Installing an "Old" Printer in Vista

I have a couple of questions for you today! Have you ever tried connecting your old printer to your new Windows Vista computer? Ever had to face a "PCL6 Driver Not Compatible" error message in Vista? If so, read on, because I have some good news for you!

When installing your still functional legacy printer (like the NEC SuperScript 1450, for example) onto your new computer system with Windows Vista, immediately, you'll be struck with an incompatibility issue. An error message like this will probably pop up on your screen: “PCL6 driver was not compatible with a policy enabled on your computer.” After getting that error message, you're basically unable to use your old printer. But, like I said before, there's a quick relief. Here's what you can do:

The error message clearly says there's a problem with the policy. Hence, when the same policy is changed, you'll be able to get your printer up and running. All you have to do is this:

1. Go to Start.
2. Type in “gpedit.msc” (without the quotes) and then hit Enter. That will launch the Group Policy Object Editor.
3. Under the Computer Configuration section, double click on Administrative Templates and then select Printers.
   
4. In the right pane, find the policy named "Disallow Installation of Printers Using Kernel-mode Drivers" and double click on it.
   
5. Set its status to Disabled.

By disabling the disallow policy, you enable the use of kernel-mode drivers, which is what you need to be able to use your old printer. When you're finished, click OK to close the Group Policy Editor. You'll then need to reboot your computer for everything to take effect. That's all you have to do. Now, you can enjoy your favorite printer with your new Windows Vista computer. Yes!

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Print Your Hardware

Have you ever wondered what all your computer has in terms of hardware? I'm talking about everything from the motherboard to ports to controllers to drives and every other resource your computer uses to help you get your work done. Well, if you have ever wished that you could have a compiled list of this information, today is your lucky day. That's exactly what I'm going to show you!

It's very easy to print out a list of your hardware right through your computer's Device Manager (which is the utility that holds all of the information about the devices, etc. on your computer). To open the Device Manager, right click on the My Computer icon on your desktop and choose Properties. From there, click on the Hardware tab and then hit the Device Manager button. You will then see a list of all the services on your system. Now, you must click on one of the items so it is highlighted. Then go up to the Action menu and hit Print.

When the print job is done, you will probably have at least two pages, if not more, worth of listings for your computer's hardware information. Depending on your computer, you will probably have a list of your hardware, then a memory summary, a port summary, a system summary and a disk drive summary. Once you're done looking over everything, make sure you keep it in case you ever want to refer back to it. You also might want to do a print out of this every so often, just so you will have an updated list. Neato!

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Clean Your RAM and Get Some Speed

Here's an old trick that may help some of you who do not have that much RAM. You may have noticed that your PC gets slower and slower when you do a lot of things with it like playing games, then using different applications.

The reason for the slowdown is that your RAM is full of remaining progress pieces you do not need any more. You need to free it to gain some speed. Here's a simple trick to do it : open Notepad and type FreeMem=Space(128000000).

Save it as RAMcleaner.vbs then run it. It could could free up some RAM. You can edit the code to have a better cleaning power. You can type FreeMem=Space(256000000) and see the result.

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What is RAM

Computer Memory - Laptop Computer Memory - Memory Upgrade - Memory Upgrades - RAM Memory
RAM stands for Random Access Memory. Actually the main memory or primary storage is referred to as RAM. It consists of memory chips that can be read from and writtern to by the processor. When the computer is powered on, certain operating system files load into RAM from the storage device such as a hard disk. Then operating system remains in RAM as long as the computer has continuous power.

The control unit performs the following functions for main memory.

* Stores the data and instructions (entered from input unit) into the RAM (or main memory).
* Provides the data and instructions from main memory to other parts of the computer.
* Stores the processed results back into the RAM (or main memory).



The RAM plays very important role in data processing. The program and the data must be transferred to RAM before to run the program to process the data. The processor processes the data according to the program instructions by fetching the data and instructions from the RAM. The processor interprets and executes the program instructions while the program is in RAM. During this time the content of RAM may change. RAM can hold multiple programs simultaneously, provided the computer has enough RAM to accommodate all the programs. The program with which you are working usually is displayed on the screen. In Windows environment you can switch from one program to another.



The storage capcity of RAM or main memory is measured in bytes. A byte is a group of 8-bits. One character takes one byte of memory. The amount of data and program size are also measured in bytes.

1 Byte = 8-Bits
1 Kilo Byte = 1024 Bytes
1 Mega Byte = 1024 Kilo Bytes
1 Giga Byte = 1024 Mega Bytes
1 Tera Byte = 1024 Giga Bytes

The large RAM size increases the accessing speed of the computer. RAM plays an integral part in the internal operation of processor. Microcomputers come with different amounts of RAMs which are from 128MB to 2GB. Advertisements normally list the type of processor, the clock speed of the processor and the amount of RAM in the computer. More RAM means the computer can use powerful program with large size. It also improves the data processing speed of the computer.

Memory Module

RAM chip is smaller in size than the processor chip. A RAM consists of more than one chips. RAM chips usually reside on a memory module which is a small circuit board. Memory slots on the motherboard hold memory modules. There are three types of memory modules. There are:

SIMM SIMM stands for Single Inline Memory Module. It has pins of opposite sides of the circuit board that connect together to form a single set of contacts. A SIMM has RAM chips on only one side. Each SIMM can hold 4 MB to 128MB RAM.
DIMM DIMM stands for Dual Inline Memory Module. It has pins on opposite side of the circuit board that does not connect and thus form two sets of contacts. SIMM and DIMM hold the SDRAM chips. A DIMM has RAM chips on both sides.
RIMM

RIMM stands for Rambus Inline Memory Module. It holds the RDRAM chips.

The RAM is further divided into:

1. DRAM
2. SRAM

1. DRAM

DRAM stands for Dynamic Random Access Memory. DRAM is the most common type of RAM used to store data & instructions. In order to maintain data in DRAM chip, the chip is refreshed frequently (hundreds of time a second), otherwise data may be lost. During the refreshing process the CPU has to wait to read & write data in DRAM. It is because DRAM decreases the processing speed of the computer.

Today many DRAM chips exists and most of which are faster than the basic DRAM. The most important are:

SDRAM

SDRAM stands for Synchronous Dynamic RAM. SDRAM are much faster than basic DRAM chips because they are synchronized to the system clock. Often in computer ads, the speed of SDRAM is expressed in megahertz (MHz).

RDRAM

RMRAM stands for Rambus Dynamic RAM. It is faster and more expensive than SDRAM because it uses pipelining technique. It is used in Intel P4. Today most of PCs use SDRAM or RDRAM.

2. SRAM

SRAM stands for Static Random Access Memory. It is faster than DRAM because it does not have to be refreshed frequently and the CPU has not to wait to read & write data. SRAM chips however are more expensive than DRAM chips. Special applications such as cache use SRAM chips.

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USB Flash Drive Operating Systems

Did you know that you could get an entire operating system on a flash USB drive? Most firmware in modern PCs allows booting from these drives. That means that a bootable flash drive could allow you to launch an operating system, this is commonly called Live USB and applies mostly to Linux operating systems. However, there is a MS Windows version available and some versions of BSD are also available on flash USBs.

Live USBs are good special purpose or brief tasks like doing an operating system install or disk cloning operation across a network, loading a minimal kernel for embedded operations and maintenance tasks.

A properly configured Windows USB flash drive will allow you to install a version of Windows XP on a drive, with extra software if there’s space. To do this, a special utility is required, as well as a fairly large drive. You will end up with a portable, compact emergency version of your operating system.

Live USBs are more commonly used by Linux operating systems, and are closely related to the now-common live CDs. Like CDs, USBs can be used to help test a distribution, recover data and many other tasks. Live USBs have many of the same limitations and benefits of a live CD. It is, however, easier for a live USB’s data to be changed, since CDs are usually permanently written. That makes it easier to use a live USB as personal storage, allowing a user to carry their preferred applications, operating system and configuration. Sharing a single system between multiple users is much easier in this case.

Live USBs can also provide extra privacy, since the USB device is carried by the user and storage in a safe location is easy. However, the small size of these devices also means that they are easily lost and stolen; making backups and encryption more important for USB flash drive operating systems than normal desktop operating systems.

Since USB drives have no moving parts, they are able to have a faster seek time than optical media and hard drives, this means small programs start faster from USB flash drives than from a live CD or hard disk. However, the low data transfer speeds of some USB devices can make booting from them very slow. In addition, older computers may not have a BIOS that supports booting from USB devices. Booting an operating system from a USB drive may slightly reduce the life of the flash drive.

Carrying your own personal operating system in your pocket can be extremely useful for travellers or people using shared computers. Some sites offer tutorials on simplified flash drive installation for many different distributions of Linux (which is the most popular OS for this purpose). These tutorials mean it is much easier to install, boot and run your preferred distribution, with all your settings and files, from a very small drive. Just be sure you have a large enough drive and that you are using it in a computer capable of booting from the USB port.

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PCMCIA-PC Cards - The Necessary Facts

The term PCMCIA in fact refers to the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association, the governing body that oversees the development of the device. However, PCMCIA and PC Cards are used to refer to the devices themselves and the term has become interchangeable.

As laptop and notebook computers gained popularity and widespread use, it became necessary to develop a means to connect them with other peripherals, as is usually done with desktop computers.

PCMCIA and PC Card

Given the wide array of manufacturers, both of notebook computers and peripherals, this hardware was established to make sure that a single interface be created that was compatible with both. This led to the creation of the first PCMCIA or PC Card in 1990.
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The Rapid Emergence of USB Memory Sticks

The rapid emergence of USB memory sticks has taken the market by surprise. The technology and flexibility of the USB portable devices is increasing on a massive scale. Approximately 116 million of these devices were shipped by manufacturers in 2006. This is an increase of over 25 percent from the preceding year. In 2007, experts predicted the sales of removable memory sticks to increase by almost 300 percent.

Such whopping statistics provide a clear indication towards a recent trend to a much more faster and flexible solution than a floppy disk or compact disc solutions. It is believed that only ten percent of the users utilized their floppy disks, in 2003. Five years onwards, looking beyond 2008, we can safely assume the demise of the floppy disks, forever. Still, industry experts believe that a USB memory stick has a long way to go.
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11 Nov The Simple Steps to Online Hard Drive Backup

Ensuring you have a second copy of all your important files, documents, videos, photos etc. is a must for any computer user. Backups shouldn’t just be thought of for businesses, they are just as important to personal computers at home especially if they hold precious family memories in the form of videos and photos that could never be created again if lost.

In this article I want to explain just how easy it is to backup the hard drive in your personal computer online using one of the many online backup services. The whole process shouldn’t take any longer then 15 minutes to setup and then it’s an automated system from their forward.

So Let’s get started.
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How to Install a Hard Drive

DECIDING ON A NEW HARD DRIVE

Installing a new hard drive is a pretty simple task and the actual install only takes a few minutes to complete. The first thing to be done in this process is purchase the new hard drive and make sure that it is compatible with your system this can be done by consulting your motherboard manual and your operating systems guidelines on what hard drives are compatible. You then must decide what storage capacity your new drive must have and any other factors including price you feel you should be taken into consideration when making the purchase.

PEPARING FOR THE INSTALL

Once you have purchased your new hard drive it is time to prepare for the install. I recommend first installing any software that came with your drive. Once this is accomplished it is time to think about safety. First power off the machine (I also recommend unplugging the tower from the power source.) Now remove the cover so that you can access the inside of your system. Usually it only takes the removal of a few screws and then lifting off the side panel to open the unit, however some machines differ from this rule and you may even need to remove a front portion in order to open the case. Either way once the case is open attach your antistatic bracelet if you have one if not continuously touch the metal outside edges of the case to expel any built up static electricity. This will prevent any sensitive components inside your machine from being damaged.
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