Registry Cleanup / Defrag Tools / Wireless Security / Switch to Vonage? / Restoring from Backups / Self Publishing
Happy New Year! In the midst all your resolutions and good intentions for 2011, don't forget about your computer. In today's TOURBUS, you'll find out if Cleaning Your Registry can boost performance, and you can check out my list of the Best Hard Drive Defraggers to keep your drive spinning at optimal performance levels. I've also got a Wireless Network Security Checklist with seven tips for home wifi security.
Have you considered dumping your landline? Find out if you should Switch to Vonage Internet Phone Service. And if you have a backup, hooray for you! But if you're fuzzy on what to do in the event of a hard drive crash, see my article on Restoring From a Backup. Finally, I've got some tips on Getting Started With Self Publishing. Read on!
Should You Clean Your Registry?
If your computer is starting up slowly or it sometimes "hangs" for several seconds, geeky friends will ask if you have cleaned your registry lately. Registry cleanup is one of the standard prescriptions for computer performance problems. The registry specifies what programs to load at startup, and where to find critical Windows system files.
But is registry cleanup really necessary? Can it be dangerous to your computer's health? Here's the scoop...
Defragmenting ("defragging") your hard drive periodically improves its performance and extends the life of the read/write mechanism. Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 have built-in defrag utilities, but they don't defragment all files and they don't optimize the placement of files on the hard drive.
Learn about the critical differences between defrag utilities, and some of the best free and commercial defraggers...
A reader asks: "I have a wireless router, with several computers and game consoles in my home connected to wifi, but I'm worried about the security of the wireless network. How can I make sure that nobody can secretly access my computers through a wireless connection?" The purposes of wireless security is to keep unauthorized parties from mooching off the Internet access that you pay for, and to keep snoops and hackers from out.
See my wifi security checklist and find out if all 7 hatches of your wireless network are battened down...
Vonage Internet phone service is one of the oldest consumer-targeted VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services, and is used by 2.4 million customers worldwide, who have opted to drop their traditional landline phone service from the telephone company. Depending on your usage, a VOIP phone service could save you lots.
Find out if Vonage can completely replace the landline service you currently get from the phone company, and if are there any gotchas you should know about...
Your hard drive crashed, but there's no need to panic. You made a backup so your important files could be recovered in the event of data loss or a hard drive crash. Now the only question is, how do you restore your data? The procedure for doing that of course depends on how you made the backup copy.
Read on for tips on restoring your files from a backup, or check out my articles on backup strategies...
The old barriers to getting published are being removed by web-based publishing houses that don't mail you rejection letters. And unlike traditional "vanity presses" that want several thousand dollars up-front just to print a few hundred books, the new self-publishing services cost virtually nothing out of pocket.
Self-publishing a book is the smart way to go these days -- here's how to get started...