KEEPING YOUR COMPUTER HEALTHY

Regular maintenance can frequently help prevent computer problems Many problems, common and uncommon, can be prevented by a little maintenance. As a precaution, keep a regular backup your data files onto CD, DVD, or flash drive. If available, you may have the option to store files on a network server. If you are unsure how to do this, check with the network administrator, a computer technician, or a technology specialist.

 Be very careful of what you choose to download and what files sent to you by email you choose to open. All emailed attachments should first be saved to a folder then scanned for viruses before opening. Many freeware programs also contain hidden programs that spy on your activity and send information about what you do, or copies of files and email addresses on your computer, to hackers and information/identity thieves. For example, just because a screensaver is free doesn't mean it's safe.

Regular maintenance is also necessary for computer users to run computer maintenance tasks regularly (at least weekly). The following are essential: hard drive disk cleanup defrag, antivirus update with full virus-scan of the hard drive, spyware scans and removal with updated AdAware, Spybot, or MS Antispyware. At a  minimum, disk cleanup and disk defragmentation on a monthly basis are crucial.

Many error messages and problems are software related due to memory and cache issues and may often be eliminated or prevented by regular use of an application such as CCleaner. Beyond that, the majority of problems most people see today are related to malware on the computer. It's virtually impossible to be online and not have malware on your computer anymore - which creates problems. Usually the malware installations are invisible to the user and can greatly slow down the system, and cause weird errors and strange things to happen. Sometimes it can be damaging; other times, it leads to theft of any information you might type. Keyloggers and hidden programs loaded by malware send files and other information to hackers. Unfortunately the crime syndicates have gotten involved since they found that they can make huge amounts of money on the misfortunes of computer users worldwide from information and identity theft. Clearly, then, we have to take a multi-faceted approach to dealing with the problem. Therefore, as a precaution, users are strongly encouraged to scan their computers for malware and remove what's found at least monthly. That means that, at a minimum, everyone should have anti-virus software on their computer. At our schools, the Department of Technology provides this. (We use McAfee Anti-Virus.) It should be kept updated by the user on a weekly basis at a minimum. Note that if the automatic update feature fails, the sdats can be downloaded from McAfee.com (Once you're at the site, click on Enterprise , then on Downloads , then dat, and engine for Intel/windows in English.)

Very good malware detection and removal tools are available to download for free from the net - but not all are created equal. We have found three that work well and are the only three we recommend. Lavasoft's Ad-Aware (free download from www.lavasoft.de ) Spybot Search & Destroy (free download from safer-networking.org), and Microsoft Anti-Spyware. The first two programs have automatic update features. If using the computer at school to do the updates, one has to go into the advanced configuration settings and tell it to use the proxy server ~ 192.168.1.11 port 80 ~ so the updates will happen successfully. These programs are detection and removal tools. They do not provide on-going protection. Malware isn't just viruses and Trojans and worms - its also spyware, adware and other software products which are fast becoming more of a major issue for more people than viruses. It is part of the evolutionary transition as computer use and internet growth blossoms worldwide.

There is also another program from Microsoft for Windows XP that can help users prevent malware from installing in the first place. It doesn't catch everything, but it's better than no protection. This freeware anti-malware tool  is called Microsoft AntiSpyware (free download from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads). It is a very good program. Download, Install, and just "next" through the prompts then "yes" to update and scan. You have the option to go into the settings to tell it to automatically download the updates and to automatically scan at a given time. If you do the latter, there are also checkmarks on the side to hide the scan and the results so it is all invisible to the user.)