CONPUTER CARE

AND MAINTENANCE
DCS, BIT YEAR 2 SEM 2
 Introduction to Computer Care

Like any kind of equipment, your computer requires care and maintenance to run
smoothly.

There are many tasks that should be done, and caution that should be taken to
ensure proper working, and safety of all components of the computer system
(including the hardware, software and human ware

A number of factors can cause damage to your computers hardware (the physical
parts inside the computer) or media (storage devices like CD-ROMs and hard drives)

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Extreme heat, cold, or humidity

A damaged cable will prevent the computer from communicating with input or output
devices.

Dust can damage hard drives and floppy disk drives and can prevent computers from
cooling properly.

As you know, computers require electricity to operate. As such, problems can arise when
there are power outages and power irregularities (called power spikes or power surges).

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If the power goes out while a file is open, the computer will shut off and all
changes to the file since the last time you saved will be lost. Power spikes
are sudden surges of increased electricity that usually occur when the
power comes back on after an outage.

They can also be caused by atmospheric conditions (such as lightning) in

buildings with poor or defective wiring. Power spikes can cause physical
damage to many of the components of your computer, especially the hard
drive.

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 Protecting Your Computer
Computer Environment
? Place computers in temperature-controlled rooms.
? Keep computers away from air conditioning or heating vents.
? Keep computers in an area free of dust.
? Keep computers and media a safe distance from electrical or magnetic fields.
? Make sure cables are not kinked or twisted.
? Route cables so they will not be stepped on or rolled over by chairs.

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 Protecting Your Computer
Power Spikes and Power Surges
? Connect all power wires in a way so that they cannot be accidentally
disconnected.
? Connect the computer to a surge suppressor to help avoid damage from power
spikes. Do not connect the computer directly to
? Employ a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) device that will keep computers
running in the event of a power outage.

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 Keeping Your Computer Clean
Poor maintenance is often the cause of many hardware problems. If a mouse
becomes dirty, it will not track smoothly. When a keyboard is contaminated
with food particles (usually caused when people eat at their desks) the keys
become sticky, meaning they do not spring back up immediately after you press
them. Dust particles (including paper dust) cause printers to jam and smear
your printouts. Keeping these and other devices well maintained will make
them work better and last longer.
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 Keeping Your Computer Clean
There are several simple things you can do to help maintain your computer.
Regularly clean the keyboard and mouse.
Clean the printer off any dirt or dust to prevent jamming.
Carefully remove any paper jams. Damaging the printer will make it jam more
often and decrease print quality.

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 What to Avoid

Bumps and Drops

Excessive Heat
Dust
Magnetism
Stray Electromagnetism
Power Surges
Water and Corrosive Agents

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Avoid direct sunlight and high Temperatures that may damage hardware
components.

Always use surge protectors Uninterruptible Power supply or stabilizer to

ensure steady power supply to safeguard their system.

Protection against fires. A computer room should have fire extinguishers of

carbon dioxide but not water or powder.

Proper cable installation and placement. Cables should be preferably along

walls, avoiding danger of exposing the use to electric shock

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Burglar proofing avoid unauthorized access to computer room. Fit
strong locks, doors, windows and roofing. Security should be good
around computer room to avoid thefts.

Ventilation should be good. Good aeration enables the computer to cool

and hence avoids overheating Dust and dump control. When setting up
the computer laboratory, consider a location away from excessive dust.
The room should have special curtains and computers should remain
covered using dust covers when not in use.

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Humidity must be regulated in the computer room / laboratory to remain at an
optimum 50. Low humidity may cause static electricity to build
and damage sensitive components. High Humidity of over 70 cause rusting of
the metallic parts of the computer system.

A computer room should be well lit to avoid eyestrain, and headaches.

Radiation filter screens should be fitted to reduce the light that reaches the
eye.

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 Computer Maintenance

Maintenance of computers is the practice of keeping computers in a good

state of repair. If maintained properly a  computer can live well
beyond its life expectancy and it will also protect your data from viruses and
attacks.

Seeking out computer support will save businesses hundreds if not thousands
of dollars on new computers.

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 Computer Maintenance
While there is a lot that you can do to your computer to keep it running
smoothly, there are some maintenance activities that should only be
performed by an experienced professional.

These include
Replacing or upgrading internal components of the computer.
Repairing physical damage to peripheral equipment.
Re-routing or adding electrical connections.

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Protection from virus and malware:
Viruses and malware are a serious issue to any business. When a computer is infected,
various symptoms may be displayed, from slow performance to annoying popup
messages. If an IT system is compromised, a business can be used as a launching pad to
infect other businesses.
Installing and updating antivirus program can protect businesses.
There are many programs that are available to help protect businesses from the viruses
and malware. These programs need to be updated regularly to ensure their effectiveness.

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Detecting IT issues early

Whether a computer is new or old, problems can arise any time.

Through regular IT maintenance issues can be detected and addressed
early so they do not impact the business. Regular IT maintenance will
also help reduce IT support costs by fixing minor issues before they
cause a major incident.

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Regular backups

In cases where a hard drive has experienced a severe failure, or there has
been a cyber-attack, or where a serious software error has occurred,
precious data may be completely lost or corrupted. It is not something any
business would want to experience, yet every day, it happens to thousands
of businesses both large and small. That is the reason why it is important to
take regular backups as well as ensure these backups can be recovered.

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Speeding up computers

Over a period, files stored on the computer becomes disorganized and

fragmented, this results in slow loading times and delayed access to

programs and files. Regularly running speed checks, smart optimization

and PC Health Check can speed up computers loading times and take

care of those annoying pauses when you are busy and need quick access

to files and software.

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Updating Software

Not only do regular software updates help eliminate potential security

vulnerabilities, they also can provide various error/problem/bug fixes. Many
software applications have automatic update functionality built-in. However,
many others do not. As such, its prudent to regularly manually check for updates.
The check for updates button is often located under the Help menu bar in many
programs.

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 Maintaining Your Hard Drive

If you do not regularly take the time to organize your desk, it will become harder
and harder to find what you need. Just like your desktop, your hard disk will
become cluttered if you do not take the time to organize it. Poorly organized
files will lead to a decrease in the performance of your computer. It will take
longer to locate the files you need. Keeping a clean and organized hard disk will
result in better system performance. The easiest way to do this is to delete
unused or temporary files regularly.

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A variety of utility programs are available to help keep your computer
safe and running without errors. Some are supplied with the Windows
operating system, others are available for free, and some are available
for purchase.

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Defragmentation software like Diskeeper or the one supplied with the
Windows operating system gather files into one area on the hard disk to make
searching faster. Disk Compression programs like Virtual Drive and FarStone
are designed to minimized the amount of space used by files on the computer.

Disk Scanning programs like ScanDisk (supplied with the Windows operating
system) check for and attempt to repair errors on the hard disk.

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Firewall software like ZoneAlarm and BlackICE keep others from
accessing the computer through the Internet.

Spyware Detectors like Spybot SP and BPS Spyware Detector check

and remove spyware programs that send information from the
computer to the Internet.

Virus Detection software like Norton AntiVirus and McAfee VirusScan

detect and remove potentially damaging viruses from the computer.
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Exercise Defragmenting Your Hard Drive

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On the Windows taskbar, click start, then navigate to All Programs, then
Accessories, then System Tools, and then click Disk efragmenter.

The Disk Defragmenter dialog window open. Use your mouse to select
the C drive

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 The Disk Defragmenter Window

Click Analyze. Once the analysis is complete, the Disk Defragmenter analysis dialog
window opens and reports the current percent of defragmented files on your hard
disk.

Click Close, and then click Defragment on the main Disk Defragmenter dialog
window.

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When defragmentation is complete, the Disk Defragmenter complete
dialog window opens. Click Close.

Close Disk Defragmenter.

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 Simple Maintenance checks

Check your hard disk for bad sectors and error (Scandisk, then defragment)

Remove unwanted and junk files

Delete browsing history

Clean out your email

Remove any programs that you do not use or have a trial period that has expired

Keep up to date with Windows updates

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Don’t install too many programs

Have an external drive for instant backup

Keep your computer organized

Guard your computer from viruses

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 Questions:
Explain the 10 Commandments of Computer Care

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