Pc configuration Tips

Michael D. Newby

This Page Intentionally Left Blank.

To go to an internal or external link, hold the Ctrl key down and click on the link.

The links below, software mentioned herein and my tips are things I have picked up over time. Many can be Googled for more detailed information. The content herein represents my preferences only.

I am not authoring this document to become your helpdesk. I do not know everything and much of this material, and more, can easily be found by “Googling” the Internet……use it, it is a marvelous resource, that is why Al Gore invented it! Often times, knowing what to Google is the key to finding pertinent data. This document is can get you started.

This document in no way covers everything you should know. It is your responsibility to fill in the gaps and understand more about what you decide to use. Much of the content herein are based upon my observations of what is useful in the typical home (or small business) environment.

Please note that many companies associated with software mentioned herein make changes to their websites and the mechanism with which they make the files available. For example, some downloads are not hosted by the companies who provide the software. They are made available through third-party Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) such as Download.com or FileHippo.com. The list of third-party providers is too long to list in its entirety.

Because of changes to websites or third-party file providers, some of the links in this document may not be valid. I will update as frequently as time permits. As an alternative to keeping up with the links in this document, I update the Freeware Favorites links on my website, www.recursivecreativity.com, more frequently.

Much of the content herein is applicable to any version of Microsoft Windows. The screenshots and directions however, will be for Microsoft Vista, the current operating system on my laptop. I have virtual machines for Windows XP and occasionally will provide content specific to it. However, Windows XP content will be limited to covering some Freeware programs I used with Windows XP but are no longer supported for Windows Vista or Windows 7.

Please feel free to forward to me any comments or issues you have with this document. I can be reached via e-mail at michael@recursivecreativity.com.

Table of Contents

HARDWARE

MANUFACTURER UPDATES

Whatever hardware you buy, chances are, the drivers, software, etc. will be updated by the manufacturer. Check the vendor websites quarterly, semi-annually at a minimum. The updates will provide additional functionality, fix outstanding and reported issues, or provide security patches. The aforementioned list is not all encompassing…..the list is too long for me to list here.

Also, if you buy specialty items from the computer vendor, such as Dell, do not rely on them to provide updates for the Sound Card, Video Card, or other devices manufactured by another vendor……check the manufacturer’s website for updates! Yes, it takes a little effort but it is worth it. Ask yourself…..why pay all the money for something extra if you are not going to get your money’s worth and use it to its full potential!?!

RAM (Random Access Memory)

One of the best investments you will ever make into increasing the performance of your PC is to add as much RAM as the motherboard supports.

If you have lost the paperwork, are unsure of the type of motherboard, etc. you can easily check out how much the model of your PC supports by checking Crucial.com. You will enter to enter the Manufacturer of the PC, the Product Line and then the Model. It will then tell you if there is more than one motherboard used for the Model of computer you purchased. Dell and most reputable PC manufacturers allow you to enter the Service Code or Serial Number of a computer and it will tell everything you need to know. Most often the RAM supported is under Technical Specifications.

The one thing I hate about ALL PC manufacturers is how they screw the average buyer. They put one RAM chip in the PC and it is usually the smallest amount that will support the operating system. For example, they will put in a ½ Gigabyte (GB, 512 MB) chip. The motherboard will support 2 GB and for performance you should add matched pairs. Thus, to upgrade you would end up buying two 1 GB RAM chips (or sometimes referred to as sticks). Thus, you end up throwing out the original 512 MB (½ Gigabyte) RAM chip originally purchased with the PC.

My suggestion would be to not throw it away but donate it to your church, a charitable organization or a technical person such as myself that donates time and money to reconfigure and upgrade older PC for less fortunate individuals and families that might not be able to afford one.

If you are buying a new PC you have several options:

1. 
   When you first purchase the PC you can have them max it out and put as much RAM in it as possible. That saves you time and expense of having to upgrade and possibly paying someone to do it at a later date.
   
2. 
   You could also pay for only half the RAM supported by the motherboard. In the previous example that would entail buying one 1 GB RAM chip. You would then only have to buy one 1 GB RAM chip later. If you do not know how, you would still have to pay someone to install the additional chip.
   

Do not pay for two 512 MB chips to get to 1 GB of RAM. You would end up throwing away or donating both chips and will have wasted money if you upgrade to two 1 GB RAM chips.

Because I do not have to pay someone to install it and because I know enough to take the original RAM out and find a matched pair for it, I opt for (2.) above and buy the additional RAM later. However, at the time of the purchase you might check to see if RAM is on sale at Micro Center, Fry’s, Best Buy, etc.

It might be more economical to get the lowest amount possible and pay for the maximum RAM from someone other than the vendor you are buying the PC from. I did this with my last laptop. I saved $220 by getting a 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) RAM kit from Crucial.com. The PC manufacturer makes a hefty margin on upgrades and the price they wanted for the RAM upgrade was exorbitant. It pays to shop around!

If you decide to ever upgrade the RAM yourself learn from an early mistake I made. First of all, remember to wash your hands before touching anything. The oil from your hands can cause irreparable damage to the RAM. Know how to handle it and never force anything. If is not going into the slot for which it was intended, stop and investigate why. Was it installed backwards, upside down, etc.?

Also, make sure no hair falls onto the motherboard or elsewhere! What happens to hair when ignited? A flash fire occurs. One of my first PC’s bit the dust because somehow two strands of hair (I am only guessing by the size of the flash) fell across the slot of the RAM I installed. Upon booting to test if the new RAM was recognized there was an immediate flash fire! Needless to say, the RAM and motherboard were singed and I no longer had use of the PC!

I only noticed it because it was an old Packard Bell and taking off the cover was a chore. So I left the cover off until I was sure the RAM was recognized. Imagine my surprise to see a flame come shooting out of the PC. Again I am guessing at the cause but combined with the flame and pungent aroma it had to be some hair.

Take heed, wash your hands, put on a hat and ground yourself to prevent static electricity from ruining your day. If you do not have a static wristband to ground yourself, simply touch something metal (other than the PC) to discharge any static electricity you might have. Also, if you walk across your carpet to get a tool, a drink, answer the door, etc., make sure you touch metal again before proceeding.

INTERNAL HARD DRIVES

Always buy the largest and fastest hard drive (HD) available. Older hard drives were EIDE but are now considered PATA. Newer hard drives are SATA. SATA is faster than PATA.

Some of the measures of speed for an EIDE hard drive are the RPM’s and Cache. Older model HD’s and many laptop HD’s spin at 5400 RPM or slower. You want to shop for 7200 RPM HD’s or laptops that support 7200 RPM drives. Also look for HD’s that have a larger cache. Typical cache size is 8 MB but Maxtor and some Western Digital have caches as large as 16 MB. The larger cache will provide better performance.

SCSI or SAS (serial-attached SCSI) is another type of HD but I will not discuss much about them because they cost more and are rarely found in home computers. The benefit of SCSI HD’s is that they spin at 10,000 RPM. Solid State Drives are becoming more popular but are also cost prohibitive for the average person.

If you are buying a new computer look into what SATA specifications the motherboard supports. If you can afford it, get SATA 600. Also make sure you get a SATA card so that you can attach external SATA devices, which are discussed below in External Hard Drives.

EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES

If you are going to own a PC buy an external hard drive. However I would buy two. If you buy two, make sure they are the same size. What good is having a 1 Terabyte drive with all your family pictures and movies if it is not backed up?!?

The main reasons for having an external hard drive is for backing up your data and portability. In a corporate environment they used to have tape backup machines and someone took the tapes home every night…..it was considered off-site storage. If something catastrophic ever happened, the backup tapes would not be at the corporate office and the data was thus considered safe. Tape backup machines are not used any more as better hardware and technology have replaced them.

However, the paradigm still exists. Do you want your backup sitting right next to your computer if something happens? I used to have two internal hard drives…..one for the operating system and data and the other one for backing up to. However, what good is the second hard drive if lightning strikes and destroys the PC?

The external hard drive (HD) provides portability and an opportunity for off-site storage. I keep one external HD in my safe deposit box. I have several external HD’s that I use to rotate in and out of the box. I have lost too much data and important stuff over the years that I am now very redundant. I have backups and backups of my backups. Speaking of portability…..an external HD can easily be taken on vacation or left with a neighbor or other relative while you are away for any extended time. This ensures that if something happens to the PC, the data you want safe is protected.

What kind of external HD should you get? You should get what you can afford but get what your PC supports and the fastest available. If you can, get SATA or Firewire. If you do not have a SATA or Firewire card or motherboard that supports SATA, you will most likely not have a choice and get a USB external HD. Once again, keep up with technology and get the fastest USB HD. USB 3.0 if it is available. Your next choice would be USB 2.0. Hopefully your PC is not so old that it only supports USB 1.1.

Backup software, Internet backups and Synchronization are discussed more in the Microsoft Windows, Data Synchronization vs. Backup section.

MOUSE

I prefer to have the mouse automatically snap to the default button of a window that opens. Good programmers go out of their way to designate a button as such. For experienced gamers or those wishing to be more efficient, this is a must.

1. 
   Open Control Panel: Start, Settings, Control Panel,
   
2. 
   Double-click on Mouse icon,
   

3. 
   Click on Pointer Options tab,
   

4. 
   Click on Snap To checkbox: Automatically move pointer to the default button in a dialog box,
   
5. 
   Click on Visibility check box: Display pointer trails and move slider to Long.
   

Not everyone will appreciate the Snap To feature but those who play games and are more familiar with PC’s will.

SWITCH vs. HUB

To network your computers you need a networking device that connects the computers via a network cable. A network cable is sometimes referred to as a RJ45 cable because RJ45 is the type of connection or jack that is used.

The network devices that can be used to connect computers for networking are routers, switches and hubs. Routers are discussed below. Hubs are antiquated and not used unless purchased very cheap at garage sales or passed among friends and family. The reason for their obsolescence is that the bandwidth is reduced as more computers are connected to the device. For example, if you have a 100 Mbps hub and connect four PC’s, each PC uses 25 Mbps or one-fourth the speed of the hub.

A switch in the other hand provides true throughput. If you have a 100 Mbps switch and connect 4 PC’s, each PC uses the 100 Mbps….that is if the network card in the computer(s) supports such speeds. Hence, buy a switch if choosing between a switch and a hub.

Switches are often used in conjunction with (behind) routers to connect more devices than a router has ports for. Most home routers will have 4 or 8 ports. If you have 4 ports and 6 computers, it is cheaper to buy a switch to connect the devices and then connect the switch to the router.

Please note that switches and hubs provide absolutely no protection when browsing the internet or connecting to other devices via an intranet, wired or wireless.

ROUTER

A router is a network device that provides connectivity and security. There are too many routers to go into the specifics of configuration or usage. Thus, only a simple overview and their importance will be discussed here.

A router is absolutely necessary today if connecting to the Internet. There are so many types of malicious programs and malware that without a router, your PC would be quickly overtaken by malware and become worthless. Not to mention that any sensitive data would be compromised and could be used by others to access your bank accounts, etc.

In essence what a router (wired or wireless) does is mask your IP address. Every computer has to have a unique way to identify itself on a network or the Internet (global network). That is accomplished by using an IP address. Older IP addresses (IPv4) use 32-bit addresses while the newer IPv6 use 128-bit addresses.

What the router does is masks your IP address so that connectivity (hacking) is made much more difficult. Please note I did not say a router prevents hacking! Even with a router, someone who has the right equipment and knows what they are doing can hack almost anything! You read about it every day.

Masking an IP address is accomplished by changing it when behind the firewall (router). Routers traditionally had been referred to as firewalls. To connect to the Internet, you get a service contract from an Internet Service Provider (ISP), such as Time Warner. They assign you a range of IP addresses so that your computers can connect to the Internet. In this example, consider the IP address given to your computer from Time Warner as 350.350.350.350 (I made this up; I do not know if it is real IP address so if I picked a sensitive IP address used by some government agency, it was not intentional). That is the IP Address your computer uses and your ISP uses to identify your computer. The ISP has hardware that connects to the backbone of the Internet. Your IP address is your ticket through the gateway of your ISP to access the Internet.

Please review the diagram below:

In the above example, my router would assign my PC the IP address 192.168.0.1. But it would also know that the IP address 350.350.350.350 is my PC’s address outside the router (firewall) and gives me access to the Cable Modem, which is my ticket to the Internet.

As I was browsing the Internet, web pages, downloads, etc. directed to IP address 350.350.350.350 would be received by my cable modem, which would communicate with my router. My router would know that the 192.168.0.1 IP address is associated with (my PC) and then deliver the content to the network card in my PC, which would then display the web page on my screen, deliver the download to my hard drive, print the page on my printer, etc. Please note this is a very simplified account of how a web page gets displayed on your monitor!

Thus, attempts to hack IP address 350.350.350.530 would get someone my cable modem and maybe to my router but not directly to my PC…..unless they hacked my router. The odds someone wants to hack my router are miniscule. Most hackers are looking to get rich and target financial institutions or places that have money.

However, keystroke loggers target everyone that might do financial transactions over the Internet. Keystroke loggers are malware programs that record Internet activity and record websites and passwords you type (via the keyboard; hence keystrokes) to access your accounts. The keystroke logging programs then report accounts and passwords back to some server. The information can be used to siphon funds, perform transactions without your permission, etc.

That is where a software firewall also comes into play. A software firewall is a software program that allows you to manage what is coming and going out over the network or Internet for a specific PC. Zone Alarm is what I have used in the past and worked very well. It is listed and a link is provided in my Freeware Favorites. I do not use it anymore because everything coming in and going out has to have a rule established to allow or disallow the activity……which gets a bit annoying after awhile.

The most common mistake people make that use it is to click, click, oops! They do not pay attention to the rule they just clicked on and accidently disallowed a program, such as their anti-virus software, from accessing the Internet. The result is that they can no longer get updates for their anti-virus definitions or the anti-virus program itself. In this case, you would have to know how to go in and change the rule. This is a tedious task for those with kids!

I use Microsoft Windows Firewall. It is not rated the best but for my purposes it will suffice. I explain more about it in the Windows section, Microsoft Windows, Windows Firewall.

MICROSOFT WINDOWS

NETWORKING

COMPUTER NAME & WORKGROUP

Frequently, the computers people buy already have factory defaults for the computer name and workgroup. They are cryptic and not very useful if you are going to network your computers.

Please remember if you work in a corporate or business environment these changes will remove your computer from the network. You will not have access to shared resources such as network drives, printers and the Internet. Therefore, before making any such changes, discuss them with your Network Administrator.

You could use a nomenclature that tells you two things: the type of computer and who uses it. For example, you could name your desktop DT-YourName. Your laptop would be named LT-YourName. You could also name your PC according to the model number. However, if you have several PC’s that are the same model you would have to add the user name similar to previous example so that the computer names would be unique…..which is required if they are to be networked.

If your computers are to be networked they also must be in the same Domain or Workgroup. Most households and small businesses will use the Workgroup option. Medium to large corporate environments will use the Domain option…..they are more likely to have a network server for managing network resources and user logins.

Once again, your options are very open for choosing the name of the Workgroup. My Workgroup is named NEWBY. You can choose whatever you like, as long as each computer you want to network has the same Workgroup name.

Please note that the following changes will require your computer to reboot. Save any open files before proceeding. Also note that you do have the option to say no and the changes will be made the next you reboot your computer. However, until you reboot, no networking (connectivity) can be accomplished because your computer will need to be in the same Workgroup as the other resources or devices (e.g. printers, shares, mapped drives, etc.) you are trying to network with (connect to).

To change the computer name or workgroup:

1. 
   Open Control Panel (Click on Start button, Settings, Control Panel; also available by right-clicking on Computer and choosing Properties),
   
2. 
   Double-click on System icon (please note I have my Control configured to show Classic View so I do not have hunt through which classification the icon I am looking for is filed under),
   
3. 
   Under the Computer name, domain and workgroup area (middle of window) click on Change Settings,
   

System Properties will open to the Computer Name tab.

4. 
   Click on Change…,
   

5. 
   Highlight whatever Computer Name exists and enter what you want to name your computer,
   
6. 
   Highlight whatever Workgroup exists and enter what you want to name your Workgroup,
   
7. 
   Click OK,
   
8. 
   Click Apply,
   
9. 
   Click OK.
   

HIDDEN SHARES

If you are going to share a printer, external hard drive or other device, you will need to create a network share so that other network devices are aware of it. When you create a network share, add $ (dollar sign) at the end of the network share name and it will be hidden on the network.

This serves several purposes. First and foremost, only those that need to use the shared network resource will know it exists. The person creating the hidden shared network resource can setup the resources for being shared or provide the details of the hidden share to only those users the resource is to be shared with.

SHARING A PRINTER

If you can afford a Print Server you should buy one. Anyone on your network can print to a printer connected to your Print Server. If you share a printer, the computer the shared printer is connected to will need to be turn on for people to be able to print to it. However, no one has to log onto the computer to be able to print to it…..the computer connected to the shared printer only need to be turned on.

To share a printer:

1. 
   Click on Start button, Settings, Printers, and choose a printer,
   

2. 
   Click on menu item Printer,
   
3. 
   Click on Properties,
   
4. 
   Click on Sharing tab,
   

5. 
   Click on Share this printer,
   

I edit the above default to make it easier to remember and type.

6. 
   Type HPLaserJet4000$,
   
7. 
   Click Apply,
   
8. 
   Click OK.