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Just What Makes Your Computer Tick?Maybe you want to upgrade your system and you’re spending the weekend trying to make it work. Or perhaps, your system is acting strangely and you are pulling your hair out trying to figure out what to do. Regardless of the reason, it’s important to know how your computer works in order to do anything with it, especially in a technical manner.Know your system One of the first things you’ll want to know is what OS (operating system) you are using. Most new PCs ship with Windows XP Home Edition. You will still find Windows 98 and Me on many recent models. It’s important to know the exact OS version number so you can upgrade correctly, or deal with bug issues. You definitely would not want to try to install an older version as an upgrade if you already have an older version on your computer. You can find the OS and the exact version by clicking Start, Settings, Control Panel, and opening the System icon on the control panel. This will bring up a window giving you the specific version of the OS and the registration information, as well as the equipment manufacturer, the model, and the amount of RAM installed. How about those peripherals The Device Manager tab in the System Properties window gives you information about the types of installed peripheral devices including modems, CD-ROM drives, network cards, etc. In addition to the basic information, the Device Manager tab has an icon for each device attached to your computer. Clicking the icon brings up a window that tells you the specifics of the device and whether it is working properly or not. Finally, the Performance Tab under System Properties lets you know how much memory you have available and lets the advanced user make manual adjustments to the Graphics Display, Virtual Memory, and File Systems. If you decide to try these types of adjustments, make sure you have saved the information about the settings. Using the System Information utility If you want to see more than what the System Properties will show, use the System Information utility. Accessed by clicking Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and System Information, this program gives you the complete details for all the settings of your hardware and software. It is important to know these settings exist, because the information may be needed when you’re placing a call for technical support. Those do-it-yourselfer's who like to take things apart to see what makes them work will want to print out the settings in these files, as well as the information in the BIOS (Basic Input/ Output System) so that they’ll be available to restore these settings later. Just choose System Information, then click File and Print. It’s a good idea to have this information printed and stored away in case you have a major crash and need to reinstall everything on your system. Know your BIOS The BIOS might be described as your computer’s central nervous system. It’s what makes your computer run. Working as the middleman between the OS and the application programs, the BIOS translates program commands into a common format and sends the commands to the computer’s peripherals through the motherboard. It also detects errors and reports them to the user. For example, when an error message tells you your printer is not ready, the computer’s BIOS is working. When the computer starts, you’ll usually see the reference and version of the BIOS that is running. The system will then proceed to detect installed devices and start them up. The computer will also run through a boot (startup) sequence, checking all input devices for boot information to determine what commands to follow as it is starting. The BIOS resides on a chip that’s either plugged directly into the computer’s motherboard as part of a card or integrated with the motherboard. Certain installed devices, including advanced or specialized sound and graphics cards, have their own BIOS, which enables the devices to initialize RAM on their own. The BIOS controls the computer’s clock and the boot order of the drives and peripherals. If for any reason the computer needs to be reset, you'll need to have the BIOS information to bring it back to life. For most computers, you can assess the BIOS by hitting the F2, ESC, or combination CTRL, ALT, and ENTER keys, depending on the type of BIOS the computer uses. Before you start tinkering with your BIOS settings, a few words of caution are in order. First, you should write down the information that appears on the screen. Keep it with the printout of the System Information utility information. Store the printouts someplace where you’ll be able to find them when you need to. Second, many of the changes that you might contemplate making to your BIOS can instead be made through the system control panel GUI (Graphical User Interface) that Windows provides. For example, the system date can be changed at the control panel, and using the Windows control panel means that you will not be as likely to change something inadvertently and not realize it. However, there may be times when it is appropriate to work directly in the BIOS interface. If you intend to completely wipe out your main disk drive and install another OS, such as Linux, you may need to reconfigure your BIOS information in order to get the system to load the new OS. The BIOS chip needs an electric current constantly running through it in order to maintain its data settings. A battery supplies the current when the computer is idle, and if the battery dies, the current is interrupted and data is lost. You can install a new battery, but you’ll then need to reset the BIOS manually. The information here is only the beginning of what is presented about the BIOS. Whole books have been written on each of these topics. If you need additional information you can look in the computer's owner's manual, or if you don't have a manual for your computer, you can access the manufacturer’s Web site will usually have downloadable manuals. Internet search engines such as Yahoo, Google, AltaVista, HotBot, will return hundreds of Web sites with information on OSes, the BIOS, and more. Just point your browser to http://www.google.com, type in BIOS, and see what happens. Harry is a freelance writer, computer consultant, and Internet marketer. His writing projects include ghostwriting, copywriting, web site content, DTP, editing, and technical writing. His computer consulting work includes installation, setup, and troubleshooting computer systems. His credits include articles for Internet Day, Internet World, Advertising Today, Advertising Age, L-Advertising, Computer Edge, and a host of others. Harry recently published a book on computer repair and copywriting. You can check out his samples and what he offers at his site by going to http://www.writeformedia.com/portfolio.htm.
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