Antivirus Protection

Spy-ware and computer viruses are programs you come in contact with online that can be very harmful to your computer. There is software you can find to fight against those programs.
McAfee is the first antivirus program I’ll mention. It has programs that detect viruses and spy-ware and warn you about their threat. A window may pop up and ask if you want to allow the program to run. There is a free version of McAfee available to download. Here’s the site: McAfee website
If you want more protection you can purchase McAfee software here:
Another antivirus program is Norton. Norton basically offers the same protection as McAfee. You can purchase this on this page: Norton website
Some internet providers use either the McAfee or Norton antivirus as their security program. Some may add a small fee. Antivirus software acts as the immune system for your computer. These programs update virus definitions regularly to protect your computer from harm. These programs can scan your computer for threats automatically or by choice. It is vital that if you use your computer to go online that you have an antivirus protecting you.

Calculators

Calculators are a nifty little application for computers. They aren’t as limited or inflexible and actual physical ones you buy at the store. A pretty standard calculator comes with Windows. But if you want more options look online. There are plenty to choose from.
There are the basic ones of course. Then there are scientific and graphing calculators. Specialized ones are available as well. For example, financial, debt reduction, currency, and date calculators are just a few of a long list you can find at Download.com.
Sometimes it’s not the function, but the appearance, that you are interested in. There are tons of different looks for calculators, especially for basic ones. You can find them, download them, and build your own collection if you’d like.

Wallpaper and Screensavers

If you’re bored with the appearance of your desktop you have some choices on how to spice it up a little. You can use wallpaper, screensavers, and even themes. Wallpaper is pictures you use as background on your desktop. Your computer probably comes with several choices. But if you don’t like any of those you can select your own. If you right click on an image online there should be the choice to Set as Background. You can also put pictures you already have on your computer as wallpaper. Right click the image and choose Set as Desktop Background. You can also choose how to place the picture you use as wallpaper by centering it, tiling it, or stretching it. If the picture doesn’t take up the whole screen you can customize the background color.
There should also be several different animated screen savers on your computer too. Right click on the desktop and select Properties. Then click on Screen Saver, and then choose one. If you want to make a slide show of pictures you have then choose My Pictures Slide Show. This will create a slide show of all the pictures in My Pictures. You can also choose None if you don’t want a Screen Saver.
Themes are fun as well. Right click on Properites, and then Themes. There are several to choose from. It changes things like sounds, icons, and other elements to further customize your desktop. You can also find cool themes online. I once had a Tori Amos theme. It was pretty cool. If your computer is sluggish you might not want themes or sreen savers.

System Maintenance

There are a few ways of maintaining your computer. Some of these ways include Disk Cleanup, System Defragmentation, System Restore, and restarting your computer. When you do a Disk Cleanup you are deleting Temporary Internet Files and whatever is in the Recycle Bin. This helps make room for your computer’s memory. System Defragmentation reorganizes the files on your computer so it’s not so cluttered and is easier for your computer to read. System Restore can restore the state of your computer to an earlier time to fix lots of different problems you may encounter. And of course, simply restarting your computer can fix some problems, and is just plainly a good idea every now and then.

Download Sites

The Internet has some sites devoted to downloading software and other stuff. The 2 sites I know the best are Download.com and Tucows. Each has tons of software from many different catagories to choose from, and can be free or free to try. You can look up what you’re looking for in the search box. There are ratings, number of downloads, and the date the files were added. Software has reviews and sometimes Publisher's website and even screenshots. You can find software for different Operating Systems and file sizes.There’s also News, Tips and Tricks, and Blogs.
You get to read about software before you download it. Reviews and ratings can be very helpful. Most information you need can be easily found. I’ve downloaded several things in the past from Download.com before. I’m pretty satisfied with it. I’ve never had serious problems with anything I got from there, and there are lots of cool things to find. Such things include computer repairing software, calculators, typing programs, and spyware cleaners.

YouTube

I found YouTube more than a year ago, and have been enjoying it ever since! I had discovered that finding some videos online was almost impossible. For example, I looked around for Belinda Carlisle or Cathy Dennis videos, without much success. Once I came across YouTube not only did I find plenty of those videos, but also commercials and funny home made videos.
YouTube is free, even if you decide to join. If you join, you can select favorites, and I think you can submit your own videos, (I never had any to submit). You can share videos from YouTube with anyone who has an e-mail. When you get to YouTube’s home page there are some videos at the top that are currently being watched by other people. Videos have ratings, (you can rate them too), and a number of how many views they’ve gotten. You can also find movie trailers. A week ago I saw a teaser trailer for Indiana Jones 4! I can’t wait for that to come out!
There are thousands of videos on YouTube to choose from. More videos are being uploaded every day. If you haven’t experienced YouTube yet you’re in for a treat!

Video

Watching videos online and on your computer is another great way to spend your time. There are different ways of doing it. One way is finding videos online you can download to your computer and then watch. There are different places online to find these videos. For instance, you can look them up using the Video tab on Yahoo. Another way of watching videos online is by using streaming video. Basicly that means you can watch these videos online without having to download them. A couple of websites with good streaming video are YouTube and Yahoo Music.
There are a few media players to play downloadable videos on. Probably the most used is Windows Media Player. I’ve found it to work well with plenty of options. Then there’s QuickTime. This is from Apple, and also works well. You get it automaticly when you download iTunes. There’s also RealPlayer. It has Real Guide which helps you find different kinds of media.
Of course, you can watch DVDs on your computer without even being hooked up to the Net if you have a DVD drive. You have to have software that plays DVDs, such as PowerDVD. It works pretty much like your standard DVD player for your TV.
Watching videos on your computer is fun and a good use for your PC.