Active Computer Hardware Posts
How To: Build a mineral oil cooled computer
Build a mineral oil computer aquarium. It cools the system while giving you something to look at.
How To: Connect Windows Media Center to your TV
Learn how to connect Windows Media Center to your TV.
Coming Soon: The World's First Glasses-Free 3D Laptop (aka Toshiba Qosmio F750)
Glasses-free 3D is devouring the United States, one mobile device at a time. First, gamers experienced autostereoscopic play with the Nintendo 3DS, then smartphone users got the HTC EVO 3D, and now laptops users can enjoy glasses-free 3D technology with Toshiba's upcoming Qosmio F750, available this August.
How To: Build a Hackintosh Mini for less than $600
Check out this awesome video to learn how to build a Hackintosh, from scratch, that's the same size as a NAS. This article will walk you through the video and if you follow all the instructions you'll have a Hackintosh Mini in no time.
How To: Build a USB hard drive
If you are looking for a data storage solution that's portable, but also durable, you should watch this video to learn how to build a USB hard drive. Take apart your external hard drive to find out what kind it is and then build a new one.
Chromebook: The World's First Web-Only Laptop Computer Coming Soon
It's been about five months since Google first unveiled their prototype future computers running Chrome OS, and the time is nearly here for the Chromebooks to be unleashed on the public. But there are a lot of qualms over the release of Chromebooks, with most criticism coming from their lack of traditional laptop-based features such as an optical drive, storage space and the ability to run comprehensive software programs like Adobe Photoshop.
How To: Replace the graphics card in your PC
Ready to upgrade the graphics/ video card in your PC? You can do it yourself. Watch this video to learn how to remove the old graphics card from your computer and install a new one. Get your hardware up to date.
How To: Apply thermal paste to bitcoin mining cards
Is the bitcoin gold rush on? Are you are trying to set up a bitcoin mining operation? You'll want to make sure to apply thermal paste to your cards so that they will cool better and last longer. If you are going to try bitcoin mining, you've got to do it right.
News: Comfortable Clicking with Stylish Computer Mouse Made of Felt
Revitalize your computer experience with something new and eccentric, possibly even more comfortable—a felt computer mouse.
How To: Change the resolution on a HP Mini 1000 to 1024x768
Want to know how to change the resolution on your HP Mini 1000 netbook? It's easy! So easy, in fact, that this video tutorial can present a complete, step-by-step overview of the process in just over a minutes' time. For specifics, and to get started changing the resolution on your own HP Mini 1000, watch this Mini-owner's guide.
How To: Install a new screen on a Dell Inspiron laptop
A broken screen may seem like the end of the line for your laptop, but don't worry! The screen is the most fragile and vulnerable part of a laptop, and it is not uncommon for it to break. You can replace it yourself and give your Dell Inspiron a new life.
Classic Commodore 64 Reborn: Get a 2011 PC in Retro Skin
Back in 1982, the Commodore 64 home computer was released by Commodore International for $595 (which would now be close to $1,300). It featured an 8-bit microprocessor, 16-color video microchip, awesome sound chip, parallel and serial capabilities, and a whopping 64 kilobytes of memory, all of which helped make it the best selling home computer from 1983 to 1986. It surpassed anything IBM had out at the time. Its greatest competitors were the Apple II and Atari 8-bits, 400 and 800. And it had...
How To: Safely clean an LCD screen
This video answers the question, how do you safely clean an LCD? Remember that LCD’s do not have glass so you have to be careful how much pressure you apply, as well as the kind of cloth you are using, or you can damage or scratch the screen.
How To: Utilize MacBook Pro's High-Speed Data Transfer with Upcoming Thunderbolt Devices
It's somewhat funny that the HTC ThunderBolt smartphone would be released around the same time as Apple's new Thunderbolt technology. Mainly because HTC's smartphone isn't exactly something I would compare to a flash of lightning, which averages around 60,000 miles per second. But Apple's new interconnect surely deserves the Thunderbolt designation.
How To: Set up and use IDE / SATA to USB adapters
If you're a certified computer nerd along the lines of NASA scientist Howard from "The Big Bang Theory," then you know how frustrating it can be transferring large amounts of data between an external hard drive or other drive and your main computer, especially when you're in a rush to get experiment data in. Usually this requires mounting the drive into a system or external case first.
How To: Connect your laptop to your TV
If you want to use your sweet new 40" TV as your monitor instead of your laptop, here's how to do it. This quick how-to video walks you through the steps to have you up and running and checking email BIG time in no time.
How To: Recycle gold from old computer parts
Electronic waste is becoming more and more of a problem for the industrialized world, especially since most electronics are full of precious and rare-earth metals that should be recycled. Even gold! Enter this video. It will show you how you can use chemistry to strip the gold from your old computer and other electronic parts and, well, have more gold! Who doesn't want gold?
Tech Tip: Clean Your LCD Screen With a Coffee Filter
Apparently paper towel + Windex is a no-no when it comes to cleaning your computer or television's LCD screen. Apple's official guidelines for proper cleaning are as follows:
How To: Replace or install additional RAM in a Microsoft Windows desktop PC
Thinking about upgrading the memory in your desktop computer? This brief video tutorial from the folks at Butterscotch will teach you everything you need to know. For more information, including detailed, step-by-step instructions, and to get upgrading your own RAM, take a look.
How To: Use the ATI Overdrive utility to overclock your ATI AMD Radeon Graphics Card
Are you a speed freak? Not getting the fps rate you want in your favorite 1st person shooter? If you're answering yes, then it's time to get overclocking. This step-by-step video shows you how to use the ATI Overdrive utility and the MSI Afterburner utility to overclock your ATI AMD Radeon Graphics card to push those pixels to the max! The MSI Afterburner utility works with both Nvidia and ATI cards.
How To: End shutter lag, improve WiFi performance and more
Find which airlines Google is providing free Wi-Fi on this holiday season, fix shutter lag on digital cameras, wipe your hard drive for free, improve your Wi-Fi router performance, adjust your television and monitor for accuracy, choose the best 1080p projector, use a single server that can handle OS X, Windows & Linux simultaneously, and use the best audio encoding system for Windows Media Center and Zune.
How To: Control an MacBook Pro laptop with an Apple iPhone headset
In this tutorial, we learn how to use an iPhone headset to remotely control a MacBook Pro. It's an easy process and this video presents a complete guide. For more information, including a full demonstration and detailed, step-by-step instructions, watch this helpful home-computing how-to.
How To: Instant zoom on your social network photos
Install this new add-on for Mozilla Firefox and show full-size images from Flickr or Facebook just by hovering over the thumbnail or link. This add-on shows the full-size images in a floating panel without having to open a brand new browser page. Thumbnail Zoom also works on MySpace, Amazon, Picassa, Twitter, LinkedIn, Hi5, Twitpic, deviantART, PhotoBUcket, Tagged, last.fm and Wikipedia. Veronica from Tekzilla Daily demonstrates all the cool features.
How To: Get video footage from a DSLR, steal documents via USB and much more
This half-hour episode of Hak5 covers several topics: Using a DSLR camera to create HD footage, building your own Google TV, unlocking & copying locked files with Lock Hunter, using PicPick for screen capture, using WinDirStat for analyzing & cleaning your hard drive, setting up a secure FTP server with Ubuntu Server, and secretly copying data from USB drives with USB Dumper.
How To: Install a bottom mounted power supply in a PC tower case
Most PC tower cases have the power supply mounted near the top of the case in the back. However, if you want your PSU to run a little cooler, watch this video to learn how you can mount your PSU on the bottom of a tower case, allowing it to draw cooler air from the bottom of the case rather than the hot interior of the case like a top-mounted traditional setup would.
How To: Chrome Your Web Experience with Google's Cr-48 Notebook
Join the Pilot program and learn how to fly! But you're not going to be flying airplanes in this Pilot program, you'll be trying your hands at Google's first laptop computer.
How To: Install a 7" USB monitor on the side of a PC tower case
7" USB monitors aren't useful for that much at first glance, but as this guy who had one laying around his house for years proves they do have their uses. This video will show you how to mount a USB monitor (7" in this case) in the side of your PC tower case and use it for monitoring CPU usage or other useful information.
News: Steve Wozniak Presents 9 Revolutionary Gadgets
How did we get to the age of smartphones, ereaders, laptops, and crazy touchscreen displays? Gizmodo covers Steve Wozniak's recent presentation of nine key gadgets that have deeply influenced the tech God's work. A few highlights below; click through for the full survey.
How To: Diagnose a hard drive problem and choose the right data recovery service
Most of the most important information in the world is stored on computers, and if your part of it gets deleted in some way you're probably in trouble. There are lots of data recovery options out there, and this video will show you how to figure out what sort you need for your hard drive / data storage problem.
How To: Fix a computer that has no sound
This video explains how to diagnose and fix issues involving having no sound on your computer. How to figure out if you have on board sound or a sound board is shown based on how the audio plugs are positioned on the back of the computer. The narrator explains the importance of checking your speakers using an iPod to make sure the speakers are in working condition. The next trouble shooting technique shown is to go into control panel/device manager. Using device manager make sure your audio d...
How To: Clean your Mac computer keyboard
In this video, we learn how to clean your Mac computer keyboard. You will need to have iKlear and iClean to do this, along with a microfiber cloth. To start, you will take off the tops to each of the keys one by one. After you remove one, you will place the cloth over the top of it and then spray it. From here, you will clean the key off and then replace it back on the keyboard. After this, repeat for each of the keys until you have cleaned the entire keyboard. Give it one final wipe and then...
How To: Fix the VAIO SZ spacebar
In this video, we learn how to fix the VAIO SZ space bar. First, gently lift up on the space bar until the top is removed from the bottom of the board. After this, take a scrap piece of paper and place it underneath the middle of the metal that's on the space bar. After this, click the bar back into place on the keyboard. Now, test out the space bar to see if it works! It should be working without any problems now. If you do experience more problems, just repeat this same procedure and you wi...
How To: Clean dust & dirt from your desktop computer
In this tutorial, we learn how to clean dust & dirt from your desktop computer. First, take the front panel off of the tower and then clean the area around the fan off as well. Use a vacuum cleaner to suck the dirt out but make sure not to touch the surface on the system. On the inside you can use cotton swabs and wash cloths that are slightly damp. You can also use a small straw and remove the dirt and dust from the fan and the areas around it. When finished, your computer should be running ...
How To: Wash your keyboard
In this video from Defcon Computers we learn how to clean your computer keyboard. You can use cans of air, or take off your keys. But in this video we learn how to actually clean the keys themselves. With the computer off, put Windex on a paper towel, and rub the key. Put more Windex on your paper towel and continue to rub the keys. Rub them individually and also clean the spaces in between the keys with the paper towel. Again, make sure your computer is off or else you'll get all sorts of er...
How To: Find out what an unknown device is in device manager
This video narrates and explains how to figure out how to install an unknown device using the device manager. The first step is to access the device manager through the control panel/system. Once in device manager you must select the show devices options. Once the device menu is visible you then find the unknown device section and copy the name of the device driver. The next step is to open Google search engine and paste the unknown device ID name. After the search is complete you will see ma...
How To: Take apart a computer's keybaord & clean it
In this video, we learn how to take apart a computer's keyboard & clean it. First, turn the keyboard upside down and remove the screws from the side with a screwdriver. After this, flip it back over and remove the keys from the top. Put the keys into a bowl of soap and water and let them soak. Then, remove the screws from the top of the keyboard and set them aside. Open up the keyboard and then dust and clean the inside of it until clean. Next, you will replace all of the parts you removed in...
News: Hackintosh = Ghetto Mac-in-a-Box
Sometimes going ghetto is the best route, especially when you can save about $1200 big ones. Just ask the guys over at 1 Block Off the Grid. When they needed a fancy Mac to run Adobe After Effects, they decided to Hackintosh it. Meaning they built a Mac in a box -literally (a cardboard Amazon box acts as the "case").
How To: Change the mouse sensitivity on Vista
In this video, we learn how to change the mouse sensitivity on Vista. First, you will go to the start menu, then the control menu. From here, scroll down to where it says 'mouse' and double click on that. After this, you will see a section for the double click speed. Change that if you would like. Then, click on the tabs on the top of the window to change the pointers, pointer options, wheel, and hardware. Once you have changed all the options that you want, you will be able to apply them and...
How To: Install an Intel Core i7 processor when building a computer
In this computer builder's guide, we learn how to go about installing an Intel i7 quad-ore CPU on your system's motherboard. It's easy! So easy, in fact, that this video tutorial can present a complete overview of the process in about four minutes. For more information, including detailed instructions, watch the clip.
How To: Install an ATX motherboard when building a computer
In this computer builder's guide, we learn how to go about installing an ATX motherboard. It's easy! So easy, in fact, that this video tutorial can present a complete overview of the process in about four minutes. For more information, including detailed instructions, watch the clip.