PC Maintenance

1. PC Maintenance
How to keep your
computer healthy

2. Areas We’ll Cover
 Software
 Hard Drive
 Networking
 Hardware

3. Software
Update your Internet Browsers
 e.g. Mozilla Firefox, MS Internet Explorer
 It’s important to keep up with browser upgrades
 The latest versions usually contain important security
fixes
 Firefox: Help  Check for Updates…
 IE: Tools  Windows Update

4. Software
How to safely uninstall software
 Start menu  Settings  Control Panel 
Add or Remove Programs

5. Software - Unresponsive
Dealing with Unresponsive Software
 Sometimes, software will freeze on you and
you’ll get a “Not Responding” message
 To shut it down:
– CTRL + ALT + Delete
– Task List
– Choose application and End Task

6. Hard Drive
Maintenance - Defragmentation
 A few times a year, you should defrag your computer
 Defragmentation reorganizes your computer’s
contents, placing files closer together and creating
large areas of free space. This will make your
computer faster.
 Start  Programs  Accessories  System Tools
 Disk Defragmenter

7. Hard Drive
Maintenance – Disk Cleanup
 Every few months, you should perform a Disk
Cleanup to remove or compress non-critical
files and clear space
 Start  Programs  Accessories  System
Tools  Disk Cleanup

8. Hard Drive
Maintenance – Recycle Bin
 At least once a week, you should empty your
Recycle Bin. Too many files in the bin can
slow your machine
 Right-click on the Recycle Bin  Empty
Recycle Bin

9. Hard Drive
Backup Your Data
 Just wait until you lose a 10-page term paper
– you’ll wish you had!
 Methods of backing up:
– Writable CD-R (650 MB) or CD-RW (700 MB)
– USB Flash Drive: 8 MB – 64 GB
– External Hard Drive (can be huge)

10. Networking
Anti-virus Software
 Be sure you have software like Symantec Norton
AntiVirus and keep it updated (it can be set to
automatically update itself)
 Will prevent or eliminate viruses or worms from
messing with your machine
 You can download this for free
– goWMU
– Student Services tab
– Virus Protection Downloads window

11. Networking
Anti-spyware
 Spyware can take partial control of your
machine and send information about your
activity over the web or will launch pop-up
adds
 Download and run Ad-Aware SE (free).

12. Networking
Stop Hackers
 If you have fulltime access to the Internet you
may be vulnerable to being hacked by other
users
 If you’re concerned, download a free firewall
program like ZoneAlarm (free).

13. Networking
Safe email
 Phishing scams
– http://www.antiphishing.org/
 Other scams
– http://antivirus.about.com/od/emailscams/
– Search Google for others
 Attachments and images embedded in
emails

14. Hardware
Computers ain’t cheap – take care of them!
 Monitor wipes
 Keyboard vacuum
 Remove dust from back
 Open and clean your mouse (ick)