Download - Care & Feeding Of Your Computer
Care & Feeding of Your Computer
Presented by Don Hazelwood
Computer Maintenance
File & Folder Maintenance
Disk Defrag
UpdatesPhotography by Darren Hester Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic
File & Folder Maintenance
Desktop is not for storage
Store files in My Computer
This makes backing up a BREEZE
Photograph by singleframe Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
My Documents Folders
a folder is an object that can contain multiple documents.
Folders are used to organize information.
Files Almost all information
stored in a computer must be in a file.
There are many different types of files:
data files program files
Different types of files store different types of information.
Files & Folders
Create Rename Delete Move Copy
Shortcuts To place a shortcut icon
on the desktop Locate the folder or file in
My Documents If making a shortcut for an
application - this will be found in Program Files
right click the icon Select ‘Send To’ Select ‘Desktop (create
shortcut)’ A shortcut is now on your
desktop Photography by ISphoto Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic
Backing Up Your Data
It is not IF your going to have hard drive failure – rather it is WHEN
The data you create is PRICELESS
Have a planPhotography by orangejack Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic
Backing Up Your Data (cont.) Windows XP comes with a built in backup
utility To get to Backup
Click StartClick All ProgramsClick AccessoriesClick System ToolsClick Backup
For more info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320820
Disk Defragmenter Process that reduces the
amount of fragmentation of files on our hard drive
Fragmentation occurs when the OS can’t allocate enough contiguous space to store a complete file as a unit
instead parts of files are stored all over your hard drive
Larger files, lots of files & accessing files a lot contribute to fragmentation and consequent performance loss
Defragmentation attempts to alleviate these problems
Disk Cleanup The Disk Cleanup tool
helps you free up space on your hard disk by searching your disk for files that you can safely delete
You can choose to delete some or all of the files Photograhy by jpstanley Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic
Disk Cleanup (cont.)
You can start Disk Cleanup, by doing any of the following:
Click Start, and then click Run. In the Open box, type ‘cleanmgr’, and then click OK
Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup
In Windows Explorer or My Computer, right-click the disk in which you want to free up space, click Properties, click the General tab, and then click Disk Cleanup
Remove temporary Internet files
Remove downloaded program files. For example, ActiveX controls and Java applets that are downloaded from the Internet
Empty the Recycle Bin
Remove Windows temporary files
Remove optional Windows components that you are not using
Remove installed programs that you no longer use
For more info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310312
Running Defrag
Open Disk Defragmenter by selecting the Start Button in the bottom left corner of your screen, and then selecting in order: All Programs Accessories System Tools Disk Defragmenter
Automating Defrag & Cleanup With Scheduled Tasks, you can schedule defrag
& disk cleanup to run at a time that is most convenient for you
Scheduled Tasks starts every time that you start Windows XP and runs in the background, and it starts each task that you schedule at the time that you specify when you create the task
For more info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308569
Updating
Operating System Updates
Application Updates
Anti-Virus updates
Photography by ISphoto Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic
Why update? To fix bugs, install patches,
add new features and protect your computer
Install updates as soon as they become available
OS, applications & Anti-Viruses all need to be updated regularly
Photography by davidsonscott15 Attribution 2.0 Generic
Microsoft Update
Turn on automatic updates
Install updates as soon as possible
Microsoft releases updates on Tuesdays
Photography by timhulmephotography Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic
Anti-Virus Updates
It’s imperative in this day and age of instant on Internet to have an anti-virus working at ALL times!
Your computer is completely vulnerable without an UP TO DATE anti-virus
There are fantastic FREE anti-viruses!
Anti-Virus Updates (cont.)
Your anti-virus is only as up to date as it’s definitions
Definitions are used by the program to find viruses
Definitions are & needed to be updated regularly If your definitions are old, your anti-virus can not
catch new viruses. New viruses are released into the wild daily!
Anti-Virus (cont.)
AVG http://free.avg.com/
Zone Alarm http://
www.zonealarm.com
Follow what you’ve learned for a happy computer!