Category: PC Guides

Categories
PC Guides Web Guides

The Differences between a browser plug-in and browser extension

The Differences between a browser plug-in and browser extension

There are billions of computers in the world connecting to the internet each day. Something which is common with almost of all these irrespective of where they connect to the internet from, all they need is a browser to use the web services. When it comes to browsers, there are a lot of aspects which people actually fail to understand. This could because of a wide variety of reasons. Anyways, something most of which people mistake is in identifying the differences between a browser plug-in and browser extension. So, for all you enthusiasts, this article will help understand what  a plug-in is and what an extension is.

The Differences between a browser plug-in and browser extension

Differences Between A Browser Plug-in and Browser Extension:

To understand the difference between these two high-end terms, lets go through each of them separately; carefully walking through what each of them is capable of and what they can’t.

Browser Plug-in:

Just before a few years, the earlier versions of HTML couldn’t actually deliver all stuff like videos, music and images; like the HTML versions today. So to add additional features to your browser, you were to manually add pieces of software which could process them. These are called the browser plug-ins. These plug-ins actually attach to particular web pages using tags like <embed> or <object>.

These are the additional features your browser is embedded with. A Plug-in never interferes with your browser and operates only in the space that is allotted to it within the webpage.

For example, users may download the Adobe Flash Player plug-in to view interactive videos and images present on the webpage.

Some of the other famous browsers are the Apple Quicktime player, Adobe Reader, Macromedia Flash etc.

Browser Extension:

Adding extensions or ‘add on’ to your browser means extending it; you may look at it as adding more powers to what your browser already has. This is under your control and picking one or not is totally up to you. But if you do, they become a part of your browser itself (not really the webpage). Some stuff a typical browser can do is:

  • Create toolbars.
  • Affect Browser Menus
  • Control Tabs and WebPages, etc.

The Google Voice Extension for Google Chrome is the best example for a browser’ add on’ or browser extension.

These are what Plug-ins and extension mean; hope you could clearly understand what are the differences between a browser plug-in and browser extension!

Categories
PC Guides

5 Interesting Facts About Computers You Probably Don’t Know Of

5 Interesting Facts About Computers You Probably Don't Know Of

Without doubt, we live in a world of computers. These machines for long now have been reducing human labour and making lives simpler and simpler.

As per definition, computer is a device which has the ability to perform arithmetic and logic operations automatically. This is something many of us know, but there are lots of amazing and interesting facts about all these silicon devices.

So here are few such interesting facts about computers for you.

#1. Charles Babbage, known as father of computers invented the first computer (mechanical) which in no means looks similar to your laptops or desktops. But anyways programmable computing started with him.

5 Interesting Facts About Computers You Probably Don't Know Of

The early electronic computers which came out in the 1940s, were of the size of large rooms and even they are vastly different than today’s computers.

#2. Though you do a lot of stuff with your computers say run games, movies, software etc. All of them result from your computer’s ability to perform small instructions which include adding numbers and moving data between places. That’s it!

5 Interesting Facts About Computers You Probably Don't Know Of

Simply a few millions of such small instructions result your web browsers, video players, word processors etc.

#3. The modern computers are being built with transistors in form of integrated chips. But if someone were to connect each transistor individually (almost impossible), then we have it our ancestral room-sized computer!

5 Interesting Facts About Computers You Probably Don't Know Of

#4. Computers are not just machines which can help you write documents, surf web; they can even help you wash clothes (as in washing machines), cook food (as in microwaves).

5 Interesting Facts About Computers You Probably Don't Know Of

The only difference is the processors present in such electronic goods are capable of performing only one specific task. It surely isn’t the case with our laptops or desktops.

#5. The circuitry in computers is very sensitive, so much so that static electricity is sufficient to destroy it.

5 Interesting Facts About Computers You Probably Don't Know Of

So before you put your hands into the case of your computer next time, keep this in mind.

Categories
PC Guides Web Guides

How To Check The Performance Of Your Network And Internet connections

How To Check The Performance Of Your Network And Internet connections

Did you just connect your PC to a network or Internet ? Want to know the easiest way to check, if you are connected properly or not ? The ” ping ” and ” tracert ” command will help you to do so. These commands measure the latency, also known as ” lag ” of your connection.

Steps To Check The Performance Of Your Network And Internet connections :

Step 1 : Open Command Prompt ( CMD ) :

To open your command prompt , just Press ” Windows key + R ” and type ” cmd ” in the displayed Run dialog box . Now press Enter to open the ” command console “.

How To Check The Performance Of Your Network And Internet connections

Step 2 : Check your loop-back address :

  • Enter ping ” 127.0.0.1 ” ( it is same on all computers, so do not worry ). This checks the network chip of your computer and not the modem, router or your Internet connection.How To Check The Performance Of Your Network And Internet connections
  • Press ‘ Enter ‘ to begin the ping.
  • Place ” -t ” at the end of the line for this test continuously.
  • To stop checking the ping press ” Ctrl + C “.
  • Write ” -n 20 ” at the end of the line for 20 consecutive pings. You can replace the number 20 with any number of ping you want to do (But the value must be a valid integer 32 bit or 64 bit).
  • If all goes well, Look at the statistics of ping. It should reflect ” 0% loss “.
  • Check response latency, as it represents the time it takes for information to travel from the server to your computer. The digits under 100 are very good. The latency varies greatly depending upon where the server is in relation to your computer. Normally, most connections should have a latency of a few hundred milliseconds. In-case, If there is no network connection you will see a message like ” Request time out ” repeated several times.

Step 3 : Check your gateway :

Find the IP address ( Public IP Address ) of your default gateway:

How To Check The Performance Of Your Network And Internet connections

  • Type ” ipconfig ” in the Command Prompt and Press Enter .
  • Now Command Prompt will display the results of the ipconfig command.
  • Find the numbers under ” Default Gateway “. This is the IP address you can use to check the connection between your computer and your router or ISP.

Step 4 : Now check beyond your local network :

Check the connectivity of your router,modem, LAN, or Internet connection using an Internet IP address.

How To Check The Performance Of Your Network And Internet connections

Step 5 : Check the IP address of a website :

Instead of typing an IP address, type the name of a website such as ” www.onlinecmag.com “. When you ping a domain name, you also will see your computer’s ability to resolve the IP addresses of Internet domains ( find the number of the IP address using the domain name ).

How To Check The Performance Of Your Network And Internet connections

Step 6 : Check the performance of your network and Internet :

This Is only For Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista and 7 Users. Use the ” tracert ” command to measure the response of each element involved in the network. Your connection to a server requires many ” hops ” between servers and other network components. The fewer hops on the path, the better. Most connections to a server including at least a dozen jumps.

To check this follow the below steps :

How To Check The Performance Of Your Network And Internet connections

  • In the command prompt type ” tracert zzz.zzz.zzz.zzz “, replace zzz.zzz.zzz.zzz with the internet IP address.
  • Press Enter and watch the ping checks each jump. The first ping should be your computer, then the modem or router, and the last ping should be the address to which you want to reach.
  • Check how the response time to more distant points is greater than the closest places.
Categories
PC Guides

What Do You Think Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) is?

The Blue Screen of Death

If you are using any of the Windows operating system, chances are that you encountered a blue screen with white words and then all you can do is reboot your computer.

Everything About the Blue Screen of Death (BSoD)

If it hasn’t happened with you, that’s really good and we wish it doesn’t happen any sooner as well. But if you see it quite often, its better to take few measures. Anyway in this article we walk you through a lot of fancy stuff about this General Protection Fault (GPF) error which is commonly called the ‘Blue Screen of Death’ error.

The Blue Screen of Death

BSoD: The Consequences

This error message or the error screen is usually generated by the operating system itself when there is an unexpected error, which is beyond its scope. At this instant the operating system is all powerless and gets abruptly terminated. In many cases it is also accompanied with loss of work. The Blue Screen of Death error is considered to be the worst among the errors computers usually experience. And there is every reason you shouldn’t expect it!

BSoD: The Causes

The BSoD is generated in case of software crashes or during some hardware issues. Generally, the software which users use aren’t so capable of leading to a BSoD but the lapses in driver software could provoke such drastic consequences.

Though our computers encounter several application crashes overtime but none of them are so intense that they could bring the operating system down along with them.

This blue screen is displayed when there is a ‘stop message’ windows receives. This error causes the windows to crash; though the programs can’t save data, even under such critical situation the windows operating systems manage to create a file and write to it the information of the crash. This information is very important in pin-pointing the cause of such massive crash, and provides a good lead in troubleshooting them later.

Bottom Line:

A computer in the most ideal condition shouldn’t go blue, but mistakes do happen and nothing is perfect. These errors are so common and can strike any computer anywhere. Even Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft had his share of experience with the Blue Screen of Death error in a public demonstration of the Windows 98, luckily he had a spare computer with him.!

If your computer displays a Blue Screen of Death message once in a blue-moon you shouldn’t be worried that alright, but if it happens much often you have got a problem.

Categories
PC Guides

What exactly are Computer programs and How they work?

Computer Program

Well, you might have been familiar with a few programming languages or at least heard about them somewhere. But what are all these for? What do all these computer programs mean? Why does anyone have to learn programming languages? If any of such questions ever occurred to you, then today this article is going to answer them all.

Computer Program

This is Why A Computer Program Is Written:

Even though computers perform tasks at great speeds without getting tired; remember that after-all they are just machines with no IQ whatsoever. They simply can’t do anything without being instructed. Their powers are so very limited and just like many other electronic devices they count on 1s and 0s for everything. So the thing is, they are to be instructed and this is done via computer programs. Hence the capabilities of any computer drops down to the different programs it contains and the instructions these programs carry with them.

This Is How A Computer Program Works:

A program (self-written or purchased) contains various set of instructions the computer has to follow to get a particular job done. The only reason why you are able to read this article is because your web browser instructs your computer to convert the HTML code present on the remote computer into text and images which your computer displays to you.

Basically how a computer program works is, they continuously notify the computer what to do next. This may look simple to the eye but for a computer it is lot of work. A computer program instructs the computer how it should receive input, and then how to manage and manipulate it and what sort of an output it should deliver. Also depending on the type of program the inputs to be accepted change, the way input is manipulated and consequently the output changes.

Programming Means Problem Solving:

Programming from long is considered as problem solving. It prepares the computer to tackle various problems it is likely to face at run time. And since the world is full of problems, there isn’t any end for programming.

But the quality of programming depends on how well every minute detail is addressed. In a simple word processor program, it may be sufficient to address issues like understanding what character is being pressed, how and where it is to be displayed and if incase a shortcut is used, how exactly the word processing program should react.

But if you consider a game, several different prospects come into picture again depending on the depth of the game you want to prepare. It could be a simple tic-tac-toe or a much complex FIFA14. As said, the level of programming determines the quality and what the computer can do while that particular program runs.

Conclusion:

So you can make your computer do whatever you want because programming is easy. But the worst part is, it is time taking. To think of every possible problem that constitutes your main problem and writing a solution to each one of them is the crucial part. It is obviously much worse than telling children what to do. Until and unless you specify exactly everything in a computer program, your computer just doesn’t do what you want it to do. Because after all it only is a machine!

 

Categories
PC Guides System Performance

Easy Way To Measure Your CPU Temperature

Easy Way To Measure Your CPU Temperature

There are many methods to measure your CPU temperature . Generally the CPU temperature is measured through a ” Temperature sensor ” that is located on the motherboard . Almost ever motherboard comes in with a program which lets you to read this sensor. You can use the applications like ” Hardware Sensors Monitor ” Or ” Motherboard Monitor ” for this task that are available freely .

Motherboard Monitor For Measuring CPU Temperature :

We personally recommend ” Motherboard Monitor ” for measuring your CPU temperature . This program can be directly accessed from the task-bar And it also allows you to set an alarm which will let you know when the CPU reaches its critical temperature level.This application will also monitors the power supply voltages and system fans . This application is highly recommended for the people who overclock their system, As the CPU temperature drastically increases when it is overclocked.
Easy Way To Measure Your CPU Temperature , There are many methods to measure your CPU temperature . Generally the CPU temperature is measured through a " Temperature sensor " that is located on the motherboard . Almost ever motherboard comes in with a program which lets you to read this sensor.

 

Measuring CPU Temperature By CMOS Setup :

There is also another method to check your CPU temperature i.e though the ” motherboard setup ” . In motherboard setup you will have an option like ” System Health ” Or ” PC Health Status ” Or ” Sensors ” Or something similar based on the manufacturer . The CPU temperature can be easily checked as shown below .

Easy Way To Measure Your CPU Temperature , There are many methods to measure your CPU temperature . Generally the CPU temperature is measured through a " Temperature sensor " that is located on the motherboard . Almost ever motherboard comes in with a program which lets you to read this sensor.

The motherboard setup method is not the right way to check your CPU temperature because it only shows you the temperature at minimum processing power as the system is just started . Thus it won’t reach its maximum temperature. Because of this reason we recommend you a software-based solution like method one .

Categories
PC Guides

Differences Between DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 RAM – Explained

DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 RAM

DDR RAM stands for Double Data Rate RAM which means it transfers data at twice the rate as SDRAM (synchronous data random access memory). Introduced in the early 21st century, it has the capability to carry out I/O data transfers for both the clock pulses (HIGH edge and LOW edge).

DDR2 and DDR3 were introduced later in 2003 and 2008, and are advancements in the same SDRAM family. But this doesn’t mean they are all alike nor do things the same way. In this article, we address all such differences that have cropped up in the generations of SDRAM.

DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 RAM

DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 RAM: The Clock

DDR RAM as already mentioned uses every clock pulse to transfer data and so is theoretically twice as fast as SDRAM (SDRAM uses both the HIGH edge and LOW edge combined to transfer data).

Whereas DDR2 has its data bus running at twice the speeds of the internal clock and thereby was 2 times faster than the DDR. And so follows the DDR3, which is again twice as fast as the DDR2 for the same reason.

Although you don’t get to see such significant speed raises during runtime, at least that’s what is expected from them theoretically while manufacturing.

DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 RAM: Power Usage

The other notable feature that differed through the generations of the SDRAM is the level of power these RAM sticks consume.

All the integrated memory chips on the DDR RAM standard works fine at 2.5volts (2.6V for few models) and could achieve transfer rates of 200-400 MT/sec.

This voltage levels lowered with advancements and the DDR2 required 1.8 volts and the DDR3 a mere 1.5 volts but the transfer rates always got better.

This only improves efficiency and helps develop low power consuming computers for the future. There is also news about the release of DDR4 this year and you can surely expect it to be a much lesser power consuming memory stick (1.2V).

DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 RAM: Clock Speed

The other important specification that has been varying across these generations is the maximum clock speed.

You must have heard this term while dealing with processors; just like clock speed determines how fast your processor is, so does the clock speed of any RAM stick. The more the clock speed the better.

But arguably, you wouldn’t find much difference either between a 1066 MHz DDR2 RAM and a 1066 MHz DDR3 or a 1066 MHz DDR2 and 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM.

This is mainly because most of the applications we run don’t test their benchmark performance except in servers. But again, the more the clock speed the better even though the power consumption goes up with higher clocks.

DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 RAM: The Cost and Compatibility

Probably this is the negative side of the discussion because the cost just kept on growing from model to model. The more the clock speed the better the performance and so is the economical expense.

Also the fact that none of the DDR, DDR2, and DDR3 is backward or forward compatible only adds to ones. As far as we know, the DDR, DDR2 are long obsolete and with the release of the DDR4, It could be time up for DDR3 as well.

Categories
PC Guides Web Guides

What does Wi-Fi Mean And How It Works?

What does Wi-Fi Mean

Wi-Fi for some time now has been providing unprecedented support to people across homes, businesses and public places. Globally, it is becoming a preferred mode of internet connection. And very soon chances are that you can access internet anywhere, anytime without tripping over wires. But how many of us really know about Wi-Fi? In this article we help you understand, what does Wi-Fi mean and how Wi-Fi actually helps you connect to the internet.

What Does Wi-Fi Mean?

Wi-Fi, commonly misunderstood as shorthand for wireless fidelity, is the IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless connections. Believe it or not, the name ‘Wi-Fi’ is picked randomly (check out the press release here) and has nothing to do with wireless fidelity. Products are ‘Wi-Fi CERTIFIED’ by the Wi-Fi Alliance based on the tests related to security and interoperability.

Any Wi-Fi CERTIFIED product is sure to have the abilities to connect to the internet and exchange data via the 2.4 GHz to 5 GHz band of radio waves without compromising security.

What Does Wi-Fi mean and How it works , What does Wi-Fi Mean , What does Wi-Fi Mean

 

The particular specification at which the Wi-Fi network operates is called ‘flavor’ of the network. But how does this Wi-­Fi work?

How Wi-Fi Works?

Like already mentioned, Wi-Fi makes use of radio waves just like T.Vs, radios and mobile phones to exchange information within a network. For this to be possible there is a need for Wi-Fi antennas. A Wi-Fi receiver antenna present in mobile phones and computers receives the radio waves that are transmitted by a Wi-Fi transmitter antenna present in routers, converts it into 1s and 0s with the help of network cards; this entire process also occurs in reverse direction from the computer back to the router. The Wi-Fi routers are in turn connected to the internet via a wired Ethernet Connection. It goes without saying that if there was no wired Ethernet connection, there is no Wi-Fi connection.

Generally the bottle-neck in this entire scheme of events is any computer within the range of the signals being transmitted by routers can access the internet and can also interfere with other devices connected via the same network. Such instances can be avoided by securing the Wi-Fi connection with safeguards like Virtual Private Network (VPN), Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), or the more recent Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) which protect the network using passwords.