Well, the short answer is to protect your computer and keep it running in it’s best possible condition. If you have ever noticed a slow down in that computer of yours it is due to use and all of the following:

Why Remove Spyware?  Spyware is software that gets added to your computer as you use the internet browsing different sites.  Each piece of spyware reports back to a central computer on your activity on the internet which is then accumulated, combined with others and sold to marketers. Each piece of software, malware really running on your computer uses your bandwidth and computing resources, slowing you down.  Besides, why would you want to provide this information without being asked?

Why Remove Viruses?  Well, I hope this answer would be obvious by now but, viruses are direct attempts to tamper with your computer and are usually self propogating in that they use your machine to spread to others.  They directly interfere with your enjoyment of your machine and are threats to it. they can destroy your hard drive, format your machine, erase your executables, contaminate your registry, destroy the boot sector and so much more depending upon the directions that the criminal who wrote it decided to include.  ALWAYS use good anti-virus software and keep your definitions up-to-date!

Why Delete Temporary Files?  Once you have downloaded something from the internet, the use for the temporary files is complete but they do not go away by themselves.  Instead, they accumulate and take up valuable har drive space over time and add to the fragmentation problem.

Why Defrag a Hard Drive?  As you use your computer, bits of information get stored all over the hard drive and over time, relsted bits get seperated from each other through the normal practice of writing and deleting and opening and closing files.  This fragmentation makes it more difficlt and time consuming for documents to open, save, etc.  Defragging your drive makes things happen faster for you.

Why Repair the Registry?   The registry is where your computer places instructions for finding and opening your programs and files.  Problems here and things are not going to work right or as fast.  CAUTION: Do not alter anything here UNLESS you know what you are doing.

Why Obtain the newest Drivers? As devices are produced and new firmware is installed so too do new drivers get written in answer to problems discovered with an operating system, specific hardware and so on.  To get the maximum benefit from your devices, you should periodically check for the availibilty of drivers and upgrade accordingly.

Why obtain Windows Updates?  Historically, the Windows operating system has been subject to exploitation by those who would mess with our systems.  Windows is a huge target because it represents most of the computers in the world.  You need to get the critical updates from Windows to be fully protected from exploits of the OS.

Why obtain Windows Office Updates?  Today would-be exploiters have moved on to the easiest place to hit you and that is in your browser, MS programs and the like.  By patching these, you will close the door to someone using your programs (that you pay money for) against you. Use Microsoft update!

Now, if you want to have these services provided for you on a monthly basis contact us:  http://www.computer-referee.com

Computer-Referee™

“We Keep Your Computer in the Game!”™

Announcing help from the Computer Referee…

We will monitor & optimize your machine using state-of-art remote technology to:

• Remove Spyware
• Repair Registry Errors
• Delete Temporary Files
• Check your Anti-Virus Definitions
• Optimize System Settings
• Send You A Daily Scorecard!
• Maintain a remote connection in case you need us!

You get a faster machine and peace of mind!

All for one low, annual fee of $275.00 charged to your credit card…it’s about $0.75/day for twelve month, 24 X 365 preventive maintenance.

Get the same benefits that Small Businesses do for your Home PC at a fraction of the cost…

Sign up online: www.computer-referee.com

Computer-Referee™

“We Keep Your Computer in the Game!”™

Announcing help from the Computer Referee…

We will monitor & optimize your machine using state-of-art remote technology to:

• Remove Spyware
• Repair Registry Errors
• Delete Temporary Files
• Check your Anti-Virus Definitions
• Optimize System Settings
• Send You A Daily Scorecard!
• Maintain a remote connection in case you need us!

You get a faster machine and peace of mind!

All for one low, annual fee of $275.00 charged to your credit card…it’s less than $1.00/day for twelve month, 24 X 365 preventive maintenance.

Get the same benefits that Small Businesses do for your Home PC at a fraction of the cost…

Sign up online: www.computer-referee.com

Leave It On or Shut It Down? – A FAQ

Degree of Difficulty: Easy 

Time Required: 5 minutes or less, depending upon the speed of your PC, the number and type of files you load at start-up and the size of the hard-drive.

Risk: minimal

I do not know if a day goes by when we aren’t asked this question so, for all of you who haven’t asked yet…

When people ask this question, they’re generally considering the benefits of saving money on electricity against wear-and-tear on PC components. For years, many have claimed that repeatedly shutting down and restarting your computer more quickly wears out the power switch, drive motors, and other components. 

According to devotees of the leave-it-on theory, starting up a cold computer puts extra stress on the read/write heads inside the hard drive. This advice may have been very useful with older drives, but newer hard drives use safer processes for spinning up the hard drive after a break. 

Some users worry that the stress of heating up components and then letting them cool down again can cause them to fail prematurely.  It’s certainly true that some PC parts expand as they warm and then contract as they cool; repeating this cycle several times throughout the day may very well cause more wear than leaving a computer on all the time.

Let’s talk about electricity; most  modern PCs don’t consume much power. However, there’s no doubt that you’ll save some cash by shutting down overnight and when you’re gone during the weekends. The components in your case do require a large surge of electricity when you first start up the machine, but that burst of energy consumption won’t offset the cost savings you’ll see by shutting down on a regular basis. 

There are other advantages to turning off your computer a few times per week. Keep in mind that every time you restart your PC, your operating system flushes out older files that it’s not currently using. Not only does this reduce file clutter on your hard drive and in RAM, it may even provide noticeable performance boosts. 

Now, let’s counter that argument with the fact that unless you leave your PC on, you are not going to get critical MS updates which could lead to vulnerabilities when you are online. 

An argument can be made that leaving your computer on all the time leaves your data at a higher risk of damage due to blackouts, brownouts, and power surges.   However, if you invest in a high-quality UPS (uninterruptible power supply), though, you can reduce these problems and shut down your computer in a controlled manner. 

So, now that you have the facts, the decision of whetther to turn off or leave on is yours.  For me, the decision is to leave on because in my opinion the benefits outway the risks.  I am fairly well protected and I am careful.  I have up-to-date firewalls, security, and my server applies my updates.

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email: sandy@fiberm.com

Computer-Referee Website: http://www.computer-referee.com

What Your Computer Is Trying To Tell You…

Degree of Difficulty: Easy 

Time Required: .5 to 1.0 hours depending upon the speed of your PC, the number and type of files you are backing up and the size of the hard-drive.

Risk: minimal, if you follow our directions and make back ups prior to making system changes.  The risk associated with not doing this is far greater than doing the maintenance.

Computers do not yet speak english to tell us what is wrong but there are several ways they do communicate information to us through:

• Beep Codes
• Error Messages & Warnings
• Error Logs
• Observation of built-in information

Beep codes are the  toughest to understand as they occur during the booting process.  They are a series of tones both long and short and they will tell you, once decoded, what is wrong with your computer.  Each manufacturer has its own beep code list.  Google your manuafacturer name and beep codes for a list.  Listed below are the DELL beep codes for review.

Those beeps your computer emits at startup, yeah, they mean something. If you’re having difficulty figuring out why your Dell desktop, tower, or mini tower won’t boot, take a look at this chart. Dell also has a diagnostics utility and can provide excellent technical support, sometimes. The numbers and hyphens mean exactly what’s listed. For example, the sequence 1-1-2 means beep, beep, beep-beep. Some issues are caused by owner carelessness, others require hardware replacement. If you’re unsure, either Google further, or contact Dell Technical Support.

Dell Beep Code Meanings

When you encounter one of these,  it is a sign that you may have a serious problem and that you need a repair person.  You can Google the beep code to get additional information but, do seek out a professional to assist you.

Error Messages occur when something has gone wrong in execution of a program.  You have seen the error box with a code and a red X followed by a mysterious description written by a Geek and totally unintelligible to the masses.  Google the error and you will find an abundance of information that will help you.  Most errors are not that serious and can be easilly corrected.  Be careful not to do something beyound your understanding.  When in doubt, consult a professional.  Some of the more common ones are listed below:

Again, UNLESS you know what you are doing, please consult with a professional!

Error Logs list events, applications,  processes, etc that have failed during your use of the computer.  In Windows XP, this information is stored in a folder which you need to hunt for to gain access.  Click on the Start button, select Control Panel, Administrative Tools and then, Event Viewer.  The illustration below shows you what the information will look like.  It is available for Applications, Security, System, Internet Explorer and Office applications.  The information is broken out by information, Warning and Errors.

As in the previous situations, Google the information and only act upon it if you feel that you have the skills to implement the required changes.  If not, consult with an expert!

Finally, your computer provides you with charts and other visual clues as to the early sign of a problem.  Let’s look at some of them now.

Hard Drive Space is critical to your enjoyment of your computer.  It is where all of the programs and data are stored.  Too little and you begin to see slowness and when you run out of hard drive space your computer will no longer work.  Illustrated below is a computer that has a total capacity of 143 Gigabytes but where 101 are already being used or 71% of the drive is being used.

This computer is in the yellow or warning zone meaning that it should be cleaned, programs removed and the hard drive defragmented to bring it back to a normal, optimized range.  Somewhere between 1% and 60% is OK.

Finally, it is a good idea to check your hardware devices every now and then to make sure that they are all working.  To do this,  right click on the My Computer icon, select properties and the Hardware Tab, click on the Device Manager button.  You know see a list of all of the devices listed by their purpose in the system.Unconfigured and non working devices show with a red X.  These are the ones to concern yourself with as all of the others are fine.  To use this information, you need to know a little about your system but, if you find something x’d out, you can then research it to find out whether it is an issue for you.

In the illustration provided here, the three X’d out devices are not in use.

There are more things your computer can tell you but, I think we have reached a point of information overload and so we stop here for today.

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email: sandy@fiberm.com

Computer-Referee Website: http://www.computer-referee.com

Backing Up is Not Hard To do…

Degree of Difficulty: Easy 

Time Required: Initially 1.0 to 5.0 hours, repetitively .75 hours depending upon the speed of your PC, the number and type of files you are backing up and the size of the hard-drive.

Risk: minimal, if you follow our directions and make back ups prior to making system changes.  The risk associated with not doing this is far greater than doing the maintenance.  In fact, this is the single most important thing you can do to get yourself out of a tough situation.

If you are like most people, you are thinking, ” Oh Crap, this guy wants me to back up my computer…I don’t have the time nor, the interest”.

Backing up your computer does not have to be a hassle nor does it necessarilly take up a lot of time.  The time it requires is well worth it and is determined by how much you have on your PC.  The more you use it, the more valuable the data are and the more you need to back it up.

The first thing to do is determine what you want to back up i.e., which files do I need to back up?  Frequently, we recommend that you back up the contents of your My Documents folder, any items stored on the desktop and any other files that would be hard to replace such as quickbooks data files, Outlook.pst files and so on.  Next, make sure that you know where the data files are located so you can instruct the back up program where to look.

Finally, determine how you are going to back up your files.  There are several options here and we generally recommend a local back up supplemented by an online back up source.  The Pros of online back up are that it is inexpensive and highly reliable.  The Con is that uploading and retrieval are slow and if you are dealing with a lot of data that equals TIME.

We recommend that you use an enclosed hard drive for your local back up. Call a local PC shop and get a used hard drive of the same type and capacity as exists on your laptop or desktop.  Purchase an enclosure from Best Buy and connect the drive using a USB port.  You can copy the data using Windows if you don’t mind manually doing so or, you can find some Free to inexpensive downloads online to automate the job.

We are continually asked how frequently you should back up your machine and the answer is: it depends on how much data you have, what your risks are and how you are doing it.  You can NEVER have enough back ups! 

Generally, if you do a full back up to your machine prior to upgrades, and then a full back up once per month with a weekly incremental back up, that should be sufficient for most users.  An incremental back up is a back up where only new or changed files get copied.  A full back up is making a copy of every file that you desire to back up.  We generally do not back up programs, Windows System information and certain directories as this information would be written over by a Windows install and in that event we would re-install all the programs anyway.

So, what about online back up?  I like  Carbonite and SOS Online.  Google them.  Easy to use and reasonably priced.

REMEMBER, we recommend both a local back up and an online system.  You’ll find it easier to recover locally but, you’ll have a back up to your back up with an online service.

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email: sandy@fiberm.com

Computer-Referee Website: http://www.computer-referee.com

Summary of Preventive Maintenance – Parts 1 thorugh 8

Degree of Difficulty: Easy to Challenging depending upon the complexity of spyware/malware and/or viruses encountered.

Time Required: Initially about three to four hours,  repetitively two to three per month depending upon the size of your hard drive, speed of your computer and the amount of maintenance required.

Risk: minimal, if you follow our directions and make back ups prior to making system changes.  The risk associated with not doing this is far greater than not doing the maintenance.

Just as a quck summary to this point, we have backed up our computer, created a log of our activity, we have defragged the hard drive and used CCLEANER to remove the temporary files, cookies and other remnants from our PC, we have removed spyware and innoculated the PC to protect it from known malware. We have scanned our PC  and removed any Viruses and we have set our PC to get Microsoft Updates for ALL of our Microsoft programs not just the  operating system and, we have set the Windows Firewall.

These activities should be undertaken at least monthly on all computers.  If you want to get the best use and longest use of your PC, doing this preventive maintenance will help you avoid the most common problems we see in everyday use.  We have not addressed making registry edits due to the complexity and risk associated with naking such changes.  This one of those areas where you should seek out a professional.

If you do not want to take the time to do this maintenance, you have essentially three choices:

(1) Do nothing and suffer the results;

(2) Hire a professional to do it – this will run between $65.00/hour and $125.00/hour for 3-4 hours per month or;

(3) http://www.computer-referee.com for $25.00/month and only $275/year we will remove your spyware, check your anti-virus definitions, check your hard drive space and perform preventive maintenance on your PC for you.  We’ll make sure that the Windows Updates get done and, we’ll even send you a Daily Score Card to show you where things stand on your PC.

We’ll save you time and money and help you keep your PC  running as close to like “new” as possible.

Tweet me: @computerref

email: sandy@fiberm.com

Computer-Referee Website: http://www.computer-referee.com

Setting The Windows Firewall

Degree of Difficulty: Easy 

Time Required: Initially about five minutes,  repetitively N/A.

Risk: minimal, if you follow our directions and make back ups prior to making system changes.  The risk associated with not doing this is far greater than doing the maintenance.

Just as a quck summary to this point, we have backed up our computer, created a log of our activity, we have defragged the hard drive and used CCLEANER to remove the temporary files, cookies and other remnants from our PC, we have removed spyware and innoculated the PC to protect it from known malware. We have scanned our PC  and removed any Viruses and we have set our PC to get Microsoft Updates for ALL of our Microsoft programs not just the  operating system.  Now, we are going to set the Windows Firewall.

Microsoft includes a FREE firewall in Windows XP, Vista and in Windows 7.  To make it easier for you, they have set up inside Windows an automatic service that willprotect you from a good number of intrusions from outside of your PC.  

A firewall is, according to Wikipedia…”

A firewall is a part of a computer system or network that is designed to block unauthorized access while permitting authorized communications. It is a device or set of devices configured to permit, deny, encrypt, decrypt, or proxy all (in and out) computer traffic between different security domainsbased upon a set of rules and other criteria.

Firewalls can be implemented in either hardware or software, or a combination of both. Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet, especially intranets. All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria.

There are several types of firewall techniques:

1. Packet filter: Looks at each packet entering or leaving the network and accepts or rejects it based on user-defined rules. Packet filtering is fairly effective and transparent to users, but it is difficult to configure. In addition, it is susceptible to IP spoofing.
2. Application gateway: Applies security mechanisms to specific applications, such as FTP and Telnet servers. This is very effective, but can impose a performance degradation.
3. Circuit-level gateway: Applies security mechanisms when a TCP or UDP connection is established. Once the connection has been made, packets can flow between the hosts without further checking.
4. Proxy server: Intercepts all messages entering and leaving the network. The proxy server effectively hides the true network addresses.”

OK, so a Firewall is intended to let in ONLY those that you want it to an no more.  It should now  be obvious why we want to set the firewall so, let’s get to it.

In Windows XP go to Start→Control Panel→Firewall and double click.  The Window below appears:

Make sure that you check off the settings EXACTLY as I have:  ON

This will allow your programs that require an exception to make that exception and make your use of your PC easier.  PLEASE do not play with any other settings UNLESS you know what you are doing or have been instructed to do so by Tech Support.

OK, that’s it.

Tweet me: @computerref

email: sandy@fiberm.com

Computer-Referee Website: http://www.computer-referee.com

Setting & Getting Windows Critical Updates

Degree of Difficulty: Easy 

Time Required: Initially 1.0 to 5.0 hours, repetitively .75 to 1.0 hour hours depending upon the speed of your PC, the number and type of Critical Updates you require and the size of the hard-drive.

Risk: minimal, if you follow our directions and make back ups prior to making system changes.  The risk associated with not doing this is far greater than doing the maintenance.

Just as a quck summary to this point, we have backed up our computer, created a log of our activity, we have defragged the hard drive and used CCLEANER to remove the temporary files, cookies and other remnants from our PC, we have removed spyware and innoculated the PC to protect it from known malware. We have scanned our PC  and removed any Viruses.  Now, we are going to set our PC to get Microsoft Updates for ALL of our Microsoft programs not just the  operating system.

Microsoft makes FREE Critical Updates available to registered users with valid licenses just for the asking.  To make it easier for you, they have set up inside Windows an automatic service that will seek updates and bring them down to your Pc for install; once sey, all you have to do is leave your computer on and at the appropriate time Windows does all of the work.

Well most of the time.  It isn’t perfect.  Sometimes a critical update doesn’t get installled and you don’t know it.  Worse yet, you forget to leave your PC on to get updates and miss them entirely for a Long, long  time.  That’s the downside which can be managed.

The upside is that you do leave your pc on and you get your vital protection from those who would use your PC to exploit you.

So, let’s get started.  In Windows XP go to Start→ Control Panel→ Windows Update  A small box like the one below appears:

As you can see, we have checked the box entitled Automatic and selected everyday at 3 AM to check for updates.  Now, all we have to remember to do is leave the machine running and connected to the internet so that the updates can occur.  Typically, an install will require a reboot upon completion.  That’s it!

Where this continues to fall down is with the user forgetting to leave his/her PC on to get the updates.

Tweet me: @computerref

email: sandy@fiberm.com

Computer-Referee Website: http://www.computer-referee.com

Preventing and Removing Viruses From  Your PC

Degree of Difficulty: Easy to Very Difficult depending upon what Virus you have

Time Required: Initially 1.0 to 5.0 hours, repetitively .75 hours depending upon the speed of your PC, the number and type of Viruses you have and the size of the hard-drive.

Risk: minimal, if you follow our directions and make back ups prior to making system changes.  The risk associated with not doing this is far greater than doing the maintenance.

Just as a quck summary to this point, we have backed up our computer, created a log of our activity, we have defragged the hard drive and used CCLEANER to remove the temporary files, cookies and other remnants from our PC, we have removed spyware and innoculated the PC to protect it from known malware.  Now, we are going to scan and remove Viruses.

I have tried a lot of different Anti-Virus software through the years.  My current favorite is Eset Nod32 because it does not interfere with Windows and has proven to be very effective in finding and removing viruses in the wild.  It is relatively unknown but more effective than the popular AV solutions sold by Staples, Best Buy and other Big Box stores.

Download it at: http://www.eset.com

It will cost you approximately $39.00 US for just the Anti-Virus.  You will need a valid email address in order to receive the download link and License Key. There is a Business Edition which I would use for the business edition of XP, Vista or Seven.  The Homer Edition is available for Home Editions of these operating systems.

You will need a credit card, expiration date, CID, name on card to complete the transaction.  After payment, you will receive an confirming email providing you with a uername and password to download and install the software.  Once installed, this software is “set it and forget it”.  It will update every day and warn you when it encounters a suspicious file.

The install is easy once you have the useid and password.  I cannot say enmough good things about this software and this company.  You will absoluterly love Eset Nod32 Anti-Virus!

The Problem:  You simply cannot go onto the internet and risk a virus infection that can destroy your computer sand at the least ruin your day.  You ABSOLUTELY need this protection unless you NEVER connect to the internet in which case you woyuld not be reading this article.

Run a scan monthly.  Eset runs in the background protecting you from email and other forms of attack.

Tweet me: @computerref

email: sandy@fiberm.com

Computer-Referee Website: http://www.computer-referee.com

Removing Spyware From  Your PC

Degree of Difficulty: Easy to Moderate depending upon what Spyware you have

Time Required: Initially 1.0 hours, repetitively .75 hours depending upon the speed of your PC, the number and type of Spyware you have and the size of the hard-drive.

Risk: minimal, if you follow our directions and make back ups prior to making system changes.  The risk associated with not doing this is far greater than doing the maintenance.

Just as a quck summary to this point, we have backed up our computer, created a log of our activity, we have defragged the hard drive and used CCLEANER to remove the temporary files, cookies and other remnants from our PC.  Now, we are going to scand and remove Spyware.

Spyware is any piece of code that is downloaded from a website and designed to report back on your activity on your PC.  Marketers want to know about your computer habits, where you visit and what you do while online and need infomation to evaluate.  That said, spyware creates a problem for you because it eats up your bandwidth, chokes your machine and makes life more difficult than it neeeds to be for your PC.  By removing spyware, you give your PC adequate bandwidth so that it can perform for you rather than the marketers.

I like to use Spybot Search & Destroy (S&D) to remove spyware.  There are many other spyware removal programs available but n one is any better at detection and removal that this one.  It is REALLY important that you keepyour spyware definitions up-to-date so I recommend that you update them just befor e you run a scan.

Here is the URL to the download site: http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Spybot-Search-Destroy/1043809773/1 or http://tinyurl.com/dm5x7n

DISCLAIMER: The site is believed to be free from harmful software and or viruses.  Always be sure that you are running a good anti-virus software and that it is up-to-date with all virus definitions before downloading and installing this program.  Make sure that you have a restore point and that you have backed up your PC to another drive.  You acknowledge that we are providing FREE help and nothing should be construed as creating a “for hire” relationship.  You are acting as a free agent and following expert advice but, we have no way of monitoring what you do so, we cannot be held accountable for your results (unless they are good).  You should always be careful when downloading anything from the internet and you should pay attention to what you are doing during the install.  If you are faint hearted, do not proceed with this and hire someone to do it for you.  While the risks are minimal, you must be confident about what you are about to do.

Tweet me: @computerref

email: sandy@fiberm.com

Computer-Referee Website: http://www.computer-referee.com