Week 7 Posting - BSoD

 I have a PC running into the Blue Screen of Death every few minutes, and everything I have done has yet to find a fix. Chapter 16 has shown me many troubleshooting options and techniques I have yet to attempt. After checking out the error code given to me during the BSoD and following the instructions in the chapter, I realized the issue might be a faulty RAM stick.

I can not believe how this one chapter alone has given me more help with diagnosing my PC's problem. I need to order new compatible RAM and slot them in to see if that was the issue. Thank you, Mike Meyers!

Week 6 Posting - Defragmenting

 I have always used Disk Defragmenter on my PCs every month or so, and I knew that it would make my PC run faster, but I needed to understand how the process worked. Finding out that data is saved on a physical location on the hard drive was something I did not know until researching defragmentation. I used to think that the hard drive was like a pool, and the data was the water being poured into it. It didn't matter where the data was in the whole scheme. Data is stored in a single spot and stays in that exact physical location unless moved. So when you defragment, it is physically moving the data around so that it will spend less time in the future grabbing data from all around the hard drive. It makes sense now why scratched DVDs freeze in the exact location because the data is physically there for the particular scene. It sounds like something that should have been obvious from the start, but I am glad I know this now.

Week 5 Posting - Increasing Performance in Windows 10

 The video on how to speed up your Windows 10 performance was one of the most valuable videos I've watched on doing simple steps to help in that department. I had yet to learn about the temporary files folder that was taking up a lot of space on my system and the power performance settings. I assumed something was wrong with the components on my PC when playing games online, and they were running choppy at times. After following the steps in the video, I immediately noticed a significant improvement in the quality of my games. Every few seconds, I dropped a couple of frames or spent about ten seconds in loading screens. After following the video, I noticed that both problems were cut down by at least half, and I can't believe it was so easy to do. My favorite one had to be showing me how to turn off the visual effects on Windows to increase performance.

Week 4 Posting - More Motherboards!

I had yet to learn that motherboards had multiple layers stacked on each other. That reminds me of plywood and how it has various layers on one another, which adds to its strength and durability. I used to think the motherboard was just one solid piece, and all the connections were the traces you could see on top of the board. It was incredible to learn about the stacked layers, which allowed manufacturers to create multiple traces stacked on each other to save space and improve speed since the signal would not have to travel far.

I used to think our motherboards were massive today, but they are nothing compared to the older boards. We even have the option now of going smaller with a mini ATX. Our technological advancement makes me wonder if, at some point in the future, we may have computers stronger than those today and be the size of a box of crayons.