Do you want to know which programs are using your internet data?

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Do you want to know which programs are using your internet data?

By Jeandre de Beer / Kim Komando

internet 2

Have you ever wondered where your monthly internet bandwidth has gone to? 

Sometimes we are not even halfway through the month and all our data has been depleted.

Do you know what your computer is up to while you’re away, or what it’s doing right under your nose? 

If you have a server or firewall on your network it makes this task much easier – since all internet traffic can be routed through the server / firewall and a detailed report can be generated on who accessed what sites and the amount of data that a specific user consumed during the month.

If you are a home user or if you do not own a server or firewall – internet monitoring and management becomes more difficult.

Home users and small business owners usually do not have the need to spend a large amount of money on internet monitoring, but they still want to have basic controls over what happens with their bandwidth.

 

Is there a way to find out what happened?

 

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8 Things happening inside your computer box

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8 Things happening inside your computer box

By Jeandre de Beer / Kim Komando

Inside_computer

When your computer is working well, the parts inside work together to help you surf the Web, organize and edit photos, type documents and anything else you use it for.

Most of the times we do not think about the multiple different parts a computer has. When you do remember is when something goes wrong.

If your computer suddenly stops working and you need to purchase a new computer or upgrade your current one –  That’s when you enter a world of numbers and acronyms: CPU, RAM, eSATA, Gigabit, 802.11 … the list is endless.

Once you get past the letters and numbers, understanding what these parts actually do isn’t too hard. 

 

Let’s see how a computer actually works.

 

1. CPU 

 

The central processing unit is the part of the computer that “computes.” Most people just call it a CPU or processor.

The processor does the heavy lifting. It takes in numbers, does some calculations and returns other numbers.

A modern processor can do billions of calculations in a very short time. It’s hard to overstate just how amazing modern processors are; billions and billions of switches – known as transistors – crammed in a space the size of a thick postage stamp.

Many CPUs today have multi-core processors which put two or more CPU “cores” – the part that does the work – in a single CPU package. That allows us to get more performance with slower processor cores.

The benefit of more cores is better multitasking. Several cores can be working on separate tasks simultaneously. A slower multi-core processor can often accomplish more than a fast single-core processor.

The two most common types of multi-core processors are dual-core and quad-core. Dual-core processors have two cores, while quad-core processors have four. However, there are processors with as many as eight or more. 

There are two major processor manufacturers for computers: Intel and AMD.  AMD was big back in the mid 2000s, Intel has dominated the market since.

 

 

2. MOTHERBOARD 

 

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Why am I receiving so many SPAM emails?

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Why am I receiving so many SPAM emails?

By Jeandre de Beer

spam 2

 

Spam emails is a huge time waster. Spam is unsolicited emails that you receive – basically any email you receive that tries to sell you something that you did not sign up for.

You get to work on a Monday morning – already stressed out about the day’s tasks – you open your email client – and you see a mountain of mails waiting for you.

As you start to read through them you realize that most of the emails you received over the weekend is spam.

It takes forever to sort your email – deleting spam mails and moving legitimate emails to another folder. Before you realize it – you wasted an hour of your morning.

 

 

Is there any way to prevent spam? Read more

I have an Anti-Virus program – Why do I still get infected then?

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I have an Anti-Virus program – Why do I still get infected then?

By Jeandre de Beer

virus 1

Many times a client asks us this question : I have an Anti-Virus program installed and I keep it updated on a regular basis. I update my Windows with the latest security patches, but I still seem to get virus infections from time to time – WHY?

This is a very good question, since so many believe that having an anti-virus program installed protects them fully from getting infected – sadly it doesn’t.

Staying protected is not easy.

 

In simple terms there are three components when it comes to virus infections : Read more

How do I protect my computer from Viruses?

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How do I protect my computer from Viruses?

By Jeandre de Beer

computer-health

Viruses are common place today – and each day new viruses are released. Most of the times they make our computers slow and displays annoying pop up ads, but sometimes they can destroy data.

It is best to make sure that we are adequately protected against infection.

 

 

Here are four steps to keep in mind : Read more

Why has my computer become so slow?

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Why has my computer become so slow?

By Jeandre de Beer

Slow Computer

 

 

It’s very frustrating to work on a computer that seems to take minutes to open a program or respond to a task.  It adds to our stress levels when we have a slow computer and deadlines that are looming.

We still remember the time we purchased the computer – it was fast and responsive – but lately it takes forever to boot into Windows, applications are slow to open and it seems the machine is sluggish to do just about anything.

 

Computers gets slow for a variety of reasons : Virus or Spyware infections, out dated software, not enough memory, faulty hardware and various other reasons. Read more