Hi all,
I am putting together a list of "Most Important Windows Maintenance Tasks" that hopefully the average home computer-user could use.
I've got a partial list, but I would appreciate some input and discussion concerning the order and any that I missed that should be included near the top.
Five Most Important Computer Maintenance Tasks
1. Firewall
2. Antivirus
3. Windows Updates
4. Backups
5. Spyware
- NEXT FIVE (not quite five yet)
6. Take Out The Trash
7. Defragment Hard Drives
8. Check Disks for Errors
More explaination below.
Most Important Windows Maintenance Tasks
1. Firewall
Unless you connect through a router with a hardware firewall built-in you definitely need to run a software firewall at all times.
You can download an excellent freeware firewall here.
Even if you are behind a hardware firewall you may want to run a software firewall to keep malware that may be on your computer from accessing the internet and allowing access to your computer from the outside. On the other hand, if you don't let malware in to start with this serves no real purpose.
You can test your current firewall situation to see if you need additional protection by running a firewall test from AuditMyPc.
2. Antivirus
If you regularly use internet/email, it is important to scan your computer for viruses.
There are quite a few online virus scanners available, such as HouseCall from Trendmicro. But it's better to run an antivirus program that offers added real-time protection, like Avast! Antivirus. Avast constantly scans for malware in everything that is downloaded. It includes automatic updates, email scanning, and is free for personal use.
3. Windows Updates
Keeping your operating system current is vitally important to maintaining your computer. Microsoft commonly releases patches to newly exposed security holes, and if your computer isn't updated regularly you could be at risk.
To enable Automatic Updates go to: Start > Control Panel > Automatic Updates > Select Download Updates for me, but let me choose when to install them, click OK.
Alternately you can go to Windows Update and obtain the updates manually.
4. Backups
Hard drives fail more often than any other component on a typical computer.
When a hard drive fails it is normally impossible to recover any data without spending a small fortune at a data recovery service.
Therefore, if you have any data on your computer that is at all valuable to you, having a functional backup system in-place is absolutely essential … Continued elsewhere.
5. Spyware
Spyware is any program that, when installed on your computer, changes settings, displays advertising, and/or tracks Internet behavior and reports information back to a central database. Spyware is sometimes installed unintentionally by users along with other wanted software, and can be very hard to remove.
There are a number of useful programs that can be used to eliminate, and protect against spyware. My advice is to install and run SpywareBlaster, and Ad-Aware. SpywareBlaster prevents the installation of ActiveX-based spyware, adware, browser hijackers, and other potentially unwanted pests, while Ad-Aware is a Sypware scanner and remover.
You may also want to try Spybot-S&D though it’s often not as effective or easy to use.
There are many paid spyware removal tools but the above free programs do an excellent job.
- NEXT FIVE (not quite five yet)
6. Take Out The Trash
• Temp Files
Over time Windows accumulates temporary files used by certain programs and the operating system, once the program has closed these files serve no further purpose. Cleaning these out will free-up disk space and cause an increase in system performance.
An Excellent program designed for this is CCleaner, a freeware system cleanup and optimization tool.
• Programs
Uninstall any programs you no longer use. Go to Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs, select the unwanted program and click Uninstall.
7. Defragment Hard Drives
Every time a file is deleted the space it occupied on the hard drive becomes free for the system to make use of. The next file that is saved will fill that space and, if it's bigger, overflow to another part of the hard drive becoming fragmented. It is helpful after awhile to "Defragment" the hard drive so that when you open a file or program it can all be collected from one physical position on the drive.
It is a good idea to defragment your hard drive at least once a month, or after you uninstall a large program or delete a lot of large files. To defragment your hard drive, go to: Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter > once defragmenter opens, click Defragment.
8. Check Disks for Errors
Errors in disk media and in the file system can cause a variety of problems. Windows XP has the ability to recover automatically from most hard disk related errors.
To check your disk for errors Right-click the drive you want to check > click Properties > go to the Tools tab and click Check Now.
* Automatically fix file system errors
With this option checked Error Checking will Automatically correct any file system errors it finds during a scan. If the next option is checked this function will also be performed even if this checkbox is cleared.
* Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors
This option selects all of the above plus locates bad sectors and recovers readable data.
If you would just like to view a report of disk errors leave both options cleared.
After you have made your selection click Start to begin.
If you select Automatically fix file system errors on you main system disk you will see a dialog asking you to schedule the scan on your next boot.
After Error Check performs its operation it reports the results and, if it finds any errors is writes a report to the event log.
Thank you,
John