Hello and welcome to New User Help.  So you've got a computer, and it's completely confusing right?  You came to the right spot.  Here at New User Help we'll explain as much as we can in the simplest terms possible.  Read below for our advice on the basics you need to know when running a computer.  As well, take a look to the left and you'll see a list of articles to get you up to date on a given subject.

The Basics

Here's a few tips on keeping your computer running well.  These tips apply to Windows users.  Oh, and by the way, all our recommended software is free to download online.  You may think that buying a program is going to give you better quality, but in the cases of these products, we definitely must stress that these are our absolute favourites and we use them on our own computers.  We'd take these products over any paid ones.  Free is good! 

Virus Protection

For a start let's discuss virus protection.  There are a ton of viruses in the world, and computer viruses are not fun to deal with.  Every computer should be protected against viruses.  There are a few common names in the virus protection world such as Norton and Mcafee.  These are paid services that usually give you an introductory offer.  While they may be paid services, they can also create quite a few problems in computer use.  Many people still swear by these products, but we here at New User Help think that Grisoft's AVG Antivirus is just as good, and causes alot less hassle when dealing with program conflicts and errors that are created through using the bigger products.  AVG Antivirus is a proven product, that still offers a free version.  If you do not have an antivirus program on your computer, think about heading over to Grisoft.com and picking up their free copy, it'll save you alot of hassle in the long run.  Their free version is hidden near the bottom of the products page found at http://www.grisoft.com.  One more thing to keep in mind, never run or have installed two antivirus products.  This will cause conflicts and many headaches.

Firewall Protection

Whenever you are connected to the internet, there is an open line into the world.  In order to protect your computer from outside threats, you must have a "Firewall" installed.  This is basically a barrier that only allows legitimate connections to your computer.  The leader in firewall protection is provided by a company named Zone Labs.  Their product is called ZoneAlarm and it is another completely free download to home users.  You can find this at their website: http://www.zonelabs.com

Spyware/Adware

Next, let's cover the spyware and adware threat.  You may or may not have heard these terms before, either way they don't sound good do they?  Well basically this is something you need to protect any computer that is connected to the internet from.  Spyware/adware generally gathers information about your internet browsing habits, and can even gather more confidential information such as usernames, passwords and billing information(credit cards, addresses, etc).  To ensure you are not being tracked by these pesky little programs, you need to install a few programs and run them every few days.  Virus protection will NOT guard against this.

In order to protect your computer from such threats, there are 3 basic programs that will definitely help you out.  The first is a program called Spyware Blaster.  Basically what this program does is innoculate your computer against infection from these spyware or adware programs.  It's like giving a flu shot to your computer.  You can find this product at http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/ Get it, install it and forget about it.  This one really doesn't need to be run too often, you may wish to check to see if there are any updates from time to time.

The next two products both scan your computer for spyware or adware infections, then remove them.  So why recommend them both?  Sometimes one will catch an infection that the other does not.  They are constantly being updated with new master lists of infections to remove and will definitely be a life saver after surfing the web for any length of time.  They are called SpyBot Search and Destroy and AdAware.  Download SpyBot from here: http://www.safer-networking.org/ and AdAware from here: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/index.php Both these programs should be run at least once a week.

 Browsing Software

Finally, let's discuss the program you are using right now.  Most people have no idea there is an alternative to the "Web Browser" that they use.  The program that serves up this very page to your eyes on a Windows machine by default is Internet Explorer.  Now Internet Explorer is getting better, but it still allows a very critical opening to hackers and software exploits through a thing called ActiveX.  ActiveX basically allows any website that is given permission to install programs on your computer that can literally do anything.  In one way this is a great thing, but as we all know, not everyone is out for the greater good.

As an alternative, there is a program called FireFox.  This program has really taken off in the past few years and is now becoming very mainstream.  There are so many extra things that it will allow you to do through something called "extensions".  There are many themes you can change for customizing the look of your browser, as well as the most important fact, it's just plain safer.  There are no ActiveX controls in Firefox.  It has become widely accepted as a better alternative than Internet Explorer.  It works just like Internet Explorer and if you don't wish to customize anything about it, don't worry it works great right away.  Don't sell yourself short though, you'll find a ton of useful stuff if you look into the extensions section.

Conclusion

Well that rounds up the top issues that we feel all newcomers should know about using a computer.  For further information on other subjects, feel free to browse the topics found in the Articles Menu on the left.  Thanks for joining us here, and remember, the computer is here for your productivity and enjoyment, if you find yourself frustrated, go do something else for awhile!