Frequently Asked Questions

Which Monitor Should I Buy?
The easy answer is "buy the biggest monitor you can afford." The bigger the screen, the more information you can display, and the easier it will be to read. In terms of value, I recommend that you go with a 21-inch LCD monitor, since they cost only a bit more than 19-inch models. Avoid the old 14- and 15-inch models completely.

A bit of quick searching today revealed that one can find decent quality 21-inch monitors for around $149. The 22-inch monitors are a nice upgrade and will cost only $30-$40 more. Stepping up to a 24-inch or 30-inch model starts to get more pricey, since those are generally considered "professional" models for graphic design, video editing, etc.

If you can swing it, consider going with a dual-monitor setup. My desktop sports dual 21-inch monitors, which allows me to easily view both a web page and a word processor at once.

What Causes a Laptop Hard Drive Crash?
A hard drive mechanism is an incredibly precise device. A typical laptop hard drive spins at 5400 rpm, and a standard disk is just 2.5 inches in diameter. A little math reveals that a point on the disk's rim is moving at just over 40 miles per hour. Hovering over that speeding surface, less than a hair's width away, is a metal read/write head. Even better, the head is constantly zipping back and forth across the radius of the disk, reading and writing data in different sectors. If head meets disk... crash!

We're talking about a serious physical crash, not just a software error. The head digs into the disk's surface, gouging up bits of the magnetic film that stores data. Anything written on that part of the disk is gone forever. Nothing will be written to that scratched part of the disk again. The head itself, a delicate thing, may be damaged and unable to read or write data anywhere on the disk.

Now think about how you use your laptop. You turn it on and the disk starts spinning with head and surface dangerously near one another. Then you pick the laptop up and carry it, none to steadily, to a wobbly table in a café. Or you balance it on your knees, shifting your position every couple minutes. You close the lid, turn the laptop sideways, shove it into a bag, and let it swing from your shoulder as you walk. Why on Earth doesn't the laptop hard drive crash constantly? The secret is cunning engineering.

If Your Laptop's Drive Crashes...

Not every laptop hard drive crash is fatal. A head may crash against a bit of dust on a disk without destroying any magnetic film. Friction from such a very brief rubbing heats up the head beyond its operating range, and the head shuts down temporarily. But it works again when it cools down.

Sectors of a hard drive disk damaged in a laptop hard drive crash can be detected by the operating system's "check disk for bad sectors" function and marked "do not use". Then it's safe to keep using a slightly damaged laptop hard drive. To run a check for bad sectors in Windows:

Click Start then highlight My Computer to show a list of available drives.
Right-click on the hard drive you want to check and select "Properties".
Click the "Tools" tab and then click through the "error-checking" options.

There will be an option to check for bad sectors and attempt to repair them. If you enable this option, the disk check will take quite a long time during which you will not be able to use your laptop. But you will end up with a disk whose bad sectors are marked "do not use".

The most vulnerable moment for your laptop is when it is shutting down or powering up. A lot of reading and writing of data occurs during these events and a laptop hard drive crash can be disastrous. When you close that laptop lid, wait until the disk activity light goes out before moving the laptop. Don't power on your laptop while it's in motion.

Should I defrag my computer?

Windows XP will tell you if your hard drive needs to be defragmented, so there's no guesswork. To check, do this:

Go to Start, All Programs, and click on Accessories.
Find Systems Tools, Disk Defragmenter and click on it.
Run an analysis first by clicking the Analyze button. Go do something else while it runs.
When it is done, there will be a message that says whether you need to defragment or not.
If it says that you should, click on the Defragment button, and again go do something else while your computer runs this.

For Vista, it's a little different:

Go to Start, All Programs, and click on Accessories.
Find Systems Tools, Disk Defragmenter and click on it.
Vista will ask you for permission to continue. Click Continue.
Vista doesn't give you the ability to choose to defragment, it just assumes you want to and presents a schedule to do so. You can stick with the suggested schedule, or modify it.
If you want to kick off the defrag process immediately, click the Defragment now button. It will then ask you which drive you want to defrag. Uncheck the drives you don't want to defrag, and then click OK.

How do I see how much space I have left on my hard drive?

I get asked this computer question after I've told someone they are having speed problems because they are out of hard disk space.

Click on the Windows start button. Find My Computer and click on it.
Find the C: drive and right click on it. Choose Properties from the menu.
The free space will show as the pink part of the circle.