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Every time you create a document, a spreadsheet, add entries to your database or accounts program or send an email, you are creating data.

Some of the data will not be especially important, however, there will always be some that is business critical, that is to say, your business would slow down or cease to function without it.

The first thing to do when planning a backup system is to identify your business critical information and where is it stored.

Next, make a copy of it NOW and on a regular basis, preferably using different media. One copy should be kept off-site or at least 70 meters away from the main computer. We can recommend and install a suitable backup system—01568 797099.

Currently when images are displayed on a web page, they are usually one of the following types; jpg, gif or png.

The new format is being labeled WebP, however, it will take some time to complete the trials and implement the new system.

There are various flavours available at various prices starting from free, but beware of the old adage, you get what you pay for.

In our opinion, at the moment, the safest program to use is Norton Internet Security by Symantec.

One of the 2010 versions allows you to legitimately load the CD onto 3 computers, providing each with 1 year of protection. The price can vary by as much as £25 so shop around.

You can spend time setting the program up once it is installed but it works well straight out of the box.

The program will update itself (providing you have a live internet connection) at frequent intervals and will keep your virus definitions up to date.

We would not advise using any of the free antivirus programs (unless bundled with a new computer), if you value the data on your computer.

Norton Internet Security 2010

Response rate:
This number, in milliseconds (ms), specifies how often the screen’s image is updated. The lower the number, the more frequent the updates and the smoother any moving images will be. Choose one with under 10 ms

Pixel pitch:
The screen’s display is made up of millions of tiny dots. The pixel pitch indicates how closely spaced these dots are and, as such, how sharp the image will be. Look for 0.3mm or lower.

Colours, brightness and contrast:
16.7 million colours is currently normal. The brightness should be around 300 candelas per square metre and the contrast ratio should be at least 1000 to 1 (1000:1).

Please note:
The newer your graphics card, the more benefit you will get from a brand new monitor.

Dust is one of the main culprits. It builds up round your computer’s components, assisted by the cooling fans, insulates them and causes them to heat up. Electronic parts are very sensitive to heat changes and not very tolerant to them.

The inevitable conclusion is hardware failure, either the motherboard, main processor or power supply will overheat and fail.

Having an annual service will prevent this type of failure and the downtime that goes with it.

The amount of dust the PC is subjected to will directly affect how long an un-serviced computer will last for.

Servicing consists of more than just removing dust—but it’s a great start.

Not a pretty picture

There are many different aspects to achieving the ideal page 1 rating on a search results page.

Optimising your website is something that should be done at the initial web design stage and revised periodically (at least once a year) depending on how your website is performing.

The search engines are looking for words or short phrases that are relevant to the text that a user has typed into their browser.

The text in your website (excluding text appearing in graphics) is one of the keys to attracting more, good quality visitors.

For example, if your company sells cameras, the words 'cameras', 'photography', 'digital cameras' and 'tripods' should be repeated several times throughout the text on the home page.

This is just one example of an SEO technique, there are many others which, when combined, will give you the best possible search engine rating.

If you leave them on, not only are they consuming power that you are paying for and not getting anything in return but also, there is a small risk of fire.

Switch them off and you reduce the risk enormously.

Another good reason to switch them off is that the temporary memory (RAM or random access memory) fills up whilst you use the PC and, although Windows is getting better at freeing up memory that is no longer in use, it is still not perfect and will ‘hog’ some of the memory even after you close a program.

The action of switching the computer off and on again (or restarting it) will effectively ‘reset’ the RAM.