Panda Man's Maintenance Guide!
This is 100% about MAINTAINING your copmuter, not protecting/repairing. Some people have different ideas about maintenance. This is an effective way to Maintain your computer, and also how I maintain mine
1. Clean out teh Viruses! I would recommend cleaning once a week if your a novice/intermediate user, and maybe once a month if your an advanced user (i say once a month for advanced users b/c we know what we are doing, we know what we are opening, we only open the ports we know are safe, and we can usually repair stuff on our own if something goes wrong.) If you need a good AV, grab a free copy of AVG Antivirus, it will rock your sox. Also, if you want the absolute best, NOD32 is my recommendation. Give the free trial a chance and you will love it. It eats viruses that AVG left behind and uses so little resources, i forgot it was there!
2. Run a Spyware Scan every one or two weeks. My personal three choices for spyware detection and removal are Ad-Aware, Spybot-S&D, and AVG Antispyware
3. Run Disk Defragmenter about once a week. This will clean up fragments and help keep disk read/write speeds up to par. To run Disk Defragmenter, go to Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter. Try running Contig/Power Defragmenter also for a more thorough cleaning (Make sure both contig.exe and Power defragmenter GUI.exe is in the same folder)
4. Maintain Your Registry! Run a rapair tool about once a week, or if your computer seems to slow down (and the first 3 steps haven't worked). Good utilities are Baku, EasyCleaner, CCleaner and RegScrupXP PRO
5. Run CheckDisk about once a month. To run checkdisk, boot into safe mode, click on My Computer, right lick on C: and go to tools, and under error-checking click check now. Also, click on "Scan for and attempt recovery of Bad Sectors" before starting the scan. Alternatively, go to start, run and type chkdsk. This will check your HDD for disk and disk surface errors.
-NOTE: If you get a warning saying that paremeter F is not specified when running chkdsk, type: chkdsk C: /f
6. Clean out your case every so often, and vacume in the room where your computer is at least once a week. Make sure you have good filters in your case fans. To clean out the case, grab a can of compressed air, such as air duster, to blow off all the dust on the parts (Hold the can as upright as possible, just to make sure no moisture comes out, and i also recommend using short blasts rather than one long burst. Read the directions on the can for more info.). DO NOT USE YOUR OWN BREATH TO BLOW OFF THE DUST, as your saliva will most likely damage something. You'd be amazed at how many problems dust bunnies can cause you.
7. Dust and clean your monitor! For CRTs, using one damp paper towel and a dry paper towel to wipe off all the dirt, smudges, etc. is ok (its what i do anyways). HOWEVER: On anti-glare/anti-static surfaces (ALL LCD screens fit under this category), ammonia based chemicals will destroy the anti-glare and anti-static coatings on the monitor screens. You'll need to pick up some anti-static wipes. You can get them at Wal-Mart in the electronics department. You can probably pick them up at almost any PC store too.
8. Update your drivers! About once a month, you should always update your video drviers, sound drivers, and any other drivers for hardware that you use on a regular basis, such as you motherboards chipset drivers.
9. Install a fresh copy of your OS. Especially if you are using windows, you should install a fresh copy of your OS (Operating System) about once every 6 months.
10. Check all your fans and heatsinks, and keep an eye on heat. It causes the internal components and chips to wear out. Heat also lowers the performance of your system. The first thing to check is the ventilation around your system. Many of the standard computer desks force you to place your computer in an enclosed cabinet. If your system is in an enclosed space, move it out into the open or make sure there is an opening in the back so that the fans can bring in cool air.
----Recommended Utilities----
These are recommended maintenance/monitoring utilities that weren't already listed in the guide. Details can be found on the page the link leads to.
Motherboard Monitor (great for monitoring motherboards, as the name suggests)
SpeedFan (Can help with fan speeds, voltages, and monitors temps)
CPU-Z (Great for general info, particualarly about memory)
Memtest86 (For testing Memory stability)
PowerStrip (Great for monitoring and adjusting any video card)
Fraps (See how many Frames Per Second you getting)
PCMark05 (Measures general performance of your PC)
MetaBench (Another benchmark program w/more than 55 different tests)
3DMark05 (Kind of like PCMark, only this will benchmark 3D capabilities of your comp)
Everest (Home Edition) (I LOVE this program. It will pretty much tell you anything you could possibly want know about your comp)
Hijackthis (good for maintaining browser security and keeping other misc. proggies safe)
TweakUI (Great for tweaking hidden settings)
If there is anything else that should be added to this guide, let me know.
