Computer & Internet

Much has been written about temporary internet files. To my amazement, there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about how these files are put on your computer and the effect they have on your computing experience. Some articles claim these files slow your computer to a crawl, others indicate they are memory hogs. While some indicate that these files only affect the MS Internet Explorer browser.

One thing that most authors get right is the purpose of temporary internet files. Allow me to give another explanation just to be clear.

Temporary internet files are a collection of web page copies stored on your computers’ hard disk or in its random-access memory. Pages you view are normally stored in a special cache folder for quicker viewing the next time you visit the same page. The browser compares the cached copy to the original. If there have been no changes, the browser uses the cached copy rather than re-fetching the original, saving processing and download time.

Slowing your computer down?

The size of your file cache will cause your computer to slow down ONLY if the cache size is very, very large and fragmented. By nature cached files are relatively small and are only used when loading internet pages and do not remain in memory indefinitely. By adjusting your browser cache size to 5Mb or less you can avoid any slow down caused by the browser searching the hard drive for cached files. My personal browser cache is much larger, 50Mb, and I have no problems even on a dial-up internet connection. Internet slow down is almost always caused by network traffic.

Slow Hard Drive:

If your computer is running slow, there is a good chance it is not due to your temporary internet files. Slow hard drive access is usually due to fragmented files on your hard drive or the hard drive is getting close to being full. Windows needs at least 15% free hard disk space to operate correctly. That is 15% free space total, including your Windows Swap File.

Websites, security and temporary internet files:

Websites do not put temporary internet files on your computer. The internet browser does file caching automatically. Do not confuse temporary internet files with ‘cookies’. Website cookies are also cached, but they are cached separately from temporary files. Also any personal information such as saved passwords and form auto fill information is kept in still another more secure place.

Internet Browsers:

Is Internet Explorer just being a bad boy? Well…no. If IE is a bad boy, it is only because IE is a poor example of an Internet Browser. All internet browsers cache temporary internet files. Presently I have FireFox 1.5.0.4, Netscape 7.2., Netscape 8.0 and IE 6.0xxx installed and all of these browsers manage temporary internet file caching the same way.

It is a good idea to adjust the cache file size and clear the cache occasionally to get rid of unused and possibly corrupt files. Caching of all file types by your browser can be managed from the browsers’ options menu. I hope you now have a better understanding of temporary internet files. Temporary internet files, passwords and auto fill data can be deleted manually, but that is another article. Surf on.

I’m sure you’ve come across tons of articles and even suggestions from some of your friends on how to get your computer to work faster. Everyone seems to give you advice, but your still having issues and your fed up! Relax, take a deep breath and let me give you some basic pointers. It’s really not that hard to increase your Internet speed. I’m going to make it real simple for you and you do not need to be a computer geek to make this work.

The first thing you need to remember is to never, and I mean absolutely never download programs especially free software without reading the fine print! Most free computer software will bombard your computer with spy ware and other terrible stuff which will eventually bring your Internet speed and computer to a screeching halt! If your PC is already infected with spyware you can download the leading spyware remover called ad-aware which will scan your personal computer and remove spy ware and cookies that track your net surfing habits.

Step 2 and another way of making your PC and Internet connection faster is by following this crucial step: Click on start, then click run and type the words msconfig in the run drop menu. Next go to the start tab and remove any program except your antivirus software and any other program which you must have run when windows starts. Be careful not to remove any program which is necessary for windows to start and work properly. If your not sure about a program then google it and you will find plenty of sites that may help you figure out if the program you want to remove is important or not. This tip will increase your computer start up time dramatically!

Step number 3, and I do this almost on a daily basis is to clean up your Internet cache. Follow these steps:

Go to your control panel which you can access from your start button and click on Internet options. Go to temporary Internet files and clear your history. I would recommend that you also set Internet history to a maximum of 2 days. Next step is to delete your temporary Internet files including offline content. Last but not least is to delete cookies. Be careful though because deleting your cookies will also delete useful information from your computer. You can read a how to on cookies here =>http://www.howstuffworks.com/cookie.htm

These steps are the basics you can take which will speed up your Internet connection immediately. I would also recommend doing a virus check on your computer on a weekly basis. If you don’t have anti virus software, get it! You’ll be happy you did. Just one virus can wreak havoc on your computer! Make sure you test your connection speed whether its broadband or dial-up, before and after you make these simple changes so you can compare if the corrections you have taken have worked.

Of Course there are many more actions you can take to make you net experience more enjoyable. The Internet is a great place to find tons of valuable ideas and articles on helping you speed up your computer and Internet connection. Google It!

Taking these basic steps will make you a happier surfer and will restore your faith in the World wide web!

The monitoring of employee internet activity has been on the rise over the past decade. It is somewhat of a controversial subject with some employees saying it is unconstitutional. However, if done correctly and for the right reasons, one cannot argue that employers certainly have the right, legally and morally, to perform such monitoring.

Almost all companies that allow employees access to computers and the internet to perform their job responsibilities require the employee to sign a statement that outlines what is allowed by the employee as far as computer and internet usage.

In most cases it is clearly stated what the penalties for not following these directives. In many cases it clearly states that the violation of these terms will be cause for dismissal. I truly do not understand why an employee, after signing such a statement, would have any reason to object to an employer monitoring his activity on his computer or internet.

There are many reasons that employers may decide to monitor employee internet usage.

Internet security is a major issue. Anytime one goes on the internet there is always a chance that your firewall or security program could be breached. We are talking about a computer being used that may have highly classified information about the company, its resources, and its employees. Any breach in security of your company’s computers could be a major problem for the company and the employees as well.

File, program, and intranet security issues are involved. The employee decides to load up a program he brings in on disk or to show others working with him his latest vacation photos. The next thing you know he has caused a problem with the operation of your company’s computer system. A file was over ridden, a file was deleted, a virus was on the disk he brought in and now the entire company’s system is down. Information is lost.

Productivity of employees is certainly a concern. I think it is obvious that if an employee is using the internet for personal activities that this can decrease his productivity. It does not matter if it is visiting porn sites, gambling sites, sports office pools, doing their banking, shopping, or talking to their spouse or friend on an instant messenger, it will affect their productivity in a major way.

Just as a company has security guards in place to monitor traffic in and out of your company’s work spaces you need to be sure that the same type of security is set up for internet traffic and activity. Years ago one only had to be concerned that the entrances and exits of your building were guarded. Well there is now an information highway that runs through your work environment that also needs to be kept secure.

There have been some exciting innovations in products that can assist an employer in keeping his computer systems secure, the internet usage by his employees under control and his employees productive!