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Essential Rules
for Keeping Your PC Healthy
Computing has
certainly changed over the
past few years, but the
rules to keeping your PC
pumped up and running smooth
have not.
In these days
of Spyware, Hijacking and
SPAM, we long for the day
when the good old fashioned
virus would simply delete
our hard drive and spread
itself to everyone in our
address book.
Life was
simpler then.
The
Dos...Your life vest in the swirling vortex of doom.
1.
Download the Beta Spyware Checker from Microsoft. Although we also
love LavaSoft's Adaware and Spybot Search and Destroy, this new Beta
spyware utility from Microsoft has shown us good results, It runs in
the background and helps to keep your PC free of spyware.
2. Buy or Download an AntiVirus. If
you're connected to the Internet you
will get a virus and
you will unknowingly be spreading it to others. AVG by Grisoft has a
free antivirus download. Get it today. We also love the commercial
program Norton Antivirus by Symantec.
3. If you have a broadband connection,
run a software firewall. We like
Zonealarm by Zonelabs. They have a free version. If you're partial
to Microsoft, then go ahead and use the one included with XP.
4. Run the
Firefox web
browser. Give it a shot--it's actually a lot better than Internet
Explorer. And even if you like Explorer better, it doesn't hurt to have
two browsers.
5. Defrag once every three months--sooner
if you run anything besides Windows 2000 or XP.
6. Do run WPA (preferred) or WEP encryption on your router
and wireless network. It's simple and will protect your information
from snoops that can snatch it out of thin air.
7. Backup your data. There's no worse
feeling in the world than losing everything. Use another hard
disk--internal or external. You can even network PCs and transfer
backups from one to the other. But what if your house burns down?
Consider getting the data off site. Put the data on a disk and keep it
at a family member's home.
8. Press CTRL + D on our homepage
http://www.pctechbytes.com. We're here for you
via a technical message board and chat rooms
The
Don'ts. Seriously... Don't.
1.
Never open Email
attachments--even if they come from a known family member or friend's
Email account. Viruses propagate by infecting a PC and Emailing
themselves to everyone in the infected computer's address book.
Consider a code word to use in the subject line of Emails. Your friends
and family would know the keyword (maybe strawberry or moonbeam) and
will include this in the subject when attaching a file. A bad keyword
would be
Viagra.
2. Never give out your
REAL email address when signing up for something online. It will fall
into enemy hands and you will spend most of your days sifting through
trash when looking for real email. Consider using the service at
http://www.dodgeit.com.
You can create fake Email addresses here for free.
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