Weather and your computers…

With the probable approach of Hurricane Irene here in New England this weekend, I’ve received quite a few emails asking me if anything special should be done to protect computers during this impending storm…

My answer is yes. You want to be sue not only to protect your hardware, which is a valuable investment, but just as important you want to be sure you protect all the valuable information on your computers, such as your photos, documents, etc…

And we all know that Hurricane Irene isn’t the only extreme weather that we experience here in New England that can cause problems. Bad weather can also include floods, ice/snow storms, powerful electrical storms & lightning and from time to time, very high winds. This year the weather's been quite extreme and we even experienced an earthquake earlier today.....

So, even if we aren’t in the direct line of this impending storm, we could still experience serious problems with our electricity, phones or cable services, not just in our homes, but in our neighborhood, community and during some storms – even much larger geographical areas can e impacted.

So consider taking a few precautions beforehand:

• Perform a complete backup of your system, and if you do this and save it to an “external hard drive” you may want to consider putting the external hard drive in a waterproof container and storing it “off premise” just in case.


• If you don’t have an external hard drive, but have a portable hard drive or use flash drives/memory sticks – be sure to back up all your valuable data to your portable device and put that portable device in a waterproof container, even multiple zip-lock bas will work and put it with your important papers that you have ready with you should you need to evacuate..


• Power off and unplug all equipment, including the computers, routers, modems, monitors and printers – When, I would do this as soon as the high winds or lightning begin OR for those of you who might live near the coast, as soon as you receive your ”evacuation notice. Be sure to unplug items from standby power sources and power off the standby power source


• Any equipment that may be in danger of flooding due to low ground (ie. basements and first floors) should be moved to a higher table top or even to a higher floor.


• Equipment that is situated near windows or in a structure that may be affected by the storm, should be moved or at least wrapped in plastic and stowed in a secure place.

Obviously, we hope you never have to use these precautions, but like anything else, with a few simple precautions, you just might save expensive equipment and loss of valuable information or photos that are irreplaceable… Be safe and don't take unnecessary chances..

And if you are curious as to what's happening with this and other weather events, while your computer is up and running, you might want to check out these weather websites, which we are listing in alphabetical order..

http://www.accuweather.com/
http://www.intellicast.com/
http://www.noaa.gov/
http://www.weather.com/
http://www.wunderground.com/

Router or Modem – What’s the difference?

Routers and modems are “hardware” – They are individual devices with very distinct and separate functions.

A ROUTER is not really essential for internet communication. It is still possible to connect to the internet without routers just like in the old days with internal PCI modems. But you should remember that the main job of the router is to protect you from possible threats and malware, and this shouldn’t be taken very lightly

A MODEM, is the device (or piece of hardware) that allows us to connect our computers – either wired or wirelessly – to the internet. Typically, the modem you use will be provided by your internet provider – you can purchase your own, but be sure that the model you choose will work with the connection from your internet provider (telecommunication company, cable company or satellite provider) before making the purchase. Without a modem, you cannot connect to the internet.

More and more often today, you can purchase combined router/modems so that you don’t have to have 2 separate devices in your work area, such as wi-fi modems that are equipped with routing capabilities which can be wireless or wired or both. There’s no question that in the future, there will be no practical need for cables anymore and all wi-fi modems will also have wi-fi router functions.

What are Drivers?

DRIVERS ARE THE SOFTWARE PROGRAMS THAT CONTROL HARDWARE DEVICES.

All devices (printer, disk drive, keyboard, mouse) must have a driver software program.

Many drivers, such as the keyboard driver, come with the operating system; for other devices, you may need to “load” a new driver when you connect the device to your computer.

• In DOS systems, drivers are files with a.SYS extension
  In Windows environments, drivers often have a.DRV extension

Each device has its own set of special commands that only its driver knows. In contrast, most programs access devices by using generic commands. Almost all drivers can be “downloaded” directly from the manufacturer’s website, to ensure that you have the most current DRIVER installed on your system.

If a device isn't working correctly - such as your printer, scanner, webcam etc. - go to the manufacturer's website and "download" the driver again - it will see that you have software on your computer already for the hardware and will simply modify the instructions/softeware already on your computer.

Personally I do this twice a year (such as when the clocks change) to make sure my driver software is always the most up-t-date. it's quick and easy and it's free..

What are Computer Drives?

Drives are the “hardware/equipment” that read and write the information the various disks.

Disc drives rotate the disk very fast and have one or more heads that can read and/or write data to them..

When “drives” are put into the computer, the computer will assign them a “letter” – such as:

• "C" is typically the Hard Drive on almost all computers is
• "D" is often times the CD or DVD Drive
• "E" or "F"- when you put your flash drive in the USB Port in one computer it might be the “E” Drive – in another computer it might be the “F” drive..

The "letter" the computer assigns, allows you to know where things are..

There are different types of disc drives, but the common ones that we work with are:

• CD-Rom can read audio and data CD discs
• CR-RW drives can read and record (burn) audio and data CD discs
• DVD-ROM drives can read cd and dvd discs
• Dvd+rw/+r Drives, can read and write (burn) CD and DVD discs
• COMBINATION DRIVES, combine the functions of 2 rives into one-either a DVD+RW/+R drive and a CD-RW drive or a DVD-RIM drive and a CR-RW drive
• Flash/jump drive and read and write to a flash/jump drive
• Hard disk drive (HDD) reads and writes hard disks (can be internal or external or totally portable)
• “6 in 1” - “50 In 1” Memory Card Readers – allows you to read from the memory cards of digital cameras and other media devices

Disk drives can be either internal (housed within the computer) or external (housed in a separate box that connects to the computer)

What is a Firewall??

A firewall is a system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software, or a combination of both.
Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet, especially intranets.
All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria.
Many anti-virus programs contain firewalls which you can turn on or off when you want to download authorized new programs
Your Internet provider has numerous firewalls and other security precautions to protect them and all of us when we are using their Internet services

Copying from your computer to Flash Drive

Copy and Paste is the same whether you are copying an article in the paper or an email you've received or from one page in word to another page or another document... Steps are:

1. Highlight what you want to copy
2. Give the command to Copy
3. Go to where you want to put the item
4. Give the command to Paste...

So you do the same thing when you are copying a folder, group of folders or various files to and from your flash/removable drive...

1. Open My Computer to see which drives are shown.
2. Insert flash drive in the USB port, it will appear as “removable drive” or indicate the company name (Removable Disk (G)
3. Open MY DOCUMENTS & Select the files or folders you want to copy to flash drive by left-clicking on them. To copy multiple, hold the CTRL key while you click & select all of the files you wish to save.
4. RIGHT-CLICK on the folders you want to copy (or go to Menu Bar & Edit) and choose COPY.
5. Go to “My Computer”; choose the correct Drive you want to copy your work/files/folders to; highlight that drive (i.e. "Removable Disk (G:),
6. RIGHT-CLICK on the Drive (or go to Menu Bar & Edit); choose PASTE

When the copying is finished, DO NOT IMMEDIATELY REMOVE THE FLASH DRIVE FROM THE USB PORT - Left-click on the REMOVE HARDWARE icon located in the System Tray to the far right of your Task Bar on the bottom of your monitor screen, to be sure it says: SAFELY REMOVE STORAGE DEVICE.