PC Maintenance and Security

These tutorials were so helpful!  I tried to choose areas that I wasn't so familiar with.  I blogged about them below:

1) Using Firewalls - There were a lot of things I didn't know about firewalls.  I didn't know that there were two types of firewalls.  One for the hardware and one for the software.  But what I found interesting were the options you can have with firewalls.  I was surprised to know that you can make exceptions for certain programs that allow information to get through.  A great program was introduced in this tutorial: ZoneAlarm.  It's a free download and supposed to be a very good software firewall.  With this program, and other programs like this, you can train your firewall how to act and sometimes block out phishing e-mails from big organizations like eBay.  I will definitely tell my friends and family about this free download and its features.  

2) File Back-Up Options - I knew backing up your files was essential.  I've always used external devices like CDs, thumb drives, and hard drives to do this.  However, it was interesting to see how these devices compared to each other.  What I was surprised to know was that there are online programs that give you storage space.  For example, Media Max gives you 25GB of online storage space!  That's bigger than most thumb drives and almost the size of small hard drives.  I will definitely tell my acquaintances about the different options they have when backing up their information.  As well as, how important it is to back-up your files.  I personally don't do this enough, but after watching this tutorial I'm motivated to update my back-up files today.  I would be devastated if I lost all my files.

3) Clean Up and Speed Up Your PC - I've only been cleaning up my computer on a surface level.  I was very interested in the tips this tutorial gave me.  Again, I was surprised to know that there were online options of cleaning up your computer.  I've always gone through deleting programs manually, but the Windows Clean Up! program seems wonderful and it's FREE.  I don't think I would've tried it before viewing this tutorial because I would have been hesitate about catching viruses or it being a scam.  I will definitely tell others to use it as well because it has many benefits.  It speeds up your computer processing time, deletes junk that you wouldn't always know to delete, it's fast, and gives you back space on your computer.  I can't wait to try it!