Computer Maintenance

This page is designed to give you a good overview of computer maintenance and security by giving How To's documents, tips and tricks, as well as a straight forward checklist

General Maintenace and Security Guidelines

	General Computer Information How to protect your PC from a power loss or power surge? To protect your machine from powerloss purchase a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply). A UPS basically is a battery that in case of a power loss you will be running directly from the battery for "X" number of minutes, remember that the battery has only a finite x amount of energy stored, the higher the "VA" (Volt Amps) rating the longer the UPS will last. A Surge protector is a power strip that has a built in circuit breaker that will "trip" when excessive amperage is detected on the line. Note that this will not protect you from a power outage only a surge protector.
	My Computer Speed is Degrading, how can I fix this? Clear out your temporary files stored on your PC. Left click the "Start" Button Left click "My Computer" The My Computer window will come up Right click the "C:" drive Left click "Properties" from the menu Local Disk (C:) Properties window will come up Left click the "Disk Cleanup" button Disk Cleanup will scan your hard drive for files that can safely be deleted. Then a new window will appear. Check everything but Compress Old Files Left click the "Ok" button and wait for the files to delete Defragment your Hard Drive. A hard drive stores all information/programs on your computer will get fragmented over time. Many files are stored in a series of clusters, these clusters or "blocks" make up the entire file. As you read and write to this file these "blocks" may get moved to various parts of your hard drive. When this occurs you need to Defrag your hard drive. This will move these blocks contigiously together making your hard drive quicker to read the entire file. See the directions below to defrag your hard drive. Left click the "Start" Button Left click "My Computer" The My Computer window will come up Right click the "C:" drive Left click "Properties" from the menu Left click the "Tools" tab Click the "Deframent Now" button The Disk Defragmenter window will come up Left Click the "Defragment" button Note: that this may take awhile to finish Remove any Unused Programs Left click the "Start" Button Left click "Control Panel" The Control Panel window will come up Left click "Add or Remove Programs" The Add or Remove Programs window will be displayed Choose the programs to remove by left clicking on them and then clicking the "Remove Button" Clean the inside of your Computer with compressed air. What happens is that your computer is air cooled. It draws air from the outside via a case fan(s). As the air is pulled in it also brings dust with it. Overtime the dust will build up on critical compents of the Computer causing them to overheat and worst cases causing your PC to crash repeatidly and/or harming hardware components. Turn off and unplug your computer from the power outlet Start by removing the side to your computer case Move any ducting and or cables that may be in the way by pushing them aside(Do Not unplug any cables) Take a can of compressed air(These can be purchased at most local stores ie: Walmart, Kmart, etc...) Blow out all of the dust build up inside the case Pay extra attention to the HeatSink(A heatsink is usually made out of aluminium with fins to radiate the heat, this may or may not have an additional fan on it) Once completed, double check all connections and place the side of the case back on.
	My Mouse cursor doesn't move properly. This usually happens to trackball mice. What happens it as you use your mouse the ball underneath it will pickup dirt. this dirt will build up and cause the "X" and "Y" rollers inside your mouse to get gummed up causing your mouse not to track properly. See the directions below to clean your mouse. Turn off or Disconnect the Mouse from the Computer Turn the mouse Over You will see in the center of the mouse a trackball, around that ball is a locking disc, turn the locking disc Counter Clock Wise Remove the locking disc and the trackball Once the trackball and locking disc is removed, wash both of these under warm soppy water, dry thoroughly. Next you will notice inside the mouse that there are three rollers, look to see if any of the rollers have dirt build up on them If there is any dirt build up on the rollers use a Q-tip and alcohol to clean each roller by rotating it around. Once you are done cleaning the rollers, reassemble your mouse and it should track properly.

Computer Security

10/19/2007