Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Computer Specifications Updated

Computer specifications are a set of requirements that determine the hardware and software layout of a computer system in order for it to work at optimum level. When buying a computer there are certain specifications that one should look for. These include:
Processor: an electronic circuit that responds to and processes the numeric basic and instructions that execute computer programs and cause the computer to work. In other words, it is the brain of the computer. It is an electronic circuit that operates at the speed of an internal clock thanks to a quartz crystal that, when subjected to an electrical current, send pulses, called peaks. The clock speed also called cycle, corresponds to the number of pulses per second, written in Hertz (Hz). Thus, a 200 MHz computer has a clock that sends 200,000,000 pulses per second. Clock frequency is generally a multiple of the system frequency, meaning a multiple of the motherboard frequency.
Operating System: an interface between hardware and user which is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the resources of a computer, that acts as a host for computing applications run on the machine. As a host, one of the purposes of an operating system is to handle the resource allocation and access protection of the hardware. This relieves the application programmers from having to manage these details. The operating system most recommended is Windows Vista Home.
Memory: Computer memory refers to devices that are used to store data or programs on a temporary or permanent basis for use in an electronic digital computer. Each binary digit is called a bit and may be stored by any physical system that can be in either of two stable states, to represent 0 and 1. Such a system is called bistable. This could be an on-off switch, an electrical capacitor that can store or lose a charge, a magnet with its polarity up or down, or a surface that can have a pit or not. Today, capacitors and transistors, functioning as tiny electrical switches, are used for temporary storage and either disks or tape with a magnetic coating, or plastic discs with patterns of pits are used for long-term storage. Computer memory is usually meant to refer to the semiconductor technology that is used to store information in electronic devices. Current primary computer memory makes use of integrated circuits consisting of silicon-based transistors. There are two main types of memory: volatile and non-volatile. Thus a 1GB SDRAM means that you can store up to 1 billion bytes worth of information in your RAM. As it relates to your hard drive, a 80GB Hard Drive can hold up to 80 billion bytes of information on this secondary storage device.

Graphics: Graphics are visual presentations on the computer screen to brand, inform, illustrate, or entertain. These are may be photographs, drawings, graphs, or diagrams, or other images. Graphics often combine text, illustration, and color. Clarity or effective communication may be the objective, association with other cultural elements may be sought, or merely, the creation of a distinctive style.
Boot Hard Drive: a disk that a computer can start up or "boot" from. The most common type of boot disk is an internal hard drive, which most computers use to start up from. The operating system installed on the hard drive is loaded during the boot process. The hard drive is a central storage area for the programs being run and the documents or assets created. The boot hard drive should be 160GB, and 8MB DataBurst Cache. This means that the boot hard drive has the capacity to hold 160 billion bytes of information and the CACHE has the capability to hold 8 million bytes of information.
Video Card: also called video adapter, graphics-accelerator card, display adapter or graphics card is an expansion card whose function is to generate and output images to a display. Many video cards offer added functions, such as accelerated rendering of 3-dimensional scenes and 2-dimensional graphics, video capture. Video hardware can be integrated on the motherboard, as it often happened with early computers; in this configuration it was sometimes referred to as a video controller or graphics controller. A 256MB video card has the capability to hold 256 million bytes worth of information.
Hardware Support Services: the aspect that deals with the services that will be needed to maintain the computer. They offer preventative, diagnostic, repair and remedial services. It helps you to improve the management of your system and improve the effectiveness as a result.
Other information includes information about the sound capability of the computer, as well as details of the monitor that come with the system, such as its type and speed.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Microsoft Office Specifications

The following are specifications for Microsoft Office:

CPU
Office XP requires a Pentium processor with a clock speed of at least 133 megahertz (MHz).
Operating System
Office runs on the following operating systems:
• Microsoft Windows XP
• Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me)
• Microsoft Windows 2000
• Microsoft Windows 98
• Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 6.0a (SP6a)
Memory
Windows XP:
128 megabytes (MB) of RAM is required for the operating system, along with an additional 8 MB of RAM for each program running simultaneously.
Windows 98:
24 MB of RAM is required for the operating system, in addition to an additional 8 MB of RAM for each program running simultaneously.
Windows Millennium Edition (Me) and Windows NT 4.0:
32 MB of RAM is required for the operating system, also an additional 8 MB of RAM for each program running simultaneously.
Windows 2000 Professional:
64 MB of RAM is required for the operating system, plus an additional 8 MB of RAM for each program running simultaneously.




Available Hard Disk Space
The following table shows the default amount of space required for each edition of Office.
Edition Approximate Disk Space Requirements
------------------------------------------------------------
Standard 191 MB

Professional 230 MB

Professional 276 MB
with FrontPage



Approximately 115 MB will be installed on the same drive where the operating system is installed.

The amount of disk space varies, depending on multiple factors.
Disk Drives
A CD-ROM drive (or compatible DVD-ROM drive) is required to install Office.
Monitor
A Super VGA monitor with at least 800x600 resolution and 256 colors is required.
Pointing Device
A Microsoft Mouse, Microsoft IntelliMouse, or compatible pointing device is required.
Other Requirements
Some Office features have additional requirements.
Multimedia
A multimedia computer is required for sound and other multimedia effects. A hardware accelerated video card or MMX processor provides improved graphical rendering performance.


Speech Recognition
Speech recognition requires the following:
• A Pentium II 400 MHz or higher processor
• 128 MB or more of RAM
• A close-talk microphone
• An audio output device
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later version
E-Mail and Internet
Microsoft Exchange, Internet SMTP/POP3, IMAP4, or MAPI-compliant messaging software is required for e-mail. Microsoft Exchange Server is required for certain advanced collaboration functionality in Microsoft Outlook. Some Internet functionality may require Internet access by means of a 14.4 Kbps or greater modem or a high-speed connection, and payment of a separate fee to a service provider; local charges may apply.
Handwriting
A graphics tablet is recommended for handwriting input features.
SharePoint Team Services
• Pentium 200 MHz or higher processor.
• Microsoft Windows 2000 running Microsoft Internet Information Services 5.0.
• 128 MB of RAM.
• Your hard-disk usage varies, depending on configuration. For a typical installation, 70 MB of available hard-disk space is needed. Custom choices may require more or less space. For planning purposes, you need a minimum of 5 MB disk space for the Web site and database for each newly provisioned Web site.
• Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) or Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 or later.

Computer Specifications

Computer specifications are a set of requirements that determine the hardware and software layout of a computer system in order for it to work at optimum level. When buying a computer there are certain specifications that one should look for. These include:
Processor: an electronic circuit that responds to and processes the numeric basic and instructions that execute computer programs and cause the computer to work. In other words, it is the brain of the computer. It is an electronic circuit that operates at the speed of an internal clock thanks to a quartz crystal that, when subjected to an electrical current, send pulses, called peaks. The clock speed also called cycle, corresponds to the number of pulses per second, written in Hertz (Hz). Thus, a 200 MHz computer has a clock that sends 200,000,000 pulses per second. Clock frequency is generally a multiple of the system frequency, meaning a multiple of the motherboard frequency.
Operating System: an interface between hardware and user which is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the resources of a computer, that acts as a host for computing applications run on the machine. As a host, one of the purposes of an operating system is to handle the resource allocation and access protection of the hardware. This relieves the application programmers from having to manage these details.
Memory: Computer memory refers to devices that are used to store data or programs on a temporary or permanent basis for use in an electronic digital computer. Each binary digit is called a bit and may be stored by any physical system that can be in either of two stable states, to represent 0 and 1. Such a system is called bistable. This could be an on-off switch, an electrical capacitor that can store or lose a charge, a magnet with its polarity up or down, or a surface that can have a pit or not. Today, capacitors and transistors, functioning as tiny electrical switches, are used for temporary storage and either disks or tape with a magnetic coating, or plastic discs with patterns of pits are used for long-term storage. Computer memory is usually meant to refer to the semiconductor technology that is used to store information in electronic devices. Current primary computer memory makes use of integrated circuits consisting of silicon-based transistors. There are two main types of memory: volatile and non-volatile.
Graphics: Graphics are visual presentations on the computer screen to brand, inform, illustrate, or entertain. These are may be photographs, drawings, graphs, or diagrams, or other images. Graphics often combine text, illustration, and color. Clarity or effective communication may be the objective, association with other cultural elements may be sought, or merely, the creation of a distinctive style.
Boot Hard Drive: a disk that a computer can start up or "boot" from. The most common type of boot disk is an internal hard drive, which most computers use to start up from. The operating system installed on the hard drive is loaded during the boot process. The hard drive is a central storage area for the programs being run and the documents or assets created
Video Card: also called video adapter, graphics-accelerator card, display adapter or graphics card is an expansion card whose function is to generate and output images to a display. Many video cards offer added functions, such as accelerated rendering of 3-dimensional scenes and 2-dimensional graphics, video capture. Video hardware can be integrated on the motherboard, as it often happened with early computers; in this configuration it was sometimes referred to as a video controller or graphics controller.
Hardware Support Services: the aspect that deals with the services that will be needed to maintain the computer. They offer preventative, diagnostic, repair and remedial services. It helps you to improve the management of your system and improve the effectiveness as a result.
Other information includes information about the sound capability of the computer, as well as details of the monitor that come with the system, such as its type and speed.

Assignment 2

URL: Uniform Resource Locator
In the world of computer science, the URL specifies where a certain identified resource is located and the means by which you may access it. Every URL consists of some of the following: the scheme name, commonly called protocol; followed by a colon, then, depending on the scheme, a hostname otherwise known as an IP address; a port number, which is the path of the resource to be retrieved or the program to be run, then, for certain programs, a query string, with HTML documents, an anchor which is optional for where the page should start to be displayed. The combined URL resembles one such as this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Resource_Locator. Therefore, a URL is a uniform resource identifier that does, among identifying the location of a resource, provides a way to locate the resource by describing its primary access mechanism.

TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol Suite popularly known as TCP/IP is the set of communications protocols used for the Internet and other similar networks. It is named from two of the most important protocols in it: the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), which were the first two networking protocols defined in this standard. The Internet Protocol Suite, like many protocol suites, may be viewed as a set of layers. Each layer solves a set of problems involving the transmission of data, and provides a well-defined service to the superior layer protocols based on using services from some lower layers. Superior layers are logically closer to the user and deal with more abstract data, relying on lower layer protocols to translate data into forms that can eventually be physically transmitted. The four layers, from lower to superior are: link layer, internet layer, transport layer and application layer.

HTTP: Hypertext Transfer Protocol
HTTP is the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web. It defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands. HTTP is a formal communication method that transmits requests and data between user agents or web browsers and Web servers. When you enter a URL in your browser, this actually sends an HTTP command to the Web server directing it to fetch and transmit the requested Web page. Hypertext Transfer Protocol is an application-level protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. Its use for retrieving inter-linked resources, called hypertext documents, led to the establishment of the World Wide Web. It is called a stateless protocol because each command is executed independently, without any knowledge of the commands that came before it.

Web server
A web server is a computer program that delivers content, such as a web page, using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol. This service is referred to as web hosting. The person who is in charge of the server is the web host. The web host may rent space on the web server to people or businesses for the purpose of them setting up web sites. The term web server can also refer to the computer or virtual machine running the program. Its primary function is the delivery of HTML documents and other relevant information that may be included in a document, such as an image. While this is so, it has the capability to receive information from its clients. This is why we can upload files on the internet.

Protocol
In general, a protocol is a rule determining the format and transmission of data. In computing, a protocol is a set of rules which is used by computers to communicate with each other across a network. A protocol is a standard that controls or enables the connection, communication, and data transfer between computing endpoints. In its simplest form, a protocol can be defined as the rules governing the syntax, semantics, and synchronization of communication. Protocols may be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination of both. At the lowest level, a protocol defines the behavior of a hardware connection. It defines certain actions such as: how to detect loss of connection and the actions as a result, or what to do with corrupted files, among others.

DNS: Domain Name Service
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a naming system based on a hierarchy for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates a variety of information with domain names assigned to each of the participants. Most importantly, it translates domain names meaningful to humans into the numerical identifiers associated with networking equipment, binary, for the purpose of locating and addressing these devices worldwide. It is the phonebook of the internet, converting human-friendly computer hostnames into IP addresses. The Domain Name System makes it possible to assign domain names to groups of Internet users in a meaningful way, independent of each user's physical location. Because of this, World Wide Web hyperlinks and Internet contact information can remain consistent and constant even if the current Internet routing arrangements change or the participant uses a mobile device. Internet domain names are easier to remember than IP addresses so people take advantage of this when they recite meaningful URLs and e-mail addresses without having to know how the machine will actually locate them. The Domain Name System distributes the responsibility of assigning domain names and mapping those names to IP addresses by designating governing name servers for each domain. These name servers are assigned to be responsible for their particular domains, and in turn can assign other authoritative name servers for their sub-domains. This mechanism has made the DNS distributed, fault tolerant, and helped avoid the need for a single central register to be continually consulted and updated. The DNS also stores other types of information such as the list of mail servers that accept email for a given Internet domain.

Monday, January 18, 2010

According to the world netweb, the internet is a computer network consisting of a worldwide network of computer networks that use the TCP/IP network protocols to facilitate data transmission and exchange. This means that the internet is a global system that has many computers that are connected to each other. It constitutes many private, public and business networks that are linked electronically. The internet does not have any one governing body, but rather, each network has its own rules. However, an organization overlooks the names that are given to each web site.
This web site also went on to say that the World Wide Web is a network of a group of internet sites that offers information in the form of graphics, animation, sounds and text. All these internet sites are connected one with each other by means of hypertext documents or URLs. Therefore, all web pages that are on the internet and are connected in this manner by way of the hypertext transfer protocol are collectively called the World Wide Web.
There is a difference between the internet and the World Wide Web. Whereas the internet is a computer network that has a global network of other computer networks, which may not be linked to each other, the world wide web has to have internet sites that are connected to each other, thus by accessing one of these sites you are able to link another site from that specific one. The World Wide Web is just one of the many services that run on the internet.