HELPFUL TIPS
TO KEEP YOUR SYSTEM RUNNING SMOOTLY
SPYWARE, MALWARE & VIRUSES
MAC OR PC, SPYWARE AND MALWARE ARE COMMON OCCURENCES THAT ARE STORED THROUGH DOWNLOADS ON THE INTERNET. IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE A GOOD INTERNET SECURITY AND/OR VIRUS PROTECTION FOR YOUR COMPUTER. SO, WHAT ARE OUR SUGGESTIONS? OUR FAVORITES THIS YEAR ARE AVAST! FREE FOR PC, KASPERSKY, AND TREND MICRO. YEAR TO YEAR OUR SUGGESTIONS DO CHANGE, AS WE HAVE FOUND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SECURITY SOFTWARE VARIES.
BACKUPS AND DATA SECURITY
YOUR DATA IS CRUCIAL. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT YOU KEEP A GOOD BACKUP BY USING AN EXTERNAL DRIVE AND/OR ONLINE BACKUP. GENERAL RULE OF THUMB: BUY AN EXTERNAL DRIVE WITH AN EQUAL OR GREATER SIZE THAN YOUR COMPUTER'S DRIVE.
IT IS ALWAYS GOOD TO HAVE A BACKUP OF ALL YOUR CRUCIAL FILES. YOU DON'T NECESSARILY NEED BACKUP SOFTWARE, AS BOTH MACS AND PCS HAVE BUILT-IN SOFTWARE THAT YOU CAN CUSTOMIZE TO WHATEVER DRIVE YOU ASSIGN IT TO. YOU CAN ALSO JUST DRAG OVER THE FILES YOU WANT TO BACKUP TO THE EXTERNAL DRIVE.
PC SOFTWARE RECOMMENDATION: NORTON GHOST. MAC RECOMMENDATION: TIME MACHINE (BUILT INTO MAC).
ONLINE BACKUPS ARE GOOD AS A LOW-COST INSURANCE POLICY. SMALL FILES ARE EASY TO ACCESS BUT RECOVERY FROM A CRASH OR RESTORE WOULD TAKE MUCH LONGER THAN AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE. TWO OF OUR RECOMMENDATIONS ARE MOZY PRO AND CARBONITE.
HARD DRIVE MAINTENANCE
ON TOP OF REGULAR BACKUPS, YOUR HARD DRIVE NEEDS TO BE MAINTAINED BY JOINING FRAGMENTED FILES THAT END UP IN CACHED AREAS WITHIN THE OPERATING SYSTEM. ON A PC, DISK DEFRAGMENTER IS BUILT INTO WINDOWS, AND CAN BE FOUND IN THE START MENU, ALL PROGRAMS AND WITHIN ACCESSORIES. ON A MAC THERE IS NO DISK DEFRAGMENTER BUILT IN, BUT HERE IS ONE WE RECOMMEND: IDEFRAG 2 BY CORIOLIS.
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