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Category: Buying Guide

The Best Places to Buy Discounted Gift Cards

12/25/2021 Leave a comment

The Best Places to Buy Discounted Gift Cards Gift cards are one of the easiest gifts to pick up at the last second and are also extremely safe bets to make for everyone on your gift list. But just because a gift card has a certain value doesn’t mean that’s how much you have to pay. There are plenty of […]

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Featured Articles

  • What is the Affordable Connectivity Program?

    What is the Affordable Connectivity Program? The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is a U.S. government program run by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) program to help low-income households pay for internet service and connected devices like a laptop or tablet. You may be eligible if your household’s income is below 200% of the Federal Poverty Line, or if you or someone you live with currently receives a government benefit like SNAP, Medicaid, SSI, WIC, Pell Grant, or Free and Reduced-Price Lunch. Author Note: If you receive Social Security disability or are a Veteran on a pension you should apply.  You may be surprised, I was! ACP – Universal Service Administrative Company (affordableconnectivity.gov)

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    Smart DNS vs. VPNs: Which Is Better? If you’re trying to circumvent geographical restrictions on certain websites, you have two major options. A VPN, which creates a tunnel through the internet, or a Smart DNS that can reroute specific traffic to the regional server of your choice.

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Terms

Bandwidth/Broadband

Bandwidth is an indication of how quickly data travels along a connection. The greater the bandwidth, the faster data will be sent and received. Broadband is a rather vague term that refers to bandwidth somewhere above that of an old dial-up modem, although there is no precise definition of the term. Broadband connections are generally “always on”, unlike modem connections. There are various technologies which provide “broadband” speeds – such as ADSL, cable, satellite etc.

Memory, Disk Space

Another very common source of confusion. In computing, “memory” generally refers to the temporary storage used by a computer whilst it is switched on. A computer loads programs and data into its memory in order to carry out tasks. This is more accurately called RAM or “random-access memory”. Disk space (or “hard disk space”), on the other hand, is a more permanent store that holds files even when the computer is switched off. It’s from here that the computer loads things into its memory. Strictly speaking you don’t store things in the computer’s memory as that vanishes when you turn the machine off.

Bits / Bytes

At a basic level, all computer data is just a series of 0s and 1s. Each of these is referred to as a “binary digit”, for which “bit” is just an abbreviation. A byte is (generally) a collection of eight bits, so called because of the pun with bit and bite. Similarly a collection of four bits – half a byte – is sometimes called a “nybble”.

Military-Grade Encryption

Many companies tout “military-grade encryption” to protect your data. If it’s good enough for the military, it must be the best—right? Well, kind of. “Military-grade encryption” is more of a marketing term that doesn’t have a precise meaning.

ADWARE

Any advertising software which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertising material to a computer after the software is installed on it or while the application is being used.

Web Browser

A program you use to look at and navigate between, pages on the World Wide Web. Examples include Internet Explorer and Firefox although there are many others. Again, people sometimes refer to web browsers as “the Internet”, whereas they really only provide the means to view pages on the web.