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Hot Tips

Useful basic tips that help you maintain your PC

Wait for your computer to start

This may sound obvious but when you log on to your computer it has several tasks which it needs to do, try to refrain from immediately loading Outlook or other applications immediately after you are logged in, instead, allow your computer to finish its tasks and then proceed. If you do not do this then it will create a backlog of work and overall it'll take longer for the computer to become responsive. You may notice this by the frequent flashing of the light on the front of the box or by infrequent screen updates.

Internal Email

Modern email system are heavily utilised for communications between businesses which is unavoidable, however internal emails can put a heavy load on the server. One way in particular is when users email large documents, spreadsheets, PDF's and pictures between each other. A way to avoid this is to save the file in a suitable place on the network and email people telling them where to find it. This keeps these large files out of the email system and ensures that you have more control over document versions. Also its far easier to find on the network in a shared area than it is to trawl through months of emails looking for it.

If the file is confidential then consider creating a restricted area on the network to share these documents. A typical email message could be 2-3KBytes, whereas even a small word document could be 30-60KBytes, thats a significant increase in email storage which is at much more of a premium than a network share.

Downscale Photographs

Modern Digital Cameras can take incredibly detailed pictures and images can be 5,000-10,000KBytes in size. Whether you may use these kinds of cameras in your business or even just at the office party, you may want to consider reducing the size of them before sending them. Consider what they might be used for, if they are going to print on a large photographic printer for display then they may need to be this size, however, if they're being sent purely for someone to review on screen or to be added to a PDF or brochure then they may not need to be so large.

There are free image sizing tools available which can shrink the size of the images without any noticeable decrease in quality if they're just for screen viewing. Sending large photo's will clog up your Internet connection which could affect remote offices, the speed at which you can send/receive emails company wide as well as reducing the speed of the Internet which you may use to run your business.

Virus Prevention

To prevent viruses don't click links that might not be legitimate or seem too good to be true. Also do not give out your bank details or passwords unless it's to a trusted source. It's possible to stay secure online just by following good common sense principles and acting as if the internet were a real life place, and to be cautious what information you give or where you go.

Also, be wary of downloading a 'latest version' of a codec that you know you already have just to play a file, it's possible you could be downloading a virus or some kind of malware, which could compromise your online security or the smooth running of your PC. Think before you click.

Data Protection

Avoid using blank or simple passwords such as 'password' or '1234'. Although it may save you some time and effort not to remember passwords, in the long run your data will be considerably safer.