Basic Computer Maintenance

Transcription

1 Basic Computer Maintenance Presented by East Central Regional Library The Institute of, a Federal Agency that fosters innovation, leadership and a lifetime of learning, in conjunction with State Library Services, a division of the Minnesota Department of Education, which administers federal LSTA grants supports the LSTA Project sponsored by East Central Regional Library.

2 Disclaimer The introduction to tools, etc. in this presentation does not indicate an endorsement by ECRL. Use of any tools, etc. in this class is a DEMONSTRATION only. When you use them you do so at your own potential risk. ECRL does NOT recommend your actions and will NOT assume any liability for your choice to perform your own computer maintenance tasks.

3 Class Overview 1. Creating a System Restore point 2. Backing up Computer data 3. Clean up Disk 4. Deleting Cookies 5. Defragmenting Hard Drive 6. Checking Hard Drive Space 7. Win 7 Action Center 8. Windows Updates 9. Scanning for Malware and Adware 10.Computer viruses 11.General Computer Tips

4 Computer Restore Point RIGHT click on the My Computer button, then move to the Properties, WIN 7- select System Protections WINDOWS 98/Millennium/XP- select System Tools

5 Computer BACK UP- WIN 7 WIN 7 Click on the Start button, then move to the Control Panel

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7 Basic Computer Maintenance Clean up Documents folder Left click on Start Menu- Left Click on Documents Clean up any documents that are no longer necessary Clean up Downloads folder Left click on Start Menu- Left Click on Documents- Left click on Downloads folder Clean up any documents that are no longer necessary

8 Basic Computer Maintenance Hard Disk Clean up Left click on Start Menu click on All Programs, then Accessories, Then System Tools, then Disk Cleanup

9 Computer Upkeep Deleting Cookies What are they? A cookie is a file that is saved on your computer when browsing certain websites. Why do they happen? To personalize information To help with online sales To help with quick log ins How to delete them Depending on the Browser used, the settings are located Under OPTIONS

10 Basic Computer Maintenance Defragment your Hard Drive What is Defragmentation? When you create and delete files and applications on your computer the hard drive will become fragmented. Data is split into chunks and stored in different areas of the hard disk. Frees up disk space and speeds up computer.

11 How to Defrag Your Harddrive NOTE: Stop using your computer while you are defragmenting the drive. Stop all programs running including your screen saver. Run this program overnight

12 How to Defrag Your Harddrive Windows 2000/XP/WIN 7 Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories then System Tools, and click Disk Defragmenter. Click the drive you want to defragment, click the Defragment button and then wait for the defragmentation tool to finish (this may take a long time). WIN 7 has the ability to schedule this task.

13 How to Defrag Your Harddrive Basic Computer Maintenance

14 Computer Hard Drive Space Left click on the My Computer button, Right click on selected drive and then left click Properties

15 Computer Action Center Starting Windows Action Center WIN 7

16 Computer Action Center

17 Computer Troubleshooting

18 Windows Update Starting Windows Update MS Windows XP /

19 Computer Malware/Adware Every time you go online to , pay bills, download a file, or check in with your friends on Facebook or Twitter,you are exposed to potential identity thieves and Internet threats, like viruses, spyware, trojans, and keyloggers. Ad-Aware, the word's most popular anti-malware. Ad-AwareFREE

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25 Computer Viruses What is a virus? a computer program designed to replicate and spread on its own, preferably without a user s knowledge How do viruses spread? Computer viruses spread whenever infected diskettes or files are exchanged. Clicking on links in some websites. Exchanging computer disks or viewing attachments.

26 Computer Viruses How can you protect yourself from viruses? Have an Antivirus program installed on your computer: A variety of Anti- Virus programs are available, however none are 100% effective. ECRL uses Microsoft Security Essentials Regularly scan the computer for viruses (at least once a week). Keep your virus definition files up to date (at least once a month, more times if possible). Keep updated in regards to the latest security patches for your operating systems and applications

27 General Computer Tips The Golden Rule: When all else fails, REBOOT. Ctrl+Alt+Del (all at the same time). IN WIN XP A Close Program or Task Manager dialog box will appear. Select the task you want to end (or the ones that say they are "not responding") and select End Task. If this doesn t work you can reboot the machine, pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del twice in succession.

28 General Computer Tips Turn off the Windows XP Desktop Icon Cleanup message Right click on your Windows desktop, and left click on Properties. Go to the Desktop tab. Click the Customize Desktop button. Uncheck the box that says Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard every 60 days. Note: This feature was removed in Vista.

29 General Computer Tips Keep all of your working files in one folder. The My Documents folder is offered by Windows expressly for this purpose. The benefits of keeping all your files in one place are multiple. One, you know where all your files are, two, it's easy to back them all up at once, and three, your machine will run faster. Don't put your personal files on the root of the C: drive. If you store a large number of files in the root folder, you could corrupt your disk file table which could lead to a "NTLDR is missing" error message when you boot the computer. Very bad. If you have personal files on the C: drive now, move them to the My Documents folder. Uninstall programs that you are not using. But don t just delete the program. Remove it correctly so you won t cause Windows errors. Go to Start, Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs. Find the program you want to remove in the list, and click the Remove button. If you download a zip file and expand it, delete the original zip file when you are done. If you aren t already using one, get a good surge protector and plug your computer and peripherals into it. If you live in an area with bad lightening storms, unplug you computer and peripherals during the storm.

30 General Computer Tips Clean up your documents. Go through your document folders and look for files you no longer need, then delete them. If you don't feel comfortable with this, then buy an portable external hard drive and backup your files to that drive for safe keeping, then delete them from your computer Clean up your temp files folder. In Windows XP, go to C:\windows\temp and delete all the files in that folder. Note: You may find that some files won t delete, just ignore them and leave them there. (It s because the system is using them at that moment). Clean up your temporary internet files. You can do this easily in whatever browser you are using.

31 General Computer Tips DO NOT Open Unknown s Open Unknown File Downloads Install Incompatible Hardware and Software Randomly Delete Files

32 Computer Updates Update programs when prompted

33 Computer Updates Update Google Chrome Update Internet Explorer ECRL recommends using Google chrome Internet Explorer is a web browser included with Windows, so updates for it are included when you install Windows updates. To enhance the security of your browsing experience and to help fix or prevent problems with Internet Explorer, make sure that you install all available updates for Internet Explorer. If you see a message telling you that important updates are available, or that optional updates are available, click either message to view and select the updates to install. Make sure the Internet Explorer updates that you want are selected, click OK, and then click Install updates. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

34 Computer Updates Update JAVA Start Menu- Control Panel- Programs- Java

35 Basic Computer Maintenance QUESTIONS?