Computer Help - best practices
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SECURITY

It pretty much boils down to this:

• Use a firewall.
• Use anti-virus and anti-spyware software.
• Keep Windows and all the programs you use up-to-date by installing all the critical patches and using the latest versions.

MAINTENANCE

• Clean up your hard drive - Get rid of all the temporary files and delete your cache on a regular basis. This stuff just hogs space and the fuller your hard drive is, the slower it will run when trying to read from it. The best way to do this is using the Disk Cleanup utility that is included in Windows. Click:

  Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Cleanup

  and run it for every hard drive you have. You can also minimize the build up some by configuring Internet Explorer to not store everything. Open Internet Explorer and click:

  Tools | Internet Options | Advanced

  scroll all the way to the bottom and check the box labeled 'Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed'. [While you're at it, scroll back up near the top and UNcheck the box labeled 'Show friendly HTTP error messages' as when this option is selected, you can never really tell what is wrong when a page does not display.]
• Defragment your hard drive - When you save a file to your hard drive, it will get saved to the first available chunk of free space that is physically large enough to store the file. Over time, as you modify this file and add and delete others, this amount of space on your hard drive is no longer large enough to hold the entire file, so parts of it get written to other spots on your physical disk. When files are fragmented like this, it slows read/write access. Maintaining your hard drives by defragging them on a regular basis will ensure that all your files are one contiguous piece of data on the physical disk and thus speed up read/write access. With Windows XP and 2003, you can now automate Disk Defragmenter.
• Remove unnecessary programs - If you have not used it in six months, uninstall it. Many programs load something on startup or in the system tray and the more of this you have, the slower your computer will run. Besides, unless you have recently checked to see if there is a new version or patch or security issue with ALL your programs, some are probably out of date and should not be used anyway. Think of all the 'free trial' and 'limited version' stuff you have downloaded, installed and never removed. They're all hogging your system's resources to some degree.

PERFORMANCE

• By default, Windows XP is setup to look pretty. Of course this uses way more system resource than it needs to. You can change this like so:
  • right click My Computer and choose Properties
  • click the Advanced tab and under Performance click the Settings button
  • under the Visual Effects tab, choose 'Adjust for best performance'
  • click Apply | OK | OK