Computer Systems

Physical parts of computer come under the category of computer hardware. It can be changed once in a while in comparison with computer software. Normal users don’t see most computer hardware because it is enclosed as embedded systems. The term computer hardware is generally used for personal computers.

Internal computer hardware consists of motherboard having central processing unit and random access memory. Random access memory provides temporary storage of data where as CPU is used for doing all type of calculations. Second major component of computer hardware is Bus that is used to make common connection between several circuits. People can choose any type of buses as per their needs. Generally these are PCI bus, PCI-E or AGP bus, ISA bus that is outdated and UCB that is commonly used.

Computer can’t be run without power supply that is case including transformer, voltage control and fan. Computer hardware includes storage controllers that are helpful in controlling the hard disk, floppy disk, CD-ROM and other drives. These can be assembled on the motherboard or expansion card directly.

Video display controller is used to generate output for the computer display. Computer bus controllers are also come under computer hardware. These are used to connect computer to external peripheral devices like printers and scanners.

Sometimes computer hardware includes some removable media writers such as CD, CD-ROM Drive, CD Writer, DVD, DVD-ROM Drive, DVD writer, DVD-RAM Drive, Floppy disk and Zip drive. These are not permanently fixed in the computers and whenever you want you can remove them easily.

Tape drive, Internal storage and hard disk of the computer offers different levels of data storage like tape drive offers backup or long-term storage, Internal storage keeps the data safe inside the computer for later use while the hard disk offers medium-term storage of data. Sound card usually translates signals from the system board into analog voltage levels. It has terminals to plug in speakers.

If you want to connect your computer to other computer or Internet you require computer networking that helps you to communicate with other computers. Other networking hardware includes modem that is used for dial-up connection, and network card that is used for DSL/Cable Internet or connect to other computers.

Computer hardware includes internal as well as external components of a computer system. External components of computer hardware consist of some essential input/output devices such as keyboard, mouse and monitor. Other useful computer hardware components are speakers, headset, joystick, trackball, image scanner, microphone, etc.

Buyers should purchase computer hardware from a reliable source at reasonable prices. They can also find useful information about computer hardware on Internet. Several manufactures are currently selling their products online. Buyers can get heavy discounts by purchasing online.

In the recent times it has been observed that technology is spreading like a wildfire and so as the technical jobs. This has given rise to plenty of computer support specialists and systems administrator’s job. Of these, many serve as computer support specialists and the rest as network and computer systems administrators. Many of these technocrats work in a wide range of industries, only a small percent of all computer support specialists and systems administrators are employed in professional, scientific, and other technical services industries. Other organizations that employed ample numbers of these technocrats include administrative and support services companies, banks, government agencies, insurance companies, educational institutions, and wholesale and retail vendors of computers, office equipment, appliances, and home electronic equipment. Some of the computer support specialists worked for manufacturers of computers, semiconductors, and other electronic components.

Many of the established corporate honchos and startup companies recruit these computer support specialists and systems administrators. The uninterrupted development of the Internet, telecommunications, and e-mail has led the industries—such as construction—to get associated with computer workers. There is a huge expansion of computer systems across small and large firms and has given rise to the need for computer support specialists and systems administrators.

It may be required to cut staff for a customized budget, but reducing staff can lead to major problems on - dissatisfied customers, excessive stress, technician burnout and high turnover to name a few. This problem can be overwhelmed by hiring more Help Desk personnel in order to provide satisfactory customer service.

A company should possess experienced staff support, good customer handling expertise, multiple shifts and weekends. Above all, the support staff should possess good knowledge of the organizations business and experienced support center management. A good example of the Help Desk service is the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector. They provide round the clock customer service and technical support on behalf of the company. The customers contact the respective call centers or BPO for resolving their problem instead of contacting the company directly. Many corporate honchos like Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Intel, and IBM depend on call centers or BPOs instead of providing direct support.

KoreOne serves their clients with courteous and knowledgeable personnel.
For more information please visit : http://www.koreone.com

Computer jobs are classified such as core computer science, information technology and information systems. Computer jobs also listed by specialty such as networking, programming, Designing: CAD/CAM, Internet and operating systems. Only the computer skilled persons are eligible for in various categorized jobs. Along with the computer skills your aptitude and background are meaning full in the computer job sector.

There are three vital levels of computer skills required for jobs in today's corporate environment: Basic computer job skills, Specialized computer job skills and Advanced computer job skills.

Basic Computer Job Skills:
Nowadays, most of the employers want their employees to be conversant with computers. All most all the companies are using computers to perform the tasks such as Log on to workgroups, Communicate by email, Compose documents, Provide budget, input, Enter database information, Create presentations, Plan projects, Download company forms, Make benefit choices, Preserve (back up) important data etc. So an employee has to work with computer regardless of his/her job titles. The may not be actually a computer job; rather a part of the traditional jobs that now require basic computer skills.

Specialized Computer Job Skills:
Some of the jobs that require specialized computers skills personnel for Graphics design, Digital video production, Technical writing, Web-based training (WBT) etc. In this job filed computers are primary performer that performs both basic and specialized computer skills. Let’s say, a graphics artist has to know how to efficiently operate complex graphics software, such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator being an artistic talent too.

Advanced Computer Job Skills:
Advanced computer skills are very much essential for information technology (IT) jobs. These jobs completely rely on depth computers knowledge. IT workers need core computer knowledge as primary and other skills and perform are as secondary. Certifications make a person more employable and can become a faster way to build a good career.

Computer and Networking Certification:
There are international standard certifications authorities are providing computer skill certificates providing off-campus or online training. The duration depends upon the course modules. The certification would be on diploma, degree, merits etc. The training and certifications are based on software, computer hardware and networking etc. Some of the popular computer certifications on software, hardware, networking and internet networking are A+ Certification, Certified Ethical Hacker, Cisco Certifications, IBM Certifications, Microsoft Certifications, Novell Certifications, and Oracle Certifications.
For more information please visit : http://www.koreone.com

The term “expansion bus “is a frequent term in vintage computer terminology which requires elaboration. Much of the legacy of vintage bus systems are in our current computer systems today.

To begin with the “expansion bus" is a data highway for computer data information to travel on: the bandwidth is in essence the number of lanes. The bigger the bandwidth the more data can be sent. As examples, an 8 megabyte bandwidth means that data can be sent in 8 bits chunks. Our current systems use between 32 bit and now 64 bit bandwidth.

An expansion bus is where cards connect to the computer; Cards have an expansion edge, which fits snugly into the bus much like an electrical plug fits into a wall socket.

When cards are plugged into the bus, they communicate with the system, sometimes through the BIOS and others not. (The BIOS is the basic input /output system that tells the computer how to move data from the different components.) The 8, 16 or 32 bit bandwidth is an important consideration due to communication time between the cards. For example you have a 16 bit vintage 286 PC and it is sending out data at 16 bits a: your video card is also 8 bits. If you have an older 8 bit bus, such as in early IBM PCs and clones, the bus will become a bottleneck in the system; it is like having a 4 lane highway connected to another 4 lane highway by way of a 1 lane road. At most times regardless of the faster 4 lane highway traffic will be slow – limited by the single lane connection road.

There were basically 3 types of expansion bus available in vintage computers: ISA, MCA, EISA systems.

Each early development in major ways paved the way for the later systems which indeed we take for granted today. This was both in terms of hardware and basic concepts in our computer systems and technology as well as computer marketing that we take for granted today as simple basic facts of life without any consideration due.

Basically the newer buses offered increased performance over the older technology buses.

The basic explanations of the buses are as follows:

The 3 bus standards to note were Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) .Micro Channel Channel Architecture (MSA) and Extended Industry Standard (EISA) bus systems.

Industry Standard Architecture (ISA). This was the original AT bus also called an ISA bus. It was the original 8 bit IBM PC bus which was bumped up to 16 bits at some point in its later development. Fine for a 16 bit 286 or very early 386 computers

Micro Channel Architecture (MSA). This was an early 32 bit bus system which was not received well but set the stage for an industry consortium of the major non IBM computer manufacturers ( at the time referred to as “The Group of Nine) to develop the EISA standard bus.

Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA). The EISA bus standard was a standard of its own right which was 32 bit, included bus mastering and importantly remained compatible with previous older expansion cards. 32 bit systems were first to incorporate in later 386 systems. The 486 line solidified and standardized the 32 bit systems in the established software of the day.

Backward compatibility at the time was a novel new concept which has remained an important consideration in the computer industry.

EISA slots would accommodate both the ISA and EISA expansion slots to allow hardware upgrades, However the EISA expansion boards would be of little advantage and would seldom work in the older ISA expansion slots.

On the other hand the Micro Channel setup was not backward compatible. On the one hand the Micro Channel developers were free to initiate new radical changes in computer development and hardware which would have allowed for major new useful features in computer software. However owners of previous systems would have been left with then obsolete vintage useless hardware which would have been of no use and certainly little financial value.

Hence there was a lot of resistance to the Micro Channel bus setup.

It died a lingering death with its legacy living on in the aspirations of features offered in future developments and standards.

Thus the die was set for future hardware standards and software function as well as standard computer marketing concepts that we take for granted like mother’s milk today.

Why tempt fate?

Fall Time weather as well as summer time can not only zap your newer computer systems but also your vintage computer as well as irrereplaceable vintage computer software as well as the time and energy spent in setup, hardware replacement and running computer systems.

Why does the summer season bring so much trouble – brownouts, sags and electric currents spikes?

Summer heat does wonders. Not only does it allow you to acquire a lovely tan but if causes utility grids to be strained beyond their capacity due to the increased use of air conditioners. In such cases power utilities adjust their voltage output, sometimes causing erratic power sags and spikes, which are extremely dangerous for computer hardware as well as software. And you can expect utilities to be more conservative to avoid another outage like that which happened in the hot August summer of 2003.

On Aug 14, 2003 it was estimated that due to a summer electric heat surge 50 million people and businesses were plunged into the dark and heat.

The summary cost was an estimated $ 6 billion.

Similarly it is estimated that in the United States that smaller outages cost the U.S. economy in lost productivity the not unsubstantial cost of $ 50 billion.

So says the IEEE – the Institute of Electronics and Electronics Engineers. The worlds’ leading professional organization for the advancement of technology.

Secondly the unique geography of the U.S. produces favorable conditions for tornadoes, resulting in about 1000 tornadoes every year according to the weather channel.

Tornadoes are highly unpredictable with wind speeds reaching 300 mph, a tornado is the most destructive storm of all, ripping up utility lines and leading to lengthy, unexpected blackouts.

As well last years hurricane season was a record breaker with more than an alphabet’s worth of named storms, causing the National Hurricane Center to resort to the Greek Alphabet ever. It was also the first season since 1851 to have three categories of five storms. (Katrina, Rita, Wilma).

Lightning is always the most obvious concern of most computer enthusiasts. Each lightening flash typically contains about 1 billion volts and between 10 and 20 thousand amps of current. Currents can transfer through wiring or plumbing and destroy everything in its path, of course including your irreplaceable Computer and Software Collection.

This damage is entirely possible. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAAA) reports an average of 20 million cloud to ground flashes have been detected every year since 1989.

How can you protect yourself?

First of all purchase proper surge protection and have it in place.

There are various levels of surge protection devices.

1) Power bars with a simple switch. These are the choice of most as they are readily available and inexpensive. However the switch is just that a switch not a surge protector. The appearance of an electronic device fools many into believing that they “are protected”. Sadly they are not.

2) Inexpensive Surge Protection devices. This is a better step than the first. However the protection is limited by the fact that the surge protection is afforded by simple Silica sand. With time and moisture (usually no more than a year) the surge protection is highly diminished.

If you use these inexpensive Silica sand based surge protectors replace them on a yearly basis. As well note the capacity of the surge protector. It does no good to have a very inadequate surge protector.

Read the labels and descriptions on the packages.

You can not protect a large computer system with a surge protector designed for one simple computer or laptop.

3) More expensive electronic surge protection units. A wise choice. However as noted above ensure that your protection is well rated above PEAK power use not a lower power use

4) Lastly you may well consider a more expensive though very safe solution an Uninterrupted Power Supply.

An uninterruptible power supply, or UPS, (sometimes called an uninterruptible power source ') is a device which maintains a continuous supply of electric power to connected equipment by supplying power from a battery when utility power is not available. A UPS is inserted between the source of power (typically commercial utility power) and the load which is to be protected. When a power failure or abnormality occurs, the UPS will effectively switch from utility power to battery power .While they are not limited to any particular type of equipment, they are typically used to protect computers.

Remember why tempt fate when it comes to your prized vintage computer system .

Fire departments not only fight fires they are most effective in preventing fires.

Remember at the very worst you can always unplug your computer and devices to be safe . And as well remember to unplug the phone or broadband cable connection as well.

Definition Of A Survivable Computer System

A computer system, which may be made up of multiple individual systems and components, designed to provide mission critical services must be able to perform in a consistent and timely manner under various operating conditions. It must be able to meet its goals and objectives whether it is in a state of normal operation or under some sort of stress or in a hostile environment. A discussion on survivable computer systems can be a very complex and far reaching one. However, in this article we will touch on just a few of the basics.

Computer Security And Survivable Computer Systems

Survivable computer systems and computer security are in many ways related but at a low-level very much different. For instance, the hardening of a particular system to be resistant against intelligent attacks may be a component of a survivable computer system. It does not address the ability of a computer system to fulfill its purpose when it is impacted by an event such as a deliberate attack, natural disaster or accident, or general failure. A survivable computer system must be able to adapt, perform its primary critical functions even if in a hostile environment, even if various components of the computer system are incapacitated. In some cases, even if the entire "primary" system has been destroyed.

As an example; a system designed to provide real-time critical information regarding analysis of specialized medications ceases to function for a few hours because of wide spread loss of communication. However, it maintains the validity of the data when communication is restored and systems come back online. This computer system could be considered to have survived under conditions outside of its control.

On the other hand, the same system fails to provide continuous access to information under normal circumstances or operating environment, because of a localized failure, may not be judged to have fulfilled its purpose or met its objective.

Fault Tolerant And Highly Availability Computer Systems

Many computer systems are designed with fault tolerant components so they continue to operate when key portions of the system fail. For instance; multiple power supplies, redundant disk drives or arrays, even multiple processors and system boards that can continue to function even if its peer component is destroyed or fails. The probability of all components designed to be redundant failing at one time may be quite low. However, a malicious entity that knows how the redundant components are configured may be able to engineer critical failures across the board rendering the fault tolerant components ineffective.

High availability also plays a role in a survivable computer system. However this design component may not maintain computer system survivability during certain events such as various forms of malicious attack . An example of this might be a critical web service that has been duplicated, say across multiple machines, to allow continuous functionality if one or more the individual web servers was to fail. The problem is that many implementations of high availability use the same components and methodology on all of the individual systems. If an intelligent attack or malicious event takes place and is directed at a specific set of vulnerabilities on one of the individual systems, it is reasonable to assume the remaining computer systems that participate in the highly available implementation are also susceptible to the same or similar vulnerabilities. A certain degree of variance must be achieved in how all systems participate in the highly available implementation.

What's The Difference Between An Attack, Failure, And Accident? How Do These Differences Impact A Survivable Computer System

In many cases when I am discussing the security of systems with customers, the question of business continuity and disaster recovery come up. Most companies that provide a service that they deem critical just know the system needs to be operational in a consistent manner. However, there is typically little discussion about the various events or scenarios surrounding this and that can lead to great disappointment in the future when what the customer thought was a "survivable computer system" does not meet their expectations. Some of the items I like to bring up during these conversations is what their computer systems goal and objective is, what specifically does continuous operation mean to them, and specifically what constitutes an attack, failure, or accident that can cause loss of operation or failure to meet objectives.

A failure may be defined as a localized event that impacts the operation of a system and its ability to deliver services or meet its objectives. An example might be the failure of one or more critical or non-critical functions that effect the performance or overall operation of the system. Say, the failure of a module of code that causes a cascading event that prevents redundant modules from performing properly. Or, a localize hardware failure that incapacitates the computer system.

An accident is typically an event that is outside the control of the system and administrators of a local / private system. An example of this would be natural disasters such as hurricanes, if you live in south Florida like I do, or floods, or wide spread loss of power because the utility provider cut the wrong power lines during an upgrade to the grid. About two years ago, a client of mine who provides web based document management services could not deliver revenue generating services to their customers because a telecommunications engineer cut through a major phone trunk six blocks away from their office. They lost phone and data services for nearly a week.

An now we come to "attack". We all know accidents will happen, we know that everything fails at one time or another, and typically we can speculate on how these things will happen. An attack, executed by an intelligent, experienced individual or group can be very hard to predict. There are many well known and documented forms of attacks. The problem is intelligence and human imagination continuously advance the form of malicious attacks and can seriously threaten even the most advanced designed survivable computer systems. An accident or failure does not have the ability to think out of the box or realize that a highly available design is flawed because all participants use the same design. The probability that an attack might occur, and succeed may be quite low, but the impact may be devastating.

Conclusion

One of the reasons I wrote this article was to illustrate that it's not all about prevention. Although prevention is a big part of survivable computer system design, a critical computer system must be able to meet its objectives even when operating under hostile or stressful circumstances. Or if the steps taking for prevention ultimately prove inadequate. It may be impossible to think of all the various events that can impact a critical computer system but it is possible to reasonably define the possibilities.

The subject of survivable computer systems is actually one of complexity and ever evolving technology. This article has only touched on a few of the basic aspects of computer system survivability. I intend on continuing this article to delve deeper into the subject of survivable computer systems.

Before networking was used in computer systems, copying and printing was treated in varying ways. Many companies place inexpensive printers on each employee’s desk. Talk about using maximum number of resources. As this is quite convenient for every employee, not all company can afford having to buy many printers and other things that needed for them.

Today’s printers however, thanks to modern technology, does not only copy. They are now made to follow instructions that come from network devices. This is printing centralized printing style. The manufacturers have also added printing capabilities to these copiers to add more usable features and convenience without having to use many equipments and tools. With additional charge, of course. But compared to having to buy many printers to be used, the price is a small thing to consider. Centralizing printing has many advantages both for the company and employees.

Superior print quality. Being more sophisticated, not to mention more expensive, they produce more quality prints compared to other less expensive ones. If you think of the more beautiful prints that these copiers can make, then the expenses shed in buying them is fair enough.

Monitoring of supplies. A centralized printer allows the company to monitor the expenses and the use and overuse of toner, paper. Some of these printers have reports on the date and time of usage. This way the company can check if there are employees using them after office hours. These copiers are not meant for those who are taking advantage of company resources for personal purposes.

Specialized printing. Not all printers can print on both sides of the paper and make it not appear too obvious. Not all can format papers for stapling and folding requirements. These copiers are quite capable of these and other features depending on the program that that the operation requires. Lessens the task of the people and letting the printers do most of the work.

Easy maintenance and repair. Having only one system and repair is convenient for the IT department. Makes up for having to check all the printers and systems one by one. Some of the problems can even be repaired just from one main system.

For the employees having to do lots of printing and needed to go halfway down the entire length of the building to do so, using these copiers and printers would be one big relief for them. The expensive system also means that they would probably last a long time and quite some time too before repairs. It can also mean that the savings will have to wait after the initial purchase of these machines.

But if you think of the printing advantages like the ones mentioned, then why not?

Salon computer systems should be equipped with the features and functionalities that enable you to perform your everyday functions in your salon. Whether you want to use only a notebook or want to maintain worksheets for your customers all the facilities should be their in your salon computer system.

Salon computer systems are comprised of both hardware and software. Beside the monitor, CPU, mouse and keyboard there should be cash drawer, barcode scanner, thermal receipt printer included in hardware category for salon computer systems. Salon POS systems can also be used to make your business growing. With these systems, while working on customer’s account you can get the receipt in just the single click of mouse.

If you have a salon POS system then electronic calculation, credit card processing, automatic billing of day to day activities are just available on a single click of mouse.

Salon computer systems software should make you able to manage your salon in a better way. By using salon computer system you can perform day to day activities in your salon conveniently which involves managing clients, products, payrolls, employee schedules and many other functions also.

The salon computer systems should not only be equipped with the management softwares that helps you to manage the business but it should also have the beauty softwares such as hair dressing softwares, makeup software, tattoos software and many others that can help your customers and clients.

Salon computer systems that are used now days have a window based interface as this is the convenient way to work. Due to window based interface it also allows you to open many windows at a time. Built in help facility should also available in salon computers systems to use various software.

The salon computer systems provide you the facility of worksheets which contains information that is previously stored and allows you to see or print out the details about a customer, a product, and sales or related to any payment. It should also provide you a way to manage your customer data. By using this software you can review the history of the discount you have offered to customer or the services that you have provided to your customer.

These salon computer systems have been helping the professional in improving and turbo charge their business. They not only help them to manage their business but many beauty softwares also attract the customers to their salons.

Before purchasing any software for your salon computer systems you should know about the most common features that your salon computer software must have. The basic function that salon software must have is the data organization option. By using this function the owner can easily find the client information and history. A good salon computers system program should also have the capability to generate the promotional emails and discount offers to customers. It should also have the financial management option that keeps track of sales and profit.

The salon computer systems can be said to efficient only if it is capable to help the owner of salon to manage the operations of his or her business.

Every computer and server stores data. That doesn't make them data storage systems, however. Usually that term is reserved for the systems that store data for use in recreating files after some kind of computer disaster. These data storage systems can be onsite, nearby or at a remote location. There are varieties of models and media, allowing a system to be designed specifically to meet the needs of a particular company.

Models and Media

The different models of data storage systems are usually reserved for medium to large companies. Large, data-driven companies require dependable storage and a means to recreate files quickly. Whether the data is stored close by depends on the type of disaster that can be foreseen. A company based near earthquake country would be foolish to back up onsite computers with onsite servers. They would be better off to have their own servers at some distance or outsource their data storage systems needs.

For example, Wall Street companies keep mirror facilities out of state complete with desks, phones and data copies so that any damage caused by terror attacks will not close their businesses for more than a few hours. The models of data storage systems include full backup with incrementals. This is a backup of all the files which is kept stored in a safe place. The incrementals are copies of changes from the original backup taken at regular intervals. If the files need to be rebuilt, the full backup is copied back on the computer system and all of the incrementals are added.

Another model is the full backup with differentials, which is one of the better data storage systems. The full backup is compared to the current files, and only the differences are copied. Files are rebuilt using only the full backup and the most recent differential. Other data storage systems can stay connected to the computer network and record all activity. Media for data storage systems has always been ruled by magnetic tape. For bulk storage, the dependability, capacity and price can not be any better.

Modern hard discs are beginning to come close, however. Advantages of hard discs include ease of use and quick availability. For individual computers, optical discs like CD's and DVD's can be used in various data storage systems. Rather than a company-based backup, many corporations outsource their data storage systems. They can upload their files over a LAN or the Internet and recreate them the same way.