Online Canada Computer Tips For Buying And Maintaining Your Computer

Canada computer tips to help you make good purchasing decisions. Further down the page are some maintenance tips that will help to keep your computer running at peak performance.

How do you buy the best computer for yourself and get the biggest bang for your buck? I guide you the through decisions you will be asked to make when buying a laptop on line.

These tips explain, in non technical terms, what each section means.

The computer processor.
This is like the engine in your car. Its all about power and speed. You will see a few choices that look like this.

Select your color.
You do not need me to tell you how to do that.

Select your memory.This the "Ram" you have probably wondered about. For peak computer performance buy as many GB (gigabytes) of RAM that you can afford. Of all the Canada computer tips this is the one that gives the best value. This is another temporary storage area where things like temporary files and web pages are stored on your computer for later or repeat use. If you like surfing the net and there is only one upgrade you can afford this is the one to opt for.

Hard Drive and Optical drive
This where all the different programs you use and the files you create are stored. Unless you want to store large quantities of graphics I have always found that the basic hard drive size that comes with the laptop is more than adequate. The optical drive is the CD burner. If you want to go Blue-ray you will have to upgrade and it ain't cheap. However it does seem that this is the way of the future.

Wireless card.
I see no reason to upgrade from the wireless card that is included in your price.

Bluetooth
This is probably one of the best Canada computer tips. Do spend a few dollars on this even if you do not see the need for it now. I could use Bluetooth, if I had it on my laptop, I could connect with my wonderful GPS which guides me perfectly to my next destination. Many devices are being introduced with this technology which allows for interconnection between devices. I.E. My GPS and cell phone automatically connect so that, when I am driving, my GPS will answer the phone for me and allow me to both hear and speak without ever taking my hands of off the steering wheel. This is possible because both devices are Blue tooth enabled.

Sound Options.
I would not bother with any added sound software at this point. You can do this at any time in the future if needed.

From here on you are offered software and services most of which you do not need buy at this time.

Productivity Software.
You do not need to spend good money on anything offered here. If you do need the type of product being offered, there are alternatives available to you. Free productivity software that is not only as good as but also compatible with Microsoft office applications. Do not waste your money on these Microsoft products.

Hardware Services.
Yeh right! You will not find me throwing away money on these services.

Security Software.
The security software I use is the free version of Zone Alarm. It will cost you nothing. Used in conjunction with other security devices I get all the security I need. I have tried many different systems over the years and the only one that did not give me grief in one form or another is Zone Alarm. More information on this is available through the free software link a little further down the page.

Internet Service.
Choose your poison depending on where you live and what service is available in your area.

Printer.
A printer is a printer. If you want one right away choose whichever one is best suited to your needs. You can easily add a printer at a later date if you want to.

Software support.
A waste of money.

On line Data Storage.

You probably do not need this. You can be add it a later time from many different sources.

Multi Media Software.
This can be added at a later date.

Computer tips for maintaining your computer.
Your laptop or notebook probably slows down or occasionally does some funny little thing. There can be any number of reasons for this.

Over the years, I have learned a few simple tricks that allow me to keep my laptop in top working order. Your laptop or notebook computer needs a little routine maintenance once in a while. As you search the Internet, write documents, store pictures or play games the internal workings get a little messy. Files get misplaced, memory fills up so here a few computer tips avoid some of the problems that accumulate over time.

Click on the start button down in the left hand corner of the screen. A box will appear. Let your cursor hover over the words “all programs” and a second box will appear. Somewhere in that box will be the word "accessories". Move your cursor and hover over that word until another smaller box appears. Now hover over the words "system tools".

The next little box contains the two computer tips you want to do. "Disk Cleanup" and “Disk Defragmenter”.

Click on "Disk Cleanup" and up will pop a box asking which drive you wish to clean up. The default is drive C. That is what you want to clean up. Click on OK wait a short while and another box showing the unnecessary junk files, that cause slow downs, will appear. Make sure there is a little check mark in each check box then click on OK. The usual annoying little "are you sure" box will then appear. Click yes to erase the garbage.

The next one of the computer tips is scary little thing called "Defrag". Imagine a filing cabinet that contains files that are misfiled. Then imagine someone going through the files putting them back where they belong. This is essentially, what a defrag achieves.

Here is what you do. Click on the start button and make your way to "System Tools" again and click on the "Disk Defragmenter" button. Wait a few seconds and the defragment operation will appear on your screen. Click on the (C:) under volume and then click on "analyze". After analyzing the drive, it will tell you if you need to defrag the drive (volume). If it tells you there is a need to defrag, click on the defragment button. If there have been a few funny happenings on your computer this operation will often clear them up.

Restarting your computer after performing these computer tips is a good idea. This allows your operating system to self-correct problems it may have been having caused by the errors you have eliminated.

End of computer tips.

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