PC Preventive maintenance

PC Preventive maintenance Hardware preventive maintenance Software preventive maintenance Preventing System Crash and Protecting Programs

Hardware Preventive maintenance Heat Normal working condition 16-30 degree C Excessive heat can damage the chips Provide enough cooling inside the PC by enough ventilation, fans, heat sinks Clean the dust – from components, circuit boards- cause thermal insulation (device can not dissipate heat Dust can block fan ventilation- clean the filters

Continued Used compressed gas (CFC) for cleaning Magnetism- Electrical motors, speakers, phone (rings instead beeps), monitors, etc. Radiations – cell phone Electrostatic charge Power spike, surge Water or other liquid – corrosion, shorting

Examples : Keyboard: Keyboard should function properly for interacting with the computer. It may be a good idea to keep the key board covered to avoid dust. Keyboard should be used key board gently. If there is dust it needs to be cleaned, capacitive keyboard, wipe with lint free cloth, In case of mechanical key board, use brush to dislodge dust and then clean it. If there are stuck keys one requires some expertises to properly remove the key-top and clean and then put it back. Motherboard: Motherboard ventilation is very important for proper operation. If there is dust deposited on it the board can get hot and stop working properly. Dust need to be cleaned. There cleaning cans available for this purpose in computer shop. It needs to be used properly at recommended angle for rapid evaporation of the material. There are other gadgets, like tiny vacuum cleaner also available from computer shop. Dust on motherboard can block proper ventilation and cause overheating of the components. Components can stop working or work erratically.

Examples : Mouse: Mouse should work smoothly and it keys should respond properly. If the surface where mouse is used is not clean (all types of mouse) it will not show smooth movement on the screen. Mechanical / opto-mechanical mouse inside contact may not function properly due to dust etc. in that case it may not work correctly.

System Crash What is System Crash What are the causes of system crash How to prevent system crash How to protect programs and data How to backup Antivirus Programs

What is system crash The Computer stops working Hung, down, blue screen

What are the causes for system crash Hardware and Software Hardware Hard disk failure Faulty/Low memory Display card Software OS Buggy programs Incompatible device drivers Configuration problems Virus

How to prevent system crashes It is impossible to prevent system crash completely. To minimize the down time. increasing memory, updating device drivers, staying away from buggy/uncertified software, configuring software properly, preventing the computer from viruses. Using disk image, duplex, RAID disk, disk utilities

How to protect program and data Adequate backup Antivirus management

How to backup? Backup media Backup Type Backup plan Full Incremental Differential Backup plan

BACK UP Full Incremental Differential BACKUP TYPE PURPOSE ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES Full Ensures that you have a copy of every file that you might need to restore. Backs up all the files that you select before starting the backup. Can restore any file easily. Backing up a large amount of data can be time-consuming and require more space on backup media than other methods. Incremental Records changes since the last full or incremental backup. Preserves multiple versions of a file. Is fastest if you work with many different files. Requires less space on your backup media. You need to keep each incremental backup (between full backups) because the backups build on each other. Differential Records changes since the last full backup. Maintains the latest version of your files. Is fastest if you work with the same set of files each day. Requires less space on your backup media. In the event of hard disk failure, you'll have fewer backups to restore. Can become large if you work with many different files. Cannot retrieve previous versions of a file.

What are the computer viruses How do they infect and spread Antivirus programs What are the computer viruses How do they infect and spread Types of viruses Boot sector virus File infecting virus Macro virus How to prevent from virus Plan

Viruses Computer viruses are "deviant" programs, which can cause destruction to computers infected with these programs. They are spread from computer to computer in two ways: (1) They may be passed by way of an "infected" removable media, for example, a friend gives you a CD-ROM with a copy of the game you want; (2) They may be passed over a network, a group of connected computers that share information.

Viruses Viruses are of many types. Two main types are the Boot sector virus, and the File-infecting virus. Boot sector viruses attach themselves to the boot sector of a floppy disk, CD-ROM, or hard disk. File-infecting viruses attach themselves to your software files. There are several routine activities you can practice to minimise the possibility of viruses. Beyond these measures, the best protection is to install anti-virus software. Some programs prevent viruses from infecting your system, others detect the viruses that have slipped through, and still others remove viruses or institute damage control. They may then attach themselves to software on your hard disk, adding garbage to or erasing your files or wreaking havoc with the OS. They may display error messages on your screen, they may cause your PC to restart by itself, or they may evade detection and spread their influence elsewhere.

Viruses They may then attach themselves to software on your hard disk, adding garbage to or erasing your files or wreaking havoc with the OS. They may display error messages on your screen, they may cause your PC to restart by itself, or they may evade detection and spread their influence elsewhere.

Tips for anti-virus management Only use or share removable media with users that you can trust. Use a reliable virus protection software to protect data stored on your floppy disks, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and/or hard disk/s. Don’t download programs from unreliable sources. Stay informed about security issues. Download the latest patches/updates (never be four weeks behind) Schedule a virus scan on a regular basis Setup firewall

Updates Update BIOS Update Operating system (patches) Update application software Update drivers Download from trusted sites Disable unused ports Software firewall / hardware firewall

Software upgrades Software upgrades are softer patches / service packs / software updates provided by the software developer. These could be for fixing bug / security holes / additional features, upgrade to new version etc.. The information about Software upgrades are send to the individual computer, published on the website etc.. PC user can schedule the software updates (Operating System feature). It can be done by the user (system administrator) also. If software upgrades are not done the computer security can be breeched (security hole), software may not perform properly in case of bug or new feature may not be available.

Disk Cleanup Used in Windows XP Professional to free space by deleting temporary files and uninstalling programs. To access Disk Cleanup: double click the My Computer icon on the desktop, right click on Local Disk (C:), click on Properties, by default the General tab is selected. Click on the Disk Cleanup button to activate this utility. Two further tick boxes are available on the General tab, these are: (1) Compress drive to save disk space, and (2) Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching. A tick in each tick box activates each option.

Defragmentation Fragmentation occurs when files are divided into pieces scattered around the disk. Fragmentation occurs naturally when you use a disk frequently, creating, deleting, and modifying files. At some point, the OS needs to store parts of a file in non-contiguous clusters. This is entirely invisible to users, but it can slow down the speed at which data is accessed because the disk drive must search through different parts of the disk to put together a single file. To access defragmentation in Windows XP Professional double click the My Computer icon on the desktop, right click on Local Disk (C:), click on Properties, by default the General tab is selected, now click on the Tools tab, and click on the Defragment Now… button. To check to see if the hard disk requires defragmentation click on the Analyze button, otherwise click on the Defragment button to activate defragmentation for the hard disk. The Analyze button offers options of printing the status of defragmentation, both before defrag has started and after defrag is completed.