Is your family safe when using the computer? We don’t ask this question of ourselves often enough. The percentage of homes with a spyware infested computer is estimated at nearly 90%. A few tips to consider could save you time, money, downtime, and maybe even prevent you from having your identity stolen or your kids being preyed upon.

Do you allow your children to surf the net unsupervised from their bedroom or is your computer in a central area of the house where an adult is likely to peer over their shoulder at any given time? We all want to trust our children but even the best of intentions can end up with a compromised computer. If the computer is too important in the life of your child maybe you should become involved with what interests them so much. Are they chatting with a known friend or is it some middle aged man posing as a child ? Go to perverted-justice.com to see what other parents are doing in this regard.

Do your children or any adults in the house use the now outlawed software such as Kazaa or Limewire to download free music and software? You only heard on the news how they were ripping off artists and Hollywood, they didn’t tell you what it does to your computer’s security. Did you realize that all your antivirus and other security software and devices can be compromised as a result? If you use a credit card or pay bills on line you should know what to look for before you type that card number. There are vast resources on the internet that address family safety, from the FBI to the AARP website which have tips on how to protect yourself.

You can take a few minutes to learn how to use a search engine to ease the task of finding what you want on the internet. All the major search engines offer tips that get you the sites you really want instead of page after page of sites that have little reference to the subject. Broswer helpers like Site Advisor can help determine if these sites are safe to visit.

Broadband is definitely the connection of choice. We all remember the dial-up days and the frustration of waiting for the page to load. A large number of homes that switch from dial-up to broadband do not have the proper security measures in place to make the jump.

The difference in the types of connections involve more than just speed. Whether it’s cable or DSL, broadband is a direct link to the internet. Phone modems are less of a target to hackers, but they are painfully slow. The difference can be likened to not having a fence in your yard when your children are playing. With a broadband connection you become prey for hackers which search for internet connections that are less secure and not behind a hardware firewall. You need proper software to protect you and a router to hide behind.

If you simply have a high speed modem box from the Internet Service Provider (ISP) you probably are less protected than you may have been lead to believe. If you share your connection with more than one computer in your home using a router, you have basic firewall protection.

Most ISPs do not provide networking and security setup for home networks, you will need a professional to install the network and make sure you understand the safety aspects of your connection and how to ensure you don’t let your guard down.

The ultimate line of protection is the user. Free software may not be from the goodness of someone’s heart. There always will be temptations to download free software, utilities, music, movies and pictures that are really an attempt to break into your system.

There are two lessons most people learn the hard way. One is buying the wrong computer to suit their needs, and the other is protecting the things they create on their computer.

If your computer is several years old or if you got a bargain at that large retailer, it might be that you are using a machine that isn’t right for you. For example, a salesperson may tell you DVD burners have been all the rage. What they didn’t tell you was that it might not be right for your needs.

If you don’t have a regular habit of backing up your computer you should ask yourself if you can replace those pictures of your loved ones. Can you replace that important report you made for your clients? What about your financial data that you track on that computer? If it takes forever to do the things you’re doing on the computer, or you have not backed up those things you’ve spent so much time doing, you are gambling and wasting an irreplaceable piece of your life, your time. What method do you have for backing up your data?

Sure you can redo that report if you have the data you need and you can always retype that long document if you have a paper copy, but why risk losing your work and why would you do these tasks on a computer that isn’t right for you?

If you bought a multimedia computer, does it have sufficient memory to handle the job? Was it pitched to you for making movies, or for doing business? Did someone ask you what you do with your computer, or did you ask yourself that question, if you bought it on your own? I’ve seen computers that made it easy to download photos off a digital camera, burn pictures to a disk, and have all kinds of toys and software that you may or may not be using. What amount of memory do you need to do these things with? Did you get a strong video function on that machine or was that question even addressed? Bells and whistles don’t come standard on a budget computer. For most applications it isn’t even the processor speed that is important. Did someone tell you what role memory plays in the performance equation?

A smaller retailer should answer all those questions with you, not for you. The happiness that you get from computing is more important to a firm like The Village Geek because if you don’t buy the right machine and you aren’t happy, word can spread. We are going to use our knowledge and our experience to make sure you get what you need, not what the latest craze is at the moment.

If you love music and want to make your experience all it can be, look down at your speakers and the back of your machine. Are you using a bargain machine? Chances are, you are not getting the experience you should. How long does it take you to burn that movie you took at the wedding, did anyone even explain how to do that? It shouldn’t take hours, but many assume it does because that is what they are used to.

Getting the right machine isn’t rocket science. It takes someone listening who understands your needs and has the ability and knowledge to help you make that decision. If you lose your work because you didn’t know how to save it, or nobody asked you if your data is vital, then you didn’t really get the help you needed.

We won’t assume if you’re young you only play games, and if you’re a senior you only do email. Our customers are from every walk of life and many can’t afford to go get a cup of coffee while they wait on the computer to finish. If it takes forever for a web page to load something is wrong.

We will listen and try to help you do the decision making. If you are on a strict budget we can help you. If you don’t worry about costs so much as your time we can help you there too. Nobody should wonder whether their data is safe. We all want to be satisfied, and assured that our computer data will be there in the event of a catastrophe.

We can help you with all your computing questions and hopefully enable you to ask yourself some questions that you didn’t think of before. Saving money isn’t saving anything if you’re unhappy or it takes too much of your time. Time is money even if you aren’t doing anything other than having fun. And if you use your computer for business needs, we can help you get the most for your money there, too.

If your computer got hit by lightning today are your pictures going to be gone forever?

Despite hearing about the importance of backing up your data many will lose irreplaceable pictures or documents because they don’t backup their files. When lightning or brownouts occur you risk this loss even though the hit was down the street. We recently had a customer that took an indirect lightning hit through a cable internet connection. They had to send a dead hard drive off to have it disassembled and data read through a recovery process that is very expensive. You will need to know what to backup and how to backup these files.

If you use web mail such as Hotmail or Yahoo you need not worry about your mail and address book. Even SBC Global, RoadRunner, Comcast, and others allow you to use web based mail. These services are very easy to use and your stuff is there no matter where you log on to the internet. If you use Outlook or Outlook Express you will need to back these up. My favorite site for learning the procedures for backing up Outlook are www.slipstick.com and for Outlook Express is www.insideoutlookexpress.com . They have easy tutorials and downloads to help with each.

For pictures and documents if you use the default for saving files which is “My Documents” it will just be a matter of burning a cdr or using an external hard drive. You can buy backup software. If you do choose software be sure and do your homework. Some are very complicated and Windows Backup is not user friendly for this kind of backup. A software program will allow you to backup the data incrementally so you only backup the new files rather than accumulate a large and confusing amount of disks. If you dump your camera to hard drive you can add folders to an existing backup if you simply organize the pictures into a folder based on dates or events.

People who use Earthlink and store their email and address book on the hard drive need to use extra precautions. You have to backup your mail and address book through the program. If your computer crashes you may not get them back.

Online backups are becoming popular for people who have many files that are constantly changing. The average user should explore disks or external drives.

Once again be careful not to choose a difficult program if the device comes with its own software. Learning to choose your data and backup yourself is still the easiest and most reliable once you learn how to do it. Accounting software and checking account software will always have a feature to create backups. This is imperative for people who rely on the computer for keeping books. Typical cost for a hard drive recovery from a dead drive is $1000. Just because a hard drive will not boot your computer doesn’t mean it is dead or can’t be saved. We can help you determine which type of procedure is necessary.

There are no statistics that I can quote as to which problem is more prevalent; power failures and lightning hits, or software corruption. Let’s not forget the virus problem as well. Ever watch a virus overwrite a hard drive? It isn’t a pleasant experience especially when it’s your data being deleted in front of your eyes.

This is the height of storm season so let’s consider a few precautions. Always use a surge suppressor. If you think the surge suppressor may have been damaged by all means throw it out. A compromised suppressor is just as bad as no suppressor. Keep that antivirus and Windows updated, scan your computer at least weekly, and watch your surfing habits. A hard drive can be
replaced and programs reloaded but the things that you create and which make you unique are not so easy and sometimes impossible to replace.

If you need help with these procedures or you think you might be at risk of losing your data don’t hesitate to give us a call. We can recommend a backup strategy for you specifically and help you understand how to work with the files.

Getting it right for you could mean the difference between having a backup plan that you aren’t comfortable with or having one that fits your style, time, and most importantly your comfortability with the process. We can help you decide what is right for you.