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windows
Essential Steps to Secure New Computers
Secure, Protect, and Maintain a New Computer
OVERVIEW: You will learn how to perform some essential steps on a new computer that will provide a more secure, problem free computing environment.
Protect and Care for Your New Baby
When you take a new computer out of the box, it’s like a new-born baby that needs to be protected and handled with care. There are some essential things that you should do before you bring your new baby out into the world. This article will show you how to dramatically increase the health and safety of your new computer.
The tutorial focuses on three main areas:
- Updating your WIndows Software
- Security Software
- Routine Maintenance
Updating your Windows Software
Run Windows Automatic Updates before you do anything else on your new computer. This will go out to Microsoft and install any Windows updates that affect system security and stability.
Click the Windows (Start) button, then select Control Panel from the menu.
This will open the Control Panel. There will be several options accessible from the Control Panel that will allow you to view and modify settings on your computer.
Select Turn automatic updating on and off and make sure that Automatic Updates are ON.
Then, click Check for updates to download and install all of the appropriate updates. This may take a while, depending on how many are available. After this is done, your computer will restart and updates will happen automatically. (That’s one less thing to worry about.)
Security Software
There are many things that you can do to secure your computer, but I’m going to stick with some of the most basic and effective ones. You will need to set up the following:
- Firewall – Prevent people from getting into your computer.
- AntiVirus – Detect, Prevent, and Remove Viruses that can harm your computer.
- Spyware Detection and Removal – Detect and Remove Spyware that can harm your computer.
- Malware Detection and Removal – Detect and Remove Malware that can harm your computer.
Turning on the Windows Firewall
Windows XP, Vista, and 7 all come with a pretty good firewall already built in. The only thing you need to do is make sure that it is turned on. Go to the Control Panel again.
Click System and Security.
You will see a list of options. Select Check Firewall status under the Windows Firewall heading.
Make sure the the firewall is turned on.
Installing Antivirus Software
The most important security software on your computer is Antivirus protection. My favorite Antivirus software is AVG Antivirus, which happens to be free, light, and very good.
The first thing you should do after you install and launch your antivirus software is update the virus definitions. This is the latest list of bad stuff that it will look for. Click the Update Now tab and then the Update button.
Once you get the first batch of updates, it will get them automatically from now on. Click the Computer Scan tab to check your computer.
Installing Spyware Detection Software
Spyware is another threat to both your security and performance. Spybot Search & Destroy is an excellent, free spyware removal tool.
This is just like the antivirus setup. Search for the Updates and then Scan your computer.
Installing Malware Detection Software
Malware is yet another lovely type of crap that screws up your computer. MalwareBytes is a great free tool that will help you find and remove this scurge.
Yup, you guessed it! Install, Update, Scan, just like the last two tools.
Routine Maintenance
Just because your computer is protected from the evil doers out there, doesn’t mean that it’s protected from itself. The longer your computer runs, the more junk, gunk, and funk will creep into the works. I use two excellent tools to perform routine maintenance on my computer: CCleaner and Defraggler.
Keeping your computer Clean and Lean
CCleaner is one of my favorite system utilities of all time. Small, simple, effictive, and free. Is that enough for you? CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system – allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner.
Use the three panels on the left side to:
- Clean junk files from your computer and browser
- Diagnose and Repair Registry problems (This is a HUGE help.)
- Uninstall Software (The right way.)
- Control which programs run when Windows starts (You’ll be amazed at what junk is chewing up your power.)
You should probably perform these steps every week or two.
Defragment Your Hard Drive to Speed Things Up
After you start using your computer for a while your hard drive starts to get fragmented. This slows down your computer’s performance. Windows has defragmentation software build right in, but the free Defraggler works better and faster.
Just select your hard drive and click the Defrag button. (This will run for a while, so kick it off when you’re not busy.)
You should run disk defragmentation about once per month.
See the Video Tutorial
If you’re not quite sure about any of the steps that are covered here, watch the following video tutorial to see and here how they work.
Getting All of That Software in One Shot
I just covered several applications that you will need to download and install on your computer. See How to Create a Bulk Software Installer in this tutorial. You will see just how easy it is to install tons of great free software on your new computer in just a few clicks.
What are Your New Computer Security and Maintenance Tips?
If you have any other good tips on what to do to a new computer, I’m all ears. Enter your best tips in the comments below.
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Get Your New Computer From Box to Awesome in a Flash
Get that Holiday Gift Working Right Away
OVERVIEW: This article links to several resources that will help your new computer go from the box to maximum usefulness as fast as possible.
So You Got a New Computer for the Holidays, Now What?
Just getting a new computer is only half the battle. Once you get that thing out of the box, that’s where the real fun begins. Here are a few guides and resources that will help you do all of the painful things necessary for making a mass-produced box of electronics into your very own PERSONAL computer.
Configuring Your New Computer
After you get your new machine up an running, you will need to perform a few vital configuration steps. Whether it’s a Windows, Mac, or Linux machine, these resources will get you going.
Set Up and Get to Know Your New Windows, Mac, or Linux Computer – The folks over at LifeHacker.com have a bunch of great tips on setting up a new computer. The didn’t cut any corners either; Windows, Mac, and Linux are all thoroughly covered.
Download Squad Guide to Making Your New Holiday PC More Kick-Ass! - DownloadSquad.com has lots of great tips on making your new Windows computer better. A lot of the tips center around getting the garbage software that the manufacturers are paid to install gone and replacing it with much better options.
Setting Up Your New Mac: The First 25 Things You Need To Do – If you got a new Mac, the team at MacLife.com take you through a series of steps to make it a workhorse in no time at all.
The Best Free Software for Your New Computer
After you configure your new computer, you need to install the right software to help you get things done. Here are some of my favorite free applications for WIndows and Mac.
22 Most Useful Free Applications for your Windows PC – These are some of the best Windows applications at any price, but when you consider that they’re free, how can you go wrong.
26 Best Free Mac Applications – Macs come loaded with a decent set of software, but here are some additions to put you over the top.
100 of the Best (Useful) OpenSource Applications – UbuntuLinuxHelp.com has a massive list of useful Linux applications in every category imaginable.
A Computer is Not All Function, I Can Look Pretty Too
After you have your new computer set up to work like a team of mules, you may want to make it look like a sexy supermodel. Check out a few of these resources.
Five Best Wallpaper Sites – LifeHaker.com has some great places to go get beautiful wallpapers to put your own style on that new machine. I’m going there myself, as soon as I’m done with this article.
Don’t Forget Your Other New Gadgets
Even if you didn’t get a shiny new computer for the holidays, you might have another fancy gadget that you want to set up the right way. Here are a few guides to help you out.
5 Sites to Help You Set Up Your New Gadgets – ReadWriteWeb.com has a few resources you can use to help set up your new gadgets. They are mostly sites that have video tutorials or Q&A message boards that are helpful.
Setting Up Your New iPod: The First 25 Things You Need To Do – Those helpful guys at MacLife have another good set of tips for you to get your new iPod or iPhone running like a champ.
What are your New Computer Setup Secrets?
Dont’ forget to leave any good new computer setup tips in the comments below.
5min.com Video of the Day
Now You Can Create a Windows, Mac, Linux Super Computer
Use Synergy to Control Multiple Computers with One Keyboard and Mouse
OVERVIEW: You will learn how to use Synergy, a free software application to control multiple computers with one keyboard and mouse. These computers can all be running different operating systems.
What Is Synergy?
Synergy is an open source software application used for sharing a single keyboard and mouse between multiple computers. One user can control several computers in the same physical area, with a monitor connected to each. The “server” software runs on the computer with the keyboard and mouse connected and the “client” software runs on the computers that are being controlled. Synergy can run on all of the popular operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux, and UNIX) at the same time. This means that you can move your cursor from your Windows desktop to control a Mac, and a Linux machine without batting an eye.
Why I Use Synergy
I constantly need to use and document applications in Windows, Mac, and Linux environments. This requires me to have at least one machine set up running each of those operating systems. I currently have three laptops on the desk in my office running each of those systems. Synergy allows me to line them up next to each other and use my mouse to bounce back and forth between them as if I was using a single, very diverse computer. The best part of it is that there is a common clipboard that allows me to copy pictures and text from any machine and paste it on any other machine, as if I was pasting from MS Word to PowerPoint on the same computer. (Regardless of which operating systems.) I could also see this being powerful for someone running a computer room at a data center.
Getting Synergy on your Computers
If you’ve read this far, I’m assuming that this sound kind of interesting to you. Well, enough sales, let’s see how to make it happen. Start off by downloading and installing the software on all of your machines. FYI – there are a few different variations of the Synergy software/project available, but they all play fairly well together, so just pick one that you’re happy with.
Windows: Synergy, Synergy-Plus, Synergy KM, Quick Synergy
Mac: Synergy, Synergy-Plus, Synergy KM, Quick Synergy
Linux: Go to your distribution’s Applications installer, then search for and install Synergy and Quick Synergy. (Synergy is the service and Quick Synergy is the GUI that let’s you configure the service.)
The steps differ slightly based on the specific software installed on each operating system, but the concepts are the same. I will include links for each application’s specific instructions below.
Configuring Synergy
Once you have the software installed on all of your machines, you are ready to begin configuring your systems. The biggest decision is which computer will have the keyboard and mouse physically connected. This will probably be based on some sort of unique personal preferences. The computer with the keyboard and mouse physically connected will be the “Server”.
Before you go any further, find the Internal IP Address and Computer Name of all of the machines that you are going to control.
Configuring the Server (Computer sharing its keyboard and mouse)
You need to tell the server which computers it is going to be controlling and where they will be physically located (to the left, right, above, diagonally above, etc.).
Enter the computer names of each machine and place them where they belong. As you can see in the image below, I have three computers set up, with “christopher” in the center, “Laptop” on the left, and “cm-mac” on the right.
The interface will look slightly different on each OS, but they are conceptually alike.
Configuring the Clients (Computers “borrowing” the Server’s keyboard)
Now that your server knows about the other clients and where they are located, you need to tell the clients to allow the server to take control of them.
Select the Use Another Computer’s Keyboard and Mouse option on the client machine. Then, add in the Server’s Internal IP Address. If you set a password on the Server, enter it on each client machine. (Use the Advanced button below.)
Once you have your client(s) configured, click the Start button to give control to the Server’s keyboard and mouse. That’s it! Now, just move your cursor across the edge of your monitor onto the next machine. The cursor will instantly start to move on the client machine and anything that you type will be happening on the client machine. If you want, you can select and copy text on that machine and then move your cursor to one of the other machines and paste it in seamlessly. Pretty cool and simple, right?
See Synergy in Action
The following video shows how to configure Synergy to share a keyboard across Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. It also shows you a simple example of what you can do once you have everything set up.
Controlling Multiple Computers Using Synergy from Christopher Masiello on Vimeo.
Alternatives
There are of course a several available options for working with multiple operating systems. I actually do use a few of them when the situation lends itself, but none of them give you the most power and features of each OS all at the same time. Let’s take a look at some of the alternatives and their pros and cons.
| Option | Description | Tools | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VNC | Virutal Network Computing- Use VNC to remotely connect to and control other computers (typically not in the same physical location). | Chicken of the VNC, RealVNC, Remote Desktop Protocol, TightVNC, UltraVNC, Virtual private network, X Window System, X11vnc, Comparison of remote desktop software | Can connect from anywhere in the world. Uses very little resources on either machine. | Can’t copy and paste between machines. Multiple computers share one monitor’s space. Can be a “glitchy” user experience. |
| Virtual Machine | This creates additional “virtual” computers on a computer so that multiple computers and operating systems can run on the same machine. | Parallels, VMware Fusion, VirtualBox, Windows Virtual PC | You only need to have one machine. Cheap and space efficient. | Puts a HEAVY bourdon on your computer. Physical and Virtual systems run slow. Two machines sharing one monitor’s space. Takes up a lot of one machine’s hard drive. |
| Dual Boot/Multi Boot | Partition the hard drive on one computer so that multiple operating systems can be installed. When the machine is started, you can select which operating system to “boot”. | Boot Camp (Mac), Dual Boot | Runs at the machine’s full speed. | Can’t work simultaneously on multiple OS’s. Too much time watching the rebooting screens. Takes up a lot of one machine’s hard drive. |
What are your thoughts?
What do you do when you need to work on multiple machines and operating systems? Please let me know in the comments. If you have a cool solution, I would love to feature it in a future article.
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DropBox for iPhone – Your Files Truly are Everywhere Now
Awesome Desktop Application Moves to your Phone
One of my favorite desktop applications of all time is Dropbox. Dropbox allows you to sync important files between multiple computers. You just install the software on your computers and set up a dropbox (folder) and place files in it. The files will instantly appear on all of your other computers.
While this is amazingly convenient if you are at one of your computers, what happens when you are at someone else’s house or out on the town? Well, the contents of your dropbox are not only on your computers, a copy is also available on the dropbox website. (They are securely protected by your ID and password.)
Well, they just released an iPhone application that will let you view and open the entire contents of your dropbox in the palm of your hand from anywhere. Once you install and log in to the iPhone application, you can see all of the files and folders just like they appear on your computer.
Just touch one of the files and view it on your phone. (View only, no editing.) You can view any file that the iPhone can handle:
- Office files like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and PDFs
- Audio files like MP3s, WAVs, AACs
- Video files like MP4s and M4Vs
- HTML files
Cool Features
Using the iPhone has its own set of constraints and capabilities that make it a unique user experience compared to your desktop computer. There are a few really cool features that make this a great iPhone application.
Alphabetical File Browsing – You can quickly scan through your files by name using the alphabetical browser bar running down the right side of the screen that works just like like the Contacts application. If you have a lot of files, this really helps speed things up.
Favorites – You can mark important files as "Favorites" and they will be saved locally on your iPhone. Now, the file can be opened locally without having to wait for it to download over AT&T’s amazingly slow 3G network. If the file is edited on one of your computers, it will be updated to your phone.
Photos – You can add photos taken on your iPhone directly to your dropbox. This doesn’t sound like much, but previously I had to sync my phone and pour through my pictures to move the right one into my dropbox. This is so much more convenient, especially if you are out and about and see something that you want to remember.
Wish List
While Dropbox is 98% awesome, there are always a few things that could be improved. Since the iPhone does not support many common media formats (Quicktime, AVI, WMV, WMA, MPEG, etc.) it would be cool if they could build in a simple media player that would allow me to view these files. Yeah, I know that this is an iPhone problem, it’s just that I’ll take help from anywhere I can find it.
Why you should use Dropbox
If you’re still not sold on Dropbox, watch this video and you just might be.
See this complete tutorial on using Dropbox to sync files across multiple computers.
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Sync Files on Multiple Computers Using DropBox
Always Have Your Important Files
Do you work on multiple computers during the day? Perhaps one at work and one at home? Maybe one is a Mac and another is a PC? Well there are a lot of files that you may create or update on one machine that you suddenly need on the other. Sure, you could use a USB drive, but that is very manual and error prone.
If you need to have a common collection of files that are synchronized and instantly available everywhere, you should use DropBox. DropBox is a service that allows you to sync files between multiple computers via their servers.
I have a few computers in my house: A windows desktop in my Office, Windows laptop downstairs, a Linux Laptop in our Bedroom (My Wife’s) and a new MacBook Pro where I do most of my writing now. I have some files on my old Windows desktop and laptop that I need on my MacBook and newly created files that I want back on my PCs. The other problem is that I need to work with certain Windows or Mac only apps at different times. This allows me to move all of the files that I need back and forth to the machine where I need to work in “real-time”.
If I do a Screencast on my PC, I just put it into my DropBox and upload it from my Mac when I’m ready. If I make something in iMovie on my Mac, I just drop it in and open it on my PC later.
What exactly is Dropbox?
This is how DropBox describes their service:
Dropbox is the easiest way to share and store your files online.
Works like you do
No complicated interface to learn. Dropbox runs in the background on your desktop.
Worry-free syncing
Sync your files automatically to your computers and the web.
It’s everywhere you are
Sign in and access your files from any browser or mobile device.
Easy sharing
Sharing files with your friends and family is just two clicks away.
Photos
View your photos in a gallery and share them easily with anyone.
How to Use DropBox
- The entire process is incredibly quick and simple.
- Create an Account on GetDropBox.com.
- Download and Install the DropBox software on your computer.
- Select a location for your DropBox folder. (I use the Desktop)
- Move the desired files/folders into your DropBox.
- Wait for blue arrow icons to stop spinning and turn into a green check icon.
- Move any desired files/folders from your other computer(s) into your DropBox.
- Repeat steps 3 through 5 on all of your computers.
There is a free account which limits your DropBox capacity to 2 gigs. You can add more capacity incrementally with a paid account.
Sharing Files via DropBox:
You can share your DropBox with other DropBox users via your “shared” folder.
- Log in to your DropBox account on their site
- Click on the Share tab at the top of the page
- Give the share a name
- Enter the email addres(es) of the people you are sharing with
- Go back to your File Manager and drag files into the “share” folder
- The recipients will receive an email allowing them to access the the shared files
- You can delete the “share” when you want to stop sharing
This is very convenient if you’re working with a client or coordinating on a project with a colleague, client, or friend.
See How to Use DropBox in this Video
Download the How to Sync Files on Multiple Computers Using DropBox podcast video.
Other Information about DropBox
Here are some other interesting articles on DropBox:
- x
- x
- x
Conlclusion:
I use DropBox every day on both of my computers at home. This is about the simplest way to synchronize files between your computers, no matter which Operating System(s) you use.
Note: May not work behind some firewalls.
The past few articles have covered using some web/computer based productivity tools. Stay tuned for the next article where I show you how to extend these systems by using your phone and Dial2Do to get things done.