GoodPractice4You

You may have noticed that getting things right first time can often be down to applying a good helping of common sense.

Unfortunately we don't always have the time to think things through properly, or maybe we are just not aware of how to go about getting it done right in the first place.

With all our list of gadgets [computers, tablets, mobiles, smart watches, smart speakers and all the other tech kit] continuously expanding it can seem that they are doing their best to both frustrate us and over complicate our lives.

This site has some handy ideas that may remind you about, or perhaps make you aware of, everyday good practices.

Hopefully there will be something of interest to go a long way to helping readers avoid minor annoyances, or even bigger disasters !

Nothing mentioned is meant to be prescriptive, meaning everything is hopefully a memory jogger or an incentive to do something differently.

Some of the entries only need a few words to get their points over, whereas others contain links to external information to provide further background.

Bookmark Tips

How : Browsing Tips

Search Tips

BIOS - understanding boot options for your computer

DON'T GET SCAMMED - check out 'cold callers' etc. before trusting them

FIND RELIABLE INFORMATION - keep it handy

INSTALL SOFTWARE UPDATES - in a timely manner

IT'S YOUR BACK - look after yourself

IT'S YOUR DATA - look after it

KEEP THINGS CLEAN - not dusty and grimy

KEEP THINGS TIDY - not messy

MAINTAIN YOUR ISP EQUIPMENT - in good order.

NEW STYLE STORAGE DEVICES : Direct connection to motherboards, bays or using converters

RECOVERY POLICY

RECOVERY USB + More Goodies

REUSE AN OLD SMARTPHONE - as a high quality web cam.

REUSE COMPUTER PERIPHERALS - effectively.

SELECTION OF COMPUTER CONNECTORS

TV PICTURE CONTROLS

BIOS - understanding boot options for your computer

The acronym BIOS stands for the computer's Basic Input Output System. In order to check, or alter, the many settings it contains you need to use tailored panels, supplied by the manufacturer, that are peculiar to your machine.

To get to the panels your will need to restart your PC and press the appropriate boot key continuously to display the BIOS dialogue.

If you don’t know the specific boot key for your PC then you can check a few popular ones below, or consult a manual, or do a Google search for your particular make and model ....

Dell

Lenovo

Apple

Toshiba

Acer

Other

Tap F12 when the Dell logo is displayed

Tap F9 when the HP logo is displayed

Tap F12 when the Lenovo logo is displayed

Hold option ***key when the computer first turns on

*** this is an odd looking key bearing a character like a 'small square' with 'tiny circles' at each corner

Tap F12 of F2 when the Toshiba logo is displayed

Tap F12 when the Acer logo is displayed

Try tapping Esc, F1-F12 or Enter key during bootup.

DON'T GET SCAMMED - check out 'cold callers' etc. before trusting them

This is an official Register maintained by the Financial Conduct Authority that you can use to validate unfamiliar sites to ensure they are legitimate and perhaps expose would-be scammers.

FIND RELIABLE INFORMATION - keep it handy

When things go wrong or are just not 100% right it is always worth checking out different sources for some expert help. You could always start with a devices manual [if you can find it] or check the manufactures site for pdf downloads. There is of course Google and Youtube where you can obtain specific answers [providing that you use accurate search criteria] and useful video clips explaining how to go about solving your issue.

INSTALL SOFTWARE UPDATES - in a timely manner

All of our smart gadgets, computers etc. have one thing in common and that is software. There are two main types of software to be concerned about and these are operating systems and application programs.

As far operating system software updates are concerned these as usually pushed to you by the supplier / manufacturer and they [almost] automatically install on you device. Some users opt in to participate in pre-release testing of products before they hit mainstream distribution and this is often referred to as Beta Testing such participation should only be attempted on non-critical equipment otherwise you may run the risk of having things go AWOL.

As a rule most application software is pushed to users, as above, but in some updates rely upon users to look them out and install them manually.

There is also a third category called firmware that is different in that it is usually flashed into the memory of any devices it runs on. This category is not updated all that frequently and when it is users need to follow the instructions to the letter as if it is not done properly it can brick your device.

So from a users perspective [a] perform regular checks to ensure your software is kept up to date [b] only download software from trusted and tested sources [use Google to confirm if in doubt] and [c] while it is important to keep thing current you don't necessarily have to be a trail blazer and be the first to jump in when the updates are released [look at some of the recent problems with Windows 10 for example] especially on essential equipment - best to wait a while and check if there has been any adverse user feedback - i.e. play it safe.

IT'S YOUR BACK - look after yourself

Click here to see an article by HowToGeek from June 2022 called "6 Posture Mistakes to Avoid When Sitting at Your Desk" that explains all about having the correct position in front of your computer screen.

IT'S YOUR DATA - look after it

There are many types of data that you use all of the time - click here for a few examples. As well as these the types there are also different data formats and many ways of holding [storing] and using it.

Whatever else remember it is YOUR data and you need to be sure that it is properly looked after.

Imagine the worst case scenario where your device is lost, or suddenly fails, and you can't get access to whatever information or service you need. If you have not already thought about this and taken whatever recovery actions are necessary then you are probably too late and your precious data could be lost forever.

If your data storage and availability is provided by a cloud service then you are usually o.k. but even if this is the case your data may be really, really, important to you then you might want to consider taking your own security backups.

Where the data is held locally on your device there are two scenarios where [a] the data is synchronised to an account in a cloud service [so you should be o.k.] and [b] where the device holds the only copy of the data and this is where it is vulnerable.

So if you decide you need backups for any reason you should look into the options available for your particular devices, applications and availability.

You can choose from cloud based solutions [some free, some paid for] which are the most convenient.
Next comes making copies yourself. One way would be to copy the data from one device to another, but remember if they are not synchronised then you should always use one device/copy as the primary [to receive updates] and another device/copy as the secondary [to only receive copies of the updated primary] but in this situation it is up to you to carry out the job manually or perhaps have some level of automation provided by a purpose built tool.
The last method would be to manually make copies of individual files, or groups of files, to an external memory stick / USB thumb device / CD or DVD with sufficient capacity. Whilst effective and cheap this option does rely on you driving the backup cycle and doing regular checks to ensure the quality and integrity of the backup media.

KEEP THINGS CLEAN - not dusty and grimy

If your computer keyboard, or mobile phone, need a bit of a clean then click here to see what is available on eBay to give you a helping hand.

Another good ideas for a quick clean are these aerosols of compressed air known as 'Air Dusters' that can be used to blow the dust out of awkward cracks - click here for examples at eBay.

KEEP THINGS TIDY - not messy

Do you have wires and plugs all over the place ? Don't worry you are not alone and there is plenty you can do to make things a lot neater, and importantly, a lot safer. The simplest way is to shoot over to eBay [as per the following example links] or to your favourite outlet. There are loads of different solutions available, take for instance cable tidies. When it comes to power supplies make sure you have enough wall sockets, if not, consider buying a power tower that often comes with handy built in USB ports. Finally your physical connections - NEVER pull anything out by it's wire, grip them by the casing, always treat them with respect and to not bend or force them in and out.

MAINTAIN YOUR ISP EQUIPMENT - in good order.

Your Internet Service Provider usually supplies a single box that is a combined modem and router.

The modem component connects directly to the ISPs network to deliver the service to your premises. Originally this was done over copper wires but increasingly fibre optic cables are used which are many times faster. The term fibre to cabinet is used to describe the situation where the fibre optic terminates in their cabinet [which will be located outside in a nearby cabinet] and a wired cable is run from there into your premises. Then we have the term fibre to premises that is increasingly popular [and faster] where the fibre optic terminates right inside your premises connecting directly to the modem.

The router component is usually in the same box that houses the modem. It can however be in a separate box provided by your ISP, or indeed held in an additional box from a third party supplier that has better features. In either case your devices can be connected to the router by ethernet cables [fastest] or by Wifi signals [known as SSIDs] that can provide good throughput. Most Wifi connections were made over what is known as 2.4G but more recently 5G has been made available. Generally speaking the 2.4G signal is stronger and carries further while the 5G signal is faster [up to 4 times] but does not penetrate internal walls etc. so well. So if you have 5G device and 5G SSID signal in close proximity then use them together, otherwise settle for the 2.4G SSID signal. Both the 2.4G and 5G signals can have their own SSID or on some routers they are combined to a single SSID names and the connecting devices automatically use whichever is appropriate.

If you do suffer from poor Wifi signals then help is at hand if you buy some additional kit. This can be in the form of Home Plugs that can carry an ethernet signal over your home's mains cabling [via 13amp sockets] to another room away from the router. There are also devices called Wifi Signal Extenders that can help relay an SSID signal throughout your home. Finally there are now mesh networks that are provided by some ISPs, or 3rd parties, that take the router's SSID signal and make it available over large areas more efficiently than other methods, but of course all of these things come at a cost.

The next big thing to come along will be WiFi 6 - you can read about it here. The article gives an honest appraisal of what these devices can do and points out their benefit even if you do not [yet] have a Gigabyte connection from your ISP.

Tip:

Did you know that most ISPs recommend that you re-boot their routers regularly to flush out the accumulated effects of networks errors. So providing your Wifi connected devices do automatically reconnect, as they should without any hassle, then pick a suitable quiet time [let others in the house know so that active connections are not broken] and power off the modem/router. Leave for at least 30 seconds [maybe a minute or two if you have the time] to let the network self clear, then power up again. The whole process should not take more than a few minutes and you could well benefit from it. Remember you can check your network speed at trusted sites like fast.com

NEW STYLE STORAGE DEVICES : Direct connection to motherboards, bays or using converters

You may have seen adverts for the new styles of SSD storage, that include NVMe M2 SSD and M.2 SATA or mSATA, but are not sure of the physical differences when it comes to choosing one for your computer.

Click here for a video that talks you through the different formats pointing out the difference between the traditional SATA bus [with a max throughput of 600 MB/s] and the more recent PCI-E connections [with an enormous throughput of 3,500 MB/s] that will really make things buzz.

However if you have an older computer you may find it is incompatible with some of these new style connections but with a bit of luck there could be a workaround. Check the last couple of minutes of the video where there is some great help with choosing an adaptor for a M2 SSD [see example 240 GB capacity for less than £36, and a twin adaptor for less than £10 on eBay] that may allow you to upgrade.

RECOVERY POLICY

You never know when disaster is going to strike your beloved laptop or desktop computer - so be prepared !

Ensure you are comfortable with whatever needs to be done to recover from Hardware / Software failures and that your Data is safely backed up or held online.

Hardware / Software: To address such events you need to have a well tried methodology that enables you to quickly rebuild your operating system / working environment [from potential hackers, software corruption or hardware failure] then there is not a lot to worry about.

As I know to my cost systems can go belly up [especially when you play around as much as I do] and when it happens it can be a right bummer. However thanks to my cunning plan I know I can confidently recover virtually any situation without too much pain.

A simplistic overview is to just stick a 'hot-swap' SSD into the caddy tray, a Live-USB [containing target operating system] into a USB port, and I can have a clean Cloudready or Linux system up and running in about 20 minutes. Need to allow about 35 to get Windows 10 up and running, add to that another 20 minutes or so to go through additional installs for new Edge Browser, Chrome Browser [including a few extensions] and Belarc Advisor.

Data: If you keep your data in 'the cloud' [as I encourage you to do] then 99.9% of your data should be safe - I'll let you worry about the other 0.1% of personal information that requires special attention, be that off-line or through a specialist service. Apart from Google Drive [which gives a generous and free space allowance] you may want to consider these.

When you have recovered your system and it is up and running just install the Chrome browser [if not there by default] and log in to your account to 'sync' everything. You may also need to connect to other services like Dropbox but that's a breeze.

Bingo - you are fully back on air as thought nothing had happened !

Add to that the knowledge that online Google Accounts can be secured with the Titan Security Key then, whilst not perfect, you can feel pretty bullet proof.

RECOVERY USB + More Goodies

Click here to see a short video that contains some useful things you can do with a USB memory stick including recovery tools [for Windows] and other ideas that you might not have heard about before.

REUSE AN OLD SMARTPHONE - as a high quality web cam.

Click here for an article "How to use your phone as a webcam: Pro tips while working from home" by CNET explaining how to substitute the default in your laptop that might be of a lower specification than the one used by your old smartphone. Also mentions the use of some Apps where appropriate.

REUSE COMPUTER PERIPHERALS - effectively.

USB to SATA connections

Click here for a canned search of eBay for typical good value products to connect external disc drives or CD-ROMs.

USB external disc caddy to SATA connector

Click here for a canned search of eBay for connecting external disc drives in a caddy.

USB external CD-ROM caddy to SATA connector

Click here for a canned search of eBay for connecting an external CD-ROM in a caddy.

2nd internal laptop HDD or SSD disc drive in CD DVD-ROM Bay

Click here for a canned search of eBay for internal disc drive enclosure to house a second HDD or SSD.

SELECTION OF COMPUTER CONNECTORS

USB Adaptors

Click here for a selection of good value adaptors.

TV PICTURE CONTROLS

Click here for an article that explains the different terminology used by suppliers, what the different settings actually do, and when you might want to use them.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse