Possible improvements for a computer system and their costs and benefits - D2

There are many components of a computer that can be improved and upgraded. this can benefit running software and can benefit the efficiency of the jobs the system must do.

RAM
You have the ability to change the amount of RAM that your computer has. this has benefits that will widely increase productivity by the system; the reason for this is because the speed at which your computer runs depends on your amount of RAM.
Here are just a few examples of features that will become faster:

• System Start Up
• Any Programs

Some programs also require a minimum amount of RAM to run, therefore if this was upgraded you can have choice of some high quality software that you couldn't use before. 

What that is also very helpful is it's cost, RAM is fairly cheap. As an example think of this scenario,  you computer runs on DDR3 RAM and holds 2GB of it, you may decide to double this to 4GB, on average this costs around £20-£25. Therefore you have the chance to double the efficiency of your computer system for a fairly cheap price. 

Hard Drive

The hard drive is one of the most important pieces of hardware in a computer, but it can be easily be upgraded and this can be a huge advantage to you. the hard drive is the saved memory of your computer, therefore if you upgraded to a larger size you could save a lot more onto it, therefore you can store more software programs, sounds/music, videos, images, word processing and much, much more. 

The price isn't too large either, if you were working on a 250GB hard drive and managed to use most (or all) of it up, you will need a new hard drive. if you are going to replace the whole thing, make sure to back everything up before the upgrade, however you may be able to add a second hard drive to the system. 

An example of a potential price is around £35 - £40 for a 1TB hard drive, that is more than 4 times the 250GB before. 

Graphics Card

A third way of improving your system is by upgrading and maybe installing the graphics card. This will take a huge load off the RAM and CPU as they do not need to load and process graphics themselves, the graphics card will do that for them. The graphics card is like a stick of RAM as it holds its own memory, however this memory is only used as a means of processing graphics. therefore, the RAM which would run some graphics will be used instead to run programs.

You can get a 1GB Graphics Card for as little as £35.

To conclude, I would say that all these benefits certainly outway the costs as they are rather cheap anyway. you will have the chance to make your computer system much better for little cost.

How software utilities can speed up your computer - D1

Anti-virus and Firewall Software

Although this software is mainly used to increase system security. By protecting from malware you can make sure that there is nothing using your CPU or RAM other than what you are doing at the time. This is because some virus can cause these problems:

- Playing with settings - Some virus may edit your original settings making it hard for you to use, but also perhaps   make some programs run without you knowing, and therefore using the CPU and RAM.

- Malware is software - Malware is software and therefore it runs on your RAM, because of this the malware is using up RAM rather than leaving it for other useful jobs. A virus may also be designed to deliberately use large amounts of RAM.

For these reasons you should always hold some kind of antivirus software, this will ensure that nothing thats unwanted will take your RAM.

Firewalls however have an added feature, they control the connections between your computer by the use of ports, it will keep most closed and only open the ones you require. not just will this protect you from any unwanted hackers it can keep the connections on your PC to the bare minimum, connections cost RAM and therefore less will mean more speed. 

Space Management Utilities

Utilities that can also increase speed is Defragmentation and utilities such as Disk Clean-up, these will not only increase hard drive space but will also increase computer speed. for example the computer will spend RAM to keep fragmented files "together", by permanently keeping these fragments together you will save the memory it takes to keep them together. 

M3 - how the task 2 configurations made the system more appropriated for the specified purpose.

In task two for P6 I had configured a PC to meet the user needs, in this report I shall be explaining how this made the system more appropriate for it's purpose.

Changing the theme:
The theme can actually slow your computer theme, a complex theme will require the graphics card to use the RAM and show your theme. choosing a simple and plain theme will decrease the RAM required for the graphics card and therefore speeding the PC up. Another point is specifically for the user. some complex themes can be rather confusing and it can take some time to find what is being looked for. with a simple theme you can find these things easier therefore easing the job for the user.

Changing the power options:
To keep things running you need power, and power costs money, so wasted power is wasted money. therefore changing the power options can save money. This is how it works, if a monitor is left on you can make it turn off after 5 minutes of no use, this means that if you accidently left it on when your not using it, after 5 minutes it will turn off, saving power, you can also make it sleep and hibernate in a shorter time, again saving power, and therefore saving money.

Changing the language settings: 
This is mostly done to suit the needs of the user more than the overall company. With the increase in migration between countries you may get a worker that has a different mother language. obviously if the PC ran with their main language it can be easier to use for them, after-all some words they may not understand and if this is the case, the job required may take longer than expected. That is why I have done this.

P8 - Undertaking Routine Maintenance Tasks

First I will be organising and naming files and folders.

Here is a New Folder, i will be using this folder to hold some work. It will be named My work. Just double click the name of the folder and change the name.

I have named this folder My Work. Although i have no more screenshots, these folders are essential to organise work, naming files works in exactly the same way as these folders.

Next I am going to schedule automatic deletion of unwanted data. first click sceduled tasks in the control panel.

Next click "Add Scheduled Task".

Disk Cleanup in the process that is done to delete unwanted or unused files.

I have chosen that i should have a Disk Cleanup weekly.

I have also chosen to have the cleanup happen are 7:00 on monday every week.

I am then asked to enter the password, this is for security purposes.

Next you just need to click next.

Here is the Disk Cleanup schedule in the list of tasks.

I also want to do my first disk cleanup manually. This is so i can delete my temporary files. in can find disk cleanup by following Start > Program Files > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup.

Here you can find temporary files, click it to select the deletetion on them. although I have none at this time i will still show you how it is done.

Clicking yes here will complete the deletion of your temporary files.

P7 - CS3

Test Plan -CS3 - P7

Tested Element	What happened?	How was it fixed
Correct Paper Sizes for printing	Paper size setting was for A3 it must be A4	On word, properties for the printer were changed to A4
Correct date and time set	Was hour too fast	Time on PC were double clicked and time changed
Desktop shortcuts go to the right place	They did	N/A

To correct the paper size settings for a printer you can change it in word. First get into word.

When in word press control+P or click print and choose "Properties" in the printer window.

here you can see that the paper which is selected is A3, we need it to be A4.

By using the drop down menu provided I had found and selected A4. Clicking Apply and then OK will save this change.

Next i will be changing the time, at the moment it its an hour too fast. first right click the time in the task bar.

then click Adjust Data/Time.

In this window either type the right time or use the drop down arrows to fix it. I just typed 11.

On my desktop I have a shortcut for the Command Prompt, to test it all you need to do is click it.

as you can see the shortcut worked properly and there is no need to do any changes to it.

CS3 - P6 Configuring a computer to meet user needs

Sometimes setting will need to be changed to meet the needs of the user. I will show how some settings can be changed and will explain why they may be needed to be changed.

First i will be changing the theme of the computer.
in the control panel, which is found on the start menu, click Appearance and Themes.

Click change the computer's theme.

Choose the new theme from the drop down arrow, i chose Windows Classic.

Different themes can actually take up RAM space. having a complex theme may slow the computer down, that is why I chose Windows Classic, it is simple and doesn't slow the computer down, making it more efficient.

now the theme is changed.
just click apply and then okay and the setting updated.

next I will be changing the power settings. in the control panel, click, Performance and Maintenance.

There you can find the power options.

I will change the time it takes for the computer to turn off the monitor when it isn't being used.

In these times saving energy is very important, that is why I am doing this. So when the PC is not being used, it is not wasting energy.

Now i am going to change the language settings, click Date, Time, Language and Regional Options on the control panel.

From there, click Regional and Language Options.

A menu pops up, I will change the regional and language settings to polish. I am doing this because the PC may be used by someone from Poland and may find it easy to work with their own language.

i have selected Polish from the drop down menu, the same can be done for language by click the Language tab and using the drop down arrow again.

CS3 - P5 Setting a Standalone Computer and Installing Software and Hardware

Today I will be installing software and hardware, and I will be safely replacing one of the components of the PC.
The component will be the hard drive.

First of all you must set up and use an anti-static kit. this consists of a wristband, matt, a grounding plug, crocodile clip for joining the saftey equipment to the PC and all the necessary wires.

Make sure you plug in the grounding plug. This ensures all static electricity is grounded properly.

now that you have the necessary protection, start by removing all the wires from the back, remember which goes into the hard drive and where.

The Hard drive will be screwed onto the casing, all this takes is a quick unscrew, keep these screws safe.

here is the removed hard drive. take into account that all my safety equipment are still in place.

here are the two hard drives, left is the one I removed, right is my replacement.

the new hard drive has been placed in the same slot and screwed in, now all there you need to do is put the wires back in.

here you can see I have placed all the wires back into the hard drive and it looks just like before.

To test for your hard drive, get into the bios screen when you start your PC up. you will need to press a button and it is usually delete,Esc, or F12, there you can look at the features and fine the hard drive you have installed.






now I will be installing hardware and software, the hardware I will be installing is a printer, and the software is the software package that is required to use the printer.

Here is the printer that I will be installing.

first I will install the software required, this is usually found in a provided disk. Insert the disk into the CD-ROM drive.

In My Computer, double click the disk that should be detected, this auto runs the disk.

Here is the install wizard that starts when the disk is run.
it may have more than one method of installation, easy install or normal install are the best way of installing the software.

when installing some software, there is usually a User Agreement, this should be read as it holds vital information stating what you can and cannot do.  to continue click Agree and Next.

The instal wizard has found a spot in the hard drive to install the software, click next.

Now the software is being installed.

I have been asked now to install the hardware, this will finish the installation process.

Installing the hardware is fairly easy, it really is just plugging in necessary wires, the cable to link to the PC is a USB lead for this laptop, so all i did was insert the USB into the computers USB port.

the install wizard must establish a connection to the printer and the computer, this may take a short while.

the hardware is now communication with the PC and can now be used.

Now all you need to do is test that the hardware is working, for me, I printed a test page.

now that I have shown you how to install, I will show you how to Uninstall.

When you install any software, you usually get an uninstall wizard installed too. On the start menu, click the uninstall wizard.

This uninstall wizard uninstalls software from specific printers, so I selected my printer. you may not need to do this.

The uninstall wizard usually double checks if you really want to uninstall the software, just click yes.

now there is nothing left to do is wait, once done the software will be uninstalled and all the space on the hard drive that this software took up is now free to be used again.