Turn it off

If your computer or any other electronic equipment gives you trouble, turn everything off and turn it back on.

Anti Virus

  1. Install a good anti virus software. Such as; Norton Anti Virus, Mcafee Viruscan, Symantec Corporate Anti-Virus.
  2. 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.
  3. Manually update your anti virus software at least once a week, even if it has an automatic update feature.
  4. If you can't afford an anti virus program, here are some free options/
    1. AVG 9.0 Free by Grisoft, is a good free anti virus program.
    2. Avast
    3. AntiVir
  5. Most viruses spread by e-mail. If you are suspicious about a message, no matter who it is from, delete it.

What is SpyWare/AdWare?

Spyware/Adware/Malware 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

  1. Go to Download.com, and search for Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, Ad Aware, or SpyBot.
    1. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
    2. SpyBot Search and Destroy
    3. Windows Defender is an excellent free product from Microsoft.
    4. Ad Aware
  2. Spysweeper is an excellent commercial product.

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.

Check your Disks

If you have Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7, run Chkdsk

  1. Start, Run, Type in cmd, Press the Enter Key
  2. Type Chkdsk /f, Press the Enter Key
  3. It will say that it has to restart to fix your drive, type Y, and Press the Enter key
  4. Restart your pc, your hard disks will be checked for errors

With 95, 98, ME, run Scandisk

  1. Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Scandisk
  2. Standard Test, Click Fix Automatically
  3. 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 and Office software up to date.

Firewalls

  1. If you have a cable or DSL internet connection, put in a hardware firewall.
  2. If you have a dialup connection, install a software firewall.
  3. If you have Windows XP/Vista 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.

  1. Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Cleanup.
  2. Click OK.
  3. Select everything, then click OK.

Disk Defragmenter

Run Disk Defragmenter every month to keep your hard drive running fast.

  1. Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter.
  2. Click OK, then Click Start.
  3. 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.

  1. Click Tools, Internet Options.
  2. The Internet Options dialog box appears.
  3. Select the General tab (if it's not already selected).
  4. Click the Delete files button to get back a good bit of disk space.
  5. Then click OK to finish up.  Empty disk space awaits you.
  6. 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.