Computer Repair Tips for everyday users

Before you attempt to do anything mentioned here or elsewhere, please remember to always back up your data.

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Friday, April 21, 2006

Spyware Warrior

The Spyware Warrior Guide to
Getting Help w/ Spyware:
Tips & Suggestions


Computer Repair Lakeland, FL
863-521-1079
      

Email Etiquette

How to Properly Forward Emails

Please, Please, Please don't send me 10 attachments inside an attachment of improper forwarding. I don't want to read what you have send if I have to go around my elbow to get to my backside, if you know what I mean.

MAKING IMPROPER, PROPER
When you open an e-mail and someone has improperly sent it to you, (you will know this by the multiple times you have to open an email inside an email) be kind and hit the forward button from inside the very window that you are seeing the content. Or, just copy and paste the content in a new email. If not you have just added another attached .eml and made for a messy and maddening receival. Remember, forward from the email that has the ACTUAL content in it. I don't think I can be any clearer than that. If you are confused then just call for a lesson.

Now of course if you don't see this then someone did not forward to you improperly and you can move on.

THE CC: AND TO: FIELDS
Only cc: a person if they have some sort of involvement with the message you are sending. When you send an email using the TO: or CC: fields to more than one person, everyone can see whom you have sent this email too as well as their email addresses.

THE BCC:, OH YEAH
When you are forwarding an email to multiple people, it is best to use the BCC: field for everyone. This makes for a nice CLEAN MASS MESSAGE. BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copy, just in case you where wondering.

CLEAN UP THAT FORWARD HISTORYYou have properly set your forwarded email up and put your multiple email addresses in the BCC: filed. Good for you! Now make sure to delete the previous email addresses of those before you. You will find this in the body of the letter, pretty messy eh?. Highlight what you need to get rid of and hit the delete key. Of course you will not have to do this if you have just simply copied the content and pasted in a new letter. Now that you have your email all ready to go and properly formatted you may now hit the send button.
Congratulations, you have just made several friends that will actually read your emails when you send them.

Recap:
1. Forward from the email with the content, this is the actual letter that is opened. Or just copy and paste the content in a new email.
2. Add your multiple addresses in the BCC: field only unless these people are all involved.
3. Finally clean up the emails addresses from the body, if need be and send her on her way.
Now you need to forward this info to anyone that doesn't know proper email forwarding etiquette. PLEASE!!!!!

Computer Repair Lakeland, FL
863-521-1079
      

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Data corruption, what is it?

What is data corruption?
Data Corruption refers to computer data that when transmitted it arrives at its destination is different when it was transmitted from the source. This difference often makes the data unusable to those at the destination.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_corruption
What causes corruption you say?
  • Bad Shutdowns
  • Hardware Failure
  • Bad Device Drivers
  • Malware & Viruses
  • Other Crazy Patterns
  • Users themselves
How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting


Computer Repair Lakeland, FL
863-521-1079
      

Updates and Backups

Owning a computer can be more work than owning a pet. You have to keep up with the latest updates and patches for every program, including your Operation System. Most people think that a computer has no maintenance, and that you set it and forget it, this isn?t Ronco baby. You must think of your computer like you think of your car, if you don?t maintain then your to blame. You must keep everything updated and backed up.

To maintain your computer you must keep things organized for one. Don?t save files all over the place, keep your files in one location, PREFERABLY, My Documents. Then make sure you backup consistent to your use. If you have critical information that you can?t afford to lose then you should backup up everyday. Whether it be a CD or DVD, tape backup or even an external hard drive or data store. If you don?t want to lose it then back it up.

General things that you should backup would be the ?My Documents? folder, your favorites, and your email store for ?Outlook Express? or your pst files for ?Microsoft Outlook?. Most other email programs are web based and are kept on your providers end. It is best to ask your provider if you are not using either one of these email programs.

If you follow these guidelines you won?t have to learn the hard way when you LOSE EVERYTHING for you where not attentive enough to take initiative and back your files up.
Another most important thing you must do is keep things updated. This means everything from your Windows updates to your Anti-Virus programs. You wouldn?t believe how many times I have went out to find that they don?t even have service pack 2 installed or that their virus definitions haven?t been updated since it was installed. Then they ask how could this have happened?

Windows Updates
Some updates are designed to address critical security issues, and not applying them could leave you vulnerable to attack. Others are to fix a flaw found. It just makes sense to install windows updates. Sometimes you will find that the update causes some minor problem but the good new is that you can uninstall that hotfix.

Anti-Virus Programs
Its purpose is to protect and fix you PC from viruses, which are small programs that are meant to steal info or cause damage. If you don?t keep your definitions up to date and don?t keep your subscription up then you leave yourself open to attack. Even if you do keep it up, just remember that the virus comes out BEFORE the cure. So as in life you need to protect yourself in the virtual world.

Other Programs
Most programs will set up a small program to run always looking for an update to the programs as in Adobe or QuickBooks. You can usually find an update option in almost every program or go to the company website of that program and check out their download page to see if they have an update for your program. It is also good to checkout firmware updates on hardware.

Owning a computer takes some responsibility and the more you use it the more you need to maintain, as you would your car. You need to be more consistent with your updates and backups as you would your oil changes on your vehicles. Remember, I don?t want to hear you bawling later because you didn?t follow these simple procedures.

Read more about backing up from GeekGirl.
http://www.geekgirls.com/windows_backup_strategies.htm

Read more about Updates
Windows
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/update/msupdate_keep_current.mspx
Mac
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106704

Read more about Viruses from HPhttp://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?cc=us&lc=en&docname=bph07130

Computer Repair Lakeland, FL
863-521-1079