Squirt of Information

Last October 2 marked 170 years of Charles Darwin’s return to England after five years spent around the world collecting knowledge about flora, fauna, wildlife and genealogy. The information he gathered would form the basis of his Theory Of Evolution. Interestingly on the same day in 1985, actor Rock Hudson would die from the AIDS virus. 149 years separated two very contrasting albeit controversial events—one delving into the very origin of life while the other, a death resulting from a threat with no known cure.

1985 also saw the emergence of another kind of virus—the first computer virus. More than twenty years later, computer viruses have morphed from a laboratory test into organized crime’s new weapon of choice.

There was a time when viruses were no more than the fruits of idle hands. Some might even describe them as nothing more than hijinks by programmers out to make names for themselves. Even the naming of the viruses reflected a level of triviality, some were named for particular computer hardware brands, some for the virus programmer’s girlfriend, one was a homage to a female tennis player known better for her curves than her on-court ability, and who could ever forget the disarming “I Love You” virus? It was indeed a nuisance for users when they find out that their computer system was infected. But with a little foresight and the right tools, it was a problem that could be handled. The cost for the home user was time wasted, but in a business environment, time wasted meant money lost.

Times have indeed changed. On October 3, an article appeared on the Techweb site describing how “toolkits” are now openly available to anyone wishing to set up a website with the intent of stealing their visitors’ personal information. Toolkits, as the term itself suggests, are a package of codes that even those with little programming skills can use in setting up a rogue website. These rogue websites are programmed to secretly install codes to their visitor’s browser. These codes take advantage of unpatched computers—those that do not have security updates. The installed code can then send information to the criminal about what the visitor is typing, for example their credit card number or bank account number. Depending on what kind of attack is launched on your computer, it could even be turned into a “zombie” computer—completely under the attacker’s command.

“How do I protect myself?” you ask. Well, with a little foresight and the right tools naturally. And this applies especially to users of Microsoft Windows since it is the preferred operating system of cyber criminals because of its many weaknesses. Make sure your computer is up to date with their security patches. Install anti virus software, an entire suite (which includes anti spyware, firewall, spam blocker, etc.) if possible and see to it they are also up to date. Avoid going to “black market” websites—these include sites offer downloads of pirated software, pornography and the like.

Twenty-one years of infecting personal computers and annoying the users, yes indeed, computer viruses have come of age. But guess what? They have not even reached their prime.

F. Aldo
http://www.articlesbase.com/security-articles/from-womb-to-your-personal-computers-doom-61120.html

With the fast evolving and ever-changing world of technology, notebooks were thought to be a revolution but the demand for faster, cheaper and efficient technology gave birth to Netbooks. Netbooks are smaller cousins of notebooks. They are meant for only internet-based services like web browsing and e-mailing, etc. They are lightweight, compact and easy to carry netbooks are very small and energy-efficient laptops.

The netbooks have further reduced the size of the computers. Pioneered by ASUS the first netbook was pushed in the market in 2007. The model name was Asus Eee PC. The netbooks have a smaller display screen of 7″-10″ size. The netbooks have a smaller keyboard but no optical disk drive. Other hardware configuration includes 1 GB RAM, 80 GB HDD, advanced configuration and power interface (ACPI).

Netbooks are developed to consume lesser power and have a longer battery life in this energy-deprived world. They can provide internet connectivity virtually from anywhere. The material used in making these netbooks is very light which makes them even lighter than the traditional laptops and combined with a sleek design they take work on the move to the next level.

The netbooks come preloaded with Ubuntu Linux but the users can also install Microsoft Windows XP home edition. The Microsoft Office applications run very well thus a major target of these netbooks are the business executives who don’t have time for plunging deeper into the more sophisticated notebooks. They are actually looking for something simple to carry out their daily work.

Comparing the prices of traditional laptops with the new netbooks, Netbooks are a much economical option. As a normal laptop with a premium configuration will come for well above $1000 however, a netbook with some basic configuration is available only for $350. Although there have been trade-offs in the size, hardware and some applications but on the front of rugged operation, mobility and performance netbooks score heavily. With time, netbooks are bound to improve. They are a very good option for students, businesspersons and executives.

Manu Vikram Singh
http://www.articlesbase.com/laptops-articles/netbooks-another-revolution-in-computers-685914.html

It gets a bit confusing to the layman when confronted with Megabytes and Terabytes and other terms when trying to decide on what computer to buy.

A Mega What?

A byte is the amount of computer memory needed to store a piece of data the size of one character, such as an “A.” So if you wanted to store the word “cool” on your computer, this would take up 4 bytes of space.

A Kilobyte, which is a thousand bytes, is equivalent to about half a page of typed text. A kilobit is one eighth of a kilobyte, because each byte is comprised of eight bits. A kilobit is a term mostly used to indicate dial up modem speeds.

A megabyte is one million bytes, so you could store the text of quite a thick best selling novel in this much memory. A Megabyte is actually 2 to the power of 20, which is 1,048,576. You may see this figure reflected at times when checking sizes of files, and it can get a bit confusing when trying to figure out the exact size of a hard drive.

A Gigabyte is a thousand million bytes, equivalent to a thousand novels, and a Terabyte can hold a million novels. A gigabyte is precisely 2 to the power of 30, which is 1,073,741,824 bytes.

Text uses relatively little memory. Photographs, movies and music tracks tend to use a lot more. A photograph will usually use a couple of megabytes, a music track a similar amount, and a movie can use up to a gigabyte or two, since a movie consists of a stream of photographs, usually displayed at the rate of 25 photos per second or more.

How Memory Works.

Memory is really simple. It’s just a huge bunch of electronic switches. Each switch is either on or off. Each “switch” is called a bit. 8 of these bits constitute a byte. These 8 bits form a code, which the computer translates into text, graphics, music, etc. For example, the letter “J” in memory is held by the code 1001011, where 1 means the switch is on, and 0 means it’s off. Each megabyte consists of about 8 million of these microscopic switches.

Hard Drive space is also referred to as memory, but it works a little differently, in that the bits are stored on it magnetically and not as a switch, but these bits are always transferred to the “switch” type of memory, known as RAM (Random Access Memory) before the computer actually uses it.

Megahertz.

The speed of a computer is measured in Megahertz, which is a measure of how many times a second computer operations can be done. A computer that runs at 2.8GHz can do operations at the rate of 2800 million times per second. That’s pretty fast.

RAM, the memory, usually has it’s own speed rating, which is slower than the main computer speed. This is because the main computer has to tell the memory when to send data and when to stop, and at the same time it has to do other stuff like calculate using this data, so it needs the higher speed.

The amazing thing about computers is the incredible speed that everything takes place at. The fact that this speed is increasing all the time is even more mind boggling.

The future sure is going to be interesting!

Duncan Kelly

When you are not used to laptop computer, you may take them to be of the same make, after all they do the same jobs and tasks. But before buying a notebook computer, you must first compare them depending on the tasks you want to use it for. You must know that if you buy suck a computer, you will gain such a satisfaction.

Laptops are categorized in 5 categories:-

· Ultraportables laptops

· Thin & Lights laptops

· Standard Laptops

· Desktop Replacements laptops

· Tablet PC’s laptops

The laptop you are to buy must follow in one of the above categories. Hopefully this will aid you in your decision-making process as to what category of laptop best fits your specific needs and lifestyle. Down on this page I will give a belief description of the above types, hope it will give you a picture to buy. When you perform a laptop comparison always consider your primary laptop needs based on what you’ll spend most of your time doing with your laptop.

As an example, many standard laptops don’t come with video cards that have dedicated VRAM (video memory). These laptop computers have integrated graphics that use shared system RAM.

However, there are standard laptops that come with excellent Video Cards and dedicated VRAM. If you’ll be doing a lot of gaming, photo-editing, or movie watching; these are the specs to watch out for.

Just pay close attention to the specs of the individual laptop model in light of your most frequent laptop usage needs. Now let’s take a look at a laptop comparison of the five categories and see which is best suited to your needs.

Ultraportables.

• Portability is what every one is looking for in a laptop.Not everyone wants to run through day eo day business of computer looking like a donkey. With an ultraportable notebook you can do anything swiftly.

Compact Size of a notebook is a must not jump: Pack your smallest bag because the ultraportable has few demands. The extra room you have in your luggage can accommodate a projector or printer. If you are a field working office, you need to have a laptop that matches with you.

Standard Laptops.

In most cases, standard notebooks are configurable with DVD-ROM or CD-RW choices, with DVD/CD-RW drives becoming very popular. It is the best to have if you are a fun of music like me. And what is good is that it has the absolute Best Price. though they are heavier compared to ultraportable notebooks, they are at least cheap and performs many tasks at ago.

Thin & Lights.

When it comes to portability these laptops are the best to buy. Sporting faster mobile processors, they whiz through most apps and you’re generally well under the six pound weight class.

Another thing is that Most thin-and-lights laptops have a 14-inch display, which is fine for viewing everything from e-mail and web pages to Word and Excel docs.

Desktop Replacements.

Gaming, graphics, call it anything as far as a computer is concerned, this type of laptops is the best for that job. With its wide screens and sharp displays it can do anything you want with the computer. Their fast CPUs and upgraded video chips make these notebooks just as good at Quicken as they are at playing Quake.

Tablet PC’s laptops.

Students and field offices like suck notebooks because of their make. The tablet’s touch screen and stylus work together to let you use the system in the crook of your arm. This is a desirable feature in some professions such as medicine.

• Handwriting Recognition:

Scribble or jot notes, and your tablet will convert your writing to editable text.

• Two Viewing Modes:

Tablets can be viewed in the regular landscape mode or pivoted on end, switching the orientation to a portrait mode that resembles an 8.5 x 11 writing pad.

So the next time you want to buy a notebook computer,first have a comparison so that you know what you will get and what you miss.

Twinomugisha Charles

This article deals with personal computers ones for home or small business use. Vendors or people that sell you computers will try to convince you that CPU (microprocessor) speed or model. Play the most important part in determining a computers speed this is false the most important is RAM size. Providing the same operating system e.g. Windows XP is the same.

People underestimate the importance of ram, because they do not know how it works in the computer. Imagine you are cooking in your kitchen and the meal is your computer output. The kitchen is your computer system the kitchen cabinets and the refrigerator are your hard drive the cook or you is the CPU. The Kitchen table is the ram. The oven and the stove are your output devices e.g… Printer, audio and display. The larger your kitchen table the faster and more complex of a meal you can complete with your kitchen. As is the larger the ram is the faster your computer is.

People who play video games should avoid computers with onboard video. Because computer games need video ram. Recommend at least 128 megabyte video card and you should be able to play most games. The computer can do most of its for playing games in the video card, hence a faster video card means faster computing. Here again microprocessor speed will not increase your video game performance nearly as much as a better video card.

Hard drives there are three types Parallel, Sata and SCSI. SCSI also known as Skuzzy is the fastest but also is very expensive. Most computer use parallel it is the most common type and the slowest. The new type Sata or serial hard drive is quicker than parallel, but not as expensive as skuzzy. If you do allot of work with data make sure your computer has a serial hard drive. Remember you need a mother board that supports serial hard drive the older ones do not.

In conclusion don’t spend money on a quicker microprocessor for a faster computer.

Pete Flack
http://www.articlesbase.com/hardware-articles/the-real-hardware-secrets-of-faster-computers-60086.html

If you plan on owning a powerful gaming computer to play the latest games on, there’s really only one way to go about it. Build your own.

Building your own custom gaming computer has many advantages over buying a complete, ready-built PC. It’s also very easy to do, you don’t need to be a computer whizz at all to build a computer.

All it involves is buying all your computer components separately, and putting them together with basic tools. The components you choose will be carefully selected according to performance and price, so you get the most bang for your buck.

Let’s look at the three main reasons someone would want to build a custom gaming computer:

Save Money: By carefully buying each part of your gaming computer separately, you can potentially save lots of money. The trick is to find quality components at great prices.

Better Performance: If you’re after a decent gaming rig, complete ready-made PCs simply won’t cut it. Custom gaming computers can be specifically built for performance to handle all your gaming needs.

Knowledge and Experience: By building your own gaming computer you will naturally learn a lot about computers and how they work.

These are just some of the benefits of building custom gaming computers. So if your current PC slows to a crawl whilst running your favorite games and you are in need of a new beast, consider building your own gaming computer next time.

Read more about building custom gaming computers and get started!

Julien David
http://www.articlesbase.com/hardware-articles/custom-gaming-computers-why-build-your-own-53368.html

Nursing and computers have not always been a perfect mix. Typically, nurses try to get away from new computer systems as much as possible. However, it is an inevitable workflow evolution in today’s hospitals.

“It was so easy before when all I had to do was give it (orders) to the clerk.”

“This new computer system is such a mess. Why can’t we keep our old system?”

“It takes time away from my patient care.”

“This is never going to work.”

As an RN working on the informatics side of healthcare, such comments are commonplace when I travel on site to different facilities.

Why I wanted to do it

With billions of dollars allotted to deploy this project to multiple facilities nationwide, I wanted to be a part of it. “It’s never been done before in this scale,” stated Vicki Levario, the Director of System Solutions & Deployment at Kaiser Permanente Southern California Region. When I was offered this job, I didn’t hesitate. Here was a marriage of two things I feel comfortable with – clinical content and computers.

The magnitude of this project can be appreciated when you take into consideration the 8 million Kaiser members it will affect. By 2007, all 12,000 physicians and 150,000 employees in the Kaiser organization are expected to be fully trained and use the software in their workflows. After a few weeks of involvement in this project, I began to see what a Herculean undertaking this will be.

Resistance

“Good luck with that job. They’re just wasting their money. It’s never going to happen, ” a physician said to me one day.

Healthcare automation is an inevitable progression, but not met with resistance. There are those who are so defiant to the change that they would rather retire than work under these conditions.

This sentiment is not unique to this organization. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles met with such resistance from physicians that the implementation phase failed despite the system being two-thirds online.

I can understand where the overtone of paranoia comes from. Working on the units to support the software, I observed some users who are obviously using the computer for the first time. I saw them having difficulty using the mouse and typing their user names and passwords with painfully slow pecking style.

I try to encourage users by showing them the positive side. With the nation’s healthcare trend of medical record automation, this will make health care givers more marketable as electronic health record (EHR) experienced professionals. And, in time they will master the system, and their workflows will be more efficient.

Safer Practice

The issue of electronic system workflows in the healthcare setting adversely affecting patient care has also been a concern. However, the opposite is true. According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in a report called To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System (2000), “98,000 Americans die in hospitals each year as a result of medical errors. Even when using the lower estimate, deaths in hospitals due to preventable adverse events exceed the number attributable to the 8th-leading cause of death. Deaths due to preventable adverse events exceed the deaths attributable to motor vehicle accidents (43,458), breast cancer (42,297) or AIDS.

In her report, Key Capabilities of an Electronic Health Record System July 31, 2003, Dr. Carolyn Clancy, Director, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality stated, “There is a great deal of interest within both the public and private sectors in encouraging all health care providers to migrate from paper-based health records to a system that stores health information electronically and employs computer-aided decision support systems. In part, this interest is due to a growing recognition that a stronger information technology (IT) infrastructure is integral to addressing such national concerns as the need to improve the safety and quality of health care.”

National Mandate

Automation of records in healthcare is not only a step in modernization, but a national mandate. The following is excerpted from the United States Department of Health Services.

Mission statement:

“… to guide the nationwide implementation of interoperable health information technology in both the public and private health care sectors that will reduce medical errors, improve quality, and produce greater value for health care expenditures, and coordinates outreach and consultation by the relevant executive branch agencies with the public and private sectors.”

Vision:

“…Clinicians will have a patient’s complete medical history, computerized ordering systems, and electronic reminder.”

The implementation of electronic health records (EHR) is integral to this national mandate and it’s just a matter of time when all hospitals in the US will be fully electronic in their workflow systems.

With this daunting task ahead, I’m reminded of the words of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology National Coordinator, David J. Brailer, MD, PhD when he addressed the System Solutions and Deployment personnel. “All eyes are on you.” As an RN and healthcare provider, it’s breathtaking to see through the telescope to look beyond the horizon and be part of the mission.

Janie Gafford
http://www.articlesbase.com/medicine-articles/nursing-and-computers-the-inevitable-move-towards-electronic-health-records-ehr-100875.html

Part of our everyday lives, computers have evolved from a tool at work to a personal calendar, a friendly network facilitator and a necessary guide. Although computers have transformed the way we see things and understand the world around us, because their use imposes physical and mental demands on their users, it leads to several health problems, like Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSIs), eye strain, neck and lower back pains and headaches.

I do not about you, but when I bought a year ago my brand new laptop, I was extremely interested in reading everything included in the package in an effort to take good care of my precious new possession. One of the documents the producer have included in the printed materials I opened to read, was one that directed me to follow specific guidelines on how to effectively and safely use my portable PC. Perhaps I was very lucky, as I later discovered that only recently have manufacturers been forced to include such user guides, or began making an effort to overcome health related issues and complains by introducing ergonomic products and warning labels on some equipment. This is very important, as the designers’ ability to understand that users need simple guidelines in order to be adequately informed of the risks involved and trained on proper body posture, monitor height, elbows distance from the body or recommended hours of use, can prevent computer users, even young, physically active individuals, from suffering in the future.

Specifically, one has to be aware of the hazards of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) to the hands and arms resulting from inappropriate use of the computer’s keyboard and mice. People in a variety of professions, like musicians or chiropractics, who repeatedly exercised pressure on their hands, shoulders, and arms, and have injured their tendons, muscles, and nerves, have been reported as the first cases of RSIs victims. Unfortunately, the list is increasing today, as more and more computer users request medical treatments in order to overcome the symptoms of RSIs on their hands, wrists, arms, shoulders and necks. Medical professionals and patients have reported that tightness, discomfort, stiffness, soreness or burning, numbness, and loss of coordination or strength are the most common symptoms linked to RSIs.

Since this serious painful situation is far easier to prevent than to cure once contracted, it is important for people to be educated and understand when and how RSIs can occur leaving ex-computer users permanently disabled and unable to perform simple tasks, such as driving or even dressing, without requesting help. Ergonomic gadgets, palm rests, maintaining the right posture and overall good working habits can reduce the risks associated with computer use and help young users understand how important it is to be always on alert for RSIs symptoms.

Jonathon Hardcastle
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/computers-and-rsis-65009.html

Buying a new computer can be a confusing process with all the different models out there. One thing that you will encounter when getting a new computer from one of the big retail chains is whether or not to buy their extended warranties. For a regular desktop pc I wouldn’t recommend the extended warranty. The reason being is that they already come with a one year manufacturer’s warranty which covers most hardware problems.

What they often don’t tell you is that their extended only covers hardware problems not software problems. Things like spyware and viruses are the most common problems that you will encounter with a new computer. If it is a hardware problem then it will be covered by the manufacturers warranty within the first year. With computers being so cheap these days you can just buy a new computer in a few years if yours takes a dive.

Save that money that you would have spent on the extended service plan and use it to transfer you old data to you new computer when and if your computer bites the dust. The big box retail chains make most of their money not from the computers but from the service plans and other junk they try to sell you on with a new computer. Check out my site www.love4computers.com and my blog www.love4computers.com/blog for more info on buying and maintaining your computer.

Sam Barker
http://www.articlesbase.com/computers-articles/extended-service-plans-for-new-computers-87153.html

As a kid growing up, I was fascinated with science fiction, especially those movies and TV shows that dealt with the future and portrayed how life on earth would probably be several decades down the road. I liked the idea of robot-servants who talked and followed our orders and of aerial vehicles that were the main means of transportation and that sent us speeding through the sky on our way to work. I was always fascinated with talking computers as well.

Now, over three decades have passed since I was a kid in front of the TV set and, boy, did those science fiction movies get it all wrong. There are no robots in every household nor are there cars that fly through the sky. At least they got it right in one regard – talking computers. These days, talking desktop computers are so commonplace that they hardly elicit any reaction at all from jaded consumers.

These days, it’s not even that difficult to understand how a computer talks.

They talk simply because they have a software that converts text into speech that is communicated through speakers or a headset. The technical term for this type of software is speech recognition capability.

And if you want to get really technical about it, here’s more. Speech synthesis is the process that artificially produces speech in computers. The software system is called TTS or “text to speech.” The system has a front end and a back end. The front end is where the software received the input in the form of text and converts it into linguistic symbols. The back end takes these linguistic symbols and converts them into speech waveform that is heard through the computer’s headset or speakers.

The software’s front end performs two basic functions. The first function is the identification of numbers and abbreviations in the raw text which it then spells out and assigns word equivalents. Second, it assigns sound (known as phonetic descriptions) to the different words of the text, including pauses and intonations, and then divides the text into phrases and sentences.

The back end, which is also known as the synthesizer, takes these phonetic transcriptions and converts them into actual sound output.

Kadence Buchanan
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/computers-that-talk-72195.html