What would happen to the world if there's NO technology?

We humans as a species are a funny bunch. We may be at our most advanced, with all the gadgets and gizmos to make life easier for us. But take it all away, and how would you cope? Take a look at the possibilities.

Imagine…

No iPod courtesy of Apple – shudder, gasp! You would have to go retro with a walkman and carry a small mountain of CDs around to match the MP3 equivalent. Unless we’re going really old school, then perhaps a gramophone would be more appropriate (although you really couldn‘t carry one of those around with you).

Imagine…

A world without the wisdom of Google. The thought alone is enough to make most students feel faint. With no more answers magically produced in 0.17 seconds, you would have to use one of those things called a book. We would have to strive to get our answers which could be satisfying if not a little frustrating. And you’d have to venture into the wide world with no world wide web. You could go to a library, or do all your shoppingin the chaotic real world.

And without Facebook, we’d actually have to remember each other’s birthdays, and face the dire consequences if we fail to.

Imagine…

If you didn’t have your mobile, and a friend doesn’t turn up where you agreed to meet, what would you do? You would just have to go home, I suppose. Just go home.

And with no television or films, we would have to talk to our friends and families. Or get out there and socialise. Perhaps that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Without online gaming, many of us would actually be able to talk to our partners, a wondrous thought. No more love triangles with the Xbox!

It wasn’t that long ago since we didn’t have any of these luxuries. My Grandmother told me stories of when she was younger. She would go dancing on a Saturday night, or go to the seaside with her sizable family. They made time for each other and would tell stories together or sit around the wireless on cold nights. There were much more green spaces, so they could play sports outside (the Wii does not count). Neighbours did become good friends. No social networking meant you would have to go out and get to know each other.

It may have been a simpler time, but it does sound pretty great.

So… Do you think you could survive without technology? Has technology advanced humanity? Would we be in trouble without such things as ID software for security or severe weather forecasting or National Security technologies?

Virtualization

What is virtualization?

Simply put, virtualization is a method of running multiple operating systems on a single physical computer.

In other words

On traditional computers and servers there is one set of software running on one set of hardware. With virtualization, multiple sets of software can be organized into virtual computers, or containers, that run on a single computer. (See the diagram, above). This means a computer can have one set of hardware for multiple computers to serve multiple needs and multiple groups.

Why virtualize?

Virtualization maximizes the investment in hardware.

Virtualization is green in that it reduces the number of independent servers that may be running at a very small fraction of its ability and thus unnecessarily consuming energy and producing heat that in turn requires additional air conditioning.

Virtual machines provisioned by Information Services are backed up, stored in an appropriately climate-controlled data center with backup power, air-conditioning and network. The hardware and environment are also maintained by professional technical staff.

Example of virtualization is Microsoft Hyper-V.

What is Microsoft Hyper-V?

Microsoft Hyper-V is a server virtualization product developed by Microsoft Corporation, which provides virtualization services through hypervisor-based emulations.

Microsoft Hyper-V is a server hypervisor that enables consolidation of a single physical server into many virtual servers, all sharing the hardware resources of the host server and powered by Hyper-V. Hyper-V operates both as a standalone solution and as an addition to Windows Server 2008 R2 and was built to improve server utilization and reduce capital costs for buying an in-house physical server.

Hyper-V is a key addition to Microsoft's cloud computing and virtualization product offerings and provides the complete end-to-end functionality for an enterprise-grade virtualization product. Hyper-V provides the basic functionality to create a virtualization layer over the physical layer of the host server machine and enables guest operating systems to be installed and managed through an integrated management console.

Hyper-V isolates part of a physical machine into child partitions and allocates them to different guest operating systems, with Windows Server 2008 acting as the primary host/parent. Hyper-V also assigns appropriate hardware and software resources for each of the guest operating system its hosting because they don’t have direct access to the raw compute hardware resources and rely on Hyper-V.

Function of various types of software for preventive maintenance

How to Check your PC Disk Drive for Errors

Using the Error-Checking Tool within Windows, you can easily check your disk drive for file system errors and even physical disk damage. Slow PC performance, crashes, and freezes can be caused by a malfunctioning hard drive with corrupt system files and bad sectors.

5 Steps to check your PC Disk Drive for System Errors:

1. Launch Local Disk Properties

Open your "Computer" or "My Computer" folder (usually located on your Desktop or in the Start Menu) to view your Hard Disk Drives. Then Right-Click on the Disk Drive that you want to check for errors and Left-Click on "Properties". A box will pop up titled "Local Disk (C:) Properties" or whichever disk drive letter you have chosen.

2. Open the Tools Tab

Next, Left-Click on the "Tools" tab on the second row from the top.

3. Launch Check Disk

Then Left-Click on the "Check Now" button and a small box will pop up titles, "Check Disk Local Disk (C:)" or whichever drive you are going to check for errors.

4. Check Disk Options

Make sure the first selection, "Automatically fix file system errors" is checked otherwise errors will only be reported but not fixed. Only check the second box, "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" if you suspect your hard disk drive is physically failing. WARNING: Using the second option will take a long time to scan. Both options are explained in  detail below.

5. Start Check or Schedule Disk Check

Finally, Left-Click the "Start" button and a box will usually appear suggesting, "Windows can't check the disk while it's in use" unless you are checking a drive not in use - like a data drive that does not have Windows installed. If the check begins without a restart, it is best NOT to use your computer for anything else during the process. A good time to go for break, but you will probably want to stick around to see what errors (if any) are displayed.

If you are checking the Windows drive or a drive in use by another program, you will be asked, "Do you want to check for hard disk errors the next time you start your computer?". You will need to Left-Click "Schedule Disk Check", then Left-Click "OK" in the "Local Disk Properties" box. Close your folder and  "Restart" your PC. Windows will automatically run the "Error-Checking" tool on bootup. Wait for it to finish and any PC Disk Drive Errors will be repaired automatically.

The Check Disk Error-Checking Tool

A corrupt system file or a bad sector on your disk drive can lead to slow PC speed and cause many PC problems such as screen freezes. The built-in Windows Check Disk Error-checking tool can automatically repair your PC or at the very least, make you aware of potential problems. Since your PC relies on your hard disk drive continuously during operation, restarts and even a full system crash are certainly possible on a disk full of errors.

Check Disk Options:

When you run the Check Disk Error-Checking tool, it will perform a scan of your disk drive for any problems. You can set it up in multiple ways as described below.

Automatically fix file system errors - This option reports and repairs data errors. If you check this option, the disk data errors will be repaired automatically. If you uncheck this option, the errors will be displayed to you, but not fixed.

Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors - While many modern disk drives have built-in recovery routines that may fix errors automatically, it never hurts to get a second option. This option will scan your entire disk drive platter for physical damage. Since it has to go over every sector on your drive, it takes a long time to complete. If it finds any bad sectors, it will attempt to repair or recover the damaged sector if possible. If it fails to repair a bad sector, it may be a sign to immediately backup all of your important data and consider purchasing a new disk drive. Frankly, even if it finds a bad area and successfully repairs it, I would still be concerned that a sector became corrupted in the first place. You may also want to consider your drive manufacturer's utilities software (if available) for a possibly more thorough and complete disk drive check.

What is PC preventive maintenance and how to do it?

PC preventive maintenance is the process of taking actions proactively which prevents the problem or issue from occurring.  It not only saves time and money but also makes easier the process of troubleshooting when a problem occurs, protects the data, improves computer performance, and prolongs hardware life.  So maintenance effort can turn a deal of great profit in the long run. 

To do it:

1. Cleaning your computer hardware.
2. Downloading the latest drivers for your hardware.
3. Downloading the latest updates for your computer software.
4. Verifying you have the latest anti-virus protection updates on your computer.
5. Running disk software utilities such as Defrag and ScanDisk on your hard drive.
6. Deleting unused programs or other files on your computer.
7. If you don't turn off your computer it may be good to reboot your computer every few months, unless the computer is a critical computer such as a computer server.

PC Tools Kit

Chip Inserter with Pin Straightener

Function: This tool is designed to insert a DIP chip into a circuit board.

Twizers

Function: Twizers is used for inserting and removing jumper’s blocks. It is very useful to hold small parts which are dropped in an accessible place.

Needle Nose Pliers

Function: Needle Nose Pliers is used to insert and remove jumper blocks, straighten bent pins and connectors, and remove cables.

Soldering Iron

Function: To join the two objects together so they can join together permanently with the solder.

Wire-cutters and Strippers

Function: The cutter piece is adjacent to the hinge itself. It is used to cut off the length of wire needed, as well as to remove a faulty piece of wire. Moving down the handle, different notches are present to indicate where to use the wire stripper tool for different sizes of wire. This enables plastic coating to be easily stripped off without inflicting damage to the wire.

Adjustable Wench

Function: It is a spanner with a “jaw” of adjustable width which allows it to be used with different sizes of fastener head (nut, bolt etc.) rather than just one fastener, as with a conventional fixed spanner.

Screwdrivers

Torx Screwdriver or Bits

Function: These are the star-shaped screwdriver heads that are used to make equipment “tamper-proof”.

Slotted Screwdriver

Function: It is a good screwdriver with magnetic, interchangeable bits and a comfortable handle. The magnetic tip will prevent screws falling into the PC, and will let you get access to drives mounted deep in your system case.

Nut Driver

Nut Driver 3/16″

 Function: It is the really important one because this is the size of nut most commonly used on PCs. These hexagonal nuts are used as mounting hardware for motherboards and serial and parallel ports.

Nut Driver 1/4″

Function:  It allows one to use a single handle with a number of sizes instead of having a separate nut driver for each size.

Chip Extractor

Function: These tools is used to remove chips from regular (non-ZIF) sockets, but modern PCs do not generally use these sockets any more. It is useful for upgrading much older systems in some cases.

Three Prong Parts Retriever

Function: These tools is used to remove chips from regular (non-ZIF) sockets, but modern PCs do not generally use these sockets any more. It is useful for upgrading much older systems in some cases.

Spare Part Tubes

Function: These handy parts tubes is use to hold extra computer screws, nuts and washers.

Solder Reel

Function: To be molten so that current can flow through.

Reversible T10/T15 Torque

Function: To loosen or tighten similar shape screw.