Se7en Tech sharing of knowledge about the technological world without borders...

What is it that you mean by a fast computer? Does it mean fast Internet? Fast games? Fast email? Fast graphics? Fast calculations? Fast windows? Fast downloads? Fast installs? Fast boot-up? Fast shutdown? Each of these things can have a speed of their own? I'll try to answer generally in order to cover my bases.

There are many things that contribute to the speed of a computer. Hardware is the main ingredient for a fast machine. Next comes the Operating System. Software is next in line for contributing to speed. Finally, your internet connection plays a significant role. But this doesn't really answer the question.

The hardware that makes a computer fast is tied to a few main components. First is the processor speed. You might hear about such chips as the Duron, Dual Core, Quad Core, Centrino, Pentium, Athalon64, with such things as 1.8Ghz, 3.5Ghz, 700Mhz. These are all types of chips and various speeds and power at which they operate. Next we have the FSB or Front Side Bus, which determines how fast the data gets to the processor. The faster the data gets to the processor; the faster the processor can begin processing.

If that wasn't enough to spin your head around, there is the speed of the memory. We're talking about actual RAM not virtual memory. Memory is a chip that stores information for the processor, but only while the computer is turned on. When you turn off your computer the memory chip is erased! The faster the memory the more often information can be retrieved and manipulated by the processor.

Then there is the Hard Drive, the place where you put your documents, the operating system, pictures, and everything else that is stored on your computer. When this is slow, the other components have to wait for the information to be retrieved before they'll do anything with it. (Oh, and Don't confuse Hard Drive space with Computer Memory. They are completely different things.)

Here is where the software comes in to the speed of your system. The operating system (i.e., Windows) uses up resources (hardware) on the computer to bring you the Internet, e-mail, movies, entertainment, and photos. Some operating systems use more resources than others, but the bottom line is the newer the operating system the more resources it uses up.

Generally, the more software that gets installed onto a computer the slower the computer will operate. This is not true of all software, but most of the popular ones load a little bit of themselves every time the computer is started. This slows down the computer. Having one or two of these little programs will not slow down your system to any noticeable degree, but when you have a dozen or more, then performance lags.

To counter all these little programs eating up resources, it is best to have as much memory as possible in your computer. Memory should not be confused with what is called Virtual Memory, which is not memory at all. It is actually a file on your Hard Drive that pretends to be memory. If you don't have enough memory, your computer will start using Virtual Memory, and it will slow your computer down. Virtual memory has its uses, but it should be used rarely.

Some of the pitfalls of a slow computer: Most windows computers need some sort of virus protection. Mac, Linux, and BeOS have very few worries in the virus department. Virus protection, at least the popular ones, require more and more resources to protect windows from attacks. Then there's spyware, rootkits, spam, and pop-ups that are a constant bane to windows. A slow computer will be slow to catch and remove these sorts of malware (bad-software). To get better performance, use protection that requires less resources. Symantec, Trend, McAfee are examples of protection that require more resources than is absolutely necessary. There are smaller reliable and free alternatives on the internet, like AVG.

This leads us right to the Internet and how it affects the speed of your computer. Dial-up connections, even on a fast computer, are slow. Too much information needs to pass between your computer and the internet to really be of any use to you. Virus protection updates are almost impossible at dial-up speeds. Dial-up inhibits your access to many webpages, causes delays in email, and limits the quality feedback response required for learning to use your computer and the Internet.

Having a fast Internet connection does not mean you'll have a fast computer. If your computer is slow, a fast Internet connection will not make any real difference in your computers performance.

• Slow Computer + Fast Internet = Slow Computer on the Internet. 
• Fast Computer + Slow Internet = Computer Slowed by the Internet. 
• Faster computer + Faster Internet = Quality experience on the Internet.

By http://www.pyattconsulting.com

Another week, another breech reported, and another round of changing password on a number of website across the internet.

Even though people intuitively understand that they shouldn’t use the same password with their email address on each site, they do so anyway because the complexity of keeping track of all those different website passwords is more of an immediate problem than having to change a password across a number of sites because one of them has become compromised.

What makes it even harder is when you can’t remember which sites you might have signed up to using the password.

Best practice would be to have separate password for each site. Such a strategy would involve having some sort of secure password locker software that allowed you to retrieve the passwords as it became necessary. Of course the reality is that best practice requires a lot of effort. A lot of times when people sign up to a website, it is a one-off and they probably won’t ever return to that site. While it may be best practice to use a unique password for every site, that’s a lot of effort to go to if you are using the site only once.

When thinking about website passwords, think about the importance of the website. Have unique passwords for very important sites. If possible turn on two factor authentication. Your email and social media passwords should be unique.

One off accounts that you’re unlikely to use again don’t necessarily need to be unique – you just need to make sure that they aren’t the same as any of your important accounts.

Generally if an attacker compromises an unimportant account password, they are going to see if it is the same password that you use with an important account. For example, if they manage to compromise the database of the Chewbacca Rollerblading Forum you once posted to and figure out your password, they probably aren’t going to see if the same password works for the Lego Windmill Makers forum that you also once posted a few times at. Instead they’ll see if they can use those credentials to compromise gmail/Hotmail/facebook/twitter.

If your credentials for your important accounts are unique, this isn’t going to be a problem.

The key to website password security is keeping those important accounts with unique strong passwords. If they are unique and strong, you don’t have to worry so much when the account database of another site that you visit inevitably gets compromised.

By Orin Thomas           http://windowsitpro.com

Image Credit : www.techspot.com ©

Will it be Alan Mulally or Satya Nadella?

And then there were two, if recent reports are to be believed. Ford CEO Alan Mulally and Microsoft executive vice president Satya Nadella are apparently the top two candidates for the CEO job at Microsoft, with two wild cards, Tony Bates and Stephen Elop remaining as only distant possibilities for the post.

The report of the narrowed CEO search decision comes from Bloomberg, which has been reliable and credible in the past. The report cites unnamed Microsoft insiders as stating that Mr. Nadella, who currently oversees the firm's cloud and enterprises business, and turnaround guru Mulally have risen to the top after months of search efforts.

There's just one problem. They couldn't be more different.

A former Boeing executive, Mr. Mulally was famously asked to run Ford when William Clay Ford, Jr. determined he was unable to lead the car maker into its next growth phase. At the time, the decision was criticized because Mr. Mulally had no auto industry background, but Ford's subsequent dramatic turnaround—it was the only US automaker that didn't need federal assistance during the automotive industry crisis of 2008—and Mulally's decisive moves end any criticism.

Mr. Nadella, meanwhile, is in many ways the ultimate Microsoft insider. With the firm since 1992, he led Microsoft's $19 billion Server and Tools business, architecting its seamless transition from on premises server solutions to cloud computing.

The attraction to Mr. Mulally is obvious: Though he is a tech industry outsider, he previously turned around a business in which he was initially an outsider. But he's also likely to be a short-timer: At the age of 68, he'd been planning to retire from Ford in 2014. And Ford resolutely claims he's unavailable. "Alan remains completely focused on executing our One Ford plan," a Ford statement notes. "We do not engage in speculation."

Nadella is well-respected within Microsoft and of course the business he led could serve as a model for the rest of Microsoft. But there is a growing worry that Microsoft needs real change, and that that change cannot come from someone who endured the endless internal politics of the past 20 years at the firm.

Of course, Microsoft's CEO role is complex and finding a single candidate who can understand and speak fluently about the company's many divergent product lines is a difficult task. Microsoft's board of directors met two weeks ago to discuss its progress in finding a new CEO and while they originally hoped to be able to announce its decision this year, the board is now expected to push that back to early 2014.

The next CEO must have an "extensive track record in managing complex, global organizations within a fast-paced and highly competitive market sector [and a] track record of delivering top and bottom line results," internal documents obtained by Bloomberg note. "[They must have the] proven ability to lead a multi-billion dollar organization and large employee base."

As for Tony Bates and Stephen Elop, the two erstwhile Microsoft executives—Bates came to Microsoft with Skype and Elop is set to return to the firm when it concludes its purchase of Nokia's devices and services businesses—they remain long shots.

But Mr. Bates is apparently a favorite of Microsoft's employees, according to a report in All Things D. He's seen as the right combination of insider and outsider, and because of his extensive Silicon Valley experience, his rise to CEO could signal a new era of cooperation between Microsoft and its competitors and partners. That view ignores the very hard reality that Microsoft's integration of Skype technology into its other products has been downright disastrous. Indeed, though ostensibly a part of Microsoft, Skype appears to be run as an independent business that appears clueless to the needs of customers served by other parts of the company.

By Paul Thurrott      http://windowsitpro.com

Image Credit : http://windowsitpro.com ©