The need to carry out complex calculations has culminated the computer from its mechanical roots of relays and movable parts. While calculating devices have been around since around 3000 BC, modern computing technology traces its roots to 16-17th Centuries. The Evolution of computers is often categorized in Generations. It is relevant to note a period before these a "generation 0" between 1640s-1940s whose machines were mechanical devices (e.g. relays and gears) including Pascal's Pascaline, the first mechanical calculator.

Generations of Computers

First Generation (1945-1959) Vacuum Tubes

Relays were replaced by vacuum tubes which had no moving parts hence faster, eventually hybrids of both were built. The first electronic computers were the COLOSSUS (1943 - though not publicly-acknowledged) and ENIAC (1946) which contained 18000 vacuum tubes and 1500 relays. Also notable was UNIVAC which became the first commercially available computer.

Second Generation (1960-1965) Transistors

Vacuum tubes replaced by transistors (Invented at Bell Labs in 1948). High Level programming languages developed; FORTRAN and COBOL among others. Transistors were much smaller, and cheaper to make and far more reliable than valves.

Third Generation (1965-1971) Integrated Circuits

Machine speeds went from microsecond to the picoseconds (trillionth) range. Terminals replaced punched cards for data entry. This era saw the rise of Operating Systems and mass production of circuitry. IBM introduced compatible family of computers

Fourth Generation (1973-) VLSI - Very Large Scale Integration

Allowed thousands of transistors to be incorporated in a chip giving rise to the microprocessor- a processor on a chip. These reduced the price of computers giving rise personal computing.

The 1990s saw the Fourth Generation advance into ULSI (Ultra Large Scale Integration) with millions of transistors per chip. In 1965 Intel's Gordon Moore predicted "the number of transistors on an IC wills double every 18 months."

Fifth Generation (1985- ) Parallel Processing and Networking

Still a debated generation. How high end machines (e.g. web servers) can have multiple CPUs and inter-connectivity between computers; networks.



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For those people who are always trying to preserve and protect their privacy can always turn to the internet for a fast and free fix. This is where they can get a piece of the action for free. They use free proxies on the net but may risk something more.

Using free proxy is not without risks. There are over a thousand proxy servers that seem to be ready for use since their administrators have been mis-configured their servers and are unaware that their servers have been tainted or contaminated by outside influence. This is the danger of free proxies. They are on the net and for free but may have been influenced by other sources.

Not all the free servers are there to protect you. On the contrary, some of these free proxy are designed to steal information from a casual user. In cases where legit servers have been hacked, they are used to pry into other member's accounts and let the information be accessed.

Some experts cite that why would a proxy server be let for free when it actually costs a lot more money to protect one person? Who is the person that can afford to subsidize over a million proxy users?

Somehow it doesn't make sense.

So where can you get a free proxy server that really works? The answer is you can't rely on a 100 percent reliable one. Chances are that somewhere along the line your identity gets compromised and you are left exposed. Using a free proxy server means using a poorly designed one. It may process your request at a high speed but in reality, proxy servers are really slow since there are safeguards that whole sites have to go through. When you think how a lot of people do this you begin to wonder if it really does work or is it just hype.

If you want to risk yourself by using free server proxies, go ahead but there are actually ways that are not so expensive to protect yourself and your privacy. You can opt to use paid encryption services that are really hard to beat but they can only be used on specific tasks like email correspondence. Some legit services do offer anonymity but at a price. It all depends if you want to pay for it.

You should decide whether your need for using a free proxy server is for fun or for serious work. If it is for serious work then you should not leave things to chance. So where can you go to get free proxy servers? The internet but you risk exposing yourself to fraud and theft.



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Protecting documents by the use of a laminating machine is actually easy once you get a hang of it. Whether you are using a pouch laminator, roll laminator or even self seal sheets, with a little practice you will soon see that the process is not that difficult at all.

First off, pouch laminating machines are the most common laminators around. To start the laminating process, you must turn on the machine and have it warm up for a few minutes. A typical warm up process can take up to 10 minutes, depending on what brand or model of pouch laminator you are using. You must also set the heat settings. You must determine how much heat must be applied to bind the pouches. For thick documents, a higher setting is ideal.

When you have achieved the desired heat level, you can now place the documents that you want to bind inside the pouch. The pouch will then be inserted into the machine with the closed edges first. This is done to prevent air bubbles from forming during the laminating process. Another option is to use a carrier. Some machines use this to prevent excess glue from dripping into the rollers and minimize the formation of bubbles.

Roll laminators on the other hand requires a different approach. The process of setting up the machine will be different although, the principles on how to laminate a document is the same. For starters, check if the heat shield and feed tray are in place. If they are not placed correctly, the machine will not move.

Like pouch laminators, you must determine the heat setting and then warm up the machine. When everything is ready, you can now place the document into the feed table and press run. The machine will now roll in the document and laminate it. If you have various documents that need to be laminated, then you can place one after the other. The finished product then exits in the back of the machine.

Pretty much like all machines, learning to use a laminator takes some patience and experimentation. If you can devote some time, then you are guaranteed laminate your documents like a pro.



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We use a DVD for several applications. We can watch a movie in it or play your favorite video games. The DVDs may not function well if it becomes dirty. It has a tendency to skip when it becomes too dirty. It will also have a hard time reading the information properly. The dirt becomes a hindrance for reading the data. Cleaning the DVD is not so hard as long as you follow the right steps accordingly. This is moderately difficult task. The things you will need are duster, cleaning disc, alcohol, q-tips, screw driver and three in one oil.

1. The first step on how to clean a DVD is unplugging it properly. You should make sure that it's completely connected. You should then put it in another place where you would get a lot of room for cleaning it.

2. The second step on how to clean a DVD is examining the player. Check the vents and the fans. You must check if there is a thick build up of the dirt or grime. If the area with the vents already has a big accumulation then it means that you have not cleaned it for a very long time. It would not help if you use the duster on it because it will just get blown back to the player. If the accumulated dust is just light then you should start cleaning it by just blowing on it. There are some DVD players that let you open it up so you can blow on it easily.

3. The third step on how to clean a DVD is putting the disc for cleaning it. You can just watch as it does its job. For a large accumulation of dust or dirt it may not play properly. However if the disc for cleaning finished until the end then you can end your cleaning process

4. The fourth step on how to clean a DVD is disassembling the DVD. This will enable you to clean and remove the large build up of dirt properly. You should start this by looking for the player's seams, security tape and screws. Be careful of the tape because if that breaks then you will not be able to avail your warranty in case it breaks down. You can risk this and open the player. You do this by first removing the screws which you will find on the player's bottom. You should just be taking the casing out then remove the dust accumulation on the vents first by using your duster. Be careful not to shake it because the nitrogen might leak out and damage the player.

5. The fifth step on how to clean a DVD is putting alcohol on your q-tips. Then swipe it on the part with the laser. You can then rub it on the rails if you find any dust on it. Do not swipe the alcohol on the circuits.

6. The sixth step on how to clean a DVD is letting it dry properly. You start by dipping a q-tip with the oil and brushing it on the rails. Then after a few minutes of drying you can close it now and then play the disc for cleaning the player. Then if it plays all the way to the end then you have successfully cleaned your DVD.



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Ever wonder how we get all those spam emails selling us stuff; saying that we have been pre-approved for a certain credit card; or offering us many different things from playing online casino to subscribing to pay-per-view shows and such?

There are a lot of reasons why we get all these kinds of emails; one of which is that our email address has been sold to a third-party buyer when we signed-up for certain online promos.

Another bigger reason is that our browsing habits have been monitored and tracked down by other websites who use trackers specifically for the purpose of marketing.

How do they track us down? They do this by using our Internet Protocol addresses. This is where an HTTP Proxy can come into play. What are these?

IP ADDRESSES AND HTTP PROXIES

IP ADDRESS

To know the answer to What are HTTP Proxies?; we must first understand what an IP Address is. Simply put, an IP Address is the configuration that the computer network has designated to our computers.

The IP Address allows other computers to connect to us when we are online to give us information on things we are looking for or to hook us up to the websites that we want to browse.

With this unique number configuration, it will be easy for internet predators to track down our browsing habits; from the sites that we frequent to our location. But these are not all that our IP Address can reveal about us.

Identity thefts; credit card fraud and other online malicious activities may befall us all because of our IP Address.

HTTP PROXIES

Now these are alternative servers that we can use when surfing the internet to allow our own IP Address to be hidden from online predators.

These will send information to the World Wide Web through an anonymous proxy server so that our online computer identity will not be open to the internet network.

To further understand What are HTTP Proxies?; what happens when we use them is that when we send information to the internet using any one of these HTTP Proxies; they use their own IP Address instead of ours.

We may think that this is already the solution we are looking for to prevent malicious hackers from using our identities but there's more to What are HTTP Proxies? than just hiding our identities.

There are open HTTP Proxies that can do more damage to us than our own IP Addresses. These types of proxy servers are often manipulated by again, malicious users to control our computers to hack into or attack other computers; using us as the end-user.

The more reliable proxy servers are what we call Web-based HTTP Proxies. These do not require downloads or configuring our browsers; and these operate solely through Web browsers.

Now that we know a few things about the question What are HTTP Proxies?; it is solely upon our own discretion whether we want to use these or not. We should first weigh the pros and cons of using these proxy servers before using them.




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