Protecting That Holiday Gift!
by Durand C. 'Randy' Waters

Since any computer will not work without electricity, that source needs to be protected. Many companies provide surge suppressors, such as APC, Best and Tripp Lite. Since your computer most likely has a modem, make sure the surge suppressor has line in and modem out RJ11 connections. Electrical surges through telephone lines are just as dangerous as the electrical ones.

If your computer comes with a modem, it is almost assuredly a facsimile (fax) modem and could have a voice capability, too. If set up properly, a voice/fax/modem can tun a single telephone line into a modem and a fax machine besides a regular telephone, IF you leave your computer on 24 hours a day. That means more protection is needed than a surge suppressor. That is right, an UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply).

It takes some work to figure out which one you need, but if you refer to my September 1996 and March 1997 columns, you will have the basic information you need. If you are going to turn your monitor off (a good idea), then all you have to keep running is the CPU and modem (if it is an external one). Of course, a UPS will only keep your computer running for a specified period of time after the loss of power, so determine what you need (longest outage on record in a non-disaster situation). The more sophisticated (and expensive) systems can even safely shut your system down before the UPS runs out of its charge and restart it when electricity is restored. It just depends on how important keeping your system operating and available is to you.

Besides insuring that you have stable power for your system, cooling is important, too. Make sure vents are not blocked, especially those that are the outlet for cooling fans. Many peripherals just have vents or fins to allow cooling, so do not block or pile things on them. Heat is as great a danger to your computer system as improperly regulated electrical power.

Of course, do not ignore our primary power and heat source: the Sun. Make sure it does not directly shine on any of your computer components.

While on the subject of keeping things cool, keeping everything free from dust accumulations is, also, very important. At least once a year, if there has not been an opportunity to open up the various components of your computer system, take the covers off and blow the accumulated dust from all the cracks, crevices and surfaces with an aerosol can designed for that purpose. If there are substantial dust accumulations of dust on vents or fins, using a vacuum cleaner may be more appropriate and less messy than an aerosol can. The reason not to use a vacuum inside any component of your computer system is that you could suck various jumper connections apart or into the cleaner and you may not know how to reconnect them or even know that anything is missing. Better safe than sorry!

Anytime you are inside any component of your computer system, check that things are properly installed and if your remove a card (change from an internal to an external modem), remember to replace the open access space with a plate to keep dust out. Any computer supply store has them and the screws to hold them in place if they did not come with the computer.

These take care of most of the "physical" aspects of computer care, but what about electronic ones? The part of any system that gets the most work is its information. That information is primarily stored on a hard drive. The source diskettes and CD-ROMs hold your operating system and applications. Many programs are now getting upgrades via the Internet either through their own upgrade functions (Quicken and Netscape) or using a program that catalogues all your applications and keeps track of available upgrades (Oil Change) and updates (most AntiVirus program's signature files). It is important to store these, too, whether on floppy or high density diskettes or CD-ROMs.

The same needs to be done for your operating system. In the event that your computer system experiences a hard drive failure, at least you have the original, upgrade and update files to recreate it.

The next step is to protect the operating system, application programs and the data you have created from computer viruses. It should be not secret that up-to-date antivirus protection is a MUST in my book. There have been two (2) theme issues (July 1996 and June 1977), plus my November 1996, January, May, August and December 1997 columns dealt with this subject. (See the index to Randy's columns.)Do not be without your antivirus program's latest version and signature file update.

Now to that data mentioned above. This is information you produce using the various application programs you have on your computer: word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, database, graphic, web page, electronic mail and game status files. Windows 95 comes with a 'My Documents' folder that is a convenient place to organize all these files. You could do the same with MS-DOS/Windows 3.1x systems, just by saving all your application's data files in the same directory. As long as you use a unique extension with each application's files or save them to a different sub-folder/-directory, there should be no problem in finding the files when you need them.

Why do I recommend putting all your data files in one folder/directory? It makes backing them up very easy. If you do not have very many files, you might be able to back them up to one or two diskettes. If you have a great number or very large files, you could still back them up to diskettes, but you might want to use a compression program like PKZip, UnZip (seems to come on a number of computers or with some programs) or WinZip. Above I mentioned high density diskettes. There are some that hold 100 MB. Without compression it would only take five or six to backup my files at work (yes, I hardly ever throw anything away). These go by the brand names of Zip and Ditto.

Tape backups are a traditional way to backup files, but with sequential storage, it takes a long time to store and retrieve them. My October 1996 and March 1997 columns covered these types of backups in detail. Not much has changed except, as hard drives have gotten larger the capacities of tapes have kept pace.

If you find them reliable, you may find complete backups as convenient as data ones. A new way of backing up is using a CD-ROM. CD-R(ecordable) drives are now as inexpensive as $250.00 and the discs are under a$1.00 if bought in volume. Erasable and Writeable CD-ROM drives and media are not as reasonably priced, so it might be a while longer until they become popular as a backup source.

The importance of the last four paragraphs is, no mater what procedure and media you use, do BACKUP!

A final set of suggestions. With MS-DOS/Windows 3.1x systems, make sure to Search and delete temporary (~*.tmp) and backup (*.bak) files at least monthly. MS Windows 95 systems seem much better about removing temporary files. After this clean up, a ScanDisk and Defrag will put you hard disc drive in better tune. The August 1996 column covered this in some detail.

Finally, what should you do if you have problems with your computer than you cannot fix yourself? First, if it is still within the warranty period, the manufacturer or store where you where you bought/upgraded your system is place to get things set straight. The same goes for software, though most stores will only replace defective media and refer you to the manufacturer/publisher for service.

When the warranty period is over, seek advise from the Help Committee, but hardware problems may require that you pay someone for their repair. Software problems are usually solved by reinstalling.

If manuals and help files do not offer the solution to your problem, Frequently Asked Question (FAQs) areas on BBSes and the Internet can be very helpful. For some companies, this is their only form of technical support. Clarke Bird, your Editor, found the following information sources in the December issue of Home PC. You might find them useful:

• e.Support - Download the free software, specify your product and problem on a support request form and send it to e.Support, which will route it to the appropriate vendor at no charge.

• Microsoft (MS) Technical Support Online - Got a problem with a MS product? Select it from the pull down menu, click on Go. and your are whisked to a library of information, tips, and answers to FAQs.

• PC Help Online - Here is a well-organized and comprehensive list of contacts for hardware and software companies, plus other useful information.

• SupportHelp- Type in a company name, product type or keyword and this site returns a detailed report of relevant tech-support resources.

No matter where you get your help, make sure to follow the advice of my May 1997 column: Do you know what is being done to your computer? It is your computer system and your responsibility. Good luck and I will be talking to you next month.

Randy Waters is a computer programmer/analyst for your federal government, specializing in information protection (p.k.a. computer security), business recovery planning and operation system and application software training. The Microsoft Office Standard 97 SIG and the Help Committee in addition to this column are his contribution to APCO. S.A.I.L.S. and the First Presbyterian Church round out his community involvement activities.