Basic Computer Maintenance Made Easy

Maintaining your computer is a very easy
thing to do and if done on a regular basis it
takes little time and keeps the computer
repair man away in most cases. Most people
overlook these simple tasks until their
computer is so slow that they have to call for
help. First I will guide you through the
necessary steps to maintain your computer
and then I will show you how to create an
automated Script file if you use Internet
Explorer 7 that will automatically do most of
the work for you.The basic tools for regular
computer maintenance are Disk Defragmenter,
Disk Cleanup, and cleaning out your Internet
temporary files. Disk Defragmenter and Disk
Cleanup can be found and run off of the Start
Menu/Accessories/System Tools folder. Disk
Defragmenter will organize the files on your
hard drive making it easier for your computer
to find the information it needs when it needs
it. It will also help keep your hard drive from
working as hard so it can have a longer life.
Disk Cleanup can cleanup all the hidden
system files and other things you gather
through time that you probably did not even
know was taking up space on your hard drive.
In Internet explorer we can go to the Tools
menu and choose Internet options. This will
give you the ability to clear your Internet
history, stored data, stored passwords and
information that is gathered every time you
go to a website. Neglecting this for long
periods of time can cause your computer to
run slower and also take up more space on
your hard drive than you think.Now that we
know what tools to use and where to find
them, I will show you how to make an
automated script file that you run and will
automate all these processes for you. What
you will do is right click on your desktop and
click on, New-Text Document and then name
the document whatever you want. Once you
have named your document you can open it
and copy the text below into it and then
instead of saving it as a .txt file we will be
saving it as a .bat file which tells it to run the
commands we tell it to.
c:windowssystem32cleanmgr.exe /dc /sageset:
1
c:
cd
cd c:windowsprefetch
del *.* /q
Once you have copied this into the file and
saved this as a .bat file we will then double
click on this bat file and it will run a setup for
Disk Cleanup asking what you would like it to
do every time you use this tool. I usually pick
them all but depending on what you do with
your computer you might want to pick and
choose items you want to cleanup. Once you
are done you will right click on the .bat file
we created and select edit. Delete the
contents of this file and replace it with the
following and save it.
RunDll32.exe
InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 4351
c:windowssystem32cleanmgr.exe /dc /
sagerun: 1
c:
cd
cd c:windowsprefetch
del *.* /q
defrag.exe c: -f -v
Now that you have entered this and saved it
you will double click on this file. Once you
double click on this file it will first clean your
internet explorer for you (if you run Internet
Explorer 7). After this it will run a Disk
Cleanup according to how you set it up
previously. Finally it will run a Disk
Defragmenter which usually runs in the
background so you can continue working.
Once that black DOS prompt disappears on its
own then you are done and ready to keep
pounding away at that keyboard. Once this is
setup you are just a double click away from
keeping your computer maintained. On a final
note a good anti-virus is a must have on top
of your normal computer maintenance. There
are many free anti-virus tools out there like
AVG Free ( www.grisoft.com ) and Avast!
(www.avast.com ) so just find one you like and
make sure to update and run a virus scan
weekly. If you follow these simple steps then
this should help prevent unnecessary calls to
a repairman and will help keep your computer
running smoothly