Network Cards (NIC)

clipped from www.proprofs.com Network card is a card that is installed on a motherboard of a computer, which enables communication with other computers. Often abbreviated as NIC (Network Interface Card), an expansion board you insert into a computer so the computer can be connected to a network. Most NIC's are designed for a particular type of network, protocol, and media, although some can serve multiple networks. The PCs are usually connected by some type of cabling, usually an advanced type of phone-cable or coaxial cable. Network cards (NIC's) provide the interface between the network and computer's. A NIC can be recognized by any of these connectors: a RJ45, BNC, 15-pin female DB, or 9-pin female DB. It is very common to see NIC's with more than one type of connector. Probably the most common combination: NIC has an RJ-45 and a BNC.

Sound Cards : PCI and ISA bus connections

Typical Sound Card has a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) that handles most sound related computations.

clipped from www.proprofs.com a Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) for audio leaving the computer. a Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) for audio coming into the computer Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) for connecting to external music equipment (for many cards, the game port is also used to connect an external MIDI adapter). jacks for connecting speakers and microphones, as well as line in and line out. a game port for connecting a joystick or game-pad. Current sound cards usually plug into a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) slot, while some older or inexpensive cards may use the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus. Many of the computers available today incorporate the sound card as a chipset right on the motherboard. This leaves another slot open for other peripherals.

HDDs: IDE vs SCSI drives; 40 pin connectors vs 50 pin connectors

clipped from www.proprofs.com Many computers might have an IDE, SCSI or both installed. SCSI and IDE drives look quite similar. They are both about the same size as a floppy drive. The IDE cable has a 40-pin connector and is about 1.5 inches wide. The SCSI drives use a 2-inch-wide cable and 50-pin connector.

Floppy Disk Drives (34 pin ribbon connector)

clipped from www.proprofs.com The Floppy disk stores very less amount of data when compared to other devices like hard disk, CD-ROM etc. the common floppy disk available in market today stores 1.4 Megabits of information. The floppy is made of thin round film, which is coated with carbon and ferrous oxide. Since the floppy is very delicate it is packed in jacket to protect it. It looks black in color. The floppy drive allows you to access floppy diskettes. The Floppy drive is connected to the Motherboard (computer) via a 34-pin ribbon cable, which in turn is connected to the floppy controller. A PC can support up to two floppy drives. If it has two, they will be connected to the same ribbon cable. Since floppy drives need power, one of the power connectors must be attached to power supply. The Floppy disk comes in two sizes 5.25 and 3.5 inches in diameter. The 5.25-inch drive is completely obsolete, but is still used on older computers.

BIOS: Virus Protection, Virus Warning for the HDD Master Boot Record

Disabling Virus Protection


Virus Protection/Virus Warning
This setting has one of the most misleading names of all of the parameters in the BIOS. The system BIOS has no way at all to tell which programs are viruses, and which are wanted/actual programs. When enabled, this setting will trap any and all writes to the hard disk's master boot record, and display a message to the screen each time asking if you are willing to allow the write. Since one common type of virus is the boot sector infector, this can help in preventing the spread of these viruses.

However, it will also cause the BIOS to display its warning message for any legitimate access to the boot sector. So if you are using any utilities that modify partitions, or even if you are reformatting your hard disk, this message will pop up unexpectedly. You can however just “authorize” the BIOS, asking it to proceed with the write, but this can become rather annoying if it happens often. It can also be quite confusing to someone who doesn't understand the meaning of these BIOS message.

Some people prefer the safety of having this enabled; others find it annoying and turn it off. Most people don't usually run utilities that modify the boot sector regularly. When turned off, you might probably find a similar feature, more elegantly implemented, in a memory-resident anti-virus program.

BIOS/CMOS: Disabling On-Board Devices

clipped from www.proprofs.com Systems that have integrated peripherals like on-board Video Card, Sound Card, LAN Card, etc also provide the option of enabling or disabling the devices in the BIOS. When a particular device is integrated it means that it has been built into the motherboard and that a separate card is not needed. Apart from the above, you can also disable the standard hardware of the computer system like Hard Drives, Floppy Drives, CD/DVD ROMs, etc from the BIOS with the help of the options mentioned so far. Each of the settings has a 'Disable' option which you can select in case you want to disable a particular device.

BIOS/CMOS: Plug and Play Aware OS

clipped from www.proprofs.com There is only one common setting in BIOS related to Plug and Play. Plug and Play Aware OS When present, enabling this tells the BIOS that you are using an operating system that supports the Plug and Play specification (such as Microsoft's Windows XP). When enabled, the BIOS will look for and initialize any Plug and Play cards in the system. Enable the setting while using Windows XP or any other Plug and Play compatible OS. The default is normally “Disabled”. Some BIOS's will perform the initialization of Plug and Play cards automatically regardless of the operating system being used, and hence this setting will not exist. Some will work OK with Plug and Play irrespective of how this option is set. However, on some systems that have this setting, Plug and Play will not function properly if the setting is disabled.