Two Monitors, One Pic
Posted by admin on Jul 28, 2012
You want to spread a wallpaper across two monitors? The first thing you will need is a large enough photo… as wide as the two monitors put together, and as high as the taller of the two. Next, in Windows 7, right click the desktop and select Personalize. Near the bottom of that windows, click the Desktop Background link. In that window, you can select the folder containing your desired background and the photo (or photos) you want to use. Then, at the bottom of the window, click the Picture Position drop-down menu and select Tile – the only option that will display the image in its original size.
Finding The Laptop That is Right for You
Posted by admin on Jun 19, 2012
More and more people these days are choosing laptops instead of desktops, but how do you make sure you are choosing the right one? Here are a few things to keep in mind…
Boot Speed – using a stopwatch, measure the time between pushing the power button and when the machine is ready to use.
Program Launching – Fire up whatever applications are installed, and see how quick it feels – Internet Explorer, Control Panel and Antivirus are our favourites to use.
Viewing Angle – This is not really important for everyone, but look at the monitor from different angles to see if the screen looks fainter or if the colours change.
Display – If you can, look at the display under different lighting conditions and different brightness settings.
Keyboard – Keyboards are somewhat subjective – different people like different keyboards. Just make sure you are comfortable with the fell of the one you are trying out.
Touchpad – Test the touchpad’s responsiveness by scrolling through windows and clicking on things.
These are just a few things to look at… not to mention the RAM, Hard Drive, weight, warranty and price.
What Makes an Ultrabook Different from other Ultraportables?
Posted by admin on Feb 21, 2012
Taken from PCWorld Magazine, February 2012 Edition
Since Intel has trademarked the Ultrabook name, the company isn’t going to let PC makers slap the lable on just any skinny laptop. A few requirements are involved. According to Intel, a laptop has to meet these five characteristics to qualify for the Ultrabook label.
Quick Startup – Going from hibernate to keyboard interaction must take 7 seconds or less. Resume from sleep should be even faster than that.
Long Battery Life – The minimum for a single charge of the battery is 5 hours, and some models promise up to 8 hours.
Thinness – Ultrabooks need to be less than 21mm (0.82 inch) thick. Most models that have come out so far are much thinner.
Enhanced Security – The laptop firmware has to support Intel’s Anti-Theft and Identity Protection Technology.
Powered by Intel – You didn’t expect Intel to allow AMD CPU’s did you?
Laptops of 2012: What to Expect
Posted by admin on Feb 19, 2012
Taken from PCWorld Magazine, February 2012 Edition
Tablets and smartphones are in, but don’t count laptops out. Impressive models planned for 2012 promise to the thinner, lighter, and faster, with longer-lasting batteries.
Ubiquitous Ultrabooks – Thin, and lightweight are the watchword, thanks to Intel, which has trademarked the name for a new category of ultraportable laptops. The category will kick into high gear when Intel’s next-gen CPUs, code-named Ivy Bridge, hit the market. Their power use and performance, and steadily falling prices on solid-state drives, should make these laptops more affordable and appealing. Ivy Bridge CPUS – which may debut this spring – will have a new graphics architecture that runs faster, provides better video acceleration, and supports Microsoft’s DirectX 11. They will use much less power for longer battery life. The integrated graphics could mean 50 percent better performance in 3D games.
Windows 8: A Big OS – Windows 8 changes Windows more profoundly than any release since Windows 95. The new Start screen and Metro-style interface will put off some longtime Windows users. Other users will love the new look and feel. Most important, Windows 8 will undoubtedly inspire a major surge in PC purchases, and an enormous marketing push. Windows 8 will provide a first-class touch interface without sacrificing good old-fashioned keyboard and mouse use. That means a better user experience on thouchscreen-equipped notebooks, so expect to see more of those machines. It will also support ARM-based processors for the first time, so we may see hybrid laptops with a detachable tabletlike display – or convertible Ultrabooks.
The Best of The Best
Posted by admin on Jan 7, 2012
Taken from PC World Magazine, January 2012 Edition
A survey of more than 63,000 people produced the following results…
LAPTOPS
The top five laptops – based on reliability – are Apple, Samsung, Toshiba, Asus and MSI
The top five things that go wrong with laptops are operating system, hard drive, power supply, video, and keyboard
Tops in customer support… Apple, Dell, Toshiba, Asus, Lenovo
The worst brands overall are Acer, and Dell
DESKTOPS
The top five desktops – based on satisfaction – are Apple, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, HP
The worst brands overall are Compaq, eMachines and Gateway
TABLETS
The top five tablets – based on reliability – are Apple, Asus, Motorola, Toshiba and Acer
The easiest to use… by far… is Apple
The worst brands overall are Acer and Dell
SMARTPHONES
The top five phones – based on user satisfaction – are Apple, HTC, Motorola, Palm and Samsung
The top five things that go wrong are operating system, battery, touch screen, mic/speaker, and bluetooth
Tops in customer support… Apple, LG, HTC, Nokia and Motorola
The worst brand overall is Blackberry.
HDTVs
The top five TVs are LG, Samsung and Panasonic
The worst brands overall are Philips, Westinghouse, JVC and Philips
PRINTERS
The best were Brother, Canon, Samsung, Epson and HP
The worst were Lexmark, Kodak, Ricoh and Dell
Canon and Lexmark were the best for support.
CAMERAS
The best are Nikon, Panasonic and Canon
The worst are Kodak, GE, and Fijifilm
Network-Attached Storage for Any Business
Posted by admin on Mar 21, 2011
Taken from PC World Magazine, February 2011 Edition
Network-attached storage can make your business easier to run and more efficient in multiple ways. Let’s look at some scenarios for NAS use in businesses of various sizes.
A small-office or home-office setup consisting of a few PCs, a multifunction printer or two, and perhaps a wireless, peer-to-peer network is far from optimal for sharing a accessing files. Data is scattered, and accessing it from outside of the local network requires a VPN or remote control. A NAS box puts important data in one accessible, easy-to-backup location. You can back up anything you’re working on off-site by logging in and uploading the files to the NAS box. Most NAS boxes have on-board backup utilities and USB ports for attaching drives.
If you collaborate with coworkers far away, a NAS box’s easy wide-area connectivity can consolidate and centralize your efforts. Like any other administered network-storage resource, your NAS will allow users to access only the contents you approve. To handle collaborative work arrangements, simply create folder for each project, give each person access to folders as needed, and give yourself access to all of the folders. A NAS box is self-sufficient, redundant, and task-specific. But some programs insist that their database reside on a local PC, and others require you to install a traffic-cop program for multiple users. For these programs, you need a NAS box that uses Windows Home Server.
When buying NAS hardware, focus on redundancy, capacity and speed. Don’t buy a single-drive NAS box: You’ll need at least a two-drive box for mirroroing one drive on the other so you won’t lose access when one drive fails. For help, ask the professionals at ICS Computers.
The Tech Brands You Can Trust
Posted by admin on Dec 29, 2010
Taken from PC World Magazine, January 2011 Edition
The original article is several pages long, and I suggest you check out the PC World website for the complete writeup. What you will find here is just a sampling of the results. You may be surprised at the names you will see at the top of the lists… or maybe you won’t. They surveyed 79,000 tech aficionados to get their results.
Top 5 Laptops – Apple, Asus, Toshiba, MSI, Sony
At the Bottom – Dell for Home and HP for Home
Top 5 Desktops – Apple, Asus, Alienware, Compaq, Dell for Business
At the Bottom – Dell for Home and HP for Home
Top 5 HDTVs – Panasonic, LG, Sony, Hitachi, Olevia
At the Bottom – Mitsubishi and Viewsonic
Top 5 Cameras – Panasonic, Sony, Casio, Fujifilm, GE
At the Bottom – Kodak and Vivitar
Top 5 Printers – Canon, Brother, Epson, Samsung, Konica Minolta
At the Bottom – Lexmark and HP for Home
Take Care of Your Screen, Phone and Camera
Posted by admin on Dec 10, 2010
Taken from PC World Magazine, October 2010 Edition
Your HDTV, your smart phone, and your digital camera all need to stay clean, and each requires protection from accidents. Let’s start with one maintenance chore that they have in common.
Clean Your Screen: A dirty LCD screen won’t give you much pleasure or information. But screens are delicate. Clean them the wrong way, and you’ll ruin them for good. Use a dry lint-free cloth whenever possible. If you need to use a moist cloth, be careful. Do not use any cleaning product… just a bit of water and vinegar… or the special wipes made for the job.
Clean your HDTV: Again, use a dry cloth whenever possible and keep moisture away from the screen. Don’t forget about the dust bunnies that collect on the rear of the TV… air flow is very important.
Protect your Phone: Be careful of where you put it, keep it charged up, keep it away from moisture and heat. Best bet it to keep it in a protective case.
Care for Your Camera: Clean the lens with compressed air or a small brush. You can also use a cleaning spray and cloth used for cleaning eye glasses. And it goes without saying to store your camera in a padded case whenever it is not being used.
Hard Drive vs. RAM: Which Boosts Speed More?
Posted by admin on Nov 30, 2010
Taken from PC World Magazine, October 2010 Edition
Your system is due for a hardware upgrade, but your budget won’t bear the burden of both a blazing new hard drive and an extra injection of RAM. So it’s decision time: If you’re looking to improve general performance on the cheap, do you shell out for a high-end drive or more memory?
PCWorld Labs analyst Thomas Luoung has an obsession with optimization that borders on clinical, and during a recent day off he found himself idly running performance tests on his home PC just to see what would happen.
The results Thomas brought in to work the next morning were surprising. When he examined the results, he found virtually no appreciable performance difference between his old Velociraptor setup and the superfast Samsung SSD drive. What was more startling was the comparatively drastic performance improvement afforded by a RAM upgrade that cost about the same as a new drive.
Thomas has always had the need for speed, and his after-hours optimization tests prove that adding more RAM has the potential to shave the time you spend on workday tasks such as slinging spreadsheets and editing video. In the eternal battle between performance and price, upgrading your rig with 8GB of DDR3 RAM garners far more bang from your buck than trading up to a boutique high-speed drive like the 128GB Samsung SSD.
Ink and Toner Costs: Do The Math and Don’t Get Reamed
Posted by admin on Nov 23, 2010
Taken from PC World Magazine, September 2010 Edition
Before you buy a printer, it makes sense to look not only at its price tag and reviews, but also at its cost of operation. For many printers – especially inkjet models – the price of replacement ink or toner can quickly outstrip the machine’s initial cost. Here’s how to find out what you’re in for before you buy.
A little shopping: Get the current price of each cartridge from the vendor’s own Web site, or from your favourite reseller.
A little research: All printer vendors publish yield data for their ink and toner cartridges – how many pages a cartridge can print before it runs dry.
A little math: For each colour, divide the cartridge’s price by its page yield to get the cost per colour per page. The resulting costs per colour per page will give you an idea of how much the printer is going to cost you ink ink or toner.
Based on current prices, the cheaper inkjet printers and MFPs should have a cost per page of 20 cents or lower. For a colour laser, the ideal cost per page should be 12 cents or lower.
For an even better comparison, find out the lifespan of the machine (in total pages printed) from the manufacturer’s website, and divide that by the price, and add that to your cost per page. You may find that a good inkjet is more cost effective than a cheap laser.
