USB Flash drives and hard drives are very popular nowadays. They are handy, portable and used anytime when needed. It is very practical to own one especially when you need to carry your back files so you can access them anytime.
These devices by default can be removed without the use of the “Safely Remove Device” icon on the system tray. However, some devices sometimes use disk caching to improve performance. It is necessary to use the “Safely Remove Device” icon when a device use disk caching so as not to lose important files.
But have you ever experienced safely removing your usb flash drive or hard drive then an error flags like this:
“The device ‘Generic volume’ cannot be stopped right now. Try stopping the device again later” in Windows XP or this:
in Windows Vista or Windows 7
Even you close all application, close all windows but when you try again, this annoying error message remains. This is because there is a hidden application still accessing your drive in the background.
To resolve this problem, follow this simple systematic procedure:
1. Download this free utility from a third-party website at this address:
Do not worry, this file is safe and approved directly by Microsoft.
2. Open the file from you download directory. If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, right click and choose “run as administrator”
3. At the main window, click “Find” and choose “Find Handle or DLL”
4. A window will appear, type in the box the drive letter of your USB mass Storage Device. For example, if your USB mass storage device is designated as drive “H:”, then type “H:” at the box provided and click “Search”
5. A list of processes will appear on the lower part of the window, find processes that are labeled as “Handle” under the TAB “PID”
6. Once the processes are identified, find the handle showing only the root drive letter of the USB storage device, for example, “H:”
7. Double click the drive letter of the handle, and it will show the process using the drive on the main window.
8. Right click the process, and choose “Close Handle” and choose “YES”. After it close the process, close the Process Explorer.
9. Try to eject your USB storage device at the system tray.
10. Congratulations, you have successfully ejected your USB Mass Storage Device!
One cannot deny that computers nowadays are part of our daily living. Computers are essential to businesses, military, government, schools, and even at home. They are widely used around the globe by people of different classes, which may include but not limited to executives, military personnel, researchers, professors, students and even common people at home. Computers promote us to do our work conveniently and efficiently. These machines allow us to multitask, create documents, edit videos and photos, watch movies, play a videogame, and browse the internet. Computers really hold infinite possibilities.
Although computers are readily available on the market, the most common problem for consumers is the dilemma on what kind of computer they need to buy. Computers are not cheap therefore most people want to get the most out of their hard earned money.
Here are some tips and guidelines on how to choose the right computer with specifications compatible with your needs.
1. Determine your budget. You should know first the main function or your computer. Will it be for home use only? Will it be mainly for Internet browsing? Will it be for photo and video editing? Will it be mainly for gaming? These are the most common questions you need to answer for yourself in order to determine your needed budget for your computer. A computer for home use and daily internet browsing usually cost at an average of 550 USD (25,000 PHP). But computers built for video editing and gaming costs a lot more ranging from 800 USD (37,000 PHP) up to 1500 USD (70,000 PHP) for enthusiasts.
2. Laptop or Desktop? This is the most common dilemma of consumers. Desktop computers are appropriate to people who usually works most of the time at home, people who needs their computer turned on for a long period and people who need powerful
Desktop
Laptop
computing needs like video and photo editing, workstations and gaming. Laptop computers are smaller, more compact version of desktop computers. Laptops are suitable for people who are always on the go, for teaching and presentation purposes and for people who works usually outside their home.
3. Invest on a reliable power supply unit (PSU). Most consumers neglect this piece of hardware of a computer and suffer consequences in the end. Generic power supply unit are cheaper (11 USD or 500 php) but they lack most of the important features a
PSU
PSU
PSU should have. Generic PSUs have lower peak wattage than what is declared; therefore, it will not provide enough juice to power the most critical components of the system resulting in faster wear and tear of the components. They also lack power surge protection, sleeved wires, static proof cases, and efficient cooling capabilities. Branded power supply units are more expensive (54 USD or 2,500 php) but are durable and a lot reliable than generic PSU. Good brands of PSU are HEC, Gigabyte, and Thermaltake. By investing on a good power supply, you can save a lot more.
4. But at least 2gb of RAM. This will make your computer run faster and execute programs efficiently. A minimum of 1gb of ram is
RAM
acceptable but most software nowadays are power hungry and needs a lot of memory. A 2gb ram is more than enough for daily computing and even for gaming.
5. Single Core, Dual Core or Quad Core. For daily computing, with mixed simple
Dual Core
gaming and editing, single core processors are suitable for your needs. For midstream gaming, photo editing and simple multitasking, dual core processor is the choice. However, when you require a lot of processing power like serious video and photo editing, graphics rendering, and serious multitasking, quad core processors will definitely help.
6. Buy a separate decent and reliable graphics card for gaming. There are many types of graphics card available on the market intended for specific needs, there are budget cards (less than 100 USD or less than 4,000 php) for simple gaming, midstream cards (250 USD or 11,500 php) to provide decent graphics on modern games, and high-end cards (400 USD or 18,500 php) for hardcore gamers who needs maximum performance.
7. LCD or CRT Display. CRT (Cathode-ray Tube) monitors are larger, bulky, generate a lot of heat and use more electricity than
LCD
LCD panels. But CRT provides the best color and contrast than LCD panels. LCD panels are slim, cool and power efficient, but less accurate in terms of color and contrast. The choice between the two is usually according to user preference, but theoretically, CRT are better for gaming, LCD are suitable for people with limited space at home and needs a less power hungry display.
8. Choose a CPU casing based mainly on functionality and aesthetics second
CPU
only. Choose a CPU case with a lot of room inside so that you can easily manage wiring, arrange devices properly and provide good airflow. Good airflow means cooler system. A cluttered, unorganized CPU disrupts airflow, which causes heat to build up inside the CPU case. The more the heat, the more your devices are prone to overheating. Overheating causes your computer to turn off suddenly and can interrupt work, and worse, destroy the system.
Buying a computer appropriate to your needs is very important. Not only you get the most out of your money, but also you will be more productive because you chose the right component of the computer that fits your needs.
N.B. As promised, this is the second of Sir Nikes’ Guest posting here in my blog. Thanks again, for the very informative article.
Have you ever experienced buying a computer and drawing a blank, when the salesman asked you, what computer specifications did you like? You had this big question mark in your mind of what he was talking about.
Was there an incident when you were trying to buy a certain software or game, and you were perplexed upon reading the label which said, “Minimum System Requirements”? You end up, therefore, buying nothing at all simply because you didn’t understand computer language.
If your answer is “yes” to any of these questions, well you are in the right page. Keep reading, and this article will help enlighten and feed you healthy information, so that next time you are in the above situation, you will not feel inferior when it comes to tech talk in computers.
What is a computer system specification?
A computer system is a collection of devices each with their own functions, that works together as one in order to process information and display it on your monitor. It lets you do so many things like browse the internet, edit your worksheet, type a letter using a word processor, watch movies, play games, edit photos or videos, and even program a software to do a specific function. Each device contributes to the overall performance of a computer system.
A computer specification is a collection of information of all these important devices in a computer system. These are very useful because just by looking at these information, the user can roughly estimate a computer system’s performance. This is why software and games include in their label the “minimum system requirements” in order for the buyer or user to be able to estimate if his/her computer system can actually run the software or game and how efficiently will it run.
This is also important when you are trying to buy a new computer unit because these information will be your basis on what computer devices will you be giving priority in accordance to your desired main functionality of your computer system.
For example, if your computer is mainly for browsing and daily computing only, you may want to buy mid range processor, hard drive and medium amount of RAM.
But if your computer system will be mainly for gaming, you may want to invest on video cards, high RAM and fast processor. Therefore, proper basic knowledge on computer devices or specifications will greatly help any computer user especially those who are new in the field of computers.
Here are brief descriptions of each device usually included in computer system specifications:
CPU – Central Processing Unit or simply processor.
This is the brain of a computer unit.
This is the device that process every bit of information you give the computer.
In a computer specification, it is usually written like this, “Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.8ghz”.
The first label is the model name or brand name of the processor.
The 2nd part is the important information you need. This number indicates a processor “clock speed”.
A clock speed is the frequency on how fast the processor executes commands or process information in a given time. Therefore, the higher the clock speed, the faster the processor, the better.
But also take note on the number of cores a processor have. Early processors only contain a single die or core in order to process data, but modern processors usually contain 2 or 4 dies or cores which simultaneously work together for a faster data processing.
Theoretically, the higher the core count, the better, but this is not usually applies for all. Some software or games only support 2 cores therefore a quad-core (4 cores) will not benefit on this.
But if you are into video and photo editing where there are a number of calculations needed at a single time, a quad-core processor will be faster than a dual core. Therefore, the benefit gained on multiple core processors largely depends on the software or game to be used.
2. RAM- Random Access Memory.
This is a memory module where bits of information to be processed are stored temporarily and randomly accessed by the processor for loading.
The main difference of a RAM from a memory card or hard drive or ROM (read-only memory) is that the information stored inside a RAM is deleted once the computer is turned off unlike other memory modules where data stored inside is retained even after turning off the computer.
Basically, the higher the capacity of the RAM (usually in MB (megabytes) or GB (Gigabytes)), the better and faster the computer responds to processes and user inputs. This is because the higher the memory capacity, the more information can be loaded in the memory at once therefore less time the processor seeks for these information and the faster it will execute a certain task.
A computer with at least 1gb of RAM for Windows Vista and Seven Operating system is usually sufficient for fast and efficient computing. But a RAM of 2gb or more is recommended for gaming and high priority software (video editing) purposes is recommended since these require a lot of tasks and instructions loaded at a single time.
3. Graphics Card/Video Card
This device processes all the information related to the graphics the computer will display. Without this, you will not see anything displayed on your monitor. There are 2 kinds of video processors, the onboard graphics accelerator and the “graphics card”.
The onboard graphics accelerator is kind of graphics processor which is already embedded on the motherboard. This usually provides medium resolution and mediocre 3D performance.
If the computer is for internet browsing and daily computing, the onboard graphics is sufficient enough to provide your graphical needs. A very example of this is the graphics accelerator of laptops.
The 2nd type of graphics accelerator is the “graphics card”. It is called as such since the whole graphics processor is in a separate card win which it is connected to a motherboard through a bus.
Old computers uses AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) bus slots which are already phased out of production. Modern computers uses PCIE (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) bus which is a lot faster than the traditional AGP to connect modern video cards to the motherboard.
The graphics card has a separate memory module in which it acts like a RAM but only loads graphic related data for processing. Although basically the higher the memory the better, this is not always the case.
Most users mistakenly think that this is the most important information a graphics card have. They think that the higher the memory, the faster the card process the graphics, and therefore the better the quality the graphics is rendered. This is wrong. The memory capacity of a graphics card is only important when determining the maximum resolution a graphic data will be displayed.
The higher the resolution, the higher the memory requirement. Therefore, a 512mb video card in 1280×1024 resolution is sufficient enough to provide the graphics needed. A 2gb video card in a 1920×1080 resolution is pretty much an overkill. What is important in determining the quality of the graphics rendered is the card’s ability to render the graphics and its Clock and Memory Speed.
The higher the Clock and Memory Speeds, the better the video card’s performance. So when choosing for a card for gaming, consider checking its clock and memory bus speeds and rendering capability rather than its onboard video memory.
4. Hard Drive – also known as Hard Disk Drive.
This is the device where all information for long term storage are saved. Basically, the higher the capacity of the hard drive the more data could be saved, the better. Most hard drives now have capacities of 160gb, 320gb, 500gb and even 1TB (terabytes or 1000 gb) of memory.
This choice is mostly dependent on user preference. A hard drive of 320gb is more than sufficient in daily computing.
5. DVD-ROM
This device reads all optical media you use for data storage which include CD and DVD. This is a Read Only Memory, therefore information stored in these media can only be “read” and cannot be altered.
This drive is useful because it is the primary drive used when software discs are to be installed or video files (DVD movies) are to be viewed.
6. Operating System (OS)
This is the software which controls everything the computer does. Without an operating system, the computer system is unusable. Basically, the better the operating system, the better performance your computer system will be.
Operating system is user dependent and preference but operating system recommended are Windows XP and Windows 7 which are very good, secured, and are stable.
Well basically, these are the most important information included in a computer specification but other information which is not usually included are also important and are usually ignored.
For additional information, these are the following:
Power Supply Unit
It is also known as PSU. This device is where the whole computer unit gets its juice. Usually its unit is Watts, which is the amount of power it could provide at its maximum capacity. So the more computer parts installed in a computer system, the more power it needs to run.
Therefore the higher the wattage, the more parts you can install (e.g. 2 video cards simultaneously working, or 5 hard drives in one computer), the better. But beware, the higher the wattage, the higher it consumes electricity, therefore the higher the electric bill will cost.
2. Motherboard
This is where all the computer parts are interconnected and communicates with each other. Basically, the better the features of a motherboard (e.g. more memory slots, quality capacitors, heavy duty resistors, better cooling, etc) the better. This is where also the sound chip is installed in order to process sound in your computer.
These are only a few but some of the most important information in a computer system. These data termed as Computer Specifications will help the buyer or user determine the type of computer he wants and will fit his/her usage style. With some basic knowledge of these, you have the advantage in choosing your computer system with its best performance that will suit your computing needs.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nikes Alviz is an allied health professional, who is knowledgeable in computers because of experience. I have been a witness to how he could “repair” a lap top or computer that other technicians were not able to restore. I can say then , that he’s a computer expert.
Starting this week, I’ll be featuring his weekly pointers, tips, information and articles about computers. And mind you Naruto is next on the list. lol.
Thanks Sir Nikes, for agreeing to be a weekly guest writer. Kudos to you!
