TV Machine

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1lseffJ-v2edUZrdHVOeTFxR1k/edit?usp=sharing

Ten Effective Questions on being an IT Tech

ACID Mix

Here's a music mix that I made on the program called ACID. Check it out.

Here are some steps to port forwarding a router.

Communicating Online

Project PowerPoint

I also created a powerpoint to share some knowledge on projectors. You can view it by clicking here.

Goldilocks PowerPoint

I created this to show my ability to work in powerpoint, check it out check it out.

Windows Registry

Windows Registry is a hierarchical database that stores settings for configuration and options on a windows operating system.  It contains components for applications running on the platform that have been set to used the registry.

These are the five main subgroups, in which can be handled access from a known root key handle that is specifically mapped to the content.

1. HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
   This define classes by windows. Named grouped of functions to find what you can do with an object. Everything on the system is to be defined by the class. This is user specific and does not allow roaming user profiles.
   
2. HKEY_CURRENT_USER
   This simply stores the settings of a current user. Each user's settings are stored in their own files called NTUSER.DAT and USRCLASS.DAT inside their own Documents and Settings subfolder.
   
3. HKEY_USERS
   This stores all personalized information for users on the PC. Each user profile is actively loaded on the machine, and user hives are usually only loaded for currently logged-in users.
   
4. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
   This stores settings that are specific to the local computer. It contains all data for non-user specific configuration. It is key located by HKLM and not stored by disk, but maintained in memory by the system kernal in order to map other subkeys.
   
5. HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG
   If there are multiple values for a machine, this is where you would find settings.  It gathers information at runtime; information stored i this key is not permanently on the disk, just regenerated at the boot time.

Working with computers

On Thursday we continued working with our computers. I started working on one named Alfred. I cleared all his partitions, created a new one and added Windows XP. He's running pretty well however there's still some work to be done on him. Hopefully this is done soon and he's working like brand new.

Installing Windows

Yesterday, we began wiping harddrives off computers, adding partitions and then adding Windows. This all required a number of steps, but did you know just how many pre-installment tasks there are, and what you need to check in order to do this?

1. Requirements:
CPU, RAM, HD, GPU, Display
Before anything: your comp needs to match with the components you’re adding on.
You might need to install more storage.
Put hard drives into USB.

2. Setup wizard checks out the system
Used to check conditions. Microsoft compatibility center checks out hardware devices
Vista added an online windows logo product list

3. Multiboot has more than one OS

4. Determine how to back up existing data
Migrating versions using files and transfers wizard using XP

5. Determine installation method
An image deployment, as long as you have an identical machine, it’ll work. It’s called imagine ghosting

6. Multiboot might require a different partition

7. PC doesn’t participate in the network

8. Location affects the currency formats and math separated display

APU

Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) is a processing system that includes additional processing capability designed to accelerate one or more types of computations outside of a CPU. This includes GPU used for general-purpose computing (GPGPU), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or similar specialized processing system.


There are variations for this term including one of which APU described as a "processing device" which integrates CU and an OpenCL compatible GPU, which improves the data transfer rates between the components, all while reducing power consumption. APUs include video processing and other accelerators.

CPU Mountings

Computer Processing Units generally have two types of of mountings that are used to attach processors to the motherboard and sockets and slots. If you are doing an installation, it's important to make sure you remove any label on the CPU socket before doing so. If there is any debris in the holes of the sockets, it may not work properly.

Pin Grid Array (PGA)

PGA is a type of integrated circuit package. The package is square and the pins are arranged in a regular array on the underside. They are often mounted on printed circuit boards using the through hole method or inserted into a socket. These type of mounting allows for more pins per integrated circuit than other packages.

Land Grid Array (LGA)

LGA is a type of surface-mount packaging for integrated circuits that is notable for having the pins on the socket rather than on the integrated circuit. It can electrically be connected to a printed board circuit either by the use of the socket or by adding soldering directly to the board.

Memory Registers

There are two types of Memory Registers. Basically, they both store data, however they each have a different way of storing and utilizing it.

Memory Address Register (MAR)

MAR is a Central Processing Unit (CPU) that either stores the memory address from which the data would be fetched to the CPU or the address to which data will be sent and then stored. It holds the memory location that needs to be accessed. When reading the memory, data addressed by MAR is fed into MDR (Memory Data Register) and then used by CPU.

Memory Buffer Register (MBR)

It is the registry of the computer's processor or CPU that stores the data being transferred to and from immediate access store. It acts as a buffer (holding data in transit) allowing the processor and memory units to act independently without being affected by minor differences in operation. This registry holds the contents of the memory which are to be transferred from memory to the other components and vice versa.

UPS

Reviewing what I have learned today, I found myself interested in Uninteruptable Power Supplies (UPS), and I decided to do some more research on it. 

Basically, UPS is an electric apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source fails. It's usually used to protect computers, data centers and telecommunication equipment as to not lose any data.

UPS have several devices, such as:

Standby - Also known as off-line or line-preferred UPS. The standby system operates with the switch setting the AC input as a primary power source, and alternating to the battery and inverter as backup sources in case of primary power failure. The inverter remains on standby, and only activates when the power fails. This only happens when the system is below 9V.

Line Interactive - The AC Power Inverter is connected to the UPS output, and the battery can be charged by operating in reverse while AC power is set normally. In case of a power failure, the transfer switch can shift electrical flow from the battery to the system output. The inverter is always connected to the output, so the UPS gives additional filtering and lowers the risk of switching transients. A tap-changing transformer is sometimes included in the line interactive UPS, and this allows it to provide voltage regulation that prevents the UPS from switching to battery power prematurely.


In General, UPS is very useful for many people to have. It is crucial for computer servers, companies, tech supports, and more.

Proper Netiquette

What is netiquette?

It is the conductor that is socially acceptable in online or digital situations. This includes emails, social networking sites, and instant messaging/chat rooms. If you decide to not use netiquette, well.. you should probably step away from anything that has access to the internet.

Here are some examples of netiquette.

1. Do not use abusive or threatening language.
2. Do not try obtaining somebody's password and/or personal information.
3. Do not spam message boards, chat rooms or social networking sites with useless or repetitive messages.
4. Do not steal or take credit for anything you have not done.

All of these points can relate to having respect. There isn't anyone who would appreciate having these things done to them, and no one should ever do them.

AGP

Accelerated Graphics Ports (AGP) is a high speed point-to-point channel for attaching a video card to a computer's motherboard, usually just to assist with 3D computer graphics. It was intended to be designed as a successor to PCI type connections.

Why was it being favored over PCI?

Computers are always being more and more graphically oriented. Successive generations of graphic adapters began to push the limits of PCI by having a bus with shared bandwidth. This led to even more developing with the AGP.

For the most part, it is favored more as AGP gives a more dedicated pathway between the slot and the processor rather than sharing the PCI bus. AGP also uses sideband addressing. This means that the address and the data buses are separated so the packet doesn't need to read the information.

RAID

Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) is a storage technology that combines multiple disk drive components into a logical unit. The data is distributed over the drives in one of several ways, called "RAID Levels", but it depends on the redundancy for the required performance.

RAID now covers a wide variety of functions for computer data storage schemes that can divide and replicate data amongst several drives. It's an example of storage virtualization and the array can be accessed by the operating system by just one drive. There are different schemes, each having a balance of the key goals: reliability and availability, performance and capacity. 

The standard schemes are referred to as the "levels". There was originally five, but it continues to have more variations involved.

RAID 0
Has no redundancy, but provides improved performance and additional storage with no fault tolerance. Any failure of drive destroys the array and it is likely for more drives in the array to fail.

RAID 1
Data is written identically to two drives which provides a mirrored set. The request is serviced by the two drives containing the data. At least two disks are required to constitute the array.

RAID 2
All disk spindle rotation is synchronized and data is striped so each sequential bit is on a different drive.

RAID 3
All disk spindle rotation is synchronized and data is striped so each sequential byte is on a different drive. This level is not commonly used.

RAID 4
It is equivalent to RAID 5 except all parity data is stored on a single drive. The arrangement files may be distributed around multiple drives.

RAID 5
Distributes parity along with the data that requires all drives but one to be presented to operate. The array is not destroyed by one single drive failure. If there is failure, any subsequent rads can be calculated from the parity such that the drive failure is masked from the end user. It requires 3 disks

RAID 6
Provides fault tolerance for up to two failed drives. This makes larger RAID groups more practical, especially for high-availability systems. This is increasingly import as large capacity drives lengthen the time needed to recover from a failure of a drive.

RAID 10
Often referred to as RAID 1+0 Data are written in strips across primary disks that have been mirrored to the secondary disks.