Before it catches fire? If your computer setup is anything like you probably want it to be, you probably are overloading an outlet or two in your office or computer area.

It seems to happen most around the holidays — the electrical outlet begins putting on extra weight. There are nine strings of lights for the tree, electric candles, a CD player with holiday music and — for some reason — a George Foreman Grill. It seems like just staring at this mess of electrical cords for too long will give it just the extra boost it needs to catch fire.

Granted, this article is more about over-plugging in electronics during the holidays, but it applies to pretty much any situation where lots of electronics and plug-ins are involved.

Read the rest of the article here.

I see it all the time. A wireless network named “motorola” or “linksys”, with no authentication required to access it. This is common in residential areas. Sometimes even in office buildings. People or business set up a wireless network and leave it at all the default settings and don’t add any sort of authentication.

You might notice, if you already have a wireless enabled computer and a wireless internet connection, that there are many other networks besides yours that show up when you check the available wireless networks. When I connect to my wireless network at home, I also see a couple of unsecured networks. This makes me chuckle every time I see it.

The first things you should do when getting your new wireless modem or router hooked up are the following:

• Change your SSID from the default to some other name. Don’t use a name that directly links the network to you (such as “ralphswirelezz”). Even turn off broadcasting of the SSID if you want to take it a step further, or are able to with your equipment.
• Change the admin password to log onto your wireless modem or router.
• Enable at the very least WEP authentication

Why do you see so many unprotected networks?

Usually the reason that a wireless network is unprotected is that the person that runs the network is oblivious to the fact that they should probably secure their network.

Most cable companies don’t configure your wireless network for you when you sign up for high-speed cable internet services. They just give you the wireless router and plug it in for you at the most. Configuring your network to use some sort of authentication is a different story altogether.

What if you don’t secure your wireless network?

If you don’t secure your wireless network, chances are that you will probably at some point have somebody using your wireless network to browse the net or do other harmless things without you even knowing. There also is a chance that you could encounter somebody with the ability to decipher information that is being passed around on your wireless network, eventually compromising the security of password protected accounts and such.

There are a few ways to attack a wireless network. Some are passive and some are much more aggressive. Some people might just want to sniff around the network for kicks, some might want to actually try to steal information or use your network to perform other attacks anonymously. Not a good thing in any situation, really.

How do you secure your network?

It largely depends on specifically what type of equipment you are using to set up your network. Each type of wireless modem or router will have different ways to go about accomplishing the same thing: securing your network.

Here’s some good articles I found regarding how to set up secure wireless networks:

• How to Secure Your Wireless Network Using WEP and WPA – A good article about getting started with WEP and WPA
  
• How do I secure my Wireless Wi-Fi Network using WEP? – A quick overview of how to set up WEP
  
• Securing your Wireless Network – Good tips about what do to to make your network more secure.

Get to reading some of these links, read the documentation for your wireless devices, and you’ll have your network secured in no time.

Remember, even using just WEP authentication is better than no authentication at all.

Part of the battle with using your computer in a smart way is to manager you time and multi-task effectively.

Many times you are forced to wait while doing something:

• Maybe a program needs to spend some time exporting something or rendering something.
• Maybe your waiting for a response from somebody before you can continue your work.
• Or maybe you are needing to just take a short time away from something you are concentrating on so that you can come back to it and see it in a different light.

Lifehack.org has a great list of small things you can do in small chunks of time. These recommendations will help you make the most of your time while using your computer and working with computers.

Personally, I like to get up and do push-ups, stand on the deck (when it’s nice out) and get some quick fresh air, or do some quick article writing when I get small chunks of time or need a short break from what I’m working on computer. It’s nice to see a couple of those things were on the list.

What things can you accomplish in your small chunks of downtime?

Check out the article at lifehack.org about 20 productive ways to use your free time. It will give you a bunch of ideas to get your mind going in the right direction. You will probably think of many other things that you are tasked to do frequently that you could slide in between other tasks or do while waiting on other things at your computer.

As always, work smarter, not harder, and you will usually look like you are working harder cause you’ll get more stuff done.

The most significant computer upgrade you can do is upgrading your monitor. The second most significant computer upgrade you can do is to upgrade your chair. Yes, I know that a good chair is just a piece of office furniture. Just think of all the time you’ll spend sitting this chair though. The alone justifies getting something that is very comfortable.

You’ll sit in front of your computer for many hours

If you do sit in front of a computer for hours, you should maybe find some ways to make the best of the situation. Make sure you have good posture, don’t strain your eyes and get up and walk around or exercise for short periods of time to keep from physically straining.

You should sit in comfort.

Why not upgrade that hard, upright wooden chair

To a comfortable office-style chair?

If you can somehow figure out how to slide a big leather recliner into your desk, then you should try to do that. I don’t know how many desks can fit a recliner, but that would be the best option for comfort while you work.

In conclusion…

Get yourself a good chair and a good monitor. Then go after a video card, RAM or a hard drive or something.