Tips 2

How do you backup the files on your computer and how often?
It is strongly recommended that you use/do some form of backup.

Backing up individual files and folders is one way. (See below for using and getting started with MS backup.) IMHO you are better off doing a "Disk Image Backup". This allows you to make a "snapshot" of a good clean system that you know is virus and problem free. In the event of serious viral infection or system problems, you would just restore the image to put you back to a good point in time. (Do not get this type of program mixed up with Sytem Restore that comes with Win XP & ME). Put these images onto CD\DVD "RW" disks and keep them safe some place away from the computer. I personally keep 3 images of my OS in reserve just in case one gets corrupted (one of which is the initial installation - with drivers etc but no software) . In an extreme circumstance the most I would lose is 2 weeks program and security updates (my documents and mails are on a seperate drive\partition and are backed up seperately). Re-installing the system takes countless hours.
First you have to make sure you have all your installation disks, then you have to go through the process of re-installing the OS and then installing all your hardware and software - and on and on and on!! And you would have lost any personal settings and tweeks.
If you get into the habit of making a fresh Ghost (or which ever program you decide on) image every week (at the least - business users should be backing up daily) then in the event of serious problems arising you have a fall back. Making an image takes between 10 - 20 minutes (depending on how large your installation is) and complete restoratiion about the same. The latest versions of Ghost also allows you to make incremental backups. You would also have the facillity (with GHOST) to restore individual files and folders as well. If, whichever program you choose, offers you the chance to make "Emegency Boot Disks" take it and keep them beside your backups.

There are other backup programs freely available on the internet, with a choice of pay, shareware and freeware. My own preference is to use an "Disk Imaging Program" like GHOST, (which also allows you to restore individual files and folders). It is a few years since I last used MS backup due to its limited functionallity.
You can also use DRAG & DROP or COPY & PASTE to backup your files and folders as well (ie. Right click onto your "My Documents" folder and select COPY and then paste it into the desired location or just highlight the folder and drag it into place) Regardless of what version of Windows you are using, you can manually make a backup copy of any file or folder as stated above.

If you have XP HOME and you want to use MS Backup then you will have to install the program from your WINDOWS installation disk. If you are using XP Professional, Win98 or ME then this is, by default, already installed. The following are the instructions for installing this program on XP home.

To install backup into XP Home:
1. Insert your Windows XP CD into the drive and, if necessary, in My Computer, double-click the CD icon. 2. On the Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP screen, click Perform Additional Tasks

3. Click Browse this CD.
4. In Windows Explorer, double-click the ValueAdd folder, then Msft, and then Ntbackup.
5. Double-click Ntbackup.msi to install the Backup utility.

If you've never used the Backup utility, the first screen you should see will be the "Backup or Restore Wizard" welcome window. Click Next and follow the instructions on the wizard.
For a step-by-step guide to using the wizard, see the following link: XP Easy Backup.

To use MS Backup do the following You can use the Backup utility to help you make copies of files, settings, or everything on your computer. You can even use the utility to back up certain files on a schedule that you specify.

1. Click Start, and point to All Programs.
2. Point to Accessories, and then point to System Tools.
3. Click Backup.

Use this program to backup your Outlook Express mails. Outlook Express

Tip: To learn how to make a backup of your e-mail messages in Outlook, read Back up Outlook e-mail messages and Back up or synchronize: Ways to copy Outlook data.

Backing up your drivers

I would also recommend using a program like "WinDrivers Backup" (this is the only one that I know that will do this job) to back up all your drivers.This program backs up all the drivers on your computer into one specific location. Thus allowing you to re-install or re-insert a specific driver if it ever becomes corrupted. You can get a trial copy here The program cost about $20.00 (about £12.00 sterling)

This link states that you can download a freeware version from here
Once again this backup should be kept somewhere nice and safe away from your computer.

Click to go to Tips 1 & Tips 3

Web Browsers

I am not going to get into the argument of which is the safest browser to use and which is not. What I would suggest is that you use something other than IE. My personal preference is for OPERA (which is now freeware) I would also suggest you have a look at is FIREFOX Both of these are good reliable browsers, with (IMO) Opera being the main choice. It is possible to un-install IE but it is strongly recommended that you don't do that. You will need IE to allow you to downlaod all MS's updates and patches using Auto Update etc. My own experience with Firefox is that the likes of this page does not show correctly, also the sound files I have embeded do not work in FF, though there are no problems with either Opera and IE.

E-Mail filtering

If possible try using an E-Mail filtering program like Mailwasher (Freeware and Pay versions available and there are other programs available that will do the job just as well) This would allow you to check your mail before downloading it to your computer. You can set up a friends list and blacklist as well as setting your own filters. It also allows you to preview the contents of the mail prior to downloading it. The freeware version now on offer no longer allows you to check HOTMAIL accounts, but the payed for version does. (I personally use an older freeware 2.19 beta - version that allows both and have no problems with it.)

Giving out your mail address.

It is strongly recommended that you do not give out your e-mail address to just anyone who asks.

When you are asked to give your E-mail address as a contact for a forum or with a company or for any reason consider setting up a WEB MAIL account speciffically for this.
This way if the company is unscrupulious and passes your mail address onto others (which a lot of them do) companies (some of them actually SELL your mail details to others) then any SPAM or JUNK mail will go into this web mail account instead of your POP (eg. Outlook Express ) account and thereby clogging up your mail server. In the event of you receving a lot of SPAM into this web mail account, you can just close this web mail account down and open up a new one.The majority of Web Mail accounts do have in-built filtering and Anti-Virus scanning enabled and you can usually setup more filters. A couple of examples for Web Mail accounts are HOTMAIL and LYCOS

One of the other good things about web mail is that it can be accessed from anywhere in the world using any type of computer that is capable of getting on-line.

Contact Details For Forums

Some forums are now trying to insist that you use your private mail address as a contact, when I run into one that has this requirement I look elsewhere as there is a multitude of forums (the majority of them good) for any given subject, that does not have this requirement. Before actually joining a forum stick around for a few days and watch to see how it is run and to see how other users respond to questions and queeries posted. A lot of forums allow the use of bad language (cursing etc) and this might be offensive if there are women and children using the computer or you are easily offended. In some forums members have a tendency to talk down to new comers and new computer users (forgetting that they were once in the position of not knowing anything) Find a forum where you will feel comfortable asking (what might to a lot of folks - but not to you) seem like a stupid question (there is no such thing as a stupid question). Look for the way forums deal with this sort of situation.

Cookies

What is a cookie and what does it do?

Internet browsers write and read cookies, files with small amounts of data (such as site passwords and settings) based on instructions from Web sites. In many cases, cookies provide a benefit to users. However, in some instances cookies are used to and track user behaviour across different sites, which provides marketers with private information about an individual.

Are they dangerous?
In general they are not. BUT some sites put what is known as a tracking cookie onto your computer. A Tracking Cookie is any cookie used for tracking users' surfing habits. They are typically used by advertisers wishing to analyze and mange advertising data, but they may be used to profile and track user activity more closely. However, tracking cookies are far more limited in their ability to track users than certain software that is actually installed on users' computers. (sometimes hidden in the setup files with a software installation)
Definitions of Tracking Cookies on the Web can be found here

These are not to be confused with personalization cookies (which allow users to customize pages and remember passwords), some web sites now issue tracking cookies. Tracking cookies allow multiple web sites to store and access records that may contain personal information (including surfing habits, user names and passwords, areas of interest, etc.), and subsequently share this information with other web sites and marketing firms. More Information on how to remove this spyware.