Quality Systems Versus Black and Gold Brand

Being a professional system builder I sometimes get the ‘quality cheap’ system request, whereby a customer request’s a high performance, high quality system at a budget price.

Of course there is no such thing. There are cheap computer systems which are generally built with generic ‘cheap' computer components and then there are ‘custom’ quality systems which are built with handpicked quality components.

So the terms High Performance and Cheap, really are mutually exclusive.

So in this post I am going to outline what makes a Cheap Black and Gold Generic system and what makes up a High Quality, High Performance system.


Computer Enclosure:

High quality computer enclosures come with a high quality power supply of a high power rating. The high power rating will ensure you have plenty of power for future add-ons like extra hard drives, add in cards, USB devices and Memory and CPU upgrades.

Also such power supplies that come with good quality cases usually come with hardware to better protect your motherboard, ram and CPU from power surges and spikes. Or little rug rats that turn the system off the wrong way, such power surges can damage or at least shorten the life of your computer components.

Good quality enclosures have large high quality fans which keep components cool once again extending their life and prevent the system from overheating.

Vibration insulation grommets, these grommets insulate your hardrive from the rest of your enclosure and prevent vibration and reverberation which can shorten the life of your hard drive and sometimes make your computer excessively loud.


High quality system box, huge rear fan for excellent cooling and extremely quiet.
Comes with a high quality 500watt power supply, also features transverse mounted hard drive cradle with hard drive vibration grommets and it even looks good!







Motherboard,

Quality motherboards really are the foundation for any quality system and it really pays not to skimp here. Among many other things quality motherboards have extremely high data throughput (data flow) to support the latest processors.

Some systems I have seen simply cannot cater for the data flow requirements of the processor they are built with, and sometimes the motherboard itself ‘throttles’ the CPU speed down by as much as 30%. In effect you are buying a CPU and not using 30% of its full power.

Also quality motherboards are built with high quality components which last much longer than black and gold specials. Quality motherboard also have additional circuitry to protect components against power spikes and surges as well as having dual crash proof bios systems and as a bonus have many innovative features.


Memory

Quality memory as a general rule has very short latency, which is the space of time between one write process in memory and the next as well has having much higher operating frequencies while generating much less heat. This results in a much more responsive and reliable system.













Here you have cheap memory and here you have quality G Skill ram.

Video Card,

Much like motherboards top video cards are made with quality components and are made from superior design specs than the standard design template supplied from ATI or Nvidia. As such a quality video cards perform better and are more reliable and generally have much better cooling solutions than Black and Gold Brands.


Hard drive,

There is only one hard drive make that you should be concerned with and that is Western Digital. But always ask for the Green model as they represent very good performance and reliability and reasonable price. Also look for capacity anomalies which have a higher amount of cache.

Overall when you you purchase a quality system, you can be pretty sure that all the components in your system are 'performance matched'. What I mean by this is that each component is specifically selected to match and complement the rest of your computer components.

Many off the shelf systems today have very powerful Processors but not the quality or quantity of ram or motherboard to properly support the full performance potential of the processor.

It's kind of like putting a Porsche engine in a old Morris Minor.

Well I hoped I have cleared things up, you really cannot compare off the shelf computer systems to custom built systems on point of price.

Your either after Quality or you want a Cheap Computer.

Blue Fox Computers

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'Backing Up' DVD Movies

Although backing up your collection of DVD movies is a somewhat contentious issue. There are plenty of legitimate reasons for creating backup copies of your DVD Movie collection.

There is a number of programs out there, but in this post I am going to focus on one of the simplest to use programs, DVD Shrink.

The trick to copying DVD movies successfully is to reduce all data to be burnt to the 'bare essentials' only.

This is because most 'original' DVD movie disks are dual layer, where bought blank DVD disks are only single layer.

Now each layer can hold up to 4.7 Gigabytes of data, so where an original disk can hold 9.4 Gigabytes being a dual layer, we only have 4.7 Gigabytes to work with.





This is where DVD Shrink comes into play, DVD Shrink gives you the ability to remove all the non-essentials when copying your beloved original DVD movie.


Items like:

• Bonus Extras
• Two speaker stereo audio streams
• Annoying start and selection menus
• Trailers
• Subtitles
• Foreign language audio streams

Also DVD Shrink has the ability to cut out the credits at the beginning and end of the DVD movie.

For a detailed video guide on how to backup your DVD movie disks just watch the video below.

Blue Fox Computers

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Computer Cases

Contrary to popular belief, not all computer enclosures are created equal! That doesn’t mean to say you have to load up your credit card and spend five hundred dollars on a descent computer case. But as with most things it pays to shop around.

Whether you are thinking of building yourself a new system or if you are just in the market for a new computer and am not sure what to look out for, here’s an essential checklist to ensure that your next system comes with a quality case.

Rule of thumb is that the best computer cases are made by the most prominent computer hardware manufacturers and these manufacturers more often than not build products with innovative features while manufacturing a quality product.

Ventilation fan: good quality fans, the larger the better as large fans spin slower while transfer the same volume of air and produce a lot less noise. Nothing is more annoying than wondering if your computer is about to take off like an F-18 off of a super carrier.

• Dust grilles: good computer enclosures have removable dust grilles at the front of the case which keeps the inside of your computer dust free and reduces heat build up in your system.
• Hard drive orientation: the latest good quality computer cases have the hard drives mounted perpendicular to the case making it easy to add and remove hard drives without taking your whole computer apart. Many cases also have shock absorbing grommets to reduce hard drive noise transferring to the case and reducing vibration shock to the hard drive which potentially increases the hard drives life.
• Power supply: a good quality power supply is essential, and one that will cater for the power demands of your system today and years from now when you may end up having four hard drives, video capture card, wireless network card, scanner, webcam and anything else that you care to attach to your computer and force your computer’s power supply to cope with.

You can see there’s a little more to computer cases than you would think.
Popular quality computer enclosures include Antec, Lian Li and Antec.

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Online Computer Help

The future for online computer help is very bright. No to you need to call a mobile computer technician and make an appointment during working hour which would mean you would need to take time off of work and sometimes wait for hours for the tech to arrive.

Today computer assistance often comes in the form of online computer help. You don’t even need to make a phone call. Online computer help arrives, well online. Many computer support companies offer online assistance through a service called RDP or Remote Desktop Protocol, whereby a computer support tech can provide online computer help remotely.

This means that services are delivered much faster to the customer, service is more efficient in most cases and costs are greatly reduced for the support service provider, traveling time to provide computer support on average equals half to two thirds of the entire job time. Traveling to the job, performing the repair or providing the service and then driving back to the workshop or to the next job, of course a food portion of cost savings are passed onto the client, the overall cost savings makes providing such a service common sense and increases the profitability of providing such a service while reducing cost to the client. It’s a win – win situation!

So why don’t we see more online computer help services, well that’s a good question! Well there are some technical considerations to consider.

• Clients’ internet speed: a slow internet speed makes it hard to connect to and provide remote support to a client’s computer.
• Modem type: some modems cannot cater for RDP or remote desktop services
• Software issues: some software can hamper or prevent remote access to a client’s computer, preventing remote online help.
• Security issues: there are potential security issues when the client’s network is setup for remote online help when a clients system is part of a wireless network. Extra precautions need to be taken.
• Client education: some client education is required to ensure that technical requirements are met so remote desktop support services are unhindered.

To get around these issues many computer support firms provide a subscription service to online computer help, where they will make an on site visit and ensure your system and network can be accessed remotely. Many people find this a little intrusive to have a computer tech at their home when there is nothing wrong, also people hate contracts or subscription services.

For my own support business, I have provide a very simple solution where the customer can simply email a request for information regarding online computer support, from there I simply email the client detailed and easy to follow PDF file on how to prepare their computer for online computer help, support rates, a guide to requesting and establishing a connection and a short checklist to ensure that their online computer help is provided efficiently and hassle free!


To make an appointment for, or to receive details of online computer help.

Feel free to email me at dablufox@gmail.com or visit my website for more details.

www.bluefox.net.au

John Salamon
Blue Fox Computers

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A Registry Cleaner that actually solves problems!

If you are anything like me, you probably check out new exciting software from Cnet downloads or load demo disks and test out all manner of new and exciting software that comes out. And that’s great; I’m always looking for really cool tools, entertainment software and other new software gadgets that either save me time or provide a function that no other software does, even though ninety percent of the trial or demo software I load up and try, I don’t use again and therefore un-install.

After a while, even a short while, doing this can in some instances create a serious negative impact on your computer’s performance. Now if you’re not one to run image files to get your computer running smoothly again, then I recommend you look at a registry cleaner which will give your computer’s registry a thorough clean and getting it working smooth and fast again, as well as solving and fixing potential problems which could quickly leave you stranded with a system that simply refuses to boot.

The program is Error Fix, now I am not a real fan of Registry Cleaners or any type of automated system maintenance software, from my experience a lot of them can cause more problems than they solve. But after trailing a fully activated version of Error Fix for the company to test on my Windows 7 machine, I was quietly impressed and decided that it would be a good idea to endorse it.


First looking at the software and wondering what carnage it was about to do with my system I ran a registry scan and come up with 526 problems, it was just a co-incidence that my computer was pretty dirty and muddled and was due for me to run an image file anyway, but after running the registry cleaner Error Fix and re-booting I quickly changed my mind about running an image file backup.

Before running Error Fix, Firefox and Flock (previous post) was freezing up, also after an extended period my computer was slowing right down and needed re-booting despite being a quad core behemoth with four gig of ram. Yet after running Error Fix my system ran, as far as I could tell, like the day I first installed the operating system. Very impressive!

Overall Error Fix is very easy to operate, much like many other registry cleaners really just without the weird and wonderful operating system problems afterwards!
So if you are in the market for a registry cleaner you can’t go past Error Fix, it will be one of the few programs that I will permanently add to my computer's running list.

Error Fix

Parasharia web directory

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Having your computer serviced?

That’s right, most computer owners don’t realize that computers, just like cars do need regular service. Although the routine maintenance for a computer is usually much less involved than a car and not nearly as expensive; computer maintenance is essential to maintaining a healthy, smooth running and trouble free computer.

For the most part a computer service involves having the interior of your computer case and the processor heatsink/fan cleaned of collected dust, you can get away with having your computer serviced every twelve months.

For the large part having your case and processor/heatsink cleaned might seem trivial, but believe me ‘a lot of dust’ can collect on a processor heatsink in twelve months. This dust inevitably hampers airflow through the processor heatsink and therefore the heatsink holds more heat, which in turn will make your computer’s processor run hotter and slower, and can even reduce the life of not only the processor but the whole system.

Other maintenance services that can be performed during your computer's yearly service can also involve:

• Image file and backup reversion: when the operating system is ‘dirty’ or highly unorganized sometimes no amount of defragging the hard drive will help, so if you computer reseller or technician has been wise enough to create a clean backup image of your computer; it might be wise to have that backup image (operating system/Xp or Vista) reverted to its original clean, pristine state; where it will run like the first day you bought it
• Hard Defragmentation: Over time files on your hard drive will become fragmented or messy, and although it’s a simple operation to de-fragment you hard drive, let’s admit it many of us just don’t have the time. While your computer is off getting serviced, the hard drive should of course be defragmented.
• Hardware check: this might sound strange to the average person, but for us computer nerds we can come across signs of impending doom. That’s why as part of your computer’s servicing routine, a thorough hard drive and memory (Ram) check should be the final PC health check. If there is an impending problem with your hard drive or ram, it’s a good time to know about the problem while your personal data can be easily saved and transferred onto a new hard dive.
• Upgrade options: during your computers yearly service is an ideal time to weigh up the value of any hardware upgrades. It will save you an extra service bill and reduce your computer downtime.

Well I hope I have been helpful in providing useful information on the value of having a computer service regularly.

While you can service your own computer, there is of course risks involved and if your lack the confidence or technical know how it’s wise to have your computer service performed by a professional technician.

For prompt on site assistance, please feel free to contact me through my website.

Blue Fox Computers

Parasharia web directory

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The Shepherd of the ‘Flock’

I don't make a habit of doubling up on my posts with my Internet Marketing Blog, but I feel this program is too newsworthy to be contained in a single blog.

The program or rather internet browser I am talking about is of course 'Flock'.

Yes I know, I didn't just mis-pronounce a cuss word; I hadn't heard of it either up until a few days ago when I was researching an highly successful internet marketer by the name of Ed Dale.

Anyway getting back to business, this browser will fundamentally change the way you view and surf the internet. Although for those casual surfers this new revolutionary browser will hardly blow wind up your skirt, though for the hard core internet freaks and internet marketers alike, or for those just looking to spend less time on the net, the heralding of this state of the art browser is akin to the second coming.

The browser 'Flock' is made by the same people who created Firefox, and in my opinion will soon increase Mozilla's strangle hold on browser domination; in fact it could enjoy a complete monopoly, the 'Frock' browser is that good!

To give you some details Flock was built on the basic foundations of Firefox, and once its installed there is no hassle at all migrating all your browser setting, passwords and favourites to Flock, the process is done seamlessly and although Flock seems a lot like Firefox it is all so much more powerful.

All your social sites fully integrate into flock, facebook, twitter, you name it.

Flock has a very customizable My World tab featuring your favourite feeds, friend activity, favourite media, and favourite sites. You can totally manage facebook and even individually interact with facebook friends with a very nifty People Sidebar. There’s also a neat Media Bar giving fast access to your favourite media streams complete with a video stream search facility for the major video stream sites such as Flickr and Youtube, there’s a RSS Feed Side Bar and let me not forget a time saving and Account and Services side bar. If you’re into blogging you can publish and update your Wordpress and Blogger blogs with the browsers blog editor.

You can easily ‘borrow’ web content and share it or drag and drop it onto your on sites all within the browser, to be honest I could keep going and going and going.

Although the best thing I love about this new browser is the total lack of hang-ups, it works seamlessly and is very responsive and despite the complete thrashing I gave it while opening twenty six tabs it never skipped a beat, not even once.

And last but not least, it runs on every operating system known to man, yes even Mac's!

I urge anyone who wishes they could do more online in less time to give Flock a test drive, I highly recomend it.

http://flock.com/

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