class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/windows7logo.jpg" border="0" alt="windows 7 editions" />Since the late 20th century the market for personal computers has been growing and developing rapidly. The sudden diversity among customers and their increasingly differential demands created a need for specialized operating systems. During the late 1990’s, Microsoft developed Windows versions specifically targeted at businesses or home PC users.

With its introduction of Windows 2000, Microsoft started to release its operating systems in multiple editions. On the one hand this united previously diverse products under one hat and simplified marketing. On the other hand different groups of users were accommodated.

id="more-51764"> /> Windows 7 comes in six different flavors. In this article I have briefly reviewed the features of each edition. I have also made recommendations as to which version you should get, depending on the user group you belong to.

Starter

This is the most basic Windows 7 edition. Since Windows 7 Starter supports less features than any other edition, it requires less system resources. It is typically found pre-installed on netbooks.

• limit: three concurrent applications, home group join only, Backup and Restore Center manual to local HDD or DVD only
• not included: Aero theme
• not changeable: desktop wallpaper and visual style
• not supported: .NET Framework and 64-bit

If your computer has a weak CPU (minimum 1GHz) and no more than 1GB of RAM, you should go with Windows 7 Starter to avoid a slow system.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Windows7Editions03.png" border="0" alt="windows 7 editions" width="580" height="281" />

Home Basic

This edition is not available in ‘first world’ countries. It was designed for emerging markets and forms an intermediate between Starter and Home Premium. Due to a geographical activation restriction, it can only be activated in countries where it is sold.

• included: Desktop Window Manager, Windows Mobility Center
• unlimited: concurrent applications
• supported: 64-bit, multiple monitors, fast user switching, change of desktop wallpaper
• limit: home group join only, partial Aero theme

You should use this edition as a budget alternative to Home Premium, if it is sold in your country.

Home Premium

This is the standard edition of Windows 7. It was specifically outfitted to satisfy home users.

• included: Windows Aero theme, Windows Media Center, premium games
• unlimited: create and join home group
• supported: multi-touch

Home Premium provides all the functionality required on a daily basis. It puts minor limits on networking and lacks backup and security features, which can however be complemented by additional software.

There is no need to spend extra cash on one of the following editions, unless you must have one of its additional features.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Windows7Editions01.png" border="0" alt="windows 7 editions" width="580" height="283" />

Professional

The Professional edition was designed to be used in a work environment. Its additional features compared to Home Premium are not typically required in a home environment. The Professional Backup and Restore Center for example supports backup to a home or business network. Features like Location Aware Printing and Remote Desktop Host recognizes the mobility involved in today’s (professional) life.

• included: Backup and Restore Center, Encrypting File System, Windows Server Domain, Windows XP Mode
• supported: Location Aware Printing, Remote Desktop Host, Presentation Mode

You should invest in Windows 7 Professional if you frequently work from your laptop in different locations, use your computer to give presentations, must access your home computer via remote desktop, have multiple computers, or need to manage a network.

Enterprise

The Enterprise edition is not available to home users. It is exclusively sold to companies that have a Software Assurance (SA) for Volume Licensing contract with Microsoft. This edition comes with several SA-only benefits, including license rights for network booting of Windows or running up to four additional Windows copies on virtual machines. Microsoft support for this product will continue until 2020.

• included: AppLocker, BitLocker Drive Encryption, Subsystem for Unix-based applications, Multilingual User Interface Pack
• supported: BranchCache Distributed Cache, DirectAccess, Virtual Hard Disk Booting

The additional features of Enterprise compared to Professional are relevant for computers running in a corporate environment. They can decrease the freedom each user has, while on the other hand making it easier to work from anywhere in the world.

AppLocker for example is a tool through which an administrator can specify which software is allowed to run on centrally managed user PCs. DirectAccess replaces the need to log into your company network via VPN. A full review of these additional Enterprise and Ultimate features can be found in this Microsoft article: class="vt-p" title="Windows 7 Enterprise Features" href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/products/windows-7/features.aspx">Unique technology for enterprise customers.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Windows7Editions02.png" border="0" alt="compare windows 7 editions" width="580" height="213" />

Ultimate

Windows 7 Ultimate has all the features of the Enterprise edition and no benefits or further extras. The difference is that individual licenses are available to home users. Windows Anytime Upgrade from Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional is possible. Microsoft support for this edition is scheduled to expire in 2015.

PC World has created a thorough class="vt-p" title="PC World Windows 7 Editions Chart" href="http://www.pcworld.com/zoom?id=167444&page=1&zoomIdx=1">graphical chart comparing all editions of Windows 7.

You may also want to check out this article by Mahendra: title="Windows 7 32-bit vs. 64-bit" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-choose-between-32-bit-64-bit-windows-7-operating-systems/">How To Choose Between 32-bit & 64-bit Windows 7 Operating Systems

I hope you now have a better idea of what each Windows 7 edition was designed for and which one is right for you. Have you had the chance to work with different Windows 7 editions already? What are your experiences so far with them? />
/>Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to target="_blank" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/share-share-share-spread-word/">share our articles with others! It’s really important to us.

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class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/communication.jpg" alt="what does api stand for" />What does the acronym API stand for? API means Application Programming Interface and they say that APIs are the underlying aspect of Web 2.0.  But what does it really mean – what is an api? Let’s try to demystify the term a little.

The word to really pay attention to is “Interface”. If you have any experience at all with programming, all kinds of abstractions and contracts must be coming to your mind when you hear the word “interface” but we are more interested in the classical meaning of the term.

An interface is a common boundary between two separate systems. It is the means or the medium via which these two systems communicate.

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Definition

An API is the interface implemented by an application which allows other applications to communicate with it.

Why Is It Needed?

In one word – communication. You might ask why communication is so important. Just imagine Notepad couldn’t copy-paste to and from Microsoft Word or class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/tag/chrome/">Google Chrome. Imagine having to type each and every time although the text is already there in some other application. This is only one of the examples of communication between applications and all this communication is made possible via APIs.

What Is It Really?

You cannot run an API like you would run say a class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/notepad/">Notepad application. This is because APIs are generally invisible to the end users like you and me. APIs are carefully thought out pieces of code created by programmers for their applications that allow other applications to interact with their application.

APIs are specially crafted to expose only chosen functionality and/or data while safeguarding other parts of the application which provides the interface. Creating an API is indeed time well spent, because ultimately the more applications that interact with your application the more popular it becomes.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/twitterclients.jpg" alt="what does api stand for" />

An excellent example is class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/tag/twitter/">Twitter. Most people prefer their favorite class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/twitter-clients-web-apps-desktops-apps/">Twitter client instead of the web interface. You can interact with Twitter whether you are using a mobile phone, a smart phone, an iPod or a computer. This has been made possible by the excellent class="vt-p" href="http://apiwiki.twitter.com/">Twitter API.

What Is It Good For?

As we have seen, APIs facilitate communication allowing different applications to communicate effectively with each other. So these are really well suited for extending a platform and for class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/tag/mashup/">mashups. We have already seen Twitter as an example of how APIs are useful in extending a platform. When you combine data or functionality from more than one application to create another application, you have essentially created a mashup.

Such mashups are extremely popular on the Internet these days. The Internet thrives on communication so it is an ideal place to take advantage of APIs. It is a common practice to expose part of your functionality or data as an API to others on the Web. They can then tap into what you offer, combine it with what they (or someone else) offers and then provide improved and added functionality to their users.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/googlemapsyelp.png" alt="what does api stand for" width="519" height="370" />

class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/search-fo-worst-local-businesses-yelp">Yelp for example has data on restaurants, hotels, shopping destinations and other local services but it would be a wasteful and tedious job if they set out to create their own Maps engine to let users know where the various destinations are. So instead they tap into the Google Maps API and plot their data on top of it, thereby increasing the utility of their service to the end user. This is a typical use of an API.

Popular APIs You Can Use Or Try

APIs are all over the place. The most popular ones are the Web APIs like class="vt-p" href="http://code.google.com/apis/maps/index.html">Google Maps API, class="vt-p" href="http://apiwiki.twitter.com/">Twitter API and the  class="vt-p" href="http://www.flickr.com/services/api/">Flickr API. These are not the only ones though. You can find a complete, classified and searchable directory of APIs at class="vt-p" href="http://www.programmableweb.com">Programmable Web and class="vt-p" href="http://www.webmashup.com/">WebMashup. Here you can see the level of interest in an API, what services are provided by the API and which services are making use of the API.

How you actually use an API depends upon your needs and your level of expertise. You might want to create the next big thing on the Internet, in which case you would most likely need to program for the Web using languages such as PHP, ASP.NET, Java or Python. A good starting point is to visit the official API page for the service you choose. Look for libraries others have written in the language of your choice. Usually these libraries make your job a lot easier and faster. Twitter for example mentions a number of these class="vt-p" href="http://dev.twitter.com/pages/libraries">libraries on its API wiki. You can also find tutorials, official documentation and best practices on these pages.

APIs have existed in one form or another for a very long time. The first communication between cooperating applications may or may not have been through an officially documented API, but nowadays they are an important component of your application especially if yours is a Web application.

Have you ever created or used an API? We would love to hear about your experiences in the comments.

 

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class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/0-canary-intro.jpg" alt="google chrome canary" width="270" height="223" /> class="vt-p" href="http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/landing_chrome.html?hl=en&platform=win">Google Chrome is now my default browser for pretty much everything. The stable release has finally got to a point where it is stable enough for me to use all the time. I’ve even been using the class="vt-p" href="http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html?extra=betachannel">beta/ class="vt-p" href="http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html?extra=devchannel">developer builds of Chrome on my laptop without any problems.

On July 22, Google, being all about speed, announced that they were going to shorten the release cycles of new, stable versions of Chrome from quarterly to 6 weeks. With this announcement came the Canary release channel.

In this article, I am going to explain exactly what class="vt-p" href="http://tools.google.com/dlpage/chromesxs">Google Chrome Canary is and why you should be excited about its release. I will explain the meaning of its name, as well as its overall purpose in the grand scheme of things.

id="more-51208">

Why Call It Canary?

By calling the release Canary, Google is referring to the old technique of using canaries in coal mines. Back in the day, coal miners used to bring canaries down in the mines with them as a precaution. If there was any kind of deadly gas build-up, the canary would be the first to die. If the canary died, everyone knew it would be a good idea to leave the mine as soon as possible.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/1-canary-version.png" alt="google chrome canary" width="522" height="294" />

Chrome Canary offers the same set of precautions. The Canary build is less stable, but it will be used to test even more cutting-edge features than the developer’s build, which already tests new features before they are pushed to the beta build. If a change “kills” Chrome Canary, Google will block it from the developer build.

What’s Different About It?

Chrome Canary is somewhat of a mix between the Chrome developer build and the Chromium snapshot builds. It can be run side-by-side with any other channel, which is a new feature. This means that it isn’t linked to your other Chrome installs and can therefore run different class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/cool-tips-you-can-use-to-get-more-out-of-bookmarks-in-chrome/">sync profiles, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/design-browser-theme-google-chrome/">themes, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/tag/chrome/">apps, and use different preferences.

Unlike the other channels (beta and dev), Canary’s side-by-side feature allows builds to be installed without overwriting a regular Chrome build, which means that, technically, you can install both a Canary build and a regular build that could be on the stable, beta or dev channel.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/2-canary-icons.png" alt="google chrome canary" width="270" height="285" />

If you install Chrome Canary, you will notice that it has a different, all-yellow icon instead of the multi-colored Chrome icon or even the all-blue icon you might be accustomed to. Also, the skin of the browser is blue, helping you tell it apart from other versions of Chrome as well.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/3-canary-default.png" alt="google canary" width="538" height="208" />

[Note]: As Canary is a secondary installation of Chrome, you cannot set it as the default browser. Also, it is currently only available on Windows.

Why Is It Necessary?

Giving users the option to run a more advanced version of Chrome without having to fully commit to alpha testing it should help increase the number of people willing to use the browser.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/4-canary-dev.png" alt="google canary" width="580" height="214" />

Canary will auto-update more frequently than any other versions available to developers. Google is working on making it update as often as they have successful nightly builds, according to their class="vt-p" href="http://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/group/chromium-dev/browse_thread/thread/bf71d02dae94eb88?pli=1">developer’s email list. When something doesn’t work on the Canary, you can just fall back on your beta version.

Also, by speeding up the Chrome development cycle, it will begin testing new features with the public and collecting feedback more quickly. The data – especially crash statistics – that they get back from users will help them find (and fix) regressions in the software faster.

[Note]: Since the Canary version of Chrome will be very unstable, it should only be used by those who are willing to risk losing browsing data in the event of a program crash.

Conclusion

Well there you have it. As I stated earlier, I use Google Chrome as my browser, so I am quite pleased with the news of a faster development cycle. Google seems to be very enthusiastic about getting their browser to the top and class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/2-reasons-google-chrome-pull-mozilla-firefox/">surpassing Mozilla once and for all.

From a user’s standpoint, I think this is good news for all of us. Quicker releases mean better features, and better features for Chrome should inspire some of these other companies to pick up the pace with their browsers as well.

What do you think of this news? Will you be giving Canary a try?

Leave your thoughts, ideas, and comments below, and please share this story with others if you found it useful.

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class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/0-canary-intro.jpg" alt="google chrome canary" width="270" height="223" /> class="vt-p" href="http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/landing_chrome.html?hl=en&platform=win">Google Chrome is now my default browser for pretty much everything. The stable release has finally got to a point where it is stable enough for me to use all the time. I’ve even been using the class="vt-p" href="http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html?extra=betachannel">beta/ class="vt-p" href="http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html?extra=devchannel">developer builds of Chrome on my laptop without any problems.

On July 22, Google, being all about speed, announced that they were going to shorten the release cycles of new, stable versions of Chrome from quarterly to 6 weeks. With this announcement came the Canary release channel.

In this article, I am going to explain exactly what class="vt-p" href="http://tools.google.com/dlpage/chromesxs">Google Chrome Canary is and why you should be excited about its release. I will explain the meaning of its name, as well as its overall purpose in the grand scheme of things.

id="more-51208">

Why Call It Canary?

By calling the release Canary, Google is referring to the old technique of using canaries in coal mines. Back in the day, coal miners used to bring canaries down in the mines with them as a precaution. If there was any kind of deadly gas build-up, the canary would be the first to die. If the canary died, everyone knew it would be a good idea to leave the mine as soon as possible.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/1-canary-version.png" alt="google chrome canary" width="522" height="294" />

Chrome Canary offers the same set of precautions. The Canary build is less stable, but it will be used to test even more cutting-edge features than the developer’s build, which already tests new features before they are pushed to the beta build. If a change “kills” Chrome Canary, Google will block it from the developer build.

What’s Different About It?

Chrome Canary is somewhat of a mix between the Chrome developer build and the Chromium snapshot builds. It can be run side-by-side with any other channel, which is a new feature. This means that it isn’t linked to your other Chrome installs and can therefore run different class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/cool-tips-you-can-use-to-get-more-out-of-bookmarks-in-chrome/">sync profiles, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/design-browser-theme-google-chrome/">themes, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/tag/chrome/">apps, and use different preferences.

Unlike the other channels (beta and dev), Canary’s side-by-side feature allows builds to be installed without overwriting a regular Chrome build, which means that, technically, you can install both a Canary build and a regular build that could be on the stable, beta or dev channel.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/2-canary-icons.png" alt="google chrome canary" width="270" height="285" />

If you install Chrome Canary, you will notice that it has a different, all-yellow icon instead of the multi-colored Chrome icon or even the all-blue icon you might be accustomed to. Also, the skin of the browser is blue, helping you tell it apart from other versions of Chrome as well.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/3-canary-default.png" alt="google canary" width="538" height="208" />

[Note]: As Canary is a secondary installation of Chrome, you cannot set it as the default browser. Also, it is currently only available on Windows.

Why Is It Necessary?

Giving users the option to run a more advanced version of Chrome without having to fully commit to alpha testing it should help increase the number of people willing to use the browser.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/4-canary-dev.png" alt="google canary" width="580" height="214" />

Canary will auto-update more frequently than any other versions available to developers. Google is working on making it update as often as they have successful nightly builds, according to their class="vt-p" href="http://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/group/chromium-dev/browse_thread/thread/bf71d02dae94eb88?pli=1">developer’s email list. When something doesn’t work on the Canary, you can just fall back on your beta version.

Also, by speeding up the Chrome development cycle, it will begin testing new features with the public and collecting feedback more quickly. The data – especially crash statistics – that they get back from users will help them find (and fix) regressions in the software faster.

[Note]: Since the Canary version of Chrome will be very unstable, it should only be used by those who are willing to risk losing browsing data in the event of a program crash.

Conclusion

Well there you have it. As I stated earlier, I use Google Chrome as my browser, so I am quite pleased with the news of a faster development cycle. Google seems to be very enthusiastic about getting their browser to the top and class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/2-reasons-google-chrome-pull-mozilla-firefox/">surpassing Mozilla once and for all.

From a user’s standpoint, I think this is good news for all of us. Quicker releases mean better features, and better features for Chrome should inspire some of these other companies to pick up the pace with their browsers as well.

What do you think of this news? Will you be giving Canary a try?

Leave your thoughts, ideas, and comments below, and please share this story with others if you found it useful.

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Within the past 14 years, the Universal Serial Bus (USB) has become the standard interface to connect devices to a computer. Whether it’s an external hard drive, a camera, the mouse, a printer, or a scanner, the physical connection to transfer data between devices generally is a USB cable. The interface is indeed universal.

USB technology has been under development since 1993. The first official definition, USB 1.0, was introduced in 1996. It provides a Low-Speed transfer rate of 1.5 Mbits/s for sub-channel keyboards and mice, and a Full-Speed channel at 12 Mbits/s. USB 2.0, which came in 2001, made a leap to Hi-Speed transfer rates of up to 480 Mbits/s. In 2010, USB 3.0 has finally hit the market.

So what can you expect from USB 3.0 and how will it affect you?

USB 3.0 Specifications

A number of changes have been implemented in USB 3.0 to satisfy the increased demands of external devices. Here is a quick USB technology overview:

• Transfer Rate
  This new SuperSpeed interface provides realistic transfer rates of around 3,200 Mbits/s or 3.2 Gbits/s. The theoretical top signaling rate is at 4.8 Gbits/s.
• Data Transfer
  USB 3.0 introduces full duplex data transfer. Two of five lanes are reserved for transmitting data, while another pair is dedicated to receiving data, meaning that USB 3.0 can read and write data simultaneously at full speed. Previous USB specifications did not support bi-directional data transfer.
• Power
  The unit load has been increased to 150 mA and a configured device can draw up to six unit loads, which adds up to 900 mA. This exceeds USB 2.0 by 80% and leads to faster recharging or powering of more than four devices from a single hub. In addition, the minimum device operating voltage was dropped from 4.4 V to 4 V, which saves energy.
• Power Management
  USB 3.0 suspends device polling, which is replaced by interrupt-driven protocol. As a result, idle devices won’t experience a power drain since a signal from the device is required to initiate data transfer. With USB 2.0 the host controller used to look for active transfers, slowly draining power. Briefly, USB 3.0 supports idle, sleep, and suspend states, as well as link-, device-, and function-level power management (Wikipedia).
• Physical Appearance
  The above described specifications are also represented in the physical appearance of USB 3.0. While the cable was previously described to be thicker because it contains four more wires than USB 2.0, this appears not to be the case now. The plug, however, is a dead giveaway for USB 3.0. It contains an additional set of connectors, as illustrated in the image below.

The Good News

New technology is very exciting. But what does it mean? Will you still be able to use your old USB hardware? How will the new USB technology affect your everyday life? What are the benefits?

• Compatibility
  USB 3.0 is backwards compatible with USB 2.0. So whether you get a new USB 3.0 device or a new computer that supports USB 3.0, your old device will be able to communicate with the new interface. Naturally, it will do so at the old USB 2.0 speed. However, you won’t be able to use a USB 3.0 cable to connect a USB 2.0 device.
• Transfer Rate
  Now I bet all this Megabit and Gigabit per second numbers sound impressive, but what does it actually translate to? Well, let me give you an example. With USB 3.0 you could transfer a 10 GB file from your computer to an external drive in approximately 25 seconds. With USB 2.0 this would take more than five minutes.
• Benefits
  The devices that will benefit most from USB 3.0 are those that already outspeed USB 2.0, including HD webcams, Blu-Ray drives, or some external hard drives.
• Support by Operating Systems
  Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Linux already support USB 3.0. Mac is expected follow. Given its age, Windows XP will probably not receive an update to support the new interface.

The Bad News

I was tempted to report that there is no bad news, but that’s not true. Let’s say bad news is minimal.

• Cable
  The maximum cable length USB 3.0 supports is reduced to approximately three meters, opposed to five meters with USB 2.0. However, using hubs, the maximum length can be extended to 18 meters.
• Speed Limit
  Naturally, not all devices will be able to make use of the increased speed in USB 3.0. Magnetic hard drives for example, are limited by their RPM and the corresponding read/write speed. Hence, USB 3.0 will not unfold its full beauty until computers are equipped per default with faster hardware, such as solid state drives. But we all know how speedy progress is in the IT world. Give it a year or two and you will be able to fully benefit from USB 3.0.

Feel like you need more information? Computerworld has an excellent USB 3.0 review (USB 3.0: The new speed limit), including tests of currently available USB 3.0 hardware. Are you craving for even more in depth information? Check out this article at Tech Republic: 10 things you should know about USB 2.0 and 3.0. And have a look at Everything USB’s Super Speed USB 3.0 FAQ.

Now aren’t you looking forward to switching to USB 3.0? And if you have already been using a USB 3.0 device, please let the rest of us know how it feels!

Image credit: 09

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MP3 or MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 is an innovative digital audio encoding format which is meant for consumer audio storage and employs a type of lossy data compression algorithm. This compression helps in reducing the quantity of data required to embody the audio recording. It is that benchmark of audio compression which transfers and plays back music on digital audio players, known as MP3 players.

MP3 files are usually created using settings to the tune of 128 kbit/s which often results in 1/11th size of a CD filed produced from initial audio source. MP3 player’s recent evolution in the music format helps users to create personalized music lists and allows them to carry thousands of songs with them. Additionally it contains features like video and photo viewing, alarm and calendar functions and not to forget cell phone and even internet service. MP3 players come in two formats viz., Hard-drive-based players and Flash-based players. Hard drive based MP3 players are of high-capacity and have a capability of 20GB onwards.

While considerable players like Apple iPod Classic can hold nearly 30,000 songs and comes with a 120GB capacity. Flash based MP3 players are shockproof and comes in various storage sizes ranging from 512MB to 32GB. Like other digital music formats, MP3 also uses a binary code series containing 1s and 0s, when playing a digital file. MP3 players often employ DAC i.e. digital-to-analog converters to turn 1s and 0s into analog signals which are amplified and broadcast with the assistance of speakers and headphones.
It is the requirement of all MP3 players that a user’s PC should contain USB 1.1 or 2.0 ports this will help in loading songs quickly onto and off the players. Almost all the MP3 players come bundled with software and drivers which allow users to download the songs from a PC.

While purchasing MP3 players always stick to well-known brands like Apple iPod, Creative Zen, Microsoft Zune, SanDisk Sansa, Sony and Archos. MP3 players come in a diverse array of physical sizes; some are so tiny that they can be accommodated even in your keychain while the other large sizes will hardly fit in your hand. The smaller MP3 players suit people in their routine work or while jogging etc. Most of the MP3 players have 2” to 3.5” screens and weigh usually less than 5 ounces.

Do you know how to use a computer? Of course you do. But how familiar are you with what’s inside that shiny metal box of yours? For as complicated as the inner workings of computers may seem, they are really only made up of a few key pieces. If you ever have a hardware problem or would simply like to upgrade one of those pieces, it helps to know what they do and where they are located.

Today we’re taking it back to the basics. In this article, I am going to name the basic parts of a computer, describe what they do, show you where they are usually located, and give you a few tips on how to upgrade them. So the next time your hard drive dies or your CD-Rom stops reading discs, you don’t have to pay for a house call from your neighborhood PC-repair man.

[Note]: This article is meant to be a basic diagram of the basic parts of a computer and is by no means a complete and accurate description of everything that is inside a computer. While replacing computer parts, there are various things to consider that I will not be able to cover here, like compatibility issues.

This article is not about how to build a computer. For that, I invite you to check out our guides, How to Build a Gaming PC and The Idiot’s Ultimate Guide to Building Your Own PC. You can find a lot of what will be here in our Basic Computer Terms You Should Know Before Buying A PC article.

Now that most of the professionals and hardcore geeks have left, onto the basics!

Motherboard

Your motherboard is where all of the components I’m going to talk about will inevitably plug into. It has slots for most removable components like RAM, IDE/SATA drives, and video cards. If you are a beginner, I wouldn’t advise you to upgrade your motherboard yourself, but a lot of the other components I will cover require you to unplug things from the motherboard.

To view system specs, try Speccy.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

See: What Is A CPU and What Does It Do? [Technology Explained]

If a computer was a human, the CPU would be the brain. It is the single most important piece of a computer because it does all the processing of data, calculations, and it controls most of the other components. The CPU is usually located directly underneath a cooling unit on the motherboard.

Once again, I would not advise you to upgrade your CPU yourself if you are a beginner. In most cases, upgrading your CPU will require a new motherboard, along with a heat sink and perhaps other components. While I won’t go into it here, you can find a very informative and detailed walk-through on How to Upgrade a Processor here.

Power Supply Unit (PSU)

The PSU provides power to your whole PC and is usually located in the top-back of your computer. PSUs are rated by the amount of power they give out (e.g. 600 watts). It is important that your computer is powered properly so that it does not fail on you.

To upgrade your PSU, you should research the specifications of the other components in your system, most importantly the video card and CPU. You also want to make sure you get the proper connectors for your system.

Calculate your PC power supply with eXtreme PSU Engine.

Hard Drive

Your hard drive is what stores all your data long-term. Hard drives are generally kept in the bottom-front of most PCs, and are usually connected to the motherboard via SATA cables (IDE for older PCs). Also, there will be a power cable.

If yours dies on you or you simply want to upgrade to a bigger one (storage wise), you just need to purchase one with the proper connections. Hard drives are usually screwed into place.

Random Access Memory (RAM)

RAM is temporary (or short-term) memory and helps out with overall system performance and speed. RAM consists of long sticks that are plugged directly into your motherboard. Consult your owner’s manual or system information to determine the maximum amount of RAM that’s supported by your system.

Upgrading RAM depends on how many slots you have and the maximum size each slot supports. Some computers require that you have the same amount of RAM in each slot. This would be listed in your manual as well.

Disk Drive (CD-ROM or DVD-ROM)

Your disk drive(s) is/are generally located at the top-front of your machine. They allow you to play and burn (copy) CDs and DVDs. Since discs spin in these drives, they occasionally break on you. Also, the speed at which these drives can read and write data is constantly increasing.

To upgrade a CD or DVD-ROM, simply unplug and unscrew the existing drive and plug the cables (power, SATA/IDE) into the new drive. If you are upgrading from one drive to multiple drives, you can learn about setting the drives to master/slave configuration here.

Video Card

Your video card is what allows you to view anything on your monitor (makes sense). If you’re into gaming, you either left already to learn how to build a gaming PC or you stuck around to see what I had to say about video cards.

Modern games require better video cards. Your video card is usually located in the bottom-back portion of your computer case. Aside from size specifications, slot placement, motherboard type, processor speed, and power intake – which are all compatibility issues – upgrading your video card is as simple as unplugging the stock card and plugging the new video card in its place.

How did I do? Leave a comment below and please be gentle!

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Do you know how to use a computer? Of course you do. But how familiar are you with what’s inside that shiny metal box of yours? For as complicated as the inner workings of computers may seem, they are really only made up of a few key pieces. If you ever have a hardware problem or would simply like to upgrade one of those pieces, it helps to know what they do and where they are located.

Today we’re taking it back to the basics. In this article, I am going to name the basic parts of a computer, describe what they do, show you where they are usually located, and give you a few tips on how to upgrade them. So the next time your hard drive dies or your CD-Rom stops reading discs, you don’t have to pay for a house call from your neighborhood PC-repair man.

[Note]: This article is meant to be a basic diagram of the basic parts of a computer and is by no means a complete and accurate description of everything that is inside a computer. While replacing computer parts, there are various things to consider that I will not be able to cover here, like compatibility issues.

This article is not about how to build a computer. For that, I invite you to check out our guides, How to Build a Gaming PC and The Idiot’s Ultimate Guide to Building Your Own PC. You can find a lot of what will be here in our Basic Computer Terms You Should Know Before Buying A PC article.

Now that most of the professionals and hardcore geeks have left, onto the basics!

Motherboard

Your motherboard is where all of the components I’m going to talk about will inevitably plug into. It has slots for most removable components like RAM, IDE/SATA drives, and video cards. If you are a beginner, I wouldn’t advise you to upgrade your motherboard yourself, but a lot of the other components I will cover require you to unplug things from the motherboard.

To view system specs, try Speccy.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

See: What Is A CPU and What Does It Do? [Technology Explained]

If a computer was a human, the CPU would be the brain. It is the single most important piece of a computer because it does all the processing of data, calculations, and it controls most of the other components. The CPU is usually located directly underneath a cooling unit on the motherboard.

Once again, I would not advise you to upgrade your CPU yourself if you are a beginner. In most cases, upgrading your CPU will require a new motherboard, along with a heat sink and perhaps other components. While I won’t go into it here, you can find a very informative and detailed walk-through on How to Upgrade a Processor here.

Power Supply Unit (PSU)

The PSU provides power to your whole PC and is usually located in the top-back of your computer. PSUs are rated by the amount of power they give out (e.g. 600 watts). It is important that your computer is powered properly so that it does not fail on you.

To upgrade your PSU, you should research the specifications of the other components in your system, most importantly the video card and CPU. You also want to make sure you get the proper connectors for your system.

Calculate your PC power supply with eXtreme PSU Engine.

Hard Drive

Your hard drive is what stores all your data long-term. Hard drives are generally kept in the bottom-front of most PCs, and are usually connected to the motherboard via SATA cables (IDE for older PCs). Also, there will be a power cable.

If yours dies on you or you simply want to upgrade to a bigger one (storage wise), you just need to purchase one with the proper connections. Hard drives are usually screwed into place.

Random Access Memory (RAM)

RAM is temporary (or short-term) memory and helps out with overall system performance and speed. RAM consists of long sticks that are plugged directly into your motherboard. Consult your owner’s manual or system information to determine the maximum amount of RAM that’s supported by your system.

Upgrading RAM depends on how many slots you have and the maximum size each slot supports. Some computers require that you have the same amount of RAM in each slot. This would be listed in your manual as well.

Disk Drive (CD-ROM or DVD-ROM)

Your disk drive(s) is/are generally located at the top-front of your machine. They allow you to play and burn (copy) CDs and DVDs. Since discs spin in these drives, they occasionally break on you. Also, the speed at which these drives can read and write data is constantly increasing.

To upgrade a CD or DVD-ROM, simply unplug and unscrew the existing drive and plug the cables (power, SATA/IDE) into the new drive. If you are upgrading from one drive to multiple drives, you can learn about setting the drives to master/slave configuration here.

Video Card

Your video card is what allows you to view anything on your monitor (makes sense). If you’re into gaming, you either left already to learn how to build a gaming PC or you stuck around to see what I had to say about video cards.

Modern games require better video cards. Your video card is usually located in the bottom-back portion of your computer case. Aside from size specifications, slot placement, motherboard type, processor speed, and power intake – which are all compatibility issues – upgrading your video card is as simple as unplugging the stock card and plugging the new video card in its place.

How did I do? Leave a comment below and please be gentle!

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If you have a home network, or you are thinking of setting up a home network, you’ve probably considered two solutions – wired and wireless. And unless you desperately want the fastest download speeds possible, or you don’t trust wireless security, you probably have settled on wireless as the solution. Wireless networking, with its encryption keys and signal strength issues, isn’t as easy as making toast. But it certainly beats having to route expensive Ethernet cables through your house.

There is, however, a third way. Known as powerline networking, this rarely considered option has many appealing strengths. It is even easier to set up than wireless, but provided network performance similar to wired network. Let’s take a look at the wonderful world of powerline networking.

What Is A Powerline Network?

Your home already has a network of wires in it that connect every room in the house. These are the wires that provide each room with electricity. Normally, these wires are used for only that task, but it is possible to turn them into a way of conveying data like any other wire.

This is exactly what a powerline network does. By using network adapters that are plugged into power outlets throughout your home it is possible to use your existing electrical wires as a sort of substitute Ethernet cord. Doing this has no effect on the normal function of the electrical wires, either – all your power outlets will continue to work normally.

Why Is Powerline Networking Awesome?

Powerline networks operate like standard wired networks in terms of security and performance. Since the entire network is routed through wires there is no chance of your home network being hijacked or used by an unauthorized person (short of someone breaking into your home). Performance is not quite as fast as Ethernet, but real-world usage is typically between 40 and 80 Mbps depending on the adapters you use. You don’t have to worry about reception issues, either.

However, because you don’t have to lay any new cable, setting up a powerline network is much easier than setting up a home network with Ethernet cord. Connecting a computer via powerline networking requires only that you plug a powerline network adapter into a power outlet and then run an Ethernet cable from the powerline adapter to your computer’s Ethernet port. You can use multiple powerline network adapters on the same network, and they don’t have to be the same brand or model.

What Is The Cost Of Powerline Networking?

The primary cost of setting up a powerline network is the adapters themselves. Most major network hardware companies, like Netgear and Belkin, offer powerline adapters. These adapters are mostly sold in pairs of two and cost around $100 a pair. Adapters that offer less performance may cost only $60 to $80 a pair, while the fastest adapters are closer to $150. My personal recommendation is to buy the least expensive pair of 85Mbps adapters you can find.

Besides the adapters, you also may have to buy some Ethernet cord if the cord you currently have is not enough to reach from the powerline adapter to the computer(s) you need to connect. This can add $10 or $20 to your budget.

Overall, a powerline network with two computers will cost around $100 if you buy online. You’ll usually spend more if you purchase at a brick-and-mortar store.

What Are The Limitations Of Powerline Networking?

Although powerline networking is a great alternative to more popular networking methods, it does have a few limitations that are important to note.

First, powerline network adapters cannot be plugged into a surge protector unless the surge protector that you own specifically states otherwise. This can be a bit of an issue if you already have a power outlet crisis in your home, which isn’t unheard of these days.

Second, powerline network adapters are usually on the larger side. The ones that I use are approximately five inches long, an inch and a half thick, and three inches wide. There are some smaller models, but none are tiny. This can be an issue if your power outlets are behind a piece of furniture or otherwise in a confined space.

Finally, powerline adapters still have to connect to your computer with an Ethernet cord. If your computer is not already near a power outlet with a free socket you may need to re-arrange your furniture or simply deal with having an Ethernet cord visible.

Conclusion

Those minor problems aside, powerline networking is an incredible solution. I personally use it for all the desktop computers in my home, and I would never go back to wireless. Powerline networking combines the flexibility and simplicity of wireless with the performance of wired. You must check it out if you’re unhappy with wireless performance in your home.

For more information check out the MakeUseOf PDF Guide To Computer Networks.

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With a selection of children’s toys, Sophos security experts demonstrate how it can monitor your website and warn you if hackers have planted viruses or Trojan horses on your website. Learn more at www.sophos.com

This is about all i could scrounge up for info on the ending. Its not fully explained but it should help ua bit. READ: i did not make this game, i did not publish this game i dont have anything to do with this game and i defenetly dont own any of the rights to this game. All rights to Ubisoft. Song: Underoath – Some seek Forgiveness, Others Escape.

There is a difference between the adware and the spyware, even they are so much alike. I think the similarities out weighs the disparities, they are similar in so many ways that it seems to many that the adware and spyware are the same. The truth is that the adware is different from the spyware though the two go hand in hand. The major difference exist in their functions, but the way they operate are so much alike, so, it will be right to say that they are alike and that they are different, which ever way you think of it you can be right.

The adware is a software program that supports advertisements on the internet. Software developers create these programs and attaching it with other software applications, most of which are free versions of application, when downloaded, the adware get into the system to display different adverts whenever the application is used or whenever the user may browse the web. The adware creates a connection link between the internet advertisement company and the computer system, transfering information to and from the system.

One the other hand, the spyware is also a software program designed mainly to spy the activities of the computer user, this program is installed to the computer unknown to the user of the user, most times they may ask you to click on a particular link to get something free, and once you do that a spyware is loaded into your system unknown to you, sometimes the software forces its way into your system, making it so hard to detect its presence in your system.

What tasks does the adware perform once it gets into your system? It makes sure it brings up different adverts as programmed by the advertisement company. This can become very irritating if you are busy trying to perform some serious tasks on the internet, you see several unending adverts interrupting your work, making it difficult for you to concentrate; that is very distrubing if you ask me. I have noticed a better way they dothis thing recently, they just attach the adware with only one application and when you download the free software, the adverts come up only when you use that particular application and they are not so annoying in that case.

As for the spyware, no one knows when and how it gets into the system, it comes in through any available avenue, once it is in the system, it begins to monitor every operation caried out in the system, it spys all that the system does and how it is done, these facts ae recorded and used by its programmers for what ever reason they dim fit. Parents can use this to monitor the activites on their children computers, this is good because the children will not detect it and with this device they can actually control the browsing activities of their children, putting restriction or boundaries to the internet activities of their children. Employers can also use it to monitor and contorl the activities of employees on the computer through out the office.

The spyware can be a very useful software device if used for the right or legal purposes, it provides control and survelliance, making it easy to monitor the activities of individuals with the aim detecting crime and reducing it to the lowest minimal.

Adware and spyware has the similarity of exposing the private information in the computer system to its programmers and internet trackers and hackers, with these tracking of the user’s activities on the system is done. They are both powerful tracking devices.

Finally, to escape from these tracking and hacking software programs, you should install a blocking or removing software to rid your computer system of these menace.

If you have been using Facebook for any amount of time, you’ve probably noticed that when you post a link to a YouTube video, Facebook embeds the video into your update for you.  It also works on several other types of links such as MP3 files.  I post links to recordings sometimes and this comes in handy.

Ever since version 2.9, Wordpress has given users the ability to link from several services (such as Flickr and YouTube) and have the content automatically embedded without you having to grab a bunch of code.  Wordpress uses the oEmbed protocol to accomplish this.  You might be asking “so what is this oEmbed thing all about and how does it help a Wordpress user like me?”

What Is oEmbed for Wordpress?

oEmbed has been described several different ways.  The Wordpress Codex describes it this way:

…a protocol for site A (such as your blog) to ask site B (such as YouTube) for the HTML needed to embed content (such as a video) from site B.

oEmbed’s homepage also gives a description:

oEmbed is a format for allowing an embedded representation of a URL on third party sites. The simple API allows a website to display embedded content (such as photos or videos) when a user posts a link to that resource, without having to parse the resource directly.

So basically, oEmbed makes it possible for a webpage (ie. a Wordpress site) to turn a link into embedded media simply by sending a request to the originator of the media content (such as YouTube or Flickr) for the embed code.

OK, so what does all that mean to me as a Wordpress user?

How Does oEmbed Work With Wordpress?

If you remember my example at the beginning about how Facebook handles YouTube links, you will know how YouTube links work in Wordpress 2.9 and later.  You used to have to stop what you were doing, find the video to be embedded, and then find the embed code to paste into the HTML version of the post you were working on.

This process worked fine but now things are easier because of oEmbed.  Now, just grab the link.  There are two ways of using the link.  Allow me to demonstrate how it works using my own Wordpress site.

• Grab the link from the YouTube page.

• Paste the link on its own line.

• This is what you’ll see.

• Or you can use a short code and type something similar to this and have some flexibility with formatting:

• This example would look like this:

In basic terms that is what oEmbed is and how it works with Wordpress.  Wordpress does not allow use of just any old URL with oEmbed for security reasons.  There is a list of accepted sites on the Wordpress Codex page about embeds.  It should also be mentioned that you can add more sites.  This process should be left for another article to cover.

Wordpress seems to be on a never ending journey to make our lives easier.  This embedding ability is just another small example.   What Wordpress feature do you like that makes your life easier?   Have you tried oEmbed?

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Like most modern operating systems, Windows can run many programs at the same time. Still, unless your computer has several processors, it can only perform one task at a time. To solve this problem Windows switches rapidly between all running programs, creating the illusion of all programs running in parallel. If you have ever experienced a crash, however, you probably know that as soon as the switching stops working, all programs simply stop working. This is because the processor gets locked up in one process and stays there.

What is a Process?

While the word “program” refers to the executable code (the exe file, for example), a process is a program that is being executed. When you start a program in Windows, the executable will be loaded into RAM. Windows will then add the new process to its internal process list and make sure the process receives some CPU time as well as memory and other resources. A process can then request any amount of resources from Windows as long as there are resources left. Windows keeps track of which processes are using which resources. As soon as a process is closed or terminated, all resources used by that process will be returned to Windows and will then be handed out to other processes. Unlike memory and similar resources, CPU time cannot simply be requested but is instead shared equally between processes. A process can also return the CPU to Windows before the assigned time slice ends. This is actually what happens most of the time and is the reason why your CPU usage is not always at 100 %.

Terminating Processes to Free Up Resources

Whenever a process is terminated by the user, all resources used by that process will be released and become available to other processes. If you are running ten processes on your system, each process might get only 10% of the total hardware resources. If you have a 1 GHz processor and 64 MB RAM, for example, each process might get CPU and memory resources corresponding to a 100 MHz CPU and 6.4 MB of RAM. This example is, of course, greatly simplified, and in reality some processes use many more resources than others. Still, because many users are running 50 processes or more, the amount of resources available to a game or an mp3 player can be considerably smaller than the total hardware resources. What can we do about this problem? As it turns out, there is actually a rather simple solution. Terminate!

Using the Windows Task Manager

If you are lucky enough to be running Windows 2000 or Windows XP, terminating processes can be done with the built-in Task Manager. Although you can only terminate one process at a time and have to guess which processes are important and which ones are just wasting resources, the Windows 2000 Task Manager allows you to terminate almost all processes including the invisible ones running in the background. If you are running Windows 98 or Me, however, the CTRL + ALT + DEL screen will only list visible processes; and terminating then often takes minutes. What you really need for this strategy to be efficient is a new Task Manager.

Even if you know exactly which programs are installed on your computer, you can’t be sure it hasn’t got any malware. When your PC is infected, it might start acting weird, slow down, display pop-ups, etc. Or it might not. Malware will just run different processes in the background and you will never have a clue until something terrible happens. Like all your passwords, bank details and other personal information getting stolen.

Replacing The Windows Task Manager

WinTasks from LIUtilities is an easy-to-use task manager that replaces the built-in Task Managers in both Windows 98 and Windows 2000 or XP. Instead of listing processes with the names iexplore.exe, msimn.exe or explorer.exe, WinTasks shows processes with their real names like Internet Explorer, Outlook Express or Program Manager. Not only will this help you decide which processes can be terminated safely, but it will also help you identify unwanted background processes quickly and easily. WinTasks also includes detailed descriptions of all common Windows processes, making it easier than ever before to clean up your system and optimize the use of valuable hardware resources. Apart from user-friendly names and descriptions, WinTasks shows you in real time how your resources are being used and can help you find and eliminate resources problems within seconds. The built-in process statistics and process scripting language can also be used to automatically optimize your system for maximum performance. How about a script that automatically terminates unnecessary processes and frees up resources whenever a demanding application is started? Thanks to the detailed process statistics and logs, you can even go back and inspect the resource usage on your computer during the last 24 hours.

Visit pcwizkid.blogspot.com for more tips The Task Manager in Vista and XP provides detailed information about computer performance , specifically CPU usage, commit charge and memory information. Video notes: If the Total Commit Charge exceeds the Total Physical Memory, you probably need more RAM. When the Commit Charge is regularly higher than the Physical Memory available, it means that you have to regularly use a Page File, which may slow down your system down if its old. Buy more RAM in that case. If the Peak Commit Charge is frequently at or near the Limit Commit Charge, you need to increase your memory. When this occurs, it means that your PC is frequently out of memory or close to being out of memory. Either add RAM or increase your Page File size. Check the PF (pagefile Usage) make sure its not in the red, if so increase it as mentioned in my previous video here: www.youtube.com

pcanswers magazine Editor Christian Hall takes you through the impressive new features of the soon to be released Windows 7. This is the actual commercial version of Windows 7, provided by Microsoft themeselves.