How to Clean your Keyboard

When it comes to cleaning your keyboard there are many methods that can be used, some harder and more effective than others.

The easiest method is the Shake Method. It is so easy that you can do it right now. Pick up your keyboard, turn it over being careful not to press any keys, and shake it. See all of that stuff fall out? It is dirtier than you thought, isn’t it? You can use one of the following methods to clean it further.

The Blow Method - You can buy cans of pressurized air at the computer department or computer store which are made especially for cleaning your computer. They usually have either a hose and nozzle or a tube extending from the nozzle. Hold the keyboard up vertically (that means that end of the keyboard is up and the other end is down), aim towards the keys and press the button. Keep blowing until all of the debris is blown out. Be sure to get around and in between all of the keys. This can be done with the computer on, but it is better if it is off so that you do not have to worry about pressing the keys and coming up with a page of aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa’s.

The Vacuum Method - This is just like the Blow Method except that a vacuum is used instead of a can of pressurized air. It is quite simple. Just turn the vacuum on, pull out the hose, and run the nozzle over the keys. Before doing this make sure your keyboard does not have any loose pop off keys that could be sucked into the vacuum.

The Cotton Ball Method - This can be done in addition to the above methods and in lieu of the following methods. Take a cotton ball or cloth and wet it with rubbing alcohol. It should not be so wet that the alcohol runs down into the cracks of the keyboard. Wipe the tops and sides of the keys.

The Dishwasher Method - I hesitate to tell about this method because there is the possibility that it could fry your keyboard. When I had less experience with computers, I dunked my keyboard in a sink full of water to clean it. It did work afterwards, so I don’t doubt those who say this method will not mess up your keyboard, but if it does, don’t complain to me. I warned you. If your keyboard is not the standard membrane type of keyboard or if it is on a laptop, do not even think of trying this.

This is how you do it. Unplug the keyboard and place it face down in an empty dishwasher. Do not disassemble the keyboard and do not put it in a dishwasher that has dirty dishes in it. Some say to add soap, some say not to. Run the dishwasher through a regular cycle. Take the keyboard out, shake the water out, and stand it on end until it is completely dry (this may take several days). If it does not work after doing this, it may not be dry. Let it stand another week and try it again. If it still does not work, I warned you.

The Disassembly Method - This is the most thorough method, but it should not be done on laptop keyboards or non-standard non-membrane keyboards.

Turn off the computer and unplug the keyboard. Turn the keyboard upside down. You may want to get two books or short boards to place the keyboard on. Position them so that they hold up the keyboard on the edges when it is turned over. This should leave the keys dangling and not touching the books or the floor. This is especially needed when the keyboard’s back is off; otherwise the keys will be lifted out of their position by the floor (or whatever surface it is laying on).

Get a screwdriver and remove all of the screws from the back of the keyboard. Lay the keyboard down on the books and carefully remove the back.

Take everything apart and clean thoroughly. It is better to take the keys out one at a time and clean them so that you do not put them back in the wrong place. Wipe each one down with a wet cloth and then with a dry cloth. Any keys that may be hard to put back in, can be cleaned in place without removing them. Wipe around the keys as they sit in place and blow any debris out with your lungs (using compressed air or a vacuum may upset the keys). If you are really brave, you can remove all of the keys at once and give the frame a good wipe down too.

Do a once over and make sure that you have cleaned everything. Then reassemble it all.

Don’t forget the keyboard’s cable. Wrap a wet cloth around it and wipe it down. It may have an accumulation of grime that needs to be scrubbed off. Also if any of the letters on the keys have rubbed off, you can use a fine point permanent marker to draw the letter back on the key.

Use these cleaning methods and your keyboard will last a long time and be something you can be proud of.

How To clean your Case

There is nothing wrong with leaving spills, dirt, and stains on your computer case. After all isn’t that what the case is for, to protect the electronic components inside from spills and dirt? This is true, but there are still parts of the case that need to be cleaned and checked if you want your computer to live a long and prosperous life.

Unless you like looking at dirt everytime you look at your computer, you should go ahead and clean those spills, stains, and dust off of the case. You can do this with just about any cloth and cleaner. Do not use highly abrasive cleaners that might ruin or mar the surface and do not use solvents on plastic. A wet sponge will even work. Just make sure that the cleaner or any liquid does not seep into the inside through cracks and vents. If there is any possibility that you are going to get that messy, turn off and unplug the computer first and wait to turn it back on until any liquid has had a chance to fully dry.

After you have wiped off the outside, it is time for a little inspection. Look at the blades of the fan in the back of the computer. Also look at any vents. Is there dust there? Is there a lot of dust and grime caked on to it? If so, that is an indicator that the inside also needs to be cleaned (I will tell you how to do that in next week’s article - How to Clean your Motherboard).

Some clean environments never have to have the inside cleaned. Some need it cleaned monthly. When I lived in Russia, even though I didn’t notice it, the air was not clean. The fan on the computer would cake up with dirt and grime after about a month of use. And so I would have to clean the fan, vents, and inside monthly. If I had let it go for several months without cleaning, the fan would have stopped working and the computer would have overheated. Where I now live in the US, the air is clean and I have gone years without having to clean it. Again, the indicator of this is the blades of the fan and the vents. If they are dirty, they need to be cleaned.

You can do some of the cleaning from the outside. First, turn off the computer. Then get out the vacuum sweeper and using the hose, vacuum out the vents and the fan(s). If you have compressed air (you can purchase compressed air from your computer store), you may want to blow air in through the vents (or intake fan if you have one) to loosen the dust and suck it out using the vacuum. If there is still dust or dirt in the vents or on the blades of the fan, you can use a Q-tip to clean them.

If you do not have a vaccum, you can use compressed air alone. Always use short bursts to avoid moisture buildup. Start with the computer off and blow into every hole and vent. Then turn the computer on and blow everything except for the exhaust fan once again.

With the case clean, your computer will look nicer and with the fan and vents cleaned out it will breathe easier and run cooler.

The Great Browser Question - Which to use?

  What is a browser?  Simplest possible terms it's the program that allows you to surf web pages.  For most people that use Windows their browser of choice is Internet Explorer, but why?  Well, simple answer to that is that it comes built in with your Windows system and it's highly integrated (perhaps too much so) into the Windows operating system.  For most people IE is just fine and you don't really need another browser, but did you know that there are other browsers out there?  Did you know some of them have really cool features?  Well, there is this brave new world of browsers out there and it's time that you take a look and test drive other browsers, after all, just because you have Windows doesn't mean that you have to use IE.  Here is the breakdown of what's out there at the moment

Mozilla - Oh, you gotta love open source, it sometimes produces the best programs out there and Mozilla is a happy result of this open source community.  So, let's do a brief little history on Mozilla...many years ago in a galaxy far far away there was a browser that competed with Dark Empire (also known as Microsoft)...this brave browser was called Netscape Navigator.  Well, years of struggle, and finally Netscape on deaths door does something that few expected, it gave away its source code and made it open source and asked a band of rebels to take the challenge of making a better browser than IE...lo and behold MOZILLA was born...yes Mozilla, the first distribution of it basically made this loud thudding sound...oh god was it bad, but still it kept growing, getting better, and soon became THE BEST BROWSER.  Yes, it's grown so big now that it will be stepping on Tokyo soon and the cries of, "Mozilla is coming, Mozilla is coming" will be dubbed with an out of sync English accent.  Seriously though, Mozilla is faster than any browser out there, it meets almost all the internet standards perfectly, and it's a very stable browser.  For my money it's the best value, oh and it's free, yes I mentioned that right?  Yes, well it is free.  You can download Mozilla here www.mozilla.org  .  Many Linux users will be familiar with this browser since it comes as standard fair in most of the Linux distributions now.

Internet Explorer -  Okay, so, this is  the one most people use.  Internet Explorer has come a long way and it's in many ways one of the things Microsoft succeeded with by paying attention to the internet standards that are currently out there.  I find that Internet Explorer meets many of the HTML, CSS, XML, ASP, PHP, and pretty much any other webpage standard you want to throw at it...why is this good?  Well, it means that the webpage will be displayed as the author intended it to be displayed.  So, it is a very good web browser, however, I find on older systems like Win 95, 98, ME, if you screw up your IE, you screw up your whole damn operating system.  This is where IE is just too integrated into the operating system and this is where you could end up in a little bit of trouble.

Opera - The innovative little browser that could.  What makes this browser interesting is the features it adds beyond the basics of web browsing.  One thing I like is the popup blocker included in the program. Yes those annoying popup ads are bye bye and they stay that way.  It's a small, relatively fast browser, and generally I like it.  It is web compliant, umm, mostly compliant, okay so I have used it and gotten some funky looking pages from time to time.   The Con's of this browser - It costs, umm, $30 the last time I checked...if you don't pay you can have a freeware version that's supported with advertising.  It sort of makes me cringe to pay anything for a web browser, mainly because the best browser is free, but I can't fault Opera for wanting to make money, not every program can be open source.  I think Opera will have it's market in Palm devices because of it's ability to render pages small and to still make them look like web pages.  Give it a download here www.opera.com if you want to give it a try.

Avant - This is more of an add-on to Internet Explorer, so it won't get really that big of a write up.  Originally it was called IE Opera, umm, yeah good name considering there was already a browser named Opera, but anyway, so they became Avant.  Pluses about this browser, it has a very effective popup blocker and some quick mouse gesture things, so it's more of an add-on to IE and it does work rather nice, but, it's still basically Internet Explorer.

Netscape Navigator - I put this browser last, because, well, basically Mozilla and Netscape are indistinguishable at the moment.  Netscape is basically Mozilla only they make you register to use the browser, which isn't that bad, but still it's basically Mozilla or is Mozilla basically Netscape.  The line is getting blurred a bit.  The positives about Netscape, well, I used them loyally for years, so I'll always have a bit of loyalty towards them.  Second, I liked that they knew when they needed help and opened their source code. One other pro is that their email client that comes attached with the browser will accept AOL mail, so if you want an email client for you AOL account this is the way to go (AOL bought out Netscape a few years ago).   Basically Netscape is Mozilla that you have to register to use...but still, it is a good browser and has some interesting integrations in it, like ICQ, AIM, etc.

So that's the list, did I miss some browsers, umm, yeah, probably I did, but I'll make this list longer as new browsers come out.  Which browsers do I use, I like Mozilla, it is the fastest most stable...that would be my choice, but any of the browsers listed will do a good job, you just have to pick a browser that's best for you.  Mozilla is coming...oops, sorry, I couldn't resist.

Protecting your kids online with Web Filters

You have kids, you have a computer with an internet connection, the two put together = trouble!  I don't mean to understate this point, because when it comes down to it, you, the parents, are the the one that has to take responsibility for your children and what they view.  I'm generally pretty harsh on parents that think that nothing can happen on the internet...while the internet feels "safe" because it's in your house, what bad thing could happen?  Well, read the newspapers and see what can happen with the "safe" internet.  If you're going to have a net connection you need to be responsible and make sure your kids are safe online.  So, here are some programs that will help you monitor what your kids are up to:

iProtectyou - This is one of the best programs on the net at the moment to stop your kids from seeing objectionable material and unmonitored chat and email sessions.  This program is FREE so download it.  This program allows you to control which websites your kids are allowed to visit, which programs can have internet access, blocking email, chat, instant messages that would have objectionable words in it...it will also gather information about what your children are doing online...you can also set up a schedule when your child can be online.  I just can't say how great of a program this is and if you're a parent and you want to help your kids be safe, this is the program for you.  It is password protected, so as long as your kids don't have the password, they can't change the settings.  Really, take responsibility for you children's online life.  If I get enough requests I'll write a tutorial for this program that will show you the steps for setting this program up.  You can download this program here http://www.softforyou.com/

We-Blocker - This is a very effective web filtering tool that will stop objectionable websites.  It has some very nice features including multiple accounts so you can set up different settings for different age groups or different age groups.  A very good web filtering tool, I still like iProtectyou a little more because you can limit access to certain programs and chatrooms, IM's, and other venues should be restricted...so this is good if you just want to filter web pages.  You can download this program at  http://www.we-blocker.com/index.php

AOL and MSN, and many other Internet service providers have some form of internet blocking and restricted zones you can set so you can limit the access of your children on the net.  It will limit emails, IM's and things like that...but I think parents are too often drawn into a false sense of security with these settings...if you minimize AOL and open a browser like Mozilla the filters will be gone, and you know those kids will find ways around simple defenses.

In closing, the best way to make sure you kids are safe online is to surf with them...kids, especially young kids, shouldn't be left on the computer without parental supervision.  If however you can't be with your kids while they surf, please download iProtectyou and make sure you set it up to block areas that would be dangerous for them.  No matter how many laws the government passes to protect children, it will always be up to you, the parent to proactively protect your children.

 

Firewall Installation (Sygate Walkthru)

Firewalls are important to prevent trojans, DOS attacks, and hackers from getting into your system.  At the moment there are lots of free downloadable firewalls, all of which will do a better job than the pre-installed Windows XP firewall.  Which is the best?  Which is the Easiest to Install?  Which do I recommend?  For years I used Tiny Personal Firewall, but I've switched to Sygate personal firewall and I think it's the best free firewall on the market at the moment.  Many people use ZoneAlarm and originally this section was going to be a ZoneAlarm demonstration, but I had to weigh which one I found better and which one I would install on someone's computer if they asked me...the clear choice for me was Sygate's Personal Firewall.  It runs like most firewalls, but I found it to be more stable than ZA, less of a resource hog, and while it gives up some things in the way of an easy display, it works effectively and doesn't crash on me, which I've had ZA do on more than one occasion.  So, I'm going to recommend Sygate Firewall and give some brief instruction on how to install and operate it.

First you need to download it here :  Sygate Personal Firewall

It will be a file named spf.exe, just double click this program and it will install and then reboot

Once you reboot you'll have Sygate on your system as your firewall.  They ask that you fill in a registration form, just do it, it's freeware, so I figure a free registration isn't that much to ask. (Note if you don't want mail, etc from them, use a free email account that you should have set up for internet things).

     Now here are a few screens you'll have to become familiar with and that you should know what they mean.  The way this firewall works is by asking you which programs you want to allow to have access to your computer.  So for example:

This is the window that popped up when I opened my Mozilla Web Browser...the firewall basically asked, "Hey, stupid, do you want this program to have access to the internet"  I wanted this program to have access so I clicked the "Remember my answer, and do not ask me again for this application" box and I hit Yes.  By checking the box the firewall knew that his was an application that I would always want to allow internet access...so it created a rule that allows this program to always access the internet when I launch it. 

During the first day of having a firewall, any firewall, you'll have to answer a number of these type questions, that's alright though, because the firewall will remember which applications you approve of and which you don't want to run.  If you get a warning like the one above for a program you don't want accessing the net, you just click the box and hit NO and then a rule will be created to prevent that program from accessing the net.

The firewall will rest in your system tray near the clock on your taskbar and it's icon will look like this  when you double click this icon in the system tray you'll open up the control panel for the program and that will look something like this:

There is lots of things you can do here but I'll give you a brief rundown of the most important functions:

If you want to stop all internet traffic, basically meaning to shut off all the incoming and outgoing information, click Block All

The Applications button basically will give you a list of applications that you've allowed to have access to the internet, in this section you can change the settings for particular applications.  So if you accidentally blocked Internet Explorer you can go here to unblock it.

The Logs button will give you a listing of the recorded attacks or traffic that happened to your computer...this is good if you want to look at a detailed report of what came in and out and what was blocked.

Test button will take you to the Sygate website where you can have them scan your ports to see if this firewall is working.  You can also go to www.grc.com and try the Shields Up Test...Steve Gibson runs this webpage and really does a good job in making people aware of security risks.  I've run the leaktest from grc.com on this firewall and it passed...but you might want to try the leak test yourself.

The cool looking graph thing, umm, is just a cool looking graph thing...just like a heart monitor shows the incoming and outgoing traffic in a blip blip blip type display.  I have to prevent myself from screaming, "Oh my god, my computer has flatlined"  umm, okay, sorry for the rambling thought.

Running applications shows you what programs are currently accessing or trying to access the internet...as you can see I have IE and Mozilla running and I have Realplayer blocked, okay so, umm, I did that just as an example, but I hate realplayer so it was fun to block them.

The "Show Message Console" shows you the messages that Sygate sent you...so for example if someone attacked my computer Sygate would say something like, "Port blocked.." blah blah blah.

That's the basics of Sygate Firewall...they have a good help section if you have any questions and you can do advanced rules by going to Tools ----> Advanced Rules and then you can write personal rule sets for this firewall.  Example would be to block a specific IP, that you can do in the advanced rules area.  A really nice feature that you won't find on the free ZoneAlarm.

So, install your firewall and save yourself from the big mean old nasty people on the net :o)

Making Win XP look like Classic Windows

 So you have Windows XP and think it's great, but you long for the old days, yes, you want your Win XP to look like Windows 98.  There are some benefits to this, well, it makes you feel comfortable when you start using Win XP, it doesn't seem as foreign to you and you're able to find things a little easier.  Okay, so this is for people who really don't like change and I have to admit, for the first week of Win XP I wanted my old Win 98 layout.  Well, here is how you go about doing it.

Step 1

Well the first is to change the desktop theme for you computer.  Thankfully Microsoft figured that some people like the old way of doing things and included a Windows Classic Theme.  So here is what you do, go to Start--->Control Panel---->And then to display.  You'll see this box:

All you have to do here is go to themes...the theme that is currently selected would be Windows XP.  Just scroll down in the box and select Windows Classic and then hit okay.  The computer will reset and look like Classic Windows.

Step Two:

     Okay, it wouldn't be classic windows without your old start bar back to the way it was...none of this new fangled start menu...you want the old menu back.  Okay this can be done, but more steps than you would think...here is what you do...click the start button and in the blue box area RIGHT CLICK and you'll see a properties box like this:

Once you click on the properties box another window will open that looks like this:

Now we hit the simple part, click the Start Menu tab at the top of this box then scroll down and fill in the "Classic Start Menu" and then click okay.  There you have it, take a look at your start menu, just like old times when you were happy with your Windows 98 system, but now you have the look of Win 98 but the improved features of Windows XP...so you get the both of best worlds.  If you have a technophobic person in your house this is a great way to make them feel comfortable with the new Windows XP operating system.  Have fun :o) 

Alphabetizing your Start Menu

If you're like me you've probably installed lots of programs, so many in fact that if you go to try and find a program its actually becoming really hard because they're not alphabetized, new programs are stuck on the end, so forth and so on, well, this is a really quick, reallllly easy tip to organize your start menu in Windows XP (I think this also works in Win 98, but I'm upgrading my comp that has Win 98 and can't verify it).  Here are the steps:

First click on the start button

Move your mouse to "All Programs"

Move your mouse to any of the folders there

Right Click

A box will open up, scroll to "Sort By Names" and click

Like magic all the folders and programs will be alphabetized.  This is one of those simple but useful things that will help you organize your computer, unless you really like searching around for programs (bet you also used to enjoy Where's Waldo when you were growing up).  That's it for this tip, give it a try :o)