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Karen Lesmerises AC0622398 EN 130 Eng. Comp Assignment 2 Process Analysis June 23, 2010 How to Properly Maintain a Personal Computer The proper maintenance of a Personal Computer is very important to all users of the computer. A computer is a machine and like all machines need to be properly cared for and taken care of. There are maintenance steps that you can do that costs nothing but your time and then there are programs that you can purchase to get the job done. I am going to talk about those that cost you nothing and can be done at your home /office.
Most personal computers are capable with the right knowledgeable user to carry out these tasks with no additional cost to the user. If you want to have less headaches and frustrations using the computer there are a few tasks you should do to ensure smooth browsing or web surfing on your computer. A properly maintained personal computer makes using it easier to navigate and increases your computers longevity over one that has never been cared for. This guide will teach you how to defragment and mange your disk directories for a Personal Computer operating Windows XP or Windows Vista. This guide is not intended for use with Apple computers.
One of the first things you need to do on either of the Windows Operating systems is to turn the computer on. You will need to power up the computer by pressing the power button on the lower left hand side of the screen. The computer for the task of defragmenting does not need to be connected to the internet.. You will need to click on the start button in the lower left hand side of the computer screen. Proceed to click on all Programs/ All programs, secondly proceed to look for the Accessories file. When you find that file left click on it, you will then look for a file titled system tools left click on that file to open it up.
Inside the systems tools folder locate the Disk Defragmenter program. A menu will pop up when you select Disk Defragment- it will have a list of the different computer drives. You will need to choose your main operating drive it is usually the C drive. The length of time it takes your computer to complete this task will vary. It varies due to the amount of programs on the computer. The defragmenter will consolidate fragmented files and to optimize your computer’s performance which will make your computer run faster. Another task you can do help maintain your Personal Computer is to review the disk directories.
To accomplish this task follow the steps below. To start this process you will need to click on the start button in the lower left hand corner of the screen. You will then proceed to look for My Computer from the menu that comes up. You will need to right click on it; a new menu will appear from that menu you will right click on the drive you want to see. The C drive is usually the main drive on most computers so click on that one. When you click on the drive you want to check a new menu will pop up from that menu proceed to click on properties. Properties are found on the menu at the bottom of the list.
When you do this another menu will appear from this menu click on the tools tab another new menu will pop up. At this point you can leave all the menus on the screen it will not hurt anything. After you click on the tools tab it will list a few options you will need to click on the button in the top box that says Check Now or Fix now. By doing this process you are check for Errors in the directory. If you are using Windows XP click “yes” to confirm that you want this done after it is completed you will be prompted to reboot the computer go ahead and do it now.
If your operating system is Windows Vista click schedule disk check to confirm and restart now. Maintaining your Personal Computer help to keep it running smoothly and efficiently as well as reducing the amount of frustration an owner can come upon when viewing pages or web browsing. A Personal computer owner can also schedule these tasks to be done on a schedule automatically. There are many tasks to be done to keep the computer running smoothly this guide just touches upon a few important tasks. A personal computer when it is running optimally can make researching and correspondences easier to do.