How To Take Care Of Your PC
Despite all the information out there advising people to protect their computers from viruses, spyware, and keep it in a good working condition, very little of it talks about PC maintenance. Some people simply don't realize that without taking proper care of their computer, it's life could be cut short. Antivirus, firewall, and anti-spyware programs are all well and good, but there are a few other steps you should take to ensure your PC is in good working order. If you've never done a disk cleanup or hard drive defragmentation in your life, then read on.
- Perform a Disk Cleanup - One of the best (and easiest) things you can do for your computer is ensure you don't have any unnecessary files, just taking up space in the depths of your PC. Mind you, this cleanup process won't disturb the position or content of important files at all; it will simply analyze your hard drive and give you the option to compress older files, delete unused temporary files, and empty out your Recycle Bin.
So, let's get started! First, start the Disk Cleanup utility by going to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup. Select the drive you want to clean up, and the scan will begin. When it finishes, select what actions you would like to take. Next to each option, the amount of free space you can gain by performing that action is displayed. Click on each option for a more detailed description. After you've set your preferences, click "ok" and the cleanup will begin.
- Perform a Disk Defragmentation - Defragmenting your hard drive is considerabely different from Disk Cleanup. Defragmenting is Windows' way of reorganizing it's file structure, so that it knows where all important files and settings are stored, so it can fetch them faster when you actually need them. Constantly moving files around your hard drive and changing settings frequently, especially with installed programs that have complex registry entries, can increase file fragmentation on your hard drive significantly. By "de-fragmenting" these files, and making them contiguous again, PC performance can be improved significantly, and your PC probably won't have to put as much stress on the processor.
First, start the Disk Defragmenter by going to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. Select a drive, and click the "Analyze" button, and a report in graphical format will be shown. Windows will also alert you as to what you should do. If it tells you the drive should be defragmented, then heed the advice. If not, then it's not immediately necessary, and the choice is more up to you. Once you press the "Defragment" button, the process of organizing and sifting through the mess of your computer begins.
The positions of your files and folders will be not be changed in the folder structure, only on the hard disk itself. However, it's important to try to not use many programs or work with too many files while the system is working. Defragmenting can take hours in some extreme cases, so if you need to pause the process, the option is available. Once the process is complete and the drive is defragmented, it's strongly advised to restart your computer to be sure things are in order. Normally things will be fine without a restart, but I urge people to do it just as a precaution.
I hope that with this article, you've learned something useful about taking care of your PC. =)
Creating A Website
So, you want to create a website, eh? Well, I'm here to help you get started. Keep in mind that developing a website will require a lot of time and effort from you, the webmaster.
There are basically two ways to go about creation of a website: Manually Coding HTML (the hard way) and Using Website Editing Software (the easy way).
Let's start with the easy way. There are many programs out there which allow you to make a website using a GUI, a.k.a "what you see is what you get" editors. These are for novice users who have little or no knowledge of HTML. One completely free and highly recommended editor is Virtual Mechanics WebDwarf v2.0.
The more difficult (but more rewarding) way of creating a website is through hand-coding HTML. If your unfamiliar with basic HTML, have a glance at my HTML Reference List first.
The next thing you'll be needing is a hosting service. Fore example, the hosting I use currently is at Freewebs.com, but there are many others out there, free and not-so-free. It's completely your choice as to what the goal of your website is, and how much you're willing to pay for features you'll need to set up a successful website. Take a look at www.100best-free-web-space.com for a list of other good web hosts.
Once your site is coded/created, your ready to upload it to your web host. Most hosts have browser-integrated file upload systems to make it easy to upload, modify, and delete files from your account. However, some require you to upload your site files through FTP (File Transfer Protocol), and this is a bit more complicated process to go through, yet in the end it does give you maximum control over your folders and files through an explorer-like interface.
And that's about it! If you need more info on setting up your own website, feel free to contact me at cs188creations@gmail.com and I'll try to guide you along the right path. Remember to get the word out to people about your website, otherwise you might not have too many visitors. After all, people need to have a reason to come to your site, otherwise they wouldn't be going there, now would they? =P
Set Up A Free Streaming Internet Radio Station
In today's digital world more and more radio stations have evolved across the internet. Radio is not just limited to short-range broadcasting anymore. Anyone with a decent internet connection can access any type of music or talk show from any corner of the globe with streaming internet radio stations.
One of the most popular hubs of streaming radio stations is Nullsoft's Shoutcast, powered by the Winamp media player. Another popular one is free MSN Radio, powered by Windows Media Player. Note however, that many MSN Radio stations are not real live stations, only online-accessible playlists of music genres updated frequently. Each broadcasts radio in a different type of file format. Shoutcast sends out radio streams in .mp3 format, while MSN Radio is in .wma format.
Note that Shoutcast and MSN Radio are only two familiar examples in a wide range of streaming radio services. Others include Yahoo Music, Real Networks's Rhapsody, and Icecast. However, using .mp3 and .wma formats to broadcast your own station is the best way to go about setting one up.
The first thing to consider is "Who is my audience?" If you plan on broadcasting music to only a few of your friends online once in a while, then using Windows Media Encoder would probably be a good choice. If your intentions are to broadcast a 24/7 station worldwide and have your station displayed in Shoutcast's huge directory of online stations, then using the Shoutcast software with Winamp would probably be the better choice. However, you can use whichever one you feel most comfortable with using, these are simply suggestions.
One major culprit which will outright determine your ability to stream media over the internet is how your router is set up. Many router and modem models often have internal firewalls installed, which need to be disabled first to free up the correct ports on your computer. This is so that you'll be able to serve a radio stream without it being blocked. This is often the greatest problem to overcome when trying to set up online radio, as well as similar situations, such as being the serving player in an online game. It all comes down to the routers. One option is to initiate port forwarding, which is a way to allow certain network ports on your machine to communicate past your router, allowing you to serve radio. Refer to your router's manual, or perform further searches online for help on how to do this properly.
Once you have the necessary ports free, you should be all set to serve radio. Both Nullsoft and Microsoft provide instructions and help files on how to operate their streaming software, and if you have further questions you may post them on each company's public forum. (Or, you can email me and I'll attempt to help you out!)
If you go to Start > Control Panel > Sound and Audio Devices, go to the Audio tab, and click the Volume button under Sound Recording, you gain access to the master sound leveling on your computer. From here, you control the input volumes from the microphone (if you have one), your computer's speakers (labeled "Stereo Mix"), an auxilary input line, and even a phone line (providing that one is hooked up to your computer). Imagine - answering live calls on the air!
One final thing to remember when setting up internet radio is choosing the right bitrate. Bitrate is basically the amount of kilobits per second your sending the media to the listener at. There are 8 kilobits in a kiloBYTE, so you do the math. Slower connections, such as dial-up modems, will need a very low bitrate to receive audio in a timely fashion, in the range of 20-40 kilobits per second (kbps). Faster internet connections, such as DSL and Cable, can support bitrates as high as unmatched-CD-quality 320 kbps. Just remember that you can't send out audio at a higher bitrate than your own upload speed can handle! To check your own upload speed and figure out exactly how many people you'll be able to serve at a certain bitrate, run a connection speed test at a site such as www.dslreports.com. As mentioned previously in this article, audience is always a very important thing to consider.
The world of streaming internet radio is rather complex, but if you take the time to understand how it works, you'll manage to get it right. I could go on for hours talking more about this, but I really don't want this article to get incredibly long, so I'll break off here and leave further exploration of this topic to you!
Common Emoticon Reference List
Sometimes, something said online without an emoticon can be interpreted in multiple ways. Emoticons are simply graphical text, or "smiley-faces", that allow internet users to express how statements should be interpreted. The following is a small list of common emoticons:
| :) or :-) or =) | happy, enthusiastic |
| :( or :-( or =( | unhappy, depressed, sad |
| :'( or ='( | crying, upset, sad |
| :P or =P | joking, silly |
| :D or :-D or =D | ecstatic, laughing |
| :\ or =\ | disappointed, unsure |
| ;) or ;-) | winking |
| :o or :-o or =o | surprised, shocked, offended |
| :X or =X | mouth closed, shutting up |
| >:) or >=) | pleasantly evil, cunning |
| >:( or >=( | angry, offended |
| XD | laughing, joking |
| :| or =| | indifferent, serious |
| ^^ or ^_^ OR ^.^ | happy |
| >_< or >.< | angry, not pleased |
Make a Good Impression with Image Compression
Are you one of those people who takes lots of digital pictures and puts them on the net for all of your friends to see? Or maybe your just a person who does graphics for the web? Either way, this tip might teach you something about the way in which images should be distributed over the net and the different file formats associated with images.
First off, what exactly is image compression? Basically it's taking a digital image and squeezing it down to a smaller file size, so that it takes less time for someone on a slower internet connection to download the image. Not only is it a great thing to do for your web audience, but it also drastically increases the amount of storage space you will have to put more things on your hosting service.
There are a few different image file types you should be familiar with. Each of them compresses the image in a different way.
- Bitmap (.BMP)
A bitmap file is the ideal example of what NOT to put on the internet. Bitmaps are raw, uncompressed files which save every detail in the image, resulting in tremendous file size. Unfortunately, this is the number one mistake people make when preparing images for the web. Rule of thumb is that you should never upload a bitmap image onto a website unless the person your sending it to specifically needs it uncompressed. Save in bitmap only of you plan on editing the file later on your own computer.
- Joint Photographic Experts Group (.JPG, .JPEG)
A JPEG file is image compression for large and complex images, such as digital photos. JPEG compression tries to reduce file size by decreasing quality in sections of the image which it will be least noticable, based on a mathematical algorithm. However, sometimes JPEG can leave sections of the image where the decrease in quality is visible, and we call these "artifacts". Nearly all image editing programs allow saving in JPEG, and some even have quality selection settings to choose from.
Here is an example of an image saved in a compressed JPEG format:
- Graphics Interchange Format (.GIF)
GIF compresses images based on an entirely different algorithm. Small, uncomplex web graphics are the best suited towards GIF compression. GIF compresses the colors in an image to a 256-color pallete, simply because that is the way GIF was structured. Another aspect of GIF compression is dithering. Dithering is the concept of arranging pixels of two colors next to each other so that it seems like a third color is present. Dithering is used to try and make up for the limitations of the 256-color pallete, so it seems like there's more advanced color than there really is. GIF compresses very poorly with most types of large and complex images, however, so leave that work to JPEG. Most image editing programs allow saving in GIF, and some even have color, dither, and transparency selection settings to choose from.
Here is an example of an image saved in a compressed GIF format:
- Portable Network Graphics Format (.PNG)
PNG compresses files nearly identically to GIF, however the resulting file size is usually considerably less. The only thing to be cautious of PNG is that it's not as widely supported as JPEG or GIF. Some older internet browsers don't support PNG images, as well as some mobile devices. However for the most part, it's perfectly fine to use as an effective alternative to GIF. PNG can also be saved in 24-bit format with certain image applications, which means it compresses images to bitmap-like quality for a smaller file size than bitmap. This allows PNG to keep the "Portable Network" part of it's name, due to how it can compress images at full quality and eliminate the otherwise incrediblely huge file sizes of bitmap.
Well, I hope you've learned something today about image compression. Take this tip and give it to someone else who you think this might help!
Understanding Internet Slang
Completely lost when it comes to internet slang? Here's a reference list of some of the most commonly used internet slang.
| gtg/g2g | got to go |
| lol | laugh out loud (or lots of laughs) |
| lmao | laugh my ass off |
| lmfao | laugh my ****ing ass off |
| omg | oh my god |
| omfg | oh my ****ing god |
| btw | by the way |
| plz | please |
| thx | thanks |
| np | no problem |
| ttyl | talk to you later |
| wth | what the hell |
| wtf | what the **** |
| sthu | shut the hell up |
| stfu | shut the **** up |
| afk | away from keyboard |
| idk | i don't know |
| jk | just kidding |
| jp | just playing |
| brb | be right back |
| bbl | be back later |
| sig | signature |
| pic | picture |
| ftw | for the win |
| addy | address |
| proggy | program |
| gg | good game |
| gl | good luck |
| hf | have fun |
| w00t | woohoo |
| mofo | mother****er |
| 1337 | leet (elite) |
| afaik | as far as i know |
| wysiwyg | what you see is what you get |
| asl | age, sex, location |
| imo | in my opinion |
| imho | in my honest opinion |
| idk | i don't know |
| ilu | i love you |
| w/e | whatever |
| exe | executable/program |
You can find more internet slang at Wikipedia.
Cleaning Up Your Computer
Ready to remove all that crap on your computer that you never use? Want to free up some much-needed disk space and make your computer run faster? Well, I'm going to show you how.
- First, let's clean all the crap out from your browser's cache. Go into Internet Explorer or Firefox and clear cookies, temporary internet files, and history. It's recommended to do this every few days on average. Not only are you getting rid of gunk that the interent stores on your computer, but you're greatly reducing your risk of your everyday activities being tracked on the internet.
- Another thing you could do is remove unused or old programs. Go to Start > Control Panel in Windows XP, or Start > Settings > Control Panel in previous Windows versions. Then, go to "Add/Remove Programs". The list might take a minute to load, but once it does you'll be able to view nearly every program installed on your computer. Click on a program and select "Remove" to uninstall it. The approximate disk space usage taken up by a program is stated next to each program in the list. Try to remove programs that you don't need anymore which have the highest disk space usage, so that you can free great amounts of disk space taken up by programs you rarely need.
- Perform a virus scan with whatever virus scanner software you have. If you don't have a virus scanner installed on your computer, you can use BitDefender's online virus scanner for free. However, depending on the speed of your internet connection, the online scan could take a while.
- Run a scan for spyware/adware threats. Spyware/adware is gunk that gets on your computer from visiting certain websites. They install little things on your computer without your consent, and some of it can severely interfere with the performance of your computer or internet browser. One good spyware scanner is Spybot: Search and Destroy (get it from the Downloads Page under PC Utilities).
- After you've done all (or even one) of the above tasks, it's recommended to restart your computer to ensure your system registers the new changes.
Congratulations! You've just cleaned up a bunch of crap on your computer to make it run to it's maximum potential.
Editing Windows XP File Type Attributes
Ever wanted to change the attributes for file extensions on your computer? Well in this tip I'll show you how to do it. You have the capability to change actions associated with opening file types, add new file types, as well as change the icon for a specific file type.
- First, open up My Computer (or any other folder window). Next, go to Tools > Folder Options on the top menu bar.
- Next, select the "File Types" tab. It might take a minute or so to refresh the entire list, so be patient.
- Here you will see a huge list of all the file types and their extensions on your computer. Click on any file type to see information about it.
- Under "Details for ... Extension", you can change the default program that opens that specific file type.
- Click on the "Advanced" button and you'll be taken to yet another menu. Here you can change the icon for the file type, and edit the actions associated with it. These actions pertain to what is listed on the context menu when you right-click a file. (It's recommended that if you don't know what you're doing here, the safest thing is to leave these settings alone.)
And that's about it! Now you know how to edit and customize your file types in a snap.
Taking Screenshots of your Desktop
Ever wondered how to capture an image of what's displayed on your monitor? Well wonder no more! To tell you the truth, it's pretty simple to take a screenshot. Just follow these steps:
- First, find the "Print Screen" button on your keyboard. Usually it's somewhere in the upper righthand corner of the keyboard.
- Next, open up an image editing program, such as Microsoft Paint.
- Press the "Print Screen" button to copy a snapshot of what's on your screen. Then go into your image editing program and paste it in. Pretty simple, huh?
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