preventative maintenance tips


> does anyone have any tips on preventive maintenance of hardware or
software
> they would like to share? I am a VISTA with Team Tech in Detroit, we work
> with non-profits to help with their technology needs. we have been told to
> make up a list of preventive maintenance tips, any tips will be greatly
> appreciated.
>
>                          Here are some easy ones. Long but it's a start,
Joseph Rydzy

CLEANING UP YOUR COMPUTER or MAINTENANCE THAT SHOULD BE DONE!!!!

I) These procedures should be done once a month but there is no set rule. If
you're on the net a lot and bouncing all over the place it probably should
be once a week. On the other hand if your not bouncing around that often you
can get away with every 6 months. Just to let you know there is no gospel
here. It is a good habit, though to get it done when you can!
II) To start with, right click on the Explorer Icon (the blue e), a menu
pops up and then click on properties. A new menu pops up and that folder is
on general ,which is fine. On that folder click delete files and then a
window pops up to delete offline files, click on that box and then hit ok!
III) Next on that same folder click on clear history and another box pops up
and ask if your sure and click ok! You're doing great so far!
IV) Now click on the ok on the whole folder to close it out. That is done
and over with!
V) The next procedure includes several steps to get to the system tools
menu, which you will have to perform to  get there several different times.
I will call this SPAST for short, even though I myself dislike acronyms. But
it just makes it easier writing. Ok, so what it this simple procedure? First
click on Start, then Programs, then Accessories, and then System Tools and
then there is the menu we want. So when we use SPAST in the future those are
the buttons we click. Ok, Ok
VI) Now that we are on that menu click on Clipboard Viewer, once that opens
click on edit and then delete anything that is in there. There is good
chance there is nothing in there but do it anyway.
VII) Now do SPAST again and on that menu click on Disk Cleanup, a small
window will show up and ask the drive you want to clean and that would be C
drive. It should be showing that already and if it's not click on the little
arrow at the end of that window and then select the C drive and then of
course hit ok! A new menu shows up and hit OK and then another one ask do
you want to delete them and click on yes. EASY
VIII) Now we are back on our desktop and you should now click on the recycle
bin and once it opens click on empty recycle bin and then it will ask you
are you sure and of course you are so click yes!
IX) Ok before we Scandisk or Defragment we must shut down some programs that
are always running in the background which most of us don't even know. Most
of these programs should be running but some will interrupt the Scandisk and
more than likely the Defragment and then these programs cannot do their jobs
because they constantly will start over and never finish.
X) So here we go; first we must stop the screensaver, which will definitely
interrupt the Deframent operation. To do this; click on start (lower left
hand corner), then settings, then control panel, then display, then what do
you know, another menu pops up (don't you love all these menu's). Now click
on the Screen Saver tab and under the nice picture it is showing you, you
can see the little black arrow, now click on that and scroll to where you
see None and then click on that and then below hit OK! BUT WAIT ONE MINUTE!
Before you hit ok click on the background tab and repeat the same procedure,
as you just did, on that menu and then once you have done that THEN CLICK
OK!
XI) Ok let me 'slpain sometin Lucy! The background program really doesn't
interfere with anything we are about to do, HOWEVER, since the Scandisk and
Defragment may take anywhere between 20 minutes till over 2 hours, we may
forget about turning back on the screensaver. But when we see no wallpaper
up there on our beautiful screen we will certainly remember that we have to
turn both the background and the screensaver back on. No harm done either
way or if you think you will remember you could leave the background alone!
FOLLOW THE SAME PROCEDURE TO TURN THEM BACK ON LATER WHEN ALL IS SAID AND
DONE!
XII) Now comes the so-called tricky part; we still have to close all the
hidden programs that are running in the background that might affect the
Scandisk & Defragment. Are you ready?
XIII) Now press on all these keys, on the keyboard, at the same time:
Ctrl+Alt+Delete AND PRESS THEM ONLY ONCE! And walla another menu pops up!
You terminate a program by selecting the item in the task list and then
clicking End Task. If another window pops up to the left of that window and
states that the program is not responding click End Task on that window also
and then everything disappears. Then you have to tediously repeat this
process for each program on that list EXCEPT EXPLORER AND SYS TRAY!!!!!!!!
Now the careful catch to this is if you happen to move to quick and click on
the Cntrl+Alt+Delete twice, by accident of course you dummy, then the system
shuts down, because it is supposed to if you click on those three keys
twice. So don't do that or you will have to start that process all over
again.
XIV) Alrighty then; you can go to this site:
http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/stories/info/0,,0011NB,.html, I know it's
long, but if you go there you can download the program called ENDITALL which
is quick and easy and free to download.  Once it's downloaded, follow the
directions, this program will do what I just told you to do by itself which
obviously will eliminate a tedious step. IT IS WELL WORTH IT! If you do go
to that site just hit download now!
XV) Either way, once all the programs are closed, end task, then and finally
we can Scandisk. First do the SPAST thing and then click on Scandisk and a
new window pops up select standard and then below that select Automatically
fix errors and then click start. WAIT since we are all new to this before
you hit start, click on options tab and when that window pops up only one
thing should be selected and that is System and Data areas then hit OK. Next
click on the advance tab down near the bottom and of course another menu
pops up and there are 6 boxes there: I will tell you what should be selected
in each box; #1 select always, #2 replace log, #3 Make copies, #4 Convert to
files, #5 Invalid file names & Invalid dates and times (both checked) and #6
Check host drive first & Report MS-DOS mode name length errors (both
checked). Then click OK. Now you won't have to do that ever again, just the
first time. Now you can go back and hit start. LET THE COMPUTER DO Its THING
THAT MEANS DON'T BE TOUCHING ANYTHING OR YOU WILL INTERRUPT Its OPERATION.
It will let you know when it's done. Then hit ok.
XVI) Every once in a while right after the standard running of Scandisk you
would next select thorough which by the way will take at least 4 times
longer to do then standard, and again wait till it finishes and then hit ok
then close! OPINION: If you do this maintenance once a month then every
other month I would also add the thorough, get it, one month standard and
one month standard and then thorough. It really is a personal thing, but for
sure the thorough should be done once in a while. One thing is for certain:
ALWAYS DO THE SCANDISK BEFORE DEFRAGMENT! If it's the first time ever then
do the thorough for sure!
XVII) Oh my, we are almost done: Next and last is the Defragment. Do the
SPAST again and then click on Disk Defragmenter.  When you do another window
will pop up and ask which drive do you want to Defragment and you want the C
drive which will probably be in the box already and if not get it there and
then hit OK.
XVIII) Now let the computer do it's thing again leaving everything else
alone, like go bake a cake or something and it will let you know when it's
done. And when it is hit ok and hip, hip hooray the cleaning is done!!!!!!!
XIX) You must restart your computer to put all those programs back to
normal, which it will do all by itself. However you must manually put back
your background and screensaver back on and now you can begin wasting your
time again on the knowledgeable beast.
XX)
       If I missed something and most likely did I'm sorry but let me know
and I'm sure we can fix it and if not we surely can throw it out the
window!!!!!!

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