Week 12

This week in computer hardware and software management we discussed tips to have a strong safe password as well as the common myths associated with your passwords that specific link did not seem to work this week.  We also discussed the differences between trojans, viruses, and worms.  Worms are considered as sub species of viruses that spread without the input of the creator from computer to computer via means of contact within your computer an example used in the reading was through your email address book uploading and sending the worm through the email to your friends or family.  Next you have the trojan horse which is like its moniker is a type of virus disguised as something else in this case normally some useful software or an existing software but not from the legitimate source.   A computer virus in general is like a human virus it spreads from computer to computer except it uses your computers files to spread it generally uses an executable to initially infect your computer.

week 11

This week in Computer hardware and software management we learned about printers and their software as well as how to troubleshoot them.  To begin troubleshooting your printer you should attempt to do a test print and to do that properly you should make sure to print directly from windows software avoiding any third party printing software you can do this by pressing the windows button and then clicking on the settings wheel and from there you click on the devices link and then you will press on printers and scanners.  From there you select your printer and open up the link and use the test print function as it will print a page directly from your windows 10 printer software.  There are also many printers that have software available on their website to automatically troubleshoot your printer or they will sometimes come with an install disc for their troubleshooting software.

week 10

This week in computer hardware and software management we learned about mobile operating systems such as android and apple phones.  We also learned a lot about how they interact with servers and other business aspects of mobile operating systems.  One of these aspects is how to use email on your phone which nowadays is a very straightforward thing to do on Android and Apple luckily nowadays.  We learned about different email protocols as well such as POP3 which works by downloading your mail individually from your ISP service provider before being given the option to delete the email on the server this worked much better when there was way fewer devices as the email would exist on the one device this led to POP3 becoming outdated as it became the norm to have email be available on basically every computing device from phones to the psp.

week 9

This week in Computer Hardware and Software Management we discuss the differences between laptops and tablets while doing a good job of mentioning some of the differences this debate ended without any clarity on who won or even what was the original point as well as an ending point.  For example, while briefly mentioned about the differences in software neither of them really delved deep enough into that aspect, for example, many programs are only available on windows especially for engineers and designers tablets no matter the price tag simply won’t have the hardware or software necessary to do this type of work.  On the flip side of this while, laptops do have writing functions for certain high-end models the one I’m using for example for real artistic usage I don’t believe they are close to a match for their tablet counterparts.  The reason I think so is that if you're looking for beautiful scenery to draw lugging around your laptop are a hassle and the smaller form factor makes way more sense as well as the the fact that for a more detailed drawing you are way more likely to need to charge your laptop in the middle of your drawing then your tablet due to the more energy efficient OS and components both have different specialties within almost completely identical broad overlapping uses.

week 8

This week in computer hardware and software management we learned about the differences between IPv4 and its successor IPv6 with the main difference being that IPv4 can only have a little over 4 billion addresses while IPv6 can go up to three-hundred and forty undecillion as well as offers better security then IPv4.  We also did our rough drafts this week which mine was on thermal cooling options for your computer or server.  With my paper I hoped to inform the readers as to the different types of air and liquid cooling and the differences between them as well as the pros and cons of each and how to tell what the correct fit for them is.  I learned quite a bit researching for this paper mostly about server cooling systems which are vastly different in set up while being the same on a smaller individual level for the most part.

week 7

This week we learned about virtualization, hardware failure rates, and how to trouble shoot common issues on windows such as the blue screen of death and a computer lock up.  The part of this week’s course that I was most familiar with before the course would have to be windows trouble shooting and the blue screen of death.  This is mostly because I am a heavy computer and general technology user like I imagine anyone taking this course is due to the nature of it and windows while a very open and well-functioning operating system is definitely not perfect and with something that can be used as heavily as your phone, or computer even a small percentage failure rate will eventually be hit and have a corrupted download, a hard drive failure, or any number of other possible issues being able to properly use windows diagnostic software and safe mode is almost a necessity.

week 6

This week in Computer Hardware and Software Management we learned about the different file types such as exFAT, NTFS, FAT32 and CDFS.  CDFS stands for CD file system and it is the file type you get when you export tracks from a CD.  ExFAT and FAT32 are file types most commonly used for thumb drives FAT32 is the older of the two so most flash drives tend to use it as basically anything can access it unfortunately FAT32 comes with quite a few limitations in its memory storage it can’t store more then 4 GB as one file and can’t store more than 8 TB total with this system exFAT is almost the same as FAT32 except without limitations.  NTFS is the main file system put into place for windows it allows partition and main file sizes with almost no limit and is normally read only on MAC and Linux systems.

week 5

This week in computer hardware and software management we learned about operating systems more specifically windows 10 from the videos and how to install or do a clean reinstall for it among other things.  We also watched videos about how to get better performance with windows 10 and just learn about all the different settings and options you have at hand to play with.  We also learned about hooking up storage devices to your computer and making sure that they are operational as well as other peripheral devices.  The part of this week that I found most useful to myself would be learning how to optimize windows 10 as I didn’t know about many of these features until this week that could help extend my battery life and get the maximum possible performance from my computer.

week 4

This week in Computer hardware and software management we learned about how replace power supplies as well as how important air flow is to a computer.  Proper airflow isn’t about simply having enough fans and having them properly placed to pull air from one side and out a different one after being run past all the main components in the chassis.  We also learned about how to change a power supply and the differences between PATA, SATA, and SCSI drives and how to tell the difference between them.  We also talked about defragging which is rearranging your hard drive for easier access to your files.

week 3

This week in computer hardware and software management we learned about memory and cpus.  More specifically we learned what brands of ram are trustworthy and the differences between server and consumer ram.  We also watched videos by linustechtips on the different type of cpus aka I3, I5, and I7 for intel.  The video does a good job explaining the difference between the different tiers for their older cpus some of this information no longer applies though for example I3s now start with 4 cores rather then the 2 they started with many years ago as well as other differences added between the tiers as well as an addition of a new tier the I9 which takes the spot for their performance king as far as their consumer grade cpus go.  I would be very interested in seeing an updated version of that video if it exists while also including AMDs Ryzen models.

week 2

This week we learned about motherboards which was kind of interesting as one of the videos that was part of this weeks class material was by a YouTuber I watch quite often on my own with my free time.  The youtuber Jayz2cents makes a lot of videos testing new computer parts and gaming related accessories, build videos, overclocking and general computer content.  I’ve always had an interest in hardware for pc parts I’ve always wanted to try water cooling one of my computers which led me to this type of content it’s pretty interesting that some YouTubers that I watch in my free time are part of my classes curriculum.

week 1

While I was familiar with the parts of a computer and have experience building one the explanation in the video was very well done.  It explained things in a much more detailed manner than how I was taught which was basically how to assemble the computer and use part planning websites to make sure everything works correctly ahead of time before I order any parts.  The video explained what to check yourself to make sure the parts will work correctly with the computer parts you already have.  The other video which explained how to fix a power supply mostly only explained how to remove and replace a power supply which is something I have experience with.