A Message from Computer Geek to the Average Computer User

Paul's Computer Tips:

As a computer geek, I frequently get asked by others to help fix their computers. I've come to realize that, although people are conditioned to expect maintenance on their cars and - over the years - have come to grips with car part failure, people expect their computers to always work without investing any maintenance in it. People are devestated when I tell them they need a new hard drive and ask, "So where's the backup disks?" They look at me like I'm taking crazy pills, and say [rather angrily] "Why should I make backups; the thing should work like it did yesterday."

I think this is a price of the microwave era where people expect electronics to make their lives easier and instantly work. When they don't it's like the scene in Office Space where you want to kick the printer in frustration. A computer is a man-made electronic running man-made software - it is not fail safe. It is very complex and before you buy into its gizmos and gadgets, let me set some realistic expectations.

• Software: Windows often becomes unstable after about 2 years. You should plan for re-installs of Windows every two years to prevent a slow performing computer. I partition my harddrive into 2 and put my data on the 2nd so that I can easily re-install the Windows Operating System and not overwrite my data.
• Software: Over time, the more programs you install - even if you uninstall later - leave a trail on your system which can either cause conflicts down the road or make it run slower. To prevent this, keep your computer simple and don't install unnecessary programs. One bit of maintenance which helps is to defrag your hard drive about once every other month which consolidates files on your hard drive so they can be found faster.
• Software: Viruses - often come from porn sites, software piracy sites, and spam email. Avoid these sites and keep an up-to-date virus scanner program. My favorite is Kaspersky Anti-Virus. (I do not use their Internet Security product because, combined with being careful where you visit, the Anti-Virus product is sufficient.) (Anti-virus software costs about $40 per year...well worth it!)
• Hardware: Your harddrive can begin to fail over the years. It may have enough left in it to spin up when you power on, but not enough to boot up Windows. I'm not sure how to prevent this - but I believe not leaving the computer on 24/7 and giving this device a rest will help give it longer life. (A new hard drive costs $50-$100.)
• Hardware: I've seen a computer not power on due to bad power supply. (A new one costs $20-$40.)
• Your computer working is not a sure thing. Because both software and hardware failures can occur, you should backup your data regularly. The only one to blame for loss of data during a computer crash is yourself, not the computer.

New Advanced Users Section:

Take notice of what programs are running in the background that you don't need. Every time you install something, that program wants to take over your computer and put itself at the forefront. For example - it may auto-load when you start; it can try to set your home page to its home page; it often creates a new toolbar in your web browser; it can create a multitude of shortcuts on your desktop and in your programs list. These are just a few of the "dirty tricks" of the software business. Don't be fooled. Pay attention when you install and don't let it take over your computer. Even after all that precaution, you can still end up with programs running that you don't need ... thus slowing down your computer!

Here's a tip that I always always always start with when cleaning up someone's computer to make it run faster.

• Open the Windows registry editor by clicking Start, then choose Run. Type in "regedit" and hit enter.
• Browse to the following 2 paths one at a time and clean out each:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
• For each, right click and choose Export to save a backup of this registry location. I typically save as something like C:\run-backup.reg.
• Now, do you see programs that you don't care about? Delete 'em! But do make sure you can make out what they are by the folder name. For ones you are unsure of, leave them there or Google the name to find out. Windows does need a couple of them - and one might be for your keyboard and monitor, etc.
• Once you've cleaned out the unnecessary programs from the registry,
  
  Restart your computer.
  
  Now you will no longer get all those nasty, superfluous programs running in your bottom right task bar taking up memory and CPU and sucking the speed out of your computer!