What should you do before you start to use your new computer, or once you've bought it, how do you keep from breaking it?

After you have purchased your new or refurbished computer and before you attempt to plug it in and turn it on, read all supplied documentation. This may be the time to ask for advice from an experienced user to assist your initial setup. Remember that your computer is a device, which is sensitive to extremes of heat, cold, magnetic fields, and rapid changes in its electrical supply. Buy and use a quality surge suppressor. A quality unit should have a Underwriters Laboratories (UL) 1449 rating of less than or equal to 330 V and be rated at 240 joules minimum. Higher quality units provide sufficient outlets to avoid the need for a web of extension cords, and some provide a jack to suppress voltage spikes transmitted through the telephone connection. If at all possible, do not plug your computer into outlets shared by other devices with a large current draw, such as heaters, air conditioners, or appliances. As you unpack your computer, carefully record all serial and model numbers of all components. Store the model and serial numbers with copies of your original receipts and documentation in a secure location. Save the boxes and packing materials in the event you need to transport the computer. Choose a location for the computer that is accessible, comfortable, and away from potential damaging agents, such as sources of water, food, and smoke. Provide an area for the central processing unit that is well ventilated and out of direct lines of traffic. A computer, like any other tool, has to be accessible or it will not be used. Electrical components are fragile, not only to environmental and power supply extremes, but also to external shocks or bumps. Just as a mere light bulb can fail if jarred while it is on, jolts and bumps can damage the sensitive components of a computer while the hard disk is spinning. Buy quality diskettes or removable media. Remember to store diskettes or removable media away from strong sources of heat or magnetic fields. Use only a felt-tipped indelible marker to write on labels, which have already been affixed to diskettes; otherwise, use ballpoint pens to write only on labels that are not on diskettes. Immediately after you have set up and turned on your computer begin to think of the inevitable day it will not work as designed. With prior planning you should be prepared for the common emergencies. Your computer may not work properly if it suffers a mechanical failure, which is fortunately uncommon. The most common difficulties can be traced to userintroduced problems, such as inadvertent configuration or setup changes, inoculation with viruses, or addition of new programs or components that change critical settings. Emergency planning begins with the creation of diskettes to allow you to start or boot your computer without the information stored on a fixed disk. Use new quality diskettes to create an emergency boot disk containing operating system information, an emergency disk to recover in the event of failure from virus infestation, and, finally, a disk to allow use of the CD-ROM drive. To create a basic Windows 98 or Windows 95 emergency boot disk: