Telework Computer Maintenance:
Highly Recommended (we go over these at Telework Training): Updating and running your virus protection at least weekly. (http://cityweb.ci.austin.tx.us/isd/antivirus/default.cfm) Installing a personal firewall. (Add link for http://zonelabs.com ) Below are some recommendations to keep your home PC working like a charm. You do not have to do these activities if you do not want to. These are for windows computers only and some features are not available in some versions. You can find more information at http://www.microsoft.com. Disclaimer: COA does not support these suggestions. You are doing these activities to your home computers at your own risk. The IT industry and the vendor recommend these suggestions but COA does not support it. Recommended: Disk Clean Up - weekly Scan Disk – Bi-monthly Defragment – Bi-monthly Updating your Windows with Other Suggestions: Uninstall unused Programs - Monthly Backups - daily
Disk Clean Up: New feature for Windows 2000 and up. Windows, the operating system, opens up tons of temporary files “in case it needs them”. After it is done with them, Windows is terrible about getting rid of them. (Think of your kids cleaning, sure, they mopped the floor but they left the mop and the cleaner out for you to put away.) Disk clean up goes through your system and deletes your temporary files. This can speed up your system and gives you space back to use for something else.
START – PROGRAM FILES – ACCESSORIES – SYSTEM TOOLS – DISK CLEANUP, it will take a few seconds to check your system. Then if you agree to the files to delete (all are “usually” OK to delete), click OK. Recommended weekly. Scan Disk: Looks for errors on your hard drive and corrects them. If you are getting the blue screen of death, then you need to do a scan disk. Recommended at least twice a month in not weekly. Double click on MY COMPUTER. Right click on your c: drive. PROPERTIES – TOOLS. A
window comes up with Scan Disk, Defrag, and Backup. Click CHECK NOW. It will most likely tell you that it can’t check the drives until you reboot. Restart and let it run. If you haven’t done it in a while, then it could take as much as 5 hours. Only available with the “Plus” pack on Windows95-ME. Bimonthly will only take about an hour.
Defragment: Defrag is like house cleaning. When a computer saves a file, it saves it wherever it can find room quickly. (Think of your house before your in-laws walk in the door). Defrag goes through your hard drive and finds all the pieces of your files and relocates them neatly together. Defrag can greatly increase the speed of your computer depending on how fragmented it is. Double click on MY COMPUTER. Right click on your c: drive. PROPERTIES – TOOLS. A window comes up with Scan Disk, Defrag, and Backup. Click on DEFRAGMENT NOW. If you haven’t
done it in a while, then it could take as much as 5 hours. Only available with the “Plus” pack on Windows95-ME. Bi-monthly will only take about an hour.
Uninstall unused programs: Unused programs take up space and might cause conflicts. Don’t just delete a directory; use Microsoft’s uninstall function. START – SETTINGS – CONTROL PANEL –
ADD OR REMOVE PROGRAMS. Find the program and click remove. Update your computer’s service packs. Microsoft has deployed some service packs that have caused terrible problems but there are more problems that can happen without installing the service packs. It is recommended that you install all security packs as soon as they come out. Other packs, you can make your own judgment on them. DO NOT ADD anything to your work computer without your network administrator’s permission. On 2000, windows update comes up on your start menu. In XP, START – CONTROL PANEL – ADD NEW PROGRAMS, and one of the selections is windows update. Or you can go to Microsoft’s site to get the updates. Which Brings Us to Backups: You will only forget to backup your stuff….ONCE. (grin) If you have work documents at home and your hard drive goes out, there is nothing we can do – you will have to retype it. (Another reason we love GOTOMYPC, it makes it easy to save on the network at work). Save frequently. If you have a zip or jazz drive, use that for backups. In a general sense, you want to copy your file to another location preferably to another location but if you can’t, try using a floppy disk. A clean computer is one that runs without issues, fast and is easy to use. It is a fact that the LESS you put on your computer, the better it runs. If you have a question about a program – Don’t install it. With that said, Windows has a half-life. This means that if you are constantly having hangs, blue screens, and other errors, it is probably time to reinstall your Windows. Most people recommend that you reinstall Windows at least every 2 years. This is not an undertaking to be taken lightly, if you are not technically minded (and patient), you might want to get someone to do this for you, either professionally or a really good friend.