Resource
 Tune Up Your Computer Before the Smelly Stuff Hits the Fan The logo above is from the site http://www.majorgeeks.com, which provides one-stop shopping for a variety of freeware utilities for your computer. You'll also find a help forum there for when the smelly stuff hits the fan. And as any online student or teacher knows, it is only a matter of time before that unfortunate event happens. Which brings us to another thing: In the beginning of an online course that focuses on creating digital content, some students will experience computer issues. Welcome to graduate-level digital media creation, which requires more computer resources and more care for them than normal classes do. Updating and revitalzing your equipment may well be an important outcome for many in this course. As a start, please ensure that you can perform the maintenance and tune-up steps on the page below. As a home user, you must learn to be your own tech support. Here are some of the things I've learned along the way--the hard, smelly way: * Set your web browser's cache (temporary files) to empty each time you close the browser. In
Internet
Explorer, do this by going
to Tools -> Internet Options -> Advanced tab. Scroll down
until you see
the option "Empty Temporary Internet Files folder" and select it. Click
OK.
In
Firefox, you can set to
clear your browsing history automatically each time Firefox is closed:
Tools -> Options -> Privacy -> Place check in "Clear history
when Firefox closes -> Clear Now. Click OK.
To clear Firefox's cache, Tools -> Options -> Advanced Panel -> Network Tab -> Clear Now. Click OK. * Delete any "freeware" that came with your machine unless you are sure you will use it. Especially delete AOL, McAfee and Norton. On Windows machines, the uninstall program function can be found at Control Panel--> Add or Remove Programs. The AOL, McAfee and Norton programs (with approval of Microsoft!) often resist deletion. If one or both programs are in use, they can set up conflicting firewalls with your system's firewall, slow you down and result in repeated dropped connections. Especially get rid of "free" browser toolbars from Google, Yahoo! and the others. These function as spybots that collect data on your web usage, use computer resources unnecessarily, and provide significant obstacles to safe, fast web usage. To delete programs that resist deletion, you
can use a PC Decrapifier--a
program that
provides you a menu of programs on your computer that can be
deleted with a few clicks: 1. Empty
Recycle Bin daily. 2. Go
to Control Panel -> Performance and Maintenance -> Free
up space on your
hard disk. WARNING:
If you have not
performed this function in a while or never at all, be prepared to
wait. Your machine could be so clogged up that it takes the
tool an hour or more to collect the trash. When you click to delete the
trash,
it could take another hour for your machince to complete the work. 3. Go
to Control Panel -> Performance
and Maintenance -> Rearrange items on your hard disk to make
programs run
faster. This is known as defragmenting. Do it, even if
the
analyzer says you don't need to. Windows
Vista and Windows 7 offer automatic
defragging
whenever your system is in an idle state, keeping your hard drive
optimized at
all times. There is also a freeware tool that does the same thing: Disk Idle Optimer. 4.
Check
the list of installed programs at
Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs. Delete any program that
you added
or tried out during the week that you no longer need/want. * Inspect your startup processes. If it seems like your computer is taking too long to start up, try this: After the initializing is finished, right click on bottom tray/taskbar and select "Task Manager" then select the "Applications" tab. A window will appear that shows every application your computer started when powered on. Check especially for programs that connect automatically to the web. RealPlayer and Adobe Reader, for example. If you haven't disabled them, Real Player and Adobe Reader will attempt to connect and maintain background connections to their websites so that you can get "news" and "updates." It's great to have these free programs on your system, but you don't need to be constantly connected to their sites, wasting your bandwidth and slowing you down. Your goal on startup is to launch only the minimum programs you need. To stop unwanted applications from starting up and running in the background: Windows XP: 1. Click Start 2. Click Run 3. Type in "msconfig" (without quotes) 4. Select Startup tab 5. Uncheck the box of any application that you don't need on start up. Look especially for sites of applications like Adobe, Nero, Logitech, iTunes, Real Player ("realsched") and so on. Not having these programs launch on start up does not affect their performance in any way, but shutting them down will improve your computer's performance. 6. Click OK. Windows Vista & Windows 7: 1. Click Start button 2. Type in "run" (without quote marks) 3. Type in "msconfig" (without quote marks) 4. Follow steps 4-6 above. There are freeware programs that also do this, but why add another application if you don't have to? * Keep your registry free of unused or unwanted entries. You can find excellent registry cleanup programs at: http://www.majorgeeks.com. But my favorite general-purpose clean-up tool is Piraform's free CCleaner ("C" is usually the letter assigned to your hard drive). CCleaner is one of the tools that I run biweekly on the computers I maintain. In addition to the registry cleaner, the "Cleaner" tool clears out temporary files from your other applications. * Don't just defrag your hard drive--consolidate and optimize it! One of the most important tools you can have is MyDefragger. It is free under the GNU license. The program defragments, optimizes, and consolidates your hard drive. MyDefragger also flashes your external storage devices. If you get nothing else from this handout, I hope you will use this tool to revitalize your hard drive and other storage devices. * Add memory. If your computer has only 256K or 516K of RAM, add memory yourself. More than any one thing you can do, adding RAM will improve your computer's speed and performance. The tools at Crucial Memory and 4All Memory.com and similar sites will analyze your RAM slots, recommend which memory chip to buy, and show you how to insert it. If you can screw in a lightbulb, you can add a memory chip to your machine. Memory is dirt cheap these days, and there is rarely an excuse not to fill your slots to the max so you can get the most out of your computer. I think PC Tools' Spyware Doctor is overpriced for the single-function software you get. The company offers a set of tools including Spyware Doctor, Registry Mechanic, Privacy Guardian, Spam Monitor and Hijack Guard. I have had good results with the Registry Mechanic. http://www.pctools.com Surf safe. Surf fast. This article is permalinked at: http://www.peakwriting.com/nu/edt613/newsmell.html |