The best way to keep computer safe
Computer security is a very vital and a very important aspect of the computer, especially when your computer has a lot of vital information and documents that you cannot afford to loose.
A lot of computer users suffer from data lose as a result of poor computer security. If your computer is vulnerable to virus attacks, you are likely to experience computer crashes and heavy data lose.
Keeping your computer safe and secured is just like owning a car, fueling it, washing it and changing oil, makes your car gives you maximum performance.
In this article I will be sharing with your some step to take in other to keep your computer safe and secured.

1. Limit your account user right

If you have an administrative right on the computer that means you can install any thing and also perform any system configuration on the computer, so also viruses using your administrative right can install themselves on the computer and also enter registry values. But when you limit your user right to a power user, no auto run file will be able to run on your computer without your permission and also no system configuration will be done on your machine without your permission, but when you want to install a program you right click on the program and click run as then enter the admin user name and password. Or you log of the current user and log in as administrator to install or configure your computer.
How to Change your user account right can be found here. This is the first step in keeping your computer safe.

2. Use Internet security software

Using a good internet security will not only keep you safe from viruses it will also monitor spyware and malwares also it will monitor your internet connections and sites that are harmful to your computer will be blocked
A good internet security should be updatable offline, easy to use and configured, and must be able to dictate harmful programs and sites and prompt for user action to run or block.
Remember that you have to make sure that your antivirus solution is consistently updated.

3. Perform system cleanup regularly

Performing system clean up erases all the junk files that accumulate memory in your computer. If you clean up your computer regularly, your system will run faster. How to clean up your junk files read the article here.

4. Scan external drives:

Because you never can tell if an external drive has a virus by merely looking at it, you need to scan any external drive attached to your computer before using it.
Lastly scan your computer frequently so that if any infectious file has entered your computer, your internet security will remove it.
If these steps have been taking, you are on your way to keeping your computer safe and secured.

Should I Throw This Computer Out or Upgrade

Part 1 – Cleaning / Optimizing

Ok.  So your computer is getting on your very last nerve. It’s slow, it takes forever to boot up, your programs are sluggish, it crashes frequently and for no reason, video and audio playback are slow and seem to “skip”, the internet seems lethargic…. So you say to yourself “Maybe it’s time for a new computer!”

Not so fast. A new computer may not be the only answer to your problems. Your computer may just need some cleaning and optimizing or it may be in need of an upgrade. Most people don’t realize that your computer takes on added duties and responsibilities as you use it or “it grows older.”  Every time you load a new program, or surf the web certain files are added to the registry or saved to your computer. The larger the registry gets and the more files that are on your computer directly affect how fast your computer is. There are several things that you can do to clean and/or optimize your machine. Doing this will enhance your performance. Here are some examples of things you can do to “Clean up” your computer. If you are not familiar with these procedures or don’t feel comfortable performing them, call or contact one of the vendors listed at the end of the article and they can do this for you for a very feasible fee.

1.       Uninstall unused programs  –  If you go to your Control Panel and click on the Add/Remove programs icon, a list will come up that shows most of the programs installed on your machine. If you click on the name of a particular program, it will become highlighted and you can then choose to uninstall it. Uninstall anything that you really don’t use… for instance, if you used to use AOL as you internet provider and now have cable or a phone providers internet service, then the AOL program and all of it’s features are no longer needed (unless you prefer using the aol interface instead of using a standalone browser, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape, etc.)

2.       Check for and uninstall “stealth” programs  –  I call them “stealth” programs because a lot of times they are installed unbeknownst to the user. For example when you download the free Acrobat Reader from Adobe, there is a little checkmark that is displayed that says “install the free Google Toolbar.” If you don’t carefully read through all the screens, this program is installed even if you may not have particularly wanted it. Many programs that we install from the internet have “add-ons” that may sneak by you if you are not careful…. So check for those and remove them.

3.       Delete your Temporary Internet Files  – Every single time that you get onto the internet and visit a website, files are saved to your computer. The purpose of these files is to store some of the images and other portions of the page so that when you visit the site again, it loads faster because the files can be pulled from your machine. Periodically, these files should be deleted. Depending on the amount of surfing you do, these files can take up a lot of space and will thus, slow your computer down.

4.       Delete unwanted/unneeded files  –  In order to perform the processes that you ask your computer to perform, it uses three main components; the processor, the memory and the hard drive. The three components work in conjunction to perform any process or function that you ask the computer to perform.  Deleting old, outdated, unwanted files from your computer frees up disk space which in turn allows your hard drive to perform better and will allow your computer to perform better.

5.       Perform a “defrag” – A “defrag” or disk cleanup goes through the sectors of your hard drive and frees up unused space and streamlines how the files that are on your computer are stored. The hard drive is checked for files that are fragmented (parts of a file in one place and parts in another) and repositions them so that they are streamlined and clustered together. This process allows your hard drive to perform better and will allow your computer to perform better.

6.       Run “MsConfig” – Running MsConfig our computer will allow you to determine what programs and features are being started when you boot up your computer. Most times, you will find that not all of the programs that are listed are wanted or needed and, as I mentioned before, every little thing that is run or started when you turn on your computer contributes to the degradation of speed.

Perform these small steps and you will see an improvement in your machines performance. Is it enough to make you want to hang on to that old machine? Well, that’s for you to decide. If so, great! If not, maybe you need to upgrade. Check out part 2 of this article where we discuss the benefits of upgrading. In the meantime, for more great answers to your computing problems…. Check out the blog and maybe we’ll write an article that addresses your particular need !