When shopping for a scanner, you'll want to look for a few important things. Here's a quick summary.

• Resolution: Scanners generally have a lot more resolution than you need, measured in samples per inch (spi). You'll also see terms dots per inch and pixels per inch applied to scanners, even though scanners don't have dots (printers do) or pixels (monitors do). Scanner resolution varies from 600 x 600 spi to 2400 x 2400 spi, or higher. Unless you're scanning tiny, very high resolution originals (such as postage stamps), anything more than 300 to 600 spi is overkill.
• Color depth: This is the number of colors a scanner can capture. The color depth is measured using something called bit depth. For example, a 24-bit scanner can capture 16.8 million different colors; a 30-bit scanner can grab a billion colors, and a 36-bit scanner can differentiate between . . . zillions of colors. You'll never have an original with that many different hues, however. In practice, the extra colors simply provide the scanner with an extended range (called dynamic range) so that the scanner can capture detail in very dark areas of the image as well as in very light areas.
• Speed: Some scanners are faster than others. If you're scanning a lot of photos, you'll want one that works quickly.
• Convenience: So-called "one-touch" scanners have buttons mounted on the front panel so that you can trigger the scanner to make a copy (that's sent to your printer), scan to a file, route a scan to e-mail, capture text with optical character recognition, or perform other functions.
• Bundled software: The best scanners are furnished with an easy standalone software interface plus a more professional scanning program that gives you total control over every scanning function. You also get drivers that let you access these interfaces from within programs, such as Photoshop. You may even get Photoshop (or a "Lite" version) bundled with the scanner, plus software to create panoramas, build Web pages, manage documents, and do other fun stuff.
• Accessories: Some scanners include sheet feeders (for scanning a stack of documents) or can be fitted with them as an option. Others have slide-scanning attachments or built-in slide-scanning tools. Depending on the kind of work you do, these accessories can be a perk or a necessity.

Knowing how to spot the latest email hoaxes may be easier than you think!

There are thousands of email hoaxes moving around the Internet at any given time. These email hoaxes cover a range of subject matter, including:

• Supposedly free giveaways in exchange for forwarding emails.
• Bogus virus alerts.
• False appeals to help sick children.
• Pointless petitions that lead nowhere and accomplish nothing.
• Dire, and completely fictional, warnings about products, companies, government policies or coming events.

The good news is that, with a little bit of foreknowledge, email hoaxes are easy to detect. Hidden within the colourful prose of your average email hoax often lurk telling indicators of the email's veracity.

Probably the most obvious of these indicators is a line such as "Send this email to everyone in your address book". Hoax writers want their material to spread as far and as fast as possible, so almost every hoax email will in some way exhort you to send it to other people. Some email hoaxes take a more targeted approach and suggest that you send the email to a specified number of people in order to collect a prize or realize a benefit.

Another giveaway is that hoaxes tend not to provide checkable references to back up their spurious claims. Genuine competitions, promotions, giveaways or charity drives will usually provide a link to a company website or publication. Real virus warnings are likely to include a link to a reputable virus information website. Emails containing Government or company policy information are likely to include references to checkable sources such as news articles, websites or other publications.

A third indicator is often the actual language used. Email hoax writers have a tendency to use an emotive, "over-the-top" style of writing peppered with words and phrases such as "Urgent", "Danger", "worst ever virus!!", "sign now before it's too late" and so on, often rendered in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS for added emphasis. Paragraphs dripping with pathos speak of dying children; others "shout" with almost rabid excitement about free air travel or mobile phones. As well, some email hoaxes try to add credibility by using highly technical language.

So there you have it. Before forwarding an email, asks yourself these questions:

1. Does the email ask you to send it to a lot of other people?
2. Does the email fail to provide confirmation sources?
3. Is the language used overly emotive or highly technical?

A "yes" answer to one or more of the above questions, should start some alarm bells ringing. These indicators do not offer conclusive evidence that the email is a hoax but they are certainly enough to warrant further investigation before you hit the "Forward" Button.

Often spam emails will contain an "unsubscribe" link or button. Unfortunately, if the email is really spam and not something you explicitly signed up for, using this "unsubscribe" link is in fact likely to increase the amount of spam you receive.

Anybody who tries to unsubscribe in this way is just letting the spammer know that his or her email address is valid. The spammer can then confidently send you even more spam, with the happy knowledge that your account is active and that you actually read your email. If someone is unscrupulous enough to send you unsolicited advertising material in the first place, it is quite unlikely that he/she/it will honour a request to stop sending it.

Print All Documents in Draft Mode

SUMMARY: Save ink and toner when printing in-progress documents with Windows XP.

Microsoft Word and some other programs offer a "Draft Mode", allowing you to print documents using less toner or ink than normal. These documents don't look as clean or as crisp as regular documents, but they are great for quickly printing out versions of your documents as you refine them.

You may want to turn on Draft Mode printing in other software so you can print and proof documents without using as much toner or ink. To do so:

1. Click "Start", then "Printers and Faxes".

2. When the "Printers and Faxes" window appears, right-click on a printer and choose "Properties".

3. When the "Properties" multi-tabbed dialog box appears, click the button "Printing Preferences".

4. From here, your printer's preference multi-tabbed dialog box should appear. Look through the various tabs, such as General or Main for a "Draft Mode" option. This may involve moving a Printer Quality slider towards "Speed" or "Fast Printing".

5. When done, press "OK" to close the dialog boxes.

To reverse the process when you need to print a professional document, perform steps 1-3 then uncheck the "Draft Mode" button or move the Printer Quality slider towards "Quality", as appropriate.

Phone companies offer a broadband type of connection: DSL (Digital Subscriber Line). DSL service is supposed to use your existing phone line and in-house wiring. But DSL often works better if the phone company runs a new wire from outside your building to where you use your computer. (Bell Atlantic calls this a home run.) For DSL to work, you have to live within a couple of miles of your telephone central office, so DSL is unavailable in many rural areas.

DSL is available at different speeds. The higher speeds cost more (surprise, surprise!). The lowest speed (usually 640Kbps) is fast enough for most users.

If DSL service is available, you call your phone company. A phone installer comes with a network connection box (similar to a cable modem) and hooks it up to your computer.

Your phone company may soon offer video on your DSL, and your cable company may offer local phone service via your cable modem. Confusing, isn't it? DSL was originally supposed to provide video on demand (that is, almost any movie or TV show whenever you want it); but when customers demand video, they tend to meet that demand by turning on HBO or running down to the video rental store. DSL has now been reborn as yet another high-speed Internet gateway, but the video capability is still in there.

A hidden cost in getting either cable or DSL Internet access is having to take a day off from work to wait for the installers. Sometimes it takes them two trips to get things working. Try to get the first appointment in the morning. Also, the cable company or phone company is usually your ISP unless you pay extra, so you don't have a choice of ISPs.

Looking for Someone? The Internet is a great place to find old family and friends - if you know where to look. Two websites you should check out if you need to find an old colleague are WhoWhere and Bigfoot . These sites give you a variety of ways to search for people on and off the Internet, and just might help you find someone you haven't talked to in years.

Go back to the Classic Control Panel

Tired of having to navigate through various options to get to a specific control panel? Fortunately in XP you're still able to go back to the "Classic" control panel view. While in the main control panel window, on the left pane should be a list of options. At the top of this list is one that says "Switch to Classic View." Click it. Your control panel will instantly go back to the way it was on previous editions of Windows or just simply display each control panel separately for quicker navigation. To go back, just click "Switch to Category View," and the control panel will go back to offering various task options.

Printing - Keep it simple

Print documents faster by keeping text attributes simple. Bold, underlined and italicized text takes longer to print than straight text. Documents with multiple fonts are also slow to print..

All good Web sites grow and evolve. If you start with a strong design and pay close attention to some basic rules about interface, navigation, and style, you have a better foundation to build on. The following design ideas can help you create a compelling Web site that grows gracefully. Make it easy Creating a clear and intuitive navigational system is one of the more important elements in creating a Web site. Nothing is likely to frustrate your visitors more than not being able to find what they're looking for. Make sure that visitors can easily get to all the main sections of your site from every page in the site. You can best do this by creating a set of links to each of the main sections and placing it at the top or side of every page. If the pages are very long, consider including a navigation bar, or footer, at the bottom of the page as well. Often the navigation bar at the bottom of the page is just a list of text links. The bottom of the page is also an ideal place to include basic contact information. A set of graphical icons can make this navigational element an attractive part of your design. Your goal is to make sure that viewers don't have to use the Back button in their browsers to move around your site. White space is not wasted space One of the better design features you can add to a page is nothing at all (also known as white space). Understand that white space, in this case, is not always white; it's simply space that you haven't crammed full of text or images. It can be any color, but it's usually most effective if it's the color or pattern of your background. White space gives the eye a rest, something readers need even more often when they're staring at a computer monitor. You can use white space to separate one type of information from another and to focus the viewer's attention where you want it most. Some of the most beautiful and compelling designs on the Web use only a few well-thought-out elements against lots of white space. Design for your audience No matter how technically sophisticated a Web site is or how great the writing, most people notice the design first. Make sure that you leave plenty of time and budget to develop an appropriate and attractive design for your Web site. The right design is one that best suits your audience — that may or may not mean lots of fancy graphics and animations. Back it up Make sure you have a system in place to back up your Web site. Always keep a copy of all the files that are on your server in a separate location and update it regularly to make sure you have the latest version of your site backed up at all times. Even the best Internet Service Providers sometimes have technical problems, so you should keep a backup of your site where you have easy access to it and can get it back online quickly if something ever does happen to delete any or all the files you have on the server. Also keep a backup of your original source files, such as Photoshop images. For example, when you develop images for the Web, you usually start in a program like Photoshop, creating a high-resolution image that may include layers and other elements. Before the image goes on your Web site, those layers get flattened and the image gets compressed or reduced and converted into a GIF or JPEG. If you ever want to go back and alter that image in the future, you'll want the original source file before it was compressed and the layers were flattened. Whether you create your own images or your hire a professional designer, make sure you develop a system for saving all these original elements when they are created. Small and fast Despite all the promises that unlimited bandwidth was coming soon, the biggest problem on the Internet is still speed. Making sure that your pages download quickly makes your viewers more likely to keep clicking. If your page designs take a long time to download, here are a few likely reasons and suggestions for how to make them load faster: First, take a look at multimedia elements and consider reducing the size or at least offering users the option to skip large multimedia files, such as Flash introductions. You especially don't want to make users wait too long for the first page of your site. If you suspect that static images are the problem, consider compression methods and use a program such as Fireworks or ImageReady that are designed for optimizing images for the Web. Finally, use Dreamweaver's code cleanup feature to get rid of extra tags that can contribute to a heavier page. To use this, choose Commands --> Clean Up HTML. Follow the Three Clicks Rule The Three Clicks Rule states that no important piece of information should ever be more than three clicks away from anywhere else on your Web site. The most important information should be even closer at hand. Some information, such as contact information, should never be more than one click away. Make it easy for viewers to find information by creating a site map and a navigation bar — a set of links to all the main sections on your site. Map it out As your site gets larger, providing easy access to all the information on your Web site may get harder and harder. A great solution is to provide a site map, which is a page that includes links to almost every other page in the site. The site map can become a busy page and usually appears best in outline form. This page should be highly functional — it doesn't matter if it looks pretty. Don't put lots of graphics on this page; it should load quickly and provide easy access to anything that your visitors need.

After you figure out the mechanics of your camera — how to load the batteries, how to turn on the LCD, and so on — taking a picture is a simple process. Just aim the camera and press the shutter button. Taking a good picture, however, isn't so easy. Sure, you can record an okay image of your subject without much effort. But if you want a crisp, clear, dynamic image, you need to consider a few factors before you point and shoot.

Parallax

You compose your photo perfectly. The light is fine, the focus is fine, and all other photographic planets appear to be in alignment. But after you snap your picture and view the image on the camera monitor, you see something different from what you saw through the viewfinder. The framing of the image is off, as though your subject repositioned itself while you weren't looking. You're not the victim of some cruel digital hoax — just a photographic phenomenon known as a parallax error.

On most digital cameras, as on most point-and-shoot film cameras, the viewfinder looks out on the world through a separate window from the camera lens. Because the viewfinder is located an inch or so above or to the side of the lens, it sees your subject from a slightly different angle than the lens. But the image is captured from the point of view of the lens, not the viewfinder.

When you look through your viewfinder, you should see some little black lines near the corners of the frame. These lines indicate the boundaries of the "real" image — the edge of the frame as seen by the camera lens. If you don't pay attention to these framing cues as you shoot, you can wind up with subjects that appear to have been lopped off at the top.

The closer you are to your subject, the bigger the parallax problem becomes, whether you use a zoom lens or simply position the camera lens nearer to your subject. Some cameras provide a second set of framing marks in the viewfinder to indicate the framing boundaries that apply when you're shooting close-up shots.

If your camera has an LCD monitor, you have an additional aid for avoiding parallax problems. Because the monitor reflects the image as seen by the lens, you can simply use the monitor instead of the viewfinder to frame your image. On some cameras, the LCD monitor turns on automatically when you switch to macro mode for close-up shooting.

Light

Digital cameras are extremely demanding when it comes to light. A typical digital camera has a light sensitivity equivalent to that of ISO 100 film. As a result, image detail tends to get lost when objects are in the shadows. Too much light can also create problems. A ray of sunshine bouncing off a highly reflective surface can cause brown highlights— areas where all image detail is lost, resulting in a big white blob in your picture.

When you take digital pictures, capturing just the right amount of light involves not only deciding whether to use a flash or external photographic lights, but also figuring out the right exposure settings to choose.

Keep in mind that you can correct minor lighting and exposure problems in the image-editing stage. Generally speaking, making a too-dark image brighter is easier than correcting an overexposed (too bright) image. So if you can't seem to get the exposure just right, opt for a slightly underexposed image rather than an overexposed one.

Exposure

Exposure refers to the amount of light captured by the camera. Most consumer-level digital cameras feature autoexposure, sometimes known as programmed autoexposure, in which the camera reads the amount of light in the scene and then sets the exposure automatically for you. In order for your camera's autoexposure mechanism to work correctly, you need to take this three-step approach to shooting your pictures:

1. Frame your subject.

2. Press the shutter button halfway down and hold it there.

The camera analyzes the scene and sets the focus and exposure. After the camera makes its decisions, it signals you in some fashion — usually with a blinking light near the viewfinder or with a beeping noise.

If you don't want your subject to appear in the middle of the frame, you can recompose the image after locking in the exposure and focus. Just keep holding the shutter button halfway down as you reframe the image in your viewfinder. Don't move or reposition the subject before you shoot, or the exposure and focus may be out of whack.

3. Press the shutter button the rest of the way down to capture the image.

On lower-end cameras, you typically get a choice of two autoexposure settings — one appropriate for shooting in very bright light and another for average lighting. Many cameras display a warning light or refuse to capture the image if you've chosen an autoexposure setting that will result in a badly overexposed or underexposed picture. Higher-priced cameras give you more control over autoexposure.

Scanner - Keep your scanner clean

Make sure your scanner glass is clean before you scan images This way , you won't pick up flecks of dust along with the image when you scan. To clean the scanner glass, use alcohol on a lint free cloth.

Flat Panel Problem

A common problem for Flat Panels is a problem with the Pixels. Most makers have a minimum number of pixels that must mal- function before you can have the screen fixed under warranty, but they don't advertise those numbers, often because they're willing to bend the rules if the bad pixels appear close together or near the screen's center. The best thing you can do to make sure you get the best for your money is to try before you buy. Try the monitor by loading a black screen and looking for white or colored Pixels. Then switch to a white screen and look for black dots.

When you review routers and their protocols, a good place to start is the difference between a routed protocol and a routing protocol. Knowing the difference between these two protocols is fundamental to understanding how routers route. Networked devices communicate over routes, which are paths between sending devices and receiving devices. A networked device learns about a route between it and another device in a variety of ways: Manually: A network administrator can manually configure a route. Pull: Devices can send out polling messages or "probes" to discover the route to a destination. Push: Devices can send out route information about routes it knows. Regardless whether the route information is manually entered, discovered, or received from another device, the information learned is stored in the routing table for later use. Inside versus outside A routing protocol sends and receives routing information packets to and from other routers. A routed protocol can be routed by a router, which means that it can be forwarded from one router to another. Yes, there are protocols that can't be routed, such as NetBEUI (Network Basic Input Output System Extended User Interface). That a routed protocol can be routed may seem obvious, but unless you know how to differentiate it from a routing protocol, you may have trouble with the wording for some questions on the exam. A protocol is a set of rules that defines how two devices communicate with one another. It also defines the format for the packets used to transmit data over communications lines. A routed protocol contains the data elements required for a packet to be sent outside its host network or network segment. In other words, a routed protocol can be routed. Protocols used to communicate routing information between routers within an autonomous system are Interior Gateway Protocols (IGP), which are routing protocols, but not routed protocols. Routing protocols gather and share the routing information used to maintain and update routing tables. That routing information is in turn used to route a routed protocol to its final destination. Routing Information Protocol (RIP) and Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP) are the routing protocols you need to know for the exam. If you can remember what the abbreviations mean, you'll remember that they are routing protocols because they have routing in their names. Remember, too, that they are not routed protocols. In short, routed protocols route your data and routing protocols send routing updates between routers about the status of the network so that your routed protocol data can be routed. Got that? No? Well, try this to help keep it straight: 1. Routed protocols get routed. 2. Routing protocols are for updating (the info about the routes over which routed protocols are routed). Examples of routed protocols are IP and IPX, and examples of routing protocols are RIP and IGRP. A routing we will go Routing is the process of moving data along a path from a source to a destination. The complexity of this process involves finding the most efficient route from a multitude of available routes. Routing occurs at the Network layer (Layer 3). To assist itself in making its routing decisions, the router builds routing tables to store information about routes to networks it has previously discovered. Most routers keep an entry, known as the default route, in their table to be used when the router doesn't have an explicit route for a packet. Figure 1 shows both what a routing table contains as well as where it fits into a network. Notice that it consists of network addresses and the interface to which each device, associated with an address, is connected. Figure 1: A routing table of a network router. Routing types you need to know for the exam As far as the CCNA exam goes, there are three types of routing: static, dynamic, and default. Details about these routing types appear in the following sections. Static routes: One-lane roads Static routes are fixed routes that are manually entered by the administrator into the router's configuration. If a static route is entered into the configuration, it must be manually updated should the network topology change. Not that the topology of the network is likely to change too frequently, but you may decide to change the segmenting structure or make other topology-level changes. When changes occur, the administrator must update the router configuration to include the changes, which is why static routing is not generally used in a large network. The time required to maintain the routing tables can become a burden. Static routes are generally used if the internetwork, the part of the network that lies beyond the router, is accessible through only one path. A network with only a single path to the rest of the internetwork is known as a stub network. Static routes are also used for security reasons because they allow the administrator to restrict knowledge of the network from outside sources. A static route is configured on the router with a command like this: Router(config)#ip route 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.101.1 3 This example contains the command (ip route) and the IP address of the destination network, the subnet mask, the IP address of the next hop router, and an administrative distance (more on that later). Using the previous command example, the key elements of the static route configuration command are (memorize these for the exam): ip route: This is the command used to designate a static route. destination address: In this example, 192.168.1.0 is the IP address of the destination network. subnet mask: 192.168.1.0 is a Class C IP address and is using the default subnet mask for Class C addresses, 255.255.255.0. next hop: Following the subnet mask is the address of the next hop router, 192.168.1.1. administrative distance: This is a number between 0 and 255 that indicates how well the route can be trusted. The higher the number, the lower the trust. An administrative distance of 120 falls about midrange on the trustworthiness scale. So, as indicated by the 3 in the ip route command, this route is very trustworthy. A dynamic personality Dynamic routing is the process by which a network adapts automatically to the changes in topology or traffic as those changes occur. To be successful, dynamic routing requires timely maintenance of routing tables. The routing protocol used defines how this occurs and includes such information as when, what, and how the updates are sent. When all else fails A default route is very much like a static route. The administrator enters the default route, and it becomes the default path the router uses to forward packets for which it knows no other route to use. Without a default route, packets with unknown destinations are dropped. When no specific next hop is listed in the routing table for a particular type of packet, the router uses its default route, a preassigned route that is generally available.

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Compared to finding a prime parking space at the mall during the holidays, signing up at eBay is a breeze. About the toughest thing you have to do is type in your e-mail address correctly. When it comes to choosing your password and User ID, the process is so easy that you may be tempted to speed right through it without giving much thought to your choices. Slow down there, partner! Take a deep breath and think about these two identifiers before you click that final Complete Your Registration button. A quick word about passwords Picking a good password is not as thought-free (but is twice as important) as it may seem. Whoever has your password can (in effect) "be you" at eBay — running auctions, bidding on auctions, and leaving dangerous feedback for others. Basically, such an impostor can ruin your eBay career — and possibly cause you serious financial grief. As with any online password, you should follow these common-sense rules to protect your privacy: Don't pick anything too obvious, such as your birthday, your first name, or your Social Security number. (Hint: If it's too easy to remember, it's probably too easy to crack.) Make things tough on the bad guys — combine numbers and letters and create nonsensical words. Don't give out your password to anyone — it's like giving away the keys to the front door of your house. If you even suspect someone has your password, immediately change it by going to the following address: pages.ebay.com/services/myebay/selectpass.html Change your password every few months just to be on the safe side. A not-so-quick word about choosing a User ID eBay gives you the option of picking your User ID. (If you don't choose one, then your e-mail address becomes your default User ID.) Making up a User ID can be a lot of fun. If you've never liked your real name (or never had a nickname), here's the chance to correct that situation. Consider choosing an ID that tells a little about yourself. Of course, if your interests change, you may regret too narrow a User ID. You can call yourself just about anything; you can be silly or creative or boring. But remember, this ID is how other eBay users will know you. So here are some common-sense rules: Don't use a name that would embarrass your mother. Don't use a name that's too weird, such as scam-man. If people don't trust you, they won't buy from you. Don't use a name with a negative connotation. eBay doesn't allow spaces in User IDs, so make sure that the ID makes sense when putting two or more words together. If you're dying to have several short words as your User ID, you can use underscores or hyphens to separate them, as in queen-of-shopping. If you permanently sign in to eBay on your computer, typing those underscores won't slow you down. You can change your User ID (once every 30 days) if you want to, but doing so might not be a good idea. People come to know you by your User ID. If you change your ID, your past does play tagalong and attaches itself to the new ID. But if you change your User ID too many times, people may think you're trying to hide something or you're in the Witness Protection Program. Nevertheless, to change your User ID, click the My eBay link at the top of most eBay pages. From your My eBay login page, click the Preferences/Set-up tab and scroll to the Change My User ID link, fill out the boxes, and click the Change User ID button. You now have a new eBay identity. eBay also has some User ID rules to live by: No offensive names (like &*#@guy). No names with eBay in them. (It makes you look like you work for eBay, and eBay takes a dim view of that.) No names with & (even if you do have both looks&brains). No names with @ (like @Aboy). No symbols such as the greater than or less than symbols (> <) or consecutive underscores ___. No IDs that begin with an e, followed by numbers, an underscore, a dash, a period, or a dot. No names of one letter (like Q). When you pick your User ID, make sure that it isn't a good clue for your password. If you use Natasha as your User ID, don't pick Boris as your password. Even Bullwinkle could figure that one out.

To delete temporary internet files:

Click on Tools, Internet options, and Advanced.

Scroll down till one sees empty temporary internet files when browser is closed.

Put a check mark there.

Files do not accumulate that way.

Disable Error Reporting

By default, WindowsXP will request to report application errors to Microsoft. To turn this off: Right click on the My Computer icon on the desktop Select Properties / Advanced Click on the Error Reporting tab Check Disable error reporting .

Cleaning your computer and your computer components and peripherals helps keep the components and computer in good working condition and helps keep the computers from spreading germs.

Depending on the environment that your computer operates in determines how often you should clean your computer case. The below list is our recommendation and may change depending upon your computers environment.

• User who does not smoke and has no pets - Clean the computer every five months.
• User who does not smoke and has pets - Clean the computer every four months.
• User who smokes but has no pets - Clean the computer every three months.
• User who smokes and has pets - Clean the computer every two months.
• Business with clean office environment - Clean the computers every five months.
• Business with clean office environment, however multiple users use each computer - Clean the computer every three months.
• Business that is a factory environment or allows smoking - Clean the computer every two months.
• School computers with young adult users - Clean the computer every three months.
• School computers with pre-teen users - Clean the computer every month. In some cases this may need to be weekly or daily.

GENERAL CLEANING TIPS

Below is a listing of general tips that should be taken when cleaning any of the components or peripherals of a computer as well as tips to help keep a computer clean.

1. Never spray or squirt any type of liquid onto any computer component. If a spray is needed spray the liquid onto a cloth and then use that cloth to rub down the component.
2. When using a vacuum to suck up dirt, dust, or hair be cautious not to suck up any removable parts.
3. When cleaning a component and/or the computer turn it off.
4. Never get any component inside the computer or any other circuit board damp or wet.
5. Be cautions when using any type of cleaning solvents, some individuals may have allergic reactions to chemicals in cleaning solvents.
6. Never eat or drink around the computer.
7. Limit smoking around the computer.

CLEANING TOOLS

Although many companies have created products to help improve the process of cleaning your computer and peripherals users can also use household items to clean their computers and peripherals. Below is a listing of items you may need or want to use while cleaning your computer or computer peripherals.

Keep in mind that some components in your computer may only be able to be cleaned using a product designed for cleaning that component, if this is the case it will be mentioned in the cleaning tips.

• Cloth - A cloth is the best tool used when rubbing down a component, although paper towels can be used with most hardware we recommend using a cloth when ever possible.
• Water or rubbing alcohol - When moistening a cloth it is best to use water or rubbing alcohol. Other solvents may be bad for the plastics used with your computer.
• Vacuum - Sucking the dust, dirt, hair, cigarette particles, and other particles out of a computer can be one of the best methods of cleaning a computer. Over time these items can restrict the airflow in a computer and cause circuitry to corrode.
• Cotton swabs - Cotton swaps moistened with rubbing alcohol or water are excellent tools for wiping hard to reach areas in your keyboard, mouse, and other locations.
• Foam swabs - Whenever possible it is better to use lint free swabs such as foam swabs.