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Your
New Computer
by Leeon J. Pezok, Sr.
Getting a new computer is just about as exciting as buying a new
house or car. Your computer is an investment in entertainment
and productivity. Just like your other cool new things, you want
to protect your new computer and get the most out of it. Here
are some basic tips to get you started.
Electricity
The obvious point here is that without the
correct electricity, your computer will not work
right. The not so obvious point is although
normal; variations in electric current can
damage your computer. This is why you should use
a high-quality Surge Suppressor or
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS).
Surge
Suppressor
A common mistake that new computer owners make is to go into
their local hardware store or mass merchandiser and purchase a
power strip. These usually cost between five and fifteen
dollars, depending on number of outlets and brand. Power strips
do not protect your computer; although most have circuit
breakers built into them, they do not feature power protection
or filtering capabilities.
When selecting a Surge Suppressor, consider the device with
the highest Joules rating and check for included insurance.
Reputable companies like APC and Trip-lite include insurance
policies for your computer equipment if damaged by an electrical
surge while using their device. A proper Surge Suppressor should
cost $25 to $50, depending on the features and protection
rating.
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)
Surge suppressors help protect your computer in the event of a
power surge or spike. What they don’t do is protect your
computer from power failures, whether a full blackout or a low
voltage brownout. These can damage your computer also; or at
least cause you to lose valuable data if you hadn’t saved just
before the power failure. UPS devices will supply electricity in
the event of a power failure or brownout, allowing you to save
your data and gracefully shutdown your computer.
UPS devices offer a wide range of backup electricity time;
naturally the more electrical time provided by a UPS, the more
expensive it will be. When you select a UPS, consider the power
consumption of your computer. Tube-based monitors use
substantially more electricity than an LCD or Plasma panel;
gaming computers use more electricity than those intended for
general use and productivity.
Do not plug your laser printer into the UPS. Laser printers
draw too much electricity, wasting battery time and may damage
some UPS devices – just use a surge suppressor for these. If you
expect to need to print during a power failure, consider an
inkjet printer which uses less electricity.
Shut It Off
When you turn on your computer, go ahead and leave it on if you
expect to return within a couple hours; but if you are going to
be away from your computer for several hours, shut it off.
Turning off your computer extends the life of the components and
saves electricity.
Read my article "Conserving Energy with Your PC"
System Security
If you are connecting your computer to any kind of network,
especially the internet, you need to use security software to
protect your computer and data from malicious software like
viruses and spyware. Malicious software is designed to
automatically spread from computer to computer for the purpose
of stealing information or causing damage to the computer.
Norton Anti-virus and McAfee Anti-virus along with their
respective full suite products are the de facto standard in
security software – beware, they have also become the most
bloated and slow security software on the market. What do I use?
I use Microsoft Live OneCare – this is a robust security product
that is light-weight and designed by the manufacturer of my
Operating System (Windows) ensuring compatibility and efficient
integration.
Backup
Computer hard drives have been developed and improved upon over
the past 40 years, increasing their capacity and reliability.
Hard drives contain moving parts; very fast moving parts.
Unfortunately, hard drives still fail and even if your hard
drive doesn’t fail, a virus could still damage your data.
When working with your data, always work from your hard
drive. You can protect your data by backing it up, or copying
it, to another drive. An excellent choice is to periodically
burn the data to a CD or DVD – then you have a permanent archive
– or you can copy the data to an external hard drive. You may
have noticed I didn’t mention flash (thumb) drives. Thumb drives
have a high failure rate when used repeatedly, especially when
not properly removed from your computer.
Some security softwares feature automatic backup tools;
Microsoft Live OneCare is an example. If you have a server on
your network or an external hard drive attached to your
computer, then you can setup automatic backups to help protect
your data.
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The first rule of computing is SAVE; Save your work,
Save often, and Save before you print. |
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The second rule of computing is BACKUP; Backup
anything you want to keep. |
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Keep It Clean
To extend the life and usability of your computer you need to
keep it clean, physically and logically.
Remove Unnecessary Software
Many software products add extra components to your system
startup and even when you are not using the software it may
still use some memory and processor capacity. If your computer
came with software preinstalled or you installed software that
is not being used, uninstall it from the system. Some examples
may include RealPlayer, QuickTime, Music Match, and Modem
Utilities.
Clean the Fans
The fans and heat sinks within your computer will build up dust
over time; if you have pets or smoke, these components will
become blocked quicker. Periodically, unplug your desktop
computer and carefully vacuum the inside, paying special
attention to the fans and heat sinks. If you accidentally unplug
a cable, carefully put it back in its place. Do not disassemble
your laptop, instead vacuum the air intake for your fans and use
compressed air to blow in through the regular air output to
clear dust. Be sure that the compressed air is not too high of
pressure, otherwise you may break the fan blades.
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