At times, people would want to have computers operating fast but the thing is they want to see all the programs loading as well when a computer boots. Now if that were the case, speed will be sacrificed. With so many programs loading on first boot, you can just imagine the time it would take to start them all at once. Also, they cannot be started simultaneously since for some programs, there is dependency on which should start first before the next would follow.

But while computers should make life easier, they should also be treated wisely. There are some programs that you simply do not need at startup. You can see these during configuration and installation wherein the installation process would ask you before completion if you would want these to start when windows starts up.

Anti-virus protection is included of course. But other programs like Malware protection, peer to peer programs and perhaps even monitoring software can really be started manually if people only consider it. While these programs are slated to operate at times of problems, it does not follow that you need them all the time. Aside from a slow startup, you can expect snail’s pace speed when actually using your computer. Now that would entirely be frustrating.

Make do with taking out the programs and software that are not really needed each time your startup. The difference is in speed and you can figure that out once you cut off these other programs.

When you get a new PC that contains the latest specifications offered in the market, you will always be thinking of speed. Normally, a new PC will perform up to par but if you notice, at some point it will deteriorate and slow down.

A lot has to do with the programs you install and use. The more programs you have on your PC, the larger the load will become. A PC user cannot help but install as they wish the programs that they have and normally it eats up space and adds to the usual processes that a standard computer has to run.

Once that happens, you can notice a decline in system performance. You may even think you have a worm or a virus inside. But while that would be a good conclusion, do consider the fact that there is such a thing as overdoing it when it comes to your computer capacity. No matter how large the hard drive may be, it remains that processors and memory chips also have their limitations.

That is perhaps the wrong notion that most people think. While it is apparent that some computers come out with awesome specs, they also have limitations. And depending on the type of program you use, the latest it is then the higher the specs needed.

Try to limit what you install. Avoid overloading your hard drive and of course your desktop. The decline in speed is normally because of this and before you know it, you may be depriving yourself of a good performing PC.

For video cards, gone are the usual 32 and 64 MB cards. The lowest you will find in the market today are the 128 MB video cards. Today’s video card manufacturers such as NVIDIA know for a fact that the wise computer geek would focus a lot on the video cards to satisfy requirements for certain applications and games that most PC users are sure to be installing. But the thing is, do you notice the difference at all?

Computers are normally made for browsing the web, playing games, music listening and spreadsheet creation. Multimedia entertainment is the latest craze but seriously, would you often watch movies and film clips on your computer? Perhaps if you don’t have a Television or a trusty DVD player it may be possible. But normally you would only use a computer for administrative tasks.

So when you install these high-end video cards, would you notice it at all? Or would it be all a psychological aspect of appreciating a higher capacity video card?

The resolution and bit rate can be seen when you play high-resolution games such as Warcraft or other new games in the market. But as far as watching videos, the best recourse is to still watch them through actual TV sets. With that said, why are people inclined to watch via their computer?

TV options are only bonuses but should not be a regular requirement for PC options. Video cards come in higher specs these days but sometimes you have to wonder what a 1 Gigabyte video card would have over actual television.

Know the limits of your PC. You can watch TV programs on your computer but don’t expect it to be better than modern television. Video cards are aimed at graphics and games. But as far as resolution is concerned, take note of the difference. It may not matter at all.

For most software that you install, there will be the ideal PC requirements provided so you can be assured of optimum performance for programs and games you will install on your PC. At times, varied differences as far as video specifications, memory and processor capacity will be stated. But while many would see the usual minimal requirements, you have to consider the fact on whether these will be sufficient to satisfy the level of performance you are expecting once these software programs are installed.

Based on experience, it would never hurt to be a step ahead. This entails making sure that you are installing the software on hardware that is a bit advanced. For example, if video card requirements are at least 128 MB, why not install a 256 MB video card if the difference is just a couple of bucks? Or perhaps if memory requires at least 256 RAM, why not go double like 512?

Some may call it overkill but they are really some form of making sure that you get best performance from these programs. Remember that if you go for minimal requirements, you will eventually find yourself wanting better performance and hence upgrading these concerned hardware peripherals in the end.

In summary, do not take the minimal system requirements as a measure of competent utilization of programs. They are placed there so that you know that the program will indeed run. But as far as great performance is concerned, do consider the fact that it is not stated anywhere in that part of the software box for you to ponder on as well.

My original POST:

I thought I would blabber a bit… This is for the people who like to ask
questions.. and have a curious mind… :-)

Moore claimed recently that CPU power will reach a barrier in 10-15 years.
Many of you may be aware of "Moore’s law" that he had stated that every 24
months the power of CPU’s (the amount of calculations they would be able to
do) would double.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore’s_law
This barrier Moore says now, would be true if we continue our path in this
direction of technology, which are microchips.
The problems arise are clearly about physics. Transistors are in fact made
of matter, thus atoms,
and through them passes the electric signal that is electromagnetic energy
with the speed of C (light speed). Pushing these chips to go faster produces
more heat, thus we have reached a speed limit of modern CPU at around 5 GHz
and even that is with super cooling.
Many talk about molecular computers or even quantum computers, that seem
very interesting…
But there is another way, the way nature works. If one studies the brain you
will see that it gets its processing power out of slow components (nerve
cells) that however have many connections with each other. Each neuron has
thousands of connections (called dendrites) with others, and all these
together form a "web" or vast cluster.
The number of "possible" connections of these neurons, in each human brain
is more than all the atoms of all the matter in the whole universe. This is
of course the number of POSSIBLE connections and not the true number of
connections in any given time. This is because the brain is not static,
rather it has "brain plasticity" the ability to adapt and learn and change
in real time.
It is my opinion that the new era of computers must follow the structure of
the brain if they want to achieve more processing power. And indeed piece of
the human brain the size of a dime, has more processing power than all the
computers in the world put together.
You may ask if so much power is in one brain why are some people so
stupid?..I believe differently. Each person has infinite POTENTIAL. The
reason why this is not unleashed is a different matter. Why? The answer to
this is not simple and I wont get into that now.. because we are talking
about computers here not humans.
There is another problem here though… what software would be able to
handle this new hardware even if we had it? It will not be a digital
computer.. rather it would be a combination of digital and analog
computer… and this is so new that its hard for people to write code that
would be able to put these neuron nets into function.
There is good news. Single chip CPU are things of the past now. We have 4
core CPU now, and Intel has predicted that in 5 years we will have more than
200 cpu per chip.
The OS’s and programs are NOT built to handle multi CPU very well. In fact
Vista stinks at it big time. Linux is far better .. MS knows this and is
working on this problem because its in our near future.
So the next generation of programs and OS will be able to handle multi core
CPU better, and that’s much like having many nerve cells as cluster in a
small electronic brain. Its a start.
A new generation of robotic scientists now claim that we will have robots
and AI (artificial intelligent computers) that will be comparable to humans
in only 20 years.
I think this is obtainable. Computing power will be infinite very soon….
but it will need some out of the box thinking.
What would this new type of computers be like?
There is a way… for infinity in everything. Infinite bandwidth, processing
power, memory storage, and energy. I believe that it is within the abilty
for humans to reach infinity.
Are you flexible enough to imagine how this would be possible? I know it is
possible.. I’m just fathoming its ramifications.

This little annoying tray icon may irritate you, if you are like me, you dont like things popping up for no good reason. Here is how you disable it, but read the description because by doing so you lose some functionality (that you may not care about though).

Download the free tool from the divx site here:

http://support.divx.com/cgi-bin/divx.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1630

Direct link > DivX Toolbar Toggle Tool

Description: This tool turns on and off the DivX Toolbar (DivXSM.exe), which appears by the system tray when you play a DivX file. Notes: If you turn the Toolbar off, you will not be able to control the advanced features of DivX Media files in third-party media players, and the DivX video decoder may run with default settings.

Screenshot: