GENERAL PC MAINTENANCE

Ways to keep your PC running smoothly

Reboot at least once a week Make sure fan is free of dust and

debris Defragment your PC once a month Run disk clean up once a month Clear web browser cache Uninstall unneeded or unused

programs Run a virus scan and update once a

week Run Spybot once at least once a

week

Make sure fan is free of dust and debris

Dirty cooling fan Clean cooling fan

Dirty cooling fans can cause your computer to run slow, produce errors, or even crash resulting in information loss.

Tools used to clean fan

Canned Air (Duster)

Cloth

Portable vacuum

Cotton swabs

Defragmenting your hard drive

Fragmentation is a phenomenon in which storage space is used inefficiently, reducing storage capacity and in most cases performance

Wikipedia

How to Defrag your PC

Left click on Start Choose Programs, Accessories,

System Tools, and Disk Defragmenter

Choose Analyze (it will tell you if you have anything to defrag. or not)

If you do, choose Defragment Should be done once a month

Disk Cleanup

Searches your computer for temporary or unneeded files that accumulate on a hard disk. Such as: temporary files from web pages, program installs.

How to use Disk Cleanup

Left click on Start Choose Programs, Accessories,

System Tools, and Disk Cleanup Choose the drive you want to clean

(C drive) Let it scan Check all the boxes Click OK Run once a week

Clear Browser CacheInternet Explorer

Open IE Click on Tools and

select Internet Options In the General tab

under Browsing history click the Delete… button

Select what you want to delete

Click the Delete button

Uninstall Unneeded Software

Click on Start

and select

Control Panel

Double click on

Add/Remove

Programs

Select which

Program and

click Remove

Characteristics of Virus and Spyware Infection

Extremely Slow Processing Inability to open programs Internet Homepage gets changed Constant redirection to unscrupulous

websites Phishing/Scamming emails sent to

your inbox

Make sure you have an up to date anti-virus program installed and running all the time!

Anti-Virus

Free editions AVG Avast! Clamware Microsoft

Security Essentials

How to use Spybot Left click on Start Choose Programs, Spybot:

Search and Destroy Search for Updates (found

on left side) Check boxes and download

all updates Choose Safer-networking

#1 (it is fast) Choose Search and

Destroy and Check for Problems (found on left side)

Infections will appear in red

If you have infections, mark them (with a checkmark) and choose Fix Selected Problems