IT News - February 2008

Saturday, 01 March 2008 00:00 Last Updated on Sunday, 26 October 2008 19:39

IT NEWS, TIPS AND ADVICE - FEBRUARY 2008

Welcome to the latest article.

This month I am going to discuss 10 things you should NOT do with or to your computer. Computers are quite capable of going wrong on their own with no help from us, the poor victims of computer chaos. Nonetheless, many of us (me included) seem to insist on offering a helping hand to the gremlins.

On the plus side, apart from actually throwing it out of the window (I threaten this about twice a week but have resisted so far!) the consequences of our mistakes are not usually terminal.

I will point out some of the most common ways we help to mess up our computers (in no particular order!):

Connect your computer to the electricity supply

Ok, this is one is unavoidable but we do need to be careful how we do it. I have discussed power problems before (click here). What I am advising here is that you DO NOT connect your computer to your electric supply without using protection! Failure to do this can actually destroy the computer's components and potentially(!) your valuable data as effectively as throwing it out of the window.

Surges in your power supply can be caused in a number of ways:

Electrical Storms
Short Circuits
Power Outages
Power Line Faults
Power Surges

The particular problems we face in Spain are the poor standard of some of the electrics in older houses and fincas, the different way of earthing houses and the hot weather. Yes, the hot weather will fry your PC! Not because of the temperature but any high-rated device such as air conditioning unit can cause a power surge when it starts.

So, what can we do about it? Move to somewhere where the electric is always on, provides a constant voltage and never fails?! No such place.

At the very least, your PC and monitor should be plugged into a power strip with a surge protector included. Please note that once these have experienced a power surge they should be replaced (although you are unlikely to know that they have!).

The best alternative is to use a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). These provide a constant voltage level and provide a battery backup in case of power failure. The UPS that I supply costs around 70 Euros and will typically provide 10 minutes of power - enough time to finish what you were doing and close your PC down gracefully. These are available in the high street and are straightforward to install and configure.

Surf the Internet

This won't come as a surprise to many people reading this but nonetheless it is a dangerous mistake that is still being made. OK, so we all need to surf the Internet but, again we should be protected.

The first line of defence is a firewall. The term comes from the construction industry where buildings are divided into sections by firewalls that prevent the spread of fires from one section to the next. A firewall on your PC is a piece of software that helps to stop the spread of Malware (viruses etc) from other computers via your network (the Internet).

Windows XP comes with its own firewall which helps to prevent attacks from the outside. It has a weakness though: if something is already in (you have already been infected) it will allow it to communicate with the outside and then cause you more problems. Windows Vista has a better firewall.

I recommend that you install a personal firewall to ensure that you have the best protection you can reasonably afford. ZoneAlarm provide an excellent product that offers full protection including Malware, identity protection and wireless protection for $40 (less than 30 Euros). McAfee and Norton also provide excellent products although they are more expensive.

Catch a cold

We're talking about Malware again: viruses, trojans, worms, spyware and other nasties. The software that protects you from these is not always the same as the firewall discussed above although many (such as ZoneAlarm, McAfee and Norton) offer a suite of programs that automatically protect against all. You can get free versions of software but you will need 4: antivirus, antispyware, firewall and antiadware. Some of the free software only works when you remember to run it (anti spyware and adware for example).

You will need to download the free updates regularly (this should happen automatically) and renew your subscription every year.

Use Software

OK, I understand you will want to use your computer and I think that, on the whole, using your computer is a good idea! My concern here is what programs you install or uninstall, how many, how often and from where. I am always trying new software either because I am interested or I think my clients might be interested. The problem is the more programs that are installed the greater the risk of problems:

Greater chance of malware as described above
More 'gunk' in the registry possibly conflicting with other programs and Windows itself
PC gradually slowing to a halt
Full hard disk

So, by all means, use your computer but think before you install software:

Do I need it?
Do I trust the source?
Is it legal?

Uninstall programs that you don't use.

Store Information

So, now I've let you use a little software, I'm going to tell you not to store any information (programs, files, accounts, photos, letters etc) on your computer! Well, OK, maybe you can store a little! Your installed programs count as data as well (see previous section).

The problem here is that installing and uninstalling lots of programs fragments your disks. This sounds as if the disk will be broken into little pieces but it is your data that is broken into little 'fragments'. Files are stored on your disk one after the other (think column rather than disk). If you want to add to a previously stored file the additional bits are stored at the top of the column some distance from the first part. When the computer needs to retrieve the file it has to look in as many places as there are fragments and this slows it down. If a lot of files or programs are fragmented your PC will grind to a halt.

Linked to this problem but a separate issue is how full your disk is. My rule of thumb is that if you have more than 70% of your disk in use then it is time for some housekeeping:

Remove unused programs
Remove temporary files (Windows Disk Cleanup Tool will help)
Remove unwanted files
Archive seldom used files

Don't worry about emptying your recycle bin, this won't free up space because space is set aside for it anyway. All it will do is permanently remove the files from your disk and you may want them back. The older files are removed to make room for the recently deleted files.

Trust Someone

I am talking about email attachments here as well as any other highly 'clickable' candy on the Internet. TRUST NO ONE. If you ever wondered why they called it the X-Files it is a command: Delete files.

If you didn't ask for it and/or you don't know where it came from don't open it or click it. Press X for delete. If you open it, then if it is a 'nasty' you will have given it permission to run (havoc) on your PC.

You might wonder why your protection has allowed it through in the first place well I'll explain that next but for now, know that there are ways and means and you need to help yourself by being aware.

So how do they do that? If you don't want to know you skip to the next section. Here comes the science bit! The obvious candidates are files that come as s attachments with extensions of .exe; .cmd and other executables. Non-executable files include .doc; .xls ... (Word and Excel files). However, these can have macros inside which will run when they are opened. Other files can have scripts (Visual Basic, Flash, Java etc.) with similar effects.

Just because a file looks innocent: .txt; .gif; .jpg don't assume that it is. Windows defaults to not showing file extensions for known types to make listings easier to read. I've never agreed with this and always show extensions so that I know what type of file it is. However, for most people a text file will be called "myletter.txt" but will display as "myletter". If I wrote a nasty executable and named it "myletter.txt.exe" it would display as "myletter.txt" because Windows knows about exe files and omits the .exe part leaving the .txt which looks OK.

Use Your Mouse

Now you're really getting fed up with me aren't you? I won't let you plug your computer in, surf the Internet, run programs, store data or read emails and now I'm telling you not to use your mouse. As always, of couse you can but with care. Using your mouse by indiscriminately clicking on links, images and buttons on the Internet or in emails is another sure-fire way to mess up your PC.

A lot, if not most, legitimate sites have embedded controls or scripts that are needed to provide the service that you want. If you don't enable these scripts then you will struggle to get the most from your surfing. However, most, if not all, 'unsafe' sites use these same scripts to harm your PC. They can take your to inappropriate sites that can cause you emabarrassment or worse.

It isn't always clear that a link will take you to a 'bad' site. For instance a link may say "www.thisisagoodsite.com" but actually take you to "www.ireallydon'twanttobehere.com". So how can you stop this? Look at the bottom left of your web browser as you 'hover' over the link: this shows the actual website and page that you will be taken to if you click.

You will also see annoying popups that say you have won a great prize or your PC is infected click here to claim or cure yourself. Again, DON'T. If you really think it could be genuine, open another browser window and Google it. When you find out that it is not genuine be careful how you close it down. If it has a button that says 'close' or 'cancel' or something like that: DON'T trust it. If there is an X in the top right of the window it is normally OK to click this but I recommend that you close it by holding down the Alt key and press F4. This is a Windows feature and is far safer than trusting the popup.

Be Nice

If you have read this far (well done by the way!) then you will know not to trust anyone but you can still be nice, right? Wrong! Sharing has its place but the computer isn't it. I'm not talking about peer to peer sharing where you share files on Limewire and such: I'm sure if you use these services you know what you're doing (and what you're allowed to do!). I'm talking about having File and Printer Sharing enabled on your PC.

If it is enabled because you want to share files with other users across the network then I will assume that it has been set up correctly and safely. Make sure that your shared folders are protected by both share-level permissions and file-level (NTFS) permissions. Also check the passwords on your accounts (including the administrator) account have strong passwords (see next section).

My concern is if you have it enabled but don't use it. Just because you don't use doesn't mean that others aren't using it without your knowledge. Even if you haven't created any shared folders, Windows has hidden shares on each drive that it needs but that others can gain access to if you have sharing enabled.

How to check: XP users should right-click on Network Neighbourhood and choose Properties. Find each network card (normally labelled Local Area Connection by default), right-click on it, and select Properties. Uncheck File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks.

Be Open

Don't trust anyone, don't share, don't be nice and now: don't be open with people. Passwords. The bane of our modern-day lives. I have talked about passwords before: click here. By now you will have many passwords for various PCs, web sites and bank accounts. How do you remember them? There are many ways I have come across and recently I have had a number of clients who use the same password for everything from harmless website accounts to their bank accounts. This is very dangerous.

Where possible, I use one of 3 passwords: an easy one for sites where there is no confidential or financial information (e.g. Part of my name: pcresolver); a medium one for more private sites (e.g. An easy to remember mixture of letter (including CAPS ) and numbers: PCRSax03630) and finally a hard one for the important sites (e.g. Fb35aY60). The last one looks hard to remember but it is actually the initials and ages of people I know! These are obviously not my real passwords but they should give you an idea.

The advantage of having only 3 passwords is that if you can't remember which one you have used, you will get it right within the 3 attempts that some site limit you to.

Ideally, you would have a different password for every site; the only danger is that in order to ensure that you don't forget them you will probably have to write them down! There are software packages available that will store your passwords in one place to which you gain access by a single password.

One thing you may have noted is that none of my password examples will appear in a dictionary. This is because it is easy for a password cracking program to try every word in a dictionary. You may think "mbaqanga" is an unusual word (and it is) but to these programs it is as common as ... mud.

I have recently been told of an excellent method for creating passwords: use the first letters of a phrase that includes capitals and numbers. For example, "Peter and Susan celebrated their 15th anniversary in Paris" becomes: "PaSct15aiP".

Be Unique

We are all individuals and we don't like to think that we have a clone walking around somewhere. But with your data, this is exactly what you want. This is another reminder to backup your data. If you have a backup (clone) of your data that is separate from your computer (preferably in a different building) then if any of the previous nine problems occur you have lost nothing. And this includes the other problems that aren't mentioned here: fire, flood, theft, disk failure... .

Your data (and I mean your photos, files and even music more than your programs) is the most important thing on your computer and you should look after it by cloning it. Microsoft has a built-in backup: NTbackup. This is quite basic but it will do the job. CD/DVD burning software that probably came with your PC may also contain backup software. It doesn't have to be complicated you just need the discipline to do it.

Final Word

I hope with this article I have highlighted some of the problems you can encounter while you work and play with your PC and that I have also pointed you towards some of the solutions. As always, I encourage anyone with a comment, suggestion, question, idea, criticism or inspiration to contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Please also see The Inland Magazine Computer Problems Forum if you have a specific IT problem.