Many of you computer enthusiasts out there like to overclock your PC’s (personally, I avoid it like the plague), however a direct side effect to this is the increased power usage your steroid pumped PC consumes. Increased power usage not only contributes to a higher power bill, but also increased output of heat (which will [...]

I broke into the world of computers and technology at around the ripe old age of 10. Not so amazing really, but remember…that was in 1984…back when most people on the street didn’t know what a computer was. The day my father came home from Radio Shack with a brand new Tandy 1000 was the [...]

Editor’s Note 4/49/08 12:36 PM: OK, I’ll admit it. I got HAD by this article. It was based on an April’s Fools joke and made it’s way to PCMech well after April Fools. I’ll leave it up here since people have already commented on it. I’m not sure if Nathan (the author) knew it was [...]

Yesterday I wrote about periodically cleaning out the insides of your computer, but I thought I would post a follow up for those who have pets.
We have a couple of cats and a dog, all of which shed a good bit. Of course, this creates a problem as whenever I clean out my computer, there [...]

Periodically, it is a good idea to clean out the inside of your computer. Doing so prevents dust from building up on your components which acts as an insulator to bottle in heat. There are many different ways to go about cleaning your computer (for example, see this article), but personally, I just do the [...]

As with all network devices, once you leave the safety of the local area network (LAN) and connect to the Wide Area Network (WAN) or World Wide Web (WWW) your protocol is subject to attack by the unscrupulous that inhabit the WWW.

On the live stream I periodically get asked what webcam I use and how I get the image to look at good as it does.
I inform that yes I use a Microsoft Lifecam VX-3000. It does the job and does it well for live streaming.
However I will be the first to admit it’s not perfect. [...]

As you probably know, your hard drive is the most important and fragile component of your computer. Since it houses all your data, your system basically “lives and dies” by the health of your hard drive.
Perhaps the most important indicator in a hard drive is the S.M.A.R.T. check which is built in to virtually all [...]

Odds are you probably plug your computer, monitor, speakers, etc. into a power strip. This makes perfect sense as it is convenient and works great. One thing to be aware of, though, are the empty/available plugs and where they are located with respect to your desk.
For example, last week I noticed my power strip was [...]

No matter where you purchase any computer product, from an entire system to a USB flash drive, inevitably you will be asked if you want to purchase an extended warranty on the item. While you might have an involuntary reflex of answering “no”, experience has proven to me this is not always the best answer.
Where [...]

When it comes to computer speakers, a few names typically come to mind. The first ones, Creative and Logitech offer decent sound at a middle-range price. I have owned sets of both speakers, and they are, as I said, decent. On the high end, the first name that comes to mind is Bose – they [...]

Most computers support “Health Monitoring” in their BIOS where you can view temperatures and fan speeds. This is useful, however not ideal since you have to reboot your machine to see it. If your system does not include monitoring software which can be installed on Windows, then take a look at SpeedFan.
From their website:
SpeedFan is [...]

With the 9 series of graphics cards coming out from Nvidia, many are wondering what this new kid on the block series has. Here we will look at the new technologies, improved specifications, rumors vs. truth, and the bottom line.
The 9 series of NVIDIA graphics was speculated since at least October of 2007, when it [...]

A very useful command line tool which ships with Windows is Netstat. Netstat allows you to view all active network connections on your computer. This is a great way to make sure you don’t have anything unexpected on your computer sending or receiving network traffic.
An alternate, more user friendly, version of Netstat is TCPView. From [...]

There is a lawsuit against Microsoft afoot for the misrepresentation of the “Vista capable” designation. The judge in that case got a collection of internal emails. In that collection of emails comes an interesting statistic: that almost 30% of logged crashes of Windows Vista were caused by Nvidia video drivers.
According to the story on [...]

PCMech Live community member Kamp3r (a.k.a. Troy) put together a simple video on how to break down a computer for recycling purposes. It’s simple and to the point. If you have an old computer and were wondering what the steps were in doing this, this should be helpful to you.

If you have ever noticed, almost all current network cards support 10/100/1000 ethernet, but very few routers actually support the /1000. The last /1000 is actually called gigabit networking, allowing you to transfer 1 gigabit per second – which is the same as 1000 megabits per second or 125 megabytes [...]

For those of you want more out of your computer than e-mail and Internet, but don’t have the money to dish out for a $3,000 rig that will get outdated in a week, look no further. I have compiled a list of the various components to let you get the most for your money for [...]

I admit that I have an affection for SFF (small form factor) computers. Always have. While it’s true that they quickly turn into "islands unto themselves" due to the fact they’re difficult to build and/or crack open, I still dig ‘em nonetheless.
With small-box builds you will spend more for the compact size, so if you [...]

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitors are becoming hot items as prices drop and technology improves. If you haven’t made the leap from your old CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) screen yet, or you plan on upgrading your monitor anytime soon, this is for you.
Obviously, one needs to compare features when shopping around for a product. Here, [...]