Looking to clean up your computer? Follow this computer clean up guide and you'll have a much smoother and more efficient computer:

1. Get rid of unwanted programs: Buy and Install NoAdware, it comes with helpful scanning tools for removing any harmful programs that have accumulated on your computer. NoAdware is one of the leading Adware & Spyware removal software on the market today.

2. Clear space on the computer: Large programs and running processes will tax your computer's runtime. If you have any Norton or Symantec programs installed, you should remove them if computer speed has become unbearable. You can go to your computer's Program Files folder and by right-clicking on folders, see which ones are taking up the most space. This info may also be available from your computer's Uninstall Programs feature (for Windows users, in the Control Panel). You should consider uninstalling large programs or programs which you rarely use. You can also use a program like RamBooster to get rid of old system files that are no longer needed.

3. Defragment the Hard Drive: On Windows computers, the DeFrag and Disk Cleanup are valuable utilities. DeFrag automatically rearranges files on your computer in an attempt to maximize computer run speed.

4. Clean the Fan: Unknown to many computer users, it's not all a matter of software. If your computer uses a fan (check the back of the computer Tower), you are actually recommended to clean it every few months (or at least I was by GeekSquad). Dust inside the tower case can accumulate, and as I personally experienced, can cause the fan to fail, which will mean the Tower overheats and your computer may refuse to start. For a good explanation of how to clean this fan (which involves opening up the Tower and using a cloth and/or compressed air can) you can see E-How's tutorial.

5. Manually Delete Temp Files: For Windows users, you can delete Temp files, Temporary Internet Files, and Cookies by going to C://Windows. You should see folders called Temp or Temporary Internet Files, and by going to the Profiles folder, can go to a user's folder and modify the Cookies saved by your computer. Temp and Temporary Internet Files folders house useless files that can accumulate and slow down your computer (particularly on shared computers). A user's Cookies folder holds site-specific files that contain login info or site preferences. However, unwanted Cookies can be harmful files downloaded by sites without your permission to attack your computer and contain Spyware or Adware. You should consider deleting Cookies for sites you do not trust.


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Liquid crystals were discovered in 1888 by an Austrian botanist named Freidrich Renitzer. The phrase liquid crystal was first used by a German physicist named Otto Lehmann. Liquid crystal is a clear organic material made up of long rod shaped molecules. It was discovered that the substance had the ability to manipulate the path of light waves traveling through it. This property is used in the creation of LCD display devices.

The benefit of liquid crystal display devices over CRT based devices is that LCD devices are less bulky and take almost a third less of the volume per equivalent viewing area, than a conventional CRT. This means LCD technology is a useful component for portable devices like laptops, calculators and mobile phones. Another advantage of LCD technology is that its power usage is significantly less than that of a CRT. However, it is much more costly to manufacture an LCD TV than a CRT TV.

An LCD Televisions is a grouping of LCD elements; each of these elements produces a pixel on the screen. An LCD element consists of two major parts: a layer of liquid crystal between two lightly ridged surfaces with their ridges perpendicular to each other and two optical polarizing filters perpendicular to each other.

The long rod shaped molecules in their normal state position themselves with their axis approximately parallel to each other. As the liquid crystal flows over the finely ridged surface it is possible to manage the alignment of the molecules as they track the position of the grooves. A layer of liquid crystal substance is placed in a container with two finely ridged surfaces whose ridges are perpendicular to each other. Therefore the molecules at the two surfaces are aligned perpendicular to each other and those transitional layers are twisted by intermediate angles.

Natural light waves are positioned at random angles and flow along assorted planes from the light source. An optical polarizing filter or polarizer can separate a single plane of light from the group. The filter acts like a net of finely parallel lines blocking all light, apart from light flowing in an area specific to the lines. The light in this state is said to be polarized. A second polarizer whose lines are perpendicular to the first would block all the polarized light.

The container with ridged surfaces is positioned between two perpendicular polarizing filters. Normally light from the first filter would be blocked by the second filter. However, in this case the liquid crystal material located in-between, twists the plane of light by 90 degrees as it passes through the material. The light is now parallel to the second filter and comes out through it to the eye of the viewer. This creates a light pixel.

A battery linked across the liquid crystal container generates a current through the liquid crystal, and changes the direction of its molecules according to the path of the current flow. This disturbs the pattern of the liquid crystal molecules, so that the molecules at the ridged surfaces are no longer turned by 90 degrees. Polarized light through the first filter gets moved to a different angle by the liquid crystal when it reaches the second filter, through which it can no longer appear. An observer on the other side of the filter does not see any light coming out. This process creates a dark pixel.

Images on the LCD Televisions screen can be displayed using a large number of these cells, each operating as a light or dark pixel. Therefore, on the LCD screen each cell corresponds to one pixel. To display color each cell is made up of three sub-cells with filters over them to produce green, red or blue colored light. By controlling the volume of current in each cell, the intensity of the colored light coming from each of the cells can be manipulated. By combing the 3 primary colors of red, blue and green the entire color spectrum is conveyed to the viewer.



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While there have been many innovations in the world of television, the emergence of flat screen LCD TVs is certainly one of the most significant. LCD technology has created lightweight televisions that can be placed virtually anywhere or even hung on the wall. This space saving technology is one of the most significant advances in the history of television, and today's lower prices mean that an LCD TV is within reach for many more TV viewers.

Of course the prices of quality LCD televisions will still vary quite a bit from store to store and brand to brand, so it pays to shop around carefully. Off brand televisions tend to cost a good deal less than name brands like Toshiba and LG, but it is important to make sure those off brands represent good value for the money and not just a lower price. Reliability is a big factor when it comes to LCD TVs, so it is important to read the reviews and look at the reliability ratings before making a decision.

And of course the prices of LCD TVs will tend to rise along with the size of the screen. While a 15" LCD TV can often be had for just a couple hundred dollars, an LCD TV with a 42" or 52" screen can still sell for north of a thousand dollars. With so much money on the line it is definitely important to shop around and be a value conscious consumer. In addition to brand name and size one of the most important factors to consider is the number of pixels on the screen.

The higher the number of pixels the sharper the picture will be and the greater the color depth your eyes will perceive. The increased clarity and color quality is one of the reasons that 1080p LCD TVs, with their higher number of pixels, still tend to cost a great deal more than lower quality 720p sets. It is important for value conscious TV shoppers to consider their needs and choose the television that truly represents the best quality.



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