Beginner's guide to basic system maintenance gcompselfhelp.com

Computer maintenance guide

Has your system slowed down? Apps not running good? Internet connection
slow? Yeah, it happens to ALL of us from time to time. Most people
immediately think they have been infected with the latest super-trojan-
system-mounging-end of all days virus. And, sometimes, they have!! But I
have found on most computers I work on, it's mainly from: Are you ready for
this??!
LACK OF MAINTENANCE!!!
I know, I know!! I can't believe it either!!        After all, none of US are guilty
of that, right?? OK, enough crap, let's do this........

1) So, you probably know to do disk clean-up WHENEVER your machine slows
down right? But did you know if you scroll down the list while in disk cleanup
to"Compress old files", and click options, it gives you a choice of how many
days to keep them on file. It DOES NOT delete ANY files. It compresses them
into smaller sizes, thus creating MORE DISK SPACE
More disk space=faster machine! It's default setting is 50 days, I personally
set it up for 1 day, that way, I can get back as much space as possible running
disk clean up. In case you don't know how to open disk cleanup, here's how:
START>ALL PROGRAMS>ACCESSORIES>SYSTEM TOOLS>DISK CLEANUP. It's
also not a bad idea to right click, and save a shortcut to your desktop to save
time. It's ALL about saving as much time as possible for me, which, if you stick
around, you'll see. Also, EMPTY THE RECYCLE BIN!! And don't laugh!!
You'd be surprised how easy it is to forget(myself included!!!)

2) Disk defragmenter takes file pieces, that basically don't have a home,
and re-arranges them so things on your hard drive are less "clogged" Think or
your hard drive as the heart of your machine, if you will, kinda like your
processor is the brains of the outfit. If the arteries that go to your heart get
"clogged", after a period of time, what happens?? CATASTROPHIC FAILURE!!
In other words, sooner or later, your hdd will just take so long to do anything,
most people throw 'em out and buy a new one. ??? Just clean it up!! Here's
how:
START>ALL PROGRAMS>ACCESSORIES>SYSTEM TOOLS>DISK
DEFRAGMENTER.(NOTE: Sometimes, if you just click analyze, Defrag will TELL
you whether or not to defrag. That's up to you, if I see red in XP, I run the
tool. I say XP because you can't see the actual graph in vista or 7, much to my
dismay, but that's just me). Easy, right? Yeah, as long as you REMEMBER to
do it. Most people just set theirs to scan on a schedule, which is fine, but if you
schedule a scan for 3 am, but turn your machine off, how will it scan??! I
would personally rather do it myself. That way I'm SURE it got done!!

3) CCleaner™ is a fantastic **FREE** system cleanup utility. Anyone can
download their product, LEGALLY, for free. Just BE CAREFUL as this tool is
quite powerful. As with anything, keep it UPDATED!!! I cannot stress that
enough UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE!!
Here's the link:CCleaner And if you can afford it, SEND IN A DONATION, and
help them keep helping us!!

4) Windows™ update is probably one of the MOST OVERLOOKED tools in the
program. How many times have you ignored that little      ™
in your toolbar??! I can tell you from experience, working on some one's
machine, that is my FIRST question. "Do you update windows frequently?"
Most people are like         And it's at that point, I know about an hour of work
has just been added. "Lucky, lucky me!" So , PLEASE, keep your system up to
date. It will run better, and be more SECURE. After all, it's not just hello's they
send, ya know!!!
**Same goes for Vista users, maybe even more so!!**

5) Clean out Internet Explorer temp files START>CONTROL PANEL>INTERNET
EXPLORER On the GENERAL tab, under Browsing History, Click Delete and
check the boxes you want to delete, Click Delete. While you are in Browsing
History, it probably wouldn't hurt to Click Settings, and see where the Disk
Space Use is set for temp files. They recommend 50-250 MB. If you don't care
about saving these files, as they are "temp" files, set it to 50 MB. But be
careful, because that's not allot of space!!Internet explorer can only save as
many pages as it has room for!! You should also set history anywhere between
0 and 7 days, depending on how long you want to keep the temp files on your
computer. When you are finished, Click OK. Easy right??!!

6) Java™Temp Files Why?? Well, I'm glad you asked!! I'll show ya!!
START>CONTROL PANEL>JAVA In General tab, under Temporary Internet
Files (notice a pattern yet??!) Click Settings You'll see that the program is set
to "Keep temp files on my computer" by default. HUH??!! Allocate 1000 MB of
disk space??!!If you remember, 1000 MB=1 GIGABYTE. Quite a generous
portion of YOUR disk space to take up, isn't it?! Let's take it back, shall
we? This one should be obvious, UNCHECK the box. It will ask if you want to
delete files, Click OK. No more Java temp files!! Java is a great program, but
we don't need the temp files!!

7) Manually clean out temp files OK, this one's a little more advanced, but not
to worry, you can do it!! Ready? START>RUN Type %temp% in the open
box>ENTER. If you have never ran this, chances are you have LOTS of files in
this folder. Junk 'Em!
They take up a load of space and resources! Hold down Ctrl and A to select all,
press the DELETE button on your keyboard, and hit ENTER. NOTE: Some files
can't be deleted if your system is using them, but I bet a whole bunch get
deleted! Another note: If the computer tells you a file can't be deleted before
most of the files in the folder are removed, note what the file name is, then
Click OK. Hold down ctrl and A again, only this time, while STILL HOLDING
CTRL, Click on the file that couldn't be deleted to de select it, and again, hit
DELETE on your keyboard, ENTER. You might have to do this a few times to
get all of them, but it's worth it!!
NOTE: CCleaner does this for you!! This is a "just in case" kinda tip.

8) Uninstall any unused programs OK, so you have some programs/apps that
you haven't used in a while, and probably won't again. Get rid of 'em!! Just in
case: START>CONTROL PANEL>ADD OR REMOVE PROGRAMS(XP) for vista,
PROGRAMS AND FEATURES. Just pick out what you don't use, and uninstall
them! NOTE: Don't delete any of your updates!!! Some people say you can
delete certain updates with no ill consequences, but I personally do not. They
don't cause a problem from what I can see, so if it ain't broke, don't fix it!!

9) BLOW THE DUST OUT OF YOUR TOWER ONCE A MONTH!!!! Your computer
will thank you!!! (And you'll be happy too!!)

NOTE: When running your maintenance
apps, LET THEM FINISH!!!!
It's worthless if you stop half way through the process!!
PATIENCE, my friends, is a true virtue!!
Tutorial vid C LICK HERE

Most
instructions/vids
are based on
XP™, but MOST
will also work for
Vista™, and 7.
(There are notes
where needed)

Psssst!!!! Hey,
this stuff
works for
laptops too!!!!!!

Sometimes you might
see me use
abbreviations to
describe things, such
as mobo
(motherboard) This is
a little description of
some you might see
(for those who don't
know)

PSU (Power Supply
Unit)
MB (Megabytes)
GB,gigs (gigabytes)
TB (Terrabytes)
Mobo (Motherboard)
HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
OS (Operating
System)

10) When surfing the net, if you get a pop-up warning you that "your
computer is infected,download the latest anti yada yada yada", DO NOT, I
repeat, DO NOT CLICK ON IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is what is known as
"RANSOMWARE". These are NOT REAL antivirus etc. programs!!!! They WILL,
in fact, hold your computer hostage, until you either pay them, which you
NEVER do, or, kill the virus. They can get your credit card, or worse yet, bank
acct number, and you will get cleaned out!!!!! (You should never, ever use
your debit card for online purchases anyway!!!) Again, just thought I should
put this up as a new "improved" internet security virus has come out. It's
called internet security 2010. Very nasty!!!! So please, if you see that pop up,
use control>alt>del to bring up task manager, click the processes tab, and
check show processes from all users, and end that process immediately!!!!
Incidentally, if ya do catch it, an updated Malwarebytes™ scan should take
care of it.