Twokinds ARCHIVE Forums

This is a thread about keeping your computer running well, And keeping it virus and spy-ware free. The main essentials to keeping your computer running fast are

1. Disk Management
2. Virus Protection
3. Spy-ware / Ad-ware Protection

I'll go over each point in detail, so that you can use each one well, and there'll be screenshots. :D
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Disk Management
In my opinion, one of the most important aspects of keeping your computer healthy is disk management. This includes keeping your hard-drive defragmented, organized, and clean. Disk fragmentation is when over time, files get moved around and corrupted, that it takes your computer longer and longer to figure them out and access them. Running the Disk defragmenter can help to correct this and speed up a computer significantly. For windows XP users, The disk defragmenter can be found by right clicking on My Computer on the Desktop, and selecting the Management option.

After that, select the Disk Defragmenter Item from the list on the left hand side.

It should look something like that. Once you've made your way this far, simply make sure the hard-drive you want to defragment is selected(You can defregment any hard-drive, and I recommend that you do it for all drives, if you have multiple ones like me), then click Defragment. Now all you have to do is wait. Depending on the size of the hard-drive, this may take a while. Once finished, you should see a box like this pop up:

Once that box pops up, simply click Close and exit out of the Computer Management window, and you'll be finished defragmenting your hard-drive(s). Go ahead and play around for a minute, you should notice a significant speed up if you haven't defragged in a long time. :D I recommend preforming this every two to three weeks, to keep your hard-drive healthy.

The next part of Disk Management is keeping the disk clean. You can do this by running the Disk Cleanup program. Simply go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup

You should see a dialog box like this:

Select the hard-drive you want to clean up and click Okay. For a short while a box that looks like this will appear:

Just wait for it to go away, and you'll see this:

Once that has appeared, select whatever you don't want to keep from under the Files to Delete list, and click Okay. A confirmation dialog will appear, click Yes. A dialog like this should appear:

Allow it to finish, and it will close itself. This will free up a good bit of space on your hard-drive. Those are the two largest parts of keeping a hard-drive clean. :D
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Virus Protection
Virus Protection is yet another incredibly important realm of computer maintenance. A good anti-virus program will keep malicious software from infecting your computer and damaging the operating system and files. There are several good anti-virus programs out there, and most of them are as easy as installing a program and running it. For a free anti-virus program, I would recommend either AVG-Free or Avast!. Both are good anti-virus software that will keep your computer well secured. In my opinion, the one of the best ways to go would be with mcAfee Security Center. It's a bundled Firewall and Anti-Virus that gives superb protection and is very unintrusive. I used to use it myself. :D Last but not least is my favorite anti-virus/firewall, is Windows Live OneCare. Made and distributed by Microsoft for 60$/year(for three licenses, which means three computers), OneCare is one of the best systems of it's type that I've used. It has a built in firewall, automated virus scanner, and works in conjunction with Windows Defender to keep your computer safe. It also has a "tune-up" system that automated such tasks as virus and spy-ware scans, disk defragmentation, file-cleanup and backup, and even downloading and installing critical updates for windows from Microsoft. Whatever software you wind up using make absolutely sure that it(or you) scans the computer at regular intervals. An anti-virus is no good if you don't allow it to scan the computer every so often. Every week or so is about how often I run my anti-virus. ^_~
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Spy-ware Protection
Ah, spy-ware. The bane of the internet. Good spy-ware protection is an incredibly import part of keeping your computer safe, clean, and fast. There are a lot of programs that claim to be anti-spy-ware, but generally they aren't all good. There are a few exceptional anti-spy-ware solutions however, that I am proud to recommend. The first is Lavasoft's Ad-Aware. The first anti-spy-ware program I ever actually used, and quite possible one of my favorites. The best part is, it's free. It provides good protection and thorough scanning, with a simple interface, as well as advanced controls for those who know what they're doing. The next that I would recommend is Microsoft's Windows Defender. It's really good software, and I use it myself. And, being made by Microsoft, it is guaranteed to cooperate well with windows. The last and final solution I have to recommend is Spybot, Search and Destroy. I only used this one for a while, before Windows Defender was released, however I can say with confidence that it is a commendable anti-spy-ware application. Downloading any of these three programs and allowing them to run at regular intervals can clear up problems with the internet and significantly speed up your computer.

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Hopefully you will take most all of these recommendations to heart and try them out, as they can definitively improve your online-and offline-experience. :D I've left this topic unlocked, so if anyone thinks I should add anything or has comments, they can say.

Three words. Start. Run. Msconfig.

Blarg, I should've said this sooner. Seriously, that has no meaning to someone who has no idea what it is. Give details if that's supposed to help somehow. >_>

I have a few more words, Tweak UI(for win98-win2k) or tweak powertoy for XP

Also you can manage your services from comptuer management (Show above in Delusional Kangaroo's post), you can turn off services you don't need. My personal suggestion though is if you don't know what it does, either find out or leave it alone.


As for linux systems:
If your running a ext2 disk make sure to run fsck or a simular maintence program regularly. Especially if you power down without unmounting the drive first. ext3 are exempt from this problem, but you should still run fsck atleast once a month just to make sure.

People using other drive formats, such as UFS2 check in the background so you don't need to wait on it. Also people using really odd filesystems consult your documentation on it(if it has any), as I have never used them and am unsure of the procedures involved.

I know this is more of a security issue rather than a maintenance add-on. But I figured Id say this for those that dont feel fully satisfied with Windows XP Firewall there is a free firewall that you can also use to prevent malicious online attacks to your computer. For this I suggest Zone Alarm. Its free and so far its been doing a pretty good job. Ive been using it for over a month now and it seems to do a decent job.

Just to add my 2 NOK...

There's one or two crucial topic not discussed earlier...

1. Backup!
Do it often and early!

I do it by having 2 separate USB-HDDs. One is my 'work' disk, the other is the backup, and is periodically overwritten with the contents of the work disk. And whatever stuff I actually DO work on is copied from my work disk to a folder on my iBook, then copied back again EVERY DAY.
Stuff that doesn't need to fill up the USB-HDDs are copied to two or more CD or DVDs and stored at different locations. (usually one set at home, another at my parents house, and if it's stuff I may need in a hurry, sometimes also in a cabinet at the office)

2. How to partition the HDD in a typical PC.

When you set it up, split it into TWO or more partitions, and keep Windows and Programs on one partition(C:) and your data on the other partition(D:)
That way, if Windoooze is F! U! really bad, you can just reformat that one partition, without losing and data.
Don't ask me how to move 'Documents and settings' to another disk, as I have no idea of how to do it... (I support WinXP in an office environment and we don't do that stuff there)
I do know that there's a description of how to do this on OS X, somewhere out on the net...
(I once used it on my PowerMac G4)

3. Administrator accounts...
By default, the first account created in Windoooze is an Administrator, with FULL ACCESS to EVERYTHING. As most people never use any other account, this is bad... REALLY BAD...
Create another user account with NORMAL USER privileges, and use that for all your work(surfing, writing, gaming, whatever)
The first account should be renamed to something 'not obvious' and given a GOOD password.
Whenever you need to install a program, DO NOT log in as the administrator, but instead right-click on the install-icon and use the 'run As...' option, and type in the admin account and password there.
Need to run the explorer as Admin to delete files, defragment the disk or whatever?
[Start] Run...
RUNAS /user:adminaccount "c:\program files\internet explorer\iexplore.exe c:"
you'll be prompted for the password.
You can also browse your way to the control panel in the folder-tree on the lefthand side. (May need to click the 'folders' icon in the toolbar)
(Control panel applets can usually not be started using the 'Run as...' option directly)

If a program doesn't work while you're logged in as a normal user, you have three choices...
1. use the 'Run as...' option every time you need to run it. (bothersome)
2. Use the explorer to set file security on the application's folder(insecure) or edit the registry security for that program using Regedit(messy)
3. Deinstall and complain to the manufacturer that their crapware breaks M$ software guidelines...

About option 3...
At the office we have had experiences with scanner software which stores temporary files in the C:\program files\crapwarename\temporary folder. This is so wrong... So wrong in fact that we RETURNED 5 A3 flatbed scanners and went to the competition...
(Those are expensive items... And as they're not something stores keep in the back, they were ordered from out of country for us... )

Well, #1 and 2 are pretty much optional. Windows(is it really that hard just to say Windows instead of Windoze or whatever?) doesn't get that screwed up all that often unless the user does something really stupid.

no. 1 is NOT optional!

I work the Helldesk at a large government department here in Norway, and I see farked up drives every week, at least.
I know of users who have lost ALL their digital photos, from weddings, holidays and whatever because they stored them on their office PC(which we don't backup, because the users aren't supposed to store anything on them)

And at least once every month a (l)user comes by with his private PC and asks for help to recover the files on a disk that only goes 'click'...
(and two or three with windooze so borked up that they need a complete reinstall)

Every one of our laptop users gets a 1GB USB-stick and orders to copy all the files they're working on onto that as a backup...
(Not that they listen, of course... and laptop drives seems to fail slightly more often than desktop drives...)

In my organisation there's about 5000 WinXP PCs, and about 600 of those are in my Region(and therefore my daily headache. Some of the others are laptops and may suddenly show up in my office, too...). I also have the responsibility over about 20 W2K servers, all of which I've installed.
(I've worked with servers since Lan Manager 2.2 on OS/2 v1.3, did the migration to WinNT 3.51... and saw uptime go to H! Saw no improvements with NT 4.0, only with W2K. 2003 we're skipping...)

If something can go wrong, I've seen it... and fixed it at one point or another... (Except for the disks that go 'click', of course... I can only do the impossible, not raise the dead)

It's more like a safe-over-sorry issue. You don't *have* to backup, but you'll probably wish you had at some point. :P

I've never really had to back up anything but I tri-boot and have multiple live-cds (windows and linux) and file recovery software. I do have an empty old 30gb IDE drive plugged in but I only use it to facilitate the tri-boot. I've never actually been lucky enough to have a drive fail in the past 8 years. That being said it gets to be a real bi*** if you don't defrag windows partions often...

Yeah, that's definitely true sai. My comps always get slow as hell if I don't defrag. That said, however, I've never in my entire life had a windows install go that sour. That's one of those PICNIC things; Problem In Chair Not In Computer. xP

I don't defrag at home...

Macs don't seem to need it(its done automatically at the end of all scripted installations), and my Tower PC runs eCS(OS/2 4.0 with all FIXPaks and heaps of enhancements), and the HPFS filesystem is naturally defragmented...

The servers at the office, though...
Ever tried defragging a 1.4TB RAID with 5% freee space?

One thing I do when I defrag is to first delete all temporary files, uninstall directories, and such. Then I use the Analyze option and look at the log to see if there are any new log files showing up there.
(Sometimes I can delete 150MB of logs or other crap)
Only after that do I run the defrag.

We have a small note tacked to the tape-safe:

a note to amend to a earlier post on this thread.
one does not need to manually fsck(file system check) ext2/3 or any other *nix a file system. to do this all one needs to do is change to the root user in a terminal and go to your /etc directory (cd /etc) then using your command line test editor of choice, in my case nano do (nano fstab). you will be greeted with a file that looks similar too but not exactly like this.
please note that some distros discourage you from manually editing this file, this is because they have written system config apps that will do this for you.



The pass option controls how often the system will automatically run fsck on boot.