Five back-to-school tips for parents

A good computer is no longer a luxury when it comes to education; it is just as vital as pens and paper. So when your children go back to school or university, it's important to make sure that they have the right tools to help achieve their very best.

You can find everything you need for the new academic year at Tesco, and there are great savings to be made right now. TheTesco Tech Support Team can help you make the right choices with advice from advisors in more than 200 stores and lots of tips on their website on how to get the best from your purchase. And if there is a problem with a product, Tesco offers a fixed-price repair service at selected stores. So let's start with lesson 1 - how to choose the right laptop.

Lesson 1: Choosing the right laptop
Laptops now offer more processing power, which means they can cope with the many demands student life requires. One example from the Tesco range is the Acer 5742, which includes one of the latest Intel Core i3 processors and 4GB of memory, so it won't struggle when running a number of applications at once.

It has a high-resolution 15.6 inch screen and an impressive 750GB hard disk, enough to provide ample space for project documents and the photo and music collections that will inevitable be saved to it. It has a dual-layer DVD writer that can either be used for quick backups to protect work or create movie discs.

Best of all, the Acer 5742 comes with Windows 7 Home Premium, which offers easy connection to wireless networks both at home and in school for researching the internet. Windows 7 also provides the tools parents need to make sure students knuckle down when needed, with parental control tools that are easy to set up. These let you block certain programs and restrict the times when the computer can be used.
The Acer 5742 comes in both black and red and you can save £150 on this model at Tesco. Click here for information about the Red version and here for the Black.

Lesson 2: Keep files safe with external storage
Backing up school work is vital and an external hard disk offers the most convenient way to keep files safe without breaking the bank. The Hitachi 1TB XL Desktop Hard Drive has enough space to store a copy of everything on the Acer 5472 and comes with the software needed to protect files automatically. It won't take up much space on a desk as it can be mounted vertically on a special stand. Connection is with a USB 2 cable, so the Hitachi XL Desktop Hard Drive is just as fast as an internal drive and won't keep you waiting around for files to copy.

The Hitachi Local Backup software automatically makes backup copies of documents when the disk is connected to the computer. Space permitting, it will save up to 100 versions of files, so it won't matter if you accidently save a document after an accident. It is compatible with all versions of Windows and can also be used with Apple Mac OS X. You can save £22 on the normal price and buy this vital tool for just £44.97 from Tesco. Click here for more information.

Lesson 3: Protect children and computers from security threats
Browsing and downloading from the internet needn't be a risk if you have the right software to protect the computer. Norton Internet Security 2011 protects against all types of harmful software that students may encounter on the web. Spam and phishing emails are blocked so you don't have to worry about anyone clicking on links they shouldn't.

Norton Internet Security gets regular updates of all the latest threats every 5 to 15 minutes. It also extends the parental controls provided by Windows, giving an extra level of protection. You can protect up to three computers at a time with this version for £24.97. That's half the normal price, plus you can save an extra £5 when Norton Internet Security is bought with any laptop. Click here for more information