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Hello
again Hillyardites! It’s time for another
"...Computers & Stuff" column.
Making you computer work
better in 3 easy steps.
Step 2, Tune Up
and Step 3,
Custom Accessories!
Step 2,
Tune Up, that is, tweak your PC so it runs faster
and smoother. Don’t freak out, I’m not talking about
over-clocking or water-cooling or anything that
you’ve never heard of before. I’m talking about
getting rid of the spyware, malware and viruses you
have dancing around on your computer. There are two
schools of thought on this. When it comes to the
common Hillyardite computer user I hear either, “My
computer is full of viruses, it’s slowed down to a
crawl” or “I don’t have any viruses; I only use my
computer for e-mail and solitaire. ” Well, either
way, you need to follow this advice. If you get on
the internet, ever in life, you need a virus program
and a spyware program. While it’s true no one has
yet made a virus that attacks computer solitaire
players (knock on wood) and you may be using
something like Hotmail that claims to get all the
viruses that come in, you still need computer
protection, just like kids still need measles shots
even though they are rarely ever exposed to it, and
my ’78 Lincoln Continental needs an oil change every
3 months even though it’s only gone 1,000 miles.
You
probably stopped listening to me a couple of
sentences or so, because you saw dollar signs and
didn’t want to play anymore. You have already spent
too much on McAfee or Norton Anti-virus only to feel
unprotected and betrayed because you later had to
pay for updates. Well, ye of little faith, this is
Hillyard. I’m a poor college grad trying to run a
golf cart shop, I don’t have any money either. I get
my virus and spyware protection for FREE. [Pause for
your gasp.] No really, I don’t pay a cent.
Believe it or not, there are as many good guys out
there writing programs as there are bad guys writing
viruses and nasty spyware that tracks/records your
computing habits and sends it back to another
computer across the internet. The good guys brought
us Firefox and Google, and now they bring us,
dum-da-da-ta-da: Free protection. That’s right. Here
is a short list of free & shareware that you can use
to get rid of those viruses and spyware programs.
Click on the link, do some reading and try them out.
Anti-Spyware:
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Ad-Aware
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http://lavasoftusa.com, click on “Ad-Aware
personal” on the left
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This is good stuff, it’s what I use.
You've got to run it a few times when you
first install it to get everything off, but
after that regular monthly tests should keep
you squeaky clean.
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Spybot-Search & Destroy
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http://www.safer-networking.org, click on
“Download” on the left
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I’ve never used this one, but it comes
highly recommended. If Ad-Aware doesn’t fix
you up, Spybot certainly will. A lot of
heavy internet surfers use both Ad-Aware and
Spybot.
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Microsoft AntiSpyware
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http://www.microsoft.com/downloads, if it is
not on the first page in the Popular
Downloads, just put “AntiSpyware” in the
search box and hit “Go”
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It’s still in Beta testing, which probably
means all the bugs are not quite worked out.
However, as with all Microsoft products, if
you are using MSN, you should try this.
Microsoft programs like to work together; I
think they are designed that way
Anti-Virus:
The key
to these programs, much like a tune up, it you have
to keep with it. You have to download updates all
the time. If you have broadband, this will be no
problem, your connection is always on and most give
you the ability to download updates automatically.
If you have dial-up though, you will need to
stay on top of your updates. I would pick a day or
night each week to check for and download updates to
your protection programs. If you don’t, and a sneaky
virus gets in and your Anti-virus has 3-month-old
notes on the current viruses, it might be too late.
Consult each product’s website and/or help menu for
more info on updating.
Step 3, Custom Accessories. Now that you’re
doing everything within your power to make your
computer look better and run faster, it is time to
consider hardware upgrades. The obvious is the
internet connection. If you have dial-up, DSL is
faster and cable is faster than that. But remember,
not all services are available in all areas. Over
here in Dogtown our copper phone lines are too old
and too overused to get DSL, last time I checked.
For more information, I recommend the phone book.
No, not that 10lb monument to man’s misuse of trees
in the information age, I mean the online phonebook,
www.dexonline.com.
Go there, put in “internet service providers” and
“Spokane,” and “Washington” and it will bring up a
wonderful list that you can scan through and narrow
down. Smart shoppers will be rewarded. Call a lot of
places; shop around. Remember DSL is about half the
price of cable internet, but if you don’t use your
land telephone line (who need’s ‘um when you have a
cell phone) cable can actually be cheaper. Feel free
to e-mail me on
this if you what any further advice.
The other half of the equation is actual hardware.
How old is your hard drive? How small is it? Did you
know that these days you can buy a hard drive for
less than $1 per gigabyte. No kiddin’! I just bought
an 80-gig hard drive for like $70. RAM is cheap too.
Now, I’m not going to give you any more information
than this. Why you ask? Well, I don’t want you
rattling around in your computer’s rusty innards
unless you know what you are doing. If you do, take
advantage of the sales and hook yourself up. If you
don’t, you need to build a relationship with a
computer store. Much like an avid cook builds a
relationship with his/her butcher and I have built a
relationship with a good mechanic for my old
Lincoln, you must build a relationship with your
computer store. Smart shoppers are rewarded here
too. Look and see how long they have been around.
Ask how long the tech you are talking to has been
with the company. Talk to others and see if they
have anyone they recommend. A good computer tech is
more valuable than gold, well maybe not gold, but
you really should have one.
Well, I certainly hope that helps, if only a little.
If you follow my advice, you should be on your way
to a smoother running, better looking, more pimped
out computer.
Next
edition: Volume 3, "Wow, you must spend a lot of
time in chatrooms."
Remember, feel free to
Email me me any questions
you might have about computers and stuff and
I’ll do my best to answer them.
Resources:
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Kim Komando Show Electronic Newsletter --
February 26, 2005, Issue Date: Feb. 26, 2005,
Vol. 9, No. 9.
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Kim Komando Show home page:
www.komando.com
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