BITS and PC’s;
Many people are still having problems with spam. Those annoying emails from mostly harmless, though often offending, general emailers. Do not respond to these. When you respond it lets them know that they have a live one and you will get even more email. Instead you need to block sender or redirect them to your deleted items folder.
If you are looking for a good free email program, although I recommend that you buy one, you could try Pegasus Mail, or Eudora. Both are available online.
If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to purchase a good anti-virus program like Norton. This is the only way to stop all the viruses that are going around.
You have probably noticed a lot of activity on your firewall lately. We have been seeing very high numbers of intruders being blocked from entering people’s computers. Some people have had over 2000 attacks in the last 3 months alone. If you do not have a firewall than someone has been in your computer. No question. Most of the attacks seem to be from Europe and the U.S.A. Be careful out there and use zonealarm.
Technology is really moving forward, but I think that the Desk Top computer has reached the point that if you buy a good new one today, it will last a long time, 10 years at least. Make sure you get one that is upgradeable. That is, its Mother Board bios are upgradeable.
Be aware of what you are buying. Not all deals are really deals. They may just have lower quality components. The most important thing may very well be tech support. Just like a car, you have to think about where you will get your machine fixed.  Many stores are reluctant to fix computers that they don’t sell, so you may be required to ship your computer to a repair center, sometimes out of province.
Another thing to watch out for is really fast CD-ROMs, because if you have an older CD with even a hair line crack, it can fly apart.
Let’s talk hard drives. Yes, you can store a lot of stuff on a large hard drive, however, you still need to manage and sort all that stuff, and if your computer crashes, you have more to loose. If you are not a developer of some sort, or have a particular reason requiring more storage, than I would recommend using a smaller hard drive, say 40-60 gigabytes, and get a good CD burner for storage and backups. Be sure you are getting a good quality hard drive, with a warranty.
I have noticed some people are storing files on their desktop. This is ok temporarily, like when you are setting up a program, but for normal use, only links should be kept on your desktop
You can create your own website using an html (hypertext markup language), program or wizard. You will need a domain name. (www.yourname.ca) a domain name has a life of its own, so make sure you own it. This is very important as it can be used by whomever has ownership. You then need a web hosting service. The newly created website needs to be sent to your web host via a program made for that purpose, usually an ftp program. You should know that if you use a free web hosting service, anyone landing on your site will be assaulted with popup windows and advertising. As well, they will be tracked to see where they have been browsing, and where they go when they leave your site. Free does have a price.
Wireless networking units seem to be popping up everywhere. Make sure you use security with your network. Anything wireless can be tapped into from the street outside the building in which it is being used. Driving around scanning for wireless networks, keyboards, and audio or video devices is called “war driving”.
A note on internet speed. You can check your speed by holding your curser over the monitor icon in your systems tray. (Bottom right corner of your desktop). Internet speed has to do with the wire coming into your house, and your modem. It has very little to do with what kind of computer you are using. So, getting a new computer will not make the internet faster. You may just need a better modem. The standard for a modem is 56k (kilobytes). If your connection is still slow, (under 45kb in town, or under 24kb out of town), then you should call the phone company to come and check your wiring
George Horton
www.kcnb.ca