Some computer tips...cuz I'm that friend

Let’s be honest here, amongst your friends you know there is one or two that you are amicable with for the sole purpose of calling them when something goes wrong with your computer. Unfortunately for me I happen to be that guy (well people call me for boozing too, and you haven’t you should). Anyways, just last night another one of my friend called me asking for computer advice because his computer was going slow. And of I had to sit on the burn cell phones minutes trying to figure what was wrong and blah blah blah. So I’ve come up with a few things that you can to save yourself some cell phone minutes and not irritate that geek friend of yours unless something is really wrong. Plus you’ll feel smarter and better about yourself.

1. Download Firefox. It’s less vulnerable than Internet Explorer and has a ton of extensions that make browsing much more enjoyable.
   
2. Install Anti-Virus software. Acquiring one shouldn’t be too expensive. If you have Comcast, AOL, or EarthLink as an Internet provider you get one at a discount price. If you are dissatisfied with those or the trial period has expired, you can download Avast. It’s is free and quite affective. I use it on my machines at home. It scans everything from e-mails to AIM conversation including p2p downloads. It’s easy to set up and even has multiple skins. You can also try this one, but I don’t know much about it.
   
3. Install Anti-spyware software. Microsoft’s anti spyware is currently in Beta version, but seem to get the job done. A lot of experts also recommend the paid version of Spybot. But I’m not a fan of it.
   
4. Get a better spam filter. You can find a free one here. And for the love of god (any god), DON’T CLICK ON LINKS IN EMAILS.
   
5. Turn on your Windows firewall
   
6. Back up your Files. You can find externals hard drive that a 2 year old child can setup on Amazon or Froogle at a very reasonable price. My rule of thumb is get one twice the size of your hard drive.

Also don’t forget to secure your wireless network. But that’s something your friend doesn’t mind helping you with that. It will make them feel needed. Even geeks like that. It would nice to call him/her for non-computer related talk/events once in a while, but you don't have to.

UPDATE:  Microsoft has renamed their Anti spyware to Windows defender and it's now a Beta 2.  Download here.