DDR SDRAM
DDR(Double Data Rate) SDRAM is the newest memory standard with the highest bandwidth and the
lowest latency currently available and dramatically improves the memory
system's ability to service, among others, high multimedia requirements.
It had a short contention with Rambus, however, early adoption due to pricing proved vital in it's becoming a standard.
It has come in many different speeds, 800FSB being the top offering at the moment. For budget considerations, 533FSB is still available at a more value oriented price, and for the average home user, either should be fine.
If you plan on maximizing the full potential of your computer system, however, you should ask for an 800FSB system
How valuable is the data on your system? Imagine your hard drive fails and the data recovery place informs you that "Nothing is retrievable". You have just lost your data files, installed software, operating system and network settings. Consider the downtime, as well as the lost productivity.
Scared yet?! Well, you should be. This happens far too often. Hard drives are extremely volatile media storage devices. They are prone to damage from extremes in temperature, voltage fluctuations, magnetic fields, bumps and vibrations.
The solution; back-up your information. There are many quick and painless ways to back up your data, tape drives, zip drives, external usb/firewire hardrives, or simply adding a low cost cd-rw(burner) or dvd-rw to your system. Cd-rw drives cost as little as fifty dollars, so there is no excuse not to protect yourself.
Furthermore, why not add a UPS to your system to help prevent from power spikes or power outages? An APC 6 outlet UPS can add valuable minutes to your machine so you can power down your system safely(and can be had for as little as $69!)
Recommended Software
Lavasoft Ad-Aware. Tired of all the ads that come up? Do you have a couple of things running in the background that seem suspicious to you?
Download Ad-Aware, which will keep your machine ad-free.
Visit Lavasoft's Website
Opera Webbrowser. A very nice alternative to Internet Explorer. Handy Mouse Gestures save you time and effort. Comes included with its pop-up killer,
effectively blocking ads in their tracks without additional software.
Visit Opera's Website
Cloudmark Spamnet. If you are anything like me, you get about 20 needless emails a day. Spamnet plugs easily into Outlook 2000/XP, and sends identified spam
into a spam folder. Each time you block/unblock a spam message, it keeps track of what you've blocked, and adds it to their internet database.
Visit Cloudmark's Website
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