How To Purchase A Personal Computer

Posted by admin on Aug 24, 2010 in Recent Posts | 0 comments

How To Purchase A Personal Computer
There are untold thousands who are befuddled and confused at the idea of purchasing a computer. Maybe they need it for themselves or as a gift but they have no clue what is needed or what to buy. This 12 part lesson series will answer those questions.
How To Purchase A Personal Computer

Computer Tuneup Videos
Video reveals #1 secret to tuneup and protect your computer against viruses and spyware in under 5 minutes using all free tools. Discover the quickest way to keep your computer running fast and trouble free while avoiding costly repairs and downtime.
Computer Tuneup Videos

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Computer Care, Can I Do It Myself?

Posted by admin on Aug 8, 2010 in Recent Posts | 0 comments

Computer Care, Can I Do It Myself?

With all of the resources available to you, you may well ask yourself, “Why do I need a computer expert to maintain my computer?” The short answer is, you don’t. Just like you don’t need a technician to fix your car, repair your furnace, or do any other maintenance or repairs. If you have the knowledge and the time, you can easily repair and maintain your own computer.

But be warned, there are several potential “gotchas” involved in maintaining your own computer. If you decide to repair your own automobile, a company won’t sell you a carburetor what will break your car. Unfortunately, that’s not true of computer maintenance. There are many programs out there that either don’t do what they purport to do, perform unnecessary functions, or are just plain dangerous to install. It’s up to you, the computer maintenance technician, to determine what programs you can safely use in what manner.

In this article, we’ll discuss some of the programs out there and what the do-it-yourselfer needs to watch out for.

Registry Cleaners Websites such as Finally Fast.com and Double My Speed.com have been promoting themselves heavily of late. These (and other) sites offer products to download and install that purport to improve your computer’s performance. These programs are mostly registry cleaners. The Windows registry is simply a database that the operating system uses to store everything it needs to know to run as per your specifications. In addition, it’s available to any other program to write their information in there as well. Since Windows 95, the registry has been the recommended repository for user preferences, settings, and any other variables a program has to remember.

Over time the Windows registry will become cluttered with unneeded information, most frequently caused by uninstallation programs not removing all of the data they should. The concept of a registry cleaner is that it will detect and remove these orphan settings, frequently improving computer performance.

The problem with registry cleaners is that they will often incorrectly detect a setting as unneeded and delete it, causing problems with either installed programs or the Windows operating system itself. Registry cleaners are good, but you should never blindly take their advice as to what to delete. You should always review each entry to verify that it can be deleted safely.

And keep in mind there are freeware applications that do an excellent job of cleaning your Windows registry. Ccleaner is the one recommended by The Computer Psychic. (Go to Google and search for ccleaner.)

Anti-Malware Applications Malware (spyware and virus) cleanup and prevention is one of the most important aspects of computer maintenance. If you catch a virus on your system, you leave yourself open to all sorts of mischief – including having files deleted, getting your address book scammed and spam e-mails being sent in your name, and even having your credit card and banking information stolen! Spyware can be just as bad – it typically “watches” what you do on your computer, down to even logging keystrokes, and thus stealing your passwords. In addition to these problems, spyware and viruses are often poorly written, causing performance problems in your system.

There are dozens of applications on the market that claim to remove malware from your system. And many of them do a good job. But here’s the rub – many programs that present themselves as anti-virus or anti-spyware are, themselves, viruses and spyware! The Computer Psychic has seen all too many systems where the owner has – with the best of intentions – installed an anti-malware app into their system, only to see the floodgates opened; they find themselves with more popup ads and performance problems than they’ve ever seen before.

So how do you make sure you don’t install one of these #$%& programs? First of all, if you get a pop-up message telling you that your computer is infected with viruses and click here to download a virus cleaner, don’t do it! Without exception, these programs are scams. Downloading one of these apps will introduce your system to more viruses than you thought existed. In fact, when you see this window, you’ll be presented with an OK and Cancel button. Don’t click either one! If you click Cancel, it will still install a virus. Instead, click on the little X in the upper right-hand corner to close the window.

Secondly, if you use a search engine looking for anti-malware programs, be careful what links you follow. Malware creators will name their applications very similar to – or even exactly the same as – legitimate programs, hoping to confuse you into downloading theirs instead of the good one. For example, if you wanted to download Spybot Search and Destroy (an excellent anti-spyware program) and searched for it in Yahoo, the very first result you’ll find purports itself to be Spybot. Clicking their link takes you to a page that says it’s Spybot Search and Destroy, but is actually an application that acts as a gateway to allow viruses into your system.

So, again, you need to take the time to learn what is and what isn’t safe to install. The Computer Psychic has a very easy recommendation. Microsoft has a vested interest in keeping your computer malware-free. If they do a good job of preventing viruses from getting into your system, then that’s one less thing that Apple can beat them up over. Towards that end, in September of 2009, Microsoft released an excellent free anti-malware program named Microsoft Security Essentials (www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials). In the past, The Computer Psychic has recommended against all-in-one solutions, arguing that no one application can catch everything. But Microsoft Security Essentials is just that good. It does as good a job as – or better than – any other application, or combination of apps, in blocking any type of spyware or virus.

Startup Monitors While not as popular as the other system maintenance programs, proper use of a startup monitor can dramatically speed up your computer. A startup monitor will tell you just what programs, drivers and processes load when you start your computer.

When you boot up your computer, the operating system will also auto-start many other components – possibly a fax application, printer elements, video or mouse drivers, to name a few. These are good – they are essential for the proper operation of your computer. However, many applications add themselves to the auto-run settings for their own convenience – not yours.

For example, programs such as Adobe Reader and Microsoft Office will tell the operating system to pre-load some of their components as Windows starts up. This allows their software to open more quickly when needed. The downside of this is, even if you aren’t actively using their software, your computer is using memory running those components. Better to not pre-load those components; let the software take a second or two longer to load, and speed up your entire system.

Another popular use for the startup is for auto-update programs. These apps will periodically check the internet looking for updates. If one is found, the program will present you with a window telling you an update is available. Not only do these apps consume computer resources, they can be an annoyance.

In order to easily prevent unwanted software from running automatically, The Computer Psychic recommends a Microsoft application called AutoRuns (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx). Using Autoruns you can decide just what apps you want to run when starting your computer. Once again, though, don’t blindly turn of all apps. Make sure you know what you’re disabling.

Summary

As you can see, using the tools recommended in this article makes it quite possible for anyone to maintain their computer’s health. But as with anything technical, make sure you know what you’re doing before just tinkering away.

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How do I “close all programs running on my computer”?

Posted by admin on Jul 31, 2010 in Recent Posts | 3 comments

Question by Im2hard2please: How do I “close all programs running on my computer”?
I’m getting ready to install Verizon’s DSL and am being told to “close all programs running on my computer” including firewall software before beginning the self installation”.

How do I do this? Please help
For clarification: I cannot turn my computer off because I have to use a CD to install the equipment and software….but I must close “all running programs including firewall sofware”.

Best answer:

Answer by Stacy H
If you press control, Alt, delete at the same time it will give you the programs that are running and you can exit them from there.

Add your own answer in the comments!

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Computer Knowledge Shoroom

Posted by admin on Dec 14, 2009 in Recent Posts | 0 comments

Computer Knowledge Shoroom

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These advertiser have received a great deal of recognition and has been written up in many major publications. This computer Knowledge Web will provide all of their products in other side and has key goal is to provide   a   premium   service,    which delivers effective solutions, and provides exceptional value to their customers  and clients. As a result, the computer Knowledge Web has surpassed many major competitors in a very fast paced and competitive business online.

Computer Knowledge Web offers over 30,000 parts with huge inventory in stock to maintain delivery of all orders in a timely manner.  We recognize that every client has its own unique perspective and goals that often require innovative and new approaches. Therefore, Google Clickbank highly qualified sales and support staff are always ready to help clients fulfill all their computing and other needs. Also, Computer Knowledge Web will give you about web tutorial, IT know knowledge, and all off information technology.

The COMPUTER KNOWLEDGE SHOWROOM products, expertise and service you need to make your business successful. Fast shipping, fast answers, the industry’s largest in-stock inventories, custom configurations and more. Just find the seller link and find the product you need on their site. You can get all of Information Technology Products need here… let’s Enjoy your browsing…….

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How do I get rid of certain “files stored on my computer” by google?

Posted by admin on Dec 5, 2009 in Recent Posts | 1 comment

Question by <3: How do I get rid of certain “files stored on my computer” by google?
When I search with google, the top option is “files stored on my computer”. This is sometimes when it comes to finding Word documents, but I noticed that no matter WHAT I do, all the pages I’ve ever looked on in my life show up in these files. Even when I delete all my browsing history, cookies, AND temporary internet files– these pages are still there.
How do I get rid of these???

Best answer:

Answer by peter
I think you should do a regestry clean up.

What do you think? Answer below!

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