Computer viruses have been in existence about as long as the personal computer has been. They can cause damage to software programs creating numerous problems. In an office setting, a virus can decrease productivity. For any who unfortunately encounter a virus, it is a frustrating problem.

What is a computer virus? First of all, it helps to know what it is. A computer virus or malware is a software program that has been created by a person with the intention of causing destructive problems such as applications that spy on you, corrupt your data or give control of your computer to someone thousands of miles away. Viruses and malware are generally limited to damage to the software, however hardware can be targeted as well.

Once you suspect that you have a computer virus, what do you do? Here are some tips for computer virus removal:

Don’t panic! This is the most important tip. Do not assume that you need to wipe your computer clean and start from scratch.

Determine that you have a virus. If you suspect that your computer has a virus, some symptoms may be your computer is running unusually slow, complaining with lots of errors, random reboots, blue error screens, or tons of pop-up windows. If any of this is happening, make sure you close all of your files and opened windows. Run antivirus software to make sure it is operating. Do this before updating it with the latest virus definitions. If it is operating, update your antivirus with the newest virus definitions and run it again. If it is not operating, the virus may have disabled the antivirus software. To get around this, download the software onto another computer then save to a disk or flash drive. Use the disk or flash drive to load the software onto the computer with the virus. Once loaded, scan your computer and follow the directions given to remove or disable the virus.

Start your computer in “Safe Mode”. This may be an option if the antivirus program is still not working. This mode is usually is used when there is a system-critical problem that interferes with the normal operation of Windows and can help troubleshoot the problem. To start your computer in Safe Mode, you can press the F5 key or you can press the F8 key and select Safe Mode from the boot menu. Once started in Safe Mode, try running your antivirus software. This scan may find malware. If you can remove all of the malware applications found, this may correct your problem.

Hire a professional. If you’ve been through all of this and your PC is still having problems, it is time to call in reinforcements. There are plenty of companies which are more than happy to help. Simply check in your local phone book under “Computers; Repair and Service”. When pricing these services, find a company that will take a look at your computer and give you a free estimate. They will charge hourly rates for their services.

For the large part buying a brand new computer can be a pretty daunting task; especially if you are not technically minded or heavily into the computer world or internet.

Nonetheless it would be good to know that you get reasonable value for money and that your new system will last and perform ‘trouble free’ for an acceptable period of time.

Here’s a checklist to help you get things right when purchasing a new computer.

- Set your budget. Decide how much you are going to spend (but try and be flexible)

- Decide what you are going to use the computer for. Have a rough idea about what you may be using your computer for in the near future; this will give the salesman/technician a better idea of what components you need built into your system.

- Future Proofing. There is no need to have all the latest components in your system, ‘unless of course you have too much cash’, but it is wise to have a computer with decent hardware specifications so you won’t need to replace the system or upgrade components in three or six months time.

- Performance balancing. This is probably the most overlooked aspect of buying a new computer; all components need to be balanced in their performance. There is no use having the latest and greatest Processor if you don’t have enough memory to support it.

- Software bundle and sales support. Usually when you buy a new computer there is not all that much software pre-installed, and little if any after sales support. If you are not that tech savvy, shop around and see if you can get your computer setup at your home ‘internet ready’, complete with internet security software as part of the package.

- Quality components. Look to purchase a computer with quality components, I have a list of preferred computer component brands on my site.

- System backup. Is there an operating system backup? Having a backup or ‘image file’ which you can access with a DVD disk is much more desirable than carting your computer to a computer workshop, waiting a week or even two and spending $200 to have your Vista installation re-installed due a virus attack.

- Personal folder configuration. If for some ungodly reason your computer goes down, there is a very simple technique to ensure you don’t lose any of your precious files, though this technique needs to be performed ‘before the fact’. Unfortunately this simple technique is rarely performed on newly purchased computers. (Visit this blog again soon for how to protect your personal files from a system wide crash!)

- Shop around. Remember to shop around and remember not all computers a created equal.

Well that’s pretty much it in a nutshell; remember the computer retail market is highly competitive at the moment; so use it to your advantage. Just try and familiarize yourself with what makes a quality computer system; too many computer retailers these days look to increase profit margins by using ‘black and gold’ low quality components!

John Salamon, a wealth of knowledge when it comes to computer hardware, networking and software!

The Computer History Museum, situated in California, USA, is dedicated to preserving for future generations the history of the software industry, one of the largest and most influential industries in the world today.

The industry originated with the entrepreneurial computer software and services companies of the 1950s and 1960s, and grew to become a market force rivaling that of the computer hardware companies.

By the 1990s the software technology industry had become the supplier of technical know-how that transformed the way people worked, played, learnt and communicated every day of their lives.

The Computer History Museum is working to preserve information about the companies, people and events that shaped the evolution of this vital industry; and has a very active program to collect historical materials.

The Software Industry Special Interest Group is responsible for this effort, and was acquired by the museum. You can be a part of the effort to preserve the history of the software industry, by visiting their web site.

Learn about the people and stories of computing:

The Silicon Engine
Internet History
Selling the Computer Revolution
Visible Storage
Timeline of Computer History
Exhibits

Discover the Museum’s many offerings:

Fellow Awards
Core Magazine
Catalog Search
Past Events & Lectures
Museum Overview
Venue Rental

Share your passion for history and technology:

Giving & Membership
MyCHM
Museum Groups
Volunteer
Donate an Artifact

Visit the Computer History Museum, where the history of computer technology lives. Why not get involved, and become a part of the effort to preserve the history of the software industry for future generations?

It is said that a computer can make our lives easier and help us get things done that we ordinarily would have to leave to someone else. I agree that they certainly have their benefits but in one respect I completely disagree that they do us good. When it comes to using a system that is under performing and one that is plagued by crashes and instability nothing can be more frustrating or anti-productive.

Let’s look at what can be done to speed up the operation of your computer and also make the system more stable and less susceptible to crashes and running errors. If your computer is running on Windows there is this wonderful thing called a Registry and this is used to store information that is important to the operation of your computer. It contains things like the setup information, user preferences and hardware and software configurations.

When your system is first set up this registry should be complete and error free but after time the registry can become a real mess which slows your machine down and can cause instabilities in the operating system. The way these errors are introduced are many and varied, things like poorly written software being downloaded, removing of programs can leave behind defunct files that only serve to slow the system down and corrupted software can make a real mess of the registry, just to name a few.

If you want to restore your system back to optimal speed you could of course re-format your hard drive. For anyone that has been down this road you will know what a pain in the neck this can be. Downloading everything to an external drive, sorting through everything, hoping that you uploaded everything you need, the list goes on.

What you can do easily and effectively is use a registry cleaning program. These programs take away the hassle of re-formatting your computer and can do the same job in much less time. Most programs offer a free scan of your system which will identify any problem areas that you can then have repaired by the software with a minimum of fuss and less down time for your computer. Try the free scan out and I’m sure you will be surprised or shocked at how many registry errors your system is trying to operate with!

Have you ever been in the middle working on your computer and suddenly it froze, crashed or came to a slow crawl? And you had to restart, lost your work, lost time and felt so enraged that if you had an axe STOP! DO NOT KILL the computer. Here are 6 tips on how to speed up a computer.

1. INCREASE VIRTUAL MEMORY:

Virtual memory is the space your computer uses when there is not enough RAM (Random Access Memory), which is the memory used when running programs like Microsoft Office.

Resetting the virtual memory usage on your computer, also referred to as pagination, is great way speed up a computer.

To access and reset the Virtual Memory:

On the Start menu,click My Computer. The My Computer window is displayed. Click View System Information. The Systems Properties dialog box is displayed. In the Systems Properties dialog box click the Advanced tab. Under Performance, click Settings. The Performance Options dialog box is displayed. In the Performance Options dialog box, click the Advanced tab. Find the Virtual memory area. Click Change. The Virtual Memory dialog box is displayed. There you can make changes to the custom pagination. You should not exceed the MB limit given by your computer.

2. STORING FILES ON THE MAIN DRIVE:

Do not store lots of data on the main drive, usually the C Drive, which is where you install your windows operating system. Storing software like games, finance programs and other software on another drive of your computer is another way to speed up a computer.

3. RESETTING START UP MENU:

To increase the speed with which your computer boots you can remove unnecessary programs from the start up process, and this is another effective way to speed up a computer.

4. TURN OFF SYSTEM RESTORE:

System Restore is a function which keeps a backup of your computer’s scheme by date. Having the system restore option on takes a lot of space from the hard drive. If you turn off the system restore option it will free up a lot of physical memory and can significantly speed up a computer.

To access and turn off System Restore:

Click START, then click ACCESSORIES, then click SYSTEM TOOLS, then click SYSTEM RESTORE. Once there you can edit settings and then turn off the system restore option.

5. CLEANING INTERNET CACHE AND COOKIES:

Temporary Internet files affect browser speed. Regularly cleaning the cache and cookies will make your browser and computer perform at a faster speed.

To Clean Internet Cache and Cookies:

click Tools from your browser toolbar and click on Internet Options to delete and clear cache and cookies. This should be done on a regular basis to ensure ongoing improvement of computer performance and browser speed.

6. DEFRAGMENTING THE DISK:

Regularly defragmenting the drive will speed up a computer.

This tool can be accessed from the Start Menu then Accessories thenSystem Tools.

WHAT ABOUT SOFTWARE THAT CLAIMS TO SPEED UP COMPUTERS?:

There is software out there that claims to optimize computer speed and performance, but this type of software is often costly and does not provide an all-in-one tool necessary to speed up computers to the max. And so you wind up buying several software programs in an attempt to fix multiple computer problems.

Buying the right computer for you can be a learning experience if you are willing to take a little time. Price will be an important factor, but it does no good to buy a computer at a low price if it does not have the functions you need for your lifestyle.

First, determine what will be the most important job of your computer. If it’s for business, it might require complex accounting applications. It might need large data storage. Your computer may be used primarily for entertainment which requires specialized video cards and additional RAM. It’s in your best interest to know what software you plan to install, so that you can check that your new hardware will meet all the requirements.

Once you have ascertained your specific wants and needs, you are ready to go shopping. Shoes and coat are unnecessary, because online shopping is the ultimate way to compare several brands’ prices and functionality. You can visit large chains to determine whether they’re offering any good sales or discounts. And online shopping allows you to check out retailers that sell products exclusively online, like Tiger Direct.

When you have decided on the computer that you want, it is important to make sure that you buy any accessories that you need. You might need to purchase cables, extra connectors, or other accessories. Sometimes these are part of the package. If not, you can always add them to your online order to avoid any problems when you install.

As the final step before confirming your purchase, check and read the retailer’s return policy in regards to both shipping damages and faulty equipment. If you are not sure what their policies are, do not hesitate to ask the retailer for clarification. Knowing what your computer’s warranties are could save you a lot of headaches in the future. It is important to save all sales receipts and any paperwork regarding acceptance agreements.

Upon finishing your purchase and your computer is in your new home, you must read through the instructions regarding installation and registrations. By taking a few minutes to do it correctly for the first time, you could save the hours of being frustrated later. In case of finding a mild malfunction or damage in the product you can put all the packing material and documents on one side if there is room for it.

A computer that fits your budget and your needs is a perfect fit for you. Online shopping will help you compare the prices of different models and also help you find the perfect model for your needs. This can all be done with a minimum of fuss on your part.

A computer is simply defined as a programmable machine that receives input, stores and operates data, and provides output in a useful format. There are two main characteristics of computers: it can run a prerecorded list of programs and it responds to a set of instructions in a very well defined manner. These characteristics have made the computer a very useful device which can perform tougher tasks in just few clicks. Computer has made things easy for us and almost used in every aspect of life.

Today, most of the work is done by computers. Many industries from banking to industrial sector and from business to domestic class largely rely on the computer in one way or another. Computer along with internet has made things as easy as with one click you can buy things online, you need not to go to market. You can make online transactions while sitting in your bedroom. You can read news; contact your friends and family sitting abroad conveniently. This all become possible due to the rapid development in the computer industry. The advancement in technology brings new aspects of computer development everyday. It is important to keep pace with this development to get maximum performance out of your computer device.

Most of the people know how to keep their computers up to date, but there are many who don’t know the ways to keep them pace with rapid computer development and often find themselves in great trouble. Hereunder are given some points to help you keep pace with the rapid development in computer technology.

Getting Updates Online

Often you find that the device is not performing up to the mark. You may need a driver update and you can get these updates online on specific manufacturer sites. Updating the drivers is the easy way to keep pace with newest version of the drivers and software.

Getting Help from Newspaper and Online Resources

Another way to keep you update with the recent developments is to read technology page on the local newspapers and other technological magazines or even you can take help from unlimited online resources. There are many sites and online technological magazines which provide help on latest updates and recent developments in the computer technology.

Sign Up for News Alerts

You can even sign up for online alerts regarding computer updates. You can confine the alerts to specific drivers and model, especially for your computer. As soon as the new version is released those sites send you an alert for that. Google and CNN offer such online services. Different forums can also help you to keep you up to date with developments.

Online Software Inspector (OSI)

Many software has been designed to scan your computer for common software applications to check whether your software require any update or not. This software makes things easy for the user for he has not to go here and there to search for the available updates. Secunia Online Software Inspector (OSI) is one such software that scans your computer for common programs and assists you in updating.

Beginners may find difficulties how to operate a computer. The following guides are basic computer operation which can be easily mastered. The guides have been formatted for more simple and applicable steps.

Step 1
You have to make sure that the computer system has been powered. Ensure yourself that the power cord has been properly plugged to wall outlet and connected to the back panel of the CPU.

Step 2
See the screw of the video cable which connects it to port of video card and the monitor back panel. Make sure that those two ports have been well connected.

Step 3
Check the connection of the keyboard and the mouse. Make sure that they have been properly connected to their back panel. Both come with different mark, you have to connect it to the correct port based on the mark. Plugging into the correct port can help the beginner prevent the interchanging between them.

Step 4
If you are sure that all the connections are safe, you can start up the machine. All you need to do is to press the power button which is located in the CPU front panel.

Step 5
The machine comes with different configuration. Some may come with a username and password. Some other may directly load to display the desktop.

Step 6
You should also know the right way to shut down and turn off the computer system. You click the “Start” button and also choose the option of “Turn off Computer”. “Standby”, “Restart”, or “Turn Off” options are displayed.

Step 7
For adjusting the setting of the monitor, simply right click on any blank part of the desktop. Select the option of “Properties” from the menu.

Step 8
For adjusting the screen resolution, you have to select the “Setting” which is available on “Display Properties”. Choose the “Themes” tab for choosing the themes of the Windows. The “Desktop” tab allows you to change the color of the desktop and also the wallpaper. Meanwhile, the “Appearance” tab offers you some options for changing the behavior of the icons, windows, and another element such as platform. In addition, the “Screen Saver” tab provides you the options for setting the monitor to be standby or display animation.

Step 9
For improving the functionality of the computer system, you can install the software. It is commonly installed in the local hard drive. The media which are used are DVD or CD or you can also download it from the internet.

Step 10
For installing the software form DVD or CD, the first thing you should do is to insert the CD in the CD drive. The machine driver will automatically read and launch it.

Step 11
The initiated installation process will be indicated by displaying new window to you. The simplest installation procedure is that you have to click on the default process so that you can complete the process easily.

Step 12
If you have already installed the software, you can now click on the “Start” Menu and choose “All Programs”. Select the program you need to run from the menu available. Or, if you have already had a shortcut on your desktop, you can simply click it for the program you need.

Your hard drive is fading into the West. You hear all manner of grinding sounds coming from it and it’s working slower than an accountant doing an audit. So you grab your wallet and bounce down to the local electronics store to find a replacement.

Whoa! You get inside and are dazzled and dazed by the sheer number of hard disks…you didn’t think it would be this difficult.

All you want is something affordable and reliable but where to start?

Performance vs. Capacity

When you are out shopping for a new drive these are the two main factors you should take into consideration. Performance is based on a computer’s drive controllers (connector types), the rotational speed and access times of the drive itself.

Capacity is basically a question of storage space and whether or not your current system can recognize and handle it or not.

Know your connector type

Modern computers can have several different styles of controller interfaces (connector types) and this will greatly determine what kind of drive you can fix into your machine.

The current standard is the IDE or ATA drive. ATA drives can have ATA/66, ATA/100 or ATA/133 connections. Every ATA slot can operate 2 separate devices (2 hard drives, 1 drive/CD or CD/DVD).

The newest drives have SATA (Serial ATA) connectors but can only run device per connector but at a much faster speed. Speaking of which…

“I feel the need for speed!”

The first thing you should find out when looking at a new hard drive is its rotational speed or RPMs (revolutions per minute). The higher the RPM rating a drive has, the faster it will work when in operation. Speed = better performance for both the Windows operating system and other software programs. The average RPM for a hard drive is either 5400 or 7200.

Seek Times. Occasionally you may hear some big time technical person mention the “seek times” for a drive. Seek times are measured in milliseconds and are basically a gauge of how rapidly a software program can locate the data it requires on a given hard drive.

Access times and seek times for our purposes are the same. Most modern home computers have a seek time of about 8ms. So a new drive with a seek time of 9ms is considered a bit slow.

So when looking at speed find the highest RPM matched with the lowest or average seek time.

Bigger is Better?

The next thing you should look at is a device’s size or storage space. You ideally should get as big of a drive as you can afford. Hard drive capacity is measured in “megabytes” (million byte size: very old drives), “gigabytes” (billion byte size: current drives), and the very newest are “terabyte” drives (trillion byte size). Like in a house, you can never have “too much” storage room!

So now you know to get a drive with…

- 7200 RPM

- Seek times of 8ms or lower

- With as many Gigabytes as you can afford

- Check with your PC manufacturer to be sure your new drive can be handled by your old computer

Anyone that has ever owned a computer has either heard about or experienced a computer virus. Livescience.com recently reported that “before the month is even done, April has set a record for virus emails.”

Gone are the days when new computer users were told about the rarity of viruses and that there was no need to worry. Countless news reports have since validated the worry over computer viruses, but what exactly is a virus?

Basically a computer virus is a software program designed to destroy or steal data. These viruses are most often sent through email attachments, software downloads, and some types of advanced web scripting. Different viruses cause different types of damage to your computer; Trojan horses destroy data, bombs explode through your system, and worms duplicate themselves, destroying or corrupting data as they go. These viruses can be combined into even more deadly forms but they can usually be identified by their location on your computer.

Boot Sector Virus – Most early forms of virus were boot sector because it required a removable device such as a floppy disk or CD to reach your machine. These viruses activate when you reboot your system and will infect any other floppies inserted afterwards. They have the potential to take up memory or freeze your system.

File Virus – This is a virus that infects other files on your system. Otherwise known as the ‘classic’ form of virus, it is also the most common and easiest to distribute. Some forms of file virus are able to hide themselves by changing aspects of their code with each infection.

Multipart Virus – This file infects both the boot sector and files. These types of viruses were fairly common when most computers operated on a DOS system but declined when integrated operating systems became the norm.

Who created the first virus and why remains a mystery; however, one virus programmer was willing to explain the motivation behind his destruction. According to this programmer, a popular online service (which will remain unnamed) failed to provide quality protection for children against what he considered to be online smut. To retaliate, he created and distributed a virus to as many file libraries of this service as he could find. His intention: to disable the computers of the people using this service, preventing them from connecting to the internet for days at a time, thus causing the service to lose revenue and customers.

Did it work? Somewhat. A small percentage of users were affected but the company in question is still alive and well, doing business today. Despite the programmers worthy intentions to save children from things best left unseen, his efforts were futile. There are probably many well intentioned motives for creating and distributing a virus, none of which take into account the damage done to an innocent bystander through a virus programmers ‘good intentions’.

What can be done if you have a virus? To protect from getting or cleaning out an existing virus, an antivirus utility is needed. There are many of these available today but maybe there is another way. Education and Communication are the key. Perhaps educating the people creating the viruses about the damage done to innocent people and providing a way to communicate their dissatisfaction effectively will reduce the news stories and protect investments.