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In order to keep your computer as
trouble-free as possible, perform these simple steps periodically to
keep your computer's hard drive free of errors and your system
hardware free of potential conflicts. Performing these steps will
definitely save you money in the long run.
Perform an Incremental Back Up -
perform an incremental back up of your most important information
(such as My Documents, Email/Address Books or your Quicken/Financial
data) and its subdirectories. We recommend that you either manually
perform this daily (or each day you use the computer).
Better still, have Nwina assist you in setting up an automated
backup solution. Installing a secondary hard drive is an easy solution
for this and can be a real life saver. For notebook users there are
other easy options that are similar. It is the best computer service
you can hire a professional for.
The basic software tools for keeping
your system humming are Disk Cleanup, Scan Disk, and Defrag
(explained below). Before running Defrag, the other 2 steps
should be performed first. Be sure all programs are closed when
performing these steps.
Disk Clean Up-
The disk Clean up should be performed weekly and will delete all of
your unused and unwanted files. it will also delete your garbage and
old internet files. Just click on Start, Programs,
Accessories, and then System Tools and then Disk Cleanup.
Delete .tmp files that have been
created prior to the current day. It will surprise most people to
learn how much hard drive space has been used by .tmp files. Delete
files that begin with a tilde(~). Again, make sure that all your
application programs, such as word-processing, spreadsheet, and
graphics programs, are closed first since sometimes the temporary file
you are currently viewing do use a tilde(~). If the application
programs are closed, the tilde files can be deleted. Some users find
they have a lot of these on their systems!
Delete old .zip
files. Users tend to unzip the files but then leave the zipped file on
their computer.
Scan Disk - Use the scandisk program
located in your system tools under Accessories to check for any
possible problems with the logical configuration of your hard disk(s).
This can not only speed up your machine but spot potential errors as
well. The easiest way to find this utility in all Windows Operating
Systems is to go into My Computer and click on the drive you
want to scan. Then right click on it and click Properties.
Then click Tools.
Disk Defragmenter- this utility helps you
increase performance and reclaim lost speed of your system. Over time,
files get scattered all over the hard drive and then get moved,
deleted, copied and so on and fragments of unused space get left over.
It then takes longer for your system to look up information because it
is looking over Defragmenter will put all of the pieces back into
their original package. This should be performed every couple of
weeks. To Defrag a hard drive just go to Programs,
Accessories, and System Tools. Select the Drive and click
Start. If you have rarely done this, it can take a very long time,
even overnight but the results will be remarkable in most cases.
Speed Up Your Web
Browsing
Check your browser history and cache
files. Periodically delete the cache files and history files then
reset the history files to no more than three days unless you
specifically need to store that information longer. By freeing up the
cache, downloads from the Web actually speed up since there is more
space available to store the temporary files.
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NorthWest
Indiana Network Alliance