Frequently Asked Questions

Should I upgrade to Windows 7?

Microsoft has had Windows 7 out since late 2009.  They have worked diligently to produce the best Operating System that they can.  At this point if you were to go into any retail store your only option is Windows 7 Home.  If you are a business you should contact Hudson River Technologies to get a business class PC.  Windows 7 takes up more system resources than Windows XP originally did.  If you purchase a PC or laptop with increased RAM (memory) you should be able to run Windows 7 efficiently.  It has been our experience that Windows 7 handles the system resources much better than Windows XP and even Windows Vista.  So in short, upgrading to Windows 7 might not be a bad idea.  Contact HRT to make sure your system will handle the new Operating System efficiently.  

Is my Antivirus doing enough to protect me?

Threats to your computer come in a number of different forms; Viruses, Trojans, worms, spyware, adware and hackers. Your antivirus program is designed to protect you from the viruses, Trojans and most worms and that's about it. To maximize your protection you should also have some type of Internet security in place. An Internet security program, often referred to as a firewall, is designed to block unauthorized access to and from your computer. If you have high speed access to the Internet using something like a cable modem or DSL connected directly to your computer you should, at the very least, use the built-in Microsoft firewall. The version that comes with Windows 7 is very capable.

Should I be doing Windows updates?

Windows Update is a good place to visit for additional non-critical updates to your computer. Updates often include bug fixes that, while not related to viruses, can sometimes manifest as crashes or annoyances if left unfixed.

What is 'defragging', and why should I do it?

"Defragging" is short for "defragmenting", and it's a process you run on a hard drive to help make it faster. It's something you need to do periodically as files on the disk become fragmented over time - hence the term "defragmenting". Imagine if you had the pages of a book randomly distributed around your house. You know where they are and in what order to read them, but you have to run all over the house as you get each successive page. That's a fragmented file. The clusters that make up the file are scattered throughout the disk. The result is that when you access the file, Windows has to race all over the hard disk to retrieve the whole thing. That takes time. If instead the pages of your book were all next to each other, in order, then they'd be much easier to read. No need to run all over. That's a defragmented file: all the clusters allocated to the file are in order and physically next to each other on the hard disk. Files become fragmented because of the way clusters are re-used and allocated on a hard disk. If you delete a file that takes up two clusters, and then write a file that takes four then the new file might be split - two clusters where the old file was, and two clusters somewhere else entirely. Multiply that scenario by thousands of file operations and deletions on your disk every day, with much larger files, and you can see that fragmentation can add up very quickly. The result is your machine gradually slowing down.

Should I run more than one firewall?

Some kind of firewall is essential to keeping your computer safe from attacks that may come through the internet. A Firewall works by looking at all the information coming in through the internet and checking to see if it's okay. It generally does this by putting a software filter in the way. This filter works away like mad verifying that everything is okay. If something's bad it blocks it. If you were to install two of these pieces of software, a couple of things might happen. The different pieces of software may step on one another trying to be first in line to catch the data that's coming in from the internet. That's when you'd see something like an Illegal Operation error. Whenever two pieces of software compete like that trouble ensues. The other thing you'll notice is that your internet connection speed would seem to slow down quite a bit. Software firewalls slow down your connection a bit but having two in there would cause a much greater slowdown.

Is there any effective internet filtering software or hardware available that could prevent my employees from viewing undesirable websites?

There are a lot of web sites on the Internet that you may want to protect your business from and keep your employees productive. The technology to do this is normally called "Content Filtering". This software does two main things, it blocks access to web sites that it knows to have content that may be questionable and it filters anything else that you ask it not to show. These programs also have various add-ons like, scheduling time that your employee will have access to the internet and user IDs that allow for different levels of access based on who's currently logged into the computer.  The ideal situation is to have a Hardware filter which can be installed to control the content of internet being allowed through.  Ask Hudson River Technologies for a solution today.

 

 

 

Home | FAQ | HRT Team | HRT Services | Partner Companies | Contact

Copyright © 2008 Hudson River Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.