I can’t believe how much PCs cost today . . . one end of the spectrum, we’ve got low-end PCs with monitors for less than $500. These are suitable for most home users. For power users (present company included), getting a workstation-class PC with many of the modern architecture enhancements (SATA x2 7200RPM drives, RAID, dual-channel 1333 DDR3 memory, 512MB+ graphics, etc) will easily set you back from $1500-$3000 or more. Additionally, they usually lack storage space (1-2GB).  It’s been many years since I last built a PC, and since Sony does not make liquid-cooled desktop Vaio systems anymore (love my RC-210G) . . . I decided to build a high-end PC.

Net net — this was so simple to do, and I saved a bundle. I wouldn’t recommend starting a business out of this, as you are at the mercy of many manufacturers (many in Asia) who are creating these parts and their respective quality control (ie – you as a system builder would have to take the risk that the 20 or so parts you buy from different vendors all will not only work initially, but during a warranty period related to the PC you are selling. That takes all the fun out of it!

Granted, this system does not include a monitor, and I re-used a video card from another system . . . but boy does this thing smoke! I’ll post some benchmarks at a later date, but I can’t even get more than 2 of the cores (out of 6) to even break a sweat (Photoshop, Premiere, Office, Dreamweaver, VirtualBox are programs I regularly use).

Today’s components fit together so easily, and the days of setting jumpers are over. Just buy yourself an ATX mid-tower case, choose a processor (AMD bang for the buck is incredible), match the appropriate motherboard, add RAM, a hard drive or 4, an optical drive, media card reader, power supply, OS . . . and you are ready to begin.

Sorry for the stream of consciousness in the next  paragraph describing how I put everything together  — let me know if you have any specific questions:

I mounted the motherboard into the case first. The Soprano case mentioned below has standoffs (raised sections of the case to allow you to screw the motherboard into it) to make it very easy. Then, I installed the Athlon 1090T chip . . . this was a bit trickier (easy to get in, but hard to clamp the cooler onto it without feeling like you are going to break the entire chip — trust me, it’s pretty durable!). Then, I installed the power supply and moved all of the appropriate wiring (braided in the case of my PS, which made things neather) out of the way. The drives went in (the Soprano case has a quick-connect system so you don’t even need a screwdriver for this). The RAM went in at this point and was a cinch. Make sure you install in pairs (dual-channel) for AMD chips, and in threes (tri-channel) for the newer i-series Intel chips for maximum performance.  I then installed the PCI-e graphics card and then routed the power supply cabling.  The final step was connecting the readouts (drive, power, reset switch, etc) from the case (all clearly marked, and no harm if these don’t get installed properly as they are either on or off) — and voila, I was ready to boot up and install the OS. In the case of the 1090T — it allows you to overclock VERY easily, so I updated the motherboard BIOS and then ratcheted up the front-side bus (FSB) from 200 to 225MHz and was able to easily run the processor at 3.6GHz!

Here’s the parts list; I did weeks of research, review, tracking specials (DDR3 RAM is still priced in the stratosphere, unfortunately) and then bought the pieces over 2 days from multiple online vendors.

Enjoy!

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You were given this search ‘tool’ after a recent Microsoft update.

Let’s reset this back to Google . . .

• Go to My Computer and navigate to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc
• Locate and open the file “hosts”.   (use Notepad when asked what to open this file with)
• Copy and paste the following two lines anywhere into that open file and save the file when done:

74.125.127.100 www.bing.com
74.125.127.100 bing.com

• Presto – close your browser and open again, and you’ve been un-Binged!

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Ok – thanks to everyone who has been patiently awaiting the launch of this site. I’d like to have a place to share my years of experience with many facets of technology with others . . . and of course, to learn from others, as well. Hopefully, over time – this site will become a valuable resource for the many who leverage technology to achieve their goals.

Let’s start with the most basic of elements – how to maintain your PC. It is no longer adequate to just use your PC as tool — you must maintain it like you would (or should, in any case) your vehicle.

I.  Basics

If you have Windows XP, make sure you’ve upgraded to Service Pack 3 (free from windowsupdate.microsoft.com).  If you have Windows Vista – make sure you have updated to Vista Service Pack 2. Having the latest versions of Microsoft operating systems (especially true with XP) ensures that the most secure codebase is installed on your system.

If the latest Microsoft Service Packs are installed on your system, it is not recommended that you install and provide an additional firewall program (ie, ZoneAlarm, Black Ice, etc). While having two firewalls (Windows has one built-in for the latest service packs) may add some level of incremental protection, it is not my view that reduction in risk is worth the impact to system performance and possibility that you will not be able to access some internet applications.

You can check which version of Windows and which service pack you have by right-clicking on My Computer and choosing Properties.

II. Antivirus

This step is critical. It is not necessary to pay for and renew annual licenses to Norton or McAfee. In our experience, these programs stop protecting you when you have not paid their renewal fees (and are often included on new PCs for a limited 90-day only protection trial). It is best to remove these programs and install a free antivirus program as below:

Download from this link: http://download.cnet.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10320142.html?part=dl-10044820&subj=dl&tag=button&cdlPid=11014801

• B. Alternate option— if your PC is more than 4 years old  — Clamwin.

Download from http://www.clamwin.com/content/view/18/46/

Download and install ONE of these applications; they both will check for updates automatically — make sure you run a full system scan manually every month, however.

III. Maintenance

Drive storage space, startup programs, registry settings, temp files . . . up until late 2008, keeping on top of these elements was a very manual and time-consuming task (and best left to the professionals). Today, we’ve got a nifty utility that has been bullet-proof in our experience (and can give a 20% speed boost after ONE RUN on some poorly maintained machines).

Enter . . . Piriform CCleaner (formerly Crap Cleaner, but they went corporate).  Download this utility and run it every month; listen to and accept all of its recommendations!

• A. CCleaner

(Click “Download Latest Version” from top right of screen): http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/

IV. Defragmentation

Over time, as files are written and erased from your hard drive . . . your data and programs get fragmented. Think of having  5 different printed documents. If they were shuffled like a deck of cards and strewn about a room, it would take longer to find each page of the document and assemble to read. Defragmentation puts the documents back together (kind of like a teenager cleaning his room every month to get things back in order).  Make sure you run step III above before defragmenting your drive. This may take a few hours the first time, but should be about 1 hour per month.

• A. Windows defragmenter

This is the easiest way to clean up your drive (click Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Defragmenter). No download necessary.

• B. Defraggler

If you want something more robust and something that can be scheduled to run every month – download this program and use in place of Windows System Defragmenter.

(Click “Download Latest Version” from top right of screen): http://www.filehippo.com/download_defraggler

This list of ‘must-do’ items is definitely not comprehensive, but should be viewed as a solid starting point to keep your PC running smoothly and safely!

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