Bad Tech Habits to Break Before Your Computer Does

Most of us would be lost without our computers – both desk bound and portable – and we know it. However many of us are also guilty of being less than kind to our high tech toys and have some rather bad tech habits that actually endanger them. If you are guilty of any of the following its time to change your ways – before your computer has to head of the the computer repair store in the hope that it can be saved.



Failing to Install Security Software – Security software can be annoying. Pop up boxes asking every five minutes if you are sure you want to proceed to a site whose security certificate has expired, scans that take an hour to run that slow everything down while they do. Some people become so annoyed by their security software that they disable it, believing that their own Internet savvy and computer smarts will identify any dangers anyway.



Unfortunately eventually many of these folks end up dragging their precious PC or lap top to the nearest computer repair store after it has been hijacked by an attack that seemed to come form nowhere. It does not matter which security software you choose, just make sure you have some. A little annoyance costs nothing but computer repairs will.



Failing to Backup Your Computer – People who are guilty of this if asked will probably tell you "I know its bad but …" They don’t have time, they cant find any blank discs, their computer is new anyway, the list of excuses goes on. The simple fact is that all hard drives crash in the end, all of them, including yours. Back up your data now before its too late.



Too Much Junk – Why is your Internet so darned slow? And offline use isn’t that speedy either. It may (or probably) has something to do with those four search toolbars you installed, the three messaging clients and other assorted gunk you’ve installed because it looked vaguely interesting. Some of this stuff can be hard to uninstall too as it leaves dignitary traces all over you system, often leading to a Windows rebuild being your only choice if you want your computer’s true power back. Only install tools you really need and the more you can achieve in the "cloud" the better.



Hitting your Computer – Sounds funny but ask any computer repair person and they will tell you that they have seen plenty of cases of computers damaged by "domestic violence". Windowless is a terribly frustrating operating system much of the time (not that Mac or Linux is always that much better) but hitting, kicking or throwing things at your computer is not going to help. When you want to take a hammer to your PC screen because you have been trying to install a program for two days now and the Windows firewall still won’t let you get up and walk away for a few minutes – or go play something like Angry Birds on your smart phone to channel your anger in a different direction