precautions while using computer and laptops

Make sure that you before you put your laptop into its carrying bag that it is shut down. A notebook that has been left on can melt. When enclosed in a notebook bag there is no air circulation and the results can be worse than melting. Dont find out the hard way and just be sure to turn off your laptop.

Part of your weekly routine should be to inspect and clean the air vents in your laptop. Forced air dusters can be used to keep the air vents clean and free from debris. Its important to know that you should never push anything into the air vents.

Overheating problems can be caused by the laptop fan not working properly. Always check the laptop manufacturers online support and your warranty information. It may be possible to download software to test your laptop fan.

Some laptops control the fans through the BIOS. Check online with the laptop manufacturer for BIOS updates. If you arent comfortable updating the BIOS yourself, have someone in your IT dept. or have an outside Computer Technician do it for you.

Using a laptop desk or cooler will prevent you from being burned when using your laptop. A good laptop desk will have large enough vents for allowing air circulation between you and the laptop. Some laptop desks have additional fans which use power from the laptop itself to stay cool.

Its a wise idea not to use any soft material as a buffer between you and your laptop. Always operate your laptop on a hard surface, preferably one that allows ventilation. Soft materials can block the airflow vents and cause it to overheat. If it is not possible to avoid using a soft surface, an optional heat sink base should be used to maintain cooling.

Whenever your laptop will not be in use, even for short periods of time remember to unplug any accessories. Not only do they use power but they could cause the laptop to overheat. Its especially important to unplug any accessories before packing your laptop in its carrying case. While you may believe it will make it quicker to use, it could damage your laptop, the accessory and/or your laptop bag.

Almost all Internet traffic is sent in the clear. This means that it can be read by software on any host computer through which the network packets are routed without having to be de crypted. This should be of little concern to most Internet users because most of the packets traveling on the Internet contain data that is not sensitive from the users viewpoint, and is of no interest to Internet attackers.Several types of information traveling across the network that are sensitive to users, and of interest to Internet attackers, are discussed in the following sections.

Another basic precaution that all users should take is to ensure that permissions on files that can be accessed by others are set properly.An example of files that could be accessed by others are files in a Unix or Novell account. The Unix and Novell operating systems maintain a set of permissions on each file that establishes permission to read, write, or execute the file by the file owner, a group of users, or all users. If a user does not want other users to read his files, then the permissions for each file must be set to prevent this.

The first type of sensitive information traveling across the Internet is user name, password, and IP address combinations. These data are the primary targets of sniffer programs operated by Internet attackers. These are read by the sniffer program and typically recorded in a file intended to be retrieved later by the attacker. These combinations can then be used to break into the users account. and from there the attacker can compromise the entire system.A solution to this problem is to have these data sent across the Internet in a secure manner, such as by encrypting them first.