SIRSONS IN RETIREMENT

Computer User Group

UPGRADE OR BUY NEW

• Buy a new computer if:– Your computer is over 4 years old– You are thinking of buying a new

Motherboard– You need more than three new internal

components.

CLEAN UP THE OUTSIDE

• Phillips screwdriver, Compressed air, Machine oil, Q-tips, and Windex

• Blow accumulate dust OUT of your computer case.

• Remove fan(s) and heat sink and clean separately.

• Oil fan(s)

• Clean keyboard, mouse, and mouse pad

IS IT JUST ME OR IS MY COMPUTER GETTING SLOWER!

• BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER–Drive Image Of Your Operating System Files–Backup Files For Everything Else

• HAVE A PLAN TO RECOVER YOUR COMPUTER IF YOU RUN INTO TROUBLE

RECOVERY PLAN

• Safe Mode F8

• Windows Recovery Console (for DOS users)(see http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1757683,00.asp)

• Dr. Watson

• Recovery Disks– Backup Recovery Disks– Windows XP w/SP-2 Recovery Disk– Anti-virus App. Recovery Disk

RECOVERY PLAN

• Safe Mode F8

• Windows Recovery Console (for DOS users)(see http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1757683,00.asp)

• Dr. Watson

• Recovery Disks– Backup Recovery Disks– Windows XP w/SP-2 Recovery Disk

(http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1747010,00.asp)

– Anti-virus App. Recovery Disk

INSTALL LATEST DRIVERS & DATA FILES

• Acronis True Image v8.0 (build 826)

• TUT v2.51 (build 2600)

• Anti-virus Program

• Anti-spyware Program

• Firewall Program

• Windows O/S Updates

• Printer Drivers

• CD/DVD Player/Burners

• External Hard Drives

STARTUP & RUNNING PROGRAMS

• CLOSE ALL PROGRAMS RUNNING IN THE TASK BAR

• WAYS TO CHECK – 3rd Party Utility like The Ultimate

Troubleshooter (www.answersthatwork.com)– msconfig Utility– Task Manager– System Information Utility

SERVICES

•CLOSE ALL PROGRAMS RUNNING IN THE TASK BAR•WAYS TO CHECK –Computer Management Utility–3rd Party Utility like The Ultimate Troubleshooter (www.answersthatwork.com)–msconfig Utility–System Information Utility

MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THE SERVICE DOES & WHAT IT SUPPORTS BEFORE DISABLING IT.

ELIMINATE UNNEEDED FILES

• E-MAIL – Sent Message Attachments

• Housekeeping– Temp, History, Temporary Internet or

Cache– Windows components, Installed programs,

System Restore points

ELIMINATE UNWANTED FONTS

VIRTUAL MEMORY-PAGE FILE

CONVERT TO NTFS

DEFRAGE PAGE FILE

PCSTATS

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1590&page=10

PageDefrag V2.3

Copyright © 2002-2004 Mark Russinovich

Sysinternals – www.sysinternals.com

Defragmenting c:\pagefile.sys:

Fragments before: 81

Fragments after: 2

Defragmenting Hibernation File:

SCAN DISK

• SCAN FOR VIRUSES WITH A CURRENT SOFTWARE PROGRAM

• SCAN FOR SPYWARE WITH TWO OR MORE CURRENT SOFTWARE PROGRAMS

• CLEAN OUT THE REGISTRY

• LASTLY, EMPTY THE RECYCLE BIN

SCANDISK OR ERROR CHECKER

• WINDOWS 9.X AND ME RUN A THOROUGH SCAN DISK

• WINDOWS 2000/XP RUN ERROR CHECKER

DEFRAG

OTHER THOUGHTS?

• MODIFYING BIOS

• OVERCLOCKING

SIRSONS IN RETIREMENT

Computer User Group