Do you know now how to take care of your computer?

I understand how you feel I feel the same way I always watch Call For Help it's all to with computers and other things or The lab with Leo, they have TWITTER which is good you check it out I learn allot from them. Leo Laporte I think you will really like it. cd

I know a lot about computers in general. I'm what most would call a geak in that regard as I understand what techies are saying about it. Even when I do have questions, the so-called "experts" blink at me like I've grown a second head. At this point I simply laugh it off. Some of the maintence is a real pain in the butt though. It's just so time-consuming and some programs slow down the machine, so I'll run them before I go to bed, and by the time they're done I can resume using my system as I please. Taking your time is good, but it's important to know the ins and outs of your system. Know when to have to take it in, and when to say "its not worth it, I'll simply replace it."

hotsummer, Welcome aboard! I hope that you are having a wonderful time with whatever this new computer of yours has brought along and the new learning curve experience. So, what did you have here? Is this computer of yours vendor built or a self assembled one? No discrimination here but just good knowledge here especially for yourself here. If your set is a vendor built model, I think besides getting familiar with the machine, it would be good to read up on the users manual and cover the "Trouble Shooting" pages and get to know what to do and expect in the event of an emergency or breakdown. WRITE DOWN the address and toll free telephone customer service numbers in your PDA, notebook, cellphone or smart phone or better still in every accessible(s) mentioned here. Talking about formatting your computer, I hope that you will observe these few tips which is to protect yourself or rather your computer before you even think of embark on this adventure. 1. Pop in a blank CD and burn two or three copies of the vendor CD or better still the OS installation disk. (Original of course!) So, in case you should EVER lose that original CD, you will be S-O-L trying to get a new one from the vendor or you will have to wait a long time to get it or you will pay for it dearly, when you've already paid for it once. ALWAYS WRITE DOWN THE PRODUCT CODE KEY FOR THE WINDOWS INSTALLATION....TAPE IT TO YOUR COMPUTER, WRITE IT ON THE CD ITSELF, WRITE IT ON THE CD JEWEL CASE. Cover your butt because if you take it back to a shop somewhere and forget to bring your own CD and code key, they will use an OEM CD from the shop and the product code key will be THEIRS and not yours. You might not be able to activate XP if they use a temporary setup at their shop and it expires after 30 days. 2. Always assume that vendors and ISP providers are going to LIE to you. They figure if you don't know enough about computers that you brought the system to them to fix it in the first place, they can get away with telling you/selling you anything....and if your modem can't connect, it will ALWAYS be your fault and not a problem with their servers at their end. You must have messed with the settings or got hijacked is what you will be told, in addition to being told to 'bring it in and we'll set it and back up for you'.......and it will cost you a minimum of $50 or some painfully earned dollars for that 'service'. 3. Insist when ordering your computer to be built that they give you SEPARATE installation disks for everything they are going to install. That means a Windows install disk, drivers disks for each piece of hardware, and install cd's for all programs they have installed. It costs them 20 cents for a cd and about two minutes to burn each one....tell them you will pay an extra $25 to get separate cd's. Most will do this for you.....but people don't realize they have the right to demand it so the subject never comes up. 4. Insist that that you have the MOTHERBOARD manual of your computer and familiarize with everything you need to know about that board and what it is capable of being upgraded to later on, and if you have on-board sound or graphics rather than separate cards inside the case. Also, I insist on getting the motherboard drivers CD so you will have them handy should you format the drive to start over. 5. Burn two or three copies of every CD you get and use the COPIES to do your installations with later on. Save the originals in a safe place so if the copy goes bad/gets scratched, you can burn more copies from the original. 6. If you have the extra money to spend while ordering your computer, and if the vendor says he can't give you separate disks for everything, tell him you want an OEM full or update install version of the Windows at the very least. This may cost you an extra hundred or so, but with it you will have the choice later on of downloading newest drivers for all of your hardware and burning it all to a CD including motherboard drivers, and then if you want to start from scratch without using the vendor specific CD, you can install everything separately yourself....and save money in the long run. The update CD has exactly the same information on it as the full version and will only ask you to prove via the installation that you have another version of windows that makes you eligible for the update. Inserting a previous OS CD into the drive when asked for it gives you that proof. The rule has always been that if you buy a piece of hardware from a vendor (and a system qualifies), you can get an OEM version of Windows......so get one....and make sure they give you the Product Code Key that goes with it. 7. Now that you have protected yourself and become more knowledgeable about your rights as a buyer, have a good time with this toy of yours. Hope the above will be of help, take care and compliments of the season. Read more: http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6122_102-0.html?threadID=60567&tag=forums06;forum-threads

Yes, it's a great thing when you can learn to do everything yourself. I'm really into computers and I tend to do everything myself in relation to my own computer. I'm a qualified IT Technician and tool a course two years ago! It's the best thing you can do. The good thing about this is, if you know about computers then you can help those that know very little and it's a very worthwhile job to do. Well, I wish you luck with your learning process. Andrew

Well, I don't know if I was tking care of my computer but once in every month I used to clean up its parts. My brother used to be very annoyed by my activity because in that process once I broke the processor stand and we had to be living without our pc for almost 7-8 days. Well, the good thing was that we didn't had to go for servicing because we both were able to fix it up. Though it took time but didn't cost us money! Well, about s/w part, we have to be able to update our antiviruses time to time!