Maintaining Windows

Maintaining windows can be compared to maintaining a new automobile. Of course, a new automobile come with a warranty, so most of us just take it to the dealer to get work done. In case, you are the mechanic, so most need to think as an auto mechanic would think. First, an auto mechanic needs to apply recalls when the automaker finds a serious problem. For a PC tech, that means keeping the system patches announced by Microsoft up to date. You also need to check on the parts that wear down over time. On a car that might mean changing the oil or rotating the tires. In a windows system that includes keeping the hard drive and registry organized and uncluttered.

Softmenu

You can use the softmeun to change the voltage and multiplier settings on the motherboard for the CPU from the defaults. Motherboards that cater to over lockers tend to have this option. Usually you just set this to Auto or Default and stay away from this.

Updating CMOS: the setup program

Every PC ships with a program built into the system ROM called the CMOS setup program or the system setup utility that enables you to access and update CMOS data. When you fire up your computer in the morning the first thing you likely see is the BIOS information.

CMOS

A separate memory chip, called the complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) chip, stores the information that describes specific device parameters. CMOS does not store programs; it only stores data that is read by BIOS to complete the programs needed to talk to changeable hardware. CMOS also acts as a clock to keep to the current data and time.

          Years ago, CMOS was separate chip on motherboard. Today, CMOS is almost always built into the Southbridge.

          Most CMOS chip store around 64 KB of data, but the PC usually needs only a very small amount-about 128 bytes- to store all of the necessary information on the changeable hardware. Don’t let the tiny size fool you. The information stored in CMOS is absolutely necessary for the PC to function!

          If the data stored on CMOS about a particular piece of hardware (or about its fancier features) is different from the specs of the actual hardware, the computer cannot access that piece of hardware (or use its fancier features). It is crucial that this information be correct. If you change any of the previously mentioned hardware, you must update CMOS to reflect those changes. You need to know, therefore, how to change the data on CMOS.

System BIOS support

Every system BIOS has two types of hardware to support. First, the system BIOS supports all of the hardware that never changes, such as the keyboard. (You can change your keyboard, but you can’t change the keyboard colltroler built into the Southbridge.) Another example of hardware that never changes is the PC speaker (the tiny one that beeps at you, not the play music). The system ROM chip stores the BIOS for these and other devices that never change.

          Second, the system BIOS supports all of the hardware that might change from time to time. This includes RAM (you can add RAM), hard devices (you can replace your hard drive with a larger drive or add a second hard drive, and floppy devices (you can add another floppy drive, although that’s not common today). The system ROM chip stores the BIOS for these devices, but the system needs another place to store information about the specific details of a piece of hardware. This enables the system to differentiate between a Western Digital Caviar Black 1.5-TB hard drive and a Seagate Barracuda 60-GB drive, and yet still support both drive right out of the box.