I checked the PC maintenance and Security videos (there are a whole lot of them!) here, and learnt quite a lot!
Here is an overview of three of the tutorials.
Tutorial 1 : Clean and speed up your PC.
Until recently, I thought that cleaning up one's computer only meant cleaning one's desktop. I was surprised to learn that there are many more files on your desktop that can be cleaned up: Temporary internet files, cookies etc. And what's more, that there are programs (such as CleanUp!) which can be downloaded to clean up these files. Clean Up! is an excellent feature that I will definitely recommend others. It downloaded and installed in a snap, and actually told me much space it created for me!
I was also most impressed by the msconfig feature which helps you deselect the start up options. There are lots of programs which start immediately on my computer's startup, and I thought that uninstalling the programs was the only solution. I learnt that is not the case, and managed to deselect all the programs (such as skype, gchat etc.) that I do not want to start immediately.
Tutorial 2: Organizing your computer
My desktop has mostly been an ugly sight, crowded with items that I was note sure I needed. This tutorial provided some quick solutions pertaining to organizing your files in folders, and creating more desktop space. My desktop currently just has 4 icons and looks substantially neater. One drawback of this tutorial is that everything is explained in terms of Internet Explorer, and I did not know how to customize my buttons for Firefox. The quick launch buttons worked fine for me though, and I added the icons for MS Excel and MS Word my quick launch toolbar.
I would definitely recommend the Roboform features to my friends. Again, this tool is helpful and very easy to use. Although I have most of my passwords saved through Firefox's "Remember Password" feature, it is handy to have a tool which remembers all passwords of all websites. I can now start having unique passwords for different websites: something that I have always wanted to do, but could not, for obvious reasons.
Tutorial 3: Tips for safer browsing
Things I learnt from this tutorial are: Never click on pop-ups, keep track of cookies (I must admit there were a substantial amount of these on my computer, and I ended up clearing a lot of them), and avoid using peer-to-peer software (such as torrents). I was particularly surprised to learn that peer-to-peer software can pose such serious threats because I use them all the time.
I might recommend the use of a pop-up blocker to a friend, but many browsers (such as Mozilla Firefox) have them as an in-built feature. I would honestly find it hard to recommend Sandboxie or a system such as Linux, as I don't see the need to go through so much inconvenience to maintain privacy? Even if someone does manage to see your temporary internet files or cookies, what harm can that do (as long as you are browsing legal sites)? While I have been able to understand the utility of these websites, I am still yet to understand how the benefits outweigh the costs.
Here is an overview of three of the tutorials.
Tutorial 1 : Clean and speed up your PC.
Until recently, I thought that cleaning up one's computer only meant cleaning one's desktop. I was surprised to learn that there are many more files on your desktop that can be cleaned up: Temporary internet files, cookies etc. And what's more, that there are programs (such as CleanUp!) which can be downloaded to clean up these files. Clean Up! is an excellent feature that I will definitely recommend others. It downloaded and installed in a snap, and actually told me much space it created for me!
I was also most impressed by the msconfig feature which helps you deselect the start up options. There are lots of programs which start immediately on my computer's startup, and I thought that uninstalling the programs was the only solution. I learnt that is not the case, and managed to deselect all the programs (such as skype, gchat etc.) that I do not want to start immediately.
Tutorial 2: Organizing your computer
My desktop has mostly been an ugly sight, crowded with items that I was note sure I needed. This tutorial provided some quick solutions pertaining to organizing your files in folders, and creating more desktop space. My desktop currently just has 4 icons and looks substantially neater. One drawback of this tutorial is that everything is explained in terms of Internet Explorer, and I did not know how to customize my buttons for Firefox. The quick launch buttons worked fine for me though, and I added the icons for MS Excel and MS Word my quick launch toolbar.
I would definitely recommend the Roboform features to my friends. Again, this tool is helpful and very easy to use. Although I have most of my passwords saved through Firefox's "Remember Password" feature, it is handy to have a tool which remembers all passwords of all websites. I can now start having unique passwords for different websites: something that I have always wanted to do, but could not, for obvious reasons.
Tutorial 3: Tips for safer browsing
Things I learnt from this tutorial are: Never click on pop-ups, keep track of cookies (I must admit there were a substantial amount of these on my computer, and I ended up clearing a lot of them), and avoid using peer-to-peer software (such as torrents). I was particularly surprised to learn that peer-to-peer software can pose such serious threats because I use them all the time.
I might recommend the use of a pop-up blocker to a friend, but many browsers (such as Mozilla Firefox) have them as an in-built feature. I would honestly find it hard to recommend Sandboxie or a system such as Linux, as I don't see the need to go through so much inconvenience to maintain privacy? Even if someone does manage to see your temporary internet files or cookies, what harm can that do (as long as you are browsing legal sites)? While I have been able to understand the utility of these websites, I am still yet to understand how the benefits outweigh the costs.
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