Learn about Dirty Little Computer Viruses & How to Protect Yourself

Listed below are some of the guidelines you can follow in order to keep those nasty viruses from making a mess out of your computer and your life.

Purchase and install a well respected antivirus software program and be sure to set it up so that it automatically runs when the computer starts up each time.

Make sure to keep your antivirus software up to date by either using the automatic update feature that many come with or make it a habit to manually check at least once or twice a week for updates on your own.

Set your antiviral program to scan for potential viruses each time you open a wordprocessing document like the ones that get sent through email. Viruses found in wordprocessing documents are called Macro Viruses.

When purchasing software make sure to only buy from vendors that are well known and from ones you trust.

•Resist swapping data with the use of floppy disks or other mobile storage devices between various computers. If exchanging programs between computers is unavoidable just make sure to scan the storage device(s) for viruses before transferring data from one computer to the next.

If using floppy disks to transfer data make sure to format them before using them for the first time.

Never use pirated software. This is both illegal and a very good way to invite an unwanted computer virus.

When downloading software from the internet do so as little as possible. There are many neat programs available on the internet, but unfortunately there are many viruses that go along with them also.

If you must download programs from the internet ALWAYS scan them for viruses BEFORE opening them up to install on your computer.

Probably the most important and neglected method of disaster recovery are periodic backups of all important files found on your computer. Should a virus happen to get through your lines of defense you may need to replace the virus corrupted files with fresh ones that have been kept for such an occasion.

Finally, it is not guaranteed that if you follow the above steps that you will not be the victim of a computer virus, but you can sure bet that if followed you will greatly reduce the chance of being an unsuspecting recipient of such
an unwanted program.

Xbox 360 3 light fix - Easy way to fix the error yourself

Nothing perhaps is as frustrating as finding out that your Xbox gaming console is showing the dreaded 3 lights. This is one error that anyone who buys this game system should be ready for, at some point in time or other. Fortunately though, Xbox 360 3 light fix is something that you can do all by yourself.

One of the main reasons for this error, popularly known as the ‘ring of death’, is because of the overheating of the console. Even with ventilating ports, heat does build up inside the console, particularly so, if you have been playing for extended number of hours. You need not be a technical geek in order to open the console up and deal with the Xbox 360 3 light fix error. If you are comfortable with working with some basic tools, then that will be more than enough.

Some of the tools that you will need for the Xbox 360 3 light fix are a screwdriver, a pocket knife or a plastic scraper tool, a quality heat sink paste , steel wool pad , a wrench ,along with some cleaning supplies. Using the wrench you can take apart the Xbox 360 console. You should then remove the motherboard out along with the ‘heat sinks’ that you can see inside the metal cage. This is one of the most important steps involved in the Xbox 360 3 light fix.

The thermal pads at the bottom of the heat sinks are the culprits behind the overheating. Now using the steel wool, you should try and scrape off the thermal pads. Just in case the heat sinks become very wet, you should make sure that you dry them properly before you reinstall them. Once the thermal pads are clean, you can then apply the heat sink paste on to it. The Xbox 360 3 light fix would be complete, once you put the console back together.