Hi all,

Well, a few weeks back I said I'd collate replies to the Sheffield Forum Computer Help FAQ thread. So...here we go!

Next stage is volunteering to get stuff done. Any takers?

How do I protect my computer against the bad guys? (Info on virus software/firewalls/spyware/trojans). suggest stuff like AVG anti-virus, adaware, etc. Why have I suddenly got a new search bar? What's changed my home page?

How/Where can I get help with building my website?

How do I register a domain and where can I get web hosting?

Working out what you need in your new PC...
(not what the salesman wants to sell you). Pros and cons of Buy vs Build

Maybe some explanation on digital camera specs? seen a lot of people asking advice on what camera to get... what is megapixels? 128mb card? etc..

Using search engines (eg: Google) effectively [ie: finding the right keyword(s)] Different search engines.

Avoiding electronic theft (identity, credit cards, logins, etc..)

Computer security, the pro-active approach

Computer recovery, the "ohmi{deity} it's all gone horribly wrong approach"

Windows versions and Service Packs

Wireless LANs

Sharing Internet Connections

If anyone wants to volunteer to collate / write the material, put a posting up here and we'll get going.

Joe

I shall help where I can Joe :)

Erm... Without wishing to sound like a broken record here but I remember suggesting that we already had a number of these topics covered already and that perhaps the initial idea would be to just get a collation of links together that tackled all or part of a FAQ "question".


I'm happy to re-write a couple of the posts I've done into a full article but I can't help but think that, with it being boxing day, that perhaps it'd be a liddle prudent to wait until after new year to start finalising who's doing what... some peeps want a little time off after all :)

I may be able to help on some free security software type article when i get a little more time Joe :thumbsup: .

Is This (http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15972) the sort of thing you are talking about?.

Or This (http://www.cbttechs.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=58&sid=36975f6c6a90fc89d20aa5c61c7c8395)?

Yes Martin,

I remember what you said - all I'm suggesting is that we pull it together. And I know it's Boxing Day - I just like to keep my promises to people, that's all. I said I'd do something, I've done it.

Vidster, Deejay, many thanks for the offers of help. Will get back to you!

Joe

Ok first article (Draft #1)

Working out what you "need" in a PC


Buying a brand new machine or upgrading your existing one requires a little pre-planning if you want to save yourself a few hundred pounds or buying a lemon that won't do what you want in a years time.

1. What is your primary reason for buying the PC? (Business, games, general usage)
2. Who will be using the machine? (Employees, children...)
3. What's your budget?


In terms of expense you can expect to pay most for a Games machine, then a general Business machine and finally the cheapest usually are the general usage machines.

Games machines generally require all the latest processors, a large amount of disk space, memory and the top of the range graphics card all of which adds up.

Business machines generally only need mid range components but reliability is the key here as the data on your system is VITAL so opting for a cheap system where the hard drive may fail is not an option you wish to consider. Saving a few pennies at this point may cost you hundreds to thousands later on in lost data, customers and productivity.

Finally you have your general usage machines where the chances are children are involved and you'll end up reinstalling your operating system every 6 months because they ignore all the advice about not touching free software, downloading pirated music, films and the like and thus compromise your machine within 15 minutes of it being "fixed".



There are of course plenty of exceptions to this rule and as new "technologies" come about you can be sure that the rules change a little. However there are some tried and tested rules when it comes to future proofing (or not) your purchase.

1. Never buy a warranty that gives you more than 3 years coverage. A computers "useful" life is usually surpassed in 18 months to 2 years. In a games PC that's more like 1 year.

2. If in doubt, post up a specification on the forum and what you want it to do, we can let you know what the holes are.


Custom building
===============

If you are intending to upgrade your machine with new processors, more hard drives, and generally add/replace bits as you go then you are, in my professional opinion, better advised to get a custom built PC with quality foundation components rather than buying a Dell or other proprietary systems. In nutshell your core components are:
- Motherboard
- Case
- Power Supply

These things all determine what other components you can put into your system and how far you can go with your processor, RAM, extra hard drives, etc... Taking the time to choose the best motherboard will be worth all the effort. Things to look for are a good manufacturer (ie: good update support, manuals, reputation, etc..).. good feature support (does it have firewire, USB2, etc...). You also need to think about how much further a motherboard will support new chip designs, etc...

Once you have that as a basis you will then have the ability to choose a reasonable processor, RAM, and any number of hard drives, DVD drives, etc... as you require.

The real benefits of custom building is that you can start with a mid range processor, a reasonable amount of RAM and a hard drive that does what you need "now" and in the future as your needs change and the prices of what are now, top of the range components come down, you can upgrade and keep your machine able to cope with the demands of your software and personal/business needs without spending a fortune.

Of course by custom building you need someone with the expertise and the skills to handle the building, plus of course you pay quite a bit for the components. The upside is that your system has parts that you need, and if you've done it right, that have a good reliability, build quality and the main reason most people use a custom system is that your systems life is usually 2 to 3 years longer and costs less in the long run.


Couple of things to bear in mind... It's not worth going this route if you need a general machine but essential business systems and hard core gaming machines really benefit from this approach.



At the end of the day whatever you do will cost money but hopefully you won't be making some sales guy rich when he sells you something you don't need.

The article for:
How do I protect my computer against the bad guys? (Info on virus software/firewalls/spyware/trojans). suggest stuff like AVG anti-virus, adaware, etc. Why have I suddenly got a new search bar? What's changed my home page?

Is covered with download links here:
http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?postid=246191#post246191

... and the write up here:
http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?postid=233918#post233918

Good luck with this project Joe, I think people will still ask a question rather than do any searches.That's why a lot of questions on photo forums never get answered.
Please feel free to use any of the stuff below if useful to you,