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Source: What is a USB Flash Drive – Computer Terms in Plain English
from Worth Godwin’s Computer Training

In this audio lesson & transcript, I’m going to take a question from Mark. He writes and asks, “What’s a flash drive?”

 

Transcript of computer lesson begins:
A flash drive is a type of storage device for a computer. A storage device is the broad or general term for anything that is used to store data or files.

A hard drive in your computer is a storage device. An old floppy disk is a storage device. A CD-ROM or DVD is a storage device, and so is a flash drive.

A lot of people call flash drives by specific brand names. They think that is the correct name for them. Sometimes they’ll refer to them as a thumb drive, jump drive, go drive, key drive or any number of things. These are actually all brand names or partial brand names that people have mistakenly thought was the correct general term for that type of device.

A flash drive is a little piece of solid state storage. That means there are no moving parts. From the outside, it looks basically like a uniform block.

If you dig inside of it, there’s what’s referred to as a disk, but it’s not a disk shape, unlike a hard drive. Inside of a hard drive, there is a physical disk that looks like a disk. Even with floppy disks, I’ve heard people over the years say they aren’t disks. Technically they are. It’s square on the outside, but if you rip open an old floppy disk, you’ll find a disk inside. It would actually flop. It’s not rigid.

Basically, a flash drive uses something called flash memory. That’s solid state, so there are no physical moving parts unlike with a hard drive. That has a physical disk, like I mentioned, which spins much like an old record or a CD does when it’s playing.

That has a little thing called a read/write head that moves around and reads information from the disk and writes information to the disk. There are a lot of physical moving parts.
That uses more electricity than something that’s solid state. It also usually takes up more space than something that’s solid state. The big advantage of flash memory is that it’s very small and lightweight, and it doesn’t use much power.

You get these little devices that can store an increasing amount of information, or data, on them. They only take up a very small amount of room.

Any mobile device like an iPhone or any smartphone typically has some kind of flash memory in it. It wouldn’t make any sense to try to put a miniature hard drive in them. While there are hard drives that could fit in there, it would use way more battery power and run the battery down really fast.

There’s also an increased chance of damage to the disk and loss of files by impact. One of the liabilities of the hard drive is that because it has spinning and moving parts, if something hits it or it gets dropped, it can damage the drive, and you can lose files.

There are safeguards in modern hard drives that make it so they very rapidly will stop the disk spinning to minimize the risk of that damage, but it’s still one of the downsides of them and one of the reasons they’re not used in mobile devices.

The big advantage with flash drives is that they’re very small, light and portable.

In terms of dollar per megabyte or dollar per gigabyte, they are significantly more expensive than hard drives. The difference in price is getting less and less as time goes by, and you’re getting more and more storage space on these little flash drives.

I remember probably in 2002, I spent something close to 0 on a 1 gigabyte flash drive. These days in 2011, not a decade on from them but getting close, I don’t think you can even get a 1 gigabyte flash drive because it’s such a small amount.

The smallest amount you can get is at least 8 gigabytes. I’m not sure. I haven’t looked at this recently. It may be 16 gigabytes by this point. You can get that for a few dollars. That’s just how it is. It’s pretty crazy, but that’s a pretty typical thing with computers.

I hope that makes sense. It’s basically another method of storing files. Typically, you can just plug flash drives into a USB port on your computer and drag and drop files. You’ll be able to then unplug it, plug it into another computer, and it’s a way of transferring files back and forth. It also is a way you can back up your files to make a spare copy of them to protect them.

That’s pretty much what a flash drive is.

You might have heard of them as jump drives, thumb drives, go drives or what have you, but those are all examples of flash drives. It’s not, in other words, the generic term for a flash drive.

Basically, that’s what a flash drive is. It’s a small storage device that’s easily carried around. You can put it in your pocket, plug it in, move files on and off a computer, unplug it, and put it back in your pocket. I hope that makes sense.

You can learn more about USB flash drives and how to use them on these easy video lesson courses:

• How to Back Up Your Mac
• How to Back Up Your Windows Computer
• Apple Mac Basics Course
• Microsoft Windows Basics Course

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

Basic Computer Training, Tips & More in Plain English by Worth Godwin

Source: Computer Question About Ubuntu and Free Open Source Software
from Worth Godwin’s Computer Training

I received a computer question by email from a subscriber named Willa Valdez, who is wondering what I think about Ubuntu and Open Source software in general. Here’s her question:

“Dear Worth,

Mahalo Nui Loa for your Newsletters. Your computer lessons have helped me tremendously.

I am thinking of purchasing a netbook. They both have the operating system Ubuntu (latest version) already installed. I am a newbie when it comes to Linux but I am curious about how how this system works. I installed Ubuntu via WUBI along side VISTA, however, my computer would freeze when I chose to boot with Ubuntu. I was able to boot with Ubuntu a couple of times and liked the Gnome desktop. Unfortunately, some of the applications I use were not supported i.e. Skype. I did not delve into learning the Command Line just yet.

I would appreciate your thoughts on Ubuntu and your general opinion on the Open Source concept.

Again, thank you for expertise and assistance.

Aloha,

Willa Valdez”

Below is a partial transcription of the audio:

What do I think about Ubuntu and open-source? There are a few things. Let’s start with some definitions. Not everybody is familiar with Ubuntu. A lot of people think it’s called Abuntu, but it’s Ubuntu. It’s an African word.

Ubuntu is a version of Linux. Linux is a type of operating system that is an alternative to the more mainstream Microsoft Windows and the mainstream, but not quite as mainstream as Microsoft Windows at least in terms of widespread use, Mac OS X. Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows are all examples of operating systems, which is just the underlying software that’s needed to let your computer run and allows everything else to work.

Linux is a project that has been going on for quite some time. It’s what is called an “open-source project,” and it’s part of the open-source movement.

Open source actually goes back to the roots of making software originally. The most widely used software is Microsoft Windows, and it’s developed by a particular company, which is Microsoft. That is not a value judgment but just how it is

That’s what you could call a closed-source program. It’s software that was designed by a particular company, and as a result, it’s guided a bit by the company’s agenda. That’s not some kind of “Microsoft is evil” kind of statement. Every company has some degree of agenda or plan.

Open source is an alternative to that. The way it works is you have a community of people from all over the world collaborating to find ways of improving the software and fixing problems.

They find problems in the first place. Person A finds a problem. Person B finds a solution, and then Person C implements the solution. That is perhaps how it might work. Basically, the whole idea is to work together to make the best software you can.

I think open-source is great. I don’t use it exclusively. There are some people who are very militant about it. It’s kind of cool in a way too, I should say. There are some people who insist on using only open-source software for ethical or moral reasons, but I don’t go that far.

I think open-source is great. It’s something that people can use in a lot of cases.
I try to recommend it in a lot of cases. Mozilla Firefox is an example of open-source software. Open-source generally, if not in every case, is free. They don’t charge for it, just like with Mozilla Firefox.

Mozilla Thunderbird, the email program I recommend for Windows users particularly, is another open-source program. I recommend using the OpenOffice program for Windows or NeoOffice for Mac.

Open-source is essentially just a collaboration of people from all over just trying to work together in a very altruistic kind of way to just try to make the world a better place through better software. That’s the principle behind it. Linux is an example of open-source software, and Ubuntu is one specific version of Linux, for there are many.

One of the downsides for Linux and one of the reasons that it has not been adopted widely is the fact that, on average, until recently, it has been significantly harder to use than Windows. I think Windows is harder to use than the Mac software.

It has really been something that was mostly used by the techy people who are really into tinkering. They want to be able to tinker with the computer as much as possible, and they’re perfectly happy with things not being set up and ready to go out of the box.

Ubuntu is one of the versions of Linux that has made a lot of strides to improve the situation and make it a lot more accessible to people. It’s not completely there, but certainly if you want to try it, I don’t want to discourage you.

A lot of the really inexpensive and lightweight laptops that have become popular over the last couple of years, and Netbooks particularly, are shipping with Ubuntu or some other version of Linux on it. It cuts down the cost of not just inexpensive hardware but also inexpensive software by providing this free open-source software.

It’s fairly easy to use the basic stuff now. You can get around. It’s usually going to come preloaded with most of the basic software you need, but you’re still going to run into issues.

I don’t have a copy of Ubuntu installed on any of my computers. I’ve played with it before, and it’s one of those things on my to-do list. When I theoretically start having free time to play with stuff like that, I definitely want to try it out because it has apparently become much better. I’ve seen a little bit with a couple of clients, and it has definitely come a long way.

It’s something that may not be for everybody yet, but it’s something that’s very cool. I really like the principles and ideals behind open-source software. It’s definitely something worth checking out.

One really neat thing about things like Ubuntu is that there is an easy way for you to try it if you want. They have something called a Live CD as you can do with a lot of Linux installations.

You go to their window and download an image of a CD. It’s stored in a file, and then you can use disc-burning software. They’ll have instructions on the website on how to do this.
You can burn a Live CD [or make a bootable USB drive] that allows you to start the computer and run Linux. You don’t have to worry about actually installing it, replacing anything, or trying to install it side-by-side with Windows, which doesn’t always work as Willa has discovered.

Those are some general thoughts about it. Hopefully that makes sense and answers some of your questions. Ubuntu and other versions of Linux are just going to keep getting better and better over the coming years.

I am a little bit hesitant about telling people to just rush off and start using it. If you’re a little more of an adventurous computer user and you want to try things out, then it’s definitely something worth trying.

I definitely support the concepts behind it, and I think that open-source software in general is a great thing. I’m actually using some to record this audio. WordPress is blogging software that I use for my websites many times. That’s free. It’s open source, and I highly recommend it.

Open Source is a great thing. I hope that makes sense and answers your questions.

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

Basic Computer Training, Tips & More in Plain English by Worth Godwin

Source: Computer Question: What is Grounding & Can Electrostatic Damage Hurt Your Electronics?
from Worth Godwin’s Computer Training

This time I’m going to take a question from someone who asks, “What is grounding? I’ve heard it phrased in so many places but don’t know what it is.”

Use the audio player above to listen to the plain English explanation of this computer term, or read the transcription of the audio below:

– Compute training audio transcription begins –
Grounding is something that is important for electronics. As usual, I’m going to give you a nontechnical answer. Ground or grounding is the main way it’s called in the United States. Elsewhere, such as in the UK, it’s often referred to as earth or earthing. It’s the same thing.

This refers to draining off excess electricity. That’s basically what it’s about.

I’ve talked about how it’s important for someone working on the inside of a computer or any kind of electronic device that they be grounded.

If I work on a computer, take it apart and am upgrading or repairing it, any time I have the case open and am working in the inside of it, I’m always making sure that I’m grounded. The way I do this is that I have a special mat. It has a wrist strap attached to it. Then the entire mat and wrist strapped are attached through a conductive cable to an outlet where I plug in.

You may have noticed that with many, but not all, electrical devices, the power plug has three prongs. The third prong is the ground. The other two are the positive and negative poles that allow the current to flow and create a circuit. It goes in a circle. Then there’s the third prong, and that’s the ground.

On any modern building that’s been wired properly, that third prong is a separate wire. They all essentially go together and eventually have some connection that goes down into the ground, hence the term “grounding.” That drains off excess current. That’s basically what’s going on. For electronics to operate properly, they need to have that excess current bled off.

In terms of static electricity as opposed to the electricity you get from your power outlet, static electricity is generated by moving your arms around, for example. As I’m recording this, I’m gesturing with my hands. That makes no real sense since no one is seeing me when I’m doing this, but I’m still talking with my hands. As I’m doing this, it’s generating static electricity in my body.

If I went and touched a piece of electronics that wasn’t shielded properly, like exposed electronics on the inside of a computer, there would be a static discharge. Whatever the difference is between the charge in myself and the charge in the electronics, when I touch it it’s going to go through. If I’m not grounded, it’s going to go through the electronics and could damage it.

One way to think about this is almost like water pressure. Electricity and water are kind of similar. I like to think of them as being very similar, at least in a metaphorical or analogy way.

Water always flows downwards. It goes down to the lowest point. That’s essentially what electricity does. It always goes down the path of least resistance. It tries to go to ground.

By grounding myself and having this wrist strap on me, the wrist strap is conductive. It conducts electricity, and it’s attached to my skin directly. Everybody’s skin is conductive, so as my body generates that static electricity, it drains right on out of there like water flowing down to the lowest point.

The more static electricity in me, it’s almost like the water pressure building up. Too much pressure in a pipe could potentially burst the pipe. If there’s enough water pressure going through there and nowhere for it to be released, it could burst and damage the pipe.

In our analogy, that’s a circuit. It could be a circuit in a computer or a circuit board that contains many circuits. Those circuits can be burst open by that surge of electricity that comes through from static electricity.

The third prong, the outlet my grounding mat is attached to, is attached to ground or earth. The excess current drains out. Essentially, that’s what grounding is.

How does this relate to the average person? Most people don’t really need to worry about it too much. The typical person is not going to open up their computer and work on the inside of it, I would hope. It’s not usually a good idea.

If you do ever have to do it, particularly if you’ve got a computer tech coming to you or you’re taking it to a shop to have it repaired or upgraded, you want to make sure they follow proper grounding procedures.

Some places will say that it’s good enough that they touch the case occasionally. This particular example really annoyed me when I saw it, but there was a particular place I went one time. The one person was working there picked up a circuit board. It was a motherboard, also known as a main logic board. Before she did, she made a not really valid attempt to ground herself by touching the plastic case.

Plastic, of course, is not conductive. Therefore, it doesn’t work to ground you. They touched the plastic case on a laptop that was sitting on a wooden bench. Wood is not conductive. Plastic is not conductive. The laptop wasn’t even plugged in, which might have provided some pathway for that static electricity to go to ground.

Because the laptop plastic case was nonconductive on a wooden nonconductive surface, when she touched that thing, it didn’t do anything. She did not ground herself. Then she handled the electronic, and that damages it. It may not break it instantly, but it will weaken it and shorten the lifespan of the electronic, so it’s really important.

How does this apply to you? You want to make sure people actually use grounding mats. At the very least, instead of a wrist strap that attaches to a mat, some places will use an ankle strap. That’s essentially the same thing, but it attaches to the ankle instead of the wrist. That’s just as good.

You want to make sure they’re doing something like that. If they’re not, your electronics are not going to be taken care of properly. When you take it in for a repair, they might be doing damage.

The other bit of advice I can give the typical user of a computer is whenever possible, try to use a power adapter with a third prong for ground. This is never really going to be an issue for a desktop computer. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one, and if I have it’s certainly been many years, that did not have that third prong on it to ground.

Laptops, on the other hand, a lot of times come with a power adapter that only has two prongs on it. I’m thinking of some of the Mac laptops. A lot of times the MacBooks have a power adapter that you can pull off the end. It comes with a little square adapter that a two-prong plug flips out of.

That whole little flip out part you can actually pull off, and they provide you with an alternative cable that’s longer and gives you more length to get to the wall. It also gives you a third prong.

I would strongly recommend that if you have a laptop, whether it’s made by Apple or anybody else, if you have the option of choosing a two-prong or three-prong adapter, always use the third prong. It will also protect your laptop better than the two-prong.

Essentially, that’s what grounding is. It’s a way of draining off too much water pressure, so to speak. It’s a matter of having some conductive path that leads between you and the device to earth, or other words, to ground. It drains off the excess.

This protects electronics. Potentially in some cases, it can even protect the person if they’re working with electronics and happen to touch it. If it’s not grounded properly, it could give them a shock. In terms of repairing and working on the inside of it, it’s the static electricity you’re trying to drain. You’re trying to protect the computer and electronics rather than yourself.

Hopefully that makes sense. We gave you a few tips that can help you avoid potential problems and help you choose a good place to repair your computer.
– Audio computer lesson transcription ends –

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

Basic Computer Training, Tips & More in Plain English by Worth Godwin

Source: What is a Video Card – Computer Terms Explained in Plain English
from Worth Godwin’s Computer Training

Video Lesson Transcription Begins Here:


I want to explain the computer term “video card.” I’m answering a newsletter subscriber’s question about what a video card is. I’m going to explain to you what a video card is and what it basically does. I’m also going to give you a few suggestions on choosing the right video card for your computer.

I will not be going into specific makes and models of video cards because things change very rapidly. One of the fastest changing components in a computer is the video card because computers are putting greater and greater demands on it. Anything I could talk about that is specific to a particular make or model will be obsolete soon, so I’m not even going to get into that.

What I will do is give you the general ideas and principles that will always apply.

A video card is a piece of hardware. Hardware is the physical part to your computer, as opposed to software which is the nonphysical, intangible part of the computer.

A simple way I like to explain it is that hardware is like your brain, the physical part in your head that thinks. Software is like the thoughts in the brain. You can’t touch thoughts, but they’re there nonetheless and they make a difference.

In many cases, you have a video card that is a separate card. It’s thin and rectangular-shaped. It goes into a slot inside your computer. In other cases, you have what’s called an “integrated video card,” or it’s built into the motherboard or main logic board of the computer.

The ones that have integrated video or built-in video are usually not the best quality, and you won’t get the best performance out of the computer. There are a few reasons for this.

The video cards that are integrated are usually low-end video cards to begin with. It’s not always the case. Apple puts integrated video cards into their computers in a lot of cases, but depending on the make and model, they may or may not be a lower-end one.

That’s a generalization, but most of the time if you’re talking about a Windows computer with an integrated video card, it is a lower-end card and you’re potentially going to be sacrificing a little bit in performance. Part of this is because the video card itself is not the most powerful in the world.

Other times, it’s because the video card, which uses memory, borrows the main memory from the computer, so you can lose a quarter or more of your actual memory that it says on the box or label. You end up sacrificing a good chunk of it, so you don’t really get as much memory as you think you have or as much as the salesperson said if it’s an integrated video card.

All a video card really does is take the picture and put it on the screen. If you’re watching this on a computer, which I assume you probably are, it has a video card. You could be on an iPhone or something, and these have integrated video cards in them too.

It’s the same basic principle. The video card just takes the picture and puts it on the screen. It’s not just moving video but also all the desktop icons, your menu bars and so forth.

Then you have the higher-end cards. The cards that slot in separately are generally on a Windows computer because on the Apple side, they have integrated cards with most of the computers. Usually, they’re a little bit better quality than the integrated ones, or in some cases, a lot better quality than the integrated ones that you find on Windows computers.

The high-end Mac Pros do have separate cards that slot in. That’s partially because the cards that go in tend to be more beefy, robust or powerful than the integrated cards.

There is still a fairly wide range of quality. You have very cheap video cards and very high-end ones. Which one do you want to get? That’s a good question.

Again, with any of the ones that Apple is selling with their computers, you can fairly safely assume that it is going to be more than capable of handling the basic stuff that most people, the average computer users, are going to do. They don’t tend to put in cut-rate equipment.

On the Windows side of things, with a lot of the different brand names out there, this is not always the case. The low-end cards often make a fairly big sacrifice, especially if you’re running a newer version of Windows, like Windows Vista. It should be better with Windows 7, which is still forthcoming. Windows Vista does a lot better with a high-end video card.

You don’t need the highest high-end machine, but it’s helpful to have something other than the cheapest, least expensive, least powerful card. Something in the mid-range should be fine.

Who needs a really high-end video card? Someone who is going to be playing high-end games on the computer needs one. I don’t mean Solitaire. I mean a fast-paced, very complex, animated, fast-moving game with computer-generated images.

The games like first-person-perspective shooter games where you’re running around playing in a hostile environment tend to work better if they have a high-end video card. They’re going to look better. They will perform better. It’s not going to be slow. Someone who is a high-end gamer, of course, wants a high-end video card.

Generally speaking, if you play the latest, greatest games, you want to get the best video card you can possibly put in your computer. That’s the bottom line.

For someone who’s doing fairly high-end stuff with graphics or video editing, it doesn’t always make a big difference to have a high-end video card, but it can help. Someone who is doing CAD work or an architect perhaps might benefit from having a higher-end video card. They probably don’t need the highest end in the world, but it never hurts.

That’s basically what I want to cover. I can’t give you really specific advice about a particular make or model card because it gets outdated almost immediately.

The basic principle is that a video card is just a part of the computer. It’s a piece of hardware.

It puts the picture up on the screen and lets you hook your screen up. In the case of iMac or a laptop, it’s built in and internally hooked up to that video card, but you still have the screen hooked up to a card. Even something like a phone has a video card of sorts in it, and the screen is hooked up to it.

That’s what I wanted to cover in this lesson.

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

Basic Computer Training, Tips & More in Plain English by Worth Godwin

I’ve used my Samsung LCD television as a computer monitor for a few years now, and it works great.  My TV has 2 HDMI inputs, and the second one, “HDMI2″ has some special magic to make it behave nicely when used as a computer monitor with an HDMI cable or a DVI to HDMI adapter.  The important thing is to set the input name to “PC” in the Source List.

Recently, I wanted to connect my laptop to my TV too, and that’s where I ran into a problem.  When I plugged the laptop into the “HDMI1″ input it looked awful (as expected – the TV defaults just don’t fit well with computer use), but changing the input name to “PC” did not fix the problem!  Whatever magic the “PC” name does with the “HDMI2″ input doesn’t seem to apply to “HDMI1″.  I’ve documented the correct configuration here – hopefully it will be of some use to other people too.

1. Set the picture size to “Just Scan”.  On my TV, this was under Picture Options.  This should fix any issues with cut-off edges.  Note that depending on your video card drivers, you may have to also change the “overscan” setting – how to do that is driver-specific, so search online for directions.
2. Lower the Sharpness setting to zero.  This one was the big one for me.
3. I also changed the input name to “PC”, but as far as I can tell that had no effect.

Some pictures showing what each step looks like are below.  The biggest effect (in real life, even if it’s not apparent in these photos) came from setting the sharpness to zero.  The TV’s sharpening was causing the problems – at a large scale (2-3 pixels), this created the halo around the orange “Firefox” menu, and at a smaller scale it effectively undid ClearType, Microsoft’s implementation of sub-pixel anti-aliasing (the main purpose of which is to improve appearance on LCDs!).  Also note the appearance of the small Firefox logos in the first four images below.

CTho’s Blog

Source: Computer Question About How To Find And Work With Pictures on Your Computer
from Worth Godwin’s Computer Training

Today I want to answer another computer question, this one coming from Leslie G. who writes:

“Dear Mr. Godwin, I have been enjoying and learning a lot from you, I wonder if you can help me. I used to be a very good photographer.  Not a pro but I liked taking pictures.

 

I would love to mess around with photography on the computer but I lose my pictures once I put them from my camera to the computer, plus I seem to have to download all my pictures all over again every time which is probably taking up a lot of my space somewhere.

 

Do you know a simple process that I can follow so I can find where my pictures are and then play with cropping and stuff? And also I’d love to be able to erase all the duplicate videos and pix that are on my computer.”

You can find out more about the Safe & Easy Internet course with the following links:

Internet Basics for Microsoft Windows
or
Internet Basics for Apple Mac

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

Basic Computer Training, Tips & More in Plain English by Worth Godwin

VAIO Laptop & Computer – L Series is a superb all-in-one PC that offers a 360 degree viewing angle. Incorporating Intel Corei7-2720QM Processor 2.20GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.30GHz, this laptop has a touch operating on its bezel.

Featuring a 61cm screen, VAIO Laptop & Computer – L Series comes packed with unique features and technologies. This laptop series also boasts of a NVIDIA GeForce GT5400 GPU with CUA Technology. You can also enjoy Blu-ray Disc and other HD content viewing with an ultimate 1920 x 1080 Full HD resolution on this laptop series from the house of Sony VAIO.

Its i-LINK connector helps providing a direct digital link between your video camcorder and VAIO for a faster and easier transfer of your original video data. Its built-in Bluetooth feature also helps enhancing the power of communication by enabling wireless data transfer with minimum power consumption.

With an 8GB pre-installed memory, this laptop comes with a language pack of languages including, Hong Kong Chinese, Arabic, Thai and Simplified Chinese. All you need is to spend Rs.99,990 to make this amazing laptop yours.

CompItems

I found out that my dell inspiron 530s is not really upgradeable at all so im looking to buy another computer and start from scratch. My question is what kind of mid-tower computer case has a good layout for heavy upgrading as i am kind of new to building your own. I would mainly use the computer for light to medium gaming but medium to heavy word processing and medium 3d designing.

Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks

I would recommend you check out the Antec 900. I used to own one and it’s got plenty of room for future upgrades and build quality is top notch. The case has good airflow and plenty of mounting points for additional fans, giving very good airflow. I never had issues with overheating on any of my hardware.

The case itself is very common. Computer parts websites such as TigerDirect or NewEgg have it for ~0.

GHTime Code(s): nc 

Desktop PC Cases

I have a HP Pavilion P6654Y desktop computer. I want to upgrade the graphics card to a high-end gaming card as I will be getting BF3 for PC. I have found one that I like, but it is dual-slot. Therefore to use it, I would have to upgrade my motherboard. If possible, I want to avoid changing the case. So, what is the highest form factor my computer case can support?

Why do you need to upgrade motherboard as long as you have one Pcie slot for the graphics card it will work fine.
Dual slot graphics cards dont require two Pcie slots,all dual slot means is due to the size of the card it will block any slot below your card as it will use two of the expansion slots at the rear of the case

GHTime Code(s): nc 

Desktop PC Cases

Source: What Does the Computer Term Default Mean in Plain English
from Worth Godwin’s Computer Training

In this audio computer training lesson I answer a question from Vasilis who writes wanting to know just what the computer term “default” means.  Click the triangle play button below to listen to this computer question and my Plain English answer:

As I explain in the audio lesson, the computer term “default” is one that confuses a lot of people.  Basically, it means “what the computer is set to do until you tell it to do otherwise”.

So for example, you might get a brand new computer and have a certain picture set as the wallpaper (background image on the desktop) when you first turn it on. This is the default background image.

If you change that default image to a new one, it’s no longer using the default picture.

Another example would be the “default browser” on your computer.  Windows PCs come with Internet Explorer (the blue “E” icon) as the default browser, just as Apple includes their own Safari browser as the default on their Mac computers.

You can always install a different browser (highly recommended for Windows users) such as Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.  When you install a new browser, it typically asks you if you’d like to make it the default.  If you do, any time you do something which should take you to a web page (like clicking a link in an email for example) it will then open whatever browser you have “set as the default” to display that web page.

But that doesn’t prevent you from opening that same web page in a different browser if you prefer — you’re just not opening it with the default.

So it’s kind of like what the computer “assumes” (so to speak) unless you tell it otherwise.

Hope that makes sense.

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

Basic Computer Training, Tips & More in Plain English by Worth Godwin