Computer Hardware
From USB connectors to motherboards, the HowStuffWorks Computer Hardware Channel will help you find explanations, reviews, videos and prices for the parts you need.
Should You Shut Down Your Computer Every Night?
What's the Difference Between Restarting and Shutting Down My Computer?
White House Aims for Supercomputer Capable of Achieving Exascale
PCI Express Image Gallery
What is the main difference between FireWire and USB?
What's another name for FireWire?
How to Overclock Your CPU
Is Moore's Law outdated?
How Sandy Bridge Works
How to Wipe a Computer's Hard Drive
How to Fix the Black Screen of Death
Should I move my hard disk to the cloud?
How Secure Digital Memory Cards Work
Computer Memory Pictures
What is virtual memory?
What are the three types of VPN?
What do you need to build a private WiFi network?
What is a network server?
6 Easy Ways to Keep Your Computer Cool Without Using Electricity
New Quantum Computing Research Plots Safe Journey Through the Past
What is the world’s fastest supercomputer used for?
Set Your Computer for Energy Savings
How to Force Quit on a Mac
How to Split Screen on a Mac
Is Apple building a hydrogen-powered computer?
Are tablets changing the way we shop?
Are tablets changing the way computers work?
How the Kindle Paperwhite Works
Learn More / Page 10
Networking two or more home computers provides many conveniences, but how do you get started? Start here for the answer.
Running out of USB ports is annoying, but it doesn't have to stop you from adding components to your computer. Check out this list of USB accessories and learn how to get them connected.
Computers send data through parallel ports, serial ports, or network connections. How does a computer's parallel port work? And how can I design things to attach to a parallel port?
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Several factors determine whether you should leave your computer on or off overnight. Networking, economic factors, and stressed-out components all play a part.
When you type a Web site address into your browser, Web servers are doing the work of getting you the page you request. Put our servers to use right here . . .
You can find Universal Serial Bus connectors on just about every PC made today. But when it was introduced, USB was leaps and bounds ahead of the technologies it replaced. What makes this standard so useful?
Caching increases the speed at which your computer pulls data from memory. Do you know how it speeds things up? How can a little cache go a really, really long way?
By Guy Provost
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Ethernet is one of the most common computer-networking components, and the standardization of this technology has created some of the easiest ways to connect a few computers with or without wires.
By Nick Pidgeon
Nearly every desktop computer uses one or more hard-disk drives. Your hard disk holds all of the information available on your computer. Take a look inside this incredibly precise storage mechanism.
The microprocessor determines the processing power available for any application you run. Without it, there is no computer. Learn all about this amazing, ever-shrinking technology that makes your computer compute.