PC MAINTENANCE
Basics
Set a password for your account
Amazing how many people don't do this, but have a password on your Windows account. Even if it's a rubbish one - altho a couple of numbers & a symbol is recommended.
Keep your computer on
The continual warming & cooling of turning on/off shortens the life of some parts & can corrupt others. Maybe not so significantly in some cases that you'd notice - but it does.
Worried about the cost? Make sure you have your monitor set to hibernate mode so it turns itself off. It's the monitor that costs money, your PC being left on is like having a light left on all the time.
Also, you can then have any scans set to run as you sleep so it doesn't affect your day to day running.
Clear Your Cache
I do this about once a week.
Tools > Internet Options > Delete Temporary Internet Files
These are files stored in your cache from visited web pages. Flash movies, images, etc. If you let the folder get too big it slows your PC down.
Running Processes
CTRL ALT Delete > Task Manager > Processes
This tells you what's running on your PC. You can do a Google on each process to find out what they do - and if it's a virus/spyware, you'll soon find out! Make sure you confirm that by visiting a few results tho, don't just take the word of the first couple you see.
Start Up Processes
When you install a piece of software, it often offers you the chance to start the program when you boot. Be strict on this - ask yourself if you
need this program to start or whether starting it manually makes more sense.
The more progs you have starting up on a boot, the more processing power is used & the slower your PC gets.
You can alter the settings in the program to turn 'Start On Boot' off, you can visit
Start > All Programs > Start Up, you can visit your registry Run keys or you can do a 'HijackThis scan (see below).
Keeping Clean
You can speak to 10 different people & get 10 different answers to this. None of them are likely to be wrong - some will just be better. My choices could be improved if I wanted to
really go for it, but I like what I use & it does me fine. SO I'll just list my set up rather than debate what's better or not:
Windows Firewall
Unintrusive & does its job.
If I couldn't use Windows Firewall I'd use Zone Alarm (
XP Download Vista Download)
AVG Anti-Virus & Anti-Spyware
You'll see less complaints about this than any other anti-virus, altho Avast also causes minimal grief.
AVG 8.0 has anti-spyware encompassed in it so it doubles up on its jobs.
I have it set up to download updates & run a scan as I sleep, so I'm protected daily.
Download
HijackThis
This software displays your running & start up processes. It's particularly useful for those trying to help someone remotely with a computer problem as if they are sent a scan, they can normally identify the problem from it's findings.
The scan can also help someone wishing to delete start up processes on their own PC without entering the registry.
If you are asked to send someone a HijackThis scan, do the following:
Download HijackThis
here and save it somewhere
Create a folder called "HJT" on your Desktop or wherever you feel comfortable and when you install HijackThis select that folder when prompted.
After that install go to the HJT folder and dble click the
HijackThis file to run it
Click
Do A System Scan and Save a Logfile
This will then produce a scan & also a notepad logfile.
Now, either attach the logfile to an email - or copy the contents into a forum post/PM.
Your scan will then be analysed & you will be told to put checks against certain results then click
Fix Checked
Just how much spare time do you have Marquee_Mark?
