Choosing the Right Computer Components to Suit Your Needs

Building your own computer is not a rite of passage for anyone, regardless of how tech savvy you are, or aren’t. The reason to build your own computer – and choose the best components for it – is because of the need to do so. When you build your own computer:

• You can easily upgrade it because it’s custom-built.
• By choosing your own components you avoid buying a low-end computer if you’re on a budget, and what you’ll build will run faster. Many low-end computers use inferior components.
• You get more benefits by choosing what you really need:

• Basic system – if you just need something for homebased work and nothing special, you can get solid parts.
• Home system for the family – mainly more RAM and a dual-core processor so all family members can be served.
• Gaming system – you’ll need a faster ATI or Nvidia graphics card, a dual-core processor or quad-core processor, a good quality and faster RAM, and a good SATA hard drive.
• Music sound mixing and production – you’ll need a strong and non-integrated sound card, a decent amount of RAM, and a decent processor.
• Video editing – you need to choose a graphics card fast enough to render what you need to be done. These cards are not the same as gaming cards since there are cards actually made for the professional editing market. A quad-core processor is needed and a large hard drive is needed with multiple terabytes if you need to do a lot of video editing.

What are the bare minimum components you can choose for a computer?

• CPU case with a power supply
• Motherboard (be careful since some motherboards come with integrated video card while most have integrated sound and network)
• Processor
• Memory (RAM)
• Hard Drive
• Video Card

The Processor

This is fairly easy because although you may choose AMD for basic units depending on the motherboard, the best choice will always be an Intel, particularly one of the Intel Core 2 CPU’s if you’re unsure what to choose. Even with an Intel, examine the specs to know what kind of motherboard you need. Just take note that if you plan to purchase a separate video card, don’t get a board with integrated video on it.

The Graphics Card

Choosing a video card will depend on whether you play PC video games or not. If you do, then you’ll need to spend some money for a good card. If not, then you can pick up the regular $50 ATI or Nvidia DVI video card that works fine. Just make sure your motherboard has the correct slot. If you’re a serious gamer, then you’ll need at least an Nvidia 8800 GTS card since it’s blazing fast. Take note that most high-end video cards require a separate power connector, so make sure your power supply has the right connector.

Hard Drives

Most computers at least hold 80GB and you can install a SATA 500GB hard drive for $100. Always get SATA since it’s faster and more stable than the older IDE or PATA. You can also get the newer RAID (redundant array of independent disks) that allows multiple, lower cost hard drives to function as a single unit. SSD’s are more expensive and has less capacity but is more mechanically reliable.

5 Ways to Optimize Your Gadgets to Maximize their Capabilities

Aside from a desktop computer or a laptop, there are so many tech gadgets in our lives today, and it’s important to keep these tech gadgets optimized and well-maintained periodically to keep things running smoothly. Like your desktop PC and laptop, your other tech gadgets need to be cleaned and maintained properly as well as staying well optimized.

Update your Wi-Fi router

Since all tech gadgets connect to the Internet, if you’re experiencing slow Wi-Fi speeds, spotty connections, or trouble with technologies, you might need to update the firmware of your router. Router manufacturers update firmware on a regular basis to fix issues and improve performance. The process for updating a router’s firmware is generally pretty simple but varies between brands, so it’s best to check the user manual or online documentation.

Keep the operating system and other software updated

While Apple, Android, and Windows will default to automatic downloading and installing of updates, some programs and apps on your tech gadgets and devices needs to be updated as well. It’s a good idea to manually check for updates as well, just in case. Sometimes security patches come “out of cycle,” meaning that if the vulnerability is serious, Apple, Microsoft, or Android will release a patch for it as quickly as possible. You also need to check for updates on new drivers for your tech gadgets. If you regularly use a tablet, always check the OS for updates even if the default is set to automatic.

Clear up disk space

Just like a PC and laptop, tech gadgets need to be cleaned internally, that is, old files and other unused items should be cleared out or transferred. While some phones have an SD card for more saving space and most tablets now have a big capacity, eventually, this space gets filled up fast. For tech gadgets to work faster and better, delete or transfer files not in use. Delete what you don’t need and transfer other files that aren’t needed to your PC. For instance, if you have a lot of pictures and videos from all your vacation trips stored in your gadgets, simply transfer these to your PC or an external drive.

Uninstall old unused programs and apps

Almost similar to a PC or laptop, as time goes by and your gadgets rack up space from all those downloaded programs and apps, perhaps it’s time to get rid of what you don’t need or don’t use anymore. In some cases, a few of these were never even used at all. As you remove these programs and apps, you free up more space on your gadgets and they’ll start working faster and smoothly again.

Clean your gadgets

Like a desktop PC and laptop, even tech gadgets collect a lot of dust internally, and its external features also become dirty. You can use canned or compressed air to blow out all this dust and dirt. With most tech gadgets, all you need to remove is the battery to blow out the dirt inside.

5 Steps to Prepare Your Business for Technology Growth

It’s one thing for business owners to start using technology to grow a business; it’s another matter when the business needs to prepare for technology growth. Naturally, technology improves all aspects of a business such as in sales, marketing, production, and communication, and so, a business must always keep in step with technology so its brand or services can also keep pace with its customers.

However, the rate that technology is changing can be daunting for any business. As quickly as a company puts up new computers to improve work production, it quickly becomes outdated or a new version has taken its place in a few years time.

And so, here are a few steps to keep pace with changing technology trends and growth that will help any business to stay ahead.

Acknowledge that not everyone needs to be in the office

A business owner must realize that this isn’t the age of typewriters anymore wherein everyone needs to be in the office and follow a clocking system wherein everyone needs to punch out by 5:00 p.m. Some can be on a business trip, on the road dealing with customers, or staying at home, all using technology to work from where they are. Staying locked to a desk is no longer the norm, especially when innovation is needed. Likewise, the 9-to-5 clocking is no longer the norm since many businesses are now going 24/7 in order to stay in step with their customers. Business owners must realize that technology growth means improving work production but seeing less and less of your workers in the office.

Make the most of communication

A worker no longer needed to be at their desk to be reached by phone. No matter the location of any worker, even overseas, mobile phones, instant messaging, and video conferencing is now making the office worker more mobile and always reachable. Contact and communication is almost always instantaneous. Business owners need to invest in growing communication technology to improve work production.

Paperwork and presentations are no longer done manually

Back in the old days, paperwork was paperwork, and any errors on the manual work was corrected manually as well with white correction fluid and typed over. Likewise, product or brand presentations had to be drawn on overhead projector slides. All this mess is gone thanks to technology. Business owners can invest in software that improves paperwork and filing to the point of paperless files and presentations that can be prepared in a matter of minutes.

Technology streamlines operations

With a growing technology, any business system becomes more efficient, operates much faster, is less burdensome, and is even sometimes automated. By being aware of technology growth, all areas of a business can run smoothly and efficiently.

Technology growth will improve customer service

Technology growth means providingand improving customer service. Technology makes the system run smoothly and efficiently, thus, making customer service interaction in real time and making everything including payments a seamless experience.

5 Reasons Why Every PC Owner Should Always Update their Antivirus Software

It’s one thing to have antivirus software installed to protect your computer against threats, but it’s another matter to keep it consistently and constantly updated.

It’s actually not hard to miss because all antivirus software will prompt you for an update, which is that little pop-op on your screen that notifies you. But if you have been failing to regularly update your antivirus software by ignoring the notifications, chances are you’re not fully protected from Internet safety risks and external attacks. Most notably, your computer might be attacked by a new virus that your software has not been updated for.

It is crucial to update your antivirus software frequently to make sure that it has all of the information it needs to fight the most recent threats. Here are some of the important reasons why PC owners should always update their antivirus software.

New Threats are Created on a Daily Basis

Cyber criminals are always looking for holes and vulnerabilities that they can exploit to create new and more powerful viruses. If your PC’s antivirus software is not updated against the most current viruses that have been created, you are leaving yourself open to attack. Remember that your antivirus protection becomes outdated as soon as a new virus is released, so it is important to keep it as updated as possible.

Virus Protection is Crucial for Protecting Your Valuable Files

Did you know that some viruses and spyware can actually hack into your system and erase or corrupt the data on your computer? Some viruses can even lock away your own information with a password that you didn’t create. If you have any sort of sensitive, valuable, and private information on your computer, it is vital to make sure that you are protected against the most recent viruses.

A Hacker Can Turn Off Your Updates

Are you aware that someone could have accessed your antivirus software and disabled the “real-time” monitoring feature, which automatically downloads updates? Sometimes, this happens when someone is trying to compromise the security of your computer and other times it can happen by accident. If you have set your antivirus software to automatically update but it has been turned off without your knowledge, you could have a false sense of security that leads you to believe that you are protected, but in reality, you are not. Make sure that you check and verify that your computer has the latest software and that it has been updating with the latest virus information.

Your PC Could Infect Others

If your computer contracts a virus, it could affect not only your own hard drive but it could also be passed along to other computers by e-mail, USB flash drive, or network links. This means that any computer you come in contact with or all other computers at work could be infected just because you didn’t update your virus protection.

These are just a few of the reasons why it is so important to keep your antivirus software up to date. If you don’t, you could be leaving your computer dangerously vulnerable to infection.