Five Tips to Keep your Computer Running Smoothly
1. Never, never, turn your computer off with the power switch until Windows has shut down.
The one exception to this rule is when your computer locks up and your hard drive is not running (hard drive light is not blinking). In this situation, you can turn the power off without harmful effects to the hard drive. As cutting the power can also result in lost data or Windows files, you should only do this when you have to.
2. I highly recommend that you purchase an UPS (uninteruptable power supply) for your computer. This will keep your computer from crashing during power outages, and will protect your computer from low and high voltage occurrences.An UPS is far superior to a surge protector and will save your computer from almost any type of power disaster.
3. Backup, backup, backup, any data you cannot afford to lose to at least two separate physical drives. So backup data to external hard drives, Zip disks, CD-RWs etc. The time to backup is when you create something you can't afford to lose. Don't wait until tomorrow.
4. Run Scandisk and Defragment at least once a month. This will keep your hard drive healthy and prevent crashes. Alternatively, purchase Norton Utilities and use it to keep your hard drive healthy.
5. Never unplug peripherals from the computer when it is powered up. Unplugging with the power on can short out the connector socket or the motherboard.
Scan disk
SCANDISK or ScanDisk is a utility in MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows systems which checks and repairs file systems and bad clusters on the hard drive. It was introduced in MS-DOS version 6.2. Previous versions of MS-DOS supplied only the simpler, purely text-based program CHKDSK. In Windows 95 onwards, SCANDISK also had a graphical user interface, although the DOS program retained the text interface. The disk scanning utility under Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP is also called CHKDSK (even though it is different from the MS-DOS CHKDSK) and has the ability to check NTFS disk drives
HOW TO SCAN DISK
Running a Scan Disk for Windows XP
Note: You will not have the use of your computer while it is running a disk scan. Depending on the speed of your computer, this process can take around 30 minutes. You can set your computer up to run its scan while on a break.
To start a scan disk,
Open up the My Computer window.
Click on the C: drive icon to select it.
Click on File, Properties, then select the Tools tab.
The first option is Error-checking.
Click on the Check Now... button.
Click in the boxes to Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.
Click on the Start button.
The following warning message appears.
Click on Yes.
Disk cleanup
Disk Cleanup is available on both Home and Professional versions of XP. The utility can be accessed in any of the methods listed below.
Click Start Programs Accessories System Tools Disk Cleanup
Click Start Run and in the Open box type cleanmgr and click OK
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.
Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) is a computer maintenance utility included in Microsoft Windows designed to free up disk space on computer users' hard drive. The cleanup process firstly involves searching and analyzing the hard drive for files that are no longer of any use. It then proceeds to remove the unnecessary files, freeing up disk space on the hard drive.
Disk fragmentation
Hard disk fragmentation is as inevitable as death and taxes. Fragmentation begins the moment the first file is stored on your computer's hard disk and it continues until the disk eventually bogs down so much that it may refuse to boot one day. Disk fragmentation occurs because of the way that the Windows Operating System stores files on your hard disk. Whenever a file is written or rewritten Windows attempts to store that file in one long string without any spaces. When your hard disk is brand new, and you have a lot of space, this is a relatively easy task. As you continue adding, modifying and deleting files, however, spaces or gaps between files begin to appear on your hard disk. This is the start of fragmentation.
Hard disk fragmentation is as inevitable as death and taxes. Fragmentation begins the moment the first file is stored on your computer's hard disk and it continues until the disk eventually bogs down so much that it may refuse to boot one day. Disk fragmentation occurs because of the way that the Windows Operating System stores files on your hard disk. Whenever a file is written or rewritten Windows attempts to store that file in one long string without any spaces. When your hard disk is brand new, and you have a lot of space, this is a relatively easy task. As you continue adding, modifying and deleting files, however, spaces or gaps between files begin to appear on your hard disk. This is the start of fragmentation.
Virus scan
Protecting your computer from viruses
A virus is a program that attaches itself to a file on a computer, then spreads from one computer to another. Viruses can damage data or cause your computer to malfunction. Some viruses go undetected for a period of time, because they are activated on a certain date.
Protect your computer from a virus by:
Using your Norton ® AntiVirus program to check files and programs that are on diskettes, attached to e-mail messages, or downloaded from the Internet.
Checking all programs for viruses before installing them.
Disabling macros on suspicious Microsoft Word and Excel files. These programs will warn you if a document that you are opening contains a macro that might have a virus.
To scan for viruses:
Click Start, then select Programs, Norton AntiVirus, then Norton AntiVirus. Norton AntiVirus opens.
Click Scan for Viruses.
Select the type of scan you want to make in the Scan area, then click Run Scan Now.
To remove a virus:
Find and remove the virus immediately using Norton AntiVirus.
Turn off your computer and leave it off for at least 30 seconds.
Turn on the computer and rescan for the virus.
Remove spyware and adware
Adware & Spyware is computer software that gathers and reports information about you to a third party without your knowledge or consent. This may include websites you visit or usernames and passwords. Adware is computer software that displays advertisements on your computer without Both adware and spyware can greatly diminish computer performance. Your computer may run more slowly, programs may not work properly, and with adware, you may have advertisements literally popping up everywhere. To prevent spyware and adware from infecting your computer it is important to run anti-spyware software or to use an anti-virus software that includes anti-spyware capabilities.
Scanning for Adware &Spyware
1.Start --> All Programs --> Lavasoft --> Ad-Aware 2007 --> Ad-Aware 2007
2.In the main screen select Scan and then Full Scan. Click the Scan button to start your scan.
3.Once the scan is completed, your scan results may look something similar to the screen below. Note: no Adware was found on this computer.
These are very good tips. I have some kind of same things in my blog, guide for maintaining computer. For every compu8ter has some problems. Those can rectify by any of the Remote Tech Support with ease and less payment.
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