Resources

From time to time we write articles to help customers with particular problems, especially if we find that we are being asked the same question several times by different customers.

Below you will find links to display or download these articles. At present they are all in PDF format and require a viewer such as the Adobe Reader (previously known as the Acrobat reader), which is available from the Adobe web site. With most browsers, left-click the title to read the article, or right-click and choose "Save Target" or "Save Link" to save the file on your PC to read later.

Saving and sharing documents

Ever had someone complain that they can't open a document you e-mailed to them? This article and the accompanying tables help you to choose the right document format, with particular emphasis on Microsoft Word and OpenOffice.org users. You can download the article here, and the accompanying quick reference tables here.

Windows Security Essentials

Is your PC, and the (often private) information it contains, safe from attack? There's more to it than just installing an anti-virus program. This article explains some of the basic precautions you should be taking.

Setting Administrator & Guest passwords on Windows XP

A default installation of Windows XP home edition has hidden but unprotected accounts, which are a potential security loophole - especially if you use it on a network. This article shows you how to protect them.

Buying a computer

This article was last updated September 2005 so is now somewhat out of date. However, we've left it here as the principles it describes are still valid even if the specifications are no longer current

Buying a computer can be confusing - they vary widely in price and specification, but choosing what's right for you may not be easy. This guide aims to help, with guidelines on deciding what you really need, and explanations of what the specifications mean and how they will affect you. It's fairly lengthy, but hopefully by the end of it you will have a good idea of what you actually want, and how much you need to spend to get it.

Handling ZoneAlarm Popups

ZoneAlarm is a popular firewall program (available from ZoneLabs) which is free for personal use. However, many people are confused by the popup messages it produces. This document gives some basic guidelines on how to respond to those popups.

Please note that this is not a full guide to using ZoneAlarm - refer to the built in help and tutorial if you need more details.


Archived Articles

This section contains material from the web site we ran prior to starting Bovett Computer Services, plus any other material which is no longer current but which may still be relevant for some people.