When you are planning for recycle your computer please be aware on the data and information in your computer. You know, everything from replying to emails to surfing the web and recycling/disposing of your computer exposes you to fraud and identity theft. The expert still can find your data.

The most overlooked portion of a computer’s life is that of it’s disposal and the protection of the data on it’s hard drive. Skipping or binning your computer without first thinking about the safety of your personal information is simply crazy. It’s like throwing your credit card in the garbage bin without first cutting it up.

Using a professional recycling service isn’t always the best solution. Similarly, the local municipal recycling center will not be the best place to just take your old computer. You need to treat the hard drive or remove it first. Professional services will ensure your old computer does not end up in landfill, but they usually don’t guarantee that your data will be removed. If your used computer ends up on the Ivory coast, it’s data will probably be accessed and your personal information stolen. Paying for recycling does give you some surety in that there’s a form of contract in place and monies have changed hands for a service, but always check first to ensure that data destruction is included as part of the contract- and always insist on a certificate to say that the hard drive has been wiped or destroyed.

Wiping your own data is the best option and software like dBan offers the best and most secure way of doing this. The other option open to you is to remove the hard drive and take a sledge hammer to it. For corporates, computer recycling usually costs money and if it doesn’t, the service most certainly involves resale for export, where information may be accessed on other continents- well outside the shores of your parent country and the laws that protect a company’s rights. Remember, if in doubt, ask. Look for a level of professionalism and a service from your chosen recycling company designed to ensure client retention.

First of all I would like to thank you to approach this article. I know Windows XP is a little bit oldies for some people. Nowadays, there are Windows Vista, Windows 7 and other operating system that you can try. But I believe many people still comfortable with XP.

There are few tips that I want to share with you to speed up your Windows XP performance. It’s a little bit handy for some people but don’t worry it’s a simple one.

1. Run Disk Defragmentation to Speed Up Access to Data

One of the factors that slow the performance of the computer is disk fragmentation. When files are fragmented, the computer must search the hard disk when the file is opened to piece it back together. To speed up the response time, you should monthly run Disk Defragmenter, a Windows utility that defrags and consolidates fragmented files for quicker computer response.

* Follow Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter
* Click the drives you want to defrag and click Analyze
* Click Defragment

2. Detect and Repair Disk Errors from time to time

Over time, your hard disk develops bad sectors. Bad sectors slow down hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing difficult or even impossible. To detect and repair disk errors, Windows has a built-in tool called the Error Checking utility. It’ll search the hard disk for bad sectors and system errors and repair them for faster performance.

* Follow Start > My Computer
* In My Computer right-click the hard disk you want to scan and click Properties
* Click the Tools tab
* Click Check Now
* Select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box
* Click Start

3. Disable Indexing Services to free up resources

Indexing Services is a little application that uses a lot of CPU. By indexing and updating lists of all the files on the computer, it helps you to do a search for something faster as it scans the index list. But if you know where your files are, you can disable this system service. It won’t do any harm to you machine, whether you search often or not very often.

* Go to Start
* Click Settings
* Click Control Panel
* Double-click Add/Remove Programs
* Click the Add/Remove Window Components
* Uncheck the Indexing services
* Click Next

4. Optimize Display Settings

Windows XP is a looker. But it costs you system resources that are used to display all the visual items and effects. Windows looks fine if you disable most of the settings and leave the following:

* Show shadows under menus
* Show shadows under mouse pointer
* Show translucent selection rectangle
* Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop
* Use visual styles on windows and buttons

5. Speedup Folder Browsing

You may have noticed that everytime you open My Computer to browse folders that there is a little delay. This is because Windows XP automatically searches for network files and printers everytime you open Windows Explorer. To fix this and to increase browsing speed, you can disable the “Automatically search for network folders and printers” option.

6. Disable Performance Counters

Windows XP has a performance monitor utility which monitors several areas of your PC’s performance. These utilities take up system resources so disabling is a good idea.

* Download and install the Extensible Performance Counter List(http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/reskit/tools/existing/exctrlst-o.asp)
* Then select each counter in turn in the ‘Extensible performance counters’ window and clear the ‘performance counters enabled’ checkbox at the bottom button below

7. Optimize Your Pagefile

You can optimize your pagefile. Setting a fixed size to your pagefile saves the operating system from the need to resize the pagefile.

* Right click on My Computer and select Properties
* Select the Advanced tab
* Under Performance choose the Settings button
* Select the Advanced tab again and under Virtual Memory select Change
* Highlight the drive containing your page file and make the initial Size of the file the same as the Maximum Size of the file.

Windows XP sizes the page file to about 1.5X the amount of actual physical memory by default. While this is good for systems with smaller amounts of memory (under 512MB) it is unlikely that a typical XP desktop system will ever need 1.5 X 512MB or more of virtual memory. If you have less than 512MB of memory, leave the page file at its default size. If you have 512MB or more, change the ratio to 1:1 page file size to physical memory size.

8. Remove Fonts for Speed

Fonts, especially TrueType fonts, use quite a bit of system resources. For optimal performance, trim your fonts down to just those that you need to use on a daily basis and fonts that applications may require.

* Open Control Panel
* Open Fonts folder
* Move fonts you don’t need to a temporary directory (e.g. C:\FONTBKUP?) just in case you need or want to bring a few of them back. The more fonts you uninstall, the more system resources you will gain.

9. Use a Flash Memory to Boost Performance

To improve performance, you need to install additional RAM memory. It’ll let you boot your OS much quicker and run many applications and access data quicker. There is no easiest and more technically elegant way to do it than use eBoostr (http://www.eboostr.com).

eBoostr is a little program that lets you improve a performance of any computer, powered by Windows XP in much the same way as Vista’s ReadyBoost. With eBoostr, if you have a flash drive, such as a USB flash thumb drive or an SD card, you can use it to make your computer run better. Simply plug in a flash drive through a USB socket and Windows XP will use eBoostr to utilize the flash memory to improve performance.

The product shows the best results for frequently used applications and data, which becomes a great feature for people who are using office programs, graphics applications or developer tools. It’ll surely attract a special attention of laptop owners as laptop upgrade is usually more complicated and laptop hard drives are by definition slower than those of desktops.

10. Perform a Boot Defragment

There’s a simple way to speed up XP startup: make your system do a boot defragment, which will put all the boot files next to one another on your hard disk. When boot files are in close proximity to one another, your system will start faster.

On most systems, boot defragment should be enabled by default, but it might not be on yours, or it might have been changed inadvertently. To make sure that boot defragment is enabled:

* Run the Registry Editor
* Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction
* Set the Enable string value to Y if it is not already set to Y.
* Exit the Registry
* Reboot

Use it at your own risk. Cheers!

Hello friends! I come across on external hard drive stuff again. Nowadays, storage has become commodity, so hard drives are sold in style or ease of use. Western Digital is the one who care about style and ease of use.

My Book Elite is now smarter and sleeker than ever featuring a customizable e-label, automatic, continuous backup, and a new smaller size to fit snugly on your shelf or desktop. The best-selling My Book Elite external USB drive now features a customizable e-label to identify what’s on your drive, visual automatic, continuous backup software and drive lock security protection. The new sleeker design brings beauty and brains together.

Smart display – Create your own personalized drive label to remind you of what’s stored on each drive. You can even view the label when the drive is unplugged. The display also includes available capacity and security status.

Smaller, sleeker, more streamlined design – We’ve made these award-winning drives even smaller, sleeker, and more elegant. As always, this book-like shape takes up minimal space on your desk and allows two or more My Book drives to nestle neatly together like volumes on a shelf.

WD SmartWare – See your life safe in one place.

The Targus Lap Chill Mat provides a comfortable and ergonomic work surface to keep you and your laptop cool. The Chill Mat rests on your lap and disperses heat, using dual fans to provide ventilation which can be obstructed if the laptop is used on a pillow or comforter. Simply plug the USB connector into the laptop to activate cooling. The ergonomic tilt makes typing easy while the soft neoprene material provides cushioned comfort on your lap. The open design allows fans to run quietly and stimulates constant airflow. Four rubber stops on the face of the Chill Mat prevents the laptop from slipping. The Targus Lap Chill Mat makes using your laptop an enjoyable experience.

• Protects lap or work surface from heat
• Dual fans help disperse laptop heat for improved functionality; extends the life of the laptop
• Soft neoprene exterior provides added comfort on your lap
• Limited One Year Warranty

Go to www.targus.com for more info.

This is new excellent product by Western Digital. The speed is good, the usability incredible. The only tip that I post for all the future users of this item is “Don’t use the software included in the HDD” Just plug and play the drive and use it with the Windows explorer with copy and paste. Following this tip the use is easy and simple as ABC.

Western Digital My Passport Elite are available in capacities of 320GB, 500GB and 640GB. The drives are available in three metallic colours; red, blue, charcoal. Other product features are as follow:

• 320GB, 500GB, 640GB Capacity
• Automatic, continuous backup
• Password protection and 256-bit encryption
• Grab-and-go USB dock
• Illuminated capacity gauge
• Use with Windows and Macintosh computers – some included software applications may not be compatible for both
• XP and Vista friendly / Mac OS 10.4 / 10.5.2/ Windows 7
• Soft-touch finish – A luxurious, soft-touch, finish makes these drives easy to grip, comfortable to hold, and beautiful to show off to your friends

This drive is great for backups, as you can hook it up fast without a power supply and store it anywhere. Put it in your briefcase, put it in your safe, take it with you anywhere and keep a copy of your data. It is almost pocket-size and the only thing you have to keep with you is a short USB cable. Some people consider the short cable that’s included to be too short, but it’s mobile!

The surface of the Passports can be easy to scratch if you throw it around or keep it in your bag with other items. That would be my only complaint, but it doesn’t really bother to me.

The transfer speed is always quick, and the case is very sturdy. You can have these drives everywhere, because of their mobility and performance. You can’t beat them!

The speed is very responsive. Try to used it on an XP and Vista machine and both have copied data to it fairly quick. I haven’t performed tests on it, but it always gets the job done for me.

Now just because this article is on the internet doesn’t mean that the hardware that we’re talking about has anything to do with computers! I mean that is probably the case but why don’t we remain patient and civilized and find out before we start jumping the gun and squawking about hard drives and monitors and video cards and CPUs and the like. Lets take a minute to consider what else we could be talking about and make sure it isn’t those things before we proceed any further down the computer path.

Hardware could be ACE or The Home Depot right? I mean after all most retail stores today are trying to maximize their market share and are therefore making available many services including a large part of their inventory online. So maybe you are looking for a new compound miter saw or some 35 year guaranteed shingles. Maybe you want to replace that old squeaky screen door. Maybe you have a leak in your plumbing that needs immediate attention. Well you are going to have to stay tuned because I may be able to help you.

Within the above category of hardware there is another category of hardware that refers to the handles on drawers and doors. This is a surprisingly popular market sector as shows like trading spaces, extreme makeover, and Martha Stewart’s Home show. People, especially with the economy being rather slow, have decided that instead of getting new things that they will just make due with their old cupboards, or doors, or desks, or dressers, etc. But they are willing to spruce them up by refinishing them and adding new, more generationally acceptable, knobs that match the simple yet elegant and refined look of today. Silver not gold; brushed or “antique” finish rather than a chrome shine.

Ok, ok so I am talking about computer hardware I just wanted to let you know that this may not be what everyone else is referring to when they are talking about hardware in an article on the internet. Any this is a great time for those struggling with their computer components. Online support is getting more and more useful and soon you won’t have to ever take your computer anywhere to have it fixed. A technician will be able to analyzed, diagnose, and correct problems over the internet and you will be on your way without much bother at all. Sounds good doesn’t it?