Fix Yourself: How-To Repair a Slooooow Computer
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Nathan, it supervisor, walks you through the process (and it does not involve a stick of dynamite!!!) May 8, 4pm Online 6:30 pm Live Preventative Maintenance Although it may not seem like it sometimes modern personal computers really are relatively low maintenance and trouble free in their day to day operation. Some sporadic maintenance really is required to keep them cool, extend their life span and make them work better. Defragmenting (defrag), this is an important tool which can speed up your computer and extend hard drive (long term memory storage) life. 1. Protect your computer A computer should always have the most recent updates installed for spam filters, anti-virus and anti-spyware software and a secure firewall. http://cdn.greenprophet.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/frying-pan-kolbotek-neoflam- 560 475 j •Avoid Scams •Secure Your Computer •Be Smart Online •Be smart on your blogs, Video, & Media Check out Computer Evils Identity Theft – take your financial data Virus, worms & Trojans – damage your computer Spyware – watch your every click Hackers – access your data Phishing & Online fraud – fool you into giving way your valuable information Spam – Massive amounts of useless/harmful emails Inappropriate Websites – con you into going where you know you don’t need to go. Understanding Malware Malware can be Viruses or Spyware that you have given your antivirus permission to install. Fake Security warnings, free games, screen savers are all root causes of Spyware How do I know if you’ve been infected? Your Friends tell you that you’ve passed something on to them. You can no longer log into your online accounts Computer is running slower than normal Pop-ups (on or off the internet) New toolbars Home page changes Search results look different Error messages when accessing the web Some of the key features of NiNite No Clicking Next, Next, Next. Ninite fully automates installers off screen. No Toolbars. Ninite automatically says "No" to toolbars and other junk. Always Up-to-date. A Ninite installer always gets an app's latest version no matter when you made it. It Updates Too. Just run your Ninite installer again and it will update the apps to their latest versions. No Signup. Ninite just works. No account, signup, or client needed. 32 and 64-bit. Ninite installs the best version of an app for your PC. This slide information is courtesy of the Salina Public Library Some of our favorites taken from the NiNite menu. This slide information is courtesy of the Salina Public Library This slide information is courtesy of the Salina Public Library This slide information is courtesy of the Salina Public Library This slide information is courtesy of the Salina Public Library Some Favored Websites CNet http://download.cnet.com/windows/ Shareware / Freeware SourceForge http://sourceforge.net/ Open source (may need compiling). NoNags http://www.nonags.com/ Freeware with no nagging. NiNite http://ninite.com/ and File Hippo http://www.filehippo.com/ freeware automated installers / updaters. Identity theft takes many forms. Some of the most common include: http://lifehacker.com/five-steps-to-take-immediately-if-youre-the-victim-of-1507265334 •Credit card fraud •False applications for new credit •Fraudulent withdrawals from a bank account •Fraudulent use of telephone calling cards •Fraudulent use of an IP address in order to engage in illegal acts online •Fraudulent use of medical care •Social security fraud (for tax and employment fraud) If you know or suspect that you are the victim of identity theft, there are steps you should take immediately to stop the theft and minimize the damage. http://lifehacker.com/five-steps-to-take-immediately-if-youre-the-victim-of-1507265334 1. Put a Fraud Alert on Your Credit Report 2. Contact Any Institution Directly Affected 3. Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) 4. File a Police Report 5. Protect Your Social Security Number Basic Rules Keep everything patched and updated Never trust anything Use good passwords Be Prudent not Paranoid Did you initiate the action? Ask, why is this free? Is the source trustworthy? When in doubt Google it Basic Rules: Part 2 Be conscious of what you are clicking on/downloading. Download only from reputable sites like download.com or Filehippo.com Some pop-ups have what appears to be a close button, but will actually try to install spyware when you click on it. Always look for the topmost right red X. Remember that things on the internet are rarely free. “Free” Screensavers etc. generally contain ads or worse that pay the programmer for their time. Check with siteadvisor.com Safety with your Email: Never open email attachments unless you know for sure what that file contains. Never click a link unless you know for sure where it leads is safe. (google it first) Check your mail filters and forwards for things you didn’t add. Use good passwords (8 digit, letters, numbers & case sensitive) Sign out when you're done Use two factor authentication when possible (e.g. Google Authenticator for Gmail) Be sure to use https when on public Wi-Fi Consider using 2 separate email accounts to keep important things separate from everyday stuff. Watch out for short links, it's hard to know where they'll lead you. Use an encryption program (PGP or RobotCA) for more secure email transmissions How to Tell If an Email Is a Phishing Scam With all of these convincing elements designed to spoof legitimate emails and confuse recipients, how can email users be sure messages like this one are fake? Here are five tips. 1. Hover. Whatever you do, don't click on any of the links in the email, says Peck. You can and should, however, point your mouse at them and hover over them. Ex: When we hover over the "Secure Online Chat" and "www.americanexpress.com/case" links, we see that those links don't direct to the americanexpress.com domain. One directs to a website in Italy, as marked by the .it domain. The other points to a .us domain. Links that don't go to the legitimate domain of the business are telltale signs of phishing emails. How to Tell If an Email Is a Phishing Scam With all of these convincing elements designed to spoof legitimate emails and confuse recipients, how can email users be sure messages like this one are fake? Here are five tips. 2. Copy and paste. If you can't see the URL where the links direct when you hover over them, copying and pasting the link into a Microsoft Word document. Right click on the pasted link and select "Edit Hyperlink" from the menu that appears. Selecting "Edit Hyperlink" will open a pop-up window in Word that shows in the "Address" field the web address to which the link directs. How to Tell If an Email Is a Phishing Scam With all of these convincing elements designed to spoof legitimate emails and confuse recipients, how can email users be sure messages like this one are fake? Here are five tips. 3. Investigate the email's properties. Outlook users who have opened the suspicious email can go to the "File" tab and select "Properties." In the "Properties" pop-up window that appears, look at the box at the bottom of the window labeled "Internet headers." This box shows the path the email took to reach the end-user, he says. Look at the originating systems. If they're not from American Express, Constant Contact or other trusted email blast systems, those are tipoffs that it's a phishing email. How to Tell If an Email Is a Phishing Scam With all of these convincing elements designed to spoof legitimate emails and confuse recipients, how can email users be sure messages like this one are fake? Here are five tips. 4. Act on information that you know for sure is trustworthy. If your bank or credit card company is sending you an email regarding a fraud alert, you ought to see that same fraud alert on your bank or credit card company's legitimate website. If you're even a little uncertain, call the telephone number on the back of the credit card. How to Tell If an Email Is a Phishing Scam With all of these convincing elements designed to spoof legitimate emails and confuse recipients, how can email users be sure messages like this one are fake? Here are five tips. 5. When in doubt, throw it out. The best defense against phishing scams, is to assume the email is untrustworthy and to pursue direct channels to businesses that you trust, such as your bank's 1-800 number. For more tips on how to avoid phishing scams, check out the Anti-Phishing Working Group's website. Defragmenting Defragmenting is the process of compacting files and bringing them closer together on a drive. You will find the defragmenting tools under Start -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter. Defragmenting is a slow and resource intensive process so plan on doing something else while it runs. Defrag Screen Shot. To Defragment or not to Defragment The analysis tool will provide an illustration of how much compacting/ordering can be done. If you haven’t defragmented lately and the tool says there is no need to, go head and defragment . Defragment at least twice a year, more if you find yourself moving/deleting/adding massive amounts of data on a regular basis. Some people in special circumstances defragment once a week and replace their physical hard drives yearly due to wear and tear. Disk Cleanup Go to: Start -> Programs -> Accessories-> Disk Cleanup.