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Some computer maintenance for the upcoming family get-togethers

Dave Farquhar security March 18, 2013November 30, 2018antivirus, Bit Defender, defense in depth, firefox, firewall, Keep Firefox, Microsoft Security Essentials, psi, Vacuum Places

If you’re like me and do some computer maintenance for families during holiday weekends, the time to plan Easter computer maintenance is now.

Here’s some stuff I recommend doing to keep your non-computer-enthusiast relatives’ systems running smoothly. Be sure to bring your own laptop along, just in case. If a computer is too broken to get online or to get online safely, nothing beats a working system for downloading the stuff you need to fix it. Read more

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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Customize Firefox before it hits the ground on a new PC

Dave Farquhar Software March 5, 2012firefox, Keep Firefox, malware, Malware Domains, ramdisk, Vacuum Places

Here’s a nifty-looking program: Firefox Addon Maker, which allows you to create customized Firefox installer packages.

This is helpful if you install Firefox a lot, whether in corporate or home settings.
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Dave Farquhar

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Vacuum Firefox automatically

Dave Farquhar Software February 13, 2012November 22, 2016firefox, Keep Firefox, Vacuum Places

I’ve discussed vacuuming Firefox before to make it run like new, but it’s not something everyone is exactly comfortable doing. I found an extension called Vacuum Places Improved that allows you to vacuum Firefox automatically.

Most importantly, in the options for the add-on, you can make it run, say, every 50th time Firefox starts. That way, the vacuum process happens transparently–at the expense of every 50th load being slower, the database gains automatic maintenance. I’ll gladly trade occasional slower load times for improved performance.
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Dave Farquhar

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