Computer Care

For all your computer care needs visit my techie neighbourhood girl at www.nerdgirl.ca

BEST PLACE TO STORE YOUR PC:

- A "cool", "dust" free, and "static" free room.

- Try and clean dust that builds up inside your computer .... how often depends on how dusty the environment around the computer is. You can purchase a can of "Duster" from any office supplies store for under $10.00 bucks, which removes most dust from inside your pc.

- Always keep your drivers (floppies, cd's that came with computer), documentation, and manuals of your pc in a safe spot...down the road when you have a computer problem, you or the computer tech. may need to access this information.

DOWNLOADING:

- Nowadays, there is so much free stuff on the net....everyone is going download crazy. But be warry where you go? Also keep in mind, the more you enter your email address on web pages. (re: contests, downloads, etc)...the more junk mail will be added to your in-box. What I like doing is creating 2 separate email accounts...one for junk mail. Also, if you do lots of downloading, I would recommend using a program that elimates spams. There are many you can download for free on the internet. You can't elimate spams totally, but some programs have a complete email filtering system for spam protection, virus protection, and corporate policy enforcement.

INTERNET SECURITY:

- If you are going to have your computer on the Internet, I strongly suggest you have antivirus software. There are so many viruses out there, and they are spreading rapidly. Also when you have that antivirus software...be sure to "update" the virus defination periodically...your antivirus software will have an updater to do this. As for what kind of antivirus to purchase, there are many good ones out there such as MacAfee, Norton, and Fix It Utilities, it really is up to you which one you want to purchase, I personally like Fix It Utilities.

- Nowadays, not only do you need antivirus software, but also a firewall, which blocks the "doors" called ports leading to your computer from intruders. The best firewall I find is a hardware firewall, there are many routers with built in firewalls that work excellent. But if you opt for software firewalls, there are many out there Norton and MacFee are pretty decent. I like NeoWatch and NeoTrace.

For more info on computer care, please visiting my website:

www.nerdgirl.ca