- Turn it off
- If you computer or any other electronic equipment gives you
trouble, turn everything off and turn it back on.
- Anti Virus
- Install a good anti virus software.
- Symantec Anti Virus, Mcafee Viruscan, Symantec Corporate
Anti-Virus, Computer Associates E-Trust Inoculateit
- Keep your anti virus software up to date. If your anti virus
software does not have the latest virus definitions, you are
vulnerable to the hundreds of new viruses that come out every
week.
- Manually update your anti virus software at least once a week,
even if it has an automatic update feature.
- If you can't afford an anti virus program,
AVG
7.5 is a good free
anti virus program.
- Most viruses spread by e-mail. If you
are suspicious about a message, no matter who it is from, delete
it.
- SpyWare/AdWare
- Here is an article on spyware.
- Spyware/Adware programs are very tempting “Free” programs
that says they will do something wonderful for you. They will
give you smiley’s in your email, help you speed up your internet
connection, make searching easier, download free music files,
etc. What you don’t see is that these programs also send you
personal information to the company, send you more pop up ads,
spam, and in most cases cause the machine to behave poorly. In
extreme cases, the computer may not function at all.
Adware/Spyware Programs
- Go to Download.com, and search for Ad Aware.
- Go to Download.com,
and search for SpyBot. SpyBot Search and Destroy is another good, free spyware/adware
remover. It also has an immunize feature to prevent spyware/adware
from installing.
-
Windows Defender is an excellent free product from
Microsoft.
-
Spysweeper is an
excellent commercial product.
How to Download and install Ad-aware
- Go to Download.com, and search for Ad Aware.
- The search should turn up Ad Aware, Click Download Now.
- When the File Download dialog box shows up, click Save. Save it to your Desktop.
- Double Click the new icon on your desktop. This will start the installation program.
- Click Next and agree with everything.
- You will have a new icon on your desktop, delete the file that you downloaded.
- Connect to the Internet.
- Double Click Ad-aware.
- Click Check for updates now. Click Connect, if there is an update, click OK to download and install the update. Click finish.
- Click Start, then choose use custom scanning options.
- When it is done, Right Click, Select all spyware found and remove it
- Monthly Maintenance 1.0 for Windows XP and Server 2003
Monthly Maintenance 1.0 is an automated chkdsk and defrag script for Windows
XP Home, Professional, and Windows 2003 Server. Download and install this program, and run it once a month to
keep your computer running smoothly. The installation program
creates a shortcut on your desktop and in System Tools called
Monthly Maintenance.
Monthly Maintenance 1.0 (Updated 01-24-07)
- Check your Disks
If you have Windows NT/2000/XP, run Chkdsk
- Start, Run, Type in cmd, Press the Enter Key.
- Type Chkdsk /f, Press the Enter Key.
- It will say that it has to restart to fix your drive, type Y, and Press the Enter key.
- Restart your pc, your hard disks will be checked for errors.
With
95, 98, ME, run Scandisk
- Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Scandisk.
- Standard Test, Click Fix Automatically.
- Click Start.
- Operating System and Office Updates
- Go to http://update.microsoft.com,
scan for and install critical updates to keep your computer operating system up to date.
- Go to http://office.microsoft.com
to update your Microsoft Office Products.
- Choose downloads.
- Check for Updates to update Microsoft Office 2000, XP,
2003. You may need your Office Installation Cd's.
- Firewalls
- If you have a cable or DSL internet connection, put in a hardware firewall.
- If you have a dialup connection, install a software firewall.
- If you have Windows XP on a dialup connection, enable the
built-in firewall. Go to
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/ for some good
advice.
- Disk Cleanup
Run Disk Cleanup every month to keep your computer free of buildup.
- Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Cleanup.
- Click OK.
- Select everything, then click OK.
- Disk Defragmenter
Run Disk Defragmenter every month to keep your hard drive running fast.
- Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter.
- Click OK, then Click Start.
- When Disk Defragmenter is finished, restart your PC.
Internet Explorer Tips
Tame your Temporary Internet Files
Each time you open a Web page, IE creates a cache file (a temporary copy) of the page's
text and graphics. When you open the page again, for example, when you click on the
toolbar Back button, IE checks the Web site server for changes to the page. If the page
has changed, IE retrieves a new version over the network. If the page hasn't changed, IE
uses the cache files from your RAM or hard drive to display the page. IE caches Web pages
to your hard drive until the respective cache is full; IE then rotates out pages based on
age and space. Microsoft designed this system to help load Web pages quicker. However, if
you've viewed lots of Web pages, you may have an overloaded hard disk cache (dozens or
even hundreds of megabytes), which IE will require time to check before it loads a new
page. Sometimes this folder gets bad stuff in it.
- Click Tools, Internet Options.
- The Internet Options dialog box appears.
- Select the General tab (if it's not already selected).
- Click the Delete files button to get back a good bit of disk space.
- Then click OK to finish up. Empty disk space awaits you.
- You can also cut down the amount of space the cache takes up, by
clicking settings and reducing the size to 20 MB. That is plenty.
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