Email: support@microproconsultants.com	Why is my computer running so slow? How can I speed up my computer? How do I stop programs from running automatically at startup? How often should I backup my important data files and what is the best way to do it? What are viruses and worms and where do they come from? Why is my computer running so slow? There are several reasons. The first and most important is to be sure you have no viruses. A close second is a newer threat known as Spyware and/or Malware. These are either programs designed to spy on your web activities and/or cause disruption to your computer systems. These programs run in the background eating up precious clock cycles that would be used ordinarily for your programs. When enough of these programs are running in your machine they slow down the performance of your computer. You might ask where these programs come from. The disturbing answer is... You probably installed them yourself without knowing it. There are also... top How can I speed up my computer? A slow computer can usually be tuned to perform better with a few simple steps. As mentioned above, Spyware must first be removed as well as viruses (more on those later). Adding more physical RAM often helps speed things up significantly and is the easiest most cost effective way to get a speed boost from your machine (provided you have low RAM to begin with). Also be sure there is plenty of free space on your hard drive and that you defragment often. Another source of speed problems which is closely associated with Spyware are file sharing programs. When actively sharing files, these programs can bring even a fast machine to its knees. top How do I stop programs from running automatically at startup? Programs running at startup can be removed in one of several ways. You can: A. remove icons from the startup group. B. Edit the registry directly. C. Use a registry editing tool such as msconfig - then deselect the unwanted startup programs on the startup tab. Note:  msconfig is not found in win95 or win2K top How often should I backup my important data files and what is the best way to do it? This is a difficult question to answer on paper. I would say backups should be done as often as significant changes have been made to any important data. That could be daily, weekly or even monthly for some small businesses. Speaking not only from my own personal experiences with data loss but from the experiences I often share with my clients who do NOT backup; data backups are CRITICAL!. {long pause} I stopped right there for a reason. I cannot stress enough that the single MOST important thing you can learn from a competent computer technician who values his clients and their data is this. "DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU LOSE DATA TO LEARN THE IMPORTANCE OF ROUTINE BACKUPS". That may sound simple and obvious but based on results, it isn't. As far as the best way....cont'd top What are viruses and worms and where do they come from? Viruses are programs that piggy back on other programs. They can be attached to Word, excel or other types of files. Each time you run the infected program, the virus runs too. It can sometimes attach itself to other running programs and continue to reproduce. The results or symptoms of viruses can be greatly varied. From harmless messages or even unknown presence to complete destruction of your Operating System, Programs and of course DATA. Worms use computer networks to replicate themselves. They search for machines with security holes and when found it copies itself to the new machine. Then it begins the search and replication process again. Trojan Horses are computer programs masquerading as a game or a friendly program. When executed, however it does something completely different than expected; like formatting your hard drive or placing strange graphics on your screen that will not go away. The writers of these malicious programs are getting better at their destructive little game. Many now use combination methods to search, infect and reproduce, dropping their payloads at incredible speeds. Your first line of defense is an anti virus program. Keep it current and updated. top Website designed by: EthanCote.com © 2000-2008 Micro Pro Consultants. All Rights Reserved.