WizYo Tech Support | |
| PComputer Support |
|
-
Fun
- PhotoFiltre is a great freeware picture editing utility
- NoNags software and other free goodies
- Cheap Personal Websites. (They require PayPal, but the starter package is a pretty good deal for a whole domain site.)
- Jarte is a Compact, FREE Word Processor and WordPad Replacement
- SUPER - If you need a simple, yet very efficient tool to convert (encode) or play any Multimedia file, without reading manuals or spending long hours training, then SUPER © is all you need. It is a Multimedia Encoder and a Multimedia Player, easy-to-use with 1 simple click.
-
AntiVirus
- AVG Anti-Virus is effective and easy to use. It automatically scans files and incoming email. There are several versions available, but the Network Edition is the most flexible and is designed to be compatible with workstations and servers. AVG is very affordable. It is nearly half the price of other antivirus packages and is good for 2 years (instead of 1). Renewals are 50% of the purchase price.
- Home users may qualify for AVG Home if they are a private, non-commercial, single home computer. Use of AVG Home within any organization or for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited. Please refer to the License Agreement to confirm elegibility.
- You can scan your computer for free using one of several online virus scanner programs. If this one doesn't work for you, try searching Google for "free online virus scan"
-
Having trouble with Pop-Up's?
- SpyBot version 1.5 is the best program around for ridding a system of pop-up advertisements (adware and spyware). Be sure to scan and reboot two or three times to make sure nothing bad stays on your system. -Tutorial- SpyBot's HomePage
-
Mozilla Firefox
is a great alternative to using Internet Explorer. It is much more
secure (IE isn't secure at all) and has lots of good options.
- The Google Toolbar eliminates pop-up web page windows and is quite handy. (I once recommended this highly, but now recommend FireFox with the Google addon package.)
- Merijn.org has the best tool for manual removal of spyware. Hijack This! is great, but be careful. Beginners should read the help docs and consult the user forums. If you can't get the official copy, you can get an un-official one -here- This Tutorial has great information on using and obtaining the utility
- SPAM email getting you down?
- POPfile is a great program that was 99.8% accurate when I used it before switching to G-Mail (Google Mail)
- American Family Association provides an email and internet filtering service for a small yearly fee.
- Temp & Internet Files
- Cleanup! is the best utility I've found to use for removing unwanted temporary files from your system. When servicing a PC, I used to clear out these types of files by hand while waiting on some other task to happen (installing software .. waiting on a download to complete) After seeing this program do all that I was doing and more with one click of a mouse, I quickly added it to my tool kit. -- homepage ~ One word of caution before using this the first time, be careful on a new system. The author mentions performing a full system backup prior to using the program. You may not want to run this on a production server without customizing the program. By default all files starting with ~ (tilde) are selected for removal. This is still a great program (I use it several times a week on my personal system) but you may want to customize or review the settings before it wipes out a bunch of files.
- Microsoft
provides free updates for their software packages. The updates vary
in nature and could be associated with online security, improved program
performance and compatibility, or just some cute screen savers.
Either way, it's a good idea to check and see what updates
are available and then decide if you would like to apply them to
your products.
- Windows Update is the key update website for keeping your Microsoft Windows operating system up to date. The previous instructions I had listed are no longer available. Here are a few other pages for reference: London City University, HP or you can search for Windows Update instructions.
- Office Update is where you can get 'fixes' for your Microsoft Office products. If you're having strange issues with Word, Excel or Outlook, apply all the updates here before wasting a lot of time troubleshooting the problem. ( Be sure to have your installation CD handy during and even after you install these updates ! )
Disclaimer - The information contained on this page will fix lots of things that could be wrong with your computer. The same information could also cause your system to crash. As a technician, I have seen cases where a fix for one system will not provide the same results on another system. Every computer is different. I have provided this information to help relieve some of the frustration from the garbage that breaks one of our most expensive toys, a personal computer. I assume no responsibility for any damage that may or may not be caused by these recommendations (or by you not following the directions correctly). These tools do work and have worked for me just fine. Thank you and good luck! - Tech Support -
Quick & Dirty
