Chip speeds vary widely

Q. I am confused about how to compare the clock speeds of various
processors. There are Pentium 4s with clock speeds between 2.0 and
3.6 gigahertz. Intel has a Centrino mobile chip at approximately 1.5
GHz. AMD Athlon chips use a different rating system. And then there is
Apple, which just came out with the iMac featuring a G-5 chip. That is
supposed to be 1.5 to 1.8 GHz. Could you shed some light on this issue
and eliminate my confusion?

A. You're in a very non-exclusive club! Legions of people are confused
by chip speeds. I'm going to break it down for desktops.

Let's start at the very beginning.

Intel has two classes of chips for desktop computers--the Pentium 4 and
the Celeron. Pentium 4 is the premium brand; Celeron, the economy name.

Pentium 4s, as you said, run up to 3.6 GHz. That means the chip can
cycle 3.6 billion times per second. The 3.6 GHz version performs less
work per cycle than some other, slower chips.

Its Level 2, or L2, memory cache ranges from 256 kilobytes to 1
megabyte. This memory contains common commands that the chip can call
upon. If the command the chip needs is in L2 cache, it speeds up the
computing process. If it is not, then the chip must go to system memory
(RAM). That slows things. So more L2 cache is better. See, it's all
pretty easy stuff.

Celeron processors are geared-down Pentiums. Celerons have 128 or 256
kilobytes of L2 cache--less than most Pentium 4s. Their clock speeds
are also slower. Maximum Celeron speed is 2.8 GHz. That's still plenty
fast. The reduced L2 cache is a bigger deal.

All Intel consumer chips are 32-bit. That means they can handle 32 bits
of data at a time. That's OK, because consumer software today is 32-
bit. Intel's Itanium, a business chip, is 64-bit. That is an advantage
with some business programs, but is unsuited to consumer applications.

Advanced Micro Devices also makes consumer chips. Its topline chips are
called Athlons. AMD has been producing 64-bit chips for consumer
computers for about a year. They also run today's 32-bit programs.
That's a good thing, because, as I said, there aren't any mainstream
64-bit consumer programs available for it.

These chips have a lower clock speed. My computer has a cutting-edge
AMD 64-bit 3800+. (That's a mouthful!) It runs at 2.4 GHz. Although its
clock speed is relatively slow, the chip is actually very fast. AMD
(and Apple, which I'll get to in a minute) focuses on improving the
number of instructions a chip can handle per cycle, rather than pure
clock speed. That is why slower chips often defeat chips with higher
clock speeds in tests.

AMD's nomenclature carries such numbers as 3000+. You can use them as
a comparison with Pentium 4s. A 3000+ has roughly the same capabilities
as a Pentium 4 3.0 GHz. The 64-bit Athlon has either 512 KB or 1 MB of
L2 cache. The Athlon XP, a 32-bit chip, has 512 KB of L2 cache.

AMD also makes an economy chip, the Sempron. It competes with the
Celeron. It has 256 KB of L2 cache, and is a 32-bit chip.

Hope you don't have a headache! We still have to look at Apple's G5
chips. These guys are made by IBM.

Both Power Macs and iMacs use the G5 chip. Some run at speeds well
under 2 GHz. But as with AMD, Apple focuses its efforts on the number
of instructions that can be completed per cycle.

If you're interested in the iMac, test it in the store for speed. The
iMac's big brothers, the Power Macs, all have dual processors. They're
likely to be plenty fast. The cheapest is $2000 without a monitor, so
they're plenty expensive, too.

All G5 chips have 512 KB of L2 cache.

So, what's the bottom line? I thought we'd never get here! For a good
combination of speed and power, I'd look at Windows machines with Intel
Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon chips. Buy three or four steps down from the
fastest chip. That means a 2.8 or 3.0 GHz Pentium chip, or a 2800+ or
3000+ AMD Athlon. The AMD 64-bit chips are fine, but there's currently
no software that can take advantage of their advanced technology.

Apple's Power Macs are very powerful, but they're also costly. If you
want to pay the money, you won't go wrong. The iMacs also are probably
OK, but I'd check them in the store first. Again, the 64-bit technology
is wasted on today's programs.

The Celeron and Sempron chips also are acceptable. They may be
noticeably slower than the Pentium 4 and Athlon chips, though.
 

Running Out of Space on Hard Drive Partition

"My hard drive is partitioned into a C Drive of about 20GB and a D drive of about 100GB. All of the 'My Documents and Settings' are on C, which guards against other users of the PC being able to access my files. The problem is that C is also where all the programs are stored, hence there is very little storage available for my files. I don't know why the partitioning was done with so much space on D and so little on C. I have had to put some of my files on D but then they are accessible by other users. Also, C is so full already that I can't run the defragmenter on it. Any ideas on what I can do?"

There are several methods for recovering space from your C Drive. First, be sure you have run Windows' Drive Clean Up. Sometimes there are a lot of temporary files left over that are unnecessary and just take up a lot of drive space.

Software Shuffle
While not convenient, you can manage drive space by moving software around. In order to do so, you must uninstall your applications from C and reinstall them onto D. Before uninstalling anything, make sure that you have the original discs handy. Simply moving program files from one drive to another is not recommended as some may be expected to be in specific locations.

Partitioning Utilities
You may want to check out disc partitioning utilities such as Partition Magic from PowerQuest/Symantec, written especially for instances like this. While you do have to shell out a few bucks, it is money well-spent. Partition Magic resizes your partitions while retaining your current data. If your drive uses NTFS, you won't even need to reboot.

NTFS
Windows XP can use either the FAT32 or NTFS File Systems. NTFS is designed to be used on Network computers, and as such, has security features such as the restriction of access to specified files or directories. This feature may help you avoid having to resize your partitions.

If you are currently using FAT32 and wish to take advantage of NTFS's features, Windows XP can convert it for you. Note that this is a one-way conversion process. Be sure to use Windows' Help feature to learn about the process and some of the possible restrictions of NTFS with older software.

What do you gain by partitioning a hard drive?

Ten years ago, people who really knew their way around computers partitioned their hard drives. Because of the way hard drives were formatted, a lot of space was wasted.

Partitioning divided the hard drive into separate sections, which the operating system (DOS, or the earlier Windows versions) viewed as separate drives. Dividing up the drive shrank cluster sizes and reduced wasted space. That was important when hard drives were small. Today, hard drives have grown to the size of Montana. Most will never be filled, no matter how much space is wasted.

A friend wanted to know if his computer would run faster with the hard drive partitioned. Also, he wanted to know if it was wise to put the applications on another partition. He was going to put Windows on C:, his applications on D:, and his data on E: (Windows would change the CD or DVD to F:).

My answer was no. Partitioning might make you feel better organized. And as far as putting the applications on a separate partition, well, depends on your luck. If your luck is like mine, you will have some software program that will not run properly unless it is on the C: drive. So, I leave all my programs on the C: drive.

Fixes for a Pokey Hi-Speed Connection

Not getting the connection speed touted by your hi-speed Internet
service provider? Just how much of a difference depends on a few
factors. Fortunately, there are some easy fixes.

Before tweaking, know what speed you are getting. Point your
browser to DSLreports (http://www.dslreports.com/stest) and then,
Bandwidthplace (http://speedtest.net/). Both
sites send data to your machine and compute the connection's speed
from the elapsed time. It's best to check at different times during the
day. Speeds can vary significantly. Print the test result pages for
later reference.

Let's start with your computer. Data downloaded from the Web has to be
processed. A modern, speedy chip will process it faster, which gets it
onto the screen faster.

Memory also is important. The more of the page that memory can hold,
the faster it can be processed. If the memory won't hold it, it will be
saved as a swap file on the hard drive. That really slows things down.

Assuming you have modern equipment and the connection has suddenly
slowed to a crawl, try rebooting the modem, if it's external. Some
modems have reset buttons. If yours doesn't, pull the power cord out
of the back. Give it a minute, then plug it back in. Then go into your
browser and dump cookies, history and temporary files. In Internet
Explorer, click Tools and Internet Options. On the General tab, click
Delete Cookies, Delete Files and Clear History.

In Netscape, click Edit and Preferences. Under Navigator, find History.
Click Clear History. Under Privacy & Security, click Cookies. Click
Manage Stored Cookies. On the Stored Cookies tab, click Remove All
Cookies. Under Advanced, click Cache. Click Clear Disk Cache.

If you're using Apple's Safari, click Safari and Empty Cache.
Then click Safari and Preferences. Click Security, Show Cookies
and Remove All.

With all that done, reboot the computer.

Still slow? Try the Tweak Tester at Broadband Reports
(http://www.dslreports.com/tweaks). In the Tweak Tester II box, click
the Start button. When the test finishes, press the Results button.
On the next page, enter the requested information and press Recommend.

On the Results page, you'll find your settings that can be tweaked.
Below them are Notes and Recommendations. You may find that DrTCP
(http://www.dslreports.com/drtcp) is recommended. This is a small, free
program with which you can change settings.

Some people with cable access use splitters to separate the television
and Internet signals. Splitters work, because the signals use different
frequencies. But the cable company uses industrial-strength equipment.
If you bought your splitter on sale at the five-and-dime, that could be
the problem.

If you're using DSL, and you've added telephone extensions to every
room in the house, that could be a problem. That has the effect of
increasing the line loop, adding to the distance from the switching
station. Also, when adding lines, be sure you know what you are doing.
Poor quality work or wiring can degrade the Internet signal.

Finally, be careful of the networking cable that runs from the modem
to the computer. If you roll over it with a chair, you could crimp the
wires inside.

It is possible that your problem is in the wiring outside your home.
The technical support people at your Internet service provider can
check for problems.

Slow-surfing problems are not necessarily on your end. The Internet is
made up of countless networks. Bottlenecks develop, and slowness could
be a problem on a site, not in your computer.
 

Prozesse - Prioritäten festlegen

Wer mit mehreren Applikationen gleichzeitig arbeitet, kann unter XP festlegen, mit welcher Priorität diese laufen sollen. Die Performance einzelner Programme kann so merklich gesteigert werden. Wechseln Sie mit STRG-ALT-ENTF in den Windows Task Manager. Der Reiter "Prozesse" listet alle derzeit laufenden Prozesse auf. Über die rechte Maustaste lässt sich die Priorität des ausgewählten Prozesses mit dem gleichnamigen Menüpunkt auf eine von sechs Stufen festlegen. 

Anzeigedauer Bootmenü

Wenn mehr als ein Betriebssystem installiert ist, wird ein Menü beim Booten angezeigt mit dem man eine Auswahl treffen kann. Nach einer vorgegebenen Zeitspanne (30 Sek.) startet automatisch das als Standard gewählte Betriebssystem. Diese Zeit lässt sich anpassen.
Start-> Systemsteuerung-> System-> Erweitert-> Einstellungen-> Starten und Wiederherstellen 'Anzeigedauer der Betriebssystemliste'. Hier den Wert in Sekunden angeben.

A Safe way to start Windows

Having trouble with Windows? If Windows won't start, sometimes you can
get in there and fix what ails you in Safe Mode. Heck, if you cannot
get ScanDisk to ever finish, running it in Safe Mode normally does the
trick. When you see the "Starting Windows" message, here are the secret
keys to press:

  F5 -- Safe mode. This allows Windows to start with its most basic
configuration, bypassing Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files and
using the VGA driver for video and not loading networking software.

  F6 -- Safe mode (like F5) but with the addition of network support.

  F8 -- Gives you a menu of different options before Startup. This is
a really good one to remember!
 

Get a dll

No! Not get a Dell. Get a .dll! They're very important files that have
an annoying habit of disappearing.

This free Web site is a great resource for whenever you receive that
Windows message, "Couldn't find XXX.dll". Surf over here, download
and install! The FAQ has great instructions on how to install the
little buggers.

TO VISIT THIS SITE, GO HERE:
http://www.dll-files.com
 

Shortcuts

Q. With all the stuff that you write, you must be one fast typist!
Can you pass along any shortcuts that would help me out?

A. Certainly! If you were to see me use a computer, you might be amazed
at how little I actually use the mouse. I tend to do much of my moving
around on the screen using the keyboard. Here are some of my favorite
keyboard shortcuts.

Let's start with the WINKEY. This is the key with the backwards Windows
flag on it, which you may not have, depending on your keyboard.
     WINKEY + D  =  Minimizes all windows and shows the desktop
     WINKEY + L  =  Locks the computer (Windows XP only)
     WINKEY + Tab  =  Lets you cycle through the programs shown
on the taskbar
     WINKEY + F  =  Brings up the Windows Search box

Here are some goodies for Internet Explorer.
     Ctrl + Enter  =  Quickly completes an Web address. So, type
bluescanada.net in the address bar. Then, press CTRL + ENTER to get
http://www.bluescanada.net.
     Esc  =  Stops page from loading
     Ctrl + N  =  Open New browser window.
     F5  =  Refresh current page / frame.
     F11  =  Display the current website in full screen mode.
If that's not what you want, press F11 again
     Alt + Left Arrow   =  Go back a page
     Alt + Right Arrow  =  Go forward a page

There are also mouse shortcuts.
     Double-click  =  Selects a word.
     Triple-click  =  Selects a paragraph.
     Ctrl + Mouse wheel  =  Use it when you want to zoom in and
out of what is showing on the screen.

Finally, here are some shortcuts for Microsoft Word.
     Ctrl + A  =  Selects all the contents of a page
     Ctrl + C  =  Copy selected text
     Ctrl + X  =  Cut selected text
     Ctrl + P  =  Paste the selected text
     Ctrl + F  =  Opens the find box
     Ctrl + B  =  Bolds the highlighted selection
     Ctrl + I  =  Italicize the highlighted selection
     Ctrl + K  =  Insert a link to a Web site
     Ctrl + U  =  Underline the highlighted selection
     Ctrl + Y  =  Repeat the last action performed
     Ctrl + Z  =  Undo last action (I love this one!)
     Ctrl + End  =  Moves the cursor to the end of the document
     Ctrl + Home  =  Moves the cursor to the beginning of the document