More Computer Hints and Tips
November 16, 2009
Introduction
This document covers in a little more detail the topics introduced at the Carefree Computer Club meeting held on 16 Nov 2009. The principal subjects included:
Anti-Virus Programs
Having a reliable and updated anti-virus program installed on your computer is very important. You should never connect to the Internet unless the anti-virus program is running. (If you don’t have an anti-virus program, and you need to download one from a website, don’t worry about the short time you will not be protected.)
The next thing to be aware of is that you don’t need to pay for good virus protection. There are several FREE anti-virus programs available these days.
(A trusted website that I use frequently for free software is download.cnet.com.) Do yourself a favor and avoid Norton, as you will be paying annually for protection and the program uses too many of your computer’s time and space resources. The program that I use is called AVG (Anti-Virus made by Grisoft). Another good one is called Avast. Be sure to see the word FREE in the download page because these programs also have a paid version, principally made for commercial use. These programs can easily be configured to scan at scheduled times (twice a week is usually enough) and to receive automatic updates. With the latest versions of these programs, you do not need to install additional software to scan for ad-ware or spy-ware, in fact they may cause a problem if the are both trying to protect you.
Keeping a backup of your data (everything in your “My Documents” folder) is made easy these days using an external hard drive. These devices usually hold far more than your on-board hard drive, so they enable you to keep copies of your data and also provide the space to just save original data. The device needs a power source so it’s a good idea to plug it in to a surge-protected power bar, next to your computer plug. They communicate with the computer through a USB cable. Some have a single button that you press to create a backup file of your data, which is dated as it is saved. This is sometimes less convenient than simply copying your “My Documents” folder and pasting it into your external hard drive. (The backup file is most useful when your computer crashes!)
To access your files on the external hard just right click on your Start button and choose Explore. It will be annotated with a ‘drive’ letter in a similar way to your on-board hard drive (C:). You may have other ‘drives’, such as a CD player or a DVD player, which will also be given drive letters. You can also give your external hard drive a name, such as “My Backup Drive”.
Here’s a simple analogy: you own a car, a motorcycle, and a motor-mower. Why would you have them all running outside your house at the same time, even when you have no intention of using them? In the same way, you may have programs that are running on your computer right from startup, which you may never use. They consume resources just the same as your motorized equipment, only in this case it isn’t gasoline, it’s memory and time. On your computer you need the anti-virus program, and very little else, to be running at startup. How do you know what’s running and how do you prevent it from running until you really need it?
There are several ways you can view the programs that are running from the moment your computer has finished booting up. Windows provides something called ‘msconfig’, which you type into your ‘Run’ box. XP users will find the Run box in the Start menu list. Vista has it in Programs>Accessories>System Tools. Once you have typed ‘msconfig’ into the space provided, press Enter and your System Configuration Utility program will open. Click on the Startup tab and uncheck all but the anti-virus program and, if installed, your firewall program. Then click OK. You will be prompted to reboot but you don’t have to if you don’t want to. It will remember the programs you left checked and only start those during the next boot up, at which time you may receive a message to say there have been changes to your configuration. Check the box to not be reminded again and see what shows in your system tray at the bottom, right corner of your screen.
If you have CCleaner installed on your computer, it is even easier than using the msconfig method. Open the program and click on the Tools tab. Then click on the Startup tab and disable all but the essential programs mentioned above. Some other Registry cleaner programs also have this functionality and the process is the same. Once you have done this to your computer you will appreciate the increase in performance.
Do you want to access your e-mail in the same way wherever you are in the world? Do you want to avoid the hassle of informing your contacts that your e-mail address changes periodically? With a web-based e-mail service you can access your mail from any computer wherever you may be, and always use the same e-mail address. One advantage is that you visit a server to read your mail where you are allotted a huge amount of space so you never have to delete any messages for many years. Google Mail (G-mail), Yahoo and Hotmail are just a few examples of web-based mail accounts, which can be set up in minutes.
Due to the heat produced when an external hard drive is running, it is advisable to turn it off when not in use. After saving your files, or completing a backup, click on the ‘Safely Remove Hardware’ icon in the sys-tray (at the lower right corner of your monitor screen). Go through the brief shutdown procedure for your external hard drive, and then switch it off. If it has to run for extended periods of time, keep it in a well-ventilated space and make sure it doesn’t get too hot. Heat is the killer of all things electronic!
Windows Defender (WD) is software that helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software. It detects and removes known spyware from your computer. If your anti-virus program also has this function (e.g. AVG), it would be best to remove WD from your computer. Two programs doing the same thing is sometimes counter-productive and neither may work well. Continue to use WD if no other spyware program is installed.
If you prefer not to receive e-mail messages from a person or company, or ones that refer to certain topics, you can create a filter in G-mail to deal with this for you. Here are the steps:
There are two distinct ways of receiving and sending e-mail. These are by using a web-based service (e.g. G-mail), or by using a program installed on your computer (e.g. Outlook Express). The latter works by downloading all received mail into your hard drive. Copies of your sent mail is also stored in your computer. From time to time you will have to delete older stored messages so that your hard drive does not get too full.
Web-based mail, on the other hand, requires you to communicate with a server on the Internet to read all your mail. No mail is actually stored in your computer. This type of service allots you a huge amount of space on the server, so it is never necessary to delete any messages until you get near your upper limit of available space. The amount of space you are currently using is displayed on your main e-mail page.
BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copy. You can see this below the ‘To’ box when you compose an e-mail message and you use that box if you do not want the addressees to see who else received the message. By doing this you avoid spreading multiple e-mail addresses around the world, which can lead to you and your friends receiving unwanted spam. Some e-mail services may require at least one name in the To box, so enter your own name there if necessary. The BCC box can accept any number of addresses but the recipients will only see their own address (and yours, if you put it in the To box).
When you forward an interesting message or a joke, try to strip out the e-mail addresses from the body of the message, especially in messages that have been forwarded many times. (These are pure joy for address collectors, who make their living by selling addresses to spammers!) If you can copy and paste the joke or article into a new message, so much the better.
You may want to display one of your own pictures on your desktop instead of picking one from the Windows selection.
XP users do the steps that follow:
Vista users do the steps that follow:
When you change from another e-mail service to G-mail you can configure G-mail to display mail from the other service.
Do the steps that follow:
Questions were also raised concerning how to use the programs ‘CCleaner’ and Disk Defragmenter. In the interest of brevity I do not intend to explain them in these notes, however, if you would like me to demonstrate them individually I would be happy to do so on your computer. We can also go through this as a practical exercise during the next computer group meeting.
Finally, don’t forget the old saying that was used on Hill Street Blues years ago. “Let’s do it to them before they do it to us!”
Dave Clark