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A Technical Guide – Seabloggers INC.
Ethernet Cables
Jul 25th
Most routers and network cards don’t come with cables, so you must buy one for each PC. Network cables are sometimes flat, sometimes tube-shaped, but they all end with a plug slightly thicker than a phone plug. It’s officially called an RJ-45 connector.
If you’ll be running cable outdoors, over the roof, or any place exposed to sunlight, buy cables created specifically for outdoor exposure. Sunlight eats away at the plastic covering on the indoor cables.
For indoor cables, you may be struck with the wild idea of running Ethernet cables from room to room through your home’s heating or cooling ducts. Although it’s certainly been done, make sure to buy fire-resistant cable. Regular cable can catch fire, spreading the flames quickly to other rooms. Fire-resistant cable’s easy to find and many local safety codes require it for work environments.
Phishing
Jul 20th
If a stranger came up to you on the street and asked for your banking password, you’d probably think he was loony. Yet, thousands of people feel compelled to hand over their banking passwords when that same request comes through email.
In a practice known as Phishing, scammers send emails that appear to come from your bank, Paypal, eBay, or similar finance-related sites. Unfortunately, the emails are curefully crafted spoofs that try to trick you into visiting the scammer’s site and entering your coverted account name and password.
Legitimate companies never send you email asking you to verify your password. If legitimate companies need to contact you, they’ll send a letter. Or, they simply wait until you visit their site and log in. The “urgent” requests in your mailbox come from thieves waiting for you to click their links and enter your account information, password, credit card numbers, and anything else they can trick you into revealing.
iPod and iTunes
Jul 20th
Coming from the Apple side of the country, iTunes and the iPod can feel strange to those living in PC Land. After all, don’t Apple and Microsoft represent opposing world views, a kind of red state vs. blue state technological battle? Not so much, as it happens, anymore. The truth is, Apple’s done a pretty decent job in its first major foray into Windows software. All you have to do now is sit back and enjoy the music.
How to stock iTunes with your PC’s existing songs?, add new songs by buying them from iTunes Music Stores; copy songs from CDs or from your PC’s folders; and transfer data, contacts, appointments, and notes to your iPod.
Sound Cards
Jul 15th
Gamers and music fans tend to drool over high-performance sound cards, which drop into a special slot on your motherboard. A basic stereo card runs less than $20; a more elaborate one with higher-quality sound costs between $150 and $200.
People upgrade to a sound card for several reasons.
- If your older PC doesn’t even include integrated audio — or if its current sound card doesn’t power enough speakers for your latest game — a sound card upgrades your sound quickly and inexpensively.
- Power: Passing the sound-creation chores to the sound card lets the computer concentrate on other tasks, like creating more realistic-looking graphics and faster games.
- Quality: Being somewhat isolated from your PC’s main circuitry, sound cards provide a cleaner, more buzz-free sound circuits built into the motherboard itself.
- Software: The software bundled with most sound cards let you tweak the sound slightly for different conditions.
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