My PERSONAL Computer
HOME COMPUTER - HouseKeeping
To improve your computer's performance and reliability maintenance is required. The following are guidelines that will assist you to keep your computer in the same condition as the day you received it. By following the recommendations below, your computer will run faster and more efficiently in your day to day work.
REBOOT:
It is important that you shutdown your computer at the end of each day. This then requires you to reboot the computer on the next working day. The reason for this is that every time you start an application Windows allots memory to the application, when the application is closed the memory it was using is retrieved for the next application. Unfortunately this does not work perfectly and there is always some memory that is not retrieved. This memory is lost to the system and can not be used. The only way to retrieve it is to reboot Windows. The symptoms of this problem are that programs start to grind or don't work at all giving "out of memory" errors.
The use of "Suspend" mode is NOT recommended.
SCANDISK: (Not to be confused with a virus scan.)
WHY:
Scandisk checks the hard drive for errors in the file system. These errors occur in the normal use of the computer. For example, a file is deleted (on purpose) but the file system "loses" the space. In this case the file is not in any directory any more but is still taking up space.
WHEN:
Scandisk should be run before you run DEFRAG. DEFRAG should be run at least once a month.
DEFRAGMENT:
WHY:
As you add and delete files to your hard drive gaps start to occur. Imagine you have three 1 MB files and you delete the one in the middle, a 1 MB gap is created. If then you save a 2 MB file half of it is placed in the 1 MB. gap and the second half of it is placed in the next available space or spaces. The file is now fragmented! This causes decreased performance because instead of having to read the file from one continuous area of the hard disk the computer has to read from 2 or more locations. This can double (or worse) the time required to read the file. The more you use the computer the more this naturally occurs.
WHEN:
The frequency with which this should be done varies with how much you use your hard disk. If you are constantly creating and deleting large files (this occurs a lot in audit packages) you should run Defrag more often. Defrag at least once a month. Note that the more often you defrag the shorter the process takes.
SCREENS:
The screens can be cleaned with any non-alcohol cleaning fluid. It is recommended, if in doubt, use only those cleaning materials provided specifically for cleaning the screen (and other components too).