CEP810: PC Maintenance & Security

In this week’s lab activity, we went through online tutorials and chose topics on PC Maintenance and Security that are least familiar to us.   I went through most of the tutorials and yes, I still went through a familiar topic “Clean Up and Speed Up Your PC”.  I may have been doing my regular pc maintenance and software/hardware updates, but I still want to make sure I am not missing out on any topic, especially on speeding up my pc.  I always uninstall and remove unnecessary start-up files from the hard disk when I buy new computers, but I never use “msconfig” utility.  Also, the website on startup programs and executable listing is a good site to find out which program should I include in my selective startup settings.  Great tip that is worth sharing with others! 

 
Another bit of information that is worth sharing is the tutorial on Windows’ Universal Plug n’ Play (UPnP).  This is different from the “plug n’ play” that we use for most external devices like USB drives.  UPnP is a Windows service that basically turns a home computer into an open Internet server.  It surprises me that the FBI strongly recommends home users to disable this window service for protection.  Atomic Learning showed us a link where we can download a simple utility called UPnP. Once downloaded, this utility will toggle on and off the switch to disable and enable the service in home computers. 

Speaking of protecting our family online, my ten-year old daughter wanted to have her own email account on her iPod.  After some online researches, I found ZillaMail.  It is a web-based email system that is safe for children.  It is spam free and parent password-protected email.  She gets her own email account that can be accessed by any web browser and even in her iPod.  It fully complies with the federal COPPA law (Children Online Privacy Protection Act).  I can control and monitor who is in her mail list (buddy list).  The iPod has security settings for kids too.  Do not forget to disable the YouTube and Safari– young kids are not ready for these apps yet, download a kid-friendly web browser called Mobicip. 

Owning a computer also means owning the responsibility for managing and maintaining the computer’s performance and security.   It does not mean that we need to be technology gurus in order to keep our computers up-to-date.  Honestly, today’s computers are easy to setup that even a caveman can do it.  When problems do occur, there are numerous online resources available including specific forums, videos, techie blogs, and help sections on software/hardware company websites. 

The best advice is to be more proactive.  Practice safe web browsing and follow the weekly or monthly computer maintenance and updates.  Here is a sample of a computer health checklist. You can customize this list based on your needs and make it a routine.    Remember, a computer won’t BYTE if you know how to treat it right!