Tips

Faster Internet connections - A common myth these days is that purchasing a faster PC will automatically make your dialup Internet connection faster.  Not true! The speed bottleneck for most home users is the modem connection.  If your ISP offers 56K modem access, and you only get 26.4K connections, then you have modem connection problems.

Not all modem problems can be solved by the end user.  Sometimes the telephone lines running into the house can be bad.  Other times, the modem at the ISP may be defective or of lower quality.  Good quality modems on both ends of your connection, along with high quality telephone lines, are the key to high speed Internet connections.

It is relatively easy to check your local system for several modem degradation problems.  Try the following easy tests:

1. Pick up your phone, dial a 1, and listen to the background noise.  Static, noise, or hum on the line will degrade your modem connection. Try removing all telephone devices (I.e. telephones, faxes, answer machines, etc.) from the wall socket.  If the noise diminishes, plug each device back in until it returns.  Replace this device, or remove it when you are on-line.


2. Poor internal telephone wiring can also be the cause of noise on the line.  In newer homes, the telephone company provides a gray box that provides customer access to the "demarc" (short for demarcation) point.  Inside is a standard RJ-11 connector (a small four pin plastic telephone connector.) Connecting a telephone to this point will bypass all of the internal house wiring.  A lack of noise at this point indicates problems within your home.


3. Sometimes, the noise level is not audible on a telephone, but it will degrade modem access.  Using the above steps, dial your ISP instead of listening for noise on the phone.  Try dialing a number of times.  If the average speed increases, then you most likely have a noisy line in your home.


4. Low quality modems on your end will also make a big difference, especially on a marginal quality phone line.  The saying "You get what you pay for" is especially true in this case.  Cheap modems do not work nearly as well as higher priced modems.  In my experience one of the worst offender is the so called "WinModem".  This type of a modem can be bought for as little as $10. If at all possible, try your connection with a non-WinModem.

If the above options fail to improve your connection, your problem might be with the telephone company lines.  You can try dialing your ISP with your PC from a friends home, preferable outside of your local neighborhood.  If you get faster connections, and you have run the test from the demac point at your home (step 2 above), then you should contact the local telephone company for assistance.

The quality of modems will also vary from ISP to ISP.  Some are much better than others.  In one case, a client far from the city and with rather poor telephone lines, could get connections no faster than 26,400.  By simply switching to another ISP, their connection speed increased to 34,000!

Mouse Maintenance - Next to the keyboard, the mouse is perhaps the most used computer peripheral.  It also is the one that needs the most care to provide quality long term service.

Like everything else, mice need periodic cleaning!  The use of a good quality mouse pad will go a long way toward keeping your mouse clean.  Keeping your desktop free of dust and debris will also help.

No matter how clean your workspace is, eventually all mechanical mice need to be serviced.  In most cases, this can easily be done without any special tools.

1. Turn the mouse over. Most mice have four smooth feet or pads on the bottom.  Each of these pads need to ride smoothly over your mouse pad.  Clean any dirt off with a damp rag.  Glass cleaner works well in stubborn cases.


2. Remove the cover containing the rubber ball.  In most cases it twists off.  Gently remove the ball, and clean any debris from the surface.  If you find pits or dents in the ball, replace the mouse.  Such defects make it impossible to use a mouse with most applications.


3. Inside most mice are two rollers, and one idler wheel.  All of these surfaces need to be smooth and clean.  Use a cotton swab moistened in alcohol to remove stubborn buildup.  Make sure that you do not let any liquids inside the mouse case.


4. Place the ball back into the socket and re-attach the ball cover.

Sometimes dust gets inside of your mouse and causes it to stop functioning. Braver readers can open the mouse and clean out the inside.  Carefully clean around the slotted wheels, taking care not to damage the fragile plastic around the hub.  These are optical devices, and any obstructions will prevent your mouse from working correctly.

E-mail safety - One of the most frequent problems that I see in both the home and office is the PC that gets infected with a virus.  This is almost 100% preventable if the user will only follow some simple guidelines.

1. NEVER open any e-mail attachments from anyone -- not even from someone that you know.  This is perhaps the single most common way to infect your machine.  The latest viruses are designed to appear to be a valid e-mail from the sender, and are sent without their knowledge.


2. If you just cannot live without your e-mail attachments, then at least limit yourself to the opening of graphic type files.  Examples of these are files that have an extension of .jpg, .gif, .png, .bmp and .pcx.  Even this is not foolproof, unless steps are taken to insure that your computer is displaying extensions in a proper manner.  In no case should you ever attempt to open up any file with an extension of .bat, .com, .exe, .pif, .src, or .vbs.  There are other types that are dangerous, but these are the most common.


3. Even following the above advice is not fool-proof for those users of older versions of Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express.  There are a number of viruses that can infect users of these programs by exploiting security holes in these applications.  Just downloading an infected e-mail message will infect your PC.  One solution to this problem is to update your version of the application. Another solution is to use another e-mail program, such as Thunderbird, or its cousin Mozilla both of which have had far fewer e-mail and virus security problems in the past.


4. For those people that just "gotta have" your prettypark.exe attachments with a cartoon Cartman insulting you, then you really need to install virus scanning software.  Many people receive such software pre-installed on their computer, thinking that they are fully protected.  But unless you update the virus definition files at least once a month, if not more frequently, you really have no effective virus protection.

Firewall Basics - A firewall is used to keep bad people away from you, the computer user.  Not everyone needs to use a firewall, but you should consider using one if:

1. You have a fulltime connection to the Internet.  This included leased line access, DSL, cable modem, etc.


2. Your computer contains sensitive data that you do not want others to view


3. You would like to limit access to your computer shares (I.e. drives, printers, etc.) to specific users


4. You have more than one PC that you would like to share the same Internet connection.  (Not all firewalls support this operation)

There are many different ways to implement a firewall, one of the most secure being a dedicated PC running firewall software.  Such a firewall can be constructed for less than $100 in hardware.  Firewall packages such as the Coyote Linux or the Linux Router Project make for a very usable firewall without the high cost of commercial software packages.

Also common are the so called "software firewalls."  This is software that runs on your PC, and acts as a firewall.  I personally do not recommend such a solution.  The software generally is licensed for use on one PC, making it rather costly if you have more than one PC.  Also, such software uses PC resources that could be better used for other applications.  And finally, having a firewall on each PC makes it far more difficult to safely share files and printers within your home or office.

By their very nature, a firewall limits data flow to outgoing traffic.  This also limits access to such service as Real Audio, CU-SeeMe, DialPad, etc.  Adding such services to a firewall is generally quite easy, but check with your firewall software manufacture to be sure.

Firewalls can also be used to block access from your PC to the Internet. This can be useful for families that wish to limit access to specific sites or services from younger family members.

Networking your home/office - Networking two or more machines in a home or office is relatively easy and inexpensive.  The two most common cabling used to connect your PCs are coaxial cable and unshielded twisted pair (UTP).  Both types have their advantages:

For new installations, I recommend using UTP.  Overall, it is a bit more expensive than coax, but far more reliable.  It is also much easier to troubleshoot.

Modern UTP cable supports both 10BaseT and the faster 100BaseT networking. Your hardware (Network Interface Cards and hub) will generally be the deciding factor in how fast your network runs.  Most modern PCs with network capabilities support both 10BaseT and 100BaseT connections.  But if your hub only supports 10BaseT, your total network is reduced to that speed.  In most cases, 10BaseT is fast enough for home and small office users.

Network interface cards (NICs) come in various sizes.  The typical modern unit supports 10/100BaseT connections, and is based on a PCI bus.  Older PCs also support the ISA bus NICs.  It is important to insure that your PC will support the bus type before you purchase a NIC as modern PCs do not have ISA sockets, and older PCs do not support PCI sockets.

Reducing your spam - Almost everyone that has an e-mail address receives unwanted spam in their inbox at one time or another.  There are many ways that "spammers" get your e-mail address, but a very common way is that you give it to them!  Many times when you sign-up for a "free" newsletter, purchase something online, etc., your address is sold to various spamming companies.  The easiest way to combat this problem is to use a "throwaway" e-mail address for such transactions.  Many web-based e-mail services are free, or perhaps your ISP offers you multiple addresses as a part of your service.

If you have control of your own domain, you can do what I do, and generate e-mail addresses based on the companies name you are dealing with.  For example, if I want to purchase something online from abc_123.com, I will create a new address of abc_123@montevideocomputers.com and forward it to my normal e-mail account.  In the future, if I ever start getting spam addressed to abc_123, I just delete the forwarding and the spam is gone.  In addition, I stop doing any further business with abc_123.com!

Spy-ware is another very common way to fall into the spam trap.  In some cases, the installed program actually gets your e-mail address from within your PC.  There is no real defense against this sort of harvesting, short of not installing the spy-ware in the first place.

People that list their e-mail address on their web site are almost certain to have spammers target their account.  The past few years has seen an explosive increase in automated computers, searching every known web site, and harvesting any data that looks like an e-mail address.  There are new ways to stop this threat using JavaScript, GIF images, etc.  A quick search on Google will provide many ways to implement such protection.

My personal pet-peeve are the people that forward something "important" to everyone in their address book.  While I would not classify this as spam per se, it is just as annoying!  The problem with these wannabe publishers is that my e-mail address has now been passed on to perhaps hundreds of people.  And guess what?  Some of those people pass it on to others, or they have spy-ware that harvests these addresses.  Increasingly common are viruses that send themselves and/or spam to any address it can find on the infected PC.

So, while I have taken steps to stop spam on my end, I cannot easily defend my e-mail address against the forward button.  The solution?  Stop forwarding every darn joke, virus hoax, get rich quick scheme that you receive!  If you MUST absolutely forward something, at least use blind carbon copy (BCC) when doing so.  This will still get your message across, but it will not broadcast your e-mail address book to the world.

The above information is provided "as is" without any guarantee. Use it at your own risk! The author takes no responsibility on what you do with this information.

Timothy Miller Computer Consulting provides on-site service for most of your computer needs.  Please call for more details.