Computer Support Knowledge

Modern life is full of DVD, video and audio production. We use them every day and everywhere. In order to make our connections with it more easily, more comfortable we use special software and hardware.

Here we have a short look at few applications suitable for mobile devices.

Apollo DVD to iPod.

Apollo DVD to iPod is an innovative Windows application that transcodes your favorite DVD movies to Apple iPod player directly. You can easily convert both PAL/NTSC DVDs for optimized video playback on iPod. Integrated world-class MPEG4 encoder makes it possible to transcode whole DVD disc with the time half of playback time of DVD. You can select any audio track, subtitle, chapters of the DVD as you want. DVD to iPod video has never been easier with Apollo DVD to iPod.

Afree DVD to iPhone Ripper

Afree DVD to iPhone Ripper is a powerful DVD ripper which helps you rip DVD movie to video format supported by iPhone player with fast converting speed and excellent video quality. It can rip your DVD to iPhone, MPEG-4 video formats in one click. Enjoy movies on the iPhone player wherever and whenever you want! Let the kids watch their favorite cartoons in the car with the iPhone player.
Features: Output formats: iPhone, MPEG-4; You can watch your DVD movies on your iPhone player; You can keep the default setting. You can also set the parameters by yourself; Run on Windows /98 /ME/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista.

A Moyea SWF to iPod Converter

Moyea SWF to iPod Converter is a perfect program that can convert Flash projector, as well as SWF to mp4 video for iPod. It offers the solutions to problems that many other SWF to video converting tools cannot solve, such as video and audio asynchronization, loss of frames, audio distortion, and the processing of SWF files with internal or external Flash video (FLV). With the leading audio and video codec, Moyea SWF to iPod Converter lets you easily and fully enjoy the original effects of your SWF files on your iPod.

iPod Video Converter

iPod Video Converter for Windows is fantastic iPod video converter. It helps you to convert all popular video formats such as AVI, MPEG, WMV, MOV, MP4, VOB, DivX, XviD etc to iPod MP4 video; and convert MP3, AC3, AAC audio files to iPod MP3, M4A etc.

Furthermore it supports new iPod 30GB and 80GB with resolution of 640 by 480 pixels for MPEG-4 Video.

Would you like to familiarize yourself with all the aspects of the computer memory? Yes! Then, did you know that there is a chip that controls the flow of data to and from the memory system of the computer. It is known as the computer memory controller, and is fixed either on the motherboard of the computer or to the Central Processing Unit.

The main task of the memory controller chip is to read, write and refresh the Random Access Memory by sending the current through the whole system. If there were no system of refreshing the RAM, the application might lose the entire data it has stored. In this sense, the presence of a memory controller is utterly important.

The Memory controller reads and writes the RAM through multiplexers and demultiplexers. They choose the right row, column and memory location for the data. These controllers work according to the bus width. The bus width of a system is constituted by the number of parallel lanes that communicate with the memory cell of the RAM.

Computer memory controllers have developed into a number of categories. These are Double data rate memory, Dual channel memory and fully buffered memory. The Double data rate memory controller is used to control the RAM which is in the form of a built-in circuit used in the computer. Here, the information is transferred in the flow of highs and lows of the memory clock of the computer. They are a little more comprehensive than that of a single rate controller as they allow almost twice the data to be transferred.

On the other hand, Dual channel memory controllers are used in the systems in which RAM is divided into two different buses. This permits two controllers to work in parallel directions. Fully buffered memory means the placement of a buffer memory device on every module of memory that uses a serial link to the data in place of a parallel link. With the help of this computer memory controller, several memory devices can be connected to a single board.

You will find quality but a very limited variety in computer memory controllers. Mostly, these are fixed in all laptop and desktop computers .A user need not fix them on his own. If you are going to use a computer service, it is important to check out its functioning and status as well. In this respect, you can seek the help of online websites as well as many of the reliable computer stores. For online help, you just need to click onto the Internet and explore the computer memory controller websites. You are allowed to share your concerns and problems with their staff and they will help you to come up with the relevant solution.

In case of some serious problem, they may send their staff to your home to take a close look at the memory controller. So, we have told you about the working of the computer memory controllers, now it is you who has to check out whether it is working accurately in your computer or not?

The day that the Window Vista Operating Systems came out on the market, everyone wanted to have it on their computers. Many people even tried to install it the moment they could get their hands on it, but they forgot about one important thing. The important thing that they forgot about was the fact that the Window Vista Operating System may also require a memory upgrade for the computer. The RAM has to be expanded to effectively run the processes included on the Vista Operating System.

The first and foremost step that needs to be undertaken when installing Window Vista Operating System is an upgrade of the computer memory. There are a few things that you should consider when doing this. You have to check to see how much memory your computer has. The RAM needs to be checked. The process of finding out the RAM capacity of your computer is very easy to do. All you have to do is go to the Start Menu and click My Computer. You can also right click on the My Computer icon on the desktop. Click on properties and the information on the speed of your computer’s memory will be listed there. This information will help you find out if there is enough speed for Window Vista Operating System, and how much more memory you might need to install.

It is probably better, in many cases that the user not installs the memory themselves. This is especially true if they are not familiar with the procedure. In those cases, a computer engineer or another professional in the field would be the best people to approach this task. If you need to install memory on the computer for Window Vista Operating System, you will have to follow certain steps, and it is a bit mechanical. First of all, you will have to unplug the computer. It is still possible to receive a slight shock even after the computer has been unplugged. You should touch something else metal before touching the insides of the computer to make sure that you discharge static on your body.

On the motherboard there will be memory slots somewhere near the processor. There are clips on each side of the memory slot that you need to spread apart to put the memory in. You can replace one of the lower capacity memory cards, or you can add memory to an empty slot on the motherboard. Once you are finished, you can close up the computer and try out the computer.

You can install computer memory on your PC, but if you don’t do it properly, you can cut yourself or touch something that you shouldn’t touch. There is the danger of having an unwanted outcome where you hurt yourself or ruin your computer. Make sure that you keep these things in mind, and consider asking a computer professional who is suitable for the job of installing memory for your computer with Window Vista Operating system.

• Check to see if the drive spins up; if not, replace drive.
• If drive spins up, check cmos settings.
• If cmos settings are okay, check fdisk to see if partition is still accessible.
• If fdisk doesn’t show partition, create partition and format drive (importance of backing up data).
• If fdisk shows partition, check to see if you can access drive from prompt.
• If you can access drive, run sys.com to make drive bootable. Reboot from drive.
• If you can’t access drive, run scandisk or norton utilities from floppy.
• If scandisk or norton fixes problem, reboot from drive.
• If scandisk or norton doesn’t find errors, re-partition and reformat drive.
• If you encounter errors while formatting the drive, replace drive.

For the last resort (when the drive really did die, it-is-not-even-spinning type crashes), there is a possible solution that comes from the early days of hard drives. Back then you were not supposed to turn them off—I don’t know why but IBM said never turn them off unless you are standing there.

One of our main computers was housed in a closet where I could not hear it well and had a power supply failure that apparently took days to complete. I happened to open the closet for some other reason and discovered a warm box and immediately went through the shut down sequence to take it off line for a new power source.

Several days later, the unit was shut down again for a long weekend of downtime on a routine maintenance schedule and upon restarting the system the hard drive would not work. I am pretty good at backing up everything but could not find the backup disk anywhere. Panic. I am the author of a newsletter that goes to hundreds of subscribers everyday, and the mailing list was on the dead drive. I replaced the drive and reloaded everything but was going through sobbing spells as I looked for solutions to recover the lost data. Data recovery companies wanted over five thousand dollars to try to recover the data.

A client of mine told me he once possessed an old 286 that required a hair dryer to get it running every time he turned it on. The fellow who had built it for him was an IBM technician and gave him the hair dryer idea because that is what IBM used to do to restart the drives in down machines. So on the bench machine with the drive out where the dryer could get to it and still be hooked up, I began the process. Lo and behold, it worked. While it was running, I downloaded all the missing data and immediately uploaded it to the new drive. Don’t laugh, I got my outcome and can now say I recovered a fully dead hard drive with my wife’s hair dryer.

This step-by-step article describes how to add and remove fonts in Windows XP. The following fonts are included with Windows XP and are installed on every computer:

• Courier New (TrueType, including Bold, Italic, and Bold Italic variations)
• Arial (TrueType, including Bold, Italic, and Bold Italic variations)
• Times New Roman (TrueType, including Bold, Italic, and Bold Italic variations)
• Symbol (TrueType)
• Wingdings (TrueType)
• MS Serif
• MS Sans Serif

If any of the standard fonts that are included with Windows XP are missing, you can run Windows XP Setup again. Setup replaces missing or changed files. If these standard fonts are missing, other Windows XP files may also be missing, and Setup corrects these problems.
Adding New Fonts Windows supports TrueType fonts or fonts that are specially designed for Windows, and these fonts are available commercially. Some programs also include special fonts that are installed as part of the program installation. Additionally, printers frequently come with TrueType or special Windows fonts. Follow the directions that come with these products to install these fonts. To manually install or re-install a font:

• Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
• Double-click the Fonts folder.
• On the File menu, click Install New Font.
• In the Drives box, click the drive that has the floppy or CD-ROM that contains the fonts you want to add. If you are installing fonts from a floppy disk, this is typically drive A or drive B. If you are installing the fonts from a compact disc, your CD-ROM drive is typically drive D.
• Double-click the folder that contains the fonts.
• Click the font you want to add. To select more than one font at a time, press and hold down the Ctrl key while you click each font.

This article describes how to share one Internet connection on your home network or your small-office network.
Through the Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) feature for network and dial-up connections, you can use Windows XP to connect your home network or your small-office network to the Internet. For example, you may have a home network in which a Windows XP-based computer connects to the Internet by using a dial-up connection. If you enable ICS on the computer that uses the dial-up connection, you can provide network address translation, addressing, and name resolution services for all of the computers on your network. Note that, for Internet Connection Sharing to be enabled, the Windows XP-based computer must have two network adapters, one for the home or small-office network, and one for the Internet connection.
Setup Procedures To enable ICS on a network connection:

• In Control Panel, double-click Network Connections.
• Click the local area network (LAN) connection or the dial-up networking connection that you want to share (that is, the one that connects to the Internet), and then, under Network Tasks, click Change settings of this connection.
• On the Advanced tab, click to select the Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection check box.
• If this is a dial-up networking connection, and you want the connection to be automatically dialed when another computer on your network attempts to connect to the Internet, click to select the Establish a dial-up connection whenever a computer on my network attempts to access the Internet check box.
• If you want to allow other network users to enable or disable the shared Internet connection, click to select the Allow other network users to control or disable the shared Internet connection check box.
• Under Internet Connection Sharing, in Home networking connection, select the connection that connects the computer that is sharing its Internet connection to the other computers on your network.

Note that to enable ICS in Windows XP, you must have administrative rights.

IMPORTANT: When you enable ICS, the network adapter that is connected to the home or small-office network receives a new static IP address of 192.168.0.1, with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. Existing TCP/IP connections on the network may be lost and must be reestablished.

Configuration and Usage Issues The ICS feature is intended for use in a small office or in a home office in which the network configuration and the Internet connection are managed by the Windows XP-based computer on which the shared connection resides. It is assumed that, on this network, this computer is the only Internet connection, this computer is the only gateway to the Internet, and this computer sets up all internal network addresses. All hosts on the network except the ICS host are expected to be configured to obtain IP address and DNS configuration automatically. You cannot modify the default network configuration after you enable ICS. This includes changing the range of private IP addresses that are handed out (DHCP allocator), enabling or disabling DNS, and configuring a range of public IP addresses. If your home office users need to gain access to a corporate network that is connected to the Internet by a tunnel server, the users need to create a virtual private network (VPN) connection to tunnel from the computer on the ICS network to the corporate tunnel server on the Internet. The VPN connection is authenticated and secure, and creating the tunneled connection allocates proper IP addresses, DNS server addresses, and WINS server addresses for the corporate network. You may need to configure programs and services to work properly across the Internet. For example, if users on your home network want to play a game with other users on the Internet, the game must be configured on the connection in which ICS is enabled. Services that you provide must be configured so that Internet users can gain access to them

You cannot customize the default icon for a folder in Windows; however, you can make a shortcut to a folder and change the look of the shortcut icon. To make a shortcut to a folder and change the look of the shortcut icon:

• Open My Computer and browse to the folder that you want.
• Right-click the folder, and then click Create Shortcut. If you are prompted to place the shortcut on the desktop, click Yes.
• Right-click the shortcut you created, click Properties, and then click Change Icon.
• Click the picture of the icon you would like the shortcut to use, click OK, and then click OK.

No Icons Available If you click Change Icon, and there are no icons available, use the Browse button to find Shell32.dll:

• Right-click the shortcut you created, click Properties, and then click Change Icon.
• Click Browse, type %systemroot%\system32\shell32.dll in the File name box, click Open, click the icon you want to use, click OK, and then click OK.

This article describes how to change the column settings in Windows Explorer. To change which columns are displayed, or change the width or order of the windows and folders in Windows Explorer:

• In Windows Explorer, click the folder, and then click Choose Details on the View menu.
• Click to select the check box of each item that you would like to add to the current view, or click to clear the check boxes of items that you do not want.
• To reorder your columns, click the item (but do not clear the check box), and then click Move Up or Move Down until the items are in the order that you want. Click OK.

Note: You must click Details on the View menu in order to display the details of the files in the selected folder.

To change the width of the columns, use the appropriate method:

Method One

• On the View menu, click Choose Details, and then click the name of the column that you want to adjust. In the Width of selected column (in pixels) box, enter the size that you want, and then click OK.

Method Two

• Widen columns manually by positioning the mouse pointer between two border buttons of the column headings, the pointer turns into a double arrowhead.
• Click and hold the left mouse button, and then drag the column to the desired width.

Turn Off, Display, and Select an Animated Character in Search Companion in Windows XP
This article describes how to turn off, display, and select a different animated screen character in Search Companion.

How to Turn Off the Animated Screen Character

• Click Start, and then click Search.
• In the Search Companion dialog box, click Change Preferences.
• In the How do you want to use Search Companion box, click Without an animated screen character.

The screen character is no longer displayed in Search Companion. Note: You can also right-click the screen character, and then click Turn off the animated character in the You rang box.

How to Display the Animated Screen Character

• Click Start, and then click Search.
• In the Search Companion dialog box, click Change Preferences.
• Click With an animated screen character in the How do you want to use Search Companion box.

The screen character is displayed in Search Companion.

How to Select a Different Animated Screen Character

• Click Start, and then click Search.
• In the Search Companion dialog box, click Change Preferences.
• Click With a different character in the How do you want to use Search Companion box.
• Click Back or Next in the Which character would you like to use box to view the characters.
• When the character that you want is displayed, click OK.

The screen character that you selected is displayed in Search Companion. Note: You can also right-click the screen character, and then click Choose a different animated character in the You rang box.

Troubleshooting If the Search Companion dialog box is not displayed, press F3 to open it. You can also open the Search Companion dialog box when you press F3 in Windows Explorer, My Computer, or Microsoft Internet Explorer.