Tips for Dummies and others

[Dirk]

I have a rule , that is quit simple and easy

Always put your :
- files
- personal data
- photo's
- music

on a seperate harddisk (if possible) or if not at the very least on a spereate partition of the harddrive..

most people really make a mess out of there harddrive

i use the C:\ partion only for windows and program files , all documents go to a D:\ drive or other partion , I like to keep this organised

for example:

d:\photos\general photo's = for the general photo's of cities where i went to
d:\photos\cars = the card i have driven for my company with pictures of the odo meter , and pictures of the car it self
d:\photos\vacations = you guess that out can you ??

the same with docments ;
docments\word = word files
docments\xls = excel sheets
documents\pdf = pdf files

i clean the C:\ drive at least every year (approx 150-200 days) i make backups on several data (external and internal )

i use wifi internet with wep security and a password wich is not to be guessed of


so my tip is do it like me yopu will easier find the files you need and you dont have to scroll through hunderds or thuosands of files or documents of any kind

[Rense]

Originally Posted by Dirk

I have a rule , that is quit simple and easy

Always put your :
- files
- personal data
- photo's
- music

on a seperate harddisk (if possible) or if not at the very least on a spereate partition of the harddrive..

a separate disk is better + make backups, did I say make backups ?!!

...

Originally Posted by Dirk

d:\photos\general photo's = for the general photo's of cities where i went to
d:\photos\cars = the card i have driven for my company with pictures of the odo meter , and pictures of the car it self
d:\photos\vacations = you guess that out can you ??

hmm, I always download to a structure like:
d:\origina\YYYY-MM-DD\
rename the raw/jpg images in sync to YYMMDD_HHMMSS_runningcounter
and then move the raw-ones into \original\YYYY-MM-DD\RAW
the converted images go into \original\YYYY-MM-DD\Converted

all the directories are imported into a DAMN program
and assigned categories like B/W, cars, holiday etc.

The whole structure is mirrored onto an external disk.

Originally Posted by Dirk

the same with documents ;
documents\word = word files
documents\xls = excel sheets
documents\pdf = pdf files

why do you do that, sorting on extension is real easy, I put my documents in
documents\projectname\v1 , documents\projectname\v2
(v stands for version).

Originally Posted by Dirk

i clean the C:\ drive at least every year (approx 150-200 days)

every week, by running winutilities

Originally Posted by Dirk

i make backups on several data (external and internal )

did I say make backups?

Originally Posted by Dirk

i use wifi internet with wep security and a password wich is not to be guessed of

do you use WPA encryption, did you hide the SID?
[/QUOTE]

[felix.reichardt]

I can add some more regarding security:

1. NEVER run you computer as administrator.
2. Always create a separate user with restricted rights use that for daily work. Nobody needs admin rights for day-to-day work. Security software which needs admin rights to run is crap. Windows will only ask for admin rights if you essentially change the system but not to run your applications or access data.
3. Create very strong passwords. Anything from the dictionary is crap. It needs to be long enough (>10) and contain special characters that withhold any guessing and dictionary attacks
4. Do not use the same passwword for everything.
5. I always edit the password policy that my PC is blocked after a wrong password is keyed in more than 3 times for 30 minutes . Makes brute force basically impossible.
6. I use Truecrypt to protect ALL my data drives on desktop and notebooks. Also with strong passwords. So even if someone has physical access to your machine it's VERY unlikely the data can be accessed. That is if your password is very strong ...
7. Avoid those stupid simple security questions that anyone who knows you can use to gain your password for emails etc. Mothers maiden name, your pets name. Once your main email is hacked into its simple to hack into the other stuff because most will send a new password request to that email address.
8. Don't open all those funny attachments that friends send you - VIRUS, TROJANS ... thats how they get spread around.

[Gna]

Originally Posted by Dirk

i use the C:\ partion only for windows and program files , all documents go to a D:\ drive or other partion

If you have only one external HD you had best use it to back up the internal one.