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Entries in Hardware (6)

Monday
Apr112011

The Pen is mightier than the megabyte!

Do you have to many Pen drives or USB flash drives? I discuss how you can minimize having to have them with some very good software. Maximize how you use your Pen drive. This basically talks about tools for the technician but it can be useful for almost anybody!

Click to read more ...

Sunday
Dec212008

Warning Signs of Hard Drive Trouble

For every computer there comes a time when you have a problem with hardware or software. This is for those who want to learn the signs of possible fixes for having hard drive problems. Although if you know you're hard drive is dieing then you better back it up as quickly as possible. You will of course need to get the back up software to protect your data.  If you have special drivers you will need to backup yours drivers.  If you have an OEM system then you will need to backup the Hidden Partition.


So what are the warning signs of a hard drive failure:


    [ad#ad2-right]


  • Unexpected freezing of Windows -- When Windows Locks up and you have to reboot or getting a Blue Screen of Death.   You have no choice but to restart because you can't do anything with windows.

  • Losing data files -- if you seem to see files being lost or deleted without your direct input.  It might be a sign of a computer virus or it could be a damaged hard drive.

  • Locking up during boot -- this is most common when you have a hard drive failure, although if you can restart and not be a problem then just keep in mind that it might be the beginning.  The more frequent you have the lockup boot problems the more chance of the hard drive dieing.

  • Hard drive isn't recognized in BIOS-- Although this can be a old hard drive, if the bios can't see it then the problem might be a hard drive failure, usually this is meaning you just have to replace the hard drive.  there's isn't much you can do with this problem, just replace the hard drive.  Most of the time it is a problem inside the Hard drive bios and you really can't fix this, you'd have to send it off to possibly save the hard drive data.

  • Clicking, Scratching, Whirling, Grinding sounds from Hard drive -- This is the most dangerous signs of hard drive failure and means you need to get your data off ASAP.  If you want to hear some of the waring sounds of a dieing hard drive click here.


Although some of these can or can not be a hard drive failure, some can be driver issure or disk defragmentation and should be check out to rule out these problems.   There can be several problems that might be easily fixed.  If you think it is a failure you might try Spinrite.  The program is made by Steve Gibson and he actually has a "Absolute Satisfaction Guarantee".  So if it doesn't work or your not satisfied you aren't out any money.  I've used this in the past for hard drives that are dieing so I could get all the important data off before it died all together.  It is essential that if you can get it working for a short time to get a backup.

Disclaimer: Although spinrite might fix some of the problems associated with a hard drive failure, it might not fix all the problems or any problems.   So it is left up to the user to decide if it is worth it or not to buy it.   I don't recommend this for every situation or every problem only for the off chance that it might let you get the important data off the computer before you lose it.  Use at your own risk.

Tuesday
Dec022008

You asked for it, Now it's real -- Vista SP2 Dec 4,2008

Beginning Thursday Dec. 4th, we will be making the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 Beta available to everyone through a Customer Preview Program (CPP). The CPP will launch on TechNet and be available to anyone interested in trying out this service pack. The CPP is intended for technology enthusiasts, developers, and IT Pros who would like to test Service Pack 2 in their environments and with their applications prior to final release. For most customers, our best advice would be to wait until the final release prior to installing this service pack.

[Via Technet]



[ad#ad2-right]Yes you heard right, you can get into the Beta of Vista SP2 and not have to wait till April.  Some things to remember:

  • It is a Beta

  • It will Have Bugs

  • It is for people who want to test it out

  • It should only be installed for people who need to test it out


Some of the changes that they are going to incorporate into Sp2 are support for new types of hardware and emerging standards that will grow in importance in the coming months.  The complete list of changes can be found here.   I will be testing this out sometime this weekend to give it a full thorough check out.   I will give a report later on this month possibly first part on January I would like to give it a complete test.   To test it out yourself, check out this link for directions on how to download it.
Wednesday
Oct292008

Windows 7 Milestone 1 Leaked!

Many people have been wanting a copy of this so called elusive copy from PDC to test out and see where Microsoft is going.   Most developers are wanting to start to get into the stage of figuring out how they can get a step ahead of everyone else.   That being said, people have started to leak the Windows 7 on the Torrent sites.

We must assume Microsoft expected this and kinda wanted this to happen because when they gave this out they didn't make it have any major copy protection.  Although we must not forget that there will be fakes out there and people are downloading this at a tramendous rate.  Most people will download it in under a day if you let it go!! I have not downloaded it because I am trying to get into the beta team for Windows 7 and don't want to be to critical on the system.


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Note to some of you who intend to this there is ways to activitate Window 7 and you can always play with it for 30 days for grace period.  People must release that even though it says Windows Vista it is actually Window 7 and they were originally going call this "Vienna" and "Blackcomb".   So if you want it badly enough you can find it by going to the promising torrent sites and download it yourself.  Your best bet it to Google : WINDOWS 7 Torrent


Windows 7 has the same hardware requirements and Windows Vista for those interested!!

Wednesday
Oct222008

Adobe released the latest version of shockwave.

Just saw this on the net, thought people would like to know where to get the information for the latest updates to shockwave.  Some stuff that they improved upon are:

[ad]


  1. New [3D effects]

  2. New [Custom filters and effects]

  3. New [Advanced text support]

  4. New [Dynamic sound generation]

  5. Updated [Drawing API]

  6. Updated [Hardware acceleration]

  7. And much more


Brought to you by Adobe. To see all the features of what is new with Shockwave 10 please click link.

Download it now