Automatic Shutdown
There's no other major item most of us own that is as confusing, unpredictable and unreliable as our personal computers. Everybody has questions about them, and we aim to help.
Here are a few questions about computers I've received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability. This week my mailbox contained questions about software that automatically shuts down your computer, whether more is better with antivirus and antispyware programs, and zipping and unzipping files.
If you have a question, send it to me at
mossberg@wsj.com, and I may select it to be answered here in Mossberg's Mailbox.
Because of the volume of e-mail I receive, I can't routinely answer individual questions by e-mail, or consult on individual problems or purchasing decisions. I read all questions I receive and select three each week to answer in the column.
Q: Is there software available that will automatically shut down my computer at a specified time each day?
A: Yes, there are multiple Windows programs that do this, though I haven't tested any of them, and so can't recommend one in particular. If you go to
www.download.com, and type in "shutdown," you'll find a bunch of shutdown programs, some free and others modestly priced. Some of these utilities simply shut down the machine at a specified time. Others include elaborate options, such as performing certain clean-up tasks before the shutdown, or waking the computer from sleep at a certain time.
Q: Currently, I have three antispyware programs and two antivirus programs running on my PC. Is this overkill? Will the multiple programs interfere with each other's performance?
A: Yes and no. You can certainly keep multiple antivirus and antispyware programs around to perform manual scans of your system, initiated by you, one at a time. Especially in the case of antispyware software, one program may find evil stuff that another missed. This is less useful with the major antivirus programs, which are more mature and generally detect and remove the same things.
However, I would never have more than one antivirus program, or more than one antispyware program, actively running in autoprotect mode, where these programs are constantly active, and trying to block incoming traffic from the Internet that they suspect contains viruses or spyware. They will trip over each other and likely cause problems on your PC. For the same reason, I don't recommend running multiple firewall programs.
Q: What software do you recommend for zipping and unzipping files?
A: For compressing, or "zipping," files, or uncompressing files that have been zipped, I have always used and liked WinZip. It's available at
www.winzip.com for $30, and is free to try for 21 days. There are also some free zipping and unzipping utilities, such as CoffeeCup Free Zip Wizard (
www.coffeecup.com/zip-wizard), but I haven't tested them.
However, if you are using Windows XP, you don't need a separate zip/unzip utility. The operating system has the built-in capability to zip and unzip files.
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Because of the volume of e-mail I receive, I can't routinely answer individual questions by e-mail, or consult on individual problems or purchasing decisions. I read all questions I receive and select three each week to answer in the column.
自动关机
在我们大多数人拥有的大件电器中，再没有什么比个人电脑更令人费解、更变幻莫测的了。每个人或许都有些关于电脑的问题，而《莫博士信箱》将为您提供帮助。
本周我将回答有关自动关机软件、压缩和解压文件以及杀毒软件是否多多益善的问题。
问：有没有一些软件能让电脑在每天的特定时间自动关机？
答：的确有许多Windows程序能完成这项任务，但我从未测试过此类软件，因此无法向你推荐具体的程序。如果你登录
www.download.com，键入“关机”，你会找到许多关机程序，一些是免费的，其他一些则收取少量费用。部分关机程序就是简单地在特定时间关闭电脑，还有部分关机程序包含详细的功能选项，比如在关机前自动清除某些文件，或是在特定时间唤醒处于休眠状态的电脑。
问：目前我在我的电脑里安装了3套反间谍软件程序和两套防病毒程序，是不是有些太多了？这些程序之间是否会相互干扰呢？
答：你当然可以在电脑中安装多种反间谍软件程序和防病毒程序，然后通过自己手动操作，每次用一种程序来检测电脑中的病毒。特别是那些反间谍软件程序，一种程序可能会找到另一种程序漏掉的间谍软件。但对于一些主要的防病毒程序，这样做的用处并不大，因为这类程序都很成熟，它们能找到并移除的病毒类型基本相同。
不过，我只会让电脑自动运行一种防病毒程序或一种反间谍软件程序，在这种状态下，这些程序会时刻进行监测，防止网络上可能带有间谍软件或是病毒的文件侵入电脑。如果自动运行两种以上的此类程序，它们会相互影响，电脑可能会因此出现问题。出于同样的理由，我也不建议大家运行多个防火墙程序。
问：能给我推荐一些文件压缩软件和解压软件吗？
答：我经常使用的文件压缩软件是WinZip，你可以在
www.winzip.com上花30美元买到，还可以免费试用21天。另外还有一些免费的压缩和解压软件，比如CoffeeCup Free Zip Wizard（
www.coffeecup.com/zip-wizard），但我没有对它们进行过测试。
不过，如果你使用的是Windows XP，你就不需要另外安装压缩和解压软件，这个操作系统中有内置的程序可以进行文件的压缩和解压。
