PERSONAL COMPUTERS (PC) - DESKTOPS AND LAPTOPS.

Before getting started with personal computers, it is good practice to look into
the structure of a basic computer system. every computer system is made up of
the same basic components. here, we just want to point out what the important
components are:

 Processor
 Motherboard
 The case
 Ram
 Hard drive
 Power supply

The Processor
The Processor (CPU) is the "brain" of your computer, the thing that carries out the
tasks you give it. better CPUs can perform more tasks at once, and perform them
faster.

The Motherboard
The Motherboard connects all the other components to one another, and is the
physical base upon which you build everything else. it contains a lot of your
machine's core feature, like the number of USB Ports, the number of expansion
cards you can put in (such as videos, sound and Wi-Fi), and also determines how
big your computer will be.

The Case
The Case holds all of your computer's parts together.

The RAM
RAM or Random Access Memory, is your computer's short-term memory. It stores
data your computer needs quick access to to help your programs run faster, and
help you run more programs at one time.

The Hard Drive

The Hard Drives are what stores all of your data, ranging from your operating
system to your documents, music and movies. if the RAM is your computer's
short memory, your hard drive is the long term memory. It stores the things you
want to keep around for awhile.
The Power Supply
The Power Supply directs electricity to the other components in your machine.

PCs are the primary component of a workstation. This means that the PCs are
used very frequently and as such are prone to failure. The usual problems of PCs
at the organization were:
 Malfunctioning keyboards, Mouse or Monitors
 System failure: Mostly corrupted Hard Disk
 System failure: At the Operating System (OS) Startup level
 Slow performance
 Installation and Upgrade of Antivirus and Regular software updates

Malfunctioning Keyboards, Mouse or Monitors

The Source of such malfunction at most times is lack of proper maintenance by
the user. Malfunction may be due to improper cable connection between the
Central Processing Unit (CPU) of the PC and the device or a faulty cable
altogether. The solutions for such problem are to connect the cable properly if
it is a bad connection situation or replace the cable in case of faulty cables.

System failure: Hard Disk Drive

The Hard Disk Drive is a device that acts as the data storage unit of a PC. If a
hard drive fails, that is, if it is not recognized by the system any longer, it has to
be unscrewed and disconnected from its former position and connected as a
slave (secondary hard drive) to another system, to retrieve the important data
that was saved on it prior to its failure. The new system's hard drive is now
known as the master or primary hard drive.

System failure: At the Operating System (OS) Startup level

When an error message such as "boot mgr missing; the computer fails to from
the OS, which results in a system failure at the startup level. Start up error is
the error generated when a pc does not boot up (Start up). This error can be
attributed to Hard Disk failure or improper shutdown during a previous use. If
such error persists after multiple attempts at restarting, the Operating System
of the PC should be repaired or restored. If this issue still persists, an operating
system recovery should be done which is available in modern computers. In
case where the recovery option is not available, a system format may be
necessary before which a system backup should be done.
Slow Performance
Slow performance is when a PC does not respond in expected time causing
loss in productivity. it is usually attributed to little hard disk free space, low
Random Access Memory (RAM) or running too many commands and programs
on the PC. If any of these aforementioned were suspected, steps were taken to
address such problems such as creating free space on hard disk by deleting
data, upgrading the RAM by installing another of higher capacity and reducing
the number of commands and programs run on the PC at the same time.

Installation and Upgrade of Antivirus and Regular software updates

Anti-virus is a software that prevents other malicious programs (virus) access
to a PC. Therefore, it is important that every PC has an anti-virus installed and
is regularly updated. Regular Antivirus updates helps the computer to be
prepared against the latest virus around.

Also Operating System updates when necessary and other Pc software updates
are important so as to provide users with the latest product and better
services.

Networks - Internet
Network connectivity in the Institute was a major need and also