Q: Where can I get antivirus software cheap/free?
A: Try
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition.

Q: Is there anything special I need to do before removing a hard drive from an existing system?
A: Uh, how about turn off the power to that system first? But really, there isn't really anything else to know...

Q: Will a 256 MB video card outperform a 128 MB video card?
A: No. More memory onboard merely means the video card has more memory for textures, and have enough buffer for higher resolutions at higher color depth. It has nothing to do with video card's speed. Video card's speed is determined by its 3D engine implementation and clockspeed, NOT by amount of memory.

Q: Is there such a thing as "Universal Charge" for PDAs that uses batteries?
A: Try here

Q: What kind of hard drive cable should I get? I'm getting confused with IDE/EIDE/ATA designations.
A: All you really need to know is get 80-conductor ATA133 cable. Those are backward compatible.

Long time, no entry, so here goes...

Video Card Market Gets More Interesting

Now the market has settled down somewhat, the picture is starting to emerge.

For the economy segment, NVIDIA appears to have the lead with the GFFX 5200 series. The GFFX 5200 can often be found for under $100 after rebate. The Ultra version is a bit faster, but costs about $170, making it not worthwhile. The GFFX 5200 has DX9 hardware support. The ATI competitor, the Radeon 9200, while about as fast, is only DX8. At least that it on paper.

In reality, GFFX 5200 is really TOO SLOW to truly exploit the DX9 features. When used in "budget" machines that is 2.5 GHz or slower, the card is self-limiting. The Ultra version is not that much better. The 9200 is basically AGP8X version of 9100, and it's actually a decent performer, if not too spectacular.

In the mid-grade segment, you have the GF FX 5600 / ultra, and the Radeon 9600 / Pro. Here, you're looking at slightly slower version of the top-end stuff, and this is where the TRUE value is, as these are often under $300, and has about 80% of the performance. Both are plenty fast, and both are overclock-able. It's hard to say which is faster. It depends on the benchmark...

As for high-end stuff, 9800/pro and 5900 / ultra are neck to neck depending on which benchmark you run. Lots of fun, eh?

Q:What is the difference between a hub and a router?
A: From jsr138...

A hub is for connecting networking components together, like two computers and a network print server, etc. A hub will have at least two ports, typically more. Hubs are not intelligent. When one device is sending data to the network, it [hub] sends the data to each and every other port on the hub. Thus, when computer A is transmitting to computer B, everyone else not only can see the transmission, but they must wait until the hub is clear before they can communicate. Hubs are not considered secure. And, as pointed out earlier, hubs cannot cross 'networks'. You can use any protocol you like on a hub.

A switch is like a hub, but it has two important differences. A switch learns which computer is on which port. So, when computer A is transmitting to computer B, the switch will only put the signal on the port for computer B. This is more secure than a hub. Also, while computer A is talking to computer B, computer C can also be talking to computer D at the same time. This allows for more throughput under the right circumstances. Note that while computer A is talking to computer B, if computer C also wants to talk to computer A, he still must wait for computer A to finish. Switches cannot cross 'networks' either. You can use any protocol you like on a switch.

A router is a networking device that allows traffic to pass from one network to another. 'Network' being defined here as a group of devices that share address space as defined by the protocol. You can think of a router as a sort of traffic cop at the opening of a tunnel that leads out of the city. When the traffic that is going by is headed for other destinations within the city (network), the traffic cop forces that traffic to stay within the city limits. When traffic comes along for some other city, the cop lets that traffic go out the tunnel. In this manner, data that is traveling on your LAN stays on your LAN, but data that is headed somewhere else (i.e., the Internet, or another office division) is allowed to exit the LAN for the other network. Routers typically employ some sort of network address translation (NAT) to make the outbound traffic compatible with the outside network. For a protocol to be able to go out a router, it must be 'routable', like TCP/IP. NetBEUI cannot be used to go out a router.

When most people around here say the word 'router', they are talking about a specific device known as a Cable/DSL router. A Cable/DSL router actually combines four different functions into one device. 1st, it is a true router in that it keeps LAN traffic on the LAN, but allows outbound traffic to travel to the WAN (wide area network). 2nd, it typically (but not necessarily) has a multi-port switch or hub to allow you to tie multiple computers to it. 3rd, it has a DHCP client built in to the WAN port, so that if your ISP offers dynamic IP addresses, the router will get that info from your ISP (your external address). 4th, it has a DHCP server built into it so that it can assign IP addresses and feed DNS and gateway info to your computers (your internal addresses). By combining these four functions into one device, it allows you to more easily establish an internal network and share your broadband cable or dsl Internet connection with all of your computers. Cable/DSL routers employ NAT so that it appears to your ISP (and the rest of the Internet) that you only have one device, and they create an effective (and configurable) firewall. Again, any protocol may be used on the internal ports, but only 'routable' protocols can go out to the WAN like TCP/IP.

One note: Most Cable/DSL router also includes some sort of firewall protection to block against port probing and such.

Q: Is there a way to "roll back" an install of DirectX? I don't want the latest version...
A: Try DirectBuster here. Not tested, so not guaranteed to work, but it should.

Q: What image processing program do you recommend, as Photoshop is too pricey for me?
A: For zero-budget, try GIMP, which is a GPL clone of Photoshop. It's completely free, but as with GPL software, there is no "support" for it.
For the budget minded, there are three choices, Photoshop Elements 2.0 by Adobe (as low as $60 after rebates), Paint Shop Pro by Jasc (as low as $60 after rebates), or PhotoImpact by Ulead (older versions as be as low as $10, latest about $70).

Q: What is sideband addressing?
A: If you are talking about AGP Sideband, it's basically using the "idle cycles" of AGP bus to transfer even MORE information. However, not all mainboards or video cards support the sideband option. It also seem to make some PCs less stable. Enable it at your own risk.