hoboroad's political highway

Monday, 24 March 2014

What Is MBR?

Short for Master Boot Record, a small programthat is executed when a computer boots up. Typically, the MBR resides on the first sector of the hard disk. The program begins the boot process by looking up the partition table to determine which partition to use for booting. It then transfers program control to the boot sector of that partition, which continues the boot process. In DOS and Windows systems, you can create the MBR with the FDISK /MBR command.

An MBR virus is a common type of virus that replaces the MBR with its own code. Since the MBR executes every time a computer is started, this type of virus is extremely dangerous. MBR viruses normally enter a system through a floppy disk that is installed in the floppy drive when the computer is started up. Even if the floppy disk is not bootable, it can infect the MBR.

What Is BIOS And CMOS?

BIOS is the interface which is built-in to a computer system's firmware used to configure the computer system hardware in very basic ways. BIOS can be used to enable or disable hardware integrated into the motherboard such as IDE controllers, USB hosts, audio controllers, video, and more.

It is often accessed by pressing F2 during startup, but this can change from manufacturer to manufacturer.

CMOS is a type of circuitry often powered by a battery which allows the information in BIOS to be stored. If the CMOS battery is drained or removed all the system configuration data in BIOS will be reset to factory defaults every time the computer is shut off. These small batteries are also commonly used in calculators, hearing aides, and wristwatches.

Due to the close relationship between the BIOS and the CMOS in the computer system, the two phrases are often incorrectly used as synonyms for each other. Some users will refer to opening the BIOS menu as "going into CMOS" or replacing the CMOS battery as "fixing the BIOS battery." However, none of this is seen as grammatically incorrect in common day-to-day conversation.

Bye Bye Lizzie?

The Queen could be removed as head of state if Scotland votes for independence, a senior SNP minister has said. Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish justice minister, said ‘it will be for the people of Scotland to decide’ if the country becomes a republic or remains a monarchy. Alex Salmond’s official policy is that the monarchy would be automatically be retained if Scotland decides to secede - but many in his party are staunch republicans. Mr MacAskill’s intervention in support of a referendum on becoming a republic at some point after independence is achieved further undermines the First Minister’s position. A poll out this weekend shows the gap between the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ votes in the independence plebiscite has narrowed. The survey, conducted by ICM Research, found that 39 per cent would vote ‘yes’ in the referendum - an increase of two percentage points on the previous month. The percentage of ‘no’ votes fell from 49 in February to 46 per cent, leaving the proportion of ‘don’t knows’ at 15 per cent (down one percentage point on last month).