Tweaking refers to fine-tuning or adjusting a complex system, usually an electronic device. Tweaks are any small modifications intended to improve a system. In electronics, it is a synonym for "trimming." Analog circuit boards often have small

potentiometer A potentiometer is a three-terminal resistor with a sliding or rotating contact that forms an adjustable voltage divider. If only two terminals are used, one end and the wiper, it acts as a variable resistor or rheostat. The measuring instrume ...

s or other components on them that are used to

calibrate In measurement technology and metrology, calibration is the comparison of measurement values delivered by a device under test with those of a calibration standard of known accuracy. Such a standard could be another measurement device of known a ...

or adjust the board as a service procedure: the small insulated screwdriver used to turn them is often called a "tweaker." This use was echoed in the name of the product ''Tweek'', a popular but controversial audio product during the 1980s, which was claimed to improve the electrical characteristics of audio switch contacts.

Hardware

Hardware tweaking is a process of modifying certain parts of a hardware such as changing the

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

s, cleaning the heads of a VHS player with a branded cleaning fluid or oiling the moving parts of an

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

with the best possible oil.

Computer hardware

Computer hardware tweaking is an extension of hardware tweaking, specifically geared towards the components of a PC. They include: changing

voltage Voltage, also known as electric pressure, electric tension, or (electric) potential difference, is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a static electric field, it corresponds to the work needed per unit of charge to m ...

and

clock rate In computing, the clock rate or clock speed typically refers to the frequency at which the clock generator of a processor can generate pulses, which are used to synchronize the operations of its components, and is used as an indicator of the pr ...

s of processing units, modifying

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

unit timing, improving cooling systems to reduce chance of overheating, etc. Tweaks specifically designed to allow a processor to operate at a higher clock speed than normal are known as

overclocking In computing, overclocking is the practice of increasing the clock rate of a computer to exceed that certified by the manufacturer. Commonly, operating voltage is also increased to maintain a component's operational stability at accelerated spe ...

. Modifications of computer systems not aimed at increasing performance, such as quieter fans, external controls, and decorations such as lights or windows, are known as

modding ''Modding'' is a slang expression derived from the English verb " to modify". The term refers to modification of hardware, software, or anything else, to perform a function not originally intended by the designer, or to achieve bespoke specific ...

Software

Software tweaking is the process of improving the performance of an application or the quality of its output. There can be two ways of accomplishing this: manually (that is, if one is familiar with programming; though it may be irrelevant if the

source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute o ...

of the application is closed, and there are no built-in means to adjust its performance) or using another piece of software specialized for that purpose. Tweaking of this kind generally increases usability, in terms of personal configuration preferences, rather than objective performance of the system overall). Some very precise applications need constant and thorough tweaking to stay up to date and deliver best possible results. One of the most obvious examples of such a fine tuning is LAME MP3 encoder, whose 3.9x branch is not only considered as the state-of-the-art

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

encoder, but also continues to shape the boundaries of the MP3

codec A codec is a device or computer program that encodes or decodes a data stream or signal. ''Codec'' is a portmanteau of coder/decoder. In electronic communications, an endec is a device that acts as both an encoder and a decoder on a signal or da ...

and stay competitive with its successors.

References

External links

{{curlie, Computers/Hardware/FAQs,_Help,_and_Tutorials/Tweak_Your_Own_PC/, PC Tweaking
Tweakguides.com
Site with various Windows and PC Game tweak guides :-) Computer hardware tuning

Hardware

Computer hardware

Software

See also

References

External links