Buy a Mac

This is mega kick ass hardware and highly dependable software. The only reason not to buy a Mac is cost. I have not found a single Windows app I can’t run on my Mac with a little help from VM-Ware. Is a Mac perfect? No but is a lot closer to computing nirvana than any PC I have ever used.

If you can’t buy a Mac buy a PC With

• Processor: Intel multi-core 64 bit processor
• Memory: At least 4 Gb of RAM
• Hard Disk: at least 300 Gb or as much as you can afford.
• DVD: DVD-RW drive
• Monitor: At least 19” with DVI connections.

Operating System

Windows XP or Windows 7 – 64 Bit

Best Practices

Security – What You Need

1. Our current basic security software recommendation is Norton Anti-Virus. Don’t buy Norton System Works or Internet security suites because they have a LOT of stuff you don’t need. These unnecessary programs only rob you of valuable system resources.

2. Windows XP Service Pack III and all current security updates. http://update.microsoft.com

3. If your computer is connected to the internet though a cable or DSL modem, you need to have a software firewall. The good news is that a firewall with minimal security is included in Windows XP and is ok for most situations.

What Will Kill You!

Anything that says it is free will ruin your life! There is no such thing as free software you may not give them money, but you just gave away your computer and it contents.

Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• Anything that says it will optimize your internet connection, remove adware, or increase your PC’s performance in any way.
• Weather Bug – a good rule of thumb is to never install anything with the word bug in it on your computer.
• Precision Time
• Internet file sharing applications such as Limewire. I recommend the new Windows Media Player or iTunes. These are pay sites but they are inexpensive and well worth the money.
• Free Screen Savers
• Create a Monster (Hello!)
• My Daily Horoscope
• Anything that asks if your computer is running slow
• Anything that says free that does not come from a name you know
• Anything that says it will pay you to surf or offers rebates or coupons for anything such as Bargain Buddy
• With a few exceptions (FireFox), any alternate web browsers or E-mail programs. (contact your systems administrator)
• Do not download any toolbars or search assistants except for Google, Yahoo, or Bing. All of these have a built in pop-up blocker and some of them have a anti-spyware program that does no harm.

Safer Searching

Google — is now presenting people with a warning before they visit websites that have been reported to StopBadware.org as sites that distribute badware. These warnings currently link to a general page on StopBadware.org, but as sites are researched they will replace the general page with an individual website reports (see an example here ). Hopefully this next step will bring us that much closer to fulfilling the mission of providing people with reliable, objective information about downloadable applications in order to help them make better choices.

What you can do:

• Listed in the If you want to play games, chat or other things go to Yahoo first. Yahoo Instant messenger their chat services and other services are all-good and have no bad habits (yet).
• If you have a question about any software contact your systems administrator before you install it.
• Desktop search utilities from Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft are an excellent way to keep track of documents on YOUR computer. I highly recommend them.

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