Ubitech

Computer support for the home and business

A Leeds based company for local people, giving support to Leeds and surrounding areas

 

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Keeping your Operating system and software up to date.

Exercise and diet are two important things you can do to maintain a healthy and productive lifestyle. Just like keeping your body fit, your computer needs a good routine to help avoid data loss, new viruses, spyware and other potential risks. Software makers routinely create updates for their products, in some cases to provide feature improvements, but also as the first line of defence in keeping your computer as secure as possible.

From a security and safety perspective you will, at minimum, want to make sure that your operating system, anti-virus and anti-spyware products are kept up to date. In addition, you want to make sure you update any additional software you use for browsing the Internet (if you use a product other than Microsoft Internet Explorer which is updated as part of Microsoft Windows), or for e-mail and online gaming. If you are unsure how to do these tasks I can instruct you and leave you with simple instructions so that you can keep them updated yourself.

Anti-virus & Anti-Spyware

There are a number of reputable companies that make both anti-virus and anti-spyware products. While you should only run one anti-virus tool on your computer, some more sophisticated consumers actually use a few anti-spyware tools. The challenge for consumers is that the threat presented by worms, viruses and spyware (what many call "malware") tends to change quickly. The perpetrators of these programs are consistently trying to find new ways to break the system. That means it is extremely important to make sure that anti-virus and anti-spyware products are installed correctly and kept up to date regularly. All too often, people have a false sense of security because they think they have the right tools installed, but find themselves in trouble simply because the product isn't set up correctly or their subscription runs out. I recommend and can install for you. Alternately you can download the and install the software yourself by using on of the Kaspersky links below which will take you to the Kaspersky web site.

Being sceptical and careful in what you do, such as opening attachments in e-mail and chat software.

If someone emails you a 'cool program', don't open it unless you know the person and know they keep their computer secure and they told you they were going to send it to you. The email may have been forged. That other person may have had their system taken over by a malicious program, and now their system is sending out malicious programs to everyone in their address book. Besides, even if the person intentionally sent it, it’s unlikely that the person actually wrote the program, and you probably aren’t going to review its code... so neither of you have any idea what it really does. And if you don’t know the person, this is even more true -- never run a program sent by a spammer! They can make money by exploiting your system (say to send more spam, selling data they find on your system, and so on). If you find you become infected by a virus or your computer becomes so slow due to spy/bloatware. I can give your computer a once over to get it back to 'the way it used to be'.

Children's safety

Everyone wants to make sure your child is safe, this is also true on computers. From making sure their games are age compliant to safe internet use. Leaving a child in their bedroom with a computer connected to the internet isn't a wise choice. You can help yourself and your child with various pieces of software that will go from just blocking undesirable internet sites for younger children to recording data and what the computer operator has been doing, talking, seeing. While it is not for me to decide on what you want to use or to what level you wish to control usage of the computer, I can advise on which pieces of software would be useful for you, and install and instruct on how to use it.