Among most computer users there is a general tendency to claim that laptops should either be Dell, Compaq, Toshiba or Lenovo (formerly IBM) when wanting maximum battery life.

Later in life I discovered that Apple have MacBooks ranging in battery life between 7 and 10 hours. 10 hours is achieved when you buy a 13″ MacBook Pro. Truly an amazing battery life. I can still remember the times in the mid-90s when a battery life of 3 hours was considered maximum.

What you should consider is that there are different operating systems for different needs. No two computer users are the same. You have a choice between the following three operating systems:

• Windows
• Linux
• MacOS

Windows – Advantages and Disadvantages

For most people, Windows will be the primary choice. Not only is Windows the most used operating system, but it normally also comes pre-installed on most systems. Some Windows versions take up quite a bit of battery life. That was the case with Windows Vista. Windows 7 has been redesigned, and takes up much less battery life than Vista did. For laptops, the best choices are either XP or Windows 7.

One of the disadvantages of Windows is that you can’t get behind the kernel – the heart of the operating system. When errors happen you are mostly shut off from making changes. Most who migrate to Linux give this as their primary reason for changing their operating system.

Linux – Advantages and Disadvantages

Linux exists in many distributions. You can get Mandriva Linux free of charge – and some others choose Ubuntu, SUSE or Fedora (the free version of Red Hat).

Linux can run on older laptops, and takes up very little memory. In Windows, you need as much memory as possible. 2 or 4Gb is never too much when running Windows with some graphical programs running also. When using Linux, you will find that 1Gb of memory can be enough for most usage.

The main disadvantage for some is that you need to think in Unix terms when needing to make changes. If you mess up your partitions, you can end up losing data. So you should leave system changes up to people who are familiar with the ins and outs of the Linux operating system.

MacOS – Advantages and Disadvantages

My personal favorite, I admit it, is the MacOS operating system. From the second you unpack your Mac to the first time you use it, there is no need for technical knowledge. Everything is highly intuitive and you can use a Mac regardless of whether you are a beginner or a well-versed user of computers.

The price of buying a Mac was previously much higher than buying a normal laptop. Prices have changed quite a bit, and today they are very competitive when you compare with similar computers running either Windows or Linux.

In Conclusion

You can get lots of free software for all platforms, and for your student needs, OpenOffice will be your natural choice. It can be downloaded free of charge – and can run under all three operating systems. You can save documents in the Microsoft Office-format, and you don’t have to pay anything to use it.

For your graphical needs you will normally find Gimp to be an excellent choice. Gimp can also run under all three operating systems.

All in all, you will find lots of download opportunities, and for student users you have excellent possibilities to find both free and low-cost tools. When you get a decent laptop you can concentrate on finishing your studies. Good luck with college.

Thanks for reading this article. Hope you enjoyed the information.
You can see my overview of blogs over at http://blunckmeister.googlepages.com.
You can follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/henrikblunck
Feel free to leave feedback if you were helped by this article. I am always happy to hear what YOU think.

Author: Henrik Blunck
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Your computer’s Internet connection allows you to communicate with an infinite number of Web servers, Web pages, individuals from across the globe and allows you to search through an unimaginable amount of information on almost any subject but, it also endangers your computer and the sensitive information it contains about you.

On any given day virus, spyware, and adware creators invent completely new, destructive and unethical ways to find entry to your computer system. These 9 easy pointers will help protect you and your system from unwelcome visitors:

Take a second before you act: Attachments that end with .exe, .com, .bat, and .scr, (also files with .doc and .xls extensions), can render your computer completely useless with a single click. Most e-mail clients prevent access to any attachments so take an extra few seconds before you make a judgement on whether you trust the source and decide to open it or not.

Make use of a spam filter: Most viruses and spyware are installed by various methods of Internet browser hijacking however, spreading by email is still possible. Use of a junk-mail filter will significantly reduce the likelihood of running harmful scripts contained within messages.

Update your antivirus software: Letting your antivirus software continue running after its subscription period has expired is significantly worse than using no antivirus software at all: You will lack the essential new virus definitions and specifications AND you also now leave your computer exposed to any known flaws found in the antivirus software.

Prevention against WORMS and Viruses: Install antivirus software, update regularly, and use it regularly. Never open unsolicited e-mail attachments.Disconnect your network or modem cable when you are not using your computer.

Antivirus software is software that is installed on your computer that protects you from viruses. Antivirus software programs can have in the region of 50,000-100,000 “malicious software specifications” that are updated on a daily or as needed basis.

I highly recommend Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus (Free) for antivirus protection.

If in doubt try online: You should only install and use one single antivirus program at a time on your computer because multiple antivirus programs will conflict with one another and cause your computer to completely grind to a halt. If you have any doubt about your antivirus program’s effectiveness, you can use a free online virus scanner, such as Panda Software’s ActiveScan) or Trend Micros HouseCall.

Take care when downloading: Every program you download online and run on your PC system could potentially result in spyware or virus infection. Download programs only from reputable online sources that preferably have a strict no spyware policy.

Install a two-way firewall: Windows XP and Vista each come with a firewall that blocks unwanted or unexpected incoming traffic; it is enabled by default in Windows XP Service Pack 2 and later. However for full protection, you will also want to block unwanted outgoing connections made by spyware, viruses and scripts on your PC that attempts to either connect to a remote server or send out spam.

Windows Vista’s firewall does have that functionality, but configuring it is not the average Windows user. Instead, you can get one of several free bidirectional firewall programs, such as Zone Labs ZoneAlarm Free, or Agnitums Outpost Firewall Free.

Use an antispyware program: Anyone who uses a computer can succumb to spyware infection. In fact, 9 out of 10 Internet-connected PCs are infected with some kind of spyware. Spyware can be any application that tracks your online or offline PC activity, serves you adverts, redirects your pages and bombards you with pop-ups. If you use the Internet, its very much likely some form of virus threats are already present on your PC.

Spyware can occasionally go undetected however, it is more likely that you will notice that it is installed on your PC due to the obvious symptoms that your computer may experience. It is EXTREMELY difficult to get rid of but not entirely impossible.

Even if you are sure you have successfully removed an unwanted program manually, a remaining dormant file can trigger a complete re-installation the next time you boot-up your computer. And as a survival tactic, spyware programs often leave similar traces elsewhere on your system so you can often never eliminate it completely just after one attempt.

Spyware, adware, and some scripts / trojans slow down your system, cause crashes, and track your online activity. Antispyware utilities work much like antivirus software, detecting and removing the unwanted software from your PC.

One free tactic you can employ is to upgrade from Windows XP: As Microsoft service Pack 2 makes Windows XP much safer, but the operating system still has security holes, and it remains prime target for spyware authors.

Steve Ross is a Microsoft certified computer technician and has developed many solutions for beating Spyware, computer Viruses and Adware. More information on his techniques can be found at Slow Computer Help

Author: Steve Ross
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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As computer systems grow more complex and people who love computers learn more about them, it makes sense that one could say it is getting harder to protect your computer every day. You should always be prepared for viruses, as even corporations find themselves with a computer virus on occasion.

The Internet has greatly changed the way viruses spread. It used to be that viruses were only transmitted via floppy disks. Most computer users were aware of the virus threat, and would scan floppy disks before copying them. And if they didn’t scan them, it was simple to locate and destroy the few viruses that were successful. It would take awhile before a virus could infect and affect a computer and its system, and even then, Antivirus software could usually locate and destroy viruses before too much damage was done.

With its conduit, the Internet changed everything. Prevention is uncertain, because some viruses can spread without human intervention. They can manipulate vulnerabilities in systems or programs. They can enter and attack through multiple entry points. They have evolved from “only via floppy” to through e-mail, peer to peer file sharing, software downloads, instant messaging, e-mail attachments and things of that nature, and they can spread from computer to computer in mere seconds.

There are viruses which send themselves to people from you without you knowing it. As technology increases, and computers converge, so do the endless possibilities of the next type of threat to your computer.

Even with all these threats, there are ways to protect your computer. As virus possibilities increase, so do antivirus software capabilities. In fact, and luckily, antivirus software has kept pace with current virus threats.

Antivirus programs are essential to your computer. Your computer needs to be able to protect itself and fend off viruses. Antivirus software is well designed to protect the various routes of viruses; be it email, browsers, file servers or desktops.

Rest assured, there are precautions you can take to help protect your computer from virus threats, by doing things such as upgrading your system, using trustworthy programs, scanning your computer, using caution with unknown sources, and making back ups.

Stay up to date! In the past, having one or no antivirus program was acceptable, but with the new viruses, you need to make certain that you have protected your computer in a multitude of ways (as the viruses now can attack in a multitude of ways). Protect your computer from desktop to network and from the server to the gateway. Use a comprehensive security system with several features, such as: antivirus, firewall, intrusion detection, and content filtering. Doing this will make it difficult for viruses to attack your computer.

As new viruses come out often, keep up to date on your software. Configure your software’s real-time scan feature to start automatically each time you boot up your computer. This checks your computer every time you use it. Also, always scan new files and programs!

When opening Word or Excel documents from unknown sources, be careful. This goes double if it came from an instant message or from an email. If all precautions fail, and you end up with a virus, the best you can do is make sure that you have everything on your computer backed up. It will be the only way to recover your data, if the data was lost or corrupted due to a virus.

Keep your antivirus software updated, use caution when opening files or downloading, and backup your data. If you do all this, you will be at a lower risk for any virus attacks, and you will not regret it.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as Anti Virus Programs at http://www.anti-virus-software-plus.com

Author: Gregg Hall
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Computer security is a vitally important issue in today’s society, a lot of the most critical aspects of our lives require computers, and keeping those computers secure is critical. The popularity of the Internet and the amount of time we spend making use of it has made it very simple to spread computer viruses.

Computer viruses have become such a problem that they are now frequently mentioned in both the newspapers television news bulletins as well as in the online media. It is absolutely critical that you take steps to protect yourself against viruses, and you must be really vigilant if you spend a lot of time online.

Virus can be transmitted through e-mail, or a file you download even if you do not install it, but they can also be present in the files on a floppy disk especially if it is being passed from friend to friend. Lots of computers get infected every day, and if you do not take precautions yours may be next, you may lose all of your data on your machine. Once gone, it will be irretrievable unless of course you had the good sense to take a regular back up!

A computer virus is a small program that has the ability to duplicate itself, just like a real virus hence the name, also just like a biological virus it must have a host to exist. The virus payload, the end product of the computer virus, can be something harmless it can be as simple as displaying a message, or something very serious it could fully reformat your hard drive. Recent computer virus attacks have resulted in major disruption to both home computers and the networks of governments and multi national companies.

The advance of the Internet has been the most essential issue in the increase of computer viruses. Originally viruses were spread when people swapped disks with their friends, by its very nature this tended to restrict the spread of the computer virus but today most people do not tend to use external media like disks to store data in the same way, This has resulted, most viruses being spread via the use of e-mail and file sharing on the Internet. All that is required is for you to open an e-mail attachment or download a dangerous program and this can give your computer a virus. There are by now, about fifty thousand viruses in existence, but there are several hundred new threats produced each month.

There are a number of motives that encourage people to write computer viruses. The earliest virus programs were by and large written as pranks or experiments. However as some programmers began to learn their way about systems and the Internet, they wrote viruses just to see what they can do with them. For example, a programmer might write a computer virus code just to see how far it would spread. Unfortunately it did not stop there, other more malicious individuals, have far more hostile intentions and they took great delight writing computer viruses to harm websites or damage people’s computers.

An additional reason a computer virus gets produced is to blackmail large corporations with the threat of setting off a loss of data on their systems. There have been lots of viruses written for revenge. Employees who are about to lose their jobs can sometimes leave viruses behind on the company system to do damage to their former employer’s ability to do business.

Also lots of viruses are written for profit. The computer viruses may be used to send e-mail spam (so the original sender is disguised), causing your computer to serve as a host to illegal data, or engage in other illegal activities. Also, viruses can be used to spy on users, display pop-ups while the user is not on the internet, and acquire user data like bank accounts or credit card numbers.

Viruses tend to fall into two major types, Worms or Trojan horses, but just to complicate things Trojan horses, can be a type of worm.

A Computer Worm is a self replicating program, the first worm to gain wide attention was the Morris Worm this infected a large number of computers and earned its writer 400 hours of community service and over $10000 in fines!

Trojan horses as the name implies are hidden viruses. This helps the program to get installed in the first place. They then quietly run in the background, while disseminating its malicious code. This code can do any amount of things. It can begin right away or it may simply install a program that won’t start for sometime. Once it does start, it can delete all of the files on the computer or it can infect the computer and try to infect other computers on the network.

There are a number of ways viruses are delivered, and as a Trojan horse is the most common. It generally comes with other pieces of software that a user might find interesting. This software is usually shared through a file-sharing network or downloadable off of the Internet. Once the user installs the software, the virus also gets installed.

It is vital that you cover yourself against viruses, this can done very simply by installing a good anti-virus program and keeping it up to date. There are both free and expensive software applications around that can be set to self-update to protect from viruses.

You can also help defend yourself by being cautious where you download files from; only use a reputable well-known source. You should also not to open any e-mail attachments unless you know the sender. Making these safety precautions will help to protect you from computer viruses.

For further vital information and news about Computer Viruses pay a visit to http://www.antiviruseye.com

You may reproduce this article provided you maintain an active link back to http://www.antiviruseye.com

Author: Roger Overanout
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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