Rhondaveu

Introduction

Computers, like cars, have become such an integral part of our lives that when they are working properly, we don't even give them a second thought. It's only when something goes wrong that we realize how dependent we've become on their use.

This computer basis's page will help you understand your computer a little better, and will guide you, step-by-step, through the actions you need to perform on a regular basis in order to ensure that your computer will continue to run efficiently and safely. We cover these basics under the following two headings: Computer Safety and Computer Maintenance.

Computer Maintenance

There are four things you need to do on a regular basis in order to keep your computer running quickly and effectively. In addition to performing these operations on a regularly scheduled basis, you should run these immediately (and in the order as follows) if you computer suddenly starts crashing or running slowly.

The four things you need to do are:

You need to run your anti virus and spyware programs regularly
You need to clean the memory on the hard drive by performing a disc cleanup
You need to scan the hard drive for errors
You need to run your disc defrag program.

We will explain how to perform each action in the following. You can also sign up for email alerts for these processes by filling out this form (you will need to confirm your address before we can start sending the emails. Please note that these instructions are for Windows computers and are based on using windows XP. Instructions are the same for most windows systems though they may vary slightly.

Run your Anti Virus and Spyware Program

If you are using one of the security suites that we recommend, your anti virus program will be working anytime you are on the computer and will occasionally spot and stop viruses before they are downloaded onto your computer but you still need to make sure to run a system scan on a regular basis. getting in to your computer The first thing you need to do is to run your anti virus and anti spyware programs regularly. We will explain these programs under the Computer Safety heading, but in order to maintain your computer, please note that it is necessary to ensure you manually run these software programs occasionally.

If you sign up for our email alerts, we will send you instructions which will tell you how to run your anti virus and spyware program at regular intervals.

Clean the Memory on Your Hard Drive

To clean the memory on your hard drive,

press the start button (on the lower left side of your task bar).
Select "All Programs"
Select "Accessories"
Select "System Tools"
Select "Disc Cleanup"
Select "drive C" (this is your hard drive)
Make sure all boxes are checked (yes this is okay)
Select "OK" and your computer will clean up those items. It may take a few minutes

Run the "Check Disc" Program

You don't need to run this program very often unless are having problems with your computer. If you aren't having any problems, run this every 2 months. Here is how you run the "check disc" program:

Select "Start">
Click (with left mouse button) on "My Computer"
Right click on the "C" drive and another menu will pop up
Scroll down and select "properties" on menu that popped up
Go to the "Tools" tab on top and under "error-checking" and select "check now"
Another box will pop up and make sure both boxes are checked, then hit "start"
Your computer will tell you it can't perform this action now.....but you can choose to have it done the next time you restart the computer. Select "yes" to this option and shut down your computer

This process may take quite some time if you haven't done it for a while or if your computer does detect problems. Again, this ought to be done every month or two.

Run Your Disc Defragmentor Program

Running your disc defrag program is more important to your computer's functioning than most people realize. Your Windows based defrag program is minimally effective and needs to be run more frequently than your computer will tell you to do so. For most people who spend less than 12 hours on their computer per week, they may be able to go a month before having to do this, but for more moderate computer users, or if you've recently installed new software (wait until you've had the software in for a week), you may need to run the defrag program more frequently.

There are two ways to perform this process, one is the basic way, and the other way is to do this by after starting up the computer in "safe mode". By performing this action in "safe mode" your computer will additionally clean up your start up files, making your start up quicker and more efficient. Here is how to run the defrag program:

Select "start"
Select "All Programs"
Select "Accessories"
Select "System Tools"
Select "Disc Defragmentor"
Select "defragment". There is no point in running analyse because by the time Windows suggests your disc needs to be defragmented, you're computer's been running really slow and innefficiently for way to long. If you do select "analyse" and it tells you you don't need to defragment yet, do it anyways.

Computer Safety

There are three programs that you need to have installed on your compter and they are; a firewall (your built-in Windows firewall provides very minimal protection), an anti-virus program and a spyware program. While there are some free versions of all three types of software, please note that most "free" programs either download additional unwanted material onto your computer, or, are relatively ineffective. Some are also quite large and thus slow down your computer.

Most of the better known security software companies offer security software bundles or "security suites" which can usually be purchased for around $50. There are various lesser known companies that offer each of these types of software at low prices but for reasons already mentioned, we do suggest that you stick with the better known companies but please note, there is one software company that is often pre-installed in Windows computers BUT for a number of reasons WE STRONGLY SUGGEST AVOIDING the use of this software. For a list of the products we recommend, click here. We will describe the purpose for each of these software programs below.

Firewall

Your firewall is your first line of defense in preventing intrusions. With a quality firewall, the attempts of hackers and information seekers is seriously hampered. Your pre-installed Windows firewall offers very minimal protection against hackers, information seekers and malicious program codes. You can download a free firewall by ZoneAlarm Internet Security that will work better than your Windows firewall. Just click on the link above and select the "free firewall" option.

Anti Virus Programs

Your second line of defense is a top quality anti virus program, preferably one that updates it's virus definitions daily. If your anti virus software is being updated once a week, that really means that a virus can be spreading through the internet and possibly get into your computer 6 days before your virus definitions are uploaded to include that new virus and it is much easier to prevent a virus infection, than it is to employ the correct patches and fixes afterwards.

We have tried most of the name brands of anti virus programs and in different years, we recommend different programs. We currently use and promote PC Tools because of the programs integrity and relatively low cost. Their anti virus program is updated daily and best of all, it doesn't have some of the ISP (internet service provider) conficts that other anti virus programs have had. Their anti-virus program is superior to all the rest.

The third crucial software program you need in order to protect your computer is a spyware remover program. Spyware is little bits of information that get planted on your computer while you are browsing the internet. The intention of spyware is to track your computer usage without your knowledge. Some of these programs are relatively harmless in their objectives such as those designed to track your usage in order to sell information about your browsing habits to advertisers but other tracking systems can be more serious, such as keyboard loggers who can obtain passwords and other private information. If you haven't been running a high quality Spyware Program, you'll be amazed at just how much spyware has been slowing down you computer. We once paid little attention to spyware, but after deleting spyware for the first time, we were amazed by how much speed we recovered. I now run a spyware scan daily to make sure my computer stays up to speed.

Our Recommended Security Suite bundles

We have used many Security Suites in the past, but again we feel that PC Tools offers the most useful Security Suite at a low price.