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keeping your computer clean and tidy |
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Backing Up: If the worst happens, your computer crashes irretrievably and becomes a puddle of gloop on the living room floor, will you ever be able to recreate the 3 chapters of your magnum opus that you have already written? Or that worksheet that took all of last Sunday afternoon? Bear in mind that the worst is most likely to happen when you are not ready for it. You should back up anything that you would mourn the loss of - ideally to somewhere other than your computer, such as an external hard disc drive, by recording onto CD Rom or DVD. or by uploading to an on-line datastore. The best way of backing up will depend on how much data you need to store. Cleaning: Apart from the dangers that we have mentioned so far, there is another thing to consider when you are thinking about the health of your PC - refuse disposal!
As it does what it does, your computer stores large numbers of files which it never needs again. These temporary files are often left hanging about and they slow your computer down! Windows includes a utility which will search for temporary files and delete them. There are also a number of easy to use utility programs which will do the same.
Your hard disc drive is like a cupboard - you begin by putting things in tidily but after you have taken things out, moved them around and put them back again, it’s a mess. Every so often you need to tidy up by running a process called defragmentation. How often you need to defragment your hard drive will depend on how often you delete data and how much you delete. Windows has a built in defragmentation tool. (You can find it in Start → All Programs → Accessories → System Tools). Defragmeting can take a long time (several hours).The Windows defragmentation tool is a bit fiddly to use butr there are programs available which simplify the process. Windows keeps a database (called the System Registry) of all the things it needs to remember about the way your computer is set up. This includes information about programs you have installed, which programs to use for each type of file and lots, lots more. Lots of the data that is stores is temporary, but Windows is not very good at deleting unwanted / out of date items from the registry. There are a number of programs that will remove unwanted and out of date items from the registry with the intention of speeding up your computer. However, the latest thinking is that cleaning the registry will not actually make much difference to the computer's speed and may do more harm than good. Be suspicious: Although protective software goes on improving, there is no substitute for taking sensible precautions. Phishing and other scams go on because they are very successful at separating people from their money. Remember that there really is no such thing as a free lunch*: other than by way of bona fide charities, people do not, by and large, send gifts and money to total strangers; If you get an email offering to make you rich for minimal effort on your part, it is almost certainly a scam of some sort; Similarly, people offering to sell you products for a fraction of their market value are unlikely to be honest tradesmen; Banks and other financial institutions NEVER send e-mails asking you to give or confirm personal details.
*Although there is such a thing as free software and some of it is trustworthy and good, the advice to be suspicious holds. There are some recommendations about free software on my Software Choices page.
The basic rules are: DON'T open unsolicited e-mails; - DON'T open unexpected e-mail attachments;
- DON'T reply to unsolicited e-mails (Especially, don't click when it says "Click here to remove yourself from our list" - or words like that - you are only telling them that you really do exist and your email address may be passed on to other spammers);
- ALWAYS check links in email messages by hovering your mouse pointer over them. The web address that they actually link to (which may not be the same as what they say, should show as a little pop up note. Does it look genuine?)
- NEVER give out personal information in reply to an e-mail request. If you need to look at your bank's website DON'T access it via an e-mail link; always enter the website address yourself, using the address that you know is correct (you can save a genuine link in your favourites to save typing it in every time).
- Learn how to tell when you are connected to a secure website (It depends on which internet browser you use - eg in Internet Explorer, it is a little golden padlock showing in the bottom line of the browser window). When you are shopping or banking on-line, don't enter personal details, such as passwords or credit card numbers, into insecure sites.
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