Useful helpers and tips for the PC

Hello together :-)
I thought, it could be a nice idea, to share my knowledge about some special PC-programs. Many people know how to use a program. But many don`t know, how to keep their system "alive". Because of this reason, I will try to help you and change this. I want to give some advice about the usage and some tips also. As an old PC user, I have had many probs and I wished I`ve had somebody, who had told me that, before the prob appears. Before we start, a good advice: If you don`t know what you do, better ask a friend to help you. If you don't understand something, feel free to ask me by mail.
Ok, let`s start now :-)

Well, my first tip belongs to the tidiness. You know, there is dust in the air. If you have a carpet, or in the bedroom you`ll find even more dust. If you have a pet, like a cat or a dog, you have a couple of hairs in the air too. Now you know maybe, inside a desktop PC are ventilators for cooling the CPU (Processor, like Intel or AMD) and to cool down the Graphics-card. Sometimes you find one or more at the casing, because of the inner ventilation. Well, the air inside of the PC comes from the room. With this air comes the dust and the pet-hairs inside also. Because of this reason it`s necessary, to open your casing and clean your PC inside. BUT BE CAREFUL!!! These are electronic components, HANDLE WITH CARE!!! A little how to: At first, take the power cord of the wall socket. At second, take all other cords of. At third, place your PC on a table, because of a better sight. Be sure, all tools are near you. You need a screwdriver to open the casings, a fine brush with long hair and at best a vacuum cleaner with a adjustable suction strength and rubber-gloves. Now open the PC. Wear your rubber gloves! Before you do something inside your PC, use always rubber gloves. Why? If you walk over a carpet, you`ll get static electric charge. You can feel it, if you touch an other person and a spark jumped over. This little spark can damage your PC. Therefore, please use rubber gloves. If you have opened your casings, you`ll see the Mainboard and other components. Use now the fine brush and remove the dust careful. Use the brush to clean the cooler and the ventitator also. The dust collect itself at the bottom of the casings and you can use the vacuum cleaner to remove it. And again, be careful !! If you have cleaned everything, have a look at the cables. Make sure they are not relaxed or loose to their connections. If you`re ready, close the casing and plug in the Keyboard, Mouse, etc. The cleaning is done. You should do this one time in year, because dust can cover important components and no air can take the warmth away. It can be, your components become to hot and die by.

A tip to hold your Keyboard clean. If you are a smoker, or you drink coffee if you write it can happen. Ashes fall, or a drop of coffee splashed on the keyboard. Cover your Keyboard with clear foil and your Keyboard will be clean forever ;-)

Ok, now let's have a look to the useful programs. These helpers are working on my PCs also. I don`t want to make big descriptions about them, you`ll get it if you look at the Download-page. At first, let`s see what we can do, to make your System run fast and stable.

Over the time your PC collect many data, who are in use no more. Temporary data, fragments of old programs you`ve deleted, update pacs etc. It's a hard job, if you try to find these remains by yourself. A very good program to find and delete these data is "CCleaner" (http://www.ccleaner.com/). This CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool.

Another program in this direction is "TuneUp Utillities" (http://www.tune-up.com/products/tuneup-utilities/) The newest version is TUU 2010. You can downoad a Test version and if you find it useful, just buy it at your dealer.

All your data is on a Harddrive. If you use your PC often, these data will be stored on a free place on this Harddrive. If you work often and surf in the Net, it become more and more data. Well, to bring your data always fast on the screen, they need to be arranged. To do this, Microsoft has a own helper on board. It`s named "Defragmentation". The only disadvantage of it is, you have no options. You cannot choose how you want the data arranged. To change this, you could use "O&O Defrag Professional" (http://o-o-defrag-professional.en.softonic.com/) You could download it as a Test version and if you like, buy it at your dealer.

The most of you all know, the whole World is in the Net. You may know also, some of the Users are Bad Guys. They try to get your data by phishing or they try to put programs on your PC, brought by mail or similar. Others try to give you a PC-Virus, which destroy your data and sometimes your Hardware as well. To make your PC a bit safer, you should use a "Anti-Virus-Program". There are many on the market, Norton, Kapersky, etc. But there are also some free programs, like "AntiVir" (http://www.free-av.de/)". Such a Anti Virus Program is a must have, if you surf in the net.

Unfortunately, this is not the only prob that could happen. Like in the Postbox you`ll get Advertisement in your Mailbox. And sometimes it can be, these is a bad Advertisement. This Advertisement could give you a bad surprise as well. Because, with that Mail you`ll get a small program. This is what you may know as "Spyware" or "Malware", etc. These are little programs, which spy inside your data, like Passwords, Bankaccount, etc. Try Google to find out more about this. However, there are some good programs, who fight against this Spyware, etc. Two of them are working proper on my PCs. It`s "Ad Aware" and "Spybot- Search and destroy" (http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php and http://download.cnet.com/1770-20_4-0.html?query=Spybot+Search+Destroy&searchtype=downloads). Both are free and easy to use.

You may know, MS-Windows make "home calls". That means, Windows send data, about you and your PC to your MS- Headquarter. To stop this action, you could use "XP-Antyspy" (http://www.xpantispy.org/index.php/de/component/remository/?func=sellang&iso=en). It stop these Windows callings.
So far the safety.

Finally two small tips.
Your Hardware is running, because it have "drivers". Like other programs, driver will be developed. Therefore you should always have the newest driver on your system. It helps to make your system stable. Use "Everest" (http://www.lavalys.com/) or similar, to find out your Hardware. If you know it, visit the web site and download the newest driver.

To become a better system performance, try Google to find sites about it. I mean, who needs a waste paper basket on the PC with 100 mb, for example? Or a big cache for your Internet explorer? If you are professional enough, try these sites to make your Windows more stable and faster.

I hope I could give you a small advice and helped, to make your PC life a bit safer and cleaner :-)



Comments (5)

I just noticed this

Windows XP is no longer receiving official security support from Microsoft since early April, but it seems that there are developers who are interested in releasing an unofficial security package for those who’re still using the software.

This new unofficial service pack includes all previously released updates for Windows XP 32-bit, as well as POSReady 2009 updates launched by Microsoft after the April 2014 retirement date, according to Softpedia.

rameswor_234
Thanks for good suggestion.
Weeds
Lammycool what do you mean by this


Cover your Keyboard with clear foil

Not really sure what you mean by this clear foil stuff on top of keyboard. Never heard of clear Foil in my life. Foil is foil and the color is silver not clear. I really like the idea you have about covering keyboard with some kind of clear plastic but it must be pliable so we can type. So if you can specify what you mean I would appreciate it.

Thank You
Lammycool
You are welcome. :-) Let me know if it works better.. hug wave
azul_colibri
Nice tips, Lammycool. I´m going to try and clean my PC. I was a bit worried about doing it, but now I have more confidence. dunno There ara a couple ok keys that don´t work very well, so I´ll probably solve the problem by just cleaning it.
Thank you so very much for the advise.
wave

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