Welcome to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, February 21, 2010
In this Issue:
Special Feature: Do Not Become a Scam Victim
Special Feature: Do I Need a New Computer?
This Week's Topic: Speed Up a Slow Computer – Defrag
Question: Multiple Anti Virus Programs
Websites of Interest: How to Make a Quilt; Changes of the New Credit Card Rules; George Washington’s Birthday; NibbleDish
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Special Feature: Do Not Become a Scam Victim
The following article is from scambusters.org
Here is our quick-and-easy list of seven important things you can do to cut the risk of becoming a scam victim:
1. Surf safely: Follow the recent lead from France and Germany and stop using Internet Explorer as your browser. Firefox is much safer. Install Internet security software and keep it up to date.
2. Be wary about downloading software from unfamiliar websites or using peer-to-peer ("torrent") sites that swap and share files. These might install malware on your PC. Same goes for pop-up windows that offer to scan your computer or claim it is infected by a virus. Again, they will load malware to steal information.
3. Use a different password for every site and change them frequently.
4. Never reply to spam, click on links or attachments from people you do not know or respond to emails offering you money as a prize, an advance payment or an inheritance.
5. Always check and confirm the identity of individuals and websites you are dealing with, both online and offline. Do not give them any personal or confidential information until you have both done that and confirmed that they do need it and will protect it.
6. Be wary of dealing with companies, websites and charitable organizations you've never heard of.
7. Finally, be a skeptic about anything and everything that might cost you money and report any suspicions you have or scams you have experienced to the police and the Federal Trade Commission.
Education, technology and tough justice are key weapons in the battle against scam tricksters. Making sure as many people as possible are alert to the risks, providing increasingly smart Internet security applications, and harshly punishing perpetrators may one day stem the tide of these scam tricks.
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Special Feature: Do I Need a New Computer?
I have had my computer for quite some now and my grandkids are always telling me I need to get a new one. Do you have any guidelines I can follow to see if I really should get a new one or not?
Answer:
These days, technology changes almost daily. There is always something new coming out. It is not practical to upgrade every time a change is made, but here are some reasons why you may want to get a new computer if yours is very old:
Your processor speed is less than 1.0 GHz (gigahertz). Most programs nowadays require a lot more power than 1 GHz. If you do not have fast enough processing speed, your computer will run very slow, making it difficult to do anything or enjoy using your computer. Here are the steps to check your processor speed: Click Start and open Control Pane. Open System.
Your computer has less than 256 MB of memory. (Go to Start, Control Panel, System to check on this information). If you do not have at least 1 GB of RAM memory, your computer will not run smoothly or fast enough.
You are using an older Windows version, for example, Windows 3.1, 95, 98 or ME. These older operating systems lack a lot of the features, and, most importantly, security features, that every computer should have these days.
Your monitor is a 14 inch or smaller. Newer, larger monitors are much easier to see and read and, if you do not have at least a 17 inch monitor, you are not going to be able to see full Web sites.
You get an error message of "Operating system not supported" when you try to install new programs or "Hardware not supported" when you try to install a new device.
Your computer has no USB ports. Nowadays, most external devices (such as keyboards, mice, printers, etc.) require USB ports. If you do not have any, you will not be able to get newer computer devices.
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Today's Topic: Speed Up a Slow Computer – Defrag
As your Windows computer ages, its speed can decrease. You will notice an increase in response time when you give commands to open programs, files or folders, use the Internet and other tasks. There are several things you can do to speed up your computer.
In our ongoing series, Speed Up a Slow Computer, we will present articles discussing some of the steps you can take to speed up your slow computer.
Important: Before making any changes to your system, always create a Restore Point. If anything goes wrong with the changes you make, this will allow you to revert back to a point when the computer was operating correctly. Please visit our Newsletter Archives to read our article, All About Restore Points:
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/040509.html
Speed Up a Slow Computer – Defrag
When a file is stored on your hard disk, it's often split into separate fragments. Fragmentation occurs naturally when you use a disk frequently: creating, deleting, and modifying files. At some point, the operating system needs to store parts of a file in noncontiguous places on the disk. You can't see the fragments, and you can't stop this fragmenting from occurring, but it can slow down the speed at which data is accessed because the disk drive must search through different parts of the disk to put together a single file.
However, you can defrag your system. This is the term used for reorganizing the data on your Hard Disk into a more logical sequence, which means taking all those scattered fragments of files and piecing them back together where they belong. This helps free more hard drive space and makes the accessing of files a speedier process; your Hard Disk will work quicker and more efficiently.
To defrag the drive, open My Computer, right-click the drive icon, and choose Properties. Click the Tools tab, and click Defragment Now.
This will probably be a lengthy process, depending on the size of your hard drive and number of files.
Question: Defrag Does Not Work
I am trying to defragment my computer. When I open Disk Defragmenter and do an analysis, it tells me I should defrag but every time I try, it stops on 2%. What am I doing wrong?
Answer:
You are not doing anything wrong. It is possible that some program is running in the background which is causing defrag to terminate. Try this:
Turn your computer off and back on again. Before the computer completely restarts, right after the first beep, press the F8 key (on the top row of the keyboard). You should then see a list of startup options.
If the computer goes to the desktop without showing the startup option, you did not press the F8 key at the right time. This is a tricky process; the key has to be pressed at exactly the right time. Turn the computer off and then restart. As soon as the computer begins to start, keep tapping the f8 key until the Startup Options appear.
Select Safe Mode.
Start Disk Defragmenter again. It should run all the way through this time. After it is complete, shut the computer down and start it again. It will come back in normal mode.
When Windows starts in safe mode, it opens a minimum of auto start programs and drivers. Any programs that are causing your defrag to cease working may not be running in safe mode.
In our next edition, Disable Indexing Services
Please visit our Newsletter Archives for previous articles in our Speed Up a Slow Computer series:
Speed Up a Slow Computer - Clean the Desktop
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/040509.html
Speed Up a Slow Computer - Uninstall Unused Programs
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/041909.html
Speed Up a Slow Computer – Turn Off Auto Start Programs
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/042609.html
Speed Up a Slow Computer – Turn Off Auto Start Programs - MSCONFIG
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/050309.html
Speed Up a Slow Computer – Disable Unnecessary Windows Services
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/051009.html
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Question: Multiple Anti Virus Programs
Is it okay to run more than one antivirus program at the same time?
Answer:
While it may seem like we would be better protected from any threat out there if we had two or more antivirus programs on our computers, No, it is not ok to run more than one. There are a couple of reasons why you need to have only one antivirus program on your computer:
Antivirus programs take up a lot of your computer’s resources. With more than one running, your system will significantly slow and it will affect the computer’s overall performance.
Antivirus programs work by using an actual virus to detect another one on your computer. If you have more than one running at the same time, each program will think the other is a virus and possibly quarantine some of the files. Simply put, the two antivirus programs will be so busy fighting with each other, a real virus might sneak right past them onto your computer.
If you already have two antivirus programs on your computer, you can uninstall one with these steps:
Click Start and open Control Panel. Select Add/Remove Programs. Find the antivirus program that you want to remove and then click Remove or Uninstall (depending on your version of Windows). That will remove the program for you.
To make sure that your computer is adequately protected, make sure you keep your antivirus program up to date. It is very important to renew it when your subscription expires, and also to allow it to download any updates. Run a virus scan periodically.
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Websites of Interest:
How to Make a Quilt
Step by Step Quilt Instructions from about.com.
http://tinyurl.com/yzvrwx8
Changes of the New Credit Card Rules
http://tinyurl.com/y9fw435
George Washington’s Birthday
Take a look at the Whitehouse’s website for a biography of our first President.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/gw1.html
NibbleDish
This site lists more than 2000 unique recipes accompanied with high quality photos.
http://www.nibbledish.com/