If you’re a newcomer to the computer industry, there’s a lot of stuff that can quite frankly be overwhelming. Tech blogs and journalists nonchalantly toss around terms like “microarchitecture” and “clock speed” with little consideration that a good portion of their audience has only a slight perception of just what the hell...

It’s always kind of surprising to me how many people don’t really bother to maintain their PC.  A lot of folks seem to think that they can simply let their computer run. Trouble is, it doesn’t work that way. A computer’s a complex, intricate machine, and it needs to be well-cared for in order to properly function. What’s more,...

When it comes to "the main computer" that PC builders use for their daily computing tasks, it’s rare that the box is comprised of stuff that’s all the same age. For example, on my PC, the oldest part is the case itself. The second oldest thing is my now-secondary (and has been secondary for a while) 250GB hard drive. It wouldn’t...

Yes, I know, some of you out there are still using CDs, however this media format has been around since the mid-1970s if you can believe it; that’s retro as far as I’m concerned. Small note before continuing: If you use anything that still uses CDs and not DVDs, I strongly suggest picking up a quality brand 100-pack of CD-R discs. In the possible...

It’s easy enough to tell when a hard drive is beginning to fail because the way in which it happens at least gives you warning signs. You’ll either hear the infamous click-click-click or maybe a click-whirr-click-click, or in more brazen fashion a CLICK that sounds almost like a slap right before the drive dies for good. Flash memory on the other...

If you’re over 30, you’re going to feel your age a bit after reading this. I read a quick article about Apple OS X Lion where tech journalists are – and there’s really no other way to say this – bitching up a storm about Apple’s new OS being too overly heavy with its iOS influence. What caught my eye however is a comment made...

In the November 1982 issue of InfoWorld, it was announced that Tandon had developed a "tiny" 3½-inch micro-floppy disk drive called the TM35 Microline, providing 875k on two sides of a 3½-inch diskette. The cost was stated to be "in the $200 to $225 range". Deliveries of the unit happened in the first quarter of 1983. Side note before...

HP has a very good article on the replacement for BIOS, UEFI. It’s definitely a good and informative read, particularly the parts where it explains the existing shortcomings of BIOS, namely: ...BIOS is physically unable to boot from hard disks with more than 2.1 TB. The problem lies within the old MBR (Master Boot Record) system used by most BIOSes. The...

And so the rivalry between Nvidia and AMD continues. For those of you who don’t know, Nvidia’s been responsible for the CPUs on most of the modern Android tablets. If a recently leaked roadmap is to be believed, AMD is throwing in with rival Microsoft for the upcoming Windows 8 Tablets. Do note that this one’s a rumor, folks- don’t get...

One particular PC component that a lot of PC builders miss is the card reader. While true you don’t need one, they are oh-so convenient to have – and dirt cheap. These days the only good use for the 3.5-inch bay where the floppy drive goes is a card reader. Nobody uses floppies anymore and haven’t for years – yet I bet there’s still...