Author: Saquib Hussain
Source: articleage.com
As the name indicates, you might have already guessed it right. Linspire is an operating system powered by Linux. There is a growing interest in using Linux on the desktop computer, and these days it's easier than ever to try. Like Microsoft Windows and Mac OS, Linux too is an operating platform for computer users. Some people want to get more power, stability and security from their desktop computer. This is where Linux comes in...
Linux is considered to the most stable and 100% virus free operating system in the world (even more stable than Windows or MAC OS). The core has some familiarity with UNIX operating system. UNIX is the father of Linux generation, although there are many differences between Unix and Linux, but the key capabilities or working style of both the Operating Systems are very much alike. This UNIX was developed mainly for scientists, and research workers. People working with high level research or tests that includes days or months of computation power, require the most stable and powerful work base operating system - UNIX was just all that.
Linux evolved from Unix and is extremely powerful in respect to computation works and stability. Because of its speed, stability and low cost, Linux became the fastest growing operating system for servers (the computers than run big companies, the Internet, large networks, etc.) in the world. You would hardly see a Linux system to crash! Linux is only a fraction of the cost of MS Windows, it's meant to be a open source platform, to make others become more interested in using Linux. The birth of Linux was meant for the power and stability of computers, not to make money out of it.
Genuine Linspire can be bought at a price as $50. You can either download or pay a little extra to get the CD version of this OS. From the moment you start installing Linspire, till you get really into it, all the time you would be amazed by its superior capabilities. Many of us have experienced the complexities of installing a Linux operating system (Red Hat, Mandrake etc.), let alone using it. Linspire completely changes this idea of use of Linux based system. It's in fact easier than windows in many ways. From the installation to the real usage, inspire brings an ultra modern, sleek looking, stylish, easy and powerful capabilities into your computer. Inspired by both Mac OS and windows, Linspire combined the appearances from both and made it even better.
The applications and utilities are all intuitively labeled and the interface is simple and easy to navigate, making the product easy to learn for any refugee from Microsoft's Windows Here we have an operating system that does just about everything Windows can do, and gives that extra edge of stability. Linspire can keep you entertained out of the box for days. With what seems like a million-and-one add-on widgets, settings and configuration screens, just getting the Desktop looking the way you want it can easily take half a day. There are literally dozens of screensavers, and the configuration for onscreen fonts and even gives you the capability that in which the window shadows would fall. The crystal like interface, modern high-res icons and clean and smooth visuals, simply takes the GUI of Linux to the next level.
Linspire is meant to attract anyone who is into the true functionality of computers. It does what it says, and never lets you down. Linspire comes with Advanced & Secure Internet Suite (highly secured and stable browsers with Tab browsing capability), Complete Office Suite (You can open, edit print you Microsoft office files as well as work on new ones with no problem), Instant Messaging with multiple functionality gives you log in and access to all your IM clients including MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, AOL - log into all of them at the same time suing one software! It would also give you bundled software for Digital Music that gives you full functionality for playing, ripping, burning, managing, downloading you digital music of all popular formats. It also has complete Digital Photos management capacity for printing, sharing or simply managing and viewing thousands of your images. Thousands of other software can be bought or downloaded online with the CNR service using Linspire.
The internet setup of Linspire is also as easy as Windows XP. I recommend you keep you LAN card and cables plugged in, during installation, if all the devices related to networking are turned on, Linspire will automatically setup your network and connectivity barely asking you anything. Other potential features include Advanced Wireless Capability with support for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth & IR; Web Publishing Tools, and extremely reliable Plug and Play capabilities. I tried connecting digital cameras of several brands, scanners, MP3 players and pen drives, and recognized every single one of them just like in Windows XP. Linspire instantly recognizes Firewire devices as well. There is also an over growing support for hardware online.
Linspire works just great of you want to buy genuine software. All the programs you would need come bundled with the Operating System itself. The price and performance added with extra ease of use makes it one of the must have Linux operating system ever. Even the requirements for running such a high end system is very low. You barely need to spend much on hardware, but would get better performance than windows - that's where Linux wins all the time. The entire system works extremely great at only 1 GHz or a slightly higher clock speed capable CPUs (AMD/Intel), with 256MB of RAM. You could throw in a low end 32MB Ge-Force 2 MX based AGP card for some nice 3D optimization and visuals.
With a attractive price, great set of features, stability and security, breath taking looks and distinctive approach towards computing - Linspire simply rocks being the best operating System for people who demand perfect blend of functionality, elegance and robustness.
For further information and buying purposes check out ==>http://www.linspire.com
M Saquib Hussain
saquib.h@gmail.com
+880187566907
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Showing posts with label windows xp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label windows xp. Show all posts
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Learn 5 Ways Of Saving And Protecting Your Hard Drive
Author: Gary Hendricks
Source: articleage.com
Soon your computer doesn't reboot properly, and you hear that ugly grinding sound that means all of your precious data has been wiped out. What did you to protect hard drive data? It's too late to think about it after the fact.
Here are 5 ways to save and protect your hard drive and ensure it can keep working when you switch to a new drive.
1. Backup Your Data
You've heard it many times before - the best way to protect hard drive data is to backup your data. There are many ways to backup your data. Copying personal files to another disk is one method, but it's time-consuming and manual. It's better to use an automated backup solution that can perform backups at scheduled intervals.
One such product is bundled with Windows XP Home and Professional editions. The file is called ntbackup.exe. It's automatically installed with Windows XP Pro. If you have Windows XP Home edition, you can locate the file in your Windows CD ROM in the valueaddmsftntbackup folder.
Then run ntbackup.msi to run the backup program. The backup program will backup your files to a backup file. Once you've made your backup, you need to know how to restore your files from your backup. You may need to reinstall Windows so keep your original installation discs handy.
If you want to avoid reinstalling Windows then consider making an image of your hard drive. Backup programs can make an image of your whole disk without the need to reinstall Windows.
2. Password Protection
Password protection and data encryption are one of the most basic ways that users can protect hard drive contents. To change your password in Windows just access your account from Control Panel -> User Accounts and then click change my password.
Now you want to encrypt your data, which will scramble it for everyone but you. Please note that encryption is available in Windows XP, but only for NTFS file systems. To encrypt a file or folder, right-click on it, go to Properties -> Advanced tab and check the box labeled Encrypt contents to secure.
No one else will be able to read this data but you. You can make encryption easier by creating a popup menu. Go into the Registry Editor and locate
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows CurrentVersionExplorerAdvanced.
Select Edit -> New -> DWORD Value and name it EncryptionContextMenu.
Double-click this and enter 1 for the value. From this point on, you will be able to right-click any file or folder to bring up a popup menu with the options Encrypt or Decrypt.
3. Unleash the Windows Recovery Console
Imagine having your hard drive crash and not being able to boot up. Are you out of out luck? Not at all! Bundled with Windows XP is a powerful tool called the Windows Recovery Console. It allows you to repair file systems or folders so you can protect hard drive contents. Unfortunately by default the WRC is on a "leash"-it operates in a restricted or crippled mode on your computer. .
Lift the restrictions by opening the Local Security Settings editor in Windows (click Start -> Run -> secpol.msc). Go to Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options and double-click on Recovery Console: Allow floppy copy and access to all drives and all folders. Check Enabled and Ok. That will set up you for full access. Should Windows ever crash, start the WRC and type set AllowAllPaths=True.
Start the WRC by putting your Windows XP CD into your computer and pressing 'R' upon reboot. Type your Administrator password. The command interpreter will appear. You can then run whatever commands you need or type help for a list of commands.
4. Make Room for Defrag
One way to save hard drive contents is to fine tune your defrag program. With defrag there are two files that will never defrag: your Master File Table and your swap file.
As the table of contents for your hard drive your Master File Table expands as you add more files. To protect hard drive MFTs you must allocate more space to them. Go into your Registry and locate the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlFilesystem. Find the value NtfsMftZoneReservation and type 2, 3 or 4. These numbers indicate how much of the hard drive to allocate to the MFT: 25, 37.5 and 50 percent respectively.
To expand your swap file make sure you have 256MB of RAM and click on the System icon. Go to Advanced -> Performance Settings -> Advanced and click Change. Select the No Paging File in Virtual Memory box and click OK three times. Reboot and run disk defrag. Then go back to Virtual Memory box, select Custom and set the Initial Size and Maximum Size to the same value (2 to 4 times your RAM) and your swap file will not fragment.
5. Get Rid of Old Junk
The final way to save hard drive units is to get rid of that old junk in your computer. These are unused programs on your computer that tend to slow down your computer's operations. Uninstall them by going to Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs.
Also you should invest in a good anti-spyware program as well. Spyware ads are those annoying popups that try to direct you to a merchant's site. These programs reside on your computer and consume precious resources-until you remove them with a spyware or adware busting program.
Another area on your computer that you should definitely check out is your Temp folder. This is the folder where Windows dumps files that it is only using on an interim basis. If these files are left over after they have been used they can slow your computer down as well. You'll find the Temp folder in C:Documents and Settings under your username. You can sort the files by their modified dates to determine which files you think are way too old and are safe to delete.
Conclusion
Computers, like any other piece of hardware, require routine maintenance and fine tuning to keep them running in optimal condition.
One of the most important components in a computer is a hard drive. In this article we looked at 5 ways to save and protect your hard drive. Most of the solutions presented here are commonsense solutions that require no technical expertise.
We've also included a tweaks that require some experience with the Registry editor but are not hard to implement. Using all of the solutions here on a regular basis will ensure that your hard drive will not go out before its time.
Gary Hendricks runs a hobby site on building computers. Visit his website at Build-Your-Own-Computers.com for tips and tricks on assembling a PC, as well as buying good computer components.
Source: articleage.com
Soon your computer doesn't reboot properly, and you hear that ugly grinding sound that means all of your precious data has been wiped out. What did you to protect hard drive data? It's too late to think about it after the fact.
Here are 5 ways to save and protect your hard drive and ensure it can keep working when you switch to a new drive.
1. Backup Your Data
You've heard it many times before - the best way to protect hard drive data is to backup your data. There are many ways to backup your data. Copying personal files to another disk is one method, but it's time-consuming and manual. It's better to use an automated backup solution that can perform backups at scheduled intervals.
One such product is bundled with Windows XP Home and Professional editions. The file is called ntbackup.exe. It's automatically installed with Windows XP Pro. If you have Windows XP Home edition, you can locate the file in your Windows CD ROM in the valueaddmsftntbackup folder.
Then run ntbackup.msi to run the backup program. The backup program will backup your files to a backup file. Once you've made your backup, you need to know how to restore your files from your backup. You may need to reinstall Windows so keep your original installation discs handy.
If you want to avoid reinstalling Windows then consider making an image of your hard drive. Backup programs can make an image of your whole disk without the need to reinstall Windows.
2. Password Protection
Password protection and data encryption are one of the most basic ways that users can protect hard drive contents. To change your password in Windows just access your account from Control Panel -> User Accounts and then click change my password.
Now you want to encrypt your data, which will scramble it for everyone but you. Please note that encryption is available in Windows XP, but only for NTFS file systems. To encrypt a file or folder, right-click on it, go to Properties -> Advanced tab and check the box labeled Encrypt contents to secure.
No one else will be able to read this data but you. You can make encryption easier by creating a popup menu. Go into the Registry Editor and locate
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows CurrentVersionExplorerAdvanced.
Select Edit -> New -> DWORD Value and name it EncryptionContextMenu.
Double-click this and enter 1 for the value. From this point on, you will be able to right-click any file or folder to bring up a popup menu with the options Encrypt or Decrypt.
3. Unleash the Windows Recovery Console
Imagine having your hard drive crash and not being able to boot up. Are you out of out luck? Not at all! Bundled with Windows XP is a powerful tool called the Windows Recovery Console. It allows you to repair file systems or folders so you can protect hard drive contents. Unfortunately by default the WRC is on a "leash"-it operates in a restricted or crippled mode on your computer. .
Lift the restrictions by opening the Local Security Settings editor in Windows (click Start -> Run -> secpol.msc). Go to Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options and double-click on Recovery Console: Allow floppy copy and access to all drives and all folders. Check Enabled and Ok. That will set up you for full access. Should Windows ever crash, start the WRC and type set AllowAllPaths=True.
Start the WRC by putting your Windows XP CD into your computer and pressing 'R' upon reboot. Type your Administrator password. The command interpreter will appear. You can then run whatever commands you need or type help for a list of commands.
4. Make Room for Defrag
One way to save hard drive contents is to fine tune your defrag program. With defrag there are two files that will never defrag: your Master File Table and your swap file.
As the table of contents for your hard drive your Master File Table expands as you add more files. To protect hard drive MFTs you must allocate more space to them. Go into your Registry and locate the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlFilesystem. Find the value NtfsMftZoneReservation and type 2, 3 or 4. These numbers indicate how much of the hard drive to allocate to the MFT: 25, 37.5 and 50 percent respectively.
To expand your swap file make sure you have 256MB of RAM and click on the System icon. Go to Advanced -> Performance Settings -> Advanced and click Change. Select the No Paging File in Virtual Memory box and click OK three times. Reboot and run disk defrag. Then go back to Virtual Memory box, select Custom and set the Initial Size and Maximum Size to the same value (2 to 4 times your RAM) and your swap file will not fragment.
5. Get Rid of Old Junk
The final way to save hard drive units is to get rid of that old junk in your computer. These are unused programs on your computer that tend to slow down your computer's operations. Uninstall them by going to Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs.
Also you should invest in a good anti-spyware program as well. Spyware ads are those annoying popups that try to direct you to a merchant's site. These programs reside on your computer and consume precious resources-until you remove them with a spyware or adware busting program.
Another area on your computer that you should definitely check out is your Temp folder. This is the folder where Windows dumps files that it is only using on an interim basis. If these files are left over after they have been used they can slow your computer down as well. You'll find the Temp folder in C:Documents and Settings under your username. You can sort the files by their modified dates to determine which files you think are way too old and are safe to delete.
Conclusion
Computers, like any other piece of hardware, require routine maintenance and fine tuning to keep them running in optimal condition.
One of the most important components in a computer is a hard drive. In this article we looked at 5 ways to save and protect your hard drive. Most of the solutions presented here are commonsense solutions that require no technical expertise.
We've also included a tweaks that require some experience with the Registry editor but are not hard to implement. Using all of the solutions here on a regular basis will ensure that your hard drive will not go out before its time.
Gary Hendricks runs a hobby site on building computers. Visit his website at Build-Your-Own-Computers.com for tips and tricks on assembling a PC, as well as buying good computer components.
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