digithics

Beyond providing power, the power supply’s other job is to keep the console cool. It’s such a big job that the power supply’s fan isn’t the only fan inside the case. Another important fan is located atop the processor. High-end display adapters sometimes sport two fans. And additional fans can be found inside the case. Keeping cool is a big deal inside a PC. That’s because heat causes most console problems. When the temperature gets too high, electronics fail. The computer could restart. Cables could disconnect. A constant temperature is preferred, and the fans inside the console help to maintain that constant temperature.

Electrostatic discharge can be a shocking experience. What happens is that the electrical potential between you and whatever you touch is great enough that a spark jumps out. The spark is the electrostatic discharge. It can damage delicate electronic components.  That’s a bad thing. To help prevent electrostatic discharge, you must ground yourself. In addition to having strong moral beliefs and a hardy stalk of ethics, you need to neutralize the electrical potential between yourself, the computer case, and any components you’re working with. To easily accomplish this task, always keep one hand touching the computer’s metal casing while you’re working. By touching both the casing and whatever doodad you’re installing or removing, you reduce the chance of an electrical-component-killing electrostatic discharge.

Don’t be surprised if none of the new volume commands is available. That’s because Windows places a limit on the number of partitions your computer system can access.  The official limit is four primary partitions, or three primary partitions and one extended partition. Because Disk 0 C is typically partitioned into three primary partitions (the EUFI, drive C, and Recovery), this means you can have one more partition and that’s it! The limitation doesn’t apply to multiple hard drives, so you can keep adding hard drives to the system. You just can’t split any of those hard drives into multiple partitions. All hope isn’t lost, however. Third-party utilities let you create multiple partitions. For example, if it’s your intent to install Linux as a second operating system, the Linux setup utility creates the necessary partitions for you.  Other third party utilities help you create  additional partitions. And if it’s your intent to run multiple operating systems, get a boot l...

It’s true that reformatting media, specifically using the full format and not the quick format, does erase all the media’s data.  But when you need to ensure that all the information is gone, reformatting isn’t your best choice. For example, when you sell a computer, you might want to ensure that personal, financial, and questionable files are gone from the device. Or, say you’re a politician — but I digress. The point is how to remove the information from the media, to “wipe” the drive. Software tools are available to scrub data from any media. This process involves repeatedly writing information until any trace of the original data is gone. Still, files could be recovered using the software approach. To fully render media useless, the drive hardware must be damaged. The best way to destroy a hard drive is to drill holes into it; typically, three holes at least ¼-inch in diameter at different locations in the physical disk.  Because you probably don’t have a drill press in yo...

A file system provides the methods for storing and retrieving files on storage media. The process can be quite complex, but it’s all handled by the operating system. So it’s nothing to worry about, aside from compatibility when you select a file system while formatting media. In the old days, PCs used a simple file system called FAT or FAT16. Its limitations prevented PCs from storing files above a certain size and from accessing high-capacity media. That’s why early PCs had to partition large hard drives. Otherwise, only a portion of this storage could be used.  Thanks to today’s file systems, which can store massive files on huge hard drives, such restrictions no longer apply. File Systems and Formats exFAT - Extended File Allocation Table Also known as FAT64, designed by Microsoft for use with media cards and flash drives. FAT - File Access Table The original disk format used for storing files on the PC eons ago; also known as FAT16, this file system had many limitations FAT32 -...

The cheeky answer to the question of where cloud storage is located is, “In the sky.” Or, if you’re a nerd, you could answer, “On the Internet.” Both answers are correct, but useless. Cloud storage is best described as a hard drive located somewhere on the Internet. You can use a web page to access the storage, or the storage can be available through a folder on your PC’s hard drive. As such, cloud storage doesn’t qualify as a device, like a hard drive or media card. Beyond checking the Internet connection, cloud storage is mostly integrated into the PC’s mass storage device and treated like other files and folders.

 “THE PC JUST KEEPS RESTARTING!” A problem from years ago, which isn’t that frequent today, was what I call the restart loop: On an error, the computer would automatically restart itself. Because no one thought this process through in any detail, the result was a PC that constantly restarts itself, over and over. PCs today are configured not to restart on an error — and it’s about time! If your PC does experience this problem, you must enter the Windows Recovery Environment to fix it: Choose Troubleshoot⇒ Advanced Options⇒ Startup Settings. One of the settings is Disable Automatic Restart After Failure. Choose that option to break the restart loop. Disabling the automatic restart only fixes the automatic restart problem. You must still determine which piece of hardware is causing the trouble and then repair or replace that item.

The term firmware applies to an array of chips on the PC’s motherboard. These chips provide basic technology for the PC. In a way  the firmware is the PC’s personality, giving it features such as graphics, sound, networking, and basic input/output functions. Because the firmware chips are integrated with the motherboard, you can’t readily replace them. Further, the firmware controls so many aspects of the PC’s basic hardware that a firmware bug would be near impossible to catch. Some motherboard manufacturers sell diagnostic tools that let you check the firmware’s status. Even then, if the firmware is suspect, you must choose between replacing the entire motherboard or buying a new PC. Neither option is inexpensive.