Smartphone Photography Tips

The camera in the smartphone you hold today contains everything you need to be a great photographer. The technology surpasses that available to some of the greatest photographers in history. In understanding some of the principles of good photography, your smartphone's capabilities and limitations is a good way to start.

Tips to Keep a Smartphone Charged

What is USB 3.0?

Mobile Viber WhatsApp : 0313-5969299

Skype: ITChasers

Like Our Facebook Page: itchasers

Follow us at Twitter: itchasers

10 Reasons Why SSDs Are Better Than Mechanical Disks

Have you ever heard the terms, head crash or stiction? Better yet, have you ever experienced either of them? These terms are just two of the unhappy occurrences associated with mechanical disks. What if disks didn't spin? What if there were a way to create rewriteable storage in such a way that there were no platters, no spindles and no heads? You'd have a solid state disk with no moving parts. Solid state disks (SSDs) are all the rage for server vendors, SAN vendors, and appliance manufacturers. Why? Not because they're cheap -- they're not. SSDs have several advantages over traditional mechanical (spinning) disks. Here are 10 of the most frequently quoted advantages of SSDs over mechanical disks.

1. Life Expectancy

Mechanical drives have an average life expectancy of three to five years. Many fail long before the lower end of the average, and few last beyond the upper end of the average. At three years, you should seriously consider a refresh. At five years, you're skating on ice so thin it's really just very cold water. Alternatively, SSDs have life expectancies reaching into decades, although trusting the 1 million to 2 million hour SSD expectancy claims seems as ridiculous as the 500,000-hour claims of mechanical drive manufacturers. Expect your SSDs to last two to three times longer than mechanical drives.

2. Performance

Since SSDs have no moving parts, their access and seek times are many times faster than those of their mechanical counterparts. Mechanical drives have high-burst speeds, but their sustained speeds are unimpressive by SSD standards. However, write performance is not significantly different between the two technologies*. Therefore, read and access performance-heavy workloads will benefit from SSDs, while workloads that are write-intensive would do as well with the less-expensive standard disks.

3. Physical Size

You usually see standard disks in 3.5 inch or 2.5 inch formats, but SSDs take small form factor two steps further with 1.0 inch and 1.8 inch disks. These smaller sizes allow manufacturers to build smaller appliances, mobile systems and blades that occupy very little space. With rack space at a premium, that's a very good thing.

4. Shock Resistance

SSDs are a good choice for mobile systems due to their resistance to drops, bumps and g-forces. Such forces don't often act on standard concrete and steel data centers, but what about mobile ones -- mobile data centers such as those used by ground military forces, aboard ships, on aircraft or at trade shows? Movement can have devastating effects on mechanical drives, especially during write events. SSDs, again having no moving parts, aren't affected by mobility and are well-suited to such physical abuse. SSDs can withstand up to 1,500 g during operation or 25 times that of a standard drive.

5. Failure Rate

Any mechanical or electrical device can, and will, fail, but your chances are greater for failure when those parts are in motion. Mechanical disks are not particularly robust and can fail at any time, as one manufacturer's representative once stated, "Any time between 15 seconds and 10 years." While SSDs haven't reached the adoption level of mechanical drives, manufacturers estimate very low failure rates compared to standard technology.

6. Power Loss Protection

Enterprise-class SSDs rely on power failure circuitry to monitor voltage changes. If the voltage drops below the threshold, a secondary voltage hold-up circuit ensures that the drive has sufficient power to save any pending writes to disk. A supercapacitor, a discrete bank of capacitors or a battery acts as this secondary voltage hold-up circuit.

7. Power Consumption

SSDs draw very little power. Even at a full sprint, SSDs consume approximately three Watts or less compared to six or more Watts by standard disks. However, most impressive is the power consumption of quiescent drives. SSDs sip from 0.05 Watts to 1.3 Watts, while their gluttonous counterparts gobble at a rate of 4 Watts or more. You will pay more for an SSD, but the long-term cost reduction might offset the initial sticker shock.

8. Heat Dissipation

Everyone knows heat kills electronic performance. That's why data centers have to stay at those chilly temperatures. SSDs reduce heat dissipation significantly compared to their spinning cousins. Less heat loss means lower cooling requirements, which in turn means reduced costs. Less heat to move away from sensitive electronics also means that system fan sizes can shrink along with your power consumption. Mechanical drives are responsible for more than 70 percent of the heat generated from a system. Without them, you could realize sizable savings and longer lasting hardware.

9. Hot Plug/Unplug Ability

It might not surprise you to know that SSDs have hot plug and unplug capability. However, it might surprise you to know that since SSDs don't have to "spin up," their capacity is available immediately upon plug-in. Although it might take several seconds for your operating system to recognize the drive, you will not have to wait through a lengthy discovery process or an even lengthier reboot.

10. Noise

If you've ever stood in a data center, you probably noticed the very high noise level. Imagine a data center filled with SSDs instead of standard drives. Other than the sound of system fans, cabinet fans and the central air conditioning system, the data center becomes significantly quieter. As noted in the Heat Dissipation entry, fans would likely experience a 'downsizing' as well and further reduce the ambient noise level.

* Some independent tests conclude that SSDs write two to three times faster than standard hard disks. However, there are studies that suggest the differences are not so marked.

• Work along with rest. Notebook also need to pay attention to rest, after long time using, the temperature of notebooks will rise a lot. In the break, you could hold the laptop on the mode of dormant / sleep / standby, etc., take notebook for a rest.

• Keep the outlet flow smooth. Do not let anything block the outlet when you are using the notebook, particularly not to use notebook on the soft bed or mattress. In addition, it’s a very good idea to clean the outlet, laptop heat sink, fan and other parts before the summer comes.

• Artificially block up the notebook. It brings better air circulation for the bottom of the notebook and takes the heat away faster. If using a laptop for a prolonged time, put something under the notebook with copper, steel and some material that can help heat sinking. Be sure to pay attention to maintaining notebook stability when blocking up the laptop.

• Keep ventilation. In the summer, be sure to keep the room's ventilation while using laptop computer. Good ventilation makes good notebook cooling.

• Cooling base. Now there are a lot of dedicated notebooks cooling base in the market, you can choose according to their needs, enhance the laptop's heat sinking.

• Use the laptop in a air-conditioned room as much as possible. In the wild summer, laptops not only enjoy their own comfort in air-conditioned environments, but also can solve notebook cooling environment.

Specifications

Essentials
Status	Launched
Launch Date	Q2'12
Processor Number	i5-3317U
# of Cores	2
# of Threads	4
Clock Speed	1.7 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency	2.6 GHz
Intel® Smart Cache	3 MB
Bus/Core Ratio	17
DMI	5 GT/s
Instruction Set	64-bit
Instruction Set Extensions	AVX
Embedded Options Available	No
Lithography	22 nm
Max TDP	17 W
Recommended Customer Price	TRAY: $225.00

Advanced Technologies
Intel® Turbo Boost Technology	2.0
Intel® vPro Technology	No
Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology	Yes
Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x)	Yes
Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)	Yes
Intel® Trusted Execution Technology	No
AES New Instructions	Yes
Intel® 64	Yes
Intel® Anti-Theft Technology	Yes
Intel® My WiFi Technology	Yes
4G WiMAX Wireless Technology	Yes
Idle States	Yes
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology	Yes
Intel® Demand Based Switching	No
Thermal Monitoring Technologies	Yes
Intel® Fast Memory Access	Yes
Intel® Flex Memory Access	Yes
Execute Disable Bit	Yes
Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)	Yes

• • Tagged AsHardware Developers, Intel® HD Graphics

Stunning graphics from the start—no extra hardware needed

Whether you’re designing games or playing them, Intel® HD Graphics¹enables new and greater levels of visual experiences and performance for immersive² gaming without the need for additional discrete graphics hardware. That’s because the graphics engine and media processing in 3rd generation Intel® Core™ processor family are integrated on a single chip and incorporate advanced 3D processing.

Intel HD Graphics on 3rd generation Intel Core processors is 2x faster than HD Graphics on 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processors,²³⁴ enhancing 3D game playability for a fast, smooth, and entertaining experience overall.

Seamlessly integrated gaming technology

Intel HD Graphics is the enhanced graphics technology in the new 3rd generation Intel Core processor. Intel HD Graphics integrates powerful graphics and media processing right on the processor, putting the two key gaming components—CPU processing and graphics—together on a single chip. Two versions of Intel HD Graphics are available: Intel® HD Graphics 4000 and Intel® HD Graphics 2500.

Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions (Intel® AVX) enables higher performance for floating-point-intensive applications, such as code found in games and other media and graphics programs.

Find out what games are optimized for Intel HD Graphics before you play

See optimized HD list >

Watch this demo >

See how built-in visuals deliver incredible visual experiences

Watch this demo >

Intel HD Graphics is integrated directly into the processor and has been re-architected, significantly boosting performance. Plus, the graphics engine in Intel HD Graphics 4000 includes Microsoft * DirectX* 11 support and more redesigned execution units (EUs), dramatically enhancing 3D functionality and game playability.

Intel HD Graphics frees you from design and performance challenges by providing these advanced features:

Intel HD Graphics 2500 delivers casual gaming capabilities.

 

Intel HD Graphics frees you from design and performance challenges by providing these advanced features:

• Shared last-level cache between the processor and graphics enables accelerated graphics processing.
• Intel 22nm process technology delivers higher performance and better energy efficiency.
• Faster 3D rendering and more complex shading create more responsive and realistic 3D games and graphics.
• Intel HD Graphics 4000 delivers immersive mainstream and casual gaming capabilities.
• Intel HD Graphics 2500 delivers casual gaming capabilities.
•  

 

Modern laptops are much better at conserving their power than older computers. Many are equipped with green hard drives or even solid state drives designed to minimize power consumption and most laptops have special green settings that cut down on power usage while extending battery life.

Even so, laptop computer users can often extend the battery life of laptops by changing a few key settings. Here's a quick guide to ecologically friendly laptop power settings that can extend battery life significantly.

Laptop Settings In Windows. Laptops that use Windows 7*, XP* or Vista* have a few predetermined power plans for users to choose from as well as a Custom option. To view these plans, open Control Panel from your computer's Start menu. Choose Power Options from either the System or Maintenance (Windows 7 and Vista) or Performance and Maintenance (XP) menus.

The Power Options menu offers both simple and advanced settings. Some laptops have a special eco-friendly plan which limits screen brightness while lowering the time it takes for a computer to go to sleep or hibernate. Choosing custom options will allow you to choose each setting separately, so sleep and hibernate times can be manually set.

To get really great battery life, laptop users should lower their screen brightness through the Display menu in the Control Panel. Some laptops also have special graphics card programs which can be used to minimize power consumption while a computer's unplugged.

Mac OS* Laptops. Apple laptops have similar power settings, although changing them is a bit different. Go to your computer's Apple menu and select System Preferences. The Hardware tab has several power-related settings that can be changed by computer users. Sleep settings can be changed under the Energy Saver tab. Processor performance can also be changed. Lower processor speeds mean a slower computer, but can also mean better battery life.

With all modern laptops, it's a good idea to set power settings as soon as possible after buying a computer. When a computer is unplugged, running down its battery completely before recharging may extend battery life. Check your computer's manual to find out if this is the case.

Making these simple adjustments to a laptop's power settings is a great way to keep a battery running for longer and to reduce your power bill. With a slightly dimmer screen and manually adjusted sleep settings, a computer can often get 20 percent or more battery life. It's well worth the time to make a few key adjustments, especially if you frequently use your laptop on battery power.

Intel® Core™ i5-3570T Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.30 GHz)

World’s First 22nm Quad-Core Processors Bring Up to Twice the Visual Performance for Unmatched Overall PC Experiences

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

• Quad-core processors available starting today in powerful, high-end desktop, laptop, and sleek and beautiful all-in-one designs.
• Accelerates Intel’s “Tick-Tock” cadence for first time to simultaneously bring to market the world’s first processors developed on 22nm manufacturing process using innovative 3-D tri-gate transistor technology and a new graphics architecture.
• Up to twice the HD media and 3-D graphics performance, as well as significant processor performance, deliver stunning visual experiences from mainstream gaming to HD video editing.
• Ultrabook™ devices, all-in-one (AIO) platforms, business PCs and Intelligent systems in retail, healthcare and other industries will benefit from Intel’s newest processors, with formal announcements in the coming months.

Laptop battery handling;

A new battery comes in a half charged condition and must be fully discharged before use (refer to your computer manual for charging instructions ).upon initial use (or after a prolonged storage period) may require two to four charge/discharge cycles before achieving maximum capacity.

When charging the battery for the first time your computer may indicate that charging is complete after just 10 or 15 minutes, this is a normal phenomenon for rechargeable batteries .simply remove the battery from the computer and repeat the charging procedure.

If the battery will not be in use for a month or longer it is recommended that it must be removed from the device and stored in a cool, dry, clean place.

It is normal for a battery to become warm during charging and discharging.

A charged battery will eventually lose its charge if unused. It may therefore be necessary to recharge the battery after a storage period.

A li-oin laptop battery voltage rating is 10.8v or 14.4v. Actually they are same as 11.1v or.14.8v respectively.

How long will a new battery power a laptop?

That is difficult to determine. Actual battery run-time depends upon the power demand made by the equipment. In the case of notebook computers the use of the monitor the hard drive and other peripherals results in an additional drain upon the battery and effectively reduces the battery’s run-time. The total run-time of the battery is also heavily dependent upon the design of the equipment.

Generally our new high capacity battery will run at least as long (and usually 20-50% longer) as your old battery did when it was new.

What is the life of the new battery?

The life of a rechargeable lithium lion battery under normal conditions is generally about 500 charge-discharge cycle. This means one and half to three years of battery life for the average user. As the rechargeable battery begins to die the user will notice a decline in the running time of the battery time of the battery. When a battery that originally operated the notebook for three hours is only supplying the user with an hour’s worth of use. It’s time for a new one.

How are batteries rated?

There are two ratings on every battery volts and amp-hours (AH-mAH). The voltage of the new battery should match the voltage of its original unless the batteries are different chemistries (NI-MH and LI-on batteries have different voltage ratings, even if they are for the same laptop) Most of our batteries have higher amp-hour rating than the original battery found in the device. This is indicative of a longer run-time (higher capacity) and will not cause any incompatibilities.

How can I maximize battery performance?

Break in new battery: new batteries come on a discharged condition and must be fully charged before use. It is to reach its maximum rated capacity.

Keep your battery clean: it is a good idea to clean dirty battery contacts with a cotton swab and alcohol. This helps maintain a good connection between the battery and your laptop.

Exercise your battery;

Do not leave your dormant for long period of time. We recommend using the battery at least once every two to three weeks. If a battery has not been used for a long period of time, perform the new battery break in procedure described above.

Condition your battery;

Completely discharge it and then recharge it completely. This will help the battery maintain maximum life. When running off the AC power unit only leaves the battery in the battery bay when it needs to be charged.

Battery storage;

If you don’t plan on using the battery for a month or more, we recommend storing it in a clean, dry, cool place at room temperature but away from heat and metal objects Li-on batteries will self-discharge during storage (but have no memory effect). Remember to break them in before use.

For laptop users;

To get maximum performance from your battery fully optimize the notebook’s power management features prior to use. Power management is a tradeoff better power conservation in exchange for lesser computer performance. The power management system conserves battery power by setting the processor to run at a slower speed dimming the screen, spinning down the hard drive when it’s not in use and causing the machine to go into sleep mode when inactive your notebook user’s guide will provide information relating to specific power management features.

Most microprocessors spend relatively little time working near their peak performance levels. By minimizing the average applied voltage and clock speed, DBS minimizes the average power that the chip consumes. This makes it easier to cool the system, and can produce significant energy cost savings over long periods of time. The concept is similar to that used in sophisticated electrical power generators in which the engine is throttled down during periods of low or reduced demand and runs at full throttle only during periods of peak demand.

MALWARE REDUCTION

Intel® Trusted Execution Technology (Intel® TXT)

What is it?

Intel® Trusted Execution Technology (Intel® TXT) is a hardware solution that validates the behavior of key components within a server or PC at startup. Known as the “root of trust,” the system checks the consistency in behaviors and launch time configurations against a “known good” sequence. Using this verified benchmark, the system can quickly assess whether any attempts to alter or tamper with the launch time environment have been made.

Why it matters.

Malware is a consistent and growing threat to IT. While the mechanisms of malware vary, they all seek to corrupt systems and disrupt business, steal data, or usurp control of platforms. As companies adopt more virtualized, shared, and multi-tenant infrastructure models, the perimeter of the traditional network infrastructure is more dispersed and exposed to vulnerabilities. Similarly, traditional approaches of looking for “known bad” elements (the approach of most anti-virus or anti-malware programs) are only partially effective at coping with the increasing volume and sophistication of attacks today. Intel TXT provides an additional enforcement point and a different “known good”–focused approach to check for malicious software on client and server platforms.

How it works.

Intel TXT provides an infrastructure rooted in the processor that enables an accurate comparison of all the critical elements of the launch environment against a “known good” source. Intel TXT creates a cryptographically unique identifier for each approved launch-enabled component, and then provides hardware-based enforcement mechanisms to block the launch of any code that does not match the approved code. This hardware-based approach provides the foundation on which a trusted platform solution can be built to better protect against software-based attacks. Intel TXT is designed to scale with the needs of your organization and help protect both the end user and the company infrastructure from malicious intent.

Maximized, hardware-assisted security and manageability

Managing and protecting desktops and laptops and securing data are among the great challenges for modern businesses. The 2nd generation Intel® Core™ vPro™ processor family with the hardware-based security and manageability of Intel® vPro™ technology simplifies and accelerates these critical IT functions.

Manage the PC virtually anywhere, anytime

Intel vPro technology is a set of security and manageability capabilities built into the 2nd generation Intel Core vPro processor family, Intel® chipsets, and network adapters.

With security and management features built into the hardware, Intel vPro technology:

• Accelerates data encryption/decryption using Intel® AES New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI)Λ, improving user productivity
• Significantly reduces unwanted access to sensitive data on missing laptops using Intel® Anti-Theft Technology (Intel® AT)◊²
• Allows IT technicians to quickly deploy security patches across PCs, remotely unlock encrypted drives, and manage data security settings
• Gives IT help desk personnel complete control over a PC with features like KVM Remote Control◊³
• Enables IT to remotely troubleshoot and repair PCs

Smart security and manageability on every chip

Embedded in hardware, Intel vPro technology capabilities are accessed and administered separate from the hard drive, OS, and software applications—in a pre-boot environment. This makes management less susceptible to issues affecting these areas and allows remote access to the PC regardless of the system's power state or OS condition. Key encryption components are kept in protected flash memory, separate from the data they protect, making it easier to secure and harder to penetrate and access sensitive information.

Reduce cost, improve security and ROI

IT departments spend much of their time and budgets on PC patching, troubleshooting and repair, software inventories, and maintenance, preventing them from addressing key issues and initiatives that can help the business be more efficient and grow. With Intel vPro technology, IT can:

• Reduce deskside visits by up to 56 percent‡
• Improve laptop inventories by up to 47 percent‡
• Accelerate patch saturation up to 56 percent faster‡

The 2nd generation Intel Core vPro processor family with Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT) enables hardware-based virtualization for PCs for centralized image management and administration, secure network storage, and out-of-band protection—all beyond the firewall.

With more users going mobile, complying with security regulations is more critical—and difficult—than ever. Intel vPro technology, along with PC management software, simplifies, helps automate, and improves laptop security with hardware-embedded technologies and remote control management.

Introduction

Intel® AES instructions are a new set of instructions available beginning with the all new 2010 Intel® Core™ processor family based on the 32nm Intel® microarchitecture codename Westmere. These instructions enable fast and secure data encryption and decryption, using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) which is defined by FIPS Publication number 197. Since AES is currently the dominant block cipher, and it is used in various protocols, the new instructions are valuable for a wide range of applications.

The architecture consists of six instructions that offer full hardware support for AES. Four instructions support the AES encryption and decryption, and other two instructions support the AES key expansion.

The AES instructions have the flexibility to support all usages of AES, including all standard key lengths, standard modes of operation, and even some nonstandard or future variants. They offer a significant increase in performance compared to the current pure-software implementations.

Beyond improving performance, the AES instructions provide important security benefits. By running in data-independent time and not using tables, they help in eliminating the major timing and cache-based attacks that threaten table-based software implementations of AES. In addition, they make AES simple to implement, with reduced code size, which helps reducing the risk of inadvertent introduction of security flaws, such as difficult-to-detect side channel leaks.

This paper gives an overview of the AES algorithm and Intel's new AES instructions. It provides guidelines and demonstrations for using these instructions to write secure and high performance AES implementations. This version of the paper also provides a high performance library for implementing AES in the ECB/CBC/CTR modes, and discloses for the first time, the measured performance numbers.

Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0Performance on demand

Intel has optimized Intel® Turbo Boost Technology¹ to provide even more performance when needed on the latest-generation Intel® microarchitecture code name Sandy Bridge. Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 automatically allows processor cores to run faster than the base operating frequency if it's operating below power, current, and temperature specification limits.

Dynamically increasing performance

Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 is activated when the Operating System (OS) requests the highest processor performance state (P0).

The maximum frequency of Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 is dependent on the number of active cores. The amount of time the processor spends in the Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 state depends on the workload and operating environment.

Any of the following can set the upper limit of Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 on a given workload:

• Number of active cores
• Estimated current consumption
• Estimated power consumption
• Processor temperature

When the processor is operating below these limits and the user's workload demands additional performance, the processor frequency will dynamically increase until the upper limit of frequency is reached. Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 has multiple algorithms operating in parallel to manage current, power, and temperature to maximize performance and energy efficiency. Note: Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 allows the processor to operate at a power level that is higher than its rated upper power limit (TDP) for short durations to maximize performance.

As an independent and complementary feature, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) increases performance of both multi-threaded and single threaded workloads.

Learn more about Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0

• View the Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 demo

INTEL® MICROARCHITECTURE CODENAME SANDY BRIDGE

The next-generation Intel® microarchitecture codename Sandy Bridge is an incredible leap in processor integration and manufacturing. Introduced in the 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processor family, some of the highlights of this new microarchitecture include:

• Manufactured entirely on Intel® 32nm process technology, delivering yet another leap in performance and energy efficiency beyond previous generation process technologies.
• All cores plus graphics are integrated on a single chip, enabling new levels of visual experiences on a PC.
• Even more performance boost when you need it with Intel® Turbo Boost 2.0.
• Yet another step in increased efficiency by intelligently matching performance to workloads, while optimizing power efficiency across cores and graphics engine.

Fully integrated microarchitecture

Sandy Bridge unifies processor cores, memory controller, last-level cache (LLC), and graphics and media processing. Such tight integration enables a host of performance and efficiency improvements, such as:

• Fast access by cores and graphics to shared data in the last-level cache accelerates graphics processing.
• Fewer buses over which data and signaling must travel mean faster processing.
• More memory bandwidth for the cores boosts system performance.

Smart performance boosts for graphics and media processing

Sandy Bridge with built-in visuals◊ is optimized for next-generation media workloads. New technologies include:

• A much more powerful graphics engine than previous Intel microarchitectures speeds 3D and video processing.
• New hardware-based media accelerators and graphics execution units deliver superior performance for gaming, HD video content, and 3D graphics.
• New technologies that allow you to truly enjoy all your HD content and web experiences.

Dynamic performance for both processor and graphics

Intelligent power management with Intel® Turbo Boost 2.0◊ dynamically controls performance and power—for both cores and graphics—boosting performance exactly where and when it is needed, and saving energy when it counts.

Design scalability for a wide range of markets

Sandy Bridge addresses servers, workstations, notebooks, and desktop segments with support for two to eight or more cores and up to sixteen or more threads withIntel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology)◊. This new microarchitecture also enables thinner form factors, improved battery life, and active energy efficiency for mobile computing applications.

Double the FLOPS, and more

Compute intensive applications get a boost with Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions (Intel® AVX), a new, 256 bit instruction set extension to Intel® SSE. Intel AVX along with new Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), operating system, and virtual machine manager (VMM) enhancements extend the architecture for important new applications.

·         Execute Disable Bit

Execute Disable Bit and Enterprise Security

Malicious buffer overflow attacks pose a significant security threat to businesses, increasing IT resource demands, and in some cases destroying digital assets. In a typical attack, a malicious worm creates a flood of code that overwhelms the processor, allowing the worm to propagate itself to the network, and to other computers. These attacks cost businesses precious productivity time, which can equal significant financial loss.

Intel's Execute Disable Bit¹ functionality can help prevent certain classes of malicious buffer overflow attacks when combined with a supporting operating system.

Execute Disable Bit allows the processor to classify areas in memory by where application code can execute and where it cannot. When a malicious worm attempts to insert code in the buffer, the processor disables code execution, preventing damage and worm propagation.

Replacing older computers with Execute Disable Bit-enabled systems can halt worm attacks, reducing the need for virus-related repairs. In addition, Execute Disable Bit may eliminate the need for software patches aimed at buffer overflow attacks. By combining Execute Disable Bit with anti-virus, firewall, spyware removal, e-mail filtering software, and other network security measures, IT managers can free IT resources for other initiatives.

The ongoing challenge of balancing security needs with resource limitations is daunting. On one hand, security threats are ever more frequent, sophisticated, and unpredictable while budget constraints mean IT can't always implement a "perfect world" scenario.

Security appliances based on Intel® architecture help IT organizations in large and small businesses safeguard corporate data. By collaborating with software security vendors and enabling security features in networking devices, Intel can help you better protect your enterprise infrastructure.

The flexibility and mobility that wireless local area network (WLAN) technology offers can create significant competitive advantages. But because WLAN technology is based on radio wave transmissions, it has provoked legitimate concerns about the security of wireless networks.

By familiarizing yourself with the various standards available for maintaining WLAN security, understanding some of the issues involved in security breaches, and applying security best practices in your organization, you can ensure that your data is safe and secure.

¹ Enabling Execute Disable Bit functionality requires a PC with a processor with Execute Disable Bit capability and a supporting operating system. Check with your PC manufacturer on whether your system delivers Execute Disable Bit functionality.

The maximum frequency of Intel Turbo Boost Technology is dependent on the number of active cores. The amount of time the processor spends in the Intel Turbo Boost Technology state depends on the workload and operating environment, providing the performance you need, when and where you need it.

Any of the following can set the upper limit of Intel Turbo Boost Technology on a given workload:

• Number of active cores
• Estimated current consumption
• Estimated power consumption
• Processor temperature

When the processor is operating below these limits and the user's workload demands additional performance, the processor frequency will dynamically increase by 133 MHz on short and regular intervals until the upper limit is met or the maximum possible upside for the number of active cores is reached.

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology
Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) enables the processor to execute multiple threads (a part of a program) in parallel, so your highly-threaded software can run more efficiently and you can multitask more effectively than ever before.

Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x)
Intel® Virtualization Technology is a set of hardware enhancements to Intel® server and client platforms that can improve virtualization solutions. Virtualization enhanced by Intel Virtualization Technology will allow a platform to run multiple operating systems and applications in independent partitions.

Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)
Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) provides hardware assists for virtualization solution. VT-d continues from the existing support for IA-32 (VT-x) and Itanium® processor (VT-i) virtualization adding new support for I/O-device virtualization. Intel VT-d can help end users improve security and reliability of the systems and also improve performance of I/O devices in virtualized environment. These inherently helps IT managers reduce the overall total cost of ownership by reducing potential downtime and increasing productive throughput by better utilization of the data center resources.

Intel® Trusted Execution Technology
Intel® Trusted Execution Technology for safer computing is a versatile set of hardware extensions to Intel® processors and chipsets that enhance the digital office platform with security capabilities such as measured launch and protected execution. Intel Trusted Execution Technology provides hardware-based mechanisms that help protect against software-based attacks and protects the confidentiality and integrity of data stored or created on the client PC. It does this by enabling an environment where applications can run within their own space - protected from all other software on the system. These capabilities provide the protection mechanisms, rooted in hardware, that are necessary to provide trust in the application's execution environment. In turn, this can help to protect vital data and processes from being compromised by malicious software running on the platform.

Intel® AES New Instructions
Intel® AES instructions are a new set of instructions available beginning with the 2010 Intel® Core™ processor family based on the 32nm Intel® microarchitecture. These instructions enable fast and secure data encryption and decryption, using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), which is defined by FIPS Publication number 197. Since AES is currently the dominant block cipher, and it is used in various protocols. The new instructions are valuable for a wide range of applications.

The architecture consists of six instructions that offer full hardware support for AES. Four instructions support the AES encryption and decryption, and other two instructions support the AES key expansion.

The AES instructions have the flexibility to support all usages of AES, including all standard key lengths, standard modes of operation, and even some nonstandard or future variants. They offer a significant increase in performance compared to the current pure-software implementations.

Beyond improving performance, the AES instructions provide important security benefits. By running in data-independent time and not using tables, they help in eliminating the major timing and cache-based attacks that threaten table-based software implementations of AES. In addition, they make AES simple to implement, with reduced code size, which helps reducing the risk of inadvertent introduction of security flaws, such as difficult-to-detect side channel leaks.

Intel® 64 Architecture
Intel® 64 architecture is an enhancement to the Intel® IA-32 architecture. The enhancement allows the processor to run 64-bit code and access larger amounts of memory.

Intel 64 architecture delivers 64-bit computing on server, workstation, desktop and mobile platforms when combined with supporting software. Intel 64 architecture improves performance by allowing systems to address more than 4 GB of both virtual and physical memory.

Intel® 64 provides support for the following:

• 64-bit flat virtual address space
• 64-bit pointers
• 64-bit wide general purpose registers
• 64-bit integer support
• Up to one terabyte (TB) of platform address space

Idle States
A "C-state" is an idle state. Modern processors have several different C-states representing increasing amounts of "stuff" to shut down. C0 is the operational state, meaning that the CPU is doing useful work. C1 is the first idle state. The clock running to the processor is gated, i.e. the clock is prevented from reaching the core, effectively shutting it down in an operational sense. C2 is the 2nd idle state. The external I/O Controller Hub blocks interrupts to the processor. And so on with C3, C4, etc.

A core C-state is a hardware C-state. There are several core idle states, e.g. CC1 and CC3. As we know, a modern state of the art processor has multiple cores. What we used to think of as a CPU / processor, actually has multiple general purpose CPUs in side of it. The Intel® Core^TM Duo has 2 cores in the processor chip. The Intel Core-2 Quad has 4 such cores per processor chip. Each of these cores has its own idle state. This makes sense as one core might be idle while another is hard at work on a thread. So a core C-state is the idle state of one of those cores.

A processor C-state is related to a core C-state. At some point, cores share resources, e.g. the L2 cache or the clock generators. When one idle core, say core 0, is ready to enter CC3 but the other, say core 1, is still in C0, we don't what the fact that core 0 is ready to descend into CC3 to prevent core 1 from executing because we just happened to shut down the clock generators. Thus we have the processor / package C-state, or PC-state. The processor can only enter a PC-state, say PC3, if both cores are ready to enter that CC-state, e.g both cores are ready to step into CC3.

A logical C-state: The last C-state is the OS's view of the processors' C-states. In Windows, a processor's C-state is pretty much equivalent to a core C-state. In fact, the OS's lower level power management software determines when and if a given core enters a given CC-state using the MWAIT instruction. There is one important difference. When an application, such as Intel's Power Informer, thinks it's interrogating a processor core CC-state, what is returned is the C-state of what is called a "logical core". (A logical core is technically not the same as a physical core. Logical cores don't have to worry about little things such as the hardware the OS is running on. For example, the C-state of a logical core doesn't worry about the barriers imposed by shared resources, such as the clock generators, I talked about earlier. Logical Core 0 can be in C3 while Logical Core 1 is in C0.

For a deeper explanation of C states, please refer to the following article:(update) C-states, C-states and even more C-states.

Enhanced Intel Speedstep® Technology
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® technology is an advanced technology significantly reduces the processor voltage (and temperature), hence leakage power, when processor activity is low. Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology has revolutionized thermal and power management by giving application software greater control over the processor's operating frequency and input voltage. Systems can easily manage power consumption dynamically.

Separation between Voltage and Frequency Changes
By stepping voltage up and down in small increments separately from frequency changes, the processor is able to reduce periods of system unavailability (which occur during frequency change). Thus, the system is able to transition between voltage and frequency states more often, providing improved power/performance balance.

Clock Partitioning and Recovery
The bus clock continues running during state transition, even when the core clock and Phase-Locked Loop are stopped, which allows logic to remain active. The core clock is also able to restart far more quickly under Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology than under previous architectures.

Intel® Demand Based Switching
Demand-based switching is a power management technology developed by Intel in which the applied voltage and clock speed for a microprocessor are kept to the minimum necessary to allow optimum performance of required operations. A microprocessor equipped with DBS operates at reduced voltage and clock speed until more processing power is actually required.
(Source: searchenterpriselinux.techtarget.com/definition/demand-based-switching)

Thermal Monitoring Technologies
Laptops using mobile Intel® processors require thermal management. The term "thermal management" refers to two major elements: a cooling solution properly mounted to the processor, and effective airflow through a part of that cooling solution to evacuate heat out of the system. The ultimate goal of thermal management is to keep the processor at or below its maximum operating temperature (Case).

Execute Disable Bit
The Execute Disable Bit capability is a processor feature that can help prevent buffer overflow virus attacks.

Cache Information
Cache is very high-speed memory that stores frequently used instructions and data. Cache information reported by the utility may include level 3, level 2, and level 1 data and instruction cache sizes, depending on what types of cache are present and enabled in the processor. In processors with multiple cores, the cache blocks may be separate for each core (e.g. 2 x 1MB) or shared across cores (e.g. 2MB). The Frequency Test section of the utility reports the cache size that the tested processor core has access to, for the highest-level cache in the processor. The CPUID Data section of the utility reports the total number of cache blocks available in the processor package.

Chipset ID
The Chipset ID field is used to provide information related to the Intel® Upgrade Service. For more information, please visit upgrades.intel.com.

Enhanced Halt State
The Enhanced Halt State processor feature is designed to improve acoustics by lowering the power requirements of the processor.

Expected Frequency
Expected Frequency is the frequency at which Intel intended the processor and the system bus to run. This should be the speed physically marked on the processor’s packaging.

Gigatransfers Per Second (GT/s)
Gigatransfers per second (GT/s) refers to the effective rate of data transfers on the Intel® QuickPath Interconnect, measured in billions of transfers per second.

Integrated Memory Controller
The Integrated Memory Controller is a key feature in Intel® QuickPath Architecture. Integrating the memory controller into the Intel® processor silicon die improves memory access latency and enables available memory bandwidth to scale with the number of processors added. Visit the Intel® QuickPath Technology Website for more information. 

Intel® QuickPath Interconnect
Intel QuickPath Interconnect provides high-speed point-to-point connections between processors and other components in platforms designed with Intel® QuickPath Architecture. Visit Intel's Web site for more information on Intel® QuickPath Technology.

Intel SpeedStep® Technology
Intel SpeedStep® technology allows the system to operate in maximum performance mode when plugged into an AC power source and in battery-optimized performance mode when running on battery power. Enhanced Intel SpeedStep technology allows the system to dynamically adjust processor voltage and core frequency according to the power source and application demand. The results are decreased power consumption and decreased heat production.

Overclock
Operation of a processor above the manufacturer’s specified frequency (e.g. operating at 3.2 GHz with a processor that Intel manufactured to run at 2.8 GHz).

A processor being operated above its frequency specification (overclocked) may become unstable, or produce unpredictable or erroneous results. These conditions might not be readily apparent and the life of the processor may also be shortened. Intel’s warranty does not cover processors that have been overclocked.

Packaging Information
The packaging entry on the CPUID Data section of the utility displays the type of physical package that contains the processor. The possible package types are as follows:

• FC-PGA2 - the Flip Chip Pin Grid Array 2 package is a more compact version of the FC-PGA package. It appears as a smaller thin square of green material with shorter and more closely separated gold pins. An integrated heat spreader may obscure the top of FC-PGA2 processors.
• uPGA/BGA - a Micro Pin Grid Array or Ball Grid Array package
• OOI - an OLGA (Organic Land Grid Array) On Interposer package translates the fine pitch pads of the OLGA package to a pin field, which connects into the socket on the system main board.
• uFCPGA or uFCPGA2 - a Micro Flip Chip Pin Grid Array package
• uFCBGA or uFCBGA2 - a Micro Flip Chip Ball Grid Array package
• LGA1366 - a 1366 pin Land Grid Array package
• LGA1156 - a 1156 pin Land Grid Array package
• LGA775 - a 775 pin Land Grid Array package
• LGA771 - a 771 pin Land Grid Array package

For more information, see the packaging information Website.

Platform Compatibility Guide
Platform Compatibility Guide (PCG) encompasses all of the platform power requirements necessary for the proper functionality of the processor as it relates to the motherboard. PCG also provides an easier method of identifying which processor works with which motherboard.

Processor Brand Name
Branded name assigned by Intel Corporation to a specific processor, e.g. Intel Pentium 4 processor.

Processor Family
This classification indicates the Intel® microprocessor generation and brand. For example, Intel Pentium 4 processors have a Family value of "F".

This information can be useful for validating information from the "Quick Reference Guide" that is available for the specific family of your processor.

Processor Model
The "model" number identifies the Intel microprocessor’s manufacturing technology and design generation (e.g. Model 4). Model number is used along with family to determine which specific processor in a family of processors that your computer contains. This information is occasionally needed when communicating with Intel to identify the particular processor.

Processor Number
Intel uses processor numbers to enable consumers to quickly differentiate among comparable processors and to analyze or take into account more than one processor feature during the selection process. Processor numbers should be used to differentiate between the relative overall features within a certain processor family (e.g. within the Intel® Pentium® 4 processor family) and within a numbering sequence (e.g. 550 vs. 540). Processor numbers are not a measurement of performance. For more information, visit the learn about processor numbers Website

Processor Revision
The "revision" number indicates version information for Intel® processors within a stepping. The revision information may be useful when communicating with Intel to determine the processor’s internal characteristics.

Processor Stepping
The "stepping" number indicates the design or manufacturing revision data for the production Intel microprocessors (e.g. Stepping 4). Unique stepping numbers indicate versions of processors to facilitate change control and tracking. Stepping also allows an end user to identify more specifically which version of the processor their system contains. This classification data may be needed by Intel when trying to determine the microprocessor’s internal design or manufacturing characteristics.

Processor Type
"Type" indicates whether the Intel® microprocessor was designed for installation by a consumer (end user) or by a professional PC system integrator, service company, or manufacturer. Type 1 indicates that the microprocessor was intended for installation by a consumer (e.g. upgrade such as an Intel OverDrive® processor). Type 0 indicates that the microprocessor was intended for installation by a professional PC system integrator, service company or manufacturer. The processor type depends on whether the processor is a single processor, dual processor, or an Intel OverDrive processor.

Reported Frequency
This is the actual operating frequency of the processor and system bus as measured by the Intel® Processor Identification Utility. The utility may report a current operating frequency that is slightly higher or lower than the expected frequency for your processor. Frequency differences within 1% are due to slight variations in the manufacturing of system components, and are considered to be operating within specifications.

Streaming SIMD Extensions
Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE) are new instructions designed to reduce the overall number of instructions required to execute a particular program task, which can result in an overall performance increase. The Intel® Processor Identification Utility reports the presence of SSE, SSE2, SSE3 and SSE4 instruction sets.

System Bus Overclocking
Operation of the system bus above the processor’s specified system bus frequency (e.g. operating the system bus at 533 MHz with a processor intended for operation on a 400 MHz system bus). This will typically force the processor to run at a frequency above its intended specification. Refer to the overclock definition for more information.

Thermal Monitoring Technologies

Laptops using mobile Intel® processors require thermal management. The term "thermal management" refers to two major elements: a cooling solution properly mounted to the processor, and effective airflow through a part of that cooling solution to evacuate heat out of the system. The ultimate goal of thermal management is to keep the processor at or below its maximum operating temperature (Case).

• Separation between Voltage and Frequency Changes. By stepping voltage up and down in small increments separately from frequency changes, the processor is able to reduce periods of system unavailability (which occur during frequency change). Thus, the system is able to transition between voltage and frequency states more often, providing improved power/performance balance.
• Clock Partitioning and Recovery. The bus clock continues running during state transition, even when the core clock and Phase-Locked Loop are stopped, which allows logic to remain active. The core clock is also able to restart far more quickly under Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology than under previous architectures.

Because Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology reduces the latency associated with changing the voltage/frequency pair (referred to as P-state), those transitions can be practically undertaken more often, which enables more-granular demand-based switching and the optimization of the power/performance balance based on demand. This article gives developers an overview of the support for Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology and demand-based switching under Linux. It is also a ready reference for developers interested in new user-level or in-kernel policy based on Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology.

For more information on the reference material above, please refer to the complete document at the following link: Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology and Demand-Based Switching on Linux*

For more information on Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology in general as well as for processor power and thermal specifications, please refer to explanation provided in each processor's datasheet:

• Intel® Core™2 Duo Processors and Intel® Core™2 Extreme Processors for platforms based on Mobile Intel® 965 Express Chipset Family Datasheet
• Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor for Intel® Centrino® Duo Processor Technology based on Mobile Intel® 945 Express Chipset Family Datasheet
• Intel® Core™ Duo Processor and Intel® Core™ Solo Processor on 65 nm process datasheet
• Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core processor for mobile datasheet
• Intel® Pentium® M Processor with 2-MB L2 Cache and 533-MHz front side bus datasheet
• Intel® Pentium® M Processor on 90 nm Process with 2-MB L2 Cache datasheet
• Intel® Pentium® M Processor datasheet

Which Intel® processors support Enhanced Intel Speedstep® Technology?
Consult the Product Specifications and Comparisons tool to see which processors support Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology.

Is Enhanced Intel Speedstep® Technology compatible with Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology?
Yes. The operating system sees two virtual processors. Requests to change the power state are prioritized between each virtual processor by the BIOS and the operating system; the power state will default to that of the virtual processor requesting the highest state.

What are the system requirements to support Enhanced Intel Speedstep® Technology?
To take advantage of Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology, the CPU, chipset, motherboard, BIOS, Operating System, and software/drivers must support Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology.

• CPU: Consult the Product Specifications and Comparisons tool to see which processors support Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology.
• Chipset and Motherboard: Contact your system manufacturer to find out if the mobile motherboard in your system has a chipset that supports Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology. The following Intel® Chipsets should support Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology: 
  Mobile Intel® 910GML Express Chipset, Mobile Intel® 915GM Express Chipset, Mobile Intel® 915GMS Express Chipset, and Mobile Intel® 915PM Express Chipset
  Mobile Intel® 940GML Express Chipset, Mobile Intel® 943GML Express Chipset, Mobile Intel® 945GM Express Chipset, Mobile Intel® 945GMS Express Chipset, and Mobile Intel® 945PM Express Chipset
  Mobile Intel® GL960 Express Chipset, Mobile Intel® GM965 Express Chipset, Mobile Intel® PM965 Express Chipset
• BIOS: A BIOS must have support for Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology. For BIOS related questions, contact your system or motherboard manufacturer.
• Operating System: An OS that supports Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology is required. Current supporting OSs include: Microsoft Windows Vista*, Microsoft Windows XP SP2* includes native support for Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology. Linux* support is also available. Contact your OS vendor for more information.
• Software/Drivers: No specific software or driver updates are currently required. However, it is recommended that you always have the latest drivers for your system hardware.

How do I use Enhanced Intel Speedstep® Technology?
Standard integration procedures should be followed for installing all the various system hardware components. Once all the hardware components have been installed correctly (or if the system is already functional) take the following recommended steps:

1. If necessary, download and run the latest BIOS update for your motherboard. Check with your motherboard manufacture to ensure their latest BIOS contains support for Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology
2. Ensure Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology is enabled in your BIOS. If the BIOS is from American Megratrends, Inc.*, the Intel SpeedStep Technology option can be enabled in the "Advanced" tab. Ensure it is set to, [Enabled&91;. For BIOS related questions, contact your system or motherboard manufacturer.
3. Ensure your OS has support for Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology. For Microsoft Windows* XP SP2 operating systems install Microsoft Windows XP SP2 if you haven’t already done so.
4. Finally Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology must be turned on in the OS. Currently, for Microsoft Windows XP SP2 operating systems Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology by default is off. To turn it on do the following:

• Under Control Panel – open Power Options
  • Under the Power Schemes pull down menu
    • To turn Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology ON select, “Minimal Power Management,” power scheme.
    • To turn Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology OFF select, “Always On,” power scheme.

To verify that Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology is enabled do the following:

1. Close all applications and ensure that Microsoft Windows* OS is in idle mode.
   • Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete and select the Performance tab. Verify that CPU usage is 0%.
2. Right click My Computer and select, “Properties.”
3. Under the General tab examine the installed processor and speed. If Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology is enabled, two processor speeds will be listed. The first speed listed is the specified speed of the processor. The second speed is the current operating speed. The second speed will be less then the 1st speed. (See fig. 1) This indicates that Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology has effectively lowered the processor voltage and core frequency, which can (depending on system usage and design) result in decreased average power consumption and decreased average heat production. If Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology is off then both processor speeds will be equal. (See fig. 2) If the processor is not in idle mode, Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology can be enabled and both processors speeds can bee equal. If this happens try steps 1-3 again

How do I Determine if Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology is working with Microsoft Windows* XP?
When the laptop computer is connected to the AC outlet, the new mobile PC runs the most complex business and Internet applications with speed virtually identical to a desktop system. When powered by a battery, the processor drops to a lower frequency (by changing the bus ratios) and voltage, conserving battery life while maintaining a high level of performance. Manual override lets you boost the frequency back to the high frequency when on battery, allowing you to customize performance.

Different from the previous versions of Microsoft Windows, The Intel SpeedStep® driver is built into Microsoft Windows XP. Therefore, you do not need to load the driver. Unfortunately, with the driver built into the operating system, you do not have an icon in the system tray of the taskbar and you don't have an Intel SpeedStep Technology tab when using the power applet located with the Control Panel. Without these programs, it can be difficult to determine if you have an Intel mobile processor with Intel SpeedStep Technology that is operating correctly.

To determine if the Intel SpeedStep Technology driver is working properly, you can use the Intel® Processor Frequency ID Utility. After installing the utility and running it, the utility should show you that you have an Intel mobile processor and that it supports Intel SpeedStep Technology. You can also then run the utility with the laptop plugged into the AC outlet and run the utility with the laptop drawing power from the battery to see the frequency change between them.

When I change from AC to DC power or DC power to AC, why is that the operating speed of my laptop computer does not change?
Here are some things you might check:

• Make sure that you have a processor with the Intel SpeedStep® Technology.
• Make sure that you have an operating system that supports SpeedStep Technology.
• Make sure the Intel SpeedStep Technology driver is loaded. The driver is only available from the laptop manufacturer or vendor.

• Make sure the SpeedStep Technology is not disabled in the CMOS setup program (BIOS).
• Check the settings in the Power applet in the Control Panel.
• Check with your system manufacturer to see if they recommend updating the BIOS.

Why doesn't my keyboard work when I switch performance modes.
Contact your system manufacturer and request an updated keyboard BIOS. Generally, a laptop manufacturer will have a web site containing downloadable updated drivers. If that does not work, contact your laptop manufacturer's support for assistance. 

Why did the applet icon disappear from the task bar after I changed the power management settings? (may apply to systems running operating systems older than Microsoft Windows XP)
In BIOS under the Power menu, make sure that your Power Savings are set to customized and/or automatic. In addition, You can always access the applet through the Control Panel. Select the Power Management icon, and click on the Intel SpeedStep Technology tab.

Why did the settings remain unchanged after I changed the power management settings in the applet? (may apply to systems running operating systems older than Microsoft Windows XP)
This could possibly be a BIOS issue. Contact your laptop manufacturer and request a system BIOS upgrade. Generally, a laptop manufacturer will have a Web site containing downloadable updated drivers. 

I know my laptop supports Intel SpeedStep® Technology, and I have the right processor, but when I install the applet, why doesn't the applet icon appear on the task bar? (may apply to systems running operating systems older than Microsoft Windows XP)
This could possibly be a BIOS issue. Contact your laptop manufacturer and request a system BIOS update. Generally, a laptop manufacturer will have a web site containing downloadable updated drivers.

Once I remove the Intel SpeedStep® Technology applet icon from the taskbar, how do I access the applet or bring back the icon? (may apply to systems running operating systems older than Microsoft Windows XP)
You can always access the applet through the Control Panel. Select the Power Management icon, and click on the Intel SpeedStep Technology tab. To re-enable the Intel SpeedStep Technology taskbar icon, click on Advanced button and uncheck the "Remove icon from taskbar" box, and click OK.

Where can I find information such as processor speed, processor number, cache size, chipset compatibility, pricing, and product order codes?
Information about Intel® processors can be found by searching the processor products database

Intel® My WiFi Technology (Intel® MWT), included with Intel® Centrino® wireless products, transforms your Microsoft Windows 7* laptop into a Wi-Fi Personal Area Network² and enables you wirelessly share your videos, photos, music or the Internet from your laptop to your HDTV with Intel® Wireless Display.

Features and benefits

Product information

• Watch the Intel® My WiFi Technology (Intel® MWT) YouTube video

Watch Demo Click on Below

Demo

Intel® Anti-Theft Technology (Intel® AT) for Laptop Security

What is it?

Intel® Anti-Theft Technology is an intelligent way for you to help secure the mobile assets of your workforce. This intelligent laptop security technology is built into select 2nd generation Intel® Core™ and 2nd generation Intel® Core™ vPro™ processor families. If a laptop is lost or stolen when the user is out of the office, the PC will be shut down and useless to thieves. It not only helps protect the intellectual property of your company at the pre-boot level, but also allows for fast reinstatement of a laptop without damage to information, should the laptop be recovered. Intel AT is available on select 2nd generation Intel Core and 2nd generation Intel Core vPro processorfamily–based laptops when activated with a service subscription from an Intel AT-enabled service.

Why it matters.

Laptop theft costs corporate America over USD 5.4 billion each year.¹ In everyday life, this amounts to 12,000 laptops disappearing every week from U.S. airports alone, and a laptop being stolen every 53 seconds.¹ The problem of data security becomes increasingly significant as employees are more mobile. Add to this the daunting challenges of healthcare privacy laws, and asset security can have a significant impact on your business.

How it works.

View the full image >

Protection for laptop users.

Intel Anti-Theft Technology (Intel AT) is built into the processor of your laptop, so it is active as soon as your machine is switched on—even before startup. If your laptop is lost or stolen, a local or remote “poison pill” can be activated that renders the PC inoperable by blocking the boot process. This means that predators cannot hack into your system at startup. It works even without Internet access and, unlike many other solutions, is hardware-based, so it is tamper-resistant.

Laptop Security for your company.

Intel® AT is designed to give IT administrators maximum flexibility and secure control of network assets. Since it is built-in at the processor level, the IT administrator has a range of options to help secure mobile assets, such as:

• Disable access to encrypted data by deleting essential elements of the cryptographic materials that are required to access the encrypted data on the hard drive.
• Disable the PC using a “poison pill” to block the boot process, even if the boot order is changed or the hard drive is replaced or reformatted. Regardless of the PC’s state, it will check as soon as it starts to wake up for any kill pill that has been sent, including via text message.
• Customizable “Theft Mode” message allows the IT administrator to send a message to whoever starts up the laptop to notify them that it has been reported stolen.
• Excessive login attempts trigger PC disable after an administrator-defined number of failed attempts. At this point, the Intel AT trigger is tripped and the system locks itself down.
• Failure to check in with the central server can trigger PC disable when a check-in time is missed. The IT administrator can set system check-in intervals. Upon a missed check-in time, the system is locked down until the user or IT administrator reactivates the system.

Businesses now have built-in client-side intelligence to secure sensitive data, regardless of the state of the operating system, hard drive, boot order, or network connectivity. This hardware-based technology provides compelling tamper resistance and increased protection to extend your security capabilities anywhere, anytime—on or off the network.

VIEW INTEL® ANTI-THEFT TECHNOLOGY DEMO
See the animation >

SEE INTEL ANTI-THEFT TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION
Watch the video >

Intel® 64 Architecture

Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT)

Helping to transform IT environments, hardware-assisted Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT)¹ provides greater flexibility and maximum system utilization by consolidating multiple environments into a single server, workstation, or PC. With fewer systems required for the same tasks, Intel® VT delivers:

• Simplified resource management increasing IT efficiency.
• Greater systems reliability and availability reducing corporate risk and real-time losses from downtime.
• Lower hardware acquisition costs with increased utilization of the machines you already have.

Making traditional virtualization better

With support from the processor, chipset, BIOS, and enabling software, Intel VT improves traditional software-based virtualization.Taking advantage of offloading workloads to system hardware, these integrated features enable virtualization software to provide more streamlined software stacks and "near native" performance characteristics.

More environments and less hardware required

Virtualization solutions enhanced by Intel VT allow a platform to run multiple operating systems (OSs) and applications as independent virtual machines, allowing one computer system to function as multiple "virtual" systems. For example, IT managers can create a single build with multiple and different OSs, software, and legacy applications.

Extending virtualization beyond business environments

Hardware-assisted Intel VT and software-based virtualization technologies also extend to the home user. Creating virtual "partitions" and isolating multiple user environments, home users can dedicate resources to specific activities like PC games, personal finance, and photo and video libraries, while simultaneously improving defenses against viruses or spyware.

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology)

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology)¹ uses processor resources more efficiently, enabling multiple threads to run on each core. Intel® HT Technology increases processor throughput, improving overall performance on threaded software. Intel HT Technology is available on Previous Generation Intel® Core™ processors, 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processor family, and Intel® Xeon® processor family.

An Intel® processor and chipset combined with an OS and BIOS supporting Intel HT Technology allows you to:

• Run demanding applications simultaneously while maintaining system responsiveness
• Keep systems more secure, efficient, and manageable while minimizing impact on productivity
• Provide headroom for future business growth and new solution capabilities

Enabling better graphics

With Intel HT Technology multimedia enthusiasts can create, edit, and encode graphically intensive files while running background applications such as virus protection software without compromising system performance.

Improving business efficiency

Processors with both Intel HT Technology and Intel® Turbo Boost Technology – or Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 (available in 2nd generation Intel Core processor family) deliver better performance and can complete tasks quicker. The combination of both technologies enables simultaneous processing of multiple threads, dynamically adapts to the workload and automatically disables inactive cores; this increases processor frequency on the busy cores giving an even greater performance boost for threaded applications.

With Intel HT Technology, businesses can:

• Improve business productivity by doing more simultaneously without slowing down
• Provide faster response times for Internet and e-commerce applications, enhancing customer experiences
• Increase the number of transactions that can be processed simultaneously
• Utilize existing 32-bit applications technologies while maintaining 64-bit future readiness

Intel® Clear Video HD Technology (Intel® CVT HD)

Picture Perfect

Intel® Clear Video HD Technology (Intel® CVT HD) delivers seamless video and brings imagery to life with vivid, accurate colors you expect to see when you are browsing the Web, watching your videos, and enjoying your favorite HD programs. Intel Clear Video HD Technology in 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processors lets you view images as they were meant to be seen.

What is Intel Clear Video HD Technology?

Intel Clear Video HD Technology is a suite of hardware and software technologies built into the image and media processing engine on 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processors. This technology enables enhanced high-quality, 1080p, high-definition playback, including for Blu-ray* and Web streaming content.

Life-Like, seamless visual experience

PC users enjoy more graphic imagery and video at home and work. Yet, their visual experiences haven’t been lifelike, until now. Intel Clear Video HD Technology improves video playback and delivers eye-popping visuals that bring content to life.

How it works

Intel Clear Video HD Technology integrates a wide range of image processing technologies, including:

• Advanced video technologies that remove jitter and create crisper visuals.
• Total color control, and adaptive contrast and skin tone enhancements that create vivid, rich colors on the display.

• Intelligent color space mapping that helps ensure colors are presented the way they were meant to be seen when watching video, browsing the Web, or using your PC applications.

RELATED RESOURCES

Intel Visusal Technology Demo

See how Intel® built-in visuals deliver incredible visual experiences.

Watch the Demo >

FDI or Flexible Display Interface is an interconnect created by Intel in order to allow the communication of the HD Graphics integrated GPU found on supported CPUs with the PCHsouthbridge where display connectors are attached. It provides a path between an Intel processor and an Intel southbridge on a computer motherboard which carries display data from the graphics controller (North Display) of the Intel processor package to the display connectors attached at some PCH (South Display) versions. It is based on DisplayPort standard. Currently it supports 2 independent 4-bit fixed frequency links/channels/pipes at 2.7GT/s data rate. It was first used with the 2010 Core i3, i5 processors and H55, H57, Q57, 3450 southbridges released in 2010. FDI enabled processors require FDI enabled southbridge in order to utilize the graphics controller capability thus P55 and PM55 based boards will not be able to take advantage of the graphics controller present on later processors. An FDI capable southbridge and CPU pair is not usable without the existence of the appropriate video connectors on the mainboard.

The following Intel southbridges support FDI:

• B55
• H55
• HM55
• H57
• HM57
• H67(B3)
• Q57
• Q65
• Q67
• QM57
• QS57
• 3450
• Z67

The following processors support FDI:

• Celeron G1101
• Celeron P450x
• Celeron U340x
• Celeron E3600
• Celeron B810
• Core i3-5x0
• Core i5-6xx
• Core i7-610E
• Core i7-620LE
• Core i7-6x0UE
• Core i3-3xxM
• Core i3-330E
• Core i3-330UM
• Core i5-4xxM
• Core i5-430UM
• Core i5-520E
• Core i5-5xxM
• Core i5-5xxUM
• Core i7-6xxM
• Core i7-6xxLM
• Core i7-6xxUM
• Core i7-2600 (S,K)
• Core i5-2500 (T,S,K)
• Core i5-2400 (S)
• Core i5-2390T
• Core i5-2300
• Core i3-2120
• Core i3-2100 (T)
• Core i7-2920XM
• Core i7-2x20QM
• Core i7-2710QE
• Core i7-2657M
• Core i7-2649M
• Core i7-263xQM
• Core i7-262xM
• Core i7-2617M
• Core i5-2540M
• Core i5-2537M
• Core i5-2520M
• Core i5-2510E
• Core i5-2410M
• Core i3-2310M
• Pentium G69x0
• Pentium U5x00
• Pentium P6x00

Top 15 Ways to Extend Your Laptop’s Battery Life

Laptops tend to lose their charm quickly when you’re constantly looking for the nearest power outlet to charge up.  How do you keep your battery going for as long as possible?  Here are 15 easy ways to do so.

Dell PCs and 2nd Generation Intel Core Processors

Shop Intel 2nd Generation Core Systems

	What’s new with Generation 2 The new 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i3, Core™ i5 and Core™ i7 are now available for laptops and desktops — a huge step up from the Intel® Pentium® processor with new visual capabilities and smart multitasking features. 2nd generation Core processors feature improved adaptive performance that adds speed when you need it and delivers increased energy efficiency when you don’t. New, built-in visual capabilities offer a better PC experience for an amazing overall performance.
Multitasking at its finest Smarter processors bring extra performance when you need it most, thanks to a host of new technologies from Intel. Intel®Turbo Boost Technology 2.031 automatically speeds up your processor when your PC needs a little extra get-up-and-go, while Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology features four- and eight-way* multitask processing that enables your processor to work on multiple tasks simultaneously.
	Immersive, integrated and organized Enjoy seamless viewing and interaction with your favorite videos, photos, Web sites and movies with a stunningly smart visual experience that’s already built into your processor. For example, Intel® Wireless Display** enables you to wirelessly project your media from your PC onto your high-definition TV (HDTV) for a supersized viewing experience.

---

*	8-way multitask processing available only on Intel® Core™ i7 quad-core processors.
**	Requires a laptop configured with Intel® Core™ i3, i5 or i7 processor, Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1000 or Centrino® Advanced N 6200 wireless card, a Netgear PTV1000 Push2TV Media Adapter (sold separately), and an HDMI or composite A/V-enabled display.