The next big thing which must be looked at in greater detail is the CPU (central processing unit) of a computer. The CPU is the most simple terms is the brain of the PC, almost anything that needs to be done passes through it and is completed by it – as the name suggests.

There are a few companies who make CPU’s for computers, the most famous of which is Intel and AMD. And the first thing that you must know is that they are not compatible, kind of like blue cheese and vinegar – it doesn’t work. The main reason for this is because the place on the motherboard where the CPU plugs into, are different for each make, and so if you have an Intel motherboard you have to stick to an Intel CPU and the same with AMD.

Things get a bit more complicated than this (from here on out I will look only at Intel CPU’s). All CPU’s are measured by the speed at which they run, in hertz. Modern day CPU’s have multiple cores as well; my computer has a core2duo 2.0 GHz, which means that I have one chip with 2 separate brains on it and each brain runs at 2.0 GHz which gives it a total possible processing power of 4.0 GHz.

A CPU also has a specific socket set, which is basically the connection it fits into: remember those kids toys where you would place the square into the square hole and the same with the circle, well it is the same with CPU’s, and LG775 socket set will not fit into any other motherboard but the one that has that type of socket set.

So to quickly recap: you need to know what speed CPU you want, you must also know how many cores you want as well as the socket set that your motherboard can take. The final thing to keep in mind is the FSB (front side bus); remember it from the RAM topic, well it works the same; the FSB speed of the motherboard must match that of the CPU.

Remember these and you won’t have any trouble with your upgrading.

Have any questions about CPU’s and upgrading, leave a comment or question and I will be happy to help.

Unless of course you have a few Angry Birds in your hand, then that is really all you need. This highly addictive game with simple graphics, created by Rovio Mobile, has been taking the touch screen gaming world by storm since 2009.  Angry Birds was first created for Apple’s iOS, but after over 12 million purchases of the game from Apple’s App Store, Rovio Mobile recreated the game for other touch screen devices, as a free download. There are now online and PC versions of the game too.

Angry Birds has now reached over 250 million downloads and it is iPhone’s top selling game of all time, so I decided to find out why. It all started with my husband telling me about the game and how addictively fun it is. I was quite skeptical about its popularity at first, until I played it.

As far as games go, it is fairly simple – shoot a bird from a sling in hopes of killing some strange little green pigs. Some birds drop eggs, some split into 3, some blow up, some fly really fast and others just simply fly. But this is no ordinary game; it is a game that requires skill and strategy. Each level is a puzzle that needs to be solved and it is almost impossible to put the game down until the level is successfully completed. On completion of one level, however, you will find yourself needing to try the next level and so on.

My only 2 saving graces from the Angry Birds addiction, is that #1,  it is not on my mobile device, but my husband’s, so my access is limited, and #2, I have an 11 month old who needs most of my attention and doesn’t quite understand “just a few more minutes until mommy is finished”. Needless to say, it is a good escape from your everyday duties and it is a fun way to keep your brain active. If you haven’t tried it, what are you waiting for? And if you have, tell me what you think of these Angry little Birds.

In the previous instalment, we had a look at hard drives and how they store data; today we will have a look at RAM and how it affects the PC.

4GB DDR3 1333; this is how you may see the details of a RAM card when you are wanting to upgrade and as you can see there are three distinct parts which we can compare to a bakkie, stick with me for a bit and you will see what I mean…

A bakkie has three areas that we would look at when you want to buy one: the pay load (amount of space in the back), the generation of the bakkie as well as the engine size. So how do these link up with a RAM card, well simple 4GB (gigabytes – see part 2 for a full explanation of this) is the amount of space, how much data the card can store (we will look at this in more detail a bit later). DDR3 has to do with generation; newer is always better so DDR3 will always be better than DDR2 which in turn will always be better than DDR (which stands for double data rate). The 1333 (measured in megahertz, the same as what a CPU is measured in) is like your engine, the higher the number, the faster the RAM card can run and access data, again higher is always better.

So, a little more detail on the 4GB part.
RAM is also known as temporary storage, this name comes from the fact that if the computer is turned off, all data in the RAM is lost. When you start the computer, any information that the computer needs in order to run, or that you need to work on will be placed into RAM. So in reality what will happen is as you turn on the computer, the Operating system is placed into RAM, this takes up about 500-700 MB when using windows, and then any other application such as work or outlook that you open will also be placed into the RAM. As I work on my PC, on top of the PS I have one word document open as well as outlook and Firefox and I am using 1.34GB of RAM. If I close Firefox, the RAM usage drops down to 1.28GB. So we now know that Firefox in reality uses .06 GB or 60 MB.

A few things to keep in mind when you’re looking to upgrade:
- A motherboard has something called the front side bus (FSB) which among others controls the RAM, and this FSB has a certain speed at which it runs. The speed of the RAM card must match this speed.
- All motherboards can manage only a certain amount of RAM, you cannot have more RAM than this maximum amount.
- Operating systems also have a maximum addressable (useable) RAM.

Happy upgrading!!!

Image courtesy of  Mashable.com.

My dad is a school principal. Whenever he explains to students how potentially dangerous the internet can be, he uses the same example. Say there was a women, who when she was young, did something rather silly, maybe posing for some photos, or even getting drunk. Now, many years later, she is married to a pastor. In the old days before the internet, her past would just be vague rumours that a few people remembered. Nowadays, all you need to do is type her name into a search engine and you can get photographic proof of what she’s done. She can even have moved towns or countries, her past will follow her everywhere.

This is what some people want to change.

In what has been described as a first, people in Spain have started a “right to be forgotten” movement, where they are trying to get Google to delete some information about them that is online. Or, at the very least, to bury it in the back pages where it will likely never be found.

These people include a plastic surgeon, as well as a prison guard. For the plastic surgeon, a malpractice lawsuit against him ten years ago that was then dismissed is still causing problems. This is because there is no sign of anything that lets prospective clients know that the case was dismissed, just that it was filed. And this can be found on Google’s list of results directly under the link to his website.

The Prison guard has a different problem. He would like any information about him to be deleted, as it could help criminals seek revenge against him or his family.

Both men have a valid reason for wanting their online identity edited, but other people are worried. If the men, as well as the others who have filed for the “Right to be forgotten” achieve their aim, it may lead a restriction of free speech. The case for censorship will also be strengthened, as basically, people will be able to censor what others read about them.

What do you think? Is the “right to be forgotten” greater than the right to freedom of speech?

View the original comic here.

Rumours. With the growth of the internet, rumours have spread like wildfire all over the world. You can be a part of a rumour that is spreading in the US, or Ghana, or Kazakhstan from anywhere in the world. Social media is often blamed for this spread, with blogs, Facebook and Twitter coming under fire. But are they the only ones to blame? (more…)

“We know that web developers are spending too much time supporting Internet Explorer 6. We understand, and we’re here to help. Join us in moving Internet Explorer 6 users to a modern browser…” Microsoft

Finally, Microsoft got it! Internet Explorer 6 must die. For web developers around the world, this may just be the best news since instant coffee. Web developers have been fighting for years to keep up with the latest trends in web development, but at the same time trying to keep new sites compatible with “good’ol” IE 6. Its somewhat archaic requirements meant that coding had to be edited to specifically allow users to view websites (as they should look) on Internet Explorer 6. Without this extra work, blocks would not line up; words would float randomly on the screen and so forth.

For those users still using IE 6, it is time to move on. I chatted with someone a little while ago who stated “the standard of websites these days is so poor, they try to get fancy but everything goes out of line and just looks tacky,” I responded by saying: “Are you using IE 6?” Their response was a little scary… “What is IE 6, I click on an ‘e’ icon and the internet opens up” … I later did discover that it was IE 6 and the user had no idea that there were actually other newer versions.

Whether it is from a lack of knowledge or that old habits die hard, for some reason there are many people still hanging onto IE 6.  This is particularly hard to believe, especially knowing that upgrading to a newer Internet Explorer is free. Below is an image depicting the usage of Internet Explorer 6 around the world:

The fact is that it is not only Web developers who benefit from the death of IE 6. Upgrading from Internet Explorer 6 will give you so many other benefits including the fact that the latest versions work faster, have tabs (allowing you to have multiple sites open within one window), and the security while you browse is far superior.

All in favour, stand with me, your coffee cup held high and toast Microsoft for finally getting on board with the death of IE 6. Let’s hope they get a little more hands on in making this happen than just having a countdown website.

I must admit that I’m not always fascinated by Google’s new features.  Google instant was fun for a while, I must have spent a couple of days playing around with it, but that is about it, I play around with a new feature before going back to the simple Google search. As fun as some of the other features may be, there isn’t all that much that I would use on a regular basis. That is however, until I discovered Google Recipe View. (more…)