PC Tips & Tricks

When buying a computer, anything related or having it repaired, serviced or upgraded always ask for everything to be explained in plain English. If someone can't explain things without using jargon, remember that they're just hiding their own ignorance, not exposing yours.

Get to know your computer - explore the programs and folders on it. Just playing about in Windows and trying new things is an excellent way to learn and will make you quicker and more effective in using it. Windows (unless you tell it otherwise) doesn't allow you access to the system files so it's very difficult to do any damage.

Keep all the disks and documentation that came with your computer or any peripherals such as printers, scanners or modems. Almost all devices you connect to a computer need software called drivers in order to work. If you've lost the disks or documentation it can be much harder to get them working again if there is a problem.

Organise your files. Save all the documents, spreadsheets, pictures and other files you create in obviously-named folders in the "My Documents" folder. It's well-worth checking through "My Documents" every so often to keep it tidy. This makes it much easier to find things.

Back-up your files! This is an annoying chore and almost no-one does this often enough. It's necessary because computers can and do go wrong and while that's bad enough, it's disasterous to lose your own photos or work. All your programs can be put back but your personal stuff is irreplacable. If you've got a CD or DVD writer then this is much better than keeping files on floppy disks (which have a very small capacity and are not very reliable). A good idea is to fit a second hard drive for back-ups. They are available from under £30 and can be fitted to almost all machines quickly and simply.

Use an internet security suite such as McAfee or Symantec to protect your computer when online. The first and most important line of defence is a firewall which acts like a doorman and stops troublemakers from getting into your computer in the first place. While it's a good idea for a dial-up connection, it's vital for broadband or cable (NTL). Antivirus software is useful to disinfect your computer from any threats that might've slipped past the firewall. Spyware is a growing threat. It is software that sneaks into your computer and then uses your internet connection for its own sneaky purposes. At its least it will bombard you with annoying (frequently obscene) advertising. At its worst, it can seriously compromise your security. Software such as Spyware Doctor tackles this problem very effectively.

Keep your computer current. The updates that both Windows itself and your security software ask you to download are vital to protect you because new viruses and other threats are being produced all the time.

Be Savvy online. Be careful opening email attachments from people you don't know. Use common sense. There are many excellent genuinely free services online. There are also lots of sharks. If something looks too good to be true, it probably is. Pop-up boxes advertising things for free or giving dire warnings like "Computer Registry is broken - click here to fix" should be shut down because they are not offering what they seem to be. They can be very sneaky so don't click anywhere inside the box. Clicking the [×] button in the windows title bar should get rid of them. If it doesn't - press [Alt][F4] simultaneously.

Don't expect a computer to last forever. The only part likely to wear out is the hard drive which will last five years on average. Instead computers become obsolete. It becomes increasingly difficult to get new software to work, new printers and other hardware won't connect and increasing parts of the internet become inaccessible. It's quite likely that the majority of machines the man in Dixons in 2001 assued their buyers were "the latest thing" and "future-proof" are now landfill. There is no such thing as "future-proof" - it's a marketing gimmick.

Don't Panic if something goes wrong. Stay calm, it's probably not as bad as it looks. Afterall, you did back everything up, didn't you?

Dr Compustein - Bringing PCs to life...