Pacific Northwest Computer Service 2141 Airport Road Suite 3 Roseburg, Oregon 97470 Phone: 541-673-8100 Fax: 541-957-9400 Email: bobj@pncs-roseburg.com

 

BEGINNERS TIPS FOR HEALTHY COMPUTING

(Things your computer salesperson forgot to tell you)

Often people bring their computing equipment into Pacific Northwest Computer Services with problems that could have easily been avoided. Now, we appreciate the money they spend at our business, but we believe the following tips better serve our customers.

1. BACK UP! If you have documents, photographs, or email addresses that are important to you at all, back it up on your cd writer or zip disk. Your computer and operating system are not industructable and if they fail you may lose your valuable data or pay hundreds of dollars to retrieve it.

2. VIRUS PROTECTION! / FIREWALL. It is a lot less expensive to invest in virus protection software than to have a computer technician repair the damage. And, it is important to be a good Internet community member. The virus or worm you may have on your computer can easily spread to hundreds, even thousands of other Internet users. PC magazine also recommends that if you have a broadband connection to the internet, setting up a router and firewall is a must (August 3, 2004 issue).

3. WASTE REMOVAL. Your computer cannot run properly if it is clogged with things that you no longer need.
    A.) Empty your recycle bin regularly.
    B.) Delete emails from your Deleted Items in your email program.
    C.) Delete the temp files in your Windows folder and your Temporary Internet folders.
    D.) Go to your browser (such as Internet Explorer), Tools, Internet Options, Settings, and set your Amount of disk space to use to 20 MB or less.
    E.) Go to your Control Panel, Add and Remove Programs and remove programs you no longer use.
    F.) Defragment your hard drive by going to Start Menu, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and Disk Deframenter. This organizes your hard drive to enable it to work efficiently.

4. AVOID FREEWARE / SHAREWARE. You often get what you pay for. There are some good freeware / shareware programs out there you can download for free, but there are some that will raise havak with your computer and/or software.

5. USE YOUR PRINTER at least once a week. The print heads on some printers dry up and will clog.

6. DO NOT USE the reverse side of used paper in your printer. Second hand ink will stick to the rollers, cause the paper to jam, and eventually have to be cleaned.

7. BACK UP YOUR DATA!