Computer Maintenance 101

People tend to spend a lot of money on paid computer technicians when their computer is getting cranky. But the thing is, the most common errors on a computer is due to reckless use of it without performing any maintenance. Maintaining your computer is just as easy as you browsing your favorite porn. (No pun intended.) As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure.

So what exactly do a totally noobie computer guy can do to maintain a computer? Below, I’ll list some of the things you need to do. So read and save that money.

Defragment!

Over time you pc gets fragmented. So okay, what’s fragmentation? Fragmentation is the scattering of data over a disk caused by successive insert, update and delete operations. This eventually results in slow data access times, as the disk needs to do more work to construct a contiguous copy of the data on disk. Database reorganization is sometimes required to fix fragmentation problems.

There are several good softwares out there that do the defragmentation for you. In fact, All versions of Windows have a built-in defragmentation software. If you’re using WindowsXP, follow the following to initiate defragmentation.

1. Go to Start Menu
2. Go to Accessories then System Tools
3. Under the System tools, click Disk Defragmenter.
4. Just click defragment and wait for it to finish.

That’s it! One maintenance work done. By the way, you can also download dedicated defragmentation software for your computer. A good example is the diskkeeper program. Just Google it and you’ll find it easy. Dedicated defragmentation programs tend to be more efficient, better, have more features and faster than the standard Windows Defrag software. But it’s up to you.

So what’s next?

Antivirus Programs

If your computer is only an office computer who has no access to the World Wide Web, then you’re free to skip this one. (But you have Internet access or else you won’t be reading this lol) Antivirus programs are very very very important. I cannot state this hard enough. Once you’re connected to the Internet, viruses can easily penetrate your computer and destroy your files. If you have a newly bought computer, make sure that you have a good anti virus installed on your computer before going online.

Firewalls

Another malicious program to watch put for are Trojan Horses, Spywares, and adwares. What do these things do? Well, for one, a Trojan can manipulate your files, Shutdown you computer remotely, or even format it. Spywares and adwares can collect personal information stored on your computer like credit card information, address, etc. So, how to stop them?

A good firewall can. Pick one that is continuously updated and has customer support. Windows XP already has a built-in firewall. But I definitely recommend having a dedicated firewall. A good example is Zone alarm. It’s free to download! Just search it.


Anti spyware/Adware

It’s always good to have a strong protection against threats. Anti spywares and adwares can eliminate those who got in to your computer. Even if you have a firewall, it’s better to remove those malicious programs rather than just preventing them to send their collected information back to the Internet.

Proxy Servers

So what are proxies?

A proxy server is a computer network service, which allows clients to make indirect network connections to other network services. A client connects to the proxy server, and then requests a connection, file, or other resource available on a different server. The proxy provides the resource, possibly by connecting to the specified server, or by serving it from a cache. In some cases, the proxy may alter the client's request or the server's response for various purposes

In layman’s term, it hides you. It protects your identity by hiding you IP Address. (Internet Protocol)

We’ll discuss Proxies in another article. That’s it for now!