Graphics Cards and Sound Cards

Graphics Card or Video Card

A video card, display card, graphics card, or graphics adapter is an expansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display. Most video cards offer various functions such as accelerated rendering of 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or the ability to connect multiple monitors (multi-monitor).
Video hardware can be integrated into the motherboard but recently it has been integrated into the CPU, however all modern motherboards, and even motherboards from the 90's provide expansion ports to which a video card can be attached. In this configuration it is sometimes referred to as a video controller or graphics controller. Modern low-end to mid-range motherboards often include a graphics chipset manufactured by the developer of thenorthbridge (e.g. an nForce chipset with Nvidia graphics or an Intel chipset with Intel graphics) on the motherboard. This graphics chip usually has a small quantity of embedded memory and takes some of the system's main RAM, reducing the total RAM available. This is usually called integrated graphics oron-board graphics, and is usually low in performance and undesirable for those wishing to run 3D applications; however, the new Ivy Bridge CPU's will contain graphics capable of running 3D applications. A dedicated graphics card on the other hand has its own Random Access Memory or RAM and Processor specifically for processing video images, and thus offloads this work from the CPU and system RAM. Almost all of these motherboards allow the disabling of the integrated graphics chip in BIOS, and have an AGP, PCI, or PCI Express slot for adding a higher-performance graphics card in place of the integrated graphics.


A GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is a dedicated processor optimized for accelerating graphics. The processor is designed specifically to perform floating-point calculations, which are fundamental to 3D graphics rendering and 2D picture drawing. The main attributes of the GPU are the core clock frequency, which typically ranges from 250 MHz to 4 GHz and the number of pipelines (vertex and fragment shaders), which translate a 3D image characterized by vertices and lines into a 2D image formed by pixels.
The memory capacity of most modern video cards ranges from 128 MB to 8 GB. Since video memory needs to be accessed by the GPU and the display circuitry, it often uses special high-speed or multi-port memory, such as VRAM, WRAM, SGRAM, etc. Around 2003, the video memory was typically based on DDR technology. During and after that year, manufacturers moved towards DDR2, GDDR3, GDDR4 and GDDR5. The effective memory clock rate in modern cards is generally between 400 MHz and 3.8 GHz .
A video card is mostly and commonly used for games and high quality image/video editing.
Comfortable and best selling video cards are produced by or in the name of Nvidia.

Sound Card

A sound card (also known as an audio card) is an internal computer expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under control of computer programs. The term sound card is also applied to external audio interfaces that use software to generate sound, as opposed to using hardware inside the PC. Typical uses of sound cards include providing the audio component for multimedia applications such as music composition, editing video or audio, presentation, education and entertainment (games) and video projection.
Sound functionality can also be integrated onto the motherboard, using basically the same components as a plug-in card. The best plug-in cards, which use better and more expensive components, can achieve higher quality than integrated sound. The integrated sound system is often still referred to as a "sound card".

What is the Internet ?

Internet is the worlds largest computer network, which consists of several computers of different types belonging to various networks all over the world. Internet can also be defined as a technology for linking local area networks (LAN) into a huge global computer network. So Internet is a network of networks.

Applications of the internet

Internet is a large information pool. It is turning out to become the fastest media to reach huge mass. Internet is very popular among people because it provides various facilities in the following areas of application:

1. Message Communication
2. Information gathering
3. Business
4. Education
5. Employment
6. Entertainment
7. Publishing
8. Data transfer
9. Access
10. Social impact
11. Internet and Political revolutions. 

Requirements for the internet are:

1. Computer
2. Browser software
3. Communication Medium
4. Service Provider
5. Modem

What is a Search Engine ?

As web is the world's largest source of information, finding information is not always easy. That is why there are "Search Engines". Search Engine is an internet Accessible search service that enables us to search for any information on the internet using a browser. The commonly used search engines are Google (www.google.com) and Alta Vista (www.altavista.com).

What is a Network ?

A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information.^[1] Where at least one process in one device is able to send/receive data to/from at least one process residing in a remote device, then the two devices are said to be in a network.

Networks may be classified according to a wide variety of characteristics such as the medium used to transport the data, communications protocol used, scale, topology, and organizational scope.

Communications protocols define the rules and data formats for exchanging information in a computer network, and provide the basis for network programming. Well-known communications protocols are Ethernet, a hardware and Link Layer standard that is ubiquitous in local area networks, and theInternet Protocol Suite, which defines a set of protocols for internetworking, i.e. for data communication between multiple networks, as well as host-to-host data transfer, and application-specific data transmission formats.

Computer networking is sometimes considered a sub-discipline of electrical engineering, telecommunications, computer science, information technology orcomputer engineering, since it relies upon the theoretical and practical application of these disciplines.

The different Types of Network are:

1. LAN- Local Area Network-A LAN connects network devices over a relatively short distance.
2. WLAN-Wireless Local Area Network- a LAN based on wireless network technology.
3. WAN-Wide Area Network.
4. MAN-Metropolitan Area Network
5. SAN-Storage Area Network, System Area Network, Server Area Network, or Small Area Network
6. CAM-Campus Area Network, Controller Area Network, or Cluster Area Network
7. PAN- Persona Area Network
8. DAN- Desk Area Network

What is Ethernet ?

Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks (LANs) commercially introduced in 1980.Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies.Systems communicating over Ethernet divide a stream of data into individual packets called frames. Each frame contains source and destination addresses and error-checking data so that damaged data can be detected and re-transmitted.

The standards define several wiring and signaling variants. The original 10BASE5 Ethernet used coaxial cable as a shared medium. Later the coaxial cables were replaced by twisted pair and fiber optic links in conjunction with hubs or switches. Data rates were periodically increased from the original 10 megabits per second, to 100 gigabits per second.

Since its commercial release, Ethernet has retained a good degree of compatibility. Features such as the 48-bit MAC address and Ethernet frame format have influenced other networking protocols.

What is WIFI ?

Wi-Fi sometimes spelled Wifi or WiFi) is a popular technology that allows an electronic device to exchange data wirelessly (using radio waves) over a computer network, including high-speed Internet connections. The Wi-Fi Alliance defines Wi-Fi as any "wireless local area network (WLAN) products that are based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.11 standards". However, since most modern WLANs are based on these standards, the term "Wi-Fi" is used in general English as a synonym for "WLAN".

A device that can use Wi-Fi (such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, tablet, or digital audio player) can connect to a network resource such as the Internet via a wireless network access point. Such an access point (or hotspot) has a range of about 20 meters (65 feet) indoors and a greater range outdoors. Hotspot coverage can comprise an area as small as a single room with walls that block radio waves or as large as many square miles — this is achieved by using multiple overlapping access points.

Operating Systems and Microsoft Windows

Windows is an Operating System. An operating system (OS) is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is a vital component of the system software in a computer system. Application programs require an operating system which are usually separate programs, but can be combined in simple systems.

Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also include accounting for cost allocation of processor time, mass storage, printing, and other resources.

For hardware functions such as input and output and memory allocation, the operating system acts as an intermediary between application programs and the computer hardware, although the application code is usually executed directly by the hardware and will frequently make a system call to an OS function or be interrupted by it. Operating systems are found on almost any device that contains a computer—from cellular phones and video game consoles to supercomputers and web servers.

Examples of popular modern operating systems include Android, BSD, iOS, Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows,[3] Windows Phone, and Z/OS. All these, except Windows and Z/OS, share roots in Unix.

New different versions of windows.

Microsoft Windows is a family of proprietary operating systems designed by Microsoft Corporation and primarily targeted to Intel architecture based computers, with an estimated 88.9 percent total usage share on Web connected computers. The newest version is Windows 7 for workstations and Windows Server 2008 R2 for servers. Windows 7 recently overtook Windows XP as most used OS.
Microsoft Windows originated in 1985 as an application running on top of MS-DOS, which was the standard operating system shipped on most Intel architecture personal computers at the time. In 1995, Windows 95 was released which only used MS-DOS as a bootstrap. For backwards compatibility, Win9x could run real-mode MS-DOS and 16 bits Windows 3.x drivers. Windows Me, released in 2000, was the last version in the Win9x family. Later versions have all been based on the Windows NT kernel. Current versions of Windows run on IA-32 and x86-64 microprocessors, although Windows 8 will support ARM architecture. In the past, Windows NT supported non-Intel architectures.
Server editions of Windows are widely used. In recent years, Microsoft has expended significant capital in an effort to promote the use of Windows as a server operating environment. However, Windows' usage on servers is not as widespread as on personal computers, as Windows competes against Linux and BSD for server market share.

Windows XP (Xtreme Performance or eXPerience)

Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops andmedia centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001,[4] it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base. The name "XP" is short for "eXPerience".
Windows XP, the successor to Windows 2000 and Windows Me, was the first consumer-oriented operating system produced by Microsoft to be built on the Windows NT kernel. Windows XP was released worldwide for retail sale on October 25, 2001, and over 400 million copies were in use in January 2006.[7] It was succeeded by Windows Vista in January 2007. Direct OEM and retail sales of Windows XP ceased on June 30, 2008. Microsoft continued to sell Windows XP through their System Builders (smaller OEMs who sell assembled computers) program until January 31, 2009.

XP is the cheapest and most comfortable operating system today and the users of XP are more compared to users of other operating systems.

Windows Vista

Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs. Prior to its announcement on July 22, 2005, Windows Vista was known by itscodename "Longhorn".[4] Development was completed on November 8, 2006, and over the following three months, it was released in stages to computer hardware and software manufacturers, business customers and retail channels. On January 30, 2007, it was released worldwide[5] and was made available for purchase and download from Microsoft's website.[6] The release of Windows Vista came more than five years after the introduction of its predecessor, Windows XP, the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft Windows desktop operating systems. It was succeeded by Windows 7, which was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009 and released worldwide for retail on October 22, 2009.
Windows Vista contains many changes and new features, including an updated graphical user interface and visual style dubbed Aero, a redesigned search function, multimedia tools including Windows DVD Maker, and redesigned networking, audio, print, and display sub-systems. Vista aims to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network, using peer-to-peer technology to simplify sharing filesand media between computers and devices. Windows Vista includes version 3.0 of the .NET Framework, allowing software developers to write applications without traditional Windows APIs.
Microsoft's primary stated objective with Windows Vista was to improve the state of security in the Windows operating system.[7] One commoncriticism of Windows XP and its predecessors was their commonly exploited security vulnerabilities and overall susceptibility to malware, virusesand buffer overflows. In light of this, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced in early 2002 a company-wide "Trustworthy Computing initiative," which aimed to incorporate security into every aspect of software development at the company. Microsoft stated that it prioritized improving the security of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 above finishing Windows Vista, thus delaying its completion.[8]

While these new features and security improvements have garnered positive reviews, Vista has also been the target of much criticism and negative press. Criticism of Windows Vista has targeted its high system requirements, its more restrictive licensing terms, the inclusion of a number of new digital rights management technologies aimed at restricting the copying of protected digital media, lack of compatibility with some pre-Vista hardware and software, and the number of authorization prompts for User Account Control. As a result of these and other issues, Windows Vista had seen initial adoption and satisfaction rates lower than Windows XP.[9] However, with an estimated 330 million Internet users as of January 2009, it had been announced that Vista usage had surpassed Microsoft’s pre-launch two-year-out expectations of achieving 200 million users. At the release of Windows 7 (October 2009), Windows Vista (with approximately 400 million Internet users) was the second most widely used operating system on the Internet with an approximately 19% market share, the most widely used being Windows XP with an approximately 63% market share.[12] As of May 2010, Windows Vista's market share had an estimated range from 15% to 26%. As of October 2011 Vista market share was 11%.
Windows Vista, has a lot of graphics and is slower compared to other operating systems.

Windows 7

Windows 7 is the current release of Microsoft Windows, a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablet PCs, and media center PCs.[6] Windows 7 was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009,[7] and reached general retail availability worldwide on October 22, 2009,[8] less than three years after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista. Windows 7's server counterpart, Windows Server 2008 R2, was released at the same time.
Unlike Windows Vista, which introduced a large number of new features, Windows 7 was intended to be a more focused, incremental upgrade to the Windows line, with the goal of being compatible with applications and hardware with which Windows Vista was already compatible.[9]Presentations given by Microsoft in 2008 focused on multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows shell with a new taskbar, referred to as the Superbar, a home networking system called HomeGroup,[10] and performance improvements. Some standard applications that have been included with prior releases of Microsoft Windows, including Windows Calendar, Windows Mail, Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Photo Gallery, are not included in Windows 7;[11][12] most are instead offered separately at no charge as part of the Windows Live Essentials suite.

^{Windows 7 includes a number of new features, such as advances in touch and handwriting recognition, support for virtual hard disks, improved performance on multi-core processors,[14][15][16][17] improved boot performance, DirectAccess, and kernel improvements. Windows 7 adds support for systems using multiple heterogeneous graphics cards from different vendors (Heterogeneous Multi-adapter), a new version of Windows Media Center,[18] a Gadget for Windows Media Center, improved media features, the XPS Essentials Pack and Windows PowerShell being included, and a redesigned Calculator with multiline capabilities including Programmer and Statistics modes along with unit conversion for length, weight, temperature, and several others. Many new items have been added to the Control Panel, including ClearType Text Tuner, Display Color Calibration Wizard, Gadgets, Recovery, Troubleshooting, Workspaces Center, Location and Other Sensors, Credential Manager, Biometric Devices, System Icons, and Display.[19] Windows Security Center has been renamed to Windows Action Center (Windows Health Center and Windows Solution Center in earlier builds), which encompasses both security and maintenance of the computer. ReadyBoost on 32-bit editions now supports up to 256 gigabytes of extra allocation. The default setting for User Account Control in Windows 7 has been criticized for allowing untrusted software to be launched with elevated privileges without a prompt by exploiting a trusted application.[20] Microsoft's Windows kernel engineer Mark Russinovich acknowledged the problem, but noted that malware can also compromise a system when users agree to a prompt.[21]Windows 7 also supports images in RAW image format through the addition of Windows Imaging Component-enabled image decoders, which enables raw image thumbnails, previewing and metadata display in Windows Explorer, plus full-size viewing and slideshows in Windows Photo Viewer and Windows Media Center.}

windows 7 taskbar

Windows 8

Windows 8 is the upcoming release [2] of Microsoft Windows, a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablet PCs, and media center PCs. A Windows 8 release date been set according to unofficial sources for October 2012,[3] three years after the release of its predecessor, Windows 7. Windows 8's server counterpart,Windows Server 8, is in development concurrently with Windows 8. The most recent officially released pre-release version is the Consumer Preview, which was released on February 29, 2012.
Unlike Windows 7, which was intended to be a more focused, incremental upgrade to the Windows line, with the goal of being compatible with applications and hardware with which Windows Vista was already compatible.[4], Windows 8 has been “reimagined from the chipset to the user experience” to connect with the user more. It features the Metro-style interface that is designed for touchscreen input similar to that in Windows Phone and on the Xbox 360. It also adds support for the ARM processor architecture in addition to the previously supported x86 microprocessors from Intel and AMD.

Mac OS

The other, one of the best operating systems is Mac OS / Mac OS X. Mac OS X is a line of open core graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc., the latest of which is pre-loaded on all currently shipping Macintosh computers. Mac OS X is the successor to the original Mac OS, which had been Apple's primary operating system since 1984. Unlike its predecessor, Mac OS X is a UNIX operating system built on technology that had been developed at NeXT through the second half of the 1980s and up until Apple purchased the company in early 1997.

The operating system was first released in 1999 as Mac OS X Server 1.0, with a desktop-oriented version (Mac OS X v10.0 "Cheetah") following in March 2001. Since then, six more distinct "client" and "server" editions of Mac OS X have been released, the most recent being OS X 10.8 "Mountain Lion", which was first made available on February 16, 2012 for developers, and to be released to the public late summer 2012. Releases of Mac OS X are named after big cats.
The server edition, Mac OS X Server, is architecturally identical to its desktop counterpart but usually runs on Apple's line of Macintosh serverhardware. Mac OS X Server includes work group management and administration software tools that provide simplified access to key network services, including a mail transfer agent, a Samba server, an LDAP server, a domain name server, and others. In Mac OS X v10.7 Lion, all server aspects of Mac OS X Server have been integrated into the client version.

Ubuntu (linux)

Ubuntu ( /ʊˈbʊntuː/ oo-boon-too) is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software, using its own desktop environment. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of ubuntu ("humanity towards others"). Ubuntu is designed primarily for use on personal computers, although a server edition also exists.

Ubuntu is sponsored by the UK-based company Canonical Ltd., owned by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth. Canonical generates revenue by selling technical support and services related to Ubuntu, while the operating system itself is entirely free of charge. The Ubuntu project is committed to the principles of free software development; people are encouraged to use free software, improve it, and pass it on.

Other

There have been many operating systems that were significant in their day but are no longer so, such as AmigaOS;OS/2 from IBM and Microsoft; Mac OS, the non-Unix precursor to Apple's Mac OS X;BeOS; XTS-300, Haiku; RISC OS; MorphOS and FreeMint. Some are still used in niche markets and continue to be developed as minority platforms for enthusiast communities and specialist applications. OpenVMS formerly from DEC, is still under active development by Hewlett-Packard. Yet other operating systems are used almost exclusively in academia, for operating systems education or to do research on operating system concepts. A typical example of a system that fulfills both roles is MINIX, while for example Singularity is used purely for research.
Other operating systems have failed to win significant market share, but have introduced innovations that have influenced mainstream operating systems, not least Bell Labs' Plan 9.

Since I'm a user of Windows XP now, I shall be sharing a fer XP tricks and Treats with You. Here They are:

How to make XP Desktop icon labels Transparent and much more

XP Shortcuts:

Windows Key – START Menu

Windows Key+ Pause Break – System Properties

Windows Key+R – RUN Window

Windows Key+L – Locks Computer

Windows Key+Ctrl+F – SEARCH FOR COMPUTERS

Windows Key+F – SEARCH

Windows Key+D – Minimize or Restore All Windows

Windows Key+Pause Break+M – Undo Minimize All Windows

Windows Key+ U -Utility Manager 

Windows Key+F1 – Help & Support

Windows Key+E – Windows Explorer

Ctrl+C – Copy Highlighted Text

Ctrl+X – Cut Highlighted Text

Ctrl+V – Paste

Ctrl+x – Select All

Ctrl+z – Undo

Shift+Delete – Permanently Delete (bypasses Recycle Bin*)

Ctrl+Alt+Delete – Task Manager

1) 3 XP tricks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pQ5p_3RODI and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OBJMil4p1k&feature=related

2) Magic Computer Tricks : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q-HcjbkIm4&feature=related

3)Watch hidden Star Wars Movie: 

1. Go to start and click run.
2. type "telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl"
3. Press OK
4. wait for a few minutes
5. Enjoy Star Wars movie free (black and white)

Funny XP Desktop trick :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yowAZWgn3PE&feature=related

To prank anybody who uses the Computer.

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