This week I'll talk about some IT issues which arose recently that may be of interest to you. As an independent advisor, I don't have my own IT department, so whenever an issue comes up, it's best to have a plan of action.
Bad RAM
This is an extremely busy time of the year for me and with a large number of items on my to-do list, all I heard Thursday morning when I powered on my computer were four beeps followed by a brief silence followed by four more beeps, etc. No video, only the beeps separated by brief silence. I called my son, an electrical engineer, who found the answer was likely a memory failure. However, rather than try to fix it myself, I called my tech guy and by 1:00 PM it was fixed and I was back in business. The problem? The RAM had gone bad! The lesson? If you don't have the knowledge yourself, you should have a "go-to" person who is willing to assist when you have an IT issue.
Pop-Up Problem
I have been getting a large number of pop-ups over the past several months. I tried the pop-up blockers, but to no avail. Here's what I did to resolve the issue. In Windows 7, click the start button and type the word "remove" in the "search programs and files" space. This brings up any programs with this word in it, such as "Add and Remove Programs." Go through your list of programs, sorting by date installed or alphabetically, and delete any items which don't belong. If you're unsure about a particular item, Google it.
Apparently, I had a lot of programs which had self-installed, probably as a result of downloading another program. Often, when a program downloads it will install a separate program which will install third-party ad software and toolbars without your consent. I had a few programs which were installing ads. Fortunately, the problem is solved and the pop-ups are gone.
Virus, Spyware, and Malware
