Tech tips, from teens to adults

Friendly Computers found some great tips for computer users of any age! Read more below...

Commonly, adults, the Internet, and computers don’t go well together. Many say they are too old for technology and would rather that their kids do their internet errands for them than learn it themselves.

But nowadays, the use of Internet has become so useful in so many ways that adults are forced to immerse in and cope with technology. But it is never too late to learn. And what better way to do it than to ask for help from the young members of demography.

Yes, it’s high time that adults take a backseat and let the tech-savvy youth take the gear.

Here are some tips shared by teens with adults to keep themselves safe on the Internet:

• Use separate email addresses to minimize spam. Sometimes signing up for certain websites can cause you to receive spam or bulk emails and clutter your inbox. To prevent this, you can create two accounts for separate uses. One can be for things you sign up for on the Internet and other for personal things.

“I’m pretty organized so I use two email addresses. One is for unnecessary things and one’s for my important things like my personal emails,” says Precious Uy, 17. This way, spam or bulk email and notifications don’t get mixed up with your private emails.

• Be careful when signing up for some things on the internet. Be cautious of some sites you sign up with because by signing up, your email addresses may be filled with junk email you would not wish to receive.
Protect your family’s personal computer from pornography or other things you morally disagree with.

The accessibility of the Internet is available to just about everyone including your children. Some websites can be misleading and the next thing you know, your kid is inadvertently logged on to a pornography website. To prevent this, ask you Internet service provider for help to block certain websites that you deem are unnecessary or might corrupt the minds of the young. “Internet service providers can filter the websites you don’t want to be accessed. With blocked websites, you can easily prevent being accidentally taken to porn sites,” says John Soriano, 16. You can also talk to your technicians to help you with the filters to enjoy a safer internet experience.

• Do not clutter your desktop with unnecessary applications. “A cluttered desktop can cause your computer unit to run slow,” says sophomore college student Marikit Valmadrid. Too many applications can slow down your PC and make it crash in the long run.

• Always update youRuR anti-viruses or anti-spyware. Personal computers can be easily infected with viruses and spyware if your software is not updated regularly. Updates are for free so it won’t hurt your pockets.

“Updating your anti-viruses is helpful because that way you don’t get stuck with outdated software and a lot of viruses that may cause your computer to crash,” says 19-year-old Vanessa Leonardo. “If your computer crashes, then most likely, you might lose all your important files. That is a bigger problem.” The best way to deal with this is to always update software and regularly scan your hard drives for viruses.

• Keep your passwords somewhere where no one can access them easily. Because of many reasons, adults may easily forget their passwords. To avoid this, write your passwords with their corresponding accounts on a piece of paper and keep it somewhere you think is safe.

“If you keep important and confidential files, don’t post passwords where they are visible tom anyone,” says Christian Landingin, a third year high school student. Never post your passwords where just about anyone can see them, such as corkboards or on your refrigerator door.

• Do not post everything, including your personal information, on the internet. Not everyone can be trusted on the internet. So if you keep an online site containing your personal information, have second thoughts about it. Anyone can access these data and might even threaten your safety. Stalkers for example, will be able to find information about you.

“I used to post my full address and contact numbers on my online accounts for friends to see but then, unknown people started bugging me so I took down before anything went out of hand,” says Kim Halili, a member of many friend finder sites all over the Internet.

• When keeping online accounts, make sure to adjust your default settings to prevent unknown people from accessing your page. Some websites such as Facebook or Multiply may be accessed by the public even if the page viewer is not directly related to the owner. To prevent this, tweak your setting and put them to private mode.

“I’m very private about the things I post on the Internet and I only give access to the people I know personally. This way, I can still be private,” says Myla, a blogger who posts her photos and journal on an online community. Some things are good for and left to be seen by your personal contacts only.

• Back up your important files. There have been numerous instances wherein some files have been accidentally deleted and there is no way of retrieval because a backup was not created. To prevent any of this, purchase a USB you can save your files in.

USBs are easy to use and portable, very lightweight and can be bought at a reasonable price. However, if you worry about viruses being transferred every now and then, you can always burn your files and folders into a CD and store them somewhere safe.

“I clean our hard drives every three months and if there are any files that I think are still needed, I burn them into CDs” says 18-year-old Kevin Villanueva. “That way if anyone looks for them, I have the backup.”

• Maximize your computer unit by upgrading your memory, hard drives and disks. For a faster computer unit, expand your memory by purchasing external hard drives. A bigger memory can accommodate your other files such as videos and photos you don’t want to lose but have no other place to store.

“External hard drives are the in thing right now because having can one can be helpful when storing important files,” says 15-year-old Jaye Garcia. “Also, they are portable and easy to use. Just plug them in and there you go!”

Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/node/200233