Modern Modems

Modems have been around almost as long as the computer itself. They were created as a way to communicate two computers together to exchange data or information.  Modem stands for Modulate -Demodulate.  Generally speaking its job is to bridge the gap between digital and analog signals.  Long ago this was achieved using standard telephones lines, this was know as dialup and was often at very, very slow speeds. Over time and with the creation of the internet more bandwidth was needed and it didn’t take long before the creation of faster internets required the modems either disappear or adapt to new faster tech.

These days there are several devices called modems. Each one is different, and is used for different methods of connecting networks or devices.  Modems come in different shapes and sizes and they can be very inexpensive to, very expensive. Most ISPs today do not require the purchase of a modem, but instead will lease it to you for a small fee each month. This can have its advantages, because if there is any fault, which can constantly be a concern for some he equipment will generally be replaced free of charge.

The two most used modems are cable modems and DSL modems. DSL Modems (Or digital subscriber line) are used to connect home computers and networks to the telephone companies networks over standard phone lines. This differs from dialup because the connection is high-speed, digital and doesn’t tie up the voice functionality of the lines. Cable modems use the incoming coaxial cable to your home, the same cable that provides you with television.  These useful things allow us to browse our favorite websites like http://www.direct.tv and many more. Cable modems use bonded channels to achieve high signal strength levels and subsequently high speed connections.  Cable modems also have the capability of offering VoIP service which is a feature currently being sold by several cable companies.

Filed Under: Computers, Internet Tagged With: , ,

Don’t Overlook the Little Things

 

Cubicle City: welcome home, number 34 

 

Image by Frederic Poirot via Flickr

Most people who troubleshoot computer and network issues have likely heard the stories of users who can’t power up their computer. Their tech department discovers the user had plugged his power strip into itself, and the problem is solved.

That is a humorous way to look at tech support, but it also is a great reminder to not overlook the little things. Many times, the most puzzling of issues can be traced to a minor problem that can be quickly resolved.

Here are some pointers on what to look for if your computer or network doesn’t want to work like it should:

  • Check to be sure all components are plugged in properly.
    With computers, a loose connection on a keyboard or mouse can keep the computer from booting up correctly. A bent prong on a monitor connection can stump a user who can’t get an image to display. The first troubleshooting check is always this simple one.
  • Check to be sure that a component isn’t plugged in where it shouldn’t.
    Computers and networks are funny creatures. One insignificant, but incorrect connection can keep a computer from booting up, or can crash an entire network. For instance, some networks can be crashed if one network port is directly connected to another, creating a loop.
  • Make sure something isn’t stuck.
    The more use a piece of equipment has, the more likely dirt and grime will build up in its moving components. Keyboards are the most notorious, and interacted part of the computer.  Over time, its keys will gradually stick and eventually stop working. You could try cleaning it, but it will probably be easier just to replace.
Filed Under: Computers, Internet Tagged With: , ,

Three Things You Need for Working From Home

Working from home is a good idea. It’s something that is going to make a big difference in your life and the way that you think about your job. There are a few things that you should have in order to work from home and make some money on a regular basis.

  • Computer – The firs tthign that you are going to need for working from home, of course, is a good computer. Now is not the time to work on one of those old computers that were out years ago. Get yourself a good computer, either a laptop or a desk top and you will find that it’s going to work well for you.
  • Stable Internet – The second thing that you need to have for working from your home is a stable Internet connection.  This is something that everyone who works from home is going to need.  You want one that is going to hold well for you and be on most if not all of the time.
  • A Quiet Spot to Work – The third thing that you want to have when you are working on the Internet from home is a quiet spot for you to work.  This is going to be a place where you can work without some distractions and other things that can take away from your ability to work. This can be hard if you have children but you should know that it’s really important.

These are the three things that you need to have in order to be able to work from home.  The first two things are mandatory. The third thing is something that is isn’t mandatory but it is really going to help you to work from home effectively.

Filed Under: Computers, Internet Tagged With: , ,

3 Groups That Should Consider Working on the Internet

A lot of people wonder if they should work on the Internet. Working on the Internet is something that is going to work for just about anyone, but there are specific groups of people who can really benefit from working online. Here are some of the people who are really going benefit from working on the Internet from home.

  • Stay at Home Moms- This is one of the biggest groups that is going to find that they are going to do well working from home. They have children who are young or school age and they want to be there for them when they get home from school but they also want to be making money.
  • Students – Another big group of people who are going to do well working from home on the Internet are students. Since people who work from home can usually make their own hours and usually work when they can, they are able to work around their college schedule and make money that can be more than what they’d make working in fast food.
  • Retired People – One more group who are going to do well working on the Internet from home are retired people. These are people who are retired but they still want to do something that is constructive with their time. They can work as much or as little as they want to work and make some extra money that will be useful.

These are three groups of people who are really going to do well with working from home. They are all looking for jobs that are going to be flexible and that they can work on their own terms, so that is why they are going to do well working at home on the Internet.

Filed Under: Computers, Internet Tagged With: , ,

Steps for Stopping Popup Windows in Google Chrome

Popup windows are a pain and no one likes to deal with them. Here the steps that you can use to stop these annoying popup windows when you are using Google Chrome.

Open the browser and find the wrench icon which is found in the upper right corner of the window of your browser. It’s going to be shaped like a wrench.

Click on the icon and then click on the options button.  The options window box is going to open.

Click on the tab that says ‘Under the Hood’, then click on the thing that says ‘Content Settings’.

Click on ‘Pop-ups’ in order to show the panel for the pop-ups.

Click on the option that says not to allow any of the sites to show pop-ups. This is going to put a checkmark in the check box.

Click on exceptions to display the text box for exceptions. If you want to see popup windows for some of the websites that you visit, enter those websites URLs in the box.  An example would be if you play on pogo and you want to make sure that you can play the games, you would enter www.pogo.com.  This is going to tell Chrome to let that site give you popup windows.

Nothing is more annoying than having to deal with popup windows when you are trying to do something on the Internet. If you’re using Google Chrome, these are the steps that you can take to stop having to deal with the popup windows that we all seem to deal with on a regular basis. Now that you know how to do it easily and quickly, stop having to deal with the popup windows every single day.

Filed Under: Internet, Software Tagged With: , ,

Being Safe Online

Just because something is easy, doesn’t mean it’s safe. This is something to remember about online shopping. These days, it seems almost everyone is looking to buy items online. After all, being online is a great way to save a dollar and find items that you didn’t think were previously possible to find.

Of course, just because the world of online shopping is expansive and can be done right from your home doesn’t mean that it’s as easy as you may think. The truth is that online shopping can be a dangerous endeavor with identity theft scams seemingly popping up everywhere. It’s never too soon to start finding ways to protect yourself against identity theft.

One of the ways that people have started giving themselves protection is by installing security software on their computer. Your computer should have some as well. These days, the criminals are sophisticated, and so they are doing advanced hacking to get your passwords and bank account numbers. The less you work to keep these types of criminals at bay, the more you open yourself up to their devious practices. Security software will hide and swipe passwords and will be on the alert for suspicious activity and anyone trying to gain entry into your computer.

The other thing that people are doing is taking the power out of the criminals’ hands by not shopping with their debit or credit card. Instead, shoppers are putting their shopping balance on a prepaid credit card. This is a great way to not only keep your identity safe, but to make sure that you stick to a budget. This ensures that even if the card is hacked, they won’t be able to get into any personal information.

It’s important to keep your information and identity safe online. Online shopping can be fun but not at the expense of identity theft.

Filed Under: Internet, Security Tagged With: , , ,

Antivirus Protection Is a Must

Antivirus protection is a tool to help protect against invading viruses and other threatening types of content, emails, or other transmissions to your computer. A virus can enter your company through any Internet connection, such as through email messages, downloads, or by clicking on the wrong link on a website. Without some type of protection, your computer and other computers on your network could stop working, or worse.

How This Protection Works

Installing an antivirus program on your computer is the first step to protecting yourself. There are several things this type of software does for you. First, the software forms a shield around your computer. Anything being transmitted into or out of your system receives clearance to do so. If you try to open an email with an attachment that may contain a virus, the software will stop you and give you its reasons for “being concerned.”

Another way that this protection works is by scanning your current system. It will scan your system on a regular basis to find any type of hidden information, programs, or viruses that could be harming or could do harm in the future. The computer user should have these scans set up to run automatically at least daily. The scans remove anything potentially harmful for you.

The best antivirus software available continuously updates itself to ensure it has the best information and resources to track viruses. In addition to virus protection, the software should also be looking for spyware, malware, and spam. All of these types of threats can harm your system. By remaining up to date, the software program is able to keep protecting you even as hackers and thieves develop new loopholes to get into your system.

The right antivirus suite is critical for maintaining the integrity of your Internet connection. It helps protect your privacy and your personal data. Without it, your system could be damaged and critical information could be compromised.

Filed Under: Internet, Security Tagged With: , , ,

Google Has Changed the World

If you use the Internet at all, you know about Google and how easy it can be to find information with it. You also probably know that it’s sometimes very difficult to find what you need because the search results are too generic or general. That works out just fine for basic information that’s not specific to a certain area, but it’s not as good for people who need to find something that’s specific to a city or state. For that, you have to search Google more carefully so the results that are returned to you will really be what you need and want.

For example, try searching for Scottsdale property management instead of just property management. That way, you’ll only get these kinds of companies that are specific to your area, and you won’t spend a lot of time looking through options that you can’t use because they don’t operate in your area. That might not seem like a big deal, but it really can be for some people, especially if time is of the essence. Google has provided a wealth of information right at your fingertips, but it’s up to you to know how to access that information and use it responsibly. Don’t give up on finding what you need on Google, just change the way you search.

If you can’t find what you’re looking for, it’s better to try a more local approach or a more general approach, depending on how you searched the first time. You can also try to substitute words that might be more likely to be searched for by others, because that can help you find something that you can’t locate under the words you’ve searched with. There are always plenty of options when it comes to Google, so use it to your full advantage.

Filed Under: Internet Tagged With:

Prominent Inventors of Computers

Zuse Z1 replica in the German Museum of Techno...

Image via Wikipedia

The original inventor of computers has been debated for many years. Since 1994, the Internet’s popularity has grown continuously but actual computers began with having limited functions such as adding. It’s been said that long before the arrival of the PC, several inventors can be attributed with its development.

Charles Babbage was born in London during late 18th century and received a very privileged education, despite his affliction with ongoing illness. During his elementary school education he found mathematics to be one of his best subjects and enjoyed it immensely. Babbage is accredited with creating the first machine to calculate numerical data. He began blueprinting for his second algorithm-solving machine roughly 20 years later, but it was never completed.

An Englishman named Alan Turing is acknowledged for his role in the advancement of mathematics and the sciences in terms of future PC progression. With his background in engineering and logic, Turing was able to decode German naval communication during World War II. His concepts (Turing Machine) have been thought to influence the modern-day PC.

Konrad Zuse was born in Berlin, Germany at the height of the Edwardian period. His series of machines helped to find-tune the position of bombs during World War II using a changeable signal that could be converted from an analog to digital frequency. To many people, Zuse’s design (the S1 and S2 machines) paved the way for other models. He also produced the initial computing language during the first half of the 20th century, but Zuse wasn’t credited for his contribution until the turn of the 21st century. In fact, although he was well-known in his homeland, the United States and Europe didn’t have the knowledge of his inventions.

As you can see, “computers” might have had limited functions prior to the invention of the PC but they were in use long before that. Consider how far we’ve come since the ideas first entered the inventors’ minds.

Filed Under: Internet Tagged With:

Protect Your New Computer with PC Tools Free Antivirus

New computers seem to respond instantly to every command. They take little more than a moment to open software or load a website. That’s largely because they have not yet come into contact with viruses that sap their resources. Without a strong antivirus program, your computer will eventually become an inefficient machine that struggles under the weight of problematic virus software.

Choosing reliable antivirus software will help protect your computer from malicious software. It can, therefore, also help ensure that your machine continues to perform efficiently throughout its life. You have plenty of antivirus programs to choose from, so it makes sense to compare all of your options before downloading the one that you will use. Plenty of those programs require payment to protect your computer. With PC Tools Free Antivirus software, though, you get ultimate protection without having to spend any money.

Good antivirus software such as PC Tools Free Antivirus acts as a gate that prevents malicious programs from entering your new computer. Before any file can enter your computer from the Internet or email, it must pass an inspection by the antivirus software. Reliable software will have an up-to-date list of problematic viruses that it will not allow. It even flags files that have similarities to known viruses. That way it can ask your permission before it lets the software enter your new computer.

PC Tools Free Antivirus protects your new computer from malware and viruses by checking every program that tries to enter through the Internet. It also scans emails and email attachments to protect your computer from spam. This level of security can keep your computer safe from even the most recently developed threats. As long as you can keep malware and viruses away from your new computer, it will continue to work for you efficiently.

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