Digital Bangladesh

The heart of the computer is the hard disk. Operating System, Software, files created using these software, audio files, video files everything is stored in the hard disk. If the hard disk is corrupted then your computer is useless. Now a days hard disks with high capacity is available in the market. If you are considering to upgrade your hard disk or you have planned to buy a new hard disk then hear are some of the buying tips for hard disk.

1. Get hard disks with high storage capacity. You can buy 40GB, 80GB, 120GB or higher hard disks. If you are one of those who download many mp3 songs from internet to your computer or transfer photos from your digital camera or transfer video from your camcorder then it is advisable to go for more than 80GB harddisks. If you are a gaming addict and install many games from CDs then you can go for even higher capacity.
2. You should get a harddisk with a faster interface. For example and IDE/ATA interface is available at 100 MHz or 133 MHz speed. These hard disks are named Ultra ATA/100 and Ultra ATA/133 respectively based on the speed of their interface.
3. Buy a hard disk with a suitable interface. Between SCSI and IDE/ATA, SCSI interface is faster and better. But SCSI hard disks are expensive. If you buy a SCSI hard disk then you also need a SCSI host adapter.
4. See that the hard disk has high RPM (Rotation Per Minute). There are hard disks with 5400, 7200 and 10,000 RPM. Higher the RPM the better. 7200 RPM hard disks are OK for general home use.
5. Check the form factor of the hard disk. 3.5 form factor is suitable for desktop computer and d2.5 form factor is suitable for notebook computer.
6. Check and see that ‘Seek Time’ is very low. Seek time is the time taken to read and write to the hard disk. This is measured in milli seconds.
7. ‘Access time’ should be shorter.
8. Also check the support and warranty provided before choosing the brand.
9. ‘Cache buffer’ should be high. It is better to buy a hard disk with at least 2MB cache buffer.
10. Check and see whether the hard disk comes with ‘Quiet Drive Technology’ and ‘Shock Protection’ features. These features fill increase the life of the hard disk.
11. If you are price sensitive then buy the IDE interface hard disks. If price is not an issue then it is better to get a hard disk with SCSI.
12. ‘Data buffer size’ should be at least 2MB.

Some tips on maintaining your computer

1. If you install or remove the hard disk, never touch the PCB portion of the hard disk
2. When you fix the hard disk to your computer, use all the screws provided and secure it tightly. Do not use long screws.
3. When your computer is ON, do not move or shake your computer. If you need to move then shut down your computer before moving.
4. Do not OFF and ON your computer frequently. It is Ok to keep your computer ON for long hours. Shut down only if you are not going to use it for a long time.
5. If you do not have a UPS, buy UPS immediately.
6. If you suspect that your hard disk is faulty, then do not open it yourself, call your support engineer.

When you ask someone about their computer configuration, they will normally tell you about the CPU speed, RAM memory size, Hard disk size etc. What most computer users do not care much about is the Motherboard. Most don’t even know what is a motherboard.
The heart of the computer is the Motherboard. Motherboard is as important to a computer as a foundation is important for a building. Even though you have high capacity hardware for the computer, if the motherboard is not efficient, then those hardware will also not function to their full capacity.
Therefore when you buy a computer or when you upgrade your computer it becomes very important that you get a correct motherboard. Here are the buying tips for a motherboard:

1. It is important to know, how much speed of CPU the motherboard can support. For example if you are going to buy a CPU of 2.4 GHz speed then you should buy a motherboard that supports at least 3.06 GHz speed. The reason is, if you want to upgrade later, then you can just upgrade your CPU and reuse the existing motherboard. Therefore try to buy a motherboard that supports greater speed than your CPU speed.
2. Take note of the CPU socket in the motherboard. The socket depends on the CPU. Socket 462 and Socket 478 are some examples.
3. The chipset which controls all the hardware is very important. SIS, VIA, INTEL are some of the companies that manufacture chipsets. Intel 845E, VIA, KM 266 are some of the popular chipsets.
4. Another important thing to note is to check how much RAM memory can be inserted into motherboard. Even if you are going to buy a smaller RAM size, make sure you have free slots for inserting RAM for later upgrade if needed. There are motherboards that can take upto 4GM RAM. Also see which type of RAM is supported. For instance there are SDR RAM and DDR RAM. Some costlier motherboards support both SDR and DDR RAM.
5. In many motherboards the video cards are integrated. This is referred to as ‘Integrated Video’ or ‘Onboard Video’. If you buy a motherboard with this integrated video card then you do not have to buy another video card. So you can play games using these cards. However some higher end games and some software like CAD cannot be used with this video card. Therefore, if you are a game addict or you use video a lot, then make sure that your motherboard comes with a AGP slot, so that in future if you need a more powerful video card then you can buy and insert it here.
6. Many motherboards also come with integrated sound cards. If you buy a motherboard with ‘Integrated bchannel’ audio then you can save cost on buying another sound card.
7. You can also save cost by buying motherboards with Ethernet, USB 2.0 and FireWire integrated, so that you don’t need to buy them separately.
8. Some motherboards also come with RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Devices) support. If you are buying a server then you should go for this. If you are a home user then normally it is not necessary.
9. Motherboards that support bluetooth are available. If you use many wireless devices then you should go for bluetooth supported motherboards.
10. The number of PCI slots also vary in different motherboards. The number of PCI slots vary from 2 to 6. It is better to buy a motherboard with more PCI slots so that you can insert any external devices as and when required.
11. The Font Side Bus (FSB) speed of motherboard ranges from 133MHz to 533MHz. It is obvious that the FSM speed should be high. The motherboard Chipset should be able to handle your CPU speed and the FSB speed of your motherboard. This is called Form Factor. Now, Micro ATX form factor is quire popular.
12. Also note that there should be adequate space around the CPU. This will enable more air flow to the CPU while functioning. If required buy an additional fan.
13. Check that your motherboard comes with the User manual, Driver CDs, Required connection cables etc.
14. The price of the motherboard usually ranges between $60 to $300. You can choose a cheaper motherboard with more features.
15. Some of the popular motherboard manufacturers are Krypton, Asus, Msi, Mercury, Gigabyte and Intel. Choose the one with long warranty period.

Have you noticed that the CDs that you buy or the CDs that comes with books runs automatically when you insert the CD into your CD drive. This is because of the ‘Autorun’ facility in the CDs.
But using this Auto Run feature you can only execute executable programs. Therefore the webpages and any other files cannot be opened automatically using Autorun.
Imagine that you want to copy the powerpoint presentation that you created or the Word document into a CD and pass it to your friend. Will it not be nice if the powerpoint presentation or the document opens automatically when the friend inserts the the CD into his computer?
Now every computer comes with a CD writer. You may wonder whether the CDs that you create using your CD writer can use the Autorun facility. Yes you can.
You have to create a file named ‘autorun.inf’. You can create this file using a normal notepad. You have to copy this file in the root folder of the CD. If you want to use any icon then you can also copy an icon file into the root folder.
How to execute an executable file in a CD automatically.
For example assume that you have a myprogram.exe file and myicon.ico file. And you want to run myprogram.exe file automatically when the CD is inserted
Keep both these files in the same folder.
Open a notepad and type these three lines in the notepad
(autorun)
open=myprogram.exe
icon=myicon.ico
save this file as ‘autorun.inf’.
If your executable file is not in the root folder then you have to specify the full path. (eg. open=myfoler/myprogram.exe)
To create autorun cds for non executable files
If your file is not an executable file like .xls, .doc, .htm, .html, .mp3, .wma, .wav, .mpg, .avi, .jpg, .bmp, .zip or any other file then how to write the autorun.inf file.
Let us assume that you have index.htm file as the autorun file. Then the autorun.inf file will be as follows:
(autorun)
open=start index.htm
icon=myicon.ico
In this case when you insert the CD, a small black window will open and close very fast and then you will see the index.htm file in Internet Explorer.
If you do not want the dos window to open then create the autorun.inf file as below:
(autorun)
shellexecute=index.htm
icon=myicon.ico
However the shellexecute will not work in Windows 98 or older versions. It will work in Windows XP and the newer versions of Windows. In earlier versions you can use the DOS batch file. So you will have one more file autorun.bat in addition to autorun.inf
(autorun)
open=autorun.bat index.htm
icon=myicon.ico
and the autorun.bat file will as follows:
echo off
“start % 1
“exit
How to use autorun.exe
In the above example we used two files autorun.bat and autorun.inf. However the use of autorun.bat is not a wise option. Because a batch files cannot handle errors.
Therefore you can use the free autorun.exe instead of autorun.bat
autorun.exe file is provided by Tarma software research freely. Anybody can use this software. You can download autorun.exe from www.tarma.com/products/index.htm . Download this file and copy it to the root folder of the copied CD.
The autorun.inf file should be as follows:
(autorun)
open=autorun.exe index.htm
icon=myicon.ico

It often becomes necessary to bring your data stored in storage devices with you. The size of the floppy disk is 1.44MB, therefore the use of floppy disk is getting lesser and lesser. The storage capacity should be high but at the same time it should be easy to carry around. Immediately it reminds you of CD rom disks. But recently there are more options available such as external hard disk drives, zip disks, mobile CD writers, mobile DVD writers and thumb drivers.
These storage devices are used to copy audio, video, images or data files from your hard disk and carry it with your anywhere you go. Here let us discuss all these devices and their features.
External hard disk
The external hard disks come in 20GB, 30GB, 40GB, 60GB, 80GB and 120GB. They are connected to the computer using Firewire or USB. Both AC and DC supported external hard disks are available.
If you have an external hard disk with the inbuilt battery, then if there is power supply the battery will be charging itself and if there is a power failure then the battery will supply the power. So your work will not be interrupted.
Some external hard disks use USB to connect to the computer. The required power will be taken from the USB board itself.
Some external hard disks come with software required to take backups of data.
You can read more about external hard disks from www.adstech.com , www.cmsproducts.com , www.maxtor.com, www.simpletech.com
External hard disks with PC Card (Type B) interface are also available to connect to notebooks. You can read about it at www.toshiba.com
Mobile CD and DVD writers
Instead of just the external hard disks there are many multi function writers with USB and firewire interface.
External CD writers are few. There are many DVD+RW, DVDR and DVDRW DVD writers in the market. Both cable charged DVD writers as well as USB DVD chargeable writers are also available.
You can read about DVD writers at iomega, sony, plextor and addonics websites.
Addonics company’s multi function recorder is a CD writer, DVD reader and MP3 player. You can connect this device to TV projector directly if needed.
Thumb drives
Now the size of the drives have become so small that you can hang it in your neck or key chain. These are called thumb drives.
16MB, 128MB, 2565MB, 1GB, 1.5GB or higher thumb drives are available. All these are with USM interfaces. They will extract power from the USB itself.
Kangaru, Thumbdrive, disk onkey, verbatim, imation are some of the companies that provide thumb drives.

CTRL+B : To make the words bold.
CTRL+I : To italicize the words
CTRL+U: To underline the words
CTRL+DEL: To delete the word on the right of the cursor
CTRL+BACKSPACE:  To delete the word on the left of the cursor 
CTRL+SHIFT+SPACEBAR: To create equal spacing. 
CTRL+C:  To copy the selected text  
CTRL+X:  To cut the selected text 
CTRL+V:  To paste the copied or cut text. 
CTRL+ALT+V:  To paste special  
CTRL+SHIFT+< : To reduce the font size 
CTRL+SHIFT+>: To increase the font size 
CTRL+[ : To reduce the font size
CTRL+]:  To increase the font size 
CTRL+HYPHEN:  To create continuous hiphen 
CTRL+SPACEBAR: To remove paragraph or character formatting 
CTRL+SHIFT+V: To paste the previously used format 
CTRL+Z : To undo the last action 
CTRL+Y:  To redo the last action that was undone. 
CTRL+SHIFT+G: To bring the word count dialog box. 
CTRL+L:  To align text to the left 
CTRL+E:  To centralize the text 
CTRL+R: To alogin the text to the right of the screen. 
CTRL+M:  To make the paragraph or the selected text in the margin.
CTRL+1:  To make the spacing between lines as 1 
CTRL+5:  To make the spacing between lines as 1.5 
CTRL+2:  To make the spacing between lines as double 
F7: :  To check spelling and grammer 
SHIFT+F7 : : To show thesaurus options 
CTRL+SPACE : To enable/disable auto correct 
CTRL+SHIFT+8:  To show/hide hidden characters.

The use of emails has become very much essential in personal and business life. Email has become more important than the phone or address of a person. When two people meet for the first time it is very common to exchange their email addresses for communication next time.
Daily we receive many different types of emails. Advertisements about products, emails requesting help, emails from adult websites, emails claiming that you have won a lottery or a prize, Or even emails from some country that they want to deposit a huge amount of money to your bank account etc. etc.
These Junk mails, Unsolicited mails or Spam emails we receive daily. It becomes a difficult task to identify them and deleted them manually.
To identify and delete SPAM mails there are many Spam filters available. Just like the Antivirus which identifies viruses and deletes them, Spam filters are used to identify and delete spam mails in your inbox.
Users of web based emails such as ‘hotmail, yahoo or gmail’ do not have to worry too much about SPAM, because these email servers use Spam filters to filter these unwanted emails from your inbox. However some spam mails somehow find their way into your inbox.
So whether you are using web mails or POP3 or IMAP mails, in addition to the SPAM filters at the server you also need to have a spam filter in your desktop computer. Only then you can effectively fight against SPAM.
Which is the best SPAM filter software? Mail Washer is one of the most popular spam filter software. Mail Washer can be used in Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP. You can download Mail Washer at www.webwasher.com. Mail Washer is also available free. You can also buy Mail Washer. The paid Mai Washer has the following additional features.

• Support for IMAP servers.
• Supports Hotmail, MSN and AOL emails
• Enhanced, intelligent filtering is available
• Technical support is available.
• If you download the free software you can only use it for thirty days.

How does Mail Washer work?
Mail washer is used to filter SPAM mails and delete from your email inbox.
Just like your email client, Mail Washer also connects to the Mail server. It will identify the SPAM emails and list it. It can also delete the SPAM emails at the server itself without downloading it to your computer.
Mail Washer can also return the SPAM mails back to the sender. By doing this it creates an impression that your email address is wrong and thats why the mail has been returned. This will make the sender believe that your email is an invalid email and hence prevent further spam mails from the same sender.
Mail Washer also helps to create black lists and white lists. You can configure Mail Washer to delete black listed emails at the server and only download the white listed emails to your computer.
Which is better? Delete in the server? or Delete in the computer?
What will you do if you don’t have the Mail Washer? you will download all mails including SPAM to your computer. So you are wasting your internet time and bandwidth. You also waste time by opening these spam mails and deleting them manually. Some spam emails also have ‘web bugs’ that can spy on you and send your secrets to the web bugs creator.
Using Mail Washer you can identify SPAM mails at the server and delete it there itself. Web bugs will not function. Only good emails will be downloaded to your computer. So you save on your internet time, bandwidth and your time and money.