TIPS
AND TRICKS:
TOP 25 RUNNING PROCESSES
BACKUPS
CLEANING YOUR PC
CPU
(Central Processing Unit)
ESD
(Electrostatic Discharge)
HARD DRIVES
MEMORY / RAM
OVERHEATING
POWER SURGES
VIRUSES
and MALWARE
FIREWALLS
ESD - ELECTROSTATIC
DISCHARGE
HUMIDITY
EDS becomes a more serious problem on low humidity days when
the lack of moisture permits a more rapid static charge build-up.
VOLTAGE LEVELS
Component damage increase with the voltage level or charge.
MATERIALS
Common plastics and other synthetic materials cause the most
trouble because they’re insulators and prevent the free-flow
of electricity by trapping the charge on the surface.
YOU
You pose the greatest danger to sensitive electronic materials
because the human body can generate the biggest static charge
of anything likely to come near these devices.
For example, on a dry day, we can generate a static field
of more than 100 volts by just the slight raising of an arm.
It’s not unlikely that during normal, everyday activity
at an unprotected workbench, you can easily generate 6,000
volts or more.
FACTS ABOUT ESD:
These five little known facts about ESD can make a big difference
in its elimination:
1. ESD often can’t be seen, heard or
felt.
2. Devices can be stressed or damaged even without physical
contact.
3. Smaller, miniaturized devices are sensitive to 50 volts
or less.
4. ESD problems can occur to devises at anytime – even
after they are installed on circuit cards.
5. Everyone involved in the handling, installing, test, shipping
and storing of electronic devices or boards must take preventative
measures against the threat of ESD
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OVERHEATING
Heat is a vicious enemy of a computer.
The large computers of yesterday were kept
in special climate-controlled rooms because computer chips
and other mechanical components had to be kept cool. While
today's personal computers don't need such extraordinary care,
they should be kept at a normal temperature and never be left
in a car in the summer heat or in direct sunlight in high
temperatures.
Today's computers have built-in cooling fans
that keep the computer from overheating during normal use.
If your computer's cooling fan malfunctions, the computer
will overheat and cause irreparable damage. Keeping the computer
fan in tiptop shape is fairly easy. Just follow these simple
steps:
Keep Cool Tips:
1. Do not block any air vents on your PC's
case. You can also extend the life of your computer monitor
by giving it a little breathing room. Don't block the air
vents on your monitor by piling papers or books on top of
it.
2. Most fans are on the back of the computer,
so position the computer a few inches from the wall.
3. Keep draperies and other fabric away from
the fan.
4. Keep the fan clean and free of debris.
5. Keep dogs, cats, and other hairy pets away
from the computer.
6. Keep your computer in a clean, well-ventilated
area.
7. Open your case once or twice a year and
use a computer vacuum or can of compressed air to clean out
built up dust and debris. Do this more often if you have a
cat or dog that sheds a lot.
8. The room where your system is kept should
never be too hot. How hot is too hot? If it's uncomfortable
for you, it's probably uncomfortable for your PC as well.
9. Don't put the CPU unit of the computer
on the floor. This is one suggestion that even I don't always
follow. Yet, if this is feasible, your computer will accumulate
less dust and dirt if kept off the floor
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POWER SURGES
WHAT CAUSES IT?
Power surges occur when the flow of electricity is interrupted,
then started again, or when something sends electricity flowing
back into the system. Surges can range from five or ten volts
when you turn on your hair dryer to thousands of volts if
lightning strikes a transformer. Internal power surges More
than half of household power surges are internal. These happen
dozens of times of day, usually when devices with motors start
up or shut off, diverting electricity to and from other appliances.
Refrigerators and air conditioners are the biggest culprits,
but smaller devices like hair dryers and power tools can also
cause problems. External power surges An external power surge,
stemming from outside your home, is most commonly caused by
a tree limb touching a power line, lightning striking utility
equipment or a small animal getting into a transformer. Surges
can also occur when the power comes back on after an outage,
and can even come into your home through telephone and cable
TV lines.
HOW TO PREVENT IT!
BUY an UPS - Uninteruptable Power Supply. A normal surge protector
is sometimes not enough! This is not only is a surge supressor,
but it keeps a charge inside an internal battery for when
the power goes out, or you have a brownout. The devices plugged
into the UPS will continue to function while the electricity
is out. They vary in size and in the amount of voltage they
can handle. Contact your nearest Computer Service Center for
more details.
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HARD DRIVES
Hard drives are good for two things;
storing data and crashing.
Since the technology's existed, hard drive
users have been frustrated by the inevitability of drive failure.
And, sadly, there's no way to stop your drive from eventually
hitting a wall and breaking down. However, you can slow the
process down. There are a few major causes of hard drive damage,
and if you know what they are and how to avoid them, you can
make sure that your drive lasts as long as it's supposed to.
Vibration
The construction of a hard drive is incredibly sensitive;
the drive's heads (which read the information) float a micron
above the platters (which hold the data), and when a drive
is subjected to a large amount of vibration, the heads can
be offset, causing the most literal version of a crash. To
avoid this, you'll want to make sure that your computer's
on the ground, away from unnecessary vibration. Avoid using
computer desks that suspend the tower in a way that can take
on any sort of vibration from bumping into the desk.
Heat
Heat problems can cause the delicate electronics of a hard
drive to fail, causing a head crash or further problems. Make
sure that your computer has adequate ventilation and that
it's not located in an enclosed space where heat may build
up. Make sure all of your computer's fans are working at all
times, as well. Many motherboards will also let you view the
internal temperature of your computer from the BIOS or Windows.
Heat is a very big problem for office hard drives, as management
often prefers to put towers in aesthetically pleasing cabinets
that can cause heat to build up.
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BACKUPs!
Even though most of us know that we need to
do regular backups, the fact is that many, if not most of
us, don't do it. So let's take a moment to review why it's
important to perform these backups on a regular basis. Here
are six of the more popular ones:
The Human Eraser —
Have you ever reformatted a hard disk when you meant to format
a floppy? Have you ever typed "Y" when you meant
"N" and then it was too late? Have you ever overwritten
a file by mistake? How about installing software you later
found you really did not want? Today's computers can do a
lot of damage in a very short period of time. Backup systems
can save you hours, days or months of trying to reconstruct
your valuable data. Before you do any important system change,
such as adding hardware or software, remember to backup before
you proceed.
Hard disk failure —
Mean Times Between Failure (MTBFs) have improved dramatically
in the past several years for all peripherals. But so has
data capacity — and the amount you could lose if your
disk fails. The problem is you never know when a failure will
occur. And, according to Murphy's Law, the loss will occur
at the worst possible time. Backup systems give you immediate
and automatic protection from unpredictable disk failures.
Virus protection and spyware protection
— Some unscrupulous individuals continue to write viruses
that innocently hide in shareware programs and all throughout
the Internet. These programs have the capability to copy themselves
and load into your system along with the software you think
you are getting. Once loaded, they proceed to wreak havoc
with your system, causing errors, lockups and data loss. A
reliable backup system can restore data lost through virus
infection when used in conjunction with good virus detection
software and an earlier, clean backup.
Free up disk space —
While we can't stop the steady growth in the size of application
software and related data, we can help you do something about
it by allowing you to offload some of the less-used files
from your hard disk to a secondary storage medium like tape
or DVDs. Removing those inactive files can open up your hard
disk for new programs or growing data files. Inexpensive DVD
or tape cartridges are a sure way to archive your programs
and data while still keeping them accessible when you do need
them. It could even help you put off buying a larger disk.
Events beyond your control
— Both natural and man-made disasters inject disconcerting
variables into any application that require large amounts
of data storage. These include fire, floods, lightning and
outright theft. After such an occurrence, how will your business
survive? Many don't, according to statistics. Regenerating
vital billing or customer information from paper records would
be very difficult, if not impossible. Backup systems protect
your data against such calamity. Besides doing daily backups,
plan to do an extra backup every week. Then store that backup
in a fireproof safe or at an off-site location. If your system
goes, your data stays — it may mean the difference between
business as usual and bankruptcy.
Large file transfers —
Transferring large volumes of data can be time consuming.
Tape backup drives in particular have the capacity for very
high data transfer rates making them ideal for moving large
quantities of data between systems. Tapes are compact, inexpensive
and have a long shelf life. They can help you keep your data
archived and accessible for years to come. And with a tape
backup system you can conveniently send a tape cartridge across
the country, through the mail or across the office in your
shirt pocket.
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MEMORY
Regularly misunderstood for Hard Drive
Space...Memory AKA "RAM"
determines how fast your computer reacts to certain commands
such as opening your internet browser, or a program such as
Microsoft Word. Every program that you run on your computer
uses a percentage of memory. The more programs that you run
at the same time... the slower your computer system seems
to be. There are a few things you can do to free up some of
your memory:
Disable Unused programs from starting
with your computer — Every program you install
wants to automatically start up when you turn on your computer.
Many of these programs you do not use often enough to have
it automatically startup. You can disable this feature inside
of many programs configuration settings. Look for something
labeled "Startup automatically" or "Start with
computer", and disable this inside of each program. You
will notice how many programs automatically startup with your
computer by looking in the bottom - right corner - of your
screen. Do you see a bunch of icons? Those are slowing you
down!
MEMORY OPTIMIZATION PROGRAMS
— Dispite what you may hear about memory optimization
programs.. most of these programs are actually rogue programs
wanting to simply steal your information. The best way to
optimize your RAM is by letting a certified computer technician
disable unnecessary startup items and Internet addons.
Internet Addons — Web
Toolbars such as MyWebSearch, Myspace, Google toolbar, Yahoo
toolbar, My Starware, Comet Cursor, Cursor mania, etc....
Yes, it is neat to change your mouse cursor
from the boring white cursor to something flashy and colorfull....
it is easy to install a toolbar for Myspace or Yahoo. However;
those toolbars are eating up your resources...slowing your
computer to a crawl. If you internet was once fast as lightning,
but now as slow as molasses... you are probably infected with
Internet Addons that can easily be removed. For more information
on disabling IE addons please contact us.
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FIREWALLS
* Before you install
a Firewall Program… Due to the conflicting
nature of competing anti-virus and firewall programs, it is
imperative that you:
Turn off Windows® Firewall before installing a
different firewall program.
If your computer comes loaded with either Windows XP or Windows
Vista, it already comes with Windows Firewall preinstalled.
If (and only if) you plan to install a different firewall
program, you need to first turn off Windows Firewall
in order to avoid conflicts and possible system lockups (to
do this, see the “NOTES” listed below).
NOTE (for systems with Windows XP): To turn off Windows
Firewall, click START, Control Panel, and Security Center.
Then in the “Windows Security Center” window under
Manage security settings for, click on Windows Firewall. In
the following window, turn off Windows Firewall by selecting
Off (not recommended) and clicking the OK button.
NOTE (for systems with Windows Vista): To turn off Windows
Firewall, click the START button, Control Panel, and Security.
In the following screen under “Windows Firewall”,
click Turn Windows Firewall on or off. Click Continue to proceed.
Then in the “Windows Firewall Settings” window,
turn off Windows Firewall by selecting Off (not recommended)
and clicking the OK button.
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VIRUSES and MALWARE
Viruses - Spyware - Adware - Hijackers
- Addons
Due to the conflicting nature of competing
anti-virus and firewall programs, it is imperative that you:
1.) Verify your computer does
not already have anti-virus software preinstalled.
On most of our home computers we preinstall a free antivirus
such as AVG. If your computer has this software, you must
uninstall it before you install another anti-virus program
(for instructions on how to do this, see the “NOTES”
listed below). Failure to do so can cause your system to
lock up or become unstable.
NOTE (for systems with the Microsoft® Windows®
XP operating system): If your computer has AVG and you wish
to uninstall it, click START, Control Panel, and Add or Remove
Programs. Then click on AVG FREE and click the
Remove button. Click Yes to confirm the removal. After the
uninstall completes, it may be necessary to restart your computer.
NOTE (for systems with the Microsoft® Windows Vista™
operating system): If your computer has AVG and you
wish to uninstall it, click the START button, Control Panel,
and Uninstall a program (found under the heading “Programs”).
In the following screen, click on AVG and click the Uninstall
button. Then click Continue to proceed, and Yes to confirm
you want to uninstall the program. After the uninstall completes,
it may be necessary to restart your computer.
Even the most up to date antivirus is capable of letting a
virus slip through. It's similar to a bullet-proof vest in
that if a bullet hits you in the back or chest it will protect
you; however if it hits you in the head or side ( even with
a vest on ) your going to be hurt!
An Antivirus works on the same principle. Virus signatures
are updated daily because of new threats that are just being
found. If a virus happens to find its way into your system
before the virus signature is updated into your antivirus
program... then you have just been infected and your antivirus
will not see this even if it gets the latest virus signatures.
Why you may ask.... simply put.. the virus is already inside
now, and is hiding behind your antivirus!
The most common ways of getting a
virus are by:
A Floppy disk from a friend.
A download off the internet
An email or email attachement
Downloading software such as Limewire, BearShare, Frostwire,
Kazaa, Napster, and the hundreds of other peer to peer filesharing
software.
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CLEANING YOUR PC
As you have read, overheating inside
the PC is the major cause of death of computers.
However by simply cleaning your PC you can prolong
if not completely rid the overheating process. I
see it every week, computers overheating when their
fans get clogged up with dust, or cigarette smoke residue.
You can save a ton of cash and avoid costly repairs
by taking a little time to clean up your computer.
However you must be aware of ESD (Electrostatic
Discharge) when cleaning your computer, and also you must
use appropriate chemicals and take precautions when performing
this task. There are steps you must follow when cleaning your
computer or you can seriously damage your internal components
and otherwise destroy your computer!
Make sure the computer is powered off and
unplugged before proceeding any further!
1. Use only a vacuum cleaner with
a rubber or plastic tipped extension hose to remove
any dust bunnies, or animal hair from inside the computer.
NOTE: WHY NOT USE CANNED AIR?: The "canned air"
can actually be harmfull when used on electronic devices because
it causes moisture and if not completly dried can cause electrical
damaage to your computer.
Be carefull to not knock loose the components attached to
the mainboard inside your compter with the attachement hose.
Vaccuum the CPU (Central Processing Unit) fan in the center
of the computer, also any external fans in the front, side
and back of the computer. Vaccuum any vents you can reach,
and also both sides of the Power Supply unit normally at the
top of the computer case.
If you are unsure about the process or do not have the neccessary
supplies to clean your computer - contact us to set up a time
for cleaning!
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