Computer Shortcuts

Computer Care: Learn shortcuts or create your own

	By Arthur Glazerglazer.tech@gmail.com

UPDATED: January 25, 2013 11:59 p.m.

	Some routes are quicker than others. From our house, I use the Ledan Road shortcut to Ga. 53 and the Wild Smith shortcut to U.S. 129 North. On my laptop, I use keyboard shortcuts. There are usually at least two ways to get to anything on Windows. You can use the Start Menu, click a desktop icon or use combination shortcut with your keyboard. Common shortcuts like copy and paste (Control + C and Control + V) I use constantly. These are used with highlighted text when copying or moving them around in a document or from the Web to a document. Instead of copying a Web address manually, simply highlight it and copy/paste to your browser. Ctrl + Shift + Arrow will help you to highlight that text. There are a plethora of useful shortcuts, so let’s just hit the highlights. Beginning with the most common and very useful is Ctrl (Control) + Alt + Del (Delete). This will open a window to allow to you log off, switch users or open the Task Manager. Or you can use Ctrl + Shift + Esc to go directly to Task Manager. The top row of keys are the “F” or Function keys. They work in conjunction with the Function (Fn) key on the bottom left of the keyboard. For example, the combination on my laptop (they vary by manufacturer) of Fn + F6 makes the display brighter. Fn + F5 dims it.  Look for the diagrams on your F keys to determine what they will do. Often other keys may be assigned other tasks as well. Some “F” keys work alone. At Windows boot, if you press the F8 key, this will along with other options, allow you access to Safe Mode. The F2 key will put you into setup mode at boot (again, systems vary by brand). The F5 key will refresh your browser page while online and F2 will let you rename a highlighted file or folder in Windows. Ctrl + S saves a document; Ctrl + X is the “cut” command and Ctrl + Z and Ctrl + Y are undo and redo, respectively. A few holdouts that have been around since the days of command prompts are the Pause/Break and the Prt Sc/Sys Rq keys. The former used to allow a break in the modem connection, but is useless now except maybe for some games. SysRq was used to switch between operating systems way back when more than one were on a system. The Windows Logo Key with Pause/Break will open the System Properties window. The Prt Sc key should capture your screen to the Windows clipboard and Alt +Prt Sc or Fn + Prt Sc will copy the active window, but you will need to print it from within other applications like Paint or Word with Ctrl + P. The Windows Logo Key alone opens the start menu; with the “E” key it will open Windows Explorer. Win Logo + L will log off your account; with “X,” it will open Windows Mobility Center, allowing you to alter brightness, volume, Wi-Fi and other options. Win Logo + T cycles through all of the programs that are minimized to your taskbar; with the tab key it cycles through those same programs in an impressive 3-D mode. Win Logo + D minimizes everything to the taskbar so you can see your desktop. Hitting it a second time reverts them back to where they were. Using the Win Logo key with the “+” key zooms in so you can get a closer view of your display. You can navigate around with your mouse and revert back to normal using the Win Logo and “-” keys. For a comprehensive list of shortcuts, go to support.microsoft.com/kb/126449 and for Windows 7-specific shortcuts, see windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/keyboard-shortcuts. Between these two lists, you should have an arsenal of shortcuts from which to choose. To create custom shortcuts to your programs, right-click on a blank area of your desktop and then left-click on “New, “ then on “Shortcut.” Next browse to a program in Program Files (Computer to “C” to Program Files) and click “OK,” then “Next “and “Finish.” Alternatively, you can drag and drop program icons from the start menu to the desktop using a right-click and choose to “Create shortcut here” when at the desktop. To create a keyboard shortcut, right-click on the program in the start menu and choose Properties. Type a letter in the shortcut area and Ctrl + Alt will be automatically applied. Click “Apply” and “OK.” The use of shortcuts may be short-lived. With the recent announcement by Intel that they will soon be ceasing the manufacture of motherboards for desktops, who knows? The demise of the desktop will still leave laptops. With the omnipresent Smartphones, tablets in every flavor and the upcoming phablets (phone plus tablet), we may soon be using voice commands alone to control our computers. Beyond that we may be computing via retinal recognition. It’s already being used as a logon process. Next we may simply look at an icon to click on it. Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly on the Business page and on gainesvilletimes.com.

Know Your Error Messages

Computer Care: Know your error messages, real and phony

By Arthur Glazer

glazer.tech@gmail.com

POSTED: January 12, 2013 2:00 a.m.

	POSTED: January 12, 2013 2:00 a.m.

	Anyone who uses a computer eventually gets error messages. These annoying pop-ups can often be intimidating, leaving the user frustrated. Google, at least has a sense of humor with their, “Aw snap, Google has crashed” and “Jim, I think he’s dead.” Most messages though, leave you exasperated, wondering what to do next. If you encounter a messages like, “NTLDR is missing,” or “No bootable device” and the “Can’t boot to hard disk,” you may simply have a CD in the optical drive. The system is attempting to read that disk before it gets to the hard drive. Since there is no boot information on the CD, it fails. Take the CD out and reboot.  The system will then read the boot sector on your hard drive and boot as usual. “A network cable is unplugged,” is a common error message for wireless users. Click on your network icon and right-click the icon in that group with the “X” on it (your Ethernet connection) and choose “Disable.” That message, along with icon in your taskbar will disappear. If you suddenly get a message saying, “No Internet Access,” it’s usually one of three things: the connection from your ISP, the modem/router or your computer. First try to reboot your computer. If that fails, reset your modem and router by unplugging them for 30 seconds. If you have a modem and a router, plug in the modem back in first. After the LEDs stop flashing, plug in the router and retry your Internet connection. If that too fails, it may be your ISP. Your house or even entire neighborhood may be without a signal. Call your ISP and tell them you did a system reset and still have no Internet access. Ask them to ping your modem. If they can’t, they’ll probably send a technician out. Know the difference between hard drive storage and memory. Your hard drive stores your data permanently and will eventually fill up. Memory is temporary storage. If you get a message telling you that your hard disk is low or full, you need a larger drive, a second one or need to clean out the one you have. Windows also uses that drive to create a virtual swap or pagefile that it uses like RAM. If you run out of physical storage space, Windows will not be able to create that pagefile and the system will slow down. If you get a message advising you Windows needs to adjust your virtual memory settings, allow it to do so. If you set it manually (better), set the virtual setting to about 1.5 times what your physical memory is. The dreaded “Blue Screen of Death” warns of serious errors, usually warranting a technician’s expertise. These BSODs have STOP codes with numbers. If you Google the number after the word “STOP” (like 0x0000007B), it will at least advise you whether it is a hardware, software, Windows or motherboard issue. It may be as simple as bad or loose RAM, a device driver in need of an update or as serious as a corrupt installation of the operating system. Often the best way to fix these errors is to (gasp) reinstall Windows. Error messages that warn of impending doom are usually telling you the computer is infected with malware, those messages being the infection. Windows does not tell you of registry errors. If you didn’t run a scan and the warning isn’t coming from an installed antivirus or Internet security app, it is bogus and should be ignored. There are many malware infections that use intimidation factors to scare the user. Ignore messages like, “You have 692 registry errors. Click here now to repair them.” Shut your computer down after you write down any identifying information from that pop-up. It may be a real program (probably not), but usually is just a ploy to get your credit card number. There is not much you can do other than calling a technician. This type of malware can’t be removed via conventional methods. These infections often get worse the more you click on them. Messages that come from your installed apps should not be ignored. If your antivirus app for example, advises you not to go to a certain website, by all means, don’t go there. If your security app finds malware, allow it to remove those rogue programs. Windows Update messages will appear if you don’t have the “Automatic” option chosen. It’s not always the best option, especially if you don’t use Internet Explorer. I choose to have it advise me when updates are available and it lets me choose which ones to download and install on my schedule instead of its schedule. Learn how to react to error messages — which ones to follow and which to ignore. If you get duped into reacting to spurious pop-ups, you may end up with more trouble than you wanted to deal with and a doorstop instead of a computer. Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly on the Business page and on gainesvilletimes.com.

Cloud Computing

Computer Care: Cloud is OK, but rely on spare backups

	By Arthur Glazerglazer.tech@gmail.com

POSTED: December 29, 2012 1:00 a.m.

	The cloud is up there somewhere on the Internet, out in an intangible place you can’t put your finger on, and although it can’t be seen, has become a popular locale for computer data storage. This Internet storage alternative is on a computer not unlike your own. It’s not some magical storage haven where everything is secure. On the contrary, it may not be any safer than your computer. Some cloud-based services offer multiple backups for security while others may not, so caveat emptor. The cloud is the Internet. The name comes from the flow-chart diagram that describes computers. The symbols denoting the Internet are drawn as clouds, thus the name. The Internet is comprised of computers, lots of them. Some are used for storage, others for different services. When you do a Google search, check your email, pay a bill online or view a YouTube video, you are accessing a computer somewhere on the Internet. Use the cloud for storage, but store your data on various local media as well, including external drives and optical discs. I’m an advocate for redundant backups. It’s unwise to put all of your apples in one cart. Placing your data on the cloud raises the issue of security. The more information of yours that is out there, the easier it is for you to be hacked. Google, eBay or Facebook already has lots of information about you and a clever hacker can gain access to them via nefarious methods from a courteous customer service agent. Armed with a bit of information, more can be had. Hackers may be able to use information obtained from one of your accounts to gain access to another. By the time hackers contact the support desk at your Internet Service Provider, they probably have enough information to hack your cloud storage or your online bank accounts. Outside access to your Facebook account may cause you grief by having things posted in your name, but access to your cloud account could wipe all of your family’s photos or your company’s spreadsheets. Access to your bank account could wipe you out, period. I’ve said this before, but know your passwords; make them strong; change them regularly and don’t use the same password for multiple accounts. If a hacker gains access to one account, he then gains access to many or all of them, your cloud account included. Whatever data you value should be backed up and then backed up again. If you don’t, your data may disappear one day.  When I have to erase a client’s hard drive to reinstall Windows, I inquire if they have a backup in place; most times they say they don’t. Many have good intentions of making copies of their important data, yet most procrastinate. My data backup system includes the use of external USB hard drives. A conventional hard drive has a life expectancy of about five years. I’ve had some last much longer, but why gamble with valuable data? The trick to longevity with external drives is to only power them up when copying or retrieving data. To keep them turned on whenever your computer is on defeats the purpose of having one. It will die the same time the drive in your computer does. Optical disks such as CDs are good for backup of a few dozen files, as are DVDs for more data duplication, but those types of media can scratch easily, rendering them unreadable. USB flash drives, like the ones on your keychain are also good, but usually top out at 16 GB. They have a limit as to how long they’ll last, measured in read/write accesses, not in time. They max out at about 100,000 accesses, although I’ve had some stop long before that for other reasons. I’m not anti-cloud, but I believe it shouldn’t be your sole source for duplicating your data. Spread it around. Every method has its downside. Use a few of them and pray that some still work when you need them. The cloud is a viable alternative, but makes for a good secondary or tertiary storage facility. The cloud-based services I use are more for file sharing than for file storage. In my Dropbox account, I create a folder where I place photos that I want to share with others. Then I simply send them the link to that folder, instead of a bunch of images. So what if the Internet is down, leaving you without access to your cloud-based data when you need it? What if your account gets hacked or what if the service you use gets hacked or crashes? These are some reasons why I’m an advocate for data redundancy. Back up your backups. The cost is minimal, as is the time it requires. One day when you determine that your online storage out in the cloud has been compromised, you’ll be glad you put forth the effort to create a local ground-based backup as well. Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly on the Business page and online.

Prepare Your PC for Repairs

Computer Care: Prepare your PC properly for repairs

	By Arthur Glazerglazer.tech@gmail.com

POSTED: December 14, 2012 11:59 p.m.

	Attempting to create an image of my hard drive to DVDs recently, I discovered I had a nonfunctional optical drive. So I ran it through all the tests I could think of and came to the conclusion that is was in fact a hardware issue. What was so unsettling is the fact that my laptop is only four months old. After about an hour on the phone with support, I was eventually given a Return Merchandise Authorization number and sent it off to Texas. Since I, too, am a technician, I tried to save everybody some time by explaining to them I was able to troubleshoot the system and determine the problem was the optical drive. Often when a computer is sent in for repairs, the hard drive is wiped clean and Windows is reinstalled. The result is total loss of your data. This is often considered to be a panacea for whatever ails the system. In my case I asked them not to do that, as it had nothing to do with the issue at hand. Although I did have a backup of my data on an external drive, I preferred not to go through reinstalling everything once I got the laptop back. After 12 days, my laptop was returned to me, repaired. To my relief my drive was not wiped, but now something else was broken. The optical drive was replaced, but when I attempted to open the drawer of the drive, the plastic cover that holds the eject button simply fell off. Whoever did the repairs forced it on and broke it. It’s only cosmetic and I’m able to burn DVDs, but this is a new laptop. So I phoned once more for support. I explained what happened and that it didn’t require me resending the unit back to them. I enlightened them that I was more than capable of popping the cover on if they would ship a new one. They complied. There are lessons to be learned here. Let’s begin with warranties. I’ve worked on computers that were still under warranty. Even though clients knew I had to charge them (and the manufacturer wouldn’t), they advised me to continue knowing at least that repairs would be completed more expeditiously. Most computers have at least a year’s warranty. Usually the store will deal with issues for the first month; after that it’s the manufacturer’s problem. If you got an extended warranty at the time of purchase, you’re covered even longer. Generally, I refuse the offer to purchase extended warranties, but on laptops I make exceptions. For what it would cost you to repair a computer one time, you could have an extra year’s protection. Some brands offer in-home repairs which may cost a bit more, but will save you time in the long run. Usually a purchase through a business will get you that same in-home service. When you do have to call customer support, allow plenty of time, have a pen and paper and your computer in front of you. The agent will want you to try various things first, even if you will be sending it in for repairs. Many companies now outsource their support and yes, you may have trouble understanding your technician. Be patient. He or she can’t understand you well, either. This is one of the costs of cheaper computers. Some agents may come across with a condescending manner. Worst-case scenario, ask for another agent or politely hang up and call again in the hopes you’ll get someone easier to understand or at least one with a better attitude. Always get the name of those you spoke with and if possible, as my dad used to advise, ask for the head barber. Although I don’t require exceptional haircuts anymore, management usually has more experience and may be able resolve your problem more efficiently. If sending your computer in for service is required, remember you may get it back devoid of any of your personal information. Back up data from the hard drive. Look in your Documents folder for photos, spreadsheets, documents, music, videos, downloads and anything else you wouldn’t want to lose. Burn the data to DVDs (as I initially tried to do) or copy to an external hard drive or to the Cloud. You can’t save programs, only data, so be prepared to reinstall anything you got after you bought your computer. This includes programs like Office, Photoshop, anti-virus and malware apps or games. Applications that came with the system may need to be reconfigured. That would include things like your browser (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox), Skype and even your Windows desktop. Make sure there aren’t any sticky notes taped to your keyboard with passwords on them. Don’t give them anything they didn’t ask for. They will need your Windows password though, if you use one. Computers break. There’s no way around that. If yours is under warranty and in need of servicing, get it fixed by the manufacturer. To repair an older system with an expired warranty, look locally for a technician. Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly on the Business page and on gainesvilletimes.com.

Beware of Keyloggers

Computer Care: Watch for keyloggers that can steal your password

	By Arthur Glazerglazer.tech@gmail.com

	POSTED: December 1, 2012 1:00 a.m.

	My wife logged on to her eBay account early one morning this week to discover she had sold two Wii units to someone in South Carolina. Normally this would have been a good thing, except for the fact the she sells clothes online, not electronics. She had been hacked. Somehow, without her knowledge (or permission), her computer had a keylogger installed on it. This allows whichever low-life who installed it to see what she types — passwords, bank account and credit card numbers included. So without even a cup of coffee in her yet, my wife was on the phone to eBay customer service, Paypal and then our bank. It was not the way she wanted to start the day, and that was only the beginning. We had to discover what, if anything, else had been sold from her account, what money had changed hands and what else had been compromised. It was to be a long morning. My wife and I have both bought and sold on eBay through PayPal, since it showed up on the Internet almost two decades ago. Although many people tell us they are skeptical about purchasing from an online auction site, we have experienced very little trouble in the 17 years we have been dealing with it. They usually side with the buyer, rather than the seller. Unless you have lots of documentation and a good case to present, you’re in for a battle to get your money back being an online vendor. As a merchant some years ago, I was taken for a couple of hundred dollars by a scammer who claimed my shipment was never received. I shipped without asking for delivery confirmation at the time. Not only did I lose the merchandise, I was forced to refund the money. In the days following, I determined this person had scammed a dozen other eBayers similarly. Unfortunately, PayPal saw no pattern so I never got my money (or merchandise) back. Live and learn. I believe in karma and figure soon enough this reprobate either got caught or was a victim of a scam himself. One could only hope. But I digress. Keylogging, or keystroke logging, as it is also known, is a form of malware, or more specifically, spyware. There are various incarnations of this type if infection, each one recording what you type on your keyboard, each just as difficult to detect and remove as the next. Your keystrokes are recorded as a log or text file and emailed back to the hacker. At this point he has your passwords, banking information and anything else he may want to steal from you. The thing to do if you get hacked, especially with a keylogger, is to first change your passwords. This is a prime example of why one shouldn’t use the same password on multiple (or all) accounts. If you do, then go change all of your passwords, which isn’t a bad idea anyway if you know a keylogger was installed on your system. Choose a difficult one with at least eight characters, including numbers and symbols. Avoid the obvious like addresses, birth dates and pets. Next call your bank and look at your withdrawal history. Even have it flag your account to notify you of suspicious activity. Also call PayPal if you deal with online auctions and have an account with it. Unfortunately, you won’t get much help from your ISP, which will say it’s all on you and to call your bank. Last and certainly not least, clean your computer. You are infected. Run whatever security package you have on your system. If you don’t have one, now is the time to get one. As I’ve stated before, most antivirus programs just look for viruses. This is not a virus and your dedicated AV utility may not look for nor find keyloggers. Run full scans and allow the malware utility to remove or quarantine any infections as it sees fit. Reboot your computer when all is done to be sure the infections are removed. Do not ignore this. It will not go away on its own. It will cause you grief you do not want to experience. Keyloggers will take hold of your computer, then your money and your identity. They make pop-ups seem like a walk in the park. Even if nothing happens immediately, don’t fall into a trap of false security. They have your personal information and are just waiting to use it. The faster you react, the better. Keylogging can be beneficial and legal in certain applications and can also come as hardware attached to a computer. But most often it is installed clandestinely to steal financial information. As unfortunate as this was for my wife, it did give me something to write about for this week’s column and warn you of the pitfalls of keyloggers. Don’t let it happen to you. It’s imperative that you take action immediately, should a vicious infection like a keylogger attack your system all of a sudden one morning. Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly on the Business page and on gainesvilletimes.com.

Know Your PC

Computer Care: Know your PC and its components

	By Arthur Glazerglazer.tech@gmail.com

POSTED: November 16, 2012 11:59 p.m.

	It’s imperative if you own a computer to know what the components are called and to know a few things about them. You know in your car what the tires are and that they need to be properly inflated and occasionally rotated, that the radiator needs coolant and the oil needs to be changed regularly. There are similar things you should know about your computer to keep it running optimally. I’ve had clients confuse basic terminology while describing a problem. It makes it easier when you call your geek friend or relative (or technician) for assistance, that you know what things are. When I hear that the home page on the desktop keeps changing, initially I’ve got to determine if it’s the desktop or the browser that is corrupt. The browser is what connects to the Internet. It could be Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome or Opera. That has a home page. It’s the web page that you see when the application is first opened. It’s your start page online. The computer desktop, on the other hand, has an image of either a graphic design or a photo of yours or Microsoft’s, and is covered with icons. Either can change without your knowledge or permission, but are two totally different problems. An icon can be your hero or a star, but on a computer it is a graphic representation of a program, a little picture. The cursor is the blinking little vertical line, pointer or hand on your display (monitor). Many people say their mouse is frozen when actually it’s the cursor. If the mouse were frozen, you couldn’t move it on your desk. This is semantics, yes, but it’s still important when troubleshooting. The Control Panel is something everybody should familiarize themselves with. It’s the place to go to modify just about anything in the system. It is the dashboard of your computer. In the Control Panel, you can change the tracking speed and click rate of your mouse and fine tune the way it operates, swap the desktop background or access your account to change your name or picture. You can find your printer, adjust the keyboard rates, or change power options, as well as a plethora of other adjustments. In the last few versions of Windows, Control Panel has its own search box in the upper right-hand corner. If you type mouse, it will show all items relating to the mouse. It saves the time of you searching throughout the Control Panel for what you need. The optical drive in a computer is the CD/DVD drive and is called such because it’s run from a light or laser. Speaking the optical drive, here’s a tip for you: There’s a tiny hole near the release button on most drive doors. This is a manual release in case the drive gets stuck. Open a paper clip and push it in the hole. When you feel resistance, push harder and the drive will pop open, even without power. To reboot a computer is to turn it off and then on again. While on the subject, it is a good idea to reboot and even turn off your computer every so often. By rebooting, you not only fix various wrongs in the system, but also refresh the system RAM (memory), making it run faster. The difference between RAM and hard drive is often confused. When your RAM is full, you are running too many programs at once (or haven’t rebooted in a while) and the system goes into brain lock. When the hard drive is full, you’ve physically run out of storage space. RAM is virtual and temporary, while the hard drive is real and physical. RAM is cleared each time you reboot. The hard drive, like your closet, will eventually reach capacity. Every computer with Internet access needs protection from viruses and malware. Often this requires two separate programs. Don’t assume because you have an antivirus app installed that everything will be covered. All they look for are viruses. Internet security suites, on the other hand, usually have a more comprehensive protection. That said, just because you have a program installed, don’t think you’ve got it covered either. It needs to be configured, updated on a regular basis and scheduled to scan your hard drives frequently. I’ve found clients’ computers infected that have had Norton, McAfee, Kaspersky or AVG installed. They all wondered how that could have happened, but they never ran a scan. These programs will only run themselves if you tell them to. They must be configured properly. I can’t stress this enough. There are malcontents, reprobates — call them what you will — who stay up late each night uploading malware and viruses to the Internet. If you fail to update your system’s defenses on a regular basis, your computer will become corrupted by these nefarious infections. The more familiar you become with your computer, the easier it will be to identify problems and the easier it will be to describe what goes wrong, when it does. Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly on the Business page and on gainesvilletimes.com.

Free Programs Often Come at a Cost

Computer Care: Beware of what you install with free programs

	By Arthur Glazerglazer.tech@gmail.com

	POSTED: November 2, 2012 11:59 p.m.

	Free programs are great and the Internet is full of them. The problem is that many of these so-called freebies come with a price called malware that piggyback the application or utility you are trying to download. I’ve talked about this in the past, but so many computers I’ve seen contain, for lack of a better term “self-installed malware,” that I thought this to be an important issue. Even if those secondary rogue programs appear to be enticing, they are applications that you didn’t ask for or want. This is a big caveat emptor. They can end up being either trialware or, worse, not legitimate programs at all. Let’s say for moment that those additional apps are real. They will either eventually expire, leaving remnants of a program and nagging pop-ups to purchase it or it will warn you of existing system errors, real or otherwise, that will require the app to be purchased to complete repairs. Many of these buddy apps will last only a week or a month before requiring a purchase. Initially you are led to believe they are full programs; most often, they are not. After you’ve realized that your system has been compromised, you’ll need to deal with removing the program. That’s usually not as simple as it sounds. Even when installing the legitimate free program, caution is both paramount and essential. Each box you check and agree to has important information that needs to be read and understood. I’m not talking about the never-ending End User Licensing Agreement. I mean the pages that require you to check a box and click “OK” or “Next” to install it after the download is complete. Often you inadvertently agree to have additional components installed or allow changes to be made to your system. These include toolbars or extensions (plug-ins) to your browser or gadgets to your desktop. Yes, this is where they come from. You put them there. You may also give permission to alter your browser’s home page or choice of search engines. During installation you are asked to agree to have the program installed and where it is placed on your system (usually your C:/program files folder). But read the fine print. Be careful what you agree to. Scrutinize the instructions before you hit “Next.” You can (and should) say “Decline” when asked to agree to these rogue apps or toolbars. Only agree to what you must to install the application at hand. The installation of those other programs is what pays for your free programs. You may come across a “free” utility that will claim to update your system’s device drivers. Most will scan your system and find a dozen or so drivers that require updating. Here’s the caveat: You need to purchase it to get the new drivers. The same goes registry cleaners. You install a utility you downloaded and let it scan your system, only to find out it will again cost you to effect repairs. Recently I was online to download and install a new version CCleaner, a good, free junk cleaner on my system. At the very top of the page was a button conveniently placed that said, “Start Download.” That was very handy except for the fact that the button was for a registry cleaner, not CCleaner. Again, this is how the folks at Cleaner (and others) can offer their wares for free, by selling space on their page to others. The product is good, but the practice is deceptive and they hope you fall for it. So when looking for that download button, be careful not to initiate a download of another application inadvertently. Now there are also full versions of CCleaner and other programs that are offered for free. They are the enhanced versions of the free ones, usually with more bells and whistles and thus supplementary capabilities. If the free version is legitimate, the real one will be better, so don’t be afraid to purchase it. This brings us the difference between an upgrade and an update. An update is adding new components to the existing program. It’s a good idea to keep an application updated. It’s free and usually quick. An upgrade on the other hand is a newer program and it will cost you. If you update your free antivirus app, you are adding new virus definition to the database. This is good. But if you upgrade it, you are replacing the free version with one that costs money — your choice. Even when downloading a free antivirus program, they will still try to trick you into installing their full, paid version. Initially it will be free, but that will generally last only a month, so be careful. Never respond to a pop-up that appears on your screen unexpectedly and suddenly. Read carefully what each page says before you click “Next” and agree to have an app installed. The integrity of your system depends upon it. Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly on the Business page and on gainesvilletimes.com.