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Speed up and Clean up your Computer so you can start the
New Year Computer hassle free.
Be certain to back up your system or important files before
proceeding with any maintenance task.
Five basic steps to maintain your computer
- Running Scan Disk on your computer's hard drive.
- Running Defrag on your computer's hard drive.
- Removing Temporary or Temp Files
- Install & Update Anti-Virus Software.
- Surge Protection.
If you haven't performed these tasks in awhile or if you
have never taken these steps to maintain your computer, you
may want to allow for several hours to complete these tasks.
Most of these tasks will execute while your computer is
unattended.
Run Scan Disk
Scan Disk is used to check your hard drive for errors. If it finds an error, it attempts (usually successfully) to fix it.
I usually recommend that the "average user" (whatever that is) runs Scan Disk about once every month or so. You can usually find it if you hit your Start button, Programs, Accessories, System tools.
Make sure all programs are turned off when running Scan disk.
(Use ctrl+alt+del to view running programs and turn each one
off before proceeding. Generally you may leave Windows
Explorer running.) You may boot into Safe Mode if you find
that it is easier, Scan Disk and Defragmenter both work from
Safe Mode. Be sure to check the box for "Fix
Automatically".
For XP users: Scandisk is not a part of Windows XP - instead you get the improved CHKDSK. You can use the Error-checking tool to check for file system errors and bad sectors on your hard disk.
1: Open My Computer, and then select the local disk you want to check.
2: On the File menu, click Properties.
3: On the Tools tab, under Error-checking, click Check Now.
4: Under Check disk options, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box.
Defragmenting your Hard Drive
It's good to defrag your hard drive every month or so to speed up data retrieval and keep your PC healthy.
Before defragmenting, run ScanDisk first to make sure everything on your drive is OK.
Windows includes a Disk Defragmenter tool under the Start button, Accessories, System Tools, Disk
Defragmenter.
If you have alternative Disk Defragmenter tool such as
Executive Software's Diskkeeper you may want to use it instead
of Microsoft's tool to save time.
Removing Temporary or Temp Files
There are many free, shareware, and commercial software
products available to accomplish cleaning/deleting of
temporary files and folders.
I have found two free software tools that do a great job of
eliminating temporary files that are wasting space on your
hard drive.
Binman
A free tool to clear temp files, internet caches, chk
files, bak files etc. from your hard drive. It is a small tool
(158k)that is easy to use and configure.
You can download it here:
Binman
Ver. 1.2
Eraser
Securely deletes files from your hard drive.
Eraser can even wipe file slack space and overwrite previously
deleted file tracks.
Eraser
Home Page
Download
Eraser
Read the instructions for
Eraser carefully because files overwritten with Eraser cannot
be recovered.
Install & Update Anti-Virus Software
If you don't have Anti-Virus Software go to Grisoft
and download a free version of AVG. If you already have
Anti-Virus Software download and apply the latest updates. Out
dated or non-existent Anti-Virus Software is a PC Virus
waiting to happen.
Surge Protection
It is a good idea to make sure your computers are plugged into surge protectors especially during
storm seasons. Power outages are the main cause for computer equipment damage. A good surge protector can help prevent
computers from being damaged during a power outage. Don't
overload your outlets with to many surge protectors either,
this can have the same effect as going without protection.
Happy New Year and Happy Computing! |
Grins 
