The Reliable PC

Are you one of that luckless minority of people who seem to have endless trouble with your PCs? Things like Windows crashing, “blue screens of death,” process exceptions, weird video artifacts, and so on? Well, this page is for you. PCs are not inherently unreliable, and millions of people use them every day without ever encountering crashes or errors. I’ve come up with a set of recommendations to help the unlucky users avoid instability and unreliability in their PCs. Remember, it is an absolute rule in computerland that nothing happens by pure chance—everything has a cause.

So let’s begin on my list of “rules” (not in any particular order):

Rule 1: Stick with reputable vendors.

This rule applies to anything, not just computers, but it’s surprising how many people ignore it when purchasing a computer system.

Unless you are a computer geek yourself (and we’ll assume that you aren’t, since you are reading this), do things the safe way: Spend a little more and buy a complete, ready-to-run computer system from an established vendor, like Dell, or Hewlett-Packard (or Apple, if you prefer a Mac). These name-brand computers are designed from the ground up to work as a unit, and they are tested and certified to operate that way without problems. You just plug them in and go. They are often provided with an assortment of software products that have been tested to work correctly on the machines; in many cases, these are already installed for you, so you can just turn the computer on and start using it. And if anything does go wrong, you just call the support telephone number for the vendor you bought the machine from. It costs more, but the peace of mind is worth it. Best of all, the price of even these name-brand computers is falling very rapidly; the price difference between them and an off-brand or home-built computer is a lot smaller than it used to be.

The same rules apply to any software you buy for your computer. If you’re buying a word-processing package that you must rely upon for work or for school, is it really wise to buy some shareware product from an unknown company just because it’s cheap? Who are you going to call on the day when that term paper or financial report must be finished by morning and your program is constantly displaying error messages? Here again, pay a little extra, and you’ll gain considerable peace of mind.

This is not to say that tiny companies produce junk—far from it. However, I never buy anything from a small company unless I know exactly what to expect (usually by trying out a demo—if you can’t get a demo, think twice about buying the product), and even then, I go slow and I test things out thoroughly before trusting it. Some of the most useful software I have comes from small companies, but long experience has taught me whom to trust; if you don’t have long experience to rely on, better to stick with the Big Names and play it safe.

Likewise, if you decide to buy a custom-built computer from a neighborhood computer store, make absolutely sure that the people working at the store are reliable, qualified computer professionals who know exactly what you want and are willing and able to assemble something for you that meets your needs. Ask for references. Ask for guarantees. Insist that the store demonstrate that the computer works and does what you want before you accept it. In general, be very careful about going this route; it can save money if you know exactly what you are doing and whom you are dealing with, but it's very easy to make costly mistakes. Computers built by local stores are often very hastily and poorly assembled, and are often built with the cheapest possible components. Sometimes things aren't even connected properly: for example, some of these small places won't put a heatsink on your CPU properly (inside the computer), causing it to overheat and fail the first time you place a video game on a warm day. So beware.

You might want to have your computer assembled by a computer geek whom you know personally. This can work out well if your friend actually knows what he is doing (just claiming to know doesn't count—he really does have to know), and he has to understand that the machine is to be built based on your needs and priorities, not his. He might like the baddest, fastest computer on the block, but you don't need that for ordinary computer use, and you have to make sure that he isn't blowing a lot of money on “top fuel” components that are way fancier than you need. And if you want a computer for Web surfing and e-mail, make sure he builds a machine for that … not a machine for video games or whatever happens to strike his own fancy. Remember also that he'll need to be around if something breaks, since you won't have a warranty.

Rule 2: Install only what you really need.

Some computers and peripheral devices for computers are sold with lots of freebie software. Don’t install this software unless you really, absolutely must have it. Installing software just because it is there is a passport to disaster. If it's already installed, ignore it unless you really think it is useful.

Computer software products can interact with each other in all sorts of odd ways, just like prescription drugs. Install the wrong software on your PC carelessly and you can make your computer very ill (just as mixing the wrong drugs can make you very ill). If you install every software product that falls into your hands (from the shipping carton of your new printer or scanner, for example), in very short order you won’t have any idea what is installed on your computer anymore, and when something finally fails, you won’t know where to start looking for the guilty party. Not only that, but each product takes up space and (often) slows your computer down, so if you have a lot of useless products trundling around in your machine, you may find yourself out of disk space and waiting minutes to get anything done every time you click on the screen.

Before you install anything, make sure that (1) you really think you need it; and (2) you understand just what it does or is supposed to do. Read all the little slips of paper and README files that come with the software. Look for warnings buried in the fine print that tell you that the software won’t work with your particular PC, or with certain other software products that you happen to already have on your machine. If one of the problem situations described in the documentation matches your own PC configuration, do not install the product; if it is something you must have (like a device driver for your hardware), call the technical support line for the product and ask them for advice before proceeding. You will never regret having gone to that extra trouble, believe me.

If you are installing freeware, make sure it doesn't contain spyware or adware. Many "free" software packages pay for themselves by forcing you to watch advertisements on your PC, or by installing secret monitors in your PC that send information on everything you do to a central data collection center for use advertisers (or others). If you don't mind watching tons of ads, having a slow machine, and having your every move on the computer reported to an advertising company somewhere, no problem. But if you want your computer to remain fast and private, with no advertising, be sure to read the fine print on any license for free software before you install it.

Brand-name computers often have an incredible boatload of junk installed at the factory. Nothing obligates you to use this junk. Very often you can deinstall things that you know you don't want, and your computer may run faster as a result. The computer will work with all the stuff left installed, so if it's okay like that, you can leave the pre-installed junk on the machine. If you deinstall things, verify that they are not anything that you actually need to use the machine for your purposes. And be aware that many brand-name computers do not come with installation disks any more, which means that anything you deinstall might be gone for good.

Rule 3: Learn to take backups of important stuff.

A backup is simply a copy of important stuff that you stash safely in some other location, so that you can reconstruct things if your computer suddenly develops a problem. Anyone with real experience in the computer industry regards the need for backups as a sacred obligation, and any veteran of the business can describe at least half a dozen occasions when having a backup saved his job, his business, or his rear end. Do not make the mistake of learning about backups the hard way.

A backup can take many forms. It can be as simple as copying all your important Word documents or Excel spreadsheets to diskettes for safekeeping away from the computer, or it can be as complex as running special programs to copy the entire contents of your computer to cassette tapes and putting the tapes in a fireproof safe in a secure building on the other side of town. How far you want to go is up to you, and depends on how much you stand to lose if something goes wrong.

Think to yourself: If your computer disappeared in a puff of smoke right now, how would the loss affect you? How much time would you lose? How much money? Would it affect your business? Your schoolwork? What would be the total impact? The greater the impact, the more carefully and frequently you need to take backups of your PC. The slight nuisance of taking a backup will always be less troublesome than the major loss you’ll incur if your PC is lost or damaged. Back up anything that you cannot rebuild from scratch.

If you have only a few precious files on your PC (an address book, or a résumé, say), you can just copy them to diskettes from time to time, so that you can reconstruct them if the PC fails. You can always reinstall all the software from the Original CDs, so you don’t necessarily have to back that up, unless the time and effort required to configure the software the way you want would justify keeping a backup of that as well. Naturally, if your entire business depends on what’s on your PC, you’ll want to take full backups—that is, you’ll want to make copies of the entire contents of the PC at regular intervals, so that you can rebuild everything from scratch. If the PC blows up, you can just replace it with a new one and then restore everything from your backups, and in a couple of hours you are back in business.

When you are using the computer to prepare documents, spreadsheets, or other things that involve entering a lot of data by hand, be sure you regularly save your work with the Save feature of your program (or set up the program to automatically save your work at intervals, if it allows this). Nothing is more frustrating than typing a document for five hours and then losing it after a power failure, simply because you forgot to save your work.

Note: A particularly important time to take backups is just before installing anything new on your computer. This allows you to restore the computer to its former state if the new installation messes something up. In general, the more extensive your backup is, the easier it is to restore your computer to a usable state if something goes wrong; but extensive backups take a lot longer than simple, partial backups, so there’s a trade-off to consider.

Rule 4: Never upgrade anything unless you have to.

A lot of people think that upgrading their computer hardware and software whenever an upgrade becomes available is a Good Thing. Nothing could be further from the truth. The old adage, “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it” applies just as much to computers as it does to anything else. You don’t need to upgrade your computer or the software you are using just because someone wants to sell you an upgrade; and in fact upgrading needlessly can cause you a lot of grief.

The real purpose of upgrades is to ensure a constant flow of new revenue for computer hardware and software vendors. Once they’ve sold you a computer or some software, they’ve made their money; the only way they can ever hope to make money from you again is to sell you a new product, or an upgrade of the product you already have. Developing new products costs a lot of money and makes profit margins shrink, so most vendors prefer to just spiff up their existing products and then sell upgrades, which are very profitable. The problem here is that, while upgrades are great for hardware and software vendors (how else could they maintain such spectacular growth year after year?), they are often worse than useless to users like yourself.

Before you upgrade your computer or the software you are running on it, ask yourself these questions:

1. Do I need new features that I am certain an upgrade will provide?
2. Do I need better performance that I am certain an upgrade will provide?
3. Do I share files or other information with other people who are using this product, and if so, is an upgrade mandatory in order to continue sharing information with them?
4. Does the upgrade fix a bug that is currently preventing me from using the computer effectively for my purposes?
5. Does the upgrade fix a critical security problem to which I know or suspect my own computer is vulnerable?
6. Do I have money to burn and no need for a stable, reliable computer?

If you cannot answer yes to at least one of these questions, think long and hard before upgrading anything.

Here are a few considerations that do not justify an upgrade, if reliability and stability are important to you:

1. Your neighbor has a more recent version of Total Empire Monster Combat than you do.
2. The salesperson at Computer Wonderland said that you absolutely must upgrade to the latest version of your software.
3. There is a computer system somewhere in the observable universe that is at least 1% faster, bigger, or newer than yours.
4. The latest issue of PC Mania magazine contains a review that says you absolutely must upgrade.
5. The upgrade is on sale.

In the case of hardware, keep in mind that there will always be computers that are faster, bigger, and more recent than yours, no matter how often you upgrade—so why bother? If your current computer runs fast enough for you when running whichever programs you use it for, you don’t need to upgrade it. Computer hardware usually runs flawlessly for many years. It doesn’t have to be thrown away every six months.

In the case of software, remember that just because the latest version of Widgets 4.0.15 contains 15 new features doesn’t mean that you personally have any need for any of those new features. Heck, you probably haven’t used most of the existing features of the program, so why buy a new version with more features that will take up more space on your disk, require more memory, and run half as fast on your machine? It doesn’t make sense!

Rule 5: Don’t delete things that you don’t recognize.

Computers have lots and lots of files and folders on them. Some of the files and folders have weird names that don’t mean anything to you. However, the mere fact that you do not know what they are for does not mean that you should delete them. On the contrary, if you don’t know exactly what purpose a file or folder serves on your PC, leave it alone.

Many computer problems develop when a user decides to “clean house” and starts deleting files and folders right and left on his PC. Sooner or later, he deletes something that the computer needs in order to run properly, and then programs stop working—and sometimes the PC will crash, or it will refuse to boot when it is turned on. This is a Bad Thing.

Delete only files that you recognize and know to be expendable. This means files that you have created yourself (documents you no longer need, for example), or files whose purpose and importance are precisely known to you. If there is any doubt about a file, leave it alone. Even empty folders should not be deleted unless you know it’s safe.

If you feel like deleting things because you are running out of space, see Rule 6, below.

If you are about to delete a lot of files, take a backup of your computer first; see Rule 3, above.

Rule 6: Know your PC.

If you’ve been good about following the other rules, you should know your PC pretty well. You should recognize most of the folders on the computer and have a good idea of what sorts of programs are probably using them. Additionally, if you are careful about managing your PC, you’ll instantly recognize all the folders and files you’ve created yourself, and you’ll know what they are all for.

Don’t just blindly install software on your PC. Don’t just create new documents and files randomly all over the place, without any attempt to organize your documents and other files in some sort of coherent way that you can memorize and understand. Try to keep an eye on the files and folders on your PC and try to figure out what they are all for; read the documentation for the software you use, where applicable. When you install something new, take a look at the folders and see what new things may have appeared. If a software product asks you to pick a folder in which to install the software, try to come up with a logical place to put it (or leave it to whatever default the installation product suggests). The better you get to know your PC, the easier it will be to spot things that are wrong, and the easier it will be to find things you can get rid of when you need to free up space on your computer. Do not wait until the last minute to do this, or you’ll have no idea of what is on your computer when it finally becomes imperative that you clean things up.

An organized computer is really no different from an organized desk, office, or home, with the same advantages (and disadvantages).

Rule 7: Practice safe computing and avoid viruses.

Viruses are pretty rare—much more rare than the media might have you believe. And you can just about avoid them entirely by taking a few simple precautions, namely:

1. Don’t run programs sent to you by friends and relatives, no matter how cute they look. Such programs often pass from computer to computer thousands of times, and they often become infected with viruses along the way.
2. Trust only programs sent to you by someone who knows a lot about computers and is sufficiently paranoid to be very careful about viruses. A lot of computer geeks know all about computers but are still careless; avoid the programs they send you.
3. Take the same precautions with programs you receive from friends and relatives on diskettes; like programs sent by e-mail, they can easily be infected with viruses. Don’t even insert such a CD, diskette, or USB key into your computer.
4. Turn on macro protection in programs like Microsoft Word and click the button that disables macros if you get a warning message while opening a document (unless you are absolutely sure that any macros in the document are safe).
5. In general, never run any programs except those you obtain from reputable, commercial sources (such as software vendors). Ask yourself what the consequences would be for the software company if its software were found to contain viruses; the greater the potential consequences, the safer the software is likely to be (the more the company stands to lose, the more careful it will be about keeping its software virus-free).
6. Never run software that appears to be pirated or illegally copied. It may be corrupted or infected with a virus.
7. Put your machine behind a firewall, if possible. The best firewall is one that lives in a box that is physically independent of your computer (such as a DSL or Cable modem/router combination, if you are using a broadband connection).
8. Don't use real-time, interactive systems, like instant messaging or chat. Many of them contain security holes that can make it possible for malware to install itself on your computer without your knowledge, or they are designed in such a way that you can do this yourself without realizing it.
9. Don't use file-swapping programs. They may make your computer a server (see the next point below), and they make it easier to put unknown, untrustworthy files on your computer from unknown sources. Your computer could be hosting illegal content and you wouldn't even know until the police come knocking at your door.
10. Never run your desktop computer as a server. “Running as a server” means running programs on the computer that allow other computers on the Net to obtain information from your computer—the classic example of this is running a Web site on your computer. File-swapping programs are another example of software that can turn your computer into a server. Servers must observe extremely strict security guidelines in order to stay secure, and these are so severe that it's really not practical to run your own desktop machine as a server safely … so don't try it!

If you take these precautions, you are very unlikely to ever have a problem with a computer virus.

Note: You cannot catch a computer virus just by reading an e-mail text message. However, you can catch a virus by reading an e-mail message in HTML format (HTML format means any message that contains different styles or sizes of text, or pictures embedded in the message, and so on). To be completely safe, use an e-mail program that lets you shut off HTML messages completely (unfortunately, most versions of Outlook Express don't allow you to do this). If you have a broadband connection (a high-speed, 24-hour connection to the Internet), all of the security risks to your computer are multiplied by a hundred, and so you should be a hundred times more careful in protecting your machine. You can take for granted that your machine will be attacked every few seconds while it is online; to protect it, make sure you have relevant security updates applied, and keep a firewall up to prevent intrusions. One last point: A machine that is turned off is completely secure (albeit not very useful), and a machine that is physically disconnected from the Internet cannot be attacked from the Net (but nowadays a computer with no Net access isn't very useful, either, in most cases).

Rule 8: Think twice about antivirus software (maybe!).

You might wonder why I recommend being wary of antivirus software. Two reasons: (1) if you follow the rules I give here, and are thus practicing safe computing, it is very unlikely that you’ll ever be infected by any kind of virus, and (2) most antivirus programs cause more problems for your system than a real virus would, if you already practice safe computing.

The problem is that antivirus programs do a lot of the same things that real viruses do, in their attempt to protect your computer against viruses. They do a lot of “tweaking” of your computer system to catch viruses when they try to infect your PC. Unfortunately, all this tweaking destabilizes the system, and can cause it to crash or freeze up; it can also prevent various parts of your PC from working correctly, and it can prevent programs from running, making them display error messages or crash. Given how rare real viruses actually are (particularly if you are cautious), all these headaches just aren’t justified.

My own experience is that antivirus programs are a pain in the neck. I’ve seen too many systems hashed by the “protection” provided by antivirus software. Practice safe computing and you should never need them.

HOWEVER, if you don't trust yourself to religiously follow my rules here, you might be better off just installing an antivirus package. It's not as secure as being careful in how you use the computer, but it's a lot easier, and it helps guard against lapses of attention. Essentially, antivirus packages try to be vigilant when you are not; but since they are just computer programs and not as smart as a human being, they can let things slip through that you wouldn't if you were just as vigilant yourself. So an antivirus program cannot completely protect against unsafe computing on your part, but if you really don't want to practice safe computing, an antivirus program is probably a good idea.

Note that antivirus software isn't the same as a firewall. No matter how vigilant you are about safe computing yourself, you still need a firewall. This is because attacks blocked by a firewall are attacks against weaknesses in your computer system, and they will succeed if the attacks can reach your computer, irrespective of your own vigilance—so you need to block them up front with a firewall. You can lock down your computer to a large extent by carefully configuring it, but complex desktop systems such as Windows have so many potential weak points that there is still the risk that a new hole will be uncovered and exploited before you have time to find out about it and fix it. A firewall protects against this.

Rule 9: Don’t be a pioneer.

If you want your computer to be stable and reliable, never be the first on your block to install anything. You don’t need to run the very latest software or the very latest hardware gadget. Let someone else get the bugs out before you install anything on your machine. And never, ever run “beta” or “test” versions of software on your computer, even if they are free!

The real risks in being a pioneer have to do with software, not hardware, even if the gadget you are trying out is a hardware device. New hardware rarely fails, as it has been pretty carefully tested before it even gets to market (although there can be exceptions, if you are really riding the first wave for a totally new technology). The main risk with a new hardware gadget is in the software that you’ll have to install to make it work on your machine. The hardware may be debugged, but the software almost certainly will not be, and in the case of software like device drivers (programs that allow you to use various hardware gadgets with your machine, like printers or scanners), a single bug in the software may crash your machine. In the worst case, you might not even be able to start the machine back up! Is that really a risk you want to take just to be the first in your neighborhood with a new gadget?

Similar risks exist for new software, and for the same reasons. New software for PCs is typically rushed to market with many bugs still intact, and the first users of the software will bear the consequences of this, with frequent crashes and errors. Always wait until the vendor has issued an “update” or two (updates are really just bug fixes) before you risk your machine with the new product. Let someone else be the hero and the adventurer. Unless you are prepared to do without your machine entirely for days or weeks when something goes wrong, never be the first user to install anything!

System administrators of very large computer systems that have to be 100% reliable often deliberately stay one version behind on all the software and hardware they use. The reason for this is that the old version is almost always stable and reliable, whereas the latest version is often filled with bugs. By the time the latest version is finally stable and reliable, a new version comes out, and the cycle repeats. Staying one version behind means that you don't have the latest bells and whistles, but if a stable and reliable system is more important than bells and whistles, it makes good sense. I follow this principle myself (I have years of experience as a system administrator, which have taught me to be prudent).

Rule 10: Run a safe operating system.

If you prefer the Microsoft Windows environment, run a version of Windows that is based on Windows NT: these versions include Windows NT itself (now a bit obsolete), Windows 200x, Windows XP, and >Vista. Versions of Windows based on Windows NT are far superior to older versions of windows, and are far more stable and secure. (Older versions generally include any version of Windows that isn't in the list I just gave.) I run Windows XP on my Windows PC, and I used to run Windows NT on one of my servers (since retired). I never have any problems at all.

If you prefer the Apple Mac environment, run Mac OS X or its successors; earlier versions of the Mac OS are not stable or secure.

If you prefer UNIX or Linux, the degree of security you obtain depends enormously on how you configure the machine. Configure it with care, and you can make it extremely secure; be careless, and it will be a Swiss cheese just asking to be infected with who-knows-what. UNIX and Linux are particularly well suited to running servers; but if you're planning on running a server, you need to learn a lot more about security than I can explain on this page. On my own server, I run FreeBSD (one of the many flavors of UNIX), and it never gives me any trouble.

Conclusion

So much for my recommendations. These are the guidelines I use myself, and my computers are rock solid, stable as Mount Everest. My machines never crash, nor do any of the many programs I use. It’s all a matter of taking the right precautions and implementing the healthiest practices when using your PC. I welcome feedback on the experiences of others along these lines. Good luck.