How do I backup computer files to reformat c drive? First figure out what device or medium you would like to back up your files onto. I would recommend an external hard drive. You can use CDs or DVDS but the best to use is an external hard drive. 500mb hard drives are inexpensive these days. Now check out the file size of your hard drive by going to My Computer and right clicking the hard drive and going to properties. We will check how much memory was deleted when we are all done.

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Looking for a free video and audio converter to convert your files to a usable format.

MediaCoder is a free (open source) audio/video converter, which has many excellent audio/video programs combined from the open source community into one friendly GUI program. It will change just about any video file type for free.

MediaCoder is a free universal batch media transcoder, which nicely integrates most popular audio/video codecs and tools into an all-in-one solution. With a flexible and extendable architecture, new codecs and tools are added in constantly as well as supports for new devices. MediaCoder intends to be the swiss army knife for media transcoding in all time and at this moment, it already has millions of users from 170+ countries all over the planet.

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I get a lot of questions about the hard drive. Questions about what slows them down. Questions about how they work, whether adding another hard drive will speed up the PC, and what is going on when a computer slows down every time the hard drive is accessed. I will address these questions in a question and answer format below.

What does the hard drive do?

The hard drive houses all the the long term data. All of the computer files that you save as well as the computer's operating system (Windows). It is much like long term memory in your mind. You can store information for a long time but never think about it.

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Have you mastered using the Internet securely? This post is about questions you should be able to answer about surfing the web securely. Questions range from email security to surfing the web to computer programs to hackers. These questions are basic and you should be able to answer each one for you to be safe on the web.

Malware is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer without the users consent. Largely do to marketing schemes.

Computer malware is largly driven by the market. Companies and organization are trying to get information about where you shop online and do with spyware. Advertise their products with adware. Keep the process going with viruses and worms.

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Consumer Jungle is a web site devoted to educating people about fraud, scams, and online theft. A common area of scams is where people visit a certain website to purchase an item. When this is done, the website has the credit card information. Look for secure login symbols to make sure that the website you are visiting can be trusted.

Some websites will have you order something online but email you that they do not accept credit cards and ask you to mail cash to them. The cash can not be returned. If you are curious how in how to avoid these scams visit www.consumerjungle.org. The website was created by people who affiliated with someone who had lost money do to online scams.

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The caps lock key seems to be useless to me. It is probably the least used key on my keyboard. It can interfere with entering passwords and it doesn't look good if you type caps on the web. It is disrespectful to some to see all caps. Most of us do not use it.

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The best anti virus program that is free seems to be AVG. AVG is a free anti virus program that does a great job at keeping itself up to date and keeping your computer protected from viruses.

It is recommended by several PC review websites including CNet. It is said to be one of the most downloaded free antivirus programs on www.download.com.

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I sometimes get tired of all the instant messengers that show up on startup. Now it is possible to have all your instant messengers in one program called Digsby. MSN Messenger, Gtalk, and Yahoo IM all in one program.

It also notifies you of new emails from different email services and social networking sites you use.

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Ever wanted to change the way Firefox looks? Choose from hundreds of different Firefox skins/themes. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:2/cat:all?sort=name
AeroFox Basic 1.9.6 is a theme that sets Firefox to look more like Vista. It fits in a lot better and looks nicer that the original look.

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Many people move from XP to Vista not for software compatibility but for the "look". It is possible to move change the theme on Windows XP to Vista. XP does not need to stay blue, silver, or olive green.

Windows blinds allows you to choose from hundreds of different styles. Dark themes to cloudy themes and even themes of your favorite video games. Keep in mind that more computer memory will be used and it is nice to have at least a gigabyte of RAM before you do change the theme.

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Firefox addons allow a user to do many things that are not possible with other browsers or require other software. There are addons to download youtube videos, download web pages in PDF format, setup a ISP proxy, and can warn you of harmful websites.

Addons alone are the reason people are not moving over to Google Chrome browser. Google Chrome is what I use but I also use Mozilla Firefox.

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Lets say you have a printer that someone gave you or a webcam that someone is no longer using but you could use it. The catch is that the person who gave it to you did not have the installation CD.

The files that get hardware to run are called drivers. These drivers can be found online. If you go to the manufacture of the hardware's website you will find a support tab. Click that and you should see a link to drivers. Choose the driver that matches the hardware device that you are using.

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To install a printer the basic idea is that it needs to but plugged into the computer via USB and plugged in the power outlet. The hardest part of installing a computer printer is knowing how to get your computer to identify it.

What you need is the printer's Driver CD. This contains that software needed to install your printer correctly. Windows may try to install it but may not do it correctly. To install the printer correctly install the printer's driver.

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Passwords are the fundamental key to security. They vary in length and complexity. It is good to keep them complex and long but memorable. Choose passwords that mean something to you. Also add numbers with the letters.

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With a Mac it comes as an option in Safari when you click print. But what about Windows?

If the computer you are using has Firefox, a plugin can be downloaded called PDFit. This Firefox addon allows a web pages to be downloaded as a PDF file or image file.

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I phrased the question How do I take MP3 files off an audio CD because people may be asking the question in that form. However, the process is called ripping a CD. To make mp3 files from an audio CD follow these steps:

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There are some programs out there that allow an online audio/video stream to be recored onto your computer's hard drive so that you can watch it later. I sometimes listen to a show on an online station called KNRS. I sometimes cannot listen to a particular show when I want to so I set the recorder to record at a certain time.

www.wmrecorder.com offers a nice program to do just this. Once it is open, it will automatically identify audio streams and prompt you to start recording. Once you click stop, the .mp3 or .wav audio file will be located in the folder that it records to.

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One way to do this is to open up the computer but what if you do not what to take the time to shut down the computer, pull it apart, identify the parts, and then put it all back together.

A better way can be done with Windows. Windows allows you to view the processor speed and the ammount of RAM. To do this, click on start, then right click My Computer or Computer in Vista. Now left click properties. A window will show up.

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When buying a computer online, where you can choose the parts, or when buying a computer at a store, it is nice to know a few things before you buy it. Also, once you have a new computer, there are some things you should configure before your PC does its magic.

Choosing Computer Memory

First off, choose a good amount of RAM. Computer memory is the most important aspect of the computer in my opinion. Having a small amount of computer memory will only slow down your overall computer. Choose at least 1gb of computer memory. For Vista, it is recommended that you get at least 2gb. More is better.

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The process of getting divx files to play on a PS3 can be anoying. I am not sure why Sony and Divx decided to make the process hard. Perhaps that Divx wanted to be seen and have their video player used because Divx owns the format rights?

Whatever the case may be, Divx and avi files can be played on your PC by following these directions found on the Divx website: http://vod.divx.com/ps3.php

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