Collegiate Times

Viruses. Hard drive failure. Corrupt files. Network issues. Memory error. These are all phrases you do not want to hear when talking about your computer, but unfortunately, these are words Tech students hear all too often.

Take Brennan Fitzgerald?s situation ? Fitzgerald, a junior psychology major, had several problems with her computer. The screen would turn blue or go black, creating the impression that the computer had crashed, and when she restarted her computer, files would be missing. "It's like my computer just ate them and nobody could find them," Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald?s computer fan also broke, and she had problems with her hard drive and her CD-RW/DVD drive. Fitzgerald took advantage of the fact that her computer was still under warranty and called Dell.

"Dell came out and gave me a new hard drive, a new fan, and a new CD-RW/DVD drive," Fitzgerald said. Katie Johnson, a sophomore university studies major, also has a tale of computer woe. Her hard drive mysteriously crashed at the beginning of freshman year and was slow and temperamental for the rest of the year. Then a trojan attacked it, so she had it fixed over the summer.

"I got some mystery virus again the start of sophomore year . . . again fried hard drive. Overall, I've had to replace the hard drive once, so it wasn?t that bad," Johnson said.

Whether you have a Sony, IBM, Dell, Macintosh or any other type of computer, here are some good tips to keep your computer up, functioning and in good shape for as long as possible, and what you should do if you do have computer issues.

First things first ? take preventative measures against things that could harm your computer. "In terms of protecting your computer, a user should have a good firewall, antivirus software and spyware removal programs installed," said Resident Computer Consultant (RCC) Jennifer Gervasio. Gervasio, a junior mechanical engineering major, also said, "VT offers Symantec Antivirus free to students. It can be installed by using the VTnet CD or downloaded from www.antivirus.vt.edu. There are many free spyware removal programs. Some of the more popular ones are Spybot, Ad-aware and Microsoft Antispyware."

Jessica Harper, a junior computer engineering major and RCC, also recommends backing up your files, in case your computer dies. "It's . . . important to buy an external backup drive of some sort, so when the inevitable trip to computer heaven comes, you won't have lost your data," she said.

Also, keep edibles away from your computer.

"Food and drinks have caused people to ask me for help on computers and even printers," said Kent Lenceski, an RCC and sophomore computer science major. "In one case, a person came to me with a ?paper jam? that ended up being a small piece of popcorn caught in the paper track."

If your computer does have problems, take advantage of helpful resources that Tech offers. Use 4Help (the website can be found as a Quicklink on the Virginia Tech homepage) or contact an RCC. 4Help is an online computer support center, which offers several different methods of help. One method for the do-it-yourself type is a website www.answers.vt.edu that contains over 1600 computer/technological questions and answers that can be searched by keyword.

People with computer problems can also find a complete listing of resident computer consultants and their hours and contact information on the 4Help website. Wondering what an RCC is? "We are your on-site computer support. We are there to provide personal assistance with computer related problems. We can either be a person?s first resort when there is a computer problem or the second resort as people can be referred to us from 4Help, when more hands on assistance is needed or requested," explained Mark Yopp, a third-year computer science major and an RCC in West Ambler-Johnston.

4Help also offers support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in the form of customer support agents, found under the Helpdesk and Desktop Support link on the 4Help website. To use this resource, people with computer problems can either fill out a Help Request Form (found on the website) or call (540) 231- HELP (4357). If none of these options provide a solution to your computer problem, you still have other options. "If it is serious hardware issue, such as hard drive failure, something like that is referred back to company/place they bought it, such as the Tech bookstore, Dell, HP, Apple, especially if it is still under warranty," Yopp said.

If you are having computer problems, don?t despair ? chances are, help is one click of the mouse or one telephone call away.

Viruses. Hard drive failure. Corrupt files. Network issues. Memory error. These are all phrases you do not want to hear when talking about your computer, but unfortunately, these are words Tech students hear all too often. Take Brennan Fitzgerald?s situation ? Fitzgerald, a junior psychology major, had several problems with her computer. The screen would turn blue or go black, creating the impression that the computer had crashed, and when she restarted her computer, files would be missing. "It's like my computer just ate them and nobody could find them," Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald?s computer fan also broke, and she had problems with her hard drive and her CD-RW/DVD drive. Fitzgerald took advantage of the fact that her computer was still under warranty and called Dell. "Dell came out and gave me a new hard drive, a new fan, and a new CD-RW/DVD drive," Fitzgerald said. Katie Johnson, a sophomore university studies major, also has a tale of computer woe. Her hard drive mysteriously crashed at the beginning of freshman year and was slow and temperamental for the rest of the year. Then a trojan attacked it, so she had it fixed over the summer.

"I got some mystery virus again the start of sophomore year . . . again fried hard drive. Overall, I've had to replace the hard drive once, so it wasn?t that bad," Johnson said.

Whether you have a Sony, IBM, Dell, Macintosh or any other type of computer, here are some good tips to keep your computer up, functioning and in good shape for as long as possible, and what you should do if you do have computer issues.

First things first ? take preventative measures against things that could harm your computer. "In terms of protecting your computer, a user should have a good firewall, antivirus software and spyware removal programs installed," said Resident Computer Consultant (RCC) Jennifer Gervasio. Gervasio, a junior mechanical engineering major, also said, "VT offers Symantec Antivirus free to students. It can be installed by using the VTnet CD or downloaded from www.antivirus.vt.edu. There are many free spyware removal programs. Some of the more popular ones are Spybot, Ad-aware and Microsoft Antispyware."

Jessica Harper, a junior computer engineering major and RCC, also recommends backing up your files, in case your computer dies.

"It's . . . important to buy an external backup drive of some sort, so when the inevitable trip to computer heaven comes, you won't have lost your data," she said.

Also, keep edibles away from your computer. "Food and drinks have caused people to ask me for help on computers and even printers," said Kent Lenceski, an RCC and sophomore computer science major. "In one case, a person came to me with a ?paper jam? that ended up being a small piece of popcorn caught in the paper track."

If your computer does have problems, take advantage of helpful resources that Tech offers. Use 4Help (the website can be found as a Quicklink on the Virginia Tech homepage) or contact an RCC. 4Help is an online computer support center, which offers several different methods of help. One method for the do-it-yourself type is a website www.answers.vt.edu that contains over 1600 computer/technological questions and answers that can be searched by keyword.

People with computer problems can also find a complete listing of resident computer consultants and their hours and contact information on the 4Help website. Wondering what an RCC is?

"We are your on-site computer support. We are there to provide personal assistance with computer related problems. We can either be a person?s first resort when there is a computer problem or the second resort as people can be referred to us from 4Help, when more hands on assistance is needed or requested," explained Mark Yopp, a third-year computer science major and an RCC in West Ambler-Johnston.

4Help also offers support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in the form of customer support agents, found under the Helpdesk and Desktop Support link on the 4Help website. To use this resource, people with computer problems can either fill out a Help Request Form (found on the website) or call (540) 231- HELP (4357).

If none of these options provide a solution to your computer problem, you still have other options. "If it is serious hardware issue, such as hard drive failure, something like that is referred back to company/place they bought it, such as the Tech bookstore, Dell, HP, Apple, especially if it is still under warranty," Yopp said. If you are having computer problems, don?t despair ? chances are, help is one click of the mouse or one telephone call away.