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Hardware acceleration is not so much a cheat, as it is an exercise in efficiency. Different hardware components like processors have certain limits to the speed at which information is handled. This is real speed, however the perceived speed, or time a user notices between actions, can be enhanced with more efficient handling of information and processes.

All hardware takes commands in a sequence, and by manipulating this sequence some tasks are performed more efficiently. It is no different than planning a day of errands based on factors such as distance and availability afforded by a location’s hours.

The most common form of hardware acceleration is a graphics accelerator or video card accelerator. In this case, components of the graphic are compressed for faster processing by the graphics card or video card. Advanced graphics and displays in desktop environments may depend on enabled hardware or graphics acceleration.

Problems arise when certain software applications are not compatible with graphics acceleration. This is very common in the crashes of casual games, or games downloaded from Internet retailers typically for $19.99 or less. The hardware is literally processing faster than the software can handle, and this creates a problem.

Users can usually control hardware acceleration or graphics acceleration from right-clicking the desktop. A sliding bar will allow the user to determine the graphical aspects that are permitted to perform at an accelerated rate. Adjusting the hardware acceleration to a lower setting may be required for casual games, older games, or to free up virtual memory space. Decreasing hardware acceleration may limit the extra graphics, such as mouse pointer animation, in desktop themes.

There is also a way users can accelerate their processor by a method called over-clocking. This is accomplished by an application or physical manipulation to the processor chip’s settings for cooling or modification to the wiring. Over-clocking will void any warranty on a computer, and is very dangerous from a safety standpoint. Overriding a chip’s cooling parameters can lead to a unit shorting, which will most certainly fry the chip, and may even start a fire. Over-clocking is used sometimes on older computers to prolong their life, but even then, it is not good practice for general computer users.

 Virtual memory is the management system used by a computer to maximize the use of Random Access Memory (RAM). Virtual memory assigns locations of RAM to multiple applications in a dynamic system to allow RAM to be used efficiently. Problems with virtual memory will cause programs to shut down, and errors to occur in processes.

There are a number of ways virtual memory can become vulnerable to problems. The first and most common are the habits of a user. Opening too many programs or constantly double-clicking on an application to open it will overtax the system. If you are wondering if you have too many applications running, click CTRL-ALT-DELETE to see the requests for virtual memory.

Another common gobbler of virtual memory are loops, or processes running over and over again. Loops are commonly found in spyware, viruses, and other malware applications covertly installed on a computer system. These programs and processes running in the background can steal processing power for the original owner of the malware, or collect and transmit personal data to a third-party source. The best protection against these types of applications is a robust anti-virus or malware application like Paretologic Anti-Spyware, or Paretologic XoftSpySE.

Finally, users may not realize legitimate programs and applications are still running even though the user is not using them. Media players, email clients, and instant messaging programs are notorious for continuing to run after the user “Xs out.” A right-click on these small icons in the Task Bar can force a complete quit. Or, these programs can be stopped from the CTRL-ALT-DELETE window under the Processes tab. Caution, the Processes tab includes many processes necessary for the operations of Windows, so users should only stop processes they are familiar with and know are not vital to the operating system.

In Part One, we discussed the basics of processors. A microprocessor on its own is great for small electronics, but to be a computer it needs long term storage capacity and access to the information stored there.

Hard Drives

Hard drives are the long term storage devices for information. Every command a computer’s processor can use takes up space, called bytes. A byte is 8 bits. What is a bit you ask? Why a bit is a 1 or a 0. This is called the binary system, because there are only two options.

Software has a lot of ones and zeros. Every group of eight in these ones and zeros stands for one character. “Hi” is 01101000 01101001, but the computer does not understand “Hi” as anything more than that. It takes a bunch of these characters, in a programming language for the computer to work.

A small file could be 7 KB. This is 7,000 bytes, each byte with 8 bits, or 56,000 bits of data total. Hundreds of files add up, many much larger than 7 KB, and so the computer stores all of this information onto a hard drive.

Hard drives are measured in bytes. Today’s hard drives are frequently described in gigabytes (GB) and newer hard drives even have space for a terabyte (TB), or one million million bytes. The physical aspect of a hard drive is a disk or platter with magnetic properties, and a reader. A diagram looks similar to a record player, but the information is in a digital format.

Random Access Memory (RAM)

Hard drives hold the commands, processors interpret and follow commands, but something is missing from the equation…. an expediter! RAM is a helper between hard drives and processors. RAM is measured in the same terms as a hard drive, bytes, but it works very differently.

As hard drives continue to store larger and larger amounts of data, the time it takes a processor to retrieve that data is longer. RAM is short term storage of commands for the processor to keep computing speed up. RAM doesn’t use a set physical location for data. Instead data comes and goes in a fluid and random manner.

You may not realize you have seen RAM in action. After a restart, most users watch impatiently as the operating system, web browser, or other application starts up. The lag between the click on an icon, and the actual loading of a program is the time it takes the information to leave the hard drive and make it to the processor. Imagine if you had to wait this long every time you wanted the program to do something, like browse another website, or type letters into a form!

Once the program is open, RAM takes over and keeps the data close to the processor for quicker operations. RAM is the computer component that results in instant computer response from user actions, once a program is open. When the program closes, the memory of the files and data in RAM is dumped. All of this is done with the “master copy” of the data remaining on the hard drive.

Understanding how the basic components of a computer’s hardware work won’t make you qualified to open the case up and begin maintenance on the computer. Demystifying how the parts work together will make it easier for you to work with technical support, learn how to solve basic computing problems, and make informed purchases of computer equipment. Computers are only big calculators. Hardware makes up the buttons and software is the sequence the buttons are pushed in. Add it all up, and computers are just another tool to make our lives easier, not more frustrating!

 All of us have a tendency to make a computer anthropomorphic– accusing it of an ability, even desire, to operate outside of human input. While today’s science is striving hard to blur the line between technological and biological, I can assure you the home computer is not capable of free will. People intimidated by computers forget it is a dumb machine; it only knows the information and commands the human user tells it. To understand more how a computer works, here is an explanation of the basic computing components of hardware: processors, hard drives, and RAM.

Computers have hardware and software. Hardware is anything you can touch. If you opened up your computer’s case, you can physically hold the microprocessor or hard drive disk. It isn’t recommended you do so though, as the small nature of these items makes them very susceptible to damage with improper handling. Software is the intangible set of commands that use hardware components to make applications.

In sports, hardware would be the equipment; software would be the practice and experience. I can buy a brand new shiny tennis racket, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be any good at playing the game. Instead, I need someone to tell me how to hold the racket, how hard to hit the ball, when to hit the ball, and so on. I could start with one trainer, and as my skills and equipment improve, I would eventually hire a new trainer. This is what happens in computers and why it always seems time to upgrade software and hardware alike.

Processors

So let’s start with the processor, also known as a CPU. Computers now use microchips to process information. This is where the computer does stuff. A processor fetches, decodes, executes, and can writeback. It takes information (usually commands from software), decides what to do with the command, does it, and then records how it went in case that impacts future bits of information.

It can be tricky to know when someone is referring to a processor and not another part of the computer. First, listen for a popular brand name like Intel, or AMD. Second, processing speed is calculated in megahertz or gigahertz. A good way to remember this is to think of the headache you would have if you were a computer’s processor, and how much that headache hurts! A Hertz (Hz) is simply a unit of measurement meaning cycles per second. The cycle can be anything: a kid could pedal a bike at 1 Hz or 1 pedal push per second. Mega means million and giga means one hundred thousand million or billion in everyday terms. This means an 800 MHz CPU cycles 800,000,000 times each second!

You can find your processor’s speed through the Control Panel or other system settings. If running Windows, click on System and then the General tab. The manufacturer of your microprocessor is listed, as well as the clock speed. Record this information somewhere safe for future reference, in case a problem arises with your processor.

Processing speed is also a key specification for operating systems and software. Most software boxes will list a minimum requirement for processor speed in order to work. You want a processing speed that is faster than the minimum. A slower processor will result in program crashes or failure to run at all. In rare cases, a processor too much faster than the minimum can have compatibility issues. However, by the time software is incompatible with a fast processor, the software is likely obsolete.

Understanding how a processor works, and what it does is an important basic of computing. Continue reading Part II to learn about the other two key hardware items stored within a computer case: hard drives and RAM.

Ever have a print job that simply would not quit? Or a print job that is taking forever to delete, preventing you from printing something else? Both situations are exceedingly frustrating. Fortunately, you can take control of your printer.

First, if your printer has a “cancel” button, use it. This is often the best way to stop a document from printing or getting stuck in the printer queue. Rebooting your computer often solves the problem as well but who wants to close all of your documents and programs, reboot the computer, and start over from scratch?

One of the best tips for stopping a failed print job is to stop the print spooler. Do this by going to the Control Panel and clicking on Administrative Tools. Next, click on Services. Scroll down the list of services and right-click on Print Spooler. Click on Stop. Once the Print Spooler has been stopped, right-click it again and click on Start. Exit the Services screen and your computer’s printing problems should be solved.

Having the wrong printer drivers installed for your operating system can cause a variety of printing and printer spooler errors. So, even after stopping and restarting your print spooler, you may want to double check to be sure that you have the correct printer drivers installed for your system. In addition, removing your old printers from the system is a good idea too. The less interference the better. For example, if you have recently replaced an old printer with a new one, go into Control Panel > Printers and right-click the old printer’s icon. Click on Delete.

If you’ve recently upgraded your operating system from XP to Vista, your printer may not work as expected until you replace the printer driver with a Vista printer driver. Printer drivers are designed to work with specific operating systems. Therefore a printer driver designed for XP won’t necessarily work. Instead, you will need the printer’s printer driver designed for Vista.  

If you have multiple printers installed on your computer, you can delete drivers in mass by going to the Control Panel, choosing Printers and going to the File menu. You may need to hit the Alt key in order to display the menu. Click on File >Server Properties. Click on the Driver’s tab and select the drivers that you wish to remove, click Remove.

Like any hardware device, printers require updated device drivers in order to work their best. While a single stuck print job may not indicate a problem with your printer, if you are consistently encountering this type of problem, updating your printer’s drivers may solve the problem.

Let’s face it, not all computer problems can be fixed with software tools. Sometimes the device is plain and simply defective. So what’s better? Returning it to the store or dealing with tech support? If you recently purchased the product and the store has a decent return policy, returning it is probably the easiest solution.

For example, last year, I purchased a Sansa MP3 player from Best Buy only to find out that the USB cable wouldn’t keep a solid connection. Rather than contacting Sansa and shipping the product to them, I returned it to Best Buy and was able to exchange it for a non-defective unit on the spot. I had only purchased the device a few days before and had my receipt as well as the packaging. Exchanging the Sansa player was fairly pain free.

However, had I not had the receipts or packaging materials, I’d probably be stuck dealing with tech support and hoping for the best.

This recently happened to me with my new HP wireless printer. At first, the printer worked fine. However about three months later, it started shutting down every time I tried to print a document. I couldn’t turn on the printer by using the power button. Instead, I had to unplug the AC cord and then plug it back in. While I suspected that the problem was with the printer and not the device drivers, I did my duty and checked for updated device drivers and updated my operating system. Nothing worked.

In this case, I decided to call chat with HP tech support using their online chatting system. It was a pain because the tech support person had me do all of the troubleshooting steps that I had previously done on my own. After confirming what I had already known, the tech support person told me that the power supply was defective. Once that was determined, the process went smoothly. Tech support checked my printer’s serial number to make sure it was still under warranty and then sent me a new power supply in the mail. Within a few days, I was happily printing once again.

Both options have their time and place. If your device fails early on, I recommend returning the product to the store and letting them deal with returning it to the factory. That way, you can either get your money back or exchange the defective item for a working device right away. If the device fails months after you bought it, most stores won’t accept it. Instead, you’ll need to contact the technical support department of the manufacturer and work together to find the solution.

The process is often frustrating because the CSRs must follow specific scripts in order to determine the problem. Even if you say, “The power supply is bad,” they will likely ask you to plug the device into another electrical outlet along with dozens of other troubleshooting steps before concluding that “The power supply is bad.”