I get a lot of questions about the hard drive. Questions about what slows them down. Questions about how they work, whether adding another hard drive will speed up the PC, and what is going on when a computer slows down every time the hard drive is accessed. I will address these questions in a question and answer format below.

What does the hard drive do?

The hard drive houses all the the long term data. All of the computer files that you save as well as the computer's operating system (Windows). It is much like long term memory in your mind. You can store information for a long time but never think about it.

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Lets say you have a printer that someone gave you or a webcam that someone is no longer using but you could use it. The catch is that the person who gave it to you did not have the installation CD.

The files that get hardware to run are called drivers. These drivers can be found online. If you go to the manufacture of the hardware's website you will find a support tab. Click that and you should see a link to drivers. Choose the driver that matches the hardware device that you are using.

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To install a printer the basic idea is that it needs to but plugged into the computer via USB and plugged in the power outlet. The hardest part of installing a computer printer is knowing how to get your computer to identify it.

What you need is the printer's Driver CD. This contains that software needed to install your printer correctly. Windows may try to install it but may not do it correctly. To install the printer correctly install the printer's driver.

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One way to do this is to open up the computer but what if you do not what to take the time to shut down the computer, pull it apart, identify the parts, and then put it all back together.

A better way can be done with Windows. Windows allows you to view the processor speed and the ammount of RAM. To do this, click on start, then right click My Computer or Computer in Vista. Now left click properties. A window will show up.

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When buying a computer online, where you can choose the parts, or when buying a computer at a store, it is nice to know a few things before you buy it. Also, once you have a new computer, there are some things you should configure before your PC does its magic.

Choosing Computer Memory

First off, choose a good amount of RAM. Computer memory is the most important aspect of the computer in my opinion. Having a small amount of computer memory will only slow down your overall computer. Choose at least 1gb of computer memory. For Vista, it is recommended that you get at least 2gb. More is better.

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Some people will tell you that you need a new computer every two to three years. However this is not the case.

One of the reasons that people should upgrade to a new computer is that a better processor, or video card is needed. If you have a computer that has less that 1ghz processor you may want to upgrade. However, the biggest problem that people have is the lack of computer memory or RAM. Many people will buy computers with a small ammount of RAM.

In this day in age you need at least 1gb of RAM to live in today's world.

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Have you ever had your computer say that it was looking for drivers? Drivers are basically software files that tell Windows how to communicate and run with a particular piece of hardware. Lets say you plugin a game controller, new digital camera, or a webcam. The computer will look for a driver but if it cannot find it you are supposed to supply Windows with a directory to the file.

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There are some people who believe that a computer's hard drive is the bottleneck to a computer. That is, that a hard drive's performance is what is slowing down computers today. The truth is that it is some ways and isn't in other ways. The hard drive obviously will not slow down gaming performance a whole lot but it will effect load times in computer games and computer programs.

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Its Christmas time and people are getting new computers and laptops. One thing that may come to mind is what to do with your computer. You may be asking yourself what should I do with my old desktop computer? Should I throw it away? The answer is no!

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Can a Computer Find Cures for Cancer? World Community Grid a non-profit organization claims that with computers linked together across the world, scientists will have the technological edge that they need to find cures for cancer.

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One of the problems that people have most of the time with Vista is with an incorrect setting. Microsoft was trying to make Vista more secure and user friendly. Unfortunately they made it more difficult to understand. I am an old XP user dealing with Vista and I know your pain. One of the settings that can be over seen or not seen at all is the public and private setting. This should be set to private.

The network you connect to wirelessly should be set to private in order to be able to setup a media center.

This is the pitfall to setting up the PS3 or Xbox 360 with vista. This setting alone keeps many people from configuring windows media server for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

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Buying a laptop is a big decision for a lot of people because it can cost a fair amount of money. There are some important specifications that should be considered.

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In my last post about how to fix a slow computer I have had some people that would like a more detailed descriptions on how to reinstall Windows and reformat their hard drive. Reformatting your hard drive is the quickest and surest way to fix a slow computer that was once faster. It can also fix a lot of computer problems and wipe out all viruses, spyware, and adware.

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This topic is somewhat debatable but for the most part it is good to lay out the facts first. As of the moment people are choosing between the Apple computer and the Windows IBM computer. Apple is, for the most part, a slightly more simple computer to use. On the other hand, it does not have as much options and freedom as a PC. Many people will buy an Apple computer because they fear getting a virus on their PC. There is little reason to worry about this if you do not participate in any peer-to-peer file sharing.

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"The term netbook was re-introduced by Intel in February 2008 to describe a category of small-sized, low-cost, light weight, lean function subnotebooks optimized for Internet access and core computing functions (e.g., word processing) — either directly from applications installed on the netbook itself or indirectly, via cloud computing. More than 50 million Netbooks are expected to be in widespread circulation by 2011."

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This is a common question that people seem to ask. The solution can vary depending on the problem.

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Most hard drives in computers today all have a significant chance of failing. This means that they may stop working due to the fact that conventional hard drives have mechanical moving parts.

Today's "modern" Solid State Drives have greater life expectancy. It uses the same type of memory as a "thumb drive" flash memory. The likelihood of an SSD failing is very minimum compared to the HHD traditional hard drive.

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Interestingly, some electronic devices can interfere with a wireless modem or router. Some of the most common factors that affect the quality of a wireless connection are walls, phones, and cellphones.

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A common question among people who would like to know more about computer hardware is: Do I need more computer memory? Computer memory is more commonly know as RAM or Random Access Memory. It turns out there is a easy way to determine whether you need more RAM.

If you are using a windows operating system such as window xp or vista we can easily find out. To do this, hold the ctrl (control) + alt keys and then press del (delete) key on your keyboard. If you are in vista you may need to click "Start Task Manager". If not, the windows task manager should show up. Once it does, click the tab that says "performance".

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