by John B. Emmerson III on February 9, 2010
On a hard drive, heads on moveable arms impart magnetic charges to sections of spinning discs. In effect, these charged sections are the files you bring up on your computer. And, while your merry-go-round spins at a nice leisurely pace, the discs that hold your info, also known as platters, are whirling around at speeds up to 15,000rpm. When you realize that one tiny particle of dust or dirt in your drive can ruin the drive, it’s amazing we don’t have more trouble with this vital component of our computers.
Hard drives are temperamental about the temperature inside your computer’s case. Cleaning the inside of your case is a surefire to keep your drive cool. All you need to do is remove one side panel on your case and use a can of compressed air to blow the dust out of your computer. Most cases have a couple of screws or thumbscrews screwed into the back of the case.
Before you dive into dusting your computer components, touch a piece of metal to get rid of any static electricity that may have built up. Though it may literally be a shocking experience for you, it will be much less painful than having to replace a fried hard drive or motherboard. Another option is to buy an inexpensive antistatic wrist strap, which keeps you static-free while you work inside the computer.
This is also the perfect time to check your fans to make sure they’re all working correctly. You must have properly functioning fans to ensure that air can circulate through your case. Once you’ve cleaned out your case, make sure cables are clear of fans, and turn on your computer while the side panel is still off.
External hard drives also need some special attention. If you use one, make sure it has space to do its thing. These drives can overheat just like internal drives, especially if they’re surrounded by books, stacks of papers, and other such material. An external drive needs to be able to circulate air in order to keep cool and this can’t be done effectively if the drive is cramped for space.
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by Willy Wong on February 9, 2010
One of the many ways you can make money as a photographer is to specialise on events. Christenings, weddings, and all sorts of other events where people make memories can be well paid business. The great thing is that all you need is a good digital camera, tons of memory cards, and some business cards.
What to do
You must be careful what events to cover if you want to make money. Only where people want to retain memories will it be worth your while.
One idea is to go to kids sports events. Get permission from the coach to click pics for the parents watching and then start clicking away. If you turn up with a massive telephoto lens like the ones used for pro coverage of events, you will be taken seriously. Make sure you get all the children doing great action shots and then hand out flyers to all the kids’ parents watching with your web address. If you can write down the parents email address so you can email them the URL of you site then upload the pics to your web site that day and email everyone. If you have a simple shopping cart set up you can make money in a few hours as people pop in to see the pics and buy them for $20 or more a pop.
You can do a similar thing with weddings. Take all the normal pictures as part of the wedding coverage but then get your URL printed on the wedding invites and all the other wedding materials and also get an email list of all the wedding guests, offer the couple a nice 20% discount for doing this and then take lots of extra pics at the wedding of the guests doing all the things they do. Upload all the pics to your site and send the emails. You will then make a lot more money than the 20% discount it cost you because then 20 or 30 people will be also buying your pics at $20 or more a shot straight from your site. Also charging them more for higher resolution shots is a great bonus income as well.
The trick is to find a niche where you can excel by being the best photographer in the room, and offering an easy way for people to buy your photos.
Dog shows, fashion shows, horse shows, car shows, livestock competitions, rock shows, – the list goes on. Keep your eye out in the events section of your local paper to see what is happening. Always ask for permission to shoot pics and if you need to offer the people 10% of the income if feel you need to so you can get easy access.
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