How to Clean a Radeon HD2600 Pro Video Card Fan

Video cards are what powers our games in our PC. They sit on the motherboard working itself off to render feature rich content in games and in videos. These cards eat up so much power that some video cards needs to be supplied separately with power from the power supply. Video cards need to be cooled by either a heat sink or a fanned cooler.

In our example; the Radeon HD2600Pro from Tul Corp., has a fan cooler as the cooling for the video card. The fan cools the video card by forcing in air to cool the card. In this process, dust gets accumulated in between the moving parts thus hindering the fan from working. When the fan stops, cool air will not flow over the heat sink and will cause major damage to the card when operating.

To prevent damage, we will need to clean the cooler of this video card. The steps are:

1. The first step is to remove the video card from the motherboard so that the fan can be taken apart and cleaned. Be sure to unplug your computer before doing so and be really careful when detaching the video card from the motherboard to prevent damage to the card and to the motherboard. When the video card has been removed, place it on top of a clean surface.

2. After removing the video card from the motherboard, we then take it apart by first unscrewing the three(3) screws that holds it on the metal heat sink. Be sure to unscrew carefully to prevent any damage to the fan and its small plastic fan blades.

3. After all the screws are out, take out the stopper. This is a small piece of rubber that holds the wire of the fan neatly in place on the heat sink.

4. Unplug the fan by gently pulling it out of the socket. Now, you have all the main parts separated ready to be cleaned by hand. Do not try to remove the heat sink, the big piece of metal, from the video card to prevent the thermal gel from being rubbed off unless you happen to have a tube of thermal gel lying around then you can clean the whole sink and place it back on top of the processor but don't forget to apply thermal gel on the processor before putting the heat sink back on top.

5. Start cleaning the heat sink by using a clean brush to sweep of the dust that has accumulated on the heat sink. Also brush in between of the fans's fan blades.

6. You will also need to oil the motor of the fan to give it lubrication for the fan to start working again and turn effortlessly. You can also use oil to protect the heat sink against rust and to wipe the card clean. Turn the motor to check if it is lubricated and that it turns effortlessly.

7. After everything is done, put it all back together starting with fan and by putting it back into the computer. Be careful in using screw drivers as this may scratch the delicate surface of your video card.

8. Place it back into the PCI Express Slot and plug-in your computer. Before closing the computer case, see if the small fane is working fine and that it is turning correctly.

Computer cleaning is quite easy especially with all instructions found on the internet. I do hope that you will find this post very informative.

Must-do when Formatting the Computer to a fresh Operating System

When your computer dies from being infected with a virus or you just want to upgrade your operating system to a newer version, re-formatting would be the only option for you.

Formatting a computer is different from formatting a hard-drive or a removable disk. It takes time and a whole lot of patience to achieve. I wrote this blog to show some of the things you would want encounter when re-formatting a computer. It might not show steps on how to re-format but readers would surely see how hard it is to format a computer. It ain't a pleasant activity to do and may involve coffee and a good comfortable chair. You would also want to prepare a separate music player and a television set with cable while your at it. A thorough formatting process may a whole day or half so be really really patient and be sure your schedule is free for at least a day. Get some sleep. You would want to fight sleep because if you sleep through the formatting process, formatting will take even longer if your don't respond to the instructions needed from the you.

1) The back-up: Data that are important needs to be backed-up to an external drive, to a separate drive in your computer or you could write it in a DVD. You would not want these data to be deleted in the formatting your computer. Data such as pictures, documents and music for me is the important files. Theres is no need to copy programs that are installed in your old operating system because after formatting you cannot use these programs unless your re-install them over again in your new operating system. What you would want is to copy the installers of these programs. Don't copy the folder of the installed program but the installer if you kept the installer for safe keeping.

2) The compatibility test: When you're planning on an upgrade(ex. from Windows XP to Vista), it it always advised to check your hardware for compatibility. Before you even start to think of buying a new version of windows, be sure your hardware can bear the additional requirements of the new operating system. A newer Operating System will always need more resources than previous version. Newer operating system will also need new drivers for your hardware, so be sure to check if drivers are available when your upgrade.

3) The Boot-up: Formatting will require you to boot from a boot-up disk. A boot-up sequence is the first set of instructions a computer runs after being switched on. We wouldn't want to boot to the previous version of windows in the hard-disk but we want to boot from the CD or DVD of the operating system that we would want to load. We can do this by pressing the "F8" key just after switching on the computer and by selecting the Optical drive from which we loaded our boot-up disk. If this fails because some motherboard don't have this feature, you could always go to the BIOS set-up and configure the boot priorities there. Set your Optical drive as the primary boot and second, your hard-disk.

4) The step-by-step Instruction Process: After your computer boots up from the optical drive of your installer's CD or DVD, a series of instructions are shown. These are all in simple, easy to follow instructions in what to do during the formatting process. Formatting doesn't involve a one-push of a button step but has a lot of step-by-step instructions for you so be patient and follow instructions properly.

5) The Restart: During the Formatting process, the computer goes into several restarts so don't think that something has gone wrong during the reformatting process. It just does that. Oh, and don't boot from the optical drive the second time or it will take you back to step one of your formatting process.

6) The User Input: After formatting is done, the computer needs a user so be sure to supply a proper user name for the computer. Your computer will also need a name so give it a cool one. A password is also very important to keep unwanted users from using your computer without you around.

7) The Activation: When you install an Operating System such as Windows Vista and Windows 7, it requires an internet connection to be activated. The new operating system will need to be activated before all of it's features can be used so be sure to activate it in the alloted time. A warning message does pop-out once and a while so pay attention and don't forget to activate. When you do forget to activate, then it's back to square one. Forgetting to activate Windows will lock your computer and prevents you from further using your computer so be sure to activate. (Oh and did I mention you need a valid activation key for this? heheh! so unless you bought your operating system from a pirated seller, then be sure you have a valid key)

8) The Drivers: No, these drivers don't drive jeepneys and buses but these drivers are what an operating system needs in-order to communicate with hardware. Software goes hand-in-hand with hardware and comes unique with each other. A video-card needs a driver which is different from the driver that is also needed by a sound-card. Its these drivers that communicate with the hardware to be able to function and work with your Operating System. As I have mention earlier, be sure to check if drivers are readily available before formatting your computer. If these drivers are not installed, your hardware will not work and you cannot use them.

9) The Software(essentials): The last thing you must do in formatting a computer is installing the necessary software for your computer. Software such as anti-virus software, office programs and your games(i had to include games). You would also want to restore your backed-up data to your new operating system but be sure to update your anti-virus first before you even start plugging in your external drives.

10) Update: Software installed in your computer, even the operating system, needs to be updated. Connect to the internet and download patches and updates for your software. Software companies will give out patches and update in their websites so be sure to check them out and download latest updates from them. Updates for the operating system is also needed to help you fight against vulnerabilities in your operating system. When you have a slow internet connection, you could always leave your computer turned-on for the night to finish with all the updates. An updated computer runs faster and safer from viruses.

3D Renders on 3DS Max

Extend your Nokia Nseries' Battery Life

If you want to extend the battery life of your Nokia Nseries Phone, then these tips will help you.

1. Disable auto WLAN searching by going to Settings>Connection>Wireless LAN and set the "Show WLAn availability" to NEVER.

2. Set your network mode to GSM by going to Setting>Phone>Network and set network mode to GSM.

3. Lower your light sensor power saver time-out and light time-out by going to Settings>General>Personalization>Display ang lower the slider of the light sensor and the time-out for power-saver and backlight.

4. Disable vibrating alert and ringtone by going to Settings>General>Personalization>Tones and set Ringing tone, Message alert tone, and vibrate alert to "Off"

5. When you don't have any important calls waiting or any important messages to receive, you could always set your mobile phone to offline mode by pressing the power button and selecting offline mode.

6. Turn-Off your bluetooth or Infrared when not in use.

Upload and Share Photos for Free with Nokia OVI on Globe Prepaid

If you happen to be a resident of the Philippines and you are a Globe Prepaid Subscriber, then you would want to try out sharing your photos from your mobile with Nokia OVI.

Nokia OVI comes with every Nokia Nseries camera phones sold in the Philippines. Its a sharing application that lets you upload and share your mobile photos with ease directly to the web.

To use the service, you need to create an account at OVI. When you have created an account, activate OVI on your Nokia device and then you'r ready to upload.

When you want to upload an image, go to your gallery and choose a picture to upload. Click on the post to OVI by Nokia, usually with the globe icon with an arrow pointing up. The upload will then begin and will prompt you when the upload is done. You can only upload one photo at a time on the gallery. If you want to post multiple photos at a time, go to the sharing application and post multiple photos at a time.

Sharing Photos is easier this way because contacts can view photos online. You don't have to worry about spending too much prepaid load because, in my experience, its a free service when you only have one peso load. Family and friends from around the world could view your photos instantly on the web when using embedable links availabe at nokia OVI. Post shared photos into your social sites with ease and let loved ones see your smiles in an instant with Nokia OVI.

A treat for Globe Prepaid subscribers with Nokia handsets

I have been a Globe Prepaid subscriber ever since I owned my very first cell phone way back when I was still in high school. I’ve been enjoying services that most people don’t even use which are incorporated into their mobiles so I think it is about time I share some of the cool things about being a Globe Prepaid subscriber. These are:


1. Free High-Speed Internet for the first 48 hours (2 days) of buying a new mobile phone.
After buying a new mobile phone, preferably an HSDPA enabled mobile phone, you could enjoy using Globe’s High Speed Internet free for the next 48 hours of activation of your SIM. You can stream videos, listen to podcasts and even connect your mobile to your PC or laptop and enjoy high speed internet surfing.

2. Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Web Search and Yahoo Image Search.
Why not access Yahoo Mail straight from your mobile. With Nokia’s Settings Wizard, enable your phone to connect to your Yahoo Mail and read emails on the Go. It’s fast and easy and very convenient for you on-the-go kind of persons. Yahoo Services such as web search and image search are free but when you access the external links you will then be charged accordingly. Wikipedia is also free for those of you who want easy information.

3. flickr
Flickr is a cool image sharing site. Capture pictures with your mobile phone and upload them directly to your flickr account if your even have one. Share moments easily on flickr provided you sign-up and enable the service on your mobile.

4. OVI
OVI is another cool sharing service exclusively for Nokia users. OVI is much more versatile compared to flickr which allows for image, audio and video uploads for sharing instantly with contacts and on the web. Upload videos to OVI and share them with contacts. You could even see your contact’s uploads right on your mobile for free.

5. Pre-paid Internet
When on the go and you would really want to access the internet, you can do so with Globe. Globe Prepaid handsets with internet access will allow you for kilobyte charging or per-minute charging as well. I’d prefer the per-minute charging which costs five pesos/15 minute browsing. For faster speeds, an HSDPA handset is recommended. You could even connect your mobile to a compatible computer and browse the net through Globe’s Internet Service.

So for those of you reading this page, I hope you would enjoy these services as well. Features in your mobile phones will never be useless ever again.

Arroyo's 9th SONA

The time had finally come for Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s 9th SONA or State of the Nation Address which highlighted the achievements of the president to her country.

Today, June 27, 2009, the president delivered her speech despite failed uprisings, coups and the ever popular issue on charter change (CHA-CHA). Arroyo’s 9th SONA highlights her achievements in infrastructure though were again deeply disturbed by yet again another issue on contract deals with her husband, First Gentleman Mike Arroyo. Her SONA was plagued even more with the issue on charter change because of her 9 years as president, people are getting worried about her intentions of extending her presidency. Gloria Arroyo’s 9th SONA, does not, however, address the issues on corruption in her Government though people would really want to hear about the issues plaguing her leadership. Her husband, too, was included in the list of persons who have made controversial deals and corruption in the government. The failed uprisings were also signs of a poorly run government of Arroyo. Issues such as corruption and other things other than infrastructure must have been emphasized in the speech. She could have included the things done by her governance to solve the corruption. If issues such as these are not dealt, then surely people are not happy.

The joined protests from around the country are signs that her people needed more answers not only good news from her about the real state of our country. They greeted Arroyo’s 9th SONA with protest only because she had not been running the country to her people’s satisfaction. The people needed more answers on corruption and her stand about extending her term as president because rumors have been circulating and it must have been ended with her speech. People doubt of a hand-over of government. It is even more heightened because of Malacañang’s statements and a pre-release of the SONA on about constitutional change.

Her 9th SONA is about an end, a transition of power and a SONA that the people would remember as an end of a term of yet another president of the country. Her achievements would have been great if not for all of the accusations, controversies and other plagues in her rule. If yet another SONA from her would come then the people would be very unhappy because the rumored plan of extending her term would have been true. Everyone is anxious before her SONA and now that it is over, we still should not rest and be vigilant. We are still not sure of an election this coming MAY of 2010 because of such an issue of charter-change which is a troubling news coupled with her, hopefully, last SONA.

Though it seems to say, her Presidency, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s 9th SONA ended with yet again, another unanswered issue which everyone had wanted to clear up which is the issue on extending her term as president. Another thing that bothered me was her statement that she is stepping off but not as president of the country. There are still doubts of an impending extension of term of Arroyo.

3ds Max Hands-on

If you're into 3d design, then you'd love to get your hands dirty with Autodesk 3ds Max.

It is a cool software lets you create stunning 3d models in less time and effort. The software is for stunning 3d visuals for games, film and video content creation.

This application does, however, take up lots of resources so be sure you have enough.

A 64bit Operating system, such as Windows 7 x64, is greatly beneficial since the application is 64bit Optimized meaning you have a slight increase in speed when rendering compared to a 32bit Operating system.

So be sure to get your hands on this cool software from Autodesk if you are into 3d graphics or if you just want to have fun. There are loads of tutorials on the web to give you a head start if you are a beginner like me.

Below is a picture of my first fully-rendered image of my name in glass blocks which took me 30 minutes to render and 2 hours to set-up since I am beginner.

FAST

Think about it!

Boot up time of less than 30 seconds.

I noticed that during cold weather, my computer boots up in less than 30 seconds.

I pressed the power button and was so shocked to see the windows desktop loaded in just seconds.

I did not expect it was even possible but my pc boots up in less than 30 seconds. AMAZING!…

It is a known fact that the cooler your PC is, the better it performs. That is why when the weather was cold, boot up took more or less 30 seconds.

High Speed Internet Using your Nokia Nseries

Just recently, Pre-paid internet became popular. These small, USB devices plug directly into your laptop and viola, high-speed internet access. Its very easy to use because you just plug it in and your ready to surf the net.

These devices makes use of the newest Third-Generation network interface for mobile devices or 3G to achieve impressive speeds that are sometimes faster than broadband internet. Some carriers claim up to 3Mbps speeds which is way faster than your average 384Kbps broadband at home. Philippine carriers such as Smart have their Smart Prepaid kits that cost Php 1,995 pesos and Globe Telecommunications have their Globe Tattoo Prepaid that shows of stylish USB internet devices. They may be different on the outside and works on different carriers but they all have one function and that is to connect to the internet wirelessly. But buying these devices can cost you Php1,995 pesos.

What if you have a 3G phone that happens to by lying around the house, or you do have one in your pocket. Nokia Nseries cell phones are examples of these, preferably models that have a highspeed data packet access feature such as the N82 and N95 and newer models.

With these devices, you too can experience the fast internet access right on the device or feed that speed into your laptop using the included USB data cable for you cell phone. You do need to have pre-paid load before you can attempt to even use the service otherwise the web pages would not load at all.

The network interface that powers those fancy USB internet devices that plug right into your laptops and PC's are the same as the Newtork Interface that is on your cell phones. You don't need to purchase the plug-its but instead, you could use the money to pay for the pre-paid load. You might get carried away and use the service more and more because you might notice a faster connection especially with the N95, n82 and other high speed data packet access capable models when within 3G covered areas.

Setting up is relatively easy. You just;
1. Set-up your mobile for internet access. You can do these using the settings wizard on your Nseries or by calling you customer service and asking for your phone's settings.
2. Install software. Nokia comes with an installer CD that has the Nokia PC Suite.
3. Get-connected. Plug your mobile to your PC or laptop via the included USB data cable from your Nseries phone and use the PC suite option that appears every time you connect your cellphone to your computer.
3. Load up. Be sure you have prepaid load for your service. )15 minutes of internet airtime costs 5 pesos for Globe users.)
4. Connect to the network. Using the Connect to the Internet option on the Nokia PC Suite software, connect to your network. Follow the instructions and select your country and your mobile carrier.
5. Start browsing. When a connection has been established, you are ready for browsing using Internet Explorer or Firefox. When your pre-paid load is all out, pages will not load so you will need to load to continue browsing.

It is that easy. No need to buy fancy plug-its to be able to use the fast internet access offered by our mobile carriers. But if you have the money then go ahead. These fancy plug-its are cool and are good for hanging around your neck as necklaces. (Globe Tattoo Prepaid in particular)

Nokia Nseries Cellphones Hard and Soft Reset Techniques

Got problems with your Nokia Nseries Mobile Phone? I have got one solution to your problem, which is the Nokia Nseries Reset.


Problems from Nokia's mobile phone might be in the form of low memory, failed boot, virus infection or software errors.


To fix problems like these, a reset can be done by you without the expensive trips to cell phone doctors who charge you for repairing your phone for you. It is not a good idea to go to them for assistance right away for cell phone troubles like the ones I have just enumerated. When a reset is not successful, then that is the time to go to them for repairs.


The first reset technique is the Soft Reset which is a reset that can be done when you go to tools > general > factory settings option in your Nseries Menu. The sort-cut to this is by dialling *#7370#. This reset does work on other Nokia models so it is also a worth to try whenever you are having troubles with you Nokia cell phone. This reset will delete all of your contacts, notes, messages and everything stored in your phone memory so be sure to back up everything before you reset your phone. It does not, however, delete viruses running in the cell phone's memory card, if ever you have one. This reset is only possible when you can boot up your cell phone correctly. But when boot up is not possible you can try the next technique.


The next and the final and most effective reset technique for your Nseries Mobile device is the Hard Reset. A hard reset is effective at removing everything in the phone's memory. It is the most effective reset you could ever do whenever a virus infects your phone and prevents it from booting up. To do a hard reset there are two easy steps; 1) turn of your cell phone, 2) power on your cell phone while holding the asterisk (*) key, 3 and the answer key (green button) together (as shown below) until you see the Nokia Logo. You are done! You have a mobile that is as fast as the day you bought it.

GSM and UMTS

So you have a cell phone that has an option for GSM and UMTS but you don't know what to do with it. This page shows you little about what these two options in your phone are.

GSM or Global System for Mobile Communications is the most widely used network interface for cell phones in over 212 countries and territories. It had been used since 1991 and was by Radiolinja in Finland and was a joint technical infrastructure maintained from Ericsson. Over a million subscribers were then using GSM by the end of 1993 operated by 70 carriers across 48 countries. GSM works by searching for cellular networks in the vicinity or cells and connecting to it using radio signals. When a connection is established, users are then able to make calls and send text messages through it.

UMTS or Universal Mobile Telecommunications Network is built upon the concepts learned from GSM and is now operated by carriers worldwide, GLOBE, SMART, SUN Cellular, and Red Mobile included in our country. UMTS operates at newer frequencies that are capable of transmitting faster signals through and from cellular towers that are also supporting this new network interface. Faster data transmission allowed for newer mobile services such as video calling, email, and high-speed internet access that let you stream videos right to your mobile.

Although UMTS is relatively new and catchy, UMTS and GSM work hand in hand to bring the best in mobile phones. UMTS, however fast, is limited in coverage compared to GSM. But cell phones are set, by default, to use UMTS when available and switch to GSM when UMTS coverage is unavailable. But you can choose to use UMTS or GSM on your mobile.

Setting your phone to use UMTS is only useful when you are expecting a video call and you would not want your cell phone to switch to GSM by accident.

Another advantage of UMTS is that it does not disrupt other devices such as your computer monitor and speakers when you receive calls and messages. These disruptions are the annoying lines in the computer monitor and the unwanted sound in speakers whenever you make a call or send and receive text messages. These are caused by GSM radio signals that interfere with the operation of these devices. Since UMTS sends radio signals at a higher frequency, it does not disrupt other devices near it.

UMTS is 3G or Third-Generation standard while GSM is the 2G or Second-Generation. 3G shows up in the signal bar whenever we are connected in a 3G network. When we have 3G, we know we are connected to a faster network. We can send and receive emails faster and send text messages faster too without the annoying disruptions in speakers and in computer monitors. But when 3G is no covered, automatically, we are switched back to GSM when we have set our cell phone to Dual Mode which automatically switches our phone to either GSM or UMTS.

UMTS is available for most cell phones released after 2007 and is in every Nokia Nseries mobile phones.

64bit Operating Systems

With the demands of faster computing environments, 64bit compatible hardware and software are now possible for home computer usage. 64bit operating systems are also available for home use.

64bit computing is not new and has been around ever since the early 90's. They power supercomputers for the toughest of processes known to man back then. But since the demand for more powerful computers, 64bit computing has been offered to the masses with a range of 64bit ready hardware and software. Still, many use 32bit systems and have not moved to 64bit.

The key to a 64bit environment is in the CPU. A 64bit CPU handles 64 bits of data per clock cycle which is twice the data per clock cycle than a 32bit CPU. More processes per clock-cycle, more power. Another advantage of 64bit operating systems is in the amount of RAM (Random Access Memory) it can support. With a 32bit operating system, you are allowed up to 3 gigabytes of ram while a 64bit operating system can have more, about 16.8 million terabytes more RAM than the previous operating system. More RAM means faster application responses, more applications to be cached in RAM and lesser disk page-filing which is a function where data is written to the hard-disk for temporary storage.

Softwares such as CAD (Computer-Aided Design) applications are specifically targeted towards 64bit computing environment because of the extra performance it delivers when running these resource intensive applications. Games also benefit from the extra performance of 64bit systems to deliver realistic physics and more process to be run simultaneously for AI (Artificial Intelligence) to have realistic enemies in games. 64bit operating systems are also immune to certain viruses because 32bit applications are rarely supported in a 64bit operating system or would not actually run at all.

But do not be fooled. There are still factors to be considered such as the CPU's clock speed in Megahertz (MHz) which is the CPU's clock speed. Some of today's software is also designed to run in a 32bit system. Although some applications would run in a 64bit system, you would not see any difference in performance when you run it in a 32bit system. 64bit operating systems also require you to have 64bit hardware drivers for your keyboard, mouse, video-card, sound card and other hardware so be sure to download 64bit drivers before upgrading to a 64bit operating system. Application must also be optimized for a 64bit environment otherwise, it would not run fast or it would not run at all.

64bit computing isn't that new and is not that necessary of an upgrade. But for serious computer users like me, who use the computer for photo editing and CAD, it is best to take advantage of supercomputing power made for the desktop environment offered by 64bit Operating Systems and 64bit capable hardware and software.

Windows Vista Ready Boost to Improve Computer Speed

Does it bother you having a slow running windows vista environment and that you don’t have the money to buy addition RAM or Upgrade your system but you have a spare USB Flash disk around?

Well, you should try ready boost.

It is a very cool feature from windows vista that lets you use the extra space on your Flash Disk as RAM.

You probably think its a joke but it is true. In Fact, I am using it now.

You do have to have a USB 2.0 flashdisk so that you can enable this feature… The rest is just Plug and Play. So for Windows Vista Users, Its a must try feature for all of you.

Review on Windows 7 Release Candidte

One of the latest to come out from the line of Microsoft’s Operating Systems is Windows 7 or formerly codenamed as Blackcomb or Vienna. Windows 7 follows from its predecessor Windows Vista with aims to further increase compatibility with already compatible hardware in Windows Vista. Rumors also circulated that it was lighter on the hardware resources when compared to Windows Vista.

I got a firsthand copy from Microsoft’s own website that lets users download Windows 7 with its own serial number for evaluation purposes and here is what I experienced with the Operating System. It was an x64 copy of the Operating System since I had already installed a previous Windows Vista 64 on my desktop computer. After the download, I burned it into a DVD disk since the file was an image of the operating system that was 3.04 gigabytes in size.

1. The installer
The installer was the same as the previous version, Windows Vista. It had an option to upgrade or to install a fresh copy of the said operating system. You can either boot up using the disk or you can install it directly as an upgrade straight from the Windows Vista’s desktop. The upgrade was slow and tedious that took and estimated 3 hours of actual installation time. This is because I had already set-up numerous programs on my Windows Vista Operating System and I also have a lot of files in the My Documents folder. After installation was done, the usual activation takes place that needs an internet access to complete. When it was done, the desktop is already set-up. Since it was an upgrade, I no longer needed to add user accounts and I no longer needed to set-up the other programs. It was and easy upgrade.

2. Boot-up
Windows 7 boots up faster than Windows Vista. In fact it was an impressive boot. No more fancy moving boot-up screens. It was just a few seconds of black screen and you are done. But as I have noticed, Windows Vista loads the taskbar completely while Windows 7 doesn’t. It is observed that when you click the start button, or for Windows Vista and 7 is the Windows logo on the taskbar, you get a slight lag when the desktop is loaded and then you click it just after boot up.

3. User Interface
The look and feel is nothing different from Windows Vista with a slight change in the taskbar and the sidebar. The taskbar, by default, is now in the forms of buttons that when you hover over them, reveals previews of the windows that are on them. You can also pin and unpin programs onto the taskbar which is great from mostly used programs such as the Media Player and Internet Explorer. The sidebar is no longer called the sidebar and is no longer located on the side, as supposedly called the sidebar, but are now gadgets that sit anywhere on your desktop. The option for it can be found when you right click the desktop. The desktop also was redesigned to enable window snapping that lets you snap windows into place either in maximized window, or onto the side that lets you easily compare two windows at a time.

4. Taskbar
Another new innovation is the taskbar. It was redesigned to fit more applications at once. It was easy to navigate because windows can now be previewed as you hover over them in the taskbar. The windows are no longer placed as bars but as buttons that can be hovered onto to preview its content.

5. Personalization
The personalization option for the desktop and the over-all look for windows is also new. More colors and theme combinations are now possible with more sounds and more wallpapers to choose from. Dream Scenes were, however, discontinued with Windows 7 which is a big disappointment. But there is an option that lets you choose any picture to be as your wallpaper and have that change in time as you choose it to change. It fades into new wallpaper for every 10 minutes on my computer.

6. Hardware
This I didn’t like on this release of Windows. Drivers were still unsupported which is contradictory to their claim of having a Windows Operating system that was more compatible with hardware than Windows Vista. The sound driver that came with the operating system had to be set at 16bit to be able to get a clear sound. Playing games also proved to be of a disappointment since games lagged even more compared to Windows Vista. My scanner and cell phone was also not supported.

Over-all, Windows 7 release candidate was a big disappointment. Hardware is not yet fully supported by the release candidate. Games ran slower than Windows Vista and that after all of these, I could not downgrade to a previous version of Windows.

Make Blog Posting Easier with Microsoft Word

With the use of Microsoft Word 2003, blog posts to Blogger are even easier.


It is easy to set up. You just input your log-in credentials such as your user name and your password for blogger when the user interface asks you to.

You can find this option under NEW > Blog Post when you click the Microsoft Office logo in the top left corner of your Microsoft Word Window as shown :

Select the "New blog post" and click create.

Then you are presented with a clean page ready for your blogging hands to go through.

It is convenient to use Microsoft Word for blog posting because Word comes with all sorts of tools for your own use such as spelling and grammar checkers. It is fast and very easy to use because we have been using Microsoft Word for our documents too.

It is using Word for something other than documents too.

When you're done, you can either save it right in your computer or publish it directly to your blog with the publish button.

Just to inform you, I'm using Microsoft Word for my blogs in blogger just because I am not good with spelling and my grammar is not good so it is really convenient for me.

Optimize Your Personal Computing Experience

Try to tinker with your computer. Nothing bad really happens with today’s computers because everything is reversible (as they say using system Restore). But never try to download a virus or anything that would really be a bad thing to do to your computer.

Shift your icons about. Create shortcuts on the desktop for folders inside your cluttered my documents. Create shortcuts on the desktop for websites that you like most (yes, it’s possible).

Try to explore and change settings on your computer like the resolution, color depth and power settings. Try and find settings that you like and change them as often as you like as well to suite your personal needs. Power plans also save power for laptops so be sure to check and configure them to extend battery life for laptops.

Don’t be afraid that you might delete things. The recycle bin is always there for you to restore accidentally deleted files and folder. And if a file is important to the computer, it won’t allow you to delete that file (unless it’s a virus) so don’t be afraid.

For windows vista, try adding sidebar gadgets. These are helpful applications that sit on the right side of your desktop giving users access to most common of tasks like music playing, time, monitoring your computer’s status and even a cool gadget for my face book.

For your music, create playlist that you could play to suit your mood. This is best when you want to find music fast and easy.

Don’t be afraid to fill up your hard drive. Warning messages always pop up to annoy just about anyone with almost full hard drives.

Lastly, upgrade your computer yourself. Add RAM, hard drives, and upgrade your video card if you can. But keep in mind to follow given instructions carefully.

For all of this, I learned the hard way. I bought 3 computers, blown 2 power supplies, and crashed one motherboard’s bios. I’ve over clocked a video card, processor and RAM to the limit.
I started my interest in computer when my mother bought our first computer way back when I was still in grade four. But everything was worth it. Learn the hard way.