Hints and tips about your PC

If you would like to me to keep you up-to-date with the latest threats, and I will add your name to the list; I don't send out any junk or promotional emails!

These tips are here for your benefit. If you want to pass them on to others, please do, but I would ask that you tell people where you got the advice.

For quick tips and advice, go to the top of this page and click the refresh button on the browser, and the tip will change to a new one.

I have also written articles for the Village Link Magazine which are available on the Village Link page. Most of the information in these articles is still relevant today.

Most of the advice offered on this page is, amongst other reasons, a result of problems I have seen on people's computers, things people have done in response to SCAMS and the mistakes people have made in normal use of their PCs. Advice is also given as precautionary measure to help you not to make the same mistakes.

a variety of short tips

it just appeared one day!!

Despite my article in the Summer '08 Village Link (Available for download above), I STILL see PCs where I have noticed something on the desktop which looked suspicious to me. When I asked the owner if they installed it many say, "No, it just appeared on day!".

Sometimes an icon may appear on the desktop which wasn't there before. Ask yourself where did it come from? Sometimes you might get a window appearing, usually saying you are infected with something or other. Unless this comes from you Anti-Virus program, it is more than likely not only bogus, but an infection claiming to be something which will help you.

It is important that you DO NOT CLICK IT - ANYWHERE!. That means don't even click the red cross in the corner. If you click on it, you will likely bring in further infections My advice would be to disconnect from the internet and then restart the PC.

Sometimes these windows claim to be a Windows Security Alert or words to that affect and offers to fix all the the problems it claims it has found by clicking somewhere. What is more likely is that by clicking in the window, you will bring in an infection. Then, surprise surprise, they will ask you to buy their product which will, they claim, fix the problem. Main thing here is that any problems which now exist were caused by them in the first place; or to be more precise, caused by You when you clicked the pop up window in the first place.

When you click the link to fix the problems, you will likely be taken to a site where they want you to give them your card details; Don't do it!!

DOs and DON'Ts about Email

Let's get one thing straight right now, you wouldn't take all of the junk you get through your letterbox, photocopy it, then post it through the letterbox of everyone in your address book, so why on earth do you do it with junk email? (That's NOT a rhetorical question) If you send several people in your address book, the latest joke/verse/video etc. that you had forwarded to you which had probably been forwarded several times before that, and the person you are sending it to has NOT said they want to be included in your list, it could be considered to be SPAM.

Don't just assume that everyone in your contacts list wants to receive all of the junk you get in your inbox, because I know from experience that many of them don't.

When you have, or someone gives you their email address, don't just assume that they want to be included in the list of people to whom you send the latest thing you have received, which may already have been forwarded several times by people who thought everyone in their address book might be interested. Ask people if they want to be included in this group before you start sending them all of your junk!

AND, on a similar note. If you get sent the latest thing which has been forwarded dozens of times, but would rather not receive it, politely ask the sender NOT to include you in their list of recipients. If they get miffed because you have asked them to stop it, it is they who are wrong, not you! Many people are, in my opinion quite wrongly, too embarrassed to ask others NOT to do it!

AND, following on again! if you are one of the people who is guilty of sending these things, don't get miffed if someone asks you not to do it; most people don't want their inbox filled with SPAM, regardless of who sent it! (See the definition of SPAM below). I go to a lot of people's houses and most people who get sent this kind of thing say don't want it, but are reluctant to tell the people who send it to stop!

If, even after reading this, you still feel the need to send what you consider to be vital information to several people in your address book, all of whom have expressed a desire to receive it, DO NOT tell them to send it to everyone in their address book. The chances are that there are going to be an awful lot of shared recipients and if some in the loop don't want this vital piece of information - which is likely - they are going to receive it many times and it's your fault!

Consider the following Definition of Spam:
"The recipient's personal identity and context are irrelevant because the message is equally applicable to many other potential recipients; AND, the recipient has not verifiably granted deliberate, explicit, and still-revocable permission for it to be sent" You don't have to be selling Viagra to be guilty of sending SPAM!

Dodgy emails come in different formats but usually want you to click an link or download an attachment. Sometimes this will infect your machine and others want your money. Look at any email and ask your self if what it is saying is likely. For example, you won't have won a lottery you didn't enter, Microsoft is NOT going to email you about a problem with a file and there isn't millions of dollars waiting in a Nigerian bank. (More on dodgy emails further down the page).

If you are emailing several people at once you should send the email to your self and put all the other addresses in the Bcc field so that no one can see the other people's email addresses (More on Bcc further down the page).

If you are doing anything on-line and are suddenly asked you if you want to RUN something, make sure you know exactly what it is. Running something means that something is going to be installed on you computer.

If your PC won't start, Get your data off it before you run any recovery discs. Just because it won't start, does not mean your data can't be saved. It is usually quite simple to get the data from a drive as long as the actual drive is not damaged.

If your PC is running much slower than it used to, it could be caused by a few things - see my article in the Autumn '08 edition of Village Link, (Aslo available for download on this site). Many times it is either very short on RAM and/or there are a lot of things running which don't need to. If it is one of these, it can be helped to speed up fairly easily and cheaply and you will notice a huge difference. Worth noting however is that a shortage of RAM is much more likely to apply to older PCs as newer ones tend to come with plenty.

Keep your security programs up-to-date, but be careful when letting Windows update itself. Windows often gives you lots of security patches for you operating system and these updates may be necessary to your PC, there are some updates which you don't really need but, unfortunately, they come along with the important ones. I never use automatic updates and instead go to the site and choose which ones I need and hide the others. However, unless you know what you are doing, I wouldn't recommend that to everyone. I have also come across several machines with Vista which have had updates installed and have then failed to start again. In such circumstances, I would consider updating to the current level manually and then switch off automatic updates.

If you have a PC with one of the expensive security programs installed, but you haven't paid for the subscription since it expired, you are at serious risk of infection. There are new threats out all the time and your security programs and OS must be updated regularly to make them effective. Remember though, you don't have to pay for security programs, there are some very good, free programs, if you know where to look.

If you bought a new PC and at the same time bought Office for it, you may not have an Office disc, just a number. If you bought the same thing from Dell, you might not even have a number. While things are working well, this isn't a problem, but if you need to have the operating system reinstalled, you are going to need the Product code to reinstall Office. Unfortunately, the code is stored in an encrypted way inside the registry so you cannot just look at it. Make sure, if you get a code, you keep it in a safe place. If you don't have a code, all is not lost, I can usually recover the code but I need the PC to be able to start.

If you are thinking about replacing an ageing PC but don't want to go to Windows 7, don't worry. It is still possible to get PCs and laptops with XP, although I think you would need a very good reason to do it. XP machines are still available but are getting harder to find, plus they will cost a lot more. It is worth mentioning that Windows 7 is not like Vista was, I have 7 on my laptop and have had no problems in the last 18 months.

In my opinion, there are certain processors which I would avoided in any new PC as it can cost as little as £30 more to get a good one. Bottom line is get advice first!

If you are one of the few people who are still using an old ADSL MODEM to connect to the internet, you should contact you ISP and get them to send you a free router; the ADSL MODEM is unlikely to work should you get a new PC.

even more advice

bogus phone calls

I have heard from a lot of people about phone calls claiming their PC is running slowly, there is a problem with a file, or some other random problem that they claim your PC has. The callers might claim they are from Microsoft or some support company. Some clain that your ISP has told them you computer is running slowly or has a problem.

These calls are a SCAM.

They may try to get you to let them take remote control of your computer, or they may ask you to type something into the 'Run' command, or go to the Event Viewer, which will, they claim, show a list of errors on your PC; while these will show various files and some warnings, these are not problems. All of what they say is an attempt to get either control of your machine and/or your card details. I know of one person who has given them his card details and only phoned me after he had done this, which was too late. Under no circumstances should you give these people any information at all. My advice would be to put the phone down immediately.

They are calling people at random and most of the people they call will have a PC and most of these PCs will be running a bit slower than they should. Remember though, there is no way they can tell there is anything wrong with your PC and they are after your money.

sending group emails

Before I get into the etiquette of sending email properly or the possible security implications, I want to remind people about their responsibilities under the data protection act. Whilst this mainly applies to companies and/or organisations, members of the public should also pay attention to this.

If you have someone's email address because they are a member of your particular club or organisation or things similar, you have a duty to protect these email addresses under the Data Protection Act. By sending emails to groups and NOT using the Bcc field to hide the addresses you are passing on the addresses to third parties and if such an email is then forwarded to someone outwith the group, they also get the adresses. While these third parties may also be members of the same collective, that is irrelevant, and there could be repercussions should anyone complain.

All that being said, there are other reasons why you should use the Bcc field in emails.

Many people and organisations STILL send group emails which show everyone who gets the email, everyone else's email address. Then when some of these people forward that email to some of their friends, they then get all of the email addresses in that email. Apart from the data protection issues outlined above, this is really really dangerous as well as being really really annoying. Read on...

Would you let me put your email address on this site?
Would you lend me your address book so I can show it to my friends?

Probably not! Why then do people continually send emails to groups of people and give everyone in that group, everyone else's email address?

Some people think this is an unnecessary inconvenience and it doesn't make any difference. They couldn't be more wrong!

Spybots and robots trawl the internet constantly looking for ways to exploit people, and one thing they do is check for emails and addresses so they can propogate infections and SPAM. Many people get an awful lot of SPAM and also get their machine infected and then complain about both.

By sending, and allowing others to send emails where everyone's address is visible to every reipient of the email can be a contributing factor.

What's the solution I hear you ask! STOP DOING IT! As some people will be aware, when I get an email which has several addresses visible and mine is one, I politely ask the sender not to do it.

Don't simply accept that this is going to happen and is OK. It's not OK and you can stop it.

dodgy emails

As well as the dodgy phone calls, you may get an email which claims to be from some official organisation which wants you to click some link or other, ask yourself if this is likely! Again, these are likely to claim to be from some reputable source, but you should be very careful about these. Some are so obviously bogus; E.g. Microsoft are not going to email you to tell you there is a problem with a file. You won't have won a fortune on a lottery you didn't enter. The bank does not want you to go a random web page and enter all of you bank details, no-one has found 18 million dollars in an African bank and wants to share it with you for any reason, and, no matter how many times you forward the heart-wrenching email you were sent, nobody is tracking it or giving anything to charity; amongst others.

These emails have different objectives. Some want your money, other want you to click a link which will then infect you machine. What they all have in common is that they should all be deleted.

I recently had an email from someone in Africa claiming that her husband had died and left three and a half million dollars in a security box. The woman herself was dying of cancer and she wanted the money to go to a place where it would be used to help others - the email came to my church email address.

This is one of oldest scams on the web, yet some people still think they are going to get all or some of millions of dollars. I'm not and neither are you. Delete suspect emails and do not reply to them.

Look at any suspect email and read what it says and who it is supposed to be from. In most cases the email is very impersonal, and certainly the ones which claim to be from Microsoft are the most obvious scams, at least to me anyway. Why on earth would Microsoft be emailing you about a problem file or issue with your PC. They have billions of customers world-wide. Use your common sense and if in any doubt delete it.

Another ongoing risk are windows which appear out the blue warning your machine is infected and claiming to fix it. If such a window appears, DO NOT click on it anywhere - not even the little red cross in the corner. Best thing to do is disconnect from the internet and reboot the PC.

If anything appears on you PC which you did not put there, ask yourself where did it come from?, if it wasn't you, who was it? Be suspicious of these and other strange happenings!

Also, see the part further down entitled; 'it just appeared one day!!'

oops I deleted something by mistake

OK! you deleted a file only to then discover you really need it back. But it's gone for ever, hasn't it?

Actually No, it hasn't. Without going into too much technical detail, when you delete something, all you are actually doing in real terms is telling the computer to forget where it is. The thing you deleted is still exactly where it has always been, it's just that the computer can't remember.

Be careful though if you ask to get it back. Some companies will charge you if they get any data back, whether the file you want is there nor not. I also heard of one person who went to a PC store to get data recovered. He got it back alright, but it was raw data. That is, there were no file extensions so he couldn't tell which files were text, or pictures or spreadsheets etc. While that may not seem to bad at first, consider this. I recovered pictures from someones hard drive and recovered around 25,000 files, most of which were NOT his holiday snaps, the list included every image stored on the computer which included every system image!

I have tried several different programs which claim to be able to recover data and fortunately for me, I was able to try them before I bought them as most didn't work at all well.

I now have a couple of programs which have worked very well and I have recovered data from laptops, desktop, camera cards and USB sticks.

But what should I do if I delete something?

You should not use the computer until you get it looked at, that way, there is less chance of any data being overwritten. Then you should get someone to recover any deleted data from the drive as soon as possible. You should be aware however, that there is no guarantee that the deleted files will be recovered, but I have had a lot of success in the past if I have got the drive as soon as possible.

Also worth noting is that in many cases, data can be recovered from a formatted camera card or hard drive. I formatted my own camera card - for test purposes - and then managed to recover every picture from it!

setting up the new PC you have just bought

You have your shiny new PC home and have it out of the box and plugged in ready to go, it's easy from now on, isn't it?

When you get a new PC nowadays, and I make that distinction because things have changed over the last few years, setting up a new PC can take quite a while to do properly.

It is certainly not just a case of switching it on and waitng for Windows to load, there are some things you have to address straight away.

Entering your name is one of the obvious things, but then do you set a password? Whilst Windows recommends you set a password, there are no benefits I can think of for doing it. Windows passwords should not be considered as a security measure. With XP, the password can be removed in a few minutes and only slightly longer with Vista or 7 as it might require a different method.

One of the biggest changes on PCs in recent years is the proliferation of software which comes pre-installed.

Not only are there the usual very expensive security, there are program trying to get you to buy them and more and more games and, what ever make the PC is, there will be an awful lot of their software as well; just go add remove programs (XP), or more likely Programs and Features (Vista or 7) and have a look at everything which has the name of the PC maker assigned to it. Very little, if any, of this is actually needed for the machine to work satisfactorily. On a PC with a clean install of Windows, there is hardly anything running which isn't needed. I wouldn't recommend you simply uninstall all of this, but I am sure you will never need most of it.

There is also the issue of tranferring data, setting up email, connecting the printer, scanner etc; if you have a printer and/or scanner which you used on your old XP machine, it is unlikely that the disc you got will work, assuming you can actually find it.

What about programs? Do you have the discs for you programs? Do you have the codes for your programs? If you have a PC with a version of Home Student Office on one PC, do have the code so you can use the same one on the new PC; Home Student Office usually comes in a 3 licence version so you can use it three PCs.

If you want to use free software for protection, do you know where to get it? How to configure it properly? How to deal with the software alrady on the PC? What about Windows updates, program updates etc.

Setting up a new PC can take several hours even if you know what you are doing. If you don't know what you are doing or what to look out for, it could take most of the day. If in doubt, get soemone in who knows how to do it properly and you could avoid a lot of porblems in the future.

reinstalling windows - what you need to know

Some of the issues above are relevant for reinstalling Windows.

OK! You're PC won't start, or it heavily infected, or some other reason. Whatever has happened, you need to have Windows reinstalled. That's fairly straightforward isn't it?

Depending on your make of PC, the type of recovery option available and some other factors, the actual act of reinstalling the Operating system can be quite a simple thing to do. However, in reality, and to do it properly can be a lot more complicated and time consuming.

I was at one PC where a family member had helped someone out by installing an updated version of Windows. Unfortunately, they had simply run the windows disc and left it at that! There were no drivers installed, none of the previously installed programs were insatalled and msot of the hardware didn't work. In short, it was a disaster!

What had he done wrong?

Some of the main issues are:

  • What about all of your data?
  • What about the programs?
  • Do you know where all the device drivers are?
  • Some programs store data in strange places, do you know where it is?
  • If it is an upgrade, will the PC actually work with the new version?

If your PC won't start, have you lost all of your data? Not necessarily. In most cases, the data can be recovered even if the PC won't start, but this should be done before you run the recovery disc.

If you bought a PC with Office installed and only paid for the key, you will need that key when you reinstall Office. What if you have lost the key and don't have any discs? That's also not necessarily an issue. The product key can sometimes be retrieved but this is usually only possible if the PC will actually start, and without a product key you could find yourself having to buy Office again

Do you have all of the discs to reinstall programs should the worst happen? Some programs are available as downloads but many are not and if you don't have a disc, you may have problems.

Some reinstalls install the device drivers at the same time, but many don't and these drivers need to be installed otherwise some of your hardware might not work. Often there is a disc which has these drivers but if there isn't where do you get them?

Outlook and Outlook Express, for reasons only known to Microsoft, put, by default, all of the files containing your emails into a hidden folder. What that means is even if you try looking your self for these files, you won't see them unless you know where to look and how to make them visible; just for the record, some camera and picture programs do the same thing!

So if your operating system needs to be reinstalled, unless you know what you are doing, best to get someone to do who does know how to do it properly or you could lose a lot of data and functionality.

so what about windows 7

Windows 7 has been out now for more than a year, but is it as good as Microsoft would like you to think?

It is fair to say that so far the overall impression is favourable. I put it onto my laptop in November 2009 and I have not had any major problems with the working of the PC since then.

I did have problems getting it to join my network in the same way the laptop did when it had XP on it. Windows 7 primarily uses Homegroups. Now that's OK if all of your PCs are running Windows 7. It's a bit more complicated if they aren't.

I have configured 7 to stop doing some of the annoying things, e.g. I told it NOT to make me have to click continue every time I did even the smallest thing like rename some programs; this did involve changing the UAC (User Access Control) settings so wouldn't recommend that for everyone. I also switched off those pesky 'Balloon Tips' - you know? The ones which tell you that you have unused icons on your desktop and the like.

On the installs of Windows 7 I have seen, Windows Defender is switched off, which doesn't make a lot of sense. It's pretty straight forward to switch it on but why isn't it on already? There also isn't an email client like Outlook Express, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem either as there are other programs available and and also using webmail can be better anyway.

I have installed it onto a machines, most of which had Vista, my own laptop was originally XP, and all performed extremely well. The installation was easy enough and after doing the first set of updates and checking Device Manager, everything but a couple card readers were installed and working properly. Of course, these machines were what I would consider entry level machines but nevertheless, neither XP nor Vista did such a complete job with a fresh install so unless you had a driver disc, you could spend ages llcating the relevant driver for your system.

If you intend buying a new PC soon, I would say, unless you intend using some relatively unknown programs or are adding very high-end hardware, that Windows 7 should do what you want without much trouble; it looks a lot like Vista, only without all the bugs! However, if you have a Dell machine, you could be stuck with Vista. Dell do strange things to the BIOS on their machines which makes installing 7 less than straightforward and in many cases, it simply won't work. There are things you can do to try to make it take Windows 7, but if it doesn't work, afterwards, your PC might not work!

I would have no hesitation in buying a new PC with Windows 7 on it.

What are Netbooks and are they any good?

Netbooks are basically small laptops. They usually have a less powerful processor and around a 10" screen; this can vary but the basic ones fit this criteria.

If all you want to do is go on the internet and do office type tasks - Word, Excel or such things - a Netbook should do exactly what you want. They are small, do basic stuff quite well, the battery can last for several hours and they don't cost a lot. There are exceptions to that though and some Netbooks can be a bit more expensive. Personally, I think if you're going to spend more than £300 on one, get a laptop.

They do come with a variety of operating systems installed but my advice would be get one with Windows XP if you can. The version of Windows 7 which is on some is the lowest version and will use a lot more system resources than XP. Unless you know what you are doing do not get one with LINUX on it. There is nothing wrong with Linux, but it does require more experience to get the most out of it.

If you are going to want to play a few games or maybe edit pictures or sound files, depending on the file sizes, a Netbook might struggle to cope so you need to be sure. I bought one for my son at the end of 2009 and it still runs well and does exactly what he wants to do.

Worth noting though is that they DO NOT have a CD drive and it is unlikely they will come with recovery discs. Most require you to back up the OS when you get it so that you can reinstall from that if you need to. If you do get one, do the back up or you might find it costs an awful lot to reinstall the OS later.

What you need to know about Broadband?

I suspect that most people reading this will already have broadband, but there may be the odd one or two who are still on dial-up.

I am not going to plug any particular ISP (Internet Service Provider) as you should look at your own requirements and decide from there. However, I would say that I have just left Tiscali/Pipex because of some shocking service and gone to BT.

You should also be aware that on many comparison sites, you will see lots of really good deals on offer, but in many cases, most of the deals, will be unavailable here. In our village, we are on an up to 8Mbps service and will be for a while yet so there is no point applying for a service which offers up to 20Mbps.

Don't go for a package which offers you more than you are going to use as it will probably be more expensive and therefore wasting money. If all you want is broadband, just get broadband. If you are not going to watch TV or make internet calls, don't pay for such a package. For example, the package I have gives me broadband, line rental and free calls 24/7, but you might not need free calls through the day!

If you made the switch to broadband a few years ago, it is possible that you are still using an ADSL MODEM which was supplied by your ISP at the time. ADSL MODEMS are very old and should really be replaced with a wireless router, and it is better to do it sooner rather than later. If you contact your ISP to get a free router, they will probably tie you in to another year contract. There is nothing wrong with that if you have no intention of changing. However, don't pay for it! If they want you to pay for their router, tell them you are going to go to some other ISP as they will give you a free router. I haven't heard of any one who will want to lose you as a customer for the price of a free router!

If you do have an old ADSL MODEM, it is extremely unlikely to work with any new PC you buy!

What about Wireless?

Wireless broadband connections are great when they work, and to be fair, they do work most of the time.

However, there can be times when your wireless connection is causing real problems. It might be a low signal, you could be losing the signal all together, or you may get told you have limited connectivity. This often happens when Windows resets the IP address to 169.xxx.xxx.xxx instead of the 192.168.x.x you should have. This often happens when Windows takes too long to find the router and it then sets a Windows IP address. That is the cause, but it can happen for no apparent reason and is very frustrating. Most times I have seen this has been when a PC has been made wireless by adding either a wireless card or a USB adaptor.

I have come across several machines which have displayed this problem and getting them to hold the connection can be problematic; if the machine is connecting, it is difficult to diagnose what is causing it to drop, and when it drops, it usually can't even see the network.

I have also seen a few houses where the problem is that the laptop is just too far away from the router to get a good signal.

One of the best, and easiest fixes, is to connect to the router using you electric cabling. There are a few different makers who supply devices for this and, like most things, some are better than others, for a variety of reasons. The ones I use require no setting up - you just plug them in and they work! These systems can supply a hard-wired connection or they can supply a wireless signal to a problem area. Main thing is that just because you are one of those who keeps losing your signal, there can be a relatively inexpensive fix.

Also, before you go buying new hardware to improve your connection to the wireless, find out exactly what the problem is. I was at a house where, although the signal strength was quite low, that wasn't why the laptop kept losing its connection.

Free laptops?

I have been asked a few times about these free laptops which some companies offer. In most cases, you are going to be paying around £35 per month for mobile wireless and usually for a minimum contract of 18 months, which is around £630. You can get basic broadband for as little as £15 per month and only £7 for the first three months of that for a minimum 12 month contract. Even carrying that on for the 18 months, it is only around £260, which is around £400 less than the free laptop deal.

If you really need mobile broadband, my recommendation would be to get a basic Pay-As-You-Go mobile broadband package, then buy a basic laptop for around £360 and get a lot of sweets with the money left over.

If you are not sure about anything, or just want some help, I would be happy to give free advice via email, my email address is at the foot of every page