What Is A Jump Drive And How Does It Work?

A jump drive - also known as a USB drive, flash drive, keychain drive, or disk-on-key - is a plug-and-play portable storage device that uses flash memory and is lightweight enough to attach to a key chain. A jump drive, which looks very much like an ordinary highlighter marker pen, can be used in place of a floppy disk, Zip drive disk, or CD. When the user plugs the device into their USB port, the computer’s operating system recognizes the device as a removable drive and assigns it a drive letter. Unlike most removable drives, a jump drive does not require rebooting after it’s attached, does not require batteries or an external power supply, and is not platform dependent. Several jump drive manufacturers offer additional features such... Read more »

Care for Laptop Batteries

Lithium Ion notebook batteries wear down because of two factors: 1) active usage in your notebook battery and 2) natural aging of the notebook battery. Both will wear down your notebook battery over time; the trick is to minimize their impact while still getting the performance out of your laptop battery that you need. The most important thing to understand about laptop batteries is that they are always losing a small bit of their charge. The hotter the temperature, the faster notebook batteries loose their charge. So rule number one is: keep your notebook battery cool. Notebook battery manufacturers store their products... Read more »

Batteries and the HP NC6000 Notebook

The HP n󳊠 notebook has the capacity for two batteries — a ‘primary′ battery and a ‘Multiday′ battery (that slides into the same slot used for a DVD/CD drive.) When on battery power the notebook utilizes the primary battery first until it drains out, then it is supposed to switch over to the Multiday battery. When the primary battery drained down to zero, all power cut off to the notebook and it immediately shut down. You have to tell it to utilize the other battery I’d guess it’s the power and battery options in control panel. I don′t have a notebook with a similar configuration, so I can′t really give... Read more »

A Few Cool Photoshop Tips and Tricks

When it comes to entering the graphic design world, creating interesting pieces for a job or sharing artwork with family and friends, there are plenty of cool Photoshop tips and tricks to consider. Whether you are just experimenting with the tools or already know how to layout a magazine spread, there will always be a new shortcut or trick to make life much easier. Below, you will find a few tips to add to your repertoire or share with others: Easy Photoshop Tips and Tricks Have you ever wanted to easily create the image of Earth and dread... Read more »

Buying Safe Furniture For Children

Today, the available selection of furniture for children is innovative and unique and goes far beyond the basic beds and dressers that have filled children’s rooms in the past. When you decorate your child’s room, consider his personality and his interests as you choose the best pieces. If possible, allow your child to help pick out the furniture he will have in his room. First, decide on a theme or color scheme for decorating. Beds and other furnishings for children can be found to match a number of designs. Some beds are even available as race cars, fire trucks, or... Read more »

Installation Problems With USB Flash Drives

Make sure that your USB port is working. Right click on My Computer and select Properties then click on Device Manager and you should not see any yellow exclamation points (note that you should have your flash drive plugged in). If you do see yellow exclamation points then click on it and Remover it. Then restart your computer after you have removed all exclamation points. Windows should then reinstall the driver correctly. You should check this once you restart. If you still have troubles, it may be because windows require a specific driver for... Read more »

Increasing Computer Performance by Adding RAM

I have a dell - P4 1.8 GHz - 128MB of RAM. Whenever I log onto my username, it takes forever to load the desktop. Before I upgrade the memory, I want to make sure there aren’t other problems. I have run software to clean the registry and also am current on my antivirus and spyware protection software. One thing I have noticed is that the page file always seems to be pretty close to maxed out. Is this a sign that I need more memory or is there some other way to free up space. I am also curious about programs that open when I start the computer. Is there a set of “standard″ applications that I should expect to see running in the background. Would a RAM upgrade fix this? If... Read more »

Installing, Uninstalling, And Upgrades For Your Computer

Regarding newer motherboards: most newer GeForce series boards are faster, the 6800GS and 6800GT are faster, but hard to find, the 7600GT is comparable in performance to the 6800GT so therefore likely faster. The GeForce 7800 and 7900 series will be much faster, and the 8800 series will be downright absurdly fast. Obviously something is wrong so if you want to turn your on board graphics card back on just go and look on your motherboard for a watch battery the size of a quarter. Remove it. Then look for a jumper (three wires sticking up from the motherboard by the battery or just two). If there are 2 and they have no plastic... Read more »

Ideas On Memory Cards For Your Digital Camera

Doesn’t it drive you nuts that there are so many memory cards, formats, speeds and types in this field? It’s enough to make you want to go back to those old days. Well, maybe not. The primary difference between a regular SD (Secure Digital) and a SD/MMC card is that the MMC card lacks a locking tab and is short by one electrical connection on the back. The regular SD cards have 8 pin slots; the MMC card only has 7. Otherwise, they’re very similar and unless your equipment specifically calls for one or the other, they should be interchangeable. I understand that the... Read more »

WEEE Directive: 2007 Update

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, is one of the series of producer responsibilities Directives that makes producers of new equipment responsible for paying for the treatment and recycling of products once they have been used to their fullest extent. These new laws affect any business that manufactures brands or imports EEE as well as the businesses that sell store or treat Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE). The laws will also affect businesses that have WEEE to dispose of and the public who will have more opportunities to re-use, recycle and recover these products. The WEEE is aiming to conserve the landfill and support a more sustainable environment... Read more »