Tips for a reliable computer
November 23, 2005
by Kit Cassingham
As everyone starts relying more and more on the Internet for reservations, contacting guests or anything else the need for a computer that just works is important. These few tips now will have you hours of stress later.
Most importantly have a newish computer with a newish version of Windows. If you're computer is older than a Pentium 3 and running something less than Windows 2000 it might be time to consider upgrading. In many cases older computers work great. If yours isn't maybe an upgrade is in order.
Make sure you've used Windows Update to keep up to date with fixes on your computer. Microsoft is constantly putting out fixes for different things, make sure you're up to date. These fixes go a long way to keeping your computer running properly.
Make sure you have a virus scanner. I personally hate Norton Internet Security, I find it causes a lot more problems than it actually solves. I would suggest a basic virus scanner such as AVG. It does a great job of protecting you from the nasties that are out there.
If you have high speed internet I strongly recomend a hardware firewall. Not some peice of software you install in your computer but an actual physical device that will just work and not slow your computer down in the process.
Install a spam blocking utility like K9. It's free and works great.
Install a pop up blocker. The latest version of Internet Explorer includes one. Firefox also includes one. If you're stuck with an earlier version of Internet Explorer that you can't update try installing PopThis. I've been very happy with it.
DO NOT install the Google toolbar, Yahoo toolbar or any other wierd toolbar/featue that looks cool, interesting, neat or what have you. Trust me on this you'll thank me later.
Have reliable backups. If something bad does happen you'll be glad you have them. Back up your important business files to a USB key or CD.
A few simple steps now will save you hours of stress and frustration later when something stops working.
_________________
Shawn
The Bed and Breakfast Connector
Comments
Thanks Shawn, Those are great suggestions.
The only one that worries me a bit is the spam blocker. Innkeepers have to be very careful about filtering spam because a spam filter that is too aggresive can filter out legitimate email from potential guests. It is worth it to make sure that any spam filter you use moves email that it flags as spam to a folder where you can acutally look at it before you delete it. And I suggest that innkeepers look at it daily. All too often guest communications end up in the folder. What is a bigger concern are innkeepers that use aol.com or yahoo.com or hotmail.com email addresses as they have some of the most aggresive spam filters around, only they don't always tell you that an email has been blocked or removed as spam.
Innkeepers need to realize that if they have their email listed on a website, it will get harvested by list-spiders and end up on a lot of mailing lists. There are a few tricks you can use to limit the harvesting, but the reality is, you will still end up with lots of spam. Its just the nature of having a listing on a website. _________________ Steve Wirt Wine Country Cabins Bed and Breakfast in the Finger Lakes and Inngenious Bed and Breakfast Website Promotion
Posted by: Steve Wirt | May 14, 2007 06:10 PM
Very true. I like K9 because it doesn't delete anyting it just rewrites the subject line of any message it thinks is Spam with the word "Spam" and a percent sore showing how likely the message is spam. For example:
You can then choose to filter messages with the word Spam to another folder which is exactly what I advocate to my clients instead of deleting the messages.
The best thing about K9 aside from that fact it's completely free is that you can train it fairly easily to learn which messages are spam and which are not. In a very short period of time the number of messages it mistakes as spam will drop considerably. All I can really say is it works for me. _________________ Shawn The Bed and Breakfast Connector
Posted by: Shawn | May 14, 2007 06:11 PM
NICE. Sounds great, I will have to check that one out. _________________ Steve Wirt Wine Country Cabins Bed and Breakfast in the Finger Lakes and Inngenious Bed and Breakfast Website Promotion
Posted by: Anonymous | May 14, 2007 06:12 PM
I suggest to my clients to use a form for interested parties to email them through. Their email can't get scraped that way, yet people can get in touch.
I have used a .gif of my email address so that it can't get scraped. It's a bit of a hassle for site visitors who want to email me, but it's not as bad as some of the alternatives.
Shawn, why do you warn people away from "features" like the Google toolbar?
Posted by: Kit Cassingham | May 14, 2007 06:13 PM
Hi Kit,
The other half of my job in addition to running The Bed and Breakfast Connector is to run a computer consulting/software development company. Time and again people install the Yahoo or Google toolbars and end up having problems.
IMO they add very little value and cause more problems than they solve. Don't get me going or I'll start ranting.
Have a happy Thanksgiving. _________________ Shawn The Bed and Breakfast Connector
Posted by: Shawn | May 14, 2007 06:13 PM
I gathered you'd seen problems. I just can't imagine what kind.
LOL! Well, be my guest. I love a healthy rant. But seriously, I've had Google toolbar since it was available. Maybe the only value I get from it is that it's readily available anytime I want to conduct a search, but the saved time in waiting for their search page to load is valuable to me. I'm not aware of *any* problems it's caused for me -- or anyone else I know who has it.
Posted by: Shawn | May 14, 2007 06:14 PM