Over the past few months I have become very aware of how much I rely on technology for teaching/music/(and life).

To cut a long story short I seemed to contract a virus on my computer AND have a hardware failure. Lost a lot of contacts/files not to mention a communication and research method. Thankfully I had backed up my assignments ad managed to hop on ever now and again in random locations to do essential email checking!

So I just thought I would share 10 computer related tips that I have picked up in the past 3 and a bit months of computer inferno.

1) BACK UP! Even the silly stuff like bookmarks. It's amazing how much you miss bookmarks, favorites, pictures...

2) If your power lead has smoke coming out of it, it is not a good thing. specially if it goes 'BANG!' and 'Crackle!'. You dont always need to buy a new one though, if you can fix leads or know an electrician. Fixing is much cheaper thant he £60 for a new lead I was quoted. However shorted leads can break your hard-drive.

3) Be wary of rogue virus checkers. Some you can download put viruses on your computer and then tell you to buy other things to fix the virus. Worse still, some put invisible viruses on your computer.

4) Some viruses are very sophisticated and can 'disguise' themselves when you run a virus check program. One way to avoid this is to rename your virus check something random like 'coffee'. That way when you run it, the virus wont see 'VIRUS CHECK' heading their way. Note: This is normally the kind of virus that wanders round your computer stealing all your personal items including all the websites you visit, your emails and all the information/passwords you type. VERY NASTY.

5) If you go to a highstreet chain thay will try and sell you bits for more that you paid for the computer.... and THEN try to sell you a new computer. Try your local independant shop or even recruit a know-all computer person from a local 6th form college (or a neighbours son/daughter/child's friend!)

6) Don't be scared and panic. A lot of things are very simple and logical to sort out and (as long as you have internet access) there are a lot of free forums where people are very happy to give free computer advice. Cross check advice to make sure it isnt malicious though.

7) Be wary of high street chains that don't even ask you what is wrong with your computer before trying to sell you a new one.

8) Check insurance covers computer faults.

9) Remember CDs/DVDs/USB memory sticks have a shelf life so transfer saved material every 8-10 years.

10) Freecycle/recycle/Ebay/electronic recycle at local tip. Great ways of getting parts or selling/passing on parts so that they don't go in a landfill.

Perhaps simple things that everyone knows, but just thought I'd pass on a few things and hope that they help a few people. It's amazing how much got fixed very easily without paying the £400+ that the local chains quoted just to look at the computer and put a new lead and parts in- some of which were not needed.


If anyone has any tips on scheduling an automatic back up/ virus sweep etc then I'd love to hear them. Certainly do not want to go through that again!!

My IT adviser installed Mozy on my machine. It backs up automatically once a day.

Seems to work ok so far.

http://mozy.com/free?ref=451c76aa

if you would like to read about it.

Thaks, yes I will have a look into that!

Thanks

Also never wind laptop cables up when you put them in cases etc since this can damage the part of the cable that joins the adaptor. I found this out when my MacBook cable broke and it cost £75 for a new one
Ditto mobile phone cables

For a mains cable?

Avast! Home Edition is free and very, very good, offering anti-virus and spyware protection. Available from http://www.avast.com/

You've lost me there. What exactly are you re-naming?

Avast! as previously mentioned. Presuming you are using Windows, there is a built in backup utility or you can use 3rd party ones. I didn't use either, I just periodically copied across the profile and docs folders (but then I know where they are). Since using macs, viruses have ceased to be an issue and Time Machine incorporated into the operating system handles backing up automatically.



Blimey. The entire power supply is only £48-£58 from Apple.

I wouldn't say they have ceased to be an issue if you use a Mac? They are less of an issue seeing as malicious code is primarily written for the predominant OS (ie: Windows) these days, but as an example, I've certainly come across infected files on Linux machines in the past, which clam caught and dealt with. On any platform, there's also the prospect of malicious content in Flash etc... I run my browser in a sandbox as I'm paranoid!

I wouldn't imply that there are no viruses written for Mac Operating Systems, though, and I'd still exercise the same caution on a Mac as I would with a PC w/r to keeping everything patched, not trusting files from unknown sources, and ensuring that virus definitions are up to date! You can still propagate viruses intended for PCs by forwarding mails too..

As for that mains cable/adaptor... I hope each strand and each contact was gold-plated!

Also to OP: I would be wary of sending a PC with a hard disk in to someone else via Freecycle (unless you have the knowhow to do a military grade scrub!) as it's possible to recover data you might think was deleted! Best to run a big magnet over the drive or to smash it up with a hammer if you think there's any sensitive personal data on there (or if there has been in the past).

I think the manufactures make most of their money out of replacement parts. The know that they have a sure thing if you cant get the cables from anywhere else, and then make them so expensive that you buy a new machine.
P.s. replied to the other questions above, just didnt know how to make it stand out more!

Hum, I remember a few years ago when I did some desktop support, Compaq power supplies were shockingly expensive. It's all a big extortion racket!

One of my workmates had a smashed laptop screen a while ago and had some ridiculous quotes to fix it - in the end we did it for him for £65 - he'd have bought a new lappy otherwise!

You've lost me there. What exactly are you re-naming?

I'm sure that's wrong. For a start virus checkers run as a service which starts automatically when the PC is booted. If you change the name of the exe file it won't start. Also, you don't normally need to run a scan, file activity is being constantly monitored and files checked in the background.

It depends which bit of software you have and how often it is updated. Some checkers do not boot at start up and you need to click on the exe file to run them. Some of the sweeps I have are deep scans and really slow the computer down when running. I search for viruses, ad-ware and spy-ware. It is not possible to have them running all the time.

I'm no expert, but I was given this advice from several independant experts. It is used for dealing with several viruses, one being 'rootkits' also known as Trojans I have just searched and found this page which you may like to read http://www.im-infected.com/trojan/rootkit-...tgen-esqul.html or this one http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic34006.html

The nature of a rootkit is that is infects your computer and renames itself to avoid detection, and hides from anti-virus software. Very nasty. The renaming of the virus checker in this instance acts as a sort of 'look one way while running the other' tactic.


I hope that explains it a bit better for you. It is scary the lengths some people will go to exploit your computer for their gain.

As I said, I'm no expert and I certainly do not want to scare anyone. It is just worth knowing about these things though so you know how to proceed if you're having computer problems and cant see why. This is perhaps something to try before paying out £100+ for a computer doctor.

Decided to be very silly and advise completely unplugging and becoming all neanderthal. Not very practical, but could be fun.

Don't tempt me!! I'd did get very close to putting the computer in a cupboard somewhere and closing the door forever!

Slightly off topic but my bank tried to sell me mobile insurance the other day, which went well until I told them what phone I had. The advisor looked slightly confused and ummed a bit and then looked a bit sheepish. It appears that I the phone is so old and out of date that people give them away and won't pay anything for them!!

Wrapped that sales pitch up very quickly. Must try that in the future!!

Computers are a menace.

Computers in the hands of the wrong people are a menace!

Thats true!

I'm considering throwing mine out of the window.

Make sure there is no-one standing underneath the window first!!

Yell 'gardy comp uter' as opposed to 'gardy loo'! That should make anyone loitering run for the hills!!

The reason It techies have their jobs i becuase ordinary people simply don't understand computers.

This is great because when I graduate I want an IT job. Most people have simply problems such as can't print, can't connect to the network or monitor is blank.

And make sure you open the window first too.

This is a reason not to buy a laptop - when you get frustrated with a desktop they're a lot harder to hurl out the window.

I think you'll quickly discover that hardly anything in IT is ever simple unless you're first line helpdesk, in which case you push anything aside from a password reset or "is it plugged in"/"have you tried switching it off and on again" up to the 2nd line

The amount of times I've screamed, "Why is nothing ever simple!?" in the past few weeks is scary...

I will probaby start on a 1st line support helpdesk. I have see tonnes of ads for 1st line helpdesk jobs in the city and they looks good for a , then to be, 19 year old. Then quickly move to 2nd line ASAP!!

Oops, needs to be in a the cafe.