As I’ve been privileged enough to grow up alongside computers, repairing computers seemed easy. You analyze the problem, then you fix it right? Not that fast. After spending a good deal of time refurbishing computers at my local computer plant as well as spending a good part of the last three years with the kind folks at PC Mechanic, I discovered that...

I hope everyone has had a nice Memorial Day weekend in remembrance of those who have generously fought for our country. It is a time to revisit the past and be thankful for all that we have right now as a result of their efforts. For my weekend, I took a nice weekend off from all the work and enjoyed some free time watching the French Open tennis, Roland Garros,...

In a world where many companies are vying for higher sales, where many products are being touted as the “best in the market”, it’s hard to know where to look. We all resort to the all-too-common default method – brand loyalty. Manufacturers actively compete to recruit a loyal crowd of followers in order to maintain sales. But I raise the...

You’re shopping around in the local retail electronics store, looking around for the latest and the greatest in parts for your new computer. As soon as you get to the aisle, you are bombarded with flashy names and complex prefixes that you have no idea what they are – they sound sweet. That’s the type of experience that these manufacturers want...

Many of us know that Apple recently officially switched to Intel and its x86 system architecture. That alone is a fairly big change, but Steve Jobs kept on moving. Apple never fails to keep surprising me with what they come up with; their newest release is generating talk in the computing community like high school gossip. When Apple officially disclosed that...

For today’s Kudos & Calamities column, I wanted to take a different approach. On April 1st, Apple Computers, the company we have all come to love and hate (or perhaps know and love?), turned thirty years old. At first thought, my reaction was cynical – a company born on a day of fools jokes and lies. But seriously now – Apple, despite being...

Ahh – the world of technology. It never stops does it? In the last few years, the interesting question of tradition vs. technology has been brought up. I’m specifically looking into a traditional activity, such as sports, where technology has had a say in its development. We can all point to at least one sport where technology has changed how the...

Introduction With an increasing trend towards computer and internet security awareness, mainstream consumers are left scrambling for ways to protect their system. Traditionally, Symantec has released the most popular security software offering – the Norton AntiVirus series. Sound familiar? You’ve probably also heard of McAfee’s and Trend...

First off, I would like to welcome you all to my first Kudos & Calamities column. I’m kram – many of you may have seen me around in the forums (kram 2.0) or read some of my past articles. As many of you may already know, Tyler was named the PC Mechanic Public Relations Manager. As a result of Tyler’s move, he asked me to take over his...

If you’ve been around computers for some time, you can probably remember back to March 2000 when Intel formally introduced the gigahertz processor to the world. Touted as the “world’s highest performance microprocessor PC” (as per Intel), it was unbelievably speedy at the time. The ‘gigahertz’ became a part of common terminology....

One of the neater things about the computer industry is that programmers think of more innovative and efficient programs that we, the mainstream users, can make use of. The computer offers a lot of power to the user, but as they say, the computer is as smart and versatile as the person using it. In many cases, an average user would fail to use the power of...

Introduction & Preliminary Mobile CPUsComputers evolve quickly, which is very much so with microprocessors. For a long time, the industry’s focus was on getting the computers faster and faster, regardless of factors such as size, heat, and power. Now, with the ever-growing demand for portable systems, size is becoming an important factor. This...

Ever wonder what Google has been up to lately? The owners of the largest web search engine in the world recently released the beta of Google Earth – a 3D fully interactive satellite imaging program. Building on their acquisition of Keyhole, a 3D mapping program, Google brings this advanced program to everyone free for personal use. Downloading Google...