FDWS - Tech Blog

How to Care for your PC - Part 2

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:31:00 GMT

So we are continuing our newsletter on how to care for your computer. I hope that you find the second part as useful as the first part. I'll be covering various topics focusing on protection against computer viruses, as well as how to protect your files in case your computer dies. I've also included links to some of the products that will hopefully make your browsing safer.

Protecting against Viruses

Viruses are nasty computer programs written to do a number of things. Some can be harmless but most are dangerous to a computer and to you. They can damage files, send out spam, completely take over your computer, steal passwords, and even harvest your credit card/banking information. So it is always important to be on guard but even being the most cautious you can still end up with an infected computer.

Keep up to date - The people who write these viruses like to use holes in the software to attack your computer. One of the most important things you can do that will help you prevent getting infected is to make sure that the software on your computer is up to date. If you have a Windows PC then this means making sure that you have Windows updates turned on and are installing them on a regular basis. Other things to make sure that are up to date are Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader, Java, and any other popular software.

Get Firefox and download Adblock - One of the biggest programs that is often targeted is Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser. It usually has quite a lot of holes in it and if you haven’t updated it in a while it can be used as a means to attack your computer. Which is why I would recommend an alternative browser it is called Firefox. Firefox also has the ability to install Add-ons which allow you to increase protection to your computer. One of the easiest Add-ons you can get is one called Adblock Plus. Most websites get revenue from the Ads placed on its pages but the latest trend for infecting a computer is to put viruses in the Ads. Simply browsing to a website that includes advertisements can get you infected now.

Get an Antivirus - One of the newest offenders in this is a virus called Antivirus Live 2009, or Internet Security 2010. It will pop up a window to scare you telling you that you have a virus, but in reality it is the virus. It will download more viruses in the background and can be extremely difficult to remove. Unless you are extremely aware and know what you’re doing you’re probably going to get infected if this pops up. For this reason I recommend getting a strong Anti-Virus tool. The one that I would recommend is Avast Professional Edition. (Link to Avast Pro) it is a great anti-virus. Updates are sent out daily so it stays on top of the latest threats. It will also monitor the websites so if anything like an advertisement with a virus in it comes up it will warn you.

Safeguarding your files

Many of us have important documents on our computer it is our address book, photo album, and gateway to our finances. Even if you go through all the steps I’ve outlined in this newsletter and my previous one your hard drive WILL DIE. Just like anything mechanical they wear out and you could lose all this important information. With the right kind of care they can last a long time, but eventually they will break down. This is why it is important to ensure your important documents and files are backed up.

External Hard Drive - You can get an external hard drive to back up your important files. These you can get one of these from just about anywhere. They’re good for having extra storage and space and provide a place to copy your files from your computer as a backup. They are also portable and light weight so you can transfer files from one family computer to another. However, just because they are stored in two different places, your computer and a external hard drive, does not mean that you will not loose your files. What if you had a fire, all of those important files would be gone. The computer would burn up, along with the external backup drive.

Get Carbonite - Carbonite is an Online Backup method to back up your files to a computer out on the internet. You have to have a high speed connection like, DSL or Cable to use this service but it is easy to use and install. You can still have your external backup and use this service. What it does to protect your files is to compresses, encodes the files, and transmits them over the internet to an external server. I’ve had a lot of hard drive failures over my life time of using computers and I wish I had had this sooner. Even if I had a fire, I lost my entire computer and my external hard drive. I could still retrieve my documents once I had a new computer up and running. This is why I use and recommend a service called Carbonite to backup my important files and documents.

How to Care for your PC - Part 1

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:00:00 GMT

So you’ve just bought a brand new computer, perhaps your first computer, or a replacement for a broken computer? Well there are some important things that you should know. You don’t usually think a computer needs much care or attention but like a car your computer needs certain things to keep working. In this article I’ll cover the extreme basics of what you can do to minimize problems with your computer. If you’re more experienced computer user you may not really find this very helpful as it is things that you probably already know. We will go over four main areas, preventing overheating, preventing hard drive failures, protecting against computer viruses, and finally safeguarding your files.

Preventing overheating.

If your computer gets too hot then it can over heat. This can lead to problems with it working correctly, crashing frequently, or dying completely. The most common cause of overheating is dust inside the computer. It is rather easy for a computer to collect dust as it generally sits in one spot and usually close to the floor if it is a tower.

Lift the tower up off the floor. - Put it on a desk or a stand; do not set it directly on the floor as this is where most dust goes to live. This is especially important if you have carpet.

Dust regularly with cans of spray air. - You can get a few cans of spray air and make sure that you spray the air onto the fans. I suggest that you do this before you start using the computer for the day. I’ve had an experience where using the spray air caused the electronic components in the computer to pop off the boards due to expansion and contraction caused by the rapid cooling of the spray air.

Place out of direct sunlight and a cool location. – The sun will heat up your computer and could lead to overheating. A nice cool location, preferably dark or shaded is good. Putting them inside cabinets especially wooden ones are generally not a good idea unless well ventilated.

Preventing Hard Drive Failures

Inside your computer is the Hard Drive and this is where all the files are stored that you use on a daily basis every time you use your computer. These can fail and they’re the most likely piece of your computer to fail. One day you will be using it without any problem and the next your computer won’t start.

Get a battery backup instead of a surge protector. – Your computer, like everything else in the house, uses electricity. Getting one of these will not only protect your hard drive but your other components inside the computer. A surge strip will only protect your computer if there is an extremely large surge in electricity, like a lightning strike. A battery backup on the other hand protects against, large spikes, common fluctuations in electricity, or loss of power. They make sure that your computer gets a more stable electrical signal. Make sure the only two things plugged in to the “Battery” side of your battery backup are the monitor and the computer unit. I’d also recommend not plugging in a printer in to the battery side of the battery backup as they can cause rapid loss of power and shut the computer off. Battery backups are designed to keep power to your computer should the power go out and give you time to safely shut the computer down.

Don’t use a space heater. – If you have a space heater near your computer, plugged in to the same electrical outlet as your computer this can cause major fluctuations in the electricity to your computer and will most likely kill the hard drive. If you have a battery backup it will most likely cause a low voltage issue which will wear out the battery backup and kill it then eventually the hard drive.

File corruption. – Files on your computer can become corrupted or broken especially with in the operating system. These commonly present themselves a blue screen with an error message. Also caused the “Blue Screen of Death” not all blue screens are related to the hard drive however so it is important to write the message down and contact a technician.

Note: File corruptions are generally not hard drive failures, but they are commonly called hard drive failures and as a result I included the above information.

We've touched on the physical part of the computer in part two we'll look at the virutal. We will discuss how to protect against computer viruses and how to keep your files safe.

Proactive not Reactive Support

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:55:00 GMT

Proactive not Reactive Support is something that can be difficult to accomplish especially if you're relying on yourself, or family members to help you with your computer needs. Do you need a computer tech, or a pc support tech to give you a helping hand but don't have the budget to keep paying for expensive service over and over? As an independant computer consultant I know how hard it can be to find someone knowledgeable enough to help you out in a time of need. So we've developed a new service that you will find extremely helpful.

The OneCare PC Support service we provide you with a great service for maintaining and manging your PC. We provide monitoring and support to you on a monthly basis to ensure that your computer is working properly, is up to date with Anti-Virus, and Windows Updates. If you have any errors with your computer we can fix them for you. If it can not be done using our remote support tools then we offer off site pc repair in Culpeper, VA.

We will send you alerts when your hard drive is full.
We will check on you if your computer is infected with a virus or sends an alert.
We check to make sure your computer is up to date with the latest updates for your computer model.

For further information visit our services section or Register on our site.

Ryan's PKU Foundation - Website design underway

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:21:00 GMT

I'm pleased to announce that we will be designing and hosting Ryan's PKU Foundation of Virginia. We are looking forward to working with this organization. For more information you can visit http://www.ryanspkufoundation.org

Important additions to the Website

Thu, 15 May 2008 17:10:00 GMT

A lot of things have been happening here and I would like to tell you about some of the exciting changes that we are undertaking. We're nearing completion of rfok.org and have lined up another website that we will be working on shortly. The biggest thing you will notice is that we have added a few new sections to the website and outlined our support subscription packages.

The Support section got fleshed out. You will need to subscribe to a support package if you wish to receive support. You can find more information about our support packages here.

We have added Email Support page, as well as Video Tutorials. These of course are for subscribed members only of our support packages.

Finally we have added the ability for our clients to preform domain name transfers.

We have also added a basic contact page for general inquiries that are not support related. If you have any major questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thanks,
FDWS Networks

Radio Free OK - Website design underway

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:54:00 GMT

We have been asked to design Radio Free Oklahoma's website. We are looking forward to this opportunity to add this website to our portfolio of websites. You can visit the future home of Radio Free Oklahoma here: http://www.rfok.org