Open Office

Microsoft Office goes for $100 at its cheapest price. Corel Word Perfect sells for $280. Many of us don't like, or want to spend that kind of money. But we find that we have to because we are told that these are the only ones. Wouldn't you love to have a free office suite?

There is one, it's called Open Office. This free programs is part of the open source gallery. It is a suite of programs that can be compared an Microsoft Office equivalent:

1. Writer = Word
2. Calc = Excel
3. Impress = PowerPoint
4. Base = Access

The best thing about Open Office is that it can read and write to all Microsoft Office documents except for Access. In other words, you can edit Microsoft Office documents with Open Office, save them, and then open them up in Microsoft Office again.

Download OpenOffice!

How to buy a video card

There are so many video cards out in the market, choosing the right one for your needs can be confusing if you don't know what you are looking for. Knowing the difference between a gaming video card and a basic video card is very valuable.

There are 4 main categories that video cards fall into:

1. Enthusiast
   
2. Extreme Performance
3. Mainstream
4. Value

Enthusiast and Extreme Performance video cards are in the highest end of video cards. They are designed to perform top notch. With these cards, you would get the most out of your games. As you would be able to set the graphics settings to as high as possible. These are the most expensive cards on the market.

Mainstream video cards are for the casual gamer or the computer user who wants to play games, but doesn't care a lot about the graphics, and just wants to play the game. If you are to do a lot of 3D rendering, this is minimal card you would want to have in your computer.

Value cards are for those who just need their monitor to work, and are not concerned with games. These cards are designed to handle basic video displays with ease.

How to buy a notebook computer

Buying a notebook computer can be a little trickier than buying a desktop. And it requires more thinking ahead because, as far as you are concerned, notebooks can not be upgraded. To buy the right laptop for yourself you have to consider everything you could possibly use it for before buying it, remember people generally keep a computer for 5 years.

With that in mind, notebooks fall into 4 general categories, the activities listed in each category are the maximum each notebook can do well, multimedia and gaming, will perform basic computing.

1. basic computing - word processing, and surfing the web
2. multimedia - watching movies, casual gaming
3. gaming - hardcore on-the-go gamer
4. mobility

The prices work much differently as well, a $400-$600 will get you a basic computer, $900-$1,000 will get you a multimedia computer. If you want a gaming notebooks and you are buying from a retail store or from a big company the notebooks can sell for upwards of $1,600. I reccomend buying from a 3rd party store such as NewEgg or CyberPower PC as they are sell top notch compter a much lower prices.

How to buy a desktop computer

When you buy a computer are important things to consider first.

1. create a list of all the task you want it to perform
2. consider your price range, how much over your limit can you afford
   

The most common uses for a computer, listed in a way that makes for easy deciding on what the perfect computer is, each element on the following list, is what the computer will do best

1. word processing, surfing the web, checking email, and online chatting
2. multimedia, #1 and casual gaming
3. heavy-casual gaming
4. hardcore gaming
   

Common Use #1
This list is the most basic uses for a computer, and virtually any computer can preform these tasks with easily. If you are going to buy a new computer, and you don't want to get into gaming, there is no purpose in wasting your money.

A good computer for this Common Use consists of(these are basic):

• Processor: Intel Celeron, or AMD Semperon with a speed of 1.6GHZ to 2.0GHz
• DVD-Drive: DVD-RW will suffice, that is the standard now anyway
• Hard Drive: 120GB to 160GB of space is plenty.
• Graphics: An integrated card is plenty, this means that the video card is embedded in the motherboard
• RAM: 512MB for Windows XP, 1GB for Windows Vista
• Speakers: Depends on your preferences, usually an integrated card is perfect.

Prices:
Retail: $500 to $600
Custom: $300 to $450

Common Use #2
If you want a computer than can play streaming videos on the internet, one that lets you play your DVDs, and lets you play games, this is the option for you.

You should consider these hardware specifications:

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo, or AMD Athlon 64 X2 with a speed of no less than 2.0GHz
• DVD-Drive: DVD-RW will suffice as this is the standard, if you want to download a lot of movies, and copy discs you might appreciate having 2 DVD-RW drives, though getting buy with only one is perfectly fine too, you can copy disc with just one drive, its just takes alittle longer.
• Hard Drive: 320GB to 1TB is your best bet, especailly if you are going to be downloading a lot of movies.
• Graphics: An ATI integrated card will be acceptable. However, if you can afford a low end dedicated card, you will get better performace with your games
• RAM: 768MB for Windows XP, 2GB for Windows Vista

Prices:
Retail: $400 to $600
Custom: $300 to $700

Common Use #3
If you want to play games with your new computer somewhat often, but not all the time, or a good portion of your time. This is the option you should consider.

• As far as hardware goes, here is what to consider:
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo, or AMD Athlon 64 X2 with a speed of no less than 2.5GHz
• DVD-Drive: DVD-RW, one or 2 depending on how you want to do things from option 2
• Hard Drive: 320GB to 1TB
• Graphics: A dedicated card is the only option, as the more you play games the more you want the performance and grapgics to improve. A dedicated card allows for more games details, thus making the graphics look more realistic.
• RAM: 2GB for Windows XP, and 3GB for Windows Vista

Prices:
Retail: $800 to $1,100
Custom: $600 to $800

Common Use #4
As a hardcore gamer, you are going to want a computer that plays games at top notch. Games requires a lot of computer power, so the best thing to do is to buy the best hardware you can afford. This especially includes buying the best video card you can afford. This video card must be dedicated.

If you are using Windows XP, the best amount of RAM to buy is 4GHz, and if you are using Windows Vista, thes best option is as much as you can afford.

Prices:
Retail: $1,800+
Custom: $1,000+

The Beginning

I am Paul Bolduc, I am here to be a guide. If anything, I want to rid you of your computer fears and make using them as easy as tying your shoes.

This site will:

• reveal secrets regarding Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows Vista
• contain reviews for open source software
• troubleshooting tips for computer hardware
• plus a lot more