Friday, October 7, 2011

Private Life of Steve Jobs

Mr & Mrs Paul and Clara Jobs, residents of Mountain View, California, adopted Steve Jobs. The family later adopted a daughter by the name of Patti. Job's biological father is a Syrian Muslim immigrant to the U.S, Abdulfattah John Jandali (a former political science professor and currently, the vice president of Boomtown Hotel Casino in Reno, Nevada). Job's mother Joanne Simpson is of German and Swiss ancestry. Jobs later met his biological sister as an adult; Mona Simpson is a popular author. They have been close ever since. Jandali claimed that it wasn't his will to give Jobs up for adoption and that Joanne family was against her getting married to a Syrian.

Steve Jobs attended Cupertino Junior High and Homestead High School in Cupertino, California.

He worked at HP, as a student for a while, where he met Steve Wozniak. Jobs was a student at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, although he later dropped out because he found the courses boring. He had a tough time as a youngster sleeping on the floor in friends’ rooms and doing menial jobs such as returning Coke bottles for money and never missed weekly free meals at Hare Krishna temple.

In 1974, Jobs and Wozniak became members of Homebrew Computer Club. He later got a job as a technician at the video games manufacturer Atari were he saved up money for his spiritual journey to India. He came back to the States a Buddhist— shaved head and always wearing traditional Indian clothing.

Jobs went back to Atari and won the task of creating a circuit board for the game breakout. Atari promised $100 for every removed chip. Steve Jobs was able to convince Wozniak to work on the circuit board and to the surprise of Atari founder, Nolan Bushnell, Wozniak was able to eliminate an unbelievable 50 chips. Jobs wasn't straight forward as to how much Atari was willing to pay and instead gave Wozniak $350 instead of the $5000.

Steve Jobs is an egomaniac and a demanding person to work with. Although he earned only $1 a year as CEO of Apple, he is worth more than $8.3 billion.

Job is survived by a wife (who he married in March 18, 1991), Laurene Powell. The couple had three children from that marriage (a boy and two girls). Jobs had a daughter with a High school girlfriend. He denied the baby and swore he was sterile but eventually accepted his responsibility and paid for his daughter’s tuition to Harvard. She is now a magazine writer.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Max Out Your Memory

If your computer is running slow, one of the first things that you should take a look at is your PC's memory usage. Also, you will need to take into consideration how much memory you currently have. If you have less than 1 GB of memory, a memory upgrade would help you. Also, if you are trying to run a lot of programs at the same time, even if you have over 1 GB of memory, a memory upgrade would help system performance.

Many users start thinking of buying a new PC when it starts to slow down. However, it is always worth trying out a memory upgrade before spending hundreds of dollars on a new computer. Generally, I would even say it is worth maxing out your memory before buying a new PC, assuming that the max capacity is 4 GB or less. Also, keep in mind that Windows XP 32-bit version is maxed out at 3GB of memory. So, there is no point in going above 3GB for XP 32-bit.

Another great thing about a memory upgrade is that it is usually pretty cheap. I was able to go from 1.5 GB to 4GB for under a $100 pretty recently. This is a lot cheaper than the $500 I would have spent on a new PC. Also, I noticed a huge increase in speed when I executed this upgrade.

One thing you will want to keep in mind is that you will need to buy the correct memory for your particular computer. If you are a novice, I would recommend trying the crucial memory scanner: Memory Scanner. This tool can help you to find the exact memory for your PC. You don't have to buy the memory from crucial after you use the tool to detect what type of memory you have. However, they do have solid memory.

Installing the new memory is also quite easy as well. Generally, you just need to unplug the computer, open up the computer, and snap in the new memory into the memory slots of the motherboard. You can find a more detailed guide at Kingston.

Monday, August 1, 2011

How to Backup Your Files and Why It is Important

Backing up files on a device is a good habit. Many times, we don't loss data to theft or because of damage to our machines but because we didn't take time out and backup the important data on our devices. Whenever there is system failure that leads to data loss, there is a chance that the computer needs a fresh copy of the OS. So, backing up data is important and can save you a lot of time and hassle.

There are few things to consider so that you can properly plan on when and how to backup data. First, the type of file matters. Simple plain files are easy to backup and require fewer resources when compared to media files such as pictures, presentation materials, and videos. Second, you will have to determine when you will be making the backup. Last but not the least is the backup solution you decide to go with.

Let's look at the various solutions available:

Email a File to you


This might sound strange but it offers a very quick and reliable way to store data. This backup solution is ideal for small or individual files only. Many free web-based email services offer free storage space and you can use that to make a quick backup.

Disk Cloning


Cloning is one thing we do often but just don't realize it. It is simply copying all data files from one source to another. For example, we may want to copy an entire hard drive to a DVD or a second hard drive.

External Drives


This is one of the most common ways to backup data. Many external drives are plug-and-play and they come in various sizes to fit your needs. This can be anything from a small external thumb drive to a full-fledged large external hard drive.

External Server


Using an external server is another reliable way to backup data. Most free services, as well as paid cloud-based servers let people store data online. The main advantage is that you can access your data anytime and anywhere in the world. Another advantage of this backup solution is that you don't control the storage device, so you don’t have to worry about losing or damaging the backup. All you need to access your data is the login credentials and website address.

DVD, CD, or Zip drive


You can also backup your data to a CD or DVD, Zip disk, or a floppy disk. The floppy and Zip disk solutions are starting to become outdated though. The disadvantage to this backup solution is that you have to keep the CD/DVD/etc in a safe place to keep it from being lost or damaged.

Check to see which backup solution is most convenient for you. The external server backup solution, emailing yourself, and disk cloning are powerful ways to backup your data. Start backing up today and you won’t regret you did.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Steps to Build a Computer

You have done your research and you are convinced as to what computer parts to use to build a computer. You have bought the parts; the next thing is to learn how to put them all together.

Tools Needed

-Motherboard manual
-Needle nose pliers (Not needed, but recommended)
-Philips head screwdriver
-Anti-static wrist strap or grounding mat
-flashlight

It is recommended to have a second computer so you can view look for further help online and possibly even download drivers.

Before you start putting all the parts together, you will need:

-A well lit room
-A space without carpet to help eliminate static energy.
-Put on your anti-static wrist trap
-Place all the parts on the anti-static bags they came in

As a safety precaution, do not plug in your computer until all the parts are in place and the case is closed up. Put your computer case on the work surface. Open up the case with the Philips screwdriver. Some cases come with a power supply. If you already bought a power supply, then you may want to remove the power supply that came with the case to retrofit the new one.

Next, screw the motherboard to the case. Now that the motherboard is in, you can now start to put other parts in place.

Plug in the CPU. Make sure you follow the manufacturer manual religiously. You can use the second computer to get tips on how your particular CPU is installed. Generally, you will need to place the CPU into the motherboard first. Then you will need to apply thermal paste, usually just a dab, to the top of the CPU. Last, you will need to install the heat sink on top of the CPU.

Now is time to add your RAM. The memory is pretty simple to install. It just snaps in. Check the motherboard manual for instructions on which DIMMs to install the memory into.

Next, if you purchased a video card, install your video card into position by placing the video card into the socket. This will either be a pci-express socket. However, older motherboards may still have an AGP slot. Most video cards will also need a connection from the power supply as well.

Next, install the hard drive and optical drive. These will both need a connection to both the motherboard and to the power supply.

It is time to add PCI cards. PCI cards are network cards, video cards, TV tuners, and sound cards. You may or may not have any of these to install.

Last, you will need to hook up your motherboard to the computer case power on, reset, etc buttons. You will need to consult your motherboard manual to see how these all connect to your particular motherboard.

Now, we can close up the computer case, plug it in, and boot up your computer. Listen for any beep sound; if there is any, turn off the computer, and check your motherboard manual for troubleshooting tips.

If everything starts up ok, you may want to configure your Computer's BIOS. You can do this by pressing the Del or F1 key almost immediately after you boot your computer. Check your motherboard documentation to learn how to configure computer BIOS. The default setting should be fine but you can configure using your motherboard manual as guide.

Finally, you can go ahead and install your operating system, Windows Office, drivers, and security software. Keep in mind that all hardware on your computer needs a driver to function.