PC Hygiene

Found this great & informative read from HP site.

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We all know about the viruses and bugs that lurk inside our computers… but what about the pests living ON them? As people spend more and more time in front of their PCs, and as electronic devices are increasingly carried from place to place, it stands to reason that they’re going to get pretty dirty.

The main cause of dirty keyboards is employees who don’t wash their hands after using the toilet, and eating at the desk. The food crumbs left behind encourage the growth of millions of bacteria. Even simple dust can contribute to the problem, since dust traps moisture and creates an environment suitable for bacteria growth.

How much bacteria are we talking about? The British magazine Which? Computing asked a microbiologist to come to their offices and conduct swab tests of their keyboards. As it turned out, the keyboards were dirtier than the office toilet seat – and one of the keyboards was actually five times as dirty as the toilet seat. In fact, the keyboards were so bacteria-laden that they could cause symptoms of food poisoning and other illnesses.

We’re not trying to put you off your lunch – which we hope you aren’t eating at your desk, by the way – but it is important to realise just how many germs you could be exposing yourself to and how to protect yourself.

Here are some tips for keeping your PC from making you sick.

Be vigilant about handwashing

Always wash hands when returning from the bathroom, and several other times throughout the day too – especially if someone in the office is ill. According to microbiologist Dr Charles Gerba of the University of Arizona, "When someone is infected with a cold or flu bug the surfaces they touch during the day become germ transfer points because some cold and flu viruses can survive on surfaces for up to 72 hours.”


Don’t eat at your desk

Keep those sandwich crumbs out of your keyboard! Use lunchtime as an opportunity to get away from your PC for a while, and take your lunches out of the office or in a designated break room.


Use antibacterial wipes to clean your entire desk and telephone area

According to Dr Gerba’s research, a desk is capable of supporting 10 million microbes and the average office contains 20,961 microbes per square inch, while the average toilet seat contains 49 microbes per square inch. You can reduce 99 percent of the nasty things growing in your working area by regularly wiping everything down with disinfectant alcohol wipes. Clean the whole desk, the phone, and anything else you touch regularly.


Regularly clean your keyboard, mouse and monitor screen

Here’s the process you should follow when giving your PC or notebook a cleaning (which you should be doing weekly, if possible). Before you get started, be sure to turn the computer off and unplug the keyboard if you’re using a PC.

Keyboard: first, turn the keyboard upside down and gently knock the crumbs out of it. Then set it upright again and use a compressed air can, a small vacuum or small paint brush to sweep out any remaining debris. Finish by wiping with an alcohol wipe to remove bacteria. But don’t use any harsh cleaning agents, as they can remove the paint from the keys.

Monitor: whether you have a glass or LCD screen, use a lightly dampened cloth to remove dust. You can also use pre-moistened monitor wipes, available at any computer store, but don’t use any commercial glass cleaning products as these can damage the screen.

Mouse: again, take out your alcohol wipes and clean the entire surface of the mouse. You can use a damp cotton-tipped swab to clean around the ball or the optical sensor.


With just a bit of vigilance and proper PC hygiene, you can help prevent your computer from becoming a breeding ground for bacteria – and stay healthier at work!

Gmail

Today, Gmail is a whopping 6.6 Gig & it's counting still.
It's spam filtering tools is the best so far I've seen.

Disruption in Middle East Internet

It was reported that on Wednesday morning, 2 underwater cables in the Mediterranean Sea were damaged & causing the Internet to crawl throughout the Middle East & parts of Asia. Internet traffics has been re-routed to Asia, across the Pacific Ocean, through the U.S. and then across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe.

Now if your Internet is a bit slow, that could be the problem. Click here to read more about it.

Time To Go Shopping

Hypermarkets has slashed their products prices from 5% and 50%.

For how long?

Depending on hypermarkets, it will be from May 29 - Dec 31 '07.

Which hypermarkets?

Carrefour, Tesco, Jaya Jusco, Mydin, The Store, Giant.

Reason?

Help curb inflation.

XP No More

In early 2008, Microsoft will end shipment of Windows XP.
So I guess, from 2008 onward, for those who wish to use Windows Vista, they will have to forked out additional money to upgrade their existing / old pc.

Hard disk

How reliable is your computer hard disk ? Can you rely on on those smart features that the manufacturers claim will predicting potential problem & give some sort of warning ? How long will your hard disk last you ?

That is why, it's very important to use a program in Windows called SCANDISK, at least once a month. If the SCANDISK shows you an error during a routine check, your hard disk is more likely to fail within 60 days (according to PC World Magazine, June 07). It's time to replace that bad hard disk.

Free Service

Looking for job ? Try this free service. Click here.

Hijackers

There are many tactics employed by unscrupulous, irresponsible, heartless bugger out there to steal car. One of such is to throw eggs at your car, in hoping that you will turn on your wipers. Once you do this, you cannot see a thing. The next logical things for you to do is to slow down & stop right ? That's what they are hoping you to do, as they will be waiting for you few meters away. Once you pulled over, they will attack you, taking your take, valuables or even your life.

Cakap Cakap Sahaja

Say say only lahhhh

Online Boutique

Looking for some great dress ? Take a look here.


On separate note, earlier I have overlooked Norma's comment. Here's the link reply to your comment Norma.

Skype Hit By Virus

If you are using instant messenger like Yahoo, MSN, Trillian, surely you have heard of Skype. I personally prefer to use Skype. If you are using Skype just like me, beware of a message "Check up this". It contains a hyperlink which will download a virus into your pc.

Read more about it here

No Change In Fuel Price

Crude oil prices have dropped -> good news.

Crude oil prices not stable -> not so good news.

Fuel price indicated at pump is at 1.92 -> no news is good news.

Old Blogger To New Blogger

Hmm, looks like bloggers who still stick to the old blogger's account will have no choice but to switch over to a newer format. Trying to play around with the additional features. Too bad, there's no feature to edit comments. Nevertheless, there are some additional features which are good.

Insurance Don't Cover This

The next time you go out for a drink / happy hour, think twice!

Don't drink & drive !

Insurance doesn't cover for accident resulted from drunk driving.

Vista First Hole

Just few days Microsoft Vista operating system officially launched, a security vulnerability already being discovered. Seems like the new speech recognition feature need to be patch, otherwise you know what hackers will do.

Read more about it here.

SMiShing

Yea yea yea Karen, I heard you saying, "WTF is SMiShing".

Well, it stands for "SMS Phishing". No Karen, it's not sending sms to me asking me go fishing.
It's a new threat or mobile phone security risk out there, where phone users are tricked into downloading a file into their mobile phones. Once downloaded, the program will automatically send out sms to the contact list on your phone. What sms ? No no, not "wait me at Armada". I also don't know what sms la. It doesn't mentioned in the website.

Be safe!