MFP computer care thread.

taunto

Hi guys. I thought with the vast community we have here, that we need a thread about general computer repair and maintenance and possibly some tips about making your experience with this handy machine a bit more pleasant. I will start off with some basics. Periodically I will update the main post with more info with the help of mods. I encourage the mfp community to ask questions and hopefully some of our other members can solve your troubles. My credentials: I'm Asian. Also doing my PhD but Asian is my true credential.

Protip before we start: READ what you click next to. Many of the free (or even paid) software comes with many unnecessary addons/toolbars/programs which can clog up and burden your system. Always make sure you read what you're installing.

kids, always use protection

First thing first. And I believe it should always be one of the first thing to install on any computer. Your web browser. What is a web browser you ask? Why its the browser for web!!! Seriously, this website you're checking, the software used for it, its a web browser.

If you are using Internet Explorer (you can identify if you clicked on a fancy looking “e” to start your internet, I highly encourage you to either install Mozilla firefox or Google Chrome instead. Personal preference of mine is Mozilla because I'm a security freak but Google Chrome is good too. Heres where to download it www.mozilla.org/

Next is Antivirus. Are you paying money for anti-virus? No need. AVG provides you good security which is on par, if not better, than every anti-virus in the market. Its free, doesn't clog up and slow your computer and easy to manage. Just make sure when you're installing it to only install the free version and NOT the free-trial. Also watch out and make sure you uncheck the option to install the toolbar it tries to make you install. Heres the link to get started: free.avg.com/

Young man! Look at this filth! When was the last time you cleaned?

Cleaning up your system is crucial to a healthy computer. That includes your computer itself and the programs within it too. Lets start by installing something which will remove unnecessary stuff. Ccleaner. After installing it you can typically let it do its thing on default settings once a month to make sure things are clean within the system. I would however recommend you uncheck the options to remove your web browser history, cookies etc. Otherwise the nifty things such as auto-fill or password remembering will have to be filled all over again and for forgetful folks like it, its a pain. Heres the link to download it. http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download. The free version is fine.

Clean your computer! Seriously! Be it your desktop, laptop or anything really. Cleaning your computer on a regular basis ensures a longer lasting computer. Specially laptops. Take a vacuum cleaner, take the attachments off and clean out the laptop keyboard (be careful if you have a very strong vacuum since it'll take the keys off). Then, vacuum every single ventilation ports you see (if unsure, vacuum every hole you see). Flip over the laptop and keep cleaning the ventilation ports by placing the vacuum hose over it for some duration. This ensure that dusts doesn't pile up in your laptop and clog your fan(s) inside. You should see a drastic reduction in the heat your laptop produces after that. Do this once every few month and have yourself a nice, long lasting, computer. For desktops, do the same thing but also open the case (easy in most cases) and just clean LIGHTLY with the hose. DON'T try to do a scrub cleaning since it can damage parts.

Back the heck up, bro!

Working in IT, I constantly see this issue. “OMG! I lost all my data!” I bring you good news. There are programs out there that can save your crucial data for you and they will do it seemlessly. You just install after making an account and it will create a folder for you where you can place all the important files you might ever need. Best of all, its free!

Google drive: if you have a gmail/google account, you will have an account already and google drive gives you 5 gb of space so this is personally preferred by me. You can get more than 5 GB for some cash too if you ever need but since backup doesn't involve backing up your favorite movies (though if you wanna backup “field of dreams”, I'd understand” but rather your important documents etc. You shouldn't need more than 5 GB. If you ever need these files on a different computer due to any reason (current computer broke, want to see the docs on your girl friends computer etc) you can just install the Google Drive software and enter your account username and password and it will download all the files to your new system. https://drive.google.com/

dropbox: similar to Google drive but only gives 2 GB. The only slight advantage they have over Google Drive is that they offer a client for linux but since I highly doubt you will ever use any *nix OS (or even hear about them) then I would say go for Google Drive.

That is it for now. I will soon add sections for other material that I have ideas for and also will add upon request (or others can fill in perhaps too?)


Possible topics in future if there is interest:
-Adblock
- posting images on MFP forums and blogs

binaryjester

I'd throw in a AV is nice, but it's difficult enough keeping up with viri...much less malware.

The on-demand scanner Malwarebytes is rated the highest (last I checked).

http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free/

...and now this reply makes no sense whatsoever.

socajam

Hi guys. I thought with the vast community we have here, that we need a thread about general computer repair and maintenance and possibly some tips about making your experience with this handy machine a bit more pleasant. I will start off with some basics. Periodically I will update the main post with more info with the help of mods. I encourage the mfp community to ask questions and hopefully some of our other members can solve your troubles. My credentials: I'm Asian. Also doing my PhD but Asian is my true credential.

Protip before we start: READ what you click next to. Many of the free (or even paid) software comes with many unnecessary addons/toolbars/programs which can clog up and burden your system. Always make sure you read what you're installing.

kids, always use protection

First thing first. And I believe it should always be one of the first thing to install on any computer. Your web browser. What is a web browser you ask? Why its the browser for web!!! Seriously, this website you're checking, the software used for it, its a web browser.

If you are using Internet Explorer (you can identify if you clicked on a fancy looking “e” to start your internet, I highly encourage you to either install Mozilla firefox or Google Chrome instead. Personal preference of mine is Mozilla because I'm a security freak but Google Chrome is good too. Heres where to download it www.mozilla.org/

Next is Antivirus. Are you paying money for anti-virus? No need. AVG provides you good security which is on par, if not better, than every anti-virus in the market. Its free, doesn't clog up and slow your computer and easy to manage. Just make sure when you're installing it to only install the free version and NOT the free-trial. Also watch out and make sure you uncheck the option to install the toolbar it tries to make you install. Heres the link to get started: free.avg.com/

Young man! Look at this filth! When was the last time you cleaned?

Cleaning up your system is crucial to a healthy computer. That includes your computer itself and the programs within it too. Lets start by installing something which will remove unnecessary stuff. Ccleaner. After installing it you can typically let it do its thing on default settings once a month to make sure things are clean within the system. I would however recommend you uncheck the options to remove your web browser history, cookies etc. Otherwise the nifty things such as auto-fill or password remembering will have to be filled all over again and for forgetful folks like it, its a pain. Heres the link to download it. http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download. The free version is fine.

Clean your computer! Seriously! Be it your desktop, laptop or anything really. Cleaning your computer on a regular basis ensures a longer lasting computer. Specially laptops. Take a vacuum cleaner, take the attachments off and clean out the laptop keyboard (be careful if you have a very strong vacuum since it'll take the keys off). Then, vacuum every single ventilation ports you see (if unsure, vacuum every hole you see). Flip over the laptop and keep cleaning the ventilation ports by placing the vacuum hose over it for some duration. This ensure that dusts doesn't pile up in your laptop and clog your fan(s) inside. You should see a drastic reduction in the heat your laptop produces after that. Do this once every few month and have yourself a nice, long lasting, computer. For desktops, do the same thing but also open the case (easy in most cases) and just clean LIGHTLY with the hose. DON'T try to do a scrub cleaning since it can damage parts.

Back the heck up, bro!

Working in IT, I constantly see this issue. “OMG! I lost all my data!” I bring you good news. There are programs out there that can save your crucial data for you and they will do it seemlessly. You just install after making an account and it will create a folder for you where you can place all the important files you might ever need. Best of all, its free!

Google drive: if you have a gmail/google account, you will have an account already and google drive gives you 5 gb of space so this is personally preferred by me. You can get more than 5 GB for some cash too if you ever need but since backup doesn't involve backing up your favorite movies (though if you wanna backup “field of dreams”, I'd understand” but rather your important documents etc. You shouldn't need more than 5 GB. If you ever need these files on a different computer due to any reason (current computer broke, want to see the docs on your girl friends computer etc) you can just install the Google Drive software and enter your account username and password and it will download all the files to your new system. https://drive.google.com/

dropbox: similar to Google drive but only gives 2 GB. The only slight advantage they have over Google Drive is that they offer a client for linux but since I highly doubt you will ever use any *nix OS (or even hear about them) then I would say go for Google Drive.

That is it for now. I will soon add sections for other material that I have ideas for and also will add upon request (or others can fill in perhaps too?)


Possible topics in future if there is interest:
-Adblock
- posting images on MFP forums and blogs

After the NSA fiasco:
No thanks. I will stick with my paid version of McAfee;
Will definitely not be storing anything on Google;
Agree with using Firefox over Internet Explorer
Definitely will not be outsourcing my date to anyone company to back up; and
Will cleaning up my computer of junk myself.