Multi-core processors — Why aren’t they faster?
Multi-core processors are the industry’s answer to the continuing struggle to make processors faster. These CPUs have 2, 4, or 8 CPUs on 1 chip. Software doesn’t necessarily use multiple cores at once, making them not as fast as they could be. Software developers must learn new skills to make use of the multi-core processors.
Most programs cannot execute themselves over 2 processors, much less 4 or 8. The problem lies with the design of the application. Most designers decide to make use of only 1 processor from the get go. Designing an app to run on 1 or more processors is an engineering feat!
Programs that can run on multiple processors are called multi-threaded, meaning that they allow for multiple threads of execution. This type of software hits home on a multi-core machine. However, many times it requires a lot of extra work.
Servers started the multi-core trend, so almost all server software is multi-threaded. Desktop multi-cores are really just getting started. Some analysts expect to have many-core processors, which will have 8 or more processors on a single chip, by 2010. Keep an eye out for a multi-threaded programming tutorial on this site soon.
Hard Drives — How much is enough?
Since 2005, there has been a boom in large hard drives. Today, you’ll probably have trouble finding a retail computer in the store with less than a 160GB hard drive. I can still remember the world of 102MB hard drives, but those days are gone. Price have dropped dramatically and continue to drop every month. With all the large hard drives on the market, how much is enough?
There are only a select few who really need a large hard drive. I have a 160GB hard drive and have over 70GB of free space. Granted, I have 2 Linux distros and Windows XP installed in different partitions, but my data parition only has about 40GB on it. Both my parents have at most a 40GB drive and 50% free space. My nephew only has a 10GB drive and is constantly removing programs, but all he does is play games and does school stuff.
So who needs those large drives and what are they using them for? Pretty much, only video production and data centers need anything larger than 160GB. Video production can take up a lot of real estate on your hard drive. A 2 hour video final product can have more than 12 hours of footage. That’s 4GB for the DVD image file, and about 2GB per hour of raw footage, multiply that by 4 if HD is involved. That’s 28GB!
So, how much do you really need? Well, if you’re not going to do video production or run a data center, you’ll be fine with 160GB. If you are doing video production, you’ll need a very large drive, probably 250GB or 500GB. Drives are so cheap that you can find a 500GB for less than double the price of the 250GB.
Size is not the only thing that matters with hard drives. The speed of the drive and the speed of the interface factor into the speed of the computer overall. Most drives spin at 7200 RPMs, some are at 10000 RPMs. Also the old interface, IDE, runs slower than the new interface, SATA. The difference between IDE, 0.133Gb/s, and SATA, 1.5Gb/s – 3.0Gb/s, is astronimical. SATA II being the latest and fastest interface, 3Gb/s. Keep that in mind when getting a new computer/hard drive.
5 Free Ways to Speed Up Your Computer
There are many ways to make your computer faster. Many approaches requires money, but that leaves plenty of ways to speed up your computer without spending a dime. I’ll go over 5 ways right here, right now.
1. Uninstall Norton!
Norton Anti-virus and Internet Security clows down your computer a lot. Instead, use AVG free edition. It uses far less resources, thus your computer runs faster. My sister-in-law turned me onto this anti virus a few years ago and I recommend it for anyone.
When you uninstall Norton, make sure to remove the various programs in a specific order. First, you should uninstall the anti-virus and internet security. After a reboot, uninstall LiveUpdate and reboot again. Now, simply go to download.com and search for “avg free” and download & install. Note: ignore the sponsors.
2. Kill the programs in your systray, by the clock.
If you have more than 2 or 3 icons in the systray, this will help immensely. Run the program “msconfig” from Start->Run… This will bring up the system configuration. We’re only interested in what is in the Startup tab.
Uncheck everything under the startup tab, then put a check for your anti virus. If you have AVG, those programs will have ‘avg’ in their name. Click OK and reboot. Your computer should run at least 10%, up to 75%, faster now.
3. Set your browser’s home page.
Does your browser, Internet Explorer or Firefox, take forever to load? Part of the problem might be your home page. If your home page is big and lengthy, the process of downloading and rendering the page could add upwards of 15 seconds to your browser’s load time.
You have several options available. One is to set your browser’s home page to something that is relatively quick to load, like Google.com. Another option is to set it to use a blank page.
4. Change the performance options.
This is something most people don’t know exists. If you’re fine with XP looking like Windows 98, this fix is for you. Sorry Vista users, I have not used Vista, so I don’t know how to do this with Vista. If someone figures it out, please leave a comment.
To make this change, right click on ‘My Computer’ and click on properties. Under the ‘Advanced’ tab, click on ‘Settings’ under ‘Performance’. In the window that pops up, choose ‘Adjust for best performance’ then click OK. You computer will stop responding for up to 10 seconds and will come back a lot quicker. Do a reboot to finish this fix.
5. Sort out your Start Menu.
Do you have multiple columns in your Programs menu from the Start button? If so, that could be slowing down your computer every time you open that menu. Sorting the menu down to 1 column can save you time two fold. You programs will be organized and easier to find and you computer will load and render the menu much faster.
This sorting can be somewhat complicated, mainly because Windows gives each user their own Programs folder and a centralized Programs folder for all users. Each user will see the blending of the centralized and personalized Programs folder. If there is only 1 login for the computer or each user should have access to all the programs installed, you can just put everything in the centralized location (2 Steps). If this isn’t the case, you’ll have to figure out which programs are needed by which user and which programs are needed by all the users(3 Steps).
Step 1: Consolidate the Programs menu
To sort the menu, right click on the Start button and click on Explore. This brings up your Programs menu folder. To copy everything to the central location, double click on programs, select all the folders & files, and cut. Now on the left pane with all the folders, click the plus next to ‘All Users’ then the plus next to ‘Start Menu’. Click on the Programs folder under that. Now paste.
Step 2: Sort the menu
Now that everything is in the central location, create a folder called “Internet”. You can find the individual programs and drag them into this new folder or you can drag folders into this folder. Just repeat this process until you are happy with your start menu.
Step 3: Personalize the start menu
This step is only required if you want to limit the programs available to certain users. Each user, or login, to the computer has a folder under ‘Documents and Settings’. Under each user’s folder, there is a Start Menu folder. If you want user x, and no one else, to have quick access to a certain program just cut and paste that program from the central, ‘All Users’, into that user’s start menu. If you want user x and user y to have access, just copy and paste instead.
Now that your computer is running faster, you’ll probably be more productive, if you don’t just play games that is. As always, if you have any questions, please leave a comment.
Web 2.0
When the internet first began, most of the pages were static and didn’t change unless someone manually edited the HTML. Recently, more and more sites have become dynamic. Blogs, Forums, Social Networks, and Wikis have contributed to a movement on the internet dubbed “Web 2.0″. Basically, Web 2.0 refers to website that allow regular users to read and write content to the web.
Forums were the first big step. Forums just let people post questions, answer questions, and share ideas with others. These have been around since the late 1980s when people did not have access to the internet.
Blogs are newer than forums. A blog is simply a self-publication for the web. You can create a blog for any topic you can think of. The blog writers create content and many blogs supply a comments section for feedback, so users can read the blog, then write their ideas.
Wikis, such as Wikipedia, are collections of content. A user can read, edit, and create articles. Then that information is out on the web for anyone to read. Wikipedia is the most popular wiki containing millions of articles on a variety of subjects. Because anyone can edit or create content, the content is almost guaranteed to be up to date.
Social Networks provide a way for real world and internet friends to communicate online very easily. These sites boil down to the simple fact that a user has a set of friends and can send them messages as well as having a profile page. Some sites serve a particular purpose, like delicious is only for bookmarks.
I hope this clears up any confusion about what Web 2.0 is.
Calculating your computer’s actual speed
There’s a huge misconception about computers: The processor’s speed is the speed of the computer. The truth is all the components inside, and outside, the case figures into the overall speed of the computer. This includes the processor (CPU), RAM, hard drive, DVD/CD drive, the motherboard, USB ports, USB devices, the video card, and even the software. We’ll go into each of these in detail to figure out the real speed.
The CPU does play a major role, but can be limited by other components. The main point of interest is having a dual core or quad core processor. Dual core processors are like having two CPUs, but programs don’t run twice as fast. These CPUs are rated to run 70% faster. Be on the lookout for an explanation tomorrow.
RAM, or memory, is the second most important speed factor. The amount depends on what you are doing, no more than 1GB for normal use. RAM has a speed also, and that plays a critical role. Make sure to check the speed when you buy a new computer, because manufacturer’s will use slower RAM, because it’s a few cents cheaper.
Next up is the hard drive and DVD/CD drive. First off, you’ve got RPMs. Most hard drives spin at 7200 RPMs, which is fine. DVD/CD drives calculate speed by a multiplier of a base speed. The interface is also important. IDE, the old standard, transmits data at 133 MB/s. The new standard, SATA, transmits at 375 MB/s. There is a dramatic difference here, but not all motherboards support SATA, so double check.
The motherboard plays a small role because it can limit the interfaces of the CPU, RAM, drives, USB ports, and video card. USB ports, and devices, should be 2.0, not 1.1 or 1.0. SATA support is a plus, but not a must. The video card interface is critical if you are into gaming. PCI Express(PCI-E) is the latest standard here. nVidia has taken this interface a step further with SLI, which requires 2 PCI-E 16x ports.
Video cards are important for gaming, but not much else. The interface, PCI-E or AGP or PCI, plays a large role. Modern video cards have a processor(GPU) and RAM that runs at a particular speed. SLI takes this to the extreme by using 2 PCI-E nVidia video cards. Each draws half of the screen, making it render at close to double the rate.
Keep these things in mind when buying or upgrading your computer.
WiFi Security
A lot of people have WiFi, or a wireless network. Sadly, many of the WiFi networks are completely open and anyone can log onto the internet and a home network without a password. This is a big security risk. There are plenty of options available, and you won’t have to buy anything extra.
The most common security for wireless routers is WEP security. This requires a 6 or 13 character password to access the wireless network. Without the password, you won’t be able to access it at all.
Almost every router has a web page built in that you can use to change the settings. To get to it, first you have to know the network address of the router; this is always the gateway address of any computer connected to the router. You can find it by click on Start->Run, then type ‘cmd’ and click OK. This should bring up what looks like a DOS box or command prompt. Type ‘ipconfig’ and press enter. Just type the ‘Default Gateway’ address into your web browser.
You should have a login page, if not, please leave a comment with the make & model of router and I’ll see what I can dig up about your router. If you’ve never ever seen this page before, then the factory password is probably still in place. Most of the time the username is ‘admin’ and the password is either ‘default’, ‘admin’, or should be left blank. Again, if none of these work, leave me a comment and I’ll look it up for you.
Once you are logged into the router, there should be a link labeled wireless, security, or setup; Click it. You should see a drop down box with WEP in it. Select WEP. You may have to save settings before you can enter a password, and if this is the case, make sure you are on a hard wired computer, not a wireless one. Make sure you choose 128-bit, not 64-bit which is inferior. Setup your password and save the changes.
You should be all set up. If none of these directions work, please leave a comment or google your make & model router for information on how to set it up. Most sites list step-by-step instructions.
Once you are secured, you won’t have people hoping on your network. Please note that this doesn’t mean that you wireless network is completely secure because everytime there’s new security, hundreds of people try to break it and many succeed.
If you live out in the country with no one around for 200 yards, you are safe enough to run the wireless without any security, but I advise you to set it up anyways, because you never know.
Click Happy? Be Careful!
Some people are click happy. They click on ads, off-site links, and things they shouldn’t click. Are you one of those people? If so, here are some guidelines to keep your information and your computer safe.
The majority of sites on the internet, this site is no exception, use ads to offset the time and money put into the site. Sometimes the ads are labeled. Sometimes they aren’t labeled. An easy way to find out is to run your mouse over them and look in the status bar. If the status bar starts the same as the address bar, you’re pretty safe that it’s not an ad.
Don’t get me wrong, ads can be quite useful. Personally, I would never click on an ad unless I knew it was a google ad or knew the site was reputable. When I say reputable, I mean an organization or person who filters the ads, such as <a href=”http://www.thesimpledollar.com/”>The Simple Dollar</a>.
Those listing at the top of search results are hardly ever what you need, but when they are you should use those. The listings at the very top are paid for, and clicking on them helps the search engine to earn some much needed money.
Finally, there are plenty of malicious sites out there. They want you to visit their site using IE6 pre-XPSP2, if you don’t have SP2 DOWNLOAD IT NOW. When you do, they install software that tracks your every click and keystroke. It’s pretty scary if you ask me. I wouldn’t want someone to know my login information for <a href=”http://www.amazon.com”>Amazon</a> or much less <a href=”http://www.paypal.com/”>PayPal</a> or <a href=”http://www.wachovia.com/”>Wachovia</a>.
Just do as FOX says, and PAUSE. If you do this enough, you’ll find yourself checking to see where you are and where you are going on the internet. Not only will your computer be happier, you will feel more secure in your computer usage.
Note: I put all these links in this post to show you what your status bar will say when you run your mouse over them. All sites linked from this site are reputable. I would never subject any of my readers to malicious sites.
Death of Windows XP
Windows XP will be pulled from the shelves in less than 3 months time. The official finale will be observed June 30, 2008. Many people are up in arms over this. There is even a petition to keep XP on the shelves. As the date nears, I am advising people who will be in the market for a new computer between now and 2010 to try Linux.
Try it, that’s all I ask. Linux has advanced dramatically from it’s conception in 1991. There are several distributions, or flavors, that offer a LiveCD or LiveDVD. A LiveCD/LiveDVD is simply a copy of Linux that runs directly from a burned CD/DVD. It installs nothing to your computer, so you aren’t forced to do anything to your computer except drop the disc in and reboot.
Many of these LiveCDs allow you to install Linux after you have tried it. For a newbie, or noob(pronounced the same way), Ubuntu is your best bet. Anyone with a blank CD-R, a CD burner, and a high speed internet connection (or a friend with high speed) can do it.
Linux is different from Windows; however the KDE desktop environment is very similar to Windows and comes with a Redmond* Theme that looks almost exactly like Windows XP. The programs are called different names, but you can enjoy a lot of the same programs, like Firefox.
I know, some of you might be saying, “What about my games?” They’ve got most of them covered too. There’s a Windows Emulator** called Wine. There’s also a program call PlayOnLinux which sets everything up for many many Windows programs, including my favorite game, WoW.
So, give it a try! You might be sorely disappointed, but I doubt you’ll be that disappointed.
* Microsoft is based in Redmond, WA. Hence the name.
** An emulator is a program, or set of programs, that allows you to run a different system of software, such as Playstation or Windows.
The Wonders of Firefox
No two web browsers are created equally. Internet Explorer, shipped with Microsoft’s Windows, is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many many web browsers out there, but Internet Explorer, or IE, is the most popular. Firefox, from The Mozilla Foundation, is an open-source* web browser that is completely customizable. If you haven’t checked it out yet, try it for a day. I’m sure you’ll love it.
Back in the old days of the internet there were two main web browsers, IE and Netscape. Netscape was purchased by AOL in the 1990’s, and AOL made parts of it open-source. The Mozilla Foundation was created and used the openly available source code to create Firefox. Since, Firefox has gained a small portion of the market because of it’s customizability and price**.
I use Firefox 95%*** of the time. While I’m surfing, I can see the weather, current & forecast & animated radar, the amount time I have left to work today, the latest tech news, whether a page is valid, who signed off on the security of the site I’m on, and a Google/Yahoo/Wikipedia search box. I see this information no matter what page I am on because I have various extensions, or Add ons, installed.
My extensions include:
- Forecastfox Enhanced (larger radar loop than Forecastfox)
- Web Developer’s Toolbar
- WizzRSS
- Firebug
- Del.icio.us Buttons
- Adblock Plus
- HTML Validator
- Server Spy
I have experimented with creating my own extensions as well, that’s the one that tells me how long I have left to work today.
Beyond Add ons, there are themes. A theme is just a styling of the browser itself. There are tons of these readily, and freely, available. There’s even a Walnut theme which paints the status bar, menu bar, and all the toolbars to look like Walnut wood, grains and all. I just use the plain jane theme that came with Firefox.
If you feel like IE isn’t working for you anymore, or you just want to try something different, then give Firefox a try! Download it at http://www.getfirefox.com/.
*Open source is just netspeak, or technical jargon, for a piece of software whose source code is made available to the public.
**All open source software is free.
***This would be 100% of the time if I didn’t care about the people who use IE.
Had your fun today?
Technology is meant to make life better. Some people will argue it’s to make life simpler, but anyone who owns a computer knows this not to be true. I spend about 30 minutes a day on YouTube just to laugh. That being said, enjoy this video I found earlier today.
This post is dedicated to my cat, Peaches.
