FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an audio format similar to MP3, but it is a lossless encoding format, meaning that audio is compressed in FLAC without any loss in quality. FLAC is unique as it is the fastest and most widely supported lossless audio codec, and the only one that at once is non-proprietary, and is not patented. It has an open-source reference implementation, and is a well documented format and API, and has several other independent implementations. Being a lossless compression format, FLAC does not remove any data Read More

Device drivers are simple software code that allows a higher level program on your computer such as an operating system to control a device. Today there are many peripherals for home computers and laptops such as printers, scanners, keyboards, etc. All of these devices require the operating system and sometimes other software programs that run on a computer access and control of a device. A device driver offers this access and ultimately makes the use of a device smooth and reliable. When you buy a peripheral device such as a Read More

A hard disk partition is a defined storage space on a hard drive. Most operating systems allow users to divide a hard disk into multiple partitions, in effect making one physical hard disk into several smaller logical hard disks. Reasons to Use Hard Disk Partitions A user may decide to split a hard disk into multiple partitions in order to organize his/her data more effectively. On Microsoft Windows machines, it is common to store the OS and applications on one hard disk partition and user data on another. When a Read More

Many computer owners find the multiple monitor features extremely useful. The multiple monitor feature has been around for many years and is available on Macintosh computers, Linux computers and Windows Operating systems- specifically on Windows 98, ME, XP, and Vista. It is quite easy to add one or more monitor to your computer, however there are generally only two modes available. They are Mirror Mode and the Multi Monitor Mode. Mirror Mode The first mode is called the mirror mode. In mirror mode, the second monitor you add will be Read More

As technology has improved, many people are taking advantage of the fact that computer systems are getting smaller while still managing to perform better and offer more functions than previous, larger models. This can be seen with the sheer number of laptops and notebook computers that are being purchased on a daily basis. In fact, more people are now buying laptop computers than desktop computers. Laptops, however, do fail to provide several things due to their small size and they come with certain drawbacks that some consumers may not like. Read More

One of the most disastrous things that can happen when using a computer is that the hard drive fails. All of the files that you have are lost. You could hire someone to try and extract the files, but this can be expensive. The better way is to back up your files before the hard drive fails. There are many ways. You can do an online backup. You can put the files on CDs. Or, you can use an external hard drive. The external hard drive acts like a hard Read More

The hard drive is where everything is stored on a computer. Any text document, picture or music file that you have placed on your computer is stored on the hard drive. Sometimes, though, the hard drive fails and you need to remove it. Or, you decide that you want to upgrade the hard drive so that you have more space to put things on. Regardless of your reasoning, removing the hard drive is a must before you can upgrade. The first step is to back the hard drive up. If Read More

CPU usage is defined as the time that a computer's main processing unit or CPU is devoted to executing a program or computer process's instructions. CPU usage is typically measured as a percentage of overall CPU processing capacity. A common problem that computer users face is figuring out how to deal with sources of problems that cause the CPU to approach or reach 100% usage. These problems differ from what normally causes a CPU to reach 100% usage (such as the System Idle Process). The System Idle Process is designed Read More

DVD-R DVD-R was one of the first DVD storage options and allows users to burn information to the disk one time. While users can often store up to 4.71 GB of information on a DVD-R disk, that information is permanently written to the disc and cannot be erased. More specifically, the disk cannot be used to store more information after the initial burning session. This means that even though there may be empty space on the disk, the disk becomes effectively useless. DVD-R disks are used mostly for installation disks, Read More

A microphone is a device that converts acoustic power into electric power. Both the acoustic power and the electric power have similar wave characteristics that convert sound waves into electric voltages that eventually convert back into sound waves through speakers. Microphone were used with the first telephones, and then with radio transmitters soon after. Sir Charles Wheatstone was the first person to come up with the word “microphone” in 1827, but even so, it was Emile Berliner who invented the first microphone in 1876. Emile Berliner was born in Hanover, Read More