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This
How To is designed to give you a recommended schedule for weekly
and monthly maintenance of your computer. It includes tasks like
cleaning out your temporary files, running SpyBot and SpywareBlaster,
and also backing up your data files.
Each task has an associated
How To with detailed steps to perform the given task.
Update
or Run Spybot
If your Enterprise (EN) computer appears to be running slowly,
you have pop-up windows appearing in Internet Explorer, or you
are experiencing problems, Computer Support recommends that
you download and install Spybot -S&D as PART of the troubleshooting
process. Please note that the above symptoms may be caused by
a virus. Please be sure to keep your virus definitions up-to-date
and perform regular scans.
Also, be aware that Spybot-S&D may disable automatic weather
checkers, automatic screen savers, and other programs of this
type that you may have installed.
http://ict.cas.psu.edu/training/howto/util/InstallConfigSpybot.htm
This process will take approximately 5 minutes.
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Use
LiveUpdate to update SAV
Symantec AntiVirus can protect your computer from destructive
programs known as viruses and Trojan horses, and can protect
against malicious Active X and Java applets. Because of a contract
between Penn State and Symantec, Symantec AntiVirus software
is available at no cost to Penn State students, faculty, and
staff.
http://ict.cas.psu.edu/training/howto/util/Symantecliveupdate.htm
This process will take approximately 5 minutes.
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Backup
Critical Data Files
Your EN laptops and EN desktops, not including the budget model,
come with a DVD/CDRW combo optical drive.
The CDRW part of the drive allows you to record data. You can
use this and the CD burning software included on your machine
to back up your important documents. See the How To for the
software on your EN machine.
This process will take approximately 5-30 minutes, depending
on how many documents you are backing up and their size.
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Empty
Temp Files, Run Disk Clean up, and Empty Prefetch folder
Your EN laptops and EN desktops may slow down over time due
to leftover Temporary (.tmp) files and Temporary Internet files
(e.g. "gunk"). Temporary files and Temporary Internet
files are left behind when a machine crashes, from installing
and uninstalling programs, and perhaps under other circumstances
you really don't need to care about.
http://ict.cas.psu.edu/Training/HowTo/ENComputers/emptytemp.htm
This process will take approximately 5-10 minutes. It depends
on the number and size of files in these folders.
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Performing
High Priority (Critical) Windows Updates
Microsoft periodically releases critical and security updates
to its operating systems, such as Windows XP, and its Internet
Explorer web browser. We recommend that you scan for these High
Priority - Critical updates and install them as soon as you
see the alert. See below.
Otherwise you can manually scan for and install High Priority
(e.g. Critical) Updates for your computer by following these
steps. You should check for these updates manually, just to
make sure that the automatic updates features of Windows XP
is working correctly.
http://ict.cas.psu.edu/Training/HowTo/ENComputers/WindowsUpdate.html
This process will take approximately 3 minutes but it could
take up to 1 hour if these updates have not been installed prior
to your manual check.
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Perform
Office Updates
Check Microsoft's site for free updates that improve Office's
stability and security.
We have a How To to help you with this process.
http://ict.cas.psu.edu/Training/HowTo/ENComputers/Office2003_Update.htm
This process will take approximately 3 minutes but it could
take up to 1 hour if these updates have not been installed prior
to this check.
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Update/Run
SpywareBlaster
SpywareBlaster should be kept up-to-date for maximum benefit.
Check for updates and apply them on at least a monthly basis.
You should also create a System Snapshot at the same time.
http://ict.cas.psu.edu/training/howto/util/InstallConfigSpywareblaster.htm
This process will take approximately 3-5 minutes.
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Back
up All Data Files
Your EN laptops and EN desktops, not including the budget model,
come with a DVD/CDRW combo optical drive.
The CDRW part of the drive allows you to record data. You can
use this and Roxio software to back up your My Documents, Favorites,
Local Documents and Outlook's PST file.
http://ict.cas.psu.edu/Training/HowTo/ENComputers/BackUp.htm
This process will take approximately 5-60 minutes, depending
on how many documents you are backing up and their size.
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Run
House Call
Trend Micro has a free on-line Virus and Security scanner.
You can use this if you have Internet Access. Running this tool
occasionally is a great double-check for the every day
user.
http://ict.cas.psu.edu/training/howto/util/HouseCall.htm
This process will take approximately 30 minutes. It depends
on the number of files on your computer.
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