I have to admit, I haven’t cleaned my keyboard since I opened the box. No, don’t ask me how many months ago that was—it’s in years.

After reading this article I got scared pretty quick.

A desk is capable of supporting 10 million microbes and the average office contains 20,961 microbes per square inch, according to research.

The key offenders are telephones, which harbour up to 25,127 microbes per square inch, keyboards 3,295 and computer mice 1,676.

By contrast, the average toilet seat contains 49 microbes per square inch, the survey showed.

Immediately I googled the web like crazy until someone was able to show me how to PROPERLY clean my keyboard (that is if I ever bother to clean it at all). What? You thought your keyboard was self-cleaning? Time to get on your knees boy and start some scrubbing. Read this article

As for the re-install of all the necessary software, you could also get somebody else to do it for you like the technician in the shop but be prepared to shell out a few bucks just for that(not considering the other software you may need installed that he may have to find for you = additional charges).

My monitor is black.

Solution:

1. Make sure the monitor is turned on. Try pressing the power button on the monitor again.
2. Check to see if it is in sleep mode. Wiggle the mouse around or press the enter key.
3. If the green light is not on in front, check the power cord connecting the monitor into the outlet.
4. If the green light is on, check the brightness level by using the buttons on the monitor.
5. Check the cable connection from the monitor into the computer or the equipment that links your computer to the TV monitor.
6. If you still have some problems, call your help desk.

Aftermarket CPU fans come in all shapes and sizes and vary in effectiveness from ones that bolt onto the CPU with heat tubes and bigger fans to ones that have external intake/exhaust ports to get it cooling faster and effectively. Be sure to check the wiring harness and to keep it out of the way of the fan blades, for it may be expensive but a stuck fan will do you no good!

Cooling fans come in all shapes and sizes and now even come with filters that can be attached to the intake preventing dust and other debris that may get sucked into the case from wreaking havoc inside. You do need to check on them periodically for they will clog up fast in dusty locations. Replacement filters are easily affixed to the fans to keep them running cool for many years.

Often, calling cards with free calling plans are the best for this type of situation – the reasons are obvious, but what you should keep in mind is that a calling card can allow you to remain in touch with the service and find out how your repair is going without having to shell out a load of cash for the phone bill at the end of the month.

If you can’t secure a free calling plan, at least try to get one that gives you discounted calls to the service center – even that can be beneficial to a high degree in some cases. And if you utilize your chances correctly, you’ll find the repair of your computer costing a lot less than you initially expected it to. Not many people realize the high costs often attached to those constant phone calls, but with a good calling card you can see those first-hand very soon!

Viruses and worms are computer programs deliberately designed and written to alter the way your computer works, without your permission or knowledge.

A virus has two properties:

• It must be able to run itself.
• It must be able to replicate or duplicate itself.

Some viruses are designed to cause damage to the PC they are on by destroying programs, deleting user files, or reformatting the hard drive, but other viruses are merely prankster programs that spread and present a message in one form or another. But even these joke viruses must be removed because they can consume valuable system resources or cause the computer to crash.

A worm is different than a virus; it is a program that can spread from system to system within another document, such as an e-mail message or a Microsoft Word document.

A Trojan horse is a file that claims to be innocent but harbors malicious code that might do one of a number of different things, such as delete files or steal your data. The main difference between a Trojan horse and a worm or a virus is that a Trojan horse does not replicate itself.

It is quite easy to protect yourself from viruses, worms, and Trojan horses: install a good antivirus program (for example, Norton AntiVirus 2007, McAfee or ZoneAlarm) and keep it up-to-date. A good antivirus scanner will not only be able to detect and block any viruses, worms, or Trojan horses that try to enter you system, it will also be able to remove any malware already installed on your PC.

It is important to keep the antivirus application updated (it’s recommended that you upgrade the main software package yearly) and that you download and install the latest antivirus detection databases regularly, because hundreds of new viruses and worms are released weekly. If you don’t keep the detection databases in the program up-to-date, the app won’t be able to detect and repair anything new that finds its way onto your PC. Consult the help file or manual for your antivirus program to find out how to do this (most are able to update themselves automatically).

Here are a few other precautions you can take to keep yourself safe:

• Be suspicious of any e-mail attachments that you receive from unknown sources. E-mail is the main source of viruses, worms, and Trojan horses.
• Be suspicious of downloads sent to you via chat applications (such as MSN Messenger or AIM).
• Be picky about where you download files from on the Internet; many virus and worm writers use free software to disguise malicious applications.
• Make sure that your PC has all the latest patches and updates installed (if you run Windows, visit the Windows Update site to install all the patches your operating system needs).
• Scan all discs and downloads for viruses before running them.

Visit Download.com for a selection of popular anti-virus software downloads that you can try on your PC.

Source

When you’re buying a new computer, you’re usually given several options in terms of display. There are super-large, widescreen 20-plus inch LCDs. There are the modest, 15-inch CRTs. Then of course, there are the 15-inch LCDs and also large CRTs.

While LCD monitors have been considered gold standard in office computing these days, CRTs still have a place in the computing world. Not all environments are ideal for using LCD monitors, after all.

Here’s a summary of the pros and cons of each.
The CRT
* The good: Cheap, excellent color reproduction, crisp display, great for games and videos.
* The bad: Large, Gives off some heat and radiation, consumes more electricity.

The LCD
* The good: Great for the eyes, saves space, cheaper electricity bills.
* The bad: More expensive to buy, limited resolution options, limited color range.

To summarize, LCD monitors are ideal in situations that require you to stare at the computer for longer periods of time. This is because LCDs give off less radiation than CRT screens. So this means they’re ideal in office settings, for example when editing documents, using spreadsheets, and communicating via email, and even for surfing the Web.

However, LCD monitors sometimes don’t have the capability for high refresh rates that CRT monitors have, and therefore CRT might still be useful for online gaming and video. CRT monitors can also switch across different resolutions easily, so you can play games at different resolutions (say, if performance is lagging at high resolutions, you can lower it a bit using game settings). LCDs only work best at native resolutions, and you tend to get aliasing issues when you switch to lower resolutions.

Then of course, there’s the price factor. LCD’s are more expensive off the shelf. But if you’re in it for the long term, consider that LCD monitors eat up less power than CRT monitors, so you can save on electricity bills if you keep your computers on all the time.

via [PCExtreme]

4Media presents a program that will transfer all multi-media files from iPod to PC and vice versa. The program is suitable for any computer, ranging from Apple Macs to Windows. There are similar program like this that overwrite the files of your iPod from syncing. You don’t have to worry about any overlapped or missing files while iPod transfer is getting started. Another amazing feature to this program is the ability for the files to be shared between the different kinds of iPod. If you have an iPod touch, iPhone, or even an iPod nano 5, it won’t matter because the file transfer is accessible to all kinds of iPods. Also, there is a photo management feature that allows you organize all the pictures stored in your iPod. You can choose to keep them in a folder or view them by thumbnails.

There are a few questions raised regarding the type of iPhone models used regarding this iPod transfer program. One of the questions is if the iPhone 4 will be supported by this program? Actually, the iPod to PC transfer is regularly updated and its supports the latest updates in iTunes, iOS and iPhone technology.