There are manly three major thinks which can badly affect PC’s performance or its health.
· Electrical fluctuations (surges and power loss) pose a significant threat to your system and are often the cause of data loss and burned out components.
· Viruses and Spy-ware can be pretty irritating. Disabling system functions, high memory usage, internet bandwidth stealing to name a few. Other times, it can be dangerous as well; stealing passwords or bank and credit card information.
· Malicious Internet may steel your resources and Valuable information’s.
· Unplug your system during lightning storms, even if it is surge protected.
· Obtain an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) which can provide several minutes worth of power (enough to save your work) in case of a failure. Most UPS units also function as a surge protector.
· If you are living on campus, be sure to follow the guidelines provided by the Division of Housing in regards to extension cords and “power strips.” Never daisy chain surge protectors or UPS units – this practice easily overcomes the protection provided by these devices.
· Update your Windows OS with all the security releases from Microsoft. This is pretty essential, but I haven’t seen many high-priority updates since SP2. So, if you have SP2, I guess that’s updated enough; but always update if you can.
· Always watch the task manager. Be aware of the number of processes that your system usually runs. This could help you detect any unwanted processes running in the background.
· Always scan any file that you download from the internet or your email inbox before executing it.
Internet:
· Only make purchases through known companies. If you want to make a purchase from an unknown company, take time to research the company. You can find out information from agencies that keep track of fraud and poor business practices. Many of these companies and agencies place information on-line. You can search the web for this information. Make small purchases from a company that you do not know before making a large purchase.
· A mention about “cookies”. Cookies are files that contain information. This information is stored by the server (company) that you visit on the web. Cookies are necessary to use some web sites. Using cookies makes it possible for a server (company) to detect your web browsing habits. My suggestion for managing cookies is to set your browser to notify you before accepting a cookie. In this way, you can decide what cookies you will allow on your computer. Many web sites on the Internet use Java applets and JavaScript’s (small programs) to enhance the web browser presentation and user interaction. Special conditions have to exist for a Java applet or script to cause harm to your computer too.
· Use a personal firewall to keep unwanted entities out of your computer.
· Don’t open email attachment that you are not expecting to receive and scan all attachments with a virus scan program before opening or sending.
Are all of those Electrical warnings valid?
I still use surge protectors; but the last UPS I purchased was 8 years ago at least, I also leave my computers on and plugged in during Thunderstorms.
Should I be worried about those things even if I have a high quality power supply?
I figured that as long as I have a good power supply, it’s not going to allow a harmful amount of electricity to flow into the other components of my PC’s.
That’s good 8 years, nice one.
Yes during Thunderstorms you can use it if its protected against high power flow Cant say when the thunder will hit the electric lines. Most of the case, I meant 90% chances is there. So I prefer not to connect UPS to power line. Yes as I said earlier if you have lightning protection equipment yes its safe to use almost 80%, why 80% means UPS also an electrical device, if excessive power comes through line even best or the supper best UPS can’t withstand it.
Those are good tips.
here are some tips to protect your computer on the internet.
1. Running a Personal Firewall
A personal firewall is software that basically makes your computer invisible to hackers, worms and other threats that can infect your computer over the internet.
Setting up a firewall is the absolute first thing you should do if you’re going to connect to the internet. Without a firewall, your computer could get infected in as little as one minute after connecting.
If you have a brand new computer running Windows XP Service Pack 2, there is a firewall built into Windows. It will already have been turned on when you first set up your computer.
If you’re running an older version of Windows, even an earlier version of Windows XP, there is no firewall automatically set up for you. In this case there are two possibilities:
– Your computer came pre-loaded with a firewall such as Norton Internet Security or McAfee Internet Security
– You have no firewall installed and should download one ASAP.
If you don’t have any personal firewall software installed, you should do so right away. Zone Alarm is a very good firewall program that has a version that you can download and install for free.
You can download the free version of Zone Alarm from http://www.computer-help-squad.com/zonealarm
2. Turn on Windows Updates
Again, if you’re running Windows XP Service Pack 2 this is already set up, but otherwise you should turn on Windows Updates. Microsoft releases updates for security problems and other bugs in Windows on a regular basis.
These updates will keep your computer running better, and they often fix security issues that could compromise your information or privacy.
If you are running Windows XP Service Pack 2, you can double-check that automatic updates are turned on by clicking Start, then click Control Panel, then double-click Security Center. The window that opens will tell you if automatic updates are turned on, and lets you turn them on if they’re not.
To turn on automatic updates in earlier versions of Windows XP, click on the Start menu, click Control Panel and then double-click on System. On the “Automatic Updates” tab, click the option to “Automatically download the updates and install them on the schedule I specify.”
To turn them on in Windows 2000, click on Start, click Control Panel and then double-click on Automatic Updates. Again, click the option to “automatically download the updates and install them on the schedule I specify.”
Now when Microsoft releases updates, they will be downloaded for you automatically and Windows will tell you when they are ready to be installed.
3. Install & Update Anti virus Software
Most new computers come with anti virus software these days. You might have Norton, McAfee, PC-Cillin or another brand. No matter what program you have, you will need to update it when you get connected to the internet.
It doesn’t matter how new your computer is – there will be new viruses, and new updates for the anti virus software, since it was loaded.
The exact process is different for each brand of anti virus program, but most of them will have an icon in the bottom right corner of your desktop, beside the time. The icon might be a picture of a shield (McAfee), a stethoscope (Norton) or something else.
In most cases, if you point to the icon for your anti virus and click the right mouse button, a menu will pop up with an update option. It could be simply called update or could be something like Live Update or Download Latest Updates. If you click on the update option (with the left button this time) it will install the newest updates for you.
If you’re not sure which icon is for your anti virus software, just point to each one for a few seconds and a little title should pop up telling you what it is.
4. Install Anti-Spyware Software
Spyware – and other things known as adware and malware – is becoming as big a problem as viruses. Spyware programs can cause a lot of problems with your computer, not to mention they can track your personal information and you never know where it’s being sent.
Some new computers might includes antispyware software, but most of them don’t yet. There are quite a few anti-spyware programs available, some free and some not. The one I recommend is from Microsoft and is one of the free ones.
One of the reasons I like it is because it always runs in the background and will automatically catch a lot of spyware before it gets on your computer.
Many of the other programs don’t catch it until you run a scan. Not only does this allow things to get on your computer, it also means you have to actually remember to run a scan.
You can download the free Microsoft Anti spyware from http://www.computer-help-squad.com/antispyware
5. Set up a Free Email Account
This last item is not as critical as the first four, but I would highly recommend you set up an email account with one of the free services like Hotmail or Gmail.
Once you’re on the internet, you’ll find a lot of useful information that you want that requires you to provide an email address. In some cases, these people will end up sending you a bunch of spam.
If you use a free email account to sign up for anything that you don’t know for sure you can trust, it’s not going to fill your main email with a bunch of junk.
This goes for anything really, not just online information. If you’re entering a contest or signing up for anything off line and you don’t know where your information could end up being used, I would suggest using your free email address.
If worse comes to worse, and your free email address gets inundated with spam, you can always just set up a new one and let the old one expire.
Some of the better free email services are http://www.hotmail.com, http://www.gmail.com and http://www.yahoomail.com.
If you’ve had your computer for a while and never done any of these things, you should still take these steps to get it set up properly. It will definitely save you a lot of time – and possibly money – as you use your system.
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