Tip O' Tex Computer Club Newsletter
August 2006
Routine maintenance on your computer is essential.
If you allow the Temporary Internet Files (TIFs) to accumulate over too long a period of time, you'll
find that surfing the Internet gets slower and slower.
To clear out the TIFs:
Open Internet Explorer, click on Tools, click on Internet Options, click on the "Delete Files" button,
put a check in the box for "Delete all offline content" and then click OK. If you do this routinely, it will
just take a minute or so for the hourglass to disappear, which means that you're done.
Defrag is NOT automatic on any of the Windows systems, but should still be run about once a month.
Before you defrag, you should dump the TIFs and also empty the Recycle Bin. Getting rid of some of
the C:\Temp files wouldn't hurt either, but if you don't know how to do that, don't try it without
supervision.
Ad-Aware needs to be updated and run about once a week.. Open the Ad-Aware program from your desktop, click on "Check for updates now" then click on Connect. If there are any updates get them, and when the update is done, click on Finish - then click on Start (lower right corner) then click on Next. Do not run this program while doing any heavy-duty computer work. It doesn't take very long to run, so just let it work by itself.
When the scan is complete, you'll hear a sound and see a flashing icon - click on Next. Put a checkmark next to "Critical objects" or "Tracking cookies" and hit OK. You'll be told how many items will be cleared. When everything is cleared, hit OK and close the program with the X in the upper right corner.
Spybot Search & Destroy needs to be updated and run about once a week. Open the program, click on "Search for updates" and if any are available, check next to each one, then click "Download updates" on the toolbar.
If there are any updates, click on Immunize (on the left side of the screen) and if you're told to "immunize", click on the GREEN plus sign on the toolbar to get the immunization updated.
Click Search and Destroy (on the left side of the screen) and click "Check for problems" on the toolbar. This will take about as long as Ad-Aware took, and again, try not to be running any heavy-duty programs at the same time.
When the scan is complete, you may see a few items listed, with a small green checkmark next to them. Click "Fix selected problems" on the toolbar, and when those items are fixed, they'll have large green checkmarks next to them. Close the program with the X in the upper right corner.
AVG Anti-Virus should be checked for updates about once a week also. The program updates automatically, and runs automatically, but it never hurts to check for updates, just to be sure. Just open the program and click on Check for Updates. Get any that are available.
If running Norton Anti-Virus, open the Norton program, and click on "LiveUpdate" on the toolbar. The program should get regular updates automatically, but once in a while you need to 'force' it.