PC and Internet Tips
This section won't try to go into
great depth in any one area of PC or internet problem solving, but will
focus on information that a broad number of users will find helpful.
More tips are being added so check back from time to time.
The Thrift Meister has added a
seperate page to help you make your PC safe against Spyware. It has
become a process to big to be handled just by a single tip--its a
problem that requires a multi-dimensional approach.
TM's
Protection Against Spyware Page
TM's Secure your Wireless Home
Network
TM's Cool Computer Stuff
Internet Related Tips
* Windows XP comes with its on built in firewall.
It's not as effective as one of the commercially available fire walls,
but it's a start and you should use it if you don't have a commercial
firewall protecting your computer while you are surfing the web and
especially if you have a connection like cable or DSL that is connected
all the time whether you are surfing or not.
To turn on the Windows XP firewall go to view
network connections which you can get to various ways, (If your not
sure then click on start, control panel, network and internet connections,
my network connections, view network connections) then find your internet
connection and right click, go to properties, go to advanced, check
the box by protect my computer and network by limiting and preventing
access to this computer from the internet.
* Speeding up FireFox Web Browser
It is a simple process to put some serious kick in your FireFox browser's speed if you are on a cable connection.
Type "about:config" into the address bar and hit return. Then scroll down and look for the entries:
network.http.pipelining network.http.proxy.pipelining network.http.pipelining.maxrequests
Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.
Alter the entries as follows:
Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true"
Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true"
Set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to at least 25. Means it will make 25 requests at once.
Right-click anywhere and choose New then Integer. Name it "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" and click O.K. then set its value to "0". This value determines the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.
* Protecting yourself from SPAM
- One of the favorite ways of spammers to get
email addresses is to harvest them from web sites and message boards.
And, once your email address is harvested you can count on it being
sold to other spammers so once the evil genie gets out of the bottle
it is next to impossible to get him back in.
- Don't leave your email address laying around,
but if you do leave it you can use techniques to hide your email address.
Email harvesters are getting more sophisticated so simple techniques
don't always work, but one simple one is to exchange the @ sign for
its ASCII characters. In the absence of more sophisticated techniques
this is worth using. For example, if your email address is johndoe@isp.com
change the @ sign to its ASCII characters and a simple robot harvester
won't pick up the change but people looking at your email address
will see it show up as normal. The ASCII code for @ is "@"
don't use the quotation marks. You would type in johndoe@isp.com,
but the browser sees johndoe@isp.com. The email address on this
line is done using this technique.
- You can also disguise your email address by
using the <> characters like johndoe <at> isp.com
- If you get spam from an unknown source just
delete it--don't respond to it by asking to be taken off their email
address--that just confirms that it is a good address which can be
sold to other spammers. If you get email from a reputable company
that you have done business with before you are probably safe asking
them to take you off their email address, but don't get suckered into
confirming your email address to a spammer.
- Do not include your email address in your email
signature.
- When posting an email address get a secondary
email address just used for that purpose. These are easy to get at
numerous places. You can get an extra email address at Yahoo or hotmail
among other places. Just go to a search engine and type in free email
and take your pick.
* Do you experience XP pop-ups out of no where
while you are surfing the web--this might help--turn off windows messenger.
If you are on a network and need to have netsend messaging open then
you will need to leave it on, but if you are at home surfing--then give
this a try and see if it helps. Go to Start, Run and type in "services.msc,"
press enter. This will bring up a list of Windows services, scroll down
to messenger. Double click to open, look under startup type (it is automatic
by default and change to manual. You could also disable it--but if you
do have any programs which use it won't be able to open. You can test
it and see if it makes any difference on your system whether manual
or disable).
Free High Speed Cable Modem & Wireless Router! (this offer could change)
* Has your browser started running really slow
as you surf the web. Try a little clean up to flush things you don't
need.
Cookies--if you want certain web sites to recognize
you and retain your personal settings when you connect to them then
don't flush their cookies. But if you don't need that then in Windows
internet explorer go to Tools, internet options, look under temporary
internet files then click on delete cookies, delete files and then
go down to history and click on clear history. It may also help to
empty out your windows\temp file. Do this by right clicking on start,
go to explore, scroll down to windows, double click on Temp, then
delete everything in the Temp folder. CAUTION: If you don't feel perfectly
comfortable navigating around your computer's files and deleting things
then don't do this by yourself--seek the help of a PC professional
to accomplish these tasks. Adding more RAM to your system will also
often help your browser surf faster as well.
To get rid of certain cookies and keep others--right
click start, go to explorer, go to the local disk your operating system
is on (usually C) and look under your profile name for the folder
called cookies, double click on it and you can see the cookies you
have. Caution don't erase the file called index. Here you can see
the cookies you have and pick the ones you want to keep and delete
the rest.
* To view and go back to previous web sites
several pages ago click on the little black downward pointing triangle
between the backward and forward arrows. Also, press "Ctrl +
H" to generate a history of previous web site visits up to several
weeks ago. Use the clear history button under Tools, internet options,
clear history to flush this history out of the browser.
Computer Related Tips
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month!
* Copy and paste: With the mouse
pointer highlight text you wish to copy then either press down "Ctrl
+ C" or right click mouse and click copy. Then position curser
where you want to copy the material to and press " Ctrl + V"
or right click and click paste. This will move large sections of text
from one location to another quickly and easily.
* Page Copy: If you need to save
the image on your PC for future reference this can be done with page
copy. Get the screen the way you want it then press the print screen
key on the keyboard. Then pull up a program such as Word and press "Ctrl
+ V" or click Edit on the tool bar then paste and it will paste
the image in Word. Just save it as a normal Word document.
* To make your icons work on a single
click instead of two: Right click the start button, click explorer,
click the tools menu, folder options, under click items as follows put
the radio button on "single click to open an item," click
ok, confirm if asked as you exit--that's it.
* Free up memory in your PC to help
it operate faster and with fewer lockups and crashes. There are different
places you can check to take programs out of your Start-up file so they
don't automatically start up when your PC is turned on. If you never
use the program or rarely use it then there is no need to give up memory
to it every time you start the PC. One of the ways to take things out
of your start up folder is to click on Start, Run, type in msconfig,
ok, then click on the Startup tab and take checks out of programs that
don't need to start every time you start up the computer.
* If your PC is an older one and
doesn't have a lot of RAM and is running slow or locking up more frequently
then make sure to empty the contents of the recycle bin and don't put
too many icons on the desktop. (Desktop is the screen you first come
to when you boot up the PC). Both of these things eat up memory. Also
delete your temp files and clear out the contents of the windows\temp
folder.
* If you have Windows XP then you
should have your PC check with Microsoft at least every month for updates
and patches. To do this click Start, Help and Support, click "Keep
your computer up to date with Windows update," allow your PC to
connect to Microsoft's web page and click scan for updates. You may
not need all the updates for drivers or other areas, but make sure to
get all the Service Packs and security related updates to keep you PC
protected from outside attack.
This is theTM buys his ink cartridges now
Key Board Short-Cut
Keys in Windows XP
F1 - Gives help on the
active window or selected item.
F2 - Rename the selected
item
F3 - Search for a file
or a folder
F4 - Display the Address
bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer
F5 - Update the active
window
F6- key Cycle through the
screen elements in a window or on the desktop
F10 - Activate the menu
bar in the active program
SHIFT+F10 Display the shortcut
menu for the selected item.
Microsoft flag key+M Minimize all open applications to the task bar.
Ctrl+Left mouse click on applications on tool bar then Right mouse click on one of them and click close group will close all selected applications.
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Linux
For those of you who maybe trying to do an
initial Linux install from the CD set and get as far as doing
the base install then get the message:
"deboot strap exited with an error (return
value 1)"
followed by the error message:
"Failure trying to run
chroat/target dpkg force depend "
and then it tells you the install will terminate
and that it appears you are trying to do the Linux install
over a previously installed version of Linux.
The TM got
around this error by not accepting the default position
of the partition to do the install on which was "hda1." Changing
it to the larger folder "hda3" (note your setup cold be
different) solved the problem and gave the system plenty
of hard disk space to install everything it needed to.
It appears Linux was trying to install the base system files
into the boot partition instead of the larger partition designed
to hold the system files.
So if you get the error doing an install check to see what
partition you are loading the base system into and make sure
it is the correct one.
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Thrift Meister Bonus
TM Tips for
Dealing with Spy Wear and Pop up Ads
Instead of just a small
tips section (which use to be in this box) on how to deal
with the increasingly malicious problem of SpyWear and
those hated PopUp Ads the Thrift
Meister is
going to create an entire page devoted to helping you defend
yourself against the darkside of the cyber world.
Click on Making
your PC Safe to access this page.
If like many of us you
are having problems as you surf the internet with pop up ads
and just want to surf in peace TM recommends you
give Popupcop a try. It costs less than $20 and you can try
it free for 30 days. You can find it at
Popupcop.com
Further do you know or suspect that
little online spies have been secretly inserted into your
PC in the form of a cookie or program that tracks your every
move reporting back to central command so somebody knows what
kind of popup ad to send you--well as Johnny Fever use to
say "paranoia is just good thinking when everybody is
out to get you." You too often are right about being
watched these days. Too often if you agree to accept a free
service there is a deep little "gotcha" hidden in
that user agreement you just quickly clicked on the agree
button and whizzed through without reading the agreement and
spy software was installed on your PC. There is a free fix
for what ails you though. Go to spybot and download their
spybot program which will detect and remove spyware from your
PC
Spybot
Using popupcop and spybot in tandem
will make your online life simpler, remove hassles, and web
surfing more enjoyable.
Sygate
If you are connected to
the internet all the time on a cable modem or DSL line then
you need to be using some kind of protection from all the
nasty critters in cyberland trying to have at your computer.
Sygate offers a personal firewall which is free of charge.
It does a good job of closing ports (places where the nasty
critters can gain entrance to your PC) and making your PC
invisible on the internet.
cnet
cnet is a place you need
to know about to get product reviews for all manner of
PC related hardware and software as well as various electronic
consumer gadgets. They offer numerous free downloads, user
reviews of products, price comparisons, and other helpful
info. Check them out--they are a valuable resource anytime
you are making a decision or need some guidance on a PC
related issue or purchase.
Sysinternals
Syinternals is a very
handy site for all sorts of utilities. If you are a power
user or aspire to become one or need a little help in fighting
Spyware this is a site to become familiar with. The owners
write utilities that can let you see what is running on
your PC, what starts up when you start your PC and other
helpful programs. Useful for many purposes, not the least of which is keeping your PC safe.
PCPitStop
Like the name says a pit stop for your PC to check your PC for spyware, the speed of your internet connection, help optimize it and more.
TM's Guide to Securing
your Wireless Home Network
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