For getting started or a quick review, this is the basics of how things work. I take tech down to the roots.
PDF, or Portable Document Format, is extremely popular, because if you save a document as a pdf, it can be read by any operating system. The most popular and well-known pdf reader is Adobe Reader, but there are others as well, and you can find them by searching on “pdf reader.” PDF documents are identified…
I remember when there was no World Wide Web, when the Internet was not called the Internet. For today’s emerging generation of computer users, however, computer use IS the Internet or the Web. The journey from a room-sized machine churning out processed data to global information access from a handheld device weighing less than a…
I had a reader question on this subject, and this is a very good question. There are things that DO need to be on your computer, and things that DON’T. Knowing the difference between the two can determine whether or not your computer still runs after you’re done fixing it. These instructions pertain to Windows…
A motherboard is a printed circuit board that contains the stuff that makes up the computer, or it has slots to put some of that stuff in. Your computer is a box of electricity, and what makes it work and display stuff to you is the flow of that electricity. Each component in the computer…
Dust, in and of itself, is neither good nor bad. If you see dust sitting on top of your computer, that’s not a problem. The problem is when it gets inside, or when it obstructs the airflow generated by the fans. In the Tip on Airflow, I recommended not putting the computer directly on…
what it is–in real people’s terms RAM stands for for Random Access Memory. It’s not storage, and it’s not the hard drive. It’s the thing your computer uses to keep track of stuff it’s working on right now or very recently. Your computer can’t start without it; if you don’t have RAM installed, it simply…
Somewhere on your computer—regardless of whether it’s a laptop or desktop—is a collection of vents. You can probably at times hear fan noises in that vicinity, and if you put your hand near the vents, you should be able to feel air coming out (assuming the machine is up and running). Airflow is…
I can’t possibly keep up with all the websites I like to keep up with. I don’t have time to visit them all every day, and there are some days I don’t have time to visit any of them. And yet I don’t want to miss anything, geek that I am. How ever would I…
Two weeks ago I told you several things that you need to know about passwords. Today I’ll give you step by step instructions on how to make a strong, secure password that will meet requirements and that you will eventually remember. Trust me, you CAN remember them. The sentence method: Open up a program on…
How many things do you have going on right now? How many things do you typically have going on at any given time? During a typical workday, how many programs are open on your computer desktop? Is dinner cooking, laundry in both the washer and dryer, and a conversation occurring on the phone or with your kids?…
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