How to Install Hardware and Ram

Before you buy a card you need to know what slots are available.
A PCI slot is white, ISA slots are black these are outdated and not used anymore, AGP slots are brown and are for Video cards and now they have PCI Express Slots, they are small white slots or yellow slots and can be used for Sound and Graphic cards.
Go to this page for a break down of a Mother Board, it shows you what is what on the board.

Check in the manual to see if there are any jumpers on the Mother Board that need to be changed to disable an onboard Sound, Graphics or Network, most of this is done in the BIOS now days.
Check in the Manual or the cards instruction as to what BIOS settings need to be changed and where it is located in the BIOS.
Check the instructions for the card concerning the software, some have you install it before you install the card others after. You will need to remove all the old cards software and drivers from Add/Remove and Remove the old card from the Device Manager or you will have conflicts and errors.
When you are installing a new Graphics card as an upgrade to your computer, in other words it has onboard graphics but has an empty PCI Express slot and you want to add a new Graphics card to be able to play more Games. Before you do this check to see how big of a Power Supply you have, most big box computers only come with 250 to 300 watt Power Supply, when you add new cards like the Graphics card you are going to have to put in a bigger Power Supply, go with a 500 watt or bigger, if the Power Supply fails it will take your Mother Board with it. Most new Graphics cards require you to plug a Power Plug into them, because they use so much power.

Here is how install a card:

OK to install the card, Unplug everything from the Computer.
Take the Computer and set it on your Kitchen countertop or Table
Make sure it is well lighted, have a flashlight handy and a phillips screw driver.
Make sure you didn't drag your feet across the Carpet before you touch or handle the Card or inside the Computer.
Touch something metal, I touch the metal frame of the Computer or touch some metal on your Stove, to get rid of any static electricity you may have. ( You can harm the card or Computer boards with a static shock ).
Take off the cover and find the open slot that the card needs, you may need to remove the cover plate on the back of the computer where the slot is, sometimes you have to pry them off with a screw driver, be careful not to damage the Mobo when doing this, next line up the card with the slot and the new openning in the back of the computer, then push it down, you will feel it snap in place, put the screw in to hold it in place.
Some Cards you have to install the software before you install the card, some after, read the Manual or instructions for specific information for that card, some cards do not come with software or you do not need it, because Windows already has the drivers for it, like most Network cards.
Next put everything back together and turn your Computer on, follow the instructions that came with the card, each install is different.
Next go to the Device Manager and check to see if there are any problems, sometimes Windows will assign it an IRQ that is already being used, try removing it from the Device Manager and restarting again, Windows may get it right after a few tries, if not, you will have to move a card to a different slot and try it again until Windows gets it right. You can only move the PCI cards to different slots the Graphic card has to stay where it is, usually it is a Network card that does this, remove it from the Device Manager, then shut down the computer, unplug the Power Cord and remove the Network card, then plug the Power Cord back in and restart the computer, once back in Windows shut the computer down again and unplug the Power Cord and install the Network card in a slot as far away from the Graphics card as you can, plug in the Power Cord and restart, Windows should set the IRQs right. If the screen is wierd and moves slow that is usually caused from an IRQ conflict, you can check IRQs in the System Information-Hardware Resources-IRQs.
If this sounds to hard for you, have a Tech install the card for you, some installs require you to change jumpers on the Mother Board, most will need changes done in the BIOS Settings, check your Computer and Cards Manual for information, if you are not comfortable about these areas, stay out of them and let a Tech do it, you can really mess up your system by doing the wrong things in these areas.

How to Install,Internal Harddrives, CDROM, Zip drives, etc.

CD-Roms and DVDs are pretty straight forward, go to your device manager and Remove the old CDROM or DVD, then shut down the Computer, take out the old one and reconnect the new one in reverse order. The jumper setting should already be set as the primary from the factory, but check the CDs Manual to make sure, connect the wire from the sound card if there is one. When you restart, Windows it will recognize the new Cd Rom or DVD and probably have the drivers for it, if not, it may ask you for the CD Roms-DVD Driver Disk or the Windows CD to get the drivers.

Here is a site all about CD-RWs

Andy McFaddens CD-RW FAQs

I would recommend an external one that connects to your USB or parallel port. Basically you install the software, attach the Drive to the Computer, start up the Computer and the software sets it up for you.

If you are running out of space on your Harddrive, the most economical way to get more, is a new and bigger Harddrive. You can buy a 500 gig drive for about $100.00 and when you install it, you can copy your current drive information to the new drive, then slave the old drive and use that for storage, like downloaded files, pictures,etc, if you want. You could also make or buy and External Hard Drive, I did a How to on making your own External Hard Drive. and copy all your data to the External Drive.

Here again are some general Rules to follow to install a Harddrive:

Before you Buy you need to know if it is a drive that uses an IDE cable or Sata check your Computer Manual and check inside the Computer to make sure.
Back up all your data and files to DVDs or an Eternal Drive.
Unplug everything from the Computer.
Take the Computer and set it on your Kitchen countertop or Table
Make sure it is well lighted ,have a flashlight handy and a phillips screw driver.
Remove the side panel of the computer, it is usually the left side panel as you look at the front of the computer.
Make sure you didn't drag your feet across the Carpet before you touch or handle the Card or inside the Computer.
Touch something metal, I touch the metal frame of the Computer to get rid of any static electricity you may have. ( You can harm the card or Computer boards with a static shock ).
It is just a matter of sliding the drive in one of the slot, hooking up the power connector and the IDE or Sata connector. If you are replacing a drive you will need to take off both side panels and remove the small screws holding the old drive in. slide the new one in and put the small screws in. If you are going to copy the drive or use it for a Slave Drive you can put that drive in the slot under the new drive.
There is a red line on the IDE connector that go towards the power connector, Sata cables can only be pluged in one way.
If you are just replacing your old drive with a New Drive, the New Drive Jumpers will be set to Master or CS from the factory, so all you need to do is hook it up, if you are going to attach your old drive as a storage drive, then you will need to change the Jumpers on that drive to Slave or CS (Cable Select ) if the cable supports it, there are pins on the back of the Harddrives called Jumpers ( Screen Shot ) that do this, M means Master, SL means Slave and CS means Cable Select, the Master or Main harddrive attaches to the end of the cable and if you have two, the Slave drive attaches to the second connector on the cable.
Put the OS install disk in the CD Rom or DVD drive and away you go.

How to Install Ram ( Random Access Memory), Ram is one of the best upgrades you can do:

You should have a minimum of 64 megs of Ram for Windows 95, 98, ( for XP 256 is the minimum), but it is best to have 512 megs to 1 gig of Ram and for Vista or Windows 7 at least 2 gigs min, installing more ram can give you a big boost in performance.
If your running 3D games or Video Applications in XP, Vista or 7 go to 3 to 4 gigs of Ram, I am running with 3 gigs on XP and my Windows 7, Ram is really cheap right now. I remember paying $120.00 for a Simm Ram chip with 2 megs of ram on it.
Check your Manual for the type of Ram your Computer uses, there a lot of different types of Ram.
Unplug the Computers power cord, open the case, make sure you ground yourself by touching the metal frame of the Computers case, find the slots the Ram goes in ( check your Manual or Parts of a Computer for a picture of the slots and the Ram chip ) push the white snaps back and slide the ram in place, make sure it is facing the right way, there are little notches in the bottom of the chip, make sure they line up with the ones in the slot, push down until the snaps lock in place, turn on your Computer, it should recognize it right away, if it doesn't, pull it out and reinstall it again, make sure it is seated properly and make sure it is the right kind of Ram for your Computer.