One of the biggest problems facing home computer users today relates to fake virus warnings, commonly refered to as 'scareware'. There are a large number of rogue programs that can find their way into your computer which will immediately tell you via pop-up messages that your system has been infected with all manner of nasty things, and that for a small fee to register the software your system will be cleaned up and be back to normal in no time. BEWARE! These programs are entirely bogus and you should never ever give out credit card information to their authors.
Upgrades can breath new life into a system, in many cases prolonging the overall life by years. The most effective method of upgrading and improving a computer system is the addition of more memory. This can make for quite dramatic speed increases, particularly if like many people your computer has 1GB or less. To quickly see how much memory you currently have installed hold the 'Windows' key and while it's held down push the 'Pause' key. That will bring up a system information screen that will tell you about the operating system you have installed as well as the amount of available memory.
Sometimes there's nothing for it but to get the screwdriver set involved. If you find your computer refuses to start, keeps restarting, hangs at the dreaded 'blue screen' or even if it doesn't respond to the on button at all, don't panic. A quick call to arrange an appointment at a time to suit you is all it takes.
