Podcast/Audio version of this article

I saw an advertisement at Frys Electronics for Monster cables with a huge discount. Normally these 5’ HDMI wires ran about $35 bucks, but on sale they were only $13 bucks! Great deal right? Not so much…

First and foremost, let me dispel the notion that “more files” means a slower computer. It doesn’t matter if you have 5 pictures, or 100 pictures, or 10,000 pictures… at least for the most part. The same is true for music, documents or anything else.

Why doesn’t this matter?

There are TWO places in your computer that can be referred to as “memory”; the Hard Drive and your RAM. These serve completely different purposes.

eHarmony and LinkedIn passwords leaked, hacked, jacked – whatever. The point is, if you have accounts with either of these systems, change them.

Look cool while doing business.

When I receive emails from MyComputerGuyIndiana@hotmail.com I question their credibility and dedication. Make your business look professional with a proper email address.

It’s really not too difficult to do. I’ll try and walk you through it.

In Summary: (Total time required less than 1 hour)

Quick Tip here: I’ve had a couple computers lately with fans that have failed. This is usually due to the user cleaning the fan believe it or not!

Cleaning the fans, blowing them out using compressed air is a good thing to do, however there is one very important thing people don’t know… you want to prevent the fan from spinning when you are doing this.

Blowing the compressed air on the fan, makes it spin, often much faster than it normally would – and puts a lot of stress on the fan and mechanical bearings and parts inside the fan.

Standby/Sleep Mode and Hibernate mode – two things which have been present since windows XP but still a mystery to so many. Really it’s quite simple. The purpose of these two tools is to help increase your computer startup time. To be more accurate it actually prevents your computer from having to “start up” every time you use your computer. Standby mode, also known as sleep mode, is the fastest of the two options. It takes everything currently open and running – and tosses it into your systems RAM, your fast but volatile memory.

FBI Warning of Internet Shutdown: Internet Doomsday (yawn)

For the audio podcast on this topic see: Internet Doomsday Podcast

• Check if you are infected: http://www.dcwg.org
• Great free tool to remove bad guys: http://www.malwarebytes.org

I often get calls from people having trouble with "the internet". Most of the time it's because they are having problems with their browser... and most of the time that's Internet Explorer. When I arrive on-site, my first and most important fix is to suggest kicking Internet Explorer to the curb. Many people are unaware of what a “Web browser” is, so lets start there. A web browser is simply a program that allows you to look at webpages, or “browse the web”. Simple enough, right?

I received an email from my cousin with a bizarre looking link. No other information, no subject, no personal endorsement, just a link. This is certainly a hijacked account.

In today’s world we have better spam filters and anti-virus software, however the endless cat-and-mouse game never ends. Instead of sending spam from random addresses, people often attempt to hijack accounts in order to send spam, or viruses.

I often receive calls from customers with slow computer issues. Very often when I plop down in-front of their computer I notice they have installed registry cleaners and “speed boosting” programs such as RegCure or "double my speed". One of the first things I do is kick those bad-boys to the curb.