Ow-tech Solutions

Have you ever wondered what each type of USB is made for or used for? USB (Universal Serial Bus) technology plays a vital role in connecting and powering devices. With advancements over the years, different types of USB connectors and standards have emerged to support the growing demands for speed, power, and efficiency.  Here, we’ll explore the types of USB and their specific use cases, helping you make informed choices for your tech needs. 1. USB Type-A Description : USB Type-A is the original USB connector type that has been widely used since the technology’s inception. Recognized by its rectangular shape, it is typically found on computers, laptops, and other devices. Use Cases : Data Transfer : USB Type-A is used primarily for data transfer between computers and devices like external hard drives, printers, and scanners. Charging : It also supports charging for various peripherals, including phones and tablets, though at lower speeds than newer USB types. Peripheral Connectivit...

 What is an IP address? Think of this like an identifier. An IP address is a set of numbers that helps your device or network get identified and connect with other devices on the web. Web addresses or domains usually point to an IP address. Most times, people look for online tools like whatismyipaddress.com , which is very okay. The only issue is that it takes much longer and may involve visiting insecure websites. it is much easier to get your IP address using Windows Power Shell or command prompt. I know this sounds like a technical thing that can only be done by a tech savvy individual but that is not the case. These simple steps will help you view your IP address without visitng any website on your Windows PC. 1. Go to the search Option and type CMD as shown below 2. On the list of options, skip the open option and click on run as administrator. 3. On the command prompt window that opens, type "ipconfig" as single word, see screenshot. 4. Press enter and scroll down to fi...

RAM (Random Access Memory) is one of the key components in your laptop that directly affects performance. It stores the data that your system needs for quick access, making tasks like opening apps, browsing, and running programs faster and smoother.  As technology evolves, so does RAM. The two most common types of RAM you’ll come across in laptops today are DDR3 and DDR4. But what exactly is the difference between DDR3 and DDR4 laptop RAM? Let's go deeper into it: What is DDR3 RAM? DDR3, short for Double Data Rate Type 3, was introduced around 2007 and became the standard for laptops and desktops until recently. DDR3 offers improved data rates and lower power consumption compared to its predecessor, DDR2. It's widely available, but as new technology emerges, DDR3 is slowly being phased out. What is DDR4 RAM? DDR4, which stands for Double Data Rate Type 4, is the latest and more advanced type of RAM introduced in 2014. It offers significant improvements in terms of performance,...

If you've been missing important emails, they might be getting sent to your spam folder. In today's article, I'll show you how to whitelist an email address in Gmail to make sure you never miss an important message again. It's quick, it's simple, and I'll guide you through every step. 1. Open Gmail on your computer or smartphone. 2. Once in the Inbox,  head over to the top right corner of your screen, where you’ll see a gear icon. That’s your settings! Click on it and then select 'See all settings' from the dropdown menu 3. Navigate to the 'Filters and Blocked Addresses' tab. Here, we’re going to create a new filter that will whitelist your email address 4. In the 'From' field, type the email address you want to whitelist. Once you're done, click 'Create filter 5. Now, you’ll see a list of options. The most important one here is 'Never send it to Spam.' Check that box and hit 'Create Filter' And that’s it! Now you’...

  Did you know that the average website visitor takes 3 seconds before deciding to stay or leave a website? Let's use your personal experience as an example. How long are you willing to wait for a website to load? If it is a website recommended by someone and you already know the value you are going to get by waiting, you may do it for longer than 3 seconds. That isn't the case with random websites. The moment you realize it is slow, with nothing to anticipate, you will leave. Google recommends an LCP(Largest Contentful Paint) of 2.5 seconds or less when working on core web vitals. CP generally refers to the elements on a page that require loading. These include photos or images, videos and text. LCP refers to the biggest piece of content on a page. The more time it takes to fully load your page, the larger the average LCP time it will have. How do you Measure a website's LCP? The easiest way to measure a webpage's LCP is by using tools like google page insights . This...

 If you have two operating systems installed on your device or two drives with different operating systems, it is important to set up your preferred boot order. This setting will enable automatic boot on your preferred OS and reduce the stress of having to select the boot device every time your PC starts. Here is what you need to do to set up or alter boot sequence/order for your PC. 1. Turn off or restart your PC. 2. Turn on your computer and press one of these keys, depends on your laptop model(F10 or F2) for HP and Lenovo laptops. 3. This will open the boot menu, acess the advanced settings tab(You can  do this using the arrow keys) 4. Once selected, move down to the boot options and press enter to open. 5. Expand the list of drives and repositon them according to your preference.(using the arrow keys) 6. When done, press escape to exit, make sure you save changes for the settings to take effect. On startup, your first selection in the order you set up will be considered th...

  A ccording to Forbes , about 40% of internet users have reported abandoning a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. This makes it very important to prioritize youe website speed. Before we dive into learning how to fix a web page, it is important to understand what makes a page slow. There a number of factors that can make a web page and whole website slow. Some of these are simple things that can be fixed without any coding knowledge while others are complex. What makes a website slow? High resolution images are good for your website and everyone should have them. On the downside, these images happen to make the page heavy or increase page load times due to the files sizes. Too many plugins(apps on shopify). Every plugin added increases the weight of the web page. If not properly optimized, the plugins can make your page slow JavaScript files that load before the main content(render-blocking JavaScript) can delay rendering. Deferring or asynchronously loading JavaScri...

 It gets quite annoying when you start your PC and some 4 random applications scramble for memory to get started before you open what you want. It gets even more frustrating if you have a slower computer or one with a lower  processing memory capacity. The great part is that you have the option to decide what starts when you switch on your PC and what doesn't. This setting(as presented) only works for windows Operating system.  To change startup app settings, follow these steps: 1. Go to your Windows search option(press F3 or WIndows button) and type startup 2. There will be a pop up of the startup application 3. Click on it to proceed with the necessary settings 4. Once it loads, it is simple, toggle between on and off from the list of applications listed. Ensure you only switch OFF what you do not need. When done, you don't have to save anything as it is automatically done. The next time you power up your PC, it will start much faster. The applications can then be start...

 In our previous article on how to create a bootable flask disk , we applied the use of RUFUS , a tool that only allows the drive to hold one Operating System. In this article, we are going to cover how to use Ventoy to create a bootable hard drive that can support mutiple Operating systems and still allow the flash disk to be used for other purposes. What is Ventoy? Ventoy is an open source tool used to make bootable flash drive or USB drives. Unlike traditional tools( RUFUS included), Ventoy allows you to simply drag and drop ISO files onto your USB drive.  This means you can have multiple operating systems on a single drive without the need to reformat it each time. For anyone dealing with computers and nstallations, Ventoy is a must-have in your toolkit As an open-source tool, ventoy is completely free and is constantly improved by a community of developers. How to get Ventoy to your computer Before you use Ventoy to create your bootable drive, you need to download a...