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The display adapter, comprised of video drivers and a plug-in card or display circuit, generates the signals that display images and data on a laptop screen. The display adapter controls the maximum resolution (VGA, XGA, UXGA, WXGA and so on), how many colors can display (for example, VGA adapters can provide up to 256 colors) and how frequently the image refreshes itself (for example, 60Mhz, 75Mhz, 90Mhz). Laptop screens are generally smaller than monitor screens, so having ways to change the screen resolution as needed are important....

In most cases it is not possible to pick your own cell phone number from scratch. However, many cell-phone providers, like Verizon Wireless and AT&T Wireless, allow customers to choose a cell-phone number from a list if they want. You can also transfer your old cell-phone number to your new account in many cases as well. The only way to find out if you can choose your own cell-phone number is to contact your service provider....

The LaserJet family of printers by Hewlett Packard is a fairly common printer model in homes and offices. Like all printers, they occasionally require cleaning—both inside and out. Unlike ink-jet and dot-matrix printers, however, cleaning these laser printers is not as simple as pressing a “Clean Ink” button on the printer’s main panel. Rather, a special utility must be downloaded from the manufacturer’s website to properly clean the printer. It’s a good idea to clean the printer about once a month, or when it begins to show signs of a dirty print head....

URL masking, also known as URL cloaking, is a method that is used to redirect website visitors to a new location on the Internet. Normally, a web user can see the actual URL address for the current page in a web browser. With a cloaked URL, however, data from a second location is displayed even though the URL address does not appear to change in the browser. This technique is commonly used when web pages change location, but webmasters do not wish to confuse visitors by changing existing links....

Common printer problems get resolved by deleting and uninstalling the HP Printer Deskjet Driver and then reinstalling it later. It may also be necessary to reinstall the software if you mistakenly connected the printer to the computer before you were instructed. Uninstalling the software is simple if you follow the on-screen instructions. Writer Bio

Ricoh printers have a reputation for providing quality work at high speed. This means there may be a long wait if you only have one available for your home or office, and not having access to a printer at the right time can result in a loss of efficiency. To combat this, instead of purchasing a printer for each user, you can add the printer to an existing computer network....

The Nintendo Wii console comes packaged with standard stereo audio/video cables. Many older televisions will not have the inputs to support these cables, and only support a coaxial connection. Past Nintendo systems, such as the Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64, have had coaxial support from Nintendo directly in the form of RF switches and modulators. Though there are no official Nintendo RF modulators for the Wii, using a third-party RF modulator (see Resource) will let you connect a Wii to a TV through coaxial....

Wireless printers allow you to print documents from any computer in your network. When you have more than one computer in your home, this ability keeps you from having to purchase separate printers for each computer. You can connect a printer to a desktop computer and have printing capabilities even if your printer is located on the other side of the house. If you don’t have a wireless network already set up, you’ll need to set one up first....

Virtually all new laptops come with the ability to connect to a television. Connect your laptop to your TV to take advantage of a larger viewing screen, as well as watch movies streamed to your laptop on your television. Connecting your laptop to your television can be accomplished with the correct cable. Writer Bio

Converting files has never been easier. No longer is it necessary to download or purchase special software to complete file conversions, such as JPG to PDF. Instead choose from one of several online file conversion tools that allow you to convert your JPG to PDF format. The conversion process only takes a minute, and you’ll be able to immediately download your PDF file, either on the website or through your email....

One of the advantages of using touch screen laptops or tablets is that they make it easier to perform daily computing needs. Many companies use touch screens to eliminate the need to tap on keyboards in order to write words or jot down quick notes. Using touch screens also provides the flexibility of writing or drawing shapes that are difficult to produce using keyboards. A PC Tablet or a touch screen laptop can be very expensive to buy, often costing twice the price of a regular laptop....

A file extension of MHT indicates that the file is a Microsoft archived web page file. MHT is an acronym for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension HTML. MHT files can be created in web authoring tools, or in Microsoft Word by saving a document as an MHT web page. To change the MHT file extension to a PowerPoint Presentation (PPT) file type, you’ll need to convert the MHT file using the PowerPoint application and save it with the PPT file extension....

Comma separated value (CSV) files are plain text files that store information as separated by commas. MetaStock, created by Equis International, is software developed for market analysis of stocks and shares. Equis produces three versions of the software for end-of-day traders, currency traders and real-time traders. Equis International is owned by Thomson Reuters. The MetaStock software has built-in capabilities to convert CSV files for use with MetaStock.

Nearly all conventional DVDs use the DVD video object (VOB) file format for playback. VOBs contain both the video and audio content for the DVD joined within one file. After you’ve placed a VOB on your desktop, you may wish to convert it into an AVI to increase its compatibility. In order to complete this conversion, you can use an online conversion tool, which has the benefit of not requiring a program download and being entirely free....

Technology has evolved to the point where computer users can talk to computers and their computers will understand them. Windows 7 and Vista have a free utility that translates speech into text. It is located in a system folder called “Accessibility.” Using this tool, computer owners dictate emails, compose articles and even fill out online forms by speaking into microphones. Use your voice to dictate text by first setting up a voice profile and training the Microsoft speech recognition program to understand your voice....

Windows Media Audio (WMA) files are Microsoft-specific files specifically suited for its standard Windows Media Player. You may have a number of MP3s you want to convert to WMAs using Windows Media Player. However, WMP does not allow you to convert your music within its library. To convert your MP3s to WMAs in Windows Media Player, you must first burn the desired music to a CD, change your WMP import preferences, then re-import your CD back into the player....

You may have downloaded a RAR file and are unsure how to convert the file so that it will play. RAR files are actually similar to ZIP files; they compress one or many files into a single smaller file for easy storage or transfer. For this reason, you can’t use a video converter program to open the RAR file. This doesn’t mean that you can’t play the files. But first you have to extract them....

A Video Compact Disc, or VCD, is a video format created in Japan that allows for 1 hour of MPEG-1 encoded video and audio to be stored on a standard 700MB CD. VCD’s are playable in almost all standalone DVD players and computer CD/DVD drives. Their visual quality is about equal to what you would expect from a VHS video. Audio Video Interleave, or AVI, is a file format designed to store video and audio data that is primarly meant to viewed on computers and played by software video players such as Windows Media Player....

Copying a music video to CD on a computer requires a conversion process if you wish to play the CD as an audio file in a car or stereo. Burn the music video to CD as a data file without converting it, if you’re just looking to transfer it to another computer or game console. Note that not all music videos come in convertible file types, but files with AVI, WMV, MOV, MP4, FLV and similar extensions can usually be converted using free conversion software, such as the one found in the Resources section....

Comcast, a cable and communications company that serves more than 23 million customers, offers a free service you can use to create a personal website. You must have a Comcast high-speed Internet account to gain access to the service, however. Comcast customers can create a personal web page that takes up 25 megabytes of space on Comcast’s web server.