Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Increase Your Computer’s Life with These 5 Simple Steps

Extending your computer’s life is not as difficult as it sounds. In fact, you can double your computer’s life in just five minutes a day. Here are five easy steps you can do each day to increase the life of your computer by 50%.
1. Check for updates with your local anti-virus software.
Some software, such as Avast, automatically updates without interrupting your Internet experience. Other software, such as Norton Anti-Virus, requires that you manually check for updates. Always make sure to check for daily updates, no matter what anti-virus program you own. Protecting your computer against viruses protects it from a unwarranted virus attack. Virus attacks can deplete a computer’s life instantly.

2. Check for updates with your anti-spyware software.
Increase your computer’s life — check for updates frequently. Some anti-virus software, such as Norton Anti-Virus, comes with anti-spyware protection. For ones that do not, make sure to install an anti-spyware program and check for frequent updates. Spyware attacks are just as common as virus infections.

3. Limit downloads.
Frequent downloading harms your computer, causing data to scatter. The scattered data clutters your registry, making it more prone to errors. The solution? Limit downloads from unauthorized sites. Also, never download anything from a peer-to-peer network, such as Limewire or Kazaa. It increases your chances of downloading harmful material by double-fold. Maintaining a healthy registry is essential to increasing the longevity of computer life.

4. Avoid sites with pop-up ads.
Not only are pop-up ads intrusive and annoying, they also clutter your computer with junk. If you are not careful, it can also add unwanted material, such as trojans or spyware. Official sites or company-owned sites usually do not have annoying pop-up ads. Stick with them if you can. As insignificant as this seems, you increase your computer life by 50% just by avoiding pop-up filled sites.

5. Clean out your computer with anti-spyware.
Before turning off the computer, always run an anti-spyware scan. Spyware and other malicious data are continuously collected in your computer, unlike viruses. Make sure to scan your computer every day for a clean, healthy computer. Take five minutes out of your day to complete these tasks — it will immediately increase the length of your computer’s life

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