Software Maintenance

Here is a list of routine software maintenance that should be performed to keep a PC in good condition.

1. Daily virus scans: While this becomes time consuming on larger systems it helps to keep a system clean. By scanning the system for different types virus, spyware and adware you free up space that was occupied by those programs.

2. Unistalling unused programs: This action frees up space that is being used on the hardrive to maintain the unused programs.

3. Deleting Temp files in your web browser: This action frees up some space inside of your web browser, this makes your browser run at a faster speed.

4. Defragging the HDD: Doing this will move programs and used space around your hard drive. If your hard drive has lots of information scattered around defragging will clean it and up. This does not give you more space but makes it easier for your drive to find data, thus speeding up your PC.

Opitcal Drive Installation

Today I have installed an Optical drive as part of my assignment. I will explain how to properly install such a drive:

1. Unplug your computer, unscrew the case and remove the side.

2. Remove all power cables and IDE (or SATA) cables from both the floppy drive and the optical drive. (This is not necessary for a tower case as both drives are in different sections).

3. Unscrew and remove both the floppy and the optical drive. (Again not necessary for a tower case).

4. Proceed to place the new optical drive in the computer and reinsert the floppy drive.

5. Re-screw both drives.

6. Reconnect all power cables and IDE (or SATA) cables.

7. Screw the side back in place and then reconnect the external cables.

8. Proceed to boot computer.

9. Once booted check to see if the drive has been seen. Do this by entering “My Computer”.

10. If the drive has not been seen return to step 1.

11. If your optical drive is a Re-Writeable then you may want to install software such a “Nero” which will aid you in making CDs.

Reasons of Choice

The reason i have chosen these programs for my virtual pc is mostly due to personal preference. AVG and COMODO are useful programs as well as being free, CCCP is useful so that if this pc requires to run a certain type of movie file it will not have any errors, this program is also free. Ultra defragger is better than the standard windows defragmention system, however i suspect that there is a better system than ultra defragger. Defragging will aid by moving important data and improving system speed. WinRar is an excellent compression system which is a far better choice over winzip the standard system. This however is quite a drain on the system, with this many programs running and due to the fact it is of a lower grade in terms of hardware, this will cause the system to run slower.

Compression and Back-ups

This week i have tryed to back-up my virtual pc. Using "MicroSoft backup" i started a back-up, however this work would take 2 hours and 45 minuties and i did not have enough time. So i used "WinRar" and compressed the files i wanted to keep most and then placed them on my pen drive.

{MS Back-up running}

{WinRar Compressing}

Defragger

I have Defragged my virtual hard drive using a defragmention tool called Ultra Defragger. The process was quite lengthy however the result was a fragment-free hard drive.

{Set-up}

{Installed}

{Analysing}

{Defragging}

Installing Firewall

Last week i installed a firewall software called COMODO but i forgot to update my blog due to time. Regardless my software installed correctly and is now protected by high level securtiy.

Utility's Installed

This week i installed the Combined Community Codec Pack and windows media player 10. I also installed the latest MSN this however proved to be a fruitless venture because MSN had problems connecting through the proxy server. WinRar was also installed.

{CCCP settings after install}

{Windows Media Player 10 installing}

{MSN Installing}

{WinRar Install Screen}