High-end computers: Low power consumers?

When it comes to electronics, the faster it gets, the more output it provides, the greater it consumes electricity. And it will reflect on your electricity bills big time. But now that computers are on a steady move towards faster performance, does it also mean it craves for electricity all the more?

AMD and Intel now offers dual-core processors. Imagine having two processors working in parallel together. Since the limit for speed has been exhausted, these companies decided to tie-up processors in a way that goes with the saying "two heads are better than one". And the performance is true to its word. But just so having two processors can make your work faster, then will it goes to say that they also consume twice the power than that of a single core?

No. These companies have designed their processors to throttle their speeds when working idle, or when applications doesn't require it. In turn, their consumtion of energy is decreased, all the while keeping your CPU box cool (the faster an IC performs, the hotter it gets).

So if you are stll using that Pentium 4 or Athlon processors, chances are you are rocketing your electricity bills by the minute. With the recent price drops in processor (P3,300 for an Intel Dual Core 1.6Ghz) and computer components, its not that hard to decide really. Believe me, i have saved P200 on my monthly bills, even though I leave my computer open at most times. That's a P2,400 saving per year!

For an in-depth analysis, visit Tomshardware.

Securing your Wireless Network

With the advent of broadband Internet connections, and the continuous drop of market prices of desktop computers and laptops, more and more homes are creating their own small network. And with wireless networking, communications between two or more computers has neven been so easy to configure. But is it secure? Here is a tip from the Internet:

Network security is an important aspect in this information world. The significance of security is much more in growing concern of hacking of data from the computer. As most individuals and business sectors are connected with Internet using wireless devices, you simply don’t know when and where all your personal information being theft. With the increasing number of cases regarding security breaches there is need for improvement in awareness regarding security measures. Wireless users simply need to know certain rules in order to control system penetration and bandwidth theft.

Always change the password of your router as these are come with preset service identifiers. The protocols of such service identifiers are known to hackers. That’s why you have to change the password something which is difficult to guess. Simple and general terms such as my router will be easy to guess. You may also rotate your password frequently as precaution.

If possible enable encryption. Follow the encryption procedure which is provided by your routing device. Two most preferable encryption measures are WEP and WPA2; out of which the later is used most and most up to date option. The function of such technology is to encrypt traffic and scrambling it so that any unauthorized third party could not use it by throwing a spanner in order to procure sensitive details.

Remote access points should be monitored closely. Security protocols must be established in companies which run web interfaces or remote system access points. It would be wise to change password frequently.

You should avoid the use of unsecured wireless hotspots in public locations. In these places traps are set up frequently by malicious third parties. These are designed to route that creates screen traffic in order to secure sensitive details.

If you are going to sold or dispose any hardware scrub it. This will eliminate all the chances of any third party to discover any sensitive data or passwords for using identity theft, to gain access to corporate systems or any type of financial crime.

Use wireless security software no matter whether you are a corporation or an individual. This software uses automatic security key rotation for every three hours of encryption purposes. It also provides security to the router apart from providing event logging. It also monitors to scrutinize for terminals that try to gain access. For institutions advanced software systems such as Wi-Fi manager are more useful. You have to take your own time before implementing any such security measures.

Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_241666_10.html