Maintaining Your Computer Tech Tuesday Lausanne Collegiate

Maintaining Your Computer Tech Tuesday Lausanne Collegiate School December 11, 2001

Why Maintain Your Computer? Bikes must have air pumped in their tires. Cars must have their oil changed. Your computer must be kept in running order as well. What can you do to keep it in tip-top shape?

3 Steps to Maintenance: Remember your A,B,Cs (and Ds) Clean your hardware when needed Know what to fix and what to have others fix

Now I Know my A,B,Cs. A Antivirus B Backup C Clean Up D Defragment

Antivirus Virus - A program created to destroy or interfere with your software/hardware Run Norton AntiVirus once a week to prevent infestation or repair damage Need more info? Email me for the PowerPoint on Viruses

Backup Computers aren’t perfect; stuff can get lost or damaged Protect yourself; backup your work weekly Where to backup to: Floppy Disks - not reliable Email - safe for one file or two Server (best, ask for PPT on Backing Up)

Clean Up Easier to find stuff if you clean up Only keep files you must work on ASAP on your desktop and file the rest. Email me for the PowerPoint on File Management

Defragment Your computer is in a hurry and throws every piece of data in whatever empty spot it finds Not organized and slows you down Go to Start Accessories System Tools Disk Defragmenter and run it monthly to speed up your computer

Second Step: Cleaning Dust, skin, and more can mess up your computer Clean your hardware every 3 months (smoker in house) to 5 months (no smoker)

How To Clean What: What? Case CD Laptop Screen Desktop Screen How? Damp cloth (no solvents) Don’t block air vents Dry cloth (against grooves) Dry cloth (little rubbing alcohol on cloth if bad) Window cleaner on cloth

More Cleaning: What? How? Keyboard Use compressed air or shake upside down (don’t use vacuum!) Turn the donut piece on bottom the opposite direction of the arrows, let ball will fall out; scratch back and forth on rollers inside mouse; tissue off ball and replace ball and cover Mouse

Last Word about Cleaning: Keep your computer area free of stray papers Never lean anything against your computer Avoid food and drink Promptly clean any spills before they dry Supervise tots carefully!

Last Step: What to fix? We are smart! We are Lynxes! We can fix our computer’s minor ailments! (Repeat the above 3 times to yourself)

Fixing Easy Stuff: Problem? Frozen Computer Black Monitor Solution? See PPT on Frozen Computer Check both cables on back of monitor, monitor power button Mouse Check mouse cord to doesn’t work computer; clean inside mouse

Other easy fixes: Problem? Can’t get floppy out Not printing Solution? Don’t force! Use finger or non-metal object to push bent piece down and pull out Out of paper? Power on? Paper jam? Go to Start Settings Printers, right click on printer, left click on “work off line”

When it ain’t easy. Write down what’s going on (include specific programs or things you did to solve the problem) and email Stewart Best to be overly cautious than take a risk and damage your computer Ask how the repair is done so you may be able to fix/prevent it in the future

Have a Happy Holiday Break! Starting January 8th, Back to Basics! First session: Operating System