Our pc is going in for a check up this week. It's been acting funny.. so I might be offline for a few days. My sister works for geek squad now where she works at Best Buy.. so she taking it in for the check up.
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PC check up
- Thread starter babygirl2000
- Start Date
Sending vibes that the PC comes back soon - it's gonna be tough to be without TCS
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #3
Yes it will be hard.. but know I can get through it.
Hope the Geek Squad by you is better than by me, here they knew absolutely nothing about computers, lol.
My friend works at a computer place, and they were much more helpful to me.
Heres a little guide I typed up.
Symantec is what I use for my antivirus, it works wonders!
I also use Firefox for the internet, its safer and quicker IMO. Symantec covers everything so you dont need to also run anti-spyware programs and firewall protection. It has all of those included. Mine is the paid version, pay once and it never runs out.
My friend works with computers so he gives me advice on how to keep my computer running smoothly.
#1. Always keep everything updated! Whether it's Antivirus or, updates for your computer (like windows update), just make sure everything is updated.
I manually check for updates everyday with my Antivirus, because sometimes automatic updates doesnt work. Windows update I check once a week.
#2- Always clean out your cookies! If your done surfing the internet and want to turn off your computer, clean out all that unwanted data, if it builds up your computer will slow down in performance.
To clean these out for IE (internet explorer), go to "tools" in the top right of the page, then "internet options", then "delete", "delete all" check the small box to delete extras and hit yes.
For Firefox do the same.
#3- Defrag your computer/laptop once a month. It organizes all your data so your computer runs faster.
To defrag, go to "all programs" in the start menu, "accessories", "system tools", the click "disk defragmenter" Click "c" or "d' drive, then "defragment" Do C drive first, then D. The more red you have, the worse your computer is. The more blue you have, the better. Green are unmovable files, we all have a few of those.
#4- Run your scans once a week! It's important to run your scans once a week to prevent too much viruses/spyware. We all get one or two minor viruses from the internet each time we go on, so if you run your scan once a week you wont get a bad buildup of them. Be sure to clean ALL cookies out BEFORE scanning! And DONT scan when you are surfing the internet.
#5- To clean more hidden unwanted files/leftover cookies, I reccomend CCleaner. It's free and easy to use. It also helps make your computer run a little faster by removing unwanted files that lag the computer performance.
If you have it this is how to use it.
Open CCleaner when your not on the internet. Click the brush icon that says "cleaner" Hit "analyze", you'll see a green line searching for cookies. After is stops and you see a whole bunch of black print, hit "run cleaner" Do it twice to make sure you get everything.
Next click the blue box labeled "registry". Click "scan for issues" When the green line is finished searching, make sure each box next to each issue had a green check in it. Click "fix selected issues", it will ask you if you want to backup the changes, hit "no" Then click "fix issues", it should say "issues fixed"
Do it until NO issues are found.
#6- Myspace and having the FREE version of Limewire also tend to give you alot of viruses. Limewire PRO is safer.
My friend works at a computer place, and they were much more helpful to me.
Heres a little guide I typed up.
Symantec is what I use for my antivirus, it works wonders!
I also use Firefox for the internet, its safer and quicker IMO. Symantec covers everything so you dont need to also run anti-spyware programs and firewall protection. It has all of those included. Mine is the paid version, pay once and it never runs out.
My friend works with computers so he gives me advice on how to keep my computer running smoothly.
#1. Always keep everything updated! Whether it's Antivirus or, updates for your computer (like windows update), just make sure everything is updated.
I manually check for updates everyday with my Antivirus, because sometimes automatic updates doesnt work. Windows update I check once a week.
#2- Always clean out your cookies! If your done surfing the internet and want to turn off your computer, clean out all that unwanted data, if it builds up your computer will slow down in performance.
To clean these out for IE (internet explorer), go to "tools" in the top right of the page, then "internet options", then "delete", "delete all" check the small box to delete extras and hit yes.
For Firefox do the same.
#3- Defrag your computer/laptop once a month. It organizes all your data so your computer runs faster.
To defrag, go to "all programs" in the start menu, "accessories", "system tools", the click "disk defragmenter" Click "c" or "d' drive, then "defragment" Do C drive first, then D. The more red you have, the worse your computer is. The more blue you have, the better. Green are unmovable files, we all have a few of those.
#4- Run your scans once a week! It's important to run your scans once a week to prevent too much viruses/spyware. We all get one or two minor viruses from the internet each time we go on, so if you run your scan once a week you wont get a bad buildup of them. Be sure to clean ALL cookies out BEFORE scanning! And DONT scan when you are surfing the internet.
#5- To clean more hidden unwanted files/leftover cookies, I reccomend CCleaner. It's free and easy to use. It also helps make your computer run a little faster by removing unwanted files that lag the computer performance.
If you have it this is how to use it.
Open CCleaner when your not on the internet. Click the brush icon that says "cleaner" Hit "analyze", you'll see a green line searching for cookies. After is stops and you see a whole bunch of black print, hit "run cleaner" Do it twice to make sure you get everything.
Next click the blue box labeled "registry". Click "scan for issues" When the green line is finished searching, make sure each box next to each issue had a green check in it. Click "fix selected issues", it will ask you if you want to backup the changes, hit "no" Then click "fix issues", it should say "issues fixed"
Do it until NO issues are found.
#6- Myspace and having the FREE version of Limewire also tend to give you alot of viruses. Limewire PRO is safer.
Wow, you covered alot of good stuff Keith
State Farm uses Symantec so it must be good
State Farm uses Symantec so it must be good
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Number 4 kind of makes me laugh. I leave my computer on for months at a time without restarting. Maybe scan 2-4 times a year.
However the sites I tend to go to are very safe (such as TCS), so the chance of getting anything from them is nil. I have never had a virus -I've even left irc on auto accept files for days at a time. (not the safest thing to do).
In case anyone else hasn't done it yet, get the adblocker for firefox.
In case anyone else hasn't done it yet, get the adblocker for firefox.
I used to know nothing about computers, my old computer got so bad I had 50 pop-ups in 1 minute, a weird sound on my computer from infected spyware, and to move the mouse from one end of the screen to the other took 5 minutes! The computer finally "crashed" and we got a new one because it was an old model and I needed a new one for school projects. It was because I never knew about antivirus and cookies and such, so my computer got badly infected.
By the way I used to have Norton Antivirus on my computer, it picked up nothing! Yet that was my old computer, the one that was highly infected. So I would never suggest getting the free Norton Antivirus it wont pick up anything even if your computer is infected.
So my friend being he worked on computers came to my house and did some work on my new computer and taught me lots of things on how to care for it so it doesnt crash. He made it really easy to understand so I caught on fast.
He taught me so much I now teach my parents, and relatives a few things about computers when they needed help.
They know about computers, but I know more now!
I amazed my whole family and now I have an excellent computer thats fast! It's very rewarding!
By the way I used to have Norton Antivirus on my computer, it picked up nothing! Yet that was my old computer, the one that was highly infected. So I would never suggest getting the free Norton Antivirus it wont pick up anything even if your computer is infected.
So my friend being he worked on computers came to my house and did some work on my new computer and taught me lots of things on how to care for it so it doesnt crash. He made it really easy to understand so I caught on fast.
He taught me so much I now teach my parents, and relatives a few things about computers when they needed help.
I amazed my whole family and now I have an excellent computer thats fast! It's very rewarding!
Good post Keith
I remember WAY back before the FCC started fining everyone for downloading free mp3s, my Win98 computer use to get soooo many pop ups, that it would DIAL ITSELF back out on to the internet.
That was freaky to wake up to at 3 am
Getting either McAfee or Norton (both are great) Security Suites are the best to protect you against all sorts of nasties. PS, don't get both...2 AV programs will cancel each other out and REALLY slow your computer.
To add to that any type of peer-to-peer (P2P) software tends to add spyware to your computer (in addition to worms and trojan horses).
I remember WAY back before the FCC started fining everyone for downloading free mp3s, my Win98 computer use to get soooo many pop ups, that it would DIAL ITSELF back out on to the internet.
That was freaky to wake up to at 3 am
Getting either McAfee or Norton (both are great) Security Suites are the best to protect you against all sorts of nasties. PS, don't get both...2 AV programs will cancel each other out and REALLY slow your computer.
Yeah I dont download any music so I dont worry abot that.
I didnt mention that you can only safely have 1 Antivirus installed on your computer, must have forgot to, thats another mistake some people make.
I knew a person who had 2 running, they said having 2 will give them even better protection. They cancelled each other out just like you said, and yes the computer did get very slow.
I didnt mention that you can only safely have 1 Antivirus installed on your computer, must have forgot to, thats another mistake some people make.
I knew a person who had 2 running, they said having 2 will give them even better protection. They cancelled each other out just like you said, and yes the computer did get very slow.
The RIAA is the one suing people, not the FCC. Copyright infringement is a civil matter, distributing copyrighted material is criminal.
Both Norton and Mcafee have gotten rather bloated over the years, I'd recommend Kaspersky or Bitdefender. There's also a two pretty good free ware programs called Avast and AVG, they both have a commercial version that includes more options and tech support.
As far as a firewall program, you don't need one if you have a router at home, a router will block things from getting in. If you have a laptop or do not have a router you should get something better than the XP firewall. Unfortunately there aren't as many good free firewalls now days. I've heard Zone Alarm is better than it was, and Komodo has a free version.
I'd suggest thepiratebay.org and bittorrent to replace Limewire, it's safer and there is less spyware/viruses. There are some greasemonkey scripts to make browsing myspace more pleasant, they strip out the layouts and media people embed in their profiles.
Both Norton and Mcafee have gotten rather bloated over the years, I'd recommend Kaspersky or Bitdefender. There's also a two pretty good free ware programs called Avast and AVG, they both have a commercial version that includes more options and tech support.
As far as a firewall program, you don't need one if you have a router at home, a router will block things from getting in. If you have a laptop or do not have a router you should get something better than the XP firewall. Unfortunately there aren't as many good free firewalls now days. I've heard Zone Alarm is better than it was, and Komodo has a free version.
Definitely very important!
If you're running XP and the filesystem is NTFS you shouldn't need to do this more than every six months to a year. NTFS is designed to resist fragmenting. If you're not sure about this it won't hurt anything to defragment more often.
I'd suggest thepiratebay.org and bittorrent to replace Limewire, it's safer and there is less spyware/viruses. There are some greasemonkey scripts to make browsing myspace more pleasant, they strip out the layouts and media people embed in their profiles.
There's also a two pretty good free ware programs called Avast and AVG, they both have a commercial version that includes more options and tech support.
I used both of these free versions.
Avast picked up much more than AVG for me.
But Avast uses more RAM, so if you dont have much RAM it will slow down your computer a little bit. AVG uses less RAM.
Usually the new computers all have enough RAM.
Now I use Symantec, I had to pay for it, but it's better than AVG and Avast as it also picks up spyware and has firewall protection along with it being an antivirus.
I used both of these free versions.
Avast picked up much more than AVG for me.
But Avast uses more RAM, so if you dont have much RAM it will slow down your computer a little bit. AVG uses less RAM.
Usually the new computers all have enough RAM.
Now I use Symantec, I had to pay for it, but it's better than AVG and Avast as it also picks up spyware and has firewall protection along with it being an antivirus.
If I recall correctly out of Mcafee and Symantec, Symantec uses far less resources memory. I haven't used either one in several years, they could have trimmed them down since then.
You are correct and that is why I use Symantec.
