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Ellie's Help Desk

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Are you experiencing problems with your computer?
If so, you may wish to review the following information.

You are very welcome to copy or print out this page (and,
ONLY this particular page) strictly for your own personal use.

• System Performance
• System Maintenance
• Spyware and Hackers
• Antivirus Programs

 

System Performance

How high is the available system resources on your computer?

1) Right click on My Computer (you'll get a pop up menu)

2) Left click on Properties (you'll get another pop up screen)

3) Go to the Performance tab and open it

4) There is a line referring to available system resources. This is expressed as a percentage. If you are not online and are running an antivirus program, this percentage should be above 80% and perhaps closer to 90%. If you have logged on to your ISP, the percentages could be about 10% less.

Everytime you open an application (software programs, internet service provider, printer, scanner, etc.) this percentage drops. At 60% you'll definitely feel the sluggishness. At 40% you'll probably feel like you need to add more RAM memory (which seldom helps) or that you need a new computer. But for the overwhelming majority of us, the remedy doesn't cost a penny.

What caused this problem? Your start up menu (what windows has loaded just to boot itself up and constantly runs in the background) has become cluttered with every program you've installed or downloaded. Without your knowledge, every one of those programs puts a line or two in your start up. And these programs are running in the background whether or not you are using them. The more things loaded in start up, the more sluggish your computer becomes and the longer it will take for things to happen.

To put this in more understandable terms, let's talk about our own limitations. Most, if not all of us, would not have difficulty walking two blocks to a store and carrying home a five pound bag of sugar. How about if I up that to a twenty pound bag? We might not move quite as fast on the way home. How about a one hundred pound bag of grain? Are we groaning now? I sure am. I'm sure I could eventually get it home but it would be a long slow process. And I'd probably need a nap. This is how your computer feels with all those items loaded into the start up.

Removing Items from the System Start Up:*

*Explorer, Systray, and any line referring to your antivirus program must stay.
Any item you are not sure of, should stay.

Remember, by doing this you are only removing items from the Windows start up menu. You are not removing programs from your computer or any of the short cuts on your desktop. Whatever you do with this, can easily be undone.

1) Go to Start, then Run, on the line type msconfig

2) This will take you to the system configuration utility. You might see as many as 5 or 6 column headings.

3) Choose the Startup column. Here you will see a long list of items, each preceded by a small box with a check mark in it. That means it is part of your startup. To disable items from the start up, simply get the check mark out of the box.

4) Once you are through, you will need to reboot the system. You should go back and check the available system resources and note a vast improvement in speed.

What can safely be removed?

1) Add on programs that you've downloaded, such as Weatherbug, kazaa, AIM, aol, yahoo, msn messenger, etc.

2) Programs that you've installed, such as MS Works or Office, your printer or scanner software, your webcam, print shop types of programs, games, etc.

What must NOT be removed?

1) Systray, explorer, your antivirus program

2) Anything that you're not sure of. It never hurts to ask!

This is a website that will describe everything that can be in start up. It shows the initials and what program it is a part of.
There is also a key telling you whether it must stay there, if you have an option, or if you must remove it. Hope it helps!

http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_full.htm#W



System Maintenance

Get in the habit of running scandisk, defrag, and disk cleanup on a regular basis. It helps the overall running of your system, plus it may provide clues toward impending problems or disaster. I recommend scandisk and defrag every couple of weeks. Disk cleanup should be run every few days.

To run these programs, double click on My Computer. Then right click on C drive. The second column is entitled Tools. There, you will have the option to run each of these tasks.

Scandisk:

This checks the hard disk surface for errors which may involve bad clusters or sectors or invalid file names. Should those problems be noted, you will be given the option to correct. You may run either the quickie version or the more thorough version. If problems are indicated during the quickie version, it would be helpful to run the thorough version.

Defragmentation:

This optimizes hard disk performance by reorganizing how the space on the hard drive is utilized. If you are using windows 98, you can expect this to hang at about 10% for a while. With Windows ME and XP, there is no hanging at that point. With a larger harddrive, this may take an hour or so. You will also notice, that every so often it goes back to 0% complete and starts over. This is normal. Fragmentation of the hard drive occurs as programs or data are added or removed.

Disk Cleanup:

This removes the temporary internet files and empties the recycle bin. You can also remove the temporary internet files and cookies by going into the Control Panel and choosing Internet. It's listed under the General Category.

Spyware and Hackers

Many people have downloaded Kazaa and similar programs onto their computers. These programs allow you to get free music and software. With Kazaa, you are not downloading the music from a website, but rather from someone's computer hard drive. It's extremely popular, but...

Are you sure that other persons hard drive doesn't have viruses? Are you sure that other person isn't a hacker that has installed spyware on your harddrive.

Spyware is exactly what the name implies. It spies on you. It allows others to see websites you've been to, items on your hard drive, passwords and account numbers on your hard drive, etc. If you have registered other software where you personal information (name, address, and phone number are listed) the spy has access to that info.

If you have downloaded and used Kazaa, it is recommended that you uninstall it immediately. As most use it for free music downloads, you may want to open up the Shared Folder in Kazaa first and move the contents to a new folder on your harddrive.

There is a program called Ad-Aware by Lavasoft. It is free and detects spyware on your system. You may wish to download and install that program. It will find the spyware and give you the option to remove it permanently.

Many people routinely change their passwords to thwart hackers.

Antivirus Programs

Yes you need an antivirus program. And it needs to be current. As new versions are released by Norton's or McAfee (the two most popular), you need to purchase them along with one year of free updates. You are very much unprotected if your antivirus program is a couple of years old, even if you are updating it.

The logic that "I open only emails from people I know" is faulty. People get sexually transmitted diseases from people they know! Don't trust your friends and family to have the most recent antivirus program. This is your responsibility.

Computers can also get viruses when unprotected websites are visited. Not every website owner is responsible enough to keep their site virus free. Some of the cutest websites have the nastiest viruses.

Viruses can also be added to your computer by a hacker who has gotten some spyware on your system. That hacker can also see your passwords, bank account numbers, etc. Remember, hackers are not our friends.