RAM(MEMORY)… Lets start with ram. Ram is also known as memory. It holds information(code) that needs to be read by the CPU(processor). If your computer was purchased a few years ago back when Windows Vista came out you are probably running the minimum requirement for vista which is 1GB of ram.  With Vista being as much of a resource hog as it is I would definitely upgrade to either double or triple that amount. Trust me you will see a fairly nice performance increase. Since ram is much fast then your Hard Drive and more ram means less communication between the Hard Drive and the Processor thus making your computer run smoother. The only limitation to how much ram you can put in a computer is on the architecture of you operating system. If it is 32bit (x86) you are limited to a max of 4Gb of ram being recognized by the operating system. If you have a 64bit (x64) operating system that limitation is raised over 4GB. With the price of ram dropping recently this is a very affordable option for a notable performance increase.

CPU(PROCESSOR)… The brains of the operation if you know what I mean. The cpu decodes and codes information all day long. It is what lets your computer “compute” so to say. This is an area with a whole lot of choice, but not so much understanding of what it all means. you have Intel, AMD, Single Core, Dual Core, Triple Core, Quad Core, Hyperthreading, etc….. and the list goes on. I’m not going to get into all the details right now. I’m just going to tell you what to look for when thinking about upgrading. Today the average Computer user needs at least a 2Ghz Dual core processor to preform there everyday tasks of web surfing, word processing, youtubing, netflix, etc… Depending on what kind of  motherboard you have in your computer really determines the upgrade ability of you processor. Now if you have an AMD motherboard with a AM2+ socket you are definitely in luck. There are a wide range of modern CPU’s that fit on these motherboards. All ranging from dual core to quad core CPU’s Also with AMD you get a fairly good bang for you buck when it comes to parts. In this case you can get the equivalent of a new computers performance for about 1/8th of the cost. If your computer  has an Intel motherboard with a socket 478 CPU you are out of luck. This is definitely considered obsolete and almost impossible to find worth while parts on. Now if you have an Intel Socket 775 Motherboard in you computer you are still in luck. It is still possible to breath life into your old computer for about 1/7th of the cost of a new computer.

Operating System… At the moment one of the best Windows based operating systems around is Windows 7. It gives you a combination of the Windows XP resource management and Windows Vista visuals (and then some). If you want to breath life into and older machine especially one with Windows vista on it upgrade it to Windows 7. Windows 7 will free up some of the wasted resources and has much less bugs then Vista. Now granted you can’t upgrade from a x86 to a x64 operating system. Can do a custom installation  without formatting/erasing the hard drive on a clean install though. Doing this will give you the ability to retain all of your data from a previous Windows install, but will not retain software installation from a previous Windows installation. If you remember me talking about operating system architecture earlier  you remember the upgrade possibilities for ram with an x64 version of Windows. Thus one upgrade opening more possibility for upgrade.

HDD(HARD DRIVES)… The ability to upgrade your hdd also depends on the age of you system. If your computer was made before S-ATA connections there is really no possibility for hdd upgrades. The main reason why you would want to upgrade your hdd would be for more space. With the price per GB dropping you can purchase a larger capacity hdd today for much less then you could in the past. The new and not so common reason to upgrade your hdd to is for speed. This can really only be achieved with a Solid State hdd. Solid State hdd’s are based on the same technology as memory.Though Solid State hdd’s may be faster they also carry a higher price tag and have a fairly small capacity. Unless you plan on installing just your Operating system and a few programs on one itsnot really that economical to upgrade to a Solid State hdd.

VIDEOCARD… If you game a lot or watch HD video a videocard upgrade is for you.By upgrading your video card you free up system resources such as ram being used by the on-board video and you can free up your cpu from decoding video. A videocard upgrade will not be useful to the average computer user, but for those users that need this kind of upgrade can open up what seems like a new world. There are many options when it comes to video card, but it is guaranteed that you will find one to perfectly suite your needs. The price of videocards also varies a lot  so cost effectiveness is completely based on opinion.

MOTHERBOARD… The motherboard is like the body of the computer. Every component of a computer is hooked into the motherboard. It determines the upgrade-ability of all of the physical components. Upgrading the motherboard won’t necessarily give you a performance increase, but if paired together with a new cpu and memory you can basically get a brand new computer for between 1/4 and 1/2 the price of a new computer. Also with an upgrade in motherboard you can upgrade cpu and/or memory again in the future without worry so much about compatibility issues. In my opinion if your hdd is big enough, but your computer is still to slow and not much can be upgraded on it I would definitely recommend a full motherboard, cpu, memory upgrade. you can find deals including motherboard, cpu and memory out there startingat around $150 and when your done you would feel as if you had a brand new computer, but could soend the money you saved on something else you really want.

This picture is showing how a clean PC is supposed to work with cool air coming in from the front and hot air being blown out the back. Some computers are a little different, but manufacturers all follow a similar method of pulling cooler fresh air in and blowing old hot air out. This is important because the normal operating temperature of a CPU can range from 40°C to 95°C depending on the model. With other components such as video cards also being able to reach similar temperatures you can just imagine how hot a PC can get without sufficient airflow.

The below pictures can show you how dust can significantly impact on airflow. Situations like these can cause severe hardware failures on components such as capacitors, fans, chip-sets, processors, video cards, power supplies and motherboards. All of these can be quite costly to replace and could have been easily avoided.

Accumulated dust on a processor heatsink

Accumulated dust on the front vents of a PC

Here is a picture of a PC that has been used in a smokey room. Cigarette smoke can also throw in another factor that makes dust even harder to deal with. When tar and dust are combined they make a very thick sticky substance that can be a pain to remove. In some cases the substance cannot be removed and the parts will have to be replaced. Now keep in mind companies such as Apple have been known to void warranties due to buildup like this in there PC’s. According to Apple this is considered a “bio-hazard” and they will not subject their employees to work with these substances.

Dusty PC used in a smokey environment

A typical PC should be cleaned every 3 to 4 months or sooner if used in a very dusty environment. To remove dust you should used some form of compressed air either with an air compressor or a can of compressed air. If you are using a can of compressed air you should hold the can with the tip of the straw about 3 or 4 inches from the surface you are blowing and use quick short bursts of air to remove the dust. If you are using an air compressor please make sure not to use more then 60 psi. Also make sure to keep the end of your nozzle at least 6 or 7 inches away from the surface you are removing dust from as to avoid damage to any other components.

I hope this post has been helpful to you. Please post any questions below.

Ratings given to Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 by AV-Test.org

Abovet is a picture showing the ratings given to Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 by AV-Test.org. In my opinion the rating are very nice and speak for them self. I am going to give a brief breakdown of what I feel is importand and why. The first thing I would like to point out is the 100% protection against “0-day malware attacks”. Yes I know that sounds amazing , but how many of you know what 0-day attack is. A 0-day malware attack is an attack against a software flaw that occurs at a time when no patch to correct the problem exists. In layman’s terms that is an attack that hasn’t even been seen in a lab yet. Now with knowing that you really understand why I am so impressed with the 100% rating. Another Rating I am impressed with is the “removal of all active components of widespread malware (including rootkits and stealth malware)” Kaspersky received an 88% which is 9% higher then that average.  The last and one of my pet peeves “false detection of legitimate software as malware during a system scan (false positives)” . Kaspersky had 1 in July and 3 in August which is much less then the 17 Average for the rest of the programs tested. This is especially important to me because as anyone who has it happen to them before knows there is nothing worse then when your AV program detects a legitimate piece of software as a virus and removes it, and then the next thing you know you computer is inoperable. Then you spend hours trying to figure our what happened to your computer just to learn that your AV removed something important because of a false positive. There it is… The Reasons why for the moment I will recommend Kaspersky Internet Security 2011/2012 as my AV of choice. Please check out av-test.org for yourself to see the most unbiased ratings of today’s top anti-virus software.

There are many different types of RAID out there, but I am going to talk about the three that I feel to be the most important and beneficial. The first RAID setup I am going to talk about is a RAID 1. In Raid 1 data is written identically to multiple drives, thereby producing a “mirrored set”. While any number of drives may be used, many implementations deal with only 2 Drives. Basically this doesn’t have any performance increase, but gives you the ability to loose one drive without loosing any data or having downtime. The next Raid setup I would like to talk about is RAID 3. In RAID 3 all disk spindle rotation is synchronized, and data is striped so each sequential byte is on a different drive. Parity is calculated across corresponding bytes and stored on a dedicated parity drive. This boils down to 3 or more drives being used and one of the drives being uses a parity drive for the rest. The benefits of this is that u get the storage capacity of two drives and the ability to loose one drive without loosing data or having downtime. Another benefit of this is an increase in writing performance. The last and my favorite RAID setup is RAID 5. RAID 5 is very similar to RAID 3, but the datais split up block level instead of byte level and the parity is split between all of the drives instead of having the parity on a dedicated drive. Just like RAID 3 you can loose one drive with loosing any data or downtime, but a failed drive will result in a drop in performance. The benefits of RAID 5 over RAID 3  is that with a healthy array you will receive better read and write performance on the RAID5 then you will on the RAID 3.

Another preparation is redundancy. You probably just asked yourself how can the existence of more then one means or resource help with the loss of data. Well with technology advances, storage capacity increases and storage being more affordable you can have redundancy in storage devices. Some of you are probably still scratching your heads. I am talking about RAID. What is RAID you say. RAID is a (redundant array of independent disks; originally redundant array of inexpensive disks). It is a way of storing the same data in different places (thus, redundantly) on multiple Hard Drives. What all this boils down to is the ability to have fault tolerance where u can loose one or more Hard Drives (depending on RAID setup) and still maintain all of you information without having downtime.

Yes these options do cost a little extra money, but they are still less then your data recovery bill can be or the possibility of loosing your important pictures, documents, files, etc… all together.