2/20/12
Don't Be Tricked into Downloading Malware
You will be on the Internet or reading an Internet email and suddenly a window will open warning you that you are being attacked by a virus!
You click to open what you think is your antivirus protection and before you know it your computer is being held captive. You will click on something and nothing, or very little works! It will camouflage itself as a Microsoft Security program or something equally comforting and it will report that you have hundreds of viruses, worms and malware. Adding insult to injury, you must pay them $39 or $49 to supposedly rid yourself of the problems. DON'T!
Follow this advice:
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Avoid clicking Agree, OK, or I accept in banner ads, in unexpected pop-up windows or warnings, on websites that may not seem legitimate, or in offers to remove spyware or viruses.
- Instead, press CTRL + F4 on your keyboard.
- If that doesn't’t close the window, press ALT + F4 on your keyboard to close the browser. If asked, close all tabs and don’t save any tabs for the next time you start the browser.
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Click on Start > Shut Down, to turn off the computer. Wait a minute or so and restart.
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Only download software from websites you trust. Be cautious of "free" offers of music, games, videos, and the like. They are notorious for including malware in the download.
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The Sunday papers are full of advertisements that promote computer sales, more now that we are approaching the holidays. Many who are thinking of upgrading are wondering what all the new technology is about and what the differences are between the costs of computers.
Laptop or Desktop?
For the last ten years I have been saying that laptops will overtake the market place for the home user. It just makes sense, especially to those of us who have moved into small more compact homes to purchase a laptop. When you are done using a laptop you can put it on a shelf or in a drawer, you don’t even need a desk. I had no worldly idea when I said that the day would come that the notepad would even be a consideration.
The only difference between a laptop/notepad and desktop is size. The desktop computer has a tower that is mostly empty space. In a laptop/notepad everything is smaller in physical size but capacity size is just as great. I saw a Dell laptop advertised over the Thanksgiving weekend that had a one Terabyte hard drive. A Terabyte is 1024 Gigabytes. That’s much more capacity than anyone using a computer for personal enjoyment would ever need. It also had 8 Gigabytes of RAM or memory. That’s a HUGE amount. Unless you are into Photography and do a lot with editing photos, this is really an excessive amount of hardware. It was advertised for $999.00! Amazing, when we purchased the laptops for our trainings they were $1350.00 and only had 10 Gigabyte hard drives and 256 Megabytes of memory.
So what should the average user look for? In my mind the major personal computer manufacturers are pretty equal. Who are they? IBM (Lenovo), Dell, HP, Sony, Acer, Toshiba. Then of course there is Apple, which is a whole different ball game. But Apple does offer some training at their mall locations for new users.
If I were going to buy a new computer it would be a laptop with a wide screen. I currently have a 17.3 inch screen and love it. Some think going smaller is the ticket, but the older my eyes get the more I like my bigger screen. A notepad doesn’t have a cover, nor a keyboard. You can buy either one, or in the case of the keyboard it may be on screen and will take up a good amount of your desktop. The cover is usually a flimsy piece of manmade filament that is meant to lie across the screen. Personally, I like the on-deck keyboard on my laptop. Being able to close the top of my laptop and stow it away is the best. I have to admit, I have never owned a notepad so maybe if I had one my preferences could change. Those who have them seem to love them.
