Computer Spot

How many times have you needed to hit Print on your computer and you’ve realized that you’re just not connected to a printer?

Physically connecting your computer to the printer of course will mean picking your computer up, making your way to wherever the printer is, or wherever a computer is that is connected to the printer through Ethernet cable.

Why on earth should anyone have to put up with this, when it’s cheap buying and setting up a wireless printer?

Printers are just getting smarter everyday. A wireless printer – one that is able to connect to computers through Bluetooth or Wi-Fi – can be had for as little as $50.

You can park the printer wherever it’s convenient, plug it into the power, and you’re good to go. It’ll just show up on everybody’s computer as a network destination, and anyone can just send print jobs.

If you’re good with setting up a wireless printer, there is no reason to have to wire things up anymore.

Now, unless you have a very old printer, you never have to connect a printer directly to the computer it needs to print from.

Nearly every printer out there has a regular Ethernet port. You just need to connect the printer to a Wi-Fi router that wirelessly connects to every computer in the building, and you’d have yourself a wireless printer just like that.

But that isn’t really as convenient as a real wireless printer.

In some buildings and installations, the router is located somewhere really inconvenient, sometimes in the basement or on another floor.

To have to put the printer next to the router can make little sense in many places. Setting up a wireless printer is the only thing that would work.

Once you have it, you could get your printer and every computer in the building to connect wirelessly to one another.

In some installations, wirelessness in a printer can make even more sense. Consider a small office where there is more than one printer – perhaps one that’s an inexpensive color laser model, one that’s a monochrome laser model, a couple of inkjet models for different levels of quality and so on.

Everyone in the office would want to connect to every one of these printers at different times. A print server would be an excellent idea in this case.

Actually, make that a wireless print server. To think of the kind of wiring you would need to do in such a situation if it weren’t a wireless set up, fairly boggles the mind.

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How much is a computer science degree needed? This depends on the market needs. The dynamics of information technology have drastically changed and continue to do so.

Information technology is now part of any organization and acts like the nervous. In fact, regardless of what degree qualifications other members of staff hold, part of their job will usually involve an IT aspect.

With this intertwining comes the question of how much worth a computer science degree.

Granted technical skills will always be marketable from the simple fact that the world runs on code. However the large majority of this code is not written by humans but rather computer generated.

A computer science degree that is directed towards utility computing and social networks is currently the way to go.  In other words, anyone who pursues a computer science degree needs to become a technology generalist as well.

It is not enough to just know how to write code. You need to adopt, relate, mold and use the existing technology to meet the changing business dynamics where your computer science degree can be most beneficial.

Thus, a degree in computer science tells an employer that you have the basic skills. But to profitably apply it in a business setting will require wielding this sword in a changing landscape effectively using business and social knowledge.

Even companies like Google and Microsoft recognize the need to have a well-rounded knowledge of IT. A computer science major is undoubtedly a high market demand.

However, having experience and skill in other areas such as finance, law, management or other disciplines will make it easier for anyone with a computer science degree to appropriately apply their skill to improve a specific departmental section or resolve a related problem.

As the director of Talent and Outreach Programs in Google’s People Operations Department Yvonne Agyei said in an interview, “”In addition to software engineering roles, we have roles within business, within legal, within finance where having a facility for technology and a passion for technology are important.

It helps if they have familiarity with our products. Having that knowledge is really important regardless of what aspect of the business you go into.”

Sometimes a hiring decision is largely determined by the experience a computer science degree holder has. As one interviewer said “It’s not going to be a show-stopper for me if someone does not have a computer science degree.

Particularly, if I am looking for developers, I am looking at what skill sets they have, how many years of experience and their knowledge of the subject matter.”

Indeed, to get the most out of a computer science degree, balancing it with business, collaboration or communication skills will make for valuable employees.

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Fake antivirus designers can get their work done in some ingenious ways. Around the time the British royal wedding spectacle was going on, one particular malware designer thought of a pretty clever way of exploiting the Royal wedding craze to his advantage.

He put up very a popular portrait of Princess Diana on a website (because he knew people would be searching for Princess Diana).

When people clicked on the website, they got redirected time and again until they suddenly found themselves on a website that came up with a very Microsoft-ey-looking dialog box – that said that their computer was infected, and they needed to pay $60 then and there to get rid of it.

This was fake antivirus, of course. And if nothing else, people can always tell a fake antivirus pitch by how they demand money right away. Reputable companies always offer you a free one month trial.

Anyway, reputable companies never pop up a warning like that. Fake antivirus isn’t some kind of fringe business. The FBI believes that they make will that’s the one billion-dollar industry every year.

They steal money, they take control of computers, they steal information, and they turn your computer into a kind of remote-controlled robot to make it send out lots of spam to everyone else.

The problem with fake antivirus is so bad, the normally immune Macintosh operating system has just had its first fake antivirus announced. [Score for Macintosh: 01, and Microsoft 10,000].

Fake antivirus makers use every trick in the book to get through. Sometimes, they use simple spam and online advertising.

At other times, they do it through actually calling you at home and asking you to visit their website for something or the other. Once you get there, you’ll find familiar fake antivirus running putting up.

Most of these attacks come from countries in Eastern Europe and China. There are set on stealing from the West. When fake software detects that your computer uses Chinese or Russian something, it just won’t try to steal from you.

Some of these businesses make such a great living from what they do. They try pushing fake software with convincing-sounding names like Win Drive Cleaner or XP Internet Security Organization and just get past a lot of people’s defenses.

And since they actually ask you for permission and get you to pay, your antivirus software is often a little unsure whether it needs to stop this thing that you paid money for.

Some of these organizations actually have 1000 employees and proper offices in Eastern Europe. Just imagine – some of these companies make $200 million a year. That’s more money than Twitter makes.

When these fake antivirus companies are so big, they can afford to constantly rewrite their malware code so that your antivirus software has a very hard time indeed detecting anything. As usual, personal vigilance is all that will protect you.

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If you’re a gamer, it’s safe to say that next to the processor in your computer, the graphics card is the most heavily-pounded component in your system.

The way each new generation of videogame title uses up computer graphics power these days, you can never have enough.

The graphics card, a separate processor much like your main processor Intel or AMD processor, is the part of your computer that draws and renders all the complex imagery that your game involves.

If you want truly realistic imagery in your videogame, you’d better be prepared to equip you computer accordingly.

Sometimes, even if you buy the most powerful graphics card on the market, it still won’t be enough. You need something more. Something like dual video cards of the same kind of the same computer.

There are basically two kinds of standards for those who wish to use dual video cards their system. You can either go with the Nvidia standard that they call SLI or you could go with the AMD standard that they call AMD CrossFireX.

Typically, the AMD standard is the one that’s the most flexible. Go with the SLI standard, and you absolutely have to buy two identical expensive cards.

With the AMD standard though, if you have two compatible cards, one powerful and the other less so, you could still have them add up.

If you’re kind of on a budget and you’d just like to be able to use a less powerful card as well, you really should choose AMD.

AMD offers another advantage, as well. You can actually get the onboard graphics, as modest as it might be, to pitch in. Before you can go with dual video cards, whichever company you want to side with, you need to make sure that your motherboard is capable of a setup like this.

Go with AMD, and you will be able to get CrossfireX performance out of practically any motherboard that has two PCI Express slots.

With SLI though, you’ll need a motherboard that has SLI certification. You can expect such certification on any motherboard with Nvidia chipsets and motherboards based on Intel’s X58 or P55 chipsets.

However, if you’re going to be taking the plunge with dual video cards, you do want to make sure that the specific games that you have been mind to play on a setup like this, do benefit from dual video cards. Not every game is programmed in such a way that it can take advantage of this much power.

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You couldn’t buy a computer today that didn’t have sound built in. Every computer out there, whether it’s something you buy from a name brand or a machine that you build from the ground up with parts, you can be sure that there is going to be a Realtek high definition sound chip in there that’s good to go right out of the box.

So computer retailers really have their job cut out for them when they try to sell you a new computer sound card.

The first question you ask is, “Why on earth would I want that when I have a perfectly good soundcard built right into my computer?”.

If you have a PCI slot on your computer, you certainly have room for the discrete sound card. You’re supposed to buy and install a card in there the way you buy and install a separate graphics card for gaming purposes.

Now it’s extraordinarily difficult to convince computer buyers to upgrade with the discrete computer soundcard.

You certainly have it pointed out to you often enough in the ads that just because you have a CD player in a boombox, it doesn’t mean you wouldn’t appreciate the sound of a proper discrete CD player.

The difference is in the sound quality, of course. But in the matter of a sound card, there are differences that would come down entirely to function.

It’s like half of America is in a band – or at least, they like to experiment with playing and recording music by themselves right at home.

Music equipment is certainly cheap these days, and music software can turn any old computer into a fully-fledged multitrack recording studio. You just need to add a $100 USB music keyboard, and you would have nothing stopping you. Except your computer soundcard.

The thing is, that inbuilt sound cards or even cheap discrete sound cards, are only capable of playing recorded music well. They aren’t capable of producing music well. How so, you ask?

If you were using onboard sound or if you had a cheap Sound Blaster installed, if you tried to play a software instrument on your computer with it, every key you pressed, you’d hear a sound for it about a half second later.

In other words, you need a sound card that’s intended for music production. Look for something that is capable of ASIO software drivers.

And look for something that has as many pairs of inputs and outputs as you would wish to have separate software instruments playing at the same time.

Let’s say for second you have no interest in producing music. What if you’re just a gamer or someone who likes a little bit of entertainment?

Well, you’ll certainly notice how much richer and deeper and crisper the sound is when you plug your home theater system into discrete soundcard.

Do try that once. And since video games these days have sound design built into them that would put a big budget Hollywood blockbuster to shame, your gaming well benefit from a new computer sound card too.

It doesn’t even have to cost much. A professional $85 soundcard from a brand like M-Audio would do.

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There are some parents that worry non-stop about how much time their children spend watching television and playing things like video and computer games. This is a relevant concern, because too much can be bad for children.

Some suggest that children under two have no screen time and then that it be limited from then on. However, you also have to think about the world in which they are going to live when they get older.

Computers are in almost every home and are common in most workplaces. Allowing your children some time to play computer games can actually be a wise investment in their future.

Many children today go into kindergarten knowing the basics of using a mouse and starting and using simple programs on a computer. In fact, they may start doing some work at that age on a computer while they are at school.

Teachers will help children that do not know what to do, but if your children have some limited interactions with computer games on your home PC, they will already know what do and they will already know that learning computer games at school are going to be just as fun as what they would do at home.

What you want to so is to find computer games for kids that have learning potential. Today, there are many of them on the market.

Most of them are made just to help children learn things like the alphabet, counting, colors, basic logic skills, and computer dexterity. Some are just for fun, but they end up having a learning element to them as well.

Some are generic and some are made with characters that your children may know from TV like the Wiggles, Sesame Street, or whatever it is that they love.

Parents should limit the time children are playing computer games, and if at all possible, play along with them. This can be hard when both parents work and time is limited, but if you play with them, you are on top of what they are learning in computer games and you also know when they are ready for something more advanced.

It is also easy to get lost in doing a chore while your child plays and they end up being on the computer longer than you intended. Some play is good, but they should have limits on time playing games and when watching TV.

Remember that as children get older they are going to want to find computer games online. There are plenty of good ones, but it is also easy for them to wander away to sites that you may not like.

See what you can do to put parental controls on your computer and also on popular sites like YouTube and Facebook. You want to know what they see and you want to know that they cannot find things that are well beyond their years.

If they cannot follow rules you set up while playing games, limit or cut out time as punishment. They’ll soon learn to follow your computer games and online activity rules.

Starting a new small business is never easy. As you indulge yourself in the initial responsibilities to do with putting everything together, you shouldn’t be surprised to find that the costs of equipping your new office are kind of on the high side.

A new business basically can have a healthy appetite for investment. Luckily, there are all kinds of options around that can help take the sting out of how much it costs.

Take for instance how expensive equipping your office with computers can be. The good part is that you don’t even have to buy anything these days. Computer equipment leasing businesses can juice you right up at practically no charge at all.

For those who’ve never actually been formally introduced to computer equipment leasing, it’s pretty much like a car lease or like leasing office space.

A leasing company that specializes in the kind of equipment you’re looking for makes the investment and they let it out to you under contract.

You just make regular payments towards the equipment that you lease for the duration of the contract. At the end, you can either drop the equipment off and walk away or you can simply pay something more and own the equipment outright.

Come to think of it, when it comes to computer equipment, leasing is an excellent option. These are things that go out of style really quickly.

At the end of the year or two that your contract keeps you tied to the equipment for, you’ll find that the equipment isn’t really as good as the newest stuff. If you owned the equipment, you’d probably be worried about how much you’ve invested in it to throw it away or to sell it.

When your lease runs out, you’ll probably the able to get much better equipment for much less. Computer equipment leasing businesses don’t just lease out the hardware either. They deal in software to.

And once every couple of years, any software brand is going to come out with a software upgrade or two. Basically, leasing makes a lot of sense when it comes to computer equipment for the small business.

But the good news doesn’t end there. Consider how the IRS allows you to completely claim deductions for any payment to make on computer equipment.

The 10% that they allow could be a spectacular reprieve. And even if you do decide midway that you would like to keep the equipment for yourself, you can just prepay right away with no penalty.

And you’d save on all the interest.

Computers are among the most fascinating pieces of technology and the main reason for this is that they can do so many things at once and this has really helped very many people.

Just the way people are fascinated with the different things that a computer can do there are some who are equally fascinated about what goes into their making and maintenance and it is this group that needs to know all about computer engineering.

Basically, computer engineering is a study that entails computerized solutions to every problem that is associated with computer processing like manufacturing troubles, research problems and system control.

It helps to save the above problems by merging the knowledge of computer science and electronic engineering.

Included in the average computer engineering course are courses such as instrumentation, the theory of control system, analog and digital electronics and robotics.

For one to learn all they need to about computer engineering, they will have to make a very informed decision about the university or college that they want to join. This will in the long run help them get quality education that will make them greatly advance in their careers.

The first of great tips when looking for the right college to attend is to choose a major then look for a college that offers the major.

When one chooses the college according to the majors they want they will have several options to choose from and here they can further narrow down the numbers by using several specifications among them quality of education offered, costs and the reputation of the college.

This will leave the aspiring engineer with several institutions to choose from and the best route to take here will be to get as much information as they can get about the institutions.

Among the other basic things a person should know about computer engineering is that their job is crucial in all industries where computers are needed for business to operate.

In such businesses a computer engineer will be required to come up with new systems that can meet the ever evolving requirements in a business as well as improve and maintain the set-ups.

Compared to the other specializations in the field of engineering, computer engineering is among the ones with the highest remuneration in terms of salary.

Most of the modern conveniences we have today were made through computer engineering and they include alarm systems, x-ray machines and mobile phones.

When it comes to software and hardware, it is not a must that computer engineers make a choice as they enough to will be skilled enough to handle both.

There are also many specializations for computer engineers and they can make a choice in areas such as artificial intelligence, computer architecture, computer systems, integrated circuits and computer networks. With all the above options there is almost no reason why anyone would not make it in the field.

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When Microsoft released a Media Center Edition to Windows XP all those years ago, they were only acknowledging the obvious – that to most people, at least part of the time, their computer stands in for a videogame machine or an entertainment center.

Certainly, everyone knows right away that you need a nice, bright and impressive screen for their home entertainment system or their videogame machine. You need something that gives you an immersive visual experience.

What they don’t think of often is that you need immersive sound to go with it too. The best computer speakers that most systems ship with are tinny, tiny, and annoying.

Have you seen the kind of speakers they put into laptops? It’s as if they’re actually trying to not be audible. The thing is, people usually put all their speaker money into speakers for the home theater – out in the living room where there is a big-screen TV. They don’t seem like investing much in buying the best computer speakers as well.

Well, if you ever spent time looking around the computer speaker section at your local Best Buy, you will have noticed that once they call them computer speakers, they don’t really go beyond a certain size.

You really don’t need to spend a fortune. A reasonable pair is all one asks for. And since your computer is the most important entertainment unit in your house, it really does deserve better than what it ships with. You’ll have a far better time playing your games and watching movies.

So what do you need to look for if you’re out there at the aforementioned Best Buy computer speakers department and you’re not really sure how to judge all the speakers other than to look at the price tag?

Well, for the kind of attention to sound quality that today’s movie and game creators put in, you really owe it yourself to get a surround sound system – 5.1 or 7.1 – you know how it goes.

Every new DVD out there and every game as well, goes out of its way to blow your mind with spectacular surround effects. Everything is recorded to overwhelm you with crazy sound effects and immersive sound.

These don’t even have to be expensive. Your typical 5.1 system (which means five little speakers to surround yourself with and one subwoofer) by Logitech, retails for $65.

There is something that should occur to you when you talk about surround systems – how are you going to wire all those speakers all around your room without tripping over them all the time? Well, that’s what wireless speaker systems are for.

At least, that’s what they say they are for. You’ll pay hundreds of dollars for wireless surround computer speakers. If you think that buying wireless actually means wireless, think again.

The “wirelessness” only refers to how you don’t have to wire each speaker for audio. Each wireless speaker does need its own power source. So you just end up having to wire everything anyway.

And finally, make sure that you check to see that the speakers you buy have ready-built connections for all the different sound sources you might have – RCA, headphone jack and so on.

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So let’s start with the basic question here — what is a refurbished laptop? Is that like a really old laptop that’s been used for three years and sold by someone and cleaned up for sale again? Not really.

A refurbished laptop is, in the lingo, also called B-stock. It’s either a laptop that’s been on the computer store’s display for while and been poked and prodded by everyone passing, or it’s a laptop that was sold to someone but was returned for one reason or another.

Sometimes, these are review units handed out to different magazine reviewers for a few months; and sometimes, these were returned after a business lease expired. In any case, the laptop is given a proper once-over by the manufacturer, and is certified to be as good as new.

Refurbished laptops are not secondhand or used in any way. These are the latest models. If you are willing to have something that’s not factory-sealed in a box, cheap refurbished laptops could be spectacular deals.

Choosing to go the refurbished way, you can either buy directly from the manufacturer or you can buy from some vendor that you trust. If you haven’t done this before, going with the manufacturer would be best.

Whatever source you buy from, cheap refurbished laptops should still come with at least a three month warranties. Sometimes, it’s six. Compare this with used or pre-owned laptops, and you’ll find that it’s a poor deal in every way. These are usually obsolete models and they don’t come with warranties either.

Whatever vendor you buy your cheap refurbished laptops from, you want to make sure that you read all the fine print. You never know about the warranty they offer you until you read all the exclusions there.

This should be especially required reading when you go with a previously untested vendor. The warrantee aside, every purchase should come with a return policy in case the unit doesn’t perform to your satisfaction.

As soon as you receive your laptop, make sure that you do a few tests — try the optical drive in a few ways; use all the ports a few times; try switching the resolution of the screen; and charge the battery to see how well it holds up.

When you find a good unit advertised anywhere and it’s priced just the way you want it, you shouldn’t hesitate too much. Laptop prices and inventories go up and down really quickly. You wouldn’t want to lose just the right model to hesitation.

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