What are the 10 commandments of good computing?

I pass out hard copies of these to all my clients, and they really seem to appreciate them. Feel free to distribute to your customers. Thanks to all the good folks that helped put this together. Good luck and thanks.

1)At first, re-boot.
If you have a system problem with the computer, such as itÆs locking up or getting slower and slower, re-boot the machine. If it is locked and you canÆt shut it down, press the power button to turn it off, then turn it back on after 10 seconds. (Disclaimer, this is not a good thing to do. Usually it will want to run check disk to see if your hard drive is damaged, allow it to do so.) If the problem isnÆt solved by re-booting, or recurs later, contact a professional. Do NOT re-boot if itÆs a software problem, such as spell check in Word doesnÆt work.
2)Always have anti-virus software installed, running and up to date.
A good anti-virus program should be able to scan incoming e-mails, delete the infected e-mails and then notify you what the program has done. On a weekly basis, you should connect to the company and run a live-update to make sure the anti-virus program has the latest protection for the latest viruses.

3) Allow critical udates to be down-loaded from Microsoft.
As the Internet gets more and more complex, more and more ways of attacking a computer via the Internet are being created. Microsoft now has an option to download any fixes to vulnerabilities which they call Critical Updates.

4) Run a program that hunts down spyÆs on your hard drive. There are programs that are invisibly downloaded on your computer that will monitor what Internet sites you are visiting and send the information back to the company that installed them. This is called spy-ware. One of the best removal tools is located at Spy-Bot Search and Destroy. ItÆs free and you can find it at http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=download
Donations are not necessary, just asked for.

5) DonÆt use the preview pane in Microsoft outlook or outlook express.
Using the preview pane while viewing your e-mail is very handy, but itÆs the same as opening an e-mail. At one time, someone discovered a flaw in the Outlook system, where they could infect your machine just by opening an e-mail, not attachments. This was called VBS/BubbleBoy. The flaw was fixed, but there may be others discovered later, so better safe than sorry.

6) If you receive an error message, make a copy of it.
Just by pressing PrintScrn on your keyboard, you make a snapshot of it, you can then go to Start, Run, type in ôWordPadö without the quotes and press enter. At the top select Edit, and then from the drop down, choose paste. You can print this out for a technician to use later to help troubleshoot the problem.


7) If you receive an e-mail from a company and at the bottom it asks if you want to be removed from the mailer, donÆt do anything.
This is a method spammers use to find valid e-mail addresses. They send out tens of thousand of these, and when someone clicks ôYesö or ôNoö, they know the e-mail address is valid, and itÆs then sold to people to send you spam. Just click on the X in the upper right hand corner to close the e-mail, then delete it.
8) Always make sure you have a good back-up.
It doesnÆt matter if youÆre working with a file, a computer or a server. Make sure you always have valid backups. This can save you endless amounts of time and money.

9) Create and use passwords that wonÆt be able for others to figure out.
Hacking passwords today is second nature to some people. They can use a back door and run a dictionary hack. This is a program which will use every word in a dictionary automatically, and if your password is in the dictionary, this will allow the hacker to break into your computer remotely. A good password is something that is easy to remember, and not associated with any word in the dictionary. Ih3C@htLm. This is a great password. I have 3 cats @ home that Love me. All you have to remember is that the 1st letter of each word creates the password.
10) Learn your machine
Learn the sights and sounds of your computer. If the monitor starts to dim, or there is a funny sound coming out of the back of the machine, pay attention. You may want to call someone if your computer starts groaning or whining. It could mean something inside it going bad.