New Year's resolutions for safe PC

During the past week I have worked with three people whose computer was corrupted by viruses, had their browsers hijacked, and various other maladies get their systems up and running again. While I am not a complete computer geek, I do know a little about software and hardware. (A little knowledge is a dangerous thing). Jim Harmening (Becky remember his brother) has a column in the Southtown that appears every Sunday. It's just a common sense column, nothing extraordinary, but things that everyone takes for granted. Todays column was appropriate because the problems I worked on this week could have been avoided. So keep reading and you'll get to his column

You won't let a stranger in your house, but you do with your computer.

You keep your house clean, but your computer is the home of your data and it needs to be cleaned also.

There's an old saying "I didn't miss you till you were gone." Don't back up.

Anti-virus programs are like homeowners insurance make sure yours is current.

Okay, enough sermonizing even for Sunday. Have a good week. I'll think of you about my second cup of coffee Monday morning.

New Year's resolutions for safe PC

Sunday, January 8, 2006

By Jim Harmening
Computer Bits

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Resolution 1: I will back up! Yes, I said it again, and I will probably repeat myself every three months: Please back up data files, pictures, movies, spreadsheets, e-mails and financial data that you care about.

One way to do this quite nicely is through a USB drive. These have gotten cheap and hold 1 or 2 gigabytes of data for under $125. The 512 megabyte ones are around $55. I like the titanium Cruzer from Sandisk. BTW (by the way), I also found a great use for my IPOD — it acts like a USB drive that I can use to backup my files.

After you backup your computer files, you need to store the backup in a place apart from your computer. A home safe works nicely.

Resolution 2: I will clean up! You need to vacuum all the dust and grime out of your computer. Turn the power off and unplug the computer before doing this. You can open the cover and gently vacuum the interior, or use a can of compressed air to blow the dust out of the computer.

Resolution 3: I will defrag! A program that comes with Windows will organize your disk drive. It's called Defrag or Drive Defragment. Click Start, click Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools, click Disk Defragmenter. Once in the program, you want to defragment the drive. It takes one to three hours, depending upon how bad things are, so don't plan to use your computer during this time.

Resolution 4: Clean your CD and floppy drives. One sure way to scratch those CDs or have problems reading or writing data to your CD for backup purposes is to ignore cleaning the lens on your CD drive. They have cheap kits at most electronics stores (under $12), and they only have to be used every three to six months, depending upon your computer usage. You should do it at least each year — after you clean out the inside of the computer.

Resolution 5: Don't open spam. New virus and spam e-mails are coming out all the time. The latest threat doesn't even need you to go to a Web site. If you open the e-mail, it will redirect you and cause great harm. So, you should make sure your e-mail program (Outlook for most of the world) does not automatically open and read e-mails in your inbox. Sometimes, it is called a preview pane. Other times, it is just a few sentences below your e-mail with the first few lines of the e-mail shown. Either way, you should disable that feature. To do so, click View and uncheck the Auto-Preview option.

If you see the e-mail before you double click on your message, then you are in preview mode and want to disable it.

Resolution 6: Keep your Windows and antivirus programs up to date. This is a must in the ever-changing days of spam, virus and Internet threats. To set Windows Update preferences, click Start, click Settings, click Control Panel, click Automatic Updates — and make sure they are on. Your antivirus program has information about updates in the Help files. Or call the company's support line.