Site Meter Home Computer Talk » 2008 » May

Archive for May, 2008

Movies to Watch

Monday, May 26th, 2008

Some time back there was a flurry of activity about a movie called The Secret. It claims to contain information used by sages and successful people down through the ages and to be informative of a way of thought that those ‘in control’ don’t want us to know. It is available now to download from such sites as www.torrentz.com as a movie, an audio book and even as a hemisync track.

The hemisync track uses binaural beats to get your brain into alpha mode while the message of The Secret is talked about. The idea is to have it almost like hypnosis so the message gets in.
powaqqatsi1.jpg
Powaqqatsi and Koyaanisqatsi are movies by Godrey Reggio which tend to defy categorization. They stand, I guess, as works of Art rather than Hollywood style movies. Koyaanisqatsi is a movie with (more…)

What Are You Watching?

Saturday, May 24th, 2008

There are a variety of ways in which computers improve our multimedia experience. Those with the cash to spare can buy a Multimedia PC, using the functions built in to connect to a home entertainment system that rivals those which, until recently, (relatively) were only available in cinemas.
bose-system.jpg
Surround sound, large screens, High Definition quality – all these contribute to an experience that leaves a simple TV night in the dirt. A few years back you could spend $5,000 on a fairly basic system and you’d be lucky if you knew anyone with a good system. Now you can upgrade your screen and use your computer to boost performance for an engrossing evening deep in the multimedia experience.

But you can also do it fairly simply with your computer. Systems these days come with more than enough memory, video performance, DVD players and hard disk space to let you spend some quality multimedia time in front of your machine.

It can also, properly configured, provide an enveloping experience with computer games.

Once good speakers were a necessary part of the quality time, but now there are cheap headphones that can easily match the performance of expensive speakers. And it means you can enjoy yourself in a room with people watching TV or doing other things.

Just try not to be vocal about things happening on the screen – it gets extraordinarily annoying to others to have odd unexplained noises coming from the corner of the room. Keeping the noise down can be thought of as divorce avoidance.

Upgrading a Computer, Part 6

Thursday, May 22nd, 2008

So, you’ve upgraded the RAM (memory) in your computer and now it runs better than before, but when you try to edit your digital video or convert your digicam footage into a DVD, it takes hours to run. Or maybe you go out and buy the latest game and then find it shows jerky video segments or takes excess time to update screens. What’s going on?

Well a lot of video performance issues come down to how capable your video card is.hardware-info4.jpg Most recent computers have a video chip on the motherboard to provide video capability. The problems with this may only surface (more…)

Upgrading a Computer, Part 5

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

OK, so you’re wanting to improve your computer performance and you figure you’ll start with memory. You’ve looked inside the box to see if you have free slots or you’ve decided to replace what you have.

How to tell what kind you have?
hardware-info2.jpg
There’s a nice little tool called Hardware Info which will query your computer and present you with a nice list of everything in it. Download it, install it and when you want to upgrade things in your machine it will tell you all you need to know.

Note the memory type in your computer (write it down) and you’re ready to (more…)

Upgrading a Computer, Part 4

Sunday, May 18th, 2008

RAM, or memory for your computer is probably the best upgrade. It’s been a while since there was a major change in the chip (CPU) that runs your computer apart from some tweaks in speed and the number of simultaneous operations it can perform.

Those tweaks can be important if you’re pushing the envelope of performance, such as high end video editing or creation or the latest in games. But for the average user, nothing adds extra ‘zing’ to the day-to-day as RAM. And it’s cheap.
ram.jpg
You do, however, need to be careful about what memory you buy. There are different kinds (more…)

Upgrading a Computer, Part 3

Friday, May 16th, 2008

So… you’ve looked around, found your needs, discovered which ones suit your computer best, found a supplier with a good rep and a decent price and you’re wondering who you can pay to do the upgrade.
ram.jpg
Relax, it’s not that hard. If you try not to worry about the complexities of what a computer actually does, there are only a few parts to see in the box and they are easy to identify. video-card.jpg

But first, read and meditate on the following…

Rule number one – (more…)

Upgrading a Computer, Part 2

Monday, May 12th, 2008

So if you have a reason to upgrade, and the money to do it, you should spend a little bit of time to work out just what needs upgrading. In the examples from Upgrading a Computer, Part 1, there’s not a lot of point in buying a new computer if all you want is more space. Most computers have extra hard disk connectors so you can simply add in a new hard disk.
pc-money.jpg
For better game play, you can add more memory to your computer or purchase a new video card and see a remarkable difference in how your machine responds. Most games don’t actually (more…)

Upgrading a Computer, Part 1

Saturday, May 10th, 2008

The first question is, I guess, should you upgrade. If you look earlier in these posts, you will see ways to improve the performance of your computer which don’t cost anything except some time. (see Old Age or Clogged Arteries?)
ibm-pc.jpg
So, should you upgrade? Well if you have a burning desire to spend money you could go out and buy a high specification computer and then cripple it with Windows Vista. Look to spending well over a thousand dollars to get something that will probably (more…)

Computers Eat Time

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

hourglass.jpg
So it’s late, I’m at home after a busy day and, after a phone call to Mr JM, he’s going to be late.

Why is it so?

Well, he’s busy with a computer (more…)

Where on Earth…?

Friday, May 2nd, 2008

One of the pleasures in owning a computer is the variety of things you can do with it. Or rather the pleasures of owning a computer and the Internet. Or maybe it should be the pleasures of owning a computer and the Internet and high speed access.

You don’t really know how much pleasure high speed access is until it is suddenly not there. It isn’t so frustrating to use dial-up for internet access - until you have had the use of ADSL (Broadband) that runs at 10 or more times the speed of dial-up.

We have a Broadband plan that runs at ADSL2+ speeds. This means, particularly at the off peak times, speeds that allow downloads of 200MB’s in just a few minutes. It’s not unusual to start a download of sixty or seventy MB’s & have it finish so quickly you think something went wrong with the download.
googleearth.jpg
So, what do you do with all that speed and bandwidth? Well, Mr JM regularly downloads TV shows that I haven’t seen. He downloaded a couple of seasons of Charmed for me – I hadn’t been able to watch them before I came to Australia – and we’ve caught up on all the new Doctor Who and Torchwood episodes.

But one of the most addictive things to do is Google Earth.
Google Earth lets you strap on a satellite (more…)

About Home Computer Talk

This site is for home computer users. Learn more about how to use your PC at home and ask questions. Any questions will be answered promptly.

Home Computer Talk Author(s)
    » JM

Blogging Flair

Technology Channel Posts

  • And We’re Back!
    Hi everyone! Phew! We are back in action (as you can see). Did you miss me? I missed you! Group hug! Too much? Okay. I’ll behave. I am very glad to be back in action and posting here on [...]
  • Sometimes Old Is New (to You)
    While looking for something else, I came upon an older article about a copy of a well respected subwoofer by Hsu Research. The project is very straightforward, using sound building techniques, and [...]
  • Technical Difficulties
    Hello everyone. As you likely already know, many of the sites on the 451press network are down and have been down for some time (what seems like forever!). I would like to apologize on behalf [...]
  • ATi Brings Back A Winner
    For the last couple of years, there has been a huge hole in the video card market. It was 2006 when the last ATi All-in-Wonder was produced, and nVidia had discontinued their similar offering before [...]
  • The Search for Truth… (continued)
    On the other side are aligned a much smaller number of scientists, some dedicated amateurs, very little money (the grants get taken away as soon as it’s clear the research is leading away from AGW) [...]
  • Introduction to Forums – A Warning
    While getting on to a forum and posting (especially for the first time) can be a lot of fun and exhilarating, there is a sobering note that comes along with joining forums (and with communicating [...]
  • Home Theater On The Cheap Rides Again
    Now and then, a choice comes up which makes sense right away, yet allows expansion capability and growth potential. It is not often that a Home Theater in a Box will be acceptable to any serious [...]
  • The Search for Truth…
    In Using the Net and Finding the Truth I used the search for information about Anthropogenetic Global Warming (AGW – Human-caused Global Warming) to talk about Internet use. Here is an example [...]
  • From Time Window to Time Portal
    DCM Time Windows were one of the speakers that defined the ‘cheapskate’ high end of the late ‘70s. Looking at the speaker was anything but awe inspiring. It was a small two-way tower, with [...]
  • Introducing Mr. JM
    I pretty much grew up with computers as part of my life. I had them at school and used typing, games, etc programs. I remember using dot matrix printers and planning the most basic version of [...]

Hot Off The Press

  • HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!
      [...]
  • Win Brain Pillman's Jacket
    Here is the description from Tammy: “THIS IS THE ACTUAL RING JACKET WORN BY “LOOSE CANNON” BRIAN PILLMAN IN WCW IN THE MID 90′S and in WWE BEFORE HIS DEATH. It is gorgeous–made of [...]
  • Friday Feast 195
    Happy Friday! Thank goodness it’s Friday. I am so ready for the end of the week to be here, that’s for sure. Today I’m putting up last week’s Friday Feast (not put up because of all the [...]
  • Friday Feast...
    It looks like the chef is taking a break this Friday, so I don't have something from the site to bring you. However, if you're like me and live outside the United States, I have a feast of [...]
  • Kansas City Area Fireworks
    Happy 4th of July Everyone! Now that the 4th is here you are probably beginning to wonder exactly where you'll hang out for the night to watch those awesome fireworks displays right? Not sure where [...]
  • Official SummerSlam 2008 Theme Song
    "Jet Black Stare - Ready to Roll" is the official theme of WWE SummerSlam 2008. Listen to the official theme song of SummerSlam 2008 on the youtube below: Check out the official website of Jet [...]
  • The View July 4th Recap: Behind the Scenes Re-run
    Happy 4th of July to all my American readers! Today's July 4th episode of The View is a re-run of the infamous "Behind the Scenes" episode which originally aired on May 30th. You can read my short [...]
  • Happy 4th Missiouri!
    Have a great 4th of July Missouri and Kansas! Be safe while you are out there on the road. What will you be doing? We will be headed out to watch the fireworks display down in Kansas City. [...]
  • Lost launches a Book Club!
    The Others had their own book club and Sawyer was quite the bookworm at the beach. So, this summer, ABC.com will be launching the very first Lost's Book Club for fans. It will spotlight all the [...]
  • Official Smackdown Preview: Independence Day
    WWE Champion Triple H and former World Heavyweight Champion Edge both retained their respective titles at Night of Champions, and SmackDown was poised to be home to two World titles under its [...]