Protect Your Computer

9 Ways to Stay Away from Hackers, Spyware, and Viruses

I admit that I’m not a Computer Wizard, yet using a computer since I was 8 years old without a brother to fix it when it went wrong had forced me to learn everything I can to care for my computer. So yeah, maybe I’m the “technician” when it comes to my family.

I have noticed that many users I know have little or no knowledge about computer protection. Especially now that almost everyone with a computer has internet access, having the necessary protection is a must. Internet is a good place to get freebies. You get to download songs, music videos, movies, e-books, games, and softwares – you name it. But just as much as there are goodies in the internet, so do the bad stuff – Viruses, Worms, Trojans, Malwares, and Spywares. What’s more scary is that since the advent of wifi, more and more users have become connected to a computer network. One attack by the bad guys and all the computers connected are doomed. But don’t despair; you don’t have to be a computer wizard to be able to have a secured computer or a secured network. Everyone can learn. Here are some of the guidelines you could follow to help protect your computer.

How to Prevent Hackers

The online world could be a scary place especially if you aren't equipped with enough knowledge about Internet security. Many of the services we are using may not offer enough protection for their users. In this post, I present to you some of the tips that would greatly help you stay protected online.

Anonymous Proxy Server

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Hackers nowadays are very clever. They could easily get personal information from unsuspecting Internet users by the way these users surf the web. Being in the virtual world under a different surname and fake avatar doesn't mean that our identity is forever safe. There are some other precautions we need to take when we go online. In this post, I would talk about using anonymous proxy servers as one of the several ways to help us secure our identity.

How to Improve Laptop's Performance

If your laptop is becoming sluggish, you may want to upgrade some parts. But that isn't always necessary. Chances are, you can still improve your laptop's performance by just tweaking your system's configurations without replacing or adding some hardware.

Here is a compilation of tweaks that you could apply on your computer. I've tried these tweaks on my 4-year-old laptop. My laptop did improve. Take note, these steps are specifically for Vista and Windows 7. So if your laptop is running XP, the steps required may be slightly different. A word of caution: Create a restore point on your system first before attempting to make any changes on your system.

Will iBooks 2 Replace Our Conventional Textbooks?

Just this morning, I saw in the news about Apple's launch of iBooks 2. This app is available to iOS devices and will allow users to read textbooks interactively. The part that awed me the most is the visual aids found in the e-books. The pictures and diagrams could be brought to life just by tapping on them. Dragging a picture allows users to see the different angles of the object. Readers could gain much more understanding with the subject matter through the embedded videos laid across the e-books. These are the features I find to be lacking in our traditional textbooks. 2D diagrams aren't enough to illustrate a concept as abstract as those in chemistry.

Freebies, Spyware, and EULAlyzer

There are countless of freebies that you could download in the Internet. But there is a downside for that. If you're the type of user who loves to download free games and softwares, chances are, you are risking your computer to spyware.

Photo by Idea go via freedigitalphotos

But what is spyware? According to wisegeek:

Organizing Your Facebook Feeds: Staying Updated by Things that Truly Matter to You

Photo by  ponsuwan via freedigitalphotos.

Do you have a Facebook account? I do. Do you feel like deleting your account? I do. There are some reasons why I want to delete it. First, I don't see why should I stay updated to the life events of my several hundred Facebook friends. Most of them are after all, not personally close to me. Facebook has been a platform where people share things, be it through statuses or photos, that I don't really care about. Chances are, you also feel the same way with me. Why would it matter to you where your schoolmates work or how much they are earning? Why would you like to read statuses filled with hatred about someone or something, especially if you're never involved into the matter? Why would you also care to read statuses stating what someone eats for dinner or whom someone is with at the moment?