Tips and Tricks:
September 2009 Tip:
Use virus protection
Viruses, worms, and Trojan horses are programs created by hackers that use the Internet to infect vulnerable computers. Viruses and worms can replicate themselves from computer to computer, while Trojan horses enter a computer by hiding inside an apparently legitimate program, such as a screen saver. Destructive viruses, worms, and Trojan horses can erase information from your hard disk, cause your computer to reboot over and over, bounce you all over the Internet from site to site, or completely disable your computer. Others don't cause direct damage, but worsen your computer's performance to the point where you cannot function properly.
Because new viruses are identified every day, it's important to select an antivirus program with an automatic update capability. Some programs even include web link checkers and identity theft protection features. When an antivirus software is updated, it adds new viruses to its list of viruses to check for, helping to protect your computer from new attacks. If the list of viruses is out of date, your computer is vulnerable to new threats. Updates usually require an annual subscription fee. We highly recommend that you renew your antivirus program and keep your annual subscription current to receive regular updates.
SSI Computers is a Gold Reseller of AVG Internet Security products and we can usually get you installed and up and running the same day. Check out our products page for more information about our AVG products.
June 2009 Tip:
Make sure you defragment your system at least once a month!
Computer hard drives become fragmented as data is written back and forth on the drive, programs are run and closed and files are saved and opened. The long and short of it is that as these files are being written and rewritten on the drive, for purposes of speed the files can be broken up and fit into the most easily accessed bits of free space on the drive.
So ultimately, you may have an mp3 file that you save in your My Music directory that might be broken up into 3 or 4 pieces saved on different physical areas of the disk. This causes the hard drive to have to work harder to piece that file back together when you want to play that song!
Defragmenting will take all of those fragmented files and piece them back together into a single chunk. After that, the defragmenter program will then squeeze all those files into the most quickly accessed area of the hard drive, which usually then improves hard drive performance significantly.
Defragmenting your hard drive will extend the life of your computer, plus keep it running at tip-top shape!