BlueMoon Solutions
"for all your home and business computer needs" Help Yourself
Help Yourself
I can do so much to keep your computer safe and free from problems, but there is also a lot that you can do yourself to help keep your computer running in tip top condition, this month we cover a few of the simple things that you can do to help yourself.
Keep your antivirus software up to date
This means not only keeping the virus definitions up to date (this is the antivirus database that usually updates automatically when you connect to the Internet) but also, and just as importantly, the program itself. Many of us use free antivirus software (AVG, Avast or one of the other ones). These programs from time to time run out, and at this time they usually recommend that you upgrade to their “full – paid-for” version. Although at this stage you can upgrade or install the latest “free” version, these companies don’t make it easy for you to find the free version. As a result many people allow their program to become more and more out of date; this is a bad idea because you are leaving yourself at risk. If you can’t or don’t want to update it yourself then contact someone that can do it for you – just don’t ignore the messages.
Ensure that you have sufficient hard disk space available
Modern operating systems (Windows Vista, Windows 7) take care of the tedious, regular tasks that were necessary in earlier versions of operating systems you had to do tasks like defragmentation of the hard drive, performing disk scans for errors etc however these are now taken care of by the operating system. The downside of this is that we become complacent about controlling the amount of information that we put on our computers. As a general rule you should try to keep at least 15% of the hard drive free, that is 15% of the C: drive available. This will ensure that your computer has enough space to perform the type of clean up tasks that it does for you automatically now. To find out how much disk space is currently available on your computer just click on ‘start’ (the round button in the bottom left corner) and click ‘computer’ (or equipo if you have a Spanish version of the operating system), a window will appear showing you all the available drives in your computer with the amount of space available shown under each drive. The one that you are interested in is the one marked “Local Drive (C:)”
Don’t eat or drink over your computer
Many of us now use laptops as our day to day computers. Their cost and versatility mean that in most ways they are a better buy than a ‘tower’ computer, however when you spill a glass of wine over your tower computers keyboard the worst that can happen is that you have to pay 20€ for another keyboard. If it’s your laptop keyboard then it could well be a different story!
Keep updating your updates
Its difficult to know nowadays whether you should or shouldn’t click the “yes please update me” button, I get asked many times a day whether this or that particular update is ‘safe’, the general rule is yes but of course you can’t apply this rule to everything (useful eh?). If you are using a Windows computer then Microsoft release security updates on the 25th of each month and you can check which ones are outstanding on a Vista or Windows 7 computer by going into the ‘control panel’ (start, control panel) and clicking on the ‘system and security’ section. From within there you will see an option for ‘windows update’. Click on this to check for any recommended updates. Do be aware that if you have had your computer illegally changed from Spanish language operating system to English this section of your computer may not function properly and could cause your computer to be missing essential security updates. Again if you think this could apply to you then get in touch and we can help you work through the best way to sort the problem out.
Well that’s about it for another month, thankfully the sun seems to be staying around more now, I guess that summer is arriving, soon be in shorts (what a horrible thought! Ed).
