Is That Your Check Book Driving Away by Darren Miller
Is Your Check Book On The Curb --------------------- This is an article about people throwing away their home computers with all their financial and banking information on them and easily accessible. A very simple first step to financial and identity theft and it happens all the time. ... Do yourself a favor, before putting a computer out on the curb, take out the hard drive and label it "destroy" and take it to local metal shop when you have a chance. ... Don't think because you have just a home PC that you don't need to have a userID and password to login to it.

Increase Your System Performance with a few Basic Windows XP Tweaks by Kristopher Mainieri
Windows XP is currently the most popular operating system for personal computers and comes in two broad categories--XP Home and XP Pro. XP home is designed for home users who do not need the more heavyweight corporate applications such as a web server but still require a scalable and reliable... Another important class of Windows XP tweaks is to keep your hard drive defragmented. ... For example, in order to maximize available space, WinXP may decide to save part of your file in different places on the hard drive.

Condoms for Your PC – Backup Your Data by Tim Flynt
Backup is important and it is usually ignored. It is ignored until some malware wipes out a critical document, a power surge burns the PC, or you look away for a minute at the airport and find your laptop is missing. Let's look at what you can do to prepare for such a catastrophe. ... With a diskette, thumb drive, CD, or DVD, you can take it home with you so that it is stored off-site from your PC. ... If the 2nd disk drive is an external drive, you can disconnect it and take it to another location.

Avoiding Hard Disk Data Recovery Services by James Allen
As a home computer owner, one of the greatest threats to your information and to your wallet, is hard disk failure. When your drive crashes, you will quicky realize how valuable the information you can no longer access is. And when you start searching for disaster recovery services, you will be... If you have an older hard drive, be sure to run free tools like Data Lifeguard software to check the current condition of your drive. ... You'll want to make sure you have a backup while you give your new drive some time to make sure it is running well.

Make Your Computer Happy - Defrag That Disk by Shannon Baker
Just like your car, a computer needs a little bit of maintenance every so often to keep it running smoothly. One task most often overlooked is defragmenting the hard drive. Just what is hard drive defragmenting, and why should you do it? What Is File Fragmentation? ... Generally speaking, the average home user should defragment his or her hard drive 4-6 times per year (which is every 2-3 months). ... The disk defragmentation process takes all the pieces of a file and puts them back together in one single spot on the hard drive.

Which Home Theater System Is Right For Me? by Courtland Santos
Putting together a new home theater system is fun and exciting. One of the essential parts of a home theater system is the audio necessary to reproduce surround sound. Obviously, with such a wide variety of choices, it can be difficult sometimes to determine which home theater system is the best. ... Perhaps the greatest advantage of the family room home theater system is its convenience, as the space is usually centrally located in the home. ... Home theater reviews are a perfect way to determine what home theater system is right for you.

The Worst Case Scenario: How To Protect Your Data by Peter Stewart
Just another day, doing as you always do with your computer. Making documents, working on your finances, updating your family's website or conducting your home or online business. Suddenly, strange errors start appearing, your computer makes loud scratching sounds and then, nothing. ... Never attempt to open and fix yourself as the inside of the hard drive is a contaminent free space, with zero dust, even a few particles can make the drive unrepairable. ... Hard drive failures are when the drive itself fails due to some internal problems or any of the preceding physically harmful events.

Data Storage Solutions by Josh Riverside
Data storage solutions are a very smart choice for any company, no matter what stage it is in. Whether you are just starting out, or well on your way into expanding, there’s a data storage solutions perfect for you. Data storage solutions for home-based and small businesses No matter what you... There are a lot of very affordable data storage solutions available to home-based and small businesses. ... These packages provide highly reliable backup, recovery and archiving solutions, such as high-quality drives that are perfect for small business and home office requirements.

The Perils of Wireless Networking by Rick Parrott
In November 2003, Toronto police arrested a man in an upscale residential neighborhood. They noticed his car driving slowly the wrong way down a one-way street. Upon stopping the car, the police discovered the driver naked from the waist down. What was he doing? ... In a recent interview, attorney Joseph Burton, of Duane Morris Law Firm, said, “Is it possible a home owner can be liable for a lack of security on a wireless network? ... Conducting a casual site survey around your home will tell you a lot about your vulnerability.

Device Driver Basics by Stephen Bucaro
Most people understand that the "hardware" part of their computer is the real physical parts, like the keyboard, mouse, modem, hard drive and so on. They understand that the "software" is computer bits stored on the hard drive, CD-ROM, or other storage media. ... If your computer has problems with the new drive, you can click on the "Roll Back Driver" button to roll back to the previous the driver. ... If it's your home computer and you performed a back-up recently, go ahead and install the unsigned driver.