Computer Tips

Computer Tips For Trouble Free Computing

2009-10-06T02:37:00.000-07:00

Many computer users take for granted that their Desktop or Laptop PC will continue serving them day in and day out without fail. People rely on their computers more and more as a form of communication both with friends and family and as a link to the outside world, via the internet.

There's an underlying attitude amongst some more casual users, which can be deemed a disregard for the machine itself. Most want it to 'just work' or 'do what it's supposed to'. If you compare the use of a computer with that of a car, there are some quite stark similarities. Both need regular non-professional simple maintenance to keep them running smoothly. With a car it's things like checking the water, oil, tires and lights regularly and with a computer it's things such as regular backup of important files, cleaning of temporary files and defragmentation of the hard disk.

So how do everyday folk take care of these tasks without too much fuss?

1. The option which I recommend more than any other these days is a very handy disk cleanup tool called Ccleaner. This utility makes it easy to clean the temporary files from your hard disk at the click of a button. If used regularly, it takes literally seconds to complete and is best used just before turning your computer off after each session.
2. For backup solutions, you can't beat a good backup utility but for the easiest route, a large capacity pen drive and literally dragging and dropping the files onto the drive is the best by far. External usb hard drives are also a good bet if you have a large collection of photos, music or videos.
3. Your computer hard disk can quickly become fragmented, with files scattered randomly across the disk. Whist there is an in-built tool for correcting this in the Windows operating system, I'd recommend downloading and installing 'Auslogic disk defrag' which is a free program and is quick and easy to use.
4. The last tip is probably the most important.... Check the integrity of websites which you visit. A good tool for checking websites is the 'Netcraft Toolbar' which can be downloaded from netcraft.com. It integrates into Internet Explorer or Firefox browsers and is quite light on resources. It is still best to be dilligent with sites you're unfamiliar with and it's best to stick to sites from trusted companies especially when purchasing.

I've tried not to be too technical or in-depth as this is aimed at people who really don't want the hassle of messing about too much or trying too hard to grasp new concepts. The truth is, most experienced computer users know these things and many ignore them... sometimes at their peril, resulting in the need for computer repair experts.

If you find yourself in a disaster situation, call an expert straight away. The longer you leave it, the more chance of irreparable damage to the system or files... Safe computing.

About the Author

Written by Bill from 'A Star Universal computers'
http://www.astar-universal.co.uk/computers.html.
You can contact Bill at enquiries@astar-universal.co.uk.

Speed Up Your Computer - Tips to Fix a Slow PC & Improve Performance

2009-10-06T02:36:00.000-07:00

Computer errors can be very frustrating! In today's world where more and more people make use of a PC in their daily work, even a minor computer issue can prove to be extremely annoying. Without the computer, you may feel lost and would be unable to adhere to your client's deadlines. Under these circumstances, a person normally takes a computer to a computer repair shop and pays huge sums of money to get rid of the errors.

If you are also one of those who spend a lot of your hard earned dollars to fix a slow PC, it's time you get smart! Install a good registry cleaner on your PC and make sure errors, slow speeds, freezing, or crashing down of the computer does not bother you. Good cleaning software makes sure of the fact that your PC keeps running smoothly and continues to give you superior performance over the time. The root cause of any PC errors is problems in the computer's registry, which is a huge database of files, records, settings, and options.

With each second of your using the computer, the settings and options in the computer's registry keep changing. These changes result in some of the settings and options to get lost, be damaged, or become corrupt. The lost or damaged settings cause problems with the computer and are responsible for its slow speeds or freezing down. A good registry cleaner fixes a slow PC through the following ways:

It first identifies the errors during the scan process. It then reports these errors to you and even fixes them.
You also have the option to set the cleaning software program in the manual mode where it just scans, identifies, and reports these errors to you. You can then fix the errors individually or all at once.
Another way these registry cleaners fix a slow PC is by deleting all redundant information in the computer's registry. As you continue to install and uninstall software programs and devices on your computer, not all the files are uninstalled. Some of these files accumulate in the computer's registry and take up unnecessary space. Over the time, the number of these files can be numerous and can cause extremely poor performance of the PC. A good registry cleaning software deletes all these unnecessary files from the system and significantly improves its performance.

Registry cleaners are the utmost way to fix a slow PC and enable it to give paramount performance.

Tired of slowing PC performance? Do you want to repair and fix a slow PC in cheap and fast way? You can scan the registry error in your computer for free and fix them with the best registry cleaner on the market. After scanning and fixing your PC, you will be surprise how fast your computer is.

http://www.expert-product-reviews.net/detect-registry-error.html

About the Author - Ally Wood is a professional software reviewer and has worked in CNET. Now she is working for her own review software company to give feedback to the software creator and has done deep test in registry cleaner software. After reviewing the most popular registry cleaner, she has written complete review on a review site for you that can be accessed for free.

Computer Tips For Newbies

2009-10-06T02:35:00.002-07:00

So you've got your first computer. Great! This new machine will open up a world of communication, shopping, entertainment and exploration like nothing you've ever seen before. Computers have become a part of everyday life, and now that you have one, you'll quickly find it to be indispensable.

The thing though, is that computers are complex machines that require regular maintenance in order to keep working at their best. Just as your car needs oil changes and regular tune-ups, your computer needs to be checked and cleaned regularly. So let's cover some of the basics of computer cleaning and maintenance.

Cleaning the external portions and internal hardware of your computer may be daunting at first, but it's actually quite simple. The best place to start is with your monitor. If you have an old-fashioned CRT monitor (the sort that look like a television set) then you can clean the front with a standard glass cleaner and a paper towel. If you have a flatscreen monitor, there are various anti-dust cloths you can use to clean it. The keyboard and internal parts of the computer can be cleaned using compressed air, which you can purchase in cans with special nozzles at almost any electronics store. The keyboard's keys can also be cleaned with an antibacterial cleaning solution, although it is important to apply the solution to a paper towel and then wipe the keys rather than spraying it on the keyboard. You don't want to short out the keyboard after all! This sort of cleaning is something that you should do once every month or so, to keep the computer from becoming clogged with dust and grime.

Now that the exterior of your computer is clean, it's time to clean the interior. Almost all computers have antivirus software installed, and you should check that yours is up-to-date and set to scan on a regular basis. Most antivirus programs can be scheduled to run late at night or when you are at work, and it is best to schedule it to do so and then leave it on so that it will have the machine scanned when next you use it. It is also important to manage the computer's software so that unnecessary or unwanted programs are removed. You should regularly go to the add/remove programs menu and uninstall software you no longer need or which has become obsolete. You should also regularly defragment your hard drive in order to allow it to read and write faster. All of this should be done about once a week, but you don't have to do it all on one day.

Computers are amazing, but like any piece of complicated machinery they need regular maintenance. If you take good care of your computer it will give you many years of service without needing upgrades. You put a lot of money into your machine, so be sure to take good care of it and it you will get the most out of your investment!

Get excellent tips on everything important in life from shopping to business, computers to travel, and cars to finance. Click on http://www.EveryTip4u.com to get free articles that will help you in all areas of life and provide you with helpful links to even greater knowledge. Get help making informed decisions or just have more fun. All of the articles on EveryTip4u.com including this article are free to distribute for as long as this resource box is kept intact.

I wish you much success,

Dave Kent

http://www.EveryTip4u.com/computer

5 Stress Reducing Computer Tips

2009-10-06T02:35:00.001-07:00

For most entrepreneurs computers are an intrical part of our business. An entrepreneur can not afford for their computer to be inoperable even for a minute. Implement some of these quick and affordable computer tips to keep your computer healthy and making money for your business.

#1 - Double Internet Speed

Comcast recently doubled cable modem download speeds. Now you can surf the Internet and download files twice as fast. However, you need to power cycle your cable modem [unplug it for 30 seconds and reboot computer] for the new configuration to be automatically downloaded to your modem.

#2 - Connecting to Work from Home

Having trouble with your corporate VPN connection when working from home? Oftentimes this can be fixed with a simple firmware upgrade to your network router or a slight change in settings.

#3 - Sudden Lost Connection

Has your Internet connection suddenly stopped working? Frequently computer users with software-based firewalls suddenly find their Internet connection no longer available. Oftentimes when you download a software update, it can change your original configurations. As a quick test, disable the software firewall. If connectivity returns, it’s a misconfiguration issue.

#4 - Slow E-mail and Internet Browsing

Has your computer been working wonderfully, but suddenly e-mail or Internet browsing is painfully slow? It could be your cable connection went out. And although the connection has returned, your computer and the cable modem may be having difficulty communicating. Try power cycling your modem.

#5 - Eliminate Popups

Google offers a free popup blocker with its toolbar. Download the toolbar at www.toolbar.google.com. System requirements: Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later. The popup blocker requires Internet Explorer 5.5 or later.

About The Author

Sharron Senter is co-founder of http://www.VisitingGeeks.com - an on site computer repair, security and networking company serving north of Boston, Southern NH and Maine. Visiting Geeks’ technicians are crackerjacks at squashing viruses, popups and securing and making computers perform faster. Learn more about Sharron at http://www.SharronSenter.com.

Speed Up Computer Tips

2009-10-06T02:34:00.001-07:00

Surfing the internet is fun and their is so much knowledge out there. Their comes a time when surfing is not fun at all because your computer gets slow. A slow computer is not only an inconvenience but it is also frustrating. Here are some good speed up computer tips.

Their are things that you can do to make sure your computer is running fast. A slow computer is cluttered with files and junk. It gets slowed down because it is to much stuff for the computer to handle. Most of the junk is spyware. Spyware is gained as you surf the internet if you don't have any protection.

You need a good spyware remover program to get rid of the spyware. A good one will update databases regularly. Spyware is like viruses which come out with new ones everyday. It is important that you remove spyware at least once a week to have your computer running at the fastest speed. It is an excellent idea to have a spyware program that is active and scans everything that you run into while surfing the internet.

Another thing you want to do is to keep your computer clean. By this I mean cleaning the registry regularly with a registry cleaner. This will clean up things that you don't use that are just taking up memory. You don't need to be a computer expert to do this either. Registry cleaner programs make it simple and easy.

Disk defragment is an important tool that comes with windows computers. It is located in accessories. What this does is it moves files closer together so your free space is in one group and your files are in another. This speeds up your computer because it takes less time to find the files if they are all in one group.

By doing simple computer maintenance like these speed up computer tips will keep your computer running smooth. You will be able to surf the internet or whatever your doing without being stressed out.

Jamie Krause
Find more information about spyware remover programs and registry cleaner programs HERE.

Computer Tips that Help Small Businesses Operate Profitably

2009-10-06T02:31:00.000-07:00

When working properly, computers enable small businesses to make big business profits; however, get booted off your computer and you’re suddenly starving. In most instances, computers usually act up due to lack of care by its owners. Here are four computer tips that’ll keep you up and running smoothly.

Tip #1 -- Back up your computer’s data no less than once a month.

Too often a small business is thrust back to infancy because it didn’t take time to back up precious data; information that took hours upon hours to create. Information that’s irreplaceable, such as customer databases or employment contracts. Keep in mind you’ll want to back up your written data as well as check books such as Quicken and email address books. If your computer has a CD writer, it’s simple and quick to back up your data. Simply select the files and folders you want to back up and copy them to the writer.

Or if you have an older computer, copy your most important files to a floppy disk. Either way, don’t stop there; now take the CD or disk and store it in a fire-safe box! To expedite the process, organize your files within folders so you can quickly grab and copy one or two folders.

Tip #2 – Don’t turn off your computer every evening.

Too frequently computer users turn their computers off every evening. This is unnecessary and not recommended. A computer’s components are at their most vulnerable when turned on and off. When a computer has to heat up [turn on] or cool down [turn off] it’s at this precise moment components fail. It’s recommended you turn your computer off once or twice a week or only when necessary, such as from a power outage. However, don’t do the opposite and never turn your computer off, since many anti-virus programs require a computer reboot be performed before new virus patches take effect.

Tip #3 -- Automate anti-virus software so it updates automatically no less than once a week.

Depending on your software, you may need to prompt it to update. Unfortunately, there are people with too much time on their hands who desire to attack and make your computer unusable. A computer user is not ultimately protected from viruses and spyware [pop-ups, cookies, etc.] unless you're using a combination of anti-virus and anti-spyware software and a firewall, a piece of hardware that protects computers from being hacked. You must have all three pieces in order to ward off viruses, lurkers and attacks. What’s more, most of the attacks are very quiet. You don't know someone is on your computer. Instead, they secretly store information, such as child pornography or music MP3s on your computer, since it's illegal, and redirect child-porno or MP3 seekers to your computer instead of theirs.

Tip #4 -- Install a firewall if you keep your computer constantly on.

Using a broadband or DSL connection dramatically increases your exposure to being hacked. It only takes an average of 15 minutes being online before a home-based computer is attacked. The only true way to protect a computer from a hacker is to install a hardware firewall. It’s a misconception that software-based firewalls ultimately defend computers. This is simply not true. Computers must have a hardware firewall for ultimate protection, such as a SonicWall or Netscreen firewall, a component installed between a home user’s cable or DSL connection and their computer.

About The Author

Sharron Senter is co-founder of VisitingGeeks.com - an on site computer repair, security and networking company that helps families, home power users and small businesses north of Boston, Southern NH and Maine. Visiting Geeks’ technicians are crackerjacks at squashing viruses, pop-ups and securing and making computers perform faster. To reach Visiting Geeks call (978) 346-4087 or visit http://www.VisitingGeeks.com Sharron’s also the author of, “Make Money While Sleeping.” Learn more at http://www.sharronsenter.com/fs_increase_seo.shtml