Thursday, August 6, 2009

Help your PC Last Longer

In response to the question we are asked most often - how to speed up your computer and extend your computer life... these are our tips...

1.) Install spyware and antivirus programs and be sure to keep them updated
Whether you use Norton, McAfee or AVG they are only successful if and when you keep them updated. And be sure you also have a program to eliminate spyware, such as Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware or Microsoft’s Windows Defender that detect & remove spyware from your pc...

2.) Run diagnostics. Most PCs have maintenance tools built into your system and on a schedule. To find them in Windows PCs, go to Start, Accessories and you'll find them in “System Tools”. Its recommended that at least once a month (or better yet once a week) we should:

a. back up
b. run disk defrag, and
c. run the disk cleanup tool


If your diagnostics are scheduled to run during the night and your computer is off, the diagnostics cannot be done, so you must do it the next time you turn your computer on, when it will remind you....

3.) Increase RAM. The quickest way to increase the performance of our computers is to add more memory - RAM (Random-access memory). All of us should have at least 2GB or worse case at least 1GB. This is especially important for those of us running software made in the last year or two.. you can get 1 GB for less than $50; 2 GB for under $100 - a very worthwhile investment..

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Our new Series is about to Begin, Week of August 17th

WOW - Can you believe that the summer is going by so quickly and Labor Day is just a few weeks away.... Good news is - computer classes will begin again a week from Monday on August 17th....

Just a reminder that we have Beginner Classes for anyone who is just starting out - talk to Denise and she will be happy to find you a date and time that's good for you or that person you know who wants to join us...

We are really excited about the upcoming series - as you've requested, we are going to focus entirely on mastering the Internet and helping everyone get comfortable with all this new "stuff" like using this wonderful BLOG...

When we begin the series, we are going to review many of the Internet Basics - including info about the new browsers; downloading & uploading; working online or offline and of course saving websites to your favorites... Then we are going to begin working with some of the Internets new features, including Blogging, Facebook, whys & hows of registering on line; photos on line - ordering prints, calendars & other gift ideas; using greeting card websites, such as Hallmark & Jacquie Lawson; shopping on line with major retailers & some of the auction sites, such as eBay, eBid & others - using Pay Pal, making travel arrangements and much more...

So no doubt it's going to be busy but we promise you it's going to be enjoyable.. there's always so much to learn.