How to use your emergency tool kit (4) Create an emergency tool kit on your USB drive...

Tools
You’ve downloaded 4 utilities that can save your bacon when your computer starts acting up. As discussed in previous posts, malware can create havoc on your computer, make you believe in hardware failures, or silently steal your information, or use your computer as their host for sending spam mails to your contacts, or more. When your computer starts acting up is not the time to download the utilities that can solve the problem, you should have them on hand beforehand.

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Prepare before stuff hits the fan (3) Create a Sytems Restore point...

Create a restore point. Get prepared for mayhem—malware invasions, incomplete software installations, or software conflicts, hardware incompatibilities—when your computer is healthy and runs like a dream. A restore point is like a Windows ‘undo’. You can restore your computer to the moment you created that restore point, meaning that everything that happened or was installed after that restore point will be undone. Here is how you do it:

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Trojans can kill your internet connection! (2) Now's the time for that Recover Disk!

Spider with Worm
Here is a question for you: Did you create a recovery disk set as you were prompted to do when you got your computer? If you did, congratulations, you are computer savvy. If you didn’t, be grateful that the factory settings, which include the operating system, are hidden in a protected section of the hard disk that you cannot delete. I needed these settings to fix a friend’s computer that could no longer connect to the internet, wired or wireless. Why?

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Viruses, spyware, worms, trojans, adware… yikes! (1) Start taking steps to protect your private information...

Computer problems
There is no point in repeating definitions of viruses and other malware here. I’ve taken a paragraph from wikipedia.org that explains about what nastiness can infect your computer. And I would definitely recommend that you take the time to read what Microsoft has to say on the subject.

A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself[1] and infect a computer. The term “virus” is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability. A true virus can spread from one computer to another

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Essential keyboard shortcuts Use your keyboard like a pro...

Keyboard Shortcuts
I wrote about some essential keyboard shortcuts in an earlier post, but perhaps it’s time for a refresher and some additions. Some of these shortcuts won’t apply if your computer is configured to open files with one click of your mouse.

What would we do without UNDO?

  • [Ctrl] + [z] = UNDO the mistake you just made. In a program that has several levels of UNDO, repeat the shortcut to back-track.

Working with objects

Objects are files, pictures, or anything that is on your screen. When you click your mouse once in an open window you tell the computer to focus on that window and the object you clicked on. If you just want to select the window

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