Technical Tips 2
Physical protection for your computer Get a good Surge Protector – A power surge or lightning strike can destroy your computer and valuable files in an instant. Power surges and lightning strikes are bad news for computers. Surges often go unnoticed, sometimes lasting as little as 1/120th of a second. But they are much more common and destructive than you might think. According to recent studies, your electrical equipment is constantly experiencing surges of varying power. Some of them can be absorbed by your power supply while others can only be handled by a quality surge protector.

Static electricity. If you are going to open you computer casing yourself be extremely cautious of static electricity – this can damage Mother Boards and Hard drives in a fraction of a second, often beyond repair. There are various ways to stop this happening including anti-static wrist bands and bench mats. 

Shut down before unplugging on plugging in any cables. Doing so with the power on can cause a short circuit in the Mother Board which may damage it beyond repair. This is particularly true of Keyboard and Mouse Ports. USB cables however should be safe. If in doubt shut down first. Software installation 
Back Up before installing any new software, regardless of the source.

Scan all floppy disks, CD-ROMs, and DVD-ROMs before using them in your computer. You never know if a nasty virus is lurking on a seemingly innocent disk.

Don't install pirated software onto your computer. Illegal copies of software, those downloaded from hacker websites or sourced from file-sharing programs often contain hidden viruses.

Before installing any software, be sure you know exactly what is being copied onto your system. Sometimes seemingly-innocent software can contain viruses or Trojans that can take control of your computer. This is a particular danger with file-sharing programs that allow you to trade MP3s, videos, etc. such as Kazaa, eDonkey. 

Backing up Making regular backups of the important files on your computer means that even if disaster strikes you will have saved those crucial files. Back up options Burn CD’s regularly of all your important files.

Get a slave Hard Drive installed and copy important files to this Drive, this way you will always have a copy if one Hard Disk fails.

Get an external USB Hard Drive as above. This should will be Plug & Play and will avoid the need to open the computer casing.

If your machine starts misbehaving in any way back up as soon as possible.

If your machine starts to make any strange noises – especially scratchy ones - back up as soon as possible.

Back up before you try and fix anything yourself, especially if you decide to open the case. 

Suggested downloads from PC World to protect your computer

Microsoft Anti-Spyware 

Microsoft release a really excellent piece of software! 

This Anti-Spyware is updated daily and is really easy to use and should keep your PC free from malicious adware.