Computers

Digital data storage devices are essentially media for holding recorded digital information. In this article, I list ten examples.

Microsoft Excel has become the standard spreadsheet for most business use, but with it's functionality and ease of use the advantages of Excel can be used at home as well.

The motherboard includes components crucial to the functioning of a computer. Among them, the Central Processing Unit and Random Access Memory. Learn more about the parts and their functions.

Learn how to highlight your PDF documents with a PC or Mac. You can use Adobe on your PC or Mac or use a program online for free. Scanned documents are more difficult to edit and highlight but there are some ways around it.

The Dell Latitude D430 is still a decent ultra portable notebook for basic web browsing, email and word processing needs for someone on the go, and upgrading the RAM in it can boost performance.

Heavy bandwidth users can slow down your entire network. This hub will show you how to use pfSense to set up traffic shaping to prioritize internet traffic.

Do you still have your old 1980s Macintosh in the garage or attic? There's never been a better time to cash it in with this resale guide!

Polipo is a fast, and lightweight web proxy server with support for several useful features including pipelining. This hub demonstrates how to install and configure a Polipo proxy server on pfSense.

I compare using Ubuntu to Windows 10. I go over if this is something people will want to do or not. I also my own Ubuntu usage.

If you're building a gaming PC and wondering what would be the best type of RAM for your gaming rig, then here's a look at my favorites. Also learn whether CAS Latency and Speed Matter for gaming.

An easy way to protect sheets is to create a "Login" for your workbook, this can easily be achieved using VBA. Explained for people who know nothing about VBA, this guide will help you create a Login

As a casual video creator, it doesn't make sense to shell out a lot of money up front for a professional-grade video editor. There are numerous free video editing software offerings to choose from that will do just about anything a casual user needs.

Looping allows us to repeat certain operations or actions in sequence in our code. Python offers us for and while loops and some functions on "collection" data types.

The VLOOKUP function finds a value within a range of cells and returns information about that value. The TRUE / FALSE values allow you to choose whether Excel looks for an exact or approximate match.

The calendar in Outlook is a great organization tool. If you have alot of appointments to add, enter them in Excel and import them into Outlook.

Finding similar but not identical photos can help you pick the best of a group of the same scene. For text documents, you can find the latest version, the original Word document from which you obtained a PDF or all the slight variants of an email that you sent. There's a lot of software to help.

There are five types of systems software, all designed to control and coordinate the functions of computer hardware. They enable functional interaction between hardware, software and humanware. They are: operating systems, device drivers, firmware, programming language translators and utilities.

Photo or video editor on a budget? Here's a look at 4 top editing monitors for budgets of just under $500 in 2019.

A Gantt chart in Excel 2007 or Excel 2010 is a Project Management tool that shows the progress of tasks over time. This hub shows how to create a 3D Gantt chart template from a stacked bar chart.

If you upgraded to Windows 10 from a computer that came with Windows 7 pre-installed, reverting to Windows 7 will wipe out your product key and mark your operating system as "not genuine."

Learn how to easily set up a captive portal using pfSense. Captive portals provide an easy way to authenticate users accessing the internet at Wi-Fi hotspots, hotels, apartments, or business centers.

CloudTrax is a free WiFi Hotspot management system designed for small to large WiFi networks with minimum configuration. The free software/system is ideal for free & paid WiFi Internet access.

Guide to installing and configuring the shadow copy client on Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows 2000 and Windows 98. Detailed Instructions for the configuration of Shadow Copy on a server running Server 2003. Demonstration of how to use Previous Versions to restore a deleted file or a deleted folder.

Over time the clock on your computer can gain or lose several minutes. Correcting the time manually can be a daunting task, especially on networks with hundreds of computers. NTP allows you to automatically synchronize the clocks on all of the computers, and other devices on your network. In this hub I'll show you how to configure pfSense to function as an NTP server.

My selections for the best MacBook Pro cooling pads, suitable for the 13 inch version, including personal experiences.

Learn how to configure the DNS forwarder in pfSense to improve the speed and reliability of any internet connection. This hub also includes tips on how to determine the best DNS servers to use.

Low input lag should be your first criterion when looking for the best gaming monitor for your console or PC gaming style.

Technology changes make old PCs and laptops obsolete. It's a waste to throw them out with the trash. Here are some ideas to make good use of your old computer.

Conditional formatting in Excel 2007 and Excel 2010 allows you to add visual impact to your spreadsheets. Use icon sets and cell formatting to add colour to highlight data or illustrate trends.

RAM is one of the most easily upgrade components in any PC or Mac. Adding more RAM to your computer can bring a significant performance boost and doesn't have to be very expensive.

Marie Kondo can deal with your physical stuff but what about your computer? What's taking up all the space? Find out how to clean up storage on domestic computers and in the workplace.

Anything that humans drink or eat may end up on a laptop keyboard. In many cases, the laptop doesn't work afterward. Find out what to do in this situation here - all is seldom lost.

A good monitor for gaming has a low response time, low input lag, and a great picture. A responsive IPS monitor can provide you all three if you know where to look.

Easy, step-by-step instruction on installing Ubuntu on VirtualBox. VirtualBox is an easy way to try out (or use) a new operating system on a virtual machine.

Looking for the right DDR4 for your gaming rig? Here's a look at the top value DDR4 kits for the money.

The Pascal release is here and GPU prices are dropping. Here's a look at some good AMD and Intel CPUs to use in combination with these graphics cards for awesome performance.

Find out if it is better to buy the TP-Link Archer C7 or TP-Link Archer C8. This review compares the C7 and C8 features side-by-side.

There are three major functions of a computer system: hardware, software, and humanware. Hardware and software exist together to make up the actual computer. The humanware component adds to the life factor to bring the whole computer into a functional existence.

In this hub I'll explain how to create a bootable USB drive for installing pfSense. Installing pfSense from a USB memstick is faster and more convenient than using a CD. Using this method you can setup a new fully featured router for your network in no time.

Every Excel workbook that is more than a couple of sheets deserves a Main Menu. This makes it much easier to navigate the workbook as well as keeping the bottom tab bar nice and tidy

Which is more suitable for you? The Arris Motorola SURFboard SB6190 or Motorola SB6183? Find out in this simple to understand review and get the best DOCSIS 3.0 modem for your needs.

Wireshark is a very useful tool for capturing, and analyzing network traffic. This hub explains how to run Wireshark remotely over an SSH session to analyze traffic in real time. This method saves time because it doesn't require a capture file to be downloaded to another computer before it can be analyzed.

A bus is a common pathway through which information is transmitted from one component to another. This pathway is used for communication and can be established between two or more computer components

This article looks at an issue that can be confusing for people new to computers, namely: the difference between files and folders.

CSS stands for cascading style sheet. A CSS code is used to style an HTML document. When you create a website a browsers read the HTML file and any CSS code, javascript, etc., written within the HTML and displays it according to what those codes...

Microsoft's withdrawal of support from Windows XP is forcing users to find an replacement. For those who can't or don't want to upgrade to Windows 7 or 10, Lubuntu Linux is a good alternative.

Dual WAN routers allow you to increase the internet bandwidth on your network by combining two internet connections. Using pfSense you can turn an old computer into a powerful multi WAN router.

An easy tutorial for anyone to take batch screenshots or screencaps with VLC Media Player version 2.1.5 - Rincewind. WORKS WITH NEWEST VERSION 2.2.6 UMBRELLA.

Many tutorials are geared toward PC users. Mac users are often left on their own. Here are 3 methods to capture a screenshot for Mac users. GIMP, is a great free GNU Image Manipulation Software that can be used to capture a screenshot on a Mac or PC.

Tor, also known as The Onion Router, is a network of thousands of relays which can provide anonymous internet access. In this hub you'll learn how to install and configure a Tor Proxy on pfSense.

Shortcuts are all about efficiency. If you are a Mac or Apple user, you know that keyboard shortcuts make work so much easier. Learn the most useful tips and tricks to navigate and get the job done on your computer.

Want to play your favorite AAA titles in 1440p and 4k? Here's a good desktop gaming PC build that is more than capable.

Want to build the perfect custom gaming PC? Here are 10 good options from $500 to $2,000 for playing in 1080p, 1400p, VR, and 4k resolution.

Traffic shaping (QoS) is no longer something only expensive commercial routers can do. An inexpensive home router with custom firmware like Tomato can prioritize certain types of traffic quite well.

Big Data is a buzzword. You hear it everywhere, but what is it and how is it analyzed? Hadoop is one of the common Big Data analysis technology toolsets, let's figure out how it works.

This tutorial will go through the steps of implementing a Remote Desktop Gateway on a Windows Server 2016 server. A Remote Desktop Gateway is often used to allow remote desktop clients to connect from the internet to servers behind the Remote Desktop Gateway located on the corporate network.

Here are step-by-step instructions for giving Lubuntu Linux a look that’s very close to Windows XP. The idea is to make the transition from Windows to Linux as easy as possible.

This article will talk about load balancing terminal servers with relation to Windows Server 2008 R2 servers.

In this article, I discuss the current landscape of PC gaming graphics cards and my outlook on the future. We gamers are in for a rough go of it, at least for the foreseeable future.

Why pay a high price for a computer monitor when you can use an HDTV for a lot less. Here’s the scoop on my experience and what I learned from my research when searching for a good monitor for my desktop computer.

File tagging can help you find electronic documents by browsing their tags and by letting them be in more than one place a time. There’s a lot of software to help you add tags to electronic documents and then retrieve them by tag. But they aren’t all equal.

Step-by-step instructions on how to copy an iTunes library from one Windows PC to another.

You’re on a budget, yet you want a laptop equipped with the best mobile processor for your needs. Do you go for an 8th gen Intel Core i5 or Core i7? This guide compares CPUs and provides answers.

This page is a tutorial on building a large / Citywide WiFi network/hotspot to make money. I am currently building a large WiFi network in my town so this will be a tutorial/diary.

This tutorial will go through the necessary post-installation tasks to make the Exchange Server able to send and receive e-mails with the outside world.

You've got a great piece of software that many people in the world would like to use, and you'd like to market it digitally in order to earn enough to cover costs. It's harder than you might imagine to do this—get some hints from this article.

I was a PC user for over 30 years, but I recently switched to an Apple Mac Mini. I’ll tell you what I learned and what I needed to do to make the transition.

A small church or business can connect their workers, wherever they may be, using a free online network based in the "cloud."

Game development has become much easier than it was a decade ago. Some of the best game creators offer an excellent toolset.

Looking for the right gaming keyboard for your RTS or FPS game of choice? Here's a look at the best mechanical keyboards available in 2018.

In the pre-digital era, keeping any artifacts that you might want to share with your grandchildren was a matter of putting them in a box. For digital photos, videos and documents it's a lot more complicated. This article helps you decide how to do it.

Have around $600 in your budget for your gaming PC? Here are the top parts we recommend for quality and performance.

The price is right, but are Chromebooks good enough to do what you need them to do? Here are some of the pros and cons of Chromebook ownership.

The REPLACE and REPLACEB functions allow you to precisely replace part of a cell's contents and can be combined with functions such as IF. Find and Replace is best used for replacing entire cells.

Here’s how to install and use Google’s free remote access software to centrally control your remote computers.

Dropbox backs up files and syncs them between different devices. The free version offers limited online storage space, but this space can be easily increased.

Learn how to enable secure remote VPN access to your networks using OpenVPN on a pfSense firewall.

If you're building your dream machine, which full tower case will give you the best value for the money you spend? We take a look at our favorite desktop cases under $100, $150, $200, and $300.

Want a good motherboard for your Coffee Lake system? Here's a look at our favorites from under $150 to $500.

Want to play WoW, Lol, and Dota 2? Here's a Cheap and good $150 to $200 budget Gaming PC build that has fantastic performance.

The OM2P router is a high power, low cost WiFi router designed for quick and easy installations of WiFi networks. The OM2P features a 400 MHz processor & 64 MB RAM, dual SSID & zero configuration.

This article considers the history of computer storage and some of the facts behind the need to keep regular backups of our most important files and folders.

FreeNAS is an open source project that allows you to turn an old computer into a network attached storage system. This hub will walk you through the process of setting up FreeNAS 8.

Port forwarding (NAT) allows users on the internet to access services running on a computer inside your home network. This hub explains how to set up port forwarding using pfSense.

Review of HP Envy 15t, 15 inch laptop with FHD IPS WLED- backlit screen. 6th Generation Intel Core i7 processor 6500; 8GB Ram memory; 256GB SSD storage;Windows 10. Comparable to Dell Inspiron 15 7000

If your data range contains many blank cells, it can be hard to correctly create a chart. Use the IF function to convert blank cells to #N/A which Excel ignores or change how Excel deals with blanks.

This tutorial will show how to install Remote Desktop Services in Windows Server 2016 but it can be applied to Windows 2012 or Windows 2012R2. The steps are based on a scenario where there is currently no Remote Desktop Services for Windows 2012 or later installed in the domain.

The advent of digital technology has brought with it many many great advantages, here I list 16 of the main ones.

Dynamic charts in Excel change automatically if data it is added or removed saving you time and effort. They use a formula with the OFFSET and COUNTA functions and named ranges using Defined Names.

A good HTPC case can be hard to find. This is especially true when you're trying to make it into a Gaming PC. Here's a look at six good Mini and Micro ATX Computer cases for the money.

If you want wi-fi access everywhere, then set up a mesh network to extend wi-fi signals to every room of a large house (including the upstairs) and cover a large area.

It is important to know how to format a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel as it can transform data into information. This article covers the basics of formatting an Excel spreadsheet.

The binary numbering system is the basis for storage, transfer and processing of data in computers and other electronic systems. It uses base 2 rather than base 10 which we are normally familiar with

Discover how you can Get Things Done in Wunderlist with this step by step guide to implementing a digital version of David Allen's productivity system.

A robot.txt file allows you to keep search engines from listing your online files. Here are some tips to help you set up a robots.txt file on your website.

In the earlier tutorial about data types, we saw an introduction to strings in Python. In this tutorial, we will learn more about Strings.

Want a good value? Take a look at AMD's Am3+ platform in 2019. It's still widely available and has a lot to offer in terms of performance.

As wireless networks become increasingly popular, I look at the relative advantages and disadvantages when compared with wired networks.

After April 8, 2014 Microsoft will no longer supply security updates for Windows XP. Here’s what one small church plans to do to be able to continue to safely use WinXP.

Trying to find the best parts to build a $1,000 gaming PC? Look no further. This Coffee Lake or optional Ryzen 5 build focuses on quality and performance.