answersLogoWhite

0

📱

Computer Hardware

Computer hardware is a general term used to refer to all the physical parts of a computer. Internal hardware devices include hard drives and motherboards, while external hardware devices include monitors, mice, keyboards, and printers.

11,849 Questions

Is a Visual Display unit a input or a output?

Its an output device.

By visual display unit I assume you're referring to one of the following: a tv, a computer monitor or a laptop screen. All 3 are output devices. The difference b/w an input and an output device is simply user input. An input device receives input from a user, an output device does not.

A mouse (receives user clicks), A microphone (receives user audio), a keyboard are input devices.

How do you carry out routine maintenance of hardware and software?

  1. Verify Your Physical SetupJust as it's hard to keep a car in top condition out in a pasture, it's difficult to keep a computer functioning well if it's in a poor environment. There are three factors to consider: temperature, air quality, and electricity.

    For most computers, room temperature should be between 60 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit (15.5 to 29.5 degrees Celsius) with a humidity level between 50 and 75 percent (to minimize any static buildup). While most offices are kept at this level during the day, check with your landlord to ensure when you leave at night that the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system does not rise above or fall below these levels.

    Air quality is important because computers require air circulation to prevent overheating. There are two rules of thumb:

    1. The vents on the monitor, case, and printer need a good three to four inches of space (roughly the width of your hand from thumb to pinkie) to get good air flow. Move them away from any cables or cubicle walls blocking them.
    2. If you use air filters or ionizers, keep them at least two feet from the computer or any dirt or dust particles heading for the filter will be drawn into the computer.

    Electricity is a key factor in determining the longevity of your computer. It's akin to the oil, fuel, and coolant in your car's engine: whereas poor or dirty engine liquids will take their toll on your car and shorten its life, so-called "dirty" electricity (brownouts, surges, sags, spikes, and so on) will damage your computer, and your files, far more effectively than any virus.

    There are four steps you can take to create good electrical conditions for your computer:

    1. Ask your local power company to provide you a power profile or graph with the range of electrical sags and spikes entering your building during a typical billing period (if you lease, you may need to ask your landlord to obtain this information). This will show you your problem areas and times. I recommend you obtain this report once per season or quarter. We discovered a spike in power that occurred at 8:32 a.m. every morning when the neighboring manufacturing plant started its production lines.
    2. Get good surge protection with battery backup (also called an uninterruptible power supply or UPS). The typical computer needs a UPS that is rated at the 650-VA (390-watt) level; it does not necessarily need to be a "for business" model. What's key is the amount of surge it can handle and whether the manufacturer offers a monetary protection guarantee. Plug only your computer case and your monitor into the battery backup portion, along with your docking station if you have a laptop. Everything else (including your printer) simply receives surge protection. This five- to 10-minute backup serves three purposes: it provides you with enough time to save your work; it allows you to assess whether you're experiencing a momentary flicker or a longer outage; and, if you are experiencing an outage, it gives you time to turn off your computer.
    3. After an outage, wait five minutes before turning back on your computer. If the power grid has problems, these will usually appear within three to four minutes after power is first restored.
    4. Power sag problems can be discovered when your local printer suddenly outputs comic-book characters ("@#!l%^", and so on) in the midst of printing. If a stand-alone battery backup for your printer doesn't resolve this brownout issue, contact the power company or a company like American Power Conversion Corporation (APC) to work with you on battery backup options.
  2. Verify Your Electronic SetupAutomation is the name of the game when it comes to preventive computer maintenance for the busy nonprofit (this is one area where automobiles are playing catch-up). There are three items that you must automate: virus protection, critical software updates, and computer firewalls that are either part of the operating systems (such as Windows XP's firewall) or part of your antivirus software.

    I recommend getting virus protection software that combines virus and spyware protection at a minimum; add the firewall option if you do not use an operating system with a built-in firewall. Critical updates are just that - software patches rated "critical" by the vendor; all other patches, enhancements, and updates can wait for the end of the year.

  3. Monthly Preventative MaintenanceOnce a month, perform two tasks: Clean your temporary files and empty your trash or recycle bin (you can do this with the "Disk Cleanup" utility in Windows XP) and defragment your computer (you can do this by running the Disk Defragmenter utility in Windows XP). Think of this as checking your oil, tire pressure, window-washer fluid, and clearing the kids' toys out of your car.
  4. Annual Computer MaintenanceJust as a car needs a tune-up once a year, so too does a computer. There are two aspects to this process: electronic and physical.

    The electronic tune-up consists of the regular monthly maintenance plus a disk scan of your hard drives and a manual check of all software for updates. In Windows XP, utilize the Check Disk utility - check both boxes to fix file-system errors and scan for bad sectors.

    For each application, such as Adobe Reader or Microsoft Office, check for updates using their built-in method or via the support or download section of their Web sites. Although you may not be required to do so, I recommend restarting your computer after each software package has been updated. This will allow the various bits of code to properly "register" with the computer and cause any error messages to be isolated to the last update you did (versus just "something").

    The physical tune-up, while short (it takes five to ten minutes from start to finish), might seem intimidating at first. Don't let it scare you, though. There are only five simple steps: unplug, unplug, look, lift, and dust.

    First, turn off and unplug your computer and your monitor. Next, unplug the rest of the cables from the computer case, including the network cable, the printer cable, and so on. Inspect the cabling for any broken or frayed bits. If you have a laptop, take out the battery. For desktop computers, unscrew the case (generally in the back) and lift it off (some computers, like Dell and HP, have flip cases that you open by pressing a plastic button).

    Now, with the hose and bristle-sweep attachment of your vacuum, clean off the air vents on the outside of the computer case, the monitor, and the keyboard (and the docking station if you have a laptop). Then, gently vacuum out the dust from inside the case. This is not a detailed spring cleaning; go lightly and quickly (it should take you less than 30 seconds).

  5. Independent "Health Check"At least once every 18 months, if not yearly, ask someone you trust, or who comes recommended, to do a "health check" of your systems and processes. Think of this as your 10-point check or other type of review you might subject your car to prior to a big trip. You want this done by an IT professional who is a generalist, not someone specialized in a particular aspect like backup software or databases or who has a solution in need of a problem. You want personalized advice focused on your technology, nonprofit, and environment.

    For recommendations, look on the Web at generalist IT and consulting professional societies like Independent Computer Consultants Association (ICCA), Society of Professional Consultants (SPC) or Institute of Management Consultants USA (IMC USA), as well as N-TEN or TechSoup.

    If you want to try tackling the "health check" on your own or if you are uncertain about what to keep an eye on with different IT professionals and technology service firms, I recommend the following 10 items for the core health check.

    1. "Cold-Start" Check

      Just as cars frequently display symptoms upon startup, so do computers. To the trained ear, a high-pitched whine or inconsistent grinding noise can quickly identify a failing monitor, fan, or hard drive. The cold-start (or "cold-boot") process starts up the computer from a completely powered-off state, skipping any welcome or other splash screens to look for error messages that may appear during startup and to listen for any warning beeps or other sounds.

    2. On-line Performance Checks

      Cars can be hooked up to automated diagnostic utilities to quickly see any issues, and so can computers. First, go online to a free antivirus or spyware scanner, such as those provided by Trend Micro. Next, go to a PC diagnostics site like PC Pitstop and run the free full tuneup. Print out the site's suggestions to consider later.

    3. Error Logs

      In Windows XP, check all three default Event Viewer logs for errors or warnings. Copy and paste the errors and warnings into a plain text file and print this out. Then delete the log entries.

    4. Isolation

      Disconnect the computer from the network or Internet and exit all programs like Instant Messenger, virus-scan, and so forth.

    5. Temp File Cleaning

      Run Windows XP's Desktop Clean-Up. This only cleans out the temporary files created by the person logged on at the time, however; many others are left to build up. A file and folder search for files named "~*.*" will find the rest. Most files beginning with a tilde (~) can be safely deleted.

    6. Defragment and "Warm-Start"

      Defragment the computer's hard drive twice in a row, then reboot the computer checking for errors, warning beeps, and other telltale noises. This tests the computer's restart ability. Check the Event Viewer for any errors or warnings that haven't already been captured.

    7. Inventory

      Download, install, and run BelArc's BelManage or other inventory and software checking utility. (I often recommend BelArc because its software is straightforward; its stand-alone, non-commercial version is free; and it provides charitable software donations to nonprofits.) Make sure to print out this report.

    8. Updates

      Using the report you printed in Step 7, check for and install all the updates recommended by both the report and the software manufacturer, including software patches and drivers.

    9. Troubleshoot

      Once you've installed the updates, restart and check the logs again for errors or warnings; this time, you'll want to capture and print any that are left so that you can troubleshoot them. As appropriate, make sure to back up the computer's data first.

    10. Test Drive

      Finally, take the computer for a test drive, starting it up the same way the user does in the morning, opening email, the word processing application, Internet, and so on to ensure no errors are present and nothing is unusual from the user's perspective.

    Additional items to consider during the "health check" include viewing and documenting configurations of common software, network settings, and other configurable options. Problems standardizing these configurations on computers in the same environment typically indicate issues either with the computer or with the network.

Can you use an express card in a PC card slot?

No. A PC Card is a small card slot that is usually found on a notebook. It is really rare that it is on a desktop or tower computer. An express card is a type of a PCI card that fits in a slot in the motherboard.

In Windows Vista how do I find out what graphics card I have in my laptop?

Open the "run" dialog (quickest by holding down the windows key and pressing "R").
Type "dxdiag" and press enter.
Click "OK" to allow windows to check your drivers are signed (you don't have to if you don't want to).
Choose the "Display" tab at the top.
Next to "Name:" you'll find the name of your graphics card.


open the start menu

search dxdiag

scroll down and look for tha name of it

Name a processor that requires dual voltage?

The Pentium MMX uses a core voltage of 2.8 volts and I/0 votage of 3.3 volts. For this proccesor one votage is used for external operations and another for internal operations. The Pentium MMX uses a core voltage of 2.8 volts and I/0 votage of 3.3 volts. For this proccesor one votage is used for external operations and another for internal operations. The Pentium MMX uses a core voltage of 2.8 volts and I/0 votage of 3.3 volts. For this proccesor one votage is used for external operations and another for internal operations.

Is monitor a input device output device or processing device?

A monitor is an output device.

A touchscreen monitor is different.

The touch panel, which is installed over the monitor is an input device, but the monitor itself is strictly an output device.

What is the difference between information system and embedded system?

Information systems:- Information System include databases that include useful "information". Information Systems is the discipline concerned with the development, use, application and influence of information systems. An information system, following a definition of Langefors, is a technologically implemented medium for recording, storing, and disseminating linguistic expressions, as well as for drawing conclusions from such expressions. The technology used for implementing information systems by no means has to be computer technology. A notebook in which one lists certain items of interest is, according to that definition, an information system. Likewise, there are computer applications that do not comply with this definition of information systems. Embedded systems are an example.

Embedded Systems:-

Embedded systems include small computers that make things work, such as the computer in your radio, television or the computer that controls your vehicle engine. An embedded system is a computer systems that is part of a larger system.

Examples: * Washing machine * Car engine control * Mobile phone ES Characteristics

* Often mass products * 98% of the processors are in ES * Sometimes very specialized systems * No or minimal user interface * Resource constraints * Must usually fulfill strict timing * Usually runs forever (no reboot) For further reading refer to this- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embedded_Systems

Would you expect all the devices listed in BIOS Setup to also be listed in Device Manager?

Yes.

Any device that shows up in BIOS setup should also be listed in Device Manager.

How do you uninstall AVG free edition?

The best way to uninstall AVG Utilities totally within minutes is to download a powerful and advanced uninstall tool as fast as you can. The powerful and advanced uninstall tool can provide you with absolutely professional solution to uninstall AVG Utilities completely and efficiently within minutes.

What are the others example of input devices?

An input device is anything that a person can use to add information to a computer so it can work. A CD, web camera, mouse, keyboard, digital camera, drawing tablet, microphone, scanner, disk drive, joystick, ATM, and bar code scanners can all be used as input devices.

How to split one single hardrive in two like C and D?

The easiest way is to use a second party utility like "Partition Magic". If your computer has a floppy drive you can use a windows ME boot disk... a Win 98 boot disk won't read the NTFS partition (if you are running Win 2000 or Win XP)- by running the FDISK utility. IF YOU DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING DON'T ATTEMPT THIS OR YOU CAN COMPLETELY BUGGER UP YOUR HARD DRIVE!!!!!! hen you will have to pay some one like me to fix it.

What does a black box represent in the system input output model?

Kinley got maled by a lions chod

Colten got jumped on by a kangaroo chod

Jacob got molested by a giraffes chod

An owl stared at matt's chod

Brent got peaked by an eagle chod

Calvin got striped by an tiger chod

Josiah got it by a polar bear chod in a bizzared of white

Tyler got barked at by a chod

Justin got created white stipes on zebra with his chod

nick look at my chod an so will you

next time do your own engineering conclusions cheaters

What is the most common output device?

They are devices that are used often to put out power etc

How can i get my data off my flash drive?

You should connect your flash drive to PC and then you can try to recover your file with special software.

Some use unique modern algorithms to recover files that other software either recovers incorrectly or is unable to detect.

How many bits are in 1.444 megabyte?

1 byte is 8 bits.
1 MB = 1024 KB
1 KB = 1024 Bytes

so...

1.444 MegaByte =
1024 * 1444 MB = 1478656 KiloByte =
1024 * 1478656 KB = 1514143744 Bytes
8 * 1514143744 Bytes =

12113149952 Bits

What is a modem card?

Answer

a modem is essentaly a phone that is in your computer that alows you to conect to a network like a internet service provider over the phone line.

What device on a computer is used to store data?

Several Devices on a Computer can be used to store data. The most common is the Hard Drive. Also called the Hard Disk, these are the primary method of computer storage. There is at least one of these in almost every computer. Although, they are starting to be replaces by Solid State Drives, which are another type of computer storage.

There are also many external types of storage to. Memory sticks, Memory Cards (Like in your camera), MP3 Players, CDs/DVDs and Floppy disks are all used as computer storage.

Is a tablet an input or an output device?

I believe you are referring to the screen only. A touch screen works as a input and output device