Wetware Solutions
free expert computer tips for everyday users

Are you getting rogue popups, adware, or simply finding you don’t have software for a particular function you’d like to be able to do on your PC? CNET runs one of the best websites for software reviews and downloads at Download.Com. That should be easy to remember. Through Download.Com, you can find Spybot Search & Destroy and Lavasoft Ad-Aware, two great programs that can help keep your system clean of popups, cookies and rogue software programs that load themselves into your system registry without your even knowing it. Who needs that?

But don’t limit yourself to downloading spyware protection software. Also learn what’s safe and what isn’t. Most popups you get on commercial websites are adware even if they look like Microsoft program warnings, especially ones suggesting you “Click Here” to protect your PC. Unless you’re absolutely sure the window was generated by your Windows operating system and not by the website you’ve just access, you should not “Click Here.” Instead, click the “X” at the top to close the box or better still, right click on the corresponding button in your task bar for that window and select “Close” from the popup menu.

Download.Com also includes software for just about anything you want to do on a PC: VoIP, music ripping software, graphics editors, flash. They even have the latest iTunes software.

While you’re at it, be sure to check out CNET, the parent website for Download.Com. CNET is one of the most trusted sites among PC users, with loads of technology news and reviews, not just on software downloads, but digital cameras, laptops, printers, all kinds of hardware and software for technology-minded people. I don’t buy any gadget without first checking online reviews, recommendations and buying tips, and CNET is a good place to start looking for those reviews. If you’ve somehow missed a previous opportunity to discover CNET, don’t miss this one.

First things first: a Document Management System (DMS) is just a glorified database that can help your office file, categorize, summarize, search for, and find the tens of thousands of computer files you’re likely to have once you really go paperless. Furthermore, because all file storage takes place on the back end, users can’t as easily move or delete entire directory folders. That’s the up side.

The downside? Well, several disadvantages come to mind.

• High Cost: DMS solutions can be very expensive.
• No Interoperability: Once you lock into a DMS solution you’re stuck with it and its updates since the database produced by one DMS can’t be imported into or read by another DMS.
• Time-Consuming: Although DMS solutions are meant to save you time in searching for documents, you and your staff need to profile each document you put in the system, and that can take more time than you think.
• High Learning Curve: Everyone will have to learn the new system in order to profile new documents and bring up existing ones.

The real advantages are in being able to protect the directory structure and in being able to search documents. For the former, adequate training and a backup protocol are required to, respectively, minimize mistakes and recover from them. As for making documents easier to find: you can actually implement this without a DMS. In fact, some DMS solutions depend on other softwares to enable indexing features.

So bottom line: no, you do not need a DMS. You may want one, regardless, for the advantages noted above, but you definitely don’t need one, especially if cost is a consideration.