supplying 0V and –V. To make this a little clearer, let’s say that +V = +12V and –V = –12V: Across the extremities, then, from +12V to –12V, exists a potential difference of 24 volts. – Across +12V and 0V exists a potential difference of only 12V, as well as across 0V and –12V. There are in effect two 12 volt supplies OR a single 24-volt supply; depending upon whichever way you choose to look at it.

The simplest type of dual balanced supply can be made from two batteries connected in series. The 0V tap is run from the join between the two batteries: -

Each battery supplies six volts; therefore the potential across +6V and –6V will be 12V. Between +6V and 0v, as well as, separately, between 0V and –6V, the potential will be only 6V respectively.

Moving on to bigger things; a dual balanced supply (Below) can be extracted from normal household mains electricity too. – Using the principles I mentioned in the other article, but mirrored, like I was saying above: -

Notice the two regulated supplies are series-connected, just as with the batteries.

In the diagram below you’ll see an example of how a dual balanced supply powers a stereo amplifier; maintaining channel separation, which I talked about above.

Well I’ve not gone into gargantuan detail by any means: Nevertheless I hope that this article makes the issue a little clearer as to what a dual balanced supply is, as well as its usage.

I’ll admit to being no expert in this area. Why do I say that? Well my current British webhost for this domain is utterly incompetent: I’ve been unable to remember a single day in the last few weeks where I haven’t encountered at least one server error. If I email them about anything, whether it be a complaint or anything else, they ignore it. That means I’m forced to phone them on their premium line at 10p a minute, which charge starts when you hear the “Welcome to Fasthosts” message; after which I’ve known it take anything up to 15 minutes or more for someone to answer the phone. – Only to be told that they don’t have any problems with their server: Rather the problem lies with what I’m running on the server. Also they don’t service 3rd party applications… In other words total disinterest: WordPress works everywhere else without a hitch; but on their servers it doesn’t work, so it’s my fault. What’s wrong? They can’t be bothered to find out and they don’t care. End of story.

There is, however, light at the end of the tunnel: A different tunnel, but one with light at the end nevertheless: -

- After all that you probably won’t be feeling too happy about using a British web-hosting company: Nevertheless I’ve found one that bucks the trend, so to speak: They’re called “Daily”: Not Arthur Daley, just Daily; and they seem to be a pretty good host.

One particular thing that I notice that they offer, which not a lot of other hosts do, is a Windows 2008 hosting package, complete with MS SQL 2008 and ASP.NET 3.5. Of course, as with most hosting providers, you can transfer all your existing domains to them, and they even have a 30-day money-back guarantee: Something that I wish I’d had with fasthosts.co.uk, or “slowhosts” as I call them.

Maybe you Ozzies think it’s just pure luck that we Pommes finally beat you at test cricket; but there is still some good things yet left in this excuse for a country. – Even though we exported David Beckham to America. (I think, from the way the LA Galaxy fans are behaving, we’ll soon be having him sent back.) Daily is one of those good things; so do click here to find out more.

Generally I think a lot of British businesses have a serious attitude problem. Here on Beyond, however, I hope to be promoting a number of British businesses which are not only still ethical, but also competent, legit, and which I believe that my readers will gain a benefit from using the services of for their own purposes. I do vet the companies which I advertise to a reasonable extent or to as great a degree as is possible. There are some British companies that I wouldn’t even consider advertising, despite the rewards on offer for doing so. Whilst I don’t personally underwrite any claims that I make about any organisation, good or bad, I won’t wilfully advertise any crap services on this blog that I know to be not as good as they seem.

So there you have it: if you’re looking for a decent British web-host I suggest you give Daily a try.

“God Save The Queen” – The Sex Pistols.

As you may know, or may have gathered by now; I’m a computer builder and an AMD fan. Yes I’m aware that Intel are the market leaders in chip design and that they produce some extremely top-class processors that are pretty much unbeatable at the time they’re released. – There are 2 negatives with new top-end processor technologies, though: -

The first is that the new designs/technologies haven’t been tried, tested, and trusted. Intel geeks will ask;

“So what? If you’re truly a geek you’ll be the first to try out anything new.”

I disagree – You see if I try out any new device I want to make sure that it works well and in the way that I want it to work.

I don’t play computer games; so having the latest and fastest multi-processor chip and the biggest and hottest graphics processor would do absolutely nothing for me. – On top of that there’s the fact that anything that’s a brand new concept is going to cost a fortune, and may initially be full of bugs.

That brings me on to the second point – That being price: What is the point of trying out some new device when I have to pay thousands for it? I’d rather wait a month – If I particularly like the device, for whatever reason. – and only pay hundreds for it; by which time it might also have a new version out in which any gremlins that found their way into the first line have been ironed out. Result = better product for less. Alternatively I could wait a while longer until the product is being produced en-masse and pay even less for it.

Three months ago I built my triple-core Phenom powered box and installed Windows 7 (Beta, then RC.) on it. I could have built almost exactly the same box a year earlier for a greater financial outlay using a buggy Phenom. As it was, had I waited another month until May 2009, the processor would have cost £10 less and the motherboard would have cost me £20 less. – All in all the entire thing lost over £5 value while I was waiting for delivery of the parts and then building it! Personally I’m not into throwing £5 notes away as a rule.

You may or may not agree with my angle on it all. Your personal opinion is, of course, completely up to you, and I have no intention nor right to try to change that opinion. – The purpose of this post, however, is to alert you to some amazing deals that are currently out on some of the tried and tested technologies at this moment, in addition to a few of the newer products on today’s market in the realm of computers and computer construction: -

If, like me, you’re a computer builder and/or someone who likes to upgrade their existing box(es) from time to time, then you’ll always try to keep abreast of the current products, their latest developments, product news, and where you can get some great deals on existing and new technologies. – Both tried and tested, as well as recently released.

I’ve been browsing around lately through some of the online retailers; both my usual suppliers as well as others, and overall I think that some of the best deals available right now can be found at dabs.com.

dabs.com currently have some amazing deals on Phenom processors, in addition to which their flat-screen TV sets are going through a recession-busting price-knockdown too.

I mean things such as an LG Electronics 37LH7000 Full HD 100mhz Freeview set for under £700 inc VAT for example, some great deals on processors, Crucial RAM, even whole pre-built computers! Seeing is believing; so hurry along and see for yourself. Now is an amazing time to grab a bargain at dabs.com; but hurry while current offers last!

Click on this link and your browser will take you straight there. Happy shopping.

The time for another newsletter, Friday, has come round again; and as a result of the lack of created content over the past week there’s not a lot content-wise to report on. – So I’m not even going to bother listing and linking the two articles I’ve put out this last week. If you want to see them then look them up on the Blog Contents page.

My primary focus this last week has been on de-cluttering the appearance of the blog: The first thing to go was a number of unimportant items on the Welcome page, including the comments, (Comments on a Welcome page eh? I know I was doing things a bit radically; but this was over the top.) followed by the background design of all pages and posts: Whilst the fancy artwork featuring a distorted block-diagram was rather eye-catching, it was that in its very nature that distracted the readers’ attention from the main content. – And when their eye did eventually attempt to wander back to the main text again, their vision encountered another distracting plethora of unimportant widgets and objects.

The solution was, therefore, to some extent obvious: That being lose the junk; which turned out to be a bigger operation than at first anticipated. The background was fairly easy: I simply edited the background .png image in my theme’s images folder using Paint.net. – No problem there. Much of the text on the pages themselves was encapsulated in a double-border within a table. The function of the table is to prevent overflow of text into areas of the screen where it’s not wanted, as well as to divide up the page and precisely position images and text-blocks. – So the table(s) stayed, but the borders had to go. This was to be accomplished by changing a figure 1 to a 0 in a number of locations: In itself an extremely simple operation. – It was a matter of tracking down all the 1s that needed to be changed to 0s that was the hardest part. Perhaps I still haven’t done this with all of them, and missed a few; but for the main part everything appears to be in order.

The result so far seems to be good: Philip Langford, commenting from Facebook, said “It’s looking a lot cleaner and easier to read.” – So the changes appear to be having a positive influence.

Onto another note; David Risley’s Blog Masters course, which I’ve been promoting recently as those on my mailing list will no doubt be aware, has now closed its doors for at least the rest of this year (2009). The take-up rate for this first run was pretty reasonable to say the least, and I can proudly claim that I, as a member, am one of hundreds of bloggers committed to taking their blog to the next level and beyond; with the goal of creating a full time income-stream from it and becoming a problogger.

You may be asking: “What does this mean for me as a reader and devoted follower? Are you going to attempt to fleece me with multiple internet-marketing campaigns advertising amateur-ish products that have no real value just for the sake of making a fast buck?”

Let me reassure you that I’ll not be fleecing anyone: Anything advertised on this blog in the future will have been personally vetted by myself for quality, reliability, and for providing positive solid benefit to my readers and/or customers. Another thing is that there’s no obligation on you, as a reader or devoted follower, to purchase anything that you don’t feel entirely happy with, having clicked on the ad and read the sales letter.

You may also be thinking “I suppose that, in the light of the above, you’ll stop creating valuable free quality content and put a price on everything.”

Quite the opposite in fact: I’ll probably be providing even more valuable free quality content which will cost absolutely nothing to my readers. In addition to that I also invite you readers to send in your own articles. I’ll even reward anyone whose article I publish with the sum of $5USD or thereabouts. All I ask is that you send the content in a file with a .htm or .html extension. You can attach this to an email which you can send using the “Contact Shazza by email – Click here” link in the footer of every page and post on this blog. Include the article, and separately to that a brief 10-lines-or-less “about the author” piece, plus your PayPal email so that I can send you the $5 if I publish your work.

Back to the subject at hand: Yes I do want to make money, obviously; who doesn’t? – So of course I want you to buy my products advertised herein: But only if you’re happy doing so. Yes there will be more adverts appearing on this blog. Yes there will be a lot more offers and promotions… But no there won’t be any loss of quality or value to you as a casual reader.

At some point in the future I intend to open up a members only section of this blog; a section which will contain even more value and be of greater benefit to my readers. This will not be free however: I can’t just place everything from pearls to diamonds, precious rubys and emeralds, at your feet and say “Take it; it’s yours.” I’m already sharing a lot of valuable information for free and will continue to do so.

– But there is a limit on how far I can go before I say “Hey wait a minute: This is extremely valuable and worth one heck of a lot. I can’t just throw this out onto the net for anyone to use as they see fit at any time they choose to do so.”

OK, enough on that for the time being.

I have an offer currently running which gives you the chance to purchase not only a listing of free software that can replace many of the paid-for products which companies such as Adobe and Microsoft would charge an arm and a leg for, but also I’m adding my “Improve Your Existing Box” eBook, previously on sale for $7.99USD, as an extra for a total price of just $7.00USD. If you want to know more then do click this link that’ll take you straight to the sales letter page.

Rabbit rabbit rabbit. – I think I’ve covered as much as time allows me to do right now. It just remains for me to wish you a happy and prosperous weekend. Enjoy.

Kind Regards

Sharron. x

A capacitor is an electronic component, of which the primary purpose is to store an electrical charge electrostatically between two plates. Since a charged capacitor will block the passage of DC, (Direct Current.) capacitors are sometimes used as decoupling components where only the flow of AC (Alternating Current.) electricity is desired.

The many different types of capacitor are named by the type of insulation, known as the dielectric, used between their plates. This insulating material has a large bearing upon the electrical characteristics of the individual type of capacitor.

Electrolytic and tantalum capacitors are types of capacitor known as ‘polarised capacitors’. This means that they have to be connected into a circuit observing the correct polarity. Failure to do so may result in anything from the component’s eventual failure to its explosion.

A capacitor’s capacitance is measured in Farads, named after the discoverer of electrical capacitance; Michael Faraday:

Microfarad (uF, MFD) = 0.000001 of a Farad or 1 x 10 to the minus six of a Farad.

Nanofarad (nF)           = 0.000000001 of a Farad or 1 x 10 to the minus nine of a Farad.

Picofarad (pF)            = 0.000000000001 of a Farad or 1 x 10 to the minus twelve of a Farad.

- For example: 1000 pF = 1 nF = 0.001 uF.

If an individual capacitor has a voltage-rating printed on it then this is the maximum in-circuit voltage that it can operate at. Anything greater than that and the capacitor’s dielectric could rupture and become breached by an arc, causing the capacitor to explode in a worst-case scenario.

This article is unconnected to the 1980s group Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

A lot of people go out and throw their money away on alcohol, which ends up as part of the contents of the local sewer system rather quickly, on a Friday night, particularly in the UK; but I prefer to stay in and expand my mind: No, not with some new-fangled narcotic substance. – Rather; with study and experimentation in the style of geeky-relaxation:

This particular Friday night in July it was a bit damp outside anyway with somewhat lower than average night-time temperatures for the time of year, so unless I had something amazing planned at some external venue, which I didn’t, I was definitely going to stay indoors. There was some good TV on that evening too, so I’d spend a couple hours watching that and then relax in front of and away from the computer.

I was starting to get a little vacant-minded eventually, and I started to doodle. Now when most people doodle they draw physical things or swirls or patterns or shapes or something similar. When I start to doodle then I usually start drawing an electronic circuit diagram. – Honestly I kid you not. – It’s usually something fairly simple like a Hartley oscillator or a single transistor emitter-follower output stage; but very occasionally I become fully alert while I’m doing it, realise what I’m drawing, and suddenly an idea pops into my head from which I develop something else or it takes me onto another level mentally.

This Friday night was one such event: I’d been contemplating the Darlington transistor in a kind of semi-conscious state, and went on to remark to myself inside my head on the surprising number of hits I’d had on my article regarding a Darlington-pair amplifier circuit. Still in a dreamlike state I put that thought on hold and went on to imagine ways to mix a timebase signal with a direct current to produce an alternating current using a matched pair of bipolar power transistors. – That’s when I realised that I was doodling again; and I’d started to draw a matched pair of bipolar Darlington transistors configured as a high-gain audio amplifier.

I recoiled a little with a start: That was something I’d never thought of before, despite the concept staring me in the face. I thought it might be worth taking further while the idea was fresh in my mind. I started consciously working further on what had been my doodle: I added extra decoupling to the ground points, controlled variable simultaneous negative feedback across both Darlington pairs, 2 sets of potential dividers for biasing the Darlington bases separately…

After faffing about for a while and drawing a circuit diagram with so many corrections it was barely legible, I transcribed the circuit to a fresh diagram in order that it would be legible to anyone else… Then I decided to blog it.

So – fresh out of my mind, totally unrevised and untested, I present to you my idea for a single-channel monaural audio amplifier with gain controlled by means of negative feedback utilising a ganged potentiometer.

I think it’ll work, but I have no idea how well. It’s one of these ideas I draw up that I never actually build, and it remains a theoretical triumph of unstarted construction in my head to times unlimited. Here it is anyway: -

There seems to be an error in the diagram: It appears that I’ve drawn D2 the wrong way round.

If you’re qualified in electronics please feel free to criticise, critique, comment, other words starting with C; even build it and/or improve on the design if you like: ‘Your choice. (I deliberately left the circuit diagram small enough so that you could hopefully get it all in a single browser window in FireFox at a resolution of 1024 x 768 px.)

I didn’t choose any component values other than those of the 10 nanofarad capacitors across the base and emitter of Q1 and Q3: Including them like this does actually increase audio frequency response at bass frequencies. I heard about it somewhere ages ago and have actually tried it to prove that it works: It does; to a limited extent.

Having blogged that I’m now going to get a coffee and do something else. I’ll decide exactly what as I drink the coffee.

Tatty-bye for now.

Hi Everyone.

This week I’ve changed things about a bit with regard to the appearance of this blog. Basically I’ve decluttered the theme by removing the distracting artwork at the sides of the screen and replacing it with a slightly-pink-tinted plain background. I also changed the overall background colour from that slightly-over-intensive pinky colour to white. To remove the resultant overall blandness of the site I added a recurring light violet-pastel-coloured oval, which is visible but hardly noticeable, to the centre column.

I redesigned the header; putting the RSS link at the very top of the page, raising the menu-bar up above the logo-banner, and moving the advertising-space from the header into the page-body, further down. This will hopefully improve the “too-much-going on” feel of the blog.

In addition I further decluttered the Welcome page by removing some of the junk that had built up over the last few months, including the derogatory negative comments of Syphilis Syndrone (posting as “Sarah Palin”), which add absolutely nothing whatsoever of value to anything and were just wasting space.

Do you find the new design elements described above easier on the eye and less distracting? I’d be interested to hear your comments on this.

Moving on; and on Monday I came up with some more gumph on Microsoft’s war with the EU over windows: -

EU’s Latest Antitrust-Stab at Microsoft: Furthermore –

Tuesday had me giving you a guide to the minimum spec.s to look for or build into a new computer, with the future in mind: -

What Are the Minimum Specs Required for a Desktop Computer?

For the newbie, and those who need to know as a one off; a step-by-step pictorial guide on how to do the following: -

How to Find and/or Change Your Computer’s Name in XP

I did an article, back in April, about the basics of the extremely common (If you did but know it.) process of changing AC current into DC. Conversely, this week I did an article on the less-common but nevertheless widely-used and equally-useful process of changing DC current to AC: -

How to Change Direct Current into Alternating Current

Lastly, there are still so many self-wired UK 13 Amp plugs in homes across the country, even to this day; many of which are so badly wired by total first-timers that they’re rather dangerous. I transposed my original papers on the subject from my City & Guilds college course in electronics as an article on how to do it properly and safely: -

How to Wire a UK 13 Amp Mains Plug

I hope that you enjoy those articles.

Lastly, as a note for WordPress self-hosted blog users, I’ll remind you that WordPress 2.8.1 is now out and ready for you to use. It resolves a number of issues found in 2.8. For more information on this, click here.

That’s about it for now. I hope you have a generally relaxing and profitable weekend. Look after yourselves.

Shazza.

In April 2009 I wrote an article on the basics of changing alternating current (AC) into direct current (DC) called “How to Change Alternating Current into Direct Current and Supply DC Electronic Circuitry With Power. . This kind of transformation (Known as rectification.) is extremely common; and is the first thing that happens (Although in much more detail with far more complicated circuits than presented therein.) to the AC Mains supply in some form or another as soon as it enters most modern electronic equipment.

Less common, though just as useful, is the inverter circuit: This circuit (The very basics of which are shown here in this article.) changes straight DC electricity (From a rechargeable lead-acid battery usually. – Because it requires quite a bit of power.) into AC electricity; similar to the AC mains power that runs your computer and pretty much everything else electrical in your house. This type of circuitry appears in units such as a UPS or Uninterruptible Power Source that you may have connected onto your computer’s power lead.

The main components of an inverter are:

1) A DC current source. – Usually a rechargeable lead-acid battery.

2) A timebase: This is a piece of circuitry known as an oscillator. It produces a very specific waveform that is an engineering pattern for the final output’s AC waveform.

3) A mixer:  (see further down.)This is the stage where up to the full-force of the DC current source’s power is mixed with the waveform produced by the timebase to produce a very-precisely-tuned low-voltage sine wave, capable of driving the transformer unit, which is the last stage, to produce a pseudo-AC mains output.

4) A transformer. (see above, 3).)

The oscillator drives the mixer, a piece of circuitry regulated by purpose-built voltage regulators that mirror the control input’s actions precisely; outputting the required sinusoidal waveform. In my representation of the mixer circuit I’ve used a pair of power-NPN/PNP transistors wired as a complimentary pair to achieve this. That is a very basic circuit which will be given to a huge distortion factor on the output. In reality, heavy-duty power-CMOS voltage and current regulator chips using power-MOSFET technologies are commonly used to give a perfect stabilised output. – I’ve used the power-NPN/PNP-transistor-pair in the example-circuit for the sake of simplicity.

The AC output from this circuit is then applied to the coils of a step-up transformer which increases the voltage to the AC mains voltage.

Some of the cheaper inverters, although able to supply the power-input needs of a computer and peripherals, are nevertheless unable to supply the perfect AC waveform required to run a fluorescent or low-energy lamp. – For example, of my 2 UPS units, only one; the more expensive of the two, is able to run a Thorn 2D sidelight and a PL-lamp desk light properly. The cheaper of the two UPS’s just causes the lights to flicker dimly. This is probably due to the quality of components used as well as the type of circuitry present in the unit.

I don’t intend to go into this further and subsequently go off-topic. I hope the above gives you some idea of how DC electricity is changed into its AC counterpart.

I still build desktop computers – and I love building desktop computers. Some people say that the desktop computer is dying out. I don’t agree. Whilst I do agree that, to a certain extent, desktops are becoming somewhat less popular, in favour of laptops and netbooks, I believe that desktops will always have their place for years to come, if not forever.

- So, to the question posed in the title; what do I think are the minimum specifications required for a desktop computer these days? That’s another multi-pronged question. You see it depends on two major factors; one with a sub-factor: -

1) Is the user intending to run a 32-bit or a 64-bit operating system on their desktop?

2)a) Is the user planning to really utilise their machine for all its intended and possible purposes, or b) is the user intending just to use it for email, instant messaging, and general office work?

With the advent of Windows 7 firmly fixed on the horizon and in full view, the need for the latest and greatest hardware in order to run the latest Microsoft operating system is somewhat negated. Windows 7 is a lot less resource-hungry than Vista, as well as being a far better-designed operating system. Nevertheless the hardware that one must by necessity use with it should be in the main Vista compatible; which means a few of the older PCs still working will not be able to run Windows 7.

(I have a friend whose husband has an old computer that I had a hand in upgrading, in that I supplied some secondhand hardware for its renovation. Nevertheless, despite now having 2GB DDR RAM, and other bits, fitted, it doesn’t like Windows 7, even though it now runs XP totally satisfactorily.)

If the user is planning to upgrade to Windows 7; or to run the Windows 7 RC up until either the RTM version appears, or until it starts to reboot every 2 hours on March 1st 2010, then the above should be taken into consideration. I do, however, suggest that anyone who buys or builds a new computer should run a 64-bit operating system on it. All modern processors produced today are 64-bit capable, and it seems a shame to waste available resources and at the same time limit the machine’s capabilities by running a 32-bit operating system.

However, that brings me to question 1 above: If I’m building a computer for a customer I give them what they want, rather than what I think they should have. Whilst it’s true that I do advise the customer; and I can be quite persuasive at times (Ex-salesperson.), at the end of the day it’s the customer’s money and the customer’s choice.

So if they are positive that they are never going to run a 64-bit operating system, despite their processor and the rest of their hardware being fully capable of doing so, then that’s a good excuse to skimp on the RAM: If ‘intending just to use it for email, instant messaging, and general office work only, with a 32-bit operating system, then 2GB 667MHz DDR2 RAM should be easily enough; whether they’re running XP or Windows 7.

If the customer insists on running Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate edition; whether or not it’s just to try and look “cool”, then the processor will need to have certain features: -

Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate edition have a feature called XP Mode: XP Mode requires your computer to have at least 2GB RAM, which we were intending to fit anyway, as well as to be running a processor that has Chip-Level Virtualisation built into its architecture: In other words you’ll need an AMD processor that supports AMD-V, or an Intel processor that supports Intel VT. – This will need to be taken into account.

Otherwise, just for for email, instant messaging, and general office work only, an AMD Athlon 64 x 2 would appear to be just the job as a processor in this case.

In an identical case where the user intends to run a 64-bit operating system; 4GB 667MHz DDR2 RAM would be an idea; just to give it that bit extra oomph, considering the extra 2GB will only add around £20 to the price at today’s prices.

Then we come to 2)b) The user who wants to do everything possible with their PC:-

A 32-bit operating system is going to be a limitation in this case; so 64-bit is decided by default. Since it’s 64-bit; stick as much of the fastest RAM possible in as the motherboard allows why not? Use a motherboard that will take an Intel Core i7 processor running as much DDR3 as possible.

In the main, 4GB is the most that Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit uses under normal circumstances, but with the price of RAM as low as it is, and even DDR3 is dropping in price slowly, whack a good few gigs in why not? – Even if it’s just to prove that a 64-bit system can see it.

(I have a box running 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate RC with 8GB DDR2 800MHz RAM in it. I’ve only managed to get it to use 5GB under pressure as yet.)

Now to the graphics card: Graphics cards these days shouldn’t be less than 250MB in my opinion. – That’s not just because Windows 7 requires that much for the Aero Interface; it’s because of the demands made on the graphics at some point by almost everything these days. – So a 250MB card as a minimum, 500MB if you prefer, 1GB+/ quad SLI, whatever, if you or your customer are a gamer; depending on whether the machine’s for you or to sell on.

Just a minute… Wait, wait, wait: We have a minimum-spec office or OAP’s machine here, and a gamers’ box too. What if the customer/user isn’t an OAP/office worker or a gamer?

Well for me, for instance: I run a blog. I need at least 2 working computers; just in case 1 goes down. I’m doing most of my work on a dual-core AMD-powered machine with a 32-bit XP operating system and 2GB DDR2 667MHz RAM. The other box I’ve already mentioned. It has an AMD Phenom triple-cored CPU, 250MB graphics, and I’ll be using it later in the year with Windows 7 Home Premium RTM as my main box, while the XP box becomes the spare. Yes I’ll keep XP on it until 2014, and if it’s still working/not been dismantled/sold by then I’ll install Windows 7 on it and relegate it to the bedroom. I would imagine that Windows 7’s successor will at least be in beta by then.

To attempt to conclude, then: Anything from an AMD Athlon 64 x 2 upwards, depending upon discretion, is currently acceptable for a processor in my opinion. Single-cored processors are out. I will never ever use another single-cored processor if I can possibly avoid doing so. DDR2 (667MHz) upwards is OK for RAM, once again using discretion. Graphics should never be anything under 250MB.

I use that as a guide at present; although next year (2010) it might be a complete new ball-game? Who knows?

I will say again, though, as a final point, there’s no reason, unless you have a rather old computer, not to run a 64-bit version of the Windows 7 operating system. I positively encourage everyone to do so if they can. It’s time we ushered in the 64-bit computing age. 32-bit is becoming lame and is old-hat. – Maybe that would be a good name for a retro 32-bit Linux distro: Old Hat? The mind boggles…

To find your computer name in XP,  either open up Control Panel in Classic View,

open the System folder…

– OR right-click on the My Computer icon and click Properties from the drop-down list,

(Your particular specifications may be less detailed than mine. To give yours that professional look, see this article.)

then click on Computer Name.

The information you’re looking for is shown after the tag "Full computer name".

If there’s a period (full stop (.)) at the end of the name, ignore it.

To change the name if your computer; click the Change button in the Computer Name tab and type in a new name. You can also change the workgroup or domain-name here too.

Target neutralised.

Whilst I agree that there must be fair legislation with regard to anticompetitive practices, it may appear that the European Union has gone over the top in its latest antitrust probe against Microsoft: -

From Computer Buyer Magazine’s website: -

“The European Commission has told Microsoft that it believes the tying of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser with its Windows operating system infringes EU antitrust laws.

The Commission has sent a Statement of Objections (SO) to Microsoft which outlines its view that the tying of IE to Windows provides Internet Explorer with an artificial distribution advantage which other web browsers are unable to match. This “harms competition between web browsers, undermines product innovation and ultimately reduces consumer choice”.

It EU executive is also concerned that “the ubiquity of IE creates artificial incentives for content providers and software developers to design websites or software primarily for Internet Explorer which ultimately risks undermining competition and innovation in the provision of services to consumers”.

Microsoft has eight weeks to reply the SO and will then have the right to an Oral Hearing. If SO findings confirmed, the Commission may impose a fine and require Microsoft to make changes to Windows that would ameliorate the Commission’s concerns.

In a short statement, Microsoft said it was still examining the SO.

“We are committed to conducting our business in full compliance with European law. We are studying the Statement of Objections now.”

The decision to issue the SO is based on legal principles established in the 2007 ruling by the European Court of First Instance, which upheld the Commission’s 2004 finding that Microsoft had abused its dominant position in the PC operating system market by tying Windows Media Player to its operating system.

That judgement saw Microsoft release a special N version of Windows XP without Media Player, which remained available as a free download. The company was also fined and has to date been ordered to pay fines totalling €1.68 billion for this and other antitrust violations.”

This is just too much: It’s no secret that the EU is a corrupt powerbase of political subterfuge and scam-mongering. This appears to be just another attempt to swell the EU coffers even further. Not content in just charging Britain millions of Euros in membership fees so that European politicians can hire call-girls and throw lush parties, the Eurocrats like to have a stab at Microsoft from time to time; as Microsoft is where the money is. In early 2008, Microsoft was fined 899m Euros by the European Commission for anti-competitive behaviour over bundling in the Windows Media Player and browser into Windows. As if that wasn’t enough loot for them, they’ve decided to have a second snipe and see if they can get some more out of the software giant.

Now this is rather ancient news from Computer Buyer; as on the 16th June I reported on this in the article “Europe Doesn’t want IE8”, and I also reported Microsoft’s solution to the problem: -

“In order to comply with European competition law, Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 will be removed from the European versions of Windows 7. Microsoft made the decision to drop the web browser in order to stay on the right side of the European Commission and avoid further possible fines. Versions of Windows 7 released in Europe will have an E suffix to show that they are European versions that don’t include Internet Explorer.”

- So if they don’t include IE then what browser do they include?

Internet Explorer is a fundamental software component of the Windows operating system; and it goes a lot deeper than just the browser GUI that IE users see. Without IE, there is, in all reality, no Windows as such. Without IE there are just a number of disjointed codes resembling an incomplete operating system. Conversely, Windows Media Player is more an app than an integral part of Windows.

This becomes puzzling now: How, if there’s no browser, does the customer add a browser so that they can download anything? ‘Beats me!

According to the BBC Website, in an article from 12th June 2009: -

"In terms of potential remedies, if the Commission were to find that Microsoft had committed an abuse, the Commission has suggested that consumers should be offered a choice of browser not that Windows should be supplied without a browser at all," said the Commission in a statement responding to Microsoft’s announcement.

It said Microsoft’s approach of offering the program to computer manufacturers "may potentially be more positive" in terms of remedying its alleged abusive behaviour.”

-Which still doesn’t really answer the question. – I mean if I were to buy a copy of Windows 7 E, post RTM, to install on a computer that I just built: OK I’ve installed it. How do I get a browser onto it? There is no browser. – No wait; I have a choice of browser? – If the EU have their way then yes. OK; I’ll install FireFox. Is that how it’s going to be? That would actually be rather good.

- The Eurocrats are targeting the IE GUI itself perhaps; and maybe they have a point: If the IE GUI is supplied along with Windows then it gives the IE browser an unfair advantage in a way; because many computer users aren’t geeks. -  In fact many (European) computer users are rather clueless when it comes to computers. – Other than instant messaging, browsing to find their family tree, and email, they really don’t have much idea of anything else that the internet has to offer. (I know, it’s a bit of a wild assertion; but if a lot of British users are anything to go by then it’s true.) – Therefore, when they buy the Windows operating system from Microsoft they stick it on their computer as is, if it isn’t preinstalled, and they use it as is: Sucky browser, the lot. Possibly half of them aren’t even aware that there’s an alternative to IE. The other half may have heard of FireFox, Opera, Safari… But are of the attitude: “If it works; why fix it?”

…But Microsoft have even included a function in Windows 7 to deactivate IE – The GUI bit, that is, for people who don’t want IE on their computer at all, even though they run Windows, as a primary or secondary OS. (Linux users come to mind.) Nevertheless the non-nerdy users probably won’t bother to deactivate IE and choose an alternative browser.

So what are the choices? Supply Windows with another browser? That’ll give the new browser an unfair advantage no matter which browser they use; although the Eurocrats may have problems getting any money out of Microsoft for promoting another company’s browser. – But Microsoft themselves probably wouldn’t be too happy about promoting someone else’s product.

What if they supplied Windows with no browser and let the customer make up their own mind which one to install? – The problem then would be that the customer has absolutely no way of downloading any software whatsoever: No browser = no browsing = no downloads.

Email a browser to the customer. – Yeah right. As soon as the malware distributors hear of that they’ll spoof the email and get everyone to download tons of malware into a blind operating system. Forget that straight away: It’s a definite non-starter.

The only option left, then, is to include a copy of every browser available that works with Windows on the installation disc, and let the customer choose which one is to be used from the offing as the operating system installs. As I said before; that appears to be how it’s going to work; but we might have to wait until the RTM to know for certain.

What do you think?

P.S. The next EU antitrust suite against Microsoft will probably be targeting Windows Live Mail, or maybe even Windows itself: -

“The European Commission has told Microsoft that it believes the tying of Microsoft’s Windows operating system with its range of Windows operating systems infringes EU antitrust laws.” 

– The Eurocrats have got to find enough money to continue to live in the lap of luxury somehow. – Those call-girls cost quite a bit!

We start this newsletter with a favourite subject of Brits: The weather. – And has it been a scorcher in the UK this week! Record temperatures, the like of which we haven’t seen since 2006; bringing back memories for me of sitting in that baking college classroom in front of a computer, sweltering hot with my blouse soaking wet from perspiration. Fortunately that blistering heat has moved into central Europe, and England has returned to average temperatures or just above for the time of year.

It’s with this hot weather in mind that I wrote the following article: -

Keep A Cool Box – Let It Breathe

I imagined computers left running 24/7 in hot airless rooms while their owner was out.

If only solid-state drives were cheaper and had more data-storage capacity: If that were the case I’d never use a standard spinning-platter disc again. I wrote an article about solid-state drives: –

About Solid State Drives

If you’ve not enrolled on the Become A Blogger course then you’ve probably missed your chance by the time you read this. – However, if this is the case then there’s always a chance of being first in the queue next time round; so do click on the link anyway: You’ll find that the 10 free videos are still available, plus you can also register your interest in joining up next time.

Become A Blogger Admission Window: Only 5 Days

There is, however, another course in the offing: David Risley’s Blog Masters Club will be launching on the 7th July 2009: Whilst this course is a little more advanced than Become A Blogger, in that it assumes, I believe, that you already have a blog set up and running; it will nevertheless enhance your blogging efforts, and teach you things that will give you the ability to blow your blog’s earning potential sky-high.

David is one of my long-term online associates whom I have a lot of respect for. I know for a fact that he’s been compiling this course and getting it ready to run pretty much full-time for well over 6 months. – That tells you that this is no rush-job from David; and based upon the success of the sensational 3-Day-Money course, I know that this will not only be a winner in itself, but will also put you onto a winner if you enrol in it.

One thing I hope is that you’re not running Windows 7 beta software on the computer you’re reading this on. If you are then prepare to watch it automatically shut down before your eyes at some point within the next two hours. Also if you want to get a free copy of Windows 7 RC you’d better be quick, as there are only around 6 weeks left for you to do so: -

Windows 7 Release Candidate Program Nears the End of the Line

Microsoft are naughty: They’ve strategically positioned an advert aimed at the UK consumer on their website in order to increase the sales numbers for Vista. Whatever you do don’t buy Vista: Wait until 15th July and you can order Windows 7 for £50: -

Microsoft and the Massive 7 UK Con

On rare occasions the event of Windows XP crashing as it boots is due to hardware failure. This part of the series looks at the death of a motherboard: -

Something to Try if Windows XP Crashes During Boot – Part 13

That’s it for this newsletter. If you missed any of the week’s articles then they’re all linked from here as you can see. If you didn’t or couldn’t make it for Become A Blogger then I do seriously suggest that you take a look at Blog Masters Club by clicking the link above.

Enjoy the weekend.

Namaste’

Sharron Field

Author and Creator of kkomp.com

As you may or may not know; the UK is experiencing a heatwave, with, in a few places, record or near-record high temperatures. This might have the effect of causing overheating if your system is poorly ventilated or, perhaps, an older box that generates as much heat as anything else.

Whilst newer processors have negated energy conversion from wattage to heat to some extent by using smaller transistors; as small as 35nm, etched onto their wafer, there are still boxes around that run P2s and similar colossal-heat-producing processors, in addition to the heat produced by other components and peripherals too. – Such as, particularly, UPSs.

I have 2 UPSs running currently, and they appear to be making the effects of the current heatwave rather unpleasant. Whilst they protected my system from 2 voltage-spikes yesterday, they nevertheless still produce a substantial amount of heat. Add to that just the single XP box, with a dual-cored AMD Athlon 64 x 2 processor, which is also running, and believe me it gets rather warm in here, even though I don’t dare to switch on my CRT monitor and/or run the Phenom box for fear of roasting, despite having a large office fan moving air around.

According to the BBC and the Met Office; this heatwave ends tomorrow (3rd July 2009) for the UK. – Although the main body of Europe might take a little longer to cool down where it’s currently up in the 90s Centigrade, as a cold front moves slowly through from the west, triggering intense thunderstorms in places and heralding a return to average temperatures for the time of year. Nevertheless there’s still one thing that one must always ensure within an environment, regardless of room temperature, where a computer or computers dwell: That being ventilation.

It’s well known that typically a computer draws air in at room temperature from its front and/or side(s) and/or base, and adds excess heat from its components to it before blowing it out the back; warmer than it was before it was drawn in. If there’s no air-circulation within the room then the computer still attempts to draw air in, but finds it harder to do so, reducing the air pressure a tiny bit as it struggles to find air from somewhere. What it blows out the back will stay at or near the back of the computer if there’s no proper air-circulation; causing a hot-spot in that particular location. Eventually that hot-spot will find its way back into the computer, having lost some but not all of its heat energy, and as a result the computer will slowly get hotter and hotter inside as it recycles the same air. If it gets too warm then things inside will start to cook and/or shutdown automatically as a result of the build-up of heat.

I’ve already covered the subject of maintaining the computer’s internal fans in another post back in November 2008. If you haven’t read it yet then please click the linked text above in this paragraph. Assuming that your computer’s fans are working optimally as they should always be doing, they still need a source of moving air to be able to move air around as they are designed to do.

If the room where your computer sits is poorly-ventilated then I do suggest having a fan independent of the computer with which to keep the air circulating around the room. Moving air loses heat more than still-air generally; so it’ll help keep things cool outside as well as inside the box.

If you live in the UK then chances are that you have uPVC double-glazed windows and doors, which have sealed-units with an optimal air-gap. Whilst these are excellent at keeping heat indoors in the winter; they don’t do a lot for air-circulation, even in the summer; so whenever you can – do try to open a ventilator or a window: Most modern uPVC profiles allow a transom or vent to be security-locked in a slightly-open position for ventilation, whilst maintaining a good degree of security from intruders who might attempt to get into your property by such means as an open window. Alternatively, on some older profiles there may be security locks on the restrictor-stays themselves, which do much the same thing. (I once worked in sales in that industry, so I have a fairly up-to-date knowledge of the subject.)

Keep your box aerated: That’s the slogan of this article. Heatwave or not; your computer needs moving air to keep it cool. – Even if you use water-cooling, although to a lesser extent.