Think of your
computer as a car.
Would
you run your car without ever checking the oil, changing the tires or
tuning the engine? of corse not. If you never maintained your
car, it
wouldn't be long before it wouldn't run very well or not at all.
Your
computer is similar. You can avoid costly repairs or even
replacing
your computer by running simple maintence on your computer on a regular
basis.
Steps
to maintain and protect your PC
- Surge
Protector
- Diagnostic
- Remove Spyware
- Virus Scan
- Windows Update
- Firewall
- Disk Cleanup
- Check Disk
- Defrag
- Clean Prefetch
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Surge
Protector
You
need a surge protector for your comptuer. A surge protector
will keep
your computer from getting fried in the event of a power surge.
You can purchase surge protectors very inexpensively at your local Walmart
or just about anywhere computer accessories are sold. You can
even find them at hardware stores.
It
is recommended that surge protectors be replaced if they ever block a
surge. Most have a light on them to let you know if a surge has
occured.
All
of the following links are well known and trusted by users, just like
you. All the links are freeware, some have additional
purchaseware.
Free
diagnostic testing of your PC
Free
spyware detectors:
Ad-aware
Spybot
You
would be surprised at the amount of spyware that could be on your
computer. Some common programs that are spyware are Comet
Cursor,
Hotbar and Xupiter.
Free
online virus scan
Housecall
McAfee
Some
viruses may disable your installed anti-virus software. For
optimum
virus protection, regularly scan with an online virus scan.
Be sure to run your antivirus software regularly and check for updates
often.
Update
Windows
Be sure you have all the latest updates
Zone
Alarm
Firewall: A system that prevents unauthorised access to a
computer over a network, such as the internet
You will need a Firewall to stay
protected
If you
have Windows XP on your computer, you just need to turn ICF on to use
Internet Connection Firewall. Here's how:
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1.
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Click the Start
button and then click Control Panel.
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2.
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Click Network
and Internet Connections, then click Network Connections.
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3.
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Right click
on the connection that you want to protect with Internet Connection
Firewall then click Properties.
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4.
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he Properties
screen will open. Click the Advanced Tab.
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5.
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In Internet
Connection Sharing, check Protect my computer and network by
limiting or preventing access to this computer from the Internet.
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6.
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Click OK
to finish.
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You might need to have a computer administrator account to perform some
tasks.
Disk Cleanup
Formerly
known as Scan Disk :-)
Disk
Cleanup (XP Users) helps free up space on your hard drive. Disk Cleanup
searches your drive, and then shows you temporary files, Internet cache
files, and unnecessary program files that you can safely delete. You
can direct Disk Cleanup to delete some or all of those files.
To open
Disk Cleanup:
Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to
System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup.
Check Disk
- Open My Computer, and
then select the local disk you want to check.
- On the File menu, click Properties.
- On the Tools tab, under
Error-checking, click Check Now.
- Under Check disk options, select
the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box.
Disk Defragmenter
Disk
Defragmenter consolidates fragmented files and folders on your
computer's hard disk, so that each occupies a single, contiguous space
on the volume. As a result, your system can gain access to your files
and folders and save new ones more efficiently. By consolidating your
files and folders, Disk Defragmenter also consolidates the volume's
free space, making it less likely that new files will be fragmented.
To open
Disk Defragmenter:
click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to
System Tools,
and then click Disk Defragmenter.
Clean Prefetch Files
My
Computer>Open C(system drive):>Windows>Prefetch. Delete
all
files then reboot. Clean prefetch files once a month.
Cleaning
prefetch files too often can result in decreased performance.
Once a
month is sufficiant.
Tired of popups and spyware?
What are cookies?
A
"cookie" is a small piece of information sent by a web server to store
on a web browser so it can later be read back from that browser. This
is useful for having the browser remember some specific
information.
Cookies are used in various ways such as online ordering or site
personalization. Most of us do not want to be tracked and spied
on so
we want to block some cookies.
Don't worry, we can override our cookie preferences anytime and easily.
Want to know how many cookies are on your computer?
They are stored on your computer in a folder called Cookies~sneaky
aren't they?
From the Start Menu, choose My Computer>Local C Drive>Documents
and Settings>Owner>Cookies
How many files are in there?
Can blow one's mind how many cookies are being stored right there in
plain site.
You can safely delete all those files and not harm your computer.
Just don't delete the Index file.
The following steps will greatly reduce popups and spyware.
Stop spyware and popups in their tracks by not allowing
their cookies in the first place.
- Block
First and Third Party Cookies
Internet
tools>Privacy>Advanced>Block First Party and Third Party
Cookies (Check the box to Always Allow Session Cookies)
You
can add individual sites to over ride your cookie settings. Some
sites require cookies to work properly:
they will usually prompt you or it worked before, and doesn't after you
set your browser to block cookies, add them to your allow list
- Internet Tools>Privacy>Edit> Then add sites you
want to always allow
You will want to add msn.com for example
- Disable
Active X Controls when possible and Scripts
Internet
Tools>Security>Internet>Custom Level
