PC hints and tips
PCs, hints and tips, answers to questions I get asked regularly. This is not a definitive guide and I welcome suggestions for changes, corrections, or additions by others….Malcolm
This advice is offered free on a take-it-or-leave-it basis, don’t sue me if you follow my advice and something goes wrong!
Security
- These days it’s a good idea to have an up-to-date anti-virus program running at all times, a decent free one is AVG anti-virus by Grisoft. You must keep it updated though (updates are free) as new viruses appear daily.
- If you are connected to the internet then you should also have a firewall, this stops unauthorised programs from getting acces to your PC while you surf. Windows XP includes one which is OK, it’s main weakness is that it only blocks outside programs from coming in, more sophisticated firewalls stop malicious program already on your PC from “phoning home”. A decent free firewall can be downloaded from ZoneAlarm (go for the free download, resist their offers to buy the Pro version, it isn’t necessary in my opinion).
- Another type of malicious program that can attach itself to your ‘pooter is “adware”, not really viruses but you don’t want them. Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware Personal is free and does a good job.
- More advanced anti-spyware protection is available with SpyBot Search and Destroy version 1.4 includes a resident program that monitors programs trying to change registry values. This puts a stop to programs installing themselves on your system without you knowing about it. But it is more advanced than ad-aware and requires a bit more know-how to install.
Other stuff
- We have a website hosting and domain name service.
- Own a digital camera and looking for a good service for photo printing – we recommend photobox – we’ve used them and so have some friends, all of us have had excellent results. If you email us and we sign you up then you get 10 prints done for free (and so do we). Let us know if you’re interested.
- Firefox is our favourite web-browser. Blocks pop-ups ads, features tabbed windows, can block flash animations, and loads more features…Much better and more secure than Internet Explorer in our opinion. Just one thing though, Firefox has a feature called “link prefetch” which web-publishers can use to get the browser to automatically fetch a linked page, even if you never click the link. If you do intend to use Firefox (or any Mozilla browser,) I strongly recommend you set this feature off. See tweakguide under the heading “disable google prefetch” for instructions on disabling this.
- Want a really good reason for not using Internet Explorer ?
- Open Office is a good alternative to Microsoft Office – contains Word processor, spreadsheets, etc., and it’s free to download and use. Another handy feature is that it can export documents as PDF documents.
- Need a program to take backups of important files and folders at pre-set times? This backup program by Luis Cobian is free and does the job nicely.
- Not often you get something for free from Microsoft, but if you run multiple computers and have Windows XP, you might find Sync Toy useful. It’s an improved version of the old Briefcase program for keeping files in sync. NB. To download you will need to go through the Windows XP authentication process.
- You do often get things for free from Google, if you need a program to organise digital pictures, download Picasa – it is excellent.
No guarantee that the links above will work by the time you try them, Microsoft for example, are notorius for re-organising their websites on a regular basis. If you try a link and it doesn’t work, try googling for it or contact us.