for Oct. 1 & 8, 2003

For Oct. 1:

Hi, All;

This week: More on DSL (Digital Subscriber Line)
Last week I talked about Dave and me installing DSL in the Shopper office. I got some questions about what DSL is, how it works, and why it is faster. What is DSL? DSL uses an interesting bit of physics of telephone wire. The normal human voice uses between 300 to 3400 Megahertz of the several million frequencies available. DSL uses frequencies above 4000 MHz to allow both data and voice on the same pair of wires.

There is an inherent limitation with this design because of friction. Normally, the phone lines use amplifiers to keep boosting the signal over and over to keep it loud enough to hear from coast to coast. The DSL side of the phone line cannot be amplified, so there is a distance limitation on how far the signal can be sent along the phone wire before it disintegrates beyond useable limits. For the most part, this is three to five miles. If you have called CenturyTel and you live further than five miles from the telephone equipment office, you cannot get DSL.
Why is it faster? Dialup modems are slower because the digital signal from the PC has to be modulated (MODem) into a voice-like (analog) signal, then demodulated (moDEM) back into a digital PC signal. This takes time, and the analog signal itself, in its native state, runs at only 1200 Baud. To get the faster speed we are all used to the data is compressed electronically so it will fit in the rather small analog frequencies. Because of the fewer frequencies used and all the conversions required, dialup cannot be as fast as DSL (having no conversion and lots of frequencies to use).

If you want more information, I found a web site www.howstuffworks.com, that has a very good description of DSL and almost anything else.

'Til next week, (ComputerFAQ#158)

Robert

 

For Oct. 8:

Hi, All;

This week: Fall clean up!

Fall is here again; time to do some clean up of your PC, inside and out. After a summer of open windows and the resulting dust, now is a good time to clean the outside of your PC. First shutdown and turn off your PC and unplug the power cord from the wall or from the back of the PC. Use any cleaner you like--Windex, 409, Fantastic etc.--to clean the smutch from the outside of the case and the monitor case. Use a non-ammonia glass cleaner on your monitor glass, (soap and water are best). If you use a cleaner with ammonia, the ammonia has been known to remove the anti-glare coating on the screens.

Ok, the outside is sparkling. Remove the now-shiny case, following the instructions that came with your PC. With a vacuum cleaner with a soft bristle brush attachment and a can of compressed air (found at computer and some hardware stores), vacuum the dust bunnies out of the bottom of the case and very gently rub the brush wherever you can see dirt and dust. Pay special attention to the fan louvers in the power supply. Now use the compressed air can and blow out all of the dirt that the vacuum missed. You need to clean the dust from your PC because dust holds in the heat, slows down the air-cooling, and heat is very bad for your PC. Put the case back together, plug the power cord back in, and start up your PC. Your nice and shiny PC is purring like a kitten, now that it has had a cleaning. Now, too, is the time to clean the smutch from your hard drive. But we will have to do that next week.

Til next week, (ComputerFAQ#159)

Robert

 

Please send your questions to

Oct. 8, 2003 Fall Cleaning of Your PC

Oct. 1, 2003 Explanation of DSL

Sept. 24, 2003 Installing DSL at the Shopper

Sept. 17, 2003 What New Computer Should I Buy? Part 2

Sept. 10, 2003 What New Computer Should I Buy?

Sept. 3, 2003 Protecting from Viruses and Worms

Aug. 27, 2003 Current Viruses "Bast Worm" and "Sobig"

Aug. 20, 2003 Does Microsoft Password Make Changing Passwords Easier?

Aug. 13, 2003 Passwords and Passport Part 2

Aug. 6, 2003 More About PassPort and Passwords

July 23 & 30, 2003 Where Are Microsoft Passport Passwords Stored? and More About Passport and Passwords

July 16, 2003 Internet Explorer Helpful Hint Part 2

July 9, 2003 Internet Explorer Helpful Hint Part 1

July 2, 2003 Some More Icons Explained

June 25, 2003 Online Ordering

June 18, 2003 Followup on Refilled Ink Cartridges

 

July 05, 2000 Introduction to ComputerFAQ

July 12, 2000 Computer Definitions

July 26, 2000 More Computer Definitions

August 02, 2000 Defining Bits, Bytes and Hex

August 09, 2000 Internet Service Providers (ISP)

August 16, 2000 Backup up your PC

August 23, 2000 Backup Devices.

August 30, 2000 What is the slowest PC for Internet Access

September 06, 2000 PC Nomenclature

September 13, 2000What to do with Mail Attachements.

September 20, 2000What Happens at boot up

October 04, 2000Desktop Areas

October 18, 2000Start Button

October 25, 2000Display Made Bigger

November 01, 2000 More Monitor Controls

November 15, 2000 Right Click Display Menu

November 22, 2000 More on Desktop Menus

November 29, 2000 More on Desktop Menus

December 06, 2000 Desktop Properties Menu - part 1

December 13, 2000 Desktop Properties Menu - part 2

December 20, 2000 Desktop Properties Menu - part 3