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Complete assembled computer

David — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 05:01:33 +0000

We here at the end of hardware choices of all needed parts for our PC:

case $50,
PSU $45,
motherboard $90,
CPU $50,
RAM $60,
2 hard drives at $35 = $70

so a total of $365 for case without peripheral device.

[...] Read the rest of Complete assembled computer (357 words)

The choice of RAM memory

David — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 04:34:40 +0000

Choose the RAM memory is a puzzle? Not at all!

In proceeding by elimination, we come to find THE correct memory for your computer. First go on a shop with some criteria to filter out the products.

Then, in our machine, we have a motherboard with AM3 socket (to mount an Athlon II). So we need DDR3 memory. In case of doubt, a quick Internet search will give you the type of memory to associate with your processor.

[...] Read the rest of The choice of RAM memory (207 words)

Choose a motherboard for our computer

David — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:34:32 +0000

The motherboard is the heart of a computer. On it we will connect all the other components: processor, memory, power supply, hard drive... Everything is connected to the motherboard.

So its choice is crucial for your computer.

[...] Read the rest of Choose a motherboard for our computer (316 words)

Choose a CPU

David — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 09:48:02 +0000

This article is a continuation of the series to choose your hardware easily. For more information, there are many good comparative. My goal is to make the most neophytes realize that select all its components is very interesting.

For the processor, the first thing is to define the use of the computer, it will determine whether to emphasize the frequency or the number of cores.

[...] Read the rest of Choose a CPU (319 words)

For the hard drive, it's Western Digital

David — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 07:35:44 +0000

Actually choosing a hard drive is an easy part, since almost everyone plebiscite the SATA hard drives from Western Digital, in particular Caviar Blue.

If for the old interface (IDE) Seagate drives were quieter, they are not so good in SATA. Hitachi, IBM and especially Samsung are good alternatives.

[...] Read the rest of For the hard drive, it's Western Digital (164 words)

Choose your power supply unit

David — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:33:24 +0000

Power supply unit (PSU) is often overlooked in the selection of components of a computer. Nevertheless it's an important part, even essential: without a good stability of the current supplied, you could have the better processor in the world, your computer will crash constantly.

[...] Read the rest of Choose your power supply unit (300 words)

Choice of a PC case

David — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:57:47 +0000

The case is the only visible element of a computer from the outside. So you need to choose it at your taste!

You must also take care of its characteristics, but nowadays, all manufacturers create good cases, more practical and evacuating a maximum heat. You have still some choices to make.

[...] Read the rest of Choice of a PC case (305 words)

Buying a computer or building one?

David — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:55:45 +0000

As in all domains, in computer science there is a huge gap between the "newbies" who buy a computer in supermarkets, and the experts who will choose each component one by one.

However, many shops and Web merchants offer to assemble your machine for $30 to $60. It allows you to build your custom PC. But build it yourself is even not so difficult as you may think. Each piece fits generally only in the correct location.

Finally, your machine can be much more efficient and powerful for the same price as the mounted computers.

[...] Read the rest of Buying a computer or building one? (123 words)

Combine two Internet connections

David — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:48:51 +0000

You may be in the same situation as me: not a good Internet connection and a neighbour you know well.

So you may be asked the same question as me: can we join our two connections to double the speed?

The answer is not simple, there are several solutions with different costs, different degrees of sharing and complexity. Let's study 3 cases.

[...] Read the rest of Combine two Internet connections (534 words)

Buy a eeePC without Windows

David — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:32:28 +0000

At the beginning one of the major innovations of the famous Asus ultra-portable, EeePC was its operating system. A version of Linux (Xandros) modified for the EeePC and its small screen.

Attracted by the success of the small computer, Microsoft has "kindly" offered a version of Windows XP, adapted to ultraportables.

[...] Read the rest of Buy a eeePC without Windows (300 words)

Create a contact page in PHP

David — Sat, 16 May 2009 16:20:36 +0000

If you have a web site, you probably want to allow visitors to contact you. But without reveal your electronic address.

Of course, it can easily fall in the robots hands which scan the web to make listings. Then your box would be full of spams!

The solution is a contact page, where people can send a message to you without seeing your e-mail directly.

[...] Read the rest of Create a contact page in PHP (385 words)

Tree menu of your files on Windows

David — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:17:40 +0000

It's actually the use of a bug (or feature?) of Windows (95, 98, XP at least) to display a tree of your hard drives.

This is more or less convenient, depending on your habits and usual other shortcuts.

[...] Read the rest of Tree menu of your files on Windows (234 words)

Ad-block the sponsored links on search engines results pages

David — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:03:23 +0000

On every search engine, before or besides the natural results, some sponsored links are shown. They are close to your research, nevertheless they don't reflect the better sites to your request.

Moreover, the money paid by the advertiser on a click on these ads will go entirely to the search engine. And if you click on an ad, it's better to click when visiting a site (like this one), the benefit of the click will be shared between the ads seller and the webmaster (like me).

AdBlock Plus is a Firefox plugin to block ads, and other elements...

[...] Read the rest of Ad-block the sponsored links on search engines results pages (360 words)

Crypt files on your hard-drive

David — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 17:18:27 +0000

If your computer is stolen, or a pirate introduces it, the thief will obviously have access to the whole content of your hard drive. But there may be personal or professional files that you would prefer to keep secret.

A solution, I often use, is to create an archive (with WinRAR for me) with a password. But it's difficult for files we need frequently. So the "on the fly" encryption...

[...] Read the rest of Crypt files on your hard-drive (255 words)

Edit any web page in a browser

Jessica — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:01:27 +0000

It's possible to use any browser like an HTML editor.

Of course, the page is not really modified, just refresh it to recover the original. But it allows you to easily makes some tests on any web site:

Check the appearence with a very long title, on the contrary a very short article. We can verify the "resistance" of our design to the text modification.
Edit a title or a column to see if it's more visually attractive.
Even move or resize images.

[...] Read the rest of Edit any web page in a browser (168 words)

Instant messaging with Miranda

Jessica — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 15:34:40 +0000

Miranda is an multi-protocol instant messaging client. It (she?) allows to dialog on different network like M$N, ICQ, AIM, Yahoo, Gtalk and (the most interesting) Jabber.

But we can also chat on IRC, and add extensions to grab RSS feeds, e-mails or other informations.

The advantages compared to using the standard software of your network are numerous:

safety: by using a open-source software and less widespread, the security holes are fewer and less exploited,
appearence: Miranda allows to create your own theme, smileys and to personalize the chat window,
weight: less than 1MB in standby, 30 times less than MSN,
and of course all the additional functions.

[...] Read the rest of Instant messaging with Miranda (163 words)

Minimum requirements for any game

Jessica — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:24:29 +0000

This is a question you often ask yourself when you want a new video game:

can I run that game?

With the site Can you run it? you can test if your computer match the minimum hardware requirements to run a game.

[...] Read the rest of Minimum requirements for any game (141 words)

Javascript comments check

David — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:13:47 +0000

By default in blogs, when we post an invalid comment (missing field, invalid e-mail...) we arrive on a error page. Unfortunately this method has the following disadvantages:

te be often a standard blog page, white, without your theme,
to require a new page download,
then visitors must go back to correct the comment.

In this article, I will show how to verify the comment fields on your blog instantly with Javascript by showing a error dialog box if something is missing.

[...] Read the rest of Javascript comments check (265 words)

Force to download .PDF

David — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:22:45 +0000

With some PDF reader software, including the most popular Adobe Acrobat Reader, the default setting is to open PDF files in the browser when we click on a link to a PDF.

As a webmaster you can force the browser dialog box allowing to choose to open it directly or to save it..

[...] Read the rest of Force to download .PDF (221 words)

Firefox 3: boost opening and closing

Jessica — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:20:25 +0000

A small and simple tip to badly accelerate the launch and close of Firefox 3, and especially to avoid a crash which occurs sometimes when closing (Firefox disappears, but remains in memory taking 100% CPU). This happens in particular if the server of one of your extension is down or temporarily down.

To avoid this, and see Firefox 3 opens and closes almost as quickly as Opera, you only have to disable the automatic update for add-ons.

So, you will say add-ons won't be updated then. Yes, that's true, but with the seconds gained on each opening and closing, you will save enough time to update them manually.

I invite you to try, according to me you will keep that setting!

[...] Read the rest of Firefox 3: boost opening and closing (74 words)