Maintenance and Prevention
PCs, automobiles, and human bodies all have one thing in common: Performance tends to degrade over time. Real power users know how to ward off the effects of old age. Here are some key strategies.
Stay Privy to Software Updates
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and you can prevent most malicious attacks by keeping your software up to date. That's easier said than done when you're juggling dozens of programs, but you don't have to go it alone. Secunia Personal Software Inspector (www.secunia.com) scans your system for outdated apps and plugins, and then arranges everything in a handy report complete with direct download links to the latest patches for each program.
It's best to let Secunia PSI constantly monitor your rig for unpatched software, and if you're intentionally using an older program for compatibility reasons, simply set up a rule to ignore it. Fire up the advanced interface by clicking the Advanced link in the upper right corner. Select the Settings tab and click Create Ignore Rule. Give it a name, and in the Rule box, enter the path to that program, like C:\Program Files\App\app.exe.
Eradicate Malware with Extreme Prejudice
Before you throw in the towel and reinstall Windows, update your antivirus definitions and run a full scan, or if you're fixing a PC that doesn't have any AV software installed, use a cloud-based scanner, like Panda ActiveScan. Any IT tech worth his salt will also carry aroundSuperAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes in his toolbox.
Depending on how bad Aunt Mabel messed up her PC, you may need to escalate your efforts with HijackThis. HijackThis combs through registry and file settings where malware is most likely to hide out, but it doesn't discern between good and bad entries, so don't go blasting away settings willy-nilly. When in doubt, get a second opinion online by copying/pasting the log contents of a scan to www.hijackthis.de orhttp://hjt.networktechs.com. It's also a good idea to carry around HijackReader, which is the online version of the log analyzer in case you're unable to access the web.
Clear out the Cobwebs
A year's worth of accumulated dust in your rig is pretty much the equivalent of outfitting each of your components in a custom-knit wool sweater-not good. A tiny bit of maintenance every now and then can ensure that your system breathes easy. Your main weapon in the fight against dust? Compressed air. Here are some tips:
• Remove all wires from your rig and unplug the main power supply.
• Make sure you've got a nice, bright light while you're peering at your computer's innards. Besides helping you find clots of dust, this will help you notice any faulty wiring or other minor problems on your mobo.
• Remove a side panel to expose your components. If possible, remove both sides so you avoid simply blowing the dust around the inside of the case.
• Hold the can upright and spray in short, controlled bursts. No need to hose your computer down. You should have more than half a can left after you've finished spraying your components.
• Pay close attention to fan-based components-your case fans and heatsink often accumulate dust between the blades.
Disk Maintenance
The conventional wisdom is thus: As drives fill up, they get slower. Access times get longer, and files get fragmented because they have to find space where old data has been deleted. Therefore, you have to defragment your disk regularly in order to keep your machine at its best. But does that still apply?
If you're rocking a mechanical hard drive on Windows XP or earlier, yes. You should defrag your drive every month or so-more often if you'd like. We like Auslogics Disk Defrag orPiriform Defraggler. Vista and Windows 7 automatically defrag mechanical drives by default, so you'll probably never have to worry unless you're working with very large files. If you have a solid state drive, though, do not defragment! Because defragmenting involves moving data around on the disk, it's write-intensive. And that can and probably will diminish the lifespan of your SSD. Again, don't do it.
If DisableDeleteNotify = 0, TRIM is enabled on your Windows 7 SSD.
Solid state drives are susceptible to slowdowns as they fill, but they require a different approach. Modern SSDs support the TRIM command, which enables the OS to continually keep the SSD optimized. You'll need an SSD with firmware that supports TRIM, Windows 7, and Microsoft or Intel's AHCI drivers. If you don't have all those things, you'll need a garbage-collection utility. Check your drive manufacturer's website or use an SSD-optimized utility likePerfectDisk 11.
Not sure if you've got TRIM up and running on your Win7 machine? Open a command prompt and type fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify and hit Enter. If Windows returnsDisableDeleteNotify = 0, then TRIM is running. If not, type fsutil behavior set DisableDeleteNotify = 0 and hit Enter.
Back Up Your Data the Right Way
Your water-cooling loop just sprung a leak, and liquid is spraying everywhere. Sparks fly and your HDD catches fire, melting like a popsicle on a hot summer day. It's bad, but not disastrous because you've been backing up your data. Right?
Let's start with that presentation you've been working on. Your boss won't be any the wiser to your water-cooling woes because when you show up for work tomorrow, you'll pull the PPT deck off your Dropbox account, which offers 2GB of free online storage.
Use Dropbox to store and back up important docs.
On your way home, you'll pick up parts to rebuild your PC and restore things to the way they were by loading an image you took with Acronis True Image. Pop in the bootable restore CD you created with Acronis (see page 32) and you're off and running.
AcronisTrue image is your complete back-up choice.
Crisis averted, right? Sure, so long as the fire didn't spread and take out everything you own, including your external hard drive. In that case, it's a good thing you backed up your mission-critical files, gigabytes of family photos, and a video of little Billy taking his first steps to another hard drive that you keep at your parents' house or other offsite location.
No comments:
Post a Comment