Ok – thanks to everyone who has been patiently awaiting the launch of this site. I’d like to have a place to share my years of experience with many facets of technology with others . . . and of course, to learn from others, as well. Hopefully, over time – this site will become a valuable resource for the many who leverage technology to achieve their goals.
Let’s start with the most basic of elements – how to maintain your PC. It is no longer adequate to just use your PC as tool — you must maintain it like you would (or should, in any case) your vehicle.
I. Basics
If you have Windows XP, make sure you’ve upgraded to Service Pack 3 (free from windowsupdate.microsoft.com). If you have Windows Vista – make sure you have updated to Vista Service Pack 2. Having the latest versions of Microsoft operating systems (especially true with XP) ensures that the most secure codebase is installed on your system.
If the latest Microsoft Service Packs are installed on your system, it is not recommended that you install and provide an additional firewall program (ie, ZoneAlarm, Black Ice, etc). While having two firewalls (Windows has one built-in for the latest service packs) may add some level of incremental protection, it is not my view that reduction in risk is worth the impact to system performance and possibility that you will not be able to access some internet applications.
You can check which version of Windows and which service pack you have by right-clicking on My Computer and choosing Properties.
II. Antivirus
This step is critical. It is not necessary to pay for and renew annual licenses to Norton or McAfee. In our experience, these programs stop protecting you when you have not paid their renewal fees (and are often included on new PCs for a limited 90-day only protection trial). It is best to remove these programs and install a free antivirus program as below:
- A. Recommended — AVG Free.
Download from this link: http://download.cnet.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10320142.html?part=dl-10044820&subj=dl&tag=button&cdlPid=11014801
- B. Alternate option— if your PC is more than 4 years old — Clamwin.
Download from http://www.clamwin.com/content/view/18/46/
Download and install ONE of these applications; they both will check for updates automatically — make sure you run a full system scan manually every month, however.
III. Maintenance
Drive storage space, startup programs, registry settings, temp files . . . up until late 2008, keeping on top of these elements was a very manual and time-consuming task (and best left to the professionals). Today, we’ve got a nifty utility that has been bullet-proof in our experience (and can give a 20% speed boost after ONE RUN on some poorly maintained machines).
Enter . . . Piriform CCleaner (formerly Crap Cleaner, but they went corporate). Download this utility and run it every month; listen to and accept all of its recommendations!
(Click “Download Latest Version” from top right of screen): http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/
IV. Defragmentation
Over time, as files are written and erased from your hard drive . . . your data and programs get fragmented. Think of having 5 different printed documents. If they were shuffled like a deck of cards and strewn about a room, it would take longer to find each page of the document and assemble to read. Defragmentation puts the documents back together (kind of like a teenager cleaning his room every month to get things back in order). Make sure you run step III above before defragmenting your drive. This may take a few hours the first time, but should be about 1 hour per month.
This is the easiest way to clean up your drive (click Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Defragmenter). No download necessary.
If you want something more robust and something that can be scheduled to run every month – download this program and use in place of Windows System Defragmenter.
(Click “Download Latest Version” from top right of screen): http://www.filehippo.com/download_defraggler
This list of ‘must-do’ items is definitely not comprehensive, but should be viewed as a solid starting point to keep your PC running smoothly and safely!
Share on Facebook
