Mathew Steel

Perhaps this may help :P? ?-?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55OOz5nRVyU Not my video, but it really does explain a lot more!

"Good plan" Sir Lloyd tapped Loring's shoulder as if to show agreement. "I'll go and see how the archers are doing. It's about time we had some meat" Lloyd let out a subtle smile.

1. Download files from trusted sources only! This may seem rather obvious, but when it comes to more "rare" files shall we say, people tend to ignore the risks of what comes with such files and will happily download from any random website that appears to have what they need. The number one reason computers become infected with malware/spyware etc, is from downloading files from non-trusted/verified websites. You can check the reliability of a website by simply typing - *website name* is it safe? Or by using sites such as Norton, here I used "Mediafire" as an example (I simply used Mediafire as it's a commonly used website and has received a lot of different ratings for security over the years) - https://safeweb.norton.com/report/show_mobile?name=mediafire.com 2. Use an anti-virus/anti-malware software! Again, sounds simple enough, but are you sure the protection your PC has is of a good standard? Anti-virus programs such as AVG may be considered good, however there are a numerous amount of problems that come with it and since this article is about keeping your PC in good condition, AVG won't be useful. Anyone who has used AVG will be aware of how much resources it uses, even while idle. Scans should be run every so often, really, it depends on how often you've made a change to your computer, i.e. downloading a new game or new software. You can set most anti-virus/anti-malware programs to run an automatic scan on a certain day, with however long in between each scan. There is a difference between anti-virus and anti-malware. The main difference is simply that anti-malware tends to be more "up to date" with the new types of malware. Sure anti-virus programs are great, however, they only protect against the most common viruses such as worms and trojans. On the other hand, anti-virus work more as a shield too. What I mean by this is that they tend to come with sub-software such as website scanning, their own "SmartScreen Filter" and so on. Anti-malware programs have a much larger and vaster database but the scans take far longer as would be expected. A good plan would be to have both anti-virus and anti-malware installed on your PC. Make sure they are compatible as this can cause its own problems. I recommend: - Malwarebytes, Anti-malware - Avast, Anti-Virus Although they may say they will conflict, I've used both together for years without trouble. Both of which work fine free and will still remove any found threats. ? 3. Delete large, unused files! This may seem like a difficult task, as over time, we tend to lose track of where all the files that we don't need, end up. However using Windows, there is a very easy way to solve this problem. Simply, change search preferences while using Windows Explorer. Windows 7/8/8.1 Start > Computer > *choose drive* > Search *drive name* (located in the top right) > Size > Huge/Gigantic WARNING! - Using this will still display Windows files if you have set your preferences to "Show hidden files and folders." Do NOT edit these files in any way! If you are unsure if a file is a Windows file, a quick Google search will answer your question. Also, I do not recommend using 3rd-party software to clear up drive space as some software is unreliable and may delete important files, or files which you wish to keep. 4. Disk Defragmenter! Windows comes with its own disk defragmenter software. I highly recommend using this in turn of 3rd-party programs when it comes to defragmenting your disk. HDD Data on a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is written in one huge sentence. Every time you install something to that drive, the data is written to the drive, or "added to the sentence" if you like. If you delete that file, the data will be removed, or "erased." This of course leaves a blank space where that data once was. Let's say for example that data was written after the data for some other program (x) but before another (y). You are now left with a blank space. The computer can't go back up and add to that blank space, if you install a new program, the data for said program will be written after the data for program "y." This leaves your drive with less space than it actually has available. What disk defragmenter does is close that space, by moving the data from "y" to "x" by placing them right after one another, instead of a few "spaces" after. SSD Do NOT defragment your SSD. The way an SSD writes data is different and trying to defragment your disk will cause more harm than good! 5. Use several drives! Using two drives will no doubt increase the available space on your PC, thus increasing overall performance. Now there are a few different ways of doing this. For each example, we'll imagine we have 2 drives. Method 1: You use 2 HDD's. Put the OS (Operating System) along with smaller files on one drive (a), and any large files on the other drive (b). I suggest counting any program/file over 5GB on drive "b" and putting anything under it on drive "a." If you are someone who plays a lot of games on their PC, placing all games onto drive "b" is a great idea. Method 2: You use 1 HDD and 1 SSD. Putting the OS on the SSD will significantly increase overall performance and speed. You'll notice a huge decrease in boot time, allowing you to get started with whatever you need to, quickly. Then for the HDD follow the same rule as Method 1, for drive "b." Method 3: You use 1 SSD and 1 SSHD. Following a similar method as above, you use the SSD for the OS and use the SSHD as the "b" drive. An SSHD (Solid State Hybrid Drive) is a mix of an SSD and HDD. It contains a small amount of SSD space and a large amount of HDD technology, thus improving speed for a price not much more than that of a HDD (for example 8GB/500GB, the 8GB being the SSD part and the 500GB being the HDD). The difference being that an SSHD is quicker than a HD, however since the SSD capacity isn't as great, using this drive to hold your OS won't be as efficient as using the SSD. ? Now there are other ways to make your storage setup even more efficient. I'm not an expert in such techniques, however I am referring to Raid Arrays. The article written by @TheDitchy is a great way to understand more about Raid Arrays - http://forums.stronghold-nation.com/topic/636-an-article-on-raid-arrays/

Lloyd watched as Goodman walked away. He repeated what Goodman said to himself "Increase numbers." Looking down at the village he saw some sheep, chuckling to himself he though "Perhaps we could give them each a sword." After keeping himself entertained for a minute or two, Sir Lloyd turned to Sir Loring, "I'm worried about Goodman. As expected, he's not as able as he may have been in his younger years, I worry the stress is getting too much for him. He is a great leader and I have no doubt of his leadership abilities. I'm worried for his health. Did you notice how anxious he appeared, watching the scouts scurry forth?"

That is basically how Bluetooth works :P maybe I didn't make that clear enough (my bad). I personally send images and so on through apps such as Facebook messenger or something similar. However, this doesn't give the option to send files, like with e-mail. Until then, I don't tend to use Bluetooth myself (much).

Sir Lloyd, walking up slowly next to Loring and Goodman after dismounting his horse spoke, "We've lost many men...but there is still hope of rescuing the Duke." His eyes studied the terrain as his hands remain locked together, behind his back. "Beautiful" he whispers to himself. The green green grass on the hilly terrain reminded Sir Lloyd of home. He would often venture along the outskirts of villages to admire the great landscape. After daydreaming he looks up at Goodman, who so uneasily watches the scouts from the distance. Noticing Goodman's veins bulging from his forehead, Sir Lloyd rests his hand on Goodman's arm. Trying not to let Goodman be aware that he had noticed his shaky behaviour, Sir Lloyd asks "What's the plan from here, Goodman?"

[OoC] I'm aware that I have been idle for a very long time. I've just had the chance to read up on everything! It's going great, I'll join back in when I see a good opportunity :D

YESTERDAY(S) TECHNOLOGY Bluetooth A huge majority of the population know or have at least, heard about Bluetooth! It's use has varied over the years as it's been changed and improved. Some of you may remember using Bluetooth to send photos from your old Nokia to someone else's Nokia (ahh those were the days :D). Yet, today, Bluetooth has more uses such as, playing music through a Bluetooth connected speaker, or as a hands-free whilst driving. Regardless of who you are, you'll see at least one advantage of Bluetooth in your life, but...how does it work? Bluetooth uses very small ranged radio-frequencies to send data from one device, to 1-8 devices at a time. Products have to agree on when bits are sent, how many will be sent at a time and how parties can be sure that the message received is the same message sent! (This isn't a physics lesson and I don't have a huge understanding of Physics, if you're not sure what a radio frequency is, perhaps this page will help :P - https://www.techopedia.com/definition/25871/radio-frequency-field-rffield). The advantages of Bluetooth and why it has been developed so much is that it's wireless, inexpensive and automatic, making it easy to use (user friendly, if you will). Most smartphones, tablets, laptops, even desktop PC's come with Bluetooth today (although PC's are less likely to come with an integrated Bluetooth chip). There are different version of Bluetooth: v1.2: - Backward compatible with v1.1 - Data transmission speed up to 721 kbit/s v2.0: - Backward compatible with v1.2 - Sniff sub rating, reduces power consumption - Uses SSP (secure simple pairing) to improve pairing experience v3.0: - Backward compatible with v2.1 - Theoretical data transfer speeds of up to 24 Mbit/s v4.0: - Backward compatible with v3.0 - Provides faster speed in data transmission than the earlier version - Greatly reduced power consuming (this was a huge problem for earlier devices as the battery was only designed for screen display and small applications such as calculator) Here is a small bit of trivia on Bluetooth. The name Bluetooth was named after a tenth-century king, Harald Bluetooth (king of Denmark and Norway). Bluetooth Logo:

By the looks of things, the computer automatically swapped the letters. Thank you so much for the help! :)

Disk cloning shouldn't be a problem as I have an Acronis True Image disk which works fine. From what I've read, having the OS on two different disks will cause the PC just to run from the default C: drive. Which is the HDD. Am I wrong in saying that I'll have to: - Clone the HDD to the SSD - Go into the BIOS to boot the SSD first And I'm done? Or am I missing a step? Also, apart from performance is there a visible way I can make sure the OS is running on the SSD and not the HDD? Will disk management be able to provide me with this information? Thank you for the help! I though you'd be able to give me a thorough answer after reading your post on RAID systems ;)

Not at all! Your English is more than understandable. Better than a lot of people I know ;)

I say, this is amazing. I cannot wait to try these tricks. Be sure to keep updating! :D

I've recently installed my SSD and I want to set it as my boot drive. Currently, it's empty. Let's say I cloned my files from my old HDD onto my new SSD, what else would need to be done? Would I have to remove the OS from my old HDD? I'm aware I can change the boot order of drives but from what I've heard it isn't as simple as that, since my SSD isn't the C drive. What else would have to be done? Thank you! :)

TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT Icy Box Adapter The IcyBox is a small rectangle box which serves as a holder for a drive (SSD). Most laptop drives are 2.5 inches whereas most desktop drives are 3.5 inches. So what do you do if you want to use a small laptop drive in a desktop? Look no further, the IcyBox is your answer. I, myself, have purchased one of these and I must say it works great! It's a neat design which comes in both metal and plastic casing (I chose plastic since it's cheaper and it had some better reviews). I noticed absolutely no performance decrease through using this product. The product itself cost me about ?10 (or $15.3) and arrived pretty fast. It's easy to use and quick to install. Simply remove the lid, place and connect the SSD. Screw it in through the bottom (screws provided) and place the lid back on. Connect the box with the cable inside the PC and you're done! If, in my circumstance, your motherboard supports ATA not SATA then there are adapters which also fit the box. I'll do another spotlight on those later on this week!

Interesting read. I have a lot of interest in learning things like this, thanks for sharing it! :)

It would also seem that the converter does support speeds up to 6Gbps (which is the speed of a SATA III SSD). And after speaking to a friend who has the same PC as me, he said that the power cable isn't needed for our motherboard. I appreciate the help though Chris :)

Regardless I have a spare 1TB SSD doing nothing, so if I can hook it up with this new PC for ?5 I'm more than happy to do so. It's actually new, I was surprised when I found out the motherboard supports ATA not SATA. AMD FX-6350 6-Core processor (3.9GHz) GTX 960 8GB DDR3 1600MHz RAM 1TB Seagate HDD Windows 7 Professional 64-bit And so, any idea on the power cord? Is it needed to power the drive or is the drive powered via the connector (it may seem like a dull question, but this is the first time I've upgraded a PC and not a laptop). Thank you!

I plan on installing my laptop SSD into my new PC. I have a free drive bay and the SSD fits fine into the PC (as I bought a bracket to make sure). However the PC itself uses 4 pin ATA connectors not SATA III connectors. Luckily I have found something online to solve this but I have a question. http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-SATA10POW-10-Inch-Serial-Power/dp/B004NO0KIQ If you look at the photo you will notice this also comes with an attached power cord. I'm curious to know if this is needed? Whenever I've changed my laptop drive it was as simple as connecting the drive to the connector and starting it up. However I'm under the impression that I need to connect this power lead to the PC's motherboard? Is this correct? :)

I managed to get in touch with the company providing me with the account and password etc and got back into my account. I have re-downloaded Office 365 :D

I just tried to take another look but to my frustration, Microsoft's login page simply won't load. I tried to login to Office 365 but I continue to get redirected to a page that won't load. I cleared my whole browser and tried a different one but they all did the same. I'm sure that if I can login I'll remember what to do. It seems the internet in general is being slow. Everyone I have spoken to has noticed this. Programs such as Skype are struggling to even send a text message.

That's what I was thinking but when I look at my owned products nothing is there. I swear, I should have 3 left. It's Office 365

Thank you! If I find a way, I'll be sure to post it :)

I was hoping I wouldn't have to resort to it. I'll ask the IT teacher Monday, see what I can do.

Hi I recently lost Microsoft Office as I reformatted my disk drive. As my school is part of the Microsoft Office Specialist program, every member of the school had a free code to activate Office. However it seems I can't redownload it using the link, since the download was only valid for 30 days. Now I'm stuck. I rely a lot on Microsoft Word so I really need to find a free version. Not cracked, not a trial, simply a free, legal copy of Word 2010/13. I am aware of other programs such as Open Office however all my past files are Word documents and can't be opened on other programs. I remember on an older laptop it came with a free version of Office, which contained Word and Publisher. I'm curious if there is any way of getting another one? Thank you!

Now that brought back memories :D thank you Nigel!