How to disable error reporting to Microsoft

• Open Control Panel
• Click Performance and Maintenance
• Double click System
• Click Advanced tab
• Click Error reporting button at the bottom of the windows
• Select Disable error reporting.
• Click OK
• Click OK

40th birthday of the mouse

One computer device could be called as being most in touch with humans, the mouse, which celebrated its 40th birthday on December 1, 2008. The first computer mouse was a little wooden box with a single red button on top and a wire hanging from the back, because of which it was likened to a rodent. And while computers have transformed from big white boxes to cool flat screens and laptops, the mouse has stayed the same. Its designer, Douglas Engelbart, is not a rich man as he never got any royalties because the patent expired before the mouse became a must have.

Superatom

Scientists from Virginia Commonwealth University, along with collaborators at the Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad, and Naval Research Laboratory in the US, have discovered a 'magnetic superatom' which could shrink the size of many electronic devices like computers, make them faster and pack more storage space.

The magnetic superatom—a stable cluster of atoms that can mimic different elements of the periodic table—may also have potential biomedical applications such as sensing, imaging and drug delivery.

The newly discovered cluster, consisting of one vanadium and eight cesium atoms, acts like a tiny magnet that can mimic a single manganese atom in magnetic strength, while preferentially allowing electrons of specific spin orientation to flow through the surrounding shell of cesium atoms.

The researchers believe that the superatom can have significant impact in the area of molecular electronics and spintronics in which attempts are made to use conducting properties of small molecules to design electronic devices.

The researchers have proposed that by combining gold and manganese, one can make other superatoms that have magnetic moment but will not conduct electricity. These superatoms may have potential application in healthcare.

Mobile phone brands

Popular mobile phone brands in India:

• Nokia, LG, Motorola, Apple, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Virgin, Blackberry, FLY, Lava, HTC, Reliance, Spice, Micromax, Karbonn, Intex, i-Mate, Haier, HP, Dopod, Asus, BenQ, Sagem, O2, Palm, Panasonic, Philips, Vertu, Toshiba, Kyocera, Orpat, Sanyo, Tata Indicom, Vodafone, MTS, Acer, Onida, T-Mobiles, Orion, Bleu, Gigabyte, Rage, Ray, Ulysse Nardin, Melbon, Lephone, Xfone, Longtel, Idea, Maxx, Alcatel, Byond, Ajanta, Tata Docomo, Spark, Hyundai.

DSL and its speed

DSL means Digital Subscriber Line. There are many types according to the need of users like ADSL, R-ADSL, HDSL, SDSL, and VDSL. The rates of DSL connection depends upon its speed and downloading or uploading allowed traffic.

Most homes and small business users use the asymmetric DSL (ADSL).
DSL can use the already existing phone line. Voice call can be made even when the internet connection is open. The connection is faster for receiving data than it is for sending data over the Internet. The actual speed at user end may be different from one user to another due to the modem speed, telephone line condition and the distance from services provider to user.

Many DSL providers offer free speed test software with internet connection package to check the speed. DSL speed test result will vary in different times. The actual speed may be the average speed of DSL speeds taken at different times in a day.

Paragraph spacing and line spacing

The space either before or after a paragraph is called paragraph space. The space between adjacent lines is called line space. These spaces can easily be adjusted while operating computer.

Steps for paragraph spacing:

• Place the insertion point in a paragraph.
• Select Paragraph from Format menu. The Paragraph dialog box will appear.
• Click the Indents and Spacing tab in the Paragraph dialog box.
• To specify the spacing before the selected paragraphs, type a number in the before box.
• To specify spacing after the selected paragraphs, type a number in the after box.
• Click OK button to apply the settings.
• You can specify the space in inches, points and centimeters.
• The preview section of dialog box shows the effect of your selected spacing between the paragraphs.
  

Shortcut keys to adjust the line space:

• Ctrl + 1 to set single line spacing.
• Ctrl + 2 to set double line spacing.
• Ctrl + 5 to set 1.5 line spacing.

Password protection for document

Two types of passwords can be applied in a computer. One is ‘password to open the document’ and the other is ‘password to modify the document’.

To prevent the display of your document to any unauthorized person, you can apply ‘password to open the document’.

To make the document ‘read only’ and to prevent any other user from modifying the document, ‘password to modify the document’ is applied.

You can apply any one or both of these passwords.

The steps:

• Open Save As dialog box by selecting ‘Save As’ command from File menu.
• Click ‘Tools’ button of Save As dialog box and choose ‘General Options’ from drop down menu, ‘Save’ dialog box will appear.
• Enter first password in ‘Password to open’ text box and second password in ‘Password to modify’ text box and click ‘Ok’ button of dialog box.
• Microsoft Word will open ‘Confirm Password’ dialog box for the confirmation of passwords. The maximum length of password is 15 characters.
• Re-enter the password to open and password to modify and click ‘Ok’ button of Confirm Password dialog boxes one by one.
• Click ‘Save’ button of Save As dialog box.

Classification of computers

According to the technology used, computers can be classified as
1. Digital Computers
2. Analog Computers
3. Hybrid Computers

Digital Computers are the most common computers being used like calculators, digital watches etc. They store data and instructions in the form of binary digits i.e. 0 and 1. These digits are used to denote letters, numerals and symbols.

Analog Computers measure continuous variations in devices like speedometer, thermometer, voltmeter, ammeter etc. (Analog means continuous variation).

Hybrid Computers are the combination of both Digital and Analog Computers. They measure analog quantities and convert them into digital signals for analysis. They can be used in space research and satellites. Computer with multimedia, robot etc. are examples of Hybrid Computers.

Computers can also be classified according to size and storage capacity as

1. Micro Computers
2. Mini Computers
3. Main Frame Computers
4. Super Computers

Micro Computers are small computers used as personal computers, computer notebooks, palmtop, laptop etc. for entertainment, education etc, at home or at office where volume of data is less.

A Mini Computer is a multi user system. It can be used by many users simultaneously. Mini Computers have larger RAM (Random Access Memory) and storage capacity. They can process data more quickly. Reservation system, banking system, etc. are using Mini Computers.


Main Frame Computers are large and powerful. They are used for complex calculations. They can support many input and output devices. They can process large amount of data quickly. They have a high storage capacity.


Super Computers are the largest, fastest, and most expensive computers used in the fields of medicines, industries, space research etc.They have many processing units working simultaneously to perform billions of operations every second.

COMPUTER VIRUS

• Computer virus are programs that spread across computers by attaching a copy of itself to the files on the infected computer.
• When the infected file is run, the virus gets into action.
• A virus is usually harmful and can corrupt data, overwrite files, or use up system resources, and slow it down in the process.
• Some may be merely disturbing like sending email using address book.
• Viruses are written by programmers to cause trouble.