Rather than creating more electronic waste, there are a number of options for you to choose from.

Recycle Them

You can post an ad on Craigslist and see if anyone wants a free computer monitor. Usually, you’ll find many takers. There is also Freecycle where people post things that they want to get rid off and others go on there to search for things that they need.

Techsoup has a list of places that will recycle your old computer equipment. That’s another option you can check out.

Donate Them

There are many places where you can donate your old computer monitors for a good cause. Schools need them. So do homeless rescue missions that offer job training. Instead of throwing out your monitors, consider calling up some of these places and asking them if they could use a monitor.

So when it comes to spring cleaning time and you’re clearing out your attic, consider recycling or donating some of your old computer monitors that are just sitting around collecting dust.

image credit: Extra Ketchup (Flickr)

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Here are a few frequently asked questions regarding disk defragmentation.

What Causes Fragmented Files?

Think of your computer’s hard disk drive as a large warehouse for your data. Every bin in the warehouse represents a file, and the boxes filling the bin represent the bytes of data that make up the file.

In order to ensure fast access to your bins, you want to keep the bins at the front of the warehouse full, so they can be pulled from as quickly as possible. Let’s say, however, that when you get a new shipment of product, you completely fill up the bin, have more boxes of product to store, and the bins next to it are full as well. In most warehouses, the extra product is moved to the back of the warehouse and a note left in the original bin as to where the overstock is stored.

Your computer works in much the same way. Space is allocated on the hard drive to keep each file. To keep your computer running smoothly, files are often stored right next to each other in the first available space. However, if you go back and add a few pages to that story you were writing, the computer doesn’t see any space on the hard drive to store the new data. Therefore, it moves the new data into the next available spot on the hard drive and leaves itself a “note” of sorts as to where the rest of your file is. This splitting of the file into separate pieces is known as “file fragmentation”.

Why Do I Need to Defragment My Hard Drive?

As more and more files get more and more fragmented, it takes the computer longer to access these files, whether you’re opening, editing, or even deleting them. If we revisit our warehouse analogy, when someone purchases the entire stock of a product, the warehouse employees may have to visit 3-4 different bins to fill the order. This same exact thing is happening on your hard drive.

What Will Defragmenting My Hard Drive Achieve?

The disk defragmentation process takes all the pieces of a file and puts them back together in one single spot on the hard drive. Additionally, your file is moved toward the front of the drive so that it can be accessed faster.

How Often To Defragment Your Hard Drive

This is going to depend on how you use your computer. If you access a lot of large files on a frequent basis, chances are your files will fragment more quickly than someone who only checks his e-mail a few times a week. Generally speaking, the average home user should defragment his or her hard drive 4-6 times per year (which is every 2-3 months).

How Do I Defragment My Hard Drive?

If you’re using Windows, there is a built-in utility for performing disk defragmentation. Check the user manual, help files, or do a search for the full procedure. Be warned that it can take a while to complete the process depending on the size of your files and how many files are fragmented.

After the defragmentation process is completed, you should notice that your computer will run much faster.

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Problems arise when you run out of memory in RAM (random access memory). If you find that the RAM often reaches its peak limit of usage, then it is time to add more RAM to your computer. You do have to check to see what the maximum RAM your computer takes. Adding RAM is not difficult but you have to be careful to buy the correct type of memory that fits with the computer you’re using. If you’re not sure, ask someone who is familiar with computers or head to your nearest computer store to get some help.

The CPU is also another troublemaker which can bring on slow performance. If you have got a CPU that is in its old age, it will not support the latest advances or be enough for providing support to recent applications.

While it is easy to change the CPU, the fact is it isn’t as easy as adding RAM. This is because the old motherboard usually fails to provide support to the most recent CPU which is currently in use. So instead of changing the CPU to improve your PC, it is best to upgrade the entire system as computer prices are falling all the time. So you can get a lot better performance for a lot less money.

Here are a few more tips for optimizing the performance of your PC:

1. Remove programs which you rarely use. These programs just take up space which you could use for something else.

2. Avoid working on multiple files at one go. It would also help to minimize other applications when you are currently working on a particular file.

3. It is a good practice to check the sector allocation which indicates the storage of data on the hard drive. You will be able to assess how the data sectors are fragmented on the hard drive. You can carry out a defragmentation exercise to improve your PC performance.

When you open any folder, the mouse pointer briefly turns into the form of an hour glass to show that the computer is searching for the information you are looking for.  The more fragmented your hard drive, the longer it takes to show you the lists in the folder that you opened. This also happens when you open any volume, be it C or D or E. If you want to speed up the time in accessing your folders or your volumes, the best option is to go for defragmentation of the hard disk volumes.

This process is one in which the disk fragmenter which is usually a program that analyzes local volumes or drives. Then it uses a systematic way to organize your files and folders. This helps to make your PC function and access what you require with speed and improved efficiency than ever before.

The following steps will help you find the disk defragmentation function:

Step 1: Click on Start. Select All Programs
Step 2: Select Accessories and then choose System Tools.
Step 3: When you see the option Disk Defragmenter, click it.
Step 4: Click the volume which you have decided to defragment. Go ahead, click Defragment and wait for its completion.
Step 5: On completion of the process, check the results shown in the Defragmentation display.
Step 6: Click View Report. Check the Defragmentation Report. The report provides important and detailed information pertaining to the volume that was defragmented.

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Before anything else, you should buy or download an anti virus security program. A good security program should be able to do 2 things: One, it should be able to detect and block incoming viruses. Two, the program should be able to detect viruses that actually manage to infect your system, and should be able to clean these viruses out.

There are three major types of viruses known. It is best to be aware of these types, and know what steps can be taken to protect your computer against them.

One is the standard computer virus. These ride hidden in a normal program, and activate only when the program is accessed. The virus then spreads through the system by copying itself and infecting other programs it detects. Any good security system is primarily geared towards protection against generic viruses. However, new viruses are constantly being created by hackers, so the best defense against this is to find a security system provider that also remains up to date with the latest known types of viruses.

The second type of virus is the Email virus. These are viruses that reach your computer by hiding in an email. Once you access the email it activates the virus and proceeds to replicate by sending copies of itself to everyone in your address book. Email service providers have built in virus detectors to monitor incoming email, but the best defense is awareness. DON’T open emails from unknown sources, and in case you get an email from a trusted source with a title that looks suspicious, try confirming with the source if he or she did send the email before opening it.

Worms are the third type of security threat. These are computer programs that have the ability to copy themselves from terminal to terminal across the internet or even within a closed system like a local area network. Unlike regular viruses, worms copy themselves directly onto a computer without needing to ride hidden inside a file. Also, worms are dangerous because they are programmed to seek out specified loopholes in computer security programs, and use those weaknesses as an entry point to get into a system. Firewalls are the best means to deal with worms. Firewalls are programs that block out attempts by unknown computer sources to access your terminal.

Many spyware programs will cause your computer to slow down in its performance, and may even cause lock-ups and crashes. For this reason I highly recommend using a spyware remover on a regular basis to help keep your computer working at it’s best. There are a number of spyware removers available today, and the two I most highly recommend are ‘Spybot – Search and Destroy’, made by Patrick Kolla, and ‘Ad-Aware SE’ produced by Lavasoft. Both of these programs are available in a basic form free of charge. More advanced forms of the programs are available for a small fee, however I have personally been more than happy with just the free versions.

In more recent times, Microsoft has jumped into the spyware remover business and has released a free update for Windows XP, Windows 2003, and Windows 2000 called the ‘Windows AntiSpyware Beta’. Like all beta programs, it is in its testing stage, but is intended to be released as a free product for Window’s users sometime in the near future. One major benefit of the Microsoft spyware remover is it is often able to detect and halt spyware as it is being installed, whereas most other spyware removers are normally only able to catch spyware after it is already on your computer.

Be wary when looking for a good spyware remover. There are many advertisements today for spyware removers that are misleading, and there are some phony programs that actually install spyware of their own if you use them! For this reason, its unadvisable to use any spyware remover that you see advertised in a ‘pop-up’ add, or other flashy and obnoxious advertisement, as these are often the programs to be wary of. Before using a spyware remover, do some research on it online, there are many online communities and forums that discuss which spyware removers are good and which ones are potentially harmful.

No single spyware remover is perfect; you may find better success with some over others. A good overall strategy is run more than one program to increase your chances of keeping spyware free. I run both Spybot and Ad-Aware at least once a week, and install updates for these programs whenever they are available.

Here are some things to look for when looking for spyware:

If your search tool bar or Internet browser bar appears different than when you last saw it. There will be additional buttons that you did not install that just seem to have incorporated themselves in there.

If you try to remove a piece of software and it won’t let you or just comes right back.

While searching through the address bar, you are brought to pages you are completely unfamiliar with or didn’t meet your search inquiry.

Your homepage on your browser has changed with out your permission to something you don’t want. No matter how many times you reset it always comes back.

Pop-up windows advertising all kinds of things continuously even when you are not online or browsing the net. This is a real indicator that you have something on your computer.

You start to get more than normal pop-ups. Instead on the one or two when you go to a web site you are now getting four or more.

Your anti-virus or anti-spyware program isn’t working right, stops working all together, or keeps giving you error messages.

There are new listings in your favorite menu that you didn’t put there yourself. When you try to delete them they keep coming back every time.

Your computer seems to be lagging or runs really slow compared to normal. It takes so much longer than normal to get tasks accomplished and things to open or close.

The lights are flashing on your modem or your online connection flashes even when you are not using online programs or games.

If you have dial up, your phone bill has expensive calls on it you didn’t make or is extraordinarily high.

If you think you have spyware on your computer, then you will want to get rid of it as soon as you suspect it. Always make sure your anti-virus is up to date and run it frequently if it has an anti-spyware program built into it. Most companies offer this feature today with their software. You will have one of two types of programs if this is included in your package. You either have the type of software that will catch the spyware as it tries to get onto your machine and stop it from installing immediately. This is a great feature to have on your anti-virus software. This will keep your machine spyware free and is worth it. You could have the type of anti-virus that only detects spyware when you run a scan. If this is the case and you frequent the net often you will want to run at least one scan per day to keep your computer spyware free. Many spyware programs get downloaded to your machine with out you even knowing it. All it takes is for you to enter a specific web site or click a link and it is being downloaded right under your nose. Make sure to perform a scan before shutting off your computer each day; it is a good routine to have.

If you are not one of those people who have the software built into your computer then you will need to download it. There are plenty of wonderful anti-spyware programs out there to choose from. If you are going to only get the free version of particular software download several programs. Some may scan for thing the others do not. Most of them are also inexpensive to buy and work great. Make sure to run them several times per day or at least once. This will keep your machine clean of spyware.

Here are 7 practical ways you can protect yourself from password theft.

1. Do not use your login name
Even though it is easier to remember when you use the login name also as your password, it is too easy to guess. You should also avoid using common things like your name, birthdate, house number or telephone number as your password. These things are among the first things that someone who has your information will guess in order to get into your account.

2. Use a long password
Try to use as many characters as possible. Each letter, number or symbol that you include to lengthen your password increases the level of difficulty in hacking your password. Most systems recognize at least 8-character passwords.

3. Mix and match
Feel free to use the whole keyboard in making your password. Use letters, numbers, and symbols or if it is permitted, use space or the shift key to strengthen further your code.

4. Avoid a series of letters or numbers
Using a simple series of numbers such as 12345678 or 7777777 as your password is another common mistake. Why make it easier for the hackers to get into your account?

5. Use different passwords for different accounts
The reason behind using different passwords is that if one of your account gets compromised, you don’t want the thief to also have access to the rest of your accounts. Therefore, it’s best to avoid using the same login name and password on multiple accounts. If you have trouble remembering so many different passwords, there are programs available such as Roboform that will help you autofill usernames and passwords on different sites. All you have to do then is to set a secure main password that will give you access to the rest of your passwords.

6. Change your password every 3 months
You can also protect yourself by changing your password regularly. Choose the time interval you are comfortable with. For some, this can be 3 months while others may prefer a shorter time frame such as every month. This is an easy yet an effective way to protect your important information.

7. Keep your password to yourself
Sometimes even the most obvious things have to be said. Don’t tell anyone else your password. If possible try not to write down your password.  Some people write them on a piece of paper and stuff it into their wallet. But what if your wallet gets stolen? Then your online accounts will be at risk too.

Our passwords are the first line of defense against computer hackers. It is also the weakest in providing computer security. The crooks get more sophisticated as develop better password breaking programs. In order to counteract this, you have to do your part. Now is a good time to check your passwords and see if they pass these security tests.

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