It’s been more than a year since the first “About Computers” column was published. A lot has changed in the computer world since then.

The very first article was about DVD drives. Since then, DVD’s drives have increased their speed to 16 times their original capabilities! CDRW drives have jumped from single and 2X to a whopping 24X in less than a year. You used to have to purchase media certified for the exact speed you wanted to record at. Now, they are adaptable from 1X up to the fastest speed each disc supports. Printers, scanners, and digital cameras all have higher resolutions and lower prices.

Surge protectors will soon require an RJ45 network jack instead of a telephone connector for your Internet interface. USB is really becoming mainstream now. Converters can be found to change from USB to many other interface types, although some are still too pricey to make them practical. You will always have to backup your hard drive, but now you have 10 to 100 times as much to back up as you did last year. What would most of us actually do with a 100 gig hard drive? You can find out if you want, they are available now. ATX cases and power supplies are still standard, with the exception of Intel’s Pentium 4 chips which require an Intel certified power supply or your warranty is void. The 1.4 GHZ P4 chips have been out since around November 2000, and the speeds haven’t increased much since then (the 1.8 GHZ has just been released). Ram prices have dropped to the lowest levels ever, but watch for increases as the back-to-school season arrives.

Looking at the online scene, there have been countless changes to the “information superhighway”. Many of the online gaming sites have merged, ISP’s have been bought out, and many of the “surf for cash” programs have closed, along with numerous other dot com’s. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser has heralded the addition of a newer version of Outlook Express, yet email worm viruses are running rampant. Napster is all but shut down as they convert to a subscription-based service, but clones have arrived to take its place faster than the new F-22 bombers. MSN and Pagoo no longer offer free pc-to-phone calls, and callrewards.com appears to have disappeared entirely. At least search engines haven’t started charging us to use their services.. yet.

But all is not lost in Internet land. New sites are still popping up every day as someone else comes up with a new way to transmit bits for profit. Free space for your website can still be readily had, and shareware remains the best way to try great software before buying it. Internet providers have added spam and porn filters, virus detectors, and other fantastic new features to try to keep their customers as well as gain new ones.