I’ve sort of become the resident techie at work. The other teachers all know that I’m fairly handy with my own computer, that I practically live on my computer. They also know that my friends are pretty computer-savvy, so I’ll ask them about anything I don’t know.
As a result, I get to hear a lot of their computer woes. Most often, they’re lamenting issues that seem to be related to a virus or some sort of malware. When I ask if they have virus protection, they often snort and tell me they can’t afford it. I quickly grab a sticky note and write down a list of tools they can most definitely afford.
It occurs to me that I’ve been handing out this list a lot lately, so I thought I’d share it with you guys, too.
Keep your computer happy…for free:
- Spybot Search and Destroy and AdAware- I run this one with AdAware. Both catch malware, and they tend to supplement each other well. I run them once a week. (AdAware has also caught a virus on my system before…one that slipped right past Norton. I was pretty happy.)
- AVG- This is a pretty good virus blocker. You just have to set the scheduler to run it at a time when your computer will be on, but you won’t be wanting to use it. It runs itself, updates itself. Self-maintaining software is a good thing for those with hectic schedules.
- CCleaner- This one looks for files that can be deleted that may not have been deleted when you uninstalled something. It also takes care of temporary files. It’s pretty handy for keeping the computer happy. Currently, I run this one once a month.
While you’re enjoying these free tools to keep your computer humming, don’t forget the two that are already on your computer. You should run both Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter regularly. For me, regularly is once a week, but there are many schools of thought on this one. Find the one that works for you.
Keep your computer well tuned, and it does actually make things a lot simpler for you!
Posted by Rebecca in Uncategorized