Remember when you first bought your computer? Man did it run fast. It was really in shape back then, but now you go get a cup of coffee while you wait on it to boot into Windows. Is it just getting old? Maybe not maybe it's just having to do too much work.

Voice over IP technology has existed for years now. The phone companies use it themselves to route your calls around the country, but it's finally going main stream. Many companies are offering this service to residential customers, but if you are not a real techno-head you may be asking just what is Voice over IP?

Voice over IP or VoIP is simply a way to transmit voice over the internet the same way we transmit web pages and email.

Have you recently traded in your old clunker of a computer for a new one? Likely the old one was running Windows 98 or Windows Millenium also known as Windows ME. The new computer, of course, will be running Windows XP.

At first Windows XP may seem like just a dressed up Windows 98 with that pretty green start button and all those soothing shades of blue, but look a little closer and you'll see some differences.

Several weeks ago, A nice police officer in Sealy, Texas gave me a ticket for driving a little fast. Of course, not wanting my insurance rates to higher than they already are, I chose to take the defensive driving option to dispose of this ticket. In the old days you had to waste an entire day trying to stay awake through a defensive driving class.

Do you use Kazaa or Morpheus to download music? Not a good idea. Not only are these programs designed to load your computer with spyware and popup ads, but in most cases it is illegal to download music because of copyright laws. The RIAA is suing computer users by the hundreds for illegally sharing music online.

I wrote a little on this subject back in December, but I think I need to address it again. You need a firewall protecting your computer.

Computers behind firewalls are protected from worms like Sasser and MSBlaster. With no firewall, this type of worm or virus can infest your computer without you clicking on anything.

You turn on your computer and start up Internet Explorer to do a little web surfing and then it hits. The barrage of pop-up ads. They are everywhere. You can't seem to click on anything without seeing advertisements for everything from medicines to online dating services and vacations.

Most people know that Microsoft Windows has a few bugs and security holes. What they might not know, is that Microsoft is constantly releasing software patches and fixes to repair these problems as they are discovered.

A good example of this is the Blaster worm that wreaked havoc last year.

Do you change your car's oil regularly? Rotate the tires? Well your computer needs a little regular maintenance too. Here are a couple things you can do to keep it running smoothly.

Install an anti-virus utility and make sure each of the following is working:
- Automatic virus definitions updates
- Real-time protection
- Full scans each night
If you do not have an anti-virus utility or if your subscription has expired, you can find a good free one at PreactiveIT.com.

We live in a digital world today. We use our computers to store photos of our kids, school papers, bank transactions and thousands of other critical pieces of data. All this data is stored on a hard drive inside the computer. Hard drives don't live forever.