New Year’s Resolutions? Get Real
Face it. We know you’re not going to keep that New Year’s resolution to lose 10 pounds or quit smoking. Are you seriously going to stop watching television this year?
Why not resolve to do something practical, like learning how to use all the gadgets that you got for the holidays? Or protecting all the everyday gadgets in your life?
Although there’s no Y2K to worry about this year, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a technology crisis lurking out there. Here is a Tech Times list of five tech resolutions that you should keep.
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Resolution #1:
Back Up Your Hard Drive
“The first rule in computers is back up, back up, back up,” said John Christopher, a data recovery engineer with DriveSavers Data Recovery in Novato. “The second rule is to check your backup and make sure the data is not corrupted.”
The safest option is to back up data on a CD or a DAT tape. Many of the current lines of PCs and Macintoshes include a CD burner installed in the machine. An external CD-R or CD-RW drive costs about $100. Often, the drive will come with software to guide you through the backup process.
Of course, most people don’t know which files to back up. For that, take a look at programs that make a mirror image of your drive, such as Symantec Corp.’s Norton Ghost 2002 ($70, www.symantecstore.com) or Dantz Development’s Retro-Spec Desktop Backup ($149, www.dantz.com).
Once a backup is made, be sure to put it in a safe spot that is separate from the machine. Take a copy to work. Pop one in the back of the closet.
CDs are good for casual computer users who rely on their machines only for the occasional e-mail and surfing the Web, Christopher said. For power users--those who store entire libraries of music and movies on their machine, or who have a collection of data that puts the Library of Congress to shame--be prepared to spend some money on a data-storage tape drive.
Such devices store as much as 12 gigabytes of compressed data on a single tape cassette, but they are expensive, starting at around $800. Although such devices cost more upfront, Christopher said it’s a smarter move for the long term.
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Resolution #2:
Purify Your PC
For months--or more likely, years--you have been happily installing and uninstalling programs on your machine. Along the way, the process has left the drive in a complete mess, as if a maid has come in and put everything in the wrong spot.
The first thing to do is run Windows’ Disk Cleanup, a software utility designed to sweep up after untidy applications. Click on the Start button, then go to Programs, Accessories, System Tools and Disk Cleanup. You will be given a list of options to clean up various parts of the drive. Check the boxes next to the items to delete. Hit OK, and poof--no more clutter.
Afterward, run the Windows Disk Defragmenter (accessed by clicking on the Start button, then Programs, Accessories, System Tools and Disk Defragmenter), which collects all the various bits on your hard disk and packs them into a more efficient order. Your PC should purr like a well-oiled machine.
Think you’re done? Not yet. The machine may be organized, but not truly clean. Viruses get into computers any way they can--file downloads, e-mail attachments, even nasty Web scripts. Once inside, viruses have a pesky way of lurking around in the shadows.
To combat this, invest in a decent anti-virus software program. Symantec Corp.’s Norton AntiVirus 2002 is the powerhouse in the field, a $50 program that knocks out every virus under the sun. Another popular program is McAfee Corp.’s VirusScan 6.0, which retails for about $40 at mcafeestore.beyond.com.
No machine is completely hacker-proof. To see what security holes you need to fill, head to Hacker Whacker (www.hackerwhacker.com) and for $10, the site will find weak spots in your setup.
That should inspire anyone with a high-speed connection to go out and set up a “firewall,” a blocker that stands between your machine and the Internet. Some are devices that plug into your system. Although these tend to be more expensive--about $80 and up--they are considered a bit more secure.
You also can turn to a software firewall. These tend to be cheaper and more flexible. Here’s a plus: Several of the antiviral programs on the market, such as VirusScan, come with a software firewall.
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Resolution #3:
Sync, Sync, Sync
It’s Sunday evening and you remember that you have something to do on Monday morning. But you forgot to sync your hand-held computer before leaving the office, so you have no idea what’s coming.
Sound familiar? To prevent that from happening, you can build a reminder system for portable devices to jog your memory at the end of the day. Palm OS 4.0 and later versions include a reminder system that allows you to scale the urgency of the alert.
You can create a daily “meeting” alarm that will interrupt your current task, or build an e-mail reminder that pops up a small icon in the corner of the device’s screen. Either way, you can dictate how insistent the alert will be by clicking on “user settings” and following the instructions.
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Resolution #4:
Clean Up Your Cell Phone
When you bought your cell phone, you scoured the Web and pestered friends to find the best deal. It was a smart buy then. But given how competitive the cell phone market is, it’s likely you could be paying less--and getting more.
When a cell phone contract comes up for renewal, it’s always a good idea to poke around and see what’s available on the market.
WirelessAdvisor (www.wireless advisor.com) lets you search by ZIP Code for wireless phone companies serving a particular area. LetsTalk.com (www.letstalk.com) lets you comparison shop for the best cell plan or pager rebate.
Once you’ve figured out your monthly wireless budget, make sure the phone is in optimal condition. Sit down and edit the phone book. This can be done manually or, in the case of some phones, there is software that lets you do the editing at a PC. For example, Nokia Corp.’s FoneSync (www .forum.nokia.com), allows you to edit contacts and calendar notes with most personal information manager applications for the PC.
Finally, let’s talk about that ring tone. If you carry a briefcase to work, you’re way too old to have “Who Let the Dogs Out” beeping from a cell phone.
Change it. Now.
There are hundreds of sites, such as www.cellularaccessory .com, that offer free downloads. Enjoy the freebies while they’re available: Motorola Inc. recently partnered with Ztango Inc. (www.ztango.com) to sell downloadable ring tones, and several European ring-tone sellers are going to jump into the U.S. market next year.
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Resolution #5:
Organize Your Virtual Life
It can be overwhelming to keep track of your virtual life on the Web. Take passwords. Do you remember which password is on your Yahoo account? Is it the same as the one at Epicurious.com? Visit all of your favorite sites and change the passwords, which should be rotated once every two to six weeks, according to security experts.
Next, consolidate your e-mail accounts. Decide which ones will be personal (the ones you give to people you actually want to talk to) and which ones will be public (the ones you use when signing up for a Web-based service). Having an address posted on a Web site is a huge welcome sign for spammers, as is posting an address on newsgroups or any other public forum.
Most e-mail programs, such as Outlook and Eudora, have built-in filtering tools that allow you to highlight important mail and isolate the junk.
In Outlook, use the Organize icon in the toolbar to tag messages from friends and business associates as important. Right click on messages to tag the message and the sender as “junk.” There’s also a way to directly filter out the spam when it first hits your inbox. Go to Tools, click on Rules Wizard and follow the instructions for filtering by “specific words in the subject or body.” By filtering out e-mails that have common spam words or phrases--such as mortgage, credit, Viagra--chances are the level of junk e-mail will drop considerably.
In addition, America Online and MSN’s Hotmail allow users to configure their e-mail accounts so spam is killed before it ever reaches the inbox. Other companies, such as EarthLink and Yahoo, route suspected items to a bulk-mail box.
And remember this mantra: Don’t respond to invitations to have your name removed from spam lists. Junk e-mailers often use this trick to verify that the address is valid.
For more tips on eradicating spam, or to lodge a complaint against a particularly annoying spammer, check out the volunteer-run, anti-spam coalition at www.cauce.org.
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Five to Consider
1. Back up your hard drive.
2. Purify your PC.
3. Sync, sync, sync.
4. Clean up your cell phone.
5. Organize your virtual life.
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P.J. Huffstutter covers technology. She can be reached at p.j.huffstutter @latimes.com.
