Technology – Page 24

What To Do If Your Windows Drive Has No Free Space Left?

April 26, 2010 by Raj Agrawal 4 Comments

Your computer hard disk will fail if there is very little or no space left in the Windows partition. Not!

It’s odd to imagine that there are a so many myths related to computers and their working. Is it the people or is it the massive knowledge base of technology know-how that are hard for people to cope up with (the latter being the culprit).

Almost 10 years ago, i owned a Pentium II with 2 GB Hard Disk with 32Mb RAM and Windows 98. One of my friends bought a CD loaded with free flash games (of course i was 11 years old). My prehistoric computer was configured with two drives, C drive and D drive of which D drive was already full *sigh*. Flash games were the only games that worked correctly on my computer. So, i copied the entire CD on my desktop and very soon the C drive was full too. Being a novice user, i started to worry a little because i had no space left at all on my computer and my friend suggested me to delete those files i just copied into my computer or else my hard drive will fail. Left with no other option, i deleted the flash games. The fact is that, having no space in a drive has nothing to do with hardware failure. He was not the only one who blessed me with the divine knowledge of how computers work. I still meet people who are stuck with this myth!

What actually happens

Your computer will definitely boot in a healthy way if there is very little or no space left in the Windows partition. But, there are certain things you should be careful about when you encounter such situation.

Almost all programs are designed to create temporary files and cache. These programs will refuse to start or continuously pop up an error. I experimented this situation on my desktop with Photoshop CS2 and found out that Photoshop was smart enough to deal with it and asked me for an alternative drive (Scratch Disk Preferences) where it could store it’s temporary files and cache and let me continue using the program.
Such situation also might create a problem while using System Restore. As it may not be able to restore your desktop into the previous state you selected due to the non – availability of required free space.

What should you do?

You should clear the cache and temporary files using CCleaner (freeware). Sometimes these files get piled up into a hundreds of megabytes or even gigabytes.
If all this is already done, then delete or transfer files of least importance to the neighboring partitions/ backup drive with enough free space.

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A Successor To USB 3.0 Is On It’s Way

April 15, 2010 by Raj Agrawal 1 Comment

UPCOMING TECHNOLOGY – Intel’s Light Peak Technology could be the next generation of the Input/Output technology. The year 2010 has brought along great new technologies with it including 3D television, Wireles HD and USB 3.0. Already a “potential” successor to USB 3.0 is expected to hit the markets by 2011. Intel’s Light Peak technology will link devices using optical cables with longer, thinner and more flexible than what the current technology offers.

Light Peak also has the ability to run multiple protocols simultaneously over a single cable, enabling the technology to connect devices such as peripherals, displays, disk drives, docking stations, and more delivering high bandwidth starting at 10Gb/s with the potential ability to scale to 100Gb/s over the next decade.

Illustration of Light Peak module close-up with laser light (On and Off state)

How does this technology work?

Light Peak consists of a controller chip and an optical module that would be included in platforms supporting this technology. The optical module performs the conversion from electricity to light and vice versa, using miniature lasers and photo detectors. Intel is planning to supply the controller chip, and is working with other component manufacturers to deliver all the Light Peak components. It is expected that the components will be ready to ship in 2010. Over time, the optical components, designed to be small, easy to manufacture and affordable, are expected to enjoy the economies of scale that other components have in the computing and consumer electronics industries.

The new technology could compete with connector technologies like USB and Firewire, which are used to connect PCs to storage and audio devices. However, Light Peak is not intended to replace current technologies, an Intel spokesperson said. It is intended to be a complementary technology.

Suspicious Activity On Your Gmail Account?

March 30, 2010 by Raj Agrawal 2 Comments

Gmail will now notify you, if it is in suspicion

A longtime ago Gmail had rolled out a feature that gave you the accessibility to check which IP address accessed your Gmail account when your account was last logged in (works even when your account is not using https). Now, Gmail has extended this feature by adding the country name tag to the IP address and will notify you of a suspicious activity if your Gmail account was last accessed through another location.

As mentioned on Gmail Blog: To determine when to display this message, our automated system matches the relevant IP address, logged per the Gmail privacy policy, to a broad geographical location. While we don’t have the capability to determine the specific location from which an account is accessed, a login appearing to come from one country and occurring a few hours after a login from another country may trigger an alert.

By clicking on the “Details” link next to the message, you’ll see the last account activity window that you’re used to, along with the most recent access points.

If you think your account has been compromised, you can change your password from the same window. Or, if you know it was legitimate access (e.g. you were traveling, your husband/wife who accesses the account was also traveling, etc.), you can click “Dismiss” to remove the message.