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The introduction of Core 2 Duo about a month ago delivered a new processor with about a 25% improvement in performance over the fastest chips in the market. The top-line X6800, running at 2.93GHz, was the most flexible of the new processors, with completely unlocked multipliers up and down. This allowed settings like running the stock speed at a 12x multiplier (3.5GHz) at default voltage - the result of the incredible head room exhibited by the new Conroe processors.

"Following the frustrating experience of having my MacBook shutting down without warning, I came across a terminal command that “tests” if your MacBook suffers from the issue. I thought I’d share this with everyone considering that many MacBook owners may not even be aware that their MacBook is faulty until it shuts down on them."

You may have been an early adopter, the first in your sewing circle to own a tray-loading Bondi blue iMac or fruit-flavored wonder--or perhaps you held off until the arrival of the slot-loading fruit flavors or earth-toned ruby and sage models. But your computer now seems a little rickety. Your applications are begging for more RAM, and your hard drive is just about full to the brim.

After a relatively simple firmware upgrade, you can boost your wireless signal, prioritize what programs get your precious bandwidth, and do lots of other simple or potentially much more complicated things to improve your computing experience.

Nice howto with lots of screenshots to skin the Motorola RAZR!

Backing up critical files is like exercising: everyone knows they should do it, but most people don't do it enough. A remedy for the files is automated online backup; as far as I know, there is no automated online remedy for staying in shape.

Automated online backup programs require only an Internet connection, a small software program, and a few minutes of your time. To perform a backup, you simply install the software on every computer containing data you want to back up; set up a backup schedule; and identify the files and folders to be copied. The software then sends copies of the files

Does your Windows-based PC crash for no apparent reason? Well OK, mine does too, but does yours crash often? At random times? With Nasty blue Screens of Death? If the answer is "yes", you may very well have a memory problem. Faulty memory, or RAM, is often the cause of the dreaded 'flaky PC' syndrome, those hard-to-replicate errors that get you nasty looks from the store technician because "…nothing seems to be wrong with it. Sir."

Quite by accident I found something that worked to remove minor scratches from the screen and face of my iPod Photo.

The problem of cooling the computer is not new. The more powerful and faster computers become, the "hotter" they get. Coolers inside computer cases, video card and power supply units are quite common nowadays. However, hard disk has no additional means to cool them. Most hard disk manufacture recommends 35-40°C working temperature for a hard drive. Once it crossed the limit safety of your data and hard disk becomes critical. Computer hard drive is the main storage media for your data.

This article explains how to monitor hard disk temperature and prevent the loss of data under Linux using automated scripts.

smartctl command controls the Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) system built into many ATA-3 and later ATA, IDE and SCSI-3 hard drives. The purpose of SMART is to monitor the reliability of the hard drive and predict drive failures, and to carry out different types of drive self-tests.

smartctl is a command line utility designed to perform SMART tasks such as printing the SMART self-test and error logs, enabling and disabling SMART automatic testing, and initiating device self-tests.

This article demonstrates usage of smartctl tool to test if hard disk is going bad.